Arcanum IC

"Knowledge is power but power is nothing but bad politics."

Maya's shopping tendencies over food were only equivalent to fashion divas in the sense that she could smell bargains and bartering. Ethan watched her with amusement, smiling at her natural banter with the Feborough street vendors.

"And I'm telling you Papaya seeds are spicier than the fruit!" she was shouting. "Haven't you done Chemistry 1-2?"

"Don't you mean Home Ec?" spat the man joyfully. He was laughing, crushing the pulpy spikes underneath his rolling pin "I don't know what class you took little girl but the seeds are tangy like orange juice, not the peppery flare. You want to make tamales, you need better than that!"

"I don't want to make tamales you deaf fart," Maya practically shrieked, laughing raucously at him. "I need some spice for Mama's omelets, not a lecture on what you think cooking is. Dear Zekrom can you jabber!" Ethan shook his head and ducked away from the stand, Azea wrapped around his arm with all the strength of a leech. Ethan did not complain. It was better than him sweeping around and stealing berries from passerby. That would be rather amusing though. He didn't glance twice at Maya, knowing she'd be better off than him. He wasn't a fan of haggling. His idea was to simply pay the man and go most of the time. Unless it was overpriced of course, then he would have some fun.

Azea buzzed something in his ear as he wandered the stalls. Kumiho followed the gaze, the look resting on a man showing off bright red devices. He wondered what they were. The man's voice suddenly boomed over them. "Kid!" Ethan almost screeched in pain, his ears twitching madly and Azea's grip on his arm tightened. He could feel the circulation in his arm being cut off horribly, making him briefly think of amputation. But the man who had left his stall took no notice of the pair and was instead facing a girl with a smirk on her face. "A pretty face doesn't replace money," he commented. "Those are some valuable objects you and your squirts are holding there. Aren't you going to cough up and pay?" He sounded amused, as if wondering why someone would dare to attempt to take his fine work.

"Ah shut up Tai, you cheapskate," the girl barked, a Poochyena at her side growling and barking amusedly at them. "Like these trashbins even work anyhow! You're just scammin' us good working people!"

"Working people?" Tai repeated with a soft, almost predatory smile. "My dear you are doing no work other than steal from these poor souls who have a living to maintain. I do not believe that's work."

"You businessmen do it," the girl retorted coolly, flipping blond locks back.

"Excuse me," Ethan interrupted calmly, strolling in between the pair. "As entertaining as this is there must be a settlement at some point. How about a battle, two-on-two? Winner gets that device. And if I win you return the rest and if you lose we walk." Ethan was tempted to give harsher conditions, colder ones. But he wouldn't. The device was probably worthless anyway.

The girl grinned and Tai frowned. Shrewd was probably what he was thinking about. He wouldn't win much out of this deal but it was that or nothing likely. "Sounds cool to me kid," sneered the girl. Looking at her closer revealed her to have been roughly seventeen, dressed in the most outlandishly dark "gang" outfits Ethan had probably ever glimpsed. She reminded him of a priest. "M' name's Chiyo. Remember it when m' Poochyena gets through you. Poochyena Howl!"

The golden and black puppy charged forward and howled triumphantly, even though the battle hadn't even started. He launched himself at the floating Azea, who soared up and flew, diving down to tackle the Poochyena into the ground.

"Raising morale is all well and good," Ethan murmured. "But does it help our defense any?" Ethan watched for a moment and called out. "Supersonic!" Azea took a deep breath and released sharply painful screeches from his mouth, the shreeing making Ethan cover his ears again. Chiyo winced and Poochyena yowled, moving his head this way and that to ignore the disturbing noises. In his confusion and pain he bit his tail and tumbled to the ground, picking up sand. Azea frowned and yelped as he got hit in the eyes, rolling through the air in pain. Do a barrel roll? Ethan thought abruptly as Azea steadied his flight pattern again.

"Dia! Diadele." Nice! I can do better. Poochyena, still disoriented, heard his voice as a garbled mess and growled, leaping to tackle him out of the sky. Instead he was met with a flurry of punches from the hyper Ledian. Poochyena bounced down to his feet, leaping again and successfully knocking him out of the air. Azea bounced and tried to get back into the sky, only to be met with an attack from another Pokemon, a Skiploom. Azea groaned and mumbled. "Dialerele…." Was I just hit by Splash…?

Ethan grinned at Chiyo, who looked at him in bemusement. "Not fair…" Ethan whined in an almost sing-song manner, taking out Sear's ball and sending it flying, hitting the Skiploom in the face. Chiyo glowered as the fiery monkey appeared, Sear rolling his eyes visibly.

"Sear pan pan…" Another battle huh… "Pansear pan!" More people to BURN! Skiploom ignored him, spreading a purple spread of powder.

"Ember! Destroy the Poisonpowder!" Sear didn't need to be told twice, letting out belches of tiny flames and barely cartwheeling to avoid the rest. Unfortunately some landed in Azea's breathing space and the little bug breathed it in and coughed, looking ill. Ethan sighed a bit and looked at the smirking Chiyo with a roll of the eyes. "And I thought I was a trickster…"

"No one's as good as I am!" she boasted. "Tackle guys!" The two Pokemon moved, leaping toward Sear now, who extended his claws slightly and began to tear at Poochyena's face. The pup yelped and whined, nose bleeding. Growling, he leaped again… straight into the weakened punches of a poisoned Azea. Dropping, Azea panted then picked up Sear, flying him up towards Skiploom and dropping him like a hot potato.

Ethan hesitated, about to command, but shrugged. He had figured for cheap tricks; he enjoyed those, like this. "Supersonic!" Pansear glanced at Ethan in disbelief and slight horror as the blast of annoying sound burst through the air, confusing them all. Ethan chuckled derisively as Sear sent Embers all over the stalls, causing screeches of surprise and fear. Ethan snorted a little and whistled. "Azea grab Sear's arms and fly up with him! Before the poison gets too bad." Azea looked at him hazily before nodding and grabbing him, Sear still sending Embers in every direction. Skiploom hit the ground only to get knocked up again by a wild Poochyena. Ethan snorted again at Chiyo's face. "Okay Azea drop him. Now Comet Punch the Poochyena." Azea obeyed weakly, dropping the freaked out Pansear on top of Skiploom, who let out a pained cry.

Ethan sighed inwardly. Blackie has good defense and average offense, Azea great offense but bad defense, and Sear is well-rounded. I wonder who I will find next…
Azea moved toward Poochyena, the pup snapping at the air in bewilderment and likely a ringing in its ears. "Ledia…" Your friend's poison hurt… Balling up all six of his fists in a last ditch effort at power, he charged himself forward and tackled him into the air, punching as quickly as he could. Poochyena hit the ground and rolled, fainted. Azea dropped a second later, breathing raspily. Ethan nodded a little and returned him with gratitude, as much as Ethan felt the emotion anyway. He turned back to Sear, who was shaking his head at the oblivious Skiploom, clearing his ears. Sear screeched in irritation, his normally one-tracked but rational brain replaced with irritation.

"Pan pan pan pan pan SEAR!" Burn burn burn burn burn ALL OF YOU! He swiped at Skiploom, tackled away easily. Bouncing back to his feet, he leaped to burn again, the embers hitting Tai's stall. The man yelped, reaching to put it out and save his wares. Ethan winked at Chiyo's angry sneer.

"Synthesis!" Chiyo shouted. Ethan grinned. Checkmate.

"Ember!" Pansear leaped to obey as Skiploom began to glow in the afternoon sun. Pansear built up a large fireball in his mouth and sent it flying at Skiploom, who finally reacted, rolling in the dirt and screeching before Sear leapt to scratch at her. Ethan raised his Pokeball and returned Sear. He walked toward Chiyo. "Enough of this," he commented lightly, sly smile pulling at his lips. "Return them. All of them."

