[X] My Assistant

[Cube]

"What a day…" Spencer sighed, as he gazed out the chopper's window. His first real glimpse at Furoh's scenery. For someone who had lived their life in a region that was 90% desert, the simple sight of a region that was actually green was something to behold. Back in Orre he had been fortunate enough to live in the relatively mild climate of Agate Village, but Agate was an anomaly. A lush patch in a harsh region. Furoh was all green. The sight of all this -illuminated by the mellow light of the setting sun - took Spencer's breath away. His Pokémon seemed to enjoy it too. …Well, Celia did anyway. Nils was too busy trying to get Agent Jennifer's attention, and Vincent seemed to be in a sore mood ever since they left the contest hall. Still… After what happened to day, Spencer didn't really blame him.

The first thing Spencer did after leaving the contest hall was call home on his new PokéGear. Unfortunately, he happened to call just as his mother was returning from a business trip to Sinnoh. Also unfortunately enough, ONBS had picked up on the story and had broadcast his name and photo all over the news. Needless to say, Mrs. Thorn was in hysterics when Spencer called, ranting and raving about how worried she was and how she had tried to call a million times and how her poor baby was nearly killed on his first day and why didn't you go to the hospital you could be injured and I don't care if they say you’re fine and why on earth did you choose to take that Shadow Pokémon do you know how dangerous they are and on and on…

Finally, after Stacy managed to bring her back to a punctuation-using level of calm, she insisted that he run to the nearest PC that very instant, much to Agent Jennifer's chagrin. After being berated on the video phone for another half hour, Spencer soon found himself on the receiving end of what Nurse Joy called a record breaking item transfer. Basically, anything that Mrs. Thorn could find that could fit into an item capsule was shoved into the transport machine. A tent, sleeping bags, and old tin pot, a berry dispenser she picked up at Floraroma town, authentic Lunar Wings from Alamos (He didn't even have Nightmares, why did he need four of them?), massive bottles of cologne, a souvenir Poke Flute (Why couldn't she have sent a Time Flute? It would have made his job so much easier…) and a pair of Shin Guards that she insisted he put on in front of the webcam. She almost sent Chompy over the BOX system until he and Stacy reminded her that sending him a Feraligatr would void his Trainer's License if he didn't have a few badges or ribbons first. (And even then, she almost did it anyway.) Needless to say, Spencer's bag was quite literally "tripping balls" by this point. Spencer was pretty sure Stacy tried to mention something about a PokeCon in that massive mess of a phone call, but Spencer could barely make out her words over his mother's frantic exclamations.

Finally, after about an hour of MomRant, the group had rejoined a very patient Agent Jennifer for the flight to MooMoo Land.

The flight itself was uneventful. Everyone was wearing ear protection (including the Pokémon, which was an amusing sight). Waker still had Locke draped over his shoulders like a Boa, who tried to give him another "hug" at least once during the flight, (which Spencer had the unfortunate task of having to help him out of.) He couldn't see Connie where he was sitting, but he could just catch a glimpse of one of Verity's pink pigtails peeking from behind her seat.

Spencer's thoughts were interrupted by Agent Jennifer's voice crackling through the tinny speakers in his ears. "We're going to be landing soon in that clearing. It's only a short walk to MooMoo Land from there, though it's probably closed to visitors by now. You may have to camp for the night."

"Great!" though Spencer, as he absent-mindedly stroked Celia's feathers. He had never really been camping before, though he had made enough campfires around the ranch to get the idea. It wouldn't be anywhere near as comfortable as staying at a Pokémon Center, but after a day like today, he didn't care where he slept, just as long as he got some rest.

If only he knew how to pitch a tent…

"I can't believe this…" muttered Mrs. Thorn, as she paced circles around the living room, her bangs stuck to her forehead with nervous sweat. "My Son, my baby, held up in a contest hall by these… Team Deception types?"

"But he's fine now Maggy!" said her brother, patting her on the back. "Spencer's a big boy, with a very auspicious name, and three Pokémon who care for him very much. He's perfectly capable of taking care of himself."

"I know Henry, but-"

"It's Armando. You never get my name right."

"That's because you change it every week!" exclaimed Margaret, throwing her hands to her face. Taking a moment to regain her composure, she sighed as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm just worried about him, I always have been. I'm a mom. Do you remember when those Snagem people attacked the ranch, and Spencer tried to fight them off? He could have been killed that night. But by some miracle, those men decided to leave him alive… And now, the same thing happens again… How many more times will this happen Armando!? A person can only have so much luck! Every day in the news you hear something about Team Rocket, Galactic, Snagem, Dim Sum, Go Rock, it goes on and on! Did you know in Hoenn there's an entire city over run by Team Magma?! An entire city!" Margaret collapsed on to a couch. "It's just… nerve wracking."

"Sis…" Uncle sat down on the couch next to his sister, before locking her into a comforting embrace. "First of all, Spencer isn't going to let himself, or his Pokémon get taken advantage of by some punks in goofy looking uniforms. Sure, the first few times he got out by luck. But every trainer starts out relying on luck. Over time, that luck get's phased out. Replaced with skill. As long as Spencer keeps a close bond with his Pokémon, he'll be fine."

"That's easy for you to say…" said Margaret. "One of his Pokémon doesn't even have a conscience… Let's see a bond matter when that thing decides it want to practice using "Cut"…"

"Maggy… Spencer has purified a Shadow Pokémon before. I'm sure he can do it again"

"…Are you sure we don't have a Time Flute anywhere?"

"Eagun has the last one."

"Darn it…"

Stacy peeked out from her bed room on the second floor, having been listening to the conversation intently.
'Poor Mom…' she thought. 'I didn't think Spencer going off to Furoh would be so hard on her….

"Stacy! Come down here for a moment!" called Margaret.

"Coming!" said Stacy, as she frantically tried to hide the fact she was listening. Cyndy, her pet Cindaquil, darted around her feet as she rushed down the stairs. "What is it Mom?"

"You're still going to Furoh, for PokeCon right?" asked Margaret.

"Yes." Said Stacy. "My flight's tomorrow evening. Phenac to Petropolis Airport. I have my tickets any everything. Oh, and I'm supposed to bring a sampler of Pokémon right?"

"I know…" said Margaret. "But… I was just wondering if you could bring Chompy with you?"

"Sis, you know that giving Spencer a fully evolved Pokémon like that would void his tra-"

"It's not for Spencer!" snapped Margaret. "I want you to bring him with you. For protection."

"Okay…" said Stacy, nervously. "But… that's one less Pokémon I can bring."

"We'll set you up outside the Pokémon Center. It'll be fine. Could you please go help your grandmother close up shop outside?"

"Oh, sure." Stacy quickly hurried to the front desk, Cindy dancing at her heels. 'Mom must really be worried if she wants me to bring Chompy… What does she think is going to happen anyway?'

"Maggy, she's going to a Pokémon Convention, not a war zone. She doesn't even have a license!"

"So? Then she can't take on any gyms. Big deal…" said Margaret. "If I can't be there to protect my child, then I want them at least to have Pokémon who can."

"…You're a real Kangaskan Mag." Muttered Uncle.

"Call me that again and I'll Comet Punch you." Quipped Margaret, her lips cracking into the faintest of smiles.

"Well, if you're still upset, will a trip to Club Krabby cheer you up? My treat?"

"Fine." Said Margaret. "But don't put on any cologne this time. It's for the Pokémon."

"I know…"

[Ganymede]

Waker swung his legs back and forth, his heels hitting the steel underside of his seat. The headphones he was wearing were uncomfortably tight, but he knew they were necessary if he didn't want to lose his hearing in addition to his voice. Locke, after another attempt on his life (thankfully ended by Spencer), had calmed down and buried his head into the coils around Waker's neck, fast asleep. Still running on adrenaline, Waker looked around the helicopter for something to occupy him until they landed - he could just barely see Connie and Verity from where he sat, and Spencer was gazing out the window, excitement on his face. Nils was busy tugging on Agent Jennifer's coat - she really didn't look too Happy about that - and the rest of the Pokemon seemed to be sitting with their trainers, not doing much. With nothing else to do, Waker looked down at the holo-card in his hands, wishing he could play the message over the roar of the helicopter's wings.


Shortly after the others had caught up with him in Barely, Spencer mentioned that his family wanted a video conference with him in the Pokemon Centre. While not too happy about it, Jennifer let the group go - as Spencer grew increasingly nervous under what seemed to be a rant from his mother, Waker made his own call to the small, rustic PokeCentre in Ecruteak.


"Oh, Waker!" the elderly Joy exclaimed, a wide smile on her face. "Oh, just hold on a minute, dear; I'll send a bird for your parents." Adjusting Locke on his shoulders, Waker watched as Joy whistled, a Chatot wearing a nurse's cap coming to her call. Joy murmured a few instructions to it, smiling as it nodded and flew offscreen. She then turned back to the screen, clapping her hands together. "Alright! Chatty's gone to get your mother - Mesa's not in right now." Joy humphed and shook her head, her graying pink hair floating around her face. "Those two are always out somewhere, your father and Morty. Why, just the other day, Morty said he saw a Raikou in the forests! Can you believe that?" Joy laughed, Waker doing the same, his shaking shoulders sending Locke sliding. Pulling the snake Pokemon back up, he didn't see when his mother came on the conference screen.


"Waker!" Beth Faland cooed, hugging the PC. "Oh, my poor boy! I heard about the attack from the Sellins, in Goldenrod - you remember them, right? - is that an Ekans?" Nodding in response to his mother's question, Waker held up Locke with some difficulty. The Ekans looked at her blankly before drifting off to sleep again. "Be careful with it," Beth warned, a frown on her plump face. She shook her head, hands on her hips. "You men, always getting into danger. Did Joy tell you about your father?" Waker nodded. "Of course, Morty had one of his tip-offs again - they went racing off to Olivine. Someone down there said they'd seen what they think's a Lugia, flying out over those whirlpools. Now - how are my cute little darlings?" Waker sighed and released his Nidorans, his mother cooing at them while the elderly Joy squeezed into the screen's range. She held up a small, blank card with a round impression on one side, sliding it into the transfer box.


"It's a holo-card," she explained. "Your father sent it a few hours ago, but the poor Spearow couldn't fly all the way to Furoh, so it stopped here." Before Joy could press the transfer button, Waker's mother snapped out of her trance and hurriedly shoved something into the tray, hitting the button herself. With a wink and an "I love you, darling! Call me when you get to the next city!" she was gone. Joy shook her head. "That woman..." she muttered, a wondering smile on her face. "Anyway, remember to take good care of those three." She eyed the Nidorans before they went back into their Pokeballs, both yawning widely. "Those two - well, you'll see. Have fun, and try not to get hurt again, alright?" With a smile, Joy closed the conference.


Waker was thrown back into reality then, Jennifer's voice crackling through his headphones. Spencer turned to him as the helicopter began to descend, a smile on his face. Smiling back, Waker slipped the holo-card into his pocket, the bag his mother had sent him unopened in his lap. Scratching the top of Locke's head, Waker half-stood as the helicopter finally came to a stop in a field strewn with flowers. A medium-sized dirt road was a short walk away, and, under a small copse of trees, a soft greenish glow emanated from a tiny wooden house.


Oh, a shrine, Waker thought, waiting as Jennifer hopped out of the chopper, holding out her hand to Verity and Connie. I wonder what Pokemon it was built for? Locke drowsily lifted his head, giving Waker a brief wake-up 'hug' before his impassive eyes drifted to the shrine. Suddenly releasing his hold, Locke raised his head and titled it, fixated on the shrine.


...Locke? Waker tapped the underside of the Ekans' head as he carefully climbed out of the chopper, breathing in the fresh evening air. Smiling even wider now, Waker threw out his arms, his mother's bag swinging from his hand.


Now, the journey really begins!

[Dragon Maiden]

Meanwhile...

