A/N

Chapters stay pretty calm. Don't worry, it'll heat up again soon. For now, enjoy some exposition and watch Tary finally get into a conversation with someone.

Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.


Chapter 12: Nathan Returns and Tary Finds a Voice

The peace didn't seem to last too long, though. Moments ago Adria had reached for her phone to check the time and found a message from Nathan. It struck her odd almost immediately because for one, Nathan never texted her. He refused to send messages to his sister when he would much rather hear her voice. So many lies could go through messaging, and he really wanted to know if his sister was alright at any and all times.

A deep frown creased her features as she opened the message, which transformed into pure and utter horror. Her eyes were wide and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, blood running cold. Her heart thumped loudly in her ears as fear instilled inside her lungs, halting her breath for a moment. The volume was off, but she could still internally hear his screams of agony. Was this really...? This wasn't a joke, was it?

Matt easily picked up on the change that came over Adria when she saw the message; even a blind man could pick up on something so drastic. That look – the look of pure and utter horror, the look of shock and despair, and the look of near disbelief – broadcasted clear as day that something terrible had just happened. "...Adria?" He asked softly, trying to get her attention and figure out what was wrong. What had caused Adria to go so white so fast? A message on her phone, probably, but what kind of message could so deeply effect someone?

Adria forced her eyes from the disturbing image and up to Matt in response, unaware that she'd gone pale and started to shake. Should she say something to him and let him know, maybe further scaring Tary? Or was her reaction to the message already enough to scare Tary a bit without the explanation? But then again, did she even want to tell anyone what she'd just seen on her phone? She didn't even want to believe it herself, left alone verbally say and confirm the horrors she'd just seen. 'I-it's Nathan..." she whispered.

She looked back at the time the message was received, cursing inwardly when she saw she'd missed it 10 or so minutes ago. Where was this? Nathan looked like he was soaked, so somewhere near water, maybe? Near the house? But if it was the house, the cops would have been there too. It would be somewhere more private, wouldn't it?

Matt read into the whisper and the expression that she was wearing and pieced a few things together. Something bad had happened to Nathan, but what exactly had happened to him to get that kind of reaction out of her. It probably wasn't best to discuss it in front of so many people. Matt, especially, didn't want Tary hearing something bad like that. Already she seemed to have grown nervous and was watching them both nervously.

He stood from the table and motioned Ender closer. "Ender, take Tary and keep her company please." Ender did as he was bid, taking Tary's hand and leading her out of the cafeteria. It would be best if she wasn't present for whatever was going on. Matt, meanwhile, moved around the table and offered Adria his hand. "Come on, let's get out of here." Whatever was going on did not need to happen in the middle of the cafeteria.

Accepting his hand with her shaking one, she rose from the table and scooped up Honey and the last of her lunch; she was no longer hungry, and in fact felt sick, but Honey would still be hungry, she was sure. Honey was a young, growing little Pokémon. She burned energy very quickly.

She then started leading him away, going an alternate direction from where Ender and Tary had gone, and explaining that this was another way to go to the medical wing. She didn't want to run past Tary and Ender while explaining to Matt what was in the video (although very hesitantly) and how the message was sent to multiple people, and a bit ago. He had to be at the base by now.

And he was. Benn had gotten the message and had immediately grabbed the closest two people and dragged them both out of the base to go find Nathan. He didn't know where exactly Nathan was, but he knew that his friend was in a lot of trouble and needed help. He'd gone to fetch his dear friend and had hurried back. The moment he was freed, Nathan had passed right out, and remained that way even now with Benn working on him.

The brief description was more than enough for Matt to understand what had made Adria react the way she did. He could completely understand the feeling that she was going through, though his experience was probably a little different than hers. He didn't mention it right now, though, choosing instead to keep on the topic at hand. The video with the brand was horrific, to be certain, but Matt was just happy that Adria hadn't actually been present. That would have been far worse. Matt knew that from experience as well.

