Alice's POV

"So you're going to go all over to collect gym badges and get in the league like your brother?" Luna asked me as our little group of pokemon and a girl who's "half Eevee" took up a small corner.

"I'm not so sure if battling really my thing," I told her. "I want to help other pokemon like how Dad did it when he was around Riley's age and lived in a ranch near Pallet Town."

"Why is your brother half born and you don't even have the ability to become an Eevee?" Snivy questioned.

"No one knows for sure. Mom says I am, but just can't physically be an Eevee for some reason. But I guess it happens sometimes since Heidi has the same problem as me."

"Hey Alice," Megan waved as she sat next to me.

"Hey Megan," I gave a small smile. "Where's Riley?"

"He and the boys are checking around the Pokemon Center. You wouldn't believe how happy your brother is for having you here. He's been talking about you ever since you arrived."

"Sounds like him," I said softly.

"Does your mom even know that you're here?"

"No, she thinks I'm roaming around the Jhoto region," I explained. "When I received that letter from Riley… or what I thought was from him, I knew Mom wouldn't let me go to the Unova region so I told her that I'm going to collect badges all over Jhoto."
"You lied to your mother?" Luna gasped in shock.

"I was going to tell her the truth…eventually."

"Alice!"

"Luna, I only did it to see Riley. Do you know how many times I've seen Mom holding a picture of Riley, crying and hoping that any minute he'll come in the house? Do you know how much I longed for him to come back? Or having another one of those times when we head for the lake and stay there 'til nightfall? I just wanted our family to be together again. I just wanted…"

My body began to ache, my mind began to scatter, and my nose began to bleed.

"Alice?"

I slowly swayed, losing balance and the world began to blur.

"Alice?" Megan asked as she grabbed my arm.

My body grew numb and I fell on the floor with Megan still grabbing my arm.

"Alice!" Luna yelled.

"Hedi!" Megan called out and she looked down on me. "Stay with me Alice. Don't close your eyes."

Blackout.

Vinny's POV

"It's right here," Gregg muttered to himself as he wandered around the pokemart, "I just know it."

"Uh Gregg, what exactly are we looking for?" Peter asked.

"Do you remember how all of our pokeballs malfunctioned and we ended up having a big clutter of Halflings, trainers, and pokemon? Well Heidi and I have this theory that maybe it was just the regular pokeballs that don't work ."

"And why wasting time looking for more pokeballs?" I asked.

"Let's just say that if we were to migrate from one place to another, it'll be easier to have a smaller group."

All of us scattered around the pokemart, looking through the countless of items but no luck finding what we needed. I slowly peered over and found Riley looking down quietly, isolated from the outside world.

"Riley? You okay buddy?" I asked as I slowly headed toward him.

"They might be in that safe," I heard Peter say as he and Gregg went behind the counter.

"Let's see, help me break it open."

I ignored them and continued giving my attention to Riley. His innocent red eyes gazed down as he stood motionless.

"Riley?" I asked once more and placed my hand on his shoulder.

Flash!

"You think you can save their pathetic lives and make sure that everything goes back how it was?"

"It's what partners do, trying to keep the other from danger."

"Squirtle was the one that saved you."

"COME BACK HERE WORTHLESS MUTT!"

"Squirtle!"

"Riley, I'm sorry for telling you this but Squirtle is dead."

I killed him. My partner. My friend. A part of my family. Dead. I should've been the one that died instead of him. It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my…

Flash!
I quickly removed my hand from his shoulder, gasping for air as I stumbled and fell. I slowly gazed up, finding Riley still motionless as his eyes turned blue.

"R-Riley?"

Blood began drip from his nostrils as he slowly swayed side to side.

"Riley!"

He slowly closed his eyes and collapsed on the ground as his ears grew long like an Umbreon's and a tail that looks similar to his new ears ripped out of his jeans.

"Riley," I called him as I raced over and tapped his cheeks. "Riley."

No response.

"Riley!"

"What happened to him?" Gregg asked as he and Peter walked toward us.

"I don't know for sure. His nose started to bleed and his eyes turned blue-"

"Did you just say that his eyes turned blue?" Peter questioned.

I slowly nodded and they looked at each other.

"Go find Heidi, Vinny and I will take him to the infirmary," Gregg told him.

Peter nodded and rushed out the door as Gregg and I slowly picked Riley up.

"Bri… bri… breon… Umbreon…"

We looked at Riley oddly as he kept whimpering in pokemon.

"That's new," I heard Gregg mutter.

"Where is he? Where's Riley?"