Chiyo huffed and prepared to attack him herself, only for Maya to appear from virtually normal, her small yet callused hand resting firmly on the other girl's wrist. "I don't recommend that girly girl," Maya whispered quietly. "I'm not much but I'm pretty sure breaking your wrist is something you can't afford to fix right?" The two females scowled at each other and Ethan privately thanked Reshiram that he and Maya were set to be married and not enemies.

The blond stepped back and barked. "Oi, return 'em!"

"But boss," a voice said.

"We lost! Do it!" For a moment there was silence. Then, reluctantly, children shuffled to place the objects back on the singed cart, supervised by a carefully observant Tai. Chiyo stepped forward and placed the odd device in Ethan's hand, glowered, then walked away into the market, the others darting off.

"Anticlimactic," Ethan muttered before turning and dropping money on Tai's cart. "For this," he said simply. "Keep the change." He walked off to join Maya, who picked up her grocery bag with a smirk. He had to go heal his Pokemon now.

(I wanted this to be way different but my weekend decided to derp me up. But I figured I'd get these two a new fight at least lol.)

B]The most dangerous opponents are the ones nobody thinks of: yourself and the blanket you sleep under. Both can actually choke you to death.[/B]

"So you're heading out?"

Ethan nodded as he folded his clothes again. "Tomorrow morning," he said quietly. "If I'm going to be stalked through Arcanum, I'd rather not have it be getting you involved." He closed his bag, tossing it to land next to his Pokeballs. Blackie twitched an ear, then closed his eyes again. Ethan shook his head. Lazy creature. He sat back on the bed, watching Maya's eyes flare with sudden misunderstanding.

"You implying I can't handle myself Ethan?" she asked suspiciously and he barked a laugh.

"I'd rather you not have to. You're the one implied to have a criminal record." Maya snorted, pulling her hair back into a neat bun.

"Implied nothing. My father's anything but a saint. That's why I'm stuck with you isn't it? Two disturbing families might produce sanity." She rose, nightgown smoothly falling over her curves. "Doubt it though..." she added airily, heading toward the door. "Let me see you off at least."

"Yes ma'am," he replied obediently.

Ethan was gone just after dawn, the liar.

~~

The thing about this route was that it stank of pollen. The issue with that was that fluff kept getting into Blackie's nose. The Umbreon's sneezing was mildly entertaining, particularly to Azea. Thankfully the ladybug had recovered from his poison. He soared in happy little loops, spinning and soaring and making a general nuisance of himself.

"umbreon..." Darn airhead needs a leash... Umbreon sneezed again and snorted, padding along. Ethan gave a small, loose smile. He stopped on the path and looked around. He wanted to catch another Pokemon with the Pokeballs Maya had given him. He just wasn't sure what. He wanted something that would be underestimated.

"Lediadide?" Are you looking for berries Ethan? Azea's chirp was followed by a bored swat from the other Pokemon.

"Umbre. Breon." Idiot. Not all of us are constantly focused on food. Azea stuck his tongue out at him and flew further, out of sight of either of the two in the long grass. Then there was a frightened, wild buzzing noise and a singed Ledian flew back to them.

Ethan frowned as the creature hid behind him and a pink, bipedal, slightly sheared sheep walked to face them It took a look at Azea and laughed.

"Flaa! Flaafy!" You're kidding right? What a loser!

Azea buzzed irritably. "Ledide!" You shocked me! It hurt! Blackie cleaned an ear and yawned, causing Azea to glare and pout at his lack of sympathy.

"Breon..." That's a side-effect of getting electrocuted genius. Blackie sighed a little, moving to full height and scowling. Flaffy cackled.

"Flaffy!" Good luck intimidating me fuzzball! Flaffy moved forward at full speed, electricity sparking from his wool. Blackie tensed, prepared to dodge. Ethan just stared silently. Something told him not to get involved.

"CHIKA!" HOLD IT! Leaves went spinning through the air, throwing the sheep off balance to roll in the grass. It stood back up to speak but plant creature tackled it back down again. Leaping back the creature swung its leaf again, sending more bladed leaves toward the Flaffy. It growled and struggled to its feet. The Pokemon, a Chikorita now that he looked, posed with about as much elegance as a turnip. "Chika! Chi chi!" Repent! That is the lesson given to cowards like you for preying on travelers.

"Umbre?" Why do I feel like we've been suddenly thrown into an animated TV show?

"Ledide..." I think there'd be better animation...

Blackie snorted in approval. "Breonumbre." That is the smartest thing you have said yet. Before Azea could reply, Ethan sighed aloud.

"I don't think I desire to get involved in... whatever this is," he told his Pokemon, returning Azea. His team was crippled for now it seemed. Wonderful. He had berries with him somewhere... but best to save them. "Let's go before a plot twist happens." Turning,he hurried ahead down the path, not seeing the Chikorita glance back at them for a brief moment.

~~

Ethan settled against a tree. It was getting late... He could always go back to Feborough... nah. Maya was probably livid at the moment. ...like a woman scorned... fits her. Sear was up in the tree, probably burning berries or some such. He closed his eyes to the whistling of the wind and his ears twitched lazily. Being able to relax in nature... well it was certainly new and he wouldn't mind enjoying it for-

He jerked up, Umbreon ears straightened from what had to be tension, the fake fur standing on end. Someone, something was watching him. But from where? And what? Sear didn't react, tossing an Oran up and down and looking at him with confusion and barely concealed annoyance. Ethan sat back and frowned. That was certainly odd.

"CHIKA!" Hold it! Ethan groaned softly and sat up again to see another -or perhaps the same- Chikorita running full-tilt in the opposite direction from where Ethan himself had appeared. It stopped just in front of them, almost appearing to bark. "Chika! Chi! Chichihi!" Yeah that's right run! Stop bothering innocent travelers before you feel my wrath! You hear me? Whatever he was talking to must have ignored him because the creature made a movement akin to a huff before looking back at them. "Chika! Riri chika!" Hey I know you guys! You guys got attacked by Stormy McFluffy earlier today right?

Ethan stared. What?

Sear frowned. "Pan?" Can I roast it?

The Chikorita frowned. "Chika! Chiriririririri~" That's not nice. I wanna be friends~ His Pansear said nothing, opened his mouth, and released a group of Embers. The combined force sent Chikorita spinning back into the dirt. Springing up, she glowered. "CHIKA!" THAT WAS MEAN!

"Sear." I'll do it again too.

"CHI!" Not if I get you first! Chikorita charged.

Ethan sweatdropped on the inside and walked away. He knew he should keep an eye on Sear... but right now he really just wanted to find some place to stay for the night. Sear watched him go and huffed, dodging the attack. "Sear pansear." Fine I'll do this myself. It shouldn't be that hard to use one of those stupid sphere things...

(THERE! Part 1 over. was gonna originally combine it but I got sick of looking at this post!)

@ Miss Doronjo - if that is short, then we really have set a too high standard here ;)

"Mariiiil!" (I'm going to hug youuu!) Marill happily called, running her way over.

"Squirtleeee Squiiiirt...!" (Yessss, hugging turtles for the wiiiin!) Squirtle called afterward, waddling his way over to Marill, opening his fins out in front, in a prepared-to-hug position. However, much to Squirtle's dismay, when they were just a feet apart, Marill tripped towards Squirtle, bumping into him, causing Squirtle topple over on his backside. He was in a position that turtles feared the most - on his back.

Click to expand...

Hahahha this is too awesome, really. I'm going to hug youuu!

- Marill grew to lvl 12!

- Flareon grew to lvl 18!

