Chapter 2: Stakes on a Train

Story by Lowrisk on SoFurry

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#5 of Blood, Sweat, and Poke'mon

I guess the moral to this chapter would be to drink out of a clean toilet or something, though I would be upset too if someone drank my milkshake after I ate a plate of wasabi and ground pepper with whipped cream.


/Mantine, FL_Train Station_August/Saturday/5:04am_Calm, Twilight

Ludwig/

Mim and I had made it to the train station to see each other off.

He wasn't taking it to well...

"Vell Mul, thiz iz vere ve part vays." I stated as Mim latched onto my leg and wept, loudly.

"Don't vorry Mul, ve vill meet again, you count on it!" I finished as I pried him loose and boarded a black and blue, rust covered train as I made it to a seat, and stuck my head out the window.

"Never forget Mul, ve vill alvays have Mantine!" I shouted as my train began departing, off to the west, while Mim was crying a festival of tears.

'Ve vill definitely meet again Mul... unfortunately.'

Mim/

*Pop!*Shuppet's duskball opened, "(Don't feel too down, you can always give him a call!)"

Shuppet chimed in, appearing from her poke'ball, and soon followed by a few more pops and my poke'mon surrounding me, hugging my legs and causing me to smile.

"You're right, I wont let this get me down, I just gotta keep moving forward!"

I exclaimed, wiping my tears away and then pumping my fist in the air as we made it to our train.

The general design of the trains exterior was of two GR C44-9W for the guiding cars, with twelve British style passenger cars in the center, in between those was a small battle arena car, and five cargo/freight cars on the end, with my new hummer in one of them.

Aside from the cargo, the passenger and main cars were patterns of white and red, and all covered in spots of wear.

The only shiny thing on the train was a sign that read, 'Orlando, FL'.

I felt queasy looking at all the metal and rust, but found the courage to start getting on.

Showing my ticket to the ticket master at the door, we went inside, and made our way to the room number marked on my ticket.

As we did so, I noticed the classic french decor of red and gold drapes and carpets, giving the train an old timey, yet rich in etiquette feel, while the dim yellow lights made it feel like the opening sequence to a horror show, and due to this being the second train of departure, it felt a bit abandoned since not that many people or poke'mon would be on it this early.

"(So this is the inside of a train, huh?)" Shuppet spoke, casting an eerie grin, "(I like it.)" She then turned to face me, "(MayI look around?)"

"Sure, what could be the harm!" I said, giving her a thumps up and feeling a chill run down my spine as she raced down the corridors, "Just don't scare anyone!" I yelled as she vanished out of sight.

"Me go too!" Kecleon asked, pulling on my pant leg, with a sour look on his face.

"Okay, but be back to our room, number 216, when you're done."

"Yay!" Kecleon yelped, giving me a hug before running off in the opposite direction of shuppet.

~o~

I made it to our small room a short moment later.

The room consisted of two long, white cushioned benches on either side, a shelf bed with manila sheets and a pillow above each one, and a medium sized window in the center making the room look completely symmetrical.

I threw my bag on top of the shelf bed to the left and plopped down on the bench underneath it, lying down on it, and closing my eyes.

I was about to drift of to dreamland when I felt a small, warm, pressure on my chest.

I opened my eyes to see zorua smiling back at me.

''Aw, sho cute!"

She seemed to perk up even more so as she started to shift lower on my body.

"I guess that leaves you and I... Alone." Zorua said quietly, still moving lower, and lower, until...

"W-what ARE y-y-ou DOING S-S-Solstice!" I stuttered aloud, face getting redder each second.

"It was really brave of you," She was sitting in between my legs as she began to lick my pants, "jumping off a building for some random person you've never met, then saying those things, ooh, it stole my heart."

I grabbed her before she could continue, stood up, and set her down on the bench, leaving, before any further awkwardness could occur.

Unfortunately, in my haste made me bump into someone, happy male part first, making us both fall back facing each other.

To make matters worse, the guy I bumped into was apparently in the same 'predicament' as I. He had brown hair, hazel eyes, wore a gray shirt under a slate-blue jacket, with brown boots, a silver necklace, and long beige pants that looked like they were trying to smuggle an upright banana.

"Ow," He said as he got up, "Um, are you alright?" he spoke in a collected tone that spoke volumes of uneasiness, and reached a hand to help me up, "I have to go," He said as he ran past me, ducking into several rooms. I was pushed aside once more from a purrloin who seemed to be in a hurry to catch up with the guy.

