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Eddies

Chapter 48: Surprise!

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Eddies 48

Back in Barklay's office, Professor Robert Hahn gave the Ranger chief his final report on the zoroark. A week had passed since their first session together, and he'd found the pokémon a perfectly diligent and eager, if sometimes confused, patient.

Sitting back, the Professor stared at Barklay, shaking his head as he was asked whether the pokémon should be considered a danger.

"Honestly, no. I found her to be really rather a charming creature, quite willing to please, who has lived through a particularly unpleasant series of misfortunes. The events leading up to this attack were horrific. With the evolution stress, not to mention all the new hormones flooding her system during the change, I'm more pleased her physical actions were only directed towards those attacking her, and not her trainer or the Rangers who turned up later. Still, while it's left a deep, negative impression in her psyche, I think with time and encouragement she will be more than able to put this behind her, especially given that her new trainer is such a mature parental influence."

Barklay considered the reply carefully, trying to read between the lines. "So, she's safe, then?"

Robert snorted, a dry chuckle leaving his lips as he leaned forward to reply. "Oh, I'm sure she could still rip someone apart if she felt it perfectly necessary. Her physical form possesses the attributes to be extremely dangerous, given the wrong situation."

Barklay pursed his lips. "You're not exactly reassuring me here, Rob. I need to know if she's a hazard to others."

Robert shrugged, sending him a frank look. "You of all people should realise there is no such thing as a "safe" pokémon. She is no clefairy, by any means. But is she "safe"? What defines "safe", anyway? I recall a certain Ranger's pidgeot who took out the eye, not to mention half the face, off a smuggler not even a decade ago, and that's a type one would normally consider benign towards humans."

Wincing at the subtle verbal jab he'd been given regarding the incident involving his own pokémon, Barklay couldn't disagree. Certainly, the situation had been difficult, and the pidgeot in question had been under a lot of stress at the time. Regardless, Sin had copped an awful lot of flak from his superiors for his "out of control" pokémon. It had only been through the work of Robert that Connor had not been locked up, or even worse destroyed, after the raid gone wrong resulted in such a badly injured human. Since then, with careful counselling, Connor had turned out to be as good a partner as the Ranger chief could have hoped for, and it was with this in mind he'd chosen to bring Rob into the equation when evaluating the zoroark event.

Pondering this, Sin asked "What about James. Is he going to able to handle her?"

Chuckling dryly, Robert sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, that one? In my years counselling both humans and pokémon, I don't believe I've ever met anyone who might give even you a run for his money. He's stubborn, blunt, lacking anything resembling tact, and likely as close a matched personality to you as you could find."

Giving the man a wry look, Sin said "Wonderful! I'm not looking for a replacement, Rob. I want to know whether he can handle the zoroark, especially without any real pokémon training!"

Shrugging, the Professor replied "I believe he is more than capable. In fact, I'd say they're almost a perfect match for each other. While his naivety on pokémon in general is pretty appalling, he's smart enough to know his own limitations and, with a little encouragement, should be easily capable of filling the bigger gaps in his education without difficulty. Add to that, he has developed a really rather endearing affection for her, given they both share such negative histories. In time, I think they're going to form a Ranger team to be reckoned with."

Chuckling, he took a sip from his glass of water and said "Plus, she absolutely idolises him. She wouldn't admit it when questioned, but it's clear she'd sacrifice herself for him in an instant, and would move the world to please him. With this in mind, personally I wouldn't want to be the individual trying to separate them, regardless of the reasons. Their partnership works, and I think will become an invaluable asset to the Rangers in the future."

Sin took a pull from his scotch and considered the response. "His intention is to return to his home world with her, you understand. Normally, I would not allow it; I cannot verify how she will be treated there, by those in power. However, given her ability to change her appearance, I think she can mask her real looks from those around her enough to escape casual detection."

