Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I do however own Alex, and this characterization of a member of the Darkrai, Purugly, and other species. Also, this characterization of Tobias, as he is very different in this story from his anime counterpart.

Chapter Fifteen:
Oreburgh

-o-O~OOO~O-o-

"—and when the smoke cleared, Latios and Pikachu were both on the ground, KO'd." Tobias finished his tale with a mad gleam in his eye, excitement creeping into his tone as he enthused, "That was the most incredible match I've ever had—nothing in recent years has even come close to knocking out my Darkrai, saying nothing about my Latios." The male trainer grinned, pulling an item cube filled with medical supplies from the basket and setting it on the counter for the store clerk to scan. "Someday, once everything calms down—if it ever calms down—I'm going to find Ash and challenge him to a rematch."

Alex's eye twitched. "Why? You already won." She grabbed the item cubes she'd already bought and stuffed them into her bag.

Tobias furrowed his eyebrows at her. "I win every battle I fight. That's not a boast—I haven't lost a match in ten years. Ash came the closest anyone's come to beating me since I challenged Lance to an unofficial battle three years ago. Now that was a close match." The man's eyes unfocused again as he went back to reminiscing, Alex rolling her own eyes while the shopkeeper seemed to hang onto the male trainer's every word. "I lost one of my dragons to that man—my Dragonite managed to fall in love with one of Lance's during their fight, and I couldn't find it in me to tear her away from what could be a centuries-long soul-deep bond with another of her kind—no matter how much I needed a full team for the Lily of the Valley Conference…"

Tobias continued talking about his battle with the Kanto/Johto champion while Alex tuned him out. She wasn't bitter. No. Alex refused to be bitter about the man's ten year winning streak. She could win if she wanted… She just didn't want to.

Alex sighed. Who was she kidding? She was very bitter over the other trainer's apparent ease of winning, when it seemed like losing was her destiny. She shook her head, trying to clear out the morose thoughts as Tobias continued to natter on behind her while they walked the streets of Oreburgh.

Coming upon the Pokémon Center, Alex stopped before entering and turned to her companion. "Can you handle the rooms? I have a bit of business to take care of."

Tobias paused mid sentence and blinked. "What kind of business?"

Alex shot him a dry look. "The kind that isn't yours."

The other trainer put up his hands in surrender. "I can respect that. And yes, I'll get us room and board."

"Thank you," Alex replied, pausing before turning away. "Oh, Tobias?"

The man in question raised his eyebrows in surprise, possibly at her sudden use of his name. "Yes?"

"Team of legends or not, if you book less than two rooms," Alex said sweetly, "I'll knock you flat."

Tobias's mouth twitched in amusement. "Duly noted."

-o-O~OOO~O-o-

Purugly solidified onto the carpeting, heart beating faster than a Yanma's wings. Taking a look around the room, the fat cat knew without a doubt where she was and, more importantly, who lived here.

Alex sat at a large wooden table surrounded by little children, whom she was regaling with tales of recent exploits. The trainer had paused in her storytelling to release Purugly, and was now grinning down at the Tiger Cat Pokémon. "Go on," she said, "He's around here somewhere."

Purugly nodded in acknowledgement of her trainer's permission, testing the air with a sniff while Alex went back to entertaining the orphans with her words. Catching a familiar scent that made all the fur on her body stand up with anticipation, the fat cat turned and waddled out of the room, out of the building, and out onto the streets.

Shoving down a wave of nerves, Purugly followed the potent aroma through the city, too distracted by the combined effects of fear and joy to pay any mind to the people who glanced her way. What if he didn't like her new form? What if he found someone else? Would she be intruding on anything if she just popped in on him? Maybe she should go back to the orphanage and wait for him.

Purugly shook the thoughts from her head, refocusing on her task in time to notice that she'd been led into a dead end. The fat cat blinked, staring at the brick wall in front of her nose. Suddenly, a shadow fell on her, cast by the light streaming in from the mouth of the alleyway.

