I was always the odd one. That's what everyone kept telling me.

          I'm Yana. My mom says it's a nice simple name. I wish my life was that simple; I'm mostly a loner and because of that, my mom was the only one I could look up to. Even the other young monkeys in the troop didn't really want anything to do anything with me; I tend to get easily angry at their teasing and pick fights with them a lot, much to mom's aggravation. She probably wishes she had a daughter that could behave. Oh yeah, I only live with her. I have no other siblings and my dad...well; he disappeared before I was born.

          Our family troop was situated comfortably in a warm, thriving niche of the jungle. Many different kinds of Pokemon lived there, but our troop kept mostly to themselves because of the competition for goods in the area. There were roughly 30 members in our troop, with more males than females, who all looked nearly identical to either my mom or myself: grassy green and yellow monkeys. We took control of several large trees in the area for food and shelter. It was actually a pretty nice place to live in.

          That morning, I had woken up in the leaf-lined shelter mom and I shared up in one of the big trees. I saw mom had left me some berries for breakfast, but she was nowhere to be found. "I guess mommy is off talking to her friends." I thought as I stretched my muscles while the morning sun shone off my short yellow and green fur. My thin green tail also straightened out and the two leaf shapes at the tip quivered slightly from the stretching. I moved over to the berries and started snacking on them. I could tell this was just going to be an average day, for me at least. After finishing off the berries, I unsteadily climbed down the tree to the ground. I was still a bit too young to have many skillful climbing abilities. Mom had told me I'm about 5 moon cycles old, so I'm still considered as a very young child by the troop. Over by another of the large tree in our territory, I saw some of the older members hanging around talking about something.

They were almost twice my height; they had the same green and yellow fur, but were spikier than my smooth fur, along with broad green ears. They also had some patches of white, spiky fur on their shoulders and above their eyes. The one thing the usually stands out is the large green crest they have. Mom and the other older females looked just like them, but their crests are considerably smaller. Younger ones like me just have a small bush-like shape on our heads; some of the local Pokemon around here call us "broccoli heads", which tends to get us riled up. The older members can be pretty intimidating, they are pretty good at fighting, especially with their thick, thorny tails; I wondered if that's why we never really had any problems with competition around here. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to be just like them. Usually the parents and the elder of the troop brings their child, if they are ready, to a secret special place where the huge change happens.

I walked up to one of the males who was not talking with the other two, and with hesitation, asked him, "D-do you know where Cheri is?" He looked at me and said, "Uh...yeah, I saw her and her friends over there near that tree." He pointed with his thumb to a normal-looking tree off to my right and then turned back to continue listening to his friend's conversation.

To be honest, I was a not friend with Cheri, nor her group of friends. They didn't like me, with their claims of me being a "freak". I did hang back to see what they are up to sometimes. But usually, I prefer to be alone, and go on little excursions around the area, being careful not to stray so far from the familiar trees of home. I do wish I had a friend to go on adventures with...

I walked a little bit until I could see a familiar tail from behind a tree. It was one just like my own, thin and green with two leaf shapes on the very tip. I slowed my walking pace and hid behind a bush. I could see Cheri and two of her friends huddled around something.

"Hey Cheri, this one looks gross!" one of the monkeys said as he poked whatever was in front of him.

"Gross? It's sooo cute!" Another one said, with a higher pitched voice than the male.

It wasn't until one of them shifted over that I saw a small green and yellow worm-like Pokemon. It had small back beady eyes and an orange mouth; it also had a big leaf on its head. Cheri used a stick to poke at its weary, tired face.

"What's wrong, you icky bug? Can't tackle me anymore?" Cheri sneered as the other two giggled.

Picking on a smaller Pokemon, how typical of them. I somehow had to stand up for the poor tired bug, but I didn't want to bring the suspicion that I was snooping on them. So I walked out of the bush and waved to them. "Hey guys, how's it going?" I said as I smiled at them. They turned to look at me.

