Six months. It's been a half a year, and Archie still hasn't stopped pestering her about battling him. She knew that she would eventually have to show her pokemon, but for now, she was happy keeping Apolyta a secret, thank you very much. As much as she disliked the place, the pay was decent enough.

Though now, it seemed Archie was an… acquaintance.

He was loud, annoying, about as secretive as a train wreck in the middle of Rustboro, and would not stop pestering her despite her cold attitude towards him and everyone around her. However, they looked out for each other on missions and bailed each other out of trouble from the admins (though mostly Dock, Wattson didn't seem to care) if needed. Like that one time in Slateport, when she had abandoned her post to help out a baby wingull from a group of little brats, or when Archie decided to take the challenge of the trick house (and had come out with his carvanha looking pissed off; apparently punching through the wall was not the correct way to clear it).

"Hey squirt… We're friends, right?"

Friends…? What was a human friend? Humans lied. They cheated. The word was near foreign to her. Were they really friends?

"…"

A shark toothed grin. Confidence and happiness practically radiated from Archie. There was nothing deceptive in that gaze... or was there? Morgan couldn't tell. Hey, was that bad? That she had been shut off from human civilization for so long?

"I don't care what you think, but from today on, we're going to be best pals!"

Yeah, it probably was.

Morgan knew it couldn't last for long.

They were at a mission. Just the two of them. Thanks to Admin Wattson, who, despite his grinning countenance, was good at reading people, Morgan and Archie had been partnered up for numerous missions already.

They were guarding some important location at the summit of Mt. Chimney. She wasn't given any interesting details, and neither was Archie. They were just talking about nothing in particular, when-

Something went wrong.

It was a subtle change in the atmosphere. It wasn't much to note, except for the fact that a small increase of pressure could be felt.

Morgan frowned.

"Archie, is it just me or do you feel-"

Chaos.

Taillow and swellow, wingulls and pellipers, even some rarer bird pokemon that she didn't care about, flew in the air making a cacophony. The earth rumbled. Lava danced in the air, setting trees and bushes aflame.

The earth broke.

Cracks formed and pieces fell into lava where the land had been whole once and the earth was on fire—

"Squirt! Move!"

She couldn't. Her legs trembled and shook, and she couldn't move, her throat dry, fire was rearing its ugly head again, fire was attacking her again, stop it, it burned, nonono not again, please, stop this, someone, Apolyta, help—

As if by magic, Apolyta appeared, grabbed and swung Morgan onto her back and ran, Archie following close behind. Fire reflected in the eyes of both pokemon and human.

The mountain exploded into a sea of lava.

—-

She was seven when her father came home. Funny, for someone who just came back from pokemon training, he looked like he had never missed a meal and was well groomed too. Even Morgan could see that. There was just something about him... However, he made her mother happy and whole, and so she decided to tolerate his presence… for now, at least.

She was seven-almost-eight when her father decided to suddenly move them way out to Fortree city, away from everyone she knew.

It wasn't like Morgan had any friends to say goodbye to.

The problem was, she didn't have anything to do while her father stayed at home (there was no way she was going to keep him company) and her mother did house chores. And when Morgan was out of the house (and the city; tree houses became boring after a while), she decided to go exploring. A route where wild pokemon could gobble her up in one bite and the fact that she didn't have anything to protect her was unimportant. She was going to die of boredom in the city!

"…"

"…"

Okay, starting a staring contest with a pokemon she didn't recognize the species of was not a good idea. Maybe she should go and play in the lake nearby or something-

"OW!"

That pokemon did not just slap her in the face and wait was it laughing?

"Hey! You… Get back here!"

The mysterious pokemon ran into the tall grass white fur gleaming and tail high but Morgan was fast too and when she finally caught up she jumped…

And promptly face planted into the back of the pokemon, who was equally surprised at a child appearing on its back and buckled its legs at the unexpected weight. Morgan and the pokemon went rolling down the grass and into the lake.

Once they both climbed onto the shore, Morgan bust out in a fit of giggles as the pokemon shook out its long white fur— and soaked her again.

"Hey…! Stop that!"

And the chase began again. It wasn't until sunset when she and her new companion parted ways. As Morgan walked home a thought popped into her mind.

When was the last time she had this much fun?

—-

"An absol, huh."

"…"

In Hoenn myth, it was the absol who were responsible for all disasters. When an absol was seen or its cry heard, a disaster occurred soon after. Volcanoes blew, tsunamis wiped out entire towns, meteors struck the earth, earthquakes shook the land, a plagues wiped out an entire city… All of these and more were blamed on the absol. Absolve were the harbingers of Disaster and Death.

Any absol seen was killed on sight.

New research by some pokemon researchers shows that absols warn humans of disaster, but not much evidence proved it. Many superstitious people still clung to the old ways of kill or die.

Not to mention that absol were dark. Dark pokemon were considered evil by many, as were most ghosts and some psychics. This was evident everywhere in Hoenn and even in the other regions. Unova was especially superstitious, Morgan had heard.

"…Do you hate me for it?"

Her words were almost a whisper. She hadn't been this uncertain in a long time. As the ensuing silence nearly screamed in her ears, tears welled up in her eyes, stubbornly squashed. No weakness. Standing up, Morgan started to walk away. She knew it. No one would ever accept her or Apolyta, just like her father had said so many years ago.

"Hey, hey! What are you doing? Squirt! It's okay!"

What? Shock ran through her. The taller boy almost man was staring off in the distance, a fond look in his eyes.

