Erin

  —

  I was so glad to be able to sit down and walk without pain anymore. Well, without bad pain. I was more excited to actually get moving again.

  My little journey through Kanto hasn't exactly gone how I imagined it. I mean, I imagined I would be charging between cities in a Ride Basket or something, stomping Gym Leaders, scaring off trainers, and just casually dominating the Conference… While hopefully being a good person along the way… Hopefully…

  Instead I get monkeys-pawed into being a good person… If I'm honest, I think Rotom is right, and I certainly hope they are… I don't want to be the kind of person I had been, and if I was being completely honest with myself? Maybe it's not a bad thing it was forced onto me... I had been doing good, but then I relapsed once… I don't want to fail myself or my family again, but that seemed kind of inevita-

  ""No! Bad Erin!"" 'Okay, okay… I'll try not to… be that way.'

  Still, me and my issues aside, I really expected this to be a solo Journey, or at the very least, just Leaf. Not that I have any problems with Alex. The opposite, in fact. She's great! My own satisfaction at being able to help aside, it's been really nice watching someone come out of their shell in real time. It makes me feel good to help her be herself, to be happy, to be free from the shitty parts of her family, to make her own decisions.

  Like helping her by dressing her up! She had horrible taste in colors, and that was coming from me!

  "There she goes again, just… silent as she thinks deep thoughts. That, or new, inventive, horrible ways to hunt down poor, innocent Pokemon… or Team Rocket, but go ahead with that last one?" I glared at Alex.

  Lightly, amusedly, but it was still a glare. I liked her, cared about her, sure, but she was still a thirteen year old brat. Just because I was now fourteen didn't mean I was… immature… Or acting like a kid… Such as moodily brooding for a over a week and making everyone worry, then dumping all my shit ou-

  ""I call you Lance! You dumb as him!"" 'Okay, that is too far, young lady! That was just mean!'

  ""Truth is truth!"" 'Hecate, I could go get a dictionary, or Rotom! If I was as dumb as Lance, I'd never have survived the Lowlands!'

  ""You smarter then! Got young and dumb!"" 'Okay, that one kind of hurt… because you're not wrong…'

  "Am I going to have to get a Psychic Pokemon or something? Even without Hope, Leaf still talks to Stabby, and you just space out with a dumb grin and talk to Hecate." Alex almost looked serious, and I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out.

  I actually stopped for a moment to collect myself. It hadn't been that funny, but funny enough, and I could use a distraction.

  From the midday sun!

  Summer was still hanging on, and it suuucked! Route 6 was relatively short, here and in the games, but two days of walking isn't exactly short. The wilds off-Route were mainly woods and meadows, with small ponds dotting the countryside. Well, where we could see them. There were a lot of trees… I know Kanto had looked more like grasslands at one point, but I guess this world didn't give a shit. Trees everywhere… Actually, was that just the redesign? I was basing that assumption on my vague memories of old maps…

  "Maybe? If I were you I'd stay away from Drowzee and Hypno, though, even if they should be in this general area… Not that my information is very accurate here in reality, of course! They always creeped me out, not going to lie, and apparently they creep people out here, too."

  A Pokemon who puts you to sleep and eats your dreams? One that may steal you away? One that preferred children and their more innocent, better tasting dreams? I mean, the ones I encountered in those tunnels kind of had good reason to be happy to see me, and I had plenty of compassion for them, but wild ones? I'd rather not encounter them…

  Alex's face went green, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was firmly of the mind that no species was a monolith, absolutely, and they were even utilized in medicine to examine minds, but… I would rather deal with literal demons than a wild Hypno… Very much literally! Maybe not that thing, either of them, but a random bad fae? Absolutely! Hypno's were just so creepy! I felt bad about it, I really did, but… Skwovet made me mad on an instinctive level, Drowzee… were kind of ugly-cute, a little? Hypno, though? And them both eating dreams?

  "No thanks! Yeah, they have a reputation!" Alex actually shuddered.

