Saving Celebi [14+]

[Who's Kiyo?]

Ambrose looked at her with a look that only be defined by the message it rang through loud and clear. "Seriously?" the expression said.

"One last question. Are you still going to abandon her?"

Ambrose looked down at the ground in response. Before he could actually answer, Chi jumped off his back and scampered towards the human, who had her hand outstretched to the little pup. Chi started to sniff it.

Ambrose chuckled a bit before turning back to look Amethyst in the eyes. "She deserves a better then with me," he said, casting his mind back to the flash forward. "Besides, it's not like I want to care for a newborn," he added, making sure Amethyst wouldn't try to be "supportive" or anything for him to keep it.

Ambrose turned to watch Chi now licking the girl's fingers, the human laughing at the sensation. Ambrose's eyes grew wide.

"Chi! Wait!" he yelled, too late to catch the attention of the fox pup. Chi bit her to initiate play, but the girl screamed in pain and rocked back and fort; clutching her hand.

Chi backed away, recalling the same reaction from Ambrose last night. And like last night, Chi had the same responce. But this time- she was outside. She ran in opposite direction, passing Ambrose, and into the rain. It kept running, never stopping.

"Chi!" he called. She didn't respond and kept fleeing.

My freaking life.

 

[Nideous]

Cobalt walked slowly back. He was carrying a great deal of berries now. six Pecha and six Rawst. They would be a good meal. He was cold and wet, but he was happy. He smelled Chi running in his general direction. He moved to where she would run, and bent down and picked her up by her little mane.

"Easy, easy, big brother's here. I won't let anything happen to you. I'm here, don't be scared. It's alright," Cobalt said. He had seen pups get like this before. Even if she didn't understand the words, she would understand the feeling behind them. He set her up on his back near his head and walked under a tree to wait for her to calm down. Bringing her back before that happened would make her run again. He wondered what had happened to drive her out here in the first place. Had that human done something? If she had, Cobalt wouldn't have to do anything. Ambrose Flannigan would handle it.
"That's right, clam down. Relax. It's going to be ok. We'll head back when you're ready. Your papa will be very happy to see you," Cobalt said, still in the same sotthing tone.

 

[Who's Kiyo?]

Chi continued on her running spree, not seeing where she was going, but knowing she just had to get away from the situation.

She was stopped by her being suddenly lifted from the ground. She squirmed as she was being picked up by her mane.

"Easy, easy, big brother's here. I won't let anything happen to you. I'm here, don't be scared. It's alright," said the giant black monster in a calm manner.

A lot of people have been talking to her with these strange sounds. But the tone rang loud and clear in the Zorua's mind. Regardless, she did not find comfort in the words. If it were her father, that would be a different story. But this was a different person, and he smelled different. She continued to squirm.

The big dog set her upon his back, and she slipped as her arms wrapped behind his neck. She fidgeted, but her efforts to continue running away were defeated by the shaggy, slippery fur of the hound. The dog went under a tree.

"That's right, clam down. Relax. It's going to be ok. We'll head back when you're ready. Your papa will be very happy to see you," said the dog.

The fox started fidgeting harder in a desperate last ditch effort to escape. Her struggle had proved successful, but it seems her father's bad luck was cursing her too now as she slipped off the mutt and fell on her left paw. A small crack came from it as it hit the ground.

Chi started crying loudly and tears rolled down her face as her pain wouldn't let up. She didn't understand what the feeling was, but it was awful.

----

Ambrose waddled out from the tree as Amethyst attended to the human. He frantically looked in the general direction his Zorua raced.

He stood out there for a good two minutes before he started to anxiously wait for Cobalt. The dog would able to smell her out. Ambrose couldn't just risk walking into a general direction when the fox pup could've taken a corner or gone anywhere, really.

A faint scream that sounded like it came from a puppy ran through the woods, causing a few bird monsters to flee from thier nests. Ambrose's heart stopped. Looks like he was going to have to take that risk.

"Amethyst! I'm going out to find Chi!" he said before he started running to the direction she was going.

