Welcome back.

I can't seem to figure out why chapter 2's title is offset. I've tried to fix it multiple times... Oh well.

Enjoy.

Chapter 3

"A New Perspective"

Earlier that same day…

"Boss! We've finally got a lead!" Said a certain green lizard as he entered the doors of the office eagerly.

The Garchomp who was conversing with some others looked at him intrigued, "Oh? Truly this time Kairo? Did that little girl finally spill the beans?" He regarded the Sceptile as he raised an eyebrow and a grin.

Kairo rolled his eyes as he brought out a small map, "We didn't have to pressure her for it. She felt awful one night and told us all about where he was." He offered the map to his boss. "Apparently there is a bunker hidden in the bushes out there. I'd say we do it now Chief Zane Sir."

The chief nodded, "It might just bring us one step closer. Alright! Arrange your usual squad, I'll be coming with as well."

"You will?" Kairo asked confusedly.

Zane nodded, "Of course. I wanna be part of those headlines when we find one of the final missing ones." He said before laughing.

Kairo shook his head but smirked at his boss's antics, "Well, when we find the rest you know we're out of a job right?"

Zane shrugged, "Change is good anyway, private."

From that point they assembled the rest of their small team. A Bronzong named Cesar. A Nidoking named Harvey. And lastly a Luxray named Dax. They quickly geared up and left the Human Rescue Ranger's facility, driving to the edge of the forest.

After making a rather thorough hike all the way out, the five began searching. Finally Harvey called the rest over to a suspicious metal door in the bushes, and they all crowded around. "You think this is it?" He asked them.

Kairo walked up and knocked on the door, yet it wouldn't budge itself. He nodded, "Seems like it's right." He knocked twice, thrice, nothing. He shrugged as he turned to the rest and shrugged.

Zane nodded and looked over to Dax, "Dax, mind checking for us pal?"

After a quick X-Ray, the Luxray stepped back and shook his head with confirmation. "Nobody is in there."

The chief put a wing to his head in exasperation, "Kairo I swear if she sent us on another wild goose chase, I'm going to lose it."

Kairo shrugged and laughed, "Aww chief, you wouldn't hurt her."

He gritted his teeth, "No, but she's got some very choice friends…" He looked at Cesar, "Mind scanning for another life signature in the surrounding area?"

Cesar didn't say a word as he entered into a psychic state, emitting a wave, touching everyone's mind he expected to. And then after a moment, touching one more mind that was trying hard to fight him off. Cesar opened his eyes widely, "They're around here still!" He whispered loudly in a mechanical voice.

They all cut the jokes out and got serious, the chief divided them into different directions quickly, "Remember, do not harm him whatsoever."

They all saluted and repeated, "Yes chief," as they broke off in the search.

The Sceptile looked around, wondering where he'd be if he was hiding, determining easily that it would be in a tree. So that was the first thing he began checking. Some quiet searching later, and a resounding snap echoed through the forest, Kairo instantly whipped his head in that direction, running up to the tree that he heard it from. To his surprise, he caught sight of the young human making a break for it and quickly called out, "I see him! He's running!"

Dax was quick to keep pace with Kairo as they sprinted through the forest. He had to admit that this kid seemed to know his way around this forest, and he was quite speedy as well. "Hey, we're not trying to hurt you! Stop running!" He pleaded with him.

Kairo shot out a few vines only to have Dax incinerate them with lightning attacks, the Sceptile growled as they kept running, "What gives?"

Dax growled right back aggressively, "You never caught a kid before? You'll hurt him and probably scare the hell out of him like that!"

Kairo groaned, "Well we have to catch him somehow!"

He grunted as he was completely ignored, so he stopped briefly and commanded a wall of vines to interrupt his path. The human didn't even stop as he switched directions in an instant, heading straight in the direction of the Luxray, "Heads up Dax!" Kairo yelled.

