Chirin-chirin lay there with his eyes closed but his soul still 
planted firmly here. He felt Selden's breathing change as the flaaffy 
slipped into sleep; and he drifted in and out of a half-dream, in 
which he curled around Azalea, not Selden. He kept swarming up to the 
surface of consciouness thinking...shifting his position, trying to 
rest but seeming to get more awake the more he tried to sleep. He 
tried everything...deep breathing, relaxing thoughts, but all these 
things kept circling around to one thing, and only seemed to shove it 
more into the forefront of his being. With painful and insistent 
shoves all through his blood. And he stopped trying to tame it and 
let it rage up in him. 

He noticed Mimishi nearby and kept his eyes closed.

Mimishi stood near the tree watching him. The fleeceless ram seemed 
fast asleep, or something close to it. His lights glowed a shade of 
red even cherries and tulips could not touch on. And they pulsed.

The flaaffy ewe wandered out from the tree, just having herself a 
walk and doing her own part to guard the place. She realized she 
wasn't a lamb anymore and could even be one of the better trained 
fighters here.

She laughd drily to herself. "Me--a trained fighter." But it was 
true. A long time ago she had dreamed of being better, stronger, more 
than she had seemed destined to be. It had turned out that her 
friends had never resented her or been happy she'd left. They had 
missed her. Now all she wanted was to retire to a place of peace, 
with Rocky, and raise a lamb. She wondered how she'd be with a child. 
Since that was where all these hormones seemed to want to go. 

Mimishi had no real experience with motherhood. Rocky seemed good 
with Hawk, though. She smiled to herself. Then she frowned. Did all 
this thinking mean she was really going to go through with this? Her 
feet, padding over the sand and leaving prints spiked with cloven 
hooves, returned her to standing not far from Chirin, watching him 
breathe.

She realized that his lights, with their deeply glowing rhythm, 
betrayed the fact that he was not really asleep. Or did it? Maybe if 
he was dreaming...She'd never seen her own lights when asleep, so she 
didn't know. 

Pacing back round the other side of the tree, Mimishi tried to graze, 
she tried to rest. Nothing came to her besides the pulling of the 
knot inside her, that was growing tighter every second. Her flippers 
sweated and her feet scuffed on the sand. The ewe bleated softly out 
at the lake as she dropped and rolled on the sand.

Several times she got up to check back on Chirin, but she kept 
returning to the lake's edge. Each time she got a little closer to 
tapping him on the shoulder. 

The sand became crisscrossed with her tracks.

* * *

Chirin's legs twitched in his sleep. He was running in a forest with 
Selden close behind. He came out in the midst of a grove of trees 
that smelled of citrus and held round orange fruits hanging from 
their branches--the kind Hampty had given them. Chirin and Selden 
jumped up and down, trying to reach the fruits...

A twig snapped. His head turned. Chirin smelled danger. An enemy 
prowled in the shadows, beyond--in the forest bordering their little 
orangy glade. It had its eyes on Selden.

"*Ampharos, ampharos...*" 

Sparks broke like twigs, flashing from his tail while he slept. 
Chirin hugged Selden closer...

"SELDEN!"

Then he didn't know where the enemy was, he knew it must have Selden, 
he heard Selden bleating...Chirin's eyes struggled to see and his 
thundering tail aimed to drive off, kill, the threat. He tried to 
dive over Selden and fell in a tumble of leaves and oranges, he 
couldn't see or hear Selden, he didn't even know where he was...

Celesteon appeared. But Celesteon looked just like a houndoom. 

"We will walk in shadows, we will dance with death, we will prey on 
the refuse of souls who have left. Always, Chirin, you watch the 
woods, but you cannot stop them...you never could..."

The houndoom-Celesteon, who smelled and looked a little like Artemis, 
he realized, ran away fast, too fast for Chirin to catch him...or 
her...Chirin was running as fast as he could to catch him. He must 
catch him, the houndoom had Selden! He chased the houndoom--or 
houndour? into the treehouse and down into the underground passage. 

And the passage smelled of damp earth and hurricanes on hills, just 
like Calima's giant burrow. Somewhere down one of these passages, 
Selden was coughing, sick and afraid. 

"Selden!"

Chirin shone his light and peered around, and the passage grew 
thinnger. He had to drop to all fours and crawl, and then on his 
belly...slithering. Roots dangled into his eyes and the floor scraped 
his belly raw... "Meripu, Meripu..." He was a mareep, but he had no 
wool, he was a naked helpless lamb...