Aussie walked along the dirt roads just outside of Barley. She was completely lost because for the first time in her life she was completely alone with no idea where to go. Shadow was starting to whimper because her stubby little feet were starting to hurt from following Aussie around for so long. Aussie looked down at the Swinub. The little creature was dripping with sweat and looked as if she wanted to fall over and die. Aussie bent down and picked up Shadow in her arms and said to her "Those little feet weren't made for walking were they?"

Shadow looked up into Aussie's big penetrating eyes and replied with a feeble little "Swine." Aussie couldn't help smiling and giggling a little bit as Shadow nuzzled her nose into her chest and settled into her arms with a little sigh of contentment. "It looks as if I'll be carrying you from now on." Aussie said to Shadow. Shadow didn't reply because she had already fallen asleep in Aussie's arms. "Hey Mimic, I don't suppose you would carry Shadow for me. Would you?"

A little Hoothoot popped out of one of the smaller pockets of Aussie's messenger bag, only the top of her head and eyes showing. Aussie looked down at the little Hoothoot and she stared right back with her huge gleaming red eyes. The two stood staring at each other for what would have seemed like hours to anyone observing, but for Aussie and Mimic such exchanges were ordinary. Mimic didn't say a word, just blinked and Aussie turned away, a smile on her face. "I thought not, but I had to ask. The only thing you ever come out of that pocket for anyway is food," she said jokingly. "Hoot." Mimic said, before promptly disappearing back into the pocket. "Well, I thought it was funny..." Aussie murmured to herself under her breath.

Aussie stopped walking and looked at her surroundings. All that was around her was a dirt road that seemed to stretch on into eternity and a few dying pine trees that lined the side of the road. The needles on the tree were brown and dry, just like the road. Even the grass seemed more brown then green. The sorry-looking pine trees stretched their branches over her head, blocking out the sun. Everything was hidden in shadow, except something ahead. She squinted and tried to make out what it was. It took a second for her to realize what it was. It was a small brown building, some sort of shrine. She couldn't make out the details from so far away.

Aussie's natural curiosity was sparked. She promptly continued walking, heading toward the shrine she had seen. As she drew closer she noticed that the trees around her seemed to get healthier and greener as she approached the shrine. The grass was taller and a deep shade of green and wildflowers poked out of the grass, giving the woods a more colorful and alive feeling. Shadow wiggled in her arms and woke up. She immediately turned her squinty eyes toward the shrine and started snuffling in excitement. Mimic even poked her head out of her pocket and watched the shrine with curiosity. The very air around the shrine was electric.

Finally Aussie arrived in the clearing around the shrine. The area around the shrine was filled with wildflowers and tall grass. The shrine itself was simple enough. It was made from a deep brown wood that looked quite aged. It had three walls and a sloping roof, which sat on a base of gray stone. Moss covered the stone and the bottom of the shrine. The side of the shrine that was open showed that on the inside was a wooden stand, but nothing was on it. The road leading up to the shrine was starting to become overgrown with grass. Obviously nobody had been here regularly in a long time.

Shadow jumped from her arms and started sniffing around the base of the shrine. Once she had sniffed to her satisfaction, she turned around and disappeared into the grass. Aussie watched in amazement as Mimic jumped out of the pocket and ran up to the foot of the shrine. The Hoothoot studied the shrine for a moment and then Shadow came bursting out of the grass and jumped on top of Mimic playfully. Aussie waited for Mimic to get mad and attack Shadow as she usually does when the Swinub tried to play with her, but on the contrary, Mimic started to bounce around and hop on Swinub playfully.

Aussie sat down and observed the two. She took her pen from behind her ear and her notebook from her pocket and started to scribble notes. Her pokemon were acting completely out of character. Shadow rarely left her side, and Mimic, although curious, usually observed and watched things from her pocket. The fact that the little Hoothoot had actually left it to go look at the shrine intrigued her. Not to mention Mimic was usually serious, but now she was playing around and frolicking with Shadow. The only conclusion Aussie could come to was that the shrine somehow drew pokemon to it.

She sat and watched the shrine and her pokemon for an hour, contemplating many things when she heard the whirl of helicopter blades behind her. She promptly turned her head around to look for the source. She glimpsed a flash of metal as a helicopter landed in the meadow bordering the woods behind her. All her curiosity for the shrine and the effect it had on her pokemon vanished. Now her attention was focused on why a helicopter was landing in a seemingly remote location. She abruptly stood up. "Come on Shadow, Mimic. Time to go." The pokemon stopped playing. Shadow whimpered a little and Mimic's eyes looked a little sad but she obeyed. Shadow came and stood by her feet while Mimic ran up and jumped back into her pocket. Aussie turned around to face the helicopter and started towards it, curiosity eating at her every fiber.

This post has been edited by Dragon Maiden: Aug 7 2009, 03:50 PM

[ROMANA]

Connie followed the boys to the Pokemon Centre where Spencer could make his video call home hand in hand with Verity. As they walked, she speculated about how high the helicopter would go, whether people really did look like ants from up there and whether they could teach Courage and Victoria to carry them about when they got tired of walking yet.

"Combees only have little wings but Courage is quite light, maybe she could take you and Waker and Spencer and then Victoria could take me and we'd have your bags," she said, quite reasonably, she thought. "After all, helicopters must be really heavy and we're all going in one together and they stay up. Maybe, if we can teach Courage to flap really quickly..."

They walked in and left Spencer to his phone call, sure that he would prefer not to have them hanging around. His Mum had seemed quite worried when he had spoken to her as they followed Waker out of the Contest Hall. Connie waved to the rollerskating Nurse Joy that had served them ice cream the day before.

"Hello Joy," she called, hurrying over to the counter. "I'd like a rootbeer float with a tooti frooti scoop, please," she asked, flashing her trainer card. "And..." she glanced at her friend, who nodded.

"So would Verity?" finished Joy, with a grin. She got them their drinks and, as custom was slow for the time being, she settled herself opposite them behind the counter. "I saw your Mum," she said to Verity. "She came in to see if you had already gone to the Contest Hall. She seemed amazed the two of you were up and out before ten am. By the way..." she lowered her voice. "Is it true? I've been hearing all sorts! An attack by Team Deception! Jenny came in, and she said someone had lost a shiny pokemon."

Connie was too busy slurping at this point to add much to the discussion but Verity happily regailed Joy with tales of their adventures so far. Connie polished off her root beer and set about what hadn't melted of her ice cream scoop with relish. Listening to Verity's description of the Tauros, Connie noticed that her friend's ice cream scoop was melting into the drink fast and had been largely ignored in favour of the Contest Hall. It seemed a shame to waste it. Pushing aside her own glass, she pulled Verity's closer and slurped at the tooti frooti-y rootbeer. Connie joined in every now and then but focussed mainly on her desserts.

"And is it true that there were Shadow pokemon?" asked Joy, a little later, as Connie took her spoon to the sad little lump of ice cream that was all that was left of the two floats.

"Oh, yes," said Connie. "Our friends have them to look after. They're really scary. An Ekans (Waker's called it Locke) and a Scyther called Logan. They have to wear braces and things. We didn't want to look after them. I have enough trouble with my nice pokemon, I don't want poor ones with no hearts. We're going to go with Agent Jennifer in a helicopter," she finished importantly. "I think we'll be off soon." It looked as though Waker and Spencer were moving away from the video phones and looking for them. "Thanks for the floats! See you soon, Joy!"

Verity didn't seem too keen to be on their way but it wasn't long after that that they were all getting settled into the helicopter and handed ear muffs. Connie was so excited she could scarcely sit still long enough to sort out her safety belt. As they rose slowly up into the air, Connie waved and waved for all she was worth at the audience of Barley schoolchildren that had gathered to watch the excitement. She couldn't really stifle the self-satisfied thought that it was the two home-schooled bumpkins in the helicopter waving at them, and not the other way around.

As they flew over the first of the trees at the edge of town, Connie realised that she might wish their places were reversed. She certainly regretted the two sickly sweet ice cream floats in the pokemon centre, if nothing else. Within five minutes of being airborne, she was clinging to Verity's hand for all she was worth and chanting "I'm not going to be sick, I'm not going to be sick..." over and over in her head. It had to be in her head, because she wasn't sure she dared open her mouth. She certainly couldn't pay much attention to what was going on beneath them. She fixed her gaze firmly on the instrument panel and set about counting the number of times the little yellow light flashed, her chanting settling into sequence with the mesmerising flashing, as she tried to shut out the sickening motion and the sense of height.

When Jennifer's voice crackled over the headset, announcing that they were nearly there, she could have danced with joy. Jennifer was out of the helicopter first, holding out her hand to the girls. Connie pulled off the harness as quickly as she could and jumped down after her, gulping in the biggest lungfuls of fresh air she could conveniently manage and looking not a little green. She sat down on the grass and hoped it would stop feelin like it was moving soon.

"Thank you very much for the lift, Agent Jennifer," she said, as soon as it felt safe enough to do so. "Please don't ever take me in your helicopter again."

[Verity Lily]

The closer the moment of actually getting into the helicopter came, the more Verity was conscious of a leaden weight in the pit of her stomach.

She held tightly onto Connie's hand as her friend chattered, and wondered what it would feel like to be in a big empty thing that made lots of noise and would fall down if the blades stopped turning. She'd made the mistake of asking Agent Jennifer what kind of pokemon they used to make them go around, and Agent Jennifer said they didn't use any pokemon at all, they used machines. That didn't seem right to Verity. The windmills at home made power for the farm, but they only needed a little bit of power, and surely something as big as a helicopter needed at least an manetric to keep going. The generators in town needed lots and lots of raichus to work. And it wasn't like the windmills flew away. Maybe the blades had solar panels on them - Verity had heard of towns where they had whole streets made of solar panels, but the helicopter blades just didn't seem big enough to help much, when the helicopter had to carry five whole people.

She really wished Agent Jennifer used safe, ordinary ways to get around, like pokemon who knew Fly.

"Combees only have little wings but Courage is quite light, maybe she could take you and Waker and Spencer and then Victoria could take me and we'd have your bags, after all, helicopters must be really heavy and we're all going in one together and they stay up. Maybe, if we can teach Courage to flap really quickly..."

Verity's heart skipped a beat with sudden hope, but it quickly faded. "I don't think Victoria can learn Fly yet," she said doubtfully. "And Courage can, but she's so little, I can't see how she can carry anyone until she's a Staraptor - unless she picks me up by the hair," she added, wincing at the memory of the little claws caught in her pigtails. Her pale skin was now shaded by a very sensible legionairre's cap, but she still had the faint stinging sensation that heralded the start of sunburn from their earlier walk. Maybe, if Courage evolved, she could shade Verity's head better. But it was strange to think of her cute little companion as a big, impressive Staraptor. It was much easier, somehow, to think of Butchette as a big machamp like her mother.

She winced a bit as they entered the pokemon centre. She'd always thought it was a huge treat to go there and have icecream - Bill was usually very strict about what she was allowed to eat - but she couldn't help noticing that the walls were covered by miltanks. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the helicopter crashed before they reached Moo-Moo Land, she thought treacherously.

When her root beer float arrived, Verity was surprised by how little she actually wanted it. Something about the sweetness and creaminess just seemed... oh... To quiet her stomach, she focussed hard on Joy's cute face, and the story she was telling. Part of her hoped very much that Joy would tell her mother Joy that she had been very brave and self-reliant, like a true Amazon, and not like a silly, dependent little girl at all. The morning's reprimand still felt uncomfortably prickly to think about. She began to cheer as she told them all about their day - it really had been very exciting, and she couldn't wait to tell Joy all about Candyfloss.

She zapped the igglybuff out of its ball to meet Joy's happiny, and Verity and Joy cooed together - Connie seemed distracted by devouring Verity's icecream, for which Verity was devoutly grateful - at the sight of the small pink pokemon trying to out-cute each other. Happiny almost won when it proudly showed Candyfloss its oval stone "egg", but Candyfloss rallied quickly and managed to charm Happiny into giving her a turn, marching happily back and front holding it in front of her as if it was in a pouch.

We're going to go with Agent Jennifer in a helicopter"

The words recalled Verity to the situation, and she bent over Candyfloss to hide her sudden rush of nausea, gently detaching the oval stone and returning it to Happiny. By the time she straightened and returned Candyfloss to her luxury ball, Verity had regained her composure.

