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 4 Changes of Winter
I wake up shivering even though I'm wearing all my clothes, Gin is sprawled over me, and Rogue is
tucked in against my body. The fire must have gone out at some point in the night. I sigh. Something is
going to have to die for me to stay warm.
Normally, when it got cold I would just dig deep in my drawers and pull out a long sleeved shirt or a pair
of winter jeans and that would be enough. If it was really cold I might put on a sweater.
Well, Rogue and I planned well enough that we were able to take public transportation for the first leg
of the trip. leaving our island in the temperate region for a much more seasonal portion of the mainland
and then heading north until we were completely lost and exhausted in these woods. Only then did we
figure we were far enough away to escape the witch's inevitable rage when she saw what our parting
gift to her was. Unfortunately, I had failed to plan for a true northern winter. I hadn't even paced my
sweater, thought it would take up too much space in my pack.
I know to most people, the fact that I would have to kill some pokémon to clothe myself with their fur
would not seem that huge a deal, and when we first ran away, I don't think it would have been that big a
deal. But now, it was going to be rough. I mean after several months out here in the wilderness, the only
pokémon I think I can kill without any guilt is a magikarp. I mean, those things are so stupid they can't
even learn tackle! Something that stupid probably can't feel pain. Sure, once they evolve they get their
vengeance on a world that beat them down, but until then, sheesh.
Just about the entire forest knows me by now. Gin, Rogue, and I are the go to folk for just about any
problem. Baby fell in a ravine and can't get out? Territory disputes? Trainer take your mother, brother, daughter, etc.? Call up that poochyena who has that human with the scars and the weird
looking lucario doing her bidding. No joke. That is how we are being referred to these days. Apparently
Rogue is the boss and we are the grunts. Rogue has no problem with that and manages to keep us both
under her paw with her thunder fang and headbutt.
I stretch with a shudder, and Gin slides off and rubs his eyes. "What gives brother?" he glances at the
entrance, "It's not even light yet."
I star at the entrance for a moment then grin. "Maybe, maybe not."
I crawl to the end of the entrance tunnel and find my way blocked by something white. I grin, scooping
some of it into my hands. "Hey Gin, check this out!"
Gin peeks his head into the tunnel and my snowball explodes with a satisfying 'paff' on the end of his
nose. Gin yelps and pulls his head back from the tunnel while I laugh. I hear Rogue barking then Gin says,
"Rogue says, firewood now, snowballs later."
"Spoil sport!" I call back, but start shoving snow away from the entrance.
Before long I realize that snow and really damn cold go together like magikarp and uselessness. Also, I
realize that although it had been cold in the cave, it was considerably colder outside where there was a
slight breeze that made my nose turn bright pink in only a couple minutes. Hoping to warm myself up by
activity, I hurried to gather wood.
Even with my main focus on gathering large chunks of wood, and smaller tinder, the beauty of the forest
encased in snow and ice does not fail to impress me. It's beautiful, and it looks like nothing I've ever
seen. Just one thing bothers me. Where the hell is everybody?
Seriously, even just yesterday there were pokémon scurrying about, gathering the last of the berries
from the bushes. But today, nobody. Nothing but the sounds of my own shoes crunching in the half foot
of snow on the ground. It's actually starting to creep me out.
Fortunately for him, I hear Gin coming, or else he would have gotten a face full of firewood when he
suddenly appeared next to me. "Rogue is satisfied."
"Really?" I ask in surprise. I just stared gathering wood.
Gin nods, "Using extreme speed to do the job gets it done faster." He gives me a look, "I know you can
at least use quick attack, even if you keep insisting that you aren't a pokémon and that it isn't possible.
So you should have been moving faster than this."
"I still don't know how I can move that fast, brother." I say, "But I sure as hell aren't using quick attack to
do it."
Gin rolls his eyes, laughing a little, "Whatever, little brother."
In one quick motion I drop the wood and twist my body suddenly, lashing out with a heel aimed at the
back of his head. He vanishes, and my heel passes through empty space. I continue to spin, just barely
deflecting Gin's force palm with my right hand and I try to go for a reversal, bringing my right elbow back
into Gin's face. I grin as it connects for a split second before he vanishes again using extreme speed.
I sprint straight ahead, knowing that Gin has backed off a short ways. I can sense his aura retreating,
which at this point is the extent of my aura powers beyond mediocre aura spheres and that is after
months of training with Gin. I can sense when he is going to attack, his general position relative to my
own, and also if he is getting riled. In other words, I'm about on par with a newborn riolu. Not very
impressive in my opinion, but Gin says it is.
I keep sprinting, weaving around trees, always sensing Gin's aura just ahead of me. Then suddenly it
vanishes. I can feel my eyes go wide, but then I shut them, focusing purely on aura. At first nothing
happens then, Then the world seems to explode into lights.
My jaw drops, I can see everything! The trees all around me, the snow and the ground beneath it, and
most importantly, the ghostly flame in the shape of a lucario diving down on me from above.
I drop back a step and the strike out as hard as I can. My fist collides with the side of the specter's face
and the diving figure spins in midair to crash down on its tail with a heavy thud. I open my eyes to grin
down at Gin who is staring up at me with a bewildered look on his face as he rubs his jaw. I grin even
wider when he asks, "How?"
"I think I just used wave guidance or something." I say then explain what just happened on my end.
Gin grins, "Absolutely incredible. My dad told me that sort of thing was limited to special lucario
bloodlines, but apparently my dad was wrong."
Suddenly Gin's jaw drops and his eyes go wide, focused on something behind me. "Holy crap, it's Mew!"
I whirl around, "Seriously?!"
Suddenly my feet are swept out from under me and I am briefly airborne and horizontal. My head cracks
against the ground and I see stars. I groan as Gin cracks up. "Damn little brother! I can't believe you
actually fell for that!"
