[X] My Assistant

[Master Houndoom]

This RP is already fully staffed and will not accept applications. Furthermore, any bunnying done to characters or pokemon is done with permission by the owner of the character/pokemon.

"And then, Jaima's mother comes home, and no one's there. Well, she's in a towering fury, she says, but she goes out to the back yard, and there they are, with a blanket draped over the clothesline, roasting marshmallows over Ember's behind!"

Tuesday and Meiko burst into fits of girlish laughter, and Jaima smiled, slightly flushed. Darryn also smiled, almost a smirk. "I've heard that before."

Meiko grinned at him, then back at Jaima, winking and pointing at him. Jaima raised a brow, then gave a smirk of his own.

"Well, this one is new to you. It's Meiko's 8th birthday, and it's supposed to be a surprise party..."

Meiko gasped. "Noooooo," she wailed, reaching for Jaima, who dodged nimbly.

The story never actually got told, but things were learned by the traveling companions. For example, Tuesday and Darryn learned that Jaima was actually ticklish, and that Meiko knew where, and vice versa. Meiko and Jaima learned that one should not get into a tickle war while there was a certain mischievous riolu around.

No one understood exactly how it happened, or where Zorro had gotten the rope, but before it could be stopped, Jaima and Meiko had ended up with their hands tied behind the other's back, facing each other, wide eyed and blinking in surprise.

With a laugh, Tuesday scolded Zorro, Darryn moved to untie the pair, and Meiko took the opportunity to drop a kiss on Jaima's nose.

* * * * *

The camp was set up with now expected efficiency, and supper had been eaten. The four trainers lounged around the fire, sleepy eyed, several pokemon (several being twenty, but no one was counting) lounging in different groups, and smiling. The previous leg of their journey, which had ended with the group taking refuge with Tuesday's uncle, had provided a time of rejuvenation, and the group had fallen into a kind of contentment that was the aim of many people, the kind of contentment one would love to look back in their life and say they could feel for the majority of it. The kind of contentment that, usually, preceded a storm or quake.

There was talking, and laughter, and soon the wishes of good nights. The morning would bring more travel, and perhaps a practice battle, but for now, sleep was called for.

[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!>