It didn't help, as the child slid right underneath him, Dax stuttered in annoyance, "H-Hey! Kid seriously, we just want to talk to you!"

Kairo growled and kept chasing, "Nice going." He said while passing Dax.

"And you're doing so much better!" Dax retorted, right on his tail.

The other three had caught up in the chase now, sprinting in formation to try and box him in. Suddenly Zane skid to a halt up ahead, "Hey!" he shouted back to everyone, "Stop before you go over the-"

It did nothing as the child suddenly began to tumble over the edge, falling what had to be a painful drop. Dax grunted, "Shit."

They ran over to the edge, and quickly slid down. They went to make their approach but Kairo stopped them, "He's just going to do something dangerous, sit back for a minute. I don't want him falling in."

Kairo stepped a few feet forward, and as the child got up, he quickly darted backwards. Getting entirely too close to the edge of the water. Kairo took a deep breath, and tried to put on a smile, "Hi, listen to us. We work with the Human Rescue Rangers. Our job is to make sure you're safe." There was no reaction from the child, and Kairo grew slightly worried, as he gestured to himself, "My name is Kairo, and these people are part of my team." He gestured to the other four.

Kairo saw a hint of confusion, and felt like he was making progress as he took a step forward, "We'll get you something nice to eat kid, I prom-" his words were cut off by the shock of the kid suddenly brandishing a knife. Which he widened his eyes at and took multiple steps back.

The kid finally spoke for the first time, "You leave m-me. I Want nothing t-to do with you!"

"That went well," Dax commented from right behind Kairo.

Cesar hummed, "I'll take care of it." He said beginning to pull it away from him psychically. Yet the child still held on for dear life.

Zane's eyes widened as he stood in front of Cesar, "I didn't give you orders to do that! You're going to end up stabbing the kid or worse!"

Cesar groaned, "If I let go now he'll fall backwards into the river!"

Harvey groaned as their argument carried on in the background, "You guys are all going about this the worst way possible. He's just a scared child."

Kairo glared at him, "Any better idea genius?"

Dax sighed, "I say we leave him, then ambush him when he tries to leave his bunker again."

Kairo laughed mockingly, "Oh yeah, that'll instill loads of trust Dax!"

In the meantime, the child let go of the knife, causing the two arguing to hit the deck to avoid it. Then he began climbing the rocks above the river. Dax's eyes widened, "He's not actually-"

Zane shouted at them, "If he falls in those rapids it's over! Get him out of there!" He said trying to get the Bronzong off of himself.

Kairo was the first to make a move, jumping the rocks was scary, even for him. And when he looked ahead at the child, he couldn't help but wonder why he was so stubborn. What could make him go to these lengths? Each jump the child made was a heart-stopping moment, but he finally seemed to hesitate at an edge and Kairo caught up. The child was frightened, and bumped right into him by mistake. "Hey, I can help you." Kairo whispered desperately as the child ducked and faced him with his fists held up.

He didn't want to hurt the child, and he didn't want to fall in himself. It was a lose-lose situation. "Kid, I have my own child. I would do anything in the world to keep her safe. Please don't make me fight you!" Kairo begged. The human ignored him again as he turned and went for the jump. And missed. Kairo lunged forward and caught the kid's arm, but the rapids were seriously harsh.

His partners yelled at him, Harvey especially, "I'm coming buddy!"

Kairo held on for dear life, this child's life was in his hands. He imagined his own little one in this situation, and his eyes teared up as he grew a burst of strength. But after the child looked up at the sky, he stopped trying and released his grip. Kairo desperately held onto him, "Please little one, hold in there it'll be alright." But then he began to dig his fingernails in. Just what did this kid want? Was he trying to die? The thought made him tear up, but the pain was becoming harsh, and with a moment of faltering, he was washed away.

