_{-Route 29-}

With the candy gone, both trainer and Pokemon felt it was time for a nap. Sure, there was no fire or anything nearby, but Noah had always been pretty partial to the cold, and Bowser…well...if the little shit could actually cough up fireballs, he probably didn’t a fuck about the temperature. So the two started to pass out. And why not? It was moderately peaceful in camp. Ghost, Blondie, and Pipsqueak were still missing, the lovers were off banging, and Butch and Kiddo were actually pretty quiet.

It was pretty great really. The first silent moment of the trip thus far…

He’d just rest his eyes for...just a moment...just a...just…

Zzz...

zZz…

And he dreamed.

It was a nice dream at first. He was floating upon a sea of white clouds. The warm sun above gently kissed him with it’s glow. All was right with the world…

But things soon went wrong. A thousand voices rang out in terrifying dissonance. There were voices he knew, and voices he did not. There were voices he loved, and voices he did not. The sun retreated and soon, all was dark. All was wrong.

But there was peace again. A fleeting, humble peace. The voices stopped...but the sun did not return. The calm lasted only a brief moment…

And then he was falling. Fast. Tumbling through the air to the sound of screaming and shouting. The voices returned. The mad, mad voices…

Noah awoke in time to be first struck by sticks, then have his sight blacked out by the falling blanket. He heard the others clammering and Boswser whining. Bowser...where was he?! Noah shot his hands out, fumbling upon the rumbling ground, before it landed on the pooch’s fur. He drew the dog in close and patted him. He scratched his fur, shushing the poor thing. It was terrified.

…

Hell, he was too. He didn’t understand what was happening. Was this the end? Was this really how he’d go out? In the dark, surrounded by people he didn’t know and didn’t care for?

After a few moments...it ended. No, not the world, silly. The...whatever that was. The ground stopped moving. Noah was hesitant at first, but soon pushed the blanket off. It was still dark...but less so. It was night...as to what time, Noah couldn’t say. He and Bowser must have dozed off…

Noah started to get up, but the pooch was licking his hand, still trembling. So Noah scoped up the Pokemon and cradled it in his arms while it kept licking his arm before he got to his feet and towered over the campsite. He looked around to the others. It didn’t seem like anyone was hurt. Nothing really fell...honestly, it looked like his own ‘tent’ got the worst of things.

Noah gave another look around before finally speaking up, for the first time the entire trip.

“Anybody hurt?”

It was a kneejerk reaction. He hadn’t planned on asking that...but it was just the first thing that came to mind. Weird. He shook his head as he scanned camp. It didn’t seem like anybody was bleeding out so...that was a plus.

...he just didn’t want to worry about any dead bodies attracting wild Pokemon...yeah...let’s go with that.

“So...uh what was up with that?”

Ivy Aspen

Blah, blah, blah. Purple people talking. They didn't seem to like each other very much - that was understandable, since Ivy couldn't really imagine anyone liking such talkative people anyway.

Then, one by one, they started to leave.

Well... that was perfectly fine with Ivy.

Fine. Conversation over. With that settled, Ivy picked up her Pokemon and her leftover cake and retreated to her tent – all without making a single sound.

As far as sorting things out after getting attacked by an Onix, she’d done pretty well for herself.

For one thing, she wasn’t dead.

For another… she wasn’t even injured.

Hell, she’d even managed to find a second, more-or-less intact group of trainers to travel with. Sure, they were all, well, loud. And talkative. And considerably more annoying than the last group of trainers she’d been a part of.

But they were also considerably more, well, alive than the last group of trainers she’d been part of. So at least she’d found someone!

Feeling strangely pleased with herself, if somewhat worn out by the range of emotions that she’d had to express that day…

Ivy Aspen went straight to bed.

…

…

…what? Narrowly evading death-by-Onix took a lot out of a girl, okay?

---

The trait that Ivy Aspen wished most desperately to change about herself was her appearance.

If she could just look her age, then she’d probably be able to die happy. If that could be true, then she didn’t wouldn’t even really need to be the best baker in Johto. She’d settle for second best. Or even third best.

If that wasn’t possible, however, then the trait that Ivy wished second-most desperately to change about herself was probably the fact that she was a very, very light sleeper.

Being a light sleeper is a terrible plight — it makes sleeping through the night almost impossible in a communal setting, for one thing.

As it was, however, it probably saved Ivy’s life.

Ivy Aspen woke up almost as soon as the tremors started. It was on the second tremor that she sat up, bleary-eyed and grasping for Tesla’s pokeball.

On the third tremor, which was considerably more violent than the two that came before it…

A tree branch came crashing through the back-side of her tent and smashed down onto the floor, directly where her head had just been.

Ivy didn’t even twitch. Why?

Well, because she was motherfucking unfazable (except when it came to certain, uh, things), that’s why.

Instead, she made a valiant attempt to analyze the situation at hand.

So… one. There had been a minor earthquake in the region. Their campsite had been directly affected. The wild Pokemon in the area had probably been disturbed too, which was… bad.

Two. A branch had come down through her tent. It was now very badly ripped at the back, and possibly unusable.

Well, damn. That thing had been expensive, too.

Three. The stupid branch had grazed her left arm on the way down. Her dress-shirt was ripped, and she had a moderately deep cut on her forearm, so the poor shirt was getting pretty bloody as well.

Actually, it kind of hurt. Not, like, intense “my arm’s going to fall off!” pain, but… it definitely stung.

And people wondered why she didn’t like grass types. They were all so blind… plants were evil! And this was proof.

Stupid tree.

Stupid camping trip.

Honestly, she just wanted to go home.

Then, a voice.

“Anybody hurt?”

If that wasn’t a cue to emerge from this godforsaken tent, then nothing was. She sighed and unzipped the front, crawling out. And—

Oh, look. You could barely tell that her tent had been damaged from the front. That was kind of… just insulting. The stupid thing wasn’t even broken enough to merit abandonment.

Super-sized Exhibitionist’s tent had collapsed. He had his Pokemon cradled in his arms.

“Just a little bit,” said Ivy dully. She raised her left arm, and the tattered remains of her sleeve, to show him. “I’m Ivy Aspen. Nice to meet you.”

Then she lapsed into silence again.

“So...uh what was up with that?” said the Exhibitionist.

Ivy shrugged. "Earthquake?"

It was pretty obvious that it was an earthquake. If he couldn’t tell that much, then… she had no idea what to say.

Was she supposed to make small talk? Did people make small talk in these situations?

If they did... well, Ivy would politely refrain. Or, failing that, impolitely refrain.

Instead, she dug in her pocket for Tesla’s Pokeball and released him in a flash of bright red light. The Mareep trotted over to her feet, cool as a cucumber, pausing only to give their new giant of a companion an assessing look as dark and deep as the howling abyss.

Ivy already felt a little better.

There really was nothing like knowing that the creepiest Pokemon on the battlefield was (probably) on your side.

_{-Route 29-}

The kid was the first to respond to Noah’s concern. She crawled out of her tent and showed off a bleeding arm. Noah shook his head. That wasn’t good. Not at all. Hell if he knew how bad it really was, though. He certainly wasn’t a doctor. If it wasn’t going to kill her, then she needed to clean it off as soon as possible. Though to be fair...with that look on her face, she seemed dead to the world anyway.

