(As with the last chapter, everything is subject to be rewritten. This one seemed more or less like a "filler" chapter to me, compared to what I originally had in mind...)

Cowrie froze, still crouched down. She turned around, wondering if it was another human - but it wasn't, much to her surprise. It was another morph like her - well, not exactly like her. This guy was a ninetales...while she, of course, was a furret...

She hastily stood up, wobbling a bit as she got all her balance back. "Thanks," she said hastily. She still held the caterpie's pokeball, though she quickly forgot she was doing so.

"I see you're a pokemon trainer, as well," said the ninetales. "It's nice to see more and more pokemorphs becoming trainers, nowadays - it just goes to show that it's not something only humans are good at."

"Yeah..." said Cowrie. At least this guy was much nicer than that human...

"Oh, excuse me," said the ninetales. "Here I am, yammering to some stranger I've just met, and I haven't even told you my name. Coal." He offered out his hand for Cowrie to shake.

She shook it. "Hiya," she said. "I'm Cowrie."

"Nice name," he replied, though his reply seemed a bit absent-minded. "How long have you been a trainer, Cowrie?"

"Not too long, actually," said Cowrie. "Just started earlier today." She blushed a little with embarrassment.

"And you have at least one pokemon already. Not bad," said Coal, his eyes going to the pokeball still in Cowrie's hand. Cowrie finally remembered she was holding the ball, and gripped onto it even tighter.

"I'm not going to take it," the ninetales said. "I have no need for taking other people's pokemon."

"I wasn't worried about that, actually," said Cowrie. She put the ball into her pocket. "So where you from, Coal? I don't think I've ever seen you around town..."

"You mean that town nearby?" And at Cowrie's nod he continued talking. "I'm not from that town, actually."

"That would explain why I've never seen you around, then." Cowrie looked around her. "It's getting rather dark now. You wouldn't know of anyplace to stay, would you...?"

"Actually, I do." Coal pointed somewhere up the trail. "There's a rest area somewhere up the trail; I saw it sometime earlier, but didn't have any need of it."

"A rest area? Well, that's good..."

"Come on. I could show you the way, if you'd allow me to. And besides, it's not good to be alone out in the woods when it gets dark. You never know what's out there."

"Yeah, I know..."

Coal smiled at her. "You sound like I'm berating you, or something," he said. "Don't worry, I'm not. Now, if you will..." He started to walk along the trail, and then turned back and motioned for Cowrie to follow.

"So...what other kinds of pokemon do you have?" Coal asked, once the two of them were walking. Cowrie was walking alongside the ninetales - she didn't trust him enough to let him walk behind her.

"Just a nidoran and that caterpie I caught not too long ago," replied Cowrie. "No, not the best selection I could have, but I'm satisfied with it right now."

"You didn't get a regular starter pokemon, like everybody else?" asked Coal.

"Aiken was my starter pokemon," said Cowrie.

"Aiken...?"

"The nidoran."

"Ah." Coal was silent for a moment. "That's just a bit odd, you know? Most other trainers I've seen usually have something like...oh, I dunno, a charmander or a bulbasaur or some other pokemon of those same types."

"Saw them," said Cowrie. "Wasn't satisfied with them."

"And you were satisfied with the nidoran?"

"Yeah." Cowrie kicked at a rock in her way. "There's nothing wrong with picking a nidoran, is there?"

"Not at all. It's just a bit unconventional, that's all."

"Good."

"May I see it?"

"Him," Cowrie found herself correcting Coal automatically. "Nah, I dunno if now would be the best time to show him. He didn't seem to be too fond of this area."

"I don't think I could blame the little guy," said Coal. "Maybe you could show me once we get into there." He pointed at what appeared to be a cabin of sorts. "That's the rest area."

Oh, cool. Sure. And, what, we just go inside?"

"Yep. We just go inside, and relax, or do whatever."

Some time later, Cowrie was sitting on a padded bench, reclining back against the wall. "Not the most comfortable of conditions, I'll say that much. But it sure beats staying outside."

"Which is exactly why they set these kinds of places up," said Coal. He was sitting down as well - on a bench that was set perpendicular to the one Cowrie was sitting on.

