[X] My Assistant

[Cube]

Spencer stared at the twin devices in his hands. Both of them kind of reminded him of his PDA...
They both had two screens and everything (seemed to be a fad now), and the Pokegear had a map and phone and all of that...

But dammit! He wanted his PDA! He had saved up weeks for that thing! Didn't that psycho of a woman know how much Pokedung he had to shovel before his parents would shell out for it?! And this thing didn't have a Aura reader either! That could have been really cool!

Shoving the Pokegear into his pocket, he checked out the new Pokedex Professor Willow had placed in his hands.

"Go ahead, try out the Party Analysis feature." said Professor Willow, pressing the open button and maneuvering around the bottom screen for Spencer -an act of kindness that embarrassed him even more-, stopping only when a small read out of his pokemon appeared, names included.

"Celia the piplup? Cute name." said the Professor, as he tapped the button that represented her on the screen.

A picture of a Piplup, accompanied by a numerical read out of her stats. Below was a small chart labeled "Sheen", shaped like a pentagon, and while Celia's sheen did point slightly toward "Beauty", there was a significant spike in the "tough" direction, though no where near the edge.

"What's Celia's favorite flavor of Poffin?" asked the professor.

"Um... Sour..." said Spencer, embarrassed.

"That's the problem. The nutrients in sour berries are great for toughening up Pokemon, but horrible for beauty contests." The scientist went on to explain the significance of flavors in relationship to nature, but Spencer wasn't really paying attention. He was too embarrassed...

Meanwhile, his Pokemon were busy being tended to by the Blissey, unaware of their trainer's predicament.

<<I'm fine! Really! If that Magnemite hadn't shocked me like that I would have been able to wipe the smirk of the face of that human...>> muttered Vincent, resisting the Blissey's attempt to serve him her egg.

<<Now now, stop being so stubborn!>> said the Blissey, shoving a piece of the egg into the Charmander's unwilling mouth. <<I insist that you get some rest. Maybe take a trip through the healing machine at the Center, it's very relaxing.>>

<<"Ohh...">> muttered Celia, as she rubbed her head. <<"Is everyone okay?">>

<<"Yes dear.">> said another Blissey, giving the piplup another spoonful of a disgusting tasting powder. <<"What you did was very brave. Stupid, yes. But very brave.>>

<<Hey! Detective Lady! I totally got that thug on the cheek? Did you see? I have a trenchcoat like yours! ...Why didn't I take speech therapy lessons like that Meowth in that cartoon...>>

<<Shut up and eat your egg dear.>> Said the third Blissey, shoving another bit of egg into the Treecko's mouth.

"So therefore, you should feed your Piplup more Dry berries to balance out it's sheen." said Professor Willow. "It's all related to unstable genetics and all of that. Very interesting subject."

"Interesting..." said Spencer, unable to look the scientist in the eye. It wasn't until Waker held up his notebook that Spencer had an excuse to look away.

"Oh... Um... I don't know." said Spencer. "I hope they can get their Pokemon back... I mean, Charley is a major league a..." he quickly corrected himself to something a bit more tasteful. "Jerk. And Mondie wasn't the nicest guy either... But no one deserves to have that happen to them."

Spencer looked back toward Agent Jennifer as she spoke with Charlie and Mondie, noticing the two pokeballs in her hand.

"I'm not sure what's going to happen to the Shadow Pokemon though..." said Spencer. "Purification is a tough job after all... I've done it before, after all. And even then it required divine intervention to fully purify the poor things..."

Agent Jennifer returned to the group, shaking her head. "Poor guys... the younger one's in shambles..." The woman sighed. "And barely any evidence... That's what makes it so tough to catch these guys. These Team Deception guys have a habit of posing as any number of other teams. That's how they get their name... Most reports of Team Rocket in Furoh turned out to be Team Deception in disguise..."

"Um... Agent Jennifer, My friends and I are curious as to what would happen to those Shadow Pokemon you snagged earlier." said Spencer. "I mean... since the Purification Chamber is down..."

"You know..." said Uta. "Joseph here has done studies on Shadow Pokemon. Perhaps he can help."

"I was working on creating a mobile purification system..." said Professor Willow. "Speeding up the process and all, but it's still far from being done..."

"Well... I suppose we could leave these two Pokemon with you..." said Jennifer. "Though I'm not comfortable with letting you use them in an experiment like that... The Heart is a delicate thing you know."

"Wait!" said Spencer, in what could be described as a fit of inspiration and delirium. Spencer's next words were borne from a combination of three things...

1. A burning desire to prove to Professor Willow that he could properly raise a Pokemon.
2. The fact that Scyther vaguely reminded him of Old Chompy back at the Ranch before he was purified.
3. Fatigue induced delirium.

This strange combination of ingredients resulted in what was possibly the most insane, reckless sentence that had ever emerged from Spencer's Lips.

"We could purify those Pokemon!" said Spencer. "I've done it before, back in Orre. My pet Feraligatr Chompy. The League wouldn't let be bring him with me, but I purified him almost all by myself! Wes and Rui only did the ritual part!" Spencer sounded like an excited child in the way he spoke, drawing surprise from nearly everyone in the room.

"I don't think that's such a good idea Mr. Thorn..." said Uta. "Shadow Pokemon are dangerous creatures, and only an experienced trainer should attempt purification..."

"Wait..." said Agent Jenny. "You've met Wes and Rui?"

"Not directly..." said Spencer. "My sister dealt with them most of the time really."

"So you're Spencer Thorn of the Thorn Family Breeders, correct?"

"Yes..." said Spencer, surprised the officer had heard of his family. He could understand people around the contest circuit to know about a relatively obscure ranch in Orre, but a police officer?


"The same Ranch which assisted in the purification of countless Pokemon during the first Shadow Pokemon Incident?" said Jenny.

"We did?" said Spencer, before quickly correcting himself. "I mean! Yes! We did! The very same." Spencer had no idea Stacy, Mom and Dad had been so busy during those few months...

"Well then, it seems to me that this young man is a qualified individual." said Jennifer, as she called a police officer over. "Walter, outfit these two with restraints and run them through a healing machine. We've found some volunteers." The other officer nodded, taking the Pokeballs and hurrying off to another room.

"Officer, I really don't think entrusting a Shadow Pokemon with a child is a good idea..." said Uta.

"Hey!" said Spencer, nearly climbing to his feet again, before stumbling back to the floor. "I'm nineteen years old! At least as old as Professor Willow was when he first worked with Professor Elm on his Egg Group Study!"

"He has a point Uta..." said Professor Willow. "Though I admit I'm slightly opposed to the idea as well..."

"Mr. Refson, one of our youngest agents is 10." Jennifer glared at the man, whose ever present sheen seemed to fade under her glance. "I think Mr. Thorn can handle a Shadow Scyther beautifully. However..." she pulled a PDA from her pocket (at the sight of which, Spencer couldn't help but wince). "International law states that while a licensed trainer may own a Shadow Pokemon in the interests of purification, they are only allowed to have one under their ownership at a time. Meaning that someone else will have to take care of the Ekans..."

"Um... several questions..." asked Spencer. "First, why the Scyther?"

"Because you rubbed lotion all over it." said Jennifer, gesturing at Spencer's Cheri scented hands. "I can smell it on you."

<<"Wow, she's good...">> muttered Nils.

"Alright then, I'll go with that." said Spencer, rubbing his hand on his shirt. "Um... well... Why don't one of you guys take the Ekans?" He gestured toward the group of trainers surrounding him.

"Um... I'll sit this one out, thanks..." said Elysia, backing away from the officer. "One of you guys do it."

"Very well then..." said Jennifer, a hand on her hip. "Any volunteers?"

With a bright flash of light, Maria and a small team of about 5 grunts landed in a small clearing outside of Barley, just far enough away from the town so that no one passing through would see, yet close enough so that the poor Magnemite transporting all of them wouldn't run out of juice mid blink and imbed them all in a wall.

"Alright, Role call!" said the woman, kicking the two unconscious grunts back to consciousness as she rubbed the gash in her cheek. That was probably going to leave a scar...

"1 2 3 4 5... Alright, good. 100% escape rate. Very nice. The boss would be proud. Though naturally I had to do most of the work, again..." She glanced at her Magnemite, who had already collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to keep itself in the air. With a sigh, Maria recalled the Magnet Pokemon before surveying her haul.