She scrutinised the others carefully for signs of panic, but Spencer and Waker both seemed excited and happy, and Connie was practically bouncing out of her skin. And... there were Barley schoolchildren clustered around the helicopter. It was time to keep up her brave face as an Amazon. Verity beamed at the children, tossing her (hastily brushed and rearranged) pigtails, and practically danced up into the helicopter as if it was the thing she had always wanted to do most in her life.

Inside, she kept up the excited facade, but was a bit relieved by the headphones - at least she wouldn't have to pretend to chatter merrily. She squeezed Connie's hand very tight, and forced herself to keep her eyes open, wishing that she could take Butchette out - but that would make the helicopter even heavier and harder to lift and, besides, people might guess she was scared.

The helicopter lifted... and Verity's heart with it. They were going up and up, and it felt like they were being lifted by, not machinery at all, but Verity's exhileration. The ground seemed to sweep by right under them, but the horizon was still and unmoving... by craning to the left, Verity could see the glorious blue sparkle of the sea where Barley met the ocean, and the farthest horizon. She had always loved looking out over the sea, and best of all to see the horizon where she could see that Emerence had been telling her the truth, and the world really did curve. Up high, Verity was more conscious than ever of the majestic sweep of the world's curve. She craned her neck still farther, hoping to catch a glimpse of a wailmer or tentacruel or even Kyogre, leaping up into the sun...

Connie was holding her hand very tightly, and Verity wondered if she was trying to reassure her. She turned to smile at her friend to show that everything was okay, but for some reason Connie was staring straight ahead, not looking at the spectacular view at all. Maybe... maybe she'd been acting too, and was really scared? She'd feel better if she knew how pretty it all was! No one could be scared when things were so beautiful.

Verity poked her with her free hand. "Look outside!" she mouthed. "Look right down an see how pretty it is!"

Connie turned green and turned her face resolutely towards the instrument panel. Verity wondered if maybe she wasn't feeling well. She carefully reached down to her backpack, managing to wriggle enough to reach it despite the safety belt, and offered Connie some soda pop. Connie, for some reason, just squeezed her eyes shut and didn't take the drink at all.

Verity was feeling really worried by the time the helicopter started to land - but that was so much fun, too! She bounced out after Connie.

"Thank you, Agent Jennifer! That was great!" She was distracted by the sight of Connie down on the grass. "Oh - Cnnie, are you okay?" She anxiously knelt beside her and wrapped a protective arm around her. "Did you eat too much icecream?"

She looked up at the boys. "I think I need to sit with Verity for a bit." Her manner suddenly became more businesslike, but she kept stroking Connie's back comfortingly. "If we're going to be camping, then Butchette can chop us firewood - she's really good at using karate chop for that - and Torchie can start the fire - she's really good at that. We'll need somewhere comfy to sleep - Victoria and Courage can gather up soft grass and leaves to put under our sleeping bags. Do you think Celia would mind filling up a billy so that we can make tea, and maybe make some damper or something for dinner? Or do we need something more substantial? It's been a long time since breakfast, and only Connie had icecream." Connie groaned. "The other pokemon can contribute by setting up a rota to guard us in the night, in case any wild pokemon venture out of the long grass and attack us. Right - have I forgotten anything?"

Something of Bill's self-assured grin leaked out of Verity's big red eyes. She might be the youngest of the group, but she suspected that neither of the boys had ever camped out all night with their mother to look after an ailing pregnant flaafy.

[Cube]

"Afraid of heights Connie?" asked Spencer as he watched the visibly shaken girl leap out of the helicopter, followed shortly thereafter by Verity, Waker, and the Pokémon. Spencer unbuckled his harness before jumping out of the chopper as well. After making sure that no Pokémon were still on the helicopter, and that all of his belongings hadn't spilled out all over the floor, he quickly joined the others as Officer Jenny led them to a safe distance away from the helicopter.

"Don't feel bad Connie." Said Agent Jennifer, as she collected the headsets from the group. "I got sick during my first ride too. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You'll be able to walk straight again in a few minutes, I'm sure."

The girl smiled weakly at the police officer as she collected the last of the headsets. She really didn't seem like she was in any position to risk opening her mouth a second time. At least not for a few minutes anyway.

"Alright!" said Jennifer, talking over the constant whirr of the propellers. "I've got to report back to Daioh. You all have my PokéGear number, right?"

"Yeah!" shouted Spencer.

"What?!"

"Yeah! We have your PokéGear number!" shouted Spencer, nodding his head to get the point across.

"Okay! Good! Moo Moo Land is a few miles down the road! Call me if you have any trouble!"

"Will do!" shouted Spencer, as he watched the police officer leap back onto the chopper. The propellers roared as the machine lifted itself in the air, creating a miniature storm of leaves and petals in the air. Spencer threw his arm over his face to shield himself from the cloud of dust, using the tip of his scarf to protect his nose and mouth. By the time the dust cleared, the chopper was already on the way to Daioh, and the group was left alone in the forest's clearing.

"Well that was an interesting trip…" said Spencer, as he checked the time on his Pokétch. "How long were we in that Contest Hall… he thought. Though, admittedly his concept of time was thrown off through a combination of Jet Lag and Cologne-Related Flashbacks…

"If we're going to be camping, then Butchette can chop us firewood - she's really good at using karate chop for that - and Torchie can start the fire - she's really good at that. We'll need somewhere comfy to sleep - Victoria and Courage can gather up soft grass and leaves to put under our sleeping bags. Do you think Celia would mind filling up a billy so that we can make tea, and maybe make some damper or something for dinner? Or do we need something more substantial? It's been a long time since breakfast, and only Connie had icecream." Connie groaned. "The other pokemon can contribute by setting up a rota to guard us in the night, in case any wild pokemon venture out of the long grass and attack us. Right - have I forgotten anything?"

"That sounds good!" said Spencer, looking at the trio of Pokémon near his feet. "Nils, can help with the firewood too, and I'm sure Celia would be happy to help get us some water, right?"

"Lup!"

"Great!" said Spencer. "And Vincent can help out with the guard, right?"

"Char…" muttered the Lizard Pokémon, who didn't seem very enthusiastic about the prospect.

"What's the matter Vincent?" said Spencer, kneeling to address the Charmander at eye level.

"Char Charmander! Char! Charmander?! Char Der." He pointed to Spencer's bag, where the Interpol engraved Snag Ball sat perched upon a pile of capsules. Spencer picked up the Poké Ball from his bag and held it up to Vincent.

"Oh, you have a problem with Logan then?" Said Spencer, rubbing the Pokémon's head. "Listen, I know you aren't really keen on having him stay with us, and to be honest I'm not either. That's why I'm wearing the Shin Guards. But we owe it to him to try and open his heart again. Just like if you, or any other Pokémon had their heart's sealed. Do you understand what I'm trying to say Vincent?"

The Charmander just stared blankly at him for a moment before swatting the Poké Ball out of his hand, sending it rolling through the trees before opening with a flash in a nearby meadow.

"Vincent! What was that for!?!" shouted Spencer as he ran after the errant Poké Ball, grabbing it off the ground and preparing to call back the loose shadow Pokémon before it ran off.

Except… it wasn't running off. In fact, it seemed quite content to stay where it was standing, staring at an ancient wooden structure nestled between two trees. The structure was shaped like a small building, with a faint green glow emanating from within. Ancient words in Unown Script lined the bottom of the shrine, while an inscription in the modern language was carved into the wood.

"May times of strife be few, and times of joy be plentiful.
May the tranquility of the forest be reflected in our lives.
And may the Forest's Guardian shall watch over this place,
As long as Time's Heart still beats.
Traveler, rest your weary feet without fear,
As Celebi smiles upon us all. "

"A roadside shrine to Celebi?" Spencer looked at the structure with awe, unaware of the fact that his Pokémon -including a rather surly Vincent- had gathered behind him again. Spencer was familiar with shrines such as this from Agate (There was a famous one not far from the Ranch), but this one seemed small, not to mention somewhat randomly placed. "I wonder who would build a shrine out here? he thought, as he took another step toward the shrine, before the loud snapping of a twig caused him to let out an embarrassing "yelp" of fright. He spun in place to see a pale young girl with white hair sitting near the shrine, who had apparently been watching the group the entire time.

"Oh… uh… Hi." Said Spencer, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "Didn't see you there. It's a very nice shrine, isn't it?"

[Ganymede]

As soon as Waker was done taking in the view, he spun around, facing the others. His wide smile faded a little as he noticed Verity and Connie - who didn't look so good - huddled near the helicopter. Walking over to them, Waker knelt in front of Connie, looking at her intently. With a tiny grimace he set his new bag down and dug in his old one for the notebook, freezing as Verity suddenly began issuing commands.


"If we're going to be camping, then Butchette can chop us firewood - she's really good at using karate chop for that - and Torchie can start the fire - she's really good at that. We'll need somewhere comfy to sleep..." Waker zoned out, a little smile dancing on his face as Verity spoke. She really seemed to be in her element now - out in the open, taking care of her friends. Shoving his notebook back in his sidebag, he grabbed the small satchel at his feet and stood up again, Locke moving restlessly on his shoulders. "...Right - have I forgotten anything?"


Leaving the girls for a moment, Waker released Azzy and Pora, the two immediately running free in the grass, "Nii!"-ing excitedly. Leaving little indents of crushed grass where they went, the two suddenly stopped and sat up on their hind legs, noses twitching. Azzy looked back at Waker for just a moment, his red eyes seeming to almost glow in the fading light. With a small cry Pora ran forward, Azzy at her heels.


Looking up, Waker noticed Spencer running into the small group of trees by the side of the road, the glow from the shrine seeming to get stronger. With a glance back at the girls, Waker began running after Spencer and his Pokemon, Locke now fully awake and staring forward intently.


Spencer, Azzy, Pora, where are yo- Waker stopped, frozen. Spencer was standing a little ways away from the shrine, Logan in front of him and both his and Waker's Pokemon behind and beside him. With a thud, Locke slithered off Waker's shoulders into the grass beside Logan, tail rattling gently. Everyone was fixated on the green glow pulsing gently from the shrine - except Spencer.


The breeder was staring at a small, pale girl standing near the shrine, a Hoothoot and Swinub near her. Waker blinked, mystified - Is that a faerie? - until Spencer cleared his throat and spoke.


"Oh... uh... Hi. Didn't see you there. It's a very nice shrine, isn't it?" Now that Waker looked carefully, he noticed the girl's outfit and shoes (which seemed to be in need of a repair - or replacement!). Not a faerie, then, he sighed mentally, leaning down and picking up his Nidorans. Broken out of their little spell, the two looked up at him happily, Azzy climbing to his usual perch on Waker's shoulder. Taking a step forward to stand beside Spencer, Waker smiled at the girl, Pora wriggling in his arms.

This post has been edited by Mechanical Lullaby: Aug 7 2009, 07:30 PM

[Dragon Maiden]

Aussie watched the helicopter from a distance. She wanted to get closer, but her shyness held her back. The thought of approaching random strangers and asking them questions frightened her. She was much happier just to observe and wait. She watched as a young girl with bright pink hair jump out of the helicopter. A girl with wavy blue hair wasn't far behind. The girl looked rather relieved to be free of the helicopter as she kneeled on the ground. Aussie had never seen anyone look so green behind the gills before. Two boys also came out of the helicopter, both with messy black hair, but one was wearing glasses and was taller while the other was on the shorter side.

The girl with the pink hair looked over at the girl with the blue hair and looked concerned. She knelt by the girl and gently put her arm around her. One of the other boys came around and knelt beside the girl also. The pink haired girl looked back up at the boys and said something to them, but Aussie couldn't make out the words, but it was obvious the girl had control of the situation. The quartet continued to stand around talking for a while before the helicopter took off again.

Aussie was completely fascinated by the others. She was so intent on watching them she had unconsciously taken out her notebook again and was scribbling notes. Mimic was also intent on watching them, never taking her huge red eyes off them. Shadow seemed more bored then interested. The little Swinub kept turning around to look longingly at the shrine. If Aussie had stopped watching the quartet for a minute she would have realized the shrine had started to glow a soft green.