'I think I'll go see what Arnyek's up to.' I thought as I made my way in the direction I thought she went, and to get some fresh air.

~o~

Solstice/Zorua/

I sat on the bed with Mim's bag, contemplating on this mornings events, for answers to my 'situation'.

"(Maybe I came on to strong.)" I sighed, hoping that my foreplay didn't ruin my chances with Mim, "(I thought giving him a bath would cause him to loosen up, ooh, I really wish someone could help me find an easier way to thank him.)"

"(It seems you are in need of my assistance.)"

I jumped as a purrloin entered the room, along with the smell of frustration and heat.

"(Y-you can help me?)" I asked, blushing at the fact of a stranger hearing out my, embarrassing confession, I was willing to try anything.

She nodded her answer and smiled.

"(Why, who are you?)" I asked as she jumped on the bed beside me.

"(I am Hecate, I am Zack's favorite poke'mon, lover, and all around harem leader!)" She exclaimed, putting a proud paw to her chest, "(But enough about me, how about you, I heard you needed help winning someone over, and I, being the oh so generous one, am willing give you a three step plan on doing so!)"

She then came very close and whispered in my ear, "(For a favor.)"

I looked at her skeptically, 'it couldn't be as easy as three steps, could it, then again, there is that 'favor''.

"(Whats the favor?)" I asked, hoping it wasn't anything too disturbing, especially after that balloon incident back at the station a while back, *shivers* I still have flashbacks.

"(Simple my dear, I just need you to use that illusion technique of yours to distract my team members for a while, that way, I can be alone with Zack.)" She purred, hugging herself at the thought.

I thought it over and decided that I couldn't care less about the consequences, 'I mean come on, we may never see this team again in our lifetime.'

"(Deal, so what's step one?)" I answered and asked, saluting, and ready to take down some mental notes.

She laughed, but then got serious as she raised her paw, and whipped her tail in the air.

"(Step One! Luring!)" She looked me in the eye, almost hypnotizing me, "(You first have to bait and trap, find something he likes, like a silver necklace, to lure him to where you want, and once you have him chasing you, instead of the other way around... You Pounce!)"

She elaborated, by jumping on an imaginary person, and hastily dry humping the air.

I was enraptured, but still nervous, "(What happens if he gets away, I'm still a fraction of his size!)"

"(That leads into.)" She got on the edge of the bed and dropped down.

I went to the edge and looked down to see her running in place.

"(Step Two! Cardio! You have to be able to keep up with him, if you can out last his running, you can then overtake him in his exhaustion.)" She said, as she stopped running in place and started drooling and rolling around on the floor.

"(What if I can't keep up?)" I asked, feeling a bit more than doubtful at her advise.

"(Then we initiate-)" She jumped back on the bed.

"(Step Three! Back-Up!)" She pulled me in close, "(Find an accomplice who is willing to help you retrace steps one through two, that is where you come in.)" She purred, hugging me closely, "(Then we can go to step four-)"

"(I thought there were only three steps.)"

"(Well, the last ones more of a goal,)" She jumped on Mim's bag, "(Use attract and rape them, mwa hahaha!)"

I face pawed.

'To think I was going to listen to this loony.'

I thought as I jumped off the bed and began walking towards the door.

"(Weeell, its been fun, but I think you should g-)"

I was cut of by being tackled to the ground by the purrloin as she pinned me down.

"(The deal was that I help you, you help me, now come on.)" She growled.

I sighed, but unfortunately, a deal 'was' a deal.

"(Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into now.)"

~o~

Arnyek/ Shuppet/

I was floating through the hallways rattling my red chain, much to the discomfort of most of the passengers.

'I know its wrong, but fear tastes so good, I'm so sorry fellow commuters...'

I was brought out of my thoughts when a shadow ball almost collided with the back of my head, I turned quickly to see a Sableye and an Umbreon.

"(C-can I help you with something?" I asked, a bit frightened at the possibility of battling two shadow types, "(If I am disturbing you, I'll stop.)"

They seemed a bit confused from what I said.

The Umbreon was the first to speak up.

