Young Writers Society

Jasmine picked up a few crackers and munched off the corners. "I was going to help, but you looked like you were having too much fun."

Miles gave a single sharp laugh, the rest of the group chuckling along but far more uneasily. They had some idea what 'help' meant when it came from Jasmine.

They'd also seen how she could battle, and that tended to throw people off.

Miles' hat popped off his head, and refused to go back down when he put a hand on it. His face scrunched up in surprise, dropping into realization when there was a very familiar ghostly giggle.

He turned his head, revealing a braid being held by a pink and grey ghost. "Ariel, what are you doing?"

She lifted one hand away from his hair, putting it to her mouth, and giggled again. Jasmine smirked. "She loves long hair."

"It's not that long!" Miles shot back.

Annie lifted up the tip of her own hair. "She can braid mine!"

Ariel looked at Annie's mid back length hair, quite a few inches longer than Jasmine's own, and promptly zipped over to begin braiding it. She was beginning to sing as she did so, bouncing along to her own rhythm which Annie soon matched.

"She's so happy!"

"Zis Pokemon is cheating on me for hair!" Eric said, every ounce of indignity visible in his posture.

Annie just laughed. "It's like Ariel with a dinglehopper! We should get her one in the next town."

"That's just a fork," Matt muttered.

Art shifted slightly, to better see the Misdreavus performing a simple braid near Annie's face. "She's well named."

Jasmine smiled a bit but didn't say anything.

Annie watched as the braid was finished and Ariel looked at the end, then at Murtle. The Haunter floated over and put the tip of its tongue against the braid, causing Annie to try not to shiver but she somehow didn't jump away.

Ariel smiled and worked the spit into the braid, sealing up the ends with the best gel known to man. Once she was satisfied, she went to the other side.

"She'll keep making patterns if you let her," Jasmine said.

"Does she do your hair?" Annie asked. At a nod, she grinned and bounced. "Can she do my hair? ... Only, with elastics, not haunter spit."

Jasmine gave a lopsided smile. "Sure."

They had been driving down the road now for only about twenty minutes when Art started banging on the truck window. Miles glanced at him in his rear-view mirror with a furrowed brow while Annie quickly opened the window. "Hi!"

"New challenge! And one in Poland--"

"TURN AROUND, DUDE!" Matt shouted from behind, clobbering Art on his way to the window. He stuck his head through the window. Annie could hear Art whimpering, trying to get himself free from under his weight to no avail. "Shortcut to Warsaw is back there. Turn around--"

"Check your pokedex!" Art squeaked from below.

Miles closed the window, content with Art's explanation, as Annie opened her pokedex. Immediately, a hologram of raining tokens (hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs) loaded up in front of her.



"Warsaw. Hit the Warsaw one," Miles said, seeming to watch the pokedex more than the road.

Annie poked the appropriate button on the touch screen, and the hologram switched out the flying words to say:



Then the words flew out so that the scrolling text appeared, read aloud by the robotic female voice in the app.



The lack of enthusiasm in the monotonous voice made Annie giggle nearly the entire time. Miles was already turned around and had opened the window again, shouting, "HEY, MATT! Where's the shortcut?"

Matt reappeared in the window and babbled a bunch of directions that made no sense to Annie. She was even trying to be helpful and pulled up the GPS app, but she closed it right back up 'cause how does one work this thing i mean really.

"How long doez eet take to get zere?" Eric asked. Annie turned around in her seat to watch the discussion.

"It's about an hour drive from Plonsk to Warsaw," Art said from directly behind her. She lifted herself from the seat to see him pouring over his pokedex. "We've only got a half hour, though."

"Shortcut should get us there," Matt said loudly, racking the windows, it seemed, for Miles and Annie. She slapped her hands to her ears. "Oh, sorry." He pulled himself back outside and continued. "If you redirect it using this road here... there."

"27 minutes!" Art said. He jumped to his knees and stuck his face into the window. "DRIVE, MAN, DRIVE!"

Eric sat in the back of the truck, filming through his Pokedex. On each page, he imagined what the pokemon would be like as his partner. One after the other, he kept turning them down -- not because they were bad pokemon, because Eric did not believe such things existed -- but because he felt inadequate for them, instead. He landed on a page and turned to Mal, shouting over the heavy wind blowing through their collective hair. “HOW WOULD YOU ZUZPECT ZIS POKEMON TO BE AZ MY PARTNER?”

Mal stifled a laugh, and Eric raised his eyebrows. “SORRY DUDE, I JUST DON’T SEE YOU AS A GYARADOS TYPE OF GUY. NO OFFENSE.”

Art chimed in. “I DISAGREE. STUDIES SHOW THAT GYARADOS HAVE A TENDENCY TO RESPOND WELL TO LEVEL-HEADED INSTRUCTION FROM LESSER TRAINERS JUST AS WELL AS ACE TRAINERS LIKE SILAS WHAT’S-HIS-FACE FROM AMERICA.”

The truck ran through a pothole, sending everyone jumping.

Eric felt along his belt and pulled out the appropriate ball. “BUT I AM IN POZESSION OF ZE PRE-EVOLVED FORM OF GYARADOZE! ZURELY HE COULD BE MY COMPANION!”

Everyone stared in shock. Then, in chorus,

“WHERE’D YOU GET THAT?”

“It waz in a pokeball I found at ze zanctum while Milez waz, how you say, kicking ze azzez of ze bad guyz.” He realized the wind had stopped whipping around him, and he looked around. Jasmine had commanded Misdreavus to project a protection bubble around them, stopping the wind. The entirety of her hair was blown to the right of her face, making her look like a tree that had spent too much time in a storm.

“Well,” Mal said, “I guess you’re gonna be a Gyarados dude. Who’da thought?”

Matt crossed his feet and his arms and puffed out a long breath. “Gyarados aren’t all that tough.” He instinctively flexed his muscles, making his pecs jump. Eric was pleased.

The truck suddenly stopped, and Ariel dropped her shield. Everyone poked their heads through and around the truck to see what was stopping them.

“Muking Psyduck…” muttered Miles.

Art was displeased. “We’ll never make it if we keep hitting stops like this in the way!”

“All the world’s stupid,” deadpanned Matt, “wrapped up in a duck that you can’t even eat.” His stomach growled. Everyone’s stomach growled in return. Eric smiled at the goofy ducks waddling across the highway. One stumbled and rolled over on his head.

“Psyyyy…”

“I do not think zey are ztupid at all!” cheered Eric. “Zyduck are wonderful Pokemon that just need love and affection and--oh, I’m going to catch one!”

He peered at the Psyduck, who all turned to stare back at him, eyes glowing faintly. They’d picked up on his intentions! Well...all but one Psyduck was glowing. The one who’d tumbled earlier just cocked his head to the side and quacked. Eric reached into his bag and retrieved a Luxury Ball. Kicking his heel back, he tossed the ball at the sighing psyduck and watched as the ball sat still, not even ticking! It flew back to him as his catch was successful. The other Psyduck peered at where their friend had been just seconds before, and all began running and quacking like mad to get away from The Road That Makes Ducks Disappear.

Miles cocked his head over his shoulder. “Name him?”

Eric smiled warmly. “Julius. He iz Julius.”

