The little girl started screaming. Carlita followed suit immediately. I also started--that was, until I realized something.

For all of the words and snarls that the monster was spitting at us - "You worthless humans, I will rip open your pelts and drain your blood from them!" - which still sent shivers down my spine, and for all of the screaming going on, and for the fact that it was nearing midnight in a dark forest, and for all of the stress of the night thus far, I suddenly wasn't afraid anymore.

I wasn't afraid because the monster was knee-high to me.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to see if this was a trick of the flickering firelight or not. It was still speaking ("I shall drag your carcasses out of this forest and hang them from trees!"), and the translator was giving it a voice deeper and much more ominous than Des', but it didn't change the fact that it was tiny.

"Will the two of you stop screaming?!" I finally snapped. The minute monster's threats, mixed with two sets of screams, was starting to give me a headache, not to mention make me a little ill. It didn't help that its words were getting more colorful and descriptive.

"I'll have your bones for my breakfast and I will pull your heart from your chest and wrap its arteries around your necks to suffocate you!"

Now I was getting seriously creeped out again, and not even its small stature could make up for the raw venom in its voice. Finally, it shouted something, and it, combined with the two screams, overloaded the headset. I promptly got an earful of feedback until I managed to wrench it off my head. My ears rang, though, which cut out all other sounds.

Des suddenly looked up, and the little girl froze, stopping her scream (though I couldn't hear it anyway, of course). I looked around wildly for what else was probably about to kill us, and instead, I turned and saw white with a red stripe across the middle.

That, of course, scared me more than the little monster across from the fire.

"No--!" The cold got to me before anything else, cutting me off and sending me instantly into the white world. I turned immediately on the Froslass, really wishing I could hit her. "What do you think you're doing?! That monster-thing could attack us at any minute, and if you hadn't noticed, I have to protect that little girl!"

What do you think you're doing? You're not helping my trainer, she replied coldly, narrowing her ice blue eyes.

"I. Have. A. Life! I have a life outside of helping your stupid trainer, you know!"

Do you not care for him, even though you're of the same species? Do you want him to fall, or die, or--Why don't you care more about this? She grabbed the front of my shirt, freezing it, and lifted me off of the ground. I could feel my sweat freezing from where her forehead touched mine. Froslass exhaled lightly, and I felt the temperature around us drop several degrees.

"You're going to kill me," I deadpanned. "Then what will you do?"

I won't kill you. But if you don't start trying to help, you'll wish I had, she hissed, blowing frost at me. I blinked, eyes watery, and tried my best to glare back.

"If you touching me won't do it, that monster will get me. Your trainer will be doomed to whatever fate he has in store for him. Which, I think, he deserves at this point for raising such a lousy Pokemon. Or rather--for releasing such a lousy Pokemon into the unsuspecting world. Tell me, what did you do to tick him off so bad? He must hate you enough to release you, and--" The Froslass slapped me, and immediately I was awake again in reality, though admittedly with a numb cheek. She was still hovering over me, looking ready to attack again, so I did the only thing natural. "Des! Lava Plume!"

I scrambled out of the way just in time as his back erupted with magma. The Froslass shrieked and tried to run away, but he added to it with an Ember, running after her on his short little legs. I looked around for Carlita and the little girl--and the monster--but they were lost with my night vision.

"Hey! Girl! Carlita! Over here!" I shouted desperately, trying to keep an eye on Des and the Froslass as I stumbled out into the dark forest. Almost immediately I heard a wail and the little girl ran out of the darkness, latching onto my waist, gibbering away in rapid, panicked French. I figured my Pokemon could hopefully handle themselves for a few moments, and led her away from the scene, hoping to hide her somewhere out of sight and safely.

Out of nowhere, however, the small monster jumped and fastened onto my arm. It chomped straight through the sleeve and into my wrist, growling fiercely as it did so. I hoped it didn't have rabies and swung my arm around, trying to dislodge it. The little girl started screaming again, trying to hide behind me. Eventually, I managed to trip over her. The good news was that the impact made the monster let go as it tumbled off into the darkness. The bad news was that the Kangaskhan's pokeball fell out of my pocket and hit the ground hard enough to release it.

"Oh, come on!" I screamed as it roared. What else could go wrong?! "Does anything else in this stupid forest want to kill me?! Any takers?!" I shouted, flailing angrily on the ground. I half expected the Abomasnow to appear on principle at that point.

"Ma-ma!" the little girl cried, leaping at the Kangaskhan with open arms.

As much as I would have loved to sit there and be dumbfounded (Why did a little girl have a Kangaskhan? Why was she calling it mama? These were the two most prominent thoughts.), the monster had other ideas for me. I felt something chomp down on my neck, and I bolted upright, hands clamping down on fur as I tugged on it. It snarled and bit down harder, starting to cut off my air. I dug my nails into it, unable to do much else.

Then, all of a sudden, it let go--though not without dragging its teeth out of me. I stumbled back, clutching my neck, and backed into the Kangaskhan. It was glaring down in front of us, where the small monster was viciously chewing on a smaller, stuffed version of the Kangaskhan. "Bon!" the little girl chirped, holding onto its paw. She then turned to me and exclaimed, "Allons-y!"

"Does that mean heal or something? 'Cause I could use that!" I gasped, ignoring the stinging of my hands against my neck.

The Kangaskhan growled something, then picked up both the little girl and I with one paw, swinging me over its shoulder while gently depositing her in its pouch beside its baby, who looked delighted to be sharing. It turned, allowing me one last look at the monster gnawing on the doll, and then lumbered back towards the campsite.

