Hey guys. I am sorry this is so late, but I have a perfectly good excuse. I lost my computer. I didn't get it back till Monday. I am just glad I got it back. I can't tell you how stressed I was. Anyways onto the reviews!

Average Pichu: Both actually. I thought it fit Blaziken pretty well lol.

Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within.

Arthur Erickson

Chapter 12

Devin's POV

I sat in Baraq's Den. Ell's brother, Pic, sat to my left. Baraq towered over me and Pic. His gaze was stern. I shrunk down a little under his glare. He made me extremely nervous.

"Devin, tell me what happened. Don't tell me a lie. Just tell me your side of the story." Baraq said slowly.

"Well, it started last week, a few days after we first came here."

Flashback

"Leave me alone!" I yelled as Pic followed me around. He decided that it was funny to tease me and pull pranks on me after we got out of our classes.

"Come on, I am just messing around." Pic replied, sarcasm leaking from his voice.

"You and I both know that you aren't messing around. You're just being a jerk!"

I began to walk off, but Pic didn't drop it. He followed me around, calling me names and constantly badgering me. He only stopped when I made it to the burrow.

Present

"That's not true! I did not make fun of him at all!" Pic yelled.

"Pic, you are in enough trouble as it is. Devin, keep going."

"As I was saying before I was interrupted..." I began.

"Devin, you are in the same trouble Pic is in. Don't make it worse on yourself." Baraq reprimanded.

"Yes sir." I muttered.

Flashback

Pic was making me miserable. He was constantly hounding me. I thought about telling Austin and the others but I didn't want to look weak. So, I kept my mouth shut.

The next few days got even worse and my only respite was when I stayed near Hope. Pic wasn't too keen on messing with her.

While I hung out with Hope, Ell would come and hang out with us. This only made things worse for me as Pic hated watching his sister playing with me and a "Predator". Finally, he built up the nerve and came at me and Hope.

"I told you to stay away from my sister!" he yelled as he jumped at me.

"Pic! Leave Devin alone!" Ell yelled, as she tried to pull her brother off of me.

"Shut up! You don't know what you are talking about! You will not be friends with someone like him!" he yelled.

"You don't know anything about me! Why are you constantly badgering me?" I yelled.

"Because, you are friends with the likes of her!" Pic yelled back.

"Why, you little!" I yelled as I leapt at him.

Pic broke free of his sister's hold and we collided, and began fighting. We were rolling on the ground, not even bothering with our electricity. Before things could become really violent, I felt myself lifted into the air. I looked around and saw Aurelia holding me.

"What are you two doing!" she asked coldly. I glared at Pic who was being held by one of the Pikachu helpers.

"He started it!" we both said pointing at each other.

"I don't care who started it. It is done. You both are going to be sitting with me while everyone else has recess." Aurelia replied heatedly.

Everyone was having fun while Pic and I watched. Hope was getting along with just about everyone now, except for Pic's friends. They mostly stayed away from her, not wanting to get "eaten" or something. Either way, I was the only one having problems.

Ell came over several times, but Aurelia sent her away. Ell was extremely upset. She sadly glanced at us throughout the day, but didn't make in other attempts to come over here.

"Psst, Lunch Meat! Hey, I'm talking to you!" Pic whispered.

"I don't care. You got us in trouble!" I whispered back through clenched teeth.

"I did not! You were the one who attacked me!" Pic said, his cheeks sparking.

"After you tackled me!" I retorted feeling my cheeks begin to spark as well.

"Boys, you better not be talking or you will be spending tomorrow's recess with me as well." Aurelia warned, not even turning to check on us.

"If you want me to leave you alone, then you have to prove that you aren't weak. Meet me near entrance of the colony tonight." Pic whispered.

"Why would I even think of doing that?" I asked suspiciously.

"Because, you hate the names I call you, you hate the things I do to you, and you want to prove yourself." he grinned maliciously at me as he listed the reasons.

I knew that it was a bad idea, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity of putting Pic in his place. "Fine, I'll be there."

Present

"If you knew it was a bad idea, why did you go?" Baraq asked.

