As I lie here beginning to write about the following encounter, I wonder where to begin- obviously the beginning would be a very good place, but that would require far too much time, and would also detract from the telling. So, dear reader, I shall assume you already know at least something about me- a prerequisite which I shall attempt to satisfy now, just in case...

My name is Nona, Nona Suomi. Weird, yeah- I know. Don't get me started, okay? Long story short, I tell most people that it's Will, just to simplify things- I tend to get less weird stares when people think I have a semi-normal name, get me? As for why I chose Will... I dunno, it just feels more... me, 'ya know? Anyway, I'm Will- keep it at that.

My closest friends are Axl, a pretty chill guy from Veilstone (and from Orre before that), Tenrou, my wacky friend from Jubilife (moved in from Dewford in Hoenn a good while back), and Sanakou, who I practically grew up with in Eterna (we lived right next door).

The three of us started out on our journeys together when we first left home as trainers (unlikely bunch that we were) and we and our pokémon have gotten into our fair share of exciting and crazy adventures all over the place, from Hoenn to Kanto and Johto, and even a few exciting episodes right here in Sinnoh. But now there's been a bit of a lull in the excitement, and so we've all gone our own ways for a while to take a breather from the traveling life.

Tenrou and his zangoose Mina (who was raised like a sister to him) went back to Hoenn to work at his family's daycare center in Dewford for a while, so that's what they're up to. Sanakou and Mizumi- the suicune that saved all our hides, then stuck with her (long story, trust me...)- those two are on the road still, challenging every able trainer they can find, and think they aim to take on some league or another, (she'll probably start off in the Indigo Conference, I'd bet). Axl and Terry, his Absol, hmm... I think I lost track of where they were when we came back from Orre, but I'm sure those two are fine. And as for me and my partner, Mayumi, well we're taking a break and going on a sightseeing tour of Sinnoh.

Since we were both born and raised right near Eterna, the forest and the whole 'national forest/national park' thing didn't really seem that big of a deal- it's Eterna forest, for crying out loud! It's a big bunch of trees, and it's there, big deal. Anyway, we had no real desire to 'see the sights' near there, so we started out moving east from home. We first saw the city hewn from rock, Veilstone, and of course we saw the meteorites too. From there we went to the beaches of Sunnyshore, and I (ever the geek) had to see the solar-panel boardwalks, and how they worked. After that we headed south to see the Great Marsh in Pastoria area before heading back home for a while.

Of course, me being a trainer meant that I'd get a challenge or two from time to time, and (Mayumi having long since evolved into her final form as a Gardevoir) we took them with ease. We still have yet to lose a match on the road, (basically everything except the horrible attempt we made at a gym challenge in Sunnyshore) so I'm pretty confident that we're a strong team. I've still got a long ways to go as far as badges and the gym deal goes, but I'm okay with that- that was never really my dream. I mean, sure: the fame and fortune and whatnot that must come with becoming a Champion must be really nice and all, but I'm happy if I'm able to hold my own in day-to-day battles and have a great bunch of friends to take it all in with.

Well that's about enough reminiscing for now, I think. On to what actually happened, huh? Mayumi and I had by now finished seeing what there was to see in Pastoria, and had begun to head home. The plan was to head west then north, and end up in Hearthome city, which was a large enough place that we would be able to catch a light rail train from there to Jubilife, which was a hop, skip, and a jump from my flat in Eterna. We had finally, after days of soggy, miserable, wet camping, emerged from the last of the marshy, boggy wetlands, and had practically collapsed gratefully on the first dry ground we had seen in perhaps a week or more, and proceeded to set up camp early for the day in celebration of the not-wet-ness.

We had just broken camp the next morning and were beginning to head northward along the hiking trail towards Hearthome and civilization when I noticed that it seemed like the grounds we were moving through seemed... maintained, as if it were part of some half-tended garden. I made a comment about this, and Mayumi quickly noticed as well, but we couldn't see anything nearby that might explain the reason for the vines and shrubs being trimmed back in this area.

We looked around for a while, perhaps expecting to find some out-of-the-way cottage, or perhaps some nature-loving hermit- who knows, right? But after about five minutes or so, we decided that it must just look well-maintained, or something of that nature, and began to move on, when something more caught my eye. I saw a girl through the trees. I couldn't get a good look because of the distance and the thick forest, but she looked as if she were about my age, maybe a few years younger, but her clothes seemed really odd. From the light and the distance we were at, it looked as though she were wearing khaki from head to toe. Now, I'm not one to say that's a bad thing, as that's one of my favorite outfits (khaki cargo pants, a button-up light brown shirt, and my signature brown leather jacket), but it seemed an odd choice for a girl my age in general, much less out here in the middle of nowhere.

