[X] My Assistant

[ROMANA]

Connie had felt all warm and snuggled until she had been woken up and found that there had been a heavy fall of dew and everything was all cold and damp.

"Eeeew," she said, "everything's all icky. I vote we only ever sleep in pokemon centers for the rest of our journey. Maybe we can get some nice, fresh Moo Moo milk when we get to the farm, though, and that should help wake us all up nicely."

They made a quick breakfast of the bits and pieces they had to hand and it felt as though she had only been awake for a few minutes before Verity announced that they were "all bound for Moo Moo Land" and Aussie had run off at top speed.

"She's... really keen," said Connie with a grin at Verity as she took her friend's hand and they set off after her. "I think she likes Moo Moo milk even more than Candyfloss."

As they made their way through the trees, they soon came across a track that they had missed the night before. It was a dirt track with well-worn wheel ruts that indicated that heavy trucks came this way fairly often.

"I don't think much of their maintenance schedule," said Connie, disapprovingly, catching her foot in a particularly uneven pothole. "Bill would have had some rubble and hardcore down on this track ages ago. They must have some terrible puddles when it rains. I bet their Miltanks end up stuck on their way in from pasture."

As Verity helped her back to her feet, an odd jingly sound reached them. Bouncing along the track towards them from Moo Moo Land came an old ice cream van, playing "O Solé Mio". The elderly driver leaned out of the window and yelled at them to clear out of the way. The girls scrambled up off of the track and into the trees as he put his foot down, apparently risking the van shaking itself apart. He shook his fist at them as he passed and seemed really angry with them for being on the track.

"I'm not really sure that was justified," said Connie, shocked at the language the elderly ice cream man had used. "Even if it is his track!"

Undeterred, the little group pressed on and, soon they were at the gates to Moo Moo Land. As they made their way through the wide open gates into the farm yard, Connie gazed around in amazement. She knew what to expect from farms. Things tended to look well used. They were generally muddy. Doorways were always surrounded by an assortment of wellies and other boots. They should have been accosted by a friendly Growlithe or Poochyena by now. But not in Moo Moo Land.

Nearly everything gleamed.

Anything that wasn't gleaming looked freshly painted, clean and new. According to the helpful visitor signpost, there was a "Petting Zoo", a "Bouncy Castle" and a "Dairy Icecreamery". A notice invited them to "be sure to visit the visitors' shop on the way out" and to "come back for more Moo Moo milk goodness soon!"

"It's very... pink," said Connie dubiously, "isn't it? And clean. I wonder where the Miltanks are?"

[Verity Lily]

"I'm not really sure that was justified,"

"Well, he is very ancient," said Verity doubtfully. "Maybe he had arthirtis or gout or something that was making him cranky." She had been brought up to respect her elders, but she was sure the elders in question had been more respectable.

She soon forgot the milkman in the wonder of MooMoo Land. No one had ever told her farms could be like this. She was squeezing Connie's hand in preparation for begging to visit the Petting Zoo when a voice like milktankbells broke into her thoughts.

"We-ell, 'course it's pink, li'l girl." A milkmaid stood before them, two buckets of moomoo milk dangling from a pole over her shoulder. "Dontcha like pink? Most li'l girlies do!"

Verity's jaw dropped. Butterfree Farm didn't have mikmaids, it just had really, really brave and intrepid women, like Connie, who went to milk the milktanks, and they usually wore dungarees and gumboots, that looked pretty muddy by the time they returned from the cattlesheds. This milkmaid looked like a beautiful young queen who had dressed up to play simple peasant girl. Her skirt - pink - was almost as ruffled as Verity's contest dress, her apron was frilly and blindingly white and her hair was pulled up in two shining cerise buns. She batted long lashes over big green eyes as she spoke.

"I - I love pink!" Verity managed to stammer out.

"'Course you do, 'course you do, honey?" the milkmaid drawled meodiously. Somehow her voice sounded wrong to Verity - she'd been called a country bumpkin many a time, but her own accent wasn't quite as country as this. She wondered if the older girl was making fun of her. "Dontcha just have the prettiest and sweetest pink hair and all yourself? But I'm forgetting my manners. I'm Tammy Rose. Welcome to MooMoo Land, ladies and gentlemen. I recommend you visit our Bouncy Castle to work up a good healthy appetite before you visit our icecreamery for the most delicious homestyle icecream you'll ever taste."

Verity opened her mouth to say that she'd like to visit the Petting Zoo first, please, Miss Tammy Rose, but before she could, flashes of light came from two of the pokeballs at her waist and the Empress of Fidonia materialised, a split second before Candyfloss materialised on the spoink's head. Spoinking with glee, the Empress set off in great bounds towards the Bouncy Castle.

