Chapter 4

Sam's body jerks upwards, and he pants heavily as sweat runs down the side of his face. He looks around himself, relieved to see everyone else sleeping soundly. He sighs as he leans back on his paws, turning his gaze towards Ryder, the screen on his phone shining brightly through the dark. The numbers on the clock in his home screen were constantly fluctuating, and the time kept bouncing back and forth between p.m and a.m.

Sam's eyebrow rose as he tilted his head at the numbers.

"Wha–?" He asks himself in a whisper.

"SAM." A deep and demonic voice calls from behind him.

He quickly turns around, and sees Izzie looming right over him. Her head was down, and her face was hidden by the shadows. His heart pounds as he jerks himself backwards.

"I-Izzie?"

"Why didn't you tell me, Sam? I know your secret, Sam. I know the freak who you truly are now."

Izzie leviates towards him, slowly, and Sam starts backing up in horror.

"N-no… y-you can't…"

"You're a freak, Sam. Did you really think that I would ever like a freak?" Her voice was deep and otherworldly.

"I-Izzie…" Sam croaks.

"I have something to tell you, Sam…"

Sam blinks, and the two are outside in the cold, harsh rain. Something catches the corner of his eye, and he sees something floating above Izzie. It's a dark figure, hidden beneath a dark cloak. It slowly turns its gaze towards Sam, revealing a haunting, cracked human skull. It raises one of its arms from the cloak, and holds a finger over its jaw, like it's telling Sam to be quiet. As it does this, two, tiny red dots light up within the skull's empty eyes. Sam's breathing goes out of control, as he looks over at Izzie, who is now shifting her own gaze into his eyes.

She wears a sadistic, human-like smile, staring right into his eyes as a red light beams against her face. Screams and laughter can be heard all around Sam, as his vision fully centers on Izzie's demonic expression.

Sam throws himself up, gasping for air as the sunlight pours into the tent like melting butter. His whole body is drenched in sweat, and his heart is pounding right out of his chest. He touches himself and rubs his paws all over his body, groping and pulling at his own face. He looks around himself, finding Ryder and all of the pokemon, sleeping soundly.

His mind continues going at a hundred miles per hour, staying on high alert as he watches out for anything else scary to happen. As he waits there, panting out loud, he suddenly gets a nauseous feeling in his gut, which is quickly rising up into his throat. He throws both of his paws up to his mouth, to cover his muzzle. He quickly jumps up and sprints outside. Running over to a nearby tree, he leans over and vomits all over the side.

His throat burns like fire, as the intense pressure builds up in his throat, spewing out his stomach acids all over the ground. Coming out in waves, with a couple seconds of rest in between, before his last vomit. He sobs to himself as he wipes the puke from his lips. His heart drops as he notices black stains, smeared across his paws. He looks down at his vomit, finding a black puddle in front of his feet. He steps away from the black sludge as he looks down at his own paws.

"Sam?"

Sam jerks himself around, yelping out loud as he nearly falls into his own vomit. Izzie stands there, watching him in concern as she holds her hoodie in her paws.

"A-are you alright, Sam?" She asks.

He quickly holds his arms behind his back, still trying to catch his breath. He nods his head, keeping his gaze away from her eyes.

"W-what are you doing up?" Sam asks under his breath.

"W-well I saw you sprint out here. Are you sick?"

She peers around him, and Sam quickly side steps in front of her view.

"I-I'm fine– just ate something bad last night is all…"

"Oh dear, I'm sorry Sam. Here, come back to the tent, there's something that I can give you to help your stomach."

"I-I'll catch up– need to clean myself off first…"

Izzie throws her hoodie over her head as she paces back to the tent. Sam looks back at the black puddle and shivers. He walks over to the nearby river, and washes the vomit from his paws, and wipes his muzzle clean. He also rinses out his mouth, swishing the water around the inside, and spitting it out. He sighs deeply as he wipes his paws against his sides, and walks back to the tent. Izzie peeks out of the tent with a plastic cup in her paw. Inside the plastic cup was pink liquid. She holds it out to Sam, who just stares at the cup.

"Here, this will help," she says, "It's safe for pokemon consumption, I promise."

Sam picks up the cup, and holds it up to his muzzle.

Sam stares at the liquid, and slowly holds it over his mouth as he leans his head back. The liquid slides down his tongue, and pours into his throat. He gags as his face twists up, cringing at the strong, bitter taste. Izzie can't help herself, but giggle at his reaction.

"It's not THAT bad hehe."

She takes back the cup, while Sam shakes his head, his tongue sticking out. She puts the cup back in its place, and comes back outside to continue conversing with Sam.

"So how was last night?" She asks. "Did ya sleep better?"

Sam pauses for a moment, looking off to her side as he rubs his arm.

"Y-yeah," he lied, "I slept fine."

