Petal: Sorry about the lack of update last week! Copper was on a field trip on Saturday and had to rest on Sunday!
Copper: You called?
Petal: Yep.
Copper: Okee.
Petal: ...So anyway! I've uploaded drawings for this chapter on deviantArt at amourpikamon . deviantart . com! We don't own Pokemon, Mithril, Kara, Leon, Natalie, DarkFlare, Greg, Tiki, Eleanor, Kaz, Nicholas, or Pinkari. All rights go to their respective owners.
"So, Mithril."
"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeees?"
"We are in search of 700's disease trigger."
"No, we are in search of Sparkers's crazy obsessive stalker."
"That's the same thing."
"No, it's not."
"...I'm not even going to bother arguing."
"Of course not, because you're my minion!"
"...Sure. So. We have no idea where she is."
"Nope!"
"Nor what she looks like."
"Nope!"
"SO WE ARE JUST TREKKING THROUGH THE FOREST WITHOUT A CLUE AS TO WHERE WE'RE GOING?!" Kara exploded.
Mithril just blinked her large, round purple eyes at the woman innocently. "Yes. Why do you ask?"
Kara facepalmed. "I can't believe I actually agreed to come with you."
"There needs to be at least two responsible chaperones," Leon reminded her with a regretful sigh, closing his eyes.
A foul-tempered silence fell upon the group as Kara didn't grace his reminder with a reply.
Not too long after, Natalie adjusted her hat and attempted to break the silence with a joke. "Why did the troubled woman go to the cobbler?"
"I don't know! Why!" Mithril exclaimed, latching onto the lifeline.
"Because he was a mender of soles! Get it, soles, souls?!" Natalie giggled crazily.
Kara stared at her, stone-faced. "I wouldn't have recommended for you to read Shakespeare if I had known it would just give you the oppurtunity for more bad jokes."
"Aww, Kara, don't be such a downer!" Natalie complained just as the other woman ducked underneath a branch.
"...I barely even got that one," Kara deadpanned.
Leon sighed as the two women began arguing. He reviewed the events that had just recently occurred. After Mithril's astonishing declaration, the girl had gone to ask The Boss for permission to leave-evidently, she was still scared of the man. Afterwards, she ordered Natalie to tack up two Rapidashes and two Zebstrika (the woman had an affinity for equine pokemon) and had hustled off, coming back not two minutes later with four travel packs, one of which he had recognized as his. He had no idea how she had packed for everyone (he suspected she had simply grabbed everything that looked important and stuffed it in haphazardly in twenty five seconds before rushing off to the next room-he was not relishing the prospect of opening the bag later), but before he knew it, he was on the back of one of the Zebstrika with his thin black jacket as his only protection from the slightly chilly early spring air. He was still slightly disoriented from their abrupt departure, but now that he had inadvertently given the chance to organize his thoughts, he found the events of earlier comprehensible, even if he couldn't figure out why he hadn't yet turned around the Zebstrika. Wait, no, it was because his eyes were still closed and Mithril had gotten them hopelessly lost.
Opening his eyes, he saw that they had almost reached a village.
"Welcome back to the land of sight, Leon," Kara sniffed, obviously still irritated.
"Yeah," he muttered simply, not wishing to set her off. It would be exremely troublesome to fight her.
"Okay, so we're here incognito!" Mithril announced in a stage whisper, stopping the group near the edge of the trees. "For our cover story, Kara's the mom, Leon's the dad, and me and Nat are the daughters! I even bought costumes!"
Leon stared with mild surprise at the clothing she produced from her bag-they looked like they belonged to aristocracy. He'd had no idea she was getting paid that much.
Natalie spat on the ground. "You kiddin' me, Mith?! I'm not wearing a dress!" she exclaimed. "Whaddya think I am, some prissy princess wannabe?!"
Mithril grinned. "Every girl needs to primp her inner princess, Nat!" she chirped.
Natalie buried her face in her palm. "Mith, I love you and all, and you're craziness is one of the best things about you, but this is going too far. I might just disown you as a friend."
"Noooooooooooooo, don't do that!" Mithril whined. "I thought we'd be bestest buds forever!"
"EXCUSE ME."
Mithril blinked and turned around. "Yeah, Kara?"
"This plan isn't well thought out," the woman said impatiently. "For one thing, I am thirteen years older than Leon. For another, while you're young enough to pass as my daughter, Natalie isn't, and she and Leon are only two years apart. There's no way to make that work."
"But... But my plan!" Mithril said, upset. "I worked so hard on it!"
"I'm supposed to be the genius here," Kara snapped. "Leave all the thinking to me. I'm begging you."
