[X] My Assistant

[Fei Fei]

This is a private thread between DuckTape, Charlie Piers, and FeiFei. Any inclusions will be invite/special request only.

The sun was low in the sky, near on setting, as three girls meandered their way down a dusty road, calmly taking in the scenery as they walked as one does when one has a destination but no time constraints. Their idle chatter strayed often to this or that about one of them, something else about someone else, etc etc etc, and they each seemed at perfect ease.

That is, until they finally came to said destination.

"Damnit! That old coot!" Alex yelled to no one in particular, stamping a foot in the ground as she took in the sight ahead of her. Mercedes slapped a hand to her forehead, and Dynh started muttering something or other about government officials after them...or, that's what Alex assumed she was muttering. One never knew with Dynh.

The scene before them was, of course, of the boat the old man had promised would be waiting for them. Now, Alex had assumed some pretty outrageous things about this boat (considering the old man's history of more than slightly dangerous trouble making), which included its being stuck up in a tree and there being a hole in the bottom of it, but in the end she had discarded these theories in favor of trusting the old man. He hadn't seemed like such a bad guy, after all, when they'd met him.

So...not a bad guy, no, but still definitely insane...with perhaps a touch of sadism.

The boat was, in fact, on the complete other side of the river.

"How the hell are we supposed to get over there?! There are no bridges, no stones, no nothing! None of our pokemon could even get us over there!" Alex was seriously considering marching right back up to that old man's house and giving him a piece of her mind; the piece she had been meaning to give to him, before she'd held back, after (mistakenly) believing that he wasn't in need of such a lecture.

[Duck Tape]

“Hey look the river!” Dynh yelled running ahead of the others and started dancing in front of the water. “River, river, river means water, water doesn't mean river, but river means water, let’s take a bath!” she said in a mild burst of pure randomness that even she could not explain. She was brought out of this bout by Alex's question concerning passage across.

“We could swim!” Dynh suggested, as she pulled off her boots, carefully placing her egg by them, and dipping her toe into the water. “COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLDDD!” she cried jumping back. “MD, why didn't you warn me!?” she complained as she sat down on the grass to pull on her red boots back on.

Dynh placed the pink and blue egg on her lap and leaned forward a bit, resting her elbows on her knees as she sat there Indian-style. “... We could catch a water pokemon and then make it bring the boat over to us!” she suggested after thinking for a moment.

“I got it!” Dynh exclaimed jumping up quickly. “All we have to do is jump from Lotad head to Lotad head. But be VERY careful of the trucks! They always hit me like six times before I can finish the level.” she said with a smile. After all she was very proud of herself, her crazy, crazy self. “Hmmm, I wonder if I could catch a Lotad?”

“Let’s have a brain trust!” Dynh said pulling the other two girls into a sitting circle on the ground with her. “Okay so this is the first official meeting of the brain trust. Now let’s think of ideas on how to get across this river. Remember: no idea is a stupid idea, unless it is, then that's just stupid.” she said with a nod. “So ideas on the table so far are swimming in the cold water, catching water pokemon, or lotad head jumping.”

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes was endlessly glad to find that the boat was not, in fact, up a tree. It had been a more than minor fear that had been nagging at the edge of her brain since they left the TrickMaster's house some time ago. The river, though, he had mentioned was further away from his hut than she had previously anticipated. To pass the time during the course of their walk to the river, the nurse-to-be retrieved the newly gotten egg from her pack and was looking it over.

It was plainly pink and it warmed pleasantly in her hold, but it didn't move or twitch often at all, signifying to Mercedes that it was no where close to hatching. She was silently grateful for the college course she had taken on how to properly care for eggs. Seeing as Fatima had hatched, safe and healthy, Mercedes felt justified in concluding that she probably had something of a knack for raising eggs (based on the fact that a few of her class-fellows had not had such successful attempts), and would hopefully end up doing right by this new addition to her party. She could also be there for her new traveling companions, Alex and Dynh, in raising their eggs.

She came to a stop when she heard the footfalls of the two girls in front of her come to a halt. Looking up, her nagging fear came back to her while Alex loudly cursed the old man for his outlandish pranks, seeing the boat on the other side to the river.

It wasn't so bad, not exactly being a tricky solution. It was more the thing itself that annoyed Mercedes; She had almost trusted the old man. Not that she thought it was done out of malicious intent, but really, one inconvenience on top of the last obnoxious inconvenience was grating.