Kairo's thoughts cleared up, and the world went static as he jumped in after him, twisting and turning in the rapids like a toy. He desperately reached around, grabbing hold finally of something that felt like a human. After which he held the human as close as possible, curling himself around him so the rocks of the rapids wouldn't harm him. It felt like an endless torrent of pain and torture, and he felt himself become dizzy as ever. But eventually it mellowed out, and he was able to surface. Taking a large deep breath. Scrambling to the beach to perform CPR he had only one thing on his mind, that if this was his child he'd do anything in his power to save him. That's what the kid deserved in his mind.

Finally he began breathing, and he and his team breathed a sigh of relief. He fell back on his rump and stared at the child who coughed drastically, until finally he looked at them. This time with much more curiosity. Kairo sighed, "Don't throw your life away like that kid… Please."

For the first time, the kid showed confusion at what they said. "Hey guys I just had a thought," Harvey said, forcing Kairo away.

"Hey what gives?" Kairo protested.

Harvey did some odd gestures, then tried snapping in his ears, and he didn't react at all. "Well that's the problem guys." Harvey started, "The kid is deaf!"

After that revelation, the kid passed out and Kairo caught him. They all felt like slapping themselves in the face. They sat in silence for a long while, going over what happened. Finally Zane groaned, "Man we look like a bunch of idiots. Kid probably thought we were some scary monsters."

They all agreed silently, as Kairo hoisted him up onto himself to give a piggyback, Kairo seemed more urgent, "Well, let's go. Kid almost just drowned, he needs help."

Dax hummed confused as they began walking back, "So how did we not know this kid was deaf coming into this?"

"Good question," Harvey backed him up.

Zane laughed awkwardly, "Well…"

Avery slowly woke to the absolute last thing he expected. White walls, machines all around him, and a blindingly bright window to the outdoors. Blinking his eyes more, he lifted his arms as he felt multiple other things attached to his arm. He groaned as he rubbed his eyes. The first hope that Avery had was that he had been in some coma for seven months, and his brain had made everything up.

Avery looked out the window, it was mid day, but he couldn't see down so it was worthless. He was on a higher story than the first. Avery sat in his thoughts, remembering everything he thought had happened last night. The pokemon, the river, the almost drowning part. He shuddered at the memory, water was way scarier than he thought.

He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder, and flinched as he jerked away from the source, turning his head. The sight that met him certainly confirmed he had not been in a coma, yet everything still failed to make sense. An Audino was looking at him with an empathetic look, as she quickly pressed a button on one of his bedside machines. Gently she reached forward, grabbing Avery's hand. He wanted to rip it away from her, but at this point he only wanted answers, and so he watched her. She brought his hand over to her chest, and she rubbed the back of it, as if she was trying to soothe him. One thing that slightly spooked Avery, was that the Audino was larger, maybe the size of a regular adult, which was very abnormal from the ones he'd seen in pokecenters.

"Is he finally awake?" Said a Cinccino as they poked their head into the room. Avery's eyes widened, as she was also much larger than normal. The Cinccino walked in followed by a Meowstic that followed in after her.

The Audino held her hand up, "The poor dear is still terrified. Be very deliberate with your actions, girls." They both hummed in confirmation.

They both stopped at the very foot of his bed, as the Cinccino brought out a clipboard and scanned through it for a moment. Avery noticed a patch on the vest she was wearing that said 'Doctor' and the Cinccino lowered the clipboard to the bed. She began to slowly sign words, gauging the child's reaction, "Do you understand this?" She signed with her paws.

After a moment, Avery was shocked, yet realized what she must be trying to do, and he shook his head no. The three girls sighed sadly at that, Audino kept making soothing gestures on his hand, "The little one must've lost his hearing that day."

"Mhm," The Doctor sighed, "Seems so. Well… Try not to scare him please." She said, looking at the Meowstic who had been silent.

Meowstic nodded, and began to reach out to Avery with their mind. Avery realized, and at first began to fight it, growing uncomfortable and fearful in the bed. He began looking at them as monsters again, and immediately the Cinccino halted, "Okay stop it, stop it, he is too scared to let a psychic connection through. We'll do it the old fashioned way."

