Here is Chapter 10 of Temple of the Fox, and we're now into the double digits! That's pretty exciting. I definitely had a great time writing this chapter, and I hope you guys have a great time reading it.

In fact, I'd call this my favorite chapter of the story thus far. I very much enjoyed describing the city of Skylock. Picture Rogueport from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, but with less crime. That's how Skylock looks in my mind.

Enjoy the chapter!

BRADLEY CLARION

The feeling of being gently sung to sleep was peaceful and pleasant. The nightmare I soon found myself in, however, was not.

At first, I found myself in the manor's driveway again. I sighed as I realized that this was the third time I'd had this dream, and both of the previous times, the code to open the garage door had been the same: 12213119. A seemingly innocuous string of numbers that didn't appear to go together at all.

I bet it's the same this time too, I thought. I silently cursed my subconscious for giving me the same dream over and over again. It was getting rather boring, not to mention frustrating, to be constantly stymied from my objective: Learn more about this mansion and why I keep finding myself here.

Sure enough, I typed in the same code that I'd given the previous two times, and the door opened. I walked inside the garage and saw the same number of cars. Six spaces were taken, six were not. All of the cars were luxury brands, which wasn't too surprising, since this was a mansion after all.

I then remembered that the second time I'd been here, I'd been able to venture further into the mansion than I had the first time. Perhaps this meant that this time, I'd be able to go past the garage.

That would certainly keep with the pattern.

I made my way over to the door into the house, keeping on my tiptoes. It was as if I were trying not to pop a balloon on the ground, as if that would wake me up from this dream.

As I put my hand to the knob, everything seemed to freeze in time. I very slowly turned the knob to the right in order to open the door...no dice.

I groaned, expecting to wake up from the dream right then and there. It would be vastly preferable to what happened next.

"Ah, ha ha ha, here you are!"

My heart skipped several beats as I heard one of the most sinister voices imaginable say those words. I'm one of those people who is prone to jump scares, and it's for that reason that I was never a fan of hide-and-seek as a child.

This isn't a game of hide-and-seek. I bet it's a lot darker than that.

As I looked around the garage, I was unable to find any other figure in the area with me. Just the same six cars, Lexus and Acura and Mercedes...and then the scene changed.

I found myself falling downwards. Unlike the hole I'd recently plunged many miles down, this one wasn't dark; it was almost psychedelic with the purples and yellows and blues and reds that all blended with one another and made my head spin.

While I fell, I heard laughter, but it wasn't a playful type of laughter, not the laughter of a group of Alolan Vulpix playing a game of tag.

No, this was an evil laughter. The laugh was extremely deep and ominous, much like the chiming of a grandfather clock, only a hundred times louder and lower-pitched.

And yet, somehow not deafening. My ears didn't hurt as I heard the laugh, but that didn't make it pleasant by any means.

"Ha, ha, ha...Bradley Clarion. Welcome to my domain".

Who...who the hell are you? And where the hell am I?

The sensation of falling was even more unpleasant than it had been in the Shaft. My ears popped more and more frequently the further I fell, until...I eventually stopped falling.

I sat suspended in midair, over the psychedelic void. It was then that everything started spinning in one direction, like a running washing machine or a runaway merry-go-round. It made me want to throw up.

"Where...am I?" I blurted out. I was probably entering dangerous waters here, but I was morbidly curious.

There was that awful laughter again, and then the voice boomed out, "Welcome to my domain, Bradley Clarion! Prepare to meet your end!"

For a second, the rainbow of bright colors faded, and I was sitting on blackness. And then, with a sound much like the snapping of fingers, I fell to the ground.

Ouch. I landed hard on my tailbone, fortunately not hard enough to break it, but it was still pretty painful. It was a hard surface, much like stone. In fact, it probably was stone.

For a few moments, I just sat there in silence; the landing had knocked the wind out of me. But then I remembered what the sinister voice had said: Prepare to meet your end!

Was it even possible to die in a dream, I wondered? I definitely didn't want to find out the hard way, so I jumped to my feet and staggered across the stone floor, trying to get away from the enemy.

