It had been a couple of hours since our break down. In that time, me and Aria had calmed down again, but we were silent for most of that time.

During that time, the humans came to our door and used this small slot in the underside of the door to push in a square tray full of what looked to be food. It wasn't special. It didn't have the true look of food, either. A strange sort of berries I had never eaten that were green in color and didn't taste that fantastic at all and brown, odd encrusted large pellets that turned out to be, upon my tasting, potatoes. ... Their called potato tots? Weird name. Either way, they weren't very good. Probably not going to ever want to see them again, either...

Moments after we both ate at least some of what we were given, Aria had gone back to fixing my hair with those hands of her's and we'd just started talking away again. We touched on a lot of subject, just trying to pass the time. After I asked about her family, she gave me an interesting answer.

"I have... well, HAD, 13 sisters and a mother, all of which were fellow Meloetta that looked exactly alike except for size. I could tell you all of their individual sizes, but that would be boring." She smiled just a little and giggled softly. "Instead, just know that my mother was three times larger than I am now, so I have a lot of growing to do."

I blinked and sweat a bit. It wasn't the mother's size that got to me... I was just imagining having 15 Kimmy's in my own family and it was... creepy. "That had to be the most confusing line of sisters... I only have one and thinking about fifteen of her just nearly stopped my heart..."

She snickered through a grin that grew upon her face, just before finishing up with my hair. "Yeah, well I'm thankful, hah, they didn't act like clones~! They were vastly different. You wouldn't even be-lieve!" She then then made a blank face with wide eyes, which turned into swivel-lip-ed one with cocked brows. "Although... to my knowledge? Every single one spoke like a dang mystic."

Curious as always, I asked, "A mystic?" I had never heard the word.

Suddenly, she stands up on her knees and puts one hand to her puffed out chest and one outstretched. She had a cool look in her eyes while I swear her hair moved as if it was being blown by non-existent wind. "O', mine speech! Thee is holy without end! Tranquil like the river floweth, mine most graceful words! Yon Hero princess I pine for thee!" Suddenly she stops and puts her hands on her hips, then sticks it her tongue and raspberries it with bored eyes. She then rolled them and groaned. "It was a-nnoying!"

I had to hold back my laughter, just because it looked so funny. When I was sure I wouldn't laugh I huffed and smiled. "I wish I could do all the faces you do."

She folded her arms and smirked, sitting back down on her feet. "Trust me. When you get older, you'll figure them out. Making faces like those are easy."

I was almost about to giggle through my wide smirk, but then I just... well... I froze half way into it when I thought about what I might be when I'm older. A kirlia and maybe even a gardevoir... I lost that smirk pretty quickly when I remembered that I still didn't know what happened to mother. I knew even less about my sister, being she had escaped this whole mess, to my knowledge. I found myself frowning into the metal floor under me... I just sat there and closed my eyes. "Yeah... My mother and sister... I know my mother is in here with us, somewhere... I don't know what happened to my sister..."

When she heard that, Aria's eyes bugged... then she shut them tight and smacked herself in the face with an open palm. "Oh sweet Arceus, what was I thinking?"

"No..." I put a hand up and shook my head as she stared at me and blinked through confusion. "It's... okay. I liked hearing about your family. Honest..."

She sat there for a while, then scooted a little closer to me, twiddling her thumbs. "If I can still ask... what are they like? I mean, yeah. I saw how much your mom cares about you, but I don't know much more. I didn't even know you had a sister."

About then, I guess I smiled because I was thinking about how much I loved the both of them. "My mother... She's the literal picture of love and motherly kindness. She... I can't even begin to do her justice. And I don't think I will ever measure up to what she is... One time, she beat a metagross so bad that it totally lost it's mind. I..." I frowned when I thought about how she got caught... "Those humans were cowards... They only ever caught her because she was protecting Kimmy... But..." My head shook when I thought about how that made Kimmy sound... "It was never Kimmy's fault. They were just playing dirty... My sister is a lot stronger than me, even if she's nowhere near mom's level. I admit she could be a doofus, but no doubt. She was my best friend. We did everything together." A chuckle escaped my throat. "We'd take turns pranking each other and getting in and out of trouble with mom..." A calm smile came to my lips. "I ... really love them, both. I can only really wonder why a tiny little ralts like me can even be part of the same family as them." I gave a shrug and I huffed a laugh. "I don't measure up at all..."

