[A/N]: Sorry about how long this took to come out. My co-author wanted to keep putting more and more in, but then I had to do my editing on it, but then he wanted to add more, etc. . The next chapter may take a while because I'm treading some new territory for me. Chapter after that may or may not be back to Fia/Sol, we're undecided at the moment. Hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review, I'd love to know what you guys enjoyed/want improved about the story ^.^

Disclaimer: Pokemon is owned by The Pokemon Company.

Stolen World

Ch. 12 - That's the Way it Is

"You're telling me that a child single-handedly brought down Team Rocket? No way, I don't believe it." Sol said dismissively

"It's true! He sent those jerks packing straight out of Kanto! No one had seen hide nor hair of them for years. It was only recently that they've made a comeback."

"Really?" Sol raised an eyebrow.

"Yup! You can expect no less from the top trainer of the World Elite," Fia said as she strode forward, pulling on the straps of her backpack and puffing her chest out proudly.

"Whatever you say Fia," Sol chuckled. He was still skeptical, but willing to keep an open mind.

They had been walking along the highway for hours and had covered a lot of ground. The sky was tinted orange, signaling the days end as the sun had begun to sink below the horizon. A sea of healthy grain and colorful berry crops lined the road on the left. Vast rolling hills of lush grasses stretched along the right with herds of miltank and tauros grazing lazily dotting the landscape. The fences bordering the farms and ranches they'd pass cast long shadows over the road. The day's walk started to take its toll.

"Ugh. My shoulders are cramping up and my feet are killing me. Can we stop and find a place to sleep for the night?" Fia groaned out, shifting the weight of her backpack to a more comfortable position.

Sol was of like mind. His shoulder was still fairly sore after he reset it earlier during his battle with Belle's golem. He sighed. "Yeah, it'll be getting dark soon. We can set up camp out in these fields."

"What? No! You want me to sleep outside? Without a roof over my head?" Fia scoffed indignantly.

Sol was annoyed. "We're only here for the night. What, you want me to build you shelter?"

Fia paused for a moment to come up with a solution. "We could ask the owners of one of the ranches or farms near here if they could put us up for the night," she offered.

Sol wasn't about to jump at the idea. He was in a world he didn't quite understand and had a less than preferable first impression of the people living in it. He was very wary and distrustful, and rightfully so in his eyes. Even so, he considered it. The farms that Fia suggested weren't very far from the road, so it wasn't much of a detour. Besides that, it's a farm. What kind of threat could a farmer pose to him? Worst they could do is say 'no'. Sol relented. "Well, alright then."

Fia smiled and gestured to a road leading into pastures on their right, "Excellent! Let's try asking the owner of this ranch here."

They turned off the highway onto a dirt road leading up to the nearest ranch house. Sol looked around as they approached the front gate. Several miltank and a couple tauros were still out grazing in the fields. A few were sitting by a metal tray next to a large barrel, drinking the water that flowed out from it.

"What is this place?" Sol asked curiously

"It's a miltank ranch. The rancher that lives here raises lots of miltank to collect the milk they produce. Most of it gets shipped out to the city to be sold as-is, but some of it gets used to make other products, like cheese," Fia explained.

"Cheese?"

Fia's mouth watered a bit, "Yeah, um… Cheese isn't really something I can really sum up in one sentence. Some kinds are chewy, others just melt in your mouth. Some are tangy, others are creamy. I'm not really sure how to explain it. All I know is that it's delicious. My favorite kind is Blue Castelia."

"Stop right there!" a tiny voice called out from across the field.

Fia and Sol stopped, and looked around, trying to find who called out to them.

"Don't move! Stay right where you are!" the voice called out again.

The muted, rapid pattering of tiny paws on grass came running up to the fence next to the visiting pair. Sol tilted his head while Fia cooed in delight at the sight of the tiny ball of scruffy tan fur glaring at them accusingly.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the lillipup demanded.

Sol stepped forward. "Well, we were jus-"

"Aww! Aren't you a cutie! What's your name, little guy?" Fia gushed, cutting Sol off.

"Hey, I'm the one asking the questions here!"

Sol shook his head, "Look, I think there's been a bit of a misun-"

Fia squealed, "Ooooh! I could just eat you up!"

The lillipup flinched and backed away slowly. "W-what?! No, don't you dare. St-stay back!"

Sol sighed, exasperated.

Another voice called out from behind the fence, "Now what's all this about?"

A herdier casually strolled up to them. Tilting his head at the group before him.

"Papa!" the lillipup gasped before running over behind him.

"What's a' matter Junior? You look like you seen one of them ghost type pokemons."

Junior peeked out timidly, "That scary fox lady said she was gonna eat me!"

Fia chuckled sheepishly scratching the back of her head. "He is a cutie."