I roll over and start to pop back to my feet and tackle Gin when I see it. I freeze staring at the thing
behind Gin, No way. I just hit my head, it's a hallucination.
I rub my eyes, the ice cold snow stuck to my palms melts and the slight ringing in my head clears
instantly. Opening my eyes again the apparition is still floating there behind Gin. Grinning at me. "G-
gin." I stammer, pointing to the floating creature behind him. "M-mew!"
Gin's laughter slows and he wipes a tear from his eye, "Danny, little brother, please. I just used that one
on you. Do you really think I'm gonna turn around and fall for it like that?"
I watch as Mew holds her paws to her mouth to stifle a giggle. I shake my head and grab Gin by the
muzzle and turn his head around to look at her. I release his muzzle and his jaw drops, this time Mew
can't hold her laughter in and she busts out with this high pitched, tinkling laugh, kind of like wind
chimes actually. Then she throws her arms wide, "Surprise!"
Gin turns to look at me, "What's next? Tea with Darkrai?"
Mew giggles again, "Not gonna happen. He hates tea."
Gin and I look at each other and I can tell he is trying to keep a straight face, I am too, and we are both
failing badly. Finally we both break down and laugh. I can feel tears growing in the corners of my eyes
I'm laughing so hard. I fall onto my back still laughing, until a trickle of ice water soaks down to my skin
through my clothing. I bolt upright with a yelp. Gin looks at me, and laughs harder. "Oh... Arceus, it
hurts!" Gin manages to gasp through his laughter, tears rolling down his face.
I scoop up some snow into a snowball and peg him between the legs with the frosty sphere. This time
Gin yelps in surprise and immediately curls up to cover himself. "Not cool! That stuff is cold!"
I smirk, "Yet your laying in it doesn't seem to bother you."
"But my nuts aren't!" Gin retorts.
"You guys are weird." Mew comments with a giggle, then adds, "Just what is so funny about Darkrai not
liking tea?"
I grin, "Nothing, it's just 'tea with Darkrai' has been something of an inside joke with us almost since we
met."
Gin nods, "We don't like tea either."
Mew tilts her head, "What's wrong with tea? I love tea, especially when you add berries! It makes it so
sweet and yummy!"
I shrug, "Just not our thing, but much more significant than tea, is why the hell did you show yourself to
us? Aren't you supposed to be super secretive and impossible to find?"
Gin nods, "Yeah, you're not exactly known for being a people person."
Mew sniffs, "Well I am, but most people just want to challenge me. Apparently being legendary means
you're also a big fighter. And don't even get me started with humans! Some want to catch me, some
want to challenge me, some want do experiments on me, it's awful."
I nod, she's right. At least about the human part. "And that brings us back to the big question, why us?"
Mew darts in close to me, wrapping her tail around my shoulder tenderly, before whispering seductively
in my ear, "Because you're cute."
"WHAT?!" I squawk, stumbling backwards away from her, blushing furiously.
Gin's jaw is somewhere on the floor as Mew gives me an offended look. "What? Think you're too good
for the likes of me?"
She smirks and my blush fades as an idea worms its way into my mind, and I smirk right back, "No, it's
not that. I'm just not all that into older women."
Now Gin is staring at me in shock. Mew's eyes flash and I am suddenly buried under a foot of snow that
was just dumped out of the tree behind me. I resurface to hear mew laughing, rocking backwards as she
floats over me. Gin is still sitting there with his jaw on the ground. "What the hell?" he finally manages
to say.
Mew giggles, "You really are the impulsive pokémon that everyone says you are."
Both Gin and I frown at that, "But Danny is a human."
Mew giggles rotating until she is upside down and on her back as she looks at us, "Sure doesn't act like
one." she starts counting off on her little fingers, "First off, he doesn't train pokémon. Pokémon train
him. Second, humans fight using pokémon, often in order to catch more pokémon. Danny however,
fights with and for pokémon, and has on several occasions in his first year in the forest fought humans
to free pokémon. Third, you can talk to pokémon. I think that warrants being called a pokémon."
"You know, as odd as it may be to think so," I chuckle, "I think being called a pokémon may actually be
one of the biggest compliments I've received. But I can't talk to pokémon. Just Gin."
"Then how are you understanding me?" Mew says leaning in close with a grin. She actually has sharp
teeth, a lot of them. It's a little unnerving actually to be staring into a mouth of needle sharp teeth.
"Uh, you're not using telepathy?" I ask with a nervous chuckle.
"Nope." Mew says shaking her head, "Just regular talking."
Gin grins, "Looks like you are really hitting it out of the park today. First you master wave guidance
before I do, then you expand your internal translator to all pokémon. Way to go little brother!"
I grin, discretely packing a snowball. Suddenly something cold smacksme in the side of the head. I stare
at Gin who is grinning, another snowball already in his hand. "Drop the snowball little brother."
I grin, "Who says I was going to throw it at you?"
I hurl the snow ball and Mew squeaks in surprise as it explodes against her rear, seeing as she had been
somersaulting in the air at that exact moment. Gin snickers and I grin as Mew dusts ice crystals from her
fur, "I'll get you for that!"
I laugh, "With what? You already brought the entire tree of snow down on me."
Mew grins evilly and a dozen or so snowballs rise out of the snow around us. "SNOW WAR!"
Gina and I yelp and sprint for cover as snowballs fly through the air all around us, pelting our backs.
"Why are you throwing them at me too?!" Gin yelps as we dive behind separate trees.
Mew laughs, "It's you two versus me! Now start throwing!"
I grin, scooping up some snow, "You heard the old lady!"
I dive around the tree and throw the snowball, missing horribly, but avoiding the snow drift that fell
from the tree I was hiding behind. My snowball careens into the tree branches over Mew. "Ha! You
missed!"
PLOMPF!
