Gasping, Crona woke from her sleep with a start. She had to take a good look around before she remembered where she was, nearly screaming when she saw an unfamiliar human staring at her.

"You're awake," he murmured, extending a hand to pet her. Crona happily accepted his affectionate touch, needing something to remind her she wasn't completely unloved after recalling that awful experience. She was just glad that Ragnarok hadn't been a complete jerk. She had really been hoping that he would've said he liked her when she asked. No, instead he pointed out her faults and hurt her feelings; although, he did try to be nice afterwards so it wasn't...entirely awful...

Anyway, she let Kid pet her and she climbed into his lap just as she would with Maka, nuzzling against his chest as he gave a quiet 'hmm' sound. "You appeared to be having a bad dream," he said, though it felt like he were talking to himself rather than her, "was your last home so awful you'd have nightmares? Or was it something else?"

Something else! She hastily replied. It's something else, really! Maka's been really nice to me and so has Soul and Tsubaki and Black*Star, and even Ragnarok isn't as mean as he used to be because of her!

"Calm down!" Kid exclaimed, setting the panicked pokemon on the floor. "I swear, you're perhaps one of the most delicate-natured creatures I have ever met."

Her ears wilted and she went shamefaced. I'm sorry...

"Don't get sad," he said with an apologetic look, "I didn't mean anything bad by it and I'm sorry if I made you think that. I suppose that's just how you are, hmm?" She gave a timid smile, wrapping a feeler around his fingers to show she accepted his apology. He sighed, gently stroking the feeler that had wrapped itself around his digits. He couldn't help but to admire the soft quality of the fur.

"So, are you ready to find your owner or would you prefer to wait until after breakfast?"

Breakfast would be nice, but...

Her expression said it all. Eyes filled with longing and body language void of any positive emotion. Standing after giving her one last pat to the head Kid headed for the door. Crona gave a quiet gasp of elation before she realized she wasn't moving. Kid called for her once from beyond the doorway, bringing about a sudden reaction. She bolted forwards as fast as she could. Unfortunately, this caused her to collide with the back of his legs throwing him off balance. He nearly fell over the edge of the stairs, luckily he managed to grab the banister before that could happen. Crona sputtered out a string of apologies, but Kid assured her he was okay. Once they were finally down the stairs, Kid fully concentrated on the task at hand rather than where he was walking.

"Before we do anything we should think about it first, all right?"

No! I want to find Maka now!

Her wails went ignored, as Kid produced a placoid camera from the coat closet in what Crona supposed was the living room. It's been set on the rack at the top of the closet in addition to other old-fashioned objects. He snapped a picture of her while she was staring at her little pink paws.

The flash was what caught her attention, but it was the camera spitting out the picture that made her jump. He took seven more shots following the first, making Crona wonder just why this process was necessary when Maka was probably already out at the market searching for her. Pretty blue eyes kept shifting from the floor to the doorway as she imagined herself jolting from the room and out to the streets where she'd find Maka and leap into her awaiting arms. She really felt like one of Maka's famous hugs about now.

Kid put the camera back once he was finished with it and sat on the couch to look through the pictures. Crona joined him, staring at each picture while he examined them individually. "I think I like this one best," he said, showing her the first one he'd taken. She nodded in agreement if only to pacify him. She honestly failed to see how this picture would make much of a difference.

"We'll look around the city," he explained as he put the others away, "but first I'd like to try putting your picture in the paper. It's like a backup plan if our search doesn't turn out too well."

But...but you do think we'll find her, right?

"I'm sure if you take us to all the places the two of you had been together, or that Maka has been alone or with someone else then I'm sure we'll run into your owner at one point."

But...what's the chances...what if we don't? Is that even a possibility?

"We should probably get started now. The later we wait the less likely it'd be to find them."

What?

"But you don't have to worry. You're welcomed to stay here for as long as you need to."

N-no, Kid! She grabbed his pants leg in her mouth before he could move another inch. It was bad manners, Maka had taught her that, but she was desperate for an answer and the action certainly made the human stop to look down at her. She immediately let go. Staring up at him, feeling somewhat panicked, she tried to keep herself together as she wilted slightly underneath his golden gaze.

I don't want to stay here! I don't want to stay anywhere without Maka!

