Azar's Story

Rowtag smiled seeing her come a bit closer to him. He stood ready as the Noctowl came down. He spoke to him "Did I say I meant any harm? I certainly don't think I've done anything to warrant...that." Rowtag growled, still unsure what to think of him.

Azar started talking to the stranger, which Rowtag was glad of. She seemed to pretty good at talking. He felt her nudge him. Looking down he saw her get closer to the stranger. "Oh." He got down on all fours and walked to him, staying close to Azar.

Stealing things? Legendary pokemon mad? He knew people were.. well, he didn't really know. Rowtag couldn't put it in words. He just didn't think it'd cause that much chaos. Soon Azar looked up to him and asked him something.

"You don't think the rumors might be true, then...do you?" "Huh?" Rowtag processed what she had said. "Oh... I dunno." He shrugged "Deyah's been strangah stuff befowah I guess.."

Rowtag watched as Azar started to worry. He didn't like it, seeing her confused and panicking slightly. It made it worse that the Noctowl kept laughing. Rowtag's expression was the opposite. He was normally smiling and goofing around, but now he was serious, a slight snarl. He softly growled at times.

Watching as the noctowl soon flew away, Rowtag was relieved. "Finally... was gonna pop him.." He looked down to Azar as she asked him about people.

"Well, ah deyah good and bad pokemon? Not all pokemon ah da same, and not all people ah eidah.. Some a dem wanna captuyah you, oddahs just wanna pet you... I like da ones who pet." He smiled at Azar, hoping it would calm her somewhat. He laughed and stuck his tongue out at her again.

Emerald, frustrated, shook her head. She knew the Espeon could have hit her; would have, if he hadn't moved. She was useless, and she knew it. She had a lot of training ahead of her. And so she was most likely going to be tired out for a while, with all the training she'd need to be able to keep up with the regular Pokemon. Or, rather, the rest of the Pokemon, since she didn't know if she was even going to be able to turn human again. She knew Zylen was right; most other Pokemon would have run into her, rather than avoiding her intentionally, like he did. Then he was back where he had started, waiting for her to be ready.

She closed her eyes for a moment before looking back a the Espeon. She had to be ready this time; had to be able to move. She had thought too much last time; froze up. She had to force herself to relax. Zylen came at her again, and she watched his movements carefully. She had to move faster this time. She did...though it probably wasn't as fast as it should have been, she had moved out of the way well enough to avoid being hit by the attack. That was still improvement. Not as much as she would have liked, but still better than before. He had been zigzagging the entire time, anyway, so it wasn't quite the same. But she had managed to avoid being hit.

"Concentrate? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of using instinct alone, and not thinking?" Though watching his movements had helped her pay more attention to where he was going, and where she needed to go to avoid getting hit. She shook her head, still not satisfied.

"It's still not good enough, though," she stated, not bothering to turn around, though she knew he was there.

"It won't keep me alive to move so slowly."






Azar tilted her head to one side, then stuck her tongue out at him when he did the same to her, grinning back at him.

"Well, if you're sure, then it's not much of a problem. At least, as long as the human is nice, anyway..." Her grin faded, thinking, somewhat worried. She shook it off, though, putting a small smile back on her face.

"...Maybe we should at least find this human...and make sure it's nice. That way we'll know for sure, right? Maybe the human will be willing to be friends!" She didn't want to think about what might happen is the human turned out to be bad. So she refused to; she'd deal with that if it happened...though she hoped not. She very much hoped not. She paused, looking over Rowtag carefully.

"Though...I doubt popping him would have done much of anything. I mean...he might have just flown up into a tree and talked to us from there..."



The Noctowl scowled at the pair, hiding in a tree above them. They were supposed to be ready to run the human out of town; from there, he could at least attempt to control what the human did. He had hoped that at least the bigger Pokemon would be willing to run the human out; the human might be afraid enough of him to stay away, and where he pointed the human. Time for plan B; to spread the rumors around the town, so that the majority of town will run the human out of town instead. If he couldn't get the biggest Pokemon to run them out, he'd have to get a larger group of Pokemon instead. He flew off, to work on his plan.