Rob nodded. "She has a real talent for that, I agree. Species specific notwithstanding, I would suggest James train that aspect to its peak." He paused, eyeing Barklay with interest. "I'm not as convinced as to his desire to return home, however. I think you'll find he is not as keen to do so as you may imagine. When push comes to shove, you may find he may have a preference to join your team, so perhaps it would be best to make allowances in case."

Barklay brightened at the news, but kept his own judgement on that. "So your final assessment is that she requires training, but shouldn't be contained as dangerous?"

Looking thoughtful, the professor said "Absolutely. As I said, she has a few issues, but I think those two can sort themselves out."

Chuckling, the Ranger chief said "I'm glad to hear that. But I'm betting I know a pair who are going to be even more pleased."

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Gasping for breath, Professor Hahn tried to catch a breath past a face full of dense fur, as he laughingly extricated himself from the embrace of the enthusiastic zoroark.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you..." she chattered into his mind, even as he gave her head a pat, grinning at her exuberance.

J.B stood back from the pair, but didn't curtail her reaction. "I think you've made her happy" he told the Professor wryly, receiving an even dryer look in return from Destiny, who finally contained herself and returned to his side.

Rob chuckled. "Yes, well, after a greeting like that, what else could I suggest? Still, you will need to join the Ranger training squadron for at least several months, until you've both met the standards expected of your colleagues here. Sin has arranged a quite heavy itinerary for you both, but I cannot see any reason why you shouldn't manage. Now, it's been a pleasure, but there are students back home who are undoubtedly avoiding their studies during my absence, so I must be going. Should you need anything, you have my number; I'm only a call away."

Reaching forward, he shook the hand of both Barklay and J.B, gave Destiny another pat, and left the office with a wave. Breathing out heavily, J.B slumped into a chair, while the happy zoroark squatted besides him.

Barklay smiled, but waggled a finger in their direction with the admonition "Don't get too cocky just yet. He is serious about the training you're going to do. It's going to be filling most of your daylight hours for the next few months, and I expect you to be especially diligent in your efforts!"

Singling out Destiny, he leaned forward and continued. "Unfortunately, you need to now prove to your colleagues here that Rob's assessment was justified. Regardless of his findings, there are going to be those around you, both within the Rangers as well as the general public, who don't share his feelings. It is up to you to prove them wrong!"

She nodded, abashed at his comment, but when J.B nodded towards her, her ears perked up and she said "I will not fail!"

Standing, Barklay chuckled and said "Good! I expect nothing less of those in the Rangers! Tomorrow, your training starts at 0630. Until then, consider yourselves with free time. Get some dinner, and have an early night, as you're going to need to be as fresh as you can for tomorrow."

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Even with her newly proven record, J.B wasn't taking any chances. During the prior week, he'd had Destiny continue to practice with her illusions until she was proficient both in her attention to detail and capable of maintaining them even when distracted.

Still, he had to admit to himself that he was just a little creeped out when she took human form. It wasn't that she failed to maintain an adequate illusion; that was something she had now come to excel. No, it was something else; perhaps the way she moved so lithely that she simply couldn't mask, or even the frank stare in her eyes when she met your own, that reminded him of nothing else but a large predator.

In his youth, he'd volunteered at the local wildlife sanctuary. One of his chores was cleaning the cages of the big cats prior to the park opening. During the work, while he'd never entered an enclosure with the animals present, he'd spent enough time watching the animals as they stared at him from the adjoining cage, admiring their grace and contained lethality.

While obviously a completely different creature, Destiny shared much of the same aspect, and seeing the unconscious predatorial attitude in a female human form was discomforting.

Perhaps she could sense his disquiet, as after her first few attempts she generally avoided the shape. Instead, she'd come to rely on several alternates, including several he knew and many he did not.

The typhlosion was a favourite. It was common enough to be discounted by most people and pokémon they encountered, but still be formidable enough to limit the number of irritating would-be trainers who wanted to test their mettle against them in battle; something J.B had become thoroughly sick of within a very short time. Thankfully, one flash of his temporary Rangers badge sent most packing, and he wasn't slow in presenting it as needed just to run them off.