"Oh, it's just you. Why don't you go bug someone else, Yana?" Cheri said coldly, still clutching her stick.

"Hehehe, you said 'bug'!" Cheri's male friend, Oran, giggled. "Get it? Since we're all teas-Ow!" Cheri elbowed him hard in the arm.

          "What are you guys doing?" I said with faking innocence.

          "Nothing, now go throw rocks at trees or whatever you do for fun, you freak!" Cheri's female friend, Lum, said while crossing her arms.

          Freak. There was that word again. I started getting incensed enough to drop my innocent façade. There I go again: getting easily angry at their teasing. "No! Why don't you leave that poor bug alone?" I said while balling both of my hands into fists. I hated that I could get so easily angered over little things. Most of my encounters with Cheri and her gang usually ended with me picking fights with them. I don't even know why I keep going back to them. They tend to ignore me, call me names, or pick fights back. Maybe I was just naïve and wanted to hang out with someone, even if they didn't really like me.

          "Or what? You're gonna' throw rocks at us?" Cheri said as she continued poking the worm.

          I snapped and pounced her. Before I knew it, I was on top of her and swatting at her face. Ever since I could remember, I was poked fun by them since I was smaller than the others and wanted to be alone. I knew how it was like to be that worm; that poor worm...

          The air filled with Cheri's and my screeching and yelling; mine with anger and hers in pain. My vision was starting to blur with tears as I continued my assault. I felt like everything was going slow and it wasn't until I was pulled off of Cheri that time seemed to go back to normalcy. The powerful hands that were on my shoulders turned me around and there I stared at the face of my mother. Two other adults were behind her, they where probably Cheri's parents. I couldn't tell.

          "Yana, what the hell are you doing?!" Mom's white eyebrows furrowed deeper with aggravation.

"M-mommy..." I choked out with more tears welling into my eyes. "I-I'm sor-"

"No, I want you to apologize to Cheri about what you did!" Mom said in her powerful voice as she still clutched my shoulders.

"B-but, Cheri st-started it!" I continued sobbing and started to wipe away my tears.

"Fine, we're going home!" Mom heavily sighed as she grabbed my wrist and dragged me off to our tree. I knew what would happen next: she would give me a whipping with her thorny tail and then tell me to think about that I've done. It happened a few times before and was the normal punishment for the misbehaving kids in our troop.

          I tried to reason with her on our way to the tree. "B-but mommy!" I sobbed hard, "Cheri started it! She called me a freak!" We finally got to the tree, but we didn't climb up to our home. I still sobbed, as I knew what to do; I turned around to face the trunk and put my hands on it, leaning forward. Closing my eyes, I felt the sharp, hot pain on my bottom, and then it happened again. With each stroke, I gave a loud yelp in between my sobbing. Sometimes...I even go into a small trance when such a thing happens, and before I knew it, mom was telling me it was over. It was not that easy to see through my fur, but I felt the welts rise and feel hot on my butt. Usually it was hard to sit after an hour or two after a whipping. I turned around to face mom, still crying and rubbing my sore bottom, and was looking towards the ground and saw my mom's feet.

          "Now Yana, I hope you won't do that again?" Mom asked me with a calm but firm voice.

          I looked up at her, and saw she had crossed her arms across her chest and had a hard look that was on her face. "M-mommy...d-do you hate me?" I said between sniffles.

          Her hard look immediately softened a bit. "Oh course I don't! You're my daughter..." She kneeled in front of me and touched my cheek. "But your actions towards Cheri needed to be dealt with, or else worse consequences will some along..."

"B-but she was teasing that poor worm an-" I continued but mom sharply shushed me.

"Don't worry about Cheri or anyone else for now. Just go up to the nest. This is part of your punishment. You'll stay up there until I say so."

