Chapter 5

"Mark…Mark…Mark…" A sweet, soft, musical voice whispered. The voice reminded him of birds singing. It reminded him of sparrows, robins, and other small birds, gently chirping in the morning, greeting the day with hope and faith.

"Mark…Mark…Mark…" Something was also poking him in the side as the musical voice repeated his name. It wasn't painful, just annoying, but it contrasted with the voice in a very unpleasant way. There was also the sense of someone standing right near him, peering down at him with keen interest, probably just inches from his face. He realized that he was awake, so, he opened his eyes.

"Good morning!" Maple beamed down at him. She continued poking his side as she bent over him.

"Morning…" Mark said groggily, "Wait…you can talk!"

"Yep!" Maple chimed. She stood up straight to give Mark room to sit up.

"So, does this mean, you're all done?" Mark asked.

"Umm…" Maple thought for a moment, placing her index finger on her chin, "I guess so. It's been two days. I mean, that's what that girl Kim said, right?"

"You remember that?" Mark was surprised that she did, but it would save some explaining.

"Yep!" Maple nodded before putting her finger back to her chin, "…I guess I didn't really understand it, though…but that's okay! I get it, now!"

"Wait, you didn't before…but now you do?" Mark had no idea how this all worked and he had held out hope that Maple would.

"Yep!" Maple nodded enthusiastically before bursting out explanations like machine-gun fire, "It's like, I could remember what she said, but, I didn't know what it meant until just this morning! And it's like that with a lot of stuff, like, the mirror, or the TV. I know so much about what they are now! Like, even the electricity makes sense, now! It's so cool! Oh, sorry, about the chair, by the way…" Maple slowed down and trailed off when she mentioned the chair.

"Don't worry about it," Mark smiled, shaking his head, "I'm just glad you're alright. You are alright, right?"

"Yeah…" Maple blushed, "I'm great." She wanted to throw her arms around Mark and hug him, but something about that felt different. It was an act that she wouldn't have thought twice about just two days ago, but some vague intuition told her that now was not the time. It was a better idea to wait. What she was waiting for, Maple had no idea.

"Well, that's a relief," sighing, Mark sat back. He took a few minutes to process what was happening, while Maple sat down on the opposite bed, watching him with interest.

Most importantly, Maple could talk. So, as far as they knew, she was finished transforming and was as human as she was going to get.

"So, what else do you remember?" Mark asked, "Do you remember anything before you were umm…human, I guess."

"Yep!" Maple chirped, "I still remember that time we saw the sunset over Eterna City. You know that night we were on the cliff looking over the city. It was so pretty…" Maple trailed off and began staring into the distance, recalling every detail of the memory. She shut her eyes, smiled and began to sway back and forth just a tiny bit.

"Uh…Maple?" Mark was a little hesitant to disturb the pleasant memory. He remembered that night, but apparently not the same way that Maple did. Mark had remembered the impressive view, but Maple had been lying by his side. He had scratched her head, listening to her purr, like a cat, while they watched the sky. It had been pleasant, but Maple thought it had been a scene of perfect serenity. Mark wondered how many more memories Maple had about moments like that.

"Huh?" Maple's ears perked up as she returned to the moment, "did I miss something?"

"No, it's okay," Mark sighed, "So, you remember the ranch, right?"

"Yep!" Maple declared before starting off at a break-neck pace again, "I remember Hayley and Jeremiah and Cole. Cole's really quiet, but I still like him. And I remember that Jitter and Eclipse and all my other brothers and sisters are there and so are Mom and Dad and-"

"Yeah, okay," Mark was afraid she'd never stop, "well, anyway, I want to stop there before we head to this tournament."

"Oh, okay," Maple nodded, "yeah, that sounds great! So, we're going to compete in that tournament, then?"

"Well, I don't know about compete," Mark admitted, "but I think it's worth checking out. See who else knows about what's happening. I mean…do you know why you evolved?"

Maple didn't respond right away. At first, she looked shocked that he had asked the question at all. Then, she dropped her gaze and stared at the floor, seeming to mull something over. Finally, she shook her head.

"…Sorry," she said solemnly, "I'm not sure…"

"Okay," Mark nodded, "then this tournament should be the place to find out. So, I think we should go."

"You do? Cool!" Maple perked up, again, "it'll be great! I know it will!"

"Yeah," Mark hesitated before continuing, "so, you can just go back in your Pokéball and we'll get going." He reached down to his bag, on the floor, and produced Maple's Pokéball. To Mark's surprise, Maple recoiled upon seeing the ball.