"(Oh, well, I was the one who threw the shadow ball, it was a warning shot by the way, anywho, my awsome and wonderful trainer, Jack, is trying to kick some random jerk, who barged in out of the blue mind you, out of his room right now, but due to his 'unique' speech pattern, he isn't having much luck relaying it, and your chain rattling isn't helping him any, but since you said you'll stop, I guess its okay." She finished off stomping with her foreleg in emphasis, "(And don't try it again!)"

"(I wouldn't dream of it.)" I apologetically stated.

The umbreon and I stared to see at the Sableye to see why it was here.

It seemed to get the hint.

"(Oh, you can just call me Loki, I just wanted to join in the noise making!)" She ended up shaking her head and producing noise like a giant, squishy maraca, causing the umbrean hold in her breakfast.

"(But seeing as you're stopping, I might as well see who's using the battling platform outside.)"

With that she turned and walked towards the battle car where some people were gathering to.

We soon heard the sounds of said poke'mon battle.

"Gary, use fly to give us an aerial advantage!" Umbreon seemed to pale at the voice, then darted off screaming towards the battle, "(JACK!)", and running past the Sableye.

Then, another order was shouted, but from a clearer, much calmer voice.

"Selene, shadow ball, Gaia charge your solar beam!" This voice seemed to make the Sableye run for the battle even faster.

"(Well, I guess I can watch a battle before I meet back with Mim.)" I said, floating of towards the unfolding scene.

~o~

Mim/

I was locked in the dark cargo hold with three very pissed off poke'mon, with my kecleon shivering in my arms, as I decided to hide in the trunk of my car that was put in there, what luck.

'I still don't see how they could get so mad when I think back on it.'

I thought, trying to think back on recent events.

/Flashback_6:00am

I was looking for shuppet through the train, but I didn't remember which direction she went and I ended up in the dining car, where I saw kecleon asleep under a pile of used plates.

'I hope the buffet was free.' I thought as I continued through the car.

Luckily only four patrons were in it at the time, not including myself.

Kecleon was passed out in his food, an angry looking charmeleon was putting a huge scoop of unground pepper on its... Wassabi paste, ouch, another one was a cute wittle nuzleaf who was eating a not sho wittle shteak, 'daww,' and the final one was a happy looking houndoom, whom happily ate its plate of fried Vyann roast.

I decided to start with the houndoom, though, ready to speak my Ulimi after only hearing it for so long.

I walked close, making sure to talk before I got within a certain distance.

Artemis/Houndoom/

I was eating my third plate of food when I looked up to be greeted by a strange man in a lab coat, "(Hello, there, I, am, Mim, have, you, seen, a, shuppet, with, a, red, chain, by, any, chance?)" He spoke in an agonizingly slow and accented manor and knelt in front of me, he seemed friendly enough, so I shook my head no.

He deflated a little at that, but got up and walked away. I turned back to eat of my food, but there, staring back at me, mocking me, was the strangers footprint in my food, which brought back horrid memories of my old 'trainer,' as a tear ran down my cheek.

Flare/Charmeleon/

I sat down at one of the spare stalls as I was ready to eat my first ever sundae, it was pistachio ice cream with sprinkles and whipped cream, I prepared myself, with a refreshing drink to wash it all down.

As I was getting ready to eat a spoonful, an irritating, yet friendly voice rung in my ears, I turned to see the embodiment of irritation in a lab coat.

"(Hi, there, I, am, Mim, you, should, not, eat, that, you, know,, you, may, get, severe,, um,, indigestion,, and, also,, have, you, by, any, chance, seen, a, shuppet, with, a, red, chain?)"

'UGH! Irritating, and how dare he scold me like a child! No, I have to stay calm!' I thought with eyes clenched.

I opened my eyes and growled at him with barred teeth, "(Go away!)" I sneered, warning the pitiful man of possible pain infliction.

He seemed unaffected by this, however, as he sidled in next to me and started drinking 'my' juice.

"Aw man, that is a cool and refreshing milkshake, well, I guess I'll just ask the nuzleaf over there then, see ya!" With that he left, barely avoiding a swipe from claw.

'Just gotta stay calm, work on my anger like Isis said.' I thought as I calmed a little bit and ate my sundae in one bite, savoring its swe-"*RAAAAW!*"

I reached for my drink, but the life saving liquid was gone, I ran to the drink fountain, but it wouldn't work, I then noticed it had a sign on it, but I couldn't make out what it said through my welling tears(Will refill in five minutes, Sorry... :3).

