My (Twisted) Pokémon Journey: PMD Different Futures

Chapter Eight - ✿ Rescue Mission ✿

It took a minute to figure out how to lift off, but once I did, I got to feel the blissful feeling that was having such powerful wings and the wind. Pika called a warning to me, and I slowed down -- I was flying too fast and he was having trouble to hang on. "Sorry!" I called back.

Flying over the vast sea was nerve-racking for sure, knowing about my tail and even just potentially drowning, but it was so perfect. I felt free, nothing could harm or bother me.

"Pearl, what's this about you knowing why you aren't human?" Pika's voice go stolen by the wind, I almost couldn't hear him.

"I don't know," I said, semi-truthfully. Would I have been so nervous and secretive in my past life? "Something in the journal's tipped me off that who I was wasn't exactly... normal. She never mentioned it, but had mentioned problems, worrying about if... some organization would find out. I'm not sure." We seemed to be halfway there, now. I'm so fast! I thought to myself. I never want to change back to a Charmander. I can just tell them I evolved.

"Do you know to change back, or to a different form, like Charmeleon?" I heard Pika shout.

"Not a clue," I called back. "I just felt some intense emotions before the pain came..." I felt Pika shift his grip on my neck, and he grabbed onto my bag. "Might want to grab onto my neck again, I don't think the bag will hold if you lose your grip."

I felt him change his grip again. "Do you think it has anything to do with the dizzy spells? The visions?"

I shook my head. "No. Though both seem to have physical consequences, but one I have very, very limited control over."

We flew in silence from then on. It wasn't that long, really. I still marveled at my strength, and the familiarity -- I must have been in this form before. And that memory of a power surge... I wanted to know more, but the writer of the journal was adamant about not letting someone know what she was. She -- or I -- was probably worried about losing the journal, or having it stolen by whoever she was fighting against... That is you, idiot, get it through your head, I reminded myself firmly.

     We landed at Lost Wilderness, and it did seem a bit... well, lost. It looked like a normal plain -- though I had been expecting a forest -- but had an underlying aura to it that I wasn't too sure about. It was like what we were seeing was an illusion, but one not able to see through.

"Alright," I began, trying to see as far as possible. "Guess we better start, huh? Hopefully this won't be anything crazy..." But why would Hex and Kip be stopped if this wasn't something serious? I wondered.

"I guess so," Pika answered as he began walking, and I fell into step beside him. I could tell he was thinking along similar lines. "Too bad we didn't come here with them, we could have used a rollcall orb and summoned them to us."

"How would that have helped?" I asked. "We could probably use one now if we had one."

Pika shook his head. "No, the team -- or Clan, in our case," he added as a half-joke, "would have to all touch the orb and say they're part of the same explorer team. We'd all have to say, 'I, Pika, am a part of Team PokéClan,' and then the orb would be registered in a sense to us for a while."

"Okay," I said slowly. "Those are quite odd mechanics."

"They're useful," Pika replied simply.

We scanned for orange and blue blobs in the distance as we explored on foot, but we didn't see many. I saw a Lucario a few times, and the first time I had had an urge to run to him and say I was glad to see him, if it was even male, but I could tell that I didn't know him. Especially when he looked our way and appraised us, to see if we were worth a battle, and if he'd win. Maybe he thought I was stronger than I was, due to my new Charizard form.