So I'm back with another Ruby Bates story, this one is actually just a filler but I'm a little ahead of myself with writing the other arcs so I'm probably just going to end up posting them one after the other because I have time on my hands to get stuff done. Hope you guys enjoy this gentle read, let me know what you think and I'll answer any questions you have in the next chapter :) Enjoy!

Finishing the last bit of hay for the Tauros herd I wiped the sweat from my brow then looked down at Eevee, curled up and bathing in the sun. Taking a deep breath I knelt down and began to focus on her, resting a hand gently on her fur and tried to connect with her.

I've been trying this for a long time now, almost a month and a half but still, I've never had any success. Shaking my head I began to clear my mind. It's okay, I can do this, I can do this. Just let go of all your thoughts and focus only on Eevee.

Still no joy. Eevee lifted her head and blinked in confusion, looking up at me so I smiled. "Just trying again. Sorry I woke you Eevee."

"Vee!" In answer she sprang up and pounced on me, tackling me in the chest so I laughed and caught her, standing up with my pitchfork as she squirmed in my grip, trying to smother me with all the licks she can get though I wriggled to get away from them. "Vee?" Suddenly she stopped, ears pricking up as she listened.

"What's wrong Eevee?" Suddenly the ground began to tremble and quake. Uh oh, I knew what that meant. "Let's go!" I quickly raced away from the hay pile, bolting for higher ground as Ash's herd of Tauros came thundering through, braying loudly as they charged around in the open plain, Pokémon darting out of the way.

I put the fork down and looked back by chance and saw a female Nidoran walking out in front of the herd, but when it looked up to see them it froze in place. "Nidoran!" I yelled in fear as the Tauros bore down upon her without the intent of stopping.

Letting go of Eevee I raced down the hill, skidding part of the way then leaped forwards into a roll to curl my arms around the terrified Pokémon but with only a bare few feet away from the Tauros, all I could do was turn my back and shield the Pokémon from harm as they came at me and shouted.

"Eevee! Swift attack!" Eevee shot out a stream of stars at the Tauros, trying to get them to steer right but they thundered forwards without even breaking pace and I felt the first hooves strike the ground around me.

The Nidoran whimpered in fear so I murmured soothing things, assuring her everything was alright as Tauros leaped over my head. Suddenly I heard a loud shriek from above and the flap of wide wings before talons curled around me. "Whoa! Hey what's going on?!" I yelped in fear as I was suddenly snatched from the ground with the Nidoran still clutched tightly in my arms.

Eyes wide I looked up to see the long neck of a Fearow as I was lifted up and carried away from the Tauros herd. "Hey! You put me down this instant! I am not bird feed!" I yelled, kicking my legs as I held onto the Nidoran extra tightly.

"Calm down, you should be grateful Fearow and I pulled you out of there." A familiarly sardonic tone reached my ears and I instantly went still.

"Gary?"

"Who else would save you Rubes?" He replied with a cheek so I growled. This is just not my day.

"Vee! Vee!" Eevee called, racing after us on the ground as Fearow swept through the air back towards the professor's lab. He began to descend, long neck stretched out and aimed for a huge sack of Pokémon food we had stocked up in the back yard. Wait…uh oh.

Fearow let me go and I instantly yelled in fear, curling up and faced my back down to keep hold of the Nidoran. It wasn't a long fall, just a really hard landing. With a grunt I blinked in a daze, letting my arms go slack around the Nidoran who shook herself off then scampered away. "You're welcome…" I mumbled after her, rolling around onto my front then picked my hat off my head, fanning it in front of my face to wake myself up before turning to glare over at Gary. "You could have found a softer landing." I said as he slipped down form Fearow's back and stroked its long neck.

"At least we didn't just drop you onto the ground." He retaliated so I rolled my eyes then looked at Eevee as she came racing towards me.

"Eevee Vee!" I smiled and caught her as she jumped, sticking my hat back on my head over the bandana I wore to keep my hair back. "Vee, Vee Vee, Eevee Vee!" Eevee fussed, licking my jaw as she scrambled to get closer to me.

"I'm okay Eevee, don't worry. It'll take more than Ash's Tauros to take me down." I said with a smile, turning her on her back and tickled her belly. Once she was laughing and once again assured that all was well I put her down and placed my hands on my hip, turning to face Gary but Fearow stepped forwards and gave a soft sound of worry, pressing his long beak into my face and nuzzled my gently. "Oh, well hello to you too. It's been a while I know." I smiled, stroking his feathers then looked at Gary. "What are you doing here? I thought you were out on another journey."

"That's the point of a journey, to come home once in a while." Gary answered, placing his hands on his hips too, copying my stance so I sighed and shook my head.