The tall black haired boy had turned to three pokemon standing at his feet, a charmander, a piplup, and a treeko. He said something to them. The piplup and treeko seemed quite content with what the boy had said, but the charmander looked rather grumpy. The boy knelt in front of the charmander and spoke to the little lizard pokemon, but it didn't look any happier. On the contrary it seemed to get madder. The boy reached down and produced a snag ball, she recognized the logo on the pokeball from pictures in a book she had read. She started to jot notes down more furiously. She suddenly realized what she was doing and looked down at her notebook. She was silently laughing at herself. Why was she taking notes on humans? Not to mention stupid notes. One of her notes simply read, The Charmader is mad. She quickly put her notebook back in her pocket and her pen behind her ear.

Suddenly she heard a sound of a pokeball opening close to the shrine. It was the same pokeball that the boy had just been holding a few seconds earliers. She whirled around to see what could only be a shadow scyther, because it had come out of the snag ball, standing in front of the shrine, staring at it contentedly. Aussie could feel the panic rising in her. She felt as if she should run, but her fear kept her firmly rooted in the ground, staring with her huge wide eyes. Suddenly the tall black haired boy appeared into the clearing. He was looking at the shadow scyther, surprise evident on his face. Aussie quickly got control of herself at that moment, now was the time to disappear. She slowly took a step back but winced when she heard a twig crack under her foot. The tall boy whirled around, a little yelp escaping from his mouth. When he saw it was only a girl he visibly relaxed, but he looked nervous and curious.

The other boy that had stepped out of the helicopter suddenly appeared in the clearing too. He appeared to be following two nidoran, one a girl the other a boy. He looked up at the other boy and then at her. The boy blinked and looked slightly mystified as he set eyes on her. Finally the tall boy broke the spell when the nervous words "Oh... uh... Hi. Didn't see you there. It's a very nice shrine, isn't it?"

Aussie knew this was the time she should say something, but the words wouldn't come. Her aunt had always said she was "socially awkward" and now was a perfect example of that. All she could manage was staring at the two boys. Unlike talking, staring was something she was very good at. The only words in her mind were run, run, run. Aussie felt the tension rise as time ticked on, but then she felt the brush of soft fur as Shadow rubbed against her leg. She visibly relaxed at that moment. Something about having Shadow around all the time gave her confidence. She had just needed to be reminded of that.

"Hi... Yes it really is beautiful, isn't it?" Aussie looked back at the shrine. She had been so busy examining it she had forgotten to actually look at it. It did have a sort of magnificence and beauty about it; even in it's simplicity. She soothed the last of her frayed nerves and finally got the confidence to walk up to the two boys. She held out her hand to the tall one to be shook and said "My name's Aussie, and the little Swinub at me feet is Shadow, and the other one..." she stopped for a second to look down at Mimic with her head sticking half way out of the pocket, staring intently as she usually did, "that other one is Mimic. She's not to friendly but that's just the way she is."

She looked back up at the boy and tried to give the biggest smile she could, but inside she was still as nervous and scared as she could be.

This post has been edited by Dragon Maiden: Aug 8 2009, 12:43 PM

[Cube]

"It's nice to meet you too. I'm Spencer. That's Waker over there, and those two girls are Connie and Verity." Said Spencer, taking the girl's hand, noticing the strange stiffness in her handshake. Something about the girl's manner just seemed off to him at that moment. Between the stiffness of her movements, the way her glance darted between Logan and Locke, never quite meeting him in the eye. It took Spencer a few moments to realize what was going on.

"Oh! I'm so sorry." He exclaimed, rushing over to the Scyther and grabbing it by the shoulders. The poor girl must have thought they were some sort of Special Ops team or something. "I didn't mean to frighten you or anything. This is Logan, he's had his heart sealed. I volunteered to help purify him, and the police offered to give us a ride on their helicopter." He rubbed the Scyther on the head, who responded to his touch with a swift slap to his shin guards.
"My Charmander was being playful and swatted his Poké Ball over here. Isn't that right Vincent?"

"Char." Snapped the lizard Pokémon. He wasn't in the mood to act cute right now.

"Um… Waker here offered to Purify that Ekans over there." He gestured to the snake Pokémon draped over his neck. "Funny we should meet at a place like this, huh? Supposedly Shrines like this have the power to opened sealed hearts, although…" Spencer tapped a button on his PokeEtch, revealing a tiny pixilated Scyther and a small bar underneath it, which was unfortunately still mostly full. "We're nowhere near ready for purification yet. Um… Vincent, could you do me a favor and go spar with Logan in those trees over there? And no fire attacks. We don't want Smoky the Ursaring breathing down our necks."

"Char…" groaned the Charmander, obviously annoyed.

"Look." Said Spencer, kneeling down next to the Charmander. "I know you don't like him. But I volunteered to open his heart, and the least you could do is at least try to help? Even a little bit?"

"Mander…" sighed Vincent, as he grabbed the Scyther by one of it's restraints and led it out into the trees.

"Sorry about that." Said Spencer. "Vincent's been acting a bit strange lately. No idea why." He let out a nervous laugh. "Um… What are you doing way out here? Barley's pretty far down the road. Are you headed to Moo Moo Land too?"

---Meanwhile---

Vincent dragged the Scyther to another clearing a few hundred feet away from the campsite, before looking around to make sure no wild Pokémon lurked in the grass. He groaned as he turned to face the heartless Bug Pokémon before him.

<<Why hit Poké Ball? Was Napping.>> growled the Scyther. <<You lucky Shrine Pretty or Scyther cut you.>>

<<I'd like to see you try, with those ridiculous things on…>> muttered Vincent.

<<NO MAKE FUN OF SCYTHES!>> shouted Logan. <<Scyther try get them off, but things won't go. Stupid human in blue hat put them on while me sleeping.>>

Vincent sighed. <<Listen. I don't like you. You attacked my trainer, and Shadow or not, I do not like it when some punk level 3 Pokémon messes with my Trainer. Do you understand?>>

<<What wrong with attacking Human? Same as Pokémon.>>

<<NO IT'S NOT MAN!>> shouted Vincent. <<Don't you remember the story of the knight and the sword?>> The Scyther stared back at him blankly. <<Of course you don't…>> muttered Vincent, trying his best to recall the story as Grandfather Feraligatr told it to him. Of course… he wasn't doing a very good job of wording it properly.

<<Alright, there was this Human. And he found a sword right? You know, like those scythe things of yours? Anyway, he decided it would be really fun to go around killing Pokémon like us with it. For food or something. I don't know, it was really gross. Anyway, after a while the Pokémon got sick of it and ran off, and the human was like "Where did all the Pokémon go?". So he goes far and wide until her runs into a Pokémon. It might have been a Scyther, I don't know. It's a legend. Anyway, he's like "Where hither did all thy Pokémon go." And the Scyther is all "We haveth runneth off because thou has been slaying us…th."

So the man is all "NOOOOOOOOOO!" and snaps the sword in half and swears that no human shall harm a Pokémon again, and the Scyther makes a similar oath. And they became the first Pokémon Knights or something. I don't know. The point is that no human should ever harm a Pokémon, and no Pokémon should ever harm a human. It's just not fair.>>

<<No Human hurt Pokémon? No Pokémon hurt human?>> muttered Logan, obviously not comprehending the story. <<That stupid.>>


Vincent sighed. <<You're hopeless…>>

<<Well than…>> said Logan. <<If Pokémon no can hurt human… then Pokémon can hurt Pokémon!>> The Scyther lunged at Vincent in a wreckless tackle, taking the lizard Pokémon off guard.

<<Ooof!>> said the Charmander, rolling to his feet as he prepared to block the Scyther's next attack. <<For a weakling Shadow Pokémon, you sure hit hard!>>

<<SCYTHER NO WEAKLING!>> shouted Logan, as he prepared another attack, only for his padded scythes to be blocked by the Charmander's metallic claws.

<<Well if you're not a weakling, then prove it!>> shouted Vincent, as he shoved the Scyther into a near by tree. The Scyther growled as it seethed in anger, a violet aura seeming to burn around it like wildfire as it launched it's next attack, smacking Vincent with unexpected force. The Lizard Pokémon reeled for a moment before preparing to block again. <<That's more like it!>> he shouted, as he carefully deflected the Scyther's blows.

Of course, there was a method to the Charmander's madness. From his previous observation at the contest hall, he was aware that Logan knew only one damaging attack, which weakened him over time. By forcing him to spam this one attack on him (as he could easily block it, or end the battle with a well placed ember should the going get rough) he could tire out the Scyther to a point where it would be no danger to the humans at the shrine.

…Or at least, that's what he would tell Celia later. He mostly just liked watching the thing squirm. Besides, any aggression directed at him was aggression that wasn't directed towards Spencer or the others. As much as he was angry at the human for being so reckless in his choice of new party members, it was still the Charmander's duty to protect his family. And besides… this was kind of fun!

[Dragon Maiden]

Well, Aussie was happy she hadn't stumbled into any sort of Special Ops team operation, but the fact of talking to total strangers still frightened her. Shadow rubbed up against her leg and let out a little "Swine?" Shadow usually did that when she sensed Aussie was nervous. She looked down at Shadow and picked her up again. The feeling of Shadow nuzzling her once again gave her the confidence to talk.

She listened to the pokemon sparring in the nearby woods and took a huge breath. "Actually I came here to study the local Beedrill. There's a hive nearby and I was hoping to study their nesting habits, but it seems I made a wrong turn..." She looked around at the woods and wondered where she was again. She had been so focused on the shrine the last hour that the fact she was lost had completely slipped from her mind. Although she wasn't to traumatized at having become lost. It had led her to find a very interesting area. She scanned the woods and the shrine and wondered what kind of pokemon lived here, and how the shrine had such strange influences on pokemon.

"Most people don't know this, but Beedrill have a softer side. They may be temperamental and chase off anyone who comes to close to their hive, but they are some of the best parents in the pokemon world. They are willing to protect their nests with their very lives. I've made friends with one of the wild Beedrill and now they let me near their hive. I've seen some quite intriguing things while observing them taking care of their young." Aussie stopped herself immediately and shook her head. She was rambling again. This was always how she managed to chase people off without meaning too. Once she got started on a subject she didn't stop. Who really cared about Beedrill nesting habits other then her really?

She smiled nervously and said "I'm sure you probably don't want to hear about Beedrill nesting habits though... anyways I think I'm going to stick around here for a while. I would like to look into what sort of species live around the shrine and how they interact with it. My pokemon acted rather strangely around it, and it seems to draw pokemon to it. I've learned a little bit already. It seems to have a soothing effect on them, but I would still like to learn about the why and how..." Aussie bit her tongue and silently told herself Shut up Aussie! You're the only one that cares! This was all she had heard her entire life, except from her aunt. Her aunt had always encouraged her to go out and explore and learn, but everyone else thought she was just some sort of crazy smart person who was to snobbish to hang out with the other children.

Thinking of her aunt brought back memories of what had happened just this morning...

"Mom, I want to go on a journey... by myself..." Aussie whispered to her aunt at the breakfast table. Her aunt looked up from what she was cooking on the stove. Aussie waited for her aunt to start crying and wish her luck on her journey as most other mothers she had seen do when their children set out into the world with their pokemon. Her aunt turned around, but instead of sadness, her lined face was taken up by the hugest smile she had ever seen on her aunt's face, which is saying something because her aunt was prone to smiling.

Her aunt pushed a wisp of graying brown hair out of her face and settled her twinkling blue eyes on Aussie and whispered back "It's about time. I knew you were like me, always seeking adventure, wanting to know more and more. Frankly I've been expecting this for years now. I thought it would come sooner actually." Her aunt turned around and went back to cooking without another word.

