"-Ya sayin' that'll let us get our guys out, sir?" I ask the well-dressed man. He sorta reminds me of the boss, actually.

“Tomorrow, once I’ve finished the final adjustments, yes,” He curtly replies. “Hastings is a fool to waste its potential.”

“What does it even do?” Timothy asks, earning a glare ‘cause he forgot the man’s rules. “S- Sorry, sir. What does it do, Mr. Kincaid?”

“Nothing at the moment, currently it is no more than a broken resonant empathy device.” He sighs at the blank looks we give him, “The circle-things you see the Rangers wearing to let them quickly establish themselves with pokemon.”

“Uh, but you had us carry the whole crate of them in here? S- Sir!” Tim says, letting his curiosity make mistakes for him.

Mr. Kincaid seems to like it though, “Hmm, yes. As they are now the devices are limited by three factors, I intend to overcome two using these parts, and the third with something near unique. Now,” He says, turning sharply to look at us, “I will be bringing one of my students in to aid me, I expect you to be silent and supply any labor asked of you, understood?”

▲▲▲

▼▼▼

Espeon was- Well, I knew how he was feeling, obviously, but learning why was something else. I cried both times my dogs died, growing up, and the thought of using them to escape something just…

And Espeon is a person. No, it’s worse than that, he’s a child. Sure, I’ve been around annoying children before, but you don’t throw them away because they- they disgust you. That… it… I noticed the different ways people were acting toward me, but it’s not just me, is it? I’ve heard a lot of people around here complain about tourists, but I don’t think I’ve heard them say that about the local humans.

And then there's the praise for the Rangers. Which… might be warranted? They seem to care about us-

Us. The pokemon.

…

Nope, still not freaking out about that, huh? I don't know if I should be glad for that or not. …I was thinking about something else a moment ago; Espeon. I think he's had a worse time than I have, genuinely. I got a nice, easy few days of panic and stress, and I'm pretty sure he was effectively emotionally tortured for months. It's easy to see why he'd have such an iron grip over his emotions if that's what he's feeling half the time.

Oh, and I’m at my destination.

“Is this a bad time?” I ask the colony, watching as they treat two roselia, a roserade, and a torterra to what looks like a rather… thorough cleaning or grooming treatment.

“Prime-Daughter-Two greets {non-hostile, potential ally} Apprentice-Of-Order-Bringer,” A singular voice answers, surprising me as the vespiquen buzzes closer. “Individual’s concern unfounded, {I, We} are not in combat.” She regards me for a moment, “Information requested, {reason, purpose} for individual’s approach.”

“Boredom, curiosity, trying to escape my own thoughts,” I freely admit to her… them… whatever the right word is.

“Individual’s reasoning is {odd, eccentric, strange}, yet {sufficient, tolerable, lacking, acceptable},” Prime-Daughter-Two buzzes, then seems to glare at the rest of her hive for a moment. It’s a bit hard to tell when she has compound eyes. “Individual cannot {consume, exhaust, occupy} {my} {attention, focus, will} at the {existing, present} time. {My} {regrets, apologies, contrition},” She, and I’m pretty sure it was only her, says, buzzing back to start working with the rest of her hive.

Well… shit. I need to find something else to do then.

Except Marshal's not at her lake, Leaf isn't at the one spot I know he frequents, and it's not like I can go bother Weaver during the work day.

…I think.

But that still leaves me with the increasing problem of having nothing to do.

Practice? I spent most of the night doing that. Marshal's ‘remain present’ thing? I also spent most of the night doing that. Although, there's nothing truly stopping me from doing it at any time. Eh, I don't think I need to right now, honestly. Fixing my house?

Hmm, That’s not a bad idea. But I don’t have the materials or tools to do it, although I don’t know if I’d need any tools… But I haven’t seen the city during the day yet either. So, why not? It’s something to do.

***

I guess most people here are used to pokemon doing random things around the city. Not that I’ve been all that visible, but I’d expected a bigger reaction to seeing a pair of floating eyes than just shrugging it off. I can’t tell if it’s a nice thing or not, though a few seemed to panic for a moment.

I don’t need to, but I wait for the tram to finish crossing before continuing down the street I’m on.

I’m now officially certain that there isn’t a limit to how much I can eat, which makes me start wondering how I eat again. Yeah, it’s definitely a weird pokemon thing, and I know it’s probably fine at this point, but it’s still just that, weird.

And I'm starting to feel a bit like a creep, remaining mostly invisible while I float around, sometimes following a street, sometimes a tram, and once or twice one of the locals. The local pokemon, that is. However, I am starting to think most people's reactions to seeing me would just be shock before they brush it off as normal.

The pokemon are clearly more aware of me than the humans, but they've just glanced my way before returning to whatever they were doing. It’s more of a general attitude I’ve noticed, but a lot of pokemon seem to have a ‘live and let live’ outlook. It’s interesting.

I pass a delicious-smelling bakery and have to hold back a sigh. God I wish I could buy something from there, I can see donuts.

I also think small businesses are more the norm here. I don't think I've seen a single superstore while floating around, but I have seen a lot of smaller shops, several restaurants, some cafes, a few offices, a hospital with an attached park, and what I think was a high school. There were kids looking like they'd just left, and I wasn't expecting to see fucking pokemon cards, though I guess it makes a sort of sense. If you squint at it.

And the number of people I’ve seen riding pokemon was certainly something, mostly rapidash, doduo, or dodrio. Some people are obviously doing it just so they don't have to walk, though others were moving much faster—including a man riding a giraffe-looking pokemon that, try as I might, I can't remember the name of. There was even a woman napping on the back of a torterra as he lumbered to wherever their destination was.

I start drifting into a park, slowing as I watch a giant, mustached cricket play his scythes like a violin, there's a sign with a card stuck to it in front of him and an honest-to-god top hat sitting to the side where some people are placing money.

I'd wondered about how Weaver had an ID, was it something her being Onaga’s partner got her? And how does the whole thing work? I'm still a bit curious about that as I float around. It might have taken me a while to notice, but some of the pokemon are wearing belts or pouches like she was, so I'm thinking that it's not common but some pokemon do need to carry stuff like that.

I've also seen more examples of what Weaver did, a pokemon walking into someplace, pulling out a card, or making a gesture for the person there to pull it out for them, and going about their day, grabbing groceries or food and the like.

And yeah, pokemon can evidently hold jobs here, I'm pretty sure the local postal service is mostly flying pokemon since I've seen quite a few wearing large pouches and carrying small items. There’s also the greenhouse-looking shop I’m currently passing, with a positively massive dinosaur tending to a customer. …Meganium? Yeah, that's the name, I'm glad I can remember that one, it had been my starter for Gold.

Moving through this place in the day is an odd mix of mundane city life and fantasy wonderland. I- Hmm, I wonder if I can find a job here? It would fix a lot of my current issues with money and having nothing to do all day.

“I’ll be with you in a moment,” A deep voice says, its bassy rumble causing me to look up and realize I’d floated into the shop as Meganium goes back to dealing with his customer, leaving me to look around in mild alarm.

Calm down, you’re just wandering around, it’s perfectly normal.

The greenhouse is tall on the inside, with close to a twenty-foot ceiling. I'd noticed how close the place was to a small park, but now that I'm genuinely seeing how much sun the place is soaking up, it's bright in here, and warm. Seedlings and saplings are arranged neatly in rows that look too small for the large dinosaur to move between, and on the back wall are shelves lined with bags of soil, clay pots, various small tools, gloves, and what are plainly seed packets.

“Thank you,” Both Meganium and the man at the counter say at the same time, though one doesn’t know and the other simply smiles, using a vine to scrawl something on a dry-erase board. “And thank you for waiting,” The massive, mobile plant says, turning his neck to face me. “Wandering, or looking for a gift?”

The human startles slightly when he sees my eyes but seems to recover quickly and moves on, carrying a small plant and a pot out the door. I watch him go a moment longer before sighing and moving the rest of my body over to the real world, "Wandering around, getting a little too lost in thought."

“Mmm, did you come here with any of the tourists? Or perhaps you’re from the forest?” Meganium asks, seeming to leave his customer-service mode.

“I… guess I’m technically from the forest, yeah,” I say, and the dinosaur chuckles.