I heard the chaos before I saw it. When I was put back down, though, I saw that it was worse than it sounded. Carlita was out cold, coated in ice. Des was approaching unconscious as well, while the Froslass hovered over him, screaming and throwing shards of ice. "Stop it! Froslass, stop!"

"Ultimapoing!" the little girl shouted behind me. The Kangaskhan ran past, paw glowing white.

"Punches won't work! It won't hit--" The Kangaskhan's fist collided with the Froslass, sending it straight down into the ground. I made a note to stop correcting others and try to stop being surprised by the Kangaskhan.

"Lassssss!" the Froslass hissed. She dodged the Kangaskhan's attacks from then on, and I noticed that she was trying to circle around it to get back towards me. I snorted and ran over to Carlita, fumbling the Revive as I woke her up with it. I also used my last Super Potion on Des, but at least he was a little healed, right? Plus, his Lava Plume and Ember were the only things that seemed to really deter the Froslass.

The little girl, carrying the baby Kangaskhan in her arms while its parent fought, ran over. She dug around in the pocket of her skirt, fishing out a pokeball. "Ici!" she said, holding it out to me.

"You have another Pokemon?" I asked warily. I took it from her and dropped it between us, expecting something equally vicious as the Kangaskhan. Instead, it was small, pink, and grinning.

"Haaa!" the Pokemon squealed, hopping over to its trainer.

"C'est Rose!" the little girl told me, pointing at it.

"Uh, fine, but I don't think that'll help much. Return it!" It would be hard enough keeping a small child away from the danger. I didn't need to watch her baby Pokemon as well. She pouted; I cringed and looked away.

"Donnes-le-lui," she said to the pink Pokemon. I raised an eyebrow when it fished around in the small pouch on its stomach and eventually withdrew a Berry. It proffered it to me, and I reluctantly took it with my free hand. They obviously expected me to eat it, and I took a bite of it, surprised at how hard it actually was. Was it rotten?

Almost immediately, however, my neck stopped hurting. Well, not completely, and I could still feel the blood uncomfortably there, but it felt loads better. I ate the rest almost eagerly. "What was that?" Who knew that Berries meant for Pokemon could help humans?

I didn't get to try to break the language barrier and figure it out, however, for I felt a sudden blast of cold air at my back. I slowly turned around, unsurprised to find the Kangaskhan unconscious, the furious Froslass hovering over it. She turned to me and pointed. She immediately snatched her hand back, however, as Des hit it with an Ember. He stood loyally between us. I had never felt more attached to him, though as mad as the ghost was, it probably wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done.

"Look, Froslass, I'll help your trainer. I already said I would, wouldn't I? I just have to have a bit of time."

"Lass, lass-lass!" she snarled, throwing an icicle at me. I flinched back, but it missed anyway; it had been the warning shot.

"I don't know what you're saying--don't freeze me!--just let me go get my translator…" I slowly looked down, making sure she wasn't about to tear my throat out. Actually, that was a bad way to think about her attack, since that had nearly happened with the monster… Wait, Kangaskhan fainted, so its attack would be--

On cue, I felt the nasty little monster bite down on my ankle. I kicked my leg out and it flew off, taking part of my socks with it, but thankfully not that much skin.

Seriously. All I had ever wanted out of life was to be amazing and awesome and maybe the Champion. I did not want a psychotic stalker Froslass, I did not want to be repeatedly attacked and injured by Pokemon, I did not want to be stuck battling a tiny monster bent on the death of all humans to be gnawing on my ankles, and I definitely did not want to be stuck with all of those at once. I didn't want to be bleeding, alone with half a dozen Pokemon--only two of which belonged to me--and a foreign little girl in the middle of the night in some dark woods.

That, however, gave me an idea.

I made a dash for my backpack, which was still lying by my translator by the fire, both of them looking unharmed by the fighting. I dove for it just as I felt a rush of cold overhead. Brandishing my backpack like a shield while trying to fit the headset onto my head with one hand, I shouted, "Alright, stop it." I tried to be sneaky about my movements, but I had to hurry nonetheless before something really nasty happened. "You, Froslass, and you, the… little monster thing."

"You don't command me, you vulgar excuse for a species--"

"Yeah, and you'll flay me or something. I get it." Its speech was starting to grate on me, not to mention really disturb me. Weren't small Pokemon supposed to be cute and friendly? Finally, I managed to pull out what I needed from my backpack's side pocket: an ultra ball Nick had given me to catch a Pokemon with. "You both hate me, right? That's good if you do. Because if either of you do anything further to me, my Pokemon, that little girl or her Pokemon, I will catch you."

Neither the mini monster nor the Froslass made any more moves. Both were watching me warily. I circled around the fire, holding out the ultra ball and keeping the backpack between my body and them, just in case. I already knew I couldn't trust either of them as far as I could throw them.

"Both of you, leave. Froslass, I'm still angry with you, and you'll be lucky if I give your trainer a second thought after this. Monster, I don't even know what your problem is, but it's not my problem. Now, we'll--" I saw the movement coming towards me, and reacted on impulse, chucking the ultra ball forward while bringing my backpack up to stop whatever attack had just been launched. There was a screech, a flash of white light, and then a furiously shaking ball.

Then, nothing. I stared down over the edge of my backpack at the Pokemon I had inadvertently just caught.