[X] My Assistant

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes didn't need to be told twice. She returned Kepri to her pokeball and followed Dynh out of the clearing, turning back to make sure that the third girl was still with them, making sure that a repeat of their last mad dash didn't happen.

Running through thick foliage was easy when you had enraged pokemon on your tail, especially if said enraged pokemon were too strong for your own monsters to handle.

"Dynh," Mercedes gasped, "we, we can't just keep running like this; we'll be hopelessly lost! Even more so than we already are! We should," she had to suck in more air, "veer off course, or climb a tree or something. More than likely, they're too riled to think rationally! If we hid in a bush, maybe...We just can't get any more lost!" She somehow managed to reprimand as she ran.

She upped her speed as much as she could, and caught Dynh by the collar of her shirt, and then hesitated long enough for Alex to catch up with them, and then grabbed her shirt, too, with her free hand. She then proceeded to yank the three of them into a bush, and covered all of their two mouths with her hand, and held her own breath.

A second later, the three could hear the thunder of the approaching mankey, and in another second, they were running past, not knowing that their quarry was no longer a head of them.

Mercedes held her breath a second longer, then let it go in a huff as she slumped against a nearby tree. She then turned her attention to Dynh.

"Dynh, that was very irresponsible of you, just running off like that without paying attention to where you were going. Now you've gotten yourself lost. You can't just go rushing off like that without knowing what you are doing. Now your monsters are hurt, and you're even more worse off than before." She explained this sternly, but levelly, without blowing her top, and she kept her voice reasonable. After that order of business, she turned to Alex.

"I apologize, but I suppose third time is the charm. My name is Mercedes Dorian. May I ask yours?"

[Fei Fei]

Alex smiled lazily at Mercedes, and extended a hand that she had previously been cradling her head in, elbows resting on her knees. "I know. The name is Alexis Treinem. Call me Alexis, and Hiiro burns your bum off. Alex will do just fine. By the way, I think you should know that your nickname is MD now. Your initials, you know, and works perfectly because your going to be a doctor or something, right?" Alex spread her arms, and pushed up with her legs, coming out of the bush with an abundance of rustling.

"Atcha!" She breathed as she stepped back out onto the path, and turned to face the bush. "Come on out guys, the coast is clear. Not a primate in sight, 'sides us truly." She grinned, stepping backwards another foot to allow the other two girls room to stagger free of the branches.

"Where to now, compadres? I figure that by this point, I'm traveling with you two. Formal introductions of the pokemon sort can wait until we get out of this forest and find a pokemon center somewhere, wouldn't you say? I kind of vote we go that way," she pointed in said direction, "since it's not the way we came from, but it's also not the way those mankey went running in. A happy medium, to be sure."

This post has been edited by Fei Fei: Jun 18 2009, 08:11 PM

[Duck Tape]

Dynh fell out of the bushes into a very ungraceful roll.

“Owie!” she whined as she used a nearby tree to pull herself up on top of her ridiculous heels. “Lets not get in a pokebattle in the forest with stupid monkeys from now on? Yes?” She rubbed her back a bit, stretched her arms above her head, and moved to store her three pokeballs in her heel. “Why not stretch your wings a bit Killer Queen. It must have been annoying, being born and then almost immediately put in a pokeball.” Combee squeaked cutely and fluttered around happily at this suggestion. “Glad you’re happy.” Dynh said with a smile.

She turned to the others. “So while we're out here, let’s go pokemon hunting.” she suggested. “See what kind of pokemon are around here. There may be something good! Like EEVEE!” she said with a giggle. “If we all got two Eevees each then we can have all the evolutions.” she said with a nod.

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes chuckled lightly, in a disbelieving sort of way.

"I'm sorry if I sound like a kill-joy, but I somehow don't think that you'll be finding any eevee around here, let alone so many. They're rare monsters to fine. It certainly sounds like a good goal to work towards, though. As well as a fairly attainable one."

Mercedes tilted her head to the sky, and closed her eyes peacefully as the warm sun filtered through the canopy and cast its ever-changing, green tinted shadows on her face. The group was walking through a clearing now as an idea struck Mercedes.

"Dynh, Alex. Why don't we rest here awhile? I can heal up our monsters a little as best as I can, and we can let them relax and regain their strength before we go any farther. We don't know what could be ahead. I think it's better if we're ready for whatever may come our way."

She slung her backpack off her back and dropped it gently in the soft grass of the glade, pulling her three used pokeballs from her bag as she sat cross-legged beside the pack. Tapping the release triggers, red light mixed with the soft green of the glade and Fatima, Kepri and Iris each gave their respective cries as they were called out in the open.

Iris almost immediately slumped down on the ground in exhaustion, and Kepri didn't look much better. Fatima trotted over to her elder 'sister' and gave them each a sad nudge with her nose in sympathy.

Mercedes smiled at the affection that showed between her three monster, but the smile hardened as she grew more determined. First things first.