The herdier looked from Fia to Junior, then back to Fia, and let loose a raucous guffaw. "Haaahahahahahaa! Wehell, I would advise against tryin' to munch on Junior here. The little rascal's been workin' the ranch all day. He's dirtier than a grumpig hit by a mud bomb, so I doubt he'd taste very good. Hahaha!"

Fia laughed nervously, "Ehehehe, yeah sorry about that."

After having calmed down from his gleeful fit of laughter, the herdier introduced himself.

"How do ya do! Name's Gus, and this little munchkin here is Junior. Say hello Junior."

"H-hello," Junior stuttered.

Sol smiled. "Hello, my name is Sol. This is Fia."

Fia lightly gripped the tips of her fur skirt and bowed, "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Well my my. Pleased to meet the both of ya! If ya don't mind me askin', what's a couple a prim and proper pokefolk like yourselves doin' this far down rancher road?" Gus asked, bowing back.

"We were just on our way to the city, and were wondering if we could spend the night here before it got too dark," Sol explained.

Gus tilted his head, confused. "You wanna stay here for the night? I mean, it wouldn't trouble us none for ya to stay, but why would you need to stop for the night at all? Wouldn't your trainer be drivin' ya there? Matter of fact, where is your trainer?"

Sol hesitated to answer, unsure of what to say. "Well, we're-"

"Heading to the city on foot!" Fia quickly cut in. "Our trainer intends to enter into the pokemon league, so I insisted that I walk to the city as a means of training. Sol here is accompanying me for if I were to collapse from exhaustion, he could simply teleport me back to our trainer. She's probably already in the city waiting for us by now."

Gus nodded his head approvingly. "Well I hope you scrap your way all the way to the top then! Hol' up. I'ma just go get the rancher, an' he'll open up the gate. C'mon Junior."

Gus and Junior bounded up towards the ranch house, leaving to Sol and Fia to wait by the front gate. Once they were out of earshot, Sol sighed.

"You know that could've gone very wrong if he'd known I can't learn teleport, right?" Sol asked, giving Fia a stern look.

Fia rolled her eyes, "Well of course I know that, but I had to say something though. Arceus knows you couldn't have come up with a more plausible explanation."

"As much as I'd like to say otherwise, I don't know enough about this place or it's customs to have handled the situation any better," Sol admitted.

Fia pat Sol on the back, "Don't worry about it. That's why I'm here."

The sound of the front door to the house shutting brought their attention to the rancher hopping off the porch. He adjusted his straw hat and overalls and he walked up to the gate.

"Well what have we here? Couple a city mons out for a late evenin' stroll?"

The rancher knelt down in front of them, "Now what brings ya here? You two lost? Are ya hungry?"

"Es esp peo es on speo-" Sol began, pausing when he saw the polite confusion on the rancher's face.

Fia giggles a bit as she took off her backpack. She pulled out a small notepad and pencil, and proceeded to make small strokes of assorted lines and curves arranged into a few rows of sequenced shapes that Sol couldn't understand. Once she'd finished, she handed her notepad to the human.

The human reached into his breast pocket, and took out what appeared to be a pair of small round plates of glass held in a metal wire frame. He placed them on the bridge of his nose in front of his eyes as he held up Fia's notepad, squinting.

"'Waking too sity fore pokemon leagu training need plase too sleep fore nite.' So you two need a place to bed down? Well that shouldn't be an issue. Lemme jus' open the gate, an' I'll show you where you can stay for the night." The rancher stood up to unlock the gate.

As the rancher led them to where they would be spending the night, Sol nudged Fia's shoulder. "You can write the human language too?"

"Of course. My brother and sister went to a human school that allowed students to bring pokemon with them into class, so they brought me with them to school every day. It's only natural that I'd pick up on a bit of what they were being taught." Fia proclaimed proudly with her chin up.

As they followed the rancher in, Fia slowed to a stop, confused when he turned away from the house. "Brai?"

The rancher turned around when he noticed Fia lagging behind, "C'mon little missy! The barn is this way!"

Fia's ears drooped, and her shoulders slumped, "Brai?"

...

Fia groaned as she tossed and turned in her sleeping bag. Little stalks of hay from the haystack she laid upon were subtly jabbing at her through the thick, padded fabric, preventing her from falling asleep.

Sol, awoken from her groaning, parsed an eye open and mumbled, "What's the matter now? You've got a roof over your head."

"It's nothing! I know!" Fia shouted turning over yet again.

She continued to struggle finding a comfortable position. Even when she did, her frustration at the situation quickly negated whatever comfort she found. Eventually, Fia gave up on her endeavor for sleep. Growling, she threw her sleeping bag off. After hastily slipping on her jewelry and grabbing her wand, she stormed out of the barn in a huff.

Sol simply noted her absence and closed his eyes and shuffled a bit on the haystack he was laying on. "Whatever. She wakes up sore and tired in the morning, it's on her."