Some of her other forms were a surprise, and she seemed to delight in startling him with her choices. After she sent his heart racing time after time, he couldn't help catch the sly smirk in her face, and grinned to himself at her fun. Still, leaving the toilet in their room during the early hours of the morning to run right into something monstrous with glowing red eyes hadn't been his most awarded moment, and he'd had a stern word with her the following day to keep herself in check when the situation was inappropriate. While castigated, she bounced back quickly enough, and was soon wandering the corridors outside their rooms sporting ever more bizarre shapes.

His recovery was both slower than he would have liked, but still progressed enough to give him the mobility he needed. His arm would need the plaster at least another month, although the rest of his bruises were almost gone. The ribs, too, were settling, causing less pain as he breathed. He just thanked his lucky stars he didn't have a cold or allergies, as the few sneezes he had over the weeks since had sent spears stabbing through his chest.

By the time he was fully healed, all he'd have left to remind him of the incident was a few more scars, a couple more aches, and a partner who was finally coming out of her shell.

It could have been so much worse.

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At the Master's farm, a pot was cooking that was threatening to boil over.

Unfortunately, no one in charge of the operation had any real clue it was happening.

Suicune was bored.

Bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED!

It wasn't that he didn't like being there! Raikou was back with them after being lost for so long, so he should have been happy. Plus, he had his friends around him; Chris, Skyy and the others. Indeed, he now had more social interaction than he'd ever had before.

But he wasn't happy.

He felt trapped, stuck out here with nothing to do and no goal to achieve.

This was a first for the big legendary. In the past, their father had always dictated his goals; scouring the world to clean up the waterways and rivers, or performing other tasks as need demanded. With the coming of the humans to their world, this had proven an increasingly difficult challenge, as they really did seem oblivious to the damage to the environment they could so recklessly cause. But he'd still managed to keep his head above water, so to speak, and his hours always seemed quite full.

Then, when Raikou went missing, his goals changed to include the relentless search for his brother, generally aided by, and often irritated by, Entei.

Now Raikou was back, and they were stuck in a strange world, full of humans who had no idea how to treat him. Unfortunately, whenever he approached most to simply chat, fear was their biggest reaction, and Suicune sniffed in disgust at their gutless response. He hadn't hurt them, so why would they fear him? Besides, they cowered behind their weapons so protectively, it wasn't as if they weren't able to at least believe they could protect themselves!

So, as the weeks dragged on and on, he'd taken to keeping himself amused in a manner that probably wasn't as wise as it could have been, although he wasn't about to admit that to himself or anyone else, for any reason.

He'd taken to silently stalking the sentries manning the borders of the camp, and seeing how close he could get before they became aware of him.

Was it wise? Likely not, he thought glumly, as he padded silently after his latest victim... err, target. The humans in question were all highly trained, well armed and really rather dangerous. That just made it even more exciting, he sniggered to himself.

Their reaction when they finally realised he was there was generally priceless. Seeing a well trained professional almost soil his britches sent a shudder of mirth through the pokémon, and while they'd all so far managed not to shoot at him, they didn't seem to share the "fun factor" as he did.

Of course, they then complained about it to their human leaders, who complained about it to Chris and Raikou, who complained about it to him, but he'd decided to stubbornly ignore the lot of them. If they all forced him to remain here, the very least they could do was keep him amused! In fact, Suicune considered them derelict in their duty in not doing so, and he primly told them such, to the disgust of the army brass who thought they had better things to do than babysit the tetchy, furry monster.

Well if they had, Suicune wanted to know what they were! Keeping him entertained should have been their top priority!

So he continued doing it, and the frustrated army heads advised their troops to be on their toes, and just ignore him! This simply made him work harder at it, and it became almost a game, with most of the humans reluctant to admit they got a bit of a kick in trying to spot him before he caught them first.