She took a deep breath, calming herself and telling herself that that old man was in the past now, and was about to offer a solution until Dynh stuck her foot in the water and proceeded to blame Mercedes for not telling her it was freezing in the first place. Mercedes took another deep breath, and let it out in a sigh.

"Dynh, how was I supposed to know it was cold. I only just saw the river a few seconds ago. And it's still only mid spring. The water wouldn't be warm yet, anyway. Think before you act, please." She pleaded. The last thing they needed was one of them rashly poking their foot into a stream with a fast moving current that would whisk them away, or would, heavens forbid, aggravate the local water pokemon. Mercedes didn't think she was up to fighting off any angry Gyarados this afternoon.

Again, she was about to voice her suggestion until she was again interrupted by Alex and Dynh bouncing ideas on how to get across off of each other. Mercedes shut her mouth. If she thought about it, maybe it was good for the two of them to try and figure this out on their own (not that it exactly required a college education to figure out, and even though Dynh's ideas were on the left side out outlandish). So she sat back against a close-by tree-trunk, holding her egg tenderly still in her arms, and waited to see if their 'brain trust' would prove successful.

This post has been edited by Charlie Piers: Jul 20 2009, 05:46 PM

[Fei Fei]

Alex sat down with Dynh to think on some possible plans. Plans of the boat-getting variety. There was something on the edge of her mind, some idea that made perfect sense, but when Dynh opened her mouth to speak it had flitted away as most important thoughts do when confronted with extreme stupidity.

"Lotad heads? You've been playing way too much Frogger, my dear Dynh. There's no possible way it would work. We're too heavy. Besides," she made a large sweeping motion with her arm, indicating the river and area around them, "there are no lotad hear. How would you propose to cross a river on lotad heads- despite its distinct impossibility- if there are no lotad heads on which to cross?" She shook her head, exasperated.

"We could swim," she murmured after a moment, "but I think that should be saved as a last resort type of thing. I really don't want to get all of my stuff wet." She looked over at her pack (which she'd set on the ground next to her) mournfully as she thought of crossing the river while trying to keep it from getting wet. It was as she was looking at that very bag that a semi-plausible idea came to mind.

"I have rope!" She exclaimed, uncrossing her arms to retrieve a very lengthy expanse of rope from her bag. "We could try to lasso the boat over to this side of the river." For some reason, the previous, flitting idea from before seemed to sulk in the back of her head at this, her new plan. Evidently, the idea was disappointed in her.

Dynh nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, that could work! Brain Trust's First Official Meeting: Success!"

Shaking the nagging feeling that she was being a moron from her mind, she quickly stood up with Dynh, making a loop in the end of the rope as she brought herself to her feet.

"Alright...let's see if I can get this...." Alex bit her lower lip in concentration as she twirled the rope a few times before launching it in the direction of the boat's bow. Dynh stood behind her, all tense and serious eagerness as she watched intently. The rope fell short, splashing into the water.

Dynh's face fell.

Alex grunted as she pulled the rope back. "Drat. Let's try that again." In their pokeballs, her monsters were facepalming. Kuchi, through the red roof of the capsule, looked at Alex like she was stoopid. Yes. Stoopid. As in, too dumb to merit proper spelling. Her new master was not setting up the best of first impressions.

After about two or three minutes of trying- and failing- to hook the boat, Alex thrust the rope into Dynh's hands.

"Here. You try," she grumbled. Typically good mood-inclined-ness aside, this was pissing Alex off.

Dynh nodded, once more adopting a determinedly serious look, she, for the next three minutes, attempted to do what Alex could not, with much the same results.

By the time that Dynh started on her hissy fit (blaming the rope, of all things, of conspiracy), Alex had taken to lying in the grass on her side, head propped up by an arm as she watched Dynh go at it.

"Damnit! This is a lot easier when you've got a crosshair or automatic lock-on," Dynh complained and, amid her flustered flailing, she managed the throw the rope out towards the boat.

The rope managed, in turn, to snag onto the boat's bow.

Alex sat up in shock. Mercedes, who'd been watching as a mother watches over retarded children eat dirt, even looked mildly surprised. Dynh looked the most surprised of all.

"Ohmigod! I did it!" She threw her hands up in the air, before Alex crould screech out for her not to.

The rope came off the boat and sank into the water.

Dynh looked at it disbelievingly.