Rowtag smiled as she stuck her tongue back out at him. He felt good knowing that she trusted his word. If he said it was alright, she'd believe him. Azar spoke of finding the human and seeing if they are nice or not. "Hmm.. where should we look first then?" He soon saw her looking him over, which confused him a bit. Why was she doing that?

"Though...I doubt popping him would have done much of anything. I mean...he might have just flown up into a tree and talked to us from there..." Rowtag thought about it for a moment.. she was right. He'd have to think of things more advanced than the primitive grunt'n'club your problems away.

Looking around, Rowtag saw night was falling. "It's gettin' a bit dahk out heyah.." He looked to Azar. "Uh... should we sleep somewhere? Y-you could come to my house maybe.." He'd never really had many friends over, none sleeping there before.. He wasn't sure what she would do.

Emerald blinked as his eyes turned purple. She knew what that was; if the Swellow had been unable to fight it, she, too, would be useless against this attack. Still, as the light lifted her into the air, she struggled feebly, legs flailing in an attempt to release herself, despite knowing how useless that would be. Finally, he released her, and she landed as best as she could, landing on her feet, but stumbling as she did. She looked back to Zylen. What had been the point of that? She knew not to give up yet; she just needed a lot more practice than any other Pokemon.

He wanted her to attack him? What could she do? She took a moment to put together everything she knew about Poochyena. What attacks did they have? She knew about bite...but she really wasn't in the mood to bite this Pokemon that she barely knew. Most Pokemon knew tackle; she could try that one. It couldn't be too bad, right? She hesitated, watching him. How was she to find an opening in the first place? She knew that everyone had some opening, somewhere, but her knowledge of fighting was fairly limited to watching Pokemon battle.

She took a deep breath before running at the Espeon. How did a Pokemon tackle? She followed the form as best as she could. This much, she figured, couldn't hurt too much to think about. She moved as fast as she could, without tripping over her feet...er, paws., launching the attack when she thought she was close enough. As he attacked, though, her mind panicked a little; just enough that she hesitated long enough that she couldn't react in time. He had told her to attack; not that he was going to attack back!




"Hmm...true...how would we find a human that's been turned into a Pokemon? Maybe...we can figure that out later..." Azar thought out loud, glancing around the area as she did. She barely noticed that it was getting dark until Rowtag said something about it. She glanced up at the sky. It really was getting close to time to head back, so they could avoid running into some bad Pokemon somewhere. She hesitated at his offer, but smiled at him.

"You don't sound too sure of yourself there; not too many friends? Too bad...I would have thought you'd have a good number of friends. Anyway, I don't mind a staying the night at a friend's house; it's easier. And, after dealing with the Noctowl...my home's a good ways away. I don't really want to run into him on my own. He...wasn't quite as friendly as I might have hoped. Run the human out of town...without knowing whether or not the human was good...that's so mean! That's the first mean Pokemon I've run into in this town. It's kinda sad, really...I thought everyone was pretty nice, anyway..." She hesitated, then shook her head.

"Sorry; I was going on again. I get so distracted! Might be why I accidentally run into other Pokemon all the time. I think I'm making a nuisance of myself here...oh, there I go again. Go ahead and lead the way!"

Rowtag listened to her and agreed to find the person-or pokémon later. He was worried as she hesitated. What was she thinking? Her smiled calmed him somewhat. "not too many friends?" He blushed a bit and looked down. "Not really.." he spoke softly with a shrug.

She accepted it, but it seemed to Rowtag she only did because of the Noctowl. He told himself that it probably wasn't just because of that though. He was happy that Azar said the Noctowl was the only mean pokemon she'd met so far. Rowtag has seen a few, and like her, didn't like it.

