((There's no way to get around it. I nearly let this fic die and it is entirely my fault. I greatly apologize for the... *checks date*... over a year long wait. Ugh, dear heavens... alright, explanation needed.

During my posting of the last chapter, I had already begun to become dissatisfied with my story. Not the worldbuilding and setting I've done, though. I'm still rather proud of that. It was the execution of getting pen to paper that wasn't making me happy. The descriptions, the dialogue, some of the sequences of events. I look at it and I just see... imperfection. Repetition, sloppy, one dimensional... And unfortunately, no matter how much I edited and revised this chapter below, I'm just... not happy with the final result. And that's to say nothing about the previous chapters. Which I'll touch on in a moment.

I know that despite all of this, so many of you have shared compliments, laughs, awes, and constructive remarks. And I'm not saying I don't appreciate those. I absolutely do. So much. But unfortunately, I'm one of those types where the voice of a single critique will reach me better than a hundred compliments. So that, along with the dissatisfaction of my own story basically shot my motivation to continue writing for the longest time. Yes, even despite me saying that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. I wonder if that makes me a hypocrite?

It certainly didn't help matters that after I started to try to finish this chapter a few months back, I found out that for whatever reason, half of this chapter had vanished from my drafts. I have no idea when or why it happened. But it caused me to have to rewrite over half of this chapter for a second time [also having to split this chapter into two. Oh well.], and it's not even the same as it was before. The sequence of events is the same, but some of the dialogue is COMPLETELY different to how it was originally. But I had no choice. I couldn't remember how all of it was beforehand.

I'm not saying all of this to garner sympathy. I'm saying all of this to let you know my mindset and why I put off posting this chapter for so long. To be frank, I just burnt myself out. I should've said something a long time ago, but I didn't. And I apologize. Especially to those who were paying close attention. Waiting for the next update that wouldn't come for over a year. So to nip that in the bud for future reference, I'm letting it be known now:

This story will not be cancelled, but it will be put on an indefinite soft hiatus.

Why not a regular hiatus? Well... I'm still writing quite often. It's not always this fic, and it's not always more than a dozen words or one idea at a time. But trying to adhere to a strict deadline every month wasn't working for me. It was making me rush some of the storytelling and it has led to my dissatisfaction with what I have now. So I'm not doing the whole 'one chapter per month' thing I used to do. If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do it right. Of course, this means that it could be a longer period of time between chapters. It could be as short as a week sometimes. It could be the usual month. But it could also be another few months, or... Arceus forbid, another year. Again, I really apologize for this, but it needs to be at my own pace so I don't end up outright hating what I write.

Also another thing to note: in the coming months, I'm also going to be reworking some or most of the existing chapters so that it's more palatable to my own tastes. I re-read what I've written every so often, and... ugh, dear heavens is some of it bad. I'm not doing a full on reboot of the entire story though. The sequence of events is still remaining the same as it was. It's just that some details and dialogue will be different than before. So if you're following me or this story and you get notifications on it without any additional chapters, that's why. I'm also going to be removing this author's note in a couple weeks after I'm reasonably certain everyone who had been previously following this story has seen it for the reason that... well, it's big. And it disrupts the flow of the flow of the story. And like I said, it's not meant to gain any sympathy or attention. It's merely to provide an explanation for my absence. Once everyone has seen it, well, it served its purpose.

Once again, thanks everyone for your patience. I'm really sorry for leaving y'all without anything to go off of. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and get out more chapters that I can actually be proud of. Hope y'all have a wonderful rest of your day.))

"What?! Are you kidding me?!" Isaac shouted angrily.

Alex didn't move a muscle beyond a side eye glance towards his roommate as he continued staring blankly off to the side and through the window.

"No, nu uh. You do not get to just move on like that didn't just happen," Isaac griped once again, prompting Alex to face Isaac more directly, then towards what he was looking at.
Isaac sunk back into the couch, waving an arm towards the television in a frustrated manner. "This motherfucker is lagging so hard he somehow manages to splat me fifteen feet past a freaking wall." Isaac grumpily sat back up and firmly gripped the switch controller with both hands, muttering as he once again respawned in game, only to have his match end a mere ten seconds later. Isaac unceremoniously tossed the controller to the side and flopped into the couch once again. "That's it, I'm done for the day. No mas. I've had my fill of japanese with the wifi connection of a potato. Aleeeeex. This game cheats. Do something about it."

