A New World, Filled With Curiosity

Sleep was good. He didn't know when sleeping, but he felt good after sleep. Mister Felix was awake, making food. He smelled food and walked into food place.

"Food," he said. It got Mister Felix's... Attention? Yeah, attention was the word.

"Ah, good morning!" Mister Felix said, throwing something from something into the air. The Quilava thought to himself to ask Mister William about more words of weird things. Mister Felix talked on. "Hope you don't mind, but I'll be making breakfast, lunch, and dinner since I'm going to be out all day today!"

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Aren't those three large foods? The Quilava looked towards Mister Felix. "Why?"

Mister Felix gave large smile again. "I'm getting a huge shipment of translation gems today, and I'm going to be trying to hand them out to others so they can have something to help them understand Pokémon."

He put the speak into his mind to ask Mister William about what it meant later. "When you coming back?"

Mister Felix put his hoof into the air before loud noise sounded at door. "I'll answer that right after I answer the door." He walked at door towards front, leaving the something on the other something that had fire coming out of it. Quilava then saw it. A weird Pokémon on the ground, sleeping. He felt bad with... Mistrusting? Mistrusting Mister William the first time they met. Mister William wasn't bad Pokémon, so maybe weird sleeping Pokémon wasn't bad. But what was weird thing on Pokémon's body?

“Uh, morning! Are those all the translation gems I ordered?” Mister Felix said from other room. Another voice talked, but Quilava couldn't catch it over loud noises. "Perfect! Just leave them there. I'll take care of it!"

After many noises, Mister Felix walked in with weird thing with wheels. Cart? Yes, cart. Mister William fixed one of them day before. Mister William also had weird things in cart. One was translation gems, which Quilava knew about because one was in his tick-tock watch. The other though was some weird thing that made weird quiet noise.

Mister William flew in quickly, his eyes filled with excitement. "Do my ears deceive me, or is that the glorious rustling of the pages of knowledge?"

Glorious rustling of the pages of knowledge? the Quilava said in thoughts. Knowledge comes from pages?

"Yep, I promised you two presents yesterday, and here they are! For Quilava..." He pulled a... Page? Yes, he pulled pages and showed it. "A foal's book to help you start reading! As for you, William..." He pulled more pages and showed William. "Your name reminded me quite a bit of William Shakehoofe, so I decided to get you some of his books!"

William looked super excited as he took the pages. "Extraordinary! I give my greatest regards to this wonder! Thank you!"

Quilava gave a nod and took his page as well. "Thank you, Mister Felix! But I want food."

Mister William shook his head, with scary look in eyes. "Now, now, young one, that's not very polite or nice. You must ask, 'may I have some food, please'. Also, it's not nice to ask for something right after getting something nice."

Quilava looked down. "S-Sorry, Mister William. Sorry, Mister Felix."

Mister Felix gave large smile again. "You're really starting to learn, aren't you? You'll get the hang of it soon enough!" Mister Felix did the good attack on his head again that made him smile.

Mister William then talked. "But if I might ask myself, who is our new Munchlax friend sleeping over there?"

Mister Felix said, "Ah, that little fellow came to our doorstep early this morning while you two were asleep. He seems to have fainted from hunger, but he'll be fine soon enough!" He flipped on the thing onto another thing. He needed to ask about those things soon.

Mister William nodded. "Quite kind to take in such a suffering soul, Lucky Streak. I assume he shall wake soon for us to become acquainted?"

Mister Felix shook his head as he threw food thing into the air. "Only for you two. I have things to do today, so I'll be away for the rest of the day."

Mister William tilted his head. Confusion. Mister William was confused. "Might it have to do with those gems in the back of your cart? Shall I suppose you are being further charitable by sharing the translation amongst all Pokémon?"

Mister Felix nodded as he put the thing with the food onto the thing. It was sorta... Annoying? Annoying not to know these words. "You supposed right! It must be very annoying for ponies to not understand anything you Pokémon say, so I thought I might help out a bit!"

Mister William nodded his head again and said, "Indeed, these mystical treasures are quite astounding and... Apparently quite abundant."

"I have some connections," Mister Felix said, taking cart back and walking out the door. "Stay safe while I'm gone!"

Mister William shook his wing. "Pleasure and action make the hours seem short! May you return soon!"

Quilava shook his paw like Mister William, still a little confused. "Stay safe!" he said loudly.

