Chapter 13: Legend of the Wolf

The moon rose, full and pale above the scabby trees. Noxious mud bubbled wetly, oozing fetid odors from the depths of the swamp. Pale, unblinking eyes stared out from the shadows. There was a splash—or perhaps, more accurately, a plup—as a frog or some other amphibious creature landed in the mire.

She gazed up at the stars, failed to recall a night quite like this, when every star winked in the black velvet sky. She froze as a primal howl cut through the stillness, speaking to the ancient nerves at the base of her brain of red eyes, long teeth and rushing jaws. She ran, mud flying behind her as her feet pounded the less-than-hard earth. She heard them running, paws working as hard as she was, but gaining…

She whirled in a splash of mud, saw them; three pairs of crimson eyes, moonlight glinting off wet fangs, shaggy fur blacker than the night…

One lunged at her, snarling, and the night was filled with inhuman screams and torn fur…then the sizzle of burning flesh, flames burning blue in the swampy air—

Nori awoke and sat up rapidly, gasping for breath. She glanced around at the room like a frightened animal, her eyes telling her it was simply her cramped hotel room but her mind still awash in frighteningly vivid images. Almost reflexively she put a hand to her chest, feeling the fierce tattoo her heart was beating on the inside of her rib cage. She sat for some time, listening to the steady drumming of the rain and trying to get a hold of herself, before her pulse returned to normal.

"What's the matter with me?" she quietly asked of no one in particular. "It was just a stupid dream…an extremely vivid, but still stupid dream…"

She raised her hands and saw that they were shaking. Disgusted, she clenched them tightly and looked at the bedside clock. The glowing display read 4:32 AM.

"Whatever. As good a time as any to get up," she told herself, marching into the tiny bathroom and shutting the door harder than was needed.

Bitey watched her as she went, her passage illuminated by a flash of lightning from the storm outside. Thunder boomed as she slammed the door.

"AND YOU CAN STOP BEING SO DAMN CLICHÉD!! Idiot universe…"

Bitey chuckled slightly at her muffled yell. It would probably be a good idea to leave her alone for a little while. He put his head back down, dark fur melding with the shadows, and closed his scarlet eyes.

~*~*~

Marshore Town was built on the edge of a wide depression in the land, essentially a lake with a web of path-like swampland weaving across it. There were several bridges built to span the area, however, so if it were not for the pokémon found within, the putrid marshes would see little, if any, human traffic.

The town itself was a collection of hotels, a few privately owned homes and the obligatory pokécenter and pokémart. It was incredible good fortune that the prevailing winds blew toward the northeast, taking the stench of the bogs away from civilization in general. Otherwise, the town might never have been built. Few people could stand the smell for very long.

The only thing that made Marshore Town worth considering at all was the Trick House. Owned by a highly eccentric and extremely wealthy gentleman, the House was floor after floor of mazes, traps and puzzles, with prizes waiting for whoever could get through the entire thing. It was apparently not especially difficult, and the prizes weren't all that great, either. However, once a month, there was a Trick House Challenge, where trainers had to race against each other for various incredible prizes. The month before, a girl had walked away with a complete set of secret base decorations. This month, it was rumored to be a massive supply of pokéblocks.

"So, remind me, Nori," said Dom, rubbing his eyes and watching her wolf down a plate of pancakes, "why are we doing this again?"

"I need blue- or indigo-colored pokéblocks to make Feebas evolve."

"Oh. Right," said Dom, poking at his cereal noncommittally. "Why don't you just make the pokéblocks yourself? You've got a lot of different berries…"

"True, but it's very time-consuming. If I can win, this'll be a lot easier."

"Aww, come on, Nori…I wanna' get to Mauville! I'm itching for a gym battle! Fer agrees with me, don'cha buddy?"

"Wstfgl," said Fernando from somewhere in his cornflakes.

"See? And that's another thing," said Dom, completely ignoring Fernando's unresponsive state, "you wake us up way too early. I'm a growing trainer, I need my rest. I'm going to be all short and stunted!"