He smiled as she shook her head and stopped her tangent. "It's fine.." He didn't mind. He was a good listener. Besides, if she was talking all the time, he didn't have to say much. When she called herself a nuisance he just smiled and shook his head. "Alright, come on.." Going back the way they came through the town to the forest, they came to his house. Standing before a door bigger than Azar but about Rowtag's size, he looked to her. Smiling, he opened it and held it for her.

Emerald hesitated. As long as she really was doing better than he had expected...she supposed that would be alright. She had to be able to survive, though; better than he expected didn't mean too much against a different Pokemon; one that might not hold back, just because she was new to this. She blinked as the Swellow landed, though, looking over the bird carefully. He had found something? That was good! ...Right? An old Furret didn't sound too bad. After all, a Furret was only a normal type. Not that either she or Zylen had a real advantage over that, but she had a general idea of what to expect.

She looked up, watching the Swellow as it flew off, having delivered his message. Two towns over...but, once they got to this town, how were they supposed to find it? That didn't matter much, either. The point was, they were on the right track, at least. They knew what to look for now; an old Furret! She looked to Zylen as he asked when she wanted to leave She paused to think about it carefully.

"...I would think..as soon as reasonably possible. I mean...two towns over, so of course we'd have to prepare for a trip like that...right? That sounds like a bit of a trip. And, if I can't defend myself...well, I guess I can learn more along the way," she answered, with a little shrug.

"The sooner we head out, the sooner we can find out whether or not I can turn back human again."




Azar followed Rowtag to his house. she looked up; it was definitely bigger than her house. But, at the same time, a larger Pokemon lived here. He needed it to be bigger just so he could fit through the front door! She nodded as he opened the door for her, and then looked around his home carefully. She turned back to Rowtag.

"It's a nice enough home. I suppose I should have expected it to be bigger; there really is no way you'd fit in a house the size mine is! I'm not so sure we'd get you past the door." She hesitated, realizing suddenly that she was, again, rambling. She shook her head at herself.

"I'm sorry; I only meant to say thanks for inviting me over. I was rambling again...being a nuisance!" she added, with a smile.

Rowtag smiled as she started going off again. "Eh, mighta been able ta get in. Buttah me up and slide me in." He laughed, walking through the house, looking behind her, waiting for her to follow him. He picked up a bowl with his teeth and put it under a faucet. I punched it and water started to pour. He watched it fill up and picked it up in his teeth carefully. "Tursty?" He smiled, looking to her for a short moment. He turned away after, a bit embarrassed. He went and picked up another bowl, filling it up. Rowtag lapped up some water before sitting on his hind legs. He looked over to Azar.

"You know.." He looked away, soon quiet again. He smiled and tried again. "Ya don't hafta stop ramblin'. You're not pestahin' me." He laughed. "Not like yah standin' up in a tree, evesdroppin' on someone eatin' beyah-ees" He smiled and looked to her again. Rowtag quickly turned his head looking around, and went back. He was checking on things, just being a bit paranoid, as usual.

Emerald hesitated, but nodded. The sooner they left, the better. She had to be human again; she had to check up on her Butterfree, at least. Why would she want to put it off until the next morning? If they could be ready to leave by noon, then that was perfect. She was just glad she wouldn't be going all on her own. What if she had gone alone, and been attacked? There was no guarantee that she would have been able to defend herself. And she wasn't about to let herself die as a Pokemon.

She followed Zylen back to the village, and to the inn where he was staying. She glanced at him as he asked if there was anything she needed, and tilted her head to one side, thinking. What would she need? Everything she could think of was fairly obvious; food...well, that was really all that was needed for a Pokemon to travel...right? It was only two towns over, after all. There wasn't much she would need. She shook her head.

"No; there's nothing that I can think of that I would need." She just wished she could have her Butterfree to help. She knew what it was capable of, and how much help Butterfree could be. She didn't know much about Zylen. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about, and was able to fight her...though she was weak, so that wasn't much of an example. Oh well; she supposed she would find out as they traveled together. Besides, he wouldn't offer to help her if he didn't think he could help, right?

