"What are you talking about?" Josh pressed as the others walked over, "What do you know about my dad?"

Tyler flinched back, holding his Pokémon protectively. Josh's expression softened and he relaxed his tone.

"I-I'm sorry. Can we heal your Psyduck real quick?" Josh offered a smile to Tyler, who nodded. Josh turned to Michael, who set his Cubone down to get into his backpack. He pulled out a small diamond shaped powder and passed it to Josh, who held it out to Tyler. "Do you want to give it to him?" Josh asked, to which Tyler nodded eagerly.

Tyler grabbed the medicine and held it up next to the Psyduck's nose. He waved it back and forth slowly for a moment before the yellow creature's eyes opened.

"Psy!" Tyler exclaimed, dropping the medicine and holding the Pokémon tightly.

"Psy-Psyduck!" It cried out, flapping its arms in confusion.

"Sorry..." Tyler said, softly, as he let it go. It simply rubbed its head with a shrug. "Do you still have a migraine?"

"Psyducks always have migraines." Michael spoke up as he walked up with the Doctor and Frank, "For some reason, it transfered from game to reality."

The Doctor kneeled next to Josh and smiled at Tyler. "Hello. I'm the Doctor."

Tyler shook his head. "But... But I'm not sick..."

"Not that kind of Doctor, just Doctor." The Doctor said, sticking out his hand to the timid boy.

Tyler looked at the Doctor's hand before reaching out his own to shake it. "I'm Tyler..." As he pulled his hand back from the shake, the four letters floated down and swirled around him. They buzzed noisily, but Tyler seemed transfixed by the noise.

"You actually have unknown?" Josh asked, causing Tyler to blink back into reality. "But they all escaped years ago."

Tyler shrugged as the letters continued to float around him. "They've just always stuck around me..."

"Unknown?" The Doctor asked, "I'm sorry, I'm not hip with the lingo of this game of yours."

"I'm sure there's more important alien things to be done anyway." Josh shrugged, "There's ancient lore with text written in the letters of the unknown alphabet." Josh gestured to the swirling letters that Tyler had refocused his attention on. "Looks like Tyler has... T... Y... J... O."

"Ty-Jo?" Frank asked, "For Tyler..."

"Joseph..." Tyler muttered, watching the Unknown. "My name's Tyler Joseph..."

Josh tilted his head at Tyler, clearly a bit fascinated by him. It took him a minute to shake back to the present moment. "M-my dad, you said something happened."

Tyler looked away from his unknown to look at Josh. His face contorted to that of someone listening intently, to someone afraid of what they had seen.

"They did something bad..." Tyler whispered, "It's all smashed and broken..."

"Who? What happened?!" Josh exclaimed, making Tyler shrink back.

The darker haired boy stood up and gestured for the group to follow him. "You gotta see for yourself." He insisted as he began to walk backwards, "I saw... There's cameras."

Josh shot to his feet with a nod, soon followed by the Doctor. Michael and Josh began to run behind Tyler, while Frank stood along side the Doctor.

"What do we do?" He asked in an unsure tone.

The Doctor shrugged. "I say we follow them." He replied, simply. He grabbed Frank's hand with a grin, "C'mon then!" He pulled Frank forward to catch up with the others.

The group hurried out of the trees to, instead, run alongside it. It was a few more minutes before they came upon a building that was built into the side of a hill.it had a glass exterior, which had been smashed in both directions.

"Dad!" Michael cried out, pushing past everyone to run into the building first.

Josh went to run after him, but Tyler grabbed his arm. "I don't know if it's safe yet." Tyler warned, looking at Josh worriedly.

"It's my dad, Ty." Josh frowned before hurrying after Michael. Tyler stumbled back as Josh did so. His Psyduck looked up at him before waddling after Josh.

"Psy!" Tyler cried out, "Don't!" He bit his lip before slowly chasing him.

The Doctor and Frank came along quickly after, being cautious of the broken glass. It trailed along the hallway back to a room where Michael and Josh were standing in disbelief. It was completely trashed. Glass, papers, and most things in between were scattered across every visible surface.

"They were here today..." Michael whispered. He turned to Josh with tears brimming in his eyes as his cubone ventured into the room, poking some of the glass with his bone weapon. "Josh, they were here!"

