A/N: Oh my... it's been too long since I had a chance to work on this. Between school, cross country (I run 9th Varsity... and it's only my first year on the team), roleplaying with my friend Axe, more school, and writing for Arctic Fox72's Pokemon: Shadowed Destiny, I haven't had any time to work on this. Well, I'm back, so time to get started and back into the groove.

Dalton poured over the mythology book, before adding a few more footprint runes to his paper. Setting it out so that the ink would dry, he padded into the living room of the apartment that his family owned. Sighing, he sat down, before triggering the television, watching the news for a brief moment, before looking up at the clock mounted on the wall. "Another hour before Mom and Dad get home from work..." Standing back up, he padded to the door of Lydia's room. "I'm going to go to the park. I'll be back before Mom and Dad get back."

Lydia poked her head back out, a frown on her face. "You better be back before then. You've gotten in enough trouble with Mom and Dad in the past getting home late."

"I'll be back before you can say the word 'mythology' thrice." Dalton dashed off, before his sister could reply, the door closing behind him. He walked up to the elevator, and hit the button closer to the ground to call it with his paw. When it arrived, he climbed in, sitting in the corner silently, looking up at some of the taller Pokemon in the lift. After the lift ground to a halt, and everyone got off, he stood, walking out of the building calmly, and turning left down the street, bustling with Pokemon of all shapes and sizes. After avoiding being trampled by a Gallade and several other Pokemon, he arrived at the gate of the park.

Looking around, he made sure he wasn't being followed, and he went deep into the wooded center of the park, to a small circle of trees, where he curled up, listening to the natural sounds of the forest, amidst the bustling city. A rustling in the bushes disturbed him, and he quickly stood, taking on a defensive stance, expecting something or someone. Hira poked her head out of the bushes, smiling. "I knew I'd find you here!"

Dalton calmed down instantly. "Why did you have to scare me like that? I thought that you could have been some thug planning on attacking me for some reason I can't guess."

"Come on, Dalton. Don't be so negative. You know that the police would be onto a Pokemon like that in a heartbeat, thanks to those microchips that we have implanted. If you were in trouble, they would know where to find you, and if you were seriously hurt."

Dalton sighed. "True... now get on this side of that bush, before you let anyone else know about this little grove. I don't like it when people know about 'my' retreat." Dalton's eyes glistened with memories, from years ago.

Dalton, much younger than before, stumbled in the direction of the grove, bruised and battered after a hard day at school, which ended with a test on battling against a fellow classmate. He ended up paired with a Riolu, which was bad enough. What irked him was that it was a girl that pummeled him into the sand covered floor of the arena. Pushing his way through the bushes, he was shocked by the sight of that same Riolu sitting in the center of the little grove, back facing him. He started to back away, when she spoke. "You did well... I'm sorry if I hurt you during the test. And how did you know I would be here?"

Dalton was taken aback. "I... I didn't. How did you find this place? I thought I was the only one that knew about it."

The Riolu turned around, a faint smile playing on her lips. "I thought the exact same thing. I found this place a long time ago... I've visited it ever since, when I can in the mornings."

He tilted his head, thinking. "I found this place a while back. I've visited it in the afternoons. I guess you and I've been using this place as a small retreat for a while now."

The Riolu stood, walking over to Dalton. "My name's Hira. What's yours?"

"'Your' retreat?"

"Fine... our retreat. Anyway... did you hear what happened to Mr. Æthin?"

Hira tilted her head, interested. "No... I didn't. What happened to him?"

Dalton stopped for a second, looking at her. A single thought raced through his mind. She looks so cute when she... wait, what am I thinking?! Shaking his head to clear the thought, he answered. "He took an extended leave of absence, starting in the middle of the school day. That doesn't sound like him, right?"

Hira was taken aback when she heard that. "He did? That's not like him at all. Who taught Mythology after lunch then?"

"There was a Zoroark there named Mist... she seemed nice, even if she did somehow know about my family, especially my brother going to IRT..."

