It was like if he saw and heard everything through a mist. Brighton asked him things but he didn't answer. Was he just a ghost? He heard himself say to Brighton to let him alone but he felt like if it was said by someone else. Brighton still said something to him but he just ignored it. How could that be possible? After some time Brighton gave up and went to bed. Craw lay down but it didn't matter. He could as well have still kept sitting. He knew he died. He looked to the window. It wasn't long till the day would come. He knew it wasn't just a dream. He put the blanket over his head. He didn't want to deal with anyone right now. He felt somehow that it was a real memory. The time passed and his thoughts were wandering. He didn't know what to do. He definitely died in the human world.
It must have been hours and he heard Brighton ask him something but he ignored him again. He heard Damion talk with Brighton and then the two left the room. He was crying. He didn't know what to think.
Then someone entered the room. Whoever it was went to his bed and slowly pulled away the blanket. It was Anubis.
Of course it was Anubis. He always worried about him. Now he would worry even more about Craw. He would worry about a dead human...
"Hey... What is wrong? Brighton said you suddenly screamed in your dream and said something about being dead. What happened?" Craw could see that the Lucario was worried but it was so far away he didn't really care.
"I died... I know it now... I died in the human world..."
Anubis looked to him. Craw couldn't tell what the Lucario was thinking. He sat down on the bed and just looked to him.
Craw just stared at the ceiling. He lifted a paw and looked at it. "I am dead..."
Anubis shook his head. "No. You are alive. At least here you are alive."
Craw looked to him. It was like if the Lucario wasn't real. "How can I be sure about that?"
Anubis looked to him. "You can't. But tell me something. The feelings you have and the worries you have. Your body and everything around you. Does it feel real to you?"
Craw blinked. Something about these words made sense to him. "Yeah."
Anubis smiled. "Then why does it matter if you died? You are alive now. You have something now. You can be happy and sad. You can live a life. Why does it matter what was before this life?"
Craw looked to the ceiling. "It is a part of my identity. I thought I was a human... But now? How can I be sure about it now? Maybe I am just a ghost..."
Anubis pulled him up and hugged him. "I think it is time for the truth Craw... I would have preferred to not tell you that but... I think there is no way around it. Craw. You are not anyone. You are THE Craw. The one and the same that saved our world. The one and the same that saved me countless times. You are the one that I called my brother. You are the one that died for our failures."
Craw looked to him. He didn't know what to say.
"You already had this identity crisis long ago. You couldn't sleep and barely ate something. You needed much time to get over it. But in the end you decided that this life is worth fighting for it." He looked to the Riolu.
Craw looked to him with a blank face. "I don't care. I don't care how many lives I lived. I don't care about anything."
Anubis had tears in his eyes. He sighed. "I see I can't help you... Maybe she can change your mind." He went to the door and opened it. Ariela entered the room and Anubis looked to the Riolu.
Craw looked at Ariela. Suddenly he felt different. Something in him changed about how he thought.
Anubis smiled weakly. "We told her everything. You two can talk freely." He left the room and closed the door.
Craw sat up and looked to the Kirlia. His mind was full of thoughts. He didn't know what to say.
Ariela looked at him. She had tears in her eyes but maybe it was only because of the headache she surely had after Serene's work. She slowly went to the bed and hugged him. "Everything is fine."
Craw started crying. He didn't know what else to do. He didn't know how long but it must have been long. His eyes and his lungs hurt as he finally stopped. The whole time Ariela did nothing else than sitting on the bed, holding him and softly stroking his head. Sometimes she softly told him everything would be fine. In the end it must have been an hour. As he finally stopped he looked to her. His view was blurry and still she was the most beautiful in the world to him.
Ariela softly smiled. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Craw looked down nervously. "I don't know..."
Ariela still just smiled. Her smile somehow made him feel better. "Then you maybe want to listen? I would like to tell you something. Nothing about how you should feel or any wise words that should change how you think. Just some things about me. Is that OK?"
Craw nodded. He closed his eyes and let her press him against her chest.