Wiping the last of my tears, I started back up the tree under the watchful eye of my mom, who stayed on the ground. I noticed I had several onlookers around. Did they see the whipping? Was I that loud? I didn't want to ponder such questions as I quietly and slowly climbed up the tree until I reached our shelter. I crawled in and laid on my stomach in the soft grass and leaves. My bottom was still very warm and too sore. Oddly, I felt another warm and tingling sensation...but it was between my legs. Confused, I sat up, carefully moving into a sitting position. The sensation itself wasn't that new to me, and rubbing that area felt pretty good. I was confused why I was feeling this way after such a painful experience? This nice sensation...it was also a bit more intense than normal. There was no way I could just ignore this for it to go away.

I looked around for any bystanders in the trees to make sure they wouldn't be looking at me while doing something this private. The coast was clear and I crawled towards the trunk and leaned back against it. Using my right hand, it migrated to my loins and slowly rubbed my inner thighs. Then I moved on to the main part. I shivered from the touch, noticing my swollen lips were already damp, and slowly began to rub the small fleshy area that gave me such good feelings in the past. I never really had anything that could be considered as a fantasy, so I focused on the rubbing and how much pleasure it was giving me. Rubbing faster, I felt the area heat up and tingle some more. My breathing was also getting hard as well. It wasn't long until I hit the peak of pleasure and tensed up all my muscles as it went throughout my body. I gave a soft moaning squeak as the highest point lasted a few seconds before it started to die down and I flopped against the raised edge of the nest next to the trunk.

Softly panting, I thought to how that was the most intense it has ever been. But another thought came to mind: That spanking was supposed to be a punishment, and here I was doing something pleasurable after it. I felt a little ashamed about it, but it couldn't be helped. But...If a painful experience could lead to a pleasure at levels I haven't experienced before, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to purposely get in trouble sometimes.

Maybe Cheri and her friends were right; I was a big freak.

I curled up in the middle of the nest, in the cool shade of the tree, and closed my eyes for a short nap. There wasn't much to do up here anyway but sleep and eat. I'll have to think more about this later...

Maybe I shouldn't be ashamed at all; Cheri was the one who started it.

*******

I woke up a little while later and heard a soft rustling near me. I opened my eyes and saw that mom was in the nest, putting away some extra berries into a small hole that was in our tree. Giving a small squeaky yawn, I stretched out my body over the dried leaves in the nest. "Have a nice nap?" Mom asked me, without turning to face me and kept putting more berries into the tree cubby.

          "Can I go down there now, mommy?" I asked her meekly.

          Mom turned around and looked at me. "Sure, be up here by sunset for dinner. Also, do not go near Cheri or her friends for now. If you keep getting into fights...I-I'm not sure what to do with you." Her face grew sullen as she sighed deeply. I didn't like it when mom got so sad. If me getting into fights stressed her out, then maybe I should forgo my plans for any future mischief. I made a promise to myself; I won't lash in anger out unless it's only necessary. I crawled over to mom and wrapped my arms around her tightly.

          "I promise I'll try to not do anything bad, mommy." I nuzzled my face into her chest as she wrapped her own arms around me and gave me a kiss on my forehead.

          I wonder what would be different if dad was here. From what little info I got from snooping around and listening into conversations, he was "young and dumb" and "ran away like a coward" when a big responsibility came along. I also heard he tended to jump at the opportunity with a thick head, whatever that means. I sometimes wondered if he ever thought about me, wherever he was...

When I got unto the ground below, I thought about what I can do until sunset. I could go exploring in the forest around here; that was usually my default choice. There was a place not to far from here that has some nice swinging vines. I made my choice and then set off to this place, hoping neither Cheri nor her friends were there to ruin my fun. The walk was a bit further than I wanted, but it was worth it when I saw the telltale vines from a short distance away. I ran until I entered the area and jumped and grabbed onto a vine and swung in a short arc. I used a branch to stop myself and looked around the area. All I could hear was some birds and insects in the distance. No Cheri at all. Perfect. I could spend hours here.

I started swinging from vine to vine, all while chattering happily in excitement. It was until I was on an upswing of one vine that it snapped loudly and sent me falling unto the ground. I fell with a plop on my back and felt the hard thud of the ground knock the wind out of me. Dazed for a few seconds, I finally sat up and started to sob from the dull pain and the shock. This was another reason Cheri and her friends made fun of me; I was easily brought to tears. I was glad she wasn't here at least.

