Story Notes:
This is the "other" Runaways story, the long one with more characters, plot, and some other stuff too.Okay, *clears throat* I do not own pokemon, or any of those characters. the events and characters of this story are all fictional and any resemblance to persons live or dead is purely coincidental, and not meant to be insulting.Also, the inclusion of Lucario and wave guidance is all Felix's fault. Go read "Luca"... it's good and it inspired some of this story.Also, categories will be updated as necessary. They will changeAlso, I will be changing the categories as they need to be changed. the main characters are all a bit young at this point for sex, but it will probably show up in some form or another later.Also, if you can guess what the title is talking about I'll give you a cookie! (And maybe a story request, if you want)
Ch 3 Hired help
The sun was going down and the nightlife was starting to wake up as Gin and I finally managed to get
back to the cave. We both a mess, covered in dirt and exhausted from our continuous scrapping all the
way back. I see Rogue running towards us and wave cheerfully. Only she doesn't stop as she gets closer
and she does not look happy. I realize too late what is happening as she headbutts me in the crotch with
a quickattack.
I sink to my knees clutching at my wounded pride; my vision almost doubling as I go slightly cross-eyed
and fight to keep from retching. I hear buzz and a yelp beside me and Gin is suddenly sprawled next to
me twitching from what I suspect was a thunderfang attack. She then stands in front of us and growls
and barks I don't need a translator to figure out that she is chewing us out for disappearing like that,
though I can't be sure of specifics. I groan and mutter a 'Yes dear' like I have heard my dad say nearly a
million times since the Witch moved in.
I immediately regret saying it as Rogue grabs me by the ear with her teeth and starts trotting into the
cave leaving me with the choice to either follow on my hands and knees or have my ear torn off.
Naturally I opt to follow. Once inside she releases my ear and I curl up on my side as she goes out and
quickly returns dragging Gin by his head ornaments. He just twitches a little as she drags him and I
frown, uncurling slowly. "You okay little brother?" I ask, my voice cracking in spite of myself.
He just kind of gurgles in response to my question. I reach out and gently turn him over so he is on his
side and facing down slightly and some drool runs out of his mouth. Yep, definitely paralyzed.
I stumble over to where my backpack is and pull out the survival manual and shuffle around until I find
the flashlight. I quickly turn to the page on berries and what they do for pokémon. According to the
book, we need cheri berries to fix Gin's current problem. Rogue is staring at Gin's motionless form with
a confused expression. When she looks at me I shake my head. "You paralyzed him." I say simply, "If you
want to fix him you need to go get some cheri berries."
Rogue just turns her head with a sniff and a short bark, as if to say he deserved it.
I roll my eyes, "Fine, I'll go get them."
-0-
They were harder to find than I expected, but eventually I was able to find a bush and pluck off a cluster
of the small, spicy red berries. I crawl back inside and check with the book again just how I'm supposed
to administer the berries to actually fix the problem; however, it just says that cheri berries cure
paralysis. I shrug and hold the riolu's muzzle so that he won't drown on his own saliva but the berries
won't fall out either and begin putting them in his mouth one by one. When I'm finished he is starting to
resemble a pachurisu the way his cheeks bulge out from all the berries. Still no reaction except for a low
moan. Maybe he needs to actually chew them?
I start manipulating his lower jaw so that the soft berries start to burst and the juices run over his
tongue. His moans gradually shift higher in pitch and then the riolu suddenly jerks his muzzle out of my
grip and bolts upright, shrieking through a mouthful of berries. "OOOMMMM MAAAI GAAAUUB!"
Rogue and I fall over laughing as the riolu starts spitting out berries, pawing frantically at his tongue, still
screaming unintelligibly as tears run down his face until his mouth is empty then he screams, "IT
BUUUURRRRRNNNSSSSS!!"
Rogue and I laugh even harder until tears are rolling down our faces as Gin bolts from the cavern. I'm
pretty sure he took a right and made a beeline for the river after that. He came back a few minutes later
and immediately tackled me and started shaking me, "Why did you put all of them in my mouth at
once!? You only needed to use one!" he pauses to take a deep breath and shift his grip to the sides of
my head before shouting, "ONE!"
I chuckle and shove the riolu off my chest, "Just making sure it worked. I've never used berries to heal
pokémon before and the book didn't specify the number."
Gin doesn't seem convinced and I shrug, starting to undo my chest wrappings. Man, I am a mess, and it
looks like I am going to have to disinfect myself again.
After another round of that spray and a new wrapping I lean back against the backpack, "I don't know
about you guys, but I am beat. Good night."
I switch off the flashlight and feel Rogue and Gin curl up on either side of me. "Good night, big brother."
Gin whispers.
-0-
We wake up the next morning acutely aware of a fourth presence in the cave, because whoever it is
standing on my chest, and they are very fluffy.
"Umm, hello?" I say hesitantly, guessing from the heat rolling off the visitor that they are a fire type. I
hear a growl and a yip. And Gin translates, "It's the growlithe from yesterday. He says he wanted to
thank you for helping his Mommy."