"Alex didn't kill him, though. That means he'll recover and get better." Right now, that was the best sentiment he could come up with. Until they saw the actual damage that Alex had inflicted, there was no telling just how Nathan would react. The brand, of course, would leave a scar in many different ways. That was something that might very well haunt Nathan for the rest of his life. It would certainly mar his body for the rest of his life, but at least it could be hidden beneath a shirt. Regardless, it wasn't pretty and it might affect him mentally, depending on how well he could recover.

It would be sure to scar him in more than one way. "I.. I know. But he's not been the subject of such torment before!" she exclaimed. "James never went after him and successfully caught him because he was normally away. I wasn't so safe. He's come multiple times, and each time it ended badly. Nathan, though, was never a physical victim to him. He's a proud person and refuses to do what he thinks would degrade him for the sake of a sadist like Alex," her face turned grim at the thought of what Alex had done to her and what she had done to him. She wanted him to feel the pain and went all out on him. There was no doubt he resisted at first, and for a woman like her, that was only an invitation to do more. "The first time is always the hardest, and for a proud person like Nathan, it's going to be really bad."

Matt frowned deeper as he thought about what Adria was saying. It was true in a lot of ways. He and Adria, and even Tary, had already been through torment and it didn't seem to scar as much after it had happened once or twice. It always hurt and it would always leave marks unseen, but it wasn't as hard as the first time. "Yeah... I understand that. But that's why you're here, isn't it?" He tried to smile at Adria and break some of the terrible tension that had overcome them. "You're his sister; you're here to help him get over that. You're here to help him through recovery," both physical and mental, Matt added silently to himself. "I'll even offer my help, if you need it." Though there wasn't much that Matt was sure he could do to help. Perhaps he could help because he had a little more knowledge of Alex than them, but the one thing he knew for certain was going to make neither Nathan nor Adria happy. Alex had marked Nathan. That meant she liked him. That meant she would try to get him again. It was a game.

Adria glanced to Matt and smiled, slowing in her quick walking pace a bit. He was right about her being there for him to help him. He was there when she had been injured for her first time by James, and was there when she was first attacked by Alex when she woke up. Now she'd be there for him. "Yeah," she agreed. "Yeah, I'll be there for him. He was there when I woke up from the first time. It's... it's going to be very difficult for him to understand. He hates failure and refuses to fail. He was always at the top of his class and on his studies, and when he got anything below 100%, he'd be upset for the rest of the day. Failure isn't an option for him, but he failed this time to let Alex have her way over him. It'll be difficult, but you're right. And I thank you for offering your help, too." It meant a lot to her that he would offer his help.

"I don't think anyone can hold out on Alex forever. Certainly not when she breaks out the branding iron. That kind of thing can get anyone to break down." It had certainly worked on Matt and Tary; both of them had the marks to prove it. The mental scarring hadn't quite gone away for Matt, but Tary didn't clearly remember the whole ordeal. Matt was thankful for that small blessing. She had been too young at the time to fully grasp and remember what had happened. Matt, on the other hand, clearly remembered the feel of the searing metal being pressed into his skin and unconsciously raised a hand to rub at the mark over his shirt. "No shame in screaming in pain, even if Alex likes it. It's a natural reaction, something you can control when you're having a mark burned into you."

"I know," she commented, "but it'll be hard. He... he likes to think himself indestructible, for my sake. Even if I don't need it, he likes to be the tougher sibling." He'd have to understand that humans couldn't tolerate pain on that level without some hard-core training or unnaturally high resistance to it. "Is that just something big brothers do, Matt?" she asked him. "Try to be the tougher one for the sake of their younger brothers or sisters? It's a big brother thing, right?" She didn't understand boys nor did she understand the feeling of caring for a younger sibling and the pride of one.

The question made Matt smile. "Of course it is. You're the younger sibling, so I guess you don't feel it. It makes her feel better when she sees that I'm alright. Emotions are infectious, so if I'm upset or worried then she's upset or worried. Like earlier, at lunch. When she saw how worried we were, it made her worried. I prefer to put up a tough front around her because I think she takes comfort in something like that. After Alex turned on us, especially, it was important to make it seem like things were alright. Besides... I guess I like to seem strong to her because I want her to know that I'll be there to help her and protect her if she needs it. Because she's my sister and I love her."