Quilava looked at the closed door. A noise sounded from Mister William. "Well, we should enjoy this wonderful meal he provided before going on to learning the wondrous knowledge of these books!"

Quilava felt strange. Bad strange, but not fear. "Mister William, Mister Felix never told me when he was coming back."

"He will be back soon," Mister William said, but Quilava was still feeling bad. When was soon?

Felix breathed a deep sigh as he looked towards the sky. Being stuck in the house for the whole day yesterday didn't give much of Celestia's rays. He would worry about the other projects later—especially after that train-wreck the day before with William on the one project. He pulled along the gems in search of one pony who could help him out.

Going through the colorful town, he recognized a few ponies here and there. Oakey Doke and Seasong sat together, having whatever mare talk they had. He would never understand how mares could speak to each other for long periods of time. What do they even talk about for all that time? he wondered as he looked towards the sky. Bluebell flew by above the houses, carrying a small bird with a leek in its mouth. He also spotted a large, orange bird flying up into the sky before turning around and diving back towards the ground, its wings glowing white. He recognized it as a Pokémon battle, and was natural for any Pokémon to engage in, according to William.

A sudden bump into another pony sent him falling down. He heard a surprised scream, and it wasn't just his own. As a few gems flung itself from the cart onto his back, he gazed upon a lavender body and an unmistakable cutie mark of two swirling dolphins.

"Sea Swirl, we have to stop meeting like this," Felix quipped as he helped her back to her hooves.

Sea Swirl chuckled nervously in response as her magic enveloped the fallen gems and placed it back into the cart. "Ahah, um... S-Sorry about that, Felix. I was lost in thought again..."

Felix laughed in response. Whenever she said 'lost in thought', it meant she was lost in her marine imaginations. "Thinking about swimming with the dolphins again, aren't you?" he asked.

Her red face gave Felix the answer he needed. Furiously, she answered, "N-No I wasn't! I wasn't thinking about that at all!"

He couldn't help himself but coo at her adorable behavior. "Aww, don't have to be all flustered! We all have our own imaginary worlds we love to delve ourselves into. No matter how lost you get in that world, I hope you don't forget about me!"

She groaned as the blush disappeared from her face as she rolled her eyes. "How can I with your easygoing and immature attitude..." she moaned.

Felix let out a mock gasp. "What are you saying? Me, immature?" They stared at each other and giggled. "Okay, fair enough. Still, you should save it when you're out on the streets. You never know if you'll fall into a lake and magically become a seapony."

Sea Swirl gave a small sigh as they started to walk down the dirt road together. "Yeah, yeah, save your dry humor for someone else. Anyway, what's with all the gems? Did a customer order a bunch of gems for you to craft or something?"

Felix shook his head. "Nah, this is something I bought. A bunch of translation gems for all the Pokémon that came here!"

The atmosphere stilled as Sea Swirl strode in front of him, boring holes into his eyes. The Swirl Glare. "You didn't spend all your bits again, did you?" she uttered under her breath.

He gave a sheepish grin in return. "It was for a good cause."

"Felix..." she moaned again. "Remember the last time when you spent all your bits trying to build another bridge? You got conned out of all your bits! And what you got in return was a bunch of parrots that flew all around town saying, 'Sally sells shells by the seashore! Sally sells shells by the seashore!'"

"At least they had a sense of humor about it..." Felix silently responded as he walked around her.

He felt a tug at his tail, halting his movement again. He looked back to find her horn still glowing in the magenta aura. With a jerk of her head, a small beam struck at the gems. He watched in horror as the gems, radiating a powerful red glow, dissipated into gray, dull rocks.

"And that, fillies and gentlecolts, is why you need to stop buying anonymous deals," she announced, giving a small sigh after. "Seriously, Felix. You got conned. Again. You may be called Lucky Streak, but this is one streak of bad luck you always get."

His mind blanked as he stared for a moment. "... They still have the translation spell on them, right?"

"Nope, just an illusion spell. I may be a Marine Biology researcher, but even I can see through this hoax."

He stared at her for a moment before returning his smile. "Welp, guess that means I'm a rock head, wouldn't you say?"

Pain struck on his head, and it's name was the Swirl Hoof. Not as hard as her sister's, Orange Swirl, but still painful enough to send the message. "Oww..."

"You're such a pain sometimes, Felix," Sea Swirl muttered under her breath. With a sigh, she added, "But, knowing you, you're going to do some crazy job that's going to pay enough to get you back on track, aren't you?"