I smile, "You're welcome, but could we meet you outside so I can actually see you?"
The growlithe barks an affirmative and hops off my chest and walks out of the cavern. I soon follow and
find both the growlithe and his arcanine mother outside our cave I nod to her, "Good morning, ma'am."
The growlithe has something in his mouth and he steps forward to set it on the ground in front of me
then barks happily. I pick the item up, and though I'm not certain, I think it looks like a quickclaw
necklace. "Is this for me?"
He nods and I smile, "Thank you." before I slip it on over my head.
Gin comes outside about this time and nods, "It looks good on you, big brother." The arcanine barks
something to us before she leads her son away and disappears into the brush.
I turn to Gin with a smile, "So what was that last bit?"
Gin shrugs, "She said she was going to tell everyone how we helped her. I don't know exactly what she
means though."
I shrug, "I'm going to change into a shirt, and then we'll get something to eat."
I switch into a green shirt with a pikachu on it and after a breakfast of aspear berries Gin and I start
some real training routine of sorts, starting with something kind of like Tai Chi, by the river. While
moving through a slow series of graceful movements he slowly gathers his aura into a sizeable aura
sphere, and then through another series of movements he slowly compresses the sphere, but without
changing its power so that the golf ball sized sphere he ends up with is crackling with energy and arcing
angrily. Then he releases it and when it hits the river it explodes in a bright flash throwing water every
which way, drenching us both.
I stare slack jawed at Gin as the water falls back to earth around us he looks up at me and grins, "Now
you try it."
He carefully leads me through the movements, but nothing happens at all. No surprise to me, I'm only
human. Gin however is not satisfied. "You're not trying." He says accusingly.
I roll my eyes, "Gin, seriously, I'm a human. I can't do things like that."
Gin jabs me roughly in the side, "Wrong!"
"What do you mean 'wrong'?" I exclaim clutching my side, "Aura sphere is a pokemon move!"
Gin shakes his head vehemently, "The move may be, but the basis of it is on controlling you're aura. If
you have an aura, you have the ability to use aura based moves!"
Gin crosses his arms and spreads his feet, "Now we are going to do that again, but this time, relax and
just focus your energy into the space between your hands."
I sigh, "Fine"
We begin to go through the routine again, but this time I actually try. To my surprise, a small globe of
swirling blue energy actually forms between my palms. About the size of a baseball and a little oblong it
rotates rapidly in space. I see Gin grinning out of the corner of my eye. "Good, now focus on
compressing that same energy as we continue."
I follow Gin's direction and the sphere shrinks to about half the size of a cheri berry. Then it suddenly
vanishes.
"Huh?" I say in confusion, losing my focus entirely as I try to figure out where it went.
BOOM!
I fly backwards as the space in front of me explodes violently. I roll backwards and finish on my back
completely disoriented. Gin stands over me and crouches down next to my head, "Are you okay?"
I sit up, "Wha-what happened?"
Gin shrugs after he helps me to my feet, "I'm not sure, but it looks like you super compressed your
sphere then lost focus so it came completely undone."
I dust myself off and chuckle, "I'm just impressed I was able to do it!"
Gin's expression changes suddenly from a grin to a frightened expression. I turn to see a familiar group
of mightyena and poochyena coming out of the bushes. It's the same pack that ate the feralgatr I nod,
"Good morning. I hope we aren't bothering you."
Gin looks at me in shock, but I keep my eyes on the alpha as he lowers his head and growls something
quietly. I poke Gin, who is looking from me to the mightyena and back again. "What did he say?"
Gin shakes himself, "He is asking us for help."
I raise a brow, "How can we help you?"
The mightyena raises his head once more and goes on to explain the situation. Apparently, one of the
poochyena has gone missing. They were able to track her scent to a small tunnel. A tunnel which was
too small for any of the mightyena to enter, and they weren't about to send in one of their pups if the
other hadn't come back out yet. They also couldn't determine where the tunnel came out so they were
stuck if they couldn't get someone to help them. Apparently what we had done for the arcanine was
spreading through the forest like wildfire, and the mightyena already knew I was at least capable if I
could bring down a feralgatr, not to mention having guts since I had stood up to them, so, it made sense
to them that I would be able and willing to help.
I look at Gin and he nods slightly. I nod to the mightyena alpha and smile. "Sure. Just let me get my
flashlight."
-0-
I looked down at the tunnel, it was pretty obvious why the mightyena's had been unable to fit. It was
going to be a tight squeeze even for me, and I'm small for my age. Fortunately I could also tell that
although I would have to inch along like a caterpie for a short distance the tunnel did widen up into a
decent sized cavern which went on beyond the reach of the flashlight's beam. I glanced at Gin, "Should I
go first or you?"
"I'll go first, that way if you get stuck I can push you back out." Gin says before he crawls down the
tunnel. A few moments later he calls back to me, "Come on in!"