 

[Nideous]

Cobalt jumped up when he heard the crack. He didn't panic. He walked over to her and could tell from the way she was holding her paw that she had broken her leg. He gently rolled her over she she wasn't laying on it. That would help her not hurt as bad. He walked over to the tree and started stripping the bark. She wasn't the first pup that he had met that had broken a leg. Though without hands, he wouldn't be able to do a lot for her. He smelled Ambrose Flannigan coming his way. Good. What took three Denmothers to do would likely be able to be done by one Spinda. He stripped the softer more bendy part of the tree in a few long strips. It then occured to him that Ambrose could not smell him. His nose was terrible. Cobalt figured those big ears had to count for something and called out.

"Ambrose Flannigan! Over here! I need your help! Chi is hurt!" Cobalt yelled as loud as he could. He began again to comfort Chi. This time, using barks and growls that he hoped she would understand. He was a little mad at himself that he had forgotten that she couldn't talk yet.

 

[Who's Kiyo?]

Chi cried ridiculously and didn't pay attention to what the dog was doing. She began licking her paw to see if that would help, but her bones cracked more and the pain intensified as she did that. She was crying more copiously as ever, wanting her father to come and make things better. She didn't want this dog. The hound pushed her over to lie on her side.

The pooch called out something, frightening the fox as he did so. But the mutt immediately went down and started to make barking and growling noises. Chi took them as threat and instantly used her free claw to use scratch on the dog's face. She rolled over and hit her broken paw on the ground as she did this, making her cry out in pain again. Seeing the dog distracted, she stood on her three good paws an attempted to run again.

She failed and unfortunately landed on the same broken paw. Again. She cried horrifically, easily beating the sound level of any other cry so far.

As Cobalt reproached her, she constantly swiped at him. She didn't want the dog so much as near her anymore. He was a threat, trying to hurt her.

----

Ambrose walked very observantly, making note of any more loud noises. He heard a slightly faint yell from the woods soon after he left.

"....Flannigan! ....Chi is hurt!" is what he was able to make out.

Ambrose ran to the direction the noise was coming from before approaching a field of large grass. He stopped for a second, completely stunned at the grass that at least had a good five inches on him.

Cries from the pup rippled through the air, accompanying the thunder. Ambrose made the hasty decision of diving into the field, not noticing the sound was coming from elsewhere.

 

[Fort PokePower]

Nova reached the outskirts of Fortree City a few minutes after the sun set. As she crept through the trees, her dark blue fur helped her to blend in with the shadows though the white parts of her body stuck out like candle in a pitch black room. She kept an eye out for any late night trainers who might be looking for a strong pokemon to add to their team. She heard rustling ahead and halted, quickly crouching down in a bush. She peered out of the bush to see what it was. Big mistake. There was a trainer passing by and he happened to see her glowing white face. In the dark he couldn't tell what she was, which only seemed to make him more excited.

"Blaziken, use Focus Blast on that bush!" the teenage girl yelled as she threw a pokeball.

'Oh sh**,' was all Nova thought before the final evulotion of the Hoenn fire-type starter appeared. She jumped out of the way just as the bush she had been hiding in exploded from the blue energy of the Focus Blast.

"Wow! An Absol! And a cool looking one at that! It'll be perfect for contests!" The girl squealed when she caught sight of Nova.

'Contests? Oh no you don'!" Nova thought and growled at the human.

"Blaziken, use Sky Uppercut!" Nova jumped backwards as Blaziken launched itself at her. She pushed off the tree behind her and slammed into the fire-type with her most powerful move: Megahorn. She didn't know how she got it. All she knew was that it was a rare move among Absol and that they could only know it if a parent pokemon had known it. Than again, she never saw her parents in battle so there was no way of knowing if one of them had known it.

Her opponent flew into a tree, but when he got up he still appeared to be in good fighting condition. 'Looks like this guy's gonna be tough to take down,' she thought.

"Use Blaze Kick!" Nova wasn't able to get out of the way in time and was hit full in the face. She stumbled but managed to stay standing despite her sizzling skin. "Now, Sky Uppercut!" Still dazed from the last attack, Nova was hit with the full force of the fighting type move. She went flying up into the air and slammed into a branch before falling back to the ground. She started to get to her feet when something hit her in the head and everything went black. Despite being nearly knocked out, Nova knew she was in a pokeball.

'NO! I promised I would never get caught!' she screamed in her mind. She struggled for a moment before there was a flash of red and she was on her feet again. Before the trainer could react, Nova used Megahorn on the Blaziken. While they were distracted she took off through the trees, only one thought in her mind: 'Don't get caught.'

