Disclaimer: Do we really have to go over this AGAIN?

Chapter 7

This Ain't No Vacation

She wasn't complaining.

After all, who would complain about being on a tropical island with coconut cups and warm sun, and a sandy beach with clear blue water? It was the perfect vacationing area. There was only one problem:

THIS WASN'T A VACATION!

The coconut cups were only possible if she cut the coconuts (which, by the way, is very hard to do when your only tool is a massive hammer), there was no escape from the boiling sun, the sand was scalding hot and burned her toes as she walked, and the water went on and on and on in every direction, giving no sign of help or land.

But worst of all, Sonic the Hedgehog was nowhere to be found.

Amy Rose paced back and forth on the beach anxiously, peering over the massive span of ocean to see if she could find any trace of land, boat, airplane…

Nothing. Absolutely nothing but blue skies and water.

"Shadow, what did you drag us into?" she mumbled to herself begrudgingly, then sighed and sat against the trunk of a tree whose coconuts were too high for her to reach. How did this happen? she wondered, feeling her loneliness tugging at her. How did I get here? One second Shadow was glowing, and the next—

The next thing she new, she was on this blasted island, all alone. No Sonic, no Tails, no Knuckles, Rouge, or Shadow. Besides that, there seemed to be no sign of any intelligent life occupying the island, though she had heard some creepy sounds coming from inside the dense forest that grew there when she had first arrived at least an hour ago. It felt like a lot longer than that. She found herself incredibly angry with Shadow: How could he have allowed himself to be tricked by Eggman? How dare he involve her and the others against their will? It wasn't like there was a big sign outside of Freedom HQ that said 'IDIOTS WELCOME'. What had gotten into him?

But…It wasn't really his fault, she thought, feeling a pang of guilt tugging at her heartstrings. I mean, Knuckles does the same thing all the time. We don't freak out at him because of it. Why is Shadow any different?

"Because he claims to be the 'Ultimate Lifeform'," she muttered to herself, forgetting all guilt that had come over her. To her, this incident was just proof that even the Ultimates have their weaknesses, and maybe this would knock Shadow off his "I'm better than you because I was made in a lab in space" complex.

The sudden sound of snapping twigs in the forest behind her caused Amy to nearly jump out of her skin, pushing her resentment towards Shadow away for the moment. She was on her feet in a second, her Piko Piko hammer appearing in her hand with a poof, and facing the forest.

More snapping, mixed with a gentle swiping sound, and then the bushes and undergrowth at the edge of the forest crackled with movement. Amy gripped the handle of her hammer harder until her knuckles were white from the pressure and swallowed her fear, putting on her fiercest expression. "If you're trying to scare me, it's not working!" she shouted to the trees.

The ruckus ceased for a moment, and Amy peered into the darkness of the trees. A gasp escaped her when suddenly a pair of slanted white eyes popped from seemingly out of nowhere and glared at her. As she looked on, she realized there was a leaf green face behind the eyes, hidden well amongst the trees.

Amy relaxed a little upon discovering it was just an animal and not some pervert, but still gripped her hammer. She didn't like the look of this thing…

"Scyther!" the odd creature hissed at her from the trees.

Amy tilted her head slightly, confused as it seemed to focus on her red dress. "Do you like my dress?" she asked it warily.

All at once, the bug-looking creature jumped out of the trees and lunged at her, revealing its long, bladed hands. "SCYTHER!" it screamed, swiping at her angrily.

Amy let out a high-pitched cry of fear and narrowly jumped out of the way as the blades sliced through the air. She rolled back onto her feet and faced the giant green insect again with her hammer raised defensively. "You want some?" she demanded of the creature. "Well then, bring it on!"

She talked tough, but when it came down to it, she was scared out of her wits. What was this thing attacking her? And what did she do to make it so angry all of a sudden? Whatever it was, it must have really ticked it off!

The insect turned its head to look over its shoulder at her, its eyes flashing angrily. Amy tensed, a scowl on her face. Slowly, slowly…the creature turned.

"Scyther!" it screamed, whipping around suddenly and slashing at Amy's dress, barely nicking her side as she jumped out of the way. As she jumped, however, she thought she'd get her own hits it and swung her hammer into the side of the animal's head as she dodged its scissor hands.