I looked around frantically, the burning in my mouth, chest, and nostrils increasing with each breath.

'Why is the Ice cream so hoooot, and why is it hurting 'me' a 'fire' type?' I thought as I barged into a few doors, looking for anything to relieve the pain.

I finally made it into a restroom, and by the smell of it, it was the men's room, but my need for water, far outweighed any thought of possible embarrassment.

I tried all the faucets, but none of them seemed to work.

Breaking off the last one in my frustration, I slunk to the floor, almost passing out...

*flush!*

I heard a toilet automatically flush, and a human head out of the door.

I ran for a porcelain throne and dunked my head in gulping down the bitter liquid of doo chunks and urine.

~o~

I left the bathroom red... redder, from both the anger and embarrassment of using a different toilet to try and wash off the smell of the first, and all because that human drank my shake.

His name, I will not forget, nor forgive...

'Mim, you will beg for mercy, but you will not have any of it from me.'

Athena/Nuzleaf/

I finally get to see what meat tastes like.

"Hi dare wittle fella, I'm Mimmy wimmy, and I'm wooking fo a shoepit!" Said the dead man in a lab coat as he held me in a hug from behind.

Mim/

I was busy hugging the growling nuzleaf, when suddenly, an enraged charmeleon burst into the room, the nuzleaf flipped using my arms as a bar and delivered an upside down, kick to my face.

As I stumbled backwards I tripped over something, looking at my legs revealed a sad, yet enraged houndoom.

I didn't have the time to ask it what was wrong, as I dodged a flame thrower from the charmeleon that just barged in with some chocolate on her face, for it to burn up the food in the buffet.

The nuzleaf tackled me, but my poke'dex activated just in time and gave me a boost of speed to run out of the way.

I suddenly felt a wet and sticky sensation on the back of my head, and I was pulled out of the dining car to safety and was immediately grabbed into a hug by kecleon.

However, our salvation was short lived as a flaming razorleaf funnel was blasted through the doors, causing me to grab kecleon and run for it.

~o~

We ran into the cargo hold, as it was the only place I could think to hide, but in my panic, I forgot to lock the main cargo door.

It didn't take long for them to catch onto my scent.

/Flashback_End

'I still don't see what I did that made them snap.'

~o~

/Battle Car_6:38am

Zack Quill/

'Its never a normal day.'

I thought as I had to fight some guy name Jack Riverway just because his poke'mon thought me rude to barge in and not understand their trainer through his stuttering.

The trainer I couldn't understand was light tan, had brown hair, a black coat, a red scarf around his neck, military boots, camo style pants, a small bag to his side, a black eye-patch over his right eye, his left ones iris being blue, and he had a speech impediment.

How is it my fault I couldn't understand him?

He stood on his skarmory with a mienshao, and a mew floating close behind.

'The shadow ball earlier was dodged, but if I can attack without him seeing it, it should end the battle with my victory.' I thought, trying to think of a strategy.

I was brought from my thoughts as poke'dex activated, giving me some extra awareness to just barely allow me to block a powerful punch that meinshao delivered from the sky, with my forearms, causing them to recoil and force me to puch myself.

Suicune acted quickly and began to create a barrier of ice, yelling for us to get behind it, as she launched an ice beam at meinshao, but missed by her jumping up in the air as skarmory swooped down low to catch her.

We did as suicune asked and as I looked through the barrier, I was slightly blinded by the light shining through, when something clicked.

"I have an Idea!" I said aloud to get my teams attention.

"Gaia, is the solar beam ready?" my leafeon nodded as she got back into an aggressive stance."Good, Selene," I turned to my absol, "I need you to polish the ice barrier," She looked at me questioningly, "I know it sounds weird, but trust me on this!" I said as she nodded and began rubbing the ice with her paws rapidly.

I waited until I saw absol sweat starting to evaporate, "Okay, stop Selene, and back away!"

She nodded and obeyed, I looked to leafeon, "Gaia, stand in the center where the suns rays are focusing and release the solar beam through the barrier!"

She nodded, and used her grass type senses to feel where the beams of solar energy met.

Suicune felt the sudden change in atmosphere, and stopped trying to hold off the aerial assaults to jump behind the ice barrier, just as leafeon unleashed its beam.

