Shadow's POV

The primate had his focus on me, ready to maul me to death, I quickly looked at Juniper, and she looked worried. I could tell that she was about to call the test off, but when I saw her about to say that sentence, Panpour charged at me. His mouth opened and sharp canine fangs grew its way into his mouth. He ran with an angry ape battle cry, than pounced, letting his anger get the best of him. I used my tail as a spring, and fired myself in the air. Panpour tried to stop, but he ended up throwing himself at a tree. He fortunately dodged it, but then that gave me an idea.

I managed to catch onto a branch of a tree when I started to fall back down, but then I realized something; my tail didn't throb that time when I used it. I let go of the branch and felled completely down, not damaged at all. I checked my tail, and I took off the cast that barely managed to stay on. My tail was as good as new from all that rest in the Luxury ball, so it must have finally finished healing. I then remembered about my left arm and how it was bitten. I took the cast around my arm off and it came off very easily just like it did for my tail. My arm was fully healed as well, and I was pleased.

I heard a weird bubbly sound, and worried, I dropped to the ground. I quickly looked up, still laying down on the ground, and saw a stream of frigid water that I was barely able to dodge. Angered, I stood back up, and circled around and around until the leaf tornado grew at a rapid rate. When the leaf tornado started to move, Panpour did the weirdest and most idiotic thing I have ever seen. He ran straight for my tornado, and jumped right in with his claws extended, trying to scratch it. This Pokémon wasn't really bright from his anger, and he attacked the tornado, but effortlessly was sucked in and swiveled around, than a big mistake from that move made me regret forgetting about my earlier plan. Two other cages were sucked into the tornado, but Juniper quickly was able to grab on to one of them. I hoped it was Zeke's cage that wasn't sucked in because I didn't want any help or for him to be hurt. The tornado had finally settled down and shriveled into dust, and then two cages, Panpour, and a bunch of leaves and twigs collapsed to the ground. A big mess lied in front of me, and I saw that the two kennels' crate doors were broken and bent, leaving a small space in the bars, but it seemed big enough for either Zeke or one of those monkeys to crawl out of.

Out of one cage, a green monkey with a bush on his head and he looked like he had green pants and a seed on the edge of his tail. He had big ears and bloodshot eyes just like the water monkey. Out of the other one crawled out of his kennel and another monkey that looked like he had a big ember on his head and a small one on the tip of his tail. He had red pants, big ears, and also had bloodshot eyes, but he looked the worst out of them all. I slowly backed up as the three enraged monkeys had slowly edged their way closer to me, preparing to attack. I thought for sure that the leaf tornado would vanquish Panpour, but I stood corrected. I kept backing up until I felt the rough bark of a large tree trunk that was surrounded by a fence, and I knew I was cornered. There was no way to escape, and I knew I was done for.

Foot by foot, inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter, they edged closer, and then they all lunged at me with a bite attack and their sharp fangs intimidated me. Then I started remembering my plan, and put it into motion!

"Come on angry monkeys, give me what you got!" I taunted before I used my tail to spring up once again. I grabbed onto another tree branch, dangling, but able to hold on, and they all collided below me and bit each other, well, besides Panpour. He collapsed from that wound I gave him earlier; the pain finally caught up with him and he fainted. The other two collapsed, but they weren't done yet, so I quickly prepared a shadow claw on both of my arms, and jumped down, smacking them hard on their heads and I could tell that I did a critical hit on Pansage when I heard that weak cracking sound from his side. I jumped back up, did a flip, and landed gracefully behind them, back in the battlefield again. Pansear and Pansage were more determined than I thought, and they both slowly rose and had their shriveled eyes swollen and their hands tightly clenched into a hard fist. I beckoned at them, and they each ran up to me and tried to use scratch, but I used cross poison when they weren't distant, and they were thrown back, and Pansage was poisoned. I gave them an evil smirk, and Pansage and Pansear refused to give in.

Pansage was shivering, and I gave him a deep growl, and I saw in his eyes wasn't filled with just anger or his tiring redness, but I saw a disturbing fear wash up in his eye, pleading for mercy. I was confused that the Pansage was scared, and he collapsed to the ground, motionless. I hoped he was just passed out from exhaustion, but I knew I couldn't turn my back and check or else I would get hurt by Pansear.