The burrow caved in behind him and Chirin's hind legs were trapped. 
And the hallways all went dark...

He tried to move but he could not. He tried to bleat but something 
choked his airways. Dark, he was afraid of the dark--

"Selden." Chirin woke up, realizing that he had been squirming and 
struggling back into his body. Selden lay nestled safely against his 
belly. The flaaffy hadn't even stirred at Chirin's waking. Chirin saw 
Selden's barely glowing light and realized he was deeply asleep.

He lay back down himself to sleep some more...he must screw up his 
power and face this darkness soon...what he had just experienced in 
the other world must be a test of the ancestors, to help him prepare 
for the coming onslaught. Still afraid, though, he lay with his eyes 
closed, but his mind awake. Was Selden in danger? Or had that, too, 
been a test? It had been a good thing he had been there to protect 
Selden, but all the same he still worried. Selden was not awake yet. 
Chirin had better go back to sleep and find him again. This time he 
would not de-evolve (which the soul often did in the other realm) he 
was stronger now and would face the evil.

He was carried back to his body by his nose...smelling a ewe in 
heat...and by someone tapping his shoulder. 

"Chirin?"

Chirin opened his eyes and was immediately fully awake. He looked 
into the eyes of a nervous ewe. He could hear her breathing.

"*Pharaahh?*" His bleat strummed his voice box low and gentle. And a 
wave of butterfrees filled his gut. He looked up at Mimishi, whom he 
could tell was more nervous than he was. He sniffed, listened. No 
enemies were around. Nothing but sleeping or resting pokemon and the 
silent, watching stars. But a thousand spirits sang to him from the 
inside and out. The trees, the breeze, the arching spread of the 
limbs of the ancient tree, everything seemed to spread its arms wide 
as Chirin unwound himself from Selden's sleeping grasp. Mimishi 
danced back from him as he stood up to his full height. Chirin 
glanced around, feeling more alone and less alone at once. He dropped 
to all fours, nibbling the grass, but it was not out of hunger that 
he ate. He avoided her eyes; looking into them would make her more 
nervous. She could decide what she wanted to do; and inside his mind 
and body he had freedom to hope and dwell on what his little soul-
self inside his mind chose to indulge in. He belatedly wished he had 
his stantler antler with him, but he didn't, so he conjured its form 
in his mind and wished on its soul that way.

Mimishi fed alongside Chirin. He could see she was watching him. He 
breathed deeply and radiated calm from within himself. At the same 
time he thought his heart would burst. His palms sweated upon the 
grass and the dew of his body made the bottoms of his feet wet too. 

"Amphaa?" he asked with a quivery voice.

Mimishi stood up and made a peculiar jump, glancing all around as if 
the world would scold her. Chirin smiled, tail wagging; still keeping 
low to the ground he made a similar jump. He made half a dash away 
from her, inviting her to chase him with flashes of his waving tail. 
Upon the stiffness of this tense night, something else was being 
superimposed. 

Mimishi followed with mincing steps and Chirin scampered up into the 
bushes, amazed at the flood of life in him. All of his ancestors were 
crowding into his veins, each one fighting to give him energy first. 

He took a last glance out at the tree and the pokemon clustered here 
and there around it. He would not be gone long, or far away. Wherever 
they ran tonight they could not run much distance. Mimishi must know 
this too.

The breeze whipped him with gooseflesh. The stars infused Ledian 
light. Chirin hopped up into the woods just to the south of the tree, 
sniffing for enemies but halfheartedly so. To his delight, Mimishi 
was following him. 

"So does the hoothoot call in dark
Come crickets, come night, come eyes so bright
A nidoran's dash, a flicking spark
Come dance your night-dance, show me your light."

Chirin leaped his capering feats, he jumped around tree trunks, he 
dashed up and down the way. He let his ancestors work his limbs and 
added to their timeless dance his own steps and grace. 

Mimishi picked up and ran after him, Chirin letting her chase after 
him, letting her catch him, rolling with her, only to leap back up, 
flashing his light and dashing away again.

And the night-creatures sang. Chirin was a night-creature, he shone 
like Clef and he sang on the open air.

"I remember days
When it whispered to me
This bond, this song, these ancient words
"And through the haze
As time went by
Its voice grew sharp and more was heard."

