Disclaimer: I, Bombadeus, hereby declare that I do not own the rights to the pokemon franchise. I only own my OCs and this story.

Chapter 9: Learning Something New

Extra Notes:

"Human Speech"

"Telepathic Speech"

"Thought Speech"

[Pokemon speech]

It was early morning, the sun was barely up, and the sky had an orange hue from the sunrise. Everyone was asleep in a forest clearing, all of them in makeshift tents made from the branches and leaves of the trees around them. Since everyone forgot to bring camping supplies, they had to rely on the survival training Daryl knew. Jared and Gem shared one tent while Daryl and Dark were in their own. Zach slept alone, and everyone was okay with that, because with a full stomach he snored like a Snorlax.

Within a few minutes, light started to pour into the clearing. Small slivers of sunshine slowly slithered towards Jared's eyes, waking him from his deep sleep. He quietly yawned and reached up to wipe the sleepiness from his eyes. As the world came into view, he noticed Gem facing him still asleep, lightly breathing as she dreamt. Jared rubbed her head as to comfort her during her fantasies. In doing so, she curled up and smiled slightly in content.

"Morning, Gem." Jared whispered, as to not wake her from the great dream she must be having.

After comforting Gem in her sleep, Jared began to move about. He left the tent as silently as possible and looked around the camp. Everyone was still asleep, not even the bird pokemon were chirping at the early morning sunrise. With such a peaceful moment at hand, Jared came up with two ideas: To either wake up everyone with a loud bang, or to perform his daily workout. Since Jared didn't feel that evil at the moment, he began his workout instead. Usually, his workouts consist of training his upper body, but that's because he lived more of in the city. Now that he's in the middle of the woods, he thought some cardio training would do just fine, so he started running.

But when he was a few yards away from camp, he soon came up with an interesting idea. "Why should I run in my human form when I could…?" His appearance shifted, in a puff of smoke he transformed into his Zoroark form.

"Let the training begin." He declared. Training went on for a good thirty minutes, running to his heart's content, not stopping for anything till exhaustion to come around the corner. When exhaustion did come, he appropriately stopped at the shore of a large lake. He quickly dropped to his knees so he could drink as much water as he could. When he had his fill, he got up, and then collapsed onto his back, letting the amino acids do their work on his body. Fatigue plagued his mind, lulling him back to sleep. That is, till a scream nearby caused his mind to regain its sharp focus. As tired as he was, his nature and curiosity told him to see what was going on. So he got up and followed the scream as best as he could.

When he found out what was the noise, he quick hid to not be noticed. What he found was the legendry pokemon Uxie, surrounded by two The Company grunts and their pokemon. It was hurt and looked as if it couldn't move, due to the grunts' pokemon. The pokemon they had were the gas pokemon, Gastly. Jared knew he had to do something, but thought the grunts would reveal their plans out loud if he kept quiet, and so they did.

"Do you remember the plan?" One of them asked.

"Yeah, the boss said he wanted the lake trio to open up a new dimension." The other responded.

"But didn't Team Plasma try something like that, and failed because of some kid?"

"Yeah, but we aren't Team Plasma now are we?" The two laughed hysterically at the remark one of them made. During their laugh was when Jared jumped into action, he threw two shadow balls at the Gastly, knocking them out.

"The hell was that?" One of them shouted. They both looked around to see who their attacker was, but Jared was well hidden. Suddenly one of them felt a tap on their shoulder, as he turned his head his face was meet with a shadowy fist, knocking him back but not out. The other grunt turned around the same moment his friend was punched, realizing the fist was completely made of shadows. But the moment he turned, Jared tackled him towards a tree and knocking him out. The grunt that was punched regained his balance and looked up, only to be met with two claws pointed at him like a gun with the thumb up to represent the hammer of a gun, and a small shadow ball on the tips of the claws.

"Good night." Jared uttered. He brought down his thumb and fired the shadow bullet, much like the action of shooting a real gun. The grunt was blown back by the concentrated force of the shadow bullet, causing him to fly towards a tree and knocking him out cold.

With that said and done, Jared looked back at the legendary that was injured before him. It looked a little frightened at what had transpired, but was relieved that the men that attacked it are down. Jared sat down near Uxie in hopes to befriend the legendary, but it put up its arms in defense as best it could. Jared just smiled as friendly as possible to give off a peaceful message. Uxie lowered its guard a little but suddenly recoiled in pain. Jared started to panic a little, looking around to find anything that can be used to help. An Oran berry bush was close by, so he quickly got up to pick as many berries as he could and returned to Uxie's side.

"Here," he said. "These should help you heal." He brought a handful of berries near Uxie for it to eat. It gladly accepted the berries and started to eat one by one. When it was done eating, it was completely restored back to health. It began to levitate, doing flips and twirls, happy that it is no longer hurt. Uxie hugged Jared in appreciation for what he had done, from taking down its attackers, to helping it recover from its injuries.