Alex smacked her forehead.

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes sighed, her 'watching children eat dirt affectionately' time over. She walked over to Dynh and Alex and gently took the rope from the other girl's hand.

"The rope was a good idea, but look." Mercedes pointed over to the boat. Sure enough, secured to a low-hanging branch, the rope was tied securely to the opposite shore. "Even if you did manage to lasso it on, which I do applaud you for, Dynh, it's tie up over there. We wouldn't be able to pull it over."

She stood back from the bank a little and took two of her pokeballs from her bag, one in each hand, and released before her Kepri and Iris. The two pokemon shook off lightly, being out of their pokeballs, and then turned their heads to their trainer: Kepri with her own version of a smile, and Iris with business-like attentiveness.

"Okay, you two. I need each of you to do me a favor. Kepri," the little bug perked up, "I need you to fly this rope over to that boat over there," she indicated the boat, handing the pokemon the rope, "and tie it on as tight as you can. Iris," the bird straightened, "I would like you to go over to that same boat and break the rope that's holding it to the tree with your beak. Can the two of you please do that for me?" She asked. They both nodded in turn, and flew off to do their various tasks.

Mercedes stepped closer to the shore, again, and looked at Alex and Dynh.

"It's not exactly the most elaborate solution, but I think it's probably the simplest and most effective." She smiled, and shook her head.

"Lotad heads, really Dynh?" Mercedes asked. "Creative, but not exactly plausible." She then handed the other end of the rope over to Alex.

"Kepri can tie it on, but she's not strong enough to pull it back over against the current. Will you?" She asked.

She looked over to see her pokemon's progress. Kepri had the rope tied on and was making her way back over, and Iris was working the rope down until it was only a few threads strong.

"Hold on to it," she advised Alex, who had taken the rope. "It's about to be let go."

[Duck Tape]

Dynh smiled and clapped as Alex used her brain to solve the problem at hand. Dynh could use her brain... it would just take a while to boot up and run the necessary programs. Yes Dynh liked to think of herself as a human computer: a malfunctioning human computer.

“That was great MD!” Dynh cheered. “I can't believe you're so so so very smart!!”

It was at this time CC came out of her ball, unnoticed by Dynh. The small bug crawled her way over to a bush, grabbing a leaf and started to chew.

“OH MY GOD!” Dynh yelled as the caterpie started to glow. “WHAT IS HAPPENING!? IT'S ABOUT TO EXPLODE!” she jumped into the water crying out as she was submerged into the water.

The small form of the bug morphed into a crescent moon shape. The glowing subsided and all that was left was a metapod.

[Charlie Piers]

(Sorry. Double Post.)

This post has been edited by Charlie Piers: Jul 27 2009, 07:59 PM

[Fei Fei]

Alex looked at Mercedes blankly for a moment before she came back to her mind and took the rope with a firm grip. She did the mental equivalent of a slap across the back side of her head.

"You know, I knew that there was another way to go about it. It was there, at the front of my mind, and then Dynh said something Dynh-y and I forgot it." She shrugged, as if this explained everything. "Still, I suppose that's not the kind of thing that I should have forgotten so easily. Thanks a lot, Dynh." She said the last part with a smile, rather than with any kind of accusatory inflection.

She braced her leg as the boat started drifting, and then she began tugging the rope in, coiling it behind her as she pulled the boat closer to their side of the shore. "Hey, do you think we can all even fit in this boa-" she was cut off as Dynh screamed and jumped into the water.

"...what in hell are you doing, Dynh?" She stepped back as the water splashed up at her. She looked over at the bush where CC the newly evolved Metapod was...sitting.

"Dynh," she called, wondering if Dynh could hear her from under the water, "CC's just evolved. That's perfectly normal for a Caterpie. Now...there's not much that's normal about CC, but still." She gave one last tug of the rope, and the hull of the small boat rode up against the ground.

[Duck Tape]

As Alex pulled the boat into the shore it hit Dynh in the back of the head as she came to the surface. More than a little dazed, Dynh spent the next couple of minutes clinging onto the boat so as to not be carried away by the river.

Dynh pulled herself out of the water and instinctively wrapped her arms around her body. “W-w-w-w-whats t-t-t-t-tat nooow?” she shivered. Note to self, jumping in cold water is a bad idea.