"Come her, Iris. That's a girl." She scooped the tiny bird pokemon up in her arms and laid her down on a cloth she had covered the ground with. Mercedes rummaged through her bag and pulled out a Potion and bandages. Surveying her team, as well as Alex's and Dynh's teams, none of the assembled monsters were shaking or twitching with paralysis, so she wouldn't be using up any Paralyze Heals. CC was going to need a Revive, though.

Pulling on latex gloves and clipping her bangs back so they didn't fall into her eyes, Mercedes looked the picture of a field nurse as she set to work on her own monsters. Spraying almost all of one Potion on Iris, and bandaging up some of the nastier Scratches she had sustain, the little bird was starting too look much better. She was even able to hop off to explore the clearing a bit, with Fatima walking beside her to make sure she didn't trip. The scene brought a smile to Mercedes face as she brought Kepri over to be examined. The bug pokemon had been hit a few times, but she didn't require any bandaging. What was left of the first Potion was sufficient enough to bring the little bug back to almost full health.

"All right, off you go, but don't tax yourself, okay." She reminded Kepri as she went off to join her 'sister'. Mercedes then turned to Dynh and Alex.

"Who's next?" She asked, as she changed gloves.

[Duck Tape]

Dynh nodded and stepped up, the red engulfing the clearing as she released CC and Cook Wilber, and Killer Queen flew a bit closer.

“Alright, Cook Wilber probably needs the most attention.” she said holding the Nincada in her arms. “CC had a couple of wounds but over all she's okay. And Killer Queen is just tired.” She explained, pointing to each pokemon as she went.

Dynh stepped back as she gave her pokemon to MD. She twitched slightly as she watched her injured pokemon. She loved her pokemon. CC had been with her longest, after they met when Dynh was five, CC never did leave her alone. After a few months of the constant presence of the caterpie, Dynh finally 'captured' the bug. Her father had found it amusing, Dynh's annoyance at the then named Chelsea. But after a sparrow had attacked the flock of bugs her father kept, and the adventure that said event subsequently lead to, Dynh found she was becoming closer to the caterpie. Chelsea promptly got the extension of her nickname after jumping off a tree and onto the back of said sparrow, truly a crazy idea for a bug.

Cook Wilber had not been given to Dynh till the day she set off for her journey. The only time she really got to be around the pokemon was when she brought it out in the pokemon center. The two could be good friends: Dynh happened to like him. She had nothing against bug pokemon, but after being surrounded by bugs all her life, thanks to her father, she was hoping that her next pokemon to catch would be a different type, just to liven it up a bit.

Killer Queen was an exception to Dynh's boredom of bugs. Of the five eggs given to Dynh, the Combee was the only one to hatch... don't ask what happened to the others. That was not a good story. The Combee had proven to be the most motherly of all pokemon Dynh had ever met. This was both a good and bad thing. It had yet to prove to be bad, but good as the youngest pokemon seemed to scold CC for her odd actions at times.

Dynh truly loved her pokemon. But she wanted a different type to love. Perhaps a fire type? Water perhaps? Maybe a little of everything?

This post has been edited by Duck Tape: Jun 19 2009, 06:59 PM

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes gave her 'patients' a soft smile as they came out of their pokeballs. She walked over and picked Wilbur up carefully and brought him back to her impromptu station on the grass. She promptly began looking the small monster over, taking inventory of the more major injuries and checking for any internal problems. Bug pokemon, especially the smaller ones, could be delicate; Mercedes knew that from experience from being Kepri's trainer and caretaker for so long.

The small silver pokemon was still unconscious, meaning her was easier to handle, but it also meant that he couldn't get any 'feedback' from the monster in the form of flinches and small nods. Mercedes would have to feel around for any internal injuries.

Working quickly, the first thing Mercedes applied was a revive from her small stock, and then a potion to bring the monster's health back up to full. Next, she had to check for any breaks in the monster's frail skeletal structure and, happily finding none, she turned to address the problem of the external injuries Wilbur had sustained. He had gone out in more or less one hit, so there weren't many, but the one or two he had were pretty serious. Mercedes retrieved a salve from her bag that would keep any infections out of the deep Scratch wound and bandaged it up securely. It was almost a good thing that the monster was out cold; the ointment was effective, but it stung, for lack of a better term, like a bitch.

Dressing the less serious Scratch with a simple antiseptic and bandaging, Mercedes was ready to give Wilbur a clean bill of health. She turned to Dynh.

"Wilbur's all healed up now. He should be left to rest for a while now, outside of his pokeball. The fresh air should be good for revitalizing him. May I see Queen now? I think she's the best off of your pokemon."

Taking Queen, she didn't even bother to take her back to her make-shift work station. Mercedes smiled.

"The dear girl is fine. She just needs to rest. She didn't sustain any damage. Now, I'll just look at CC." She allowed the caterpie to wriggle back to her station, to see if she was walking alright.