Gin cracks up as a massive snowdrift falls out of the tree branches over Mew's head, throwing her to the
ground. I grin and sprint even faster away from her as she explodes out of the pile of snow, glowing with
psychic energy. The snowball storm from before resumes, only the snowballs are twice as big. I trip over
a root and go down, quickly being buried under the barrage.
BOOM!
I leap to my feet, throwing snow everywhere. That sounded like a rhyperior! I look around, but I don't
see a rhyperior anywhere. Then I notice something is wrong, I don't see Mew either.
I run back the way I came, then slide to a stop. Mew is lying there on the ground, bleeding from a large
hole in her left leg. I go down on one knee next to her, "Mew! What happened?!"
Ka-Chink!
I look up to see a man in winter gear holding a long grey object with smoke rising from the tip. At his
waist is a trio of pokéballs. He laughs, "Kid, you're not gonna get an answer from her. She's a pokémon
after all. She can't talk."
I stand up again, drawing the broken machete from its sheath at my hip. "Go away."
He laughs, slinging the long weapon over his shoulder and taking a pokéball in each hand. "I have three
pokémon, you have a broken knife. I'm being gracious, I'm giving you the chance to run away."
"It's a machete." I say shifting into a ready stance as the man tosses the pokeballs into the air,
wondering where the hell Gin is.
Red light shoots out of the pokéballs and forms into a houndoom and a rhyhorn. I grin slowly, weak
against fighting, both of them. The man's smile vanishes as he watches me, "What the fuck? Aren't you
scared?"
The houndoom eyes me, "He's insane. But harmless."
I glare at the houndoom, "Wrong."
I dart forward. Flipping into a two footed stomp. The houndoom leaps backwards a surprised look on its
face. My foot narrowly misses it's head by a mere inch and snow explodes out from my foot as it slams
into the ground. Surprisingly it doesn't hurt at all as my feet hammer the ground and I throw myself into
another leap, this time at the rhyhorn. The Rhyhorn takes a surprised step back, and I shoot past him,
ignoring how high I have suddenly jumped I quickly charge and loose a small aura sphere at the Rhyhorn.
It's eyes go wide as the sphere explodes across its broad back.
I land in a crouch behind the Rhyhorn, between it and its trainer. I sprint towards the trainer in the
white snow gear, my body low to the ground. I swing the machete, as the man falls backwards. I fell the
broken blade bite into something solid before sliding across the man's chest.
I slide through the snow, throwing the white powder out every which way. I watch the man as he falls
over, and grin.
My grin turns to a frown as the man turns over and I see that my blade didn't even scratch him. He is
wearing some sort of armor underneath his coat. But what really grabs my attention is the large red
helix on the back of his coat. It is very strange. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have seen it before.
The man looks up at me, "What the hell are you?" he shakes his head, "Never mind, Houndoom, flamethrower."
"Dead." the houndoom says, throwing its jaws wide. I immediately dive to the left away from the stream
of flame that rolls towards me, then starts following me as I roll and dive again.
Suddenly a yellow blur appears behind the houndoom and there is a loud crack as Gin uses force palm
on the houndoom's spine. The houndoom's back legs crumple and it yelps in pain as it is driven into the
ground. I grin, "What took you so long brother?"
The man looks from me to Gin and back again. "What the fuck?! Brother?!"
I laugh, "Damn straight! I'm not a goddamn human! I'm a bloody pokémon!"
The man slings his weapon around and starts fumbling in a hip pouch. Whatever that weapon is, it is
obviously powerful if it blew a hole in Mew's leg and brought her down with one hit. There is no way I'm
going to wait and find out just how it works. I lunge forward, covering far more ground than I thought
possible in less than a second, but even then I'm too slow.
The man skids across the ground, doubled over from Gin pounding his knee into the man's side. I leap to
avoid running into Gin and find myself sailing through the air. Right towards the rhyhorn which is pulling
back his fist, prepping a focus punch.
I let out a yell, pulling my own fist back, praying like hell that it works. I swing my fist down, seeing a
bright glow coming from it. It collides with the rhyhorn's and there is an earth shattering boom and I am
thrown back into the air unharmed. I grin, Hell yeah, Danny just used Focus Punch.
Tucking my knees into my chest I rotate backwards, then land in a crouch at the base of a tree. I pop up
and punch the air victoriously as the Rhyhorn just stares at me in shock. I turn to sneer at the paralyzed
houndoom, "Harmless huh?"
A wall of flame washes over me and I can hear someone shrieking as I dive into the melting snow and
begin to writhe and roll spastically, trying to put out the flames that are still covering my body. After a
moment I realize the one shrieking is me.
I shut my mouth, and bury my face in a fresh pile of snow. I'll be lucky if all I have is first degree burns.
After a few moments I lift my face and look over to where the houndoom is. I can clearly see a glowing
form over the houndoom, bloody flesh hanging from its mouth. The glow fades and I find myself staring
at a mightyena. She spits out the ragged chunk of flesh, "Bitch. Nobody hurts Danny and lives."
I climb to my feet and turn back to the man and the rhyhorn. We probably make a intimidating sight. Gin
has a massive aura sphere charged, Rogue has blood dripping from her maw as therest of her begins to
crackle with electricity, and me? Well, I'm not quite as intimidating but I am pissed, and my clothes are
still smoldering, what is left of them anyway. If it weren't for the fact I had been wearing every article of
clothing I own, I'd be a crispy mess right now.
The man has his weapon up and obviously ready to do some serious damage. I look the man in the eye,
"I don't know what that thing you have is, but from the way you had to do a whole bunch of stuff after
you hurt Mew just to get it ready again, I do know this, you only have one shot." I start walking towards
him, "There are three of us, and two of us have a type advantage over that rhyhorn."
