[X] My Assistant

[Living Arrow]

“Piii…”

Static energy crackled and sparked off the lightning mouse making strands of glossy brown hair lift ever so slightly away from the quaffed locks beneath them and upwards… upwards…

“Tempest!” Darryn moaned, reaching up to stroke down her unintentional handy-work. “Don’t mess with the do!”

The Pikachu slapped the back of the Co-Ordinator’s head and barked an angry “chu”, her gaze intently staring off into the forest. Darryn hissed back a complaint but looked up to see what the matter was.

“What is it?” Darryn asked, peering through the trees to no avail. “What’s out there?”

“Pika… pi.”

“I’m going guess it’s not a PokéKing?” Darryn snorted, moving to walk towards where Tempest was frowning so intently.

“PIKA!” Tempest smacked Darryn a lot harder this time and dropped to the ground.

“OW! Dammit, Tempest!” Darryn rubbed his head. “If you can’t just stay calm then I’ll put you back in the ball.” A flicker of something flashed through Tempest’s eyes and in a split second everything was decided.

“Chu chu!” Tempest threw herself at Darryn’s leg, pushing him hard to keep walking.

“Wha? Tempest?” Darryn reluctantly began to move, his hair whipping past his face as the wind changed direction. He coughed almost instantly and shot a look back. “Smoke?”

“PIKA!” Tempest pushed harder, urging the trainer to get moving.

“No! Someone might be back that way – we have to go and make sure everyone is alright!” Darryn protested, stepping over Tuesday’s Pokemon and jogging into the faint breeze. He got no further than a few steps before a dark shape flashed out of the trees and stopped him dead in his tracks. Darryn stumbled, grabbing a tree for support to raise his head in surprise, finding a familiar Pokemon’s face looking down at him. Blue and black fur, spikes at wrists and chest, an intent gaze that could shatter stone with one look and raise the spirits of an entire army with another. Oh, and he was wearing a designer backpack that Darryn thought he’d never see again.

“Shadow!”

“Piny!” Eggheart announced herself by popping up at Darryn’s neck.

“Hmmph.” The Lucario grunted and lifted Darryn back up, turning him away from the unseen fire. Tempest shouted something that sounded angry and somehow supportive but Darryn still made an attempt to fight back – easily quelled by the Aura Pokemon.

“But the others-”

Shadow’s ears lifted – a warning. Darryn frowned and peered at the Pokemon’s Emotaglow. He blinked and looked it over again. There wasn’t another way around it… Confidence. Pride. Minor concern. Everything added up to…

“YES! I knew it! I mean, you’re sure, right?” Darryn asked with a grin. The Lucario nodded. Somehow, Shadow knew the others were alright… But how? “Right. Then we’re going. Tempest?”

The Pikachu launched herself back to Darryn’s shoulders as he pulled on his backpack from Shadow.

“And your Pokeball?” Darryn asked the Lucario. The Aura Pokemon took a step back and revealed the small orb concealed under his chest panel. “Are you gonna give me it?” Darryn asked, already knowing the answer. Shadow chose to ignore him. “Fine, let’s move.”

*****

“That’s it, Viper – more Flamethrower.” A cruel woman spoke, her dark-eyed Seviper pouring flames into the heart of the dry forest floor. Clad in a soft leather jacket, tight black jeans and thick soled shoes, no-one would have thought her a member of Team Deception. In fact, to a casual observer she might have been a simple hiker out in the foothills. That was the deception. She was a master of disguises. Or so she thought, anyway.

A floating crimson band darted across the forest floor and in a flash, her Kecleon revealed himself completely.

“Ah, Brooke! You’re back!” She allowed the Color Swap Pokemon to climb up to her arm where he perched carefully, tapping the back of his left hand fervently while watching her through hooded dark eyes. She watched carefully and raised an eyebrow. “Survivors, eh? How interesting… Shall we go and pay them a little visit? Naja! Musto!”

An Arbok and a Linoone emerged from the nearby foliage, their eyes also glowing with a sickly dark light. She smiled.

[Master Houndoom]

The call came in at a late hour, but even that did not delay the crack team of the Emergency Aid Brigade, a group of elite police, fire, and medical personnel trained to handle the various and sundry dangers that combining a new, frontiers edge region like Furoh with new and seasoned trainers.

Four people dashed out to a waiting helicopter; A young, dark haired man trailed by a gigantic blastoise, his equally young partner, a girl with opalescent silver hair leading an empoleon behind her. Trailing the two of them was an elderly, thin doctor, who's chancy rattled off information into a special device around her waist, which translated the repetitions of her species into English. Lastly was a pilot, a woman in her thirties with her dark braided hair pulled back into a tight braid.

They loaded into the copter efficiently, and within minutes of the call about a fire in the forest half way between Arasam and Petropolis, they were in the air, flying toward the blaze.

Jaima's head throbbed, and images in his vision swam as if he were looking at them from underwater. He was trying to walk straight, he knew, but could feel, with the swaying and pitching of the ground beneath him, that he was wobbling, straying, and feared that he was turning back toward the fire. He felt the pokeballs in his hands, and flexed his his fingers. He wanted a rest, but there was something he was forgetting. Something important...

He finally dropped, despite the ground's roughness, near a tree. He could hear a stream nearby, and thought it must be important to get to that stream, but couldn't, for the life of him, figure out why.

A noise to his left brought quick clarity, and a surge of pain in his head. He turned, releasing the pokemon in a moment of panic. He heard, rather than saw, the pokemon react; a deep, wet and throaty hiss directed at him, and the flapping of wings which receded into the darkness.

But Jaima's eyes were on the croconaw glaring at him, eyes wide and glaring. With a grunt, the water-type opened his mouth and hissed, a lower sound similar to the one that had just come after the activation of the pokeball. The same hiss he heard, and now was beginning to understand. A challenge.

Before he could stop it, The croconaw opened his mouth wide and shot a stream of water. Jaima lurched, moving forward and to the right, where the first hiss had sounded and the water now shot, and was hit in the chest with enough force to jar him, the water cold enough to begin to bring clarity. Dante was being attacked, by a water pokemon which was the pre-evolution of one of the pokemon Tuesday was terrified of. Jaima looked around and found a thick branch, brandishing it between himself and the pokemon, standing, shakily, between the first hisser, who he now remembered to be Dante, and stood his ground.

The croconaw didn't seem to care that this bigger creature had stepped between him and the one issuing challenges. It was, slightly, confused that the bigger creature would protect a charmeleon who was issuing a challenge to the human, but in the end, it didn't matter. They were in his territory, and they must--

MUDSLAP!!

The croconaw rocked to the side with the force of the slap, turning and hissing only to see the glowering form of another pokemon, still glistening and wet from being in the stream. HIS stream. With a growling grunt, he charged, only to be struck down by a ball of mud impacting with his chest. The croconaw grunted; his chest was throbbing now, and the pain shook him; this new pokemon was strong.

He charged, and heard the human command, "Bide!". He did not recognize the word, but saw the new pokemon, a marshtomp, brace itself and smiled. Opening his jaws as wide as he could, he rammed his shoulder into the newcomer, then bit it. The marshtomp didn't cry out as the jaws clamped down, and that enraged the croconaw, but another sound from the human made the rage moot.

"Release!"

Energy poured out from the marshtomp, sending the croconaw crashing back through the forest, into the stream further away from where it started. It gave up battling as a bad job and got out of there.

Jaima smiled, his stomach churning with nausea. "Tsunami... good job," he said as he collapsed.

The flight didn't take long, not in the sleek, elongated helicopter, painted white with a triangle consisting of a flame, a bade, and a healing egg, and both doors opened to reveal the dark haired young man or the pale young woman, their pokemon at their side. Their eyes took in the fire with grim determination. The copter swooped low, fighting the updrafts brought on by the heat, and made for the outer edges. A strong, feminine voice sounded through the pair's ear phones. "OK, Antoinette, Guillaume, we'll circle first to contain the fire, then we'll set about putting it out. Antoinette, this is all you!"

"Hey," the man called with a gleam in his eye, "Cannon can knock down trees just as well as Sabre!"

The woman nearly rolled her eyes, and pointed to the side, where the fire had not reached. "Sabre, Luminocanon, s'il vous plait!"

The empoleon's wings extended in front of it, and a ball of energy grew, flashing out as a beam that smashed into trees and foliage, digging a wide trench where it struck. The pilot flew in a circle, making two passes, until the trench was wide enough the fire could not pass from a burning tree on one side of the trench to an intact tree on the other. The team was lucky tonight; there was no wind to spread sparks too far, but even so, the two water types sent hydro pumps into the intact line of trees.

The copter swung wide to view the work, then began to fly over the fire. As they passed on one side, Antoinette called out, "There is a group down there, in a clearing..!"

But they were past, and the priority was to put the fire out, so none of them saw the man call out a large feraligatr, waiting for the copter to pass again.

"Grondir! Cosette!"

Seeing the two new forms clearly, Meiko knelt, opening her arms. Grondir trotted forward, but Cosette had passed them and nudged Meiko, nuzzling her chest as Meiko checked her over. "Oh, I'm so glad you're OK! And you, too, Grondir," she cried, putting out a hand to caress the top of his head. "I was so worried about you! I'm still worried!" She sobbed, once, tears beginning to cascade down her cheeks, but she did not bother to stop them.

Lady sat, primly, not bothering to conceal her annoyance, and Victor crossed his stubby arms and sat, looking away from the girl, as if her tears were somehow shameful.

"I don't know what to do," Meiko said, trying in vain now to get control. "I think Ashleigh's... dead, and I can't find anyone, and..." She sniffed, wiping her eyes with her forearm. "And I need to get a grip! Come on, you guys, W-we have to find Ja- everyone..." She lead the way now, leaving even lady blinking after her, and the four pokemon followed her.

Cosette trotted forward, but the rest stayed back, Grondir the closest. Only Cosette, who looked up in her trainer's face, saw that tears were still flowing, silently, down her cheeks. She nudged the girl's leg, and was rewarded by being picked up and hugged close.

The ice beam came from nowhere, it seemed, aimed precisely so that it hit the rear rotor and engine of the stabilizing prop, stopping it abruptly. The cabin of the copter spun violently in reaction, and a scream sounded. The doctor looked, just as Guillaume cried out Antoinette's name, and as the doctor reacted by stepping forward, he, too, was cast from the copter.

"Isabella, get this thing under control!"

"I'm trying," screamed the pilot, "but I can't! We're frozen-"

The chassis hit a tree, and stopped spinning, but fell, and, for a time, all was silent.

[Umbrae Calamitas]

The crackling of a small fire belied a sense of normalcy where there was little, but contrary to what some might have expected, there was no great worry presence in the mind of the youngest member of Team Rogue.

Tuesday sat cross-legged on the ground, Ashleigh's head resting on her knee as his eyes followed her hands, occasionally moving to her face. Every now and then, his tail would spontaneously start to wag, but she paid it no mind as she continued to rifle through her pack, pulling random objects out and laying them on the ground around her.

Romeo, sitting nearby with his spiky fur now resting smoothly, leaned forward and sniffed the frying pan that Tuesday had just removed from her pack. She didn't notice his actions or his look of disappointment as the smell of bacon that lingered on the wrought iron unfortunately did not come with a matching taste. He huffed and sigh and relaxed, laying down on the ground and rolling over until his cream belly was exposed. Grinning, he closed his eyes and began to sleep with his assets bared to the world.

Mercury, despite none of them actually speaking, was the quietest of the lot. She sat on a small log on the other side of the fire, her small hands clasped together tightly. She kept looking up and around her in bursts of anxiety, her blue eyes searching for imminent danger but finding none immediately noticeable. She continued to reach out with her mind, her psychic eye searching and hands reaching for their companions. Each time, however, she found herself stopped by some invisible force that had no end and no apparent weaknesses, and she was forced to retract and come entirely back to herself, staring worriedly into the fire.

Her eyes moved to Tuesday, as the young girl sighed in what sounded like disappointment, as she upturned her pack and nothing more came out. Mercury looked on the ground around her.

The frying pan glistened guiltily with dog slobber that Tuesday had yet to notice, and a small plastic pencil box clattered when lifted, containing a series of eating utensils, including a ladle and spatula. There was a small, clear plastic case, about the width of a deck of cards, that held a few pencils and pens, which sat on top of a leather bound sketchbook that they had all seen Tuesday drawing it before. Two pokeballs clacked lightly against each other as a strange breeze blew through their small campsite, and Mercury looked up, searching futilely for some sign of... something, but her sight was blocked. After a small sigh, she turned her attention back to Tuesday, as the girl began to put things back into her pack, organizing. The way her hands lingered on the pokeballs and her returning look of disappointment, Mercury thought it was safe to deduce that it was the remaining quantity that was causing the young girl mild distress.

Considering the circumstances, Mercury didn't really think that was important enough to worry about.

"How... How are you so calm?"

Tuesday paused in what she was doing, glancing up at the kirlia in a mixture of surprise and confusion. She hesitated, thinking about all that had happened so far and why she wouldn't be calm. It took her a few moments to reorder her thoughts, to connect everything in the past to the present and the possible future, and then she opened her mouth slowly, glancing up into the canopy as she thought about how exactly to answer Mercury. "I'm... just not that worried," she admitted honestly.

"But... you're all alone...", Mercury stammered, looking around the clearing.

Tuesday blinked at Mercury, and then glanced over at Romeo and down at Ashleigh, tilting her head to the side. "Not... really," she said, her eyes moving back to the kirlia. "I mean, you're here, and I have Romeo and Ashleigh." She smiled at the kirlia, but it wasn't hard to spot the sadness that lingered in her eyes and kept her smile from seeming sincere. "As for Jaima and the others..." She hesitated with her mouth open and closed it softly, cocking her head back and thinking. "I guess... I'm used to it," she said quietly, still staring upwards, her eyes more focused on things she had already seen and not what was here now. "Before I met Jaima, I helped Professor Oak, or I played chess with Brone, but there..." She glanced back down at the kirlia and gave a shrug, as though it was any big deal at all. "There wasn't anyone else."

"I don't know what to say to that," Mercury admitted. "I've been alone before... really alone. I didn't like it."

Tuesday gave a nod, a solemn look on her face, but said nothing. She returned to putting stuff back into her pack, though her actions were done more slowly so as to be quieter, in case Mercury chose to speak again. After a time, she did.

"What are you looking for?" The tone was curious, though Tuesday could still detect a nervous edge. The flicker of the kirlia's eyes toward the trees around them belied her anxiety.

Tuesday slipped her sketchbook into the back of her pack and flipped the flap over the full back, before pushing it to the side and sighing. "I was looking for a potion," she said, and glanced down at Ashleigh. The houndoom's eyes were closed as he slept, and Tuesday ran a hand gently over the back of his neck. "He fought so hard..."

"And bravely," Mercury said with a soft smile.

Tuesday nodded, her mouth set into a frown as she rested her hand on the dog's neck, beneath his horns.

"You know he's going to be okay, right?" Mercury asked, eying Tuesday with worry.

Tuesday looked up at Mercury quickly, as though she had been caught doing something wrong. "I... of course," she said, removing her hand and looking away into the forest to her left. "Of course," she whispered.

Whatever Mercury had opened her mouth to say was interrupted by a cracking twig behind Tuesday. Ashleigh was on his feet immediately, snarling, his lips pulled away from his teeth as he hunkered low to the ground. He roughed against Tuesday with his shoulder, shoving her out of the way as he stepped in between her and whatever it was behind them.

"Ashleigh..."

Tuesday scrambled back, less out of fear and more out of necessity to avoid Ashleigh's tail as he whipped it at her, driving her back and out of what he perceived as harm's way.

There was a shuffle, and then a rather familiar pokemon stepped into view. "Fang!" Tuesday said, as she peered over Ashleigh hulking mass, spotting the luxio.

Fang stopped at the edge of the clearing, just inside the light, looking at Mercury as if she were the last thing he'd expect to see, as if she were in the last place he'd expect for her to be. After lowering his head and growling, he looked up. "We have to get out of here. Now. There's a fire."

The sound of an explosion called all of their attention and they glanced up to see a helicopter turn oddly in midair, spinning on the axis of its tail, and then began to plummet. They all stared open-mouthed for a time, before Tuesday reached down and grabbed her pack, slinging it over her shoulder.

