A/N: Hey there everyone! Frostbreaker brings you another chapter from the pit of awesome, along with homemade Mediterranean-style pizza. That's right, be jealous. Anyhow, I apologize for the wait for this chapter, but I made sure to make it nice and long for all of you...and thick. Ladies enjoy stories like that, after all. Anyway, please R&R and enjoy!

To EmeraldDragon1 - Well not every chapter is going to be filled with death-defying stunts of epicness, or scenes of the protagonist walking away from an explosion. I save those moments for when they're needed. All the same, I'm pretty sure you'll be quite pleased with this chapter, so do enjoy.

To Omni-Foxvatar-117 - Well I always make sure my chapters are in-depth and well-written...because if they aren't, I won't post them. Also, I find it curious that you gave me the option of sir or madam...thanks for that. And as far as Lynn, I'm not sure. You'll just have to read on and see.

Disclaimer:I do not own any of the characters or original story elements associated with the Pokemon series, manga, or game. All rights go to their respective owners.

Chapter 10: Traits of Good

"There is no such thing as a water/fire or ice/fire pokemon." Lynn insisted.

I chuckled. "Not that we know of. It wouldn't be the first time that an elemental weakness was paired with itself in one pokemon."

"Really? Name one." the Dewott challenged.

"Lanturn." I replied smugly.

"W-well..." the otter Pokemon stuttered in an attempt to come up with a retort, but ultimately sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Alright fine, you got me. I guess technically it's possible...I just can't imagine what such a pokemon would look like."

I shrugged with a grin. "I've no idea, but I can bet it would be interesting." I continued walking for a moment before adding, "And it would be even better if you were the first to battle one."

Lynn smiled broadly and nodded. "That would be pretty nice, actually. I've always wanted to be the first to do something."

I nodded. "That's an ambitious dream, Lynn. I know if you work hard enough though, you can do it."

The Dewott looked up at me with a smirk. "Getting a little soft, are we?"

"I blame Ada." I replied with a smile.

I was traveling on Route 44, and it was raining...again. With that being the case, I was walking alone with Lynn as we talked to pass the time, along with battling a wild pokemon here or there. These wild pokemon were confused that I would tend to any wounds they had after the battle, but after explaining who and what I was, they understood. It was rather odd actually, as I had to have Lynn battle them to get stronger, but I ended up apologizing to them afterward.

My cup runneth over with oddities

It was about three hours into the morning when we arrived at a rather large river, too wild to traverse with a water pokemon, and a large cave seeming to be the only way around. It was then that I noticed that the cave itself seemed deathly cold, and I shivered as the otter pokemon and I stood outside of it.

"The Ice Path." Lynn commented. I looked to the female Dewott questioningly and she frowned warily. "It's a really cold, frustrating, and dangerous path that's the only way to get to Blackthorn City, unless you've been there before. I have, but Gracia hasn't...which is why you can't just fly there. You'd get lost, and the strong winds over the mountains here would blow her off course and there's no telling where you'd end up." She then pointed to my waist. "Osiris is going to be a big help to you in there, as most of the wild pokemon in there are very aggressive ice-types, save for a few Zubat or Golbat here or there. He should be able to handle it." She then gestured to my body. "I'd change that clothing to something warmer though, as it's below freezing in there...and you can expect to be in there for at least two or three hours. Also, you're going to need someone in the group to know Strength and Rock Smash in order to get through."

I tapped my finger a few times on my chin in thought before responding, "Well actually, I could probably just teach those to myself. By what Timothy told me, I should be able to learn those abilities just like a pokemon would."

"That...actually could work. Give it a try." the water-type urged.

I nodded and opened my pack, checking the compartment I kept TMs and HMs in for the ones I was looking for before I found them ‒ two small glittery cubes, one of red and one of silver. I then pressed them one by one into my hand, feeling a small charge of power enter me from each one, along with the knowledge of some new abilities. It was strange. Obviously, it was new knowledge, but it was also very natural...as if I'd always known of them.

"Did it work?" Lynn asked curiously.

I shrugged as I looked at a rather large boulder. "Not sure, let me test." I stepped over to the large rock and hefted it up with ease, tossing it into the air a small distance before slamming my fist into it...causing the boulder to shatter into many pieces. I smirked as I turned to the stunned Dewott. "Yes, it appears to have worked."

"I'll say." she responded warily. "I've never been afraid of how strong you are until now, Rick."

I chuckled and shook my head. "You should know by now that I would never intentionally hurt any of you. Training is one thing, but I'm never going to just beat on any of you...that's not me."

"Good." she responded, relaxing a bit. "Well, I'll be retreating into my ball until you need me then. I don't like the cold though, so please don't need me." She then tapped her paw on the Ultra ball and vanished inside it with a flash of red light.

I sighed and looked towards the cold cave before changing my clothing into a full parka, boots, and a large scarf. "This is going to suck gobby pissflaps."