The kid then introduced herself as an Ivy Aspen, which when paired with her green hair, was just cheeky enough for Noah to want to punch both of her parents in the throat. Ivy didn’t even fit, if you asked him. She seemed like more of a “Mary” or a “Jane”, really.

In the silence that followed, Noah’s attention slipped back to the goddamn ground having just moved. There seemed to be a bit more damage than he had originally thought. There was whatever had cut the Kid, obviously, but upon closer observation, Noah noticed that branches had fallen all over the makeshift campsite. A particularly nasty looking branch had landed right where Noah had almost put his tent...but he reconsidered when one of the others claimed a spot closer than what he would have been comfortable with. That was an eerie feeling...if he would have been quicker on the draw, he’d have likely been smashed beneath the fucker…

A chill ran down Noah’s spine.

Trying to get his mind off that, Noah tried to see how the others were doing but... quite a few were still missing. The Lesbians, Fuckboi, and the Kid were around...but no sign of the others. That probably wasn’t good…

Noah’s next question slid out without him even realizing he had said anything, but the bleeder answered yet again. Well...if you could even call her smartass remark an answer. Noah scowled,

“No shit. But when’s the last time you felt an earthquake in fucking Johto” he hissed. To tell the truth, he had never felt an earthquake before. If he was lucky, he’d never have to feel one again. That shit just did not sit right with him.

The kid released her fluffy Pokemon which just...stared at him. Fuck the earthquake, this...THING was much more unnerving. In a group with an actual literal ghost as a Pokemon, that little ball of fluff should not be the creepiest thing around. Noah felt as if a part of was actually dying simply by looking into its eyes. He looked away and fidgeted uncomfortably. He then retrieved Bowser’s pokeball and returned the little guy. All of sudden, Noah really just wanted to be anywhere but there.

Hell, if it wasn’t getting to be so dark, Noah would have been totally down to get moving again. The sooner they got to Goldenrod, the sooner he would be free of the Dreadfluff. Oddly enough, that little thirty minute nap, the earthquake, and the soul-crushing fear was actually pretty energizing. Whoddathunkit?

So, Noah channeled that energy in the best way he could: he began to rebuild his “tent.”

And if the motherfucker fell down again, he’d burn the whole goddamn forest to the ground.

The rest of the group was surprisingly quiet; no one was exactly quarreling, and Yuu hadn't been reproached by Abigail because of some random reason. It was quite relaxing to say the least, despite the disparity of the environment. Of course, Yuu made sure to properly feed his two pokemon as they squatted around the campfire, chomping away at the meal he somewhat cooked over the blaze... if only he had any skill in baking. The tearing away at the simple dinner, it was spicy as he always liked it.

Looking down at the two, he gave a fond smile as Sylvie gave what looked to be an Oran Berry to Terra, who integrated it into her food. While she was a hard head, she didn't seem all that too aggressive at the moment, especially after earlier. Eventually, the duo were filled from the freshish vegetables and other assortments of food. Devouring the last scrap of the whole sandwich, Yuu turned his eyes to the sky, watching as the settling dark was coming upon them.

Of course, suffice to say, he declared to himself that it would be a good idea to go on watch for the night, just in case he needed to alert the encampment over an ambush from some pokemon. Looking around came the shoddy tent with Noah who looked to be sound asleep with that... that frickin' abomination. No way he was asking for help from him, especially since he had that damnable demonic deceiver near him... it might be the one to gut them all and dash into the night once the deed was done, howling victoriously.

Yup, nuh uh, noooooope, not gonna bother with him.

There was, of course, the one twelve year old looking chick who he trusted was old enough to be traveling. Tent zipped up, she was... probably not in the mood, especially after earlier... which meant there were two more nominees - Abigail and Cerise. When his eyes came to those two, they were busy getting ready for bed. Of course, Yuu wanted to approach Cerise and request for her to do it, but from the way she acted, she seemed relatively new to this all.

Don't get him wrong, he was sure she was reliable, but he needed to be firm.

Scrunching his nose and rubbing the back of his head, he arose from his place and trudged towards Abigail, sighing in contempt as Sylvie decided to follow after, while the Geodude stared fiercely into the blooming flames. At first he was reluctant to see if she would agree, but despite the attitude she portrayed, it was pleasantly surprising to find that she would be willing to switch spots once he was done with his proclaimed shift.

... huh.

Eventually everything came to pass with Abigail and Cerise retiring to their tent, with Yuu taking the first watch of the night. Toying with what was left of the fire, the crimson embers wilted, sparking back to life for a couple of seconds before dying down, the process repeating as Yuu studied the fire with a frown. His tent was occupied by one being - his companion, Sylvie. Fast asleep, the small pokemon was happily slumbering the night away, Yuu putting the coat over her as a makeshift blanket, leaving him in a green tank-top.

Submerged in the dirt next to him was Terra, who decided to dig a place to sleep, rather than join the fuzzball. At most, she was glad to be in her own environment; relaxed to spell the least. Yuu gave her a gentle pat, smiling laxly at her before going back to stirring the fire, keeping it from being too bright, lest it would be on him who attracted the attention of some malicious pokemon. The murmur of the darkness in wait, the sounds of howling in the distance were displaced with eerie silence as the night went on. A shiver was sent down the boys back.

What if he wasn't able to properly announce the threat? What if someone was severely injured in the process? What if?

These series of toiling questions plagued his mind as he continued to play with the fire, hand on his chin. Would he be a good ally to everyone else? Would he be a grand friend to the pokemon who would join him. Sighing, nothing truly fazed him currently... well.

Not until that transpired.

Whatever the gods sought to do, a massive earthquake was upon the group of people, inspiring terror into the boy who fell off to the side, the ruckus of the earthquake causing the dying embers to completely vanish from sight, instilling the teen into a realm of darkness. His face was in utter shock; eyes widened, jaw slackened, mind a mess as he knelt down onto the ground, elbows digging into the dirt. He dug his teeth into his lips as the sound of a few trees in the distance began crashing from the tremor, before suddenly a violent one erupted, causing a tree to destroy the tent of Ivy.

Yuu's eyes were widened in complete horror, his iris' dilating, lids twitching. No... no way. She couldn't be dead, he wouldn't accept one of his companions dying on him. Weakly, he shoved himself up, and traced the silhouette of his backpack in the darkness, it being tipped over. Swiftly procuring the lighter and some nearby sticks, Yuu threw the dry wood into the pit before quickly setting it ablaze, giving new light to the territory.

Hearing a voice over anyone being hurt, Yuu turned his visage to the boy with a now crumpled tent trying to figure out what was going on. Well, looks like the mutt nor the earthquake got Noah, so that was good news... and then the stench of even greater news! No casualties as that shorter green haired girl emerged from her tent with words as well. Wait, was she... oooh, ooh... yeah, that was worrisome. It could get infected or worse...