"Over here."

Lilly raced toward us and glanced at our fallen friend.

"What happened to him?" she asked me.

"I don't know, he just lost consciousness."

"Just like Ali," she murmured.

"What happened to Alice?" I questioned her.

She remained silent.

"Lilly, what happened to her?"

"You'll see."

All of us stood quietly in the infirmary as Heidi and Gregg closely examined at the two siblings, trying to figure out what caused them to end up like this. I slowly glanced over at Riley's and Alice's pokemon: Magmus glanced at them silently and fiercely, Cinders stood next to Magmus and fiddled his paws as he grew impatient, Ty's eyes watered and tears tricked down her cheeks, and Luna who seemed the most worried and sad was nuzzling their hands as she prayed and let silver tears roll down her cheeks. Heidi and Gregg slowly drew away from them and glanced at all of us.

"What's happening to them?" Luna was the first to ask.

"It looks like that Alice has developed an infection with the wound she received," Heidi explained, "but don't worry, some antibiotics will do the trick."

"What about Riley?" Megan asked softly.

"Riley is a different story," Gregg replied. "You guys might want to get closer look."

All of us crowded around them, feeling very uncomfortable. Gregg slowly took off Riley's glove and we grew shocked to what we saw: his left hand was covered in black fur, his nails curved and became claw-like, his fingers looked bony as they seemed twisted in a disgusting way and almost fused into a paw, and paw pads replaced his palm. Gregg went over to his torso and pulled up his shirt, exposing black fur on his side.

"What the fuck?" Trina gasped. "Is that contagious?"

"No," Heidi said softly. "We don't know anything that happening to him."

"Isn't that where Damion stabbed him, on his left arm and his side?" Megan pointed out.

"He was stabbed?" I asked.

"Stabbed, burned, beaten, bitten, raped, and shot in the head in the past few months."

I glanced at Riley once more, surprised at all the things that happened to him in a short time.

"How is he even alive?"

"If it wasn't for Squirtle who gave him own life to save Riley, he wouldn't be here," Lilly said softly.

"But I don't get it," Brooke announced, "Peter, Trina, and I were pretty beat up after we were jumped yesterday and that didn't happen to us."

"Riley's different from the rest," Lilly remarked. "Always has been."

"We all have to watch him for now on," Heidi instructed us, "we don't know what's going on and we're not going to sit around and find out."

We decided to take shifts on keeping an eye on Riley and Alice as the rest began to plan out our next move: Lilly and I were the first shift, Megan and Brooke would be the second, then it'll be Trina and Peter, and Gregg and Heidi would be last. Lilly and I sat at a nearby table, watching Riley and Alice, while their pokemon talked amongst themselves.

"Poor Riley," Lilly said softly, "he looks worse than when he got the virus a few years ago."

"Lilly, do you remember what happened a couple of years ago before I moved away?"

"You mean when we were at the lake and you stumbled into my mind just by touching me?"

I nodded and said, "The same thing happened when I touched Riley. He keeps saying that it's his fault that Squirtle died and he should've been the one that died."

"I know that Riley took it hard when he found out," Lilly pointed out, "but he would never say that he should die instead of him."

"That's the thing, it wasn't Riley's voice that was saying it."

"But I thought you said that he was…"

"I meant that there was someone else in there, using his voice with a darker tone and showing him the memories. It looks like he's trying to torture him mentally."

"But who would do such a thing?" Lilly wondered. "Unless…"

A loud noise startled us and we quickly turned around, finding Riley gone from the cot.

"Where's Riley?" Luna questioned as she rushed toward us.

I glanced over at the door that was slightly open and said, "You and the rest stay with Alice while Lilly and I go after him."

"Don't worry, we'll bring him back safetly," Lilly assured.

"Come on, he can't be too far."

We slowly wandered out the infirmary and into the empty hallway, hearing someone or something scurrying on the tile floor.

"Over there."

We slowly lingered forward with our hearts beating and stopped at a closet door.

"Riley," Lilly called out. "Are you in there?"

No response. I slowly opened the door as Lilly grew ready to catch him if he tries to make a break for it. The both of us peered over, finding cleaning tools in there. No Riley.

"Where else could he be?"

"Let's check in the cafeteria," I told her as I closed the door, "he might be in there."

BLAM!

The door slammed my body, forcing me to fall on the ground as I heard a shriek. Lilly. I quickly went back on my feet stumbled towards her blindly.

"Lilly are you alright?"

I peered over, finding an Umbreon nuzzling her neck and purred as he wagged his tail.