I squirm my way through the tunnel. I almost got stuck in the middle and was starting to feel
claustrophobic towards the end but felt immensely better once my head popped out into the larger
chamber. At least it felt better until Gin grabbed me by the hair and pulled me the rest of the way out.
"Geez Gin!" I exclaim tenderly massaging my scalp, "Did you have to pull me through by my hair? I was
doing just fine without help anyway!"
Gin grins in the dim light at the edge of my flashlight's beam, "I'd rather get this job done with sooner
rather than later. If we aren't back by lunch time I'm pretty sure Rogue will kick our asses again."
I chuckle, "Good point."
I flash the beam around us and I impressed by how big this cavern is. It is kind of honeycombed, and it
must slant downward since the ceiling gets higher the farther in you go. It also branches off in two
directions. There are two of us, so... "I'll take the left side you take the right." I say starting to make my
way through the chambers to my left, "If you find the poochyena or run into any trouble just shout
really loud and I'll come running."
Gin nods and starts off down the right hand route then stops "What if you can't hear me?"
I shrug, "Shout louder."
-0-
(warning, POV change! We are now in third person!)
Gin wanders the many chambers using all of his senses to try and find the poochyena. He lacks Danny's
flashlight, but he has a keen nose to make up for it, and man does it smell! The cave anyway. Gin shakes
his head, whatever made this cave could sure have used a bath.
After awhile he reaches a massive chamber that he can't even make out the far corners of, but he does
see something strange. In the center of the chamber is a tower of glowing crystals, and at the base is a
small opening. Gin hurries over to the opening and looks inside. He smiles, and shouts over his shoulder
at the top of his lungs "I FOUND HER!"
The opening leads through a narrow passage to a small hollow in the crystals which is filled mostly by a
frightened poochyena. Gin gestures for her to come out but she shakes her head, "If I come out he will
get me."
Gin frowns, "Who will get you?"
The poochyena whimpers and puts her paws over her eyes, "He will."
Gin frowns but a low growl comes from above him and he swallows hard before he slowly looks up. "Oh
-"
-0-
(and back to first person with Danny)
The beam of light in front of me bounces wildly as I sprint through the cave. Just moments after I heard
the faint sounds of Gin shouting that he had found the poochyena I had heard and felt an explosion of
some kind from the same direction. Just what that meant, I didn't know but it couldn't be good, since I
had heard Gin shouting all sorts of expletives afterwards and it was his cursing that was actually leading
me towards him.
The tunnel I am in opens up suddenly and I skid to a halt. Not far from a pile of glowing crystals in the
center of the room Gin is dodging the swinging arms of a huge rhyperior! My mind races as I sprint over
to where Gin is. Then it hits me, Gin has an advantage if he can find the room to use it. "Gin use Aura
sphere, the way you did this morning!"
Gin leaps back from the rhyperior, barely dodging a hammer arm attack that craters the ground where
Gin was just a split second before. "How!? He won't give me hardly enough space to breathe!"
"I'll get you the time!" I shout, putting on an extra busrt of speed as the rhyperior notices my charge and
starts to turn my way. I really wish I had a better plan than this! I think to myself as I drop the flashlight
and jump onto the rhyperior's flank and scramble around to between his shoulders. hopefully he won't
be able to reach me as well here. I firm up my grip with my left hand while reaching for my machete.
"Hey ugly!" I shout as I struggle to draw the machete from its sheath and the rhyperior does its best to
swat me with its cannon-like arms, "I'm right here! Can't get me?"
The machete finally slides free and I grin, "TOO BAD!"
I strike the arm closest to me and sparks fly from the machete. The arm recoils away from me and the
Rhyperior roars. I stick the handle of the machete in my mouth and climb a little higher up so I can reach
the head. The rhyperior's eyes widen, then narrow as it sees me just over its shoulder. I grin and take
the machete from my mouth. "Light's out mother-OHHELL!"
The machete goes flying from my hand with a loud clang as a bloody effing geodude flies out of the
rhyperior's left cannon arm and knocks it away. I slide down quickly, catching myself halfway down the
rhyperior's back as several more rocks fly out of the cannon arm, passing through where I had just been.
I take a quick look around to see that Gin is only half way through his aura sphere production and
compression.
"Sometime today would be nice!!" I shout swinging around to the other side as the rhyperior tries to
swat me again with its right arm.
"Don't rush me!" Gin shouts back.
Suddenly the rhyperior starts backing up quickly. I glance over my shoulder to see a wall rapidly
approaching. I yelp and scramble up the rhyperior, prefering to take my chances with the cannons than
the very unforgiving looking wall. I pull my feet up to the shoulder level as the rhyperior's back slams
into the wall so hard my teeth rattle and I nearly fall off. I manage to catch myself by grabbing onto the
beast's horn and I am now hanging on the side of the rhyperior's head. It smiles.
