“I'm sorry Vic, but you have to go into the PC for a little while. I hope you understand.” A Trainer said to his Flareon, Vic. Vic gave his master a look of confusion, not knowing what a 'PC' is. The Trainer took out the ball that belonged to Vic and pressed the little white button on it. In that same flash of red, Vic was sucked into the Poke Ball. The Trainer then placed Vic into the receptacle next to the PC and pressed another button. Vic's ball glowed white, and then it vanished. The Trainer let out a sigh of sadness.

“Wha... Where am I?” Vic asked the darkness. There was absolutely nothing, nothing other than the inky blackness that was supposed to be a 'PC.' He then felt something beneath him, something soft. The empty space flashed white and a beautiful forest unfurled before him. The sun materialized in the sky and shone on Vic's orange fur, making him feel nice and warm. The sky was as blue as the ocean and the grass was as green as green could be. It was paradise. Every now and then a tree would not render properly, making it look like a garbled mess, but Vic looked past that and enjoyed everything that was correct. The Flareon looked up a tree and saw a good looking Razz Berry, so he decided to hit it with a weak Ember attack. The tiny flame hit the berry and knocked it right out of the tree while slightly roasting it, just the way Vic liked it. “Bullseye!” He exclaimed under his breath. It landed right in front of him, so he began to dig in right where it hit the ground. It was delicious, far better than anything he had ever tasted before. After Vic finished his meal, he decided to explore a little. He walked through the forest with no particular end in mind, until he heard something moving in the bushes. Vic came to a halt. “Who's there? Answer me!” He called out. The unknown entity behind the bushes came out with an arm up. “Relax! I don't want to hurt you! You must be the cause of the large flash. Welcome to Storage, friend!” The Lucario said to Vic. “Storage? What is that?” Vic asked. The Lucario spread his arms apart. “Why, it is the very place that you are currently inhabiting! The humans call it a 'PC,' but we've come to know it as the Storage, because the humans usually keep us here when they can't carry any more of us. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! So sorry, my name is Kyva. What's yours?” Kyva said as he ran his paw down Vic's back. “My name's Vic. Nice to meet you!” Vic answered. Kyva's ear twitched as if he heard an important sound. Apparently he did. “Oh, there's the bell. Come on Vic, I'll show you the village.” The Lucario started jogging away from Vic, so he naturally decided to follow. 'Village? What's he talking about?' Vic thought. He didn't ask Kyva about it, he'd rather see what the village actually was. After a few minutes of steady jogging, they came across the village Kyva mentioned. It seemed perfect, there was a fresh water lake right in the middle of the settlement, the homes weren't just dens, but some were actual huts made of wood from the nearby trees. There were about 18 other Pokemon living in that village, and one stood out among the rest.

It was a Golduck. It looked like it was bossing everyone around and making some villagers go out and run errands for it. “Hey Kyva, who's that?” Vic asked as he directed Kyva's view to that Golduck. “Oh, that's Taru. He's like the village's monarch. He has us do things for him almost all day long, but in exchange he goes out at night and collects as much food as he can possibly carry for us. It might look like he's demanding a lot out of us, but the favors he asks of us are usually menial tasks that are easily completed. One day, he had me go to the lake and get him a bowl of water. Afterward, he handed me a delectable Pinap berry. It tasted incredible.” Kyva explained. Vic was still a little iffy about Taru and his ways, so he planned to keep some distance between them. “Come on Vic, I'll show you to your home.” Kyva said as he playfully tugged Vic's tail. “Oh, you're gonna regret doing that!” Vic replied in a happy tone. The Lucario ran away, so Vic began to chase him down. Vic closed the gap pretty quickly, but a barrier formed in front of him and he ran right into it. “What do you think you're doing? You think you can just wander into my village and chase down my folk? Who the hell do you think you are?!” A harsh voice asked. “O-oh, Taru, hello! I would like to introduce you to Vic. He's a really good guy. I was just playing around with him, but if you want me to stop, I will.” Kyva stuttered bashfully. “You're damn right I want you to stop! I can't believe you keep on inviting all of these random Pokemon into the village with out my permission even after I told you to stop! You are so dumb! I should just throw you out into the woods and leave you to starve!” Taru yelled. Kyva was trying to duck underneath Taru's bombardment of hand-me-downs, but it wasn't working. “I-I'm terribly s-sorry, it will n-n-never happen again...” Kyva sniffled. “It better not. Now get out of here, you worthless cur!” Taru demanded as he began to walk away. Kyva nodded slowly and began to walk away. “You let him treat you like that? Why? You should stand up to that punk and show him what for!” Vic recommended. Kyva just shook his head and tried to collect himself. “No, I can't. The Pokemon here rely on him for food, so we do what we can to keep him happy. If he left, I don't think that we'd survive very long. Now, lets get you to your home.” Kyva said as he pointed Vic in the right direction.

