A/N: Hey, everyone! I made it back alive despite not having internet for a while.I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I put a lot of time and lve into it. Thank you for all the subscribing and favoriting, it means a lot!

Chapter 37

There were children playing and running around Meri, Serenity, and Hunter as they walked past the small playground; a couple slides, a bridge, some climbing bars all on top of a soft black-top. There were some picnic benches not far away, a few under some cover and a few more outside in the sun and short grass. They were delighted to go with one under the cover since they'd been trudging through the sun's intensified rays from the moisture in the air.

Immediately, all three of them pulled out canteens, ready for the life-restoring substance of cool water. Hunter and Meri greedily drank down what was left. On her right was Serenity who only drank a small amount before pouring the rest over her face, neck, and chest. She sighed in content, finally able to chill out for the first time in a couple days. Those two days were spent speed walking along Route 116 with minimal break and an especially rigid Hunter.

Meri had had to keep Serenity from taking it too personally. She assured her friend, telling her he just wanted to see his family really bad. It wasn't always easy balancing out the polar opposites of her travelling companions, but someone had to do it.

Aw jeez, not again… Meri thought to herself as she looked at Hunter's slightly-open mouth and bemused eyes looking at Serenity pouring the water on herself. But to her relief, he closed his mouth and looked away, apparently accepting that this was going to be his family's first impression of Serenity.

It wasn't like they had been the ones to pick this particular table. Hunter had spotted his family and directed the two girls to follow him over. Not a word had been spoken before Serenity drenched herself. "Hi, I'm Serenity!" she waved from across the table with a big grin."It's good to meet you!"

Meri couldn't decide whether to hang her head or laugh, but fortunately Hunter helped to facilitate things, as he quickly introduced Meri. She went with a handshake and smile for the both of them. She was usually pretty good at seeming like a polite young girl to other people's parents. Their faces changed to smiles with her introduction.

"It's great to finally meet the two girls my Hunter has been travelling with!" his mom started off, betraying a slight raise of an eyebrow in Serenity's direction, likely not overly-approving of the girl in a low-cut top soaking herself as a greeting, but definitely had a smoothed over brow when she looked back at Meri. "Has he been doing okay?"

"Yeah, how's Mom's baby boy doing?" A slightly smaller and much younger voice sat down beside Hunter's mom.

His mom picked back up, not noticing what seemed to be a little teasing. "I can't help but worry about him," she smiled a bit more as Hunter's face matched his hair color.

Guess he isn't a literal red-headed step-child, Meri internally giggled a bit, both at her thought and just seeing Hunter blush, she always enjoyed making him do that.

"I've been fine, Mom," Hunter sighed. "I've got three badges now and we're on our way to our fourth down in Petal-"

"Ooh! I have my fourth already!" Serenity interrupted, back to grinning like before. "But Hunter's a really good battler, so I'm sure we'll all have four once we get there!"

"Thanks, Serenity. All three of us are good, I would say. We've seen a lot of people lose gym battles so far. But with Manectric, Nuzleaf, and Murkrow, I know I have a strong team," this time the grin was on his face as he proudly talked about his team and success.

"Well, why don't you show us how they've grown, son!" Came his father's voice. It sounded a lot like Hunter's actually, but a bit deeper. In fact, the two of them looked very similar: tall, but not overly thin, no facial hair even though they are capable of growing it. Hunter shaved almost every day, so Meri didn't know what he looked like. I wonder if that would work for him?

"Yeah, I want to see them, especially Manectric!" Came the younger girl again. Or at least she was young compared to Hunter's mom, but she might have been the same age as Meri. This must be Hunter's younger sister, Meri decided. But he'd never mentioned having one for some reason, so maybe she's a cousin or something.

Hunter chuckled a little and then reached for his waistband. A few clicking noises later and then he tossed out three Pokéballs, releasing his full party. Manectric ran over to meet up with the girl who was so excited. Nuzleaf hung back, a little aloof, while Murkrow landed on Hunter's arm, causing him to wince ever so slightly from the talons digging into his arm just a bit. It let out its discomforting cry and tilted its head at the newcomers. "He's friendly."

