[X] My Assistant

[Ceilni]

Where the bench/table is, is where the tent is.

~~~~~

The morning sun shined down blissfully on the tent. The rain seemed to have been gone for a while, now. The grass outside was lush and green, nurtured by the rain. Although the ground the soggy, the worst of the water had seemed to run off on the downhill slope they were on, even if it was so very slight. The tent sat in perfect alignment with most of the shade however, so the sun that shined on the tent was little, bit blissful.

Taillows cawed in the distance, their caws echoing around the entire forest. The trees swayed in the gentle breeze, a variety of nuts and berries falling from the trees. All the pokemon in the forest seemed to be filled with energy, jumping here and there in the early morning. It was early enough that there was barely any sound besides the birds and the occasional pokemon call. However, there was the soft crackling of the campfire.

Darci sat a little ways from the tent. She had actually gotten up rather early. Much earlier then before. When she had woken up, it was still dark. As quietly as a leaf falling from a tree, she had gotten dressed and started breakfast. The pot was boiling with a bit of stew, not much, but stew nonetheless. There was barely enough servings for everyone to have even half a bowl, but it was food. Her black hair had been brushed down and cascaded down her back, being held by a particularly large, blue bow. She was wearing to last resort clothes. It was a black skirt with little white and blue mushrooms on it. The flap which hung over the front of the skirt was white with another mushroom on it. There were three blue belts around her stomach and a puff of white fabric covered her 'chest', held her arms, and hung on her shoulders. Black and white stockings were worn with black high heels. Quite obviously her last resort for it's unpractical factor. (Can't imagine it? Click here!)

"Vincent, don't wander too far." She said to her Eevee, which had started to walk away from the fire. Hearing the loneliness in her voice, he turned around, jumping on the rock she sat on and laying on her lap. It's feet weren't very muddy so it didn't leave any marks on the dress. The scent from thee stew was blown towards the tent by a morning breeze, the same one which played with her hair, blowing it over her left eye.

"Ee?" Vincent inquired. Darci simply pat the Eevee's head and sighed.

"You're the only one out right now. Everyone else in in their pokeballs." She said, covering the Eevee's mouth as it sneezed. "Gesundheit, mein Kind."

(Bless you, my child. <German>)

[Jewely]

Jewely was woken up by Telly. She usually slept in late, but that was different when someone tried to wake her up. The Electrike licked her face, from her cheek to her eyes to her forehead. She spit at him, and sat up.

At first she was lazy, but then panic-stricken when a thought came to her. Where was Telly’s Pokeball? She felt along the ground for it, and found it right next to Sora’s Turtwig. “Oh… how did it get there?” she murmured aloud. “Maybe it rolled away…”

She pressed the Pokeball’s button. Nothing happed. Oh right, it was broken. She felt frustrated even though she was still too numbed by sleepiness to feel much. She sniffled. “We gotta get to Arasam soon…”

[Red Kitten]

DC was stirred from her sleep early when she heard someone moving around. She assumed that it was Darci, who had fallen asleep earliest out of all of them and appeared to be an early riser anyway. DC refused to open her eyes though. She had yet to detect any sunlight from behind the shelter of her eyelids and therefore made the decision that it was still too early to wake up. Her half-asleep mind was wholly satisfied by this and she rolled over, pulling the blanket up to her chin.

Unfortunately, the movement disturbed her swollen ankle, quickly reawakening the throbbing pain that had been blissfully dormant while DC slept. She cursed under her breath as she remembered the injury. She had been quite content to forget that it existed while she was asleep, but now it was back with vengeance and DC could not seem to ignore it. She gave a snort of disgust, realizing full well that she would not be falling back to sleep this morning and that she might as well rise, dress, and join whoever was outside. But DC decided to be stubborn and continue to lie under the Mudkip blanket until the sun had at least risen.

She remained there in a sullen silence until there were rays of sunlight coming in through the filter of the tent fabric. At that point DC knew she really had no excuse to pretend she was sleeping anymore and begrudgingly crawled onto her knees. There appeared to be some people still asleep, so she made an effort to remain quiet. Devil was awakened merely by DC's movement though, and he stretched luxuriously, his little claws extending and gently gliding across the floor of the tent. Next he gave a great yawn, all his sharp, little teeth exposed, and then appeared to be ready to go, his bright eyes wide and shiny. DC chuckled and patted his orange head, wishing that she could be fully awake in such a short amount of time. Cheepie had likely been awake for several hours already (the saying "Early Bird" really hit the nail on the head in her case), but she was a polite enough creature to let the others sleep for as long as they wanted. Magic was awake too, but it was sitting as far away from everyone else as possible, glaring at them with its beady black eyes.

DC tied her hair back securely in a French braid and began to sift through her backpack for clothing. She selected a pair of khaki camping pants, cut off at the knees, and a brown t-shirt, with a green windbreaker to throw on over it. Getting dressed was somewhat difficult, but DC was already accustomed enough to her injury that she was able to accomplish it efficiently. She slipped on her sneakers, very gingerly onto the injured foot. It was swollen enough that the shoe didn't quite fit comfortably. DC winced at the sight of it, and her next instinct was to reach for her walking stick, but then she remembered bitterly that it had been swept away by the river yesterday. In order to put off walking for as long as possible, DC crawled on her hands and knees to the door of the tent, at last getting to her feet in order to open it up, and limped slowly outside. Her Pokemon followed at her heels, even Magic, who was apparently eager to get at an especially appetizing pile of compost nearby.

Despite her bad mood, DC had to admit that the clearing was very pretty in the early morning, with the sunlight peeking through the trees and reflecting off all the little dew drops that collected on rocks and vegetation from the previous night's rain. Darci was by a campfire, as DC had expected, and appeared to be cooking something for breakfast. The smell wafted through the air, causing DC's stomach to grumble insistently. She hadn't realized she was this hungry until just now.

"Morning Darci, did you sleep well?" DC made an effort to appear cheery, even though she felt miserably sore and was beginning to lose hope yet again that she would actually make it out of the forest alive. Her Pokemon scattered in search of their breakfast. "Hey, don't go out too far, ya hear?" she called out to them. Cheepie acknowledged her trainer with a little chirp, before her beak closed around the soft body of a Caterpie.

[Jay Shay]

Sora was woken up abruptly by her little Turtwig climbing on her face. "Bleh!" she said, spitting out dirt that was on the Turtwig's feet from yesterday. She mad an effort to keep her voice quiet as she almost silently scolded her little Turtwig. As much as she wanted to go back to sleep, she was up, and she knew it had to stay that way. She slowly stood up, trying to be as quiet as possible, as she went for her backpack. She saw there were two people missing from the tent, and as her tired eyes were not in focus enough to make out bodies, she knew it had to be Darci and DC, she knew they always woke up before her.

Reaching into her backpack, she found some long light brown pants, and a nice short sleeved green t-shirt. It wasn't a particularly nice outfit, but it satisfied for the outdoors. She slipped off her pajamas, and quickly into her hastily chose outfit, tying on her brown sneakers over green socks to complete it. She ran a brush though her knotted hair, she must have really been turning around in her sleep last night. Once she got it all untangled and neat, she turned to her pokemon. They seemed pretty content, playing with each other.

"Come on. Let's go." She whispered to them, as she too began to walk outside the tent, guided by the smell of the fire that she knew had to be Darci cooking, as she did the exact same thing the last time Sora saw her. She walked outside of the tent to see that the rain had really cleared. The grass was nice and green, there was barely any water dripping from the dark green leaves of the trees. Small amounts of sunshine were braking through the canopy of what was the tree tops.

"Morning DC, Darci."

She said, as she looked around, finding her theory was true. Darci was at the fire. A slight breeze blew through her hair as she took a seat around it, only realizing she was hungry at the smell of food. Her pokemon seemed to realize it too, as they swiftly ran off into the bushes, like last time. She had never seen them do that before so she was worried, but now she understood. They were just looking for food, just like her own stomach.

[Ceilni]

Darci cuddled with Vincent for a moment, thinking of her real brother Vincent. The thought reminded her of the image of an old photograph taken before dad had died. She may have been young, but she remembered that Picture; Vincent still had it even.

"Eeve." Vincent jumped off her lap and curled up next to the fire, warming itself near the coals.

"Careful, love." She said, a sudden change of speech was apparent. Even she noticed that she changed rather often. It went from 'love' to 'yo' to formal speech. It just seemed to click in her brain. She never knew by however. She yawned. She was tired. She remembered falling asleep first, but she remembered awakening when the moon was still in the sky. She lay awake that entire night until the sun arose.

"Morning Darci, did you sleep well?"

Darci suddenly turned, relaxing when she noticed it was just DC.

"Well enough, i suppose. I got a fairly good rest, woke up maybe four, five hours ago." Four or five meaning she had woken up roughly and hour and a half after she fell asleep. She slowly started to tap her foot to the beat of a song which played from her mp3 player. The earpiece was in one ear, the mp3 laying on the log. The screen read 'I can't go on - Death Penalty'. She enjoyed this song, even with the macabre suicidal lyrics. "I'm making some stew, sorry there isn't too much, but there enough for half a bowl," She took the pot off the flames and coals before pouring them into three awaiting bowls. ",for everyone, i think." She finished, holding up a bowl to DC. "I only got three bowls as of now, so we might have to share. Don't worry. No one here's got cooties." She joked, taking out two plastic spoons and plopping them in. "Hopefully i have enough spoons. I might not." She said, hearing something a little away, sounded like voices. She tuned them out for now, the song which played being much more appealing.

"Morning DC, Darci."

Darci smiled and took up another bowl, plopping two more plastic spoons.

"Steeewwww." She said, shaking the bowl lamely.

[Red Kitten]

"Well enough, I suppose. I got a fairly good rest, woke up maybe four, five hours ago."

DC nodded, eyebrows slightly raised. She wondered how on earth Darci could wake up so early, with all the intense physical exercise they'd been partaking in and all. But she brushed it off with a quick shake of her head. Maybe it was just another one of Darci's quirks. DC only hoped that the girl wouldn't crash and burn during the day from lack of sleep. She made a mental note to keep an eye out for that and gratefully accepted the bowl of stew.

"Thanks bud, I'm starved." DC ate quickly, and had to remind herself several times not to inhale her food. It didn't take long for her to finish the small portion of stew, and her stomach still twinged with hunger. DC was very tempted to pull out her own food supplies and have another little snack, but she refrained from doing so, knowing that conserving food was necessary in this situation.

Half glancing back at the tent, DC thought aloud, "Maybe we should wake the others up. We really ought to get moving again, so that tent needs to be taken down soon." She played with a strand of hair from her ponytail. "I'm not even sure where those other girls are headed to. They may be parting ways with us here for all I know."

At this point, both Devil and Cheepie had returned to DC's side, so she put them back into their respective Pokeballs. Magic appeared to have finished its breakfast as well, so DC recalled it too, and clipped all the Pokeballs to her belt.

[Jewely]

Jewely poked her head out of the tent. The other girls were already eating. She suddenly didn’t feel like eating though. Or if she were required to, she would go outside to pick some berries. Or wait until she hit Arasam and buy some chicken wings or something. She walked outside with Telly sluggishly following her.

Even though she wasn’t hungry, she sat at the table where everyone else was. It was okay to socialize, wasn’t it? She’d failed at doing it before but these guys were nice, weren’t they? She chose a really large moldy log to sit on, even though it was soggy from the last night’s rain. Telly ran over to Vincent, also trying to warm himself up with the fire.

“Um, hello?” she said nervously but didn’t even dare to look up at them. She was staring down at the log, wondering what the name of the fungi growing on it was called.

[Ceilni]

Darci sighed and closed her eyes, feeling slightly tired. Vincent seemed to be slightly annoyed at the fact that this 'Telly' was persistent on following him. He rose and sighed, jumping onto Darci's lap and curling up. The warmth from her lap made him very comfortable. Darci leaned against the tree behind her, tapping her heels against the ground. She had already her meager scrap of stew and looked towards the tent. She raised a hand pet Vincent' head.

"Maybe we should just leave it here, actually. The girls could use it." She said to DC, referring to the younger girls there. She thought for a moment. "Besides, Arasam really isn't that far from here." She said, she had been tracking their movement, making sure they were going the right direction, yadda yadda.

"Ee." Vincent agreed quietly, leaning into the petting he was receiving. She smiled rather distantly before sighing again. She heard more voices and some shifting behind her, but it was a rather long distance away, but it could have been the river. She personally damned the river.

Her hand instinctively reached for her cellphone and flipped it open. The voodoo doll charm swayed, the needle still buried in it's heart, and forehead. She turned on the phone and attempted to call someone. Everything was quiet for her, ignoring most everyone.

"Hello...?" Was the soft reply. Darci's lips twitched, suggesting the smallest of smiled.

"Hey Vincent. It's Darce." She said, speaking quietly so they they could probably barely hear her.

"... Darce? Where are you?" Was the concerned brother's answer. He sounded off and rather weak, but it might have been the reception.

"Just traveling with friends. What about you?"

"... Thinking about the Neverland Tour." He answered, rather tired sounding. Darci nodded.

"It's in a month isn't it? Fidona, to Gigarte, to Arasam, to Lenoilia, to Petropolis, and whatever right?"

"Yes. I need to go. Maybe i'll see you soon, Onee." Darci nodded.

"Alread-? Yeah..." She sighed. "Bye, Onii."

"Bye."

She closed her phone and looked to DC. It was a very quick conversation, but she wanted to check in on her elder brother. After the conversation was finished she continued to pet her Eevee, Vincent.

"So, where is everyone headed?" She asked, mind wandered. It wandered from Vincent, to Vince, to Victor, to DC, to Scarper, to Arasam, and continued in that long tedious loop. There was a soft breeze, making her shiver slightly.

This post has been edited by Ceilni: Oct 9 2009, 10:24 PM

[Red Kitten]

DC shifted in her place slightly. She was unsure why, but she suddenly felt very impatient. "Well, if any of you youngins are headed towards Arasam, feel free to join Darci and I. But until then, let's get this tent down shall we?" She stood up and limped toward the large purple mass to disassemble it.

~~~

Meanwhile, only a mile or so away from the currently tranquil camp site, a tiny, colorful missile shot through the trees, whistling briefly and and almost inaudibly through the air until it struck its target. Its pointed tip buried itself into a pile of coarse feathers until it reached the soft flesh underneath. The beast had just barely felt the prick of the dart when it lost consciousness. Its talons went limp, losing grip on the tree branch it was perched upon, and it plummeted swiftly to the ground, hitting the earth with a thud.

Twenty-four year old Arman Tremain quickly emerged from his hiding spot in the thicket and made his way to his latest trophy, stowing his dart gun inside the breast pocket on his vest. He was thoroughly coated in dirt and leaves for camouflage, as well as other unmentionables he'd purposely rubbed on himself earlier to mask his natural scent with the smells of the forest. His facial expression was set to a serious glower, with his brow narrowed and his jaw, currently covered in blond stubble, was clenched firm. His stride was swift, with feet expertly placed. Arman had been out in the woods for so long now, everything came to him on instinct. It was as if he had become a part of the forest. Despite his arsenal of modern hunting technology he appeared to be more beast than man.

He stopped and crouched down to examine the large bundle of brown feathers on the ground before him, gently turning it over with a gloved hand. Fearow, he thought and gave a snort of disgust, aggravated that he hadn't bagged something rarer than a Fearow by now. But he knew all too well that a hunter cannot be impatient, nor picky, so he examined the bird for its quality and upon deciding that it was decent enough, he retrieved one of his Pokeballs from his pack and engulfed the Fearow with it. It'll be worth something surely. I've sold beasts of shoddier condition than this.The Pokeball disappeared with a flash of light as it was transferred to Arman's PC box back at home. This sudden burst of technology seemed oddly unfamiliar to him at this point.

