POKEMON RANCHER
CH. 10


I looked over her shoulder and saw that every person that was trying to talk to her was giving me the evil eye or cracking their knuckles. 'Man this was looking pretty bad.' I looked down at her and she smiled.

"I'll be here early tomorrow to pick you up and take you to your new job." With that she clapped me on the shoulder. I looked down at her.

"What does that pup have that none of us have." 'Oh crap, it's started.' I looked over her shoulder again and saw that the guys there had an even angrier look on their faces. With that she turned towards the exit and left. I new that this was going to end up in a fight. As I was turning to head back to my table someone grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. Then grabbed both my arms.

While I was being turned around Ruby was thrown from the top of my head and landed with a bump on the ground.

"What makes you so special to get this job?" The man started to sake me. Since he was shaking me so much I couldn't respond to him and he continued to shake me. Before I realized it, the man pulled back his fist and was about to knock for a loop. I quickly closed my eyes and prepared to take it, but the punch never came.

"YOUCH"! I opened my eyes and saw the man had taken several steps back and was quickly patting his shirt. I looked at where he was patting and saw a few scorch marks on his shirt. 'How did that happen?' I looked around but I couldn't see the cause of it.

"TORCHIC!" I looked down and could see that Ruby had an angry look in her eyes and then realized in order to save me, she had used an ember attack on the man. Then Crystal let out a hiss and slithered down my shirt and then lay there next to Ruby. For a split second they both looked at each other then nodded then faced back to the man. It made me happy to think that they both were ready to defend me like that.

Just then the memories started to come back. I fell to my knees, grabbed my head, closed my eyes, and tried to suppress the memories. But when I opened my eyes again I didn't see my father, I saw myself stand in front of my Pokemon and take an attack. Both Ruby and Crystal were on the ground and battle beaten. They looked hardly even alive from all the deep cuts and such.

"Why are you doing this!?" I shouted. My other self turned to look over his shoulder with a smile on his lips.

"Because I love them, and I would do anything to protect them." Just then the attack hit home and I was blinded by the explosion. Then the image jumped to my father holding Gloria.

"Why couldn't you have killed me instead, and left my Umbreon alone". Just then I saw the other Pokemon attack my father. I closed my eyes to avoid seeing that Pokemon kill my father again. When I opened my eyes again I could see the man that Ruby had attacked had withdrawn some Pokemon and was preparing to call out another.

Both Crystal and Ruby looked like they were getting pretty tired, as they both were breathing quite hard. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw someone release a Ratticate. I knew what was going to happen, he was going to call out an attack and that rat would attack my friends from behind. I wasn't going to have none of that. I was still a little out of it so when I got up I walked over to the guys Pokemon as I wobbled from left to right as if drunk. Stopping right in front of that rat I looked up at it with death in my eyes and gave a field goal attempt to that rats underside. The kick was so hard that the Ratticate left the ground with a squeal and flew through the air until it met with a glass window. I guess the glass wasn't meant to withstand a Pokemon being kicked at it, because the rat didn't stop at the glass; it went right through it. It screeched again as the rat broke through the glass with a loud shattering sound.

Every person stopped what their doing and turned to look at me. I slowly turned around to face the crowd, then shouted. "Does anybody else want to try and attack my friends from behind!?" It was almost like someone fired off a shot, because everyone bolted for an exit. When I finally came to my senses I noticed that the only people that was left in the dinning room was Crystal, Ruby, and myself. Not wanting to get into any trouble, I quickly scooped up my Pokemon and my pack then headed for the stairs. Most of the doors that led into the trainers room had signs turned over saying occupied but when I got towards the back I happily noticed that their were many that didn't.

Quickly barging into the room I threw my pack onto the bed then turned back to close and lock the door. Once that was done I collapsed into an arm chair near the bed.

"Man I'm glad that we got out of there pretty quick, cause I don't want to know what kind of trouble we would be in if we were caught fighting like that." Laying my head back against the top of the backrest I took a long sigh and tried to relax. After a while Crystal let out a long low note and I looked down at her. I saw that Crystal had a sad look in her eyes. "I'm sorry you two. I just couldn't believe that that other trainer was going to attack the two of you from behind like that."

