The tiny turtle pokemon named Squirtle looked at his surroundings. Rows of seemingly endless trees were all he could see. Sunlight shone down onto the ground through a few clouds in the sky. The white color of the clouds were starting to shift to a mix of orange and purple, meaning the sun was beginning to set. Squirtle knew he had to find a way out of the forest soon, considering he had been lost for nearly a week. Time was running out.

"We've managed to survive on the Oran berries we found a few days ago, but we just ate the last of them," Squirtle thought as he looked around. The forest was like an endless maze!

"I should see if they have any ideas," Squirtle thought as he called out to his two companions lagging behind him.A light brown cat-like creature, named Eevee, ran up towards Squirtle.

"Do you guys have any ideas on how to get out of this forest?" Squirtle asked as Eevee shook his head.

"Wish I did... Little sis, do you have any ideas?" The older Eevee asked his younger sibling. An unexpected silence answered him. He turned to the spot where his little sister was a moment ago. She had disappeared!

"Where are you?"

There was no answer, to Squirtle and Eevee's horror. Eevee knew his sister was hyper and playful and always let her curiosity get the better of her, but she had always stayed within his sight. Squirtle joined Eevee in calling out for his missing sister when a young voice called out,

"Guys! Come quick!"

Eevee's little sister frantically ran out from the bushes as Squirtle and Eevee sighed with relief. She wasn't kidnapped after all, they thought in relief.

"There you are! You had us worried!" Squirtle said in a scolding tone.

"Where were you?" Eevee asked his little sibling. Eevee's little sister was frantically jumping up and down as Squirtle began lecturing her about how dangerous it was every time she ran off and the possibility of her getting kidnapped. Eevee did nothing to stop the lecture, which annoyed her to the point of having to shout at the top of her lungs:

"LISTEN TO ME- THERE'S A HUMAN HERE!" Her voice echoed through the forest, causing a flock of bird pokemon to flock off. Squirtle stopped his lecture in stunned silence as her words sunk in. Eevee shared Squirtle's shock, but quickly rebounded.

"Maybe we can get some food from the human! Or even find our way out!" Eevee thought aloud. Hope suddenly filled his half empty stomach while Squirtle gave a rejecting look. Humans weren't to be trusted, Squirtle thought, especially a specific one.

"He's over here, come on!" She ran back through the bushes as her older brother followed. Squirtle shouted an objection that failed to reach the two Eevee's ears. He hesitated for a slight second before he reluctantly tore through the bushes to follow them. It wasn't too far before Squirtle saw the Eevees slow to a stop before something laying in the middle of a was a young human, Squirtle noted, as he cautiously followed behind the Eevees.

"Hey... he's asleep!" Eevee noticed as he began to sniff around the body. Probably for the best, Squirtle thought as he began examining the human body from a slight distance.

"I found him like this!" Eevee's sister told her brother."Come on, help me wake him up!" she said, leaning into the human's face. Her tongue popped out as she leaned in, but she withdrew as Squirtle suddenly said loudly:

"Don't do that! He could be working for him!" Eevee's sister looked at her brother while he finished sniffing. He looked like he had a differing opinion.

"He doesn't look or smell like it," Eevee noted, siding with his sister. "He might even be a trainer!" he added as he saw a lone Pokeball hanging on his belt. It kind of looked odd for a Pokeball, almost toylike, but Eevee kept that thought to himself.

"But that's how he nearly got us the last time! I think we should just leave him here and keep moving," Squirtle said. He wasn't going to take anymore chances. There's a chance the human could possibly help them out, even save them from their hunger... but a chance was all it was.

"No, he might know the way out!" Eevee's sister instantly retorted.

"How would he? He's asleep on the ground in the middle of nowhere!" Squirtle pointed out. He knew he had won the argument as he turned away from the limp figure. Silence following his finishing blow confirmed his victory.

"Come on, let's g-" Squirtle had already turned to leave, but suddenly stopped in his tracks when a growing noise started emerging. It sounded like laughing, but it didn't sound like either one of the Eevee siblings. He knew it wasn't him, unless he was going mad from near starvation... Squirtle jolted back around.

"STOP!"

"Who's bright idea was it to invent homework?" Ryan sighed as he thumbed through a thick mathematics textbook.

"And why is there so much of it?"

Ryan blankly stared at the large stacks of various textbooks. They stood, stack by stack, around his room, all of which looked like they could bore even a scholar to death. He shook his head as he flipped to a random page in his textbook.

"Is this really a math textbook?" Ryan thought as he tried deciphering the scattered scribble marks on the page he was on. Now that he was thinking about it- why was he doing his math homework? Before he could think anymore about that, a sudden knock drew his attention to the doorway. His dad stood there, leaning against the siding.

