Lea woke back up when it was still dark. She was a little surprised when there was light nearby her, but the moon was shining into the building through a window, allowing her rings to glow. She admired them for a time before starting to look around the building she was in.
There were at least two floors, since she could see a set of steps leading to a second one. Much of the place was in disrepair, and Lea couldn’t tell how long it had been since anyone had last been in there. She looked around and found there were five rooms on the first level. Two of them seemed to be a dining room and kitchen. Two on the other side of the building seemed to be rooms for fun and entertainment. The largest one, which was right in the center of the ground floor, seemed to be some sort of entrance room, and didn’t seem to have a definite purpose.
Not wanting to spend a second night with barely anything to cover her, Lea decided to round up as many large pieces of cloth as she could to create some kind of bed for her. There was one very large piece that looked like a tablecloth that was almost in the middle of the room. Lea went to retrieve it for her pile but tripped right as she got there. She had caught herself on uneven ground and was unable to keep herself up as an Umbreon.
Lea fell onto the tablecloth and got tangled in it as they both fell into the hole that had been covered up by the large piece of cloth.
It took a while for Lea to come to, but she eventually did. After fighting with the tablecloth to escape it, she figured out where she had landed. Apparently a large sewer tunnel ran under the building and a hole had formed in between the two. Lea wondered why no one had checked for something like that, but she quickly changed her thinking to coming up with an idea on how to escape back into the old building.
With no clear way back up, Lea decided to search the sewer for a way out like a ladder up to a manhole cover. Instead, she found a large pile of boards that, though warped, could act as a slope to get her back up.
The former human was so happy for a way back up that she didn’t notice the large figure behind the boards until she tried to get a wide board that was partially beneath it. The pulling of the wood made the figure stir, and soon it stood up.
A Feraligatr had been sleeping near the wood and was surprised when Lea woke him up. When he saw the Umbreon shaking as she looked at him, he felt a little sorry for her. “Hey, don’t worry.” He said as he rubbed his eyes. “Why are you down here anyway?”
Lea rubbed the back of her head. “I sort of fell down here while looking around the building I was hiding in. I was looking for a way out when I found you and saw the boards under you.”
“Oh!” He looked at the boards. “Yeah, I can help you with that. Though one question, how were you going to use them to get up? I don’t believe you know psychic or else you could have picked me up.”
Lea looked at her paws. “No, I don’t. I forgot I don’t have hands.”
“Ah, are you one of those former humans?”
“Yeah, have you seen any others?! I know Arceus said there were pokemon who went through changes, but he didn’t say we were humans.”
“No, I haven’t seen any, I’ve just heard about them from others. Sorry about that. Still, I should help you out.” The Feraligatr grabbed a few boards and carried them to where Lea showed him.
Before leaving, the water type asked why she was hiding in the building. She explained what happened to her the past few days and what she was planning to do.
“I can’t say that all of those ponies could be mean to you, but then again, I’ve been down here so much and haven’t met any of them. Still, Try and find someone you feel safe with. It can only help.
Lea thanked the Feraligatr and waved to him as he left, hoping they might meet again. Before he was too far away, he turned around to look at Lea. “I hope you have good luck finding your friends.”
Lea looked at him in surprise. “I didn’t say anything about that.”
“I know, But you act just like my trainer when we get separated sometimes.”
The two gave one last goodbye before Lea made her way up into the building again. The Umbreon laid down to rest just a little bit before deciding to look around and fix the place up. Her first idea was to make sure the entrance she used was completely blocked.
Going back into the alley, Lea found a few boxes to hide the hole while still leaving it open for her to get to. While she worked, Lea noticed a pony starting to come down the alley. Wanting to hide before she could be seen, the Umbreon frantically rushed to the opening to the building. She knocked into something, making a clatter the stallion noticed.
“Who’s there?” He called out, looking all around.
Lea stopped breathing, not wanting to move until he left. Eventually the pony seemed to think it was just a creature moving around or something just shifting and he moved on. Lea took a deep breath as soon as he was gone, panting slightly from her lack of air.
Going back inside, Lea tried to figure out what to do with the hole in the room. She could cover it up, but it was also a passage to more room. for pokemon. She decided the best idea would to make a barrier so no one would fall in again but could go down if they really wanted to. She also decide that it might work as a secret passage into the building.
Going up to the second floor, Lea found a room which she could make into a place to sleep. There was a door leading into another room which she guessed would be a bathroom, but the door was jammed. After a bit of attacking the door, it gave way and fell to the ground. Instead of a bathroom, she found an office. There was a safe implanted in the wall, though it was too high to reach. Lea grabbed the fallen door with her mouth to drag it, but spit it out from the taste of the old wood. She tried somewhere else on the door, but this time it was rust from the hinges.
Finally Lea reached the old safe and got the door to come off. The hinges were also rusted, but this time it made it fall off instead of stay stuck. Inside were tons of gold coins and a few gems. The Umbreon guessed that the ponies who owned it forgot the combo to the safe or it was originally rusted shut.
Lea would have used the money to buy items for the building, but until she felt it was safe, there was no way she would go out where there were ponies. Though she then thought of an idea. She would take what she needed and leave the payment needed. She packed as many of the coins as she could fit into her belt. then left the safety of her new home.
Looking at the sky, Lea could tell it was just a few hours until sunset. She didn’t want to be out then because it would be easy for the ponies to find her from her glowing rings.
On her way to the center of the town, where Lea assumed the shops would be, the Umbreon had to hide when a colt playing with a Mudkip came nearby. The two seemed to be playing with a ball. At first, Lea thought she had finally found a pony who was nice to pokemon. Then the colt threw the ball and the pokemon chased after it, running into a wall. The impact made a cut on the Mudkip’s head, and Lea went to check on it. She looked up to see if the colt had come to help, but he was instead going for the ball. Even when he noticed the Mudkip was hurt, the pony didn’t come to check on it.
Lea glared at him, making the colt take a step back. The Umbreon lifted the injured pokemon onto her back before starting to leave. From behind, she could hear the colt yelling for somepony to come and help him, but Lea didn’t want to wait.
Finally, Lea made it to the center of the town. Making sure not to be noticed, she made her way to the fountain in the very middle. Putting the Mudkip in the fountain, Lea looked around before coming in as well to hide. The Umbreon was nervous about getting her belt wet, and tried as hard as she could to keep it dry while in the water. She helped to patch up the pokemon before telling it where it could stay until it was better. She hoped it wouldn’t be too far, but when she also mentioned how there was a path through the sewers, the Mudkip decided to use that way since it would be easier.
She said goodbye to the water type and wished him well on his short journey there before getting out and and hiding elsewhere.