Then there was the fear of Abigail and Cerise not being ok. Head swiveled to the duos tent who seemed to be surprisingly inta- "Uhm, what are you two... what is up with your pa... no, not going to bother asking, that's not the focus right now," Yuu spoke, exasperated as he took note of the two being in a rather provocative position. There was also Abigails pajamas which were purple... and had smiley face clouds on it.

He wasn't going to judge, as he gave them both a soft smile. "Glad to see everyone's ok for the most part..." Judging by the damage, even the homes of wild pokemon were most likely reduced to fallen oak and destitute shambles. Rushing over to his tent, Yuu found Sylvie to be visibly shaken, but ok for the most part... considering she pounced onto him the moment the tent was opened. Rubbing his face, she was visibly frightened about this whole predicament, but Yuu would console her for a bit, especially since there was an injury he needed to attend to.

"Hey, no need to be afraid; I'm here for you, alright," Yuu cooed, trying to dissuade the pangs of frightfulness in her. While it wasn't fleeting, she decided to hop on his head to rest, shivering as Yuu retrieved and put on his coat. Terra was up, groggily rolling about as she put two of her hands onto her forehead. Looking at Ivy, Yuu dove into his bad, his eyes furrowing up as he found one of the two first aid kits in his now perturbed bag. It quite drove him to insanity noting that it was a sheer mess, but he wasn't going to attend to it now.

"Have no idea, but for the most part, I'm more worried about that wound of hers festering since the seismic activity has cooled down for now," Yuu retorted, not caring if he wasn't talking to him. Looking through the bag, he found some disinfectant, needles, bandages, the works. Of course, all he needed for now was the gauze and disinfectant, though some mild water would help as well as he brought not only his kit, but backpack as well.

"Y'know, you two can just borrow my tent for the night if you like," Yuu mumbled as he tore the wraps from the roll, separating them each by size, making it obvious which of the three were for her arm. Grabbing a water bottle, he began to wet the gauze as he beckoned the girl over; it looked like he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

But even so, Sylvie grew frightened of the night, even the scattered Terra too as they both glanced at their surroundings, primarily the trees. Both were dead silent, with the enigma of dusk looming over.

Ivy Aspen

“No shit. But when’s the last time you felt an earthquake in fucking Johto,” said Exhibitionist Extraordinaire.

Well, someone was in a bad mood today. She’d count her blessings, though – at least he wasn’t babying her. She’d take snark over cooing any day.

Ivy blinked at him coolly, seeing no particular need to respond. So earthquakes weren’t common in Johto — what was she supposed to do about it?

Instead, she just shrugged again. Earthquake or not… she just wanted to be in Cherrygrove right now.

Honestly, didn’t this whole earthquake thing just kind of prove her point? Nature was an awful, disgusting thing, and it was out to get you.

It turned out that she didn’t even have to respond, however, because all of a sudden, a familiar face was there to save the day.

"Have no idea,” said Boy Wonder of the Purple Hair, having apparently finished making strange baby noises at his Pokemon. “But for the most part, I'm more worried about that wound of hers festering since the seismic activity has cooled down for now."

At that, Tesla finally ripped his soulless black gaze off the Exhibitionist in order to growl menacingly at Boy Wonder. Yuu. He’d introduced himself as that, hadn’t he? The noise was like something that you’d expect to come out of the deepest, darkest pits of Tartarus.

F… festering? Well, that sounded… disgusting. Her cut was definitely not that bad. He made it sound like her arm was going to need amputation or something.

But, well, maybe Boy Wonder wasn’t as awful as she’d initially pegged him to be. He seemed to care enough about her wellbeing, sort of… but there was still just something about his stupidly happy face that kind of ticked her off.

And she didn’t need his help, either! She wasn’t some damsel in distress that wanted to be swept off her feet, so she could just take his stupid hero complex and shove it where the sun didn’t shine.

Honestly, she could disinfect her cut by herself later. She’d probably do a better job of it than this punk would, too — her parents ran an apothecary, for crying out loud. Of course she knew how to dress a wound. This wasn’t even that serious.

He didn’t look like he’d take no for an answer? Well, fine. So what?

Ivy Aspen didn’t take orders from anyone.

“Thanks,” she said stiffly. “But I’m fine. I’ll do it myself later.”

Deftly, she tore a strip from the bottom of her much maligned shirt and tied it, rough and quick, around her cut. That would be fine for stopping the bleeding. Applying a poultice or whatever could come later.

For now, though— for now she’d make herself useful.

And maybe if she could prove that she was a fully functioning, perfectly capable human being… people would stop treating her like she was made of glass.

“Let’s go, Tesla,” she said calmly, and turned on her heel. Fixing her own tent would require some nifty sewing that she just didn’t have the patience for… so why not help someone else with theirs?

What? She wasn’t a total bitch._probably.

Exhibitionist had wandered off to rebuild his pathetic excuse for a tent, so she’d help with that… or something.

Meanwhile, Boy Wonder said something about borrowing his tent for the night. Sleeping in a boy’s tent?

Um...

Ivy's cheeks flamed red. She wasn’t even going dignify that with a response.

ANYWAY. Helping the Exhibitionist. Right.

She ambled over, picked up a fallen branch-twig-disgustingplantthing, and started on the other side of the Exhibitionist’s tent in complete silence. Honestly, she was doing a pretty good job of it too.

She’d said she’d help, but that didn’t mean she had to be chatty about it.

_{-Route 29-}

Ever feel like something’s about to go horribly horribly wrong? That slow, dreadful, creeping pain that twists in turns in one’s gut until it gets a firm grip on a man’s fragile composure?

Noah didn’t even get that warning before he turned his head and found himself staring into the dark pit of death, itself.

...or Ivy’s Pokemon. Tomato, tomahto.

His stomach folded in on itself, and he found himself rather sick all of a sudden. Seriously, there was something wrong with that fucking beast, and the fact that he couldn’t seem to get away from it confused and upset the giant. He had to force himself to look away, which actually made him feel slightly better. Go figure.

Noah looked from Evil Incarnate over to its slave. Ivy was...ironically enough, completely red in the face. Did he...did he miss something? He had heard Fuckboi speaking to her, but to be honest, he didn’t care enough to even eavesdrop. Oh well. He raised an eyebrow, the universal sign for “wazzup?”

Tomato Tina didn’t give a fuck about his question. She just went about quietly...fixing up the other side of his tent…?

…

Noah shrugged. If she really wanted to help set up a shitty tent substitute, who was he to stop her? The two worked in...well...relative silence if one ignored the Lesbians, Fuckboi, and their constant fucking chatter. Seriously, the kid had been around for less than an hour and Noah already liked her better than the other shitters. She shut the fuck up and worked. What a fucking concept.

When the tent was mostly finished, Noah thought that he heard something in the distance, but shrugged it off. Instead of worrying about that, he looked over at Ivy and nodded in her direction.

“Than-!!” he started, but stopped abruptly. Something had just hit him in the back of the head. Something warm. Something wet. Something slimy.

All the joy immediately rushed from Noah’s eyes, and in its place was hatred and rage. He heard the flapping and the hooting now. He might have even had a vague idea as to what was going on...but none of it mattered. Nothing mattered. Noah was dead to the world. All that he could hear, and all the he could see was…

R E D

He got to his feet.