A smile spread across her lips as she thought of the comparisons between Matt and her brother, and her father to his family. "I see. I understand what you're saying." She didn't know from experience, but she knew from example. "My brother likes to be tough. And my dad, too, over my mom. It reassures my mom when he's tough and is able to take a few hits for the family. And it reassures me when Nathan's there and being tough for me. If he's not scared, then why should I?" It all came together in her mind why brothers were like that. "I understand."

Matt smiled, glad that she was also smiling and figuring out just why her brother acted like he did. "Ever since we got here, to the Resistance I've been trying to avoid being so up-tight around Tary. It makes her think I'm stressed." Which he was, sometimes. Now that they were relatively safe, though, he wasn't as stressed. Tary was at his side and they were somewhere where Alex couldn't reach them. Alex could still reach other people, though. His thoughts turned back to Nathan. "You think Nathan's here in the Resistance now?" It had only been about 15 minutes, now, since Adria received the text. Had they found him so quickly?

Adria nodded her head. "Yeah. In the beginning, Nathan gave me Benn's number and a few other numbers of importance. The message that was sent contained multiple numbers including several I recognize and many others I don't. I don't know what exactly they do, or how they do it, but they can use his cell signal and get exact coordinates of where his message was sent from. From there, they should find him." There was still that off chance that Alex wouldn't have finished there and took him elsewhere from where his phone sent that message, but Adria didn't want to scare herself like that. She wanted to believe that he was there, and that Alex had finished after sending that message.

"Alright, so he would be somewhere in the medical wing, right? Would we be able to see him?" Even though Nathan would likely be somewhere in the medical area of the building, Matt doubted that they would be allowed to see him while he was being patched up. At least, that was how it was in regular hospitals. This was much different, so they might be able to pop by and see how he was doing. Hopefully it would help to put Adria at ease just a little bit. Matt would also like to see that Nathan was going to be alright. Alex had been his problem up until the Resistance had been notified about her existence and, because of his involvement with Adria, Matt had brought Alex into their lives. Now, because of that, Nathan had just been caught and tortured and Matt was feeling a little responsible.

"Yes," she confirmed. But even if this wasn't a traditional hospital, if the severity of his wounds were high enough they wouldn't allow anyone to see unless they were there to help with the immediate injury or if the patient specifically asked for someone to be there. But Nathan was proud and wanted no one to see him in the state he was in; broken fingers, nails that were chiseled right off, bruises on his body and the brand... he was well aware of it and only slightly able to guess its purpose. Regardless, it was all up to Benn if he wanted the girl to come in, though he knew what Nathan would say in objection. Nathan was her older brother and she looked up to him. He had to be tough and tell her it was nothing. He'd know she would see the lie, but in some strange way it would still help her to be reassured by her big brother.

Adria steered Matt into an elevator and clicked a button to go up. The lunch room was on the very bottom floor. "I think it's only fair..." she begun, "that I tell you what's James's reasoning since you told me Alex..." She felt a bit braver now, in the elevator, to tell Matt if he still wanted the answer.

The door of the elevator closed and trapped them in the small space. There would be no escaping from this conversation. The sudden change of topic was a little startling and it made Matt question why she had suddenly made up her mind to say something. "Does it matter?" Was it so important to know the motivation? Matt had talked about Alex because no one knew anything about her and they all needed more information on her if they stood a chance of catching her. If Adria wasn't comfortable sharing about James, that was fine. All Matt really needed to know about this man was how he liked to play and if he would come after them again. It seemed like James had teamed up with Alex to some extent, considering he had helped her nab Tary and provided an abandoned base for them to have some fun in.