"Huh? What's up dad?"

"Your mom's home," he nonchalantly said. Ryan's heart leapt as he dropped the textbook he was holding.

It felt like he didn't need to ask where she was. His legs shot him past his dad, down the stairs and into the living room, where he could see a sitting figure facing away from him.

"M-mom?"

"Son, close your eyes,"Ryan heard his mom tell him. He hesitated for a slight second before he obeyed and shut his eyes. For some odd reason, the voice felt familiar, yet...

Anxiety gripped Ryan as he heard gentle footsteps approach him. It sounded like she was stepping through dirt and gravel, but they were in a house. Houses didn't have dirt and gravel flooring! Ryan began to think, until he felt something on his cheek. Was his mother kissing him on the cheek? If it was, it was a slobbery and weird way of doing it, he thought.

"Okay, this is getting really weird..." Ryan said as he tried opening his eyes. His eyelids felt like they were glued shut! Why was this happening, he thought in rising panic. His mom was in front of him and for the first time in his entire life, he could finally see what she looked like! He struggled and struggled until a realization hit him.

"Wait... I was at the amusement park thinking about this!" There was no denying it- he remembered waiting idly by while Carter and Taylor went somewhere. Ryan's heart sank as he felt his eyelids beginning to lift up.

A veil of grogginess shadowed Ryan's heavy eyes as he opened them. They threatened to close shut again. The temptation to let them close was overwhelming, until he felt a tickling sensation on his cheek. Ryan turned his head and saw a light brown cat-like creature with a white fur ring around its neck was in his face with its tongue out next to his cheek.

"No way."

Ryan slowly rose to a sitting position, looking at the creature that had licked his face. Another creature that looked exactly the same sat next to it, examining him with a curious look. Ryan curiously stared back at them, trying to find a reasonable explanation for the creatures. Was it possible he was still asleep? There was one way to find out...

"Ow!" he exclaimed as he pinched himself. The pain answered his question, while the sudden cry made the creatures jump.

"S-sorry! I was wondering if I was still asleep," Ryan apologized, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. The creatures looked at each other in mirrored confused looks.

"I guess that means I'm seeing... living, breathing pokemon," Ryan thought aloud, letting his mind absorb the realization. Though a bit confused by Ryan's aloud thought, one of the creatures looked behind them and said:

"He's awake!"

A familiar sight met Ryan's eyes as he looked at a blue tiny turtle was standing on its hind legs a few feet away. He knew what it was. Instantly. He also knew what the two creatures running up to Squirtle were... Eevees.

POKEMON SIGHTING CONFIRMED. ACTIVATING POKEDEX FUNCTION.

"Where did that come from?" Ryan turned his head around to find the source of the voice. He started to get his bearings of the surroundings.

"Nothing in this small clearing could've made that noise... unless it's coming from the backpack!"

Quickly, Ryan took the pack off and rummaged through it. He found a blue gameboy like object on top of other things and took it out. It flipped open to reveal a black control pad and dual screens. Ryan instantly realized what the object was as he looked at the picture on the top screen.

"Kinda looks a bit different than what I remember seeing... Then again, no mistaking this picture of Squirtle on the top screen."

SQUIRTLE: THE TINY TURTLE POKEMON. IT SHELTERS ITSELF IN ITS SHELL THEN STRIKES BACK WITH SPOUTS OF WATER AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY.

"And lets see what the Pokedex has to say about Eevee," he noted before a picture of Eevee replaced Squirtle's picture and started talking in a female, robotic, scholarly voice.

EEVEE: THE EVOLUTION POKEMON. A RARE POKEMON THAT ADAPTS TO HARSH ENVIRONMENTS BY TAKING ON DIFFERENT EVOLUTIONARY FORMS.

Ryan closed the Pokedex, put it back in the pack, and put the pack on his back once again. He crouched down in front of the two Eevee, who had approached Ryan. The jet black haired teen raised his hand to pet them, but...

Squirtle ran up between Ryan and the two Eevee, stopping him. An agitated look appeared on the tiny turtle's face.

"Whoa, whoa. Easy there..." Ryan raised his hands in defense as Squirtle stood there, staring at him. The Eevee that Ryan was about to pet was startled at Squirtle's behavior.

"What are you doing?"

She gently pushed Squirtle to the side and bowed her head down in front of Ryan, giving a solid sign that she wanted to be pet. The teen obliged and gently petted Eevee. Her fur felt extremely soft, Ryan noted.

"You know, Eevees are cute up close..." Ryan thought aloud. Eevee's ear twitched in response. She looked up to Ryan's face and jumped into him, happily licking his cheek again. Laughing from the tickling feeling, he begged, "T-that tickles! Could you please stop?"

