Do to extreme guilt, I'll be giving you guys what was originally going to be ch. 52 today.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I hit a writers block.

possibly…

Okay, so I hit a slight (30 ft.) bump with my story! So sue me!

No seriously, don't!

National Suicide Hotline:1-800-488-3000

If you can't tell the truth about yourself, then you can't tell the truth about others. - Regina Wolfe

I was alone in the dark. I told Brandy to never let me out of my Pokéball again, unless the first thing that I'd see would be Terry, dead or alive. Brandy didn't take me seriously. This wasn't really something either one of us expected to happen. Even I wouldn't take that command seriously… I just needed to be alone where people wouldn't see me cry anymore.

I was alone in my Pokéball.

In the neutral space, I couldn't feel the pain of my emotions, but all the same, I knew that they were still there. I understood the concept of my current reality. Nurse Joy just wouldn't tell us about what happened to Terry. Terry was gone with no explanation as to what happened to him this time. I had to get over it just like I did with my father. That's what my mind had concluded inside the neutral space. I knew had to, sooner or later, but this Damn Torchic body kept crying. I swear I wasn't this emotional as a human.

~/So you're awake this time…/~

~/Who said that?/~

~/Isn't it obvious?/~

~/Yes. Yes, I suppose it is./~ I blankly said ~/But how is it possible that we can communicate like this?/~

~/Does it really matter?/~

~/I suppose not. Is it always so dull in here?/~

~/I'd say, 'no', but most of the time it is./~ Phineas answered ~/Different Pokémon respond to it differently./~

~/I see./~

~/Personally, I like to think back to my memories as a human/~

~/I can understand that. You were a hero, apparently./~

~/So you really are like me. Well, the Reborn part at least./~ I could sense the sarcasm he was trying to form with the statement.

~/I don't think that it is wise to judge me just by how I died… It was as quick and painless as yours./~

~/Yet, I didn't choose to die./~

~/Neither did I or at least I don't think that I did./~

Phineas stayed quiet for a long period of time. How long? I could never tell… ~/I saw what you did./~

~/Doesn't matter what you saw. I wasn't myself at the time/~

~/I realize that I did see your death earlier today, but I was referring about with Terry./~

~/You can see outside of these things?/~

~/No, but I can hear things, so I guess that "I saw" was a poor choice of words./~ Phineas said from the darkness, ~/My point is that, I know that you only came in here to run away from your problems./~

~/I'm not running. I'm just strategically removing my emotions for a later date./~

~/And when exactly is this 'later date'?/~

~/I scheduled for when a Charmander falls from the sky./~

~/Still sounds like running away to me./~

~/I just found out that my closest friend and my only connection to my old life might be gone forever. I can't deal with another emotional break down./~ I explained, ~/Speaking of which… are you named after Brandy's uncle or were you his uncle to start with?/~

~/A little of both. Brandy decided to name 'me' in honor of 'me', but 'I' died the same day that 'I' was born. I guess I was lucky that he didn't have any second thoughts about it./~

~/I'm sure that Mew planed it out just perfect for you./~

~/I wouldn't say that./~ Phineas stopped for another moment ~/By the way, don't tell anyone that I'm a Reborn. What was discussed in the Pokéball stays in the Pokéball/~

~/That's fine with me./~

'Okay, come on out you two,' I heard Brandy's voice say as he tossed our Pokéballs into the air.

I shook a little bit after I finished materializing on the floor again.

"You cold?"

"(No, I just need to get the feeling of my body again.)," I continued to shiver a bit.

"Oh, so that's why you called him Milkshake," a bigger woman that was standing next to a tall skinny man were looking down on us.

"Actually, his name's Tyler. He didn't start doing that until recently."

"(Who're they?)," I realized that we weren't at Ms. Kay's farm quite yet. Actually, we weren't at the Pokémon Center either, "(Where are we?)"

"Tyler, I'd like you to meet my mom and dad," Brandy introduced them.

"(Why are we here?)," I asked Phineas since Brandy wanted to keep his 'Understanding me' a secret.

"(Brandy and I have jobs here, 'Milkshake')," Phineas snickered.

"(Call me 'Milkshake' again. I dare you!)," I screeched.

"(Or what?)," and with that statement I was reminded that Phineas was an experience Water-Type Pokémon. Yet for some reason, Phineas felt the need to remind me what a Watergun can do to me. By some miracle, I dodged in time.

"Phineas! What did I tell you about doing that?"

"Face it son," Brandy's father shook his head, "that Totodile's never going to learn."

"(Sorry Pops!)," Phineas giggled a little bit, "(I can't help it.)"

"(You attacked me!)"

"(Look, I said that I can't help it!)," Phineas lowered his head in shame, yet still giggled, "(I really don't have any control of when it happens.)"

"(You attacked me!)"

