Growl trotted along the long dirt road beside Monty's feet, gazing around at the slowly thickening trees on either side. He had been thoroughly enjoying his experience outside of Aspertia City, even more than Monty; all new sights and sensations, new tastes and new people, not to mention three brand new Pokemon pals to play with. But best of all were the new smells Growl was now experiencing every day. A fresh rural stream, a dusty road and fragrant trees were what happened to be filling Growl's eager nostrils at that very moment.

THWACK! Growl leaped a foot into the air and yelped as Monty squealed beside him. The girl immediately crouched down beside a dumb-struck Carlyle, having suddenly been knocked to the dusty ground, and helped him sit up. He clutched at the back of his head and groaned.

"What the hell was that?!" Monty exclaimed, frantically looking for anything out of the ordinary along the roadside, keeping one hand on Carlyle's back. Right about now, Growl knew that any fiercely loyal and protective Pokemon would bound to their trainer's side, ready to give their life shielding them from whatever dangers may be present. On balance, however, Growl decided the best course of action was to crouch behind Monty, tail between his legs, and whimper.

"I have no idea," Carlyle groaned, inspecting his palms, presumably, for any traces of blood, "but it bloody hurt."

Growl spotted something which made his ears prick and his head tilt to the side. Cautiously, the Puppy Pokemon ventured out from the safety of his human-shield, and gingerly sniffed at something in the middle of the road. Carlyle was cringing as he gently felt the lump rising on the back of his head when Growl trotted back to them, proudly dropping a bone in Monty's lap. Monty had only just picked up the bone and was turning it over in her hands when her head snapped up, nerves on edge. There was a muffled crashing behind a pair of trees on the side of the road, a lone figure suddenly erupting from the foliage.

Carlyle and Monty looked at the figure in front of them for a moment, then at each other, and back to the figure again. A teenage girl was doubled over in the middle of the road, hands on her knees, trying desperately to catch her breath. Short golden blonde hair fell into her eyes as the girl straightened, and faltered when she spotted Monty and Carlyle, still sprawled in the dirt. The girl seemed lost for words for a moment, bright green eyes growing wide. Recovering a little, she took a step towards them, opening her mouth to speak. Without even knowing why, bone still in hand, Monty looped her arm around Carlyle's chest and held him closer. At this, the girl again faltered, before raising her hands a little.

"Sorry for interrupting... whatever this is," she began, all three of them seemingly rooted to the spot, "but you haven't seen a bone fly past here, by any chance?"

It was a moment before Monty snapped to her senses, and almost caused Carlyle to jump out his skin as she let out an excited "Oh!" and leapt up off the ground. She held out her hand. "You mean this?"

The girl's face instantly lit up as she rushed forward to take the dry, white bone from Monty's outstretched hand. She held it close to her chest and beamed at Monty, while Carlyle slowly rose to his feet behind them. Seeming to suddenly remember something, the girl turned back towards the trees she had burst out of, raised her thumb and forefinger to her mouth, and gave a shrill whistle.

"Ow," Carlyle interjected unhappily from beside Monty, a hand still placed on the back of his head. He turned to Monty, "And I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"What's up with your head?" the girl chirped at an already very annoyed Carlyle. He looked at the oblivious girl, filed her under 'too hard to deal with right now', waved his hand in Monty's general direction and turned away. You deal with this.

Monty sighed as Growl sat down at Carlyle's feet, gazing up at him. She opened her mouth to speak, when a familiar rustling came from the nearby tree line. A small, brown blur burst out of the trees, only stopping when it collided with the blonde girl's legs. Knocked onto its backside, the little Cubone hardly had time to shake its skull adorned head before it was scooped up by the mysterious girl.

"I found it!" she shrilled happily, holding the Lonely Pokemon in one arm and waving the bone in front of the Cubone's face with the other.

"Bone bone!" the Pokemon squealed, reaching out to take its bone. The girl smiled down at Cubone in her arms as it hugged its newly reunited bone tight to its chest. Monty felt her discomfort grow as this touching moment stretched on, until Carlyle's patience wore thin. He spat out a very purposeful cough. The girl and her Cubone looked up.

"Well, this has been lovely," he folded his arms and continued, "especially the part when my skull was fractured by a little girl with a pixie cut and her pile of walking bones."

Now it was Monty's turn to be annoyed. "Your skull is not fractured. It's just a little lump. It didn't even break the skin," she huffed.

"I could have a concussion!" Carlyle snapped, genuinely concerned for his own well-being.

Monty rolled her eyes. "You do not have a concussion."

"How do you know that, then?"

Monty folded her arms. "Because you managed to stand without throwing up."

"Well that hardly seems like a clinical diagnosis," Carlyle grumbled.

Monty simply rolled her eyes again. She knew he was only in such a foul mood because they had been arguing when Cubone's bone knocked Carlyle to the ground.

It had gone a little like this.

Monty: "You got us lost, didn't you?"

Carlyle: "We are not lost! I know exactly where we are!"

Monty: "So do I! The middle of nowhere!"

This had been the point at which Carlyle's head had suddenly been pitched forwards, finding himself lying in the dust.

Monty and Carlyle both stood with their arms folded across their chests, refusing to look at each other, when the girl with the Cubone tried to apologise. "I'm really sorry we hit you," this seemed to get some of Carlyle's attention, so she continued, "Cubone and I were practising our Bonemerang attack in the field over there." She nodded to the tree line, branches now obviously ruffled where she and her Pokemon had exploded through them.