Kyva swung the door open and revealed a nice living space. It came with nice carpets, a fairly large bed that could probably hold a Snorlax, some very well-made trunks to hold anything that one might want or need, and a fireplace. As soon as Vic saw the fireplace, he shot it with an Ember attack. He did it not just because he was cold, but because he loved shooting fire. “Nice. You practice often?” Kyva asked. Vic nodded and began to explain, but was stopped by someone calling his name. “VIC! Get out here, NOW!” Taru yelled at the top of his lungs. Vic didn't listen. He didn't want to, and he wanted to send Taru a message saying that he wasn't going to fall victim to his bullying. “You should go. You wouldn't want to see Taru mad.” Kyva suggested. The Flareon just laughed and began to speak. “Oh, Taru doesn't scare me. Besides, if he doesn't feed me, I'll be okay. I learned how to hunt for berries a long time ago.” Suddenly, there was a very loud sound coming from outside of the hut. It sounded a lot like stomping. It was. “VIC! Why are you not answering to my call?! Get your retarded ass out here!” Taru insulted. Vic was shocked at Taru's choice of words, but he decided to confront him. Vic stepped outside. “Oh, I'm sorry. You called?” Vic said in a cheerful voice. “Wipe that stupid smirk off of your face! I want to let you know that if you ever refuse to do what I say, I'll have you tossed in the lake with a rock tied around your tail! You understand me?” Taru threatened. “Oh, that sounds fantastic! You know, instead of using a rock, you should try using some metal. That would probably work a lot better. Listen, I hope you know that I'm not putting up with your aggressive and offensive ways, Taru. If you want me to do something, you ask me politely, or else I won't do squat. You understand me?” Vic mocked. Taru was getting mad. “You listen here, you little rat. You will do as I say, when I say it, no matter how I say it. If you don't, then I'll deal with you personally. Now shut up and listen!” The Golduck said, readying a Water Pulse. “You honestly think that one Water Pulse like that is enough to put me down? You got another thing coming, bub.” Vic instigated. He pushed Taru over the edge. The Water Pulse transformed into a Hydro Pump attack, and it began to charge. “This is what happens when you don't listen to me.” Taru said as he put his foot on Vic to hold him in place. Kyva decided to take action and grabbed Taru's arm. “Taru, don't. He just got here, he needs some time to warm up to you is all. Why don't you see what he's good at? It'd make it easier for you to decide what he needs to do.” Taru considered Kyva's idea. He then lowered his attack and removed his foot from Vic's back. “You have a point, Kyva. Okay, Vic. You and I are going to have a little challenge. Whoever can lead their berry hunting team the greatest and come back with the most berries wins. The winner gets a week of no work, while the loser has to pull triple shifts all week long. Deal?” Vic caught his breath and answered.

“Deal. When are we gonna start?” Taru chuckled. “Right now. Round up your team, no more than 3 teammates. Meet me by the path when you're ready.” Taru calmly walked out of Vic's hut and got to work on his team. “Jeez, that guy is a piece of work. So, I guess I need to round up a team. You wanna join me, Kyva? You're the only one here than I can actually turn to as of right now.”
Kyva's ears perked right up at Vic's request. “You want me to help you? Nobody really asks me for anything... Ah, whatever! Sure, I'll join your team! I can show you some of the best berry hunters in the village, is that okay?” Kyva was very excited to be a part of Vic's soon-to-be team. “I'm pretty sure there are some great berry hunters here that Taru just ignored. It'd be great if you could show me some of them.” Vic asked the ecstatic Lucario. Kyva could barely contain his happiness. “Alright! Follow me, little fluff ball!” Kyva escorted Vic out of his hut and led him to other huts. Kyva introduced Vic to a Tauros named Buck and a Leavanny named Grace. Buck said that he could almost knock entire branches off of trees, so he could probably knock down a fairly large amount of berries. Grace said that she could weave large blankets pretty quickly. Vic thought that she could weave some blankets to help carry all of the berries back. Kyva didn't have much berry hunting experience, but he could track scents very well. Kyva knew what Vic would have him do. Satisfied with the newly assembled team, Vic led his party to the path where Taru was waiting. Vic looked around in confusion. “Where's your team?” he asked. Taru just laughed. “I don't need one. So, you brought Buck the useless Tauros, Grace the repulsive bug and Kyva the wimp. Hmph, I hope you know what you're doing.” Taru's ignorant descriptions of the team before him made Vic quite angry. “I do know what I am doing, and I know what I'm gonna do.” Vic said through clenched teeth. “Yeah? What's that?” Taru insisted. Vic's frown turned into a cocky smile. “I'm gonna whoop you in this competition, and my three friends are gonna be able to relax all week.” Vic sneered. Taru just shrugged and readied himself. “You ready to lose?” The Golduck asked impatiently. “Nope, not today.” Vic replied in his cheerful tone. A Noctowl swooped down and shouted “GO!” and the 5 competitors were off. Vic, Kyva, Buck and Grace went to the left while Taru went to the right.