I looked down at the broken vine at my feet; It sort of looks like mom's tail. Then the gears started turning in my head. I had promised mom I wouldn't get in trouble, but that also means no whippings. I could probably use these vines to do the job myself. I had stopped sobbing and a small smile crept on my face. I can still be a good kid to mom and still have that special pleasure.

I started to brainstorm on how I could whip myself. It didn't take long since there wasn't much else to do. With the vine in my hand, I could swing it to where it would wrap around and hit my back. No...maybe swinging my arm to wrap around myself and the edge of the vine would hit my backside. I did a couple of practicing swings just to test out my experiment. It took a few tries, sometimes hitting my mid-back or accidentally having it wrap around to where it hit my tummy. I also looked around every now and then to make sure nothing was creeping up on me.

"I think that's enough practice for today." I thought as the jungle was showing the warm colors of sunset. So, I rolled up the vine and hid it under an exposed root of a tree, promising to come back for it, and I started to walk back home, humming happily.

*******

For the next few days, I visited the vine grove in secret, getting better at whipping myself. I got so good, that after a session, I would have to find a nearby spot hidden in the dense flora to rub myself in pleasure. Mom had noticed that I was usually in a good mood these past few days. It was nice to see her happy. I also avoided Cheri and her friends as much as I could.

One day, after a whipping session, I was going to my hidden spot when I heard some soft giggling in a nearby bush. I knew I should have checked the area harder today.

"Wh-who's there?" I asked meekly in the direction of the giggling. The bush stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity, until I heard some whispering. Getting aggravated, I shouted, "Come out, now!" I waited, getting angrier by the second. Having someone viewing something so private, I felt exposed...

Then, without thinking, I ran and pounced at whatever was in the bush, forgetting that it might have been a dangerous Pokemon. Grabbing on to whatever it was and slamming into the ground, I noticed what seemed like a mirror image of me.

"Yana, what the hell is wrong with you!?" It was Oran, and he was struggling under my weight. Cheri was right near him.

"Why did you attack him?! He didn't do anything to you, freak!" Cheri angrily yelled as she grabbed me roughly and tried to shove me off Oran.

"You guys were watching me?!" I asked them in a shock. I felt exposed, so very exposed.

With the help of Cheri, Oran shoved me off, and I made a yelp as I hit the ground onto my already sore butt. "Why were you whipping yourself? Is that another sick game of yours?" Oran added as he stood up and brushed off the dirt on his fur.

"I'm telling mom you attacked Oran!" Cheri yelled as she grabbed his wrist and ran off with him to the troop's village.

Crap. I'm in trouble again. Mom definitely won't be too pleased. I had promised myself that I'd be a good, well-behaved daughter to her. I can't even keep my anger under control. I started to sob as I started walking back home. Those two brats will most likely tattle on what I was doing in the vine grove. Then everyone in the troop will know how much of a freak I am.

Why? Why did I have to be such a freak? I have no friends; Mom doesn't count. Speaking of her, I continually stress her out with my problems.

I stopped walking and looked up to the sky, my vision cloudy with tears. "I...I just want to be normal! I'll do anything to be normal!" I meekly yelled to whoever or whatever was in the sky. I rubbed the flowing tears from my eyes and saw the troop village was close by. I sobbed deeply as I walked back home, awaiting my punishment.

*******

It turns out mom only deeply scolded me. I guess because she found out from Cheri and Oran that I was used to the whipping. She also wanted me to stay in the nest for a few days most of the time. She would sometimes bring me with her on boring errands down on the ground. Those days were slow and uneventful, of course. It also didn't help that I was in a very sad mood throughout. I would look over the edge of the nest and watch the troop members below, idling or just walking around. I could barely hear their conversations from this high up.