The fire monkey screamed his war cry and ran up to me, about to bite me with his fangs once more. I tried to duck and roll to the right then counter with my iron tail, but I felt a rigorous pain in my arm, and was paralyzed for a second. I had pulled something in my arm and was stunned. Pansear pierced my skin with his brutal attack, and I cried out a desperate squeal, but that ruthless monkey wouldn't stop. He kept his fangs snapped in my shoulder blade, and I fell to the ground. I was stuck in my state, and even worse, Pansear shook my body like I was a chew toy and tore my weak skin. I couldn't attack, I couldn't defend, and I was stuck there, vulnerable.

I felt the scorching pain tear my flesh and yank me around. I wanted to attack but I couldn't move. I tried my best to power up an iron tail, but I couldn't even lift my tail the slightest. Finally he let go, but he did it by chucking me in the air. I was falling down, and I saw a ball of flames being powered up in his mouth, and I knew he was about to end me by doing so with my worst fear; fire. He was about to burn me alive, and roast me to death. I saw the igneous fireball almost fully prepared into his flame burst, but then I saw something. It was too fast for me to see it, but something zoomed by and stuck Pansear with something. I fell to the ground with a thud, feeling like that fireball scorched my shoulder.

I felt the very urge of fainting right then and there. I wanted the pain to stop, and I would just let go and faint and all that torture would come to a halt. Why do I have to be so weak around fire and bug types? Why wouldn't I become stronger? Why was I always stuck at my current weakness? Why does fate have to torture me so? Why did the blazing ape have to rip my arm out of its socket and crack my shoulder blade?

I felt the irresistible urge to close my eyes. My eyelids grew heavy once more, and felt myself about to drift off, when I saw something. I saw total darkness followed by a streak of lightning zooming through the empty room of darkness. A burst of blinding light exploded through the room, and I saw a Pokémon.

The Pokémon was purple and cat-like. It had a devious look on its face, and looked so innocent, but if you looked closely, you could tell it was guilty of something. I then saw the three monkeys, scared out of their mind. The purple cat held a glass needle in its fluffy paws which held some kind of liquid that was the same color as the creature's fur, and I heard a weird, maniacal laugh. I saw the cat drop the needle and its claws grew. It ran up to the flinching monkeys and slit their throats. The cut was shallow so they were still breathing, but they were unconscious. The evil Pokémon went back to its earlier position and picked up the needle, and then it walked to one of the monkeys and injected it. She only used about a third of the purple liquid, then used another third on the other one. She than emptied the rest into the veins of the red monkey, and then the cat ran away…

I saw the bright light turn back into the dark room with the stroke of lightning, and the lightning disappeared and my eyes opened in terror. It was like the thing that happened before I saw the cat was in reverse, and slowly I came back into conscious. I was still in pain, and I felt my wound roasting with the blazing pain of fire. My eyelids were heavy again and I couldn't think with the pain. I had fallen back into a deep sleep, unable to get back up.

Zeke's POV

As I saw the Juniper hold onto my cage, horrified, I watched Shadow being tossed around like a mongoose at a cobra convention. I saw that his arm was dislodged and he was about to be finished off when I saw a blur of blue and red knock that rotten monkey where he deserves it. The monkey fell to the ground, shivering, than all together it stopped. The fire type of undetermined species for me was somehow sliced on his neck which must have caused him to faint. I felt my cage get jerked around for a second, and then I saw the Professor run toward Shadow, or who I found out she called Dusk. She picked him up lightly, than screamed something, but she was too far for my ears to hear. I saw several scientists rush to the scene, and they all picked up one of the Pokémon, like Shadow and the monkeys. The agile blur of color hadn't showed up again, and I couldn't help wondering who it was, why it did it, and why it didn't come back…

Shadow's POV

My eyes were weary and my shoulder had the worst feeling of numbness and pain. I was lying down in some snug environment. I sat up, trying my hardest to ignore the pain in my right shoulder blade, but the sharp burning pain forced me to sit back down. I felt dizzy once more and fell back into an unconscious state.

Many hours later…

My eyes had reopened and I was still lying on what felt like a heaven of feathers. The pain in my arm has weakened to the point of no pain. I tried to sit up once more worried that I would blackout again, but I was just fine. My arm had a little pinch of pain, and was really stiff, but was intact. I was in my Luxury ball, and since I couldn't see anything out of the ball, it must have been shrunken. I checked my arm revealing a white wrapping around it that was similar to my leaf cast, but seemed stiffer and stronger than leaves. It was like it was sturdy as a board, and I tried to pull it off. I attempted to rip it off, but unlike a leaf case, it was stuck on and barely moved. I twisting pain was scorching my skin, and I fell back down to the black cushions placed in my ball.