Three Pokemon struggled against their bonds, as several of the grunts tried to hold them back. Removing a trio of gold and silver Pokeballs from her belt, Maria gently lobbed one at each of the Pokemon, temporarily encapsulating them for the time being. Not as effective as those @#$%ing Snag Balls of course, but at least these Park Ball things Dr. Crazy had spent so much time modifying on could keep the Pokemon out of her hair until they could wipe their ball data back at the lab. Besides, she doubted someone with the actual Pokeball would show up to recall them anyway.

"Alright men." said Maria, as she pointed to each man in turn. "You know the drill. A change and clothing and your payment are in the trees a few hundred yards that way. There are some Fearow there to fly you where ever you need to go. Release them as soon as you land. You two," she pointed to the two injured grunts. "Fly to Petropolis, the boss will make arrangements for your treatment. Also, if any of you say a word about this to the police, I have your names and addresses."

She smiled as the various thugs hurried out of the clearing, many of them glad to be out of the company of that creepy woman. Eying the temporary storage of her three captives, she pondered what the boss would like her to do with them. Obviously Dr. Crazy would want some DNA samples for that project of his. And the Boss would definitely make a lot of Poke selling that Luxio to someone in Orre. Shinies always went for a lot. This could finally make up for that Ralts she missed a while ago... It would have been her's too if that stupid Kirila hadn't gotten in the way. And the Gardevore... when that stupid @#$%ing Black Holes sucked up her last ultra ball, she lost her temper.

Most things didn't stay alive around Maria for very long when she loses her temper.

She wasn't sure what would happen to the Seviper or Zangoose though... Anyone with access to a breeder could get an egg. (Didn't Boss say that crazy kid with the scarf was a breeder? Who wears a scarf this time of year anyway?)
Maybe Dr. Crazy could use them to test his new Heart Sealing process. Or maybe Boss would prefer to just sell them to someone in Sinnoh. They're already contest trained, which was a plus...

Of course, at this moment, Maria had other business to attend to. Clipping the hacked park balls to her belt, she pulled a Pokegear from her pocket and hand dialed a number, before holding the gear to the unbloodied side of her face. She had to check in with HQ after all.

There was a silent ringing on the line, before a female voice on the other line spoke.

"Grand Daioh Hotel, are you calling to make a reservation?"

"Giratina was cast out by Arceus." said Maria, in a surprisingly nonchalant manner. She even picked her teeth with her nail as she spoke.

The woman on the other end seemed surprised, but struggled to act naturally.

"I'll patch you through." said the woman. There was a brief sound of music as the call was redirected, before a heavily distorted voice came on the line.

"Hello Maria." said the voice. "It's been a while."

"Yeah yeah, I know..." said Maria. "Gary Glitter and Dr. Nutjob have been keeping me busy. They just had me run a raid on this second rate contest hall in Barley. Kid stuff really. Glittergrin phoned an anonymous tip to FNBS that you guys were behind it, so I thought I should yet you know."

"I will inform the Fifth immediately." said the Voice. "Is there any other information you've gathered on this fellow?"

"Well, you know how a while ago, he had some spies steal that information you got from the Lake of Rage after the Rockets fell apart in Johto, and you had to nix the guys who did it?"

"I do remember that, yes. What did this man who believes he can stand up to the might of Team Deception steal this time?"

"Well, Dr. Crazy got a hold of that stuff you stole from Cipher. The Shadow Pokemon thing? He's been trying to modify it and stuff. Had me poach some Pokemon to test it on. Now, you know how I love poaching Pokemon."

"Your methods are a bit excessive..." said the voice. "But yes, I am aware of that fact."

"Well, Dr. Crazy insisted I get some freshly hatched stuff. So I got some rare ones from Fidonia. A Scyther and an Ekans."

"Did you... do away with the parents?" said the Voice.

"Always do."

"Right..." there was mild tone of disgust in the voice over the phone, though it quickly resumed it's business like tone. "So this Doctor... he's been making Shadow Pokemon?"

"Yeah," said Maria. "They kind of suck though. That Scyther practically fainted itself... And it was only level 3. Can you believe that?! Only Level 3. This guy could have loaded it with Rare Candy or something... some protein... But nooo..."

"Did you see the one who sent them this information?"

"Nah..." said Maria. "They did it digitally. I saved their IP though. Moron didn't use a proxy. I'll forward it to you."

"Very good Maria... your a service to Team Deception. Keeping your eye on this Refson man for us..."

"I get double the pay check, and I get to do what I love. It's perfect for me."

"Right..." the note of disgust had returned.

"Oh! One more thing." said Maria. "Dr. Crazy came up with this crazy cool idea. He managed to hack TM 06."

"TM 06? Toxic?"

"Yeah. It's one of the only TMs with no Pokemon restrictions. Not only has he been able to to duplicate it, he can load any move he wants on it. My Magnemite knows Teleport now, and it's awesome!"

"Teleport is an actual TM though..."

"Yeah, but it's been banned for years. This made it so much easier to escape. I'll send you guys some of these things."

"Thank you Maria." said the voice. "I'm sure we'll find a use for it."

"So uh... About my paycheck..."

"We've deposited three hundred million Poke into an Almian Bank Account. The access code will be sent to your PokeGear shortly."

"Sweet!" said Maria. "Alright, I'll call you next time Uta tries anything."

"Goodbye Maria. We'll have a Pidgeot fly to your safe house tomorrow morning to pick up the TMs. Good evening."

There was a click as the call was disconnected. Maria cheerfully slipped the Pokegear back into her pocket before running into the woods to grab her change of clothing and transport. Whoever though being a double agent could be this fun!?

((Reason For Edit: I forgot that 300k wouldn't cover the cost of a bike... ))

This post has been edited by Cube: Aug 2 2009, 12:39 AM

[Verity Lily]

Verity could have cried with relief that her friends were okay. Her eyes really did spill over with tears when she realised Charley had lost his poor miscoloured pokemon that he'd been kind enough to train anyway, and that Mondie had lost his darling - well, briefly darling - Zangoose. She was just so glad that the boys hadn't lost theirs. And -

"Oh, Waker! Thank you for taking care of Candyfloss! I couldn't have borne it if she'd been stolen!" She hugged them both at once, and then took her igglybuff carefully from the older boy and covered the little pink head with kisses.

"Iggly iggly iggly!" Candyfloss said importantly, waving her little arms around as she happily told her trainer about the really exciting, fun time she'd had and her new friend the ekans.

"Ig-gy!" Fidelus echoed from his place in the baby sling, and Verity eagerly lifted Candyfloss up for her little brother to see.

"Look, Fiddy! The egg you gave me for my birthday hatched! She's called Candyfloss - can you say that? Can - dee - floss," she sounded out carefully, convinced the baby had just said his first word. Candyfloss helped by exuding its rosy pink scent, much to the annoyance of the lucario, who pointedly moved away with its chin disdainfully in the air.

Fiddy gurgled and affectionately batted his sister on the head with a little fist. "It-ty!" he said, much to Verity's delight.

"Are these the new friends you told me about last night, honey?" Bill asked.

"This is Spencer, and Waker. Um, this is Mama - I mean, Ms. Lily, um..."

"Bill," grinned her mother. "Thanks for taking care of our girls." She flashed her teeth, white in her bronzed face, at Agent Jennifer. "Well, hello, Jenny. Is this a new look for you and your sisters? If, so, I approve." She gave the officer a roguish wink.

"Mama..." wailed Verity, in the agony only known to children whose parent flirts in front of their friends.

To her relief, Mr. Refson arrived as a distraction, Courage flittering agitatedly behind his head. "Those brutes nearly took away my Absol, but he managed to evade them."

"Starly! Starly starly STAR!" the little bird pokemon twittered agitatedly, circling from Verity and back to the absol and back again. Verity had the strange feeling it was trying to tell her something important. Perhaps the absol was still in danger? "STAR!!!!!" Courage divebombed at the absol's head.

"Courage, naughty girl! Return!" Verity hissed, even more mortified than she had been by her mother. The starly relcutantly zapped back into the ball, and Verity released Butchette to be grumpily attended by the Blissey.

You were all so brave! Standing up to those brutes like that!"

Verity blushed at Mr Contesta's words, casting a sidelong glance at her mother to make sure she'd heard, too. Bill tugged Verity's tangled ponytail, which Verity took to be a sign of great pride, and ruffled Connie's blue hair.

Verity beamed, and turned her attention back to the conversation. She'd never met a pokemon professor before... Her eyes shone. A pokemon professor would really, really know everything about pokemon, more than Verity could if she read a hundred books. But maybe, if she studied hard enough, one day... She thought of the new contests book in her jigglypuff bag, and hoped againt hope she wouldn't have to give it up if the contest hadn't been finished. She listened eagerly to every word of wisdom the professor dispensed, although she felt sorry for Spencer, who didn't seem very happy...

