Chapter Six:
Warming Up

Disclaimer: I do not own the series Pokémon. Like, at all. It and all its respectable characters are © to Game Freak and Satoshi Tajiri. However, all writing contents and semi-plots here are © to me; unless it is stated otherwise. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.

Notes: And so, the adventure begins. Also, I have survived midterms. Apologies for the ever-so-slightly late chapter.

Current Team: Keno the Mudkip


"When there is a war between fire and water, fire loses."
-Spanish Proverb


Shay studied the map display on her x-transceiver while she nibbled on a protein ration bar. The terrain was straightforward, with trails that trainers could take through the forest as detours, or the two-way road that led right to the heart of town. Taking the trails in the forest would result in more encounters with wild pokémon. That could mean getting more training time in. There were also designated camping spots dotted along the trail. It was generally maintained by trainers. Taking the road, however, would be safer if things got too hot under the collar for her and Keno. It would take only a half day to get to Oldale Town, if they kept going, with minimal or no training at all.

At the moment, they were in the forest. The forest floor was lush with flora and fauna. She could see, from the makeshift seat she'd made out of a fallen log, that there was a family unit of Zigzagoon not that far from where she and Keno were. In the treetops, what she assumed were Taillow flitted above them, going on about their own business. It was a balmy day out, picturesque even. Keno was refreshing himself in a small stream a little ways from Shay. She kept glancing up, keeping her eye on him from where she sat as she finished off her ration. Keno had already eaten. They'd have enough provisions for the both of them to make it to Petalburg, so long as they didn't delay or dither around on Route 102.

When she finished surveying the map, she turned it off, finished her ration, and called to Keno. He came running over as she swung her pack onto her shoulders. It was definitely lighter than what she had been expecting, but it had been packed appropriately enough for a one-person excursion.

Keno looked at her expectantly as they started back down the trail.

"Hey, I got a question."

"Go for it."

"How come you can understand me, but other people can't?"

Shay mulled over the inquiry, glancing down at the Mudkip trotting along by her side.

"I…honestly don't know. All I can offer is conjecture."

"What's conjecture?"

"Guesses. Assumptions. Things like that."

"Oh. Why do you think that is?"

Shay has thought on that before, but always came up short on reasons or possibilities very quickly. She didn't have much else to go on even now.

"To be honest, I really don't know." She hesitated. "Keno…would you believe me if I said…I'm not from this world?"

Keno tilted his head to the side as he trotted alongside her. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well…I wasn't born in Hoenn. This region. I wasn't born in any region on this world, in fact."

"Then how did you get here? And where are you really from?"

"I'm…from another place. A world like this, but there's no such thing as pokémon."

Keno stopped dead in his tracks and simply stared at her, his mouth popping open in what she could only assume was astonishment. Shay stopped as well, looking down at the Mudkip.

"No pokémon? At all? Anywhere?"

"Nope. No pokémon. We have animals, but they don't breathe fire or create rockslides or carry people on their backsides across the seas or in the air. They're amazing in their own way, just…not as amazing as pokémon can be. But people can't really talk to animals. Not like how we're talking to one another, not like how we can understand one another." It was a half-truth. There were pokémon…in the form of multimedia entertainment, including toys and plushies. But no living pokémon whatsoever existed in her world…although if people were beginning to go missing because of the Creation Trio, she would surmise that pokémon were probably going missing as well. And if that were the case…

She shuddered at the implications of those thoughts.

"Whoa." Keno was silent for a few moments longer. "So, then how come you aren't so freaked by us?"

"I've adjusted." Shay said, and when she noticed the perturbed tilt of Keno's head, she added, "I also don't think freaking out is going to help me in any way."

"Do you think doing this will?" He inquired earnestly.

"Traveling?"

"Being a trainer."

Shay smiled as they continued down the trail. "Sure. I'll kick everyone's ass in the League here in Hoenn and then I'll be Champion and after that, I can do whatever I want. And what I want, is to go find the Creation Trio in Sinnoh and shake them down, make them send everyone they displaced back where they belong."

"Whoa. That's a lot to do." Keno said. The insinuations of her statement hit him hard seconds later and he sat, his head beginning to sag. "But…if you do that…what're you going to do with me? You wouldn't leave me behind, would you? Or anyone else that was on the team, right?"

