Spirits in the Air

Running. Panting. Adrenaline pumping in the brain. These are all things that I am experiencing right now. I'm running through the Eternal Forest in the outskirts of Eternal City, dodging every branch and jumping over any rocks and poking tree roots. In addition to that, I'm trying to find my way through nighttime, too. I just could not believe all this is happening to me, having to run away for the sake of my future.

Man, how did all of this happen? Thinking back on it, everything that's happened probably started that morning…

I got up at 7:30 in the morning like I always do. I've personally wanted to sleep in a little later but Nana probably won't hear of it. Ah, Nana. The old lady who have taken of me since birth. She's technically my mother but, considering she was in her early 70's when I was a baby, she's old enough to be my grandmother.

Anyways, we spent the morning like how we usually do. I do a basic and quick exercise session while Nana makes us breakfast for us to eat. It would take about a half hour, more or less. After eating breakfast, I would shower quickly while Nana got everything ready for us to work out in the forest outside of town. We would go sometimes to the local workout gym but Nana thinks it's too soft of a workout. The same for the shallow end of the forest so we go deeper to fight the tougher Pokémon. Today was one of those days we would go to deep end of the forest.

We didn't fight that many Pokémon there because they've gotten to know us, including the fact we can take them on in a fight. So we pretty much crossed unfavorable terrain and tackled trees and took makeshift showers under the waterfall. Huh. Lots of people would think an old woman shouldn't do all that stuff. Maybe they really shouldn't but they're not Nana. Yeah, Nana could take a Pokémon by herself without needing one of her own. That's how tough she is and it's great that a Lopunny like me is raised by her, both physically and as a child.

Yeah, people who see us aren't shocked to find Nana training a Pokémon. What they're surprised by is that I'm a Lopunny. It annoys me that they get surprised by that because they think I'm more talented at looking pretty and seductive than I am at battling. Nanas says that gives her all the more reason to train me and make me strong. Thanks to our training, they don't challenge neither Nana nor me to a fight. They must be thinking that if a human is that strong, then a Pokémon she trains is even stronger. I hope this doesn't arrogant, especially if I tell someone this, but I think I am prettier than any other Lopunny you come across, except for maybe a shiny Lopunny. After all, I have blue-green eyes and my brown fur is born with red highlights that shows whenever I'm in the sunlight. My yellow ear fluff is a bit more unruly than the average Lopunny, too; it must be from the kind of training I do.

Pokémon or not, though, Nana still loves me and that's another great thing about her. Now, let's sseeeeeee… getting back on track… oh, yeah! We were almost done with our workout. I'm sure that was when things started getting weird.

Things got frightening first because Nana all of sudden collapsed right in me. I didn't think that would happen, what with Nana being as tough as she is. The water was – thank Arceus! – not so deep. It would've been bad if I had to fish out an unconscious old lady out deep waters. Man, I was so scared. I thought I would lose her. That was a shock because Nana is a tough woman. She's so tough I didn't think there was anything that could knock her down. Or kill her.

It turns out, according to the doctors, Nana had a heart attack. They told me it was treatable and there was a chance they can save her so they took her to the operating room. They realized that I must be friendly cause I took Nana to the hospital when she obviously looked like she was in critical pain. Because of that, I was put into a room where the Pokémon belonging to patients play while waiting for their human partners to recover from something that won't make them stay for a long time. The room next door is for Pokémon whose human partners who are going to stay for a long time but the Pokémon who didn't have anywhere else to go or if the patient and their Pokémon didn't want to be separated. That was a very nice service for a hospital.

I had the most unwanted encounter with someone in that room. I had a feeling someone was staring at me. Whoever was staring was concentrating on all the wrong places. As casually as I could, I looked around to see if I could get a look at whoever was looking at me. After checking a few times, I found out it was the Machamp and Gengar nearby. I was hoping those doctors would hurry up and save Nana cause I'm not sure what to do if – and when by the looks of it – one of them or even both of them come up to me.