“Okay guys, we need to find some berries for Kyva. If he can smell a berry, he can track them down. Keep your heads up and look for colors that stand out.” Vic instructed. The team acknowledged his instructions and got to business. Vic knew the colors of berries by heart, so this task was particularly easy for him. Buck decided to keep his head low to look for berries that might have fallen out of a tree, and Grace did as Vic said and kept looking up to the trees above while fiddling with a strand of silk. Kyva walked with Vic and did as he was told. “Hey, I think I found one!” Grace called out. Vic dashed over to her and confirmed her find. “Yes you did! You found a Pinap berry! Now, how are we gonna get it down...” Vic thought about it, but Grace immediately took action. She made a lengthy strand of silk and threw it at the berry. The silk stuck to the berry on Grace's first try. She then wrapped some silk around her forearm to increase the tension on the line, and finally pulled the berry down. “Will that work?” Grace asked, hoping that her method was a good one. “Yeah, that'll work just fine, gorgeous!” Vic complimented. Grace blushed and smiled coyly. She handed the Pinap berry to Kyva so he could smell it. After sniffing the berry a few times, Kyva looked up. “There are plenty of Pinap berries up here.” He pointed to the same tree that the Pinap berry came from. “Move out of the way, guys.” Buck said as he started walking backwards. After moving away from the tree, he charged forward as fast as he could with his head lowered. He smashed into the tree, making a very loud cracking noise as the tree's bark and trunk began to break. Dozens and dozens of Pinaps fell from the tree and landed all around them. “Ah, that felt good. How's that, Vic?” Buck asked. Vic's mouth was wide open. “W-woah... Buck, that was amazing! I've never seen anything like that happen before!” Vic exclaimed elatedly. Everyone knew what they had to do and began to round up as many berries as they possibly could while Grace spun her large silk tarp to haul them with. As the Leavanny was finishing up, Vic, Kyva and Buck had retrieved about fifty berries in one large pile. The team then pushed them all onto the silk tarp and began to pull it, with Buck up front and Kyva in the back. It was exhausting work, but they eventually made it back to the village with every berry.

The entire village was waiting near the entrance to the forest to see who the winner was going to be. Taru was already there with a pretty small amount of berries compared to Vic's team and their haul. The spectators were in awe. Vic and his team brought back enough for a large feast for the whole village. Taru walked away without saying a word, knowing that he had to pull triple shifts all week long. Everyone except Taru congratulated Vic, Kyva, Buck and Grace and began to distribute the Pinaps. They all dug into the feast, savoring the moment that Taru never gave them. “Man, Taru never did anything like this for us, Vic. Thank you.” Kyva said after swallowing the rest of his berry. “No, I have to thank you, Kyva. If you weren't there, we wouldn't have found those berries and Taru would've beat us.” Vic replied. Kyva just shook his head. “No no no, you still would have won. I'm not that helpful.” Vic's heart sank a little. Taru convinced Kyva that he's useless! “Kyva, listen to me. No matter what anybody says, you'll always be helpful. You proved that to me today. Without your nose, we would probably be working our butts off by now. Don't believe everything Taru says. He isn't always right, and he isn't Arceus. I personally think that he is not fit to lead everyone here. If anything, I think you could.” Vic said, trying to console his friend. “You really think I could?” Kyva asked. Vic nodded. “Absolutely. You're friendly, calm, generous, charismatic, and you can keep your cool under pressure. Those qualities make you more than suited for the position of leader.” Kyva blushed a little and returned to eating his berries. This time, he wore a smile. Vic looked to Buck and Grace, who were eating their berries together. 'I think that they have the hots for each other...' Vic thought. The sun eventually vanished, and the moon came to take it's place. “Ah, crap. I hate this accursed darkness. Hey Vic, you think you can start a fire?” Kyva asked. Vic smiled and some of the berry in his mouth fell out. Kyva just laughed. Embarrassed, Vic swallowed the rest of the berry and looked down. “Oh, don't worry, I don't think anyone else noticed.” Kyva said as he ran his paw down the Flareon's back. “Okay, good. Now, if we want a fire, then we need some wood. Hopefully something dry. Think you can find some?” Vic asked. Kyva sprang up in excitement. “Yes, yes I can! I'll be right back!” The Lucario said as he ran to the forest. 'I hope he'll be okay...' Vic thought to himself.

