Here I am again. I'll bet you're waiting for a pokemon battle by now, right? Well- you're going to have to wait. For a battle with Ozaki in it anyway. But it's coming the next chapter, and then the story's plot unfolds (sorta….) promise! School's also started on Monday…so I'm going to have chapters up later than normal…or sooner. I tend to write faster if I write it by hand at school (while we're supposed to be going over Chemistry ^_0)

KEY

"blah" - speech (pokemon and human speech are written the same way)

'blah' - thought

blah - telepathy

(AN: blah)- author's note

~~~~~~- time passes

"There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must be not attacked, towns which must be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed."- Sun Tzu; The Art of War

As I slept our small group traveled onward into the town where we arrived and traveled onward, I did not know where, nor did I really care, but by the time I awoke (half-awake, really. Still partly dreaming of a river of sushi) the smells of the sea were long gone and the scent of grass, water and metal of various bicycles were in the air. The luxury ball expanded and I was introduced to a large long plastic tarp spread out on the grass under a willow tree near a very small pond/fountain occupied with a small colony of magikarp and two goldeen. Looking across the grass, I could see the tall buildings of concrete and stone not that far across from where we sat cut off by a tall black metal fence. Thakur searched eagerly in a berry bush as Tani and an eevee that I suspected belonged to Robin tumbled in a random patch of leaves a short distance away from Jaylen who was busy trying to keep track of them all. The meowth Namir stretched out long on a tree branch above my head, tapping his lengthy tail on the bark. He was staring at me boredly with his half closed slit eyes, the scar on his right one shone dimly in the noonday sun, as if he was looking at something that mildly sparked his interest, but not my much; as if he were observing a weedle. I gladly returned the look.

"You" he said after a long time "are quite different."

"Shall I take that as a compliment or an insult?"

He shrugged "Take it however you wish."

"You are quite different yourself."

"Is that right?"

"It is"

"Interesting"

"Really. You don't seem as such from where I'm standing"

Namir cocked his head and gave me a long smile eerily similar to that of a sharpedo. "Perhaps…… you need to stand somewhere else then, young eevee-lution"

I tapped the tip of my tail on the grass speculating if he was being blatantly honest or trying to play with my head.

I scowled at him.

"Did you know you can be a very infuriating pokemon?"

Namir's ribs shook lightly as he chuckled in amusement. "What, and you aren't, young umbreon?"

"Possibly." I said. "And I would prefer it if you did not refer to me as if I were a youngling. I'm fully grown, you know"

"Hmm."

"So, meowth you've nothing else to say to me?"

"Not at the moment. But don't fret child, I'll think of something soon enough." With that the meowth vanished into the confines of his pokeball.

At that time Robin arrived with two paper bags, containing their lunch, tossed one to my keeper and took her place beside him.

"Did you know" said Robin between bites of a bacon sandwich "that Team Rocket caught a baby lugia?" Jaylen suddenly looked up from his grilled cheese sandwich on toast, as did I, with a fast beating heart. I did not know who or what this "Team Rocket" was, but I knew it was impossible for a human to catch a legend like lugia. A mortal human anyway. Everyone knew that. Even Thakur knew that, you just couldn't catch legendaries, they were legends after all, gods, they represented anything and everything found on the planet, from plants, to the sea, to volcanoes, to the sky, to the storms and the very creation of we, the pokemon ourselves. For a human to catch lugia…..it would mean that truly none of us were free anymore, for they were the incarnates freedom themselves. They were gods. You just can't CATCH gods, no matter who you are. That's just the way it was, and what I held to be true. I shuddered. But then again…….being free to live as I pleased and pokemon did not enjoy wearing human garments at will used to be what I held to be true as well.

So I pricked my ears and I listened.

"Really?" Jaylen inquired (with a mouth full of grilled cheese) "when did that happen?" He took my ball into his hand and began to expand and contract it idly. I wished he'd stop, it was making me anxious and sick to my stomach. "Yep!" was the answer "Just last week. It's a really little one and a scientist is planning to do some kind of experiments on it I think" I could hear my captor crush his soda can in either frustration or anger, I couldn't really tell. "What?! They can't do that, it's only a baby! Who knows what those nut jobs will do to it!" "Well, that's what the article said, Jay. Straight from the Ditto's Duplicate. What's more, Team Rocket also plans to-"

