Lawrence's situation was less urgent than mine, but just as-if not more- dangerous.

Jenny and I watched from the door as Lawrence backed away slowly, holding a shovel outwards as one would a spear, pointing it threateningly at each of four pinsir as they closed inon him. Two more lay beaten far back from the fight, one singed and the other beaten- presumably by the same bloodied shovel Lawrence held.

Another form, a blue and black one lay next to the two bodies- Lawrence's pokemon, presumably. It had no visible injuries, but it wasn't moving either. Lawrence looked over at it worriedly periodically, but he could seldom turn his attention from each of his four adversaries.

Lawrence glanced to where he always kept his pokeballs on his person frequently, no doubt pondering if he should reach for them. It would take one of his hands off of the shovel, and he would no longer be able to defend himself, and between the four of bug pokemon he wouldn't be able to release a pokemon before he was snapped in half.

He hadn't reached for them yet, so he must have gotten the gist of it.

Jenny held a pokeball in each hand, preparing to throw them at the pinsir, but held still when I touched her her arm.

I held out a single pokeball, and gestured towards Lawrence's fallen pokemon. Jenny nodded in understanding 'One pokemon, behind them'

I held out three finger, than two, then one.

"Noctowl!" I yelled, tossing the pokeball far behind the pinsir. Jenny seemed surprised by my loud announcement, but still tossed in a pokemon of her own, her manectric.

The pokemon that came out of my pokeball, however, was big and blue and very clearly not noctowl.

'A herracross' A small kink in my plan, but ultimately of little significance 'As long as he doesn't turn on us'.

The pinsir turned around quickly in surprise at my shout and faced their two new adversaries, turning their backs on Lawrence.

It was the last mistake they ever made.

Lawrence seized the opportunity, clumsily pressing the buttons on each of his five pokeballs, not bothering to remove them from his person, and five pokemon materialized in front of him-behind the pinsir.

Outnumbered, taken by surprise from our sleight, surrounded and outgunned what happened next should have been a slaughter.

And it was, for the most part. Each of the pokemon on Lawrence's side attacked from the rear, turning one pinsir immediately into ash, and sending the other to the gound in violent spasms. On our end, my heracross flew around the attacks and pinned the largest pinsir, even as manectric pounced with teeth bared. The assault resulted in a very dead pinsir- crushed around the midsection where heracross had grabbed it, and torn in the face where manectric had clawed out its eyes and tore out its throat- but also a very alive one that threw itself at the weakest target in in sight.

Lawrence responded appropriately, twisting his wrist and extending his arm, meeting the desperate pinsir with the back of his shovel. The pinsir scrambled up and attempted to get to safety, screeching as it fled back down the road it came from with more speed than one would usually accredit to its rather short and thin legs.

Any hope of escape for the stag however, was dashed when Lawrence's first pokemon, the one that had been lying down in the road jumped to its feet and pounced, meeting the fleeing pinsir with glowing claws and fangs.

It was brutal. Claws dug into the joints where the pinsir's arms met its abdomen and rendered its arms useless. Using them as a foothold, Lawrence's pokemon then darted around to the pinsir's back and sunk glowing fangs into the back of the pinsir's head. The pinsir shrieked- an unearthly sound that I hope to never hear again- as blood washed over the predator's fangs. It began moving in wild jerks- attempting to shake the assailant off- but its deliberately wild shakes turned into mild trembling, before it shook violently in a wild spasm, and then fell the ground convulsing. Lawrence's pokemon brought its paw down in one quick strike to the back of the head and the pinsir went still, save for the occasional twitch of a leg.

I stared in awe at the display of predatory prowess, but a second later the predator sprung up and bounded past me, and the spell was broken. I turned to follow its path, finding it headed towards Lawrence, who had propped himself up against a tree, the shovel discarded at his side as he caught his breath. Jenny was scanning the area, making sure it was safe, her manectric at her side. She was visibly shaken, but an iron discipline allowed her to keep her wits about her.

That left only me and Heracross. I glanced at the large bug awkwardly I held the pokeball that it came from out in front of me 'I need to mark these pokeballs. It doesn't matter if everything was fine this time, if in the future I send out the wrong pokemon for a specific situation, or worse yet send out and injured pokemon on accident, the conclusion won't be nearly as forgiving as this. Maybe my knife can carve out scratches on the surface, a different number of scratches for each one. That should work, but can my knife scratch the surface?'

Amidst my mental tirade the heracross looked around confused, as if it didn't quite recall what had happened or where it was, which was understandable. The beetle walked over to me and tugged on my shirt, saying something to me in its language of buzzing.

'What could it be saying? Lets assume a question, so what is the who, what, where, and why?'

I performed a quick mental checklist of everything that was going on, then decided how best to say it "The pinsir attacked us out of the blue, I guess that we accidentally wandered into their territory. We're currently on a road to Ekruteac city from Goldenrod, the main road was out, so we took this smaller one." The heracross continued looking up at me expactantly, waiting for me to continue.

