[X] My Assistant

[Master Houndoom]

One didn't have to be an empath to know there was tension in the air. It probably didn't help if one was, to be truthful. Everyone was on edge because of the attack and the subsequent hunger, and while the food helped, their host had bent a few nerves. It was most likely a guy thing, Jaima thought, since Darryn was the one stalking off, and Jaima had also found himself "raising his hackles", as his mother called it.

Stress does funny things to people.

Jaima looked at his pokémon as he leaned against the log. He was proud of them all for their night's efforts, but the battle and the food had put most of them to sleep. Only Mercury stayed awake, and that was likely because she'd slept from after the battle to when they arrived at Darck's camp.

A flash of an image crossed his mind, of Mindy smiling, and Jaima flashed Mercury a look. Mercury smiled at him innocently, the false type of innocence he had long ago identified being unique to troublesome little girls. A new image flashed, of Mindy surrounded by two ponytailed boys who had hearts in their eyes.

"All right, little miss, what are you implying?" He smirked at the ralts, and she giggled. "I don't have those feelings for Mindy."

No Lie!, thought the Ralts, looking stern.

"I don't!" Mercury's look turned skeptical. "OK, fine, I sorta do. But does she return them? No," he answered himself firmly. "She has no problem looking at other guys and thinking about them, but me? I'm not just in the friend zone, I'm Mayor of the zone. I mean, what do these other guys have that I don't? Darryn's not even into girls, not that there's anything wrong with that, but, I mean, I am! I just don't get it..."

Mercury's eyes were wide. tired?

"Yeah, I guess I am. But I need to talk to you. Man," he muttered, "I'm glad Mindy wasn't around to hear THAT little tirade..." He cast a sidelong look at Mercury, who was looking at him with concern. "And don't tell her, either, or her Misdreavus. Seriously, I'd rather just be friends."

No lie, thought the ralts, but it was gentler and less teasing. Jaima stroked her head.

"So, why didn't you tell me?"

The ralts looked down, and though she did not look Jaima in the eye, her images, which were now sharp and clear and realistic rather than her usual cartoon or drawing pictures, erupted into his mind. In it a little ralts was hatched, her soft top helmet blue. All of her siblings, including a kirilia, had green tops, and a few of them laughed at her. The kirilia, however, befriended her and played with her and taught her to float and dance. Then a human woman came, shouting the word shiny and some other things that weren't clear. The woman's thoughts, the aura that appeared around her, was dark red and black, frightening the tiny ralts. A black ball with a yellow design on it was thrown, and, at the last second, the kirilia launched the ralts away, and she watched her mother charge into the fray as well.

The memory went black, and when she returned to consciousness, the kirilia was gone, and her mother lay unmoving. Her eye was closed peacefully, but there was something wrong about the way she was laying...

The images faded, and Jaima found himself swallowing thickly. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Mercury, but it wasn't your fault. That was a bad human who did that." He held her as she snuggled into him. In his mind he remembered a lullaby, and thought about it.

nice, she thought to him. safe. warm.

"Yeah, sweety. I'll keep you safe. I'll keep all of you safe." Holding Mercury, he leaned his head back, jsut for a little rest. Before he realized it, he was asleep.

This post has been edited by Jaima: Jan 16 2009, 03:06 PM

[Living Arrow]

Lady noticed Mindy approaching long before Darryn did - her pointed ears swiveled in her direction several times before Darryn heard the crunching of twigs that heralded her arrival.

"Are you OK, Darryn?" She asked quietly.

"Uh, I guess." Darryn sighed. "It's just that Darck guy. Why does he feel that people who have a dream, like so many other trainers like us, are bound to fail? Wanting to be the best at something and actually achieving them are two different thing, true, but it's not stupid to want to succeed. If I felt that way, I probably wouldn't even be here right now. I mean, look at the state Pidgey and Caterpie were in when I started out. To be the best everyone needs the passion and drive to announce it to the world and not have to worry that people like him are looking down on them." He sighed again. "Does that even makes sense?"

Lady paced to stand in between Darryn and Mindy, her eyes completely focused on the girl. There was no kindness in her brown eyes, nor was there malice. Simply the blank stare of consideration.

"Oh yeah, and this is my new Pokemon - I caught her while you were asleep and she's taking some time out of her ball to get to know us all. Her name is 'Lady' and together we've decided to give Darck a battle in the morning."

Darryn's Vulpix raised her nose and looked down it regally towards Melinda with a sniff of contempt. Darryn frowned at her.
"Come on, Lady. Be nice." Darryn said firmly, walking over to stroke her head. "Mindy's a friend of mine so treat her nicely, OK?"
Lady glanced at him once and blinked slowly, almost seeming to pout in the dark.

