Chapter 9

As the days turned into weeks, weeks turning into months, months into years, fall in winter, winter into spring, spring into summer, I kept in contact with the mother of the child that I had found back at the Pokemart. She seems to have taking a liking to me over these past few years.

I did visit the family from time to time, trying to keep up with how things have changed over the course of time.

With the assignments the professor has been giving me, I worked on compiling the notes he needed within the surrounding areas. A few times I had to go out to the Safari Zone to spectate some of the games that went on and how humans interact with Pokemon.

Lily had grown up and Buizel had evolved into a Floatzel. I did help him find a mate in the years that we spent together. Shortly after he got a mate, he seemed to spend a lot of time with her. I took it as a sign that they were bonding together, so I let them be for the time being.

I've been helping around the house as well as helping the professor with his work. He's been sending me out to Canalave City more and more frequently.

"Tristain," said the professor. "I want you to pack up your belongings and meet me back here tomorrow."

"What for?" I asked.

"I'm sending you out on another journey," he said. "I want you to collect more data on Pokemon and their different breeding habits as well as any behavioral changes."

"How long of a journey are we talking about?" I asked him.

"However long it takes to collect all the information needed," he said.

"Understood," I said.

Upon returning to the house, I explained the situation to my parents and started on my packing. Eventually they agreed to let me travel the region once again. Even though I am one of the professor’s assistants, I still try to take time off work to visit with my family.

I returned the pair of Floatzel's to their Poke Balls. Grabbing Lily, I said goodbye to my parents and left for another journey. I didn't know how long this one would be, so I decided to stock up as I went from town to town.

With Lily being close to six years of age, her grammar had become better. She still had a lot to learn along the way, yet I didn't mind spending all those hours teaching her the human language. To this day, I still can't figure out why she started speaking the human language all those years ago. Even the professor was astonished when I told him. He called the other professors from the other regions and got back to me once he found out more about it. It seems that my Chimchar should have learned her own language, but with Lily being a monkey, she learned English instead.

Looking back once more at the town, the leaves turning different colors as summer ended and fall began. I couldn't help but let Lily mess in the leaves once more before we left. The children, well, I couldn't call them children anymore, they're more like teens now, came out to greet me goodbye.

"Come on Lily," I called as the last of the teens left. "It's time to go."

"Do we have to?" she asked saddened.

"Yes we do," I replied.

She walked over to me. "I'm really gonna miss this place."

"Don't worry," I said picking her up. "We'll come back to visit one day."

She then gave me a hug.

"Let's go," I said rubbing her back.

Taking the fifteen minute walk through Route 201, I looked around at the trees as each tree had its leaves turn a different color for fall.

The walk did help Lily calm down a bit but she still didn't want to leave home.

"I know you don't want to leave," I said to her, "but the nice professor has a special job for me to do."

She looked at me.

"We'll come back and visit, ok?" I said to her.

"Ok," she said sounding sad.

Over the past few years of research that professor had assigned me, I have been compiling my own notes on the behavior changes as Lily grew up and any behavioral changes that the two Floatzel's had over time.

Of course, I never told the professor this, I thought it was best to keep it a secret until it was time to leave for another research journey.

Entering the research lab, the professor and one of his assistants gave me a brief overview of what they wanted me research.

Not really knowing what to look for, I thought it best to look for the signs that Pokemon gave when doing certain actions in their everyday life.

I thought it would be best to keep my little side project a secret until I returned to Sandgem Town.

I made a few notes of what to bring and left for Twinleaf Town.

Gathering up the last of the material at home, I said goodbye to my parents and start the next long journey for research.

Lily walked beside and the two Floatzel's were in their Poke Balls.

Heading through Sandgem Town for the last time before embarking on the journey.

Looking around the town, the trees had the different colors of leaves as fall rapidly approached. Lily, on the other hand, looked around at the children that were playing before school started.

Picking up Lily, we headed out to start our adventure.

Our first stop: Jubilife City.

Heading North on Route 202, we headed towards Jubilife City.

Seeing the vast city once again, with all the different stores and buildings, I never really had any interest in moving to a city.

Stopping at the local Poke Mart, I stocked up on a few supplies that I would need to bring along the way.

Leaving Jubilife City and heading north though Route 204 towards Floaroma Town, I jotted down some notes of the wildlife through the route.

My first intention was to get to the Old Chateau House in Eterna Forest.

Spending most of the morning recording some data the professor needed, I found some distinct patterns certain Pokemon made or markings on trees that other Pokemon made.

Seeing as Lily wondered around the area, I tried to keep her close by, as to not disturb the Pokemon. She did seem to be curious as to what was here. Keeping an eye on her, I finished up what I was doing and headed out.

The trees starting to turn different colors as we went continued through the route.

"Where are going?" Lily asked.

"To Floaroma Town," I replied.

"Where's that?" she asked.

"At the other end of the route," I replied.

"How long will that take?" she asked.

"Not long," I replied smiling at her.

"Can you carry me?" she asked.

"Sure thing," I said picking her up. "You ok?"

"My feet hurt," she replied.

"Alright," I said. "I'll carry you, ok?"

"Ok," she said.

Lily looked around the area as we continued through the route.

I knew the next town was only a minute or two further up the route.

Looking over at Lily, as she seemed to be gazing at the different colors of the leaves, she still seemed curious of the fall season and all the colors it to offer. I couldn't help but look around as we entered Floaroma Town.