I was only about ten feet from a door, so I ran to it and pounded, trying to break it down (there was no handle or knob, at least not on this side of the door). Unfortunately, my efforts to do so were in vain; the door seemed to be rusted shut, or else somehow magically sealed.

"Ha, ha, ha...you think you can get out of here? Nope, all the doors are sealed; you are my captive audience, and I do mean captive".

Now that I looked back at the room I was in, I saw that it was absolutely gargantuan; the ceiling was almost too high to make out, and there were no windows. It was relatively dark in the cavernous room, but I could still see the being before me; how could I not?

I had now found the source of the voice, and it was horrifying.

A massive dragon, at least a hundred feet long, stood over me. His scales were in an alternating pattern of three colors (mustard yellow, crimson red, and indigo). They looked beautiful, but much like with poison dart frogs in the rainforest, "beautiful" in nature very often means "deadly".

And there was no doubt that this dragon was extremely deadly.

The most terrifying part of this dragon's appearance were his eyes. They were jet black, and I do mean pure black. There were no whites to his eyes, no pupils, just dead black voids.

These voids shone with pure hatred, pure essence of death and destruction. The dragon opened his mouth, revealing razor-sharp teeth that were a good two or three feet long. He gnashed his teeth together, as though he were furious at me.

Why should he be furious at me? What did I do to you?

"Know my power!"

With that battle cry, the dragon retracted his chest and then breathed out a beam of glacial blue fire.

I instinctively flinched, and, to my surprise, the dragon did not circle around and try to hit me with the fire. It seemed to have been a tactic meant to simply startle me, rather than cause me harm. Of course, I had no doubt that he did mean to cause me a great deal of harm.

The putrid, sulfuric stench of the blue fire was overwhelming my senses, making me feel like I would suffocate. I was practically drowning in the odor; it was filling my nose, my mouth, my lungs…

...and then it disappeared. The stench, that is. The dragon was still very much visible, and he was laughing at me.

"Ha, ha, ha, well...turns out Arceus' Golden Boy Bradley Clarion isn't such a golden boy after all! I am Matamoros, the Conqueror, the great equalizer!"

So this is Matamoros. The threat Arceus told me about when I dreamed of Spear Pillar. This is what we're up against.

Even though I knew it was only a dream, it was still very frightening to be in the same room with Matamoros, no matter how large a room it was. I wondered if he knew where I was right now.

"You might be wondering, Bradley, why I have not killed you right now. It is possible to die in a dream, you know".

Oh, shit. Is he going to kill me now?

Jacob had told me that going down the Shaft was the only way I could live. But what good would that be if the Conqueror killed me right now?

"Well, there are two reasons for this" Matamoros continued, speaking casually, as though we were two patrons at an ice cream parlor just having a conversation. "The first of these is that I cannot, as I am currently imprisoned by Arceus and the four Elemental Deities".

Everyone knew the story of the four Elemental Deities; they were responsible for helping to create the four basic elements of the world. Yes, the scientists had discovered dozens of others, but when it came down to it, everything was either water, fire, wind, or earth.

The four Elemental Deities were Moltres (fire), Articuno (water), Ho-oh (Wind), and Mewtwo (Earth). There was only one of each in the whole universe, and they were said to live in the heavens and occasionally appear on Earth. That hadn't happened in the lifetime of anyone I knew, however.

"However", Matamoros continued, "their hold on me is weakening by the day. Sooner or later, I will break free, and then I will consume this world into darkness and flames".

You don't want to fuck with this guy.

"The other reason I have not killed you yet is a rather simple one. I'd like to toy with you for a little while longer". After saying that, the dragon let out a cruel laugh, followed by a burst of steam from his nostrils that smelled no better than the blue fire.

I instinctively flinched at the sound, and it resulted in chills running down my spine. It might sound a bit cliche, but this was legitimately bone-chilling, being in the dragon's lair with Matamoros, even if it was only just a dream.