"Well that's good. Heh, it's almost like sleeping inside in the warmth is better than sleeping outside in the cold."

She stuffs her paws in her pockets, and Sam's gaze continues to look around her, avoiding her eyes.

"So, you ready to see the big city for the first time?" She asks.

"I-I don't know… I don't like being around a lot of people."

"It'll be alright. I'll be with ya the whole time. Plus, the only humans you have to worry about are Ryder and his grandparents."

"Grandparents?"

"Yup! We live with his grandparents in the suburbs. They're lovely humans."

"W-what are grandparents?"

Izzie's mouth hangs open slightly, as she sighs softly.

"Well– grandparents are the parents of your parents."

"Oh. Well– I don't think I have grandparents."

"Sure you do, everyone has grandparents. How else would your parents have been born?"

"Ah– t-that's true I guess…"

"You just don't remember them either. Or maybe you never met them. I myself have never met my grandparents."

"R-really?"

"Sure! My mom wasn't very fond of them. So we never really had any family reunions."

"Hm… why?"

"I don't know, she never talked about it. Not a big deal though, it never really bothered me."

They stand there in silence for a moment, neither of them are sure of what to say next. Izzie mumbles as she takes the cup back inside the tent. Sam watches her as she goes, admiring the fluff on her ears, and around her waist. He wonders about the texture of the fluff. Would it be like cotton, or like fuzz? As she goes inside, his mind switches back on, and he looks off towards the sunrise. The warm rays of the sun pour past the trees, casting long shadows across the earth.

His own shadow catches his attention, and he watches it as it slowly expands, growing longer as the sun rises in the sky. Something in the back of his mind, slowly picks at the secret he continues to hide. Anxiety channels in his body, and he can't help but roll his neck. He sighs as he shoves away the thoughts, and turns around to go back to the tent.

XXX

Shortly after breakfast, Ryder packs up the tent so they can get moving early. He loads up, and the team starts their journey towards Oran City. Suzuki rides on top of Ryder's pack, as Dalton walks on his left, and Izzie and Sam trail behind him. Dalton glances at the two every once in a while, noticing how much time they spend together. These past couple of days, Dalton hasn't really had a very deep conversation with Sam. He just doesn't know how to talk to him, because he is so quiet. Izzie seems to be having a better time with him than the rest of them though.

It's kinda poetic in a sense, since Izzie joined the team before Sam. It's kinda like passing down the torch, or something like that. Izzie was kinda quiet herself whenever Ryder first caught her, but even then, she at least was able to have full on conversations with everyone else. Plus, she wasn't scared of being touched.

Sam just seems like an interesting character. Dalton's conscience keeps telling him to show some sympathy for him, as he was probably abused as a pichu. But then how else is he supposed to toughen up? The competition in Orancity is fierce, and they're team is already small enough as it is. They can't afford to have a weak link hold their team back.

He's been thinking about ways he could possibly get through to Sam, and maybe toughen him up a little bit, as he has a sneaking suspicion that Ryder probably isn't going to be able to do it by himself. Compared to the other trainers that Ryder hangs around with, he's noticed that Ryder is a lot more soft. Which isn't necessarily a problem, however Dalton can kinda see where this can lead to some issues, particularly in the situation around Sam.

While they do train consistently, they don't train nearly as much as Ryder's other friends. On top of that, it's not even Ryder's main focus at this point anymore. There was a point in time where Ryder was more focused on the grind and the Underground, but over time he has slowed down a lot. And even though Ryder doesn't like to admit it, it has really shown in their performance in recent battles.

He's tried talking to Suzuki and Izzie about it, but they basically just call him a hard-ass. Maybe he IS a hard-ass, who knows? It's just that sometimes he feels like he was a way stronger battler in the wild, than he is now. Back then he would train everyday relentlessly, day in and day out. Nowadays he only trains according to the schedule, besides a couple times where he'll take the time to do some training on his own. But even then, it's never hard enough.

"Something wrong Dalt?" Suzuki asks him from Ryder's pack.

Dalton jerks a bit, and looks up at her. He sighs.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"You seem bothered. What's on your mind?"

He sort of groans as he flicks his wrist at her.

"Nothing serious. Just the same old, same old."

"I see. Well when we get back, you'll have plenty of time to tell me all about it."

"That's kind of the problem."

"What?"

"We always seem to have so much free time at home don't we?"

"Is this about training again?"

"Yeah."

"Give it a rest. We just got done with almost two weeks of training out here, you need to learn to rest."

"Okay, well when we get back, what are we gonna do? Nothing, these whole two weeks are gonna go to waste pretty quickly."

"Dalt, you know why we can't train as much at home. Unless you've just forgotten."

Dalton sighs, "I know why. But even still, it seems like everyone else still manages to get ahead of us. Even through the conditions."

