[X] My Assistant

[Umbrae Calamitas]

Had Tuesday been aware of the storm that had been brewing within her team, she would not have anticipated it to come to head as it did. Had she known, as Odysseus knew and other suspected, that it was only a matter of time before the fury culminated, Tuesday would have expected it to do so in the presence of Jaima. She would not have anticipated that she be so far removed from her friends as she was, an unknown number of miles away from them, in fact. She would not have guessed that the rage which filled the heart of her first pokemon would reach its apex during a pokemon battle with a trainer she had never met before. Had she known, she didn't know what she would have done to prevent it.

But then, she didn't know.

"Laurel, use Take Down!"

"Smokescreen, Dante!"

The venusaur that was the third pokemon her opponent sent out charged forward with a grumbling roar. Dante hunkered down on his back legs, muscles tense, hissing as the smoke burst from his mouth like a gas bomb, filling the air with a dark cloud which obscured their view of each other.

Laurel's move must have missed its target, as there was no sound of an attack having connected. Only the grumbling of the large saurian beast and Dante's ominous hissing.

The field in which the two trainers were battling already contained evidence of their pokemon's harsh battles. Grass was torn up in area, great gouges had torn through the grass and soil, and whole areas had been trampled or burned clear of vegetation. A large dead stump off to the side had already been a point of attack for Tempest, Tuesday's hotheaded pikachu. The bark still coating the stubborn remains of the tree was crispy and brittle on the edges, and the center of the tree was blackened and scorched. The stantler, who had attempted to use the stump as a springboard of attack, had not fared well from the attack, either.

Tempest, of course, had been beaten nearly to unconsciousness by the small deer-like pokemon that the other trainer had used as her second. Tuesday had never encountered the pokemon's like before, but the adorable pink and yellow pokemon had clearly been a grass-type, or partial, like the venusaur before her now. Tuesday resisted the urge, with some difficulty, to fetch her sketchboard and draw the pokemon. It was a close thing. Her fingers were itching.

This third pokemon was proving to be difficult, however. Dante had laid waste to Horizon, as the girl had called her fawn pokemon, but was now faced against a pokemon of a greater evolutionary tier, and power. Of course, being a fire-type helped.

"Fire Fang!" Tuesday called.

She heard a snarl from within the smokescreen and caught a glimpse of a flash of fire. The gentle breeze which had been blowing was quickly causing the smoke to dissipate, and Tuesday caught a glimpse of her opponent on the other side of the field.

Straight brown hair was cut just at the girl's jawline, curling in at the ends. A single strand of hair, errant, with a slight curl to it to differ from the rest of her hair (as all errant strands must), hung down over one of the girl's large green eyes. Her lips were parted slightly as she watched the battle before her. Her hands clenched into worried fists as she attempted to command her pokemon in such a way as to bring the battle back into her favor.

"Earthquake!"

"Earthquake?" Tuesday gasped, just as the venusaur stomped great paws down on the ground and caused it to tremble beneath her. Tuesday let out an "oof!" as she lost her footing and toppled, with no small amount of embarrassment, onto her behind. She grimaced at the sore pain in her rear, but blue eyes flicked up to the battle before she bothered to get to her feet. The smoke still hung with stubborn futility in the air, brief wisps of dark cloud, but she could see the two pokemon fine. Dante had lost his balance from the attack and collapsed onto his front, legs and legs splayed outward. As he pushed himself to his feet, hissing dangerously, he did not look the least bit pleased.

In the moments after Dante had fallen, the venusaur had taken advantage of its opponent's lack of attacking and moved closer. Tuesday thought quickly of a way to give Dante a chance to get away from the pokemon. A fire attack would do more damage, of course, but even with the super-effective attack, the venusaur would have a chance to retaliate. a physical attack was more likely to make the larger pokemon flinch away, or at least attempt to dodge, giving the charmeleon a chance to put some distance between them.

"Dante! Metal Claw!"

The charmeleon put its weight on its right rear leg as it brought its left arm raking upward through the air, claws glowing. The metal claw attack caught the venusaur across the face, causing the pokemon to roar and pain and jerk backward on instinct.

"Get out of its range, Dante!" Tuesday called. She knew, of course, that the charmeleon wouldn't be able to get out of striking distance of a vine whip or razor leaf, but as least he could avoid being stepped on.

Instead of doing as she said and retreating to a safer distance, however, the charmeleon hissed loudly, a burning sound, like cold water hitting a hot skillet. Light flickered beyond the charmeleon's fangs, and then flames burst forward. The venusaur roar and reared back on its hind legs, eyes shut and face as turned away as such a large pokemon could manage.