"You must understand," he said gently, kneeling to try and pet her, but Crona cringed and flinched away from his hand. Sighing, he stood up and rubbed the back of his neck, staring off to the side instead of facing the sylveon. "This is a very big city and the chances of finding a single person are very minuscule."

Miniwhat?

"It's just unlikely we'll be able to locate your owner–a single preson–out of the hundreds upon hundreds of other people in the city. It could take days, possibly weeks."

No! She squalled, tears dribbling from the corners of her eyes. I need to go home now! Before Maka forgets about me!

"Don't worry, I'm sure if we take an ad out in the newspaper it'll boost your chances of being found."

Crona sniffled. Maka has read it once or twice...

"I promise I'll do whatever I can to help, okay?"

You're my new best friend. Crona decided, hugging his arm with her feelers. She nuzzled against his chest for a moment before letting him push her away. He didn't seem particularly comfortable with that sort of contact, telling her very firmly to not ever hug him like that again. It was confusing. Maka never really cared when she hugged her so why did Kid? Must be a guy thing, she supposed, using the very words Maka had said before in the past.

The very first time had to have been after she and Ragnarok joined up with Maka and the others. Ragnarok had been rude towards their new owner but instead of getting angry–well, angrier than she already was–Maka had rolled her eyes and said, 'Must be a guy thing.' Crona later found out she was referencing to Soul and Black*Star's rudeness/perviness, which was also, apparently, a guy thing. 'Boys will be boys,' Tsubaki had once sighed. Crona supposed human males weren't that different from pokemales. Neither seemed to like hugs...

"Crona," Kid suddenly called, having somehow gotten to the doorway while she was deep in thought, "are you coming?"

Huh? Oh, yeah, umm, w-wait for me!

She bounded after him, happy once they were outside. A gentle breeze was blowing and the air smelled crisp, sort of fresh. It wasn't like the clean forest air Crona had inhaled once before, but it was still kind of nice.

Walking side-by-side with Kid, she could feel her muscles all twitching and jerking as she resisted the urge to just break into a run and leave him behind. Maka, Soul, Ragnarok...I'm gonna find you, I promise.

You know, Soul listened to Black*Star muse as he walked down the street with the prinpulp riding on his back, this might not have been such a great idea.

No, really? The furfrou growled sarcastically, rolling his ruby orbs as he tred to concentrate on where he was going. You're just now thinking of that?

In all honesty, the plan had fallen apart from the beginning. As it turned out Maka had locked the apartment door for once so Ragnarok, being as impatient as usual, broke it down, which surely woke both Maka and Tsubaki. From there everything slowly deteriorated with Black*Star causing more problems than he solved and Ragnarok getting so fed up that he ran off to find Crona on his own, leaving Soul with the prinpulp and no clue where to look.

They'd tried following his scent, but being the professional troublemaker/criminal that he was Ragnarok had left a ton of false trails, some of which crossed over others or went past areas that had stronger aromas to cover his trail up, leaving Soul with a headache from trying to sort out all the scents and Black*Star getting frustrated due to their lack of progress.

I've a feeling I'd have found them both by now if I were on my own.

No, Black*Star! Soul snapped. We have to stick together otherwise we'll all get lost. As it is I'm the only one who remembers our way back to the apartment so– This was when he realized his back felt lighter. Turning he glanced backwards to find a mental outline of where the prinpulp should have been but wasn't. Dammit! He swore, looking around everywhere only to come up blank.

Maka is gonna kill us...

Where the hell are you? Amber eyes scanned the marketplace relentlessly. He was so sure she'd have waited here if this was where she and Maka had been seperated. He padded around, getting sick and tired of running in circles when he then noticed a certain area he'd yet to check. It was near a man's stand that held a variety of pokemon eggs held in incubators. Price tags were posted and, as expected, none were within Maka's ideal price range.

He could just imagine Crona gawking at those, especially since two or three were eevee eggs. He had no idea what was so interesting about them. They were just shells containing yolk and semi-formed embryos, but somehow they made Crona and Tsubaki squeal 'aww, they're so cute!' like a pair of dumb fangirls.

That stupid girl, Maka, tried to explain it at one point by saying it wasn't so much the egg, rather what was inside and the idea it brought about that had them so fascinated.

Pfft. Whatever.

