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PART SIXTY FIVE.

T here was little light able to break canopy of branches that formed a tunnel like arch leading from the entrance of route nine, though every now and then rays of light would find their way through one opening or another to give some illumination along the old dirt track. Beyond the tree line on both sides of the pathway eyes could be seen watching as if waiting for some foolish traveller to wander into the forest in order to try their luck at catching one of those Pokémon. But such an action is in its very essence a most risky gamble in its own right, where the very chances of survival being slim at the best of times not to mention the monumentous task of trying to find one's way back to the safe trodden path again. Many a foolish or reckless trainer has been lost to this forest never to be seen again, all because they strayed from the marked path. Even the regions elite four quiver at the thought of what might exist at the heart of the forest, behind James the comforting presence of Blaze could be felt bringing up the rear her eyes watching for anything that might try to leap out at her beloved Human. Bunny hopped alongside him with sprightly hopping motions, on the other side Lucy easily kept pace her brow knitted as she kept a facade of courage playing across her face but the way she had her small paw in his hand showed just how terrified she really was, not that James could really blame her especially with what she had recently gone through in that same forest.

Giving his the Lucario's paw a tender squeeze he could feel the warmth of her aura around them both as it became visible as a soft aqua glow, the darkness around the tree lines receded a few feet showing some of the strange foreboding eyes to be Deerling's and the odd Buneary grazing while keeping a wary eye around them, the six-travers did not pause to watch rather wisely choosing to continue walking down along the dirt path. James was under no illusion that it was what he couldn't see that he really needed to worry about, there would be plenty of other pokémon just waiting for a chance to make a meal of him the moment he stepped off that beaten path or let his guard down. True enough about a quarter of the way through route nine there was a blur to his right as something pounced at him from the beyond the dark shadows of the trees, it reached a foot away from him only for it to drop to the ground from a well-placed head butt shattering the Mightyena skull with sickening crunch. The rest of the pack outraged by their prey daring to resist not to mention having the audacity to even kill one of their own, charged the group. It was a reckless act one that was rewarded with an intense flame consuming the nearest as it sored across the distance towards the delicious looking Human, the Hyena Pokémon screeched in an unearthly sound as it was turned into a howling. It rolled about convulsing on the dirt trying to put itself out only for another burst of flames to engulf it again until finally it stopped moving. Enraged by this the last Mightyena incensed at what it felt to be the murder of its brothers and sister managed to avoid the Blaziken's next Flame Thrower as well as several well placed kicks from the Lopunny who it made a subconscious note to attack next. A flurry of punches from the Lucario proved harder to avoid, the wild Pokémon found itself having to work that much more harder to get past, with a feint to the left it managed to fake out the Lucario it slipped past as it continued towards it primary target the weak easy prey that was a Trainer. In its experience once the Human was taken out the pokémon tended to be easier to deal with, with its jaws open wide to rip James's throat out it felt a sense of adulation righteous glory before suddenly finding itself on the ground eviscerated by a small flash of purplish grey and crimson.

“Weavile…Wea…Vile!…WEAVILE!"

[No one harms my Human!...NO ONE!]

Came a cold dangerous voice, still in a fighting crouch her claws unsheathed was Oni an almost psychotic look about her eyes as blood and remnants from some of the wild Pokémon's intestinal tract dripped from her claws. The dead body continued to twitch as James was both pushed as well as pulled along by a talon like hand in the middle of his back and two paws gripping his hands. Swiftly Oni took point once more as the Trainer looked back over his shoulder to see the lifeless eyes from one of the Mightyena as something dragged the remaining corpse into a bush.

“What…."

He began to ask only for Blaze to block his line of sight as the sounds of flesh being torn began to filter back to them while Bunny spoke with a stern voice, something he rarely heard from the Rabbit Pokémon.

“Lopunny…Lopunny…Lop…Lop"

[Focus on what's ahead of you James]

Lucy met his eyes with an equally stern expression her paw now giving him a reassuring squeeze, she could have told him how some predator was even now making a meal of the vanquished foe but Humans tendered to be squeamish about such things at least in her experience. Besides if the rest of the group didn't want to tell their Trainer what was happening she sure as hell wasn't going to, the sounds of bones cracking made her cringe slightly as she realised that may well have been her fate as well; it was another thing she owed James.

“Lucario…Luca…Rio…Rio…Lucario…Luca…RIO…Lucario…Cario"

[Do not ask questions about something you REALLY Don't want to know]

Lucario noted in a hushed voice deciding he deserved some explanation, He never asked any more about it after that as the journey continued with no more incidents save for one either foolish or desperate Carnivine being roasted alive from a gout of flames from Blaze's beak after having tried to use its vines to enwrap James from above. Morning swiftly turned to midday as swift progress was made as by afternoon the light from the exit of the forest could be seen, every diverted their eyes from the sudden change from the dim illumination of the forest to the full light of day. After a few seconds to allow their vision to adjust they could see a number of tents from other Trainers and their own Pokémon who had made the journey, many where tending to their wounds having experienced their own ordeals most where pooling their resources to make a make shift medical station since the nearest Pokémon Centre was a good day or two distance in Forest City. At the centre of the encampment a large ring of stones surrounding a small pit about a foot deep housed a warm inviting fire where numerous Trainers and Coordinators sat about swapping stories while waiting for night to fall.

“Well I guess we need to find a spot to set up?"

James smiled softly before turning around to draw Blaze, Bunny and Lucy into a hug, he gave out a gasp as he felt Oni's weight land on his back as she got in on the action as well, he could feel the Weavile nuzzling against the back of his head followed by her cold wet tongue lapping away at the back of his neck leaving layer of saliva. After a few minutes of the celebratory group hug they pulled away from one another to get started putting their new larger tent up, it didn't matter if they couldn't figure out how during the first night since they still had old tent with which the group more than had enough experience using.

“SHIT!.....the instruction doesn't have a picture guide it's all in funny squiggle and shapes!"

Blaze snorted turning the small booklet around just to see if it might be upside down, before tossing it at James and easing the rucksack off of her shoulder like it was an insignificant weight. Just as James about to suggest he just read the instruction out to her a slender girl with blond bobbed hair came running up to him panting heavily, coming to a stop she bent of grasping her knees while catching her breath before speaking.

“You just…*pants* got through yeah?…*pants* can you *pants*spare some medical…*pants* supplies? as…*pants* we still have a lot of…*pants* injured pokémon!"

He smiled softly at the female trainer, she looked pretty young what with her flat chest and slim hips but from her toned legs clad in a pair of black cycling shorts she must have done a fair bit of traveling. He wondered what region she must have come from as no one would have been allowed to go on their pokémon journey as young as she was not from the anthro region anyway, she looked as if she had a couple years of traveling behind her if her tanned firm body was anything to go by. Beneath her red and white open jacket, he could see her midriff on full display below her black halter neck crop top, despite himself he had to admit he would be sourly tempted to accept if she where to offer herself to him.

“Sure, let me get my back pack"

He replied clearing his mind the best he could of his rather disturbing mental images, turning his attention back towards Lucy he could see she was already easing his pack off of her shoulders ready to hand it to him with a firm nod of approval, her words barked out as a matter of fact rather than suggestion.

“Lu…Cario…Rio!"

[Go, We Got This!]

With a smile, James grabbed one of the shoulder straps of his backpack before turning back to the girl, who having caught her breath smiled beamed appreciatively before turning around and heading back the way she came with Jack in full pursuit. The Lucario lent down scooping the instruction booklet up, she turned it around a few times trying to find the right way up before opening the cover, her eyes narrowed as she began to read the Human words aloud occasionally struggling with some of the words.

“Lucario…Luca…Rio…Rio…Lucario…Luca…Luca…Rio…Lucario…Rio…Rio…Lucario.“

[Step One…locate a suitable loc…location that will acom…accom…accommodate your tent.]

Blaze cocked her head to one side with a curious expression about her avian head, most of the time pokémon tended to translation picture or the way a sign looks to roughly guess what Human language meant with the exception of Alakazam. But then they were known for by other Pokémon as being obnoxious know it all's, the fact that Lucy was actually read those squiggles impressed her even if it was with some difficulty; not that this lessened the Lucarios achievement in any way.

The first step proved easy enough it was on the outer circle of the other tents where room was at a premium, Blaze didn't bother with throwing the rucksack back over her shoulder rather she merely dragged it behind her before drop down to one knee to begin undoing the zips, buckles and straps to unpack it all.

“Lucario…Lucario….Luc…Luc…Cario…Cario…Lucario…Rio…Rio…Luc…Cari…Rio Lucario Lucario…Rio…Lucario."

[Step Two…Lay out the ground sheet before push…pushing metal pegs through the loops located along the ground sheet and into the ground.]

Grabbing the sizable rolled up ground sheet Bunny and Oni began to roll it out while Blaze looked for the metal pegs, she had been looking for something like the old wooden ones, like they used in the old tent but after a while concluded the long straight metal spikes with a loop at one end had to be what the instructions meant. With grunt the Blaziken made her way over where she began to stab the spikes through each of the thick strap like loops protruding from the ground sheet, her sheer strength making short work of the job.

“Blaziken…Blazi?"

[Okay what's next?]