Nori struggled to keep a straight face. "Alright, I understand where you're coming from with the gym thing, but I'm still waking you up at six AM every morning. Get over it."

Dom nodded and stared gloomily at his cereal.

~*~*~

The Trick House was very tall and brightly painted, a rainbow of fluorescent color. There were several large doors in its base, the better to allow a multitude of people rapid entry. Their interiors yawned black, like some sort of cavern.

The trio stood near the front of the crowd, nearest the doors due to their early start, but were forced to wait for what seemed like a geological age as people added to the huge queue. A metal fence separated the House-goers from the doors. The large wall-mounted clock ticked painfully slowly, but eventually reached the appointed time. When it did, the buzzing crowd slowly grew quiet.

A man eventually appeared onstage, elaborately mustachioed and clad in a suit of shockingly bright, violently clashing colors. It made Nori's eyes water just to look at him. When he spoke, his deep voice carried over the gathering. She didn't pay him much attention—his speech was a long, flowery version of what she already knew: the house was a maze of problems and pitfalls, and the first one to the end would win an amazing prize. She fidgeted impatiently, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as he droned on.

Finally, the gates in the long fence sprang open. The mob surged forward, metal fencing becoming meaningless as everyone raced everyone else, all desperate for the prize. With the crowd's roar in their ears, Nori, Dom and Fernando chose a door and ran into the maze.

It became eerily quiet as they raced along the corridors and through doors in the walls. Where there was once a low hum from the sheer number of people, a ghostly silence pervaded. Nori wondered if people were giving up, or if it was just the size of the building.

The walls of the maze were an irritating yellow with green fronds painted on them, like seaweed. They didn't reach the ceiling, which allowed sound to travel over them. Occasionally they heard a voice or snatches of conversation, but most of the time there was only the sound of their increasingly more ragged breathing, and their feet hitting the blue-tiled floor. There were rows of lights hung from the warehouse-like ceiling, which made Nori feel apprehensive, though she couldn't think why.

They had been making good time before, but the trio began to run into more and more dead ends. Nori's frustration level was growing by the second. They rounded a corner—nope, another miss.

"Godsdammit," she said, infuriated, kicking the wall, hard. Her stress vanished as the wall swung open, revealing a set of stairs. "…Oh."

"Cool," said Dom, brightly. "You should get mad more often, Nori," he remarked, and dodged a swing from her.

"Well, whatever," Nori said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Let's go."

The second floor somehow contained a large waterfall that turned into a wide, fast-flowing stream. Several long but frighteningly narrow logs bridged the gap in the floor where the water flowed. Ahead of them, a group of girls were walking carefully across one log. There was an abrupt, sickening snap as the log broke and the girls tumbled into the water with variously pitched screams.

"Crap," said Dom, with feeling.

"Okay…how do we know which log to walk on?" asked Nori of no one in particular.

"Let's all pick a different log…that way, if it's going to break, only one of us is out of the running," said Fernando.

Nori sighed. "Yeah, that's probably the best option…if I'm out, one of you guys better lend me some 'blocks."

"Hey, no problem. What're friends for, eh?" said Dom, smiling.

"Easy. I don't have any use for 'em, anyway."

The trio chose three logs that were side-by-side. With hesitant, careful steps, they started to make their way across.

Nori had her arms all the way out for balance, and was staring fixedly at the wood in front of her boots. Don't look down, just don't look down…

Her stomach fell as she heard cracking noises. Looking around desperately, she realized it was her log that was about to fall. As it broke under her weight, she tried to leap onto a nearby log, but missed—only to have one arm seized by someone. She looked up, tearing her eyes away from the water below. Fernando was crouched on his log, gripping her arm in both hands.

"I don't think this log will hold both our weights!" he warned.

Nori glanced to her right. The ledge was quite near, built of rough, bluish-gray stone. "Try to swing me over to the ledge!"

Fernando nodded. She rocked slowly at first, but gradually gained enough momentum for Fernando to swing her out and let go. A very scary split-second was spent in the open air, and then she hit the wall jarringly. She managed to pull herself up, her hands and boots scrabbling at the stone. She kneeled, panting, for a moment before rising on shaky legs.