“F-f-f-fi-fi-fi-fi-er pl-eas-se!?” she begged turning to Alex, the only one of the group who actually had a fire pokemon. “M-ma-make up. For. H-hi-hitting me-ee.”

[Fei Fei]

Alex winced when she saw that Dynh's head was coming up almost directly in the boat's path to the shore, and winced again at the deep 'clunk' sound that came upon contact. She quickly stepped over to the shore after making sure the boat was grounded properly on their side of the river to see if she could give Dynh a hand with anything.

Alex nodded at Dynh's request, and turned around, kneeling as she rummaged through her bag. After a moment she pulled out a blanket and Hiiro's pokeball, setting the sphere down on the ground as she shook out the blanket and dumped it on top of Dynh head.

"There. Keep that around you," she instructed as she picked the pokeball back up. "C'mon, Hiiro. We need a little fire power." Hiiro emerged from the red light with a yawn and a stretch. He'd had a rather nice nap, and was ready to do some work.

"We're going to need something to light...," she muttered to herself a moment, putting a hand to her chin in thought. Turning to Mercedes, she asked, "Hey, think we could send Kepri or Iris and Kuchi out to collect us some fire wood?"

Mercedes nodded, and took out the pokeballs. "Try not to go too far, girls. I remember seeing a few bushes over the way we came." The two flying pokemon nodded, and Alex took the moment to fetch her new Mawile's pokeball.

"Okay girl. I think it's time you met your new friends, kay? Just help those two with chopping any wood you find." She smiled down at the little steel monster, and it, in turn, regarded her. She wasn't too happy about being captured, but she would obey her new master, at the very least. Her 'hair' made a small snapping motion, though, as she turned around to go find the wood.

Alex rolled her eyes at the slightly moody monster. "She'll come around." She turned to Hiiro, who was awaiting his orders expectantly. "Hiiro, why don't you stand next to Dynh. Keep her warm until we get the firewood." Hiiro nodded, and backed up to Dynh so that his flaming tail was close enough to her to provide a comfortable heat.

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes gasped lightly as the boat floated along and conked Dynh on the head. She immediately rushed over to help pull the girl out of the water.

As Alex retrieved a blanket for the cold river-soaked girl, Mercedes made a point to gather up her medical bag and went to check in Dynh's head, to make sure that she hadn't done any real damage. Satisfied to find that it was little more than a swollen bump, though not exactly happy about it, she wound Dynh's head lightly with bandages and a mild salve, more to satisfy her own inherent doctor's paranoia rather than out of any dire need.

"Okay, Dynh, don't move for a little while, alright? It doesn't look bad, but you never know with head injuries. Don't fall asleep, either." She snapped the last part as Dynh's eyes started to close. The last thing they needed was the girl to fall unconscious with a concussion and not wake up again while in the middle of a forest. The doctor-to-be sighed and looked up as Alex addressed her.

She nodded at the request to have Kepri and Iris accompany Kuchi to find fire wood, and sent them off, with a last request to maybe befriend the newly caught pokemon to make her feel a little bit more at home.

Mercedes then looked up at the sky, noting the slight orange-pink cast beginning to pain the clouds. She turned to Alex.

"We were wandering in that forest all day; now evening's slunk up on us. I don't exactly want Dynh moving for a little while, so do you think we should set up camp here, for the night?" She asked.

[Duck Tape]

Dynh stopped shivering as the blanket was rapped around her, she sat down and held her hands in front of Hiiro. “Where the hell did CC go?” she asked looking around completely ignoring Alex and MD.

She squinted to the place she had thought her caterpie had exploded and there was the medapod, just staring back at her.

“...”

The two stared at each other for a while until Dynh laughed evilly. “Who's up for football?” she grinned as she went over and picked up CC.

“Look, it's a medapod! Named after metamorphosis, the process in which bugs-” Dynh then went into a bit of a knowledgeable rant. As she paced back and forth in front of MD and Alex she had the feeling that she was a teacher, shooting off facts about bug pokemon.

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes was just about to reprimand Dynh for even thinking of playing football with her newly evolved Metapod when the girl stopped the nurse in her tracks by going off and exhibiting an apparently deep knowledge of bug-type pokemon.

Mercedes stood, mouth slightly ajar, for a few minutes, eyes following Dynh back and forth as the girl continued to display a full understanding of the delicacies of bugs. Then the corners of the nurse's mouth lifted slightly. Huh, and she had just been worrying that that girl had very little between those ears of hers. Apparently, Mercedes was wrong, because the information she was spouting was more than Mercedes knew about any one type of pokemon.

