Paladins of Pinwheel Forest

by AlexanderMugetsu

Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam? Over the Hills and far from home. A Knight without Armor, sword or shield. I travel Mountains, Seas and Field. -Ballad of the Paladin, Galar, 13th Century. Collab idea with Celfwrdderwydd.

"For the last time; move the goddamn hell out the way!"

"Awww; move yourself out the way, you limp-dicked, Pokémon-denuding autocrat!"

Such were two of the many numerous aggressive comments heard if one were to stand along the figurative line that separates the two particularly different, yet equally contentious parties involved with this present scene. Two sides, two opposite ideals that slammed against each other like combative waves were raging a vocal, at least only for now, war as both refused to budge an inch while they tried to stare down the opposite values: represented best by the backdrop currently surrounding each other.

On one side held heavy motorizations of completely unnatural origins; Bulldozers and Harvesters, Delimbers and large trucks, huge machines that held purposefully destructive value were paired alongside humans holding saws of both chain and circular prefixes, all of which operated by large men wearing hard hats and high-res jackets; all making an obvious sight of industrialism and modernization.

While on the opposite side clashed the expansion against natural environment, as what stood above the humans present were not large vehicles or portable toilets, but instead trunks of trees, rising up to the sky and giving shade to the angered yet not repugnant humans below. They did not hold electrical machinery within their hands, nor any other metallic or damaging entity they might be carrying; but instead they armed themselves purely with picket signs and chants within group circles, where the only large metal objects they utilized were the chains that bound themselves to the trunks of the perennial plants.

Despite all the major differences, the sparse ideals and the personal reasons for them, the ongoing battle was at a current stalemate as neither dared to make the first initial move. Even as one dared the other to try and use their bulldozer on her, shouting out profanities of the most uncouth nature to the only formal-looking suit wearer among the workers side, said other making no form of greater retaliation than hurling back insults of his very own. Not a checkmate, so much a check with only the kings on the board, and a situation that, until a major change will suddenly occur, there may be no current escalation of events.

. . . At least, this was how one particular man saw it. And not just in the figurative type of sense.

From elsewhere, at a distance, but still nearby, did a man of silent observation watch the scenes unfold as he himself hid in the shadows. Away from the crowd, keeping his own voice silent, he watched with the eyes of a Talonflame as his cerebrate mind understood the situation even at the distance he was currently at. Bringing down his binoculars, he wordlessly knew he saw enough to know he could move now as he silently retreated back into the bush.

Stepping out, one wouldn't be remiss to think he was taking the bush with him, as his full camo jacket ensured ease of blending into the multi-green shades of the forest, nor would they be be mistaken for saying the parts of his face that weren't obscured by his equally camouflage hood did not hold the kindest of features, the dark mask he wore disallowed any to see the full appearances of his facial features. His anonymity remained in full shadow while he careful trekked through the edges of this piece of lush land.

In his mind, plans were already formulating, pros and cons were currently being laid out flat as he made a moment's pause in his steps away and brought down his rucksack. Reaching around the also heavily camouflage patterned backpack, the masked man made a mental note of all the miscellaneous yet equally important goodies found inside, counting out the numbers as their own specific reasons were kept hidden and out of sight. . . for the moment being.

In the least; they certainly weren't here to make human decorations against nature's backdrop - unlike what could be said for an empty fast food cup lying on the ground within arms reach, straw, cup and lid in all.

What hid behind the mask may be unknown, but it still wouldn't have been hard to notice his distaste for the piece of litter just lying there. His furrowed brow may now have been able to be seen, nor did the glint of anger coursing throughout his face was allowed to rise out, but the rising deep comment of "This is no man's dumping ground." was not an observational note that any mask was able to hide.

That said, even the masked one knew anger and hatred alone would not move a mountain, let alone a piece of rubbish, so with no more comments left to say he promptly picked up the trash and threw it into his backpack, with intent to not let it just exist and rot on this ground of nature's homeland. At least now it was away, the masked one felt content with standing back up again, keeping a firm grasp on the belief that if he was to do this right; he was to do this with pragmatic values-

He was not alone.

In a flash, the humans form changed from out in the open to sprayed flat on a tree trunk, the human's back almost melting into the long column of wood as he stood himself still. Body unflinching, his ears perked up as he listened to the sound that attracted his attention:

Something was coming his way. Footsteps, one after the other, he could hear stomping on the ground from a distance not too far away. Too large to be just a small Pokémon that was happening to trample his way, no, the steps on the ground were too heavy for one such as that: it was big, whatever was coming, and whatever it was was undeniably heading his way.

He could only make assumptions that whatever was coming had seen his position, but even so, he did not let fear get to him. He was perfectly prepared for this kind of situation; his hands did not shake, but instead moved onto a prepared stance, his body moved in a posture as he continued to listen in to the sounds of feet across ground; there was only one - one that he knew was directly heading to his position.

With quiet breaths, the masked man froze his stance, no intent to directly move until the single set of steps was just edging along his trunk, their steps slowed as if tentative to whatever, or whoever, was laying behind the trunk of the tree.

Which, in all present honesty, was a perfect choice to make; as just when the unknown other had gotten into his range, like a dart he moved: body twisting around, arms shooting forward, muscles tensed as his frame turned the corner in a split second to reach outward and grasp onto-

"You'd best reconsider your next actions, little man."

. . . Not a human.

Such a claim came not before, but only after his body froze up the moment he noticed what it was that had followed to his position was undeniably far from human. Though he had gotten used to seeing the colour green in this place; he had yet until now expected it to come in the form of an elegant long neck, the pillar rising up to hold, as the still human quickly found to be, a nonhuman face looking down to him with an obvious glint of irritation laden in its features.

"Keep your hands away from me unless you fancy becoming an amputee, human."

On cue, his hands did just that, barrelling away from the cupped grasp as instead the both reached around to come together behind his back, earning a straightening of his back while the unnamed, unknown one in front of him looked him up and down - which allowed him to finally get a better look onto the commanding, non-human that so suddenly was forced into his line of sight.

Taller than him, if only by so much, this Pokemon, of which he quickly found to honestly be, did not walk on two legs as expected, but instead was a quadruped; one that was far thinner than most he had seen of their size. Almost entirely either green or beige for its fur, or what he believed there to be, this Pokemon that was thrusted onto his positioned seemed to hold no features on its face other than clear devote anger, directed almost impossibly towards anything other than himself.

For why, he could not tell, but he knew better than to let his own trepidations get the better of him: This was not a normal Pokemon; its speech, or what it appeared to do, was not uttered from the Pokémon's mouth, but rather it lulled into his mind as if just popped into existence. It was clear from that, the moment it suddenly came, he should not let his emotions, or even his force of habit, be lulled into acting out. Whatever this Pokemon was, why it was here, it was clear he was standing in the presence of something powerful, something almost mythical in natural design.

And thus, despite all his worries over what this unknown was having with his attendance, the human did nothing more than stand his own ground, and keep on guard.

"These woods are not for your kind to reside in. Leave, and do not return." It's, or maybe, with what the more feminine tone seemed to point towards, her voice was harsh and blunt, commanding and fierce, and with even this forest for a backdrop, the fire residing with her burst out as if trying to escape. And though he froze still under her presence, he was accustomed to this thrill of pressure as calmly he breathed out, exhaling slowly while the eyes of unnamed, pink-tipped irises - as bright as the pointed tufts of leaves on her neck - continued to bore down on him before he finally spoke himself.

"I am not here to cause harm, either to these woods, or to those such as yourself. I am just here to watch and keep a distance" The mask hid his face, hid his features as lack of lips looking to move matched weirdly well against the others, but his voice came out clear, blunt and focused, lacking a stutter in an otherwise normal man's pressured tone.

Yet that seemed to change little in the eyes of the Pokemon, evident be him as he noticed her eyes furrow just the tiniest bit more.

"A likely story. I know what your kind is like; why their presence is shattering the usually quiet and peaceful residence of this innocent place. Like the rest of you; your continuous existence is a disturbance to this harmless woodland, mucking about and taking what does not belong to you with no afterthought of how it affects others. You care little for the plight of others, only caring about what strokes your own ego and greed, you do not deserve a place here. I know not your reasons for coming here, yet I know it is not for altruistic purposes."

"You say you know little for why I am here, yet you also state it is only for malicious purposes?" He pushed back, feeling not agitation but annoyance run through even when looking up to the bigger being.

"You believe I am ignorant to the present times? We all know about those of your kind that wish to destroy this place, those with their unnatural tools and weapons ready to reap this land for it's pleasure, demolishing the lives and homes of those far weaker than they. We are here to ensure they do not go through with their attempt with any means necessary. Now; if there's nothing left for you to postulate over: get out, and keep far away like the rest of your selfishness, arrogant kind should do." She could not see, but underneath the mask the rising tension of annoyance was seeping through his skin in the form of morphing facial expressions. Knowing to remain calm or not, he could not stop the next line of words from breaching out his mouth

"You. . . may be correct in stating they are many like what you have said, but I will not agree with myself being lumped in with those kinds. Do not think for a second my own reason for being here is to cause harm like you so said." The disapproving snort that blew out the Pokémon's nose was as clear an indication as any for her thoughts over what had just been spoken to her. "Besides it all; I am here not as part of those that wish to destroy this land; but rather the opposite. I am here to stop them from destroying it." For a second, a glint of surprise rushed through the tall Pokemon, if for just a second, as the human continued his talk. "If you desire me to get lost, then I know when I'm not wanted, so if you'll just permit me to leave now-"

"Hold it!" The hollow of a shout resonated into his mind, halting any muscles that were trying to make an escape as for what minute amount of time he had in looking away was swiftly returned to her visage. "As much as I can claim to know your purposes for trying to sneak between these trees; I cannot sense a hint of a lie laden between your words. I cannot let you keep rummaging through these woods, but I also cannot force you to stop doing what you are doing, if what you say is found true." It was impossible to tell: but the masked one's features softened ever so slightly upon hearing that, if just for the moment. "However, above all it is not my place to make the final call for the judgement of your trespassing. As such, I cannot let you either leave nor continue to squat here, but instead I must demand your presence put under the hammer of the judgment of my peers, for they will know best how to deal with your interference."

The concern the masked one had could not be understated, as he was anything but off his guard. He did not take well to this idea of judgement being placed over him, especially by a council he saw as some probable Kangaskhan court. If this enigmatic group she so called themselves were anything like herself, he doubted there would be a fair trial, especially in the jurisdiction settled far from civilization. From that, he wondered if immediately darting away, out the canopy of the woods basin and into the open where many witnesses would be present would be a plausible answer, an escape, and the knowledge that perhaps he now knows not to enter these woods again.

. . . Yet. . . he didn't feel that was a viable answer. Not because he believed he wouldn't have a chance of outrunning this Pokemon - even he knew he could not outmatch a quadruped, her long legs looking like they'd tire out only twice as long as his own, in the least - but instead, he felt it wrong to pass his own judgement on one that seemed likely to give a fair chance. It was clear how high her animosity for 'his kind' was like, yet at the same time it did not appear to be a permanent mainstay for her entire state of mind, as even, if just, a sliver of rationality looked to be found within her. For that, he saw it only right that he should do the same.

"Very well." He spoke, keeping his back straight as he met her gaze. "I'm not entirely sure what is meant to happen, but it is clear that if I do this I'll at least get some answers on your own presence here, so tell me where I must follow."

"Not follow, lead." The equally stern voice replied as, for the first time, her gaze drifted away from the masked man in front and over into what appeared to be the centre of the forest, the opposite end to its base line. "I will walk behind and guide you." Her attention quickly formed back to him. "Any attempt to leave any other way will be met with swift retribution."

He could, perhaps should have spoken of the offense from her demands and threat. But for the moment, he saw it best to bite his tongue and simply comply with her orders. It was not as if his glare could be seen well from his mask anyway, so that at least hid his silent comments onto her commands as he instead only gave the verbal reply of "Very well." before he made his turn to her direction; and trotted on forward into the denser realm of ascending trunks.

For how long he marched, he did not know. It was certainly not far from long; his knees, though as aged as they were, still kept up without obvious issue, but the longer he walked the more he wondered if there was an end. He knew few would go this deep, as save for the regular optimistic Trainer looking for their next catch; none would have much of a reason to trek on through, which didn't help for much of his pondering to what the destination truly was and what future was there to be met. Certainly didn't help that this bizarre, not ethereal so much as enigmatic, telepath he believed for sure was boring invisible holes into the back of his head. She moved only when he moved, that is to say, her steps followed his like a chain, almost as if purposefully trying to step in rhythm.

Despite how it all may seem to him, very little true fear was coursing through him. He was already well versed in keep calm for situations such as these, and though with important detail of being led by a four-legged Pokémon with a stern attitude and horns that seemed way too sharp for his personal liking was not exactly what he had been taught; he knew enough to keep his head. His mouth kept silent, not making any attempt to escape until he knew exactly where-

"We are here."

The sentence that followed did not give enough time for the masked individual to fully register the following events clearly in his mind. The words, simple in both length and meaning, came so suddenly and bluntly the human was barely given the seconds needed to finish his current momentum; the act of pushing through a thick dense foliage of twigs and leaves while his head looked back to the telepathic speaker, before the connotation was finally understand on the exact same time his head twisted back to see exactly where, and in subsequent motions who, the Pokémon had taken him too:

It was a glade she had manoeuvred him towards, a small clearing on the usually thick foliaged flora of these deep woods, and one that housed little more than a simple stone archway at the back atop a short hill; and three pairs of eyes that turned in tandem to see one sudden human get forcibly pushed into the glade via a non-consensual headbutt.

Without warning, his feet now trespassed to this hallowed land, a rising feeling of unlicensed existence on special grounds quickly surging through him as he looked up to meet the gaze of three new individuals staring down at his unpredicted presence. In return; he did little but straighten his back and stand his ground as three fresh pairs of eyes were now boring into his hidden skull - no doubt being an addition to the two previous ones that were likely still trying to drill holes into his cranium.

And before he could even fully adjust to the situation before him, and through any and all its entirety, a sudden speech boomed forth with noble attitude:

"Virizion! For what manner have you brought this human to our presence? You know this is hidden ground."

"My deepest apologies, Cobalion, but I bring this human here today for the matter of communal judgement over encroaching onto sacrosanct soil, away from the opposing crowds that are currently interfering with our own safeguarding."

The stern look that was directed straight at him, a glare so pressuring it made even the other Pokémon look tame in comparison, froze his soles to the grassy plain. It was not fuelled with pure hatred, but rather the icy scowl this Cobalion was giving felt like lead chains were bursting forward and latching onto his person, keeping him grounded where he stood with little chance to even flinch in place.

"He says, or so he claims, that he is not part of the faction that wishes to decimate this innocent ground, but instead is of the opposing force, the loud kind that refuses to grant them entry." The eyes of the Cobalion darted between both himself and the other, the one that looked to act as the mitigator of this situation. If she can even be called that in the first place, but for now, he held his tongue and let her speak.

"For how and why, I do not know the answers to, but the least I can say is he had made no attempt at a physical attack of any kind-" her head twisted around to meet him; "-save for when he didn't know It was I-" He was sure an indignant snort was directed purely onto him at that moment, "but I sensed no major lies behind his words, so I believed the judgment would best be settled by us as a collective, as opposed to any solo jury."

For a moment, no more words were uttered out in this glade; not by himself, the one besides him, the leader, or even the two others that have remained silent up to this stage - though they have looked to be doing anything but ignoring the current scene - but that wasn't to say nothing was been thought over either. Within that moment, that one known as Cobalion had closed his eyes as if some statement of contemplation, a statue of meditation and deep reflection, if he was stone. Though it lasted for but a singular moment, before the one draped in aqua blue fur opened back up his golden eyes, stepped forward, and presented himself to the shorter human.

"Human," his voice did not lack the drip of authority he carried within his regal tone, "speak; and explain to us yourself both why you claim you are against the antagonistic side, and to what end did you feel you needed entry through these trees?"

Despite how it was, how the Cobalion was staring him down, looking down at him from his much higher position, the masked human did let his sense of fear or apprehension get the better of him. No matter who, or maybe what, it was that was trying to demean him, he did not give in. Despite the situation at hand, what came next was a series of words that he instantly knew would not go down so well:

"I will tell you anything you want - But, I insist I only do so if I ask to what end, you, and the rest of your kind, are here for, and what do you exactly know what is even going on with those other humans."

"Human; watch your tongue!" He was not given time to even judge the facial expression of the one before him before a familiar face burst forward with an angered look, separating his sight from Cobalion so only this Virizion's face remained. "Do not think you are of any position to make demands of any kind! If it was up to me you would already be-"

"Virizion!" For the first time, the aqua one's voice was raised. Deep and abrupt, he flinched a little when the single word was struck, even when he knew it wasn't even directed to him. And for the second of first times; he saw the Virizion face change instantly from anger to genuine alarm. Even she seemed to bow under the pressure of the stern glare of the leader. "I never asked for your interference. Though you did so within your own reason, I do demand you yourself hold your tongue until we are finished. These are matters that I wish to discuss with him personally."

"Yeah, Virizion, wait your turn." One of the other silent duo finally spoke up, earning a firm glare from the outspoken one as it looked to almost immediately cower and dart behind the back of the larger, final member of the group. Of all things until now, he didn't expect such a juvenile reaction to happen by such a group. Maybe fitting, considering the adolescent-seeming one's size and figure reminded him of a Ponyta, not helped by the sudden appearance of an undignified tongue sticking out, more than likely directed towards the other in rude remark.

"To get back to the main matters at hand. . ." The leader slowly spoke up as his attention was firmly re-planted to the human on this trail. "Your question is. . . highly demanding, considering your situation. Do you have some belief that we can trust you enough to tell you of our own reasons?"

"No." His blunt reply came out quite sharply. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm not at all surprised you have any trust in me at all, I only would have been if you trusted me from the beginning." For a split second, the human for sure believed he saw a widening of his facial features, a flash of surprise riding his face before it quickly retracted back to his state of normalcy.

"Very true." Cobalion calmly replied. "Trust should always be earned, never given in free passing." He gave but a beat in pause before continuing on. "But if the matters to answer our questions are with the condition we explain ourselves, then I see no harm in answering cleanly."

A Harrumph! of a sigh was heard by the human on his right, no doubt fitting with an attempted indifferent look Virizion was given before she turned her face away in polite conniption.

"So to answer your questions; for what end we are here, if you might not have already approximated, is that we wish to stop the destruction of this forest; for its entirety, or just a portion. I will admit, to why they are doing this exactly is lost on us, but we have no doubt it is not with amicable reasoning."

"Housing development."

"Pardon."

"Housing development." The human replied without an inch of change. "They're planning to remove this forest so they can instead turn it into a neighbourhood. Get rid of the trees and instead plant fake grass as lawns, ceremonial flowers for decoration, and build homes for, most likely, rich others wanting a second place to store their shit."

"Ha! How expected of them." Virizion balked, earning the attention of all, including the less than cheery leader. "Typical; humans removing the homes of innocent Pokemon just to plant unnecessary, expansive homes for themselves." She elongated her legs as if to imitate some smug pose. "Like I said, they care little for those they tread just so they can be even more in wealth than what they already own. . . it was not the first we have had to do that, I see little reason in not repeating our actions over."

Neither here witnessed the look the smaller of the quarter gave to the bulkiest of the four, nor hear the whispered "Before your time with us." be carried out in the attempt for neither making an unnecessary interruption. Instead Cobalion simply let his gaze turn over from the Virizion and to the man before him, silently letting out a sigh of regret before trying to continue forth.

"The reason for it matters little, in the final result of everything, we cannot let that happen. But we are not gathered here to discuss our personal vendettas on others, we are here to question precisely you, as in why you are here, to what purposes do you feel the need to set foot here?"

". . . I gave you my word, that I will answer you if you answer mine, so I won't try to beat around the bush about it." The pause that came was short, the silence broken by a small cough from the masked one before he finally explained himself to them in full.

"The reason that I stepped forth in this forest was so I could scope them out from a distance, while they are distracted by the protestors, and use what I learned to take them down piece by piece, before they finally get the idea and walk off for good. To why. . . I have my own reasons for not letting the developers have their way, but I can say for sure it's not to act out on some vengeance of any kind. More. . . I do not feel it is necessary."

"And to what end do you think you can accomplish this? While I can suspect there are more like you, the lack of any others in sight leads me to believe you are attempting a solo mission. That is, of course, unless you somehow plan on asking us for our help."

Despite the sentiment, the masked one knew asking was a pointless pursuit. If the words spoken here were any indication, they were far more than unlikely to simply give him aid. Course, he never was expecting nor even specifically wanting them to come help him, so even with such a thought written out, he already made his decision.

"I don't have a plan nor a plea to ask for your help in any way, the only thing I ask for is to be left fixing this problem by myself."

"So you plan on taking the entire group down by yourself? A noble gesture, but completely unnecessary in the grand scheme." His head swept around to look over his quad of quadrupeds. "For we are here. It is up to us that will drive off the opposing humans, without fear, worry or regret. If they dare to demolish and corrupt this land; than we shall meet them head on. We will hold no misgivings over our clash, as the fight that will commence will be brought upon, not by our lust for blood, but for our defiance in letting the most innocent become the most tragic victims.

For we: Are the Swords Of Justice!"

Even the masked one began to feel humbled by the leader's virtues; as if the world around him was standing to attention by the leaders honest emotions of dignity and ethics. Standing forth, his head held high, his stance straight, the light that shone onto him though the miniscule spaces of the leaves above did nothing but highlight the majestic Pokémon that was right in front of him. No doubt, if the few that followed him held even only the slighting inkling of merit he himself held, and he could tell it was more than just that, then this strange group of Pokémon were those of high values, righteousness and morality, those that appeared to dedicate their lives for helping those in need. To him, they were less like simple Pokémon, but living legends, myths to tell of brave warriors so as to inspire the new generation. Even their names sound reminiscent to him. . . but. . . in all honest

"And. . . you will drive the bad humans off. . . with force?"

Noble cause or not; there was still a problem he held with their stated plan.

"Preferably, we will try and scare them off, since if a fight doesn't need to commence, then there is no reason to commit to one. That said, our warnings are not idle words: but honest threats that shall be acted upon if they do not take to our words."

"That won't work." Such a claim was made so blunt even the stoic one before him had to make a double take by such a rebuttal. He didn't need to see that all eyes were on him, especially a certain pair most likely trying to see if her boiling anger could melt away his bones. Though those were not the eyes he continued to look over, but instead the one belonging to the leader in front, the ones that were boring into him as he stared him down with serious observation.

"And pray tell; why exactly do you feel the need to state your impertinent remark?"

"Using force will only make things worse, not better. If you use outright violence, let alone kill the workers, that will bring in Rangers and Police, not to mention Pokemon Trainers of ill-repute to the area. As mercenaries or otherwise. They might even have to resort to bringing in the Army - and if, and only if, you somewhere make it out of all that unscathed; you four are still alive and the whole battalions have given up, the end result could see the forest burnt for all your troubles, the Pokémon's homes destroyed by bullets and explosives; and they could even get into the crossfire of it all."

As disrespectful as his sudden remark was; he could not lie in some such a bold and brash claim be explained in such plausible, and possibly ominous, conclusion to their battle. Times had changed, warfare had changed, and if the man's outcome were to actually happen. . . what would be the point of it all?

That was not to say he suddenly changed his views and would enact all his actions via pacifist actions, but it did make him pause and think what better solution may need to occur. Or perhaps; what other solutions could be brought forth to the table?

"So then tell me; enemy of my enemy: if that is the case for you, what is it you have in store to seemingly push back your supposed opponents, if not through frontal opposition?" The veil he was wearing covered the tightening grin he was slowly forming, matching quite well with their comparably sneaky movement of his arms slowly pulling out the hidden backpack that had been missed by the careful-eyed observers.

"With these." In a flash, he pulled up the cover of the backpack when his bag was pulled in front, outing the cover to let the intrigued leader stare into the contents inside. All eyes were no longer held on him, but instead that all pertained their curious sight into the leather box within; especially in regard to the smallest of the quartet, whose ears slowly began perking upwards upon further inspection.

"There's more than one way to skin a Meowth, just as there is more than one way to scare others away. Bleach in the fuel tanks, wrenches to unscrew nuts, airhorns to surprise them. All of these, simple tools and equipment to be found lying around the house are all ways to weaken both their own equipment and their morale.

That is the plan I have in store to defeat them."

". . . Cute." The leader proposed as he looked back onto the veiled face of the man before him, alongside the pairs of observing organs as two others. . . while one smaller pair still gave curious examination to the contents within. "But I fail to see how such a small bunch of objects which, as you seem to state, are meant to trivialise and annoy your opponents into giving up and turning tail."

"Because see; that's the beauty of it all," he paused to shoulder back his backpack, neither of the talking pair noticing the disappointed looks being giving by the shorter one, "by setting my plan in motion, it will result in them being put behind schedule, which will in turn make them lose money: and if they lose enough, they will eventually have to give up and go home. The people in charge are only in it for the money in the first place, but you need to remember: that too can very much be their very ironic downfall." Such a rise of blazon energy slowly began to deflate as his tone swerved back onto the serious lane.

"The thing that cannot be forgotten here, from our adjacent strategies, is that at the very end of the day; the workmen are not truly bad people. They have families to feed, lives to live, and if they feel their health or safety is at risk, they will likely quit, which many do. It's. . . never a black and white issue, it rarely ever is, so I just don't see the point of it all in treating it as such."

And for the first time since this meeting; A solemn nod was given out by the tallest of them all. There was blindness and dishonesty to be found in this world, but this particular person was having none of that, it seemed to him. There was wisdom laden within his words, both understanding and selfless care was eagerly breezed out from his words as it was clear he was one that despised bloodshed of any kind.

"Look, I know that we may have gotten off on the wrong hoof, but I can assure I mean neither you or your kind any harm-"

"I see that." He slammed his trap shut as the noble creature presented in full to him seemed to. . . look relaxed now. Not lazily, more. . . soothed, taking the moment to look him up and down before finally speaking out.

"I have made my decision. Human, though I still lack complete trust in your presence, I do not believe you are here to cause major harm to any. Rather, you seem genuine, in your pursuit of halting those that wish to destroy this land. As such: I myself grant you allowance, both in returning home, and with granted permission to be allowed into these woods, so long as you stay true to your word in not causing harm to either the flora or fauna this place calls home. To those in favour: Terrakion?"

"Agreed." The deep, slow simple word came out from the bulkiest of the lot.

"Keldeo?"

"Well. . . he does seem nice - I mean, ye-yeah, that is, if what he says is real - I mean true - then I have no problem with him. . ." In contrast, the lighter, brighter, more energetic claim was formed by the tiniest of the group. "So long as I get to see him in action. . ." Was that a cough?

"And finally: Virizion." Out of them all, it was her count that he was most cautious in hearing. No doubt, he didn't expect a positive remark to come with open arms, her personal stance clear to see, even without diving deep into her words. Yet he knew not to try and diminish her opinions, and thus kept quiet as he listened for her first word.

"Harrumph. . . " The scene felt weirdly quiet for just a moment, no words expressed, only the visual sight of her ever-changing facial expressions came into fruition before finally her answer. "All right; if the rest of you think so highly of him, then fine, agreed." She turned to him. "You best not take this matter lightly, human, you should rather be grateful we show your kind some gratitude."

Though those words were not directed onto him, Cobalion still heard every word spoken, and to what end the feelings of his follower was onto the human at large. The inkling of unabashed emotions he saw did not feel should be made present. So turning back he continued with the matter at hand.

"That it is agreed upon. However; any celebrations should not be made early, as it doesn't take away from the fact that he is still on ground he has no place in standing upon. His words may hold water, but speech means little in the face of action, and our trust with him cannot be given so readily. As such, if he is to walk in this land; another must be by his side throughout his treks in this forest, to ensure his word is kept true. To that I nominate Virizion for this task."

"WHAT!?" The simultaneous shout by both one man and one female Pokemon rung out in this hidden glade, followed on quickly by the dwindling cacophony of any such nearby Bird Pokemon taking to the skies. Both the pair looked forward in absolute shock, not at all phased by the cooled stare being received from the pack leader.

"Y-y-you cannot be serious?" The exasperated female spoke in utter shock of hearing what neither she nor the human seemed to desire. "You must be mistaken, Cobalion, there is no way I-"

But as if her words were mere pathetic poison, the Virizion words held no effect towards the leader as instead his attention smoothly turned away from the commotion being presented from his front and over towards the back to where his fellow other members were, speaking out but a calmed inquiry of "Terrakion?"

"Agreed."

"Cobalion, listen to me, you cannot think for a second I will ever agree to-"

"Keldeo?"

"I-" His mouth immediately shut when the unmissable sharp stare of one such Grassland Pokemon burnt silent words of 'Just you dare' into his damp mane. Despite such a glare trying to burrow into his skin, the calm sight of the leader staring down to him helped cleanse away any threatening thoughts as he managed to finally give a conclusion.

"Well, she was the one who brought him here, so it's only fair. . . "

"Wait, don't I get a-"

"Then it is settled; Virizion: from now on you will be his watcher. Whenever he wishes to step forth on this land, you must be there to meet him, to follow his steps and ensure he causes no harm while his feet remain standing on this soil. No matter what his plans for the outside world may be, so long as they don't cause threat or harm to this world, you shall not try to interfere."

Despite his role for leadership, the scowl of the angered Pokemon was anything but lessened away by this fact. From shock came the second stage of grief that was anger, animosity garnered only through the revelation she had been forced with a cheated hand. She could argue, beg, cry, but for all it would be worth, all that has led up to this point, Cobalion would not change his mind on the matter. Even if her disagreements were opposing his, her head still bowed, and no reaction other than completely leaving the Swords Of Justice itself would get her out of this forced-upon duty. And that was not a resort that she felt could ever be pulled.

That said:

"Fine." She finally answered, overtly loudly in tune, but still finalized as an answer to the situation. "If it is my duty to do so, then you can leave it to me to do as you wish for. . . " She turned to the human on the final note, but rather than state the character that was the masked one to any of his forms, the Pokemon simply turned her nose up to him, closing her eyes as she made cool strides away from the side of his party and instead to where the others were standing.