The bug let out an unearthly scream as the Piko Piko hammer made contact, but from rage or pain, Amy couldn't tell.

What made this thing so angry at me?

That was all she had time to think before it swiped again, madly swinging its knives at her in no particular pattern. The weird thing about it was that it never made eye contact with her once, but rather seemed intent on destroying her dress….her red dress….

Amy swung her hammer again but the insect dodged, expecting it. It jumped back from her as glared hard before screaming again, "Scyther!" and suddenly, the green creature did something very unexpected and seemingly impossible…

In less than a second, the air around the hands of the insect glowed bright white before the bug whipped them downwards and two blade-shaped lights shot from the knives...and directly at Amy.

Time seemed to stand still as the blades of light rushed towards her. She saw the look of fury in the beast's eyes; fury that she did not understand. She watched the blades as they came closer…and closer…a million thoughts rushed through her mind, but above them all was her verbal cry for the only thing that could save her from whatever this bug had to dish out:

"SOONNIIKKKUUUUU!"

She screwed her eyes shut and ducked behind her hammer, preparing for the worst.

Needless to say, Amy Rose was incredibly surprised to not feel any impact, but rather, she heard some sort of explosion, followed by a strong wind from the aftershock that threw her roughly to the ground. A bright purple-pink light shone through her eye lids. And then, there was silence.

Cautiously, Amy squinted her eyes open a crack, scared of what she might see. However, she was surprised, and somewhat startled, to find a curious pair of baby blue eyes staring back at her. "Mew?" came the soft, musical voice behind the eyes.

Amy blinked her eyes open and stared at the odd shaped creature. Standing slowly, she looked it up and down, taking in all its features: from its giant rabbit-shaped feet to its tiny, stubby, three-fingered hands, along with its triangle ears, round snout, and long, skinny tail that thickened at the end. It was very cute, especially with the fact that it was pink.

Amy finally peeled her eyes away from the pink creature long enough to notice the insect that had attacked her lying on the sand a short distance away with large black swirls in its eyes and a very odd expression on its face. Then the pink creature popped into her vision again.

"Mew mew!" it said, smiling brightly.

Amy glanced from it to the thing on the ground. "Did you do that?" she asked it quietly.

"Mew," it replied, nodding.

Amy smiled. "So you must be one tough little one, huh? You're pretty cute, too. Like me!"

"Mew mew, mew!" it said happily, floating to and fro in front of Amy. It swooped in close so its face was directly in hers. Its baby-blue eyes looked her over closely while Amy's green ones stared back at it.

"Mew!" it exclaimed so suddenly that Amy jumped. It moved in close to her, and before she could do anything to stop it, the creature grabbed her shoulder and began glowing.

Before Amy knew what was going on, there was a bright flash and she found herself and the odd animal in a different place; a meadow of some kind, brightly coloured by flowers and blue crystals that captured the suns rays and seemed to welcome her there. Looking around, she noticed the serenity of this peaceful place that felt like a world all its own. She also noticed that the air was thinner here. In the distance, she saw seven objects she assumed to be animals of some kind rising into the sky, each one leaving a brief trail of beautiful sparkles of red, white, green, sapphire, yellow, and purple in its wake. The animals each flew off in a different direction, disappearing in but a few seconds. The sight was the most amazing thing she had ever seen.

"Mew mew," a happy, sing-song voice said from behind her. Amy pulled her eyes from the breathtaking sight to see the somewhat-cat-like creature suspended in mid air as though swinging on a hammock, swaying back and forth contentedly with its tail curled above it cutely.

"What is this place?" the pink hedgehog asked her newfound companion, not really expecting an answer, due to the repetitive sound that seemed to be all the animal knew.

Sure enough, that was all she got. "Mew, mew, mew mew," it replied, floating up to her. It flew in close to her face so that it was only a few inches away, and Amy stared at it confusedly. Then, very suddenly, it shot out its hand and tapped her forehead, causing her to jump.

The animal put its stubby hands to its mouth and giggled, then began circling Amy, occasionally veering sharply away and then coming in closer. Amy giggled, too, realizing that her new friend was trying to play with her.

She waited until it swerved in close before suddenly reaching out and tagging it, then turning on her heel and rushing out into the field of wild flowers. The creature squealed in delight and took off after her, floating from side to side behind Amy until it caught up, at which point it veered upwards.

