//------------------------------//
// 1Ex25. Another Dream 
// Story: A New World, A New Family 
// by Lance Skyes 
//------------------------------//

Three years. It had been three years since everything that happened, and in those three years, life had settled down to the point where Marcus and Blitz couldn't even remember their lives before the Exodus. As far as they were concerned, they had lived happily together their entire lives, and it felt like Ashes and Ashi, their Ponyta foals, had been there to complete their family for so long.
Despite everything, though, something always felt...  not right...
Kanga, Blitz, Pinky, Mangol, Alonzo, Sparkles, Lyra, and Bon Bon were gathered in Marcus' and Blitz's den on this particular afternoon, watching Roo, Verde, (a Chikorita), Ashes, Ashi, Tarmac, (a Pupitar), Nikki, (a Zorua), and Noe, (an Eevee, who wasn't actually related by blood to anyone in the room at the time), all play together. The youngest among them, Noe, was about a year old, but they all still played together with a kind of childish excitement that hatchlings usually lost about ten months of age. Maybe it was this world that most of them were born into that breathed a new life into each one when they were just eggs. Still, the mothers, (plus Alonzo and Sparkles), watched as their children played together. A true family, at long last.
Still, the absence of a Togepi or Snorunt that should have been there haunted them all in the backs of their minds...
Meanwhile, the fathers of all sans Noe were outside, talking and reminiscing.
"So Marcus, I haven't had a chance to ask you," Felix said after a while, "how's that whole, 'becoming a wild Pokemon' thing coming along? You've been at it for almost three years now."
The Rapidash sighed and shook his head. "I think I'm finally ready to admit you were right, Felix," he replied. "My humanity is a lot more challenging to let go of than I thought it would be." Marcus looked down at his hooves. "Everything before Equus feels like a fading dream, but I can still remember who I was. What I was..." There was a slight pause before Marcus reached behind him and handed Felix a bag that was full of coins. "A bet's a bet, even if it's two years old. I've finally given up."
Felix chuckled and took the bag of Bits with a vine. "I'm sure you'll get there one day," the Meganium reassured. "Just not today, is all."
Tartar sighed and looked up at the clear blue sky, seeing several pegasus ponies and Flying-type Pokemon flying by. "I honestly can't remember Earth anymore," the Tyranitar mused. "This world's so ingrained in my mind now..."
Drake shrugged. "I think I like Equus better anyway," the Ampharos said. "It's a lot nicer from what I remember. You know, aside from all that crap with Tirek, Necrozma, that 'Funny Valentine' human..."
"Yeah, that guy was a terrible comedian," Felix commented with a nod. The group sat in silence for a moment before a rustling sound from opposite the cave their mates and children were in caught their attention. They all turned around and saw Tiny, looking particularly excited today, zip out of the treeline, holding some kind of old book.
"Marcus! Marcus!" Tiny shouted as he flew up to the Rapidash formerly known as his trainer. "Marcus, you're not gonna believe what I found at the bottom of a volcano!"
Marcus tilted his head curiously. He wanted to ask what Tiny was even doing at the bottom of a volcano in the first place, but something about the book the Togetic held drew his attention more powerfully. "What is that, Tiny...?" he asked.
Tiny grinned and held the book up for the Rapidash to see. Miraculously, it was only slightly charred. "It's made of some kind of fireproof material!" Tiny said excitedly. "And look at the design on the cover! (If you can make it out.) It's... it's...!"
Marcus' eyes widened as he was just barely able to make out what was on the cover. It was a crayon drawing Tiny had made, depicting what their family looked like several years ago, when he was just a Togepi. There was Marcus, as a human, Blitz, Mangol, Princess, Ki, Tiny himself, and... a face that made Marcus' smile fade slightly. Aria's...
"It's our old journal," Marcus concluded. His voice started to shake a little. "From that first year of my journey." He placed a hoof on the cover, and for a brief moment, he could feel like he was placing a real hand on it again...
Tiny nodded. He then looked down at it, and his smile faltered a little. "Everything we went through..." he started, "I was starting to fear it would all fade away. But here it all is, in our hands..."
Felix looked over at Marcus and tilted his head curiously. "Oh yeah, I remember that..." the Meganium said. "Hey, I never did get a chance to read that like you promised me."
"If you were to read it, you'd know why," Marcus replied with a slight chuckle. "Believe me, there's a lot of stuff that happened back then that I never told you about myself, but it's all written in here if this really is what Tiny thinks it is..."
Marcus and Tiny both stared at the journal for a moment, and the rest of the group stared at the two. "What's wrong?" Tartar finally asked.
"Aria would've wanted to read it again," Tiny replied, a teardrop falling off his face and onto the journal. "Remembering everything... probably could've saved her, too..."
Marcus leaned in and hugged Tiny. "Don't talk like that, Tiny..." he said, though he was starting to cry a little as well. "Nothing we could've done would've stopped them from doing what they did to her. ...What she did to her."
Tiny nodded and sniffed, wiping his eyes. He then looked up at Marcus and smiled a little. "Hey, if we can't go back and save Aria, wouldn't it be a good idea to remember her? You know... the way she was? The way we were?"
Marcus looked down at the book and bit his lip. "Yeah... the way we all were..." he said as he eyed the book curiously. "Earth... everything we left behind..." Marcus' flames started intensifying. "Or we could leave it all back there..."
Tiny looked over at Marcus quizzically. "I'm sorry?" he asked, pulling the book away from Marcus, weary of the Rapidash's flames.
"Tiny, just before you joined us, we were talking about how I still haven't been able to lose my humanity completely," Marcus replied. "But I just got an idea. Do you think... if I burned this book, I could sever my last ties to Earth?"
Tiny gasped, and the others in the group followed suit. "Marcus! How could you say that?" Tiny asked. "This is what shaped us! Made us who we are. The beginning of our journey together! Does it really mean that little to you...?"
Marcus sighed. "It means a lot to me," he replied, "but... Blitz means everything to me, and I want to become a wild Pokemon for her. If this is what's maintaining my humanity... then I'll burn it without a second thought."
Tiny shook his head. "I can't let you do that, Marcus," he replied. "It's... all I have left to remember Aria by. And as much as I hate it, I want it to remember Mother and Father by too. And all of us, I want to remember all of us. You, Felix, Alonzo... we all contributed to this journal at some point. Each and every one of your Pokemon too. It's a tie that all of us share." Tiny took a deep breath. "If you burn this journal, you'll sever your humanity, sure... but you'll also sever something that binds all of us together. That's why I can't let you do this, Marcus. I know you want to love Blitz as much as possible, but burning this journal is something I can't let you do." The Togetic looked down at the journal again. "Besides... you all are the only family I've ever known, remember?"
Marcus wanted to protest, but he couldn't. He knew Tiny was right. His flames died down, but he looked at the grass below and stamped his hoof. "You're right, Tiny..." he said at last. "I'm sorry for suggesting it. I just... some part of me wants to forget it all. We went through some terrible things. But... I guess when it gets right down to it, a piece of all of us is in that journal, and all the others, too." The Rapidash smiled, then gestured towards the cave. "Come on. We should show this to Blitz. Maybe we can gather everyone - even the kids - and hold some kind of storytime or something. You know... so we can remember the past. The past we were all starting to forget..."