His consciousness returned once again. The Inkay jumped, hearing the thunderous roars of the weather.

He looked around, he was in some sort of cave. The walls were damp, and it was so cold he could see his own breath. "How the… it looked like it was summer or spring back there. Now it's as cold as winter. Yet it is only raining, intense like a monsoon. What kind of messed up climate is this?"

Next to him, a puddle of water was formed. He looked at it, and as expected, a strange squid looked back. "That… is not me. But it is the current me."

He tried to look at every angle, moving his alien body slightly to every direction. He was what you'd expect an Inkay to look like, with the triangular head, two arm-like tentacles coming out of it, with five others belonging to his body. His mouth was replaced by a surprisingly expressive beak that can simulate his emotions (or lack thereof) well.

The only detail that was different from the 'usual' Inkay were his eyes, which were a shade of pink or magenta. "Something to do with that voice, maybe? It spoke of aura. Pf, stupid pseudoscience…"

He shook his head, trying not to let his mind wander off too much, lest he might be plagued with that 'overload'. Instead he started to get acquainted with his new body, moving each of his leg-tentacles, feeling slightly creeped out at how dexterous they were, and how easily he controlled them if he tried hard enough, same with his specialized arm-tentacles, it was like they were made of jello, no bones at all… but he could control it like his human arm, probably even better, since it had not bones to limit their movement.

"H-Hey. Are you okay?" He looked to see a drenched Cyndaquil, near a humble fire. "I-I gathered some wood before the storm hit. N-Not that much. We should be fine inside this cave though."

"Oh. Right. Him." The Inkay shook his head, to try and gather his thoughts. A scowl formed in his beak, "What the hell were you thinking!?"

"Huh?" He tilted his head, "I-I mean, this is a nice enough cave-"

"I mean those buffoons back there. Why didn't you go after them!?"

"W-Well I-"

"I know! I've read your mind, but WHY!?"

"I'm sorry-"

"STOP APOLOGIZING!"

The Cyndaquil was rendered silent. "P-Please calm down. You'll end up overloading. And I'll have to hug you again."

Inkay took a deep breath, and placed a tentacle on his forehead, which was difficult to remove. "Why did you let those buffoons walk all over you? Why didn't you take back the letter? I've seen how damn hard it must have been to get a single approval."

"Y-You needed me more than I needed that letter." His answer only further frustrated the dark-type.

"Are you out of your mind? We. Just. Met." He growled, "what the hell do you want from me? Is it because I'm human? Does that make me special?"

"N-Not at all… I mean it does, but that's not why I-I did it." Eagen sighed, "all I wanted was to do the right thing. I know you'd do it too if our places were s-switched."

"No. I wouldn't. Not at all." He thought to himself, believing it to be best not to let that thought escape. "I probably wouldn't have even bothered helping in the first place."

Eagan just gave him a sad smile, and kept looking at the small fire. Quietly, the squid slithered towards the fireplace, right in front of the fire-type. "What now, then?"

"I-I'll take you to mom. She'll… know what to do." He sighed, shivering a bit from the cold. "She can help you make sense of whatever is happening."

"Fine." The Inkay frowned, "On one condition."

The fire badger looked at him with his closed eyes, curious.

"First, we'll find those idiots and teach them a lesson." The Inkay smiled.

Eagan shook his head, "No way. I-I don't want to put you in danger b-because of some stupid letter."

"Bah! As if I'd ever want to risk my skin for some piece of paper." He just laughed dismissively and shook his tentacles as if he was wagging a finger. "No, I want to beat them up because they messed with me. And you're helping me, got it?"

"W-Why?"

"Because I can't face them up alone, not in my current, pitiful state. You proved to at least be tenacious, as well as knowledgeable. I could certainly use you." Inkay said, with a cocky smile. "You wouldn't leave me to go by myself, would you?"