Chai Tou - Route 11

Chai took her first steps out onto Route 11. She had been here before, on trips with her school class and with her family. It was a beautiful place with a strangely lush environment and small streams and ponds here and there. Following the main path, where she believed eastern cars had probably never gone at all, she passed by several small bee farms. Right... this was a route that had many bugs in it! She didn't really like bugs... once when she was younger, a bug with big scary eyes had crept into her room through the window at night and scared her so that she pee'd in her bed. No, she didn't like bugs. But if she and Leafeon just walked calmly on, they would probably reach Feborough within the day and without any troubles.

Leafeon... he walked silently beside her now, outside of his pokéball. His emerald, almost turquoise leaves on his ears, legs and tail glittered in the sunlight. She wondered for a moment if he was more like a plant than an animal. Then she saw him yawn and turn to look at her as if to say 'Don't think about me behind my back, servant!'.

Chai smiled at him and instead took up the map from a side pocket on her backpack. Her grandmother had given it to her. It was rather old fashioned and chances were that some new cities or places had popped up since it was made. But it would still give her an idea of what direction she would go to get forward on her journey. At least Feborough Town had been where it was for hundreds of years. It was probably even older than Januvale.

She sighed as the thought about her family. After they had had lunch, her father had left home for a while. Chai didn't have school today, but her mother had called her teacher and told her that Chai was going on a trip and wouldn't be able to go to school for a while. Chai was grateful for that; she could see that her mother was still troubled by the idea that her child wouldn't get a proper schooling... well, of course Chai would begin school again when she came back! If she came back... She shook away gloomy thoughts and looked down at the bow that decorated her left leg. When her father had come back, he had been shopping downtown in Januvale. He had a new attire for Chai to wear, as well as some potions and even some pokéballs. Her grandfather had then lectured her in the art of capturing pokémon, even though she had already done it once. He also tried to tell her hints and good things to know when battling, at the same time as her father tried to make her understand how to light up a fire and otherwise make due when you were out in the wild. It had become really confusing for Chai after a while, so she had decided to just leave the same day.

In the early afternoon, she had set off, and here she was, having walked for almost an hour. It wasn't that far to Feborough, right? She would probably make it before nightfall. Before all the creepy bugs came out. Her face turned pale again.

Leafeon smelled something in the air and his face did not turn pale at all. 'Honey...' he mumbled. "Leaf..."

"What did you say?" Chai wondered, noticing that he had stopped.

Leafeon didn't reply, instead he tiptoed off the road, Chai curiously following. They ended up outside the fence of a bee farm, where there was a hole big enough for Chai's pokémon to squeeze through. Chai tried to follow but despite her being a quite small person, she wouldn't fit.

"Leafeon! Come back here!" she called out, to no avail. The grass pokémon had his focus set on the honey. And as if the honey wanted him too, he soon found his dream: several bottles of honey standing on the ground near a bee hive, one of which was open! He thanked the heavens for having been able to experience this, before he bowed his head down to indulge in the wonderful thing that was fresh honey.

"Leafeon! No! It's not yours!" Chai called out, annoyed and worried. She was currently trying to climb over the fence instead of sneaking through it. The result was that she tumbled down on the other side and got up scratching her head. "Ouch..."

When she looked for her pokémon again, she saw that he still hadn't gotten any honey. Instead, he was warring with two bees... Combee! Chai had seen those before. She had never really thought of them as pokémon who could battle though. They were just... bugs.

But battling, they seemed to want to do. One of them blew a strange wind towards the growling Leafeon, which somehow silenced his growls. That was when the other Combee took the chance to strike, by blowing a Gust straight at the grass pokémon, who were blown away like a leaf, hitting another bee hive. That made several other Combee come out and look annoyed. Chai realized that they had started a cascade reaction here.

"Leafeon, we'd better go now..."

'Maybe you are quite right,' her pokémon agreed and they both started to back away really slowly from the angry bees, when they heard a male voice yelling from some other part of the bee farm. All of them looked that way instead, the Combee included.

A middle aged man with a little too much around his belly was running past beehive after beehive, whipping his net trying to catch something. Beside him, several Combee were flying, seemingly angry at something in front of them. Whatever they were chasing seemed to be no easy thing to catch. It made quick turns and changed directions quicker than the farmer or the Combee could. Soon, it was coming straight at Chai and Leafeon. They screamed and made the thief scream as well and come to a halt. For a brief moment, all three of them were standing still in the bee farm, blinking at each other. Then the presence of the Combee around them made itself known by them starting to buzz even more wildly than before.

"YOU!" the farmer said, having caught up but not quite caught his breath yet. Chai gave him a minute, during which Leafeon was staring meanly at the honey thief between them. Chai gave it a glance as well. It was a really cute pokémon. It was green with an orange little face and eyes that almost seemed to have eyelashes. Its four small wings were fluttering soundlessly and its antennas looked like big, yellow and purple eyes. They were kind of scary though... had she seen them before?

Finally the farmer came alive again. "Your pokémon stole my honey! Look!"

Chai looked at Leafeon but he shook his head vibrantly. 'I didn't get a single lick!'

Then she realized that the farmer must mean the pokémon fluttering in the air between them. "Oh, no! That's not my pokémon."

"Nice try," the farmer grunted, clearly not believing her. "I knew I should have gotten an Electrike to watch over my property. Combee, Gust!"

"Wait, no!" Chai yelled and jumped aside along with Leafeon as Gusts of wind flew at them from several directions. They hid behind a bee hive hut, that creaked from the attacks and fell over when it was done.

"YOU! You broke my bee hive!" the farmer said, very agitated.

"Huh?" Chai sweatdropped. "Mr Farmer, I think you did that yourself-" she tried to explain weakly.

"Combee, Sweet Scent!"

A number of Combee buzzed forward and sent the same strange breeze towards them that had silenced Leafeon before. "I feel... fine..." Chai said, affected by the attack.

'Me too... who needs honey when one can sit here and have a nice day?' Leafeon agreed. Spooky smiles came over both their faces.

"Hah. Now, you come here with me and I'll teach you a lesson," the farmer said, tucking up his sleeves and closing in on the two scoundrels.

All of a sudden, another kind of wind struck him and his Combee. It made his hat fall off and his soul feel like a cold shard of ice inside of him. The Combee started shuddering when the wind was over, feeling like they had just walked on someone's grave. They turned to look to their right. Flying towards them over the bee hive huts was a terrible creature with enormous eyes filled with rage. The farmer and the Combee screamed in terror and ran away.

The Ominous Wind seemed to not have hurt Leafeon and Chai, only snapped them out of the Sweet Scent's effects. "Huh? Why did he just leave?" Chai wondered, scratching her chin.

'I believe we have an unexpected ally,' Leafeon concluded, seeing the pokémon from before fluttering in front of them, looking like it wanted to be thanked.

"Oh! Thank you!" Chai said, smiling widely. Then she thought of something. "Hey... did you steal honey from that man earlier?"

The flying pokémon looked sorry. It's antennas fell down making them look like really sad eyes.

"Oh well. As long as you won't do it again... LEAFEON!" She just realized that her own pokémon had finally sneaked off and reached the open honey bottle from before. He looked up, face covered in the sticky semi-liquid. "Oh dear... Now I'm an accomplice in crime. Let's get out of here quickly, before he comes back. I would want to apologize... but something tells me he wouldn't listen."

Leafeon finally drank his fill and squeezed out through the fence again, while Chai climbed back over with not a little effort. She managed to touch down on the ground fairly unclumsy and then realized that the pokémon from before was still fluttering in front of her.

"Hey... you again. What are you anyways?" Thinking it might give her a clue, Chai took up her grandma's map, while she and Leafeon started walking down the road again. The map had small notations here and there but nothing more. Unless... She turned the document over and looked at the back. She hadn't noticed before, but it actually had some text on it. Small text, but readable if you squinted. "Route 11 - bug's lands. No kidding," she commented with the Combee in her thoughts. "The bug illustrated on the map is Masquerain," she kept reading. Wait, what?

