No way. It can't be...an update?!

Yes, I'm back, or rather, this story is back. I am SO sorry for ignoring this fic, but I had a really tough several months, what with my laptop still still being repaired, rewriting Trainer, college, the usual. It's also part writer's block and declining interest in this fic, but if you're still reading this after several months, all I can say is thank you for sticking with me. I have a lot of ideas for this that I want to complete and it just broke my heart to ignore this PMD fic.

Rest assured, this will finish one day, although I don't know when. In the meantime, please enjoy this chapter! RR!

XxXxX

Xavier spent the next several days reading up about his new home. He knew next to nothing about this world and always felt awkward whenever he was with the rest of the guild members, who were quite knowledgeable about current and past affairs of the pokémon world, and the Treecko always did his best to change the topic whenever they asked for his opinion.

By now Xavier was starting to panic; he didn't want to arouse his new friends' suspicion. Thankfully, Zairian's Guild had an enormous library which held an absurd amount of books in its shelves.

He spent most of his time in solitude rather than with Zachary or Yvette. Although they'd helped each other a multitude of times, he didn't exactly consider them as his friends. They were companions who would help him on his quest to return to his real home.

Xavier checked out a myriad of books from the library with the help of the kindly librarian – an Oranguru by the name of Merlin. Xavier could see that he was immensely powerful due to the strong psychic presence that radiated from him. Merlin had raised a eyebrow when he saw Xavier stumbling towards him with a load of thick books in his arms, but shrugged it off by saying that he loved seeing people read.

In the end, Xavier skipped lunch and headed secretly to his team's room to go through one of the books he'd borrowed from the library. Several of them were dusty, but a few looked quite new and not as mouldy as the others.

He flipped a book open as he slowly munched on a Liechi berry. A few pages later, he came across a large map of what seemed to be this region.

It was large, a bit like the Hoenn region, with little land and a lot of water. It was...fractured. Islands were scattered inside of it, but the rest of it was land, with jagged and uneven edges. The right hand corner of the page had a series of larger islands, kind of like Sevii, except that there were eight chunks of land aimlessly arranged next to each other.

A volcano – Xavier assumed that it was a volcano – jutted out in the north of the region. The land had dotted red lines to mark different territories – Samagaeru, Hodor, Lezin, to name a few.

The monarch system was...interesting. The Opolov region had seven districts (as far as he knew, he was in Thecenae district), each with a king of their own, but with a High King that ruled over the entire region. The High King could be from anywhere, but he had to be the eldest descendent of Ares, the legendary Emboar who singlehandedly united the fractured territory of Opolov under a single banner a few hundred years ago with nothing but his own will and strength.

The current High King was Alexander III, the Empoleon who had unexpectedly taken over fourteen years ago after his father, a Slaking by the name of Royal, had died mysterious due to an overdose of poison. The current High King was pretty unpopular since Royal had been a great ruler, and many thought that Alexander had most probably killed his own father for the throne, but Xavier didn't think so. He didn't think such a meek person would do such a thing to his own blood. Then again, humans did that too, so it wasn't surprising...

Xavier pondered more over History of Opolov. It wasn't uninteresting, but after thirty minutes Xavier was bored of skipping pages of seemingly unending wars that occurred every few years. Frankly, Xavier was astounded to find out that there had been seven squabbles in the span of ten years. Apparently Alexander wasn't good at keeping enemies at bay—

He flinched and choked on the Liechi berry as the door was kicked open with sudden speed and Yvette hopped inside. The Torchic stared at him quizzically as Xavier repeatedly thumped his green, reptilian chest in an effort to push down the half-eaten lump of the Liechi berry in his throat. After what seemed like an eternity, he forced the bolus down his oesophagus and glared at Yvette, his eyes watering from the pain.

"Y-Yvette!" he spluttered. "You scared the bejesus out of me!"

The Torchic frowned. "How was I to – are you reading?!"

The Treecko hastily shut the book and stashed it in his bed. Yvette stared at her friend with wide eyes before shrieking in laughter.

"Oh my gods, I can't believe you were reading!" She let out another squawk full of mirth. "What are you, a nerd? I mean, I knew you were nerdy, but I didn't know you were an actual nerd. Wait till Zachary hears about this! Arceus, this is..."

Xavier sighed internally in relief. At least she didn't suspect me of anything, he said to himself in relief. I was just shitting myself for no reason...

"What are you reading, anyway?" Yvette asked once she was done booming in laughter, a bizarre sound to hear coming from a Torchic. She waddled over to Xavier and peeked at the books on his new bed. They'd been doing so many missions over the past two weeks that Zairian, the eccentric Azumarill, had awarded them the Bronze Rank, which gave them new perks such as a new room on the third floor (which included fluffy beds which were not made of straw), access to training rooms and higher ranked missions, larger rewards, etc. Personally, Xavier didn't care, but it was a huge improvement from the confining rooms they'd spend ten weeks in.

"History of Opolov," Yvette muttered softly. She turned and frowned at Xavier. "Why are you reading this? Surely there are many other more interesting books in the library," she told him.

Xavier smiled nervously. "Uh, I was just, um...revising!" he exclaimed. "Yeah, revising my knowledge about the region, y'know. I like this kinda stuff..."

"Huh." She looked strangely at the Treecko. "You're a very weird majuu, Xavier."

That one caught him by surprise. "Ma-what?" he asked.

Yvette shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you're playing at, but you've got a terrible sense of humour. Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed. "The main reason I came up here was because dinner's commencing in a while. Make sure you're there or the Guildmaster is going to get pissed. Got it?"

Without waiting for a reply, Yvette haughtily walked out of the door, allowing Xavier to sigh in relief when she finally slammed the door shut. That was close. Plus, he didn't understand what Yvette had called him...Marge? Maagic? The Treecko shrugged and reached out for a book. He'd figure that out later.

About half an hour later, when Zairian's voice blared through the speakers in the room, Xavier made his way to the dining room on the second floor. It turned out he was late; almost all seats were taken, but the Treecko managed to squeeze himself between a Granbull and an Ivysaur thanks to his lean and slender body. The head chef, Polo, a Chansey, grumbled once he saw the Treecko but, nevertheless, brought another plate of roast berry for him.

Dinner was pretty much the same affair as usual. Xavier ate slowly, lost in thought and he didn't talk much since the pokémon next to him were unknown. He could see Yvette and Zachary several seats away. In fact, to they were sitting only two seats away from the Guildmaster while Xavier was sitting at the other end of the side. After the meal, The servers brought forth the dessert, and Xavier tucked into it heartily. Before he could do so, however, Zairian rose from his seat and demanded silence.

He got it. "Well as you all know," the Azumarill said, "we are currently in the third quarter of the year. The guild has been doing quite well, thanks to all of you bringing home fame, thanks and, not to forget, money. Anyway, it is a tradition for the Guildmaster and a select few guild members to go out on a group expedition with several guildmembers to explore new and normally-inaccessible areas annually." There were collective gasps around the table, and many pokémon, including Xavier, who began sitting up straight and finally started to pay attention. "This year, however, seeing as there are a multitude of Bronze Ranked teams, I and my team of trusted staff have decided to lower the team requirement from Silver to Bronze."

Several more gasped; pokémon were muttering to each other in loud whispers until Vicky had to slam the table with a fist, gaining all attention onto the Hawlucha and then the Azumarill.

"This is the first time in many years that such a perk has been provided" (Xavier could see Yvette staring at Zairian with shining eyes) "and so I urge you to make haste and do your best to be selected for the Zairian Guild's expedition. I will select only a handful, so get to work and become part of the cream of the crop in Zairian Guild! Good luck!"

The second Zairian finished, everyone exploded into speech as the got up and dispersed. Yvette and Zachary immediately rushed over to Xavier with grins on their faces.

"Xavier!" Yvette exclaimed. "Did you hear what Zairian said? Bronze Ranked teams are allowed too. Wow!"

"Yeah, I heard that the first time, thanks," Xavier replied.

"That's not the point," Zachary snapped. The Croagunk looked excited. "The point is that we have a shot at this! Plus, Zairian's expeditions are legendary! I heard they went to Miracle Mountain last year."

Xavier didn't know jack about Miracle Mountain, but he did his best to look impressed. Zachary grinned at him. "So," the Croagunk said, "starting tomorrow, we are going to become newer and better versions of ourselves! We will wake up at the crack of dawn, earlier than Whis comes into our room—"

"—I don't think that'll work out for me—" Yvette muttered in an undertone.

"—and we will select only the hardest missions that our rank is allowed," Zachary finished, completely ignoring Yvette. "Oh, and we'll do as many chores as we can! Oscar told me that they give rewards for doing stuff like that and they even have a record of who did what chores. We'll make the cut in no time flat!"