*thump thump*

He grabbed one of the sticks holding up his tent and jerked it to his side, forgetting all about Ivy and her little demon.

*thump thump*

He grabbed Bowser’s pokeball and unleashed the pooch right in front of him.

*thump thump*

The dog look about, confused. It turned to look at Noah, but the look on his face caused the pup to freeze.

*thump thump*

Noah smiled. Bowser cowered.

*thump thump*

“Burn…” he whispered. Bowser looked at its trainer, terrified.

*thump thump*

“BURN IT ALL!” he roared. Bowser started, and then trembling, began barking out balls of flames. They tumbled to and fro, landing haphazardly around the campsite, catching dried leaves, branches, and grass aflame. Noah shoved his stick at Bowser and whispered his command once more. Bowser obeyed. The stick quickly caught flame and a mighty blaze burned atop the makeshift torch.

*thump thump*

The campsite found itself illuminated once more, exposing a disgusting amount of Hoothoot floating about in the air and perched up in the trees. How many? Well...let’s just say that Noah wasn’t exactly in the right state of mind for counting.

*thump thump*

He roared once more, waving his burning stick in the air. This agitated a couple of the Hoothoot, who dropped what they were doing and dove at the screaming giant. The first missed, and the second was dodged...but the third….?

“Heh…” he chuckled.

The third flew in a perfect angle towards Noah. It was guaranteed to run right into him. It might have even been lucky enough to gore him on its beak. But…

“GROAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWH!!!” the giant unleashed with great vigor!

As the Hoothoot came into range, Noah drew back and whipped his stick forward, nailing the damned bird right between the eyes with his burning branch of justice.



The sound echoed throughout the camp as the Hoothoot came to a dead stop. It hit the ground, twitching slightly. Bowser looked on in horror...but then Noah looked back at him, with a smile on his face.

*thump thump*

“Burn.” he ordered. And Bowser obeyed. The twitching Hoothoot caught flame, squawking in pain. It was music to Noah’s ears! He stood by Bowser and the burning Hoothoot, waving his stick in the air to dissuade any further Hoothoot from attempting an attack.

Had he gone too far?

*thump thump*

Most likely.

*thump thump*

Did he care?

*thump thump*

Most likely not.

*thump thump*
Judging by the hysterical laughing coming from the guy, he most likely didn’t give a flying fuck about anything other than burning every last fucking flying bag of shit at the moment. Sure, he’d probably regret it later...but later he wouldn’t have a horde of the fuckers attacking him.

...hopefully.

Ivy Aspen

Stick. Ground. Blanket thing.

Turned out that setting up a pathetic fake tent wasn’t so hard after all. And even better — it was all happening in glorious, glorious silence.

See? It’s not that hard to take a hint, right? Her new, enormous companion had terrible hair and had clearly made some terrible choices in regards to sticking metal bits into his body, but at least he knew when to stop flapping his mouth.

Stick. Ground. Blanket thi—

Flap-flap-flap-flap-flap.

…what was that sound?

Ivy paused. Giant Boy hadn’t even looked up. No one else seemed to be doing anything. So maybe…

Maybe she’d just… keep doing what she was doing?

Stick. Ground. Blanket thi—

Tesla growled, slow and menacing, and pawed at her leg. She stopped again and ran a hand through his fluffy coat.

Exhibitionist nodded at her. He seemed a little, well… friendlier than before?

“Than--!!” he started, and then a dark shape swooped down from above, and suddenly—

There was slimy, sticky white bird shit dripping down the side of Giant Boy’s face.

Ivy choked.

“Um—“ she started, unsure what to say, but all of a sudden the older boy’s face was aflame with pure, unadulterated… hatred.

He looked like a true Prince of Hell. Lord Tesla approved.

But the flapping was only getting louder… and louder… and suddenly Ivy was acutely aware of the fact that they were completely surrounded by Hoothoots. It looked like there were hundreds of them.

This… this just wasn’t right.

Out came Exhibitionist’s dog-thing, and suddenly there was fire everywhere. Exhibitionist picked up a stick and started trying to beat a Hoothoot to death. Then his Houndour set the unlucky creature on fire.

And… was he, uh… cackling?

It was hard to know what to do in this situation.

Then a Hoothoot darted out of the gloom and caught her right across the face, claws out.

It stung like a bitch. Ivy raised a slow, unsteady hand to her cheek… it came away dripping red.

Oh hell no.

Suddenly, she knew exactly what to do.

“Tesla,” she said, in the slowest, calmest voice of doom on this side of the planet. “Thunder Wave. Thunder Wave everything.”

And Thunder Wave everything, Tesla did. There was a crackle and a burst as a wave of electricity pulsed through the clearing. A few dozen birds squawked in alarm, suddenly finding it much harder to fly.

Then Ivy picked up the biggest stick she could find, and an absolutely expressionless face—



—she whacked the nearest bird-fucker like she was hitting a homerun. It flew off the end of her stick and smacked against a nearby tree, before falling limply to the ground.

This was a pretty good stick. It was bigger than Noah’s, and it wasn’t on fire, no, but that problem was easily solved by dipping the tip of it into the burning grass left behind in the Houndour’s wake.

“Let’s go,” she said, with just the tiniest trace of raw, spiteful fury filtering through her otherwise emotionless voice. “You paralyze, I whack.”

Thunder Wave.



Another Hoothoot got a faceful of burning branch. In its place appeared three more asshole birds, like the world’s most obnoxious baseballs. Like the Terminator on rampage mode, Ivy didn't even blink. With perfect technique, she just whacked, and whacked, and whacked.

Thunder Wave.



Thunder Wave.



Thunder Wave.



Giant Boy was doing a pretty great job of turning their clearing into hell-on-earth _{and earning himself a special place in Tesla’s heart}.

But, well… destroying things?

You won’t get very far as a baker without learning how to cause some blunt force trauma with a rolling pin, y’know. And Ivy was aiming to be Johto’s best.

LET THE MADNESS BEGIN.

Thunder Wave.


Thunder Wave.



Thunder Wave.

Shaking his head whilst rolling his eyes, Yuu proceed to put the gauze back into his bag, along with the other items. Seriously, he was just offering to help, what was wrong with that? He could honestly hear the contempt in her mundane and inflexible voice, even though she said thanks; condescending... His hands were moving at a rather slower rate, almost as if they were forced. A frown was plastered on his face, his eyes tracing the girl as he slowly put the roll back in. Seriously, what was her problem?

Click his tongue, Yuu shoved the first aid kit back into his now misaligned backpack; the teen felt his pokemon trembling on his head as he began rearranging most of the items, watching some of the crimson seep into the previously unpigmented shirt. He could of handled it right now, but nope, just shove away some help why don'tcha? Really, why did the others have to split off from the group? The only person who was quite affable was Cerise and he was plenty certain she was in a rut too.

Grumbling to himself, Yuu zipped up his bag, sighing in the process before picking it up and gently placing it by the rock. Sylvie was still shivering, her head twisting and turning as she focused on the eve. Terra was in the same position too, staring up at the flora above, undoubted worry was both in their eyes. Gazing upwards, he made an attempt to discern what was transpiring up above... but of course, a familiar (annoying) girl decided to interject into his thoughts.