Arman stood back up and tested the air, nostrils flaring slightly. He remained deathly quiet, ears at attention in case there should be any interesting noises nearby. He was quite skilled at using his senses to search for clues in his environment, and sure enough his sharp eyes picked up an interesting sign. To the west he noticed that some of the tree branches were bent and broken off, creating a trail of very subtle destruction. Arman headed in that direction, watching the ground with keen interest. A set of very faint paw marks in the dirt spurred him on. He knew what those tracks were from, exactly the sort of the creature he'd been hoping to find. With a renewed sense of purpose, Arman stalked off deeper into the trees, coincidentally headed roughly in the direction of DC and Darci's camp...

~~~

When the tent was finally finished and tucked safely away, DC exhaled with relief and wiped beads of sweat off her forehead. "OK, let's skedaddle gang." Without waiting, DC turned and began her painful trek up the trail. As she limped along, she turned to Darci and remarked, "I'm feeling really antsy right now for some reason. Maybe it's because we're getting close to our destination." She chuckled lightly. "Dunno about you, but I for one can't wait to take a shower!"

Before she could say another word, DC stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing a figure standing up ahead in the middle of the trail. She'd nearly had a heart attack at the sight of him, perhaps because she was not used to seeing other humans in this forest. And perhaps because the man looked rather suspicious, standing completely still and alert. It appeared that he was searching rather intensely for something. Other than that she couldn't make out any other details, but DC still felt the pit of her stomach go cold.

"Hey," DC hissed to Darci. "See that guy up ahead? I'm sorta getting a funny feeling about him. I'm not entirely sure why, but let's proceed with caution anyway." The man had apparently noticed their presence. His neck swiveled to face them, but his body remained in the same position, with an eerie resemblance to an owl's 360 degree head turn. DC swallowed the lump in her throat, as always a futile action.

As they neared the man, DC noticed with dismay that he was a very powerful looking individual, tall with plenty of muscle. His blond hair appeared to have been cut short at one point, but was now growing out in a rather scruffy manner. The most prominent feature on his face was a thin, jagged scar running across his left cheek, which made DC even more suspicious of him. He was wearing a belt and a vest, well stocked with what seemed to be weapons and other sorts of equipment, and he was covered from head to toe in various filth. DC supposed that he had been living out in the forest for a while. Only he was more prepared for it than us, she thought wryly, eying an especially large jackknife hanging from his belt.

Finally the man spoke, in a very gruff voice that sounded as though it wasn't used often. "You there," he said, his tone harsh and his eyes locked onto DC and Darci. "I don't know what you kids are doing in this forest, but this here is hunting territory. My hunting territory. No one comes out here to this part of the woods. It's too dangerous. There are monsters out here that would eat you and your pathetic Pokemon alive. Now kindly backtrack to where ever you came from before your scent scares away my target."

DC swallowed, unsure of what to do next. They couldn't just turn back. They'd come this far, and if they turned around now it would mean crossing the river again, and then tackling whatever dangers were waiting for them on the other path to Arasam. It would be weeks at the minimum before they reached they city and received medical care.

"Erm, sir, we're sorry to bother you, really, but we're just passing through. See we're both hurt and it really is important that we get to Arasam as soon as possible. This is the way to Arasam, isn't it?" DC looked up at his hostile face hopefully.

[Ceilni]

Darci nodded.

"Yeah. That would be best." She took a breath. "Down with the tent!" she called, standing and walking to the tent. She reached over and pulled her things out of the tent. She then stopped to search her bag. Her hand bumped into what she presumed to be bowls and plastic utensils, but she ignored them. Finally, her hand came to rest upon the pile of round lumps she presumed to be pokeballs. The first try was unsuccessful, finding it only to a rubber ball used for contest training. The second try was more successful. She took a breath and threw the three white and red spheres at the ground. "Come out, guys!" The precursor to each pokemon, a read beam, shot from the inside of each of the pokeballs before taking shape and solidifying. Each pokemon looked around curiously except for Victor who was still comewhat beat up from the fight with Devil early the day before.

"Chic?" Kaito looked up, eyes questioning. Darci kneeled down and set the rubber ball on the ground. She smiled and twirled the finger on her good hand in circles. Her left hand started to sting horribly in the morning, so she decided the less use, the better.

"Bounce Circle." she said, standing again. Kaito moved to pick up the ball by the little tiny dents in the side he had left before. With a cry, Kaito launched it into the air and struck it, starting a game of Four Square. Darci smiled before turning back to start on the tent once more. She reached out and grasped the rods, starting to take the large purple tent apart.

Thud.

Darci turned. Had she heard something? It sounded like something falling. She listened closely for a moment before choosing to ignore it. She sighed before deciding she had better continue taking down the tent.

~~~~~

She sighed, happy to finally have the tent down. With care, she used both hands to tuck the tent away. She could feel her bones groaning to protest in her left arm, but she shook it off. She chuckled, bending down to take the rubber ball from the pokemon. "Okay. You guys can all curl up in the backpack. The blankets are on top so it's sure to be comfy." She said, unzipping her backpack again. Kaito and Maxwell immediately found a way in and got comfy amongst the objects inside. Victor pecked the button on his pokeball, causing Darci to sigh and drop the occupied ball into the bag. "Vincent, you can stand up with your head out, like last time." she said, watching as the Eevee cautiously crawled in and waited. Darci smiled. "Atta boy." she cooed, zipping the backpack around the Eevee's neck.

Vincent gave her a look. Darci rolled her eyes.

"I'm not gonna kill you or anything." she said, standing and starting to walk. She heard DC start speaking and listened. The moment the 'shower' comment was dropped, she laughed. "Yeah. I'm looking forward to dropping myself into a shower right now.".

She stopped just as DC did. She stared at the man up ahead. Something started eating at her the second she saw him. She suddenly felt cold and somewhat nervous. She shivered, good hand finding it's way up and holding the other. Her eyes narrowed and focused on the man. She didn't like him, not at all. She felt like a Taillow watching a mighty Ursaring growl and prowl from small distance away. She scooted closer to DC. She heard Vincent behind her, growling and seemingly in protect-mode.

"Hey,"

Darci turned to DC.

"See that guy up ahead?"

She nodded quietly, eyes going back to the mysterious man.

"I'm sorta getting a funny feeling about him. I'm not entirely sure why, but let's proceed with caution anyway."

"Right. I'm getting a vibe from him." Her gaze started to drift towards the ground. She seethed. "I don't like it." She thought for a moment before adding. "I don't like him." she whispered. "There's just something about him." She continued on, following DC and trying to mimic her every move. Once she got a clear view, she stopped her game of mirror and stared. He looked to be a much older, much stronger individual. His eyes seemed to burn with cruelty and greed. It might have been just her, but that's what she saw in the man's eyes. The scar reminded her of Scarper's Scar. Each man had something about them that wasn't normal; Scarper's sly as a fox aura and this man's treatening aura.

"You there,"

She stiffened as he looked directly at them.

"I don't know what you kids are doing in this forest, but this here is hunting territory. My hunting territory. No one comes out here to this part of the woods. It's too dangerous. There are monsters out here that would eat you and your pathetic Pokemon alive. Now kindly backtrack to where ever you came from before your scent scares away my target."

Darci felt something inside of her burn. She knew a storm was coming. Darci's eyes were downcast and her body shook almost violently. Vincent started to growl a bit louder and the other pokemon in her backpack started to whine and complain.

"Erm, sir, we're sorry to bother you, really, but we're just passing through. See we're both hurt and it really is important that we get to Arasam as soon as possible. This is the way to Arasam, isn't it?"

Darci reached out and caught DC's shoulder in a strong grip, her mind attempting to stay calm. 'DC.' she mouthed. 'I don't- I don't like him. I don't like him at all.' she finished mouthing.

[Red Kitten]

The man looked as if he was about to make a haughty reply, when suddenly he snapped to attention. His eyes glazed over slightly and he turned away from DC and Darci, like they had never been there in the first place. He cupped a large, calloused hand around his ear, as though he had heard a noise inaudible to DC. Which was strange really, because DC had always had excellent hearing, but she hadn't heard a thing. Not a peep. It was as if this man had inhuman senses.