"Fang says there's a fire coming this way," Mercury said to Tuesday, glancing down at her.

Tuesday glanced back in the direction Fang had appeared. There was no evidence of a fire, but Tuesday believed them. She nodded down at Fang and then look at Mercury. "It's a good thing we're going that way, then," she said, pointing toward where the copter had gone down.

"Shouldn't we find the others?" Mercury asked. She hadn't grown any less worried with the appearance of Fang.

"Someone might need help," Tuesday said, and without another word, started off. Ashleigh was right on her heels and, after a moment, the others followed, Fang walking with Mercury since, with them both being abandoned, they might as well stick together.

[Living Arrow]

Darryn ran on, coughing hard as smoke invaded his lungs. The silhouette of Shadow leaping ahead, clearly outrunning the Co-Ordinator, danced like a fading dream in Darryn’s eyes – blackening smog dusting his vision. Tempest clung tightly to the back of Darryn’s head, her face held low to his shoulder but every now and again she would cough, too. Darryn attempted to put her back in her Pokeball on several occasions but she had refused vehemently every time.

“Dammit!” Darryn threw himself down a small slope and stopped to catch his breath. Tempest slapped him hard in the ear but he did his best to ignore her. Shadow came racing back, grunting the urgency to flee but energy was rapidly being leeched from Darryn’s bones.

“I… can’t… run like… this – cough - forever.” He stammered, sucking in smoke-filled air. “We need… to stop and… think…”

“POLI?” An excited voice piped from nearby. Darryn and the others turned to find a small blue Pokemon watching them curiously, edging backwards toward a tiny rivulet that some may have called a stream but it was barely deep enough to submerge a human foot.

“Who’s that Pokemon?” Darryn fished back in his backpack to grab his Pokedex. Tempest shouted at him for being slow but Darryn recognised a water Pokemon when he saw one. A water Pokemon that may be able to hold off the fire for a little time.

[Poliwag. The Tadpole Pokemon. It has no arms, but its tail makes it a good swimmer. Its skin is so thin, its internal organs are visible. It has trouble walking on its newly grown feet.]

“Yeah, yeah – get to the good stuff.” Darryn muttered, thumbing a few more buttons for analysis.

[Attacks known: Water Gun. Double-Slap. Hypnosis. Rain Dance. Bu-]

Darryn snapped the dex shut before it could finish.

“You’re the perfect Pokemon!” He exclaimed, signalling for Tempest to dismount his shoulder. “With you onboard, we can put out that fire and start looking for our friends again. Tempest?”

The vivacious Pikachu took a step toward the Poliwag and lightning burst through her cheeks with expectation.

“Tempest, please can you battle that Poliwag but try not to weaken it too far – we need that Rain Dance attack to hold off the fire.” Darryn urged. The Pikachu yelled angrily back over her shoulder but squared up against her opponent all the same. Shadow moved back to Darryn, still keeping watch back the way they came with nervous attention.

“Tempest, Thundershock, let’s go!”

The wild Poliwag’s eyes widened at it jumped with surprise, bringing its tail forward under its body and holding it out like a sword. And its shield was… Mud flew from the water-type’s mouth at speed, catching the bolt of lightning racing towards it and dispelling it into harmless sparks.

“That’s a Mud Shot attack!” Darryn gasped. “Use Quick Attack!”

“PIII!” Tempest flew toward the Poliwag at speed, charging right into the little blue swirl and knocking the Pokemon flying onto its back. That flexible tail righted it quickly and the wild Pokemon puffed out its chest as though challenging the Pikachu to attack again. Enraged, Tempest attacked once more but this time the Poliwag was ready. With the sword-tail out in front he let loose with a furious Double-Slap attack that sent the electric mouse flying.

“Tempest!” Darryn ran to where Tuesday’s Pokemon fell and breathed a sigh of relief as the Pikachu got back to her feet.

*This Poliwag is at a higher level than I thought…*

“Tempest. You’ve been watching Romeo and I train for our Contest battles, haven’t you?” Darryn asked, the Pikachu looking up at him suspiciously. “This opponent is stronger than you – don’t hit me! – but we can win if we catch it off with contest attacks. Just remember how Romeo did it and you’ll be fine.”

“Pika…” Tempest grunted, back on all fours and her tail aloft menacingly. The Poliwag beckoned her to attack with a Matrix-style arrogance from his sword tail.

“Double Team!”

Tempest split into six copies, dashing around the water type in a wide circle that set the Poliwag blinking with confusion. Desperately it fired a Water Gun that passed through one copy only to be replaced by another. Darryn grinned.

“Thunderwave!”

Flows of electricity jumped from all six copies as they continued to circle the Poliwag. It tried to fight back by spitting more mud but there was simply too much static surrounding him that paralysis was unavoidable.

“Now, jump and perform a Lightning Grove combo!” Darryn urged.

Tempest and her copies all sprang upwards, filling the air all around the Poliwag. Like six poised missles, each let loose a Thunderbolt attack that stabbed down in unison like the trunks of lightning-filled trees. The Poliwag squealed and fell back, his sword-like tail hanging limp next to his feet.

“This Lure Ball should do just the trick.” Darryn maximised the capture device and tossed it, the tadpole sucking inside automatically and clicking the capsule shut. The ball rocked back and forth once. Twice. Darryn squeezed his fists together. Thrice. DING! “Yes! I caught a Poliwag!” Darryn exclaimed, running to the ball and snagging it up. “Now just to use Rain Dance and – WAH!”

The Lure Ball broke apart into crackling white energy and in a flash was gone.

“What? No!” Darryn gasped. “But I don’t have all six of my Pokemon with me!”

He punched a fist into an open palm. It was so unfair! He knew the league rules said that a trainer could carry only six Pokemon at a time but he only had November with him… Unless the storage system only recognised that six Pokemon were “out in the open” so to speak.

“CRAP!”

“Lu…” Shadow stepped close, patting Darryn’s shoulder fervently. “Lu, lu!”

“What?” Darryn turned to find the Lucario looking up the small ledge they had jumped down and into the eyes of a woman flanked by serpentine Pokemon. She smiled intently, watching the boy and his Pokemon regroup quickly.

“Viper, Flamethrower!”

[Master Houndoom]

Two pokemon, a marshtomp and a charmeleon, stood over the prone body of a human, looking at it with, in one case, worry, and in another a kind of satisfaction that was usually out of place. The charmeleon reached forward and prodded the human with a foot, then snorted.

<<I'm leaving.>>

The marshtomp's head rose, and while she did not move aggressively to stop the charmeleon, her gaze seemed to pin him in place. Her mouth, set in a line that was common for her species, did not curl either up or down, but her gaze was intense as she spoke, softly for one her size. <<We can't leave him here.>>

<<Oh, we can leave him here. In fact, we have to,>> responded the charmeleon with something akin to glee. <<There's a fire back there. We were running from it. Not that I had anything to fear,>> he muttered, before going on, cutting off the marshtomp's retort. <<Even you can't last in a fire like that. And he would make you try. Besides, you can't carry him alone, and I won't do it.>> The charmeleon bared his teeth, allowing the fire that was his birthright to curl between his fangs. His eyes widened as the marshtomp reached behind her, pulling a red and white pokeball from behind her head fin and dropping it, rolling it until the button depressed against the ground.

Red light lashed out, and out tumbled a blue and black blur, shaking its head until it could stand up, revealing a riolu. <<Gracias, senora,>> the riolu grinned. Then he scowled, looking at the charmeleon and marshtomp. <<What has happened to el guerrero? Dante, where is nuestras hermana?>> He looked back and forth between Dante, who was glaring daggers, and the marshtomp, who was steadily watching.

<<We got separated, Zorro. We're going to find her now.>>

Zorro clapped his paws together and rubbed them as if preparing for a task. <<Bueno. Who will carry el guerrero?>>

<<Tsunami can drag him herself for all I care,>> Dante snarled. <<There's a fire, and we have to find Tuesday. Now.>>

Zorro had already helped Tsunami roll Jaima onto his back, revealing a pokeball and a premier ball caught underneath him. Tsunami held onto Zorro's pokeball, watching him as he leaned down to pick up the other two. A shriek from above heralded Bravo's return, but rather than tell anyone where he'd gone off to, the pidgeot sat glumly and preened his feathers.

Dante snorted and made to move past Tsunami, but, this time, she intercepted him.

<<Get out of my way, if you know what's good for you,>> he snarled. Tsunami placed her large, flat hand against his chest and pushed, sending the surprised charmeleon back.

<<You're going to help.>> She rose to her full height, prompting Dante to do the same.

<<I'm not afraid of you,>> he growled, flexing his claws.

Tsunami rolled her eyes. <<You couldn't even beat Ember, and she doesn't have a type advantage over you.>> Dante's eyes narrowed, but Tsunami ignored the warning sign. <<You owe him. He blocked a water blast meant for you.>>

A cloud of confusion passed over Dante's eyes, then, with a shake of his head, was gone. <<I don't owe him anything for being too stupid to move! Get out of my way!>>

Dante dropped low, hissing, and Tsunami widened her stance. Before either could initiate an attack, a crackling beam of white light surrounded Dante, pulling him with an enraged growl into his pokeball.

Zorro kicked the pokeball off the ground and held it, an uncharacteristically grim look on his face. <<We will have to manage without him, senora. Dante es no in his right mind.>>

A dark shape emerged from near the stream, sending Bravo into the air, and Tsunami lowered herself to battle. However, Zorro gave a gleeful cry. <<No, no, es OK! No es mala! Es Ramhorn!>>

Without a word the heracross took in the scene, nodded his horn to Tsunami, and bent to pick Jaima up, walking toward the stream, away from the fire.

* * * * *

For Meiko, the simple act of walking had helped. Having a place to go, some action to take, kept her mind off of the fact that her friends, and a majority of her pokemon, were out there, somewhere where she had no way to help them, or to even know how they were faring. She had, in desperation called out to Mercury, but of course, there was no answer. The pokeballs had been scattered more thoroughly than the trainers themselves. The thought of finding the rest of them, though she admittedly had been quite lucky, was daunting to say the least.

Victor trudge along, forelimbs crossed grumpily across the underplate of his shell. <<Why couldn't I have been found by that cute blonde? Nooo, I've got to get the old hag! Ugly old hag...>>

If Lady heard him muttering, as her twitching ears seemed to indicate, she paid Victor no attention other than the odd annoyed look. If she disagreed with his assessment, there was even less indication of it. Grondir rolled his large, red eyes, but otherwise also ignored the squirtle. Only Cosette, carried in Meiko's arms, bothered to even give a dirty look whenever the words wafted up to her lofty position.

<<Don't let him get to you, Cosette,>> Grondir chuckled when he caught sight of the look on the turtwig's face. <<Opinions are like muks: They're all over the place, and a lot of them stink.>>

<<Oh, hardee har har.>>

The procession moved on until a loud noise caught all their attention. A shape, indistinct in the darkness, slammed against a tree and lit briefly, revealing a metal chassis before it dropped out of sight. With a startled look, Meiko hustled, moving in that direction.

None of them saw the orange form pacing them along the treeline.

* * * * *

Antoinette counted herself lucky, and for someone suffering of the pain of a broken wrist, that was saying quite a bit. When she had been thrown from the rescue copter, she had thought she was dead for certain, but, because they were low to the treeline, instead of hitting the ground she hit the trunk of a tree, snapping her wrist but otherwise leaving her relatively unscathed. Thick branches caught her before she could plummet, and though it had been slow going, she had been able to make her way down, jarring the injured arm, but otherwise, again, unharmed.

Her gear, of course, had suffered more injury than her. It would have made life too easy otherwise, she thought with a mental growl. Unfortunately, the chaos of her sudden unaided flight and even more sudden stop hadn't allowed her to follow where the copter may have landed, if it had landed. She felt a brief pang of fear for Jeanne, the pilot; Guilluarm, her brother and fellow fire fighter; and Terrence, the medic. Luckily, the specialized pokeballs, which recalled her pokemon automatically if it sensed the distance between them growing too far, too fast, had automatically recalled Sabre, her empoleon, but that was a small comfort. Sabre was her first, yes, but pokemon survived easier than humans, that was for certain. Also, Sabre was trained to seek out his trainer if they were separated.

She tucked her injured arm against her stomach and tried to get her bearings, but the darkness and vertigo from being off the ground were not helping. She decided to wait, aware of the fire, but also aware that, if she could get her bearings, she could find the trench, and that would protect her once she crossed it. She knew, instinctively, she was inside the trench's circuit.

A crash to the side made her turn, slowly so as not to startle a wild pokemon seeking escape. Instead of one, she came across four. A pidgeot who rode on the horn of a heracross, seemingly asleep; a marshtomp, leading the way; a riolu, carrying three pokeballs in his paws; and the heracross itself, carrying in it's massive arms a human trainer.

"Mon Mew," cried Antoinette, her pain and disorientation forgotten. "What 'as 'appened 'ere?" She crossed to the boy in the fighting bug's arms, and was instantly stopped by the marshtomp, who stood between Antoinette and the heracross with wide arms.

"I do not weesh to 'urt 'im, cherie," Antoinette cooed. "I have some training in ze first aid. S'il vous plait, let me make sûr he is all right, no?" She looked, not at the boy, but instead at the marshtomp, who reluctantly allowed her to pass.

It was not easy, with no light and one arm, but she was able to figure three things out: the boy was alive and not labored in his breathing, the boy had a lump on his head that meant a possible concussion, and the boy was fit, and quite handsome.

"Come," she said, shaking off the fluttery feeling in her stomach. "We must 'urry."

[Umbrae Calamitas]

A sense of worry had come over Tuesday. For most people, this would not seem out of place, considering that she was separated from her friends and most of her pokemon, as well as running in the opposite direction of a blazing inferno. Except that she wasn’t running away from the fire – she was running toward what might be someone needing help. In situations such as these, having a plan in mind, or at least a mission, Tuesday generally remained relatively calm.

Except she wasn’t.

She was worried, and she didn’t know why. Ashleigh kept pace at her side, his long legs moving in a stalwart rhythm, not at all taxing for him, as he ran at her speed. Romeo was on her left, though he followed behind, with Mercury and Fang bringing up the rear, sticking together.

Tuesday’s eyes scanned the forest, though there was little to be scene but trees and shadows. She had to slow her pace in order to climb over a fallen tree without stumbling, but then quickly sped up again. There had been no more signs of the crashed helicopter since she had initially watched it fall, and she didn’t honestly expect to see anything else. The craft had gone down with an ominous silence that had chilled her, but she tried not to dwell on that. Rather, she kept running.

If someone had asked her why she was running in this direction, Tuesday wouldn’t have been able to give them an answer. She didn’t know why she was running between these particular two trees, or why she was jumping over that specific root, or why on earth she chose to duck under a dangling pine limb, rather than going around the tree and avoiding the scratchy needles. She had no idea why she was doing such a thing, but she also wasn’t concentrating on the fact that she was. In her mind, it was unimportant – it wasn’t odd or unnatural or out of place. She was going where she might be needed – where she was needed – and that was all that mattered.

Ten years down the road, when Tuesday stands in the middle of a laboratory that is more home to her than any place has ever been, wearing a lab coat and sketching a pokemon that no one has ever seen before, she will still not know why she chose to take that particular path. She will have no idea about how the trees she ran between, their thick roots holding the soil beneath and directly around them packed tightly together, were surrounded on both sides by a sink hole that the forest was still working to overrun. She would have no idea that jumping over that root was the only option other than climbing up a sturdy-looking rock, which would have shifted the moment weight was placed on it, collapsing and pinning her underneath its mass. She would never known that slipping under the pine tree limb, dangling sticky needles, kept her from running into the vigoroth, whose wild eyes had a distant, faded, mad look to them, as he foamed at the mouth, his consciousness giving way to an insanity that would destroy him.

Tuesday had no way of knowing – would never know – and really, it didn’t matter.

~*~

Terrance Caballe was a doctor by both trade and passion. He differentiated the two by the distinct knowledge that some people – most people, it seems, nowadays – took careers that they hated, but which offered them good pay. This trade was one that drove them into the ground, destroying their happiness in its entirety, because they had little to no desire for the work that they were doing.