"(I'll do more than spray water if you don't shut your mouth.)," he warned, a stupid grin spreading across his face, "(Scratch that… nehehehe… you may want to run ~hehe!~ for your life now. I'mgoingto-)"

And with that Phineas let loose another Watergun. This time against both of Brandy's parents.

"Phineas," they shouted together.

"(Heheha! Ha!)," Phineas laughed, "(You're all wet!)"

"(What's wrong with you?)," I shouted at him.

"(It's playtime!)," Phineas ran around the room then banged his head into a wall, "(Owww… Oh, thank Mew!)"

"(So what the heck happened?)," I asked again despite that I got the same answer.

"(Whenever I've been cooped up inside the Pokéball for long periods of time, or when I feel threatened, I get these sudden bursts of energy and go into an episode.)," Phineas sighed, "(It just starts off with a few Waterguns, then comes laughter, and then I sort of black out. I don't know much of what happens next.)"

"(So did something that Kiki and Leo say threatened you back at Ms. Kay's?)"

"(Every time that I fire off a Watergun, doesn't mean that I'm having an episode.)," Phineas snickered, "(I did that for fun!)"

"(So what do you think causes these episodes?)"

"(I was never a doctor, so I wouldn't know.)," Phineas shrugged, "(But I'd think that it's the Totodile that I'm Reborn into trying to wake up or something.)"

"(So in other words, Mew messed up your brainwaves when you were Reborn.)"

"Okay, I found it," Brandy announced before he realized what I said, "Phineas was Reborn too?"

"(Oops…)," I sunk down low as Phineas glared at me, "(Sorry Phineas…)"

"('Sorry' doesn't cut it…)," he growled, then paused, "(Wait a minute… Brandy doesn't know the combination of Pokéspeach for 'reborn', so why can he understand you?)"

"(Let's just say that Mew messed with our brainwaves too.)"

"Was I not supposed to know?"

"(It's just that being a Reborn is one of those personal things, you know.)," I had to explain for Brandy.

"I guess so," Brandy thought for a minute, "but hey, Phineas, how about you tell me your real name?"

"(Don't you dare tell him!)," he snapped, but then started pounding his chest, obviously to keep a Watergun down. But I was too dense to figure that out right away.

"(Why not?)"

"(I don't think that it's right to tell my Nephew that the little baby that he cared for like a son was his heroic uncle that died in the fire last summer.)"

"(In other words, You're embarrassed about being babied and don't want it to spoil the image that um, 'people' have of you.)," I whispered.

"(Man, were you always this annoying?)"

"(Apparently… yes.)," I laughed.

"So who is he?"

"(Oh, right… Phineas's real name is 'Nonaver'.)"

"Nonaver? Phineas's real name is Nonaver?"

"(Yeah, As in "None of our" business.)"

"(Good one.)," Phineas laughed at the clichéd joke.

"Okay, whoever you really are, I guess that this means that you get to play with the other baby Pokémon all on your own tonight."

"(You wouldn't dare…)"

"I hear that some of the babies are even Teething…," Brandy chuckled.

"(Brandy, if he doesn't want to tell you then I don't think he should have to.)"

"I don't like being out of the loop."

"(You're not out of the loop, but Phineas is happy with just being your Totodile, Phineas. He doesn't want you to treat him any differently than before you found out he was Reborn.)"

"You're okay with being me treating you like…"

"(I'm happy with the way things are, Pops.)," Phineas up and hugged Brandy.

"(Yuck! You're such a Daddy's Boy…)"

"Like you're one to speak," Brandy laughed.

"(What's that supposed to mean?)," I snapped.

"Oh, nothing," Brandy smiled, then remembered the book he was carrying, "Speaking of Dads… Remember when I told you about the Chicago Incident?"

"(I recall you accusing my dad of starting the fire.)"

"I did no such thing," Brandy groaned, "Anyways, this is my Uncle's Journal."

"(Do you have permission to do that?)," I slightly snickered at my own personal joke. Brandy didn't react positively.

"My Uncle's dead…," Brandy said sadly, but quickly shook it off to smile, "But I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"(And he doesn't)," Phineas glared at me.

"(I'm sorry.)," I shivered, "(You were saying?)"

"Uncle Phineas kept a record of every fire that he was involved with," Brandy tried his best to look perky, "He was especially interested in Wildfire Chicago. He told me about a person, that he was an associate with. He actually ran into the fire himself, along with a few others. Most people thought that they were fools with death wishes, but Uncle Phineas thought differently about it. He had this entire theory that maybe we were saved because of these people."

"(Hey, why's Pops telling you about this?)"

Brandy took out a photograph from the journal, "Is this your dad?"

I looked at the faded photograph of two men. One of them was obviously Phineas when he was alive. I don't know how I knew, but I just instantly knew it was him. Where as the other man… The way that he was smiling, that hairstyle, and that Pokémon that was with him… That Torchic.