What Suicune hadn't considered was that the troops stationed there were periodically rotated out, with the new blood not made aware of the status quo of the "game".

When he sniffed out this new sentry, Suicune was surprised to not recognise the scent. A stranger! he thought to himself in amusement, deciding to be extra cautious when tracking the man.

The human in question seemed completely oblivious to his presence, although he did pause a few times, scanning the darkness around him. He'd been sent to guard the far outer perimeter, which meant dirt, dust and bushes, and not much else. Not all that exciting, but he'd heard all sorts of strange rumours of this place, and had been quick to volunteer to attend. When several of the troops returning from the secret outpost had whispered the word "real pokémon", most of their colleagues had laughed them off. But Tony Waters had listened to the growing rumours with keen interest, and hadn't hesitated to raise his hand as soon as a placement came up.

Still, he hadn't expected to spend his very first day at the place stuck out in the far bush, in the chill early morning hours, marching around in the pitch black without a clue what he was supposed to be keeping an eye out for!

Regardless, he did his duty, scanning the starlit plains for danger, whatever there was of it. Having spent plenty of time in such country while growing up, following his Colonel father from Army base to base, he'd learnt bush skills from all sorts of "tutors" over the years, and considered himself a bit of an amateur tracker.

As such, he'd soon realised he was being followed when a slight sound of brush parting alerted him to a nearby presence. At first, his heart had raced, assuming it was an enemy come to raid the place. But when it remained at a discreet distance, simply following him and watching his moves, he thought it might be a dingo, or wild fox, and chose to ignore it.

However, it didn't go away, and Tony reconsidered, annoyed at the intruder. Having experienced enough hazing at previous positions to lack appreciation at the finer nuances of the initiation, he then wondered whether his latest colleagues were simply having a go at him, at his expense, as "the new guy".

Suicune, on the other hand, found this new human's lack of response highly amusing. He'd crept to within a few feet of the man, who continued to be seemingly oblivious to his presence, and was ready to move closer, when the unexpected happened. The human spun, whipping around his rifle butt and gave the pokémon a sound thwack on the side of the head, sending him crashing to the ground with a cry.

Tony, having decided to strike out at whomever was messing with him, had planned on hitting the person in the chest, where the vest padding would absorb the blow. What he hadn't expected, was striking something much, much larger, and as it lay before him, groaning in pain, he flipped on his helmet torch and shone the bright LED beam on his would-be tormenter.

Oh shit!

Before him lay something he could only have imagined in his dreams. Huge, blue and white, and with a paw cupped to the side of its head, Suicune looked up at him with red, watery eyes, sniffing heavily even as a small trickle of blood began leaking past his paw.

Dropping his rifle against a nearby bush, Tony stepped forward to give assistance, but the big pokémon drew back, cringing away from the light as he approached. Still, as the human dropped the brightness down, he eyed him with growing alarm as the man leaned forward, reaching out a hand to draw the paw away.

"You're bleeding! Here, let me have a look!" coaxed the human, as Suicune snarled, pulling his head back further.

"You hit me! In the head!" the pokémon accused, even as Tony winced.

"Yeah, well I didn't mean to. I was aiming for the chest, and you had your head down. I thought you were one of the guys here messing with me! What the hell were you playing at anyway, following me like that?"

Suicune glared at him, but didn't reply. Nor did he pull away again as the man gently removed his paw from his ear, inspecting the cut intently. After a moment, he gave his opinion.

"Alright, this is going to need some stitches. We'd better get you to the medics."

Suicune went pale, or at least as pale as he could beneath his fur. "What do you mean, stitches?"

Tony rolled his eyes and said dryly "Stitches sort of stitches. You know... Head cut. Bleeding messy. Needs fix. Otherwise bad. That sort of stitches!"

