[X] My Assistant

[7eeveelutions]

Deep within the rainforests of Fidona, Pokemon of many different varieties could be heard communicating with each other. The trees and underbrush were filled with the songs of birds, the grunts and growls of foxes, wolves, and cats, and many sounds, some more unique than others.

Such as the sound of a Ninetales being slammed into the ground and yelping.

In fact, in this particular part of the forest, the sounds of a battle had been ongoing for nearly fifteen minutes.

The (male) Ninetales was on a path through the northernmost portion of the island, nearly 50 miles north of the small town of Fidona that gave the island its name. The path itself, while clearly visible, was also quite clearly not very well-traveled; it was originally made of cobblestone, but was in the latter stages of disintegration and now contained just as much dirt and weeds as it did stone. On one side of the path were the large trees that made the rainforest so famous, while on the other side of the path was a small clearing maybe a hundred feet wide shaped somewhat like a circle.

On one side of that clearing was the Ninetales' Trainer, a bulky Hiker who looked like he was about to pull his hair out in frustration. Across from him sat a tall, thin Ranger, who was perched on a boulder about as big as he was and looked far calmed than the Hiker. In front of the Ranger stood a little female Espeon wearing a reddish-brown Ranger vest.

Notably, the Ranger had a short sword with a red-brown sheath dangling from one side of his waist, and a small black plastic holster on the other side, although the contents of the holster were not visible. The Hiker, of course, had a giant backpack with what appeared to be some kind of fold-up tent attached to it.

"This is going much better than I ever would have hoped......" the Ranger muttered.

Just going off of size alone, the Espeon should never have won that battle. She was not yet fully grown, and her height currently sat at about two and a half feet. The Ninetales, on the other hand, was not only fully grown but actually substantially bigger and bulkier than most of its species, and it stood right around four and a quarter feet tall. In addition to this, there was clearly a huge age difference, and thus a huge difference in battle experience. It was quite clear what would normally happen when something that big got a hold of something that small.

But that hadn't happened. In fact, the Ninetales had yet to even land a hit on the Espeon. Whenever it tried attacking from range, the Espeon would either dodge or use Protect. If it tried to close in and strike, the Espeon would not simply dodge, but do something far more dangerous.

Every time the Espeon was caught at close range in an unfavorable situation, it teleported into a more favorable location.

And that was why the Ninetales was currently lying flat on his belly with his legs spread out in random directions.

He had attempted to use Flamethrower as a distraction to get the Espeon to dodge, then use Quick Attack to catch it while it dodged. Only moments before it had already forced the Espeon into using Protect to block another attack, so she had to wait a little while before she could use it again. The hiker had ordered the combo attack thinking this would be their best chance, as the Espeon was clearly getting tired by this point.

But then she had teleported to a position about ten feet directly above the Ninetales, and had used Telekinesis on herself to give her body downwards velocity. Essentially, she turned the dodge into a flying drop-kick that struck poor Ninetales right on his back.

And to make things worse, the Ranger and his Espeon were communicating through telepathy, so the Hiker and his Ninetales didn't ever have the sligtest clue about what was coming next.

As his Pokemon struggled to stand back up after that attack, the Hiker decided to take the easy way out and cast aside his pride so that Ninetales could rest.

"All right, that's enough! We forfeit. You win, Ranger. That little Eeveelution of yours is surprisingly adept."

"Ahh? You give up? Well, fine. Scarlet hasn't lost a battle yet since she learned how to teleport. It isn't something most people or Pokemon are used to fighting against. Nobody seems to have the slightest clue how to counter it...... except for me, of course. My name is Scott by the way. I'm an Area Ranger from the Loch Ranch area, but I'm all the way out here because of some personnel shortages."

The Hiker recalled his Ninetales. "My name is Luke. I'm actually the head of the Fidona Tour Services. I usually try to make a point of challenging all the rangers I see, but..... I'm not used to losing. This was just a 1 on 1 battle though, maybe if it had been two on two or 6 on 6......"

"4 on 4 is the best I can manage, but you still would have lost, because then you would have been distracted by Scarlet while a more threatening member of my team attacked." The small Espeon suddenly teleported again, this time onto Scott's shoulders with her backs legs on his left shoulder and her front legs on his right shoulder, and her body curved around the back of Scott's head somewhat similar to a neck pillow.

"...... I am going to have to go home and reflect upon this battle. If we meet again and have a rematch, you can be sure the outcome will be different." Hiker Luke started off down the path southwards back towards Fidona.