"For one, I was tired of being picked on. I was also curious about what Pic had planned." I explained. "That brings us to last night. We stood in front of the entrance..."

Flashback

The darkness covered the colony like a blanket. I was standing in front of the entrance, waiting. Pic hadn't shown up yet and I was starting to think that I was just being played. Suddenly, there was slight rustling sound behind me. I spun around only to find Pic.

"For someone who hangs out with predators, you sure are jumpy." he said in a low whisper.

"Of course I'm jumpy. I nearly stepped on my brother's tail and I had to get away from Jeffric and Elweard because they can read minds and whatnot!" I whispered back irately.

"Whatever, let's go." Pic replied, rolling his eyes as he dove into the hole that served as the entrance. I cautiously followed him.

Present

"What did y'all do when you got outside the colony?" Baraq asked.

"I don't know what Pic had planned. We were interrupted shortly after we got outside."

"By Ell."

"Yes sir."

Flashback

"What are you two doing out here?" a hushed voice asked as we cleared the brush covering the colony entrance. We both spun around to face the voice. Ell stepped out of the shadows and into the dim moonlight.

"Ell! What are you doing here?" we whispered.

"I saw you sneak out of our burrow, so I followed you." she shrugged. "I answered your question. Now, answer mine."

"I… we… he was going to prove that he wasn't weak. I told him that was the only way I would let him be your friend." Pic mumbled.

"More like you are going to try and scare him into not wanting to be my friend. I already know what you are going to do." Ell said bitterly.

"W-what? I w-wouldn't do that!" Pic denied.

"Oh yeah? Come on out guys!" Ell called, a little louder than I would have liked.

There were soft rustlings in four different directions. Four other Pichu emerged and I easily recognized them as some of Pic's friends.

"So, what was the plan? Get me out here, then beat me up? Was that it?" I demanded. Pic nodded in defeat.

"Let's get back home. I will be telling Mom and Dad later." Ell said as we headed back toward the bush.

"Go Arcanine! Stop those Pichu from escaping!"

My heart stopped beating as I heard the order. I didn't even think before I broke out into a dead run. I almost made it to the bush; then the bush erupted into flames.

"We're cut off! What are we going to do now!" one of the other Pichu yelled.

"Good Arcanine! Now use Fire Spin to trap and weaken the Pichu!"

Most of the Pichu manged to dodge, but Ell and I couldn't move out of the way fast enough. The vortex rose high into the sky. I quickly began to cough as the fiery vortex sucked out the oxygen.

"Ok, Arcanine, get back!" I heard as I drifted off into unconsciousness.

Present

"When I woke up, I found myself back at the burrow. Austin and Emily were extremely mad and they walked me over here to see you. How did I even get back here?"

"Ell told one of her friends what was going on. Ell told her that if she wasn't back in a few minutes to go get the head guard. She did and we managed to interrupt the capture. You were very lucky that you are not a slave to the now, you will go back to your parents. You both worried them to death." Baraq said. We nodded and he led us back to our respective burrows. I thought what Baraq said about our "parents" was weird, but figured that it had just been because of the long night.

"Devin! What happened in there?" I heard Ell cry. I rolled my eyes as the Pichu flew past both Emily and Austin and nearly trampled me.

"Ell, calm down. Baraq asked me about what happened. I think that I have to go back a little later to hear Pic's side of the story though. I swear that he is going to lie about everything. It would be just like him to do that." I said bitterly.

"I know that Pic can be a little controlling and very obnoxious, but I think he was trying to protect me in a twisted sort of way."

"I don't see it, but if that floats your boat, I'm all for it." I replied.

"What's a boat, and why are you for it?" Ell asked.

"A boat is something that floats on water and takes people places. What I said was just an expression. It means that if something makes you feel better than I'm all for it." I explained.

"You are good at making up stories. Maybe you should learn from the elders when you grow up. Then you would be able to learn all sorts of stories!" Ell replied excitedly.

"It wasn't a story, it was an expression!" I exclaimed.

"Whatever you say. Do you think your parents will let you come and play with me?" Ell asked with glittering eyes.

