Hello again everyone! Had a tiny bit of writer's block this chapter but I think I'm past it now. I've got finals coming up so maybe expect some more time between chapters.

Rocker on: Probably not. The others were either born like that or were transformed by a powerful pokemon or by science. That lady had had past troubles, yes.

Jeremy1555: Not really.

Fer1323: Too much content is one of the better problems to have in my opinion.

On with the story!

After lunch we headed back out to the street. "So where were you guys planning to go?" Jake asked, leaning against a wall.

"We were heading to visit my dad, in the forest about two days travel south from Geosenge." Alejandra said.

"Cool." Jake replied. "I'm assigned to the region as a whole right now, so I'll come with you guys, if you're ok with that."

"That's fine with me." Alejandra said.

Jake grinned. "Now let's get out of this city, my human form feels so constricting but it's best to keep up the appearance around normal humans." We were able to leave without incident this time. Traffic along the road had returned to normal, and the woman was nowhere to be found.

I wondered if we'd ever see her again. Hopefully not. We exited out onto the route, the area around here treeless and open. There was no one else around, most people visiting Coumarine came from Lumiose City which was in the other direction. Jake stopped abruptly, turning back to us. "Just a warning, I'll look a bit different after this." He said.

Swift flew off of him, fluttering over to me and landing on my shoulder. "I don't like standing on him when he's shifting." Swift said. "Too much motion."

The changes were fluid, and for the most part small. Webbing grew between his fingers, small claws replacing his nails. His ears changed into a shape unlike any pokemon, somewhere between the fin like ears of a vaporeon and more normal ones of a jolteon. The most noticeable change was the tail, however. It looked much like the tail of a vaporeon, but the fins were longer and thinner than normal.

"That's better." Jake said, swishing his tail back and forth a bit. Swift casually flew back to his shoulder, as if this were the most normal occurrence imaginable.

"I've never seen anything like that!" Alejandra exclaimed, wide eyed.

"Me neither." I admitted. "You called yourself a shifter, how rare are those?"

"Oh, incredibly so. Hybrids outnumber up about twelve to one. That might not be accurate though, it's possible there's many more who just hide or ignore their abilities. There's really no way to know for sure. Anyways, let's get a move on, no point in standing here all day." Jake said.

We set off, heading down the road towards Geosenge. The few people also traveling to road gave us a wide berth, hurrying past and avoiding looking at us. The day wore on without event, and we ended up stopping for the night at an abandoned campsite, built off the side of the road.

"I don't understand why people are so afraid of us." Alejandra said, sitting down on a rickety wooden bench.

"It stems from a few thing." Jake said. "Fear of the unknown is one. They don't really understand us, and that's scary to a lot of people. Another is the fact that we're human in thought and motivation but we have powers like a pokemon. More than one hybrid has thought something along the lines of 'I could rob a bank and no one would be able to stop me', or even worse things than that. A fair amount of the time they aren't wrong. Those stories get out and the media inflates it into a big issue, and people become afraid. There no way to avoid the fear as long as any of us abuse our power."

Alejandra was silent for a minute before she spoke. "I disagree. There's a way to avoid fear. People can learn to understand one another." She said.

Jake sighed. "If it's possible, it's a long ways away. I honestly hope you're right, and that it can happen, but we've still got to deal with the world as it is right now. That remind me, tomorrow I'm going to start teaching you guys to fight. You may not like it but you've got to be able to defend yourselves."

I set down the ground pad my mom had fished out of the basement somewhere, apparently my grandfather had a fair amount of camping equipment. Unfortunately his tent along with quite a lot of other gear had been rendered unusable by moths and time. I laid down on it, looking up at the stars. Alejandra joined me, snuggling up close. I put my arm around her, my body drinking in her warmth. Sleep came to me quickly.

I awoke the next morning to a familiar sensation. "Would you stop poking me?" I grumbled, rolling over onto my back.

Alejandra giggled. She was leaning over me, our faces not too far apart. "Not gonna happen." She said, standing up straight.

I got up, glancing around. Jake was sitting at the bench, still in his hybrid form, watching us. Swift sat on his shoulder as usual. "Good, you're awake." He called out. "We'll start when you're ready."

I packed up the pad, shoving it back into my bag. I joined Alejandra across from Jake at the table. "So, from what I saw you two both have a lot if raw power, but you aren't used to fighting in these bodies. It's quite unusual for hybrids to do a passable Leaf Blade at all, let alone after only two weeks as a hybrid." He said. "With you I want to focus more on technique and improving your execution of the attacks. Alejandra, we need to work on focusing your power into attacks, you kinda just discharge flame."

He stood up, looking at me. "You'll go first." He said. We moved about ten feet away from the bench, standing a little ways apart. Swift flew back to the bench, perching on Alejandra's shoulder. "I want to try and hit me with a leaf blade. I'll be fine, so go as hard as you can." I nodded, taking a deep breath as I reached down into my well of power.

I gathered the energy in my leaves, and they glowed white-green with raw power. I cautiously approached Jake, my guard up. He casually stood in place, watching me, hands by his side.

I sprung into motion, taking a downward slash with my left arm. He easily countered, knocking my strike aside with his forearm. "Not bad." He said. "But try to make shorter movements, give me less time to react."

I backed up to my starting point, drawing from my well of power. This time I took a two short swipes, one with each arm. Jake had to jump back to avoid the attacks. "Better. That's enough for now. Would you come over here Alejandra?" He said.

We traded places, I sat down on the bench, and she took up position opposite Jake. Swift chose the top of my head as the best place to stand. "Do you have to stand there?" I asked.

"Yes." Swift said, poking her head into my field of view. I glanced up at her. She had to be leaning down at quite the angle for me to see her. I sighed, turning my attention back to the fight.

Alejandra was attempting to recreate flamethrower, her hands wreathed in fire, her face a mask of concentration. "Focus more on your breathing." Jake said. "Keep it rhythmic, that'll help increase your control."

Alejandra compiled, the slight rise and fall of her chest falling into even cycles. The fire grew in intensity, and she thrust her hand forward, fire blossoming from her fingertips. It shot forward, reaching a few feet before dieing off. She didn't let up, continuing to try and push the fore further.

I felt a strange urge to pull out the pocket watch. I did so, once again running my finger across the silver surface, the compass spinning around three times before settling on east. A sudden shock passed through the watch, causing me to drop it and yelp in surprise. Swift grumbled at the sudden disturbance, finally hopping down off my head.

From the watch sprung an image, lines of purple light forming a picture. It was my grandfather's image. Alejandra and Jake were both just as stunned as I was, the flames in Alejandra's hand dying.

"If you're hearing this, Tobias, it means that you've walked the same path as me. I set the delay to this long after you first touch it so that your mother wouldn't see this. The compass will now respond to two thoughts; love and destiny, and point the way to either of those. If you find you that destiny sends you down my path, find love first. A life of wandering is a lonely one indeed."