Author's Note:

You may notice that the summary has changed with the arrival of the previous chapter! This story is hardly just about Marza taking care of Oscura by this point, so I figured that a change of summary would only be logical and correct!

Shout-outs to Teraunce for the Review! Sorry about the short chapters; I think I'll make them a bit more lengthy as the story progresses; what I'm worried about is getting too concerned about making a chapter long and either making you and the other readers wait for a long time, or get overwhelmed by needing to make the chapters long and run out of steam for writing.

And I don't think that any of us want that, now do we?

Disclaimer:

Pokémon and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.


Of Children, Men, and Monsters

Chapter Seventeen: To a Brand New World!


Marza wasn't entirely certain as to how much time had passed since they had started their not-so-little trek. The clock on her phone would, in all likelihood, by useless, considering that A) this world probably had different phone signals, if it even did had them, and B) they were in an alternative universe. It would be nothing short of a miracle if her phone's time was even remotely accurate, now. And she was hardly used to judging the overall movement of the sun – she was too used to clocks – so using that as a time measurement, even in a vague sort of sense, was also out of the question…

'Why am I even thinking so hard about the passage of time all of a sudden? It's not a big deal, and, with any luck, it won't become a big deal. This isn't one of those overly dramatic survival shows, which, upon further thinking, aren't even actually dramatic to begin with, seeing as how the person's TV crew'd probably just pull them out if they truly got into a life-threatening situation…'

It was then that she came to an admittedly insignificant realization:

'… I must be really bored and really strange to be thinking about such things in this type of circumstance…'

She shrugged, and then asked Oscura, who Marza had since taken into her arms, "Are you bored, Oscura? Because, despite that fact that we're in an entirely new world, I certainly am."

The Pokémon nodded in affirmation, stifling a dull sigh.

"That's what I thought. Hmm…"

Time continued to pass. It felt as if they – or, rather, Marza – had been waking for at least two hours.

Fun fact: it had only been approximately half of that time.

Yet despite this, Marza was already beginning to feel rather tired, especially in the legs and feet.

"This is what I get for not bothering to go to a summer camp or join the girl scouts, I suppose… It probably doesn't help that this backpack is more than a little heavy, either…" she mumbled, a tad aggravated. Oscura appeared concerned, and, with a bit of squirming, hopped out of the lass' grip, now walking alongside her rather than just being on her person. Marza smiled appreciatively.

"Thanks, Oscura. But if you get tired again, just ask to hop back into my hands, okay?"

The Rock Skin Pokémon let out a "Tar!" of acknowledgement, and, with that, the two resumed their walk to the nearest town.

Assuming that they were, indeed, heading in the right direction!

It was another hour later when Marza truly began to feel exhausted, and sat herself down against the closest tree to her at that time.

When Marza glanced up, she truly noticed that most of the leaves had tiny patches or yellow and orange – a tell-tale sign of the approaching seasonal change.

"Fall already? But summer's just started…!" she quietly joked, not really expecting a response. And indeed, she didn't get one, aside from Oscura's quirking of an eyelid.

"It's a school time-related thing, Oscura. I'll probably talk to you about it later," she spoke in response to the unspoken inquiry.

A curt nod from the Pokémon.

"… Actually, scratch that. Methinks that we're going to be sitting here for a little while, so we might as well talk right now."

And so they did. Or, rather, Marza explained to Oscura a few concepts and subjects that she likely was not yet familiar with – I.E., the aforementioned school times (at least in her home country – she knew that school systems can vary quite drastically in places), with the red-eyed tyke nodding or chirping every now and then to confirm that she understood her explanations.

Nearly thirty minutes whizzed along before Marza felt that her feet and legs were no longer sore enough to allow her to continue. She voiced the sentiment with a small grunt as she rose from her position: "I think that I'm good to go again. Let's continue onwards, Oscura." Another up-and-down motion of the head followed from the monster as she, too, rose.

Finally, after yet another relatively long while of walking, the pair came upon a small, peaceful little town. The design of the buildings – most of which were two-storied, Marza noticed – reminded the lass distinctly of the design of the average building found in most first world countries back on Earth. One particularly large one near the apparent entrance-exit of the town appeared to be a laboratory of sort, what with the miscellaneous tools lying about and odd objects protruding from several of the construct's surfaces.

'And judging by how they're all lying about in a mass outside, the person living there's either a scatterbrain or rather poor at organization. Possible both, and man, I need to stop being so judgmental. For all I know, it could just be cramped in that building. Who knows?'

A short, mental pause.

'Well, plenty of people, actually. People live here, obviously, so doubtless that someone'd–'

A tug on one of the girl's pant legs broke her from her reverie and caused her to look down. She then took in her fellow female's curious – no, eager expression.

"Guess you want to hurry up and really meet the locals, huh? Sorry, I was just thinking, and I'm being completely sincere this time around when I say that this train of thought was nothing to concern yourself with."

Oscura gazed straight into Marza's eyes for a second.

Two.

Three.

And a fourth before finally giggling, judging her to be truthful.

"Well," said Marza, "time to go meet some more of the locals…"

And with that comment, the two walked slowly (and a tad wearily) into the unfamiliar town…

The wind was howling...


The boy knew he was making a gamble when he decided to follow the girl upon stumbling upon her in the woods, surrounded by some weakling Pokémon, those few hours ago. She could've easily gone the wrong direction, subsequently making him err in his path, as well, but, luckily, her random guess ended up being the right one rather than the wrong one.

The fiery-haired boy, recognizing the town, tip-toed away as quietly as he could towards the location of the lab-esque building. Now that the girl's done what he wanted, that being to unintentionally guide him, there was no need to stick around her any longer. He was hardly a creeper or a stalker, after all, unlike some people.

… And no, this whole mess of his did not start because he was lost and didn't have a map of some sort.

Idiot.

Her words confused him, however. 'Other worlds? Summer just starting? What was she going on about…?'

He shook his head, brushing the curiosity, as well as the girl herself, out of his mind for the moment.

'Whatever. She's served her purpose, anyways, and when I get my hands on a strong enough Pokémon…!'

He couldn't help the mildly sinister chuckle that left his mouth then.

'Then I'll show her not to be such a goody-two-shoesThose kinds of people never fail to aggravate me…!'