That's the thing about becoming ridiculously strong. The more time you spent becoming that strong, the less time you spent socializing with others. I've been trained by Nana to recognize it when someone tries to trick me as well as fighting when things start to get physical. The thing is I'm not sure I know how to get away from them peacefully. Nana and I have some friends but we're not all that close to them. I might get kicked out because of all that.

It turned out my hopes were all for naught when both of those Pokémon approached me. I didn't quite see it when I was checking if they were looking at me and right then and there I was able to see it: their eyes had this seriously scary gleam in their eyes. My guess was they were thinking of doing things to me. My guess was this thing called sex. Yeah, Nana and I have talked about it before but I don't have any experience at all.

"Hey there, cutie," the Gengar said. His smile widened all too wide.

The Machamp was getting all too handsy, one of those four hands trying to wrap me up around the shoulder. It was a good thing I got around that, especially since I saw another one of his hands trying to touch the small of my back. These guys were way too forward.

"You guys have anything important to talk to me about?" I purposely stressed out the word important to let these guys know if they are going to do Arceus-knows-what, then there's going to be hell to pay.

"Hey, relax, we just wanted a chat. Ain't that right, Machamp?" the sleazy-looking spirit asked.

The fighting-type Octillery nodded his head. He's still trying to put his hands on me.

"And what is it that you wanted to have a chat with me about?" I questioned.

"We were wondering if your trainer, master, or whatever you call it was ok. Pokémon are only in this room because their humans came down with something or got hurt. Ours are, but he'll be fine."

"They'll be fine, too."

"Oh, really now? Well, that's good. Hey, what do you like to do for fun?"

Not sex, if that's what he was hoping to have fun with me on.

The ghost in front of me was really pissing me off at that moment. He even said what he said as if he thought Nana wasn't going to make it.

"I like to tackle trees, take a dip in river with stinging Tentacool, and meeting Pokémon that make thank your lucky stars when, and if, you get out of the encounter alive."

The Gengar's smirking mouth twitched a bit but continued his undesirable flirting. "Oooooh, a witty girl. I like that. You know what else I like? That fur and fluffy ears you have. You mind if I touch?"

Speaking of touch, the Machamp was trying to touch the entire time I was being flirted with. He was obviously a male of action, not words. Right at that moment when that ghost asked, my ear fluff was roughly grabbed. Without thinking about it, almost like instinct, I yanked my ear fluff out of his hand, turned around, and kicked him right in the face in the process. Hey, that's what someone gets when they roughly grab a Lopunny's ear fluff. It's not just me.

The Pokémon around us turned around towards the commotion. That ghost didn't make things any better with his next words.

"Hey! What's your problem!? Why did you do that!?"

It was right at that moment a man in a white coat and a Lucario came in.

"What is going on in here? Tell my Lucario and she'll tell me with telepathy!" he instructed to generally all the Pokémon in the room.

That ghost turned to the Lucario and said pretty much the same things. "It was that Lopunny! We were just making small talk with her while we waited for our trainer to feel better when she all of a sudden kicked my friend!"

The Lucario then turned to me, hopefully for my side of the story. "Those two guys were making me uncomfortable and his friend touched roughly and inappropriately. I didn't think about the kicking when I did it."

The blue and black canine nodded and turned to the man next to her. She repeated what that ghost said and then what I said.

After what looked like thinking for about a minute, he said to us, "I guess there's no helping it. Gengar," he said to the slightly surprised spirit, "if you didn't make Lopunny uncomfortable, there would've been no kicking. I'm afraid you and Machamp are going to have to leave."

Thank Arceus so much. There was still no word of Nana and I definitely wouldn't want to spend the entire time with guys like these.

That ghost started to protest, but the man whipped out a pokeball.

"I'm warning you right now. I have a Spiritomb in this pokeball and he is almost a monster in battle."

