[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]

Branwys looked between the two, swallowing thickly. Darryn's pokémon were amazing. Cesc was making his way, as well, with even his attempts using moves strong against the pokémon. He was suited to this battle, as was Darryn. Branwys looked at her beleaguered Dimo, a club in his claw that was unfamiliar, dirtier. Dimo was outmatched by these creatures, yet still fought.

The friend he seemed to have attracted seemed to fare better, but he was battered, and showed a strange hesitance that belied the ferocity he fought with.

That wasn't what bothered Branwys. All of her life she struggled against the reality of her size. It shouldn't matter that she was three feet tall. She could do anything a full sized person could do.

Except that she couldn't.

She couldn't help in this fight. She couldn't keep from being captured by these things. Her pokémon weren't able to battle effectively...

To be fair, the last one had nothing to do with her size.

But now, with the mother in Cesc's manly arms, the father was going to be left, and she was the only one left to do anything...

She couldn't pick up a fully grown man...

She stepped forward, hesitantly at first, then more confidently. She may not be able to lift one, but she could drag one just fine. She wrapped her hands under his arms and began to pull.

Dimo turned and saw her, and the large eyed yellow pokémon turned back. Each looked at the other, nodded, and pulled up a leg, managing to get him fully off the ground.

Branwys, Dimo, and the unknown scraggy pulled, half-dragged, and manhandled the father after the rest of the group.

[Living Arrow]

It really didn’t sit well with Darryn that a small girl like Branwys, and her equally small Pokemon partners, had been left to deal with carrying Bobby’s father out of that ghastly clearing but there really wasn’t much else for it – he had to defend their rear while they trudged back to the meadow. Between Lady and Bravo, the forest blazed in the fleeing humans’ wake and the danger of being followed and attacked again was slowly and surely being mitigated.

*Not much farther… and the sun will be up soon, too… maybe I can reach Lyla now…*

<Lyla?>

<DARRYN!>

“Ungh!” Darryn clapped his hands to his head and stumbled as his cousin’s thought-speak slammed home. He was definitely in range, alright. Keeping up with Cesc and Branwys, Darryn scanned the forest ahead for any sign that they would be back in the meadow soon. He found nothing.

<Darryn, are you, like, here yet?> Lyla sounded at the end of her tether – even her mirrored telepathy was frantic.

<I think so,> he replied, still unsure of how far they were from each other, <I don’t think my… I don’t think this thing works over long distances – we should be there very soon.>

<Good!> Lyla’s response came with a mental sigh of relief. <We’re, like, ready for you. Just get to the meadow and we’ll, like, take care of the rest.>

<What’s that supposed to mean?> Darryn demanded, dodging a tree root that threatened to steal his feet from underneath him. <How are you going to stop the Carnivine?>

<It’s, like, the Rage Powder.> Lyla sounded impatient. <Rage Powder works on its target, attracting the aggression of others toward it. The problem here was that too much Rage Powder residue was covering the grass in the meadow – anyone walking through it would just get covered and->

<And take the Carnivine’s attention!>

<Exactly!>

<Y’know, Ly, you’re way smarter than you let on.> Darryn admitted.

<I’ll take that insult as, like, a compliment.> Lyla grumbled back. <Just hurry!>

*****

“There!” Darryn gasped, the glimmer of hope that Lyla had given him was swelling like a balloon now – there was a way of the nightmare, after all! “The meadow!”

All three trainers broke the final line of trees and stepped out onto lush grass once more, their staggering forms lurching through the almost-light of the near-dawn. Sure enough, Lyla stood ready with Bobby, two of her Pokemon at her side. Darryn had expected to see relief on Lyla’s face but all he could see with astounded horror – her eyes wide and mouth gaping. Darryn looked down at himself then across at the other two. Sure enough, they were a sight to behold… Like something from a charity ad…

“C’mon!” Darryn urged Cesc and Branwys, looping an arm down and under Bobby’s Dad’s arm to help Branwys drag him the rest of the way.

“NOW, SUIKA!” Lyla screamed, her Azurill bouncing high into the air with a slam of its tail. “Target everyone and use Soak!”

“Wait, what?” Darryn drew up short even as the torrent of water from the tiny Pokemon crashed down into his face. First him, then Branwys and the Professor, Cesc and Bobby’s mother. Then each of the Pokemon in turn, all splashed hard with the water from above. Although freezing cold, the water was shockingly refreshing after their sweat-soaked battle and escape in the forest and Darryn found himself reveling in the sensation of the damp penetrating the dirt that caked his hair. He ran hand sback through his chestnut locks and rubbed away droplets from his eyes.

“That should do it…” Lyla mumbled to herself, examining the group closely in the dim light. “Washing off the Rage Powder is, like, only the first step though – we need to get rid of the rest in the grass by totally burning it all away.”

“Huh,” Darryn frowned, “sounds dangerous to me.”

“And sticking around to see if it happens again doesn’t?” Lyla retorted. “Darryn, we need to make sure that nobody-“

“DEERLING!”

Screams of wild fawns pierced the air as the native herd to the grassland thundered towards the trainers, snaring and slashing vines whipping the air behind them.

“The Carnivine!” Darryn gasped, “they must have changed target to the Deerling that live here!”

“But the Deerling are only fast in the light!” Bobby piped up. “They can’t run away with Chorophyll until the sun comes up! Somebody help them!”

Darryn took in the numbers of Carnivine flooding the meadow. They had no hope… Tens of the things were bearing down upon the Deerling, some already ensnaring victims and dragging them back towards the treeline. Movement to one side of the group, however, caught his eye. A lone Deerling, a different colour o the others, was charging back at the attackers with grim determination. Darryn peered closer. The other Deerling’s target was… The mother Carnivine and father Amoonguss! The courage and desperation that came from that Deerling’s soul were two of the most pure emotions that Darryn had ever felt and, like a leaf in a river’s current, he was swept along with it.

“Victor!” Darryn threw the Pokeball down and nodded to Lyla. “Victor help Suika wash the Deerling as they come past this way.”

*What are you doing, Dar?!* He struggled with himself to no avail.

“Lady, Bravo, Romeo – let’s go!” Darryn took off towards the Carnivine with his Pokemon in tow. “Attack!”