I bend over and pick up my machete. I had lost my grip on it when I got torched. I press the cold blade to
my face, cherishing feeling of the cool steel on my face. "So you have to ask yourself, do you really think
that you can get off three shots in less time than it would take for the other two to kill you?"
I can see the weapon shaking in the man's hands, and he swallows hard. "I can guarantee that you will
die too."
"I have gouged out the eyes of a feraligatr with my bare hands! I have faced down a pack of mightyena
with nothing but a machete after getting mauled by that same feraligatr! I have taken down a rhyperior
in its own home with nothing but half a machete and my wits!" I grin widely throwing out my arms. "I
don't fear death!"
I grin at the man, but I can sense both his fear, and Gin's concern. The man curses, and drops the gun to
his side, "Come on Rhyhorn, let's get out of here." The man doesn't even wait for the rhyhorn, he just
turns tail and runs.
I wait until the man is out of sight, then let out the breath I was holding and sink to my knees, clutching
at my chest, trying to keep my heart from exploding out of my chest. "Thank Arceus that he didn't call
my bluff." I gasp, with a weak smile looking back at Gin who smiles.
"I was worried you had completely lost your mind for a minute there." He says as his aura sphere
dissolves.
I nod as I shakily climb back to my feet, "No, I haven't lost my mind, just all my clothes." I pause, "Where
is Mew?"
Gin points back towards our cave, "I moved her closer to our home and let Rogue know what was going
on. I went as fast as I could."
"Good thing." I say starting to shiver as I start jogging back towards the cave. "Any later and I would
have been royally screwed."
"As it is you just lost everything that is keeping you from freezing to death out here." Rogue comments,
"Even your head fur is gone."
I groan, it had better grow back or I am gonna be so pissed. I am way too young to be bald.
-0-
Back at the cave, I apply potions to Mew's wound while Gin tries to get a fire going. When I finish, my I
can't feel my fingers, and I'm shivering so hard that I drop the potion bottle when it try to put it back in
my pack. I pull my knees to my chest as I lean back against Rogue, trying to bury myself in her fur for
warmth. Gin throws the fire starting sticks aside with a muttered profanity and sits down next to me.
"I'm sorry little brother. It's no good. They are too wet from the snow."
The pile of logs suddenly bursts into flames and both Gin and I stare wide eyed at the sudden blaze.
Then Mew groans, "What the hell hit me!?"
We turn to see Mew sitting up, her leg is mostly healed from the potions and her fur is beginning to
grow back over the wound. Gin answers for me since my teeth are still chattering too hard for me to
speak coherently. "We don't know. Some man had a weapon unlike anything we've ever seen before.
Whatever it was, it knocked you out in one hit; and from a distance too. We took care of him and chased
him off."
Mew stares at us, "You chased off a man who had a weapon that nearly killed me in one hit?"
"It couldn't be used quickly in succession." Gin says quietly, "And Danny pulled a stunt that scared the
crap out of him."
Mew looks at me and frowns, "What happened to your hair and clothes?"
"H-h-hound-d-oom." I stutter, finally starting to warm up thanks to the fire, "F-f-f-f-flameth-thrower."
Mew glows and changes form, and we find ourselves sharing a cave with a ninetails. She limps over and
wraps me in her tails, and I can't help but relax in the warm, soft embrace.
"Is there any way I can repay you for saving me and fixing me up?" Mew the ninetails asks me.
"Clothes would be nice." I say, then yawn, "Both some for winter and some for summer."
Mew smiles, "I can do that, but it will take a day or two." She pauses as my stomach growls, "You
haven't eaten today have you?"
I shake my head, "I don't think any of us have and from the looks of the snow out there, more berries is
out of the question."
"Go back to the original plan." Rogue says with a smirk, "Kill something and eat it."
I frown, "I guess, but now that I've been working for pokémon, and now that I can talk to them too, it
seems just kinda wrong to eat them."
Rogue's ears perk up and her tail starts wagging, "So you can understand me now?"
I nod reaching over to scratch her behind the ears, "Yep, my translator just got upgraded or something."
"Just kill only what you have to." Mew says, "That's what everyone else does. Well, except for the
vegetarians and Jirachi, but they tend to hibernate and Jirachi has that creepy belly eye that he absorbs
energy with."
I raise a brow, "Are you included in this whole eating others deal?"
Mew grins toothily, "These teeth aren't for show you know."
I chuckle, getting ready to make an old lady joke, but then consider the fact that I'm all wrapped up in
her tails. Probably best to just hold my tongue.
One of mews tails swats me on the head. I give her a look, "What was that for?"
I'm psychic silly. I can read your thoughts. I hear in my head and I swallow hard.
Gin gives me an odd look, "What's got you all nervous now?"
Mew giggles, "He just found out I can read his mind." She rolls over onto her side, "But he shouldn't
worry too much. I actually thought it was kinda funny." Then adds in my head, And besides, you are cute.
I smile, laying my head back against Rogue's side to try and hide my blushing face somewhat. "So what's
for lunch?"
Rogue licks her lips, "I think some houndoom would do quite nicely."
We all turn to look at Gin. He looks right back at us. "What?"
"Go get that dead houndoom and bring it back here." Rogue says with a smirk.
"Why me?" Gin asks testily, "Why don't you go get it, Rogue?"
Rogue giggles and tosses her head at me, "I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment."
Gin looks at Mew who rolls her eyes and grins, "I'm Danny's clothing at the moment in case you haven't
noticed."
Gin looks at me and slaps his palm against his forehead, "I don't believe this! I have to go out into the
cold and haul a frozen carcass over a mile while you get to sit here all nice and cozy with the ladies.
Sheesh!"
I laugh along with the girls. I don't know whether Mew is going to be living with us, just visiting today, or
something in between, but either way, the future looks pretty bright. Even if I do have to be naked for
the next couple days.Chapter End Notes:I love reviews!