That was the easy part, how do I explain everything that's been going on. I know that my explanation to Lawrence on the fate of Goldenrod was less than considerate, I didn't know if heracross would react the same, but it would be smart to frame it in a less harsh context. "Do you remember a couple of days ago, when you broke out of you pokeball and started thrashing around?" The heracross supplemented a nod (well something that looked like a nod, it didn't seem to have a discernible neck) "Well, as it turns out, all the pokemon in Goldenrod did that, and then a bunch of wild pokemon came in and took over the city, so we had to run."

It was a good half truth, like all good lies it was very true, just some missing some very important context. Heracross seemed to buy it, as it nodded again, and looked back up at me, waiting for me to continue.

I was beginning to feel sick, I would have to elaborate a little bit, or else misinformation would be the end of heracross. 'Should I mention my amnesia?'

"Anyways, ever since a couple nights ago when all the pokemon started thrashing about, all of them seem to have gotten a lot stronger, like, when we were escaping the city, we saw a bunch of tentacruel spitting up acid, and it was melting cement. While we were in the city still though, one of the pokemon accidentally took some of my memories, so I might act a little strange while I try to get them back."

It was a good story, it was easier to think of pokemon as stronger than deadlier, and absolutes were always terrifying, so to say that all my memories were gone would be to invite chaos. This way he wouldn't know the extent of my memory loss, and he didn't need to know.

Still, everything seemed quiet as I finished telling. 'Did I do something wrong?'

My fears were put to rest when Heracross nodded (bowed, shook, whatever it was) in affiirmation and I took out the pokeball "I need you at your best, take a rest heracross." I said, calling it back.

I sighed in relief with that situation diffused. Heracross were by nature scatterbrained and easy going, despite-or perhaps because of- their great strength. Had it been a less calm and more critical pokemon, such as Houndoom or Gyardados, my impromptu explanation could have turned out much differently.

I looked around again, Jenny seemed to be confident in our safety, and walked back inside the cabin, but not before sending out two more pokemon; a large bird with feathers the color of refined metal, Skamory, and one a large dog-like creature, complete with three massive claws on each of its four feet, and pale silver fur that contrasted heavily against ebony skin, which contrasted still against deep, red eyes.

Lawrence was still sitting against a tree, each of the pokemon he had sent out earlier at his side save Magnezone, and he petted each affectionately, laughing with them. I decided to approach him.

"Right before I went into that house I swore you were going to die for acting so flippantly."

Lawrence looked up from the pokemon in his arms, a small squirrel creature with yellow patches on its cheeks found among most electric types and stopped cooing it for a minute to address me "I told you I had it handled."

"It didn't look very handled, want to explain what happened?"

Lawrence sighed and slowly lowered his pokemon to the ground "Well, Delux-luxio- was the pokemon that I sent out to keep watch, cause it can see and hear real well. So I sent him out and looked for some fuel, and I found some, so I started bringing it to the truck. Delux was at my side at the time, but the pinsir popped out of the ground, from little holes and surrounded us. I brought a shovel back to the truck because I thought it would be useful, so I ran and grabbed it. There were too many to take in a straight fight, so Delux and I cleared a path in one direction, then faked an injury so he could get behind them. Then you came out."

I nodded in approval, I had underestimated Lawrence's cunning for the first and last time. Delux (what sort of name was that?), the luxio, the pokemon that was collapsed in the road, and Lawrence had a mutual understanding of what they needed to do and that the other knew it. They thought similarly, in sync. The pair surprised me.

"Enough about me, eh?" Lawrence said "You look a bit roughed up yourself."

I explained to him what had happened within the house, withholding the voice in my head (a cause for concern) and my original perception of the pinsir, Lawrence nodded and asked a few questions, even as he continued giving attention to his pokemon, helping them through what had just happened.

When my story was over Lawrence nodded then grinned "You know what? Enough about that, its in the past, lets play a game I used to play with my older sister back in Sinnoh, its called "Who's that Pokemon?" It's simple, just name each of the six pokemon I have right here" he said, gesturing to each of the pokemon he had scattered around.

My initial reaction was to refuse, to demand the names of each of his pokemon, but as I looked down in exasperation I noticed that Lawrence's good leg was shaking a little, and after looking back at him, so was a finger on his left hand, the muscles in his neck appeared tense, and every few seconds he blinked several times in rapid succession, as if he had something in his eye.

'He's trying to cope, just like his pokemon. They're looking for affirmation that everything is alright with what's happening by acting like nothing is different, looking for affection, and Lawrence is trying to cope by giving it, like nothing is different with what his pokemon did. He's trying to get his mind off it, find comfort in the familiar.'