Suicune tried to move back, but the human slapped his paw away even as he dropped to kneel at the pokémons side. Tony pulled his emergency first aid kit from his belt pack, unzipping the small package and putting a sealed gauze dressing between his teeth while unwrapping a small roll of bandage. Leaning forward, he tore open the dressing, and made the pokémon hold it on his ear wound as he attempted to secure it with bandage. But the flexible, motile ear refused to cooperate, and he became frustrated as the dressing slipped off repeatedly. Finally, he grabbed a second, longer roll of gauze, pushed it inside the pokémon's ear canal, and wrapped more bandage around both ear and makeshift support. Satisfied, Tony secured it off with some bandage tape and sat back to regard the result.

Suicune had remained mute during the work, mind still more concerned about the whole "stitching" business, but when the movement on his head stopped, he turned back to the human, who had been watching him intently.

"What?" said the pokémon crossly, tentatively touching the dressing before being told to leave it alone. He eyed the amused human, who had a grin quirk his lips, and said with a hiss "It's not funny!!"

Tony couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the securely wrapped ear flapping around on the pokémon's head, but seeing the creature was getting increasingly upset at his attitude, he smothered his amusement and gave Suicune a pat on the cheek. "It's alright, big guy. I'll get you all fixed up."

Suicune, who had been ready to retort angrily, paused and fell silent at the unexpected sympathy, not unwelcome in his present frame of mind, so he simply nodded.

Realising his options were limited, Tony used his radio to place a call through to dispatch advising there had been a minor incident, and he was heading to the Medics for attention. Thankfully, they didn't question him further, apart from asking if he needed assistance, which he refused. They arranged a replacement sentry, and wished him well.

Coaxing the pokémon to his feet, Tony lead the way back to the distant base, with Suicune meekly following in his wake.

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A tapping on the door to the nurses room woke Steph from her sleep.

"Sis? You awake?"

Groaning, Stephanie Waters sat upright, pulling the sheets around her as she dropped from her bunk to the tent floor, opening the door to glare at her brother.

"When I was told you'd be coming here, I didn't expect a midnight visit, Tony! Fucks sake, what time is it? One am? Are you pissed or something?"

Grinning, Tony stared with amusement at the ruffled hair of his sibling. One of the reasons he'd volunteered for the posting was her insistence he'd regret not being involved, although even his wheedling hadn't coaxed from her the full details of the pokémon presence.

Still, she wasn't unhappy to have him here. They saw little enough of each other on a yearly basis as is as their placements rarely coincided and, annoying as he could be, she'd known how much he would have given to get this assignment.

Hell, getting his nose out of that bloody computer game when they were kids had been a challenge from day one.

"Look, I need a favour. I sort of whacked someone in the head, and they need some stitches..."

Giving him a disbelieving look, she demanded "You just whacked him in the head? You've not even been here an entire day, and you've already whacked someone in the head? You're not serious?"

Nodding wryly, he said "I am, sis, and don't call me Shirley!"

Sighing, she rubbed her face tiredly, and muttered "And of course, the on-call nurse wasn't an option, as it's off the record, right? Shit, Tony, you get yourself in such messes..."

Grinning dryly, he watched her rummage through her room, turning his back as she pulled on fresh scrubs. But as she followed him through the quiet base to the medical facilities, she heard him chuckle "Oh, you have no idea, sis..."

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Suicune squirmed as the woman stuck a needle full of anaesthetic into his ear.

"Oww! That hurt!"

"Oh, don't be a baby!" she chided, as she pumped another large shot of antibiotic, coupled with a nice healthy dose of sedative, into his big, furry foreleg.

Muttering darkly, the pokémon glared at the pair, even as Tony patted him on the neck sympathetically.

"Well, if I hadn't been beaten up, I wouldn't need to be here at all!"

Steph glared at the pokémon. "Oh, yes, and if you hadn't been skulking about pissing everyone off in the dark like that, you wouldn't have risked being injured. Don't deny it! I've heard all about your little night time amusements. You should count your lucky stars you haven't been shot yet, instead! Fuck me, what were you thinking?"

Staring at her with wide eyes, Suicune shuddered, dropping his head even as she glared at him.