"My, your pokemon sure got spunk!" Tammy Rose giggled as Verity set off full speed after them.

Her racing footsteps faltered soon. Ahead of her was... no, it couldn't be, that was a nightmare!

Four of the biggest miltanks Verity had ever seen in her young life towered ahead of her. To her terrified eyes, they were as huge as houses, and they stood in square formation, staring at her. She felt sick with terror. Her little pokemon were heading straight for them, Candyfloss squealing with glee.

Verity shut her eyes and ran faster, releasing Butchette and Courage as she did so. She couldn't let her newest pokemon get squished! Her foot caught on the infinitesimal crack between two smooth, polished paving stones, and she lurched forward, her eyes opening as she sought to keep her balance. Ahead of her loomed...

She began to giggle hysterically. Four huge, blow-up miltanks formed the corners of the bouncy castle. The Empress was already mounting the steps.

The little pearl-less spoink took a huge bounce, and then shot up into the air like a rocket, Candybuff flying off in surprise. The Empress tumbled over and over in the air, landed spring-down, and shot sky-high again, as Candyfloss ricocheted wildly from one wall to another like a bouncing ball, apparently without losing any momentum.

"Oh - oh no," Verity giggled. "What am I going to do? They'll never manage to get off!" she observed, as the Empress came to the bottom of one bound and apparently attempted to try to reach the moon on her next shot. "Butchette, please go rescue them!"

Her machop gave her a deep, meaningful look, hunched her shoulders and strode onto the bouncy castle. She reached up one muscular arm to catch Candyfloss on a trajectory past her, missed, lunged at the Empress, fell face-forward and shot up into the air, upside down. Candyfloss whizzed past her as she came in for the rebound.

"That'll be 900 pokedollars - 300 for each pokemon on the bouncy castle," Tammy Rose said sweetly. "Would any of you children or your pokemon like to purchase tickets also?"

This post has been edited by Butterfree Farm: Sep 14 2009, 09:59 AM

[Dragon Maiden]

At the first sight of MooMoo Land Aussie felt strangely out of place, like some freaky bleached white alien drifting in an all-pink universe. Her eyes drifted over the perfectly scrubbed barns and the bouncy castle where Verity's pokemon were bouncing around like out-of-control planets and felt smaller then ever. A few minutes ago she had been excited to start a new day, but it seemed that new day was already becoming sour.

The place was much to touristy for Aussie's tastes who had traveled to more then one off-the-beaten-path places with her aunt. She felt longing for the attractions and barns around her to magically transform into an abandoned dilapidated cabin just begging to be explored. She imagined herself climbing into a secret trapdoor in the floor into a dark damp basement covered in old cobwebs. She could almost feel the growing trepidation as the old steps creaked under her weight. Would they hold? What secrets did this old abandoned cabin hold?

"Hey ya. Lil' lady, there with the swinub." The words cut into Aussie's fantasy like a whip. The girl in the bright pink dress was looking at her intently.

"Wuld ya like to buy tickets fer the bouncy castle?" the girl said. Looking doubtfully at the large structure filled with crazily flying pokemon, her head shook no vigorously of its own accord. "Is there anythin' else ya wanna do? We have plenty of thin's to entertain a lil' lady like ya."

Aussie bit her lip and scanned the signs doubtfully. Nothing sounded very exciting to her after her fantasy about the cabin. Suddenly, Shadow burst from her side and ran to one of the paths branching off to a store. Her nose was moving and snuffling excitedly, as if she had just smelled something particularly enticing. Aussie looked up at the sign and written in a simple script the sign read "Dairy Icecreamery". Running up to Shadow's side, she deftly picked up the little swinub and replied "I think Shadow would like to check out the icecreamery. I think I'll head that way."

The girl in the pink dress pasted on the most false smile Aussie had ever seen. "Have fun lil' lady." Aussie gave a quick curt nod before looking at the others again.

"I think I'm going to head down to the icecreamery." she yelled to the others. "Meet up with you later." She swiftly turned around and headed down the path. The path was not very long, ending after about one minute of walking. Aussie looked at the icecreamery and sighed. It was shaped like a giant ice cream cone, topped off with pink ice cream, of course. The place was completely empty of people. The only sound was snoring, that came from the open window that faced the picnic benches lined up outside the icecreamery like an army of bored soldiers.

Aussie trotted over to the window and looked inside. A menu was hanging just above the head of the person attending the window, but the person attending the window appeared to have fallen fast asleep. So much for keeping up appearances. What kind of service is that? Aussie thought to herself. "Hello?" Aussie said quietly and shyly.

The attendant jumped up as if he had been stung by a bee. "I swear I wasn't sleeping on duty again Tammy! Please don't fire me. I need the money!" He said in a bleary half-scream. Aussie heard herself giggle as the boy realized his mistake. His face flushed a deep red, and turned even deeper red when he saw Aussie eyeing his embarrassing pink striped uniform.