That was something Shay hadn't considered. She hadn't contemplated the idea of what to do with her team in the future. Should she leave them behind, release them all when the time came to return home? If she could even go back home? Or should she try to take them with her if she was able to return? More scenarios began to pile up in her head, more questions she didn't know the answer to. If she were able to go home, would the military seize her and charge her with desertion, throw her in the brig? And if she brought the team with her, chances were, they would be taken away from her and locked up for the rest of their lives in some lab to be experimented on.

What if she didn't make it here in Hoenn or couldn't get to the Creation Trio at all? Christ on a crutch, what if something went wrong and she ended up in some horrific alternate dimension instead of the home she knew and grew up in?

Exaggerated horrors played havoc in loops through her head and she had to shake them away, return to the moment that was here and now. All the hypothetical scenarios were just that: hypothetical. All she could do was cross each bridge as she came to them. She could plan for the worst, but she should hope for the best. Her pessimistic attitude was something she always struggled to break free from.

She had to be positive. She had to think positive.

That was so fucking hard sometimes when it was easier to give in to the negativity, to just give up and wallow in self-made misery.

She offered Keno a smile in an attempt to hide her tumultuous thoughts, and knelt beside him, petting him gently on the head. "I won't leave you behind. I promise."

It was the only consolation she could offer at the moment.

The rest of the early afternoon they spent on the trail, occasionally pausing to battle with wild pokémon that leapt into their path. Keno readily answered the call to fight. They fell behind Shay's expectations in making it to Oldale by evening and at first, Shay had been tempted to keep going in the dark, but retracted the decision just as quickly, realizing it wouldn't be wise to stumble around like that. With the last of the evening light, Shay gathered up kindling and twigs and fallen branches for her campfire. Slow and steady, she got the bits of tinder, bark, and twigs to catch and grow. Within the hour the campfire was blazing with her food cooking over it, and her sleeping bag was laid out. While her food cooked, Shay tended to Keno by firelight.

"You did awesome work today, bud," she crooned as she applied a salve to a cut on his head. He blinked up at her, his mouth pulling open into a smile.

"Do ya think I'll be strong enough to take on a gym leader soon?" He said in rapt eagerness.

"Let's work our way up to that and battle with wild pokémon and trainers on the road first."

"Fiiiine." He huffed impatiently. She smiled at his tenacity and gave his head a gentle pat.

"Easy, little guy. You don't need to go rushing in."

Even if she herself was jittery all over again just with thinking about the gym battle, she had to temper herself the most. When she was done, Keno all but leapt into her lap. "Yeesh. You're affectionate, ain't ya?"

"You're my trainer. You chose me. Not that stuck-up Torchic or that boring Treeko." Keno replied brusquely, puffing his little chest out. Shay snickered and rubbed his back.

"I hear Professor Birch's son took one of them with him."

"Really? Which one?" He said, perking up, his little eyes glittering in the firelight.

"Dunno. Guess we'll find out if we meet him on the road," she said with a shrug. She had almost been hoping that Keno would have known, but if he had been in his pokéball, he most likely didn't know any more than Shay did. And given his response… "But, as far as the first gym goes, we'll be up against Roxanne. She uses rock-types—"

"I'm a water-type, so I have an advantage, don't I?" Keno interrupted excitedly.

"Just because you have an advantage, doesn't mean you're going to automatically win. You gotta build up your strength, level up."

"Can I evolve first?"

"We'll see. Maybe if we train enough."

This is like having a kid pushed on me. A very powerful kid who can spray the shit out of everyone that crosses their path with a high-powered water blast. Or can crush them with a swipe of their little tail. She smiled wryly. Or a very overeager boot.

That was honestly a terrifying thought, actually. Not for the first nor the last time, Shay wondered if pokémon had made it to her home world, and what kind of havoc is going on right now on the other end of things. Right out of the blue, she also wondered if what was going on in Sinnoh—the destruction and mayhem that the Creation Trio were wreaking—was somehow affecting her world. All the changes, the weather aberrations, the increase in animal attacks…

The very idea made her head spin. She recalled the short video clip she had watched the night before she awoke in Norman's house, had seen the triangular head poking up to gnaw at the fisherman's net. And the bright, blazing yellow star boldly imprinted on the top of its head, and she remembered the first idea that had hit her, instantly, innocently, blindly. The image was seared into her memory and made her wonder if pokémon had been appearing in her world long before anyone here even realized anything was out of place.