Mal looked in confusion as Art scribbled furiously onto a pad, a series of illegible numbers and equations sprawling the pages. In his knees he had his ‘Dex laid out, all Mal could catch was “Fest” due to the glare in the back of the truck.

“Please stop, you’re making my head hurt,” Mal complained as he tried to decipher the code. “You’re like a Beheeyem or something.”

“It’s just a simple equation,” Art said without looking away from his notes. “I just need to-”

“English please.”

“...I’m using the database to calculate-”

“I said english.”

“It will tell us how many points we’ll have by the end of the festival, using the current stats of all the trainers.” Art scribbled a few more things, finally creating a little worm as he circled his final product. “Now I just need to plug in our current totals and I should know, roughly, what we’ll have.”

“You figured out the formula for bravery?” Jas asked rhetorically.

“Kinda,” Art answered, typing into his ‘Dex again. “Weird, Mal your name doesn’t show up in here.” Art scanned the Irish lad instead. “Mike Alpha Lima?”

“The Alpha Lima Bean!” Matt shouted, whooping his hands in the air. Mal could smell the faint trace of booze on his breath, which seemed odd for how long they had been on the road.

“Yeah,” Mal said nervously, stroking the back of his neck. “Mal is a nickname, M.A.L. was on my backpack in school, it sorta stuck.”

“You said your name was Malcolm when we met,” Jas said.

“Er, well, long story.” Mal tapped on his leg. “Short version, people thought Mal was short for Mal-”

“Bored,” Matt said, followed by a belch. “Brainiac, how many points am I gonna get?”

“Alpha Romeo Tango,” Art replied, ignoring Matt as he looked at Mal.

Mal could feel Jasmine starring as well, he needed to work on his lying skills if he wanted to keep this up. Or be honest, that would be refreshingly easy. Mal took a breath, ready to confess-

“What kind bullshit answer is that?” Matt spat off the side of the truck.

“Watch where you zpit,” Eric said, cringing at the little bit of speckle that landed on him.

“As you wish, my queen,” Matt said with a fake bow.

Mal took a mental sigh, the mini battle between Eric and Matt taking the heat away from him. Eventually he would come clean, he wanted to tell them, but now wasn’t the time for that. Now was the time to embrace adventure, and not think about the bad stuff. If Mal couldn’t even do what he came to the Festival to do why should he stick around.

Taking a breath Mal leaned into the Truck side, watching the chaos with a slight smile, earning him a curious side eye from Jasmine. Matt had ended up on the floor of the back, drooling all over Art’s sneakers.

“I cannot wait for thiz to ztop,” Eric muttered as he cleaned his Luxary ball with a handkerchief.

“That’s right!” Matt got back up, climbing over to the front window. “Hey! When are we gonna be in War-”

“Hold on!” Miles shouted in panic.

The Truck swerved, throwing Matt tumbling into Eric, and nearly causing Mal to fly off the side of the truck, only barely being saved by a quick grab from Jasmine. “Hold on, I don’t need a third ghost just yet.” Mal nodded, his head still rushing from the speed of the swerve.

“No regenerations for me,” he mumbled as his head began to pound.

“Good, I like Nine.”

Mal turned away from Jas, a well timed Pokemon release allowing him to hide a slight blush.

“Double Kick!” Miles yelled, all Mal could see was Combusken run into the grass, piecing together the rest from the series of barks and squeals that followed.

“Houndoom,” Mal said, the barking like Deja Vu. “Why are we fighting a pack of...seven Houndoom?” He didn’t dwell on it, responding by grabbing Ronin’s ball from his belt and climbing towards the front. By the time he was able to get there Megaman was running back, the sounds of fleeing Houndoom in the distance.

“Seven?” Art said, rubbing his head. “How do you figure?”

“The barks, there were six distinct pitches.” Mal answered. “Which is unusual, Houndoom usually travel in packs of three, at most five.”

“And you asked me to speak english.”

“I don’t really care about how many there should be,” Miles said, popping up from the side of The Truck.. “I mostly care about the fact that they melted our tire.”

“Over there,” Matt shouted, barely balancing on top of The Truck’s hood. “There’s a *hiccup* farm or something.”

“I guezz we can kizz thoze pointz away,” Eric said as he hopped out the back.

“And kiss some new friends here!” Annie said cheerfully. “Wait that came out wrong.”

"Darn tutin' we best hope to tarnation that we find ourselves some nice fellas or folks up there," Mal shouted, pulling a ten gallon hat from his bag. "Yippey kay yay!"

"What the fuck," Matt said, surprisingly non-screamy, as he slipped from the hood.

BANG! BANG!

"Ohhh myyy goooosh," Annie squealed, curtailing it behind the nearest person which so happened to be Mal. She put her hands to her ears and peered from behind him. Everyone else had also stopped in their tracks, a bit shocked.

"Is that a..."

"Giiiiit outta 'eeeere!" shouted a chubby old man, carrying a rifle. He pointed it into the air and pulled the trigger.

"Vait!" Eric yelled, cringing as well. "Our truck! Ve need 'elp--"

BANG! BANG!

Mal whipped off his hat and waved it in the air. "Hang on, cowboy! I reckon we're only 'ere fer a moment of yer time--"

BANG! BANG!

"Uncle Johnny, put dat dar rifle dere down, now, y'hear?!"

A far younger man ran out of the house and chased after the old man, putting a hand on the rifle to lower it. He even tried to take it out of the man's hands, but Uncle Johnny refused to give it up. His narrow eyes bore into every single one of them. "Whad are dey doin' 'ere?" he asked, jabbing a finger in their direction.

The young man looked up and beamed. He saluted them with a tip of his hat and reached out a hand to the nearest chap, that being conveniently Miles. "Name's Lee."

"Miles," he said, taking his hand, which shook rather fervently. When he took it back, his hand hung there in the open as if the handshake was a bit of a shock for it. "We, uh... Out tire was burned by a pack of Houndoom--"

"Ahhh, nasty critters, they are," Lee said, putting his hands on his hips. He seemed to be smacking a piece of gum all of a sudden, something Annie failed to notice through all the commotion. And it was a rather loud smack! "Dey been chasin' off our ponyta fer da last, ohh... t'ree weeks, would you say, Uncle Johnny?"

Annie's eyes suddenly bulged and she appeared in full from behind Mal. "Poooonyyytaaaaaa??"

Lee's eyes fell on her, and he paused. He suddenly tipped his hat again and held out a hand, saying, "Why, you must be the prettiest thing 'round 'ere for an 'undred miles! And I do 'ave a thing for blondes."

Annie felt her cheeks warm as she took his hand, and he shook it very slowly compared to Miles' hand. She only laughed, though, and said what was on her mind. "I've always loved ponyta! How do they keep their riders from not getting burned?"

"Dey can control it!" he said proudly, puffing out his chest. "Y'all wanna step in and 'ave some tea? I'm sure cousin Debbie's got some cookies made fer ya. 'Fraid cousin Joe wen' off to da bar, but 'e'll be back tonight if y'all are stickin' around--"

"Actually, we're hoping to fix our truck so we can get going," Miles put in.

"I'll take a beer to go, though, if you got one," Matt said from the back, raising his hand up to draw Lee's attention.

"By golly, sure thang!" Lee exclaimed. He had a thing for fidgeting with his hat. "We do 'ave an extra spare. Captain Grant ain't gonna 'ave a solid one for ya, though, but we've got a couple other vehicles. One of 'em's got a spare for ya."