"Creepy..."

"Yeah." Dalton looked upwards towards the sky, and started when he saw how low the sun was. "Oh no... My parents are going to be home any minute now."

"Just activate the recall function of the chip that's implanted in the back of your neck. Even," she added, as Dalton began to open his mouth in protest, "if you don't like the thought of vanishing here and reappearing elsewhere."

Sighing, Dalton nodded, and thinking of home, he activated the chip's function. There was a blinding flash of light, and Hira was left standing there alone in the grove. Dalton's vision cleared, and he was standing there, in his room... with his mother, a Sylveon, and his father, an extremely rare Eeveelution called a Nimbeon, standing there waiting for him. Timidly, Dalton smiled, and greeted his parents. "Hi Mom, hi Dad. Welcome back..."

Dalton's father looked at him sternly. "Son, where were you?"

"I was... at my hidden place."

"You were not at home, like you were supposed to be. Dalton, I'd like to hear you out, but you're spending too much time at this hidden place of yours. Until you tell us where you where you were, you're going to be grounded. We wish we didn't have to do this, but we don't have any other choice... We don't want you getting mixed up in any of those gangs."

Dalton's expression changed, becoming more crestfallen and somewhat indigent. "I was at the park... All that I've done is go to this clearing..."

"Son, you're grounded."

"But Dad..."

Dalton's father had turned, and was half way out of the room. Stopping for a moment, his father looked over his shoulder. "But nothing. For the next week, you're going to school, then coming straight home, to finish your school work."

Dalton buried his face in the plume of fur around his neck, just wanting to vanish then and there. His mother padded over to his side, wrapping her feelers around his shoulders, in an attempt to calm him. "It's okay, Dalton. Your father isn't mad at you... he's just wanting to protect you."

Under his breath, Dalton just mumbled to himself. "Some protection..."

An Umbreon sat at a computer of sorts, looking at the screen. A door hissed open from the other side of the room, a Pokemon walking in. The Umbreon turned, its blood red eyes calmly looking at the new comer. A Snivy walked in, looking slightly nervous. "I don't think its a good idea for us to meet here... what if a teacher finds out?"

The Umbreon goes and looks back at the holographic screen. "We will have plenty of time to return to our dorms if a teacher came this way. Why do you think Pak isn't with me as usual?"

"Good point... but we're still out past curfew. Why did you want to talk to me?"

"Viza. Is 'she' following the Eevee named Dalton?"

"Your brother? Yeah... Viza said that she had to stop following him for a bit, but she's watching him still. Why do you need to keep an eye on him?"

"He doesn't know it... but he'll be joining us here at IRT shortly. I just need to finish this one program, and we'll be able to tap into the memories of his partner."

"But he doesn't-"

The Umbreon went still, before shutting off the terminal, and leaping down out of the chair. "We need to leave. I would invite you into my room, but like you said, it's after curfew."

The two of them left the lab, each going to their respective rooms. A mechanical Gallade awaited the Umbreon. It 'awoke', greeting him as he walked in. [Welcome back. Did you finish the program?]

"No. Your warning cut us off before we could finish. We'll have to continue later. I shall see you in the morning, Pak. Goodnight."

Dalton looked out his window, at the city street below. Though it was late, he couldn't sleep, the feeling that something was watching him ever constant. Faintly, ever so faintly, he thought he could hear a voice. 'We need you... Help us.' Eyes widening, he laid down in his bed, before falling into an uneasy sleep.

A/N: Well, this took longer than I anticipated. I'd like to credit Rueme from deviantART for the design of Nimbeon. I was contemplating making his father a Flareon, but I didn't quite like the look. I was browsing the web, when a friend from PS showed me Rueme's Drakeon Eeveelution. I found myself addicted to Nimbeon, and so here we are. Anyhow, I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, though school is going to be taking up a good bit of time, in addition to other extracurricular activities.