Terrance, however, had a passion for his trade. He loved knowledge, loved helping people and pokemon, and still, even in his late-sixties, loved learning. His trade – once a scientist, then a researcher, a lab tech, a health specialist, and so many more – had brought him little else but joy. Granted, there was heartache, as well, and loss, but he had never lost his love at the jobs, and he prayed that there never came a time when he did.

However, there was one part of the job that Terrance would admit to not having a great fondness for. Being injured in a place he was unfamiliar with, when he knew there was danger about and, due to extenuating circumstances, could do nothing about, had always caused him some manner of discomfort.

That was why he wasn’t particularly overjoyed at his current position.

He had awoken to the blurry and spinning sight of leaves – the canopy of the forest above him. His old body was sprawled across grass, dirt, and dead leaves, and his right arm was twisted at an unnatural and sickening angle. He couldn’t feel the pain from it, but had the distinct feeling that that had something to do with the nauseous feeling in his stomach and the lump on the back of his head.

Broken arm, concussion… Terrance ran down a mental checklist, wiggling fingers and toes, turning his neck, trying to stand up. The standing up failed, though he blamed the concussion for his lack of balance. And you’re old, Terrance. Admit it. He chuckled at himself, doing his best to gain a slightly more comfortable position by leaning against a large rock. There were a series of boulders that littered the area. He was more than lucky that he hadn’t landed on any of them. He could have easily broken his spine or split his head open – an action that most certainly would have been the end of him.

Oh, I do hope the others are all right, he thought, his befuddled mind flashing to his team. He had yet to fully piece together everything that had happened, but clearly the helicopter had gone down. He didn’t know why, and the worry made his stomach churn. The fire was uncharacteristic, out of place; they had spotted a group standing amongst the forest, and their aircraft had been put out of commission. Now, they were all separated and with no way to communicate.

Terrance gave his radio a solemn look, the walkie having shattered upon impact with the ground. He patted the exposed electrical wires reverently, as though it were a pokemon who had done him a good service, been a good friend, that had passed, and not a piece of equipment.

Terrance sighed and looked to his right, where his chansey, Aiuto, stood, looking concerned. The pokemon was a great help when giving medical aid to pokemon and humans alike, but had never been one for great physical strength. There was no way the chansey would be able to help him walk, and with the world spinning every time he stood, Terrance knew it was safer, for the moment, to remain where he was. Hopefully the others hadn’t crashed too far off and would find him soon.

Hopefully they didn’t need him.

The snap of a twig just out of eyesight called the attention of both Aiuto and Terrance, and they turned to the forest with equal feelings of apprehension. If a pokemon attacked them, Terrance had little hope for success, or even survival.

He was swallowing thickly in worry when, to his great surprise, what came dashing from the shadows was not an attacking pokemon, but a young girl.

Her eyes, a cloudy blue, seemed both observant as well as distant, and she had the fingertips of one hand pressed to her right temple, as though fighting off a headache. Her steps were sure, even though she didn’t seem to be paying much attention to where she was going. Initially, her gaze swept over him without, apparently, seeing him at all, and then they flashed back, and recognition seemed to light up within them.

She stopped, her hand falling to her side, and some of the clouds and pain in her eyes seemed to fade. “Oh.”

Terrance stared at her. Maybe it was the concussion, but he couldn’t seem to comprehend why a young girl was running through the forest, and why she didn’t seemed shocked to find someone, but did seem slightly surprised to find him. Not that there was any actual recognition. He had never seen her before, but there was something- it was like she was expecting someone- clearly, the concussion was doing more to addle his brain than he had originally thought. That was not something he enjoyed considering.

“Sir,” the young girl said, giving a nod of greeting. She was oddly polite, considering the circumstances, and Terrance got the strange feeling again that she was not shocked to have stumbled upon someone. How… strange.

“Who…” Did who she was really matter more than what she was doing here? There was a severe problem – a danger – going on. He couldn’t quite recall what it was, but it wasn’t safe her, and she needed to leave so he could take care of it. He hissed as he pulled at his arm. What had he done to it?

The girl’s eyes had gained a little light to them – like a spark, burning brightly. They flashed across him, seeming to take in everything while they took in nothing – so cloudy and clearly not at all paying attention. Another kid with her head in the clouds.

“My name is Tuesday, sir,” Tuesday said, stepping closer to the man and kneeling before him. She had been studying him and had noticed a few things. His arm had been the first, of course. It was clearly broken – it was bent at such an angle that there was nothing else it could be. As she watched him, however, his movements sluggish, off-balance, with his green irises surrounded severely-dilated pupils, it was quite clear that he had a concussion. She didn’t imagine, however, that he would appreciate a stranger searching for a lump on his head. She would have to settle for assumptions.

“I know you’re confused, sir,” she continued, speaking slightly louder than usual so that she could be more clear. If he did have a concussion, he would have enough trouble processing things without her mumbling her words, “but there is a forest fire and we can’t risk spending too much time here. I’m going to splint your arm, sir, and then we’re going to have to go.” She blinked in mild surprise when Ashleigh brought her a good-sized, firm stick. She smiled at him and then turned back to the man, frowning. “Could you walk if I helped you, sir?”

“Terrance,” the man said, and Tuesday didn’t know if he naturally spoke so softly or if it was a product of his injuries. “Doctor Terrance Caballe.” He nodded once, but winced and quickly gave it up. “Yes. I think. If you help me, I can walk.”

“Good,” Tuesday said. She grimaced but trudged on despite having to be so demanding of someone clear far superior to her in age and knowledge, if he was a doctor. “Hold still, doctor. I need to splint your arm, and then we need to leave.”

~*~

None of them noticed the red-haired man standing some ways away, hidden behind a tree. He watched as the young girl secured the medic's arm in a tight splint and clutched the pokeball tighter in his fist. Grinning, thinking about how much fun it would be to watch the shiftry unleash its full, vengeful wrath on the girl, he shook the ball roughly, and released the pokemon with a snarl.

There would be no time to react.

[Living Arrow]

“Shadow!” Darryn screamed, the silhouette of the Aura Pokemon crackling and flickering before his eyes. It had taken the Seviper less than a second to unleash the jet of flame but even less time for Jaima’s Lucario to throw itself into the path of the attack, protecting the human who had been too slow to get out of the way.

“PIKA!” Tempest flew through the air like a speeding golden bullet, an arc of lightning stretching out beyond Darryn’s view to stab into the trees where the woman and her Pokemon had come from. The fire instantly waned and faded to a shimmer, Shadow panting heavily but still alert and standing with firm paws.

“Piny?” Eggheart clutched Darryn’s chest tightly within his sweater, her little body trembling with fear. He reached up to soothe her with a back rub but was on the move almost immediately.

“November, go!” Darryn threw the Repeat Ball into the air. His resplendent Rapidash stomped the earth with alarm but she found an opponent soon enough and was rushing through the trees. Darryn watched her go and sought out the woman who had been standing atop the bank. She had moved a little, leaning leisurely against a broad beech and smirking to herself. She looked like an average hiker with too many curves – slinky and yet built for the outdoors. A fresh face that gave her youth still held the lines of maturity that denounced her a clear adult – maybe thirty – but unlike any hiker he had ever seen she wore makeup that looked as though a professional had applied it. She was a plethora of contradictions and yet somehow she fit.

A Linoone sat straight-backed at her feet, eyes watching but not really seeing what was going on. Darryn blinked. The Linoone worried him. Something about the look in its eyes…

“November, Fire Spin!” An Arbok hissed and reared back, opening its hood as a warning before letting loose a Mud Bomb attack that consumed the flames and swamped the Rapidash’s hooves with sticky goo. Darryn clenched his fist and opened his mouth to order another attack when Tempest went flying by.

“CHU!” She roared, firing a Thunderbolt at an unseen foe that punched, kicked and scratched at her from its canny hiding place. She landed on the ground, ears twitching. A glare one way, then another. Then the light of realisation caught her but too late.

The Kecleon emerged from her blind spot, Shadow Sneak allowing it to swipe viciously across her striped back. With a wail, she rolled in the dirt and struggled up, dashing back into the trees to move the battlefield in her favour. Darryn clenched his teeth hard and held Eggheart to him protectively, eyes wide and searching for the answer to get out of the situation.

“Who are you!?” Darryn yelled at the woman, the crash of battle raging around them. “And what do you want from me!?”

Her cruel lips tugged upwards in a secretive smile.

“Whoever said we wanted anything from you?” She sneered, her pet Linoone still staring at him with those glazed eyes.

“So you do want something from someone, then.” Darryn accused, fishing for the Pokeball in his bag that held Meiko’s Corphish. It was an unpredictable option but he was running out of choices and that Linoone could join the fight at any time. November screamed as the fangs of the attacking Arbok dug into her flank, urging Darryn to move faster.

“What we want is of no importance to you, boy. You’re just an irritating Weedle that’s in the way – easily crushed under my foot.” She replied, beginning to strut toward him with a hip-swinging swagger that stank of arrogance. Her Linoone followed equally as fluidly, eyes never leaving Darryn. He stared back at the Pokemon intently.

*Where have I seen this before?*

“Squashing you is just a bit of fun – then we can go back to torching this place and finding the bounty we’re after.”

Darryn drank in her words but kept his mouth shut. She’d give it away eventually but how long could he and the Pokemon hold out? Another couple of minutes? These enemy Pokemon were stronger than any that Darryn had with him and didn’t seem to react when they got attacked – merely shook it off and carried on. Almost as though they didn’t feel pain…

Darryn opened his inner eyes when the realisation hit him and gasped as the colours of the world were consumed by the four Pokemon assaulting his Pokemon companions.

“Shadow Pokemon!” he hissed. “I know who you are now!”

“You know about Shadow Pokemon?” The woman’s eyebrows raised behind her glasses. “And you can tell that how, exactly?”

Darryn gulped. There was no way he was letting someone from Team Deception know about his Empath abilities – who knew how someone like that would react? But the longer he stalled her, the more her eyes narrowed. She was focused on him properly now – that languid attitude of lazy assault was being replaced with cold intent that stung the recipient like a bucket of icy water to the face.

*Oh, God… She can’t know about me! No-one can ever know!*

The woman began to move closer to him, advancing with those piercing eyes that sought out the secrets that he had done so well to keep hidden. Her Shadow Linoone followed silently, sharp claws slashing the dirt with every step.

<LADY!? LADY I NEED YOU!>

*****

“Prince Darryn!” Lady yelped with her spoken voice, a clear bark of ‘Vulpix!’ as her master’s voice pierced her brain. Ears pricked up to their full height, eyes startlingly wide and searching the gloom. The red-haired female and the collated group of Pokemon continued to hurry toward the crashing sound that had deafened them not long before, leaving her behind.

<PRINCE DARRYN!> She wailed back desperately, straining all of her senses to hear him again. <PRINCE DARRYN! PRINCE DARRYN!>

He was alive! Relief flooded her every atom almost as quickly as she chided herself for doubting that he would be anything but alive. She didn’t want to think about how he would never hold her to his chest and brush her fur, spray her with sweet-smelling perfumes and kiss the curls on the top of her head ever so softly as she fell asleep. She really really didn’t want to think those things but they were all she could think about for the past couple of hours. And now, with the echoes of his thought-speech drifting from her mind she was primed to save him from whatever fate had befallen him.

<PRINCE DARRYN!>

“Yo, red.” Victor peered at her through the dark. “Something wrong?”

Lady glanced at him but quickly turned her attention back to her surroundings. Whatever had allowed their master’s voice to reach her had gone now and the psychic interference throughout the forest dominated her powers once more.

“Prince Darryn is in danger.” She replied curtly, agitation making her prance nervously. “We need to go.”

“Er, but that girl needs us, too.” Victor thumbed over his shell. “She might be the fugly one around her but we can’t desert her without any warning. Darryn wouldn’t want us to just ditch her like that.”

“You didn’t hear him!” Lady snapped, “he needs me and I can’t find him!”

“If you can’t find him then you can’t help him.” Victor said simply. Lady snapped visciously at him but he avoided her pointed teeth.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t try!”

“How do you even know he’s in danger, anyway? In fact, how do you know he’s out there at all? We’ve not heard from him since he put us back in our balls – he could be injured or worse.”

“Because he can speak to me by thinking.” Lady replied, her chestnut eyes flaring intently. “His mind is open to my thoughts and mine his. We are connected on a deeper level than you can ever imagine or even understand. He called for me and I must go to him!”

Victor blinked. He knew he had been missing something in Darryn’s little team and this had to be it. The Co-ordinator was, admittedly, close to his Pokemon but he was clearly more in tune with the self-important Vulpix. The others hadn’t mentioned that he had any sort of beyond-human abilities but then again, how many of them knew? The Ponyta was too vain to notice anyone but herself, the Jolteon simple to the point of retardation, Rampardos lazy as sin and the bird… well, he wasn’t convinced the Pidgeotto could even speak.

“Look, we can go find him but we need to tell the witch first. You can do that, right?” Victor folded his stout arms.

“We?” Lady lifted her nose.

“Of course.” Victor replied, winking at her. “I care about him, too. You might have been groomed by him for a lot longer than me but I have a connection with him, too. He understands how I feel and that’s all that matters to me.”

Lady regarded him with calculating eyes.

“Don’t get in my way and don’t slow me down.” She resigned herself. Victor nodded and ran after her as she shot after Meiko and the other Pokemon.

*****

“What do those eyes of yours see, I wonder?” The woman’s gaze pierced straight to Darryn’s soul. He froze, unable to release himself for her stony gaze. “And I wonder if they would still work if I had them removed from your head… Musto!”

The Linoone surged for Darryn in an instant, its lithe form leaping for the Co-ordinator’s face with outstretched claws. Darryn gasped as long nails swiped toward his face. They glinted menacingly in the lightening dark, seeming to slow to a standstill before the boy’s eyes. A blue paw rocketed through his field of vision and the Force Palm connected squarely with the Rush Pokemon’s flank. With a barely audible hiss of strangled breath, the attack was sent flying back toward his mysterious trainer.

Darryn looked to Shadow who offered him a nod as a sinuous black figure reared up behind him.

<GET BACK!> Darryn hurled his thoughts at the Seviper, more of a primal howl of defiance than a warning call, and was surprised to see the effects. The snake Pokemon paused and blinked, the dark dull light in its eyes flickering alive for the briefest millisecond before they clouded over once more and the attack continued. Shadow swiped it away with a vicious Metal Claw.

*This has gone too far – we need to get away right now!*

“November! Tempest! Regroup!” Darryn hollered to his surroundings, completely relieved to find both charging back at speed, their opponents swiftly following behind them. Replacing the Corphish’s ball in the bag, Darryn held his arm low for the Pikachu to leap up to his shoulder while November slowed to a trot, wheeling about to square off against the foe Pokemon alongside Shadow.

“Shadow! Beat those things back as hard as you can – we’re making a run for it!” Darryn ordered, holding up his hand to silence Tempest as she immediately began to protest angrily. “November, help him out.”

Shadow glanced back over his shoulder before nodding and leaping atop the Rapidash’s back. There, he clapped both paws together, a blue light flaring between them. Opening those palms revealed a growing bar of swirling azure light that extended into a long lance of bone. November reared and screamed, throwing herself into a furious gallop towards the woman and her four Pokemon, Shadow snapping the bone in his hands in two to wield two glowing bones at once.

The twin snake Pokemon were too slow to avoid the attack, both nailed in the jaw with the whirling Bone Rush, and ended up sprawled out like boot laces, limp and struggling to rise. The Linoone met a similar fate as it attempted to move out of the way, struck to the back and then promptly kicked by November as she thundered past.

The Kecleon flew from invisibility, narrowly avoiding the Pokemon Knight and Steed, an extremely long tongue shooting toward Darryn like a whip. Tempest leapt to meet it, grabbing hold and sending out a mighty Thunderbolt that rendered her foe paralysed and twitching on the ground. Without waiting to congratulate her, Darryn fired the Pokeball recall beam and shoved her into his bag just in time to be lifted atop November’s back by Shadow’s strong arms.