Besides the two pokemorphs, there were also some human trainers inside, though they were on the opposite side of the room. Cowrie noticed that every so often, glances from the humans would come her way, and every time she noticed a glance, she couldn't help but feel self-conscious.

"Ignore them," suggested Coal. "I get that kind of treatment all the time from various human trainers. I think they think we like being stared at."

"All the time? So you're used to it by now?" Cowrie squirmed in her seat a little.

"Not really. It still makes me feel uncomfortable. Ignoring them is about the best way to handle it."

"Alright." Cowrie tapped her fingers against the covering of the top of the bench, glancing at the humans every so often - until finally it looked like their conversation turned to other things. She let out an inaudible sigh, and then remembered what she had planned to do.

"Oh yeah...I was gonna show you Aiken," she said, taking the nidoran's ball out of her pocket. One press of the button, and the nidoran was out again. He was a bit disoriented, having no idea of where he was right now.

Aiken blinked, and noticed the sitting ninetales morph - and then went ballistic. "Nido!" he cried out in surprise, the spines on his back rising up all the way. He shot under the nearest thing - a small table - and hid there.

"Aikeeen," said Cowrie, standing up and moving over to kneel by the table. "Come on out of there."

"Dooo." Aiken was relieved to see a familiar face...but he didn't budge an inch.

"C'mon."

The nidoran responded by backing up away from Cowrie.

"Fine, be that way." Cowrie started to stand up.

She heard some sniggering coming from the humans' direction. "...Can't even control a small pokemon..." was a phrase she heard, followed by some more snickering.

Her face grew hot, and she refused to look in the humans' direction. She stopped trying to stand up and knelt back down, instead. "C'mon, Aiken, you're being silly. Now come out from there." She reached underneath the table, and hooked her arm around the nidoran. A few cries of protest came from Aiken, and he tried to get out of Cowrie's grasp, but she was able to pull him out from underneath the table.

"Nidoooo!" Aiken's back legs, which weren't being held by Cowrie, began to flail wildly as the nidoran tried to get free. He could still smell the scent of the ninetales morph - a stranger to him.

"He's a feisty thing," said Coal, watching the situation with a look that was a cross between one of amusement and one of concern.

Cowrie finally got Aiken to calm down a bit. She held him close, and then walked over to where Coal was sitting. "I dunno what's up with him," she said. "This is the first time I've seen him act like this...of course, I haven't had him for long, so I don't know if this is how he normally acts..."

"Don't worry about it." Coal reached out one hand, to allow the nidoran to sniff it. Aiken flinched back, causing Cowrie to automatically hold him a little tighter; but after a moment, the nidoran hesitantly stretched out his neck, and sniffed at the ninetales' hand.

"See? I'm not that scary, really," said Coal, with a small grin at the nidoran. He looked at Cowrie. That's not the first time someone else's pokemon has reacted like that to me. Maybe I'm just a little too imposing for some people."

"Perhaps." Cowrie looked the ninetales morph over - and she supposed that if she had been smaller, then perhaps he would appear imposing to her, as well.

"Well...you've showed me your pokemon, perhaps I should show you some of mine." Coal started to rummage through his pack. "It would only be fair-" He stopped when he heard some more laughing from the humans' direction.

"What?" Cowrie turned her head, to see if anything was the matter. Aiken squirmed in her grasp, and she let him down onto the ground.

"Hey look, you dropped your pokemon," exclaimed one of the humans, a young man. "Are you gonna need any help with picking it up?" He and a few of the other humans laughed, although a female trainer there slapped him on the arm and whispered something to him.

Cowrie felt her face go even hotter. She was about to say something, when Coal beat her to it. "Hey, we don't need any of your comments right now," he said to the one young man.

"And I don't need any of yours," retorted the youngster. "So why don't you shut up, you white-furred weirdo?"

"Hey!" said Cowrie, finally finding a chance to speak again. "Don't call him names!"

"Don't worry about him, Cowrie," said Coal. "He's just looking for trouble, is all..."

"I wasn't talking to you," said the young man, pointing his finger at Cowrie. "Though I might in a minute. So just shut up for now!"

Cowrie glowered at him, and backed up until her back touched the wall. She slid down onto the bench. Aiken jumped up onto the bench beside her, though she took little notice of him right now.

