A/N. So thanks for all the reviews so far! I'm happy so many people are enjoying the story. Anyways, onto the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!


EP 11: To Furry Thieves Everywhere Pt 2


Ashe had had some rather shitty luck in the past. She didn't think she had enough limbs to be able to count how many times something she'd done had landed her in a rather unpleasantly sticky situation. On more than one occasion Gary or Prof. Oak, or even Gary's older brother, had had to bail her out from some potentially fatal accident or mishap.

It'd been on more than one occasion that she'd find some obscure plan of hers that she'd admittedly not thought through very well, going horrendously awry on so many levels that it honestly wasn't funny anymore. But back pressed flat against a jagged, rocky cliff face a few feet taller than herself, leg scrapped to hell and back, and staring what had to be the largest pokémon Ashe had seen to date?

That had to take the cake on some level.

She was pretty sure the only thing she'd be able to do to top this, would be something along the lines of getting caught in the middle of a war between two or more legendary pokémon.

On multiple different occasions, because knowing her rather impressive streak of luck, she'd inevitably get caught up in something quite similar at least once during her journeys. Provided of course, she didn't get caught should she somehow survive her current predicament.

And this giant bear-like pokémon that reminded her a little of her father's ursaring looked about ready to rip her in half with its bare hands. Terrible pun completely unintended and notwithstanding.

"Well shit and fuck a bucket…" Ashe swore as the pokémon suddenly roared, rearing its head back as spittle flew out of its mouth and it bellowed its already very apparent anger out for any human and pokémon within a mile radius of their current location to hear. "I'm so dead…"

As if to confirm this, the pokémon's massive paw began to glow in some possibly very lethal attack. Ashe closed her eyes, fully expecting her life to end now.

Whoever said that when you die, you're life flashes before your eyes, lied horrendously. Because right now all she could see was a world of pain coming her way, not every single past mistake and even that had ever occurred in her rather short life. 'Oh, to die so young…'

But the pain never came.

"GROARR!"

"What the-?!" Ashe was amazed to say the least, though dumbfounded would've probably been a more accurate description. The pokémon that had just been about to end her was now on the ground, practically out like a light and looking a rightful amount of dazed and more than a little confused and angry.

Standing between the two of them though, was a pokémon that Ashe had never seen before, head lowered to the ground on all fours and growling fiercely with its black fur puffed up and hackles raised. It would've probably looked a lot more threatening to Ashe, but as shocked as she was to still be alive and breathing, and with the other pokémon that looked far more pissed than it had when she'd accidently dropped in, by comparison it appeared to be pretty tame.

The larger, ursaring-like pokémon pushed itself up from the ground, not done in nearly so quickly by the newcomer's surprise attack, and roared its anger at the creature before charging it, fist raised and ready to punish the growlithe-like creature for its impudence.

It hit nothing but air though, as the new pokémon leaped right over its head, landing on the ursaring-like pokémon's back and jumping into the air. The force of the jump was apparently enough to cause the larger pokémon to be slammed into the ground, its own massive weight working against it and only seeming to help the smaller, more agile of the two.

Ashe whistled then, thoroughly impressed by what she was seeing. The larger pokémon may have had all the power, but it didn't matter if it couldn't hit its opponent, and it'd just wind up tiring itself out in the end.

On the other hand, the little pokémon was probably far weaker in comparison, but it didn't matter because between the two of them, it was far faster, and able to dodge all of the larger pokémon's attacks.

But no battle went smoothly or to plan exactly, and the little pokémon took a rather devastating punch when it accidently mistimed its dodge and as a result, missed the larger pokémon's sweeping follow up. It bounced rather violently against the ground, skidding to a stop at her feet.

She quickly bent down, to check if the pokémon was okay. It's ruffled black fur was covered in dirt and dust from its rather brutal argument with the ground, and it looked like maybe the landing had busted up its hind leg, but the pokémon was clearly very stubborn, because it disregarded its injuries completely and stood back up. Growling fiercely as the larger pokémon approached the two.

It didn't leave her side though, instead positioning itself between her and the big brute.

"Listen, I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean to barge into your territory like that!" Ashe tried to placate the pokémon, arms wrapped around her apparent protector and hoping it would be enough for the enraged pokémon. It didn't listen though, and seemed to only get angrier as it stomped closer to them. "Shit… It's not listening…" 'Bow won't be able to face that thing, she's so tiny she'll only bounce off of it… And I don't think Swift-ing it in the face is gonna help at all… But…' "Sid, use Ember!" Ashe yelled out, tossing the fire starter's pokéball into the air.

It clicked with a flash of light, the pokémon in question appearing as he normally did, spitting fire and causing everything to spontaneously combust within a foot wide radius of himself.