Of course, across from the egg stand was a book stand and between the two stands he caught a faint, sweet scent that was nearly nonexistent due to the rain. It was a combination of natural sweetness and cheap, artificial berry shampoo. Crona! His mind screamed as he took in another deep inhale. Okay, so he was locked onto her. All he had to now was find her.

Kid gave a weary sigh as he leaned against the side of the bookstore's foundation. This had to be the fifth one Crona had taken him to and the fifth one that yielded no answers. Crona was looking rather downcast at this point. Her tail and ears hanging low, expression dour, and she had started moving at a slugma's pace.

He tried to cheer her up, but it seemed like nothing he did helped. She didn't seem to perk up until around lunch time when he'd decided they should stop for a break. He bought himself a smoothie and got her some frosted berries, which were literally berries that'd been shoved into a freezer and were coated in a thick layer of frost. Still, it was a refreshing snack to have when you found yourself in a city located in the middle of a desert.

There was just one little problem...

"Aww," a random girl gushed, pausing to stare down at Crona as she nibbled at her frosty treat, "what a cute sylveon!"

"A sylveon?" another girl said, coming over to gush along with the first. "Ohmigosh! It's adorable!"

Soon there was a crowd of girls standing around her and Kid. She was nervous after the first few girls showed up, but once a crowd had encircled them she'd leapt up into Kid's lap, searching for protection from this adoring mob. Of course, he suffered too. Some of the gawking girls hung on him and asked him if Crona was his to which he couldn't even reply to before another girl asked a question and soon another question was asked before that one could be answered. There was yelling and pushing and shoving and before Crona could fully understand what was going on all sorts of hands were stroking and petting and tugging at her.

I can't deal with this! Her panicky mind screeched.

Fairy Wind!

She brought about a strong gust of wind that swept the crowd away. Unfortunately, it nearly swept Kid away as well. He managed to hang onto the side of the building and avoid getting flung off into the distance like a rag doll. Shivering and whimpering after the attack had ended, Crona found herself cowering behind a table that had been toppled over by the powerful gust of wind. One of the waiters glared at her, scowling as he then stormed over to a panicky Kid, who was struggling to straighten himself out only to get shouted at by the waiter.

Crona felt really bad as she watched.

There were other customers, whispering to each other and giving Kid angry looks, as though her attacking was his entire fault. Finally, once all the shouting was done Kid came over appearing rather cross. She cowered low to the ground, expecting to be yelled at or physically abused or to be given a good scolding for what she'd done. No. Instead, Kid lifted her up and headed off, cradling her gently in his arms like he had the first time they'd met.

"You don't have to be scared," he murmured as they turned a street corner, "I know you just did that because you felt threatened. I probably should've done something other than sit and watch, but..." he seemed reluctant to go on, "I don't...know...how to handle girls."

Crona stared at him, surprised at his admission. If he were so bad at handling girls then what was it he was doing with Ponera? He was blushing, as though he understood her thoughts and was embarrassed to have her know what she did.

"I know, I know," he sighed, stopping to sit her down now that they were a good distance from the café. "I should've done something anyway. I should've expected that, I guess. There aren't a lot of sylveon around. I'm pretty sure they're more used to flareon, espeon, and umbreon." He took notice of how she winced at hearing that last name, but didn't bother mentioning it. If possible then he'd use it in description later.

"That's what you'd expect living out in a desert."

I guess that makes sense, Crona mumbled. But why did those girls try hurting you?

"I think we should move on." Kid said, giving the sylveon the impression that he didn't want to talk about girls anymore. "Was there anywhere else your trainer had gone?"

Uh, yes, she nodded, padding on ahead to start leading Kid to the next nearest shop, Maka has been to a lot of different places.

She stopped outside a rather large pokeshop. Floy'd Pokeshop was printed on the top glass portion of the door in big red letters and a little bell jingled as Kid opened the door to enter, holding a minute longer than necessary to allow her entry. Crona hadn't been inside before, but she remembered Soul mentioning something about this place. There was a pleasant fragrance upon first entering and the sounds of pokemon immediately filled the air. Crona mostly saw shelves of food, bowls, dishes, cages, etc. However, she could see certain isles that held pokemon in cages or pens to be observed and purchased.