She looked at the map again. True, there were small pictures of pokémon here and there. And the one on route 11 was... her face turned pale. It was the honey thief in front of her. "Masquerain... it's... a bug."

Masquerain giggled, happy that the girl had realized what she was. "But... your eyes... I mean your antennas..." Chai now remembered. This was the pokémon that had crept into her room and scared her when she was little. Not maybe the exact same individual, but definitely a Masquerain.

The pokémon didn't seem to understand why the girl was suddenly afraid of her. 'Forgive my servant,' Leafeon butted in. 'I believe she has a phobia of insects.'

While Chai stuttered to herself and silently freaked out, Leafeon leaned his head to the side and looked more closely at Masquerain. 'Say, your attack back there was quite impressive. How would you like to become my servant as well?'

'Servant?' Masquerain repeated, then giggled again and did a pirouette in the air. 'I'm my own servant! Much more fun that way.'

'Seems like I have to convince you, then,' Leafeon smiled and then turned to his trainer. 'Servant! We have to battle this infidel!'

Chai snapped back into reality, where she had a lion in the form of a plant pokémon standing beside her. "What? You want to battle it?" she gathered, from his battle stance facing the green bug, who seemed a little surprised.

'Didn't you see what I could do?' Masquerain warned and flew higher up into the sky.

"But I don't want a bug on my team!" Chai complained. "Although... when I first saw that pokémon, I thought it was pretty. Maybe I could... I guess I could get used to it. It doesn't really look like a bug..."

'Good enough,' Leafeon barked.

Masquerain released her Ominous Wind again, this time aiming for Leafeon and Chai. The girl squealed when the wind hit them, but Leafeon stood still and strong, although notably affected. 'Darn. It is as if that wind hits your very soul and drains its energy!'

Chai had calmed down. She was to become a pokémon trainer, she couldn't keep freaking out over small things! "Leafeon, Quick Attack!"

The grass type shot away, bounced against two trees to reach Masquerain's level and then tackled it before it could maneuver away. 'You may be agile, but not THAT agile!' he leered at her.

'You sure?' the bug said, quickly countering with a Quick Attack of its own, before Leafeon had even hit the ground again. Now he was slammed into the ground by force. He still got up but was visibly roughed up. The bug giggled again.

"Ah, Leafeon..." Chai said. Battling was hard. Mitch the Mankey had been controlled by a boy without much talent, perhaps. This was a wild pokémon who decided on its own moves. It might not have as much strategy as all the trained pokémon that Chai had seen on TV, but it was rather fickle instead. Not long ago, Leafeon had also been a wild pokémon. Come to think of it, Chai now wondered why he was following her orders. She, who was so inexperienced and weak...

Leafeon barked at her. He was waiting for more orders, rather than attacking on his own accord. Chai was moved, and small tears appeared in her eyes. 'Oh, what is it now, servant?' Leafeon sighed.

Masquerain moved in for another attack however, so Chai decided to be strong for Leafeon's sake. "Sand Attack!"

Leafeon smiled. 'Good choice.' As Masquerain tried to Quick Attack him, he threw a dustcloud into her face, making her miss him and hit a tree instead. Dizzy, she fluttered away from the tree as quickly as she could.

"Another Quick Attack now!" Chai called out. She wasn't even thinking about it being repetitive; each attack attempt unfolded differently. This time, Leafeon hit the Masquerain straight on, landing on top of it on the ground. It was more like a Take Down attack than a quick tackle, actually. But it fit well into the situation.

'Yield!' Leafeon commanded. 'Be my servant!'

Masquerain shook her head weakly and blew out a Bubble attack into his face. That made him back off, annoyed with the bubbles exploding on his nose, even though they didn't really hurt him much.

Masquerain fluttered backwards, but hit a stop. She looked up, bending her neck backwards until she was looking up into Chai's face. "Please," the girl said, trying to smile and not be freaked out by being so close to a bug. "I would really like you to come with us. I won't think of you as a bug." The Masquerain gave her a raised eyebrow here. "I mean... I will try not to dislike bugs. If you teach me?"

The real reason for her wanting to capture Masquerain was because she really fount it pretty and because it was the first wild pokémon she had encountered on her journey, since the Combee had belonged to the farmer. That meant something to her, something symbolic.

Masquerain sighed. Then she nodded. Even though she didn't know what she was agreeing on. Leafeon was really happy. The bug noticed and gave him an annoying look. 'You may think you're a king, but I won't be your servant. I'll be a princess!' Then she stuck out her tongue at the shocked Leafeon, who growled in annoyance.

Chai didn't notice though. She took out an empty pokéball from one of her pockets, enlarged it and held it out towards the bug. Masquerain's antenna flew up as if it was quite content after all, which made Chai relieved. The green bug touched the button on the pokéball and was sucked into it as a red energy.

"Amazing... I caught my first pokémon!" Chai cheered. A slight cough was heard from her feet and she looked down to see Leafeon stare at her. "Oh, sorry. I mean, my second pokémon, of course." Then she patted him behind the ears until he was happy again.

She put away Masquerain's pokéball for now, thinking that it would probably like to rest inside it before coming out again. The sunlight was getting more orange - it would be late soon. What if she didn't reach Feborough today? She would have to spend the night out in the wilderness... the horror!



--

@ me - I think I deserve a lvl 10 Masquerain :3 if anyone doesn't agree when I'm giving myself levels or wild pokémon, please speak up in the OOC thread. Least thing I want to do is being unfair, but I don't want to be unfair towards myself either xD

- Chai captured a Masquerain! (lvl 10 female)

- Leafeon grew to lvl 12!
​

@ -DeepImpact- - Maybe a bit confusing post at times but not as bad as you seem to think :3 I'm glad that you finally posted :p Was it a Ledian?

- Amethyst grew to lvl 13!

- Leo grew to lvl 14!

- Lucas captured a Ledian! (lvl 9 male)

- Lucas captured an Electrike! (lvl 9 male)


--

Chai Tou - Route 11 still

Leafeon stepped up into the grassy clearing in which the two trainers stood ready. Carl from Marchall City and Chai from Januvale Town. Their eyes stared at each other; Carl with an intimidating sense of eagerness that was pretty different from the calm self he had shown before the battle; Chai with a sense of nervousness mixed with a certain thrill of just having won her second trainer battle. And her first battle where she was leading the newly caught Masquerain that was now fluttering above the battle, trying to get a good view.

"So, it's Leafeon's turn," Carl said. "You will be sorry. Zaraku!" He called out the pokéball while he lifted it's pokéball towards the sky. The pokémon which came out was a white and orange striped one with fierce red eyes and giant claws on its front legs. It first stood on its hind legs, seemingly showing off beside its trainer. Then it took a battle stance on all four.

Chai was impressed, actually. "I've seen that... one of those strong people on TV have one of those! They are very swift and have strong attacks..." Her confidence wore down with every word she said.

Leafeon sighed. 'But he has only got a mediocre defense, my servant. You can clearly see that from his reckless battle stance. If I can withstand some attack from him and come close enough... he'll be out.'

That didn't calm his trainer down, since all she heard was: "Leafeon, leaf leaf, leafeon."

"A Zangoose," Carl explained smugly. "And that is correct. They aren't often found in Arcanum, but this one is rather special... it's a foreign one, and thus differently colored than Arcanian Zangoose! Ready to fight, Zaraku?"

Chai was trembling but Leafeon barked at her and she shaped up. He was a strong pokémon too, this would be no difficult match! "Ok, Leafeon, go!" she said.

