"Pokemon" Speaking

("Pokemon Emphasis")

"Human" Speaking

Author's Note: Alright, I am back and ready for action! I'm sorry for the long span of silence on me and my story's behalf, but as you should know (if you read the Author's Note before this was posted), my laptop's screen had broken and only recently did we find a solution to the problem. So now, I am currently hiding this story as I am typing this from those of my siblings who apparently mock my addiction to fanfiction. But now's not the time for my personal life story. Just go ahead and enjoy this long-awaited chapter! I'll try my best to keep the Author's Notes pretty short from now on and try to update my other stories.

Currency- I am not completely sure if the currency in the World of the Living and the currency in Soul Society are not the same, but I am just gonna keep it that way. I hope you don't mind. It's not exactly important, but that is just how it is. If it really disturbs you so much, then please give me the correct information so I could change it. Thank you~!

Chapter 5

Toshiro flinched when the twig he stepped on snapped and a pack of unknown birds flew off from the trees nearby. He drew out a long breath and silently muttered to himself. The incident that he couldn't recall about an hour ago really took its toll on him. He could barely walk up-straight or even be as stealthy as he usually was. His muscles were all sore and each step he took sent a wave of throbbing agony into his head.

After waking up with no recollection of what had happened, he started traveling towards the closest town- which he could find by locating a large amount of people in the same area. From his calculations, at this rate, he would probably make it in about another hour.

Just then, he heard voices approaching his direction.

Quickly, ignoring his body screaming in protest, he dashed behind a nearby trunk and pressed the back of his body against it. He couldn't risk having humans see him in his uniform (with the large amount of spiritual particles in the air, he wouldn't be surprised if they could see him). They would no doubt question his whereabouts and try to pry more information from him when they don't get a satisfying answer. Slowly and cautiously, he poked his head out from his hiding place to look at the new-comers.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes.

There were two people searching the area together- people he recognized. One was significantly smaller than the other, but both had traveling packs on their backs. He noticed the looks of concentration and worry on their faces. Were they looking for their other friends?

"He's not here, Ash! We've been here already! Can't we just call it quit?" asked the littlest.

"No, we can't give up, Max. He should be seriously injured right now, and we can't just let him get attacked because he's weak!" Ash rejoined.

Toshiro raised a brow. They have been saying "he", so it must not be the girl, May. But, how could their older friend is injured? What happened while he was gone?

"Besides, Arcanine will probably be worried sick about Glaceon! They may have fought against each other, but friends are friends."

Oh. He remembered the hazy lights he saw when he tried to find his memory. It must've been the fight between him and Kurosaki. Strange. He couldn't recall wanting to fight him.

"But Ash," Max continued to complain, "We've been at it for about an hour already! I'm sure Glaceon is all right." When Ash didn't cease looking, he blew out noisily in annoyance. "Fine! You stay here; I'll head back." That caught Ash's attention, but Max was already walking away.

Ash seemed torn between 'saving' Glaceon (in other words, Toshiro) and fulfilling his promise to May of never leaving Max alone by himself. His head shot from side to side, desperately trying to choose, shook his head, and grudgingly ran to catch up with Max. He just hoped that Glaceon could protect himself.

After a moment's debate, Toshiro followed the pair.

It was hard, but the humans' slow walking pace helped him keep up. He just had to push himself almost to the limit while struggling to endure the pain.

Because of the faster pace they took, they managed to spare around 15 minutes to get to the next town. By then, Toshiro felt dizzy and light-headed. He had to locate where Kurosaki was first by continuing to follow the humans. Then he could try to find a change of clothing and a place to rest.

He let out a breath and prepared himself for the struggle of remaining in the shadows.

The skin at the back of Ash's neck prickled. He widened his eyes and swerved around quickly to locate the person watching them. Instead, he saw no one-only a bunch of townspeople minding their own business.

Max noticed Ash's strange behavior almost instantly. He frowned as he watched Ash look behind him quickly. "If you didn't want to come with me, then go back to finding that Pokemon," he said. It's not that he didn't want to search for Glaceon as badly as Ash wanted to find him, but he was exhausted and extremely worried about Arcanine. Besides, Glaceon was strong. The time they spent together (though from a distance) was enough for Max to gather that information. He was strong, confident, and caring- to a degree, as far as he knew.

