Author's Note: Not much changed in this one. Anyway, this makes three down, several more to go. I did catch some grammatical errors and I made one plot change, but that was all for this chapter.

Silver

- Chapter 3: Direction -

Silver and the Ralts led the others into the group of trees for a while before stopping to rest. Silver sat down, while the Trapinch laid down next to him. It was out of breath and Silver guessed it wasn't used to running. The Cyndaquil sat quietly nearby, looking at its feet. PJ sat down in front of Silver in a cross legged fashion. He realized the Eevee sat at a distance to everyone.

"Well, I think we should have a proper introduction now that we're out of immediate danger," the Trapinch spoke up, once it had caught its breath. "I'm Ace." He nodded at Silver.

"My name is Silver," Silver said.

You can call me PJ, Silver heard. He must have only told him his name, earlier.

"I-I'm called Flame," the Cyndaquil nervously said.

Silver glanced at the Eevee. Though its ears were pricked as though listening, it was obvious the Eevee wasn't going to tell them its name.

"So, umm . . . does anyone have any ideas on what to do now?" Silver asked. He was slightly embarrassed at having to ask, but he wasn't about to lead anyone with no idea with what to do.

You're to ride my friend over to the mainland, Silver heard PJ think to them all. Before you ask, we're on an island right off the coast. It supposedly has a ready to erupt volcano, but that's a misplaced rumor to keep away curious people. These scientists are doing experiments that are illegal, or at the very least immoral to most beings. Luckily what they do is all here and hasn't spread yet, so I'll be able to stop them here.

I've been planning this for a long time in order to stop this kind of thing. Don't worry; I'll be able to easily take down this weak humans. I'm much stronger than I appear on the outside. I plan on stopping them soon, but it will take some hours to prepare my powers and then a few days to get the other captured Pokemon to the mainland and safety with only my one friend to help at the moment.

That's why I'm telling you how to leave now, before all the chaos. There is a beach near here where my friend is waiting. She'll take you over there. She'll be able to carry you all easily. Now follow me, there's no time to stop. I need to start rescuing the other Pokemon.

"But . . . wait . . . WHAT?" Silver stuttered.

As I said, I've been planning this for a while. I had almost succeeded when I was caught. When they put the band on me, they cancelled the most of my psychic powers. My friend couldn't help because she can't come out of the water long enough. All I needed was the band off. This is the way I'll repay you: an early way off the island. Come, PJ thought. He headed off through the trees. Silver, Ace, and Flame exchanged glances, but shrugged and headed after PJ. Silver saw the Eevee follow at a distance out of the corner of his eye.

They soon reached the beach. Silver had never seen the ocean, and he gasped at its beauty as the waves rolled around and against each other. The sun glinted off the water, making it glitter. A smell of salt was in the air as the waves rolled gently along the coast. The Eevee came up on his right, equally awestruck by it. It probably hadn't noticed how close it was to them.

Here is my friend, PJ said.

A large blue creature came into view from a bend in the coast. It had a large, purple colored, corral like shell on its back. Its underside was a pale yellow. There was a horn on its forehead. Though Silver had never seen one before, he knew it must have been a Lapras, having heard the amazing tells about them.

The Lapras came up to the beach, dunking its head in greeting. "Hello, everyone; I am Pail. Nice to meet you. PJ has told me, and I will take you all over to the mainland," she said. "Everyone please get on my back."

Silver was the first to react. He put a foot on Pail's back and was glad to note how sturdy and solid her back was. He jumped onto shell and turned around to face the others still on the shore. Ace saw Silver standing easily and jumped on. Cyndaquil hesitated long at the shore, but finally overcame his fear of water enough to jump on Pail's back. Silver was glad to see the Eevee finally jump on last, though it curled up in the shadow of one of the larger spikes on the shell, as far as it could get from the others.

Silver turned back to PJ. "Thank you, PJ, for everything. Are you sure you can take them?"

Yes, yes, now go on Pail, PJ said.

"Bye, PJ," Ace called out, as PJ sent us away.

"B-bye, PJ," Flame stuttered out before we were out of hearing range.

Finally, they were out of talking range, but they weren't out of range of PJ's mind. I hope to see you again someday with better circumstances, Silver. Thank you for taking that band off. I'll go rescue all the others. Oh, and one last gift for you: her name is Eve, Silver heard in his head.

Silver puzzled over what he said even after PJ was out of sight. Suddenly, the realization of what PJ meant hit him. Eve was the Eevee! But how had PJ known? Had she confided in him through her mind? He looked at her, but she was still curled up, ignoring everyone.

The raft sailed a straight direction and constant speed. No one talked as they sailed over the water. Silver wondered how far Pail would be able to travel with all of them on her back. After a little, he saw something on the horizon in the direction they were moving.

That must be the mainland, Silver thought. Soon, the silence was really getting to Silver. He was one of those Pokemon that just needed noise. Finally, he thought of something to say, "Is it just me, or is all these events that have happened going by in a blur."

Ace nodded, "I feel it, too. It's like everything moving faster than normal. As you can tell, I don't do well with fast. But I'm not complaining about this quick change. I'm glad to be free again."