Josh shook his head. "Calm down. There's still a good chance they're fine."

Michael shook his head, "Josh, I can't loose dad too."

The Doctor hurried over, whipping his sonic and pointing it around the room. Josh's Skitty had been resting on his shoulder, lazily, but popped up at the intriguing green light.

"There's no blood..." The Doctor said, pulling the sonic close to his face. "One hell of a fight, though."

Michael's Cubone was poking a large bundle of debris when something popped out of it. The Cubone fell back with a cry as a small creature, that seemed to be wearing a flowing white gown and a green helmet of sorts, ran across the room. Tyler jumped, grabbing hold of Josh as it rushed past him to grab hold of Frank's leg.

"Hey!" Frank exclaimed, looking down with alarm. The small creature was clinging to him whimpering something he couldn't understand.

"It's scared, Frankie!" The Doctor said, crouching down next to him. "Don't worry, it's alright."

"Is that for me, or it?"

"Frankie!"

"Ralts?" Tyler questioned with a far away look in his eye. He shook his head before looking around. "Where did my unknown go?.."

"Dad was just finishing Ralts." Josh smiled, crouching down. "She looks alright... Really seems to like you, Frank. I think it's because your hair color is closest to my dads."

Frank looked at his leg nervously as the Doctor started petting the shaking creature. After a moment, it pulled its head away from Frank's pant leg and looked up at him with the slight tilt of its head.

"Hi?" Frank said, uncertainly. The Ralts just continued to look up at him before extending her arms up. Frank looked to Josh for help, who gave him a look to say "isn't it obvious?" Frank crouched down and picked up the Pokémon. It was surprisingly light as he brought it to eye level, holding it a bit away from him. It had small legs, that seemed attached to or part of its long dress, that dangled loosely as it observed Frank.

"She won't bite!" Josh spoke loudly as he ventured into the torn apart room, "She's just a baby."

"She?" Frank asked as the Ralts smiled at him. Her eyes were currently being hidden by her bowl of green hair, which had two rounded red horns sticking through it. Frank couldn't help but smile back at.

"Dad likes to make sure they're mostly female." Josh said as glass crunched under his feet, "Doesn't mean they all come out that way: with some being genderless, strictly one sex, or can mimic both. I saw his notes, though, Ralts was female."

Tyler shoved some glass aside with his foot absently as he watched Josh. "What are you doing?" He asked, looking around nervously. "Isn't it dangerous?"

"Security cameras." Josh replied, looking back to Tyler with a reassuring smile. "Help us see what went down."

Tyler nodded, seeming to be zoning out again. He looked to the right and began following the hall, disappearing around a corner.

Michael was searching the room in a panic. He seemed lost and a bit out of his mind from his surroundings. His Cubone took quick notice, waddling over to grab hold of his pant leg. Michael stopped his frantic search and looked down at the small creature, who was speaking in its own language as if to reassure him.

As he bent down to pick up the Cubone, the Doctor and Frank followed Josh to the computer across the room. Josh had it on, quickly, but let out a cry of frustration.

"Password protection!" He spat bitterly as his fingers danced across the keyboard, "This may take awhile..."

Frank turned to the Doctor, who was already pulling out his sonic once again. "Maybe sooner than that..." The Doctor muttered, pointing the device at the computer. Frank grinned as the account password screen shifted to that of video feed, making Josh's jaw drop.

"How did you..." Josh shook his head as he turned to the Doctor, "Magic!?"

"Alien." The Doctor shrugged, pocketing the sonic screwdriver.

Josh's eyes lit up with that same fascination as when he was asking the Doctor all his space related questions. "That's so sick..." He whispered before looking back at the computer monitors.

"What are we looking for?" Frank asked as Josh typed in different codes and letters into the keypad, making the screen display change rapidly.

"Whatever could of caused all this..." Josh replyed with a distracted tone as he held onto one of the keyboard keys, causing a single image to pop onto the screen. "Like... Woah... Does he have a metal hand?"

The Doctor and Frank looked over Josh's shoulders as a single screenshot sat on the screen before them. It was a familiar bald man, that indeed had a metal arm as well as something else...