The man then proceeded to raise his large head and sniff at the air, nostrils flaring as he took in deep breaths. Then his eyes locked on to DC and Darci again, studying them as if they were a couple of particularly unpleasant pests, insignificant but yet he was unsure of what to do with them. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and husky. "Alright you two, you'd better hide behind those trees right now. Don't come out until I say you can."

DC glanced warily at Darci, deciding that while she didn't want to take orders from this man, it probably wasn't a good idea to defy him either. She limped awkwardly off the trail were he was pointing to and concealed herself behind a large tree, poking her head slightly around the side to watch what he was doing. The man also hid himself behind a tree closer to the path, crouching like an animal. He had pulled out a nasty looking sort of gun and was aiming it determinedly at something that DC could not see.

The forest was dead silent until DC finally heard it. A short distance away, on the other side of the path, something very large and heavy was lumbering through the trees, crunching dead leaves and snapping twigs as it ambled along. DC held her breath and stuck her neck out a little bit farther from her hiding place to see the source of the noise. But just then, the hunter squeezed the trigger of his gun and fired several stun darts at his target. DC could not see what was happening from behind the tree, but a furious roar and the sound of rapid footsteps coming closer and closer gave her a good idea as to what was going on. The hunter cursed under his breath and fired several more darts, but it was a fruitless attempt. The raging creature was coming nearer still to their hiding place. DC felt her heart throbbing in pure panic and she reached for a Pokeball on instinct, but quickly thought better of it. Something that big would be too much for her Pokemon to handle.

Finally her morbid curiosity got the better of her, and DC stepped out from behind the tree to get a good view of the coming attacker. What she saw made her heart skip several beats. There was an Ursaring, possibly the largest Pokemon DC had ever seen, charging at them with fury and vengeance in its eyes. Several darts were poking out of its massive, meaty shoulder, but clearly their poison wasn't strong enough to stun the beast, or better yet put it to sleep. Instead they appeared to have merely angered the creature. DC turned to Darci in horror. "OK, once again we're in imminent danger. Got any bright ideas?"

The hunter, realizing that his darts would do him no good in this situation, switched to plan B and snapped a Pokeball off his belt and prepared to combat his assailant.

[Ceilni]

Darci's eyes narrowed further as the hunter's attention was so suddenly diverted. He seemed to be so concentrated that Darci relaxed, knowing that he was no longer focused on them. Vincent seemed to calm down as well. Darci felt as if something else was there, but it was only a sort of sixth sense, like an aura, a hunch. Her body shook less, but the pokemon in her backpack still whined quietly, Vincent's growled becoming just an occasional sharp exhale.

"Alright you two, you'd better hide behind those trees right now. Don't come out until I say you can."

Darci, not knowing what else to do, did as he said. She followed DC and hid behind a tree. Something told her that she was in for a fright, a surprise, a shock. Darci whispered very quietly.

"DC," She looked around, starting to become somewhat nervous all over again. "We need to make a break for it if we can. If we're lucky, we might make it to-"

She as interrupted by the man shooting an unknown object at a unknown target. Darci then heard the furious, crunching, footsteps from something that had to be ungodly large. Her heart thudded against her chest dully like a bass drum, sending a strong wave through her body. She fell quiet once again, scared about what the footfalls might have been. Footfalls of terror, the only way Darci's poetic mind put it. She felt the same unknown energy build in her brain again.

Suddenly, there was an outraged roar and the footfalls became more rapid. Darci quickly searched her mind, wondering what in god's name could be big enough to make the ground feel as if it was shaking. While searching, she neglected to pay attention to the scene unfolding in front of her. By the time she looked up, there was a foreboding shadow of a large beast cast on the trail. Immediately, her mind recognized the shadow.

Ursaring. This shadow could only be that of a Ursaring. She looked up just as the enraged pokemon came thundering down the path. The pokemon was much larger then any normal one of it's species. Darci guessed that it might be an Alpha Male; Did Ursarings even have Alpha Males? She was shaken from her thoughts by DC's voice. She listened to the rather here-and-now question and thought again. She turned and shrugged, giving a sort of innocently stupid yet blank smile.

"Fight it?" She said, her smile was devoid of any feeling as she shrugged. "Sucks if we die, though." She immediately set her backpack down, although quietly. She unzipped it and let the pokemon quietly and slowly crawl out. Then, Maxwell's clumsy footing fell upon a dry twig.

Snap!

Darci paled.

"We. Are. So. Dead..."

[Red Kitten]

"Arcanine, use extremespeed, now!" the hunter harshly barked his command at the Pokemon that emerged from the Pokeball. The creature obeyed, launching itself at the Ursaring with reckless abandon. Not at all phased by the attack, the Ursaring gave a mighty growl and slashed at the Arcanine with its powerful front claws.

DC was mesmerized by the battle, despite knowing that she should be using this distraction to flee, or at least do something productive. But her eyes were glued to the two Pokemon as they ripped and teared at each other viciously. When Darci spoke, DC pulled her eyes away from the fight and looked at her friend. "Well I know one thing, we shouldn't climb a tree. Those things can climb trees like nobody's business."

"Use fire fang! Go for the jugular!" DC whirled around, startled by the hunter's shouting. He sounded like a drill sergeant screaming at boot camp recruits. DC couldn't help but wonder how unpleasant his Pokemon's lives must be. But the Arcanine was well trained nonetheless, and it did indeed aim for the Ursaring's throat, despite how dangerous the maneuver was. It caught the side of the great bear's neck between its teeth, clamping tightly on the flesh with flame coated canines. The Ursaring let out a terrible cry of pain and began to thrash around wildly in an attempt to shake off its attacker, but the Arcanine held firm. Finally the Ursaring brought up a mighty paw and struck the Arcanine hard. It went flying away from the Ursaring and crashed into a tree, sliding down the trunk until it hit the ground with a sickening thump. It promptly passed out, limbs and neck hanging limp off its body and tongue lolling out of its mouth.