She shook her head and looked over to the bushes where she had just heard some rustling, and saw Iris, Kepri and Kuchi emerge from the brush, each carrying a load of dried branches and twigs.

"Good job, girls." Mercedes smiled as she congratulated them. "Put them over here." She directed, indicating a spot clear of grass that would be good for a fair-sized fire. Then she looked to the sky, noting the few whispy clouds still hanging around.

"Well, it doesn't look likes it's going to rain of anything tonight, so I don't think I'll bother putting a tent up. Any one in particular want to help build the fire pit?" She asked the people and pokemon around her. Luckily, they had their owl unlimited box of matches in the form of Hiiro.

[Fei Fei]

Alex watched Dynh with nothing short of amazement written on her face. She almost started at saying something, but stopped, deciding that she should let it run it's course naturally, lest she bring the spectacle to a premature end. Instead, she kept an ear open as she collected the fire wood from the returning monsters, setting it in a circle in the middle of the group's camp. After she was satisfied that every piece of wood was in it's proper place, she called Hiiro over to light 'em up.

"Good boy," she smiled, patting the orange monster's head as she stood up. She walked over to Kuchi, taking out the little monster's pokeball.

"Great work, Kuchi. Thanks a lot for your help. You want to go back into your pokeball, or do you want to stay out here for a while?" Kuchi looked up at Alex with slightly narrowed eyes, more 'sizing up' than 'malicious', and then turned her head away, walking over to sit at the edge of the camp, as far from the fire as she could get. Alex watched her go with an amused smile.

She looked down at her waist when she felt the pokeballs at her belt open up. Hime and Ouji looked up at Alex as they blinked and stretched. "Heh, yeah, sorry guys. I should have let you out earlier." The two poison rabbits shook their heads, each smiling as they walked over to sit with Hiiro, who was still tending the fire. Hime stopped on her way and looked in Kuchi's direction, and then she started walking towards the disgruntled steel monster.

Kuchi looked up, giving Hime an annoyed look. Hime hesitated, but then kept walking to sit next to the mawile. Alex smiled as she watched them, and turned back to sit next to the fire.

"Hey, Dynh," she called over as she sat on the ground. "You should sit back down. You're not dry yet."

[Duck Tape]

Dynh sighed and took Alex's advice, sitting close to the fire. She pulled off her shirt and leggings, keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around her. “CC, can you string shot between those two trees and create a line?” she asked looking at the half moon pokemon expectantly.

After a minute of nothing happening Dynh's eye twitched. “You mean to tell me you can't do anything but harden?!” she asked sounding very pissed off. “How am I going to battle with you now?” she whined, plopping down onto the ground with a huff. “And if I can't battle with you then I can't evolve you to a pretty butterfree.” she groaned.

Dynh was completely discouraged now. She lay on her stomach in the grass next to the fire. Her clothes now drying on a far away tree, not getting warm at all. “CC is worthless.” she whined like a little kid at the end of a tantrum.

Cook Wilber was trying to help. He bit onto the end of the blanket and tugged slightly to get his owner's attention.

But Dynh was far to gone in her sorrow.

This caused CC great amounts of sadness. The pokemon just couldn't show it anywhere other than her eyes.

When Dynh finally looked up to Cook Wilber, her attention was brought to her pokemon egg. Sighing she sat up and put it in her lap as she sat cross-legged close to the fire. “I hope you hatch soon and are useful.” she said rubbing her cheek against the sleek surface of the egg. “And I hope you're cute. Like Shaymin. Shaymin is cute!” she giggled to her self.

After a while she brought CC over to her. “Don't worry CC. I won't abandon you. You are far to... well I don't know what you are, but you're not leaving.” she said, petting the metapod's head.

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes smiled as Kepri and Iris hunkered down in front of the fire, and remembered to let little Fatima out so that she could enjoy the air and warmth as well. The sheep shook her fluffy coat after being released before looking around. She smiled and chimed up happily at Mercedes and then look around herself. Her sisters and a few others were seated around a fire so she decided to scurry over and say hello. The woolly pokemon went to the other monsters who were not her sisters and poked them with her nose a little in greeting.

Mercedes smiled as she watched. Fatima was so little and kind to all pokemon. It excited her, seeing her grow. She pulled herself from her observations, then, and went to sit by Dynh and Alex.