Oh crap. I see the cannon lift up behind me and I swallow hard. I am going to die.
"NOW!" Gin yells and I drop. At that same moment the rhyperior fires a rock out of the cannon that had
been pointed at me. I hear a loud CRACK! followed by an enraged roar. I scurry away from the rhyperior
as fast as I can and turn to see a small blue sphere strike it right between the eyes. It explodes violently
and the blastwave hits me like a thump to the chest and throws up a cloud of dust. I keep going
backwards until I am standing next to Gin, "Did we kill it?"
Gin shakes his head, "No, I don't think so."
The dust slowly settles and we see the rhyperior wavering on its feet. It takes a couple shaky steps
towards us then falls forward, unconscious. I let out a whoop and spin Gin around by the neck, "Not
dead but close enough!"
I put Gin back down, "Go get that poochyena and I'll grab my flashlight and machete and we'll get the
hell out before grumpy wakes up."
I hurry to where I dropped the flashlight and with the light I search the cave for my machete. I manage
to find half the blade near the crystals and I have just found the half with the handle when Gin shouts, "I
think he's waking up!"
I glance over my shoulder to see the rhyperior is starting to move. "I'm good!" I shout sliding the
handled half into the sheath and start sprinting to where Gin is waiting with the poochyena.
"GOGOGO!"
We sprint down the tunnel as fast as our feet can carry us as a roar echoes around us. I chuckle, "I think
he is a bit pissed."
A section of tunnel wall to my right shatters with a bang. I yelp and duck instinctively, and that saved my
life as another rock passes through where my head had been to explode on the ground ahead of us.
Up ahead I can see our escape tunnel. As more rocks explode on the walls around us Gin brings up a
sobering point. "There won't be enough time for all of us to get in before the rhyperior is close enough
to shoot accurately."
We arrive at the tunnel and the poochyena immediately hops into the tunnel and crawls through. I grab
Gin around the waist, "You first little brother." And shove him into the tunnel. He yelps as I shove him as
far as I can up the exit, and then I am running again. Almost immediately I dive to the right and the
rhyperior thunders past me.
Unlike the part we came from, this part of the cavern is just one massive chamber filled with columns. I
dart from column to column, keeping out of sight of the rhyperior, because I have a plan. A risky plan,
but more sane than climbing all over the rhyperior like a crazed apom.
I take a left and come out next to the rhyperior, "HEY FATTY!"
The ryperior whirls around and fires wildly. However I am already ducking behind a new group of
columns as the ones I was previously behind get demolished. I move around, popping out every now
again and taunting the rhyperior and disappearing behind a new set of columns, kind of like tauros
fighting on crack. pretty soon most of the majority of the columns are destroyed, and I find myself with
one set of columns between me and the rhyperior, and the exit is behind me. I leap out in front of the
columns, "DAMN YOUR MOTHER WAS SUCH A WHORE!"
I duck back around the columns and sprint for the exit. I hear an explosion behind me followed by the
rumble and roar of the beginnings of a cave collapse. I dive into the exit and squirm my way through as
the roof collapses down behind me. A minute or so later I pop my head out of the tunnel. Around me
are the mightyena and one very worried looking lucario who is wringing his paws nervously. One of the
mightyena spots me and starts barking as I manage to free one hand from the tunnel and start
leveraging myself the rest of the way out. The lucario whirls towards me, and so does one of the
poochyena. I quickly realize that the poochyena is Rouge when she starts pulling on my ear. The lucario
grabs me by the shirt as soon as I am halfway out of the hole and he pulls me the rest of the way and
shakes me, "Don't ever pull that sort of tauros crap on me again! You have no idea what sort of horrible
ends Rogue has been vocally planning for me if you hadn't come out since when I evolved I couldn't fit
back in!"
I manage to get my feet under me and grin, patting Gins arm as I say, "Don't worry little brother, I'd
never leave you hanging." I pause thoughtfully, "For long anyway."
Rogue nips at my jean's leg and barks something. Gin chuckles and releases me, "She says that if we
leave her behind like this again she's going to pee on all your stuff."
I laugh as I dust myself off, "I'll keep that in mind."
"Oh, and what was all that ruckus and earthshaking?" Gin asks as we start to walk back towards our own
cave.
I smile, "That was me taunting the rhyperior into bringing down the entire cavern on his head."
I glance over at Rogue after she bumps my shin with her head and gives a muffled bark. I take the
leather pouch from her and look at Gin, "What is this?"
Gin shrugs, "Not sure, but the mightyena found it somewhere and thought it would be useful to us and
consider it proper payment for rescuing the alpha's daughter."
I open up the pouch to find an assortment of crafting and sewing tools. I raise a brow, "Yeah, these are
gonna be useful as soon... as I learn how to use them. Until then they ain't worth a magikarp's tail."
Gin chuckles, "Then you should start learning."
We walk a little ways further then Gin grins broadly. I give him a look, "What?"