The hunter cursed and reached for another Pokeball, but the Ursaring had decided it was no longer in fighting condition. It turned around and its massive body crashed through the woods as it fled, gait awkward and uneven as a result of various injuries. The man brightened and turned to his Arcanine with a hyper potion in hand. As he sprayed the Pokemon it perked up, but was still a little shaky when it stood up. "Arcanine, we're in luck, it's going to lead us straight back to its den. Get its scent and prepare to pursue it, double quick." He then turned to DC and Darci. "Alright you two, you lucked out. I'll let you pass through here, but be quick, understand? Stick to the path and do not follow me. And you're damn lucky you didn't screw up this catch for me." He turned and followed his Arcanine, which was already in hot pursuit of the Ursaring. DC noted that when the hunter ran he looked more like some sort of animal than a human. An involuntary shudder ran down her spine.

DC was silent, leaning back against the tree in relief, until the hunter and his Pokemon were completely out of sight. She exhaled long and slow, savoring the breaths that a few minutes ago, she had wondered if she'd still be taking. She turned to Darci again. "Well, I guess that worked itself out, thankfully." She ran her hand across her forehead to wick the sweat that accumulated there. "I'm just glad we don't have to deal with that guy any more. He was pretty scary." DC paused and listened to her own heartbeat as it returned to normal. "I suppose we should probably get moving again."

This post has been edited by Red Kitten: Oct 19 2009, 12:32 PM

[Ceilni]

Darci flinched as she saw the attack. Vincent stared on, Victor cringed a bit, Maxwell whined, and Kaito looked on, horrified. Before anything else could happen before the large pokemon, she swept up Maxwell and Kaito, pushing their faces against her collarbone, shielding them from from any further, unnecessary violence. She could hear their whines against her neck and frowned.

'How terrible...'

Darci watched as the Arcanine's fangs clamped down on the large ursine's neck. She looked to Vincent and Victor. Victor had turned away and Vincent just continued to watch, face neutral as if it was some sort of good acting in a movie. She bit her lip. Hesitant, she looked up, watching the Ursaring thrash up until the point where it brought up a mighty paw. The arcanine was sent flying and hit a tree, falling to the ground with a horrendously disturbing sound she didn't even care to describe. Kaito and Maxwell whined louder into the crook of her neck.

"Hush, mein kind." She comforted, watching the rest of the scene unfold. She let it unfold in silence. As the Ursaring crashed through the forest, running, she thought a moment. Her thoughts were interuppted by the reather coarse hunter.

"Arcanine, we're in luck, it's going to lead us straight back to its den. Get its scent and prepare to pursue it, double quick. Alright you two, you lucked out. I'll let you pass through here, but be quick, understand? Stick to the path and do not follow me. And you're damn lucky you didn't screw up this catch for me."

Darci, annoyed, set her pokemon on the ground, letting them scamper into her backpack. As he turned his back, she brought up a hand, once supporting her left, her left rahter nonchalantly giving him 'the finger'. She placed her good hand on her hip.

"What a douchebag. At least Scarper was okay-ish." She said, her irritation punching through her usually polite speech like a boulder through a sheet of half-torn tracing paper. She nodded to DC as she spoke. "Yeah, that sounds good. The sooner we get moving the better..." She trailed off. "I kinda want to follow him, who knows what he might do to those poor Teddiursa." She said, frowning.

[Ceilni]

<<Ignore this, it's a double post which happened for no apparrent reason. o__O>>

This post has been edited by Ceilni: Oct 20 2009, 09:41 PM

[Red Kitten]

DC frowned, scratching her head thoughtfully. "I know what you mean. I'm pretty concerned for that poor Ursaring myself. And like you said, its potential babies." Carefully, so not to trip on any roots or anything, DC made her way out of the trees and back onto the path. She peered into the other side of the forest, where the hunter and the Ursaring had gone. "He's long gone now though. I can't even see or hear him anymore. And with my ankle..." she trailed off for a moment, then continued, "I don't think we'd ever be able to catch up to them."

DC looked up at the sky, squinting as she tried to guess the time of day judging by the sun's position. "As much as I want to help the Ursaring too, I think we'd better just keep going to Arasam. We've still got some considerable distance to cover." She hoped that Darci wouldn't think she was a major jerk for saying that, but at this point DC felt far too exhausted to challenge a powerful Pokemon hunter anyway.

As she limped along the trail, DC noticed with dismay that it was morphing from reasonably flat to a steadily increasing downhill, complete with loose rocks, large roots jutting out of the ground, and all the trimmings. She quickly discovered that it was just difficult for her to walk downhill than uphill, if not more. Because she couldn't put full weight on one leg, DC found herself sort of sliding down the path sideways, legs bent at a painful angle in an attempt to keep her balance. The stress on her knees was almost mind blowing, and her wounded ankle was practically screaming for a rest. She ignored it though, knowing that if she stopped to sit down it would take willpower beyond what she possessed to stand up again.

DC remained silent through most of the downhill trek, completely focused on the painful task of walking. The level of concentration she maintained pushed the thoughts of friendly banter and light conversation out of her mind. Sweat was dripping down her face like tap water, but DC had long since given up trying to blot at it with her shirt sleeves and merely let it run. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was probably only twenty minutes or so, DC saw with delight that the path was evening out into a flat surface again. This was most likely temporary, she admitted to herself, but still, rest was rest no matter how brief.

"Well crap," DC stated, voicing her current feelings for the first time in a little while, "that was hard." She paused, leaning against a nearby tree trunk. "I suppose we aren't finished though," she said, glancing at Darci for a second opinion. "I'm just gonna rest for a few minutes though, I swear." DC pulled her pack off her shoulders and retrieved her water bottle from inside a pocket. The sip she took was small, in an effort to conserve her water, but she savored the taste and sensation of the liquid in her mouth despite this.

"You know, I think I'm going to have Cheepie scout out the trail ahead a little bit. I'd like an idea of what lies ahead, eh?" DC released the little Pidgey, who greeted her trainer with cheerful chirps, as always eager to serve. She flew up into the treetops, spiraling gracefully. DC grinned. "Showoff."