  'Hunger. Hunt.' 'I'll see if you can run down to the plains from here, okay?'

  "Rotom, could you see if there's a decent path to the plains from here? Mom is hungry."

  It was kind of confusing, the different types of speech I got to hear from Pokemon. Stabby and other fae just had so much packed into each word that you required the meanings unless they were being very deliberate… or unless you were Leaf. They could talk through aura, obviously, but they very much preferred not to. Hecate? That was just talking, even if her vocabulary and sentence structure were still developing. Regular Pokemon? I could have a full-blown conversation, sure, but it was still a good bit of guesswork and interpretation. I mean, technically mom could have meant that she wasn't hungry, and didn't want to hunt, but obviously that was dumb. Sometimes it was that clear, sometimes… not so clear.

  Cerberus was fucking insane now, and not in a fun way. He could barely talk to me anymore, to anyone, but… I really hope his Zweilous phase is short… I get the feeling he's not going to be non-insane for months, though… Unless I pushed him, and I won't do that! I want my non-insane Cerberus back, sure, but not if it hurts him.

  Rotom flew out of my jacket and hovered in front of me, frowning.

  "There is a decent path there, but… honestly, should Leto leave for that long right now? You have a bounty on you, and through you, so do we… Well, they do? I don't know if I'm included, it said friends and family, but I'm more like a groupie. Not because you're awesome, but because it's so much fun to watch you mess up. And record it." I glared at them, but they had a point…

  'Hunger. Hunt. Now!' 'Arceus, mom! Fine!'

  "Apparently she wants to go now… You're right, though… Oh, fu- fine! Mom can… carry us there… We can spend a day there and just hunt. I bought some larger refrigerated Storage Balls in Cerulean, so we can stock up, because yeah… There's not a lot of large Pokemon in central Kanto. Mountains have Snorlax, even if they're not super common and we can't hunt many, but I think the biggest thing around here would be a Raticate, or a Nidoking, and even then, not a lot of them. They aren't that big, either…" Alex's face went pale, but I smiled at the wide grin of anticipation on Leafs face as she began to store the incubator in her pack.

  I had been very surprised to find that she had surfed Leto while I was in a coma, considering her screams… She was used to it by now, and handled it just as well as me… Not poor Alex, though.

  Not yet.

  "Wait… doesn't she sprint there with Rock Polish?!" Her face! Alex, you poor, poor girl…

  My grin was so wide it hurt.

  "Absolutely!"

  —

  Even with our familiarity with Leto, the six hour ride was horrible. Alex was just… constantly green. We had stopped to let her hurl three times, but now she was empty. Still, even the brief glimpses of changing landscapes I caught over the edge of the basket were fascinating. I could tell when we got close to the plains, too, because moms stomach started growling! I stuck my head out a little and yelled.

  "Put us down before you hunt, please!" She chuckled at me, then dug her heels in and went faster! Only for a literal instant, but she had done that on purpose, and it knocked my skull against the back of the basket!

  'That was mean, mom!' 'Strength. Lack.' 'You lack common sense!'

  Maybe I did, too! I should have just done that with aura…

  Another twenty minutes of sprinting and she began to slow down. We all poked out heads above the rim, even a very unsteady Alex, and grew confused.

  We were in the middle of the plains, but there was a building here. Not a Ranger Outpost, those were relatively uniform and easily identifiable. It was rough, actually, a blocky pentagon of slabs of grey stone with a sharp peak, surrounded by a tall wall of the same material. There was a small steel gate just big enough for Leto to fit though in front of us. She didn't burst through it, though, and instead set the basket down in front of the gate and let out a small, non-Move roar.

  We pulled ourselves from the basket in utter confusion, looking around. There was nobody here at the compound! Leto growled a little and began to scan around.

  "Mom, is this a strange Ranger station?" She grinned at me before she took a deep breath.

  "Hey, looks like we got some Roar resistance training, girls! Don't kill us, mom, but get us, too!" I ignored Alex's horrified, dejected look as I smiled.