"I'm not the little brother anymore." He says with a smirk, and then yelps as I sweep his legs out from
under him. I sprint down the path as he scrambles back to his feet, "Get back here!"
Rogue sighs and chases after both of us. Wondering what she did to deserve a pair of idiot brothers like
us.Chapter End Notes:... not sure what I thought of this chapter... please tell me what you thought!
We will get to see more of Rogue in the next chapter, and our first look at one of Dr. Hector's cronies..
back to the cave. We both a mess, covered in dirt and exhausted from our continuous scrapping all the
way back. I see Rogue running towards us and wave cheerfully. Only she doesn't stop as she gets closer
and she does not look happy. I realize too late what is happening as she headbutts me in the crotch with
a quickattack.
I sink to my knees clutching at my wounded pride; my vision almost doubling as I go slightly cross-eyed
and fight to keep from retching. I hear buzz and a yelp beside me and Gin is suddenly sprawled next to
me twitching from what I suspect was a thunderfang attack. She then stands in front of us and growls
and barks I don't need a translator to figure out that she is chewing us out for disappearing like that,
though I can't be sure of specifics. I groan and mutter a 'Yes dear' like I have heard my dad say nearly a
million times since the Witch moved in.
I immediately regret saying it as Rogue grabs me by the ear with her teeth and starts trotting into the
cave leaving me with the choice to either follow on my hands and knees or have my ear torn off.
Naturally I opt to follow. Once inside she releases my ear and I curl up on my side as she goes out and
quickly returns dragging Gin by his head ornaments. He just twitches a little as she drags him and I
frown, uncurling slowly. "You okay little brother?" I ask, my voice cracking in spite of myself.
He just kind of gurgles in response to my question. I reach out and gently turn him over so he is on his
side and facing down slightly and some drool runs out of his mouth. Yep, definitely paralyzed.
I stumble over to where my backpack is and pull out the survival manual and shuffle around until I find
the flashlight. I quickly turn to the page on berries and what they do for pokémon. According to the
book, we need cheri berries to fix Gin's current problem. Rogue is staring at Gin's motionless form with
a confused expression. When she looks at me I shake my head. "You paralyzed him." I say simply, "If you
want to fix him you need to go get some cheri berries."
Rogue just turns her head with a sniff and a short bark, as if to say he deserved it.
I roll my eyes, "Fine, I'll go get them."
-0-
They were harder to find than I expected, but eventually I was able to find a bush and pluck off a cluster
of the small, spicy red berries. I crawl back inside and check with the book again just how I'm supposed
to administer the berries to actually fix the problem; however, it just says that cheri berries cure
paralysis. I shrug and hold the riolu's muzzle so that he won't drown on his own saliva but the berries
won't fall out either and begin putting them in his mouth one by one. When I'm finished he is starting to
resemble a pachurisu the way his cheeks bulge out from all the berries. Still no reaction except for a low
moan. Maybe he needs to actually chew them?
I start manipulating his lower jaw so that the soft berries start to burst and the juices run over his
tongue. His moans gradually shift higher in pitch and then the riolu suddenly jerks his muzzle out of my
grip and bolts upright, shrieking through a mouthful of berries. "OOOMMMM MAAAI GAAAUUB!"
Rogue and I fall over laughing as the riolu starts spitting out berries, pawing frantically at his tongue, still
screaming unintelligibly as tears run down his face until his mouth is empty then he screams, "IT
BUUUURRRRRNNNSSSSS!!"
Rogue and I laugh even harder until tears are rolling down our faces as Gin bolts from the cavern. I'm
pretty sure he took a right and made a beeline for the river after that. He came back a few minutes later
and immediately tackled me and started shaking me, "Why did you put all of them in my mouth at
once!? You only needed to use one!" he pauses to take a deep breath and shift his grip to the sides of
my head before shouting, "ONE!"
I chuckle and shove the riolu off my chest, "Just making sure it worked. I've never used berries to heal
pokémon before and the book didn't specify the number."
Gin doesn't seem convinced and I shrug, starting to undo my chest wrappings. Man, I am a mess, and it
looks like I am going to have to disinfect myself again.
After another round of that spray and a new wrapping I lean back against the backpack, "I don't know
about you guys, but I am beat. Good night."
I switch off the flashlight and feel Rogue and Gin curl up on either side of me. "Good night, big brother."
Gin whispers.
-0-
We wake up the next morning acutely aware of a fourth presence in the cave, because whoever it is
standing on my chest, and they are very fluffy.
"Umm, hello?" I say hesitantly, guessing from the heat rolling off the visitor that they are a fire type. I
hear a growl and a yip. And Gin translates, "It's the growlithe from yesterday. He says he wanted to
thank you for helping his Mommy."
I smile, "You're welcome, but could we meet you outside so I can actually see you?"
The growlithe barks an affirmative and hops off my chest and walks out of the cavern. I soon follow and
find both the growlithe and his arcanine mother outside our cave I nod to her, "Good morning, ma'am."