"Okay, my evil genius minion!" Mithril cheered, immediately perking up. She sat back and started polishing her Rapidash's horn.
"Alright," Kara began, "we walk in like normal travelers. Leon, are you at all recognizable in this area?" He shook his head, though he had no idea where 'this area' was exactly. However, he had never operated this close to the base. "Good. Then we can walk around freely. We walk in, and we look for information about a psychotic woman possibly looking for a man with 700's description. Then we stay the night. It's well past dark, and we've been riding on extremely fast pokemon."
Leon frowned. He hadn't remembered to factor that in. Perhaps they weren't quite as close to the base as he thought...
"Everyone in agreement?" Kara asked, clapping her hands sharply to get their attention.
"Aye!" Natalie and Mithril chorused.
Then Mithril fell forward.
"Whoa, Mith?!" Natalie exclaimed, lurching forward on her Ponyta, Greg.
"Shnoooooooooooooooooooore..."
"She's asleep," Kara noted. "Well, I'm not carrying her. People will think I'm her mother."
"I'm not doing it either," Natalie declared. "I'm about to fall asleep too, and I think that set-up is slightly dangerous."
'That leaves me,' Leon realized as both women turned to stare at him.
He sighed. "Fine, fine..."
Not too long after that, they got directions to the town inn (which also doubled as its bar). They quickly went there, left their mounts for Natalie to put in the stable, and entered the inn.
"I'm tired, so I'll be retiring now," Kara said after they paid the innkeeper, a woman with brown hair standing behind the bar. She had been dressed in a plain brown dress that was in rather messy condition and covered in scratches, dirt, and drink, but it was meticulously made. Odd.
"Good night," Leon said quietly as he brought Mithril to a two-person room. They had decided Mithril and Natalie would share a room (far more economical), and Leon and Kara would get their own rooms nearby. He gently set her down on one of the beds and removed her boots, placing them with her bag and swords at the foot of the bed. He removed her travel cloak as well and moved her into a more comfortable position before pulling the covers over her. "Good night," he murmured, giving the young teen a pat on the head in a surprisingly gentle manner for an evil villain's evil minion.
He left after that and sat at the bar.
"Whaddya want?" the innkeeper inquired.
"Fresh Water, if you have it," he muttered.
"Comin' right up." The woman dove under the counter, rustling around for what he had ordered.
He hadn't even had time to settle down to look broody before someone grabbed his shoulder and roughly jerked him around to face them. "You th' guy who messed up m'bro's face?!" a thick, heavyset man demanded.
A thick, heavyset man with a familiar face.
Leon shrugged indifferently, but he was running through all the people The Boss had sent him after in his head.
Unfortunately, he was interrupted once again, and by the same person.
"YA GOT M'BRO! DIE!" the unreasonable (and probably drunk) man screeched, throwing a punch.
Leon sighed, tilting his head to avoid the hit. He really didn't want to start a bar brawl.
Then the man tried to tackle him.
Leon jumped lightly from his seat, causing his new opponent to crash into the chair. The man staggered back up, one hand cradling his squashed nose. "Ya... Ya... Ya... GET 'IM, BOYS!" he howled.
As if they had practiced, a group of men not unlike the first man came roaring in in unison armed to the teeth. Leon closed his eyes and frowned. Seriously? Bringing his hands up to his shoulders, he drew the broadswords that rested in their sheaths. If he was reading their body language right-as well as the situation-he would need them. He hoped the innkeeper wouldn't kick him out, because then Kara really would kill him, and he'd prefer to be alive and on friendly terms with the only doctor in the group.
He brought his hands back down slowly, the swords gracefully moving with them to rest their points on the ground.
Then he snapped open two forest green eyes. "Let's get started."
The charged him at once, and he swept his swords at them. They tried to dodge, but there were more behind them, and they couldn't back up. His swords got them, and blood spurted. He tsked when he realized one had managed to clip his cheek with a prong of their pitchfork before going down. All the civilians quickly cleared out, casting fearful glances at the bar (or rather, the top of Sapphire's head as she still continued to dig around for the Fresh Water) before going, though the more daring ones hid behind the bar, and the other guests screamed and headed up to their rooms. More idiots quickly charged in to avenge the first wave, but Leon parried their weapons with his own swords before ducking down and delivering swift kicks where it hurt. They staggered backward, clutching their injured parts. He smirked; this was too easy. Unfortunately, yet another wave joined the fray, and some of them even called out their pokemon-Pidgeys and Rattatas. There were too many of them, and it would soon get annoying.