 

[Nideous]

Cobalt jumped back, his nose bleeding now. He stayed away from her. She was in a blind panic and was attacking anything that moved. His heart was beating faster and faster. He didn't want her to get hurt anymore than she already was. And she was terrified of him. He lay down submissively snd whimpered in an attempt to get her to relax, and didn't budge from that spot. That would show her that he was not a threat, that she was the better one here. Even a pup knew the gesture. It was an instinct that all of them were born with. He was keeping a nervous eye out for Ambrose. His nose told him he was close.

 

[Who's Kiyo?]

"Cobalt? Cobalt! Where are you?!!" Ambrose said as the grass completely cut his view off from everything around him but the sky above.

There was movement in the grass. Ambrose stopped and tried to tell where it was coming from. The grass shook again. Ambrose quickly started to walk again, unknowing he was going in the wrong direction.

"Hello," said a voice seemingly in front of him.

Ambrose put his hands in front of him and continued walking. He stopped soon enough, hitting an invisible object. There was silence.

"Aren't you going to say hi back to us?" the voice questioned.

"Um... hi?" Ambrose replied.

"Good, good." The voice said, seemingly pleased. "How are you? You see to have been hit in the head pretty hard."

Ambrose looked quite cynically at the invisible creature. "What are you talking-?"

Black. Whatever it was, it smacked him hard on the head and he was now unconscious.

Ambrose regained consciousness as he was being dragged by his foot by the invisible force.

How does crap like this even happen in constant succession?

----

The Zorua stopped its frenzy, and looked over at the dog. It was appearantly fairly submissive, which the pup took as a sign to calm down a bit. She lay ever so slightly down on the ground as to not damage her paw any further, and watched the mutt's every move. She growled under her breath. This went on for a good ten minutes without either side twitching.

Her eyes lowered a bit. She was tired. It was wet everywhere from the rain and it made the ground soft. She let out a small yawn, and lowered her eyes more, but trying ever so hard to stay awake. Her stomach growled loudly. She was extremely hungry, too. She hadn't eaten all morning.

Chi dropped all her guards and finally sighed in defeat to her ailments. She sniffed at the ground and started to chew the grass to satisfy her hunger.

 

[Nideous]

Cobalt slowly got to his feet, and kept his head low and his eyes averted. She was trying to eat the grass. That would not do. He walked slowly back to where he had dropped the berries by the tree. He found a pretty large flat rock and wiped it off. Then he smashed a Pecha berry and a Rawst berry and mixed the pulp carefully together. He made sure to remove the skins of the two berries. The last thing he needed was for her to choke because he was careless. He carried the rock with the smashed berries on it to a spot that was just in between them, as well as being under the cover of the tree. He set it down gently and returned to where he had been laying, very aware that she was watching his every move. He made very sure not to step int her area, as he didn't want her to get scared again. Ambrose's scent was going the wrong way now, but Cobalt didn't dare call out. That would send Chi running and he'd never be able to find her again. He had to get her to eat proper food. Then he had to get her to trust that he wasn't going to hurt her. Then he would have to make due on his own trying to help her leg. Then the two of them could go look for her papa. He grabbed a Pecha berry for himself, but refused to start eating before she did. Another subtle clue that he wasn't a threat. He assumed his submissive pose again, and waited for her to get curious about the smell that was wafting from the stone with the fruit he had left for her.

 

[Who's Kiyo?]

A new, tasty aroma wafted through the air as the opposing mutt put a plate of an oddly colored mush in front of her. She was ridiculously hungry, but she waited until the dog was back in his place. After a few minutes of staring at him and the thing in his hand, she got up and limped over and lay in front of the plate. She looked at it with dazing eyes. She couldn't take it anymore- she dug her face into it without even sniffing it up close.

The mush was delicious and the pup wagged her tail in happiness.

She looked up with a grin on her face at the dog who'd given her this. Chi stood as well as she could and barked playfully at the mutt. She trusted him again somewhat. She attempted to jump up and down like she usually did when she wanted to play, but when she landed, she tripped and landed on her broken paw again, landing her a nice spot on the ground, whimpering. She was definitely allowing the dog to help out now it wasn't immediately healing.

Funny.... not thinking about her consequences before they affected her? I wonder where she got that from.