"Excuse me," Coal said to Cowrie, standing up. Cowrie watched him walk towards the humans (and she had a sudden thought, once she got a good view of his tails - how did he sit comfortably with all those tails?), and then stop once he was a few feet away from the offending human. He didn't pay any attention to any of the other humans, most of who were gaping and gawking at him.

He looked down at the young man. "I don't think it's wise to talk to ladies like you just did," he said, showing a few of his teeth. Coal wasn't too mad at the moment, actually - but he had learned that if he showed he teeth while talking to somebody, the person usually got the hint that he meant business.

"What lady?" scoffed the young man. "You mean her?" He waved his hand in Cowrie's direction.

"Yes, I mean her," said Coal, showing his teeth some more. "She may not look like the lady beside you, but she's still a lady."

Cowrie rubbed her arms. She felt extremely uncomfortable about all this. "Coal..." she said. "Maybe you shouldn't do that...it's okay, really."

Coal turned his head to look at her. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm almost done here."

"The hell you are!" said the young man, standing up and shoving Coal in the chest. The ninetales morph went sprawling back against the nearest wall, hitting his head against it.

"Coal!" Cowrie shouted out, at nearly the same time the one female shouted out "Jason!" at the young man.

Coal stood up, his hand going to the back of his head. He glared at the young man. "Getting violent isn't going to get you anywhere," he snarled.

The young man, dubbed Jason, sneered. "It got me somewhere," he said. "It allowed me to hit your ugly face." He laughed.

Coal refused to be affected by that remark. "Indeed," he said, snorting. A small fire seemed to burn in his eyes.

Cowrie stood up, not liking the looks of where this whole situation was going right now. Aiken nudged her tail, and she startled, until she looked behind her and noticed the nidoran. "Oh, Aiken..." she said, picking him up (being wary of the spines, of course).

"Now," said Coal. "I would like for you to apologize to her - " he gestured at Cowrie, " - for your insensitive remark about her."

"Coal, please," said Cowrie. "It's no big matter...really!"

I'm not going to apologize," said Jason. "Especially not if you tell me to do so!"

That wasn't the smartest remark for him to have made to the ninetales. In one, quick movement, Coal grabbed the young man by the front of his shirt. "Excuse me?" said Coal.

Jason seemed a bit flustered by this sudden action, but quickly regained his composure. "You heard what I said, you big freaking fox," said Jason. "Got a problem with that?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," replied Coal. He let go of Jason's shirt. "But I'm above attacking people just for their words." He started to walk away.

"Hey, get back here!" shouted Jason. "Don't just walk away from me!" He pushed aside his female companion, who had grabbed his arm and had sounded as though she were pleading for him to stop.

If she is, then that's a wise thing for her to do, thought Cowrie. Aiken squirmed in her arms, and she held onto him even tighter. "Nido!" he complained.

"Oh...sorry about that," said Cowrie, loosening her grip on the nido.

"ExCUSE me," said Jason, pulling a pokeball out from somewhere. "Don't you just walk away from me!" He pointed a finger at Coal's back.

The ninetales glanced back at him, but didn't do much more than that.

"Jason, please..." said the girl. "This isn't worth getting into a fight over."

"Yeah, right!" he said. "You can't just let those pokemon freaks walk over you like that!" He turned back to Coal. "And as for you..." He threw the pokeball onto the floor. The light that came from it coalesced into an ampharos.

"I know a way to settle this. How about a pokemon battle?"

Cowrie looked at the ampharos. It was stretching its limbs out right now - which didn't surprise Cowrie too much. She supposed that anything that had been cramped into a small space such as a pokeball was bound to want to stretch itself out whenever it came out.

Aiken jumped out of her arms. "Nido!" he cried, his spines rising up in defense.

"Hold up, Aiken, I don't think it's going to hurt you," said Cowrie. She face Coal. "You're not gonna accept it, are you?"

Coal's eyes had turned steely. "Nope," he said, ignoring the ampharos. "He's just trying to rile me up even more - I'm not going to fall for it."

"Good for you," said Cowrie, smiling.

"Oh, come on," said Jason. "Why don't you guys stop whispering to each other and tell me what you're going to do?"