After spending a few days mostly alone in the nest, my punishment was over. During it, I did some thinking. I should just leave everyone alone, and sort of stay off to the side of things. Maybe it's for the best, since it seems I cause problems for everyone.

Wanting some alone time, I decided to take a walk around and explore, like I usually did. Grabbing a broken stick, I started walking into the dense forest and lightly tapping the stick onto the ground as I walked. Keeping my ears open for anything that might be lurking nearby, I started looking around at the scenery. Various saturated hues of green were sometimes dotted with bright colors from the flowers and fruits they bore. Some of the colors were from Pokemon themselves, scattering through the foliage or silently watching me from their perch.

Then, my mind started to wonder back to my various problems. They kept running through my head as the topic jumped all over the place. I didn't even know how long I kept walking. It wasn't until I tripped over a big tree root that I was brought back to reality and faced with a new predicament.

I was lost.

Scared and panicking, I quickly looked around to look for any familiar trees. There was none. Maybe if I backtrack my route? No, I don't even know if I had made some turns while lost in my thoughts. I can always climb a tree to get a good view of the area, but what if some bigger Pokemon was lurking up there? It was worth a shot.

I put down my stick on the ground and started to climb the nearest tree, being cautious of anything that might be nesting there. I finally got up to the top and looked around. My hope went down when all I could see was a sea of unfamiliar trees. I really was lost. I then heard a flapping of wings. It was getting louder and seems to be headed towards the tree I was on. I turned my head towards the source of the sound. Coming towards the tree was a mainly gray-and-black-colored bird that had brown feathers on its lower half and a long thin gray tail that had black stripes. It landed swiftly on the same branch as me and quickly snapped its beak at me.

"Hey, you little twerp! What are you doing in my tree?! Are you messing with my nest?!" It asked in a feminine, but aggravated voice. She got close towards me, to which I started backing up against the trunk in cowardice. As if reacting to hearing her voice, I heard some quiet peeping and cooing from somewhere above.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm l-lost a-and-" I started to sob helplessly until she cut me off.

"Well, beat it! Scram!" She said as she gave one last snap of her beak at me.

Not wanting to get into a fight with a much bigger Pokemon, I hurriedly jumped down to a lower branch and climbed down in haste, losing my footing near the bottom and falling to the ground with a hard thud. Groaning in pain, I looked up towards the angry bird.

"You better shoo, you stupid monkey! Hmph!" She yelled down at me before turning her attention to whatever it was up there.

I slowly picked myself up and found my stick nearby. I walked a bit until I found a downed moss-covered tree and sat on it. I'm in real trouble now if anyone finds me. I don't think I can handle another few days of doing nothing. I looked up through the top of the trees as the sunbeams fell upon me, my eyes slowly filling with tears.

I started walking back the way I came, hoping that I'll eventually start seeing the familiar trees of home. After some time while walking, I noticed that the sun was low in the sky and the jungle was giving off a slight orange tint. It was almost dinnertime and I was still lost. Tears started to flow again as I felt increasing hopelessness of finding home again. What will I do now?

It was then that I started hearing a soft rustling in a nearby bush. I turned towards it in defense and saw that something definitely was hiding in it. I also heard some soft whispering.

"Wh-who's there?" I nervously asked it. "Ch-cheri? I-Is that you? Th-This joke isn't f-funny!" I brought up my flimsy stick in front of me for protection. Suddenly, a yellow blur ran out of the blush and head butted me. I gave a yelp from the pain as I was thrown backwards and rolled on the ground. Groaning from the sharp pain, I looked up and saw my attacker. The lizard was around my height, yellow and red scaly skin, with what looked like it was wearing a yellow bag on its lower body. It stared me down with its huge white eyes while gritting its teeth in a frown.

I started getting angry. "Why did you attack me? I didn't do anything!" I yelled at it and started to turn away until I heard another voice from behind it.

"Zeke! Use Leer!" It wasn't until then that I noticed another, bigger animal behind him. I had heard from the older troop members about these animals, who called themselves "humans" that tended to capture Pokemon for themselves. This particular human had brownish fur on his head, light-colored skin, and was wearing something to cover most of his body.