She watched him leave, then walked into the inn. Instead of finding something to eat, she decided to just sit by herself, off to the side, looking around. Maybe she could understand a Pokemon culture if she watched the other Pokemon instead of wandering around pathetically, looking for help, like she had been doing before. Hopefully she could get somewhere with all of this, just in case she couldn't become a human again.






Azar blinked at his behavior. It seemed very curious to her. Why would anyone look around their own house so much? Was he really so worried that someone else might be in his house? She highly doubted it; sneaking into the house of a Pokemon that was fairly large seemed like too much of a risk to her. Then again, she wasn't exactly a thief, so what would she know? She decided to brush it off and ignore it. For now, anyway.

"Oh, really? That's a first; even my parents told me I talked too much, and they weren't exactly shy, either. It's like I talk more than everyone else is used to...so they either find some excuse to get away, or just tell me I'm talking too much. ...Though...I can't quite figure it out. I mean...why would a Noctowl be so concerned with a human turned into a Pokemon? Or, better yet, running it out of town? I mean, if ever there was trouble, and they were worried about themselves, couldn't he just...fly away? Unless the human turned into a flying-type, anyway. But I haven't seen too many in this town that hasn't always been here...the Pelipper, Wingull, and an occasional Swellow or Starly...nothing too new..." She paused to think. Why would any Pokemon be too concerned with that?

"...Unless he's just mean all around...I mean, we don't know for sure, but he was kinda mean, really. And anyway, why would the Noctowl approach us? I mean...we're only two Pokemon, and I really don't see how we'd be able to run the human out...or convince the others to help run the human out. There's just...too many questions about the whole thing..."



The Noctowl took his time, wandering around the town, talking to every Pokemon he came across. If he could find them in small groups, anyway. Eventually, he had a good deal of the village believing that this human was no good, and had encouraged it to spread. He heard rumors about a Pokemon complaining and whining about no longer being human, but he had seen enough Poochyena that that didn't concern him too much. Until he heard about the company the human was keeping; Zylen, he had seen, and knew he was a thief at one point. Maybe he could find some way to manipulate the human, but he would be a bit harder. He left the village, confident in the rumors he had spread, to work out the next part of his plan.

Rowtag watched as she kept talking. He smiled, knowing she wasn't going to worry too much about possibly pestering him anymore. He listened to him and thought about what she had said. He thought about his parents.. he didn't know them very well. He changed his attention to what she was saying about the pokemon that was once a human.

"Yea, they could fly off.." He was a bit worried that she kept thinking about the Noctowl. Did he creep her out that much? "Yea.. probably just a jerk.. deyah ah a quite a few a dem around.." She ended saying there were too many unknowns. He agreed. "Yupp.." He bite the edge of his bowl softly and put it away. He started to walk towards a matress on the floor. "Ready?" He looked away slightly. He laid down on one side, getting as close to the edge as he could to make as much room for her as he could.


As they slept, Rowtag rolled over a bit, putting his arm out as he did. He brought it close to him and felt warm fur. His opened wide and looked to see Azar under his arm. He gasped softly, embarrassed. he put his arm back to his side and turned away, looking up at the ceiling, hoping she didn't notice anything.

Emerald looked up when she heard Zylen enter, the bought supplies being carried along behind him using psychic. She stood up from her sitting position, stretching as she did. She blinked as a bag landed at her feet. She stared at it for a moment, then looked back to Zylen. She hadn't expected a bag. Once she thought about it, though, it made sense. She couldn't make him carry everything; she had to help, too. After all, this whole thing was for her to turn human again. Zylen never had to go along with her; he could have made her go all by herself. It was only fair for her to do some of the work. She nodded to him.