Cinccino carefully approached his side, and smiled at him. Avery recoiled away a bit, but she kept her look of comfort. Then she began writing onto a blank piece of paper, handing it down to Avery. "It's okay, we're trying to help you, okay sweetie?" The words read.

The words alone made Avery's eyes widened in shock as he looked at all of them, the three had to hold back giggles at his face of confusion. Avery shook out of his stupor for a moment, holding his hand out for the pen, the Doctor obliged. "Where am I? What's going on? Why can you write-" The Cinccino stopped his hand gently, with hers, placing another hand on his back and rubbing it soothingly.

She gently took the paper again and wrote, "We can explain, you just need to let my friend over there connect with you psychically, alright?"

Avery sat in disbelief for a long while. Pokemon were actually conversing with him right now, and he wasn't even dreaming. Well, he thought he may have been, but this was too real. He gave the proposition a good bit of thought, before he finally nodded his head yes. Cinccino smiled at him, "Good," she wrote, "Just relax, and instead of fighting it, try to imagine yourself opening a door in your mind. Okay?"

Slowly Avery nodded, as he laid back in his bed. He felt the buzzing feeling again, but instead of trying to block it out, he imagined himself opening a door for it. And slowly, the buzzing sound washed away, and was replaced with the thoughts of another. As if he just knew what the person was saying to him, "Hello?" He felt a voice ask telepathically.

Avery replied nervously, "H-Hello…"

The Meowstic in the corner grew happy and excited, "Oh thank goodness,"

"W-What's going on?" Avery begged for an answer.

"You're in a hospital silly!"

Avery felt worried and confused still, "Well… I'm still confused. About everything."

Meowstic giggled in the corner, "Would you let me bring the doctor into this psychic connection as well? I promise they only mean well."

Avery slowly nodded, "S-Sure, might as well…"

The Meowstic concentrated again for a second, and one other distinct consciousness entered. Audino slowly broke away from holding his hand now, and Avery almost felt saddened by the lack of comfort. The Audino had to go check on another patient. Meowstic smiled, "Now, we're all here."

The Cinccino smiled delightedly, "I'll start by introducing myself. I'm Doctor Lexi, my friend over there is my assistant Skye."

I nodded slowly, as Lexi gently took hold of my hands, replacing the comforting action that the Audino had just left behind. "I'm sure you have many questions. You're free to ask them all, just one at a time alright darling?"

Avery didn't want to make them angry, so he thought about which question he could get the most information without going over the line. "Well," Avery started, "I think I should start by telling you guys what I know. Or what I thought I did?"

Lexi nodded encouragingly, as Avery sighed, remembering old things. "I just remember all the adults started disappearing… And then the TV alert went off, it said Yveltal didn't it? And then it said… that the pokemon were attacking… That we needed to seek shelter immediately."

The Doctor listened intently, nodding solemnly at each word as she rubbed the back of his hands, Avery yawned, "I don't want to overwhelm you dear. I can tell you the whole story, if you'd like. Or we can just stop here for now and let you rest."

Avery shook his head, "No no I need to know."

"Okay, okay." She nodded soothingly, "Well. We'll start off at the beginning then."

"That day, the terrible pokemon terrorist group known as Team Flare, had been planning a cataclysmic event that went mostly under the radar. They managed to capture Yveltal, and with their sick experimentation, managed to force Yveltal over the edge. You see, when Yveltal's life comes to its end, it absorbs every bit of life energy it can get a grip on." She stopped briefly to make sure the child was following.

"Well, all of the trainers we had trying to stop this event, had been beaten back. Except for one girl, who was so close to stopping them, but it just wasn't enough sadly. Yveltal's cataclysm began, and Xerneas was outraged by the disruption of the natural order. They begged the other legendaries to help, Mew was the fastest to answer their call, helping Xerneas to make a psychic connection with all of living life around the world. Xerneas used all of their power to try and counter Yveltal's life draining, but in the end had to make a choice." Lexi stopped for a moment and sighed.