Can't do anything about it now, she thought bitterly. As much as she wanted to do the very Marine thing and bitch, moan, and complain about it to the open air, she relented. This wasn't the time nor the place. She swallowed down the sour taste of dissent and instead, she focused on more immediate things, such as letting her food finish cooking and getting Keno his food. As they ate, the last of the sun's light bled away and night chorus began to pipe up in full. Keno stopped at the sudden report of howls that echoed in the distance, as did much of the nightlife. He listened intently as the sounds faded, and slowly, the sounds of insects began to pick back up, only to die again as another song of howling began anew.

Shay faltered in eating her dinner to listen as well. She understood pokémon when they spoke to her, true, but when it came to the deeply primal noises—she had no clue what was being conveyed. This was a language beyond comprehension on a common surface level.

The howls reminded her of the dogsledding trip she had taken, so long ago. It had been her first night in the snow and ice, embraced by the arms of the wintry forest on either side of their camp. The wolves had started the conversation, and her group's dog sled team responded in kind, so suddenly in the middle of the night. It had woken her up, but she hadn't been frightened, like some of the others in her group had been when the spoke of it the next morning. She had listened, fascinated and mesmerized by the sounds. She had drifted back to sleep listening to the sled dogs and wild wolves howling to one another, talking on another level altogether.

She still found the sounds captivating to listen to, but she knew that unlike the wolves in the northern forests and lakes of Minnesota and southern Canada, the Poochyena roaming the woods might come for a closer inspection. She wondered how many people have chosen to spend the night out in the woods like this, here or elsewhere, knowing that they could be assaulted by wild pokémon at any moment.

I guess that's the same question people should ask themselves when they go into woods where bears, wolves, and mountain lions roam back home. Or, wherever they go and predators lie in wait.

Shay turned in not long after she finished her food. As she set her boots out by her pack and slid into her sleeping bag, Keno dove in with her, snuggling tight against her body.

"Whoa. You nervous or something?"

"I've never slept outside like this. The professor, he always kept us in our pokéballs at night."

"Do you…want to go back in or…?"

"No! I want to stay out here, with you."

"I…okay. Okay, that's fine. If you want to stay out, okay."

Shay zipped the sleeping bag the rest of the way up its track and settled down with the Mudkip pressing close. She gave him a gentle rub on the head before closing her eyes, the crackle of the dying campfire and the distant howls of the Poochyena growing dim to her ears.


She awoke in a sharp, painful jolt with her heart set to racing. She sucked down breathes in painful, greedy gulps, her limbs trembling, a cold sweat soaking her completely. Shay's temples pounded with an oncoming headache charging down like a runaway train and she curled up with a groan. She had had a nightmare, she was sure of it, but of what, she couldn't remember for the life of her. As soon as she jerked awake, it began to dissolve like a haze. It slipped through her fingers like water and whatever remnants of fear that had paralyzed her faded as well. The uneven tempo of her heart was the only thing that refused to align itself back to normalcy.

When she glanced over to where the campfire had died overnight, she was startled, and her heart went racing all over again. Keno stood between her and the campfire. On the other side, a lone Poochyena sat complacently, watching them both with bright red eyes. A light mist hung in the air, but early golden light from the rising sun pried its way into the forest, casting them in a soft and pale-yellow haze.

Shay sat perfectly still, afraid that if she moved, the wild pokémon would leap into action. Keno held his ground but didn't attack. He did glance back at her, as though sensing she'd awoken.

"She showed up while you were still sleeping. She won't leave!" He told her, jerking his head in the Poochyena's direction. Shay looked at the grey-furred pokémon and saw that the Poochyena had locked her gaze on her.

"You," the Poochyena barked at Shay. Shay carefully began to extricate herself out from her sleeping bag and stood. "You're that human that came to our forest the other day. You fought us and beat us."

Shay squinted at the Poochyena, but she didn't look familiar. She must have been talking about the day she had come to Professor Birch's aid. All those Poochyena had all looked unremarkably similar. Then again, they had all been fleeing with their tails tucked between their legs the last time she saw the pack. Shay huffed. "Am I supposed to apologize? You were attacking a person."

"He was trespassing. As are you, right now. I have half a mind to call my pack and have them come down on you all over again."

The Poochyena leapt to her paws. Keno bristled, his back arching, his tailfin quivering.

"You do realize I beat all of you with just Keno here last time, right?"

"You caught us by surprise." The Poochyena puffed crossly. "But I'm feeling generous right now. Fight me. If you win, I come with you. If I win, you face the rest of my pack as a consequence."

