Chapter 31: Reminiscence

Treecko brought Laura to another clump of bushes. At first glance, they looked like every other bush in the petrified forest, but upon closer inspection Laura noticed a natural part in the branches, almost as if it were a curtain… Indeed, when Treecko parted the branches further it revealed that they formed a cover for an underground cavern. He gestured for Laura to crawl in, and she complied.

Treecko's home was small and sparsely decorated. The walls had gobs of sticky sap and bits of ripped paper stuck to them, as if they had once contained posters that had since been removed. There was a basin of water off to the side with a few homemade canteens and a stack of rags leaning against it. In the very center of the cavern was a small fire pit surrounded by three beds made of hay—two big ones and one smaller one. By one of the bigger beds was bag filled to the brim with healing items, and by the other was a (mostly empty) bag of food.

Treecko directed Laura to sit near the unlit fire pit before going over to the water basin, filling up a canteen, and snagging a few rags from the stack. He also grabbed the bag of healing supplies before returning to Laura.

"What's with that cloth you're wearing, anyways?" he asked as he opened up the bag and began sorting through the items.

Laura giggled. "It's my dress," she replied, as if the answer was obvious.

When Treecko's only response was to throw a nonplussed stare her way, she sighed in annoyance and huffed, "Humans aren't like pokémon. We hafta wear clothes. These are mine."

Treecko still didn't get it, but he decided that it wasn't important at the moment. "Whatever. Take it off," he ordered.

Laura's eyes widened and she blushed. "I can't do that!" she exclaimed.

"Why not?" Treecko scowled.

Laura looked at him incredulously. "You're a boy!"

Treecko rolled his eyes. Again, he didn't understand what she was talking about. But he decided to ignore it because at this point he was getting annoyed and seriously beginning to regret bringing her back with him. "Yeah, well I'm a boy who's trying to help you! We have to clean your wounds, and we can't do that if you're covered in that… 'dress,' so take it off!" he demanded again.

Laura blushed a deeper crimson and averted her eyes as she slowly lowered her hands to the hem of her garment and began to tug it up over her body.

"Humans are weird," Treecko grumbled, nearly under his breath, but not so quietly that Laura couldn't pick up his every word. "I swear… you've lost so much blood that I'm surprised you haven't passed out yet and you're more worried about your 'clothing?'"

"…I've had worse," Laura quietly responded, causing Treecko to look up from where he had been wetting a rag with his canteen. The instant he did, his eyes widened in alarm and he nearly dropped the items he was holding.

Laura… at this point her dress was completely off and she was sitting there wearing only a short cloth around her waist that covered her to the uppermost part of her legs and the cloth coverings on her feet. Treecko was horrified to see that even without the dress, Laura's body was still swathed in cloth; the blue bandages he had seen earlier weren't merely confined to her arms and legs, but, instead, were wrapped all over her body. The fight with the Stunky siblings had loosened many of them to reveal multiple injuries, some of which had been reopened. She wasn't lying.

"All those wounds…" Treecko whispered in a voice filled with horror. "What happened to you?"

Laura sighed. She glanced at Treecko and noticed how his hands were trembling, causing some of the water to spill out of his canteen. She gingerly took it, and the rag, from him and set them down before beginning to unwind the bandages from her body. "…I… I got in the way," she finally replied. "I wasn't supposed to, but…"

Treecko frowned at the vague answer before finally getting ahold of himself and turning back to the bag of healing supplies. His wonder before at the fact that she hadn't passed out yet was nothing compared to now, and he knew that he needed to hurry if he wanted Laura to stay conscious. He pulled out an Oran Berry and handed it to her, ordering, "Here, eat this."

Laura complied… but the instantaneous closing of at least some of the minor wounds that Treecko was expecting didn't happen. "I don't get it," he mumbled with a frown, "why didn't it work?"

Laura frowned as well before a spark of recognition entered her eyes. "That's right… He said that raw berries n' stuff don't work on humans like they do on pokémon. You hafta do stuff like crush them into pastes or use their juices. Like when he soaked my bandages in Oran Berry juice," she explained. At Treecko's unbelieving stare she blushed again and mumbled, "Humans are weak… I know."