Leon sighed and tugged off his boots, much to the surprise of the attackers. Throwing his swords into the air, he jumped and landed in a handstand, catching the swords between his toes in a well-practiced motion.
The attackers muttered amongst themselves. What was going on? Was this dude crazy? Oh well, his problem, not theirs.
Leon leaped at them lightning quick, legs whirling as he slashed with the swords held in his feet. He had trained for years to be able to pull these moves off properly while balancing on his hands, knowing that it would make him more dangerous. Windmilling blades tended to put off aggressors. One of the smarter ones figured he would go down if his arms were injured and approached at crawl, pitchfork positioned to strike.
Just as it was about to stab, Leon pulled the arm up out of harm's way and one of his legs shot out, the sword stabbing the man right through the chest.
DEFINITELY THEIR PROBLEM! DEFINITELY THEIR PROBLEM!
Leon's eyes darted around. They had backed off a bit for now, but he had no idea if one or both of the swords would get knocked out of his feet. The hilts were fit snugly between his first two toes, but the grip could never match that of his hands. A little backup would not be amiss, but Natalie was still in the stable, and he just couldn't spare any concentration on reaching for his Houndoom's pokeball. Perhaps this plan wasn't quite well thought out...
Suddenly, who should come bursting in dramatically through the front door with her rapier drawn astride a Ponyta but the woman herself, her braid flying behind her. Leon wondered how Greg had even fit, but quickly dismissed the thought. He had his backup. "Hiya, Leon! Sorry I'm late!" she yelled, surveying the room to take stock of the situation and catapulting over one of his opponents to land neatly beside him. "I hope I didn't miss anything!"
A corner of his mouth twitched in what might've been a faint smile, though she couldn't see it. "No, you're just in time."
"Good to know!" she grinned before turning back to their now slack-jawed opponents. "Alright, gents, let's go!" She started stabbing at them crazily, her mouth running as fast as her Ponyta. "Why're ya staring at us like that?! Sword got your tongue?!" STAB right in one's mouth. "Ew. Who's up for swapping spit?" STAB right in another's. "So, wanna know why I have a rapier?! Too bad, I'll tell you anyway! It was the the snazziest weapon in the shop and looked quite sharp and snappy! But if you give me some more clay, I'm not against a claymore! Get it?! Get it?!" STAB STAB STABBITY STAB.
Leon decided not to ask about the STABBITY. "Natalie. Cover for me. I need to call out DarkFlare."
"Aye aye, Captain Leon!" she yelled as Greg stampeded over another group of harrassers. "We'll need him! There are enemies as far as the eye can sea!"
Seconds later, the Houndoom was out and howling. Leon smirked. "NATALIE, DUCK!" he yelled. The girl hit the ground next to him, and he quickly performed a split before spinning in place, his hands, legs, and swords a blur as he gyrated. Several more of their enemies fell to the ground, deep gashes in their chests, and some of the Pidgey had backed off in fear of being de-taloned, de-winged, or worse.
By this time, most of the enemies had lost their nerve and fled.
"That was fowl, Leon! You could've left some for me!" Natalie complained, rising and swinging up her left arm to block an attack with her gauntlet.
Leon rolled his eyes then judged it was time they could split up. "We're going off the defensive. Since there are less now, we both have more mobility. I'll take the guys on this side, you take the ones on that side. You up for it?"
"Up and away, man!" Natalie yelled, kicking the guy she was fighting in the face and hopping onto Greg's back again. "EULALIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Leon quickly turned back to his own opponents. They had decreased sharply in number, and he now had DarkFlare with him; he could afford to be more mobile. Leaping up again, he flipped like an acrobat, speedily traveling over to the nearest one with the length his body afforded him. He met the opponent in midair, cleaving the handle of the pitchfork with his sword-seriously, did they really think pitchforks and numbers would kill him?-and leaving a bloody slice in the man's face. He landed and spun his leg on the ground when DarkFlare barked loudly, slicing the leg of an opponent that was sneaking up behind him. The man's screams joined those of the one before him as he staggered off, a trail of blood wet on the floor.
Glancing back as he spun his legs again, Leon could see Tiki clinging to Natalie's hat (reinforced with rubber, fortunately) and tossing Electro Balls all over the place, its eyes squeezed shut as it trembled. 'Gotta be careful of those,' he noted as Darkflare leaped and Crunched another Pidgey's wing.
He continued laming his enemies, wincing as he remembered that he and Natalie had killed some earlier-that would definitely get them in trouble with the local authorities, something they really did not need.
"OI!" a furious voice roared suddenly. "WHAT IN DA NAME O' ARCEUS ARE YA PUNKS DOIN' TA MY BAR, HUH?!"