Alex had already once again looked away from Isaac, staring blankly towards the outdoors with an elbow resting against the couch arm rest and his head propped up by a closed fist.
Isaac took note of Alex's lack of response and shot him a concerned look. "Hey. Hey Alex. You okay, hun? You've gotten pretty quiet in the past hour."

Alex briefly looked back at Isaac again to force a quick smile. "Yea, I'm fine. Just... thinking."

Isaac reached for the switch controller again to shut off the console. "Still wondering how to approach your training at the pokemon camp?" he asked as he turned off the gaming system, followed by the television.

Alex shook his head. "No- well... kinda, but not really. I've pretty much already decided how I'm gonna approach that. Right now I'm just... wondering what to do about Preston," he sighed with a tired, empty hand wave.

Isaac gave an understanding nod, sitting next to Alex again. "Ah, right, you told me a bit about that briefly... what exactly happened there, hun?"

Alex let out a frustrated scoff through his nose, and narrowed his eyes slightly, still staring off to the side. "Pretty much what I already told you. He was one of the people there when Eli was attacked, and I saw video proof of it. His face was there, clear as day."

Isaac patiently waited for Alex to continue, giving him a comforting smile after receiving a quick glance from him.

Alex went silent for a few seconds before shifting his body to face Isaac more head on than before while still averting direct eye contact as he pondered the issue. "I just don't know how I'm even supposed to approach this. I don't get what motivated him to even go to such a hostile setting in the first place. Two years I've worked with him and I've never seen a hint of this sort of attitude. He was always aloof, but violent? And towards a guy who did literally nothing at all? All because he had his illusion up?" Alex let out a quiet and abrupt growl and shot a scowl off to the side. "You think you know a guy..."

Isaac pursed his lips and let out a disappointed murmur that Alex didn't catch, but continued at a more audible volume before Alex could question him. "Given all you told me about him, it wouldn't surprise me if it was because all of his stresses are making him snap. I'd be willing to bet he wouldn't be doing this if he had actually been getting professional help."

Alex shot Isaac an appalled look. "Okay, what the hell, man? Professional help or not, that doesn't excuse him from attacking one of our best friends!"

Isaac held up a single hand in a steadying manner. "Ease up, hun. I'm not excusing it," he responded calmly, "I'm just saying he may not be the same person as you used to work with if all of what you told me happened to him in the past is accurate. Either way, it's still his own responsibility to get help in the end, and he clearly didn't."

Alex ground his teeth at Isaac's first comment on the subject. "Man, I don't fucking care if he has changed. He still attacked Eli! Or at least was egging it on! You can't expect me to just let that shit go!"

"And I'm not saying you should," Isaac continued calmly, still lowering his own voice while Alex raised his, "You are absolutely justified in being upset at this. He fucked up hard and Eli got hurt because of it. But lemme ask you this. Is there anything you could do now that you haven't already done that could help this matter?"

Alex opened his mouth again to shoot back a heated response, but instead clenched his teeth and whipped his head to the side, averting eye contact with Isaac. "What makes you think I was looking for a solution?"

Isaac gave Alex a wry smile. "Because I know you."

Alex shot Isaac an unamused glare at his roommate. "Yea well why is it wrong to want to do something about our friend getting hurt, anyway?! Seems to me like you're being far too relaxed about this whole thing!"

Isaac's grin faded and he fixed a cold, serious look towards Alex. "Alex," he commanded, prompting him into silence while Isaac continued, "Calm down. I'm frustrated about the whole thing too, believe me. But I also know that panicking or and otherwise acting erratically is going to end up making things even worse than they are." Isaac paused, allowing his calm seriousness to eat away at some of Alex's anger and frustration. Alex's jaw relaxed as he unclenched his teeth, but he still held a frustrated glare towards Isaac as he continued. "Now... I never said it was wrong to want to do something. But you have to be smart about it. Flying off the rails towards someone who's very clearly emotionally compromised is not and has never been a good idea."

Alex held his glare towards Isaac for a few beats longer, drawing out the uncomfortable silence, but he eventually relented. Alex let out a bitter grunt and shot a lighter glare off to the side. "Fuck, I hate that you're always right..." Alex ground his teeth together for a moment before letting out a tired sigh, resting his forehead in the palm of his hand. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, man. Guess I've had such a long day today that it's just really getting to me." He righted himself to sitting up again before melting into the couch, staring distantly towards the television. "I must seem like a mess right now."

Isaac gave a sad smile. "A little bit," he admitted, "but to be fair, you have a right to be."

