Sorry for the late update. It's hard to do that when you only have a thrity minute time limit and are only allowed on the computer every once and a while. I won't abandon my stories. They'll just be a while before I find the time to update again. So enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 4: New Friends

I grumbled irritably as I lied down in the scenery I was at before being captured, crossing my front paws and resting my head upon them. The entire scenery about me, I knew, was fake, for I felt no wind passing my body and rustling the leaves on the trees nor could I feel the warmth of the sun, even though it was high up in the sky. I sighed, scanning my eyes about, knowing that this scenery would always be here whenever I was returned inside the ball.

I got up, uncomfortable of being in here. I had to do something, otherwise I think I'd go crazy from boredom. I walked over to the fake lake and stared down at my reflection again. Then, I began giggling, looking at the miserable face that was staring right back up at me. Perhaps being stuck in here wouldn't be so bad, as long as I found something constructive to do.

I sighed and went to stare up into the fake sky, but as I craned my neck up, I suddenly snapped it back down, the soreness from the so-called door acting up. I gently placed a paw against my neck and began rubbing it. It didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, but still, it hurt when I went to turn my head in any direction.

So, I did the only thing left I could do: I plopped myself back down and remained motionless, wondering what to do with myself when suddenly, I felt a tingling sensation spreading through my body. I shot up, startled, looking around to see if there was anyone else in here with me when I realized that the pain in my neck was gone.

"Wow!" I said, rubbing at where the sore spot was. "That was something."

I moved my head back and forth, feeling no soreness swelling up. I was going to have to ask Charcoal what had happened whenever I had gotten out. Speaking of getting out, I felt that same tugging sensation letting me loose from the fake world I was living in and was back outside my ball minutes later.

"I am never going back in there ever again," I said, turning to face my master.

"Chill out, Zack," he said. "I know you're not happy with being in there, but that's one of the few times you're going to have to live with being in there."

"Well it's boring," I said.

"Not everyone finds it boring," Charcoal said from next to me. I turned my head to see him leaning against the huge table thing with his arms crossed. "Find something constructive to do next time you're in there to preoccupy your time."

"Hey Charc," I said. "The soreness in my neck healed. How'd that happened?"

"From what I know, the nurse puts the pokeballs on a table that heals pokemon while they're inside," Charcoal told me. "That's probably how your neck got healed."

"Sweet!" I said. "So what do we do now?"

"I don't know about you," Charcoal said as he went from leaning to standing. "But I have some things to look at. I'll check in with you later."

"So wait. We're just lingering around here?" I asked.

"For however long our master chooses to stay here," Charcoal said as he walked off into the feet of people.

I turned and watched my master run up to some girl before sitting myself down and looking at my surroundings. My mind was at a blank on what to do when suddenly, I felt something smacking my tail. I craned my neck back to see what was going on back there to see a Skitty lying on its stomach, one paw swatting at my tail as I wagged it back and forth.

I found it amusing to see a Skitty trying to bat at my tail and found it even more amusing that it didn't even know I knew it was doing just that. Unfortunately, the Skitty finally noticed my presence when I felt its claws accidentally scrape across my tail, leaving a stinging mark. I yelped in surprise and jumped to all four feet.

"Oops!" the Skitty said in a young high-pitched voice. "Sworries! I didn't mean to do that."

"It's all right," I said, looking at the claw marks on my tail. "It didn't hurt that much."

"So what'cha supposed to be?" the Skitty asked me. "Some sort of blue ringed hero who throws blue rings and knocks out mean pokemon?"

"Uh... what?" I asked, having absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

"Oh I get it," the Skitty said. "You're a warrior of the night, sneaking in the shadows to save all the sugar from the mean sugar monster!"

My mind drew a blank as the Skitty burst out laughing like a maniac, rolling on the floor. I looked around, people and pokemon staring at the two of us strangely. I felt my face flush with embarrassment and I awkwardly raised a paw and scratched the back of my neck.

The Skitty must have laughed for a good five minutes before she calmed down. She got up, wiping away the tears with a paw.

"Oh I crack myself up sometimes," she said. She then stopped and studied me, a blush forming over her face. "Wow! You're handsome. I call you my pet!"

Now this was too much. That, and her leaping on me, throwing her front paws around my neck as she giggled.

"Hey Skitty," someone said. I adverted my eyes to the edge of the huge table to see a brown bear cub with a half crescent moon on its forehead. The Skitty released her hold of me and looked at the brown bear. "Calm down on the sweets."

"You can't tell me what to do, you brown chocolate bear of doom," the Skitty said in a heroic voice before running off adding a "Nya!" to what she said.

I looked after her as she ran off into the crowd before turning my attention back to the brown bear.

"Sorry about her," he said. "She's like that. Way too much sugar."

I noticed that his expression was calm, his eyes were dropped closed half-way and he looked completely relaxed.

"Uh... it's fine," I said. "I just never met anyone so crazy like that."

"Well you get use to her after a while," the brown bear said. "I'm still trying to. I'm Ted by the way."

"Zack," I said. "What are you supposed to be, if it isn't too much of me asking?"

"I'm a Teddiursa," Ted said, shrugging his shoulders. "Which is why I'm named Ted for short."

"How can you stay so calm like that around someone so hyper as her?" I asked.

"I don't really know," Ted said. "I guess I just find ways to stay calm. To be honest, it really doesn't bother me."

"Oh," I said.

"And I've noticed that you're a shiny Umbreon," Ted said. "A rare thing meeting a rare pokemon nowadays. Don't see too many of them around."

"I guess not," I said as my master suddenly appeared out of nowhere with another human who had the over hyper Skitty in her arms.

"Hey Zack," my master said. "I see you've already met Laura's Teddiursa. What was his name again?"

"His name's Ted," the other human spoke, her voice that of female. She had brown hair bunched up into some sort of weird bushy tail or something in the back. She had curves that my master didn't, which probably explains the difference between males and females.

"Right," my master said. "And you just decided to name your Skitty Skitty?"

"It's an adorable name for a cat pokemon like this," the girl named Laura said as she squeezed the Skitty. The Skitty chuckled at being called adorable while being hugged tightly.

"Whatever," my master said. "Say Zack. Have you seen Charcoal anywhere?"

I went to answer, but then Charcoal seemingly came out of nowhere suddenly, rounding our master's legs.

"Someone call my name?" he asked.

"So this is the famous Charcoal, eh?" Laura asked. "The one with all the moves?"

"You bet," my master said excitedly. "How about I show you in a double battle?"

"Sounds fun to me," Laura said as she began running out from the building. "Come on. I know a great spot where we can battle."

"What's going on?" I asked Charcoal as he, Ted, and I followed in pursuit. "And what's a double battle?"

"Obviously we're going to be fighting the Skitty and this Ted character to see how well our skills our," Charcoal said.

"All right!" I said excitedly. "This should be fun!"

"I sure hope so," Charcoal said as we finally came to a stop in a nice clearing with buildings surrounding us.

"So it's going to be my Skitty and Ted against your Charcoal and Zack," Laura said from the opposite end of where Charcoal and I stood alongside our master.

"Sounds good to me," my master said. "Both pokemon to faint first loses."

"Then let's battle!" Laura said as Skitty jumped out of her arms, landing next to Ted.

I took up a position stance to begin the fight. Charcoal, however, stepped out in front of me and raised up a claw, preventing me from attacking. "You may have the first move," he said. I realized that this was what he did to examine what powers I had before I battled him.

"Then that shall be your down fall, fire lizard," Skitty said as she rushed forward. "Feel my Quick Attack!"