"We'll pay for one if you can spare a spare," Annie piped up, ignoring Miles' narrowed eyes. She did, once in a while, have a bad habit of offering to pay when she didn't have the money to give.

"Ah, no, I reckon y'all can take one--"

"Nah, boy!" Uncle Johnny growled, shoving him aside to get a good view at Miles. Then he walked onward and eyed Eric. He turned to Mal and actually flipped his hat off his head to get his good look at him. Then Art, though he seemed unimpressed with his build. He overlooked Jasmine, who gave him a hard look, gliding away from him in response and resting next to Annie. And finally Matt, with whom his eyes widened and he cackled. He slapped a hand on Matt's back, shoving him forward a bit. "Gotcha!"

"Hey, now!" Matt exclaimed. "I just want a beer, nothin' more than that, unless the cousin Debbie's hot--"

"Dey can handle da houndoom pack!" Uncle Johnny said with a wide grin. It made Annie nervous.

But Lee was ecstatic. "Ah, great idea, Uncle Johnny! Y'all can pay by tryin' ta knock out some houndoom fer us. Really, they're all causin' us grief. We're losing ponyta left 'n right, and we can't afford to lose anymore. We'd really like to find some of 'em again, hones'ly. We'll send y'all some home-cooked dinner if you find our lost ponyta!"

"Got some good ol' tough chaps 'ere," Uncle Johnny said with an approving nod. "Go catch some houndoom, and I'll make it worth your while."

Matt looked a bit uneasy at Uncle Johnny's gleaming eyes, stepping back into Annie and Jasmine. Both of them made very different sounds of disapproval, pushing him off them.

"Da two ladies 'ere can camp inside wit cousin Debbie if dey--"

"Don't think so," Jasmine snapped, crossing her arms. Annie thought she saw Murtle fly behind them, disappearing into thin air. She recognized this move by now. "We can handle ourselves out there."

Lee laughed. "Fair enough, ma'am! Cousin Debbie'd say da same thing. I like dat spaa-ahhhhhh!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUNT."

Miles
Where Seldom Is Heard A Discouraging Word

Everyone trudged off after the rednecks with guns--everyone but Miles, who knelt beside the truck’s melted tire to look it over again. There was no question that it was beyond saving...but having to work for those guys for a spare seemed a bit much. He thought about Annie and the Ponyta. He thought about Eric’s Psyduck. He thought about the last time any of them had eaten. He’d seen the fight against the Houndoom earlier, how Megaman had gotten crunched on from arm to foot. He wasn’t going near that again. He’d stay inside, be called a wuss for backing out of the battles, and just make food for the pokemon. He had studying to do, anyway. So he hauled out his backpack from the truck’s tailgate and followed down the trail, trying his hardest to keep his mind on the swarming greenery around him. It all tried so hard to be beautiful.

His boot crunched against something in the dirt. He knelt.



“...the hell?” He turned the bottle over and over again, studying it. “Annie doesn’t have psychosis?” He pursed his lips together and stowed the bottle in his backpack. Medicine bottles didn’t lie. That’s what he’d gathered from his mom, at least. Xanax, Valium, all scattered around their apartment. He was used to bottles, just not the name on them. It always felt accusatory to Miles. Like a pharmacist who’d give you your medicine and say a prayer for you while you walked away, popping a pill already because you can’t make it out the door without it in your system, or at least on the way.

Miles thought of parties on Long Island. He thought of painkillers and psych meds. Everyone popping them like candy to be put so far out of their minds that a bullet couldn’t bring them back. That left him with a serious question.

Was Annie’s legit?

She’d always been so happy--and still was! No signs showed...not like they did with his mom or his brother. Maybe it was all around him, like air. Maybe it was just a force to know and be friends with.

Miles reached the house and tucked his stuff away in a small bathroom near the entryway. At least these folks had their priorities straight. He shut the door and spent a long minute staring into the mirror, checking his teeth, his face, his hair--everything that had to be perfect for no one to notice. His hair was officially to his shoulders, and the braid Misdreavus had left him hung like a keychain from the ignition switch in the truck.

A knock came to the door. “Hey y’all, whoever’s in there. That there toilet’s seen some better days, so if ye need to, just give it a few flushes of faith; it’ll go right down like the light stuff does!”

Miles’ throat tightened. “T-thanks,” he squeaked out. Memories snuck in on him, itching at his fingers. He retrieved the bottle of meds from his backpack and read it all again. Annie’s perfect attendance. Annie’s broken ankle. Their trip to Splish Splash with no adults when Miles got his license. When they’d forged their parents’ signatures and gotten tattoos of tiny dots that looked like freckles on their upper arms. Nothing pointed to this bottle.

He stowed it without a second thought.

“It’s time for Chef MacFarlane to make some grub.”

He opened the door and wandered into the living room where the daughter sat, watching a familiar American TV show on television. “I, uh. I don’t suppose you have any berries fresh, do you?”

She turned her head and sized him up, a sly grin covering her face. “For you, sugar, anything’s fresh.” She limbered up from the couch and scuttered to where Miles was standing, extending her hand. My name’s Debbie, Lee’s older cousin, but I’m really more like a sister to ‘im.” She gleamed. “What kinda berries will y’all be wantin’?” Miles retrieved a pokeball and released Mate into the air, wings flapping excitedly.

“Mate here was raised around fresh berries, so I’ll let her choose.”

Debbie put a hand to her heart. “Oh my stars! That must be the most be-a-utiful Butterfree I ever did see!” Her hand brushed her wings. “You must be a real good breeder for your Butterfree to have such smooth wings.” Miles grinned a bit with pride. “Once, this fella stopped by and he had a Butterfree, and its wings were all yeller and whatnot from all sortsa dirt an’ dust he’d let that poor thing into, it was just a mess!”

Miles smiled. “I do try to take good care of her...and all my pokemon! That’s, uh, that’s why I’m not fighting with the others out in the pasture. I guess you can call me a hippie for liking peace.”

Debbie punched him in the arm and then wrapped her own arms around it, leading him on to the berry orchard. “Oh, I wouldn’t call you no hippie. There’s nothin’ wrong with wantin’ folks t’get along, is there? Well, if there is, then arrest me now!” They stopped where a row of trees were hung with the most enormous sitrus berries Miles had ever seen. “Well, here y’go. All the berries a ‘mon could ever want.”

“Mate, sniff out some fresh ones for some sweet poffins. At least twenty, if you don’t mind.”

“Why do they get Rapidash?” Mal whispered to Art as they left the ranch, Johnny and Lee charging ahead on their mighty steeds.

“Ya think I’m going to give my best n brightest to a buncha strangers?” Johnny asked without turning around. The dude had ears like a Zubat.

“N-N-No Sir, I reckon you wouldn’, smart thinkin’! Like my mama usta say-” Mal said, voice shaking.

“Damn right it’s good,” Johnny said. “Now drop the stupid accent, it’s starin ta bug me.”

“Sorry,” Mal said, stuffing his hat away. Behind him he heard a giggle, he wasn’t sure if it was Annie or Jasmine.

By the time Mal had stuffed his hat away the Ponyta had stopped, The Truck hadn’t broke too far out.

“Dis’ where ya found em’?” Lee asked as they came to The Truck. “Looked like they did a lot of damage to that thing, ya sure it’ll still run?”

“They only wrecked the tire,” Matt said. “Thing was already a running piece of crap before.”

“Um,” Annie looked around the truck, trying her best to remember what happened when it was attacked. “We were driving from over that way-” she pointed at the torn up grass. “then I think they came out of the trees over there-” she pointed at a very normal looked patch of trees. “Then after Miles drove them off, they ran somewhere over there. I’m not sure though, I didn’t get a great look.”

“Some idea is better than none,” Johnny said. “Thanks for the help, lil’ lady.” Annie smiled and returned to petting her Ponyta.

“Lee, I’ll go check out where she thinks they came from. Go with the rest of the kids, try and see if they left a trail when they fled.”

Lee nodded, gesturing the group of kids to follow him as his Rapidash galloped to the edge of the forest. “Now, what we need to loo-”

“Houndoom don’t leave footprints,” Mal interrupted, as he started scanning the bark of the trees. “Well, they do, just not many, and they wouldn’t help anyway. Houndoom, especially fleeing ones, run in diagonals, changing directions depending on what they smell.”

“Then how do ya suppose we find em’?” Lee asked, still looking at the ground.

“Burn marks,” Mal said, pointing to a black spot on the tree. “Houndoom don’t have perfect control over their flames when they run, so they leave little char marks in their path, Marty can track them.” Mal hit his belt, sending Marty out onto the ground. Mart was still bandaged up from Fight Club, Mal could see some blood on the fresh gauzes, but he was in good enough shape to track.

“And Cocoa!” Annie said, sending out her Poochyena. “Can he help?”

“Mightyena are supposed to be great trackers, I don’t see why he shouldn’t be able to help.” Mal broke off a piece of bark from the tree and threw it towards the pup. “Give that a sniff.”

The Poochyena took a long whiff of the bark, his eyes perking up almost instantly, head pointing right into the woods. “Ooch! Ooch!” The Pokemon started to charge forward, Annie hot on his path while the others scurried back to their Ponyta.

“I’ll let Uncle Johnny know,” Lee said, taking out a notepad as they ran forward, Cocoa and Marty charging ahead. He scribbled a bit onto the pad and tore the page off. “Drake, go find Uncle Johnny and give ‘im this.” Lee handed the paper to a Fletchinder he released off his belt, which nodded before flying off behind them.

“Hey Lee,” Art asked as he sped up to the rancher. “How many Houndoom have you guys seen anyway?”

“Total?” Lee scratched his head. “Got no clue, but we see about ten or so every night, last night there were thirteen. Why?”

“If ten of them are hunting, and if it’s growing-”

“Two hunters per pack, five in a pack,” Mal said. “We’re running into a horde of these things.”

“Plus whatever is causing them to act so strange,” Jas said.

“Think we can handle this?” Art said.

“Not a doubt in my mind,” Lee said. “Well, maybe a little doubt.”

“Pfft, a bunch of stray dogs? Vader could take them in his sleep, with a broken arm…”

Mal stopped listening as Matt went on, instead glancing at Marty. Even with the few days of healing the Pokemon was in bad shape, and the rest of his team weren’t in perfect condition either. “No need to worry now, right?” Mal kicked at his Ponyta. “We’ll make a plan when we get there.”

Matt
a beautiful day out in the country

"The houndoom are weak, come on, are you fucking kidding me, I could take them in my sleep," Matt continued, following the others. He trailed off when he realized nobody was actually paying attention to what he was saying.

Erratically, but with some sense of direction, or apparently so anyway, the poochyena led them in a direction. Matt puffed. He hated this. The prairie looked all the same. Occasionally it was punctuated by char marks. They seemed to be more of them with each meter. The grass was gradually giving way to rock formations and dirt. More char marks. Marty and the poochyena (Cocoa or something stupid like that) were growing more agitated by the minute.

"Vader, come on out," he muttered.

The landscape did not look pleasant. The pokemon were walking in circles now. They were actually going around in circles. The poochyena growled. Vader narrowed his eyes. He flexed his arms and narrowed his eyes, looking menacingly at the surroundings. The rocks did not look back.

There was a growl. It was very low at first, but it gradually grew in pitch and intensity, until Matt had to cover his ears. Most disquietingly, however, he couldn't see anything. Maybe a rustle, but there were no figures. More rustling. Matt grunted, trying to block out the noise. Another step, and

"DOOM"

They were everywhere, coming from all directions. Ten, twenty, thirty, possibly even more. They'd just fallen in a trap. How could they be so stupid?

"Remind me never, ever, ever," Matt screamed, "to follow your goddamn poochyena again! Metang, come on out! Vader, quick attack!"

The poochyena looked very distressed. It howled, turned in one direction, then promptly bolted in another, quickly vanishing among the turmoil.

"Cocoa!" Annie shouted, running after her pokemon. Lee bellowed something unintelligible and followed.

Marty was using rollout, Mal's Riolu was out too. Occasionally he saw a ghost type rain chaos in the pack of houndoom, then vanish just as quickly.

"Vader! Keep using quick attack! Metang: take down!"

Matt had to roll to avoid a houndoom rushing him. He stood back up, panting, and the houndoom charged again. Metang pounced on it, and it smashed into a rock. Matt backed away. He was briefly back to back with Mal, then they split as more houndoom attacked.

After a time even Vader was looking tired. Many houndoom were on the ground, but more were still coming.

"We have to go after Annie!" someone exclaimed.

"Let's haul our asses outta here first," Matt shot back, "then we can worry about Annie! Metang, confusion!"

"Houndoom are part dark you idiot!" Mal shouted back.

"Porco dio! Metang, hit them on the head!"

The battle raged on. The situation was less tense now. There were less houndoom, but more were still fighting to defend their territory. The pokemon were fighting desperately. They were all wounded. The situation was dire.

"Murtle, Rain Dance and take an edge off these hounds!"

The area around began storming, the water falling fast enough to make smoke from the houndoom. More smoke— and yelps— came every time Mal's Ronin landed a hit with water. Ariel was screeching and growling at as many hounds as she could, but there were too many. Jasmine released Roy and had him dish out as many damage dealing normal and fighting moves as he knew. She'd only gotten around to teaching him Rock Smash, but that was looking like enough.

Electricity was sparking between the raindrops behind Houndoom attacks. Eric seemed to have figured out how to use the water to his advantage, boosting the electric attacks and causing a stronger thunderbolt on soaking wet targets. Art picked up on it in a hurry, and soon thunder was sparking all around them.

It was tempted to pull out the last pokemon in her bag, but the tides were turning with the rain. The Houndoom pack, finally realizing they were outmatched, fled.

Everybody put their pokemon back in their appropriate pokeballs to recover, except for Jasmine and her growlithe. She crouched down to be at Roy's level, ignoring her soaking wet dress (thank all gods above it was mostly black and had multiple layers over her chest and hips) to scratch his head. "You've got to find Annie and Cocoa for us, okay? Sniff around till you find their scent."

"Grr-lith!"

As he sniffed, she looked at both Murtle and Ariel. They could do better, but they could do worse, and if she left one out it'd release whichever was in a pokeball. Besides, they acted as good scouts.

"That dog better find them before Houndoom come back," Matt said.

Jasmine shrugged. "We can probably take them."