Robin's voice was cut off by the sound of my keeper's laugher. "Robin, you can't honestly believe anything that paper prints out, can you? I mean, all they spit out is idle rumors and made up stories. Remember the one that said Lorelei was really a lonely ditto in disguise? Or the one where Erika supposedly got her gloom from aliens?" He began to laugh again as his comrade began to grumble.

I breathed a long sigh rested my head on my paws. So it wasn't true after all. Good. I yawned and entered the luxury ball to finish the nap I started earlier. Very good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Out of nowhere the ball suddenly jolted, expanded and was thrown before I even opened my eyes! I snapped to attention, twisting in the air and landed on my feet onto a rock. I shook my head and looked around trying to figure out what in the hells just happened. My paws touched a small pool of rain water held by a large hole in the ground, looking down a confused reflection of an umbreon stared back up at me. Were we taking another break already? Looking up I saw Robin, Namir on her shoulder, and an excited raichu in front of me. Behind was Jaylen, holding the luxury ball high in his hand, with Thakur by his side and a knocked out Tani sprawled out near his feet. We were in the middle of a concrete path in the midst of a din of car horns, smog, and the continuous clamor of human voices all talking at once in their strange tongue. Around us stood scattered random people, pausing in whatever affair they were performing to stare at us. I blinked at all of this in bewilderment.

Jaylen smirked confidently "You may have beaten my jumpluff, but there's no way you're beatin' this! Robin returned the look with a shark-like grin "We'll see, kid. Vitani!" The raichu crouched on all fours, long whip tail lashing in the air "Thunder punch!" the girl yelled. The raichu rushed forward with a loud "Raiiiiiiiiiiiich!" It was said fast and sort of mumbled as she came, but I knew a battle cry when I heard one. As the great paw came, gold electrical energy pulsating, I quickly stepped away, just as powerful volts shot out of her paw, sending the powerful attack into the ground. My keeper grinned wide "Sorry, Robin. Way too slow. Ozaki! Faint attack!" I twitched my ears and gave Jaylen a half-lidded stare. "You. Have. GOT to be kidding." My tail flipped in insult. I'd been awakened from my sleep only to be shoved in a battle with a pokemon I never met, I had no possible quarrel with, and apparently the only reason to fight at all was because the humans wished it so.

Well, I wasn't having any of it. I may have been dragged out of my home, I may have sat on that stupid boat, I might have endured the madness that occurred ON that stupid boat, but I certainly would not do this. Not for him. Not for anyone. So I scratched my ear and strolled off towards a shady spot to finish the dream about the sushi.

Jaylen blinked, dumbstruck. "Hey! Ozaki, where are you going? You've got a battle to win! C'mon back and give it a faint attack!" I curled up on the sun-warm concrete and gave him my best "You-really-are-a-complete-fool-aren't-you?" stare.

Thakur was shocked, much more so than his trainer with wide eyes and a gaping jaw of raw disbelief. The raichu cocked her head feebly at her trainer mumbling"…So what exactly am I supposed to do now?"

Scattered snickers came from the various onlookers.

Robin sighed and shook her head ruefully. "I thought as much. That umbreon's really poorly trained, if at all. Plus the level's way too high for someone with your experience, just how many badges did you say you had?" Jaylen shuffled a gray sneaker in the grass. "'Bout…two." he said in a rather small voice. Robin nodded in smug confirmation. Namir smirked. Thakur flattened his ears and let a threatening growl escape from his throat at his keeper's embarrassment. By the ancient laws of the growlithe, houndour and all pack-beasts like them are fiercely loyal towards their pack leader, in this case Jaylen, and thus take it upon themselves to defend their honor, good name, etcetera when it has been tarnished. Thakur was certainly no exception. He placed himself standing in front his trainer, chest puffed out, fur raised angrily, and fangs clenched in a fearsome determined snarl. There was fire blazing madly in his wrathful eyes. Thakur lowered his head and bared his sharp fangs in challenge at Namir.

I brought my head up to look at him. This could certainly prove to be most interesting.