Grumbling, Yuu's attention was now on Abigail, who sneered at him as she approached. "Hey look, now I have another item I can compare to you," he wasn't in the mood, so he snarked back, hoping she would get the plain picture - this isn't the time to go on a tangent how he was inferior. Raising one of his free fingers, Yuu swished one of the lumps of hair obscuring his eyes, he squinted, a ginormous frown forming quickly. Sure, he was a nice guy, but even he knew when this whole charade was at a bad time.

"Abigail, this isn't the time, so just stop with the incessant white noise for the rest of thenight, seriously," Yuu bluntly put out, letting his friendly demeanor drop, trading it in for something more appropriate. This was no time to joke around, nor be as affable as possible - get serious and come to terms with the dangers lurking in wait... his simple yet filling smile wouldn't drive predators away. Adopting a more vigil outlook, his eyes jutted to the left, right, up, sometimes down.

But eventually, she did stop thankfully and decided to go back into a somewhat cooperative stage like earlier. Eyes to the heavens, Yuu responded with a nod, "Aye; I won't rest easy until we make it to Cherrygrove so I won't mind staying up." Extending and arm to his backpack, his hand began to shuffle through the bag before he finally retrieved on of the silver canisters. The item glistened wistfully as he eyed the silent duo trying to set up the rubbish tent.

"Hey, you wouldn't mind Ivy commandeering your tent for the night, no?" Yuu quizzed as he tried to discern the source of Sylvie, Terra, and generally any other pokemons worry. It was like a fight in Dragon Ball Z; you had to use sound to find out where the fighting was coming from - it was like that in a sense. Tapping the side of his leg, he felt the paws on his head shift around, his lavender hair grasping different directions.

Until suddenly his whole head felt like it was being dragged by Sylvie... and that's when he saw the root of the complication. His jaw was slightly open, his eyes wider than before as one set of red eyes popped around... this... this was not ok; he knew what pokemon that was and every fiber within him was screaming for the whole group to flee, skedaddle, get the hell away because you are inexperienced novices who will likely get gutted if a stronger creatures comes your way. "Uhm," he utterly did not have anything to say right now, other than use his hand to beckon Terra over as he began to equip his bag once again, shoving the repel back inside. This was... well... fuck.

Suddenly, the air was filled with incessant flapping of wings; a recognized shape - Hoothoot; they were all coinciding as the horde flocked to those eyes - that Noctowl. "Sylvie, please get off my head," Yuu shakily spoke, tension in his voice as he studied the pokemon converging within the confines of the trees. "V-vee," she spoke, fear in her voice as she regained balanced and landed on the ground with no effort for grace.

Sylvie, Helping Hand on Terra, Terra, Defense Curl," Yuu hastily hissed as he kept his gaze on the fearsome bird. He felt a gust of wind pass by as a couple of Hoothoots passed him, yet he disturbed neither of them, because at the moment, doing something that could warrant the attention of a dangerous wild pokemon was just plain ridiculous. "Dude," Terra grumbled softly as she began to roll into a ball, covering up some of the more exposed spots over her body with her craggy arms. The small Eevee trotted over to the Geodude, putting a paw on her; "Vee," she whispered, giving the rock an awkward but quaint smile. On the other hand, Yuu was trying to stay collected, attempting to rationalize something with what they had to drive them off as briskly as possible... and more specifically, what they should do now.

"Avert disturbing them for n-," and then Yuu heard the screech of a thousand wailing male banshees, the sound of thwacking, and his eyes catching the mixture of sparks and flames going through the air. The fire quickly took to the area about, which could escalate into a full on forest fire if left unchecked, even as "small" as it was.

What the flying fuck are they doing?! A combination of fear, rage, and other things could be honestly found on his face. What they were doing was not ok! They were not only going to get themselves killed, but take down everyone else if that didn't stop!

God damnit Yuu, think faster!

Foe: Noctowl & Hoothoot Flock
Level: 20
Ability: Tinted Lens
Gender: Female

Hoothoots range from level 3-6

Formulating a plan, or what not, Yuu was coming up with algorithms, calculating possibilities, as his eyes whipped between the main focus and the dual derps diminishing the groups chances of survival. Yuu was serial when he saw a glint of anger in the normally stoic Noctowl, before in an instant, the flames were reduced to nothing but ashes.

Yuu frowned, barring his teeth has the wind whipped past his hair, throwing it all behind him. After over analyzing, he found that it was definitely a bad idea to remain here and fight.

Tanking a peck, the small round silhouette bounced off the Geodude, who gruffly responded by punching it directly in its face, causing it to tumble into a bunch of other darkened Hoothoots. Sylvie began dancing around any Hoothoot that bothered to draw near, pivoting and retaliating with a tackle in self defense; Yuu just stuck to dodging as one of the small birds flew directly at his chest. He wasn't able to avoid the next that came, so he quickly reacted to this by grabbing it swiftly as it squawked in its face... before just throwing it over his shoulder, the small pokemon almost crashing to the ground in the process.

It was then he heard Abigail's command as she issued her timid friend to have Sage use Ally Switch with Ivy. In an instant, the small dark green bird was gone, replaced with a much shorter human.

"Terra, Sylvie, assist Tyrian in clearing a path out of here; use Wish if anyone gets injured badly, Terra, try and tank all the hits," he gave a crisp, bellowing command to the duo who quickly identified the darker creature, and went to going all out on the owls.

Next emanated a less than haughty voice, but more of a sort of frightened voice which he recognized as Abigail, trying to get a singular spec out so they wouldn't die. Reacting quickly, Yuu tilted his head in her direction, his face as dead as the night.

"I'm opting to leave; this horde is far too agitated to properly deal with after the way they reacted! We need to have Noctowl use Hypnosis on Sage and then run as far as our legs can take us after clearing a path out of here," Yuu shouted over the cawing of the Hoothoot drown the area.

Swiftly retrieving a repel from his bag, with one deft movement it was instantly in front of his torso. One of the fledglings squawked as it attempted to peck Yuu, but not before getting a face full of repel. The poor pokemon cringed in pain, grunting as it retreated, but not before bumping into another one.

"Abigail, got any plans for extracting Noah?!" Yuu screeched, his eyes violently pressed as he constantly sprayed any Hoothoot with a short spurt of repel. He also began opting to kick dust up into the Hoothoots faces, making them a little more inaccurate as they started to bump into each other, some plummeting to the ground, uninjured.

This was going to be one hell of a night...

_{-Route 29-}

Amidst the carnage of war, Noah found himself oddly at peace. Sure, he was still laughing like a madman surrounded by Arceus knows how many pissed off Hoothoots. And suuure, one of the winged rats had swiped his neck, leaving a nasty little cut that was now just caked in bird shit. And suuuuuuure, Bowser’s fires were spreading with reckless abandon. But the blinding rage? It was quickly subsiding. That’s just how Noah was. It was...rare for him to lose his shit, and when it did eventually happen, it didn’t take much for the guy to blow off his steam.