"Aren't you at least a little sad?" Aussie croaked, feeling hurt. Her aunt whirled around when she heard those words "I was sad when your mother died. I was sad when you father died, but how can I be sad for you Aussie? I'm not losing you. Sure, you won't be around the house anymore, but you'll be out there learning, growing. What more could a mother want?" her aunt said seriously. Aussie smiled, feeling relieved. She should have realized her aunt wouldn't have acted like normal mothers. Her aunt was far from normal, preferring to travel and discover to sitting at home raising a child. She believed children should be raised with adventure, not in some boring town in a boring school with the same boring routine every day. She wanted to stimulate Aussie's spark for adventure and creativity, things that truly mattered more then a fancy formal education.

Aussie had an education to be sure. Somewhere in her life her aunt had picked up a teaching degree, although she despised schools and formal education. She had taught Aussie everything she would have learned in school, but she did it while they were on the road, and she has some rather strange, but effective teaching methods.

"I want you to have something Aussie." her aunt said as she disappeared into the library. Aussie listened to her aunt rummage around in a drawer for a few minutes before she returned to the kitchen. She held some sort of photo in her hand. Her aunt sat down next to her and looked at her. Now her eyes were sad, something Aussie wasn't used to seeing in her aunt. Her aunt kissed the picture gently and gave it one long lingering look before sighing and handing the picture to Aussie.

Aussie looked at the picture and felt tears come to her eyes. It was a simple picture really. It was of a mother and a father holding a little baby. "That was the first picture they took of you Aussie. Your parents were so proud of you." Aussie silently placed the picture in one of the pockets of her messenger bag and looked back up to her aunt. "Thank you, mom..." she whispered. Her aunt nodded her head and looked towards the door.

Aussie smiled and stood up, heading toward the door. She silently slipped her shoes on which had been sitting next to the door. Most people would have gotten new shoes by the time they had reached the state her shoes were in but Aussie couldn't bear to part with her shnikes. Her mother had owned the company that had produced and sold shnikes and this was the last pair ever made after her mother passed, exactly her size. Aussie felt as long as she wore these shoes some part of her mother still lived inside of her, always with her.

Aussie turned the handle on the door and walked out. She breathed in the fresh morning air. She could go wherever she pleased now, but where? She considered her choices for a moment and thought she would head out towards the Beedrill nesting grounds. She hadn't been there in weeks, and so Aussie walked off down the streets of Barely, away from her home.

Aussie snapped back to reality, now wasn't the time for a flashback, but thoughts of her aunt crawled into her mind one last time, and now certainly wasn't the time for tears. Aussie bit her lip adamantly and squeezed Shadow harder, until the little Swinub squealed in protest.

This post has been edited by Dragon Maiden: Aug 8 2009, 02:25 PM

[Cube]

"Oh! No! I'm very interested!" said Spencer, noticing the faintest trace of a tear forming in the girls eye. "My family runs a Breeding Ranch back in Orre, so anything related to nesting or breeding is interesting to me." He smiled. "Though… I haven't had a chance to actually see a Beedrill nest. There isn't much of a demand for Weedle though, except in places like Hoenn. I'd really like to hear more, if you're willing to tell me?" She glanced at the shrine once more. It did seem to have some sort of soothing effect… Nils and Celia seemed to be enjoying it, and Locke did seem less… "huggy" than normal. "This is a shrine to Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon. There's one back in Agate too, though it looks a bit different. This kind of looks like a smaller version of the one in Johto…"

Spencer reached into his bag, digging through the piled of capsules before pulling out his Pokédex, half expecting the familiar PDA interface to pop up on it's dual screens. Instead, the small scanner on the device glowed for a moment before analyzing the shrine.

" Number 251: Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon.
A Pokémon that wanders across Time, legend says that plant life flourishes in places where it has rested.
Shrines to this Pokémon may be found in forested regions around the country. When visiting one of these shrines, it is customary to leave a berry as an offering."

"Hm… Context sensitive…" thought Spencer, as he slipped the Pokédex back in his pocket and pulled out another device his mother had sent him. Some sort of berry dispenser thing from Floraroma. Spencer scrolled through a list of berries, each tag listing medicinal effects, flavor balance, and nutritional value.

After deciding on the classic Cornn Berry (Which Spencer's mother had generously loaded about 5 of into the dispenser), the device released a berry into Spencer's hand with a small flash, perfectly preserved. He carefully placed the berry into a small hole in the shrine, before turning his attention back to the girl.

"There. Maybe if we're lucky Celebi might come to pick up that berry?" he laughed. "Now, tell me more about those Bee-" Spencer's Pokétch began to beep, switching to a small readout of his parties status. Logan's status was dropping… fast…
"Huh? Hang on a moment!" said the breeder, as he darted out of the clearing.

<<Why'd Dad run off like that?>> said Nils, as the trainer ran off through the trees.

<<I don't know…>> said Celia. <<Maybe we should follow him?>>

. <<Haven't we risked our lives enough for one day?>> sighed Nils, as he scurried after the trainer, Celia waddling close behind.

--Meanwhile--

. <<STOP BLOCKING!!>> panted the Scyther, as blow after blow was deflected by the Charmander. The less fortunate side effects of not having a heart were beginning to wear down on him, and the Scyther was on the brink of collapse.

. <<Stop being so stupid and attack me properly then!>> shouted Vincent, as he deflected yet another tackle. . <<Either use something other than that stupid rushing attack of yours, or give up!>>

. <<SCYTHER NO GIVE UP!>> shouted Logan, as it ran in for another attack. Vincent raised his claws to prepare for another Shadow Rush, only for the Scyther to assume a more controlled position… Rather that throwing itself at it's opponent and slashing wildly, it focused all of it's energy on a single slashing blow, slamming hard into the unprepared Charmander. Vincent was slammed to the ground by the unexpected blow, as Logan fluttered to a standing position with it's wings.

The Charmander clutched it's side. The Scyther was still far too weak to actually defeat him, but that attack was going to leave a mark… . <<I guess you can use another attack…>> said Vincent.

The Scyther panted as it stared back at it's opponent, it's violet aura still a flame. It got into position for one final attack, before Spencer's voice rang out through the trees.

"Logan! Vincent!" he shouted, as he stumbled out of the trees, his Pokédex in hand. The Scyther -whom Spencer was shocked to see actually had a visible aura- ignored the human's cries as it got ready for a final attack.

"Scyther!!" shouted Spencer. This seemed to get the Scyther's attention, as the violet aura surrounding it vanished in a snap, causing it to trip over it's own feet mid strike.

"What the hell was that?!" said Spencer, flipping out his Pokédex. The device seemed to anticipate his question, as it immediately brought up the appropriate entry.

Reverse Mode: A state entered by Shadow Pokémon during the purification process, when a rush of emotions strains the seal on the Pokémon's heart. Prolonged periods of Reverse Mode are dangerous for the Pokémon in question. Luckily, Reverse Mode may be ended by getting the Pokémon's attention. Reverse Mode is signified by the appearance of a visible aura around the Pokémon in question.

"Reverse Mode…" whispered Spencer, as he recalled Logan to his Poké Ball for the walk back to camp. "…Thanks for keeping him occupied for a while Vincent." He said as he rubbed the Charmander on the head. "Just… spar somewhere where I can see you next time."

"Charmander." Nodded Vincent, as he followed Spencer and the others back to the shrine.

"Um… sorry about that." Said Spencer, as he released the exhausted Scyther back onto the grass, where it lay flat on it's back. "Their little sparring match got carried away… Hang on…"

Spencer pulled out his Berry dispenser a second time, popping a pair of Oran Berries into his hands before placing one in Logan's mouth, handing the other to Vincent.

"There. Now what was that you were saying about Beedril nests?"

Logan breathed heavily as he lay on the grass in front of that shrine, vaguely aware of the humans talking. He never really listened when the humans spoke, unless they mentioned his name (Scyther, obviously. He didn't understand why the tall human kept referring to him as Logan.), or the name of an attack he knew.

He didn't protest as the human put a berry in his mouth, instinctively chewing on it as he lay in the grass. It had a bit of a rough peel, but the juice was soothing enough, easing the burning pain that seemed to radiate from his chest.

What the hell was wrong with that Charmander? Even without fighting back, it still managed to win the duel… Perhaps it was something to do with his technique? …Technique, that's a new word… when did he pick that up? …Bah, who needs Technique anyway? Shadow Rush was just as strong as that… cutting attack was. Sure, it hurt on execution, but only another Shadow Pokémon could resist it.

Still, the fact that he had lost was a burning disappointment for the Scyther. He was a Shadow Pokémon. Shadow Pokémon never lost! …At least… that's what instinct told him. …Could instinct be wrong?

In his clouded mind, the Shadow Pokémon didn't really care, only half listening to the human's conversation. Something about nests…

Nest…

The word triggered a memory… a faint and blurry one to be sure… There were other Scyther… some around his size, and two that were far bigger… stronger too. He couldn't remember what they were called though… M and D… …um…

Massacre and Destruction! That must have been it!

And there was this "Nest" thing they were all in, and these two Scyther were fighting against a human. (The human might have had a Pokémon with her… was it a her? He couldn't remember. But they was fighting.)

And Massacre and Destruction leapt at the stupid human, and then…

…Odd. …He didn't see to remember what happened after that.

…Whatever, Memories were stupid anyway. The only good memories were ones of fights…

…Though, he would have liked to remember the outcome of that fight.

…Bah, this was going to bug him all night now. Why was he even bothering to think anyway? Shadow Pokémon aren't supposed to think.

He was just going to lay there and stare at those leaves for a while. Maybe if he was lucky the human would rub him with that nice smelling stuff again. He'd like that…

[Dragon Maiden]

But Aussie's mind was far from Beedrill nests, or even the exhausted scyther lying in the grass. The significance of what Spencer had just said still trying to find a hold in her mind. Her thoughts were going a million miles per hour. She plopped into the grass and placed Shadow lightly back on the ground. She quickly retrieved her notebook and started scribbling notes to organize her thoughts. The smile on her face was huge.

"A shrine to Celebi you said?" she was more speaking to herself then to the others. She had a habit of talking out loud when a huge idea came to mind. "It's said the Celebi only appears in times of peace..." once again trailing off to make a huge line of notes. "The thing about the shrine is it makes everything peaceful..." she swiveled her head to look at the clearing. The trees were greener here and it made the pokemon calmer, it all fit together. "Yes that's it!" she exclaimed to herself. She looked back up at the boys, her face giddy with excitement.

"Celebi uses the shrines as a way of traveling. This place is always peaceful, that means Celebi can always come here." She exclaimed. "I'm not sure how the shrine keeps this place always peaceful, but it does... It keeps it always ready for Celebi if Celebi should ever need to come to this time and place. Also it provides a form of escape, if Celebi should ever run into trouble it could just come here, and poof away to another time. It is its place of protection and rest."

She breathed in the sweet air of the clearing and let satisfaction course through her. It felt great to have discovered something no one else knew, the joy of knowing was wondrous. "Wonderful isn't it? All the mysteries to be discovered right at your back door..." she sat their reveling in the sunshine until she realized she had just had an outburst in front of people she barely knew.

She blushed deep red and replaced her notebook and pen to their proper places. "I'm so sorry. I got a little overexcited there." She stood up again and headed toward the shrine and wondered what sort of power gave it the ability to keep peace in this little clearing in the middle of the woods. If that power could be harnessed, the possibilities were endless. She ran her fingers over the cool stone and sighed. She could never tell anyone about the power the shrine held. It would be dangerous in the hands of the wrong people and it would be dangerous for Celebi if it's secret of travel became common knowledge. This was one of the mysteries of the pokemon world that was better kept a mystery. She looked pleadingly at Spencer and Waker and said "Don't tell, for Celebi's sake, don't tell."

She imagined the boys probably thought she was some kind of freak, first getting nervous, then sad, then excited, and finally solemn in such a sort amount of time, and maybe she was a little off her rocker. Mimic had popped out of her pocket and was glaring at the boys with her disconcerting red eyes. It almost seemed a warning. "Play nice Mimic," Aussie whispered to her, not loud enough for the boy's to hear, "I'm sure they won't tell." "Hoot." Mimic said rather bad-temperedly before promptly disappearing back into her pocket.