“Technically, you say?” He continues chuckling, several of the shelves behind him beginning to wobble slightly. “Hmm, I’d like to ask, but I’m more interested in whether The Marshal sent you or not.”

That’s not the first time I’ve heard her referred to as ‘The Marshal’ rather than just Marshal, but I push it aside for now, I can ask her later. “No, but I take it she’s sent people before?” I ask him.

“Oh yes, though not in the last two years,” He informs me, snaking a vine up to a valve on the wall. “I still find myself asking though, I’m certain there will be someone coming through for her again at some point. Ah, you don’t mind the wet, do you?”

I shake my head, “I’ve found myself liking it, recently.”

“Good, I hope you won’t mind this, then,” He says, bringing the sprinklers mounted to the ceiling to life. “I sometimes find it hard to do this with some of the humans that enter,” He admits conspiratorially. “Can you believe that? Even most of the fire-types that come through don't mind it but get a human wet and it seems to ruin their day," He says, giving a booming laugh at the end.

“Yeah, I'm well aware of how they can act,” I say, drifting closer to the rows of plants.

“Mmm, you know,” Meganium says, inspecting me, “I think I’ve heard some humans talking about a ghost-type that appeared recently. That wouldn’t happen to be you now, would it?”

“Probably,” I admit. “I haven’t seen or heard of another one, at least.”

“Hmm,” He rumbles again, “So, technically from the forest, then. I think I understand now. Would you mind if I pried a little?” He asks, turning his head nearly upside down.

“Eh…” I say, buying myself a bit of time to think. “I think it mostly depends on what you ask about,” I tell him after a moment.

“Best not then,” He nods to himself. “I suppose you can’t be a paying customer if you’re from the forest, either,” He muses, eyes turning up in thought. He then blinks, both his expression and the room lighting up, “Well, a good conversation is nice enough, though might I ask, can you deliver two things for me?”

It's my turn to blink, "That depends on what they are?" I half say half ask.

“A sapling and a message, though I would appreciate you returning with her answer,” The room-sized pokemon informs me.

Her answer, huh? Does he want me to help with a love letter- Wait, he can’t mean… “Are you asking me to take these to Marshal?” I ask him.

He cocks his head when I say ‘Marshal,’ but begins nodding, head still at an angle, “Yes! I’d love to see what she’s grown with the seeds and saplings she requested.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“I suppose I can, but…” I say, looking around the greenhouse, “Are you sure you can just give plants away like that?”

“It is my business, and I will do as I please with it,” Meganium shrugs. Actually shrugs, a rolling movement on his front legs.

He… Does he own the place? I'd thought- But that implies- Now I'm even more confused about how some people have acted toward me if a pokemon can not only have a job but own a building and the business inside. Wait a minute, how much would a pokemon even need to spend on things like food, insurance, education, taxes, or rent?

Jesus Christ, I live rent-free in a cabin out in the woods and hardly need to think about eating anymore. Hell, I don't even know if I can be hurt, and I’m already qualified for several trades. Am- Am I in a good place right now?

Oh. I… honestly am, aren't I? Holy shit, I have options. Even if one of them is simply to vanish into the woods. My list of questions for Weaver just expanded, a lot.

“Mmm, are you okay,” The deep voice, very close, breaks my train of thought. “Oh, that does seem to have done it.”

“Right, yeah. Sorry about that, I was lost in thought,” I tell the face about three inches from mine. “You were asking me to deliver some things to Marshal?”

Meganium leans his neck back, “I was, yes. An aspear sapling, here,” He says lifting one of the larger trees with two vines and setting it next to me. “Oh, that might be a problem. You accepted though, so I assume you can lift this?” He asks, flicking a vine at the cloth-wrapped soil under the plant.

“Easily,” I nod, creating a zone around the soil, and slowly lifting it. Not that it's heavy, I'm pretty sure I can lift nearly six times the weight I could when I was human without straining myself. “And you said a message?” I ask.

“Yes, I’d like to know if she’s open to allowing me into her territory. I assume that’s where she planted them.”

“It is,” I confirm, causing Meganium to blink at me.

“You’ve seen them?” He asks.

“Yeah, there’s even some signs from the rangers warning people to stay away,” I inform him.