His warning put an end to the protesting and, with an annoyed look on his face, left the room. The Lucario dragged the still-unconscious Machamp out of the room.

"Thanks," I thanked her, as she was leaving.

"No prob, girl" he replied. "By the way, I have a name, as surprising as that is. It's Christie."

She managed to close the door behind her and the rest of the wait was pretty much boring. None of the other Pokémon wanted to get close to me after what happened. Even if I did have a good reason for giving a hard foot to the face, the other Pokémon for some reason think I'm scary or maybe even dangerous. Well, that didn't bother me much. Especially if I didn't have to deal with confrontations like I did with that ghost and his friend.

The man from before came in again, accompanied by Christie. The looks on their faces did not look good to me.

"Lopunny, I regret to tell you this, but... the lady you brought in here… she's passed away."

Yep, that's why the looks on their faces didn't look good to me. Worst fears realized.

I turned to Christie, and said, with the threat of a cracking voice and watering eyes coming out, "I want to see Nana."

She nodded once again and turned to tell the man. He allowed it and led to the room with Nana. There she was, under the bed sheets. I made out her hand from the sheets and held it. I rested my head on her chest and cried into it, still holding onto her hand the entire time. We had so many memories together, spent so many years together, and endured all the bad things together. It was so unbelievable to me that's she gone.

It was a long while before I lifted my head up again. Christie and the man I thought of by now Christie's human partner came into the room. They were there in the room for a few minutes after I started crying but left for a while. They came back in a few minutes after I was done.

Christie's human partner began, "Lopunny, before I brought you here, I checked this woman's record and it showed you were her Pokémon. That was why I allowed you being here. The woman's record also showed her grandson being her only living relative left. If you're not claimed by her grandson within a year, you'll be released into the wild."

Claimed by her grandson? Nana never told about a grandson of hers.

Those were my thoughts at the time. At first I felt a bit betrayed by Nana for telling me about her grandson. Now I feel like she's been me a favor all this time, especially when I think back to when I first met the two-faced monster.

I was taken by another person who worked in the hospital to the Pokémon Center. I was surprised to find that it's been hours since I took Nana to the hospital. It was already the evening. We found the Pokémon Center and told Nurse Joy my predicament. Nurse Joy was more than glad to let stay until Nana's grandson came to pick me up or until a year was up. Whichever one came first. I didn't have to wait long for the first one, though.

A half hour later, Nurse Joy's Pokémon partner, Chansey, came in to get me. She said Nana's grandson came to pick me up. I wasn't too eager of the idea of meeting a relative of Nana that I have never met, but then again, it was a relative of Nana. I thought it was fine because I loved Nana so much. Man, I'm glad I realized I was wrong before it was too late.

He looked like an appealing teenage boy, with ice blue eyes and black hair shooting up. He was really friendly and liked flashing that shiny smile of his. I'd swear the dude liked to eat pure white snow to make his teeth so white. He wore a black shirt under a camouflage green vest. He wore matching pants and a pair of black army boots. He introduced himself to me and Nurse Joy. His name was Tristan and he was 27 years old.

Tristan filled out necessary forms and all that stuff he had to fill out first. There was apparently more than just showing to the place I was when it came to picking up a Pokémon of a deceased relative. The evening was almost over by the time he was done. Nurse Joy insisted that we stay at the Pokémon Center for the night but Tristan insisted even more that we go on our way. Finally, Tristan won out and we left.

We were heading over to Tristan's house and we had to go through Eternal Forest first. While we were walking, he was talking. He kept talking and we kept walking until it became dark. Tristan told me Nana told him all about me and how much fun it was being with me. The reason why I never heard of him is because he's always on a journey and often forgets to call Nana, let alone come home to visit. Nana didn't want me to beg her to see a relative who I would likely won't see in a long time.