I studied it for a while and I figured out that my arm was still broken, but what I found out is like a white human cast helped keep any major pain from stinging my shoulder while it heals. I carefully lay down on the flexible cushions, and closed my eyes and started to think about what happened. Why didn't Juniper help me in the battle? What was that blurry figure that managed to rescue me? What was that vision I saw before I passed out? Will I be able to see Zeke? Did that last battle count as a win or lose on my end?

I heard a click and saw the surrounding things all around me. A hand was holding my Luxury ball, and I got ready to be thrown out. Forgetting about the many questions that flowed through my mind, I heard another click, and I was instantly thrown out of my ball with the command of, "Dusk, come on out!"

I appeared on a purple couch in that carpeted room. To my right was a nightstand with a lamp on top, a gray, mouse-like Pokémon sleeping in a corner and that sliding door that lead to the battlefield where all the dramatic things happened a while ago. To my left was floral wallpaper, a corner of the wall, and sitting right next to me on the couch was Zeke. Overjoyed, I wanted to hug him, but stopped before I reached my arms out to him, trying to make it seem like it didn't matter that I saw him. That retarded, ridiculous urge, why would it never go away?

"Now Dusk," I heard a familiar started. I looked forward to see Juniper. "Now since you had the under hand of three against one at the same time, I decided that since you defeated two out of three, a little rough I may add, you can spend as much time with Shadow whenever and wherever." I was happy, but not impressed. I was outraged with myself. Again when it really mattered, something had popped out of nowhere and saved me. When will I be able to take care of myself on this little adventure?

"That was also amazing Dusk, how you were able to use cross poison and shadow claw, and what a mystery!" she told excitingly and anticipated. I forgot about having to use those moves during battle, and I was lucky that these guys wouldn't try to find out what caused it.

"Oh look at that, it's already dark outside," she blurted out. I stared out of the see-through door, and I forgot that when I looked through it earlier, there were stars of different sizes splattered through the dark void of space. The sunlight didn't show at all and a radiant glow came from a half-moon that was starting to hover above the mountains; slowly traveling on its adventure to cross the night sky.

"I wonder what time it is, but since it isn't daylight savings time, and it is the beginning of autumn, I think it's time to return you guys to your Luxury balls." She grabbed two tiny balls, and pressed the buttons on them, making them grow in size to the size of a huge ball of yarn.

"Sorry Dusk, I know you have been barricaded in your ball about all day, but one of my few rules of this lab is that all Pokémon go in their ball before dark, and that includes you Miccino, and don't you think you are going to sneak off again tonight." She looked at that sleeping gray mouse, and he yawned and went back to sleep, ready to go back to its ball in a sec.

She threw both of our balls at the same time and I was completely ready for it. I was sucked in and it minimized quickly. I curled up, surprisingly tired, and drifted off, hoping I wouldn't have another weird vision.

At 12:23 A.M. in the morning…

I heard a click echo through my Luxury ball, and I knew someone was accessing my Luxurious bed that I called a Poké ball. I stood up, ready to get launched out, but I was frustrated. Why would Juniper, or I presume Juniper, release me from my ball. My eyes were half shut, the comfort of the ball didn't make waking up easy, and I was launched out. I rubbed my swollen eyes to adjust to the darkness, and looked up. Who released me wasn't Juniper, it was one of those scientists, but they had no glasses on; instead they were wearing ski masks. Why did they look so different from earlier that day? They were holding a potato sack, but there weren't any potatoes in it and they were holding it by the bottom. What was he…?

He slammed the sack on the floor and I felt the danger rush through the air. I felt the floor where the tile sat be replaced by the irritating material of the burlap sack. My whole body flipped upside down and I had no idea what was going on. I scrambled through the bag to try and get out of the tight space and to get right side up again. When I was almost all the way up, the bottom of the bag opened and I fell down in the wrong way and fell on my right side. I was on a mahogany table that stood in front of the purple couch in the carpeted room. I tried to get back up, but the ski mask scientist quickly pinned me down to the dark brown furniture.