"What choice was it?" Avery asked in intrigue while leaning forward.

She smiled, "Xerneas couldn't save everyone. That is something they knew. They immediately knew that they were going to save all children, human or pokemon. But when it came to adults, they could only save either the older pokemon, or the older humans." Lexi said with a grimace.

Avery sat in silence for a minute, he wanted to feel angry that Xerneas hadn't chosen his people. That they let his parents die. But he couldn't be, "That's a super hard decision… I guess anyone would've chosen their own people when tasked with saving as many as they could…"

Lexi hummed nervously, "That's not the whole reason she chose older pokemon over adult humans."

Avery raised his brow, "Huh?"

Lexi nodded, "Xerneas knew, without adult pokemon to help the humans, that the world would fall to chaos. How would the humans fight back versus the likes of Team Flare? Or other terrorist groups, if every pokemon left was so young? They would take over the whole world if that happened." Avery thought he understood what she meant. Letting adults die was the lesser of two evils. The terrorist organizations would be wiped out, instead of left to roam the planet free of pokemon.

Lexi gave Avery a few minutes to process everything. "So did the pokemon ever attack us after it happened? Why would the news tell us to run and hide?"

Lexi visibly felt discomforted, "I've heard that some wild pokemon roamed into towns at first and joined in the chaos of it all, but they were quickly taken care of. So it was just some rambunctious feral pokemon, nothing that any of us did. And if so, they've been given sentience now so it's alright."

But there was only really one question on his mind now, "Where did all the pokemon go? Where did my partner go? She was just… gone." He asked with tears in his eyes.

Lexi quickly hugged the young child, "After the two legendaries saved everyone they could, Mew recalled all partnered pokemon to their location. It was there that Xerneas and Mew gave all psychic pokemon the ability to speak in your language. And made us smaller species even larger than usual to help with saving everyone."

"You learned how to speak? How did you learn so fast if you're not a psychic type?" Avery asked in wonder.

"It wasn't like learning a language normally. The other psychic types who learned how from Mew connected with everyone else, giving us the ability to speak and pass it on just like everyone else. It was like sharing a piece of themselves with us"

Skye chimed in for the first time in a while, "It was crazy, and a lot happened. In simpler terms, every single pokemon now has the same intelligence as you humans, and the ability to speak. And we are also larger, so as to help us continue to use what was left behind by your people." Lexi nodded in confirmation.

Avery nodded in understanding finally, getting his head wrapped around everything was tough, but he just felt such a wave of relief now after everything had happened. Lexi looked at him concernedly as he seemed to zone out, "Are you okay? Do you need to rest?"

Avery countered with his own question, "So how did you… take control of everything?"

Lexi thought for a moment, "Well firstly, Mew split us up by region and town, told us to help every young child who was in a deadly situation. As I'm sure you know, cars and other things were suddenly left with no drivers…" Lexi said sadly, as she didn't like thinking back on it. She noticed Avery's expression grow upset too, so she changed the subject.

"We prioritized infants, obviously, who needed immediate care. We rounded up every child we could find, and it was… rough. The first month was full of so many tears, so many broken hearts." Avery noticed Lexi tearing up, but she quickly wiped them away. "But then there were others left, like you who had run away."

"Did a lot of others run away like me?" Avery asked curiously.

"Oh yes," She confirmed, "Many many children ran when they saw us scouring for the very little ones. But we found databases for how many children there were in each town, so we could count the missing ones. Very few could stay hidden for very long like you." That seemed to make her realize something, as she smiled widely, "You wanna know something amazing?"

"What is it?"