"N-No…"

"Then that's settled! As soon as this storm is done, we make our way to whatever hole they crawled back to." He clapped his tentacles, "In the meantime… please, help me with this body of mine. I currently find myself unable to do the simplest of things. And with you as a teacher, I feel less in danger of my mind going haywire."

"So pushy…" Eagan thought, but complied without much issue. "Well… I can't b-be of much help but I can teach the basic stuff."

"That would be more than enough." He smiled.

Eagan pondered, reflecting on what he knew about Inkay biology. "Hm… your species is very rare, but a-are well known telepaths and kineticists. You should have the innate ability to use hypnosis, peck and wrap (considering your beak and those yucky tentacles). Hm, I wonder if you were born with any egg-moves, t-these are moves you inherit from your parents. (What moves can Inkay learn again…?)"

CLUNK.

"OUCH. FU-" Eagan snapped out of his train of thought to see Inkay rubbing his beak, having just slammed it against a rock, which now had a gash across it. "It worked!"

"Hm. I-I've seen better…" Inkay stared at him with a displeased expression, "b-but yours is great! (for a beginner…)"

Next, the Inkay wrapped the rocks around, trying to find a comfortable way of doing it, before moving his arm and leg-tentacles into a hug… and much to his surprise, he actually started slowly crushing it without much effort. "Nice work! That's a textbook Wrap! You're a natural! (Thank goodness you didn't hug me back earlier, else you could have snapped my neck with that strength. Which is almost as creepy as those tentacles)"

He noticed most words he heard Eagan speak did not come from his mouth, which perked his curiosity. "I can hear you talking without speaking sometimes. Most of it displeases me, so I will assume those are your thoughts."

Eagan perked up, his own curiosity sparking. "Oh! Um. You really are a-a natural. (Can you hear me? Hellooo?)"

"Yes I can hear you. Hi." He waved, but cringed once Eagan darted across and started looking closer to his head, and sniffing it. Inkay tries to push him away to no avail, "Personal boundaries!"

"S-Sorry…" He pulls back, still transfixed with someone the Inkay couldn't quite see. "Hey? Can you try hearing this again?"

"I don't have to try, it kind of just…" He looked up at the Cyndaquil, who did not stare back, instead focusing on something else. "SO SHINY!"

Finally stepping away, Eagan elaborated properly. "The dots on your head glow when you hear my mental voice! That is your psychic power activating on instinct!" His closed eyes glimmered with enthusiasm. "Shine! Shine, Shine! Pause…!"

With each word, Inkay did notice each of the yellow dots shone once, glowing a gentle blue hue."SHINE AGAIN!"

"OW!" That causes them all to shine together, and Inkay to have a minor headache.

"W-Whoops! So there is such a thing as 'loud thoughts', huh?" Eagan pondered, "maybe… oh! W-What was it you said about you liking holes?"

"Please don't phrase it like that." Inkay rubbing his forehead, "about black and white holes? I assume you mean about polarity, everything has an equal opposite."

"Yeah! Now, apply that to what just happened!" Inkay cocked his body to the side, in silent confusion. "I-I mean like… instead of getting a headache because I screamed…"

The dark-type smiled, "I am the one screaming and causing headaches instead!"

"Yep!" Eagan nodded enthusiastically.

"That's brilliant!" He was infected by the fire-type's enthusiasm, lifting his tentacles and pointing at the Cyndaquil. "Now stand still!"

"W-Wait I never agreed t-to-"

AAAAAAAHHHHHH!

The Inkay mind-shouted as hard as he could. His eyes shone the same color as the dots in his head, and he fired a tiny shockwave that, to his surprise, caused the Badger to stumble back and land on his rump. He rubbed his forehead, feeling a small migraine forming. "Ow…"

"Hah! You were right! It worked! Polarity, baby!" He waved his arm-tentacles triumphantly.

He looked towards the still dazed Cyndaquil. He felt a bit guilty, so he decided to approach him. "Eagan…?"

