"Hey Hikari, I've been wondering something." It had been three days since the girls saw Satoshi and Takeshi off. It had been a brief goodbye filled with promises and advice. But one thing Takeshi had said to Hikari had stuck out to Haruka and she couldn't go any longer without at least asking.

"When Takeshi told you to use the pokeball on your neck, what did he mean? I thought you said that pokeballs was broken?" She didn't mean to sound so accusatory, but it was already said so instead of apologizing for being brash, Haruka just waited for an answer.

After nearly five agonizing minutes of silence, Hikari stopped walking. She looked up at the sky and sighed sadly while clutching the pokeball in question. "It's not broken, but the pokemon inside of it is."

"Wait, so you still have a Pokemon?!" Haruka wasn't sure how she felt. A little relieved obviously. She assumed it had to be Piplup in the pokeball, but what did she mean when she said he was broken?

Was he injured in the incident? Was that how Hikari was able to survive? All of Harukas unanswered questions triggered feelings of confusion, anger, and slight betrayal. Why had Hikari lied to her?

"He wasn't my pokemon originally. He got hurt when..." Choking back tears that seemed to appear out of nowhere, Hikari struggled to finish her thought.

Haruka was flooded with guilt almost instantly. How could she be angry at her friend for keeping this secret? The whole ordeal had been traumatic for everyone involved, but no one more so than Hikari. Haruka could never understand what her best friend was going through emotionally.

"Its ok, I get it." Smiling softly, Haruka patted the bluenete on the back. She was going to tell her she understood that she couldn't understand what she was dealing with and that whenever she was ready to tell her the truth she would be there to listen. But the loud sound of her grumbling stomach prevented it.

Instead the girls just shared a laugh at the perfectly timed distraction. "Let's break for lunch. I'm starving."

XxX

They chose a spot on a hill overlooking a beautiful field of sunflowers. The sun was high in the sky, turning the chilly morning into a pleasantly warm afternoon. Haruka wasted no time in devouring two bowls of miso soup while Hikari heated up the cream cheese and salmon onigiri.

When the bluenete finally joined her friend on her spot on the ground to eat, Haruka was already finished. "My bad, it was too good to wait."

Hikari laughed at her friends apology. She had learned long ago that nothing and no one gets in the way of Haruka and a plate of food. She didn't mind that the brunette decided to get up and start packing up her bags to go out training instead of sitting next to her enjoying a meal.

Truth be told, Hikari was looking forward to the solitary Harukas departure would bring. For six years, Hikari had lived alone in her apartment in Veilstone. She had worked at a small flower shop when she got bored and other times she just watched the time go by in a mind numbing routine of isolation.

Strangely enough, she missed the feeling. So when Haruka said goodbye, she hardly batted an eye. After a few minutes of just shutting her brain off, her stomach growled and she reached over to grab the plate of food she had set down.

She expected a freshly steamed triangular treat but was met with an empty dish instead. Turning to look at the plate in shock, Hikari just shook her head. "When did Haruka steal my onigiri?"

Sighing, she threw her body backwards and plopped down on the soft grass. But when she did, she felt a large, warm, wiggling lump instead of spongy ground. A loud gasp escaped her lips as she shot straight up like a bullet.

Quickly, she spun around and nearly melted at the sight behind her. A small mushroom looking Pokemon looked up at her with wide eyes. With half eaten onigiri in its hands and a smile that could soften even Groudon, the pokemon let out an adorable cry. "Padestel!"

Hikari quickly pulled out her violet pokedex and scanned the yellow and green topped mushroom, eagerly waiting for the robotic voice to teach her about the exotic creature.

"Padestel,

The ghost mushroom pokemon. In ancient times, nomadic conquers would consume these pokemon in order to enhance their physical abilities.

They called warriors that consumed padestel bezerkers, because they would quite literally go berserk. The pokemons fungus cap is laced with a toxin that causes hallucinations, increased adrenaline, paranoia, and temperory increased strength stamina. In order to escape extinction, these Pokemon have adapted their caps to look like other Pokemon, normally a pikachu or dedenne.

Because of overconsumption, these Pokemon became so rare they now classify as mythical. They are timid but extremely protective and intelligent."

"Well aren't you the cutest thing ever?" As Hikari gushed over the small yellow and brown fungus, Padestel swallowed the last of the onigiri and hopped over to her.

"You're way too sweet to be a wild pokemon. Do you have a trainer somewhere?" The small pokemon shook its head and Hikari found herself confused. Most wild pokemon weren't so friendly towards humans, but this particular padestel seemed fine around her.

While she tried figuring it out she saw a flash of red light in her peripheral vision followed by a nostalgic chime she hadn't heard in years. "What on earth...?"

Hikari noticed the pokemon was missing and started to search. She realized her backpack was opened and saw a lone violet pokeball sitting next to her opened bag of trail mix.

That's when she understood what happened. Poor padestel had gone digging through her bag for snacks and had probably bumped into the pokeball. Wanting to make sure her assumption was right, Hikari grabbed the pokeball and tossed it in the air.

With a flash of white light, a very confused padestel appeared looking around. "You silly pokemon."

Walking to the mushrooms side, Hikari scooped him into her arms and smiled. "Would you like to travel with me? I don't have any other Pokemon that I'm training right now, so it'll just be you and me for a while."

"Preee!" He seemed excited at the opportunity and the two laughed in excitement. Hikari was going to grab some of the trail mix Pedestal had been trying to sneak when she was suddenly interrupted.

A flash of light. That was all she saw before a deafening explosion was heard inches from her face. She could feel the bits of dirt and earth rush up and hut her cheeks. A mixture of dust and smoke made it impossible for her to cry out for help.

A sudden feeling of numbness began to fill her limbs as she struggled not to breathe in the now violet coke or smoke surrounding her. "Pad *cough cough* estel!"

"There's no use is turning to your little fungus to help you." An unknown woman's voice said. Her words dripped with superiority leaving Hikari feeling nervous as well as furious.

"It wouldn't help. Even if he could find you in this smog." A male voice taunted. So that's why I can't beeathe. This is the Pokemon attack smog. I have to be careful, if I breathe too much in, I'll get paralyzed and pass out.

Without another thought Hikari lifted her shirt to cover her nose and mouth. Closing her eyes, she took as deep a breath as she could and called out again for her pokemon. This time though, Padestel was right by her side, his tiny hand touching her ankle, filled with determination to protect the lady that gave him food.

Before Hikari had a chance to call out a move, Padestel rushed forward releasing a ghostly melody that sounded eerily like the move sirens song. A costly melody that puts an opponents pokemon into a trancelike state while absorbing its energy until it's enemy faints. As the attack hit the unknown assailant, the smog began to clear.

But she wasn't ready for what she saw. "You bitch! You injured my poor Toxicroak! I'LL KILL YOU!!"

XxX

Hey monsters! So, what did you think??? I personally don't like this chapter I wasn't really feeling it. But I needed to push through and write it so we can get into the fun stuff! I've already started the next chapter yay! Hopefully I'll have it up in a few days.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter so please feel free to comment.

*note*

In this fanfiction, some moves are different than canon(they'll be described) and others are moves I created, like Sirens Song. (There aren't enough ghost moves)

Padestel is the mushroom with the pikachu looking top. I saw the image on Facebook but couldn't save it so I just sketched it out instead. Ctta