AN: Well that was a break. I was gone and I wasn't planning on coming back, but someone found me and asked me to finish this story. So if you guys will help me, by God I will finish it.

LXXVIII: Angela among the Rejects

I left Desiree frustrated and with a headache from trying to talk to her. That seems to be a common reaction from talking to Desiree though. I could rejoin everyone else, endure lectures about not trusting my friends, keeping secrets or just being a bitch, or I could avoid my problems and go for a walk in the woods.

I did the mature thing and went for a walk in the woods.

Now I don't want you to think I'm over selling Hoenn, but Hoenn is the greatest place on Earth because it's never cold. Maybe it's a symptom of growing up in the tropics, I dunno, but I hate cold. Johto had plenty of cold, plenty of mountains too sadly. I could see them peaking over the trees, covered in snow and partially hidden by clouds.

"Real mountains vomit ash non-stop." I mumbled. "They also are warm." I shivered through my long sleeves, trying to keep warm. Long sleeves were in and of themselves a new experience to me. I'd been wearing them for a few days, but they felt so wrong.

When you're an Umbreon, you don't need to worry about sleeves. You have a nice, form fitting fur coat that moves when you move. Of course it comes with a fat tail and big ears, but on the plus side you don't need to wear clothes.

"And one and two and one and two." My ears perked to a voice coming through the woods. I knew that voice; I heard it every day. "Faster damn it, Angela does this every day!"

I tried to sneak up on them, avoiding breaking a twig under my feet. I came to a circular clearing, just in time to see Iggy and Rush shooting water guns at Pecha and Quintcel. Pecha was avoiding with Double Team, while Quintcel knocked them apart with his forearms.

"You're supposed to avoid Quintcel." Trish said from a branch above me. Somehow she couldn't see me, good.

"I am supposed to, but I find this difficult Madame Trish. Why not hit the water instead?"

"That's not the point of the exercise. Today we work on speed. And why is Streak not training with you?"

"I ate some really good berries." Streak said from a rock he was laying on. He looked like he was happy or sick, not sure which.

"Berries are not an excuse!"

"You've never had these berries." Streak said with a grin.

"Gabriel is supposed to be here. I'm going to peck the stupid out of him." Trish growled. "Just because he wants to get between Anna's legs." Rush stopped shooting water.

"I think they make a cute couple."

"Get back to shooting water-monkey."

"Yes mistress."

I grinned. They were training each other. No idea why, but it was fun to watch if nothing else. Trish kept barking orders and Rush fired faster then I thought possible. Where was all that water coming from? Mudkip are the size of cantaloupes. Finally Rush and Iggy stopped firing and the other two slowed down.

"What's the matter?" Trish asked.

"Angela is right behind you. Should she be here?" Trish leapt up, fluttering around rapidly. I smiled and waved.

"How did I miss you?"

"I'm easy to miss." I said. "Anyway, what is all of this? You guys are training each other? I'm in favor of training of course."

"You have seen nothing!" Yes that shrieking voice could only belong to one Chu. "I who is me who is Pecha I says you have seen nothing! And if I say it, it is true because I am Pecha am me!"

"She's now remembering not to call herself just Pecha!" Rush chirped. "It's progress!"

"A crazy Nazi Chu saying I is progress?"

"Yeppers!" Talking to Rush is sometimes like being high on speed.

"Angela, up here." I glanced up at Trish. "As glad as I am to see you, this is a secret thing we're doing. You're not invited. So not to be rude, but get lost."

"Yep, nothing rude there." Trish rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean."

"You mean get lost Trish. The two of us always say what we mean, that's why we made good friends."

"Yeah, sure." Trish fluttered over to a branch. "Angela, one of the purposes of these meetings is we area training ourselves without trainers. No humans allowed. You are now human, no you."

"Gee thanks." I said. "Let me stay. Please! I'm only semi-human, I used to be an Eevee and an Umbreon."

"And that was long ago." Trish said. "You've been human for months now, so go back to camp and we will be along in a minute."

"Why not just let me stay?" Trish kept her beak shut. "What is this group? I mean, why did you decide to do this?"

"We're not going to tell you. Good-bye." I nodded.

"You won't tell me, fine. Rush, what's going on here?" Trish shot Rush a glare and he bit his bottom lip.

"I'm not supposed to say…"

"Please." I said with a grin. Rush began to tremble. "Pleeeease." I made sure to draw it out as long as I could.

"I gotta say it!" Rush said. "We are The Worthless Rejects!" Okay, now that's an interesting name for a group. "And we are here to train and fight evil."

"And we do it all under the firm eye of Pecha-Chu!" Pecha said, waving her tiny arms about. I glanced up at Trish.

"So you're training yourselves and have Pecha set up as a puppet queen?"

"Pretty much."

"Figures." I walked out from the woods into the clearing. The air was damp and the cold chill made me shiver. "Alright, if you want to train, I'll help you out. Let me go get Anna and—

"No Angela." Trish interrupted.

"But I can help you and you're going to want—

"No Angela!"

"Now you're being stubborn." I said, still not getting it. "It's more efficient to do it this way. I'll help you and we'll revise everything you're doing because—

"Damn it, shut up Angela!" I did a double take at Trish.

"Excuse me?"

