When children run free

The world of Pokémon

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David's POV

You wanna know something? Reliving something isn't quite as exciting as nostalgia leads you to believe. I mean, there's a difference between playing super Mario bros. again on the NES after ten years and living out portions of your life again with minor variations only a few months after you get home. Granted, if it wasn't important then I wouldn't be here, but things sure would be nice if Dust would just GET OVER WHATEVER IT IS AND START TRAINING IN THE KEYBLADE! Sorry, I'm rambling. Again. Warning: Extreme boredom can lead to internal monologues.

"Aren't we coming up on Duplica's place?" Pikablue wondered

"In a week or so, yeah. Maybe I'll be able to have some fun," I remarked, that's about when Ash tried to catch the Officer Jenny wielding a Civil War era shot gun with a chansey hat. She then informed us that we were under arrest for pokémon poaching. Is it OK if I quote my brother and suggest signs? No? Okay. Anyway, we were carted off to Officer Jenny's tent and because of the afore mentioned lack of signs, we were let off with a warning.

[And a reminder to never come to the safari zone again, let we get shot at,] Lucario commented, but only so pikablue and I could hear. Then Jenny's alarm went off and Ash volunteered our services. So we were all on our way to wherever the poachers *coughTeamRocketcough* were. When we eventually got there, we saw a heard of kangaskhan right before Team Rocket shot at them with fireworks. The startled heard began to charge… right at us, as per predictability. Thus, Jenny threw the jeep into reverse and put the pedal to the metal.

"THEY ARE CATCHING UP!" Dust screamed right in my ear.

"Someone needs a chill pill." Of course, just when you don't need him, Derek shows up.

"HOW'D YOU GET ON HERE?!" Ash shouted over the stampede. Derek didn't get the chance to answer as we were all nearly thrown from the jeep due to Officer Jenny suddenly swerving. We had gotten out of the way just in time, as that's when Team Rocket caught the kangaskhan in a net. But on the downside, the engine had become overheated.

"Don't you just love the engines of the 90's?" Derek asked

"Just about as much as I love you," Dust grumbled

"Well, standing here isn't going to help anyone, so let's go!" Pikachu cried, but we didn't need to bother as Tarzan Jr. had come to save the day! He freed the kangaskhan and then directed them to attack Team Rocket.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

"I like that kid's style," Derek quipped

"I wish I had duct tape and bamboo," I remarked

"Why?" Ash asked

"Bamboo torture, why else?" Everyone looked at me funny, but didn't comment on it. "Anyway, why'd that psycho you call 'master' send you this time? To drop tidbits? Or maybe to attack us when we're not looking? Or maybe he's just hoping that your mere presence will drive us to insanity?"

"No. No, but I wish. And that was so funny, I forgot to laugh," Derek answered, "But I'm the bad guy, so you can't take anything I say at face value, can you?" Derek then cackled. Before I could call him out on it, a helicopter landed and out popped Tarzan Jr.'s parents, for want of a better term. We all returned to Jenny's tent and they told us Tommy's story. "And I thought my parents were bad." Derek muttered under his breath.

"We'd be glad to help you find your son!" Ash declared

[Why? So they can do the same thing over again? I'd rather call child protection services,] Lucario quipped, [And even then I'd rather leave him in the care of the kangaskhan. He seems to be doing fine as he is.] Of course, he made sure Tommy's 'parents' couldn't hear him and I was in agreement with the fighting/steel type, but everyone else was all for helping the irresponsible fools who dropped the kid in the first place reclaim the son that was only theirs by flesh and blood. Except for Derek, of course; I didn't know whether to be happy Derek and I agreed on something, or afraid… very afraid.

DUST POV:

These people…who drops their son off a helicopter and just leaves only to come back sometime later. And Derek? He just shows up out of nowhere and that was just creepy. We have been looking for nearly an hour now when I found something, calling the others to me. It was a baby Kangaskhan who seemed to be alone.

I held him in my arms gently, not to scare him while Brock quickly went to work on a medicine. And surprisingly, Derek was helping with the potion. He had to be smart if he was able to make one himself.

"Try this," Derek took the potion and gently squirted the bottle on Kangaskhan's bruised body. He squealed as it stung him, wiggling in my embrace.

"Shhh, it's alright," I tried calming him, gently bouncing him in my arms. There was a rush of air, Midnight barked, then I was covered. David apparently, managed to grab Tommy's boomerang he had thrown at us from one of the trees. How I was covered? Derek had decided to use his body to shielding me and Kangashkan from harm. I blinked surprised.

"You hurt Kangashkan!" Tommy wailed from his branch.

"We did not!" I tried. I did a lot of things but I refused to be accused of hurting another living thing unless they hurt me first.

"Brock and Mewtwo were trying to help the baby Kangaskhan because its hurt," Misty explained. "That is until you threw your boomerang at them. Now apologize," Tomy, or Toho, just stared at them.

"You people or pokemon?" Tommy asked.

"I'm a person you creep!" Misty shouted. I pouted, I don't think I could be called a person anymore. Then we spent the next hour or so trying to explain to Tommy about his parents. It wasn't really going all that well. I'm pretty sure we just confused the kid.

"Roho is a Kangaskhan! Mother is a Kangaskhan!" Tommy kept shouting. Then he got hit over the head with a stick from papa. He did not just do that, some father, hitting his own kid.

"What are you doing papa?" Mama asked surprised.

"He'll be fine," Papa insisted. "We'll take him home and start from scratch," I felt my eye twitch in irritation. Well we know who's not going to win best father of the year.

It wasn't long after that Tommy finally woke up. Apparently, when papa hit Tommy's head, that gave him back all the memories he'd lost in the crash when he fell out the helicopter. The parents were quick to try and take him off.

"And I thought my parents were bad," Derek muttered under his breath. Now that I think about it, I kinda missed my parents. I hope my family was safe back home. That was around the time Officer Jenny showed up. She explained that Kangaskhan was getting poached again. Tommy wasn't going to leave with his second family in danger so he ran off to protect them. We all followed quickly, hoping to do our best to help out the Kangaskhan family.

When we got there, it wasn't that surprising to see it was Team Rocket. I can't help but wonder if they ever thought of quitting because they just happen way too much! Well you can't deny the fact they had determination.

Bulbasaur used vine whip and wrapped around the robot. Squirtle did skull bash while Midnight did tackle. Derek used a pokemon, Jolteon, and combined its attacks with Pikachu and charmander. Toho attacked and hit the gas tank. It went crazy and a nearby helicopter crashed into it, making it explode.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" the three members of team rocket shouted as they were flung into the air and who know where. It didn't matter, we would see them again.

In the end, Tommy's parents decided to stay with him in the jungle and guard the pokemon together. We waved goodbye as we left the jungle to our next big adventure.

Then I noticed something, "Don't you have somewhere to be?!" I demanded irritated.

"Not if you're not there," Derek tried to give me a charming smile. Was it me or was he trying to flirt. David glared and pulled me away but Derek followed us. Looks like he'll be with us on our next adventure. Oh well, can't win them all.