"Well well well, it seems I've stumbled upon a lost little kitty cat," a suave voice echoed from the black silhouette, "Perhaps the lonely lady would like some company?"

All at once, every doubt Purugly had had since figuring out their destination vanished as Luxray stepped forward, cocky grin stretched across one side of his muzzle. "Luxy!" Purugly breathed, rushing forward to nuzzle his blue and black face, "I missed you!"

Luxray chuckled, sitting down and hooking a paw around her back to pull her close. "I missed you too, Glam-Glam… Or, rather, Pur-Pur." The larger feline Pokémon ended the embrace and leaned back, taking in Purugly's new form. "Look at you, you're so powerful."

Purugly felt her ears heat up as she ducked her head bashfully.

"It feels like only yesterday when you could ride around on my back," he sighed, gazing into her half-hidden eyes with his own glowing ones, "I think if you tried that now, you'd brake it."

Purugly giggled at the praise, swatting away Luxray's snout as he came in for a lick. "You sweet-talker."

"Only for you, my dear."

The two cats cuddled in the dank alleyway for awhile, drinking in each other's presence as much as they could before Purugly reluctantly pulled away. "Luxray, there's something I need to tell you."

The lightning lion frowned at her tone. "What is it, my tiger?"

Not even Luxray's new found pet name for her could make what she told him next any easier to say. "I can't stay."

Luxray blinked. "W…What?"

Purugly winced. "I know I promised I'd stay with you after I evolved, but…"

"Is there… someone else?" Luxray asked tentatively.

"What? No!" The fat cat shook her head, "That's not it at all!"

"Oh." The electric type looked relieved for a moment. "Is… it me?"

Purugly glared at him. "Shut up and let me talk, you idiot."

Luxray shut up.

"Alex is going through a really rough time right now…" Purugly began, "Actually, we all are."

Luxray cocked his head, asking her to explain with his eyes.

"Mightyena died."

"That's…" Luxray stared at her. "What?"

"Mightyena died," Purugly repeated, hating having to say it out loud, "defending a nursery full of eggs from a villainous team."

"But…" The great blue cat let his intense gaze fall to the ground. "He was going to be the grandfather for our kits…"

"I know."

"He was going to help teach them to be strong…"

"I know," Purugly said again, voice cracking.

"He was…" Luxray trailed off weakly. "Oh Arceus…"

Purugly leaned into Luxray's flank, sobbing quietly with him.

The two star-crossed lovers stayed like that for a long time, simply comforting each other with their presences while the sun slowly dipped lower in the sky. Eventually, Luxray shifted his muzzle away from Purugly's ear to speak. "Do you need me to come back?"

Purugly lifted her head to look him in the eye. "No, it's fine. A lot's happened since you left, actually."

Luxray hummed questioningly, indicating that he was ready to move the conversation on.

Taking a deep breath, Purugly explained. By the time she was finished, the sun had nearly finished its journey across the sky and threatened them both with darkness as it danced along the edge of a mountain range.

"A mythic, huh?" Luxray chuckled weakly. "Good ol' Mightyena…" The electric type smiled softly up at the color-shot smog-covered sunset-sky of the city. "May Arceus judge him fairly."

Purugly snorted. "It had better. If it doesn't, I'll go up there personally and bite its tail off."

"Sacrilege!" Luxray chortled, falling silent a moment later. The two cats watched the sun set together, having moved up to the top of a building via the fire escape a few minutes ago, turning to each other once it was dark. "You'd better get back to Alex," Luxray said quietly.

"Yeah." Purugly made no move to get up.

Luxray smiled sadly, forcing himself to his paws. "Come on, I'll walk you there."

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Alex tossed and turned in the soft bed of her small room at the Pokémon Center, unable to settle properly as her skin continually itched, sending her hand flying every few seconds to scratch at a new place on her body as she tried desperately to ignore it. Purugly had returned an hour ago, a few minutes after the trainer herself had made it back from her visit to the orphanage. She'd shown the little boy what had hatched from the egg he'd found in the mines, but sadly couldn't show him what she'd caught in the ball he'd given her.

