The next day, I got up early to go hunting. I left him, still asleep, trying not to disturb him. I went outside, feeling the light morning breeze ruffle my hair. I heard the local Taillow flock whistling contentedly, filling the morn with their beautiful music. This is my home. I sighed happily and headed off, toward the swamps, knowing that there was a hot spring somewhere in that direction, though I hadn't visited it since Dad died… of a vicious poison… a human's poison…
I stopped, trying not to let myself be overcome with emotion. Questions surfaced whenever I tried to do this, and I contemplated some of them before getting a hold of myself. The answers were clear, and I knew I needed a nice long soak, and besides that, lots of prey would be in the area. It shouldn't be too hard to snag a couple of Pidgey and a Sentret. I whistled happily, adding my tune to that of the Taillows, which they met with an outburst of twitters and chirps. I silenced myself as I came within hearing distance of the springs, and walked cautiously forward.
"So, anyway, we're really close to the boundaries of Sinnoh," a male human's voice clearly said. I froze, still hidden in the dense trees.
"Yeah, and it'll give us an easy way into Kanto," another human said.
"You've got yourselves all mixed up," a third human said, this one female. "Sinnoh is really far away from here; you've got to go through Orre, Johto, and Kanto, our goal, to get there."
Ziken came up slowly, quietly to me. I could tell it was him because of his scent, although he stayed hidden from me.
"Well, this sucks," the first male said.
It's about to 'suck' a lot more, I thought viciously, at least for you, anyway.
Ziken and I leaped out, attacking and catching the humans off guard. They ran for it, and we were able to dig into their supplies of food, saving us they trouble of hunting.
Despite being victorious, and full for once, I felt as though I had less dignity than ever before. "This is the last time we scavenge," I said, and Ziken nodded, mouth full. Scavenging was for prey, and hunting was for predators and full-scale predators, such as me and him.
We soaked for a while in the hot springs, and eventually left, regretfully. I headed south, toward the rivers, and he followed me around, learning the land as though it were his own.
Which it is, after that fight, my mind reminded me, but I pushed the thought away. It made me uncomfortable.
We talked for most of the way, not caring if anyone saw it. Soon every last Pokemon was scampering, bustling around with the news, Blazer has a new friend! A new male Blaziken 'friend'!!! This was usually met with cries of 'finally!!!', though out of hearing range of me. I knew though, and one thing was different: I didn't care. I was, for the first time since my father's death, completely and utterly happy.
There was one thing nagging at my perfect time, though. And for a while, I didn't know what it was, I only knew that it kept pushing the happy away, keeping my feet firmly on Hoenn, my head shut out from the clouds. In fact, I had the oddest feeling that it had been there for quite some time, even before Ziken's arrival. It was some sort of instinct that had arisen with the upcoming season, and was now nagging at me, though I didn't know what it was. I kept thinking that I'd never know anyway, and pushed it away; shut it up in a deep corner of my mind, out of the way of upcoming thoughts.
When we finally made it to the river, we had a nice, long, welcome drink. Many Pokemon who never would have approached me did so now, to examine Ziken with great curiosity. Most others who weren't brave enough to venture out into the open kept back at the sidelines, inside the brush, watching with big, rounded, curious eyes.
I finally lost my patience and snapped at a young Pikachu who had approached. She scurried back into the brush. Ziken looked at me questioningly.
"Let's go back," I said, thoroughly ticked, my patience being tested for the last time.
He sensed that this was not the best time to argue with me, and so we began walking back, though since we were out of topics to chat about, instead we raced from time to time. I won twice; Ziken won about seven times. Finally out of breath, we reached the den we had slept in the night before.
"After you," he offered politely. I didn't need something else to push at me; I was ticked enough. His 'city' manners were invites out here, and despite all I had told him, he refused to give them up. I sighed and went inside, the fight suddenly leaving me. I lay down on my crackling leaf bed, struggled into a comfortable position, and relaxed. He came in and sat beside me, keeping watch.
A little later I fell into a deep, irreversible sleep.