Forbidden Fusion

by killalao

explicit multiversal adventure with lots of cute girls.

1. Charley's birthday

-chapter 1, Charley's first Birthday-

A brief note: in order to inform those who don't know, since I don't think I've actually said this since the very first chapter of the very first book, everything said in Italics is said telepathically. Furthermore, if you're confused about who any of these characters are, go back and read the previous books. Also if you notice any continuity errors please say something because after 4 books, there is a lot of content to look through, and even I lose track of some things, heck, sometimes I forget certain characters exist.

Anyway, for some backstory, to sum up the first three books.

While the pokemon franchise was taking off in our world in the 90s. Devon Co., in the pokemon world began to use the videogames as a vessel to contact our own through the use of scientific devices and psychic powers. Basically, unknown to us at the time, the pokemon franchise was entirely the result of long distance psychic influence from their world. This was Devon Co's "Grand Experiment", which spanned from the first generation of pokemon games to the fourth. In 2012, between the 4th and 5th phases of the experiment, the gates from their world into ours opened for the first time to disastrous results. The hole in the gate occured when transfering from a 4th generation game to a fifth generation game. Now you'd think if someone's pokemon came out the game they'd stop transfering them, but, keep in mind, most of the people that play the game are kids, with no self control. This led to our world being overun by "Rogue" pokemon, which were pokemon that were typically obscenely powerful legendaries, which if their trainer was not supposed to have them (because they didn't have enough badges in game) they would not take orders from their trainer and chaos would ensue. This was exacerbated if the pokemon in particular was hacked with extremely powerful stats. This, combined with an over-reacting military, that targetted all pokemon, not just the ones bent on destroying everything, led to the complete collapse of government and destruction on a global scale. With the military fighting the rogues, and trainers wanting to keep their pokemon fighting the rogues, and the military. Over the next four years, while the cities were nearly obliterated, smaller towns and rural areas were left almost unscathed, and from these areas society was slowly being rebuilt.

Nearly all the rogues had been annihilated, and a war was fought in the western United States between road pirates and surviving fragments of the military that were no longer interested in hunting pokemon. The military eventually won the war, and had since established safe-zones in western cities. Basically, the hardship was over and aside from the lack of a central government and the fact that many people had pokemon and wild pokemon can be found on occasion, these were basically non-rogues that were orphaned from their trainers during the disaster and somehow managed to avoid the military, life was practically normal.

During all this time, I met and fell in love with Phoebe, my gardevoir. We traveled across the country with a small team of pokemon with my team including Cap'n'Magnum the magnezone, HellBlade the Houndoom, a starraptor, and the original Bubba, a blastoise who was tragically killed by a 300ft rogue Groudon, fortunately this would be the only death we have experienced thus far. Phoebe's team consisted of Nidoqueen, a Rapidash, a Bidoof, of all things, and a particularly mischevious glaceon named Cionna, who thanks to the abilities of a manaphy is now a gardevoir, it's a long story. We made enemies with a particularly evil gengar early on, fought the rogues just like all the other trainers, we tried to avoid fighting the military , and eventually we gained a reputation as heros, at some point we found a priest and got married for the first time, then at some point we went to japan, where we fought some more rogues, finally defeated gengar, and once again tried to evade the local militia. And found a Nissan Skyline. Then we went back to the states, Then we got married for the second time, a more official wedding, since our first one was more of a shotgun wedding. We settled down in a house that was abandoned during the disaster, since then, the original denizens have not returned, so we both assume they're dead. Then we got jobs at the ill-fated Federal Bureau of Pokemon Management, which a small organization created by a surviving fragment of the government, while their we mostly went after more rogues. However, we eventually became fed up with the organization's practices and we subsequently quit, I don't really remember why, but it might have been because they decided to keep me on ice for months, not telling Phoebe I was alive, after I was injured by a sneasel while we were trying to either go after Gengar or his girlfriend, who was a Mismagius. Memory is kind of fuzzy. Anyway this caused her to almost kill herself, and I literally had to use the skyline I aquired in japan to race halfway across the country. Sometime after this, portals started to appear on our world connecting our world with the pokemon world. then we got jobs with Devon, then we went back and shutdown the bureau of pokemon management. Then we helped the military with the war in the west, as the road pirates were working with team rocket trading pokemon for nuclear weapons, our mission was to shut down some of the portals that were located out in Nevada and California. Then we went to the pokemon world, through the experiment facility, the same one that had caused the disaster years before. It's a huge science facility located in goldenrod, and quickly became somewhat of a transportation hub between our world and the pokemon world. Over the next year we worked with Devon Co. in order to bring about the end of team rocket, shutting down many of their operations, and also building our own teams of pokemon and challenging the Kanto league. It was around this time that Phoebe revealed her life before she volunteered for the experiment. It turned out the entire time she was actually princess of the gardevoir city, of course she didn't tell me any of this until we actually went to the gardevoir city, which is deep within the forrest of Sinnoh, somewhere to the west of Hearthome. You have to follow a dirt road for several hours that follows alongside a river, eventually this road leads to a waterfall, and ends next to the face of a cliff, the city is built into the trees surrounding the river on top of the cliff. Humans are normally not allowed in, unless accompanied. While we were there, we were married for the third time, in front of the waterfall outside.

During our battle with team rocket we met and subsequently adopted Nina, an extremely young orphan gardevoir, born in Team rocket's captivity to an enslaved as of yet unknown father, forced to evolve in her early teens (for comparison most gardevoirs evolve around 18-20 years of age) to serve team rocket's wicked and practically unspeakable intentions. Sadly when she was only an infant her biological mother fell victim to Team Rocket's cruelty. By some miracle, fellow captive gardevoirs were able to keep her alive for nearly a decade, up until the point where we found the warehouse on Cinnabar Island they were being held in and subsequently liberated everyone. She's interesting to say the least. She hates team rocket with a passion, so despite the nature of our work we tried to avoid mentioning them around her. Being a gardevoir, she does have powers, but not to the extent of Phoebe's. Despite this she uses her powers a lot more, often hovering and teleporting around as opposed to walking. She has her own team of pokemon most of which we've gathered for her over the course of our adventures. She's even managed to obtain a few badges, one at a gym in Unova and another in Goldenrod City. She's been with us a few years now, but she can be a bit unstable at times, mostly due to her past, and her scars still show through on occasion. Most of all, she hates Christine, a gardevoir who for, whatever reason decided to work for team rocket, and as the " director" of Team Rocket's activities on Cinnabar, she is responsible for most of what Nina had to go through. We've had run ins with her even after Team Rocket disbanded. Last we heard she was shipped off to Slateport.

Anyway, sometime after Phoebe won the Kanto league, using experimental drugs developed by Devon. Co, Phoebe and I managed to concieve a child, and a year ago from today, Charley, one of only a handful of human-gardevoir hybrids, was born. His eyes are blue and his hair is the strangest shade of teal. He's smaller than a normal human child but bigger than a ralts. As a hybrid, and an infant at that Charley so far is only able to teleport, not very far, and not very accurately. To prevent him from getting out of his crib, and getting into places he shouldn't be, he wears power bracelets, which keep him from using his powers. On occasion we will let him out of his bracelets so he can practice teleporting, but he'll have to wear them for his own safety until he's able to master it. Otherwise he can teleport around in an unpredictable manner, and not only does this scare him it can seriously hurt him as well. Furthermore, since Ralts develop faster than humans, he's pretty smart for his age. He can't even walk, but he can speak pretty well. As the oldest hybrid is only 3, the full extent of what Charley will one day be capable of is not really known.

Anyway, continuing on from Forbidden Fortune, the day after the last chapter, we explained everything we experienced to Melissa, who, even with her weakened powers, had no reason to disbelieve us. We took a break from working with the simulation experiment for awhile, afraid we could end up in another universe again. Melissa was a bit dissapointed, but quickly found some new test subjects, some other agents who were currently out of work, and so the experimenting continued, but it was only a matter of days before our fears were justified and the same situation occured again and somebody else went missing, this time they never came back, worse still, they couldn't get the portal working again, the data for the simulation was scrambled, and for some reason, the technicians couldn't modify or even delete it, it was as if they had been locked out of the system. This perplexed Melissa to no end, and instead of attempting to continue development on the simulation, she took to analyzing the bizarre phenomenon that had occured in her own lab. The simulation was on hold anyway, as the equipment was being checked out and the backup was being copied over.

Meanwhile, on our side of things, Nina was finally taking normal classes at school, and Phoebe and I were quietly preparing for Charley's birthday, which was comming up tomorrow.

It was another typical morning, we took Nina to school, and headed home, making a brief stop at the experiment facility to check in on Melissa, who was still working hard, as usual, despite the fact that everyone seemed to think she should take a break. She was pregnant after all, and her concern for her job was causing her a lot of stress, especially with the recent dissapearence of one of her subjects, but since she was the lead scientist, nobody had the authority to make her step down either, even though it would probably be in her best interest, so Phoebe wanted to visit her everyday, just to make sure she was allright.

Anyway, after our standard morning routine, we got out of the car and headed into the lab, taking Charley with us of course.

Melissa was sitting in front of a computer screen, with several word documents open at the same time, and another window that was full of lines of unidentifyable programming code.

Phoebe: "Lissa?"

-tense- Melissa: "Pheebles not now, I have to figure this out."

She said the same thing yesterday as well.

-softly- Melissa: "Where the hell did he go?"

Phoebe: "You're still looking for that guy who dissapeared?"

Melissa: "Yes."

Melissa:" And his name was Henry."

Phoebe: "Why don't you take a break?"

Melissa: "I can't!"

Melissa: "If it gets out that he dissapeared the project could be cancelled."

Phoebe: "So?"

Phoebe: "Lissa you know this isn't good for your baby right?"

Melissa: "I know, but, -sighs-."

Her computer suddenly bluescreened.

Melissa: "What! No!"

We heard some of the assistants complain as well, apparently their computers had bluescreened too. Then the portal suddenly turned on by itself.

Melissa: "-sighs-, what now?"

Phoebe: "Cj, can you take Charley back to the car? I'm getting a little nervous."

Me: "Sure."

Me: "How long should I stay out there?"

Phoebe: "Until I come get you."

Me: "Ok."

She handed Charley to me, and I carried him out of the lab, and back to the car.

-worried- Charley "Whe Mawa?"

Me: "She thought you'd be safer out here, in case something comes out of the portal."

Charley: "Cawey wa mawa."

Me: "Oh Charley, she's not that far away."

Me: "Here why don't you watch tv for a few minutes?"

I turned the car on so he could watch one of his shows, it wasn't long before he forgot that Phoebe wasn't here at the moment. To be honest though, that didn't work all the time, especially if he hadn't seen her in awhile.

I sat in the car with Charley for awhile, a bit concerned something would happen, but it never did, and after about 5 minutes Phoebe came out.

-relieved- Me: "Is everything allright baby girl?

Phoebe: "I don't think anything is going to happen so you can come back in."

Me:" Ok."

She took Charley out of his carseat and kissed him before we headed back to the lab together.

Once we got back it seemed that things had returned to normal, Melissa and the other scientists were all staring at their computer screens, wondering what had just happened, as the portal machine continued to run.

Melissa: "Can anyone find out where that portal is going?"

unknown scientist:"I don't get it, that portal is going somewhere but I can't understand the code, I can't shut it down either, it's not responding to commands."

-unsure- Me: "Want us to test?"

-sternly- Melissa: "No, I don't need you two to go missing again."

Melissa:" It better not be broken."

Melissa: "Get the technicians ...to look at it..."

-weakly- Melissa: "I need to lie down for a moment."

She got up and hobbled out of the room, Phoebe helped her out, and we went over to the lounge with her. I played with Charley in the corner, trying to keep him entertained. While Phoebe continued to try to talk Melissa into taking a break.

Phoebe: "-sighs-, You really should take a break you know? Somebody else can take over for you."

-tiredly- Melissa: "No..."

Melissa: "I'll be fine I just need to relax... for a little while..."

Melissa: "I'm not due for two more months, I can get this done by then."

Phoebe: "What if you can't?"

Phoebe: "Would you give up then?"

Phoebe: "Your baby will need you."

Melissa: "I don't want to think about that right now Pheebles."

-tense- Melissa: "But yes if my baby is born before I'm finished here I'll step down."

Melissa: "But until then..."

-worried- Phoebe: "Melissa..."

Phoebe: "Is James insisting you keep working?"

Melissa: "No, in fact quite the opposite, he wants me to stay home.."

Melissa:"But I don't want to stay home, it's boring, I want to see where this project leads."

Phoebe:" Well maybe you should stay home, it will be best for you and the baby."

-calmly- Melissa: "-sighs-, maybe you're right."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

-defiantly- Melissa: "But I can't stop, not now, not until we figure out what's going on with the portal."

-surprised- Phoebe :"Melissa!"

She got up and hobbled out the door.

-dissapointed- Phoebe: "-sighs-, Cj was I ever like this?"

Me: "You mean when you were pregnant?"

-calmly- Phoebe:"Yeah..."

Me: "Maybe sometimes, but not to this extant."

Phoebe:" I'm worried this will be hard on her baby."

Me:"I honestly don't know if it would or not."

Phoebe:" But she's putting her job before her own child."

Phoebe:"Maybe she's not quite ready to be a mother."

Me:"There's not much we can do about it though is their?"

Phoebe: "We could talk to James."

Me: "How, we don't know where he is?"

Phoebe:"Melissa has to have his number atleast."

Me:"Yeah, but how are we going to get it from her?"

Phoebe:" I don't know."

Charley crawled up to her.