The town smelled of sweet scent of flowers, and grew in small gardens in different areas of the town. With the town being small, it looked peaceful and quiet; I couldn't pass up the offer to have lunch in the town.

Thinking back to when I was a kid, I remember coming here with friends during the summer, with the trip taking no more than an hour to reach. We would spend hours looking at the flowers or spend the day hanging out with each other and have a good time not having to worry about school.

Returning to reality, I released the two Floatzel's from their Poke balls, and got lunch going.

As lunch was under way, I jotted down some notes on my two Floatzel's. I thought it would be best to have some notes on the relationships of water type Pokemon on how they reacted to different environments.

Lily didn't go far from me, she wanted to sniff some of the flowers  and even picked a few of them and brought them over to me. Eventually, she slowly made her way to the male Floatzel. I knew that the two had a special bond, but the other Floatzel, I was kind of worried about. I did notice that she didn't like it when Lily wanted to hang out with them. I had several talks with her about the bond between the two, she could never really appreciate the bond the two shared.

Without any noticing, I checked the female Floatzel's aura. I could tell that she is angry on the inside but happy on the outside.

I took note of what I saw.

Seeing the behavior of how she truly felt led me to believe that she didn't like the affection he was displaying towards the Chimchar. I couldn't really tell if it was anger towards children or anger towards her.

Keeping a close eye on them, I wanted to make sure she didn't do anything harsh to the Chimchar.

Watching the Floatzel, as he put Lily back on the ground, I smiled as Lily walked around.

Looking down at the food, I checked to make sure it was finished. That's when I heard a roar and Lily screaming.

Looking up I saw the female Floatzel attacking her with the male Floatzel trying to stop her.

Getting up, I brought my aura around my right hand and quickly flash stepped towards the female Floatzel as I put both hands in front of me forcing her back.

"GET OFF OF HER!" I boomed sending the female Floatzel back some several yards before hitting the ground.

Flash stepping towards her, I put my knee on her chest and my right hand on her neck, I said, "If you touch her again, you're dead, understand?"

She looked at me in horror and nodded.

Releasing my grip on her neck, I flash stepped over to the other Floatzel and Lily.

"Is she all right?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Let me see her," I said walking towards him.

He took a couple of steps back in fear.

Taking Lily from his arms, I brought her close to me .

"I can take it from here," I said.

Turning back to the picnic area and set her down. She had calmed down enough to where I could look her over and see if she had any serious wounds.

Not finding any life threatening wounds, I patched her up. Some of the wounds, though, were deep enough to where I had to close them up using a healing power that I had in case wounds that would take months to heal.

The female Floatzel was shaken when I came over to talk to her.

I knew my Floatzel did the right thing and tried to stop her.

"What you did was unforgivable," I said. "I've told you multiple times about this and you never listened to me. If you do this again, the consequences will be much more severe."

My Floatzel was still in shock when I turned to leave; the female Floatzel feared me after what I had done to her.

Going back to where I had out Lily, I checked on her again to see if I had missed anything. She still was frightened from the attack earlier.

Finishing up the last bit of preparations, I dished out lunch and had the female Floatzel sit at a distance from Lily. I gave my Floatzel the option to sit with me or her, he thought about it for a moment then sat down next to me.

"Look," I said, "I'm not trying to ruin the relationship between you two, I'm just trying to put her back in her place and make her realize the mistake she had made. I'm not making you sit with me, I did give you the option to sit with her and if you want to you can at any time. I'm not stopping you."

He looked up at me, then down at his food for a minute trying to decide whether or not to sit with me or with his mate.

"No need to feel rushed," I said not really looking over at him.

Lily had cuddled up in my lap still frightened from what had happened.

Eventually, he did get up and walked over to his mate and sat down next to her.

Watching the two for a moment, I made sure neither of them knew that I was keeping a close eye on them.

Taking a mental note of this, I would later right it down once I started taking notes again.

Hearing the soft breeze from the wind and the occasional whimper from Lily, we sat in silence. The smell of fresh flower scented the air as we finished lunch and started to pack things up.

Leaving the two Floatzel's out of their Poke Balls, we continued on our journey, both of them kept their distance from me, while I kept Lily close to me.

Heading east towards the entrance of Route 205, we started up our journey again. Heading North across the bridge that lead to Eterna Forest, I took a few notes as there was nothing really to jot down. I did jot down the incident from earlier on my personal notes.

Looking over my shoulder, both the Floatzel's were far behind me.

"Stop being such Slowpokes," I called out.

They looked up at me and picked up the pace, but not by much. I knew they were keeping their distance from me. At the rate we were going, we would reach the Old Chateau House by night fall.

Jotting down a quick note, I started walking again. The route was no different from the previous routes; the trees changing colors and the smell of the nearby flowers made the route your average route.

Taking notes of the different Pokemon and how they interacted with each other and how each of the Pokemon worked together as fall was soon going to become winter.

Having gotten to the entrance of Eterna Forest by night fall, I returned both Floatzel's to their Poke balls. Not wanting them to become lost in the vast forest, it was best for all of us in case we were to be ambushed.

Seeing as Lily clung to me as I entered the forest, I knew she was scared. Doing my best to comfort her, I looked up at the sky seeing the colors changed from a golden color to violet and looking back to see a dark blue color.

Feeling Lily cling to me, I looked down at her, then to the entrance of the forest.