Chirin ran a race round Mimishi, only wanting to chase her if she 
wanted him to. She flashed him a shy smile and ran off, Chirin making 
turns and taking the longer way to get to her, so as to not catch 
her, on her much shorter legs. This night might cumulate in only 
these games, and all of a sudden, he felt lucky just because she was 
letting him play like this. So she was not angry at him or afraid of 
him anymore. In that she had given him a gift.

"Have you ever sang, Mimishi?" he called to her, slowing his run. 

"Sang? Oh, no..." She smiled, stopping too. "I can't sing, you 
wouldn't want to hear me sing."

Chirin dropped down to all fours again. Both of them were heaving to 
catch their breath. He smiled up at her, and stood back; he summoned 
up a whirl of cloud-cotton that drifted down around him. He dove into 
its softness and rolled out a soft place to lie down on. Mimishi 
stood there full of too many feelings to sort out. Chirin smiled up 
at her. His heart thumped up in his throat, his head... "But I do," 
he said with his scent billowing out from him. He held out his 
arms. "We all have a voice to sing."

Mimishi swallowed and wiped her tears. Only her season could have 
made her this brave, this--spontaneous. Why couldn't she have been 
born free-spirited like this one? But now was not the time to get 
down on herself, not with the way he smiled at her like she was the 
only ewe in the world. 

She let invisible hands push her forward into Chirin's embrace.

"You can sing, Mimishi, we can sing..." Chirin let the spirits 
channel into him and out of him. Tears cascaded down with 
sweat. "Songs are from you soul. *Den, denn, denryuuuuuu.*"

*Yuuu, yuuuuuu...*

The cool air licked at him and sang to his skin. Gradually, thoughts 
returned to him from the abyss. Chirin lay warm, moist and boneless 
on the cotton, staring up at the spinning trees. His eyes were open 
and taking in the sights: the undersides of pine boughs lit by a warm 
radiance--a purply painting of red and blue lights, flickering up, 
barely brushing the branches' bellies. And tears found his ears and 
climbed down around them. *Mimi, Mimi...* He had made another soul 
friend. She lay on her side curled up facing him, and he knew that 
ordinarily he would be shivering tense against the cold. But in every 
part of him there was strung a tight string and for the first time, 
it seemed, those strings had all been cut.

Pieces of songs fluttered through him, not yet coalescing. His crying 
flowed silent from his eyes. No song could really describe what had 
rocketed through him, all words fell short of the feeling of his soul 
thrusting from him, bursting, and he had thought of nothing--more 
empty and more full than he'd ever been. It would take a while for 
him to realize just what it all meant. For now he was content to 
float in it like a warm bath. 

He turned to Mimishi and nuzzled her, licking her ear. A piece of his 
soul was inside this ewe who would never be far from him no matter 
where she chose to go from here on. He fervently hoped she chose to 
stay, join his flock, be his friend and his companion always. He knew 
so little about her--he had had too little time to learn the things 
that pleased him to learn about others--how they walked, talked, 
their favorite foods--the way they sang and played and told--or 
listened to--stories. The way they laughed when they heard a funny 
joke. Even the things they complained about. And how it felt to 
cuddle up to them. All he'd gotten up until right now was her fear 
and sadness. He hoped the same feelings of peace and hope and--
transformation were flowing through her too right now. It made him 
cry again to think about it. He knew so little about her...and yet, 
after this, so much.

They said no pokemon evolved more than twice but he knew he was a 
different person now, and so was Mimishi. There were other ways to 
evolve. They had evolved together and they were soul friends--each a 
piece of the other's heart.

He listened and sniffed, not even twitching an ear as he lay in the 
well-flattened cotton. Mimishi was asleep, and night noises were 
louder around them. Chirin just lay back and let his soul rest and 
revel. He knew that not only had he changed, shifted somehow, but 
evrything else had too. It all seemed different. Smaller in some ways 
but bigger in others. Life was a great gift from the ampharos 
ancestors who had thrust a bolt of being into his mother. Life...was 
beautiful, and nothing this beautiful could ever be destroyed, not 
even by Bangaa.

And he had maybe thrust his own bolt now, his *denki*, ignited to 
create a lamb. Making another life--no wonder it had felt like 
lightning.

He turned and hugged his arms and tail and everything around Mimishi. 
He felt her heart beat, and loved her like Selden...like Mecha...like 
a close soul friend. Even though Azalea was not here...