Ariela smiled. "I had a good childhood and a loving mother. My father was strict but most of the time he was fair and also cared about me. I always had many friends and I never lacked of anything. But there is something that only Kathrin knows about me till now. I think I told you about the ability that my evolution line has right? We can sense emotions about others. But there is one thing about me that makes me a bit different. The most of my line only have mediocre empathy ability. They can feel everyone's emotions but only if they want it. I on the other side... My abilities are much much stronger. I am a one in thousands case. My ability is so strong I was already able to feel everyone's emotions... Well I can't even remember the time I couldn't feel others emotions. But that isn't all. My ability is so strong in fact that I feel these emotions myself. It feels to me like if I have these emotions."
Craw looked to her nervously. "But then-"
"Yes. I feel what you feel right now. But please don't worry about it. I can control it. I said please don't worry." She giggled. "And there you are still worrying. Well it doesn't matter right now. Please listen." She softly stroked his head and softly kissed his forehead.
He blushed and everything felt a bit better.
She smiled. "I am OK and that is only thanks to you."
He looked to her confused.
She continued stroking his head softly and it made him calm down a bit. "At some point I started doubting myself. I felt everyone's feelings around me. I felt all their emotions. But at some point I didn't know anymore if it was their emotions or mine that I was feeling. I didn't even know if I had emotions myself. It was so bad in the end that the only reason for me to continue was to make others feel happy so I would feel happy. No don't even think about it. I am here for a different reason."
Craw was a bit surprised. He didn't even ask but she knew exactly what he was thinking.
"Do you remember the day Anubis held the speech in front of everyone explaining the new training system? Well I do remember it very well. I didn't go with the others like you but instead I went to one of the balconies and listened from there. This way I was out of reach of the others to feel their emotions. I sometimes do that to have some peace from the ability. Like I said I never really knew if an emotion I felt was my or the other's emotion and that made me really depressive. But then... that day as I first saw you... I don't know how to explain it different than that I fell in love with you. As you spoke up to the others telling them to calm down and not storm you two with requests about joining your team... You were so strong and still so calm. You knew exactly what you wanted and you knew how to explain it to others without hurting them. Also you look pretty handsome and I felt what I never before felt. At least not for myself. I felt how I started loving you. Then the next day as we were chosen for the same training group... It made me all happy and giddy and I knew it were my own emotions. I knew it wasn't someone around me feeling this way but only me. I finally could sense my own emotions."
She had tears in her eyes but Craw was sure it were tears of joy. "And as we were on our way to the training... As I felt this sudden rush of emotions... all this love... I didn't need to look to you to know that they came from you and I was so overwhelmed... I was so happy..." She pulled him even closer and pressed him onto her chest making him a blush. "You make me so happy... But I felt how conflicted you are... I didn't understood why... I thought you maybe were just shy. I mean I felt some shyness from you but there was something else that I couldn't understand... But now that I know about everything... now that I know about you... I think I understand it now." She softly loosened the embrace and looked to him. "I don't know what you are thinking. I don't know if I can help you... But what I know is how it feels to not be sure if you still are real or not. I know how it feels to have an identity crisis." She kissed him. It wasn't just one of the cheek or one on the forehead like before. It was a fully fledged kiss.
Craw didn't knew what was happening to him. He didn't know what he should think now but he knew that right here and right now he was happy. He felt truly in heaven right now. He nearly felt bad as Ariela slowly pulled back.
"Please Craw. I don't know how what goes on right now and I don't know how to help you with it but don't you think all this feels real enough to continue?" She looked at him with a mixture of uncertainty, sadness and hope to him.
Craw looked to her. For a moment he was just shocked by what he learned about her. He blinked. He realized he wanted to be here. Right now and right here he was happy. So he leaned forward and pulled her into another kiss. This time he pulled her tightly onto him and he softly held her head with one of his paws the other resting on her back. He wanted this moment to never end and so he just held the kiss. Only as both of them needed to take breath again they loosened their kiss. Both of them stared at each other for several minutes not saying a word. It was Craw who broke the silence. "I love you." Three simple words. None of them complicated to write or to speak. But they had such a deep meaning in them.
Ariela smiled and again tears of joy were in her eyes. "I love you too."