Everyone in the room swiveled to look at the innkeeper, her face flushed with anger, a glass of Fresh Water just barely surviving in her tensed hand. "PUT AWAY DA WEAPONS, LADY AN' GENNELMEN," she growled, glaring at them ominously, "OR I'LL PUT 'EM AWAY FOR YA."
The home team hastily threw down their pitchforks. "WE'RE SORRY, MATRON SAPPHIRE!" they chorused.
Leon raised an eyebrow as he sheathed his swords. He had heard that the housewives of this kingdom were fearsome, but he had had no idea quite how fearsome. If this woman joined The Boss's minions, she would undoubtedly be the group leader within a week, regardless of Natalie, Mithril, and Genevieve's protests.
"But-" Natalie began to argue.
The woman-Sapphire-leveled her with a fearsome glare that seemed to just be thirsting for the battle like Leon was thirsting for the Fresh Water she was still holding. "But what?" she snarled.
Natalie gulped and quickly sheathed her sword. "N-Nothing. I'll just... bring my Ponyta back to the stable..." She scurried outside, Greg in tow.
"Any of ya idiots attack 'er an' start another fight, ya deal wit' me," Sapphire snapped to those who remained of the original aggressors. They nodded frantically and quickly dragged themselves and their comrades out.
Leon quietly righted his seat at the bar and sat back down. Sapphire slammed the glass down in front of him. "Dis one's on da house," she assured him. "Yeah, I know ya killed some o' dem, but those were some nice moves ya had there, boy. Skill is respected in my house. Besides, dey attacked you first, an' I'd say ya did a pretty good job, 'specially considerin' ya were outnumbered."
Leon blinked and glanced down at the water. "...Is it poisoned?"
Sapphire looked offended. "No, ya li'l ingrate. It's a bribe, is what it is. You and dat friend o' yers're gonna help me clean up da bar."
Leon sighed. He'd known there was a catch...
"I missed all that?!" Mithril complained when Natalie related the whole story to her the next morning. "I didn't even get to use Sir Sharp the Third and Lady Deadly the Seventy-sixth!"
Leon sighed. Why she liked fighting, he'd never have any clue... "Ow!" he exclaimed suddenly.
"Sit still," Kara said severely, ferociously attacking his wounds with a puff of cotton and ointment. "You called that a first aid job? It was just a bunch of bandages slapped onto your injuries. You're lucky they never got past nicks and scratches, because I'd be asleep and you'd be dead."
"Hey, at least we washed them out!" Natalie protested, having gone through the same treatment just minutes prior. "So it won't get infected! Besides, your washed out old ointments are nothing compared to some good rest!"
Kara rolled her eyes. "Useless idiots," she muttered. "And Leon, I seem to recall you shaking your head no when I asked if you were known in this area."
Leon winced. "There was only that one man. I really have never been here."
"That one man and his army," she muttered.
"Aw, don't be so hard on da fella," the Sapphire chided, bringing over four large plates heaped with flapjacks, bacon, and eggs. "He was awesome last night-better'n any fighter I've seen around these parts fer a long time... Or at least da best fighting I've seen for a long time." She shot a glare towards the door before turning back to the group. "Him and da girl both. Ya shoulda seen her, too-STAB STAB STABBITY STAB an' BAM da guy's down!"
"You should not condone violence in your bar," Kara deadpanned.
Sapphire shrugged. "I dunno, bar brawls make life less boring. I've participated in quite a few m'self, but listen here," she glared at Leon and Natalie, "no swords should be drawn in dis establishment."
"Yes'm..." Natalie mumbled while Leon nodded. "Well, enough about that. Have you seen or heard of an obsessive stalker woman? She might've been looking for a guy who's twenty-two with black hair, green eyes, maybe an awesome-looking brown trench coat..."
Sapphire shrugged. "There's a lotta people matchin' dat description, but I do know one of 'em-she's a co-worker of my son in the castle. She's in da not-ninja squad an' goes by Kaz."
"WE HAVE A LEAD!" Mithril whooped, pumping her fists in the air. "Do you know if she's still in the castle?!"
Sapphire shook her head. "Nope."
Mithril immediately drooped. "Useless old lady..."
After giving Mithril a large lump on her head, Sapphire suggested that they travel to the castle anyway and look for Kaz there, and if she was on a mission, get a lead.
The four minions exchanged glances. The castle? Hoo boy...
