Chp 6: Drew

	"Remember our promise Sky." 

	"I will." She smiled. 

	"Alright then. Ready to hit the gym?" 

	"Promise? You two sneaking around behind my back?" Soul questioned. 

	"No, it's nothing." It was the next day. After their time in the shower, they had eaten dinner and gone to bed. Now rested and revitalized, they left the pokemon center, going south to the gym. Outside there was a sizable crowd. He excused his way to the front, to be met with a receptionist at the front door. "Um, what's going on here?" 

	"I'm sorry, but the gym is closed for now. The leader, Gardenia, always likes to take trips to the nearby forest. All you can really do is wait. If you'd like, I can go ahead and put you in line." She explained. 

	"No, that's alright." He said, leading the girls away from the gathered crowd. 

	"What now?" Soul asked.

	"We're going huntin'. Maybe we can convince her to come back." He explained as they went back north. From there they headed to the west, around a small lake and into the forest. It was plenty obvious when they entered the forest, as one there was a sign, and two, the tree canopy grew much thicker, blocking out a lot of sunlight. They only took a few steps in, before seeing another sign, along with a white picket fence. "Old Chateau" It said. Just past the fence was a girl. She had brown hair and was wearing a revealing green outfit that screamed nature. "Excuse me!" Seth shouted. 

	"Yes?" She asked, turning and approaching through the grass.

	"I'm looking for the gym leader, Gardenia I think? Have you seen her?" 

	"Of course, well, I haven't seen her, but I am her." She said, talking a mile a minute. 

	"Uh, ok." Seth said. "Will you come back to the gym?" 

	"Why? What time is it?" She took her pokedex out to check the time. "Oh! I'm sorry! I lost track of time!" She put it away and turned around. "Bye everybody!" She shouted, waving at the mansion in the distance. "I was here visiting the pokemon that live in this mansion. It was abandoned and we renovated it to be a sanctuary. Anyways, I'll go back now." 

	"Wait. Is there any way I can skip ahead in line? Like a reward for finding you?"

	"Well, I wasn't exactly hiding, but if you do a couple of other things, sure. First, there's a pokemon here in the woods. It seems to have been abandoned. If you do something for him, adopt him, or convince him to move on, I dunno. Then, come back here, and find the rare pokemon that lives here. If you can get a picture of one, I'll put you right to the front." She said, while walking backwards away from him. He raised a hand to tell her to stop as she was about to run into a tree, but she spun around on one foot and nimbly moved back to the path. 

	"Okay then. So, which first?" Seth said once the chipper, fast talking girl was gone. 

	"This one." Soul said. "We're already here." She lead the way past the fence and towards the mansion. As the other two followed her, they say several warning signs. They had a pokeball on them, marked out with an X. 

	"Are you sure we should do this? We could just wait in line." Sky said.

	"If a gym leader suggested we do something, we should probably do it. It'll prepare us to battle her. And from what I understand, gyms are ranked in order of strength, so it's only going to get harder. If we don't stop and train every now and again, we'll run up against a wall."

	"I see. I would prefer to train against others. I can't stand hurting you or Soul." 

	"Yeah, I agree." 

	"Hurry it up!" Soul shouted. She was already waiting next to the front door. Neither of them sped up, leaving Soul pacing impatiently. 

	Once they were all grouped up, Soul once again led the way inside the mansion. The foyer was in good shape, all things considered. The structure itself was stable, with no cracks in the ceiling or walls. The floor was however torn up, with things planted into the open dirt. Large patches of pretty flowers and tall grass were dotted around the room. Vines grew over the walls and potted plants hung all around. There were a few feeders around, one with a trio of caterpie munching on the food inside. They all looked over to the new arrivals, but went back to eating without much fuss. 

	"This is a pokemon sanctuary alright." Seth said. "So rare pokemon. If I can just scan it with my pokedex, we're golden." He took the lead, going between the stairs and into the only other door on the ground floor. This took them into a dining room, with a large variety of potted plants strewn about. The floor was more intact here, though there was no table, only the wide open room. 

	"We're being watched." Sky said. 

	"Well, duh." Soul said. "There's pokemon everywhere." 

	"Shh." Seth whispered. He held a hand behind his ear. There was a faint noise coming from upstairs. "I can't tell of that's a pokemon or human." He took one more look around the room before turning around. "C'mon. Let's go investigate."

	They went up the stairs, none of them creaked, and found themselves in a hallway. They followed the noise to one room, and Sky stopped Seth before he could go in. 

	"There is someone in there. Just one pokemon, I think." She explained. 

	"Well alright." Seth turned the corner and stopped dead when he entered the doorway. There was no door. The sound of static could be heard from outside. "Oh fuck no!" Seth shouted, turning and bolting back to the door to the foyer. "We're leaving!" He shouted back, before disappearing out the door. 

	"What was that about?" Soul asked. She looked into the room. The room was mostly bare, except for a TV sitting on the far wall. It had a static covered screen. "Sky?" She asked. 

	"I have no idea. But there's a pokemon somewhere in here. We should probably go find him." She said. 

	They found Seth standing outside the front door. "So what happened to finding the rare pokemon?" Soul asked. 

	"Not if it kills us." Seth said, his eyes wide. 