Suddenly this thing called a "Zeke" got in front of me and glared at me. I felt like my cowardice was coming back and started slowly backing up. Out of the only defense I knew, I started scratching at his face. He seemed a bit unfazed as he hit me with another powerful head butt. I was slammed roughly against a tree and slid towards the ground. Deep pain resonated throughout my body. I didn't want to fight anymore; I just wanted to be back home with mom. I would rather spend a whole month up in the nest than be here! I saw the Zeke come up towards me, and I tightly curled up into a tense ball. "Please don't kill me! I didn't do anything wrong!" I started sobbing again as he stopped in front of me.

"Kill you? Why would we do that?" He asked me with a confused look on his face.

Before I could answer, the human threw a round red and white object that hit me. Everything in my vision turned into a bright red light, followed by complete darkness. I can't explain what happened, but this dark place; I didn't know what to do. Did this thing that hit me...am I dead? It was then that I heard a far-away "ding!" sound. What's going on? I then felt something change in my feelings. I suddenly started to feel tranquil, like I was safe now. Then, the feeling of trust came to me. Trust...it was something I wasn't used to. All those times I trusted Cheri and her friends, only to have it shattered...

It felt like time had passed before I suddenly felt my pain ebb away. Then, the bright red light returned to fill my vision and then fade away until I noticed that I was out of...wherever I was. The scenery was not like the familiar jungle, but instead I was in this bright...cave of some sort. It was very angular and shiny, and I noticed other humans and Pokemon were there. On the left side of my vision was a slender human behind a tall...box that had bright pink hair and had something white on her head. Next to her was a tubby tan and pink Pokemon with fluffy ears and bright blue eyes. What is this place!?

"Hey there, little Pansage."

I turned my head towards the voice. There was the human from before, and beside him was the Zeke. I immediately shrunk back a little in fear, but I had a feeling in my gut: "Trust them, Yana!" The human slowly knelt down in front of me.

"I'm Aaron, nice to meet you!" The human warmly smiled at me. His dark green eyes shimmered with the brightness in the room. He also had a bit of an earthy smell to him. "This here is Zeke." Aaron motioned his hand towards the yellow lizard from before. The lizard hopped and smiled big at me.

"Hi! I'm Zeke! 'Dat wuz' a neat battle huh?" Zeke said as he walked up to me, but I moved backwards in fear. I was very confused. This Zeke thing had attacked me for no reason, now he's being friendly?

"B-but you attacked me! I thought I was going to die!" I told him, meekly.

"Oh, 'dat battle? Aaron want'd to catch ya', so we had ta' fight! Don't worry, I won't hurt ya' anymore! I promise!" Zeke kept smiling as he pulled up the bag that was on his lower body up a bit.

I was gullible as well; another reason Cheri could play dirty tricks on me over and over. "Y-you won't?" I asked him, still unsure about his intentions. Aaron looked on at us silently, still with his soft smile.

"Sure! Want ta' be friends?" He asked happily as he offered his paw to me.

"Fr-friends?" I asked, dumbfounded. I never had a friend back at home...but finally, someone who wanted to be my friend! "Y-yeah, let's be friends!"

But then a worrying thought came up: I had abandoned my home on accident. Then again, I had caused problems for the troop over and over again; will they even miss me? I knew mom really would...

          Snapping me out of my thoughts, Zeke wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug. "Friendz' foreva'!" I returned a hug to him as well, feeling his scaly skin against my short fur. We stopped hugging as we heard an "Awww." come from Aaron.

          "Looks like you guys are on good terms now!" Aaron said as he gave a thumbs-up to us. "Now, to give you a name. We can't keep calling you 'Pansage' you know?" Aaron said as he rested his chin on his hand.

          "My name is Yana!" I told him, but he seemed to not understand. "Yana! Yana! My name is Yana!" I fervently told him.