It is good to know whether people like, hate, or feel something in between about my stuff. It can also lead to improvements
tucked in against my body. The fire must have gone out at some point in the night. I sigh. Something is
going to have to die for me to stay warm.
Normally, when it got cold I would just dig deep in my drawers and pull out a long sleeved shirt or a pair
of winter jeans and that would be enough. If it was really cold I might put on a sweater.
Well, Rogue and I planned well enough that we were able to take public transportation for the first leg
of the trip. leaving our island in the temperate region for a much more seasonal portion of the mainland
and then heading north until we were completely lost and exhausted in these woods. Only then did we
figure we were far enough away to escape the witch's inevitable rage when she saw what our parting
gift to her was. Unfortunately, I had failed to plan for a true northern winter. I hadn't even paced my
sweater, thought it would take up too much space in my pack.
I know to most people, the fact that I would have to kill some pokémon to clothe myself with their fur
would not seem that huge a deal, and when we first ran away, I don't think it would have been that big a
deal. But now, it was going to be rough. I mean after several months out here in the wilderness, the only
pokémon I think I can kill without any guilt is a magikarp. I mean, those things are so stupid they can't
even learn tackle! Something that stupid probably can't feel pain. Sure, once they evolve they get their
vengeance on a world that beat them down, but until then, sheesh.
Just about the entire forest knows me by now. Gin, Rogue, and I are the go to folk for just about any
problem. Baby fell in a ravine and can't get out? Territory disputes? Trainer take your mother, brother, daughter, etc.? Call up that poochyena who has that human with the scars and the weird
looking lucario doing her bidding. No joke. That is how we are being referred to these days. Apparently
Rogue is the boss and we are the grunts. Rogue has no problem with that and manages to keep us both
under her paw with her thunder fang and headbutt.
I stretch with a shudder, and Gin slides off and rubs his eyes. "What gives brother?" he glances at the
entrance, "It's not even light yet."
I star at the entrance for a moment then grin. "Maybe, maybe not."
I crawl to the end of the entrance tunnel and find my way blocked by something white. I grin, scooping
some of it into my hands. "Hey Gin, check this out!"
Gin peeks his head into the tunnel and my snowball explodes with a satisfying 'paff' on the end of his
nose. Gin yelps and pulls his head back from the tunnel while I laugh. I hear Rogue barking then Gin says,
"Rogue says, firewood now, snowballs later."
"Spoil sport!" I call back, but start shoving snow away from the entrance.
Before long I realize that snow and really damn cold go together like magikarp and uselessness. Also, I
realize that although it had been cold in the cave, it was considerably colder outside where there was a
slight breeze that made my nose turn bright pink in only a couple minutes. Hoping to warm myself up by
activity, I hurried to gather wood.
Even with my main focus on gathering large chunks of wood, and smaller tinder, the beauty of the forest
encased in snow and ice does not fail to impress me. It's beautiful, and it looks like nothing I've ever
seen. Just one thing bothers me. Where the hell is everybody?
Seriously, even just yesterday there were pokémon scurrying about, gathering the last of the berries
from the bushes. But today, nobody. Nothing but the sounds of my own shoes crunching in the half foot
of snow on the ground. It's actually starting to creep me out.
Fortunately for him, I hear Gin coming, or else he would have gotten a face full of firewood when he
suddenly appeared next to me. "Rogue is satisfied."
"Really?" I ask in surprise. I just stared gathering wood.
Gin nods, "Using extreme speed to do the job gets it done faster." He gives me a look, "I know you can
at least use quick attack, even if you keep insisting that you aren't a pokémon and that it isn't possible.
So you should have been moving faster than this."
"I still don't know how I can move that fast, brother." I say, "But I sure as hell aren't using quick attack to
do it."
Gin rolls his eyes, laughing a little, "Whatever, little brother."
In one quick motion I drop the wood and twist my body suddenly, lashing out with a heel aimed at the
back of his head. He vanishes, and my heel passes through empty space. I continue to spin, just barely
deflecting Gin's force palm with my right hand and I try to go for a reversal, bringing my right elbow back
into Gin's face. I grin as it connects for a split second before he vanishes again using extreme speed.
I sprint straight ahead, knowing that Gin has backed off a short ways. I can sense his aura retreating,
which at this point is the extent of my aura powers beyond mediocre aura spheres and that is after
months of training with Gin. I can sense when he is going to attack, his general position relative to my
own, and also if he is getting riled. In other words, I'm about on par with a newborn riolu. Not very
impressive in my opinion, but Gin says it is.
I keep sprinting, weaving around trees, always sensing Gin's aura just ahead of me. Then suddenly it
vanishes. I can feel my eyes go wide, but then I shut them, focusing purely on aura. At first nothing
happens then, Then the world seems to explode into lights.
My jaw drops, I can see everything! The trees all around me, the snow and the ground beneath it, and
most importantly, the ghostly flame in the shape of a lucario diving down on me from above.
I drop back a step and the strike out as hard as I can. My fist collides with the side of the specter's face
and the diving figure spins in midair to crash down on its tail with a heavy thud. I open my eyes to grin
down at Gin who is staring up at me with a bewildered look on his face as he rubs his jaw. I grin even
wider when he asks, "How?"
"I think I just used wave guidance or something." I say then explain what just happened on my end.
Gin grins, "Absolutely incredible. My dad told me that sort of thing was limited to special lucario
bloodlines, but apparently my dad was wrong."
Suddenly Gin's jaw drops and his eyes go wide, focused on something behind me. "Holy crap, it's Mew!"
I whirl around, "Seriously?!"
Suddenly my feet are swept out from under me and I am briefly airborne and horizontal. My head cracks
against the ground and I see stars. I groan as Gin cracks up. "Damn little brother! I can't believe you
actually fell for that!"