Amy glanced over her shoulder to find that her friend was no longer there, and she stopped, turning completely with a look of confusion. It was then that the pink animal decided to make its move and dropped onto Amy's head, its cute laughter sounding through the field. Amy squealed playfully and began running through the field with the creature still clinging to her, laughing openly. Finally, out of breath, she fell into the soft flowers and onto her back, looking at the cloudless sky and panting hard.

As she felt her muscles relaxing, she looked to her new friend, who had floated gracefully to the ground beside her and was laying in much the same manner. She smiled at it, and it smiled back.

"Mew mew," it sang, yawning.

"Mew…" Amy repeated, pondering the sound and its meaning. "That's all you say, isn't it?"

"Mew," it replied, snuggling close to her.

Amy smiled. "Alright then. I guess that's what I'll call you…Mew."

It nodded approvingly, closing its eyes.

Amy turned on her back again, placing her hands behind her head and closing her eyes, Wait till my Sonikku hears about this place…he'll want to bring me on a date here for sure!

Her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright, startling the poor pink animal nestled in beside her. "Sonic!" she practically screamed, climbing to her feet as the seriousness of her current situation settled in again. She took off across the field, running towards the horizon.

Mew giggled playfully and began chasing after her, thinking that she was playing again. After it tagged her, however, she didn't stop running. Not until she was at the very edge of the field….

….and the very edge of a cliff.

Skidding to a stop inches from the ledge, Amy stared at the rocks and trees so far below it wasn't funny. Feeling woozy, Amy backed up slowly until she was safely away from the edge, at which time she fell promptly onto her rear.

"Mew?" Mew said, moving in front of her face and staring with its bright blue eyes.

Amy was breathing hard, her eyes wide. "I have to find Sonic," she whispered to the creature. "I need to know if he's here…I need to know…that he's alright." Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as the worst came to mind and she buried her face into her lap and sobbed quietly, trying to push the awful thoughts away.

Mew blinked at her, trying to find some way to comfort her new friend. It got an idea, and was gone in a flash. In another moment, it was back, holding in front of Amy a small branch with some berries hanging from it. "Mew mew!" it said happily, getting Amy's attention.

She looked up from her tear-stained red dress and regarded the berries and the bright blue eyes behind them, then shook her head. "I need to go, Mew," she said, standing. "I have to find my Sonikku." With that, she approached the edge of the cliff again and peered over, crawling on her hands and knees so she wouldn't lose her balance and fall off.

Mew, taking this as a sign that she wanted to play, promptly moved in behind Amy….

And pushed her off the cliff.

A quarter of a second was all it took for Amy Rose to begin screaming as she dropped through the air and towards the stony base of whatever mountain they were on. It also took only a quarter of a second for Mew to begin laughing so hard it was nearly rolling around in the air. After a few seconds of Amy's screaming, Mew decided it was time to retrieve its friend. It took only a second for it to teleport itself to the exact spot that Amy was, grab hold of her, and teleport them both back to the top of the mountain that was its current home.

Immediately when they had appeared back on top, Mew became hysterical with its giggles; rolling around gleefully in the sky while Amy sat in the fetal position among the flowers, unbelieving as to what her 'friend' had just done. Was it psycho? It didn't seem like Mew had meant any harm by it, but you don't just go pushing people off of cliffs!

Finally regaining her composure, Amy turned to the still-laughing creature. "Look, Mew," she said, trying to remain patient with it, "you can't do that again, okay? Even though you can teleport down to get me…" Her voice trailed off as a sudden realization hit her, and she snapped her fingers and leapt to her feet. "Mew!" she exclaimed, and its laughter ceased immediately. "You can teleport me to my Sonikku!"

Mew's face suddenly became very serious. "Mew mew," it said firmly, shaking its head.

"You have to!" Amy declared. "I can't stay here forever! I have to find my love!"

"Mew mew," it repeated, perhaps a little more firmly. Then its expression changed to that of playfulness again, and it floated around Amy, obviously trying to get her to play with it some more.

"No, Mew," she said, putting emphasis on her words. "I have to find Sonic!"

Mew tilted its head at her, trying to figure out what a 'Sonic' was. "Mew mew, mew mew mew?" it asked curiously.