A certain Houndoom pranced proudly around me as we exited the cave hours later to find that the rain had finally stopped. Osiris had been a great help within the ice path, as the icy pokemon were no match for him, which allowed us to only deal with the few puzzles that were meant to test trainers so they could prove their worth.

Exactly who sets them up, I was unsure of.

Nonetheless, I was glad to be out of the hellhole that was the Ice Path (ironic wording, I know), and was glad to be on the way to Blackthorn City.

"So how did I do, Rick? Did I look as awesome as I felt?" the prancing dark/fire-type asked in excitement.

I chuckled at the suddenly puppy-like mentality of my oldest friend and smiled. "You did amazingly as always, Osiris. You have yet to disappoint in anything you do. I always know I can count on you."

The Houndoom bumped against my leg with a smile and replied, "Thanks. You're not too bad yourself, you know...picking up boulders and all."

I shrugged. "Someone had to do it, and I certainly wasn't going to let you do all the work."

Again Osiris nudged me. "And that's why you're a good trainer." He then looked around warily. "Anyway, where are we? I don't recognize this place."

I pointed to the valley up ahead and said, "After we get through here, Blackthorn is just on the other side. We should be there by the afternoon, I think."

My partner looked up at the sky before saying, "Wow...how long have we been traveling?"

I shrugged. "The better part of the day. I kept you inside your ball for the first bit, as I was sure you wouldn't appreciate the rain too much."

"Thanks for that." he replied.

I smiled down at him and answered, "No problem. Anyway, most of today was going to be just traveling, so I figured I'd spare you guys the boredom and keep you resting in your Pokeballs. We'll stay about a week in Blackthorn before we move on to Victory Road, as we'll all need the rest. I hear Clair is a bitch to fight. Nice girl, but her skills have vastly improved over the years, and she is now considered to be the premier trainer in Johoto, next to Lance. The only reason she hasn't been put as one of the Elite Four is because there's already four there, and she had repeatedly declined the position."

"Any idea why?" Osiris asked curiously.

I shrugged. "No idea really. Maybe she'd feel locked-in as an Elite Four, or maybe she just doesn't want the fame. I guess only she really knows for sure."

"So who're you gonna use?" he asked.

"Darcy, obviously." I responded with a smile. "She's got the ice-power that they're weak against, and the only thing she'll have to watch out for is fire attacks. I would use Lynn, but those electric attacks would tear her up...especially with that Dragonite Clair uses." I shrugged. "I mean all of you trained with Timothy's pokemon, so I'm pretty sure that if it came right down to it, you guys could fight just fine, but another thing that Clair is notorious for is accidentally injuring trainers' Pokemon. Not out of malicious intent, but because of lack of control. I don't want to risk any of you getting seriously injured is all."

Osiris looked up at me curiously. "You aren't going to jump in the fight or do something stupid, are you?"

I shrugged again. "That depends. I believe you all know that should I see any of you in actual danger, I'd rush in like a stupid wanker. That's why I have Gracia and Ada...to stop me from acting too much like a daft bastard."

The Houndoom chuckled a bit and nodded. "Yeah, you do tend to react impulsively."

I nodded. "Exactly, and I'm man enough to admit that about myself. That's why I have you all to look out for me."

My walking companion was silent for a few moments before he started to laugh. "Tessa punching you in the face was pretty damn funny though."

The memory surfaced and I joined in the laughter like an idiot. I coughed a few times and responded, "Yeah it was. That's a perfect example of me lacking foresight...which is rather ironic, with me being a psychic and all."

"Eh, you can't be everything." the canine responded playfully. He then looked ahead and looked through the trees in front of us. "We're here...Blackthorn City."

I squinted my eyes and noticed buildings through the trees as well, and nodded. "Finally...maybe we can find something decent to eat there as well, or battle a few trainers. I need some money."

Osiris' eyebrow quirked as he asked, "Didn't you buy food before we left?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but that's emergency food...like if we're having to camp out somewhere. It's really nutritious and all that, but it was also expensive. I would prefer to keep from eating it if we don't need to."

"Ah," he responded with a smile, "good idea."

As we approached, a young boy that was sitting along the path looked up at me. "Hey, you feel like a battle?"

I shrugged. "Sounds good. Three on three sound good to you?" He nodded. "Alright, how much are you wagering?"

The boy tapped his finger on his lips before responding, "I'm feeling lucky, so how does 2200 sound?"

I grinned and nodded again. "Sounds good, kid. What's your name?"

The young boy smiled as he brushed some of his red hair out of his eyes. "I'm Anthony."

I stepped forward and shook the boy's hand. "I'm Rick. Nice to meet you, Anthony." I then stepped back. "Alright, let's do this. Single battle, three on three." I looked down at Osiris. "You want to go first?"

The Houndoom smiled and nodded. "Sure, sounds good Rick."

Anthony looked at me curiously and asked, "You can understand your pokemon?"

I chuckled and nodded. "Yep, sure can."