Due to refracting through the ice, the beam became huge, albeit less dense, it still had its desired effect as the skarmory began to loose balance and crashed into the ground and lost consciousness.

"From now on, we are calling that move, microdaze!" I cheered, as the attack had the desired effect.

The trainer, mew, and meinshao levitated to the ground, but unfortunately for them, suicune took the opportunity to freeze meinshao and mew solid halfway down their descent, and all three plummeted to the ground, causing the ice to break on impact, and knocking out the mew and meinshao, leaving Jack in a puddle of ice water surrounded by my team and I.

"Give up while you're still conscious!" I ordered the trainer as he lifted himself to a knee, but instead of heading my orders, he grinned and he reached a hand over his right eye, pulling away the eye-patch and revealing- *barf!*

"Dude that's, SICK, even Loki isn't that disgusting!"

I was too distracted from puking to notice him lead a drop kick to my fac-

Jack Riverway/

I finished landing a drop kick to my opponent's face, knocking out the trainer, and earning me the victory, which was confirmed with a click on his poke'dex and a ringing on mine followed by my poke'dex speaking in a childish robot tone.

"Congrats, you sure showed that loser, your prize is in the amount of two-hundred credits, enjoy!"

However, his poke'mon were non-too-happy of my poke'dex calling their trainer a loser, and slowly stalked closer to me, growling and nearly foaming out the mouth.

I was trying my best to back away, still dragging my butt on the cold wet ground, and plead my case, "Hey, w-wait a minute y-y-your t-trainers uncon-unconscious, I w-w-w-w-won!"

They kept coming closer until the train jolted to a stop with a loud *screech!* and forced everyone to fly forward, allowing me to recall my poke'mon and runaway towards the passanger car to my room.

I did so, and was greeted at the cars entrance by my very concerned umbreon speaking a mile a minute.

"(Iwasworriedaboutyou, howcouldyoufightwithoutme, areyoualright, youarenotleavingmysightuntiltheendofthistrip, understand!?)" She said as she grabbed my pant leg with her teeth and yanked me in the direction of my room, past all the nauseated onlookers, as I placed my eye-patch back on.

We made it to my room as the train began to depart from its previous stop and dropped even more passengers off.

I fell face first onto the bench, feeling the soreness of battle seeping in, umbreon laid on my back and quickly fell to sleep.

While lying down, I was trying to ponder what my next step should be on my journey.

However, the soft purring on my back lulled me into a deep sleep.

Leaving me with one last lingering thought.

'Its never a normal day.'

~o~

/A few minutes before the ZackvJack conclusion

Mim/

After a few minutes Kecleon and I snuck out of the trunk when we thought the cost was clear and almost made back to the main door leading into the passenger cars, until-

"(I WILL END YOU!)"

The infuriated charmeleon came from behind a luggage crate and kicked a suitcase at us, followed by an ember that cought me in the back from the houndoom.

"Agh, I am, 'sooo' sorry for whatever it is that I 'may' have done to offend you!" I cried as I tried to run with kecleon at my heels, but was cut off, yet again, from nuzleaf this time.

We were surrounded as all three closed in on us.

"(No one talks down to me like I'm a baby!)"

"It won't happen again, I swe-"

"(I hate trainers who abuse poke'mon!)"

"SAY WHA-"

"(I ATE CRAP BECAUSE OF YOU!)"

"Um, I don't see how I relate to those last two."

"Arriving at stop, Fort Pikachu, please be seated for arrival or hold on to a hand rail, thank you!"

All three jumped at me when the train jolted to a sudden stop, the force threw me forward and towards the main cargo doors and forced all three of them into a 'head'on collision, seemingly knocking them all out.

We thought we were safe at last, but when I tried to open the door, it wouldn't budge, I looked at it's seems and saw that it was welded shut, causing me to plant my head on the door.

"Well Gyik, it looks like we may need to cut our losses and see if we can bribe them... Gyik?" I looked around and saw he had vanished.

Also, a very dazed, yet cute wittle nuzweaf, was standing a short distance ahead of me.

"Aww, you wook sho cute when you're not trying to murder me, yesh you do, yesh you do!" I uncontrollably blurted out as it seem to find the energy to charge me.

Oddly enough, I felt that same sticky sensation on my leg this time, and was yanked to the left, and fell to the side, just as I was about to block the charge.

I thankfully didn't need to block as the cute wittle poke'mon busted the door open and was K.O.'d.