“You won’t get away with this!” The woman screamed after him. “We’ll get what we want eventually and then nothing will stand in our way!”

Darryn pressed his face into Shadow’s back as they galloped away, desperately pleading that the woman was wrong. Whatever she was after, he knew she could never be allowed to have it. She was in Team Deception – he knew that now – and that meant none of the others were safe. Not only that, but his secret had almost been revealed. He could never let it get like that again. Never.

*But you could speak to that Seviper, couldn’t you?* Darryn’s conscience reminded him. *First it was Pokemon with psychic talent and now this? What’s going on?*

With a tangle of unanswered questions, Darryn hugged tighter to Shadow’s body and rode on into the early morning.

[Master Houndoom]

A small procession walked in the shadows of the trees on the bank of the river that flowed through the now burning wood. In the lead, holding her arm against her stomach, was a woman in a torn, dirty uniform. Her long silver hair bounced against her spine, and though her eyes were lined with pain, she kept them roving, bouncing from shadow to shadow, alert for any change in light that would signal the fire had caught up to them.

From time to time, she glanced back at the heracross carrying the young man who's pokemon had protected him so loyally. That, alone, was impressive, that they wouldn't have scattered or returned themselves to their pokéballs, though one must have, if the riolu carrying three was any indication.

That, too, was odd. One rarely allowed pokemon to carry pokéballs, let alone their own and others. A few people used pokemon as pack creatures, but they were usually larger varieties: rhyhorn, or tauros, or ponyta. To have a riolu carry any of his gear was odd. Especially when that riolu insisted on juggling the pokéballs in his care.

The lack of equipment was telling as well. He had no belt to carry his pokéballs, no backpack for potions, or other items, no clothing, even, except for the pants he was wearing. His feet showed signs that he had walked barefoot, and there were places that were beginning to bleed.

It was also concerning that he hadn't woken up. He definitely had a concussion, but even a major one should have only rendered him unconscious for a short time. She was beginning to think he was seriously injured, and only Doctor Caballe could tell that accurately.

She had stopped to check over her charge again. The pokemon had either come to trust her or seen that there was nothing they could do for their master, and were forced to trust the woman before them. Either way, they did not tense until she was already checking the young man.

By then, it was too late.

There were four pops behind her, and when she turned, there were four vicious looking pokemon glowering at her. Behind them was a man, smirking, glowering, and holding his hand out. "Recall those pokemon to their pokéballs, and step away from the boy."

* * * * *

Meiko gasped as the mental voice invaded her mind. We are leaving.

Meiko gasped. The voice was not like Mercury's, who, though it was obvious that the voice was from outside her head, still managed to soften it and sound as if the intrusion were a visit. Lady's voice tore through whatever walls were natural to all, and echoed as if she were shouting in a long stone hallway.

However, the message, shocking as it was, got through.

"What do you mean, you're leaving?! I can't just let you leave, Darryn will kill me if you got hurt!" Meiko put her hands to her hips, and the vulpix narrowed her eyes in response.

I will go to Prince Darryn now! He needs me, and you will not stop me! She turned, and Meiko, not foolish enough to grab for her, simply put an edge to her voice.

"And how do you plan to find him, Lady? We don't even know if he's all right!"

I know. He has called for me, and I will go to him!

From Lady and Victor's perspective, Meiko's attitude changed drastically. Instead of demanding, she was surprised, even excited. "You've heard from him? He's called you? And he needs help? Go! Go, and please, Lady, try to lead him back to me so we can find the others!"

Lady looked at her, eyes narrowing suspiciously, and then she and Victor turned and ran off. For an instant, Meiko tried to follow them, but they were long gone, not sticking to the clear path, but instead going through the brush. Biting her lip, Meiko instead turned and headed back the way she had been heading, toward the crash. It had to be a machine of some kind, possibly piloted, and people might be hurt. And there also might be a radio. If there was a vehicle, then there were others.

She trod along the path. The woods were starting to smell smokey, and that wasn't a good sign. If the vehicle was on fire, it might start a fire in the forest, and that would be horrible. Meiko sighed, wishing she had a water type nearby.

A shape came out from her left, and she spun. Grondir moved himself between her and the shape, and Cosette trembled in her arms, but after a short time the trembling became struggles. Meiko let her down, and she stood next to Grondir, head down and posture as threatening as the tiny turtwig could make it.

A man stumbled from the forest, his head bleeding and one leg trembling as he limped. Despite his injuries, which he seemed to have tried to dress himself, he smiled brightly upon seeing Meiko. "Another body. A warm sight to see, c'est vrai. And such a pretty petite. Are you lost, Cherie?"

Meiko frowned, but he looked hurt. "Were you in the crash?"

"Oui," the man said, low, his eyes, briefly, growing haunted. "Ze helicopter, she crashed badly. I do not know how I was separated from eet... ze pilot, I can not find her..."

He seemed disoriented, but if he'd been in a crash, Meiko understood. She walked to him, Grondir and Cosette flanking her, and reached for the bag on his shoulder. It contained several half rolls of bandages and gauze, and some ointments, all opened, some smeared, but for now they would do. Sitting the man down, she began to dress his wounds methodically. He watched her face as she did so, but she would not meet his eyes.

"I have met with the angel, no? Only an ange de la pitié would have such beautiful eyes..."

Meiko's face flushed, and she clenched her teeth, repeating to herself that he was hurt, and didn't know what he was saying...

* * * * *

Antoinette snarled, but the man moved toward her as if she were nothing. Instead of speaking to her, he motioned to the heracross. "Put him down. On the ground." When the giant beetle pokemon made no move, he motioned behind him. A thin, wiry houndoom stepped forward, blowing out puffs of fire. "Now."

The rescue agent stepped forward. "Stay away from heem!"

The man's hand whipped out and grabbed her wrist, the broken one, and she screamed loudly as the broken ends of the bone ground together. He pushed her away, and she fell to the ground, sobbing, unable to stand until she could get the pain under control.

In the mean time, the man went back to Jaima, ignoring the pokemon for the time being. There were four out, but the man knew from a past encounter that he sometimes left some in hiding. His pokemon were weak, but the kid had tactics. He had three members of another team that had attested to it.

He knelt next to the boy and started searching him. He was far from gentle, and not discreet in the least. The boy did not move at all.

He leaned back on his heels. There were no pokéballs on the boy, but that meant nothing. He liked to keep his pokemon out. He was, more than likely, hiding them, which made sense. The shiny kirlia and the lucario were his most valuable pokemon. They should be displayed, or at least kept somewhere for his own pleasure. Female gardevoir had a very specific market, and her being shiny would easily triple the price she could fetch.

He leaned over the boy, looking into his face for a clue. With a smirk, and hearing the girl move behind him, he bent in close. "I'll find them. And I'll take them. And believe me, where I take them, they'll be appreciated. The little kirlia more than anything, once she evolves."

The collector chuckled, which was cut off as Jaima's fist rose from the ground, slamming into his chin, sending him rolling back a good foot and a half.

[Umbrae Calamitas]

The headache came on so quickly, so abruptly, and was of such immense agony that there was no pain. Instead, there was an abrupt flash of nothingness that shook the breath from her and caused every bit of color to wash from her face like a white board. Already crouched, she went suddenly limp, dropping to her knees and sagging as everything left her at once weak, useless, and empty.

She was aware of nothing in the physical realm. There was no grass at her feet, no rocks beneath her hands, no pokemon around her and no injured man before her. The sky was nowhere above her, the wind nowhere near her, and there was no air. She had been thrust into a vacuum so immensely empty that even the nothing that could usually be found in such places was absent. There was no word for such a place, for the place itself was beyond nothing, and therefore didn’t exist.

Beyond the darkness that didn’t exist but gave no way for light, because light had not been created, there was merely a comprehension. A single speck of knowledge. It was nothing that her books had told her, or experiences had dealt her, or from any lesson that Professor Oak had so kindly offered her. This single fact – all she knew, all she was aware of, everything she was – was that there was danger.

And the shiftry erupted from the trees with a snarl.

~*~

Zorro, despite his actions, was not stupid. Oh, he knew he often appeared to be and he certainly did nothing to combat the assumptions others made based on the mask that he wore. It was an effective tactic. Because he acted silly and ridiculous, he was underestimated, whether in strength or intelligence, and so overlooked. The same thing was happening now.

Zorro held three pokeballs in his arms – pokeballs that, if fond, the man searching Jaima would take. He might open them or he might not, but he would take them, and that wasn’t to be allowed.

So Zorro stood back, not moving and not drawing attention to himself, half-hidden behind Tsunami and Ramhorn. Where he was standing, the pokeballs – his burden to bear – remained out of sight of the man before him. He would not allow them to be taken, and it was this, and this alone, that kept him from attacking the man. He was the bearer of the pokeballs and his job was to protect them and keep them safe. That came first.

But if things did get too heated, he considered, as he watched Jaima’s fist slam abruptly into the attacker’s face, Dante was angry enough to take on the Spanish Armada and win.

Zorro felt his body tense, his muscles tighten, moments before the pain struck him. He felt the pokeballs press against his chest as he pulled his arms tighter around them, and his throat rippled with involuntary movement as he released a sound – a whimper or scream, he did not know. The agony, however, came at him from nowhere, and with it came the sense of danger, the feeling of fear, and the need to run.

He wished he knew where it was coming from, and he did know, but there was no way that he could know that Tuesday was in danger, and he… he was too far away to help.

~*~

Tuesday, still far beyond consciousness or presence of mind, did not know that the shiftry was there. She remained where she was, on her knees, sagging limply against the doctor, whose own concussion had receded enough to allow him to function. It was with the functioning of his mind, and the firm grip he had around the young girl who had abruptly collapsed against him, that he realized she had stopped breathing.

The shiftry lunged forward with a bloodthirsty snarl and a mind hellbent on revenge.

What he got was a face-full of sand.

The spinning ball had come out of nowhere, bounding from the trees and landing on the ground in continued motion, kicking up a spray of sand that slapped the shiftry in the face and froze him only in surprise. And then the ball was moving around, circling the shiftry, moving too quickly to be hit by the razor leaf attacks that were flung at him, and kicking up sand that swirled and danced into a kind of wall, encircling the shiftry and keeping him at bay, if only by mere shock.

Laying across the doctor’s lap, Tuesday remained unresponsive, her mind still trapped in the nothing beyond nothing that was nothing. As she hovered-floated-didn’t-exist there, however, there was something on the edge of her awareness, just out of reach, knocking on a door she could not open from the inside. A barking, snarling, whimpering, howling, screaming cry that called for her attention out of fear and desperation and despair and necessity and happiness and agony, and the golden sensation, too much – too deep – too profound to be a color, erupted around her, crushed her, and threw her viciously out of the nothing that was there and didn’t exist, and back into fear and danger and pain.

Tuesday jolted into consciousness, bucking upright out of reaction or terror, coughing, choking, wheezing as the world around her spun. There was a hand on her back, a sensation of someone touching her head, but inside, and a dizziness that was natural but she wanted to go away. The wind was dry, her throat was sore, and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath as she coughed.

She wanted Zorro. She wanted him badly, and he was here but he wasn’t, and she wanted him.

~*~

The fires were hot within him. They burned and writhed like snakes of flame and he held the fanged gateway closed with sheer force of will, though they begged for him to release their furies. He could smell the burning fur that was Romeo, his spikes casting electricity from one to the other. The sparkly dancer remained behind him, downwind, but he could still smell her fear – sense her terror through the pores of his heated flesh. The little lion was there, too, but there was less emotion from him – apathy, really, and loneliness. Ashleigh did not bother to define it. At his feet, the leaves curled, darkening, the blazing heat of his body, made stronger by his rage, destroyed the earth and sent life shrieking in fear. Before him, the scent of sand, the sense of determination, the nostril-tickling antiseptic smell that made no sense but was still recognizable revealed the spinning ball for what he was. Desertdancer had arrived, just in time to protect the runt.

Ashleigh’s heart burned to do the same, and with a fierce, destructive howl that was both a curse on the shiftry and a warning to his spinning comrade, he opened his mouth and released the beasts of fire that lay within him.

As she came back to herself, turning her regained attention to the battle she had known was there but had still not expected, Tuesday saw the flames as though each were a phoenix, tearing out – immortality enacting penance. In the darkness brought on by the close canopy and the raining wall of sand, the fires burned too brightly, and Tuesday could not help but whisper something of a plea into the wind.

“Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.”

Wherever they were, scattered throughout the forest or beyond, she prayed that her friends were all right, and that none of them were going gently into that good night.

[Living Arrow]

“Ok, November.” Darryn signalled the Rapidash to slow to a walk and finally a halt where her two riders could dismount with relative ease. Darryn practically fell from her back, completely exhausted and craving not only rest but a few hours of proper sleep. Yes, he had managed a few winks before he had been woken by the people from during the night but the intensity of the subsequent events had finally caught up.

“Lu.” Shadow was off November’s back and at Darryn’s side faster than the Co-Ordinator had time to blink. Strong paws gripped Darryn’s arm and shoulder, slowly easing the boy to the ground rather than letting him collapse entirely.

Darryn sighed heavily, his eyes lolling back in his head.

“Thanks, Shadow.” He said thickly, unable to get the Lacario’s face to stop blurring. “I’m just going to sleep for a little while…”

“Lu, lu!” The Lucario protested, shaking the boy’s shoulders to try and break him from his daze. A large glowing head appeared alongside the deep blue, flames surrounded the long nose that softly stroked his face.

“Only for a little while…”

*****

“Oh great, you got us even more lost than we were before.” Victor muttered, jogging after lady as she flitted from spot to spot, lowering her nose to the ground periodically and checking her surroundings with narrowed eyes.

“It’s not my fault you cannot walk through flames.” Lady replied snidely, slowing to a trot and regarding the surrounding woodland anew. “We were on the correct path until you prevented our chase.”

Victor groaned with exasperation but did not rise to the bait. True, he had called for the Vulpix to stop – there was no way he could run through the fire amid the forest, nor could he put out anything that burned so ferociously with the limited time they were graced with. Instead, he had been forced to insist that they skirt the forest fire until they pick up the scent again. If they didn’t then… Then Darryn was in…

“You’re going the wrong way.” Victor stated as lady began to move further west. “We still have to move south if we are going to pick up Darryn’s trail.”

Lady did not look back.

“Another scent has come this way.” She said, gathering her more natural abilities and trying to decipher what information she was receiving. “The human warrior… his scent… but not him…”

“Oh great, she gets hayfever at a time like this!” Victor facepalmed. “Shoulda stayed with the ugly witch – at least we had some sort of sanity back there.”

“Insolent fool.” Lady rounded on Victor and waved her tails menacingly. “Follow me.”

Victor rolled his eyes and tottered after the scarlet fox as she continued into the woods. A sniff here, another there. A few more steps and…

“One of his Pokeballs.” Lady announced, sitting regally with the black ball in front of her paws. It was decorated with coloured clay that resembled burning flames. Not as beautiful as her own, but deceptively powerful nonetheless.

“Well why didn’t you say that before?!” Victor complained hurrying over and picking up the capture device. “This must belong to that Quilava… what’s her name again? Bernie?”

“Ember.” Lady sighed.

“Bubblebeam?”

“No, Ember is her name.”

“Oh, I thought we were just showing off…”

“Imbecile.”

Victor examined Ember’s Pokeball closely in his hands before hefting it up in the air.

“What do you think you are doing?!” Lady demanded, taking a deliberate step towards him. “You can’t just summon another Pokemon like that!”

“Why not?” Victor replied, rolling the device from hand to hand. “It’s not like Jaima’s here to open it and three pairs of eyes are better for searching than two…”

“No, but it’s not our right.” Lady scorned him. “How would you feel if another Pokemon called you free from your ball? Wouldn’t it be demeaning? To have another creature like yourself show control over you?”

“I still don’t see how it is any different when a human does it…” Victor mumbled. Lady’s eyes narrowed.

<Put. The ball. Down.> Her mind crushed his in an instant, making him flinch and blink with surprise.

“Alright! Sheesh!” Victor minimised the ball and slipped it into his shell. “She can just stay in here until we find someone to let her out. Who’d have thought you’d care, anyway?”

