Hey again everyone! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, a lot has been keeping me busy (and, of course, I had no idea how I would end this chapter). However, I still have never gotten this far into a fanfic without being stuck for ideas at some point, so this is the first hump I have to cross. I have to say that this arc of the story is lasting quite a while, but the ride isn't over yet. If you want to see what I mean, then stop reading this paragraph and go on with the chapter!

One note though; I have never been drunk nor will I ever (purposely) get drunk. Therefore, I am only guessing what drunkenness would be like for each of the following pokémon in the chapter. Have fun reading it anyway as it has a huge dose of silly stolen from one of my partners. ;)

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Jack's POV

I groaned as we finally reached the dock where we had started four days ago; I probably would have gone loony if I had stayed on that boat for five seconds more. If you had to stay on board with a bloody Houndour that tried to torch you to death three times before joining your side (I still didn't trust the damn mutt), a psychotic Ralts who was impossible to speak to without fear of getting thrown overboard, and a Mudkip who acted like my mother, you'd go loony too.

"Greg... we have to stop in Petalburg City before we can go to Rustboro to keep searching," I blinked as Idiot started talking to Greg again, but almost immediately I was distracted; there was an Oran Berry tree nearby. Jackpot!

I immediately climbed up the tree and sat comfortably on one of the branches before picking off one of the berries. Then, with as big of a bite as I could, I tore through the flesh of the berry and tasted the juices inside. And was that berry ever worth picking off! This one was strong, well-aged too... almost as strong as that wine stuff I had those long days ago. It looked like Ralts, the mutt and Mudkip were curious about what I was doing... hah. I picked off three more berries and threw them down, "There's enough for everyone! Dig in, these ones are really good!"

I hiccoughed then before falling backwards out of the tree. When Ralts slowed me down with his psychic powers I chuckled and flipped around in the air while he was slowing me down, "Hey, you're more fun than I pegged you for, Ralts! Maybe you should do this more often!"

"He's drunk again..." Mudkip groaned while the fire pokémon just stared at me, Ralts letting me drop to the ground with a dull thud. That had hurt, but I didn't care as I laughed, Mudkip staring at me before sniffing at the berry in front of her, "What's so great about these berries anyway?"

"Try them and find out!" I shouted out to them rather loudly as I looked around; the humans weren't there anymore, they were going to miss out on all the fun! However, I found myself in the air again before I looked at a red-faced Ralts; in front of him was the empty core of the Oran Berry I had thrown at him, "See? Ralts has the idea right!"

"You're an idiot who can fly!" Ralts was giggling as he made me soar through the air, something that made me grin as I was dropped over the water. I ended up diving in and coming out before spitting water at the damn mutt, something that made him yelp while Ralts kept giggling, "Great aim!"

"10 points for me!" I laughed while Houndour just stared at me, right before sniffing at his own berry. Hah, the bloody mutt was going to try it? I smirked in satisfaction as he bit into it, shuddering before I heard him swallow, "Yeah! Dig in, Mudkip! You're being a wet blanket, whatever that is!"

Houndour seemed to be too interested in his own tail to take a swim and instead began chasing it. I thought it was funny, so can you really blame me for laughing at him? However, I was pushed under water then as Ralts landed on my head; I wouldn't let him get away with that! I laughed and pulled him under before swimming up, the both of us laughing at each other as we just floated there. I yelped when Mudkip jumped into the water, right before we all laughed; this was fun, just doing stupid things like this while having plenty of Oran Berries close by! What could be better?

And, just as I thought that, Houndour stopped running around in favour of puking. That pokémon was such a weak-stomached prat... he couldn't even handle one berry? "I... I don't like these berries anymore..." And then he fell over onto his side before falling asleep soundly.

"Weakling! Can't even handle one berry!" I laughed again while floating on my back and stared up at the sky. It was getting dark... we'd be drunk at night soon. However, I was floating up in the air again while I looked down at Ralts, who was giggling at me again, "I'll give you something to giggle about, I'll tell you what..."

I swam through air before I planted my lips against Ralts', earning a gaping stare from Mudkip as Ralts used his powers to force me in closer. It was a second or two before we looked at the still gawking water pokémon before I swam through the air over to her, "What, you feel left out?"

