Five years later

"Ready?" Wally asked.
"Not yet." Sara replied.
"Now?" Wally asked a little later.
"Just chill out!" Sara replied shortly. They sat in silence for a little while longer. "Now. They're totally asleep. Let's go."
"Finally." Wally said sighing.
"Shhh!" Sara hissed.
Together they snuck down the stairs of Sara's home, freezing every time a board creaked. This was made more challenging by the empty packs they were carrying. Once they had made it down, they raided the kitchen, taking the bread, water, peanut butter, crackers, and other foods that wouldn't spoil. Then they slowly opened the front door, went out, and silently closed it behind them. They were free.
"Now to find Groink" Sara said leading the way to the school.

Before continuing the story, I should mention what had happened in those past five years. The two had obviously grown up in more ways then one. Wally had trained and worked out almost every day and was now on par with a real Hitmonchan in terms of strength though he lacked the speed. He had learned to speak decent English after two years. Sure he got teased for it but no one teased him twice. The first day of high school the football captain decided to voice his opinion on Wally's poor language skills. He was quite surprised to find himself a moment later suspended from a tree branch by his underwear. No one seriously teased him after that.
With his anti-social behavior as the teachers called it, and Sara's slowly developing dislike for humankind, the two didn't make friends and didn't want any either. They just stuck with each other, planning different ways to escape human lands and return to the pokémon lands where surely there must be a place for them, and to find Nat and Yuki. It was easy after a few months. Wally could talk all he wanted and no one else could understand him, but it was only one way, and they were separated a lot of the time while he was in speech therapy.
The government scientists wanted to examine Sara to find out how she could understand pokéspeak but to her relief her father wouldn't allow it. He had asked her but she had lied and just said she learned from listening to Nat. After things were settled and she was allowed to be in her room without cameras on her, which took almost half a year, she began experimenting with her new psychic abilities. It was hard without anyone to teach her, but Wally, who the family adopted after much begging from her, was always there to encourage her and in just three months she could read the minds of anyone within 50 feet. That was when she met Groink

One day at lunch, she saw a dog begging for food. This was not odd since the city was full of strays, but something wasn't right. She felt something attacking her mind, a very quiet attack that the average person wouldn't even notice, but they weren't psychic. She repelled the attack and was shocked when the dog turned into a purple and black pig with an exceptionally curly tail. The pig turned in her direction surprised and fled off into the shrubs.
"Come back!" she cried following the pig. It squealed when it got stuck between some roots and couldn't free itself.
"Get back or I'll kill you." The pig said telepathically. Sara ignored the warning and looked closely at the pig.
"You're a psychic pokémon aren't you?" Sara asked.
"I'm not kidding! I'll do it!" the pig threatened again.
"It's okay." Sara said. "I'm part pokémon, see?" She said lifting her shirt, exposing her stomach. On it was faint markings just like Nat had but very faded. They too were new and appeared when she practiced her powers and faded when she didn't but would not go away. "Here, let me help." She said freeing the pig.
"Thank you." The pig grumbled.
"You're welcome. Now Mr. Pig, are you a psychic type?"
"My name is Groink, and yes I'm a Grumpig." Groink replied.
"Can you teach me?" Sara asked. "I'm not very strong but I have to learn so I can find my friend."
"Where is your friend?" Groink asked.
"I don't know. Somewhere in pokémon territory is all I know."
"Alright. I'll teach you everything I know if you bring me food so I don't have to beg all the time which tires me out, and when you go to find your friend, bring me with you. Just across the border is fine." Groink said.
"It's a deal." Sara said. They both heard a far off ringing sound. "I have to go now. I'll be back!"
"Don't forget the food!" Groink said before curling up and going to sleep.

