Pre-Chapter Notes:

- I did tell you that update length and time would vary.

- Not much to say about this one... just that I'm actively trying my best not to make Skye sound a bit too wangsty, even though it's only been a couple of hours since Ryan. Ah well.

Before Nadine and Pongo had died, they had an egg.

It hatched into an absolutely adorable totodile, but Skye had never really gotten to see it. Heck, she didn't even know what Ryan (she bit back tears) had named it, since it was a rather lone-mightyena kind of individual and almost always stayed in its pokeball. It rarely fought, too, and as a result, never rose any higher than level 5.

When she had finally ran a good long distance away from the blackened portion of land people used to call New Bark, Skye dropped to her knees on the grass and spent a while simply crying. She rarely ever did cry these days, but when your brother is dead, your house was burned down to cinders, and you're all alone in the world with nothing but a pokemon you don't even know about, one's bound to cry.

After Skye had regained the strength to get up to her feet again, still wiping a few stray tears, she looked at her surroundings. It was Route 29, the route that was just right ahead of New Bark Town… or, rather, what was left of New Bark, if there was anything left at all. Skye, leaning on a tree, dug out the pokeball that was buried in her jacket pocket and stared at it.

It was a normal, red-and-white pokeball, with a strip of tape on it that read 'WILL'. Skye supposed that was the totodile's name. 'Will, huh…' Hesitantly, she held the pokeball out and pressed the button on the center.

In a dull flash of red light, the totodile came out, waddling around unsteadily. It looked up at its new trainer with curiosity, blinking its large eyes up at her. "Dile?"

"…" Skye sighed, before bending down to get on eye level with the totodile – or, as Ryan had named it, Will. "H… Hey there."

"Dile… toto, totodile." Will gazed around nervously, eyes widening even further when it saw the rather gloomy background. "Totodile?!"

"Shh! Keep it down," Skye hissed, looking around cautiously. The aliens might still be roaming around, and she didn't want to risk being discovered by them again so soon. Will blinked, before shuffling forward and pressing its scaly body against Skye's leg. She raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Hey, your… your name's Will, right?"

Will nodded in affirmation.

"Alright… so, here's the news. My brother's… d-dead…" It still hurt saying that. "And, and he gave you to me. So I'm your trainer. Yeah."

"Dile?" It cocked its head. Skye blinked, before figuring out it was probably asking a question. Though, what question, she didn't quite know.

"Um, well, for one, I'd want to go out there and find out who's behind all this alien business," Skye said slowly, deciding she might as well make that her personal goal now. Might get her killed in two days' time, but oh well. "And if it's not a problem, I want you to help me with that."

Will frowned, or made an expression that was close to a frown, with its giant mouth and all. "Dile, totodile."

'But how, exactly… am I going to do that?' Skye sighed. That was probably what her new pokemon was asking. She could already see that the newborn was much smarter than her. "I don't know yet. But I hope that maybe I – we can stop this alien invasion thing before it gets any worse. There are rumors about it being the end of the world and all, you know? Population's gone down to nine hundred thousand…"

"Eight hundred thousand and twenty three people, actually."

The sudden voice made Skye jump, and she twirled around to see who had been talking in perfect English – she was pretty sure she hadn't seen anyone else in the area… "Who was that?"

There was a beating of wings, and a round, brown bird pokemon landed on a nearby rock. Two large red eyes with black arrow-like appendages poked out from the edges. The hoothoot cocked its head (rather, its entire body) at her, making a small noise. "That was me. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my dear."

A noise that sounded something like a mixture between a gasp and a shriek tore from Skye's throat, and the girl scrabbled to get away from the new arrival. "W-W-Wh-Who are – Why – How can y-you–"

The hoothoot flapped its wings quickly, a panicked expression coming over its face. "Might you be alright, my dear? Shall I get you some water?"

"You're talking!" Skye whisper-yelled, trying to muffle herself with a hand. Will stood by her side, looking up at her with an equally befuddled expression. "You're a pokemon, but you're talking!"

"What? Excuse me, of course I can talk!" The brown bird 'hmph'ed and ruffled its feathers, now looking rather offended. "All pokemon can talk. Some humans just can't understand us."

"Ryan had pokemon," Skye breathed, the word 'had' tasting like acid in her mouth. "But I never understood them!"

"Hum…" the hoothoot, well, hummed. "Curious, how curious indeed…"

"That is not an answer."