"I'm... uh... sorry!" he stammered out "How may I help you lil' lady?" Aussie examined the visibly shaken boy standing in front of her. He couldn't be any older then her, 15, perhaps 16 years old. He has disheveled blond hair and large sad brown eyes. The sight of his obvious discomfort over his mistake made Aussie smile. Perhaps this place wasn't so bad after all.

"Don't call me lil' lady and I think we can call it even." she said jokingly. He smiled and his discomfort seemed to vanish in an instant. "Agreed. They taught us to say that to keep up appearances, but I really hate calling people that. It's so fake, but it's the only way I can keep my job. Though, it's not really that great of a gig." He laughed at his own statement while looking down at his outrageous uniform.

"I see what you mean." she looked over the empty benches and the uniform as if to clarify her point. Taking a quick peak at the menu, she turned her eyes back to the boy. "May I have two blueberry swirls please?" she said to him.

He smiled again and nodded his head. He disappeared into the back of the icecreamery and arrived a few seconds later, holding two bowls heaped in blue and vanilla swirled icecream. He set it out in front of her. "Congratulations. You've managed to find the only thing that's not pink in this whole place." He gave a dazzlingly huge smile. Aussie was glad to see it wasn't fake like the one from the girl in the pink dress. "That'll be 20 pokedollars each."

Aussie gasped when she realized she had no money. "I'm so sorry. I forgot I didn't have any money... I'll wash the dishes to pay or something. I'm so sorry!" Panic was evident on her face. Would she go to jail? Would Tammy fire the nice boy for serving her something she couldn't pay for?

"Don't worry about it. It's on the house." He smiled again and took a wad of cash from a pocket on his pink frilly apron. He inserted it into the cash register and turned back to Aussie. "That's in case Tammy comes snooping around to see if you bought anything. Not to mention there's no dishes to wash at the moment. I finished washing them before my nap."

Aussie smiled with relief and placed one of the bowls of ice cream next to Shadow. Shadow wasted no time sticking her nose into the ice cream and greedily licking it down. "Thanks a bunch. There really was no need for that. Who's this Tammy you keep talking about?"

He smiled sinisterly and waggled his fingers for dramatic effect. "She's the witch of all that is mean and pink." he howled in an eerie voice. "In other words my boss." Aussie laughed with a mouthful of Blueberry twist. Some of the ice cream came out of her mouth and splattered all over the boys clean pink apron. Suddenly, he was laughing just as loudly as her. Giddy with merriment, Aussie only laughed louder. "Seriously though. Tammy is the girl you saw when you first came in, the one in the pink maid's dress with the fake accent. She's not a nice person at all. Avoid her when you can. There's rumors going round that she's involved in something... well lets just say less the legal." The boy said soberly, cutting into Aussie's laughing fit.

"What sort of... activities?" Aussie whispered, suddenly feeling the cheerful pink atmosphere around her darken.

The boys face lost a few shades of color, as if he had seen a ghost. "I... I've said too much already." he whispered. "If she knew I'd said that, I would be fired, and I can't afford to lose this job." The boy turned away from her and ignored her from then on. What's going on here? Aussie wondered.

This post has been edited by Dragon Maiden: Sep 14 2009, 07:28 PM

[Ganymede]

Waker felt distinctly uncomfortable.


Everything was pink - not a nice warm, magenta-ish shade, but a blinding hot pink that would've probably shamed that Skitty he'd fought back in the forest. Pora made a dubious noise and Azzy growled slightly, moving around Waker in restless little circles. Locke was dead asleep around Waker's neck, only the occasional hiss showing that he was, in fact, still alive.


Ducking behind Verity, Waker wandered away from the group, hoping that the bright pink thing he assumed was a milkmaid wouldn't notice him passing. Unfortunately she did, flashing him a sweet smile that turned just a tad sour when she noticed the sleeping Ekans around his neck. Waker quickly scurried on before she could talk to him, Pora and Azzy at his heels.


After only another few moments of walking (which seemed like an eternity in this oh-so-pink wonderland) Waker came upon what could only be a petting zoo - a few small Miltanks loitered about an equally small, fenced-in pasture, a few Mareeps and some Ponytas ambling by as well. Waker leaned on the fence, watching as a Ponyta gently nibbled at a piece of grass so green it resembled plastic. Pora and Azzy stuck their heads through the bottom rung of the fence, sniffing the air; Azzy scrunched up his nose in distaste while Pora made a small noise.