"So," she asked her two companions. "Do we have a plan? If we're camping out here, tonight, we may as well use the time to plan, in depth, our next move." She looked from one girl to the other, asking for input.

Mercedes was a nurse, and it didn't sit well with her, being lost in a forest so far from proper medical facilities. There was also a reason she was out here, on a pokemon journey. She was traveling, making sure that when trainers had all their pokemon faint, or were hurt themselves, she could find them and help. She was also out here to train her pokemon up so that she'd be better equipped for the aforementioned task. It struck a thought in the nurse and she looked to her two companions.

"By the, way, why are the two of you out here, anyway? What made you decide to start on a pokemon journey?"

This post has been edited by Charlie Piers: Sep 19 2009, 09:46 AM

[Fei Fei]

Alex poked at the fire, earning herself a large puff of smoke in the face. She waved it away quickly with one hand, rubbing at her eyes with the other.

"I'm alright," she assured, half coughing, "I'm alright." She blinked rapidly a few times before turning back to the fire and her other two companions.

"Okay. Planning. Hmmm," she rubbed her chin, thinking. "Well, we know where we're going, and we know we have to take this boat to get there. I say that's enough of a plan for me." She shrugged. "I'm a 'wing it' kind of person, I suppose."

She looked into the fire as Mercedes asked her question, smiling as it warmed her face. "I've always loved pokemon," she started as she poked at the fire again, this time to less disastrous consequence. "I have no grand expectations for myself. I'm not going to be the master or anything like that, but I just wanted to experience it, you know? Go out on my own- or with friends- and just do it. Maybe I'll do it for a living, who knows. Professional adventurer has sort of a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" She looked to Mercedes, a twinkle in her eye, and laughed. "Really, though, I just do it for them." She pointed back at where her monsters were congregated. "Without pokemon, I don't know what I'd be doing with my life."

---

Meanwhile, the pokemon were having a discussion of their own. Hime sat next to Kuchi, Ouji standing slightly behind Hime, looking a tad distraught. Hiiro just sat there looking frustrated at Kuchi's other side.

Hime looked over as Fatima came over. :Hello Mareep sister,: she said politely, just like a princess. :We are having some trouble with our new sister. It doesn't look like she's very happy to be with us. We are trying to cheer her up." Hiiro rolled his eyes slightly at Hime's over simplification of the problem. Still, the little nidoran was naive, and probably didn't understand the concept of wild pokemon not wanting to be captured. After all, Hime had lived all her life with Alex. She didn't know the wild.

Hiiro turned back to look at Kuchi, who he'd been talking to. :Look, Mawile. We're not trying to get you to love it immediately. We just asking you to give Sister a chance. She's the best human master you could ever hope for.:

Kuchi turned her head away. :I don't want to be here,: she said roughtly, :I want to be back in my cave. I don't care about your master.:

Hiiro's tail flared a bit. :She's not just a master!: He insisted. :She's my sister. We're equal! And I beat you fair and square, so you'll just have to deal!: He had no idea what that phrase actually meant, but Alex had said it a lot when she was younger, so he figured that it meant something important.

[Duck Tape]

Dynh ducked when Alex got a face full of smoke. She went to her stomach and just decided to stay there, even after the danger of hyperventilating was gone.

“Planning?” Dynh muttered and then dazed off through the rest of the conversation. She missed Alex's 'winging it' speech, and the subtle hints that MD really just wanted a plan.

“I didn't choose to come here.” Dynh said when she finally snapped out of it, being asked a question. “My dad got really mad at me for being on the computer all the time. I really miss my computer now that I think about it.” she said, her expression saddening as if she were thinking of a lost friend. “Dad's such a jerk.” she pouted, crossing her arms in a hissy.

“But I guess I had nothing better to do with my time... other than raids.” Dynh sighed, letting her shoulders slump forward a bit. “And the new expantion pack for World of Warcraft was suppose to come out soon.” she grumbled.

“... If we're setting up camp here why not have a couple of pokemon battles.” Dynh suggested as she got up to go put her clothes back on.

Dynh glared at the cold cloth. She grumbled, and whined, and groaned. But she put her clothes back on anyway. Shivering as the icy fibers slid against her skin like a thousand little frozen knifes. “Co-cold.” she grumbled to herself.

