Soutemumb here with the second part of my attempt at writing a Pokephilia. This first installment followed Joseph, a breeder, and Cyan, his Grovyle. This chapter focuses on much of the same characters and introduces a couple new ones. Individual characters are of my own creation and not based upon anyone else, real or fictional. All Poke'mon names, locations, and species are copyright Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Enjoy! æÆæÉæÆæÉæÆæÉæÆæÉæÆæÉæÆæÉæÆæÉæÆæÉæÆæÉæÆæÉæÆ I was in the forest behind Professor Birch's home, sitting in a tree and watching the sunset with a shiny Treecko. Ah, I must be dreaming then. The sunset gently warming me and the soft breeze providing a pleasantly contrasting environment as I sat there with my soon-to-be partner. She turns to look at me, her expression one of silent excitement. Opening her mouth she lets out a surprisingly masculine "Master?" and I wake up."Master? are you awake?" Cavan asked, poking me. "Yeah, I'm up Cav. What time is it?" I ask, trying to rub my eyes. I only half succeeded since Cyan was lying against my side in the crook of my shoulder. "Your Poke'dex is showing that it's around nine in the morning, since we're holing up here for a while I was thinking you should let everyone out of their poke'balls. It's not right to keep them cooped up in little balls while you're sleeping in a bed." Cavan mumbled, being mindful of Cyan's being asleep. "Yeah, I should have done that last-night. Help me up without waking her and I'll head down to trainer accommodations, there should be a variety of battling rings that can provide the others with a comfortable living space." I say with a sigh. Cavan nods and slides his form down my arm, transforming into a thin veil over it. After a few seconds to make sure that hadn't woken Cyan, he started expanding to give me space to wiggle out. Retrieving my bag and the translator, I made my way to the elevator still thinking about the day ahead. "Sim Nurse?"I yell out. "You there?" "Hello Joseph, how may I assist you?" She asked through the PA system. "Couple of things today Joy, firstly under emergency conditions you're programed to give administrative access to the highest ranked person in the building. That should be me since there are no physical Nurse Joys present. I need to know if there are any life-signs in trainer accommodations?" I ask. She made a sound confirming my request and after a few moments she says, "There is one life-sign inside of a poke'ball in unregistered room 12. Pokeball data shows that the pokemon within is registered to Bronson Davis, a trainer. A chansey has been notified..." she started. "Cancel that request please, I'll deal with it myself. Please open all doors in Trainer Accommodations and turn on the lights." I interrupted quickly. Arriving on the first sub-floor, I proceeded to go room to room checking for supplies. I didn't find much and what I did find was rotting inside a broken fridge. Room twelve, the last room on this side of the hall was normal looking. A single box was out of place, on the counter. It was intricately carved and the poke'ball was etched and painted with bright reds and oranges. As I picked it up I was immediately aware that the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up like someone or... something, was looking at me, only inches behind me. I whip around, intent on catching whatever it was. The door behind me was closed. That's strange, I thought, I told Joy to open all the doors. "Nurse, why did you close this door?" I ask. "I'm not quite sure what you mean. I did not close any doors." her strangely calm voice says from the intercom next to the door. "What? Could you access the log files within the door and read the most recent entry?" I ask my eyes not leaving the door. The light on the door changes to a pale yellow, indicating that it had been put into diagnostic mode and Joy's voice issues forth once more "0211205309021212: An unknown error has occurred, executing security measure 01 (Door has been locked). There seems to have been a problem with an electrical system inside the door, I'll unlock it again and mechanically lock it open to prevent another problem." The door opens quickly, startling me even though I was expecting it. "Thank-you Nurse." I say and turn my gaze back to the intricate box. A single card was inside that read: "Brother, though I can no longer travel with you on your adventure due to my sickness. It is my hope that my guardian, Angel, may travel with you in my stead. Stay safe, and I will see you in the next life." Picking up the pokeball from the box, I pressed the button on the front to expand it to full size and again to release the captive Poke'mon. A red flash of light resolved into the shape of a Charizard who looked at me confused. Growling deeply, Angel glared at me. But I raised a hand to calm her. "Please, calm down, I come in peace. You've been in your poke'ball for quite a while, I'd like a chance to explain what is going on." I said clearly and she stopped growling but didn't stop glaring at me. "Thank you, My name is Joseph and I am... was a poke'mon breeder. The world you once knew is gone. All that's left are the husks of left-over buildings, survivors, and the deathless. I don't know what caused this, just that it's happened but the deathless are basically infected people and poke'mon that are hungry. We've tried everything to kill them, but it seems like the head and neck are the best options in what to aim for. I'm sorry for your loss, but your trainer Bronson might very-well be dead." At that her eyes widened and she looked away, she didn't spill a tear though. I walked up to her, hugging her tightly. She stiffened in response but eventually relaxed in my embrace. "Your name is Angel right?" I asked the charizard. She nodded into my shoulder. "I can understand you if you speak, I've got a bluetooth translator." "I'd like to say it's nice to meet you, but the situation I find myself in weighs heavily on my heart. The trainer I was with as a charmander died to what you humans call a tumor. She left me to her brother after her death. Finding out that the only link to my old master is dead is shocking to say the least." She whispered. "Would you like to meet the rest of the survivors that are here? A lot of them went through the whole, trainer is now dead thing." I asked her. I felt her nod, and so I reached for her paw and lead her to the normal-type battleground where I planed to let the surviving pokemon out of their pokeballs. Pulling a smaller bag from my pack, I began to pull miniaturized pokeballs out and release their occupants. First I grabbed a pokeball painted charcoal-gray with a set of red fangs on the bottom-half. This poke'ball contained Vandal, a giant seviper who's job was managing dozens of rescued pokemon and assigning tasks to aid our survival. Pressing the button, I realeased him and he flicked his tongue at me. "We're at our next destination and I found another survior, a charizard named Angel this time." I said in response to his questioning gaze. "I figured I'd let the survivors strech outside their pokeballs at this center for a bit before moving to the next poke'center. "Well then, they'll be glad to hear that. Go ahead and release the others. I need to talk to you in private afterwords though." He said, moving up my offered arm and lying on my shoulders. I nod to him and quickly release the rest of the survivors. A total of thirty four other pokemon of various species were lined up silently waiting for me to speak Like they did every-time we stoped at a poke'center. "Hello, you all know me as Joseph. I rescued most of you from the apocalypse and some of you joined of your own accord... A couple of things today, we've been traveling for a while and I thought everyone deserved a break from traveling. We'll be here for a week. Like last break, if you need to go to the surface or to any of the other floors you'll need at-least a party of three and one of those three must have opposable thumbs." I said chuckling at the cheering pokemon."Now, we have another pokemon joining our number. Please give Angel the charizard a warm welcome." My hands indicated the charizard to my right, the charizard looking like she wanted to be anywhere but the center of attention. "Dub! I have to talk to Joseph for a bit, you're in charge for the time being." Vandal said from my shoulder to which a noibat noded. "Great!" I said. "Vandal and I will be in one of the trainer rooms until I need to go back downstairs to breeder accommodations." I turned around and made my way to one of the rooms and closed the door behind me.