They were assigned by theme. The first isle they stumbled upon was bird themed. The main pokemon present were native to the desert area, namely vullaby and fletchling; however, there were several exotic or otherwise uncommon ones present such as chatot, spritzee, and aromatisse. Kid observed each with polite interest though none seemed to particularly catch his eye. She went on ahead, curiously peering around into the next isle. It had a reptilian theme.

She shuddered, spotting several large tanks that housed kecleon, torkoal, ekans, arbok, coiled milotic, and, of course, serviper. Crona backed out of the isle as quickly as possible, turning to run over to the next isle in the hopes of finding something more pleasant. It held nothing but fish pokemon as did the next two isles following that one before it gave way to food and accessory isles. They wandered to the opposite side of the store where they found a wall of two stacks of cages containing canine and feline pokemon. Crona noticed a few young eevee sitting within their own cages, sipping water or eating food, though a couple of especially small ones that shared a single cage were asleep. There were also some growlithe, snubbull, poochyena, lillipup, meowth, skitty, espurr, and glameow. There was even a trio of bouncy slurpuff sitting together appearing rather adorable.

"Do they make you think of anything in particular?" Kid teased as he admired one of the small eevee that seemed rather playful, jumping and yipping for attention within its cage. Crona wasn't too sure what the human meant, seeing as she had never been that outgoing.

She felt a little sad when they passed a see-through holding pen where perspective owners could view what was inside.

Apparently the store was selling young furfrou at half price this month.

The eight that were presently available all looked like newly hatched pups, but they still reminded Crona of a particular furfrou she'd came to know. Their wrestling and running about reminded her of how Soul sometimes roughhoused with Black*Star.

It was kind of depressing. Kid noticed this and urged her to keep moving. That's when they entered into what was, evidently, the egg department. It was a large room that was wall-to-wall with shelves housing incubators. Within each incubator was an egg. And all the eggs were arranged by type.

There were entire sections dedicated to a single type of pokemon, though could only be physically represented by the shelved eggs. Gasping at the sight of all the eggs, Crona soon found herself padding off to search for a particular kind of egg and sure enough she found it after ten short minutes of running around with Kid following close behind, calling after her to make her slow down, which she didn't until she found the eggs she'd been searching for. They were on the bottom shelf so she was able to reach them, pressing a paw to the glass of the incubator housing a particularly large one.

The heat from the black egg warmed the glass, sending a reassuring heat into her tender pawpad. Kid stared at the black oval that held a single brown blotch around the middle of the egg. The look on her face was so whimsical, almost like she were daydreaming.

"Do you have someone special in mind?" Kid dared to ask. She didn't seem too pleased to be broken from her thoughts, but gave a small nod, as she looked to the floor seeming almost ashamed. She flushed slightly at her admittance. Kid was incredibly confused but, again, didn't question anything. "I see. I suppose that just makes it all the more important we find your owner?"

Crona reluctantly removed her paw from the glass, abandoning her daydreams to give her friend a nod of determination. Kid smiled, glad to see she wasn't so down anymore. Kid made sure to grab a collar to replace her old one, if only to pacify himself. They then took their leave to continue their search. Crona seemed much more energetic taking him from store to store and never seeming to lose much energy afterwards. If anything, she became more energized after each failure and for the first time in a long time she let failure push her to do better. She moved onwards, advancing in spite of the lack of progress, not stopping until they decided to call it a day and head home.

At first, she tried to stay strong and not fall apart in front of Kid, but once the sun had set all her strength had vanished.

Tears spilled down her cheeks and she sniffled as she trudged her way back to Kid's home. He tried to cheer her up with promises and reassurance that did little more than further wound the weeping sylveon.

Hey, Crona!

She froze. That voice! Turning, Crona hoped to see a familiar someone standing nearby. It made her heart flutter and she couldn't hold back the smile that slipped onto her delicate features. Sadly, the smile fell and she stood with a breaking heart when she saw nobody was there. Her ears drooped as she sniffled, wiping away some of her tears with her ribbon feelers. It must've just been my imagination... Her body quivered as she turned, nearly running into Kid who had turned to check on her. He looked compassionate as he stared down at her.

"I'm so sorry today didn't turn out too well," he murmured, wiping away some of the salty droplets from her pallid face. "We'll certainly have better luck tomorrow. So try to be patient, all right?"

But it hurts so much... She sniffled. I miss them all so much, Kid.