The giant paused for a few seconds at the new addition to the fight, but only seemed to chuckle once it registered just how tiny the little lizard actually was. It made to crush Sid with a vicious punch of some kind, but was stopped with a fire-type attack to the face.

It paused then, for a few seconds before growling in absolute anger.

"Grrr… GROAR!"

"Sid!" The little fire-type was sent flying suddenly, spinning wildly in the air for a few seconds before descending rather dangerously to the ground. It was caught though, in a heap of fluff as the pokémon next to her suddenly hopped underneath and seemed to grow in size slightly.

"CHAR!" Sid slid to the ground then, looking rather shaken visibly before he seemed to slap himself. He growled his thanks to their new friend, before bearing his little fangs at his opponent.

'Shit… Sid's not strong enough… And I'm not sure… Sparks is still up somewhere above us… It'd take him too long to get here… Looks like I have no choice…' "Bow, I'm sorry but we need some back up here… Go!" She called out her last remaining pokémon, the normal-type bouncing onto the field and looking just as hopelessly happy as she always did.

Their enemy blinked in shock at the new addition to the battle, before bursting into peals of growling laughter that left Ashe feeling far less confident than she ever had facing a human. It all cut short though as Bow promptly sent an unordered Swift at their opponent's face, expression challenging as she then suddenly and without warning bounded forward.

It was a headlong charge, bound to fail due to how small Bow was in comparison to their much larger opponent, and yet and still the little eevee managed to actually knock the larger pokémon on its rear end, shocking it as she danced around its massive paws and distracted the thing completely from them.

"Go Bow…" Ashe finally commented, staring in stunned silence as the little eevee pranced around the beast and generally did what she normally during any battle, making a complete menace of herself. The sudden rumbling at her side was probably the only warning she had, before the pokémon that had been helping her lunged forward, slamming itself bodily into the larger pokémon's side just as it was about to finally catch the little ball of energy. "That's it!" Ashe said finally seeing how they could win the battle. "Sid, while Bow and that other pokémon have it distracted, use Flamethrower!" She ordered, pointing at their target.

The little charmander nodded his head in confirmation before throwing himself into the battle as well, flames licking at his maw as he released the powerful stream of fire.

The giant pokémon roared in pain, trying to swat at the flames as the attack hit, only to be overwhelmed when Bow added her own Swift to the onslaught as the other pokémon charged its unguarded back. As the attacks petered out finally, the large pokémon collapsed to the ground, large, already dark fur smoking as it groaned out before falling completely silent.

"We did it…" Ashe gasped out, a wide grin slowly appearing on her face as the realization hit. "WE DID IT!" She yelled out finally, pulling both of her pokémon into an exuberant hug as they cheered and celebrated. The other pokémon huffed its own satisfaction out, before lying down on the ground next to the three.

"Pikapi!"

"Sparks! We're over here!" Ashe called back at the sound of the familiar voice, waving as the electric-type came into the view.

"Pika!" He chirped, sliding far more gracefully than she had down the hill, before running over to the join his three friends. He completely disregarded the still passed out pokémon, obviously deciding it was better not to ask what had happened.

She grinned, reaching down to give the mouse a scratch behind the ears, before turning to ruffle the fur of her savior and possible new friend. The pokémon growled its appreciation for the act, tail wagging at the affection as it leaned into the touch.

"Thanks so much for helping me back there." She whispered, giving the pokémon a hug.

"Frou!" It barked at her, giving her one big sloppy wet lick across the cheek as its response. She laughed, unable to be angry or upset at the show of affection.

Suddenly though, their celebration cut short, Sid suddenly glowing a blinding white, light. Ashe covered her eyes for a few seconds, waiting for the sudden light show to die down before she even dared to look again.

What met her eyes, was something she'd never seen before.

"Sid?" She questioned, reaching out to touch the large, smirking lizard. He nodded, flexing his much longer arms and spitting a stream of fire in the air, much larger than anything he'd ever produced as a charmander.

She had no clue what he was now though.

"Well, now, if that isn't rather impressive!" An unfamiliar voice suddenly called out. Ashe looked, blinking blearily at the newcomer standing above their heads and looking down at them.

A woman, from what Ashe could tell, and something did ring a tad familiar but she couldn't rightly place what exactly about her it was. She had chocolate brown hair, braided and wrapped around her head in what looked kind of like a crown of sorts, and clad in nothing but white.

"Uh… Um…" She stuttered out, confusion evident as she pulled Sid and the rest of her pokémon towards herself, their new friend still buried into her side.

The woman jumped down without much hesitation.

