It's been too long my lovely readers, but I finally decided to update. Forgive me for creating a gigantic ditch in the middle of my updating cycle. Also, since a year has passed since I last updated…shame. The dates within the story have been changed in order to keep up with the time and not confuse anyone. So, in the beginning of this chapter, it is currently Sunday night.

Thank you for being so lenient everyone! Now, enough of my blabbering, on to the long-awaited story!

-Brendan's POV-

It's been a day since we went to town and I can't help but wonder who exactly that man was. But, ever since I met him, all of my other memories returned to me, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember who he was. I gazed at the clock and I sighed.

However, stranger things have been going on. Okay, just one strange thing…I could hear what pokémon were saying. This abnormality I had gave me pokémon telepathy. I could hear what they were thinking as if they were speaking plain English, as if they were average people on the street.

For example, yesterday, on the way back home from town, we passed two ladies who both owned Zigzagoons. The crazy pokémon were talking about how they wish they could run in circles without being scolded. But, hearing them was automatic, the second I laid eyes on the pokémon everything else around me tuned out and I heard only their thoughts.

They had voices of their own, and I could understand them, but they couldn't understand me. And thus, this is the part where the strangest portion of my 'power', comes in. Apparently, only pokémon who are connected to me can understand what I'm saying. It was the strangest sensation I had ever had in my whole life.

Suddenly, I was broken from my thoughts when I heard Poochyena humming his way up the stairs, and into my room. "Master!" Poochyena cheered as he hopped on my lap, and licked my face, "did you miss me?"

I remained silent, and simply ruffled the top of his head. I already knew how the pokémon was going to react. Poochyena knew that I could understand him and respond to what he said. And because he knew, he expected me to answer him every single time he 'spoke' to me.

Poochyena whimpered, "Why don't you just tell me whether or not you missed me? I can understand you now remember? By the way, it's really late, shouldn't you get to bed? You know, a growing boy like Master should try and get himself to bed early. It isn't healthy to stay up so late."

I sighed, and placed him on my bed, turning off the light I shuffled over to my mattress and pulled the thin sheets over my body. The whole, reading the thoughts of pokémon seemed awkward. If I got used to talking to Poochyena as if he were a regular person, and people were in the room, people would think I was crazy. But what did I expect? All powers can backfire sometimes, if this was a power. So far, I thought it was malfunction in my brain that I wished would just go away.

But the first thing I had to do to even try and get rid of the power was to not use it. I figured that if I ignored the fact that I could read the minds of pokémon, this defect would just fade away. But, some part of me thought that this oddity was good, that someday, I might be able to make use of it. Yes, I would be able to become a Poké Psychic…yippee, a dream come true. I sighed and rubbed my eyes.

"What's up Master?" Poochyena asked, as he crawled towards the pillow, gently laying his head next to mine, "are you okay, you seem to be sighing a lot recently. Did you know that when you sigh, a little bit of happiness escapes? By the way, do you plan on falling asleep yet?"

I shook my head under the sheets and listened to any movements in the silence. I then realized that the pokémon loved to ask questions, I understood that being a dog made him naturally curious, but sometimes he asked too many.

"Hey, hey Master," Poochyena started again, "I know you can understand what I'm saying in my mind, but…does that mean that you can read May's and Wally's thoughts too? Don't you think that would be cool? Master, did you fall asleep yet? Master? Master? Master? Master? Master? Master? Master?"

My eyebrow twitched in annoyance. I loved the pup with all of my heart, but I never would have guessed that there would be a point where I couldn't stand him. "Poochyena," I whispered, "I can't believe I'm 'talking' to you, but, please, at least let me try and sleep."

"Oh!" Poochyena squealed, jumping up from his previous position "You're finally talking to me! Yay! All this time I've been waiting for you to talk to me! I know you talked to me before…but its different when you can understand me. This is just so wonderful!"

"Poochyena," I growled, covering my ears.

"Okay, okay, I understand that you want me to shut up but, I really want to know if you can read the minds of people and pokémon, alike. Please, oh please tell me, Master!"

I sighed, "No, I can't read human minds, and I don't think I would want to. And by the way, you don't have to call me 'Master' all of the time."