"No," Ash murmured. "It felt like someone was watching me behind my back." His eyes darted around which elicited a few stares in the process.

Max seemed uncomfortable. He reached out and tugged the back of Ash's shirt/jacket. "Come on Ash," Max pleaded, "People are starting to stare."

Uncertain and aware, Ash reluctantly gave in to Max's tugging and they once again headed off.

Toshiro let out a relieved sigh in the shadows of a nearby alley. That was close. A second later and he would've been spotted from where he was sticking his head out around the corner. He should be more careful next time. He took a deep breath. Alright. By now he has fully memorized their reiatsu signature (he didn't think of it earlier, and he slapped his palm on his forehead in annoyance once he did), so he could just follow them from a large distance but short enough to be able to watch if they go inside any buildings.

And so continued the journey of Toshiro the Stalker.

It took only a few minutes, but Toshiro's mind was blaring the whole entire time. Finally (to Toshiro's relief), the pair entered a building with a large pink "P" at the top. Toshiro looked at it curiously and deduced it was a type of Pokemon hospital from the information he had already gathered: they once stated that Arcanine must be wondering where he was, so there is a large chance that he is staying with the humans as of this moment. The building had a large "P" on the top, and the best word that starts with that letter is Pokemon. Therefore, the building should have a relation to Pokemon, whether it should be a Pokemon Store/Mart or a Pokemon Hospital. According to the humans, Kurosaki and he fought. If that was the case, since he was injured, Kurosaki should at least be injured as well, which means that he must be getting a treatment from a Pokemon doctor.

Enough ranting. Toshiro looked around and zeroed in on a couple purchasing at a small stand outside. With his keen eyes, he was able to identify the currency they held and was pleased to find that it was the same currency that of the humans in the regular World of the Living. Just in case of a situation close to this, he kept a fair-large amount of money for safe-keeping wherever he went.

Although, he had to switch the hiding places every day in random order lest Matsumoto was in a shopping mood. Toshiro shook his white fur ball-of-a-head, his locks swinging as he did so. Now was not the time for dwelling in the past. He had to focus on the future and his situation before putting his mind to ease.

Looking up and bracing himself for the oncoming discomfort, he silently leaped onto the roof on one of the buildings next to him. He grimaced. Nonetheless, he cast Bakudo #26: Kyokko (Curved Light) on himself before settling down to rest and observe the stores' for clothes that gained his interest.

Fifteen minutes late found Toshiro walking contentedly down the street in new clothes and a navy-blue bag slung over one shoulder. He had dispelled the Kido, but replaced it on his Zanpakuto to shield from prying eyes. Despite changing his choice of wear, it still didn't hide the fact that his that his hair and eyes gathered much attention to him. However, to his surprise, they didn't seem as affected as the humans in the world he was familiar with. Perhaps it was because of the many different hair styles and colors of people roaming around. He was oddly pleased now that he didn't stick out as much.

Unbeknownst to him, it was mainly his whole self that caught the villagers' attention, with the majority being girls. He didn't even notice when a couple of regular girls giggled as they stared adoringly at him as he walked by.

Anyway, at the best possible moment, Toshiro had shunpoed off the roof he temporarily claimed, grabbed the items he wanted, and set the money with a clink on the counter all before the owner even looked up. Said owner stared at the money, looked at his stock (realizing several were missing), and shrugged. Those kids and Pokemon. They tended to do that around him, especially using Pshycic Pokemon to do the work secretly. At least they always paid when they did so. He was a bit irritated at first, but he had gotten used to it. That was just the way things flowed in this particular town.

But that still didn't stop him from looking around for the 'culprit'.

Soon after, Toshiro found a comfortable hotel that fitted his standards. It wasn't overly luxurious- he wasn't that greedy. He didn't find it all surprising when the person at the desk didn't comment about him being all alone. He suspected it was because of all the Pokemon trainers who had started their journey at ten years old. Although she did glance at him from the corner of her eye curiously.