Lady ignored that last comment, turning instead back to their original path, lowering her nose to the ground and dashing on, into the forest.

[Master Houndoom]

“Come, ma petite, do not be so stubborn. Eet ees what we both want. La lune, les etoiles—“

“The injuries, the fact that someone else might be hurt! You’re right, there’s so much romance in the air!” Meiko’s words ground out through clenched teeth, dripping with sarcasm. The man with her, who introduced himself only as Guillaume, while trying to kiss her hand, did not seem to pick up on it. Meiko felt he wasn’t very bright, anyway; he hadn’t realized her pulling her hand away was a sign that she wasn’t interested. After dressing his wound and finding a way to splint his leg, she stood up and continued walking, Cosette and Grondir at her heels, between the injured man and Meiko.

“Come, chere, we need ze rest, and what better way to rest—“ He reached for her, grabbing her upper arm.

"Zakkenayo!" Meiko screeched, her hand coming across with the force of her spin, slapping Guillaume in the face. “Do. Not. Touch. Me!” She backed away, her eyes filling suspiciously, but the look on her face was fierce and angry. “I’m not interested, I will never be interested, and—“ The man stepped forward, a hand out, and Meiko’s throat closed. He stopped, his face confused, and then pitched forward as a long vine slapped into the back of his head.

He looked down to see the ivysaur and turtwig glowering at him. Turning, he saw Meiko wiping her eyes angrily, and put up his hands.

“I meant no harm, chere,” he said softly. “Please, call off te herbizarre et ta tortipouss…”

Meiko’s eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms. “Cosette… it’s OK.” When the man cast a nervous glance at Grondir, she huffed a breath. “I can’t guarantee he’ll listen to me,” she said in a low growl. “He’s my boyfriend’s.” She looked at Grondir, who, since Guillaume was looking at her in shock, winked at her.”

“Let’s go,” she said, but indicated that he should walk in front of her. He did so, quickly. Meiko picked up Cosette and held her close, allowing Grondir to stay between the French rescue worker and the young trainer.

* * * * *

Jaima rolled to his hands and knees, hissing a breath through his teeth. His head hurt, due to impacting a rock or pokéball when the yanmega sent them flying in different directions. His hand hurt due to impacting a man’s jaw. He didn’t regret the latter.

The man ended up a few feet away, rising to his feet and rubbing his jaw, a look of fury on his face. His pokémon rallied behind him, arranging themselves in an arc on either side of his feet, the houndoom and persian on the outside, and the loudred and wartortle standing at the immediate right and left of the Collector’s legs.

Jaima managed to get to his feet before the man had recovered. His glasses were off, so he only registered a blur, but it didn’t matter. He was nearsighted; he would need to get close to punch this guy out anyway, so not having his glasses wasn’t a horrible situation at the moment.

“Bane, Sidious! Make sure this kid doesn’t bother me again!”

“You send your pokémon to attack a human?!” the outraged voice of Antoinette came from behind the Collector. He spun, clearly having forgotten about her. “Sabre, allez!” She released a pokéball which had been attached to her belt by a clip, which attached to the pokéball via a cable attached to a ring on it. A large empoleon appeared, spreading his bladed wings menacingly. The Collector, however, only smiled.

“Impressive. I was wondering if I’d have something to use this guy on. Tyranus!” The man released another pokéball, this one all black, and there appeared a green and beige creature, standing upright on two legs. Antoinette gasped. “Les yeux!”

Jaima blinked, and then looked grim. In the split second it took for Antoinette to go from shocked to screaming angrily in French, he took stock of his advantages and disadvantages. Of his team, he had Tsunami, who he could never question the loyalty of. Zorro was a wild card, but he felt the riolu could be relied on. Dante, on the other hand, did not seem to be trusting, and could not be called on. Bravo, too, did not listen to him, literally acting as if he didn’t hear any instructions given to him. Ramhorn was Meiko’s, and was, of the entire group, the one he knew the least about.

When life gave one lemons, one made lemonade. However, the lemonade would suck if life didn’t also give sugar and water.

The Collector seemed preoccupied with Antoinette’s pokémon, so Jaima knelt down. “Zorro, you have to try to take out the houndoom. I’d send Ramhorn after it, but the fire is too risky. Ramhorn, I need you on the persian. Your carapace should keep its claws at bay. Tsunami, do whatever you can to keep the other two at bay.” He stood, looking at Bravo, who was still perched on Ramhorn’s horn. “Can you fight the wartortle? At least keep it distracted?” The pidgeotto tilted his head curiously at Jaima. “Still nothing?” Jaima sighed. He’d been working from memory of what the Collector’s pokémon were. He wasn’t sure he was right. He wished he could see.

Zorro was distracted, and trotted off, but came back a moment later, pressing Jaima's glasses into his hand. Jaima looped the earpieces behind his ears and sighed. “Thanks.”

“OK, guys… if you’re willing… go!”

Ramhorn and Zorro charged ahead, a glowing aura surrounding Zorro’s palm. There was a loud squawk as Bravo realized what was going on, and flapped his wings violently to flee from his perch on Ramhorn’s horn. The Collector turned, seeing the two charging pokémon and called out, “Maul! Uproar!”

The loudred opened its mouth wide, but the noise it was trying to release was caught in its throat as a large purple blob landed into its equally large mouth. It choked and sputtered, attracting the attention of the wartortle, who received an equally large blob on its shell. The purple ooze sunk into the shell, and both bipedal pokémon shuddered.

“Nice one, boy, but—“ He cut off as his houndoom launched a flame attack at Zorro, who flipped over it and brought his hand around, striking the devil dog in the chest. The houndoom yelped. On the other side, Ramhorn lifted the snarling persian above his head and slammed it to the ground, yowling. Tsunami had opted for a distance attack, sending jets of water crashing into the loudred and mud into the chest of the wartortle. A spray of water lashed out from the wartortle, sending Tsunami back, reeling.

“Stupid kid! Marshtomp are part ground! Your pokémon will take more damage from Plageous’ attacks than that thing can do to him!” The Collector sneered. “And your bird is useless!”

“PIDGEEEOOOOOH!” As if he’d heard, and understood, Bravo launched himself, not at the man, nor at his pokémon in front of Jaima, but instead at the brown and green shape fighting Sabre. The breloom rolled as Bravo impacted, shaking its head in surprise.

Jaima actually smirked. "Tough for you. Bravo isn't listening to me, but he is willing to fight."

The Collector sneered, pointing to his wartortle. "Plageous! Ice Beam on that feather duster!"

"Tsunami!" Jaima merely pointed, and Tsunami charged, tackling the wartortle and taking the ice beam herself. This occupied the water type, leaving, unfortunately, the loudred free and clear. It opened its mouth to chomp down on Zorro, who flipped to avoid an attack from the houndoom. As the loudred's mouth enveloped the surprised houndoom's head, Zorro disappeared into a nearby bush.

The houndoom struggled, yipping in fear and confusion as the loudred, caught by surprise, neglected to open his mouth until the Collector shouted at him.

"Tsunami, use Bide! Ramhorn, Horn Attack on the wartortle! Zorro..! Dammit, where is he?!"

Tsunami took the attacks directed at her, both from the loudred and wartortle, who's attack stopped briefly when Ramhorn swung his horn from the side, slamming the wartortle in the back with a loud clonk. As if on cue, Zorro emerged from the bush, impossibly wearing a cowboy hat on top of his head.

He pointed to Antoinette, grinning. <<Don't you worry yer pretty little head, may'am. We'll send these rustlers runnin'!>>

Jaima really wished he had the time to grimace and shake his head, but he had to concentrate.

Zorro dashed forward, landing between the houndoom and the loudred, pointing at them with stubby little digits. "Lu, lu!" he shouted, and sent a force palm from each paw into each pokémon, separating them and making them stagger.

The Collector's eyes narrowed, and he pushed his own glasses up on his head. "I see you've grown since I last saw you... but mark my words... I will have your kirlia and lucario! SITH, TO ME!"

At that command, the four pokémon clustered around the Collector and were recalled. Antoinette was still seething, but her empoleon looked worse for wear. The breloom dashed forward, a black aura growing around it, and struck the empoleon. The aura shot through with red, and even the collector gasped.

"It's... it's in Reverse Mode!" He cursed, stepping backwards once, then twice, before turning and running off.

"WHAT?!" Jaima gaped after the man, then snarled. The breloom, having caused the empoleon to faint, stepped toward Antoinette, who screamed.

"BLITZ!"

Zorro was first, but instead of attacking, he leapt on top of the breloom's head and shoved his hat in its face, blocking its vision for a short time. Ramhorn charged it and hit it with a horn attack, followed by Tsunami. She was launched backwards by a swipe from the creature, and fell to the ground. She tried to push herself up, but had trouble doing so.

"Kuso—" Jaima swore. Zorro, too, was launched away, but flipped in mid air and landed, scampering... away.

Jaima didn't blame him.

He came back, however, handing a pokéball to Jaima. Jaima looked at it, pressed the button, and released Dante from the confines.

Dante hissed once, but was cut off by Zorro. <<That pokémon belongs to el hombre who wants to hurt la hermana!>>

Dante practically roared, sending a gout of flame at the breloom, who writhed and whirled to charge at the charmeleon.

Tsunami staggered in front of the charge, opening her arms wide and catching it, her eyes and fin flashing.

"L'Effort," moaned Antoinette, her eyes suddenly hopeful. The Breloom did, indeed, stagger as if it, too, were hurt, and as Tsunami staggered away, Dante sent another roar of flame at the breloom. It hit, and, surprisingly, the grass fighting type crashed to the ground, twitching.

Jaima approached cautiously. "Are you OK?"

"Oui... yes. Are you?"

Jaima nodded, swallowing. Antoinette shuddered, sobbing. "Ze heart... zat man closed ze poor things heart..."

"Yeah," Jaima said grimly, "They do that." Antoinette looked at him, surprised, but merely sniffed.

Jaima looked around, finding, to his intense anger, two halves of a pokéball, broken. The ball was black, and only the shiny surface reflecting the moon allowed him to find them.

"That..."

There was a zapping noise, and the breloom disappeared. Antoinette looked at the pokéball.

"I will find a way to help heem."

Jaima looked at her and nodded.

She reached into her pouch, pulling out potions. "For ze leetle ones. Sabre is unconscious. Thees weel not help heem, but your Marshtomp can use eet."

Jaima accepted it with a bow, then gestured for them to move on.

* * * * *

Meiko looked in frustration at the flames. She could hear the pilot inside calling for help, frantically, and Guillaume had swore and reached for his pokéball, which had been jammed closed. Oddly, he had begun to weep.

If only there was a way to put out the flames..!

From behind her came a blur of orange, and a stream of water gushed forth, dousing the water closest to the cockpit. Even though the flames began to retake the ground it had lost, the orange pokémon battled to keep it clear of the glassed in cockpit. Guillaume rushed forward, yanking at the door. "Sacre merde!" he said when it wouldn't budge.

A vine came from behind him, and wrapped around the handle. With the human and ivysaur yanking together, the door gave, and the pilot's cries were heard louder, unmuffled.

Meiko pushed between Guillaume and the pilot, reaching in and yanking the crash webbing. It pulled forward, but did not unfasten.

"It's jammed," the pilot cried, tears streaking her face and mingling with the blood there. She peered back at the fire, then said, in a resigned voice, "Leave me, go, when that fire reaches the engines..."

"Like hell! Grondir! Cosette! Razor leaf on this strap!"

Cosette's leaves whirred around Meiko, slamming into the glass, but Grondir's hit the mark, snapping the webbing that Meiko held out. The pilot tumbled out, shrieking and crawling away, until she was hauled into Guillaume's arms.

"Move," he cried, making sure Meiko fled before him. They were joined by Grondir, Cosette, and the orange pokémon, who Meiko suddenly recognized by the splint on his tail.

"Odysseus!"

The flames, no longer held back, hit a puddle near the cockpit, which suddenly roared to life, engulfing the entire machine. There was a pop as the small amount of fuel that hadn't leaked out caught, and the people, and pokémon, watched in silence as the flames roared into the sky.

[Umbrae Calamitas]

It was hard to tell whether or not Desertdancer was tired, since he rarely seemed to slow his acceleration, spinning in a circle around the shiftry. For his part, the large, angry tree-like pokemon was steadily growing more and more annoyed. Tuesday thought that she could perhaps see a vein throbbing on the creature's forehead. Of course, it might have just been the wind from Desterdancer's movements causing the shiftry's fur to rustle.

A set of leaves cut through the flying sand with harsh metallic sounds, spinning through the air and trying to reach the other pokemon and two humans that lay beyond the shiftry's immediate reach. A burst of fire sliced through the air, turning the leaves into fluttering piles of ash before they could do anyone any harm, and the shiftry roared angrily in reply.

Ashleigh snarled in return, crouched low to the ground, fangs bared. His long, thin tail, so often whipping back and forth in candor, was hung tightly between his legs. If his fur had been longer, it would have been sticking up around his hackles. As it was, his shoulder blades were more pronounced and it was easy to see his every shift and motion, the muscles of his body tense and almost too-clearly visible beneath his skin. His claws dug into the dirt at his feet as a low growl rumbled continuously in his throat.

The challenge did not go unheard by the shiftry, and was promptly accepted. If Tuesday had been entirely aware of what had passed between the two pokemon, she would have berated Ashleigh sharply and stepped between them. As it was, she was still recovering from the effects of her Aura-attack and so was not as observant as usual.

Even she, however, could not miss the sharp yelping that came from Ashleigh, when the sudden rush of an attack sliced through the wall of sand, and the whirlwind, crafted from an expertly aimed Razor Wind attack, slashed along the side of the houndoom's body, sending him crashing to the ground with a howl of pain.

"Ashleigh!" Tuesday cried. She lurched to her feet unsteadily and staggered a few steps before catching her balance tentatively. She tried to rush to Ashleigh's side, but an arm wrapped around her middle, catching her before she could move closer to him. "Let me go!" she squealed in a mixture of fear and anger.

"You can do him no good by getting in the line of fire, my young friend," the doctor replied in a rational tone of voice. "I imagine you would only cause him more harm by needing to be protected."

"I don't need to be protected. Ashleigh needs me! Let me go, Doctor Caballe!"

"I'm afraid I couldn't do that and remain true to my oath as a medical practitioner," Dr. Caballe replied honestly, his arm not loosening from around her.

Both watched as Ashleigh staggered to his feet, his left side covered in bare patches of lightly-bleeding flesh that had been torn. Dirt covered half of the houndoom's body. The wounds would need to be cautiously cleaned and bandaged. He shouldn't be moving, much less fighting.

Tuesday clicked her teeth together sharply. "Fine." Her eyes moved to the other pokemon, taking in their positions, putting their breeds through her mental encyclopedia. She needed to find a way to end this battle quickly. More than that, however - she needed to find a way to get the shiftry off of their scent. She knew he would keep following unless stopped, and the fact that he was battling them again proved how strong he was. She had to think of... something.

It came to her in the oddest fashion. Tuesday was a fan of books to the extreme, her favorite place in the world being Professor Oak's laboratory, followed closely by the library, then the bookstore, and then her room, which looked a bit like a library. Contrary to popular belief, to the point that it would be sharply denied to certain parties - Reilly Coons - Tuesday did watch movies and she did enjoy them. Her favorite genre being horror movies, surprisingly.

One such series which she enjoyed was the Candyman series. She remembered on particular movie ending with something involving sand in a furnace, which turned the sand into glass, as extreme heat was wont to do. Much like Sweet Home Alabama, when the lightning struck the sand. The same basic principle could be applied here, to stop the shiftry.

And she had everything she needed at hand.

Tuesday had forgotten about the arm that restricted her movements, and it no longer mattered. Her eyes were flashing from pokemon to pokemon as she called out commands, no doubt in her mind that these pokemon, her friends and the partners of her friends - and therefore, ultimately family - would obey her.

"Desertdancer, use sand tomb and sink him as deep as you can! Romeo, I want the strongest electric attack you can manage. You too, Fang! Attack the sand and cook it! Ashleigh," she snapped, as she saw the shiftry struggling to pull himself out of the sand pit Desertdancer had crafted with artistic ease, "roar!"