"Let's have a look at you now, okay girl? I'll not have any biting, is that clear?" She asked seriously. She picked up the small bug and looked her over, finding no major wounds.

"You've just a bump on your head, you silly thing." She smiled and put on a little bandage and reached into her bag for a bottle of aspirin. She had altered the dosage of the pills herself to be better for smaller pokemon, and gave the tiny caterpie one of these.

"There, that should set you all right." She patted the bump on CC's head gently. "Run along, now. Alex, do I need to look at any of your monsters?"

[Fei Fei]

Alex turned to look at Mercedes, having been gazing off at something a little further down the road. "Nah, I think that they're all fine. I tried to rotate them evenly so that they wouldn't get too hurt. I think a little R and R should do wonders right now. Worst comes to worst, I've got a few potions that I can use on, if it looks like they're getting too out of it." She smiled reassuringly, and taking her own advice she took out her three pokeballs and clicked the release buttons on each of them.

"Hey, Hiiro, Hime, Ouji. Come on out and show me how you're doing." The three balls of light formed to the shapes of the monsters, and each one gave a tired but happy cry. Hime was the best off, not having faught for so long, but due to her low level she had less stamina than the others, so she was more tired. Ouji did his absolute best to appear tough for Hime, and really had nothing to worry about aside from a very small scratch on his leg. Hiiro just watched the two nidorans with an amused glint in his eye. Hime was looking beat, and Ouji was being her 'prince' and making sure that she was alright and comfortable. The fire monster looked up at Alex and smiled knowingly, and Alex returned the smile, the two of them sharing in their private amusement at the actions of the love struck Ouji and the oblivious Hime.

Alex nodded, then looked back over to Mercedes. "Yep, they look good to me. As long as we don't run into any raging hoards of primates any time soon, I think they'll be good. At the very least, they'll be able to handle a one-on-one here or there. When you're walking through a forest, you need to be ready for such things."

She turned back to look at whatever it was that she was looking at before Mercedes had called to her attention. "As for how we're going to get out of here, I think we should go this way." Despite having indicated no specific worded direction, Alex didn't make any sign of signaling which way she thought they should go with motion either.

[Duck Tape]

Dynh, having been listening quietly to the other two girls as she cradled her unconscious Nincada, now walked over to where Alex stood.

“What are you looking at? Which way?” she looked off into the distance, squinting a bit as she spotted the sign. There were arrows on the sign post: 'This way' 'That way' 'The other way' 'Which way' and 'No where' were all printed on different wooden arrows, all pointing in different directions. “What is this!?” Dynh asked in confusion. “Where are we!? Some kind of maze?” she whined.

At that moment there came a deep laughter, echoing off the trees. “Ohhohohohoho, you have found your way into my Trickster Forest. Now you must find your way to the exit where you will win a fabulous prize. If you fail to find the exit, you are doomed to wander my forest for ALL ETERNITY!” the voice boomed dramatically.

“OH MY GOD! I KNEW THE GOVERNMENT WAS OUT TO GET US!” Dynh yelled, now shaking Alex by the shoulders. “I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU! I told you!” she cried now with her head hung low. “This is the will of Ceiling Cat.”

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes, who had come to see what on earth the other two were talking about, put a hand over her face, looking defeated.

"You have got to be kidding me." She sighed. "Well, it would explain how we got lost so quickly in this forest..." She looked around, and sighed again. She then walked back over to her bag, which she had been in the middle of packing up, and completed the task, seeing as Alex's monster were more or less fine as they were. She looked down at her pokemon.

"Would you girls like to walk beside us, or would you like to rest in your pokeballs?" She asked them. There was little point staying in this clearing for long. If this forest was a maze, getting lost after dark would be an expressly bad idea, so the sooner they got out the better. Mercedes wanted to know if her monsters were up for what was sure to be a long walk, or if they wanted rest for a time.

The three 'sisters' shook their heads, and mimed walking. Fatima even offered the still-tired-but-getting-better pidgey to ride on her back. The pidgey declined at first, her pride getting in the way, but after falling over, she decided to take perch on her little sister's fluffy back.

Mercedes smiled at their spunk as she pulled an army knife out of her backpack before slinging it on her back.

"Well, Alex, Dynh, I don't think sitting around here will help us get out of this forest, and I think we should try to be out of here before nightfall. We'll only get more lost then, and I certainly don't want to sleep in a forest that's purposely trickier than a regular forest. We should get moving. If either of you have a knife, you should use it to mark trees as we go past them, so we don't back track. Keep an ear out for those mankey, too, or any other angry sounding monsters."

[Fei Fei]

Alex nodded firmly, shouldering her bag. "That's a great idea, MD. My choice still stands. 'This Way' looks perfectly fine, to me. I mean, we came from that other direction, and we didn't come across any houses or exits. Granted, this is a maze, so confusion abounds and logic doesn't apply, but still. It's better than nothing." She looked over at her companions for their opinions and/or approval.