"Um, professor?" she asked shyly. "If Candyfloss here likes sour berries, that means her sheen is tough, right?"

The professor spared her a glance. "Yes, that's right, little girl. She'd do best in tough competitions, only -" He looked doubtfully at the big-eyed pink baby pokemon.

"I don't think that would work very well," Verity agreed dolefully. Maybe I'd better catch something else... After all, Connie caught Carmilla!

So you're Spencer Thorn of the Thorn Family Breeders, correct? [...] I think Mr. Thorn can handle a Shadow Scyther beautifully.

Verity's eyes widened. Not only was Spencer fantastic at contests, but it seemed that he was famous, too! She wondered why he bothered with kids like herself and Connie.

"Any volunteers?"[/i]

Verity stepped back nervously, even closer to Connie and Bill. Yes, she had just decided she wanted a new contest pokemon, but an evil snake thing with dead eyes...

"No thank you, officer, ma'am!" she squeaked. "I kind of have my hands full." She held up Candyfloss as confirmation.

[Ganymede]

Suddenly realising that there were Blissies in the room, Waker hastily released Azzy and Pora, catching the two in his arms. He laid them down gently next to a Blissey, Azzy weakly attempting to stand, Pora looking around wildly for danger. After a few reassuring pats on the head, the two calmed down a bit and allowed a Blissey to fuss over them, force-feeding them eggs and powders. Standing up again hurt - if I keep getting injured I'll need a full-body suit, Waker thought, laughing silently.


"Alright then, I'll go with that." Waker looked back at Spencer, who was wiping his hand on his shirt. "Um... well... Why don't one of you guys take the Ekans?"


Elysia backed away quickly, shaking her head. "Um... I'll sit this one out, thanks...One of you guys do it."


"Very well then..." said Jennifer. "Any volunteers?"


Waker had already begun writing in his notebook when Verity declined the offer, wondering if he was doing the right thing. A little dazed, he held up his notebook in front of Jennifer, who did a double-take when she saw what was written there.


"You? But..." Waker winced as she took a quick look at him. He knew he didn't look very nice right now - a short, young boy with disheveled hair, a bloody split lip, and a bandaged arm. She shifted his weight a little, glancing back to his Pokemon. Azzy was sitting up now, staring at Waker with a strange expression on his face. Pora was sitting beside him, sides touching, licking his cheek. Catching Waker's stare, she tilted her head. "Nii?"


Jennifer followed Waker's gaze and saw the two Nidorans. Looking back down at the two Pokeballs in her hands, she sighed. "You're a bit young, but...your Pokemon seem to really trust you. Here you go." She held out the Pokeballs - one to Spencer, one to Waker. Gingerly accepting the ball, Waker knelt down and held it out to his Pokemon, the two crowding close. Pora growled softly, tapping the Pokeball with a claw and giving Waker a disapproving look. Scratching her behind her ears, she sighed, wishing he could talk to them.


I know you guys won't like it, but I have to do this. He sat there a moment, letting Azzy climb up his shoulders before picking up Pora, wincing as he stood again. I mean...well, I don't know much about Shadow Pokemon, but I can ask Spencer. And I'm not just going to sit back and let it's heart stay closed... He stared determinedly at the Pokeball, clutching it tightly.


It's not right to close their hearts! Team Deception... He looked around the Contest Hall - Charlie and Mondie being comforted by the officers, Verity's mother talking to Jennifer, a Lucario appearing from backstage, shaking its head - and then closed his eyes. I'm still going to be a Master Coordinator, but...I want to stop them, too.

[ROMANA]

Connie was upset to discover that some pokemon had been stolen; she would hate to lose any of hers. Even Carmilla, who she had only just caught aleady felt like she belonged.

"Maybe," she said quietly, rebellion flaring for a moment, "if either of them had helped at all, they might have been able to keep their pokemon!"

Elysia looked shocked. Connie stomped off in the direction of the Blisseys, blushing. That hadn't been a very nice thing to say, after all. Would she have felt that way if they had been nicer to her? she wondered. Or if Elysia hadn't been brave enough to help but had lost Espy? Now they'd all think she was horrible and wouldn't want anything more to do with her. Maybe even Verity would want to go off with Waker and Spencer and she'd have to do her whole pokemon journey on her own? It was a very mournful looking girl who released her pokemon for checking and healing.

When she rejoined the little group, it was all she could do to keep from sniffling and begging them to take her with them when they moved on from Barley. The Smeargle decided it was her turn to describe the people they'd seen, however, so she didn't get the chance.

"Well, the man in the green room that grabbed Jillian was, sort of tall and he had a beard and he was wearing black I think. It was very dark," Connie desperately tried to come up with something useful. "He had a Tauros and an Exeggcute which my Combee defeated, she was very brave, but the Tauros charged at her and then Butchette threw her at me. Oh, Butchette's Verity's Machop, by the way. That's her Mum. Butchette's Mum, I mean, Verity's Mum isn't a Machamp. Although..." Connie stopped for a second. "Well, like I said, it was very dark."

The Smeargle held up a picture.

"Yes, like that, only it was darker and there should be a Tauros."

The Smeargle shook its head and moved on.

By the time Connie was able to turn her attention properly back to her friends, Spencer was offering to look after the scary dead-eyed pokemon. Having seen them, Connie thought he must be very, very brave. For once, Connie thought Uta was quite probably right, Connie wouldn't trust children with Shadow pokemon, either. Especially not her or Verity. They definitely shouldn't have them. Forgetting for the moment that she was too horrible to talk to, Connie sidled closer to her friend and slipped her hand into Verity's. It was much easier to avoid taking Shadow pokemon if you had your hands full.

"No thank you, officer, ma'am!" squeaked Verity. "I kind of have my hands full."

Connie nodded in agreement and held up her hand holding Verity's as if to prove they were far too busy.

And then Waker held up his notebook and the next thing she knew, the two Shadow pokemon's pokeballs were being handed over. Pora didn't seem particularly impressed by this arrangement, either. Connie found herself hoping that these particular pokemon weren't going to be let out much.

My turn for a recap of everything from Connie's perspective type post, sorry chaps!

This post has been edited by MAREEP: Aug 1 2009, 02:39 PM

[Verity Lily]

Verity exchanged relieved glances with Connie once the ekans was safely disposed of. Waker was really good with poison pokemon, after all. She could depend on him and Spencer to take care of them... Nurse Joy's words came back as an unpleasant reminder.

Verity squeezed Connie's hand, and looked up at her mother. "Um, Mama? Did you and Butch really come all this way to give me my hat, or did you think I needed rescuing?"

Bill smiled down at her. "Well, now, it looks like you girls didn't need rescuing, did you? You defeated that crook, and caught and tied up that irritating young woman and handed her over to the police -"

Verity giggled. "Mama, we didn't catch her, we were rescuing her."

"Oh, what a pity. But then I'm even prouder of you two. But no, I didn't come in to check on you, or save you, or bring you your hat. Not even to get Agent Jennifer's phone number, although that was a nice bonus. Not that I need an excuse to see my little girl or our Connie. It's just that if you are determined to do contests - and I still don't approve, mark you, if I find out you're thinking of nothing but your looks -"

"But, Mama, idol stars need to sparkle!"

Bill ignored her interjection. "- I'm going to call every contest hall in Furoh and tell them not to let you in. But your Aunty Hope thought you and Connie should have proper outfits. She stayed up all night sewing and all morning, I've never seen her so excited. I swear that woman secretly stays up all night watching contests on tv." She opened her satchel, and tossed a bundle of something blue at Connie, and to Verity...

Verity drew in her breath in a long gasp. Somehow she was holding an armful of lilac gingham with deep, scooped hems, puffed sleeves, bows on every single place a bow could reasonably be attached and some they could not, and more layers of lacy petticoats than she'd ever seen in her life. Not even Elysia, she was sure, had anything as gloriously frothy as this dress.

"Ohhh... Tell Aunty Hope thank you, thank you, thank you!" Holding the dress against her, Verity tried a swirl, and miraculously managed to pull it off without tripping on a shoelace. "But - oh, Mama. All this fabric and lace must be very expensive. Can - can you afford it? Our friend Joy said that the Pokecentre wasn't buying our milk anymore."

"She had no business telling you that." Bill frowned. "Look, honey, we'll manage somehow. I don't want you two worrying your heads about the farm - you're off to learn, make friends and have adventures. If Moo-Moo Land has nabbed our contract for the time being, well, we'll make do."