"But really I'm OK, just needed to calm down is all." Darryn reassured Mindy. "How about we move all these things back to the other campsite and get some sleep? I'm pretty tired and I think we could all use some shut-eye to clear our heads."

[The Rose Crusade...]

"Me to," Melinda replied. Sometimes people don't need advice; they just need someone to lend them an ear. That's what Darryn wanted right now; it was obvious. But, even though she was acting as a listener, Melinda couldn't help but add a lil' of her own opinion to the conversation. And as they were picking everything up that Darryn had plopped down, Melinda interjected, "Don't judge Darck so quickly," Mindy spoke looking Darryn in his beautiful brown eyes. "I think there's more to this one that meets the eye." she winked at him. As everything was collected, Melinda picked up Darryn's hand and pulled him along. "Cheer up Mr. Sunshine!" she joked as they ran along through the forest back to the camp.

It didn't take long to reach the campsite again and build up their tent. All other life on the campsite had subsided for the night and Melinda and Darryn tried to put the tent together as quickly and quietly as possible. As soon as it was finished they both jumped right in; it had become quite the chilly night. Darryn zipper up the door as Melinda laid her head against the back of the tent; assuming the same positions they had before. Except this time there was an extra pokeball and both trainer's belts and a loving ghost pokemon was wrapped in Melinda's arms. As their lights went out Melinda softly whispered, "Goodnight Darryn" and he responded. As they were both about to finally fall asleep, extremely loud snoring could be heard coming from nearby. Melinda and Darryn both sat up, looked at each other and announced:

"Darck!"

They certainly laughed about that one for quite awhile. But eventually they adapted to the annoying sound and drifted off into the land of dreams.

[Master Houndoom]

The morning arose, beautiful, majestic, even. The sun shone down through the trees, finding patchy rest on two small tents, one human sleeping against a log, and several pokemon, near the human. The human, a boy with blonde hair pulled back in a braided tail, opened his eyes, blinked in the light, and expressed exactly what the morning meant to him.

"Ow."

He tried to move, to sit up more fully, but felt the need to express more fully his experience of the morning.

"Ow!"

By now, the little ralts, who slept closest to him, floated to his eye level which, with his head stuck back and to the side, put her at an odd level. hurt?

"Yeah, Mercury, I'm hurt. I fell asleep and my head was at a weird angle. Now I can't move it at all."

Mercury put one forelimb to her mouth, and the other on the elbow of the first, and thought. She gave a happy squeak, dove into Jaima's bag, and held up, from within it's depths, a paralyz heal.

Jaima laughed. "Ha (ow) ha (ow) ha (ow)! No, sweety," he managed when he'd calmed down, "pokemon medicine doesn't work on humans."

what does?, the ralts asked, genuinely confused.

"Humans have medicine. And, for stuff like this, sometimes a heating pad works." He imagined a flexible square with heat lines radiating from it on the back of his neck.

The ralts clapped happily.

And that's why, when Darck, Mindy, and Darryn came out of their tents, they found Jaima up, cleaning around the camp, with Ember laying across the back of his neck.

This post has been edited by Jaima: Jan 17 2009, 12:36 PM

[Living Arrow]

"Mornin', Jaima!" Darryn yawned and stretched as he exited the tent, Lady padding along behind him, close to his ankles. Her delicate features scrunched up as she let loose her own yawn and took in the campsite's details in the morning light. Darryn's hair had taken a beating from his twisting sleep but his latest Pokemon seemed as perfect as the moment he captured her.

"Oh, sore neck?" He nodded at Ember who looked oddly proud with herself as she warmed the muscles around Jaima's shoulders. "Good idea having Ember do that though - she's a perfect size for you!"
Lady looked up at Darryn then at Ember, then back to Darryn.

<Perfect?> She asked Darryn directly. He chose to ignore the petulant tone in her tele-voice and scooped her up instead. Her cashmere fur whispered so softly on his arms that he wanted to squeeze her even closer to him but

"I've decided to call her Lady since she's such a little madam and she seems to like it so far." He told the blond as Mindy joined them. "We're going to go for a jog then wash and see about breakfast. Either of you want to come with?"

[Darck]

Darck emerged from his tent, Totodile happily following him with the same unimpressed look, with a large yawn, Darck looked around, his hair was perfectly tied back, he looked like he had been awake for hours and he had just woke up.

"Mornin travelers. I hope you slept well." Darck looked over at Jaima who seemed to have a kink in his neck, Darryn who seemed oh so thrilled to see him, and Mindy who took in the morning sun like a radiant flower in bloom.

"I might be able to fix your neck if you want" He walked over to Jaima and popped his own neck, making a slightly bone chilling sound, he offered his hand and to have Jaima turn around. As Darck went to Jaima's aid, his Totodile started walking off into the woods he came back moments later with an arm full of suitable firewood and began stacking it in the fire pit.