Xavier shrugged. "Okay, if you say so..."

Yvette suddenly nipped his arm, earning a gasp of pain from the Treecko. I don't think you understand the seriousness of this situation, runt!" she shrieked. "We have to get selected no matter what! Or else I'ma eat you for breakfast!"

"I'd like to see you try," Xavier sneered.

"Okay, that is enough!" Zachary squeezed himself between his two friends. "If we keep having petty fights between ourselves, we'll never be selected. They the behaviour and your social skills into consideration too, you—"

"Oh, shut it, Zachary," Xavier snapped.

XxXxX

"CROOOOOOOAAAK!"

"What the f—"

Xavier shot up from his bunk bed, ready to see the face of Whis the Exploud (who also served as the guild's alarm clock in addition to being an Explorer), but was surprised to find a cheery Croagunk an inch away from his face.

"Wha – Zachary—?!"

Zachary grinned. "What the hell are you doing?" Xavier asked in a hiss.

"Don't you remember our promise last night? We decided to wake up early so that we'll get the best missions of all!" he reminded the Treecko. "And that'll only happen if we wake up as early as possible."

"Well, what time is it?" Xavier asked hesitantly, afraid to find out the answer.

"Five-thirty."

Xavier groaned. "Goddammit, Zach! But Whis doesn't wake up before seven o'clock—"

"Exactly, but I'm not going to wait for you to complain about this," Zachary interrupted. Instead, he leapt down from Xavier's bed and onto Yvette's, which was the one below the Treecko's.

Zachary pressed his lips next to Yvette's ear, then bellowed a deafening croak that immediately woke up the third member of Team XYZ. The Torchic shrieked and jumped so high that she hit her head against the lower part of Xavier's bed.

"Intruder alert, intrud—" she screamed, but stopped when she recognised Zachary's laughing face. "Zac, is that you?!"

Once everything was cleared out, the trio made their way to the common room. The only pokémon who were still awake we most of the staff members, the Guildmaster and two or three other exploration teams who had the same idea as them. Other than just a quick nod of acknowledgement and a polite smile for some, they didn't say anything until they reached their destination.

Xavier found it weird for an espresso machine to exist in the pokémon world, but he nevertheless enjoyed his coffee. It was even weirder to see Zachary and Yvette gulping down cup after cup of coffee until they seemed to be energised by the caffeine. When the two were done, they each gave Xavier a strangely excited smile before they rushed to the assembly room.

Xavier, Zachary and Yvette saw Zairian in the assembly room with shades over his eyes. It was an odd sight, but a sight the three of them were used to. "Hello, Guildmaster," the three chanted excitedly when they saw the Azumarill.

"Hello, guildlings!" she greeted back. "A bit early, aren't you? I haven't asked Whis to take up alarm duty so early!"

Zachary grinned fiercely at her. "No, Guildmaster, we decided to wake up on our own. Y'know, 'early to bed, early to rise, makes a majuu healthy and wise'. Er, and we wanted to do our best to get selected for the group expedition," he admitted sheepishly.

Zairian chuckled. "Oh, do your best! I really hope I see such energetic majuu with me on the expedition!"

"Well hope so, too," Xavier said, but silently he was wondering, What the heck is majuu

She waved at them. "Anyway, I've got to go. Guildmaster work, you know. Ta-ta!"

The three waved back at her as she left. Yvette grinned at her friends.

"Maybe she's developed a soft spot for us," she told them. "Oh, I do hope she takes us with us! It'll be so much fun!"

They spent a good amount of time over choosing the required missions, and finally they came up with three: two retrieval missions and a rescue mission. The retrieval missions were pretty easy since both of the required items were in the same location; they received a healthy reward (most of which was given to the guild) and were now halfway through their rescue mission.

"Ugh..." Yvette scrunched her face in disgust. "I didn't expect Damp Cave to be so damp...This place sucks..."

"I have to agree with Yvette on this one," Xavier admitted, pulling out his foot from a puddle of mud he'd accidentally stepped into. "Why couldn't we choose a better mission?"

"Because the only one with the biggest reward," Zachary explained. "These rich families pay anything to get what they want."

Suddenly a thin jet of water was blasted from the distance and Xavier instantly ducked, avoiding the Water Gun. "There's a feral majuu in the area!" Zachary called out. "Get ready!"

Xavier crouched, his ears pricking at any sound in the distance. Yvette was scratching at the ground with her claws while Zachary had his powerful arms at the ready.