I roll over and start to pop back to my feet and tackle Gin when I see it. I freeze staring at the thing
behind Gin, No way. I just hit my head, it's a hallucination.
I rub my eyes, the ice cold snow stuck to my palms melts and the slight ringing in my head clears
instantly. Opening my eyes again the apparition is still floating there behind Gin. Grinning at me. "G-
gin." I stammer, pointing to the floating creature behind him. "M-mew!"
Gin's laughter slows and he wipes a tear from his eye, "Danny, little brother, please. I just used that one
on you. Do you really think I'm gonna turn around and fall for it like that?"
I watch as Mew holds her paws to her mouth to stifle a giggle. I shake my head and grab Gin by the
muzzle and turn his head around to look at her. I release his muzzle and his jaw drops, this time Mew
can't hold her laughter in and she busts out with this high pitched, tinkling laugh, kind of like wind
chimes actually. Then she throws her arms wide, "Surprise!"
Gin turns to look at me, "What's next? Tea with Darkrai?"
Mew giggles again, "Not gonna happen. He hates tea."
Gin and I look at each other and I can tell he is trying to keep a straight face, I am too, and we are both
failing badly. Finally we both break down and laugh. I can feel tears growing in the corners of my eyes
I'm laughing so hard. I fall onto my back still laughing, until a trickle of ice water soaks down to my skin
through my clothing. I bolt upright with a yelp. Gin looks at me, and laughs harder. "Oh... Arceus, it
hurts!" Gin manages to gasp through his laughter, tears rolling down his face.
I scoop up some snow into a snowball and peg him between the legs with the frosty sphere. This time
Gin yelps in surprise and immediately curls up to cover himself. "Not cool! That stuff is cold!"
I smirk, "Yet your laying in it doesn't seem to bother you."
"But my nuts aren't!" Gin retorts.
"You guys are weird." Mew comments with a giggle, then adds, "Just what is so funny about Darkrai not
liking tea?"
I grin, "Nothing, it's just 'tea with Darkrai' has been something of an inside joke with us almost since we
met."
Gin nods, "We don't like tea either."
Mew tilts her head, "What's wrong with tea? I love tea, especially when you add berries! It makes it so
sweet and yummy!"
I shrug, "Just not our thing, but much more significant than tea, is why the hell did you show yourself to
us? Aren't you supposed to be super secretive and impossible to find?"
Gin nods, "Yeah, you're not exactly known for being a people person."
Mew sniffs, "Well I am, but most people just want to challenge me. Apparently being legendary means
you're also a big fighter. And don't even get me started with humans! Some want to catch me, some
want to challenge me, some want do experiments on me, it's awful."
I nod, she's right. At least about the human part. "And that brings us back to the big question, why us?"
Mew darts in close to me, wrapping her tail around my shoulder tenderly, before whispering seductively
in my ear, "Because you're cute."
"WHAT?!" I squawk, stumbling backwards away from her, blushing furiously.
Gin's jaw is somewhere on the floor as Mew gives me an offended look. "What? Think you're too good
for the likes of me?"
She smirks and my blush fades as an idea worms its way into my mind, and I smirk right back, "No, it's
not that. I'm just not all that into older women."
Now Gin is staring at me in shock. Mew's eyes flash and I am suddenly buried under a foot of snow that
was just dumped out of the tree behind me. I resurface to hear mew laughing, rocking backwards as she
floats over me. Gin is still sitting there with his jaw on the ground. "What the hell?" he finally manages
to say.
Mew giggles, "You really are the impulsive pokémon that everyone says you are."
Both Gin and I frown at that, "But Danny is a human."
Mew giggles rotating until she is upside down and on her back as she looks at us, "Sure doesn't act like
one." she starts counting off on her little fingers, "First off, he doesn't train pokémon. Pokémon train
him. Second, humans fight using pokémon, often in order to catch more pokémon. Danny however,
fights with and for pokémon, and has on several occasions in his first year in the forest fought humans
to free pokémon. Third, you can talk to pokémon. I think that warrants being called a pokémon."
"You know, as odd as it may be to think so," I chuckle, "I think being called a pokémon may actually be
one of the biggest compliments I've received. But I can't talk to pokémon. Just Gin."
"Then how are you understanding me?" Mew says leaning in close with a grin. She actually has sharp
teeth, a lot of them. It's a little unnerving actually to be staring into a mouth of needle sharp teeth.
"Uh, you're not using telepathy?" I ask with a nervous chuckle.
"Nope." Mew says shaking her head, "Just regular talking."
Gin grins, "Looks like you are really hitting it out of the park today. First you master wave guidance
before I do, then you expand your internal translator to all pokémon. Way to go little brother!"
I grin, discretely packing a snowball. Suddenly something cold smacksme in the side of the head. I stare
at Gin who is grinning, another snowball already in his hand. "Drop the snowball little brother."
I grin, "Who says I was going to throw it at you?"
I hurl the snow ball and Mew squeaks in surprise as it explodes against her rear, seeing as she had been
somersaulting in the air at that exact moment. Gin snickers and I grin as Mew dusts ice crystals from her
fur, "I'll get you for that!"
I laugh, "With what? You already brought the entire tree of snow down on me."
Mew grins evilly and a dozen or so snowballs rise out of the snow around us. "SNOW WAR!"
Gina and I yelp and sprint for cover as snowballs fly through the air all around us, pelting our backs.
"Why are you throwing them at me too?!" Gin yelps as we dive behind separate trees.
Mew laughs, "It's you two versus me! Now start throwing!"
I grin, scooping up some snow, "You heard the old lady!"
I dive around the tree and throw the snowball, missing horribly, but avoiding the snow drift that fell
from the tree I was hiding behind. My snowball careens into the tree branches over Mew. "Ha! You
missed!"
PLOMPF!