Carl's eyes glimmered dangerously as he uttered his order. "Swords Dance!" Zaraku started performing a series of complex movements with his arms and claws on the spot, dancing on his hind legs.

"How cute!" Chai couldn't help calling out. Leafeon barked and got her to get a grip on reality. Then she saw. With every move Zaraku did, his claws seemed to leave some kind of aura in the air after them. "He's... powering up!"

'We can stop it!' Leafeon barked again.

"Use Quick Attack!" Chai commanded and her pokémon did so. It struck Zangoose rather easily and it fell down onto the ground backwards.

'You didn't even have a better defense than that?' Leafeon asked it, curiously.

Zaraku smiled and got up though. 'Sometimes ya have to take a beatin or two,' it said in a horribly foreign dialect.

"Zaraku, Slash!" Carl commanded and the Zangoose shot forward, claws ready, to strike the grass pokémon. It hit a log and cut it in two. Leafeon's Quick Attack had saved it once again.

Now the grass pokémon was standing, panting, in front of its trainer, who marveled at Zangoose's strength. 'HEY! Servant! You're supposed to be rooting for me!' Leafeon said.

Chai snapped out of it again as Carl laughed. "It's not a good idea to try and come close to Zaraku again," he said.

"In that case... Sand Attack!" Chai said and Leafeon kicked up a dustcloud in Zangoose's direction.

"Slash!" Carl said and some kind of game went on for a while where Zangoose tried to hit Leafeon with its Slash while Leafeon used Sand Attack to further confuse it and then escaped with Quick Attack.

"Alright then, you begged for it," Carl said darkly. "Zaraku, Pursuit!"

A dark gleam was seen in the Zangoose's eyes and suddenly it followed Leafeon much more smoothly than before. 'Dark energy is pursing me!' Leafeon said, sounding like a knight of the light. That was when a dark punch hit his back and slammed him to the ground.

"The Pursuit attack has done its job," Carl said, crossing his arms.

"What a creepy attack! Leafeon!" Chai yelled.

Leafeon turned his weary head back to look at his attacker. Zaraku was standing above him, readying a Slash move. It was the end! Unless... unless he used his special weapon of light. Chai didn't know about it because he hadn't wanted her to know. It always made him so tired to make it; he would need to sunbathe for a whole day to replenish the solar energy he would consume now.

"Leafeon! Sand Attack!" Chai's voice came from somewhere. Leafeon smiled a little. He would listen to her still. He shoved some dirt up into Zaraku's staring eyes and then headbutted it in its belly. That made it lose its breath for a few seconds. It was enough. Leafeon got up and started gathering its energy.

"Zaraku, Quick Attack!" Carl said, anticipating that something was in the happening. Chai blinked and looked at her pokémon. What was it doing. Masquerain's fluttering above the battlefield became more intense.

'Quick Attack... I may not have enough time after all,' Leafeon realized as he saw the mongoose come straight at him at a blinding speed. Leafeon's leaves glowed white.

Chai saw everything slowed down again. It was so strange, would she ever get used to this? Zaraku the Zangoose had leaped towards Leafeon, who had opened his mouth. The scene would make a wonderful painting or photo, if only Chai wasn't so worried for Leafeon. Why did she make him battle? Pokémon shouldn't battle, no one should... But then again, Leafeon seemed so alive when he did it. And Masquerain seemed to think it was fun. Maybe it was in the nature of pokémon to battle and grow stronger?

Something was unlocked inside her mind. A memory from not too long ago.
"... But it's also said that if the humans were to name pokémon as their property, they were obliged to always take care of it and do what was best for the pokémon to help it grow stronger. All pokémon want to grow stronger at some point and level. It's in their deepest nature. That is why Arcanum's pokémon trainers exist."

The words of Joresh Ja. If he said it, it must be true. No... not because he said it, but because she felt it. Maybe it was fate after all, albeit a strange fate for choosing tiny, clumsy Chai to do something important as this. But she would do it.

Time started running again and what immediately filled the battlefield was an immensely bright light. When it disappeared and the trainers could see with their blinded eyes again, they saw Zaraku the Zangoose lying with fried fur on the ground and Leafeon lying down as well, with a large wound on his side. Both trainers rushed forward to take care of their pokémon, Carl's battling personality gone in an instant.

"A draw, then," Carl said as he returned the pokémon to its pokéball. "Though maybe you won, since you still have Masquerain standing. I mean, flying."

"Is that how it works?" Chai wondered and sent Leafeon back into its ball too.

"With some rules. It depends. What an amazing Solarbeam your pokémon knew."

"Solar... beam?"

"Yes, the attack Leafeon knocked out Zaraku with. I admit the battle was a bit unfair to begin with; my pokédex said that Zaraku was a much higher level than Leafeon. Sorry for that."

A new attack... cool! Chai thought. She'd definitely try to use it more often if it was that strong. "What's a pokédex though?" she asked Carl.

They walked together down the route to Feborough in the morning sunlight, while Chai learned about pokédexes and other things that Carl knew. When he was done, she knew one thing. She wanted a pokédex!


--

@ me

- Leafeon grew to lvl 14!

​

Brought to you by Mr. Mammoth and The Warden.


Soul smiled as the kid started to yell, completely opposing the fact that they were going to work together. Soul let out a laugh as the kid showed Tai the bite mark. However, Soul's laugh came to a complete halt and his eyes widened. There! On the kid's wrist, a Yin-Yang symbol was present. It looked like it had been burned into his flesh, much like Soul's own marking. He had found Zekrom's helper! Mission accomplished!

Tai seemed to be set on the subject of making Soul and the other boy work together. The kid turned to Soul with a small bow, which the turqoise-haired boy of course didn't return, and introduced himself as Kitaru Chida. Soul looked at him for a while before opening his mouth,

"You have no need for my name human." he said bluntly, "But I DO need to compliment you on your battling skills. I haven't experienced a battle where anyone has made me spill my own blood in a long time." Soul looked at the wound for a while and then sighed. "But I guess that you deserve an introduction, after all you are a very important person. I'm Wildboy, the one of the Pokémon."

He turned to Tai with a slightly confused look on his face and asked what this job was exactly going to be.

Kitaru clenched a fist a the boy opposite him, he was being quite rude and really starting to annoy him. So this guy was a 'Wildboy', there must be one of those here as well as back home then, he certainly didn't look wild but the way he fought and his mannerisms made it believable.

"Well Wildboy, of the Pokémon. I hope that we are able to accomplish our task quickly."

"I can tell you some of the places that I know the Kids hang out." Tai began, Kitaru turned to face the man, the sooner this was over the better. This hadn't been what he had been expecting when he set out a few days ago.

"Pan sage sage. Pan! Sage sage pa." Mischief began talking to his sister again. 'Isn't it a shame that our people don't get along. Oh! Mine gave me the name Mischief.'

Soul almost laughed at Chida's comment, it was quite obvious that he didn't like Wildboy. But of course, which human he had the displeasure of bumping into would enjoy his company?

Cecilia giggled as her brother told her about his new name,
"Big brother Mischief... It suits you really good! Mr. Soul here gave me the name Cecilia! I like it quite a lot!" the Panpour was so happy that she almost couldn't sit still.
"You're right. It is a shame that they don't get along... But Mr. Soul dislikes all humans, he can't really help feeling that way though..." she stopped, her mind starting to focus on why her trainer didn't like humans.

"I think that your name suits you too," Mischief said to Cecilia, "it's a cute name!"

"Hello Mischief. Pleased to meet you" Soul said and smiled at the Pansage, "As you know, I'm Cecilia's partner. Even though she likes to refer to me by my birth-name, I would like to be called Wildboy. It suits me more than my real name in my opinion!" he laughed.