"That's the way it goes!" he responded. "Want to help out this time?"

She put her hoof to her chin. "Help you get back on track and get some of the reward myself, or stay in my house and keep reading about the anatomy of a dolphin for the fifth time in a row? Hm... I wonder what I will choose?"

Felix gave a small grin. "You do realize that, with a bunch of these new creatures, there's more aquatic creatures to study?"

Her eyes widened as she stared at him. "Wait, what?"

"These Pokémon come in many different shapes," he noted. "I have a good feeling that we're going to be having a little bit of a chat between some of these aquatic guys if you do come along."

A large smile came across her face. "Then what are we waiting for!?" she exclaimed. "Let's go!"

"First things first!" he said, stopping her from her jot. He wrapped his tail around one of the rocks and threw it to his hoof. "We have to get rid of these rocks."

He puffed her face towards him. "This is no time for rocks! We got some creature exploration to do!"

"Won't take too long!" Felix yelled as he started running towards the pawn shop. "Follow me!"

Even from the distance he sprinted, he could hear her loud huff as she started her gallop.

Even though the first meal of the day satisfied his stomach, he hungered towards the new knowledge to teach the young child. Reading was essential to the development of a young mind, and he was the owl to enrich his new pupil. He also wondered about the strange Munchlax and how quickly the Munchlax would eat all the food laid out for him, but the curious spectacle would have to remain unknown until his awakening.

He looked towards the table where the young Quilava placed himself and realized something off. His food, which he bluntly requested this morning, sat there barely touched. He blinked a few times and flapped his way towards the fire-type, carefully landing on the table with the grip of his talons as to not scratch the surface.

Observing the Quilava's face, he seemed distraught. Deciding to question things further, he asked, "Might I ask why you look sad?"

Quilava jerked his head towards the Noctowl, his features switching from sorrow to emotionless. "Not looking sad. Look like Quilava."

William stared at the Quilava for a moment before saying, "Do you understand what sadness is?"

He expected a curious look, but instead, the young one looked down, back to the same miserable face he wore seconds ago. "Sadness is... Feeling what I am."

The Noctowl hummed in amusement. The young one, still learning words, picked up on context clues to better understanding. Before thinking further, a small quote arose in his mind. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

William was caught aback and questioned the logic of the random quote, but he deterred not when asking, "What reason are you sad?"

The Quilava then did something the owl did not expect. The Quilava... Sighed. A releasing breath of despair to cool the mind of its troubles. Then his sweet, innocence came out. "Did Mister Felix leave because I was bad?"

William's heart nearly leaped from his chest hearing these words. In only two days, this feral... Felt doubt of himself? In his case, it took several weeks before William started comprehending emotion to this extent, yet seeing the brilliance of this child, he felt a twinge of mixed emotions; envy, guilt, sorrow, and pride.

Swallowing his own self-depreciation, he knew the child needed comfort more than anything. Thinking quickly, he answered, "Did Lucky Streak leave when I was unable to do my projects yesterday?"

The Quilava's eyes widened in horror. Shouting, he said, "I didn't finish projects! Mister Felix is mad because of not finished projects!" Before William could stop him, the Quilava bolted into the repair shop part of the house.

He stared blankly, not anticipating such an outburst and rash conclusion. Silently, he murmured, "For the fate of the gods... Why must he be so blessed with such amazing capabilities, yet be so innocent despite his ability?"

Groaning from his mistake, he flew into the workshop, finding the Quilava staring at the paper blankly. Sideways. On the blank side of the paper. The Noctowl landed next to him and carefully observed his face once more. He saw the desperation behind the focused eyes, his determination to please the stallion that cared so much for them in just the two days they have stayed in his humble abode shining intensely. Clearing his throat to get the young one's attention, he stated, "Did Lucky Streak look angry with you this morning?"

The Quilava paid no attention to his words, still intently focused on the blank sheet. Thinking carefully, he continued, "Felix is not angry because you did not complete your projects, young one."

Still no reaction. William felt like the Quilava completely tuned out everything around him to finding out how to fix the problem. He continued speaking. "It's not wise to hold in your feelings. If you trust someone undoubtedly, you can trust them with your own personal self. Do you not trust me?"

That got a confused glance from the Quilava. "Mister William, you talk weird."

