Chapter Six: Cursed Gift.

"Ohh… why did I open my mouth?"

(I'm sorry Chris. I didn't know it would hurt so much.)

Chris rubbed what looked like her head. He was seeing triple, but he must have guessed correctly – he was stroking her, though rather clumsily.

"Is this gift thing developed now?"

(More or less. You… can mentally translate pokemon language, through your telepathic gift. But…)

"What?"

(Take on too much, you go into a coma.)

"How much is too much?"

(Trying to do too much at once… dealing with several pokemon… I'm going to shield you, until you become more adept, if too many try to talk to you. Luckily, the odds of that coma drop as time passes, even if you don't become even more adept, since you'll heal…)

"What about the Vulpix?"

(His name's Mathrara. While you were out, I let him lose, and filled him in. He said he'd like to travel with us. Even after I offered him release – I told him I could persuade you, he said no.)

"Cool."

(He's also a prankster. Apparently, he's mainly coming because the wounds he received were from the local pokemon. They beat him up.)

"Ouch."

A different voice cut in, (it wasn't fair. I didn't do THAT much! )

Chris smiled weakly, still laying down. "Well, that at least worked. Thanks Kani."

(My pleasure, I think.)

(What's he talking about? )

"She said that I can now understand pokemon language, more or less."

(It's complicated.)

(Wha… he understands me? )

"Yes."

(That's a first.)

Chris grinned. The name rang a bell… now he had an idea of what it WAS that reminded him. "Mathrara… would you be named for the prankster fox species?"

(Oh, crud. You know about that? )

"I read a lot. Including mythology. That was one of my favorite topics… oww…"

(What DID you do? )

(Forced his telepathy, in a way. I have a hard time explaining it. Its… like he understands pokemon… but at the same time, it's his telepathy that's doing the work…)

(I've never heard of that stuff before. Or the Ninetales that raised me. She never said anything about a human able to do THAT. Or a pokemon that knows something without knowing HOW.)

"How do you think we feel? I don't know if Kani's just special, or if she's possessed, or…" Chris trailed off, as he began to get a stabbing pain between his eyes.

(I'm even worse off than him. I don't know where ANY of this is coming from. Do you know how frustrating it is? )

(I guess that's annoying. Anyway… aww… how sweet! What a nice guy your trainer is. Pity he doesn't have a girlfriend.)

Chris ignored the pain as he gave Kani a look. "What? KANI!"

(I'm going to take a nap now. So are you.)

Chris tried to say "no", but he felt something touch his mind, and he fell asleep.


Chris woke up again, feeling a fire nearby. He backed away (slightly panicked), trying to find it, only to encounter fur. Mathrara apparently generated enough heat to 'feel' like a fire. "Not funny."

(It is.)

He got up (the triple vision was gone, as was the headache), and slowly began to pack everything up. There wasn't a reason to stick around, anymore. Kani was still asleep. "Mathrara?"

(Yes? )

"Why are you still here? I thought you'd like to leave."

(Well, you seem like a nice guy. From what Kani told me, you'd be better than my other two trainers.)

"You had two trainers?"

(Yes. Both released me. One out of the kindness of her heart (she thought I was young), and the other because he thought I was weak.)

"I'm sorry about that guy."

(Thanks, but I'm over it.)

"You sure you want to travel with us? You might get…"

(Kani warned me about that. I'm not too worried.)

Chris nodded, then grinned slightly. "You know I won't leave you in a pokeball, unless you want to be in one…"

(That's fine. I'd rather walk. A ball's cramped, unless you're recovering from wounds.)

Chris nodded, then woke Kani. He was finished packing up everything (including the tent), so they might as well move on.

Kani groggily got up, and followed Chris. The energy she'd expended wouldn't recover easily. Luckily, she didn't show it.