Now they were in more private space and away from prying ears. Tary was no longer there to hear about the man who aided in her capture. "No," Adria admitted softly, "but now may be the best time, I guess. It's the two of us in here." Confiding to someone without being surrounded by people made Adria feel a bit better. "It looks like James teamed up with Alex and by that reason alone, he is targeting you and your sister. Normally, James sticks to one target family. Since I'm out in the open it's me on top of his list only because Nathan is usually here, and Mom's somewhere in another region. Our family is typically the only target because we are family by marriage and blood." She was trying to keep her explanations brief and quick for Matt. "I never knew my dad had an identical twin brother, and I think it's because of that fact that he pursues us; a personal connection with those he's never met before, and because of that combination he has no problem coming after us. He will come back for you and Tary, but he'll always let you off easy, and he only comes back if he's still partners with Alex since she is the only connection he has with you. Otherwise he tends to leave other people alone."

"Well..." Matt trailed off after her explanation, thinking everything over. "Now I've got two psychopaths after me. How fun." His tone was practically dripping sarcasm, but other than that he didn't seem to mind incredibly that there was another psycho out for blood and on his tail. Alex had been stalking them for quite some time, so this was no real change of pace. "I think Alex is worse than that, though..." He trailed off again, figuring that he might as well break some news to Adria while they were sharing stories again.

"Alex doesn't just like to come after me and Tary, though we are her favorites," he scowled at his own words, despising the way that they were true. "She goes after anyone that takes her fancy, with a bonus if they're somehow involved with us. She's... branded Nathan now." He hesitated on the word 'branded' because that was not exactly something he wanted to remind Adria. "That means she likes him and she'll keep coming after him. It's like a game to her, catching and the releasing her 'toys' so she can try to catch them again."

She flinched at the image from the message, of Nathan's new mark of favoritism. That would be a hard pill to swallow. "I can see she's a lot worse," James was similar, but he was far more lenient and nicer than Alex. The worst he did was send his Scizor out to attack. It was the Scizor who was worse than James. His Scizor reveled in the blood of its prey and loved staining the ground with red. To him, it almost seemed like it was a game of how much he could get his prey to bleed and not die. How many bruises could he inflict until they could no longer walk, or talk, or breathe, or see right? How many bones could he shatter until he grew bored? How loud could his victim scream, and how long?

Syler was worse than James. The most James did was trap the poor victim and taunt them, maybe shoot them if he wanted. But he rarely pulled out his gun and actually shot someone. James liked games. He liked to toy with people.

Alex, on the other hand... she was, well, creative, in one word. Alex was worse, and she knew that.

"She's going to come after him again when he steps out of the building." Nathan would have to leave eventually. He had a life outside the Resistance. He had a home and a family and when he stepped out, Alex would be waiting for him. "It's the same for me and Tary. No matter where we go, she seems to be able to find us." Matt had thought she had left for a while, but she caught up to him in Johto and then came back to Kanto to catch Tary while she was out on the open road. "Even if we were to part ways, Alex would keep coming after him."

Regardless of Nathan's connection to anyone, Alex had found a toy she liked. She had marked him as her own, much like she had done to Matt and Tary, and now he was hers. He belonged to her, though she was still willing to share with anyone that wanted in on her fun.

The door of the elevator slid open and Matt made to get out, assuming that they had reached their target floor. Unfortunately, the loss of his eye had left him a little depth perceptively challenged and he walked into the wall just next to the open door instead. He stumbled back a step, raising his hands to his face. "O-ow..."

Adria giggled a bit, grabbing Matt's wrist and helping him out of the elevator before the door slid shut and they had to travel back down or up to where the elevator was being summoned. She knew she shouldn't giggle at that, but it was amusing nonetheless, saying nothing more on the subject at hand.

The grim topic didn't make her feel better, even despite the moment of giggles, and it was clearly understandable why she wasn't pleased. But it seemed like there was nothing to be done of it now. Alex had gotten to Matt and Tary and Nathan and branded them all her favorites. There was really only one thing that could be done, and that was to catch her and prevent her from doing any more harm. Maybe then Tary would feel better about going on a journey and Matt would relax a bit more. They'd all be very happy if she were gone.

It would be better for everyone if they could catch Alex and put her behind bars. That might not hold her forever, though, and that was what made Matt nervous about the woman. She was shifty and crafty; she could escape stick situations if she needed to and had done so before. Just sticking her in jail might not solve their problem. It wasn't worth worrying about at this moment, though, because they were all safe in the Resistance. Right now they just needed to worry about recovering and helping someone as proud as Nathan come to terms with his injuries, his failure to avoid screaming, and his brand.