----

Ambrose found himself on a shaggy surface. Upon sitting up, he noticed it was a carpet. He felt it a bit with his hand, liking the texture on his paw.

"Hi there," said the voice from before.

Ambrose looked in the direction of the noise. There stood a Kecleon among various human trinkets. Ambrose's eyes went aglow, being a collector himself.

"Want to buy something?" the Kecleon asked.

Before Ambrose said yes, he snapped out of his dream state. "You knocked me out to buy your merchandise?!" he asked the creature.

"Yes. And if you don't buy something, I'll kill you," it replied.

Ambrose looked at the man like if he were stupid. Well it's not like there wouldnn't be some catch. But, whatever. He liked buying new human things!

....Wait. He didn't have any money. There's always something.

 

[NightOfRemorse]

Daiyu carefully returned to her feet and listened to the conversation between the black-marked Raichu and the iron giant. This didn't look so good. Registeel already seemed skeptical about lending his power to random mice that had intruded his beauty sleep. He did need about one hundred more years of it, too.

"You want my power?" Registeel asked. "You want to take my power away from me?" Geez, he sounded like a young child who didn't want his playmate to take the blue crayon. Except in a voice that sounded like Darth Vader.

Riz swallowed nervously. "More like, lending a small part of it," he said. Daiyu grimaced at him and then looked at the Registeel.

"Don't be a selfish bastard," she added, but then she regretted it as soon as it travelled through the air and made it into Registeel's ears. But wait, where are your ears? Registeel fell silent again and just watched them. Or, at least Daiyu thought he was watching them. And where the heck are your eyes? Are they those red dots? How do you even see-

"WELL, IF YOU WANT MY POWER, COME GET IT," Registeel roared. A huge white orb formed in front of him and he tossed it like a baseball at the two visitors. The ball exploded, and Daiyu wasn't able to escape it in time. The explosion cause the rocky earth to break apart and spear Daiyu's stomach. She was thrown into the far wall of the cave and was knocked out cold. Riz? How was Riz? Riz, are you okay?

Registeel walked toward where Riz and Daiyu had been standing, growling and stomping while he did so. "NO ONE TAKES MY POWER FROM ME! NO ONE!" he screamed in a blinded rage. A smaller orb grew in front of him, but this one was yellow. It crackled with electricity as it charged up. It must have been a beam of some sort.

Daiyu's eyes opened just a bit, and she could see a blurry smudge of grey and yellow. Trying to get up was unsuccessful, so she pushed herself closer against the wall with her small feet in an attempt to sit up straight. Damn... bot... has... electricity - but electricity doesn't hurt Riz. No.

 

[//ANDthen]

"WELL, IF YOU WANT MY POWER, COME GET IT," Registeel roared. A huge white orb formed in front of him and he tossed it like a baseball at the two visitors. It exploded and Riz was thrown aside, together with some rumble and rocks from the floor. What an immense attack power! No wonder Registeel didn't want to lend it to anyone.

Riz crawled up behind a bigger rock and looked around. Daiyu? Where was she? "NO ONE TAKES MY POWER FROM ME! NO ONE!" he heard Registeel roar somewhere to his left. A crackling noise followed the words. Riz looked up above the edge of the stone and saw a yellow ball of... electricity? Of course Registeel had some electric moves. They had felt it, going down through the tunnels. He had a lot of powers, probably.

His thoughts were abrupt interrupted as the Charge Beam hit the rock he was hiding behind. The Raichu was thrown back. But the electricity hadn't reached him. He looked up through narrowed eyes and a lot of dust to see Registeel's whole body crackle with energy. He must have raised his attack power even more with the Charge Beam, somehow. Now he was loading up some kind of beam again... and it was shining even more brightly than before. Riz' heart skipped a beat. He had seen this move somewhere before. A human who tried to capture him once had had a pokémon that could use this move. Zap Cannon. So incredibly desctructive... if it hit.

"Run!" he shouted and leaped up. The Zap Cannon hit the remains of his rock, pretty badly aimed actually. Riz was long gone, having run around the great room to another side.

"Daiyu! Where in the name of Hoenn are you? Answer me!" Riz called out, raising his shining tail and watching Registeel turn around and charge up yet another attack. This time, it didn't crackle as much at all. But the light from it was so bright that Riz was momentarily blinded and had to close his eyes. Could that be... a Flash Cannon? In a desperate attempt to survive, the Raichu concentrated powers he didn't use very often and put up a Light Screen in between the steel monster and himself.