Then, a small, yellow reptile pounced out from behind a moss-covered rock and shot a tendril of electricity that struck Zachary square on his chest and knocked him off the ground. Xavier and Yvette jumped back as the lizard-like creature – a Helioptile, Xavier corrected – landed on the wet and muddy ground, hissing aggressively.

"G-Get it!" Zachary choked out a moment later. Xavier swung his tail at the Helioptile for a Slam, and Yvette lunged at her with a Scratch, but Helioptile adeptly jumped back and caused the Treecko and Torchic to crash into each other. While Xavier and Yvette groaned more surprise, the feral Helioptile shocked them with a powerful Thundershock that sent them twitching. The electric-type giggled for a moment but ceased immediately when Zachary leapt at it with a purple fist.

The Poison Jab connected with Helioptile and sent her doubling over in pain. Apparently it had great strength and speed but not good stamina. They could work with that.

"Die!" Helioptile cried in a surprisingly raspy voice. The frills crackled with electricity and discharged a large amount of lightning from her entire body.

The discharge of electricity struck all three of them, but Xavier got the worst of it because he was still in the large puddle of water. Every nerve in his body burned for those few seconds as the electricity flowed over his body. He gasped in pain and fell to the ground, his muscles aching.

But Xavier pushed himself up and leapt into the air, glaring at the Helioptile. "Eat this!" He opened his mouth and spewed a stream of indigo flames that blasted the reptilian creature from her spot, flying right towards Zachary, who pummelled Helioptile's back with a Drain Punch, tossing her into the water. Helioptile struggled to push herself back up, but a Yvette opened her beak and let loose a swirling torrent of flames that completely engulfed Helioptile and earned shrieks and screams of pain from her. The Torchic kept going with the Fire Spin until the cries of agony subsided, and Yvette closed her beak shut, effectively ending the fire attack.

"Good riddance." Yvette huffed proudly and rolled the Helioptile over with a claw. Her body was completely roasted and her eyes were wide with pain, her skin hard and rough. "I'm so powerful, I took down a Helioptile with just one Fire Spin!"

"Actually, she might've had the Dry Skin ability," Xavier mused, "which was why she seemed to take more damage from your fire ty – uh, element moves. You're not all that strong, you know," he finished, smirking.

Zachary guffawed loudly, but stopped when he saw Yvette's murderous expression. "Anyway, let's go onwards! We've got a Cyndaquil to save."

Xavier nodded. He and Zachary marched forwards, Yvette following a moment later after she spat a few burning embers at the already-unconscious Helioptile.

XxXxX

Two hours later they were back at Gem Town, delivering the rescued Cyndaquil back to his parents. Apparently Gon (the Cyndaquil) had gone on a trek to Damp Cave with his friends and accidentally stumbled on an Dewpider nest, where his friends quickly abandoned him and left the Cyndaquil at the mercy of the Dewpider and the lead Araquanid. Xavier, Zachary and Yvette had taken down the six Dewpider easily, and, after what seemed like eternity, pinned the Araquanid down with them. Gon's family had given them a fairly large sum of money (it would've been much larger if ninety percent of it hadn't been given to the guild) and then they'd set of for Zairian's Guild.

When they finally reached Zairian's Guild, they were dead-tired and made their way to the hospital wing where they were treated by the doctor/head chef, Polo. The Chansey's healing skills were incredible and the trio were patched up in a jiffy. After thanking Polo, they made their way to their room to await further instructions from Zachary.

"Okay, now that we're done with our missions, we've got to sign up for chores," the Croagunk told them in his deep, calm voice. "Yvette, you'll sign up for washing the dishes after dinner—" the Torchic scowled, "—Xavier, you'll be up for guard duty while I'll be at clean-up duty. Got it?"

"Yes Siree!" Xavier said.

"How the hell am I supposed to clean the dishes?" Yvette complained. "I don't even have hands!"

Zachary shrugged. "You'll have to figure that out on your own," he told her nonchalantly, causing her to fume in anger, but the Torchic didn't say anything. "Okay, people! Let's go!"

It took only a couple of minutes for the trio to split up and head to their destinations silently. Xavier chewed his lip nervously as he walked to the entrance of the guild, greeting other guildmembers along the way until he found himself at the work desk. A small Delibird sat there, a bored expression on his face, which perked up the second he saw Xavier approaching him.

"Hello!" he said excitedly. "What's up, boyo?"