Avery looked up into her eyes, and she placed her paw on his cheek. "You were the last one from this city we couldn't find. So firstly, I should welcome you home, little one." Avery began to tear up again, he was so mixed of emotions, and they were all over the place. But the thing he was now beginning to realize, is that he could be safe now. Those seven months of hiding were over, his apocalypse had ended. And he cried, quite heavily. Lexi was eager to embrace the child, giving him some much needed TLC that he had lacked for so long.

"It was so scary," Avery began, but the Cinccino shushed him quickly.

"I know darling. It was for us too. I can't imagine being alone out there after it all happened." She empathized with him. A lot more tears later, and a wiped face. And Avery began to sniffle all of them away, the whole while Lexi made sure to reciprocate. To say her maternal instincts had reared their head was an understatement.

Finally Avery asked, "So what happens to me now?"

Lexi gently brushed his hair back, as the child rubbed his eyes, "Well for now, you are going to get some more rest, psychic connections are taxing on everyone. And then we can worry about the future. Does that sound good?"

Avery still had so many more questions, but he knew that he needed to sleep. His head was hurting from the psychic connection lasting so long as well. So slowly, he nodded, and the Doctor smiled as she laid him back against his bed. She slowly pulled his blankets up over his chest, and before the connection broke she said one last thing, "Don't be afraid to press the button and call us. Sleep well Avery." Avery acknowledged it but had nearly passed out already as the psychic connection was broken.

Lexi wasn't sure why she did it, but she gently kissed his forehead as he went to sleep. Even Skye seemed surprised as well, now speaking out loud instead of psychically. "You're really good with kids, y'know that?" She teased with her arms crossed.

Lexi chuckled and regarded her friend, "It is my job after all… and… Well, I just thought of my little boy when looking at him… He didn't go through nearly as much, and yet he's still so fragile. But seven months?" She looked worriedly at Avery, "I just thought what he needed just then was a little bit of love, so I gave it to him!" She said with a shrug and a satisfied look.

Skye nodded understandingly as they walked in tandem out of the room, "So what about his hearing impairments. Have they?.." She said, implying something with a raised eyebrow.

Lexi shook her head, "Not yet. I'm also curious who it is when he mentioned a partner."

Skye nodded, "Gotta wait for now."

Upon reaching the front desk, Kairo was there talking to the receptionist. Though he wasn't wearing his HRR vest this time. Lexi greeted him happily, "Hi Kairo, what can I help you with?"

He smiled in acknowledgement as he picked up a large backpack and showed it off to them. "I went through the kids' things at the bunker, thinking I'd bring anything that seemed important back to him."

The doctor nodded in thanks, "I'm sure he'll appreciate that."

The Sceptile's smile faltered, "So uh… Is he alright?"

Skye raised a brow from nearby, "You know it's confidential for us to share our patients' status with others without permission from said patient, right?"

He stuttered, "Oh n-no yes of course-"

Lexi laughed as she sat at a chair nearby the front desk, "He's okay. We managed to talk to him with a psychic connection. He's still exhausted."

He sighed thankfully, as he leaned against the desk, "What info did you get on him?"

She shook her head, "We were too busy explaining everything. Plus, I don't like asking the children about their traumatic events." she thought for a moment, "He did mention something about a partner however, we definitely need to follow up on that."

Kairo nodded, before thinking to himself for a moment, "I let Avah's family know."

Lexi's eyes widened, "You told them? Don't you think it'll be…"

Kairo nodded swiftly, "Yes, I know I know. They seem like good friends, I just want the kid to see a familiar face is all."

Lexi nodded with a giggle as she looked down at some paperwork, "You really are a softy huh?" she teased, much to the grumbling and blushing Sceptile's embarrassment.

.

.

END

From now on all writing in italics is psychic communication. Sorry for the exposition dump on the apocalypse I literally don't think I could've shown instead of told lol.

Thanks for the interest in the story, and to anybody reading it obviously. L0RD3N and ADACLives I'm glad you liked it!

Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you thought!