Shay stared at the bold little pokémon facing her and Keno down with incredulity. Didn't the pokédex entry, if memory served her, say that Poochyena were rather cowardly little pokémon?

"What in the fuck is going on right now?" She muttered under her breath. She exchanged a look with Keno, and without a word, they both shrugged. She nodded to him and he turned back to face the Poochyena anew.

"I don't see how this has become a negotiation, but fine. Whatever. Let's get her, Keno!"

The little pokémon facing them was fast in responding. The Poochyena charged at Keno, her mouth suddenly smoking. It burst into flame seconds later, looking like something out of a horror film. Her red eyes glittered bloody rubies. It caught both Shay and Keno off guard, but Shay was quick in yelling at Keno to get out of the way. The Poochyena snapped her fire-filled maw short, narrowly missing the Mudkip.

"Water Gun! Put out that fire, Keno!"

A gush of water erupted from Keno's mouth and smacked the Poochyena square in the face. She yowled and spluttered, grey smoke gushing from her jaws as the force of the attack flung her across the camp ground. Shay dove for her pack and ripped at an outside pocket. A few empty pokéballs spilled from the pocket and she snatched one up.

"Finish her off with a Tackle attack, hurry!" She boomed. Keno was more than happy to oblige. He tore after the Poochyena and struck her hard. It sent her flying once more, right into the dirt. Shay tossed the pokéball quickly, before the little pokémon could respond. The Poochyena disappeared in a flash of light and the pokéball snapped shut with a chime, wriggling on the forest floor. Shay held her breath, watching as it shook several times before growing still. A few seconds passed before she allowed herself to breath.

"Holy shit."

She looked to Keno, beaming at him.

"Looks like we earned ourselves a new teammate."


"If my pack had been there—"

"We would have beaten them all over again, just like the last time. And you, you tried using a fire-type move against a water-type pokémon. How is that smart, again?"

The Poochyena turned her little nose up into the air. Shay raised her hands into the air in return.

"Hey, you made the bet, remember? We won, you come with us. Not like you can do much about it, since we're in the Pokémon Center now."

Oldale Town hadn't been much further down the trails from where she had camped out on Route 101. After she had caught the Poochyena, she and Keno had cleaned up camp, put out any lingering embers in the campfire, and went on their way. Oldale Town wasn't all that large of a town, but it was spaced out in the small valley cradled within the verdant forest that surrounded it on all sides. It was quaint and charming, with a few store fronts, houses, and the main center and mart being the centerfold of the town.

After getting Keno and the Poochyena healed, she released them both.

"I'm starved. Let's grab some food. You down, missy?"

"My name is Sela. Not 'Missy'."

"Ah. All right. I'm Shay and this is Keno. Nice to meet you, Sela."

Sela regarded her coolly, her earlier irritation having disappeared, and offered a toothy smile. She seemed pleased that Shay wasn't overriding her. "Charmed. I suppose a bet's a bet. And as you said…not much I can do from here."

Shay led the way to the small cafeteria that the pokémon nurse manning the front desk had told her about. Sela and Keno followed after her, chatting the entire way. Shay listened in as Keno asked a round of questions, Sela answered, and then vice versa. As the two chattered away, Shay led the way over to a buffet-style counter. A worker behind the food smiled and greeted her as she came over with a tray and plate. She was quick to pick out the foods she wanted and made a round for dishes of pokémon food and water.

"Hey, Shay! When're we leaving for the gym?" Keno suddenly asked, turning his coal-black eyes on her as they shuffled out to find a booth in the dining area.

"The gym's not in Oldale, Keno. We have to…you know what? I'll show you when we get our food."

The cafeteria's dining room was sparse as far as bodies went. Oldale didn't seem to be a buzzing hub at the moment. Shay wondered if there was a period of high activity with the town. There were three other trainers in the cafeteria, seated with their teams. She found a booth tucked away in a corner, and laid the food and water dishes out for Keno and Sela before digging into her own food. As they ate, Shay brought up the region map on her x-transceiver and showed them where they were.

"That icon right there, that little shape? That's us. We're here in Oldale Town. And over here is Route 102. That's where we need to go next." She scrolled the map over with a touch of her finger. "After we get through Route 102…over here, that's Petalburg City. We can restock on supplies, and after that, make our way through Route 104, then the Petalburg Woods, and then after that, it's a straight shot to Rustboro City. That's where we'll find our first gym challenge."

"And what are we going to be facing when we're there?" Sela interjected, her tone dry and biting.