The houndoom's snarling obedience caused the shiftry to flinch on instinct, jerking back and away and sinking himself deeply into the hole at the same moment that arcing streaks of lightning lit up the forest around them, dazzling their eyes. There was a shriek and a roar, as the lightning struck its target, swiftly heating the sand. The lightning was not perfectly controlled - it never could be - and some forks missed their target and sliced through the shiftry's fur, leaving a sooty trail behind, a rising line of smoke, and the scent of burning hair. The shitry let out a hissing squeal, jerking around, when one particular fork slashed him across the face. The pupil of his left eye turned white as the fierce licking of the flames, before the skin around it turned a sickly black and green color where the lightning had struck. When the smoke cleared, it was truly a sight to behold, how the lightning had turned the sand of the sink hole into a glimmering amber-colored mound of glass, pinning the enraged shiftry in place.

"That's..." Doctor Caballe sounded stunned.

"Brilliant, everyone!" Tuesday crowed happily. She easily pulled away from the rather loose hold the doctor had on her this time, and bounded forward to meet a pleased Romeo and a pleased Desertdancer. Tuesday made sure to stop and pat the luxio on the head. "I'm glad I had you with me, Fang," she said sincerely, and thought that perhaps the lion-esque pokemon was pleased.

"Mercury?"

"Yes?"

"We need to get out of here," Tuesday said, turning and eying the shiftry. He was still struggling to free himself, and she had no delusions that he wouldn't eventually manage it. "Do you know in which direction the others are?"

There was a pause as Mercury seemed to think or, more than likely, try to look. "I'm s-sorry, but I cannot see them." There was a hint of disappointment in her mental voice, but it was overshadowed by the fear that Tuesday thought she might even be able to feel. It was disconcerting, but she didn't want to point out that the kirlia was projecting her emotions and make her feel any worse. There were more important things to worry about. She glanced at Ashleigh.

The sound of an explosion called their attention and they turned to look behind them. It was the direction Tuesday thought that might have been originally traveling when they stumbled upon Doctor Caballe.

"That way, then," she said matter-of-factly.

"You want to go toward the explosion?" Doctor Caballe asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We saw your helicopter go down," Tuesday stated matter-of-factly. "I imagine you weren't the only passenger, and that means someone else could be hurt." She tightened the strap of her pack over her shoulder, touched a panting and staggering Ashleigh lightly on the head, and then glared back at the shiftry. "Let's get out of here."

As with her battle commands, Tuesday did not question that they would follow her. Equally, they did not fail to.

~*~

Blast! The girl was no weakling, that was for certain. She was intelligent, which they had already known, but also experienced, which they hadn't anticipated. Even when only one of the pokemon she was battling with was hers, she fought like a professional. It was insulting!

"Useless," the redheaded man snarled, as he stepped up to the imprisoned shiftry. The pokemon hissed angrily at him, but the man merely kicked sand in the creature's face, causing him to growl angrily but stop moving. "You should have been able to stop her. She was merely a child with a handful of pokemon. Clearly, you're weaker than you look. Pathetic, even. I wasted a good pokeball catching you and I can't get it back now. Maybe I'll just leave you here to burn, you disgusting, garbage-smelling, useless pile of-"

One of the most prominent things shiftry are known for are their vicious natures. Second to that is their lack of loyalty, even toward their trainers. This shiftry, having just been captured that day, had absolutely no sense of camaraderie with the man before him. So when the man kicked sand in his face and began spouting insults at him, the shitry had no qualms about ending his unfortunate partnership with his "trainer."

The roar of the fire was loud as it came nearer, and the man had trouble hearing himself scream as the glass surrounded the shiftry shattered, and the large pokemon, remaining eye gleaming dangerously, took penance for his rage, and left his own mark.

[Living Arrow]

<Who are you?>

The voice pervaded the darkness with a stunning clarity that confounded Darryn within the dream.

<Who are you?>

The voice repeated, echoing in the nothingness that was the young man’s mind. He knew he was asleep – all of the telltale signs were indicating his presence within the lucid dream – but he didn’t know who or what was speaking to him. It was bodiless, voiceless, colourless, emotionless. It simply was. And yet it carried a hint of a tone that denounced it as female.

<Why does she care for you?>

“Who’s there?” Darryn asked the dream, trying to seek out the voice outside of sight and reach. “Where are you?”

<Pr-> Another sound cut through the dream. <D-ryn!>

“Lady!” Darryn shouted, whirling through the clouds of his mind, casting aside the shadows and the fog at will. “Lady! I’m here!”

<I come, Prince Darryn!> Her voice came through much more clearly, carrying with it the tones of worry and relief that he knew himself to be displaying.

<I look forward to meeting you,> the first voice announced itself once more, <my Prince.>

*****

Darryn awoke slowly, blinking away the encrusted sleep from his eyelids and raising a hand to shield himself from the rising sun. It was morning. Golden sunlight filtered down through the broken canopy of verdant green that made the forest. He lay there for a moment, entranced by the beauty descending upon him, and only moved when a large soft nose pressed gently into his cheek.

“November…” Darryn whispered, stroking the mare’s nose in response. “Good morning.”

“Lu.” Shadow uttered from nearby, watching the trainer gain his senses. To keep warm, November had acted as Darryn’s large equine pillow and encased him between her neck and flank with Jaima’s trusted Pokemon keeping watch over them until they had finished resting.

“Shadow…” Darryn rose slowly, stretching out the kinks in his back, “Thank you.”

The Lucario raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Instead, he stood tall from his lounging position against a broad beech and passed Darryn his backpack. The human took it with a smile and threw it around his shoulders. A small pink face wiggled up from the inside of his sweater and looked around with squinted eyes. She yawned widely and shuffled back down into the cosy depths of cashmere, allowing her temporary guardian to gather the rest of his belongings and set off once more.

~

“Shadow, any sign of the others?” Darryn asked, hiking as fast he could after the speedy Lucario. He got a mutter of a response that he interpreted as a ‘No. And stop asking.’ Eggheart grumbled with annoyance from her perch on Darryn’s backpack, holding to his hair for reins. "Lady said she was coming but I see no sign of her..."

*Fine. Then I’ll check, myself.*

<Hello?!> Darryn scattered his thoughts loud and widely. <Lady?! Mercury?! Is anyone out there?!>

Shadow stopped abruptly and whirled about, glaring directly at Darryn. Naturally, faced with the intimidating Pokemon, Darryn stopped immediately and held up his hands.

“What, now?”

Shadow moved slowly towards Darryn, frowning very intently at him. Unnerved by the Lucario’s movements, Darryn reached back and picked up Eggheart, fussing over her as a distraction.

“Rio. Lu lu.” Shadow muttered, touching a spiked paw to his head then pointing at Darryn with the other. Darryn watched him with confusion before realisation struck him.

“Oh, crap! You heard that?!” Darryn cursed, gritting his teeth – angry with himself for not realising that the Pokemon would be sensitive to his abilities. If he had focused purely on Lady then he wouldn’t have heard, but broadcasting his telepathy would have been picked up by anything with any sort of psychic talent.

<Then that means anyone could have.> Darryn finished privately to Shadow, sliding Eggheart back into his sweater after a moment of complaint from the baby. <We should move away from here. Now.>

*****

“Nnnngh, WATER PULSE!” Victor blasted the Beedrill away, panting heavily as he raced to keep up with Lady. His breath was becoming drawn after running for so long and the rate at which his so-called partner disturbed the local Pokemon and put them on the offensive was doing nothing for his stamina.

“Stop for a minute, you curly-haired bi-“

<Do not finish that sentence.> Lady interrupted Victor as she trotted to a halt and dipped her nose to the ground once more. <I beat you once and I’ll do it again. Remember, I told you not to slow me down.>

“Well, I never signed up for a battle every five minutes!” Victor complained, balancing himself on an exposed root to catch his breath. “Oh, and you can stop talking with your mind now – I know you’re just as tired as me so don’t try hiding it. And while we’re on the topic of fatigue, since I’m the only one fighting, I think you can cut me some slack.”

“You think those men will cut Prince Darryn some slack?!” Lady rounded on Victor, tails waving menacingly. “If I could contact him through his dreams then he may have been knocked unconscious – who knows what condition he is in?”

“But surely you can just call him now?” Victor asked, puffing out his last pant. “That psychic disturbance thingy must have stopped if you could.” Lady’s head bowed sadly, her ears drooping.

“No. Dreamscape is just another plane – the men after us all aren’t blocking it. Only active telepathic waves are being scattered and my powers are not... strong... enough to work through them.” She explained, sniffing the ground tentatively once more. “So I am reduced to this to find him.”

“I see…” Victor rubbed his hands together. “Well, at least your nose can’t get broken.”

“Indeed.” Lady muttered, turning her head into the breeze. “November continued in that direction. I’d recognise that Mew-awful perfume anywhere.”

“Then I guess we get moving again,” Victor stretched his legs, “but let’s try to leave the locals in peace this time.”

“I shall make no such promise.” Lady snorted, springing off into the forest. “Just try to keep up.”

[Master Houndoom]

M-r--ry?! Is a-yo-e out there?!

Trainer Darryn?! Mercury’s eyes widened, and though she sought the connection to Darryn, who’s voice she swore she heard, the emotional interference that had been plaguing Mercury since this ordeal had begun kept her from finding the coordinator. She had, without a doubt, heard his voice; rough, broken, as if in a long, metal tunnel, but his voice nonetheless. There was no mistaking the telepathic scent of him; it smelled a lot like his shampoo.

She did not dare broadcast. To do so would be suicide in a forest full of panicky creatures, who, upon hearing her, would either try to remove her presence or flood her mind with cries for help; there was also the presence of hostiles, any of which might have psychic abilities. She did not want to risk drawing that kind of attention, either.

She got an idea.

Trainer Tuesday! I do not wish to be a burden, but can you carry me for a while? I think I might have a way to get through the emotional static that interferes with me!

Tuesday looked up and blinked, then nodded. Without a word, she held out her arms. Mercury dropped into them and promptly closed her eyes. If she were embarrassed by behind held under the arms with her feet dangling, she did not show it.

She remembered Cassandra, Tuesday’s brother’s kadabra, but could not find her, despite the connection they had forged. That was worrisome enough, except that she understood that the interference that had kept her from finding her trainer was likely what kept her from finding her first psychic-type friend. She began to despair that her plan would not work.

“Hello! Is there anyone there, maybe?”

“Morty!” Mercury hurried to find the psyduck, who was lounging, as usual, in his beanbag chair pond. He stood and waddled to her, holding out large hands to envelope her tiny ones.

“Oh, thank goodness, I was afraid maybe the headaches were making me forget how to contact you. I haven’t heard from Mama Cass in a while, and now, I can’t find her…” He sighed, shaking his head. “Of course, what is it she would want from me, big important girl like her, but I wanted to thank her, I did, for getting me out of that mess with a yutz of a carnivine.”

Mercury smiled, but her smile was so tremulous that Mortimer tilted his head. “You’re worried, aren’t you? Of course. You’re here, in the forest, and there’s all this with the fire and the burning and the running around…”

Mercury bit her lip. “We’ve been separated, my group and I. All of us. I’m with my trainer’s heart-sister, but I can’t find the others. Have you seen anyone?”

Mortimer looked up, deep in thought. “Well, when there’s fire, it’s always best to be near water, which is easy for me. And there was a boy not too far from where I am, and a girl, and another man, and a fight. Wow, what a fight! The man had short hair and glasses, the girl had long silver hair and a uniform, and the boy had no shirt with long blonde hair and glasses maybe?”

“That’s him! That’s Trainer Jaima!” Tears streamed down her face, and she had to stop, holding her head in her hand and regaining control. “That’s my trainer. You said he was with a girl, though? That doesn’t sound like Trainer Meiko…”

“Who’s to say? She had a funny way of speaking. Also, a great big empoleon. Poor thing gor trashed something fierce!

Mercury pressed her lips together. “Did you see where they went?”

“Well, your boy beat the man’s team well enough, except for the big breloom he had. Funny thing, that. The beast had a weird aura around it. Went a little crazy, too. Took both of ‘em to beat it. Then they started heading back into the forest! Crazy!”

“No, that’s good! That’s where we are!” Mercury smiled again, more firmly. “Thank you, Morty.”

“Oi, if you see Mama Cass, let her know Morty says hello, and not to be a stranger so much! That goes for you, too!”

“Don’t worry, Morty, I’ll visit from time to time!”

With a final wave, she began a journey along the psychic plane. Perhaps she could find Lady, or Shadow, and if so, she could find Darryn and Jaima. It was a matter of time. She hoped that they had it.

* * * * *

Meiko looked around. Now that they had gotten the pilot out, who was shaking and sobbing in Guillaume’s arms, she had to figure out what the next move could be. The fire where the copter was denied them access to any radio, and threatened to start another fire around them. Meiko knelt and pet Odysseus, but did not ask him to act; the fire was too large for the pokémon to handle alone.

The pilot finally moved away from Guillaume and looked at Meiko. “That was a foolish thing to do… you should have left me… but I’m glad you didn’t.” She put out a hand which shook. “Isabella Garcia-Shapiro-Flynn. Don’t ask,” she said with a shaky smile. “What are you doing out here?”

Meiko grit her teeth. “My… my friends and I are on our way to Petropolis. We were ambushed by a group calling themselves Team Deception. They used a pokémon to send us into the forest—“

“A forest that is currently on fire,” Isabella said, looking toward the north. “We’d better move. Where are your friends now?”

“I don’t know,” Meiko ground out, clenching her teeth. “I don’t even know if they’re alive! I think Darryn is, because his vulpix sensed him, but my b-“ her throat closed, and she had to swallow. “Some of the pokémon with me aren’t mine; they’re my boyfriend’s and his little sister. Adopted,” she added as an afterthought, “sort of. I don’t know where any of them are, of if they’re OK, or…”

“All right, honey,” Isabella said kindly. “Let’s get out of here. Hopefully we can find your friends.” She didn’t add that, hopefully, their team was also nearby.

There was a rustling in the bushes, and Grondir and Cosette tensed. A form stepped out, and Odysseus’s ears perked up, eyes narrowing, as the shape… two shapes, stepped around the tree.

[Umbrae Calamitas]

He was accustomed to the feeling of fire in his chest, the burning on his own internal flame, but Ashleigh was not used to a similar sensation - but one completely different - coursing through his legs. He felt weakened by it, as though the flames fed on his strength instead of oxygen, and he found himself staggering as he tried to walk, though he fought the exhaustion and tried very hard to walk straight.

He could see the runt's eyes, flicking to him at intervals. In a switch, the runt was the one keeping pace with him. It was clear she wanted to move faster, and thoughts of that demon shiftry who had been following them was clearly the reason why, but she wasn't walking faster than he can manage. Her hand reached out now and then and touched his head, fingers resting only lightly. Ashleigh didn't spare the energy it would take to chuff with mock indignation. It would take more than some exhaustion to bring him down. Come what may, he would protect her. She didn't need to worry about that.

~*~

Tuesday was worried. This time she was worried and she knew why. Ashleigh was hurt to the point of near-fainting - that was quite clear. They were being stalked by a shiftry who apparently decided to seek vengeance upon them. They were lost, separated from their companions, in a forest that was also on fire. Tuesday did have a companion in Doctor Caballe, but he had a broken arm and a concussion, though the latter seemed to have let up a bit.

Groaning lightly, Tuesday rubbed her head, which had started aching not long ago. It wasn't nearly as bad as the sharp pains that came at times, but the constant aching was starting to get really annoying. She wanted to blame it on stress, or fear, or the constant battling, or even the coming fire, but she wasn't stupid. This had happened before, a couple of times, and every time, there was some pokemon in danger that she ended up stumbling upon. This time, she didn't imagine things would be different.

So when they pushed through a thick brush and came upon a treecko amidst a fire, Tuesday was not surprised. What did surprise her was that the treecko was not the victim of the flames by accident, but more by stubbornness.

The fire was raging here and had consumed a thick-leaved tree entirely. Leaping around the tree wildly, the treecko tried attacking the flames with everything it had, kicking up leaves at it and even physically slapping it in an attempt to fight it off of the tree, but to no avail.