Alex continued to stare emptily off into the distance as he contemplated the issue, but none of the options that came to mind sounded particularly appealing to him. Alex lightly bumped the back of his head against the couch cushion and let out a frustrated huff. "I'm lost, man. I feel like I ought to be able to come up with a way forwards, but I'm drawing blanks."

Isaac's eyes briefly dropped while he let out a long but quiet sigh. "I'm gonna be honest, hun, this would be tricky for most people. I don't really have a clear cut solution for you either." After Alex let out an unsatisfied groan, Isaac frowned sadly and patted Alex's shoulder to get his undivided attention as he continued. "I think if I were in your shoes... I would just leave it for now."

Alex quickly sat back up, his eyes instantly meeting Isaac's out of surprise, clearly not expecting such a passive suggestion. "What? Why?"

"Well," Isaac responded carefully, "first off, from what I could gather, it sounds like he didn't actually attack Eli. Not directly, anyway. He just happened to be there before Eli actually got hurt. So you don't necessarily need to address it with him right away since nothing truly happened from his end.

"As for the option of continuing to support him," Isaac continued as Alex listened intently, "from what you've told me, you already tried your best to help him where you could. At this point, it's kinda up to him whether he wants to get better or not." Isaac paused for a moment as Alex let out a dissatisfied exhale and shook his head off to the side. "Hey," Isaac continued, grabbing Alex's attention for a moment longer, "for all we know, he could already be getting help. It's not gonna be an overnight transformation. He has serious issues- understandable issues- that takes time and lots of professional help to deal with. I really do think it'd be better to just... give it some time, and then work from there."

Alex sat in silence for a moment as he pondered Isaac's suggestion. "I really don't like sweeping an issue like this under the rug," he finally muttered, but then let out a frustrated sigh. "But you're right. I'm probably not going to think of a productive solution right now anyway. Might as well sleep on it and tackle that problem when I'm in a better state of mind."

"That's probably best," Isaac agreed, giving Alex a comforting pat on his shoulder. "Hey, look on the bright side. Eli's just fine, and both of you got a really sweet base camp out of it."
Alex let out a stiff exhale through his nose, but eventually cracked a small smile. "Yea... I guess that is pretty cool," he admitted, but quickly lost his smile after, "though I really wish it hadn't come directly at Eli's expense."

Isaac's own face fell at the mention of the trials their vulpine friend went through. "That's true... especially after what he's already gone through. How's he holding up, anyway?"

"He was... less than thrilled to find out one of the guys there was someone I used to work with," Alex admitted with pursed lips.

Isaac rolled his eyes off to the side at the rather obvious assessment. "I'll bet," he muttered.

"The thing is though," Alex continued, drawing Isaac's attention again, "he was pretty adamant against me doing anything about it. Said he was tired of all of the conflict as is and wanted to just move on."

Isaac's eyes widened slightly for a brief moment before his stare drifted upwards in a thoughtful manner. After a moment of pondering, Isaac nodded a couple of times. "Yea, I can see that, actually. I'd be pretty sick of the fighting too if I had his experiences with this entire mess."

Alex pursed his lips. "Okay, but you still understand my wanting to do something about this anyway, right? I hate feeling like I'm doing nothing."

"You're not doing nothing," Isaac reassured, "You're just giving that guy some space while he deals with some really pressing issues, like you just finished saying you would," Isaac said pointedly, then continuing on before Alex could protest, "while also using your free time to finally start properly training so you can be better prepared for situations like that." Isaac leaned forwards and eyed Alex expectantly. "You do have a plan to do just that, right?"

Alex shifted uncomfortably. "Well yes, I do, but-"

"Well there you go. You can follow that plan and you'll be on your way to being prepared for any possible scenario in the future," Isaac interrupted, relaxing into the couch, eyeing Alex with an annoying level of confidence.

Alex shot his roommate a light glare. 'I hate it when he does this,' he grumbled to himself. Alex resigned himself to the fact that he was being made to drop the issue with Preston for the time being. "Alright, fine, I get the picture... I'm still going to have to address this with Preston at some point though. Even if he's getting help and getting better."

Isaac gave a conceding nod. "As well you should. Just as long as you give him some space first and talk about it rationally. And maybe also bring me along to that new basecamp of yours in the meantime," he added cheekily.

Alex finally cracked a smile that didn't immediately fade away. "Alright fine, but I'm not taking you there on one of my training days. Ain't no way I'm gonna let any ties to me being a pokemon be known," Alex stated in a bout of playful defiance.

