This New World Feels More Like Home

Many wild Pokemon were confused. One minute they were grazing, or flying, or feeding their young, and the next, they were in an unfamiliar forest that seemed to want nothing more than them gone.

It did not help their anxiety when a manic laughter echoed through the trees, seeming to travel at great speeds. A young Cubone began crying and calling for it's mother as a purple blur shot past overhead.

The blur, which turned out to merely be the human-turned-Pokemon Fletcher, carried on racing through the canopies, searching reverently for his mate. A wave of immense heat from the right told him that his search would end soon, and he grabbed the trunk of a tree tow swing himself into the right direction.

"How exactly am I going to explain this?" he asked himself as the heat grew and grew, telling him that Cynder was growing distressed. "'Hey babe, guess what? I'm a Pokemon now!' doesn't exactly have a nice ring to it."

He came to a stop just on the edge of a clearing. A relatively new clearing, if the scorched earth and charred remains of trees said anything about it. And in the centre, Fletcher saw Cynder facing off with a triad of odd-looking opponents.

To the right of her was a Simipour, whom held itself much like a high school cheerleader who thought she was better than everyone else. Quite obviously a female.

To the left stood a rather gluttonous Simisear, stuffing it's face with small berries and fruits. It laughed deeply as Cynder took a shaky breath, confirming it's gender as male.

The final member stood directly in front of Cynder, a Simisage stood slightly hunched over with a broken branch being used as a cane. It stood slightly farther away than the others, understandable due to the type disadvantage it had. When it spoke, it had the voice of an angry grandpa, so it was male.

"What exactly are you doing in our territory, young lady!?" the Simisage boomed, surprisingly loud for his apparent age. "DO you not have a brain in that thick skull of yours?"

"Yeah, like, only a real idiot would cross OUR turf, loser!" the Simipour chimed in, not even looking in Cynder's direction and instead checking the back of her hand.

"Hehehe, stupid girly! Stupid girly!" the Simisear added, hopping from one foot to another and pointing at Cynder.

Fletcher's fists clenched, his anger building. How DARE they speak of his mate that way, much less to her face! Oh, how he wanted to just leap down there and take them all down...

Unbeknownst to the seething man, a ball of ethereal energy was forming in the subconsciously curled fingers of his left tail-hand, while it's right equivalent had electricity dancing between it's fingertips and his body glowed in a sky-blue aura.

"Aerial Ace!" he screamed, launching himself at the Simisage and knocking it down. Landing on his forepaws, he spun around and launched the sphere at the Simisear's face, yelling "Shadow Ball!" as he did so.

The two ape-like Pokemon lay, faces in the dirt, groaning in pain. Fletcher righted himself, using his new agile body to flip onto his feet. The Simipour stared at him in fear as he brought his two tail-hands together, the electrical energy that had been charging in the right hand now streaking between the two, flashing lights dancing across the glowering Ambipom's face. No one moved.

"Boo."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The Simipour ran, screaming, from the clearing and Fletcher let the energy in his hands die down before laughing.

"I have absolutely no idea how I did that!" he yelled, staring at his tail-hands. They looked no different than they did before he found the clearing, leaving no clue as to how the powers had come. When he tried to repeat the actions, Fletcher found that, no matter what, he just couldn't.

A cough from his left gained Fletcher's attention, causing him to look over to the Typhlosion. In his eyes, she was as beautiful as the day he fell in love with her, with the flames behind her casting a heavenly glow upon her frame.

"Hey, Cynder." he drawled, a goofy smile upon his lips. It was dropped when Cynder grabbed him by the throat, pinning him to a tree with a Brick Break at the ready.

"I don't know who you are or how you know my name," she growled, pressing further into his neck. "Buy let's get one thing straight, pal. I have a Mate already, one whom I am trying to find, as well as my son. So unless you can help me, I suggest you leave while you're still in one piece."

"Cynder, it... it's me..." Fletcher tried to explain as his face began to turn blue. "F.. Fletch..."