"Humans can't understand Pokemon speech." Zeke told me.

"What? Why?" I asked Zeke, to which he just shrugged his shoulders.

          "Hmm, a name..." Aaron said as he stared intently at me. "How about...Elvis?"

                    Elvis? What an ugly, boyish name! I shook my head with gusto. "Aaron! I'm a girl! A girl!" I tried to tell him, but he looked at me with confusion.

          "Ok...how about, Fonzie?" Aaron asked me. Another ugly boy name! I shook my head again. Zeke suddenly went over to a bag that was near Aaron and pulled out something shiny and square.

"Z-Zeke! What are you doing? Give that back to me!" Aaron said as he tried to grab the shiny thing from him. Zeke started to motion the object towards me, and then looked back at Aaron.

"You want me to run the Pokedex on him? Alright..." Aaron said and easily got the object from Zeke's paws. He held the object, a "Pokedex", in front of me while touching around on its surface that faced him.

Then, in an unusual voice, it spoke out: "Pansage. Female. One foot eight inches. Eighteen pounds."

Aaron looked at me sheepishly. "Oh...you being a girl never crossed my mind. You usually find Pansages as males in the wild." He looked back at the Pokedex. "Also, you must be pretty young if those physical statistics are right. But then why would such a young Pokemon be out all alone?" Aaron asked no one in particular. His face turned into one of concentration while thinking of another name. Then he looked back at me. "How about...Naki? That should be more feminine than Elvis!"

Naki? But I'm Yana...I guess that name is better than that ugly boy one. I looked back at Aaron, and nodded my head in acceptance.

"Alright! So welcome to our humble team, Naki!" He beamed as he held out his hand. I looked quizzically at it until I heard Zeke mention to hold on to it.

"It's a human thing." Zeke told me. So I slowly reached out and held unto Aaron's hand. Aaron grinned and then picked me up into a big hug. I felt something warm grow in my heart. The feeling of...being wanted.

*******

The next few moon cycles were pretty life changing for me. There was always something to do when around Zeke and Aaron. But I was homesick and worried for mom back at the jungle. I hate the fact that I had abandoned her, just like dad had done. I hope she has a gut feeling that I'm all right, because Aaron was taking very good care of me.

Because I've been hanging out with Zeke during most of my free time, I haven't had the time to do any "whipping" games. As we moved from the humid jungle areas into the cooler forests, there were no vines around to do such anyway. I sometimes still have the urges, much to my embarrassment. I didn't let Zeke know about my secret game because, well, I hate to lose a friendship and being called a freak once again. This time I couldn't just run away if it did come to that.

I also got pretty good with battles. I had a pretty rough start since I only knew to scratch and would give up early if I got hurt. Thankfully, Aaron was very patient with me. Zeke was a good practice battle partner, and over time, I got more confidence with my battle abilities. We would usually run into another trainer on a route or in a city and we would battle them for fun...and money. To me, it's surprising I went from only knowing only a weak "Scratch" to learning more powerful moves like "Seed Bomb" and "Vine Whip." Zeke was getting strong as well, and Aaron mentioned he might be close to evolving, whatever that was.

Aaron would keep both of us out of our "Pokeballs" so we could experience the world outside. Only if we were tired of walking, going to sleep, or hurt were we sucked back into the ball. The world outside was certainly more interesting than the jungle, with so many different places to see and stuff to do.

Aaron would go looking for wild Pokemon so me and Zeke could spar with them. After visiting this huge city and then a big desert after that, we were on a route when we came across a small purple and black Pokemon in the tall grass a little off from the dirt path. It was about half my size and had these big blue eyes. Oddly enough, it had these white butterfly-looking things on it as well. Aaron had me battle it and just as I was about to give my final attack; "Naki, hold back!" Aaron yelled at me as he quickly pulled out a Pokeball and threw it at the small Pokemon. It was sucked in and after a few tense seconds the Pokeball gave a confirmatory "ding." Aaron jumped up in glee as he obtained his third party member.