Matt followed her, still rubbing his nose slightly. He was going to have to get used to the lack of depth perception if he was going to avoid walking into any more walls. The giggle it coaxed out of Adria was worth the small amount of pain, though. The grim topic was not pleasant conversation and he didn't want to continue talking about the depressing issue. A smile graced his face as they continued walking. It was best to just put their minds off Alex and James for now.


Elsewhere in the base there was the small little blond boy wandering around to find a certain room with a certain someone, or so he hoped. Ender had told him to visit and befriend Tary, or at least put her to ease a bit with his presence, since they were both about the same age. It wasn't normal to see someone of their age around the base, so it was a treat to Sam if only the occasion was under better circumstances.

He remembered where the room was, though, and peeked in carefully, his Weedle curled up in his blond hair, scouting for movement in the room as well.

Ender had brought Tary back to the room she was sharing with Matt in the medical wing until they were cleared to leave. Whether they would be leaving the Resistance or just leaving the hospital wing was unclear, but they were there for now. Tary's Pokémon had been released about the room to stretch and relax. There were only five. Her Growlithe was curled up on her lap. A Charmeleon was arguing heatedly in the corner with a Flaafy. The Butterfree that Ender had mentioned was fluttering around the room, exploring a little bit. Lastly, there was a small Duskull, watching the argument between the fire type and electric type, endlessly amused with the two.

Ender was comically animated as he threw down a hand of cards. "You little cheater! That's not fair!" Tary just smiled at him, sweeping up his hand of cards and the hand she had previously set down. When Tary gave no indication of apologizing or otherwise changing how she was playing, Ender crossed his nonexistent arms and pouted.

Sam withdrew from the room and began to think to himself about how he could approach without setting off an alarm or suddenly startling the girl. He glanced up to seek advice from his little Weedle, only she wasn't on his head anymore and had instead crawled off and into the room at a fast pace (despite her stubby little legs) and up the side of the bed to greet the little girl and the pouting ghost Pokémon she'd seen earlier. "H-Hornet!" Sam hissed out from the door

Sam had his other Pokémon with him, but they were in their Pokéballs at the moment. Hornet was the only one that seemed to stay out of her Pokéball, but that was because she was his first Pokémon and loved the boy, and didn't like small areas when she could have been out and about.

All eyes were drawn to the boy in the doorway, including Tary and Ender. However, Tary's attention wasn't taken by Sam for very long. The Weedle that had crawled up her bedside was of more interest at the moment. The Butterfree in the room had also taken interest in the bug Pokémon and fluttered over to land on Tary's head. While many normal girls probably would have freaked out at the sight of a bug, Tary actually rather liked most bug Pokémon; Weedle was certainly no exception. It was still a strange Pokémon, though, so she was rather undecided in what she should do. Hesitantly, she offered her hand to the little thing, wondering what it would do.

Ender smiled over at Sam. "Hey there, Sam. Come on in. Her Pokémon won't bite." Well, maybe the two angry Pokémon arguing in the corner would, but there was no guarantee about that. The other ghost had disappeared and suddenly his voice was right in Sam's ear. /Ooooh, and who's this!?/

The Weedle sniffed the hand of the young girl, crooning happily and nuzzling into it lovingly. She squealed in glee as she got to meet this other young human, and looked up to see the Butterfree. She was very happy to meet new people and new Pokémon. Sam was shyer, but Hornet was more outgoing and willing to make friends, though, mostly because she was young.

Sam near jumped out of his skin with a startled 'eek!', jumping away from the source of the voice and running into the room to get away from it, whatever it was. It sounded like a Duskull, though, and he no longer saw the Duskull in the room. Sam was easily startled, a jumpy and shy boy who didn't appreciate being scared like so.