"Wow, Nori…are you okay?" asked Dom.

"Yeah…fine," she managed to gasp out.

"That was awesome," he said. "Straight out of an adventure movie, I'm serious."

"I hope it never happens again," said Nori sincerely, rubbing her scratched hands. "Thanks, Fer…where'd you get the muscle to do that?"

"No problem. It's the swimming and wrestling," he said, grinning and striking a pose. Nori laughed and Dom shook his head, in jealousy or disgust, she couldn't tell.

"Looks like the stairs are over there," said Dom. "Doesn't do to waste time."

"Quite. Onward!" said Nori, beginning the run again.

The third floor was a huge room of colored ropes and ladders leading up to holes in the ceiling. There didn't seem to be anyone else on the level, making Nori wonder if, perhaps, they were in the lead. Wishful thinking, she scolded herself.

"Hmm…I'm betting that some of these ropes or ladders are faulty and'll break if you try to use them," said Fernando.

"Agreed," said Nori. "Everybody here can climb a rope, right?"

The other two nodded.

"Good, let's go around and pull on these ropes, hard, and see if, maybe, the bad ones break and fall."

They dispersed and set about carrying out Nori's plan. She was right—nearly all of the ropes would break and come down when tugged on. After a few moments, she finally found one that didn't want to fall.

"Over here!" she called to the other two. "One at a time, to be safe," she said, beginning her ascent. It was easier than she had expected, and Dom and Fernando both made it up, emerging onto the fourth floor. There was a myriad of holes around them, as they carefully made their way to the stairwell at one side of the room.

The fifth floor's walls were brightly colored in a rainbow mosaic. The floor was covered in sand, and they watched as a girl and a boy dropped out of sight in a cloud of dust.

"Bah, there's holes around…pitfalls," said Dom.

Nori scanned the ground. There were a lot of open holes that she could see, but strongly suspected that there were hidden pits as well. The placement of the open traps was random, but there was a uniformity to how many openings per a given area. A few apparently solid stretches of ground were far too suspicious.

"Let's stay away from the patches of ground without visible holes," Nori suggested. "They worry me."

"Agreed."

"You got it."

They slowly made their way through the room, carefully avoiding open holes and places that they suspected hid them. After a few near misses, they eventually reached the stairwell on the other side.

The sixth floor had another rushing stream cutting through it, to Nori's utter dismay. The difference was that above its center hung a number of ropes, completely vertical in the absence of wind and too far to reach by hand from the edge. Further down the artificial canyon was a group of three young guys who seemed to be heatedly discussing something amongst themselves.

"Damn, how are we going to get across?" Fernando asked, scuffing the blue tiled floor irritably.

"What I wouldn't do for a cane or some hooky thing…"

Dom stared at the ropes, as if considering something.

"I think…I might know a way to get across."

"Eh? How?"

"I used to do it all the time when I was younger, back in Fortree…there was this rope, hanging from a tree by this lake, and to get on you'd have to take a running jump and grab onto it. Then once it was moving, other kids could just grab it and swing."

"It's so simple, it's perfect! I don't know why I didn't think of that, I used to do the same thing," said Nori. "Ah well. Are you volunteering to go first?"

"You bet," said Dom. He backed up several feet before sprinting toward the ledge. He leapt at the last second and grabbed the rope, swinging easily to the other side. He pushed the weighted rope back to them and Nori caught it, stretching a little.

"Here, you're next, Fer," she said, passing him the rope.

Fernando swung less easily than Dom, as he weighed more and didn't have a running start, but he reached the edge, too.

Nori caught the rope as it was passed to her once again. Glancing to her right, she saw that the three guys seemed to be copying their strategy, as one took a running jump and seized the rope, his momentum taking him to the other side. She shook her head. They'd better stay ahead of those three. She took a deep breath and, willing herself not to look down, leapt into space. The world became a blur of color, solidifying only when her feet touched the ledge on the other side.