“Yeouch!” he spat out as one of the swarm swooped in from behind, tearing a gnarly gash in the giant’s back. Noah pivoted, swinging the branch and making contact with one of the dirty little fucks. It wasn’t a clean hit, but the fire did scald the beast, eliciting a pained cry which was just oh-so-satisfying. That feeling didn’t last for long, however. Two more fuckers swooped in to take their fallen brother’s place.

It was useless. He was wasting his time and energy. Soon enough, he would be dead. All because he wanted to earn a few easy bucks. Heh. Ain’t life a bitch?

Noah could hear a thwacking coming from nearby. He didn’t dare turn to look, though. He had to keep the fire up to ward away the vicious little fucks. He did hear a voice underneath all the mad squawking and sounds of battle.

The kid. Probably. None of the others had a monotonous voice like that...did they?

Another Hoothoot slipped past Noah’s guard, this time slicing into the back of Noah’s calf. He groaned and fell to one knee for a second. Bowser had been right by his heels and was now backing underneath the fallen giant, ears flat against its head, teeth bared, head and tail low. He took frequent shots, barking burning balls which blazed toward the birds. Sometimes he hit, sometimes he missed. Either way, the fire was a-spreading. If this kept up-

A terrible screech tore into Noah’s mind. He dropped his burning branch as his hands flew up to cover his ears. Just when his everything stopped ringing, Noah started to pull his hands away when a huuuge gust of wind slapped into his side. Bowser even found himself starting to leave the ground, but the wind subsided before he was airborne.

Suddenly...it was dark. More dark than he had ever seen.

Except for the eyes.

The glowing, red eyes.

They came from all sides, slicing small cuts into his back, his sides, his arms. Noah doubled over, covering up Bowser, trying to protect the little guy. The slices stung, sure...but the pecks from the fuckers that landed on him were worse. Obviously, he couldn’t just sit there. Noah started swinging wildly. Some punches landed, others missed entirely. Some hits connected hard, others were whiffs, causing him to get sliced up even more. He felt inexplicably tired from time to time...as if all he wanted to do was sleep, but uh...go figure, getting constantly cut? Not exactly the most soothing feeling out there.

In the chaos, Noah did find himself having a silly thought: this would really sting in the morning. He actually still thought that he’d get out of the mess alive! Ha! What a riot!

…

Something was wrong.

Something was...waaay too wrong.

Suddenly, Noah felt a wave of heat to his left. He turned in time to see a couple Hoothoot trying to drag Bowser off. They were having...limited success in actual liftoff, but they were fucking pros when it came to pissing off the Houndour. Bowser pulled himself up and burnt one in the face. And the other? Well…

NOAH used HEADBUTT!

It’s super effective!

Still reeling from the headbutt, Noah nearly missed Bowser, but somehow he DID manage to scoop the pooch out of the air. The Hoothoot did not like that. They swarmed him again. But this time, Noah didn’t just stand there twiddling his thumbs.

He ran.

The swarm still got their licks in, and boy oh fucking boy did it hurt, but at least he was moving. He had hunched over and held Bowser close, trying to shield the dog as much as possible. He didn’t hear any yelps so...he was probably doing alright.

Between the darkness and the constant flow of Hoothoot into and out of his line of sight, seeing what was actually in front of him was a challenge. But…

When Noah came across the white ball of fluff...well it didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. Ivy’s Pokemon. That...didn’t bode well for the kid...

…

No…

Don’t…

It’s not your problem, Noah…

…

Noah almost ran past the little dude. Should have...but…

Evil or not, he couldn’t just leave the little fucker there to die. Unlike the shitbags, it hadn’t tried to kill him. Not yet, anyway. Yo, whatever.

Noah shifted Bowser over to one arm, the dog straddling his forearm, holding on for dear life as he scooped up the fallen Mareep. Once he was standing again, he shifted both Pokemon into the crook of his arms. Which, quite frankly, is pretty fucking difficult when Hoothoot and trying to rip one apart.

Noah found himself at more or less a dead end. The Hoothoot here were more numerous...more vicious...they REALLY didn’t like that particular trio. Bowser spat some hot fire, but..it just wasn’t enough. Noah tried to push back the same way he came, but without the stick and with his arms occupied, he couldn’t open a path. All he got was a particularly nasty cut just under his left eye.

And then his side.

And his thigh.

And his calf.

Noah fell to a knee, again.

Bowser leapt from his arm to the ground. He growled and barked flames at the Hoothoot...but it was useless.

It didn’t matter.

Noah slid the Mareep onto the ground, and hunkered over it. He glanced up at Bowser, who returned the look.

“Sorry bub,” he started, oddly calm despite the horde striking his back. “Don’t thin- AGHH! Don’t think we’re getting outta this one.” he whispered to the pup.

He reached out with one arm to pat the pup’s head...but a Hoothoot to the opportunity to take a slice at the giant’s arm, causing him to roar in pain. It was...it was a pretty deep cut, that one. Stung like a motherfucker.

Bowser lost his shit.

He howled.

Loud. Piercing.

He seemed to rumble…

…

And then a mighty stream of flames burst forth, curling outwards and wrapping back around on itself. The flames whipped across the Hoothoot, cutting into their lines like a warm knife through butter. The birds either caught flame and fell to the ground, screeching, or retreated from the intense flames that snaked forward, around and around. Burning bright. Burning high. Burning hot. Sticks and leaves burst into flames just by being NEAR the stream.

By the time Bowser cut off his stream, most of the Hoothoot that had been swarming Noah were gone. Only a few brave ones remained, and they were quickly dealt with by the pooch’s smaller flames. Noah looked up, but quickly had to shield his eyes. The flames had illuminated camp again - even brighter than before. He looked about and saw that even the grass around him was starting to light. His “tent”? Just a mini inferno. Behind him, he heard a cracking sound. Without thinking, he scooped Mareep back up and pushed onto his feet, breaking into a dead sprint. He slowed only to bend over and let Bowser jump into his arms.

The Brightstone boy ran like a Zubat outta hell. A loud crack, followed by a pop and a loud thud confirmed what he had thought. He turned to see the tree he had been standing by and just dropped a branch, and was now burning something fierce. Worse, though, was just how close to the other trees it was. Their branches practically touched. And the fire took the opportunity to check out the neighbor, proving to truly be the gift that kept on giving.

Noah wasted no time. He sprinted. Past burning Hoothoot. Past a much larger Hoothoot looking thing squaring off against a small green Hoothoot. Past this. Past that.

The fire spread quickly, and while it did scare off a lot of the Hoothoot that had been swarming Noah, now that he had gotten some distance from the flames, they saw it as a great time to attack again.

Bad idea.

As soon as the swarm got near, Bowser howled a might howl, and from his mouth burst forth another great, snaking flame. The heat coming from Bowser’s mouth was intense...enough so that Noah could feel his arm starting to burn. The Hoothoot learned this the hard way. A couple misjudged the way the flames were twisting and ended up flying directly into them. Needless to say, that? Yeaah...didn’t work so hot.

