A gentle breeze blew over the grass on the field outside the infirmary. It was early the next day as Landon led Tanner past strange rock formations to a sunny hilltop. Tanner paused and looked out over the town. It was a pretty sight- the lively colors and verdant plant life made Mayweather feel homely.

Landon spun in a circle a few times, pushing the grass into a comfortable bed that he laid down into. The wind blew past the Mightyena's fur, ruffling it majestically in tandem with the ripples in the grass. After a moment, he pulled a book out of his bag and opened it to the first few pages.

"Did you sleep well?"

"I'm still getting used to it." Tanner shrugged.

Landon nodded silently. He opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated and kept silent for a moment more. "I want to help you get more familiar with this… with how things work here. There's a lot to learn, and if you want to get… get home, you'll need to understand." Landon spoke quieter this time, picking and choosing his words carefully.

Tanner nodded. "Do you know what I have to do? Why this happened to me?"

"No. Tessa is working on figuring that out, but I promise there's a good reason for it, and you'll get to go back. You need to be ready to fight, though."

"Do I have to?" Tanner's ears drooped. If this was all so that he could learn to fight and stop a war, he would rather not do it.

Landon lowered his ears as well. He was quiet for a while, obviously thinking about how to respond.

"What are humans like? Did you fight very often?" Landon asked

"No. I didn't want to. Ricky Dean cornered me in the bathroom once and we got into a fight." It wasn't a pleasant memory. Saying that he got into a fight was painting it in a better light than what really happened.

"Okay!" Landon sat up and wagged his tail. "So, what moves did you use on Ricky Dean?"

"What?"

"I mean, did you… Right. Uhm…" Landon furrowed his brow and looked at the ground. "So, you were attacked. You had to defend yourself, right? What happened?"

"I…" Tanner really didn't like thinking back on the memory. "I got a black eye and Ricky got suspended."

Landon blinked slowly. "Suspended?"

"Kicked out of school."

"Oh." The Mightyena put his head down on the ground and mumbled to himself. "How do I teach a pokemon who doesn't know what moves are?"

Tanner looked disdainfully at his furry paws. He didn't have an answer. Tanner didn't know any moves. He couldn't do a backflip or a roundhouse kick. He even never took wrestling or anything.

"Tanner, I know you're nervous. I can't imagine what it's like for you. But you can trust me, I want to help." Landon said quietly.

"Why?"

"Because you remind me of myself when I was younger. The difference is that I didn't have anyone to teach me. We can figure this out. You can do this."

"I don't want to fight though. Is it the only way?" Tanner sighed. Why did it have to be so violent?

"I don't know what your home is like, but fighting is part of this world. The wilds are dangerous, there are ferals everywhere, and every pokemon can do moves. Even in populated areas, feral attacks happen." Landon laid on his side as he explained.

Was this supposed to make Tanner feel better? The fact that danger was around every corner?

"Fighting scared me when I was a pup. I had a responsibility to make sure my pack was safe. I had to figure it out on my own, but once I did, I felt powerful. There's something empowering about controlling your energy and being able to fight back."

Tanner shrugged. He really wasn't concerned with feeling powerful right now, but he could humor Landon. "...What's a move?"

Landon sat up slowly, then shook himself out. He stood and took a few steps away.

Then, he bared his fangs. Inky black shadows crept out of the Mightyena's mouth. It pervaded his maw, seeping between fangs and jowls. The canine took a step forward, power in his muscles, and danger in his blood-red eyes. Tendrils of blackness leaked out of his mouth as he stepped forward and crouched down. The fur on Landon's hackles raised, and his ears lowered dangerously. He then opened his jaws and showed his teeth, white gleaming in blackness as they snapped forward. Landon made a deep, rumbling snarl, a sound that made Tanner's heart skip a beat.

Shadows shot out from Landon's mouth, moving forward as a wave of wispy tendrils. They reached across the field before evaporating.

Landon then laid back down and turned to Tanner.

"That was called snarl. It deals decent damage, and is useful for… are you alright?" Landon asked.

Tanner cowered, his limbs feeling weak. "What the hell was that!?"