But before DC could even give Cheepie her commands, there was a sudden rustling in the branches of a large maple with thick foliage. A slim, lithe Pokemon shot out of its hiding spot among the leaves before DC could even get a good look at it. It lit into Cheepie with its long claws bared and raked at the tiny bird. Cheepie gave a cry of shock and pain as she was pulled from the air and swiftly plummeted downward, managing to catch herself right before hitting the ground by pulling into a sharp dive. Shed feathers littered the air as they wafted gently to the earth.

"What the hell?! What is that thing?" DC yelled, startled. Without even having to think about it, she reached for Devil's Pokeball. "Devil, go! Help your teammate!"

This post has been edited by Red Kitten: Oct 21 2009, 06:15 PM

[Ceilni]

Darci frowned and nodded. "Yeah... That's true, rather unfortunately." she said, crossing her arms rather unhappily. She listened to DC and she continued to speak and she frowned more. She was silent for a moment before adding to the conversation. "Most of my pokemon worn, especially Victor. Vincent's the freshest and he took quite the dip with us in the river. If we did find him, who knows what would happen. The Ursaring, or the hunter, could attack." A pause. "That Arcanine would wipe us out pretty quick."

Darci thought upon the experiences she had gone through with DC and sighed, still being able to vividly remember the feeling of cold, rushing water pushing her down into the dark depths. "We should move on." she replied to DC's suggestion, confirming that she wished to reach Arasam rather quickly. Her arm throbbed and she let it hand limply as she picked up her bag, the pokemon noticing her neglect to zip it and, with much effort, doing it for her from the inside. Vincent's head poked out, like always, and his chin rested on her right shoulder.

As they continued on, Darci noticed the downhill they had to attempt to shuffle down and her gaze drifted to DC. More specifically, DC's ankle. She knew from Victor that most ankle injuries came from downhill accidents. Bikes, hiking, running, whatever. Just all downhill. Out of respect, she kept quiet, having noticed that DC's was a rather prideful person when it came to pain and injuries. Head low, she continued on. She walked down with ease, jumping from steady rock to steady rock, having no problem with rocks like these since she had played in similar settings all her life in Furoh. However, although she seemed as graceful as an Espeon, DC seemed to be having the most trouble, awkwardly scuttling down the hill like a Spearow-footed Slowbro. Her brow furrowed and she narrowed her eyes. She opened her mouth to make a comment, but kept silent. Her mouth closed without so much as a exhalation.

Darci just continued to watch, her muscles twitching as she would be ready to act if DC fell or tripped. She knew it was probably killing her ankle, although she wouldn't mention it out loud, and wanted to be sure that nothing worse could happen. Vincent's chin bounced on her shoulder as she continued to slowly jump from rock to rock, sometimes jumping on a large patch of loose gravel on front of DC, sliding down and clearing a little more trail for her. She would make it as subtle as possible however, trying to make it seem it was all for good fun.

As DC sat down to rest, she sat down as well. "Yeah. This isn't easy." She replied, laughing awkwardly. She had probably made it seem almost too easy to be going downhill, which she almost regretted. She listened to DC’s plan and nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

As Cheepie came from her pokeball, she watched as she gracefully spiraled in the air. Darci turned to DC.

“Sure you aren’t interested in contests?” she joked. Right after DC made her comment, there was a rustling sound and her eyes immediately darted up at the quick, dark shape which shot up from the branches of the Maple and and struck at Cheepie with dangerously long claws. Darci immediately shot up and reached for the pokeballs which weren’t there. She dropped her backpack and it hit the ground with a clunk and several cries as the pokemon inside bellowed in panic. She turned and unzipped the bag, taking a potion out and tossing it towards DC. "DC!" she yelled before grabbing the scruff of Vincent’s neck and tossing the unsuspecting pokemon up at the swift attacker.

“Vincent! Use Tackle! Er, flying Tackle?” She yelled before mumbling something. Vincent flailed in the air for a moment before letting the command register and he quickly aimed his skull towards the creature, attempting the strike it. The pokemon twisted in the air and the Tackle missed, Vincent floundering in the air before landing gracefully on the gravel, although the gravel caused him to run against the ground, trying to not slide.

This post has been edited by Ceilni: Oct 21 2009, 08:59 PM

[Red Kitten]

"Thanks!" DC snatched the potion Darci had thrown out of the air. "Cheepie, get over here!" The Pidgey obliged, fluttering over as swiftly as her injured wings allowed. Luckily the mystery Pokemon appeared to be distracted enough by Vincent's flying tackle and did not pursue her. DC quickly sprayed the potion on the wounded bird and ordered her to keep out of the way.

"That thing sure looks familiar..." DC murmured, reaching into her backpack to pull out a very worn Pokedex, bought second hand a year ago when DC had started exploring the world of Pokemon with the newly acquired Devil.

DC rapidly pressed a few buttons on the Dex and waited. The machine was quite a bit slower than the average Pokedex, likely from being dropped and sat on various times by its previous owner. Finally, it spoke. "Sneasel, the Sharp Claw Pokemon. A smart and sneaky Pokemon. A pair may work-work-work-wurrrr-" the voice began to falter and then the Pokedex short circuited and failed, the screen going dark.

"Damn it!" DC cried out in frustration. "No wonder this thing was half price!" She stowed it quickly in her bag and turned to Darci. "This Sneasel thing looks pretty tough. What do you say we double team and take it down?" she asked with a wicked grin, before turning to focus her attention on the battle.

"Devil, use ember! But keep your distance, ya hear? We don't know what this thing is capable of yet!" DC barked her commands at Devil in plain English, not bothering to use her Greek code words. She figured that they wouldn't be necessary when her opponent did not have a human counterpart.

"Char!" Devil emitted his most fearsome battle cry and charged at the enemy as if he was about to execute a physical attack, but feigned at the last minute and blasted his embers at the Pokemon.

DC winced. "Yeah, I'll admit that was pretty crafty, but also too dangerous for the start of a battle when we have plenty to lose." She clapped her hand to her forehead as the Sneasel lashed out at Devil, his location making it easy for their obviously quick opponent to rip and tear at the Charmander as he tried to dodge. "I've got to get him to stop adding his own creative flair to my directions, especially when it's his own signature brand of reckless abandon," DC muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

"Good Devil, very clever, but let's try keeping your distance from now on!" The Charmander bobbed his head once to show he was listening. His back was thoroughly shredded from the Sneasel's claws and his pointed teeth were tightly clenched, but otherwise showed no sign of being in pain. He wore his wound like a badge, knowing full well that it was his own fault for sustaining injury and that now it was his duty to bear it like a soldier.