"I don't wanna," Maple shook her head, in fear, "I wanna be out here."

"Why?" Mark stared at the red and white ball in his hand, "what's it like in there? Is it that bad?"

"Well," Maple played with her fingers while she spoke, "it's not really bad. I mean, it's a lot like this," she gestured around the room, "but it gets really, really lonely sometimes…most of the time, actually."

"Oh…okay," Mark put the Pokéball away, still not completely understanding what was wrong with it, "well, I guess if you're gonna be out with me, then we should probably cover up your ears and tail."

"What's wrong with them?" Maple whined. She cupped her ears with her hands and pulled her tail close against her body.

"Nothing," Mark admitted, "but it'll be weird for people to see that you're, you know, not human."

"But I am human, now," Maple pointed out, "I have a belly-button and everything!" She was about to pull up her dress to show Mark, but she thought better of it. Somehow, that felt even worse than hugging him. Being human was weird.

"That's not what I meant…" Mark rubbed his forehead, "well, I guess we can just tell people you're in costume…maybe it'll work. You'll still need shoes, though."

"How come?" Maple tilted her head to the side, in confusion.

"Umm…your feet will get dirty," Mark spoke as if he was explaining this to a two-year old, "and it'll hurt a lot if you step on a rock."

"No they won't. See?" Maple extended her leg and placed her foot a few centimeters from Mark's face. Some things didn't feel as weird as others and apparently showing Mark her feet was much lower on the list than hugging him. It was also funny to watch Mark's reaction.

"Right, okay, I get it," Mark pushed Maple's foot away, which tickled a little, "fine, we'll just go. But once your feet start to hurt; I have an extra pair of shoes. They'll be a little big, but it'll be something."

"Okey-dokey," Maple chirped as she lowered her foot back to the floor.

"Alright," Mark nodded, with a destination in mind, everything was coming together, "then, it'll just be a quick walk through town, and we'll be at the ranch by night time. Sounds like a plan."

"Hurray!" Maple cheered, springing to her feet, "let's go!"

Maple's first shower was a confusing, but very entertaining experience, for her. She had no way of knowing what the knobs did, so, she was forced to fiddle with them, producing two extremes of temperature. She stumbled on an agreeable middle-ground strictly by accident in the middle of a panicked frenzy.

However, she found that removing her clothes was the more interesting part about getting a shower. She discovered quite a few new features about her body that required another ten-minute examination in the mirror. She thought about how strange it was that she was so much curvier as a girl than she had been as a Leafeon. She discovered that she liked it, though, so, that made it okay.

She accidentally put on her dress wrong, the first time. She had it both upside-down and inside-out. It took a few tries to get it correct, but eventually she had it, despite the fact that the dress itself didn't fit her body exactly the way that she thought it should. She also almost forgot her underwear, but thankfully she realized that something didn't feel quite right before she left the bathroom.

After Maple's shower, Mark packed up everything they had and checked out of the Pokémon Center. The receptionist was even more confused by Maple's overly enthusiastic greeting than she had been when Maple had been licking herself. Which Mark thought was entirely backwards.

And then, Maple was back outside.

The instant she felt the sun's warmth, she closed her eyes, spread her arms and twirled in place, soaking in the wonderful sounds and sensations.

"Oh, sweet Arceus…" Maple cooed to no one in particular, "I missed this so much…"

"That's right," Mark nodded, "you were…or are, I guess, a Grass Pokémon. Being outside must be great."

"It is…" Maple smiled, "it really is."

As the two headed west through Ecruteak City and towards Olivine City, Mark kept a steady walking pace, a little faster than a stroll, but Maple neglected the boring movement. Instead, she either skipped, danced, twirled, hopped or anything she could to make the event more interesting. Mark watched her with amusement at first, but scolded her more and more as they moved into more heavily populated sections of the city.

"Hey," Maple stopped suddenly and pointed at a rather large building off in the distance, "Isn't that the Gym where you beat that ghost-trainer guy?"

"Sure is," Mark said proudly, happy to relate his battle experiences, "Morty was his name. He was good, too. In fact, he almost beat me. His Gengar was insanely powerful, but Quilava managed to take him down, just by the skin of our teeth."

"Cool," Maple envisioned the back-and-forth battle between Mark's Quilava and Morty's Gengar, "I wish I could've been there…"

"Yeah, that's right," Mark nodded, "I had to leave you back in Sinnoh when I first got here. They wouldn't let me bring you without a license."