She didn't want to scare him.

Alex shifted, sighing as her thoughts drifted mechanically back to Darkrai. The Pokémon had been invading her mental ramblings a lot lately—and not just when she was thinking about things concerning it, or even Pokémon in general. It seemed like every time she encountered something now—be it familiar or foreign—she'd find herself wondering what the legendary would think about it, how it would consider a certain situation or evaluate a particular statement. Even though the Pokémon was very interesting in of itself, the idea that it had such a powerful hold on her mind even after two weeks of interacting with it on a daily basis was… odd.

Alex frowned. Actually, it was very strange. She thought about the dark type now more than ever, despite having known it for a little while now. It was almost as if she was becoming…

Obsessed.

The trainer sat up suddenly, a light going off in her head. She'd heard of such things happening before with new trainers trying to raise their first ghost Pokémon. They'd spend more and more time obsessing over their ghost the more often it was out with them. The Pokémon would (often inadvertently) soak its owner in its ghostly essence, forging a rudimentary mental link which, while it sounded cool on the outside, would only cause the trainer a large amount of distraction whenever they and their Pokémon were apart. And didn't Tobias say that Darkrai exude essence that could soak into the people and places they spent a lot of time around? And she'd spent the last five nights sleeping with hers…

Alex realized with a thunk that she was going into withdraw from being away from Darkrai. As soon as the thought came to mind, the feeling of itching all over intensified, driving her absolutely mad and she raked her finger nails across her skin in a desperate attempt to quell the sensation. After a few seconds, the insane feeling faded, leaving Alex's skin stinging from her self-inflicted semi-flaying.

With a groan, Alex fell back against her bed sheets, exhausted. Being an avid traveler, she normally fell asleep quite quickly when she turned in for bed—though she was no stranger to lying awake all night—and was more annoyed than disturbed by the pseudo-supernatural reason for her insomnia. Turning her head to stare at the Poké Balls on her bedside stand, Alex knew in the back of her mind that the sensation would return if she tried to fall asleep again without a certain dark type nearby. Something about Darkrai and sleep cycles, her addled brain supplied. She'd interrogate Tobias about it tomorrow. But first…

Gathering up her will, Alex swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up, picking up the little Moon Ball from the table and expanding it. She clicked the button and released Darkrai into the room, sighing as the annoying sensation lurking beneath her skin vanished completely in the presence of the legendary.

"Krai? Darkrai?" Darkrai asked, concern evident in its voice.

Are you okay? Alex smiled tiredly, massaging her temples as she answered. "Couldn't sleep."

Darkrai nodded, floating over to her side and settling on the bed next to her. "Rai krai."

Me too. Alex frowned, wondering if the Pokémon was suffering through the same effects of the mental link as she was. "Have you been itching, too?"

The legendary blinked at her. "Krai?"

That was a no, then. "It's nothing."

Darkrai glared at her, huffing as it crossed its arms.

Alex snickered. "Okay, it's not nothing, but there's nothing that can be done about it right now. I'll ask Tobias in the morning, he'll know what's going on."

At the mention of the other trainer's name, Darkrai wilted.

"Hey," Alex placed a hand on the dark type's shoulder, "What's the matter?"

Darkrai huffed again, shifting its weight on the bed but unwilling to move away from its trainer's touch as it turned to stare at the wall.

"Fine then," Alex removed her hand, causing the legendary's head to whip back around to her, "don't tell me."

"Krai!" Darkrai whined, glancing down at her hand.

Alex folded her arms and turned away, sticking her nose into the air like a pouting child. "No. Not until you tell me what's going on with you." After a moment of silence, the trainer felt a claw poke her on the back. Alex glanced over her shoulder and was met with a look she had seen from every single one of her Pokémon at various times in their journey. It was a look she had labeled the 'begging Poochyena' stare, and it was one she'd long since developed an immunity to courtesy of its namer. It was very interesting though, to see the nightmare king try to pull it off.