"Shut up Angela. If we wanted the help of humans, don't you think we'd have asked for it? No, we're here without humans, we don't want any here now, so get lost now!"

"Why?" I walked over to a tree stump and sat down. "What is so wrong about me being here? If it's pride, that's just stupid."

"Because we know you've never suffered from pride Angela." Trish said.

"I'm not the one being stubborn here." I said stubbornly. I should mention at this point, all the Worthless Rejects were huddled together watching me and Trish fight. "Look, I want to know why it is so important that you have no humans here."

"Because it is."

"Not good enough!"

"Because…Because…"Trish growled, "Because we don't have trainers. Because we know you are drawing something dangerous to you because of that stupid tattoo on your arm. Because we're all alone so by God we are going to be strong.

"We know that something is happening to you Angela and guess what? We're going to be in danger too. So we have to get strong and if we allow a human to help us, it'll taint what we're doing.

"Again we will be too weak to succeed. We will be forced again to rely on humans to help us and we'll never know that we are strong enough to succeed on our own. Do you get it now? You have to go and you can't tell anyone about this!"

"Okay."

"And beyond that—okay?" Trish cocked her head. "What do you mean okay?"

"I mean okay. I'd like to watch and help but you're right. If I did, I'd be training you."

When you're a leader, my dear listener, there is something you need to remember. You are going to be working with people who do not agree. Obvious right? Well sometimes the person they don't agree with is you. They will never agree with you on some things and you need to decide how to react.

From there you need to know, how should I react to this? Sometimes you have to be firm and force those you're leading to do it your way, especially if you know for certain it is in their best interest. Sometimes though, you have to look at your own actions and decide if what you're doing is right. If it isn't, well you have to be big enough to acknowledge it.

"I've been traveling for months now as a human, as you said. I've had crazy people try to kill me and I've got to raise my own Pokemon, find my sister and deal with legendaries and Not-Pokemon. You're also right, you need to be stronger and humans whose own issues are keeping them wrapped up surround you. So by all means, train yourselves, grow stronger. I can't wait to see how it ends." Trish fluttered over to me.

"I'm surprised." I shrugged.

"You shouldn't be. I know…I know that since becoming human again…I could have been a more attentive friend to all of you."

"You are loyal to my lady Charlotte." Quintcel said. "You are a good friend to her and that is what matters to me." I blushed.

"Thanks Quintcel." I mumbled. "Trish, I need to be a better friend, I know that." Trish approximated a shrug.

"Angela, we don't know everything that's going on. And after talking to Emily, I realized your Pokemon don't know everything that's going on. I suspect not anyone knows everything."

"Michael mostly does." I said. "Look, it works better if I keep a few secrets."

"Think that if you want. We understand though. Your life is busy and you've got a lot to take care of. It's okay if we don't speak every day anymore."

"It's not though." I stood up and stretched, stupid ice cold tree stump. Now my ass was so numb I could have stabbed myself in the butt and not felt it. "I feel alone and overwhelmed sometimes, even with Michael here. It's just…" I shrugged.

"When I was an Eevee, I was so scared. But I was always surrounded by friends, I had my mother there to watch over me, I wasn't really alone. I had others to support me and lead me. And really, in hindsight, that was the best time of my lives.

"Now things are different. I'm the leader of the group and I've got evil Milotics, crazy religions and…" I sat down on the ground and pulled my knees into me "And I don't know who to trust."

Desiree.

"And I am so scared. I don't want to be, but sometimes I know I am in over my head." I sighed. "There isn't anything I can do though. No matter where I go, danger is going to follow me. Better to try and fight, rather then end up lost." Trish fluttered down behind me. "Trish?"

She spread her metal wings and tried to embrace me. Rush and Iggy flopped over, followed by Streak, Quintcel and finally Pecha, each of them trying to embrace me as best as they could. They held me until I stooped shaking and cracked a smile. They let go and settled down in front of me.

"It's not going to get any easier." Trish said. "And their isn't anything we can do to help you there. We're just doing what we can to help." I nodded.

"And I trust you."

"You do?" I smiled.

"Yes. I can't trust many people, but I trust you guys." I stood up. "You're going to do great."

"You really think so?" I nodded again.

"I know so. I'll leave you to it."

It took a few minutes, but they did get back to training. I lingered for a second before heading back into the woods, the sun slowly starting to set again.

The difference between an acquaintance and a friend is that a friend will not abandon you, even when you think you've abandoned them. Just thinking of it made me blink back tears.

"Fucking….damn it why am I so sensitive now?" I laughed. "What do I need to do? I need to be strong. Can't cry now, can't cry now." I rubbed my eyes dry. "No more tears."

I needed to head back to camp but I kept walking through the woods, which were turning pale blue in the light of the setting sun. I was still cold yet I wasn't shivering anymore. I wasn't even feeling cold, I was but I didn't feel it.

"The Worthless Rejects." I let the phrase roll over my tongue a few more times. "They've formed their own little Pokemon fighting squad. Run by Pokemon against Not-Pokemon. What does this mean for me?"

It means this is not their war, but they're going to fight. They are giving it all they've got.

"And I've got to trust them. Who knows, maybe with them, we may just succeed." I smiled. "I can trust them. I can trust them."

And I could trust them. I had a group I could trust. That was going to have to be enough.