"Does he have a metal leg, Doctor?" Frank asked quietly, pointing to the mans exposed calf.

"Oh gosh, oh dear..." The Doctor muttered as he stared at the photo, "That's not good..."

"What's he doing here, Doctor?" Frank questioned, remembering how far into the future it had been when they encountered this same man and rescued Dallon. Frank tapped Josh's shoulder with urgency, "What year is this?"

"2039." Josh replied in confusion, looking back at the two. "This place was first founded in 2019. What's going on?"

"Genetics." The Doctor stood upright, looking at Frank. "It's what everything here is based around, Frankie, genetics! Perfecting a creature from a game? Something where it was designed to certain specifications?"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Josh exclaimed, "This place is top secret! We only know 'cuz we live here and our dads run the project!"

"How can he just jump through time like us?" Frank asked as if he didn't hear Josh, "He can't have something like the tardis?"

No one else in the group could speak before a yell echoed through the room. Everyone spun, seeing Michael looking up from his Cubone in confusion.

"Where's Tyler?" Josh asked. Before anyone could answer, Josh was halfway out of the room, calling for the boy they had found in the forest.

"Josh!?" Tyler's exclamation lead Frank to point to the hallway leading to the left, which Josh followed. When the Doctor and Frank made it into the hall, Josh was skidding to a hault outside of an open door with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"Tyler?" He laughed, holding onto the doorframe as he leaned into the room. When he rebalanced himself, he was hand in hand with Tyler, who was holding a yellow, lizard like creature in his arms. The creature was tugging at loose skin, which looked like baggy pants on its small frame.

Tyler smiled sheepishly. "The Scraggy-He was all alone... He was scared..."

Josh shook his head, "It's alright, Tyler, just don't scare a person half to death next time." He joked, grinning at Tyler.

"Guys!"

Everyone turned back to see Michael skidding out of the room with a piece of paper in his hand and Cubone holding to his leg for dear life. He held it out as he panted for breath, "The... The Camera showed... Your dad hiding it..."

Josh stepped forward to take the note as everyone tried to peak at it, curiously. His eyes scanned it quickly before he looked up.

"I know where they are." He said, quietly.

"Where do we need to go?" The Doctor asked as the Ralts in Frank's arms reached out to swat at his red hair.

Josh bit his lip, as if he didn't want to really say. "The original research lab..." He finally spoke up, quietly.

"Where's that?" Frank asked.

Josh shook his head, "Past the forest..."

"Through the forest..." Michael whispered, "Josh, they released a lot of them in there..."

Josh looked up at the group with unsureness. "I don't think we have another choice in the matter."

Tyler held his newfound Scraggy close as fear filled his eyes. "I don't like the scary ones, Josh. There's a lot of them in the forest."

Josh turned and put an arm around Tyler's shoulders. "I'll keep you safe, okay?" Tyler looked extremely reassured by that, with visible relaxation crossing over his face.

"What are we waiting for?" Tyler asked. He looked from Josh to the rest of the group, "Let's find your dads."

---

"Charmander, use ember."

"Chaaar!"

A small flame burst from the piled sticks that had been gathered for a campfire. Since leaving the research building, the group had traveled until nightfall. They had walked along the forest's edge before beginning the trek through, thankfully encountering nothing too dangerous. They were set up in a small clearing where the starry night sky was visible above them.

Frank let himself fall backwards, landing with a "ploof" in the unkept grass. Within seconds of that, however, the Ralts from the lab had climbed onto his stomach and began poking at some of his exposed tattoos.

"Hey." Frank raised his eyebrow at the creature as it turned to him curiously.

The Doctor laughed as he sat down beside Frank. "She likes your skin ink too." He mused, poking at some of Frank's inked skin himself.

"Do you like my permanent doodles?" Frank asked, smiling up at the Doctor. The Doctor had complimented his tattoos before, but Frank just really loved hearing the words slip from the time lord's mouth.

"Have I ever lead you to think otherwise?" The Doctor asked, tracing his fingers along the red on Frank's elbow. "I've never had such an inked companion before... It's new and beautiful."