Scott and Scarlet watched them leav, before Scott fed his Espeon a pair of berries- Oran and Leppa- to restore her health and strength. Afterwards, she finally got down from his shoulders, and he returned her back to the Great Ball she resided in so she could rest. "Guess I might as well get back to patrolling......"

He looked up at the sky for a few moments and tapped his sword sheath twice with one of his fingers before jumping down off of the rock.

[7eeveelutions]

As the Pidgeot flock began to take action, Scott realized that Scarlet had, in her excitement, forgotten to break the chain securing him to the cage his Pokemon had used to be in. Not only that, but she was still gone trying to get his fake gun back. She and her brother both had tunnel vision, so he had no idea when she would be returning. The chain was likely too strong for anyone to break or melt, so the only ways to get it off would be to either find the key or to use Scarlet's telekinetic powers to pick the lock.

Scarlet wasn't really trained to do that, but it would certainly be easier than fighting everyone looking for a key.

As the girl who was helping recalled her Pokemon and was picked up by a Pidgeot, Ruby fell back to protect her trainer. Scott was focused on the lead poacher though, because that was where his firecracker gun was- and where Scarlet would next show up.

But the lead poacher was still getting chased around by an enraged Charizard, and Scott saw the gun slip out of his belt.......

...... And promptly get stepped on (and likely crushed) by the fire dragon. It may have been made of metal, but since it used compressed air to fire the paintballs instead of gunpowder it wasn't made to the same quality as an actual handgun. There was little chance that it still worked anymore.

"Tch. That's...... several hundred dollars down the drain."

It took a minute, but Scarlet teleported back to him soon afterwards. She had given up on retrieving the weapon.

"The chain...... pick the lock on the chain."

The chain was made of some kind of aluminum alloy with a clasp at both ends, one of which was around Scott's right wrist. As his Espeon began to focus on the clasp's lock, Scott noticed that most of the Pidgoet had left by now and the mutant Absol was back on its feet.

It was that thing and Ruby now. His Vulpix decided to start by lightning the grass between them on fire with multiple Emer attacks so that the Absol couldn't easily approach. As the wolf-thing-with-wings stood confused, the smoke caused by the fires created a wall so that Scott and Ruby could no longer see their opponent.

After several moments passed with the Absol not reappearing, Scarlet finally got the clasp open. Scott quickly grabbed his bag and recalled his Espeon, and Ruby began to turn back to him.

And then they were both grabbed by the wild Pidgeots.

"Hey, wait...... don't...... AHHHHHHHH!"

A sudden burst of pain from Scott's burns on his back knocked him out cold.
_____________________________________________________________________

A week passed, and finally the restriction on flying after the terrorist incident was lifted so the Rangers could use their helicopters again.

And then another week passed.
_____________________________________________________________________

Scott sat up in the hospital bed.

He was still in the Fidona general hospital, two weeks after the incident in the jungle.

He remembered nothing of the flight back to the city, or of landing, or of the three days after that. Apparently he'd been either unconscious or barely awake the entire time.

The medical records were staggering- he'd needed stitches in a few spots and a lot of pain medicine, but the burn on his back had required skin grafting to heal even with the medical abilities of Pokemon like Chansey and Blissey. It would likely leave a life-long scar, just like the one on his shoulder from long before now. Not only that, but he had to be treated for a concussion that he got when he was first attacked.

Plus, Ruby had needed stitches for a wound on the back of her neck and shoulder, and Ebony had needed surgery to repair a torn muscle in his leg.

Ruby had already been released back into Amber's care and was ready to go, but he and Ebony weren't allowed to leave the hospital yet. Luckily, Scarlet and Moss got through relatively unscathed.

Amber had already vented all her anger in the previous week, and was now simply trying to help out with some of the paperwork. The Rangers would pay for most of the medical bills, but he had to file a lengthy report on what had happened. That report was proving to be a major pain.

But in the end, there was good news.

Two days after the incident, a team of four Rangers and two Fidona policemen had stormed the poacher base, only to find it abandoned. All of the Pokemon that had been captured had been left in the cages, as if the poachers were in a hurry to leave, so everyone had been freed.

Not only that, but Ruby had dug into his bag while he'd been out cold and had used her Fire Stone. She was no longer a little Vulpix but a much larger Ninetales.

All that was left to do for Scott was to stare out the window of his hospital room and wish his recovery would happen faster so he could go back to patrolling.

And to wish that all the paperwork would go away.