Others flew high to avoid a fiery death. Bowser was having none of that, though. He followed their flight upwards…

Which meant that the flames burst upwards…

Into the canopy…

…

Holy fuck.

The trees caught fire INSANELY quick, what with the stream of fire whipping through it. In what seemed to be no time at all, the newbie trainers would find themselves under a burning ceiling. Most of the Hoothoot that had not already fled, decided that now would probably be the best time to get the hell outta Dodge.

Noah rightly agreed. He ran. As fast as possible. He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t see who, if anybody, he was passing. He just kept his eyes on the path and his legs a pumping. Sure, they screamed out that they were burning, as did his cuts, scraps, and actual burn wounds...but being the world’s tallest pile of human ashes didn’t really appeal to Noah.

And so the boy, now relying almost entirely on primal instinct, screamed the only thing going through his mind, the only thing that could motivate him, the only thing that would keep him alive:



And run he did.

To hell with the darkness!

To hell with the wild pokemon!

To hell with that blaze behind him!

He wasn’t going to fucking stop until he hit Cherrygrove!

Ivy Aspen

Sometimes, people make decisions that they regret afterwards. There are plenty of them to make — like forgetting to do your homework, or driving while drunk, or getting Donald Trump’s face tattooed onto your ass.

Ivy Aspen was regretting a decision right now.

But it wasn’t picking up a bat and smacking some Hoothoots a good one. Those assholes deserved it.

It was becoming a trainer in the first place: obviously, her parents were insane.

Character building? Yeah, that was bullshit. First the Onix, then the earthquake, and now this? Nature was evil and out to get them. Why on earth would anyone want to do this as a career?

“Stay close, Tesla,” she said, sending a paralyzed Hoothoot careening into a tree. She was bleeding from her cheek and her arm and about a dozen different places on her abdomen: the bottom half of her shirt had basically been ripped to shreds by this point. “I don’t want you to get hur—“

And then… eyes. Terrifying, evil eyes.

A dark shape swooped down. She had one second to take a step back, flaming tent-stick held out protectively, but it was too late -- it crashed into its target with a resounding crack.

But it wasn’t Ivy that the Noctowl had hit. It was…

“Tesla,” Ivy breathed.

Oh hell no.

…

…

Tesla was lying crumpled on the ground, his white fur matted with blood. He… was he even still breathing?

Ivy started forwards without thinking. She had— she had to get to him. Tesla couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t.

But the Noctowl wasn’t finished, landing in front of her with a squawk. It stared at her, red eyes glinting with malice. And Ivy…

Ivy wasn’t scared.

Actually, Ivy was angrier than she’d ever been in her life.

Blood pounded in her ears. Her stomach felt like it was tying itself in knots. This was the disgusting, filthy monster that had hurt Tesla… and rational decision or not, it was going to pay.

Eyes wide and ferocious, she raised her stick.

And then…

And then she wasn’t in front of the Noctowl at all. She was hovering — about five feet in the air, next to Abigail and some red-haired chick that she’d never seen before.

She had about two seconds to process this new information before she went crashing into the ground.



Impact hurt. A lot. She landed knees first on the ground, stick clattering uselessly away. Later, she’d probably have a few nasty bruises (or maybe a hairline fracture) along with, well… all those cuts. Hoothoot claws were sharp.

But for now— she was no longer in the immediate range of Noctowl attack.

More importantly…



Where was he?

But suddenly everything was on fire, even more so than before — this was a full-scale forest fire. Even the trees were on fire, raining down a shower of flaming leaves. Hoothoots shrieked together in panic.

Ivy’s blood turned to ice. She pictured, briefly, Tesla lying crumpled on the ground as the fire roared and crackled, trapped in the inferno.

She sat up abruptly, ignoring the stinging of her cuts or the aching in her knees. Third degree burns? Fuck it, she’d risk it. She had to get Tesla out of there. She had to get him out of there now.

And then Noah ran past her, something white and fluffy in her arms.

Tesla.

Tesla…?

"I'm out," she said, very calmly. "You should probably run too."

Because, well... screw the Hoothoots. Seriously, screw them. But also screw everyone else, and her tent, and any supplies. She had some money tucked into her pockets. She’d just buy some stuff when she got to Cherrygrove.

Let everyone else worry about getting their clothes, or their bags, or whatever. The whole forest was burning down, and Noah had Tesla safe and sound.

Ivy Aspen was outta here.

So she ran, chasing down Noah like a Zubat out of hell. He had her Tesla, after all.

She ran, and ran, and ran, and ran…

Foe: Noctowl & Hoothoot Flock
Level: 20
Ability: Tinted Lens
Gender: Female

Hoothoots range from level 3-6

Ivy Aspen

As she shuffled down hall on her way from the emergency room to their rented, five person (how indecent!) room, Ivy Aspen was…

Tired.

And in pain.

But mostly, she was tired.

Tesla was in the emergency room. Noah was off being treated somewhere. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to thank him.

She’d have slept right there in the Emergency Room if she could have. It wasn’t just that she was worried about Tesla. She was, of course, but it wasn’t just that.

Ivy just… she didn’t think that she could handle the catfight that she knew was coming. With a group like theirs, and after an event like that… it was inevitably going to happen. But maybe Arceus would smile upon her, and it would happen the next morning.

She had just sprinted, at full speed, out of a forest fire and all the way to Cherrygrove City. Didn’t she deserve a small miracle like that?

Honestly, anything important could wait until the morning.

Considering the circumstances, of course… you could see why she didn’t notice the tall person following her until she was already being spoken to.

"Greetings, maybe you don't remember me...”

Ivy jumped, and then stiffened. She turned, very slowly.

And…

Well, she was being spoken to. By… a boy.

Uh…

Maybe it was a trick of the light. Or maybe it was just because she was so very, very tired. Hell, she was exhausted, really. So who could blame her for being less than perfectly in control?

But, uh.

Uncharacteristically, she thought… that this boy was.

Um.

Just a little bit.

Handsome?

No.

No, shake it off, Ivy. It was a trick of the light. And she was tired right now. Definitely. The boy was still talking.

“But I was in your travel group earlier. You seem to be... in less than pristine condition. I doubt all of those injuries came from an Onix.”

Wait… she’d met this boy before? She couldn’t really remember… actually, it was really hard thinking of anything other than fire and beady bird eyes right now.

She couldn’t even bring herself to be offended about the boy commenting on her outfit. It was just… too much effort right now.

“I don’t remember you,” she said, somehow managing to sound simultaneously toneless and uncomfortable. “Sorry. I… I don’t think that this is the best timing. We were attacked by a Hoothoot flock and—” how, exactly, was she supposed to explain that they’d been the root cause of the forest fire that had just happened? “—and got. Um. Caught in a forest fire.”

This was all just too much for right now. She… she needed to sleep. Immediately.

“…tomorrow morning would be better,” she mumbled, shyly.

And then she fled down the hallway and back to the room.

Talking? Socializing? Screw all of that.

Ivy Aspen was going to take a hot shower, and then she was going to bed in the nice, comfortable and clean PJs that she’d borrowed from the Pokemon Center.

She did only have one very tattered outfit now, after all.