Amy sighed and shook her head, frustrated at her inability to communicate properly with the floating animal. "I HAVE TO FIND SONIC!" she yelled at it, her frustrations showing clearly.

"MEW!" the pink thing yelled back, very suddenly changing from cute to…rather frightening—so suddenly, in fact, that Amy fell backwards and landed with a hard thump on her rear for the second time in the last few minutes. Then, just as suddenly, it returned to its normal, happy and curious expression, and its voice returned to the sweet melodic resonance. "Mew, mew mew mew."

It wants to play again, she knew. That must be why it brought me here; so that I could play with it. But… She frowned. But surely it must know that I'll have to leave eventually.

She stood and brushed herself off before turning again to Mew. "Look, Mew," she said calmly. "I can't stay here forever. I have people who need me, friends—"

"Mew!" Mew interrupted, smiling widely and pointing to itself. It began circling her again, trying to get her to play, no matter how much she protested.

Nope, she wasn't complaining; she was too busy trying to figure out a way to convince Mew to help her find Sonic.

Meanwhile, in another, no so remote location

Rouge, on the other hand, was complaining openly.

"Ugh, these boots are not made for hiking!" the bat muttered to herself as she stumbled along the uneven and unpaved sorry excuse for a road. Disaster area is more like it, she thought bitterly.

No sooner had she finished the thought when the heel of her aforementioned footwear caught on a rock and twisted her left ankle out for under her. Instinctively taking all weight off her injured foot, Rouge promptly lost her footing on the rough terrain and fell on the seat of her spandex, hard.

The anthromorph sighed in agitation and exhaustion, allowing her ears to droop slightly—something she would not be caught dead doing if anybody else was around. Rouge the Bat never sulked in front of others. Especially boys. Especially Shadow.

She sighed again, this time in worry, and frowned. Oh, Shadow. What happened to you?

The thought swirled around in her mind, replaying the events that lead up to where she was now. Shadow had just finished boasting to Sonic how good the new Rings felt, then suddenly he was on the floor, screaming in pain. Perhaps that was the reason she was so worried; screaming in pain is something Shadow the Hedgehog, aka Ultimate Lifeform, just doesn't do. Within the minute, Rouge had found herself here, alone in this unfamiliar world.

But at least she had found a road. A road meant intelligent life, and intelligent life meant a few things. One: Maybe someone could help her find Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, assuming they were even in the same world as her. Two: Maybe someone could help them find a way home. But most important was number three: Maybe someone could help Shadow, wherever he was, with whatever happened to him.

Okay, so they were three big 'maybes'. But at least it was worth a shot. After all, it was the only shot she had.

Grunting needlessly, Rouge climbed to her feet – minding her twisted ankle – and continued on her way up the road, hoping that she would find someone, soon.

She wasn't sure how long she was walking before she looked up and saw something in the distance. Her spirits were lifted as she squinted in the sunlight and realized it was a cluster of small buildings.

Unless it was a mirage.

Either way, it was worth a shot. It was her only shot.

Her pace quickened until finally, she decided to fly, even though her wings were sore and stiff.

Sure enough, in just one minute, she was close enough to see that it was indeed a small town, with a sign that said:

WELCOME TO CELESTIC TOWN-HOME OF THE LUSTROUS ORB

"Sound inviting," she said to herself with a smile. "My kind of town."

As she entered the town limits from the east gate, landing lightly on her feet, she was surprised to find…well, nothing. Sure, there were some buildings: a blue one with a red roof that had a big sign reading POKÉMON CENTER found just to her left; a few houses at the corners of the town; and a larger building forty five degrees to her right called the CELESTIC TOWN HISTORICAL RESEARCH CENTER; as well as a couple tiny ponds. But there was no mall, no restaurant, no park, no schools, not even any cars! But there was a cave at the center of the community. "This isn't a town," Rouge scoffed. "It's a hick joint!"

Be it town or hick joint, Rouge continued on her short trek to the Celestic Town Historical Research Center, feeling a bit uneasy in the deserted streets. Where was everyone? Surely someone lived in this dinky little town, but there was no one to be found. Either everyone was inside or the town was completely deserted. But even though she could not see anything, she felt another presence, as though she was being watched.