"Snarl. It's a move I was thinking of teaching you."

"Your teeth got black and you looked like some kind of shadow monster!" Tanner sat up and looked worriedly at Landon's mouth. To think that he almost thought that this dog was cute.

"Yeah, that's what pokemon do, and you're a pokemon. If you learn to control your energy, you can do the same thing."

Tanner sat up, his mind racing. While it was terrifying, if Landon could do that, and Tanner could do it too… Well, maybe it was worth a shot. Tanner was thinking that when they said he would have to end wars, it meant being some master negotiator or leader. He didn't realize that he could blast darkness out of his face.

"So… you can teach me to Snarl?" He asked. It was at least worth a try, right?

"I can." Landon reached over and pulled over the book he had opened earlier. He opened it to a page with a Zorua, and colorful lists.

Tanner walked over and looked at the book. Sure enough, there was a drawn picture of a Zorua.

"This is a reference book on pokemon types" The Mightyena put a paw on the picture and looked over at Tanner. "This stuff is important, and we'll go over it eventually. More important than that is how you learn moves. It's very personal, and you need to know about yourself first. So, who are you?"

"I don't know." That was a very broad question.

"Well, how do you learn best?"

"I… not through books." If Tanner was going to be transformed into a magical creature in a foreign land, he didn't want to have to go to school.

"Alright." Landon shut the book. "What would you prefer?"

Tanner shrugged.

"Okay. Tell me about yourself then. What do you like to do?" Landon's ears perked up, as if listening intently for Tanner's response.

Tanner hesitated. How did he explain video games or electric guitars or online chat groups?

"I listen to music."

"Music, huh? Do you play an instrument?" Landon tilted his head as if confused.

"Drums." Tanner nodded. He was curious if Landon would even know what that was.

"Huh. Tanner, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Landon said quietly.

Tanner nodded.

"What did you look like? Before you were brought here, I mean"

"Like.. what I wore?" Tanner had been asked similar questions before.

"No, I mean, what do Humans look like?"

"Oh. Um… Humans are… bipedal. We have skin everywhere and like… hair on our heads." Tanner blushed at having misunderstood the question. The benefit of having fur was that Landon wouldn't have been able to tell.

"Just hair only on your head?" Landon tilted his head curiously.

"You can brush it or color it." Tanner paused, considering how to explain how a human looked to someone who had never seen one. "Humans have two arms, and hands. They're tall. Landon opened the book again and flipped a few pages in until he found a creature that looked like a clown with horns.

"Like this?"

"What the heck? Yeah, I guess so, just without whatever those are. What is that?" It did look like a human, but more creepy.

"This is a Mr. Mime." Landon responded.

"Mister Mime? Mister? Okay, yeah that's the general idea, but I don't want that to be your image of me." Tanner laughed.

"How so? Just without the horns?" Landon moved a claw and covered up the blue horns of the awful clown creature.

"No, like… the arms are bigger. These arms are like sticks!"

Landon nodded and flipped through the pages until he came upon a drawing of another creature. It was extraordinarily muscular, though the head was strange.

"Like this? This is a machoke." He asked.

Tanner paused. It looked more like a human, except for the face.

"Uhm… yes. That's what I looked like. Except for the head, that's more like a Mister Mime." Tanner felt a little bad. He wasn't that muscular. But… Landon didn't have to know that.

Landon looked between Tanner and the Machoke, before flipping back to the page about Zorua.

"Huh. Four legs is new for you."

"It's hard, yeah." Tanner nodded.

"Well, evolve quickly then. You'll go back to being bipedal. Being quadrupedal is definitely better though." Landon shrugged.

"How? I don't have hands!" Having no hands was far, far worse than four legs.

"Hmm… We'll talk about moves and typing later. A lesson might be better." Landon stood and quickly pushed Tanner with his snout. Tanner was knocked off balance, but managed to remain standing.

"Hey!"

"See? You stayed on all fours. Easier to find your center of balance. Here- let's go again."

"Hey!" Tanner stood and darted away from the laughing Mightyena.

He wasn't sure exactly what lesson Landon was going for, but it was less effective than reading…