"Oh yeah...breakfast.. Uhm, are there any food allergies I need to be aware of so I don't ya know...kill someone?" Darck laughed slightly but he knew how bad it could be to go into shock and be away from a town.

[The Rose Crusade...]

"No food allergies from me," Melinda informed the young man clothed in black. "Anything is fine with me, seeing as what you did was that stew, I'm sure it'll be great!" Mindy spoke enthusiastically, giving Darck two thumbs up. She had been up for a few minutes, taking in the glorious sun as it shone brightly down on their campsite. Mindy turned to Darryn when he mentioned going for a jog in the beautiful morning that ad blessed the trainers' with its presence. "Jaima look a lil' out of it right now, but I'd love to go on a jog right now," she told Darryn. The two put on their running shoes and Melinda put on a light jacket perfect for early morning runs. Melinda decided to leave her pokemon behind, as none of them would really enjoy the run like Darryn's. "Ready when you are," Mindy announced, showing off her immense flexibility; a trait not many people had. It was something that melinda occasionally took pride in, being able to place her palms on the ground wit her knees locked as others looked on in amazement. Calisthenics weren't the extent of Mindy's athletic prowess, however, as Darryn would soon find out.

[Master Houndoom]

"Um... Sure." Jaima was wary, but in the end, pain beat cold hard logic. He'd either be pain free (which, though he was glad that Ember was being so helpful, was a bit of a hassle keeping her on his neck) or he'd be dead. He... really hoped he wouldn't be dead.

Somehow he managed to relax, and with a twist that sounded and probably looked worse that it was, the bones in Jaima's neck realigned. He almost fainted, though even he couldn't have said if it was from the sound or the relief.

"Aw, man, thanks!" He kept Ember in place, but now that his neck was better, it was just to soothe the lingering soreness.

He answered Darck's question in the negative, but did not mention that he preferred oriental style foods when he could get them. Beggars couldn't be choosers, and in this case, they were beggars. He'd have to find a way to make it up to Darck later.

He spotted Mercury glaring at Darryn's new acquisition. If she'd had fur, the ralts would be bristling. "Mercury, be nice."

bad doggy, came her voice, accompanied by images of the same vulpix eggeing the ghosts on, complete with a sinister grin and long pencil thin mustache, which Lady twirled with two digits of her forepaw.

"Mercury, Lady is part of Darryn's team now. Be nice."

very bad doggy, snarled the ralts, folding her limbs. Jaima did not push the issue, because her mental statement included an undercurrent of grudging obedience. Besides, she wasn't wrong. Lady had been at the head of the attack.

Shadow looked bored, and Mercury was in a bad mood. "Hey, Shadow. Since Darryn and Mindy left without me, how about you help me train?" The riolu looked outright thrilled to do it. "Grondir, watch Mercury. And don't offer any domestic help to Darck unless he specifically asks you. Last time you did something like that, you got in a fight with that mudkip and there was a huge mess."

"Busaur!" Cried the bulbusaur, mortified.

Jaima and Shadiw went to a clearing. Shadow sat while Jaima began running through warmups. When he spent too short on a stretch, Shadow tsked. Jaima ignored it and ran through a basic kata. Step-punch-step-back-block-step. Shadow had his face in his paws when it was over.

"What?" Jaima knew he wasn't very good, but to see it confirmed by his pokemon was almost too much.

Shadow stood, and did the same corm. Where Jaima had been jerky and woodern, Shadow was graceful. Jaima found himself in awe.

Shadow pointed to Jaima, then his own eyes, then his own chest. Then he beckoned to Jaima and began showing his master how to do the form again. Jaima was happy to oblige, and, it seemed, he might be getting the opportunity of a lifetime.

[Living Arrow]

Darryn half muttered a "G'mornin'" upon Darck's exit from his tent but felt somewhat unnerved that he had to be nice to the guy since he was helping them out but also still peeved at his outlook on so many other trainers.

*Damn, why is he so pretty?!*

Darryn watched as Darck crunched Jaima's neck back into place and half winced at the sound it made.

*And why is he so damned resourceful?!*

"No, no allergies." Darryn confirmed his own good health along with his friends as Darck kindly offered to prepare their breakfast. "But we're going to work up an appetite, so anything starchy would be nice!"

Darryn hurriedly put on his running shoes with Mindy and called forth Eevee and Pidgey from their balls before taking off into the trees.
The run went smoothly at first, Vulpix and Eevee keeping ace with Darryn easily as they scampered along beside his ankles. Vulpix, however, kept shooting Eevee dirty looks between Darryn's legs at they flashed by. This went unnoticed by Darryn who was paying much more attention to his flagging Pidgey who was waddling along briskly behind them.

"Come on, Pidgey!" Darryn encouraged the bird. "Try flying to keep up!"