Tary smiled slightly at the cute noise that the Pokémon made. Now that they were away from all the strangers in the cafeteria, Tary was feeling a little more open and a little more relaxed. Tary's Butterfree climbed down off her head and down onto the bed to meet with the other Pokémon.

Ender halted Sam by placing gentle hands on his shoulders. They were cold, but not meant to scare or harm him in any way. "Haku!" he admonished, frowning at the Duskull in the doorway. Haku, for his part, looked a little sheepish. "That wasn't a very nice thing to do," Ender continued. While Ender was a ghost and prone to scaring people every once in a while, he took no joy in scaring kids, either intentionally or not. "Sorry, Sam. I think he was just excited."

Sam watched the ground for a moment before nodding to him. He figured the Duskull was a bit excited to meet someone else, or whatever it was he was excited for. But Sam wasn't into being scared by something jumping out or someone's voice drifting over to his ear. He disliked getting scared like that. "I-it's... It's alright, I guess," he admitted, glancing over to his little Weedle crooning and nuzzling into the girls hand and going to meet the Butterfree at the same time. Hornet liked other bug Pokémon very much. She enjoyed bug Pokémon and she was Sam's only bug Pokémon at the moment. It didn't matter since their home was nearby the forest, so she could go and visit the bugs outside if she wanted to.

Ender could still see how Sam was spooked and displeased and so snapped his fingers at the other ghost Pokémon. "Come here and apologize, will you?" Haku floated a little closer at the command from his elder and wrung his hands together under his too-big sleeves. /Sorry./ It was just a quiet, simple apology, but he meant it. He hadn't really meant to scare the little boy and felt bad now that he had.

Ender seemed content with the apology and turned Sam to face Tary instead. After that, he released the boy's shoulders from his gentle grip and nudged him forward with a soft touch on his back. "Sorry about that. Tary's looking rather relaxed, though. Give a conversation a shot."

The Butterfree gleefully greeted the other Bug Pokémon, crooning back and getting close to greet her.

Sam was hesitant, dropping his gaze back to the floor again, thinking of how he could greet Tary without being awkward, though it was already awkward for him. "Um..." he tried to think of something to say. Hello, I thought I'd drop by and meet you? It was more of a lie because it was his own initiative that convinced him to drop by, it sounded like. "Um... The Haunter told me I should drop by," he admitted, "a-and say hi, because we look to be around the same age, and it might make you, erm, more comfortable knowing someone your age is here..." His words were quick and quiet, but they were truthful. "S-so... hi."

Tary looked up when she heard Ender's suggestion to Sam. So it was Ender's fault that the nervous boy had ended up here. He seemed just as nervous as she did about being in the Resistance. This was going to be rather awkward, it seemed, but Tary was a little bit more at ease with someone closer to her own age. Everyone else around here was much older than her. Sam was still a little older than her, but not by too much. "H-hi..." She responded, stuttering nervously. Her free hand found her Growlithe and twined her fingers into his fur. It was comforting feeling to know that Waka was close-by. Sam bit his lip in silence, wondering what he could possibly say to her now. Sam wasn't all too good talking with people he didn't really know, but he was there to help her and help her feel a bit better for being at the Resistance. At least he knew why he was there, but what could he possibly talk about?

Maybe Pokémon. He liked Pokémon. And she liked Pokémon. Ender had said they had a common interest in Pokémon. And she had a lot of Pokémon with her. "You have... a few Pokémon with you. You're a trainer, right?" he asked.

The question seemed to come out of the blue, but it was a question that Tary didn't mind answering. "Yes." It was a simple answer for a simple question. Tary was a trainer and she enjoyed exploring. Up until Alex had come along, Tary had been having a relatively good time. She had caught her Pokémon and befriended them, before and after, and was taking the gym challenge. It was a difficult challenge, but something that she was interested in doing.

Of course, she said none of this out loud because it wasn't very interesting, honestly, and the whole thing had failed when James caught her. Until James and Alex were out of the way, Tary wouldn't be traveling.

She searched for some way to continue the conversation. The only thing she could come up with was, "You?"