"Yeah…" Maple's ears drooped as she remembered the months when Mark had been away in the Johto region without her. Their relationship had been different then, but they had still missed each other.

"C'mon, let's keep going," Mark said, jolting Maple out of her daydream.

They stumbled into a stretch of store-fronts in the middle of an open-air market and Maple started darting from shop to shop. She examined everything with wide-eyed curiosity. She moved from statues and jewelry to electronics and child's joys and examined everything with equal parts joy and fascination.

"It's all so cool," Maple marveled, turning a cheese-grater over and over in her hands, "what's it for?" Mark would've explained, but Maple was already off again.

He had to dodge and careen around other people with every step in order to keep up with her. The marketplace was getting busier and more crowded by the second. Mark found himself reminded of trout trying to swim upstream. He felt he could sympathize now that he had been chasing Maple through a river of people.

He barely managed to catch up and keep her from breaking a glass bowl before she was off again.

"Maple!" Mark called after her, "slow down!" But she didn't seem to hear, lost in the shiny new world as she was.

Minutes later, Mark had lost her.

"Pretty…" Maple marveled at a necklace with a leaf-shaped pendant carved out of an emerald. It glittered with a brilliance that hypnotized her. Jewelry, in all of its shining glory, was quickly becoming her favorite type of human-made object. To find something with a leaf felt like destiny.

"Like it?" the shopkeeper, a rather rotund woman in her forties materialized in front of Maple, "why, I'd say it suits you perfectly!"

"It does, doesn't it?" Maple giggled, swishing her tail back and forth happily, "What do you think, Mark?" The lack of a response made Maple's eyes grow so large that they threatened to cover her entire face. She whirled around fast enough to jar the table with her tail.

"Oh, missing someone?" the shopkeeper asked politely.

"Mark," Maple panted, twisting her head back and forth, "where'd he go? Where'dhego?"

"Where did who go?" the polite voice was becoming very annoying, very quickly.

"MARK!" Maple whirled on the woman, "H-he's my trainer! Where'dhego?" She dashed away, ducking and weaving through the crowd. She was gone in an instant, leaving the shopkeeper alone and bewildered.

"Kids sure do take their role-playing seriously," she shook her head and began re-organizing her stand.

Maple must've dashed through the mass of people at least half a dozen times. She cursed Mark for not being able to keep up. She cursed the crowds for keeping her from finding him again. But most of all, she cursed herself for losing him in the first place.

She had been lost around all of the weird little things and had forgotten about Mark. He was supposed to be right behind her. Where did she lose him? Did he leave her behind?

No, that didn't make any sense. Why would he leave her behind? That was crazy! No, he was probably looking for her in the same frantic fashion as she was looking for him. One more time through and she should find him.

That was when she smelled a foul odor on the air and heard something like thunder.

She saw, riding towards her, a group of strange machines ridden by a bunch of men in leather jackets. She had seen those machines before, but she couldn't remember what they were called. They were a lot like bikes, but they were also a lot bigger, shinier, and louder. The smell was the worst part.

Suddenly, Maple got an idea. She ran forward, hailing the lead biker and motioning for him to pull over. He was a large man, mostly around the middle, but his arms were also thick, muscular and deeply tanned. Tattoos adorned the entire right half of his body. Only one made any sense to Maple, which was the tattoo of a Gyarados' gaping mouth on his right shoulder.

"Excuse me," Maple said meekly, "but I'm lost and I'm looking for my trainer. Could you give me a ride around so we can find him quicker?"

Following Maple's trail after she disappeared was no easy task. Most of the shopkeepers Mark asked had seen her nearly a dozen times. Her path was a convoluted mess, and Mark started to wonder if perhaps she was looking for him at the same time.

Nothing was making sense and Mark was becoming more and more panicked as each shopkeeper told him to go the opposite direction the last one had. Why was it so hard to find a girl with the ears and tail of Leafeon? Everyone else took notice immediately, but Mark was starting to believe that he was clinically blind.

"Excuse me," Mark was ready to give up on asking the shopkeepers when he came to a small jewelry stand at the western end of the strip, "I'm looking for a girl with ears and tail like-"

"Oooh," the woman at the stand was far too pleased to see him, "you're Mark! I was wondering if I'd meet you!"

"Huh?" Mark raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, your little girlfriend left just a few minutes ago," she said much too pleasantly, "it's actually nice to know that she's not really with them, actually."