She looked down at her monsters, who had lined up next to her to see what all of the human commotion was about. "And? What do you three think? I know you're tired, but are you maybe up for some good-natured exploring and prize-winning?" The three monsters nodded with quite a bit of enthusiasm, despite their fatigue. Hiiro seemed the most interested, looking around him excitedly, as if waiting for surprises to instantly pop out at them.

Alex looked back at the two girls. "You know, when you think about it this way, this is a really good thing. We get some experience, some exploring in, but if worst comes to worst and we all faint where we stand from exhaustion or repeat primate attacks, then at the very least this forest is being monitored by some guy, albeit a crazy guy. We're not gonna die out here, in that case." She smiled as if this was a particularly reassuring fact.

[Duck Tape]

Dynh rolled her eyes. “We're walking right into the government's trap.” she sighed, letting her shoulders slump forward a bit in defeat. There was no way to stop the government now. They ruled the world! They wanted them to train their pokemon to all-powerful killing machines, and once they reached their full power, they would be taken from them. POOR CC would be killed! She didn't listen to anyone! Only sometimes she listened to Dynh... sometimes.

Dynh picked up Cook Wilber and called back CC and Killer Queen, “Alright since that seems to be the only way out, let’s go this way.” she said following Alex's lead.

[Charlie Piers]

"Alex," the nurse said with something of a sigh, "that sentiment actually makes me feel a little bit better, and I will try not to think about or express the loopholes I might find in such logic."

Mercedes took the first step away from their little glade, her monsters parading behind her, Iris still riding on Fatima's fluff. Kepri alternated between flying next to Mercedes' ear and fluttering down to the mareep and pidgey to check on her younger sisters. The four of them, plus their new traveling companions, made their way over to the vague signpost a good few feet away, and Mercedes had to look at it for a minute to actually figure out where 'this way' was. The old-fashioned road marker pointed in bizarre directions that weren't actual paths; 'up' was literally down, with the reverse being true as well. Mercedes stood there and cursed Lewis Carroll for giving dementia-afflicted old men really, really bad ideas.

Looking at the suspicious bush that marked the 'path' Alex had decided on with extreme trepidation, Mercedes' treacherous mind brought to it's front all the different horrible outcomes getting lost in this thick forest could result in. Swallowing around the sudden small lump in her throat, the nurse shuffled through the bush first, feeling responsible, what with being the oldest and all. Her eyes shut tight so as to not be stabbed by a tenacious twig, she felt around with her foot for clear ground and, feeling it, set her foot down.

And gasped as something closed around it.

"DON'T FOLL-!" she started, but was cut off as the thing that had settled around her boot gave a sharp tug and she was suddenly jerked away so fast that the air was knocked out of her. She grabbed desperately for her pokemon as they held on to her, and the four of them were dragged away almost instantly through the brush and foliage and disappeared.

[Fei Fei]

Alex took this moment to examine some of the other paths. Noticing, as Mercedes did, that none of the signs were facing in any real directions, she decided that 'Down' and 'Some Way' were right out as choices, seeing as both were pointed vaguely skyward, and felt safe enough that 'Up' and 'That A Way' could be narrowed out as well, as going into the ground didn't seem like a spectacular idea, either.

She turned when she saw Mercedes considering the bush in the direction of 'This Way', about to ask the girl if it looked like an appropriate path to follow, when (in a very Horror-movie- esq fashion), she seemed to be suddenly grabbed and dragged off, having only an instant to look back and scream at them to Stay Away.

Alex's eyes shot wide open, starting forward half a step towards where Mercedes had just been dragged away from. "Mercedes!" She screamed, and as she was about to pointedly ignore the other girl's warning and follow after her, she felt a light push at her back, which, coupled with her slightly unbalanced, mid-run position, sent her stumbling forward in a slightly different direction than the one Mercedes had disappeared down. She considered turning around to yell at Dynh for pushing her, but that train of thought was thoroughly pushed to the back of her head as she noticed that she had just been, essentially, pushed over the side of a cliff.

"Oh My Goooooood!!!" She screamed again, falling headfirst down the vertical drop that had been hidden behind a trove of bushes, tumbling as she hit the wall she was falling past, and came to eventually land at the bottom on her butt, at least a good 30 meters down from the ledge she'd fallen from.

"Ow....ow...ooowwowo," she whined, placing a hand on the rock wall next to her as she struggled to get up, massaging her rear with her other hand. "That hur-," she complained, when her eyes widened again as the wall under her hand seemed to give way, sliding back and causing her to fall into the dark cave that had just opened up.

"What the fuck?!" She yelled at the pitch black emptiness, scrambling up to try and find the wall she'd just fallen into. "I hate this place!!!"