She dove under the water before I was hit with a stream of said water and got knocked down, surfacing for air before I grinned at Mudkip (who was now blushing like all hell) before she started yelling, "You...! You don't just kiss people at random, it isn't right!"

"What are you, my mother? You're sure yelling like one," I groaned while covering my ears, something I noticed Ralts doing too; either this was also hurting his head or he was having fun imitating me, which one didn't matter, "Just relax, it's not like I'm proposing or anything. Just a kiss, love!"

"Do NOT call me love and don't come any closer!" A flailing arm was pointed at me while Mudkip swam away; so, instead, I dove under and yanked on her tail to pull her down. She yelped and glared at me before I surface again and laughed, Mudkip coming up and glaring at me before shaking her head, "You're a horrible pokémon..."

"Love me or leave me," I got another funny look from Mudkip, so what else was I to do but laugh... wait, wasn't it do to? To do? Tu tu? I didn't know anymore. I just laughed and floated there in the water before the blissful thing that was sleep took over me at long last.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Houndour's POV

When I woke up I was in a bright room. Blearily I blinked out the light before I looked around me; the Mudkip, the Treecko and the Ralts I was currently travelling with were sound asleep on the same hard bed I was on. And then, I let out a low groan before lying back down; my head really hurt and it felt really big, almost as if I was carrying a Graveler on top of my shoulders.

There was a noise somewhere behind me before I could hear footsteps approaching us, and finally the humans belonging to those footsteps went through the sliding door and approached us on the table, "Ah, the Houndour is awake. It looks like the other pokémon are still asleep though... here."

I blinked as a dish of water was placed in front of me before gratefully beginning to lap at it. At least this was easing the pain in my head... I stopped as one of the humans began to pet me, the red headed female. The human males were tending to the other pokémon for the moment, something I noticed before I went back to taking in the water in front of me. They were still asleep, despite the humans trying to wake them up they continued to sleep. Then, thickly I heard one of the humans talking to me; it pounded into my head so harshly that I almost wanted to yelp, but soon enough they were done and left the room once more. That, again, left me alone as I went back to drinking the water.

I was about ready to go to sleep again then something caught my attention; the Treecko had woken up, a groan leaving him before he spoke up again, "Damned good Oran Berries... What're you staring at, mutt?"

I sighed at the mutt comment, so he still didn't like me. I couldn't necessarily blame him for that, but at the same time I was hoping that he'd at least be tolerant by now. I pushed the water dish towards the Treecko then, "Here. This should help your head not feel so large."

"Bah... how the bloody hell am I supposed to know that it's not poisoned?"

"The nurse brought it earlier, I already had some and I'm just fine."

"Blech! None for me if you drank it," Stubbornly the Treecko lied back down and faced the all opposite of me, and soon enough I sat down as well. It was only because of the transforming pink cat that the Treecko was letting me be close by, I could tell that much... Then, after all I had done it would be hard for any one of these pokémon to have a positive light about me. The Ralts was even more hostile, and if it weren't for the fact that I was a 'dark type' pokémon I probably would have been beaten half to death by its psychic powers by now.

Then, there was that Mudkip; She wasn't nearly as hostile towards me as the Treecko and the Ralts were, but at the same time she wasn't friendly. My only hope for ever gaining the trust of these pokémon would be for me to prove to them just how sorry I was when it came to the human trainer they sought out...

"Just words won't earn their trust, Houndour. They're all stubborn like the pink cat that helped you was, but they're not as powerful."

I jumped and yelped rather loudly when that voice came into my head, was that a psychic pokémon? While wildly looking around I managed to spot a floating pokémon with three stars on her head, those stars far outmatching the size of her body. The Treecko seemed to have noticed it too, for once he took a good look at the pokémon he turned over and clamped a hand over where his ear presumably was, "Go away, you bloody psychic! I'm trying to sleep off some Oran Berries and having hallucinations won't help me!"

Was she a hallucination? I had to wonder as the pokémon smiled while shaking her head, "Just like the first time I found him... Well, he's not the one I wanted to talk to anyway, at least not right now," I blinked as the star pokémon turned to me again, and then I noticed that while looking at her I could see right through her; was she some sort of ghost pokémon? "This is a projection, not a spirit. I'm simply not here in person, mostly because I can't be right now."