"Found him," she gave a small smile.

He slowly glanced at me and raced towards me with a big smile.

"Umbri! Umbri!"

He circled around my legs and purred.

"Why did you leave Riley?" I asked him.

He ignored me and continued to circle around my legs.

"Answer me Riley."

He purred even louder and brush his fur against my legs.

"Riley!"

He stopped and glanced at me with his innocent red eyes, shrinking back as his ears drooped and his tail went between his legs. He gave me his "sorry" look and quietly faced down, waiting for me to forgive him.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you Riley, I guess you were just being energetic."

Then, it hit me. Riley wouldn't be circling around my legs and purring. Riley wouldn't bolt out the infirmary if we were in there with him. Riley would've talked or stayed in his human form. I slowly glanced at him one more and knew. It wasn't Riley the human that's with us, it was Riley the Umbreon.

Brooke's POV

"Did anything happened?" Megan asked them as we slowly entered the room.

"Nothing major," Lilly replied.

"Then why is Riley an Umbreon?"

"He went out of control and Lilly used Hypnosis to keep him down," Vinny said softly as he gave one little glance at the Umbreon curled up on the cot, sleeping peacefully.

I closely looked at him and studied his small movements, he's lying.

"Hopefully they'll get better soon," I told him. "We wouldn't want them to get worse."

"Yeah," he said softly.

"Well if you guys need anything gives us a call," Lilly announced, "we'll be happy to help."

"I'm sure we will," I gave a small smile.

Lilly and Vinny quietly left the infirmary while Megan went over to Riley and began to stroke his fur.

"So," I said awkwardly, "how did you two met?"

She looked down at Riley with small smile and said, "It was a few months ago when Heidi told us that Damion who's a part of Sigma Six had captured a Halfling when they were escaping. We searched all over the Sinnoh region and couldn't find a single trace of any of them. It was Trina's idea to check Iron Island where they've been the first time, but we didn't want to go there since we thought that they moved to somewhere else. After a long discussion, we decided to go and hope that they'll be there."

"And what happened?"

"Trina was right all along. She and Peter went off to guard us while Gregg and I searched for Riley. Damion noticed we broke in to save Riley and tried to stop us. Good thing Gregg had some tranquilizers to take him down or none of us would be here. Anyways, we looked all over the place and we gave up on looking until we heard the cry of an Umbreon. All of us rushed to a small closet and found him lying there, staring at us with his eyes full of fear."

She sighed and continued on, "We got of him out of there after that and he stayed with us since."

I glanced at Riley who seemed very satisfied with his fur being stroked and gave a soft, quiet purr.

"Megan," Heidi called as she went in the room. "I'm sorry, but can you help me for a second?"

"Sure Heidi," she said and gently took Riley off of her lap and placed him back on the cot. "Take good care of them."

"I will," I told her.

Both of them walked out of the room, leaving me with a room full of pokemon, a Halfling, and a girl sleeping. I slowly lingered towards Riley as quietly as I could ever be. I held him close to me and began to stroke his luchious twilight black fur. He slowly opened his eyes, looking dazed and asks softly, "M-M-Megan?"

I kissed him on the forehead and stroke his head again as he slowly closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.

Riley's POV

I slowly opened my eyes, finding myself in our room. A figure was wandering towards me slowly, couldn't determine who it was from the darkness covering every square inch.

"Riley? Are you awake?"

"Megan, is that you?" I asked.

She climbed on the bed and sat in front of me, glancing at me with her brown eyes, and hugged me.

"Thank god you're okay," she gave a small smile. "You've been unconsiouss the whole day along with Alice and-"

"Alice? Where is she?"

"She's fine Riley," she assured, "Lilly and Vinny decided to have her sleep with them for the night."

"And the pokemon?"

"Luna went with Alice and the others are wandering around the Pokemon Center."

I slowly glanced at myself and asked, "Did I change when I was knocked out?"

"Yes, why did you ask?"

"I'm not wearing the same clothes as I was this morning. You put my clothes on?"

"Well, there wasn't anyone else to do it."

She hugged me once more and said, "I'm just happy that you're okay."

I slowly wrapped my arms around her hips as I grew closer and glanced at her sweet eyes that were glancing back at me. Our lips were slowly met as we slowly close our eyes and fell back on the bed. Our tails ripped out of our jeans and our ears become more like our Eeveelution's as we nuzzled one another, making ourselves purr. I glanced at her eyes once more, feeling all the tradgedies fading away, and held her close; never wanting to let her go.