Now all this observation took place in perhaps a few seconds, and as the girl was turned and walking away from me, it appeared that she hadn't noticed us. One thing that Mayumi had been teaching me recently was how to use my psychic abilities to perform some basic empathy: that is roughly equivalent to what most people call 'mind reading,' in case you didn't know. Now one thing about it was that it was almost always better to practice on, for lack of a better-sounding term, an unwitting target, since most people will subconsciously raise psychic barriers if they think someone is attempting to 'read' their thoughts, or even if someone else is nearby at all in some cases. I had thus been practicing this skill on any wild pokémon that happened by: if they didn't happen to notice me, I'd attempt to glean some of what they were thinking, or what they saw, heard, etc. But there's only so much of hearing the local staravia going on about the tasty worms they had for breakfast that a guy can take before you yearn for more engaging subject matter. And so it happened that I tried to peek into this girl's mind.

And promptly was confused as hell. I had been just doing what I normally do to exercise empathy- just envision myself 'diving' into their conscious mind. I was expecting to find out what she was doing here, perhaps get a little sensory feedback- see what she sees, hear what she hears, that sort of thing. That's what empathy can be, but that's not what happened. As soon as I tried to peer into her mind I was simply overcome by an odd sense of... difference. Something was profoundly different about her mind, and I couldn't understand what, but it effectively blocked my attempt at being an empath. So having now gotten nowhere with my psychic training, and perhaps for a lack of any excitement for the last few days, I was intrigued. I wanted to know what, exactly, was so 'different' about this person, and what she was doing and- hell, I think I was just starved for more companionship that Mayumi; she's a great friend, but there's little to talk about sometimes, and a fresh face would be refreshing.

Whatever the cause, I yelled to get her attention, "Hey there!" She was a fair distance away, so I called pretty loudly. I couldn't quite make out her face from where we were standing, but I was able to see that she turned around and, after a moment of scanning the forest, saw Mayumi and I standing there, me waving to make it easier to spot us. And then just as quick as you please, she turned and bolted! Took off, fled, ran from us as if her life depended on it.

I personally don't think I'm all that intimidating, and I certainly don't think a five-foot-something gardevoir would be a particularly imposing sight either, so I did a double-take: was it US she saw and ran from? I looked around to see if there was anything that might warrant such a hasty egress- you know, a bloodthirsty pack of houndoom, perhaps the errant stampeding herd of donphan- but nope. We were the only other living creatures that stood out of a good while in any direction. If I was curious before, now my mind was practically full of questions- who was she? Did she have something to do with that garden back there? Why was she running from us? Why couldn't I sense her mind properly? My mind then told my body that it wanted answers to these questions, and my body obeyed.

"Hey, wait!" I shouted, starting to run after the mysterious figure, which was rapidly becoming obscured by the distance and the thick forest. But of course our quarry didn't care that I wanted her to stop, she kept running and never once looked back at us. I'm no track runner, but I like to think that I'm no slouch either. Regardless of the fact, I quickly lost ground as it seemed like the forest itself was closing up after our mark in order to hinder our progress, as she made off with blinding speed. It was very little time before I completely lost sight and sound of her, and deciding to just give up, I slowed to a stop and leaned on a nearby tree for support while I regained my breath and my heart rate slowed back down.

Mayumi came behind me by a few seconds, moving along by using her psychokinetic abilities to levitate herself along rather than walk, as it could move her much faster than her slender legs could ever hope to carry her. So she glided over like a wood sprite to a nearby fallen log and sat down, waiting for me to catch my breath. She asked me. I forgot that she hadn't felt what I felt when I had tried reading that girl's mind. I tried my best to explain, but after a few seconds getting frustrated by the inadequacy of words, I simply projected the experience to her, so she could feel what I had felt.

She paused for a moment as she finished going through the memory, and commented.Chapter End Notes:I know the wording is a bit confusing in some places, but there's a possibility that it's intentional. Still, please don't hesitate to point anything out that looks out of place or wrong, as I really haven't had any input on this yet, despite having had it done and up at DA and my site for a while now...

Oh, and mandatory disclaimer: I don't own any of the pokémon franchise or any official characters, etc. and don't claim to. I do however claim ownership of the OC's in my work, so don't use them without permission- they really don't appreciate that sort of thing..