"You asked nothing, my dear. What is there to answer?"

"I just – ugh!" Skye gripped both sides of her head, looking just about ready to pull her head off her shoulders. "I just – why is everything going so horribly wrong today?! Pokemon talk now?! That's stupid! Why does – aaargh!"

"My dear, if I may," the hoothoot interjected slowly. "May I present to you a theory?"

"What?" Skye growled, putting just enough scowl to her expression to send the hoothoot back another cautious step.

The brown bird cleared its throat nervously. "Well, I would think that since they weren't your pokemon… then you wouldn't be able to understand them."

"You're not my pokemon either. Why would I be able to understand you?"

"That must then mean you are fated to catch me," the hoothoot trilled, flapping its wings in excitement. "It is destined to be, it seems!"

Skye stared at it flatly. "What use would a hoothoot be for?"

"… Dile," Will grunted after a long silence in which the hoothoot in front of them had gone into shocked silence. Skye wondered if the totodile had said something along the lines of 'nothing'.

"… I say," the hoothoot finally said, with a touch of nervousness in its voice. "You are quite the frightening human."

"Because that was totally a compliment."

"It wasn't."

"I know that–!"

The hoothoot sighed, cutting off the irritated girl's exclamation. "Well, I must insist I join you, now. If anything, I will need to show you exactly how useful us hoothoots can be."

"What if I don't want a hoothoot?" Skye grumbled, though she was already fairly resigned to her fate.

"Well, that's too bad, don't you think?" it trilled. It then gave a sort of curtsy to the girl in front of it, or rather, soon-to-be trainer. "You may call me Lyon. I hope to be of use to you, no matter what it is you may believe."

Skye didn't consider herself good-looking, or anywhere near it. She was maybe in between, but most of her considered prettiness, according to the girls at school, was due to her long brown hair that had streaks of lighter brown in it. Skye didn't care much for her hair, so cutting it off had been hilariously easy.

Will's teeth had a use, after all. Skye instructed him where exactly to bite on and pull, held her hair up in a ponytail with her hand, and directed at the point. Will complied easily, tearing off a giant portion of her once-long hair and leaving her with unevenly-cut hair that barely reached the nape of her neck.

Really, Skye didn't particularly want to part with the only thing that allowed her the position she was given in the social ladder at school, but right now, school wasn't important in the least. Surviving was her top priority, and dying because she was delayed by her hair getting caught in some tree branch didn't sound very appealing to her. Lyon approved, and commented that her hair looked better short, anyway, but after that part, Skye tuned out whatever else the hoothoot on her shoulder kept chattering about.

The route was oddly silent. While it was a pretty short path and contained few wild pokemon usually, this silence was just plain uncharacteristic. Plus, the aliens should still be here, somewhere, at least one or two – but there wasn't another living thing in the route except for the three of them. Feeling rather unnerved at the silence that was occasionally broken by Lyon's talk, Skye scooped Will up in her arms and placed him close against her chest, perhaps in an attempt to calm her still-fast-beating heart.

The totodile made a sound that was neither approving nor disapproving, and remained quiet after that, too.

The walk continued in tranquility. Or, it would have, had Skye not gotten careless.

She tripped on an overgrown tree root, landing on a rather hard path of ground and releasing Will in the process. The brunette gave a sharp yelp of pain, quickly followed by Will's own hiss – both sounds echoed in the empty route almost threateningly. Skye curses softly, shushing Lyon as he worriedly chirps about her leg (come on, it's in denim already, it's like the hoothoot is her mother) and snatching Will back up into her arms.

She remembered something she heard, a few months ago. Aliens have sensitive ears and smelling, in exchange for their eyesight. The sound she (and Will, and Lyon) had made – it was sure to attract the aliens from miles away, in New Bark…

There was the sound of rustling leaves and bushes. The brunette does not hesitate before turning around and running as fast as her legs can take her. Lyon chirps in protest, taking to the air and flying beside Skye, while Will keeps quiet, giving out light grunts every time Skye takes a particularly rough leap over a dead log or a fallen tree trunk. It's this time that the brunette's all too grateful she cut her hair, because some of the trees that haven't fallen yet are hanging so low that with every step she takes, a tree branch swings by and smacks her across the face.