Pidgey cooed and flapped awkwardly as he ran, fluttering from the ground for a few moments each times before landing, running, and jumping into the air once more.
As time went by the encouragement directed towards his flying-type's ears began to grow more and more impatient as the bird got slower before finally sitting down and stopping altogether. Darryn frowned at the bird and recalled him to the Premier Ball to rest while the rest of the troupe continued.

<Weak.> Vulpix offered primly, her steps springing more lightly than before as if to show off her own atheletic ability. Darryn ignored her comment and instead focused on Mindy who was also beginning to slow down. A faint sheen of sweat clung to a few stray wisps of hair that had become matted across her forehead.

"You're doing great Mindy, we're past half way now!" Darryn cheered her on while his own legs and lungs merely sighed with the relief that they were being used in the outdoors once again. He as something of a fitness freak back home and with the stress off his journey starting he had let his focus on exercise wane but it was all coming back to him in an exciting flood of energy that made him want to sprint as fast as he could. "Keep it up just a little while longer!"

[The Rose Crusade...]

Melinda focused on her running pattern to keep herself moving through the foliage/ "Left...right...left...right...left..." and so on and so forth. It was an easy groove to get into, her pace of course. Melinda used to run cross country and was pretty good at it to--there were more slow cells in her body according to a doctor than fast cells. Of course, they had a fancy scientific name and everything but that's what Mindy called them: slow and fast cells. If you had more fast, you were a sprinter and vice versa. Melinda was 76% slow cells, which made her a very talented cross-country runner. Pidgey couldn't keep up with the gang so Darryn had to return him to his pokeball. She felt sort of ad for the poor bird, but she was being challenged enough by the running and really didn't have any time to ponder about the subject. "Left...right...left...right...left..." she kept thinking in time with her movement.

"You're doing great Mindy, we're past half way now!" She hated to admit it, but she was relieved when Darryn said this. It had been a long time since Mindy had trained for cross-country and her body had to try and remember everything at a very fast tempo. "Keep it up just a little while longer!" Melinda was glad for her friend's encouragement; it was helpful. But Melinda was in the mood for a lil' fun.

"Just try to keep up!" Mindy egged Darryn on, speeding up ahead of the rest of the pack. Mindy let out a laugh when she saw Darryn's face as she zoomed right by him. She just kept laughing and laughing and laughing, not paying any attention to what was ahead of her. Suddenly the ground below her gave out! Melinda found herself falling off of a cliff. She was stunned for a moment and it took her a second to try to grab onto something to save herself. Mindy struck luck and grabbed on a protruding root. As Melinda held on for dear life, she looked down and saw a river of raging water beneath her. "Help!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, "HELP!"

[Living Arrow]

"Wah! Mindy!" Darryn staggered into a sprint as his friend's chocolate hair swooshed downwards and out of sight. Her immediate screams were almost a relief as Darryn hurried to catch up but when he saw the cliff, he was in no mood to laugh.

"Hang on!" He yelled, skidding to the ground and leaning out over the edge to reach towards where Mindy was clinging to a bunch of roots and grass, her legs kicking above a raging torrent of water below.

"Reee!" Eevee, carried away with the whole situation didn't stop running in time and shot over Darryn's head, plummeting downwards at an alarming rate. Darryn gasped as his puppy fell and fell, kicking out at the air as if trying to run upwards as the cascading water rushed to meet him.

"Return!" Darry's Quick Ball was in his hand just in time to fire its collection beam downwards and suck back the crazed little Pokemon. "Damn it!" Darryn gasped, tossing the Pokeball behind him and focusing on Mindy who was still squealing for him to grab her.
"I can't reach!" Darryn snarled, his fingertips stretching towards Mindy's handhold but falling very far short of their target. "Wait there!"

Mindy hollered a few choice expletives as Darryn's head disappeared from he view but a flash of light from above the clifftop announced Darryn's idea.
"Metapod! use your String Shot, now!" The sticky threads poured out, over the ledge and clung to Melinda's body in ever-thickening layers. Darryn appeared at the clifftop once more, his Metapod in his arms.
"I'm going to pull, now! Don't let go!"

Mindy grabbed onto the strings that were already sticking fast to her clothing, arms and hair and slowly let go of her root-like lifeline. The tension in the silk immediately became apparently as her body's weight was drawn onto the string but slowly she began to rise as Darryn and Metapod battled to pull her upwards.
When Mindy was finally back on solid ground, Darryn collapsed in a heap, his sides heaving heavily. He fought to regain his breath while Metapod lay on the grass, stretching her back from the exertion of holding onto her silk strings. Lady merely snorted at Mindy after the whole ordeal and looked away, sitting by Darryn as patient as a queen as her master regained his breath.

[The Rose Crusade...]