"No arguments here," Treecko thought as he rifled through the medical bag for bandages. "So who was the one that told you this?" he asked once he found the bandages and began to squeeze Oran Berry juice onto them. "Your father…?"

When Treecko didn't receive an answer, he glanced up to see that Laura, already pale from blood loss and the general lack of sunlight in the dark world, was turning even paler. She had picked up the wet rag to clean her wounds, but her shuddering was making it hard for her. She was emphatically shaking her head "No." Treecko frowned at her actions before shrugging and returning back to his task; it was really none of his business.

It took a while, but the duo eventually finished cleaning Laura's injuries and she happily put her dress back on. She picked at the cloth, frowning at the rips, tears, and stains, but there was nothing she could really do about it. Sure, she could try to fix it, but at this point it was pretty much a lost cause.

"…Thanks for helping me. I should leave now," Laura said quietly. She stood up to go, but her legs were wobbly and she nearly crashed back down again when she was hit with a case of vertigo.

"Nuh uh," Treecko said, automatically reaching out to tug her back down. "You won't be able to go anywhere in your condition. You're staying here for now."

Laura bit her lip and glanced at the big, empty beds. Treecko noticed and assured, "You don't have to worry. No one's used those since my parents…" he trailed off, biting his lip. "No one… no one uses those."

"…How long have you been alone?" Laura asked hesitantly.

Treecko scowled, annoyed that she'd been able to see through his ruse, before he jolted when the implications of what she had just said finally hit him.

"How… 'how long?' What do you mean, 'how long?'" he asked. "Time doesn't exist here. At least… not anymore."

Laura glared at him, and he jolted in shock. "Yes it does," Laura insisted, a hint of anger in her tone.

Treecko got over his shock and gave her a glare of his own. "What do you mean?" he demanded. "If time existed, then we—"

Treecko cut himself off when he heard his stomach growl, and Laura looked at him smugly before saying, "See? Proof. I gave you an Apple earlier 'cuz you were hungry… and now you're hungry again!"

Treecko rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm hungry because I wasted all that energy when I had to come rescue you."

"No!" Laura insisted. "It's 'cuz time passed!"

Treecko just crossed his arms and raised a brow, clearly displaying his disbelief. That made Laura even more upset, and she gestured wildly as she tried to explain, "As we speak, the seconds are ticking by! Time might be slowed, but it does move!"

Treecko uncrossed his arms, but his frown signaled to Laura that he still didn't believe her. She sighed, continuing more calmly this time, "If time didn't exist, we'd all be stuck. Frozen… like statues. But we're not. Time is relative. It does its best to fit our perceptions." She looked dreamily at her bracelet… and then blushed when her own stomach growled.

Treecko chuckled before his expression turned pensive. "That's almost like what Mom and Dad used to tell me," he remembered. "…Whatever," he said, frowning as he brushed off his memories and ignored Laura's indignant expression. He turned to the bag of food that was by the other big bed and began to look through it. "Let's just eat. Let's see… what do I have that's still edible…?" He groaned when he identified the bag's miniscule contents. "Ugh… it looks like all I have are Plain Seeds…"

Laura's scowl slipped off her face and her eyes lit up with happiness. "Plain Seeds?" she repeated. "I love Plain Seeds!" Treecko's jaw dropped in shock, but she ignored it and rifled through her own bag, pulling out some more Apples. "Here! I'll trade for them!" she offered eagerly.

"You actually like Plain Seeds?" Treecko asked incredulously. At her enthusiastic nod, Treecko eagerly offered her his food bag, saying, "Here then; take 'em."

Laura quickly exchanged her Apples for the bag and immediately took out a seed. The instant she bit into it, her eyes closed in pleasure. Treecko shook his head in amusement when she hummed, "Mm…! So yummy…!"

As the two were finishing their meal, Laura began to yawn. Treecko directed her to take one of the bigger beds while he took the smaller one. Laura quickly fell asleep, curling up into a tight ball, but Treecko stayed awake for a while longer to sort through his thoughts.

"She really is strange," he decided as he watched Laura sleep. "I still can't believe I brought her home… I don't think anyone else but Mom, Dad, and I know about this place…" Treecko sighed, bringing his knees up to his chest and staring at the remaining, empty, bed. "Mom… Dad… why did you have to leave me?" he wondered. "Did I do something wrong? Is it because of this dark world? Or did you just love your little 'team' more than me—your own son…?"