"Cool!" he responded with excitement. "I have a friend named Tim that can do that too. He used to live here."

I raised an eyebrow as my mind began to work. "Is your friend's last name Maxwell?"

Anthony smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you know him?"

I nodded as well. "Yeah. He's a good friend of mine too. Taught me a lot over the past months."

"Like what?" he asked in confusion.

I smirked and raised my hand. "Like this." The rock he had been sitting against exploded into dust, causing Anthony to jump in shock.

The boy then looked to me in excitement. "Cool, you're an Awakened too?"

I rolled my eyes with a sigh. "Well how else did you think I was able to understand Osiris?" The boy stared at me and I added, "That's the name of the Houndoom."

"Oh...cool!" the young trainer replied. He then unclipped a Pokeball from his belt and tossed in in front of him, and I was shocked when the white light grew and grew until it was larger, taller, and more intimidating than I had expected. The large pokemon then roared loudly, and its body completely took shape.

"By Arceus...a shiny Gyarados?" I whispered to myself. Indeed, the large dragon-like pokemon was red instead of its normal aquamarine color, and its facial tendrils were red instead of blue.

The Gyarados looked down at me and grinned. "An Awakened trainer, hm? This should be interesting."

I looked worriedly to Osiris and asked, "Are you sure you want to go first now?"

The Houndoom grinned and replied, "I trained against my weakness, remember? I got this."

I shrugged. "Alright then." I looked to Anthony and said, "Try and keep moves like Surf to a minimum, please. In this area, there's not much other place for the water to go except straight at me."

The trainer smirked confidently and replied, "Don't worry, we won't need it."

I grinned to myself. 'Overconfidence. We can use that.' I looked to Osiris, and he knew exactly what I was thinking. Before I could think further, however, the Gyarados' tail slammed down on the ground with a crash of water, and I noticed that Osiris had just barely dodged. Again, I didn't even need to speak to Osiris, as he knew exactly how this battle was going to have to go. This Gyarados was much faster than normal, and it was likely Osiris would only be able to take three or four hits before he was down and out.

"Dragon Dance!" shouted Anthony, and I watched as the atrocious Pokemon glowed violet as it roared loudly and thrashed around in a rage. The boy then shouted, "Rain Dance!" Clouds grew overhead and rain began to pelt the area.

I focused on Osiris and psychically sent, "Stay on your toes. With Rain Dance and his attack power beefed up, all it'll take is one hit from a water-type attack and you're done for." The Houndoom looked to me and smirked as he took a low stance to the ground, his entire body coiling in a ready position.

"Hydro Pump!"

Osiris reacted faster than I could blink, and apparently faster than the Gyarados. He dodged the high-powered stream of water by leaping up against the rock wall beside him, and then jumped off it into the air. The canine's mouth began to crackle with electricity, and he bit down on the thick skin of the water/flying-type Pokemon...hard. The massive pokemon fell to the ground in a heap, its eyes twitching as the residual electricity...but then as Osiris backed off, the large Pokemon growled and rose, though it was clear it was very tired. The Houndoom then attempted to finish the fight with another Thunder Fang attack, but faster than he could react, the large tail of the Gyarados slammed into him. The black canine was thrown against the rock wall, and he slowly rolled away and did not get up.

Osiris was down.

I walked over to my unconscious partner and tapped his capture device, and he disappeared within it in a red flash of light. I looked to Anthony and commented, "Well done, both of you. You're the first ones in a long time to take him down." Both Anthony and the Gyarados looked rather pleased with themselves, so I kept things rolling and pulled off Zane's ball and tossed it in front of me. "Go, Zane!" The large Venusaur materialized in front of me, and he recognized the battle going on. The large pokemon wasted no time in wrapping the Gyarados up in its vines, smashing it into the ground repeatedly until it no longer struggled.

"Damn..." I commented softly. I then held out my hand and Zane placed one of his vines in my palm, and I ran my fingers over it. "Those things are a hell of a lot stronger than I thought." I then looked to Anthony and asked, "Is he alright?"

The boy nodded and returned his pokemon to its ball. "He's good." He then unclipped another ball and threw it in the air. "Go, Aden!"

'Of course he chose a fire-type' My momentary worry was taken away, however, as Zane began to stomp the ground hard with both of his forelegs, causing the dirt to crack and twist until giant fissures tore through it towards the fire pokemon. Its leg was caught in one of the fissures, causing it to fall flat on its face, and then the Venusaur charged it. The Typhlosion fired a Fire Blast attack directly at Zane's face, but the large dinosaur-like pokemon didn't even stop, his training with Brutus having more than paid off with resilience to fire attacks beyond that of a "normal" grass-type. Suddenly, Zane planted his feet and skidded to a stop, but a wave of force rippled through the ground until it caused a large amount of the ground to strike the Typhlosion in the face, causing it to whimper before falling flat on the ground...unconscious.