That sounds like a weird story right there. Nana always tells me about all the relatives she knows and remembers, and they were all dead. She definitely would've told me about Tristan, considering he's alive. Another weird thing is that he's always called me Lopunny. Just like how Christie the Lucario has a name, I have a name, too. It's Aurora. I know it's kinda tricky to pronounce but he could call me by my nickname of my name, Ro. The only reason I even have that name was because Nana has seen the Aurora Borealis, Nana wanted to name me after something beautiful, and my many natural colors reminded her of the stunning natural wonder in the northern hemisphere. At least I think it's a natural wonder. Bottom line is if Nana really did tell Tristan all about me, then he would've known I had a name and what that name was.

I wanted my pokeball right then and there. I tried getting his attention and pointing to his bag. Tristan probably thought I was hungry and whipped a can of Pokémon food. I managed to grab that bag of his when his guard was down and leaped up to a nearby tall tree.

I poked around for my pokeball. It was fairly easy cause Nana put a pink heart sticker on my pokeball to be able to tell which one is mine, should it get mixed with other pokeballs that look the same. I didn't notice, unfortunately for me, Tristan had whipped out a pokeball along with the can of Pokémon food. He let out the Pokémon that was in there: a Machamp.

I succeeded in fishing out my pokeball just in time before the tree shook. Tristan must've told that Machamp to ram the tree, hoping to get me down. I dropped the bag but held onto both the tree and my pokeball. I looked down. He looked pissed. Yeesh, one little action and he was so quick to drop his friendliness. I also noticed the Machamp he let out and a shiver ran down my spine. I recognized that Machamp. He was the same one who kept trying to touch me in the hospital! Chances are Tristan is the human partner of that Gengar from earlier, too.

I knew I definitely needed to get away; everything was too fishy to ignore. Machamp was getting ready to ram the tree again. I stuffed my pokeball into my ear fluff and I hoped even right now it hasn't fallen out. Even more so during that recent fight I got myself into when that grey Octillery with legs was starting to ram a second time.

I jumped off right before the tree actually fell down from the second impact. Of course, I managed to land on my feet gracefully. I turned around to see Tristan going through his bag again but taking out two pokeballs this time. He let out the Pokémon in them, too. They were a Rhyperior and Aggron.

"Rhyperior, use Poison Jab!" I no doubt dodged the attack but there was something about the Drill Pokémon's speed that alarmed me a little. It's almost as fast as mine…

"Aggron, Body Slam!" I would have avoided that one, too, but my guard was down this time. It gave the Iron Armor Pokémon the opportunity to slam me down to the ground.

Here's the part that shocked me the most: it actually hurt. The most pain I'd feel was as if someone was merely pinching me. I was still able to get up but Tristan then called this move.

"Rhyperior, use Hyper Beam! Aggron, combine it with Flash Cannon!"

Those two moves hurt like hell. I thought it was a miracle I was still able to get on my knees. I looked up and saw Tristan. He tsked.

"Lopunny, Lopunny, Lopunny. What in the world got into you? We could've started everything out smoothly. I would still pretend to be your friend but I saw you take your pokeball out of my bag. You were planning on leaving me, weren't you? If you were, then I am not going to let that happen. You can't beat my Pokémon, anyways. Raising powerful Pokémon is what my family is renowned for, not just the old bat who raised you."

Well, it's obvious that's Tristan is my enemy. His Pokémon are my enemies, too. Speaking of them, I took a peek at the walking boulder and walking pile of iron. I so didn't like those two someones coming up from downstairs. I swear I'm make them go back real quick.

"I believe," Tristan continued, "you have something to give me?"

He extended his hand. I spat at it.

"Fine, have it your way. Aggron, finish her with Brick Break. Then Machamp can carry the future addition to the Wavehouse," Tristan said as he backed away, giving some space for the command.