[Thank you so very, very much!] Uxie said. Jared was happy with all the affection but all he heard was it saying its name over and over.

"Sorry, this may sound weird, but I have no idea what you just said." Uxie let go of Jared in confusion.

[What do you mean?] It asked.

"Well if you're wondering what I'm talking about, I'm saying I'm not really a Zoroark." He followed up by transforming back to his human form, surprising Uxie.

"If you still don't believe me, just read my mind." Jared knew that even though he says he's human, he met Uxie as a Zoroark, meaning he could transform into anything, implying that he could have been lying to Uxie. So Uxie just shrugged and did what Jared suggested. It saw every memory of his, from his childhood, to meeting with Arceus, to the exact moment it read his mind, it now knew Jared wasn't lying but telling the truth.

"I see," Uxie said telepathically. "You were human, but when you completed some tasks Arceus gave you, she gifted you powers beyond human limits." Uxie's telepathic voice reminded Jared much of Gem's, a soft and subtle tone similar to a young girl. Yet Uxie's voice also held a little more, like as if she was from England or something, an accent if you will.

"Yeah, that's about the just of it." Jared replied.

"Well how about I present you a gift of my own." Uxie's body started to glow a radiant color of blue, controlling her powers that grant her the title of legendary. The air around the two condensed, thickening as she holds authority over her limitless power. With her powers collected, she moved forward with arm extended and touched Jared's forehead. As she did, the radiance that came off her increased exponentially till the point of a blinding light, then it suddenly stopped. She let go of Jared's forehead and smiled slightly.

[So, how do you feel?] She asked.

"I feel… hold on what? Did you just… did I just… what did you do?" He was in shock; he thought he was going crazy for a moment. "Am I just hearing things or, or did I understand what she just said?"

[No, you aren't going crazy, and you aren't hearing things. I believe you understand what I'm talking about?]

"Y-you're saying I can understand pokemon?"

[That is correct.] Jared stood there for a good few seconds, dumbfounded on the fact he can now understand what pokemon are saying. Then he thought of the conversation Dark and Gem had a few days before, but he put that thought aside for a later date.

"Thank you, Uxie." Was all Jared could say.

[You're welcome.] Uxie hugged Jared one more time and then began to float away. [Sorry, but I must leave towards home.]

"I understand." Jared said. "I'm sure we'll meet each other again one day. Oh and keep safe, The Company may still be after you."

[I'll keep that in mind, goodbye.] In a flash, she disappeared from sight, leaving Jared all alone, except for the unconscious bodies of the grunts.

"Oh yeah, I should probably take care of those guys before they wake up." Jared got to work on the unconscious grunts, first taking out whatever was in their pockets like their wallets and pokeballs. He released the pokemon from captivity and they thanked him for it, they never wanted a trainer like them in the first place and would rather be wild pokemon. Once the pokemon were free, Jared then stripped the grunts of their clothing, thinking that if he and the others were to find their base of operation, they could sneak in disguised. What was left of the grunts was tied up with vines and a note saying they were bad guys that hurt pokemon.

"Now that's done, all that's left is to head back to camp… and where was that again?" Jared was completely lost and had no idea where he is. "Well fuck."

Back at the camp…

Everyone was still asleep, with no one astir, except Zach with his loud snores. As they slept, they dreamt about what's in their hearts. Daryl dreamt he was a complete, unadulterated badass. He would jump over unbelievably wide gaps that stretched as far as the eyes could see. He'd fight the most vicious and dangerous pokemon known to man with his bare hands. He'd throw a grenade, kill fifty people, and then the grenade would explode. He smiled widely and chuckled a bit in his sleep, dreaming about how awesome he was.

In Zach's dream, he was on a beach, lying down on the soft sand, with a large umbrella's shadow blocked the sun from his eyes. He believed he was on vacation with his family, thinking he was at a young age before the accident. To his left was his father, but with a different look in his eyes, he looked as if he was a kind, caring soul that loved him for who he was. To his right was his mother, her lively hazel eyes and dark brunette hair made her a gorgeous women with a bright cheerful smile that warmed Zach's heart. At the coastline of the beach were his older brother and younger sister, both of them waving at him to come and join them. He gladly waved back in response and ran though the beach to play. But as he reached the water, he glanced down to see his reflection, and realized that he was a mutant. It suddenly hit him hard, all the memories of the painful modifications to his body, the lethal training to make him a killer, everything that made him human taken away. He looked back up to see his siblings were gone, he looked back to see his parents were gone as well. He dropped to his knees and hugged himself in sorrow, knowing that he would never have the normal life he wanted.