A slight sound behind her made her turn so quickly she nearly fell over again. However, she sighed in relief when she saw that it was merely a kitty standing in the road, staring at her. A big, white, somewhat ferocious-looking but very pretty kitty with a skinny tail that curved at the end and a very elegant air about it. And a small jewel embedded into its forehead. Huh.

Something clicked in the bat's mind. "A jewel?" she said aloud, staring at the feline with bewilderment. Now, how would a cat manage to get a jewel implanted into its head?

She did not have much time to think about it, because as soon as she made eye contact with the animal, it growled and unfurled its tail. Then, with a loud, ferocious hiss, it charged towards Rouge, rage clearly showing in its eyes as the sun gleamed off the gem.

Rouge stared at it advancing on her with a sudden terrible realization: this cat was coming to get her!

Rouge quickly turned towards the Research Center and ran as fast as her tired legs could carry her. She was halfway between the building and the feral beast, with forty feet between herself and either. And the cat was gaining; she could hear its ominous growls sounding from behind her. If she could just get to the building…

She took to the skies, jumping up and whipping out her wings. She felt herself gaining momentum as she flapped hard, straining her already-strained muscles. Yet, still the cat gained on her. Rouge risked a glance over her shoulder. She was only fifteen feet away from her goal now, but the feral creature was a mere ten from her.

With one last powerful flap from her leathery wings, Rouge shot forward. Five feet, three, one…

She put her hands out to push through the door and into safety, and—

SMACK!

Rouge crumpled against the glass door hands-first, realizing a second later that a sign on it said PULL TO OPEN in big, bold letters. And she had pushed.

Actually, she had rammed.

Well, that would have been nice to know two seconds ago, she thought to herself bitterly.

A deep growl brought her back to the task at hand: not being eaten. She turned just in time to see the elegantly savage feline take a running leap at her, its claws outstretched and a wild light in its eyes as the jewel sparkled brightly on its head.

Rouge instinctively put her hands up to protect herself as she huddled against the glass door, bracing herself with closed eyes and tense muscles for the inevitable.

Then, faster than she knew what was happening, she felt a hand grab her arm and pull her hard. Her eyes flew open at the physical contact, and she barely had time to register that she was flying backwards through air and a now-open glass door. The door slammed shut a second before she landed hard on the marble-tiled floor, and only a fraction of a second later, she found herself facing the rather squished face of a once-elegant looking cat that was not so elegant anymore. Its nose was pressed against the glass uncomfortably and it looked stunned, then it slowly sank to the ground. A second later, it jumped back to its feet and began stalking back and forth in front of the door, watching the bat that had just barely escaped it.

Wait a second…

Rouge whipped around on the floor to find a rather old man with grey hair and bushy black eyebrows panting a few feet away from her.

When he caught her gaze, he smiled at her. "That was pretty close. It's hard to say what would have happened if I hadn't been watching, eh?"

Rouge blinked at him and did a once over. The man was wearing a red dress shirt and dark tan corduroy pants, as well as a white lab coat.

"A human?" she said without meaning to.

The man was taken aback by the statement, but not for the reasons that Rouge thought. "You talk," he said, sounding disbelieving. He quickly recovered and smiled again. "How interesting. And may I ask, what kind of Pokémon are you?"

Rouge stared at the man, her mouth hanging open as she searched for the meaning in his question. "Uh…what?" she said, standing slowly and brushing herself off without taking her eyes off the man.

"Your species," he explained, doing the same. "You know; there's Eevee and Pikachu, Chikorita, Charizard. What Pokémon are you?"

"I'm…a bat?" she replied uncertainly.

The man frowned. "You look nothing like Zubat or Golbat."

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm not. My name is Rouge."

"A Rouge?"

"No, just Rouge. That's my name."

A light of understanding fell across his features. "Oh! I see. Your name is Rouge."

"Yes," Rouge said, relieved that the explaining was over.

The man smiled again. "So that's what your master called you."

Rouge stared at him, somewhat frustrated. "No!" she said harshly. "My name is Rouge the Bat. Rouge is my first name, Bat would technically be my last name! The name that my parents gave me!"

He stared at her uncomprehendingly. "So…you're a Rouge, then?"