Verity looked unhappily at her. Bill was always far more imposing than conventionally pretty, but Verity could pick out dark shadows under her eyes that weren't entirely accounted for by having sent her elder child off on her first pokemon journey.

"Moo-Moo Land?" Jennifer perked up and came across to join the conversation, giving Bill a conspiratorial half-smile as she did. "I've had a couple of anonymous tipoffs about that place. Pokemon experimentation to produce more nutrient-heavy milk, that kind of thing." She shook her head. "Probably just jealous rumours by thwarted rivals; I'm afraid your farm isn't the only one being forced out of business. We checked around, but everything seemed clear and above-board."

"It's tragic, isn't it?" Uta put in. "People just try to run an honest business and make an honest profit, and bad-natured people spread ugly rumours to try and put them out of business."

"Or they come and steal their pokemon," lamented Mr. Contesta. "Or make their Sevipers dig through the floor. Just look at this place..."

"Shocking," agreed Uta. "You'll find there's some very wicked people in the world who think of nothing but money, Ms., uh, Lily. If only we could all be as selfless and close to nature and pokemon as you and the lovely ladies on your quaint little farm, the world would be a far better place." Verity gave him a funny look. His words were nice, and his voice was dripping with more charm than Candyfloss, but... surely he wasn't making fun of Bill. No one would ever dare make fun of Bill, especially when Butch was out of her pokeball.

Bill ignored him and dropped a kiss on Verity's upturned face, and then on Connie's. "I must get back, girlies. Looks like you two have an adventure on your hands. Don't worry about home, keep in touch with your phone, and look after your hat, promise?"

"I promise." Verity kissed her back, and kissed Fiddy.

"It's been great to meet you boys," Bill told Waker and Spencer. "It makes my mother's heart beat more easily to know Verity and Connie have good and brave friends. You did a noble and kind thing, taking those shadow pokemon, you know. I'm sure it will pay off in the end." She smiled at them. "Now - bye bye, girls. Take care and have fun. And see you soon, Jen." With a final wink, and a farewell "Maaachamp!" from Butch, the amazon was gone.

[Cube]

Spencer was a bit surprised at Waker's decision to take the Ekans, considering what had happened.
"That's very honorable of you Waker." he said, as a police officer handed Jennifer back a pair of Poke balls, each with an Interpol badge engraved onto the upper half.

Spencer gingerly took the pokeball from the officer's outstretched hand. The ball felt heavy in his hand, which didn't really make much sense in Spencer's mind. It wasn't even physical weight. He was sure if he placed it on a scale, it would weigh the same as any other Poke Ball. Something about it just felt heavy in Spencer's hand...

Maybe his arms were just tired. He was exhausted from everything that had happened that day. He barely even noticed Bill flirting with Jennifer (which seemed to make poor Nils a bit jealous.), or the Starly divebombing Uta's Absol.

"Um... is it okay if I let it out of it's Pokeball for a moment?" said Spencer. "Just to get a feel for it? I'm sure Waker would like to try it with his Ekans as well."

Agent Jennifer conferred with another police officer, before directing for Spencer and Waker to follow. Pulling himself to his feet, Spencer managed to wobble after the officer, though he was still quite sore. The Lucario and Smeargle followed close behind, apparently ready to intervene if any of the pokemon tried an encore performance from earlier.

Making sure each trainer was safely away from the others, Spencer smiled at his friends on stage as he enlarged the Pokeball in his hand.

"Alright um... Come out... uh... Logan?" he called, making up the nickname on the spot. The Scyther appeared in a flash of light, apparently restored to full health, though Spencer thought something looked funny about it's scythes... Until Spencer realized that something did look funny about it's Scythes. It was wearing what looked like oven mitts. Thick layers of some sort of padded material, held on with plastic zip ties. It also seemed to be wearing some sort of brace thing...

"We've outfitted each of your Pokemon with restraints. Padding on his Scythes, a macho brace to restrict it's movement so it can't hit you with full force." said one of the officers. "Also, I should tell you that Shadow Pokemon don't respond to Nicknames. So I wouldn't really bother with that right now..."

Spencer knelt down near the Scyther, only to be promptly greeted with a padded scythe smack to the shoulder. "Ow!"
Spencer rubbed his shoulder where the scyther had smacked him. It felt considerably weaker than Spencer expected, though against his already sore muscles it wasn't exactly the most pleasant feeling.
It was better than being decapitated, at least...

As the Scyther feebly smacked Spencer's shoulders again and again, Spencer flipped open his new Pokedex, repeating the same trick Professor Willow had performed earlier. The Scyther's information page looked a bit different than Celia's. First of all, it was tinted purple instead of the normal white. A new bar was placed underneath the Scyther's picture, with a small heart next to it. It was over 90% full, though a little silver of white peeked out near the end.

Scyther: The Mantis Pokemon. It attacks with it's razor sharp scythes and ninja like agility. It is rarely encountered by humans.
Level 3- Male.
Nature: ?????
Ability: Technician
Heart Gauge: 95%
Moves:
Shadow Rush
Shadow Mist
-----
-----

Spencer flipped the Pokedex shut, slipping it back into his bag. "What's this-?" he started to ask.

"The Heart Gauge measures how sealed a Pokemon's Heart is." explained an officer "The lower the percentage, the more open it's heart is."

"I helped work on that new Pokedex." said Professor Willow. "It's the most through Pokemon Scan yet."

"Then the reason it can't guess it's nature is because it's heart it's sealed, right?" said Spencer, just as the Scyther exhaled a cloud of foul smelling mist into his face.

"Yes." said the officer. "And don't mind the mist. It's harmless."

"It stinks..." coughed Spencer, waving the fog from his eyes. "But I'll get used to it... I guess..."

He scratched the Scyther behind one of it's horns, only to be repayed with another smack.

"Scy..." growled the Scyther, it's soulless voice dripping with hostility. <<"Why no die?!">> it shouted, repeatedly smacking the trainer, until the Smeargle sprinkled a strange burst of powder from it's tail, causing the Scyther to immediately collapse in a heap in Spencer's lap.

"Um..." Spencer rubbed his sore arms, as he recalled the Scyther back to it's Pokeball. "Well... he'll come around, I guess..."

The officer sighed. "Um... maybe we should get you some padding or something..."

Logan Level 3 Shadow Scyther (M).
Adamant Nature (Sealed)

Spencer limped back to the group just in time to catch the end of the groups conversation. Something about Moo Moo Land... Sounded like a theme park or something...

"It's been great to meet you boys," Bill told Waker and Spencer. "It makes my mother's heart beat more easily to know Verity and Connie have good and brave friends. You did a noble and kind thing, taking those shadow pokemon, you know. I'm sure it will pay off in the end." She smiled at them.

"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you as well ma'am." said Spencer. 'And I certainly hope this whole shadow Pokemon thing works out...'. "I'm sure your daughter will turn out to be a great trainer. Or Coordinator, or breeder. Calling every contest hall it a bit excessive though."

He smiled as the amazon and her pokemon left the hall, making a mental note to never get on that woman's bad side.

Reason for Edit: Posted too slow. Added new content to reflect the previous post.

This post has been edited by Cube: Aug 1 2009, 03:57 PM

[ROMANA]

Cross posted wwith Cube and I'm just off to bed but if anything needs to be changed I'll get it first thing in the morning, sorry!

Connie caught the blue bundle but didn't get around to unfolding it straight away because she was too busy gawping at the lilac gingham mass of frills and bows and petticoats that Verity was oooohing over.

Verity asked Bill about the Moomoo milk from the farm and Connie found herself reacting strangely to Uta's interjections. He wasn't saying anything wrong and he was smiling and concilliatory but somehow, Connie found herself thinking that she just didn't trust him. Maybe she really was a horrible person, after all. Maybe, if someone wasn't nice to her, it meant she couldn't believe them, even when they were being nice. After all, Mr Refson had been right - she had messed up the contest. Her pokemon had got all confused and attacked another trainer. She found that thought rather worrying. She wanted to be a nice girl and do the right thing.

Moo-Moo Land sounded like it should be a lovely place. Even if it was filled with Miltanks. Were the rumours just because they were taking contracts from placed like Butterfree Farm? Experimenting on pokemon didn't sound like something that would happen at a place as happy sounding as Moo-Moo Land.

"Say thank you to Aunty Hope from me, too," said Connie with a grin and a wave, as Bill, Butch and Fiddy left. She turned to the others and pointedly turned her back on Mr Refson and the Professor, drawing her friends away. "I'm not sure I like the sound of all that. Agent Jennifer didn't seem convinced that Moo-Moo Land was all innocent and Verity, the Miltanks in the truck didn't seem very happy, did they? I mean, not after Butchette frightened them, anyway. Somtheing just doesn't seem right about it. Maybe, when we..." she stopped and remembered her fears that the other wouldn't want to take her with them. She assumed that they, at least, would be staying together.