"Um… I guess I could ask, but they aren't my..." I began, but was quickly cut off.

"Then hurry up! I don't want to play all by myself!" Ell practically screamed.

"Alright, alright, I'll ask." I muttered as Ell began pushing me toward the other room.

To my surprise Austin and Emily didn't have any problems with me going with Ell. Since we came here. We had been pretending that I actually listened to Austin and Emily. In reality though, we fought just about as much as always, so I guess I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was.

Ell immediately grabbed me and began pulling me toward the exit. I tried squirming out of her grasp, but she held on with all of her strength. She was practically dragging me, until we made it outside.

"What was that for?" I asked as I stood up and brushed myself off; a rather fruitless endeavor.

"I didn't want you chickening out like you always do." Ell replied with a shrug.

"As if I always do that." I said, shaking my head.

"You do. Hope even says you do."

"No I don't!" I replied defensively.

"Oh, yes you do. Everyone who knows you knows that you don't like to play very much."

"Yes, and there are a lot of people that know me."

"You have lot's of friends. Me, Hope, Pic, Spark, Bolt, Lec."

I laughed scornfully as she listed Pic. "Your brother and I hate each other. You remember what happened last night? Even you said that Pic did that just to scare me away."

"Devin, I know what I said. I said that I followed you two out there last night because I knew that you two had been wanting to go out there for over a week. You chickened out and Pic talked you back into it. If you ask me, you both were being stupid."

My mouth dropped open. "You didn't say that!" I yelled.

"Yes I did. Jeez, Devin. When will you start taking responsibility for your actions? You and Pic wanted to go exploring. You ran into a trainer and you nearly got yourself and everyone else caught."

"But, last night you..."

"Devin, just stop. Let's play and have a good time. I don't want to argue." Ell interrupted. "Come on. The others are waiting."

I thought that everyone was just being forgetful or something, but it seemed that everyone was forgetting the same exact thing. How could everyone forget that Pic hates me? Something was up and it was scaring the crap out of me. I tried to forget about my worries while we played but something was off and I had no clue what it was.

"What's wrong with you?" Hope asked as we walked. Ell's parents came to get her and Pic after a few hours. And everyone else began to leave shortly after.

"Haven't you noticed that everyone is acting strange?" I asked.

"Of course everyone is acting strange. My mom and I are predators. I walk into view and everyone gets a panicked look on their faces." Hope said with an annoyed frown.

"That's not what I meant. Pic isn't hating me. He is mad but it sounds like he is mad that I didn't back him is acting like Me and Pic are best friends. Austin and Emily didn't gripe me out. They were mad but Austin didn't yell nearly as much as I thought he would. There is something wrong. I just can't figure out what it is."

Third Person POV

"The local police have sent all of their K-9 units in to assist with the search, Taylor." Joe said walking into the large tent that doubled as the Special Investigations Unit headquarters.

"Good, that should speed things up a bit. Did you get anymore samples?" Ralph asked as he sipped on a mug of black coffee. The taste reminded him of how life really was.

"Not yet. The annual training statistics show that this particular patch of forest rarely has any Pikachu in it." Joe replied glumly. Taylor couldn't blame the kid. Joe wasn't used to field work. Despite being qualified for it, Joe was not an outdoorsman. The kid could barely take care of himself in the city as it was. Not having the modern convince of his lab put Joe into a bad mood most of the time as well. Ralph normally would have left Joe in his lab, but this time he thought that Joe would be more useful if he was nearby.

"I guess Wilder was right. The scent is pretty much gone. If that is the case, then those K-9 units will be useless." Ralph said with a grunt. Ralph Taylor wasn't the type of person to waste time and people on something if there wasn't some evidence that said time and people would be useful.

"I wouldn't say that. Scents can take anywhere from five hours to a month to fade, depending on the amount of traffic an area receives." Joe said with a sincere smile.

"Get back to work Joseph. Lord only knows how many other jobs you are getting out of because you are out here." Taylor huffed.

"Yes my lord. I, your lowly servant, will return to my duties." Joe replied with a mock bow.