Anthony just stared at us both for a moment before bringing back his pokemon. "How the hell did he do that? That was a Fire Blast...and he didn't even slow down!"

I chuckled as I sprayed some burn ointment over Zane's face, soothing his wound. "That's the training I did with him at Timothy's. He's been training against Brutus for months now, so while fire attacks are still more dangerous to him than normal, he's trained himself to push through that pain, and still deliver punishing blows."

"And that was Earthquake and Bulldoze he used, right?" the boy asked.

I nodded. "Most of my partners know a lot of different moves that are meant to counter their weaknesses."

"Smart move." he replied, but then tossed another Pokeball in the air. "Get 'im, Ferro!"

Out of the ball appeared a medium-sized pokemon I'd not seen before, so I activated my PokeGear and scanned it. It turned out the pokemon was a Drapion, the evolution of Skorupi. The pokemon was a native of Sinnoh and was known for its aggressive behavior, often attacking humans and pokemon alike with little or no provocation. It was a poison/dark-type pokemon, and even though it specialized in poison-type moves, it possessed more than enough physical strength and endurance to overcome enemies without the use of its poisons, if need be.

I turned to Zane and said, "Be careful, mate. That guy can rip you up if you get hit."

The Venusaur nodded with a grin. "I'll be careful, Rick."

Suddenly the boy shouted, "Poison Fang!" and the Drapion charged towards Zane with its mouth wide, dripping with purple drops of poison.

Zane took only a glancing blow from the attack as he dodged, but the small bubbles of poison on the wound told me he had been poisoned. I saw Zane stomp the ground, attempting another Earthquake, but the Drapion dodged all of the crags and charged toward the Venusaur again.

"Venoshock!" shouted Anthony, and I watched as the two large arms of the Drapion began to glow bright violet, and it thrust them at Zane. By now, my partner was too weak to dodge effectively, and he took a direct hit. The bubbling poison on his side seemed to explode with violet tendrils, and it struck his body hard. After a second or two of wobbling, Zane fell to the ground, also unconscious.

"Yeah!" shouted the trainer, victorious. "Great job, Ferro!" The Drapion said nothing, just nodding in response and awaiting my next choice. So, I grabbed Darcy's ball and tossed it in front of me.

The tall humanoid Sneasel popped out in a flash of light and smiled at me once she materialized. "Heya Rick! Need some help?"

I nodded. "I would appreciate it, dear." I looked back to both the Drapion and Anthony, who were staring in awe of Darcy's form.

The dark/ice-type giggled and placed her hand on her hip. "Like what you see, boys?"

Anthony realized he was staring and shook his head to clear his mind, then pointed at Darcy. "Get her, Ferro!"

The Drapion charged her, but Darcy just grinned. "Let's see how a little Agility works for you, big guy." She then zipped away at a speed that was near impossible to follow, leaving her opponent looking confused. I noticed the Sneasel perched in the tree above the Drapion just before she dropped down and slashed him in the face. He roared and swiped at her blindly, but she circled him quickly, raining in strikes over and over whenever she could find an opening. She was a dark blue blur of claws and savagery, but her luck did not hold out as her opponent got in a lucky hit with its tail. She was thrown to the ground with a grunt of pain, but quickly stood again and readied herself.

Anthony hurriedly pointed and shouted, "End it, Ferro! Pin Missile!"

The Drapion stood tall before pointing its arms and tail towards my partner as it released a hail of sharp spines in a large volley towards her. Darcy, by her token, seemed rather unconcerned, and as I watched, time seemed to slow down as she slid, squirmed, jumped, and sidestepped every shot, leaving all of them to embed in the rock behind her. She then took a deep breath before exhaling, blasting an ice-cold wind at the foe that just tried to turn her into a pincushion. The attack was too fast and too broad for it to dodge, so it instead braced its arms in front of it and waited for the impact.

When her attack hit, the air all around Darcy's opponent condensed, causing a cold haze to flare up, preventing me from seeing what was going on. When the fog cleared, however, we saw that Anthony's partner was covered in a giant block of ice, completely immobilized and helpless.

"Alright, I give...you win." Anthony announced, pointing to the block of ice. "Ferro can't even move, and we both know that one solid attack more will take him out, so I'm going to keep him from taking meaningless punishment." He then reached in his pack and produced a small blue bottle of liquid, which he threw at the block of ice, causing it to shatter and its contents to spill over it, and then he walked over to me. When the boy stepped in front of me, he produced a wad of folded bills, which he handed over to me. "Good job, Rick. That was a hell of a fight, and you should be proud of your friends. They fought hard."

I nodded. "Yours too. That Drapion was a nightmare...I hope we don't have to face one of them for a long time to come."

The ice behind Anthony began to crack, and a moment later the frozen pokemon broke out with a shiver, then walked over to us and nodded curtly. "Your partners fought well, Awakened One. You have my respect."

"What did he say?" Anthony asked curiously.