Wait a minute...just a dream. I can wake up at will...can't I?

Even though my eyes were open inside the dream, I made a concerted effort to wake up, to focus all my brainpower on doing so. I didn't want to worry about being in the same room as the Conqueror any longer.

As I did so, I felt someone gently nudge me on the shoulder. This happened twice; the first time was gentle, and the second was not so gentle. Then, in a rather feminine voice:

"Wake up, Braixen! Are you okay?"

Wait a minute...she's calling me Braixen? Lady, the name is BRADLEY.

I groaned at having been woken up so suddenly. Every bone in my body ached...and it was then that I realized I had a different bone structure than I had when I'd been forced asleep.

"M...morning" I replied groggily.

"There you are! How did you get here?"

It was all coming rushing back to me...the fall down the Shaft, the swim in frigid, filthy water, and then being sung to sleep. But I didn't know if I should tell this girl that right away.

Looking upwards, I saw the face of a Zoroark with a blood-red ponytail, dark gray fur bordering on black, and brutal-looking teal eyes. You know, the usual color scheme for that species of Pokemon. Judging by her voice and the way she looked, this one was a female, and probably about my age as well.

"I don't...actually, yeah, I know. First of all, my name's not Braixen". I weighed each word carefully, trying not to give away too much information. Even though I was still pretty out of it, I kept my guard up to some extent.

"What is it?" the female Zoroark asked me, sounding slightly indignant. It was in a tone of voice that I knew meant business; she was determined to learn my name.

I considered giving a false name, but I couldn't think of any that would sound plausible. If I'd said something like John Smith, for instance, that was too generic a name to be considered believable.

Instead I told her the truth, including, perhaps against my own better judgment, my last name. In a croaky voice, I replied with, "Bradley. Bradley Clarion. Fell down...couldn't get back up again".

For a moment, I worried that the Zoroark would use this information to hurt me somehow. However, if this was her intention, she gave no indication of it; rather, she sat down next to me and said, "It's fine. It's all going to be okay. Let's get you out of this place".

Well, that's one thing I can't argue with, I thought to myself. My fur felt very damp from lying down on the cold, wet stone of the clock tower basement.

Wait a minute...FUR?

As the Zoroark helped me stand up by offering her claw for me to grab, I took a look down at my legs. My hiking boots, which I'd been wearing when I had first fallen into the Shaft, had fallen off my feet. Taking a look behind me, I saw that they looked torn and broken, clearly no longer able to fit my...new feet.

As a human, I'd been fair-skinned, but I was clearly no longer a human. My feet were furry as well, and they were dark brown in color. The rest of my legs were made up of black fur.

"Careful, Clarion!" the Zoroark exclaimed as I turned around. "You almost hit me with your tail!"

With my...wait, what now?

I turned my head back as far as it would go, and I saw that I now had a tail. It was made of thick, bushy yellow fur with a fiery orange tip at the end...much like a Braixen's tail.

Okay, so she wasn't kidding when she was calling me Braixen. I really am a Braixen now.

I recalled the painting known as Braixen's Curse, picturing the horribly grotesque image of a young man morphing into a member of that Pokemon species. It looked excruciatingly painful, and I was very grateful that I hadn't been awake to experience it for myself.

"Sorry" I replied to Zoroark. "I didn't...realize I had a tail".

The Zoroark rolled her eyes. "What do you mean? You look like you're around my age, how could you not realize that you had a tail?"

When I frowned at her, she threw her arms up, shrugging widely. "I'm seventeen, and you look like you're in that ballpark. More importantly, what are you doing down here? This is no place to get your fur all matted up like that!"

As I looked around the room I was in, I saw that there was a puddle on the floor, in which I could see my reflection. I saw that I did indeed have the face of a Braixen now. Whatever transformative process I had been subjected to, it was now complete.

"I don't know how I ended up here," I told her. That wasn't entirely a lie, as something told me I wasn't as deep underground as the long fall down the Shaft would have suggested.