"Well, that sounds like a bunch of bull." I snapped my head up to gawk at Aria as she smiled so wide. "You sell yourself so short that it's terrible. And I'm not just saying that because you're smaller than me." She let her smile relax down into a grin as she tilted her head. "You haven't really had enough time to figure yourself out yet, okay? I've been here this entire time and I've seen that you're a tough little cookie. Just wait. When you get older, you'll only be tougher, smarter and all-around greater."

I frowned exaggeratedly as she called me that, blush running through my cheeks as I scratched the back of my head. "Oh, come on. Don't mush me to death! My mom does that enough..."

With an amused smirk on her face, she curled her legs in and wrapped them in her arms as she rested her chin on her knees. "Ralina, you better get used to it. There is always gonna be someone "mushing it up"."

With a groan, all of me disagreed with that. It meant the corny lines were never gonna end.

On that note, I heard a very angry voice screech out multiple times, muffled by the door and maybe distance, making both me and Aria immediately jump and gasp, looking at the door of the room. We grew quiet...

A man was scream. His voice was rough and somewhat high pitched. [Failure! Again! I had such high hopes for zhis to whork! Aign! First zhe grass type, zhen zhe psychic! Zhey just kept giving out at zhe einde! Such promise! Such progress! Keins von BEIDEM! Test, after test, after TEST! Does zhe frustrations never einde! I just want for z-zhis to VORK- Ah-haa~...! ah... uuhn... ... I whant zhe normal type next- I... I need my geneeskunde. *Groan* ... Come to my office when you haff zhe subject ready.] ... Silence afterwards. For a minute straight.

"That guy was hard to understand." I looked at Aria and blinked, remembering she could understand humans. "He was making a lot of errors, but I caught some of it. Grass type, Psychic. Then 'just kept giving out at... something.' Then he started getting too loud and the echoes made it too hard to hear quick enough to make sense of. I understood "Normal type next" after he got quiet..." She looked at me, seeming concerned as she rubbed her hands together. "I'm.. half normal type... Did he ... Was he talking about me?"

I was going to comment, but then I heard another human's voice beyond the door. This one was a female. I looked at the meloetta and then back at the door with her, sitting up.

She groaned out it what sounded like frustration. HER voice was much easier on my ears. [That man! I understand he has a blood pressure problem, but he can be such a-... *sigh* Okay, Open the door. Lets get this over and HOPE that this time, the pokemon will survive.]

I heard a gasp from Aria and looked her way, eyes wide under my hair. "What? What did she-" -K'chunk!- I froze, not prepared for that at all. And by that... I meant the door opening. It slid open with a loud, metalic -SKREEE!-

[W-what.. in...]

I turned my head as my eyes grew wide in fear, seeing a human woman standing at the door with the same sort of armored men that caught us and brought us here. She was wearing a long, white coat that nearly seemed more like a dress in length. Under, she wore a frilly black skirt that went all the way down to her thighs. She clutched those wooden board to her chest that was full of papers clipped down to it's surface.

... It's called a Clip Board? Wow. How imaginative.

... Her face? Well, she had light green, round eyes, dark skin, black-as-night hair and a fairly angular jaw line. I guess when I think about it, she was kind of pretty. She looked somewhat young, but she was probably older than she looked. You could tell by her curves.

She just stared with a shocked and scared look on her face. She shook her head a few times very slowly, then looked at the armored men to her sides. They didn't seemed to see things as she did, showing no emotion and even coming toward us.

I and Aria both got up and ran to the back corners of the room, pressing ourselves into the walls as the men split up and tried to catch us. The man in front of me had a needle of some type in his hand attached to a clear tube filled with a clear liquid. He quickly took my arm as I screamed and pleaded, "No! No, let go!"

[Stop!]