"NO!" she shouted, then sighed. "My name is Rouge. My species is bat. I am Rouge the Bat. That is the name I was born with. I can change it if I want to, but I don't want to. Rouge the Bat is my name. You got one of those, genius?" she asked, obviously annoyed.

The man stood staring at her for what seemed like hours before he finally snapped out of it. "I am Professor Samuel Oak, a Pokémon Researcher from the Kanto region," he said slowly. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Rouge beat him to it.

"Where am I?" she asked, feeling impatient

"Celestic Town, population of thirteen, in the Sinnoh region," Professor Oak replied, still a bit confused.

"Sinnoh Region…" she repeated the name slowly, like a toddler learning a new word. "How many regions are there?" she finally asked.

"Uh…"

"And what is that gorgeous animal out there," Rouge continued before he could answer.

"Um, it's a Persian," he replied, feeling a little overwhelmed at the amount of questions from this unidentified, talking Pokémon.

"What's its problem with me?" she wondered aloud.

"It gets agitated easily," Professor Oak explained, "but becomes temporarily docile if you pull its whiskers….Shouldn't you know this?"

She half-glared at him. "No, I shouldn't. That's why I'm asking you," she said firmly, then suddenly froze.

Professor Oak gazed at this strange creature, noticing how much it differed from any other Pokémon he had ever seen. He noticed its left ear twitch slightly before it suddenly whipped its head to face the world outside. Following her gaze out the clear glass doors, he noticed a small company of people entering the town from the west side and walking briskly towards the Poké-Center. The tall, darker-skinned one was awkwardly carrying something black in his arms.

The professor's eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly recognized the group of three, and if he had any doubts at all, they vanished when he saw the Pikachu sitting on the shorter boy's shoulder.

"Why isn't the cat attacking them?" Rouge's question snapped the Professor from his thoughts and he looked to the door to see that the Persian had settled into a more comfortable position, still watching his guest intently.

"Maybe it has a thing for you, Rouge," he replied, a slight smile gracing his normally hard expression.

An awkward silence passed between the two as they watched the trio disappear into the Poké-Center. Professor Oak glanced from the blue building to the big-eared, obviously female winged creature standing before him and noticed that she looked troubled. Her large, aqua eyes seemed confused and worried. Finally, he dared to ask, "Why are you here?"

She looked at him, startled by such a question, but simply sighed. "It's a long story," she said, offering no further explanation. With that, she walked over to the door and placed her gloved hands on the bar, already pushing it open.

"Wait—" the Researcher called after her as she stalked out the door.

As soon as the door opened, the Persian was on its feet and ready to attack, but Rouge had another plan. Remembering what Professor Oak had told her, she moved with incredible speed—speed that shocked the Professor—and yanked hard on the Persian's whiskers.

Immediately, the feline's attitude changed from aggressive to almost friendly, and as Rouge bent down to pat it gently, it began to purr softly.

"There, beautiful," she said softly, scratching it behind the ears. "Now we can get along just fine."

Professor Oak stood there, mouth agape and eyes wide. He had never seen two Pokémon interact in such a way. This…Rouge seemed more human than animal as far as personality goes, but clearly she was a Pokémon. She must have been a Pokémon…there was no other explanation as to her appearance…

Rouge promptly stood from where she had been crouching with the purring Persian and faced the Professor. "I have to go," she informed him casually, as if they had known each other for a long time. "I have…friends that I have to find. Friends who might need me." Shadow… she thought to herself.

"Friends…like you?" he asked slowly.

She nodded.

Professor Oak scratched the back of his head as she turned to leave. "Wait…" he said, catching her attention. She turned back with a questioning light in her eyes. He sighed. "I think…I think I might be able to help with that."

Rouge tilted her head in confusion, and he continued. "Those kids that came into town…I know them. It's Ash, Dawn, and Brock. They travel a lot; maybe they've seen who you're looking for…" he allowed his voice to trail off, mostly because he was unsure of how to continue.

Rouge thought for a moment. She had to find someone—anyone—that she knew, but had no idea where to start. What the Professor said, though strange and random, made sense. She had nothing better to go on. I have no other choice. Though somewhat reluctantly, she agreed with a nod.

The two, plus the Persian, which so happily began trotting after Rouge, started towards the Poké-Center.

"What is this place for, anyway?" Rouge asked.