-cheerfully- Charley: "Mawa!"

Phoebe: "Awe...hi Charley."

She picked him up and hugged him.

-lovingly- Phoebe: "-sighs-, you make me so happy."

He responded with a giggle.

Charley :"Mawa whe yu go?"

Phoebe: "I was talking to Melissa, you know her."

Charley: "Mehweesa."

-amused- Me: "Mehweesa?"

-playfully- Phoebe: " I was just on the other side of the room."

-insistantly- Charley :"Cawey no see mawa."

Phoebe: "You probably couldn't see me over the chairs."

-softly- Phoebe: "-sighs-, Maybe you can help me."

Phoebe :"Come on, let's go see Melissa again."

Me: "Ok."

I followed her as she carried Charley back to the lab. Once we got there she approached Melissa, who was once again back at her desk staring at the nonsensical code on her computer screen.

Phoebe: "Melissa?"

-cutely- Charley: "Meweesa!"

Phoebe :"-giggles-, Charley..."

-cutely- Charley: "Meweesa!"

-enamored- Melissa: "Awe..."

Phoebe: "Isn't he just a little cutey?"

Melissa: "Mhm."

Phoebe:"You know it won't be too much longer and you'll have your own cute little baby to take care of."

Melissa: "Or two..."

Phoebe :"What?"

Melissa :"They're twins."

-somewhat amused- Me: "Really?"

-realizing- Phoebe: "That's...that's amazing."

-surprised- Phoebe: "That's unheard of."

-quietly- Melissa: "I know."

Phoebe: "Anyway, his birthday is comming up tomorrow."

Melissa: "Oh...um...yeah that's right."

Phoebe: "If you want to come over tomorrow it would be nice, bring James too if you can."

Melissa: "I don't know, I have so much to do."

Melissa: "-sighs-, so little time."

Phoebe: "Oh you have plenty of time, I honestly think you should stop, you're going to be a mother in a just a matter of months, maybe you should quit working for awhile and think about what that means?"

-annoyed- Melissa: "Oh Pheebles, that's enough."

-sternly- Melissa: "Let it go."

Phoebe: "-sighs-."

Phoebe: "Don't you get it? Everyone thinks you should take a break, but you."

-annoyed- Melissa: "I know that Phoebe."

Melissa: "That doesn't mean I'm going to."

-worried- Phoebe:"But your babies..."

-sternly- Melissa: "They'll be ok."

Phoebe: "-sighs-..."

-annoyed- Phoebe: "Come on Cj, let's go."

-defeated- Phoebe :"Can James still come tomorrow?"

Melissa: "I can give you his number, but he's probably busy too."

-solemnly- Phoebe: "Let's go Cj, I guess we'll have to celebrate Charley's birthday alone tomorrow, Melissa is too busy to come."

I was a bit relieved she wasn't willing to get into a full scale argument with her, they were friends after all.

-relieved- Me: "Oh baby girl, it's not that bad, come on, let's go."

We quietly left the lab, got lunch in Goldenrod City and then we headed home for the day.

Phoebe called James while I played with Charley in the living room, I occasionally teased him about his birthday, even though he didn't seem to understand.

-playfully- Me: "You ready for your birthday tomorrow?"

-unsure- Charley: "Cawey dunno..."

Me: "You don't know?"

Me:" Do you want presents?"

-unsure- Charley: "Cawey dunno..."

He was playing with some hotwheels on the floor, pushing them across the floor like a normal child twice his age would do.

-curious- Me: "What do you want?"

-cutely- Charley: "teewee!"

Me: "We can't get you a tv, you're too little."

Me: "What else do you want?"

Charley: "Ancays..."

Me:" Ok maybe we could do that."

Me: "What else do you want?"

-cutely- Charley: "peesahs!"

Me: "Ok maybe we'll get you a pizza, since you have pancakes almost everyday anyway."

-curious- Me: "But don't you want any new toys?"

Charley: "Cawey dunno."

Me: "Maybe some new blocks or something?"

Charley: "Cawey wa bwocks."

Me: "Ok, we'll see."

-from the kitchen, on phone- Phoebe: "I know James, but she won't listen to reason, she isn't even willing to come to Charley's birthday tomorrow."

Phoebe: "I just hope she'll listen to you..."

Phoebe:" Anyway, I should go now."

Phoebe: "Yes, I'll delete your number..."

Phoebe: "Goodbye James."

She hung up the phone, promptly deleted James' number, for reasons known only to him, and then she came into the living room.

Me: "How'd it go?"

Phoebe: "He said he'll try to talk to her tonight."

She sat down next to me.

-cutely- Charley :"Mawa!"

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Hi Charley."

She picked him up and set him on her lap.

-cutely- Phoebe: "Still playing with those cars huh?"

Phoebe: "-sighs-, I can't believe she's going to have twins."

Phoebe: "Do you know how rare that is?"

Me: "Rarer than human twins I assume?"

Phoebe: "Much rarer."

Phoebe: "I've only seen it happen once."

Me: "Hmm.."

-insistently- Charley :"Mawa, Cawey huhwhy..."

Phoebe: "No you're not."

Me: "You just ate a little while ago."

Charley: "Cawey wa peesahs..."

Phoebe: "You're not hungry."

Charley: "Cawey no huhwy..."

Phoebe :"Mhm."

Charley: "Cawey dunno."

-amused- Me: "Hehe."

-unsure- Charley :"Cawey buhday ..."

Phoebe: "Yeah your birthday is tomorrow."

Phoebe: "And then you'll be one year old."

-unaware- Charley: "No Cawey es cawey.."

We bothed laughed, he didn't seem to understand.

Phoebe: "That's true, you'll always be Charley."

Phoebe: "But you'll be one year old too."

-defiantly- Charley: "No mawa Cawey es cawey.."

-assuringly- Charley :"Mawa seewee."

Phoebe: "No you're silly, thinking we're going to start calling you one year old."

-somewhat worried and upset- Charley: "No mawa, es cawey, cawey nah wa yeh ol cawey es cawey. CAWEY ES CAWEY!"

-calmly- Phoebe: "Awe...I know that silly, don't cry."

She held him close and quickly settled him down.

Phoebe: "Everything is ok."

Phoebe: "I just wish we could get Melissa to come to your party tomorrow."

Phoebe: "There's not really anyone else that we know around here aside from them."

Me: "We could invite the nurse.."

-mischeviously- Phoebe: "Hehe, you'd like that wouldn't you Cj?"

Me: " We know her..."

Phoebe: "Yeah, I guess, but I don't have her number, and we don't know her that well."

Me: "I guess so."

Phoebe: "I wish we could have his party back at the gardevoir city."

Phoebe: "-sighs- We should go back there soon."

Me: "We'll see."

Charley: "Mawa, Cawey wa bwa!"

Phoebe: "Your blocks are upstairs, daddy can go get them for you."

Me: "-sighs-, allright."

I headed upstairs to get his blocks while Phoebe proceeded to keep him occupied.

Like many afternoons, we continued to play with him until we had to get Nina from school, all was going well until just after we left the school and Phoebe recieved a text from Melissa.

Phoebe: "-Oh arceus-..."

Me: "What?"

Phoebe: "Melissa wants us to come over right away, she said something is finally happening with the portal."

Me: "Ok."

Nina: "Can I go too?"

Phoebe: "Only because we don't have time to drop you off at home."

-sternly- Phoebe: "Just don't touch anything and stay away from the portal."

Nina: "Ok."

Phoebe: "You can stay in the lounge and play with Charley for awhile."

Nina: "Ok."

Phoebe:" You'll be responsible for him for a little bit, because if they need us we can't keep an eye on him, understand?"

Nina:" I understand."

Phoebe: "Just remember to be gentle with him, and try to keep him calm."

Nina:" Ok."

We arrived at the lab awhile later.

Phoebe and I went to speak with Melissa, while Nina took Charley to the lounge, so they would be far away from anything that may come through the portal. It was one of the first times we put Nina in charge of babysitting Charley, and while neither of us were really sure how that would work out, we didn't have much choice in the matter. If Charley managed to get away from Nina, he'd be much safer in the lounge than in the lab, and the lounge wasn't full of expensive equipment either of them could tamper with. Anyway, once we got to the lab we saw Melissa standing by a computer next to the portal, which was now active and glowing in a strange red color, as opposed to the usual sky blue color they usually had.

Melissa: "Oh good you're here."

Phoebe: "Why are you still here."

Melissa: "Never mind that Pheebles, the portal has opened up again."

Me: "Why is it red?"

Melissa: "I don't know, it's not just this portal though, there's portals being deactivated in the phase one complex as well, and they're turning red too.

Me: "Did ours go down?"

Melissa: "No it's still up, the ones that went down were rarely used anyway."

Melissa: "What's even stranger is the code has changed as well."

Melissa: "Part of it is understandable now, but more than half of it is inconprehensible giberish with symbols that we don't understand that seem to change every so often."

Melissa: "And the only part that's understandable concerns it's coordinates in this world, which is pretty obvious."

Phoebe: "So you don't know where it goes?"

Melissa: "No, and I hesitate to send some one in, after Henry dissapeared."

Melissa: "So we're sending in a robot first."

Melissa: "And then if everything seems stable we'll send you in."

Me:"Ok.."

-insistently- Phoebe: "Melissa we can't be gone for very long, Nina's watching Charley in the lounge on her own."

Melissa: "That's ok, we won't send you in until tomorrow. "

Phoebe: "Then why did you want us to come here?"

Melissa: "Because, that way you can see where you're going tomorrow, if it proves to be hospitable."

Phoebe: "Ok."

Melissa: "Is the robot ready yet?"

Unknown lab assistant: "Mhm, it's ready to go."

Melissa: "Ok then send it in."

The robot they were using was fairly large and had a long reel of wire connecting it to a remote that was held by one of the assistants. It was equipped with various scanning equipment and large wheels that allowed it to travel over rough terrain. It's range was limited by the cable, but wireless tranmissions didn't go through the portals very well.

Anyway, Melissa changed her computer screen to display the view from a camera on the drone, and then she motioned the assistant to drive the drone through the portal. The assistant did so, and as the drone went through the portal, Melissa's screen went black for a moment, before lighting up, revealing an area that kind of looked like a sidewalk next to a street, it was very dark, so Melissa switched the drone over to night vision. There seemed to be a large building on one side, but due to the drone's small size, it was somewhat hard to make out. It was also too dark to see the other side.

Melissa: "What's the oxygen sensor say?"

Unknown assistant: "Oxygen level is identical to ours and there are no toxins identified, it's breathable."

Melissa: "It looks like it's on some sort of sidewalk, proceed forward, maybe we can find something."

Unknown assistant: "Yes mam."

The drone proceeded forward for a while.

Melissa: "That seems to be some sort of building, but there's nobody around."

Melissa: "Switching to thermal vision."

The screen changed over to thermal vision, bathing everything on it in a rich blue color, the absence of anything other than blue indicated a lack of life.

Melissa: "Hmm, everything seems to be cold, go to the right, lets see what this building looks like up close."

Unknown assistant: "Yes mam."

Me: "Does that building look familiar?"

Phoebe: "Huh?"

Phoebe: "I don't know Cj, I can't see enough of it to tell."

The drone made its way up to the building, it seemed to be quite a large building, the kind that would normally be lit up at night. From the drone's perspective, it was even larger.

Melissa: "It's completely empty."

Me: "Strange..."

Something picked up the drone.

Melissa: "What the?"

Melissa: "It must have come up behind us."

Melissa: "Activate defensive flashbomb."

Unknown assistant: "Yes mam."

-urgently- Melissa: "Cover your eyes."

Me: "Right."

The screen went completely white as we heard a loud bang over the speekers, followed by the sound of whatever had picked up the drone dropping it, and the screen continued to stay white for a few seconds before fading back to normal.

-urgently- Melissa:" Turn us around!"
The drone turned around, we saw what looked to be a very confused pawnchessmon sitting on the ground.

Phoebe: "-gasps-" it's one of those chessmon things."

Me: "Wait then that means?"

Phoebe: "This is the place we just came from."

Me:"Either that or this is some iteration of a digital world."

Melissa: "Ok get going in the opposite direction before it tries to catch us again."

Unknown assistant: "Yes mam."

Me :"Wait."

Melissa: "No keep going, he's not in control here."

Me: "I mean I'm just saying..."

Unknown Assistant: "Huh?"

Melissa: "Just keep going."

-frustrated- Me: "Maybe you should let him capture you."

Melissa: "But if it runs out of cord we lose the drone."

The screen suddenly cut to static.

-somewhat angry- Melissa:" What the? Oh come on..."

Unknown assistant: "It must have cut the cord."

-annoyed- Melissa: "-sighs-, reel it back in."

The assistant began to pull the cord back through the portal, sure enough the end was severed and the drone was nowhere to be seen.

Melissa: "This isn't good."

Melissa: " We could access it remotely but only if we were on the other side of the portal, but since that thing attacked us for no reason, it seems that there are hostiles."

Me: "That wasn't a thing, it was a pawnchessmon."

Phoebe:" Mhm."

Me: "I think this is the same place we went last time."

Me: "Which means we might know people there."

Me: "Don't worry about the hostiles then."

Melissa: "Ok..."

Melissa: "-sighs-, That was my only drone, and we have 100 more portals to test."

Me: "Really?"

Melissa: "Mhm."

Melissa: "You two might as well go home, but come back tomorrow at the usual time."

-not realizing- Me: "Ok."

-annoyed- Phoebe: " Melissa! We can't come back tomorrow it's Charley's birthday!"

-awkwardly- Melissa: "Oh...um...eheh...sorry I forgot..."