A girl raced through the forest, leaping from tree to tree, her black pigtails streaming behind her. Her dark apparel helped her blend in with the shadows that the canopy of leaves created for her, but she knew it wasn't necessary at the moment... unless a certain senior ninja was in a bad mood. She couldn't believe that they had left while she was on a mission. True, unless they were assigned to team up on missions, ninja had no need to know what was going on with each other, but still... Friendship was important!
She continued scanning the forest floor when suddenly, a knife came flying at her. She just barely managed to dodge, the blade nicking off a few strands of her hair. She was immediately alert, cyan eyes darting around to find the source as she pulled out her own knives.
"Oh, it's just you, Eleanor! I should've known it was you the second I heard you coming! You're very special, after all; you make a unique tromping noise when you go for stealth!" a cheerful voice said.
The pig-tailed girl managed to pinpoint the location of her attacker with the sound. "Kaz?" she called suspiciously.
"Of course it's me. Nicholas's here, too."
"Hey, Eleanor."
Eleanor Blaze, intermediate level ninja, decided it was safe and dropped to the ground. "Hello, Kaz, Nicholas," she said with a grin, relieved. "I'm glad I finally caught up to you!"
"So am I," Kaz said, her smile unwavering. "Now I can actually disguise all your boisterous noise. Good job."
"Thanks!" Eleanor exclaimed blithely. "So... Why did you two leave so quickly?" Then she noticed the makeshift sling Nicholas's left arm was in. "...And Nicholas is in a cast?! Why?! How?!"
"Kaz did it," he murzled, propping himself up against a tree.
"Not like I had a choice. You were being useless," the woman giggled. "So stop complaining before I break the other arm."
He stopped complaining, alright. He fell asleep, a nose bubble inflating and deflating in time to his breaths.
Eleanor frowned. "You... broke his arm?"
"It was a clean break. It'll heal," Kaz said dismissively. "I wouldn't want my traveling companion to be completely useless, after all."
"Okay! You're right! I'm sure he'll get better!" Eleanor cheered, back to one hundred percent optimism. How she managed to keep that happy personality after being subjected to Silver's gruesome training course (which included running on only so many hours of rest), the world shall never know.
"Anyway! Why are you here?" Kaz asked. "You didn't have to force yourself to come; we could have operated better without you."
Eleanor turned around. "And I'm sure you could," she said, the 'better' going straight over her head, "but it's always good to have some help. Besides, my vacation's starting soon! I was hoping we could all do something as a group! And so, even if you're going to spend your vacation on hunting down that guy you're always trying to stalk, I'm going with you!" She turned back around to face the other woman, hands clasped behind her back and a grin across her face.
Kaz decided not to mention that she in fact wasn't on vacation but had just decided to slip away during the confusion. "I suppose so. Just remember that if we're in a life-threatening situation, I'll need a meat shield!"
"Okay! I'll purchase some meat at the next town, pack it with preservatives and disinfectant, and mold it into a shield!" Eleanor chirped, misunderstanding.
Kaz also decided not to explain what a meat shield was. It was best not to explain to the cannon fodder its purpose and scare it off.
Nicholas just continued sleeping.
Silver knocked on the door. "Hello? Is Dr. Poke home?" he called.
He was rewarded by a Slowpoke pushing the door open. "Finally, someone has the sense to call for me rather than Mother Nurse," the Pokemon grumbled.
"Did dey jus'... leave? In da middle uvva fight?" Lapis asked, staring ahead vacantly.
Lustrous was drawing circles in the ground. "Yeah, we were totally outclassed. We couldn't do a thing to them."
"That aside, Pinkari's doughnuts are really good. You should try one," Adamant advised.
Orange just sat dejectedly, muttering incomprehensibly to himself. Still, he took a doughnut. Once he ate it, he immediately perked back up. "Hey, these really are good!" he exclaimed.
"Really?" Lapis moped, picking one up. Sinking his fangs into it, he, too, perked up. "Hey, dis really is good!"
"You're prolly just exaggerating," Lustrous sighed, flopping over and chomping down on the one in Adamant's hand. Suddenly, her hair horn stood straight up. "Wow, it really is good!" she gasped.
The three ex-mopers went on a half hour eating spree of devouring the doughnuts in a feeding frenzy.
"Guys?" Orange said around his sixty-seventh doughnut. "I feel funny..."
Lapis sniffed the air. "Smell funny, too."
"Probably all those doughnuts," reasoned Lustrous.
They all turned to each other.
"OH MY ARCEUS AND ALL DEITIES ABOVE! YOU'RE PINK!" They hollered at each other.
Adamant took the opportunity to finish the last doughnut.
Petal: Copper says, "I am too lazy to say anything for this end note. My apologies." Yes, he actually said it when he said he was too lazy to. Ah well. Please review.