"(That's not him.)," I sighed, "(That's not my dad.)"

"Are you sure?"

"(Yeah, I'm sure.)," I nodded pointing to the man in the picture, "(My dad looks nothing like him.)"

Phineas just stared at me, he seemed to be disappointed.

"Well, Karin's going get here soon," Brandy stood up with Phineas in his arms, "I expect you to behave when you're with her."

"(Why are you leaving me with her?)"

"I can't take care of you here. We're already over crowded with Pokémon," Brandy explained, "Plus Karen said that she wants her turn with you."

"(I'm not a toy that was made to be shared.)"

"No, but you are her 'child' too and she demanded custody."

"Brandy," Karen squealed happily from the other room, "Where is my little Milkshake?"

"Speak of the devil," Brandy said as he took out my Pokéball, "We're in here."

"(Don't you dare…)," I said before the red light enveloped me, "(Jerk…!)"

"Okay, Milkshake. Come on out," Karen said as she let me back out of the Pokéball. A quick look around would tell anyone that we were in the barn behind Ms. Kay's house. Luighseach and Andrew were both asleep, and I was surrounded by most of the Torchic and Kiki.

"(I'm never going to get used to that, am I?)," I shook my feathers out.

"(I got used to it in the first week.)," Fia peeped.

"(Fia? What are you doing here?)"

"(We live here, remember?)," Fia laughed.

"(Well, We still do, but it seems that he's not going to be living here much longer, Fia.)," Kiki just stared at us.

"(Good riddance!)," Adian spat.

"How's my baby boy been," Karen smiled,

"(Oh, God. You're not going to act like that are you?)"

"That's good to hear."

"(If only I could say that you're not very bright, but that would be an insult to broken lightbulbs everywhere.)"

"Okay, so go and play with your friends, while I take care of your big brother, Andrew," Karen smiled, stroking the sleeping Ponyta's flaming mane, "But don't stay up too late, we have school tomorrow."

…That's right…
…I don't have to live here anymore…
…At least there is some plus side to becoming the school's new-…

"(Hey Aunt Kiki, what's a lightbulb?)," Fia interrupted my thoughts as we exited the barn.

"(What is a lightbulb? Well, um, it's this plant. Yeah plant. It glows in the dark.)"

"(No, a lightbulb is an electrical device made so that we can see in the dark.)"

"(Boy, Tyler, if you didn't know, you don't have make something up.)," Fia laughed.

"(I didn't make up squat. Kiki's the one who didn't know!)"

"(Never say anything like that!)," Enya shouted, "(Aunt Kiki knows more about human things than anyone.)"

"(You know pride come before a fall, Enya)," Siggy stood by my side, "(Tyler's right. Lightbulbs are made by humans.)"

"(See Siggy knows that I'm right and she's a wild Pokémon.)"

"(Well, you're younger than any of us. So how would you know you're right?)"

"(Well, because, um, Brandy showed me.)," I lied, "(He showed me a lot of things. He even says that he's going to help me learn how to read.)"

"(Liar! No human in their right mind would try to do that!)," Enya yelled.

"(What? No speech about unTorchic-like it is to read?)," Siggy commented, "(Sounds to me like you're just jealous, Enya.)"

"(I can't be Jealous of Milkshake, because Milkshake is lying.)"

"(Who care if I am or not?)," I laughed happily, "(Because I'm going to be going to human school and you aren't. So nah!)"

But my "victory" over the other Torchic was only short lived.

That is, if it lived at all.

"(Big whoop.)"

"(Big deal.)"

"(We've all been to human school, Tyler.)," Idris shrugged, "(It's not really that special.)"

"(Wait, you've all been? How? I thought all of you grew up here.)"

"(We don't start out here, but we've all been with humans before.)"

"(But one by one, we just wound up here.)"

"(Sometimes humans come by and adopt us for a little while but then they just drop us off when the day is done.)"

"(So don't think that we'll never see you again, Tyler.)"

End

For those of you wondering what I'm trying to make the Torchic explain here without flat out saying it, Here it is:

The Students of Golnar have been "Renting" Pokémon just to impress everyone else. Most of the students don't honestly catch or raise any of these Pokémon. Some people even traded Pokémon amongst themselves just so that it would appear that they are catching and raising many Pokémon at once. And since Golnar had that "only one Pokémon are allowed at school" rule, most people wouldn't be able to catch on that such a thing has been happening. Tyler and Tyrone both already knew this was happening, but they had no idea how popular the scandal was. The adults have only recently caught wind of this themselves, but were unable to do much about it.

Anyways, I may use this paragraph later in the story, so you may see it again when it becomes more relevant.

But right now I want you all to review.

It doesn't have to be all of you, but still…

Please and thank you.