Though not before one last remark was ushered by the leader:

"And Virizion; I do hope you show the human the hospitality we share to the innocent. It would not be becoming of you to divulge into those you claim to hate." She gave no response, other than a curt nod of her head before it laid back into it's high and mighty stature. Insulting, if not for the human finding himself caring little to how she felt.

"To that, human, we now give you leave for today. Come back whenever you shall see fit; if you stay by the edges of the forest, out of sight of others, I can assure you Virizion will meet you there, without a rumour of any problem." The masked one knew where, or better who, that last part was directed onto. But that said, despite it all, overall he felt both appreciation and honour at a request being made for him. Though he knew he preferred little of this present in the first place, in the least, it was reassuring to know there were others with the same mindset of keeping this place intact. To that end, he knew what to do.

"For that; I thank you: Both Cobalion and others," He offered a bow, "for allowing me permission to roam here and scout out the enemies. I will not let you down with the promises you ask of me. On that, I shall indeed give leave, and do as you ask, next time I decide to come into this forest." From the bow to end, Cobalion offered only the sincerest of smiles, even if negligible in its size for him, as he returned the gesture of respect.

"I wouldn't have the conclusion any other way: But do know this, human:" The smile disappeared as his visage grew serious. "Our allowance for you does not diminish our personal plans of dealing with the opposing force. You may try what you like upon them; but the moment their hammer has dropped, we will be there to meet them. I will not say you have failed, but your efforts would have only done so much. We cannot change that fact, so I hope you understand what will happen if the time comes."

". . . I understand." He wishes to say he didn't; but that was a complete liar. Hearing that, the human knew now he could not let that fate come about. "I shall be seeing you, either again or not, hopeful with good news to bring. Goodbye, Cobalion, and the others, until we meet again." And to that, like a burst of energy had finally dissipated, the area fell silent, with the human having made a turn back to the area he knew he came from while the others watched in relative stillness; contemplative and lulled. To that, the human reached forward towards the canopy of twigs and leaves, ready to be gone of this strange, yet overall intrigue, place-

"Oh, and before you leave, human. . . " He paused, turned back around with a swivel of his head as the leader suddenly announced his slurred inquiry with a bow of his frame. "My apologies, but in the heat of the situation it appears we all forgot our manners. As those that firmly state our emotions and beliefs on our metaphorical sleeves, allow me to rectify that notion, at least so we can leave on respectful ground. I am Cobalion, and those you see before me are Virizion, Terrakion and Keldeo."

Polite greetings seemed a little pointless at this point, but the human understood his intentions were of settling on fairer ground. He had no reason to deny such a request by such a gracious heart as him, so with a reach up with his hands, one to his mask the other to his hood, he pulled both back away, before the light shine down on his uncovered face:

"My name is Max. Maximillian. And it has been a pleasure to meet you all." And thus, when it was finally said and done; his being finally left this place as he scrambled through the thicket and disappeared, as requested, out this forest to re-join but another day.

But not the presence of his person. That remained, not from a shadow, but the repeated memory the four saw as the man unmasked himself and let his face be seen by the shine of the golden rays. It was not that the four had seen him before, that was clear, but it was the structure of his face, the light that gleamed onto him on that particular moment, and above all his particular name that made even the youngest of the quartet pause for thought as their minds slowly came down from the heightened delay. It was Cobalion that finally broke the silence.

"Terrakion, did you witness the same-"

"Indeed." Neither eyes left the section the human disappeared on through.

"Do you believe, that perhaps-"

"Not impossible."

Another moment of silence was found, lasting but only a curt juncture, before the eyes of one, the leader of them, turned his attention to the female of the group.

"Virizion: do you believe. . . "

"It's. . . " Any more words were seemingly caught in her throat, or would, if they came that way, before the now tentatively shaking Pokemon finally formed a coherent sentence to her chieftain of the group. "It must be nothing more than a mere coincidence. A trick of our minds. Surely, he does not look like him. . . "

---

So; it has come to this.

She had dreaded the day this would come. Despite knowing it wouldn't take long for his return, the countdown she knew would last but a mere matter of days, she still found deep wistfulness the moment she was called upon to do her duties. Upon hearing his call, she knew her legs were forcibly dragging themselves over the grass and ground, thankfully unseen by her leader as she made sure to show face, but her lethargy still remained as she felt no interest or desire to do as he said. He is her commander, and even she knows he knew best. Challenging him would be a fruitless endeavour that held no positive outcomes. His decision is final, so all she needed to do was suck it up until the human's plan eventually fails and it was finally her turn for action.

So with that course running through her mind; the moment she stepped forth and greeted the human, with as expected, him waiting patiently by the forest edge for her return, she gave no bow or false pretence that she was happy to see him. Instead, all she gave him besides an icy stare, was but a curt cold greeting of "You have returned." alongside the added sentence of "Go and do whatever it is you think would help. I'll but follow and watch.", making it clear her intentions were not of her own personal accord.

Not that Max would have suspected much else otherwise, the human not some naïve man believing only in the best of people, as bluntly pessimistic as that may sound. Though at least, if her intentions were not to interfere with him, then he supposed he could do it with a pair of unshining eyes watching his every move. To that end, he agreed to the terms she made, telling her forthright "I will not try and argue against your decision," before, as instructed, he walked away, to do as he had planned from the start, albeit with the slight change of an indifferent quadruped strutting on behind her.

She spoke nothing of the walk, before or during, instead keeping silent to ensure this whole 'moment' last for only as long as it needs to, and even when after as the human had seemed to settle himself upon a clear ridge, did she keep her trap silent and stand aback as his attention was now focused onto the opposing force a distance away. She could see just fine, but the human, as lacking the natural gifted sight as she did, had to resort to holding up his pair of twined-telescopes to see through, to spy on the soon-invaders from a safe enough placement.

A seemingly advantageous plan, if a bit bland. Though not what she would honestly call cowardly; exploiting an enemies weaknesses, especially in the pursuit of saving others, was anything but an honourless action, though she would hold back on calling it such for any human. Still, she always saw best an immediate forward response - a test of the enemies might, will and strength, to see if they could be considered a worthy opponent. Not at all the same as this human was doing, peering down at them while he pulled his lenses away to pull out a pencil and paper as he began to write down. . . something.

Something that he appeared to show great interest to, as every few seconds he seemed to switch from observing the encampment to jotting down more notes of some kind. That's what he kept doing. Almost like clockwork, his attention snapped from down below to down below his person, writing, looking, his scribbles being the loudest sound that kept hitting her ears-

And before she could stop herself, the blunt inquiry of "Just what on Arceus's green world are you doing?" was inserted from the Pokémon's telepathic mind.

She. . . hadn't been that curious, had she?

"Gathering intel." His voice so quick to reply, his attention never once leaving the holes of the telescope, his reply came almost like he had expected her to ask that question.

"I was meaning why you kept switching your deficit attention from lens to pen and paper." That statement was enough for him to finally look her way, as he cleanly showed off his sum of scribbles to the Grass-Type in a full fair view.

"There's more to a strategy than just looking at the enemy and making all assumptions from that. There's more to a camp than simply how many people are there." He lowered his notepad back down as turned back to out the ridge. "Besides sizing it up, I'm taking note of how many and what tools they have, what construction vehicles, the layout of the land, even what time supplies and lunch breaks are at." He moved his arm out to show off his portable timepiece. "All this is important information for me. I can't just simply waltz in and cause terror, I need to think and plan ahead, use what I know to my advantage; and above all; take down what is needed."

Strange as it was for herself to admit, she felt impressed with his planning and gathering intelligence, his mind not as brain dead as once thought but instead housed an analytical mindset befit with impulsive considerations.

Or at least; what she would consider impressive to others. "There must be a lot to gather if you can't keep your eyes off the notepad for too long."

"Well, there's a lot to see and note. I still need to make a map of the area above all, locating all the weak spots. It's not something that will show itself so easily."

That was true, she mildly believed. If his personal plan of operations were meant to come into fruition, time was necessary to allow him easy action to complete whatever he was presumably proposing up, then. . .

Roughly shaking her head suddenly, she quickly retracted her train of thought to stop herself from thinking too hard on the subject. It had little to do with her, providing this one does not overstep his boundaries, so she had to reprimand herself from allowing her to drop her guard. Her task here was never to truly observe him, but to observe, wait, and if the time will come, strike out against the intruders of this peaceful place. Mainly to that end, the front of the opposing forces encampment, where, even from this distance, she could see less than peaceful times happening on the front; betwixt encampment and the forest.

"There is commotion below." Her blunt, emotionless statement resonated into his skull. "I see one man dressed differently from the others getting verbally assaulted by a woman dressed in plain, albeit gaudy clothes. Who are they; and will this lead to a problem we will have to eventually deal with soon enough?"

"I wouldn't worry about it." He replied coolly in return as he spied his binoculars to where she was leading on about. "Nothing too unusual going on down there I see." Through his lens he observed the inaudible ruckus down below, seeing that, indeed, a man in a suit was in some heated argument with a more simply dressed female. "Though I do know who they are.

The man you can see dressed in his sharp suit, he is the Project Manager of the development crew, as he's the one overseeing the entire construction."

So he's the chief of the opposing force. Virizion silently thought to herself, perhaps saving it for a later date. "So who's the female human currently trying to scamper him away with but pure words of seeming bile?"

"Cynthia, I believe her name is." He replied as he didn't once leave his sight of the commotion. "Don't know much about her, but I think she was the one that rounded up the other protestors, so I guess she could be called the de facto leader of them."

"Hmm, shame she was born as a human." She mildly smiled to herself. "With how rowdy and easy to argue she is, If she were a Pokemon I could see us becoming fast acquaintances."

"Quite." He simply spoke back, not bothering to urge her on, even if she wanted him to. "At least her time protesting like this does give way for me to take my time and study the landscape - hold on. . . oh no; not him." She did not need to ask why the human made such a sudden change of sentence, as even from afar, she had noticed the Project Manager get suddenly hit in the face with some blunt object, before another man, one against his side, come into the picture before he too began to hurl insults at the suit-wearer.

"It's Wayne." He answered before she could even ask the question, the sharp lowering of his voice not lost on the Grass-Type. "Him again. Uh, he always finds a way to make the situation worse than it already is. I swear, if he was not on our side we'd try and get him arrested three times over by now." And too soon for her to ask what he means, not that she felt she needed too, he rose from the bushes, pulling down his binoculars and placing away his notepad before he stepped away.

"Done already? My, I rather expected our time together to last a little longer." The sarcasm was blatant to him, even with it spoken via telepathic communication. Instead of any retort back, he opted for the simple explanation of "Well your expectations may yet come true, as I'm not going back just yet. I'm heading over to the over side of the site, so I can scout it out at a different angle. I can't just assume everything will be seen from one side."

An indignant Humph was heard the moment his feet walked past hers as he headed back into the forest, no doubt to him, believing every second was making the Pokemon less than gleeful.

---

The trek felt long, longer than it should have, even with it obvious it would be a farther distance away than a middle ground to the side area of the forest. Despite that, she found it fine, along with a little bit preferable, that their trek over would stay silent, the only noise heard were of wandering Pokemon, the rustle of leaves on the thin breeze, all quant motions of pure nature. It was a pleasant sound, a wondrous backdrop that would help alleviate her annoyance over having to 'babysit' this human.

It was a damn shame that the human had to ruin even that, as without warning during her soothing listen of the forest did the human speak out to her.

"May I ask you something?"

A quick snort of frustration was the only thing she allowed to escape her face, a short exhale for her to silently spell out her personal displeasure over wanting to reply, before finally doing as Cobalion would have preferred she answer.

"If you must."

". . . Why do you hate humans?" She would have spluttered out her drink if she had been sipping from a lake. Of all things to have asked; it was one she immediately felt anger allow to rise up.

"I do not hate humans." She snapped with a contained mad tone, getting right up to his face with no remembrance over personal space. "I distrust them. There is a major difference between the two, and you should be quick to understand that." This time, she did not follow, but instead Virizion walked on right past him, heading the way forward herself with a dignified stride.

"Hate." She sputtered out without even bothering to look back his way. "It's such an ugly word."

"Then; I apologize for thinking that of you."

That. . . was not to be expected. Halting her footsteps and turning back, she felt even more surprised upon seeing the masked fellow bow down in atonement for his assumption. It - it did not come off as a joke, a chide against her, but purely his reprimand came off as nothing more than the most sincere of statements.

"I did not mean to offend you."

"You-" She took a pause as she realized she had been staring hazily. Even with the world coming to a loud silence, the lack of noise did not help her with coming up with a quick reply. Even seconds later, the human spoke little else, only staying in his bowed position of respect until her words became the key to unlock him from his rigid form.

For all her time she held with humans; she had gotten used to their arrogance. Not all, but many she had met were quick to snap back with insults, over being unable to admit their wrongs or faults. It wasn't as if she believed all humans were bad at heart, as if even Arceus herself could rightly show the beauty that could be accomplished with humans, she saw it foolish to hold onto the belief all the while. But still, the human before her was not one she pegged as willing to plead amends for his own shortcomings.

To that end, the frozen Virizion forced her mind to come back to normality to finally have the human be given a decent reply:

"I didn't say-"

"Hold on." Such a curt statement, a simple message to pause brought out by the masked one, only managed to enact its purpose of halting any more words by chance coming in the brief moment of the Sword already caught off guard. A hand raised up, palm open as he stood his ground and did not make a move in any direction until finally, after a brief second of pure nothing, he piped back up. "Do you hear that?"

Head tilting to the side, it took no time at all for the Grassland Pokemon to begin to catch onto what sound he was going on about; of close by rattling and shuffling of something small struggling against the dirtied ground. Curiosity, and tepid intrigue running through them both, any reason for them to continue further communication was found to be meaningless as both, with quick yet softly touching steps, tiptoed over to the bushes nearby. Within the moment that was of them both silently peeping through the bushes, it swiftly became clear both to what the noise was, and why the Virizion held claim to her personal dislike.

As situated in the middle of the grassy flooring, shuffling, pulling, and even sorrowing over her current predicament; was there the sight of an innocent Vulpix, so tiny and small to the larger pair, trying to free herself from the clutches of a small steel leg trap; one that kept her in place and forced her to do little more than struggle against the bleeding grasp.

The sight of the scene filled the watching Pokemon with absolute disgust, a creation of bile filling her throat as she felt to gag at seeing such an innocent be caught in the grasp of such a vile mechanism. She knew not why it was here, nor how it got to be, but Virizion knew of one sure thing; and that was the trap was of human design.

Human design that spoke of exactly why she distrusted humans as such. Not for it to diminish what was spoken of moments prior, but it was something like this scene here that allowed her to believe she was not in the wrong for showing suspicion over any human's presence. Such a device would not have come about if human intervention was not a thing, barbaric and unnecessarily cruel, it served no purpose other than to incapacitate and humiliate the unfortunate Pokemon captured upon. Especially towards one as small and puny as this young soul.

It. . . almost would have made her smile, to sport a smug, self-satisfying grin along her mouth, as if to say her reasons for such scepticism were not without sound wisdom, if not for the example involving pain of a tiny one. Still, it did swell her admiration in knowing she was not wrong, even if it didn't involve the human next to her-

The human wasn't beside her anymore.

Instead, the human had started to make a slow move towards the Fox Pokemon.

"Human, what are you-"

"Shhh, it's Okay." She suddenly heard him whisper. "I'm here to help you." Claims that, for a second she thought were directed towards herself, but the sudden sight of seeing him pull down his mask and hood, exposing his face for all to see, closed her mouth for a moment longer as she was laid to witness the scene that commenced right after.

Of the human slowly crouching down to the Fox Pokemon as his hands reached forward. But they did not grasp her immediately; instead they stayed hovering in the air while the Vulpix barked and yelped back in some vain but honest attempt to keep him away. Strangely, the human seemed unfazed by this, as if expecting her to react in such a way, and instead just. . . waited. Paused, not moving even a muscle, save for his hand turning over to expose his bare palms to her. It. . . whatever his unspoken plan was, seemed to work, as the once jittery girl slowly tensed down, fidgety, but not agitated by the human presence much longer.

With cautious movements, his hands looked to be continuing their move, guiding themselves over not directly to the Vulpix's side, but over to the metal body that was responsible for thwarting her want to flee. His hand quickly grasped the trap, his fingers wrapping over the bars as it tried not to get too close to her hindleg, before in one swift, unspoken motion did his hands snap open the inorganic jaw in one easy swoop. The world fell still, frozen as all that seemed to move was but his slow hand reaching out to guide the Vulpix's leg out the trap and into the air, with the following moment breaching the still world back to normality as it snapped immediately close without a trace of Pokemon in its clutches.

"Doesn't appear to be any major internal damage, luckily for you." His return of speech knocking her focus back onto him. "Bruised and with scratches, but does not look broken. I suppose we should be grateful that the kind with teeth have been outlawed a long time ago - now, if only all could be outright banned then perhaps we'd be able to live in a safer world." He seemed to trail off. "Be still, please, I promise the pain will last for only a moment longer." It was then he began to reach into his pocket with his free hand, before pulling some things out of it.

Or drop out, a better detail, as he casually let drop a few odd things from his jackets inside pocket. Not caring for formality, the human with swift, but careful motions began to splinter and bandage up the Vulpix's abused limb. And in no time at all, the human was just. . . done with it all. With little time to process all the information gathered he simply let her be, telling her she would be fine now as the Pokemon in turn scampered away herself, leaving behind one final solid look at her supposed saviour before disappearing beyond the trees and vegetation.

Yet it seemed the human was not finished with the scene itself, as if wasting no time after, surprising her as her attention had been towards the Vulpix's leave, the sounds of stone hitting metal whipped her concentration back onto him, where she found him making sparks as rock was hitting the metal trap, crunching it down into a pulp before her very eyes. Finishing his sudden assault with but a throw of the device, and a harshed cold call of "Now rust and hurt none any longer." as it smashed into a tree and dropped unceremoniously on the ground, unable to catch another any longer.

From a gentle breeze to an inferno of hate, the rush of flame subsided as quickly as it appeared as she saw the calm of his emotions return to his face. So just like that, she found herself alone with him again, unable to give much say towards. . . all that just occurred.

Stepping forward out the bushes to not be some hanging berry any longer, her mouth blinked open and close as she could not find the words to describe the sight that she bore witness to. It seemed. . . almost unreal, a tale spun for youngsters about some kind heart, since, no matter how hard she tried, how deeply she thought to unravel the strings of this knot labelled as a scene - she could not find any reason for him doing so that wasn't for pure altruistic purposes.

"Sorry for the wait." Max spoke out, turning to her with his bare face as he grabbed his things. "Shall we be off again?"

"Y. . . Yes." She finally spoke after a moment of mustering away some shambles of words. "Let us be back off, I. . . wish to return to my Swords side as quickly as I should." She walked forward, trailing on behind as she saw but the hood of his jacket that covered his head, but that did little to diminish the memory of his kind visage. Bronzed and older, it seemed weary, less broken but more. . . worldly, holding a wisdom inside that she had yet to understand.

Maybe. . . but this one isn't so bad. . .

---

For the next week, the few spotty times Maximillian had shown his hidden face, Virizion was there to meet him, always at the edge, always taking no joy in having to stay by his side. She had stayed silently, mostly at least, enough to not get distracted as she observed him with her unflinching gaze.

For the short few times he had appeared, each time going through a similar outline of checking the site from a distance, she couldn't help but wonder if this was what all his plan actually was; to just simply stand at a far away distance and skulk out the enemy as his weapon of choice appeared to be nothing more than pencil and paper. That was not to say she stopped believing that taking time out to search and exploit an opposer's weaknesses was not a bad idea in of itself, but plans without actions were but words without meaning, a want without effort to gain.

However; that all changed a moment from today. As for the first time since his first intrusion; the human had stated that today was not one for scoping the camp out - but for him to finally take deferred action!

She had not expected that, even though, perhaps, she always should have. She had little reason to believe he would lie, besides general wariness over his species. He never once told a fib of any kind, and if anything he seemed passionate upon telling Cobalion of his personal plan on the matter, so it made little sense for him to say all that to then simply scampering away and keep to a distance far off. He seemed more than honest about his desires to chase away the intruders, and even though she generally believed his attempts would ultimately end up futile, she knew it was not her place to interfere. Both because she was forbidden too, and because she saw little reason as to try and stop him. Useless it may end up being, for the least, it perhaps gave her Swords more time to prepare and get ready for the oncoming battle.

But even if that would become true or not, it mattered little to the Pokemon as within the confines of the woods, the shrubs and wide trunks, Virizion silently watched in the direction of the encampment. She had no business helping the human go through with his own intention, nor for any in stepping a foot past these trees, so her end kept her here, by the edge of the clearing out of sight to any pesky wanderers while closely followed the human with her vision as he stealthily creeped up to the encampment:

All the while wondering just what that dreadful smell the human had on him was.

Away; he knew she was watching, not that he suspected she had anything else better to do at the current moment, but even if that fact was changed it did little to waiver his commitment of his intent. He was ready; the notes jotted down, the schedules written, the site mapped out, all important information has been noted, checked, reread, and then reread again to make sure he knew all he could before finally, upon this day, enact his own judgment upon the wanton destroyers of nature's land. There was no turning back after today; when he is done, the gears of conflict will spin and turn, the engine of war will sound, and he will ensure this would be a carnage-less conflict, no matter what.

There have been enough of the other kind in his life.

No today. . . today will be combat of a different sort, a strife that does not involve casualties - only continued frustrations and qualms to force out a surrender. That is his task, and one he knew worked best as he remained in the shadows, out of sight, out of mind. So keeping low, Max made silent footing as he sneaked forward into the encampment. He should not be seen, his methods worked best when others didn't fight back, and though dirty they may seem, such tactics were necessary if he was to deter the Swords from making their own riotous move, selfless as it was meant to be.

So pushing his back into the wall, Max spied around the corner as he kept hidden, scanning around the site as he took in what's to be seen. All around were people working, moving, placing, talking and preparing for when then, or so they think, start cutting down the forest in times to come. He expected little more than what was shown; hardhats and visors, heavy-duty vehicles mixed alongside various equipment and materials. It was as typical a site as what was to be assumed, all them here believing that today was just another normal cycle of work; but with a hand reaching into his jacket pocket, the masked-man knew they were about to find out this would not hold true.

"Move the bulldozer away, we need to make room for when the trucks come through."

"You got it, boss."

Such were the common communications of two ordinary workers as they went about their own lives. One commands, the other obeys, as usual for this kind of scenario. None, especially the driver, paid anything else much mind as he pulled himself into the seat, readied his footing, and the key ready to begin the ignition he-

Splat!

-Immediately jumped in his seat as the sudden sound of noise against glass ripped his eyes off from the controls and to his front; as where, now plastered on the outside, a mixture of green-yellow-white oozing liquid has painted over the front window. Shocked, and even more understandably disgusted by the sight of something trying to turn his windshield into a modern art painting, the driver stepped back out into the open sun, off from his heavy vehicle and subsequently turned his attention up to the sky itself. Above, the shadows of flying Pokemon dotted against the landscape, though no harm seemed to derive from their hovering, the man below only sneered in disgust.

"Damn flying Rattata." He spat as he took a second look at the gift he had received from above. "Bringing down their nests can't come soon. . . soon. . . uh-uh-ACK!" Such unkind promises were thankfully found to be cut short as his hateful sentence swiftly found itself overtaken by sounds of disgusted heaving. Chunks may not have expelled from his mouth, but with the smell having quickly reached his nostrils they may as well have. Even holding his poor nose barely helped to lessen the effects of the revolting stink.

Was that leaking ooze the cause of the smell?

"Hey, what's the hold up?" The foreman called out as he made steps forward the moment he saw the worker look to keel over on the spot. "I told you already; we need to move the-"

Splat!

Though the force did not so much as trip him up, he still flinched upon the impact of something hitting against his jacket-covered torso. There was no pain involved, not even a bruise would form, but the sudden force, mixed alongside subsequent feeling of something sticky and damp dirtying his shirt, the higher-up of the two immediately dared to look down to his Hi-res vest - then swiftly drop to his knees as the absolutely repugnant smell wafted up to his nose, where he copied the figure of the other clutching his nose in total revulsion.

But such an incident did not cease there. Within moments after, many other of the unfortunate workers soon found themselves in the exact same predicament as without warning the rain of oozing contents began to fall all around them. Hitting the ground, the materials, the vehicles, nothing was safe from the hail of odious slime as the unexpected forecast of repugnant gunk fell from the skies and gassed the area in a wind most foil.

In mere moments, half the site began to feel the effects already as few of the workers could stand upright properly now the smell was getting to them, burning through the hairs in their nostrils while the unascertained goo hammered down on the victims like a convoy drop. As the abhorrent aroma filled the air, so too did the sound of humans retching and wheezing, screaming out words in honest distaste as some even dared to throw up on their own shoes as the unknown whiff continued to violate their senses.

Unknown, that is; to all but one other. From away, a nose peg tightly enclosed on his own nostrils, one masked other still out of sight lightly let out a chuckle as he twirled his sling around himself. Despite the smell still getting to him, he himself did not flinch from the effects, but rather, he simply laughed it off as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a tawny-coloured shell from the pocket, before placing it snugly into his sling as he started to give motion.

"Rotten eggs." The masked one guffawed through the stench as he quickly spun and lobbed the shell high up into the air. "Always effective."

Not too far elsewhere in the encampment, a movement was ushered while a door was disturbed, as from out one of the on-site buildings a familiar face popped out. "Just what is going on here?" He angrily shouted out as he inspected the area before him. He did not mildly appreciate the scene shown before, as rather than the preferred sight of workers going about their busy work, he instead was greeted with the sight of them heaving out what contents of the stomach while those that were not screamed out bloody murder.

"Can someone tell to what end everyone. . . is. . . " Like a melting wax figure the Manager's face slowly scrunched down as if his teeth bored into the centre of a Nomel Berry, the utter disgust and repulsion bare on his face as the stench threw itself at him like winds of a tornado. "If. . . one of you guys don't-ack!" He tried to bellow out from between the moments of almost blowing out his stomach. "Can someone please just tell me. . . why. . ." Whatever end of the sentence he was trying to spell out quickly was caught inside his throat when he noticed something small but fast be thrown his way. A shadow, or what it appeared to be, was lobbed down to him in an arc, drilling through the air and breaching past the sky as the unknown shadow had made its target known - and the Managers eyes inflated to the size of dinner plates when he realized what it's intended target was.

Through the pain and sickness, the disturbed man managed to act quickly on his feet; as with a grab of the door handle, he ripped his body back inside the building - just in time to miss the foreign object crashing onto him and instead down on the newly closed door with a resounding Splat!

"Ughh. . . I can smell it from in here!"

The barrage of chemical warfare did not appear to cease, every few seconds another of the unnamed packets of ooze dropped down from above to land and perpetually sicken another unfortunate individual. Those that realized the situation managed to flee, while those that were affected first either managed to collapse themselves to the floor in the hopes the smell rises, or stand their ground covering their nostrils as best they could to keep up and not be threatened by a mere stink!

Such as the case of the foreman, as even with his pitiful attempts to wave away the smell, he did not drop while his anger continued to boil over. "Don't you guys dare. . . to leave for something as-eugh-harmless as this." He spat as he looked over the crumpling others. "If you won't move the dozer out the way. . . then leave me to it!" He pushed a worker out the way, making a beeline to the bulldozer with fire raging in his heart as he refused to beckon to the call of the splats, and instead complete the task he had given command over to others.

Never noticing even as he passed by the body of the bulldozer a sprinkling of tiny pellets had been jutted all around.

"At least when I get inside the smell would lessen." The foreman reassured himself as he opened up the door of the dozer, one foot already on the tracks. . . while the other one stayed outside when he heard a loud call suddenly come to his ears.

"Spearow." The self-named signal appeared as a small figure dropped into his peripheral vision. Standing atop the body, the foreman watched the self-titled Pokemon peck at the framework for seemingly little reason. Harmless it would be perceived, no doubt standing and pecking where it was, especially for the spotty moments that were happening now, would get in the uncleared way.

"Scat!" He yelled to the flying-type, his own feathers fully ruffled without the need of a literally feathered one getting in the way. "Go on; get lost - get." Even with his hands making pathetic attempts to hit the Tiny Bird Pokemon while not in any reach, the flyer gave little focus on the human as it continued to peck at the oversized vehicle's body, the drums of its beak hitting the frame covered the sound of more flapping of wings.

"Pidgeotto!" Another sudden call rang out, and staring down, the foreman quickly found a new one had entered the fray. Just as before, another winged one had suddenly dropped down from above, pecking at the floor as if the toxic gas had not chosen it as a target. And before he could utter another sentence of vamoose; another Spearow, and even a Pidgey had entered his vision as they followed in the steps as the others and began to peck in the personal space of the metal machine.

"Okay that's it," The foreman yelled as he began to make kicks towards the Pokemon, "all of you here: pis-"

"Fearow!" Screeched a bigger shadow from above, one that was now angrily descending towards him!

In return, the bigger man did little more than scream and give distance, being chased away like a damsel as the Beak Pokemon gave chase. . . all the while, a different individual was laughing his arse off at the entire situation while he cupped something important in his hand.

"Bird-seed." Barely able to contain his guffaw's, the masked man slowly returned what little pellets he had left into his pockets. "No one would suspect a thing." He continued to chuckle out his mask, not caring for how far out it made him be.

"Hey, who the hell is that?"

His own chortles did not cover up the sound of one exclamation coming out his way, and with a chuckle ridden exclamation of "Oh shi-" he for goad any illusion of stealth as he sprinted away, from the camp, from the sight of the one that spotted him - and especially from the smell as ran away with laughs still burping out his mouth.

He had done enough for today: now the first embers had been lit - the flames of war will now commence.

---

By the time he had gotten back to the edge of the forest, his snickering finally ceased so when he could face the waiting one he could do so without having to explain his laughs.

"Enjoyed yourself." She spoke flatly to him, not a hint of joy written over her face as the human smiled silently behind, trying his hardest not to laugh wide in her face, his mask before he answered her in proper fashion.