So he's not completely ignoring my words, he mused. Quilava has not been asking information from my beak of the words spoken, so maybe I shall rekindle his interest through a tale of old.

Puffing his chest, he decided to follow the stereotypical rumor of old mons; infuriating and prolonged ramblings of past times. For added effects, he started stroking his chin. "You know, this reminds me of a tale of my past. A long time ago, I wandered around the world, searching for a grand treasure of legends." He outstretched his left wing outward, starting to wave it about. "The Pokémon all around mocked me for seeking such a rare interest, but I said with a strong will that I would find this legendary treasure of old! When I set out my course, I left behind those naysayers, but it did not lighten my load. I found myself faced with trials beyond imagination; treacherous waves, stormy seas, and lightning brighter than the sun's rays!"

He glanced over towards Quilava to find him not sitting there anymore. Looking forward, he found the Quilava sitting there, staring in awe towards the Noctowl. Realizing the attention the Quilava brought to him, he decided to twist his story around. "But I continued forward, knowing that the treasure was somewhere. When I arrived at my destination, I was dumb-struck to find the ruins that held the wondrous treasure was in disarray and was unsearchable! So, with a heavy heart, I returned home, sad and confused. But when I came home, I saw my wife, waiting there for me. And in her possession was that very legendary treasure that I had been searching for!"

The Quilava's head perked up. "What was it?"

William couldn't help but chuckle at the enthusiasm of the child. He relaxed his wings as he answered, "Why, it was something very legendary indeed. A bell that rang in such a beautiful tone unparalleled to anything you could ever dream of. It was truly a grand treasure of legends."

He blinked for a moment before a small smile came on his face, his eyes starting to burn with intense excitement. "Can I see bell?"

His puffed chest deflated at the remark. "I'm... I'm afraid not. The legendary treasure belongs to my wife, and she is not here."

The Quilava flattened his ears back, a sad look on his face. "Can we find... Whatever wife is?"

William could feel the burning stings of the past striking as his mind once more.

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

The quote again resounded in his mind, but he shook the feeling. Solemnly, he answered, "Until you understand the chains of death, I'm afraid I cannot say anymore."

William was caught off guard once more when the Quilava asked, "What killed wife? Did bad monster kill her?"

He trembled, a cold feeling of sorrow sweeping through his mind. Taking a deep breath, he answered, "Yes. You can suppose right."

Quilava stood silently, gazing upon him. The Noctowl presumed that the Quilava must have seen terrible things in the wild before, despite being so young. Finally, he looked down and uttered, "Sorry."

William didn't know what came over him when he brushed his wings against the Quilava's back. Almost instinctively, he stated, "It is of the past. Do not fret, young one, for it is but a faded scar."

Both Quilava and William sat there in moments of silence before the Quilava stating, "I'm hungry." Throwing the paper away, he returned back to the dining area where his food lay. William couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the sudden change of mood, passing the dark corridor of darkness before.

"I can't believe a part of the town was blown up!"

Felix could not believe what he saw from far-away, but he couldn't mistake the sight of scaffolds of the charred buildings. If he hadn't lived on the opposite side of the Everfree Forest in a sound-proofed house, he would have immediately rushed in to help. He knew he should have left yesterday when his cutie mark was screeching at him that something unlucky happened.

"You still got some ponies to come in with their projects in your workshop, right?" Sea Swirl asked. "I'll say you got your share!"

"I know, I know," he grumbled. "But if I knew about this earlier, I would have sprinted over here!" He continued to stare. "I really hope that Ditzy Doo and her husband are alright."

For a moment, he could have sworn he felt the shiver of Sea Swirl behind him. "I still think there's something strange about that stallion Ditzy married," she said. He turned towards Sea Swirl, her magic levitating rocks idly into the store. "I mean, doesn't something just seem... Off whenever he's around? It almost feels like he's not even of this world..."

Felix chuckled. "Oh, that's just your imagination going wild."

Sea Swirl rolled her eyes as she continued to carry each rock into the shop. "But seriously, how many of these gems did you buy?"

Felix smiled. "Oh, about five hundred."

Sea Swirl coughed, nearly losing her grip on the rocks she floated. "F-Five hundred!?"

"Yep, five hundred! Anyway..." Felix walked over to the cart, slamming a hoof into the cart, launching the rest of the rocks into the shop. "There, no more wasting time!"

