"There's always something more."

They were words the Snover didn't think he would ever believe.

As the sun rose on the eighth day since running from home, the little Snover conversed with one of the only Pokémon he had left in his life—Lapras, his trainer. Together, they sat at the edge of the Valley of Grief and watched the sun come up.

"If there's one thing I've learned about this world, little one, I've learned that there's always something more. Ambera… you could never see all of it with your own eyes, even if you lived as long as a Ninetales. And beyond that, the boundless sea which circles the globe, swarming with life below… and beyond that, the regions where the humans dwell, radiant with their kindness and intelligence… And the sky. And, perhaps someday, the stars above will be new places to explore. Albert… don't think you could fit everything into that little head of yours. It's just not possible. There is always something hidden from the eye. All you have to do… is step beyond the horizon, and look."

"I don't care."

The Lapras sighed. This was a very difficult talk for the both of them, but not for the same reasons. As the result of the Snover leaving the rest of his training-mates behind at the spring, as well as his entire family, Lapras found himself the little Pokémon's sole guardian in their sudden westward journey. While he had helped children to evolve for decades, he feared he wasn't cut out to be a foster parent—especially to a little guy such as Albert, a stubborn kid who never seemed to able to make any friends of his own.

"I don't care," the Snover flatly said again. "I don't wanna see the world. I wanna go back home."

"The Harbor will be your home," the Lapras told him. "It's a good place, I can tell you that. I've been there myself. Twice the place that the spring ever was. And you get to see all kinds of Pokémon who swim in from the sea—"

"The Harbor's not going to be the Spring," the Snover said. "The Harbor's never gonna be a home to me. I don't care what the Master says. I want my home back."

"The Master insists that we not live there any longer," the Lapras spoke, though in a quieter tone. "And we must do what the Master says. He has the power to punish us if we disobey him. He gets to make the rules. And he decided… there were too many Pokémon living in the spring, so… some of them had to leave."

The Snover closed its eyes and tried to make the world go away, wishing it was all just somebody's idea of a big joke.

Ironic, it was, that just weeks prior to his forced exodus, he found himself beginning to despise his surroundings, his lifelong home, and the Pokémon who lived there and accompanied him every day of his life. His mother and father… while they cared for him in some ways, they never seemed interested in talking with him. His neighbors… They were never home, and when they were, seemed to dislike the presence of children. He felt unbearably alone in life, neglected by all those who knew him… Even his training-mates and Lapras, his teacher, seemed to disregard him as an unintelligent rock every time they glanced at him.

So, he began to ponder leaving the little village of the Frozen Spring to embark upon a life of solitude in the evergreen forests like a good Snover should… only to realize, after a while of contemplation, that it would only make his loneliness absolute. He didn't want to be lonely. But… it was just so difficult to find anyone in the world who could accept him as the small, weak, silly-looking, uninteresting, ugly Pokémon he was.

It was how he imagined others saw him.

Training was something he took very seriously. If he had one chance to make anyone else respect him, it would be through evolution. After all, it was not common for a Snover to evolve. Even in the wild, there would only be one out of seemingly fifty who would ever grow strong enough. Surely, he convinced himself, if only he could transform into the rugged, muscle-bound form he was destined for, his troubles would be solved…

But his training always seemed to be the most painful part of his life.

"My sister tells me you've been bothering her again."

Albert found himself standing at the edge of the creek bed field, the favorite training ground of the water Pokémon, approached by the imposing form of a bulky Wartortle. His name was Turq, the first among their classgroup to evolve and proud of it. Unfortunately, it seemed as though most of Turq's battle experience was the result of pounding poor little Albert into submission.

"Look at me when I talk to you, you little prick," the Wartortle growled down at him. "I told you not to lay a hand on my family. I thought I made that clear enough. What gives you the right to think that you can just ignore what I say?"

The little Snover grimaced. Despite feeling dwarfed by the turtle, he poised himself in a hostile stance and tried to make himself look tougher than he really was.

"Answer my question, you little wad of seaweed," Turq boomed, approaching him further. "Unless you want me to beat the answer out of you myself."

"Your pathetic little sister was the one who attacked first," the Snover shot in reply, digging his feet into the damp dirt ground. "She threw a rock at me."

"Well, I think my sister has the right to throw rocks wherever she wants," Turq returned, an evil smile slightly emerging from his scowl."Especially since I told you not to touch her."

"She asked me," Albert spoke louder. "She told me to battle her. She begged me. So I did what she said. I gave her a little slap in the face. She ran off crying."

Albert glanced past his seething rival to see that a small crowd of onlookers had formed. Their eyes all sparkled with interest, anticipating the show that Turq was no doubt about to perform, yet they kept their distance from the scene. He didn't want to go down easily. He wanted his respect, and he was willing to fight for it.