Whatever he was doing, I hated it so I struggled to get free from his grip, but his humongous body and my scrawny one was no match for him. He reached for a belt that wrapped around his waist. He grabbed a small needle out of the belt and he held it every so carefully with every precaution, and he had the needle facing directly at my good arm. I struggled more, but a blistering sting coursed its way up and down my bad arm, and then when I was forced to settle down, the shot was piercing my reptilian grass stained skin and then when it was finished, the shot had no more blue liquid in it.

He backed off and he had a devilish grin on his pale face. I wanted to give him an intense uppercut with my shadow punch and knock those teeth out of his mouth, but when I took a step, I felt dizzy. I was nauseous and the whole room tilted and it seemed like the whole building was falling over. Gravity made me slowly tilt to the right, than when I tried to stand straight, I started stumbling toward the left. I saw things start to look blurry and everything had been in slow motion. My head throbbed, my head felt heavier than my whole body, I almost tripped off the table before I started to lean back to the right, and I tripped over my own foot and fallen face first into the fine, carved wood. My exhaustion was then my least problem to my head and black spots covered my vision and I passed out.

A few minutes later…

I was slowly coming back into consciousness, and heard a thundering sound of screeching somewhere below me. I was on table, strapped down with two leather straps on four wheels that were being rolled down a hallway. I was strapped down so I couldn't move, and even if I wasn't, my bones were numb and I couldn't feel my lower lip. When I blinked, my eyes remained closed for several seconds. What seemed like whispering voices came from at least a dozen of those ski masked people, but all I could hear was the continuing screeches of the wheels rolling below me. I thought that I could make out another cart strolling along next to me, but my eyes remained dazed and I didn't really know if it was what it seemed to be. I felt everything drift back into its slow motion mode once more, and I felt my eyelids completely shut and force me to pass out once more.

A couple hours later…

I opened my eyes once again and I could tell by my senses that it was still early in the morning. I had what felt like the suction cups of an octilliery placed on random parts of my body. The small suction cups were connected with wires and they lead to a machine that had all these rapid blinking buttons. There was a small monitor on it that had all of these zigzag lines that were connected into one. The pattern was a little up and down, but it seemed to get bigger and smaller, and I had no idea what it was supposed to prove.

I was still lying down on a sheet of marble that the cart was made of. I was also still strapped down, and I was right next to another cart that looked exactly like the one I was stuck to. A small Pokémon was strapped to the other one, but everything was still blurry. I was no longer in a hallway, but now in a room that had white tile and odd white mahogany walls. I felt my heartbeat increase and my head throb again. I than took an educated guess and thought that maybe if I was calm, I wouldn't pass out again like I did earlier. I took deep breaths in and out, in and out till I started to feel calm.

I could start to think regular, clear thoughts and my blurred vision effect was starting to wear down. My ears started to pick up more words instead of continuous murmuring and I found out that the human cast that was around my arm was gone. My marred arm was lying down on a small blanket unlike the rest of my body. I noticed many of the scientists surrounding the other cart and so no one had discovered yet that I was out of my drowse. I started to hear nice and clear sentences spoke from each one of the scientists and even a few things from the machines scattered around the room.

"The second snivy extractor test is 27% complete."

"His heart rate is at approximate rate measurement."

"Snivy #2 is still knocked out from that drug that was given to him."

"Test #2 has a blood temperature at 96 degrees and at an accurate temperature."

I had no idea what they were talking about, but at least I knew what had probably knocked me out. They injected some kind of drug medicine into my blood system to make me blackout, and how dangerous is that?!

My eyes were wide in interest as I attempted to see what they were talking about exactly. I saw something that was dark and had a pinch of purple somewhere in there, but I couldn't see what it was, just the color. Finally, the main person that was blocking my way moved and went toward some tray that was exposed on what I think was a granite counter. I was shocked when I saw that Zeke was lying helplessly on the sheet of marble, exposed to a drowsy medicine that had forced him into his current state. I was crept out at the moment and then I heard a random person holler through the huge room.

"Snivy #1 is awake, quickly sedate him with that cold medicine," he yelled in a whisper, probably keeping the noise level down for a reason. A few of the scientists that used to be surrounding Zeke scurried over near me and one of them clenched another one of those needles with the blue medicine. I tried to fight back, but two of the surrounding scientists held onto my arm that they were going to inject it in and my head for some reason.