Back to the Sea Swirl glare. And the rocks shattering in her magic. "Y-You... You could have just done that in the beginning," she sighed, taking many deep breathes beforehoof.

"Ah, but I felt we needed to talk a bit for someone to come," he singsonged. "In fact, they’re trotting here right now!"

Sea Swirl and Felix both looked back simultaneously to see a brown pony with an hourglass cutie mark and a... larger Quilava walking towards them. He immediately thought of Quilava back in his shop at that size.

"Felix! Just the stallion I wanted to see!" Time Turner greeted with a big grin, shaking Felix out of his daze. The brown stallion turned towards Sea Swirl.  "Good to see you Sea Swirl! How's your father like the clock?"

Sea Swirl groaned. "Yes, hello, Time Turner," she deadpanned. "My father very much enjoys that clock you got, but why did you have to get such an annoying chime?"

Time Turner shrugged. "I like gangnam style," he countered.

Sensing Sea Swirl’s aggravation, Felix interrupted quickly. "So, what brings you around the clock?" Realizing what he just said, he added, "Pardon my pun."

Luckily, Time Turner was a delightful pony. He threw his head back and laughed. "Clock jokes! I love it!" It took a moment for him to get himself under control again. "Er... Pardon me. Yes, apparently Derpy brought a vase by yesterday. She wanted me to pick it up."

Felix put a hoof to his chin, trying to remember Derpy’s eyes. He felt a bit bad about her lazy eye, but it was probably her best identifying feature beyond the blonde mane. "Hm... I don’t recall her coming in..." he mused out loud. "Then again, with so many ponies coming in, it was hard to keep up with so many orders..." He decided to go with his gut. "Alright, let’s head to my shop. I believe we have it ready for you to pick up!"

"Excellent!" Turner cheered. "Lead on Felix." Felix was about to direct them, but then Turner glanced towards his left. "Oh, where are my manners? Felix, Sea Swirl, this is my friend, Nova." He gestured to the large Quilava next to him.

Nova nodded. "Nice to meet you both."

"Well, about time we finally get a Pokémon that can actually speak," Sea Swirl snarked as they started walking together. "I was wondering if all these Pokémon just only said their names."

"That's what you're hearing." Nova explained. "We have our own language."

Felix grinned with a nod. "Yep! It took me a while to actually figure it out myself!" He then looked towards Nova. "But I must ask... Are you a Quilava? You seem larger than the Quilava I have at my home."

Nova blinked and stopped walking. "A Quilava you say?" he asked. Felix couldn’t help but pick up a bit of an amused tone, but with his stoic attitude, it was difficult to place. "No, but I was one once. I'm a Typhlosion now."

Felix blinked. He was a Quilava? He and Sea Swirl both stared for a moment before Felix realized what he meant. "Of course! It must be that evolution that William was talking about!"

"Evolution?" Sea Swirl asked.

"The natural process of a Pokemon maturing." Nova explained. "Your Quilava friend for instance wasn't born a Quilava. Before he evolved, he was a Cyndaquil. Nearly all Pokemon evolve in some way."

Sea Swirl groaned. "Pokémon maturing by natural process? Evolution? These Pokémon get more and more confusing at the minute."

Felix smiled, knowing exactly how she felt. "It will be quite interesting for your studies though. I’m sure you’ll probably have to learn about them when researching those water Pokémon!"

"That means I’ll probably be asking many questions about this." She turned towards the Typhlosion. "Nova, was it? Hope you don’t mind, but I’ll probably be questioning off your ears on the way to Felix’s."

Nova laughed. "A Marine Pokéologist?" he asked, quite bemused. "I'll answer what I can. But you should know that I'm a Fire-type type... The polar opposite of water."

"At least water beating fire makes sense..." Sea Swirl sighed. Felix could tell she was getting prepped for her ‘researcher mode’. "Alright, so let’s go over more about Pokémon evolution..."

Quilava ate up last of food after firing it but not firing house. He was careful with fire because fire was danger. And food was good. Quilava went over to Mister William, who read pag–book. He called it book. Mister William read book while Quilava ate.

Mister William looked scary again. Angry. Mister William was angry at... Book?

"Confound this mimicry! This book speaks William Shakesphere in the word of pony! How ignominious!"

Quilava blinked. "What’s wrong with book?" he asked.

Mister William scary went away. "Oh, sorry, young one. I’m just upset. You could say I’m not used to this new world and its copies."

