SCHOOL IS OVER…. For now… -_-

I got a job at Converse! It's 25% off all clearance shoes and Buy One Get One Half-Off for all regular priced shoes! (Excludes core shoe colors)

Went to the midnight premiere of The Hobbit! It was pretty solid. The only thing that I didn't like was how they used CGI for the orcs. It just bugged me for some reason. Oh, and a DRAGON.

Sorry for the late update, though. Stuff happened. Real important stuff.

Enough of me talking. Here's chapter eight.

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"Speech" – Human Speech

"Speech" – Pokemon Speech

"Thoughts" – Telepathy

'Thoughts' – Inner Thoughts

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Chapter 8 – Pandemonium

I soon found out that Altair did not favor the art of the Poke Ball. He steadfastly refused, saying that he wouldn't venture back into the sphere until he reached his "full potential". Whatever he meant by that was beyond me.

It would have taken little time at all to get back to Oldale. However, by flight, we were able to bypass it with ease. When I unfurled my wings, and all throughout the flight, Altair started to continually praise Arceus for blessing him with a gifted trainer. He even went to such lengths as to continually nuzzle my face, all while crying tears of extreme joy. All Milo and I could do was shake our heads and chuckle at Altair's antics. I had a feeling that if a member of the team was ever troubled for some reason, talking to Altair would probably make the forget about their problems altogether and say, 'What the hell just happened?!'

Touching down in a highly convenient opening of branches on an oak tree, I stooped upon a branch that, thankfully, was able to support my weight. As I stepped down onto it, I could hear the bark on the branch creaking as it was bending to the force. Nimbly maneuvering through the tree's mass amounts of branches, I noticed how the leaves on the tree had all transformed into a rust-like color, which combined with the irregular shaking of branches, caused amounts of leaves to descend to the ground. Although Hoenn is a primarily tropical region, the southern areas near Oldale and Dewford were the only areas that changed dramatically during the winter months.

As I jumped down to the surface, I heard the crumple of leaves as my landing crinkled the brittle object. Once I walked onto the clear path towards Petalburg, I felt Milo and Altair land on each of my shoulders.

Altair spoke first, "So why didn't we just fly straight to Petalburg, boss-man?"

"Well, I don't think landing in the middle of a street full of people would be a good idea, given the fact that I have something humans shouldn't have. Also, considering that you're new to the group, we need to give you some experience battling. As soon as we see…", I was interrupted.

"YAHOOOOOO! LET'S KICK SOME FEATHERLESS BUTT!", Altair exclaimed.

Chuckling, I said, "Easy there, pal. What if you're going to fight a Flying-type? Plus, I don't even know what moves you can use yet! I'm going to take a wild guess that you know Peck and Quick Attack?"

"You got it, boss! I also know Wing Attack and Double Team! I've got some pretty sweet combos to boot, too!", Altair shouted.

My eyes widened in surprise, 'Wing Attack AND Double Team?' "How do you know those moves already?"

The small, brown bird shook his head in dismissal. "That's for me to know and you to find out!", he said with a smirk.

Milo entered the conversation, "Somehow, I think he'll figure it out pretty quickly."

I shrugged, "I probably might." I turned my attention to the heavily worn-out dirt pathway that moved its way to Petalburg City. "Alrighty, then. Let's get started."

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The first couple of battles went by relatively quickly. Altair and his superior speed easily outmaneuvered his opponents, which mainly consisted of fairly inexperienced trainers with Zigzagoon or Poochyena that were obviously caught recently.

One of the trainers we fought actually looked experienced and had the skills to boot. The boy had, surprisingly, sent out a Machop to face Altair. While I thought that was a foolish move, I learnt from my battle with Brendan that even with the clear advantage, I could very well lose the battle. It started off with Altair landing a quick Peck to Machop's chest, which noticeably left Machop winded. Altair also managed to get hit by a Karate Chop shortly after.

"Alright, Altair! Quick Attack!", I said, hoping to catch the trainer off-guard.

The trainer must have seen this coming, because he said, "Pound the ground with a Karate Chop!"