The men suddenly look at the woman, startled as they pulled their needles back, giving us room to breath, even if every breath I took felt empty as I stood there, frozen and sweating.

The one holding Aria spoke as he kept a tight grip on Aria's wrist. [Maám?] I still didn't understand them, but Aria did, of course, judging by how she gazed wide-eyed at the woman, seeming to focus in on her with surprise across her face.

The human was shaking her head with this unbelieving scowl in her narrowed eyes, mouth open as she searched for more unfamiliar words. When she finally spoke, she glared at the soldier holding the Meloetta's arm. [Absolutely not! I don't care how much that man screams at me, we will NOT experiment on child stage evolutions! Let them go! Now!]

The man seemed to look between the Meloetta and her before settling on her, mask hiding the emotions he might be displaying. [Maám, with all do respect, that won't fly wi-]

[I said that I don't care!], she hissed while throwing down her clip board as it clanged against the metal floor, making it's papers fly every which way in a spread around the room! It made me flinch and look away for a moment, before I slowly turned my gaze back to this woman, hesitantly. I remember thinking she'd attack them.

The man holding me by the arm looked over to the other. The other looked to him. I wish I knew what had been going on beneath those masks, but there was no way. He looked down to Aria... then let her arm go as she wrenched it back from him, holding her wrist in her hand as she just seemed to continue to stare at the woman in surprise and confusion. That's about when I felt my arm get released, the human male standing up from me while he faced the woman. [If he gets mad, he better not aim that air horn he calls a mouth at us. I'm not paid to put up with bullshit like that.]

[Why...?]

I blinked when I heard the strange word from a very familiar tone of voice. My eyes traveled to Aria while they grew wide as she spoke again with furrowed brows and a frown. It was still surprising to hear human words come out of her mouth. Once again, I didn't understand any of her words. [Why.. are you helping us...?] I

The two guards had snapped their attentive stares down to her. I could practically see the shock beneath their masks when they gasped and stepped back. The woman, too, gasped while her expression turned to a wide-eyed shock. [You... you speak our language...?]

It wasn't a trick of the mind. It wasn't some telepathy. Aria's lips matched the words she spoke, just like before. [I do. And I understood most of what you said.]

As her mouth drifted open while she knelt down to pick up her clipboard and the various papers that had spilled off of it. She could only utter one word. [I-...Incredible...!]

The men both stepped away from us as one that had been holding my friend shook his head. [More like a freak show.]

Being the only one that was lost as to what was going on was nerve burning. I didn't understand a word they- anyone was saying now, with my one friend now speaking their language instead of our own. I just kept wide-eyedly looking back and forth between her and the humans.

[Why do you want us here if you have no real use in us being around?] The meloetta grew irritated now that she had their attention, eyes narrowing carefully on the woman. [Why not let us go, then? And why attack us and drag us here in the first place? You act with our health in mind, but only because we're "child stage pokemon?" And if we weren't, what then?]

The woman just looked away, uncomfortable with furrowed brows and a coat hidden frown I could just FEEL was there. She didn't make a sound for the longest time with the guards beside her speechless while they stared. I could practically hear them judging us within that moment.

Closing her eyes softly for a moment, the human woman then turned her head to Aria again, eyes open. [...What we're doing here has a purpose beyond what may seem pointless to all of you. Please... Understand, what we are doing here will benefit both sides. As much as I complain, I do know the right of all this, even if there is still the wrong...]

My friend shook her head and folded her arms, turning away from the woman. [You think it helps the ones you've already killed? The thing you're working toward... Does it bring back the dead?]

The woman seemed deeply wounded by that, a mortified frown on her face. She shut her eyes and turned her back to us. She seemed to be visibly shivering.

What I felt in that instance... confused me. I cocked my head to the side while looking at Aria. I didn't quite understand what it was I felt off of her. It felt crushing... freezing...

While I tried to understand what I felt, the woman spoke in little more than a choked whisper. [...I-I'm sorry... but I will do all I can to keep you two s-afe... E-excuse me...]