A whimper from the bed across from him caught his attention, and glanced over to see Laura twitching and shivering, as if she were having a nightmare.

"Huh… So even a happy kid like her can get nightmares," he observed with interest. "I wonder what her story is. It must have been pretty bad if she felt the need to run away from home…" He cocked his head when Laura curled up even tighter. "Does she think that's going to offer her any protection? I mean… I guess it makes her a smaller target, but… is she even aware that she's doing that?"

Treecko yawned and rubbed his eyes. "I'm tired too… I know I should probably stay awake in case she tries a sneak attack… but… I think it'll be okay for now. She's too injured to do any real damage…"

Treecko yawned again before lying down and shifting into a more comfortable position. His final thought before falling asleep was, "It's nice not to sleep alone again… zzz…"

Treecko's sleep seemed peaceful, but Laura, meanwhile, was still trapped in her nightmare. She tossed and turned, beginning to whimper.

"N-no…" she begged. "D-don't… don't kill them…! Please Dusky…!"

Treecko grinned as he returned home from another day of training in the forest. When he crawled down the hole behind the curtain of leaves, he paused for a moment at the strange sight. His mother seemed to be packing up a bag of supplies, and his father was taking down the maps hung up on the wall, the scar from that growlithe's bite clearly displayed on his left arm.

That sight, more than anything else, was his cue that something was wrong. His parents were always protective of those maps. They never took them off the walls. Ever. They were always so afraid of them being damaged… so to see his dad removing them so carelessly… not even seeming to notice that the corners were being ripped…

"Mom? Dad? Is something wrong?" Treecko asked worriedly.

Treecko's voice startled the two sceptiles, causing them to jump and whip around to face him. But once they saw who it was they instantly relaxed.

His mother put a hand over the heart-shaped birthmark on her chest and let out a relieved breath. "Oh, Sweetheart… you startled us!" she exclaimed.

Treecko winced, "Sorry, Mom," he apologized. "But… what are you doing? Is something wrong? Why are you taking the maps off the wall?"

"Nothing is wrong, son," his father assured. "How did your training go today? Were you injured?"

Treecko came closer to his father so that it would be easier for him to inspect him; the growlithe that had scarred his arm had also ruined his vision on his left side, leaving a jagged scar over that eye as a testimony.

"Training was great! I managed to put a crack in a rock!" Treecko bragged.

Treecko's father clapped him on the shoulders. "Attaboy!" he praised. "You're getting so strong! I'm proud of you!"

His mother chuckled, "As am I. Now what do you two say about having something to eat?"

After dinner, Treecko's father started a small fire and they all sat down for some quality family time and conversation.

"Will you tell me another story about the old days?" Treecko asked eagerly. "You know… when time still existed?"

"Of course, Sweetheart!" his mother replied with a benevolent smile. "But you know time isn't gone. It's just a bit… broken."

"But… why? What happened?" Treecko asked in confusion.

His father shook his head. "No one knows, son," he told him. "That's what your mother and I want to find out."

Treecko frowned and looked away. "…You're talking about the Planetary Investigation Team, aren't you?" he asked quietly.

"That's right," his father confirmed. "We formed that team to find out the reasons behind time's downfall and to see if we could do something to fix it and bring the world back to its former glory."

Treecko crossed his arms and scowled. As much as he liked hearing about the past, he hated how obsessed his parents were with trying to do the impossible. Time could never be fixed.

"…Will you just tell me a story… please?" he asked.

The father sighed at his son's obvious lack of faith before stroking his chin in thought. "…All right," he decided, "have I ever told you about weather?"

Treecko's scowl dropped and he cocked his head in curiosity. His father chuckled, "I'll take that as a 'no.' Very well… The weather… think of it someone using a Rainy Orb, but on a much grander scale."

"That's it?" Treecko asked, sounding disappointed. "'Weather' was just like the effects of a Rainy Orb? That doesn't sound so amazing…"

"Ah, ah, ah…" his father wagged a claw at him. "You're forgetting that I said it was on a 'much grander scale.' The weather… rather than just affecting one small area, such as the floor of a Mystery Dungeon, it would affect a large area. Remember how I told you about towns?" he asked. "Well the weather could affect multiple towns at once!"