Her new friend didn't say anything else. What else was there to say? He took a feeler in hand and started leading her along.

She sobbed quietly, stumbling along and keeping a firm grip on his hand. It felt like in her current world, Kid was the only thing keeping her afloat and if she were to let go of his hand even for a second then she'd drift away. Possibly forever.

So she made sure to not let go even after they made it back to his house. She kept a ribbon wrapped firmly around his hand, quickly wrapping the other around his free wrist when he tried peeling the first one off, uncomfortable with how clingy she was being about now. Unfortunately, she refused to let go and he feared what would happen if someone–especially Ponera–were to come across them like this so he tried to get out of the open to a more secluded place.

Crona whimpered and whined as he drug her upstairs, locking them in his room so nobody would stumble across this peculiar sight. It was a real battle making her let go. He tried being as gentle as he could, tried reasoning with her, but in the end he had to use force to make her let go, viciously prying her sensitive feelers from his skin. She screamed in agony the entire time, eventually jerking away from him and rushing over to hide beneath his bed.

Sighing, Kid instantly regretted being so rough with the timid sylveon. She was just frightened, he reasoned, probably needing someone to hold or wanting some form of comfort. He moved carefully over to the bed where he heard her whimpering and sniffling and audibly crying. He wasn't certain if it was due to an emotional meltdown or the fact he'd accidentally hurt her, causing him to dread her reasons for hiding herself.

"Crona," he spoke gently, kneeling down next to the bed to peer underneath the bed. "Crona, are you okay?"

She squealed, cowering away from him. The look in her watering blue eyes just about broke Kid's heart. He tried to reach out for her, to pet her, but you just don't try petting a frighetned sylveon. He withdrew his hand quickly, hissing as little red beads rose up from his newly acquired wound. Kid swore under his breath, unable to fully believe she, Crona, had bitten him. Still, he knew it was partly his fault. He shouldn't have tried touching her while she was still so devastated.

Going to the bathroom he washed and bandaged his hand, unphased when he noticed her reflection standing behind him in the bathroom doorway. She appeared quite guilty, head hung low, feelers knotted together worriedly, and pink tail practically dragging the ground. Kid took a deep breath before he turned to face her.

"Do you feel better now?"

She didn't make an attempt to respond.

He sighed, noticing how she was staring at his hand. "Don't worry about this," he said giving it a brief glance, forcing a smile onto his face, "it'll be fine. It's my fault, really."

No...how can you say that? I'm the one who...who...

She couldn't believe she'd done it. She couldn't believe she'd actually bitten a human. It was just something a pokemon didn't do. To bite a human was like signing your death warrant. Why did said human have to be Kid? Why couldn't it have been someone who deserved it? Like her other species mother...

I'm sorry, she whispered, taking a careful step in his direction, and then padding the rest of the way. The entire time she eyed his hand, covered in bandages, perhaps even gauze with some sticky ointment covering the actual wound.

Once she was close enough she touched his hand with a feeler, being as gentle as possible as she slowly led his hand down to her mouth and she started to lick at the mint scented bandages.

"Crona," he insisted, gently pushing her away, "it's all right, really. I'll be fine. There's no need for you to do anything."

I wish I were born an audino, she sighed, following Kid, then I could heal you and you wouldn't be in pain. I'm sorry, Kid, I'm really sorry.

"I think you're just a little overworked," her friend said, as he knelt down to rub that wonderful spot behind her ear. "And I imagine Liz and Patty are hungry so how about we all eat and see about making posters?"

Crona didn't fully agree with his idea, but she was starting to feel the relentless gnaw of hunger form deep inside her sore belly so she agreed even though she wasn't looking forwards to sharing a meal with the sisters.

Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones waiting for them in the kitchen. A familiar illumise and volbeat sat on a countertop together eating some kind of sandwiches, which they used to taunt the sisters whilst Liz and Patty glared and insulted them from their place on the floor. An unfamiliar mothim sat on the table drinking honey straight from a container. Ponera also sat at the table eating some sort of fancy looking meal while a shiny wurmple was draped around her neck languidly.

"What have I told you-"

"Don't start," she sighed, scowling at Kid, "you know I hate leaving them outside. Besides, how are they any different from your rodents?" She turned an unpleasant glance to Crona then, "Or your girly mutt, there."