-somewhat hurt- Phoebe: "Lissa!"

-hurt- Phoebe: "Come on Cj let's go..."

-hurt- Phoebe: "Go start the car, I'll go get the kids."

Me:" Ok."

She kissed me on the cheek before leaving the room, I followed her out and headed straight to the car while she went to get the kids before joining me.

- on the way home-

Phoebe was staying pretty quiet, she seemed to be pretty hurt, but I knew she would get over it eventually.

-concerned- Nina: "Mom are you ok?"

Me: "She'll be fine, it's looks like you did a good job looking after Charley."

Nina: "Really?"

Me: "Mhm."

Me: "How is Charley?"

Nina: "Oh...it looks like he's a bit sleepy now."

-cutely- Charley: "Mawa, Cawey tywo..."

-solemnly- Phoebe: "Don't worry Charley, we'll be home in a little bit, then you can take a nap.."

-qietly- Nina:" -sighs-, Mom's ok."

Me: "Mhm."

-cutely- Charley: "goonigh mawa..."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Ok, goodnight you little cutey."

Me: "You know he's going to throw a fit when we get home?"

Phoebe: "Well then drive slowly."

Nina: "We can't, I have homework."

Me: "You do?"

Phoebe: "What class?"

Nina: "Math..."

Me: "Do you want help?"

Nina: "I don't know."

Phoebe: "We can help if you need it."

Nina: "Ok."

-upset- Charley: "Mawa Cawey tywo..."

-calmly- Phoebe: "I know, I know, I thought you went to sleep, why'd you wake up?"

-upset- Charley: "Cawey tywo!"

Me: "We know..."

Nina: "Silly Charley, you're not supposed to wake up when you're tired."

-concerned- Phoebe: "Nina...don't."

-very loudly crying- Charley: "CAWEY NO SEEWEE!CAWEY WA GO BEH ! CAWEY TYWO!"

-annoyed- Nina: "Ok, Stop quiet, please...?"

-very loudly crying- Charley: "CAWEY TYYYYYWOOOOOOOO!"

He started to flail around, trying to get out of his car seat.

Me: "Ohhhhhhhh...he's mad now..."

Phoebe :"Yep..."

Nina covered her ears, while Phoebe turned up the radio, which was playing some metal from my phone.

-somewhat annoyed- Phoebe: "-sighs-."

Nina: "Ok that's even worse."

-relaxed- Phoebe:" No it's not, this is good music."

Me: "Mhm."

-upset- Nina: "It's too loud!"

Phoebe: "Charley...look at me."

Charley looked into her eyes for a moment..

-calmly- Phoebe: "Calm down Charley, everything's ok."

-upset- Charley: "CAWEY TYYYYYWOOOOOOOO!"

-singing- Me :"-undiscernable- right side of the bed...tonight..."

-singing- Me: "-undiscernable-...fall so hard...no you never fallen so hard..."

I didn't know all the words...

Cawey: "-giggles-, Dawhy es seewee..."

Phoebe: "Awe Cj...you made him laugh."

Me: "I did?"

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Phoebe: "He stopped crying."

-still annoyed- Nina: "Does that mean you can turn it down now?"

Phoebe: "-sighs-, we're only another minute away from home."

Nina: "Please?"

Me: "One of these days you will appreciate the fine art of metal..."

Phoebe: "Oh Cj , she can like whatever she wants to like."

Me:" As long as it's metal."

Phoebe: "Cj..."

-trying to sing- Cawey: "Cawey wa go beh...nigggggh!"

Phoebe: "Awwweeee...-giggles- he just tried to sing like you..."

Me: "hehe...that was cute."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Me: "Ok, we should probably turn it down, we're almost home."

Phoebe: "Awe...ok.."

Nina: "-sighs-..."

Once we got home, Phoebe took Charley up to his room and layed him down for a much needed nap, finally calming him down. Nina headed into her room to start on her homework. I watched tv for a few minutes, before heading upstairs to see what Phoebe was doing because I was bored and she was taking a bit longer to put Charley to bed than normal. I found her in our room, laying on the bed, on top of the covers.

-curious- Me: "What's going on baby girl?"

Phoebe: "-sighs-, just looking through some pictures."

Me:" Oh, ok."

Phoebe: "I can't believe Charley's birthday is tomorrow."

Me: "Hehe... me neither."

-invitingly- Phoebe: "Come here, look at these."

I layed down next to her on the bed while she showed me the pictures she had on her phone.

Phoebe: "See look, this one was just a few days after he was born."

Me: "Awe...he was so tiny."

Phoebe: "Mhm..."

Phoebe: "And then there's this one when we took him to Whirlyworld and he went on the merry-go-round."

Me: "Yeah..."

Phoebe: "One of these days he won't be a baby anymore, and these pictures will be all we have to remind us of the cute little baby he used to be."

-sadly realizing- Phoebe: "One of these days he won't need me anymore."

Me: "Phoebe you're thinking too far ahead."

Me: "He'll always be our son."

Phoebe: "Yeah, that's true."

-unsure- Nina: "Mom...?"

Nina entered the room.

Phoebe: "What's wrong?"

Nina: "I don't understand this."

-unsure- Phoebe: "Don't understand what?"

She brought a paper over to her.

Phoebe: "Oh, your homework,...I see."

Phoebe: "What don't you understand?"

Nina: "Question 4."

Phoebe: "What's the question?"

Nina: "3x plus y equals 5x minus x"

Phoebe: "What?"

-worried- Nina: "You can't do math with letters!"

-worried- Nina: "And I'm supposed to figure out what y means, but they don't giv me anything to use with x."

Phoebe: "Hmm...I see..."

-unsure- Phoebe: "Hmmmmm...don't worry Nina...I don't really understand this either but maybe your father can help you."

Me: "Wha?"

Me: "-sighs-, fine, let me see."

About a minute later...

Me: "It means y=x."

Nina: "Um...ok..."

Me: "I don't think you need to answer with a real number because they don't give you a real number."

Me: "Ok?"

Nina: "Ok."

Phoebe: "Didn't they go over that in class?"

Nina: "Um...I don't know..."

Phoebe: "hehe...weren't you paying attention?"

-jokingly- Me: "What's this drawing for?"

Nina: "Um...that's a...diglett..."

-jokingly- Me: "Were you doing a math problem about a diglett?"

Nina: "No, it's just a drawing..."

Phoebe: "Nina, you shouldn't be drawing in class..."

Nina: "Why not? I'm not going back next year."

Phoebe: "That doesn't mean you shouldn't take it seriously."

Nina: "I'm sorry."

Phoebe: "It's ok..."

Me: "Is that all the help you need?"

Nina: "Um...I think so..."

Phoebe: "Why don't you let me look at the other problems ok? Just to make sure you did everything right before you turn it in?"

-frustrated- Nina: "-sighs-, ok."

Another minute later..

Me: "Is she doing ok?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, it all looks fine to me."

Me: "Ok."
She handed her paper back.

Me: "Now go put that somewhere and don't lose it ok?"

Nina: "Ok."

Me: "And don't forget to take it back to school with you tomorrow."

Nina: "I won't dad."

Me: "Ok then."

Nina: "Thankyou for helping me."

Me: "Mhm...anytime sweetheart."

She got up and left the room.

-unsure- Phoebe: "-sighs-, what were we doing before she came in?"

Me: "You forgot? It wasn't that long ago."

Me: "You were looking at all the pictures of Charley you took."

Phoebe :"Oh...right"

Phoebe: "I guess we should get his present wrapped for tomorrow too."

Me: "Yeah, we probably should."

She got up and took his present out of the closet, along with some wrapping paper, both of which we had aquired the week before with Charley none the wiser. It was simple really, we even brought him along with us, Phoebe took him to another part of the department store while I went to buy it for him.

Of course it didn't take long to wrap it up, after which Phoebe stuck it back into the closet.

Phoebe: "We still have so much paper left."

Me: "We can use it for some other occasion."

Phoebe: "Yeah, I guess so."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, now what?"

Phoebe :"Charley won't be up for a few hours."

Me: "I don't know, you want to go see what Nina's doing?"

Phoebe: "-sighs-, I don't know."

Phoebe: "I feel like I want to take a nap too."

Me: "It's a little late in the afternoon for that isn't it?"

Phoebe: "Maybe."

She pretended to fall asleep.

Phoebe: "-cutely sighs-"

-somewhat unamused- Me: "Really?"

-cutely- Phoebe: "mhm..."

-about a minute later-

Me: "I guess I'll go check on Nina then.."

Phoebe: "Wait...stay here with me."

-unsure- Me: "Why?"

-cutely- Phoebe: "Because."

-playfully- Me: "Because why?"

-dissapointed- Phoebe: "You don't want to snuggle with me?"

-somewhat annoyed- Me: "-sighs-...ok, fine, but just for a little bit."

Phoebe: "Ok."

I layed down next to her and wrapped my arms around her.

-softly- Phoebe: "Thankyou.."

-softly- Me: "Mhm..."

Phoebe: "Why didn't you want to?"

Me: "I don't know baby girl."

Me: "I just kind of want to make sure Nina has her homework done."

Phoebe:"Oh don't worry about that."

Me: "Ok."

-concerned- Me: "Are you feeling ok? I know Melissa kind of...well."

Phoebe: "It's ok...I just don't think she realizes."

Me:"You sure?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, there's nothing you can do about it anyway."

Phoebe :"If James can't change her mind nobody can."

Me: "I guess."

Phoebe: "Tomorrow we need to give Charley the best birthday ever."

Me: "Oh don't get too excited, it's his first, he doesn't even understand what his birthday is yet."

Me: "And then we'll have to out do this year's birthday next year."

Phoebe: "Yeah, that's true..."

Me: "And besides, we won't have to try to hard to keep him happy."

Phoebe: "Mhm, but we should still show him that his birthday is special."

Me: "Yeah, but it will still take him awhile to figure it out."

Phoebe: "I know, but he'll learn."

Me: "Mhm."

We quietly talked back and forth for a few minutes, and she showed me a few more pictures she had taken of Charley, and then we left the room to see what Nina was up to outside. She was joyfully playing with her pokemon outside, as usual.

Nina: "Come on Matches, let's go see Mom."

Phoebe: "Hello sweety, did you get your homework finished?"

Nina: "Mhm, I think so."

Phoebe: "Ok good."

Nina: "Can I stay home for Charley's birthday tomorrow."

Phoebe: "Um..."

Me :"No Nina, you still have to go to school..."

Nina: "Awe why..."

Nina: "Mom do I really have too?"

Phoebe: "Yes sweety, your father's right."

Nina: "But you wanted Melissa to come..."

Phoebe: "Yes, but she doesn't have to catch up with her job if she misses it."

Phoebe: "Besides, you won't miss it sweety, we'll celebrate it later in the evening when you're home."

Phoebe: "I don't think Charley will mind waiting a little bit for his present he doesn't know about."

Phoebe:"Is that allright?"

-happily- Nina: "Mhm."

Phoebe: "Ok then."

Phoebe: "So what are you doing out here with your pokemon?"

Nina: "Oh, just playing around, like always."

-happily- Phoebe: "-giggles-, ok."

Me: "Do you like your classes?"

Nina: "Um...I don't know...they're ok...I guess."

Phoebe: "Too easy?"

Nina: "No...too hard..."

Phoebe: "Oh don't be silly they didn't do all that testing on you to put you in a class you can't pass."

Me: "Yeah, they're supposed to challenge you, otherwise you wouldn't learn anything."

-defensively- Nina: "I don't want to learn anything."

Nina: "I just want to make friends."

Phoebe: "Awe... there's nothing wrong with learning."

Phoebe: "Besides if you're going to go off on your own, and become a pokemon trainer it's important that you know a little bit about the world you're going out into."

Me: "Mhm."

Nina: "But what about math? That doesn't teach me anything."

Phoebe: "Maybe not about the world, but you need to know this stuff anyway, because what happens if you don't make it as a trainer?"

Nina: "Um..."

Phoebe: "You'll need to find a job somewhere."

-unsure- Nina: "Uhhhhhhh..."

Phoebe: "You never thought about that did you?"

Nina: "no..."

Nina: "I know I'll be the best..."

Phoebe: "How can you be so sure?"

Nina: "Because you're my parents and your the best."

Phoebe: "That doesn't mean you'll be."

Nina: "Why are you being so mean?"

Phoebe: "I'm not."

Me: "She's not saying you won't make it, she's just saying you need to have a back up."

-worried- Nina: "Do you think I can make it?"

She looked directly at me.

Me: "I think you can, if you can stay focused."

Phoebe: "You're very strong Nina, but there's alot more to being a pokemon trainer than just training pokemon, and we can't let you go until we're sure you can make it out there, on your own."

Phoebe: "Don't worry so much Nina, if your school work gets difficult we're always here to help."

Me: "Mhm."

Nina: "Ok, I'll try."

Phoebe: "Maybe after Charley wakes up we can go out to the timber if you want."

Nina: "Ok..."

Phoebe: "But that won't be for atleast another hour or two yet."

Phoebe: "If it's not dark by then."

Nina: "Why can't we go in the dark?"

Me: "Because who knows what comes out at night these days?"

Nina: "Pokemon?"

Phoebe: "Maybe, but we aren't sure."

Me: "Coyotes..."

Nina: "Coyotes?"

Me: "They're kind of like a dog but skinnier and meaner."

Me: "They're not very nice creatures, and they're definitely not pokemon."

Me: "Mhm."

Nina: "They don't sound that bad."

Me: "Yeah, but they attack in packs."

Me: "If you see one, there'll be atleast 3 or 4 others around."