Just as he was about to pass out, Fletcher felt Cynder's grip loosen, allowing that sweet, sweet oxygen to access his lungs once more.

"Fletcher?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Alright then, prove you're Fletcher. Tell me something only he knows."

Fletcher took a deep breath and sighed, steeling himself for what he was about to say. He had never liked to talk about this.

"We met in Fortree City when I was thirteen years old." he began, and already he could see the doubt leave her eyes. "You were just a Cyndaquil then, abused and abandoned by your old trainer to the extent that..."

Cynder frowned, placing her other paw on his shoulder. He looked up at her and saw tears forming in her eyes. "Go on."

"To the extent that you could no longer breed. We grew up together, fell in love on my seventeenth birthday and left for our journey exactly a year and a day after. We were just getting married before whatever brought us here happened."

"Oh, Fletcher!" she cried, wrapping her arms around the Ambipom's shoulders and sobbing into his shoulder. This was a side only he could see of her, the truly vulnerable, loving side that was hidden in public. He hugged her back, wrapping his tails around her form. "I was s-so scared th-that something had h-happened t-to you!"

Meanwhile, a lanky orange stallion wearing a grey and white woolen poncho watched the display from the shadows and a large boulder. Atop his head sat a flat-topped cowboy hat, pulled forward so that it cast a shadow over his emerald green eyes, his curly brown mane poking out of the back and sides. With him was an off-white mare of average height with a neatly brushed, two-tone blue mane. In her mane was a small red floral hair grip, and a white-bordered lavender sailor collar with a scarlet tie sat on her shoulders. Her cyan eyes stared at the sky from her place atop and to the rear of the boulder that Cheese was using for cover.

"So, what'cha think, Coco?" the taller pony asked in a deep, gruff voice, still staring at the embracing couple.

"I think that cloud looks like a shrimp." Coco said, pointing at the sky. "Oh, and stop with the voice, please."

"Awww, but I thought you said you enjoyed my 'Flint Weststone' impressions!" Cheese whined, the gruff voice disappearing and being replaced by a more childish one.

"Only when we're alone. You know that."

"But we are alone!"

"Oh, thanks for that." a third voice said.

Cheese and Coco jumped as a bubble-gum pink unicorn mare trotted into view, Her cyan mane was held back by a simple red headband and her soft pink eyes narrowed at the only stallion in their little group, causing the magenta freckles on her cheeks to squish together and her dark green glasses to shift slightly.

"Sorry, Match Maker."

Match Maker walked over to stand beside Cheese and looked at the two Pokemon in the clearing. "It's fine." she said. A few silent seconds passed between the three before she added "They're clearly together." Coco's cloud watching suddenly lost it's interesting quality, despite all the odd new birds adding to the view, and she hopped of the boulder to join the other two.

"What, like, together together?" Cheese asked.

"Yes, Cheese." Match Maker sighed. "Together together."

"What makes you say that?" Coco inquired, a single eyebrow raised the only indication of her curiosity.

"You see how the blue bear thing is holding the purple monkey thing?" Match Maker asked, receiving two nods to the affirmative. "That's the female."

"How can you tell that?" Cheese asked.

"Glad you asked! Look at the monkey's eyes, the care, the passion, the need to protect his mate from anything that threatens them? That is the sign of a strong male."

Cheese stole a glance at Coco and saw a smile tug at her lips. It was small, and it was gone as quickly as it came, but it was there.

Coco shook her head and sighed. "We should get out of here," she said, already in the process of walking into the treeline. "BEFORE those two realise we're here."

"Right behind you, Coco." Match Maker replied, turning to follow. "Coming Cheese?"

"yeah, sure, be right there."

Match Maker shrugged and followed after Coco, pushing through the foliage.

Cheese stood, still watching the Pokemon, and sighed. "If those two can be together, despite their obvious differences..." he mumbled, before a determined look settled in his eyes.

And with that, he began to walk out and into the clearing.