As Sol drifted back to sleep, he thought of home. Was Amethyst was okay? Her wounds weren't grievous, so she should have made a full recovery. He couldn't remember if anyone else was hurt. Was anyone else caught by Team Rocket? The poison gas fogged up the whole village, so he couldn't see very well. Now that he thought about it, there's a chance that no one else was taken. Perhaps the gas was being used to weed out anyone Team Rocket would have deemed not worth taking. Sol wasn't sure how to feel about that, but he supposed he could be thankful. He couldn't help but think of Kira now. He hoped she was alright, or at least as alright as she could be given what she's probably going through. He also thought of Rose. Poor girl. The both of them were caught up in such a horrible situation. They probably weren't even intended targets, thinking back to how the raid played out. Myodis was there too. Perhaps there was a chance Kira was doing okay after all. Surely, Myodis wouldn't let anything happen to them. Maybe now Sol could get some restful sleep tonight.

He felt a nudge on his shoulder. "Hey. Sol, wake up." Maybe not.

"Sol. Damnit Sol, wake up!" Fia hissed in a harsh whisper.

Sol groaned sleepily in a half lidded reply. "What is it now Fia?"

"Trouble."

Sol wasn't sleepy now. He quickly sat up, alert and on edge. His heart rate picked up as the weight of his tired muscles dissolved away, replaced by urgent tension.

"What's going on?" Sol asked, already on his feet.

"Thieves. They're trying to take one of the tauros. It looks like it's just one trainer, but he's got a couple pokemon forcing the tauros over to a truck. A mightyena and a machop," Fia explained.

Sol hopped off his haystack and walked up to the barn door. "Where's Gus and the rancher?"

"I saw Gus going over to head them off. Junior went to go get the rancher." Fia followed close behind.

Sol turned to look at Fia, surprised. "Gus went to face them on his own?"

Fia nodded and drew her wand.

...

Gus was out of breath. He'd been tussling with these thieves for few minutes now. He was surprised at himself for how well he managed on his own. With the tauros they had tied up a few yards away, Gus was constantly having to divide his attention between fighting his opponents, and staying close enough to his charge to keep them from running off with it. His harassment and keep away tactics managed to stall for enough time to allow Junior to bring out his trainer. The battled turned slightly in his favor. Even so, he wasn't faring much better than before. It had been a while since they'd had a serious battle.

"Is that all you got old man?" The thief taunted.

"Not at all! Gus an' I won't lose to a no good scoundrel like you! Right Gus?!"

Gus snapped up straight. "HERD!"

The thief chuckled and shrugged. "Whatever. Rex, use thunderfang!"

Rex lounged forward. His maw opened wide, revealing a set of sharp pointed teeth with crackling sparks hopping between his canines. Gus was already crouched down in preparation before he even heard the call.

"Gus, sidestep and bite! Then use takedown and crunch on the machop!" the rancher called in haste.

Gus hopped to the left and clamped down on the mightyena's flank as he passed by. Rex flinched, caught off guard by the quick maneuver. Without skipping a beat, Gus rocketed forward at the machop standing off to the side, slamming into him with the full force of his weight behind the takedown. As they tumbled to the ground, Gus pinned his front paws on the machops chest as he reared up for crunch. The machop managed to bring an arm up to block the attack, wincing when Gus clamped down on it.

The thief grunted in annoyance, "Oh whatever! Decker, use revenge and vital throw!"

Decker scowled at Gus, rearing back his other arm back as it let off a hot orange vapor. Gus couldn't let go in time and took a brutal blow to his side when Decker brought his fist around with a vicious hook. Gus staggered back in pain with the wind knocked out of him. He found himself airborne before he even knew what was happening, tumbling back towards his trainer before coming to a rest at his feet. His breath was labored and raspy.

The rancher immediately knelt down and picked up Gus.

"Gus! C'mon boy, keep it together now!"

Gus crept an eye open to look up at his trainer, "Dier…"

The rancher smiled as Gus licked his arm. "It'll be alright Gus. Just take it easy now."

The thief smirked then turned around, walking over to the tauros they had hogtied with his mightyena and machop following after.

"Hey! You leave my tauros alone!"

"Shut up old man! You already lost. now if you'll excuse me, I have some money to make. Decker, bring it to the tru-"

A light gust of wind brushed by the thief as a pink blur sent his mightyena tumbling several yards away.

"Rex! C'mon, Decker, get over there!"

Decker nodded his head and started to jog over to help his partner when plume of golden fire razed the grass at his feet, dissuading him from taking another step. Both he and the thief whipped their heads around to face the source of the blaze.

The light cast by the fire of her wand glinted off her silver bracelets and anklets. The fire stone shards set into them shone brilliantly in the night. An image of the flames she cast before her opponent was reflected in the blue pearl hair ties binding the ends of her ear tufts. The eviolite set into her stone pendant seemed to glow all on it's own.