I shrugged. "That we fought well and he respects us. Cool. Anyway, I'm headed to Blackthorn for the gym. Will you join us or are you gonna bugger off?"

The boy returned the Drapion to its ball before sighing. "I'll follow you to the Pokemon Center, but then I have to head out. I hear there's a rare Pokemon that's been spotted in Hoenn, and I wanna catch it."

I raised my eyebrow. "Not a Sacred One though, right?"

Anthony shook his head with a smile. "Nope. Don't worry, I know you and Timothy work to protect them, and I wouldn't mess with that. Anyway, let's get going before it starts raining again or something."

I nodded, and the three of us ‒ Anthony, me, and Darcy ‒ walked towards the city in the distance.

When we arrived, I was thankful for two things. First of all, the people who lived in Blackthorn were very friendly and welcoming to travelers, which made passing through to the Pokemon Center rather simple and easy. Secondly, I was happy that Darcy was rather...flat. Perhaps it was because of her being a basic form pokemon, or perhaps it was just her...but she was already getting leered at by the people on the streets, so I was thankful she was lacking in the curves department.

By Arceus...I never thought I would be thankful for a flat chest.

Thankfully, the three of us arrived rather quickly at the Pokemon Center, and I handed my injured partners' capture devices to the attendant nurse as she returned Anthony's, then I turned to the boy and smiled.

"Well Anthony, it was a pleasure to meet you. Watch your back out there...it's a dangerous world." I stated with a grin.

Anthony smiled and nodded. "I'll be alright, Rick...thanks. Good luck on your 'quest'...by what Tim's told me, you'll need it. I'll keep in touch when I can." With that we quickly swapped numbers before he headed outside and released a Salamence. The trainer then climbed onto its back and flew away.

"Nice kid." Darcy remarked.

I nodded as I continued to stare out of the glass sliding doors. "Yeah...the world could use a few more like him." I then turned to Darcy and inspected her body. "How are you feeling? Need some medical attention?"

Darcy grinned and replied, "I'll be fine...but you can keep running your hand over me if you want."

I chuckled and pulled my hand away. "Maybe later. Right now, I just want to get a room and get everyone fed. I'm starved, and I could use a hot meal after that damn Ice Path."

The Sneasel giggled as she leaned against me. "Yeah...I figured you'd hate that place. Most trainers do, but it's the only way to get here."

As the two of us waited for Osiris and Zane to get fixed up, I became very aware of a group of trainers that were staring at Darcy and I...and this in turn began to make me nervous. Instinctively, I reached out with my consciousness and felt envy, as well as malicious greed...and I had a pretty good idea about what.

Darcy must have noticed this, because she wrapped her arms around me and asked, "Rick, what's wrong? You're all tense, and I can practically feel the energy dripping off of you."

I shook my head to clear my mind and noticed that my body was glowing slightly with a magenta aura. I relaxed and let the power seep back into me, and just sighed. "Don't look, but those guys across the way have been staring at you almost this entire time...and I sense that they want you."

"They want me?" she asked curiously. "How, exactly?"

I shrugged. "As bad as it sounds, hopefully they just want to steal you from me. I mean let's face it, you may not be a shiny pokemon, but your body type is rare...which makes you a novelty."

Darcy sighed and leaned her head against my shoulder. "You'll protect me, and I'll protect you."

"It's not our safety I'm worried about, Darce." I replied sadly. I then turned and looked directly into the eyes of one of them. "It's theirs. If one of those knobjockeys so much as touches you, I'll make sure he has hallucinations the likes of which will make him shit his pants."

"You can do that?" the Sneasel asked curiously.

I nodded. "Ada taught me how as a means of non-lethal fighting against humans. Obviously, I can't defend myself against humans the same I would against pokemon or other Awakened...I would kill them. It was Ada's idea to mess about in their heads to make them leave us alone. It's not permanent...it only lasts about a day."

Darcy giggled and placed her hand on mine, squeezing it affectionately. "I suppose I'm lucky you can't mess with my head then."

I chuckled again and shot back, "I don't need psychic powers to do that."

It was at that point that one of the trainers that had been staring approached us, with his mates following him. He was a young guy about my age, with blonde hair and a rather large scar across his cheek. The man pointed to Darcy and asked, "So where did you get that Sneasel? I've never seen one like that before."

I shrugged as I unconsciously wrapped my arm around her. "I'm pretty sure she's one of a kind...you're not going to find any like her in the wild."

The man nodded a few times before grinning. "How much you want for her?"

This actually caused me to laugh loudly, even with the situation thrust upon me. After a few seconds of chuckles, I caught my breath and replied, "I am unsure exactly what would lead you to believe I'd ever sell one of my pokemon, but just to make it clear, I'll spell it out for you: none of my pokemon are for sale, and I am not interested in trading. She's mine, and mine alone."

I felt Darcy shift next to me as she whispered, "Since when am I yours?"