Me: "They're dangerous in numbers, so it's best not to wander out into the timber at night."

Nina:" What do they look like?"

Me: "I don't have a picture of one."

Me: "They're like a small, gray dog though."

Nina: "Ok."

Phoebe: "You know what dogs are right?"

Nina: "Yeah grandma and grandpa have them..."

Phoebe: "Right..."

Phoebe: "Um, I'm going to go inside and get my phone...I kind of hope Melissa will call."

Me: "-sighs-, ok."

Phoebe: "I'll be back in a bit."

Nina: "Ok mom."

She headed inside the house.

Me: "Now what?"

Nina: "I don't know."

Me :"Where did all your pokemon go?"

Nina: "I think they chased Sparky to the other side of the house.."

Me: "That's your rotom right?"

Nina:" Mhm..."

Me: "Ok."

Nina:" How do you not know that?"

Me: "We've been busy recently..."

-annoyed- Nina: "-sighs- whatever."

I heard a loud crackling noise comming from behind the house, it sounded like a bunch of firecrackers going off.

Me: "Come on, we better go check on them."

Nina: "Ok."

Nina: "They probably caught rotom again."

Me:"Again?"

Nina: "Mhm."

-meanwhile, inside the house.-

Phoebe: "No Melissa, we can't go back to the lab right now, Charley's asleep."

-on phone- Melissa: "What about tomorrow then?"

Phoebe: "No, we still can't go back tomorrow either I told you it's Charley's birthday."

Phoebe: "Why do you want us to come back?"

Melissa: "Somebody came through the portal, they mentioned you."

Phoebe: "Who?"

Melissa: "I don't know, but she doesn't seem to be human or pokemon."

Melissa: "She keeps saying she's a digimon."

Phoebe: "Persiamon?"

Melissa:" What...?"

Phoebe:"That's what she is...we just call her Persia..."

Melissa: "Um...ok..."

Melissa: "Also she escaped the facility and we don't know where she is."

Phoebe: "She escaped?"

Melissa: "Well...not really, she kind of just walked away..."

Phoebe: "How?"

Melissa: "Um...some kind of low level hypnosis I think..."

Phoebe: "Oh don't worry, she's no threat, she'll probably realize she's completely lost and come back to you within the next hour or so."

Melissa:" Well we thought since she knows you two she'd be more willing to cooperate if you were here."

Phoebe :"Ok fine...Melissa, we'll visit tomorrow, but we have to be back by this afternoon for Charley's birthday...ok?"

Melissa: "Good...Good..."

-back outside-

Once we came around to the other side of the house, we found that Nina's other pokemon had Sparky surrounded.

Nina: "Oh no, not this again."

Nina: "Sparky you need to stop zapping everyone..."

-tense- Sparky: "Rotom...rotommm..."

Nina:" Everyone else please stop..."

Nina: "You're all a team, you shouldn't be hurting eachother."

-annoyed- Gulpin: "Gulpin Gul gulpin!"

Cobalt: "Beldummmm Bel..."

Ferroseed: "Ferrrrossssseeeed..."

Matches simply barked, then came over to us, carfully dragging oshawott with him, it seemed that oshawott had been injured.

Nina: "Oh no..Oshawott you're hurt!"

She carefully picked him up.

-weakly- Oshawott: "oshawott."

-concerned- Nina: "Sparky did you do this?"

Sparky: "Rotom...ro...rotom..."

-somewhat angry- Nina:" I don't care if it was an accident you should've known he was a water type."

Nina: "No more playing for you today..."

She returned him..

Nina: "Poor oshawott..."

Me: "Return him too, we should take him to the center."

Nina: "Do you think he'll be ok?"

Me: "I think so, he's probably just paralyzed."

Nina:" Ok."

She carefully returned her injured pokemon.

Nina:"Can we take him to the center now?"

Me:" If you return your other pokemon."

Nina: "Ok."

Me: "Go get in the car, I need to go talk to your mother."

Nina: "Ok."

I headed inside, and found Phoebe upstairs laying on the bed once again."

Me: "Looking through more pictures?"

-solemnly- Phoebe: "No...I'm just..."

Me: "Still upset?"

Phoebe: "We need to go back in tomorrow, apparently Persiamon came through the portal and they don't know where she went."

Me: "Really?"

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Me: "I need to take Nina to the pokemon center, her oshawott got hurt."

-concerned- Phoebe: "What happened?"

Me: "Uh...I think Sparky zapped him on accident or something."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, ok...go ahead and go, I'll stay here, Charley's still asleep."

Me: "Ok."

I looked at her for a moment.

Phoebe: "What?"

Me:" Um..."

Me: "I don't know."

-playfully- Phoebe: "Oh...you want a kiss don't you?"

-awkwardly- Me: "Eh..."

She got up and kissed me..

-softly- Phoebe: "I almost forgot.."

I kissed her back.

Phoebe: "Awe...Cj.."

Me: "It's all going to be ok baby..."

Phoebe: "I know..."

We kissed a few time.

Phoebe: "-giggles."

-jokingly- Phoebe: "Are you going to take Nina to the center or are we going to make out?"

Me: "Eh...I don't know."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Oh just get going you weirdo..."

Me: "-sighs- allright."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "I love you."

Me: "Love you too baby girl."

I left the room, headed downstairs and outside, and got in the car, Nina was already waiting.

Nina: "What took you so long?"

Me: "-sighs-, you know how your mother is sometimes..."

Nina: "You weirdo..."

-jokingly- Me: "hehehe...yeah like that..."

I pulled out of the drive, and started heading towards Slabtown. A few minutes later we arrived at the pokemon center in GoldenRod. It was a fairly routine visit, we went up to the counter.

Nurse: "Good evening, it's nice to see you."

Me: "Um..it's nice to see you too I guess."

Nurse: "What can I help you with today?"

Nina: "My oshawott is hurt..."

Nurse: "An oshawott? There's not many of those around here."

Nurse: "Let me take a look at it for you."

Nina handed Oshawott's pokeball to her.

Nurse: "Isn't it your little brother's birthday tomorrow?"

-amused- Nina: "Mhm, how did you know?"

Nurse: "I was here when he was born silly."

Me:"I can believe he's already a year old.."

Nurse: "They grow up fast don't they?"

Me: "Hopefully not too fast..."

Nurse: "What are you planning on doing tomorrow? Are you going to have a party?"

-kindly- Nina:" Mhm, you want to come?"

-unsure- Me: "Um..."

Nurse: "I wish I could, but I have to work tomorrow."

Nina: "Oh ok..."

Nurse: "Allright your oshawott should be ok in a few minutes. According to this machine it looks like he got paralyzed pretty bad, were you fighting an electric type?"

Nina: "Um...no...my rotom accidently zapped..him."

Nurse: "Oh... ok."

Nurse: "Rotom are...pretty uncommon as well."

Nina: "Yeah, but he's a bit of a troublemaker."

Nurse:"Yeah, that's just how some pokemon are, it's allright though, I'm sure he'll grow out of it eventually."

Nina:" I hope so."

Eventually her Oshawott was healed and we headed home.

-in the car-

Nina: "Dad do you think my rotom will ever behave?"

Me: "If you are really a good trainer I don't see why it wouldn't."

-somewhat down- Nina: "rrrrrrrrrrrrr Dad..."

Me:" What? it's the truth."

Me: "And don't worry, you're pretty good, you just have alot to learn."

Nina: "-sighs-, if you say so."

Me: "These things take time Nina."

Nina: "It didn't take you much time."

Me: "That's because I've been playing pokemon for...um...since I was ten...I already knew about most of them before the disaster, including all type advantages and disadvantages, moves and strategies, after that it was all about figuring out how those would apply to reality."

Me: "But it's not just the pokemon or the training Nina."

Me: "You also need to learn how to survive on your own."

Me: "Because when you're out there, on your journey."

Me: "There will be lots of times when you will be on your own."

Me: "Because your mother and I can't just follow you around everywhere."

Me: "Ok?"

Nina: "I understand."

She let her oshawott out.

Me: "What are you doing?"

It just kind of bothered me that she let her pokemon out in the car.

Nina: "I just want to hold him."

-relieved- Me: "Oh...ok, he better not make a mess."

Nina: "He won't, I promise."

Me: "Ok then."

Nina: "Are you better now oshawott?"

-happily- Oshawott: "osha...oshawott!"

Nina: "Good, I was sooo worried about you."

-somewhat upset- Oshawott: "Osha….watt..osha…"

Nina: "I know it wasn't nice for Sparky to do that."

Nina: "But I think he knows better than to do it again."

-concerned- Oshawott: "Osha…oshawott."

Nina: "I hope so to."

We arrived home a few minutes later.

Nina brought her oshawott into the house, which was normally against the rules, but Phoebe didn't notice yet because she was still upstairs.

Me: "You know he's not supposed to be in the house right?"

Nina: "Oh come on, just let me play with him for a little bit….please…"

Me: "-sighs-…."

-defensively- Nina: "He's a water type, he can't set anything on fire."

Me: "Oh…all….."

Just then Phoebe came down the stairs and interrupted me.

Phoebe:" Nina sweety you know the rules."

Phoebe: "If he sprays water on the carpet it will take days to dry out."

Nina: "Ok...fine."

Nina: "I'll take him back outside to play.."

Nina: "Come on oshawott."

-happily- Oshawott: "Osha...Oshawott!"

Nina: "He says he likes it better outside anyway.."

-cheerfullly- Phoebe: "Hehe...allright then...there you go."

Nina went back outside, carrying her oshawott with her.

Phoebe: "You were going to let her weren't you?"

Me: "I didn't think it would hurt..."

Phoebe: "That's ok."

Phoebe: "We have to hold her to the same standards though."

Me: "If you say so."

Me: "Is Charley still asleep?"

Phoebe: "I was just about to check on him."

Me: "Ok."

We both headed up to his room.

We found Charley wide awake in his crib, quietly playing with his lotad plush.

Charley: "Mawa, Cawey nah tiwo aymo..."

Phoebe: " You're not tired anymore?"

Phoebe: "-giggles- I would hope so."

-playfully- Phoebe: "Come here you.."

She picked him up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Charley: "Cawey luh mawa!"

-lovingly-Phoebe: "I know you do sweety."

Phoebe: "Come on let's go downstairs."

Charley: "Cawey wan ancays?"

Phoebe: "No silly, you only get pancakes in the morning."

Phoebe: "Are you hungry?"

Charley: "Cawey na huhwy."

Phoebe: "Ok then..."

Charley: "Cawey see dawhy.."

Me: "Hi Charley..."

-playfully- Me: "How are you?"

Charley: "Cawey na huhwy."

-playfully- Me: "Ok...that's cool."

Me: "Did you have a nice nap?"

Charley: "Cawey dunno."

-playfully- Me: "You don't know?..."

We made it down the stairs.

Phoebe: "You want to hold him Cj?"

Me: "Sure.."

Phoebe: "Ok."

She carefully handed him to me.

-somewhat upset- Charley: "No Cawey wa mawa holb!"

Me: "Awe..."

Phoebe: "Ohhhhh ok..."

I handed him back.

Me :"What's wrong with me?"

Phoebe: "I don't know, he just wants me right now I guess."

-jokingly- Phoebe: "For Charley reasons..."

Me: "Hehe, what?"

-jokingly- Phoebe: "Silly reasons that only he understands...Charley reasons..."

Me: "Ok..."

Me: "Like why he wants pancakes when he's not hungry?"

-jokingly- Phoebe: "Mhm...now you get it..-giggles-...Charley reasons...!"

-cutely- Charley: "Cawey weezuns?!"

-unsure- Charley: "wa weezuns..?"

-jokingly- Phoebe: "I don't know, you tell me, they're your reasons."

Charley: "Cawey dunno wa Cawey weezuns."

Phoebe: "I thought so."

-upset- Charley: "Cawey dunno!"

Phoebe: "shhh...it's ok."

She gave him a kiss, which seemed to calm him down a bit.

Me: "So you want to watch some tv?"

Phoebe: "Umm...sure...just for a little while."

Me:" Ok."

We sat down on the couch and I turned on the tv.

Phoebe: "I need to start making dinner soon, it's almost five."

Me: "Can I help?"

Phoebe: "I'd love to cook with you again Cj, but it's best if one of us stays out here with Charley."

Phoebe: "Unless you want to cook yourself."

Me: "Sure, I can make hamburgers..."

Phoebe: "Um...I don't really feel like hamburgers though..."

Me: "Well what do you want then?"

Phoebe: "I just think it's best if I do it...Ok?"

Me: "Ok, if you insist."

-insistently- Charley: "Mawa, Cawey wa dow!"

Phoebe: "Ok..."

She set him down on the floor, and he crawled up to where he was right in front of the tv.

-jokingly- Me: "Awe..look, he's a little couch potato..."

Phoebe: "Awe...don't be mean..."

She leaned against me.

Me: "You want to snuggle?"

-cutely- Phoebe: "Mhm."

Me: "Ok."

We layed down and snuggled up together on the couch.

Phoebe"-sighs-...look at him sitting there watching tv."

Phoebe: "One day he'll grow up, maybe he'll want to be a trainer too or a nurse or...a Devon agent..."

Me: "Yeah..."

Phoebe: "Tomorrow it will have been a full year since he was born."

Me: "Mhm..."

Phoebe: "One day our little baby won't be a baby anymore."

Me: "Mhm..."

Phoebe: "But then what will he become?"

Me:" I don't know baby girl."

Me: "What do you want him to be?"

Phoebe: "Whatever is best for him..."

Me: "Hehe...same here.."