Quilava tilted his head. "Copies?"

Mister William did weird thing when he start explaining thing. "Copies are when... Hm... Quite difficult to explain in words that you know. How about I say this? Imagine that there was another you. That would be a copy."

Quilava blinked. "Another me. Like... Someone look like me?"

Mister William nodded. "Indeed! It looks like it, but is not actually what it is. For example, this blasted book is a copy of another book, but is not good."

"So copy is bad?"

Mister William gave nod. "Quite terribly so, young one. After all, copies are very bad because they’re stealing from the original."

So copies are very bad because they steal? Quilava thought.

Quilava tilted his head again. "What is... Steal? Is it also bad thing?"

Mister William nodded. "It’s a terrible act to make. Stealing is taking from someone else without permission."

And permission is when they let you do something. That is bad.

Quilava nodded. "I’m ready to read now."

Mister William was going to speak, but then Mister Felix entered. Quilava looked in surprise before jumping.

"Mister Felix!" he called.

He had big smile on his face too! "Quilava! I’m back... For the moment, that is!"

Quilava frowned. "What?"

Mister Felix did head attack again. "I had to return because I forgot to tell someone how long I would be out."

Quilava blinked. Mister Felix wasn’t there when I saying that, he thought.

He was put back on the floor and Mister Felix made weird sound. "Anywho, I also came back because a customer needs her vase returned."

Quilava nodded and ran to vases. He remembered vase fixing yesterday and found vase and gave it to Felix. "Here you go. This was only vase."

Felix blinked. "That makes things easy. Ah, and William... Where is he?"

Quilava looked and didn’t see Mister William. Then he remembered read. "Mister William getting book for me."

"Ah, probably looking for a good one! Well, nevermind that then! How would you like to meet the customer that you fix this vase for? After all, it's only fair for you to show such hard work done well!"

Quilava smile grew. "Sure!"

He followed behind Felix, who walked with vase. "Here you are! I hope this repair is suitable for your needs!"

Smiling bark pony frowned, taking vase with him. "Oh, that's the one that broke! No wonder she was so serious about this. Thank you Felix." Quilava then looked to the side and saw...

Huge Pokémon. No, huge Quilava?

"If anything, the thanks should be given to our little worker here!"

Huge Quilava had fire eyes. Very fire eyes. He was fire. Very good fire. And huge Quilava was looking at him. Huge Quilava gave huge smile.

Quilava did paw thing that Mister William does when wing is at something. "He’s huge." Huge Quilava made loud roar. "And loud. Are you bigger me?"

He said something, but Quilava couldn’t hear. "Yes and no."

Quilava blinked. Huge Quilava was confusing too. "So you’re not bigger me, and you’re bigger me? Will I be that big?"

He did more quiet roar. "Some day if you practice, yes. But what I meant was that I'm the same species of Pokemon as you. I'm a Typhlosion."

"You’re Typhlosion?" Quilava asked. "But you said you were bigger me." He thought for a moment. "Does that mean that if I do practice thing, I’ll become like bigger you?"

He did huge smile. "Yes. One day, when you're strong enough, you'll evolve into a Typhlosion and you'll be much bigger."

Another new word. "What is evolve?"

"It's what you did to become a Quilava. Do you remember when you were a Cyndaquil?"

What?

"I was Cyndaquil?" Quilava asked. Quilava didn’t know what Cyndaquil was. "I have always been Quilava."

Typhlosion looked bad and... Fear? Why was he fearing? He said another thing, but Quilava couldn’t hear again. "Do you know how old you are?"

Old? He didn’t know word, but something told him it meant hatching day. "I hatched ten suns before."

"Ten suns?" Typhlosion said loudly.

"Ten days ago!?" bark pony also said loudly.

Quilava couldn’t hear words well, but Mister Felix said, "T-Ten... Days?"

Quilava didn’t even notice weird pony with thing sticking out of head. Pony asked, "Is that natural?"

"No it's not. There's no way you could have evolved after just ten days. Bug-types don't even grow that fast!"

Typhlosion was getting scary, and everyone was getting fearing. "Why is everyone looking bad? I don’t understand..."

Mister Felix shook head. "Neither do we, Quilava. Are you certain that you hatched ten days ago?"

Days? Suns must be days, from Typhlosion saying. Quilava nodded. "Ten suns is ten days, so yes."