The clothes he had gotten from the store consisted of a midnight black leather jacket with an open semi-high collar. A pure white t-shirt sat underneath, as plain as could be. A shining silver belt sat on his lower abdomen, above jeans the same hue as his traveling bag. To conclude, running sneakers adorned his feet, its soles strangely comfortable and balanced, and a white and teal wrist band was wrapped around his upper arm.

He didn't know why he picked that.

When he opened and locked the door of his room, he immediately bee-lined towards the bed and collapsed. Trusting his oddly silent Zanpakuto to keep 'watch' over the humans, he allowed a contented sigh to surface as his face sunk into the soft pillow. In a few seconds time, he was asleep.

~XoX~

"No luck?"

Ash and Max sighed, but only Ash shook his head. After entering the Pokemon center, they found Brock, May, and Pikachu sitting on a nearby bench. They headed towards them, and when the others noticed, their heads rose up in hope. It was immediately crushed by the expressions of their friends/family.

Brock looked towards the door where the sign, showing the operation in progress, was off. "Arcanine is resting," he said in a way of conversation. "Nurse Joy says he only needs that to recover."

Ash reached up to the tip of his hat to pull it down a bit, shadowing his face. He didn't want them to see how much it affected him of his complete failure at locating an injured Pokemon. A Pokemon was in danger out in the woods and he just turned his back on it.

Max frowned when he saw Ash's gesture. He grabbed the edge of Ash's jacket and pulled down hard. Ash gave a startled yelp as he was forced down to his level. He positioned his mouth beside Ash's ear. "If you don't get rid of your gloom, Ash, it's going to affect us all," Max pointed out roughly.

The tips of Ash's lips creased. A flash of uncertainty appeared, but he punched it down when he realized the meaning of Max's words. If he continued to be distant, it would only cause worry and more troubles to their group. He made a sound between a sigh and a grunt of agreement, and Max let go. He rubbed his neck where it was pressured after his jacket was forced to press on that spot. He sighed.

There was a loud crash.

Immediately, the group leaped towards the sound.

It came from the room where Arcanine was resting. Nurse Joy met up with them at the doors to said room, but they barely even noticed each other. The doors didn't open. It seemed as if something was leaning on it too hard on the other side to open correctly, seeing as it was trembling. Ash and Brock darted forward and set to work, grabbing the doors in the middle crack and pulled. It took a few tries, but they finally made it. Once it was open, May, Max, and Nurse Joy were the first to enter. Ash, Pikachu, and Brock followed afterwards but stopped when they heard the gasps. They peered around (or over) them.

Arcanine was gone. What was leaning towards the door (it moved to the side when they opened the sliding doors) was a large part of the system to help access the Pokemons' light, once above, the table was cracked beyond repair. The windows had been smashed open and the glass littered the floor, glinting. The fresh air whistled outside.

Nurse Joy had her hands over her mouth, shaking her head in despair. "Oh no," she gasped. "Arcanine is in no condition to be running around the city."

They snapped out of their trance when she interrupted the shocked silence. They made eye contact with each other. "We've got to find Arcanine," May voiced out their thoughts, worry lacing her tone. Ash, Max, Brock, and Pikachu nodded together. The group, minus Brock, rushed outside to find the run-away Pokemon.

Brock stayed where he was, taking Nurse Joy's hands and pouring out his affections in one speech. He didn't notice when Nurse Joy's hands twitched. Nor did he pay attention to the frown appearing on her face. No…he only noticed when Nurse Joy did the last thing he ever expected her to do.

She slapped him.

Either the group didn't notice the large red handprint blossoming on their friend's face when he caught up with them, or they wisely didn't ask.

By the time they made it outside, the yelling and screaming had already erupted. Speeding through the crowd of people was Arcanine. He looked confused, blindly looking around. They wondered if he was searching for his friend, Glaceon.

As one, they all yelled out his name (Pokemon name). The Pokemon's ears twitched in their direction and he screeched to a stop nearby. He looked over to them and for a moment he just stared. Then he once again ran away- heading in the opposite direction. He probably thought they were unworthy of his attention if they didn't have Glaceon with them.

Ash ran after Arcanine, yelling at him to stop, Pikachu struggling to hang on to his shoulder. The rest of them groaned as they predicted that they would be running for a while. Arcanine was one of the fastest Pokemon out there.

And so they continued.