"That is... I don't know where you all want to go next. Or... I don't know if you want to go to the same place as I do next, anyway. That is, I don't know where to go next and Moo-Moo Land might be on the way there. Or there could be past Moo-Moo Land." She gave up. SHe seemed to be tying herself into verbal knots. "You know what I mean. At least I hope so."

Connie looked down. She was still holding her own dress. She shook it out for something to do to try and ditstract attention from her rambling embarrassment. It was a pretty light blue dress, noticably devoid of bows and ruffles, in a sensible pinafore shape. It was pretty but understated and not particularly girly. She compared it to Verity's. She was relieved that Aunty Hope had only got entirely carried away on one of the two frocks.

"Um... how are we going to get that in your bag without killing it?" she asked Verity, dubiously. "I mean, it's very... lovely and everything, but it's a bit... wide, too, isn't it? Do you think it would go in a pokeball?"

This post has been edited by MAREEP: Aug 1 2009, 03:54 PM

[Ganymede]

"Um... is it okay if I let it out of it's Pokeball for a moment?" Spencer's voice interrupted Waker's inner monologue with a jolt. "Just to get a feel for it? I'm sure Waker would like to try it with his Ekans as well." Before Waker could protest, he was pushed along behind Spencer by the Lucario, Azzy making a disgruntled noise. The group stopped a ways away from the others, Jennifer, the officer, and their Pokemon making a protective ring around the two boys.


Waker watched with apprehension as Spencer released the Scyther, making up a nickname on the spot. Waker's shoulders began to shake in silent laughter at the sight of the oven mitt-like restraints on Scyther's scythes - he knew he shouldn't be laughing, but he couldn't help it. Pora looked up at him worriedly.


"Is he alright?" she asked, pawing at his shirt. Waker gave her a shaky smile, the Pokeball in his hands reverting to full-size. "I think he's in shock," Azzy murmured, nose twitching. "Remember when that Poliwhirl attacked him back in Ecruteak? He was like this after Denai* jumped in the way." Pora frowned, still unconvinced. The very basic of instincts were telling her to get Waker back to the Pokemon Center - and bed - as soon as possible, sans Ekans. She growled again, ears flat against her head.


A flash of light revealed the Ekans - who, like the Scyther, was now fully healed. The dead, emotionless eyes scanned the room before landing on Waker, a low hiss coming from the back of the Ekans' throat. Standing his ground, Waker swallowed, shifting Pora to his other arm as he fumbled for his notebook. As he began writing, the officer next to Jennifer explained the Scyther's restraints before turning to Waker.


"Well, there's not much we can do for a snake," he said, looking embarrassed. "But we did put a bind on it's mouth - Ekans aren't venomous until they get close to evolution, but their fangs still hurt." Waker followed Spencer's example and knelt down in front of the Ekans, holding his notebook in front of him, hoping ti could understand.

i know that you probly wont listen to me for a while
but im going to give you your nickname too even if your heart is locked
ok Locke?

The Ekans - Locke - seemed to stare through the notebook before moving, slowly but purposely, towards Waker. Bracing himself for another attack, he felt Pora and Azzy jump off of him as Locke wrapped himself around Waker, squeezing him again. Inhaling sharply, Waker sat still as one of the officers ran up to him, prying the snake Pokemon off of his bruised chest. Azzy and Pora were immediately back, licking Waker's face and hands in a frenzy. Patting the two, he carefully stood up and shuffled in his bag for his new Pokedex, hitting a few buttons by accident as he tried to replicate what Spencer had done.


When he finally got to the right page, he held up the Pokedex, pointing it at Locke.

Ekans: The Snake Pokemon. It always hides in grass. When first born, it has no poison, so its bite is painful, but harmless.
Level 4 - Male.
Nature: ?????
Ability: Intimidate
Heart Gauge: 97%
Moves:
Shadow Rush
Shadow Hold
-----
-----

Closing his Pokedex, Waker recalled Locke, attaching the Pokeball to the strap on his bag, right under Pora's. The Poison Pin Pokemon didn't seem to like the new arrangement - she huffed and poked Waker's leg with one of her claws. Azzy simply sighed and shook his head, nudging Pora and following Waker and Spencer back to the group.


Entering the tail end of the conversation, he watched as Verity's mother left, leaving the girls with what seemed to be small, coloured clouds in their hands. Waker stood back a little, smiling as he watched the two try to get the dresses into their bags without crushing them.


Pulling out his notebook yet again - it was getting quite a bit of mileage - Waker noted with dismay that half the pages had been torn out during the attack, leaving him with only a few more pages. I'll have to get a new one after we get out of here, he thought, scribbling quickly. He stood next to Verity and held out the notebook in the center of their little circle, Jennifer looking on.

we cant leave until they say we can go, right?
what are we going to do now then? try to purify the Pokemon?

Haha, Waker's horrible at naming things. At this rate is he's going to start naming random Pikachus Pika and Skitties Skittles...Erm, anyway. I accidentally deleted the request I sent in to the mods about the Ekans, so I forgot exactly what level/moves/nature I gave it. I'm going to go with this for the time being until I can find some way to get the info back. Also, I just figured out how to use the acronym function so there's a little bit of that going on here too.

[Cube]

"They've got special capsules for that sort of thing at most Pokemon Centers." said Spencer, removing the small PokeBall like device from his bag. "Costs a few Poke for the balls, but it's useful for storing your formalwear." Spencer slipped the ball back into his bag.

Noticing Waker's notepad (he really needed a new one by now...), Spencer pondered the silent boy's question for a moment. What now? He wasn't exactly in the mood for another contest so soon... So he was naturally grateful for Connie's suggestion. Flipping open his new PokeGear, he awkwardly navigated to the GPS function, as a small map of the Furoh Region was displayed on the screen, with keyboard displayed on the bottom. Typing with his thumbs, he slowly tapped on the phrase "Moo Mo", before the view of the map zoomed to a small icon of a cow about a days walk outside of Barley.

"Hm... Well, it's not too far out of the way." said Spencer, pointing at a small intersection of routes about an inch away from the cow icon. "See? There's a junction a few miles away from Moo Moo Land. From the looks of it, it has connections to Gigarte, Arasam, and Petropolis too."

Who ever built Moo Moo Land certainly was good at picking a good location for their business. Not only was it close enough to the cities main port to make shipping easy, it had quick access to the main routes to two of the regions largest cities, and what looked to be a water connection to Arasam. (Assuming of course, there weren't any water falls or rapids in the mountains that Spencer was unaware of... Maybe they used canals or something.)

"We could probably get there in a day on foot. Maybe less if we took my scooter. Maybe if I tie a wagon or something to the back..."

"Um... Mr. Thorn." said a police officer, tapping him on the shoulder. (What was with these people and shoulder taps? Couldn't they tell he was sore?) "You mentioned a scooter? It wasn't parked outside the Pokemon Center was it?"

"Um... Yes?" said Spencer. That sinking feeling was back...

"Well, we recently caught some young vandals in the area... They had painted "Carminderz such" on the side, and were using it for target practice." The police officer handed Spencer a pair of mangled handlebars. "Are these yours?"

Spencer stared in horror at the pair of mangled handlebars in his hands. He could handle the loss of the PDA... But his scooter?! That machine was as close to him as one of his Pokemon! Tears welled up in his eyes. "Y-yes..." he choked, cradling the handlebars in his hand.

<<Oh Arceus... Is he going to start rubbing that with cologne too?>> muttered Vincent, before the Blissey returned his attention to this very nutritious egg that he MUST EAT NOW.

"Well, we've already caught the kids, and contacted their parents." said the officer. "They said they're willing to have their kids cover the cost..." There was an awkward silence, Spencer sobbed into his scarf, making the police officer feel quite uncomfortable. "You know... we've brought in a grief counselor for some of the victims... if you'd like to speak with her..."

"It's fine!" said Spencer, wiping his tears from his eyes. "I'll talk about it later..."

"Alright then..." muttered the police officer as he slowly backed away.

Spencer tearfully retrieved the Scyther's Pokeball from his bag, directing the others to give him a few feet of breathing room with his hand. 'A PDA and a Scooter in exchange for you, huh?" thought Spencer, as he released the unconscious Scyther. 'What a trade...'.

Spencer prodded the bug type awake with his hand, and promptly found himself with a very unhappy shadow Pokemon.

