----Espeon Day 2------

Our second day of travel, the first only covering only a couple of miles. Aiden woke before me; he was stretching and trying out his new body, unaware of me watching him. He seemed so... normal in that form, as if he was human all his life. I suppose I was finding moving easier, but still, it was so primitive. No attacks, apart from the few psychic ones I had managed to salvage, just an overbearing flow of emotions every now and again.

I wasn't sure if this was an emotion, but my stomach felt like a black hole, so strong that I thought it was tearing away at my skin. This was hunger. My first experience of human hunger. Thinking it through, I had had nothing to eat since the morning before and we had been walking constantly that night. It had been my feelings of grief that blocked off any sense of hunger and thirst. Now it all came at once.

Aiden seemed prepared for this; maybe it was his experience with humans that allowed him to be so naturally excellent at this. He had gathered a small pile of fruits and they lay, neatly on the grass. I yawned, unsure of what to say, unsure of whether to thank him. He could still be mad. I yawned and stretched myself, knowing we should move as soon as we could. But this body was still so tired; I had to drag it to reach the food that it so craved. I whispered thanks to Aiden but he did not turn his head, even when I gave a loud crunch as I tried to eat an apple.

'If we can move on our way to Mauville City, we would be helping ourselves greatly.'

He spoke, without ever seeming to actually address me. I was growing tired already of his anger towards me. He had seemed fine before we spoke about the accident, but now it was if he was a completely different person, as if hate had taken over him. I allowed him to carry on like this, for now at least, sooner or later I would snap.

***

By the time we moved, it was mid morning and I finally seemed fully awake. We walked faster than we had yesterday, flying by Fallarbor. I did not look at any of the buildings that we passed by, instead looking down at my gem again. I pondered whether I had ever learnt teleport. It would certainly cut out some...well... all of the travel, but I had no clue how to 'call' it like I had done the hypnosis. Aiden did not seem to try to remember his attacks or make any attempts to talk to me. That was fine with me. I was trying to recall all the attacks, all the psychic ones, I had used in my lifetime. That was not an easy fete. When I was a Pokémon, it was just natural to use an attack then learn new ones. You never had to learn them they were just with you. Now, they were harder to find, delving deep into my memories.

'You seem quiet. Are you alright?'

I looked up and saw him looking back at me. I dropped my gem and then blinked, trying to make sense of his question.

'I am known to be quiet. It is not necessarily a bad thing.'

Normally, people would prefer you to be quiet. I would have expected him to be the same but he raised an eyebrow at me then continued on his way.

'It's just strange to walk in silence. We are going to be travelling for a while; will it be like this for the remainder of the time?'

He had slowed his pace so he was next to me but I just shrugged. I was being quiet for his benefit, I didn't think he wanted to talk, not what I wanted to talk about anyway.

'Why did you agree to do this?'

He had made it clear yesterday that he had blamed me for what had happened. But now... was he bipolar? Being happy suddenly? Maybe it was just a touchy subject that released his fiery side. He was meant to have one after all.

'I suppose it was for Hannah and her family. They were nice to me. But I am still upset with her releasing me, so... maybe it was just because it was the right thing to do. I knew you were sorry.'

I stared at him, unsure of what to make of this person. Did he or did he not blame me? Was he so polite that he would push aside his feelings and morals and instead do what's right? Maybe Tor had forced him to, that would make more sense but that didn't explain why now, out of range of Quiyelle, he was still nice and did not take this opportunity to kill me. He was being too genuinely pleasant to be faking it. I would have expected him to be the same as before, trying to forget my existence.