"Hey, can I ask you something real quick?" Isaac asked suddenly with a curious expression, "Why are you so dead set on keeping your pokemon form a secret anyway? I get why you did in the first place, but now?"

Alex raised an eyebrow at his roommate. "You mean aside from the dozens of angry mobs that want to rip me and anyone else who knows and/or supports me to shreds?" Alex deadpanned.

Isaac gave a half-shrug, not breaking eye contact. "You could just tell your friends, you know."

Alex shifted his body as he thought about his response. "I get that, but, eh... it's mostly a privacy thing now. Even in a best case scenario, unless they're amongst my closest friends, like you and Eli, it just takes one person who doesn't keep their mouth shut, bragging about how they know the mythical and mysterious Mew, and before we know it, we've got an entire paparazzi at our doorstep. No thank you," he finished with a look of disgust at the mere thought.

"Hmm... okay," Isaac conceded, much to Alex's relief, "Fair point, I suppose. Though I am curious. If you don't plan on showing off your mew form even to the pokemon camp, then what's your plan for your first visit there as a pokemon?"

Alex glanced upwards to the ceiling, in deep thought. "Well," he droned as he mentally began mapping out his movements for his next visit, "I have been thinking about it a bit, and I think I've decided on..."

Alex took a peek from behind the tree he was taking cover in. The pokemon camp was in sight. He just had to make it in. Alex pulled his body back completely behind the tree and took a look down at his body, checking for the seventeenth time if he was still invisible. Which he was. After taking a deep breath in a failed attempt to calm his nerves, Alex slowly scanned his surroundings to see if anyone or anything was looking in his direction.

Satisfied that nothing was in his vicinity, Alex began imagining a particular pokemon, and before he could second guess himself, summoned his powers, causing his body to emit a light blow glowing light. His body began growing rapidly in size, but as quick as the glow began, it faded once again, revealing a large, brown, bulky marsupial pokemon in his place, complete with an empty pouch under his for Alex, he still wasn't attuned to transforming into pokemon that were far greater in size than his usual form. The instant he finished transforming into a kangaskhan, Alex stumbled in place briefly, almost falling over. Alex luckily caught his footing, but also found himself feeling a peculiar dizziness that he imagined stemmed from him not using larger pokemon forms as often as he probably should. Alex let out a stiff exhale and held onto the sides of his head with both arms. 'Oof... I really hope this gets easier the more times I do it. Cuz holy shit, does this feel weird.'

Alex forced himself to shake off the disorienting feelings. He had an objective in mind and he was going to see it through. Alex clumsily took a couple of steps forwards at first, but after he was able to round the tree he was hiding behind, he managed to get a decent feel for his new body, and took more confident steps towards the boundary of the camp. However, Alex's confident gait faltered when he noticed something he hadn't seen in his first two visits.

There appeared to be three pokemon that Alex recognized as a lombre, a yanma, and a pidgeotto all conversing with each other. As curious as Alex was as to why there were pokemon right at the boundary of camp after being told that pokemon forms almost never hang around in that area, what alarmed Alex even more is that all of them were staring straight at him, despite being several dozen yards away still.

Alex swallowed nervously. Something wasn't right about the way they were looking at him. Alex briefly considered turning back and simply returning another day, but quickly decided the best and least suspicious course of action would just be to play it cool and continue as he had originally planned. It's possible they simply saw Alex stumble out from the tree he was hiding behind and simply transformed to properly greet waved as soon as he thought he was in normal earshot and gave the group of pokemon an awkward smile. "Hi! The name's Avery. Um... I heard that there was a retreat sort of thing for pokemon here? I was just wondering if it was open to all," Alex said in a friendly manner.

But much to Alex's discomfort, none of them replied right away. In fact, they all seemed to be giving Alex wary and distrustful looks. The pidgeotto in particular appeared agitated and outright malicious. Alex stiffened up and his friendly smile dropped into a nervous grimace. "Is... everything okay?"

Still the three pokemon were uncomfortably silent. Alex could almost feel the thick tension in the air beginning to choke him, forcing him to take deeper breaths to try and cut through it enough, up until the lombre surprised him further by taking a couple of steps forwards and placing a hand on his arm. Alex lightly flinched at the sudden contact and attempted to hold his increasingly fragile composure as the now-familiar adrenaline ran through his body. "Solid," the lombre muttered. The water pokemon took a step back and glanced towards the other two pokemon. "She's not a zorua or zoroark."