"He looks great, Son!" His mom looked adoringly at the bird Pokémon, then turned to Serenity and Meri, who were watching the family reunite more or less neutrally. "Did you know that Sinnoh is where Pokémon scientists discovered that Murkrow could evolve into Honchkrow using a Dusk Stone?" some pride shimmered in her eyes.

"Hoenn is still better!" Once again said the younger girl, who Meri still had no name to call her by.

"We moved here from Solaceon Town in Sinnoh around five or six years ago," commented Hunter's dad. "It's where Cecilia and I met," he paused for a few seconds to fondly gaze into his wife's eyes and then to Hunter and the girl, "and where we raised Hunter and Hera up until we moved here to Rustboro."

"So Hera is your sister, huh?" Meri couldn't help but look at Hunter suspiciously and soon everyone was.

Hera pulled herself out of hugging Manectric, hair sticking out from enormous amounts of static. "You never told them my name? Did they even know I exist until now?!" She looked really hurt as she walked up to her brother.

"Well, we had a lot going on and, OW! What was that?!" he jumped up in shock, holding his ear.

"Static electricity, jerk!" Hera started giggling and then hopped away before Hunter could take a swipe at her.

Definitely siblings, Meri thought as she watched the two interact. She didn't have one of her own, but some of her friends had siblings, so she had seen lots of silly little quarrels in her time. She could feel the slight envy minutely strain the smile that came to her lips.

"If I wasn't so tired from hurrying here…" Hunter grumbled, shaking his head, before turning back to his parents, who just seemed happy to have him back. As the trio went into conversation, Meri turned around and looked at Hera.

"So Hera, what's it like in Sinnoh? I've never been there before," Meri started. At least she hadn't played the games that took place in Sinnoh, and Serenity didn't correct her, so Meri assumed that what she said was on point.

"It was kind of boring. We had some ruins nearby and good weather, but it was kind of an old person's place," Hera responded. "At least that's what it was like in Solaceon Town. I remember going to Hearthome City once when I was younger and I liked all the lights and interesting Pokémon there, but otherwise, I like it a lot more here. I've made a lot more friends here and there's so much more to do in Rustboro City. We also went to Lilycove City a little while ago to celebrate Hunter's birthday. That place was so pretty and enormous! I want to go back and maybe spend more time at the department store. You know my name, mind telling me yours?"

"Oh yeah, I guess you weren't here when Hunter introduced me. Meri," she smiled at Hera.

"How has it been looking after my big brother for the past month or so?" Hera asked, slightly snide.

Meri laughed. "Well, I think if you asked him he would say he's been looking after us, but it's been nice having him along for the ride. He's easily the most mature of us. By the way, you look like you're probably old enough to being going on a journey of your own. Why didn't you come with us?"

Hera nodded thoughtfully. "I am, I'm actually sixteen. I spent a long time thinking about it, but I decided not to go after all since I'm more interested in medicine. I want to cure diseases one day. That's what I want to do when I grow up," her eyes flicked past Meri for a second in uncertainty. "Manectric was actually originally my Pokémon. But I gave him to Hunter so he could grow big and strong through battling and travelling, and he has!"

"He definitely has," Meri commented at the massive electric dog Pokémon as it padded over when it heard it's name. Meri watched the two nuzzle up against each other fondly, their hair and fur seeming to melt into each other like separate batches of gleaming lemon and dark red strawberry ice cream melting into each other in the hot sun. "Do you know of any diseases that transform humans into Pokémon?"

Something of a confused look came across Hera's face. "No, I've never heard of one…why?"

Meri laughed, trying to keep the apprehension out of her voice. "Oh, I was just wondering, I'm not serious about it or anything. But I think it might be fun, ya know, to be a Pokémon for day?" Maybe if it wasn't a painful surprise every fucking time it happened. She took out a sandwich and took a bite out of it to help recompose herself.

"I think we've all thought about it before. But as far as I know, nothing like that exists, except some random fairy tales. Some Pokémon can transform into people though," Hera remarked.

"Like Ditto," Meri thought about the weird, amorphous, pink blob that was only good for using at the Pokémon daycare and shenanigans.

This time Hera shook her head. "That's a common misconception, but most of them can only actually turn into other Pokémon. There are really only two Pokémon can change into humans, and they are extremely rare."

Meri swallowed another bite of her food. "They're mysterious trickster Pokémon called Zorua and Zoroark. Maybe shape-shift is a more accurate word, but-hey, you okay, Meri?"