"I didn't come out here to enjoy myself today." He held his tongue over elaborating more on that particular subject. "Instead; today I began my insurrection against a necessary foe, the rising tide of opposition that shall not be extinguished until a surrender has been made - one where casualties shall never be considered a possibility."

Noble. "So it must be held true by that stink of yours did not come forth from your sweating body?"

He tapped to his nose. "A little trickery of mine. There's many ways to win a war without having to resort to swords and rifles. And I plan to choose the option less violent."

Her eyes can see far, but not all. Whatever it was he committed to during his trip towards the camp, she could do little but guess, such investigation could not be completed without having to resort towards stepping out the confines of the forest. Still, that repulsive smell only seemed to slightly linger on him now, so in the least any more walks would not have to be completed alongside her closing up her own nostrils. Besides, she smelt no faint of blood anywhere, on him or coming from the enemy stronghold, so she could at least believe he was not blatantly lying to her face.

"Besides all that, am I wrong for assuming you are done for today, from your. . . endeavours?"

"For the moment." He stated slowly, as he began to walk off, though not disregarding the Swords presence in any entirety. "There's no point in trying to put all the eggs. . . in one basket." He coughed in his hand before continuing. "Psychological warfare works best when stretched out, over time, not all committed to one day. Continuously hitting them when their backs are turned and their guard is down will slowly break them, so for today, I best should leave and come back another time."

"And. . . just how long will this all take?" Virizion semi-enthusiastically asked as she followed on behind.

"May take months." A sudden grumble flew past the head current speaker. "At least one. Construction like this needs a lot of preparation time before action, so if I keep coming back and check on them I'll be able to estimate how much longer I have left, and if they plan to start up early. If they do or not, neither end will cease how much I'll keep trying to wear them down."

Just as his sentence stopped, so did his steps as his figure met against the long trunk of a tree, resting his hand against the bark. Slowly, his eyes looked up and down the tall body, taking in its height as such a solid, old thing could not stop itself from looking down upon his small form. So tall, so much larger than he, yet in the grand scheme it was but one out of a thousand more here. But that shouldn't be used to call it meaningless, he believed, its existence was a blessing to those seeking it's body; from shade on a hot day, to a home for resting nestling. Not everything has to have a place, just those that acknowledged their help.

"I. . . I cannot really make solid assumptions for how long it will take, unfortunately. Things can change on the flip of a coin, so I really shouldn't start to believe It can be finished so quickly." He finally looked back her way. "That said, I won't ever feel like it is taking too long, nor will I quit, even if it will take months. No matter what will come; I cannot let this place be destroyed. Too much is here to just be removed, especially for purely selfish and greedy reasons. Too much. . . beauty that would be lost. . . " He trailed away as his vision concentrated onto the high length of the trunk. Such a diminishing of volume was not a concern to the Pokemon, however.

"That may be true; but do not think for a second that is a degree only you have choice over." She sprouted coldly. "It is not left purely to you to be the one to stop them. Having to wait until we must strike does not mean we are out of the counting."

"I. . . know." He half-heartedly spoke in return as his sight never left up. Half; because as his attention did not leave the sight above the slight movement of something on the lower branch of this tree caught at his main focus.

"As you should." Virizion continued, unaffected by his refusal to meet her eyes, while he moved off his mask. "Just because Cobalion had stated you must not be harmed or interfered with, does not mean you are free to believe and act how you wish." Something above began to stir. "Scrutiny is not below you or anyone." A shadow was tilting over the edge. "And we have reason to remain wary of. . ." Whatever the Grassland Pokemon was pushing out her mind by this point was lost on the human, as his attention was practically all garnered onto the strange shuffling above. The small shape peeking out from a bundle of twigs and sticks perched atop the jutted branch, hanged almost dangerously over the side as if it was purposefully trying to fall-

"Watch out!" The next few seconds were largely a blur to the startled female, but in the short time that was that moment she was still able to see not only a small shadow fall down from nowhere; but also see the human make a mad dash and leap forward to catch said object between his outstretched hands. Whatever it was, it seemed important enough for the human to allow his own chest to take the fall and hit the grass without care for self-preservation, slamming to the ground as he refused to let whatever the shadow was be the one to make a splat on the plain. Though, thankfully for her, such a cautious and sudden act of demanding to what end he had for doing so did not burst out, when the opening of his palms showed her the little truth that was held within.

It was a Pidgey. So small and young.

Eyes glancing up, Virizion did not have to wait long for finding the answer, to where it dropped from, as an empty nest on a not too high up branch confirmed her question's result. Giving it size and inability to fly, a fledgling, no doubt, waiting for it's parents return. . . if they do come. . .

"Hey there, little guy." The soft, gentle speech suddenly aroused her attention away from her unknowing reawakening of memories and instead returned her back into the realm of reality; just so she can directly see the larger one hold the Tiny Bird Pokemon with utmost care. "It's okay, you're all fine."

A memory returned to her again, this time a flash upon the man's own face while he smiled down to the Pidgey.

"You shouldn't be down here so early, little one." He jokingly chastised the little one, playfully so, almost like a father would their own child. "Naughty thing, trying to make me worry like that. " Was he-

"Watch-"

Without warning a rush of sand kicked out from the palms of the human and dryly splashed against his face, bursting a cloud upon his face that, within the span of a few seconds longer, coated his bare features with a layer of pale cream grit. Though his eyes closed at just the last second, the same couldn't be perfectly said for his mouth, as Virizion watched him spit out a cloud of the Sand Attack.

What a rather. . . rude way to show thanks to someone that saved them, human or not.

"Okay. . . " He said slowly, blinking his eyes open so as not to get any loose grains onto his own lens. "I get it, I get it; you want to go back to your home." He let out another spit of sand. "Stay steady little one, I'll have you back up in a jiffy." He began, as he got off from his knees.

Why did this feel. . . not so surprising to the Virizion? The gentleness of his actions lacked much of a shock to her, any electricity of surprise was but a faint jolt as the familiar feeling of usual washed over any spark that tried to ignite. Used to it was not so much the word she'd use to describe, especially when looking at the human trying to place the little one back onto the tree, but more. . . not unexpected, was the better wording here. Had she been hanging around him enough to say he is predictable now?

Well, predictable enough for her to see he was getting nowhere trying to place the miniscule Pokemon back onto its branch. Even standing on his toes as he leaned against the trunk was not close enough for the Pidgey to jump at. Sigh. . . humans and their lack of humility.

"Pass the Pidgey over, human." She announced suddenly, making stride towards him. "You clearly are not the one destined to be given return duty."

To a little, just a little, wonder this time, he passed the little thing over to her without resistance, perching the Pokemon atop the flat horned head she signalled him to pass onto before taking a step back. Making sure the Pidgey was safely perched up, Virizion gently made a step over to the trunk, where like himself, she pushed her weight onto the bark as she lifted up her whole body, straightening out her hind legs while her neck reached up. Enough for the Pidgey to get the message as it quickly hopped off her horn and onto the branch.

Her task finished, Virizion allowed herself a step back, standing beside the human as she, and he, watched the Pidgey hop back to its nest to gain rest and, hopefully, learn to watch how far to the edge it may accidentally go.

While his eyes stayed onto the cute, innocent scene before him, it was Virizion who's eyes wandered. Off from the now safe floor, the Pokemon looked down to the human that happened to stand near him, smiling, if only a little, before looking away.

There were a lot of thoughts running straight through the Virizion's mind; and she wasn't sure what there was to make of it all.

---

It was a new day, a new start - a new chance to mess it all up. This was the human's motto as he was ready to begin another turn of weakening the resolve of those he deems necessary.

Yet - he was not doing this alone.

No, today: he had help. He had companions, those that would aid in his work, to give assistance in taking down the man and protecting the forest many named home - the help he was given were not of human design.

They were Pokemon. Small, tiny, cute - but nonetheless, the small number of those that wish to provide their service to the one that promised both treats as compensation; and honest statements that he wishes to stop their own homes being demolished, where readily standing behind him as he guided the way. Sneaking around, he had a plan in mind for each and every Pokemon that was here to help aid the one they have heard nice rumours about.

And for Virizion. . . well, she was not sure what to make of that. Any of it.

Her place was not there to be, however, hers was only at the edge of the forest, ensuring no human, not even the one she was tasked with watching over, would walk on through unless given permission to. For this, Virizion did little more than keep at a distance, cloaked over from the foreground of nature's element, and keep a watchful eye over the distant scenario; where, far off, a human was already initiating his plan.

"Ready?" A low whisper was introduced under the cover of shadows, out of sight of others. The receptor of the question, a figure so small even when standing straight could not match the height of the crouched over human, gave but the shortest of nods in firm reply as his face grew to a serious expression. "You know what to do?"

"Pach." Was the only comment that was given in return, though the words perfectly unintelligible, the meaning behind it, the tone and nod given, was a perfect indicator that the tiny yet robust body was completely prepared for the actions he is about to undertake.

"Then go, and be safe." With a fire laden with his heart, the stern one gave but a final nod, before he made his move, stepping out from under the shadows and breaching into the encampment with a quick strut, feeling no fear, as he made forth his move to undertake his quest at hand.

Thankfully, the Pachirisu was small and quick enough to go largely unseen by the workers as the tiny feet swiftly tried to sprint over the long range. Going unseen, at least for the moment, the EleSquirrel Pokemon deftly made his quick sprint around the site, hiding underneath the tables and behind tires, as he made a firm scramble to his intended destination; that ploughing monstrosity basking in the open sun like it owned the world. Though its entire purpose was lost on the understandably uneducated Pachirisu, the Pokemon still saw it for what it clearly was - a threat, an enemy, a foe to fight. Huge it may be, so tall even that human felt to compare little under its shadow, he did not give in to temptation of cowardice, as it was but an obstacle, a blockage that was left onto him to remove.

The Pachirisu did not forget his mission, the specific task left only for him to accomplish, and with his eyes ogling the filthy machine up and down, his teeny paws tensed when his sight garnered onto the centre target of his task. A look left, and right, with paws rubbing against each other the Pachirisu knew he was ready to complete his main goal. Wasting no time for it, the ready Pokemon leaped forward, hopping in a beeline towards the machine as his deft climbing appendages allowed him easy journey along the side of the vehicle to where he, and what, his target was - a power line.

An obsidian cable or a thick piece of liquorice; it mattered not in the finale of everything to the Pachirisu, for the ending was the same. The matte line, held tightly between his fingers would not come loose under his supervision, was brought forward to his awaiting mouth, his teeth going numb from the anticipation, before finally, without remorse, did he-

Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

Began gnawing at the cable like it was a hard nut. His buck teeth bashing up and down, the sharp enamel began to tear through the line with consistent cutting while staying back a human cheered him on.

"That's it." He whispered lowly to keep his eagerness unheard. "Bite through it, tear the line in two. Chomp through the line like your life depended on-"

BZZZTTT! - Sparks, bright and flashing, burst out from the centre of the Pachirisu as lines of miniature lightning sparked wide the Pokemon in aghast shock, but also gained his aghast attention as he could do little but wade out the sudden blasts of electricity until the power ceased, and he was left a burnt, smouldering wreck that even the human at a distance held eyes as wide as he did, as feelings of guilt began to crawl into him.

. . . Until the Pachirisu continued to gnaw through the lines once again, little spark of light still shocked him every moment as he continued to gleefully nibble at the line with casual crunching.

". . . .Okay, well. . ." The words he was trying to say only caught in his throat as he found difficulty in digging through the incohesive mess of confused thoughts and emotions. "That works too. . . I guess?"

Trying not to think too deeply on how no one else managed to catch that. . . scene, right in front of them, the Masked One learnt his eyes away to let the Electric-Type. . . have his fun? before he focused his attention onto the others still awaiting his command.

"Everyone else knows their plan?" In front of him, all three Pokemon, of different types and merits, nodded in synchronised flow as they too were ready and willing to follow and enact the orders given to them. "Then follow my lead. . . "

"Lombre - Growl." He commanded with authority while he pointed towards not where his direction was meant to be, but the whom he was meant to target. Three men, all common workers of the site, were carrying a heavy set of materials across their shoulders, heaving the holstered together goods with relative ease with little fear of dropping it at all.

That was; until a sudden powerful roar of angered sound was blown their way. With no prior warning given, the trio of workers, once walking tall and proud with the heavy goods over their sides, immediately jittered in place and let drop the pile of material unceremoniously to the floor when the guttural growl was fired from a hidden away figure, who silently chuckled to himself in seeing their scared, confused forms.

"Palpitoad - Muddy up the jeep." From a nod from the Vibration Pokemon, the next few seconds were awash with the sight of a tide of dirty water suddenly rising up from the ground. Summoned on his command, the human could only stand by and watch as a tide of muddy water, dictated by the power of the Pokemon, burst forward, keeping low to the ground of the seeming less endless brown aqua crawled over to the base of the nearby jeep - and creepily surrounded the back tires, coating the black with his paint of carob.

A new splash of paint was not purely his intended intention, however, as such timing occurred at purely the precise moment - mere seconds before the key was injected into the ignition and the engine roared alive. Coincidences were not a virtue here; such plans were made beforehand, such timing particular and definite, all detailed calculations to his fastidious mindset. All these ideas circulating towards one goal, accumulated itself purely into one situation:

With a roar from the engines, and a strong spin of the wheels, within seconds after the trio of bewildered workers, all of whom just so happened to be verbally assaulted the moment they passed behind the four-wheeled machine, suddenly found a tide of thrown mud, muck and other such sludge wash onto them like a tide of swamp. It didn't take two seconds for the sounds of screaming to weave out, of three once strong men now dishevelled into a triumvirate of crying, continuously collapsing clowns as the splashes of slush did not cease into painting them inedible caramel.

"Just what is going on here?" That loud unexpected question being the reason all looked the way to see one foreman stomping forward with the same air as a pissed off Tyranitar. "What the hell are you all doing? I come round to check over to see what progress is being made and you're all mucking about in the mud? What do you think we're paying you to do, playing house like little children? Either you all get off your backs, clean up, and push that damn jeep out of the way, or else I'm dragging you all by the collar and. . ."

And what? Well, such an answer did not come to pass, as throughout all the immediate shouting's of the foreman, he never stopped to realize a situation coming to pass right between his own two feet. Not realizing until it was too late, as within a singular moment; Bang! Went the firecracker, Whizz went the can, and "AARGH!" went the poor unfortunate male when the metal cylinder flew straight up and onto the area of his unprotected pants where his groin was held.

Though Max still felt his body tighten up ever so slightly to see that happen to a fellow male, the masked one refused to feel bad for the foreman, as he strutted all over the place with a grimace. Instead, he turned his attention to the appearance of a sudden hole appearing right on the ground, with a moment later the head of Diglett popped up to meet back up with the non-home-destruction human.

"The old firecracker in the can trick." He announced. "Works every time-"

Now it was his turn for his sentence to be cut off short, as his pause was rendered about the moment loud bellows of hearted guffaws, loud announcements of obvious joy, sprouted from the duo of two Pokemon - followed quickly on behind by the appearance of a Pachirisu, one which, still having burnt, frizzled and slightly smoking hair, could not contain his laughter either as he too having witnessed the situation unfold during his sneaky trek back. Even the Diglett, small in both stature and size of mouth she appeared to hold, chuckled lightly along with the rest. All these roars of laughter helped to accumulate into the human, as though more wise and mature than his younger companions, getting too overwhelmed with the barrage of cackles to hold himself back any longer, and for him too to quickly melt into a pool of sedated peals himself.

"We. . . we should quickly get out of here." He tried to say through his personal cachinnation. "There. . .others would appear soon when they notice the commotion." Low and behold, just upon his finally crawled out admission for leaving, a small group of men, new ones to the scene began to come over to witness what was left of a disaster scene.

"Where the hell did that Pachirisu go!"

With that being the cue, Max immediately rounded up the too-loud group of miscellaneous types and sizes and made a quick jog away, the rest in tow as their deeds of the day had been done.

---

As the hammer came down, the final nail in the wood had been set. Moments of repeated banging, metal being slammed into slates, the pointed ends being driven into the body of a helpless tree, all accumulated towards a final act that, when it had been seen as fully finished, allowed the abuser of metal-on-wood to step back and give admiration to the deed that has just been consummated.

"Thhhhhere we go! Your new home is now all set up. Come in and enjoy the space." He presented his latest work to a family before him. Though his size was a behemoth to the tiny folk, not a single member of the small group - a Mommy and Daddy Cinccino pair with another pair of little Minccino snuggled in their fur - felt the least bit threatened by the larger figure. Instead, the quartet of Normal-Types did not stifle under his presence, but purely did they all beam him a huge wide smile, nodding in enthusiasm before they leaped up onto the tree and into the wooden box that was their new home.

Sure it was not pretty or spacious, but it was a shelter from the wind and rain, and to Max; that was more than enough. Especially considering the cheerful smiles the parents gave to him as they let the youngsters get used to their brand new home.

"Couldn't have done it without your help. Thanks." He spoke as he turned to the Timburr standing patiently beside him, who only slammed down his squared log in return before giving the man a fair thumbs up, the unspoken meaning already known to the man.

"Lilli?" A tiny voice suddenly reached his ears, and turning around to the origin, the human found a Lilligant approaching forth, holding a little Rattata laying limp in her hands.

"So what's the problem here. . . oh, I see." With closer inspection, he quickly found the source of the Mouse Pokémon's reason for staying prone - an injured paw.

"Would you mind holding him still for me, Lilligant? I know you've already done so much, but I require your help just a little bit longer." To his delight, the Flowering Pokemon did not so much as hesitate with a reply, as she gladly agreed to help.

In little time at all, the Rattata's paw was fully splinted, the repair work on the Rattata's paw bandaged well enough for it to stand back up in the Lilligant's open hands. Though wobbly, the three other good legs at the Normal-Type's disposal still had more than enough energy to push the body up to be able to look and stare at the one that gave aid.

"There; doesn't that feel all better now?"

I do hope so.

Though it was fairly easy to say the human was not alone, it wasn't the same so to remember he came here alone. Not too far off, keeping at a distance but not shielding herself from the presence of any, Virizion stayed still and silent as she watched, and mulled over, all that was unfolding before her.

When. . . when did it all change?

When did this human, this masked, anonymous male go from being an invader of the forest, one who dared to challenge even Cobalion's stance, to some big. . .softie that not only relies purely on harmless tricks to weaken his foes, but one who is doing so for the sake of the dwellers of this forest? One who many Pokemon, no matter how small and feeble by nature, hold absolutely no fear or apprehension about, purely because of what he does and can do in return.

It wasn't lost seeing that among the many Pokemon that gathered around the helpful man, a familiar looking Vulpix was cheerfully residing within his presence, looking up to him with clear admiration in her eyes.

Now it was not as if Virizion felt jealousy over the look of adoration not being adorned onto her; she was taught to stay humble and mild, and through her wise leaders' teachings understood the fidelity of others, and envy was not a pretty sight to keep. Others are fickle, and just because one seems to like others over yourself never diminishes our own actions, so she felt no hate in seeing the kind group gather round him as he tends to their care.

Rather, what keeps her off guard was not knowing to what end the human Max became something different. When did everything about him change, when did his decisions go from being some argumentative, brash and blunt human near-demanding they take his own route, to. . . one who showers the little ones with nothing but kindness. Was this a ploy, a front, yet even with what she tries to observe she has not yet found any reasoning to why he acted as so. There did not appear to be any lining of deception or trickery within his means, and the more she looked, the more she stared and observed. . . she found the idea he was genuine with his actions all the more a complete truth. So to what end, to what final answer, was there a change in him.

. . . Except; what if there were no change?

Looking back, despite how he acted so aloof and contentious to the Swords as a whole, not just with her. . . he never seemed to show overt disrespect to any; including herself. Granted, he was far from open-hearted towards them, but not once did he seem contemptuous to them. He stayed calm, polite even, and despite how readily he seemed about to challenge the Pokemon of Iron Will, he never did so to create an argument, but rather to find his own answers, and still he complied without hesitation.

He never appeared to look down on them, even her, and even seemed to understand the group's personal intention, even when it readily disagreed with his. When it was after, blunt as he was, even to her she had to admit he never resorted to laughing or chiding her for being one that had to follow him around. Clearly not perfectly happy with it, but he never resorted to mocking her about the whole situation, instead he seemed to focus his attention onto his own pressing matters. He had been a lot of things, but truly disrespectful could not be considered one of them.

And what of the Pokemon, the smaller, less wrathful kind that wished to only live in peace, away from the war that may commence? He didn't just treat them with simple respect, but even looked to them like the young many of them still were. Not matter how tiny and insignificant others may call just one, it appeared that to him, each individual was exactly that; an individual, one that should be treated with kindness and selflessness, as any fine knight would dare call themselves.

Fine knight. . .

Without warning a weight had suddenly itself dropped onto her horns, snapping her attention back from the image spot of the man wearing a sudden full suit of armour and onto herself. Looking up from her brow she quickly found the source of the weight - along with being relieved it was not of any significance to her rising anger; as peering down to her a Pidove looked her down.

"And a good morning to you, little one." She cheerfully greeted the perched Pokemon, who gave a coo back in response to her own. "Not to sound ungrateful, but may I ask why you are standing on top of my horns." With a rise of her wing, the Pidove silently pointed over to, what she had to suggest, where the human and gathered Pokemon were standing.

"You wish to join?" The group, the one lead by a human, the one with far too many Pokemon huddled around, the one that, by all accounts, Virizion should ensure none would come to close, as he was like any other person that should not be trusted with the safe holding of innocent lives?

She could only say one thing in response to her wanting to join the side of that specific human: "Then allow me to take you."

---

For some reason, Virizion felt weirdly nostalgic in the current moment.

Not so much because she didn't know exactly why this feeling would come about; it was not the first time she repeated this particular situation: with Virizion standing guard, watching over the human while in turn he watched the encampment far off, she stayed at a sizable distance while he in turn stayed silent with his focus only pertaining towards that site of would-be intruders. It wasn't exactly exciting, but in truth, perhaps it was better that way; no danger to any innocent shall occur.

The real reason why she felt it strange was down purely to the fact she had been around him long enough for it to actively become nostalgic. Barely a long time had gone by since first seeing his visage, and yet now being stuck in the same situation as first before had gained a rise in reminiscing about how much had changed since the first time she was brought here. Not by how much had changed with the forest, or by how much damage he had caused with his ticks and traps; but by how much had changed with how she saw him.

She, no matter how she looked at it, just couldn't find herself being disgruntled within his presence. Seeing him appear once again by the edge of the forest line no longer made her desire lethargy or withdrawal, and knowing a day would be filled with him walking alongside her did not earn her ire like once before. Instead, she felt, not joy, just. . . affirmation, about her compliance with being about the human.

And she wasn't quite sure what all this was supposed to mean for her.

"Human?" Her voice rang out so blunt and sudden even she had a jolt by its unexpected inception. "Tell me: as to why do you always demand you make camp in this particular spot during the morning? I know this is noticeably lower than on the other side." Her question, abrupt as it was, helped to overlay the wandering thoughts she preferred not to have.

"This is the east ridge." His reply came flat and curt, albeit not purposefully cold as such. "The Sun, not yet at noon, will be on our backs, not in front. If we went to the other side, we would take the chance of sunlight reflecting off my binoculars and alerting the workers."

She made no remark to him for it, only a short cough in her throat as she let him be, returning her own attention onto the encampment below as she saw no reason to make merry cheer with the focused human. Bland as it was, she thought it best to appreciate the calm serenity it brought forth, as she knew such a feeling would last only so long. The time for the beginning of their battle was inching closer every day, the shadow of war clawing at the very earth it dragged itself across as it refused to give pause to its steady crawl.

And upon seeing what was happening below, her vision catching movements of the humans moving a little too closely to the forest's edge, weapons in hand, spiked a sudden worry within her that reprised her feelings for the subject.

"I'm sorry, human; but it seems as if you have failed." Her tone became stern enough for even him to pay solid attention. "The humans are now making their move, and I cannot abide with staying here any longer. Your actions, though not without doing honest ideals, have only delayed the inevitable - I must leave and gather the Swords; for now, it is our turn!"

"Come; don't be so hasty, now." Before her back was even turned, the human's sudden jovial remark stopped Virizion from even moving her second leg. Turning back, she saw no expression on his face, his features still hidden behind that silly mask, but she could feel a sense of smugness in his tone that did little to help to ease the newly agitated Pokemon. "Why not wait a moment, and at least see what will happen next"

"Hold a moment - do you not understand the severity of the situation that is currently in progress?" Her tone became as blunt yet sharp as a disfigured sword. "I cannot wait for a singular moment, nor any amount of human expression of time. Human; you have failed, and as much as I do not wish to gloat about it on you, you need to realize that your actions have been for futile effort. I cannot abide by waiting, as the humans below are already about to commence the first assault - "

"Oh; I am aware of that, Virizion - I am just asking you to wait a while longer. Trust me - you are gonna want to stay back and watch what will unfold." He pulled the mask down off him. "I promise: nothing bad is going to happen."

She. . . she really shouldn't have waited to hear him out. Shouldn't have paused her stride to warn the other of the impending problem, and above all; shouldn't have given time to think it over. She knew what was about to occur, and knew her place was fighting alongside her Swords, together as one as they drive and fight off the humans in a battle that will determine the fate of this land. But. . . no matter how much she tried to force herself to move, how much she demanded her body turn back around and sprint down to meet with her kind and warn them; she strangely felt unable to deny his request.

Why did she feel completely able to believe his words?

". . . Very well." She whispered out as she looked, away from his smile, instead to the front. "I do not. . . understand, why you are insistent in believing no harm will come, but, if your words will hang true, then I shall, under your discretion, stay my stride to wait and see what events will follow." She walked up alongside him, his visage never leaving him until a sheer second after.

"Like I said; trust me: you are gonna want to see what's going to happen." She wasn't sure why; but she did not believe his words were but empty air. There was truth in them, or at least a hope for them, as a sign of assurance or not, it didn't clear away all the mist of that encroaching cloud of hate down below stink out. If anything, it barely delayed the inevitable, as even from a distance she could see the workers quickly approaching the edge, devices of invasion in hand, as they looked to aim at a particular tree.

"Don't go fretting so easily," he spoke as if he read through her silent thoughts, "it won't turn out bad for you." Words of serenity spoken with genuine honesty or not did not cease the building fears within her. Every step the workers made, all men of dangerous value to the blameless below that lived and breathed in the woods, made her tremble lightly with fear. She knew perfectly well just how capable and brave she herself was, but that such pride in one's own abilities mattered little with how it would help those too far away. She would show face, but seeing the men, those with cruel intentions, approaching the nearest tree as the line of dark bushes and other thick flora began to conceal their movements only furthered her desire to charge down and demand their never step foot in these woods any longer.

The seconds that passed, with being unable to see what intentions the workers were planning, practically gave beginnings from her body to move on down, and perhaps, with how much she was trembling from worry, she may have eventually cracked from the pressure within barely a minute after - if not for seeing the men, once filled with misplaced strength and power, began running from their lives second later, seemingly screaming their heads off to boot.

She would have begun to ask; if not for the answer literally swarming out the sightline giving irritated chase onto the men below.

"Beedrill's?" She questioned towards no-one as more and more of the Poison Bee Pokemon began to pop out from the forest line.

"Beedrill's." Max's voice rang out as neither looked towards one another, both captivated by the sight of one of the workers running out with a hive upon his head. That, as it were, was the final straw for the humans' kick-off, as almost immediately after did the once stoically inclined man devolve into a fit of guffaws and broken coughs.

"Did you plan for this?" She could only blink and stare with wide eyes at the man as he somehow managed to calm himself down enough to answer.

"Me? I didn't even have to lift a finger." His chortles did not seem to cease, however. "Why interfere to stop someone when they are just gonna do themselves in? If you sit by the stream long enough, you will eventually see your enemy float on by." His phrase, though full of laden wisdom as it was, did not come out as sophisticated as it should as he spoke it with interlined bursts of chortles. Certainly not helped by him returning back to his state of mad howls right after.

Removing her focus from him, she turned her attention back down to the encampment below, where, the situation still ongoing, the workers were all frantically dancing about as they tried to avoid the painful sting of the outraged Beedrill's. Running, hopping, hiding away under the tables like cowards, the mere sight of karmic retribution she was seeing, the deserved reaction for trying to destroy an honest home. . . Well, even she was starting to see the funny side of it all.

". . . Tee hee hee."

. . . Did she just giggle?

---

"You sure it would be okay if I took some water to fill my canteen?"

"Like I stated before; the water from the streams belongs to no one but nature herself. Anyone, even a human, may have clear access to these streams; so long as they don't intend to spoil these waters in any corrupting way."

"Well, I can certainly promise I won't let a few dribbles of poison accidentally fall out of my coat pocket, if that's what you were trying to think."

I. . . wasn't. . .

With halted steps, the larger of the two associates had stopped her own strides as she watched the human walk on without her, small feelings of culpability letting rise within her before it dissipated away into nothing, before she proceeded to catch up with his side.

The place she led him to was not truly a clearing of the forest, such feelings of lush light-green grass in an open field was but a mental picture for the wall, as instead the area of the forest was as sparsely dense with deeply dark vegetation glinted over by what little light pierced through the tree-tops, but to him this made little difference to the beauty of it all. Light or dark, dense or sparse, colour of whichever season, to him all manner of nature looked the same in the best of ways. Though for all these thoughts of competitiveness, what caught his eye the most was the clear run of water that both appeared and disappeared out of his peripheral sight, both source and origin existing in places he had no mind to contemplate over.

The gentle running stream, the sparkling waterway that sprinkled tiny noises of dancing droplets were a sight for sore eyes, alongside a strive for thirst for the dehydrated human as he already began to sit down by the brook's bank. Like a Primarina's melody, the minor but audible sound of running water called to him ever more as he began to unpack his miscellaneous things, or whatever the human had on him according to the present Pokemon, as she already was moving herself by the bank upstream from him.

Taking a look away, she studied the length of the steam, the waving rapids that burst across the ground before the meander disappeared beyond the edge of the area. Clean, crisp, fresh and cool, and for a day as warm as this one, the perfect treat to soothe one's body and mind. . . especially when no bodies of deceased foes were floating down the way.