	"What did you see?" Sky asked. 

	"I have no idea. It was like a face or something flashing on the screen."

	"So?" Soul said. "Is that it?" 

	"This place looks haunted, and we've seen some crazy shit. Pokemon or no, bad shit is in there." 

	"Just seems like superstition to me." Soul said. 

	"A healthy sense of fear keeps you safe. Let's just go find that abandoned pokemon." 

	"If I could use your dex..." 

	"You don't have thumbs." Seth explained. "And the only guy with thumbs," He pointed his thumbs at himself. "Is not going back in there." 

	"Wuss." She said.

	"This wuss is gonna stay alive." He began walking away, the only option left being to follow. They left the grounds of the mansion, and went back out into the forest. "So how are we gonna find this pokemon?" 

	"If he was abandoned, I would assume he'd be upset, and if he is, I can sense him when we get close enough." Sky said. 

	"Wait, so if you can only sense emotions, what were you sensing in the mansion?" Soul asked as they walked. 

	"Excitement, maybe?" Sky offered. "Emotions are typically complex, so it's hard to explain how they feel exactly."

	"Yeah, I can agree." Seth said. 

	"Oh yeah, so did we ever figure out why you went espeon?" Soul asked.

	"Nope." Seth said. "But I'm hoping I can turn into the other eeveelutions. Umbreon is kinda dull." He had to go silent as someone passed by.

	"Wait." Sky said. She raised her head and her tail twitched, the twin tips splaying wide. "I think I got him." She dashed forward, with the others right behind. The forest was cut into large open paths, with clusters of trees marking the edges. The canopy still remained, keeping it darkened. Looking up revealed many massive trees with huge branches covering the sky in layers. They rounded one of the corners, coming face to face with a large green rock, covered in moss and ivy. Sitting in front of it was a leafeon. It locked eyes with Seth for a moment, before it lowered its stance and began growling. 

	"Go away!" He warned, vines coming out of his neck. 

	"It's alright." Seth said, holding up his hands and slowly approaching. "I just want to talk. I can understand you."

	"I said go away!" He yelled, vines extending and wrapping around Seth, one around each limb and one around his neck. The two around his wrists wrapped tight and pulled, holding his hands together above his head. The two around his feet pulled, knocking him to the ground. The one around his neck tightened and cut off his breath. 
 
	"S..stay." He managed to say before the girls could make a move. His arms bulged with effort as pulled them down, grabbed the vine around his neck, and pulled it away enough to breath. "We're just as strong as you." He said. "If I wanted to hurt you or capture you, I could. I just want to talk."

	The vines loosened. "Alright, talk from there." The vines retracted back into his body. The leafeon sat back down, back to the rock.

	Seth walked over a bit to sit against a tree. "So why are you here? The local gym leader asked me to come investigate." His bulging arms stopped, just as some blue fur began to sprout. It shrunk back into him.

	"Gardenia? She's nice enough. At least she never tried to catch me." 

	"Okay, so why so aggressive?"

	"I don't want to be caught obviously."

	"Yeah, I got that. Why? I'm trying to help you out here." Seth explained, trying to sound as sincere as he could. 

	"Aghh." The eon groaned. "Why don't you just leave."

	"Sky here sensed your worry. Just tell me." 

	"How about this? Only since you're so damn insistent. I'll leave, but you have to take me to Snowpoint city. And I'm not joining your team, you are only escorting me." 

	"Snowpoint? The snowy place to the north? Why do you wanna go there?" Seth asked. 

	"Are you gonna take me or not?" 

	"Alright. Can I at least get a name?" 

	"Drew." The leafeon said.

	"And one more condition. You have to help us take on the gyms. Then we'll go to Snowpoint when it's time." 

	"Then fuck off." 

	Seth put his head in his hands and groaned. "And I thought Soul was a handful. Fine. We'll go to Snowpoint after we battle this gym. But you're helping." 

	Drew squinted, tapped his paw... "Fine." 

	Seth got up and walked over. "Seth." He offered his hand. 

	Drew just stared at it. "What?"

	"Humans usually shake hands after a deal." 

	Drew lifted a paw and put it into Seth's hand. "Like this?" 

	Seth clenched his hand and shook. "Yes. That's Soul and Sky." He said. 

	He grunted and nodded in their direction. 

	"There is one other thing." Soul said. "You know anything about that mansion? We were supposed to find a rare pokemon there." 

	"Rare pokemon in a mansion? Yea, I know the one. We can stop by there on the way back to town." 

	"And one more thing. What if somebody tries to catch you?" Seth asked.

	"Then you better save me." Drew responded with an arrogant smirk.

	"What have I gotten myself into..." Seth asked. 

+++

	"Hey! You in here? It's Drew." He said to the empty room. They were back in the TV room of the mansion. 

	"Drew?" A pointed orange head emerged from the TV. "Hey! Long time no see." As it emerged, the static faded away and the TV turned off, now with no power source. Sky got closer, her tails waving in its direction.

	"This was what I sensed." She confirmed. 

	"Stupid psychic types. You guys always ruin my fun." The ghost complained. 

	Seth pulled his pokedex out and quickly scanned the pokemon. "Yep, rotom. Pretty rare. So, to the gym." Seth said.