The rustling gets louder, and louder, and louder. Skye tries not to scream, starts looking left and right for a hiding place because she knows she can't run forever –

Something crashes into her from the side before she knows it. It's big and yellow and blue and crackling. Nothing stops her from the screech that tears out of her mouth, this time, and she scrabbles to get away from the claws pinning her down. Will is immobile, crushed between her and the creature, and Lyon is flitting back and forth behind them, trying to dive for an opening, but looking frightened to death –

"Heel, Zin!"

There is a moment of silence punctured by Skye's gasps and Lyon's chattering. The creature (pokemon, Skye sees, now) withdraws slightly, claws no longer stabbing the front of her shirt, and steps back slightly. Its teeth are bared in a growl, light blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. A boy, though he could easily pass as man with his height, casually walks up towards her like a giant manectric hadn't just nearly crushed her and stares her down with cold, steel-gray eyes.

"Get up and tell me your name, now."

The brunette can't even find it in herself to oppose him, and wobbles to her feet, standing unsteadily on her knocking knees. Will stays behind her leg, eyeing the manectric warily, and Lyon flutters to land back on her shoulder, whispering an apology that he couldn't do anything but that pokemon was an electric-type damn it –

"… It's Skye."

"What is your hoothoot telling you?" He asks, again, harshly.

"He's – apologizing. For not doing anything." The brown owl pokemon's talons dig into her skin, not deep enough to elicit blood, but certainly deep enough to cause fleeting moments of pain. "Who're you?"

"Are you an emissary of the aliens?" The man – boy, she corrects herself – asks, yet again, seeming not to acknowledge that she had spoken at all. "I will know if you are lying, girl."

'He asked for my name – he could at least use it…' "Uh, no."

The boy remains silent. He glances down at the manectric beside him, watches it crackle with frighteningly sharp lightning bolts – and, as it sits down on its haunches and does nothing else besides merely watch Skye with a skeptical eye. The brunette lets out a long breath – then breathes it back in when the boy is suddenly not more than an inch away from her face.

She screams something unintelligible (it might have been 'sexual harassment') and springs out of the way, landing on a rock that she barely manages not to trip and fall on. Lyon chirps, hovering in the air just above her shoulder, but the brunette doesn't even look at him – she's much too busy trying to put as much space as possible between the boy and her without letting him out of her sight.

It's not working. He's faster than he looks.

It's a few more moments of silence before he mumbles, "I go by Kyle."

Beat. "What?"

"Kyle. That's my name. You asked, didn't you? Kyle Megarion." He sweeps some of his dark brown hair out of his eyes, looking calm and composed. Skye vaguely notes that his hair is even longer than her own.

"Then, I'm, uh. Skye Noir. Just call me, uh, Skye." The brunette shuffles from foot to foot, now that she's aware that since she's not affiliated with the aliens in any way, the boy – Kyle – has no reason to hurt her. And neither does his manectric, which is the one she's more afraid of, really.

"What are you out here for? Trainers rarely come out, especially ones like you." He eyes her from head to toe, making her a little uncomfortable. "Ever since the aliens, anyway."

"… I want t' find out," she blurts out. "About the aliens. The truth behind them. Why they're here. So I can find out where they used t' live and kick them right back there." She didn't exactly mean that, but she certainly meant the part about knowing about the aliens' existence. This seemingly piqued Kyle's interest, as he stopped rummaging through his old brown backpack and looked back up at the brunette, eyebrows raised.

"Is that so, now?"

Skye shifts to hide behind a tree inconspicuously. "… A little. Maybe. Yes. But – I don't know how. That is, I – they're different kinds, and all. I won't survive for long. But I want – just long enough. To know about them. So I can, maybe…" she bites her lip, tears off some dry skin, tastes the blood that she can imagine is her brother's. "Maybe, I mean, avenge him. Ryan."

Kyle doesn't speak. He reaches into his bag and hands the brunette five empty red-and-white spheres. Lyon is inside one in a minute.

The brunet agrees to travel with her, at least until Cherrygrove. It was more along the lines of Skye tailing him – another human being, cold he may be, is better than no human being at all. Lyon stayed on her shoulder, chattering away quietly, or as quietly as he can, anyway, but Will opted to return back to his pokeball.

"Do you understand your pokemon?" Skye dares to ask, looking up unsurely. Kyle stops, turns to glance at her for a fraction of a heartbeat, then turns back to look in front of him and continues walking. The brunette frowns, mouth twisting to form a soundless curse –

"Sometimes. A little, yes." Comes the unexpected answer. Skye halts in her tracks, Lyon chirping in surprise, but she quickly continues when she realizes he's not looking back to wait for her. "I can hear Zin, but only when it's important. Other times, it's normal pokemon noises. But you–" He stops, turns around to actually look at her this time – "You're a new pokemon trainer. You've only started today. And you can understand a pokemon you just caught."