Eevee stopped licking his cheek and hopped down to the ground, looking at her brother and then Squirtle, who had crossed his arms in annoyance.

"Told you! He even said please!"

Ryan was looking at the conversing pokemon, wondering what they were saying. As they wandered a bit away, he turned his head to look at his surroundings again.

"Huh, now that I think about it, where am I? This definitely doesn't look like the amusement park..."

He looked around. Judging from the amount of shrubs, bushes and trees, it looked like he was in a forest, Ryan reasoned. How did he get here, he started to wonder, until he noticed another thing:

"The sun's setting- wait. It was nighttime a few minutes ago! How long was I out for?" Ryan pondered for a moment as he drew his phone out from his pocket and started dialing a number. "Hope Carter and Taylor pick up..."

Sorry, no reception is currently available.

Ryan sighed and pocketed his cellphone. What did that crazy fortune teller do to him? And what did she say before he blacked out? Whatever it was, Ryan decided to think about it later. For now, he had to see what was in the backpack he was carrying. As he dumped the contents out onto the ground, he felt a little guilty emptying a little kid's backpack.

After finally sorting through the objects on the ground, Ryan found; a sleeping bag, a canteen full of water, a box of granola bars, rope, a flashlight, a compass, the Pokedex from earlier, and a little notebook with a pen in the spirals of the notebook. Odd stuff for a kid to have, Ryan noted.

"Okay, food and water are taken care of for now. Now I gotta pack all of this up again."

Tediously, Ryan carefully stuffed most of the contents of the backpack back in, leaving the box of granola bars out. He was starting to get hungry. As he tore open the package and took a bar out, he caught wind of the silence around him. It wasn't that silent when he unpacked, he thought.

He turned to the spot where the pokemon were conversing earlier. The Eevee were staring, wide eyed at him. More specifically, they were staring at the substance in his hand- the granola bars.

"Hey... are you guys hungry?" Ryan asked as he noticed the Eevees coming closer to him. A pair of growling stomachs answered his question as Ryan opened two more granola bars. He couldn't help but laugh in his head as he gave the two Eevee a granola bar each. It reminded him of how hungry Carter could look at times...

"Wow, they could put Carter to shame, the way they're eating..." Ryan laughed in his head. He emptied the granola box, except for a single bar. Ryan invited the Eevee to eat as much as they would like as he wandered over to where a lonely looking Squirtle stubbornly stood.

"Squirtle, I've got something for you!"

Ryan held the granola bar in front of Squirtle, who looked at it for a split second. He turned away. He didn't want any help from a strange human. His stomach, however, protested otherwise.

"I know you've gotta be hungry like your friends," Ryan said, pointing towards the two Eevee wolfing down the rest of the granola bars. "Come on... you know you want it!" Ryan continued coaxing Squirtle. It was no use.

"Okay then, I'll just leave it here..."

Ryan placed the wrapped bar on the ground next to Squirtle and went back to finish packing the last of the supplies. The Eevee decimated the remaining granola bars, leaving only a box and wrappers behind. They laid down on the ground, quietly cooing in content. It had been while since their stomachs were full.

"I wonder if Squirtle took the bar..." He turned to where Squirtle was a minute ago. Ryan quietly laughed to himself as he saw an open wrapper laying on the ground with Squirtle facing away from him. He swung his backpack onto his back and decided to get going. Only problem was... where exactly could he go? Ryan walked over to the Eevee and asked:

"Do you guys know the way out of this forest?" They both looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Oh well, that's alright then." Ryan walked towards the edge of the small clearing. "I gotta go find my friends now, take care!" He waved goodbye to the pokemon and began his walk through the clearing.

"Wait!"

Ryan turned his head to see one of the Eevee running towards him. Eevee stopped next to Ryan's legs and started rubbing it's head against them.

"Huh? You guys wanna come with me?" Eevee nodded her head up and down. Then the other Eevee ran up to him and rubbed his other leg. Ryan walked up to Squirtle, who was prepared to run away as Ryan dug something out of his pocket. Squirtle came to halt as he saw what Ryan held in his hands.

"Do you want to come along too?"

He was holding out another granola bar. Squirtle quietly looked at the bar then at Ryan. He remembered last time... when he didn't have a choice. Maybe, just maybe... this human was different. It couldn't hurt, when it was the difference between being fed or starving. Squirtle put its hand on the bar and nodded.

Ryan smiled and nodded to Squirtle, while he felt both of the Eevee suddenly climb onto his shoulders. They felt heavier than they looked, he thought.

"Well, I have no clue where to go, but... lets get going guys!"