He tried not to dwell on Azalea not being here. All the time he had 
fought with that and he still did. But still he would love and 
protect and play with Mimishi as a close, close companion...they had 
shared souls. Nothing could change that...they shared souls...

It was all that he could do, all that he could feel. Something was 
missing, but it was no fault of either of them or what they had 
done...He would never take it back in a thousand years, but what he 
wouldn't give, still, for Azalea to have been with him this autumn. 
Maybe if she were here now he wouldn't still feel like some small yet 
vital piece to everything inside, was missing. And it chewed on his 
mind now and then like a rattata that hid in your bedding.

Why did he have to think of Azalea right now?

Already he felt his body coming back alive, his blood circling back, 
everything spinning or un-spinning to renewal. Thoughts of longing 
for ewes that couldn't be here--namely Azalea--fell away. He would 
find her already knowing what to do...how to impress her, how to make 
her feel all the more beautiful. He would meet her again--he knew he 
would. And he would meet her a better ram.

He closed his eyes again, lying for a last little bit here in this 
small little sacred place that they had hollowed out. And he let his 
thoughts rest briefly on a little wish he sent along on a messenger 
breeze to help Azalea find her way back to him. 

For if Azalea was any bit as smart as she had been before--and likely 
she was even smarter now--she might even find and rescue him.

~~~

Crunching another of the white seed things, Thyme looked at the darkened beach 
and the section highlighted by Petunia's tail. It was much like the section of beach nearby 
to where she had lived, though she saw no familiar landmarks. She moved forward to the 
water's edge for a drink.

This was no fun. She could have explored the barns! She had never been in one. Oh, well. 
At least Petunia seemed a little calmer now. 


Petunia headed down to the water close on Thyme's heels, wishing that the mareep 
hadn't just burst onto the beach so quickly. Who knew what lurked out here. This 
was a completely strange land to her. She hoped that whatever they did encounter 
did not mar Thyme's innocence. 

Her own was another story. She got a stronger whiff of the ram smell from up the 
beach. But with it rode other scents...of enemies, some much closer. She stayed out 
in the open, knowing electric sheep had no chance of hiding at night with their lights, 
and with the beach on one side and the lake on the other, nothing could really sneak 
up on them. 

"Thyme, Fluffy? Everyone stay close." 

Petunia edged up the shore, stopping and sniffing. 

Thyme followed closely upon Petunia's hooves. First, Petunia seemed anxious to get here 
and now she seemed anxious to go slow. "Didn't you want to find the others before it got too dark?" 


"Yes...I definitely do." Petunia headed on down the beach, picking up her pace again. 
Enemies could be anywhere, they would always be a threat. And at this point it 
couldn't really get any darker. She kept out in the middle of the beach, letting her 
nose be her guide. "We're getting closer, I know it." But the enemy smells lurked 
closer even as the ram did. 

As she went along, the mysterious male's smell became clearer...and sh realized it 
was vaguely familiar. Could it possibly be one of the flock who had left after the, er, 
murder, and taken up a life by the lake? 



* * *

Mimishi lay awake, pretending she was asleep. What had she done, 
romping out here with him and...what about...

Rocky...

She kept her body limp, careful as anything, hiding it perfectly. She 
thought back to happy times and neutral things--or she tried to. 
Nothing seemed neutral now. 

She let her face lie hidden in the dark, on its side, buried beneath 
Chirin's gentle embrace--he had been, despite his passion, so gentle--
and let the tears ooze out, one by one, like counting sheep.


Chirin's tail whipped backwards, like his neck as he gave a long and 
languid stretch...opening himself to the feeling. Giving his head an 
exuberant shake he lay back on his side, nuzzling against Mimishi.

"In the deep of night, lights shine, sparkle, fade; but those that 
shine strongest are inside us." He smiled. "How are you? How are you 
feeling?"

"Oh...I'm okay." Mimishi threw on her best reassuring smile and hoped 
it fooled him. From the subtle faltering of his lights, she had 
failed.

"I was all a whirl inside me tonight and I still am. We've stirred 
ourselves up like the crashing waves of the sea, and this foam inside 
us...churned up..." He buried her in a shivering hug. "Will slowly 
rock and settle back towards equilibrium...but never, never totally 