We layed there for awhile, and quietly kissed back and forth until Phoebe had to get up to start making dinner. The rest of the day was uneventful. Eventually went to bed that night, both of us thinking about how things would play out tomorrow. Unfortunately it was kind of a long night for me as there were several times Phoebe decided to wake me up to discuss some new idea she had about what to do tomorrow.. Unfortunately her excitement got the best of her, so she didn't get to sleep until really late. The next morning she was very tired so I quietly got out of bed and helped Nina get ready for school while she continued to sleep. Phoebe decided to get out of bed on her own just as I was about to take her to school.

-comming down the stairs-

-tiredly- Phoebe: "-sighs-...what time is it...?"

Nina: "Goodmorning mom."

-surprised- Phoebe: "Nina...? You're already dressed?"

Me: "Yeah...I'll take her to school today..."

Me: "Why don't you just go back to bed baby girl, I'll be back in a little while..."

Phoebe: "Where's Charley?"

Me: "Last I checked he was still asleep..."

-tiredly- Phoebe: "Ok..."

Me: "I told you not to get so worked up..."

-tiredly- Phoebe: "I knoooow ..."

Me: "Come on Nina, we need to get going."

Nina: "I know..."

She gave her mother a hug..

Nina: "Bye mom..."

Phoebe:"Goodbye sweety..."

I hugged her as well .

Me: "Just go back to bed,...you need to get some sleep."

-tiredly- Phoebe: "I think I will..."

Phoebe: "Thankyou honey..."

Me: "Mhm..."

She gave me a kiss on the cheek before slowly making her way back up the stairs.

After that I drove Nina to school and came back about an hour later.

I found Phoebe playing with Charley in our bedroom, apparently he had woken up since I left, meaning Phoebe didn't get much of an oppourtunity to catch up on her sleep, but they both seemed to be happy, so it didn't seem to matter.

Me: "Oh...Hi Charley..."

-cutely- Charley: "Dawhy!"

-playfully- Phoebe: "Yeah daddy's here...isn't he?"

I slipped out of my shoes and layed down beside her.

-quietly- Me: "Has he asked about his birthday yet?"

Phoebe: "No, I don't think he understands it yet."

-unsure- Charley :"Buhday?"

Phoebe: "Mhm...today's your birthday sweety, it's special."

-concerned- - Charley: "Cawey no wa be wa yare ol...cawey es cawey."

Phoebe: "Oh...now you remember..."

Me: "hehe... He still thinks we're changing his name..."

Phoebe: "Yep."

Me: "Your name is Charley, your age is one year old..."

-unsure- Charley: "Cawey dunno."

Phoebe: "Oh, you'll understand eventually."

Just then her phone went off.

Phoebe: "What the..."

Phoebe: "Melissa?"

-annoyed- Phoebe: "I already told her we couldn't go today..."

Me: "Answer it anyway, maybe it's important."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, it better be..."

She reluctantly answered the phone.

-into phone- Phoebe: "What is it this time?"

Phoebe: "What? Really?"

Phoebe: "Well it's going to be later today...after Nina gets out of school...so probably around 5:00..."

Phoebe :"Why did you change your mind?"

Phoebe: "Oh...ok..."

Phoebe: "Well, We'll wait for you then..."

Phoebe: "Ok goodbye, for now, but be careful not to work too hard."

She hung up. and put her phone back on the nightstand.

Me: "She changed her mind?"

Phoebe: "Mhm...She wants to come now.."

Me: "What happened?"

Phoebe: "I don't know she won't explain."

Phoebe: " I wish we could find more peope to invite."

Me: "Nina tried to invite the nurse, but she said she was too busy.."

Phoebe: "Yeah, I thought so."

Me: "Do they ever not work?"

Phoebe: "I think they work around the clock for one week then they take a break."

Me: "So next week there will be a different nurse?"

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Me: "Oook"

Phoebe: "Charley stay away from the edge."

Phoebe: "If you fall off you could get hurt."

Charley started to crawl off towards the edge of the bed.

Charley: " Cawey dunno."

Me: "You'll get an owie.."

-insistently- Charley: "Cawey no wa owie.."

Phoebe: "Then come back over here."

He didn't listen.

Phoebe: "-sighs-"

She closed her eyes...Charley started to levitate soon after, looking somewhat confused as Phoebe brought him closer to her.

-confused- Charley: "Cawey wa dow..."

Charley: " Mawa cawey no wa...!"

Me: "Pheebles what are you?"

-sternly- Phoebe: "Shh..."

Once he was within her reach, Phoebe wrapped her arms around him.

-lovingly- Phoebe:"There we go, nice and safe."

Charley: "Cawey no wa uf ageh.."

Phoebe: "Well then you need to listen silly."

Charley: "Mawa leh go?"

Phoebe :"No...mommy loves you..."

She kissed him.

-somewhat upset- Charley: "Cawey wa dow!"

-softly- Phoebe: "Shhhhhh..."

-jokingly- Me: "You made him mad..."

Phoebe: "Ohhh...he's ok..."

Phoebe: "Charley...settle down..."

She looked into his eyes for a moment, soon after he settled down.

Phoebe: "What should we do today Charley?"

Charley: "Cawey... dunno."

Me: "Should give you a birthday party?"

-unsure- Charley: "Parwhy?"

Me:"Yeah, and then you can get presents and things..."

Charley: "Cawey dunno..."

Phoebe: "One of these days you will know something..."

Charley: "Mawa?"

Phoebe: "Yes sweety?"

Charley: "Cawey dunno mawa dahwy ses..."

Phoebe: "You don't know what we're saying?"

Phoebe: "That's ok...we'll show you..."

Phoebe: "But not until Nina gets home..."

A few minutes later we were just about to leave the room and head downstairs, before Phoebe's phone went off yet again."

Phoebe: "Oh really? What now?"

Phoebe: "Here Cj, why don't you take Charley downstairs and get him something to eat?"

Me: "Ok sure."

Me: "Come on little guy."

I picked him up.

Me: "Are you hungry Charley?"

Charley: "huhwy..."

Me: "Ok...come on then."

I brought him downstairs into the kitchen to get him something eat, I got him a jar of baby food, but he quickly spat it out because it was too cold, so I put it in the microwave for a few seconds, and then noticed that Phoebe had entered the kitchen behind me.

Phoebe: "We need to get going."

Me: "What what's going on?"

Phoebe: "Melissa just informed me that the police have captured persiamon this morning and just transferred custody of her to Devon Co. And, because she knows that we know her, she wants us to come in and speak to her, in an attempt to get her to cooperate.

Me:"Ok."

Me: "Cooperate for what?"

Phoebe: "Nothing much, they just want to do some research on where she came from and what not."

Phoebe: "I think we should help, she's lost in this world, even more than she was in the other one."

Me: "Yeah that's true.."

Me: "What about Charley's birthday though?"

Phoebe: "We can bring him along, he won't be in any danger.."

-impatient- Charley: "Dawhy, Cawey huhwy..."

-lovingly- Me: " Ok little guy, we'll get you something to eat first..."

Phoebe: "-giggles-."

I pulled a jar of baby food out of the microwave for him.

-in disbelief- Phoebe: "You microwaved his food?"

Me: "He didn't want it earlier because it was too cold."

Phoebe: "Oh...yeah...he doesn't like that sometimes."

Me: "Sometimes?"

Phoebe: "Sometimes he'll eat it when it's cold, sometimes he won't."

Me: "Ok."

I put him in his high chair in the dining room, and Phoebe and I took turns feeding him until the jar of food was empty.

Phoebe: "Ok Charley, it's allgone.."

-cutely- Charley: "awl gahh..."

Phoebe: "Cj why don't you take him out to the car?"

Phoebe: "I'm going to gather up some of his toys incase we're there for awhile."

Me: "Ok baby girl."

-playfully- Me: "Come on Charley, let's go."

I carefully lifted him out of his chair, then I brought him out to the car and proceeded to strap him into his car seat. Phoebe came out just a minute later with her purse and a small bag with some of Charley's toys inside. After she got in the car I pulled out of the driveway and headed for the portal in Slabtown. A few minutes later we arrived at the experiment facility, and found Melissa working in the usual lab. Once we were there she ordered one of her assistants to take us to yet another room, in another part of the building we were not yet familiar with. This was a relatively plain, unfurnished room, with little more than a desk and chairs inside. Persiamon was seated in one of the chairs, noticably restrained with handcuffs.

Me: "What the?"

Persiamon: "Cj? Phoebe? I was hoping I'd find you."

Persiamon :"You have to help me they have me all tied up."

-unsure- Persiamon: "It is you isn't it?"

Persiamon: "You know me right?"

Me: "Yeah..."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

-unsure- Phoebe: "Why are you tied up?"

Assistant: "Because she escaped earlier."

Phoebe: "Why?"

Persiamon: "I'm sorry, I was confused, I don't know who these people are, I don't know what this place is."

Phoebe: "Ok, but don't try to escape again."

Persiamon: "Ok."

Phoebe used her powers to unlock the handcuffs around Persiamon's wrists.

Assistant: "What are you doing?"

-calmly- Me: "Relax we have it all under control."

-playfully- Me: "Isn't that right Charley?"

Charley: "Cawey dunno..."

-bored- Charley: "Dahwy, Cawey wa dow."

Me: "Not right now, maybe in a little bit."

Phoebe: "-giggles-."

-realizing- Persiamon: "Oh...that's your son..."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

-enamored- Persiamon: "What a little cutey..."

Phoebe:"-giggles- That's what everyone says."

Assistant: "Well, here's a list of what we want to know...I'll just let you guys talk for a moment, I don't feel like their's anything else I can do."

Phoebe: "Ok then, bye..."

The assistant handed her a clipboard and left the room, leaving us alone with Persiamon. Charley was getting bored, and I knew it wouldn't be long before he would begin to throw a fit if I didn't set him down on the floor to play.

Phoebe: "Allright Persia, they just want us to ask you a few questions and then I think they'll let you go back to the other world."

Persiamon: "What if I don't want to go back?"

Me: "Why is that?"

Phoebe: "Where else are you going to go?"

Persiamon :"Here?"

Phoebe: "But you don't know anybody here."

Persiamon :"I know you...and you're here..."

Me: "And besides that aren't your chessmon back in the other world still?"

Persiamon:" Yes...but..."

Persiamon:"They aren't my chessmon anymore..."

Persiamon: "They serve Nya now."

Phoebe:"Ok..."

Phoebe: "But that doesn't answer why you wanted to leave so badly."

Persiamon:" Because I wanted to go somewhere new, I wasn't the princess anymore, I didn't have reason to stay."

Me: "Yeah, but you had friends there...didn't you..."

-quietly- Charley: "Cawey wa dow..."

I took him over to the corner and set him down on the floor before sitting across from him.

Me: "Ok , but don't go wandering around."

Persiamon: "Yes, but I was curious, I wanted to see where the portal led."

Persiamon:" And now that I've seen that there's a whole other world to explore I don't want to go back..."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, Ok ok...how about we figure that out after you answer our questions."

Persiamon: "Ok."

Phoebe: "Ok the first one is...what country are you from?"

Persiamon:"What?"

Persiamon:" Capital city?"

Phoebe: "Fair enough."

The world she was from didn't really have established countries.

Phoebe: "Actually we can probably answer most of these for you, from what we saw while we were there."

Phoebe: "So um... question five, has a war started since we were there last?"

Persiamon: "No..."

Phoebe:" Ok."

Phoebe: "Question six, what is the race, species, or ancestrial culture of your people?"

Me :"Say wha?"

Persiamon: "Um...I don't know..."

Me: "Can we go with that?"

Phoebe: "I hope so, considering everybody there is different I don't think there is one."

Me: "Yeah..."

Phoebe: "Actually, I think we can answer the rest."

Me:" Really? "

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Persiamon: "Is that it then?"

She started to write things down onto the paper, she had such neat handwriting.

-concerned- Phoebe: "So why don't you want to go back?"

Persiamon :"Because, from what I've seen, this world looks better."

Phoebe: "Mhm, but you have no money, we can't just start supporting you because you don't want to go back."

Persiamon :"But I'm a digimon."

Phoebe: "So?"

Persiamon :"You...don't want to be my tamer?"

-unsure- Phoebe: "Your wha?"

Me: "It's like a pokemon trainer, basically, but with digimon."

Phoebe: "Oh...ok."

Phoebe: "No...sorry..."

Phoebe: "Besides Persia, there's no other digimon to battle here, you can't gain any experience."

Persiamon: "That's not true, I can still gain experience from fighting pokemon can't I?"

Phoebe: "Maybe, but you're not a pokemon, nobody will be willing to battle you."

Persiamon: "But...if I can't get stronger I'll never be a princess again."

Phoebe: "Why do you want to be a princess so badly?"

-surprised- Persiamon: "Don't you?"

Phoebe: "I was born a princess, I hated it..."

-realizing- Me: "Pheebles...you might want to keep that down..."

-embarassed- Phoebe: "Oh...hehe...heh..."

-unsure- Persiamon: "What?"

-quietly- Me:" She doesn't want anyone to know she's a princess."

Persiamon: "Oh ..."

-cutely- Charley: "Mawa pwecess..."

Me: "Hehe, Charley..."

Me: "Don't say that."

Persiamon: "Oh...they don't know huh?"

Persiamon: "Well then let me stay here and I won't tell them."

Phoebe: "Don't be stupid."

Phoebe: "I can wipe it from your memory."

Persiamon :"You...can do that?"

Phoebe: "Mhm."

-unsure- Persiamon:" Um...but if you have that kind of power..."