Melinda nearly collapsed as she climbed over the ledge and laid on the ground breathing heavily. "Huh huh huh...." she gasped heavily, fighting for the oxygen into her lungs. "Thank...you...Darryn..." she managed to get out. Suddenly out of their pokeballs appeared Misdreavus, Taillow and Feebas, all crowding around her to see if she was okay. "Guys, I'm okay," she assured them, but they wouldn't give up. They all jumped on top of her as Melinda laughed her head off. Misdreavus snuggled into her usual spot in Melinda's tummy as Taillow hugged Mindy's head. Feebas was content with the patting of Mindy's foot with her flipper as the fish gasped for breath itself. But something was wrong. The shifting of the weight from having all of the pokemon out seemed to move the ground beneath them! "No one move!" Melinda exclaimed as her pokemon nearly froze on top of her. Any sudden movement could have caused the edge of the cliff, which they were sitting on, to collapse into the river below.

Without warning, a flash of red fur zoomed into Mindy, causing the ground beneath her to start sliding down. "Go!" Mindy exclaimed, throwing her pokemon away from her. Feebas barely managed to roll away to safe ground as Taillow and Misdreavus flew away from her. Misdreavus tried to hold on but Mindy wouldn't let her. She knew she wouldn't be getting lucky this time. She saw Darryn run up and try to grab hold of her, and it almost worked. But for a split second the rocks beneath her moved faster, and then slowed down (which was strange in itself) putting Melinda out of grasp of Darryn. She tried desperately to grab onto something, anything! But the root she had found before wasn't there anymore; it had snapped off as Melinda was carried up by the string shot.

As Melinda fell down the side of the cliff she could see her life pass before her. Her childhood. Combee. Her mother's shop. Everything that made her special, unique. As she looked below she saw violent waves smashing against jagged rocks. "At least it'll be quick" she thought. Right before she was going to hit the water, Melinda closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable.

But the inevitable never came.

Mindy had landed on a comfortable blue surface. Soft. Feathery. Melinda opened her eyes to see herself flying through the canyon at an immense speed. It was a beautiful sight; the way the sun shined down on the rough water was something Melinda had never seen, nor would she soon forget.

"Swellooooooooow!" the pokemon beneath her cried as he performed aerial tricks to make Melinda laugh as she held on.

"Swellow! You evolved!" Mindy exclaimed. As if second nature, Melinda pulled Swellow up and directed him back towards where she fell. The majestic swallow pokemon was very pleased with his new form as she began to slow down and land on the cliffside, much farther in than Mindy had landed before. Melinda dismounted her new bird pokemon and gave it a hug, "I'm so proud of you!" she exclaimed. Next Mindy turned face and stared at Darryn. "That fox tried to kill me!" she said pointing her finger right at the pokemon, who gave her a malicious and nasty snarl.

--->

This post has been edited by The Rose Crusader: Jan 19 2009, 05:45 PM

[Darck]

Darck was cooking over a hot skilled as all his Pokemon helped, all but Croagunk, "I swear... that Pokemon, Ugh I just want to be rid of him some days" Darck thought to himself. Totodile was chomping down trees with his powerful jaws for Fire wood, Charmander was keeping the fire hot and Darck was cooking Eggs, with fresh herbs he had left over, a bit of chive, some diced Garlic, some red pepper.

"Breakfast is almost ready Jaima. When do you think Mindy and Darryn will bless us with their presence?" Darck laughed at the last part but for the most of it, serious when it came to Mindy, she had caught his eye and it was getting under his skin.

"Croagunk seriously...do something, or I'm not even going to let you out of that damn ball anymore" Darck was a very patient person but since his capture, Croagunk hadn't lifted a finger to help out, never once battled and just sits back letting things be done for him. "I new I shouldn't have wasted the poke-ball on the likes of you...Croagunk aren't even that rare.. I wonder if I can trade you in for something else" Darck wasn't serious with his comment, he was hoping to piss off the toad enough to spark a flame into his actions. And it worked!!! Croagunk jumped up and the lazy eyes became serious and fierce, he began using a brick break on the trees that Totodile had chopped down and turned them into appropriate log sizes for Firewood.

"Thanks buddy...I knew you would help" Darck sighed happily and looked at the eggs he was making.

[Master Houndoom]

That's amazing... how did he know I was there? Jaima had just returned from his training with Shadow, and had approached Darck from the side and a little behind, unintentionally out of sight.

"I can't say I know, Darck. We only just started travelling with Darryn, so they've never jogged together--" Jaima was cut off by a startled cry from Mercury, who had been lazily floating near Grondir. The bulbasaur had made good on Jaima's instruction to watch her, but was tense, as if secretly hoping that Darck would ask for help.