  I mean, I despised it too, but it had already saved me once. A Houndoom's Roar is nothing compared to moms, and it stunned me for half a second instead of seconds.

  The Roar was actually relatively contained and directed. Directly up, actually, and I grinned as I felt my whole body vibrate.

  Leto just settled onto her haunches to wait, so I shrugged and stored the Ride Basket. Guess we were staying here? It was almost evening, so hopefully whoever lives here gets here soon. Not that I'm worried about Arcanine or Scyther, not at all, but I wouldn't mind being inside the walls directly in front of me.

  Eventually there was a low, non-Move roar from the other side of the structure, and Leto grinned as she stood up. I really don't know what I was expecting to walk around the corner, but it was not a Kangaskhan with a human riding in her pouch, straps across her chest to hold him steady! She was a larger one, to be fair, almost twelve feet tall instead of ten, so it wasn't too comical. Other than the 'riding like a baby Kangaskhan' part… with a baby, too! Oh Arceus! Forget comical, that is adorable!

  They seemed to know Leto for sure, because the large Pokemon was practically charging now, mouth open wide in a smile. She barely took the time to remove the human and her baby from her pouch before she was directly in front of Leto, already talking animatedly.

  The man stumbled a bit as he caught his footing, and I took the opportunity to examine him. Early twenties, no weapons, not trained, not dangerous in the least. Black hair, black eyes, clean-shaven, around six feet tall… He was wearing brown cargo pants, but they looked fine on him as opposed to Alex, because they were bulging with equipment, and I could see the camera case bouncing on his chest over a thick cream-colored leather jacket that looked way too hot, but very tough. He had a very Indiana Jones-esque hat as well that I kind of wanted one of… It was a cool hat, and it looked great for keeping the sun out of your eyes, better than my headband. He looked like he was very used to being in the wilds, but he only had one Pokeball?

  He looked at me with a wide smile and stuck his hand out.

  "You must be Erin! Leto likes to talk about you a lot! Well, pantomime, but I kind of understand her?" What?!

  "Uhh, yeah, that's me. I, umm, haven't heard of you? She actually likes to keep secrets just to see my face, so I'm not surprised by it…" He flushed a little as I shook his hand.

  "Sorry, sorry! I'm Maxx, and Leto here saved my life!" She turned over and gave him a quick grin before going back to her conversation.

  Maxx bent down and picked up the baby, struggling a bit, but he managed it. Apparently this wasn't unusual, because he had straps to hold her in his jacket! It was so adorable!

  Wait, saved his life?

  "Wait, you're the photographer she saved! You helped her take that… picture!" He began to laugh at that. Well, everyone laughed a little at that.

  "Yeah, I will say, she actually had a great layout and presentation… It was a beautiful shot, really, just not… normal." I began laughing even harder. He was so right!

  "Anyways, I assume you're wanting to stay the night, Leto? Never seen that, but it makes sense if you have your daughters with you!" Alex blushed at that and I just winked and nudged her with my elbow. Give it another week or two, she would be Leto's daughter, too. That was just how Leto worked.

  He opened the gate with a large key and let us all in, closing it behind him.

  "I don't exactly have guest rooms, or rooms, but feel free to camp out here. Knowing Leto, she makes you sleep with her, anyway." Leaf laughed at that.

  "Yeah, she does, actually! I'm Leaf, by the way! This is Alex!" He briefly turned to them and smiled before continuing to walk towards his… house?

  "Real quick, what's up with the… house? All the way out here in the plains?" He laughed and pointed at mom!

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  "Leto didn't just save my life, she heard me say that I was unfortunately never coming out here again. I mean, I had just almost died, so I meant it, too. Leto decided that she liked photography, though, and took me to a Kangaskhan herd. Found one that was interested in joining me, helping me out. Rosie over there is actually getting very good at taking photos!" I stared at him in utter bafflement. Then I turned my gaze towards mom, who was grinning at my expression.

  "Huh?" I was eloquent right now!

