-2-

I wake up cold and shivering. My back aches something fierce; I'd fallen asleep on the roof of all places.

The first rays of dawn break over the eastern horizon. The sky shifts from indigo to a strange shade of lilac; somewhere between venomoth wings and gorebyss scales. The slow clucking of a pidgey comes from somewhere nearby, followed soon by the distant cry of a taillow.

Slowly and carefully, I make my way down the roof. The tiles are much more slippery now with the onset of dew, and it wouldn't do to slip right now. I breathe in a lungful of cool morning air and swing my legs over the edge.

My fingers tremble as I climb down the pipe. My foot stretches out and touches the precarious edge of the window-sill.

"A bit too early for burglary, isn't it?"

My foot slips.

A muted curse slips through my tongue. I swiftly wrap my feet around the thick pipe; my pipe and pole climbing skills must be at least as good as that of a professional stripper, seeing as I haven't fallen and broken my neck. A desperate swing of my right arm allows me to catch the potruding ledge beneath the window.

Keeping myself steady, I look down.

Standing a bit away on the ground, the Maple daughter waves at me.

"It's not burglary if I live here," I tersely reply. My arms are feeling rather strained by now. Unconfident in my chances of safely pulling myself back inside, I slowly slide the rest of the short way down.

She's in a track suit, I notice. The torchic she picked up yesterday sleepily trots around her feet.

"Were you up to see the sunrise?" she asks with a hint of skepticism.

"Something like that," I agreed, unwilling to reveal my habit of sleeping in strange places. "What about you?

She sniffs. "The sunrise here in Hoenn pales in comparision. It was much better back in Johto." Then she looks at me as though expecting me to contradict her words.

"If you say so," I shrug.

I've got no ground to argue her point, my sense of national pride not withcounting. I've never been to Johto. Never been anywhere past Mauville, in fact.

May says something else, but at this point, I'm tired enough to tune everything out as white noise. She jogs away after a minute of one-sided conversation.

I disable and reset our alarm system while being half asleep, wipe the reset notification through the home network, and climb into my cold, pristine bed. I close my eyes and try to remember the vivid dream I'd been having.

.

.

.

Great trees rising up to the sky. The baying of hounds and the soundless steps of stalking predators. The scurrying of prey. Murky, diseased water all around, but not a single drop to drink. In the midst of it all, I prowl ahead.

-x-

In what seems to be no time at all, my mother comes to wake me up. The sun glares through the gaps in my curtain; a quick glance at my nightstand reveals the time to be ten in the morning.

I'm late. I usually head to the lab at half past eight, or even earlier.

Since I'm already delayed, I take a hot shower and much to the delight of my mother, a full breakfast at the table. I shovel through the scrambled torchic eggs with relish.

When I get to the lab, I see them opening the tank of shame.

Mudkip looks tired. I watch from a distance as one of the newer aides picks him up and observes the bruises on his shoulders. The next moment, the new guy from Verdanturf is slapped in the face hard enough to snap his glasses.

Mudkip lands on his feet. Immediately, his eyes rove over the room and settle on me. Then he charges.

I take a large step to the left at the last moment, and mudkip's large tail-fin slaps heavily against the floor tiles. He's grown weaker, I note. I take my chances.

The creature is small, but I'm larger. With the right leverage he can be subdued.

My palm snaps against the back of his small head and pins it to the ground. Another palm presses heavily on his back; I pin him completely with my weight. The tail moves to and fro, but it can't hit anything. Bubbles and water froth out of his mouth as he jerks, splashing off the ground and spraying on my coat. I press carefully, not letting him slip out.

For a moment, those beady eyes meet my own. Pokemon are sapient creatures; that one moment, I'm reminded of that insignificant fact more than any other. The sheer feeling of rage and creeping hopelessness this mudkip felt at being captured and subdued, I can see it in his eyes.

Somebody eventually mustered up enough of their nerves to properly aim the recall light. With nothing to hold down, my hands splash noisily into the layer of water covering the floor.

"It needs more time," my father mutters with a frown. He's right, of course. Another round of the conditioning program will probably break him in, making him docile enough to follow every whim and order of a snot nosed child.

"I'll take him."

Several pairs of eyes turn towards me. It takes a second for me to realise that I was the one who had spoken.

Rubbing my hands on the knee of my jeans, I stand up from my crouched position.

"Brendan, you want this mudkip?" Dad asks, surprised. The aide who had gotten slapped earlier looks at me as though I were raving mad. His cheek seems to be purpling quite rapidly.

"You can wait a week for the conditioning to set in, I suppose."

"No," I shake my head. "I want him as he is."

"You sure you can handle it?" He palms the red and white ball, and then guffaws. "You do have a knack for wrangling water-types though, I must admit."

Some of the others laugh. I've indeed wrangled a few water-pokemon bare handed in my time at the lab. Mostly dad's huntail and some octillery who'd escaped from the genetic development team.

"I'm sure," I speak with more confidence than I feel.

Professor Birch stares at me for a moment and then shrugs. I easily catch the ball he lobs at me. "It's on your head now, son. Don't come crying to papa later."

I tune him out and walk towards my station, eager to finish whatever work I had left fast. The pokeball sits heavily in my right pocket while I glance through the reports of a ralts sighting in route one-oh-two.

-x-

It's some time after noon when I take a break. I have a plastic-wrapped sandwich and a handful of berries.

My feet takes me to the outskirts of town, where the tops of trees peek over high walls. Barbed wire runs across the tops. There's a ranger outpost not even fifteen minutes away, and another an hour away. Littleroot is at the very edge of civilization. The forests beyond it are still unclaimed territory where expansion is taking place.

I take out the pokeball from my pocket. It's cool and metallic to the touch.

The click of the button heralds a flash of photons. Mudkip blinks in disorientation, trying to regain his bearings.

Then he sees me.

The creature goes alert and hostile, but he doesn't attack once he notes the pokeball in my hand. He knows the power the red and white sphere holds over him. He knows I've subdued him once, and am capable of doing so again.

I stare into his wary eyes and place several types of berries on the ground before him.

Mudkip stares at the berries, and then bats them away furiously.

He's hungry, I can tell. His eyes are stray towards the pink flesh of the fallen pecha, but the next moment, he shakes himself and growls lowly. His eyes are fixated on the ball.

I slowly reach out to touch him, to pet the slimy blue surface of his head.

The water gun that slams into my shoulder knocks me off my feet. I instinctively press the recall button just as Mudkip lunges for my throat. The red light hits him before he reaches me.

I lay there on the ground beside the great grey walls, breathing heavily. My hands feel cold and clammy, while the pokeball is warm from the recent recall. I grasp it tighter and hold it up against the waning yellow sunlight.

"What do you want?" I whisper.

There's no answer.

I feel stupid immediately. Of course I know what he wants.

Freedom.

-x-

Entry 001: Mudkip

Mudkip are hardy amphibians, highly capable of surviving on both land and water. Their immune systems are surprisingly resistant to toxins and disease, and as such, a mudkip survives in the murkiest of waters.

The great mangrove forests and swamps around Fortree are their ideal habitat, though they're little seen on this side of the wall. Mudkip prey on unsuspecting surskit or barboach, and mate once a year. A steady diet is enough for it to undergo evolution to marshtomp in the span of a few years; but it is still unknown as to what factor fuels the transition to its elusive final form - the swampert.