“Alrighty, I think this should be sufficient.” Kyva said to himself as he looked at the wood that he found. He found quite a bit of dry wood and a lot of pine needles in the length of time he was out there. “Vic is gonna be so happy when he sees all that I found. Now, time to get back.” Kyva said as he took to the trees like a ninja to hasten his return. Kyva was happily jumping from tree to tree, when suddenly, the tree he was jumping to vanished. Kyva fell to the ground and hit his head, dazing him. “Ow... What... How did that happen?” He asked the forest. He didn't receive a response, so he just made his way back to the village. When he got back, almost all of the Pokemon returned to their homes for the night, but Vic and Grace were still there. “Hey, I got the wood and some pine needles!” Kyva called out to his friends. Vic turned his head to see Kyva's haul and was surprised at its size. “Awesome job, Kyva! Can you set up the wood and put some pine needles on it?” Vic asked. Kyva didn't hesitate and got to work. In no time, the kindling was ready. “Thank you, Kyva. Now, its my turn.” Vic said as he stood up. His mouth dropped open and he charged an Ember attack. He shot it at the base of the wood, setting it alight and scorching the pine needles. The air was filled with a sweet scent, and the bitter cold was banished from the area. “Oh, impressive!” Grace complimented. She was happy that there was a fire, but she still kept a safe distance. To compensate for that, she made a silk blanket to drape over herself. Kyva and Vic sat close to the fire, trying to stay as warm as possible. “So, how'd it go? Was it difficult to find the dry wood?” Vic asked Kyva, who was staring intently at the mini-inferno. “Hm? Oh, it was kinda easy. I grabbed the pine needles because I thought that it would've made lighting the wood easier. I didn't think about the scent they would give off.” Kyva said softly. Vic knew something was bothering him. “Okay, something's up. I hope you know that you can tell me anything. I won't breathe a word of your problems to another soul.” Vic insisted. Kyva sighed and leaned close to Vic's ear. “I was jumping through the trees on my way back, and when I jumped to the next tree, the thing just vanished into thin air! I mean, one moment its there, but the next thing I know its gone. I did fall and hit my head, but I'll be fine. Something is going on here, and whatever it is, I'm fairly sure it isn't good.” Kyva whispered into Vic's ear. Vic suddenly remembered that the place was not real, but was in fact just a computer simulation. Kyva's words worried Vic. What if something else disappeared? Something far more important than a single tree? Vic shook his head and pushed those thoughts aside. “I dunno. Maybe it won't happen again. As for your head, maybe a nice, long rest will take care of it.” Vic assumed. Kyva nodded and stood up. “That sounds good. Thank you for listening, and good night.” Kyva said as he bowed. The Lucario made his way to his hut while Grace moved closer to Vic. “What did he tell you?” The Leavanny asked. “I promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone, sorry.” Vic replied. Grace frowned and looked at the fire.

A few minuted passed before Vic decided to go to bed. “Alright Grace, sorry to leave you, but I'm feeling mighty tired. Good night, gorgeous.” Grace blushed just like she did in the forest and waved the Flareon off with a smile. Vic took his sweet time getting to his hut so he could admire the wonderful night sky. He felt like an Umbreon out there, just staring at the moon. All of a sudden, the moon became a garbled mess much like the trees did when he first entered Storage. The effect lasted much longer then he expected, but the moon did revert to it's normal state. The entire event spooked Vic. He quickly walked into his hut and closed the door tight. He didn't light the fireplace, he just went straight to his gargantuan bed and laid down, his mind racing. What is happening? Why is it happening? Can it be fixed? He couldn't focus on a single thought. Instead, he tried his hardest to go to sleep. Eventually, he got his wish. He slowly drifted away, finally able to rest.

…


“KA-BOOOM” The noise rang from outside. The explosion knocked Vic out of his bed, making him hit his head hard on the ground, rendering him unconscious.