("I'm back,") Dustox said as he came flying over and landed next to Staravia.

("Took you long enough,") Staravia said. ("Where did you go?")

("To get this,") Dustox replied as he slid a vine down from his back.

("A vine?") Staravia questioned.

("The closest thing I could find to keep you from moving your wing so much,") Dustox said as Staravia used his unbroken wing to fling the vine over his back.

("Um, could you help me tie this thing?") Staravia asked as he stared at the vine, not sure how he could tie it.

("I don't have hands,") Dustox said.

("Well this is great,") Staravia said. ("How am I supposed to keep my wing from moving if I can't get this thing tied?")

("Maybe I can find someone who can help tie it,") Dustox said as he flew up into the air.

("And you didn't think of this while grabbing the vine?") Staravia asked.

("The thought didn't occur to me at the time,") Dustox replied. ("Just wait here. I'll be back.")

("What else is he going to forget?") Staravia asked himself as he watched Dustox disappear into the forest.

--

"Out of all the people I could have ended up with, I had to end up with you," Jessie growled at Dawn.

"You're no picnic yourself," Dawn remarked back.

Both Jessie and Dawn were sitting away from each other, backs toward each other. They both weren't happy with each other's company.

"Oh this is just great," Dawn said, sighing depressingly. "What if I can't get out of here? I'll miss out on all the contests. My mom will be watching and when she doesn't see me, she'll begin to worry. I'll probably be lost forever and die of hunger and-"

"Pull yourself together!" Jessie yelled, turning around at last. "We are not going to remain here for the rest of our lives. Surely someone will eventually come and find us."

"Like who?" Dawn asked curiously, her anger and worry vanishing.

"Oh I don't know," Jessie replied, blushing. "Maybe a handsome man who looks good and will carry me away to some unknown land where we will live happily together forever."

Dawn's eye twitched in disturbance as she stared at the starry eyed Jessie.

"If only she did live in a fantasy world," she thought.

--

"("O.K.,") Pikachu said to himself. ("This is really weird. How the heck did I end up outside of the forest?")

Pikachu looked about the open field, surprise he made it to the forest's exit.

("This is a problem though,") he thought as folded his paws. ("I could stay here and just wait for the others to eventually find their way out. But that could take forever. And besides, what if they find a different exit and are waiting for me there? But if I go back in, I might miss passing by somebody. A tough decision. I wonder what Ash would do in a situation like this.")

Pikachu thought for a while, deciding on what Ash would have done. His thoughts suddenly slipped away as they went back to the night Hunter J attacked. Pikachu replayed the scene of Buneary tackling him into the path of the Bullet Seed. Just what were her intentions of doing so? Was she trying to get him captured? Was she trying to injure him badly? And why in the world was he thinking of her so suddenly again?

Pikachu's face glowed red as he pondered over this last question.

("What am I doing?") he thought to himself. ("Why do I have Buneary on mind so much lately? She's an annoying bunny. But if she's so annoying, why do I think of her more and more?")

Pikachu's face couldn't be any more redder than it could as he kept thinking about all the other times she hung around him. The first time they met, Buneary was still wild. She spun around after beating Piplup and winked at him. He never did understand what that was all about.

Then she grabbed him and hopped away in a twirl after freezing everyone else with her Ice Beam. She seemed quite happy that she was with him. But then he yelled at her, which caused her to cry. But before that, he went to go battle her so that Ash could capture her for himself.

But the moment he landed to challenge, Buneary lifted up her fur over her face. Pikachu was completely confused to what she was doing even when she scooted over to him and leaned upon him. Then she lifted her fur over her face again as she laughed uncontrollably.

Pikachu scratched his head in irritation.

("What am I doing?") he thought to himself. ("I should be thinking of Ash, not Buneary. This is driving me completely insane!")

Pikachu's eyes suddenly lit up as he finally thought of something.

("I know,") he said, snapping his fingers. ("He'd send Staravia out to look for them while he waited here. But I don't have any one to send out looking. So what should I do?")

As he was thinking this, his ears picked up a strange noise. Pikachu looked around, alert, waiting for the unknown thing to make its appearance.