"That sounds fair. Honestly, I should have thought about it before...I shouldn't be making you carry everything, after all. Yes, I did really need the bag; I would never be able to carry the supplies otherwise. I suppose we're all ready, then; I'm ready to go, anyway. All we really needed was the supplies..." She paused to think. Two towns over...how long would that be? she hoped not too long...but it all depended on how much distance was between the towns. In any case, she would be fine, no matter how long it took. It wasn't like she was going all on her own.

"As long as you're ready, too, Zylen."





Azar yawned and stretched, getting up to head to the bed. She made sure she was on the opposite side of the bed. Sure, they were friends, but there were going to be some limits. She was sleeping very well most of the night, regardless of the strange surroundings. Usually, she was in her own bed, and could stretch out however she wanted, without worrying about hitting another Pokemon. She was sure Rowtag was the same way; used to sleeping on his own, stretching out as he liked, and everything.

She flinched awake, though, when she felt herself being moved. As soon as the arm was removed, though, she opened her eyes and scurried back to the other side of the bed. She hesitated a moment before standing up, stretching a little.

"...I take it you move in your sleep? Oh well; things happen. When I was younger, I kicked my siblings out of bed all the time. Anyway, it's not overly important; there are worse things to worry about. Like...how are we supposed to find the human?"




The Noctowl was pleased. He had managed to spread the rumors effectively. Some Pokemon had heard her complain, and had also seen that she had gone with Zylen. It spread quickly enough through the village. He was confident that, should any Pokemon see her, that they might be stopped...and quite possibly attacked. That should slow them down, at least a little. Perhaps this plan would work, after all. Plan a was much better, of course, but the Typhlosion was far more stubborn than he had hoped. So this would have to do. He perched himself on top of the inn, to watch what would happen as soon as they left, with the traffic of Pokemon that usually filled the streets this time of day. He secretly hoped a good number would feel particularly irritated with a human being in their village to be fairly aggressive.

Rowtag blushed more, though it wasn't really visible on his fur covered cheeks. The spots on his back glowed slightly as he looked away. Azar moved back to her side and he hoped they could forget about it. That wouldn't happen. 'Oh well' He told himself. She soon got up from the bed and stretched. "Sorry..."

He laughed at her story of kicking her siblings. "Well tank ya fah not kickin' me." He smiled. He started to think and wonder.. how would they find the human? "Well.. maybe look fah a pokemon dat's acting kinda odd.." Rowtag laughed. "On second tought, deyah ah a lotta freaks round heyah.. like dat owl." He smiled. "Well... he knows who it is... ah least makes it seem like it.."

Rowtag got up and yawned loudly. He didn't do it on purpose, it was just how he yawned. "I'm not really suwah doe.."

Emerald shook her head, though she couldn't help but smile. Obviously he was fairly confident that he could handle anything they might run into. However, shortly after they had left the inn, a group of Pokemon approached. She looked over them quickly. What was going on? And then the Granbull started to speak, insisting that Zylen hand her over. Did they really hate humans so much? Did they really see her as that much of a threat? Or had they just gotten tired of her whining? It had been a while since she had done that, though, so this made even less sense. She gave a tiny whimper; what was going to happen now?

She hesitated when Zylen told her to stay behind him, but nodded. She would be absolutely useless in any fight at the moment; doing what she was told was definitely the best idea she could have at the moment. Hopefully Zylen could handle a group of Pokemon like this, without too much injury. She bit her lip. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long, either. The quicker this was dealt with, the sooner they could leave. the sooner they left, the sooner they knew they wouldn't have to worry about being attacked by these Pokemon again.




Azar shook her head at his statement. Glad she didn't kick him? She wasn't sure he'd feel it. Or, if he did, it wouldn't hurt too much.