Dynh wanted to jump into the fire. That would make her warmer. That would solve everything!

[Fei Fei]

Alex gave Dynh a look, standing up to walk around the fire to the shivering girl. "Didn't you pack any spare clothes," she grumbled out as she reached next to Dynh to grab her own pack. She rumpled around in it a moment before finally pulling out a spare shirt and sweatshirt. "Here," she said, tossing the clothes into Dynh's lap. "Don't get them wet when you put them on. You can live with wet pants, but a wet shirt is the worst."

She turned back to close up her bag, looking over her shoulder momentarily at her pokemon. "Hmmm. A battle might be fun. I wonder if it's a good idea, though. We have no idea what we'll be facing the next few days, it wouldn't be very smart to tire our monsters out before we even get really started..." She turned slightly on the balls of her feet to look at Mercedes.

"What you you think, MD? Think they'd be all set for morning if we gave them a little workout right now?" Her pokemon were looking over at her now, their curiosity piqued at the mention of a battle. Lighthearted battles were the best, in their little pokemon-opinions. Nothing huge was at stake, they could fight and have fun, and best of all, it was relatively stress free.

"If so, and it sounds like a good idea, I'm certainly game." She smiled toothily over at Dnyh in final response to her question.

((Crap! Sorry for the short post. I'm sick. BUt I'll make up for it!))

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes smiled at their reasonings. She had expected something of the sort from Alex. She was one of those trainers who just loved Pokemon. Contests, competitions, or just plain training, as long as she had her pokemon beside her, all roads were open. Dynh, well, it was obvious that she wasn't...conventional, and her trip certainly look to be planned, but getting kicked out of the house by your parents to go on a journey? Mercedes had always thought that most parents were sad to see their little adventurers go off.

The good nurse wondered if she should be answering her own question, but it seemed to be 'Share Time', and motivations were good for getting people to know each other, so she decided that there wasn't anything against it.

"I went to Med school for a few years after watching most of the children in my town go off years before I did. I thought one day that, 'what happens if a trainer gets hurt, and can't make it back to the Pokemon Center? Or what if they're lost and their pokemon have all fainted? I thought I'd use my nursing skills to go around and help people who, otherwise, couldn't make it to a Center. I have to train my girls up nice and strong so that they can help me." She smiled warmly at the two other people in front of her.

The subject of a battle was brought up and Mercedes thought it over. She looked at Dynh, who was shivering in her clothes and a thought came to her.

"Yes, actually. I think a little melee would be a good idea. It'll get Dynh's blood circulating, so she'll warm up, and she can have a chance to work with her newly evolved Csea. And Alex can see how well Kuchi will respond to her. If you go easy on each other, it shouldn't be so bad. Let them sleep out of their pokeballs for the night, and they should be fine by morning. I can take care of any mishaps." She nodded, reaffirming the validity of the idea.

--

Iris and Kepri joined Alex's little knot of pokemon off to the side and Fatima hopped up to Kuchi, her nose right to the steel pokemon's nose.

: Oh, don't be a silly!: She chimed happily. :I love Momma, and human-Alex seems like happy fun. I like her. You should to. Momma feeds me, and brushed my fur and takes care of me and loves me, and takes care of me and, and loves me.: The baby sheep smiled. Iris rolled her eyes.

:Buck up.: the bird ordered. :You're in a new situation, and while I think you're being grumpig headed about it -have a trainer is wonderful- you should accept that you're not getting out of it unless your new trainer wants it. You may as well get used to it and like it. You'll be fed, taken care of, and you'll grow ten times stronger with her than you ever would in that cave of yours, if that's all you care about. Don't be huffy.:

The metaphorical sweatdrop manifested on Kepri's forehead as she looked to her bird-sister next to her. :I-Iris, you don't have to be so harsh. This is new for her. Once she starts to understand Alex and starts to grow on her, everything will work out. Besides, you weren't a pain, but you also weren't exactly happy about be captured at first. Let's not be confrontational...: the little bug gave a kind of strained smile, and looked from Iris to the rest of the group.

Iris 'huffed' in her bird-ish way. :At least I wasn't being tauros-ish about it...: she mumbled and left it off. Fatima, with the short attention span of youth, bounded around the circle a little bit, trotting in and out of the other pokemon, before bouncing back over to lay in Mercedes' lap.

This post has been edited by Charlie Piers: Oct 24 2009, 11:32 AM