Not caring to think about it any longer, Virizion thought to look back around, to turn away from the thoughts of memory and instead pay a final look onto the human, to ensure he does as promised. . . purely for final confirmation over his promise, and spinning on her head, she proceeded to do just that. . .

Only to instead almost choke at the sight that suddenly presented itself in full frontal view for her.

Because the human, in all his unexpected, unspoken, unwarranted decisions, decided now, of all times, would be the best in taking off his shirt and exposing his barest, hairy chest to any unfortunate - mainly only her - Pokemon that happened to be watching the scene unfold.

And yet. . . by the seconds after; of the light hitting his torso, of his chest being mirrored by the stream below, his bare skin in unobstructed view of the gawking Sword, the only emotion she began to feel was. . . a deep melancholy.

As the male's body was not as clean as she would have mindlessly expected; instead, it was cluttered with the indisputably-pronounced lines of aged, healed-over patches of once-severed tissue. They were aged, smoothed-over, far from anything that could have come from recent times, but still, seeing his bare chest be laden with the abundant signs of bad memories. . . she felt difficulty in even trying to ask for their reason for existence.

"We all have our scars, Virizion. . . " He barely seemed to look her way, even after he noticed her stares, "Inside; and out."

Staring him down, looking him over while he nary cared to even acknowledge her investigations, it suddenly burst out a recent memory of her own. This wasn't the first time she had seen him in any form of physical injury before, even if this counts as aged suffering. No, the first time she had seen him truly bleed the red happened but a few days ago, in fact. It was a memory to her now, one that reappeared in her mind as crisp and fresh as the water below, her reflection looking back as she cleanly retold the scene to only herself:

It was as normal a day as ever for her, or what it must be called now, as she still trekked through the forest in tow of the curious, yet mellowed human. It seemed as uneventful and common a trip around as could be by that point.

Until. . . both happened to spot something of cruel design and purpose lying haphazardly amongst the blades of grass. Spurting out among the natural flora, the inanimate, pure metal creation stuck out like a store thumb against the lush green ground. She didn't even need to ask for what it's intended purpose, or maybe even why it laid here, to the human as she already could tell its intended purpose. Laid out flat, the circle of spiking, rusting metal surrounding a slightly raised platform, one which looked to hold a morsel of sweet-looking food rather curiously on top, only served to anger her as she stared at the trap with immediate disgust.

The only thing that served for her to not immediately bark and scream out in absolute rancour for the monster of a device was purely down to no innocent having taken the literal bait, and even that thought only helped to turn her blood to bile even more.

However, it was not ultimately her that made a move towards it. In times of reminiscent past, it was the human that was once beside her that made first steps towards it. Yet this time it was not done so by soft, careful steps towards its location; but instead she quickly noticed how his stride was fierce and fast. Not a run, but the human still looked to practically charge forward towards the open trap with immediate contempt, picking up a large fallen branch along the way as he made a beeline towards the metallic construct.

She could not have seen his face, but even from behind, she felt a burning aura of rage emanate from his presence.

"Human?" She called out as she felt unable to take a step forward. "What are you-"

With a booming slam that shut her up immediately, Virizion paused her sentence upon seeing the onset man suddenly force down the end of the thick branch onto the platform. The clanging sound of metal spring activating without warning jolted the Grassland Pokemon, gaining all her attention onto the metal spike that suddenly latched out and sank its teeth into the thankfully inanimate twig.

"There is only one place for these things; and it doesn't exist here." She heard him mutter aloud, his body slowly rising from his crouched position to stand back up, away from the now immobilized trap as if he had completely finished doing all that was needed from him; and allowing her to see drops of scarlet suddenly drip down from his hand and stain the grass with his rain of maroon liquid.

"You are hurt!" She announced aloud, almost reeling back upon seeing the red dribble continued to pout out from his finger.

"I am?" He said nearly monotone, as if pain was a foreign feeling to him. "Oh, I guess I am. Must have got it snagged from one of the teeth."

"I guess I am!" She accused forwardly with a flabbergasted tone. "Human, you have sustained an injury, don't go out treating it like a minor bruise. Quickly, heal yourself, your finger is still bleeding out."

"Don't worry." He replied as he was already making a move to treat his wounds.

"Don't worry? I can see your finger is draining itself of blood. I have every right to worry, you should never dismiss an injury; now do something about it!" Her voice was starting to grow haggard. "Do I really need to be the one to tell you when to treat a wound."

"It's not a big deal, really. I've taken far worse than a silly little cut." He began to wipe and apply pressure on his finger with his set of newly taken-out tissues. "Besides; is it really that big of a deal when you take in the big picture here?" Virizion did not reply, a little lost and confused by his calm inquiry.

"Think about it: if I was the one that got hurt - then that would mean no Pokemon had gotten hurt in my stead. My pain is largely miniscule when compared to what might have been received by a Pokemon much smaller than I, and I do say that in the most positive of ways. A scratch like this cannot hurt me the same way as seeing me get here too early could, so in that I refuse to let myself get caught up with something as meaningless as some silly slash. Besides-"

He pulled away his tissues, the bloodied pieces of cloth removed themselves from his hand as he presented both the free, no longer deeply crimson finger to herself, but also with a wide beam off from his unobstructed handsome face.

"It's nothing that bad. I'm all perfectly fine here. . . "

That face, that memory, still lingered even to the current present. The whole scene, from beginning to end, could not be forgotten by the Pokemon even as she tried. However, it wasn't the actual injury that Virizion remembered the most, nor the trap, the rage, or the smile that continued to stay printed onto the recollection sight of her brain; it was the message the human had spoken of that refused to be removed from her mind.

She knew was smiling, and. . . she didn't care to change it. For any reason.

A sudden sense of satisfaction having ran right through her, she turned away, leaving her vision from the human's to give her more than deserved privacy as she went back to seeing her face mirrored on the water's surface, before she dunked her head down in delicate grace to feel the cool liquid swathe over her tongue as she lapped away her thirst.

Ahh, the brisk, cooling sensation of fresh water running over her tongue was a sensation she could never be tired of, especially on a day as warm as this. Invigorating her to the bone, Virizion paid little else that existed in the world little mind while she bathed in the sweet taste of the clean stream. Her body seemed to signify that ideal very much so, as alongside her bent down neck slurping out the water, her backside reacted in opposite style, pointing out and behind. Her hinds legs raised as high as they could, her body tilted her down forwards as if she were presenting herself outwards to the-

As if the water suddenly was alive with the volts of electricity, her entire body suddenly startled out of the winding river to force her to go stone rigid. Staying still, she paused that way for a few drawn out seconds, unable to make a move until she finally pushed her body into motion to slowly peer around and take a look back towards the human in all his glory - and to see that thankfully hadn't seen the show she let accidentally occur, instead he was drinking out his canteen, eyes away from her.

. . . What brought her body to even think upon doing something as provocatively inclined as that?

But as if perfect timing was a common occurrence in this world; a silent signal rang out that only she could both hear, and decode their meaning of.

"Human, I have just been told to return to the side of my Swords. I have to come alone; so my time here has come to its final conclusion."

"I see. . . " He said mildly, screwing back on the lid of his canteen before he pulled over his shirt. "I guess, in that case, you want me gone from here as soon as possible." The sudden revelation of that truth sprang into Virizion's mind as if she had forgotten all about that ramification. "Just direct me to where the nearest exit is and I'll-"

"You don't have to!" Max looked at her with a shocked look, as even she had not expected it to come out as loud as it was meant to.

"What I mean to say is; if you wish to stay by this stream for moments longer, then I shall. . . permit you to; so long as you keep your promise you will not leave this particular area."

"Really." He genuinely questioned in return. "Well; pardon my perceived accusations that may challenge your pledge, but weren't you told by Cobalion that you were not to leave my side when I walk amongst these very trees?"

"Well. . . technically, though perhaps not so precisely." She may have turned away, but her face did not leave him. "His exact words were I was not to leave your side whenever you make treks within this forest," Rather, as she looked to begin her exit, the Pokemon looked to be smiling rather coyly to him. "I don't believe he made specific arrangements over if you simply stay in one place, should you so choose. If you'd prefer to wait here until my return, I am sure no breaking of any promise is actively consummated."

Though it took a few seconds of stretched silence, the human she was talking slowly let his own smile lift up, a slight coy smile adorned his face in return, before he gave a fine reply in turn. "I suppose if you are okay with it; then I see no problem myself. I have no intention of breaking that, being you wish to think so highly of me."

She did not rise to his comment, instead just lifting up her head in acknowledgement before she turned away, quickly striding out of his sight, and leaving him be alone with the promise not to leave, while she returned to the side of her kind.

. . .

She did not count the minutes she had spent at the impromptu meeting, but she weirdly felt they had dragged on for longer than she would have expected. It wasn't exactly a long meeting, being a discussion over previous matters now needing attending to, even if they were largely but a recollection of statements beyond the mortal realm. But that didn't change how impatient she felt, or rather, how much her thoughts kept meandering over towards that specific human himself waiting patiently for her return.

Could it be that she was nervous; that even with her statement she wasn't breaking a promise, perhaps Cobalion wouldn't see it in the same light? Or was it more; that she thought the human would eventually break the promise, if she stayed away long enough?

Why did that one sound far less likely than the former to her?

Such thoughts only helped her carry a speed in her steps as the moment she was free she quickly excused herself, the moment out of sight practically leaping away and back towards the area the human promised he'd stay. Racing through the forest, she made chase and ignored all else but the return to his side, and only during the entire minute long march, did she slow down when the sight was within reach, slowing her pace until finally as she breached past the bushes she calmly walk out with a high call of:

"Human; I have returned." Yet as loud and dictatorial of a sentence she called, she did not receive a reply in return.

"Human?" She questioned again, but as she walked out and back towards the stream, she was given no response or sight of the human at all. Confused, she quickly shoved her head left, right and centre to try and find where the presence of the human had gone. She could still smell his lingering musk, so he could not have just popped away from existence, but her visage of him standing anywhere nearby had not appeared. "Hu-man?"

She almost began to worry, to fear a major incident had occurred in her absence that had befallen the man that wished to protect this land as strongly as she did - until she spotted an arm propped from the other side of a lone tree. Blinking, she tried not to wonder why she had gotten so worked up over losing the human as she instead tried to focus back on the more urgent matters. That is, the human seemingly sitting behind a tree, ignoring her own presence. Walking forward, she restarted her proclamation anew: "Human, I have ret-"

Or tried to, as when she turned the corner of the tree and looked, she finally found the answer to why he was suddenly so distant with her. Not out of spite, or any desire to ignore, she quickly found, but instead it became instantly clear why he had not replied or turned back to meet her return; the human, popped up by the trunk, was softly keeping still as he was entranced in a gentle sleep.

Again, she had no idea how long the meeting went on for, but she still felt rather surprised upon seeing him already have taken a nap. Though, perhaps she couldn't entirely blame him on his part, it was getting into the beginning of dusk, and he had looked to run himself ragged from earlier engagements, so perhaps it wasn't as unlikely an end result as she had thought.

But even that said, he was not meant to sleep right here in this forest. No he had to return home, return to the land of humans, return to. . . to . . .

He looked so peaceful. So calm, undisturbed by anything else in the world. She didn't need to take a glance at his bare chest to be reminded of those scars, those permanent fixtures on his body that existed now to purely give remembrance over past times, times he. . . does not seem to care, or want, to keep remembering. Perhaps. . . this may be the only time he is not disturbed by anything. . .

Glancing right, then left, she felt it necessary to ensure the coast was clear, no other was watching; before she closed the space between them with gentle steps. Silently he slept, unresponsive to any moves she elegantly would create, which for this moment it seems she would have preferred - because with gentle grace: she sat down on her four legs, her body staying right by the side of the tree, and closing her eyes she listened to nothing but ambient sound of the stream of the forest, and the nearby slow breathing of the sleeping man. Right before she finally tilted her head over to his shoulder

She didn't care to flinch from the tingle that suddenly occurred, the tiny jolt too insignificant in her mind to pay heed when her chin brushed against his clothed body. Instead, she laid her cheek down flat on him, her horns delicately never once scraping against his skin. With her body relaxing in turn like his, and with one final exhale, she let out a tiny sentence, before she too fell into the depths of a dreamy slumber.

"Goodnight, Maximillian."

---

With a final dab, the painting had finished.

"How do I look?" The curious one asked innocently, unable to see his one reflection so relied on the opinion of the other.

Stepping back a little, the human admired his work with a satisfied smile. Yes, it was no masterpiece he created, nor a fully restored piece of ancient artwork given new life; instead, what he had just crafted with his special all-in-one camouflage paint stick was the perfect veil for one such as the other. His once cream-coloured fur now smoothed over with a Woodland pattern, dirtied up with the dried colours of greens, browns and sands, allowing a perfect blend into the forest background.

Feeling content with his work, the artist returned his question with a silent thumb's up, earning a smile on the other as he began to shake in anticipation.

"Ready?" His answer was already shown by the impatient shuffle of the smaller one's hooves, the shorter ones whole body quaking with the excitement and anticipation that could only have come from one as juvenile as his gleeful mindset.

"Then let us begin. . . "

Like shadows they moved, formless entities not of this world that swam and swayed wherever they pleased, ducking behind the nearest bush, vehicle or building to keep their silhouette out of sight of any prying eyes. Like music they danced, like water they flowed, and like the wind, they breezed around the outskirts of the encampment with silent grace as they stayed unnoticed by all.

With careful treads, they clung to the wall of a makeshift building, not just any wall, but the wall of the very Project Manager himself, if the sign cleanly written across the door was any honest indication. Keeping their bodies held tightly to the metallic walls, something the Colt Pokemon found a little more challenging considering his four-legged composure, the two Ekans-d along the wall, crouching under the window in as they tried not to look too out of place, before they both with mouths clung shut, slowly extended their necks to peer into room to see the object of their hate and malice. One, who's fault for this entire endeavour was to be blamed on him, stared away in unknown ignorance while he spoke idol words into his telecommunication device:

"Alright, you little tyke, I'll see you soon. Bye bye, tell mommy I love her too." Never once did he know of the two pairs of eyes staring daggers into the back of his head.

They didn't need to see anything else. He was clearly busy, thus not a problem for them, so with silent unfiltered finesse, they both slowly descended themselves out the view of the window and back to clinging against the wall. . .

Both descended down.

. . .

A hand raised up under the bottom of the window, and with a gentle pull, slowly brought down the head of the still boring eyes of the Pokemon under the cover of the glass.

All that needed to be seen was done, so now, as they both kept silent and unseen under cover, the two delicately shuffled away to a safer spot.

"You never told me," The more puerile of the two whispered out, trying not to be too loud with his question, "how did you convince Virizion to let me join you?"

"Oh I didn't need to convince anyone." He replied while he made a rummage through his backpack. "She simply came to me stating that you'd like to join me." He made quick glances to the outside world before he continued his murmuring. "I didn't have much reason to deny your request, so I agreed. If anything, I'd say it was her that had the most, well. . . uncertainty, at letting you join. If her pressured bickering to ensure you are kept safe holds fair water."

"Huh, she didn't say anything about that to me." Keldeo tilted his head in deep thought. "She just told me to be on my best behaviour, and do what you say, be back before dusk. . . all those things I've heard a million times before." He received but an understanding nod in return, his focus returning back onto the outside of their miniature shelter of wandering eyes. Though the human's attention fairly wavered towards searching for unwanted consideration from the outer camp, this did not mean he did not dismiss any and all focus onto the equid companion beside him, as his ears still picked up on the wandering spoken thoughts of the smaller aid.

"Come on, Virizion, I'm not a child anymore, I can make my own conjectures and scepticisms. I know when something is bad, you don't always need to coddle me so. . ."

Though he listened, he spoke nothing of it, knowing not to make such a debate. Instead, as his eyes surveyed around him, he began to believe the time was ripe, the moment was ready for them both to head out and complete the tasks he sees set onto them.

"And it's not my fault I wasn't told not to pee there."

. . . Now, they truly must be.

With Purrloin-like tread, the two made a silent haste around the campsite, staying hidden and out of sight. Despite the obvious offbeat design of the two compared to the more common working man, the non-common working man here allowed both himself and his four-legged ally to escape out of sight and mind of any the workers with pure ease as slowly, but surely, they sought to begin their process of breaking down both morale and power to this invasion faction.

With a silent leap they appeared out in the open, albeit with no extra pairs of eyes watching them jump. Rather, the two were pleasantly alone, if one was to not count the hunkering vehicles all standing around here. It was not by chance they found themselves in an open field surrounded by a number of tractors and other such heavy vehicles, but rather, this was the humans plan from the start, a plan he already was putting into motion as he led his companion towards the nearest large machine.

He didn't feel the need to size up the big vehicle, nor wanted to, as even when placed by the shadow of the monstrosity, all he did in return for seeing the towering figure was to shrink further, down to a crouch. But it was not out of fear or peer pressure did he feel the need to kneel down; but instead with unambiguous gusto did he allow himself to stoop low, uttering outwards with brazen energy to the cloven comrade :

"Bleach."

Not a second word as needed to be said, as that simple one-word was all that was necessary for the command to be acknowledged, and initiated. A flip of his backpack's cover, a swift rummage through, and an object was quickly pulled out just before the holder of the item handed it over from his teeth into his open palm - allowing the human to finally work.

Going unnoticed, the pair's next moments were filled with no noise, save for the sound of disinfectant liquid pouring down the fuel tanks of the big machinery. Within due time the clear flow was guzzled down, the fuel caps placed back upon like nothing had even just occurred, and with a place back of the now empty bottle into his backpack the human made one final look around before finally jolting away with his companion in tow. A fit of giggles begging to burst from the seams was forcibly kept in check until they returned to the shadows, and even then, the howl that was ensured to peep out as the Colt Pokemon could not contain his excitement, and laughter, for much longer.

But he must! For the sake of the human, the one so bent on taking down these invaders, the one throwing his life on the line for the innocent Pokemon. . . the one who'll let him do all these cool things, he must obey the rules of stealth and keep silent, to stay back, observe, and strike without anyone knowing his presence. Hoof in mouth, he finally managed to hold back the final onslaught of guffaws just in time for the human in question to look his way. . . and notice, then promptly ignoring the hoof being rammed inside his own mouth as he whispered out in a bureaucratic manner.

"Ready for the next assignment?"

"Yeth, Iym yam!" Keldeo replied, hoof still lodged in mouth. The hoof was pulled out with an audible pop.

"I mean: yes, Sir, I am."

"Good; then let's go."

It was quite a warm day, to the foreman at least, barely a cloud in the sky. And with being both out in the open and having to do full-on labour work was having a bit of an effect on the heat-burdened man. In the least; his tired feet did not slow down when he made a beeline towards a place that even thinking about seemed to cool him down quicker. His trailer, not too far a distance away, filled with both shelter from the sun and water for his throat.

It was this that kept him going, kept him from having to crawl on the ground like a Slugma, and instead pushed him ever farther until finally he was at the door, the final obstacle of his warming journey. His hand poised and ready, the foreman reached forward with his outstretched appendage, gripped down onto the handle and with a pull down the cheering man finally-

Do nothing as the door didn't move.

"What the?" He looked down to the handle with shock, and his emotions getting the better of him he continued to roughly pull down on the handle even more. A futile effort, it seems, and one that was only forced to stop when a song blared from with his office:

"Keep a knockin' but ya can't come in! Come back tomorrow night and try again!"

"Hey, HEY!" His tone raised in both anger and decibels. "The hell is going on here!" He began to bang at the door, roughly manhandling the knob as he pressed his side into the closed-off entrance. Alas, it accomplished little, besides making the man even angrier than he already was.

"I know you're out there!" He shouted aloud, turning around to call out his sentence of contempt. "Very funny, you punks! You won't get away with this." No person came out of the bushes, as it were, to announce their responsibility for this. All perpetrators of this man's anger stayed hidden or disappeared, never seeing his reaction come about.

"Jokes on you then." He scowled in defiance as he turned back to his locked door. "I still have the key- wait. . . " The next few seconds were but sudden silence as the foreman, key out of pocket and now in hand, held the item aloft as he looked down into one very specific hole. . .

"Did you punks seriously solder up the keyhole?" He never heard the sudden rasps of continued snorts whisper along the wind. "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

He could not contain it any more, and the attempt at staying stealthy Pokemon now began to roll along the ground in a fit of barely held back laughter, convulsing on the floor as the human next to him managed to look on with an apathetic face. His expression, surprisingly stoic considering the nearby scene before him, didn't let a hint of emotion rise up as he dryly let out "That should get the point across."

"Help! I can't breathe!" His four-legged compadre was far less so in the 'keeping-cool' department. His body still trembling with giggles, he couldn't stop his hooves from shaking uncontrollably as they were lifted into the air. Despite the scene unfolding before him, however, the human made no attempt to intervene. Rather, he let it pass, not feeling the need to stop anyone's happiness from being halted, especially if it involved innocent laughter bursting to his ears. Lying back, he waited for the moment to pass.

Not for too long, thankfully enough, though that did not diminish the moment that came right after; His laughter having died down, Keldeo finally was able to open his eyes, and through the open slits of their quickly resided shelter he managed to notice a worker put down his mug of whatever-liquid. Though nothing special seemingly came about from it; it was then a sudden, new idea came to the mind of the Colt Pokemon. One that allowed a grin to form across his lips.

"Hey, Mister Imillan?" The human looked down to his companions' gaze. "Do you remember those berries we picked earlier today?"

"I believe I do. Why?"

"Would you mind if I. . . take this one?"

With soft tread, he moved forward. Unseen, unheard, unnoticed. This was the doctrine the male adhered to as he tenderly sauntered on forward. Behind a box, a tool, another human's pair of legs that somehow didn't notice the distinctly coloured quadruped hide himself behind even as he had to tiptoe alongside him as he walked farther away from his target.

Then with a zip, he was hidden behind the bench. A slow rise up until his eyes were above the wooden desks line, he gave a very inspective look left, then right, then finally settling his wandering eyes over onto the target of his solo operation; the half-drunk mug, a puff of steam still rising up from the cup. Eyes furrowed, he knew what he had to do. Leaning forward he made sure to complete his task. Berry's in mouth, gripped on the ends by his teeth, Keldeo's face leaned over the top of the mug, uncovered, a dangerous state to leave it in if the Pokémon's face hovering right above was any indication.

Thus with a press, Keldeo bite down - squirting a light red juice into the mug with deft aim and precision, before spitting the newly dried fruit away as he quickly zoomed back under cover, hiding underneath the shadows back next to his human ally, two pairs of eyes peering out as the silently waited for the next step

Their patience was rewarded gratefully, as but within a few moments later, of hushed whispers and snorts of foretelling results, the worker returned taking the mug and sipping a large dunk down, not once realizing that taint that had gotten into his cup of joe. And thus, the two waited a little more; watched, observed, wondered if waiting is going to come up more often, as the Keldeo wasn't entirely on the patient side and found himself getting a little bored with all standing around and sitting in the shadows and-

The target suddenly convulsed forward, clutching his chest as he looked to be in certain pain, scrunching forward as his knees began to shake, face going red, belly rumbled - and immediately right after ran away like heck as he pushed others aside to gain entrance into the nearest portable potty.

"One landslide, coming up." Though it was the human that spoke it, it was the Pokemon that quickly dishevelled himself into a shaking body of uncontrollable laughter, his childish giggles threatening to burst his own belly at the seams from the straight-faced quip.

"Come on." The more emotionally-straightened of the two whispered as he tapped at the Pokémon's side. "Let's move on."

"Move on?" He tried to announce as his body was still affected from self-induced breathless chortles. "You mean; there's still more for us to do?"

"Of course." Max smiled in response to the wide-eyed, bright iris's shining one before him. "There's far more for both of us to do. . . "

Keldeo wouldn't exactly say he had split from the human, even for the time being, but he wasn't exactly covered here either. Apart from the adaptive man, the Pokemon was left to his own devices as said man went on to do something-something else, away from him to let him be and act the way he believes he should be allowed to do.

It was actually by his own request that he found himself isolated now. He was no child, despite being commonly declared as one. By standard, he could not ignore the truth that the other three were much older and wiser than him by a large margin, but that should not diminish how large a margin his own years and maturity was. Young he may be to them, he was past the stage of being some amateur with his horn; an apprentice of the Swords he no longer was, a well-fleshed out and proven warrior that deserves to stand among the very few that guided him on this journey of self-discovery and gaining the warriors heart. To himself, he believed he no longer should prove to them he was as sturdy and strong as they were.

So it is for that reason he now finds himself walking alone. If not for them, then for himself he must prove he could stand alone. Even for something such as this, as far off from the warriors code as it could be without trying to burn itself as well, he believed he must prove that he could fight by himself as well as with a team.

With those thoughts floating inside his skull, Keldeo reaffirmed his faith as he began to kick-off his own plans of action. An assertion of truth, one that readily found itself able to come into fruition as his pair of ocular lenses suddenly found themselves centralized over a large certain something left on an open table. With it's large thick main body, and a long, protruding yet flat projection pulling out the body, lined along with sharp, metal gnaws of teeth, Keldeo quickly knew what the device was, and with a memory of Max flooding back into his mind, Keldeo swiftly rushed over to the unflinching machine without hesitation

. . . Except, just when he was inches away from removing the pins from the chained saw, another memory suddenly came into his head, of another moment with Max - but with an entirely different explanation coming to mind:

"Remember, Keldeo, though loosening the pins from machines would help to bring them down, do so with only slower moving machinery. Never remove them from a Chainsaw or Buzzsaw, as that is too dangerous. It is our task to stop, not maim, the enemy."

With slow relenting motion, Keldeo moved back. It is not here his time is needed, that he believed to be so, and instead, turning away, he knew to focus his attention onto something more suited.

Like vehicle tracks! Such as the kind presented to him not too far away. Smirking to himself, he eagerly began to move away from his first target, one that for now remains untouched and instead shadowed himself silently over towards where the vehicle was parked, keeping low to the ground with ears perked, eyes focused - and body on high alert, which was a situation he was glad to be in as it swiftly allowed him to dart behind cover upon seeing the sight of two workers starting to approach his position.

Now, by all means, Keldeo had meant to just stay behind and wait for them to pass, his body buried but his ears pertained to them just to let him know when they were finally gone, yet even he could not help but overhear the conversation spoken between the ignorant two. By every account, he didn't much feel the need to care about remembering what it is they said as they passed on by, with such sentences as "Did you hear what happened yesterday?" and "No, did something odd happen?" Being but idle ado for the impatient Pokemon, unnecessary talk that only cemetery further how long he was to be stuck here.

Only for his ears, and his mind, to suddenly jerk up and perk to the conversation the moment he heard:

"Yeah, one of the workers came close to losing his legs yesterday when a trap was set right in front of his tent. Apparently some masked person was seen fleeing the scene right after."

Whatever came next, was but a murmur to him. Whichever addition would work best were honestly left out as Keldeo could not hear anything else. And it was not because they were already leaving him that the voices dimmed down, but even as they walked on, the once stealthy-inclined Pokemon popping his head out to spy on their back as they left, he could not hear a single thing.

Or maybe he just didn't care to listen anymore. . .

With flagging legs he moved on.

Around, a number of workers were busy doing their thing, a crowd of them altogether, albeit with many acting separate and independent from another. Sounds of chatting, of working hard and hardly working, a congregation of different jobs fitting into one small area that was to a hider in shadows a place one should stay far away from.

All but this one. He would not leave, turn and retreat, nor would he trick those into moving to a different space. No, he saw this as perfect, the much larger group than himself a perfect match, and target, for his devious schemes. He would not run and hide, but would strike first, strike swift, and with the pressure building up in his legs, strike now, as the once hidden shadow leaped forward and up to be witnessed by them all.

And he did so, in the way only he knew best:

"Hey, humans!" They all look up to a table. Keldeo shook his rear at them. "Here's your target! Pbbbblt!"

And with a laugh, the Colt Pokemon jumped down and began to run away, an angry mob in tow. Though he the Rattata in this game of Delcatty and Rattata, this fact did not stop his laughter coming out as he made strides with the angry crowd chasing after him with shouts of "Get him!" and "Capture it!"

Despite the mob continuing to grow as he dashed passed the vehicles and buildings, past the fences and pipes, Keldeo did not cease his four-hoofed trot as he easily made fair space between the mob and himself, even letting the vast approaching riot try to swarm him as he made a beeline: into the forest, through the bushes, and out of sight of his chasers for but a mere moment after as they too leaped through the tall shrubbery, passing onward and forward as they charged out the bushes and-

"AAAHHHHHH!"

Came a number of individual, yet concurrent screams that erupted but just a second later, followed by a resounding crash of bodies hitting the wet, dirty floor. The screams did not go unheard by the others following behind, and as they too charged out the shrubs, the small number of those left immediately dug their heels into the ground so as not to fall victim to the now discovered trap.

Below them a large pit was seen, one that was once looked to be covered over by twigs and leaves, now was fully open as the weight of a number of workers snapped the fragile sticks apart with ease, albeit not by their own intention. Now the pit was uncovered, the men looked down below to see a group of other workers spitting and moaning words of bile as they thrashed about in the wet mud, struggling to wipe their faces clean and pull themselves out of the cold, dirty pit.

Not a single one of them found the entire scene hilarious; that is, save for the one that intentionally led them there. From not too far a distance a shrub was vibrating curiously, since inside a Pokemon was trying his darnedest not to alert them of their presences as he trashed around himself, save not out of confusion or fear, but the pure, unbridled cheer that is humor.

The whole situation, the sight, the knowledge of how dirty the men were, to his mind the entire circumstance was beyond a whimsey of a farce, but pure hilarity in its rawest form. His hoof could not help but stomp against the ground as the belly-jiggling Pokemon was too caught up in his own accolades to recognise how close he was. As despite all that had just transpired, the men did not forget about the youngest Swords intervention and appearance in their camp - and if anything, the fact his retreat led their own fellow workers into the muddy mess seemed to only tick them off even more, their faces now red with anger.

He was catching it close, but even in his state he could see the men vast approach by his position, no doubt the sounds of rustling and hushed laughter being two common reasons why to inspect here for his whereabouts, and though less mature and wise than his counterparts, he was still able to quickly understand the situation presented to him. So with both front hooves breaching forward, the Colt Pokémon firmly pushed them into his mouth as he froze his entire body.