Persiamon:" Can't you hypnotize me into thinking I'm a pokemon?"

Phoebe: "Even if I did, that wouldn't make you one."

Persiamon: "Why not?"

Phoebe: "Because it doesn't work that way."

Phoebe: "Does anyone back on your world know you left?"

Persiamon: "I don't know."

Phoebe :"They probably miss you."

Phoebe: "You should go back, ok? There's just no way you can make it here."

Persiamon: "I miss the digital world."

Persiamon: "I wish I could go back there."

Phoebe: "Well, we don't know where it is, so you can't."

Phoebe: "But if we ever find a way to get there, I promise I'll tell you."

Persiamon: "Ok."

Phoebe: "Please just go back ok?"

Phoebe: "I don't want to have to fight you on this."

Persiamon: "Ok fine, I was just hoping you would take my side on this."

Phoebe:"Well maybe you should have thought this out a bit better."

The assistant came back into the room.

Assistant: "How is it going?"

Me: "Great."

Phoebe: "It's going good, I got all the information you need."

Persiamon: "Mhm."

Phoebe handed the clipboard to him. He looked it over for a moment, and seemed to be satisfied with the results.

Assistant: "Ok good, that means she can go back now, if you two could escort her back to the lab."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, I don't think that will be neccesary."

Phoebe: "Right?"

Persiamon: "Um...right..."

Phoebe: "Ok then."

-nervously- Assistant:" Allright then...uh...follow me please...mam..."

Persiamon: "Ok..."

The assistant seemed to be a bit afraid of her as she followed him out of the room...

-cutely- Charley: "whey kiwi goweee?"

-confused- Me: "Kiwi?"

-amused- Phoebe: "hehe, he thinks she's a kitty."

Me:"Oh...ok..."

Me: "Where do you think she's going?"

-cutely- Charley: "Kiwi goweee geh ancays, Cawey huhwhy..."

-playfully- Me: "What is it with you and pancakes?"

Charley: "Cawey huhwhy."

Me:" How are you hungry? You just ate."

Charley: "Cawey wa foo..."

There was no way he could be hungry now.

Me: "I think you just want to be silly."

Charley: "Cawey wa beh."

-jokingly- Me: "Ok I'll go put you to bed..."

-realizing- Charley: "No Dahwy! Cawey no wa beh..."

He shook his head in disaproval.

-playfully- Me: "But you just said you did..."

-cutely- Charley: "Cawey seewee..."

-jokingly- Me: "Really?"

-happily- Phoebe :"hehehe, come on, let's go home."

Me: "Maybe we should go see if Melissa needs anything else first."

Me: "Cause if she does and we leave you know she'll just call us back here."

Phoebe: "Yeah, you're right we should."

It took us a few minutes to find our way back to the lab, but thanks to some directions we got from an unknown scientist we made it back ok.

By the time we made it back to the lab, Persiamon had already returned to the other world, but the portal was still open, and Melissa was still very busy with things we weren't really sure about.
Phoebe: "Um Melissa?"

Melissa: "Hello Pheebles, what do you need?"

Phoebe: "Nothing I was just wandering if you still needed our help?"

-cutely- Charley: "Meweesa!"

Melissa: "Hi Charley...Cj."

Me: "Hi."

Melissa: "Um...no Pheebles, probably not today."

Phoebe: "Ok."

We heard a strange noise as large object suddenly came through the portal, surprising everyone in the room.

-surprised- Me: "What the?"

-cutely surprised- Charley: "Wa tha?"

unknown assistant: "Is that the drone?"

other unknown assistant: "Looks like it."

-somewhat relieved- Melissa: "Oh good, they gave it back."

Melissa: "I asked Persiamon to get our drone back for us before she went back through."

Phoebe: "Oookaay..."

Melissa: "Allright I want that drone examined and ready to go in no less than 12 hours."

other assistant: "Yes mam, right away. "

The assistant got up, picked the drone up off the floor, and brought it back over to his desk.

Phoebe: "Why do you still need the drone? That place is fine, we've been there before."

Melissa:" Yes, but we still need it for the other strange portals.."

Phoebe: "Ok."

Melissa: "But we'll take a closer look at those tomorrow."

Melissa: "Why don't you just go home for now."

Phoebe: "Ok, just remember Charley's party is at 6:00 tonight."

Melissa: "I'll remember."

Phoebe: "I hope you'll be there."

-insistently- Melissa: "I'll be there, stop worrying, go home."

Phoebe: "Ok."

Phoebe:"Allright then, Cj let's get going."

Me: "Right, let's go Charley."

Charley: "Wah gowee?"

Me: "We're going home silly."

-unsure- Charley: "Homme?"

Me: "Exactly."

We left the lab, got in the car, and headed home. The afternoon was quite uneventful until we had to leave again to pick Nina up from school. We spent nearly all of that time with Charley, talking to him, trying to teach him new concepts that he didn't quite understand yet, such as what "home" meant what family was, and then later on we tried to convince him that while he would become one year old today, his name was not going to be changed to "one year old", unfortunately we still couldn't get him to understand this, so we just let this be for the moment, as he seemed to like his name so much that any suggestion that it might change made him very upset. Instead of continueing that lesson we decided to try to teach him the concept of age instead, how people and things get older over time, but, while it didn't upset him as much, he didn't seem to understand it very well either, but that was allright, he was still just a baby after all, he had plenty of time to learn.

Anyway, after we brought Nina home, she spent some time with Charley as well, while Phoebe and I enjoyed our short break by watching tv, our break didn't last very long though, around 5:00pm Phoebe got up to start getting things ready for the party.

Nina was in her room, playing nicely with Charley, a nice change of pace, since usually she was outside right about now, playing with her pokemon. By the sound of Charley's laughter, it seemed like she was keeping him entertained. It wasn't much later when my curiousity got the best of me and I went to see what they were doing, I entered her room to find them innocently playing on the floor with a wide variety of toys, dolls, legos, hotwheels, stuffed animals, a little bit of everything basically, some were Charley's own toys and a few belonged to Nina as well.

Nina: "Hi Dad."

Me: "Hey, sounds like you're having fun in here."

Nina: "Mhm."

-cutely- Charley: "Dawhy, twa go boo.."

Me: "What?"

Nina: "There was a car accident."

Nina: "He's trying to say the truck went boom."

Me: "Oh ok…"

Charley: "Cah...Ahh...ahheee...aseeeedeh?"

He was trying to say "accident", but it was just a bit too difficult for him.

-Unsure- Charley: "Cawey dunno can ses aseeedeh..."

Nina:"Hehe."

Me: "You don't know if you can say it.?"

Me: "That's allright, you'll learn eventually."

Charley:"Newa, Cawey wa watarwol."

Nina: "Um..."

He reached for the familiar golden wartortle plush.

Nina: "Oh ok, here you go."

She handed it to him, since he couldn't quite reach it on his own.

Nina: "What's he gonna do?"

-cutely- Charley: "kwash!"

He hit the truck with the plush. It seemed a bit violent, but it was also really adorable.

-amused- Me: "hehe, crash!"

Charley: "Watarwol go boo."

Nina :"Why?"

Charley: "Cawey dunno."

-playfully- Me: "Pancakes?"

Charley: "Ancays..."

Me: "Thought so."

Nina: "That doesn't make any sense."

Me: "Of course it does, he wanted pancakes so bad he ran into the truck and crashed."

Charley: "Kwash!"

He hit it again.

Me: "Is that what happened Charley?"

Charley: "Cawey dunno."

-cutely- Charley: "Watarwol ee awl ancays."

Me: "All of them?"

-cutely- Charley: "Awl."

-playfully- Me: "Before or after he crashed?"

Charley: "Cawey dunno."

Me: "Ok."

Charley: "Whe mawko?"

Nina: "I don't know where your murkrow toy is."

Charley: "Dahwy whe mawko Cawey wa mawko!"

-unsure- Me: "Well it's probably in your room upstairs…..maybe, I don't know."

Me: "He's asleep right now Charley, you don't want to wake him up so why don't you play with one of your other toys?"

I didn't feel like going upstairs to get it at the moment, but at the same time I didn't want him to get upset about it.

Charley: "Mawko sleef?"

Me: "mhm."

Charley: "Lofah…"

He picked up his lotad plush, which was right next to him.

Me: "Is lotad going to crash too?"

-Cutely- Charley: "Wartowool eee lofah!"

Charley: "-eating noise-"

He pushed the two plushes together.

Me: "ooookayyy."

Me: "He must be hungry…"

We all played together for a while, both Nina and Charley had quite the imagination, eventually both wartortle and lotad were hiding under the bed together from the giant barbies, behind a wall made out of legos, with the barbies using the hotwheels cars like rollerskates, of course Nina was comming up with most of these ideas, but Charley had a few of his own as well, most of them involving pancakes or pizza.

Nina: "Ok so, the barbies are trying to turn wartortle and lotad into pizzas, right Charley?"

Charley: "Watorwol no wa barwhy ee hem."

Nina: "mhm."

Charley: "Watarwol ee barwhy….-eating noise-."

He picked up the wartortle plush and knocked one of her barbies over with it.

Nina: "No…not Barbie…."

-cutely- Charley: "-eating noise-"

He pushed the plush up against the Barbie, and continued to make this strange noise like the wartortle was eating it.

-cutely- Charley: "Barwhy awl gah…"

He moved the barbie out of the way.

Me: "Hehe…"

-playfully- Phoebe: "What's going on in here?"

Me: "Oh hey baby girl."

Nina: "We're just playing around."

Phoebe: "Well, the cake is almost ready."

Phoebe: "Cj if you could watch the door, Melissa should be here any minute."

Me: "Allright sure."

I got up, and headed to the door.

-curious- Me: "What kind of cake did you make?"

Phoebe: "You'll just have to wait and see."

Me: "Ok…"

Phoebe: "Nina if you could set the table."

Nina:" Ok."

Phoebe: "And then come upstairs for a moment, ok?"

Nina: "Ok."

Nina got up, left the room and headed for the kitchen.

-cutely- Charley: "Bye Newa!"

Nina: "-giggles-...Bye..."

Phoebe:"Come here Charley."

She picked Charley up and held him close.

Charley: "Mawa, watarwol ee bahwy awl gah…"

-unsure- Phoebe: "-giggles-, ooookaaaay."

Phoebe: "Come on sweety, let's get you ready for your party."

Charley: "Mawa Watarwol es huhwy..."

Phoebe:"Ok."

-cutely- Charley: "He wa ee bawhys."

Phoebe: "Well he can eat later, I need to get you cleaned up."

She gave me a kiss on the cheek as she left the room before proceeding up the stairs with our infant son. I left the doorway, and headed back to the couch on my own, everybody was doing something completely different now, and all I had to do was simply wait for Melissa to arrive.
Nina came out of the dining room and headed upstairs a few minutes later, I heard Charley crying, probably because Phoebe was trying to comb his hair out or something else he didn't like. Oh well, that couldn't be helped. At this point his hair was almost down to his shoulders as we were still helping him work on his powers when it wasn't too cold outside. Although she did trim it up a little bit to keep it away from his mouth , it was still obviously too long in the front and hindered his eyesight, but when she came back down I was somewhat surprised I could see his eyes again.

Me: "You gave him a haircut?"

Phoebe:"Mhm, his psyhorn should be well developed by now, so he can have normal hair now."

Me: "So his powers?"

Phoebe: "It will still take some time for him to be able to understand and use them properly."

Me:"Ok."

-cutely- Cawey: "Mawa see cawey eye..."

Me: "I see your eyes too little guy."

Me: "And you dressed him in a ralts' clothes?"

Phoebe: "Um...kind of, but not really..."

Me: "Huh?"

Phoebe: "It's a human dress, I couldn't find ralts clothes that would fit him."

-concerned- Me: "You put him in a dress?"

Phoebe: "He's a baby nobody will know the difference."

Phoebe: "You didn't even know the difference until I told you..."

Me: "-sighs- Fair enough."

Me: "What's Nina doing?"

Phoebe: "She's putting on her dress too."

Me: "Ohhh ok."

Me: "Is this going to be a formal event?"

-lovingly- Phoebe: "No...traditional."

Me: "Ok."

Me: "Did you tell Melissa that?"

Phoebe: "She should know..."

Me: "Ok..."

Me: "Um..."

Nina came down the stairs.

Nina: "How do I look?"

Me: "Stunning."

Phoebe: "You look very beautiful sweety."

Phoebe:" Can you watch Charley for a moment?"

Phoebe: "Your father and I still have to get ready."

Nina: "Sure."

She handed Charley over to her.

Charley: "Newa..."

Nina: "Hey little guy."

I followed Phoebe up the stairs to our bedroom.

Me: "So uh...what should I where?"

Phoebe: "Oh don't worry I won't put you in a dress..."

Phoebe: "That suit you wore at our wedding will work just fine..."

Me: "Ok."

Phoebe: "I'll go change in the bathroom."

Me: "Ok."

She grabbed her own white dress from one of the drawers and left the room, closing the door behind her. I started to change into my suit that I hadn't worn in quite awhile. I guess I had lost some weight since then, as everything seemed a bit loose. So with not much else to do I just waited for her to return.

-after she came back-

Phoebe: "-sighs- you're so handsome..."

Me: "Um...yeah, but, my pants won't stay up."

Me: "I think I've lost weight since then baby girl."

-realizing- Phoebe: "Yeah you have haven't you?"

Phoebe: "They won't stay up even with the belt?"

Phoebe: "Just put your belt on I don't think it will be that noticable, ok?"

Me: "Ok."

She kissed me.

-softly- Phoebe:"After this...you and me..."

