Authors notes: No, this fanfic isn't dead and I haven't forgotten about it! :) It just won't be updating as quickly as New Species. That being said please enjoy the story and don't forget to review! Thank you! :)

Chapter 1: Welcome To My Life

A fifteen year old boy lay sprawled on his bed, aware of the Gengar inhabited portrait staring at him, its eyes blazing a fiery red as it watched his every move. This didn't bother him as he was used to it by now, the Pokémon's familiar scent filling his nostrils.

He'd lived in the abandoned Old Chateau all his life, and while life there was a little boring, he couldn't complain. At the very least it was far better than living in fear of being discovered. Glancing back at the portrait, the glowing red eyes vanished, followed by a quiet snickering. He rolled his eyes; telling the Pokémon that it wasn't scary wouldn't be a very good idea. Climbing out of bed, he headed down the hall to the TV room, flopped onto the couch, picked up the remote, and clicked on the TV. An orange electric Pokémon greeted him with a grin, its mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Rotom," he moaned, "get out of the TV." The Pokémon giggled, dancing across the TV screen teasingly. With a sigh he got up and thumped the TV, causing the creature to come shooting out in a bolt of electricity. It giggled mischievously before stopping to hover a few inches from him, sparking and eyeing him quizzically. "You know, I don't think you're actually doing anything to help, Rotom. If anything, your being here is actually making people more likely to come here." The Pokémon giggled and did a few back flips, clearly enjoying itself. "I'm serious. If you don't prove yourself useful, my family is going to eat you." The ghost stopped and stared, a surprised look on its face, before vanishing back inside the television.

"Jamie! Lunchtime!" came the voice of his mother from downstairs.

"Coming!" he replied, shooing away a Haunter as it tried to tug at his long brown hair. The ghosts were getting a little too comfortable with the current arrangement. They were getting bolder, and while he did his best to tolerate them, he knew that kind of behavior wouldn't fly with the other members of his family.

"What took you so long?" His brother, Tom, grumbled, tail twitching in irritation. Jamie ignored him and instead let his mind wander to the issue with the ghosts, Rotom in particular. They were becoming a bit of a nuisance. "Hey! I'm talking to you no ears!" he growled, grabbing onto Jamie's still human shaped ears.

"I'm not deaf," Jamie replied grumpily, shoving his brother off of him.

Tom rolled his eyes, claws tapping impatiently on the table. "Of course you are!" He grinned laughingly at Jamie, revealing wicked fangs. "Trust me, you'll understand when you enter your transformation faze, little brother." He reached up and ruffled Jamie's hair, much to his annoyance. "I was like you once," he continued, as if he were wise and experienced. "Young, naïve, innocent. It seems like so long ago."

"It was ONE YEAR AGO," Jamie reminded his seventeen year old brother with a groan.

"Whatta you know," Tom growled, flicking his tail dismissively. "I'm a real Poké Eater! You're just a runt!"

"If you're a real Poké Eater, what are you still doing here?" Jamie retorted angrily, fist clenched.

Tom looked furious. "You know why!" he growled. "I'm underage! I can't go out on my own until I'm eighteen, which believe me is a long time to spend with a pipsqueak like you!"

Jamie tackled his brother to the floor, grabbing on to his tail and pulling on it as hard as he could. Tom let out a yowl and attempted to fasten his fangs into his brother's ankle.

A low growl stopped their fighting and they turned to see their mother glaring at them in disapproval. Immediately they released each other and returned to their seats, hanging their heads and trying to look as sorry as possible.

"Can't you two get along?" their mother asked, her ears drooping.

"No," they replied in unison, the one thing they could agree on. A snarl from their mother silenced them once more.

"I love you two so much, why can't we just have a nice meal? I work my claws to the bone providing for you, and this is the thanks I get?"

"I can hunt for myself," Tom reminded her smugly. "It's the runt over there that can't fend for himself!"

"Your brother is not a runt," she said through clenched teeth. "He'll enter his transformation faze soon enough, so stop being such a brat!" Tom's mouth dropped open in shock and Jamie tried and failed to stifle a laugh, earning himself a warning growl. "The next person to say something cruel gets their ear bitten off." The two brothers looked at each other and were silent. Their mother smiled. "Good! Now who wants lunch?"

Lunch turned out to be Miltank burgers, which Tom immediately complained about, preferring his food to be fresh. Their mother explained that Jamie wasn't ready for fresh kill yet, causing Tom to glare irritably at his brother.

Jamie was about to tell Tom that if he didn't like it he could just go out hunting later when what appeared to be a ghostly man floated through the table, across the room, and finally phased through the wall.

Their mother let out a growl as the specter vanished, tail lashing back and forth angrily. "Those ghosts really are beginning to get on my nerves!" Her claws dug into the table and Jamie noticed the scent of Gastly in the immediate area lessen as they wisely fled the dining hall.

"So let's do what the humans do when they're tired of pests! Exterminate!" Tom growled, claws ready to rip the next ghost he met to pieces. His mother let out a growl and Tom obediently sat back down, arms crossed.

"We can't eat them sweetie," she explained patiently to her oldest son. "They create illusions to frighten the humans away so that you don't have to sink those little fangs of yours into human flesh." Tom and Jamie stared at their mother in silence, a nervous tension in the air. Sometimes, she scared them.

"I'm home!" Jamie and Tom sighed as their father walked in, late for a meal as usual. "So, what'd I miss?" he asked, taking his seat at the table and acting like nothing had happened.

"Your late," their mother growled, eyeing him suspiciously. "Were you hunting?"

The man looked flustered. "No sweetie, of course not! I love your cooking and would never do that to you! Especially after what happened last time…" he added under his breath. Jamie and Tom nodded sympathetically. The last time their father had hunted right before a meal he had received a nasty cut on the ear. Jamie sighed as the scent of blood filled his nostrils. His father just never learned.

"Oh really? You have blood on your cheek," their mother growled, her eyes blazing with fury.

Their father reached up and wiped the small smear of Pokémon blood off his cheek, licking his fingers in delight. "So there is," he muttered when he was through. "Now how in the world did that get there?"

"I've told you a thousand times not to hunt before a meal!" she growled, baring her fangs. "We eat meals as a family so you better learn to hunt on your own time! And what if someone had seen you?"

The man shrugged helplessly and began slowly inching away from his wife. "But sweetie it was a shiny Floatzel!"

The woman's anger instantly melted, being replaced by a look of delight. "A shiny? Oh honey, where in the world did you find it?" throwing herself into his arms she began to praise him and ask him all sorts of questions, purring happily as she did so.

Jamie and Tom simply rolled their eyes. This was the third time this month their father had claimed to have found a famed shiny Pokémon, the ultimate delicacy of Pokémon Eater kind. Pokémon Eaters and Trainers alike have searched their whole lives and never even found one.

However, the unlikelihood of such an occurrence, as well as the fact that their father clearly smelled of Bibarel, went completely over their mothers head. "Kids! Congratulate your father!"

"Congratulations Dad," they muttered unenthusiastically for what would have been the third time that month.

"Oh, it was nothing," he replied with false modesty, well aware that he had just narrowly escaped a beating. "I'm sorry to say I'm not very hungry right now though. Mind if I skip this one?"

"Of course dear! And tonight we'll go out hunting, just the two of us, to celebrate!" The two adult Poké Eaters kissed while Tom licked his lips eagerly, the thought of being able to go out hunting later already getting him excited.

Jamie, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled. With the rest of his family out hunting, he'd probably get stuck eating human food again. Sighing, he sat back down to finish his Miltank burger, unaware that his life was about to change forever.