I heard something in the back of my head, but it felt like it was being led into me from the woman as I looked at her. Words were assembling into sentence structure in my head. The feeling was wet... and uncomfortable. It made my throat feel... stuck? {... But why must it be this way?} I let out a near silent gasp, then shook my head as my hand drifted up and massaged a temple. I must have moaned, but my head felt funny in that moment. Before I realized what was going on with me, I felt something warm and wet turn cold as it dripped down my cheek. My eyes grew as I righted my neck and reflexively slid my hand down to my wet cheek, knub hand catching the running wetness... I pulled my hand away and stared at it, the surface, wet and reflective. I had wiped my tear. My eyes squinted scrutinizing that as my mouth pursed open a bit, then scrunched as I raised a brow. I wasn't sad. I was scared, but not to the point where I wanted to cry. That I was in tears at all made no sense to me.

Rubbing my hand to my side to wipe the wetness from my hand, I looked back to the woman, who quickly brushed passed the two guards and exited the doorway to the left, both staring toward her for a moment before snapping their attention to the Meloetta. The left guard spoke. [That how you thank everyone who saves your miserable life?] He then turned to his buddy and nudged his head to the doorway. [We have our orders. Lock ém back up.] Then, he left the room while the remaining guard stepped just outside the door, taking one last look at me.

I could feel myself sweat through my glare while I lowered my head, but kept my gaze on him.

...He shook his head, then spoke. [You should teach her some manners, kid. That attitude's gonna get her in trouble.] I didn't understand a word, but I could feel the taunt in his tone.

He began to slide the door closed again with a long, loud -SKRRREEEE!-

A gasp escaped my throat with my eyes growing wide. The realization finally dawned on me. That was my only way out! I forgot everything and ran for the quickly closing gap in the door with all my strength, but...

-CLANG!- It slid closed and I ran face first into the thick, metal door instead, grunt before I quickly re-orientated myself and began to bang on the door as hard as I could. Again, I could hardly even make the door sound off with insignificant bumping noises. Again, we were trapped inside with no exit; not even the view of the hallway on the other side...

I eventually petered back out when my arms got tired enough, my pounding slowed rapidly while I started to pant and sweat.

Aria watched me tire with a frown, walking towards me.

By the time she reached me, I was already out of breath and my arms felt too heavy to move. I slowly leaned my head into the door while panting, sweat dripping down my face before falling away. I just stood there, tired, knowing that I couldn't get out. I'd wasted my energy trying. I wasn't as sad as I was angry.

Thinking about those guards and the weirdos that brought me here made my blood boil. My teeth grit together as my lips curled open... and then a hand came to gently rest on my shoulder. I snapped my head in it's direction with a small gasp, only to calm down upon seeing it's black and familiar fingers, letting my face relax into a blankness.

I turned myself to see my friend, doing her best to smile, despite how sad she looked with those furrowed brows. She didn't say anything, but... somehow, the smile was comforting by itself. My exhaustion was still there, but a smile couldn't cure that.

Lowering my head, I stared at her "feet" while thinking of what to say as I took a few much needed breaths... "What... What did the girl human say?"

She sighed through her smile before she stepped back from me, taking her hand off of my shoulder. Her smile was replaced with an uncertain frown. "I don't really know what to make of most of it. She DID just help us. Got the guards to stop."

I was suspicious of that, raising my head again to stare her in the eyes while I shook my head a little. "Why on Earth would she do that? What, does she think she'll earn berry points with us?"

The meloetta cocked a brow at me. "Berry points?" She paused for a moment while I opened my mouth to explain, but she cut me of as she shook her head and said, "Never mind that for now." So, I closed my mouth again, just listening. "I don't think she had anything to gain by letting us be. She still did it, though, which I have no idea how to take. When I asked about why she was working with humans like the ones that took us here, she got nervous and tried to justify what they were doing here. She said that this all has a purpose- that it would help both humans AND pokemon." She huffed with a bored expression on her face, raising her brows while she shrugged. "I asked her if it helps the dead. She seemed pretty broken up after that. Don't really know what I'm supposed to take from that."