so. We are always in motion."

His talk frightened Mimishi a little. Just what did he mean by all of 
this? What did it have to do with anything that had happened...She 
sensed he was trying to express it in some way, but the abstractions 
sort of unsettled her. 

"Never fear for having no flock to turn to." He touched his nose to 
hers and let it travel to behind her ear, in her wool. Mimi had the 
softest wool he'd ever felt, Chirin thought, nuzzling his snout 
against the top of her head as he squeezed her. His instincts were 
rising again. "Know that you're my dear soul-friend and I would love 
for you to stay with me and Selden and Karama. I understand...if you 
would rather stay with Rocky and the others with him, you seem like 
you've been close with them for a long time. But of course even those 
other kinds of pokemon would be charmed by a beautiful ewe like 
yourself." His eyes twinkled as they met hers, on an 
angle. "Beautiful in and out. Your wool is sent from jumpluff spores 
and your eyes glitter like dark, dark pebbles polished shiny by a 
stream."

"Oh, Chirin, really," she said, laughing a little nervously. "You 
exaggerate a little...I'm not..."

"I exaggerate nothing. Maybe others need to take more time and really 
look and see things for what they are. When I sing, when I see 
something or smell something, it fills me with a spring of feelings 
and what I say is not exaggerated. Anyone would know--if they really 
took time to stroke it with their senses and know its beauty."

He sniffled.

~

Thyme followed along after Petunia and Fluffy.  Yes, the smells, muddied 
as they were through the many different varieties -- one stood out as 
familiar.  Maybe this was what Petunia was so excited about?  Thyme 
thought it was one of the ones who left the (ahem) flock before they 
decided to go find Fluffy a new home. 

It was just as well they didn't leave Fluffy at that farm, though -- to 
quiet there and anyplace with a fence to keep anyone from running free 
was very wrong.  After all, it was their home, right?  Why shouldn't they 
have the freedom to explore, since only a crazy would not go to a safe 
haven, as they'd had before leaving?  The more you trap someone, the more 
they want to run away -- that was life. 

Petunia could smell many smells now--including, faintly, death. At 
this she paused, more than confused--almost frightened again. She 
knew now, just by the scent trail as well as the smells in the air 
that a flock of sheep was just north of here. She headed on northward 
knowing that any moment now their lights would come into view. 

Yet at the same time she smelled a multitude of others--enemies. It 
was such a mishmush as to not be believed. She kept looking round and 
smelling in all directions, certain that the smells had to be coming 
from someplace besides up the beach. Her nose confirmed it: there was 
a giant and unnatural cluster of pokemon just ahead. It must be a 
human-created situation. She had heard tell of the Lake Eerie Village 
zoo.

But not a single human up there...no evidence of them at all except 
for those candies far back by the farm now. 

Petunia's wonderings and wanderings were halted by the sight of 
enemies right on the beach. She grabbed Thyme and Fluffy and dashed 
up the sand, into the brush, quietly. 

"I don't think they've seen us," she said, or if they did, they 
didn't care. One of the animals looked dead and the other sat by it, 
as if in mourning. The sands showed signs of a scuffle and tracks led 
out everywhere. Petunia could make out no more than that...she wasn't 
about to shine her light down there. 

Besides, the rammy smell seemed to come from within the forest 
itself...accompanied by at least one other ewe. Had this little flock 
taken shelter there, overwhelmed by enemies? Either way she would do 
well to head towards them. Whoever they were they must know the 
situation better. The instinct to seek out her own kind for safety 
also now drove her onward. 

"Fluffy, Thyme? I...I don't feel safe here at all, I'm going to seek 
out the other sheep..." She gave Thyme an uncomfortable look. What 
would happen if and when she met the ram? What would Thyme and Fluffy 
do? What was safest for them? 

She sniffed longingly towards the scent, feeling her heat throb in 
its last throes. Tonight--maybe her last chance, for now.

Fluffy sniffed the air and paused. 
"Lots of Pokemon are nearby...," she murmured, "Maybe we will be safe there...?'" 

"Not if it's what I smell," said Petunia, "I smell a frightful number of meat-eaters--as well as 
something dead. But I also smell our own kind...not far from here. If you want...you can wait 
here with Thyme while I go see if it's safe. There's a ram. I need...I need to go see him." 