I was getting up when I saw a beige zig-zag run next to me, and felt something scaly grab my hand and pull my into running out of the cargo hold, being careful to go around the knocked out nuzleaf... *crack!* almost around her.

When we made it out of there the beige zig-zag turned into a shaken up kecleon that latched onto my leg.

"Too dark..." He said as I pulled him off and held him like I did the nuzleaf earlier.

"Don't worry, as long as I'm your trainer, you have nothing to fear!" I cheered, nearly disregarding the trouble I was accused of causing completely, and earning a sleeping kecleon in return.

*ROAR!*

"Well, maybe almost nothing to fear." I jested as I ran for my room.

~o~

When I made it to the room, I suddenly remembered the awkward moment I had with zorua and felt a bit tense about heading inside.

When I entered though, I felt relieved, albeit a bit guilty.

'I hope shes not upset,' I thought as I placed kecleon in the bed where my bag was, grabbing it in the process.

I was about to leave when shuppet fazed through the door and smiled.

"(There you are, I just saw a poke'mon battle unfold and had a great Idea!)" She said, cheerfully, as if I had already agreed.

She flew into my bag and stuck her head out, "(My plan is that, since both trainers who fought in the battle took some damage from each other, I was thinking that we should take this opportunity to battle them both, while they're still weak.)"

"That sounds pretty mean, shouldn't the fight be fair?" I asked, a bit concerned for the other trainers.

"(That's only if we were stronger, and lets be honest, we need some easy wins right now.)" Hiding her face as she said so, "(And one more thing.)"

I looked at her, questioningly.

"(Why does your bag smell of another poke'mon?)"

I honestly didn't have an answer for that, but, as my luck would have it, shuppet completely dropped the subject and became ecstatic at who was before us.

The trainer I bumped into from before was heading in our direction, only, he was followed by an entourage of a suicune, leafeon, absol, sableye, and *gulp!* the three poke'mon from before, all wearing worried expressions towards their trainer, who seemed to pale and turn a bit nervous upon seeing me.

"(Mim, challenge him, we need the experience.)" Demanded shuppet in a hushed tone, and was just oblivious to how hard fulfilling her wish would be.

"Um, they out number us, about four to one, give or take." I whispered nervously as all the poke'mon looked to where their trainer was looking.

Me.

The three from before became enraged at the sight of me.

"(You dirty little low-life, YOU WILL DIE!)" Shouted the nuzleaf as she charged, and was immediately held back by suicunes telekinesis.

"Calm down, why would you be so upset over somebody you've just met!" She scolded, then glared when nuzleaf was about to talk back, silencing her immediately.

Suicune then turned to face me and spoke.

"I am terribly sorry, young sir, but as you can see, all of us had had a rough day-"

"(He treated me like a baby!)"

"(He stepped in my food!)"

"(HE MADE ME EAT SH*T!)"

The last outburst made everyone of his poke'mon laugh, except for the suicune, nuzleaf, and charmeleon, who was now biting her lip, red with anger and embarrassment, and forming tears in her eyes.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Suicune shouted, somehow causing them all to regain their composure, "What is done is done, get over it!" They seemed to know when they were defeated as they slunk back into their group, still glaring daggers at me.

Shuppet had floated to the suicune, and ever so politely, smacked her with an end of the red chain, earning a collective *gasp!*.

"(We challenge you to a poke'mon battle, three on three!)"

The suicune seemed to keep her cool and just sighed, "Very well, Zack, please accept their request so that you may defend my honor."

Zack, their trainer, seemed very nervous, but nodded his head nontheless.

"Good, meet us at the battle car in fifteen minutes." Suicune said, as they all turned and headed towards the car.

"(Isn't this great Mim, we have our first official fight, and they seemed to be exhausted!)" Shuppet cheered as she floated around my head.

I couldn't help but pull her into a hug, "Aww, well, atleast you and kecleon can fight!" I gleefully said as she seemed to go wide eyed.

"(What about Solstice, I was going to use her as my balance, they have a dark type for crying out loud!)" She said, while I just held her tighter.

"We sort've had a moment earlier this morning, and I haven't seen her since." I solemnly said as I looked at my poke'dex and immediately had an epiphany.

"I got it, I'll just use my poke'dex's tracking system to find her," I squeed as I held shuppet in the air, much to her enjoyment, "but first, lets go get Gyik!" I yelled, bolting to the room, with shuppet in my arms.