"Well, it's good to have you back. How about you leave Fearow with me whilst you go see your grandpa? He looks like he could do with a drink." I said and Gary nodded his head.

"Sure. I'll be back in a minute Fearow." Gary said then walked off towards the lab whilst I took Fearow over to a water barrel so that he could take a long drink. He took a long gulp, enjoying the cool taste whilst I sat back and relaxed with Eevee in my lap, yawning and stretching before curling up.

I began to meditate, pushing my knuckles together and closing my eyes as I took deep breaths and exhaled slowly. Suddenly I felt peace wash over me, sending me into a trance where I heard nothing but the silence. It was nice to feel so tranquil, all thoughts and worries banished from your mind, however I began to get a feeling in my chest, planted like a seed which began to grow and bloom.

Fear. Someone was calling out to me, wanting my help. There was something familiar about this but I couldn't quite understand how. Why was I feeling someone else's fear? Whose was it? Was this to do with my strange ability?

Somehow I found myself rising to my feet, eyes still closed and I couldn't sense anything around me, though I heard Eevee jump out of my lap and give a confused sound as she looked up at me. "Fea?" Fearow looked up and around to watch as I began to walk forwards, one hand rising up to be held upwards.

The fear was growing, turning to panic as my heart rate kicked up to unbelievable speeds, thundering away like a drum in my chest as I opened my eyes to only find blinding white light in front of me.

"Help me…" The gentle yet hoarse voice whispered pleadingly and I whimpered as I felt its fear. "So cold…alone…lost…please help…" I shook my head, pressing my eyes shut as I tried to wake myself up. This is scaring me now, what is this? This isn't like anything I've ever experienced before. It's always been emotions I could sense in Pokémon, not hear their thoughts! But what if this isn't a Pokémon but a human, though I doubted it. I've never been able to do any kind of emotion trick with humans the way I sometimes get with Pokémon. "Hurry…"

"Where are you?" I asked softly, clutching my head as I felt the pain began to gather there. I wanted to help but if I can't shake this episode off then I'm in big trouble. I can't see a thing! What is this? I'm so confused…

Suddenly I could see a thick cluster of trees beside a lake, the lake on Professor Oak's land. Diving down I gasped as I found myself looking at an abandoned nest, cold and deteriorating from the wind and I followed the steep bank downwards further into the forest to find a clump of tall grass broken from something charging through however there were broken tree branches everywhere, littering the ground from the storm we had had the night before.

"Please help me…" Swallowing I closed my eyes and fainted to the ground.

"Vee!" Eevee instantly cried out and leaped on me, trying to shake me awake as Fearow spread his wings and cried out, trying to get attention. Gary and Professor Oak came out to see what the fuss was and when they saw me collapsed on the ground they instantly came racing over.

"Ruby!" Gary reached me first, dropping down and rolled me over. Instantly I recoiled from the bright sunlight, shivering slightly from the cold that still penetrated my body as Gary tried to shake me awake. "Ruby wake up! What happened?"

"Oh no, not this again." Professor Oak murmured as he pressed a hand to my brow. "You promised me you wouldn't try this again Ruby!" He scolded as he helped me sit up. "There now, you're alright, just take a moment to recover yourself."

"Grandpa what happened? Did she faint?" Professor Oak paused, glancing to me as I groaned and began to get my senses back.

"No I'm afraid it's a little more complicated than that Gary." He answered then rested a hand on my shoulder. "Ruby, you and I need a serious talk about this gift of yours. I told you it was dangerous to try on your own."

"Professor…it wasn't me." I answered, shaking my head then turned to look at him. "Something called out to me professor, I heard it! I felt it!" Swallowing I clenched my eyes shut as Eevee rubbed her head into my leg in an attempt to try and comfort me. "There is…something down by the lake, trapped. I think there's a Pokémon out there that was caught in the storm and it's frightened."

"What do you mean? How could you know that?" Gary asked then frowned at his grandpa. "Grandpa this doesn't make sense."

"Hold on Gary, let Ruby finish." He hushed him then moved around to face me. "Go on Ruby."

"Well, I started to meditate, you know, like I do sometimes." I began to explain to him, taking deep and calming breaths as they both watched me carefully. "So I was perfectly calm and peaceful, minding my own business when I felt this feeling in my chest. Fear. I felt fear."

"Interesting, continue." Professor Oak nodded so I did.

"I don't really know what I was doing. Somehow I managed to get up and move around but I wasn't the one controlling my body. I pointed somewhere then I started to hear a voice in my head." Only then did I realise how crazy I sounded. "I know this sounds awful weird but I'm not lying professor, I heard someone calling out to me. They need help."