"Shut the trap and get back to work, Snyder." Taylor barked. Joe slunk away and left Taylor alone. Taylor smiled a bit. Joe may have an overly childish nature, but he was still part of the team.

Austin's POV

"I don't know, Elweard. I just don't know. Why would Devin go out into the forest like that?" I asked the Lucario as we walked around the colony.

"He is a child, and children do childish things. Master Jeffric said that as Devin became more attuned to his situation, he would start acting out like this." Elweard replied.

"I know that, but there is something else. I remember, when I was ten years old, when Devin had run away. He was fourteen at the time. He wanted to go to some concert, but he was grounded. My parents panicked when they found the note and called the cops. They found him the next day. He went to the concert and was going to stay with one of his friends."

"Are you afraid that Devin was trying to do the same things as he has in the past?" Elweard asked.

"I don't know. He has always been hard to read and even harder to predict. One minute he is relatively happy the next he is angry at everything."

"He sounds like he needs to be in a human mental institution." Elweard smirked.

"He isn't bipolar. He just doesn't think things through. Then, he gets mad when things don't go his way." I replied.

"You are his brother Master Austin. There is a bond between brothers that no one can explain. You as a brother need to be there with him."

"Yeah, I know, but he just doesn't listen. We aren't home. This place is more fantastic and dangerous than home could ever be, but he treats it like a joke."

"Austin, you are not hearing me. Go and just and be a brother." Elweard said.

"Alright, I'll go. Jeez, you really know how to make a conversation go all tense." I said.

Devin's POV

I sat in my "room" and waited. I don't know what I was waiting for, but I waited nonetheless. I thought about the weird things that had happened. Ideas and explanations flooded my mind, but I tossed out most of them. I held onto a few, even if they seemed impossible. This world defied the logic of my world so it was hard to tell which ideas were plausible and which ideas were not. All knew was that I had to get out of the colony.

"Devin, are you in here?" I heard Austin call. Seconds later, he popped through the entrance.

"What do you want?" I asked with a huff.

"I just wanted to see how you were holding up." Austin said, sitting next to me.

"Are you sure that is it?" I asked suspiciously.

"Yeah…well actually I just wanted to… screw this, what in the world were you thinking? What you did was stupid! It was beyond stupid! You could have been killed or captured or..."

"Or abducted by aliens, or turned into a pile of goo. A lot of things could have happened, but they didn't. You are the most infuriating person I have ever known. Ever since we got here, you have been too cautious. If I do one thing that you deem too dangerous, you panic." I interrupted. "I didn't go out there because I wanted to. I did it to prove that I wasn't a coward. That's something that you wouldn't know a single thing about The moment the going get tough, you turn tail and run!"

"Even as a Pichu you have a big mouth. You don't know what kind of dangers there are out here! There are things that can kill you just because you looked at a hole in their back! The only thing I want is to protect you, because you are my brother, and a sorry excuse of one at that! That is more than you have ever done for me!" Austin yelled back.

My temper had reached its max. Sparks were flying around me. My anger caused the sparks to fly out, instead of arching back and striking me. "Maybe I wasn't there because I didn't see any reason to help a loser like you. I want to be there for those with backbones, not for ones that run to mommy every time they get a scraped knee."

There was a long pause. The only movement was a light draft that pushed some of the grass from our beds around the room. "Fine, just go. I have had it. You are impossible to live with."

"Where would you like me to go?" I asked with a hidden smirk. I had won part one.

"I don't care where. Anywhere you want, just not outside the colony. Despite what you think, I don't want you dying." Ka-ching, bet number two has been won.

"Fine, I'll stay with Pic and Ell. I'm sure they won't mind." I yelled as I sprinted out of the den.

Hope's POV

"So I take it that it didn't go too well." I said as Devin came out.

"Worked out better than I had expected." I replied. "After what happened earlier, I can't believe I didn't see it sooner!" Devin yelled excitedly.

Flashback

We walked closer and closer to the exit of the colony. I was starting to worry. I saw Devin's intent as clear as day. He was trying to sneak out!

"Devin, why are we here? We just got you back!" I exclaimed quietly.