We stayed in silence for about an hour before it started raining. Well, I thought it was raining. It was actually ash falling down from the sky. This had freaked me out at first (What place rains ash?!) but Aiden had reassured me, from his fire instincts, that it was because we were near Mt Chimney. That had slightly comforted me but within moments I was coated in the stuff. It made the air smell smoky and everything around was the same, dull browny grey. We trudged carefully through the long grass but I soon found myself getting lost, Aiden seeming to feel the same way. I sat down on a boulder that lay amidst the ashen meadow. My hand reached for my pendant and I looked down. What attack did I know that could help us here? I was (emphasis on the was) a sun Pokémon, I should be able to shine some light on things. Aiden was away, probably trying to home in his tracking capabilities. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard, sunny day could help here, my mind cleared and the light shone. My gem was glowing and I saw as the sun broke through the ash-filled sky and lit the opening an hours walk away.

Aiden had spotted it and shouted at me to move. Leaping off the rock, I ran, covering my face with my arm as the cindered flakes broke as I hit them. My light would not last for too long, but at least we knew where we were headed. I sprinted over the grounds, I could have gone faster on four legs yet I'm sure that would've been seen as weird, reaching Aiden just before all of my sight was blurred by either my hair or the ashes.

'Ready to go!'

I beamed, and then frowned as I found my body gasping for breath. I could've down that a thousand times over with my old body. Was this one unfit?

'Um, it seems that someone wants to talk to you.'

He nodded to something behind me and I realised behind me was a numel. Eugh. Out of all the Pokémon in the world, I had to say that they were in the category of 'Stupid.' Along with magikarp, slugma, psyduck and countless others. They could be strong, however more often than not, it wasn't worth the trouble. This one was staring at me, a look of recognition in its eyes.

'Er, hi.'

I waved and smiled nervously but it merely blinked in reply.

'You were a fire type, you care to try and communicate with it? See what it wants?'

I whispered to Aiden, who seemed to nod in agreement. He walked over to the creature and knelt down, so he was at the same level. They didn't seem to do anything at first but then the Numel got even more excited and began crying out its name over and over. This was extremely annoying, Aiden seemed fascinated.

'Well, considering Numel aren't complete fire types, I managed to have a good conversation with him.'

Aiden stood up, straightening out, turning to beam at me.

'He saw you. He saw you used Sunny day. And now he wants to know what we are.'

A bloody curse, that's what. Aiden didn't seem curious that I had used an attack, more pleased with himself that he could still communicate with Pokémon; it was strange he didn't seem to care too much. I ran a hand through my hair as I thought, well it was obvious now that we weren't human, but how much would this numel believe? He was smart enough to suss out we weren't just lucky with the weather.

'Tell him he can't tell anyone he saw us. We're nothing to worry about.'

Aiden frowned, confused of why what we were was such a secret. Yet he still turned down to the numel and 'told' him. The numel tilted his head as he 'listened' then replied, his cries a little more aggressive and determined than before. Aiden shook his head as he stood back up again.

'He wants to come with us.'

Hell no. That would be as bad as being a trainer; at least he wasn't being forced to come with us. Still, the fact that this Pokémon knew what we were was unnerving. Did all Pokémon know it? If we kept him with us however, we could stay at Pokémon centres and explain why we were travelling everywhere. We could pretend to be trainers.

'Okay, he came come. But... what is his name? '

What kind of trainer would I be if I only referred to them as 'numel'? It was usual, yes, except it made the Pokémon just seem like a number, an insignificant copy. Aiden went to kneel down but the numel was already 'speaking'.

'Oh, he can understand you I guess.... His name's Flint. Original.'

Aiden shrugged and I stared curiously as the numel. Pretty intelligent, for a numel. Breaking away from the 'conversation', I looked to the clearing again. My light was gone but you could see faint streams of natural light.

'We still have some hours of daylight, let's move while we can.'

Aiden decided this before I could speak. He was a quick thinker, I had wondered before why Hannah had released him. She must have had reason; nevertheless I would figure that out in time. Right now, I had a major worry on my mind.

_____

Again, thank you for reading. I have now decided on the two goals that will decide when this ends: Either when I reach over 100,000 words or when I get 500 reviews. I think I know which one is more likely. Keep reading, it does get better!

MoonLynx