For what seemed like an hour, they continued to attempt to restrain Arcanine. They were not at all surprised that Arcanine had barely lost any energy while they were already puffing and panting for breath. They had lost Arcanine many times, but managed to find him once again.

Then Arcanine just stopped. The group didn't even expect this, so they tried to screech to a stop. Ash, unfortunately, was at the front. He slammed face-first on Arcanine's furry side and his breath was soon knocked out of him when his friends collided against his back.

...Ow.

Ichigo stopped when his sharp ears picked up a soothing melody in the way distance. He stumbled when he felt Ash and his friends collide against him, but he hardly paid any attention. The voice- it sounded so familiar. He instantly perked up. He was about to run in the direction of the melody, but his feet wouldn't move. His large mouth frowned. He tried again, but had to same results.

He finally looked down.

Ash and Pikachu had a firm grip on his front left paw, May on his right, and Max & Brock on his rear feet. "Wait, Arcanine, wait!"Pikachu pleaded. "If you are leaving, we're coming too! We'll find your friend together!"

Ichigo looked down curiously at the little mouse Pokemon. Pikachu wasn't supposed to know about who he was about to search for. It took his brain a bit longer to realize he was talking about Toshiro. He scoffed, though deep down he admitted that he was searching for the little midget. But he couldn't find out who was creating the sound far away if they continued to latch on his legs. He spoke before Pikachu took his long silence as a 'no'. "Fine," he grunted. "Tell them to hop onto my back if they want to come. I am in a hurry." Pikachu's expression visibly brightened as his head bobbed up and down in agreement. He took off his arms tried to tell Ash to do the same. Thankfully, Ash understood and told Max, May, and Brock to also do it.

Pikachu jumped onto Arcanine's head, gesturing at the humans to climb on. Ichigo's chuckle rumbled lowly at their display of nervousness. Pikachu thumped on his head playfully in fake annoyance. A minute later, Ichigo had a tiny bead of sweat on his mane as he ran through everyone, carrying a rather heavy load of regular humans. But he didn't concentrate on that.

He concentrated on the fact that he voice was getting louder, and he knew he was getting closer by the second. He vaguely realized that the people on his back were gripping his fur so tightly that he would've started wincing if he was paying attention.

Ash was exhilarated: grinning the whole entire ride, along with Pikachu. He didn't mind all the shocked faces of the people around him, but only focused on the rush he hadn't felt for a long time. May sat behind Ash, with the total opposite expression of said person. She looked almost scared to death and was frequently apologizing as they passed by the people who had to move out of the way of the running Pokemon. Max was looking around with a nervous expression on his face, all the while wondering where they were headed. Brock, bringing up the rear, simply had a smile on his face. He would sometimes laugh silently when May occasionally freaked out or Ash got too hyper for his own good.

The voice stopped and Arcanine had slowed down, though not by much. His head cocked to the side, listening, and suddenly snapped up straight when the smooth song was replaced by a cry of pain.

~XoX~

How stupid.

That was her first thought when she found herself suddenly caught in an electrical net, electrocuting her whenever she moved. Not too long ago, she had woken up on a sandy beach with waves gently caressing her abdomen. She had felt weird at the time, not knowing what was going on or where she was. But the feeling left as soon as she was fully aware of the water. It soothed her nerves, her thoughts, and the twinges of knots hidden inside her belly. It called to her, gently beckoning her to join it.

She has never felt this way before. Sure, in the past she has enjoyed the cool waves of the ocean water, but never to this extent. She felt an echoing melody hum somewhere in her heart, responding to the ocean's, she noticed, song.

It was impossible to find out when exactly had she started singing. It just somehow felt natural. There were no words to describe how she felt, nor were there any words to form what she was singing. It was just a pacifying melody- no words, no strain, and no purpose.

It was only her, the ocean, and their song.

For five whole minutes, she was at peace. For five whole minutes, she was undisturbed by the world.

And after those five whole minutes, they finally attacked. Before she knew it, thick chains had enwrapped her in a tight embrace, refusing to let go. She let out a cry of surprise, but was soon transformed into a cry of agony when shock waves electrified through her whole being. Her eyes were tightly shut in pain while the voices around her swirled together incoherently.