Frank couldn't keep the smile on his face hidden, or the chuckle from escaping his lips. Back home he was always ridiculed for his tattoos and their placements by relatives, as well as, people that didn't even know him. The Doctor saw them as what they were intended to be, art. Art in their own way that his Doctor actually understood and wanted to learn more about.

"Why are you taking out all your balls?"

The Doctor and Frank both turned for context as Josh hit the buttons on the pokéballs he had set out around him. Josh smiled as the pocket monsters appeared from the blue light that shot from their containment units.

"I let them out every night, no matter what." Josh laughed as several varying, blue creatures swarmed him with excitement. "My Piplup, Mudkip, Shinx, and Oddish."

Tyler smiled at them and at Josh. "They're all blue... Why a pink Skitty when your pokémon seem to have a running theme?" He asked as said Skitty ran past, chasing Tyler's Psyduck and Scraggy.

Josh smiled fondly as he pet his Shinx. "Because Skitty is the most special to me." He replied, softly. "Skitty was one of the first ones created here... And she came from my old kitty's DNA." Josh clicked his tongue, making the pink cat stop in its tracks and turn to Josh with a soft noise.

"So they all have bits of DNA from the real life things they were based off of?" Frank asked as the Skitty ran to Josh, allowing the Psyduck and Scraggy to collapse in exhaustion.

Josh shrugged as his Skitty jumped up onto his shoulder, "I guess. Dad said he added something else to help with the pink coloring... I think he just throught it would be a great fit for me, since I've had this hair color since I was eight." He grinned, "Being homeschooled on an island made for very lax rules."

Tyler giggled at Josh. He reached up to pet his Skitty, looking over at the boy off to the side of the group. "What about him?" He asked as Michael released his pokémon from their balls as well, "His father is a professor too, right?"

Josh nodded, watching Michael's hair stand on end from the several electric pokémon surrounding him. "Yea... His dad was really behind the project of creating a kangaskhan and her baby, they're kinda the pokéversion of kangaroos, but the mother didn't make it... The baby ended up wearing her skull and kind of becoming a Cubone, which Michael took up to really quick. His mom died around the time research first started..."

"That's so sad." Tyler frowned. He observed Michael's pokémon quietly for a moment before speaking again, "It would explain his break in pattern too. With an Ampharos, Pikachu, Jolteon, Cydaquil, and Charmander, a Cubone is a strange add in..."

Josh leaned back onto the grass and looked up at Tyler. "You really like patterns, don't you?" He asked as his Skitty jumped onto his stomach to walk in circles before plopping down with a snore.

Tyler seemed to blush, but it may have also been the lighting from the fire playing tricks. He laid down next to Josh with a shrug. "I guess I do. It's part of the reason my Unknown like me so much."

The two began talking lowly to one another, with Josh pointing up at the sky, when Frank felt something loop around his arm. He turned his head to see the Doctor looking up at the stars himself. Frank watched the marvel on the Doctor's face as he watched the sky he constantly sailed through. Frank couldn't help but smile.

"What's your favorite part of it?" He asked, making the Doctor hum before turning to him. Frank felt his heart swell from the look the Doctor gave him as he repeated himself.

The Doctor smiled before looking back up. "There's so much to love..." He said as a shooting star dived across the skyline, "The planets, the creatures, the adventure..."

Frank adjusted his position just enough so that he could lean his head against the Doctor's shoulder. "But could you ever choose an experience?.." Frank yawned, feeling his eyelids growing heavy. "Something you never get tired of, or would want to get away from?.."

Frank let his eyes close as the Doctor considered his question. It was a short silence, in which Frank had already fallen asleep, when the Doctor replied. "Well... It's probably meeting people like you that I can take with me through all of it." The Doctor turned back to Frank's sleeping face with a chuckle.

"Goodnight, Frankie." He whispered. He waited, just to be sure Frank was actually asleep, before leaning over to kiss the side his head that was in range for the Doctor due to their angling.

Although Frank had already knocked out, the faintest smile seemed to find a way to his lips.

---

A/N~ I meant this as a two partner, but it looks like it's becoming a three, whoopsie

Not that you guys mind, I hope, you pokénerds (or not, ya know)

As always, I just hope you're enjoying <3

Another question, Are you guys excited for the new companion? She reminds me of Donna and I'm so excited to learn more about her!

~Skittles Out~