"I'm sorry. I really should explain myself. It someone figured out Celebi's secret with bad intentions they might destroy all the shrines in the world, leaving time traveling difficult or impossible for it, or they could do a number of worse things that I probably couldn't even imagine." She looked again pleadingly and sat down at the foot of the shrine, completely drained from all that had happened in such a short amount of time.

This post has been edited by Dragon Maiden: Aug 8 2009, 07:32 PM

[ROMANA]

"Hello Aussie, cute pokemon!" said Connie with a smile, as she and Verity joined the others at the edge of the meadow, once she was feeling a little less sick. "I've never seen Beedril nests, either; our family keeps Combees, though. I would like to have a look if we pass them on the way to Moo Moo Land."

Azzy, Pora, Celia and Nils seemed to be enjoying the proximity of the shrine, so Connie pulled out her little collection of pokeballs and released her monsters to join in the fun. Mary started chewing the lovely green grass at the first opportunity, only looking up at the shrine once she was chewing. Carmilla settled herself in the grass close to the shrine with a very satisfied sounding "Oddish!" Mary apparently decided that such a peaceful, beautiful place had obviously been set up for snacking and started a systematic grass-cutting exercise.

"Come on, Torchie," said Connie. "We'll look for some twigs and things to get a camp fire started while Butchette does her karate chop thing." The Torchic hopped from his customary place on Mary's back and followed his trainer with a bored sounding "Chic". The pair of them set off into the trees beyond the shrine. It felt disrespectful to be disturbing things too close to the shrine itself.

When Connie reappeared through the trees a short while later, she had her hands full of dry leaves and twigs.

"I'm sorry. I really should explain myself. It someone figured out Celebi's secret with bad intentions they might destroy all the shrines in the world, leaving time traveling difficult or impossible for it, or they could do a number of worse things that I probably couldn't even imagine."

"That would be awful!" said Connie, looking alarmed. She looked at the glowing shrine. "It does look awfully impressive. I'll go and get started with the campfire."

As she settled herself cross-legged on the grass, Connie realised they didn't have Bill's trusty eleven-bladed knife with them and without it, she was going to have trouble removing a patch of the grass to make the firepit.

"ODDISH! Odd, odd odd ISH!"

She was distracted from her fire making connundrum by the screams of one of her pokemon. She jumped to her feet and looked around for the problem. Carmilla was glaring angrily at Mary, her leaves looking rather the worse for wear.

"Mary, don't try and eat Carmilla, please, it's not very nice," she explained. "I know she's hard to see in the grass, I nearly stepped on her, too, but that's no excuse to chew other members of the party." Mary looked at her trainer and then back at the little grass-type pokemon. She stuck her tongue out. "Mary, you come over here with me and leave Carmilla alone," said Connie sternly. "Poor little Carmilla's going to wish she was never caught at this rate."

"Oddish!" said Carmilla, sticking her own tongue out back and settling herself back into the grass by the shrine.

"Mary, would you please eat me a circle into the grass about this big?" asked Connie, trying to distract the Mareep by indicating a nice size for a small campfire. "And Torchie, you start concentrating on the kindling. Think hot! Think sparks! You've tried this lots of times, I'm sure you can manage it without any matches at all this time, all right?"

It took no time at all for Mary to demolish the gras in such a small area. Once she had a nice clear patch to work on, Connie set about building a cone shape out of her dry leaves and twigs. Butchette arrived with an accomplished sounding "Machop!" carrying a pile of decent sized chopped up branches and logs that was taller than she was. SHe piled them up neatly nest to Connie.

"Thank you, girls," said Connie to the Machop and the Mareep. She built the fire up with the first lot of wood, so that it could get started. "Now, Torchie, lets see what you can do!"

"Torchic!"

Torchie screwed his face up in concentration and, with a determined ruffle of it's yellow wing feathers, it puffed at the kindling. There was a little hint of black smoke.

"Well done, Torchie," said Connie. "No smoke without fire, try again."

The little pokemon wriggled determinedly. It huffed. This time, there was a definite hint of flame at the very tip of its beak.

"That's it," said Connie excitedly. "keep it up. Verity, Torchie's learning Ember!"

This time, Torchie looked so determined, it seemed like he might explode. With his third puff, a tiny fireball hit the kindling at the base of Connie's fire, catching some leaves alight.

"You did it!" said Connie, grinning from ear to ear. "Well done, Torchie!"

The little fire type pokemon spent the next five minutes strutting around importantly, breathing little fire balls at everyone and everything he encountered.

This post has been edited by MAREEP: Aug 9 2009, 02:52 PM

[Verity Lily]

"Don't tell, for Celebi's sake, don't tell [...] It someone figured out Celebi's secret with bad intentions they might destroy all the shrines in the world, leaving time traveling difficult or impossible for it, or they could do a number of worse things that I probably couldn't even imagine."

Verity looked up from where she had been organising Courage and Victoria's building up of soft bedding. Candfloss, elated at yet a new game in what had turned out to be the most exciting first day of life a baby pokemon could imagine, was running back and forth trying to follow them into the forest, then quickly changing direction and scampering towards the pile of soft grasses and flowers, then whirling and running after them into the forest again. It diodn't seem to bother her that she never made it more than a few metres before the much faster flying pokemon lapped her.

"Don't worry," Verity told the strange girl, kindly. "We won't tell anyone. I'm not sure what the secret is anyway; Mama says believing in legendary pokemon is - " Verity bit down hard on what she had been about to say, realising it would be rude, and she didn't like being rude. But she was pretty sure that if Suicune or something really cared about other pokemon and humans, they would have done something about Lenoilia.

"I'm sure, if there was a secret to be discovered and used for evil, someone would have found out and done it by now," she said comfortingly, instead. "Agent Jennifer knew about this meadow, and we're really close to Moo-Moo Land, which is a very big place. And this is just the kind of place bug hunters love. You can't trust bug hunters, you know - they're crazy. It must be from wearing shorts in winter time."

She carefully arranged Henrietta on the bed she and Verity would share. If anyone asked what a big girl of eleven was doing with a pokedoll, she could just tell them it was in case wild pokemon attacked in the night - or Locke and Logan broke their restraints - so they could all escape.

Verity, Torchie's learning Ember!

Verity ran over and clapped her hands with delight. "Torchie, you're so clever! You really are growing up and learning fast!" She looked over at the gigantic pile of wood Butchette had supplied, a bit thoughtfully. Torchie and Mary were obviously getting stronger; and Butchette seemed determined to help as much as possible. Maybe all their pokemon were getting stronger, to look after them better.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a small ball of fire rolled past her knee. Verity leapt away, shrieking, and Butchette leaned down and picked Torchie up by the scruff of the neck.

"MaaaaCHOP!" <<If you burn my trainer, I'm going to learn Revenge on your tail.>> She deposited Torchie on Mary's back.

Verity remembered, belatedly, what Bill had told her about succouring lost women. "Aussie, would you like to stay for dinner?" she asked politely. "I'm not sure what we have, though. If I'd known we were going camping so soon, I would have gone to the shops. I have some moo-moo milk, although it's Candyfloss's really, and Connie has some lava cookies and honey and - and - a pokeblock, so maybe we could make some kind of hot milk soup or something. Does anyone else have anything?"

Sorry for the shortness - I have been trying to write a work-related application all day with a migraine, and I don't have much mental energy left.

[Ganymede]

Waker listened patiently to Aussie's story, smiling a little as he sat in the grass. Pora and Azzy played around him, occasionally running up and over his crossed legs, while Locke curled into a mass of coils, still staring intently at the shrine. At least he's not hugging anybody... Waker thought, catching Azzy mid-jump, tossing him in the air. Azzy "Niii!"-ed in delight, remembering the game from when he was just a hatchling. Pora butted Waker's leg, demanding a turn. Laughing silently, Waker swung her up in the air too as Aussie continued her story.


"This is a shrine to Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon. There's one back in Agate too, though it looks a bit different. This kind of looks like a smaller version of the one in Johto…" Waker glanced up at the shrine, the soft green glow now accompanied by a Volbeat and Illumise, drifting high above the trees. Waker had heard stories of the shrine in the forests south of Goldenrod, but he'd never actually gone that far south. Setting his Nidorans back down, Waker stood and walked over to the shrine, watching as Spencer placed a single Cornn berry into the offering cup. Waker dug in his bag, pulling out a rather squishy-looking Magost berry to place in the cup - almost dropping it as Spencer suddenly rushed off to where Vincent and Logan were training.


There was a small hiss next to him and Waker looked down, Locke curling around his leg. Within seconds he was back on Waker's shoulders, his tongue flicking out from between the restraints on his mouth, looking at the berries with hunger in his eyes. Oh, right! You haven't eaten yet, have you? Digging in his bag yet again, Waker pulled out his jacket, spreading it out on the grass near the shrine like a picnic blanket, placing the remaining berries on it. His Pokemon rushed over, Azzy grabbing a Razz berry while Pora made a beeline for the single Wepear berry. Sitting down next to his jacket, Waker picked up another Magost berry and held it up to Locke for inspection. I don't know what kind of berries you like, so just eat whichever one you want, alright?


"There. Now what was that you were saying about Beedril nests?" Spencer was back, with an exhausted-looking Logan and Vincent trailing behind him. Waker waved at him and then at his little picnic, smiling as Celia eyed some of the berries. Locke's tongue darted out of his mouth, flicking over the Magost berry. Waker gently pulled the bonds of the Ekans' mouth, hoping that his hunger would keep him from attacking someone. After opening and closing his mouth a few times, Locke accepted the berry.


After that, time seemed to slip by - Aussie was saying something about Celebi and not telling anyone - not like I can, Waker thought, laughing silently - and then Connie and Verity were there, building a campfire. Waker's smile widened as Torchie set the branches and twigs aflame, clapping as he began to strut around the clearing. The clearing filled with a mix of bright light from the fire, the green glow of the shrine, and the tails of the Volbeat and Illumise - who were quickly joined by their friends.


Waker flopped back on the ground, the pains in his chest mostly gone. He turned his head and watched as Pora and Azzy maneuvered a block of wood over to the fire, clapping their paws together in a tiny high-five when they accomplished their goal. Sitting back up, Waker began to mess with his new Poketech, realising for the first time that it was on backwards. Blushing slightly, he quickly fixed it, the party readout coming into view. Pora and Azzy's tinny icons showed up as fine, the colours bright - they were nearby. But Locke's was muted, growing dimmer every second.


Frowning, Waker stood up and looked around - the mouth restraints were at his feet. Locke was gone.

[Cube]

"Verity's right." Said Spencer. "There are shrines like this all over the country. People build them in hopes of safe travels, or good harvests or something. If there was a way that someone could use them for evil, they would have figured it out by now. Besides, it's not like more than two or three people have every actually seen a Celebi anyway. They're pretty illusive. I've lived near a shrine like this my entire life, and I haven't seen Celebi once."

Spencer began digging through his bag, before opening producing several capsules. Each of which popped open to reveal a random assortment of strange items… A Flute, those "Lunar Wings" (which were probably just dyed Pidgey feathers anyway…), and several packages of boxers (Which Spencer quickly recalled to their capsule), before finally found the cooking set his mother had packed him. It wasn't much - just a pot, kettle, skillet, and a wooden spoon, with a stand to hold everything- but it would do nicely. Another capsule contained a brightly colored Sleeping Bag his mom must have picked up from Alamos, considering the fact that it had Darkrai on it. (The entire town seemed to have a Darkrai fixation lately. But really? On a sleeping bag? I guess that's why she bought so many of the Lunar Wings…)
Finally, the last capsule contained a large rolled up tent, which Spencer stared blankly at for a few moments before gently pushing it aside.

"Um… I'll help cook, I guess." Said Spencer, pulling out his berry dispenser again. "Let's see… I've got a few Cheri Berries, I can mix it with some Aspear and Pecha berries to make a sort of Sweet and Sour sauce. Mom might have packed some rice and teabags in here too… Verity, you mentioned something called Damper, right? Maybe we can make some of that? It can be kind of like, a camp smorgasbord."