"It is a center for weak and injured Pokémon," he explained. "Here, they can receive proper medical attention and regain their energy."

"And a Pokémon would be…what, exactly?"

Professor Oak paused for a second to stare uncomprehendingly at the bat. "You," he said finally as the two of them, followed by the Persian, entered the center.

Before Rogue had a chance to respond, the Professor was greeted by three kids—teenagers, from the looks of it.

"Professor Oak!" the tall squinty-eyed one exclaimed, standing from the chair he'd been sitting in.

"What are you doing here?" a girl wearing a dark-blue blouse/vest and a white hat asked.

"I was doing research at the Historical Research Center," he explained. "What are you three doing here?"

"It's a long story," the girl said, shooting a hard glare at the dark-haired boy in the blue jacket, who was the only one not to say anything so far. "Let's just say it involved a certain somebody being a jerk," she spat over her shoulder. Then she turned an attentive look to Rouge, who had been standing slightly behind Professor Oak since entering the building. "What kind of Pokémon is this?" She asked him.

Before either Rouge or the Professor could respond, an adorable red-haired girl wearing a pink nurse's outfit appeared as a set of automatic door opened, followed closely by a light pink blob nearly as tall as Rouge shaped like an egg, which also wore a nurse's hat.

She walked straight to the three kids with a not-so-well-hidden grim expression.

"What's the news, Nurse Joy?" the girl with the hat asked, while the darker-skinned boy fell to one knee, hearts in his eyes.

"Oh, fair maiden: Your ever-present beauty is incomparable, even to the first rays of sunshine on a calm autumn morning; even to the bright arc of luscious colour that spreads across the sky after a light spring rain; even to—"

He was promptly cut off as a beam or red light shot from his backpack and a strange blue frog-like creature materialized. Its fist glowed pink, and it swung it hard into the boy's stomach, causing his odd expression and posture to freeze as he fell to the ground and the frog creature dragged him away, but Rouge barely registered that. She was more shocked by its sudden appearance. However, the five humans in the room seemed unfazed.

The nurse—Nurse Joy—began her report, ignoring the events from a moment before. "There is good news and bad news," she started, and Rouge's ears perked up, wondering what she was talking about. "But unfortunately, it's mostly bad news. The Pokémon you have brought in has minor injuries; its condition is mostly that of exhaustion. The three children, including the odd boy who had recovered, breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"But," Joy went on, "it's exhaustion is that of the highest extremity. I've never seen anything like it before. It's like all of its energy was suddenly sucked out of it unmercifully."

The boy who still had yet to speak raised his head from where it hung shamefully, with worry clearly written across his face.

"Don't worry," Joy said, noting his expression, "This kind of exhaustion would never come from a Poké-battle."

"Though it certainly wouldn't help," the girl muttered, then said aloud, "Will it be okay?"

The nurse shook her head helplessly. "I honestly don't know. It's a possibility, but with its condition…" she allowed her voice to trail off, leaving the worst to be assumed. A tense silence fell over the crowd.

"Well, can't it just gather energy again like other Pokémon?" the flirtatious boy said.

"That's the thing; its power seems to come from an unknown source, and besides that, there seems to be something restricting the rate of which it can gather and maintain said power. It makes no sense…"

Finally, his curiosity getting the better of him, Professor Oak said, "If I may, what kind of Pokémon is it?"

She shook her head again. "I don't know that, either."

He turned to the three children, but each also shook their head helplessly. The three children shook their heads as well.

The Professor looked to Nurse Joy, a silent message passing between them, and she nodded. "The Chansey have moved it to the intensive care unit. Follow me."

She started through a different set of double doors, and Professor Oak followed a few steps before turning to his company. "Coming, Rouge?" he asked, deeming it unfit to leave behind his guest.

She nodded and followed the two down the corridor, the Persian at her side, as the doors closed behind them. After a mere half-minute, they made it to a room that had two entrances; one on the right side of it, and one on the left. The three, four if you include the Persian, entered from the right, and Rouge gasped at what she saw. She stood there, eyes wide and jaw slack at what her eyes were telling her.

For there, lying still as death and slightly pale on a stretcher-bed, was a black-spiked figure with red stripes up his legs, arms, and each of his five spikes.

"Shadow…"