The news that she could have shape-shifted back to her human form when she was stuck as a Zorua was just a little bit of a surprise. How did she not know that?! Maybe it was because she had really only looked at its move-set. "Fine…I'm fine…" Meri had almost coughed out some of the sandwich, but was able to keep it down after a few moments of struggling. "Just, uh, tried to swallow with my lungs. Maybe I'll get lucky and run into one of them one day."

"Probably not," Hera replied, then continued noticing the bewilderment on Meri's face. "Like I said, they are extremely rare. They've only been spotted in the wild Unova and Kalos, and even then, some of the sightings are disputed. Even less of them have been caught. One of the Pokémon Champions in Unova has Zoroark, but I can't think of any other trainers that do."

Meri was glad Hunter didn't seem to be hearing any of their conversation, otherwise he might have interjected about seeing one in Rustboro and briefly thought about punching him in the arm regardless, but held back from the impulse. Jerk…

A moment later, Meri felt the weight shift on the table she was sitting at and turned to see everyone sitting up from their spots. "It's time we get going home Hera. Would you like to join us for dinner as well, Meri?" Mr. Hunter's voice came from behind Meri.

"Uh, sure," Meri responded, seeing a small smile come to Hera's mouth. "If Serenity is coming too."

"They already invited me!" Serenity looked at her.

"You two seem so delightful!" Mrs. Hunter unexpectedly chimed in, seeming to fondly reference Serenity. Apparently somehow Serenity had flipped the script and gotten Hunter's mother to love her after the rocky start of boob-drenching.

It didn't seem like Meri had been talking with Hunter's sister for very long, but apparently it was long enough for fences to be more than mended in that short time. Meri realized in that moment that Hunter was now observing her and Hera closely. After a few seconds, Hunter turned to his sister and spoke up, "Okay, as long as you don't let her corrupt you or anything."

Meri couldn't help but feel sort of dumbfounded and offended. "Wha? Are you kidding? What is that even supposed to mean?"

Hunter returned her glare with a rhetorical stare out of the corner of his eye as he stood up and started to walk away.

All Hera did at first was laugh, and then clearly elaborated that she felt it was a joke: "That's so funny Hunter! How could someone nice like her 'corrupt' me?" she giggled a little more after that as they all walked on.

Shrugging Meri didn't say much else aloud. All I do is drink every now and then, as far as he knows. I mean, I'm not that much of a delinquent, right? "Eh, who cares," she nonchalantly answered both her own and Hera's questions in one sentence.

When they sat down for dinner a few hours later, on one side of the table was Hunter, then his father, and then his mother. On the other side was Hera, then Meri, and then Serenity.

Served for dinner was Feebas with some sort of stuffing, salad on the side, and some round blue berries Meri couldn't help but eye suspiciously until she realized they were oran berries, which she had had on her first day in this world without transforming into her Pokémon form. Meri's eyes nearly exploded out of socket when she was told what it was. "But aren't Feebas extremely rare?" she asked of Hera.

"Not really," she shrugged. "I mean, they aren't everywhere like Goldeen or Magikarp, but it's not like Huntail or anything where they're found only in certain parts of the ocean."

So what you're telling me is the hours and hours I spent trying to find them in the game was complete bullshit? Suddenly, Meri found herself resisting the urge to pull her hair out, but decided she would feel a semblance of victory once she took a bite out of what had once bit a pain in the ass bass. It had been grilled with some sort of breading and a mix of spices. "Whoa, this is really good!"

"There's nothing like Mom's cooking, am I right?" Hera asked, more or less to the whole table. Hunter's mom glowed briefly while the whole family agreed with her.

Meri didn't really respond, looking away awkwardly, not really sure what to say, but fortunately Serenity filled in any potential silence. "My mom wasn't actually that good at cooking, which is why I spent so much time at Meri's!"

"Yep, she made lots of good food! Just like this!" Meri answered quickly in agreement, not looking to arouse suspicions.

After that the conversations shifted around a bit, but eventually settled back into where they had been back at the picnic table: Serenity, Hunter, and his parents in one group, and then Hera and Meri in the other. Talking and laughing echoed around the room, adding to the brightness of the atmosphere while the sun started to nose its way down into the ocean.