As she headed up into the forest she now saw a glimpse of lights, far off through the trees--at 
least one flaaffy light and a brighter red light--she had never seen a red light like that before. 
In this darkness, lights could be seen a long way off, and she saw that they were moving, 
if not very much. Sheep at rest. She stopped, standing between two decisions--the sheep 
up ahead, as well as enemies; and Thyme and Fluffy here. Should she leave them here to go 
investigate or bring them with her? Was it safer to leave them here and venture first into the 
unknown? She still didn't know who the ram was--though he smelled familiar--or was that,
 too, just a trick of the nose? She didn't know what he would be like or if he would take 
kindly to lambs getting underfoot during courtship. She stood there about to tread into many, 
many things she knew nothing about--and part of her suddenly wanted to run away. 

The heck with waiting! "I'll go on ahead too," said Thyme to Fluffy. "If they're all together 
than the predators must be friends too, right? So I don't think there's anything to worry about. 
If you like, then you can wait here." 

Thyme started heading forward. She did hesitate, though -- she didn't really want to leave 
Fluffy all alone out here. 


~

Mimishi, lying on the south side of the sheepish pile of their 
bodies, was the one who glimpsed the lights far away around the pines.

"Someone's there," she shrank against Chirin. Chirin looked and saw 
the lights himself...and smelled another ewe. 

"Amphaa?" He bleated just loud enough that she might hear, trying to 
make his voice as gentle and welcoming as could be. He stood up, 
sensing from Mimishi's own movements that she was fine and alert--
more perhaps than he was. He stepped towards the light, which had 
flared down or hidden itself behind boughs--briefly snuffed out of 
sight. "*Pharohhhhs?*"

He stood with all senses alert, letting the stranger or strangers 
make the next move.

"Who is that?" Mimishi stood behind him. "Are they friends of yours?"

"I don't know," said Chirin, "I really don't." But he was more than 
ready to find out. Keeping that antler with him, imbuing it with his 
soul, his *denki*, was proving to have been fruitful after all. Even 
in this turbulent night full of dark winds, Haru had chosen tonight 
to bless his seed. He made a mental not to keep that antler with him 
always, for it was a very powerful charm. He wondered who the 
stantler had been who had dropped it. A young one, by the look of 
it...like Chirin himself was. He'd wondered if it had been male or 
female but now he was certain it had been a male.

Petunia had her serious doubts about predators being friendly with the sheep--but it 
was, strangely, the only thing that really made sense. She could hear no frightened 
bleating of mareep, although those lights she'd just glimpsed up ahead clearly showed 
that they were not the ones lying dead and making that unsettling if faint reek. And then 
she heard a low, tantalizing bleat whose tone definitely rang a bell. 

"*Phaaaa, raaa?*" And it was no flaaffy. 

From far through the forest, obscured by trees, a red light flared up, blinking steady 
and friendly against the boughs. Petunia steeled herself against the urge to bolt away. 
It was the ram, she knew just by his voice and his smell, this was the one who had 
made her travel so relentlessly into the night, when she should have been too tired and 
afraid to go on. 

One thing was for sure--if Thyme came too, that would leave Fluffy alone and Fluffy 
was the last one among them who should be left alone. 

"We'll all go, then," she said. Perhaps if they were attacked by one of the as yet unseen 
and unheard enemies, Fluffy's uncanny powers would stand them in good stead. 

Thyme walked around behind Fluffy. "See? Nothing to be afraid of!" She urged the 
Flaafy forward. "Maybe we can find some new friends for you here." she bleated



Chirin stepped onto the trail, which was barely a trail; brush and 
grass choked it in places. He sniffed around at the greens, selected 
what he liked most and nibbled the scraggly tufts of grass, and 
Mimishi, following his example, stooped and grazed as well. Bolting 
down a last bite, he stood again and called out. "Light-sister? My 
flock and I are friendly and peaceful. Who are you? Do you come 
calling?" He ventured another few steps forward and heard Mimishi 
coming up behind him. "Do you need help?"


Petunia heard the calling of the ram; glancing back at the two young 
ones she stepped forward, apart from them. Regardless of their 
presence she would meet the ram and do what she must do. If it meant 
shaking them off for just a moment, then so be it. 