Even though he already knew it his heart made a jump. Nothing else mattered to him anymore. He just didn't care... He didn't care about being a human or a Pokémon. He didn't care that he had died two times. He didn't care about his role in this world. The only thing that mattered to him right now was her and he never would forget this. He knew he would never find a better reason to continue. He would never leave her and he would never again give up as long as she was on his side.
Together they sat there on his bed just being happy to be together holding each other and kissing each other. It needed some time for them to realize that there still was a world around them and as lunch time came closer they started talking again. First it was about their feelings but then it went to other topics like how they would continue. They decided that they wanted to be in a team together. Together with Brighton, Damion and Kathrin their dear friends. Craw felt sorry about how he treated his friends but Ariela assured him that they would understand if he would explain it to them. Then they talked about different things but mostly about Craw's fears and thoughts. They talked about their future and they talked about his past.
As they were nearly finished the door opened a bit and two yellow-black ears peaked in followed by Brighton's head. "Can we come in?"
Craw felt bad that his friend was asking that but somehow he was also happy that Brighton asked since he seemed to care enough to be thoughtful enough not to storm into the room where Craw and Ariela were sharing a very intimate moment not long ago. "Yeah." Craw was surprised by how calm and happy his voice sounded now.
Brighton, Damion and even Kathrin slowly came into the room.
Damion grinned as he saw the two sitting together on the bed seemingly amused by it while Kathrin seemed to be a bit annoyed.
Only Brighton was visibly happy to see that Craw was better now.
As he wanted to say something Craw lifted his paw. "Please let me say something first... I want to apologize how I acted before. I was an asshole. You are my friend and you wanted to help me but I didn't care at all... I should at least have listened to you..."
Brighton looked to him confused.
Craw sighed. "Please let me explain it..." He looked to Kathrin. "But first I have to know if she knows about the secret."
Kathrin glared at him. "I don't care for some lousy secret. I am only here to get Ariela so we can get back to the lessons."
Brighton gave her an angry face. "Hey. Don't act like if you are the most important here. Compared to Craw even I as prince are unimportant."
Craw sighed. "Please stop this. Brighton you are important. You are my friend and in my opinion there is nobody that is more important than anyone else." He looked to Ariela. "Would you go with her? If she wants to know it you two can go to miss Serene. We can talk later OK?"
Ariela smiled. "OK. Don't take too much time with explaining them OK?"
He cringed at the thought that she would leave him again even though he knew it wouldn't be for long. "OK." He softly took her and pulled her into another kiss.
Damion giggled and Brighton just grinned as they saw that. Only Kathrin seemed not very happy about it and rolled her eyes.
As they parted again Ariela smiled. Craw sighed at the sight. In his eyes it was the most beautiful smile in the world. Then she stood up and left together with Kathrin.
Craw stared at the closed door after they left for about a minute.
Brighton and Damion just sat on their beds seemingly not wanting to disturb him in his daydreaming.
Craw shook his head a bit. "Right... I am sorry."
Brighton shook his hand. "Nah. It's alright."
Craw sighed. "No, it isn't." He looked to the two. "You two are my friends and it is not OK that I treated you this way." Then he started to tell them about everything. He told them everything about his memory and about what Anubis told him. He only stopped as he was about to get to the part where Ariela told him her secret. He just didn't feel right telling them about it without Ariela giving her permission. "Let's say Ariela told me something that helped me getting over it or better said she helped me looking at it in a different light. I still have to think about it for a while and I will probably have some more things in future that I have to think about... But now... I am confident again. I am sorry I caused you such trouble..."
Brighton stood up with a blank face and went to Craw. Then he suddenly punched Craw hard into the stomach. "You are an idiot."
Damion was too shocked to say something and Craw winced holding his stomach nervously.
"We are your friends dummy. You should have told us from the beginning on what was going on in your stupid head." For a moment it looked like if Brighton was about to hit him again but instead he just hugged the Riolu. "We care for you too and I don't know how Damion thinks about it but for me it doesn't matter what you are. Be it a Riolu, be it a human or be it a ghost. You are my friend that is all that matters to me and whatever it is I will help you." He loosened the hug and smiled at him.