In interest of his morale I obliged "Alright, I'm game." I pointed to the large lizard pokemon with a flame on its tail, the obvious outlier as most of the others appeared to be electric types "Charmeleon".

Lawrence grinned "Alright, but that was the easy one, what about the rest?"

"Magnezone, Luxio" I recalled, pointing at the two that I had already seen in action, recalling what Lawrence had called them, then pointing to the next two in rapid succession "E'ectrabuzz, Rotom" I looked at the last one in Lawrence's arms, stuck.

"It's called Pachiritsu"

I decided to give the voice a shot "Pachiritsu".

Lawrence grinned slyly "Nice try. But its 'Pachirisu'" he said, whilst aforementioned squirrel curling up and hugging its tail in response to the lack of petting.

""Darn, you really know your stuff. I'm surprised that you got Rotom, Luxio- they're all native to Sinnoh. You almost got Pachirisu as well."

"Well, you said luxio's name, remember, 'Delux'" I faked a laugh, in reality the beast terrified me "Everyone knows rotom, its the basis of every ghost story that ever was. I guessed with pachiritsu, it looks like a pikachu, and I thought it might be named similarly." I lied. "No 't'? Is it from Kanto, or eastern Johto?"

"Well, no. But the person that explored part of Sinnoh where they are found was an explorer from the old Kanto empire, so it was named by a Kanto'n...Kanta'n? Kantain? Whatever you call someone from Kanto. Anyways, even though we all have to speak Common now, proper nouns keep the pronunciations from the old languages."

"Huh"

"Still cant believe you almost guessed Pachi's name? Maybe we should name you 'Lucky'" Lawrence laughed, an obnoxious guffaw with a light undertone.

"Given what you named you're luxio, I don't think I'd come to you for a name, besides I already have one: Crescent"

Lawrence stopped laughing "Funny name, when did you remember it?"

"It's not so much a name as a creed. A promise I made to myself."

"Ah well, 'how else are you supposed to live, if not through promises and dreams?' as a wise man once said, just now actually." Lawrence laughed again, his demeanor shifting back to normal "Still think 'Lucky is better though" Lawrence proceeded to stand up, recalling each of his pokemon with calm reassurances and affection, and began walking to the truck, and I followed.

"How does one name their cat 'Delux', anyways?" I asked as Lawrence picked up the container of fuel he dropped earlier.

Lawrence hefted it and walked it over to the truck, opening the gas cap and filling the tank "When I first caught him a long time ago, he had a huge attitude. He was my first pokemon, so I named him something silly to try to wear down his silly pride, so I called him Delux, as a play on his name and because of his massive ego." Lawrence chuckled nervously "I was a crazy kid at the time, its no wonder it didn't work like I thought it would, in hindsight. I usually call him Luxio or some other nickname, I only call him that to get on his nerves." Lawrence closed the gas tank and threw the container in the bed of the trunk.

"He's strong"

"Well, I've been training him for years, he was my first." Lawrence turned towards me and furrowed his brow "What's wrong with your shoulder?"

"Huh?"

"This." Lawrence said, pulling back my leather jacket where I had left it unzipped, revealing a layer of coagulated blood upon my shoulder.

The sight of my own blood had a profound effect on me, as if someone had ripped the curtains off a window. Suddenly I felt somewhat exhausted, and my shoulder was sore, as though I had held my hand above my head for several hours. When did this happen?

'Noctowl' I realized, as I recalled when the owl had accidentally dug its talons into my shoulder back in the sewers. I had hardly noticed it at the time, merely felt a brief pinching sensation in my shoulder, and I was so tense from the tunnels that I completely forgot about the wound.

"A couple days ago, back in the sewers. Noctowl accidentally dug its talons into my shoulder while trying to perch."

"You didn't think to check on it after the fact?"

"I didn't notice it."

"You ran, dug a grave, slept in the bed of a truck, and wrestled a pinsir, and didn't notice your shoulder wound?"

He had a valid point. I hadn't taken it easy on my shoulder in the last few days, really, its no wonder that I had irritated the wound.

"You know what, old cabin out here, it has to have some medical supplies" Lawrence said "Lets go inside and clean it off, take a good look at it, see if we can do anything to fix it up any better, okay?"


Jenny winced as she drew an alcohol laden piece of cloth across one of the long scrapes on her arm. The cuts weren't particularly deep, having been caused by the fragmentation of glass when the pinir systematically breached her room in the manner they did mine. I had been shielded from the flying glass by my leather jacket, but Jenny, who was wearing naught but a blue short sleeved shirt and a pair of khaki pants, was not quite as fortunate.

"Alright, lets take a look at this" Lawrence said, removing my leather jacket to reveal my blood stained v-neck beneath it. Jenny came forward with the alcohol, as well as some bandages and inspected my shoulder through the shirt. Lawrence poked and prodded my shoulder, making me wince in discomfort as he found the wound.