"Oh," he said as he rolled to his side, his back against mine, "I see. All you had to do was say so. Hehehe. I'm glad that you opened your heart, even just a little bit. Good night…Brendan."

I opened my eyes to see that everything around me was jet black. I rose from the floor and scratched my head. What is this? My thoughts echoed all around me and suddenly, the emptiness was a room. The walls were made of steel and the floor was patterned with black and white tiles. In front of me, a metal door fazed into view and slid open effortlessly. Then before I knew it a bright light pierced the darkness.

Unconsciously, I took a step forward, and soon, I was encased within the light. I looked around to see yet another space.

"Oh," a low voice rumbled, "I see you finally decided to come."

I looked around frantically to see a tall man standing next to me, clad in a black suit. His ebony hair was spiked back and his hands were in his pockets. "Who are you?" I asked, stepping away from him.

"Brendan," he spoke, ignoring my question, "look below us, and tell me what you see."

Frowning at him, I looked down at the landscape that stretched out under me. And what I saw was horrifying. The terrain was barren; absolutely no life existed within the surroundings. The once lively cities were in ruins, and not one pokémon was in sight. The forests were nothing but withering branches and twigs. And all over were deep gray trenches.

"W-what is this?" I gasped.

"This is the future that was never meant to be. The hell that he let loose." The man looked to me and I was shocked to find that he had intense mahogany eyes that mirrored my own. "It can be stopped, but I need your help."

"What do you need?"

All of a sudden, there was a loud bang and the man looked to me urgently. He knelt down and grasped my shoulders, "Listen to me Brendan because I don't have much time. Promise me that you'll never stray from the path we walk. All of the things that will happen in our life will happen for a reason, but never, ever forget the ones you love, even if they forget you."

Then, everything faded away and I was falling, plummeting down toward the desolate land. This is it, I'm going to die. The intense sunlight burned my skin, and strong winds blew dust all around me as I broke through the thin clouds. Suddenly there was an ear piercing howl tore through the sky. Slowly, I turned my head to the source to see a devastatingly large beast roaming in the land.

The monster let out another wail and the earth around it rose. My eyes widened and the colossal fiend turned toward me and the second our eyes met, my head pulsed and before I knew it, everything around me shattered into a thousand pieces.

My eyes shot open and I was gasping for air. Through the silence, I could hear my heart pounding in my chest and cold sweat was dripping down my face. Unlike myself, Poochyena was still lying peacefully asleep next to me. I looked around to see that the sun was rising and I took in a deep breath. I wiped the sweat off of my face with my shaking hands and tried to forget every vivid part in my dream. As I tried to disregard my nightmare I recalled the mammoth creature, and my blood went cold.

"P-Poochyena," I whispered nudging my pokémon, "Poochyena, wake up."

"Pancakes!" he barked as he shot up from his position, looking around alarmingly, "B-Brendan? What happened? Your skin is paper white, did you have a nightmare?"

"Yeah," I murmured.

He sighed and sat down, "What did you dream about?"

"The future." I cradled my head in my hands and tried to keep my eyes open, "I dreamt that the earth was nothing but desert. And not one living thing was in sight except this gigantic dinosaur-like thing. It was horrifying."

Poochyena yawned loudly, "But you see, Brendan that was a dream; a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep. You're probably still shocked about your new ability. Don't worry about it, now go back to sleep, tomorrows a big day for us."

"I guess you're right. Good night."

"G'night." Poochyena whispered as he curled himself into a ball, immediately falling asleep.

Slowly, I laid back down and rested my head on my arm. I expected myself to go back to sleep, but when I recalled my nightmare; I had second thoughts about closing my eyes. If what that man said about the future is true, and I am the only one who can help prevent it…then, what can I do? What could I do, I'm just a harmless kid who still has to graduate from Poké School…an inexperienced trainer.

Back then, I believed I was as good as useless, but then again, that was was what I thought so many years ago.

Well, I do hope that you enjoyed this rather short chapter. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, etc., press the button below. I will definitely take the time to read and respond to any of your thoughts. So don't be shy, review! :D