<<Kill...>> it growled, glaring at Spencer with it's empty eyes.

"Yeah yeah whatever..." said Spencer, turning it's back to the Scyther as it began it's predicted barrage against his back. Spencer barely payed the shadow pokemon any attention as it took out it's rage on his back.

Today was just not his day...


...

"Um... could you go a little bit lower? This actually feels kind of nice."

<<DIE!>>

"Yeah, Scy, right. I wonder if I could soak those pads in cologne..."

[Verity Lily]

"That is... I don't know where you all want to go next. Or... I don't know if you want to go to the same place as I do next, anyway. That is, I don't know where to go next and Moo-Moo Land might be on the way there. Or there could be past Moo-Moo Land."

Connie had put Verity's thoughts into words... almost. That is, she had been wondering if the boys wanted to travel with them a bit more, or if they were sick of hanging around with silly girls who didn't know anything about contests and whose mareeps and starlies randomly attacked other trainer's pokemon. After all, they hadn't known Waker and Spencer very long, even if they already felt like friends, and the boys were so much bigger and more knowledgable than them - Spencer was pretty much a grownup. And yes, Agent Jennifer had said one of their best agents was ten years old, but it was probably a much smarter, more experienced ten year old, not one fresh off the farm. Verity had been very anxious when Bill had presumed the boys were still with them. What if they didn't want to be?

But Verity's shyness was sharply and unpleasantly cut into by the mention of Moo-Moo Land. She assumed she and Connie would stick together, and she'd go anywhere Connie wanted to, really she would, they were best friends and this was their pokemon adventure together - but - Moo-Moo Land?

Verity sat heavily down on the floor and clung Candyfloss for support. "Um... Moo-Moo Land?" she said, faintly. "That sounds like it's a place with a LOT of miltanks., you know. Producing moomoo milk and things. Do you think they're tame?"

No one seemed to hear her, so Verity contented herself with trying to put away her dream dress to try to distract herself from horrible images of herds of rampaging miltanks. Connie was right, it was rather... bulky. She hoped very much that Connie wasn't disappointed that hers was so plain. But, then, Connie really didn't ever wear bows and lace. Maybe Aunty Hope had done it on purpose. She still worried that Connie would feel left out.

The dress really wouldn't go in. Verity was faced with a terrible dilemma: did she risk killing the dress, or sacrifice some of her books and maps? She couldn't crush her new contest frock, she just couldn't - but her books! What if they got lost because she didn't have a map? Or she met a gigantic miltank at Moo-Moo Land and they all got squashed because she couldn't look up what to do?

"They've got special capsules for that sort of thing at most Pokemon Centers." said Spencer, removing the small PokeBall like device from his bag. "Costs a few Poke for the balls, but it's useful for storing your formalwear."

Candyfloss watched intently, looked up at her trainer still trying to fold up her dress, and slipped from Verity's lap. She toddled across to the remains of the sponsor's tables, where pokeball-like devices just like the one Spencer had shown them rested, and her big red eyes grew even huger. She cast a longing glance up at them, then a meaningful, tremulous look at Mr. Contesta, then back at the balls. "Buff?" she said in a small, pathetic voice.

Mr. Contesta melted. "Oh, the dear little thing, it wants to play with one of the storage balls! The nice sponsors won't mind if we give you some, will they, precious?" He took a handful of storage balls off the table and filled Candyfloss's little arms with them, oblivious to the outraged glares of the sponsors.

"Iggly" Candyfloss said triumphantly, and proudly toddled back to Verity with its arms full of pokeballs. Verity could red heat creeping over her pale skin again as she sheepishly accepted the storage balls and put her lilac dress in them, offering one to Connie. Apparently humans weren't immune to Covet. Verity wondered if she had an incorrigible pokemon felon on her hands. "Um, boys, do you want any?" she asked. "If the sponsors don't mind."

At this point the tragic news of Spencer's scooter was delivered. Verity wanted to do what she generally did when Fiddy or, more rarely, Connie cried - fling her arms tightly around him and wail with sympathy - but he seemed to want to be left alone. Verity clutched Candyfloss and Connie, feeling helpless. It was probably all their fault that the scooter was stolen - she wasn't sure precisely how, but maybe if the boys had not had to look after them, the scooter would have been somehow okay.

we cant leave until they say we can go, right?
what are we going to do now then? try to purify the Pokemon?

Verity looked at Waker's depleted notebook and stub of pencil. At last, here was something she could do to be of use! Her jigglypuff backpack was still open, a pile of books on the floor where she had been trying to make room. She picked up a notebook and a pen and proffered them to Waker, smiling. It did occur to her that perhaps a notebook covered with bunearies and roselias and a pen with a plush snubble hanging off the end weren't very manly, but possibly Waker wouldn't mind too much.

Agent Jennifer leaned over and read Waker's message.

"Actually, we're about done now. Unless this young lady has something to add to her friend's account?" Verity shook her head vigorously. "I want you all to give me your phone or PDA numbers, in case we need to be in touch, and then you're free to go. I won't tell you to try to stay out of trouble, I'm sure that would be useless if you're Wilhelmina Lily's daughter." She smiled at Verity, then cast a glance around. Mr. Contesta was arguing with the sponsors about the proper disposal of promotional goods, Uta and Professor Willow had drifted away into a corner and were conferring intensely and privately about something - there was just herself and the kids. She leaned in closer.

"You know, one of the best ways to purify shadow pokemon is to build up trust between you by using them in battle. And at least, then, the violent impulse is directed away from you," she added, looking at Waker and Spencer's injuries. "I'm sure there's nothing up at Moo-Moo Land. Perfectly legitimate business, as Mr. Refson said. But... it might be a good idea to have a look around. Very picturesque, all those miltanks. An educational experience." Verity wasn't very sure that she needed to be educated about miltanks, given that she'd grown up on a farm. She squeezed Candyfloss tight, breathing in her soothing perfume.

"I have a helicopter, you know," Jennifer added in what would have seemed a casual tone if her voice hadn't been pictched so low. A rather special one. I could give you kids a lift... that is, if you were headed in any particular direction."

[ROMANA]

Connie tried out the storage ball Candyfloss had obtained. The blue dress wooshed into the ball. She wondered for a moment what state it would be in when it came out and shrugged, it couldn't really be worse than her dungarees, and all the other trainers must have similar storage problems when they arrived at contests.

She watched as Spencer resignedly released the mittened Scyther again. Locke began to beat his back with its blade-like front legs. She was rather glad that there were only two Shadow pokemon to be cared for: her pokemon were only naughty, they'd never tried to crush her or beat her up. Agent Jennifer's hint about using the pokemon in battle sounded reasonable. If you were going to be around Shadow pokemon, it would make sense to be behind them, at least. She felt very sorry for Spencer at the loss of his scooter but she didn't really know what to say. A whole day's walking instead of riding in his bike must be a miserable prospect.

"I have a helicopter, you know, a rather special one. I could give you kids a lift... that is, if you were headed in any particular direction."

A lift in a helicopter! Today was definitely looking up. Connie shoved the storage ball into her bag and swung it onto her back. She held out her hand to help Verity to her feet and began picking up boks and bits and pieces and arranging everything neatly into the Jigglypuff backpack.

"I've never even seen a helicopter up close!" she exclaimed, "Are you sure we can all fit in? Won't it look a bit suspicious if we arrive at Moo-Moo Land in a police helicopter?" It seemed almost too good to be true to be going off to investigate at the almost-request of a police officer. "Can we have badges?" she asked, dimly remembering a Western she and Verity had watched with Aunty Hope when they were little. Connie had found a Staryu badge in a shop in Barley the following weekend and had worn it every day for about the next year. Deputies were goodies and they helped people.

Agent Jennifer seemed to be having trouble keeping a straight face but then it turned out she was just sneezing, after all. Connie held out an almost clean handkerchief, while gazing at the special agent with rapt attention.

"No, I think badges might give you away almost as much as arriving in the helicopter," said Jennifer, when she recovered from her sneezing fit. For some reason, she refused the proffered hankie. "We'll drop you close enough to make the walk there nice and easy but far enough away to not be noticed. Is there anything else you need to do in Barley? We can leave now, or we can arrange a time to meet back at the pokemon centre."

Connie looked at Verity. She knew her friend would not be keen on voluntarily going somewhere with lots of Miltanks. "I think we're all ready," she said. "If you want to go Verity? We... we could go fishing instead, if you'd rather?"

[Verity Lily]

"I think we're all ready," she said. "If you want to go Verity? We... we could go fishing instead, if you'd rather?"