"I figured I was doing you a favor, Turq," Albert sang, swaggering towards the bully. "Your sister's a weakling. She needs all the experience she can get."

That was the last straw. Not even needing to say anything, The Wartortle launched himself headfirst at the Snover. In those precious few moments before the impact, Albert dug into his heart and tried to counter the assault with one of his sharpened leaves, an attack he felt he was he was beginning to master…

But he wasn't fast enough. In the blink of an eye, the enraged tortoise Pokémon had him in his grasp. For a moment, he felt the claws digging into his shoulders, holding him still…

…And then, the turtle brutally bashed his skull into the Snover's forehead. Albert saw stars flash before his eyes followed by a splitting pain in the head. Turq released his grasp, letting him keel over backwards.

"One of these days, you have to learn," Turq spoke gravely, standing over the defeated little Snover. "I'll keep teaching you this lesson until you remember it for good. As many times as it takes."

Indeed, training was not easy.

And Turq was not even his greatest problem. There were a few of his training-mates he would never dare to even approach—like Beam, the ruthless Sneasel, or Caron, the hot-headed Combusken. But not Turq. No, he wasn't going to afford Turq that respect.

And that's what it was all about, in the end. Respect. It was something you had to earn. You earned it by making others fear you, by gaining power and showing that you have authority over them—just as Turq did to him nearly every time they met. But no, one day, he knew it would be his turn. He would evolve, and then maybe he could start to do things his way for once…

That was the oddest thing, he felt: through his periodically boring and unpleasant life, through his loneliness, through his lack of friends, through his weaknesses and his disagreeable training-mates… he liked the Frozen Spring. He enjoyed living there. He enjoyed looking back at how he had steadily gotten stronger over the years, so that he could withstand more punishment from those stronger than him… He enjoyed the thought of finding his purpose in life through his training.

It took losing his home to realize just how dearly it all was to him.

"It's that Infernape's fault," Albert grumbled bitterly, crossing his arms. "Prince. He even called himself Prince. Like he was all high and mighty. I trusted him, Lapras. His Pokémon told us he could hide us from the Master."

"We all trusted him," Lapras said frankly. "Even I. But… though you don't understand it, they have given you and I more than we could ask for… they have given us this chance… to move on…"

"The giant Bug Pokémon that helped Prince told me he wouldn't let the Master take over the Spring," Albert continued, ignoring him. "Now, what? They didn't do what they said they'd do. And now the Master rules there. And he kicked us out! I don't… I don't want to leave. Can't he kick some of the other Pokémon out instead? Like… Caron! Or Yeswei. Why couldn't they leave instead?"

"Stop," the Lapras suddenly shouted, overtaking the Snover's whining voice.

Finally, the Snover did as he was told and gave his teacher full attention. Lapras signed deeply, trying to compose himself. He turned to the little child, his eye gleaming in the light of the sunrise, almost betraying the tears he held back.

"I know this isn't fun," Lapras told him sternly. "But… you have to understand, if you want to keep going, you have to learn to stop thinking about the past for just a little while. It's the only way any of us are going to make it. Try, just for a few moments, to ignore the past. Can you do that?"

"Yes, Lapras," Albert said with a reluctant nod. "I'll try. It's just… It's…"

Albert turned back to the sunrise, which was soon becoming too bright to stare directly into. With his eyes, he traced the shadows cast by the valley's walls, and all the colorful glows which surrounded them.

"…I almost want to go back and tell them goodbye before we leave. Do you think… they'll be mad at me?"

Lapras didn't answer. He stared into the sun, as if ignoring the Snover's words.

"Do you think they'll even miss me? Will they remember me when I come back?"

Again, no answer. Lapras's eyes gleamed ever the brighter, but Albert didn't quite notice.

"Lapras… I will be able to go back someday, right?" Albert implored. "Maybe… in a few years?"

"Yes, little one," Lapras answered in gentle voice. "If you truly want to go back... if that's what you decide to do… then yes, you can go back someday."

"Promise?"

Lapras knew that the last promise anyone had told little Albert had been betrayed… and though the Snover hardly knew what he was asking, Lapras decided right then that he would do whatever it took to let his request be fulfilled… and to help him become strong enough to handle it.

"I promise," Lapras answered with a heartfelt nod.

---

Not too long after dawn broke, the caravan picked up and proceeded westward toward the next night's rest stop. The previous day, the Smeargle from the Infernape's team had given their caravan leader the rest of the directions to their new home, Cornice Harbor, located on the very northwestern peninsula of Ambera. To get there, all that was needed was to follow the Cornice River, lodging at the rest stops along the way to evade the Watchers.