Alex turned around fully to take in the display before her. Everything about Darkrai's posture, expression, and gaze screamed 'I'm-cute-and-pathetic-please-give-me-what-I-want', and Alex was having a surprisingly hard time denying the legendary's request. Still though, that look hadn't worked on her since she was nine, and she wasn't about to start giving in to it now.

Alex smirked at her Pokémon. "You're adorable." If anything, Darkrai's eyes (both of which she could see from this angle) just got bigger. "Talk to me," the trainer insisted, unimpressed.

After a few more seconds of staring, Darkrai gave up trying to manipulate its trainer and sighed, giving her a sidelong glance as its whole form slumped. "Rai Krai dark, Darkrai dark dark, Krai dark."

It took a minute for Alex to puzzle that out. "You're… jealous of me spending time with Tobias?"

Darkrai nodded miserably.

Unable to take anymore, Alex leaned over and hugged her Pokémon, burying her face in the long fur on its shoulder as she felt it shudder beneath her. "You know you're allowed to come and join in on our conversations, right?" That morning, while closing the remaining distance between the Oreburgh Gate and the city itself, the group had traveled at a slower pace, letting the two humans talk to one another a bit more. The two Darkrai had remained on opposite sides of the group, lingering near the edges of the road while eyeing each other.

Darkrai leaned into her embrace, making Alex jump a bit as its short tufty tail curled partway around her waist like a cat's. "Rai…"

Alex sighed. "Yeah… I know. You don't like the other Darkrai too much, do you?"

The dark type growled, shifting around until it could hold its trainer close in its arms and hunch over her smaller frame protectively.

Alex giggled. "No one's going to hurt you, and no one's going to take me away, okay?" She patted the legendary's red collar. "I promise."

"Krai." Darkrai ducked its chest and pushed its head forward to nuzzle her hand, tickling her palm with the short bursts of breath that exited its hidden nose.

Alex acquiesced and dug her fingers through the snowy white fluff that shrouded half of its face while the Pokémon closed its eyes in bliss. "I really think you should give it a chance," she said as Darkrai brought up one of its talons to curl around her hand, pressing it deeper into its fur and rubbing its face into her palm, "Tobias tells me that it's been waiting for a chance to talk to you for years now."

Darkrai paused in its unabashed expression of ecstasy at her touch to look into her eyes. "Dar-dark rai," it mumbled into her palm, "krai Krai dark."

Alex smiled at her Pokémon's antics. "Don't worry, I'll protect you." She snickered as Darkrai gave her hand a tiny little lick. "Besides, Tobias assured me that his Pokémon means no harm, and I'm holding him to that." Alex gently tugged her hand away from Darkrai, causing the legendary to whine in response. "Let's get some sleep, okay? We're heading out early tomorrow, and I don't want to give Tobias a reason to drag us off before I've had the chance to grab some actual coffee."

-o-O~OOO~O-o-

End chapter.

To my reviewer(s) who wanted to know more about Alex and Darkrai's relationship; for the most part, yes, you will have to wait and see how it unfolds.
But here's something to think about—I picture most human/Pokémon relationships as some mix of what in our world would be the relationship between a pet and an owner, and somewhat of a master/student, pupil/sensei sort of deal, along with a (hopefully!) very strong friendship.
Also, most of the time when I picture Alex and Darkrai cuddling, I base Darkrai's behavior off of my cat's (who likes to act like a dog .).

And to my reviewer who thought Tobias should be a detective; …you're closer than you think.

Questions? Comments? …Concerns? Well, not even Darkrai can read your mind (or Alex's…), so if there's something you want to say, make sure to post a review to let me know. I welcome constructive criticism. I will never yell at you for stating your opinion-but please include a reason if you're going to flame.