The Machop did so, creating a large dust cloud that obscured the opponent from view, rendering Altair's attack worthless.

"Change of plans, Altair! Clear the dust!"

Although not as powerful as a Gust attack, Altair began to rapidly flap his wings when he was above th dust cloud, spreading it across the ground. However, there wasn't a Machop in sight. There was only a hole!

"Machop, Thunderpunch!", the trainer yelled.

'Crap'

The Machop burst from the ground, sending up a small dust cloud and chunks of debris flying everywhere. Its right fist was also cackling with electricity.

'That's it!' "Double Team!"

Altair gave me a knowing smirk before splitting himself into eight separate clones of himself. They all had a distorted look to them as they were not solid clones. The clones then decided to surround the lone Machop, who was looking around in confusion and growing a nervous sweat on its face.

The trainer panicked as well, stuttering, "H...hit them one by one with Karate Chop! Find the real one!"

With a glowing hand, the Machop began to plow through the clones with ease. When there were only two clones left, I shouted, "Altair, Wing Attack!"

The trainer and the Machop expected one of the remaining two Starlys two start charging, but what they didn't expect was Machop to get blindsided by a small brown and white blur. The Machop was sent sailing into a tree, knocking it out cold.

The opposing trainer sighed in defeat as he recalled his fallen Pokemon. He then rummaged through his wallet at brought up a sum of money and gave it to me as payment for the win. He then wished me good luck as he ventured east toward Oldale.

Altair started chirping with delight as Milo came up to congratulate him on the hard-fought battle. I was thankful that I was the only person that could understand Altair as he kept proclaiming how he was the 'Almighty king of the World' and how we all should 'bow before him'. We mock gave Altair a mock-bow as we started walking towards Petalburg.

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Rain sucks. Period.

Just before we reached Petalburg, I noticed a few storm clouds starting to roll in. I figured if we started walking at a faster pace, we would make it there in time.

Oh, how I was wrong.

Within a few minutes, the skies decided to grace us with a torrential downpour. The ominously dark gray clouds blocked every possible way for sunlight to breach their barriers. Milo quickly took cover underneath my vest while I cradled his shape from the outside and Altair decided to take residence in my backpack.

I was soaked. I immediately decided to never live in a place where in rained constantly, namely, Route 119. I could feel the rain seep through my clothes near the neck as I was hunched over, running at top speed.

FLASH

Did I also mention that all Flying types have an aversion to thunderstorms? I could feel Milo shaking in fear within my hold and I could probably safely assume that Altair was currently either scared out of his mind or sleeping due to him having not said a word in the past five minutes.

Due to my head being down while I was running to see where I was going, I saw how my feet started stomping on concrete, signaling that we had reached the city limits. I took a quick glance upward only to take a glance at the blurry outlines of buildings before my eyes were assaulted with rain water. I did, however manage to see a building highlighted in scarlet red that was across the bustling street. If the honking of car horns didn't give that away, I don't know what could. Realizing that I couldn't just run across the street in the watery haze, I was forced to take the 'long' route.

I officially hate standing still in the rain while waiting for the walk signal at an intersection.

I ran towards the building, feet smashing the soaked, solid rock, in hopes of it being a Pokemon Center. I wouldn't get the chance before I rushed into somebody, knocking us both down as I silently cursed to myself and Milo squealed in surprise.

'Why is it ALWAYS ME?!'

I immediately tried to compensate, "I'm so, so, sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!"

A strong, yet sensible, voice resounded, "No problems here! I can't see a bloody thing out here!"

'Wait a minute, he sounds familiar! I just have to be sure.' "Come on. Let's get inside!"

No argument there.

I breached the sliding glass doors of what should be called heaven, if not solely because it shields me from the rain. Both the maybe-stranger and I shook ourselves off with ferocity, as if trying to remove an alien substance from our systems. I also let Milo and Altair out at this time, seeing as though they've been cramped within cramped quarters for Arceus knows how long. They immediately screamed trills of joy as they flew about the room, not caring about the ruckus they were causing. I then turned to the person who I collided with before my eyes widened in surprise.