The Flash Cannon was fired, Riz had to close his eyes again. There was no point in jumping aside; a Flash Cannon was too fast for him. He heard it hit the Light Screen and heard the creak from the protective barrier as it slowly fell apart from the immense power of the legendary's attack.


[OOC: Flash Cannon is a steel move, and electric mice are somewhat resistant to steel moves ;D so we should be alright if we can use Light Screen. Must find out a way to attack the legendary. ]

 

[Fort PokePower]

Nova collapsed a good distance away from where she had battled the Blaziken. If a trainer came by, it would no doubt catch her. She couldn't move a muscle. Her face still burned from the blaze kick plus she had been hit by a Sky Uppercut, which was a fighting-type attack. Add the mile-long run to that and you have an exhausted, reverse colored Absol. 'That trainer must be a pro to have a Blaziken that strong,' she thought. 'If I hadn't run I probably would've been caught.' No doubt she was past Fortree by now. That meant she just had to get through the forest and across the desert and she would be at Mt. Chimney. Than it would just be a matter of finding Groudon.

To exhausted to continue on that night, Nova curled up where she was and fell asleep.

 

[Nideous]

Cobalt watched Chi watch him. He was terribly hungry, but she had to be even more hungry. Soon, she dug into the mush he had made. He smiled. In addition to tasting good and being good for you, that fruit was easy to chew. Chi seemed to have her teeth grown in already, but Cobalt doubted she would have had the bite strength to break the skin of a Rawst berry. He bit into his own berry and began eating. She finished first and began bouncing around wanting to play. Before he could tell her to stop before she hurt her foot some more, she landed on it. Cobalt rose to his feet when she began whimpering. He couldn't make the thing that would be perfect for this by himself. But, he began to remember something else he could do. He looked up. The leaves on this tree were too small, but that tree... He walked calmly over to the tree and grasped his claws in it. He began climbing the tree awkwardly. That had to be a sight. Cobalt, his forelegs grasping the bark, and his rear legs scrabbling to find purchase, scratching up the bark below. He finally reached the branch. He reached out with his mouth, but couldn't reach it. He took one paw off the tree and used his claws to slice the stem. He tumbled to the ground and landed on his back.

"OOF!" he said. the leaf spiraled down and landed on top of his face. He was glad the mud was so soft. The way he had landed, he could have broken his back. He slowly got to his paws. He walked over to the other tree and carved out four pieces of hard wood that were about as long as Chi's leg. He tested there strength and was satisfied that no matter what she did, she could not break them. He carried the leaf and the pieces over to Chi. She was still scared of him, but she seemed to be ready for him to help. He whined gently, and checked her injury. She had jarred it and banged it, but she didn't seem to have made it worse. He placed the four pieces of wood around her leg and used his mouth to hold them there, not putting any pressure on them, or her leg. He arranged them until the would offer the most support they could. He took the leaf and wrapped it around the sticks. He had wrapped it too tight, and rewrapped it. This time it was too loose, and he had to do it again. He (finally) got it right and put his mouth on the whole contraption and heated up his fangs. She would feel a bit of discomfort, but it wouldn't hurt her. What he was doing was searing the leaf and the sticks together. Now it wouldn't fall off unless someone took it off. Now that he was done, she would be able to use the leg without it hurting. He really wished he had an Oran berry. That would help her feel a little better.He stepped back and again lay down, though this time, a tiny bit closer. He waited for her to get up and try her splint. He knew he had made it right. He wanted to go find Ambrose Flannigan. He was really worried about him. He could still follow his scent, but only if he left soon. He hoped that Chi would be ready to follow him to her papa.

 

[Who's Kiyo?]

Chi examined the new contraption on her paw once the pain let up. It was odd, being made from burnt wood and leaves. Chi wondered about what it was, and tried to gnaw it off a little. The taste was horrible, so she immediately coughed after and stopped. She got up, lifting her paw. Was this thing was supposed to help her?

She began to step on the ground with it. No pain. She ever so gently put weight on it until she was standing on all four feet again. Absolutely no pain. Whatever it was, it stopped the pain! She looked up curiously at the dog and barked at him, making sure he was completely trustworthy.