With a quiet giggle, Fia whimsically strolled forward. "En brai braixen~?"

The rancher sat astonished at the turn of events. He smiled when he realized help had arrived, gently set Gus down, and quickly got to his feet. "Boy am I glad you're here. I'm not sure how much help I can be to ya, but I'll do my best!"

Fia shook her head, and tossed a wadded up piece of paper at him. The rancher fumbled with it as it landed in his grip before opening it.

"'Wi fite. Go cal the poleese.' But you-" He looked up at Fia to argue, only to see her smiling confidently back at him.

The rancher took a moment to think about her proposal before he sighed, "Alrighty then. You best send em' packin'. Without my tauros!"

Nodding her head, Fia watched the rancher carry Gus away. With a roll of her eyes she hopped to the side, allowing her opponents attempted sneak attack to sail by. The machop briefly lost his balance when his karate chop didn't connect.

"Whip around for a low sweep Decker!"

Quickly adjusting his footing, Decker threw his weight forward, carrying his fall all the way through as he twisted his shoulders and swung out his leg behind himself on the way down. Reacting quickly, Fia brought her wand down to parry the kick with protect before jumping back to put some distance between them.

Fia's gaze hardened when she spared a glance at her opponent's trainer. Several tense seconds passed as they sized each other up before Fia began to giggle to herself, earning a spark of anger from Decker.

"What's so funny?!" Decker shouted out as she continued to giggle under her breath.

It took a moment for Fia to calm herself, "Eeh hehe. Oh, nothing. I'm just so excited! I've spent so much time training and training, and yet, not once have I ever had a serious battle with a trainer owned pokemon. All I've ever battled are wilds and street rattatas, so this is a first for me."

She stepped forward and raised her wand at her opponent. "Be a dear, and take care not to spoil the moment for me."

...

Sol and the mightyena tumbled across the field. As they came to a stop, sparks leapt from Rex's lips. Sol dashed away with a quick burst of quick attack when he saw the light from his opponent's mouth, barely escaping a vicious thunder fang. After putting some distance between them, they both began to slowly circle each other, staring one another down.

"A little late to be playing hero aren't you? You just walked into a two on one fight." Rex taunted confidently.

Sol smirked back, "Did I?"

A loud cry of frustration momentarily got their attention.

"Would you just stand still you prissy broad?!"

"Would you just stop making your attacks so easy to read?!"

Rex groaned while Sol chuckled a bit.

"It looks like my friend is keeping your cohorts pretty busy," Sol said.

"Tch, that's fine. I can take you on just fine by myself!"

Rex growled as he snapped at Sol repeatedly, electricity crackling and popping with each empty bite.

Sol continuously hopped back, keeping his distance and gauging the timing for the mightyena's movements. When Rex charged forward for another thunderfang, Sol hopped right, pivoted on his hind paws, and lounged forward, boosting into Rex's ribs with a close-range quick attack. The mightyena stumbled back with a wheeze, briefly stunned by the solid hit. He quickly shook it off to see Sol coming back for another pass.

With a growl of frustration, Rex let loose a loud snarl. A faint ripple of air shot out at Sol, catching him off guard as he was pushed back by a short burst of intense pressure. He grunted in pain as he was overcome with a sudden headache, brought upon by a garbled voice that tore into his mind.

I'm gonna rip your damn throat out and watch you choke on your own blood!

Seeing his foe falter, Rex grinned and snarled again.

You're gonna regret messing with me!

Wincing as another headache lanced through his mind, Sol squinted at the mightyena in front of him. Rex sneered back at him and breathed in for another snarl.

You'll be nothing but bones for me to gnaw on when I'm done with you!

Sol grunted, taking the brunt of it in stride. He took a moment to think of his next move as the mightyena paused for breath. Rex reared back and let loose yet another snarl.

And don't worry about your friend. I'll be sure to take good care of her!

Sol glared at Rex, crouching down as the gem in his forehead flashed.

"Hah, idiot! After all of that, it doesn't matter what you throw at me now! You might as well throw nutpea berries at me!" Rex laughed at Sol as he charged up a psybeam shot.

Sol grinned, "Well I'm not really looking to do damage."

The beam of light raced forward before Rex could process what Sol just said. The psybeam blinded Rex as light splashed weakly across his face. Though unharmed, the attack sent Rex reeling as bright pink sparks danced over his eyes. By the time his vision cleared, Sol was gone.

Rex swung his head back and forth, searching for his opponent, "Rrrgh, where are you?!"

He whirled around, looking this way and that, but to no avail. Rex just couldn't spot his opponent. "I know you're still around here! Come out and fight me!"