  "Yeah, I mean, I didn't know that until Rosie managed to pantomime it out, but it was easy to tell the next time when she came out and saw us wandering. Rosie was and is more than willing to separate from her herd to help me, but why not have both? Not sure how she got the authorization, but the Rangers didn't care about her throwing this together for me. I mean, I have a tiny fridge and TV, and the AC is… weak, but Rosie is much happier being able to see them daily if she wants, and I have way more days to take photos. It's also a lot easier to get up in the mornings and just start wandering instead of having Rosie run me out here… I do love the plains, photos aside…"

  "Huh?" His face was far too amused.

  "Honestly? That was my reaction to the whole thing! She is vicious, but extremely kind, too. Still vicious though, I actually… saw her eliminate a group of Kangaskhan poachers… I mean, I didn't really care about them, it was more the… lip licking." I burst into laughter at that even as she grinned.

  "Yeah, she almost ate me when we first met, and I had just saved her baby! Speaking of, can we let our teams out? They're all safe… Well, Cerberus and Hazard can stay in their balls for now, but the others will be fine with a baby around." He nodded and I did nothing. I mean, they had heard that, saw him nod.

  They had, and came out in a wave, looking around with interest. Of course, Kallen latched onto my arm, as usual, but the rest were more interested in where we found ourselves and spread out a little. Seraphina actually climbed up the walls to peer over.

  Cerberus almost came out, but I pushed him back into his ball with aura. I felt really bad about it, but it's one thing for him to possibly hurt me. It was another thing entirely for him to potentially kill that baby… Or anyone, really, but I wasn't going to wrangle him until I was ready to be stationary.

  Soon everyone else but Stabby was out, and Maxx's eyes were bulging. I had a feeling I knew why Stabby didn't come out… Why is Maxx… Oh, yeah, I have a lot of Alphas, Seraphina is a shiny Pokemon, and Hecate is exotic. Not to mention Hope, Dratini, the two Noibat, and Indeedee! A little maid! I loved Indeedee, but they were rare to find as a trainer's Pokemon, even in Galar!

  "Sorry, Maxx, they won't tear the place down… Well, not right away." His face seemed to do a hard-reset, because he tightly screwed up his eyes momentarily before they popped back open, an almost normal look in them. Almost.

  "I'm not sure why I'm surprised! Come on in if you want, there is AC, just… Lets rush in, please? The cool air just evaporates when it's opened…" We all nodded as we clumped up at his door. He still had the baby in his jacket, Rosie and Leto still just talking as the rest of our Pokemon spread out and enjoyed being outside of their Pokeballs.

  He wasn't lying, because I could feel the blast of cool air when he opened the rather heavy, industrial-looking door. It slammed closed behind us, and I found myself instantly relaxing. It was at least twenty degrees cooler in here!

  He hadn't been being humble, either. There was a small, cheap-looking bed, dresser, TV, a huge cushion obviously for Rosie, a small bathroom, and a small fridge in here, and that was it. Well, there was also what was obviously the power bank to some solar panels I hadn't seen, and a small window, but that was it!

  "Sorry, it's as plain as it really gets. I'm not broke, my photos do sell, and me and Rosie actually get a small allowance from the Rangers for reporting on herd movements and stuff, but it is expensive to get anything delivered out here, so Rosie has to carry everything!" Oof, yeah, I could see that being a pain…

  "Oh, crap, I should probably go let mom out… Sorry about your AC, but that's why we came here in the first place. She was hungry, and there's not much around central Kanto that can fill her up." He smiled at that as he took his heavy jacket off, putting the baby down.

  "Yeah, she loves Tauros and Ponyta. I got a great photo of her taking down a Rapidash once, actually. Well, she didn't kill it, she just threw it into a river. I'm pretty sure she wanted it to make more Ponyta…" I chuckled, because yes, that was likely.

  "Probably, yeah. She threw a Tauros at another Tauros, once. I didn't see it, but I saw the aftermath." His face went a little green. I did not blame him. It's one thing to kill a Tauros. It is an entirely different thing to throw one! At another one!