"Laurel! Use Synthesis!" the brown-haired girl cried, fists clenched at her chin.

Tuesday hadn't even thought of what order, exactly, to give Dante before the charmeleon was attacking again. Fire burst forth from his mouth, causing the venusaur to retreat, its attempt at performing Synthesis a failure. Dante advanced on the pokemon, mouth opened in a continued hiss that was interrupted only by the flames that burst forth. Fire attack after fire attack, the charmeleon unleashed unrepentent fury upon its opponent, oblivious to the measures of his own cruelty and Tuesday's cries for him to stop.

Exhausted, with scorch marks scattered across her body like war scars, the venusaur collapsed to the ground with a great rumble and thump. Snarling, Dante's claws glowed on both hands, and he lunged with fire flickering in his mouth. The fainted venusaur was a defenseless victim to the charmeleon as his claws tore through blue-green flesh and his fangs, burning with flames, shredded the petals on the unconscious pokemon's back with great bites and vicious twists of his head, as though the venusaur were not another living creature, but a dog toy, to be chewed to pieces for amusement, if nothing else.

"Dante! Dante, stop!" Tuesday cried, horrified. Her attempts at recalling the charmeleon were a failure when he dodged the red beam of the pokeball, only to unleash a flamethrower attack upon his felled opponent.

"Laurel!" the other girl cried, tears filling her eyes but unfallen, as she desperately searched in her bag for her pokeball.

"Dante!"

The charmeleon ignored her again and, horrified at what she was witnessing her first pokemon do to another, Tuesday grabbed another pokeball from her belt and tossed it outward. The words she thought she would never say - words that fought tooth and nail to be substituted with vomit at the very thought of them - tore from her throat before the pokeball had even fully unleashed its charge.

"Odysseus! Take Dante down! Water Gun!"

[Master Houndoom]

Between the two of them, one of them was awake over four times in the night.

For one each, it was for normal biological needs, though they are remarkable given the fact that, while the couple were still fairly new together, and wary of going past the other's assumed limitations, they fell easily back into the sleep they had been in before the need arose, snuggling together and matching body curve to curve, in an almost intimate way that is found amongst those who have entered a relationship many years ago.

In one other, Jaima woke, suddenly, hearing a noise beyond the door of the room. His head popped up, removing his face from his gilrfriend's hair. Had he been a pokemon, his eyes would have been wide and round, to gather as much light as possible for seeing. His ears would have been high, or wide, or flared, twitching for even the smallest sounds. His muscles were tense, and the small hairs on his arms rose, standing straight up.

He didn't make a sound. He didn't rise, but, subconsciously, carefully, he did shift, able to rise, able to clear the girl in front of him, stand between her, their pokemon, and whoever might attack.

After a short time, he relaxed, then tensed, briefly, then relaxed. His head lowered, he snuffled a bit, and began to sleep again.

Lastly, Meiko woke. Like Jaima, she, too, stayed perfectly still, not even moving her head. But her wariness was regarding herself. She woke, gritting her teeth, stifling a whine or cry. Arms were around her, and she knew they were male, and...

She put her hands on the forearms in front of her, and then, slowly, began to remember. It was Jaima. It was not dangerous. It was safe.

She closed her eyes, forcing her breathing, which had started to become short and rapid, to slow, calm. She forced her heart to do the same. Her hands ran the length of Jaima's forearms, slowly. She could feel give in them. If she so desired, she could push them away, and get out of the bed.

She wasn't trapped, and that did more for her fear than her own efforts. Her eyes drifted closed, and she fell back to sleep.

* * * * *

"Evewy night?"

It was a similar room to the last time these two young ladies had been here before. There was no mirror, and the diverse decorations were much better merged, with the dark and lavender portions gracing the floor and highlighting the white and blue walls. There was a small white table, the kind usually seen on television outside of a cafe, painted white, with lavender cups on it, filled with steaming tea.

The speaker, who's nose was scrunched up a little bit, was a young girl with her hair sweeping back in loops at either side of her head. She wore a black dress festooned with white bows, which stopped at mid thigh. She stirred her tea with one hand, her other pressed against her cheek, resting it. Her face looked almost bored, but in her eyes was a glint of interest, suggesting that the boredom was an act.

Across from her sat a girl with short blue hair, wearing a white sundress that ended in the same place. She, too, stirred her tea, looking toward it without focusing on it at all. She smiled at her companion's words.