"…and that's why Serenity doesn't like Wurmple," Meri finished her story to a giggling Hera. "But I really don't think he does it to be mean, I know my Pokémon pretty well, I think he just likes her hair because of how soft it is. Not that her hair is the softest part of her," Meri added at the last second, giggling a bit herself.

"Huh? What do you mean? Does she have even softer skin?" Hera asked, not catching the suggestion in Meri's voice.

Meri decided to shake her head and move on, coming to the conclusion that this probably wasn't the best place to talk about the softness of Serenity's breasts. "It's pretty soft, but never mind," then she asked a little quieter, "Have any embarrassing stories about Hunter?"

Double-checking before turning back to talk to Meri, Hera nodded. "Plenty. One time there was a big annual ceremony going on back in our old town. It was going to take place in the afternoon when the sun was high in the sky, and that morning, Hunter had gone out exploring the nearby woods. He saw a couple sleeping Combee in a tree and decided he would try to catch one. He missed really bad with his Pokéball and woke those two. Those two woke up a bunch of others and he ran away from them. He ran back to the town square where everyone was just finishing setting up the decorations and staging for that day's events. He only got stung twice, but he was running, crying and screaming with so many Combee behind him and everyone had to hide in their houses for almost a half hour before they could go back inside. It was kind of scary at the time since I was only six at the time, but looking back, it's actually pretty funny."

Meri was laughing at the tale. "I guess I'll have to start calling him Comboy or something!"

"Do it!" Hera urged Meri.

As Meri watched the girl next to her laugh and smile, she couldn't help but feel like there was some sort of faint glow surrounding her. Maybe it was the looseness of her smile that allowed Meri to ease into her own or maybe it was her laugh, faint but carefree, like little wind chimes. "Your laugh is so cute," Meri let the words slip unconsciously.

A little surprise flickered across Hera's face. "Thanks," she accepted the compliment without letting any of the surprise show in her voice.

They kept talking for a while, Hera teaching Meri about some of the things she had learned about virus reproduction and Meri teaching Hera about how some Pokémon's personalities can change when they evolve, using Dewott as an example. As they discussed their experiences, Meri found herself steadily observing Hera's features more and more and more. She had her red hair in a high ponytail, but still had some thick tendrils coming down on either side of her head to truly frame her face. Where Meri came from, red eyes certainly weren't normal, yet Hera's seemed perfectly natural, more so than anyone else in her family's. While none of theirs Looks fishy seemed unnatural, they still had something of a jarring nature to them, but Hera's were striking in an almost hypnotic way. But not quite hypnotic enough to keep Meri from occasionally looking down at Hera's chest. Meri sighed a little. Despite being sure that her boobs had grown some since the journey had started a couple months ago, they were still smaller than Hera's by a small, but still noticeable amount.

Wait, what am I doing? Meri was feeling rather confused at what was going on with her mental and visual wanderings. Right, I'm having a conversation with a new friend. Once she forced herself to push the confusion away and focus back on what was happening in reality, Meri enjoyed the conversations the two of them were having, with occasional interjections by the other people at the table, as dinner came to a close.

"Do you and Serenity have a place to stay tonight?" Hera asked suddenly, a bit louder than she had been talking before.

"Well," Meri started after looking at Serenity for a moment, only to see that Serenity wasn't paying any attention. "I think we were planning on staying at the Pokémon Center like we usually do."

"You should stay here!" Hera suggested. "Can they, please?" she turned to her parents.

The two of them looked at each other uncertainly. "It's been a lovely evening having you visit so far," her mother started. "And it is getting late…"

"Yes, but we don't have any spare beds," her father pointed out. "The closest thing we have to beds are a couple of couches. If those are okay with you then, it's okay with me."

Hera turned at looked expectantly at Meri, but she didn't feel at all pressed. "Yeah, a couch should actually be an upgrade compared to a lot of places we sleep."

"Mmmm, yep! I'm ready to sleep anywhere after that delicious food!" Serenity affirmed Meri's response.

From there, it wasn't long before they had all settled in for the night, and slipped into sleep. Except for Meri, there was some sort of buzzing in her brain for some time. But when her eyes finally did close for more than a few fleeting moments, the rest she had was one of the deepest she'd had since arriving in Hoenn.