"I think I know." Typhlosion had weird look on face, like Mister William when thinking. Think look. Typhlosion had think look. "I read something about this once. It was in some popculture magazine, so take it with a grain of salt. I read an article about rumors of Team Rocket cloning Pokemon."

Clone?

Now Quilava was fearing. “What is clone?” It sounded close to...

Typhlosion had big fear now. "Um..." He then breathed long. "It means someone took a piece of another Quilava and used it to make another Quilava."

Copy. He was... Copy. "So... I’m a copy?" He felt sad and fear when he said that. Mister William hated copies.

Mister William hated him.

"No! Of course not! You're just like a twin."

Quilava blinked. "T-Twin?" he said, fear still in him. "I-Is that another copy word?"

"Not at all!" bark pony said, putting vase on ground. "It means you've got someone out there a lot like you!”

"Exactly!" Mister Felix said. "It’s not a copy, but more like a brother!"

Bark pony came closer and said, "And I've known clones. They're really very nice."

Clones... Nice? Does that mean... Clone isn’t copy? "R-Really?"

"Oh, of course! Of course!" Mister Bark Pony said. "Huh? Come to think of it I still owe him money..."

"What?"

"Oh, it's not important," Mister Bark Pony said.

Mister Felix made weird noise again, but different from weird roar noise. "Well, as much as we’ve enjoyed talking about this, I believe that you have an upset wife to return to posthaste with that lovely vase!"

"Ah yes indeed!" Mister Bark Pony said, walking out of house. "Now if I could just solve the problem in Canterlot we'd be all set."

Quilava turned to find Typhlosion staring at him. Clone is not copy. Clone is good, while copy is bad. Which means... "So I’ll be bigger you? Will I be as awesome as you?"

Typhlosion gave big smile. "With the right kind of training yes."

Mister Felix also gave smile. "Now, Quilava, I’m sure that if you become that big, you’ll won’t fit in your bed!"

Quilava frowned. Did that mean he would grow bigger the nicer he got? He liked sleeping in bed. But wait, Mister Felix was good maker. "Then you can make new bed, right?"

Mister Felix made weird roaring noise again. "Of course! Oh, and before I forget..."

Mister Felix turned to Typhlosion. "Tell the Doctor about aliens invading his home." Mister Felix then closed an eye.

Mister Felix then turned to pony with weird thing on head. "Sea Swirl, come into my workshop! You have to meet William!"

Pony... Sea Swirl blinked. "Oh, of course!" She walked with Felix. Quilava walked with them, leaving Typhlosion behind.

Quilava thought he heard a "what".

Felix shook his head. He couldn’t believe what he had heard, and it felt very much wrong. But one fact still remained: Quilava was ten days old. Newborns still couldn’t talk at that time, much less walk around and have such awareness.

The other pressing problem was Sea Swirl. He knew that she didn’t really like Time Turner, but Sea Swirl was much more distracted than usual. He felt like this distraction was going to lead to a great decision, but he didn’t know what.

William was sitting on his bird perch, watching the trio enter. With a smile, he stated, "So, it seems you aren’t only here to inform us of your time of homecoming." With a bow towards Sea Swirl, he added, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am William Shaketalon. Shall I fancy you are the customer that Lucky Streak served?"

Sea Swirl blinked. "Me?" She shook her hoof in front of her. "Oh no, that was another pony. I’m Sea Swirl, Felix’s friend."

"Then it is my pleasure to make acquaintance with a friend of our caretaker," he corrected.

Felix smiled. "And, of course, you’ve already met Quilava."

Quilava gave a small nod. "Nice to meet you."

Felix blinked. "You know, I am rather curious of where you picked up these small things, like ‘Mister’ and polite messages."

Quilava tilted his head towards Felix. "I heard small pony say ‘Mister’, and when she didn’t say ‘Mister’, she was yelled at."

Sea Swirl chuckled. "Oh dear, don’t tell me that Cheerilee was around shop."

Felix shrugged. "There were a lot of ponies that came in yesterday. It was quite crowded, so I don’t really recall much of what happened yesterday."

"Fair enough," she stated, "but isn’t the workshop silenced? How did Quilava hear about it?"

Felix blinked and looked towards Quilava. He was fumbling around with the watch on his wrist again, apparently nervous. "Quilava, when did you hear about these things?"

Quilava looked up at Felix with apologetic eyes. "S-Sorry. I got curious. I went out while you were busy."