Still, the Zoroark appeared to be unimpressed. "I bet you snuck in here while you were drunk and blacked out. Were you partying too hard last night?"

Partying? Come on, now...the last few days have been anything but a party for me.

I shook my head. "I'll explain later".

Taking steps as a Braixen was hard at first; I was rather wobbly on my new feet, although I tried not to be. I didn't want to lend any credence to this Zoroark's theory that I had been inebriated.

"So what's your name?" I decided to ask her as she led me up the stairs of the clock tower.

"It's Jenna. Jenna Izola" she responded. "And I came down here because I felt a strange urge to".

Huh. That's weird.

"Whatever" Jenna told me. "I'll carry you home, you must live around Skylock. Although I've never seen you before".

Skylock? That's a weird name for a place.

"You don't have to carry me," I told her. "I can walk on my own two feet. I'm not hungover".

"Fine. Have it your way".

Jenna led me up a stairwell, past several gears, and into one of the grandest old buildings I'd ever seen. It's no secret that I was very fascinated by ancient architecture, and, while it wasn't quite as impressive as the Temple of the Fox, this structure was pretty grand nonetheless.

She turned towards me once I was at the top of the stairs. "Do you honestly not know where you are?"

I nodded, then wondered if I should have shaken my head instead. "I do not know where I am. This place seems completely foreign to me".

Jenna rolled her eyes. "Well, you're in Skylock, on the continent of Ilion. This is the Skylock Clock Tower, the tallest building in town. Nothing else can be built higher than six stories".

When I had been in school, I'd learned about the various continents in the world of Pokemon. There was my native Sinnoh, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Alola, Galar, as well as a few others. But I'd never heard of Ilion.

"Ilion?" I replied, raising my tone at the end so as to put it in the form of a question.

Jenna nodded. "Please don't tell me that you don't know where Ilion is! In that case, maybe you really are drunk".

Jesus Christ, she thinks I'm drunk without any reasons other than not knowing where I am! Talk about judgmental!

I did have to admit that the clock tower was pretty grand. All those gears worked together to power the clock, which, a few seconds later, began chiming, heralding a new hour.

Much like I had before being put to sleep, I counted the chimes. There were ten of them. So it's been roughly six hours.

Somehow, I felt as though it had been a lot longer than that. This probably had something to do with just how much my new Braixen bones ached.

The ceiling, which I could make out easily thanks to my enhanced vision as a Pokemon, was well over a hundred feet above us. If what Jenna said about the six-story limit was true, this tower must really, well, tower over the city.

"I'm completely sober," I promised her. "I just found myself in the basement of the clock tower. I'll explain more later".

I had the sense that when I did have to explain later, it would be very unpleasant, akin to getting teeth pulled. I very much dreaded the time for that coming.

Fortunately, it hadn't arrived yet, as Jenna seemed satisfied, at least for now.

"Okay then" she replied, still sounding somewhat skeptical about my story. "You'd better follow me, then. Welcome to Skylock".

When Jenna opened the door leading outside, I braced to be blinded by bright sunlight. After all, I no longer had my sunglasses with me, and I'd been in the middle of a steaming hot jungle just yesterday.

Imagine my surprise when I found that it was chilly, gray, windy, and drizzling. Those were the first things I processed upon stepping outside the clock tower.

I let out an audible "wow" as soon as I saw the square.

The plaza was very spacious, much like an urban park, except that there was nothing green to be seen. It was lined with several businesses and what appeared to be townhouses.

In the middle of the square was a large fountain. Water spouted out of the foreheads of a duo of a Lucario and a Riolu. Both of these were in statue form, of course; otherwise it would have been highly disturbing.

"So this is Central Square" Jenna told me. "There are often people and Pokemon milling around, but not today, thanks to the weather. So don't expect the streets to be too crowded".

All of the buildings appeared to be made out of simple materials, such as stone and wood. If you'd told me that the city of Skylock had been around since the very beginning of time, I might have believed you; it certainly looked ancient.