I felt... confused... I disbelievingly narrowed my eyes behind my hair. I wanted a reason to be angry with the woman, too. After hearing that, though, I didn't know what to think, either... I briefly questioning myself aloud while I turned my attention to the ground, recalling that weird feeling from right before the woman left. "Was that what I felt...?"

Aria blinked over at me with a cocked brow. "Felt...?"

I didn't really have an answer, nor did I understand WHY I felt it. I still didn't know it was part of being what I am, but I knew one thing... Somehow, I'd just felt her emotions. Not only that, I understood what she was thinking, even though she should have been thinking in a different language completely.

My mouth opened... but it closed right back up as I thought. I had to be mistaken. {Okay, she's taking a while.} I gasped and snapped my head toward Aria and she in turn seemed taken aback as she jumped a little, eyes wide. Walking over to me, she frowned. "Ralina, are you okay?! What did you do that for?" I had already started to feel it again; the feeling coming off of her. It was ... too strange to describe. Maybe cold, maybe hot, but it was stinging.

I didn't understand what this was meant to be, but I knew one thing. I blinked and rubbed at my temple again as I turned to her. "I... I think I just saw what you thought and felt what you felt."

She cocked a brow for a moment... then smiled through a chuckle and furrowed brows while I saw her thoughts. {Has be tired.} The feeling from her turned warm, but fuzzy. "I think you need to rest, Ralina. You must be tired."

With how flustered and confused I was, I couldn't help but scowl when she didn't take me seriously. "I am not tired, Aria! I'm actually seeing what you're thinking!" I huffed and closed my eyes and covered my ears, trying to calm down. I could still see her thoughts, though. I even saw what face she was making... She just shaking her head and frowning. {Maybe it's worse than I thought. Being in a metal box and seeing those humans couldn't have helped at all, either.}

I suddenly got an idea as my eyes snapped open beneath my hair and acted upon it. She'd started talking but I immediately cut her off, talking over her. "Maybe it's worse than I thought. Being in a metal box and seeing those humans couldn't have helped at all, either." I watched her face as I spoke, seeing as it changed from confusion to shock and then seeing sweat roll her cheek. I spoke every thought she thought as they came to me like some chattot, but with mind reading powers. "Wait, I just thought that!" Her eyes grew wider and her mouth drifted open. "Hold on, how is she saying everything I...?!"

I dropped my hands from my ears and stood there for a moment, looking at her startled gaze. "... It's because I see what you're immediately thinking. Sorry if that scared you, but I need you to understand..." I frowned and began to shiver as I bent my head low, eyes still on her... "I'm scared, too. I don't know what's happening to me..."

It took her hearing me say that before her expression dropped into a lip bitten frown, a hand grasping and rubbing at an arm. I couldn't stop myself from seeing what she thought. {I can't believe this is real... And I can't believe I didn't realize how serious this was. She's a PSYCHIC type! I should have guessed this was real! I hate when I don't think about these things!} The feeling from off her felt wet and burning. It was regret, I realized. "I am so sorry, Ralina. I really didn't know. And I should have known! You're a psychic type. ESP and mind reading are essentially related there."

My hand went to my temple again as I tried to ease the stress I was under just getting this new ability. Before too long, I shook my head and tried to smile. It might have just been a flat line. "...I don't think I can be mad at you for not believing me, at first. Because at first, I didn't believe me, either..."

Under a groan, I cracked up and smiled noticeably. "Okay, that just sounded stupid."

Aria came over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, prompting me to look up as I did, losing the smile as I stared in confusion. She didn't say anything as she grin down at me, but her thoughts did. {Whatever the case, I hope it's not too noisy in my head. Don't wanna be a loudmouth without even opening my mouth.}

I paused for a minute, just looking at her as the feeling of warmth and comfort washed over me... I made a small smirk. "... No. They aren't noisy at all. Didn't I just say that I could READ your thoughts? There's nothing to hear."

Rolling her eyes a little, she sighed and wrapped me in a soft hug. "Well, I'm glad. I really am."

Any fear I had before was erased by the warmth I was getting from her, for the most part. There was still some about wondering where we were headed in the future, but I guess this was making it easier to handle.