For Albert, it was a very boring journey.

To the Snover, it seemed the passing ripples of the river below were the only form of entertainment in sight as his teacher carried him upstream on his back. For some reason unknown to Albert, they traveled a ways behind the rest of the caravan, so much so that he could only occasionally glimpse at the group far ahead. He hadn't met them for the entirety of the trip, and wasn't even sure which of his neighbors comprised the group. Whenever he begged Lapras to speed up, his teacher calmly replied that swimming upstream was not an easy task and that he needed to conserve his energy if he wanted to swim all day. And even then, he insisted that swimming was a better alternative than waddling awkwardly across the land or using his telekinetic powers to lift himself into the air, which drained his energy quite fast. It was the same answer every time, so Albert eventually quit asking.

As they swam, Lapras noticed Albert's downcast gaze at the water. The stream held the little guy's interest, somehow, moreso than the gorgeous landscapes which reeled by.

"Looking for something?" Lapras couldn't help but ask him.

"No," Albert replied. "Not really."

"Well, in that case, what's so interesting about the water?" Lapras asked oddly. "You barely look anywhere else. I'm surprised you haven't gotten seasick yet."

"Nothing…" Albert answered absently, squinting as if to spot the pebbles and the occasional tadpole at the bottom of the crystal-clear stream. "I just… remember something."

"You just don't get it, do you?!" Turq screamed in his ear, holding him in midair by one of his sprouted arms. "All I want is a little respect. Is that so hard? Is it?"

This time, nearly the whole classgroup had assembled to watch. They all stood at the highest cliff above Oracle Lake. It was a favorite point for water Pokémon to play double-dare with one another, challenging each other to leap off and plummet hundreds of feet into the partially frozen pond below.

For other types of Pokémon, such as Albert, it was a place of torture.

Dangling from Turq's grasp, he found himself surrounded by many onlookers eager for a spectacle. There was the Umbreon and the Glaceon who often battled with Turq. There was the group of Sealeo who were often seen playing in the lake. And there was even Caron the Combusken, unable to avert her attention from the scene at hand. They were all dead silent. Nobody wanted to ruin Turq's moment. Nobody felt the need to interrupt him.

"You miserable little wad of seaweed," Turq growled. "You know where seaweed belongs? Under the water."

"If you want me to fear you, it's not going to happen," Albert replied. "I don't care what you do to me. I'm not afraid of you."

"Ah, hah, you see, that's the whole problem I have with you," Turq laughed. "Why not? All you have to do is humor me a little. Change your attitude. That's all I'm asking! Is that so hard?"

"In that case, why not make a deal?" Albert offered. "You respect me, I respect you. Then we'll both be happy."

"You see? You see? This is the attitude from you I can't stand!!" Turq blasted, slamming the Snover back to the ground. "First off, no, I don't respect weaklings. Second of all, no, we wouldn't be happy. Because I'm not happy unless you're not happy. Sorry, but that's just the way Arceus made me! I can't help it. I see a weakling like you, how can I help it? That's the way we Pokémon are made, you know! The strong dominate the weak!"

"Then maybe Arceus made a mistake when he made you," Albert shot back.

He wasn't able to climb back to his feet, because just then, he heard a cumulative gasp from the crowd. It was the only warning he got that he had been kicked from the cliff-top and was suddenly plummeting down toward the water below.

"Good lord, he doesn't know when to quit!" said a voice atop the cliff, quickly fading away as the whoosh of the wind overpowered his ears on the way down…

Next thing he knew, he was submerged in chilly water.

It wasn't the cold that bothered him. In fact, his reeling consciousness rather liked the feeling. The real problem was something far graver:

He couldn't swim.

Though he flailed wildly, he sank like a stone. His little body was too heavy, and no part of it was built for treading water…

He wondered how long it would take for him to suffocate. He wondered if he would die. If his fearlessness had foolishly cost him his life.

"Yeaaah-ow!" a voice yelled. "Hey! Move! Get him!"

Having already closed his eyes, Albert couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. He wondered if somebody had jumped in after him to help him out of the water. Maybe even Turq and his friends. After all, they were only rivals. They didn't want to kill one another… right?

Sure enough, he felt some sort of force pushing him, or maybe pulling him, helping to keep him from sinking. He went limp, letting the forces do what they please to him until he was safe once more on dry land.

Within minutes, the sound in his ears burst like a bubble, and a pleasantly hypothermic breeze brushed across his face. He had escaped the pond. Blinking his eyes, he found himself laying face-down upon the muddy shore, his feet still underneath the surface. He glanced around, but no other Pokémon entered his line of sight. He wondered who had assisted him in getting out of the lake.

"Hey there," a voice called. "Gotta be careful up on that cliff next time!"