Jenna led me through the square and into the nearby streets of Skylock. Even though she'd told me that it was unlikely to be jam-packed, there were quite a few people as well as Pokemon in the streets and sidewalks. Clearly, she had been wrong.

"I mean, it's not too surprising, I suppose" the Zoroark girl said eventually as we were weaving our way in and out of pedestrian traffic. "The Carnival is next week, after all".

"What Carnival?" I asked her, a bit confused. I knew what a carnival was, of course, but I had never been to one, at least not that I could remember. They just didn't have that sort of thing in the Pastoria City area of Sinnoh.

"It's pretty fun," Jenna replied. "They usually have colored powder that they throw on each other, and a parade with colorful floats. This is the only time of year that it's colorful, though".

To some people, the city of Skylock would have looked drab and depressing. It was certainly the former; there was no denying that. However, there was something about how rustic the whole place seemed that made it almost...comforting.

We entered a neighborhood where the streets were very narrow; while there had been Ponyta-drawn carriages in the wider streets, there weren't any here, presumably because there wouldn't be enough space.

"This neighborhood is called the Narrows" the Zoroark girl told me. "You can probably guess why it's called that".

Rather than laughing, however, I became acutely aware of the feeling of being watched. It's rarely a pleasant one, and this time was no exception; I felt the glare of several dozen people and Pokemon on me.

Although I wasn't a Lucario, so I couldn't read or use aura, I could tell when there were a lot of people in one place who seemed to despise me. I whispered in Jenna's ear, "Why do they seem to hate me so much?"

Jenna seemed to think about it for a second or two, then whispered back, "There aren't any other Braixen who live here, and the citizens of Skylock are naturally skeptical of newcomers. That's just the way we are".

"So what do we do about it?" I asked her, desperate for an answer.

"Just act natural. Don't draw any more attention to yourself than there has to be. From here on out, let me do most of the talking".

I didn't protest; I had little desire to do so. Instead I kept walking in Jenna's wake, allowing her to show me around town.

Before we were out of the Narrows, we entered another alleyway that seemed to be lined entirely with tourist shops. Not that most tourists would want to visit this place. At one point, we stopped at a street corner so that I could admire all the storefronts. Since there was nobody else in the immediate vicinity, I could stand there and not draw too much hatred towards myself.

One corner on the far side held a rug stall, selling rugs and carpets of many different designs. The other corner on the far side had a stand selling powder in a rainbow of colors, presumably for throwing on one another during the carnival. But it was the corner closest to us that grabbed my attention and did not let go.

This corner held a wide variety of masks. Black and red, black and green, black and blue, black and white...see the theme here?

"Man, someone really likes the color black" I said.

Jenna rolled her eyes yet again. "Those are masks for the carnival, Bradley. They say that black masks help to ward off evil or whatever...but it doesn't really matter, because I never believed that".

There was something about the masks that reminded me of my recent dream, and I had to think for a few seconds before it came to me.

Yes...the eyes of Matamoros. They're black voids, no color to them at all. Just like the eyepieces for the masks.

"This place is pretty cool," I told Jenna, trying to distract myself from that disturbing train of thought. "I'd honestly love to go to the carnival with you".

Jesus Christ, why did I say that out loud?

"Eh, I honestly think it's rather overrated".

I waited for more information on why Jenna thought the carnival was overrated, but I didn't say anything, and she didn't continue. Instead, she pointed me in another direction and began leading me away from the street corner with all the carnival stalls.

We passed through a bazaar of sorts, and this is when I became very nervous. Recalling what Jenna had told me before, I tried to walk as casually as possible, not drawing attention to myself, but it's easy enough to give that advice when you're not the one having to take it.

Fortunately, the bazaar wasn't very active today. Under most of the umbrellas, there was nobody there selling goods. When I brought this up to Jenna, she said, "That's because they keep the umbrellas there, but when it rains, like today, they don't have an official Market Day. But vendors are free to sell their wares, they just don't have to".

Personally, I didn't see why they needed to cancel Market Day just for the rain. The umbrellas seemed pretty sturdy, and they covered most of the square, meaning that people walking wouldn't get too wet.