I just smirked as I turned my attention to the nurse, who approached with my two Pokeballs. I stood and pressed my way through the group of five, but was shoved back down in my seat by one of them.

The same bastard stood in front of me again, his smile having taken a much more malicious tone. I could see the nurse behind looking frightened, so I realized I was on my own here. The man bent down in my face, near inches away, and whispered, "Perhaps I wasn't clear the first time." He then pointed his fingers at Darcy, causing her to growl. "I'm not leaving here without her, so we can do this the easy way and you can make a little money, or we can do this the hard way."

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling for a moment, as if considering my options before looking back to him with a grin. "No deal. Now you'd best be off before you get into trouble." Suddenly my vision flashed white, and I felt something strike my cheek. I heard Darcy growl louder, but I placed a hand on her thigh, calming her. "Darce, I'm fine." I opened my eyes and looked back to the man in front of me, who had a rather smug look on his face. "Are you sure you want to do this? Because I'll tell you right now that the five of you aren't enough, so stop being a prick and fuck off before you get hurt. The next time you try and hit me, you'll pull back a broken limb."

The man didn't stop grinning as he ordered, "Take his pokemon, beat his ass."

Two hands grabbed my shoulders, and I reached up calmly and squeezed on each forearm, and felt as the radius and ulna both snapped under the pressure, causing the two men who had thought to restrain me to jump back in shock and pain.

As I was released, I just continued to sit calmly as I asked, "Is that enough or do you want to keep going?"

The leader bastard again got in my face, and pulled down the collar of his jumper to reveal a large red "R" on the undershirt. "Don't you know who you're dealing with, punk? We're Team Rocket, and if you don't do as we say, losing the pokemon will be the least of your worries."

I chuckled and shook my head. "That was a mistake. See, I was going to just let you all go...but now I have to teach you a lesson." I then cracked my knuckles and winked at Darcy. "Since I know you're from Team Rocket, I have to beat the piss out of you." I then casually peeked around the group and looked to the nurse. "Call the police please, Nurse Joy." She nodded, and as I turned my attention back to the group, I noticed a fist heading for my face.

I casually deflected the blow, and stood as I kicked the attacker in the chest, knocking him down with a grunt of pain. I continued my attack by kneeing another of them in the gut, and following it with an elbow to the temple, knocking him out cold. I followed this up with a jumping axe kick to the man that was standing up off the ground, causing his legs to buckle and his face to slam into the floor, breaking his nose and likely knocking him out as well. Not counting the two men that already had broken arms (which were cowering away as they held their damaged limbs), this just left the man that started it all.

The cunt then reached into his jumper and pulled out a large pearl-handled revolver, and he grinned again. "I don't know how you did that, but you can't dodge bullets. Goodbye...hope it was worth it."

As the hammer proceeded to fall towards the chamber, I flicked my hand with psychic energy, causing the chamber cylinder to eject, and the hammer ended up hitting empty air. I then swiped the firearm from his hand and whipped it into the side of his face, possibly breaking his cheek bone. He fell to the floor in shock of what just happened, and I stood over him with a frown.

"You know, it's people like you that make people like me needed in this world." I remarked sadly.

It was at that moment that the door burst open, and ten uniformed officers entered the building. I grabbed the gun by the barrel and held it out to one of them, at which point they moved forward cautiously, surveying the scene. The gun was swiped out of my hand by one of the police officers, and I sat down in my chair again solemnly.

The next hour or so was going to be so boring.

Thankfully for me, Nurse Joy saw the entire incident, so I was more than safe from going to prison. The knob-ends that tried to rob me however, were going to get quite comfortable with steel bars. Personally I believed that they deserved worse, but I continually reminded myself that I had done my job, so the rest was in the hands of the prison systems.

Many questions followed as the five men were escorted out, mostly about if I had recognized any of them, if I knew of anyone that may have it out for me, and if I was affiliated in any way with any law enforcement organization.

The questions took awhile, but finally everything was cleared up, and nearly an hour and a half later, I was released to do as I wished. At this point, I immediately rented a room and released all of my pokemon before leaving the building, hoping for something to eat.

I sighed as a certain Gardevoir continued looking over at me with worry. "Ada, for the last time, I'm fine. It was just a hit to the face. Timothy's done far worse than that to me, and I'm still alive and well."

She nodded slowly as she looked up at me. "I just worry about you is all, Rick. It comes with the territory of caring about you, so I'm sorry, but I can't help it."

My expression softened as I empathized with her, and I patted my lap as the rest watched us and ate. "Come here, love." Ada slowly stood and made her way over to me before sitting in my lap and turning to the side, curling up against me. I brushed her hair softly and kissed her forehead. "I appreciate the worry, Ada...but I promise, I'm fine. You know I would never have you worry about me needlessly." I then dipped a few chips in some brown sauce before putting them in between my lips and facing her. She got the hint and leaned forward, taking a bite, as well as stealing a greasy, messy kiss from me with a giggle. I chewed the lovely potato before swallowing with a grin. "That's my girl."