The fire/Fighting Type asked with a proud swagger to her hips as she returned to the rucksack ready to fish out the next part to putting the tent up, Lucy frowned at the instructions for a moment as she spelled out some of the word sin her head before reading aloud.

“Lucario…Lucario…Ario…Rio….Lucario…Lucario…Lucario…Rio…Lucario…Lucario."

[Step Three…Lay out the flysheet over the ground sheet next feed the poles the…through the sleeves.]

Bunny looked up with the same puzzled expression about her face as Blaze had, padding over Oni rummage through the ruck sake polling free a couple of the metal tubes and experimentally began slotting one end into the other.

“Weavile…Weav…Vile…Vile…Weavile…We…Weav…Weavile…Weavile…Vile?"

[I would assume it means these things, just like putting the ribs together for the other shelter?]

The Weavile suggested referring to the old tents plastic frame, a look of clarity fell over the group as the hurried themselves to fish more out to put together only to realise they had forgotten about the fly sheet. With much muttering and grumbles they pulled the frame work apart before pulling the last piece of material out, it was much larger than the ground sheet due to the sides incorporated into it.

“Lopunny…Lop…Lopunny…Unny…Punny?"

[I assume this is what it means by the sleves?"

The Rabbit pokémon mused poking one the sleeve openings, this was met with an array of sounds from the others signalling their understanding of what had been meant. After this it didn't take long for the tent to start looking like a tent leaving only the last step to be done though so far it had taken them a good forty minutes.

“Lucario Lucario Ario Rio Lucario Lucario Lucario Rio Lucario Lucario Rio Lucario Lucario Lucario Ario Rio Lucario Lucario Lucario Rio Lucario!"

[Step Four….Attach the guy lines to the remaining peg loops via the, the tension of each guy line must be the same. Remember to use a mallet when hammering each peg into the ground or the tent may collapse.]

Blinking for a moment as a bag of carabiner snap hook clips drawn out from the rucksack, it didn't take long for the group to figure the res tout once Bunny pointed out the thick cords attached to the flysheet where looped at the other end of each cord. With this realisation, the carbine clips where used to marry the metal pegs and the guy lines together. The tent was finally up, what had meant to two take two people thirty minutes to assembled had taken all four of them nearly an hour but they were happy with the results, without a word they bundled in with the rest of the backpacks while ignoring Lucy's call's for them to wait for James their trainer to return first. Inside the far left and right where two partitions made of the same material as the tent itself, at the far end was a section that could be unzipped to reveal cubical which they had no doubt would be claimed by their Human. So out of a sense of defiance to the traditional trainer pokémon relationship; they all clambered into it at the same time sporting wide grins at their daring, even Lucy had joined in but before long the novelty wore off not to mention how uncomfortable they felt all cramped up in such close proximity to each other. With a mad rush, they tripped, scrabbled and dragged themselves out before heading to one of the six cubicles along to lay out their foam mats, yet another item James had spent his previous gym winnings on.

“Weavile...Vile...Wea...Vile...Weavile...Wea...Wea...Viles...Weavile!"

[Here you can use this until we get one for you, I'm gonna find James!]

Oni mused in a matter of fact tone to her voice while pushing their trainers rolled foam mat against the Lucairo's stomach making her let out all the air in her lungs in one sudden gust, she went to politely reject the offer and suggest she should go finder their Human but a stern glare from the others made her stop in her tracks.

“Lopunny...Lop....Lop...Unny...Punny....Pun, Lopunny...Lopunny...Lop..Unny!"

[James has a sleeping bag he can use, or he can share one with one of us instead.]

Bunny mused with a lewd smile playing across her rabbit like muzzle as the sight of the taunt rear haunches of group's resident Weavile could be seen slipping out through the tents entrance, it didn't take Oni long to track down her James. She found him helping out the young sun kissed female who had come begging like prey for his aid, he was at the very heart of the encampment where first aid tent had been established, It wasn't much but then it was only temporary, it would be gone along with all the trainers and their pokémon in a day or two at the very most. A silent growl of disapproval left the ice/dark types thick black lips as she watched the bronzed girl rub against James in all most unintentional manner but Oni was no one's fool, she was convinced the girl was up to something. It all most seemed to her mind as if the female Human was performing some sort of courtship dance to lure him into filling her with his off spring. The Weavile could see through the girls seemingly innocent act, she was not fooled by how those petite looking hands brushed across his chest or the way she leaned in close to him. Even when she bent over to pick something up allowing him to see the outline of her panty clad lady parts, Oni did not approve of this. No not one bit did not approve of what was transpiring; worse yet the female Human was probably way too young to be breeding anyone anyway. The Ice/Dark type knew she had to put stop to this before it got too far and if her Jack could not see the danger signs then she would be amiss if she stood by doing nothing.