Though the rustling may have gotten their attention, their exact target was still an educated guess for the men at large, the workers crashing over dropped twigs with uncaring abandon as they searched around with eager want of finding. Over other bushes they went, looking around for the culprit while said miscreant laid low in his shrubbery, staying low and out of sight. . . silent. . . unflinching. . . having a random stem brush against the tip of his nose. . .

"Achoo."

Forcing both his hoofs now to his nose, the surprised one froze in place upon the realization of the noise he made. Though he stayed frozen, his eyes proved to be the exact opposite as they darted around like a maddened Cutiefly, buzzing about the place as he worried eyes now became the search-e. They were close, too close for comfort, their steps were a ringing in his ears as they no doubt heard the sound of such a young one sneezing in this now silent place-

"Bless you." One worker called out. None looked the Colt Pokémon's way, even as he stared wide-eyed out the brush. With an expression that dared not to even move a muscle, by the moment the men began to storm away, back to camp or to another area, Keldeo tip-toed himself off from the bush and deeper into the forest, farther away from the men, and hopefully not behind himself as he faced only forward-

"Enjoyed yourself?" With a curious tilt of his head, Keldeo turned his focus away from front and to his side, where sitting rather casually nearby the only human who was on his side calmly rested by a trunk. A large grin on his face, a looming presence over him, he blinked to his stature. To that, Keldeo could only nod with an unchanging face.

"Then good. I think you're had your fun, but now it's time to head back, wouldn't you agree?"

Though he wished to disagree, wanting to spend more time to 'play' around, Keldeo knew, deep down in his immature but willing to learn heart, that all good things must come to an end eventually, and a day could only last so long. So, with his heart filled with the true spirit of a warrior, the youngest Sword stayed steadfast with his firm reply.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Good, shall we be off." He did not object, and with only a tiny turn to stay back at the camp behind them, Keldeo and the human walked off, their jobs for today done, and the day itself feeling to come to a close as they trudged away, ready to return to a normal life before them.

"Tell me, Mr Imilian; and do be okay to not answer if you so, er. . . desire, to be;" Keldeo tried to announce with an air of authority above him. Focus on tried, noteworthy with bubbly air about him. "Can we do this again another time?"

"Oh, trust me: I have something special planned for very soon. . . "

---

For all these years of living his life; from the beginning of his solo odyssey to nowhere, to the formation of his three companions, to the many fights, excursions and raged wars that he has took part in, he had never expected that, one day, of one evening, he would be allowed the occasion of relaxation done so under the guidance and feast-preparation by none other than one random human.

That alone, though not entirely an oddity of an idea, was far beyond what he had come to be used to. It was not as if he despised humans to any degree, some, perhaps many, but not all roped into one bag as if all could fit in the limited threading that is the ideology of awful presumptions. He still knew it best to keep a distance, at least when never needing a genuine reason to stay close by. Because of this, he'd always believed the destiny of man and the path of his pilgrimage of faith were to rarely intersect together, at least when not including times when one forcibly overlaps the other. So, right here and now, to see himself gladly taking a seat, alongside the rest of his Swords, while said human prepared a thick stew, mouth-watering with the smell alone, as he spun tales of his past life while a number of other Pokemon - a Vulpix by his side, paying her attention only to him while a family of Cinccino/Minccino laid sleepily in his lap with his jacket pulled over like a poach for them - calmly perched around him; he could not find this incident as anything other than. . . rather silly.

But not in any detrimental way to himself.

If anything, it was quite admirable, really. All the Swords gathered around, waiting for food to be cooked just for them, while the human told his days of past life while the group all watched and listened, engrossed by his words, all eyes on him; Virizion most especially.

". . . And there was also this time, a few years ago, I was aboard a boat with other activists. We were trying to stop these Kanto Whalers from going after Wailord's. And I don't mean a fully fledged adult male; I mean they were trying to pick off a mother and her baby, of all choices. Worst of all, they had rifles on their ship, and as it quickly seemed they all appeared to be very laxed with the knowledge of gun safety upon spotting our vessel fast approaching their way. I don't think I'll need to say how terrifying it became when they started firing on us, riddling our ship with holes as the activists crouched low to avoid the randomised spread. Thankfully for us, however; our boat wasn't purely disarmed, despite our preference of peace over violence - we had an old navy cannon on our deck, one that I was more than knowledgeable of how to operate.

Now; with that said, that didn't mean I was well liked on the ship because of it. Some of the others wanted them to just sink the whalers and kill them, which I was heavily against. Instead, my aim found itself onto something far more advantageous; their crane and harpoon gun; one that happened to already found it's innocent targets. Now let me tell, aiming for them though was not smooth sailing, and I do mean that in a literal way: The rocking of our boat, the swaying of the enemies, having to shoot at much smaller targets than a hull, all the while bullets are constantly fired at you from many directions, it was far from an easy task, but thankfully in the end, with good aim I managed to destroy both machinery without causing harm to anyone, in doing so disabling their ability to capture and kill." He paused for a minute to chuckle to himself, looking downwards as he continued to reminisce.

"The 77mm was old, but it was still more than able to make them think twice about their rifles. Once they saw what the cannon was able to accomplish; they turned and began to flee. The Wailord and child were spared, and they cheerily took off, safe from harm."

All around, the pairs of eyes stayed to him in complete silence, the sounds of the fire crackling being the only noise that littered the otherwise ghostly quiet. All of those here, mainly the Swords he was telling his story to, could only hold their lips and contemplate in deep thought the short story he had just retold to them. Even one such as Cobalion could not interject to his ways, as such an act, for all it was tried for, was meaningless to comment on. Such words were unwisely necessary, and speaking out would ruin this calm, engrossing atmosphere the human had moulded for them to bask in.

". . . Wow! That sounded absolutely, positively amazing!" Keldeo spoke out loud as he danced on his hooves in excitement. "Like, they had their things, but you had your bigger thing and won against it, it must have been so impressive to see."

Cobalion rolled his eyes, but said nothing more.

"But wait; why didn't you destroy the ship? You could have done that without hurting the people, couldn't you?"

"Counterproductive." Max replied without a second's hesitation. "Sinking their ship would pollute the waters with oil and fuel. What's one mother and calf against a backdrop of toxic liquid seeping into the ocean? To me, neither choice must occur, even if the third option made it far easier for me to be a sitting target."

"But weren't you scared? I heard human rifles were dangerous."

"To put it lightly." He tried to laugh with, not at, the youngest member. "But it was far from the first time bullets were whizzing over my head. Being a Galar Ex-Royal Marine has its perks, I was able to find, though I still would have preferred my old unit to be there above anyone else." He made a pause, his face turning into a soft smile not lost on those that recognised it. "I had some good friends there: Victor, Afton, Olde Sullivan, oh - Sean and Blue, the Sniper-Spotter team. Can never forget them, they taught me a lot, not the least of which was more expert camouflage techniques." He chuckled, but this time those that could tell saw the deeper melancholy lying behind his laughter.

"Max," Virizion spoke out, her words tame and controlled, "how long have you been doing this? This activism, I mean?"

To that, his reply was but a slow, elongated sentence curled out as if the words lingered here as long as possible: "When I realized how much suffering others go through, far more than I could hope to own." For a moment, Cobalion perceived, the atmosphere had taken a sharp nosedive. No more spoke out, recalling stories of their past days, or making light conversation. Not entirely intentional on anyone's part, though, no doubt, if fault was to blame, it was by the man's slow, melancholic statement. Such a curt reaction dimmed the emotion of this place, shredding the warming feelings with self-thinking commotion, keeping all mouths shut as they seemingly awaited the human, the one that dulled the pressure breached the silence with pleasant approach.

"Do tell me something, human," Virizion's time to question burst through before the silence became empty for muhc longer, "Have you perchance heard: of the ancient tales of a man, One of all Men the mildest and of praise the keenest?"

"Oh; here it finally is." Max chuckled in return, barely trying to hold back his laughter . "I should have known that sooner or later this would be brought up."

"Oh, so you have heard of the old tales of: Sir Maximillian." Virizion chuckled in return.

"With the amount of teasing I was given when I was younger, I'm surprised the tale isn't lodged into my brain by now." He shook his head as he paid focus onto only the soup strewing in front of him.

"I'm sorry." Keldeo piped up. "Who?"

"Before your time." Cobalion answered before the others could. "He was a famous knight, one of eons past. He is said to be but of tales and nothing more, though I still put me point across he was as real as you and me." The other two Swords nodded, knowing more than enough of the old legends. But with Keldeo having yet to learn of the old tales, all he could do was stare up at the man with imaginative wonder.

Something said man realized with a few seconds of staring longer. "I'm just a man." He waved the Pokemon off. "Nothing more."

Humble as it was to commit to, Virizion could not help but stare and wonder herself. She knew much of many knights, Maximillian the Great as fondly as any other famous cavalier, and the more she pondered the more she wondered if there was more to him than name alone. Reincarnation is well believed to exist more than others realized, and she saw more and more of it in him the longer she observed his actions.

Though. . . Keldeo was not holding this in the same regard. A plague of doubts littered the Pokémon's mind, and not just from off shoots over education he has yet to learn. Rather, it was the memory of his ears picking up what other have said of some masked individual "Having thrown bricks into their windows." And other similar connections of criminalist behaviour that gave him pause for thought. He knew he trusted easily, more than the other, and perhaps too innocently for his own good, but even know he still wanted the best to come from this human. He just hoped his inclination would not come back to bite him.

With one final turn of his ladle, the human's attention having been warned over to the boiling meal just seconds from his dwindled remark, he fully announced to the world, or at least to those he promised, that "Stew's ready!", lifting the spirits of all whose ears listened towards. With his set of old wooden bowls, he began to silently serve out his stew to all; the smaller Pokemon included.

Looking down to his bowl placed in front; he didn't look at the stew in contempt. Rather, Cobalion felt more intrigued, and in an honest sense, hungry, for the food offered to him. Even from where he sat, the steam from the meal lifted to his nose, sending more pangs of equal parts intrigue and craving through him. Feeling no reason to believe a deceptive hidden purpose was laden into the broth, Cobalion gracefully lifted his neck down and began to take slow, but strong sips of the stew.

And even by the sips alone did the taste jolt through him like wild sparks of lightning from the clouds above. The deep robust flavour, crafted by the mix of the warming spices, the gentle herbs and the fibrous combinations of various rummage that just slipped off his tongue, filled the leader with energised strength as his own mouth near demanded he vigorously grabbed the bowl by its hem and chug the entire contents down his stomach in one full gulp. It was like the calls of a Primarina, the whispers of sound temptation that lunged out to him and demanded he indulge him in his warmest, deepest darkest fantasies, to let it come to light:

"Quite delightful." He calmly announced, slowly swallowing the last gulp that was in his throat as he calmly ensured he stayed composed in front of his comrades. Though, polite as it was, such an act seemed more lost on his fellow warriors as they eagerly gulped down the stew with the barest of breaths.

"Ohhh this is amazing!" Keldeo excitedly stated, his form going limp from the taste that burned onto his tongue. "I've never eaten something this good in such a long time."

"I agree." Virizion spoke out. "It's such an interesting flavour. I'm not entirely sure how you even did it." That was only a half-truth, however. As Virizion knew exactly what was in the stew, albeit not via personal assistance. Rather, Virizion was the one to watch as he gathered rummage in the forest, under her guidance of course, as he did seem interested in knowing he stole the flora. She noticed earlier on how knowledgeable on this subject was, how he knew which plants were edible and which were not, making her question by how much training he had in the past.

Though even if she never asks or comes to find out, she could at least appreciate how willing he was in sharing the delight with everyone, the wonderful sound of the four sitting around and enjoying a meal wasn't a memory she thinks to forget.

"You need to tell us the recipe, I want to have this everyday - I mean," Keldeo's eyes briefly met Cobalion's striking own. "If you want to, that is."

Without noticing the small smile the Colt Pokemon had just received, Max gladly replied. "I'm sure my Grandma wouldn't mind me sharing the recipe. I mean; she never told me to share, but she never told me not to share it either." Cobalion was sure it was meant as a lark, but as it seems such humour was lost on the youngest sword.

"Well either way, I'm sure your Gran must be very proud of you." He grinned.

"I'm sure she would have been, if she hadn't passed a long time ago. . ." His voice trailed off.

It was Terrakion who suddenly spoke out. "Her body may have left, dear human, but I can assure you her spirit lives on, watching over you with pride and love."

His sentence may have been short, but its words held strong meaning, Cobalion believed. He didn't ask to see if his words moved the human; as the small, sad smile that adorned his features the moment after spoke more than words could carry. Terrakion always did have his way with words. . .

With a final look into his own bowl, Cobalion leaned down and drank the last of the stew. Finishing it up quickly he wiped at his face with his tongue, and with his head held high, proudly announced his intention with clear motive:

"As nice as these festivities seem to be, this was never the reason you have come to us this evening." Like a slash of a blade, the atmosphere was cut deep by Cobalion's administration, but not born of spite. More, there was an important development that needed to be addressed; and the changing of the human's serious-growing face was more than enough telling for the leader to know he knew it much the same

As the silence built up, none of the Swords murmuring even a whisper, the human slowly placed down his bowl, sat up straight, and stared back with vigorous focus as he became the cynosure of all eyes. "No, I did not come here just to make a polite meal and share stories of my youth; I came here hoping to ask you personally for something highly immediate."

"I come here asking for your help. All of you."

For his part, Cobalion but blinked, letting himself stay composed in deep, longing thought, mind running with ideas and assumptions only he knew of, before, with the grace of the finest blade, he stood himself up, tall and proud as he looked onto the human that stayed seated.

"For all the while, the weeks that turned to months, I had received no announced problem letting you get on with your strange, yet so-forth, rather effective strategies. No matter how much I had doubts over it, you have proven, quite rightly, the effectiveness of your foreign plans, at least until the moment of today. With none, or at least, little help from our presence, you had by all means prevented the breach on this land from happening, disregarding if it wasn't to happen now or not. By Virizion's own admission, you have not caused any complications, nor interfered with our own plan of action, a thought carried over until the very time of this evening." Cobalion's speech was paused as he shared a glance with the Grassland Pokemon, who only kept herself down and out of the conversation, looking away with mild unease.

"So, Maximilian, I can only come up with the presumption that now, and only now, is there a major problem you have met that requires our own personal attention and aid for. Do tell, as to why, now of all times, have you sought out our service, and why do you feel the need to require it?"

For all his tranquillity, Max did not immediately respond to the denunciation held to him. In fact, he did not meet the leader's gaze eye-to-eye, not out of fear or worry, but simply out of understanding his words needed to be as blunt yet careful as could be. By the end of a slow exhale, he finally relented the built-up disturbance that feared to boil his blood.

"I had gotten word today; they plan to advance into the forest before tomorrow's end." All of a sudden, heavy whispers began screeching out the shadows. Various voices mixed together, not just of the Swords, but even the few Pokemon that listened in began to fog the air with numerous statements of anxiety and anguish. The air became thick enough to dampen the plane, muddying it up with concerned questions as the forest became awake with activity once again - and Cobalion refused to allow the mist to settle over.

"Hush." He did not need to shout, as his loud telepathic call brought the questions, the understanding raises of alarm and worry, back down to peace. The air still was thick and humid, but the noises softened enough to think clearly for him now.

"I see. . . " He let his words crawl. "And I take it, you refuse to let that happen at all costs?"

"I don't believe you need my answer to clarify that."

The Iron Will Pokemon didn't answer in turn, he too knowing the other knew the answer already.

"I assume you already have a plan involved."

With gentle suffering for the Cinccino family to take their leave, Maximilian looked the Pokemon over one last time, before pulling out a parchment from his satchel.

"Yes; I already do. . . "

---

Dusk was already upon them, and with a lean upon a tree Max let the orange glow shine onto him. Night was vastly approaching, and with the end of nature's personal light coming to a close, he sought it best to enjoy the light while it lasted. Upon the hill ledge, facing a sheer drop below, Max looked on; both at the last remnants of the day's shine, and to the object he held tightly in his hand.

He did not speak, nor utter a peep of a sound, but rather, with distant eyes he looked on to what he could never reach; barely recognizing the sounds of hooves approaching him. He knew it was too late to make any suspicious moves, so instead, as he turned to meet with the undoubtedly concerned face of a lady coming his way, he only lowered his guard as he let the female have the first say.

Though such an act was not met with thankful reprise, as Virizion kept herself shut for a few dawdling moments. Though there was a wind, a light breeze, the air still fell to a silence when their gazes met. The tension was suffocating, and neither truly knew why the silence wanted to choke them so harshly. In the end, however, Virizion had enough of the smothering pressure, and decided to finally speak her mind.

"Do you think it will work?" Her words were as calm as the breeze itself. "The plan, I mean. Do you think we can do it?"

He stared at her, giving her a stoic look for the longest of seconds before he finally breathed out an answer. "I think we can try. At this point, that's all we should hope to strive for."

Virizion spoke nothing more, despite it seeming like she had much to say. Her focus trailed away, off to the horizon as silence reigned supreme. Like a heavy blanket, it felt to bring them both down, into a submission neither wanted; and that was something he could not stand for.

"Sorry." He spoke sincerely, gaining her attention with a look of confusion on her brow. "I should have said something. . . far more positive." His state continued forward, but hers remained firmly on his.

"No. . . no, it's alright. Honesty, no matter how blunt, is still something we all need to hear."

"I still cannot say I one-hundred percent agree with your plan." Now his eyes were the ones that finally rested on, while hers looked back off to the horizon. "Even after all you have laid out, which is quite impressive no matter what doubts can be about it, I do still believe a true confrontation is the quickest, fastest and most efficient way to break the intruders. Too much is at stake to leave it up to even the slightest chance that it could go wrong, and the smallest slip-up, no matter how well you have planned in advance, can break it apart and ruin everything. That's not to say scare and fear tactics are something I'm heavily against, nor is focusing on weakening the enemy as opposed to an upfront battle isn't without its own merits, but there's no manner more heroic, and more willed than meeting your opponent head on and ensuring their head is in fact taken. In the end, I'd always choose the safest, even if more upfront dangerous option, than the safer but longer and riskier option."

She turned to him with a smug smile adorned on her elongated face. "Or should I have said something far more positive."

With a snort of surprised laughter bellowing out his nose , the man, once so seeming to be so still with his temperament, released a light chuckle from the Pokémon's sudden wisecrack. Her smile was infectious, though unlike any illness it shared the action of smiling with the human, his nostrils flaring as he sunk his head back into the tree.

The air around him felt warm, though he couldn't pinpoint whether it was from the sun's last beams itself, or from the humorous quip by the usually solid female beside him. Either way, he didn't feel the need to try and find out. Ever since the plan had been finalised, the common sinking feeling that something could go wrong returned to wrap around him with its filthy claws, it's head undesirably close to his as its mouth continued to whisper doubts through to his ear. Lying his body back against the tree, no room for such an imaginary creature, did little to help as the fears still plagued him. Yet in the end; it was not the action of relaxing that soothed his troubles, nor the setting sun or any fond moments of reminiscing, but simply a rather immature riposte of linguistics caused by the smug strider that seemed to ease the tension in his shoulders. Thus, he slowly felt his tension die down. . .

"Oh hello. . . " The curious call of a female suddenly strode into his ears. "And who are these?"

He didn't need to ask nor see to guess where that question had eluded from; though that didn't make it easier for him to wish her not to see. But alas, as his eyelids raised open, he did indeed find the attention of the lady looking down to the object that he still let be firmly held in his grasp.

Her eyes may have been looking downwards, but it was her mind that furiously studied the contents that were before her. Though crumpled and wrinkly, slowly fading colours, the item that the human had opened up was indeed what she knew of as a photo, a small, old piece of paper that definitely has seen better days. Despite its worse-for-wear state, she could clearly make out the details immortalized upon. Two younger human girls, both smiling with youthful innocence, and an older female at the back, perhaps the mother of the two, as she too smiled with glee to the camera; and finally, right in centre, looked to be none other than a younger looking:

"Is this your family?" Her eyes turned away to look up to the face of the man she quickly recognised below. "I didn't suspect you to have a family." There was a glint in her eyes, a shining light that beamed out like the sun away, one that shone directly onto him - but it was a glimmer he had to come to despise after all this time.

"Had." Though he uttered one word, the singular act was a piercing strike onto the shocked one. It wasn't even the meaning behind the word that threw her for the loop, that itself more a poison on the piercing nail that eventually if nested her being, but it was the sharp, curt way he said it, the almost angered tone from which he spoke, that jittered her from her cheery state.

Though a smile adorned the man's face, there was not a glimmer of elation that aroused on his face. Perhaps, if one was to look more closely, they could see the barest hint of brighter moments from his falling visage, but those lights were slowly blackened out by the deep fog of reality's harshest truths. It was an obvious face of sadness, one that a mask, no matter how hard it stoned itself in, could not block out the choking realism that seeped forth.

"It's old history, Virizion, old history that I. . . can never go back to. Photos are the only way I. . . can see them again. . . " He tried to steel himself, but like ever-growing rust it eventually crumbled away his exterior without mercy. Even as he tried to place the picture back away, hidden from his sight to not look upon ancient memories, the trembling in his hands, the unkempt quivering of his fingers denied him the clemency of doing so gracefully, as the photo half-folded, half-scrunched in his one hand before being gently placed away into his pocket. Out of sight; but never out of mind.

She blinked at his statement. Bewildered was an understatement, as such an answer, not just purely unexpected, garnered more questions that it solved. Though she had not known much of his history, even including his stories from hours ago, she would not have come up with the answer he had just acknowledged. There was more to the story here, surely, there was more to it. . . history that can never be forgotten, like scars on one's torso.

"Sometimes, when you love someone; you have to do what's best for them . . . even if that means letting them go forever." She did not care how she looked, how she would have seemed if others watched it occur. She refused to let it be any longer. Even as his focus was onto nothing at all, his eyes closed and unable to see anything at all save the call of darkness, with soft steps she paced to him, stood beside him and gently held his cheek by hers.

A lot made sense, and a lot didn't make sense. But at this moment, all she knew what to make sense of was the human needing exactly this.

And that tomorrow will certainly be the day of reckoning.

---

The time was minutes before noon, and as the sun was high in the sky, beating down at full strength - so too were the men of the construction camp at full preparation to be ready to go. Their long-awaited quest was finally coming to its conclusion, and despite the many. . . many setbacks along the way, nothing, and absolutely nothing is going to get in the way of them starting to tear down these old historic woods and make way for a new modern set of homes; ones by those that actually pay taxes.

Definitely not including the likes of the Flower Children currently shouting and protesting at the sides. Though enclosed, the camp having put up barricades on both sides of their entrance to disallow any from entering, the protestors still shouted to them without care or remorse, waving their signs in some futile attempt to dissuade them from continuing forth with their project. Their shrills fell on deaf ears, the workers no longer affected by the demands and insults as they cared only to finally get on with their line of work.

The men were at the ready; tools in hand, shoulders tense, eyes concentrated forward while the one man got into his bulldozer and started the engine. As it roared to life, the others moved out the way letting it pass by, letting it lead the way as they felt ready to finally start finishing their work. As the bulldozer led the way, the men followed behind like a parade, stamping their foot into the grass while the roaring vehicle made its beeline forward.

Though its charge was slow, its assault was implacable. The blunt-faced machine was the lead of their engagement, the beginning of the end of this woodland. And as it continued forth, past the barricade and to the realms of the forests line the men got ready for the removal of this plan as the heavy machine charged into the forway to-

Get immediately stuck in the tall bushes.

Though the engine still roared like a ravage beast, the machine itself made no progress forward at all as the tracks turned only in place. The driver, seeing the vehicle go nowhere, furrowed his brow in confusion before he changed gears and pressed down harder onto the pedal, demanding the engine roar louder as it began to scream out with the great power put behind it. But still, even with the added force, the dozer was still found stuck just into the tall bushes, not budging an inch as the driver began slamming his foot down with frustration. No matter what he tried, the vehicle just would not go further, grinding its tracks in the spot as it led him to wonder if a deep rock or such like was hidden under the bushes, halting the march. Suddenly without given warning at all a sudden jolt rocked his cabin as he suddenly found himself finally having movement be made from his vehicle of destruction. . .

Backwards.

Unable to fully comprehend the situation before him, the driver could only blink and watch as his machine, one that was still roaring with forward energy, was being dragged - no - forced into the other direction even as his foot never moved off the pedal. The tracks were still moving in the wrong direction - and as the plough was brought out the line for the bushes, the man could only watch as a pair of thick horns came into his view; along with the visage of a very angry looking Pokemon.

Completely lost in the ability to comprehend, he did not notice the calls of the other workers shouting out unanswered questions and shouts of confusion. All he could do was watch in bewilderment and fear at seeing the grand prongs of the unknown Pokemon push back the machine with far greater force than even his machine at full throttle could give out. The dozer may have roared with as much energy as it could put out, but the four legged one, in all his side, barely flinched at all as his legs continued to press forward, dragging his hooves into the dirt as the bulky Pokemon managed to stare the human down with a resolute gaze.

A stare that was met back with nothing but confusion and fear.

A stare that did not last very much longer, because with one final hoof digging into the ground, Terrakion pressed his whole body into the plough: and with the toughness of his horns guiding the way lifted the entire machine up, holding the metallic machination in the air with seeming ease, before he tossed it to the side like yesterday's trash!

It was quite thankful then, that despite the immense muscles the Cavern Pokemon had carved through countless years of fights and training, Terrakion refused to use his whole strength; in that the lift barely went far. A few feet off the ground, a good number of metres back, the machine dropped back down into the gravel barely a few seconds after. And though the force was heavy, powerful, it did not nor intended to crumble or break the machine at all, the engine still roared even after it jumped off the ground itself. However, none of that seemed to help the human to regain his composure as the shock still coursed through, leaving him a broken and bewildered mess in the cockpit.

To say such an act did not surprise the other workers was a complete and total lie, as they too, despite some not even being close to the situation, stood still and frozen as they too could barely comprehend the scene until only moments later .

It was another that called out "Hey; get that Pokemon to move!" to break the overbearing silence. Despite the sudden force he showed, the Pokemon in question stayed still and stoic, not moving an inch even as more hurls of insults threw his way. Insults did not stay the only thing that were hurled for much longer; because as the anger slowly gained in intensity, so too did the physical objects that were thrown in an attempt to force him out the way.

Rocks were his kin, however, as even when the workers began throwing actual stones at his person - met with shouts of anger from the side-lined protesters - such objects danced off his form like pebbles, tapping at his hardened skin like they were but dust against the wind. He simply blinked by how ineffective their attempts were.

The workers themselves thankfully began to realize this as well; or perhaps less thankfully, he should say, as one of the pissed-off workers grasped his hands around something much bigger - a large rock, one so heavy he had to carry in both his tiny arms. It's size left even the worker a little bit dazed by the weight, yet Terrakion, for all his worth, only gave the man a sideways glance, refusing to flinch at by the force of his own typing. Not that this look changed the workers mind, as with a winding of his arms he shouted out in clear "If this doesn't force you to move; I don't know what-"

Then something moved - not the Cavern Pokemon himself; striding right beside the boulder-enforcing worker something. . . smaller, lighter, far less threatening than the big one that knocked an entire bulldozer over, a. . . Bellsprout? Singing its own name as it charged, well, waddled out right by the man and past the situation without a care in the world, wobbling into the throughway like literally nothing had just happened here at all.

Then something more came forward: an. . . Aipom, it too making a dance as it strutted with style into the area of silence. Then another, a Skitty, sprinted out the line of the forest. Then a Seedot. A Paras. A Pikachu. Then a Pidgeotto flew out. Then a Butterfree. A Weedle now burst forward. Then an Ariados. Sudowoodo. Pineco. Stantler. Sudowoodo again. Stantler a second time. Was there an earthquake?

Breloom. Beedrill. Ledian. Stantler. Pachirisu. Sudowoodo. Pinsir. Stantler. Lombre.

Beedrill Butterfree Yanma Heracross Swampert-

The foreman in charge said it best in one single scream:

"It's a Stampede!"

Within the seconds after, the whole entire scene became a sprawling, shouting confused mess. The entire legion of Pokemon ganging up upon them, the workers, the men that once looked stern and ready, now screamed like little children as they took off in the opposite direction of the forest as the army of charging Pokemon herded them back into the encampment. To all that witnessed, the humans of opposing sides could only watch in absolute perplexity - if not outright abhorrence - and stay away as the sudden rush of many Pokemon burst out and sprinted into the camp - with the only human at all not seeing it happen with shocked eyes was the pair belonging to the true architect of this rush:

"Now scatter; and create utter chaos."

Even as the workers ran, away and not anywhere in the warpath of the still charging Pokemon, they did not know there was no escape from the anarchy, no place to run from the discord; because the sudden appearance of a few Pokemon more, those that popped out the shadows without any warning, let themselves be known to all with sudden moves of planned design. Yet it was only when, just the moment after two grassy blades begin to glow, did the workers realize what was upon them:

"Leaf blade!" With delicate form behind powerful motions, two slashes of elegant style made easy cuts to the bindings of the pipes. With their bindings severed, the selection of long heavy tubes quickly began to fall and roll across the ground, chasing away the men in their pathway while the swordswoman watched it unfold with a smug smile adorning her expression.

"Iron Head!" With his hooves making sprint, the silver atop his head glowed a powerful sheen of white as those that watched saw only a torch of clean light barrel forward, towards the line of vehicles that were readied for the day. All to see, in astonishment, the aqua body slam its hardened head into the side of the excavator with a mighty crash, tipping it to the side as its weight let it drop. But thus; like a set of dominoes, the chain reaction of the tipping vehicle slammed into the next vehicle; and, to the surprise of those that watched, knock knock knock went the vehicles down.

"Stone Edge!" Though he led them by the back, the one herding them by the rear did not falter in letting the others hold all the glory. The power bubbling within him, his body glowed a hot orange before he released his move with all his might: sending shards of sharp rock along the ground before the pillars of rising stone burst out a final time and slamming into the nearby skip, scattering the trash all and everywhere.