Mercury sat straight up in mid air and looked as if someone had slapped her. Her eyes glowed, and her shout, mentally, was rough and angry. It was so loud in Jaima's head that he wondered if every psychic type or those able to hear psychic types could hear it.

Bad mean evil nasty horrible wicked UGLY DOGGIE! She seemed to be surrounded by an aura, and was facing the direction that Mindy and Darryn had run off in.

"Mercury!" Jaima's voice was stern. "You stop that right now!"

Instead of looking cowed, the ralts turned to Jaima, eyes glowing, and images, sharp, clear, and bright enough to give him a headache, filtered into his thoughts. A red blur striking Mindy in the chest. Her falling off of a cliff, hanging on for dear life, before falling. The vulpix' face appeared, snarling and lookig malicious.

"Stop it!" It was more of a cry of pain than admonition, but Mercury was beyond caring. He grabbed her ball from his bandolier, causing her to return, but not before feeling the indignant anger at being uncerimoniously dismissed.

He was on the ground, breathing heavily, and looked up to see Darck watching him. "Something happened to Mindy." Without another word, Jaima called Shadow. "Find 'em and see if they need help. I'd send Mercury, but I think she'd attack Lady without even thinking about it." Shadow bowed and ran in the direction the pair had jogged toward.

Mercury doesn't have all the info, and is so angry that the images were jumbled. Being psychic and both attuned to Mindy and friends with Misdreavus, she felt Mindy's distress and only gleaned what she could.

This post has been edited by Jaima: Jan 20 2009, 02:40 PM

[Living Arrow]

The speed with which Lady moved left only a streak of reddish-brown across Darryn's vision and by the time she had thrown herself into Mindy's stomach and pranced away, Darryn's eyes barely had time to blink before his friend disappeared from view once more.

"Mindy! No!" He screamed, hurrying to the edge. A second blur, this time blue, swept past his face as Mindy's Taillow dove into a stoop, following his trainer with all the speed he could muster. Misdreavus wailed loudly overhead as the bird plummeted downwards. Darryn couldn't fathom what the tiny bird thought he could do - after all Mindy weighed many times his own little weight - but silently prayed that somehow a miracle would stop Melinda's fatal fall. The water below her raged angrily, spitting up globules of white spray like saliva from the mouth of a ravenous Sharpedo.

"Taiiiiilloooow!" The brid screamed as it raced downwards and was enveloped by a brilliant white light.

*Yes! He's doing it!* Darryn mentally punched the air. He was seeing it again! *He's evolving!*

The miraculous evolution of Taillow came at just the right time as the larger bird dove even faster, sweeping underneath Mindy and launching her upwards with powerful beats of his trim wings. He was far larger than most Swellow that Darryn had seen - even larger than Jaima's Mr. Postman - and his feathers were a magnificent royal blue.

*I want one!* Darryn prayed, watching with an open mouth as Swellow brought Mindy back to a safe spot on the cliff where she immediately began shouting.

"That fox tried to kill me!" Mind yelled.

"Vuuuul..." Lady uttered a gutteral snarl. Darryn nearly punched himself in the head. With Taillow evolving he had momentarily forgotten why Mindy was falling off the cliff for a second time.

"No, Lady!" Darryn yelled down at his Pokemon. "What the hell were you thinking!?" He screamed at her, advancing on her small body from behind. Her ears twitched, catching his motion and she sprang away from the humans to a safe distance where she petulantly closed her eyes and turned her head away.

An unannounced explosion of light at Darryn's belt brought forth Eevee who began yapping and snarling at Lady who glanced at him once then looked away once more.

<She pushed!> Mindy's Midreavus floated over to Darryn, her eyes glowing as she communicated with him.

"Yeah, I saw..." Darryn said.

<She pushed twice!> Lil Miss urged, floating down to hover by Eevee.

"YOU PUSHED EEVEE, TOO!?" Darryn yelled at Lady, his hands balling into fists. "What would ever make you do that?!"

<Weak.> Lady looked at Eevee. <Ugly.> She looked at Mindy.

Darryn's teeth clenched so hard that he felt they would crack in his mouth at any moment. His new hope for reaching his PokéDream was a psychopath! The Heal Ball was gripped tightly in his shaking hand.

"Get. In. The Ball." Darryn hissed at Lady. She glared at him and reached out with her mind.

<No.> Her stubborn voice carried a hint of malice. <Cage.>

"I said GET IN!" Darryn fired off the collection beam and his startled Pokemon was drawn back into the ball with a wail. His sides heaving with heavy breathing, Darryn put Lady's ball away on his belt. Quietly he called back Eevee and Metapod., too. He turned to Mindy with tears brewing in his eyes.
"I am so sorry, Mindy." He gasped with each breath. "She'll never do anything like that again, I promise you. I really mean it. If she does, then she's gone. I can't have an... an animal like that hurting anyone."