"Now stay still, this will only hurt… a lot… he, he, he…" one of the scientists wickedly laughed before I felt that uncomfortable pinch again in my weak arm. All but one scientist headed toward Zeke, and that disrupting urge was back. I wanted to knock that smile off all their faces, but once again the fuzzy vision effect was back and I my thoughts became misty and my bones started to ache once more. My breathing slowed, I couldn't feel my lips, and I fell back into the unconscious stage again.

Later in the morning…

I flung out of bed, scared out of my mind; I was back in my Luxury ball with it shrunken like it should have been. What happened last night? Was that a dream or did someone nab me in my sleep? I checked my arms, and they weren't bruised, hurt, or aching in any way. My head wasn't throbbing and my cast was on my arm. Sweat was soaking up the super absorbent cloth used to make this Luxury ball and my mind was a little foggy, but not super misty. It had to have been a dream; there was no doubt about it.

Coincidentally, the ball had enlarged so I was able to see the outside again. I could make out Juniper's face just outside the ball, and I saw her chuck it and say, "Rise and shine Dusk!"

I was flung out of my tiny home and yawned, and then I stretched my limbs that just felt a little sore. Juniper had that greeting face and I was relaxed instantly. She signaled me with her hand to go into the kitchen, and so I did. I saw a black and purple striped dish that had ruby engraved words that spelled out

DUSK

Inside of my new food bowl laid a delicious bowl of treat for a good morning breakfast. I saw an assortment of berries, Cheri, Rawst, Oran, Sitrus, and Pecha berries were mixed evenly and carefully. Next to my bowl held the same design of color and font and it spelled out,

SHADOW

Still a little disappointed that I wasn't called Shadow, I wiped it from my mind and looked forward the scrumptious berries that lied in my bowl. Holding an Oran berry in my hand, I attempted to take a bite, when I heard a scream. It came from the room with the sliding door that I had just decided to call the resting room. The scream came from Juniper, and I dropped the berry to see what was wrong. I ran into the resting room and saw she was holding a Luxury ball. I didn't know if it was mine or if it was Zeke's, or possibly some other Pokémon's, but all I knew was that her face was a pale white and her face showed only two emotions: shock and fear.

She was staring at something near the sliding door, so I naturally looked over there, and I could feel my skin freeze. It was Zeke, standing in front of the sliding door, confused about why we were both staring at him.

"Guys, what are you staring at," Zeke asked with his voice now starting to sound more mature instead of a squeal.

"Y-y-your color I-is gone," I answered in a faint, raspy voice. His skin was no longer a deep black and a shadowy purple, but his skin was now a regular green and tan. No, he wasn't even a shiny snivy anymore; he looked like a completely normal Pokémon.

"What?!" he screamed, looking at his hands. How could he not notice this? Maybe he didn't notice yet because he just woke up or something else that was reasonable. What could have caused it?

"How could this happen?!" he screamed, freaked out. I thought about it, but there was no possible explanation that could come to reason in my walnut sized brain… except…

Could it have happened last night, or was that a dream? It was the only reason that made sense to me, well, except for one which was that the snivy over there wasn't Zeke, but that was highly unlikely. Last night I saw all those people in lab coats, but they wore black ski masks, so they could have been people not from this lab. Zeke, I hope he was okay, but was anything wrong with myself? Looking at my body, my color was okay. My head didn't hurt, and the only unnatural thing that was different from last night was that my cast didn't seem as firm as yesterday; like it was a bit loose.

Juniper hurried out of the room when a crash came from outside. I could see that a herdier was getting into the trash. She ran off, angry, and left me and Zeke all alone.

"How could this happen?" he yelled at me, demanding an answer.

"How should I know, I was in my Luxury ball the whole night. The only scary thing was the dream last night." A puzzled look replaced his scared expression from earlier.

"Wait, what kind of dream," he asked mysteriously. I told him about the scientists and seeing him get shots and being wheeled down in a cart, and everything else, and he gasped.

"What, I had that same dream with the ski masked scientists and they were poking shots into me at one point and I saw the same thing happening to you!" I was beginning to grow curious about this dilemma. Why would they take me down to that lab place and experiment on me too? The only thing different about me was my color and my color wasn't any different. The only other thing was… gasp! My two good moves, did they take them?! I tried to power up a shadow claw, but they didn't extend into the sludge stained claws and my arm didn't get coated in a shadowy mist. I then attempted to use cross poison, but when I crossed my arms and did the maneuver for it, I just looked like a clown, crossing my arms over and over.