"Hydro Pump!" A rise of pressuring water bubbled in his legs, before a wave of pure aqua leaped out his front hooves and burst forward into the faces of two unlucky workers, sending them flying.

"Do you think we're doing enough?" The Colt Pokemon called out as he turned to his comrades.

"Calm your nerves, Keldeo." The stern voice of Terrakion called to his younger companion while he still led by the rear. "The last thing we need to do is slow down. Show no quarter and they will fall like the very trees they wish to decimate." The charge continued forward, the many Pokemon moved like a living earthquake as the world for the workers felt to tremble. Like ashes they still scattered, leaping over and behind anything they can find in hopes of not being in the beeline for the stomping army - or in the case of one such worker; into the safety of a porta-potty just before the storm raged past.

Alas, such an idea was quickly found more trouble than it was worth: as when the crowd stormed on past, all it took was a little bump by one raging Pokemon for the portable toilet to tipple on over - and fall down on its side.

". . . That's it! I quit!" Though his voice was muffled, the proclamation of renouncing his job did not go unheard by the nearby human, the one who still wore his mask for none to identify. Hearing this, the masked man could not help but smirk aloud, staying his ground as he looked around himself.

The whole camp was a complete catastrophe of unprecedented amounts. The men were in shambles, hollering and waddling off, scattering to all corners as he seemed that many looked to be escaping. Hopefully, in his eyes, for good.

To his relief, he barely saw a truly injured man among them, none were on the ground bleeding or screaming in pain, scared, and though some may have gotten small injuries, such scrapes did not hold anything serious among them, far from anything life-threatening. As he had hoped, the Swords did not cause pain of anything kind, only fear and exasperation, nothing that would label them the truly dangerous ones here. All seemed to be going well-

"Maximillian!" The concerned voice of his female friend rang suddenly in his mind, her tone laden with clear distress. "Over there; some man is getting back into that defiling machine!"

His body turned on instinct, his eyes retained to the only place he thought it could mean; and without skipping a beat he watched with horror as the foreman of the scumbled camp jumped into the driver's seat of the bulldozer. With a slam of the door behind him, the loud warning of the foreman called out to those that listened:

"Screw this; I'm finishing this project no matter what!" The engine roared back to life, growling out like a predator catching his second wind. Such a bellow did not go unheard by the others, as Cobalion, who was dying down his Sacred Sword to scare off more workers, looked on with realization when he noticed where the violating machine was heading towards.

"The machine is heading to the meadow where young are nesting." A jolt of scare ran through the Masked Man's spine upon hearing that. "Maximillian; we're too far away. You must go in our place." He didn't need to be told twice, and with his brain firing on all cylinders, already knew how to approach the situation as fast as he could.

He ran, and holding up two fingers, pressed them into his mouth and whistled loud - commanding attention. "Stop that bulldozer!" The Swords and charging Pokemon were not the only Pokemon that had joined the fray; as not too long after the charge had burst through, the approaching bodies of both curious and retaliatory Pokemon soon joined in. For fun or vengeance they too began to attack, or better annoy and pester, the grounds in their own way, though for whatever it was they were doing was quickly paused as the kind-hearted man called for their assistance.

Not skipping a beat himself, the foreman charged forth with his bulldozer; the mighty machine giving no grounds for mercy as it headed straight for the lush forest line before him. Emotions on high and logic on low, the lead worker's head only cared towards one thing, getting the work done. His eyes set and focused, he only looked forward, onto the green and brown woods before him, onto the many trees and flowers ready to be crumbled by the force of development power-

Onto the visage of a bunch of flying-types screeching to him from the window. Hovering before him, the foreman only watched with anger as his vision now was skewed by the winged ones, tapping at the windshield angrily with their beaks; and disallowing the sight of the smaller land Pokemon now hopping onto his vehicle. Without flinch nor worry they worked, tearing at the machine as it dared to invade their homes, their forest and family. Like the man in the seat, they too refused to show mercy, Cinccino, Caterpie, Pachirisu and among other Pokemon leaped to the much taller malevolent creation and began gnawing and tearing at whatever they could. Lines and wires were gnawed as they clambered up the machination, and for those that listened to the kind man's words, pulled at the very bases, ripping off the spark plugs and fuel lines as the once grand predator began to squeak like prey.

Sparks began to fly out, smoke began to ruse, the engine sputtered as it was unable to stand for much longer, and by the time the foreman knew it - as the flying types now scattered for their work was done - he could only watch with horror as his once destroying machine now barely sputtered forward with a crawl, his once grand objective blew into the breeze; and the same protesters that watched everything unfold with shocked emotions began to clamour in cheer at seeing it all unfold.

A final loud spark from the engine finally brought down his rage, washing it over with fear, and any semblance to continue forth with this attempt now vanished - such as his spine, as his dignity now too disintegrated away while he scrambled out the cockpit. Almost tripping on his feet as he gave but a second glance to the newly-broken machine-

And tripped as a single leg silently pulled forward and flew him to the floor. The foreman dared to look up as he forced himself back onto his feet; and met eye-to-eye with a man in the mask.

Perhaps, in any other situation, there was much to say: much to spit hostilities and whoop remarks filled with harsh opinions and such like; but at this very moment, no such effort was made to do so. The foreman knew exactly who he was looking at, knew exactly what his claim to all this must have surely been - but in the end, he gave not even a rude comment at all. To the foreman, there was nothing needed to be spoken now.

Instead, the man yelled to the very workers he was in charge of: "All of you still around: get going! It's not worth staying in this hellhole any longer." Thus; he, like the rest of the workers still around, made haste, away from this place, over the borders, and letting silence reign as even the stampede itself began to die down.

With a slow inhale, Maximillian, with his body slowly unwinding down, looked on to the scene of the encampment with a sense of accomplishment running through him. The dust was settling, and through the dirty mist he could see the last remnants of the workers be driven off, the men once so bold now finally understood this was not a place for them. The Pokémon themselves, even the Swords, too began to relax their shoulders upon seeing their jobs had been done.

Perhaps, right now, they had finally won-

"Max!" The sudden call of his name, a human sound rang to him suddenly from behind. Turning on his feet, he found, strangely, Cynthia of all people running to him hysterically. "You gotta help!"

By the time the running protector had reached him to say this so quickly, her body wilted, her breathing loud as she looked to be out of breath to the man, barely able to stand on her two feet.

"That's wrong? What happened?" He was quick to answer before she questioned first, any sense of accomplishment running dry as he felt a twinge of fear running through him as she managed to stand back up - with a clear, scared expression on her face.

"There's a problem. A. . . very big problem. . ."

---

With heaving sprints, Max did not so much as slow down, his whole body on high alert as he made race through the thickets. The twigs clawed at his skin and clothes as he dashed through them, as if they made an attempt to slow him down - but he never gave them any grace.

Direction set only forward, with every pant he blinked out a mindful situation not by his own volition. The ideas, the plausible conclusions of how the scene could end were a bleeding dread running him dry. Though he wished for them to cease, his mind still carried on worrying for the ends that could occur; ones that could happen before his own arrival. Upon that note, he refused to give in even as the cold sweat dared to drown him, his breathing now a mix of hyperventilation and snorts that paired with bared teeth.

To hide his identity be damned: the whole faceplate was getting in the way. With a firm rip; Max tore the Mask off and threw it away without a second thought, tossing it to the ground as he continued to race forward; his action seen only by the one that quickly followed.

"Max?" Her words did not become lost to him, her call a telepathic ring, not a burst of sound. "What's happening? What is going on?" Though she managed to catch up with him, her four legs making quick work compared to his single-pair own, the human barely acted upon her presence. His stomps did not stop, nor did he acknowledge her with a reply, his eyes, from what she could see, were cold and unfeeling, lacking all but the look of anger in his visage.

It was only a moment later, after Virizion felt her own twinge of fear run up her spine, did he finally utter a sentence to her:

"We're close."

She barely had time to ask what for; as by the seconds right after did the two enter the glade that was spoken of to him - and do little more than freeze in place as they watched the exchange unfold before them.

"Dada!"

"Please, leave my son alone!"

"How about you leave this whole forest alone instead!"

Max felt sick to the stomach. Sure, he had seen a lot of the worst of reality in his tired, aged eyes, the lowest pits of humanity never ceased to keep on digging, but for the man right here to stoop so low as to what he was doing now brought forth the motions to wrangling the mans neck in his own bare hands. To deign himself so stunted in passion, to devoid all his dignity, and lower himself to do what is shown before him; Max could only stare in unashamed awe by just how pathetic this man let his choice become.

Of all things to do, to claim was done for rightful reasons: kidnapping a son, a two year-old no less, and hold him at gunpoint while he made his father, the Project Manager of the whole deforestation program, watch on at a distance was something he believed no man was able to resort to.

"Mama! Dada!"

"Take me instead. Don't hurt my poor Matty, he has nothing to do with this."

Max knew a lot, but perhaps right now has shown him he truly knew nothing of how far one would sink. To some, there was perhaps no bottom to the barrel of deceit one would dive into. He hoped this could not be the case, but the mature man knew his final conclusion was not always the true end, and the scene before him; of the child wrangling helplessly in his captors arms while a firearm, something his immature mind was years off from even knowing the full danger of yet, was pointed dangerously to his little cranium, only furthered the disclaims he has truly known it all.

But Virizion; she was knowing nothing more than the colour red. Despite how sharp her teeth were, she rarely felt the desire to truly bite into anyone, an action far less useful and graceful than a swing of her horns; but now, all she wanted to do was bare her fangs wide and sink them into the skin this disgusting creature screened in front of her. She didn't care how she was looking right now - hearing the screams of a child, a baby in distress, made the fur on the back of her neck rise to attention, while she nearly foamed at the mouth through her bared teeth. Her body unable to calm down, her glowing eyes only had their sights taken off from the poor tyke, not by their own administration; but by the sudden appearance of a hand slowly blocking her view. Her body did not cool by her vision becoming obstructed, though what happened to was seeing the impassive expression he had adorned on him - face as unreadable as a blank page. Voice as lifeless as the stones they walk upon, Max slowly whispered to the Pokemon still grinding her teeth:

"Keep your head, Virizion. Please; call the others."

Though snorts of rage still wafted out her nose, Virizion, by the request to keep calm, slowly did dissipate her imbalance. Her anger did not yield or wilt, but her composure did return back to a straight-legged state, her mouth clamped shut, though all her focus was still bared to the sight that sent ripples of wrath through her veins. From this, she was finally able to utter an answer not laden with loud screams:

"They're already on their way." He just nodded in return, turning his attention back to the main scene before him, of the Project Manager on his knees as he pleaded to the gunman.

"Please, what is it that you want with my boy?"

"Stop this right now!" Though he remained stoic, the voice carried an authoritative tone that gained the attention of the two men, who looked his way like it was the first time they realized he was here. "You have gone too far. Let the child go, you do not have to do any of this."

"Oh, shut your trap, Max." He spat back, forcing his grip on the child even tighter as the tyke struggled in his grasp. "Screw you and your pathetic ways. This right here is how to save this forest."

"My son is just a tot, he could never hurt you!" He barely looked able to stop trembling with anxiety, let alone stand on his two feet as he stayed crawling on the floor like some broken Weedle. "Why are you doing this to him?"

"Because; this is the only way to make you finally listen." The gun did not move from the child's head. "You say you care about a child, but tell me: how many Pokemon have lost their children to your building projects, how many lost their homes and were forced out or even killed because of them?"

"I," he was literally on his knees as he begged for shown mercy, "I'll do anything you want; just don't hurt him."

"Anything I want? You know what I want, and that's for you to cancel the entire project and leave this forest for good." Before a reply could be ushered, a little jitty, an innocent ringtone, rang out from a device kept inside the Project Managers back pocket. Immediately all the men knew what it was that was going off; and to one knew what it could entail.

"If you call the police, the boy dies!" He warned without an ounce of dishonesty laden in his words, taking the gun up and pressing it into the child's noggin even more.

"It's just my wife." The father pleaded even more, going into more hysterics than ever before. "Please, she. . . she's just scared over where her son will be. Let me call her; she deserves to know. She won't call the police, I promise you, she just wants her son back."

"You should ease up on your grip, sir. You don't want to choke the boy to death now, do we?" From the sentences of hysterical panics and biting threats, the sudden appearance of an especially calmed inquiry, brought the tense atmosphere to a halt; if just for a second, as right after did the outrage of the mutinous kidnapper direct itself onto the speaker of the question.

"And you don't want to piss me off, Max!" The gun swung out, though away from the child's head; onto the form of the stoic individual. Even Virizion flinched as the gun was brought her way, her sweat turning cold as the weapon of cold blood aimed in her general direction; yet the one the firearm was actually pointed to remained unfazed, even with the barrel primed his way.

"The hell are you even doing here? I know what you do, you muck about with Pokemon like that one, playing little childish pranks with the workers like some harmless little troublemaker. Meanwhile; I have been out here actually doing something useful by trying to actually stop this deforestation from happening. Now why don't you, and your little horsey there, piss the hell off, before I go and do something only you will regret."

The gun was still pointed at him, a favour over it still hovering a little too close to the tot's cranium. Though with it's mark on him, he knew not to make any brash actions or sudden judgements, lest, even if the favours still around, it could end up with him immediately helpless. With that, the unmasked man stood his ground, staying deeply into the eyes of the actual masked one, arms tensed and ready in case a curt move would be necessary. . .

"Maximilian!" A breach to his ears, one who's sound emanated only within his own mind. For that he felt no surprise when a silent second later did three more figures come into his side-view; entering the scene with a graceful flourish.

"Great, now there's more of them." With abandon for the safety of others, the masked man waved his gun around to the space of the quartet of Pokemon, finger dangerously hinged to the trigger as the rest looked on with both kinds of fear; for oneself, and the safety of the other. They remained steadfast upon noticing the sight, understanding the situation immediately without needing to be told any further. They could see it all; the child, the father, the assailant endangering the child's life, who hid his visage behind a mask obscuring his features in ways that reminded them noticeably of-

"Aha! I knew it! I knew Max wasn't the one that did all those nasty things!" Three pairs of serious and unamused eyes looked the way of Keldeo, who's once sudden joyful expressions became instantly soured upon seeing the expressions he was given.

". . . Too soon?"

Turning away from his scared companion, Cobalion looked back over to meet with the peripheral vision of the once masked individual. "We came as soon as Virizion called for us." He looked back the way of the assailant, one who's haphazard grasp on a child made him want to grind his teeth down to the gums. "You don't have to tell us anything; we can firmly grasp the trouble brewing before us."

"Please." The voice of the father rang out to the Swords with shaky breaths, tears staining his cheeks. "I'll do whatever you want, whatever it takes, just bring my little Matty back to my arms." The leader knew who he was, who he meant to this entire battle at large. But whether or not he felt malice towards him did not show in his appearance, as to the pathetic looking adult, one that crawled in the dirt like a Diglett with complete disregard over ruining his suit, he but gave a curt nod and a blink, returning his attention to the most important matter at hand.

"I am assuming you have a plan in mind, Sir Maximillian?"

"I believe I do. Virizion?" She turned her eyes to him, and was met back with a silent gaze that showed forth the emotions he was currently feeling. There was no regret laden within his eyes. No fear, sadness, nor even self-conservation. Only sincere melancholy, of personal sacrifice, was clear to her scared mind.

"No matter what happens, make sure the boy is safe."

Before she could yell, command or push herself to stop him from trying to do what he was about to do; Max walked forward. Slow, deliberate steps, arms slowly raising up to show he was unarmed; yet this did nothing but agitate the gunman even more than his shaky state was allowing.

"Stay the hell back!" The gunman screamed, barrel pointed with direct, albeit trembling, threat against his body. "I'm warning you!" Yet his warning feel on deaf ears, as even with the danger of a bullet firing directly into his gut, he remained cooled, softly marching onward as he stared to nothing but the unobstructed eyes of the masked gunman.

"Just put it down. Put it down, before you make a mistake you cannot undo." His voice was the chill in the wind, the cold snap of a sudden blizzard. It made all, gunman especially, stand their hair on end as the approacher came forward without a hint of malice wafting from his voice.

"I. . . I said I'm warning you! You won't stop what I'm trying to accomplish!" By comparison, the gunman's tone was as cracked as a broken mirror, voice trembling in it's own pit of anxiety as the gun wavered, but did not stray, from his target.

"I'm not trying to hurt or attack; I just want us to talk nothing more, man to man."

Second felt like hours, every step he made felt to dim time slower and slower until it meandered on like a crawl, begging to move quicker. All who watched, the Swords, the father, even the still crying toddler, paid little attention to anything more than the enriching man, soles stamping the grass as he kept getting on closer.

"I. . . I am serious!" Gun suddenly reassigned itself back to the head of the child; and just as the universe fell silent, so too did the crushing noise of grass, as his feet paused where they were. "You come any closer, and I will shoot the boy."

"Please. . . " The whispered plea of a concerned father reached his ears, but he knew not to let it control his actions. Instead, with his hands still raised, he began making even more slow steps onward.

"Let it go, you've had your fun, you've gotten what you wanted, haven't you? Put the child down, he is no use to you any longer."

"Wh. . .what I want?" The kidnapper questioned, voice as shaky as his armed hand. "You-yo-you don't know what I want. You think you know, it's-it's not about the now, its about the hereafter. It's about making sure something like this never comes to be ever again. It's not about the result, it's about the message, a warning to those that will attempt to do this sort of thing again."

"Okay. . . " He waved his hands, arms still in the air. "Good, good." He looked briefly to the side. "We know what you truly want, that's a good thing. That's what we came here to do." He looked to the side again twice, legs making another step. "Now just put it down, so we can settle things peacefully." His eyes looked to the side once again; only for them to settle there as he suggested out:

"I've got this."

In a flash; it all simply happened. The kidnapper turned on the spot, quickly to the side as his eyes darted to where the human was looking. In a split second thereafter, a mere fraction of time, it all seemed to come at once; the unarmed man whipped forward and immediately made a grab to the pistol, grabbing the firearm as tight as he could around the slide and barrel, before shoving it upwards as hard and quick as he could, the two struggling powers competing for dominance.

Gunfire went off, shots rang out as the firearm was continuously triggered by the gunman's finger. The noise breached all ears as well as the canopy by the bullets, the firing of rounds echoed across the glaive as the two wrestled for the handling. But it was by the swipe of the gunman's free arm, the one still holding the child, that knocked Max's balance away, just as much as the balance of power for the gun did-

With a scream of utter agony, the gunman howled in pain when he suddenly found a pair of fangs, held by none other than Virizion herself, biting into his arm above his elbow. Hard as she can, almost to the bone, the pain coursed through him, knocking away his attempt to shoot the opponent, and in turn, loosened his grip enough that he let the child fall.

Not far, as it was only then did Virizion let her grip loose as she lunged for the boy. Grabbing him by the scuff, she scurried away; and let be the others to come in her place. In an instant; they were upon him, and as Max twisted the gun arm out with his hands, so did the other three arrive in time to tackle and wrestle the man to the ground. With the raise of his front legs, Cobalion slammed forth his hoof into the gunman's shoulder, shoving him to the ground. As his body protested, Keldeo was there to trample on him to keep him down. Max finally wrestled the gun out of the grip - and with that clears the breach by pulling the slide back, drops the chamber round magazine, before throwing the pieces to Terrakion, who crumples the gun with one final blow.

Upon that, Max knew there was one last thing to do: with another reach of his arm, Max grabbed at the bad guy's mask before ripping it off in one fell swoop, revealing the face that was hidden behind.

Then it all made sense:

Wayne.

All this that happened did so in the span of less than a mere ten seconds, but to them seemed like an eternity has passed. Like a slash that could cut through the sky itself, the tension was suddenly lifted away like a thinly stitched veil. The man still wrestled beside, shouting out profanities in his attempted wake, but with the weight of two Swords keeping him place, and his gun now crumpled uselessly to the side, all danger had passed, and thus he felt no need to care for him much longer. Instead, he let his attention only pertain to the important thing now; and that was the health and safety of the tiny toddler.

The one that was currently nestled between the crouched hooves of the Grassland Pokémon.

"It's okay, little one. It's all right. You are safe." She cooed and whispered to the giggling tot bundled under her chin. Her smile sweeter than any Vespiquen nectar, her entire being radiating out an aroma of watchfulness, the proud Pokémon comforted the little human in her care as if the idea of bad tidings were purely from fictional fairy tales. From the distance, Max watched, smiling; and completely forgot the whole situation at hand as the sudden sight of something running into his peripheral vision jumped his attention back on full drive.

The father came running up, but the juxtaposition of him appearing so suddenly was met with as sudden as a stop in place. Tears still stained his cheeks, and his body so dishevelled he looked to be falling apart, he stayed a number of steps away; a rather smart plan, as the sharp gaze Virizion gave to the man, the parent no less, was laden with the tone of Just you try it.

But though he stayed back from fear, of her and the rest of the Swords, his body still seemed ready to leap forward and return his child back to his own arms if given the most split of seconds. It was from that, strangely, that allowed Virizion to have a smile adorn on her face, and lift her gaze to the man as she knew her time with the tyke was up. Even if she would have preferred to spend another hour with the child in her care, she knew better than thinking his place was between her hooves; so with one final nuzzle over his short hair, she gently nosed the boy up to leave.

His legs were too weak to hold him for long, but the one she would deem a hero was quick to catch his fall. Gently scooping up the boy, he held the tiny one protectively in his arms, before returning him correctly into the awaiting arms of the crying mass of a father. With a grip that could impress an Arbok, the father hugged his son with an almost death-like hold, ensuring he could never escape while he kissed his son, thanking them repeatedly with sob-laden whispers.

From there, both Virizion and Max looked on with clear smiles, the world around them an aroma of heartfelt thanks as they both felt pleased at watching the scene unfold.

"You idiot!" Screeches on a chalkboard, the scene was ruined immediately upon hearing the awful one speak up with his harsh unbearable attitude. "I was so close; we could have finally had our way, had him be given his due-"

"Silence!" He spoke, slamming his hoof back into the shoulder of the perturbed man with painful results. Though he had his physical strength behind him, Cobalion's glare alone seemed more than fruitful enough to hold the disturbed one down, his stare as icy as any frozen wasteland.

"The ends do not justify the means." Max spoke as he approached the prone human, he too staring him down with a stoic gaze.

Virizion nodded, adding in "No goal is worth hurting an innocent child over."

"You don't hurt little kids! That's just mean!" Keldeo, hooves still over the human, chimed in. To that, the rest nodded in turn, agreeing with the mentality.

"It matters not, nor ever, what results you're trying to achieve." Cobalion announced with a powerful tone. "No goal, no matter how virtuous and admirable in intentions it is sought with, does not grant anyone the ability to put an innocent's life on the line. The life of another is a precious thing, a form both unbreakable and fragile, a creation that should be heralded with joy and admiration. To take that away, to remove that from those that wish only love and care upon them, is an act of unforgivable vile villainy." Wayne said nothing more, only able to gape at the noble creature that stood above him. Such attention was unseen, as Cobalion pertained only to the father on over.

"Go now, leave this place. And never worry of this circumstance ever happening again." He eyed the helpless one beneath his hoof. "Do not worry about him. He'll meet his Justice soon enough."

With a final thanks the father immediately turned and ran, away from here, from this place and from the likes of the gunman. No doubt, the sense of fear still coursed through him even now; but in the least, with his son in his arms he now longer had to fear this scene any longer. . . much like his son already seemed to be. As Virizion watched him leave, it did not miss her eyes of the boy, head peeking out, waved to her with a smile that suggested all sense of worries were no longer able to be found.

Smile so innocent, it reminded her of another. . . another child, another innocent boy. . . The Baby. . .

A sudden weight on her withers alerted her from her stupor. But looking up, she found not a stone on her haunches, but instead the hand of a smiling human, one looking down to her with a proud look. The tears around her eyes be damned, she smiled back, elation running through her as she felt happy for what they had stopped together.

Alas, such elation had to pass; as the resounding muttering of the other human breached their tender gaze with an unwanted assault on their ears.

"Look at it my way. . . " He dared to plead, even as he still was under the hooves of the Swords. "I. . . I did it to help the forest. To help you." All glared dangerously to he pleading man, his words of sincerity falling on deaf ears.

"Tell us; when did we ever ask for your help?" Virizion spoke, her words cold as a Glaceon's breath as she slowly stood up on her four legs. "We never desired, or requested assistance from the likes of you. And if this were the kind of 'help' you would give us I would happily request that you stay as far away from us as possible."

"But. . . I'm on your side." He whelped pathetically. "I was doing this for you. To give help to you all."

"Help?! From a monster like you?" Was all Terrakion spoke as both he, and the newly stood-up Virizion, slowly walked towards his form. Before any could add another sentence, Wayne especially, he found himself tugged at the collar, his body dragged upwards to dangle in the air, held aloft with the might of Cobalion's jaw.

"We do not tolerate such abusive behaviour or sentiments." All around the pairs of eyes watched him, with a hunger not born out of gluttony. Something different; something. . . that began to run his clothes damp. From this moment; he felt to be nothing more than a piece of meat dangling off a hook, unable to hold back the fears as he noticed the narrowed eyes the Virizion one was giving him.

"Sir Maximillian: I believe it's best if you don't follow." There was no wrath in his voice, only a serene, almost blank resonance in his voice. With that, the four bid the nicer man ado, following their leader as he towed forward the incoherent babbling other within his toothy grasp.

He did not intend to follow, nor desire too; he had seen that look in the Iron Will Pokémon's eyes many times before, and he knew what was to happen would happen, whether he preferred it to happen or not. He would not disagree, but he would not enjoy it happening either. For that, he sought it best to turn and wait for it to be finished

In the end; had he truly failed in his personal mission, or does it not count since it did not stain his own hands. He preferred the answer to never be found.

---

With a final shake in the water, Virizion was sure the last drops of blood washed off her horns, bringing them back to their pristine shine. As the final splash of red mixed with the water, disappearing as it diluted with water of the pond, she knew that in the end, it was ultimately for the better. Regret, or remorse, was never laden in his tone, nor was penance for his actions. Some people didn't change, so why let others suffer for it?

This was the tone running through her mind, before she finally removed her head from the water, and with a shake of her horns, she was clean. Free from both stains, and regret, she calmly looked at the water below her.

Perhaps, though, beside looking at her own reflection to see if she was truly stain-free, she could have also asked for the opinion of the one relaxing his back on the tree not too far away; observing her with a closed, unspeaking mouth. She had known of his presence before he could even settle himself down by the trunk and wait for her to finish, but not once did she try and acknowledge his presence. Not until he did hers, and in turn it seemed he was more than capable of waiting for her to finish.

With a turn, she looked his way - and for the shortest of moments, neither said anything. Only the sounds of the others breathing was the noise that breached out their mouths, and that itself was dampened to silence by the mighty congestion of running water and nature's sounds of life living it. To them both, it was not about what they wanted to say, but rather what the other wanted to say. Neither felt it right to speak up, to speak over the other as both felt the other was the one that deserved to speak first. Sure, the time between when they last saw each other was not lengthy by any means, but the many things that happened prior, and during, was enough for them to feel the other desired to speak first over it.

The tension was choking, and the human, in all his wisdom, believed that in the end, that should not be the subject to first speak about, or maybe at all, so instead; he figured that what was needed to talk about was the most important thing for them to say at all:

"I guess. . . this is goodbye." She blinked; confused by his statement. . . until the realization set in.

"I mean. . . " She spoke fast, then nothing, her composure faltering as she understood the true differences between the two. "Well you're. . . not wrong to say." She tried not to add insult by looking away, even if her vision on him was trying to be fleeting. "You did come here to do one thing, and now that it is officially completed, you. . . have little reason to stay." Finally, her eyes did look away but only to the ground beneath her hooves. "It's not. . . as if you had any other reason to stay or visit, so it's not as if I-anyone should continue to come into this forest. Your job was crystal clear: save the forest from the destroyers. Now it is done, the forest is safe, and therefore your reason to keep coming this way is no longer void."

"Vir-"

"It's the same thing with us, really." Virizion carried on, with focus that didn't seem to actually look at the man himself. "We heard of the possible incident, and we arrived to ensure nothing actively goes against nature's blessings. Now the problem has been sorted, we must soon bid this place goodbye as well, and move on to our next battle. It is our life to live, as valid as you have for yours."

"Virizion, all I wanted to say was-"

"Look; I get it. It is time for us to leave, to part ways. But you know, in the end it is how it should be. For the better" Her tone was changing, and though she tried to remain cool; he saw through her attempts at keeping composure. "We are very different creatures. Different worlds, different objectives in life, different people we call friends. Truly, it is for the best that you and I part sooner than later, so both of us, with smiles adorning our faces as we bask in Solgaleo's fair light, can go on with our lives without worrying about each other. Because, after all, we were simply destined, no matter how much we may want to fight it, to never happen to see each other again!"

"I will miss you, Virizion."

". . . Does it really have to end this way?" Her voice cracked like a weak stone, a rock so weak the light breeze that was his calm tone managed to split her open. Her energy distilled away, and the human, though still managing to keep calm, kept a melancholic look upon his brow. She had no mirror before her to see her own visage, yet she knew hers was not fairing any better.

"I'm afraid so." She sniffed her nose, as if his truth was an active allergy. Deep down, she could not turn face and state she wanted him gone, she couldn't even lie and say she was fine letting him leave. She just. . . didn't like the idea of him parting ways with her.

"Is our time together really up? Are we really just meant to. . . just leave. . . forever?" Her tear-burning eyes could not bear to look upon him much longer, even if it made her feel like a coward. For his end, he saw her not as a coward, but another with her own heart and emotions, and he could not blame anyone for having them.

Max looked down, and as a soft breeze blows and rustles the leaves and his hair, his mind suddenly recalls something. With a smile, he gently walks over to her front. Letting her know he is right here, he gently places a hand on her shoulder, before softly speaking out to her: "Someone wise once told me this: Wherever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. But, that parting need not be forever."

She looks into his eyes, and he continues smiling, albeit more sadly now. The world is crazy, and things happen all the time like she wouldn't believe. Her whole time with this human was sure of that statement being true. She just nodded at this, believing that, one day, if fate was on her side, then in the end their paths may cross once again.