"Steve?"

He looked at me with a stunned look. "Kurtis?"

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"I do not see what the problem is Kurtis. I merely decided to grace the world with a small rainstorm, that's all.", the sky lord said.

"SMALL?! NOTHING ABOUT THAT STORM WAS SMALL! YOU NEARLY GAVE MILO A HEART ATTACK!", I said. Altair, apparently, HAD been sleeping, so he missed a pretty big thing in the outside world. 'I'm sure his dreams were just PEACHY', I thought.

After getting cleaned up, putting my trademark spike back in my hair, I decided to voice my opinion of the storm to Ray, who promptly disagreed with it.

"I assure you, Kurtis. If I had intended for young Milo to go into cardiac arrest, I would have simply struck him with lightning. Unfortunately that would have two drawbacks, one being that Milo would have died an unfortunate death, and two, since your bodies were connected, you would have been inadvertently struck, thus rendering you seriously injured. On a side note, how would young Altair's dreams be 'peachy' as you so put it?"

My face visibly flat-lined as I imagined the physical pain that would have caused. I also face-palmed as I knew I would have to explain to Ray another one of those stupid phrases. "Still! That large of a storm was unnecessary. Peachy is a term used for describing things to be all-around good or wonderful, by the way."

"Ah. That makes sense. I shall make a mental note to myself to tone down the next storm next time, then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a guest that just arrived. I shall see you later, Kurtis.", and with that the connection was severed.

'Ray seriously needs self-control when it comes to lightning, though. I could feel the heat coming off of them!'

Pushing further thoughts on the matter aside until later, I pulled on a plain white t-shirt, a black, zip-up hoodie, and a pair of grey sweatpants. I exited my room, leaving Milo and Altair curled up on the bed, drowning in their blissful slumber that they fell in as soon as we entered the room.

Locking the door and heading down the corridor towards the lobby, I couldn't help but think about how it felt not to have my two companions on my shoulders.

After the crash encounter with Steve, we both agreed to get cleaned up before we could catch up. As I entered the lobby, I noticed a large amount of trainers congregated around the fireplace conveniently located in the center of the lobby. I found a relaxing chair with an ottoman and slowly rested my head on the back cushion of the chair.

Due to my enhanced senses, I had a very hard time resting my eyes. Why? Stupid kids that don't know when to keep their damn voices down. But I picked up on a few noteworthy things.

"Dude! How'd your battle with the gym leader go?"

"Not good. I got trounced, man!"

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad…"

"He beat all of my Pokemon in one hit! With only one move! With only one Pokemon!"

"Are you serious?"

A third voice interrupted, "He didn't become the fifth gym leader for nothing, you know."

The first voice countered, "Who asked you?!"

I decided that conversation would go south pretty quickly. 'Hmmm. Fifth gym leader? There's no way in hell I should be attempting to challenge him this early on.'

My thoughts were interrupted by a more interesting conversation. It was between much older trainers that were on the opposite side of the lobby and they were speaking in hushed tones, so it was safe to assume it was more intriguing, but as I listened, I became concerned.

"I'm starting to worry. My dad's been getting complaints at the office that there's something terrorizing the park."

"Oh, yeah. He's the senior park ranger, right?"

"Yeah, they're hell-bent on trying to stop the madness that they've been looking for volunteers to help search the park head to toe."

"What the heck do you think is going on?"

"I dunno. If you asked me, it's either a hostile group, or an extremely powerful Pokemon."

I decided that I had heard enough, so after tuning them out, I opened my eyes up to the packed Pokemon center. The lights almost made me go blind, but I noticed a familiar face walking towards me, dressed in a black shirt and red sweatpants, and he also had, at his side, his faithful companion.

It was a quadruped Pokemon. The top half of its body was a dark blue while its underbelly was a cream color. It had five red spots on its back, which matched the color of its eyes. Its eyes held an air of confidence its triangle-shaped ears stood up and at attention.