"What are you talking about?" Mark was frantic again, in an instant, "'She's not really with' who?"

"That motorcycle gang," the shopkeeper said matter-of-factly, "rather dreadful group. They went that way," she pointed west, "headed out of town, I-hey, where are you going?" But Mark was gone, already, running as fast as he could.

"NO! STOP!" Maple cried out, pushing away from the man with the Gyarados tattoo, "this is not right! You're going the wrong way!" However, her pleas fell on deaf ears and the man clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Shush, now," the man grinned, "scream too loud and we might have to hurt that pretty face of yours, and nobody wants that."

Ignoring the warning, Maple managed to slip from his grip and she jumped from the speeding bike. She rolled away, kicking up dirt and dust, but otherwise okay. She sat up coughing and shaking the dust away. Sweet Arceus, she hated motorcycles.

Realizing he had lost his pet, the gang leader bellowed in anger and whirled around, motioning his four followers into place. They closed in around Maple in a tight circle, placing their bikes end to end, sealing off any escape.

"Aww…" the leader stepped off his bike and into the circle, "look at you, all damned sweet and innocent. Assloads of energy, too. I like it. But…" he removed a long, silver chain from his bike, "you're gonna need to learn yourself some respect, honey." He began to twirl the chain, wielding it like a whip.

"Why won't you help me?" Maple asked angrily. The biker was so shocked that at first he did nothing but stare. A second later, he doubled over laughing and the rest of the gang followed suit.

"What?" he roared, "'why won't you help me?' Seriously? God, you are the dumbest bitch I've ever seen!" He stood up straight, still holding back laughter. Shaking his head, he resumed his advance.

Unperturbed, Maple stood her ground, watching the way he twirled the chain, with interest. It made a curious whistling sound that Maple thought sounded kinda nice.

The chain hit her left shoulder, knocking her to her knees.

Pain wasn't something Maple was used to in her new body. It had roughly the same feel to it, but she realized that the blow probably should have hurt more than what it did. Her shoulder really didn't seem to mind much. It was as if she had stubbed her toe, just in a different spot. Being on her knees was embarrassing, though.

The biker was laughing at her obnoxiously. His smug half-tattooed face looked pathetic to Maple. She wanted to go home. She wanted to see Mark again. And this insignificant little jackass was laughing at her.

The second time the chain came down, Maple caught it. Staring up into the eyes of the man with the Gyarados tattoo, she felt hatred in ways she didn't think possible.

Then, suddenly, her tail went rigid and began to glow. She whispered five words to him that he remembered for the rest of his life.

"Why didn't you help me?"

Maple sliced the chain in half in the blink of an eye.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit," Mark panted with each step. He had been running as fast as his legs could carry him for nearly half an hour. His lungs were burning and his heart threatened to leap from his chest, but still he ran.

He was following the only road that went west, out of town. The only road the bikers could have taken. The road that he hoped he would, no, must find Maple at the end of.

Just a bit further, he told himself over and over again as he swore, just a bit further. God, be alright, Maple. Please God, be alright.

Suddenly, he heard a scream. It was a man's voice. It had been a scream of absolute terror. It was the scream of a man that was looking at the devil. Mark poured on.

He heard the rumble of a few motorcycles hurriedly being started up and squealing away. He strained his ears, desperate for any sign at all of Maple.

Then, at long last, on the horizon, he saw Maple standing off to the side of the road. One motorcycle stood off to the side while another was lying on its side. There was a man huddled against the upright one.

"MAPLE!" Mark screamed the loudest he ever had in his entire life. Maple turned and her face lit up in immeasurable joy and relief. She burst forward, running twice as fast as Mark, and the two embraced each other in the middle of the road. Maple swooned in his arms, basking in the moment of their reunion.

"What the hell are you?" Maple's sharp ears perked up and she remembered the man with the Gyarados tattoo, back by his bike. When Maple had left him, he was on the ground, shuddering in fear while his gang deserted him. One of their bikes was split cleanly in half and he had been staring at it ever since Maple had cut it with Leaf Blade.

There was such a horrible fear in his eyes. A fear that Maple had caused. While he would remember her anger, she remembered his fear.

Even with Mark holding her, Maple started to shake.

"What the hell are you?"

AN: i think the first five chapters serves as a nice introduction to this story. that should cover most all of the major plotlines that i'm gonna be working with.

anyways, if you want, let me know what you think and thanks for reading!