"If you're referring to Ryder's friends, they're not exactly the best role models."

"To an extent. I mean, they're really really good at battling. And they're sneaky."

"Not everything is about battling, one day you'll see that."

"I know that. I'm just… really passionate about it. Like how you're passionate about ninjas, and how you make it a part of your personality and appearance. That's me with battling, you see?"

"I guess you have a fair point there, but even still, I know when to drop the persona."

"Kek. Yeah alright."

They continue on for a couple more miles before heading onto the road to follow up a steep incline for another mile.

At the peak of the hill, the road leads into a small parking lot, surrounded by little wooden cabins, and a watch tower a half mile away. Sam's gaze locks onto the strange and large objects in front of him, littering the large square of road.

"What is this place?" He asks aloud.

"Oran Forest Park," Suzuki said, "Just a little area for humans to relax at before venturing into the actual forest."

Ryder leads them over to one of the large objects. It's red with four doors and windows all around. He opens the door and unlocks the trunk, where he begins packing his stuff inside.

"What's this?" Sam asked.

"Oh, this is Ryder's car," Izzie said, "Sorry, I forgot you're a wild ahaha. Don't worry, it took me a while to adjust to human things when I first joined the team too.."

"Car?"

Ryder opens the back doors and picks up each member and sits them down in the backseat. Ryder looks back at Sam, who just stands there and stares.

"C'mon Pikachu," Ryder said, "Don't worry, it's completely safe."

Izzie pats the spot next to her while looking at him.

"Don't be shy Sam!"

Sam clears his throat and pulls himself up into the backseat, sitting next to Izzie who smiles at him. Suzuki sits in the front passenger seat as Ryder sits behind the wheel and starts the car. Sam jolts as the car begins to shake, which prompts Izzie to put her paws up and calm him down.

"It's okay it's okay, it's just the car starting." She chuckles under her breath.

Dalton just crosses his arms and shakes his head as he looks out the window. Ryder backs up the car, and drives back down the road where they came from. Sam almost loses his balance and catches himself, swinging his head around to look back at Izzie for reassurance.

"Hehe you're fine, Sam. See? We're really moving now," Izzie says as she points out the window.

Sam nearly gasps as he looks out the window. Watching the trees fly past them becomes disorienting for him, and they put him in a sort of trance. His heart pounds in excitement as he looks all around the inside of the car, and watches the outside world zip by in a blur out the window.

Ryder connects his phone to the radio, and Sam jerks as he begins to hear disembodied voices all around him. Izzie chuckles as Ryder turns down the music, realizing that he was scaring Sam.

"Sorry bud," he said.

"You're just a lil scaredy chu aren't ya?" Izzie asks.

"What was that?!"

"Music. It's a wonderful thing! You'll grow to enjoy it."

Ryder slowly turns the music back up, but keeps the volume low at a comfortable level. A single, male voice sings softly as the melodic sounds behind him back him up, talking about simple things, and wondering where they have gone.

Twenty minutes into the drive, Ryder reaches the city limits, and drives into Oran City. Sam can't see over the door on his side very well, but on the other side of the car, he can see buildings passing by, and advertisement signs. He stares, mesmerized by the sights and all of the people.

"Welcome to Oran City," Izzie said.

The song changes, and the lyrics become much more intense, sung by a different person. Instantly everyone in the car begins jamming out to the song, everyone except for Sam, who just sits there, confused as he watches them bang their heads and makes sort of grunting noises.

Ryder drives into the suburbs, where he pulls into the driveway of his home. Stepping out of the car, he unbuckles everyone else and helps them out of the car. Sam hops out of the car and stares at the house.

"Home sweet home," Ryder says as he walks up to the door.

Before walking inside, he kneels down to Sam, who backs up a bit in response.

"Welcome to your new home, buddy."

He stands up, and holds the door open for all the pokemon to walk through. Before Sam walks inside, he can already hear other voices inside, which makes him even more uneasy. He stays behind for a moment, hesitant to walk inside.

"It's okay buddy, nothing to be afraid of. It's only my grandparents here."

Sam slowly walks through the front door, which Ryder shuts behind him. Sam hears a man calling out to somebody. Someone whom they have not met yet.

"Who's there?"

"It's me, grandpa." Ryder responds.

He slides off his shoes and turns the corner of the hallway into the living room. As Sam peeks around, he sees two wrinkled adult humans, both sitting in their own chairs as the tv plays the local news. The older woman picks up Suzuki, and strokes her head as she nuzzles into her pruney hands.

The older man slowly pushes himself up, his body shaking as he stands up to give Ryder a side hug.

"Glad you made it back home safe. Staying out of trouble, right?"

"Don't even worry about it. I'm fine."

Grandma looks up at Ryder, squinting her eyes as she stares at him.

"D-Dave… w-who is this boy in our living room?"

