"I do hope you're all right," said a blue pokemon among all the others. All pokemon were the same species. They were round and tall with a flat tail. "We didn't mean to frighten you. We Quagsire are known for having fun. So if we frightened you at all, I hope you accept our deepest apologies."

I took a deep breath and exhaled a bit more calmly. I did have the feeling to snap at them for what they've done, but decided against it.

"It's fine," I said, wiping away the wet tears staining my face.

"But it's not," the Quag-thing said with a frown. "You're half scared out of your wit and have absolutely no idea where you are. We were in the wrong to do what we did." The other Quag things nodded in agreement.

"Well I forgive you," I said, trying to force a smile.

"Hmm," the Quag thing said, staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh nothing," the Quag thing said. "It's just that I'm surprised that a pokemon of your size has enough power to lob that apple at one of my clan members."

I looked over at where the pile of red foods lied. So those things were called apples. I really liked them. I smiled, thinking of how I managed to hit one of the Quags with them. Just the mere thought of it made me giggle.

"Now that I think about it, it is kind of funny," I said, getting few of the other Quags to chuckle.

"That was quite a throw," one of the Quags said, rubbing his head. He must have been the one I hit. "I guess I did deserve that."

"Well enough of the apple throwing and straight onto business," the one Quag said whom I've been talking to. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am known as Sire. And I am the leader of the Quagsire clan."

"Um, hi," I said. "I'm Quil."

"Very nice to met you, Quil," Sire said. "I'm glad that I was nearby when you fell in earlier."

My memories floated back to after I fell into the river. Now that I thought about it, I did remember seeing some sort of unknown being swimming at me.

"That was you?" I asked. Sire nodded. "I guess I owe you my thanks then."

"No thanks necessary," Sire said. "We end up saving little children who fall in every once in a while. The people in the city don't mind us at all. We normally show up every now and then in a blue moon."

"Huh?" I asked confused, scratching my head.

"Let me explain, Sire," another Quag said.

"Of course, Siren," sire said. I could hint that Siren was female from the way she talked. It was kind of an odd name, but a great name to suit a female nonetheless.

"Quil," Siren said. "Every now and then we Quagsire go into town to collect round objects during a Harvest Moon. We bring those round objects back up here and shoot them to the top of the waterfall. The round objects then float back down to the city where the humans await for them the very next day."

"So why do you bring those round objects up here to begin with if they're just going to be returned?" I asked, my head starting to hurt.

"Because the people believe that the last round object to float back to its owner will give that owner good luck," Siren replied.

"What kind of good luck?" I asked.

"Any kind, I guess," Siren said with a shrug.

"What if an object comes back last whose owner is a pokemon?" I asked.

"Then that pokemon will get good luck too," Siren said.

"Wish I had that kind of luck," I thought out loud.

"What would you do if you received good luck?" Siren asked.

"For one, I wouldn't be afraid of fire," I replied.

"You're afraid of fire?" Siren said, slightly surprised, to which I nodded my head as a yes.

"I've never met a fire type that's been afraid of fire before."

"That explains why his fire never erupted," Sire said.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"Normally when Cyndaquils get scared, fire erupts from their back," Sire explained. "However, the entire time we were messing around with you, not once did any fire erupt."

"That's why I spent my last three years practicing to keep it from happening," I said.

"That's not a good thing to do, Quil," Sire said.

"But it hurts my back," I said.

"Then you're going to have to train to where it doesn't," Sire said. "It's never good to hold fire in for so long. If you don't let it all out, the result will be severe."

"How severe?" I asked worriedly.

"Don't you worry about that," Siren said suddenly. "What you need to do is find a fire type who can help you."

"But where do I go to find one?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Siren replied. "But while looking for one, I would practice a few fire attacks. I know you don't want to, but you must."

"But what happens if I don't?" I asked.

"I told you not to worry about that," Siren said. "But in the meantime, why don't you tell us a bit more about yourself?"

"I don't want to," I said. "It's been nothing but pain."

"What happened?" a Quag asked.

"Come on," another Quag said. "We want to hear."

I sighed heavily and said, "A group of mean humans destroyed my home forest and I'm the only one to escape from it."

All the Quags were silent, staring at me. Not one said a word for quiet a while. All they did was look at one another and whisper amongst each other. Finally, after a while of quietness, Sire finally spoke up.

"Quil," he said. "Out of curiosity, can you tell me how long ago that happened?"

"I think that happened just this morning," I said, in which Sire shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Quil," Sire said. "But that was a day ago."

"What?" I asked surprised. "I've slept through an entire day?"

"I'm sorry," Sire said. "One of the Quagsires reported seeing black smoke beyond the city yesterday."

"So then where were you?" I yelled, my feeling of anger bubbling inside. "My forest was under attack and on fire and all you could do was just sit here?"

"Try to understand, Quil," Sire said. "We did try coming. We really did. But by the time we would reach the forest, the humans would have already put it out."

"You could have come and rescued a lot more pokemon instead of one just escaping!" I yelled. The tears were now coming out. The Quags remained silent.

"Listen, Quil," Siren said, her voice gentle. "I truly wish there was something we could have done. But by the time we heard the news of the forest, it was too late. The humans from the city were there and there weren't many pokemon left."

I felt her suddenly wrap herself around me in a hug. She felt a bit slimy and slippery, but I stood there, letting the tears run down my face, my heart aching. I stayed in the position I was in for quiet a while, hurting. After a while, my eyes began getting drowsy. It wasn't a wonder why, being that it was night and I have probably been up for a while.

I shut my eyes as my vision blurred out. Next thing I knew, I was fast asleep.