~o~

Shortly after we made it back to our room, we got kecleon, put his scope-lense on him, and made a plan, just incase we couldn't find zorua in time.

I tapped the poke'dex on wrist and a holo-screen popped up, and I heard the voice of the mew who gave it to me.

"Hello there, I am a Poket Dexter, I serve as your ID, Passport, CredCard, compu-"

"Wow, I didn't expect to hear from you so soon Sel- 'Madam' Selene!" I said, correcting myself and standing straight.

"Oh no, I am not she, I am an artificial intelligence based off of her persona, as she is the one who issued me to you, however, if you want to speak to her, I may place a call to her poke'dex, though, it is often only used for technical difficulties and, oh, it saids here that if you wish to place a call to her, 'to lead him off a led-' oh, sorry, that is a private message."

"Yeahyeahyeah, I need to use the tracking devise." I interrupted my poke'dex as it went silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

"My AI programming is issued to a Mim Upendo Liebe, my scans indicate that you are Mim Upendo Liebe, welcome, Mim Upendo Liebe, as a new user, we recommend that you follow through with the full tutorial before accessing many of the fea-"

"I only have five minutes left, maybe later," I interrupted again, causing my poke'dex to go silent once more.

"Understood, someone of your 'intelligence' will probably need their hand held through the whole process anyways."

"Hey, don't lie, you don't have any han-"

"Please issue me 'my' ID, that is, my name." It said, rudely interrupting me.

"How about, Pooki?" I asked, ecstatically at my ingenious name thinking.

"Sir, I advise you to let me choose one, as that name is a load of sh-"

"Pooki Pooki POOKI!" I yelled, jumping up and down in frustration.

"And what should I call you?" It asked, in a slightly more deadpanned tone.

"Call me, uh, Pooki, er, what did Ludwig used to call me when I would hug him after giving me something... Oh, Barrog!" I said jumping up and down, this time, in glee.

"Yes, 'Barrog', it seems, 'fitting'..." Pooki said, as she started beeping.

"Tracking system online, loading map system, what is the nature of your search?" It interrupted, forcing me to issue my next intelligent command.

"Find my poke'mon!" I ordered the screen, as it started to scan the area for signs of them.

"Your shuppet, Arnyek, is left of you, your kecleon, Gyik, is to your right, and your zorua, Solstice, is twenty yards, southeast of your position, at a location marked, car number 189." It said as it finished it's search.

"We only have two minutes left, we'll just have to go to the battle car without her!" I said, heading out, and to the direction of the battle car, as my poke'dex went into its low power state (LPS), after muttering about an 'in bicycle' or something.

~o~

We made it to the car, and Zack, along with suicune, charmeleon, and sableye, were waiting there for us.

Suicune was the first to speak.

"We almost thought you weren't going to make it, but it seems you have!" She yelled over the roaring of the train, "The rule set is, three on three, no switch outs, no weapons, and no attacking a downed poke'mon or trainer, are the terms clear!"

"We agree, but our team will be using only two of three poke'mon, as we cannot find them, and my poke'dex talks to much, do you agree with this amendment?" I shouted, putting on my goggles and waiting for them to accept.

"Very well then," She looked to Zack who seemed very scared, and nodded

"Let the battle commence!" Both of us said as both sides went into battle positions.

Just then, Pooki beeped.

Isis/Suicune/

The other team seemed to jump into action as the kecleon jumped away and cloaked himself, and somehow his presence, while the shuppet went off to the side and under the train, leaving the trainer to run at us head-on.

We looked to Zack for our strategy, and he smiled, weakly, and gave us our orders.

"Ok, Lucky, run to the trainer and jump chest first at him, Floor, follow behind her and use brick break!" He said, as they obeyed without hesitation, though confused by the sudden name change.

They were met with the trainer simply punching sableye with brick break, and during the confusion, the trainer jumped to charmeleons left side, blew a kiss to her, and out of nowhere, she was bombarded with hearts.

"(No, I HATE you, I can't feel like this, GAH!)" She fumed holding her head, until the shuppet phased through the floor and caused a bright flash.

As soon as it died down, it revealed an unconcious charmeleon, and the trainer jumping back from a shadow claw by sableye and ducking from the following kick.