"Wow…" Treecko breathed in awe.

"And the weather didn't just come in one type, either," Treecko's father continued. "Aside from rain, there were also things like clouds… hail… wind…"

Treecko cocked his head, trying to wrap his mind around this new information. "So… like the stuff that happens when snovers use their Snow Warning abilityto create hail?"

"Well… not exactly," his father explained. "The weather was not cause by Orbs or pokémon abilities. It's true that they could affect it… but for the most part it was just a natural occurrence."

At Treecko's lost expression, his mother laughed warmly. "I admit that it seems complicated, but the important thing is the result. In fact, there is one type of weather that was very important to Grass-types which your father has neglected to mention…"

"Oh, of course! How could I forget?" his father explained, smacking himself on the forehead. "Sunlight!"

"'Sunlight?'" Treecko repeated.

"Yes, sunlight," his father confirmed with a nod. "The sun… it was like a big ball of light in the sky. It rose in the east at the beginning of the day, and set in the west at the end. And the energy it gave off… well, among Grass-types it was a key ingredient in a process known as 'photosynthesis,' which provided extra energy."

Treecko's jaw dropped. "Cool…" he whispered in excitement, causing his mother to laugh once more.

"I agree," she said. "But I think that the 'coolest' thing about the sun was how magnificent the sky was said to look during a sunrise and sunset… From what I've heard, at one point during a sunrise the sky would take on a color similar to your old friend Celebi."

"Really?" Treecko asked through a yawn as he snuggled into bed. "I wish I could see a sunrise…" he mumbled sleepily.

His parents shared a glance filled with determination before his father rubbed his shoulder and told him, "We hope that you'll be able to soon."

"Yes," his mother agreed, bending down to kiss his forehead. "But until then… sweet dreams, Sweetheart. And remember… no matter what happens we will always love you and think of you."

Treecko gave a contented sigh at the promise and closed his eyes, falling into a sleep filled with dreams of a giant Celebi holding a Luminous Orb rising into the sky…

The next "morning" Treecko awoke and stretched, turning around to face the beds and give his parents his usual greeting.

"Hello, Mom and Dad! Did you sleep—" he began, cutting off when he noticed that his parents beds were empty.

"—W-well…?" he finished lamely, looking around in confusion. Something about his home seemed… off.

"M-Mom? Dad? Wh-where are you…?" he whimpered as his eyes continued to scrutinize the cavern. When they got to his father's bed, they zeroed in immediately on a folded piece of paper addressed "To Our Son."

His fingers trembling in trepidation, he slowly unfolded the letter, his heart sinking with every word he read…

"Dearest Treecko,

We are so sorry… but we had to leave you. The Planetary Investigation Team needs us. We wish we could have brought you along, but you are still too young. It would have been far too dangerous for you. But know this: We are doing this for you, so that you may have a brighter world to live in. It is our greatest wish that once this is accomplished we will be able to meet you again. Even if you hate us for this… we will always love you so, so much.

Love,

Mom and Dad"

When he was done reading, Treecko stared at the letter. The trembling in his hands grew tenfold, and he crumpled up the letter and threw it against the wall. He brought his knees up to his chest and put his forehead against them, hugging himself tightly and trying not to cry…

Back in the real world it was now "morning," and Laura was alternating between watching the food she was cooking on the embers of last "night's" fire and watching Treecko toss and turn in the throes of his nightmare.

"Should I wake him up?" she wondered. "He looks like he's having a nightmare, but… he still might get mad at me…"

When Treecko started to whimper, however, any misgivings she held over waking him immediately vanished and she quickly crawled over to his side to wake him up.

"Treecko?" she whispered. There was no response. She tried again, louder this time, and timidly shook his shoulders. "Treecko… wake up."

That seemed to do the trick and Treecko's eyes immediately snapped open as he jackknifed upright, breathing heavily. This startled Laura, and she fell back in surprise. Treecko rubbed his eyes and blinked rapidly.

"That dream again… why does that memory have to plague me every time I close my eyes?" he demanded silently as he looked around, trying to find something else to focus on. His eyes found Laura just as she was sitting back up, and he unconsciously decided to make her the scapegoat for venting his frustration and sadness.

"What were you trying to do?" he demanded, his eyes narrowing in a glare.

"I j-just wanted to wake you up… y-you looked like you were having a nightmare. B-but not one of the good ones, so…" she stammered. "B-but I'm sorry for w-waking you up if you didn't want to…"

Treecko sighed, his expression softening when he realized that she was just trying to help. But then his brows furrowed when he sniffed the air and smelled… "Is something burning?"

At the question, Laura's eyes widened and she immediately whipped around with a gasp, scurrying over to what she had been cooking and hurriedly removing it from the coals. Unfortunately, she was unable to save it from getting burned.

"Your breakfast…" she whimpered. "It's ruined…"

"'Breakfast?' What's that?" Treecko asked curiously, coming over to look.

Laura rolled her eyes. "The morning meal. Duh."

Treecko stared blankly at her, causing her to frown. But when the reason for his confusion clicked, she blushed and apologized, "Sorry. I forgot you don't know… Morning is the period from sunrise until noon, when the sun is directly overhead. And the sun is—"

"I know what it is," Treecko interrupted, taking the food from her outstretched hand. He briefly examined it and noted that, behind the burned scent, it smelled like Apples. He took a bite and froze in surprise at how delicious it tasted.

Laura, misinterpreting his expression, immediately bowed her head and started apologizing profusely. Treecko rolled his eyes and reached out a hand—intending to get her to look back up at him—only to drop it in surprise when the girl flinched.

"Does… does she think I'm going to hit her?" he wondered. "Kid! I'm not going to hit you," he assured. "I just wanted to tell you that this tastes good."

Laura raised her head, her eyes wide with hope and surprise. "R-really?" she asked. At Treecko's nod, she gushed, "Oh! Good! I made it to thank you for letting me spend the night!" But then a thought hit her and she frowned. "…I should leave now," she said, before standing up and beginning to gather her things.

Treecko frowned as well, glancing away and biting his lip in thought. He seemed to briefly debate something before coming to a conclusion and turning back around. "…You know," he began, "you're really unprepared."

Laura looked at him with a confused frown, and he continued, "I mean… you ran away from home, but you can't defend yourself? You'll never make it on your own."

Laura looked down. She knew he was telling the truth, but…

"So… here's my idea: you can be my sparring partner!"

Laura looked up in shock.

"I want to get stronger, and it will be easier if I have someone to practice with," Treecko explained. "And you'll get stronger too. If you stay here, we'll both be a lot safer."

"But… Dusk…they're still looking for me," Laura mumbled in worry.

Treecko scoffed. "Someone's looking for you? So what? We'll get strong enough to beat them! And besides, they'd never find this place. So… you in?"

Laura hesitated, so he added, "Come on… at least until you can defend yourself?"

Again, Laura hesitated. But then she nodded, and Treecko's grin threatened to split his face in two. "All right then!" he declared. "Let's go train!"

The first "day" of the arrangement went well. Treecko took Laura to his back-up training area where they could practice in relative safety. Treecko was acutely aware of how Laura was still recovering from her injuries, so he kept the focus on hitting non-moving targets (a.k.a rocks and trees). He got frustrated when he learned that she couldn't use Grass-type moves, but she seemed adept enough at using "Pound." At the end of the "day" they headed back to Treecko's home, and after dinner Laura began to paint. Treecko had never seen anything like it before and was curious.

"What are you doing?" he asked. But Laura didn't seem to hear him. It was almost like she was in a trance…

"Hey, Kid?" Treecko tried again. "Hello? Kid?" he went as far as waving a hand in front of her face. That finally snapped her out of it, and she looked up. "What are you doing?" Treecko asked again.

"…Painting," Laura answered before going back to her work.

Treecko looked down at the page. It looked like she was painting a picture of the forest, except… the trees were brown and had green leaves, instead of being the dull grey that he was used to.

"…And why are you painting?"

"It's fun," was Laura's short and baffling answer.

But before Treecko could further question her, Laura yawned and rubbed her eyes. She put away her art supplies and snuggled into bed, whispering, "Good night."