Suddenly, the ground beneath him burst open. Pebbles and clumps of dirt pelted him, before he was hit hard in the gut by a vicious uppercut from Sol's earth coated paws, launching him into the air. Rex sailed listlessly up in the air, dazed by the surprise attack. He came back down, hitting the floor with a pained grunt. He stood back up wheezing, trying desperately to catch his breath as he looked around to see where Sol went. Again, nowhere to be seen. Rex started having second thoughts.

Shitshitshit. I can't keep this up! Agh, shit that hurts. I've gotta get back to boss, he'll know what to do. Rex thought to himself as he stumbled away, back toward where his trainer and partner where busy battling the braixen. Suddenly, everything went silent as his vision quickly faded into black. The last thing his mind registered before he fell unconscious was a swift impact to the side of his muzzle and a puff of air blowing past as his vision abruptly jerked to the side. Sol landed back on the ground, kicking up dirt as he skidded to a stop. He hissed in pain, hopping on his good foreleg while rolling out his injured shoulder.

"Oooagh, I forgot about that. I should have come around from the other side. Shoot, my shoulder. Oowowowow..." Sol groaned. He looked back at Rex laying on the ground. "That's why you never turn your back on your opponent."

"Alright. Now to check on Fia," Sol sighed, turning around and jogging over to help his companion.

...

"C'mon Decker! Quit messing around and hit her already!" the thief yelled in exasperation.

Fia hopped from side to side, bobbing and weaving through Decker's swings. A karate chop whiffed here. A seismic toss catching air there.

Decker threw his leg out for a low sweep, which Fia hopped over. As she landed, Decker raised his arm up before bringing his weight down for another karate chop, only to have it blocked with protect.

Fia smirked at him, "Yeah Decker, quit messing around and hit me already."

Enraged, Decker continued to pound away at Fia's protect again and again. After the fourth strike, Fia swung her wand out, batting away his arm when he tried another karate chop. When Decker tried to come at her again, he was met with the lit tip of Fia's wand smacking him across the face, before a torrent of fire blew him several meters back.

Decker laid on the ground, his whole body numb. After a few seconds, sensation returned with a severe intensity. His skin crawled with stinging fangs sinking into every inch of his aching body. As he struggled to get back up, Fia sighed. "But actually though, I expected more out of this."

Decker scowled at his foe, tightly clenching his fists. His frustration knew no bounds. With a shout of anger, he powered through his pain and leapt up to charge forward at Fia. The tip of her wand flared up in response and sending another gout of fire his way.

Thinking quickly, Decker's trainer shouted out to him, "Slide under it and pop her with revenge!"

Decker lowered his stance as he continued to charge. Just as the flames neared him, Decker threw his legs forward and slid under the flamethrower, catching Fia off guard. Popping up from her blind spot, he slammed her in the ribs with revenge. Fia was sent reeling from the blow. She stumbled back, grunting in pain.

"How was that, you smug witch?" Decker taunted, panting heavily.

Fia took a moment to recover, coughing a bit. Everything was quiet. The silence broke with quiet laughter, barely contained under Fia's strained breath. She raised her head and looked back up at her opponent, revealing a wide smile splitting her jaw. Her teeth were tightly clenched as she trembled in excitement. The thrill of the moment left the pupils of her eyes visibly dilated.

"Now that's more like it!" She shouted in glee, whipping her wand around and ready for more.

Before either of them could do anything else, a rush of wind and flash of pink rushed by them, followed by a cry of surprise from behind Decker.

Fia was shocked to see Sol standing over Decker's trainer. He reared his head back with the gem on his forehead glowing brightly. Fia sobered up quick, realizing what he was about to do.

"SOL NO!"

Reacting quickly, Fia launched a quick psyshock volley at him. Seeing the attack out of the corner of his eye, Sol jumped off the human below him.

"What are you doing Fia?!" Sol shouted, astonished that Fia had attacked him.

Fia stared bewildered, "Excuse me?! What am I doing?! What are you doing?!"

"Uh, helping you!"

"I had that!"

"What do you mean 'I had that'?! You took a full force revenge to the ribs!"

"I know! It was about time too! I was starting to get bored!"

"BORED?! This isn't a game Fia! This is serious! We could get seriously hurt!"

"I was fine! I burned him!"

"Burned him?! You singed him! Maybe!"

"SEMANTICS!"

While the two of them bickered back and forth, the thief and Decker booked it back to the truck, returning Rex back to his pokeball on the way by. The sound of the truck's doors shutting brought them out of their argument. The two of them watched as the truck pulled away, leaving the tauros they tried to steal behind in their haste. As the roar of the engine faded away, Sol sat down exhaling curtly while Fia stuffed her wand back in her tail in a huff, not even bothering to twirl it as she did so.

Sol shot Fia a disappointed glare, "I can't believe you weren't taking this seriously. Lives were on the line here Fia!"