Gin cracks up as a massive snowdrift falls out of the tree branches over Mew's head, throwing her to the
ground. I grin and sprint even faster away from her as she explodes out of the pile of snow, glowing with
psychic energy. The snowball storm from before resumes, only the snowballs are twice as big. I trip over
a root and go down, quickly being buried under the barrage.
BOOM!
I leap to my feet, throwing snow everywhere. That sounded like a rhyperior! I look around, but I don't
see a rhyperior anywhere. Then I notice something is wrong, I don't see Mew either.
I run back the way I came, then slide to a stop. Mew is lying there on the ground, bleeding from a large
hole in her left leg. I go down on one knee next to her, "Mew! What happened?!"
Ka-Chink!
I look up to see a man in winter gear holding a long grey object with smoke rising from the tip. At his
waist is a trio of pokéballs. He laughs, "Kid, you're not gonna get an answer from her. She's a pokémon
after all. She can't talk."
I stand up again, drawing the broken machete from its sheath at my hip. "Go away."
He laughs, slinging the long weapon over his shoulder and taking a pokéball in each hand. "I have three
pokémon, you have a broken knife. I'm being gracious, I'm giving you the chance to run away."
"It's a machete." I say shifting into a ready stance as the man tosses the pokeballs into the air,
wondering where the hell Gin is.
Red light shoots out of the pokéballs and forms into a houndoom and a rhyhorn. I grin slowly, weak
against fighting, both of them. The man's smile vanishes as he watches me, "What the fuck? Aren't you
scared?"
The houndoom eyes me, "He's insane. But harmless."
I glare at the houndoom, "Wrong."
I dart forward. Flipping into a two footed stomp. The houndoom leaps backwards a surprised look on its
face. My foot narrowly misses it's head by a mere inch and snow explodes out from my foot as it slams
into the ground. Surprisingly it doesn't hurt at all as my feet hammer the ground and I throw myself into
another leap, this time at the rhyhorn. The Rhyhorn takes a surprised step back, and I shoot past him,
ignoring how high I have suddenly jumped I quickly charge and loose a small aura sphere at the Rhyhorn.
It's eyes go wide as the sphere explodes across its broad back.
I land in a crouch behind the Rhyhorn, between it and its trainer. I sprint towards the trainer in the
white snow gear, my body low to the ground. I swing the machete, as the man falls backwards. I fell the
broken blade bite into something solid before sliding across the man's chest.
I slide through the snow, throwing the white powder out every which way. I watch the man as he falls
over, and grin.
My grin turns to a frown as the man turns over and I see that my blade didn't even scratch him. He is
wearing some sort of armor underneath his coat. But what really grabs my attention is the large red
helix on the back of his coat. It is very strange. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have seen it before.
The man looks up at me, "What the hell are you?" he shakes his head, "Never mind, Houndoom, flamethrower."
"Dead." the houndoom says, throwing its jaws wide. I immediately dive to the left away from the stream
of flame that rolls towards me, then starts following me as I roll and dive again.
Suddenly a yellow blur appears behind the houndoom and there is a loud crack as Gin uses force palm
on the houndoom's spine. The houndoom's back legs crumple and it yelps in pain as it is driven into the
ground. I grin, "What took you so long brother?"
The man looks from me to Gin and back again. "What the fuck?! Brother?!"
I laugh, "Damn straight! I'm not a goddamn human! I'm a bloody pokémon!"
The man slings his weapon around and starts fumbling in a hip pouch. Whatever that weapon is, it is
obviously powerful if it blew a hole in Mew's leg and brought her down with one hit. There is no way I'm
going to wait and find out just how it works. I lunge forward, covering far more ground than I thought
possible in less than a second, but even then I'm too slow.
The man skids across the ground, doubled over from Gin pounding his knee into the man's side. I leap to
avoid running into Gin and find myself sailing through the air. Right towards the rhyhorn which is pulling
back his fist, prepping a focus punch.
I let out a yell, pulling my own fist back, praying like hell that it works. I swing my fist down, seeing a
bright glow coming from it. It collides with the rhyhorn's and there is an earth shattering boom and I am
thrown back into the air unharmed. I grin, Hell yeah, Danny just used Focus Punch.
Tucking my knees into my chest I rotate backwards, then land in a crouch at the base of a tree. I pop up
and punch the air victoriously as the Rhyhorn just stares at me in shock. I turn to sneer at the paralyzed
houndoom, "Harmless huh?"
A wall of flame washes over me and I can hear someone shrieking as I dive into the melting snow and
begin to writhe and roll spastically, trying to put out the flames that are still covering my body. After a
moment I realize the one shrieking is me.
I shut my mouth, and bury my face in a fresh pile of snow. I'll be lucky if all I have is first degree burns.
After a few moments I lift my face and look over to where the houndoom is. I can clearly see a glowing
form over the houndoom, bloody flesh hanging from its mouth. The glow fades and I find myself staring
at a mightyena. She spits out the ragged chunk of flesh, "Bitch. Nobody hurts Danny and lives."
I climb to my feet and turn back to the man and the rhyhorn. We probably make a intimidating sight. Gin
has a massive aura sphere charged, Rogue has blood dripping from her maw as therest of her begins to
crackle with electricity, and me? Well, I'm not quite as intimidating but I am pissed, and my clothes are
still smoldering, what is left of them anyway. If it weren't for the fact I had been wearing every article of
clothing I own, I'd be a crispy mess right now.
The man has his weapon up and obviously ready to do some serious damage. I look the man in the eye,
"I don't know what that thing you have is, but from the way you had to do a whole bunch of stuff after
you hurt Mew just to get it ready again, I do know this, you only have one shot." I start walking towards
him, "There are three of us, and two of us have a type advantage over that rhyhorn."
I bend over and pick up my machete. I had lost my grip on it when I got torched. I press the cold blade to
my face, cherishing feeling of the cool steel on my face. "So you have to ask yourself, do you really think
that you can get off three shots in less time than it would take for the other two to kill you?"