The meowth on Robin's shoulder yawned, uninterested "You" he scoffed "Are not worth my time, pup". Thakur dignified that response by showing even more fang, so the pink of his gums glinted in the city's afternoon sun. Jaylen went down on one knee and looked his pokemon in the eye "You sure you want this?" A curt nod was his response. Robin lifted an eyebrow "Do you honestly think that puppy stands a chance against my Namir?" Jaylen scowled "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do. Thakur may not be as old or as skilled as your pokemon, but he more than makes up for that, 'cuz he's got heart!" "Well as nice an' pretty as your little theory sounds, I'm afraid it's really more suited for an after school special than an actual battle. Kid, you've got a lot to learn about the world of pokemon" Robin blew hair from her eyes "and I'll be more than happy to teach you just how unforgiving that world can be! Namir!"

The tranquil, bored, smug meowth on the girl's shoulder suddenly turned into a ruthless bloodthirsty, (still) smug demon as he flew from his mistress' shoulder to the earth. The calm, sarcastic Namir had vanished, what stood before Thakur now was truly a ruthless force to be reckoned with, one that I was positive the growlithe did not understand in his blind rage.

"Namir, let's start this off with Scratch attack!"

If anyone had blinked they surely would have missed the tan blur sweep around the his opponent, because the next thing everyone knew Thakur was wincing at ten long bleeding rakes along his back. He started to look surprised, but it was quickly overruled by a tight snarl. "Thakur, Tackle!" A rush of red fur caught the meowth by surprise as he slammed his furry bulk onto the surprised pokemon. Namir twisted his way from being crushed to onto the growlithe's head. "Bite 'em Namir!" "Don' let 'em trick ya again buddy, throw 'im off an' use Flamethrower!" Pearl fangs cut into red fur as Thakur leaped into the air like a wild bucking tauros in an attempt to shake the meowth's vice-like grip. The growlithe suddenly jumped and twisted onto the concrete , I suppose that helped loosen the grip because the next second Namir was in the air with a great burning inferno swirling around him.

He quickly landed on his feet, burnt paws spread out, whiskers more that a little singed. He looked somewhere between mortified, astonished and enraged. Thakur shook his head trying to rid himself of the pain where his ear was bitten.

Robin blinked in surprise. "Well. The pup's got some skills after all." Jaylen smirked "I told ya. Maybe you underestimated Tahkur an' me." Namir's trainer narrowed her eyes. "First of all, it's 'Thakur and I" Second of all, I admit that I may have…..misjudged a bit. But no more. Namir, give that mongrel your best Quick Attack!" "No, you don't! Thakur, Fire Spin!" In a flash tan fur struck red just before a wall of flames surrounded them both. Robin scowled disappointedly. "Ah well, that's not gonna stop us. Namir, Dig!"

My ears pricked. Did she say "dig?!"

Namir disappeared under the earth, only to resurface and clash with a very surprised growlithe. The fire spin vanished as Thakur fell head over tail into a gated tree. (What kind of idiot puts a fence around a tree, anyway?) He had a very surprised look on his face. "What- on- how- but-" he breathed. Namir stretched his head to the sky and cackled "Didn't I tell you, puppy? Ya ain't worth my time." "I was good enough to give you those burns on your feet, wasn't I?" "Maybe." Namir curled his tail over his head confidently "but that's as far as it goes."

"Thakur, give 'im another Flamethrower! Knock him off his feet"

This time the normal-type was ready for him "Counter!" An invisible shield sprung up, flinging the fire attack well away from the meowth and crashing right into Thakur. Jaylen was right about one thing, the target WAS knocked off his feet. Just the wrong one. But he was a tough pup, already back on his feet. He was crouching, he was panting up a storm, and he was injured, but he was standing. The fire still hadn't left his eyes.

Namir scowled. "Odd, that should've ended this. No matter." He quickly dug his claws into a nearby tree, climbing to the highest limb staring down at small red dot below him. As he jumped, he and his trainer called out the attack in unison "Thunder!" As he witness the rush of electrical energy speeding mercilessly toward him, Thakur and Jaylen also suddenly spoke in unison "Fire Blast!"

The two attack collided with each other, a vivid display of red, orange and gold entwined together in a dazzling explosion colliding with both opponents simultaneously.

The crowd gasped and leaned forward to see which pokemon was still standing. I was curious as well. As the dust cleared, two battlers still stood, glaring at one another. Their knees crumpled, and they both fell to the sidewalk. I blinked in surprise. A tie. How 'bout that. I had to admit, it was a fine battle, and a surpirsing one at that. Just how in the hells did a mewoth manage to learn attacks like Dig, Counter, and Thunder anyway?

As Jaylen and Robin rushed forward to examine the weary fighters, I heard a light distant sound being carried on the wind. I strained to filter it out from the racket of the battle. It sounded- like…a howl… or maybe singing…

Whatever it was, I soon discovered my feet moving to it's direction., out from the sidewalk and into the allies of the dusty alien city.