True to his word, Groink taught her in the psychic arts, though he always focused on ways to mineralize the strain of using her abilities so it got to the point where she could lift rocks and barely noticed by simply tossing the rock up repeatedly rather then just holding it up. It took her a while to master them at first but once she got one the rest came more quickly. She asked him why he focused on minimal energy and he answered after a while.
"See this pearl?" He asked holding up a black pearl he usually wore on his chest. "I used to have more but they're gone now. We Grumpig are weak psychics so we use these to store and amplify our power. Other psychics covet these for their ability to store psychic energy for later. This leads a lot to steal from us and that is where mine went. Since I only have one, my power is very weak. Probably weaker then yours at your peak."
He seemed sad at remembering this so Sara explained how she got her powers. He wasn't too surprised that Nat couldn't teleport properly with two sword wounds, but was impressed he could get them separate again. Eventually he taught her the most important technique he knew: Camouflage. While bending light around yourself to make you seem invisible worked, it was very hard and complex, imperfect, and she could only maintain it for a second and couldn't move either while doing it. So instead of that, he explained the easier method of going into peoples minds and making them forget she was there. That was why he appeared as a dog before; he simply made everyone think he was a dog. It didn't work on psychics he warned as she had shown, or dark types, but it worked on humans just fine.

And so as the deal was agreed upon, Sara and Wally went to find Groink. They were both on edge for tonight was the night they would finally leave human territory. Of course they had waited until everyone was deeply asleep and would be long gone before anyone noticed.
"Master, I'm here." Sara whispered when they had reached his burrow.
"Ah so you are. I have gathered my stuff in this sack I took." Groink said tugging at a cloth back tied around his neck, a lump in it on his back.
"Hi, I'm-" Wally started in pokéspeak.
"I know; I read your mind when you approached." Groink replied. "You really should shield your mind better."
"Alright, according to the compass, we need to head this way to leave Gelb City" Sara said having studied the area in maps and compasses well.
"We should go now" Groink said bounding off in that direction.
"Why do I always get stuck with the psychics?" Wally wondered to himself following behind.

The trio made their way to the city gates where Sara's new abilities were put to the test.
"Why are we going out the gate? Couldn't we jump the wall?" Wally asked.
"It's like a 50 foot wall!" Groink replied. "Even if we climbed it we'd break our legs going down."
"This'll be easy." Sara said. She walked out and walked briskly over to the sentry.
"Sir!" The guard said startled to see his commanding officer out so late. "What can I do for you?"
"I just need this gate open. We're going out." The man said. The guard rushed back to the gatehouse and activated the electric motor opening the gate. When it was open, the commanding officer and two other men walked out. "And close it. We won't be back for a while."
"Yes sir." The guard said closing the gate.
"Man that was easy." Wally said as they walked away.
"Everyone listens to my father." Sara replied. "We need to put some distance in, the only reason they caught us last time is they knew where we were and were following us, but if we get ahead they might not be able to."
"They will simply track us, so we need to find a river and travel in it for a while." Groink said.
"The map said there's one up ahead. It leads a really far to the east but does get close to the border." Sara explained.
"Good. Let's head for it and follow it. I'll go ahead a little ways and double back to confuse them and buy us some time." Groink said.
"Couldn't we stick to the roads? The going would be a lot easier and they wouldn't be able to track us." Wally asked.
"Because we could be spotted." Sara replied.
"But can't you disguise us again?"
"I can't do it over long distances. 100 feet is my limit." Sara answered.
"I can do it from far farther away." Groink added. "We might be able to find some horses in the villages."
"It sounds better then walking in a river all day." Sara agreed. "Okay but one mistake and we take the water route."