Amidst the carnage, Yuu was consistently spraying any one of those fierce feather balls with pokemon repel. While they were trying to pounce on him in droves, the mob wasn't as big as the one around the piercing boy. He could seldom glimpse at what was going on, but he was too busy dodging a Hoothoot that imminently swiped past his legs, causing him to shoot his left foot up, leaving him comparable to the assailants. Of course, this was when he started a rather ridiculous maneuver.

Another one of those brown bags attempted to tear his gut straight open when he noticed one dashing straight at him. Almost as if the world was moving at a slower rate, he bent himself over, averting biting the bullet, matrix style. Wooshing over him, Yuu toppled backwards even further, only maintaining his position with a fist dug straight into the ground... well.

His hair stopped obscuring his eyes and welp, he got a good gaze over a couple of Hoothoots.

namely ones who weren't sprayed from earlier. They looked pissed, and they were staring something on his face. Was it his ears, mouth, limp strands of hair, or nose? No, nein, not a single one.

They were glancing deep into his eyes, as one tried to induce some hypnosis whilst the other made a mad dash for his eye. Tipping over, Yuu managed to avoid getting one of his eyes gouged out, but suffered from having part of his cheek sliced. It stung and thankfully the wound wasn't too deep to the bone. Finding himself on the ground, Yuu swiftly sprayed any Hoothoot from coming this way by showering them in more repel.

Briskly, he shot up, finding that Noah was now completely surrounded by a humongous Horde of fledgling owls who were pecking at the crouched figure who appeared to be... shielding something? Was it that stupid mu-... no? That dog was bravely standing out in front of him, but then what or who was he protecting?

That's when Yuu took one brief glance at Ivy and realized what was the actual problem.

She lacked a pokemon, namely her Mareep.

And then it all instantly happen.

Once he turned his head to identify how the others were faring, a blaze engulfed the encompassing area, the colors of fire danced on the side of his face as his eyes began to widen in horror once again. This was something akin to a train crash in slow motion as he rotated his head to find, much to his dismay, that singular mutt was causing havoc.

At this point, Yuu wasn't even surprised, considering the nature of such a diabolical creature.

He dared not look, alas Yuu could neither look away; it was that horrible moment as the embers roared to life, crawling, twisting and turning as the air was filled with the pungent odor of singed Hoothoots. It started out brightly, illuminating the dwelling, but then began to spread like a forlorn plague. Much to his dismay, the whole ecosystem in this area was about to be reduced to nothing but ashes.

While Noah escaped, that dog of damnation caused more trouble than it ensured, but that would be a respondent reaction for a later time. Grinding his teeth, the flames began to snare around and eat away. "Jeez, Sylvie, Terra, to me," he shouted hoarsely; the dynamic duo were somewhat busy fighting off the remaining Hoothoot who were too courageous for their own good. Kicking one away, Sylvie responded by instantly walking over to him.

Yuu wanted to heal the pokemon who was worn and weary, but he swiftly scooped her up as she panted, almost ready to collapse and recover. Terra on the other hand looked chipped and rugged, but didn't appear to be too injured. Throwing the repel into his bag, he swiftly retrieved Terra with his pokeball, the red beam clashing with the background of the fire. In a moments notice, everyone, including the Hoothoot's were retreating.

Of course, Yuu wanted to call out to Abigail who was carrying Tyrian in her arms as she rushed into the inferno... only to come back out, unscathed. With a sigh and a sight, they began to fall back with Yuu following suit. He wasn't winded at all with his slow movement speed, but rather making sure everyone would be fine with nothing stalking the five.

He lagged a little behind Cerise and Abigail, but boy oh boy...

If anything, he was pissed.

Pissed that Ivy and Noah decided it would be a grandeur idea to play baseball with the Hoothoot! Seriously! It was really infuriating that they did that, as it almost cost them their lives in the process, along with everyone elses in the group! A scowl was adorned on his face as he dashed, farther and farther away from the spreading fire...

Yuu was thankful that the Noctowl refused to pursue any of them, some of the Hoothoots did, but they gave up.

Once they were all far enough, Yuu began speaking in spurts between his voice, the wind coming in and out at regularish intervals. "Sylvie," he whispered in a hushed voice, panting somewhat between the lines. "Wish on... yourself..." The small pokemon let out an exhausted "vee," looking to the side, over at her newest best friend.

Then she closed her brightened eyes, meditating as she wheezed for a moment, before falling asleep with a slight illumination emanating from the Eevee; a sort of temporary spark that fluttered out.

She hoped that Tyrian would be ok... he was in worse shape than her by a margin, even if it was somewhat shorter.

That's what friends are for, right?

---

Eventually, they all made it to Cherrygrove and Yuu was generally just... drained. He had little to no energy to unleash his vexation as most of it was used up running. The only thing he did do was give them a judgemental glare which would probably cut them both... and probably cause Noah to bleed to death if they were little more than metaphorical. Of course, he was rather taken aback by the verity that Sylvie looked as dogged as when they were amidst the devouring chaos. Who did she exactly use Wish on?

Entering in with the rest, Yuu was hunched over, shaking his head with a perpetual frown on his face. At the moment, he just wanted to be left alone with only himself and his companions, i.e. pokemon. No human right now as he could accidentally lash out at one of them. Once inside, they all delivered their pokemon to get healed up, Terra included. Upon finishing that, Yuu let out an exasperated groan, putting his hands to his face as he slowly reclined. Honestly, this night could of been a lot better, but hopefully the next eve wouldn't result in undulated stupidity.

Because honestly, Yuu believed that whole situation could of been averted by some amount of sensibility in the group...

"What the actual hell," he groaned, lingering around the empty lobby at who knows what the heck time is... wait. Taking a glance at the clock, you denoted that it was obviously ten fifty-one. His arms were sore and his legs were trembling, tuckered out, so he followed suit behind the green haired loli.

Putting a hand to his cheek, he felt the crustiness of his own hardened blood as he began picking at the areas not involving the actual wound, peeling it off. Picking some of the darkened crimson from his fingers, he noticed a young male man accompanying Ivy.

While he wasn't one for eavesdropping, he picked up on a few new tidbits of information that were not revealed to him earlier, but he would ponder on it later...

When he was falling asleep of course.

Yuu's mind was somewhat in the gutter, mainly because of dying, seething rage within.

Shaking his head, Yuu immediately picked up the pace, his grunting becoming a bit more passive aggressive as he overtook the duo in speed and went straight into the suite of sorts that they were rented. It was a fairly simple room, five beds, table, tv, all the necessities that these rooms had. Of course, he wasn't in the mood to watch anything at the moment and rest assured, his gut told him no one else was interested in white noise too.

Setting his bag by his bed, Yuu took note that the bathroom was occupied... the only one that had a shower. Undressing, Yuu removed his jacket and sweat stained green t-shirt, folding them nice and tidy as he could... and just throwing them by his bag. Sitting on the bed, shirtless, Yuu ruffled his hair for the most part, waiting until the bathroom was no longer preoccupied.

A nice shower was in order and then the retrieval of Sylvie and Terra.

And then the dawn of a new day in this familiar, foreign land...