"Zat nearly killed our pokemon!" Eric shoot back.

"Then Murtle and Ariel act as scouts, both use rain dance when they find something, and the pack's deterred. If we really need a boost, send Claude and slash or Ohm out to give them a good zapp"

Mal looked at her sideways. "Normally I come up with this stuff."

She shrugged again, watching Roy and not responding.

Roy let out a bark when he'd picked up on the scent, looking back at the group. Jasmine grinned at him, becoming much more animated. "Good boy! Go find 'em!" She ran after him, the others following behind.

In the distance, she heard howling.

"Anniedoll, you okay?"

She looked up from the ground, still feeling woozy, to see Daddy looking at her with a mix of concern and amusement, his hand holding her tiny shoulder. His look confused her as to how to react to the pain and itches all over her body now. Crawling backward and falling onto her bum, her skirt fell back a ways to reveal her two scraped knees. Tears filled her eyes.

Daddy squatted down next to her and gently swiped a thumb over one of her knees. She winced. Looking up at him, her lip wobbled as she asked, "What if Peanut doesn't come back?"

To her surprise, Daddy smiled and looked at her from behind his thick lenses. "Why would he run away?"

She shrugged, looking away.

"Do you feed him?" She nodded. "Does he sleep?" She nodded again. "Do you play with him?"

She nodded even more frantically, looking at Daddy with desperate eyes. "I take real good care of him, Daddy!" She hiccuped, tears falling down her cheeks. "He loves watermelon, and his favorite game is tag, and he's super ticklish when you rub his belly--"

Daddy chuckled. "Well, I don't know about Peanut, but I wouldn't want to run away from that. Unless Annie the Tickle Monster is as scary as I recall." While Annie took a moment to consider that, he wooshed down and tickled her sides. She giggled behind her watery hiccups. "Now, let's go find that phanpy before Mama gets all mad at me for getting you home late."

"Cocoa! Cocoa, slow down!"

"Annie, hang on!"

The poochyena barked as he ran further and further into the brush. They were far from the open prairie, it felt like. Annie could vaguely hear the commotion from the others anymore, though she was also concentrated on her little poochyena running away. Part of her just screamed to give up. Poochyena already ran away once. He lived on his own, on the streets, for who knows how long.

Lee had managed to catch up, falling into stride with her. Annie was huffing and puffing, a large stitch in her side making it increasingly harder to keep going. Out of nowhere, he grabbed her hand and smiled when she looked at him, confused. She smiled with renewed energy and increased her pace, if only slightly.

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

“Forget the dogs, we don’t have time.”

“Drug the thing if you can’t handle it yourselves, morons!”

Lee immediately stopped, jerking Annie backward, and dragged her behind a large brush and tree. “No,” Annie whimpered, but Lee put a hand over her mouth and held her down. She struggled in his grip and eventually settled when he didn’t give.

Lee pointed past the brush, said, “Shhh,” softly in her ear, and let her go to take a peek around the tree.

Annie shoved her concern for Cocoa in the back of her mind only temporarily as she followed suit, squatting by the bush and poking her head up to look.

Large trailers were parked in the open fields (making Annie wonder if they had just run through a small patch of wooded area splitting the two fields), and about thirty men (and women) worked around the area, some with clipboards, others with rather large weapons. Some houndoom and houndour littered the place as well, looking as fierce as the pack back at the farm.

Annie gasped when a wet nose slapped her ankle, causing Lee’s hand to drop onto her back. Both looked down to see poochyena hopping excitedly, a black business card in his mouth. Brow furrowed, Annie took hold of it.


“AH-ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Annie jumped so hard, she fell right back down and onto Lee’s feet. Poochyena also jumped, but he immediately took stance and started growling at the direction the sound came from. Yipping excitedly, he leaped forward, but Annie caught him just in time, scooping him back into her arms. He flailed and squirmed and pushed as much as he could to get out of her hold on him.

“Go go! Someone’s over there!”

“Houndoom, go!”

“GET THE TRUCK OUTTA HERE NOW!” Annie saw the guy, slapping the trailer in which what looked like blue flames glowed from inside. There was also a loud banging as the creature inside tried its best to escape.

Lee put his fingers to his mouth and let out a melodic whistle, sounding remarkably close to “Dixie”. He grabbed Annie’s arm and helped her up, despite the poochyena clawing at anything within a one-foot radius.

As she struggled to keep her balance and handle her flailing Cocoa, three ponytas and one rapidash arrived. At the same time, the houndoom were nearly closed in on them. “We’re not going to make it, Lee--”

In one swift move, Lee picked her up and plopped her on one of the ponyta. He slapped the hides of the other two, directing them toward where the farm would be.

Annie couldn’t hang on anymore, though, as Cocoa finally pushed off from her chest and straight down to the ground. He growled, yipped, barked, howled, and jumped on the first houndoom. The rest of the houndoom paused and snarled, bit, and claws at the poochyena. Annie screamed.

Lee, now mounted on his rapidash, shouted at her, “You hafta get to the barn now! I’ll be right behind you! HYAH!” He slapped the hide of her own ponyta, and the pokemon broke at a run toward the same direction of the barn.

Annie twisted around and cried out, “LEEEEE!”

But he ran the completely opposite direction -- toward the trailer.

And Cocoa was by himself. In a pile of houndoom.

Annie turned back and pat the ponyta’s neck. “C’mon, ponyta, we have to go back. They need out help! There’s no time! MILES!” she shrieked helplessly. Panicked, she leaned down toward the ponyta’s ear -- maybe to dodge overhanging branches, but it was convenient -- to just sing terribly off-key the “Dixie” tune. “Pleasepleaseplease, we have to go get Lee!” And she sang it again.

There was another barking sound up ahead. And then a familiar voice calling out, “Hey, Roy’s on to something!”

“I can tell.”

“JASMINE!” Annie yelled.

The ponyta stopped, turned around in a few complete circles, and then dashed in some direction that lost Annie now that she was terribly dizzy. Tears sprang into her eyes as she realized how lost she was, how she most likely lost Cocoa to a pile of houndoom, how Lee left her so quickly and easily.

“Oh, my goodness! I was so worried--”

“Mama! Mama, Peanut came back! He came back!”

Annie, tugging on phanpy’s ear because this is what little girls do to pets, ran toward her Mama (at Peanut’s somber speed) and hugged her. Peanut mussed Annie’s hair with his trunk, looking just as excited as Annie.

“Ooh yay! I’m so glad you did!” she said with equal enthusiasm, patting her daughter’s head. “Why did you have to find him in the first place?”

“Daddy took us out to the trail, and Peanut ran off, and we chased after him, but he wouldn’t slow down, so we lost him and I hurt myself because of a tree and Daddy gave me a piggy-back ride and we looked all over and I didn’t think he’d come back because it was getting dark and I got bug bites so I’m all itchy all over and then Peanut appeared out of nowhere with berries so we ate berries and then Daddy said we had to go home so here we are!”

“I checked the berries,” Daddy said from behind, a smile playing on his lips.

“I thought Peanut was gone forever…” Annie said, petting her happy phanpy. “But Daddy said he wouldn’t run away, so Peanut wouldn’t either!”