Albert winced. The voice was low and unnatural somehow. It was unlike any voice he'd ever heard before, and it still didn't have a source. He eyed his surroundings again…

That's when he saw them. Hovering at the surface of the water, their slimy white eyes and their gaping mouths pointed towards him, was a pair of Magikarp.

"YAAAAH! WARGH!" Albert yelped, leaping to his feet in utter surprise. "Y-y- You just… did you just talk to me?! A… a… You're a talking fish!! A talking fish!! W— How?!! How is that possible?!"

"Oh, pardon us for helping you out, thought we could be of some assistance," the first Magikarp said. "It's not like we just saved your life or anything."

"Wait, no, I'm sorry," Albert blurted. "I didn't mean… I mean… Thank you. But… I thought fish… I thought fish couldn't talk. I've never seen a talking fish before!"

"And I've never seen a frozen plant Pokémon before," the first Magikarp said. "But you don't see me all awestruck. You're welcome, by the way. We get a lot of landlubbers falling down in here. We figure it's a courtesy to give them a… a hand, so to say."

Albert squinted at the two large orange creatures which bobbed up and down in the water before him, periodically ducking underneath the surface again to breathe. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"I'm serious…" Albert said, trying to compose himself and speak a little quieter. "Thank you for helping me. I can't swim. But… I never had any idea that intelligent Pokémon live under the water."

"Well, why wouldn't we?" The second Magikarp said. "The water's our home. Where else would we live?"

"You're confined to such small place," Albert said, noting the size of the lake. It was a large lake, though he couldn't imagine a self-aware Pokémon spending their entire life in just one area. "Don't you… feel cramped? And who taught you to talk, anyway?"

"Cramped? You've got to be joking!" the first Magikarp laughed. "If you think this place is small, your eyes fail you. Our whole extended family lives down here! And your amphibious Pokémon give us news of the surface whenever we ask."

"Sorry if we're rude," the second Magikarp said. "We can understand your surprise. I remember when I first learned there was more life above the surface. Quite the shocker to me. Had no idea there was a whole other world I couldn't see. Thought the lake was the only world there was."

"Me, too," the other added. "But yeah, we have your Vaporeon and your Prinplup and your Golduck to tell us all about the surface world. If it wasn't for them, we'd just be a bunch of dumb fish floating around. You know, like the kind that try to jump up into the sky and get eaten by birds."

Now this was interesting. Intelligent fish Pokémon living Oracle Lake… and possibly around the rest of the world, too? And it was all because some land Pokémon decided to form their connection to the outside world? This was something Albert had never imagined possible. It was an intriguing concept, and Albert soon found his mind swimming in a flood of new questions. What was life like down in the water? Did fish have rooms they lived in? Did they have hobbies? Did they study nature? Did they partake in intelligent, philosophical conversations? And just how much of the outside world did they know?

Unfortunately, his mind chose that moment to freeze up, and the question he chose to ask was probably the worst one possible.

"I know a lot of Pokémon who eat fish," Albert blurted. "You know we eat you a lot, right?"

The two fish looked oddly at one another, then proceeded to burst out laughing, roiling and splashing upon the surface of the water as they did. The sound of their gurgled laughter was so strange, Albert couldn't help chuckle himself.

"Honestly, we don't blame you," one of the Magikarp responded. "The feral fish are the most pathetic creatures. Their memories expire after, like, ten seconds. You could slap them in the face with your tail, and they would swim away in terror, and be back in less than a minute, looking you over again."

"Ha, yeah, and if you gang up on them, they just swim in circles!" the other added. "Messing with their minds is great fun. But yeah, go ahead, do whatever you can to control their population. Don't worry, us 'talking fish' know how to stay out of danger well enough. Anyone who doesn't deserves to be gobbled up."

Since that day, Albert couldn't help but grin whenever he glimpsed at a body of water, imagining a whole city of fish dwelling underneath, swimming in patterns, speaking about the water currents, or doing whatever they did with their lives. He entertained the idea of conversing with the water-dwellers again sometime, but didn't intend to put his life at risk just for the sake of socializing. Thus, he always kept an eye below the surface, wondering if there would ever be another intelligent one to meet…

"It reminds you of home, doesn't it?" Lapras said, breaking Albert out of his daze. "That's why you dwell on the water. Because it's the same river that connects back to the Spring. Am I right?"

There's always something more, Lapras had said. Looking beneath the ripples of the stream, Albert knew that maybe he could be right. Maybe there was more to this world than he thought. Maybe he did have it in him to leave his home behind for a while, and to look for something new.

"Yeah," Albert answered, not lifting his gaze. "Kinda."

---

Albert the Snover was created by Master of Llamas.
Caron the Combusken was created by Steben.