  "Yeah… That sounds like Leto…" Leaf and Alex both joined in on the laughter this time

  —

  "So you're going to Vermilion next? I've heard Surge is kind of an as- rude. Very rude." I grinned at him as I prepared my butchering tools. Mom had brought back four Ponyta! She was already full, too, but we did have a lot of carnivores...

  We were far from his… house? Compound? We were far from it, though. I did not want to draw any predators to his house, and Kangaskhan were herbivores. Not going to let a baby see me doing this, either.

  "Yeah, we walked maybe five hours down Route Six before mom decided it was time to hunt. I'm actually looking forward to Surge. All of my Pokemon are way too strong, other than Artemis, and she's not exactly a slouch now that she's finally full grown… A little bit more than full grown, actually. Pretty sure she's going to be an Alpha, too." His face grew confused, so I tried to explain.

  "My Hattrem and Salazzle were both regular sized, well, Seraphina was actually a runt. They grew into Alphas when they Evolved." His face! I was getting used to seeing that face on people. You could tell when their sense of reality got shifted just a tiny bit towards the strange.

  "No, I don't know why. I have a very solid suspicion it's me and moms auras acting like pressure on them. Even in standard training, if either of us are overseeing them, it makes them… I really don't know how to describe it. Professor Oak has trouble with describing it, too, but he's seen it, and it's different from his Charizard's aura, even if she was at one point slightly more powerful than mom. They didn't turn into Alphas out of fear of us, more like… How pressure creates diamonds, I guess? It refines them, builds them up in some way." Now they were all giving me strange looks.

  "What? I'm serious, it's not really known, even for regular, wild Alphas! Some of the calmer ones have been asked, but they don't know, either! Pressure of some sort is the best theory, either humans or other species. I'm just making a guess, and I don't know how educated my guess is, either!" I shrugged.

  "Either way, Surge? We're going to have fun stomping him, and I'm looking forward to a Gym Leader I can glare at for real. I couldn't see Brock's eyes for a proper glare, and Misty was my firs-" Fuck, why did I start this chain of thought! No! Bad girls! Stop staring at me! No!

  Leaf got a wide grin on her face, and I got embarrassed before she even spoke, cheeks growing hot.

  "You had a crush on her?! Really?!" I glared at her, but Alex was giving me a look. I didn't say anything, but we certainly exchanged some understanding in that look. Yes, Misty was cool. Also my first crush when I was, what, seven or eight? Maybe up to like, ten? Just a little puppy love crush?

  "Well, Surge should be more than happy to glare at you. He has a reputation." Maxx looked very uncomfortable as I pulled out a knife, and I paused.

  "Maxx, you okay? You don't have to watch me butcher a Ponyta, you can still have some-" His face went green "-Ah, your vegetarian, or vegan?" He nodded and I sighed.

  "Well, sorr-" He cut me off with a raised hand.

  "No, I don't judge people who eat meat! Really! You think I'm going to judge Leto for eating meat? Or her daughters?" He was grinning, and it was a real grin… just a little queasy.

  "Now… I might go back, though. Actually, I will go back. Honestly, my first instinct was to follow you kids out into the plains to make sure you came back safe, but I'm more worried about getting myself back right now!" Yeah, you don't exactly have any Pokemon on you… Rosie is back at the compound…

  "Yeah… Stabby, Hecate, could you make sure he gets back fine? I mean, I don't see anything out there, but I have to assume an Arcanine would be fast." His face went pale.

  "Stabby?" I grinned at his face. Also at the tiny Clefable hovering in the air behind him, who was reaching for his neck right now.

  "He's my Clefable! He's going to help me deal with people like Team Rocket! He also has a hobby of killing Cleffa and Clefairy poachers in very creative ways, it's actually how he got his name! He's completely uncontracted, too!" I greatly enjoyed his face as it paled even further, then grew into pure terror.

  Then he screamed, because Stabby patted his neck.

  I had a hard time breathing!