I decided to greet them first, "Took you a while, Steve. Too busy grooming your little princess, here?"

He grimaced, "Don't remind me. She's so needy! When you get one as needy as Cyndi, you're in for a tough one!"

Said Quilava immediately countered, "Hey! I resent that!"

She immediately pounced onto my lap. After giving me a head-butt in the stomach for the comment, she then gave me a slight lick on the cheek before cuddling into my lap, much to her satisfaction.

"So much for a hello…", I breathed before Cyndi let out a playful growl. I smirked as I started to absentmindedly scratch her behind the ear, causing her to purr.

"So what are you doing here in Petalburg?", I asked as he sat down in the chair to my left.

He sighed, "I'm just passing through on a supply run to Rustboro. I don't get why I have to get all of the supplies we need in Fallarbor. I hate long-distance issues."

I inwardly grimaced. A year ago, Steve tried to have a long-distance relationship with a woman that lived in Dewford Town. He went there for a surprise visit when it was her birthday, but he stumbled upon her kissing with another man at her house. It's a shame, really. She seemed nice. I turned my thoughts away from that unfortunate incident right before I realized something.

"Wait, why didn't you go through Meteor Falls?"

"Yeah that put a damper on my trip. It took me half a day to get to the entrance, only to find it collapse with giant boulders blocking the way and construction workers trying to pick through the rocks with some Machops and Machokes. They told me it probably wouldn't be reopened for another week."

"One rock slide did that much?"

"Yeah. I only saw the outside. I can't even imagine the internal damage."

I nodded, not sure how to continue the conversation. Luckily, Steve did the honors.

"How's your journey going?"

I perked up, happy to talk about the happenings in my life.

"Well, I met Professor Oak in Fallarbor right before I left. He invited me to Littleroot Town. Wanted to meet Professor Birch and his family. Then, I had a practice battle with Brendan Birch, which I lost. Last, Oak gave me a Starly. Now, I'm here."

Steve simply shook his head, "Only you could manage to meet three international icons within a week. On another note, where are those bird friends of yours?"

I chuckled, "They're in the room, snoozing like there's no tomorrow."

We both laughed for a bit, earning us a few weird glances, but we didn't care. Soon my mind thought of what the crowd was saying before Steve showed up.

"Hey you want to help me with something?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"I just heard a rumor that there have been problems at a park nearby. I want to go and check it out."

"Okay, I'll help. What kind of trouble's going on?"

I took on a look of puzzlement, not expecting Steve to agree so quickly. "Well from what I've been hearing, it could either be a rogue group or an extremely powerful Pokemon. What eve the case, I want to help solve it."

He sighed again. "Just when I thought you were going to stay out of trouble, you want to jump right back in. Fine, then. When you feel like leaving, give me a call. You have a phone, right?"

"Nope. I have a X-Tranceiver. I'll call you with that."

"Sweetness. See you in the morning." He slowly got up from his seat with a grunt, then stretched with a inaudible yawn. "Alright Cyndi, I know you're not asleep. It's time to get some shut-eye."

Cyndi's eyes snapped open, "Awwwwww, you're no fun!", she whined. She turned to me. "See you tomorrow, sweet-cheeks." she said, giving me a wink, before prancing away with Steve back to their room. I just shook my head at her antics.

I then decided that it would be best if I get some rest as well. So I left the lobby of the Pokemon Center, hoping I was prepared for the next day.

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I soon found out that Altair wasn't the silent type when he slept. Nor was he the lightest sleeper. Seriously. I've been lying in my bed for five FREAKING hours attempting to drown my eyes in darkness, only to be hindered by the sound of a lawnmower. Through many attempts of trying to wake him up, some of the other guests at the Center came to my door and asked me to shut up. Most of them were angry beyond words and had used many expletives.

So, with sleeping out of the equation, I decided to go for a late-night flight. I put on the darkest clothes I had, which consisted of a black t-shirt and sweatshirt combo with some black jeans, and exited my window, making sure it was unlocked for easy re-entry. I also propped up my hood to conceal my identity. I'm almost positive that I looked like some no-good troublemaker to some of the older generation.