They must part, but for the current moment, she felt it right for her forehead to be pressed against his, hearing nothing more than the slow breaths of his voice for this moment, and any after.

---

From where she sat by the tree, the one closest to the sheer drop below, Virizion looked outwards with a distant gaze. Dusk was settling in, to transform into the dark of night, but for this singular series of moments the sky permeated an orange glow of warmth, as if the sun's last breath for the day would be the warmest he's ever blown. Exhaling out, Virizion let the shine gloss all over her figure, letting herself bask in the final remnants of lights before it was snuffed out, leaving nothing but a cold emptiness in its wake. . .

"I should have figured you would be here."

Cobalion's mighty tone resonated in her mind, and if on instinct the surprised Virizion jolted to her knees and spun around with less-than-stellar grace, standing to attention to her stoic leader. He came walking on forth with a more gentle grace, hooves barely crushing the grass beneath his hoof as he breached into Virizion's line of sight.

"Relax, Virizion, I have no need for your full reverence." He spoke gently, letting her slowly fall to an ease. "Rather I am simply here to speak with you. Nothing more." Her shoulder untensed, but still by Cobalion's presence did she stay standing. Blinking, she watched the normally unflappable and noble melt into a seat by the other side of the tree. Sure, she had seen him rest many times before, but usually with a slow grace about him, not some casually shake of his body.

"Come. Sit." He ushered in a soothing tone. "Let's not waste energy on standing when we can instead sit and bathe in the last light of the sun." She blinked again, a little harder this time, as if her eyes were trying to deceive. But no; Cobalion, the firm, strict, solid leader was currently lazing about by the hill's edge, acting as if there was not a care in the world.

. . . She didn't know Ditto's lived in these parts.

Shaking her head to remember only Cobalion could be able to speak like so, Virizion slowly returned to normality, before doing just so on his command. Though slow, tentative really, Virizion slowly rested herself back by the tree, opposite to her fellow Sword, and watched Cobalion's with a concerned gaze as she finally tried to speak again.

"How. . . did you know I'd be here?" She gave an answer to his statement of wanting to talk.

"You didn't think sleeping beside the human that night would have gone lost on me, did you?" She looked away, trying to hide the burn suddenly reddening her cheeks. "Of course, you could also chalk that up to us all sharing a special link, if you'd prefer it?" Was he. . . making a joke of the situation? Her commander or not, she did not take a liking in being made fun at.

"Did you come all this way just to mock me, Cobalion." She lightly snorted, trying not to sound mutinous to her fabled chieftain of the band.

"Far from it, Virizion. I came here simply to check if you are doing okay?" Surprised, and a little guilty, the Grassland Pokemon turned away, unable to meet his soft gaze.

"I. . . I am doing quite well, dear leader." She stuttered. "To what end are you having doubts over my. . . state of mind?"

"Oh no, no reason at all." If he had hands, they would surely be raised with open palms. "I was just thinking that as your leader it should be my duty to ensure my fellow Swords are doing just fine. After all; out of the four of us, it was you that had gotten the closest to our newly lost friend."

Virizion looked away. "If I recall correctly; it was by your designation that I had to be the one closest to him at all times."

"That is true." He reluctantly agreed. "But that doesn't mean your only reason to get along with him was because I demanded so. I mean: just take a look at the rest of us." Her sight returned to him, a little confusion written on our brow.

"Keldeo seemed to enjoy being in his company, as the human doesn't mind playing along with his more buffoonery of escapades. And with me and Terrakion, well, I can surely guess that neither of us have nothing but the most pleasant of things to say for his ventures with us, of how he speaks of us and what he has done." Virizion stayed silent, watching her leader speak while she purely tried figuring to what end he was trying to allude to.

"And we have only been alongside him a handful of times. Comparatively, you've known him for weeks on end, so out of all of us, I was just making sure you were handling his departure well. As out of all of us; I could see him leaving a mark more on you than anyone else. A mark that left an impression far deeper in you than any of us could know." Her brow now furrowed, and with a miffed huff, the female eyed her leader with a discourteous gaze.

"Listen, I do not know what you're trying to talk to me about; but if you're insinuating I will be sad that he is finally leaving then I must insist you not waste your breath. Maximilian and I have parted ways, it was an eventuality, and though he says that. . . perhaps, one day. . . we will meet again. . . " She swallowed, wishing to not let her pauses be noticed by the other. "I am just as aware that maybe we won't see each other again. And to that: I have made. . . p-peace." She snapped at herself for stuttering that final word, for trailing away when she'd rather stay cavalier.

An attitude that Cobalion happened to notice.

"Then that's good then." He announced in his newly carefree tone. "If we happen to cross pathways with him, then it would be a pleasant moment for us all. If we never do, then we can at least say we had a good parting and wished nothing but the best for each other." The pit of truth was a stone she felt hard to swallow, the reality drying up her throat as it went down. Cobalion's words, completely honest as they were, weighed her down like gravity was trying to hurt only her.

"Of course; no one said it had to be that way." He trailed away, earning the female Pokémon's nonplus attention as she looked the way of the disinterested Pokemon.

"Wh-wh-what do you mean by that, Cobalion?"

"Oh nothing much." He turned back to her. "I'm just vaguely stating that perhaps leaving it to fate; maybe is not always the best of ideals. Fate is but a chance, a luck, and usually only ever that. There are no hands to guide them in the direction you may want, as it is but a blind one walking wherever the path seems to lead it."

"Now; direct action, that's something else." There was a strange pep to his words, a bizarre aura that made it hard for her to look away. "Direct action isn't a chance, but a choice. You want something to happen, then why not try for it. Grasp it, hold it, keep it close, do whatever it takes to ensure it can happen. Sure; it costs time, effort, even self-esteem, and success is not always a guarantee, but an attempt will forever be more likely to reward gain than any sense of just letting it be. It must be remembered:

Only the attempts never tried have zero chances of working."

An exhale came out, no more words laden in his throat, and Virizion, for what it's worth, just sat there, taking it all in. Blinking, she calmly watched, heading spinning with questions that were not shown from her cooled yet still perplexed expression. She felt unable to contain it all; all this madness, this confusion, these weird repeated notions over why her head was trying to fracture itself over this simple undeniable suggestion:

She misses the human.

"Virizion." His voice was soft, like a comforting blanket. "All of us are flawed, in our own ways. Max is broken and wounded, like many. But . . . two broken halves may form a whole."

Virizion could only sit there, in awe, of her leader's words. The implications were out the bag to her, and all the intent Cobalion was trying to guide her towards was now a narrow, straight path, a single way forward, no longer obscured by anything at all. And the female, the boastful, intelligent, graceful warrior who fights with absolute honour and elegance. . . began to feel weak at her knees in trying to deny her own feelings on the matter. Along with being unable to deny how much Cobalion seems to know.

"Do you. . . know why I miss him so deeply, more than any other I have known?"

And for the first time in a long time, Cobalion gifted to her a rare, soft smile more precious to her than any physical donation or boon: "You never met someone you truly connected with, until you've met this one human."

The shock that coursed through her. . . barely lasted a moment. Strange as it was to admit, this revelation didn't seem to act as if it came out of nowhere, more. . . was always at her feet, and she had been denying its existence as it stayed under her shadow, following her without peeping a word. Conclusions were already made; and she flat out wasn't sure the best way to process it was. The only thing she felt able to process: what to do next.

"Sir." Her voice stern, and Cobalion was attentive all for her. "Would you ever hate me. . . if-"

"I could never hate you, Virizion." He nodded to her falling expression. "No matter what, I trust and know you. Your actions, though not all I can always fully agree with, I do believe they are done with your best intentions at heart." She smiled back in return.

"Course, that's not to say I would never be disappointed in you." She stayed silent. "If you know what you had to do, but refused to take the chance upon it, even if only for yourself, then I can say without a doubt that I would become disappointed in your actions. If there is something that would help you, something that would make you smile everyday, but you refuse to get it, instead letting it be chance to decide whether or not you get to have it, than I can safely say I would have no choice but to look down on you; in the same vein as you think you have no choice but to leave it to chance.

And you don't always get a second chance, Virizion." She knew what she had to do now.

With a strike of her legs, her powerful thighs forced her hooves into the dirt, sprung her body up from the floor and to a standstill. Without even a second thought, remark or even a glance, the Grassland Pokemon immediately leaped away. From the tree, from the Iron Will Pokemon, Virizion uttered nothing else as she darted out of the clearing, out of the line of sight of Cobalion, and disappeared away, her sights already set towards only one thing.

Virizion knew what she had to do. And her chief, with a proud smile, watched her go without a second pause.

---

The sun had dropped from the horizon some time ago, leaving nothing behind but the dead of night in its wake. Though far from what one would label Midnight for their current time zone, day had still faded, leaving the sky to be littered by the tiny stars, those not obscured by random hovering clouds, and a moon shining down her radiant light, beaming down the reflected night from above. Few were out at this time of night, most taking comfort in the safety of their own personal homes, but though this meant some were still staying awake even with the darkness upon them, this did not mean they would easily see the shadow darting above.

She was swift, silent, like a quiet breeze. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, over fences and vehicles, and whatever human construction that dared to get in her way, the shadow remained unseen and unheard, making a dance in the light of the moon as she followed her nose, tracking down the one that made her heart race.

Though that was not to say she found the experience overall enjoyable. As she let her nose do the guiding, the repeated smell of human pollution in the air forced her nostrils to wrinkle, and her not to heave in disgust so as not to let her elegance fall. Air pollution was not the only thing she felt distaste for, as the over use of lighting during the night, of numerous lamps and signs that nobody was using gave her mind a double take so as not to spit out harsh words of irritation. Not to mention the litter that glazed the grass and pathways - she had to stop and shake her head at one point to remember her purpose here was not to insult the human ways of life, but instead find the one human she believed would not partake in this kind of debauchery towards nature.

Continuing forth; the faint smell felt to be getting stronger with every jump, a reprieve she stuck to so as to ensure she doesn't falter by the horrible background noises humans making her lose her way. He was close, she knew, and still following the whiff of him she leaped up and over, firmly but softly landing into a backyard before she, with a dignified gait, strut herself over to the large windows of the backyard door. Upon peering through the glass, with a wide beam she found indeed who she came to this human settlement for.

Lying across the sofa in what would be a human labelled 'Living room', blanket strewn along his body - chest bared in such a way that gave Virizion the double take - the form of the apple of her eye sat sleepy in the quiet, dark room, unaware of her shadow peering through and spying him with sharp, glowing eyes. His chest rising and falling from every breath, the Pokémon decided to stay a moment more, watching him sleep without a care in the world as a memory replayed in her mind, before she knew to take action. Now that she was near, the only thing that blocked her access of re-meeting her. . . esteemed individual, was the large glass panels of the patio door, obstructing her path ease despite the easy fragility of the tall window.

Such a hindrance felt almost laughable to the Legendary Pokémon; such an effortlessly breakable interference could be considered blatantly insulting if this was what one would try and stop her with. Efficiently taken down in one slash, the Pokémon raised her head, preparing her horns as she eyed the pane before her, reeling on her back hooves as she prepared to remove the final barrier from her desires-

And then promptly stopped as she remembered something about doors. Stepping back down on her four hooves, the female looked to the lock of the door and thought about the human contraption. Reaching close, Virizion took a fair bite onto the handle, keeping it grasped on before she swayed across her head and. . . opened the door without trouble. Shrugging by how easy it was, she turned away from the door handle and to the one pathway, feelings of victory and pride making a jolt through her before, with absolute grace, she finally strode inside.

There he was, lying before her, completely oblivious to both her physical and emotional states. He was but feet from her now, unknowing of the shadow she was inadvertently draping over himself. From above, he looked to be as peaceful as the rustle of leaves against the window, the feeling of warmth as she rested by a campfire, and in his state she almost wondered if perhaps she should instead let him rest. . . but she couldn't. Her place was never to be here, and Cobalion, as always, was right, and leaving it to chance was not something she felt warranting a second thought over. So with a slow droop of her neck, her nostrils bringing in a stronger scent of his odour, she pressed her nose down on his skin with featherlike pressure.

She'd found it difficult to consider it a true nuzzle, even if the thought of her doing so arose a small heat inside herself, but nonetheless the lady tapped at his body with careful touches, before she reached down and whispered sweetly into his ear:

"Dearest Maximillian; please wake up." Snorts, mutterings, shakes, the body of the human began to stir in disturbance before finally, when her head reeled away, Virizion watched the fluttering of his eyelids before his golden eyes looked on, blinking for a moment longer before his shining iris's looked up towards herself.

"Vir. . . .izion?" His voice sounded tired, slow, understandable to her, as he must have been sleeping for quite a while. She didn't allow a peep to utter, but instead took a step away when he began to shuffle about. Information should not be shifted upon one that just awoken, so letting him take a moment to reprieve, she silently watched him throw the blanket off himself before sitting up on the couch, rubbing at his eyes as if the form before him was but a dream to his mind - not that she wouldn't mind it being one for him.

"What. . . how in the-" He paused his ramblings as he looked up to her moon-lit figure. "Virizion, how are you. . . " Again he took a pause, observing his surroundings and finding nothing out of the ordinary; save for the tall one stood in front of him, standing quite literally out of place. "I. . . what happened? Virizion, is that really you?"

"Indeed I am, Maximilian." She smiled proudly at him. "In all my glory, am I before you."

In turn for this prideful comment, the human simply slowly blinked, rubbing at his eyes once more before he returned his fixation onto the out-of-place figure before him.

"Okay just. . . first things first." He mumbled loudly as he rubbed a palm against his face, wrinkles scrunching up underneath as he tried not to look as annoyed as he meant to. "How did you get in?"

"Through the door." She answered simply, pointing a nose to the direction of the open door currently letting in the midnight air, with the cold that brushed against him caused a little shiver to run through his bare chest. The tang of coolness that wafted against his warm skin in the least helped to serve as a reminder he wasn't still in a deep sleep.

"And to think I reminded him to lock up all doors tonight as well." With a turn back he returned to looking at her in deep confusion.

"Second thing. . . probably the more important one I should have started off with, but still. . . Why are you here? I can't. . . no I can't seem to wrap my head around why you are in this room."

"For you, of course." Simple as it was, the full meaning did not at all help him be given an explanation to why the Sword before him was placing her presence in the last place he thought to see her in. His befuddled state of mind was not lost on the Pokemon - the way his face scrunched up in trying to gather his thoughts told her that he hadn't been told enough. So to that, "Let me explain better. The reason I have come here tonight is in the hopes that you would join me, leaving this place behind and to follow our journey with you at my. . . our side-"

"Hold on, hold on, just. . . try not to be so loud. It's not my home, so I'd prefer not to wake the one upstairs up. I think I have enough on my plate without having to try and explain to him why you are here."

"Then I solemnly promise that when I talk; I shall not speak to his mind as well." She was teasing him, he knew of that. And though he enjoyed a good yolk on his expense every now and again, it didn't exactly help him in understanding all she said at once. His head was swimming, but not through a much preferred relaxing pool, but more like against crashing waves from the stormy seas.

"You are not upset with me per chance, are you?" For him; she didn't mind letting her state falter. Her beam lessened, a visual sight upon letting it be known how much his emotions meant to her. Quite thankful that in turn, the human seemed far from anything resembling wrath on his mind.

"No, Virizion, I'm not upset with you or anything, I'm just. . . a little muddle-headed right now." He sighed, taking a moment to let the cool crisp night air wash over him again to ensure he was fully awake by now. Straightening out his back, and throwing off himself the last remnants of the spare blanket from his thighs, the mature man breathed in for four seconds, then exhaled for another four seconds, before finally looking up to the eyes of the Legendary female before him.

"Let me start this again; taking things one step at a time." She nodded, silently apologizing for laying it all on him so forcibly like she did. "You said earlier, something about joining you and leaving this place behind? . . . has a problem arisen that you need me for?"

"What? No, no, no problem, at all, just. . . well maybe a problem, but not exactly. Well, more of a personal problem, really, but nothing major, not to you - maybe to you, but indeed to me at least. Not that I want it to be a problem, or should call it that, if it isn't, but I'm not entirely sure-"

"Virizion!" A sudden snap of a command, one whose previous callings were apparently lost on her ears, burst forward and caught the words in her throat as well as his hands caught the side of her cheek. She hadn't realized the human had moved, taking a once seated position to one of standing tall and proud alongside her under this moonlit room. Despite the pleasant scenario, such an endearing ideal was a façade at best, as the concerned look the human gave her from her newly concealed vision shut up her inner mind ramblings.

"One step at a time. We're not walking along a tightrope, we have all the time in the world. Take a deep breath; relax, then continue on. If you need time to collect your thoughts first, then do. Rushing through it won't be beneficial to anyone." His tone was always relaxing to her, at least when she had gotten more than simply used to his presence. It always had a wisdom to it, a sophistication only experience could create. His speeches were always fulfilling, at least when she recognised them to be, and she knew he always spoke from the heart when he talked, never trying to lead her on. He always treated her as an equal, neither a lower creature, or even as a being much higher in class then he'll ever hope to be - which despite seemingly coming off as disrespectful considering her full nature, she found it part of his endearing respectfulness, like he saw all, Pokémon and Humans, as part of the very same linked chain of life.

From this; she knew she had to do the same in turn, if they were to be truly equals in heart, not just of nature. Collecting her thoughts, she allowed herself the proper time, and energy, to accordingly visualize and understand the terms she wishes him to agree upon. The night air still breezed in, and with deep breaths did she let it collect in her lungs as she slowly breathed in and out.

"Sir Maximilian;" she finally began, keeping herself straight, and her mind crisp and ready. "Throughout our ventures together, no doubt, it is clear we had gotten close. Though mainly, or at least originally, because I was commanded too, by the end I hold no scepticism in believing we have grown to like one another. True, our persons are very much different, and our original ideals were in complete opposition, especially when regarding how to deal with that major problem; but against this, or perhaps even because of this, we two have gotten past our first offend full interactions and instead grew to understand one another more and more. We've talked, we've listened, and we've made actions, so from that with our own eyes and ears have we understood another, and come to enjoy being in each other's company. . . or so I hope."

She quickly shook her head, before continuing on. "But I digress. In the end, though we had gotten to enjoy one another's company, it cannot be left out our friendship was but temporary, as in turn we both had to leave to our own world, leaving nothing behind but pleasant memories we can look back on with a smile decorating our faces.

Except. . . I cannot find myself able to do just that. I can no longer fathom the idea of you being separated from I; not us four, but simply I. It may sound strange, I know, and selfish, but I do not feel fine with letting you stray from my side. You are just too kind, too sincere, caring, and strong, to be left alone, especially without another to keep you warm and safe when you need to be. You deserve something more. . . someone more." Max, throughout his uninterrupted silence gave a blink that was followed by a widening of his eyes

"I. . . do acknowledge that in the end: I cannot replace that which you lost, nor do I feel I need to, those, that is, your family, are not people I feel I should replace; especially the mother of your children." Still, he kept his mouth closed, closing his eyes only brief to reread her speech.

"But that is not who I want to be. I do not wish to be a replacement, nor do I fully intend for you to see me as such. What I intend, or rather, desire: is for you to see me as someone-"

"-Someone that would just as much desire in standing by your side, through thick and thin, good times and in health, forever hand in hand." His words, though spoken with the tranquillity of a young morning spring wind, were flown to her like the roars of a raging hurricane. Hearing her words get interrupted, not just as suddenly as so, but from the implications the mature man was speaking of, roused her muscles into straightening full out in an agitated manner. Inhaling in, and keeping it still for a strained few seconds longer, Virizion slowly deflated like a balloon as her visage returned to looking upon the bare-chested man before her. One that, under the light of the moon, looked to her with an ambiguous expression.

". . . That is; if you would ever take one such as me as yours. I cannot deny the major differences we too hold, but. . . I do hope the many similarities we share would be enough for you to hold interest in me the same way I hold for you." Stone-faced she tried, she spoke more to him as cool as she could, despite the heavy banging of her heart trying to demand she do otherwise. And for a solid few seconds more; her fast-pacing heart was all she heard. No wind shifted through the open door, no outside noise barged in; and no sound came from the human's mouth as he stood there, frozen, contemplating all he needed to figure out.

"Well. . . " His jaw finally opened up to say, his message stoic, and thus drenched with wisdom. Her ears pertained to his direction, focusing all on him, as a final, decisive answer finally breached from his lips. "There are certainly worse options out there for me."

. . . She blinked. "Wha. . . "

A slight smile adorned his rim, and to that the utterly baffled Sword finally understood. Of course. . . a little payback for earlier. She smiled at herself, albeit only a little, before speaking more.

"And what, pray tell, is the real answer for all those stammering, worrisome, and downright choking words that I respectfully offered towards you."

"It is like I said." He shrugged. "They are worse options out there for one such as me. I'm rather past my prime, so my choices are rather limited."

"Past your prime?" She smirked. "You still look rather dashing to me."

"And it's answers like that that lead me to say there are worse options for me out there. There's not as many out there willing to be so ready to say that about an old codger like me."

"Well. . . " She dipped her head to him, "That just tells me too few others in this world refuse to see you as the man you truly are." For a silent moment, her forehead touches his. Chaste and simple as the action was, her heart took to a flutter in feeling his skin against hers. A very similar feeling, no doubt for when it first appeared to her, but no external truth denied the warm fuzziness it was bringing her. The sensation wrapped around her like a scarf, encasing her in gentle touches as if telling her the outside world could not make her cold no matter how hard an ice age nature tried to bring upon her. It was as if all troubles - all sense of realistic outcomes - were but a frozen thought.

But there were realistic outcomes she had to deal with. Ones she couldn't abide by leaving out, even if the human would not think of them by his own accord. So forcing her head away, she continued forth.

"But I digress. . . once again, as they are important matters that should not be left out. Despite all that may be missed; I cannot live here, in this building or settlement; my life is with my team, and a human's town does not suit me in any matter of the word."

"So you asking me to join you and leave this place behind?"

Virizion, for a moment. kept silent; but not out of deep contemplation. Moreover, upon his understanding where her logic was directed towards, she lightly flinched from his words, as if they carried a scorching warmth that burned at the touch. But like all, she let it pass, as she had already known this truth before even arriving upon.

". . . Your friends will miss you." She bluntly whispered out. "I cannot hide this truth away, there will be people who have enjoyed your company that will have to deal with no longer seeing you again, and I. . . I do not wish for either yourself or them to be miserable because of it. I know what I desire may be selfish, but I would miss you most of all, otherwise."

Max, in a rather quick manner, sighed lightly, before returning her remark. "Yes, but in the end, ultimately they know I will leave soon anyway. Even now, I was never intending to stay for long. I'm a wandering activist, taking the pursuit of going from one place to the next without much need to call a place home." A rather noble pursuit. Virizion felt to add only to herself, with a little pride to the human before her.

"But. . . At the same time, maybe it is because I felt I didn't deserve a home. I had no place to call home for a long time, so when I started becoming a wanderer, I thought I never felt the need of a place to settle down. But looking back; maybe it was all because I kept trying to stop myself from settling in, less I return to what I had done that forced me away in the first place. Not a way to keep myself from being happy, but to stop me from repeating old mistakes. But. . . maybe I was looking at it in all the wrong ways. My home was never about any building, but rather who I shared it with. A home. . . doesn't need to be a house. Maybe a home: is really just who I am with."

A blink, a sniff to reclaim verging tears, and then a smile, a bright one that pierced through the darkness. Chances be damned, she did not let the moment cease to pass -thus; with a quick lunge; her lips finally met his. Less chaste than a touch of foreheads, but she settled for it not turning into anything more, at least for the moment. With a straightening back, she allowed her eyes to rest on his bare-chested figure for a final time, before her body began to drift through the open door.

"I shall wait outside for you. When you are ready, when you have packed all your things, and said goodbye to all those you wish to, I shall meet you outside." With slow steps, the now warm-hearted lady took stride out, ready to stare upwards and watch the stars so she would await his return; and thus their dual departure. "Do not take too long."

Watching her leave - with a spring in her graceful step, mixed with a flick of her tail - knocked him for a loop out for a moment, or at least he thought it did as he quickly realized he was staring for a few moments too long. Forcing his eyes away, he turned to his haphazardly thrown out shirt that resided on the floor starting from hours prior and began to pick it up.

Just what have I gotten myself into? He thought only to himself as he began to keep the cold air away, at least somewhat, with the covering of his chest clothing. That said, before he could place the shirt back on; a little thought ran through his mind, one that didn't get fully spoken until his torso was finally covered:

Perhaps something I'm allowed to enjoy.

---

The ride back was rather comfortable, he had to concede. With a rucksack full of luggage, and his own heavily built muscle-structure, albeit one whose age has caught up to it with the years having gone by, he did not expect the ride back to be as smooth as he expected. Actually, he did not expect a ride back at all.

But Virizion was stubborn, if not nothing else, and any chance he had in trying to politely decline riding shotgun seemed already a pipe dream as she refused to change her mind for any edgewise. In the least, he supposed her stubbornness was what forced her to get him before he had the chance to leave soon anyway, so there was a silver lining to be found there.

And in a second silver lining, he could not hold back in thinking how fun it was to ride out of town like a kid on an old beach Mudbray. Despite all her long, striding leaps, he never felt unsafe when she jumped above cars and fences. With only an arm hugging her neck for security, his bottom kept firm residing on the lady's top line, he never once felt the possibility of slipping off.

Or maybe he felt that way since it was her he was sitting upon. He did not know the answer, but felt no reason to explore it for now. For now, he'd rather just let the cool wind blow over his face and hug her neck a little bit closer. Not that he thought she would have minded, of course.

And with one final look back, he said goodbye to the town he felt no heart for as his pilot made one final leap over the creek; and left the town for what may be forever. He would not shed a tear for his departure, nor would anyone, as even the owner of the couch he was allowed a sleep on would have assumed he had left during the night as per the not unusual for him, so all he left to the cityscape was but a nod as silent thanks, before he turned to forward, and watched her descend into the depths of the forest line.

Coming to a stop, Virizion gave the human free time to kick himself out of his personal seat before having him follow her on foot for a few moments longer. Such any questions regarding "Where to?" was left in the backburner once he walked until she stopped her own trod.

To his surprise, when his vision met the area she had seemingly taken her, he found no one else around. No Terrakion, Keldeo or even Cobalion resided here, yet it seemed to be as obvious an encampment as anything else.

She had taken him to a clearing in the woods, yet not one he had seen before regarding all his trails inside these woods. A secluded spot, one that even had time prepared for it beforehand. By the edge of a mountain a small cave resided, nothing too large from what he could see, but one that looked perfectly to house a hibernating Ursaring and her cubs, if he had to make assumptions. Beyond that, sitting in front of the rocky inlet was a raging campfire, one that not only gave a little nudge to his form to keep warm on this cold night, but also gave him time to wonder when did they set this all up. Along with this, he also noticed something else sat by the fire, something that looked like-

"Blankets?"

"The other must have collected some from the camp beforehand." She answered, sounding less unsure as he did. Not wanting to stay out in the open any longer, the two quickly took seats upon the blankets beforehand, and starting to feel a little more warm and safe, Max decided now was the appropriate time to ask a question he had been pondering on before he had even had a chance to sit upon the lady's firm haunches.

"How long until you people leave this place?" Virizion turned to him with a confused gaze. "I know you weren't planning to stay in this forest forever, with me or not." Her gaze returned to the fire before her as she calmly answered him.

"Unsure." Was her first word, before others slowly came out to better explain more. "We'll stay here until the final remnants of the camp are gone, to ensure no chance of any more coming in. After that, we would likely stay another few days longer, keeping watch and searching all over the forest for any wandering strays, before finally believing it is our time to leave, and thus we shall."

"I see. . ." Silence prevailed once again, save for the sound of crackling kindling, for a few prolonged, conservative moments longer. "Well that's good for us then." She turned to him, as he stared continuously into the blazing campfire.

"I try not to leave a footprint on the land when I can, so a lengthened stay here does ensure we don't leave much trash for nature to unwarranted claim. Besides; I'm rather interested to see where life leads us both." He turned to her "What; do you think I had forgotten that I'm traveling with you people now?"

In admitted embarrassment she turned her head away, albeit with a smile adorning her face that emitted as much warmth as the blush on her cheeks. She had nearly forgotten about that; about him agreeing to come with her. In hindsight, perhaps she should have thought about it more before taking off like a rocket. There was much to discuss: about the terms of him joining them, and of the rest agreeing to let them. Despite all he had done, she found some doubts he would be so readily accepted as a Sword, if he even wanted to join in the first place. By all means; does she believe the human would not only a breath of fresh air for the troop of merry Pokemon, but the assets, knowledge of ideals he can bring would make him more than suitable to undertake a noble quest; his own current personification is clear he is more then qualified for such a task. That said, he is very much different to the Swords in many ways, and how well he fits in with them, and how they would react to him joining her, is something she knew she could not avoid.

But that. . . can be left for another time. It was dark, nighttime, and all she wanted to do was snuggle up to him in a warm embrace and enjoy the heat of the flame before the final remnants of burning ash took its place for the inevitable later. So for now; she simply stuck to answering him back before her continued flustering earns an awkward motion to their preferred heart evening.

"Sorry. I guess I. . . still find it a little unbelievable to think a man such as yourself would ever agree to be the mate for one such as I."

"What can I say; I like straightforward women." The regal Pokemon nearly snorted on her own saliva when he spurted out such an unexpectedly returned remark. She tried to hide it, but she felt it quite difficult to contain her unbridled laughter as he let loose his honest reply. On this remark, she wondered not only how many blunt quips he made; and how many more were to come. For that end, she could only shake her head and let the wonders come and go, appearing and disappearing. . .

Much like his smiles. She may have chalked it up to something else the first time, but seeing his smug expression instantly dissipate for little reason right after his chide for the second time earned her attention and worry. Wasn't so much a frown, but from where she was seated, right beside him, she could see the lack of interest to keep a warmth about himself that. . . she refused to let sit wrong.

"You are troubled." Not a question, or even a debate. Her statement was an honest fact, thrown to him with intent to catch his immediate focus. "What is ailing you? You must tell me."