This post has been edited by Fei Fei: Jun 30 2009, 11:44 AM

[Duck Tape]

Dynh panicked as Mercades was dragged away. “MD!!!” she yelled, but before she could act, Alex was pushed through the bushes by an old man that had just appeared out of seemingly nowhere. The old man looked to Dynh and their eyes met, and he gave her a funny smile and Dynh just stared at him in disbelief. The old man then proceeded to skip away happily with an absurd laugh ringing out into the air. “Ohohohohohohoho!” Dynh's eyes widened as she saw the cliff behind the bushes. “Oh my god!!! You killed her!” she yelled, now chasing after the old man as he retreated to what she thought was the way they had come.

…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dynh was lying on her back now, staring up at the small dot like light above her. She had fallen into a trap; a poorly disguised trap that, had she not been distracted with chasing the old man, would have been able to easily avoid.

"Damn pit falls," she muttered, getting up and checking on Cook Wilber. "Come on Killer Queen, fly us out of here," Dynh ordered of her small combee, she put her hands on its sides as the bug tried with all it's might to flap it's wings fast enough to possibly get them out of the hole. But, to no avail. Killer Queen was too small, and Dynh was too big. "Come back Killer Queen, good try though." Dynh said as the red light engulfed the now very, very tired combee.

After some momentary deliberation: "Nincada evolve right now..." Dynh was now just shooting for random ideas on how to get out of the hole.

"I KNOW YOU’RE OUT THERE GOVERNMENT! I CAN HEAR YOU BREATHING!" Dynh yelled to the sky.

She put her arms on either side of the hole, with her legs propped up just under her hands. She looked up as she heard the annoying laughter of the old man. “Seven days, old man! Seven days!” she yelled and he turned away. “I hope Samara eats your face!” Dynh muttered to herself as she fell down again.

It had been a good half hour before Dynh got desperate enough to claw her fingers into the dirt walls and attempted to climb up the twenty foot drop. After sliding down quiet a few times, she finally made it half way up. "Yay!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air, and, yet again, fell down onto her back. Cook Wilber was resting in the corner, watching Dynh and finding the situation very amusing. The pokemon was even snickering (or, at least, doing it’s best, pokemon version of a snicker). "I hate life."

[Charlie Piers]

Mercedes was being dragged painfully through the underbrush, holding her pokemon protectively in her arms, trying to shield them from being scratched and hurt by rocks and branches. This was absolutely insane. How long had she been dragged for? It felt like a mile. She cracked an eye open and tried to look past her monsters to her feet and saw the trip-wire that was entangled around her boot, dragging her through hell. Further quick observation told her that she was about to go through a thick clump of trees that, if they didn't kill her, would more than likely break a bone.

"Son of a -," She snarled uncharacteristically, "Hold on, girls!" She ordered her monsters who huddled into her, securing their position with claws and teeth. Mercedes then reached out, groping for anything she could get a hold of. Finding a protruding root, she acted, grabbing for it, holding fast.

"Aaaagh!" She screamed in agony as her leg was pulled while she tried to hold on. If she was lucky, her ligaments wouldn't be pulled out of their sockets, but there was no way she was going to let go and risk having her head bashed in. Sick, crazy, senile old man! Was he trying to kill someone?! This was officially the world's worst idea of a joke!

Iris was in pain seeing her trainer in pain and, hearing the agonizing cry, she dislodged herself from her own hold on Mercedes' shirt and flew to her boot, where the strange metal rope was pulling on her master's leg. Iris began poking and pecking the wire with her beak and clawing at it with her little talons until, between the tension and the barrage, it snapped.

Mercedes gasped, this time with relief, as her leg was released. She slumped against the ground for a minute, catching her breath and mentally taking inventory of the injuries she had sustained. Heaving a breath, she sat up, propping herself up against a tree. All in all, her state was passable; she was covered in throbbing scrapes and bruises, not to mention a few more serious cuts, but they weren't anything antiseptic and bandages couldn't handle. She'd have to stand to see how her poor leg was going to hold up, but she couldn't muster the energy for that right yet. Wiggling it, though, it didn't feel broken or sprained, so maybe she'd actually be able to walk out of here on her own two feet. She looked over to her monsters.

"Are you guys alright?" She asked them, concerned. Mercedes picked each on of them up, inspecting them for any abrasions and was happy to find few or none on all three of them. She had apparently done something right, shielding them. They all nodded in answer to her question.

"Thank goodness." She breathed a sigh of relief at possibly the first bit of good news that morning. "Kepri, dear, will you please get my bag off of my back? I don't think I can move that well, yet." She asked the little bug-monster, shifting so that Kepri could get it off more easily. The ladybug wriggled it off of her master and hefted it around for Mercedes to have.

Mercedes nodded in thanks and retrieved bandages and ointment from her bag and dressed the more pressing lacerations she had sustained, mostly on her left side where she had slid for a majority of her 'trip'. With that taken care of, she looked around, trying to figure out where she was. As far as she could tell, she was no where near the road sign where she had been snared. She hoped the other two hadn't been caught in any trap, but, realistically, it seemed more likely that they had encountered some sort of fatalistic prank. She again muttered about thrice-cursed old men with morbid senses of humor as she stood. She wobbled a bit, winced as she put weight on her abused leg, but decided that it was generally fine after walking in a circle a few time. She sighed once again and put her hands on her hips, looking around.