"I must say that I'm really impressed though. Close call as it was, you still managed to beat that pangoro. I see a lot of potential in you..."

"W-Who are you?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, I'm sorry. I guess I got a little carried away. My name is Diantha."


It'd been sitting in the woman's living room with enough bandages to make a mummy around her thigh and arm, and a hot cup of some kind of chocolatey drink that they didn't have in Kanto settled firmly in her palm, that Ashe had finally remembered why exactly the woman that had pulled her out of that mini-ravine seemed so strangely familiar even that she could swear that she'd never met her in her entire life.

Diantha, was, in no short or exaggerated terms, one of, if not the most famous pokémon trainer in the known world. A movie star mainly based in the Kalos region for various well-known and obvious reasons, she was world-renowned for anything she starred in, and just simply having her name somewhere on it typically caused movies to sell out by the thousands, if not millions world-wide.

She was also, just to seem that much more impressive, one of the few female regional league champions, alongside Cynthia of the Sinnoh region, and unless the mantle had been passed down at some point within the last two years, Iris of the Unova region, who was also the youngest regional league champion to date.

And just like Cynthia, she was known to be frighteningly powerful. Sweeping any competitors who dared to challenge her under the rug, though she never sent anyone home crying. If anything, everyone who lost to her was apparently so start struck and dazed, they'd be talking gibberish for weeks.

She wouldn't admit it, but Ashe idolized the woman to some extent. She could've done without the fame in such, but the fact that she was a woman, and was so skilled a pokémon trainer. Ashe had dreamed to be like her, just as powerful, just as capable.

Just as independent.

But her mother had crushed those dreams at a rather young age, trying to instill a love for the more glamorous side of Diantha's fame. Ashe had never much cared for movies though in general, and her mother's plans had fallen so far short of success that it honestly wasn't even funny.

Regardless, she'd never thought that she'd ever get to meet the woman. Diantha so seldomly left Kalos because of her duties as champion after all, and Ashe's mother would've never her leave Pallet willingly unless it was to hand her off to her grandparents for a good old session of brainwashing.

But now?

"So, you were looking for a thief stealing from the cafés on South Boulevard? But you didn't know exactly what you were doing, and in the end fell into that pangoro's territory?"

"Y-yeah… Pretty shitty luck right?" Ashe admitted, blushing slightly as she realized just how stupid she'd probably been. It certainly could've gone a whole lot better she'd admit but still.

"Well, I wouldn't say that your luck is so terrible. Your little thief apparently came to your rescue."

"H-Huh?" Diantha laughed at her rather dumbfounded expression, gaping at the woman as she was.

"Black fur, four legs, looks like a ball of fluff? A shiny furfrou if I had to guess."

"Furfrou?"

"It's a normal-type pokémon native to Kalos, and to my knowledge right now, not found anywhere else. Loyal and protective, they have a history with the past royalty of the region as guards. This one here has apparently taken quite the liking to you, if the sheer fact that it hasn't left your side is any indication."

"But why? I haven't done anything…"

"You helped it despite needing rescuing yourself, and showed concern when it was injured trying to protect you. I think, you've more than proven to be a nice enough trainer in this little one's eyes."

"Oh…" Ashe finally admitted, staring down at the furfrou currently wrapped around her feet. She was effectively caged from going anywhere anytime soon, with the new pokémon at her ankles and Sparks and Bow sprawled out rather spectacularly across her lap. Sid was resting off to the side, tail fire flickering in the warmth of the fire place that Diantha had started while getting Ashe settled in to her living room when they'd first gotten there.

"You can keep her you know."

"Huh?"

"I'm certain no one would mind. This child is clearly wild, and she seems very attached to you."

"Wait… 'her'?"

"Oh yes, this child is apparently female."

"Huh…" Diantha laughed at her responses, suddenly standing up from her own seat to pull a blanker off of the sofa.

"It's late, and after such a hectic day you must be tired. You can stay here for the night, and tomorrow we'll talk more."

"B-But…"

"Ah-uh! I won't take no for an answer. You'll stay here, and get some rest. Besides, I'm still a little weary of those scrapes of yours, and your pokémon need their rest as well."

"O-ok…" Ashe consented, overwhelmed by Diantha's sudden show of stubbornness. She motioned Ashe over to the sofa, and made her lay down, before tucking her into the cushions, watching with barely contained amusement as the girl's pokémon piled in around her.

"Have a good night, and try and get some sleep, ok?"

"Ok… Night Miss Diantha."

The lights went out.


A/N. Ok, so the chapter's a little longer than it was originally going to be, but it was still rather short. Ashe is going to get an explanation of evolution next chapter probably… Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading. Please leave a review and see ya!