For a second, Max remained unmoving, as if unwilling to change, before finally, with a deep sigh escaping his melancholic lips, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out something for her to see; something she had seen before.

That old photograph. The one of his family.

She was already beginning to understand his dismissal of elation. . .

"They would be in their mid-twenties by now." Despite his gaze downwards towards the picture in his hand, his eyes were not affixed to the photo at all, she could see. Not even to the ground itself, it was as if he was searching into a misty fog, longing to find an answer to a question he didn't even know. Though he wore a newly formed smile on his person, it was one born of pure sadness. Of a deep, regretful reflection that he himself knew he could not hide, forever or even just late enough.

"I guess I still cannot let it go. The girls, my wife, I can never forget the faces they wore the last time I looked back and saw them as I was forced away. I've been wandering for so long, I sometimes forget if I'm doing so to find a new purpose in life; or because I try to stay away from those that I have hurt.

Nightmares are not all born out of fears; some are birthed from regret."

Virizion didn't know if she was going to cry, but she felt no need to hold back if she did. She could not begin to feel or understand what he was going through, nor could she soothe the scars that still hurt him, even ones that were formed many years prior. She loved him, deeply she did, and she wanted to be there for him, sickness and injuries, mental or physical, and she would not bite back if she was pushed away, as she knew not all would be by his doing, but she would stand by his side and soldier through the problems with him.

"Sometimes;" She kept her voice as soft as possible as she let them enter his mind. "A nightmare exists not to remind us of bad tidings - but to show us a darkness we have to overcome."

"Then maybe; is it not time I moved on?" This was a question she knew was directed to one person, and the inquiry was not to her. She is no replacement, nor would she ever desire to be, and if anything, she prefers he keeps all his memories intact, as each and every one was a moment that helped shape him into the one she sees before her. She could not give the correct answer; the only correct answer for him was one he had to discover for himself. For now, all she should do was stay by his side, and make sure he doesn't trip along the stony path.

"Max: that doesn't mean you have to forget them." His sight wandered over to her, and this time they properly garnered a focus onto something; a face of a concerned female. "You can still remember them; the good times along with the bad. You were their father for an important amount of time, and no matter what had happened to change your life and theirs, you were still someone important to them, just as they were to you. The same goes for them; they won't forget their daddy."

She hadn't expected tears to fall, but she felt no shock upon seeing them begin staining his cheeks. He did not howl or moan, instead the mature man just began sniffling his nose as he made no attempt to hide his face, his photo still too tightly held in shaky fingers to let it fall. Virizion preferred it not, lest it accidentally drop into the indiscriminate burning flames.

Though it breaks her heart to see him cry, she did not wipe away his tears, nor tell him to stop. She saw the pain and anguish, the sorrow that had been building up for what must have been months now in the very least, all it get released in painful gasps of air, in the dropping of tears onto the grass below. He needed this, for himself and himself alone did he need this, and she would not dare stop it. No: all the Virizion sought to do was nuzzle the crying human's cheeks, and softly stating she is right there with him. Now and forever.

---

Barely five days have passed on by; five suns centred in the sky, five moons making a trip over the mountains, and five full days the female Sword has spent alongside her favourite human. Not to say she spent the time with only the human. More often than not, the two spent their awakened hours in the company of the other three; staying as the vanguard of this forest and ensuring none more cross the line, standing vigilant and watchful, and keeping prying eyes on the forest outskirts to certify the the homes of the Pokemon will forever be safe.

Virizion would never come to admit she ever hated to be in the company of her fellow Swords: since there is not a single wisp of truth found within that statement. They were her companions until their very end. But that fact didn't change the creeping truth she kept preferring to spend her time in the company of her human and her human alone. Whether it be taking a drink by a stream, looking out and keeping watch, or simply walking over roots and hills, the nagging, encouraging feeling kept demanding that she do so only with Maximilian trotting on alongside herself.

She never spoke of it, to them, or Max himself, and instead decided not to cause any unnecessary arguments from her selfish wants and took them in stride, focusing more on the fact she had a task to do, and letting it be that she will finally get her time alone with him in due time.

It was on the firth day, when night had returned as she looked up to the cloudless sky beyond the border of twigs and leaves, Virizion calmly let the moonlight rain down her to share with the bright orange warmth of the fire beside her: doing so in the same manner as the single man before him. As every night since; Virizion did not sleep beside her fellow Swords, but instead did so away from them to sleep only here, in their own little encampment by the cave with just the two of them to keep each company. She did not fully know how the rest of the Swords felt about this, but if Cobalion's small smile and nod to her when she left with him was any indication then she was sure she could do so without any guilt laden in her core.

So for now, all she would take to do was sit here, legs tucked under her, sitting beside the one she cared for and breathe in the cool air while said one she cared for placed another log casually on the fire.

"We will be leaving tomorrow." Her words cut through the silence, bringing his attention away from the fire and towards her glowing self. Such a comment, not simply because of how blunt it was, but also how sudden it came forward, was met with a curious look by the human's side. "They have all left now, and by all means is there no longer any reason for us to stick around here." He, in all he could say, only nodded to her. She knew it was blurted out with the grace of an unbalanced Hitmontop, but she knew it needed to be said eventually.

"Are you sad to leave?" Her beam faltered, and she looked at him with a serious expression; one that did not befit her worrisome mindset.

". . . Suppose so." He replied, his tone far more relaxed than she was. "I mean, I cannot say I ever intended to stay here for longer than necessary anyway, so I never felt the need to feel emotional about this place for any specific reason."

"Course, if I didn't come here to protect this forest; then I wouldn't be sitting here beside such a lovely lady, would I?" She didn't care to hide the blush, letting the heat of her cheeks help keep herself warm on this less than cherishing night.

"That. . . may be very true, but you must certainly have some good memories here, at least." The smile turned from a cheer to one of sadness. "I've. . . always felt a little bit of sorrow, at having to leave a new area. The sights, the sounds, the delightful little ones that always smile as I walk by them, I never want to leave, but I always must. I never cry when I leave, only smile, so as not to leave the palace in bad spirits." He wasn't entirely sure, but the smile she was wearing now, at the very moment, looked to be the very smile she would always wears whenever she leaves any pleasant place. Even now she looked to be, smiling out to the forest, the trees, flowers, grass and the sky up above, looking onward and giving unconscious praise to this place even he knew she thinks fondly of.

In return; he could only smile at the forest in the same manner. Perhaps there was something to lose about leaving this place: but that only means there is something more to gain upon meeting the next.

And that's nothing to be teary over.

"Maximillian; can I ask you something?" Her voice was tentative, and so were her features when he looked back and met her eyes.

"You already have." He didn't smile at his little yolk, and neither did she. In the opposite direction, rather, as her brow furrowed for only a second before her normal expression returned.

"What I want to ask is; before we leave this place, can we make it a. . . special night? Memorable, is what I better mean." He didn't make a joke in return this time, mainly because he found little remarks in her words to make light of. Rather, all he could do was give her a curious glare, and try to answer back.

"I'm not quite sure I follow you. By what means do you wish to make this night special and memorable?"

The slow exhale that followed was indicative that Virizion felt a nervous course run within her. "Maximillian you. . . are beautiful, in mind and body. You are more than a man, even if you refuse to acknowledge it yourself, you are but a shining light, a beacon of hope to wary individuals that seek out help for their ails. You are deserving more than a friend, but a mate, one that will love and cherish you for simply being you.

I want to be that mate, and not nor ever because I believe I am deserving of it. Rather, I want you to deserve someone that loves you for you, but also one that knows how wounded you are. Really; it's less of what you deserve, and what you need, and that is someone that cares. I want that to be me, I want to be your mate, your burden, the bearer of your children, even if such possibilities were allowed. That's why, for tonight, I ask of you to share the most sacred of mortal bonds with me, and truly become my mate in all manners of the time, so that I may show you just how deeply I care for you, and want to share your pain." The realm of silence prevailed for just a moment longer

"I ask this as but a request, no demands or insistence allowed. I know the heralded taboo that resides within the intimate connection between Humans and Pokémon, and more so; I hold no intention in pushing towards anything, so do not be afraid to ever say no to-"

"Sure."

. . . Virizion had to shake her head, rather vigorously it must be said, upon after the sudden uttering of the humans singular-worded affirmation. Not that she hadn't had doubts he would accept, it went both ways for her, whether he accepted or not, but no less she had not prepared for such a. . . blatant answer to her desires. Though surprised by it, it actually made her smile warmly upon knowing that he readily wants her back. It made her all warm. . . in a number of places.

"But. . . are you perfectly alright wanting to be with a Pokémon? Your first love was a human, the leap that separates the two. . . is a rather-"

Though Virizion spoke through her mind, not her mouth, her words still froze upon feeling a hand grasp her head as her mouth became enclosed in one another's. The kiss Max pulled her into was a heated affair, not like some chaste smooch from before, but a passionate, encompassing feeling that she gladly smothered herself into. Her time with the human as technical mates spanned a few days, but she neither felt herself ready to push him into anything. More she would gladly open her metaphorical arms and let him come at his own pace if he so desired, so any affection she gave was celibate in nature, loving more gentle.

So the moment when the human grabbed her firmly and pressed his lips upon hers, by every stretch did she not only return the kiss but also did so with a heavy fever; her body nearly pushing him to the ground as if her body was acting on urges that have been building up for some time. She did not hold back, knowing the human was readily accepting her command for intimate lip-depreciation. In turn he did not hold back, letting the embrace last longer than he expected it to, almost as if he too had pre-building urges that were now allowed to finally act upon. Still, he needed it to pause at least for a moment, and with a gentle grasp under her chin he pulled away, letting the Virizion breath again through heaving pants.

"Human. . . or Pokémon. In the end for me, what matters most is who a person is, not what they are." He pulled her forward again, but this time to touch forehead upon forehead. "I'd be just as proud of my babies if they were Pokémon." Through her sight, she found his smile. There was sadness written upon his lips, but such melancholic emotions were drowned out by how truly happy he was.

"Then: let us not waste any more with this insistent chattering over do's and do not's; I prefer our night together to be as stagnant-free and waste less as possible." She kissed him this time, only a peck, before she moved away, eyes still glued to his form while her body turned away. Her back now to him, rear up, it was clear not only what he could now see; but what she was purposefully letting him see.

Though far from looking human, the single sight of him seeing something of earthly male desires still made his heart race and his blood start pumping; including to an old, more limped area of his body.

"I am yours, tonight and ever. Mark me as your mate, fulfil yourself with me. But please, do so at your own pace. There is no rush, and this is just as much for you as it is for me." Her words sang to him like a lullaby, her vision cast to his body and mind. Seeing her like this, presented purely for him, singing her words of encouragement while his body began to break out in an old, almost forgotten seat, heart racing upon seeing the female form to him: Maximilian could do only one thing.

Smile. Close his eyelids even as he did, breathing in the deep scent sent his way as he lightly mulled over the events that led him here. He had no intention to back down, and if his body had any say in the matter, then he couldn't refuse even if he wanted to.

Nah; he wanted this to. As much as she did.

With a proud rise of speech, he smoothly announced to the awaiting female before him, "In that case; would you mind seating yourself here, on your side with back towards me?" He patted at the blanket beneath. "It's a lot more comfortable than on any rock."

She internally questioned to why that stated position, but spoke nothing out of the matter. She held no distrust for what he was seeming to plan, whatever it may be, so with a smile she did as she was asked. Crawling on over, she made sure there was a sway in her half-steps as she sauntered on over, resting her side on the blanket as her vision never left the human's own.

Which was indeed a luckily taken objective; as doing so allowed her to see the human undress in front of her own eyes. Toned and muscular, even with age against him, the more skin he showed the more she wanted to take him right there and then. Scars, ones that littered his body, once filled her with a deep sadness over what stories they all share, but now only brought her a sense of relief, as she knew he wouldn't have to suffer alone anymore.

And what eyes she used to observe began to shoot up even more when she saw where his hands were going. Downwards, to his pants fingers crossing over the hem, her phlegm got caught in her very throat when she saw them begin to firmly pull down. The heat that rose in her cheeks were almost enough to set her fur to flame, lips practically quivering when they continued to drop more. Her whole body trembled, in anticipation, in desire, in fear almost, as his 'one-eyed trouser Ekans' looked near ready to be released to spring free from the clutches of his underwear-

It did indeed spring out. The shaft in all its glory, once the tip crossed the threshold of the descending hem, virtually burst out from the shadows of his clothes and leaped into the night air, the spots of the campfire's light forming shadows along the length was pracitcally beckoning her to stare at it for so much, much, more longer. She was wanting it, needing it, and she knew it would not be long until it became one with her own personal organ.

The human barely noticed the stare, as his own attention was on himself pulling his clothes downwards until they met the edges of his knees, touching the very blanket below, before he gently shuffled his own self around, his movements unintentional clicking Virizion's mindset back to reality. Indeed, they were but moments away before becoming one, and when the moment he finally touched her, his hand steadying himself on her side, she turned her sight to look at him himself.

"Tell me something, me dear Maximillian: I know this is not perhaps the most essential of times to ask; but earlier; did you, perchance, notice certain things happen? Ones of this very kind of nature?"

"I did." He answered coolly, body getting into position. "When we drank by the lake, your rear in the air, I did happen to notice the presentation you were showing me. It definitely. . . awakened something in me I've long since lost. However, I had to ignore it at the time. No matter what I felt, I have no intention of treating you as a prize, as something to be drooled over. I wanted to treat you as nothing less than a person."

Smiling with delight, Virizion craned her neck over to rub noses with him. He deserved at least that much for something as chivalrous as that - of course, considering what's about to come, his awakened shaft at attention by, what she quickly discovered was, her body and her body alone, it seemed ironic to simply say. Far more than a nuzzle was about to come, and by all means, did she have zero intention in trying anything to halt it.

Though when she said about more than a nuzzle, she didn't expect it would be by something so softly touching. That said; she felt no intention to stop what he was doing.

Max was so close, yet for all he could do, as it turned out he had no intention himself to simply force it in at full speed. Rather, as his hand grazed across her fur, Maximilian looked to almost appreciate her natural form, keeping himself tied behind her as he let his hand embrace her body. Such touches were tingling to the female, his fingers swimming through her fur as they caressed all on every place she had; and Virizion did not want him to stop. Over her belly and chest, her supple thighs, he moved with the grace of an artist's paintbrush on canvas, creating a new masterpiece. Touches soft as silk, and twice as gentle. His other hand did not still limp either, as that too held an important job: holding the lady close to his chest, while he let his lips do some caressing of his own. On her neck and back, he traced his lips along her with the softest of touches, greatest of care.

Though she never wished to be regarded as fragile wear, but to be treated by the male like fine art: that drove her wild inside. His moves were not about handling her with utmost carefulness, but rather, utmost care itself! Of making her feel warm and giddy, even. This wasn't about letting her feel safe, or holding himself back for anyone's sake, this was being done by honest intention in making her feel good. And she loved it!

His hand was not done just for her torso and legs; her lower body was about to receive some much needed attention as well. Making their way down slowly, her broad and flat fur caressing his palm in return, his fingers soon found themselves meeting the shape of her cheek. Her bottom was not a part she personally found worth paying much attention to, she herself never saw it as anything big or special, but in this moment that is right now she wanted nothing more than for it to mould between the fingers of the human she loved so deeply. Barely a grope, his hands still made their way around her buttock, and loved every second she could be given. He never stopped there, his hands were not satisfied by her rear alone, and moving around they found their newest target; her teats. His fingers brushed against her nipple, sending new waves of pleasure the Sword had never received before, before they kept on going: towards her womanhood.

The moment they touched down against her lower lips, Virizion nearly buckled forward in reply, her body pleading for more of his gentle grazing. Her response to his touches were positive, to say the least. And though it seems he was driving her wild before he even came close to being inside, this was the true goal he was to commit to her. When his fingers grazed away, they were quickly replaced by the tip of his manhood, still alert and ready, brushing against her womanhood.

"Do you truly want this?" Though he made sure to give her an out, Virizion, as it quickly was to seem, announced her answer by lightly shoving her hips into him, beaming with a sultry grin adorned her face as she uttered not a word. It helped that her labia happened to brush along his member as well.

He nodded, learnt over to give her a kiss to cheek - and finally did he take the plunge, slowly entering her body as he kept himself steady by her. It did not hurt as it pushed apart her walls, his thick member entering her crevice with forceful entry. Rather, as his male organ continued to push more into her, she felt only the bare pleasure of the flesh, sending shockwaves of immeasurable pleasure through her form. The shocks, the stimulus, it all led towards when he slowly yet finally hilted in as far as he could go; before he pulled away, and his thrusting finally commenced.

Though Virizion still felt a little weirded out of this strange position, under no circumstances did she feel the need to inquire him for a new position to be undertaken. And this was not even down to her wanting him to take control. In actuality; she felt far more comfortable than she ever had been.

Giving herself to him, she knew this position was vulnerable considering her body shape and form, yet by letting him take over her made her love it all the more! She felt safe in his arms, warm, his considerate hands still loving her deeply as they rubbed along her belly, wanting her to feel as much pleasure as one could give another. He never tried to betray her trust, nor did he want to, which was why despite her less than favoured seating position, she was perfectly at ease, allowing her to do absolutely nothing but feel every stroke he made going in and out of her.

Though perhaps ironically; Max's caresses were never about finding any other pleasure spots. There was no goal in his mind for his hands, as they rubbed along her sides and thighs, along her sensitive neck. Max was not seeking to find her most intimate areas, but rather he was, right now, simply enjoying himself feeling all over his new lover. To him, she felt divine, she smelt divine, her sense of being like a safety cushion to him that embraced him, caring little for what he has done or what he was, and only interested in the man that is now - he sought she deserved as much as he could give.

From that he continued to touch her. His hand, the one not holding her close, moved forward with the effort of making her tender all over while he bathed in the light she showed out. As he caressed over her body, he could hear snorts of giggles escape her mouth due to her sensitive skin. Despite how easy it would be, he held no interest in tickling her, tempting as it was. He didn't stop for only his hand making touches, as with feathery pecks he kissed up and down her neck, submerging himself in the sight of her craning her neck back to let him touch her more.

For that, his hand wandered on over, upward her body. Along the front of her neck he grazed, careful around her throat, but still wanting to nestle in her body. Along her cheek it nuzzled, around to the back of her head as his adventurous palm explored as much as they-

"Careful," his hand froze, "around my horns. They're rather sharp." It retracted back from her top, now grazing around the sides of her head. "I'd never want to hurt you . . ." she fussed over him with a tender call. He could say a lot, about how he knew already to be careful with her rack, how he trusts her enough to know she could never do such a thing, or a deadpan snarky comment over how he is always careful; but instead he'd see it better to let his fingers do the talking: When the moved away, they did not retreat from her head entirely, but instead moved to her cheek, were with his only thumb brushed underneath her eye.

She chuckled a little at that, feeling relieved, and a slight smidgen annoyed, over his reaction, but nonetheless let him have, as the symbolism was telling that he wanted no interest in making her unhappy. By those fingers. . . the very same that made her giddy in all the right places. . .

Leaning over, Virizion began leaving little smooches upon each and every fingertip. Pecking all over the digits, she gave mouthful thanks over the gentle hero, tasting one by one the little tips that gave her pleasure like so. Now it was the human's time to chuckle, rather enjoying the feeling of her tongue graze over his palm as if ravishing a bountiful meal. When sufficiently damp, she nuzzled the hand of her lover, 'booping' her nose to tell it to go; while she learnt over and behind to look down on the beaming, smirking face of the human that was dear to her.

While she leaned back to nuzzle down to the head of her mate, showering him with what supreme affection she could give, his hand moved away, and back down to the features that had touched moments before. This time, however; he knew he could be a lot more intimate. More than a simple supple grasp, Max gave her rear a full-true grope in its centre. Never forceful, he instead felt the way her skin moulded into his hand, and listened with grace over the siren call that was her delicate moan.

Not to let himself finish her so early, his fingers eagerly drifted away, across her thighs - and to her special sacred split. Her hips continued to rock in motion to his own, dragging in and out with pristine moves, so with mirrored grace did his fingers rub against her clitoris in relation to his own thrusting. With gentle circles browsing over her hood, the tips of his fingers lightly sent all new shockwaves of sensation through her form as her sensitive labia could not handle the increasingly powerful passion being cantered around her pussy.

So powerful, so wild yet careful, driving her crazy with every stroke - It almost made her forget how slow of an actual thrusting he was giving her. She wanted to be taken, being made a mate in all manners of the term, but she hadn't expected him to do so with such a peaceful graze. In and out, each singular stroke felt seconds pass to be accomplished, almost teasing her with how it left her wanting more after every pull - and made her want it stay put after every push in. Dragging each stroke it basically turned her into a quivering mess - and she loved every second of it.

Eons could pass and she not know it, all her mind could make cynosure over was all the pleasure, all the new senses that rode alongside her lust-filled emotions. Her body reacted in ways akin to her headset; they too trembled in overwhelming desire. Mouth panting, her hooves pawing at the ground from his tender strokes, she barely felt the quick rising of her nerves starting to shoot electricity through until all she was able to do was-

"MMMMmmmm!" The sensation rocketed through her, but she never moaned or froze upon the force running through. Instead, she simply crooned at the touch, stretching her body out to ride the passing storm and let the overbearing fall of rain wash over her until that too passed on by.

"You okay?" He tentatively whispered into her ear cautious, his slow, rhythmic thrusts having stopped for a mere moment while Virizion looked back to her mate with a flushed, gentle expression written genuinely on her face.

"In the most uncomplex way known." Craning her neck, she learnt down and captured his mouth with hers, silencing him in the most cordial way possible. "Do not stop my love, make me yours through and through."

Holding her close, his slow thrusts began anew, dragging against her walls with every move. Though her mouth was firmly shut upon his, lips smacking and tongues hesitantly prodding towards each other, this didn't change the panting mess she found herself being. Even with the kiss a little awkward at doing, Virizion refused to at any point stop until he would; and she hoped he never would. His fingers still did their magic, circling over her clitoral hood with extremely gentle tangs of contact, while his thick shaft completely filled up an area she knew she had been missing for however long she deeply wanted it.

And that was not to direct away from the bizarre, but incredibly fulfilling sensation brought towards the humans table. She was no human, he knew that since first meeting her, and even when the first abrupt thought of intimate meaning became present in his mind he could not see her as any more human in his mind. Yet it was from this did realize this may have been for the better; as Virizion's shape and mind were something on a whole new level for the Pokephilia-virgin human.

Her body, warm and soft, was like hugging a nightmare-quenching body-pillow. Her fur like furred leaves, tickling to his stomach yet also comforting. Even the long ones along her neck, that tickled against his neck and shoulders, was such a foreign feeling he couldn't help but enjoy what they brought to this affectionate session. Her kisses were deep, sloppy, her tongue searching all around his mouth like a lost explorer, finding the exit out this large cavern. Yet also did her thick, elongated tongue go as far into every crevice it could find, trying to find the gold hidden within.

All that did not match up to how her most intimate area felt. Sandwiching his cock with damp, constricting walls, the internals of her honeypot enticed his member to keep still and remain stagnant inside with a sweet concoction. It whispered sounds of luscious enticement to his shaft, blowing waves of aromatic sensation its way before gripping it roughly with a hug of saccharine cloak. It demanded so much from his own tool, yet also wanted it to feel as good as well, maybe even more so, and with steady breathing did the human at large need to control his breathing to keep in regular check.

He did not know when the last time he felt the pleasure of the flesh; but his sexual organ seemed to actively know itself, as by its first insertion did it drive his body wild. Even when minutes passed on by, his body still rocked from the increasing sensation he had long since forgotten about. As if all at once did the memories of pleasure skyrocket through him, combining that with his mouth trapped by the female's own, it allowed the bursting through feeling and memory to be regained by his body's once lost piece, returning with full force and letting him know what was about to come.

"Virizion," he broke apart the kiss with a panted breath, "I'm about too-"

"I know." She silenced with a nuzzle to his cheek. "Do not hold back, make me yours, give me your children. I want every part of you to stay alongside me forever."

From that; he did not hold back. As the oncoming release was coming closer to its eventual end, he kept his body steady and relaxed to allow its ease to commence without ail. Virizion felt it too, her body reacting to his as the stimulus began to rise once more, flowing through her body like a raging river. She too would let it come within due time, and for that only crooned towards him, reminding him she is there for him.

With a low, but lengthened hum, Virizion stretched her body out as far as her muscles would allow. Her legs shook, but otherwise her body felt no haste nor trepidation when his seed flowed into her, his white liquid washing her walls as she craned her neck around to hold him safe. She felt cleansed, in mind and body, and her only thoughts pertained to the one that made her this way. Thus, she sought it best to ensure his body did not jolt away from the overbearing sensation, but rather keep him with her, hold him close as she nuzzled the tufts of his hair.

Moments of silence, one that was broken only by the burning ashes of the once blazon campfire, passed on by as the two held each other close, thinking of little more than each other. Slow breath on her neck, Virizion nuzzled her furred back onto her human, leading him to look at her in response.

Though she did not intend to wake him from his relaxed stupor, she at least saw it as a good time to ask of him something meaningful. "May we stay like this for a time longer?" She spoke, polite as a subordinate's grace.

"I have no intention to move either of us." He replied, finishing off his statement with a light grope to her thigh. Earning a little peep of pleasure from the Pokémon, she responded in kind with a kiss to his nose.

"I have to say; I never thought this position was ever plausible for one to mate in. Do all you humans mate this way?"

"Only when we want to." He chuckled, his hearty laugh a blessing to her ears. "There's a lot more positions we humans have made up for the hell of it, really."

"Then; I guess I want to try them all." The frozen face that suddenly was worn on the man's face now earned a chortle by Virizion's part. Thankfully soon after did his face relaxed, and with a squeeze bring himself back close to his mate. Holding his forehead to hers, he could only smile to himself in thinking over just what life has in store for him next.

Whatever it was; he would gladly take everything that comes so long as Virizion is by his side. Virizion the same, thinking to be proud not just to be his mate, but, Arceus willing, to be mother to his children. One day.

---

Without threat of human expansion, the forest was allowed to flourish.

Whatever happened on that day, of those months years ago, was barely a footnote in history, the reason for it all halting for good was mere myths now, little fractions of truth ridden with tall tales, and those that knew the truth spoke little of it, letting it be but a mark in the forests history that preferred to be forgotten for many more years to come.

Now that nature was allowed to stay overtaken, by the many of those enchanted by nature come through the forest with honest glee and devotion. Not to burn, damage or destroy the greenery that surrounded them, but to bask in the small sights and sounds the shrubbery and wildlife presented to them with mirrored respect.

One such of those, a father, mother and daughter, were like the many hiking and exploring the forest with a wanderlust heart. Breathing in the crisp fresh air, the family explored around the woods with cheerful respite, ignorant of the nearly damaging proceedings that may have occurred from unknown times prior.

As the parents spied all around, so too did the little girl, though at a much lower level. So low, in fact, unlike her parents she noticed a little foil wrapper, stuck between the blades of grass. Wasting no time, she quickly picked up the little wrapper, momentarily disgusted by the garbage just allowed to dirty the pleasant place, as if it were some dumping ground, before neatly picking it up and placing it away in her pocket, to be disposed of properly like it should be.

Then she noticed, first in her peripheral vision, then in her full line of sight once she looked up and forward; a pair of eyes watching her from a distance. Peeking out from the bushes, what could have been a sight that scared her silly. . . just made her smile in return: The face in the bushes, watching her with beautiful shining pink eyes, smiled tenderly at the young girl as she giggled and waved to the unknown yet not untrustworthy figure.

"Who are you waving to?" The mother called to her child upon seeing her waves. Yet, when the adult looked out, she saw nothing there. As if nothing was there at all; or at least, something that quickly disappeared, albeit one that did so with a smile.

Moving on, the trio continued down the pathway, over rocks and to a small stream, finding an outcropping of the trees that allowed the warmth of the sun to shine down onto them. Trudging along, what would have been a straightforward march was immediately halted when the father called for them to stop and look. Turning to his focus, the other two made no peep when they saw a figure walk upon the high rocks.

At first, the shape looked akin to a Sawsbuck to the three, but upon her entering into the light, shadows cast off from her, the father whispered to his family who it was that appeared to them on this day.

"It's a Virizion." He ushered the other down. "Keep quiet and just watch." A once in a lifetime experience to be sure, and the father wanted nothing more than for his family to not miss this opportunity. Elegant and regal, the stories of Virizion's beauty and grace were held firmly true, as she looked upon the world with a feverish refinement. Once thought only existing in books, the form of Virizion's beauty escaped any attempt to capture her true glow, even as she looked around, then behind herself.

"Daddy, look!" The little girl gasped, and with bulging eyes, the parents witnessed a new figure enter the fray behind Virizion; a little Virizion. Gasping in shock, the three could only watch, in stunned silence, the smiling tiny figure come to its parents' side. Draped in aqua blue, and with eyes much darker than Virizion's own, the three witnessed the beauty of nature come to life in full fruition as big Virizion greeted her child with pure affection' nuzzling her little one with absolute delight.

As they watched, all delighted in what they were allowed to witness, the father, proud of what he was seeing, smiled, happy for the family Virizion is a part of. "That is why we must take care of this forest." He spoke to his child "So we can continue to see such wonderful things like this."

With a nudge, he urged his family to move on. Yes, all would indeed love to just stay here and watch the Virizion family play with as much love they could spring forth, but sadly, they all knew now to move on. They were not put on this land to be ogled, but rather, to live their own life as they see fit. As such none felt sadness at having to leave, but rather, moved on, knowing that it was a blessing just to see such a sight for themselves.

But as they left, turning away to find a pond to picnic by, they were unaware they were being watched - or rather, had been watched the entire time. She had no reason to call for their existence, Virizion knew full well these humans would do her or her child no harm. With a smile she watched them go, seeing no reason to demand their return to their own settlement.

How could she, of course, when another human came walking on behind her. Joining his family, he scooped up the tiny one in his arms as it giggled being held in daddy's arms, the father proud of the child before him.

Proud of many things, really, and as he too watched the humans leave their area, he could only beam with joy upon knowing he had found a real reason to live.

And this forest was just the beginning of all reasons.

Hope You Enjoyed!