"Okay, the shirt has to go if we want to get at the wound" I complied, and Jenny took a wet rag and cleaned off the blood so they could see the wound. When all the blood was gone and the wound was visible the two examined the front, six small holes in my shoulder, spaced evenly apart from the base of my collarbone to the end of my shoulder.

"It doesn't look that deep, maybe an inch? What do you think Jenny?"

"No, its deeper than that, the talons are curved, see? Probably around an inch and a half, maybe a little more. It should heal completely, at least if it wasn't infected, but it will be uncomfortable for a while, I wouldn't recommend using it if you can help it, you could irritate it and slow the healing."

"But that's my dominant arm!" I protested.

"Then learn how to use your other arm, or find a way to use it without using your shoulder." Jenny turned back towards Lawrence "We'll handle the front first, I'm not sure if its worth sterilizing at this point, but we may as well try, get something for him to bite on."

Jenny reached back towards the medical supplies, producing another piece of gauze doused in alcohol. Lawrence did a quick scan of his surroundings and grabbed my green v-neck, finding a clean spot on it and giving it to me.

Pain erupted from my shoulder as Jenny applied the alcohol, as though she had poured not alcohol but boiling water into the wounds. When Jenny was finished she handed Lawrence a piece of fresh gauze and told him to compress my shoulder with it while she was cleaning out the wounds in my back.

"Two piercing wounds in the back of the shoulder. Its back claws were serrated, so it tore the muscle, thankfully one of them is shallow, I don't even think I can call it a wound. The other one looks about an inch deep.

The pain from the antiseptic was more contained than before, but more painful where it chose to spread. After Jenny finished cleaning out the wound Lawrence quickly took the bandages and wrapped them around my shoulder, isolating the bloody holes from the world.


"Lets make sure we don't have to do this again." I'm not sure which of us said that, but we were all inclined to agree.

"We should probably stay here for the night"

The idea caught me completely off guard "Even after the pinsir attacked us? There might be more."

Jenny shook her head calmly "It wasn't a quiet fight, if there were any other pokemon out hunting nearby, they would have come by now."

Lawrence put down the small glass of milk that supplemented the meager meal of fresh fruit and bread "Why should we stop at all? There's enough stuff here to last us a while on the road, if we just load it up. We can take turns driving to Ekruteak through the day and night like we have been for the last couple of days, we'd make better time, and we'd be less likely to get attacked."

"The road is too rough up here, there's too many bumps and debris to drive safely through the night, we could hit something and damage the truck, then we would have to walk to safety. Also, if we were to get attacked on the move while two of us were exhausted from driving, I'm not sure how well we'd be able to fend them off, especially in the dark. It's better to be somewhere where we can understand our surroundings, and set up sentries." Jenny said.

I scratched my chin in thought. If what Jenny said was true- and I didn't doubt it- then we could hit a particularly sharp rock and blow out a tire in the dark, then we'd be more or less exposed in the middle of the night. On the other hand, if we were attacked in the cabin again, we could control where the enemies approached from, set up night watches to keep us alerted of anything coming to close, and we could take measures to conceal ourselves and minimize chances of confrontation, given that sufficient resources were available to us.

"Lawrence, you said that there was a gas generator somewhere in here?" I asked the older man.

"There is, in a storage closet, but I wouldn't want to waste any fuel on it."

"Anything else in there, matches? Candles? Something we could use for light to preserve our lanterns?"

"Yeah, I found a bunch of matches, some candles too. We could use them if we decide to stay the night."

I turned towards Jenny again "We'd need to move the pinsir, cover all the windows so they can't see in, set up a small sleeping area and places for our pokemon to keep watch. Do we have enough time for that?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think we could do it."

"We have to move the bodies now then, the longer we wait the more opportunity there is to attract unwanted attention." I responded.

"We could move them inside. It would save time, and their bodies would probably cover our scent and frighten off other pokemon"

"What about carrion eaters?"

"They won't rot yet, and most of them Lawrence's pokemon killed with electric shock, so they won't smell much blood. Its not a concern."

I was still skeptical, but it was the best choice available to us "Alright, we should go move them inside now then, before something notices them."

"Yeah" Lawrence said, somewhat forcefully "I think I'm gonna have to sit this job out, I'm just not quite ready to, ya know."

Jenny nodded in understanding "Then you should pick out a room to sleep, and figure out how we should fortify the building to conceal ourselves."

"Stay out of the back hallway though, that's where we'll put the bodies, we don't want to be in the same room as them." I said, recalling the old man that I myself had left in the final room down the hall. Lawrence was deeply troubled by everything going on, still too soft, it was best to steer him clear of any indication of human death, if only to ease him into our reality.

"Alright, but lets finish the food first" He said, gesturing at our meals, meager by virtue of Jenny's ruthless rationing.