A/N: Holy cow, it's been awhile, hasn't it? I warned you, but still, Writer's Block is one hell of an annoying thing. And yet, it needed to be capitalized, because it refused to let me work on this story. I could type up others, but nothing for this. Bleargh.

Kani: He'll come out of it, don't worry. But he's at school now, so even if he does get chapters done, they'll take awhile to update.

Sandstone: And I hope the quality goes back up, thanks to my mind being engaged/actively working again.

Jedi Master Kyre AKA JKM for now: Sorry about last chapter. It was rushed. I knew writer's block would come back, so I didn't have time to fiddle with it to perfection. And even worse, with all the time between chapters, some of the characters might act different, because it's been so long since I did this.

Shelby Cloyster (AKA Trevor): Sure, you got it. And I figured on the smirk, it's something I'd do in real life too. But I have an attitude problem. And I didn't send this to you because your character isn't involved much, just mentioned in passing for this chapter. He gets his primary debute next chapt, when he goes head to head against Tssalyo. I'll send you a list of his pokemon, unless you want me to write that part, you'll get to write the battle against him. After all, it's your character... :)

Fjord Cannon: Ask Shelby Cloyster. We're trading chars, like a guest appearance thing. He sent a character of his making into my story, and Chris will show up in his story eventually. But yeah, wearing shades would do that. We'll eventually cover that. But I think you could tell, from his review. :)

Soren Whitebird/Killer Storm X: Frozen Wind is currently on chapter 1, nearing Zanarkand for the first time. Yuna and crew did everything except go to there. Unfortunitly, like I've said to Shadowkiller27 (or OCAdam), it will take a year for me to do the dang thing. School comes first. But thanks for the compliment. But since you spent enough time to read all of this, I'll give you the name of ONE of the pokemon that the guardians got. Just chose who. And don't look the gift horse in the mouth, as they say. :)

As for what an anime freak/ punk looks like... well, actually, I'm not so much punk, that was a sorta misstatement. Try a Full Metal Alchemist t-shirt (transmutation circle on it), rumpled cargo pants (zip-offs), permenately mussed up hair, glasses, a penchant for quoting animes / zero wing (all your base), and blue dyed hair. I haven't taken that last step yet, too dang lazy to keep up the color... but you get the idea. Anime club typical member.


Ash enters the fray
Chris relaxed in the chair, his pokemon sitting around him. They were talking silently, while other trainers occupied themselves with whatever.

Chris asked Kani, (Anything?)

She gave a catlike shrug. (No, not really. The one 14 year old with shades was emitting a lot of hate, but he left.)

Chris arched an eyebrow. Telepathy and empathy were different, one read thoughts and was mostly controlled consciously, empathy… well, didn't. (Weird… where's Sanja?)

Kani laughed softly, as did Anekiro. (She's out shopping for supplies, while you were lost in thought. Mathrara went with her, fishing for more compliments.)

Chris nodded absently, then sighed. "What're we going to do here? I mean, we know that Tssalyo's here, but getting to that place is going to be difficult…"

Teskara blinked. (It's only a day away, from what I understand… what is the difficulty?)

Anekiro explained, (He's worried about traps. The place is a mansion, and a Rocket base. The whole way there could be lined with booby traps, and even if you GET to Tssalyo, there's that 'pokemon ante' that you have to offer.)

Chris's face twisted in disgust. When Sanja heard about that, she'd nearly gone berserker. Tssalyo made a challenger 'ante up' one of their pokemon, to be able to challenge him for a badge… and several of the trainer they'd spoken to mentioned the same thing - cheating. He cheated too, but the judge probably was bribed to turn the blind eye.

Teskara sighed. (Well, we must do something.)

Chris nodded, then looked at some new arrivals. A dark looking guy, a teenaged trainer with a pikachu on his head / hat, and a redheaded girl with a red backpack slung over her shoulder.


Sanja finished buying supplies, then looked back at Dasban. For some reason, her Scizor had offered to help her carry the heavy things (more like she grabbed them out of her hands)… she'd been acting strange, recently.

"Well, back to the pokemon center. Let's see if Chris came up with anything, because that place sounds like a tough nut."

Mathrara looked up at her, and shot a small jet of flame from his mouth, twisting into a face with a goofy smile. Rolling her eyes, she scowled at the strange Ninetales. "I don't see the humor in that."