The Aggron walked towards me, readying his arm for Brick Break. I knew it would be the end should a fighting type move hit me. Ordinarily, it wouldn't be a problem but, this time, the move is coming from a Pokémon that is not like the others I've faced. With the first pump of adrenaline and a sudden burst of energy, I leaped towards the Aggron. He was surprised – everyone was – and it gave me the perfect chance to curl my fist, twist my arm, and hit him in the torso. Green, swirling light or energy enveloped my arm and transferred energy from my target to me. Thank Arceus Nana made sure I still remembered Drain Punch from my days as a Buneary.

I was equipped with newfound energy and everyone was still surprised. So grabbing another chance, I used another Drain Punch on the Rhyperior. I got a lot of newfound energy into me, thanks to the two targets being a rock-types. I didn't want to take a third chance being up close with the Machamp so I readied a Shadow Ball. The crackling black orb hit the target in the torso, like the Aggron.

Even if it didn't knock him out, it would at least stun him and I can run away during all that commotion. Personally, it was a bit difficult at that moment to imagine one of my moves not knocking out a Pokémon. I mean, it's been years since the last time I needed to use more than one move to knock out an opponent in battle.

Well, I guess I eventually answered my own question of how things got to this. Now that I think about it, I don't think much of what to be a battle. It was more like a hit-and-run in my eyes. Well, whatever. As long as I get away from Tristan and his pokegoons.

"Aerodactyl, use Hyper Beam!" Then a huge, orange beam nearly hit me. I guess I spoke too soon about getting away. The next thing I know, I dodging Hyper Beams and tons of little rocks zooming at top speed towards me. The Aerodactyl apparently knows Stone Edge.

I managed to avoid getting hit for most of the time. From time to time, the attack landed. What's more is the more attacks that landed, the more it increased odds to me getting hit by those moves. I couldn't see an opportunity to get close to that flying fossil so I can use Drain Punch again. If I didn't get newfound energy again, or if I couldn't get away right now, then who knows what's going to happen to me?

All I know is Tristan will force me to go somewhere called the Wavehouse. The Aurora who thought Tristan was still a good guy would've thought that's a cool name for a club. The Aurora now think it's just a cover for something else.

I was almost going to be struck with another blow again until, suddenly, I tripped. I have to admit that it was a little embarrassing. I mean, it was flat ground and who trips on flat ground?

Just as I was going to trip, I felt something brush against my paw. I grabbed it without thinking. I had my wits scared the hell out of me when I noticed a second after I grabbed whatever I grabbed that I was so many feet off the ground. Then I looked up. I saw that I took hold of a Drifblim passing by. A little unusual I didn't see any others because I thought this kind of Pokémon traveled in groups.

Again, whatever. I think I'll go able to get away now. I know Tristan had an Aerodactyl but I'm saying what I'm saying cause of the wind. The wind unexpectingly gotten strong today. It was so strong that it pushed me and Drifblim miles away from Tristan and his Aerodactyl by the time I looked in their direction. I'm not so sure because it was so far away but I think I saw them struggling to get up in the sky. I think I also saw Tristan struggling to look around him, no doubt trying to make me out from the wind. The reason why my ride had smooth sailing is likely because Drifblim wasn't fighting it. Going whichever way the wind blows, I guess. I just feel lucky that I kept hold of Drifblim, especially when I was surprised.

We've been up in the strong air currents for a long time. I thought we would pass by something I could land on but, no, we're still up in the air. I could land ok from a certain height but if it's too high, then of course I could die. It's kinda obvious I would die cause we're over the clouds. (The winds actually carried us that high). I don't feeling like dying so I still didn't let go of Drifblim.

I was getting bored and my arms were getting tired. That changed when I noticed a Fearow. That bird came swooping towards and started attacking Drifblim!

"Hey! Leave us alone! Quit it!" I tried fending off the psycho bird with the crooked neck but I didn't know any moves to use that didn't require letting go of the only thing keeping me from falling to my death.

Then I noticed Drifblim swelling up. That was when I let go.

Seriously?! That Drifblim had Aftermath ability?!