  —

  We got our carnivores fed for the night and went back to Maxx's compound. We were sitting around a small fire, because we really didn't need the heat, but if you're camping, even inside walls, you need a fire. It's just the rules, I didn't make them. No slow-roasted meat for now, not in the compound, but Leto was fine with that.

  Cerberus wasn't, but Cerberus was a grumpy boy. Well, some of him was. Should I name the other head? I know for a fact it is not going to come out on top, so maybe not? I mean, I didn't hate that head, it was still Cerberus. It was just all the negative parts of Cerberus I had never seen… No, I loved him, but his instincts were going to lose. They would still be there, but they wouldn't dominate his mind.

  I wouldn't allow it.

  "That was mean, Erin! Funny, yes, but too mean!" I just grinned at Leaf's fierce glare as she clutched her incubator.

  Alex looked mad, too.

  "I agree with her, Erin. Stabby is… a lot to take in, in so many ways!" Now I was laughing again.

  "I mean… it was possibly a little too mean. Okay, it was too mean… Sorry, Maxx, truly I am. Honestly? I'm not sure if that's just me being vicious, or the whole aura thing, because mom certainly found that hilarious, too." She grinned at him as he sat around the fire, still a little unsteady-looking.

  "No, it's… well, I don't know about fine… He's uncontracted?!" I didn't blame the poor guy for his fear.

  I was serious about my humor, too, I think I'm just more vicious and mean these days. Know it for a fact, actually. It was worrying, but at the same time, it felt good to be mean… Which was its own worry, of course, but the fact remained…

  Leaf spoke up with a wide smile.

  "Stabby says you don't need to worry. He killed poachers, Leto killed poachers. He doesn't even eat them!" He gave Leaf the most confused look I had ever seen.

  "How do you…?"

  "I'm communing with him? He's not my Clefable, that's Hope, but I can commune with them just fine. Erin can too, she just has a harder time understanding them."

  I snorted a little at that.

  "Leaf, when he asked to be my Pokemon, he literally told me 'Stab Erin, Erin stab'! It's not that I have a harder time understanding them, it's that you understand them too well! Well, not a dangerous amount, obviously, but still!"

  Alex's voice was very amused, however.

  "Girls, I think you broke him!" We looked over and yes, Maxx was frozen in utter confusion.

  "Was it the communing part, the understanding part, or how Stabby asked? Because yeah, he's… a happy little killer, who only kills bad people. Kinda like me, I guess? Stabby, what's your current score?" I ignored the glare from Leaf at my use of the term 'score'. Kill count, score, same thing. They were all wearing that uniform, they don't count towards my conscience! That number, not score, is at a big fat zero!

  "Seven. Twenty. Stabbed!"

  "Stabby's sitting at twenty seven, but I'm at thirty… three, I think? I'm not counting those that bled out after I moved on, because fuck them. That's time killing them, not me." I flinched back from the flick that Stabby had given me!

  "Stabby! What the hell was that for?!" He grinned at me, both of him, mask and true self. He put a lot of effort into making his message as clear as possible, too.

  "Mother. Deal. Free. Price. FACE!"

  "You made a deal with mom?! To do it for free?! Because my face is funny?!" He was laughing so hard he fell backwards. I mean, I would absolutely do the same to someone else… Everyone just did it to me!

  I snatched him from the ground and put him in a headlock. It was mildly hard, him not having a true neck, but I did it! Then I began to tickle him!

  Of course, Stabby wasn't opposed to cuddling, or even tickling, but he was still Stabby. I didn't even yelp as I began to float off the ground. He wouldn't let me go high, couldn't for too long.

  "You think my face is funny? How about this? Is this funny, Stabby?!" I was giggling as I tickled him, and he was laughing… Then he dropped me from three feet. Not a lot, but plenty when you're sitting cross legged on the ground!

  I landed with a thud and my bullet wound flared. I rolled to my side with a hiss of pain, hand clenched over my unfortunately located wound.

  Maxx finally worked up the ability to talk.

  "Huh?!"

  I couldn't stop the laughter that erupted from me, even through the pain.

