[X] My Assistant

[Living Arrow]

RP only for Living Arrow, ChainReaction01?, Kamaitachi and Master Houndoom. All bunnying approved.

“Hello!?”

The air in the forest was almost dead with the lack of breeze and the sun was beating an angry drum down upon the open meadow that Darryn Kellor and Lyla Moore had found themselves in while searching for the breeding center. The Co-ordinator and Breeder had travelled out of Petropolis on foot, taking a couple of days to reach the tiny farm that had been marked on Lyla’s PokeNav as the ‘Bouquet of Bonnies Breeding Center’ and it was all, apparently, for nothing.

“Look, Lyla,” Darryn folded his arms as he watched his cousin fretting over the locked front door, “clearly no-one is in and no-one has been for a while. Let’s just move on and catch up to the others.”

The others were Jaima Kuonji, Meiko Omura and Tuesday Berdison – the rest of what had come to be known as Team Rogue in their journey together. They had separated in Petropolis so that Darryn could persue his dream of becoming a successful Co-Ordinator and take on sponsorship of a top designer, Elliot Wethers. Since then, Darryn had been in touch with Tuesday by her favourite form of communication – pen and ink – and found out that she had peeled away from Jaima and Meiko to travel alone for a little while. He had been pretty surprised to hear that since she and Jaima were like siblings and the older Senpai *Now you’re thinking like them!* was protective of his adopted little sister.

“But, but!” Lyla protested as she hammered on the door. “But they’re meant to, like, have some totally awesome tips on Pokemon Breeding! Not only do they specialise in breeding Grass Group Pokemon, they’re meant to know about a whole new way of passing on rare Abilities that people have never heard of before!”

Darryn rolled his eyes. Trust his cousin Lyla to still have her business head screwed on on such a wonderfully sunny day like this! Sometimes her stoic attitude to her career was admirable but right now it was crazy. The weather was the best they’d had in days and they were in a beautiful forest where the smells of the wild and sounds of the local Pokemon could consume you faster than you could take a break to really look at your surroundings.

“Just look around, Ly!” Darryn spread his arms wide, “We’re in a gorgeous forest with nothing to distract us from having fun for a change!

“R-really?” Lyla looked around nervously. “But we’re in the woods… Don’t, like, Bug Pokemon live out here? I ead somewhere that a Beedrill sting can put you in the hospital for days and if there’s a swarm…”

“Pull the other one, Ly!” Darryn laughed. “Besides, if any Bug Pokemon attack you’ve got me and Lima here to sort them out!”

“Fa, fa, fafafaaa!” The Cleffa in the Co-Ordinator’s arms sang her agreement which only produced a raised eyebrow from the Breeder.

“You’re not, like, serious are you?” Lyla rolled her eyes. “Darryn, Cleffa are just babies – what’s she going to do? Charm them away? I’d feel much better if you’d let Lady out of the ball.”

“Not going to happen.” Darryn’s mood plummeted at the mention of his crimson Vulpix. “She’s still angry and until she speaks to me there’s nothing I can do to make her feel any better about it – you saw how she was after we got the Mirrormist Ribbon.”

Of course, his Vulpix couldn’t actually speak – they communicated by telepathy, something that his disability allowed him to do. Since travelling with a girl named Melinda Rose, he had gained what had been named his Empath ability – a strange power that allowed him to view the emotions of any human or Pokemon around him. It just so happened that attached to the ability was the skill to speak telepathically to any human or Pokemon that he was closely emotionally linked to and, thanks to her inherited Psychic powers, Lady could even respond when he called out with his mind. Now though, she wouldn’t respond and had masked her emotions from him completely.

Lyla nodded gravely, recalling how the Vulpix had brain-assault her after her massive shift in demeanour. She’d always heard that the fire fox Pokemon could be tempermental (just like any Fire type) but there didn’t appear to be any root cause of the alteration in mood. Now, all the Vulpix would do out of her Heal Ball was eat and battle – hardly the characteristics of a true partner which she had grown to be under Darryn’s care.
Lyla regarded the way Darryn held Lima and inwardly sighed. He clearly missed Lady’s presence and was trying to compensate for her absence by keeping one of his other Pokemon out of their Pokeball as they travelled. First it had been Victor but the Squirtle had been too slow to keep up, then Romeo the Jolteon but his happy-go-lucky nature meant he was likely to get lost as he ran around in search of adventure, and now it was the baby Cleffa’s turn.

“Alright,” Lyla began as she spied another human entering the meadow from the far side, heading their way, “but if you want to, like, have fun, at least battle him so I can take some more notes?” She nodded over Darryn’s shoulder and he turned to see the trainer crossing the field toward them and the Boutique of Bonnies Breeding Center.

“Fine,” he said as he took mental note of who was most ready to battle in his team, “better get your notebook out.”

[Master Houndoom]

<'Ello?>

<He is avake.> The voice was muffled, more than likely by food. The second voice was similarly altered, but more as if something were hanging out of it.