Treecko wanted to ask what "night" was, but Laura was already asleep.

The next few "days" followed a similar pattern: the duo would wake up and eat the breakfast that Laura made, and then they would go and train. When Treecko deemed Laura healed enough for sparring, she was never able to put even a scratch on Treecko. In the "evenings" Laura would either paint or try to fix her wardrobe, and Treecko listened to her talk.

For all that she was quiet about everything else, Treecko was surprised at how vocal she was when the subject of time came up. She would talk endlessly about how wonderful it was, how time was split up into different segments, each with its own distinct name, and the effects that time had on everything. It continued to remind him of his parents, but, at the same time, Laura seemed to know so much more. It made Treecko curious about where she learned it, and he wondered if it had anything to do with her increasing nervousness the longer she stayed with him.

But, for all her nervousness, she seemed happy. And so was Treecko.

Unbeknownst to them, however, someone was watching who would threaten their happiness…

The Stunky siblings were mad. It had been what they assumed was a long time since their humiliating defeat at the hands of Treecko and the human, and they had still yet to come up with a good plan of revenge.

"Gr… Those two are so annoying!" the eldest grumbled as she paced the clearing that Treecko and Laura had vacated earlier. "We have got to find a way to get back at them!"

"Should we try building another trap?" the brother suggested.

"No, Dummy!" his twin replied. "They'll be looking for those now! We should try a sneak attack!"

"That won't work either," the eldest replied, shooting down the suggestion with a shake of her head. "If the human were on her own it'd be one thing. But now that she's started hanging out with Treecko…"

"Did you say 'human?'" a voice interjected from behind the group. Startled, they all spun around, just in time to see a dusknoir approach them from the shadows of the trees.

The eldest gulped, feeling intimidated. But she bravely drew herself up and replied, "That's right! There's this little human girl that always hangs around with chicken Treecko, and they—"

"Tell me, does this girl have eyes the color of a rainbow?" the dusknoir interrupted.

The eldest scowled, annoyed at being cut off. "How the heck should I know?" she snapped. "I've never seen one! Rainbows don't exist here!"

"Well does she have any other identifying features?" the dusknoir snapped back angrily. "What about a bracelet? Does she wear one?"

"…Yeah," the female stunky sullenly answered. "It's got a pendant shaped like a gear on it."

For some reason, that answer made the dusknoir's eye light up. "Why don't you children come with me and tell me what you know about this girl and her friend… Treecko, was it?" he asked smoothly, gesturing towards the shadows from which he came.

"Chaw-haw-haw… And why should we do that?" the eldest stunky demanded.

The dusknoir snapped his fingers, and four sableye quickly scurried out from the trees and surrounded them.

"Because you have no choice," the dusknoir answered with finality as the sableye laughed and forced the siblings to follow them…

The next "day"…

Once again, Treecko and Laura were training. Laura used "Pound" on a tree and, surprisingly, was able to make some Apples fall out.

"Good job, Kid!" Treecko praised, causing Laura to blush.

The two went to collect the Apples, and then proceeded to munch on them.

"Crunch… crunch… You know… crunch… you're getting really good at using Pound," Treecko complimented between bites of the Apple. Laura blushed again, and he grinned. "You still need to work on your form… crunch… but otherwise—"

SNAP!

The duo's heads turned sharply towards the unexpected sound and saw three hoppips crashing through the bushes. But the hoppips ignored them and went straight for the Apple tree. They looked up into the branches and scowled at the lack of Apples.

"Where did all the Apples go?!" the first hoppip demanded.

The second one looked around and spotted Treecko and Laura. "Look!" it cried. "That treecko and weird thing have some!"

Treecko scowled at the "weird thing" comment and then stood up warily, motioning for Laura to do the same, when the third hoppip came closer. "Did you get those from that tree?" it demanded.

"Maybe. What's it to you?" Treecko replied flippantly.

"That's our tree!" the hoppip cried out in anger. "Those Apples belong to us!"

"Well it's not like we can give them back, so you're gonna have to look elsewhere for food!"

"That would take too long! We're starving!"

Laura frowned at that comment before scooping up her leftover Apples and offering them to the hoppip that was engaged in a shouting match with Treecko.