"So," Darcy began as she pushed an empty basket away from her, "what's this about me being yours, hmm?"

I shrugged. "It was an impulsive statement, so if it bothers you, I apologize...unless of course you like it, in which case I'll say it again with my famous 'bedroom tone'."

The Sneasel giggled and retorted, "Famous, huh?"

I shrugged again. "It will be. It's a work in progress."

"And how many times have you actually used 'that tone' in the bedroom to any effect?" Darcy asked with a knowing grin.

I rolled my eyes. "Just once. That doesn't make it any less powerful, though."

The dark/ice-type giggled and smiled. "Well to answer you, I didn't really mind. In fact, I thought it was pretty hot."

I was then that our young waitress arrived to take the dishes to the kitchen, along with a rather aged man that had a tall male Blaziken beside him.

As the young girl left, the man took a seat at the table next to mine and turned his chair to face me with a smile. "Hello there young fella, I'm Brig General Paul Cutter, Kanto 2nd Continental Air Force."

I reached out my hand and gripped his firmly and shook it. "It's a pleasure, sir."

He smiled and nodded. "Likewise. I just wanted to get to know you a bit, seeing as how we're on the same team."

I raised my eyebrow in confusion. "And what do you mean by that, exactly?"

The man smirked before raising his hand in the air, and became covered in a dark, shadowy aura...an aura I knew well: dark aura.

I smiled at him and nodded. "Now it's really a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"The pleasure's all mine, son." he replied happily and motioned to his Blaziken. "Kyle and I have been looking for others like me for a long time, so it's always nice to know we're not alone."

I smiled as I relaxed into my chair. "I have to say the same. So what can I do for you?"

"Well," the man began, "I am looking for someone, and I was hoping you could point me in the right direction. He's one of us."

I pursed my lips and nodded. "Okay, I'll help if I am able. What's his name?"

"Timothy Maxwell." he replied.

I chuckled. "I just came from his place just under a day ago. He's living in Cianwood, up on the plateau overlooking the main city."

The man clapped his hands together with a grin. "Excellent! Thank you very much, sir. I'll be on my way now, but we'll keep in touch."

The Blaziken nodded with a stern gaze before turning and following his trainer away, leaving me alone with my group again.

"Well, that was interesting." I commented. "That bloke was rather aged, and a general. Curious."

"What do you mean?" Ada asked in confusion.

I shrugged. "I just didn't think there would be Awakened as old as him, or in such a powerful position. I suppose I should not judge a book by its cover." I then gently pressed Ada off of me before I stood and stretched a bit, leaving some money on the table and turning to my group. "Come on, let's go to the room and relax...I could use some down time."

They all nodded in assent before following me away from the small cafe towards the red-roofed building in the distance.

Some time later, the seven of us were all relaxing in the room, talking, napping, or just doing nothing at all (in my case). We were all full of good, hot food, cleaned and fixed up, and enjoying the lull in action. After all, tomorrow we would be going to the gym to battle Claire, so I had to make sure we were all well-rested.

Lynn was telling the others all about what she and I did while we walked to the Ice Path, so I just sat back and watched with a smile.

It was nice to have some true calm in my life, as even though I had come to terms with what I was meant to do in the world, that didn't make it any less stressful. Besides, I figured after all the training I had done and the journey I made today, I had earned myself a bit of down time.

The rain had started up again outside, causing a soft rhythm of tapping on the roof and window pane of the room. It further added to the relaxing atmosphere, and just allowed me to unwind further. As I was resting with my eyes closed, however, I felt as one by one, my partners began to fall asleep, which just left Darcy, Ada, and Zane awake. I felt as the Venusaur lumbered over to me, so I cracked my eye open with a smile and looked at him.

"Yes Zane?" I asked gently.

He let a toothy grin cross his face before he stated, "I wanted to thank you for looking out for us like you do, Rick. I know you don't do it for the thanks, but I wanted to thank you anyway. Those Rockets you dealt with earlier were perfect examples of people who don't deserve to be with our kind."

The normally battle-hardened Venusaur's heartfelt words touched me deeply, and I let a caring smile cross my face as I rubbed his ear gently. "Well you're welcome, mate. I just want people and pokemon to be able to grow up in a world where people like Team Rocket are rarities...that's what I'm working towards." Zane smiled and nodded before making his way to the corner of the room with the other three, then promptly flopped onto the ground and closed his eyes with a grin.

"You really are awesome, Rick." Darcy's commented.

I looked to the Sneasel and smiled. "I know. It's a curse sometimes, but I guess if you can put up with me, I'll be okay."

Ada levitated herself up onto the bed next to me, with Darcy climbing up soon after and sitting next to me. As the two females took their places on either side of me, I couldn't help but feel happy at the state of things. I mean, I had six close friends no more than a few paces away from me, and I had the love of a beautiful woman...

And lately, it seems, I might have another.