I can see the weapon shaking in the man's hands, and he swallows hard. "I can guarantee that you will
die too."
"I have gouged out the eyes of a feraligatr with my bare hands! I have faced down a pack of mightyena
with nothing but a machete after getting mauled by that same feraligatr! I have taken down a rhyperior
in its own home with nothing but half a machete and my wits!" I grin widely throwing out my arms. "I
don't fear death!"
I grin at the man, but I can sense both his fear, and Gin's concern. The man curses, and drops the gun to
his side, "Come on Rhyhorn, let's get out of here." The man doesn't even wait for the rhyhorn, he just
turns tail and runs.
I wait until the man is out of sight, then let out the breath I was holding and sink to my knees, clutching
at my chest, trying to keep my heart from exploding out of my chest. "Thank Arceus that he didn't call
my bluff." I gasp, with a weak smile looking back at Gin who smiles.
"I was worried you had completely lost your mind for a minute there." He says as his aura sphere
dissolves.
I nod as I shakily climb back to my feet, "No, I haven't lost my mind, just all my clothes." I pause, "Where
is Mew?"
Gin points back towards our cave, "I moved her closer to our home and let Rogue know what was going
on. I went as fast as I could."
"Good thing." I say starting to shiver as I start jogging back towards the cave. "Any later and I would
have been royally screwed."
"As it is you just lost everything that is keeping you from freezing to death out here." Rogue comments,
"Even your head fur is gone."
I groan, it had better grow back or I am gonna be so pissed. I am way too young to be bald.
-0-
Back at the cave, I apply potions to Mew's wound while Gin tries to get a fire going. When I finish, my I
can't feel my fingers, and I'm shivering so hard that I drop the potion bottle when it try to put it back in
my pack. I pull my knees to my chest as I lean back against Rogue, trying to bury myself in her fur for
warmth. Gin throws the fire starting sticks aside with a muttered profanity and sits down next to me.
"I'm sorry little brother. It's no good. They are too wet from the snow."
The pile of logs suddenly bursts into flames and both Gin and I stare wide eyed at the sudden blaze.
Then Mew groans, "What the hell hit me!?"
We turn to see Mew sitting up, her leg is mostly healed from the potions and her fur is beginning to
grow back over the wound. Gin answers for me since my teeth are still chattering too hard for me to
speak coherently. "We don't know. Some man had a weapon unlike anything we've ever seen before.
Whatever it was, it knocked you out in one hit; and from a distance too. We took care of him and chased
him off."
Mew stares at us, "You chased off a man who had a weapon that nearly killed me in one hit?"
"It couldn't be used quickly in succession." Gin says quietly, "And Danny pulled a stunt that scared the
crap out of him."
Mew looks at me and frowns, "What happened to your hair and clothes?"
"H-h-hound-d-oom." I stutter, finally starting to warm up thanks to the fire, "F-f-f-f-flameth-thrower."
Mew glows and changes form, and we find ourselves sharing a cave with a ninetails. She limps over and
wraps me in her tails, and I can't help but relax in the warm, soft embrace.
"Is there any way I can repay you for saving me and fixing me up?" Mew the ninetails asks me.
"Clothes would be nice." I say, then yawn, "Both some for winter and some for summer."
Mew smiles, "I can do that, but it will take a day or two." She pauses as my stomach growls, "You
haven't eaten today have you?"
I shake my head, "I don't think any of us have and from the looks of the snow out there, more berries is
out of the question."
"Go back to the original plan." Rogue says with a smirk, "Kill something and eat it."
I frown, "I guess, but now that I've been working for pokémon, and now that I can talk to them too, it
seems just kinda wrong to eat them."
Rogue's ears perk up and her tail starts wagging, "So you can understand me now?"
I nod reaching over to scratch her behind the ears, "Yep, my translator just got upgraded or something."
"Just kill only what you have to." Mew says, "That's what everyone else does. Well, except for the
vegetarians and Jirachi, but they tend to hibernate and Jirachi has that creepy belly eye that he absorbs
energy with."
I raise a brow, "Are you included in this whole eating others deal?"
Mew grins toothily, "These teeth aren't for show you know."
I chuckle, getting ready to make an old lady joke, but then consider the fact that I'm all wrapped up in
her tails. Probably best to just hold my tongue.
One of mews tails swats me on the head. I give her a look, "What was that for?"
I'm psychic silly. I can read your thoughts. I hear in my head and I swallow hard.
Gin gives me an odd look, "What's got you all nervous now?"
Mew giggles, "He just found out I can read his mind." She rolls over onto her side, "But he shouldn't
worry too much. I actually thought it was kinda funny." Then adds in my head, And besides, you are cute.
I smile, laying my head back against Rogue's side to try and hide my blushing face somewhat. "So what's
for lunch?"
Rogue licks her lips, "I think some houndoom would do quite nicely."
We all turn to look at Gin. He looks right back at us. "What?"
"Go get that dead houndoom and bring it back here." Rogue says with a smirk.
"Why me?" Gin asks testily, "Why don't you go get it, Rogue?"
Rogue giggles and tosses her head at me, "I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment."
Gin looks at Mew who rolls her eyes and grins, "I'm Danny's clothing at the moment in case you haven't
noticed."
Gin looks at me and slaps his palm against his forehead, "I don't believe this! I have to go out into the
cold and haul a frozen carcass over a mile while you get to sit here all nice and cozy with the ladies.
Sheesh!"
I laugh along with the girls. I don't know whether Mew is going to be living with us, just visiting today, or
something in between, but either way, the future looks pretty bright. Even if I do have to be naked for
the next couple days.Chapter End Notes:I love reviews!
It is good to know whether people like, hate, or feel something in between about my stuff. It can also lead to improvements