Ryder sighs.

"Grandma, it's me, your grandson."

She doesn't respond, only staring at him longer.

"Aiden," he says.

After a moment of prolonged silence, in an instant, the gears inside of her head finally start moving again, and her eyes light up.

"A-Aiden! Come here, boy. I haven't seen you in a while."

Ryder leans over to give grandma a hug. She meekly wraps her arms around his body to hug him ever so gently. He pulls himself from her, and gestures towards the hallway.

"I caught a new pokemon. Let me show y'all."

Sam quickly hides away around the corner, as Ryder's grandparents watch him in awe.

"H-he's really shy. Best to let him adjust."

As Ryder talks to his grandparents, Izzie whispers to Sam, and leads him upstairs into Ryder's bedroom. She ducks through a small flap in the door, Sam following behind her.

"Welcome to the sanctuary," she said.

Sam gazes around the room in awe, looking at all of the human decorations and items. There are posters, wall decorations, sport banners and jerseys, all of which Sam did not understand. He can't help but hang his mouth open as he looks around in wonder and curiosity.

"Wow," he says to himself, "This is way different from my burrow."

"Pretty nice right? Make yourself comfortable, this is your new home afterall."

"W-where do I sleep?"

"Wherever, though we all usually sleep on the bed with Ryder. It's a full size bed, so there's plenty of space."

Sam mindlessly wanders around the room, gazing at all of the human decor, wondering about them. Izzie excitedly waves her paws and waves to him.

"Oooh ooh, let me show you around! C'mon!"

XXX

Izzie takes the time to show Sam every little thing in Ryder's room. From his comic books, to his video games, to his computer, and the other knick knacks. She takes him around the house, showing him the bathroom and the kitchen, telling him about all of the human luxuries.

Sam quietly listens to her rambling, as his mind becomes over-stimulated with an overabundance of knowledge. All of these new things seem so surreal to him. Things like a box which can broadcast people across the world, to an even larger box which can store food and keep it cold, is something unheard of in the wild. The quality of life between a human versus a wild pokemon are vastly different. Sam loses track of time as he hangs out with Izzie and listens to her talk about all of the human things, and is surprised when he sees how dark it's starting to get out the window.

They're both on the bed now, while Izzie shows him a pokemon video game on a little handheld device.

"And then you can name them after catching them, and then you can train them and battle them against other trainers!" She said excitedly, "It's like a human simulator ahaha!"

Sam stares in awe as he absent mindedly reaches his paw out to the device.

"What kind of magic is this?"

"Not magic… technology!"

Both of their ears twitch to the sounds of screaming coming from downstairs. Sam jerks straight up, and slides off of the bed as he listens to the cries of a woman. His heart pounds as he carefully sneaks down the stairs, and peeks around the corner into the living room.

Grandma is in the middle of the living room on her hands and knees, as Ryder kneels next to her with his arms wrapped around her body. His grandpa is also there, standing next to his wife, unable to really bend down himself. Sam can see the tears leaking out of her eyes, and pouring onto the carpet.

"T-tell me– tell me it's untrue…" She croaks as Ryder rubs her back.

"I'm sorry grandma," Ryder said, "It already happened years ago. You forgot."

She weeps in sorrow a bit louder, causing Sam to jerk his head back, curling up his ears to muffle the noise. He sees Izzie standing next to him in the corner of his eye.

"She's having another episode." She says softly.

Sam looks over to her.

"Huh?"

Izzie turns her gaze to him.

"She has a condition which makes her forget everything. Most of the time she forgets who grandpa and Ryder are, even herself. Right now, she forgot about her daughter's death; Ryder's mom."

"R-really? Kinda like me…"

Izzie nods her head.

"She'll be okay. This has happened so many times before, sometimes weekly. Though her condition has gotten much worse. I'm really worried for her."

"W-what happened to his mom?"

"Cancer. She passed away a longtime ago though, long before me. Suzuki should know more than me, if you wanna ask her about it."

Sam looks back at the scene, as Ryder helps her grandmother up, who's hair is covering her tear-soaked face. Empathy plagues his heart as he stares at her, his ears hanging down on the sides of his head. Her condition is similar to his, although he cannot remember his family at all. Seeing the effects of her condition, makes him feel strangely grateful that he cannot remember his family. He can't imagine the constant nightmare of reliving the pain of your family dying over and over again. Forgetting and then remembering again. It must be absolute agony…

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading this chapter! I really hope ya'll enjoyed it and sorry for taking so long to upload ahaha! Just another extreme case of writer's block xP

I think from now on to keep myself from going silent for super long periods of time, I think I'm gonna sacrifice some quality for speed, so I can get these chapters uploaded more frequently around a more reasonable time. I don't know, what do y'all think?

Anyways, I'll see ya'll in the next chapter! Stay tuned!