"No, not every night... but when he's very tired, he sometimes needs help keeping his mind at rest."

The girl in the dark dress took a sip of her tea, frowned slightly at the taste, and spooned some sugar, a bowl of which appeared as if by magic on the table, into the cup. "And you did this fo' my twainew, too?"

"Only before you were around."

"When did you sweep?"

"We're sleeping now..."

"I guess," the girl in the dark dress said, unconvinced. They sat in silence for a while, the girl in white looking around idly, enjoying the tea, the room, and, if she were pressed for an answer, the company. The girl in black tapped her finger on the table. "So why awe you hewping me now?"

The blue-haired girl looked up, blinking. "You asked," she said, aware that it was almost insultingly obvious.

"I haven't given you much weason to twust my intentions." A flicker of emotion crossed the other girl's face, causing the girl in white to frown and reach out. After a token hesitation, she put her hand on her companion's.

"Nightwish... Something happened in that forest. Something happened while we were last here. Maybe it's been building up, maybe we exchanged something during our... scuffle-"

Nightwish snorted daintily. "Scuffew, she says. Don't sugaw coat it, Mewcuwy."

Mercury smile, a small smile both happy and mischievous. "Fine. Our fight. And I won't sugar coat, this, either: You've been coming to this for a while. Meiko's the first human you've cared about."

A dark shadow crossed Nightwish's face, but she did not get angry. "No. Not the fiwst."

Mercury patted her hand, but knew better, now, than to push. "I'm glad. I've grown fond of Meiko... I'm glad a caring psychic found her..."

"See, that's what fweaks me out!" Nightwish stood, turning her back to Mercury. "You've seen how I am! You've seen me-- You've seen me! How can you twust me?!"

Mercury stood as well, walking around the table, and putting an arm around her. "Because I've seen you. Seen you for what you really are... or at least for what you want to be." Nightwish looked at her, eyes wide. "The mirror," Mercury continued. "It's hard to fool a mind mirror."

"But you saw what I saw--"

"I saw what you saw, how you saw it. Almost as if it were through your eyes. Before that... I saw you how you are."

Nightwish only looked at Mercury, her brows flowing together. She took a shaky breath.

"Why do you bewieve in me..?"

Mercury smiled, slightly sad, then, slowly, teasing. "I blame my trainer."

"Haha!" Nightwish pulled away, batting at Mercury. "Maybe I wubbed off on you a wittwe bit, too," she said, finally. "You don't have that big oh' stick up youw--"

Both girls suddenly lifted their heads. Mercury smiled a little, nodding, and sat down again. Nightwish also sat, closing her eyes.

After a while, she opened one. "Show me how to hewp..."

Mercury beamed at her, causing Nightwish to scowl and close her eye. "Don't make a spectacwe out of it, just hewp me!"

"OK, here's what you do..."

* * * * *

Meiko woke to the shower running, sitting up blearily as it turned off. She was still in her clothing from the night before, except for her hat, which was on the night table. Her hair was mussed, and her mouth felt like it had cotton in it. She made a face and stood up.

The bathroom door opened, and Jaima stepped out. Meiko blushed, not because he was in any way compromised: He had evidently taken precautions, and was fully dressed. Her blush was from the slick, brief feeling of disappointment that he hadn't stepped out in less.

Jaima grinned, driving the brief shame away. "Hey. Why don't you have a shower, and I'll get us breakfast..?"

Meiko nodded, her eyes widening as the mention of food made her aware of how hungry she was. Jaima stepped out, and Meiko darted into the bathroom, having a single important matter delaying her shower temporarily.

As promised, when Meiko was finished, Jaima was there, with breakfast: Toast, eggs, bacon, sausage. It was more than she expected, and she looked, wide eyed, at her boyfriend. "Where--?"

Jaima scratched the back of his head. "They're having some kind of continental breakfast down there. The Nurse said to help myself, so..."

Meiko grinned, and they sat, eating. Chatting, lightly, about what they'd do that day, where they'd go, and how best to continue Jaima's challenge.

Soon, Breakfast was done, the pokemon were fed, and Jaima and Meiko stepped out, arm in arm. It wasn't long until they saw a familiar pair of heads. Tuesday and Reilly seemed to be walking slowly, talking. Then, they stopped, facing each other.

And then Reilly kissed Tuesday.

Jaima and Meiko's eyes widened, and they turned to look at each other. Meiko's face lit up, and she said the only thing she could, as quietly as possible...

"Eeeeee!!!"