"Well, where shall we go?" She asked her pokemon.

[Fei Fei]

Hiiro watched in horror as his master, sister, and friend fell headfirst over a cliff, of all things. He looked to his side to see similar expressions of fright and disbelief on Hime and Ouji's faces. They all looked at each other and, with a nod, wasted not a moment more as they ran forward and jumped off the cliff themselves. Which may have been a bad idea in retrospect. Still, because they were expecting it, they were able to dig their claws into the rock wall, and slid down a bit slower and more controlled than Alex had (granted, their hands hurt more, as well). When they reached the bottom, the all looked around, their master nowhere in sight.

~Where could she be,~ Hime cried out, sounding as if she was close to tears. ~We'll find her," Ouji tried to reassure, but seemed just as panicked as Hiiro felt. Still, the Fire Salamander kept his fear unspoken, having to watch out for his younger siblings. He blinked as he noted a pair of footprints in the dust a few feet to their right, and quickly trod over to it. Strange, though. There were no other prints indicating that she'd moved off anywhere.

~I wonder...why that is~ He murmured in his poke-speak, looking around the area, and stopped to stare at a hand-print in the wall, just above where the footprints had been. He turned, and yelled over to his brother and sister. ~Ouji! Hime! Come here and let me stand on your backs! I need to see something!~ The two looked up at him, and quickly jumped over.

---

Alex was pacing around in the small cavern she'd found herself trapped in, arms crossed as she cursed every so often, tripping over rocks and hitting her head on low hanging rocks in the pitch black darkness of the cave. Well, this sucks. I don't even have Hiiro to light the place up, she lamented, and her face fell again as she realized that she was alone, and that her poor monsters were out there and alone, as well. Just great. When I get my hands on whoever the hell pushed me, I'm going to feed them to a snorlax. Because, by this point, she had at least figured out that Dynh probably wasn't the one who'd pushed her. Even that crazy, lovable girl wasn't stupid enough to go pushing people off of ledges, willy nilly.

She paused in her grumblings, however, when she heard a faint cry, sounding very much like Hiiro's own Charmander speak. She turned in the direction she though she'd heard it from, and quickly ran over to its source. On her way, however, she tripped and went tumbling over into a wall, hitting her head as she came to an abrupt stop. "I hate this plaaaaaace!!!" She screamed out in frustration as she held her head in her hands, and then, after the scream's echoes had died down, realized that the source of the sound was just beyond the wall she'd hit. She scrambled up, placing her hands and ear on the wall. "Hiiro!" she called. "Are you over there?!"

---

Hiiro had just gotten his feet onto the backs of his rabbit siblings when he heard the faint sound of his master's voice. "Char!" He called out. ~Guys! I can hear her! She's behind the wall!~ The poison pokemon started, lifting their eyes up to him. ~How do we get in there?!~ They both cried in unison, but their query was quickly answered as, when they'd moved, Hiiro had fallen into the wall, activating the mechanism that slid the wall away, and the three monsters fell in as their master fell backwards, the wall sliding closed behind them. Thankfully, now the flame on the end of Hiiro's tail lit the cavern, bathing it in a warm light.

"Guys!" Alex cried as she gathered the three into her arms, just as they all called out to her. "Niido!" "Nido!" "Chaar!" Sitting back and letting them down in front of her, she looked them all over, smiling. "I'm glad you found me." She looked up at the wall that had closed them in. "I guess we'll have to find our way out through the cave, huh?" The four of them turned, noting several diverging caverns towards the back of this main one.

"Anyone up for eenie-meenie-miney-mo?" Alex asked pathetically.

This post has been edited by Fei Fei: Jun 30 2009, 11:44 AM

[Duck Tape]

Dynh huffed as she paced the three foot wide hole. She was stuck, water seemed to keep pouring in from nowhere, Cook Wilber was still hurt, Killer Queen was extremely tired, and CC was still an idiot. Her hope of survival: nonexistent. “I'M GOING TO DIE IN A HOLE! DAMN YOU SAMARA!!!! I WILL GET BACK AT YOU, YOU CRAZY DERANGED ASIAN GIRL!” she yelled in anger.

CC followed Dynh's steps, occasionally nibbling at the leaves that had been covering the trap which had fallen into the hole with them. Cook Wilber was laying down resting and Killer Queen was sitting on his back, following CC with her eyes.