I whimpered a little when she had said that, my ears flattening against my skull while I did so. For some reason this was really scaring me, though I felt a twinge of anger in the back of my mind as the pokémon laughed at me, "I'm not going to hurt you, Houndour. There's no need to be frightened of me, I only want to give you some friendly advice."

It was a moment or two before I straightened myself, determinedly looking onward to the star pokémon before I nodded, "I suppose I could use any advice I could get. It seems like all of the others are still uncomfortable around me... Despite it being understandable, I would rather that they give me a chance to help them before I leave them all."

"Again, it won't be that simple Houndour; they probably won't trust you until you actually do get a chance to help them," The star pokémon sighed at me while shaking her head, a shrugging gesture made with tiny arms before she spoke again, "Mew seems to know that you mean them no harm, however. He's going to be coming back soon enough."

"Crescent's coming... I mean..."

"It's all right to use his alias, that's what he wanted when he told it to you."

My face burned in shame when she smiled at me once more, "So... Crescent is returning to us, then?"

"Yes. He insisted on helping even though I said that he had done enough," Two bead-like black eyes opened to me now, though I noticed that there was a third on the star pokémon's stomach; I had to wonder what that was for, but the star pokémon was talking again and that got my attention, "His reasoning was that... Well, someone Mew really cares about simply wouldn't forgive him if he didn't put in some real effort towards freeing that girl from Team Rocket's grasp."

"As for you, don't give up on the subject of their trust towards you. It might be harder for a couple of them to begin putting confidence in you, even if you do manage to help them," My heart sunk a little at those words, but the star pokémon seemed to catch that and quickly added something onto her words, "But, that is the thing about trust; in order for it to be strong and true, it has to be built up over time. If they trusted you too easily, they know that they would be putting themselves into a position where they could easily be manipulated."

"I see... Like how Big Sister too easily put trust in Master- ... the human that was formerly Master."

I almost forgot that, because of Crescent, I was free now. Free to do whatever I wished; to run home, to live happily, find a new home perhaps, but... After all I had done, it would be shameful to simply keep running when there was so much I could do to change things. And, that was exactly what I had to do. Maybe Sister would see things like I did too, if she was given the chance to...

"Keep thinking like that, there is always something you can do to change things," The star pokémon smiled at me when she said this, and it was then that I had the odd suspicion that my mind was like an open book to her. Why did I know what a book was? They kept a lot of them around at the base where former Master was before I was freed, "But... as hard as it will be, you have to treat your sister like she's your enemy. She will kill you if you don't."

"... There isn't another way?" My voice, even in my mind it sounded desperate. My sister, she really would hurt me so? I knew that, the moment I was freed she would try to bring me back, but would she really turn on me so easily?

"There isn't. At least, not right now," The star pokémon sighed before shaking her head, bead-like eyes closing before I noticed that her image was becoming more faint; was she leaving so soon? "I should conserve my strength for a more important time. All I can tell you to do is keep going, but actually pressing on is up to you."

"Wait!" My yelping seemed to have gotten the pokémon's attention as she faded even more, so I knew that my question had to be asked quickly, "What do I refer to you as, if the former aid was Crescent? I must know if we meet again!"

She smiled at me before nodding politely, "I am known as Jirachi. That is no alias but my true name; I am so rarely heard of that an alias is not needed, after all," And then, with that the pokémon vanished. Jirachi... I had never heard of nor seen that pokémon before. There were a lot I hadn't seen, but if she was powerful enough to throw images of herself around, it meant that she was a legendary pokémon. Pokémon that there were so few of that meeting one only happened to very few, and it was then that I realized how blessed I was becoming since saved from Team Rocket. Maybe things were looking bright, but regardless...

No matter what happened, I would try my best. If not for the sake of these people or pokémon, if not even for my sister... I would have to try for myself, as selfish as it sounded.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Yay, I finally updated. It's not a great chapter, I don't feel that it is nor do I expect you to think so. However, what I am willing to say is that I'm glad it's up but if anything it's a filler chapter that lets you look more into Houndour's mind. You will see another update from me soon and as Jirachi has said, Mew will be coming back soon. And, he's bringing a friend. If you want to see what I mean, keep watch for the next chapter!