"Shh," she put a flipper to her mouth as she shushed Thyme. She 
wanted to hear what else the ram said. The voice was definitely one 
she'd heard but now was shaded by greater maturity.

When the silence widened between them, she realized she was shaking 
all over. Only one person had ever called her "light-sister," calling 
her way back on the afternoon they had first met from opposite sides 
of the pasture fence.

"Chirin? Is that you?"

Petunia's trembling legs picked up walking, then jogging, beating the 
shrubbery away as she zeroed in on him. "Wait there!" she called to 
Thyme and Fluffy. "I'll--I'll be right back!"


Chirin!  Ah, Thyme knew who that was!  "I knew that scent was familiar," 
she told Fluffy.  "See?  We don't have anything to worry about.  Chirin 
wouldn't be here if it was dangerous, right?  Why don't we go get a 
drink of water before we meet the others?" 

~

"Petunia!"

He couldn't believe it--the figure rushing through bush and bough 
towards them was dear Petunia...

"Who?" Mimishi fell back. "Did you say..."

"Petunia!" Chirin's lights were blinking ever faster, bright with 
excitement as he jumped up and called again, "Amphaaa! Petunia! It is 
me Chirin!" 

A cascade of memories flooded him like summer air up his nose, 
breezing into him as he ran for her. "Petunia! The spirits breezed us 
safely together! Ahh, dear Mother Megga, it's you! Ohhhh I missed 
you!"

His *denki* raced out and sparks did their dances on his tail, 
twining out to the tips of his ears. And he cried, all at once 
everything seemed to spin around him and Petunia. 

~



That was a good idea, thought Chirin--they could get a drink, Petunia could meet 
Chirin, get things...sorted out, then everyone could be together--
perhaps Fluffy could even stay here with him!

"Chirin." Petunia stopped running as the ampharos approached her, 
followed rather cautiously by another flaaffy. "Chirin, what..."

It was not a wild-wooled mareep she beheld. Chirin was a great tall 
yellow pokemon with a red light on his head. He looked nothing like 
he had...She stopped and gave him a careful look as her heat raged up 
from her depths and sizzled into her head. His scent alone made her 
legs shaky. 

"Phaaa..." Chirin stepped over to Petunia, and dropped down to all 
fours. 

"You...Chirin, you...changed."

Chirin's face, fogged over by a strange instinctual slant as he 
sniffed out towards her, cracked a smile. His eyes twinkled in the 
glowing light on his head. "I evolved. But you...You didn't have to 
evolve to become the wonderful and beautiful friend that I 
missed...and I'm so glad to see."

As she let him embrace her--a bit of an awkward thing with their 
height difference--he sniffed at her.


Chirin knew she too was in season. "You came a long way," he said, 
squeezing her close. Words were blowing away out of his head, the 
wind of Haru sweeping it clear. 

"It was never too long," she said, licking his face. Chirin, 
trembling anew, his soul shaking out tears, returned her bold 
affections a hundred times over.

~

"Reepu," Karama huddled close to Selden, shaking. 

Karama's huddle woke Selden up. Peeling himself off the soft cotton bed,
 he sat up and realized that Chirin was gone. He moved his hands over the 
place on the bed that Chirin's body had flattened. It had gone cold. "Mecha?" he 
said. "Where's Chirin?" 

~

Sharra leaned over and lay her head down close to Kuro's paws, 
> staring over at his face. She told herself to be patient and not 
get 
> her hopes up... Only time would confirm that he really was Kurohi - 
> She would simply have to ask him once he woke up...

Kurohi's eye twitched, slowly he rose his face groaning

"Wh... what's going on?"


everything was blurry, all he could see was a blue shape in front of 
him

"Wha? "

Kurohi made a big effort and managed to stand, stumbling back a 
bit, he managed to hold himself straigth

"where is this place?" he asked more to himself than to Sharra


Artemis smelt the air, she wasn't to far from the site where Kurohi and 
Sharra were. Artemis was unable to find ANYTHING upon eating. And she spoke 
quietly to herself.

"Why didn't I just keep the stupid hoothoot?"

Artemis walked out into the clear, a few paces away from where Sharra and 
Kurohi stood. Artemis lifted her head suddenly and whispered.

"Kuro? He's awake!"

Artemis ran over to see Kurohi standing. A smile appeared on the houndour's 
face. Artemis ran up to him, she was going to nuzzle him, but thought 
otherwise seeing as Sharra was there.




~

Mel slowly raised herself from the layed-back position, only to find it didn't quite work-out with her. She clutched the ground with her paws, hoping this way it'd help her up. "Chirin... I don't know where he went." She tried to think of when she last saw him. ~Ack,~ Mel thought, ~Hurts to think.~ 