During the past month or so, Darcy had shown quite a bit of interest in me. Originally I had completely ignored it, simply because I already had Ada and years of human customs told me polygamy was wrong.

But then I wasn't completely human, and neither were pokemon.

I had used Timothy as a model for a lot of things, namely what it meant to be an Awakened, and how I should treat pokemon as a whole. More recently though, I had taken quite a bit of knowledge from him on the subject of pokemon relationships. As with most non-human relationships, the strongest and/or most intelligent males often had multiple mates. Lions and wolves did it, some species of apes and monkeys did it, and even some birds did it. At first I had rationalized with myself that it was because humans were the only ones capable of love.

As I grew up through the years though, I quickly realized that assumption was wrong.

Male pokemon often had multiple mates as well, and it was very clear that pokemon were capable of rational thought, as well as all the same emotions that humans had. Even before falling in love with Ada, I didn't think of pokemon as simple animals. True, some species were more intelligent than others, but all could think for themselves, all of them had feelings, and all of them had wants and goals in life. It had become quite clear after a while that though we had different forms, in many ways, pokemon and humans were very similar.

So would it be wrong to be in love with more than one female?

I knew the answer...it wouldn't be wrong. I never held myself to human standards anyway, as in many ways, I couldn't even be held to the human status quo. I was now stronger, faster, more intelligent, and more versatile than a normal human. I had always gotten on better with pokemon anyway, so why should I let humans dictate my life and my choices?

Well...there was just one thing to take care of then.

As the Sneasel and Gardevoir talked animatedly to each other on either side of me, I looked to Darcy with a smile. "Hey Darce, I have a personal question, if you'd be so kind as to answer me."

She broke her gaze with Ada and looked up at me with a toothy grin. "Sure, Rick. What's up?"

I figured that as with most things, a direct approach would be best...

"How do you feel about me?" I stated with a raised eyebrow.

A maroon blush lit up her cheeks, and I heard Ada giggle from my other side. Darcy swallowed nervously and stammered, "W-well, that is...um..." She then sighed and grimaced. "You can read my emotions, can't you?"

In honesty I had been ignoring the emotional output that burst from her when I asked the question, so I shrugged. "Possibly...but maybe I want to hear it in your own words. I can sense emotions, not thoughts."

Darcy lowered her eyes to her lap and twiddled her claws a bit. "Well, I really like you. I'm sure you can tell that."

I nodded. "You wouldn't have come with me if you didn't like and trust me. Thanks for that, by the way."

The Sneasel shook her head and sighed. "That's true, but I don't just mean like that."

I smirked and played dumb. "How do you mean then?"

"Are you really going to make her say it out loud?" I heard Ada whisper within my mind.

I mentally chuckled. "You know me well enough to know the answer to that, dear."

Darcy sighed in frustration as she moved a little closer to me. "I'm not so good with expressing myself verbally. Can't I just show you instead?"

I understood what she meant by now, and prepared myself as I nodded. "Of course. If you claw me though, I'm going to tickle you until you wet yourself."

The Sneasel leveled her crimson eyes with my own before crawling towards me, straddling my lap, and connecting her lips with mine. I relaxed into her oral embrace, and noticed that both her lips and breath were rather cool compared to my own, or even Ada's...but this just added a new interesting dimension to her.

After a few seconds, she gently pulled away with a nervous grin. "S-so, umm...yeah. That's how I feel."

I licked my lips a few times before smirking. "Now I'll show you how I feel." I gently placed my hand along her left ear, my fingers brushing the feather-like protrusion there, then I gently pulled her back to my lips, and this time I initiated the kiss. I heard and felt her hum happily, and her happiness and contentment was broadcasted to the air, and I felt it. I then used my other hand on the small of her back to pull her closer to me, and I heard her squeak in surprise before moaning softly.

After a few minutes of our oral battle, we separated, both of us panting as we caught our breath.

"Call me weird, but that was really sexy. I'm actually a little turned on right now." Ada commented, and I could hear her grin.

I raised my eyebrow and looked to the Gardevoir. "Whatever happened to cute little Ada who got embarrassed easily?"

"She got corrupted by spending too much time around you." the psychic-type retorted with a smirk.

"I'm surprisingly okay with that half-compliment. Thanks, love." I responded with a smirk of my own. I then looked to the clock on the wall and pressed my hand to my clothes, changing them to a pair of loose shorts. "Well, we should get to sleep now. We've all got a big day ahead of us tomorrow." I scooted towards the foot of the bed a bit before laying down.

Darcy turned around, settling her back against me as she said, "Yeah...I could use a good sleep." I leaned over to the Sneasel and kissed behind her ear, at which she smiled.

Ada then pressed her body against me and used the dull claws on her "hands" to draw little circles on my chest as she looked up at me, eyes shining in the light. I leaned down and kissed her softly before flicking my finger with psychic energy, turning the light off.

"Guten nacht." I muttered before closing my eyes and slipping away into slumber.