"Holy, Miltank. This one can understand us!" Mischief exclaimed. "You've go a well trained one here. How did you teach him that trick." He said to Cecilia. Then turning to the Wildboy. "It's nice to meet you too, that is if you have any berries for me."

"Hihihi! Oh brother, you're so funny! Mr. Soul has lived with Pokémon for a long time, so he has learned their language! Well some Pokémon anyway..." Cecilia said with a giggle.

"Berries?" Soul said, "Sure, I have berries. Here! I take it that you like Nanab berries, correct?" he gently searched his pockets only to find that he had no berries. Strange, Soul pondered why this was for a while, but then he realized! His old clothes was at his grandpa's place! Including the berries! He looked at Mischief with a sad smile on his face, "Sorry Mischief, but it seems that I've forgotten my berries. I'll give you some another time!"

"What a shame." Mischief responded hanging his head a little.

***

As the two people walked along the way Tai had described, Soul moved a bit closer to Kitaru. Eventually, when there were few people that could see them, Soul gripped Kitaru's hand. His claw-like fingers closing around the other's wrist and with a devilish smile he uttered:

"I have finally found you. Helper of Zerkrom."

Kitaru was initially hit by a wave of shock. Who was this kid, had someone found out that he was on this quest, were they trying to stop him. That couldn't be it, he pulled and tried to release his hand from the boy's grip but it was too tight. He tried to run, he was forgetting something important. Something that would tell him if he could trust this boy.

The Panpour!

If he had been given the Panpour by Joresh Ja then he could trust the boy. He stopped trying to escape and turned to face the boy.

"You got that Panpour from Joresh too didn't you. So are you like me? Do you have the mark? And by the way I am not this helper of Zerkrom you are looking for, I am helping my guardian Reshiram." Kitaru said keeping his voice low so he wouldn't be heard.

Soul frowned a bit as Chida tried to brake free from his grip, stupid human! He could cause a commotion if he kept this up. Chida eventually seemed to have realized the situation and started to talk. Soul let out a relieved sigh and said:

"Yes I partnered with Cecilia at Joresh Ja's house. I figured out that you had something similar happen to you since Mischief and Cecilia seem to be related. I do indeed have the mark bu-" Soul didn't finish the sentence. He had just registered exactly what Chida had said, the part about not being Zekrom's helper and instead being... Reshiram's helper? struck Wildboy's mind. He let out a low growl,

"WHAT?! That's impossible! You can't be the one sent to help Reshiram! Because that's MY job!" Soul glared at Chida, his gaze full of primal fury. He then pointed at himself to sort of gesture how he was the TRUE one to help Reshiram.

So I'm not the only one helping Joresh or rather Reshiram, Kitaru though for a moment.

"Maybe there is more than one person tasked with helping each guardian." Kitaru suggested and thought for a moment "That would mean there are at least two more of us out there." He glanced around, "We should get moving and finish this task we can talk more later if we need too."

Soul grew quiet as Chida spoke, even for a savage like him, somewhat good manners are good to have. He submerged himself into thoughts, spiralling downwards as he came up with possible solutions for all of this. The spiral-network of thoughts went deeper and deeper, they ensnared each other more and more until Soul came to a conclusion.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, quickly covering his mouth after about a second of realizing his mistake. He looked around to see if any people had heard his outburst and were now possibly spying on them... Although that seemed highly improbable, the possibilities were many. Or at least a few. "If it is as you suggest, then Reshiram must be in GRAVE danger and Zekrom as well. Think about it. If Joresh Ja needs four people to save a Legendary Pokémon, a really powerful being able to wipe out an army if it wanted, then don't you think that the situation of the Legendary is very dangerous?" he continued in a hushed voice, just to be on the safe side.

***
The found the gang of troublesome youths in one of the spots that Tai had said they normally hung out in. It was beyond the outskirts of town, in a small clearing in the beginnings of the woods of route 11. Located on a hill the youths were easy to spot but it meant that they had chance to spot the two boys approaching. Kitaru was all for charging in there but held off until he had at least given Soul the chance to speak.

"So any ideas how we deal with them."

"Well, I suggest that we create a distraction for them first. Maybe by getting help from my friend here?" Soul said as he took a Pokéball out from his pocket and enlarged it. At least he hadn't forgotten those at Requiem's place. One white burst of light later, a Combee was hovering in front of Soul. She seemed a little confused, almost as if she had slept for a long time and had just been woken up. Needless to say, she was a bit grumpy.

"Com, combee, com, com?!"(How dare you wake me up from my sleep you ruffian?!) she said in an irritated voice, blowing a gust into Soul's face.

"I say that we send Honeycomb here to annoy those children for a while and then we attack them!" Soul said, his eye almost gleaming with a feeling of war towards a great enemy.

"Comb?!"(What?!)

Kitaru nodded as Soul stated his plan it was simple enough, the young trainer then released one of his Pokémon, a Combee, and began talking to it.

"Right! Go Cinnamon!" Kitaru said releasing his Ledian. The Pokémon threw a punch at him but for once he was ready, with a side step he avoided the attack and caught her fist in his hand. "Please don't punch me any more." He said and threw the Pokémon a berry that it gratefully accepted. "Do you think that you can go with... Honeycomb here was it? And distract those kids."

"Ledi! Ledian!" The Pokémon nodded and fluttered into the air with a jumping punch.

"Right lets go!" Kitaru said to Soul and the Pokémon

Soul quietly watched as Chida let out a Pokémon of his own, a Ledian. Wildboy smiled a little, since the Pokémon reminded him about the meeting with Kumiho. He chuckled a bit as the Ledian threw a punch at Chida, obviously wanting to play. Its body language didn't depict contempt or dislike towards its trainer, which Soul thought was nice. At least this human wasn't mean to his Pokémon...

"Okay Honeycomb, let's g-"

"Co."(No.) she said. Nope, no way was she going out on this extremely idiotic mission. Besides, there was ANOTHER Ledian here too! She couldn't handle those things! They were just so... annoying.

"But Honeycomb, please!" Soul said, they needed to get this done!

"Combee, comb!"(Nope, never!) she said.

"Pan, pan, panpour, pan!"(Okay, that's it! You do as Mr. Soul says, now! After all, he is the one supposed to help you become a queen right? And a good queen always listens to what her people say!) Cecilia said. She was getting fed up with the Combee's spoiled behaviour, and just to make a point she quickly gripped the Pokémon's wing.

"Com, com, com! Bee, combee, com!"(Ow, ow, ow, ow! Okay, I'll do it! Just let me go...) Honeycomb said, she was in fact starting to be a little scared of the Panpour now. But she obliged and flew up to the kids. When she arrived the Combee started to blow a strong gust at the kids, hoping that their attention would be drawn to her.

"Led! Led!" Cinnamon, was a bit fed up of waiting for the Combee and urged her on to battle. The Combee started to lead the way and attacked the kids with a gust. Cinnamon joined in unleashing a super sonic attack at the kids.

"Now what?" Kitaru asked as he watched the two Pokémon distract the kids. He didn't know how long the two Pokémon would be able to keep them occupied. "Do we attack now?"

Soul smiled devilishly at Chida's question. He had wanted to see the kids bumble around like idiots in an attempt to get rid of the Bug-types, but you can't always get what you want.

"Yes, while the enemy's back is turned the perfect opportunity for assault arises. Though some might consider it cheap and cowardly to attack from behind, I find it more strategic." he said. Soul wasn't quite sure why he told Chida about his opinion, probably because Chida seemed like one who found it cowardly to attack from behind. Anyway, Soul rushed towards one of the kids who was preoccupied with trying to get Honeycomb away from him. The kid didn't see the figure approaching him from behind at a quick pace, but his mate did. However, before he was warned Soul had already tackled him to the ground and now sat on top of him.