"Rock-types are Roxanne's specialty."

Sela sniffed pointedly, appearing disinterested. Keno, in contrast, looked excited.

"I can take that gym, no problem!"

"Oh? And what happens when there are situations where you can't take on whatever challenges come your way? You're going to need the strength of a pack." Sela said in a matter-of-fact tone. Keno glanced at her.

"You're not in a pack anymore, Sela. We're a team."

"Team, pack. It's the same difference. We work together, do we not?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Then it's only a matter of words. I knew one day I may be captured by a trainer, as would any one of my packmates. Some of us were more than happy to go, to become a part of a new pack. I'll miss my pack, but now I have a new one." Sela's black lips peeled back into a toothy grin, showing off her large canines. Keno opened his mouth but stopped himself short, reconsidering saying anything and turned back to his food.

Shay waited for either of them to follow-up and sensing that they had nothing else to say, she turned off the map and began tucking into her own food. Halfway through her food, she stiffened in her booth, a hand flying to her left side as a sharp pang made itself known, like a bolt out of the blue. It ebbed and flowed, but one thing she noticed, it had come quick, and it was slowly growing stronger.

Oh, no. No, please, no. Please just be a weird stitch. I've had those before. Those linger, but they pass eventually.

She slowed her breathing down, taking them in deep and letting them out deliberately, closing her eyes. She curled her fingers around her flank, digging them in to create pressure. The other hand reflexively tightened into a fist, cramping until her knuckles creaked and grew white and her nails began digging tightly into her palm.

"Shay? Shay, are you okay?"

She nodded, keeping her eyes screwed firmly closed. She focused on her breathing, holding onto the rapidly thinning hope that the pain in her side was merely stitch, a strange pain, something that would work itself out and ease away eventually.

She grew disheartened when it rapidly progressed for the worst instead. She brought her legs up to curl them close to her body, holding back a squeal of pain that was building in her throat.

Not another fucking one. For fuck's sake.

She was barely aware of the little paw on her arm until it dug into her, trying to gain her attention. Shay jolted, glancing down beside her and saw Sela and Keno staring at her with worry welling in their eyes.

"Something's wrong, isn't there?" Sela remarked, her red eyes weaving over Shay's form. She gave a tight nod.

"Yep. I know what it is, too." She looked over her half-eaten plate of food, at the two empty food bowls of pokémon food Sela and Keno had polished off, and began scooting out of her seat, dragging her pack along with. "We gotta go and…find a hospital or something."

"You mean the nurse at the front desk?" Keno asked worriedly. Shay shook her head.

"Nope. Nope, not a pokémon nurse. A human nurse. For me." Her voice came out with hoarse strain, rough and breathless.

"What's going on?!" He was nearly shouting at her. When she looked down at him, he was trembling with anxiety. She bit her lip and suppressed a groan of pain as her side began to radiate with slow, burning agony.

"Kidney stones. I'm having a goddamn kidney stone and if I don't move now, I'm not gonna be able to move at all until someone comes and gets me with a stretcher."


Notes: Oh, my sweet summer children…kidney stones are the fucking worst. I've had a number of them, and I can attest that having one is not unlike labour pains. And I've had two children, so I know what the fuck I'm talking about as far as pain goes. As far as kidney stone pains go, I've had at least a dozen of those fuckers, so I feel like I've had more than a dozen fucking children, minus the need to go pee every twenty minutes and pushing a human being out the hoo-ha. It's not fun.

I've since had a surgery to remove the rest residing in my left kidney, since that's the side that's caused me the most misery. Haven't had any in my right, but…it's only a matter of time.

On another note…another team member has joined!

Pokémon: Sela the Poochyena, Level 5

Nature/Characteristic: Hardy and Scatters Things Often

Move Set: Fire Fang, Tackle, Howl

Hooray, terminology. Who's tired of it already? Hint—I'm not. I have no regrets.

Boot: A rather pejorative nickname for a new Marine, usually reserved for ones fresh out of boot camp. They usually retain this nickname until they either deploy or have had at least a year or two of being in the fleet under their belts. Boots tend to be very motivated individuals, still brimming with boot camp jitters, tics, and patterns until they settle in and become bitter alcoholic jackoffs who laugh to hide their pain and do the stupidest shit due to boredom. Shit usually goes down either in the strip clubs out in town or at the barracks, but it's not generally restricted only to these settings. The field and on deployment are some other setting examples in which stupidity reigns supreme.