Craw looked at his friend and sighed. "You know? You never cease to surprise me."
Damion chuckled. "Well I don't really understand everything but I am really happy that you are fine again. Also you and Ariela seem to be official now that is kinda cool I think."
Brighton chuckled. "Yeah. Say... You two were alone quiet a while. Did you two have some fun?"
Now it was Craw who hit Brighton but only against the chest. "You are an idiot. No we didn't do anything."
Damion grinned. "Except for kissing and holding hands."
Craw rolled his eyes. "Change of topic. I am hungry. How about we grab something to eat?"
Damion and Brighton grinned. "OK."

At the lunch table they sat alone this time. Ariela and Kathrin were nowhere to be seen. Craw wondered if that was maybe because of miss Serene sealing her mind as well. After they ate they still had some time so they decided to take a walk. On their walk they talked a bit about what Craw missed out in the class. It seems as if instead of Anubis one of his team members named William continued the lesson and that they had learned some things about the actual act of making eggs. Craw thought a bit about it. He wondered if it was much different to what he learned in sex-ed back as he was still a human. Again his thoughts drifted to the thought that he has died. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts and sighed. "I wonder if there are many differences between humans and Pokémon at that..."
Brighton shrugged. "Probably. Hey, Craw... I wonder something... Did you ever do it? I mean... You know what I mean. As you were..."
Craw looked to him embarrassed but also a bit confused. "Hmm... I don't know... Maybe? I was definitely old enough..." He tried to think about it more. "Well I have some knowledge about it but that seems more to be of theoretical nature. Like from books and lessons..."
Damion looked at him surprised. "There are books about it?"
Craw chuckled and looked around. He went with the boys into an empty alley. "Well... If I remember right there was also some magazine's that are full of images... If you get what I mean."
Damion looked at him with big eyes and grinned widely. "If that also exist here?"
Brighton chuckled. "And suddenly he is all ears."
Craw chuckled. "Seems like we got a little pervert here."
Damion blushed widely. "T-That's not true!"
The two laughed.
Craw smiled. "Damion. It's only natural that you want to know more I think. But that is the wrong way to learn about it. These magazines... I remember that they were not really a good thing. They showed imaginary scenes and people got the wrong image of it. I think the lessons here are much more accurate."
Damion looked at him confused. "What?"
Craw sighed. "Well in the human society sex is something that isn't only done out of love or to get kids. Many also do it just to have fun."
Damion looked to him confused. "Uh well we learned about that already in the lesson... There are some Pokémon that do that too... I was confused about the word you used... People it was I think..."
Craw looked to him. "Oh... Well. Humans call a group of humans or the humans in general people... They don't say humans when they talk about humans they just say people."
Damion shook his head. "You humans are strange."
Brighton chuckled.
Craw rolled his eyes. "Yeah... sure. For me many things in the Pokémon world are strange too."
Damion looked to him and shrugged.
Brighton laughed. "Well we are similar but still have many differences."
The other two nodded.
They slowly made their way back to the guild. As they went back to the classroom some Pokémon asked him why Craw wasn't there but he kept it a secret. Instead of Anubis William a Togekiss was teaching them. He was a bit more cheerful and elaborated everything a bit. The boys seemed to be very interested now and he told them some things about how the different Pokémon species were mating like mating rituals and favored positions and stuff like that. Some of the boys started making jokes but as William suddenly got very angry they got quiet. "This is a serious topic. You shouldn't act like if this is funny. It is important to know your own species and your partners species favors. If you don't you could make your partner feel uncomfortable or even hurt her." The boys looked at each other embarrassed. William smiled calmly. "But if you know them and find a good middle course you will be able to feel the most pleasure possible." That made the boys listen to him again and so the lesson continued.

At dinner time the boys and girls looked at each other awkward. They all knew what the others learned about the last two days and probably wondered what the others thought. It was like if they all thought the other gender wanted only the one thing from them now.
Damion was similar and wherever he went he thought that someone was staring at his butt or crotch. He felt very uncomfortable.
Craw and Brighton on their side seemed to be much more relaxed.