The growlithe has something in his mouth and he steps forward to set it on the ground in front of me
then barks happily. I pick the item up, and though I'm not certain, I think it looks like a quickclaw
necklace. "Is this for me?"
He nods and I smile, "Thank you." before I slip it on over my head.
Gin comes outside about this time and nods, "It looks good on you, big brother." The arcanine barks
something to us before she leads her son away and disappears into the brush.
I turn to Gin with a smile, "So what was that last bit?"
Gin shrugs, "She said she was going to tell everyone how we helped her. I don't know exactly what she
means though."
I shrug, "I'm going to change into a shirt, and then we'll get something to eat."
I switch into a green shirt with a pikachu on it and after a breakfast of aspear berries Gin and I start
some real training routine of sorts, starting with something kind of like Tai Chi, by the river. While
moving through a slow series of graceful movements he slowly gathers his aura into a sizeable aura
sphere, and then through another series of movements he slowly compresses the sphere, but without
changing its power so that the golf ball sized sphere he ends up with is crackling with energy and arcing
angrily. Then he releases it and when it hits the river it explodes in a bright flash throwing water every
which way, drenching us both.
I stare slack jawed at Gin as the water falls back to earth around us he looks up at me and grins, "Now
you try it."
He carefully leads me through the movements, but nothing happens at all. No surprise to me, I'm only
human. Gin however is not satisfied. "You're not trying." He says accusingly.
I roll my eyes, "Gin, seriously, I'm a human. I can't do things like that."
Gin jabs me roughly in the side, "Wrong!"
"What do you mean 'wrong'?" I exclaim clutching my side, "Aura sphere is a pokemon move!"
Gin shakes his head vehemently, "The move may be, but the basis of it is on controlling you're aura. If
you have an aura, you have the ability to use aura based moves!"
Gin crosses his arms and spreads his feet, "Now we are going to do that again, but this time, relax and
just focus your energy into the space between your hands."
I sigh, "Fine"
We begin to go through the routine again, but this time I actually try. To my surprise, a small globe of
swirling blue energy actually forms between my palms. About the size of a baseball and a little oblong it
rotates rapidly in space. I see Gin grinning out of the corner of my eye. "Good, now focus on
compressing that same energy as we continue."
I follow Gin's direction and the sphere shrinks to about half the size of a cheri berry. Then it suddenly
vanishes.
"Huh?" I say in confusion, losing my focus entirely as I try to figure out where it went.
BOOM!
I fly backwards as the space in front of me explodes violently. I roll backwards and finish on my back
completely disoriented. Gin stands over me and crouches down next to my head, "Are you okay?"
I sit up, "Wha-what happened?"
Gin shrugs after he helps me to my feet, "I'm not sure, but it looks like you super compressed your
sphere then lost focus so it came completely undone."
I dust myself off and chuckle, "I'm just impressed I was able to do it!"
Gin's expression changes suddenly from a grin to a frightened expression. I turn to see a familiar group
of mightyena and poochyena coming out of the bushes. It's the same pack that ate the feralgatr I nod,
"Good morning. I hope we aren't bothering you."
Gin looks at me in shock, but I keep my eyes on the alpha as he lowers his head and growls something
quietly. I poke Gin, who is looking from me to the mightyena and back again. "What did he say?"
Gin shakes himself, "He is asking us for help."
I raise a brow, "How can we help you?"
The mightyena raises his head once more and goes on to explain the situation. Apparently, one of the
poochyena has gone missing. They were able to track her scent to a small tunnel. A tunnel which was
too small for any of the mightyena to enter, and they weren't about to send in one of their pups if the
other hadn't come back out yet. They also couldn't determine where the tunnel came out so they were
stuck if they couldn't get someone to help them. Apparently what we had done for the arcanine was
spreading through the forest like wildfire, and the mightyena already knew I was at least capable if I
could bring down a feralgatr, not to mention having guts since I had stood up to them, so, it made sense
to them that I would be able and willing to help.
I look at Gin and he nods slightly. I nod to the mightyena alpha and smile. "Sure. Just let me get my
flashlight."
-0-
I looked down at the tunnel, it was pretty obvious why the mightyena's had been unable to fit. It was
going to be a tight squeeze even for me, and I'm small for my age. Fortunately I could also tell that
although I would have to inch along like a caterpie for a short distance the tunnel did widen up into a
decent sized cavern which went on beyond the reach of the flashlight's beam. I glanced at Gin, "Should I
go first or you?"
"I'll go first, that way if you get stuck I can push you back out." Gin says before he crawls down the
tunnel. A few moments later he calls back to me, "Come on in!"
I squirm my way through the tunnel. I almost got stuck in the middle and was starting to feel
claustrophobic towards the end but felt immensely better once my head popped out into the larger
chamber. At least it felt better until Gin grabbed me by the hair and pulled me the rest of the way out.
"Geez Gin!" I exclaim tenderly massaging my scalp, "Did you have to pull me through by my hair? I was
doing just fine without help anyway!"