"Hey!" Tuesday yelled, rushing forward, ignoring Doctor Caballe's cry to stay away from it. Whether he meant the feral treecko or the fire, Tuesday neither knew nor truly cared to. She ran up to the treecko and, ignoring the possibly negative outcomes, grabbed the treecko's arm and tugged on it.

The reptile turned to look at her in surprise, and then scowled. Ripping its arm away, it leapt forward and smacked the flames burning to a branch with his tail. Letting out a cry of pain, he leapt to a different branch and did the same again. With a scorch mark running up his reddening tail, the treecko cried out and leapt away, leaping around the tree wildly, trying to will away the flames.

Doctor Caballe stepped up beside a confused and worried Tuesday, who was still rubbing her right temple.

"I'm afraid you won't get him to stop," he said quietly. Tuesday glanced up to see him looking down at her with an expression of studious interest and something akin to surprise. "Treecko will defend the tree that they make their home until their very end. He will remain to battle the fire until it brings the tree to the ground."

"And after that?" Tuesday asked quietly, turning her gaze back to the treecko, battling the flames stubbornly.

"I don't know."

"Right," Tuesday said matter-of-factly. With a flash of her hand, she pulled a vacant pokeball out of her pack and whipped it toward the tree without bothering to aim.

It hit the treecko just as he was about to slap his tail against another brush of flames, sucking him into the device with a flash of red light. The ball clattered to the ground, shaking.

Tuesday picked it up when it had finally stilled and slipped it onto her belt, her eyes faraway and her expression thoughtful.

"We need to stop this fire," Tuesday said quietly.

"This fire is likely far too large. We'll have to find a radio and contact my boss so he can send out some more teams."

Tuesday shook her head. "No. The pokemon are being hurt and losing their homes. This needs to stop now." Her eyes narrowed slightly as the walked. "I need to find my team. We can do-" Tuesday blinked as they stepped through the bushes and came upon a group of people. "Meiko."

[Living Arrow]

“For one that is meant to levitate, you do a lot of walking.”

Mercury, balked and stopped her flight across the psychic plane, spinning around to find a tall slender woman standing at her shoulder.

“Wha- Who are you?”

The woman, darkly featured in her infinite beauty, suppressed an outright laugh and held a creamy hand to her smooth chin in thought. A clinging black silk dress swirled around her all the way to the floor, curled black hair spilling over both shoulders and eyes deeper and darker than any night sky marked her for a stranger that Mercury was instantly wary of. Was this woman a Dark type on the psychic plane? She hadn’t met one yet out here but that didn’t mean there weren’t any around. She shivered.

“Who am I, you say?” The woman looked Mercury up and down. “A better question would be: Who are you?”

“Riiight…” Mercury took a step back. “I’m in a hurry right now so I really-”

“You are named Mercury. You’re a ShineSoul Kirlia and you are currently in the forests of south west Furoh. You have battled many times and have had a human ‘Gym Badge’ awarded to you for your efforts. You are not with the man that owns you, nor are you with the Lucario that owns you. You are lost.”

Mercury blushed. Shadow didn’t own her… wait!

“OK, I get it – you know who I am! But you still haven’t told me who you are.” Mercury folded her narrow blue-sleeved arms over her white shift. The woman, beautiful and wellspoken had considerable psychic talent – she might even be as good as Cassandra… The thought was more unnerving than Mercury had expected. Again, she shivered. “Or what you are…”

“Why does she care for you?” The woman ignored Mercury’s question.

“Look, I don’t have time for-”

“But I see why she calls you Chrome.”

“Lady!?” Mercury gasped. “You know Lady?! Is she here?! Have you seen her?!”

The woman’s placid cream brow furrowed deeply, those black eyes narrowing.

“That is not her name.” The woman intoned, her voice suddenly seeming to grow thick in the very air. Mercury winced under psychic pressure, wishing that Cassandra were somewhere nearby for support. “And no, I have not seen her here – what makes you think she has the skill to even come here?”

“What makes you think she can’t?” Mercury raised an eyebrow. The woman glared back.

“Because my sister doesn’t have even a fraction of the power needed to get here. She can barely speak!” The black woman spat.

“Uh… Lady can speak just fine… Even though sometimes we wish she wouldn’t.”

“Impossible.”

“Whatever. I need to find her. Do you know where she is, or not?” Mercury sighed, getting ready to travel once more. The woman regarded her with calculating eyes.

“Of course I know where she is.” The woman hissed. “I’ll show you.”

In a flash, the world around them span and changed colour – swirling and swirling until the ground became a rippling field of green and the sky the plainest white. The ground was perfectly flat and, upon closer inspection, resembled a giant map upon which they stood.

“You are here.” The woman indicated Mercury’s location with a blinking blue light on the map. “And here is your man. My sister is over… there. What you do with that information is up to you.”

Mercury absorbed the map into her mind and relaxed. Jaima wasn’t far away. Lady was a good distance but, according to the other lights that were beginning to show, she was with Shadow and Darryn. Relief, joy, ultimate happiness. The weight of worry and fear on Mercury’s heart lifted almost instantly and she couldn’t help but break out into a massive smile.

“You have no idea how… how amazing this is!” Mercury beamed. “Thank you so much!”

“What makes you think I did this for you?” The woman asked simply.

“Because you smiled when you saw my reaction to see Lady alive and well.” Mercury replied. “You’re happy that she has others watching over her – others like me – and her watching over them. You are proud of her.”

The woman’s eyes widened considerably and that stern outlook softened.

“It looks like your strength is growing fast.” The woman nodded approvingly. “Cassandra will be pleased to see her pupil developing this quickly.”

“You know Cassandra?! Who are you?”

“You have been experiencing psychic interference to prevent you all coming together once more…” The woman stooped to press her palm against the map. “Mightyena fangs… A simple block.” She snorted, a ripple passing through the map like those on a mill pond disturbed by a falling leaf. “The barrier is now broken.”

“What? How did you?... Who are you?!” Mercury demanded.

The woman began to fade, leaving the psychic plane for the real world. A smile broke out on her dark features as she shimmered from view, her last words dancing on the wind.

“You may call me Belladonna.”

***

“Oh my God!” Darryn cried, dashing through a scrub of brush much to the surprise of Shadow whose Aura-nodes quivered tensely with shock. “It’s a Teddiursa!”

The Lucario sighed to himself and followed the Co-Ordinator into the nearby clearing to indeed find a Little Bear Pokemon sat against a tree, rolling something small and blue between his paws. On closer inspection it appeared that the brown bundle of fur had found a Rare Candy with his Pickup ability and was trying to decipher how to unwrap the secrets within.

“You have no idea how much I have wanted to catch one of those things!” Darryn beamed at Shadow as he stood alongside him, folding his arms with disinterest. “So, if you wouldn’t mind, go and give it a solid Force Palm and this Pokeball will do its stuff!” He brandished a Friend Ball and pulled back his arm, ready to let loose. Shadow remained motionless. Darryn blinked.

“Er… anytime now…” He nodded toward the Little Bear. Shadow raised an eyebrow and looked away.

“Shadow! Come on! The faster I get it, the faster we can move on!” He complained loudly.

“Ur?” A soft tug at Darryn’s leg announced the normal type’s arrival. Gazing up at the human with wide brown eyes, the Teddiursa held up the Rare Candy with one paw while sucking on the other. Darryn’s heart caught in his throat.

“Awww! You want me to open it for you?” He reached down to free the treat from the blue wrapper and passed it back. “There ya go! And when you’ve eaten it, I’m gonna catch you…”

The Teddiursa gave a giggle of glee and downed the candy with a single bite, patting his belly excitedly. That smiling face, however, was soon contorted into an upset grimace.

“Oh great. What did you do, Shadow?” Darryn sighed, standing up properly and maximising the Friend Ball. Shadow’s mouth dropped open in silent protest. The Teddiursa, however, began a protest of his own that was not in the least bit silent.

Roaring angrily, the bear tottered backwards, clutching his stomach and shouting madly. Clearly, candy didn’t agree with the little beggar. And, naturally, his cries did not go unheard.

“UUUURSAAAA!” The mother Ursaring came crashing through the undergrowth, eyes red and swollen with rage to defend her alarmed child. Darryn backed away slowly, eyes white and skin whiter than a Froslass. In a flash, Shadow was in between human and Hibernator, a glowing staff of bone blocking the path between sharp claws and soft flesh. Darryn, though still ready to pee his pants, stopped his retreat. Shadow could handle this…

<Prince Darryn!>

A flash of scarlet fur darted across the clearing, an aura of psychic power blasting at the towering bear. Caught offguard, the Ursaring was lifted into the air on waves of Extrasensory where it kicked and roared for release. A swirling, freezing wind caught it up and tossed it away as Victor jumped into view.

“Lady! Victor! You found me!” Darryn grinned. Not only was his retreat cut short, but he was now moving forward again.

“Lu.” Shadow said simply, his Bone Rush shattering into dust that faded before it hit the ground.

<And so have I!> Mercury’s voice blossomed smoothly into the forest. Darryn jumped at the sudden sound but punched the air with joy almost immediately. <And, I suggest you all get ready to move fast because it’s time for us all to regroup!>

[Master Houndoom]

Jaima trudged on, the girl he was with behind him. His mind was still fuzzy, but beginning to clear, which only made the thoughts and worries that had been swimming in the miasma caused by the smack to the head much more clearly.

Behind him, the woman muttered under her breath, obviously worrying about similar things as he was. Her muttering would have been annoying, if he hadn’t had more to worry about, and if he had the fortitude to actually be angry at anyone.

She was muttering in her own language, which Jaima vaguely recognized as French. Working as a lab assistant for who was arguably the best pokémon professor since Professor Oak was the *only* pokémon professor, one learned a lot. He had observed correspondence from many different regions, and even had a friend in research who was quite the linguist, knowing several, including his own. It was a shame that person did not deal well with other people...

Jaima sighed. Having no real psychic power really stunk some times. If he had anything, even a glimmer of psychic ability, maybe he could contact Mercury and at least see if she were safe. His shoulders sagged. She had been called to her pokéball. Of course he wouldn’t be able to contact her, even if he had that kind of power.

He heard a rustle from above, and as he looked up, he felt a hard impact on his forehead. Wincing and swearing in Japanese, he reached for the offending object, ready to crush it like a hollowed apricorn. His eyes still squeezed shut, he ground out, “Why in the hell does everything have to hit me in the head?!”

He was stopped, at first, by a snort, and then a giggle. Looking up, his eyes narrowing, to see Antoinette with both hands over her mouth, trying desperately not to allow anymore of his suffering to translate into laughter from her. With a sigh, he looked up. What he saw up there shocked him.

There was the fabric of Meiko and Tuesday’s tent, flapping in the breeze. Looking down to his hand, he blinked. There in his hand was a love ball, and there was only one pokémon he knew of nearby that had been caught by a love ball. Looking up at the tent, he smiled, grimly. The way things were happening, it was almost as if someone had set a chain of events into motion that would end up in them getting back everything they had come with, no matter what the trial ahead.

Just then, the tent shook loose from the tree and fell. On top of Jaima. Antoinette, having nearly regained her composure, was set into fresh fits of now uncontrollable laughter.

Struggling to get out of the tent, swearing softly under his breath, using words that would have given his mother fits (regardless of the fact that he’d learned half of them from her), he finally got free of the tent, vowing that he would leave it behind to burn.

That was when the inside of his head seemed to explode, and he fell to one knee.

* * * * *

“Tuesday!” Meiko moved forward, holding her arms out to the younger girl and hugging her tightly. She squeezed as hard as she thought the girl could stand, simply holding her. Once again, tears threatened to leak out of her eyes, this time almost unable to be stemmed, and she had to stay still before she could pull back to look the girl over. Even then, her voice sounded as if she had been punched in the nose. “Are you OK? Have you heard from anyone? Lady says Darryn is all right, she went to find him! Oh, you found Mercury,” she sniffled, letting her back a little more, feeling badly for having crushed the kirlia between her and the girl.

Tuesday blinked, and Mercury looked as if she were preoccupied. Meiko studied Tuesday’s face. The girl swallowed, then glanced over Meiko’s shoulder to where the pilot, rescuer, and the man who had accompanied the younger girl were clustered. Meiko glanced over her shoulder, then pushed hair from Tuesday’s face. She did not miss the worried glance from Tuesday to Ashleigh, and it made the younger girl start when Meiko gave a sharp cry of relief at seeing the houndoom.

Meiko briefly abandoned Tuesday, crawling to Ashleigh. She was in control enough to not attack the houndoom, and was able to see the wobble in his stance. The houndoom lowered himself, wary but not attacking. Not yet.

Meiko turned. “Please, do one of you have a potion? This houndoom is hurt!”

Guillaume took one look at Ashleigh and flinched back. “C’est un bête!” Meiko shot him a glare, but her desired action was enacted by Isabella, the pilot. Her hand whipped up and smacked him in the back of the head as she passed him, reaching into the pouch on his belt and pulling out a large potion spray.

“Forgive him,” she said, “he’s never liked houndoom.” The smile on the pilot’s face did not reach her eyes.

“One more reason not to like him,” Meiko muttered. Isabella stepped forward to administer the potion, and Ashleigh growled low in his throat.

“Here, let me,” Meiko said, holding her hand out for the potion. Isabella reluctantly put it in her hand, and Meiko stepped forward. Ashleigh did not growl, but his stance was still defensive. Chewing her lower lip, Meiko once again turned to Tuesday. Kneeling in front of her, Meiko pressed the potion into the younger girl’s hand. “Here,” she said softly to Tuesday. “I think he’ll trust you.”

Isabella and Meiko watched as Tuesday approached Ashleigh, slowly. Rather than growl, Ashleigh stood tall before her, despite the wobble in his legs. She knelt and hugged the dark pokémon, stroking his neck with one hand. She picked up the potion and administered it, burying her face in his neck as the spray began to take effect. Ashleigh slowly sat, his tail whipping side to side in relief.

After a few moments in which the spray was depleted and Tuesday knelt with Ashleigh, stroking his neck and back and whispering softly to him, she stood and walked to Meiko, looking up at her. Mercury, who'd hung off of the arm closest to Ashleigh, was clutched in Tuesday's arms like a stuffed doll. Meiko smiled down at her. Tuesday, without saying a word, opened her arms and hugged Meiko around the waist, again holding Mercury in one arm against Meiko's thigh.

Well, this is new…

"Mercury!" Meiko swallowed as the kirlia floated out of Tuesday's arms.

Thank you, Trainer Tuesday, for holding me while I looked for everyone. And Trainer Meiko! It's good to see you! Mercury surveyed the clearing, noticing the three new humans, and the pokémon around the clearing. I have good news! Everyone is safe. I spoke with Trainer Darryn, and, the kirlia's face grew red, and her mental voice sounded sheepish, Trainer Jaima is well, though a ways away.

"Why do you sound so sheepish?"

I… sort of yelled in his ear.

* * * * *

When the boy had emerged from the remains of the tent, Antoinette had been howling with laughter. As soon as he'd hissed, her laughter had stopped and she was making her way toward him. He hit the ground, holding his head, and the worst came to mind: It wasn't a mere concussion.

But when he looked up, he was smiling. "Sorry about that," he said, standing, with a broad grin and cheer in his voice. "My kirlia managed to contact me. She was a little enthusiastic with her greeting." He stood and began walking. "Come on. I know where to go from here!"

[Umbrae Calamitas]

Ashleigh sat on the ground much calmer than before, but refused to lie down or fully relax in the presence of so many strangers. He was still tired, still weak, he could tell, but nowhere near as bad as he was before. It was a relief that he had strength enough again that he would be able to better protect the runt. The fire that had burned painfully in his legs had receded and he knew that, should they be attacked by that beast again, he would be able to fight and defeat it.

He regarded the strange humans around them with wary eyes, though he wasn’t overly concerned about them. The fact that they congregated together like a group of flustered mareep did not liken them to ferocious enemies in Ashleigh’s mind, and this, too, was a relief.

The runt was being silent again, and Ashleigh was quickly finding this common, if somewhat disturbing normal behavior for her in the presence of strangers. If she was ever going to be his Alpha, then she would have to overcome that. Ashleigh hoped that she would, but like he would protect her, he would also help to show her the way, until she could find it herself.