Dynh looked down at her pokemon and nodded. “Alright I have an idea,” she finally said. “CC, come back into your pokeball,” she ordered holding up the red and white ball. She then threw it up in the air calling CC back out, only this time she was out of the hole. “Okay, now String Shot. Try and get my hand.” The small Caterpie squeed in delight, seeing as she could be useful for a change. Her aim was off a little, and she ended up getting Dynh in the leg. “Alright Cook Wilber, you go up and help CC pull me up,” she said, doing the same thing with her Nincada as she had with her Caterpie, putting him back in his pokeball, throwing it, and releasing him on the ground above the hole. “Okay now Killer Queen. Stay at the bottom of this hole and use gust to try and push meEEEEEE-” Dynh had been cut off by the sudden tug at her leg. Before she knew it she was hanging upside down with wind coming from below her and two very small bugs acting as the only thing between her and another painful fall.

CC and Cook Wilber managed to pull Dynh up high enough so that she managed to somehow twist and bend enough so that she could pull herself up. Combee cheered as she flew around above them. Once out of the tenfold damned hole, Dynh plopped down on her back with a great sigh of relief. “Good job guys!” She exclaimed, looking over at her pokemon. She saw a Mankey sitting by her Caterpie and Nincada. Dynh blinked a couple of times before smiling in amazement and gratitude. “Thank you so much for your help, too, Mankey,” she cried gleefully.

The mankey squeezed its eyes shut, nodding as it smiled. It appeared to be apologizing for the actions of the other mankey earlier, and Dynh gratefully accepted.

[Charlie Piers]

Fatima sat on her haunches, exhausted and disheartened. She had been so warm and happy taking her nap in the Pokemon Center this morning, but after that, the whole day seemed to be going really, really badly. They were attacked by mean mankeys, and they had to run really fast to get away, and her sisters had to be given band-aids because they got hurt. Fatima was too small to battle, so she tried her best to do what she could and offered to let Iris ride on her back. But then her momma and her momma's new friends came to a wooden post in the forest and they all seemed to have trouble reading it or something, but when momma did decide to move, she seemed to think it was a good idea to swim through a bush (which Fatima did not think sounded like a very good idea, but she was little, so she didn't know) and when she got to the other side, she fell down and started sliding away very quickly. Fatima hadn't though much, but only knew that she had to stay with her momma, so she had jumped and held on tightly with her paws and teeth. It made her very sad to see Mercedes get hit with branches and dirt as they flew along the ground, and then she screamed and Fatima was glad that Iris knew what to do, because after she did it, momma seemed a lot better, even though she was still hurt. Now they were standing here, and momma had asked Fatima and her sisters their opinion on where to go next.

'I think we should stay right here. Momma's new friends will come and find us. Momma is hurt, so we should let her take a nap.' Fatima told her sisters, and she tried to convey this to her momma through her stubborn seat on the ground.

'Don't be silly.' Iris chided. 'We have to keep moving, or night will come and we'll really be lost. We should walk around a bit, and look for a river or something to follow, to make sure we don't get even more lost.' She flew around the thicket, trying to indicate her intent on wandering around in search of some sort of marker, natural or otherwise.

'Think, both of you.' Kepri buzzed over to Mercedes, tapping her on the shoulder, then to her sisters, waving to them. 'Mom got hurt coming through the bushes, but she also broke all the twigs and moved all the rocks on the ground around. If we follow the trail she made being dragged, we can get back to where we were at the wooden sign!' Kepri flew to the closest bush Mercedes had been pulled through and wriggled through the small hole of broken branches her passage had made. She came out the other side, gesturing a straight line with her six arms.

Mercedes was slightly confused and slightly amused as her pokemon seemed to each give her verbal and visual input to her question. Fatima seemed content to stay put, while Iris seemed to want to keep moving, regardless of the direction. Kepri seemed to have an idea and, as the little bug pokemon 'elaborated' her idea, Mercedes blinked. She then hit her fist into her open palm.

"Of course! Kepri! You are fantastic! Great job, all of you." She thanked her pokemon. "It would seem that I'm still a bit too roughed up to think properly." She smiled weakly, then pulled three pokeballs from her pack. "Well, girls. I would like to have you walk with me, but if I end up getting dragged off again, I don't want another close call like before and wind up getting separated, so I'm going to put you three back in your pokeballs, okay? Take the time to rest up. Just in case we need to fight our way out of a bad spot, right?" She gave them all a reassuring wink as she returned them, and she sighed.

"Well, I suppose I should get going, now." She sighed, adjusted her pack back on her back, and began her trek back the way she came (read: was dragged).

[Fei Fei]

Having decided to take the second cave-route to the right after much deliberation (and some not so scientific methodology, including dropping a shoe to see which way it would point to), Alex, Ouji, and Hime were following behind Hiiro's lit tail, watching out for obstacles and ways out alike.

"Man, I hate this place," Alex complained to her monsters as they walked. "I mean, first, we're attacked by crazy monkeys, then, I fall off a cliff, and now we're stuck wandering around in some random caves. We'll probably. Be here. Forever," she lamented, pouting as she crossed her arms, and she stopped short when she felt her leg hit Hiiro's back.