“Yes, I imagine they wouldn’t want any issues with that,” He chuckles. “But yes, if you could return with her answer, in the next few days that would be lovely!” He beams, turning the sprinklers off.

“Sure,” I shrug, “Can I find you here during the day?”

“Anytime the sun is up, on most days,” He nods.

“Well…” I trail off. “I guess I’ll go do that now, then.”

“Mmm, Thank you for doing so,” The dinosaur rumbles.

“It’s not out of my way, really,” I say, floating the plant to the door before frowning at it.

I can kind of handle two things at once now, but I still move the plant closer to the ground, just in case. I carefully push the door with one zone, making sure to maintain the other, and then move the plant outside.

“You have a nice day, now!” Meganium calls, as I phase through the door once I release my hold on it.

How did I get into this situation? Not that it’s a bad one, but… it feels so oddly surreal, yet strangely normal. A plant-based dinosaur that owns a greenhouse just asked me to take a few things to my giant fish-otter neighbor, and I agreed because I can fly there pretty fast and carry the tree the whole way with my psychic powers.

It's like a fever dream, but I'm awake and feeling the best I have in years. I glance around and then decide to rise above walking height. It's not like the looks I'm receiving can get much more confused, after all.

***

Marshal still wasn't at her lake, but Leaf was waiting for me at my house when I looped back to wait.

“It’s very healthy,” He proclaims from where I set the sapling at the edge of my clearing. "You said a 'meganium' wanted you to give this to Marshal?"

“Yeah. I can’t tell if he was just being friendly or if he thinks it’ll make her more likely to say yes,” I supply.

“Hard to say,” Leaf nods. “Was he a grass-type?”

Was he a- “Have you not seen one before?” I ask the curious-looking fern.

“I don’t think they normally live around here,” Leaf says with a flick of his tail.

“Oh. Well yeah, he was a grass-type. Also about as tall as that tree,” I say, pointing at one of the smaller brown, leafy things.

“Um,” Leaf cocks his head, in thought, “Wow? I might need to keep an eye out for him if Marshal invites him to her garden.”

“I think he’ll be hard to miss, honestly,” I chuckle. “Especially with ears like yours.”

“If you say so,” Leaf flicks his tail again, strutting into my clearing. “Would you mind if I started growing things here? Sorry, it’s just that it’s a bit…” Leaf seems to struggle to find the right word, “Lifeless?” He settles on.

“I actually had a question about that,” I say, floating up next to him. “How long has it been like this?”

“You mean, nothing growing here?” He asks, and I nod. “Um, three years, I think? I was an eevee at the time…” He says, brow furrowing. “Yeah, it was three years ago,” He confirms after a moment. “Why? Did you learn what caused it?”

I shake my head, “No, but it occurred to me that there were vines growing inside when I appeared.”

“Well, it being weird makes sense, if you live there,” Leaf’s tail gives a flick. He pauses, “…You don’t have anything to do with it, right?”

“Not that I know of,” I chuckle. “I only got here a little over two weeks ago. And you can go ahead if you want,” I say, prompting the anxiety that seems to surround Leaf to abate for a moment, replaced with joy and… something else, but it’s hard to make out.

“Okay, let’s…” Leaf trails off, starting at how much clearing there is. I don’t think he’d thought of just how much space it was. “This might take a few days,” He murmurs.

“You don’t need to do it,” I remind him, drifting closer to my house in a breeze.

“I want to,” He assures me, “I just realized it would take a while. You won’t mind me using the space to synthesize when I rest, will you?”

I glance at the setting sun, “Probably not,” I say, shrugging. “I might be practicing later, though.”

Leaf simply flicks his tail again and starts glowing brighter, growing vines and… are those roots? Weird. His skin is looking a bit woodier, too. I’ve been calling him a fern, but now I think he might be closer to a bush or maybe even a tree.

The ground around him is starting to churn as well… You know, I don't think I've seen a grass-type planting anything new yet, and this is a lot more than he did before to take care of some trees. A few shoots and sprouts seem to grow in fast-forward near the still form of Leaf, then the wolf-plant-fox-whatever takes a shaky step, tearing the roots connecting his paws to the ground before flopping onto his side.