Gem's dreams however were full of love and sparkles and just about any other kind of stereotypical romance stuff that could be in a young girl's mind or something like that. She dreamt that she was on a luxury cruise liner in her final evolutionary form, a Gardevoir. She stood on the deck, leaning on the guard rails on the bow of the ship, admiring the starry night sky. A young man approached her from behind and taped her shoulders, when she turned around she smiled, for the young man was Jared in the same clothing her parents gave him: A green tailcoat with a red tie, white pants, boots, gloves, and a white dress shirt underneath the tailcoat. He held out his hand and asked if he could have this dance, which she happily accepted. When they touched hands, the scene shifted to a ballroom, with classical dance music playing in the background. With Jared's right hand around her waist, her left on his shoulder, and their other hands holding each other, they began to waltz. The dance felt like an eternity, which was fine for Gem because she enjoyed every moment of it. In the middle of the dance, Jared reached up and lifted Gem's chin, giving her a charming look, causing her to blush slightly. He slowly moved his face forward, eyes half closed in a sexy fashion. Gem knew what he was doing and blushed even harder. They locked lips, holding it for what seemed like hours. The scene changed once more, they were still kissing but they were on solid ground, Gem was wearing a beautiful white dress and Jared was dressed in a tuxedo. They were at a wedding, their wedding, and when their lips parted from the kiss, Jared whispered, "I love you."

Gem suddenly woke up from her perfect dream, with a beatific expression and drool coming off of her face. She was thinking of what Fantasy Jared said till it hit her, it was all a dream. Her expression instantly turned from bliss to gloom, knowing that Jared would never say something like that, at least till she could get him to fall for her. [Why does it have to be a dream,] she muttered to herself. [Why couldn't it happen in real life?]

[Well who knows?] Dark said behind her. [If you evolve, and if everyone goes on a cruise, then maybe it might come true.]

[When did you get in here?!] Gem yelled, surprised at Dark's intrusion. [And how do you know what I was dreaming!]

[Shhh, quiet. Do you want to wake up the guys?] Dark looked over Gem's shoulder to see if Jared was still asleep, but soon found out that he was actually gone. [Where'd Jared go?]

Gem looked behind her to see what Dark meant, and was astonished to find he really was gone. [I don't know, maybe he went to the bathroom?]

"What's with all the noise?" Daryl crawled into the tent to see what the girls were doing. "I'm trying to sleep here."

"Daryl, get out of here," Dark said. "We girls are having a private talk."

"It's not like I could understand you anyway, but okay I'll leave." Daryl groggily left the girls to their talk and fell asleep instantly once he reached his tent.

[Anyhow,] Dark began. [Let's talk about that lovely dream you were having.]

[Okay… so, how do you know about it?] Gem questioned.

[Remember, I feed off of dreams and nightmares. And speaking of nightmares…] Dark phased through the tent and floated to Zach's tent. Gem peeked outside her tent and saw that Zach was sweating uncontrollably and was tossing and turning, as if he was having a nightmare. As soon as Dark reached Zach's tent, her eyes flashed red and a shadow-like version of her appeared. The shadow went through Zach and began to absorb his energy. As it was feeding off his nightmares, Zach began to calm down; he stopped moving entirely, almost as if he was dead but still breathing.

When Dark returned to Gem's tent, Gem asked, [What… what did you do to him?]

[He was having a nightmare,] Dark said. [So I used dream eater to calm him down.]

[Dream eater, what's that?]

[It's a move that, of course, eats the dreams of your foe.] Gem thought about how weak herself was and how powerful Dark was. Putting two and two together, she realized how to become as strong as Dark

[Do you… do you think you could… train me?]

[Train you?]

[Yeah, train me. I know I'm not that strong, but I want to be so I can evolve.]

[Well I don't know,] Dark looked away for a second to think about it. [Isn't Jared's job to-] When see looked back, Gem was using puppy-eyes to convince her. One look at that, Dark picked Gem up and hugged her as tight as possible, swinging her around as if she was a stuffed animal. [Oh my Arceus, you are just so cute! Of course I'll train you!]

Gem started to suffocate, and with the last of her breath she said, [Okay, that's great… can you… let go of me… now?] Dark realized see was smothering her and quickly dropped her. [Oops, sorry. Are you okay?]

[*Cough* *cough*, I'm fine.] Gem replied. [Let's just start somewhere in the forest, okay?]

[Okay.] The two ventured into the forest, looking for a place far enough to train Gem without waking up the rest of the guys.

Back at Jared's location…

Jared was wandering around the forest till he came across the same lake he stopped at before. With all the action that took place saving the legendary pokemon Uxie, Jared decided to take a dip into the lake to relax. In a snap of his fingers, all his clothes disappeared, and were replaced with white and blue swimming trunks. "I should probably get some real clothes soon," Jared thought. "Using illusions as clothing make me feel a little naked." Jared waddled through the shallow waters till he reached the deeper end of the lake. When he got to the deeper end, he just laid back, floating in the cool water until something interesting arrives.