("What's that noise?") he wondered as he looked up into the sky.

--

("I'm tired,") Carnivine whined. ("Can we please stop and rest?")

("What's stopping you?") Buizel asked as he continued walking.

("You are,") Carnivine answered. ("We haven't stopped at all since we began walking. Besides, I'm hungry and I know you'll have to eventually stop to eat as well.")

("I can go a meal,") Buizel said as he walked on.

("You have no idea what it's like being on my master's team,") Carnivine said upsettingly.

("I'm sure I don't,") Buizel said without looking back.

("Well if you must know, there's barely any food to eat,") Carnivine said. ("My master is always having to fight with his friends over it while the rest of us starve.")

("Makes you wonder if you're even on the right side,") Buizel said as he walked on.

Carnivine glared at the still walking Buizel as he followed. Carnivine whipped back a vine to strike and sent it forward, whacking Buizel in the back of the head as hard as he could.

Buizel went flying forward and skidded along the ground, earning some nice scrapes. Carnivine huffed in anger.

("Maybe if you tried changing sides you'd see how it's like!") Carnivine yelled as Buizel slowly got up.

("You shouldn't have done that,") he said in a low growl.

("I think I should have and I did,") Carnivine remarked smugly. ("What are you going to do about it?")

("You should know something,") Buizel said, still keeping the low growl. ("I have a desire to always battle the toughest opponents. And I've never lost a battle.")

("Not even to Pikachu?") Carnivine asked, a bit afraid.

("Not even him,") Buizel said. ("Normally I show honor when I fight. But you just incurred my anger greatly. I will show you no mercy. So I hope you are ready to experience a lot of pain.")

Buizel then turned around. Carnivine stepped back in fear, staring into the anger of Buizel's eyes. Buizel activated his Water Jet attack and flew right at Carnivine who stood there immobilized in fear.

--

"Hunter J, sir," J's henchman said, saluting. "That talking Meowth has shown up with some Buneary."

"A talking Meowth!?" J said surprised, looking right over at Meowth who nervously said, "Hi."

J smiled as she pulled out a weird looking gun.

"So," he said. "You've finally left your pathetic friends to be sold, have you?"

"Not at all," Meowth replied, gulping in fear. "I was just with Buneary here and wes was just walking. That's all."

"The Buneary said she wants to join with you, sir," the henchman said. Meowth drooped his head.

"Oh?" J said, raising an eyebrow. "And what would she have to offer to help us?"

("My feminine charms,") Buneary replied, still in her emotionless tone.

Meowth busted out laughing before covering his mouth with his paws.

"What did she say?" the guy asked.

Struggling not to laugh, Meowth translated. The guy laughed out loud while J just stared at Buneary. Meowth couldn't help but joint he henchman in laughing as Buneary remained silent, waiting for some kind of response.

"That's not a bad idea," he said after a few minutes of thinking.

"Huh!?" both Meowth and J's henchman said in surprise, both their jaws hanging open.

"Using Buneary's feminine charms, we can easily catch any male pokemon that would be rare and/or valuable," J said. "Catching all the female pokemon would be hard though, since we don't have a good looking male to tag along."

"That's where I could come in," Meowth piped up, earning a look from J.

"Go on," he said.

"Well," Meowth said. "Imagine keeping me upon your team rather than auctioning me off. That way, you can get reports back from your pokemon through me. And I'm sure if you pamper me up to look like one cool Meowth, I could easily flock all the girls onto your ship. Together, Buneary and I will make capturing easy."

"An interesting idea," J said thoughtfully. "We'd have to work on you, but I before I allow you on, I need to test your strength. Go, Draipion."

J threw a pokeball into the air and out came Draipion.

"If you two should so happen to beat my Draipion, I will allow you to join with me and assist for the rest of your lives," J said.

("It's a deal,") Buneary said as she readied herself.

"What am I getting myself into?" Meowth thought as he nervously took a fighting stance.

"Draipion, begin with a Tackle," J demanded.

("Right,") Driapion said as he charged at the two pokemon.