"I'm testing something." Devin responded. He began walking closer to the exit. He had stopped sneaking now and was at a full paced run. He was about halfway to the exit before two Pikachu jumped in front of him.

"Whoa there, where do you think you are going?"

"Hey, Adad, isn't this the kid that was with Master Mew?"

"Anil, I think you are right. This is that kid. What are you doing, kid? Don't you know that it is dangerous to go out there?" Adad asked, picking Devin up off the ground.

"I left something in the forest last night. I was just trying to get it back." Devin whimpered.

"Kid, whatever it is, it is not worth you dying." Anil said as he placed Devin back on the ground.

Present

"Um, how do you know that the answers are out there?" I asked worriedly.

"Because, that is when the weird stuff started to happen." Devin replied as we headed to the exit.

"I am starting to worry about you. You aren't making any sense." I said.

"You said that you were noticing that things were weird too. The weird things started happening when I came back from out there."

"Devin, this is crazy. You can't go out there! It's too dangerous! What if something eats you!" I yelled hoping to convince him to stay where it was safe.

"I can't! I have to find out what is going on and I can't do that by staying where it is safe." Devin said as he started toward the exit. "Are you coming or not?"

Devin's POV

"Well? Are you coming?" I asked again.

"No, and I can't allow you to go either." came Hope's reply.

"What?" I asked.

"I cannot allow you to leave this colony." Hope replied.

Hope looked directly at me. Her eyes began glowing a deep red. She began to move toward me slowly. I backed up slowly, trying to have a little distance between myself and Hope. Hope was walking toward me slightly faster now. I continued to back up, but I ended up backing into something. I looked behind me to see that I had backed into someone. It was Austin.

"Austin! She is trying to kill me!" I yelled.

"I said that you couldn't leave the colony." he said coldly. His eyes flashed the same deep red.

I took off and ran for the exit. I looked around and there were Pokémon coming out of everywhere. All of them had the same red eyes. As soon as the exit was close enough, I dived into the opening. I barely made it through. Before I could celebrate my victory, a pair of arms plucked me from the ground. It was Baraq. The large Raichu hoisted me in the air by the scruff of my neck and began to carry me back to the colony. I squirmed as hard as I could but his grip only tightened. I stopped struggling, accepting the fact that I had been captured. Then Baraq's tail swung into view. Baraq was carrying me backwards with my face facing the exit. Baraq's tail swung within reach. I chomped down on his tail. Baraq let out a howl and dropped me. I took off as fast as I could down the tunnel.

Baraq didn't attempt to chase me down. I was finally free. I could finally get some answers. The dirt in the tunnel began to feel different. It felt like I was walking on a steel panel. The hollow echos of my small claws clattering on the floor reverberated around me. It sounded as though I was surrounded with an electronic hum as I walked further. There was no light, and nothing to tell me that the exit was close by.

I couldn't get rid of a pulling sensation as I walked. It faded, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it gave me. This was getting really weird and I wasn't sure if I should keep going. This place was giving me the creeps and I wasn't sure what to do.

The pulling sensation returned and this time it felt as though it would rip my body apart. I collapsed on the ground. The sensation completely over coming my ability to move. A bright light encompassed me. I screeched out as the pain of being pulled apart overwhelmed me.

"Devin? Is that really you?" a small voice asked me.

I stirred awake. The pain I felt moments ago was practically nonexistent. I blinked a few times, trying to get used to the bright light. I was on some kind of fabric. I was hit with dozens of scents. Out of all the scents, I only recognized one.

"Ell? Where are we?" I asked.

"I don't know. Devin, how did you get out of there?" Ell asked out of shock.

"Out of where?"

"You just got out of that Pokéball by yourself!" Ell exclaimed.

"Pokéball?" I asked.

"Devin, haven't you realized yet? We were caught by a trainer!"

I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope y'all enjoyed the plot twist. I hope everyone will have an amazing Thanksgiving. If you are enjoying the story, be sure to smash the favorite/follow button. If you have anything to saw be sure to leave a review or PM me. This is shieldliger001 signing off.