Scrik put a claw to her mouth, wondering exactly where he had went. Chirin had told them he'd be right back awhile ago. "All I remember is him saying he'd be right back... not like that helps or anthing." 

"He might be in trouble." Selden stood up. "I think we should go look for him."



Mel jumped up. "If Chirin's in trouble, then I'm up and ready to look for him!" The 
Pikachu's cheeks sparked excitedly. 

Scrik smiled. "Let's go!" Then her smile formed into a frown. "... But which way?"

"I don't know..." Selden looked down by the water, where he'd gotten a drink 
before, but didn't see him. "He must be in the forest...he was there before..."


~

Chirin, Mimishi and Petunia lay in a cuddle on the cotton; Chirin 
felt his ears and feet wiggle. It was a little chilly but not with 
his two dear friends here snuggling him warm. It escaped him that the 
two ewes had yet to learn who the other was...or at least, Mimishi 
knew Petunia's name but she had not said her own name to Petunia.

Petunia licked Chirin's ear and Chirin giggled, his body shaking with 
his laughter. "That tickles."

Petunia giggled too. "I'm sorry."

"No, no...in a good way." Chirin licked her ear, as much to 
demonstrate as return the feeling. Petunia's boldness, though edged 
with nervousness, delighted Chirin. He was graced by his ancestors, 
and hers, with the honor to have met her and been accepted by her, in 
her season and to have found her here safe and sound. Or rather, to 
have been found by her. 

"Oh, oh--Chirin, no, that's enough." Giggling Petunia sat up. "I...I 
hate to ruin a peaceful...rest, but I didn't come here alone. I left 
two others--Fluffy and Thyme, two young ones--to stay out by the 
lake's edge while I came here to be with you."

With a grunt Chirin sat up too. He felt comfortable and peaceful; 
also worn out, but in a good way; the energy he had released had 
needed freedom. He wanted nothing more than to lie back down with 
them and snooze away, wrapped in warmth and wool and the gentle fuzzy 
buzz of sweet static. "I remember Fluffy. Thyme..." He shook his 
head, "I'm not familiar with that name, but I'm glad you met another 
friend. And I have friends too!" His lights jumped bright a 
moment. "I...I left them all back by the tree, but by the First 
Light, I have to get back and see that they're okay!"

Mimishi pondered ways to introduce herself to Petunia as Chirin got 
up. But she couldn't even meet the smiling ewe's eyes. She couldn't 
meet Chirin's eyes either. She couldn't believe... how comfortable, 
hos complacent and free, she had been...it was almost as if she had 
been possessed. Chirin had a magic, and it scared her a little.

"Let's head down to the beach," Chirin got up and gave his tail a 
shivering shake, a ripple strobing his lights a moment. "It's dark, 
let's all get back in a group and we can all feel safer and shine 
together."

He didn't want to say yet, what he wanted them to do: head southward, 
and quickly, for their own safety. He could easily tell that Petunia 
might not do so...she was a brave ewe. Somehow he had to convince her 
of the dangers.

He rubbed one foot against one ankle and shone his tail up into white 
as he and the flaaffies stepped out onto shore.

Running up the beach, back past the tree and into the grass and brush by
 the forest's edge he called. "Chiriiiin!" 

The flash of the ampharos' light was hard to miss. Chirin was just down the 
beach and with him were two other flaaffies. Sparking with relief and excitement, 
and a tinge of fear at seeing those other sheep by Chirin's side, Selden bolted 
over the beach along the line where sand met grass. "Chirin-chirin!"

As soon as he walked into open air, smells and sounds and sights 
bombarded him.

"Chirin!" From the north side came Selden running, heedless of 
anything except the emergence of his friend from the forest.

On his south were a mareep and a flaaffy, and forther down beyond 
that...

"AMPHA! AMP!"

Chirin rushed out in a leap from the bushes, flashing warning to the 
two sheep. It was the demon--not dead after all--and Sharra by his 
side.

"Petunia--oh no--Petunia--oh Phos!" Chirin was pointing up the beach 
as he ran for the water as Selden collided with him.

"Selden get back! Behind me--water--"

"Thyme, Fluffy!" Petunia ran around, placing herself between her two 
charges and the terrifying sight of two Eons. What had she done, 
placing them in such danger while she'd lain there all that time...

Chirin rushed towards the front, prepared to defend them. His lights 
flashed and spark-lines snapped, circuiting over his skin. He looked 
and saw Burakuru.



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