Frightened

Depressed

Enraged

My only feelings burned through my veins, and whoever did this to us… were going to pay!

"AH!" Juniper's voice screamed into the decorative room. I ran outside with Zeke, and saw these weird dressed people. They were wearing these gray jackets that had hoods and kind of looked like night gowns but with hoods. A blue P on a black and white shield with a blue lightning bolt in the background was in the front if the suit. The main colors of it were a dull blue, black, and white. They had dull blue boots, gloves, and hoods. There were at least twenty of them wearing the same stupid outfit. We stood by Juniper's legs, waiting to see what this confrontation was all about.

"Team Plasma, I thought you wouldn't after last time's… public scene," she assumed, telling me that this was some team that wasn't wanted in this here town.

"Well you thought wrong, return Herdier," the guy in the silly outfit countered as he pulled out a regular Poké ball and returned that herdier that was digging through our trash.

"What are you-"she started before she was harshly interrupted.

"You want to know why? Well we have a secret agent wandering around in Sinnoh and he overheard some news about two snivys with unique coloring. These two Pokémon had exactly what we needed for our secret plot."

"What secret plot?" Juniper asked. I thought if all of this stuff was secret, why would you tell someone?

"We are planning to clone Reshiram to make an ultimate Pokémon. We thought that if we have a shiny Pokémon's color sample, a mixture of power DNA, and Reshiram DNA, we would have everything we need," he explained.

"Well that one snivy with those powers, he only knows two unique moves, so how would that be enough for your creature?" she asked.

"Well secretly, ends up that the snivy with those powers was given a really small sample of this formula made at the lab in Sandgem town. We were able to swipe the other part of the formula that remained in the building, and the mission was successful. We were able to use it, but it wouldn't work. We discovered that the only way for it to work on a clone was if we had the whole formula, and then records that we also took from the lab showed that it was injected into a snivy just like the one that was said found and taken to your laboratory. We had some of the professors join your Pokédex research team, and last night while everybody was sleeping, are members put on ski masks so cameras wouldn't see their faces and they took the extra DNA out of that snivy. We also took the coloring out of the other one for style as well."

"Well where you going to get the DNA of a Reshiram, huh wise guy?" Juniper questioned.

"Look what else we took," a girl in the background said, holding up a tiny test tube with a label on it. I squinted to read it, but no matter how hard I tried, I didn't know how to read.

"What, you stole my sample of Reshiram DNA?!" Juniper screamed, furious.

"Yes, and now we will now escape on these highly confidential jetpacks made in our lab."

"Hey wait, if all of this stuff is 'highly confidential' why did you just tell me that?" she questioned once more. A dumbfounded expression faded onto his face; unbelievable!

"Uh… for highly confidential reasons, see ya!" the presumed leader yelled, trying to cover up his stupidity, but took off part of his outfit to reveal a metal machine, also known as a jetpack. The machine made a weird sound that sounded like the engine of a car, and all the ridiculous people rocketed off into the morning sky.

"Those no good crooks, no one steals from me…" Juniper mumbled to herself, her face seething in anger before she threw out an Ultra ball. Out came this huge, yellow spider that I think had six or eight eyes.

"Get them Shockers," she commanded, and the big spider shot a web of electricity high into the air. It grabbed on to at least five of the dangerous criminals. They fallen down with a big thud, passed out from the impact, possibly even dead…

Many Hours Later…

The police surrounded the investigation that trailed behind me and the three survivors from the fall were taken to the local prison that is said to be on an island far from the mainland. Zeke stood next to me with his wonderful color back, but I remained in withdraw. My power now lacked in strength from this important delay. The failure of getting my cross poison DNA back and it being stuck with those cruel beasts was devastating. I would be able to get the power to use the move soon without that DNA since some of it still coursed through my blood, but it would come back in like an adult tooth. I wanted to cry and let the hot tears stream down my rosy red cheeks, but I knew that I couldn't. If I was going to have anything good from this experience, it would be my pride and strong willpower.

I walked on the dirty trail toward the next city to get closer and closer to my original goal; to get Zeke and I back to where we rightfully belong. I would never forget that sorrow on Juniper's face, how heartbroken she looked when letting me and Zeke go back into the wild. Why did she do this to me and Zeke; to let us roam free and venture off into the great unknown? I will never forget her and my moral learned, so I will never judge another creature by its cover, and I continued my journey with that tiny snake, actually happy that I'm free once more.