"So..." he said, flashing a sharp smile. "I've heard from a certain Stand-Man that you've tried to snatch his wares. Now, although I normally wouldn't give to jacks about you humans this Stand-Man has offered me a deal. To take you in for..." Soul made a small pause before he said the last word, "a prize..." he smiled again. His eye looking straight at the kid with a piercing gaze. The youth was now getting nervous, you could see small drops of sweat coming from his forehead. Who the f*** was this guy?! And who was that "Stand-Man" he talked about?

Kitaru nodded in agreement. A sneak attack wasn't his usual method but it would be the best method of attack in this case. Charging in alongside Soul, Kitaru picked his target and tackled him to the ground even as Soul did the same. A shoulder into the rib cage was the first the kid knew of Kitaru's approach. He knocked the air out of the boy and pushed him to the floor before picking another target. They were out numbered which wasn't good but they had the advantage of size and as far as Kitaru could tell in Pokémon as well. One of the kids who was still standing, there were four of them left, yelled to warn his friends of the attack. While Soul was sitting on another boy Kitaru ran at the kid and threw a punch. The boy blocked it and the two of them grabbed a hold of each other and began to try to throw each other off their feet.

"Chida. What now?" Soul said dryly as he didn't really know what to do now...

"Take them down quickly. Use Your Pokémon if you must just don't let yourself get surrounded." Kitaru yelled as he threw the boy to the floor. Behind him the boy he had taken down earlier tried to get up but Cinnamon knocked him out with a punch to the chin. "Then we get these goods back."

Surrounded?" Soul laughed, "Don't insult me! These ones are nothing compared to me." Soul then got up from the boy. He waited for the kid to try and attack him or something, but it seemed as he was too nervous to move. Wildboy shrugged and started to walk towards another boy. He glanced over his shoulder to see Chida wrestle his current foe, or at least they both tried to get the other one onto the ground.

Soul looked back at his target, upon their eyes meeting the troublesome youth gave off a small yelp. He had seen how easily Soul had taken down his mate, and he didn't want to be next. So the kid did what would've been the natural procedure for most people of his calibre, he tried to run away like a little sissy. Soul smiled, did this kid really think that he could out speed him? He obviously didn't know who Wildboy was. Although that wasn't too much of a problem, Soul liked to hunt. He was a savage after all.

The kid wasn't a problem to catch. Soul was actually a bit disappointed, he had hoped for a longer hunt. Although he could easily toy with his prey, there was a mission involved.

"So, I hear that you have some goods that I'm looking for..." Soul asked dryly as if he wanted this to be over with.

"I-I have n-no idea what you're talking about..." the boy said. His lie was so obvious that even Soul, who hadn't had much human contact in the past few years, saw through it.

"That lie was terrible." Soul said, "Give. Me. The. Goods." he continued and held out his hand as if expecting the kid to gently drop the things in his hand.

"Never! Yukkio, get him!" the kid yelled. Suddenly, Soul felt and arm snare around his neck. It was yet another kid, this one tried to choke him however.

"Haa... Don't underestimate me!" Soul said. He gasped for air in Yukkio's arm lock, but eventually opened his mouth wide and chomped down on his attackers arm. Yukkio gave out a loud curse and let go of Soul, he then fixed his eyes, now burning with rage, at Wildboy. The turquoise-haired boy simply chuckled and lunged forward at Yukkio. He bared his teeth and his claw-like nails at the boy, much like a panther when it's about to catch its prey. He scratched Yukkio's face, the boy gave off another swear as he staggered backwards while holding his hands in front of his face. Wildboy then rushed forward shouting "Low Kick!" as he then kicked the boy's leg. Yukkio went down with a loud crash and had seemed to have passed out.

"Now. Will you give me the goods, or not?" Soul asked the remaining kid.

Kitaru looked around at the scene of carnage. The kid's who weren't down on the floor and ran off and Soul was dealing with the last one, Kitaru interrupted before anything went wrong.

"Look kid, I'm not going to hurt you just take us to where the stuff you stole is and we will be gone. Otherwise I'm going to let him," Kitaru pointed to Soul and the kid cringed. "make you tell us the way." Kitaru felt kind of guilty for doing to the kid but he didn't let it show. "So will you show us the way?"

"Y.. yes..." The kid started to cry, which made Kitaru feel even worse. The kid lead the way and Kitaru followed with Soul. The eventually reached a hollow tree where some plastic sheeting was rapped around a wooden crate. Inside Kitaru was sure that they would find what they were looking for. "We didn't dare let are parent's know that we stole them." The kid started crying again, like a dripping tap that had just started gushing water again. "So we hid them here."

"Right let's get these back to Tia, we can leave the boy here he won't be a problem." Kitaru said to Soul pointing at the box.

As Soul was about to have some real fun with the kid, Chida quickly stepped in to stop him. Soul made a slightly disappointed face at the interruption, he didn't want the fun to end so soon... Oh well, he had to remember to pay a visit to this kid sometime if he wanted to scare him beyond reason. Anyway, the youth actually started crying, something Soul didn't expect at all. But he still scoffed at the kid's tears, if he hadn't stolen the goods he wouldn't be in this situation now would he?

"Pffeh. You're not my boss." Wildboy said a bit irritated when Chida pointed at the crate containing the goods. Yet he still picked it up and started to carry it without any problem whatsoever. He called for Honeycomb who buzzed angrily at him. It was quite obvious that she was very displeased with having to do "The wild ruffian's dirty work" as she so modestly expressed it.

Kitaru hadn't meant for Soul to carry the crate himself, he was only stating his intentions but whatever.

After a walk back to the market, they found Tai's stand. Soul walked up to it with his head held high and promptly put the crate in front of Ahouga.

As the two of them walked back through the market they attracted quite a lot of attention.

"There Stand-Man! Here are your goods, now about those Poké... Fl... Dexes." he said.


"I shan't ask how you got these." Tai inspected the contents of the crate that Soul had just dropped on his counter, when he was quite satisfied with the delivery he took the create around the back and returned with two of his Pokedexes. Stating his best price he offered Soul and Kitaru a glance at the devices before taking them back and holding his hand out to accept their payment. Kitaru took the money from his wallet but he wondered how Soul would pay, as far as he knew the wild boy didn't have any money. He handed over the money plus enough extra to buy a map.

"I'll get a map too." Kitaru said as he spotted Tai smiling as he counted Kitaru's money, the guy's smile dropped and he handed over the Pokedex and a map too. Careful Kitaru put the device into his pack and folded the map away.

Soul looked curiously at Chida as he took out something from his pocket and then giving it to the man. He did remember something about it being called "money", but what use it had was completely beyond what Wildboy could grasp.

"I seem to have none of this "money"... But ten how do I..." he said quietly but was interrupted by something,

"Spiiiii-na-rak!!!"(Deeeeeuuusss-ex-Machina!!!) a flash swooshed by Soul only to hit him in the back of the head a few moments later. As the impact occurred, Wildboy went pummelling to the ground. He rolled around with fury in his eyes, he was going to find this attacker and possibly finish him or her off. Instead of an attacker, Soul found a Spinarak sitting on him.

"Spinner!" he said happily. The Bug-type gave off a cheerful cry and started to talk.

(Hiya there Soul! Me and mom got finished with your new clothes and Requiem finished the last touches on your mask, I have 'em here if you'd like to put 'em on!) Spinner said and shot out a string of web into a bush. He then pulled backwards so that slowly but surely, Soul's fixed up "outfit" came to its rightful owner. Wildboy put on his mask and coat, letting out a sigh of satisfaction as he did so. But something seemed different with the coat, Soul searched one of the pockets only to find some money in there. Without further questioning where the money came from, he paid for a Pokédex as well as a map. Even though Soul wasn't that fond of maps, he always managed to read them upside down, he still bought one along with the Pokédex.