Felix chuckled. "So you did that?" He then scratched the Quilava's head. "I'll let it slide if you remember to ask next time, okay?"

Quilava gave a huge smile with brightly-lit eyes. "Okay, Mister Felix!"

Sea Swirl couldn’t help but giggle a bit. "Aww, did Felix adopt a child?"

Felix scratched the back of his head. "I was just intending to get someone to help out in the workshop and an owl to look after the shop during the night. I was just depending on luck."

"Again, you never cease to amaze me," William commented, placing a wing to his face. "If I didn’t know better, I would say you probably hum songs to get trivial things finished like breakfast or the like."

"Looks like you met a charming feature of this knucklehead then," Sea Swirl commented, a large grin on her face. "Don’t think you’ll be able to find much else unless you really dive deep."

Felix laughed. "'Dive'?"

Sea Swirl glowed a crimson red. "S-Shut up. You’re probably worse after a day of repairing."

"At least I take pride in my puns!" Felix gloated, pointing a hoof at her. "Besides, I’m sure any mare will think you’re cute with your aquatic puns!"

Before Felix and Sea Swirl could have more fun, a cold chill ran through them from William’s glare. "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. So what purpose is there with matching yourself with someone of your same sex when it does not bring forth frutation?"

Felix sweatdropped and could feel Sea Swirl’s disturbance as well. "Erm... Yes, moving on. Sea Swirl and I are going to be out for the rest of today, but I’ll return by tonight. Make sure Quilava gets to bed on time."

Quilava looked back and forth from a clearly agitated William and both other ponies. Before they could say anything, William huffed, muttered something, then flew into the other room.

Sea Swirl shrugged. "I don’t know what that was about. Guess it must be something from the other world or something."

Felix nodded. "Or maybe it’s William. Either way..." He turned to Quilava. "I’ll be back tonight. Make sure to learn many things today and take care of the Munchlax, alright?"

Quilava nodded. "Yes, Mister Felix."

Felix smiled and scratched the fire weasel’s head. "I knew I could count on you!" He turned to Sea Swirl. "Alright, shall we finally be off?"

Sea Swirl gave an exaggerate sigh, putting her hoof to her head. "After such a treacherous morning with you, I don’t know if I can. Unless..." A devious grin appeared on her face. "You buy me breakfast."

Felix sighed before grinning. "You got lost in studies again, didn’t you? Alright, no problem. I mean, I didn’t just spend all my bits recently."

As they started walking out, Felix looked back and waved goodbye to Quilava. And Quilava waved back, a big smile on his innocent face. He felt a bit of relief that Quilava didn’t seemed to be bothered when he left, so why should he feel sad?

He felt like he should feel the same when the time came.

The sunlight beat against his close-lidded eyes as his mind woke up. As he opened those very eyelids, he observed the room around him. Green walls with a wooden floor and many appliances and cooking utensils hanging about.

I’m in a kitchen of some sort. Looks pretty simple. A bit large, but I guess that’s because of my small body.

He finally noticed the weight against said body. A heavy, green blanket covered most of him.

Based on the blanket and kitchen, I’ll can safely assume I was taken in by someone...

Usually, he was an optimistic, outgoing type of guy, but he had developed a bit of a ranger mode despite only working mostly in the research lab. He could thank the region of Oblivia for giving him some better experience, especially when working with the ship “The Union”, but that was only for a year or so.

Strange that people are able to either explain things through thoughts or description...

Lifting the blanket from his body, he looked around the wooden kitchen. Several packages of food laid out on the kitchen floor. He assumed that the pony that took him in possibly set the packages up for delivery, or the slight chance that they were all for him. He pushed aside that thought immediately due to how the world didn’t seem to know their species.

A loud rumble sounded, and he found his mind drawn to the food. He resisted the impulse and attempted to look more at the surroundings. His stomach cried out once more, and the instinct crept on him again. He glanced at the food wearily before shaking his head.

Stay focused. A ranger wouldn’t fall into such temptations. Alright, let’s think of this as a mission! My mission is... To not eat any of the food! Ranger Murph, it’s mission time!

Murph poised himself up and put his arms to make a straight, horizontal line. Bringing his arms to his sides, he shook his hips and finished with raising a pointed finger from his right hand.

If there’s ever going to be another Ranger Union created in this world, that’s going to be one of my first missions: to bring back the Ranger Pose!