Even though I was still harboring a great deal of nervousness about being a newcomer to Skylock, I tried to keep myself excited about what I was experiencing. I figured that this was a good way to cope with the fear.

Isn't this amazing? I'm walking through an actual open-air market!

...and then the fear took over again. Having turned into a Braixen can be pretty nerve-wracking, and even though I was quickly adjusting to my new body, I didn't want to tell Jenna yet what had happened to me. That can wait until I trust her more.

"We're getting close to my house," Jenna told me. "We're nearing the ocean".

Sure enough, the air started smelling like a mixture of salt and seaweed. I could also hear the sound of waves crashing against the shoreline.

After another turn, we reached the street leading along the beach. And it was nothing like I had pictured it.

The "beach", if you could even call it that, was very rocky and narrow. It was basically five feet of seaweed-covered rocks that, I had no doubt, would be underwater at high tide. It certainly smelled like low tide right now - not a good smell in the least.

Unlike most beach boardwalks that people would travel to for fun, there were no vendors offering tropical fruit, ice cream, or food. There were no brochures for fun activities on the ocean, not that this ocean seemed very hospitable to them.

Instead, there was just a series of piers along the tiny, pitiful little beach that reached out over the water. There were a series of small fishing vessels in the harbor, and every spot was taken. Clearly it was too risky to go out into the open ocean today.

The ocean was gray and looked very menacing. The waves were crashing against the five-foot wall so hard that water was splashing upwards and wetting the edge of the boardwalk.

"You don't want to fall in" Jenna told me, almost as if she were echoing my own thoughts on purpose. "That water is really, really cold this time of year, not to mention rough".

She didn't need to tell me the latter; the waves had white caps. I didn't know too much about sailing, but I knew that white caps were bad news.

"Wasn't planning on it" I replied. I was also thinking about how hard it would be to get the water out of my new fur.

Fur. I can't believe I'm a Braixen now.

For the last quarter mile of the route to Jenna's house, we were right next to the boardwalk and could see out into the foggy day. There was no sign of any other land, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

Every so often, a wave splashed against the boardwalk, and I instinctively flinched away from it. Jenna even chuckled the fourth time I did this, which I found very irritating.

I can't be too irritated with her, though, I reminded myself. She might have saved my life back there. And she's giving me a place to stay...at least, I really hope she is.

"We're here" Jenna said eventually. I'd been too busy staring out into the fog to see what she meant.

We had arrived at an average-sized two-story home right next to the pier. It was made up of wood and stone, just like most of the buildings in Skylock. As such, it was a nondescript color, not the most visually appealing house.

"This is where I live" the Zoroark girl told me. "It's not much...but it's home, at least to me".

As it turned out, the front door was unlocked, so she let me in, the door making a creaking noise as it swung open.

As soon as we entered the house, I saw that there were two main rooms on the ground floor. There was a large living room, which is the room we had entered into, and there was also an alcove on the other side of the house that appeared to be a kitchen and dining room.

Doesn't look like a bad place to eat meals, I thought. There's a pretty nice view of the ocean right there.

"Mom!" Jenna shouted. "I'm home!"

A Zoroark lady, maybe in her mid-forties, entered the living room from the top of the stairs. She had the unmistakable air of someone who had to get a job done in a hurry, and carried herself as though having to speak to us were a major inconvenience.

Judging by the family resemblance, and the fact that she'd responded to "Mom", this was definitely Jenna's mother.

"Welcome back, Jenna" her mother said. Turning to me, she asked, "Who are you, Braixen, and what are you doing here?"

I gulped. Even though I should have mentally prepared myself for this, I hadn't. I'd been too preoccupied with the simple beauty of Skylock and the fact that I was now a Pokemon.

Jenna spoke up first. "Mom, this is Bradley...uh, what did you say your last name was?"

"It's Clarion. Bradley Clarion".

"Yes. This is Bradley Clarion, and I found him in the basement of the clock tower next to Central Square. He doesn't seem to know where he is".