"Hey, why'd ya stop, Hiiro?" She questioned, trying to look ahead but failing to see much because of the gradually increasing darkness the further down the tunnel went. Then, after a moment, she heard it. It was faint, but there was definitely something moving up ahead. She looked down at the monsters around her feet, and they looked up at her. They regarded each other, silently deliberating on the one question that was on each of their minds: Do they want to find out what's up ahead?

"Well, on the one hand," Alex spoke aloud, "it could be someone, or something, that could get us out of here. On the other," she grimaced, "we could be walking into another swarm of angry pokemon. Plus, this is a cave. That means ground pokemon. I didn't exactly build my team in a way that could help me against those...."

The two nidorans looked at each other, and Ouji seemed to nod, and then began walking forward. He glanced at Hiiro on his way past the fire monster, and he too seemed to come to a conclusion, walking after Ouji.

"Hey...where do you think you two are going?" Alex asked, and then looked down at her pant's leg, which Hime was tugging at with her claws. "You want to be picked up?" The poison rabbit nodded, and Alex bent down to wrap the purple monster in her arms. Looking down at the little Princess, and then at the two pokemon walking in front, she smiled.

"Oh. I get it. You two are going to investigate, huh? And protect us girls? How brave," she smiled, cheering up a bit from her previous funk. A deserved funk, but a funk nonetheless.

After walking a little ways, the noise growing louder and louder as they walked, the group of four came upon the source of the sound. Chomping away at an already sizable hole in the wall was a Mawile, and she didn't seem to much notice that her work had been intruded upon.

Alex simply stared at the hardworking monster in front of her. "Wow. A mawile...it's so cute." She looked down at Hiiro. "Hey, you up for a quick battle? I'd like to capture her." Hiiro seemed to consider it, and then nodded. Fire was good against steel, so he should be fine, even if he was a little tired.

By now, the Mawile looked to have noticed their prescence, and her toothy horns were extended menacingly behind her as she seemed to prepare for an attack, her mysterious work at the wall of the cave forgotten.

"Good. Seems like she's ready, too. Alright, here we go. Hiiro! Use Ember! Try to get her as fast as you can!" The lizard nodded, and rushed forward with a concentrated but strong Ember attack. The mawile tried to jump out of the way, but was hit in the side with the flames, and had to stagger to the side. She quickly hit the ground with her 'hair' sending rocks flying out and concealing her as she disappeared from view.

Hiiro and Alex moved their eyes around, searching around frantically for the lithe monster. "Did she escape...or..." Alex muttered. Both her and Hiiro were mutually surprised when the mawile jumped out at the charmander from behind a rock, jaws open.

"Oh Crap! Bite! Hiiro, get away!" He didn't need to be told twice. Jumping of the way, he spun around and threw another ember her way, and this time she was hit full force.

"Great Job, Hiiro!" The mawile seemed to be getting tired, most probably from a combination of her previous work and the battle at hand. "One more Ember should do the trick!" Complying, Hiiro threw his now slightly weaker flames at the steel pokemon, who attempted to dodge but who was still hit by the brunt of the blast. She fell to one knee, staring challengingly up at Hiiro.

Moving quickly, Alex took a pokeball from her backpack and threw it at the fatigued monster, who looked at her briefly before being consumed in red light. There was only a moment of tense anticipation before the ball ceased it's shaking, and was still.

Alex jumped up, twirling around as she pumped a fist, nearly knocking Hime off of her shoulder. "All right! That's the first time I've ever caught a pokemon before!" She stepped lively forward, bending to grab the white and red sphere, and peered at the inside. The clear red top revealed that the Mawile had fallen asleep, tired, but now safe inside the new 'home'. Alex smiled.

"I'll call her Kuchi. I know the foreign sounding names might be getting old, but I recall an old legend or something that kind of fits her," she explained uselessly to her monsters. She smiled at the sleeping monster. "I'll let her rest. We need to try and get out of here."

This post has been edited by Fei Fei: Jun 29 2009, 07:37 PM

[Duck Tape]

When Dynh had finally caught her breath, she called back her pokemon and gave a farewell to the Mankey. She walked around slowly, making sure that she would not fall into any more traps of any kind. It had seemed like days since the team was split up, but in reality it could not have been more than an hour. Perhaps this would not have happened had Dynh just taken out the trash when she was asked. Ah yes. All of these problems stemed from her parents' overreacting to her lack of doing anything. Now she was stuck out in the woods, where an old man held their lives in his hands, with an old pokedex that only seemed to have entries for one hundred fifty-ish pokemon. The worst thing was that Dynh was really really REALLY hungry. And she rarely got like that... maybe she should model sometime for some extra cash? She has been told often that she is as skinny as a runway model.

Dynh's thoughts on the future were cut off as she heard the echo of that annoying man's laughter. “Ohohohohohoho!” She looked around frantically, finding the source of the noise and began to chase him down. “GET BACK HERE YOU EVIL MAN!” she yelled as she ran after the old man as he retreated, laughter trailing behind him.