[Ceilni]

"No problem!" Darci nodded and pointed a finger towards the sneasel. "Don't lose sight of it, Vincent!" The Eevee's head went down in a half-nod. It watched the sneasel as it seemed to taunt them, waving it's claws and hopping about. Darci yelled to Vincent once more. "Be careful! This thing is tricky!" She yelled, starting to think about bringing in Kaito. She shook her head and looked to DC.

She frowned as DC's Pokedex failed. She looked to DC and spoke. "It seems to also be an older version. Mine's updated." She said, holding up hers. "I have in extra i keep just in case this one gets broken, you can have that one." She said, grabbing hers with her good hand and flipping it open. The screen lit up and a mechanical voice came on. Hers sounded like a lady's voice instead of a man's.

"Sneasel, the Sharp Claw pokemon. SNEASEL scales trees by punching its hooked claws into the bark. This cunning POKéMON hides under the cover of darkness, waiting to attack its prey. Its paws conceal sharp claws. If attacked, it suddenly extends the claws and startles its enemy. Vicious in nature, it drives PIDGEY from their nests and feasts on the eggs that are left behind. It is extremely agressive and will not stop attacking until its foe is incapable of moving."

Darci blinked at the pokedex. "You usually don't chatter nearly this much." She said, dropping it back into her backpack, a 'Turt!' sounding as the pokedex probably landed on Maxwell. She nodded to DC. "Seems to me this thing is stronger than ours, we're going to have to double team on it."

She pointed a finger. "Tango!" she screamed. Vincent simply turned back, confused. It then struck her that Vincent was new and didn’t know any commands. Her head cocked to the side. “Ehhh?” she droned dumbly for a moment before shaking her head. “W-Whatever! Use Tackle again!” She yelled, Vincent charging forwards towards the Sneasel. Almost mockingly graceful, it spun and dodged it.

Darci simply watched, stunned, while the Sneasel quickly took down, or almost took down, Devil with a ferocious sweep. She swallowed. “Vincent! Proceed with caution! If bad becomes worse, I’m sending one of your partners in with you!” she yelled. She really didn’t want to have to send in another, however. Darci thought for a moment, her mind twitching as if her brain seemed to loop in continuous circles. It didn’t cease, but something in her mind flicked on the proverbial light-bulb, figuratively of course. Darci whirled to face DC, a strategy clicking on in her brain. She opened her mouth to speak, but heard a cry of pain. Turning, she gasped. The Sneasel had swiped at Vincent, sending him flying and into her chest. The air was punched out of her almost immediately. The ground was rather unforgiving and cruel as she fell back. She winced and a tear came to her left eye. She sat up, using her good arm to hold her up, while her bad arm went up and rubbed her stomach. "Aaahhh... Breakfast, calm down..." she cooed at her stomach.

A familiar, yet unrecognizable feeling welled up inside her. The cold claws of an unknown foe gripped her sanity tightly and began to crush logical reasoning. Vincent attempted to scramble back up and succeeded, jumping over to land at Devil’s side. The ragged tears in its back looked bad, yet less hideous then Devil’s claw marks. Darci crawled to her backpack, searching through it while her pokemon inside crawled out and scampered to various hiding spots.

"DC. You can order Vincent around for now." She said, searching for something deep inside the backpack she dug through rather gently, trying not to break anything.

This post has been edited by Ceilni: Oct 22 2009, 06:18 PM

[Red Kitten]

Any bunnying/godmodding of Vincent the eevee in this post was done with Ceilni's permission.

A barrage of cuss words popped into DC's mind, but she held her tongue. Even with the double team effort, this thing is still kicking our asses! She bit her lip, concentrating. We need to figure out a serious plan, pronto. It's one thing to be beaten by a trainer's Pokemon, where you just cough up some cash to give them and go your seperate ways. But a wild Pokemon doesn't want your money. And this one sure as hell isn't going to flee if it defeats us. It's going to go in for the kill. DC swallowed nervously and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She was beginning to feel the effects of anxiety creeping in on her mind. DC quickly pushed it back, knowing that if she let her fears take over her brain it was all over.

Just as she was forcing herself to come up with a plan for Devil's next move, DC noticed that Darci was beginning to falter. "DC. You can order Vincent around for now."

"Wha..." DC was stunned and a little confused, but she quickly snapped to attention. It had hit her that Darci was out of the picture, at least for the moment, and that she had to take the reins by herself. DC turned back to the battle, ignoring whatever Darci was doing for the time being. If they got through this - no, when they got through this, DC would make sure her friend was OK.

"Right!" she said to herself. "Devil, I know you're hurt, but I need you to keep the enemy occupied!" The Charmander bobbed his head and charged recklessly at the Sneasel, not going quite as close as before, but still putting himself in considerable danger. "Vincent! I don't know what you're capable of, but I'm pretty sure your kind can whip up a sand attack. Do it now, aim for the eyes!"

The Eevee, while he normally might not have obeyed another trainer so easily, was clearly determined to take the Sneasel down. Using his padded paws he kicked a flurry of sand in the Sneasel's direction. While the Sneasel would have usually been able to dodge this easily, it was currently distracted by Devil and got a face full of dirt. It growled, swiping at its eyes in an attempt to clean them, but its large claws were no good for that sort of task.

"Now Devil, ember!" Devil immediately let loose his most fearsome shower of embers, searing the Sneasel quite nicely. It snarled in pain, and DC noticed with a grin that the ember attack appeared to have caused a burn. That'll be helpful , she thought. "Nice job boys, good teamwork!" She clapped her hands proudly.

But DC's happiness was short lived. Although the Sneasel had sustained a burn and an eyeful of sand, it was quickly recovering and looked angrier than ever. DC gulped. "OK guys, retreat! Retreat and prepare to dodge! Stay on your toes!"