"Huh… How should I say this? Well, Granny had an absol too. Gramps swore it was getting ready to swallow him at all times, but I was pretty cool with it."

Wide eyes looked up at Archie's. She couldn't believe it.

"Really? Are you sure? I mean…"

Uncertainty. Doubt. The very demons that have run her out of what was rest of her family were chasing her again.

"Don't worry about it, Squirt. I'm pretty okay with all pokemon that don't try to bite my head off. Or any part of me, really."

Morgan muttered something under her breath.

"Hm? What was that?"

"Thank you."

"Heh! No problem, Squirt!"

—-

Delphine was content. Her husband was home again, and he looked well and healthy. Her beautiful daughter looked much better than she was when they had lived in Verdanturf. Maybe it was the air here?

Humming as she hung up the laundry (the sun was perfect today! She was lucky to have a great husband that could get her this house), she watched as her daughter came running up to the door and practically knocked it down with the force.

"Mother, mother, guess what?"

Turning around to greet her little angel with a smile (because as a mother, you just couldn't not smile at your child) she quickly made note of all the scratches and bruises on Morgan's arms and legs. Where had she been playing today?

"Yes, my angel? What happened?"

"I made a new friend!"

This was wonderful! She hadn't heard Morgan talk about her friends since, well, ever. Smiling, she turned back to the laundry.

"That's great, dear! Invite them over sometime!"

"Actually, I've already brought her over. Her name's Apolyta! Can we keep her?"

Wait, what? Turning around quickly, Delphine was shocked to see an absol— absol!— staring back, with unmistakable pleading red eyes. The same red eyes that appeared in the darkness whenever disaster was about to occur.

("The red eyes only belong to demons, darling. We are safer here; do not venture out of the city.")

She couldn't help but to shiver in fear.

"Dear…"

"Mother, I promise! I'll take good care of her, and she won't make a mess, and please, mom!"

Morgan looked about to bust into tears. Oh no, as a mother, Delphine would not let that happen. Fishing around in her purse, she found a couple hundred pokes.

"My little angel, becoming a pokemon trainer is a long and hard road. But you remember the first rule, right? Always have some pokeballs! Go to the store-you do know where it is, right?- and buy some!"

The look on Morgan's face was worth any and all the trouble she would ever hear from her husband.

—-

"YOU…YOU ABSOLUTE ASS!"

Morgan ran. She had never heard Archie curse like this before. He usually kept his language to a moderation (he had younger siblings at home, he had explained once. "Ma forbid cussing around the kids"), so something really bad must have happened. As she ran towards the commotion, shoving some other people out of the way, she noted the interesting scene playing before her.

Hm… had Archie actually, finally…

Lost?

Morgan couldn't help but to allow herself a small smirk. Archie's ego really needed to be toned down a bit.

"Hmph. Your skill is unimpressive. You rely far too much on offensive firepower, leaving you open for attacks. As for your carvanha's rough skin… it is only useful when the opponent uses physical attacks. My numel, despite having a type disadvantage, could easily defeat your so called 'savage pokemon'. Hn… It seems that I am still far superior to you, inferior being."

Well, someone was rude. A closer examination revealed the winner of the brawl to be a higher up grunt. So, Archie had started to challenge people in this damned place that weren't horrible at battling? This was going to be fun to watch.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?"

Woah, Archie wasn't stupid enough to…

Who was Morgan kidding? Yes, he was. Grin quickly sliding off her face, Morgan jumped in front of her friend.

"Archie, please stop. Do try not to punch the… superior officer; you'll get fired. You already got your butt handed to you—"

Shoot, wrong thing to say.

"LET ME AT 'IM, SQUIRT. HE'S MINE."

As Morgan (with much effort, as the quick tempered idiot was much bigger than her) held the pissed off Archie back from certain expulsion, she felt golden eyes analyzing her. The other grunts finally helped her hold the still struggling idiot of a friend that she didn't know could be this stubborn about beating someone up…

"Hm? What do we have here?"

Dear Rayquaza that voice was nasal. And annoying. Somehow, Morgan couldn't blame Archie so much for losing his temper… No! Trying or rather, wanting to punch someone was bad!

"Hn… Sea green eyes , pale skin, and a slight accent. You must be a Sootopolitan?"

Sootopolitan, huh. It had been a while since someone confronted her about her race. Or to be more precise, her mother's race. Sootopolitans were the ancient race of Sootopolis, who were rumored to be descendants from mermaids and ancient heroes of the Age of Ice. Their turquoise eyes and hair only added on to their mystery. It wasn't that they were rare. It was just rare that they ventured from their sacred home into the vast lands of Hoenn.

"So what, what's it to you?"

"Hmph. My name is Maxie. You have heard the rumors of your blood being healing properties, yes?"

What. He couldn't be implying what she thought he was implying. Well, that one guy in Mauville asked the same question. This… this creep!

"…"

Keep calm, Morgan, he's probably no saying what you think he is. Yeah, there was no way that he was going to ask her that… right?

"I am only requiring a small sample, as—"

Maxie went flying back with a right hook to the jaw. The room of grunts were silent with awe. Even Morgan felt a little surprised.

Dang. That felt good. No wonder Archie liked beating people up so much… No! Punching people was bad!

"Hey squirt, how come you got to punch him?"

—-

Author notes:

Ah, OC!Morgan was such a cute little tyke. I wonder how her dear wonderful father is going to take the news?

Don't expect the next few chapters to be updated so quickly. This is only because I had already had this chapter fully written out.

Please drop a review on your way out. Constructive criticism will be appreciated. Until next time~!