"Ri?" Darryn and Mindy turned to see Shadow running towards them. He looked left and right suspiciously as he came as if expecting an attack at any moment.

Darryn calmed the Riolu by showing him Lady's closed ball and reassured him that no-one was in danger... well, not anymore. Quietly and with a lot on his mind, Darryn and the others made their way back to camp in silence with Shadow leading the way.

[Master Houndoom]

When they returned, Ember was back on Jaima's neck, flopped happily across it, and Jaima looked as if he were sporting a headache. He had his forehead propped in one hand, and Mercury's pokeball was resting in the other. He was looking at it forlornly.

When he noticed that they had returned, he stood gingerly and approached them, gently sliding Ember off of his neck. He hugged Mindy impulsively. "What happened? Are you all right? Mercury went nuts, showed me..." He shuddered. "What happend?"

When they explained, Jaima paled and muttered under his breath, "She was right." He released Mercury right then. The ralts pointedly ignored him and moved to Mindy.

is ok? Bad mean doggie not hurt? Jaima's lips pressed together, but he said nothing. Instead, as if struck by inspiration beyond himself, he played back, as vividly as he could, her reaction and how it made him feel. Mercury wilted.a little, but there was no other reaction.

"C'mon. Darck's made breakfast. We'll eat and regain our strength before we get the whole story."

[Darck]

Darck was on edge the entire time from when Shadow left to when Darryn and Mindy returned. When they finally returned to camp Jaima was inquiring to there well being and asking what happened. To Darck it didn't matter what happened it just mattered that they had returned safely and in one piece.

"Yeah...breakfast is ready" Darck stood up and walked into his tent, it wasn't loud but you could clearly hear him stuffing something into something (it was clearly his gear into his bag)

"SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL" A bright beam of light a loud crash, and a huge tree fell 50 feet from the camp, Totodile let out a fierce roar. Darck ran out of his tent and saw the illusive white shadow jumping from tree to tree through the forest. He was firing off white attacks from his blade, something on the ground was running through the forest, it was small and had huge jaws on its head. But aside from that it was impossible to make out.

"Sorry guys... this is where we part, That Absol isn't going to get away this time, Come on Totodile." Darck grabbed his belt of poke-balls and threw it on, with insane speed he darted through the forest.

"SOL!" Another beam of light connected with the ground, an explosion of dirt and foliage went everywhere. The Pokemon it was chasing turned and glared it was using a Mean look attack. Absol froze in its place. Darck finally saw what the Pokemon was, it was a Mawile, Mawile launched forward its jaws open and attacked Absol.

"Absol dodge it!" Darck shouted to the frozen Pokemon. "That Mawile needs to back off, this is my fight." Absol jumped into the air and evaded the vicious guillotine attack.

"Absol you will be mine this time" Darck noticed a cut on Absol's leg from their previous encounter, Totodile got a clean bite in and scraped his left back leg.

When Mawile noticed Darck's presence the harmless looking Pokemon made a break for it. Darck charged forward Totodile next to him. "This is the last time we're going to fight Absol. You're already tired and injured. We're both at full strength, there's no way I'm going to let you get away this time."

"Totodile, hit him with a Water Gun!" Darck's Totodile shot a water gun towards the ground and launched himself into the air, Absol was so high in the tree that the Crocodiles little legs couldn't jump that high, his water attack was powerful enough to send him into the air. With a quick twist he stopped the attack and began to fall, he was close enough and fired off another Water Gun, the Absol tried to move but his leg was injured too much and got clipped in the front leg with the water gun, not full damage but enough to slow him down even more.

"Good work Totodile, Land safely if you can" Darck cheered on his talented water Pokemon as it gracefully began its decent. There was only one problem. In the air you can't dodge.. Absol knew this and launched from his tree limb with elegance, Absol jumped from tree to tree further down gaining momentum and launched a Scratch attack on Totodile's back. Totodile was pushed to the ground and took a handful of Damage, The strain was getting to Absol, he began limping and panting heavily.

"Totodile, you okay?"
"DILE!!!!!!!!!" the crocodile jumped up and glared at Absol
"SOOOL!" the absol went to charge in and the pain in his right front and left rear legs kicked in, he was having a hard time standing, let alone the ability to charge.

The Absol took a knee and looked at Darck, it was clear that Darck had won even before the match had started..Wild Pokemon didn't have the luxury of Poke-centers or Potions. All they had were wild berry's and time. The Absol nodded to Darck. Darck grabbed an Ultra ball off his belt, he only had 2 ultra ball's He walked up and tossed the ball, it flew in the air and opened up, the Absol was sucked inside. Rocked...once.....twice...... twice......twice.....it just sat there. As if the Absol was contemplating the finally, ....three times. Dong. Absol was finally caught. Darck picked up his poke ball looked at his panting Totodile, and sat there looking at the forest's tree tops.