Kid looked ready to shout at her, but held his tongue and retained his composure. "I have told you already," he said, as he went ahead and put out some food for Liz and Patty, getting a dish down to fill with cream and set out for Crona, "they are my pets. They are friendly and loyal creatures."

"And so are my pokemon!"

"Please don't shout. It's-"

"Uncalled for?" she scoffed, rolling her eyes and leaning back in her chair for a moment. "Don't remind me. You've said that a million times already."

"Apparently," he murmured, "a million isn't enough."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Ugh! You're being impossible! I can't stand you!"

Crona cringed at her tone. She, who had been cautiously lapping at a dish of cream that had been placed before her, glanced up at Kid. The look on his face made her shiver, backing away from him as he stormed past, attempting to leave the room only for Ponera to follow him out. Their yelling was slightly muffled in the other room but Crona still got the jest of it. He couldn't stand being near her and she despised his entire family; he wanted her out of his house and she wished they'd never met; and so on and so forth their bickering and shouting went. Crona hated it. She couldn't finish her meal, but that was okay since the volbeat and illumise decided to take it for themselves, dunking their sandwiches in it and continuing to gorge themselves.

Neither Liz or Patty seemed to take notice, intent on guarding and eating their own food without getting involved in the typical disputes that seemed to take place on a daily basis anymore. The bug-types eating was interrupted by a particularly loud cry and the sounds of stomping feet echoing in the sudden silence. Volbeat left then to investigate.

Sighing, Crona decided to also leave. Maybe Kid needed comfort after that big fight and if not then she could go hide underneath his bed or something. As anticipated the vast room–the one Crona presumed to be the living room–was deserted. Or so it seemed, for on her way over to the stairway she found herself facing Ponera's volbeat who was guarding the stairs. He appeared to have been waiting for her. Turning, Crona felt it'd be better if she went back to the kitchen where she'd be safe with Liz and Patty.

Too bad the mothim decided to block her exit. He glared at her, wings beating softly as he fluttered there in the doorway. Crona turned to go hide beneath the furniture. But when she looked behind her she was stunned to see the wurmple that Ponera had, apparently, left was now on the floor near the couch, glowering at Crona menacingly.

What're you doing here, stray? Volbeat sneered.

Please leave me alone.

Why? Volbeat snickered, floating over and taking hold of one of her feelers. It recoiled from his tender touch just as Crona took a step back. Volbeat chuckled darkly, watching as she turned her eyes to the floor with a dark flush crossing her pallid face. You're such a pretty stray. His breath was hot against her ear and she could feel a familiar net of dread wrapping itself around her.

I-I'm not a stray, she replied defiantly forcing herself to turn a weak glare on him, I have an owner and a family!

And what makes you so sure about that? Mothim demanded from behind, still guarding the doorway. How do you know they didn't just abandon you?

B-because...

Why're you so sure? Mothim pressed.

Because you're so much more specialer than everyone else? Wurmple chimed in from her place near the couch. Maybe they tired of you and your selfish, whiny, snobbish attitude!

What? Crona glanced to her confused, yelping when the ringleader of the trio gripped a feeler in his small, chubby hand. Gasping, she tried to jump away only to give a pained cry when her feeler was roughly jerked.

Face it, princess, Volbeat hissed, earning a stunned look from the startled sylveon, your owner dumped you like the garbage you are.

Maka wouldn't do that! She's kind and caring and she wouldn't ever do anything to hurt me!

Humans are liars, Wurmple chuckled.

Humans are cruel, Mothim agreed.

And your human, Volbeat concluded with a smirk, left you.

No, she trembled, no, you're wrong! Maka...sh-she...Maka's coming for me! Kid'll help us find each other and-

Oh, I see! Volbeat snapped. You and your human are working an angle here, aren't you? You're trying to steal from this human to satisfy your own! It makes perfect sense. His features contorted with hate and disgust, ignoring the confusion Crona presented to him. You've just been getting chummy with him so you can learn his secrets for your greedy mistress!

Don't talk about Maka like that!

You're just a dirty, little thief!

No, I-

Thief! They all chanted. Thief, thief, little thief likes to hide under sheets!

Shut up! That doesn't even make sense!