I rubbed them both on their heads. "I just couldn't just stand there and do nothing." I looked towards the ceiling. "I hope that Ratticate is ok." A smirk crossed my face. "I didn't mean to kick it that hard." With that they both shook off my hands and rubbed against my chest. I guess that was their way of saying thanks for protecting them. Smiling down to them I rubbed their heads again and looked over to the clock sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. It read 8:30 pm. 'Man I can't believe that it's getting so late.' So I picked Crystal and Ruby up and placed them on the bed.

"It's getting pretty late and we have a job tomorrow. So I guess we should get cleaned up for our new job". They both cocked their heads to opposite sides and looked up at me. "So I guess the only question is who wants to get cleaned up first?" As Crystal and Ruby looked at one another I looked at them in turn as to decide who would be first. Just then Ruby jumped forward and onto my lap.

"Ha ha ha. Looks like someone's eager to get cleaned up. Alright, now I just need that brush that's in my pack." I reached over and pulled my pack over. When I did this I could see that Crystal didn't look to happy. I guess she was a little jealous of not being first to get cleaned up. Well then I guess I should probably hurry and get done with Rubies brushing. I made sure that I was thorough but not to fast that she would think I was hurrying through her brushing. After about 15 minutes her feathers were free of all dirt and debri. She looked like she was ready for coordination competition tomorrow.

"Well now, don't you look pretty." I rubbed Rubies head then picked her up and set her down on the bed. "Ok Crystal, it's your turn." She looked up to me and then turned to look at the brush. I followed her eyes and then laughed. "Oh come one Crystal. I'm not going to use a brush on you." She cocked her head to the side and I stood up then picked her up and hugged her. So I walked into the bathroom and set her down on the sink. I quickly stripped down to just my pants then started to run a bath. Once the bath was filled with warm water I turned off the water and turned to Crystal. I could see that she was staring at the water and I knew why. It had been quite a while since she was in her element.

"Well it looks like someone's eager to get back in the water." She looked up at me and I smiled down to her. I walked over to her and picked her up only to set her down again on the tubs edge. While she was busy testing the water with the tip of her tail I quickly stripped down and wrapped a small towel around my middle. She turned around and looked back at me and gave a sad mewing sound. I didn't know what she was sad about but when she was done she slithered into the tub and started to swim around.

After a few minutes she settled down at the bottom of the tubs deeper end. So I slowly got in the shallow end of the tub and started to relax in the warm water. It took us quite a while until we were finally all washed up and scrubbed clean.

"Alright Crystal. It's time to get out and go to bed." She turned to look at me from the opposite side of the tub and shook her head and dowsed me with a splash from her tail. Every time I tried for her she would quickly dart away from me and come up to soak me again. Finally fed up with this I reached over and pulled out the drain plug.

Obviously not expecting this she quickly started to dart around the pool almost in a panic. Finally realizing where the water was escaping from she coiled around the drain and tried to prevent the water from draining, but obviously failing. Once all the water was gone she uncoiled from the drain and let out a sad mew and looked down the drain. While she was distracted I jumped out of the tub, ditched the small towel around me, dried off, and change into my pajama bottoms.

I walked over to the tub and looked in to see Crystal stick her tail into the drain. I guess she wanted to see if she could feel the water down the tube. I laughed. "Crystal, if you stick your tail in their you might get it stuck in there." She quickly pulled her tail out of the drain and looked up at me with sad eyes. "Oh don't worry Crystal. You'll get another chance to have a bath again. Just not tonight." I turned and opened the bathroom door to see Ruby sitting on the Footboard of the bed looking right at me.

Turning back to see if Crystal had gotten out of the tub, I saw that she was just slithering out of the tub. I quickly dashed in and picked her up. She let out a squeal as she had not been expected this. Once she realized what I had done she slapped my chest with her tail. "Ouch. That smarts." I looked down and saw Crystal give me a pert nod then turned to look at Ruby. "Now that the three of us are all nice and clean, we should probably get some sleep." I walked over to the bed and set Crystal down on the top sheets of the bed.

After a moments thought I thought that I should probably get out my cloths for tomorrow. So I walked over to my pack and fished through it. I was only able to find mostly dirty cloths in there, so I decided that the next chance I got I would go out and wash my cloths. I laid out the cleanest set of cloths that I could find on the chair next to me and walked over to the bed. Crystal was already asleep on the pillow on the right side of the bed, and Ruby was perched on the headboard like she was in a hen house. So not wanting to wake them I quietly walked over and climbed into bed. I reached over and stroked both Crystal and Ruby in turn then reached over and turned out the light.

The last thoughts that went through my mind were about the new job.Chapter End Notes:Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended