Emmanuel "Manny" Chapman
Emmanuel?s fingers grasped nothing. The sweltering heat he felt against his face seconds ago turned to a warm breeze as he was pulled up off his feet and away from the bus. Moments later, Emmanuel landed back on solid ground, stumbling a bit on arrival. He leaned his back against the nearby outcrop of rock, hoping to sort himself and regroup. ?Thanks,? he said, a bit short of breath, rubbing Lady fondly on the head.
Juice casually sauntered up to the two, an oddly relaxed look on a normally irritated face, as if the very recent, perilous events were of no real concern to the Pok?mon. Emmanuel narrowed his eyes and shook his head. ?You little?? He trailed off, a not so distant rumbling filling the air, different from the thunder.
With his eyes up and wide, Emmanuel saw the stampede of Pok?mon closing in on them, descending from the hillside. ?Nah? You can?t be serious.? He muttered. Feet scrambling backwards in a hop, his torso and legs halfway turned around, Emmanuel felt the ground begin to shake. In this moment of impending doom, a rather silly thought lodged itself into the young man?s mind. This was a lot like those movie scenes ? the ones with the massive horde of something stampeding down towards whoever or whatever, the roar of a trembling earth filling the room from the speakers, and the sharp and erratic jerks of the camera. Except, that angry horde was charging down on him, that roar more like a series of pops beneath his feet, and the ground below dancing in his eyes.
Emmanuel recognized what was actually happening. In the midst of his turn, he saw a trainer some dozen yards away lofted into the air, a Magneton by his side, and a Claydol below, rings of dust rising into the air.
?A great idea,? Emmanuel said, barely audible even to himself ?if you were alone.? Teetering a tad too far forward, the young man grabbed the rock he had just been leaning against for support, until that was split apart by the vibrating earth. Twisting with momentum, Manny managed to save at least his face face, falling gracefully on his ass.
Sitting there, resigned of any further ideas of running away, mostly because the horde of Pok?mon had covered too much ground for his liking and would probably catch him at this distance, Emmanuel began to think. It wasn?t long until he blurted out, ?Rollout?? It was more of a feeler than a command, but a command nonetheless. Lady, her tongue still out, swinging halfway to the ground, shook her head in defiance. ?What do you mean, no?? He responded, his arms up in disbelief. ?Uuuuse rollooout!?
As the pair of trainer and Pok?mon continued their argument, Juice, all too familiar with the scene, headed over to one of the fallen, freshly splintered rocks. Although still roughly the same size of an average man?s torso, the Poliwrath lifted the rock over his head with ease, and with a swift turn of his hips and shoulders, following through with a hop, Juice began hurling miniature boulders at the horde charging down from the hillside.
?Look at that, look at that.? Emmanuel said, pointing at Juice, who was paying no mind to their conversation. ?Are you really gonna be outdone by a toad? He?s a toad! Are you a toad??
Lady?s vacant look practically disappeared. Her small, beady eyes narrowed, and then Lady spun away from her trainer to face the rushing crowd. Emmanuel caught a faint pout as she did this, and before he could comment, a blast of gravel and sand splashed his face. Taking off in a run, or what could be described as a leisurely walk of a run, Lady, the Lickilicky, shot out into a great pink ball, and with incredible acceleration and velocity, barreled into the charging herd of Pok?mon.