"Zack, what kind of plan was that?" I turned my head to scold him, and seeing his smirk made me even more furious, "Is this funny to you, Flare is knocked out, and Loki just took the brunt of that attack 'you' ordered!"

I looked away from him at this point, "I thought I made the right decision choosing you, but- AGH!" Was all I got out as I was hit with a shadow ball from behind.

I turned to look at Zack, his eyes glowing red and mouth smoking.

I shot an ice beam at this Zack, no, this wasn't him, this doppelganger, and encased his legs in ice, "Who are you, and what did you do with Zack!?" I growled, waiting for this thing to answer me.

"(*snicker!*Well you did ask politely!)" It said in a feminine voice, which confused me, until her form, near instantly, changed into a small beige tipped zorua, that was now free from its icey shackles.

She jumped up in the air and landed a small distance away.

"('I' personally didn't do anything to your trainer, But...)" She turned her head slightly, almost as if she was hiding a blush, "(That purrloin of his did use me so she could be alone with him in his weakened state.)"

My eyes shot wide open, 'Hectate. That little pussy cat is in for it when I get my paws on her!' I thought when I was hit with another shadow ball, this time, from my side, and got knocked down.

I turned to see the trainer through my blurring vision, hugging an unconscious sableye, with his shuppet floating next to him, and the kecleon appearing on his back, and all three having triumphant smiles on their faces.

Then all went black.

~o~

/Orlando, FL_Train Station_7:02am_Clear

Gyik/

We won.

Shuppet made up the plan to use me as a support to Master as I hung on his back, and in doing so, I was able to hide my presence by using Master's, while shuppet hid under the train floor for a chance to use flash, and to hide from any dark type moves, though she won't admit to the last part.

But when Master's bracelet told us that zorua was using an illusion as the other trainer, it made it an easy win since they were attacked from the inside, and out.

The train had stopped and all three of us were heading towards the exit of the train, shuppet in Masters bag, solstice a few steps ahead of us, and me in Master's arms.

We made it off the train and saw a pirate walk out from behind us with a umbreon on his shoulders.

He looked both ways, then to his poke'dex, then turned to see us.

"Um, ex-excuse m-me, but do you know where the bus stop is, i-it isn't comming up on my poke'dex, c-can you help me?" His hands shaking more and more as he spoke to Master, but stopped shaking when his umbreon licked his cheek.

"I don't know where Mr. Pirate, but maybe mine can help!" Master offered, and spoke to his it on his left wrist.

"I heard the conversation Barrog sir, there are no listed bus stops in the area." Pooki said as it went back to it's LPS.

Upon hearing this, the trainer looked at his feet and said solemnly, "I'm sorry for wasting your time," as he mumbled about not being a pirate.

Master put his finger to his chin in thought, oh no.

"Where are you heading?" Master asked with a concerned voice and look on his face.

"I was hoping to make it to the Orlando Gym here, b-but, since I barely travel into cities, I often get l-lost, or stuck in this case." He said putting his hands in his pants pockets.

Master perked up at this, "Well, why don't we travel there together, I have a car, and since your too far inland for your pirate ship to get in, I could take us!"

Master said, pumping his fist in the air.

The other trainer became confused and embarrassed at the same time, "I d-don't know, we j-just m-m-met, m-maybe I shouldn't."

His umbreon whispered something in his ear, and he looked at her confused, but then turned and tried to look Master in the eyes, or eye.

"Ok, but only because Ren knows your shuppet." He said as he held his hand out, as Master took it in his own hand and moved it up and down, "I'm Jack-"

"Sparrow!?"

"N-no, Riverway, and I am not a pirate!" The trainer said, flustered a bit.

"Great," Master said while we all made our way to the car, "and by the way, whose Ren?"

~o~

Zack/

I awoke with a stinging sensation on my face and the smell of alcohol in my nostrils.

As I tried to move, I noticed that I was tied down to the shelf-bed in my room.

"(I'm glad you awake!)"

I looked down to my stomach, where the 'very' familiar voice came from.

I saw all my limbs were tied to separate bolts on the corners of the bed,

and there, grinding my chest, was purrloin, wearing a nurses hat.

"(Don't worry, I'll take care of all your, and my, 'aches' and 'pains.')"

Zack Quill @ Nianque @ fanfiction.net

Jack Riverway @ Xilithas @ fanfiction.net