-lovingly- Me: "I got it..."

-softly- Phoebe: "Good."

-softly- Phoebe: "-sighs-, your so handsome."

-softly- Me: "Well you're so sexy."

-cutely- Phoebe: "Mmmm hehe..."

I gave her another kiss.

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Ok come on, I need to finishing getting ready before Melissa shows up."

-lovingly- Me: "Right."

She slipped her shoes on.

-lovingly- Me: "Though you look fine to me.."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Oh you..."

-outside the room- Phoebe: "Go on and head down Cj, I'll be down in another minute or so."

Me: "Ok."

I got up and headed down the stairs. Nina was sitting in front of the tv with Charley, who was still playing with the golden wartortle plush from earlier, along with his lotad and Morty the murkrow plushes. Out of curiousity I had to ask where her Torch the growlithe plush went, as I hadn't seen it in awhile.

Me:" Do you still have your Torch the Growlithe plush?"

Nina:" Mhm, I just don't want Charley to play with it."

-jokingly- Nina: "Why? Do you want to play with it daddy?"

Me: "Hehe, no, I'm just wonderering where it is because I haven't seen it in awhile."

Nina: "Ok."

-excitedly- Charley: "Watarwol attah Newa!"

Nina: "No..."

Me: "-sighs-, don't start this again."

Me: "Don't be mean."

He threw the plush at Nina anyway.

Me: "Charley."

Nina picked the plush up off of the floor and handed it back to him.

-annoyed- Nina: "Don't hit me again or I'm not giving it back."

Phoebe came down the stairs.

Phoebe: "Is he throwing his toys again?"

Nina: "Mhm."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, Charley be nice to your sister."

Charley: "Mawa!"

She came over and picked him up.

Phoebe: "Melissa isn't here yet?"

Charley: "Cawey wa dow!"

Phoebe: "Well then no more throwing things ok?"

She set him back down on the floor, and he went back to quietly playing with his toys.

Me: "Nope, no sign of her, nobody has even driven by all day."

Phoebe: "Well it's still a bit early I guess."

Phoebe: "Did we invite your parents?"

Me: "Yeah, but they're busy with harvest..."

Phoebe: "Oh...ok...that's right I remember now."

Phoebe: "-sighs-"

Nina: "Can I go outside and watch for them?"

Phoebe: "Go ahead, but keep your dress clean."

Nina:" Ok."

She quickly headed into her room.

Phoebe:" Nina what are you doing?"

Nina: "I want to play with Matches.

Phoebe: "Ok...just stay clean...ok?"

Nina: "Ok."

She left her room, and quickly bolted out the door, we heard the sound of a pokeball opening followed by Matches' cheerful barking just seconds later.

-jokingly- Me: "And she's off..."

-cutely- Phoebe: "Mhm."

-unsure- Charley: "Newa go ousigh..."

Phoebe: "Mhm..."

Charley: "Cawey wa Newa."

Phoebe: "Oh you'll be ok Charley, she'll be back in a little bit."

-cutely- Charley: "Cawey wa Newa pway..."

-enamored- Phoebe: "Awwwwwe..."

Phoebe: "We'll play with you..."

She got down on the floor with him, I did the same, knowing she'd call me down as well.

-playfully- Phoebe: "What do you want to play?"

Charley: "Watarwol eee...avytheee."

Phoebe :"Wartortle eats everything?"

Phoebe: "Why's he so hungry?"

Charley: "Watarwol wa foo..."

-playfully- Phoebe: "He wants food?..."

-playfully- Me: "That doesn't really answer the question..."

Phoebe: "Nope..."

Charley: "Lotahhh tywo..."

Phoebe: "Lotad is tired...?"

Charley: "He go sleef.."

Phoebe: "Ok."

Charley: "Watarwol ee hem..he sleef"

Phoebe: "Well that's not very nice."

-somewhat concerned- Me: "He's going to eat him while he's sleeping?"

Phoebe: "I guess that's what he's trying to say."

Charley: "-eating noise-"

Phoebe: "-giggles-, what was that?"

Me: "That's just the noise he makes when wartortle eats somebody."

Phoebe: "Oh...ok...cute."

Phoebe: "Charley did Nina teach you this game?"

-unsure- Charley: "Cawey dunno."

Phoebe: "Why don't we play something else?"

Charley: "Wa pway?"

Phoebe: "Let me think."

Me: "Why? Too scary?"

Phoebe: "Um... a little bit...I'd rather he not think about things like that.."

Me: "Yeah, I wasn't really sure about it so..."

Phoebe: "It's ok."

Phoebe: "It was Nina right not you?"

Me: "Most of it was Nina yes.."

Phoebe: "-sighs-...Cj..."

Me: "I honestly thought it was funny at first.., but by the time I realized where it would lead to it was too late to do anything about it."

Phoebe: "It's allright."

Me: "What about Nina?"

Phoebe: "She just doesn't understand that it's not appropriate for him to think about stuff like that. It's allright, but I would prefer you try to steer her away from things like that in the future. "

Phoebe: "If that's ok with you."

She looked me in the eyes.

Me: "No problem baby girl."

Phoebe: "Charley where are you going?"

Charley had started to crawl away, towards Nina's room.

Charley: "Cawey geh Newa bahwys..."

Charley: "Watarwol ee avythin."

Phoebe: "Charley come back over here you goofball."

Charley: "Cawey no goobah...Mawa goobah..."

Me: "You better come back..."

Phoebe: "Or daddy will get you..."

Charley: "Noooo dahwy...no geh cawey..."

-lovingly- Phoebe: "-sighs-, you goofball, go get him Cj..."

Me: "Right."

I got up and brought him back with ease, he got a little bit upset with me for doing so.

-upset- Charley: "Cawey wa geh bahwhys!"

Me: "Then you have to ask Nina..."

-upset- Charley:" Cawey dunno weh Newa gowee."

Phoebe: "That doesn't mean you can just take them."

Charley: "Cawey wa Newa!"

Me: "She'll come back inside when Melissa gets here."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Phoebe: "Here, let's if there's anything for you to watch on the tv."

She turned the tv on with her powers, and started flipping through the channnels, not even bothering with the remote.

Phoebe: "-sighs-, let's see..."

Charley: "Whe Newa?"

Me: "Look at the tv Charley.."

Phoebe: "Hey look it's pokemon."

Me: "hmm..."

One of the pokemon episodes from the johto season was playing, it seemed to be one of the many filler episodes, but Charley didn't mind, as soon as he saw all those bright colors the tv had his attention. This had such a pronounced effect, we usually left the tv off as he seemed to be a little tv addicted at times. Fortunately he stlll didn't know how to turn it on by himself so this was an easy solution.

Phoebe: "I don't think I've seen this episode before."

Me: "Yeah this is the johto series, probably before they made it to ecruteak city, they had a lot of filler between ecruteak and the previous gym."

Phoebe: "What do you mean?"

Me: "Basically a bunch of episodes that don't really further the storyline, it's not that they're bad episodes, it's just that they don't contribute much to the overall story."

Phoebe: "Ohh...ok."

Me: "Like you see the people ash and friends are talking to here?"

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Me: "You probably won't see them in any other other episode nor will they even be mentioned."

Phoebe: "Ok."

Me: "If it wasn't filler, you would see them in another episode where they would contribute more to the story."

Me: "But it's still a well written episode, it's still watchable, but you could erase it from existence and nothing would seem out of place."

Phoebe: "So why do they exist?"

Me: "Um...I guess because they just needed more episodes...it's not like they're bad you know."

Phoebe: "Yeah, I guess."

Phoebe: "-giggles-."

Phoebe :"Charley..."

-cutely- Charley: "Cawey wa teewee."

-softly- Me: "He's being a couch potato again."

-softly- Phoebe: "Yep..."

Phoebe: "Awe well, Melissa should be here soon."

-just a minute or so later-

Nina came inside and we heard a car pull into the driveway.

Nina: "Melissa's here."

-calmly-Phoebe: "We know..."

Phoebe got up and headed to the door, leaving me on the couch with Charley, who was still watching tv. Nina headed into her room.

-at the door-

Phoebe: "Hello."

Melissa: "Hi Pheebles."

-joyfully- Phoebe: "Melissa...ohhhh...I'm so glad you came."

Melissa: "I said I would didn't I?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, but, I didn't think you'd hold to it."

Melissa: "James was going to come too, but he had a emergency meeting at the last minute..."

Phoebe: "Really?"

Melissa: "Mhm."

Melissa: "So where's Charley?"

Phoebe: "Oh he's watching tv with Cj, come on in."

She led her into the house.

-loudly- Charley :"MAWA!"

He suddenly cried out for her without warning.

-concerned- Me: "Charley, what's wrong?"

Phoebe: "Charley are you ok?"

-overly concerned- Charley: "Weh Mawa gowee?"

Phoebe: "Charley, I just went over to the door, you goofball."

Phoebe: "See, Melissa is here."

Charley: " Meweesa."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Melissa: "Pheebles...can I sit down?"

Phoebe: "Mhm, why don't you go ahead and sit at the table? We'll have dinner in a moment. I had Nina set everything out earlier."

Melissa: "Ok.

She showed her into the dining room and got her something to drink.

Melissa: "So, he's one year old today."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Phoebe: "Don't mention it around him though."

Melissa :"Why not?"

Phoebe: "-giggles-, He seems to think we're changing his name to 'one year old'."

Melissa: "Hehe, really?"

Phoebe: "Mhm it really upsets him."

-in the living room-

-from the dining room- Phoebe: "Cj, why don't you bring Charley in here?"

Me: "Ok baby girl."

Me: "Come on Charley it's time for dinner."

He made a bit of a fuss as I brought him into the dining room, as I had taken him away from the tv, but it didn't take him long to calm down once I set him in his high chair and provided him with some plush toys to play with.

-somewhat upset- Charley: "Cawey wa teewee.."

Me: "Charley you've seen enough tv for now, come on it's almost time for dinner, here you can play with your wartortle see."

-happily- Charley: "Watarwol..."

Me: "Mhm."

Melissa: "Looks like you know how to keep him happy..."

Me: "Yeah he's not too hard to handle."

-jokingly- Phoebe: "Oh really Cj?"

-nervously- Me: "Most of the time..."

-amused- Phoebe: "-sighs-."

Phoebe left the room for a moment to get Nina.

-from the living room-

Phoebe: "Nina what are you doing? It's almost time for dinner."

Nina: "I'm just getting stuff picked up from earlier..."

Phoebe: "Why is your tv on then?"

Nina: "Um..."

-somewhat annoyed- Phoebe: "-sighs-, Come on sweety, it's time for Charley's party."

Nina: "Ok..."

She led her back into the dining room. Nina took a seat at the table next to Charley while Phoebe headed into the kitchen.

-playfully- Phoebe: "Ok Charley are you hungry?"

-from the kitchen-

Phoebe: "I made you something very special..."

Charley: "Mawa weh gowee?"

Phoebe: "I just went into the kitchen silly I'll be back in a moment."

-somewhat upset- Charley: "Mawa!..."

Me: "-sighs-, he's always like this when somebody isn't not around."

Me: "Calm down Charley."

Charley: "Weh arwoo?"

Charley: "Cawey wa mawa..."

-unsure- Charley: "Dawhy geh Cawey mawa?"

Me: "I'm pretty sure she'll be back soon Charley."

Nina:"What did she make?"

Me:" Pizza, you know cause he talks about it alot, and still has no idea what it is."

Nina: "Oh, ok, I thought mom was going to make pancakes."

Me: "Nah, we have pancakes almost every morning, I talked her into doing something a bit different."

Nina:" Ok."

Phoebe came back just a few seconds later.

Phoebe: "Here we go everyone."

Phoebe: "It's gone a bit cold because Melissa was a bit late, but it should still be good."

She layed the pizza down on the table, it was quite large, and by the looks of it I could tell it was made from scratch.

Me: "It looks good."

Me: "How did you learn how to make this baby girl?"

Phoebe: "I read through some of the cookbooks, and then I called the pizza place and asked them how they made their pizzas."

Me: "When did you do that?"

Phoebe:" When you and Nina were at the pokemon center."

Nina: "Mhm."

Melissa: "It doesn't look too bad? What kind is it?"

Phoebe: "It's just cheese, I didn't know if Charley would like pepperoni."

Phoebe: "I hope Charley likes it, he's only had pizza a few times before."

Me: "I think he'll be allright."

Me: "You want some pizza Charley?"

-unsure- Charley: "Peesah?"

He smiled, and instantly got excited despite not really understanding what pizza was.

-cutely- Charley: "Cawey wa peesah..."

Charley: "Cawey wa geh awl peesahs."

Me: "Well you can't have all of it silly."

Everyone got a slice and then Phoebe cut a small slice into pieces so Charley could have some as well.

-lovingly- Phoebe: "Here Charley, open up."

She fed him a piece, which he seemed to enjoy.

Me: "He seems to like it."

Me: "I think it's pretty good, I hope he feels the same."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, Me too."

-amazed- Me: "Actually…Pheebles, this is some of the best pizza I've ever had."

-enamored- Phoebe:" Awe...you really think so?"

Me: "Mhm."

Nina: "Mhm...it's really good mom."

Melissa:" I'd have to agree, what's your recipe?"

Phoebe:" I'll tell you later if you want."

Melissa: "Ok."

-playfully- Phoebe: "Do you like it Charley..."

He continued to chew for a while before answering.

Charley: "Cawey dunno..Mawa..."

Phoebe: "You don't like it?"

-excited rambling- Charley: "Mawa ses peesah….Cawey dunno peesah, Cawey wa…awl peesahs…Cawey dunno geh peesah…Mawa….Cawey dunno."