I fell towards either land or sea. Drifblim wouldn't have exploded if Fearow used a long-ranged attack because Aftermath damages the opponent a little bit if they knocked them out with a direct attack. And, of course, that Beak Pokémon had to use so many Fury Attacks and Drill Pecks combined with an Aerial Ace at the beginning of the assault.

It wouldn't matter, though, now that I think about it. Even if the crazy avian did use a long ranged attack instead of a direct one, Drifblim would've eventually had enough and both of us will still fall. If I was going to fall either way, I might as well as endure the landing without getting even more damage before I even come close to falling. I just hope the Blimp Pokémon was going to be ok. Even if Drifblim didn't mean to or even plan on helping me out, it was still a huge favor done in my eyes.

I whooshed through the clouds, eyes clenched shut. I opened them and gasped. I couldn't believe my eyes, but there it was. There was a humongous island down below and it had a particular shape. My best description of it is that it looks like it was modeled after a Pokémon. The island's shape definitely didn't look humanoid. A stuffed toy is also a possibility but seems way less likely to me.

I was still hurling towards that island while I was observing it and noting its details. I noticed some noticeably tall trees. Maybe if I just turn my body towards the trees, then it can break my fall and perhaps I won't die. I mean, I can still die bumping into stuff that people would expect to break falls.

An idea that increases my chances of living, though, still sounded good so I went with that. I was preparing for impact and then…

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Augh! Ow! Augh! Ow!" It was an endless stream of ow's with some augh's mixed in. It continued until, finally, I hit the ground. Technically, the ground hurt me. I was so very hurt. On the bright side of things, though, I'm alive and I can still get up.

"Ah, maaaaaann… My ear fluuuuuff…" I thought out loud when I took a look at myself to check for scars and stuff. I started to groom myself a little, like taking all the leaves, pieces of tree branch, and stuff out of my ear fluff. I also petted down some ruffled up fur from time to time. A few minutes passed as I was fixing myself up until I heard an amused smirk.

Of course, I just had to turn my head to the direction of the smirk. I guess I should've tried avoiding getting into a fight what with the condition I was in, but I guess that, after everything I have been through, I'm not in the mood to handle any more bad things. It was still nighttime, so it was hard to make some of my surroundings out. I noticed I was in a fair-sized clearing, a good size should I get into a battle with whoever made that smirk. I was able to, however, make a pair of bright blue eyes. Those eyes were there when I turned my head to the direction of that smirk, so I'm assuming it was this person, whoever they were.

"Hey, you ass! If you got something to say, then come over here and say it! If not, then go suck a cock!"

Then whoever was the owner of those bright blue eyes decided to come out in the little moonlight that's shining down on us. The sight of this creature wasn't anything like I ever seen before.

They were bipedal like me, as in leg, arms, a torso, plus paws, etc. They also had fur, I think, but the similarities stop there. They were black from face to foot. The toes looked more like red claws; the fingers on the paws looked like that, too. An area on their upper torso was blacker than the rest of them. The blacker part was so big and poofy. There was a big red – I think? – hair on the top of their head. That was the biggest and poofiest part of them of all! It was also shaggy and had black tips here and there. It was being held somewhat in place by – I think again? – a scrunchie thingy that's the same color as their eyes. The red hair even turned black as it gone down past the scrunchie thingy and ended with a red tip. What I thought was the most notable feature was their face. Red markings and such were all over their face, including the insides of those pointed ears.

"Just like every other Pokémon in this god dammed island, you become awfully quick to change faces when you take a look at me," he said, the voice clearly masculine. "Although, the look on your face is quite a new one. It looks as if you've never seen anything like me before."

"That's because I haven't," I quipped back. "What Pokémon are you?"

"Well, aren't you stupid? I would beeeeee…," he began to answer, dramatically and slowly rising his arms up. Upon bringing them down swiftly, he finished, "Zoroark."