For some reason, he chuckled.


Ash sweatdropped as Brock proceeded to hit on the Nurse Joy. Misty, her patience already worn out, grabbed him forcefully by the ear, and dragged him away. The nurse seemed a little shocked, but shook it off. Stepping up to her, he asked, "Could you check on my pokemon?"

The nurse nodded, then for some reason, smiled faintly. "You're the second trainer today who seems to have pokemon who refuse to go back into their balls."

Ash blinked. "Huh?"

The nurse pointed to a older-looking guy, maybe 18, with about a week and a half's worth of growth (facial hair), sitting quietly with an Espeon, Dragonair, and Bayleef. They all looked to be deep in thought.

Ash stared at the rare pokemon, until Pikachu jumped off his head, and raced over to the trainer. Ash froze, then asked, "Buddy? What's wrong?"

Misty looked over from her berating of Brock, and walked with Ash to Pikachu, who had been saying something to the same guy with the Dragonair.

Without warning, he replied, "Yeah, I am. And yes, it was thanks to the dragons. Why?"

Ash and Misty exchanged confused looks. There had only been that one guy who seemed to understand pokemon, and a lot of con artists who faked understanding them. But he'd just… it looked like he'd just understood Pikachu's every word, like he was talking in English or something.

Pikachu looked over to Ash, then bounded up onto his head. "Cha…"

The trainer looked up, as well as his Espeon. The other two pokemon seemed to be disturbed by something. Ash said, "Uh… sorry about my buddy here. He has a mind of his own."

For some reason, the trainer's eyes flicked to his Espeon, who's fur was turning a deeper violet. "Don't worry about it, I've seen far worse. Your buddy seems to think that you're a gifted one, though."

Misty said confusedly, "Huh?"

The door opened, and with Brock's glad cry, she reacted on what was now her instint, trying to grab him by the ear.

But she was a bit late, he was already floating in the air, suspended by a red aura. Ash looked at the newcomer, a redheaded woman who didn't look to happy. She looked over at him (Ash), and then the older guy. She called out, "You could have warned me!"

He shrugged. "Sanja, even if I did warn you, you still would have levitated him. Put him down, I think there's a worse punishment for him than what you can dish out."

She (Sanja) lost the red glow in her eyes, and Ash watched in amazement as Brock was set down, only to be set upon by Misty. "Alright Romeo, there's no Juliet here for you, so just give it a break."


Chris chuckled, then waved Sanja to take a seat. Mathrara and Dasban followed her, and set down bags around the chair. He smiled faintly, then looked up at the Pikachu again. "I think your friend could very well be one, I guess. I'm no expert, though. Anekiro?"

Aneikiro floated up to the trainer, who remained still, asking, "Uh, what are you talking about?"

Chris sighed. "Name's Chris, and that's Anekiro. Your buddy Pikachu wanted to know something, so he's checking."

"Ok…"

Anekiro paused, turned to Chris, and nodded. (Yup. He's even been brought back to life… saved the world a few times… I'd say he's a gifted one, alright. He's even got the aura for it, just not the visible signs. I'll bet my next five meals that the next enclave of Dragons he finds will try to mark him.)

The Pikachu atop his head sighed, making a "Cha…" sound. (His name's Ash… you might want to tell him what's going on, he's kind of thick. Somewhere… private?)

Chris nodded, then said to Ash, "Mind following me? Bring your friends if you want, but I've got a few things to explain to you."

Ash looked nervous for a moment, but his two friends (the redheaded girl who looked like she was his girlfriend, and their lecherous friend) rejoined him, and he nodded.

Chris looked over at Sanja, who shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do, might as well come with. Kani, can you get the bags? Or do you need some help?"

Kani shrugged, as the bags floated into the air. (I've got them.)


Chris relaxed against the tree. On the way, they'd introduced themselves to everyone, and now Brock, Ash, and Misty were waiting for his explination. Ash's Pikachu looked understandably nervous.

With a sigh, he muttered, "Where to begin… Ash, have you ever… died, and came back to life?"

Ash blinked, then said slowly, "Uh… yeah. How'd you know?"

Chris said tiredly, "Your pokemon told me about it. Anyway, how do most pokemon react to you? Like you're a potential friend?"