  Cerberus took that moment to emerge, and even as he was, I was grabbing his necks. He practically knocked Stabby out of the way as he slammed into my back with his chest. I pushed down on him with my aura, rolled upright, and he sat behind my back, both heads happily resting in my lap as I very carefully stroked them equally.

  I loved Cerberus so much, but this couldn't end fast enough… and it was just beginning...

  "Z-Z-Zweilous!?" Oh, yeah…

  I gave him a wide, easy smile that I didn't fully feel. I wasn't scared of Cerberus in the least, no, I was worried for other people.

  "Don't worry, he's fine with me. He just Evolved the other day, so it's a… work in progress. Well, I don't think he'll get much better, actually… So we're just waiting for him to Evolve again, to get rid of the insanity. Believe it or not, he was the biggest sweetheart, and this head still is. This head is just… all the crap we never saw." Of course, I didn't stop stroking one to point, so I nodded with my head.

  Maxx was looking a little better, but I think his body just forced him to breathe.

  "Another Alpha?" I laughed.

  "Literally only Stabby isn't an Alpha, because Artemis is for sure headed that direction. Honestly, I hope Stabby doesn't grow, he's the perfect size for infiltration work." His face!

  "T-That reminds me… Thirty three?" He was pale, and I tried to soften my smile.

  I probably failed, based on his face.

  "Every single one was wearing the uniform of Team Rocket. Most didn't get the chance to surrender, because they don't legally require it, and I was kind of softening them up. Still got a little hectic after I took out about twenty or so of them, that's when I just started sprinting around, stabbing and slashing while my team wrecked them. I offered most of those the chance to surrender, but very few took me up on it." Surprisingly few!

  You'd think seeing a kid covered in blood, wielding two very sharp blades, with a raging Alpha Zweilous at her back and an absolutely furious Psychic that punched doors in with her ponytails would make you say 'I should probably choose life.' Seraphina had been hanging out on the ceiling, dropping Incinerates and Acids… Horrifying Acids…

  "Hecate, Seraphina, and Cerberus all Evolved down there, Kallen was my backup defense, and Rotom was there to record the proof. That they were Team Rocket when I killed them, you know? Actually, Rotom also got that lady who shot me, thanks again, bud." Rotom sparked a little as it hovered there. Probably recording, because it was always recording. It just deleted them eventually… I hope.

  Maxx looked like he was about to pass out, honestly. Alex glared at me.

  "Maxx, I'm sorry for Erin. She's a good person, but she is a killer… Like Stabby, or Leto, I guess. I don't feel great about people dying, but I have no sympathy for poachers or Team Rocket." As you shouldn't.

  "Yeah, sorry about my sister, Maxx. It drives mom crazy, too, but she is a good person… She just likes killing Team Rocket. A lot." Yes, yes I do! Also, would you two stop calling me a good person! I am not a goo-

  ""Stop! Tell your mom! She flick you!"" 'Sorry, Hecate… I am trying…'

  Maxx barely managed to speak up this time.

  "Shot you?" Poor guy was just trying to catch up to my insanity… Good luck with that!

  Rotom took that moment to betray me in full. I don't know if it counted as a prank, but it probably did, so mom would hear of this…

  "She got shot in the butt! In fact, here, watch it happen!" My eyes widened as that little shit played the clip.

  It was heavily edited, and you couldn't see any bodies, but you could see the blood dripping off me, the muzzle flash, the Protect shattering… and me squealing an embarrassingly high shriek out as I grabbed at my butt, almost cutting myself badly with my kukri… You also got to see the Electro Ball, but not it hitting that lady… Because fuck her, but children don't need to see a powerful Electro Ball to the face. I didn't feel bad for her, but I would rather not have seen that myself…

  "Butt watch! Stab guard!"

  "Yes, thank you Stabby, you are my butt-watcher, now…"

  Maxx just looked at me in confusion. There was no fear, no wariness, nothing but pure, utter confusion.

  "Oh no, I think I did break him!"