That one doesn't look so good, Waker thought, biting his lip as his eyes followed a particularly small Ponyta around the pasture. There's just something…not right. He glanced down at Pora, who had begun to squeeze her body underneath the fence. Waker frowned and bent down, tugging at the Nidoran gently. C'mon Pora, I'm pretty sure we have to pay to get in here, don't just dig under the fen- OW!


Waker jumped as Azzy let go of his leg, growling loudly and pointing earnestly at something to Waker's right. With a sullen hiss, Locke slid off of his trainer and onto the top rung of the fence, flicking his tongue out at the large, bull-like Pokemon on the other side. Pora squeaked and pulled herself out from underneath the fence, her ears standing straight up in the air as the Tauros lowered its head, horns glinting in the sunlight.


Um, nice Tauros, Waker mentally soothed, scooping up Locke and backing away. The Tauros snorted, pawing the ground with its front hoof. Good Tauros, just stay there, we're just leaving, honest… Waker looked around, hoping for a farmhand or even that very pink milkmaid - what was a Tauros even doing in the petting zoo, anyway? - to come and help.

There was no-one. He couldn't even see Spencer and the girls anymore.


I just have the worst luck - every time I go off alone something jumps out at me. Waker was a little surprised - all his life he's been upbeat and happy, despite his inability to talk. But, ever since he got to Furoh, ever since the contest hall…


With a load sound that Waker could only call a roar, the Tauros charged forward, the fence creaking ominously under its weight. Azzy dropped low, horn pointing straight forward and glowing a sickly purple. Pora was pacing behind him, growling for all she was worth, ears rigid. Waker tapped the ground softly with his foot and watched as Azzy and Pora subtly changed, tensing - if he could, he'd rather run away than risk his Pokemon getting injured.


With another roar, the Tauros broke loose and charged.


Waker took only a brief second to slam his foot into the ground, a signal to run, before he turned and dashed back in the direction he came, Locke squirming heavily in his arms. Not hearing the distinct sound of running behind him, Waker looked over his shoulder and stopped, stunned.


The Nidorans had held their ground, and now both of them were darting around the Tauros, Azzy nipping at its legs while Pora Scratched its side as the Tauros' tails whipped around, trying to hit the swift Poison Point Pokemon. Tossing its head furiously, the bull caught Azzy in a Horn Attack, throwing the small Pokemon off to the side where he struggled back to his feet, panting. Waker then realised something - his Pokemon were still tired from the battle at Barley.


Waker slammed his foot into the ground again desperately, hoping that even if Azzy and Pora ignored him again, someone from the farm - or better yet, from his group - would come and stop the now-enraged Tauros. Stop, come on, just run, you guys can't do this right now…! Steeling himself, Waker took a deep breath and ran back towards the fray, only to trip and hit the ground none-too-lightly. Flustered, Waker turned to stare open-mouthed at Locke, who was hissing excitedly and flicking his tail in front of him.


Waker turned back around.


Azzy and Pora had stopped their assault, but only for a moment - the two were now running full-tilt at the Wild Bull Pokemon, both glowing faintly. At first Waker simply thought they were both using Poison Sting (but Pora doesn't know that yet!) until the light enveloped them completely, and something clicked in Waker's mind, accompanied by a tinny alarm from his Poketch.


They were evolving - they didn't need to be Professors to figure that one out. Ever since Vincent's evolution Azzy had been thinking about how nice a view of the ground would be when you were two feet tall instead of right next to the grass. Pora, too, had been keen on the idea, and they had both been feeling just a little too small for themselves lately…


And besides, what better way to end an Appeal than through evolution?


The Azzy and Pora that slammed into the Tauros weren't tiny little rhino-rabbits anymore - their ears had grown larger and longer, and the spines on Azzy's back had elongated and sharpened. Pora's horn was gone, her tough skin now a paler blue. Both were taller and built more like small, vaguely rodent-like dogs instead of harmless rabbits.


And both were standing over a now-unconscious Tauros, Waker stretching his arms around them for a giant hug.


"See? Told you he'd like it," Azzy said rather smugly as Locke decided to join the hug as well with…less than favourable results. After catching her breath, Pora smirked and cuffed Azzy on the head. "Yeah, but it's too bad that you won't be able to sit on his shoulder anymore."


The resulting cry of "RIIIIINOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!", much louder than the Tauros' battle call, startled the Miltanks in the pen, sending them Rolling around in a frenzy.


It was then that Waker realised that the Tauros wasn't even that big, the horns only small nubs on its head. He was still blushing when a farmhand finally appeared a minute later, sending out a Drowzee to Hypnotize the Miltanks and pull the baby Tauros back into the pen, and to give Waker a good talking-to about controlling his gleefully dancing Nidorino and Nidorina.

I live! Aaaaand here's the awaited evolution of the Nidos, via super-fast battle with a...baby Tauros? What?


...I think Arsenic sucked out all my creativity D.