After putting both things in his coat, his grandpa seemed to have added a few pockets, Soul turned to Chida.

"I guess that this is where we part Chida. I don't usually say this to humans, but Reshiram chose both you and me for a reason. And that reason is obviously to put our powers together in order to help the Legendaries." Soul made a small pause in his speech before continuing on, "So, I'd like to say that it was nice to meet you and I hope we come across each other some other day." the masked boy then proceeded to hold out his claw-like hand towards Chida.

Kitaru took Souls hand and shook it firmly. "I do hope that our paths cross again when our guardian needs us."

"Oh, before I forget..." he started to dig around in another pocket for something, "Aha! Here you go Mischief!" he then lobbed a Nanab Berry at the Pansage. "I promised you didn't I?"

"Sage sage!" Mischief chirped. "Thank you Wildone!" He said as he caught the Nanab Berry and began to eat.

"Good bye Wildboy." Kitaru said before he parted with Soul.

"Pan, Panpour!"(Good bye big brother Mischief!) Cecilia said and waved at the Pansage.


"Pansage! Sage!" Mischief replied "Bye! Take care!"

After purchasing his Pokédex and map, Kitaru set out onto route 10. It wasn't what he had planned when he woke that morning but he felt like he could do with a change. As the day went by he missed several opportunities to identify new Pokémon with his new Pokédex. So it wasn't long before he stopped to have lunch and took it out. While eating he turned it on and tested it on each of his Pokémon in turn, it seemed to be working well.


Packing his stuff up he continued his trek along the road northwards. To either side of the trail were vast fields of golden corn, divided by small hedgerows and fences. There was the occasional tree where bird Pokémon roosted. A blustery wind blew, cutting across the path near constantly, making it hard work to walk with out falling over. Looking up Kitaru could see small pink Pokémon floating high above the ground. His Pokédex identified them as Skiploom.


Night was beginning to draw in and still the wind showed no sign of subsiding. The sky to the west was bleeding red and orange. The Pokémon too had changed gone were the birds of the day, they had been replaced by the dark birds of the night. Murkrow. Kitaru didn't need any introduction to these birds, they were rare around Januvale but they were know. He wasn't a particularly superstitious person but still if he was honest he would say these Pokémon scared him, he had heard many tales of these Pokémon and nothing good happened in any of them.


He pressed on, quickening his pace a little and put his head down. Then he heard it, the flapping of many wings and the 'caw' of the Murkrow. Turning in the direction of the noise he saw a murder of Murkrow flying into the blood red sky. And his blood ran cold freezing him in place as he saw it. The omen of disaster. There standing proud amongst the fleeing Murkrow stood an Absol. And it was staring right at him.


What should I do? What should I do? Kitaru asked himself as he stood staring right back at the Pokémon. By now his brain had completely freaked out and had decided that if it took his eyes off it it was liable to appear right behind him and attack. But before he knew it the Pokémon turned away and dived out of sight. Kitaru caught his breath but waited several minutes before continuing on.


It was dark now and Kitaru had yet to find anywhere to camp. He land was too open and the wind would snatch his tent away before he could get it set up. Guided by the light from his flash-light he did his best to follow the trail but had gotten lost. Somewhere he had lost the main track and headed off down a side trail that he presumed must lead to some farm, he was in two minds about whether he should press on and hope to find shelter or try to get back to the main road.


"Hey there!" A young female voice came from across the nearest field. Turning to the noise Kitaru saw a flash light waving just the other side of the field. "You lost?" The voice asked.


"Yeah!" Kitaru shouted back. He headed over toward the voice, vaulting over the fence and picking a clear path through the field of corn. The wind snatched his breath away as he ran. At the other side of the field he climbed over the fence and was greeted by a girl about his age.


"Are you a trainer?" She began by asking. It was quite clear to Kitaru that she was an Arcanian, she had her hair tied back and was wearing clothes suitable for working on a farm. Kitaru nodded in response to her question, still a little out of breath from running across the field in this wind. "Are you looking for somewhere to stay?" She asked.


"Yes. I'm lost and don't know where to head." Kitaru said in response.


"Let me ask my Pop." She said and with that ran to the house. The house was an old one, built in a traditional Arcanian style, with screen walls and wooden support beams. He wasn't surprised he had missed it as it was low to the ground, presumably for shelter against the wind. A minute later she came running back. "My Pop says it's all good. We don't have any room in the house but you can stay in the top of the barn." The sides of Kitaru's mouth turned downwards, she must have noticed as there was a slight pause before she continued. "Don't worry, it's plenty comfortable. I'll get you some stew and blankets but first I have to finished my chores." She lightly kicked a bucket of feed on the floor next to her. "Oh and you wouldn't mind helping on the farm a little in the morning would you she asked?"


"Of course not." Kitaru said.


"Good, now to feed the Tepiggies." She exclaimed picking up her bucket and walking off, flash-light in hand. She lead Kitaru to a sty full of Tepigs that were busy rooting around in the dirt. Taking the bucket she poured it into a trough and watched as the Pokémon began to feed.


"I forgot to introduce my self." She said, half daydreaming as she observed the feeding Pokémon. "I'm Saitou Kozue." She said giving her family name first and bowed.


"Nice too meet you, I'm Chida Kitaru." Kitaru said, giving his name in the same fashion and also bowing.


"It's nice to meet you too." Kozue replied after Kitaru had stood up from his bow. "Let me show you where the barn is."


As they neared the barn, they both heard a crashing sound. The barn was dark, and with out electric lights the only light sources they had were their flash-lights. Despite the doors being open they could see only a few feet into the barn.


"Who ever you are come out!" Kozue shouted in a clam voice. From the door a pale hand appeared from the depths of the darkness. It was followed by another hand and then a pale body floating a few inches off the floor. "Ahhh! It's a ghost! Ahhh! It's a Haunter come to eat my dreams! While! I! SLEEP! Ahhh!" Kozue began to scream.


"It's not a Haunter. I bet it's not even a Ghost." Kitaru had seen pictures of Haunters before and they looked nothing like this. Calmly he drew his Pokédex from his pocket and turned it towards the shape. "Let's see what you really are."


"ERROR! ERROR! UNIDENTIFIED POKEMON! ERROR! ERROR! UNIDENTIFIED POKEMON!" The Pokédex bleeped in it's electronic voice. Oh c**p Kitaru thought to himself. By this point Kozue was on the floor sobbing and begging the think not to eat her. Then Kitaru's valiant side took over.


"Go!" He threw Mischiefs ball and the small Pokémon appeared in a flash of light. "Be careful buddy I don't know what your up against."


"Pansage!" His Pokémon nodded in response and began to eye the shape carefully. A muffled grow came from the shape and it rushed forwards to tackle Mischief. It slammed into him knocking him back.


"Attack with Fury Swipes." Mischief began to lash out with great vigour, tearing pieces off his opponent quite literally. Shreds of whatever it was were littering the ground and whatever it was, it was showing a dark shape under that exterior. The shape ran forwards again, this time a tongue extended out form the darkness and licked Mischief stunning the poor Pansage. The shape then attempted to tackle the Mischief to the floor but some how got caught up in it's self and tripped. Slowly Mischief began to get up.


"Right hit it with a Vine Whip!" Mischief whipped out with his vines and tore away the phantom, an empty bag of corn snatched away in the wind. And what was left...


"MUNCHLAX! BIG EATER POKEMON!" Kitaru's Pokédex began. Kozue stopped sobbing and began to blush a little.


"Let's finish this quickly. Mischief Fury Swipes." Mischief attacked the Munchlax before it could get to it's feet. As soon as his Pokémon retreated Kitaru threw the Pokéball.