Fia looked back at Sol in shock and indignance, "You can't believe me? I can't believe you! Of all the dumbest things you could have done, you somehow manage to pull off something even dumber!"

"What?! What did I do?!"

Fia stepped up to Sol, hands on her hips. "Do you have any idea how much trouble we'd be in if you hurt him?"

"What? Who? The human?" Sol asked, squinting his eyes in confusion.

"YES! The human!"

"Excuse me, but if you hadn't noticed, the human was the one coordinating this whole attack! It was VERY clear that he was the one doing all of the complex strategizing, so it would have been much easier for you to handle that machop if he was incapacitated! Besides, it's not like I was going to kill him either, so how would we be in trouble for hurting the human? He already hurt Gus, and he was certainly trying to hurt us!" Sol replied defensively.

Fia growled in frustration, about ready to burst into an angry rant at Sol. Taking a moment to compose herself, she turned her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, having to remind herself of Sol's unique situation.

"Sol, I understand where you're coming from. Really, I do. Personally, I would've liked to give that punk a piece of my mind as well. Here's the issue. Unless the human-made a clear move on us himself, we cannot attack him," she explained putting a paw on Sol's shoulder.

Sol sat back, still upset but willing to listen, "And why is that?"

Fia sat down as well, "Remember how I told you that there are a lot of rules and regulations in human society?"

Sol nodded his head.

"Many of those rules and regulations involve ensuring the safety of the humans and pokemon who live in it. However, there are very stringent rules specifically regarding the safety of humans from pokemon," Fia elaborated.

"In particular, unless done so in self-defense, if a pokemon goes out of its way to attack humans they could be imprisoned and would have to go through up to six months rehabilitation and therapy. They'd then be put on a watch list for the next year or two, and if they do not have a trainer to return to, they'd be put up for adoption in a 'risk case' shelter. That's just for minor injuries. For something like what you almost did, the best you could hope for is five years of imprisonment and rehab, your face on a 'violent offender' watchlist till the day you die, and for the next decade you'd have to wear a special collar whenever you are out in public to warn others about what you did. If you had done any serious harm, or, Arceus forbid, killed him, you'd be euthanized. You'd be marked and the authorities would hunt you down. They will kill you Sol."

Sol was shocked. He didn't know what to say. He could understand if there were repercussions, but to think that they'd be so extreme.

Fia sighed, understanding of how he might feel, "Other than their ability to come together and cooperate the way they do, humans are considerably weak compared to pokemon. Even newly hatched pokemon have the potential to cause serious harm to a human. That's one of the major reasons why a lot of wild pokemon stay away from human settlements. If they slip up and hurt a human, they could have dozens of humans and pokemon coming after them. Even some of the more base and violent pokemon like beedrill and gyarados know better than to seriously hurt humans."

Sol took a moment to absorb what she just told him, then he exhaled sharply, "That doesn't seem very fair."

"Well, that's the way it is Sol. On some level, humans are scared of us. It's only natural for them, for anyone to take measures to protect themselves from something they fear."

After a moment of solemn contemplation, a gruff snort drew their attention to the tauros they had protected still lying on his back with his legs tied up.

"Perhaps you could untie me now?" the tauros pleaded, wriggling in his bonds.

Sol and Fia looked at each other, sharing an awkward laugh to ease the tension.

...

"Holy shit…" Sol whispered to himself.

As the rancher drove his truck through the city streets. Sol sat gawking at everything around him from his seat in the bed of the pickup truck. Fia looked back and smiled at his reaction. He looked all-around at the gargantuan structures towering over him. He couldn't even really see the tops of a few of the buildings. The walls of many of them were made of more glass than stone. The light of the sun bouncing off them like colossal mirrors illuminating the streets below. Colorful signs covered in stylistic scribbles he still couldn't read marked numerous shops with shelves filled with odds and ends he didn't understand the purpose of. A cacophony of sounds echoed around him. Dozens and dozens of passing conversations between humans and the pokemon that accompanied them flew by as he rode in the back of the ranchers truck. Despite how chaotic the world around him seemed, it was clear that everyone and everything there had something they were doing, somewhere they needed to be. The trill of what sounded like a whistle rang out in the street in front of him. A human wearing blue stood in the middle of the cross street, waving and pointing at the vehicles around him, directing traffic. A spot of order in the apparent chaos around him.

"So how do you like the city Sol?" Fia called out from her seat in the truck cabin.

Sol took a moment to respond, still somewhat frazzled from a bit of sensory overload. "It's uh… It's a lot to take in!"

Fia giggled, "Yeah, I thought as much!"

They pulled up in front of a smaller white building. Sol saw a few humans and pokemon milling about inside and in front of it. The building was marked with a picture of a white ball, a "pokeball" if he recalled correctly.

The rumbling of the trucks engine cut out, and the rancher opened the door and got out. Sol hopped out of the truck bed as Fia stepped out as well.