"Uh, I'm here to apply for guard duty this week," the Treecko replied timidly. The Delibird made a soft exclamation and began to write something in his notebook. "Er, can I know your name, by the way?"

"The name's Coolson," the avian answered. "But most majuu call me Coolio. Pretty cool, eh?" His eyes twinkled. "But right now I'm just surprised, because in all my life I have never met someone who's willingly applied for the post of guard duty! I mean, it's dead tiring, but I'm drifting from the topic at hand. The paperwork's all done. You'll be helping Wotcher and Scout for the week. G'day, mate!"

Xavier bid farewell to Coolson and made way for the exit of the guild. He had a job to do.

XxXxX

Guard duty went rather well in Xavier's opinion. The Treecko had met up with Wotcher and Scout (a Watchog and Sentret respectively) immediately after bidding Coolson farewell and all he had to do was sit in a Murkrow's nest and take a note of every single pokémon entering the guild by the left flank, which was restricted only to staff members. Although Xavier's eyesight wasn't the best and he didn't have Noctowl vision, he did fairly well at his new job.

When night-time rolled in and the sky got too dark for him to continue, Xavier let Wotcher the Watchog take his place in the Murkrow's nest before heading to his cabin. It was late, and he didn't want to be caught by anyone past curfew. As quietly as he could, the Treecko tiptoed to his cabin and only breathed when he closed the door shut.

His teammates were already sleeping, although he wasn't surprised by their passed out forms. Xavier grunted in content as he munched on a piece of fruit in he room; he really was hungry. He quickly gobbled the apple down and was about to leap onto his bed before he noticed something on it.

Books. Xavier groaned; he'd forgotten to return them first thing in the morning since today was the deadline the librarian had set for him. He'd heard that Merlin was extremely strict when it came to the returning of books and never forgot anything, and unless Xavier would return the books today, Merlin would ask for a fine and the Treecko was sure that his teammates wouldn't take a deduction of their money kindly.

"Goddammit," he muttered, but he decided to return the books right now. Xavier had no doubt that the librarian would be awake right now, since most psychic-types spent a lot of time awake in meditation and whatnot. With a soft grunt, he piled the numerous books in his arms before quietly slipping out of the room.

Thankfully, the library was still open. Xavier pushed the door open with his leg and almost fell down, but managed to balance himself with his thick tail. It was odd, having an appendage sprouting from his ass, over time he'd gotten used to it.

"Oh? Hello, Xavier," Merlin the Oranguru said in his deep, calm voice as he saw Xavier waddle into the enormous library with an absurd amount of books in his hands. "Finally returning the books, I see. Did you enjoy them?"

"Yep," Xavier replied, setting the books onto Merlin's desk. "They were quite interesting, especially Myths and Legends. That one was the best."

Merlin's lips curled upwards ever so slightly. "Everybody loves lore, Xavier," he said. "No one can resist it for long."

"I know they're not true, but it's nice to read stories once in a while."

The Oranguru frowned. "What do you mean, Xavier?"

Xavier shrugged. "Well, come on...You don't honestly believe that, out there, there are beings like Mew, or Celebi, right?"

"Of course we do," Merlin replied, slightly offended. "Why do you not believe in the gods?"

The Treecko rolled his eyes. "I mean, there are legends like Moltres and Zapdos and Thunderus out there," he explained, "and there are reliable sources for their existence. But creatures like Jirachi, well...they're myths. Stories for little children, so that they find our dull world a bit interesting."

Merlin chuckled, waving one of his large arms. "Oh, you babe in the woods!" he exclaimed. "Take the example of humans, for example. At first, there were so few m—" He stopped abruptly, the crease on his forehead deepening as he looked at the Treecko in front of him. "Is something wrong, Xavier?" Merlin asked, concerned.

SHIT! Xavier screamed furiously in his mind, beads of sweat forming on his reptilian form. "Wh-Wha-What's wro-wrong? N-Nothing!" he stuttered, his mind working furiously as he tried to destroy any suspicion forming in Merlin's mind as the psychic-type eyed him sceptically. Apparently Merlin didn't think much of it because he didn't press Xavier any further.

"I see..." he muttered, although he was still looking at Xavier with an ounce of suspicion.

Exhaling to calm himself, Xavier dared to venture and risk everything by asking, "Do you know anything about them...I mean, humans?"

The Oranguru shrugged. "Why, of course!"

"Could...could you elaborate, please...?"