Craw chuckled as the Buizel looked around nervous while sitting down. "You know that the girls probably think the same as you right now? If you keep calm they won't even notice you. They are much too busy glaring at the boys that are glaring back at them for the very same reason. Because they feel watched."
Damion sighed. "Why everything has to be so complicated?"
That was when Ariela and Kathrin sat down at their table. Ariela smiled and bend over the table to give Craw a kiss. He blushed a bit but quickly shook it off. "I love you."
Craw smirked. "I love you too."
Kathrin on her side seemed not to be that well. "I feel like if a horde of Tauros ran over my head..."
Craw and Brighton looked at each other and giggled. "That's exactly the same what we said. So you know everything now?"
Kathrin nodded. "Yeah." She started eating slowly.
Craw looked at her a bit confused. "Is there nothing about it that you want to talk about?"
Kathrin sighed. "Well I am very surprised but at the moment no. Not now... Maybe later."
Ariela smiled. "How about after dinner we meet in your room and talk all together about it a bit?"
Craw nodded. "Yeah I am fine with that." He sighed. He felt a bit uncomfortable that he had to talk about everything again since he had to think about it again then but he also knew it was necessary. He looked to Ariela since he knew she probably sensed how he was feeling.
Ariela looked to him a bit concerned but she ate.
Craw smiled. "It is fine really."
After a pretty quiet dinner the five of them went into Craw's, Brighton's and Damion's room. After they closed the door Kathrin went to Craw and hit him into the stomach. "Damn you are annoying."
Craw looked to her confused and nervous holding his belly. If that continues I will have a much intense blue belly tomorrow he thought. "Thanks."
Kathrin sighed and sat onto a bed. "So would you now tell me something? Why did Ariela and I have to go through this hell of a headache? I was fine without knowing about this secret."
Craw sighed. "Well I had a flashback if you want to say so. I remembered that I died as human. That caused an identity crisis and only Ariela was able to get me out of it..." He blushed a bit as he started to explain everything more detailed.
The other four listened to him calmly. Even Kathrin seemed to listen carefully.
As Craw finished he leaned back and looked to the four.
Brighton looked to him seemingly thinking about something.
Kathrin played with the end of a blanket a bit but also seemed to think about it.
Ariela just calmly smiled and held Craw's paw.
Damion was the first who said something. He jumped from his bed and stretched himself. "I am not the smartest but even I can see that you are worried about your role in this world and about your past. But honestly who cares? You are here right now and you are our friend. We will go with you through that and we won't judge you for being a human. Not even for being the same Craw as the one that everyone thinks has caused a war. You are a good Pokémon and you deserve to be happy too. Now stop worrying so much and start enjoy your second chance."
Craw sighed and looked at him. "But what if that was the reason I failed at causing peace in the world as I was in this world the first time?"
Damion shrugged. "Who cares? Only you can decide over your life. If you can help the Pokémon world then its good but if not it is not your fault. Nobody can expect you to save our world alone and without any help. So let us help you. Don't weight all your burden onto yourself..."
Craw looked at the Buizel surprised.
Kathrin sighed. "Wow. You are smarter than you look like."
Damion blushed and threw a pillow at the Eevee. "Shut up."
Ariela giggled and looked at the Buizel. "Good to see that you got over your fear of girls."
He squeaked and blushed sitting back onto the bed nervously.
Brighton laughed. "And there it's back."
All of them except for Damion laughed.
Ariela giggled. "You really don't need to worry."
Kathrin chuckled evil. "Yeah as if you would have anything interesting on you."
Ariela glared at Kathrin. "No I actually meant something else. Sure. Some girls maybe look at you the way you think but if they do you shouldn't be so embarrassed. You should rather be proud. After all they seem to think that you are attractive enough to be interested into you."
Damion blushed. "R-Really?"
Brighton chuckled. "Hey Kathrin. You ever looked at any boy that way?"
Kathrin growled angrily. "No, I don't look at any male that way and even if I would I wouldn't tell you about it."
All of them laughed.

Author's note: I don't know why but this chapter nearly wrote itself. Here we got some more information about Craw's background and about his struggles with his new life.

Still searching for a beta reader.