Verity opened her mouth to say that, actually, she'd like to try out Connie's Old Rod, maybe she could catch a feebas and evolve it into a milotic for the pokemon contests and not go anywhere near a miltank or a tauros ever again, but as she looked into Connie's big, blue, hopeful eyes... She knew exactly how Mr. Contesta must have felt when Candyfloss was using Covet.

She swallowed hard. "Um, I've always wanted to go in a helicopter," she said through dry lips. "Thank you, Agent Jennifer, ma'am. I don't need a badge."

She turned to the others. "I don't think I need to go to the pokemon centre," she said. She didn't feel like she ever wanted to go near icecream again, and besides, the walls were covered with pictures of happy miltanks. "Is there anything you need?"

She thought again of the shadows under her mother's eyes, and felt a burst of resolution. Bill... nothing got to Bill, except that one time Verity had been poison-stung by a weedle when she was three and had an allergic reaction and Bill had stayed up with her all night for a week, and sometimes Verity had woken to hear her mother sobbing. Bill was the one who could wrestle a tauros to the ground with the help of Butch, Bill was the one who had once knocked an entire gang of burglars unconscious, Bill was the one who had once earned some extra cash doing feats of strength in a circus, the Amazing Wilhelmina and her Miraculous Machamp, and when the strong man had made fun of the Fat Lady Bill had taken him and his hitmonchan on bare-fisted in the ring and reduced them to such a state that he had apologised to the lady on bended knee. It was all wrong that she should have shadows under her eyes as if she'd been crying.

Butterfree Farm meant everything to Bill. It must have hurt to leave her sisters, the amazons in Fidona, but she'd found a group of women who needed her, and now Moo-Moo Land was taking it all away.

She slipped her arm into Connie's and raised her chin. "We're ready."

[Cube]

Spencer sighed as the Scyther angrily beat on his back, occasionally adjusting his position so it's heavily padded scythes could reach a sore spot. It was actually kind of relaxing...

Eventually however, the Mantis Pokemon collapsed to the ground, panting. Turning around, Spencer carefully reoriented himself to sit behind the Scyther. (There was no way he would be able to pick that thing up. He easily weighed 10 times as much as Nils did.) Spencer scratched the exhausted shadow Pokemon's head. "I'm not sure if using Logan in a battle is a good idea though..." said Spencer. "I mean, that would involve taking off the restraints... I don't know if I'd be able to get them back on..."

He looked into the tired Scyther's empty eyes as he spoke. "Well... I guess a Scyther is a fair trade for a Scooter... even a homicidal Scyther. He is kind of cute, in a scary bug sort of way..." he gently scratched the Scyther on the nose, carefully avoiding any bites the bug Pokemon might attempt. The Scyther did instinctively attempt to release another cloud of Shadow Mist, only to stop when it caught the lingering aroma of Cheri Cologne on Spencer's palm.

<<Oooh... Smell Nice...>> growled the Scyther, as it's new trainer returned to scratching the back of it's head.

Meanwhile, Spencer's Pokemon had been released from the care of the Blissey, and Vincent was not happy about the newest addition to the group...

<<Why does he have this freaky guy with him?>> he exclaimed. <<He nearly chopped his head off!>>

<<Well... It could be like what Grandfather Feraligatr told us about back at the ranch?>> pondered Celia, as she examined the new Pokemon. <<Maybe this one had it's heart sealed? It does seem pretty empty...>>

<<I still don't like it....>> said Vincent, eying the Scyther with suspicion. <<If he even looks at any of us the wrong way...>> The Charmander blew a puff of smoke in the air.

<<Jennifer! Hey! I want a badge! Come on!>> said Nils, leaping into the air.

Of course, Spencer didn't really notice any of this as he called his Pokemon over. "Vincent! Nils! Celia! Come meet your new brother!" he stretched his free arm around the three of them as he scratched Logan beneath his chin. "This is Logan. Now, I know he's a bit scary, and he seems a bit odd to you. That's because he's a Shadow Pokemon. He's had his heart sealed by some very bad people. He's going to be staying with us while we work on opening his heart. I'm going to need your help though, alright?" The Pokemon slowly seemed to nod their heads. "Alright. Now, I want you to spend some time with Logan. Time around normal Pokemon is supposed to help with purification too. Vincent, if you'd like to spar with him sometimes, that might help as well."

"Char..." muttered the Lizard Pokemon, who must have been thinking that his trainer had lost it....

"Alright then." said Spencer, turning back to the topic at hand. "I'd love to take a ride on a Police Helicopter. Besides, going to this Moo Moo Land place might be fun. What do you think guys?"

"Treecko!"
"Piplup!"
"Charmander..."

"Alright." said Spencer. "I'm willing to go, considering the only thing I left at the center is gone now. When are we leaving?"

[Ganymede]

At the news of Spencer's scooter's unfortunate passing, Waker sighed and shook his head. Two days in Furoh and more problems then they could count - is this what being a trainer is like?


Smiling at the girls' enthusiasm, he accepted the new notebook and pen. Sure, they were a little girly, but Waker didn't mind all that much- as long as he could still write. Shoving his poor old notebook into his bag - the inside of which probably resembled the aftermath of a hurricane - he flipped to the first page in his new notebook, writing a giant THANKS! across the page.


Jennifer clapped her hands, looking around the group. "Alright then - I'm just going to assume he's coming along?" she asked, looking pointedly at Waker. With a nod from the silent boy she continued.


"Right. We'll be leaving soon - make sure you have everything you need. The helicopter's just outside of town, to the south. You can't miss it." She motioned at one of the officers, who nodded and left the Hall. "We'll need to make room for you guys and get everything set up." With that, Jennifer waved at the group before following the officer out, leaving the four kids and their Pokemon.


Feeling a tug on his leg, Waker looked down. Both Azzy and Pora were there, frowning and holding onto his pant leg tightly. Oh, that's right - you guys don't like really big heights, do you? With a smile Waker hit the release on both of their Pokeballs, the two vanishing in flashes of light. After a moment's debate - and a glance at Logan - Waker let Locke out again.


The Ekans curled into a mass of coils, blank eyes glaring at Waker from the middle. Bending down, he picked up the snake Pokemon - it was a little heavier than it looked - and draped it around his neck. An officer hovered nearby, ready to stop Locke if it tried to attack Waker again - which he didn't seem to want to do. Wrapping himself loosely around Waker's neck, he stared dully at the ground before closing his eyes. Walking around experimentally, Waker discovered that it would be fairly easy to carry the Ekans around like that - although it would mean that Azzy would loose his perch.


Turning back to the group, he motioned towards the doors, Locke's tail rattling faintly. Is everyone ready to go?

[Cube]

"Waker I don't really think you should be wearing... Oh, never mind." said Spencer, as he set down his Pokemon, struggling to pull himself to his feet. "As long as he doesn't try to "hug" you again..."

<<What Hug? It Hurt?>> said Logan, absent mindedly trying to force of it's restraints.

<<A hug is something humans do to people they love.>> said Celia, before demonstrating the maneuver on the Scyther's leg. <<See? Hug! Dad was just making a joke. An Ekans's hug is more of a choke.>>

<<Oh...>> said the Scyther. <<What love? It hurt?>>

<<More than you could possibly imagine...>> sighed Nils, as Agent Jennifer left the contest hall.

<<Me like love then! LOVE YOU HUMAN!!!!>> shouted the Scyther, as it smacked Spencer in the shin, causing him to leap on one foot in pain.

"OW! Ffff... That one hurt Logan! Don't attack me!" shouted Spencer, as he rubbed his leg. That was going to leave a bruise...

<<That's not what love is!>> shouted the Piplup, holding the Scyther back from attacking again. Vincent could only shake his head in shame. It was going to be a long purification...

"Oh! Spencer, Waker, Connie!" shouted Mr. Contesta, as he and Elysia hurried to greet the group. "I almost forgot, can I see your Trainer's Cards for a moment?"

"Oh, uh... Sure!" said Spencer, pulling his card out of his wallet. Mr. Contesta snatched it from his hand before running it through a small device in his palm, repeating the process with Waker and Connie.

"There!" said Mr. Contesta, as he handed the cards back to their owners . "I've upgraded your cards with Contest Pass functionality! It should speed up the registration process for contests considerably. Elysia, you had something to give them all too, correct?"

"Oh, right!" said Elysia, as she handed all four trainers a small box. "Mr. Contesta asked me to give you each an official League Badge and Ribbon Case. Oh, and Spencer, Waker, I have something else as well."

She dug through her hand bag before pulling out a pair of strange objects Spencer had never seen before.

"Are those... Nooses?" asked Spencer, eying the object strangely.