That "something interesting" was just about to arrive. Driving on the road was professor Juniper in a red sports car. She left professor Rowan's lab a few hours ago to pick up a package for him. In the package were special stones that could change the way certain pokemon could evolve. They were imported from the Kalos region, so their effects are unknown, but they may change the course of Rowan's and perhaps even Juniper's research. As she sped along the road, a stray pothole caused her car to spring up, causing the package to fly out of the car and over the trees. Juniper immediately stopped and got out of the car. She ventured into the forest in the direction of where package sailed to find a large lake with someone floating in the middle with the package. Before she could move out any further, she noticed she was on top of a small cliff that was steep enough to leave a mark if she were to fall.

"Oof." Jared uttered exhaled. Something struck Jared in the stomach, when he looked down he saw a medium sized package. "The hell this came from?"

"Hey!" Juniper screamed from the cliff. "That package you have there is important! Please don't move I'll get to yo-ahhhhhhhhhhh!" As Juniper tried to climb down the cliff, she suddenly lost her footing and started to fall. Her whole body tensed up, she closed her eyes and brace for impact. She felt her body bump against something, but it felt softer than the ground. When she opened her eyes, she found that someone caught her. It was Jared.

"H-how did you… when did you?" She was baffled. She never thought someone could move that fast other than her cousin Daryl.

"You could be surprise what a little exercise could do for you." Jared said. "The name's Jared. And you must be professor Juniper, correct?"

"Yes, but how do you know who I am?"

"You're cousin Daryl told me about you." Jared lied. He already knew who the professor was before coming to the pokemon world.

"Oh, you know Daryl?"

"Yeah, in fact he's traveling with me on my adventure to beat elite four."

"Wow. So you think you could put me down now?" Jared blushed when he realized he was still holding Juniper in his arms. He let her down gently, letting her get a hold of her balance before they began conversation again.

"Where is Daryl exactly?" Juniper asked.

"I… have no idea. I got lost in the forest and have no idea where I am."

"*Sigh* well I guess I'll call him." Juniper took out, what Jared believed was, her pokegear: A hand-held device much like phones in Jared's world. She pressed a few buttons then held it close to her ear.

"Hello?" Daryl said over the pokegear.

"Hey Daryl, it's me." Juniper replied.

"Oh, what's up?"

"Yeah, I met your friend Jared, he said he's lost."

"Well, how about you pick us up. We were planning to go to professor Rowan's lab anyway."

"Okay, see you soon."

"Bye." Daryl hanged up.

"Alright," she turned to Jared. "Where did you put the package?"

"I left it… give me a second." Jared ran towards the lake and dived into the deep end. He came back up with the package he left in the bottom of the lake.

"You left it at the bottom of the lake!" Juniper yelled.

"Well I had to save your life didn't I?"

"I-I guess so." She blushed and squirmed a bit, embarrassed about Jared being right. "Come on, let's go pick up Daryl."

One mini-trip later…

Everyone was cruising down the road in professor Juniper's car. Daryl was riding shotgun, while Jared, Gem and Zach were riding in the back. Jared was fully clothed again, this time in real clothing. He wore a black t-shirt with matching colored jeans and shoes, and a bright red jacket with a hood to go over the shirt. There were only a few minutes till they reach Rowan's lab, and during that time, Juniper was up to speed on who Jared really was.

"So let me get this straight. You're from a different world?" Juniper asked.

"Yeah." Jared replied.

"And you must stop this new organization called The Company from taking over this world?"

"Yes."

"What kind of name is The Company anyway?"

"I don't know they're the ones who made it up."

"Well it's fine. Oh hey we're here." They arrived at Sandgem town, the town of sand. It was much bigger than what the game showed. There were plenty more houses and shops, and more people too. When they got to the lab, someone was putting up a poster for some kind of competition. Everyone got out of the car and walked inside of the building, except Jared. He was still outside reading the poster that someone put up.

"Pokemon fighting tournament," Jared read out loud. "Fighting types only. Grand prize of one million pokedollars! That's enough for a bike!"

"Come on Jared," Daryl poked his head out of the door. "Get inside here, professor Rowan has some something important to tell us."

"I'll be right there." Jared replied. He walked inside the lab with the thought of the tournament in his head. "A fighting type only tournament… could use some practice with my other forms."

A/N: Well that's the end of this chapter. Hoped you all enjoyed it and will follow/fave if you haven't already. I'd also like to make a shout out to "Volcora" for giving me some info on how to make the story a bit better. If you have something good to say about my fic, go ahead and review. If you have something that could help makes my fic better, go ahead and say that too, I'm all ears.