Merlin sighed. "Well, humans feature in many legends...I know one such legend, of course, most majuu do...It says that Dialga, Palkia and Giratina, after forming our universe, created a parallel universe which contained beings called humans. They weren't special, like us majuu; they could not manipulate fire, nor water, nothing, but they were incredibly smart. Well, you can read the rest of it in Tales of Old, because if I won't mind giving you a lengthy description of that tale!

"Now that I think about it," Merlin continued, frowning, "I've even heard of real-life stories of human beings transported to our world from their own as majuu."

Xavier paled, panic building in his chest. Holy fucking shit! he screamed in his head. This beats everything!

"They all were brought here during difficult times," Merlin said. "Like when the Time Gears of the world were stolen, a human, supposedly from the future, was transformed into a Squirtle, and she, along with a Pikachu, went on to defeat Time itself and save the world! Mad, eh?"

Xavier laughed nervously. "Y-Yeah, I suppose it is," he stammered. "I mean, just the thought of a h-h-h-human being morphed into a pokémon is completely—"

"What did you say?"

Xavier flinched. The Oranguru's voice was no longer friendly; no, it was sharp, suspicious, calculating, as if he didn't trust Xavier any more. Merlin's eyes bore straight through the Treecko as he threw the grass-type a piercing stare, finally discerning something.

"Sorry?" Xavier said.

"You said 'pokémon'," Merlin said softly. "Pokémon. Can I say something? As far as I know – and I know a lot, mind you – no one has used the term 'pokémon' to identify majuu – that is, except for the humans who have been brought to our world. So, Xavier...are you, or were you, a human?"

Xavier fought to control his bowels.

"Would you care to answer my question, Xavier?" Merlin repeated.

The Treecko was so stricken with fear that his speech was disorderly. "B-b-bubba bobba hob-hobba-hobba wah-wah," he babbled, entire body shaking.

Suddenly, Merlin's entire body was surrounded by an outline of polychromatic light. Xavier watched, entranced, as the Oranguru closed his eyes for a split-second in concentration, then snapped them open and locked them onto Xavier's. The Treecko gasped in brief pain as his mind was flooded with his own memories: commuting with the Voice in the colourful void, waking up from an unconscious state on the beachside, tinkering in a lab in the body of a human—

Then, just as the images appeared, they vanished.

Xavier glared at Merlin, his features locked in a rictus of fury. "What the bloody hell did you just do to me?!" he screamed, letting his temper go.

Merlin simply sighed, the aura around his bulky figure fading. "Just as I suspected...You are – or were – a human."

Xavier froze. "I-I-I—"

"Please," Merlin deadpanned. "Don't insult my intelligence. All I had to do was take a small peek into your mind and extract a few of your memories – not to mention that you practically reeked of fear and panic while we were talking about humans."

Silence filled the air.

"...I can't argue with that..." The Treecko's shoulders sagged.

Merlin smiled, appraising Xavier with entirely new interest. "My, my...a human before my very own eyes...Remarkable!"

Xavier blinked, his initial shock at his secret being revealed wearing off as he frowned at the librarian. "You seem to be taking this a lot better than I thought."

He shrugged. "Why shouldn't I?" Merlin said. "Humans are fascinating. I truly am excited to meet one after all!

"However," he continued, "I can't help but feel worried by your situation, Xavier. You see, humans only appear in our world if there is something truly evil going on. The bringing of a human generally occurs due to something legendary...I won't be surprised if one of the gods are stirring up some trouble."

Xavier gulped. "So...What are you trying to say?"

The Oranguru sighed. "I suppose it will be up to you to save us from this threat, Xavier," he said slowly. "But whatever it is, count me in. And don't worry about me revealing your secret – if you don't feel alright with me sharing your secret to your fellow mates, I'll keep it to myself. No worries!"

"Really?" His eyes lit up. "Thanks!"

"So..." Merlin smiled. "Do you mind telling me everything? There are still quite a few hours until wake-up, you know."

XxXxX

A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it wasn't a lot, but it was enough.

Majuu is the equivalent for pokémon in this world. I find it pretty weird to call pokémon 'pokémon' since that's an abbreviation for pocket monsters. In the pokémon world, the species isn't known as pokémon since they aren't captured in pokeballs and are 'free'.

According to bulbapedia, pokémon were known as Magical Creatures before pokeballs were invented. The Japanese terminology for Magical Creatures is 'majuu', so that's where I got it from.

Next chapter will have the expedition! Team XYZ will obviously be part of it, because plot. I'll see you guys then - and don't forget to review!