"Who are you really?! And what do you want with this place?!" the pidgeotto instantly snapped dangerously, growing even more agitated by the lombre's confusing announcement.

Alex flinched at the bird pokemon's aggressive advances towards him and took a defensive step backwards, befuddled at the unusual events that were transpiring. "Woah hold on, what's going on? I-I just heard from a friend about about a really cool pokemon camp! Is- is it not open to everyone?" Alex stammered frantically, trying to plead as much ignornace as possible while becoming more and more nervous at the confusing and stressful interaction.

Before the pidgeotto could spit out a response like Alex assumed she wanted to, the lombre stepped forward again, making a motion as if to stand the pidgeotto down. He eyed Alex carefully as he carried on a deadly calm demeanor. "That depends, 'Avery,'" he said, putting extra emphasis on Alex's chosen cover name, "on if you could explain how you managed to appear from out of thin air while you were behind that tree back there."

Alex's heart skipped a beat. 'What?! How could they have possibly seen that?! I was sure there was no one-' He cut himself off in the midst of his thoughts, eyes drifting to the yanma giving him a steely eyed stare. 'Ssshhhit, it was him, wasn't it. He was probably moving way too fast for my eyes to even catch a glimpse of him. Fuck, this isn't good.' Alex swallowed some of his fear and nervousness down. "Out of thin- what are you talking about? I'm just a regular kanga looking to get away from the world!" he responded in a vain attempt to save face, hoping they weren't entirely confident on what they saw.

Unfortunately for Alex, it didn't work. Worse yet, his response only served to aggravate the pidgeotto even more than she already was. She squawked out an enraged response with ruffled feathers, very nearly lunging at Alex, causing him to flinch. "You fucking liar! We saw you clear as day so don't even try pulling that shit with us!"

"Carly! Stand down!" the lombre suddenly shouted, tugging the outraged bird pokemon away from Alex by the shoulder. "Arceus, girl, get a hold of yourself! You flying off the rails at her isn't helping anything!"

The outraged bird pokemon gave an angry squawk and shook herself from the lombre's grip, only to face him directly with a steely eyed glare, though with notably less outright malice than she had been sharing with Alex. "You don't get it, man. That pokemon you heard about that I had that horrific encounter with? That's her. That kanga right there," she spat, gesturing with her head towards Alex, now shooting another hate-filled glare at him again, "She looks exactly like her. Don't believe a word out of her fucking mouth, because all she wants is to bring pain and misery to as many pokemon as possible to try and forget about her own miserable, pathetic existence!" she ended off by screeching, once more aggressively advancing towards Alex the more and more she ranted.

Alex became more and more unnerved at the unstable pidgeotto's ravings, taking greater steps back, holding his arms up slightly in a defensive stance. Alex could hardly focus on what was even being said. His mind was reeling at how fast everything was happening and his instincts were screaming at him to use a move to defend himself with. It seemed like she wanted a fight. He was worried he was about to have to go through with it until the lombre started pulling her away from him again.

"Will. You. Ugh- Stop that?!" the lombre yelled in return, giving a much sharper tug on the bird, grounding her right in front of him, causing her to let out a startled squak. "Even if she was the spitting image of your captor," he continued after regaining her attention, "kangas like her don't appear out of thin air like she just did," he finished, gesturing to Alex, "so CLEARLY something else is going on here. Stop assuming the absolute worst when we have no reason to right now! Mother of Mew, girl, you're being as paranoid as your hattena friend right now."

In mere seconds, much to Alex's furthered confusion, the pidgeotto girl's rage melted away almost entirely, and she fixed a stare towards the lombre with so many conflicting emotions that Alex couldn't even begin to explain what she was feeling in that moment. She leaned in dangerously close to the lombre. "DON'T. Compare me to Lila," she growled in a chillingly low tone, "You have no idea what I've been through. All of that happened. It was fucking real. Don't you DARE imply otherwise."

The yanma, who had been largely silent up until this point, darted in between the two of them in the blink of an eye and swatted them both with his tail end. "Hey! Knock it off, you two! Find another time to have your lover's spat!"

The lombre held up his arms and gawked at the yanma in an exasperated and disbelieving manner, beginning to gesture at the furious bird pokemon, and the pidgeotto ruffled her feathers and leaned forwards angrily at the dragonfly pokemon, but before either of them could get in a single word of protest, the yanma quickly disregarded both of them and turned his attention back on Alex. "Now. Avery. If you don't wanna tell anyone the nature of your powers, you don't gotta. They're private to you, obviously. BUT. Unless you wanna be turned away, you need to tell us in detail when and how you heard of this place, because there is still something wholly unusual about you, and we need to make sure first and foremost that you're not a threat."