Gin grins in the dim light at the edge of my flashlight's beam, "I'd rather get this job done with sooner
rather than later. If we aren't back by lunch time I'm pretty sure Rogue will kick our asses again."
I chuckle, "Good point."
I flash the beam around us and I impressed by how big this cavern is. It is kind of honeycombed, and it
must slant downward since the ceiling gets higher the farther in you go. It also branches off in two
directions. There are two of us, so... "I'll take the left side you take the right." I say starting to make my
way through the chambers to my left, "If you find the poochyena or run into any trouble just shout
really loud and I'll come running."
Gin nods and starts off down the right hand route then stops "What if you can't hear me?"
I shrug, "Shout louder."
-0-
(warning, POV change! We are now in third person!)
Gin wanders the many chambers using all of his senses to try and find the poochyena. He lacks Danny's
flashlight, but he has a keen nose to make up for it, and man does it smell! The cave anyway. Gin shakes
his head, whatever made this cave could sure have used a bath.
After awhile he reaches a massive chamber that he can't even make out the far corners of, but he does
see something strange. In the center of the chamber is a tower of glowing crystals, and at the base is a
small opening. Gin hurries over to the opening and looks inside. He smiles, and shouts over his shoulder
at the top of his lungs "I FOUND HER!"
The opening leads through a narrow passage to a small hollow in the crystals which is filled mostly by a
frightened poochyena. Gin gestures for her to come out but she shakes her head, "If I come out he will
get me."
Gin frowns, "Who will get you?"
The poochyena whimpers and puts her paws over her eyes, "He will."
Gin frowns but a low growl comes from above him and he swallows hard before he slowly looks up. "Oh
-"
-0-
(and back to first person with Danny)
The beam of light in front of me bounces wildly as I sprint through the cave. Just moments after I heard
the faint sounds of Gin shouting that he had found the poochyena I had heard and felt an explosion of
some kind from the same direction. Just what that meant, I didn't know but it couldn't be good, since I
had heard Gin shouting all sorts of expletives afterwards and it was his cursing that was actually leading
me towards him.
The tunnel I am in opens up suddenly and I skid to a halt. Not far from a pile of glowing crystals in the
center of the room Gin is dodging the swinging arms of a huge rhyperior! My mind races as I sprint over
to where Gin is. Then it hits me, Gin has an advantage if he can find the room to use it. "Gin use Aura
sphere, the way you did this morning!"
Gin leaps back from the rhyperior, barely dodging a hammer arm attack that craters the ground where
Gin was just a split second before. "How!? He won't give me hardly enough space to breathe!"
"I'll get you the time!" I shout, putting on an extra busrt of speed as the rhyperior notices my charge and
starts to turn my way. I really wish I had a better plan than this! I think to myself as I drop the flashlight
and jump onto the rhyperior's flank and scramble around to between his shoulders. hopefully he won't
be able to reach me as well here. I firm up my grip with my left hand while reaching for my machete.
"Hey ugly!" I shout as I struggle to draw the machete from its sheath and the rhyperior does its best to
swat me with its cannon-like arms, "I'm right here! Can't get me?"
The machete finally slides free and I grin, "TOO BAD!"
I strike the arm closest to me and sparks fly from the machete. The arm recoils away from me and the
Rhyperior roars. I stick the handle of the machete in my mouth and climb a little higher up so I can reach
the head. The rhyperior's eyes widen, then narrow as it sees me just over its shoulder. I grin and take
the machete from my mouth. "Light's out mother-OHHELL!"
The machete goes flying from my hand with a loud clang as a bloody effing geodude flies out of the
rhyperior's left cannon arm and knocks it away. I slide down quickly, catching myself halfway down the
rhyperior's back as several more rocks fly out of the cannon arm, passing through where I had just been.
I take a quick look around to see that Gin is only half way through his aura sphere production and
compression.
"Sometime today would be nice!!" I shout swinging around to the other side as the rhyperior tries to
swat me again with its right arm.
"Don't rush me!" Gin shouts back.
Suddenly the rhyperior starts backing up quickly. I glance over my shoulder to see a wall rapidly
approaching. I yelp and scramble up the rhyperior, prefering to take my chances with the cannons than
the very unforgiving looking wall. I pull my feet up to the shoulder level as the rhyperior's back slams
into the wall so hard my teeth rattle and I nearly fall off. I manage to catch myself by grabbing onto the
beast's horn and I am now hanging on the side of the rhyperior's head. It smiles.
Oh crap. I see the cannon lift up behind me and I swallow hard. I am going to die.
"NOW!" Gin yells and I drop. At that same moment the rhyperior fires a rock out of the cannon that had
been pointed at me. I hear a loud CRACK! followed by an enraged roar. I scurry away from the rhyperior
as fast as I can and turn to see a small blue sphere strike it right between the eyes. It explodes violently
and the blastwave hits me like a thump to the chest and throws up a cloud of dust. I keep going
backwards until I am standing next to Gin, "Did we kill it?"