<Yeah. Lucky him.>

Two forms stepped out of the shadows, or, rather, out of the deeper shadows, resolving into the cubone, Dimo, and his companion, a scruffy looking scraggy with his tongue hanging out. Dimo looked down at the jolteon, tilting his head. The plume on the back of his ersatz helmet was tattered and fraye,d and there were new scratches around the eye socket, but his eyes were clear, even friendly, as he lay some large herbs and berries down. The scraggy was ragged, but had not taken damage in the fight. His large eyes were wary, with a fire behind them, having been long practiced at hiding any fear or possible insanity behind a veneer of apathy. This veneer was, however, marred by the scrafty's tongue hanging out of his mouth, and the wrinkles around his eyes as he tried not to wince.

<Eet op, poopy doc,> Dimo said softly. <Ve hont.> His eyes and voice took on a much harsher, rougher tone, and there was an indication of sharp teeth showing through a slasher grin.

<What's a poopy doc?> Romeo wondered aloud, sniffing the berries and herbs. They certainly didn't smell inviting.

<Don't do it, kid, it's a trap. Those berries are bitter as hell!>

<Vhot?> The roughness was completely gone now. <Dot's crezy talk! Dose berries is just fine! Unt dey will mek hyu stronk! Heel hyu ride op!>

<Yer crazy,> the scraggy muttered, then stretched. <OK, then. I'm going to head out.>

<Vhere do hyu tink hyu is going,> Dimo said, quietly. Some of the snarl had returned to his voice, but, unlike other possible pokemon, the scraggy simply sneered.

<Away from here. I keep tellin' you, it's your funeral. Don't mean I want it to be mine.>

Dimo growled. <Hyes? How hyu gon' get through dem beasties again? Hy'm goin' dis way, and I'm sure da poopy vill go vit me to find his guy.>

Romeo's head tilted to the right, wondering, still, what a poopy was.

<Ain't my problem,> the scraggy sneered. Dimo looked at him, then smiled behind his helmet. It wasn't visible. But it was felt. The scraggy's shoulder's shuddered.

<Hyu seem like a schmott guy,> Dimo started, leaning on the large wooden stick that had taken the place of his broken bone club. <End hy can tell, hyu is a hongry guy, too. Hyu fell on dem berries we fount like dey vos the sveetest berries hyu could find!> Dimo laughed lightly, ignoiring the confused look of the scraggy, who in turn was wondering how the cubone knew he preferred sweet berries. <Vhot if I tol' hyu dot hy know a place where hyu could get all de food hyu could eat, unt haff trainink, unt somevun vit vich to heng oot?>

The scraggy's eyes narrowed dangerously. Ponderously, as it took a while for the lids to slide across their massive expanse slowly enough to know it was displeasure and not a mere blink, but still dangerously. Dimo simply grinned, a grin that the scraggy could see in his voice.

<How?> The scraggy was suspicious, and those suspicions were confirmed with Dimo's next words.

<Da gorl. Hyu get cawt by da gorl. Unt den, hyu only go into a pookybool when she isn't allowt to haff hyu oot.>

THe scraggy's suspicions were confirmed, but he was still tempted. Finally he kicked the ground. <Fine, fine, lead the way, Magellan!>

<Who?>

<Shaddup.>

*-*-*-*-*

The small form rolled over, with a groan. Raising on a short pair of arms, the figure winced. She looked down, seeing the long, shallow scratches on her forearms. If they had bled, the bleeding had stopped long ago.

She rose up, looking around. One sie of her mid-back length blonde hair was done up in a ponytail, but the other side hung loose, even tangled,. There was a similar long gash on her cheek, but it was only a red welt, and nor a scrap.

Suddenly, her lethargic motions stopped, and she froze in place, looking around. Her eyes were wide, and she looked around, slowly.

She was in the open, a small clearing. There was a lot of debris, mostly spoiling vegetation, but no movement.

Strike that. With a twitch, her face turned at a small movement to her left. She swallowed, watching. Waiting.

Anticipating.

Slowly, a small, pink shape moved from behind a lump. The girl blinked. It was...

It was a cleffa...

The girl stood, slowly, approaching carefully. She blinked. This is what Darryn was looking for, wasn't it?

"Hello," the girl said. "I'm Branwys. I think we've been looking for you."

A groan caused her to squeak. She grabbed onto the cleffa and backed away, and scrambled back. The cleffa struggled a bit, pointing and trying to get out of Branwys' arms.

Branwys looked down and stepped toward the mounds. Leaning down, she wiped away some of the leaves.

A man's face was revealed, and Branwys gasped. Shifting leaves away on the other mound, she managed to reveal the entire upper torso of of a woman.

And the most surprising thing was revealed a moment later, when both of them breathed.

"You're... alive..."

*-*-*-*-*

Back in the clearing where Branwys was attacked, a lone bag lay. On that bag, lay a pair of gears. A pair of gears with four eyes, two mouths, and two dome-like noses.

The gears rotated, steadily. The two eyes, one on each gear, that were not in the shape of an X, were dull. Lifeless, yet in a way that seemed to affirm that life was once in them.

The gears rotated again. A regular motion.

"Klink."

"Klink."

"Klink."