"My, my, what a catch," a woman with long purple-red hair curling at the tip said. She stood next to two others, arms crossed and looking down at the captured Pokemon with a look of triumph.

"It's not Pikachu, but at least it's a Pokemon that is somewhat rare," the blue-haired male companion agreed.

"Just t'ink," the cat Pokemon between them said, "A rarely seen Pokemon in the Kanto region knocking on our doorstop."

James frowned and crouched down to stare at the strangely little Pokemon in wonder. It was whimpering softly as electric shudders wracked through its body. "Jesse," he called. "Aren't Lapras supposed to be bigger than this?"

Jesse made a "humph" sound. "Of course James, this Pokemon could be just a baby." A glint appeared in her eyes. "Which means that the parents must be close by, searching for their little one."

Meowth and James reacted to the news by a note of recognition from their mouths. They instantly started giggling, though. "Three for one?" Meowth rhetorically asked. "In a single day?" He grinned. "This day just keeps getting better and better!"

The trio laughed out loud.

"Hold it right there, Team Rocket!" They instantly stopped when they recognized the voice. Whipping around, they saw the heroes and an Arcanine with them.

"Great it's the twerps," Jesse muttered. However she did a double-take when she saw the large Pokemon glaring at her behind the children. She smirked. "Hello there Arcanine~!" she called out in a sing-song tone. "Why won't you and your buddy Pikachu come over here for a minute? We won't bite~!" Her voice had a type of coo-ing tone to it.

"Don't fall for it, Arcanine," Ash warned the Pokemon, looking at it. For a moment he was startled when its irises were a shade of amber-gold instead of the usual black in other Arcanines' eyes. Strange. He must've not paid much attention to notice.

The large wolf-dog didn't need to be told twice. His back was already arched and he was growling savagely at Team-Rocket. Said trio suddenly felt a little nervous.

No one noticed when a certain Lapras jolted awake unexpectedly, having not realized she got knocked unconscious. Mentally she groaned, feeling sore and not at all peaceful at the moment. Once again, she heard garbled voices, but sluggishly she realized that there were more voices than before.

After what seemed like a few minutes, she thought she imagined hearing a music resounding somewhere, along with voices going along with it. It was abruptly cut short by something that distinctly sounded like a roar. Screams and yelling erupted later on, causing her to wince as her eardrums pounded in her head.

The worst of it was the explosion. She was immediately sent into a dazed state but thankfully the loud noises stopped there. All she heard was the sounds of footsteps and whispered voices. She was dimly aware of the apparently dis-activated net as it slipped off of her strange-feeling body. She also heard rustling. As if someone was rifling through a backpack.

The next thing she knew, the fresh aroma of a fruit slipped through her nose. From the intensity of it, she deduced that it was right in front of her.

The sound of a male's voice broke through her bewildered mind, though still sounding distant. "Here, eat this," he had said.

She obeyed. Instantly, she felt energy course through her veins and her eyes blinked open in shock. She raised her head and stared at the sight before her. Four humans stood or were crouched in front of her, easy expressions on their faces. The shortest was a boy with big glasses that covered a large portion of his face. Next was a young girl with a red bandanna on her head, bent over with her hands on her legs while standing up. The second-tallest was a raven-haired teenaged boy with a red cap on his pretty wild hair. A strange yellow mouse-looking creature was perched on his shoulder, leaning in to look closer at her. The last human was a tall copper-skinned young adult (AN: How old is Brock?) who had a backpack open in front of him and was leaning his leg on the ground while the other stood upright. She figured he was the one who gave her the delicious fruit.

The last made her eyes widen in shock. A gigantic wolf-looking dog with orange and black fur, along with a tan mane, was staring back at her with a similar reaction to hers with his amber-gold eyes. Eyes that seemed disturbingly familiar.

The creature suddenly opened its mouth and a single word came tumbling out. No, it wasn't the fact that it could talk that caused her to start gaping and her wind-pipe to suddenly be blocked. It was the word, or rather the name that emerged from the canine-filled mouth that caused her to become frozen in shock. And the voice. It was all too familiar too be a joke.

"Rukia?"

Huh. At least 8-9 pages. Quite an improvement for me. I'll cut this note short, though. Don't forget to continue to R&R!

ShiraChan-Desu