Both of them chuckled. Mama put her hand on Annie’s shoulder, squatting down to her level, and pet phanpy with her. “Everyone only ever wants to be home -- somewhere with food, companionship, comfort, love. That could be in a house, at a zoo, in a forest, on a mountain, or even a road to travel on.” Mama smiled and teasingly brushed Annie’s nose as she said, “Peanut says his home is with you.”

Annie leaned forward again to babble into the ponyta’s ear. “Pleasepleaseplease go back. We have to save Cocoa because he needs me he needs his friend his loved ones his home and and and then find Lee and help him and then get back to the barn for safety because it is safe there and--”

“Get ‘er!”

“GOGOGO!” Annie shrieked. The ponyta followed her panicked orders and ran the direction away from the men -- men who dressed similarly to the soldiers back at the Sanctuary. “Go find Lee! LEE!”

“Razor Shell!” Mal commanded at the sight of the Houndoom. Ronin bolted forward, slashing three unsuspecting Houndoom in the legs. They fell, revealing the Dewott to the rest of the pack. “Water Pulse!”

“Psy?”

As Dewott formed the circles in mid air, Houndoom only a few inches from chomping down on him, Eric’s new friend Julius, somehow out of his Pokeball, mimicked the motions, sending his own, more wobbly, pulse into the air, causing a shower over Ronin and the pack. Ronin, surprised by the shower, broke his Pulse, the houndoom pouncing on him.

“Dude, get that Psyduck under control!” Mal shouted, ready to run into battle himself.

“Juliuz is juzt curiouz,” Eric said. “Zorry.”

“Brick Break!” Vader shot forward, crushing two Houndoom with his devastating blow, allowing Ronin to free himself from the final one, blasting it back with a Water Gun. “What I say? One hand!”

“Is that-”

“Poochenya,” Jasmine finished, running over to the mut. “Annie must be nearby.” She looked around, then turned her attention back to the pup, petting him. “Do you know where Annie went?”

Poochenya barked, furiously pouting off into the distance, nothing in sight.

“With her Ponyta she could be anywhere around here, no way we can catch her,” Mal said.

“Reee!”

The group all turned to the screech in the air, Uncle Johnny was spiral towards them in a suicide dive, riding the back of a Braviary. “Woooo!” he shouted as the Braviary pulled up at the last moment, letting him roll off like it was nothing.

“You better have good news,” Uncle Johnny said. “For all the hassle it was to find ya’ll.”

“We found the Houndoom,” Art said. “Fought with them, but they ran off again, Jasmine sent out her Pokemon to scout for them.”

“Good! I’m guessing Lee took that pretty little thing with him to scout too? Probably has a crush on him, all the girls in town do.”

“About Lee….” Mal started, the look Uncle Johnny gave him made him freeze.

“What about him?”

“Annie, the pretty young thing, ran off during the fight,” Jasmine answered. “Lee went off to go find her, he could be anywhere.”

“Gosh darnit.” Uncle Johnny kicked the dirt. “Alright, me and Bird will go search for them. You kids focus on those Houndoom.” He tossed them a bag. “Use those Repeat Balls to catch them. We can’t have them reforming once we leave.”

“Yessirwhateveryousaysir,” Mal said, unsure why the rancer made him so afraid. “We will do whatever you ask.”

“Ze rain!” Eric shouted, pointing into the woods. “We muzt go now!” The group hopped onto their Ponyta, kicking them back into the forest, Uncle Johnny flying into the air behind them.

“Do you think Annie will be okay?” Art asked.

“She better be,” Jasmine said.

“Fear the wrath of Jasmine,” Mal said. “If he fails, the ghostly realm will take their puny souls!”

------------------------------------

“Stop!” Mal said, jumping off his Ponyta mid run, flinching as he hit the ground. “Look.”

“It looks like more burst bark,” Matt said.

“No, the amount of it,” Mal said, grabbing up bushels of burst grass. “There was a fight here, a lot of heavy fire. And cages, look there are bar prints in the dirt over here.”

“You think someone is trying to tame a pack of Houndoom to be wild and violent?” Art asked. “That actually makes a lot of sense, why else would there be so many?”

“The question is how they’re controlling them,” Mal said. “I mean, keeping one Houndoom on a team is fine, they submit to that. But get two or three, and they fight for dominance, and then they start challenging you. They would need some sort of Mega Alpha to control all these guys.”

“How do you know so much about Houndoom?” Matt asked. “It’s starting to freak me out.”

“Dad,” Mal answered, scanning through the rest of the grass. “His Houndoom used to have fights with a wild pack back in Ireland, I learned a lot from that.” Mal pulled up some weeds, smiling when he pulled out a shining red card. The card had “VOGON” in big red letters, under it was a “Call” with a giant black block next to it, some secret way to get the number must have been involved, Mal pocketed it.

“We’re dealing wiz zose guyz again?” Eric said. “We barely handled zem onze.”
“Yeah, so we should be better at it now,” Art said. “Our Pokemon are stronger, we got a new guy...though we lost Miles so it kinda evans out.”

“Hey! I’m worth at least three Miles!” Matt said, pounding his chest.

Mal gulped, he wasn’t so excited to watch another plan blow up in his face again, literally. “Let’s just find them,” Mal said.

“They should be this way,” Jasmine said, pointing at a few rows of tire tracks. “I’ll signal the ghosts to follow us.”

“Jeez, stop stealing my shtick,” Mal said.

“PONYTA PLEASE STOP!”

“Was that-”

Poochyena cut them off, wriggling out of Jasmine’s grip on him and chasing after the scream from her owner.

“Will that runt stop running off,” Matt complained. “I feel like this is becoming way more complicated than it needs to be.”

Miles
And The Skies Aren’t Cloudy All Day

“The trick is to take your thumb,” he scrunched his mouth to the side as he pushed, “and press down in the center, like this.” He demonstrated the motion to Combusken, who repeated it roughly with his strong thumbs. Poffin juice oozed from the center of the poor thing. “Nice try, Megaman. Just be a bit more gentle.” Meanwhile, Juice and Mate were busy putting the final touches on their own poffins, dotting holes and making sprinkles--Miles made sure it wasn’t sleeping powder--and having all the fun a pokemon could have in the kitchen.

“Free!”

Miles turned to see the most glamorous looking poffin he’d ever seen in his entire life.

“That’s gorgeous, Mate. How’d you get it so glow-y?”

“Freeeee!” She wiggled her nom nom stubs and kissed Miles in the face with a Silver Wind. He blinked and wiped his forehead, not sure what he’d expected out of that.

“I’m not sure what I expected out of that.”

“Is ev’rything alwright in there?” Debbie called from the entryway. Miles turned and blinked...and blinked. She’d changed out of her farm clothes, changed out of the dirt between her fingers and nose, put on a pair of short jeans so high and tight he could see a bikini line, and put on perfume that reminded Miles of Milotic swimming in the harbor back at home. If it were an anime, this would be when his sapphire eyes would sparkle like starlight-desu. “You sure do shine, sugah…” Debbie ran a hand down her waist and leaned against the wall. “I ain’t seen skin that supple since aint Maureen started sellin’...” She licked her lips in a perfect O, “Avon.”

Miles swallowed, a solid lump forming in his throat. “Y-you’re--” his voice cracked, “not so bad looking yourself, Debbie.”

“Oh sugah,” she walked over to him gently, and slowly. “Very slow, tell me how you feel, would ya?”