She went over to him and starting poking his paw. She was wondering if he knew where her father was, and trying to communicate that as best she could.

----

Ambrose jingled one of the shinier knickknacks. Thunder crashed down again, and Ambrose looked up the Kecleon, who had this sinister grin on his face.

"I don't have any money," he said, this being the fifth time saying it.

"You're not leaving alive without buying something," the Kecleon said, giving the same response it had before to this same statement.

Ambrose sighed and looked at the trinket again.

"So, you get kicks out of stealing people you know don't have money and killing them if they don't buy something, which they can't? So you just feed on watching try to figure out a way to escape?"

"I'm just setting up shop," The Kecleon replied "I am but a humble business man."

Ambrose grunted. What was this guy's deal?

 

[Nideous]

Cobalt watched with a smile as she tried to nibble on the splint and found she didn't like the taste. Of course she didn't like it! No one liked burnt wood! She barked at him and he stood up slowly. His back hurt from where he fell on it. The things he did for his friends. Oh well, he'd get better soon. He stretched out his sore legs. Chi walked over, looking a little odd with the splint on her leg, and poked him with it. She seemed to want something, probably the same thing he did, to find Ambrose Flannigan.
"C'mon, Chi. Let's go find your father," he said quietly. He knew she already knew her own name. He hoped she would know the word father. It was one of the first words that a pup learned, and Chi was very smart. He hoped she would follow him. He began slowly tracking where he had smelled Ambrose had been last, hoping that when he got there he would pick up the scent.

 

[Who's Kiyo?]

Chi walked along with the large dog, sniffing deeply into the grass. She felt a surging soothing feeling on her broken paw. She happily started barking as they approached tall grass. Then the smell hit her nose. It was her father.

She quickly dashed into the grass without another thought. The lightning crashed into the field of grass, but she didn't care. Her dad was here.

----

Ambrose stepped on something sharp. There were small spikes around the carpet. He looked back to the Kecleon. It was still standing up, watching his every move. He had to have some definition of what counts as entering and exiting his shop. The carpet was the border, probably. This was one psychotic Lizard.

Ambrose found a strange technological device amongst the items. He picked it up.

"Say freak, what's this?" He asked.

"One hundred dollars," the Kecleon replied.

Ambrose was flustered at the uninformative response.

 

[Nideous]

Cobalt had picked up Ambrose Flannigan's scent as well. In fact, he had picked it up before she did. But he had been curious about how good her nose was. Soon enough, she let out an excited bark and ran after the scent. Cobalt grinned. She had a pretty good nose! She needed to refine it a little, and she would be a great tracker. He hurried off after her, reveling in her excitement and his own. He followed her into the storm, and was going to keep her safe no matter what. He caught up easily, but let her lead. She knew exactly where she was going, and was following the scent closely.

 

[Who's Kiyo?]

A loud barking noise came out from the grass. A small fox pup appeared from the tall grass and stopped in its tracks; looking a tad bit frightened at the large lizard, which was turned around and stared at her. Cobalt jumped out from behind her, and stopped upon seeing the lizard too.

"Welcome to my shop, you two. Please, come sit on the carpet," Kecleon said.

Ambrose shook his head at the two. They all needed to find out how to get away from this creep. But the lizard had something tricky about him. The Spinda had to let the Kecleon get distracted enough by the dog before he made a move. Ambrose looked down at the trinkets again.

There was quite a beautiful necklace there. He picked it up, and examined it. The gem was sparkling and it must've been made of diamonds. It sort of looked like a three circle Venn Diagram. He kept a close, watch on the lizard through the corner of his eye. Hopefully Cobalt would understand what Ambrose was doing.

Even though the dog was a thick as steel, there had to be some kind of way he could smell the danger off this reptile.

 

[Nideous]

Cobalt stepped protectively in front of Chi. They used to kill pokemon that smelled like this one in his old pack. When a pokemon had this kind of scent, they were just on the edge, and would soon fall off. They were dangerous. He spotted Ambrose Flannigan looking at a thing that looked like it was made by humans. He also smelled metal around the carpet. He didn't like that.
"Sorry, we'll sit over here for now. How much is that thing with the paper on it?" Cobalt asked, trying to distract the Kacleon. He was still standing in front of Chi. He wasn't going to let anything happen here. He hoped Ambrose Flannigan had a plan.