Alex blinked a few times and jostled his head briefly to regain his train of thought. "Okay, okay, just... gimme a second to regain my bearings again." Alex grimaced as he had to think up a story on the fly to tell them. "Okay, so... I was actually with a friend one day when they were-" Alex stopped mid sentence and shot a curious glance over to the pidgeotto, finally able to register the back and forth she had with the lombre. "Wait- back up a second, did you say you were friends with a hattena? Named Lila?"

The irritated bird pokemon scoffed rather loudly and once again shot a glare at Alex. "Oh come the fuck on, you're not seriously about to claim that you know her. That's bullshit and you know it," she shot in response. Though Alex was able to detect a very subtle air of curiosity in her voice that wasn't there before.

It was because of that subtle curiosity that Alex was instantly able to shake off any malice in her tone instantly this time. He instead racked his brain to try and figure out the source of the familiarity. "It really does feel like I've heard that name before, though... wait, a sec...!" Alex whispered out loud, drawing the three pokemon's full attention and curiosity, wondering where Alex could possibly be going with this.

It clicked in Alex's mind why that name sounded so familiar. He remembered meeting her face to face in the wooded area near his apartment complex. Then, another lightbulb went off in his head, and his eyes shot to the pidgeotto. "Wait, but that would mean-" Alex let out one of the loudest gasps he had ever uttered, and went slack jawed, staring at the now utterly confused bird pokemon in disbelief. "Oh my God, it's you. And you evolved...!"

That one comment from Alex instantly sparked three different responses of complete bewilderment. The yanma, much to Alex's discomfort, zipped rapidly between Alex and the bird pokemon, getting in both of their faces as he did so. "Excuse me, what? Carly, do you actually know this kanga?"

The lombre's reaction was a little more subdued, hesitantly taking a few steps away from Alex, now eyeing him closer than he had been before. "Shit, maybe she was right after all. Carly, if it's her, we need to be absolutely sure before we do anything else. What do you think?"

The bird pokemon's reaction had been the most extreme of the three of them. Her feathers had all but remained ruffled the entire time, and the odd comment only seemed to make it worse. She let out a confused squawk and violently flinched at the prospect of being recognized by a total stranger. The yanma repeatedly darting in her face certainly wasn't helping her nerves either. "W-wait, I don't know if it's her anymore! I thought it was at first, but... there's no way she would've recognized me after mentioning my friend of all things!" she cried, almost helplessly confused.

"Hold on! I can explain!" Alex suddenly called out, finding a slightly more commanding tone to get their attention and calm them down. Luckily for him, it appeared to work. Alex finally had their full attention. Alex let out a quick exhale, releasing a fair amount of tension from his body after finally gaining some level of control of the situation. "We actually did meet once before. A while ago. It was-" Alex briefly paused, trying to find a way to word it such that it wouldn't reveal too much to the other two who were less in the know, "well... let's just say our meeting was rather brief and that it wouldn't have happened in the first place had your friend not expressed her worries over you. So yea, I met Lila first, and she's the reason why I even met Carly in the first place."

Though she was no longer visibly angry, Carly's befuddlement appeared to be pushed even further, despite Alex's vague explanation. She flapped her wings, agitated that nothing was making sense to her. "But that- that can't be true! I've never met any other kangaskhan besides... her, but there's no way she could've known Lila anyway! There's no way YOU could know her! Unless..."

Taking a moment to calm herself down, Alex could tell the pidgeotto finally starting to ponder the facts in front of her. But as she puzzled it out, Alex's heart skipped a beat as something else suddenly clicked in his mind. 'Wait a sec, if she figures it out, is she gonna...'

Alex's fears were confirmed almost instantaneously when Carly's eyes shot wide open. Alex held his arms out, waving them erratically to try and stop her impending outburst. "Wait! Carly, don't-"

"YOU'RE MEW?!" she all but shouted in the loudest voice she could've possibly managed in that moment in time.

The two other pokemon accompanying her similarly gawked at Alex at the sudden revelation. "Y-you mean... THE mew?" "No... fucking... way..."

Alex just stood there frozen for a few seconds before slowly bringing his arms up to his face and letting out a quiet elongated groan into the palms of his hands. 'You know... for the life of me, I don't understand how I didn't see that one coming.'