Miles leaned back against the counter, his Pokemon still working their fur off on poffins. Debbie ran a supple finger from his chin, down his neck, to the first button on his shirt. “Whaddaya feel, sugah?”

Miles clicked the buttons on all three pokeballs and took his pokemon back inside their homes. He didn’t want them exposed.

“I feel--” there went his voice again, cracking like a real peanut. “I feel your finger.” Mr. Smooth. Mr. Pacific Ocean Undertow.

“On your…?”

“Clavicle.”

Debbie raised an eyebrow. “Mmh, so that’s your game.” She leaned against his face and put her lips to his ear. “Maybe I like a lil’ vocabulary in my dreamhouse…”

Miles was speechless. He awkwardly shifted his hips away from the counter, springing across the room, but Debbie was in hot pursuit. She hammered him against the wall. “Yer from America, an’ I feel like I need t’welcome you right to Poland.”

Miles shook his head violently. “Oh no, no need. No need at all! I’m actually quite content with the amount of Poland I’ve taken in so fahhhhhh--mmmmm!” Debbie hushed him by crushing her lips over Miles’, forcefully cocking his head to the side with her newly-delicate hands. Miles’ head reeled and spun a bit before he realized a few things:

1. He was kissing
2. his first kiss with
3. a girl he just met while
4. his friends worked on her farm so
5. he could escape the country.

But the kiss felt so damn good.

Debbie tugged on his collar and led him, not unlike a puppy chasing a blueberry biscuit, to a small nook in the back of the house. She sat him down and took his hands. “Miles, sugah, you’re gon’ be a man today.” Debbie leaned in to his ear and whispered, “I remember my first time.” She grabbed his belt. “It was hot.” She tugged it back. “And it turns on red lights everytime I see a man bake.”

Miles shivered. “B-bake!”

Debbie grinned. “That’s right. It was me and a baker. That one night? It’s where we get that there term, baker’s dozen.”

Miles was feeling very lightheaded and very self-conscious in his skinny jeans. There was simply no room for this torture.

Debbie unbuttoned his shirt, stroked his pale, scrawny chest, and kissed him again. Outside the window behind him, Annie raced by on a Ponyta, followed on-heel by Poochyena and the entire gang.

And fourteen seconds later, she was pulling on her clothes, cooing in Polish as she gathered her things like a squirrel.

“W-where’re y’goin’?” Miles asked, holding his shirt in, admittedly shaky, hands.

“Oh, honey, oh sugah, oh sweetie…” She kissed him on the cheek and patted his head. “I’ll put it so simple even my special needs cousin Mary-Anne Malarny could understand.”

Miles waited with bated breath.

“If I could, under any circumstance of the law of Poland or Hazzard Georgia or wherever the hell we live, I’d bill you for that performance so hard you’d think you’d just spent fourteen seconds in a dark hallway cranny with you, naked.” She leaned down and pecked him on the lips. “But hell if you ain’t one hell of a baker.”

Miles was embarrassed out of his mind, swore he’d never speak of this. Debbie clogged down the hall in her cowboy boots and up the stairs to where her room was, and Miles sulked to himself ask he particularly pulled on his clothes (in record time, mind you). As he held up a Pokeball to let Megaman into the room, he was knocked to the floor by the shake of a nearby explosion. Miles ran outside and gasped, wide-eyed, as he saw a grain silo burning behind the farm.

"Are we sure this mutt has any idea where it's goin'?" Matt asked for the nth time.
"I told you last time you asked that it's the best lead we've got," Art panted, struggling to keep up with his peers. "I also, if I remember correctly, challenged you to think of a better idea, and you've yet to suggest anything."
Matt scowled and slugged Art in the arm. Art winced and clutched his shoulder as he kept running. "And I definitely told you I didn't want to play Punchies!"

The trees were clearing as they progressed, and eventually opened out entirely. The group recognised the farmhouse they'd started from, the grain silo a short distance away.
"We're right back where we freakin' started!" Matt shouted at the Poochyena, who flinched at the sudden aggression. "Some tracking dog you turned out to be!"
Poochyena barked back at him. Matt began shouting at it in Italian. No one else was quite sure what to do - Mal and Art glanced at one another, Eric muttered something in French while looking down at his phone and Jasmine just sighed and rubbed her forehead.

The "argument" was cut short by the addition of a third party: a howling Houndoom. Matt's voice faltered and Poochyena's barking dropped to a low growl. The Houndoom stalked towards them from the direction of the silo, flanked by a group of men sporting familiar-looking black uniforms. An ominous black van was parked a short distance away.

One of the men - with a much more ornate R decorating his top than his peers - stepped forward and addressed them with a fairly monotone voice. "I take it you're the little jerk-offs that have been messing with our hunting packs?"
"Is that why you've only got one with you?" Mal said, glaring.
"Don't sass me," the gangster growled. "For a group of pipsqueaks like you, we only need Fluffy Puff."
"Fluffy Puff?"
The guy massaged his nose. "My... my daughter named the dog. Look, just... sic 'em, Fluffs!"
The Houndoom charged, but was stopped in its tracks by the combined force of the Poochyena and Jasmine's Growlithe, both of whom leapt at its head and grabbed at its horns with their teeth, throwing it off balance: within moments it was down on the ground, flailing. The lead goon was visibly shocked, and turned to his colleagues. One of them shrugged. Another, staring off in the distance behind them, turned and nodded with a smirk at the leader. As if on his command, a bright red flare shot up into the air from, if Art remembered his tour of the farm correctly, the Ponyta stables. After lingering for a few seconds, the sparks faded.

The boss grinned, raised his hand and pointed with two fingers to the van. The rest of the black-clad group began moving quickly to the van. Matt and Mal stepped forward as if to follow them, but were pushed back by the leader.
"Uh-uh-uh," he said, pulling a Poké Ball and a radio from his pocket. He withdrew Houndoom from the scuffle and held the radio to his mouth.
"Hey, doc. That 'rocket' we set up next to the farmhouse. Send it to the moon."

The next thing Art knew was that the air was full of dust and smoke, his ears were numb and he seemed to be airborne. The silo off to their right had been blown to pieces in an ear-shattering explosion, which had forced Art off his feet and several metres back, where he landed square on his -
"Butt out if you twerps know what's good for you," the man snarled from exactly the same spot he'd been standing before, completely unfazed by the explosion. He turned and strode, almost casually, towards the black van.

"Cinders and ashes!" Art gasped. He'd rolled backwards as he'd landed and his head felt strangely numb as a result.
"Hey! Hey! Get back here!" a furious voice yelled as Miles came tearing towards them from the direction of the farmhouse. He slowed to a halt as the van disappeared from view.
"What the hell happened?" he panted, turning to the others.
"Somebody set up us the bomb," Art groaned woozily.
"They're gone," Matt muttered disgustedly. The sound of galloping hooves drowned out whatever string of curses he let out next as Annie, astride a Ponyta, slid awkwardly off the side of her mount without waiting for it to stop, stumbled towards her Poochyena and snatched it up in her arms, then dropping to her knees and staying there, panting slightly. The Ponyta slowed to a trot and circled back towards her.

Everyone else was silent for a moment. Art took the opportunity to coordinate himself and gradually get back on his feet. Mal, crouched a short distance behind Art, felt the ground curiously.
"Art," he spoke up, "you didn't hit your head, did you?" He lifted a stray brick from the hay-covered dirt.
"I don't think - oh, hold up. Yeah. Preeetty sizable lump right there," Art said as he gingerly felt the back of his head. His slight wince melted into a dopey half-grin as his eyes lost their focus and he toppled forward.