Me: "What?"

Phoebe: "Ohh….I don't know what he's trying to say."

-playfully- Phoebe: "This is pizza Charley, I made it just for you, do you like it?."

Charley staired off into space for a moment…

-somewhat concerned- Phoebe: "Charley?"

Charley: "Mawa….Cawey wa… mo foo..."

Me: "Hehehe..."

Charley:" Mawa geh Cawey mo foo?"

Phoebe: "Sure"

-playfully- Me: "I think he likes it..."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

We all continued to enjoy this amazing pizza until there was sadly only one piece left to be enjoyed. Melissa insisted on bringing it home for James. After Phoebe lent her a plate and some foil, she brought out the cake she had made.

Charley didn't seem to be paying much attention, but as it was just his first birthday he didn't really understand what was going on yet. However, when Phoebe lit the candles the cake had gained his total attention, the flames fascinated him, as the workings of fire were as of yet beyond his understanding. He then gave the cake the same look he frequently gave to the tv.

Me: "Hehe, watcha looking at son?"

-unsure- Charley: "Cawey dunno wha Cawey see?"

Nina: "He doesn't know?"

Me: "You see the candle?"

Nina: "You going to blow it out Charley?"

Nina: "What are you going to wish for?"

-unsure- Charley: "CAWEY DUNNO!"

Phoebe: "Nina don't upset him."

Nina: "Sorry mom."

Nina: "Aren't we supposed to sing happy birthday or something?"

Me: "No..."

Phoebe: "Are we?"

Nina: "That's what I heard at school."

Nina: "And daddy's lying."

Phoebe: "Why would he do that?"

Me: "I'm just not a fan of happy birthday I'm sorry."

Phoebe: "Oh...that's allright Cj, Charley wouldn't understand it anyway."

Phoebe: "Ok, Charley, you ready to blow out the candles sweety?"

She picked him up.

Phoebe: "You're starting to look a little tired baby boy, hehe, don't fall asleep yet."

Phoebe: "Here I'll help you."

Phoebe: "Look at me sweety."

Charley: "Mawa."

-enamored- Melissa: "Awwee….."

-excitedly- Phoebe: "Cj get ready to take a picture."

Me: "Ok baby."

I got my phone out.

She held him up to the cake and helped him blow out the candle. After that the cake was cut up and distributed among ourselves.

Unfortunately the cake was not that good.

Melissa: "Phoebe I'd hate to say it, but this cake….it's just…not that good."

Phoebe: "Awe….why?"

-Disappointed- Nina: "This taste like pancakes…"

Me: "She's right….I'm afraid you must have made a mistake."

Phoebe: "-sighs- Allright I admit, I made it out of pancakes, I thought would be good, but I guess it just didn't turn out the way I thought it would.."

It was very dry and the frosting she used just didn't go with it very well. It basically just tasted like frosting as the cake, though thicker than a normal pancake, wasn't firm enough to offer its own texture, and it didn't have the cinnamon flavor her pancakes usually had for some reason, like she had tried to make it more cake-like but it just didn't work. It was basically a giant, plane pancake, that tasted like some strange cross between pancake and corn bread.

Phoebe: "I'm sorry Cj, I didn't know if it would be good or not, I just thought I'd experiment a little bit."

Me: "It's allright."

Me: "You could probably just scrape the frosting off and put syrup on it."

Phoebe: "Yeah, ok."

Me: "Nina can you go get some syrup please?"

Nina: "Ok sure."

She got up and headed to the kitchen.

Phoebe: "I'm sure Charley will like it either way. Cake or pancake."

Me: "Hehe...yep."

Anyway, none of us were really hungry after the pizza, so we basically spent the next few minutes watching Charley eat a part of his pancake cake. He didn't seem to mind it, but eventually he didn't want to eat anymore so I helped Nina clear the table while Phoebe went to go get his present from upstairs.

Phoebe: "Charley sweety, happy birthday..."

-unsure- Charley: "Cawey bufday?"

Phoebe: "Yes it's your birthday silly."

Phoebe: "Here's your present."

She set the box in front of him, it seemed to be a little big for the high chair.

Phoebe: "Um...actually let's set you on the table."

She set him and his present on the table, the present gained his attention almost immediately.

-curious- Charley: "Wa thes Mawa?"

Phoebe: "It's your present silly, you have to open it."

Charley: "Cawey dunno."

Nina: "-giggles-."

Phoebe: "Cj, help him open it."

Me: "Ok."

-playfully- Me: "You have to rip the paper like this."

I ripped the paper a bit, which made him laugh. While Phoebe proceeded to take pictures with her phone.

-playfully- Me: "See, now you try Charley..."

-playfully- Me: "Go on."

I had to rip the paper a few more times before he understood what he was supposed to do and began to rip it open himself.

Me: "There you go Charley, see what's inside."

Phoebe: "Awe….."

Me: "You taking a video?"

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Melissa: "Just don't film me ok Pheebles?"

Melissa: "I'm not supposed to be in film…"

Phoebe: "Um….ok."

She moved to the other side of the table, away from Charley who was almost finished opening his present.

-curious- Charley: "Wa thes Mawa?"

Phoebe: "Well, we got you some more blocks sweety, that way you can build more things."

Charley:" Bwocks?"

Phoebe: "mhm…just for you."

Me: "Here let me help you open it."

I helped him open the package so he could play with them right away.

-playfully- Me: "See, they're better than your other ones, you can build more stuff with them."

He began to play with them as I took them out of the package.

Me: "There you go hehe, you get it."

Just then, Melissa's phone went off.

Melissa: "Hello?"

Melissa: "Allright I'll be there in a moment."

She hung up.

Melissa: "-sighs- Sorry Pheebles, something happened back at the lab and I need to get going."

Phoebe: "Allright fine…just take it easy…"

-playfully- Melissa:" Happy birthday Charley."

-cutely- Charley: "Meweesa…..whe goweee.."

Melissa: "I have to go back to work sweety…."

-playfully- Melissa:" Where are you going?"

-cutely- Charley: "Cawey pway bwoks."

-playfully- Melissa: "Ok…have fun…"

-playfully- Melissa: "Bye."

-cheerfully- Charley: "guhbye…"

Phoebe: "-giggles-…

Me: "Take it easy…"

Nina: "Bye…"

Phoebe: "Goodbye Melissa, thanks for coming."

Melissa:" I wish I could stay longer but, they need me."

Phoebe: "That's allright."

They hugged for a brief moment before Melissa left the kitchen and headed out the front door.

Phoebe: "And she's gone…"

Me: "Yep."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, I didn't think she'd stay very long anyway."

Nina: "What are you building Charley?"

Charley: "Towuh…."

Nina: "A tower?"

-sweetly- Nina: "ok."

Me: "Might as well get all these dishes put away."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

I started collecting plates to take into the kitchen.

Nina: "Can I feed the rest of the cake to gulpin?"

Phoebe:" Sure, but take it outside first."

Nina: "Ok thanks mom."

Nina:"Maybe then he won't be so hungry."

Phoebe:"-sighs-, I doubt it."

Nina: "Why not?"

Phoebe: "Gulpins are always hungry silly."

Nina: "I didn't know."

Phoebe:" It's ok."

She took the cake and headed out of the room.

-urgently- Phoebe: "Don't let him eat the plate!"

Nina: "I won't!"

Phoebe: "Cj?"

Me: "Yeah baby?"

Phoebe: "How long do you think it will be before she calls us back in?"

Me: "45 minutes..."

Phoebe: "Really?"

Me: "Yeah, that gives her enough time to get back to the facility and understand the problem."

Phoebe:" Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Me: "Are we going to go when she does?"

Phoebe: "How about I take Nina, and you stay here with Charley?"

Me: "Uhhh...I don't know about that, he probably won't like it if both of you leave."

Phoebe: "Or do you want to stay here with Nina and him and I can go by myself?"

-playfully- Me: "Why do I have to stay?"

Phoebe: "Well I guess you can go if you want to, and I can stay here with the kids."

Me: "It's allright baby girl, you can go if you want."

Phoebe: Ok then I will."

Sure enough Melissa called just less than an hour later, so Phoebe left to go see what she needed. All seemed well, until it started to get dark outside and I hadn't heard a single thing from either of them.
-shortly after putting Charley to bed-

-concerned- Nina: "Dad, why isn't mom back yet?"

Me: "I was starting to wonder the same thing."

Me:"Why don't you stay here and keep an eye on your brother for a moment? I'm going to go swing by the facility and make sure everything is allright. Ok."

Nina:"Just make sure you come back."

I gave her a hug.

Me: "Don't worry sweatheart I will."

Me: "But if we're not back by morning take Charley to your grandparents ok?"

-worried- Nina:" Ok."

Me:"Don't cry Nina...nothing bad has even happened yet."

Me: "Just get some sleep and listen for Charley in the morning."

With that, I headed to our room, grabbed my pokemon, headed downstairs, grabbed my pistol, got dressed, got in the sedan and headed out. Once I got to the portal facility, I noticed that many of the portals were deactivated, and there were many people of various nationalities wondering around, apparently concerned as they couldn't go home. Nobody seemed to know where any of the other portals went except for the specific ones they came out of. I felt a bit sorry for them, but there wasn't much they could do but try different portals until they found one that was close to home. That said it took a bit longer than to get through the portal building, and to the exterior parking lot where I parked the car next to Phoebe's camaro and headed into the lab building. Her car was still here, so it seemed that she never left the building. There were a few agent sedans parked up front as well, which was odd, the building was also unlocked and the interior lights were on, which was strange because the labs typically weren't open this late. That being said, I made my way over to Melissa's lab, somewhat surprised to see a pair of devon agents posted outside.

Unknown Agent: "I knew it was only a matter of time before you showed up."

Me: "What's going on?"

Unknown Agent:" A few hours ago the portal opened, sucked almost everyone in the room inside, including your wife I'm afraid, we've been here keeping the media away and the situation contained ever since."

Me: "What?"

Unknown Agent: "I don't know what else to tell you sir, it got Melissa too."

Unknown Agent:" One of the technicians avoided getting sucked in, he's trying to reopen the portal but, odds are he won't be able to."

It couldn't be true, she couldn't be gone just like that.

Just then a bright red light shined out of the entrance to the lab.

Unknown technician: "Uhhhh..."

Unknown Agent: "What the?"

Unknown agent 2: "How did you do that?"

Unknown technician: "I don't know."

Phoebe came out of the portal, and immediately fell to the ground.

-woried- Me: "PHEEBLES!"

I ran over to her, picked her up. She was weak, but didn't seem to injured. It was then that I noticed the lab was a mess, various equipment was scattered everywhere, some of it broken to pieces.

-weakly-Phoebe: "Cj?"

Me:" What happened?"

-breathing heavilly- Phoebe: "We need to go back, to save the others..."

Me: "Back to where?"

Me: "Why don't you rest first? You're in no condition to go back."

-tiredly- Phoebe:" You're right..."

She lost conciousness shortly afterwards.

Me:"-sighs- she's out."

unknown technician: " Melissa and the others are still in there."

Unknown Agent: "Can you do that again?"

Unknown technician:" I don't know how it happened the first time, I don't even know how any of this happened to begin with, it was stable one minute and a spinning vortex the next."

Me:" Where did it send them?"

Unknown technician: "I'm not sure."

I stood up, and started to carry Phoebe towards the entryway.

Me:" We'll be back in the morning, right now we have to go home, we have a daughter that is probably scaired to death we aren't comming back."

Unknown agent: "Allright, we'll probably still be here."

Me: "Ok."

I left the lab, and immediately spotted James at the far end of the hallway.

Me: "Well whadaya know?"

It was a bit strange seeing him with such a worried look. It was a bit strange seeing him at all really.

James: "You found out on your own?"

Me: "She didn't contact me for several hours so I went to check up on her."

James:"Did Melissa come back?"

He seemed somewhat hopeful for a moment.

Me: "Sorry, but Phoebe's the only one so far, and she just came back. I'm still trying to grasp what exactly happened here."

James: "Is she ok?"

Me: "Yeah, she's just asleep, wherever she went it tired her out."

James: "Your comming back in the morning right?"

Me: "Yeah, I suppose."

James:"Good."

I took Phoebe back to the car and headed home, leaving her camaro in the parking lot.

-on the way home-

Phoebe:" Cj..."

Me:" You're awake?"

Phoebe:" Is Charley ok?"

Me:"Charley's fine, he's probably asleep by now."

Phoebe: "Good."

When we pulled into the drive she managed to gain enough strength to get out of the car on her own.

We found Nina laying on the couch, half asleep.

-tired- Nina: "Oh good you're back."

Me: "Why don't you go to bed sweety? Looks like you're about to fall asleep anyway, and you have school tomorrow."

Nina: "Oh yeah...your right."

Nina: "Mom are you ok? You don't look so good."

-tired- Phoebe: "I'm just tired...sweety...don't worry..."

Nina: "Ok."

Phoebe: "and go to bed...don't fall asleep on the couch."

Nina :"Ok mom."

Nina: "Goodnight."

Me: "Goodnight.."

I helped Phoebe up the stairs, by the time got to the bedroom she had enough strength to stand on her own.

Me:"Starting to feel better?"

Phoebe: "A little bit."

Me: "Want happened?"

-tiredly- Phoebe: "I'll tell you in the morning, I'm sorry I just really need to sleep."

Me: "It's allright."

Just a few minutes after we turned out the lights she fell asleep again. I held her close and fell asleep sometime later, without the slightest idea of what would happen tomorrow.