"What? Of course not." Said Elysia. "They're leashes. See, you hold them from this end, and hook the other end to your Pokemon. I figured you could use them for... you know..." She eyed Logan nervously, apparently fearful for her own shins as well.

"Um... Thanks!" said Spencer, slipping the gifts into his bag. "So uh... where are you off to after this?"

"I can answer that." Said Mr. Contesta. "Elysia has opted to travel to Arasam with Jillian and I to participate in the upcoming contest."

"I overheard you talk to Agent Jennifer back there." said Elysia. "It's a shame you all won't be coming with us."

"Well... You know..." said Spencer, rubbing his Scyther's head. "I think after today, we all need a little break from the contest scene..."

"Well... Hopefully I'll run into you all some other time then." said Elysia, as she and her Espeon curtsied in unison. "Hopefully at the Grand Festival?"

"...Yeah." smiled Spencer. "Definitely."

"Mr. Contesta, will you and your little friend please hurry up?" called Mr. Refson. "My pilot won't wait all day."

"Oh, yes. Right away Uta! Goodbye Waker, Spencer, Connie, Verity." said Mr. Contesta, as he hurried after the glittery man.

"Bye guys." said Elysia. "You were all very brave today, by the way." She gently smiled at the group before hurrying after Mr. Contesta, Espy right at her heels.

"Well... I guess we're leaving then..." said Spencer. It briefly occurred to him that he should probably call his mom or something... He could probably do it on the walk to the Helicopter.

Still... What a day... Taking part in your first contest, fighting off and adopting a shadow pokemon, nearly dying, getting to ride a helicopter...

And it was only his second day!

"Shall we depart?" said Spencer, as he began the walk to the door, making it halfway there before he realized that Logan wasn't following him. While his other Pokemon had gathered around his feet as usual, the Scyther simply stared blankly at him from the stage. He sighed as he recalled the Scyther back to his Pokeball. 'Just when you think you're making progress...' After a day like today, he could use a day in the country to cool down.

Besides, they were going to a place called "Moo Moo Land", what was the worst that could happen?

[Ganymede]

Waker watched as Spencer's Pokemon had their little discussion, unsure whether he should laugh or introduce his face to his palm. At Celia's words, Locke lifted his head, staring at the Pokemon blankly.


"I...like hugs," he said, words muffled slightly from the restraint on his mouth. To demonstrate, he tightened his grip on Waker's neck for just a second before releasing, moving his coils into a more comfortable position. The human was warm, even if he was rather squishy. Locke swung his head for a moment, unhinging his jaw to see if the irritating thing on his mouth would come off. It gave way just a little - enough for him to hiss, maybe eat, but not much else. He sighed and laid his head back on the squishy thing's chest, closing his eyes again.


"Oh! Spencer, Waker, Connie!" Mr Contesta had broken free of the officers, Elysia and Espy in tow. Waker was glad to see that the Espeon was okay - he had the feeling it would've crushed the girl if she lost her companion. He offered her a smile, which she returned, holding out something to him and the others. Mr Contesta said something about Trainer Cards - Waker vaguely remembered his mother slipping something into his pants pocket before he left. He pulled out a small rectangular card, absentmindedly handing it to Mr Contesta as he accepted Elysia's gift.


Fiddling with the Badge and Ribbon box - the inserts for the badges had small musical keys installed in them - Waker didn't notice Elysia's second gift until Spencer had already taken it. He watched as Spencer shoved what seemed to be a noose in his bag, frowning.


"Well... Hopefully I'll run into you all some other time then." Elysia was saying, curtsying with her Espeon. Waving at the group, she left the hall with Mr Contesta, bound for a place called Arasam.


"Shall we depart?" Waker followed Spencer, Locke shaking his rattle again. He still had no idea where they were going, but oh well. He could use a break from contests for a while - and talk to his parents, too. A huge smile broke out on his face at the thought of seeing his parent's faces again - and Denai's, of course. He wondered how the Gengar was doing now that he wasn't around - sulking around the house, probably.


Without waiting for the others, Waker ran outside, filled with energy all of a sudden. Locke hissed as Waker rushed through Barley, laughing.


Squishy...is crazy... the Ekans thought glumly, rattling his tail.

[ROMANA]

Connie handed her trainer card over to Mr Contesta and took her badge and ribbon case with an apologetic smile at her friend.

"Thank you, Elysia. I'll be cheering you on next time, Verity," she said, reassuringly. "And then we'll match again."

She waved to Mr Contesta and Elysia and Mr Refson, and wondered if they were doing the right thing. What if Moo-Moo Land really was just better at producing high quality Moo-Moo Milk more cheaply than farms like home? Would she and Verity have a farm to come home to when their journey was over? Connie had no idea what her mother would do without Butterfree Farm. And all the other women, too. While the farm did aim at self sufficiency, there was always a certain amount of income and expenditure and Connie didn't think they could replace the money lost from the Moo-Moo Milk sales, no matter how many pretty landscapes Emerance painted. Aunty Bill really had looked worried when Verity had asked about it, and that wasn't like her.

"Maybe Moo-Moo Milk is good for Shadow pokemon," she mused. "And Miltanks are nice big targets for Logan to hit."

And that was another thing. Connie made a mental note to keep a very close eye on Verity. If it came down to it, Connie was going to have to rely on Butchette to make sure her trainer survived Moo-Moo Land without dissolving in terror but Connie was going to do her best to stay between Verity and the Miltanks.

Waker seemed excited to be on their way, at any rate - he rushed out of the Contest Hall with his new pokemon wrapped around his neck. Connie smiled and slipped her arm back through Verity's. The two girls set off after Waker at a much more sedate pace.

[Verity Lily]

Verity felt a moment of bitter envy when she saw Elysia handing the cases over to the others. She knew Elysia liked Connie... no, that was stupid. Verity had chosen not to compete of her own free will, and she could register for a contest later and get them for herself. She forced herself to smile, not wanting to take the gloss off for her friends.

"They're so pretty!" she said, as happily as possible. She felt a bit better when Connie reassured her, but she was still glad Elysia was leaving.

"Oh, Verity, I have something for you, too!" Elsyia said suddenly. "Or rather, for Candyfloss." She reached into her bag and pulled out the tiara. It wasn't real, Verity knew that, but somehow the rhinestones on it flashed more brightly than diamonds, more beautifully than the gem on a Sableye's forehead. Verity gasped. "Candyfloss just seemed to love it so much, Espy and I thought she should have it. We have loads of accessories. And it's a thank you for for having more fun than I've had in simply ages." She smiled very sweetly. "Good luck on your journey, Verity."

Verity looked up at her in confusion, as Candyfloss trilled with delight at the tiara being settled on her head Having someone she resented so much be so thoughtful and kind to her made her feel as off-kilter as a Spinda. "Th- thank you."It's been really lovely meeting you, too," she said, and it didn't feel like an untruth.

Mr. Contesta, will you and your little friend please hurry up?" called Mr. Refson. "My pilot won't wait all day."

In a sudden burst of graciousness, Verity turned to Mr. Refson. After all, she didn't like him much, either - maybe, if Elsyia was a darling really, so was he.

"Thank you for letting us try out your lovely Practice Hall," Verity said politely, doing her best to copy Elysia's curtsey and wishing she was wearing her many-petticoated gingham frock and not jeans. It was hard to curtsey properly in jeans. "I'm very sorry that the competition didn't work out as planned. I hope Mondie and Charley get their pokemon back soon, and that it doesn't permanently ruin your reputation or anything."

Mr. Refson turned on his heel and stalked out.

"Well, that wasn't very nice," Verity said, disconcerted.

Candyfloss bounced in her arms. <<Mama trainer lady Verity, that's my friend Mr. Ekans! He's called Locke now! Do you think he'll cuddle me like he's cuddling the boy with the book?>>

Verity couldn't understand what her igglybuff was saying, but the bouncing made her giggle... until Waker ran out, and she realised that they really, really were going. Now. To Moo-Moo Land. She looked over Candyfloss' head at Connie, and struggled between the impulse to admit she was terrified and the need not to let her best friend, and Butterfree Farm, down.

Connie slipped her arm through Verity's, and suddenly everything felt better. She smiled back, forcing images of miltanks rolling all all over the hills out of her mind, and the girls followed slowly.

After all, it hadn't been such a bad day. Verity had seen her first contest, had beaten a scary zangoose and a scarier tauros, had hatched the cutest pokemon ever, had trained Courage to be a hat, had been given a new dress, had made her formidable mother proud... and Fiddy had almost said "Verity."

It had, really, been a very good day indeed.