"Why was that Mawile fighting Absol though..."

Darck catches a (M) at lvl. 5

Monk: Oops. When catching a Pokemon, add up your total Pokemon's levels (8+5+2= 15) and divide it by the number of Pokemon (15/3=5) So your Absol's level 5, not 17. That's insane.

Edit - Darck: Woops sorry Monk, guess I missed that rule.

This post has been edited by Darck: Jan 23 2009, 12:30 PM

[Living Arrow]

The breakfast that Darck had provided the gang was truly a meal to remember by any normal standards. Darryn, however, could only taste cardboard and ash. Not because his palette was any different from the others' but because Lady was still playing on his mind, snatching his attention like a troublesome child.

As Darck ran into the trees Darryn and his friends passed a look around the group. They all nodded in unison and took after the black-clad youth, sprinting into the trees some distance behind him.

As Darryn ran, his thoughts of Lady swirled into a whirlwind of confusion that threatened to burst out of his head in rivulets of emotion. He hated how the fox Pokemon had treated Mindy and Eevee ad yet he still loved her for what she was. She was the first truly amazing Pokemon that Darryn had caught and it just wasn't fair that her mind was riddled with twisted thoughts. All of his Pokemon had vices: Pidgey was fat, Metapod lacked confidence and Eevee was... well, Eevee was Eevee. But none of them were psychotic.

Darck's figure loomed ahead where he had stopped, confronting what looked like a massive white canine with strange black claws and a horn.

"Absol..." Darryn whispered to himself.

A flash of movement by the wild Pokemon showed a short figure dashing into the bushes. A rustle here, a rustle there... suddenly a yellow face popped out of a nearby bush. The Mawile giggled to herself and held a hand to her lips in a mischievious manner as she smiled creepily at Melinda. The motion lasted but seconds before the Pokemon ducked down into the bushes and disappeared.

"Wha-?" Mindy stared after the fleeing Pokemon.

Darryn shrugged to himself and moved closer to watch Darck's battle.

The performance that Darck's Totodile gave during battle was something truly special as it shot itself skyward with a Water Gun attack and proceeded to do battle with the wild Absol. The Disaster Pokemon already bore the injuries of other battles when Darck unleashed Totodile upon it but Darryn could still recognise the proud neck and sturdy legs of a Pokemon that had been in some tough scrapes. The Absol was experienced and strong but no steam engine could run forever without adding extra fuel to the fire.

Darryn watched in silence as Darck's orders led his Totodile to victory and the Absol was captured within the thrown Ultra Ball.

Slowly, Darryn stepped out from under the trees and applauded Darcks capture, secretly a little envious that the guy had caught such a rare and strong Pokemon.

"Nice capture," Darryn said. "Your Totodile fought well, too. I've got to say that I'm impressed. That technique of getting into the air was pretty cool and I respect your determination to catch that Absol. I guess that means that what you wanted to do in this area has been accomplished now, huh? Where are you going from here?"

This post has been edited by Living Arrow: Jan 23 2009, 01:36 PM

[The Rose Crusade...]

Melinda stared right into the peculiar eyes that seemed to pierce her very soul. Its appearance was unlike anything Melinda had ever come across in her life; it was exotic enough alright. But Mindy knew that the most beautiful and exotic of flowers always had a nasty bite. The pokemon's head was attached to an enormous structure, the same size as its body! It was when the shape opened up to reveal an enormous set of razor-sharp jaws that Melinda got the heevy-jeeves.

"Wha-?" Mindy stared after the fleeing Pokemon.

Strange. Unreal. An optical illusion, or her mind playing tricks on her perhaps. Yes, that was it. The demonic creature that had fled the scene had done so in quite the peculiar fashion. It grimaced at Mindy with both sets of mouths as it blended back into the shadows of the dark and dense forest behind it. Astonishing. Nothing else. Melinda was so awestruck with the bizarre pokemon that she forgot where she was for the moment, just thinking about that one fiend of a pokemon.

[Darck]

"Thanks Darryn." Darck sighed softly and gripped the Ultra ball in his hand as he scanned the faces of his 'friends.' Mindy was watching the fleeing Mawile, Jaima was near un-readable. Darryn was awe-struck. He thumbed over the seal and was re-thinking his new purpose in being where he was.

"huh? Where are you going from here?" Darryn's words were running through Darck's complex mind.

"Where will I go.. I.. don't know honestly, I came to these parts to capture an Absol, I wanted to capture another dark type but.. I doubt I'll find a wile Eevee or Umbreon, and I highly doubt I'll find a Sneasle.. so I guess its just time to train and head to a gym.." Darck paused for a moment.

"Why? what do you have in mind?"

Sorry its so short, I'm out of time