Tony gave him a sympathetic look. "Hey, Steph. Give him a break, alright? He was only mucking around, and shit happens."

Turning on her brother, she demanded "Oh, yeah, fucking funny, Tony. How many times is this now I've dug you out of shit like this, when you've just been "mucking around"? Do you have any idea what'll happen when the brass hear of this?"

Tony made to reply, but Suicune interjected in a downcast voice. "I won't tell anyone. I just..."

"Got hurt fucking around! Stupid!" she finished roughly, and the pokémon turned away unhappily.

Tony gave his sister a glare. "Hey, lay off him! Shit, you get so fucking anal about this sometimes! He's upset as it is, so just stitch him up and we'll be gone, and you can pop some happy pills and get back to sleep! It's clear you need some!"

Lips tight, she refrained from replying to her brothers jibe, as the pair watched the sedative take effect. It wasn't long before Suicune was swaying slightly, with his eyes partially closed. Somewhat alarmed, Tony put an arm around the pokémon's shoulder, steadying him as the nurse removed the bandages, cleaning the wound with antiseptic and swabs and stitching it closed with deft strokes of needle and silk.

"Is he supposed to be spaced out like this?" Tony demanded, as Suicune leaned heavily against him.

His sister shrugged. "Stuff didn't hurt that blue fox of the kids, when he sliced his foot up on a bit of scrap metal last week. Unlike your friend here, he also didn't whine like a baby when we fixed him up!"

While the blue fox comment sparked a moment of curiosity from the soldier, he soon found himself holding up an increasingly sedated pokémon, who seemed more intent on falling down that anything else. In the end, she let him drop to the floor, finishing the work as Tony held his head still.

Still, it only took a few minutes before the work was done, and Steph lathered the area with more antibiotic cream before replacing the dressing with a fresh one. Satisfied with the result, she sighed, patting the sleepy pokémon on the neck and said "Alright, keep it dry and if it begins hurting, let me know immediately."

Suicune muttered his thanks, staggering back to his feet while supported by Tony, who grinned at his sister. "You weren't kidding about me coming here, huh?" he said, and she chuckled, while tidying up the room.

"No, I wasn't. But get him out of here so I can clean up, and get some bloody sleep!"

Smiling, he gave her a wave as he helped Suicune from the tent. Suicune looked dazed, staggering into him, and Tony groaned under his weight before asking the pokémon where he wanted to sleep.

"Barn..." was his only answer, and he guided the legendary through the camp, receiving an occasional curious look from the odd person up and about at such an early hour. When one asked him what was wrong with it, Tony said "Drank too much!", and his fellow soldier laughed, especially when Suicune muttered "Not drunk!" in a slurred voice.

They made it safely, and after pulling the big doors opened he helped the pokémon into the loft, where he dropped heavily onto a large bed of hay obviously used before for the purpose.

With his eyes closed, Suicune began breathing heavily, seeming to slip into a deep sleep. Sighing, Tony made to rise from his side to leave, but was stopped as a heavy paw caught his arm, and a sleepy voice muttered "Will you stay?"

The eyes closed again as Tony nodded, dropping into the thick hay across from the pokémon and resting his back against the wall. His shift was over, and it was head back to the dorms or just crash here for the rest of the night. Wouldn't be the first time he fell asleep in a barn, he thought with a chuckle, and by the time loud snores came from the creature opposite, Tony found himself drifting off, while considering how truly bizarre his night had been.

"G'night Suicune..." he said sleepily, burrowing down into the hay.

Another loud snore was the only reply...

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Authors note:

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Oh, shits going to start happening now!

Or soon! Yes, soon!!

VERY soon!

Eventually!!

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*Yep, things are gonna happen eventually!! *

I promise!

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And the answer to the "What type was Barklay's pokemon" is... A pidgeot!!

Yes, a pidgeot!! A big bird thing, with the flappy wings and talons and shit!! Oh, and a pointy beak!

Who'd have guessed??