"We're not whispering," said Cowrie.

"I...am not going to accept," said Coal. He walked out the door, leaving a protesting Jason behind.

"Hey, wait-!" he started to yell, and stopped when his female friend said something to him, again. Cowrie couldn't hear what was being said, but she did see the result of it - the ampharos being recalled back into its pokeball, and him stomping back to his side of the cabin. "Lousy bunch of..." And whatever word it was that he used, Cowrie couldn't tell, as his voice had gone so low as to be inaudible.

The girl caught Cowrie's eye, and smiled weakly. "Sorry about that," she said.

Cowrie shrugged indifferently. "Don't worry about it," she said. She went back to the bench where all her stuff was located, while the girl went to rejoin the humans. Cowrie sat down on the bench, and slumped against the wall. Her eyes went to the door. Coal hadn't come back inside yet...his stuff was still here, though, so Cowrie supposed he was probably going to come back in at some point.

It was getting late; the humans had struck up another conversation, and Cowrie listened to their talking (though she didn't try to pick up individual words). Aiken jumped up onto her, and nudged her softly. Cowrie lazily picked up a hand and stroked the fur on his head.

"Hey..." she said, before yawning. Aiken made a sound that resembled a purr, and then curled up in Cowrie's lap.

"Hehe, you've got the right idea, little guy," said Cowrie. She lay down on the bench, first getting Aiken off of her and setting him beside her. The nido let out a small complaint, but otherwise didn't fight it. Cowrie scratched him behind the ears, finding herself drifting off to sleep.

I wonder when Coal's coming back, she thought, just before she lost all sense of consciousness.

Cowrie awoke to sunlight and silence. She looked around, wondering where everybody was - the humans from the night before had gone already...and so had Coal, it seemed. Cowrie looked around for the ninetales morph, but he was nowhere in sight. And neither was any of his stuff.

What she did see was a strange pokeball lying next to her pack - along with a note. Cowrie picked up the note, and read it quietly to herself. "'Sorry I couldn't give this pokeball to you in person, but I had something urgent come up before I had a chance to give it to you. Don't open it inside....wait until you get outside.'"

The note was signed with Coal's name. "Huh, so Coal's gone and left without me, has he...?" Cowrie gingerly picked up the pokeball, and looked at it close up. It was just a regular pokeball, no fancy things on it. Cowrie's curiosity kicked in, and she suddenly wanted to see what it was that Coal had left her. "C'mon, Aiken, let's go outside," she said to her nido companion, who was sitting up and yawning beside her.

"Nido?" Aiken shook his head briskly, and then followed after Cowrie, who had gathered up her stuff and was walking out the door.

"It's a pokeball," Cowrie said to Aiken, holding it out so that the nidoran could sniff at it. "I dunno what's inside it, though...well, I guess I'll find out what it is in a second." She pushed the button on the ball, and it popped open, and...

"DORAN!" Aiken yelped, and hid behind Cowrie. What had come out of the pokeball was a growlithe - a rather ordinary-looking growlithe, with reddish fur. The growlithe wore a teal-colored collar, in which another note was tucked away.

"Huh," said Cowrie, coming up close to the growlithe. The fire-dog made no motions to move, and just gazed at Cowrie as she came closer. The furret morph held out her hand...the growlithe sniffed it, and wagged its tail. Cowrie gently took the note from the collar, and unfolded it to read it.

The handwriting was the same exact as the one that had been on the other note. "'This is just a little present, to help you with your pokemon training. Her name is Hanabi; take good care of her.' Well, isn't that nice of Coal..."

The growlithe - Hanabi - wagged her tail and barked softly, causing Aiken to tremble. "Oh, Aiken," said Cowrie, picking up the shaking rabbit pokemon. "You need to loosen up a bit." She scratched the nido between his ears.

"Nido..." How was Aiken supposed to 'loosen up', though, when there was a growlithe around here?

Cowrie recalled Hanabi, as it didn't look as though Aiken would relax as long as the dog was around. "You silly little rabbit," she said, cradling him carefully against her chest with one arm. "I wouldn't have let her hurt you, anyways." She grinned at the nidoran, and then started walking, looking for the path that would lead her out of this forest.