Sam shook his head. "No, I'm no traveler. I'm not a trainer." He didn't have a single badge to his name, and he probably wouldn't have a badge to his name when he grew up. Being a child who could understand Pokémon, he loved his Pokémon and didn't want to pit his Pokémon in battles. He was against battling, though he didn't care what other people did with their lives. There were a few Pokémon he had who liked to battle, so they just sparred with the local Pokémon in the base that belonged to the agents. But Hornet certainly wasn't one of them. She liked to sit and eat Poffins and meet new people and Pokémon, and she enjoyed just lazing about in the sun.

Sam wouldn't be traveling any time soon unless it was on a mission somewhere, but Sam wasn't an agent. He wanted to be, though. He'd be one eventually. At that time, his Pokémon would have to be stronger if they were to go with him and complete missions with him. It wasn't battling, per say and Sam would be doing majority of the work, so Sam was more okay with it than battling. "But I have gone around with my dad to visit some places and befriended some Pokémon."

"Where?" Tary wasn't speaking much, but she was actively participating in the conversation to some extent. It seemed to be more than what she had been doing with Adria earlier. The cafeteria was too crowded for her tastes; there were too many strange adults in there and it had made her more uneasy. In this little room, it was just her, Sam, and her Pokémon.

Speaking of her Pokémon, the argument in the corner had broken off, for now. An orange head peeked over the side of the bed, glaring warily at Sam. The Charmeleon looked rather pissed at nothing in particular, but the irritation was radiating off of him and he was taking it out on Sam to an extent. He just clung to the bedside, arms on the top of the bed to keep himself up and his chin on the top of the bed. He glared. The Flaafy that he had been arguing with hopped up onto the bed and smoothed down his cotton coat. This Pokémon also leveled a wary glare at the little boy that had come to speak with their trainer. Both of the Pokémon looked rather unfriendly.

Sam shied away from both of the glaring Pokémon. It didn't take a Viridian Child to see their irritation and apparent anger towards him. Maybe his presence there was upsetting them. He was neither physically nor emotionally close to these two Pokémon, so he couldn't find out the answer; he also didn't want to. Sam shuffled his feet nervously, backing up a few paces. He wasn't comfortable with the two glaring Pokémon. The fact that one of them was a fire-type didn't help, either. Sam didn't particularly like fire, though it could have been because of his love for bug type Pokémon. "W-we..." he dropped his gaze again. "We went to Hoenn, then to Sinnoh for a bit... Sinnoh I met a Buneary. We stayed at an abandoned mansion known as the Forest Manor. A-and then we went to Johto and visited the Celebi's shrine..." Most of the places they went to were forested areas. Sam liked the forest most of all.

Forests were nice; Tary could certainly agree to that sentiment. Tary was picking up on his sudden nervousness – even she could see that he was being bothered by the two angry Pokémon – and so decided to do something about it. She turned to her Pokémon. "Allen. Scorch. Stop being mean."

Scorch, the Charmeleon, grumbled and disappeared behind the bed, leaving Sam alone. Allen, the Flaafy, just sort of turned his nose up and curled up next to Tary instead. Waka had been disturbed and looked up at the other human in the room curiously. In an instant, the curiosity had taken over and he was leaping out of the bed and trotting around Sam's feet to try getting his attention and love. The Butterfree had also picked up on how nervous Sam was and fluttered over to land on his head and get him to relax a little.

Sam appreciated Tary's note of his nervousness and getting the Pokémon to stop glaring at him. It had made him very uncomfortable to be glared at like that, making him feel very unwelcomed and like an intruder. He didn't like those kinds of feelings. He was a very self-aware boy and being glared at like so didn't help.

Waka caught his attention, then the Butterfree landed on his head. It made him smile a bit to see that there were some Pokémon in Tary's team that enjoyed company and didn't try to scare him away. He squatted down to give Waka some attention. He was impartial about fire-types, but he seemed to like Waka. He was used to fluffy fire types since his dad had a Flareon that liked to curl up at his feet at night or be his cuddle buddy. When he was young said Flareon would pounce on him and give him a bath to the best he could. Sam would always protest, but the fire-type was always stronger than him.