I quickly found an alleyway that looked secluded enough so that secrecy would not be an issue. But then again, nobody knew who was under the hood of darkness. I opened my wings with a flourish, letting them air out a bit before taking a running start and launching myself into the air.

I quickly ascended into the night sky, surrounded by darkness of all shades. I flew high above all of the buildings and skyscrapers that personified the semi-industrial town. I noted how all of the buildings threatened to consume the forest to the north of the city, which had massive trees that rose to at least the height of a 5-story building.

I decided to get some adrenaline in my system, so I fell into a steep dive. My ears heard all of the conflicting air currents rubbing up against my form as I flew through them. Getting too close to the ground for comfort, I decided to SLOWLY open my wings and even out parallel to the horizon, which was showing the faintest shade of purple, hinting that sunrise was approaching. I soon found myself coasting of the wind currents, enjoying the foreign feeling of the gusts flowing between my individual feathers. I gained altitude, allowing gravity to release its hold on me momentarily, giving me a feeling of weightlessness.

After I felt I'd had enough of my flight, I checked the time. At almost 3:00 A.M., I felt as if I had recovered my energy like I had just consumed ten cups of coffee with extra sugar. I descended onto one of the tallest buildings in the city, wanting to cool off my wings a bit. I stood on the building, gazing towards the east, which held the massive Hoenn sea.

'I wish I could do this every day… Flying Pokemon have such a gift…', I thought as make gaze drifted to a lone Pokemon flying towards the horizon.

I took one last moment to savor the sight before I prepped for takeoff. I was about to take a running start… until I felt something… wrong.

It was a strange feeling. It was almost as if I had just experienced déjà vu, yet I felt compelled to act on it. But then I felt a strong sense of fear close by. I wanted to, no, NEEDED to investigate the source. For some reason I felt a felt a force wanting to pull me to my left, to the forest.

I took off without a second thought.

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"Get away! Get away you… you… MONSTER!", a voice screamed.

A small, stocky creature was trying desperately to get away from her attacker, a Zubat. Unfortunately, its echolocation abilities posed a problem as whenever she made a sound, causing her to be repeatedly noticed and attacked. This was even harder in an eerie alley where echoes traveled faster. She was almost out of energy, trying her hardest not to collapse. That wasn't the main problem, though.

This Zubat belongs to a 'trainer'. A sick, and sadistic maniac who saw fit not only to beat her senseless, but also took joy in doing it! Her wing had already sustained too much damage. She had already attempted to fly away, but that only ended with her collapsing with spasms of intense pain.

THUD

'Crap! What was that?!'

She quickly dove behind a trash can, hoping to hide before the echo of the sudden noise wore off. She took a quick peek around the corner of the rancid object, only to be greeted with a horrible sight.

The Zubat was perched on his trainer's shoulder, but it was quickly recalled with a bright light. The trainer, whose form was slouched over, turned his glare to her. His entire face was covered by a white, porcelain mask, but still revealed the eyes. Hysterical, bloodshot, eyes.

A snake-like voice emerged from the figure, "'Ello, puppet."

My eyes widened, 'I..is this how it ends?' The trainer took slow, agonizing steps towards her, causing her feeble heart to speed up.

Not even five steps away before the trainer could close the distance, the figure said a silent prayer, merely a whisper in the wind. "Arceus… if you're listening… please save me…"

The 'trainer' took a few more antagonizing steps forward before he violently grasped her talon with a firm grip. She was in too much shock to begin to struggle against his hold. He brought her up to his face, which, no doubt, held one of the most sadistic grins underneath that mask.

"I'm going to enjoy ending you, little birdie…" he cackled out.

She watched her entire life pass before her eyes before she closed them, hoping for a quick end.

The sound of wings folding up and the hammering of feet sprinting towards her caused her to open her eyes just in time to see a foot impact with her attacker's face.

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Wow. I really enjoyed writing that ending.

Don't forget to R&R! You just might see next installment a little bit quicker if you do!

See you next time.

KurtyPops