The trio traveled all night and well into the next day, meeting no one and talking little. After a while a carriage appeared on the horizon led by four strong horses.
"Looks like a great opportunity." Wally said. "We hidden?"
"We look like a couple of indistinct travelers and a dog." Groink replied.
"Good. Let's take their horses." Wally said.
"We should buy them." Sara objected.
"We don't have the money for it." Wally replied.
"But we can't steal them." Sara protested.
"They're rich so they can afford to lose two horses. If I have to steal I'd rather it be from those who won't miss what I take."
"Don't bother, they have a mercenary hired to protect them. We should avoid them." Groink interrupted. The two fell silent and watched the carriage approach. When it neared they stepped off the path to let it pass. There was only three men, the driver, a mercenary with an assortment of weaponry ranging from several daggers to a rifle and a bow, and the passenger.
"Good day." Sara greeted.
"Hi." Wally said.
"Howdy." The driver returned as they passed.
"I don't pay you to talk." The man in the carriage said shortly.
"Sorry sir." The driver replied feigning cheer.
"Jerk." Sara said to herself.
"Hold up." The man said. "I'm bored." The man announced. "Guard, kill that dog for my amusement."
"What?" Sara cried picking Groink up.
"You can't just kill things to please yourself!" Wally protested. The very fat man leaned out and eyed them with the contempt one would have looking at shit on ones shoe.
"I have money so I can do what I want." The man said simply. "Do it." The repeated to the mercenary on the roof. The mercenary shrugged, pulled out a gun and pointed it at Groink.
"Sir I'll hit the girl too." He said.
"So?" The man replied.
"That's it. I've had enough of you." Wally growled. He grabbed the door to the carriage and ripped it off its hinges, then grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him out.
"Unhand me peasant!" The man demanded. "Guard do something!"
"He can't help you." Sara replied. The mercenary was perplexed. His gun had shocked him causing him to drop it and whenever he grabbed another it too shocked him.
"Now what do you say?" Wally glared.
"How much do you need to make you let me go?" the man asked.
"Wrong answer." Wally shouted, swinging the man round and sending him at a tree, back first, where he crumpled to the ground.
"Don't hurt me!" The driver begged having been sitting in shocked silence this whole time.
"These your horses?" Wally asked.
"No." The driver replied.
"These two are now. And we were never here." Wally said winking.
"Looks like some horses got lose and no one claims them so their mine now." The driver said catching on. He removed the harness for the two lead horses and began leading them off.
"Now for you." Wally said pointing at the mercenary, now out of weapons.
"You can't threaten me." He declared.
"We can pay you." Sara replied. "I have my dad's expense card."
"This man's father paid me to protect him. 15 grand a month." The mercenary stated. "You can't match that."
"40k." Sara replied. "And you didn't see us."
"50k and I'll make this look like an accident." The mercenary replied.
"Deal. Here." She replied handing over the card. The man pulled out a scanner and ran it through and started pressing the screen. "Can you make it look like we bought travel supplies?"
"Already done." The mercenary replied without looking up. He handed the card back. "Pleasure doing business with you."
"How can we be sure he won't talk?" Wally asked.
"I am offended. Do you think we mercenaries would give up information to just anyone?"
"You just sold him out." Wally replied.
"We sell information but if there is no buyer, why sell it. We don't go looking for business." The man replied. "Especially from the government"
"Come on." Sara ordered grabbing the remaining horses reins "Since he hid where the money went my dad won't find him and he won't talk."
"Fine." Wally said reluctantly. When they were out of sight he asked "Why were you in such a hurry anyway?"
"I stole his bow and quiver and made him forget them." Sara answered presenting her prize. "Now I can really fight back."
"Good. Now let's ride." Groink said.Chapter End Notes:A note on the somewhat confusing technology of this world. Some of you may be wondering why they can have portable credit card machines, heavy firearms and refrigeration, but still rely on horse and foot power for transportation. Well this is a war time, and has been for centuries so many inventions such as the combustion engine were never developed because they were viewed as useless and many ideas were dropped. The internal combustion engine was invented and a vehicle powered by one was used in one battle. It was a bulky slow moving tank filled with armament ready to devastate the enemy. An Onix tipped it over, disabling the whole thing and the idea was abandoned. The steam engine was almost abandoned for almost the same reason, but became transportation for military supplies only and only a hundred miles of tracks existed, none of it near the boarder.
However communication and computer technologies have flourished because of the weapon potential and communication is always important because it gave humans a massive advantage with coordinated attacks, though psychics could mimic it to a point. Refrigeration was originally developed to harm fire and flying types. It didn't work but it proved to keep the limited food edible so that was kept. These people generally have most of our modern inventions except the combustion engine (and anything related to that so no planes or iron clad ships), nuclear power, though they have other power plants, there is no television because cathode ray tubes weren't invented but LCD monitors are used for computers