"What is this place?" Sol asked, helping Fia grab their bags from the truck.

Fia hefted her backpack over her shoulders. "It's a pokemon center. Basically a much more advanced version of the medical clinic your family ran."

Sol huffed indignantly, "More advanced huh? I'll have you know our clinic was the best on the whole island."

Fia smirked, raising an eyebrow, "Could anyone at your clinic perform open-heart surgery, provide blood transfusions, or give bone marrow transplants?"

"Excuse me what?"

"Exactly."

When the three of them stepped inside, the first thing Sol noticed was the smell. It was very clean, unusually so. As far as he knew, there wasn't any realistic way to clean a space this large so thoroughly. The clinic back home on the island had to make do with herbs and berries to cover up the smell of blood. But Sol didn't smell any herbs or berries. He couldn't smell any blood. He could hardly smell the other pokemon in the room. The only prominent odor that he registered was of some kind of flower. It was odd though. It smelled metallic as well, like a flower made of metal. It smelled unnatural. It put him on edge. This was supposed to be a clinic yet there was nothing here to suggest such. When he voiced this to Fia, she smiled and waved it off.

"It's standard policy for pokemon centers and human hospitals to keep as clean and sterile as possible. It helps to prevent infections and the spread of any diseases." She explained.

"I know that, and I'm glad they keep things clean, but it still smells weird here. I mean I can hardly smell anything. The only thing that I can make out is the smell of some kind of flower, but it doesn't smell right."

As they stepped up to the front counter, Sol looked around the room. The only plants he could make out were a few decorative potted shrubs and a small tree in the corner.

Fia nods in understanding, "Doesn't smell natural does it? That makes sense, the chemical soap scrub they use to keep the place clean isn't natural. A lot of what they use to treat their patients isn't natural."

Sol was a little put off by what she said, "That doesn't exactly sound comforting Fia."

"Eheh, yeah I could have worded that better. Don't worry. Anything the staff here uses to treat their patients had to go through a trial period to confirm it's safety and effectiveness. Some of the more intensive treatments need to be tested for a few years before being given the ok for use."

A few years? Well, at least they're thorough, he thought, allowing himself to relax a bit.

The rancher spoke with a pink-haired human woman dressed in white, handing her the pokeball Gus was in. As they conversed, Sol took the time to take a better look around the room. He could see several humans and pokemon seated on a bunch of cushions in a lounging area on one side of the room. He was quite impressed with just how diverse the group was. There was a skarmory perched on the back of a bench with a few scratches and scuffs in his armor that his human companion was trying to buff out. A dedenne and emolga were playing on the carpet with a raichu watching over them from her seat next to a human with a pikachu in his lap. There was a human who appeared to be reading from a glowing tablet while a gardevoir was sound asleep, resting her head on his shoulder. Overall, it was a nice, calm, and relaxing atmosphere. It was comforting and reassuring to see humans and pokemon just being together. No abuse or exploitation, just friends and companions enjoying each other's company. Maybe he could let go of some of his worries. Then he saw something that really threw him for a loop.

"Hey Fia?" Sol nudged her shoulder.

"Yeah?"

He looked across the lobby, gesturing to a very unusual pair of pokemon."That's a zangoose right?"

Fia nodded her head. "Yes."

Sol looked at the pokemon next to the zangoose, "That's a seviper."

Fia nodded again. "That it is."

Sol paused for a moment, "Is that an egg the seviper is holding?"

Fia started giggling a bit in a moment of clarity, "Yes Sol. That is an egg, and it is definitely theirs. Surprised?"

It took Sol a moment to gather his thoughts while he let the sight before him sink in. "I mean, yeah. I never thought I'd see the day where a seviper and a zangoose could get along, let alone be mates."

He chuckled under his breath, smirking in approval. "It's nice to see them not trying to pound each other into the ground for once."

"It is, isn't it?" Fia said in agreement smiling, before her smile turned into a mischievous grin.

Leaning in, she whispered, "Though, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what they did."

Sol rolled his eyes, passing Fia a sideways glare and a half contained smile, "Really?"

Fia laughed at his reaction, "Whuhahat? How else do you think they got that egg?"

As the two of them shared a laugh together, the pink-haired human the rancher spoke with came around the counter and kneeled down beside them.

"Sounds like you two are having a good time. That's good to hear. I'm Nurse J-" Nurse Joy paused mid-sentence when she got a good look at the braixen in front of her.

"My goodness! If it isn't Fia. How are you? I haven't seen you in a while." She exclaimed happily.

Fia smiled back, giving her a thumbs up. "Brai xen!"

"Aw, you're so precious. Oh! Heavens, I almost forgot! I heard you and your friend drove off a criminal last night all on your own. Are you alright?"

Fia waved her hand nonchalantly. "Braai, en xen brai en brai."