"Oh, I grew out of that; I don't move quite so much in my sleep anymore. It's nothing to worry about now. Hmm...well...perhaps looking for someone who's acting weird might do it...but we won't find the human staying here! Perhaps we should eat quickly...and then head out...and look around. Maybe we'll think of something on the way? At the very least, we could ask around; someone might know something, hopefully. And then we can see if the human is good or bad! That way, we might know what we're supposed to do about it! ...I hope so...you don't think...the Noctowl might have talked to others...do you? I mean, if the Noctowl was telling every Pokemon he saw about the human...isn't that bad?" she asked, tilting her head at him.




The Noctowl shuffled his wings behind his back, fairly pleased. Things were working out nicely now. The rest of the plan would be fairly easy...if everything went his way.

Rowtag smiled as she went off again. Something he'd started to get used to. She did listen to his plan of finding someone acting weird. Breakfast sounded pretty good, he hoped nothing.. awkward would happen like when they slept. He heard your question and snarled, knowing the Noctowl probably had. "Yea.. dat wouldn't be vehy good.."

Rowtag saw a group of pokemon moving, following two others. "Uh oh.. I tink he aheady did.." He pointed out the window. "Well, there's a few acting weird." Rowtag started walking towards the door. "Dat doesn't look good.. lets go find out bout it.." For once, he was talking and not just laying back letting things go by. He didn't know what was going on with them, he just knew he didn't like it. He held the door open for Azar, waiting for her to go before him.

Emerald cowered herself closer to the ground. She had hoped Zylen would be able to handle it, but really, it seemed to be a little hard for him. He hadn't seemed quite so tired after their training sessions. Or was that maybe the problem? Were the training sessions taking too much out of him, so he couldn't fight properly? Was his lack of energy now her fault? She hoped now...but what other reason was there? Had he not battled in a while? Had he ever even battled a group this large? What could be the problem?

But that could wait until later. Other questions were a little more important right now. Like, how long could he keep this up before he would pass out, or worse? And, if something like that did happen, what would happen to her? Would she just be run out of town, or was there something worse coming her way? She bit her lip. Why did this have to happen to her?!




Azar blinked, looking over the Pokemon that had grouped together when Rowtag pointed them out. She tilted her head to one side curiously.

"Yeah...they are acting very weird...we should follow them!" She hurried out the door Rowtag held open for her, and paused for him to catch up before following the group. Something didn't feel right about them; had the Noctowl really gotten to them? Or maybe they just weren't in a good mood, or maybe they were bad travelers! ...Well, maybe not; she recognized a couple of the Pokemon there. So...maybe they really just didn't like humans, and really wanted the human gone? But...how would they know who the human was? No one had been acting different...wait! That little Poochyena had been moping when everyone else was in a good mood. Was she the human?

"...I think I passed the human yesterday...I think I could recognize her! But we've got to help out first...this doesn't look like a very fair fight..." She noted, looking over the fight between the Granbull and Espeon. She recognized him, too; no one seemed keen to go anywhere near him. She hadn't talked to him, either, but he couldn't be that bad, protecting the Poochyena, who she assumed was the human, from a group clearly too big for him to fight.

Rowtag smiled as Azar walked out the door in front of him. He closed it and walked with her. He watched the group follow the two other pokemon, unsure of what they were up to. He knew it wasn't any good though. He heard her as she said she might of passed the human the other day. Before he could talk to her about it, he saw a fight going on. Rowtag wanted to do something but wasn't sure if he should. "this doesn't look like a very fair fight.."

"I know." He snarled slightly as he saw the two groups. Rowtag stood up, going towards the two groups, the spots on his back glowing bright. Small wispy flames came off them. Growling, he grabbed the Granbull's tusk and turned him around. The Granbull was maybe a head shorter. Rowtag gave a heavy swing, smacking the Granbull in the side of the head. "Fight me coward!" He felt something hit his leg. Growling, he threw the Granbull down and swung his leg. Rowtag was satisfied feeling something thump his foot and watching a Rattatta land and roll a few feet away. He picked the Granbull up, only to shove him down. "Why don't you pick on someone your own tiny baby size?"