“That was a bit more than I was expecting,” He huffs out, breathing slowly. “I’m going to take that first rest now.”

“Are you… okay?” I ask him drifting closer. Wow, I can taste his exhaustion.

“Yeah. Yeah, I just didn’t think whole new growth would be so tiring,” He says, closing his eyes. “I can do it better next time though, I wasted a lot of energy there.” More roots grow out of his paws again, and he grunts, “Ooh, That’s better.”

Well, he looks like he’s about to take a nap, so, “I guess I’ll go look for Marshal?” I say, getting a sigh in response. Definitely about to take a nap.

I float up and away, heading for Marshal's lake as I fade from reality. My vision here only extends so far, but I don't even need to be close to Marshal to see the ludicrous amount of color she bleeds into the surroundings, so it balances out.

I’m not even halfway to the lake and I can already tell she still isn’t there, so I adjust course to head for the river. Let’s try… this way.

It’s only a few minutes later when I find Marshal, she was swimming back to her lake as I moved up the river. Although ‘swimming’ might be a strong word, it’s more like lazily being carried downriver on her back as she slowly spins.

“Slow day?” I ask, appearing out of thin air.

She laughs, rolling her eyes before giving me a bright look, “A normal one,” She decides after a moment. “No humans interrupting it, no fights, no need ta pull anyone out of the water,” She lays herself back into the river, “Unless ya have something bad to say, it’ll have a nice end, too.”

“I think I have something good, actually,” I say, prompting Marshal to perk before flipping over.

“Oh? What is it, then?”

“I, uh, was given an aspear tree to deliver to you,” I say, choosing the simple approach.

Marshal blinks twice before a smile spreads on her face, “Now that is a nice thing,” She says, starting to move faster down the river. “Is it already in my garden?”

“No, but I can get it there pretty fast.”

“Well, I’ll meet ya there then,” She says cheerily. Then there’s a plume of water and she’s gone.

Guess I should go get the tree, then. Zipping over takes hardly any time at all now that I’m not watching everything, and I find Leaf in a slightly different spot.

“You still sleeping?” I ask, lifting the small berry tree. Leaf’s only response is a slight twitch of one ear.

He said he doesn’t need to sleep if he gets enough sunlight, but I think growing things like that really took it out of him. Especially since there are more new plants around. I’ll let him rest, then. I need to get this other plant to Marshal.

***

"So, what's so special about this one?" I ask Marshal as she looks for a good spot to plant her newest fruit tree.

"I don't know yet," She easily admits, seeming to zero in on a spot. "Haven't had one before."

“Before you start digging,” I say, and Marshal looks up from where she was about to drive an arm into the ground. “I was requested to ask if you would be okay with Meganium seeing your garden. He’s the one who gave you the aspear, as well as several others according to him.”

Marshal frowns then taps her chin, seemingly thinking about it before recognition flashes on her face, “Oh! Him, yeah. He’s more than welcome, half my berries wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t gifted them to my searchers.”

I'm a bit curious about what happened there, but I can ask later. Later… Oh yeah, that. "Okay, I'll let him know. And, um, can I ask about my cabin?"

“Sure, what about it?” Marshal replies, scooping a large amount of earth out of the ground.

“So, a thought crossed my mind about how you said you’ve seen several ghosts,” I preface as Marshal starts digging off to the side for more dirt. “And… were they all around the cabin?”

Marshal hums as she starts mixing the dirt up, loosening the soil, and pulling rocks out, "Hmm, I think they were, now you say it." She looks at me, "What made ya think that in the first place?"

“It’s… a feeling I got about it,” I shrug, it’s even the truth.

“A feelin’ huh?” The giant otter chuckles, waving some water into existence to float next to her pile of dirt. “I suppose that makes sense if you all show up there. Mind bringing the tree around?”

I dutifully float the thing over, and Marshal passes a claw down the burlap-looking cloth without any noticeable resistance. Once she takes the cloth off, she grabs the base of the small tree herself and starts tapping the root ball to loosen it.

“So, how’s the practice going?” She asks, inspecting the roots.

“Well enough, I guess.”