He noticed too late that the fire on Eagan's neck flared up, and he could not react once the fire-type tackled him to the ground, giggling all the way. "When a pokémon attacks another, a battle begins! Let's see if t-that was just a fluke!"

Something inside the Inkay made him feel enthusiastic, even though he was being overpowered by the fire badger. "Pf. You're on!"

He closed his eyes shut, and blasted Eagan with another psychic shockwave, but in response the fire-type spat a ball of smoke that blinded the squid, who once more got pinned. "Eagan 2, y-you 0!"

"As someone once said:" The squid used his dexterous members to wriggle free, and hug the badger with a tight Wrap. "'The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so'!"

But as he proudly recited the long quote, Inkay failed to notice that Eagan had purposefully stopped his neck-fire, only to ignite it back on once the squid distracted himself enough.

Despite the intensity of the embers' heat, it only hurt the dark-type enough to make him let go of it and slither away whilst blowing at his mildly burned limbs to make them hurt less. "OW! Ow ow ow ow! Oh I'll get you for that!"

"You t-talk too much!" Eagan smirked, causing the Inkay to growl louder, whilst instinctively smirking back.

"This is so… childish. But I feel so… excited. Is this the pokémon in me talking?" He let out a giggle of his own as Eagan once more jumped him, and both started to play-wrestle and roll around the damp floor.

Eventually the fight escalated, with Eagan throwing small embers at him that mostly missed, but surprisingly even those that hit only caused more of a small discomfort instead of the pain he'd expected. So much adrenaline! It's like I'm in a speed drive… but with none of the actual danger."

Eagan's smile was infectious, the two young pokémon just kept giggling at one another as they play-fought inside the cave, their rough-and-tumble play lasting all morning long.

After many ups and downs, Eagan finally decided to put an end to it, by hitting the squid with a couple of unblockable Quick Attacks in succession, which whittled down his stamina, and caused him to be thrown out of the cave towards the now sunny outside.

"Ready t-to give up?" Eagan approached the other pokémon with slow, tired steps, a few bruises covering his body.

Inkay stayed in the ground, panting heavily, plagued by exhaustion and headaches. Shaking his only working tentacle, the other long gone due to cramps. "I'm done, I'm done."

"G-Good." Eagan flopped down, laying on his back next to the squid, relaxing in the damp grass.

"You pack one hell of a punch." Inkay looked at the bruises and burns all over his tentacles, "you could have turned me into roasted squid if you really wanted to."

"M-Mom trained me well." He smiled, but looked worriedly at the pokémon next to him. "I didn't beat you up too bad, d-did I?"

"Not THAT bad, no." Inkay hid the fact that he might be slightly more frail than he'd like, "now I wanna meet your mother, if she can turn me into a ass-kicking machine like that."

"She's the best." Eagan looks at Inkay, "you really are a human, aren't you, Inkay?"

"Mhm. Why, was my performance so pathetic that you believe no pokémon could suck so bad?"

Eagan blushed a little "Y-Yeah…"

"I read it in your mind. Eh, it's fair enough." Inkay shifted to better find comfort on the damp grass. "Just gimme a few minutes. I might not be able to do much, but I still wanna beat up those losers… for entirely selfish reasons. Just gotta wait 'till these cramps and burns go away."

Eagan smiled, noticing the subtle shifts in the squid's expression as he spoke. "I might have a way to speed things up."

Before the Inkay could ask, he was pulled into yet another hug, followed by many small licks all over his head, where he had been burned and punched before.

Those pesky pokémon instincts told him that was all too natural, and he should just stay still and let the winner of their play-fight care for him.

"Don't expect me to reciprocate." Is all he could say with a straight face, blushing bright purple.

"I-It's alright. As long as you're okay!" Eagan smiled, "And don't expect me to do the aftercare on your yucky tentacles."

Inkay rolled his eyes, and just stared at the clouds. That warm, comfortable feeling inside him only grew stronger.