Mrs. Izola raised an eyebrow. "So he doesn't know where he is. A likely story, sounds like a drunkard, or else some kind of con man".

"No, he's not," Jenna replied. "He's a Braixen who needs help. I want to take him in for a while, help him get back on his feet and figure out how he got here".

Mrs. Izola seemed to weigh the question for a long time. There was an awkward silence, only broken by the howling of the wind outside. "We'd definitely need to set a lot of conditions. You know that this town doesn't take kindly to outsiders".

"I know, Mom".

"He'd have to stay in the guest room, and ideally leave the house as little as possible. It's really not going to be easy for us to take someone else under our wing".

Stay in the house the whole time? Well, if that's the price I have to pay, then so be it. I'm not going to jeopardize my safety in this town. I care too much about having a place to stay.

"Please, Mom. I don't ask for much, and he can leave after the carnival".

Great. She's negotiating it down to a week.

I'll admit that I didn't know too much about persuasion, but I was fairly sure that it was never the best move to compromise until you absolutely had to. Jenna seemed to be completely dropping the ball, and I was going to pay the price.

Yeah, I might figure out how I got here in less than a week. But I also might not, and if I had to leave this place before I was ready, I could be in a world of trouble.

Finally, Mrs. Izola smiled. "I suppose that's okay, but the conditions I listed still apply. He will need to be extremely careful whenever he leaves the house".

I finally spoke up. "I'll be on my best behavior while I'm here, I promise. And I won't take any unnecessary risks. I'm not that kind of per-, I mean, Braixen anyway".

Oh shit, I just slipped up! Did I just give it all away?

For a few terrifying seconds, nothing was said. Then, Mrs. Izola spoke up. "Okay, you can stay, but you have to leave after the carnival is over. That's next week".

I nodded, accepting that until I left the town of Skylock and the home of Jenna Izola, I would be on a very short leash indeed.

"Okay. Go prepare the guest room for Bradley, please. And Bradley, you can help with that".

Jenna, after nodding to show that she was willing to perform the task she had been given, led me up a series of creaky stairs that I had little trust in. Then, she showed me to the guest bedroom, which was the smallest one.

I groaned internally. I would have to be very careful whenever I got out of the twin bed in this room, because the ceiling was slanted and only two or three feet above the bed. There was also a bedside cabinet, although there was no need for a dresser, since Pokemon didn't wear clothes.

I helped Jenna make the bed for me, assisting in laying out the sheets and pillow. Once that was over, I sat down on top of the sheets, Jenna looking at me from the doorway.

"Are you tired?" she asked me.

At first, my inclination would be to shake my head and say no. However, I realized that I felt exhausted from the events of this morning and could definitely use a nap.

"You can sleep until lunch. Still over an hour away. There are special towels for Pokemon to dry off with; since we're all Zoroarks, we use them".

I nodded. I'd seen Pokemon use those towels back in Sinnoh, but I'd never used one myself, for obvious reasons. But now I would have to.

"I'll call for you when lunch is ready," Jenna told me before closing the door and leaving to go downstairs, possibly to help her mother prepare lunch.

After drying myself off with the special towel, I sat back down on my new bed and got underneath the covers. It was surprisingly comfortable, even though it looked and felt very firm.

Really, this isn't a bad house. If you want to live simply, then I can see why you might choose a place like this.

That carnival sounds pretty awesome, though. If I stay here until next week, I definitely want to see what it's all about.

Little did I know, I would not get to attend the carnival. In fact, I wouldn't get to enjoy my new home for very long.

I laid back against the pillow and closed my eyes. It didn't take long to go to sleep.

There we go! By a very narrow margin, this missed out on being the longest chapter of the story to date. Given its length, I'm surprised I wrote it so quickly. One word: Quarantine.

I've decided that every ten chapters, I'll go over the current stats for the story. So here we go:

Reviews: 27

Favorites: 27

Followers: 53

Views: 3,065

Words: 54,076

I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! See you guys next time!