“Mm-Hmm, ya ready for something more real yet?” She casually asks, shoveling some loose dirt into the hole.

I should have figured, and if I’m being honest… “Maybe,” I admit, earning a glance from her. “I don’t think I’m ready for another spar.”

"Naw, you're not," Marshal agrees, finishing the planting process in silence before soaking the ground. She inspects her garden, head tilting back and forth in thought, "Think ya can hit a moving target, though? Don't think I missed that light show you were putting on last night."

“It might take me a bit at first,” I tell her, shrugging as I start putting myself in the aware mindset she taught me. “But I don’t mind trying at the moment.” A now familiar sensation tugs at me, urging me to try something again, and I frown, “Actually, is there something else I should be doing when I focus on my surroundings?”

“Why d’you ask?” Marshal turns to me, cocking her head.

“Sometimes, when I do the awareness thing you taught me, I get this feeling like I should be doing something else with it…” I trail off. It’s not the best explanation of what it feels like, but it’s what I can come up with.

Marshal stares at me, slowly blinking before rolling her eyes and sighing, “And have ya tried doing anything with that feeling?” She sounds slightly exasperated.

I… guess that is the obvious thing to do. Sighing to myself, I start trying to feel what I should do. It’s always a little frustrating to sort through what my instincts want from me, they’re vague most of the time, a feeling that I could do something or that I might want something. This one is more of the former, the feeling that if I could just figure it out I could do… something.

The feeling vanishes, making me frown again. “I don’t know what it wants from me,” I tell Marshal, the massive pokemon now crouched to look at me.

“Hmm, well I think part of the problem is that you stopped bein’ aware,” She says, still giving me an odd look.

I did? Oh, yeah I did. Okay, I need to focus on everything around me again and feel it all out.

Marshal seems to decide this will take a bit, as she sits down to wait.

The world is cast in bright orange and deep green, the sun well into setting. There’s barely any wind at the moment, the sounds of insects and pokemon calls filling the air instead.

Maybe it won’t happen- Oh, there it is again. Now, stay calm and focused, just… let it flow? I’m fairly sure it needs power of some kind, and it needs to go into me.

Beside me, Marshal rests her elbows on her knees and then her head in one hand.

I don’t so much push psychic-stuff through myself as simply open the gate. And it's an incredibly weird feeling everything somehow becomes sharper, better defined. At the same time, I feel the power start to move through me, stable and oddly serene.

“I think I did it,” I say.

Marshal lifts her head off her hand, “Yeah?”

“Yeah, it’s interesting,” I decide, watching the movements of individual leaves. “I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s like… everything’s more in-focus, easier to keep track of." I turn my eyes to Marshal, "I have no idea what this is."

Marshal taps her chin, “I think I’ve heard some folk talk about something like that.” She shrugs after some more thought, “Don’t really know what it is either, but I doubt it’s a bad thing. But if ya saying you can track things better…”

I sigh, this was guaranteed to happen when I came here. I'm starting to wonder if she's developing some sort of empty-nest syndrome before Buizel's even left, but that doesn't fit. After all, She's been oddly supportive since she first saw me.

“Yeah, let’s see how well I do,” I say, drifting away from the garden.

“Mmm, out over the lake,” Marshal nods, standing. I follow, ready to see what she had in mind.

Target practice, which is simple enough, just hit the thing while it's moving.

My first psychic wave ends up blasting apart the first water ball a bit harder than I’d meant to, though.

▲▲▲

▼▼▼

“Okay, Yu said the boss gave us the go-ahead,” I inform Hiro, checking our supplies. “You have that koffing on you?”

“Yes,” Hiro blandly replies. “I haven’t suddenly lost its ball in the last half-hour.”

“Just checkin’” I raise my hands. “Now let’s see, bag for catches?” Hiro holds up the cinching travel bag, “Check. Bag of balls?” It’s in my own hand, “Check. Wish list?”

“Tower’s grace, can we get moving already?” Hiro asks, shaking his head.

“Hey, we had a list of priorities,” I shrug. “Like I said, I’m just making sure.” Hiro sighs, but we both start patting our pockets, “Ah ha! Here it is,” I say, pulling out the crumpled paper. “Yeah, that’s everything then, let’s go.”