Gin shakes his head, "No, I don't think so."
The dust slowly settles and we see the rhyperior wavering on its feet. It takes a couple shaky steps
towards us then falls forward, unconscious. I let out a whoop and spin Gin around by the neck, "Not
dead but close enough!"
I put Gin back down, "Go get that poochyena and I'll grab my flashlight and machete and we'll get the
hell out before grumpy wakes up."
I hurry to where I dropped the flashlight and with the light I search the cave for my machete. I manage
to find half the blade near the crystals and I have just found the half with the handle when Gin shouts, "I
think he's waking up!"
I glance over my shoulder to see the rhyperior is starting to move. "I'm good!" I shout sliding the
handled half into the sheath and start sprinting to where Gin is waiting with the poochyena.
"GOGOGO!"
We sprint down the tunnel as fast as our feet can carry us as a roar echoes around us. I chuckle, "I think
he is a bit pissed."
A section of tunnel wall to my right shatters with a bang. I yelp and duck instinctively, and that saved my
life as another rock passes through where my head had been to explode on the ground ahead of us.
Up ahead I can see our escape tunnel. As more rocks explode on the walls around us Gin brings up a
sobering point. "There won't be enough time for all of us to get in before the rhyperior is close enough
to shoot accurately."
We arrive at the tunnel and the poochyena immediately hops into the tunnel and crawls through. I grab
Gin around the waist, "You first little brother." And shove him into the tunnel. He yelps as I shove him as
far as I can up the exit, and then I am running again. Almost immediately I dive to the right and the
rhyperior thunders past me.
Unlike the part we came from, this part of the cavern is just one massive chamber filled with columns. I
dart from column to column, keeping out of sight of the rhyperior, because I have a plan. A risky plan,
but more sane than climbing all over the rhyperior like a crazed apom.
I take a left and come out next to the rhyperior, "HEY FATTY!"
The ryperior whirls around and fires wildly. However I am already ducking behind a new group of
columns as the ones I was previously behind get demolished. I move around, popping out every now
again and taunting the rhyperior and disappearing behind a new set of columns, kind of like tauros
fighting on crack. pretty soon most of the majority of the columns are destroyed, and I find myself with
one set of columns between me and the rhyperior, and the exit is behind me. I leap out in front of the
columns, "DAMN YOUR MOTHER WAS SUCH A WHORE!"
I duck back around the columns and sprint for the exit. I hear an explosion behind me followed by the
rumble and roar of the beginnings of a cave collapse. I dive into the exit and squirm my way through as
the roof collapses down behind me. A minute or so later I pop my head out of the tunnel. Around me
are the mightyena and one very worried looking lucario who is wringing his paws nervously. One of the
mightyena spots me and starts barking as I manage to free one hand from the tunnel and start
leveraging myself the rest of the way out. The lucario whirls towards me, and so does one of the
poochyena. I quickly realize that the poochyena is Rouge when she starts pulling on my ear. The lucario
grabs me by the shirt as soon as I am halfway out of the hole and he pulls me the rest of the way and
shakes me, "Don't ever pull that sort of tauros crap on me again! You have no idea what sort of horrible
ends Rogue has been vocally planning for me if you hadn't come out since when I evolved I couldn't fit
back in!"
I manage to get my feet under me and grin, patting Gins arm as I say, "Don't worry little brother, I'd
never leave you hanging." I pause thoughtfully, "For long anyway."
Rogue nips at my jean's leg and barks something. Gin chuckles and releases me, "She says that if we
leave her behind like this again she's going to pee on all your stuff."
I laugh as I dust myself off, "I'll keep that in mind."
"Oh, and what was all that ruckus and earthshaking?" Gin asks as we start to walk back towards our own
cave.
I smile, "That was me taunting the rhyperior into bringing down the entire cavern on his head."
I glance over at Rogue after she bumps my shin with her head and gives a muffled bark. I take the
leather pouch from her and look at Gin, "What is this?"
Gin shrugs, "Not sure, but the mightyena found it somewhere and thought it would be useful to us and
consider it proper payment for rescuing the alpha's daughter."
I open up the pouch to find an assortment of crafting and sewing tools. I raise a brow, "Yeah, these are
gonna be useful as soon... as I learn how to use them. Until then they ain't worth a magikarp's tail."
Gin chuckles, "Then you should start learning."
We walk a little ways further then Gin grins broadly. I give him a look, "What?"
"I'm not the little brother anymore." He says with a smirk, and then yelps as I sweep his legs out from
under him. I sprint down the path as he scrambles back to his feet, "Get back here!"
Rogue sighs and chases after both of us. Wondering what she did to deserve a pair of idiot brothers like
us.Chapter End Notes:... not sure what I thought of this chapter... please tell me what you thought!
We will get to see more of Rogue in the next chapter, and our first look at one of Dr. Hector's cronies..