"That didn't look much like a Bonemerang," Carlyle huffed. "That wasn't even a Pokemon attack. If it doesn't come back, you're just throwing a bone."

This managed to raise a little laugh from Monty. "What's so funny?" Carlyle snipped at her.

"It was only an accident," Monty said, still smiling, "maybe we should throw them a bone too, since they threw you one."

Carlyle blinked at her for a moment, then rolled his eyes and went back to scowling. The girl with the Cubone seemed to decide Monty was a safer choice for conversation at this point, and so took a step towards her.

"I'm Pan, by the way, and this is Cubone," Pan smiled at Monty.

Monty smiled back, "I'm Monty." She gestured to Carlyle and her Growlithe still sitting at his feet, "This little ray of sunshine is Carlyle, and that's Growl." Pan and Cubone both smiled and waved at Carlyle, who, to his credit, managed a curt nod, while Growl barked and panted happily in greeting.

"So, what are you guys doing out here, anyway?" Pan asked Monty. Monty explained that they were headed to Virbank City, while Carlyle seemed to prickle with silent indignation. Pan laughed a little, "You know you're on the wrong road, right?"

Monty slowly turned and glared at Carlyle while he pretended not to notice, cheeks steadily growing redder. "But don't worry! I know the way back!" Pan grinned happily as she took hold of Monty's wrist and suddenly pulled her forwards, who in turn grabbed the front of Carlyle's shirt to drag him along for the ride.

It didn't take long for Monty and Pan to fall into step and start talking together, Carlyle still silently fuming on the other side of Monty. Now that all the excitement was over, Monty was able to take a better look at Pan. She guessed Pan was a little younger than herself, with very short golden hair that fell into a neat pixie cut. Her eyes were a light green, almost olive coloured. She wore a light blue long-sleeved shirt under a brown leather vest and a matching pair of little leather shorts, as well as yellow running shoes. As she led Monty and Carlyle on a winding path through trees and fields, Pan spoke about Virbank City, about herself and her family, about Cubone. Monty was finding it increasingly difficult to get a word in, so eventually gave up and was content with smiling, laughing or nodding when Pan paused for breath. Before long, the three of them reached a wide, asphalt road, Pan happily announcing that this was, in fact, the correct road to take to get to Virbank.

"Thank you so much for your help," Monty thanked Pan over the constant buzzing of cars speeding past. "I'm sure we can manage from here, if you'd like to get back to training." She rubbed the top of Cubone's skull affectionately.

Pan waved a hand in dismissal, holding Cubone with the other arm. "Nah, we weren't really getting anywhere anyway. We'll just head back home to Virbank with you guys!"

A fresh wave of silent frustration erupted out of Carlyle. A little while along the wide pedestrian path, Pan's constant chatter had settled once again on the seemingly inexhaustible subject of her Cubone. Monty had learned from recent experience that now was as good a time as any to fall back a little and bury her elbow in Carlyle's ribs with little chance of Pan noticing.

"Ahhg!" was the first sound to escape Carlyle's lips in some time. "What?!"

"Has anyone ever told you," Monty began, her tone suspiciously sweet, "that you are a gargantuan jerk?"

"Yes. You. Often," Carlyle answered shortly, rubbing his side. "And 'gargantuan' seems like a quite a big word for a girl so small," he sneered.

"I am not short!" Monty shouted with a whisper, despite having to crane her head upwards in order to glare daggers at Carlyle's face. He had quickly learnt that the fact of the top of her head hardly reaching his shoulders was a bit of a sore topic for Monty. She took a breath, "You've had plenty of time to sulk about your little faceplant, so now would you please just get over it?"

"I am not sulking," Carlyle sulked. "Besides, that's not the problem. I told you we weren't lost!"

"And you were wrong!"

"No, I wasn't!" Carlyle took a deep breath, while Monty's wide eyes blinked up at him in surprise. "Just because we weren't taking the same road everyone else does doesn't mean it was wrong. It would have taken a little longer, but if we followed that road it would have connected to this road near to Virbank City. Taking the back road meant we could have avoided all these houses, and cars and people. And besides," he stared straight ahead, "it was beautiful."

Monty looked down at her feet in silence as they walked. He was right; the countryside had been beautiful. Rolling gold and green hills, endless golden farmland, the road lined with tall trees, their leaves a myriad of reds, browns and yellows. And all Monty had been thinking about was how eager she was to finally get to Virbank City.

"Sorry," she said quietly, carefully looking up from her boots. Carlyle nodded. "But," Monty continued, bumping him gently with her shoulder, "this isn't Pan's fault."

Carlyle ran his fingers through his usually neat hair, then pinched the bridge of his nose. Monty knew she had won when he let out a guttural moan and let his hand flop back down to his side. Grinning, she grabbed Carlyle by the arm and pulled him forward until they were once again walking in step with Pan.

"So," Pan turned to the pair, obviously completely unaware they had not been listening to her until several seconds ago, "what brings you to Virbank, anyway?"

"A gym battle," Carlyle answered, still a little reluctantly, from the other side of Monty. They were nearing the end of the road now, and buildings that had seemed so far away not long ago were now looming in front of them.

Pan smirked, something which seemed quite out of character to Monty. "Well then," her green eyes burned into Carlyle cool, brown orbs, "I would wish you luck, but I don't think it'll be much help against Roxie."

Carlyle gulped loudly.

Author's Note: Looks like we're getting close to Carlyle's next gym battle. I've been looking forward to writing my first battle, so let's see how it goes!

Thanks for reading, as always!