Spencer continued to fool around with his latest toy as Vincent rejoined his siblings by the newly lit fire, watching as Torchie paraded around it's new found ability. The concept of having to learn to breath fire was somewhat alien to him. He knew Ember right out of the egg! Still, it was kind of cute to see a younger Pokémon learn a new skill.

<<That wasn't very nice of you earlier…>> remarked Celia, as she coolly groomed her feathers in the light of the fire.

<<What do you mean, "That wasn't very nice of you"?>> said Vincent, taken aback by the Piplup's aloof attitude.

<<When you smacked Logan's Poké Ball out of dad's hands.>> said Celia, shooting an ice cold glare at the Charmander. <<You should have known better Vincent. There was a human in that meadow, and if Logan had gotten loose…>>

<<How was I supposed to know he'd get out of his Poké Ball when I did that?!>> exclaimed Vincent.

<<Because that's what Poké Balls do! You throw them and the Pokémon inside comes out! You live in a Poké Ball for Arceus's sake! You should know this!>>

<<You live in a Poké Ball for Arceus's sake…>> mocked Vincent, before he slumped down into the grass. <<It's not my fault that Dad had to get an psychopath of a Pokémon… "Oh! This thing tried to decapitate me! Let me adopt it!">>

<<Vincent!>> shouted Celia, leaping to her feet. <<First of all, it's not Logan's fault. If you had your heart sealed, you’d be the exact same way!>>

<<Oh, so now you're on the killer Pokémon's side too? Wonderful…>>

<<Vincent, in case you haven't noticed, that Scyther is a child!>> shouted Celia. <<He can't be more than two weeks out of the egg, and some human has already captured him and sealed his heart! Do you know what kind of humans do that sort of thing Vincent? Do you!?>>
<<No…>> shrugged Vincent. <<Bad ones?>>

<<The kind that steal, or even kill Pokémon Vincent!>> Celia was on the brink of tears now. <<And stolen or poached, that Scyther once had a family that some humans took it away from! Remember how you felt back in the contest hall? When that woman was attacking Spencer? Well that same woman could have done something a million times worse to that Scyther's family, and if you don't have the decency to at least try and show that poor child some sorely needed affection, then I don't want to talk to you anymore!>> The Piplup sat down in a huff, turning it's back into the fire type.

<<I understand where you're coming from Celia, I really do… But that thing basically just told me that it wants to kill dad. Sure, it's tragic what happened to it and all, but if you're just going to sit by and let dad pal around with a Pokémon that wants to kill him, then… I don't want to talk to you either!>> The Charmander turned it's back to his sibling, as the two Pokémon found themselves locked into a stalemate.

<<Um… guys… Something's wrong with Waker…>> said Nils, tugging on each of his sibling's shoulders.

<<I know he doesn't talk Nils.>> sighed Celia. <<But it's rude to point things like that out…>>

<<No… He seems worried about something…>> said Nils, looking around the campsite for a few moments before noticing two key elements were missing… <<Guys…>> he said, even more panicked that before. <<Where did Locke and Logan go?>>

Celia and Vincent each looked at Nils, and then at the spots where just moments before Locke and Logan were resting, before staring at each other in horror. This day could not get any worse…

-----
While the others were talking about Legendary Pokémon, what to cook, and general campsite preparation, Logan had remained in his fairly comfortable position on the grass, only moving for a moment to scare away a Torchic that thought it would be cute to shoot an ember over his head. He scratched at his restraints for a moment before glancing at the Ekans that the silent human had taken, who seemed to be working out how to escape from his restraints. Logan wished he was so lucky… That strappy thing the humans had put on him made even the simplest shadow rush more strenuous than normal, and the had to hit with all his strength to get the results of what a light attack would do before. Plus the padding on his scythes was just a nuisance now… He was pondering a method of removing them, when a green light seemed to descend from the trees, fluttering gently around the campfire before forming into a strange sprite like creature. The Humans and other Pokémon didn't seem to notice this new visitor. In fact, the human with the nice smelling hands was looking right through it like it wasn't even there. The only other Pokémon who seemed to notice it at all was the Ekans, who stared at it with mild curiosity. The sprite like Pokémon hovered gently in front of the shrine, before the Cornn Berry one of the humans had placed there before hand floated into it's hands. It alighted on the ground in front of the shrine, and began to delicately eat the offering kernel by kernel, never getting a single drop of juice on it's face. After finishing the last of the berries, the sprite Pokémon prepared to take flight again, before Logan could stop it.

<<Wait, Who you be? Why you take berry from house?>> said Logan.

The Pixie Pokémon laughed delicately, before flying a circle around the shrine, gently landing on it's peak.
<<You don't remember me? What kind of knight are you supposed to be? Forgetting my name…>>

<<Knight? What knight? Knight get dark, or knight lame person who no fight human?>> said Logan. <<We no know who you are.>> Locke hissed in agreement, as it forced the restraint of off it's face.

The sprite laughed. <<Oh, right. We haven't met before have we? Time travel has a habit of making introductions awkward…>> The Pokémon did curtsy in midair before flying to greet the two Pokémon. <<My name is Celebi. And you two go by Logan and Locke, correct?>>

<<Me no Logan. Me Scyther!>> exclaimed Logan, mystified that even this strange Pokémon called him by that weird name,

<<Hm… When I met you, you went by the name Logan. You were also much more polite. I suppose this is the day Spencer and Waker first adopted the two of you… You obviously aren't far along the whole purification process. I suppose I could… No. Don't want to cause a paradox… Paradoxes are such a pain, don't you agree? The last time a Celebi caused a time Paradox, Dialga had to spend eons fixing the problem…>>

<<ME NO KNOW WHAT A PAIR OF BOX IS! ME WANT KNOW WHY YOU HERE!>> shouted Logan, taking a slash at the Celebi, who deftly dodged it, only to have to do a u-turn in mid air to avoid a bite from Locke.

<<Hm… this time isn't very peaceful after all…>> sighed the Celebi. <<You two certainly aren't helping…>>

<<STOP TEASING SCYTHER!>> shouted Logan, as he rushed at the Legendary Pokémon, only to slam head first into some sort of invisible barrier.

<<This version of you isn't very fun at all…>>. said the Celebi. <<I'm leaving!>>
The Time Travel Pokémon immediately darted out through the trees, trailed by emerald green lights. Logan and Locke gave chase, weaving through trees and climbing over logs to keep up with the strange Pokémon. After a few moments, they found themselves crossing a fence, and then chasing the Celebi over some sort of pasture. Finally, just as it looked like one of them was going to catch the Celebi, it vanished in a flash of green light, leaving Logan and Locke alone in the middle of the field. The Scyther was far from pleased.

<<Stupid Green Pokémon flew away!>> he shouted, angrily striking at the ground with his padded scythes. <<Stupid human thing slow me down! IT NOT FAIR!>>

"MIIIIILLL" echoed a low voice from just behind the Scyther. He turned his head to see a large pink Pokémon standing just a few yards away, glaring at the pair. "MILTANK!"
The Cow Pokémon rolled itself into a ball, before launching itself at the pair. Logan instinctively assumed a battle ready position, preparing to strike as this new Pokémon came closer. If he wasn't going to get a Celebi tonight, he was at least going to have some steak…

-----

"TREECKO!" shouted Nils, as he frantically tugged at Spencer's scarf, as Celia and Vincent looked frantically through the campsite.

"What is it Nils?" smiled Spencer. "You want a berry or something? I still owe you some don't I?"

"TREECKO! TREECKO!" the grass type frantically shook his head before pointing at the patch of grass where Logan had lay just moments before. Spencer's jaw dropped.

"LOGAN IS GONE!" he shouted, leaping to his feet, before noticing a frantic Waker scribbling out a similar message about Locke. Vincent and Celia rushed back to Spencer's side, each of them looking similarly panicked. "Did you guys see Logan or Locke anywhere?" he asked, only for his Pokémon to shake their heads.

Spencer slumped back against a tree, his blood gone cold. "My First day and I already lose him? thought Spencer. He reached for his bag and pulled out his Berry Dispenser, Cologne case, and that leash thing that Elysia had given him before climbing to his feet.

"Alright… it's fine… We just need to stay calm… They can't have gone far… We just need to form a search party or something."

Spencer wasn't sure who he was more worried about… Logan and Locke… or whoever Logan and Locke met…

Several Notes...

First, no one except Locke and Logan can see the Celebi. Otherwise that would affect the plot of the RP.

Logan isn't a reincarnation of anything, nor does he become a literal knight. That just refers to his future personality.

I don't know if they actually meet the Celebi in the future, or if it just likes to mess with him.

Oh geez I hope I don't get in trouble.

This post has been edited by Cube: Aug 9 2009, 06:02 PM

[Dragon Maiden]

Aussie wasn't there to see any of the excitement. While the others had been making camp she had slipped off unnoticed. The others didn't believe her theory, but she wasn't ready to give up on it. She was sitting high in a tree, where nobody would think to look for her when they noticed she was gone, if they even did. She had her notebook on her knee and was scribbling down more notes and observations about the shrine and her theory. The wind shook the tree branch she was nestled in and Aussie had to hold out her hands and grab another branch to keep her balance. That was one bad thing about tree branches was falling off, but they made perfect hiding places.

Shadow was sitting at the base of the tree with Mimic. Shadow was sniffling sadly and trying to climb the tree, nervous at being separated from Aussie. Aussie looked down at Shadow and smiled at her "Don't worry Shadow. I'll be down in a bit and I'll give you a treat to make up for it." Shadow immediately perked up at the sound of the word treat and curled up on the ground contentedly, sighing happily she fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

Mimic would be harder to to make happy. The little Hoothoot was glaring at her especially hard. "You know, unlike Shadow, you can climb Mimic. Your more then welcome to come up." Aussie said to Mimic. Mimic merely harrumphed and turned away. "Be that way, Mimic. I don't even know why you’re mad." "Hoot. Hoot hoot hoot!" Mimic screeched very loudly. "Shh," Aussie said nervously "Screech that loud and you'll have everyone in Furoh coming to aid the dieing Hoothoot. Anyways I didn't come out here for a lecture."

"HOOT!" Mimic screeched so loud it hurt Aussie's ears. Aussie rolled her eyes and slipped out of the tree. "You miss Phantom don't you?" Aussie said to Mimic. Mimic didn't even give Aussie the dignity of a look much less a reply. Phantom was a wild Hoothoot that had lived near Aussie's house in Barely. Before she left, Mimic and Phantom had been getting very close. Aussie had even considered catching him, but the Hoothoot just seemed made for the wild, not life with a trainer. "Hey, I told you that when we left you wouldn't be able to see Phantom anymore. Don't blame me, you chose to come along with me." Aussie snapped at Mimic. Mimic turned around and glared at Aussie again and started jumping up and down screeching "HOOT, HOOT, HOOT!"

"All right, I get it! It's not about Phantom. What are you mad about then?" Aussie said to Mimic. Mimic was glancing back the way of the shrine and pointed adamantly with her wing. Aussie got the message. "You want me to go back? No way! What are you trying to be? My conscience? I feel guilty about leaving Mimic but..."

What was she supposed to say? Maybe the instinct to run had still lingered even after Spencer explained everything, maybe she just was to nervous around people, maybe she was still embarrassed about her rambling and outburst, the list of maybes went on. Excuses flicked through her head but she couldn't hide the truth. She was lost, completely and utterly lost. Without her aunt she had no confidence. She didn't know what to do. Her thoughts and emotions were tumbling in disarray in her mind. Maybe she should just go back home...

Suddenly she heard the sound of a very agitated Miltank. She covered her ears because the moo was so loud.
Shadow woke up from her nap and snuffled excitedly when she heard the sound. Mimic had jumped in fright and immediately returned to her pocket, shaking and occasionally peeking out to try and find out was going on. Aussie was curious but not stupid. There was no way she was going to see what was wrong with that miltank, unless she wanted to get beaten up to a pulp. It was obviously very, very mad.