~*~

Terrance was confounded by this young girl.

When she had found him, she had immediately taken charge, being certain that his injuries were taken care of and that they moved away from danger. When she battled, she did so in a manner that was startlingly strong for someone her age. Her intelligence also seemed quite keen.

Now, however, she appeared to be a different person entirely. Terrance had yet to hear her speak since they met up with Izzy, Guillalume, and the red-headed young woman who apparently knew the child. She acted not just shy, but almost submissive to the mannerisms of others – ready to follow, but not to take charge like she previously had.

When she was hugged by her friend, the child had acted as though the action had stunned her, and it had taken her a moment to react to it, with a hug in return that came slowly and didn’t seem to be of nearly as much force (which was probably a good thing for the entranced kirlia in the young girl’s arms). Terrance could understand the child’s quiet concern for her houndoom, who had tried to stand strong despite obvious injury, but even then, the manner in which she held the pokemon while she applied the potion spoke of a severe internal agony that Terrance had had the fortune of seeing in very few people or pokemon. Even then, it was in creatures much older, and it distressed him to see it in a child, and one so young.

The girl’s mental distance now, her distracted nature, made him wonder if she had perhaps attained some injuries that he either had not seen her gain due to his lax in attention, or if she had gained them before she found him. He worried that she was hurt or, herself, had suffered a concussion, in which case she might need medical attention.

He found his fellow rescuers both distressed by the situation, however, and he was quickly pulled into a conversation of their predicament, and how exactly they intended to escape it. As he so often did, Guillalume crafted a working verbal plan that consisted of their current team – the three of them, now – that left no room for interference from outsiders. In such a way, the two girls were deemed as in need of rescue, classified as liabilities, noted as hindrances, and otherwise forgotten.

Terrance would later kick himself for ever forgetting that he thought that young child needed medical attention, although his worries would prove unfounded.

Izzy would later kick Guillalume for ignoring the aid that the two girls could offer them, as they are their own team would inevitably save all of their lives.

~*~

When Mercury, regaining consciousness, floated from Tuesday’s arms, Ashleigh trotted over and sat down before the young girl, so that she could wrap her arms around his neck. She did so slowly, carefully, and Ashleigh sighed at her caution, knowing that she feared harming him. He turned his head and licked her cheek, and she buried her face in his fur with a muffled sigh of contentment.

She was distantly aware of Mercury speaking, but her mind was elsewhere. She feared for her other pokemon, who could be hurt as much as Ashleigh had been, or worse. She didn’t want to think about the possibilities, but she couldn’t help it.

Dante had been her first pokemon and was her strongest because of it, with Tempest as her second-strongest. Both were not only powerful because of their age, but because of the training that they had undergone with Tuesday. She had taught them both a series of combinations that they could use by themselves, utilizing a multitude of attack and defense strategies or their surroundings, as well as ones that they were able to use together. What bothered her were her other pokemon, or rather, Zorro at the moment, since Odysseus was here with Meiko, lounging against a tree with his arms crossed, scanning their surroundings.

Zorro was not without his own strength and a few combination attacks, but he had had nowhere near the amount of training that Dante and Tempest had undergone with Tuesday. He was also remarkably silly, with strength but often a lack in judgment, basing his moves on gaining a reaction from his fellows or his opponents. It could get him hurt, and Tuesday couldn’t forget just had close he had recently come to being hurt…

Tuesday’s mind finally processed what Mercury had said minutes before, that Jaima and Darryn were all right. That Darryn was closest to them at the moment, with Jaima still some distance off. They could go find them, get together again, and find all of the pokemon. She would feel better if they were all together again and she hoped that Meiko felt the same. She wouldn’t say anything but, as she rubbed her face in Ashleigh’s fur, breathing in his unique smell of charcoal and woodsmoke, she hoped Meiko would get them all heading off to find the others soon.

Then, when all of this was over, she’d train all of her pokemon, her recently-caught treecko, as well, to protect themselves, no matter the situation. That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about them, if they were ever lost.

Even though she always would. They were, after all, her family.

[Living Arrow]

“Faster, November!”

Darryn clung low to the Rapidash’s back, willing her swift legs to move even faster through the brightening morning of south west Furoh. The continuous thrumming of her lofty hooves wnet unheard in Darryn’s ears as he focused his thoughts to talk with the Vulpix in his arms. Well, more specifically, Lady Foxtrot was lying atop November’s back in the nook between Darryn’s knees, pinned down softly by his chest as they travelled.

<How much further?>

<Less than half a league.> Lady replied, the strain in her telepathy quite clear – she had clearly not slept that night.

<And Jaima?>

<Approaching… but slowly.>

Darryn couldn’t help but relive the moments where Mercury had found them and relayed that all of the others were safe. It was more than relief that had found him – an overwhelming gratitude and sense of completeness had come with the news which had effectively paralysed him before he began arranging the path back to his friends. Some part of him felt guilty that he had focused so much on himself and trying to find some sort of safety or refuge first before trying to find the others but he fought it down. Every part of him knew that the others would have searched for each other first and yet he knew they would agree that finding safety was probably the wisest decision.

He sighed, easing November into a canter, and signalling for Shadow to slow down behind them. Yet again, Darryn found himself wishing that he was more like the others. The protective nature of Jaima, the unwavering resolve of Meiko, Tuesday’s innate altruism. Every one of them would have sought the others as soon as they landed but all Darryn had done was run from danger.

With a little direction from Lady, finding Meiko and Tuesday was not hard and also thanks to the fire fox, Darryn knew that they were not alone. He rode at a walk into the clearing, finding exactly what he expected to.

“Meiko! Tuesday!” He slid down from November, Lady prancing clear of his hasty landing, and barely had chance to move before the two were rushing toward him. Their enthusiastic greeting, however, wasn’t what overwhelmed him.

“Darryn!” Meiko shrieked as he choked and stumbled, clutching desperately at his head and hacking out a cough that felt like it had made its home for the winter. Frantic hands ensured as comfortable a landing as possible but the Co-Ordinator could only felt the discomfort within himself.

<Prince Darryn!?>

<They’re smothering me, Lady!> Darryn cried, not only in mind but also tears that streamed down his cheeks. <It hurts!>

<Trainer Darryn!?> Mercury’s mental voice, like wind chimes in an airy summer meadow, rang through the thrumming cacophony that plagued Darryn’s brain. The noise! It was just so much! And not a piece of it made sense – a pure bank of sound had struck him when the humans and Pokemon in the forest clearing had looked his way and it showed no signs of letting up.

<Mercury, help me!> He screamed, rolling back on his side still clutching his head and crying through gritted teeth.

“Darryn! Oh, Doctor Cabelle, help!” Tuesday’s little voice did not seem so little anymore – not to Darryn, anyway. She sounded, in fact, altogether loud.

<Trainer Darryn, you have to shut them out!> Mercury called as she floated nearby, unable to get close as the humans surrounded him. <Just think them all away from you!>

<I can’t!> Darryn roared back through the tumult, not knowing if Mercury could even hear him. <It hurts so much!>

<You have to try!> Mercury fretted.

<Do it for him!> Lady demanded, pacing back and forth nervously, her eyes on her beloved trainer. <Shield him from us all – he can’t take any more!>

“Someone get some water! Darryn?! Darryn?!”

<I can’t do it!> Lady continued, her own tears beginning to form in he chestnut eyes. <Please!>

Darryn rolled onto his back, his elbow somehow connecting with someone’s face – a man’s face – as he thrashed under the pressure crammed into his skull. Even though a part of him understood what was going on, even though he knew what it was he should be doing, Darryn simply didn’t have the strength to blot out the infinite noise and protect himself from the emotions of the others.

*But it was only lights before! Why is it doing this, now?!*

And then, suddenly and with no warning, everything was quiet.

“Darryn!”

“Doctor!”

“I... I…”

“Eet appears zat hees seizure is ending… and zat I am to be having a lump ‘ere.”

“He’ll be fine.” A calming, older gentleman’s voice said softly. “Let’s give him some space. Guillaume, Isabelle?”

Darryn could hear movement as the indicated Guillaume and Isabelle moved at this Doctor Cabelle’s suggestion, leaving the worried looks of Meiko and Tuesday gazing down at him. He blinked like a Hoothoot, surprised to see absolutely no glimmer of an Emotaglow but did not attempt to go searching for them.

“Darryn, are you OK?” Tuesday asked, her hand squeezing his gently.

“Er… yeah?” Darryn could feel the sweat on his face but it was as though nothing had happened in the past few moments – he felt absolutely normal.

“What was that!?” Meiko demanded, patting his chest (not too hard) with exasperation. “You really worried us!”

“Er… a migraine, I guess?”

“That wasn’t like any migraine I ever heard of…” Tuesday muttered.

*Well, maybe because you lot caused it and because I’m a big psychic freak?*

Tuesday blinked. Darryn’s breath caught. There was no way she had heard him – he wasn’t stupid enough to broadcast like that at such a time. And yet, her whole face changed for a brief moment. Something passed through that girl that Darryn became instantly wary of.

*She can’t know. There’s no way…*

“Migraine or not, you’re having something to eat and taking a break.” Meiko ordered, helping Darryn up into a sitting position. “In fact, we all are. Mercury – can you keep tabs on Jaima until we’re ready to find him?”

<Yes, Trainer Meiko.>

***

The makeshift camp began to settle as food was hastily gathered (what little there was of it) and Pokemon were put into balls to have some rest. A certain Kirlia and a certain Vulpix, however, moved away from the group.

<You have my sincere gratitude for what you did.> Lady bowed her head to Mercury, her body quivering with exhaustion.

<For what I did?>

<Shielding my Prince Darryn from all of those emotions so that he was not crushed by them.> Lady explained honestly. <It was more than I – or any of us – could do.>

Mercury’s eyes widened considerably.

<I didn’t do anything.> She admitted hastily. <I thought you did…>

<What? I can't...But if you didn’t stop it, then…>

<Lady… What do you know about someone called Belladonna?>

The Crimson Vulpix, fifth of the Seven Vulpix Sisters, hissed and drew back her upper lip to expose needle-sharp teeth. Her tails instinctively rose to their full height and swayed menacingly overhead.

“Do not speak that name again in my presence.” She growled through her natural voice. Every tension seemed to have sparked in the fire type in mere seconds, confusing Mercury even more than she already felt. The two parted ways soon after, agreeing to watch over the group while an unseen voice giggled to itself and drifted away on the breeze.

[Master Houndoom]

Jaima's feet hurt. He had been barefoot since the confrontation with the yanmega, and, once again, he cursed and swore to himself that he would keep a pair of slippers close at hand if he ever had the urge to get out of his tent and walk around. Except that there would be no more tents. They were getting bicycles.

Or mopeds.

Or a car. A car would be nice.

Trainer Jaima?

Despite his predicament and earlier ire, Mercury's whispered voice in his head made Jaima smile. He couldn't help it. Hearing it, even when she had exuberantly shouted in his head, had raised his mood 100-fold. Still, however…

If you're going to tell me to be calm, Mercury, he sighed to her patiently along the telepathic path she had opened, I really don't think that's possible…

No, Trainer Jaima. I need you to veer to the left.

Jaima scowled a bit in confusion. Was I heading away from the path you showed me?

No, absolutely not. I just want you to do something for me. We're resting now, and I've looked again and seen something you need to pick up. Mercury's voice was calm, even amused. Jaima veered to the left until she sent him the strong impulse to stop. Antoinette looked up at him in confusion, but did not ask the question he could see in her eyes.

His own question, as to why they were being sent this way, was answered when he say the red of Meiko's backpack setting against a tree. He hurried to it, lifting it, gently, as it had landed upside down. He gathered as much as he could that had fallen out, all of them capsules, and spotted something else almost more important than the backpack.

Gingerly, he lifted Tuesday's lugia plushie from the ground. It was dirty and scuffed, but something about it made Jaima want to cry. He was dirty and scuffed. Likely Meiko and Tuesday and Darryn were dirty and scuffed. But like this plush doll, Jaima began to see a hope that they would be able to get back where they belonged.

Soon, Trainer Jaima, soothed Mercury's soft mental voice. As soon as possible. Her voice, then, went into what Jaima had always thought of as authority mode, which he had used on his sisters as needed, and had learned from his mother using it on him and his sisters, as needed. Now, please reach into the right side pocket of Trainer Meiko's backpack. Jaima did so, blinking when he pulled out several small baggies of trail mix. Now sit down and eat. We are resting, and you must, too.

If it's all the same to you, Mercury, I'd rathe-

Jaima suddenly was on the receiving end of the most ominous, chilling feeling he'd ever felt. He knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that if he resisted more, he would see a giant blue crested kirlia head looming over his shoulder, tongue snaking out like a serpent, purple fire blazing around it. Now sit down and eat. We are resting, and you must, too.

As one, both Jaima and Antoinette sat down, Jaima silently passing a baggie of trail mix to her. They ate, in silence, until Mercury's chagrinned voice whispered in Jaima's mind.

I'm sorry, Trainer Jaima… I… I'm a little stressed.

It's OK, Mercury. It… kind of reminded me of Mom.

* * * * *

All right, he's on the move again. Trainer Meiko, he apologizes for wearing your sandals.

Meiko looked down at her own feet, where Jaima's black cloth shoes slid haphazardly around her feet. She smiled, unable to stop her hands from twisting together in anticipation.

Mercury sat in the middle of the group, her eyes closed, her dainty legs tucked underneath her and her tiny arms on her knees. She looked serene, like she was resting, and Meiko once again tried to quell her nervousness, lest she distract the kirlia.

She looked at Darryn, worried still after his convulsions upon finding them. Things had been odd with Darryn. She had caught, at times, glimpses of him in pain, or worse, in a panic, as if his hand had been caught in a cookie jar that wasn't his. He was adept at hiding it, at least from her, but looking back, she could string together times when he seemed to want to run, and others when he looked confused or irritated for no apparent reason. Were they connected to his collapse? Meiko didn't know. Wouldn't know, unless he told her himself. But if it caused this kind of distress…

Tuesday, however, had gone through similar things, and Shadow had said it was because she was growing into some powers, like the Aura Guardians of the movies. She looked over at the younger girl and smiled softly.

Family. She was beginning to see this group as a kind of family. Jaima looked after Tuesday like he'd looked after his own little sisters, sometimes even forgetting that this particular "sister" was a few years older than the ones he was used to. And that was where Meiko had stepped in, guiding him, helping him, she hoped, cope with the young girl, keeping his impatience in check as well as his mothering instincts. Not that she was perfect; far from it. But she was feeling the same way about Tuesday as she might her own little sister.

And Darryn. Did he realize the trust it took for her to confide in him about Toshiro? He had gone from the queenish priss she'd mistaken him for after their first impression to someone she felt comfortable telling her darkest secrets to, not to mention entrust the care of her youngest to. She looked down at Eggheart, dozing in her lap, and smiled.

She had come to Furoh seeking Jaima, trying to figure out if she still wanted what she'd wanted from him as a child, and discovered two new, strong friends willing to stand with her in crisis, and with whom she was willing to stand.

But right this moment, there was something missing.

The bushes rustled just then, and Meiko turned, sensing the others did as well, some pokémon standing and bristling, others watching warily.

Two human sized forms came from the trees. The first, a short, dirty girl with long silver hair made her way to the other group, her eyes weeping tears of relief. The next was significantly taller, and Meiko stood, cradling Eggheart in one arm and walking swiftly to that figure, his large shoes flopping on her tiny feet. Reaching Jaima, not caring who it was that might be watching, she flung her free arm around his neck and pulled him to her, kissing him as much as her sobs would let him.

After a short time, or possibly a long time, but no where near several sunfilled days worth, she pulled back, smiling up at him. His eyes, too, had tears in them, but he, too, smiled, and she put her head on his chest.

Behind them, Isabella watched with her own sad smile. Meiko's face was so much more peaceful now. Hearing anoise, she looked up to see three helicopters pass over head, and felt a light mist touch her skin after they had passed and dumped their cargo some ways away. Her face lit up, and, unbeknownst to her, she smiled in much the same way Meiko smiled, whispering as she watched the skies, "Phineas…"