"U-uhm..." Sam thought for a moment. "Oh, and we also went to Canalave, and Iron Island," he continued, giving Waka love.

Now that Waka and the Butterfree weren't there, Hornet crawled up into Tary's lap to get more of her attention. "Dad likes to travel and take me places." Sam may not have been a trainer, but it was clear that he'd traveled far more than Tary, and perhaps further than Matt, too.

Waka leaped up onto his hind legs, bouncing in place and trying to lick Sam. He was just being generally friendly and it was quite adorable. The Butterfree was inspecting him from above, resting contentedly on his head. They were two of the more friendly Pokémon on Tary's team. Allen and Scorch were less friendly and more protective and angry. Haku, the last Pokémon on Tary's team, was sort of laid-back and constantly impartial about everything. Waka and the Butterfree were the only ones to almost constantly offer love and affection to everyone.

Tary, meanwhile, was giving Hornet a little more attention as she listened to Sam speak. "Sounds fun, getting to travel. I want to travel more." She'd never been out of the region, but she wanted to explore. There was no way she would be setting a foot outside while Alex was roaming around, though. She couldn't safely travel until the woman was caught, so she would be sticking close to her brother during that time.

Traveling to new places was really fun. Sam enjoyed his travels with his dad. "I hope you get to travel more. It's fun visiting places. My favorite place was Floroma Town in Sinnoh. Just past it is Valley Windworks, and there I caught a Buizel. Have you seen a Buizel before? They're, like, orange water weasels. They like to play in the water and splash people, and sometimes prank people," he explained, scooping up Waka and falling backwards into a nearby chair to sit down. He felt a little more at east, now, since the Butterfree was perched on his head and Waka was keeping some of his attention. "They're really cute, and they're fun to play with." Sam liked cute things. He loved anything that was cute.

Tary smiled in response, but shook her head. She had never seen a Buizel before, but they sure sounded cute. She had only seen the Pokémon that Matt had brought home from his travels and none of them were from Sinnoh. They were mostly from Kanto and Johto, with one from Hoenn thrown in. Tary's Pokémon were all from Kanto, except Allen and Haku. Allen had been a gift from Matt before she started her journey and Haku had been sorely misplaced. He must have been lost because Tary wasn't even sure that Duskull belonged in Kanto. Whatever the case, he was following her around, now, and seemed pretty friendly.

"Sounds cute." Tary liked cute Pokémon. It was hard not to like cute Pokémon.

Sam smiled, pulling out a Pokéball from his pocket and enlarged it. Clicking the release button, there was a bright flash that took the form of the very water weasel that he was talking about. The light disappeared almost immediately, and a Buizel was just sort of sitting there, confused. He didn't know what he was doing. Was he there to play? But this wasn't the forest or the ocean that he liked so much nor was it with bathroom with that tub he liked to swim in with his owner, Sammy. "Zelbui's really nice," Sam continued, "and he loves to play with others and meet people. He also likes to steal hats."

Zelbui loved hats. He didn't know why the Pokémon liked hats so much; he just liked stealing hats to provoke people to play.

A grin broke Tary's face at the sight of the adorable creature. Zelbui... he was absolutely adorable, even though he looked very confused. Waka was incredibly curious about this new Pokémon, temporarily distracted from Sam. He wanted to meet this new Pokémon. It was a Water Pokémon, but he didn't care. Zelbui looked like he would be fun to play with!

"I think he's adorable. Waka likes to play, too. Maybe they can play together," she suggested, watching Waka strain down from Sam's arms to try sniffing at the new Pokémon in the room.

The orange weasel stretched up and sniffed the wriggling fire puppy for a moment. He didn't recognize this Pokémon nor had he seen this Pokémon before. It was a Fire type, maybe, because it gave off a lot of heat. Was Sammy getting a new Pokémon? But he didn't like Fire Pokémon.

Sam smiled a bit wider, letting Waka out of his arms to go and play with Zelbui. Zelbui liked to run around and play, so he'd be more than willing to play with the small puppy Pokémon. Sam was happy that Zelbui was making friends. Making friends was fun.