But they didn't stop. They continued their chanting until Crona couldn't take it anymore. She turned on Mothim, delivering a hard tackle, her shoulder colliding with his mid-section with such force that he was sent sailing from the room and into the far wall where he then collapsed to the floor unconscious from the force of the blow. Volbeat and Wurmple delivered their own simultaneous attacks.

Dodging, Crona rushed at Wurmple, knocking her unconscious with a quick attack only to be knocked over by a hard zen headbut that was landed to her side. It made her cry out upon impact as she was knocked off her feet. She changed her body position in midair just as Tsubaki and Black*Star had taught her to do, landing on her feet and facing Volbeat whose tail was glowing angrily. He floated low to the ground and without thinking Crona charged forwards, slowing her pace and placing a gentle kiss to his cheek.

"What's going on?!"

Kid! She'd never felt more relieved to see him. Turning away from Volbeat who'd flushed to a bright red, she ran over to Kid whilst Ponera, who'd followed close behind with a heavy looking bag gasped upon seeing the state of her pokemon. Crona barely even noticed the light yellow orb of energy as it flew from the drained volbeat and over to her, replenishing her energy and making whatever pain she'd felt moments before melt away. Sighing contentedly as she nuzzled against Kid's leg she was sure he was confused about what he'd seen just a few minutes ago what with her kissing that nasty volbeat and everything. She didn't particularly like using a draining kiss, neither did Maka or Ragnarok, but it certainly worked.

"What the hell did your stray do?!" Ponera screeched. By now Liz and Patty and the illumise had gotten curious enough to leave their food and come investigate, shocked to see the three unconscious pokemon, two startled humans, and one rather contented sylveon.

"I don't know..." Kid mumbled, still confused about walking in on her kissing Ponera's volbeat. What had that been about? And that light...it was kind of...eerie. Now she was nuzzling up against him. However, he had a good idea of what happened given their earlier mishap. "I guess they frightened her," he said, kneeling down to stroke her comfortingly, "and she tried to defend herself."

"Yeah right! For all you know it has rabies or cooties or some other weird disease!"

"No, I'm sure she's not the one at fault."

"Then whose fault is it? Honestly, you should have that thing put down before it infects your rodents with whatever diseases it has!"

"That's enough!" he snapped, glaring at Ponera with just as much venom as she showed him. "It was your damn pokemon, as it usually is, but you never want to admit it! If anyone should get out it's you and your filthy insects!"

"What? You're actually taking up for that...that...that whoreveon!"

"Don't you call her that!"

"It's not like it can understand what it means!"

Crona stared between them for a moment, glanced to the doorway where the three had been but now only illumise floated. She felt scared, crouching low behind Kid, watching as his hands balled up into fists at his sides, trembling with rage. She whimpered at the hate and anger she saw burning within his golden orbs. Crona started to fear he would strike this infuriating girl or-because in the eyes of humans it wasn't such a terrible sin-turn and strike her thin, fearful form. Please, she silently begged, please calm down. Please, Kid, please...

"I guess you're thinking of it as a person now?" A look of disgust came over the human girl's pretty features then, as she eyed him for a moment then glanced down to Crona's timid expression. "Are you a fucking pokephile?"

"No! Of course not! That's..." Kid couldn't express his disgust at the very notion, it was so powerful that there didn't seem to be a word vividly descriptive enough to describe it.

"Then why're you treating it like a girl so much? A human girl? You never treated me as nicely as you treat it!"

"I've tried! Lord knows I have, but you're too much of a spoiled brat for me to keep the act up! And to answer your earlier question, I'm thinking of her as a living creature with thoughts and feelings, not as a human. Now, before I do something I believe we'd both regret I think you should leave and not even consider coming back."

"Huh? But your dad-"

"I'll handle him. You just worry about your family." He took a deep breath pointing to the doorway behind her, voice becoming absolutely dark as he spoke each word individually through clenched teeth, "Now. Get. Out."

She did. There was no need for further fighting or discussion. She collected her pokemon in their respective pokeballs, took her bag in hand, and walked out through the door with a scowl.

Kid sighed, seeming drained of all energy. Crona found this to be rather concerning as he sank down into the couch, giving a shaky exhale that melted into an unsteady laugh. Walking over on careful paws she nudged him lightly, earning his attention almost instantly.

"Here," he said, patting the seat next to him, "you can get up here."