"Sorry… Want these?" she asked quietly.

The hoppip seemed stunned for a moment before regaining its composure and smacking the Apples to the ground. "That's not good enough!" it declared. "Those were our Apples! We demand payment!"

With that, all three hoppips attacked. As Treecko and the hoppips were all Grass-types, none of them did much damage to each other. Laura, however, was another story. While Treecko favored Iron Tail in the fight, the hoppips favored Mega Drain, and Laura was becoming exhausted. But then she noticed that the hoppips would always rear up on their stubby legs before an attack. She took a chance and attacked just at that moment when the next one came at her, and, sure enough, it caused it to flip over onto its back, effectively becoming immobilized. The other two were quickly dispatched the same way, and were easily defeated.

"We give! We give!" the hoppip who had argued with Treecko cried. "Those Apples aren't worth this!"

Treecko immediately stepped back with a smug grin. "We did it!" he crowed. "Nice job finding their weak point, Kid! …Kid? What are you doing?!"

Laura briefly glanced over at him before returning to setting the hoppip back upright. "…They can't get home if we leave them like that," she said in response to the incredulous look he had given her.

"…Thank you," the hoppip sheepishly said once they were back upright. Laura beamed… but then her expression became one of stunned surprise when the leader suddenly reared back.

"Now take this!" he cried as he tackled her before turning tail and fleeing with his cohorts.

The impact sent Laura sprawling on the ground and caused a piece of paper to fly out of the bag she always carried around.

Treecko face-palmed before sighing and crawling over to make sure she was all right. "Kid, I think you might be just a little too gullible."

After assessing her for new injuries, Treecko saw a flash of white in the corner of his eye and looked over to see a piece of paper on the ground. "Hey, I think you dropped something," he informed her.

Laura looked over at the fallen paper in alarm before scrambling to retrieve it. She scrutinized it closely and sighed in relief when she didn't see any damage.

Treecko's brows rose in surprise at her actions. "That must be a pretty important picture, huh? Can I… can I see it?" he asked hesitantly. "I promise to be careful."

Laura looked reluctant for a moment, but then she nodded and handed it to Treecko. Treecko briefly studied it for a moment…

… and froze in shock.

The picture… there was writing at the top. Treecko didn't recognize the language, but that wasn't what surprised him so much. Nor was it the setting: a broken cage set against tranquil, blue skies. It wasn't the pokémon (a solrock, lunatone, and a few bronzor) who were hesitantly emerging from the cage either. No, the surprise came from the depictions of the two pokémon who had already fully emerged from the cage: two sceptile, one with a heart-shaped birthmark on her chest, and the other with eerily familiar scars on his left eye and arm…

"…Who are they?" Treecko asked quietly.

"The Planetary Unvester… Invusteg… Investigation Team," came the equally quiet reply.

Treecko's hands started to tremble, but his voice was a calm and quiet as ever when he said, "…So my parents decided that I was too weak for their 'big journey'… but they let a weak, little human like you stay with them long enough to paint their portrait?"

"Your… your parents?" Laura asked in confusion.

The tone caused Treecko to lose it. "The two sceptiles in the picture!" he shouted, slapping it for emphasis. "My parents! So tell me, how are they doing on their little 'quest?' It looks like they're having a lot of fun now that they don't have a son—who they claimed to 'love'—to look after anymore!"

Laura had a heartbroken expression on her face. She looked down at the ground before sighing sadly. "Treecko," she began softly, looking back at him, "I'm really sorry… but your parents… they're—"

"SHUT UP!" Treecko screeched, slapping Laura across the face so hard that she fell back to the ground. She sat there, stunned, not even coming to her senses enough to put a hand to her stinging cheek, as Treecko continued to rage. "Get out of my sight, Human!" he demanded. And don't even think about going back to my home! I NEVER want to see your face again!"

Laura didn't cry. Her face became devoid of all emotion. When Treecko's rant ended, she simply stood up—rather robotically, if truth be told—and walked away. She didn't look back, nor did she make any attempts to reclaim her picture.

Treecko turned his back on her, not even bothering to watch her go. He simply crouched down, hugging the picture to his chest and trying to choke back silent sobs…