Aussie stood up and walked the other way, away from the sound of the miltank and as she got closer to the campsite she thought she heard someone screaming something. She shook her head and thought of nightmarish scenarios where an enraged herd of miltank had gotten lose and were now trampling over everyone by the shrine. 'Don't be stupid' she thought to herself 'If there was a stampede you would have heard more moos and the sound of pounding hoofs' but she was walking faster, almost running. She came crashing through a bush back into the clearing. Everyone looked extremely agitated and frightened, especially Spencer and Waker, but Aussie saw with some relief that nobody had been run over by a herd of Miltank.

She crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped this wasn't about them finding her gone or she would feel guilty beyond measure. Well, she could always say she had seen something strange in the forest and gone off to look at it, but it was only a pidgey. That was always the excuse she used with her aunt when she didn't want her to know where she had gone off to... of course her aunt had soon figured out that it was trick, but of course they didn't know that.

She silently sat down in the grass by the edge of the forest and tried to look as if she had never left. She had to try to figure out what was going on without asking questions or they would realize that she had slipped off without telling them.

"Alright… it's fine… We just need to stay calm… They can't have gone far… We just need to form a search party or something." Spencer said quickly, trying to calm everyone down. Aussie felt herself panic. They must have found out she slipped off... but no that couldn't be it. They had all been looking around everywhere after the scream and obviously at least one of them had seen her, but they didn't look any less panicked for it. She eyed the bunch, trying to find out who was missing. It took her a second to realize that both of the shadow pokemon had disappeared. "Oh crap, that can't be good.” she muttered to herself.

She quickly stood up and looked around the forest, trying to catch a glimpse of them. They couldn't have gone far... but they were nowhere to be seen, but an idea had come to mind. She picked up Shadow and faced the others. "Maybe I can help. Swinub have a very good sense of smell. They need to, to make up for their poor eyesight, so maybe Shadow could track them for you?"

She hoped Shadow could at least. She had never trained her to track scents, but maybe, just maybe, Shadow could do it. "I'm not sure if it would work. I haven't trained Shadow for tracking, but it's worth a try at least." Shadow was snuffling excitedly again and looking up at Aussie. She had caught on to the feeling of urgency and was a little overexcited. She jumped out of Aussie's arms and started to run around Aussie's feet, looking for signs of danger. Aussie bent down and rubbed Shadow on the head. "You can do it, can't you?" she whispered to Shadow. "Swine?" Shadow questioned and continued running circles around Aussie's feet.

[Verity Lily]

"Damper is a kind of bread you make in campfire embers. It's one of the best things about camping out..." Verity's voice trailed off, remembering a night long before her little brother had been born, when her mother had tucked her in front of her on her gigantic Rapidash Merrylegs and they'd ridden out to the far reaches of a farm to look after an ailing Flaafy. (Bill had made the mistake of asking her daughter to name her fire pokemon when it was only a little ponyta, and had lived with the consequences, despite the lack of Amazon cachet.) It had been very dark, and there had been ominous mooing quite close, but snuggled by the fire, munching damper and in secure the knowledge Bill and her Machamp Butch were close, Verity had felt perfectly safe. That was when Bill had promised her a pokemon of her very own, so she would always feel protected.

"But I have you, and Connie, already."

"Don't you want one, then?" Bill teased. "You see, I kind of had this egg that I thought you might like, but if I'm wrong..."

"Yes please, Mama! I want to be a pokemon master like you!"

"Anyway, you usually make it with flour and beer. Only, I don't have any beer, obviously, not for years and years. You can use water, though, or moomoo milk. Do you have any flour? I can supply the milk! Oh, don't look at me like that, Candyfloss - we'll get you some more at - at - " She found she couldn't quite say it. "The place we're going to tomorrow."

Putting the next day out of her head, Verity happily busied herself with helping get the food ready. It felt wonderful bustle around helping out her friends - and to have put off going to MooMoo Land for another day. She felt positively sunny.

"Iggleee..." A tragic crooning broke out at her knee, and Verity reached down to pick up the baby pokemon an snuggle it against her.

"What's wrong, Candyfloss? Is it that we're taking your milk?"

Tears welled up in the igglybuff's big eyes, and Verity hastily held her further away, remembering the effect Fake Tears had on the contest sponsors. "Buuuuuff!" Candyfloss wailed, and pointed a little paw to her beloved Locke - or rather, where her beloved Locke had been. Her eyes wobbled appealingly as she trusted her trainer to go get Mr Ekans to come play with her. At the same time, the boys were alerted to their missing pokemon.

Verity, still fruitlessly attempting to comfort Candyfloss, exchanged worried glances with Connie. What if - if you didn't train a pokemon, it was hard to keep it, right? Pokemon hated being stolen. If Locke and Logan were going back to their owners, and attracted them here... Verity didn't think she could face two Tauroses on one day. She stooped down and picked up Henrietta, just in case.

Her stomach seemed to drop to her feet, but she pulled her shoulders back, lifted her chin and smiled bravely at the boys. Amazon, she reminded herself. Her friends needed her. She tried to make her mother's square shoulders and reassuring grin, only a little let down by floppy pink pigtails and an igglybuff and a pokedoll clutched to her chest.

""Don't worry. We'll get back your pokemon. Courage and Victoria can scout in two directions, and come back if they find anything. I don't think we'd better wander off alone into the forest, though. Two groups should be enough - that way, with the flying pokemon covering two compass points, we can take the others. Boys and girls, maybe?" She corerected herself, belatedly realising she'd made an assumption. "That is, if Aussie - oh. She's gone." She blinked, hoping she hadn't upset the girl. She'd only tried to reassure her.

"MIIIIILLL.

Verity squeezed her eyes tight. She was miles away from Butterfree Farm - she just had miltanks on the brain, that was all. They lived in fields, anyway, behind nice safe fences - they didn't roll around freely around forests...

MILTANK!

She knew she was imagining it. Even so, she buried her head on Connie's shoulder, not moving until she heard Aussie's voice behind her.

This post has been edited by Lindley: Aug 12 2009, 02:21 PM

[ROMANA]

Connie tried to reassure Verity with a tight hug before they set off and sent their pokemon on their way. Verity called Courage and sent her off after the missing shadow pokemon.

"Victoria, I want you to fly over that way," Connie said, pointing off to her right. "Come and find me if you find Locke or Logan, ok? Be careful!"

"Combee!" said Victoria and she shot off determinedly, her flight pattern as she left starting wide circles over the trees but always travelling in the direction her trainer had indicated.

Connie looked around at the beginnings of their campsite. It wouldn't do to wander off and leave a burning campfire. It seemed such a waste of the nice, dry wood and kindling they had collected, but there was nothing to be done.

"Spencer, do you think Celia could take care of the fire, please?" she asked.

Taking Verity's hand, Connie smiled at Aussie. "It's definitely worth a try, if you and your Shadow wouldn't mind helping," she said. She was hoping the others were feeling braver than she did. Frankly, the thought of tracking homicidal pokemon with night on its way in woodland she didn't know didn't really appeal to Connie. She squeezed Verity's hand, determined not to let her fears show. As they set off into the trees, Connie couldn't help wondering what other sorts of pokemon might be lurking in wait for them.

"Mary, Torchie, Carmilla," she said quietly, "stay close please." There was no way she was going to be caught in the woods without her pokemon, even with Henrietta the pokedoll on hand. She was very pleased to have Butchette nice and close, too. The little Machop was marching along next to her trainer with a scowl as if she just dared a horde of shadow pokemon to ambush them in the dark. Torchie would have had no chance of keeping up and was in his customary spot riding on Mary. Carmilla seemed to have cottoned onto this low effort method of travel and was snuggling into the fleece so that just her leaves were showing behind Torchie. "Good luck," she called to the others, as they set off in the other direction.

"Um," said Connie, suddenly remembering how much darker everything seemed when you were under the canopy of the branches, "you know ghosts... Do you think they're always just ghost-type pokemon being silly, or do you think there are really real ghosts, too?" The trees were whispering in the breeze and Connie shivered. "And, I mean, are ghost type pokemon scary? Haunter sounds scary. Do they only come out at night, do you think?" She peered into the gloom between two old tree trunks, twisted and close together and not inviting at all. "Did you just hear anything?"

[Dragon Maiden]

Aussie smiled when she heard Connie asking if ghost pokemon were scary. Now that she looked at the forest it did look threatening and dark, but Aussie was more then used to wandering in the woods at night and ghost pokemon also. "You don't need to worry. My neighbor had a Haunter. It liked to play tricks, but it was harmless. He was no more dangerous then a little kid jumping out from behind a wall and screaming boo. He gave a good scare but he was just playing. Ghost pokemon are just very playful and mischievous, but they would never hurt anyone under normal circumstances. Anyway, ghost pokemon prefer living in old abandoned buildings. The chances of finding one in the woods are slim to none."

Aussie quickly scooped up Shadow, who was still running around her legs and quickly carried him to where the scyther had last been laying. There was an indent in the grass where the scyther had been and Aussie gently set Shadow in the grass and said, "Can you find him?" Shadow merely looked at her strangely and snuffled excitedly again. Aussie sat down in the grass and gently picked up Shadow again, tipping her nose towards the ground. "Can you smell him?" Shadow merely whined sadly and wriggled in her arms...

In Shadow's Head

Why was mama sticking my face in the grass? It was itchy and unpleasant, not to mention this place smelled bad. It smelled of sweat and anger. I tried to wriggle out of her arms but she continued to persistently stick my head near the ground and continued her talking. I even whined but she all she did was sit me down in that unpleasant smelling spot and block me when I tried to move away. "Mama? Why are you doing this?" I whimpered but she merely looked at me and said the word "Track" again.

Suddenly Meanie stuck her head out of her pocket and looked at me with her big round eyes. "They want you to sniff out the pokemon that was last lying in that spot kid." Meanie said. I was confused. I sniffed the grass again and it still smelled unpleasant. "But this pokemon smells angry, like you do all the time Meanie. Why would Mama want to find Angry?"

"My name is not MEANIE and I'm NOT MAD!" Meanie screeched. "Yes maam, Meanie maam." I whispered, shaking. Meanie was mean and she scared me. Meanie rolled her eyes and looked angrier then ever "Who knows why humans do what they do. Just listen to them and do as they say." Meanie went back into her pocket and didn't come back out. I sniffed the ground again and wondered if I really wanted to find Mister Angry, but the thought of facing Meanie again...

Suddenly I heard Mama say, "Treat." My stomach rumbled and I thought of it's yummy, melt-in-my-mouth tastiness. Facing Meanie or Angry was worth a treat any day. Treats were the best thing in the world. They might even be better then Mama, might.

Inside Meanie's... Uhh... Mimic's Head

Grrr.....

Aussie tried as hard as she could to try to explain to Shadow what she wanted, but Shadow seemed very confused. She whined and whimpered pitifully. Aussie was on the verge of giving up when Mimic suddenly appeared out of her pocket and said "Hoot, Hoot hoot hoo" to Shadow. Shadow looked more confused and said "Swinub Swine. Swine?" I looked at Mimic and she looked very agitated "HOOT! Hoot hoo. " Her first hoot was so loud I had to cover my ears or risk going deaf. Shadow shivered in fear and mumbled "Swine..." before Mimic abruptly returned to her pocket.

Aussie was confused over the exchange and was convinced Shadow would not understand her. She gently rubbed Shadow's head. "Well, you tried girl. I might as well give you that treat I owed you from earlier. You deserve it after Mimic screaming at you like that." Shadow pricked up immediately at the sound of treat and Aussie watched in amazement as Shadow started to sniff the ground in earnest. The little Swinub sniffed for about a minute before heading off towards the forest at a brisk trot, well as fast as a trot could be with her little feet. Aussie shook her head and said, "I should have known a treat was the key. It always is."

Shadow whirled around when she noticed Aussie wasn't following and whimpered while jumping, eager to go. "I guess that's our cue. We should split up in case Shadow got the wrong scent. Who want's to come with me?" Aussie said and she stood up, a huge smile on her face.

This post has been edited by Dragon Maiden: Aug 12 2009, 08:13 PM