She couldn't help herself from getting close, crawling into his lap and pressing her head against his stomach as she gave his bandaged hand a friendly lick. He recoiled from her tongue and pushed her from his lap as gently as possible.

"I told you to not do that." he mumbled, sighing as he leaned forwards, hands pressed against his head. It was silent for a moment before he finally spoke up. "Crona," he addressed her in a tone that was firm yet gentle, "I'm sorry you had to hear and see all of that. I know you're probably unused to seeing such petty squabbles. Then again, I guess you're not used to seeing such spineless males either, huh?"

You're not spineless, she assured him, smiling weakly. Sincerely. You're really tough and brave and you're a good friend. You're a kind master. If I didn't have Maka then I'd want to stay with you, but I do...so...

"You're so sweet," he said with a caring smile, "I just wish I could understand what you're saying."

Huh? You mean...you can't–

What'd ya think? Liz's voice interjected. That he could? Humans tend to speak their own language. No human can understand poketongue! She glanced from Kid then back to Crona with a sigh as she stood near the edge of the couch, frowning. Patty giggled close behind her sister, scampering in to stand in front of Crona. Kid watched them with mild interest, but now that she watched him closely Crona supposed he really couldn't understand them.

That's not true, Crona argued, Maka could always understand what we're saying.

No, she probably just knows body language–

No! Crona persisted, staring down at Liz in a manner that was almost imploring. She really does understand what we're saying! Ragnarok didn't think she could at first either, but Maka doesn't even have to look at us to know what we're saying!

Probably just some human trick.

Trick-or-treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat! If you don't I don't care I'LL FREAKING ELECTROCUTE YOUR HAIR!

Crona yelped and Liz stared at her sister with an arched brow. Hair? she questioned. Shaking her head she unconsciously started to smooth the fur of her tail. No, Patty, don't mess up someone's hair! That's just...wrong!

Sorry, sis, but I needed something to rhyme with care!

Anyway, Liz said in a tone that sounded official, as though she were finalizing a fact, I know he sometimes answers your questions or talks about something similar, but at other times he's completely clueless. Trust me.

"I think I'm done with girls."

What? Crona gasped the same instance Liz sighed, Seriously?

Kid's gay, sis! Patty laughed, poking at her sister's fur. Kid's gay!

"Not completely," he continued, as though he didn't understand what Patty was chanting, which he didn't, but Crona still found it odd, "but I think I'll be available for a while. The last thing I need is another Ponera sticking around here."

Amen to that, Liz agreed.

Hallelujah! Patty laughed, clapping her front paws together.

Oh, don't give up, Crona thought, giving him a pitying gaze, I'm sure you'll find a nice mate someday, Kid.

A few short seconds later he found the sylveon's feelers around his neck, whilst two pachirisu hugged his mid-section. If it makes you feel better, Crona said as she wrapped her feelers around him, I like you. You're a good friend.

Yeah, Liz agreed as she embraced her master, you're not a half bad guy. You've got class and I have to respect that.

You're stuck up and funny! Patty giggled, rubbing her cheek against him, shocking him slightly, and making him jump slightly. Oops, sorry!

"Umm, th-thank you." He then tried to separate himself from them, though he was genuinely touched by their display of affection. "You're all good friends." He said, placing a hand to both Liz and Patty's head to give them an affectionate pat. "Especially you two for putting up with me for so long. You seem to be the only ones I can't drive away."

Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. Liz huffed, giving him a reassuring pat to the hand. You're just...quirky. Real unique.

One of a kind!

Smiling, he gave them one last pat before sitting them on the floor. "I'll be making posters up in my room if you need me." And with that being said he left the three there, only coming back down to quickly add, "No fighting." before he went back up to get started on the earlier mentioned posters.

I am so sorry for making this chapter so long, but I got carried away. Again.

xP

I guess I should be more careful, huh?

Haha! I have now freed Kid from Ponera and their friendship has strengthened! But will it last? ;3 Don't worry, I plan to make sure next chapter is shorter. It should be up soon. Also, I hope you all found I did a good job editing. I tried to avoid making errors as much as possible. Sorry if I failed but I did try.

So thank you lovely readers for dropping by. I hope you all found this to be entertaining. And lastly, I congratulate whoever finished and appreciate the support I've been getting. You guys are really awesome!

xD

~Luffles, Fairylust~