Nurse Joy giggled in response, "Oh I'm sure you're feeling fine, but, just to be safe, I'm still going to have to at least give you a check-up."

Fia quickly grabbed the nurse's skirt and whined "Braaaai! Brai xen xen en braixen!"

Nurse Joy gave her a patient smile, gently patting her head. "Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me. You'd better make sure to let your parents know you're alright once you're discharged, though. Alright?"

Fia nodded her head, letting loose a sigh of relief. Nurse Joy nodded approvingly before turning to Sol. "I don't believe I've seen you before. You must be Fia's new friend. I trust you've been keeping her out of trouble?"

Sol shuffled in place nervously, "Eeess…"

Nurse Joy smiled, "Well, either way, it's nice to see that Fia has someone out and about with her on her 'walks'." Fia huffed in response.

"Oh? Dear, your shoulder doesn't look so good," she said reaching for Sol's injured leg.

Sol tensed up slightly, giving her pause. She looked up at him, seeing apprehension at her approach.

"Is everything alright, dear?" Nurse Joy asked.

Fia tapped her shoulder, passing her a note. "'Nu lee cot; Stil nervis arownd hewmins' Ah I see. No need to worry. If you're feeling uncomfortable with me, I can have one of our pokemon assistants take care of you. Chelsea! Could come here?" Nurse Joy called out.

A moment later, a chansey wearing a white cap and a gown two sizes too small came out and walked up to them.

"Would you please tend to Fia's friend? He's a bit nervous around humans. I'll take care of Fia. Just give me a few moments to finalize the paperwork with the gentleman that brought them in."

Chelsea nodded as she stepped up and stood beside Sol. She sighed as she passed Fia half a smirk.

"Giiirrl, what have you gotten yoself into this time?" Chelsea drawled out, cocking up her brow.

"Look, it wasn't like that this time! They started it!" Fia whined in response.

"Mmhmm, never heard that before."

"C'mon Chel, don't be like that."

Chelsea tilted back and bellowed out a deep laugh, "Relax baby, I'm just givin' you a hard time. Word spread quick 'round here. Er'rybody heard 'bout how we had patients comin' in from bustin' up a coupla a thugs. Imagine my lack of surprise to see it's you. Glad to see ya back in one piece. You an' yo friend here. What's ya name sugar?" She asked as she turned to face him.

"Er… My name is Sol." He said quietly, somewhat taken aback by how loud the chansey's voice was.

Chelsea chuckled and gave Sol a reassuring, if a little rough, pat on the back, "Don' worry hun. I don't bite. Good to see Fi got herself a chaperone to keep an eye on her while she out and about. Struttin' her stuff. Pickin' fights with every other street 'mon she sees. Makin' more and more work fo' us! Comin' in half past midnight all banged up after gettin' her butt whupped pickin' one fight too many! Goin' back out and doin' it all again! One a these days when you go out an' mess with the wrong 'mon AGAIN, getcho ass beat AGAIN, get sent back here AGAIN, you gonna end up comin' back in on a stretcher!"

Every sentence she said was enunciated with another hobbling step towards the trembling fox girl, "I-... I'm s-sorry Chel, I-"

"Damnit Fia! You do know when the doc says 'We hope to see you again soon' at's just courtesy, right? Er'rytime you come in here, you get all of us worried sick! You get ME worried sick! I been patchin' you up since before you could walk on two legs, and er'ry time I hear you came in here, I can't help but think 'Is this the time?' 'Did she go too far this time?' Arceus almighty, I got half a mind to dubbaslap the shit outta you myself fo' makin' us worry all the damn time!"

At that Sol decided it was time for him to step in. "Hey uh, it sounds like you two have quite the history, and I'm sure you have some catching up to do, but maybe we should tone it down a bit? Everyone hear can hear us."

They glanced over at the lounging area seeing most everyone stopped what they were doing and were now watching them. The skarmory stared them down, irritated that his human had stopped polishing his armor. The gardevoir was rather annoyed to have been disturbed from her nap. They got angry looks from the zangoose and seviper couple, the latter of whom coiled around their egg a bit.

"Dami dam!"

"Dubbosap da SHIT!"

"Crackle! Pip! Language!" The raichu cried out angrily at the dedenne and emolga as the pikachu next to her did everything he could to contain his laughter.

Chelsea huffed, "What're y'all lookin' at?! Mind yo damn business!"

Nurse Joy looked up from her desk at the commotion. "Oh dear, here we go again… Chelsea please calm down!"

She shot up from her chair and rushed over to try and diffuse the situation. But all the pokemon in the room were already far too riled up.

"Chan chansey sey chansey!"

"Sev sev seviper sev!"

"Zangoose, goose zangoose."

"Sey chansey chan chansey chan chansey chan CHAN CHANSEY!"

"Xen! Brai! Braixen brai en braixen brai."

"Espeooonn…"