Flame also nodded, though he didn't say anything. As usual, Eve didn't speak up. He wondered why she wouldn't talk, but she probably wouldn't answer any of his questions.

The conversation ended there, and Silver didn't try to start it up again. He kept silent as they approached the mainland. Soon, they could distinguish some of the terrain. They were headed for a strip of beach right in front of a forest. The ground rose on either side forming cliffs.

Finally, Pail reached the beach and floated right beside it, close enough for everyone to jump out onto land. Flame immediately jumped out and Silver could tell that if they weren't there with him, he would be kissing the ground right now. Ace followed him, looking much more calm and relaxed with a more reliable ground under him. Giving Eve one last glance at her curled form, Silver jumped out.

The sand gave way slightly underneath him, but it kept his weight. He had been on sand before, but this sand felt much smoother and much, much more comfy than the sand he had ever experienced before. He immediately wanted to curl up right there and sleep, but he stopped himself.

"Thank you, Pail," Silver said to the Lapras.

"Thanks," Ace echoed, while Flame just nodded.

"You're all welcome," Pail said.

Silver looked back, but Eve didn't seem as though she was coming. He shrugged to the others and started up the gentle slope into the trees. The others followed right behind him. Right before they reached the tree line, though, Silver heard Eve jump out of the boat. He resisted looking back and continued into the trees.

Fate must have been smiling down on them, for they had only been moving five minutes through the trees before they came upon a cave large enough to camp in that night. It was starting to get dark outside. Between the three of them, they collected enough berries for a hearty supper. It was really getting dark by the time they were done eating. They went into the cave and slept, each of them having a few feet of space between the other. Silver could've sworn he saw Eve sneaking into the cave, but he could've been wrong.

(0)

Silver stretched from his sleep, the sunlight shining on him. He got up and looked around groggily. He panicked for a second when he realized that he wasn't in his cave. Then his memories came back and he calmed down.

He looked around again, but saw Eve wasn't there. He must have been wrong then. He saw the others were still asleep. He started thinking of what to do. He wanted to go back to his family, but for one, he didn't know where he was or they were, and for another, he felt strangely reluctant to leave Ace and Flame behind. When his stomach growled, he headed out and gathered a berry for each of them. When he got back, Flame was already awake and was grooming himself.

"Good morning," Silver said.

Flame looked up at him and nodded, but didn't say anything. Silver put the food in a corner and ate a hearty breakfast. Flame soon joined him. Silver was almost finished when Ace awoke.

"Good morning," Silver said.

Ace stretched each leg and replied, "Good morning."

When Silver finished eating, he tried to think of something to start a conversation. Finally, something came to him, and, seeing Flame was finished, he asked him, "So how were you captured, Flame?"

Flame seemed slightly surprised that Silver had asked him, but quickly hid it. "Well I was a trainer's Pokemon. We lived over by a desert near a cave formation where I was born. One day, I was coming out of the cave ahead of my trainer when a net fell on me. Then I woke up in that strange place. I was there about a week when you came. They did some tests on me like running on a treadmill and taking blood samples."

Silver nodded, but then all their attention was drawn to a new sound. In the direction of the beach, a sudden loud explosion sounded. Silver saw the sky light up a little. Soon, smoke started to rise into the air. Several flying type Pokemon flew away from the island.

"I guess PJ wasn't kidding," Silver said.

Flame nodded in agreement. He went back to grooming himself.

Wanting to take the attention off the island, Silver turned to Ace, "So how did you get captured?"

Ace paused, half of his berry left in front of him. "I was a wild Pokemon, a loner who didn't care about anyone else. I was walking through the forest, recently beating another trainer who wanted to catch me, when I saw something shiny out of the corner of my eye. I walked over to it and found a flattened area with something in the middle. I touched it and a net fell on me. I had been at the island for two and a half weeks when we escaped. They pretty much did the same tests on me, except, recently they . . . they tried to get me to mate, though I didn't."

Silver put a paw on his back to comfort him, but he shrugged it off. "I was a wild Pokemon. I was playing around near my home when I found a flattened spot like you described. I touched it, was caught, and I think that was my first day there. They took my blood once, but that was all before I escaped."

Ace finished his berry and they sat there with nothing to do. What was there to do? None of them knew where to go. Finally an idea struck Silver.

"Hey Flame, I'll help you get back to your trainer, if you want," he said.

Flame looked at him, startled. "You want to help me? Why?"

"Well why not? I have nowhere to go and nothing to do. I may want to go back to my family, but I don't know where I am or where they are. So, I want to help you," Silver stated.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" Flame said enthusiastically. Silver was surprised to see that much emotion from Flame, but didn't comment.

"I'll join in, too. You two probably don't have any sense of direction. You'll also need someone with experience and who can keep your imaginations from going wild. You two will probably be trying all kinds of impossible stunts," Ace said.

Silver held back a laugh when he heard Ace's excuse to come. He knew Ace didn't mean it like that. He took a breath as the three of them walked to the entrance of the cave. They were on their way.