Ash looked confused, as did his friends. "What's this got to do with anything?" Misty asked, looking almost snappish. Chris raised his hands, and said, "It's relevant. Believe me when I say that."

Ash finally said, "I guess like you said. Like a potential friend, I haven't been attacked by many pokemon, unlike a lot of people."

Chris nodded. "There's a reason for that. I'm the same way, actually… it's because you're a unique individual… called a gifted one."

The three friends said, "Huh?"

Chris rubbed his forehead, then looked at his arm guards. After a moment's thought, he slipped them off, the tattoos glowing faintly the moment they were exposed to light. "Look, it's… complicated, and I'm not a very good explainer. Try to bear with me…"


Ash leaned back, and Chris shrugged. "That's it, mostly. The church might go after you, but until you get marked for it, you'll be safe. And you really don't get that much of a choice, they did in secret on me."

Ash said slowly, "I can't believe it… my mom worships under that religion…"

Chris sighed. "They do some good works, I'll confess. But I've seen their dark side. Inquisitors aren't a myth, they're real. I've had a few try to kill me…" He looked over at Kani, and rubbed the top of her head, with Mathrara curled up nearby Sanja (who was a moderate distance away, but still easily within speaking distance), she was relaxed.

Misty asked, "Are you sure? I mean, could your Dragonair be wrong?"

Chris looked over at Anekiro, who shook his head. (No. We're all trained to recognize gifted ones, even if we don't believe they exist anymore. It's draconic tradition, handed down from Rayquaza.)

Chris shook his head clearly. "Not a snowball's chance in the desert. Sanja checked, Anekiro checked, and Kani checked. One's a trained psychic from the Academy, one was trained under his elders, who studied under Rayquaza to find the talent, and… well, Kani's yet to be wrong."

Brock looked at Ash, and said consolingly, "Well, that explains why you meet so many legendary pokemon, and end up saving the world all the time."

Chris snorted quietly. "Yeah. Fringe benefits."

Sanja sorted as well. "There's other ones too, like the fact that he can understand pokemon language with no difficulty, or that his telepathy's so strong, it nearly gave Sabrina a heart attack when she tried to probe him…"

Ash blinked. "Sabrina? How is she?"

Chris and Sanja shrugged. "She's set up a school for human psychics, but the Inquisitors forced her to take it underground. They don't hassle her, but everyone else they do."

Ash sighed, sounding relieved. Misty laid a hand on his shoulder, and he turned, smiling lightly at her. Chris and Sanja exchanged a look which Brock caught, but remained silent about, though internally, he was weeping about loosing another fair maiden to destiny.

Misty asked, "So what are you doing here? Couldn't you be hiding somewhere… safe?"

Chris shook his head. "Does the name Tssalyo mean anything to you?"

The three thought, then shook their heads collectively. Ash said tentatively, "I heard he was in charge of the gym here now, and he's a bit weird…"

Sanja cut him off, saying sharply, "He's a Rocket, and he's stealing people's pokemon by using the gym to his own advantage. We're here to stop that."

Chris nodded grimly. "And I don't really have a choice in the matter. I stop him, or I'm not myself anymore. No in between."

Misty looked ill, as she looked at Ash in concern. "Sounds sort of like you, Ash."

Ash rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I did the same thing… mind if we help you out?"

Mathrara cried gladly "Nine!" (Sure!)

Brock turned, and stared. "Uhm… which one of you is training that Ninetales? I've never seen one like that…"

Chris raised his hand, then shrugged. "And you won't normally. Kani and our other psychic pokemon tampered with his genetics when he evolved."

At the sickened look of the three, he added on, "And it was his idea, not mine."

The three looked at each other, then as a group, looked intently at Mathrara. He smiled weakly, then nodded. "Tails… nine." (Um… yeah.)

Ash said to his Pikachu, "Did he agree?"

Pikachu nodded, a slight smile on his face. Chris shook his head, and said, "If you want to yell at someone for tampering with nature, blame him. His idea was to become an all-white Ninetales, with a flame-blue for his paws and tips of his tail."

Ash said slowly, "Sounds kinda cool."


A/N: If you see any errors, please comment on them. I don't care if I see five reviews with the same error complaint, I'd like to be rid of the dang things. I typed this up late at night, so it's quite possible, even for all my editing. It isn't 'fresh off the press', but even during the prime hours of the day, I still miss things.

Shutting up before I say anymore...