"I never–"

"No, you didn't tell me anything about yourself." Kyle narrows his eyes, skepticism evident in the sea of gray. "But I do have more than one pokemon."

The grass rustles. Skye jumps nearly a foot in the air and scrambles backwards, clutching Will's pokeball and hand instinctively raising to where Lyon perched on her shoulder. The grass rustles, moves, and –

A cyndaquil. It's a cyndaquil.

Skye is tempted to fall over laughing, but there are consequences there that she'd rather not face. She was just frightened to death by a cyndaquil, and that cyndaquil had been tracking her ever since New Bark –

She pauses.

Crouches down.

Faces the cyndaquil.

She says, whispers, barely a breath – "Ryan is dead."

The cyndaquil hums, a quick nod. It tilts its head, murmurs something, backs away slowly, but not too warily. It croaks out, smoke spewing from its opened mouth, "Increased."

Skye realizes a second after that the cyndaquil isn't talking to her anymore. Kyle kneels down next to it, stroking its head with two fingers, then mutters something Skye can't hear. The cyndaquil replies something equally unintelligible, then hums again and pads over to Skye. It – it's a she, Skye realizes, through the sound of its voice – sniffs her first, turns her snout haughtily, looks like she's going to head back to her trainer –

But no, she goes even closer to the brunette, clambers up to her hair, and starts smoothing it out.

Kyle almost smiles. Almost.

Instead, though, he gestures for the brunette to follow him as he walks on. Skye fumbles for a moment, makes sure the cyndaquil is alright on its position, then follows.

It's night when they reach Cherrygrove. Skye doesn't have a watch, but Kyle informs her that it's about nine after a quick glance at the bleak sky. She doesn't want to know how he can tell time by looking into that infinite darkness, and simply decides to find somewhere to sleep.

Cherrygrove is barren. The ground is scorched, and there's not a human or pokemon in sight. There are a few houses and buildings still standing – most of the roofs on them are in tatters, but unless it's going to rain, neither of the trainers care.

The pokemon center is their safest bet. It's tucked away in a little corner, shadowed by hanging trees and cradled by large rocks and boulders. There's a patch of burnt land with dead things on it that might have once been flowers beside the center, and Skye feels a pang of sadness eat away at her heart at the sight of the depressing area. Nevertheless, she follows Kyle inside the building, and envies the boy for being able to hide his emotions so well.

He finds a place to sleep without a word, the only words he speaks being, "I'll be staying here," and, "Good night."

Skye takes a little more time, but she suspects it's only because she's too used to the once-luxury of her home. Lyon is even more active and talkative, which only makes sense, while Skye is quite sure Will's gone to sleep in his pokeball already. The brunette decided on an only slightly-charred couch and lies down on it, head on the armrest, staring up at the cracked ceiling. Lyon's perched on the backrest of the couch and is singing a peaceful nighttime lullaby, which the brunette doesn't mind too much – just that he might attract some unwanted audience from outside, is her problem.

Her eyes are closing fast, but she struggles to keep them open, all the same, because where's the fun in going to sleep so early? She rethinks on a couple of things, and stifles a sob at the memory of Ryan – she cries as silently as she can without looking over at Lyon, though she knows he knows she's crying, it's not at all subtle –

The lullaby goes down a notch in tone. It's a little deeper, a little softer, a little more solemn. She can hear the responding tunes of the hoothoot outside, too – she learned this in music class; round singing, or something. Skye's breath hitches, her eyes are blurring, and she closes them to keep too much of the tears from spilling out –

But she falls asleep, anyway.

Word Count: 3400. Whew.

Well, introducing Kyle Megarion, and a new teammate, Lyon the hoothoot! I mean, you can't get treeckos in HeartGold so I figured a hoothoot would do. Also, it's annoying, because whenever I type 'hoothoot', I always type 'hoothott' before I Backspace the hell out of that and it just makes me think, oh God, hot hoothoots. See, I spelled it as hoothott again.

Anyway. Uh. Er, I was powered by the strength given to me by waffles and syrup, and also good grades, so this update came earlier than expected. Up Next: a new human teammate, and a new pokemon teammate too! Uh, maybe, at least. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

Slacker, 9/5/14