"Murtle. Ariel. Rain Dance any buildings that need it."

"Help 'ir out, Isabelle," Eric said, releasing the Lapras. "You, too, Julius."

Water pokemon were released by everybody who had them, turning into a fire brigade for the farm.

the fire always did burn too hot, and you could never really have it go away, could you? those candle flames you'd played with, that litwick who'd lapped at your hands, who'd make you dream of warm fields where all you did was sleep...

"Jas!"

Jas blinked and looked up to Miles holding Annie around the shoulders, hugging both her and Cocoa. "You okay?"

Jasmine looked around to see she was the only one not doing anything. Mal and Matt were carrying Art to the farmhouse, Eric was chasing after water pokemon, Miles was holding Annie and Annie was being held.

She opened her arms for Roy and smiled. "Thought you all had it under control!"

Ignoring Miles' look in her direction, she skipped off to find somebody who needed help, only to be stopped by Lee coming back on a Rapidash, Uncle Johnny behind him. "Where're the others?" Lee asked.

Jas pointed across the farm to the various locations her friends had gone to, the largest cluster being towards the farmhouse where Miles was now leading Annie back towards the house.

"Get'er all together," Uncle Johnny said.

Jasmine smiled. "I'll make sure we've played fireman right."

Lee looked towards the water jets and embers burning. He swallowed. "Th-thanks."

Whinnying from the barn drew their attention. Lee sighed. "I'll get 'em herded."

----

"We lost a shiny ponyta," Lee said over a plate of meat and potatoes. "Group took it and I lost 'em awhile ago."

Everybody got solemn, Miles in particular. Matt was chewing on a toothpick with a certain air of failure.

Annie tried to smile. "At least we took care of the Houndoom!"

"Just a cover," Mal said, back to figuring everything out. "For something."

Jasmine scratched Roy's head, looking at the black pieces of paper on the table. "Those cards you found have something to do with it."

"Dunno," Art said, barely recovered.

"Well," Uncle Johnny sad. "Might not've won, but you kids helped stop the blaze and kept yer wits about ya. How about dinner."

Matt glared at nothing in particular. "Fuck, this was supposed to be a shortcut."

"And youuu!"

Annie turned away from cousin Debbie's quick good-bye embrace to see a few ponyta herded over to them. She recognized, however, the ponyta that ran her wildly all over the forest into the unknown direction that landed her right where she should be -- with her friends.

She hugged the ponyta, petting his nose. "You were wonderful out there. Thank you so much for saving me, you clever thing!"

The ponyta nuzzled her back.

"Well, cowgirl!" Annie blinked as Lee, still holding on to another ponyta's rope tied around its neck, walked toward her with a wide grin. He tipped his hat. "Mighty fine to meetcha, that's fer sher!"

She giggled, still petting the ponyta. "Same to you! And now I can finally tell... everyone I've ridden a ponyta!"

"Yer welcome to come back, ya know," he said, and pat Annie's ponyta. "I think this guy would miss ya. He really likes ya! Must've bonded in the wood while I was gone."

"Well... I guess one would say that," Annie said with a shrug. "At the time, it felt like the opposite. But I know now he was confused and made his own decisions!"

"We trained 'im well! 'Swhat I like t'hear."

They stood silently for a moment, petting the ponyta, exchanging awkward glances at each other. Thankfully, Miles walked up, eyeing Lee. "We're about to head out, Ans."

"Say, I hope y'all stay safe," Lee said, sending a playful punch into Miles' arm. "If the spare does ya wrong, just holler! Oh, and if you find a shiny ponyta on the way to town..."

"Yeah, sure." Miles sighed and made to turn toward the truck and the others (all scattered about in their own groups anyway). "If we cross paths."

"Well, we might. Cousin Joe's down in Warsaw still. Maybe we'll run into each other yet," he said, looking at Annie with a hint of puppy-dog-eyes.

She laughed, shoving hair behind her ears awkwardly. "That would be great! I wish we could have been of more help. I'm really sorry they took your shiny ponyta and burned your barn thingy--"

"--silo."

She gave Miles a pair of grateful eyes as she continued. "Best of luck to you guys."

"Same to you, darlin'." He held out a hand toward Miles. He looked at it hesitantly, knowing full well what that man's grasp can do to his entire skeleton, but took it anyway. And of course, Lee rattled his bones until Miles couldn't see straight and wobbled where he stood. When he moved on to Annie, though, Lee took her hand with a gentle hold and gave her an admirable look. Her cheeks warmed, and she withdrew her hand.

No one ever told her how dreamy Polish men were.

Miles started toward the truck, but Annie clung to his arm before he got out of range. It caused Miles' step to hesitate, but it picked up back into pace almost instantly.

"Warsaw, here we come!" Matt shouted, punching the air. He was already standing on the back of the truck, ready to surf the road.

"Ve von't vin ze challenge," Eric said.

Annie pulled out her pokedex just as Mal said, "We still got us some mighty fine points out of that thar houndoom escapade. I'll take it."

And so they did. Annie was growing a fond admiration for hearts now.

"WOAHHEYGETOUTTATHE--"

"Miles, what--"

The ponyta whinnied and turned around in a circle, away from the crazy humans. Annie, having been pushed away by Miles, recovered and looked back at the ponyta who seemed just as confused as she was. She looked at Miles.

"He was going to bite you," he said stiffly, still holding her arm like he knew she'd just prance right up to that ponyta if he didn't. Which he was right about.

The ponyta snorted at him in defiance, rearing his head as if shocked by the assumption.

Annie giggled and patted Miles' hand. "He's just saying good-bye!"

"Sorry 'bout dat," Lee said, patting the ponyta. "Didn' realize ya were 'fraid of ponyta--"

"I'm not. afraid." Miles rubbed the bridge of his nose, but when he heard the ponyta step a hoof toward them, he jumped into a brisk walk for the truck.

Annie pat Miles' shoulder until he was out of reach then smiled at the ponyta. She gave him one last hug. "You're one hot tamale, that's for sure! Keep an eye on the farm, alright?"

He snorted, shaking his head.Then shoved her toward the truck and followed. He circled her.

"Huh!"

"What?" Annie looked at Lee, extremely confused and begging for answers.

"What is it with you befriending all the pokemon we meet?" Mal muttered, scratching his head.

"Me?"

"He's right," Lee said, walking up to the ponyta and patting him. "He seems a bit worried yer gonna simply walk into Mordor if he's not watchin' yer back."

"One does not simply..." Matt gave them a strange, meticulous look to help him enunciate, "walk into Mordor." And proceeded to almost fall out of the truck from leaning too far forward. Eric and Matt both panicked (as Matt was going to fall right onto Eric), and Eric flailed his arms to keep Matt up while Matt flailed his arms like he could fly away and not fall on his face. Cue a fanatic array of spewed Italian and French gibberish.

"He's yers if ya want. They can get pretty stubborn. And we raise ponyta to eventually let them go somewhere. They don't stick around forever."

Annie stared at him. Because that's just too good to be true.

"And what is it with Polish guys giving her pokemon?" Mal muttered.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"