"I believe you Ruby, it's just a little extraordinary. You certainly have a way with Pokémon and it seems that one has managed to call out to you. Perhaps it's a psychic Pokémon. That's a possible explanation." He told me so I exhaled with relief.

"At least I know I'm not going crazy."

"But wait, you said this has happened before." Gary said, folding his arms as he regarded me carefully. "How has this happened before?"

"Well you see Gary, Ruby possesses a rare gift that I've not really seen before. She's able to communicate with Pokémon on an entirely different scale to what we can achieve. Sometimes by chance, she is able to connect to their minds and actually see into their past memories and feel their emotions as her own. It's how she tamed the Areodactyl back in Cinnabar Island, you know."

"Wow." Gary whistled as I stood up.

"I have to get to the lake. It showed me where it had been caught so I'm flying out there right now." Professor Oak and Gary stood up too, both of them facing me.

"I don't think you're in any condition to fly Ruby, you need time to recover from such a taxing ordeal as what you've just experienced." However I shook my head stubbornly, picking up Charizard's Pokéball.

"No, I have to go right now to bring back that Pokémon. I can't just sit here and wait until I feel like taking on a gust of wind. I'll be fine professor, Charizard will take good care of me." I assured him but the professor didn't look too convinced.

"Hmm…" He scratched his chin, thinking it over slowly but then Gary spoke up.

"I could go with her if you want. I'll make sure she doesn't fall off into the lake and drown." Professor Oak snapped his fingers and smiled.

"Of course! Excellent idea. You two hurry back okay? Ruby, be careful and don't overdo yourself." He stepped back as I nodded my head, agreeing to the terms.

"Charizard, I need your help!" I called and Charizard came from his Pokéball with a roar, spreading his fists to his sides ready to battle but I was already climbing onto his back. "I need you to fly to me the lake as quick as possible, there's a Pokémon that needs our help, okay?" Charizard nodded his head and faced the sky, not wasting a moment to flap his wings and soar up there.

"You heard the lady Fearow, let's go." Gary sighed then leaped onto Fearow's back, joining Charizard up in the sky as we flew towards the lake which wasn't too far away, only a minute in fact. "So where now?" Gary called over to me so I looked down.

"Charizard, fly lower down to the lake." I said to him softly, rubbing his neck as I spotted the cluster of trees that looked familiar to the ones I had seen in my vision. They were broken and torn down from the storm but the roots still remained firmly in the ground, so I knew the trees would continue to grow even after such a storm.

Charizard glided down lower, slowing down the pace as I scanned the shoreline, looking for the right spot. "There!" I pointed and Charizard instantly pulled up to land there though it was difficult with all the thick trees on this side of the lake. "Wait here for me, okay?" I smiled up at him as I dismounted, kissing his nose. "I'll be back in one moment."

Fearow and Gary landed next to us and he sprang off with agile grace, flicking his hair out of his face then followed as I began to forage through the undergrowth. "What are you looking for now?" He asked me. "I thought you said the Pokémon was trapped from the storm."

"I did. However, it also showed me how to get to it. There should be a nest around here somewhere that's empty and falling apart but that's the next clue…"

"You mean a nest like this?" I looked up and around to find Gary pulling back some reeds to show me the exact nest I was looking for.

"Uh…yeah. Something like that." I shrugged before stepping carefully over it towards the slope. "Follow me." I descended carefully, sliding down the muddy bank with Gary close behind and as I scanned the forest I saw that this place had been hit pretty hard. That tree over there was so burned up it must have been struck by lightning. Holding my breath I spotted the break in the grass where the Pokémon should be laying under those large branches so I hurried forwards, racing to grip the wood and peer over, trying to find it.

"Need a hand?" Gary asked and I nodded my head.

"Try and lift this up for me and I'll crawl through." I said, patting the branch underneath the others so Gary stooped down, gripped it firmly then lifted it the best he could. I quickly crawled through, looking around for some sort of psychic Pokémon. "Hello? Anyone there? I've come to get you!" I called, crawling a little further in then parted the grass. "Huh?"

"What is it?" Gary asked and I could hear the strain in his voice but I was too focused on what lay in front of me. "Ruby, will you hurry up? Is there a Pokémon there or not?!"

"Well, no." I began, pulling backwards and retrieving myself from the branches so the moment I was free, Gary dropped them down with a groan.

"So why did we come out here then?" He demanded, glaring at me as I looked down at the item I had found and was now cradling in my arms. "We came out here to look for a Pokémon that's not here only so you could pull a prank?"

"I didn't find a Pokémon." I snapped then turned around. "I found…an egg."