"Ohmigod," she breathed, "I think I may have a problem with heights…"

"Just a bit," said Dom. "Now c'mon, we have to stay ahead of those guys."

Nori looked at the men in question; two of them were on the right side, now. She nodded. "Alright."

They ran up the stairwell, shoes pounding on the metal steps. They were surprised to see, as they reached the seventh floor, a completely empty room. High-ceilinged and red-tiled, it was devoid of any sort of challenge or puzzle. At the side opposite them, however, was what appeared to be a stairwell.

"Sixth challenge," said Fernando. They heard the sound of feet ascending the stairs.

"A race to the finish?" said Dom.

"Sounds likely. Let's go!" Nori launched into a sprint, Fernando and Dom close behind. The three guys appeared and joined the run as well. As Fernando and Dom began to fall behind, finding Nori's pace hard to match, one of the three young men started to catch up to Nori. She risked a glance behind and saw him pass her two traveling partners.

Crap, she thought to herself. Just what I needed, some kind of track star. She increased her pace but knew that he was still catching up. Thankfully, the stairwell loomed ahead and she did a rapid turn, gripping the railing as she changed direction, and pounded up the stairs. They seemed longer than she remembered, as if going up two or three flights. When she burst through the doorway at the top there was a burst of noise: deafening cheering and whistles.

A voice boomed, "AND HERE'S OUR FIRST RUNNER-UP!! Haha, runner-up, that's quite a good pun actually…"

Nori slowed her sprint, her eyes adjusting to the bright sunlight on the roof of the Trick House. She looked around, confused, as she slowly walked, dimly hearing the others arrive and similar announcements being made about them, up to a sixth runner-up.

"Who won, then?" she said to herself.

Attendants appeared out of somewhere and led them to the stage at one end of the roof. Once on the stage and facing the crowd, some of Nori's comprehension came back. The eccentric owner was speaking loudly into a microphone.

"And here's our winner everyone! This lucky gentleman will go home with a lifetime supply of the highest quality pokéblocks available! Let's give him a round of applause!"

Nori glanced at the young man standing beside the Trick House manager, who was now smiling and waving at the crowd. He was, to her absolute and permanent disgust, Hans Mueller. He looked the same: perfect smile, perfect skin, blond hair, blue eyes. He had ditched the PTI uniform, which unfortunately did wonders to bring his 'snobby git' rating down. Now he was merely snobby. He was now dressed in a white turtleneck, jeans and black leather boots, all obviously extremely expensive.

"Our first runner up, this fine young lady, wins a smaller version of the winner's prize! Give her a round of applause for superb effort!"

Nori was startled to see the manager standing by her. She waved hurriedly at the crowd as they applauded, unsure of what else to do.

The manager moved on to the young man after Nori. She began to zone out on what he was saying, then, as all the runner-ups' prizes seemed to be the same. After all of them had been congratulated, Hans was presented with several large, white boxes. He walked off the stage unburdened as a number of assorted female hangers-on appeared to help him carry his prizes. Nori recognized two of them from when she had initially encountered Hans. The bastard has some more 'admirers', I see. Ugh.

Nori was presented with a single, but still quite large, box, and wandered over to one end of the stage to wait for Dom and Fernando. The box sizes dwindled as the manager moved down the line, the last young man in line receiving a box about four inches cubed in volume. The trio were making their way, encumbered by the boxes, toward an elevator that would take them straight to the bottom floor, when the three others caught up with them.

"Er, hi," said one, putting his box under his arm and extending a hand. "I wanted to congratulate you…you're very fast."

Nori returned the handshake. "I get a lot of time to practice," she said, politely. He was a bit taller than she was but just as wiry and lean. He was black-haired and looked oriental, his unruly hair brushing against his wire-frame glasses. He was dressed in baggy dark blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a stylized legendary bird silk-screened onto it, one from Johto she recognized as Ho-oh, the phoenix.

"Name's Ace. Ace Blaze," he said.

"Noirsha Hunter. This's Dominic, and Fernando."

"Hi."

"Yo."

"These two are Bull and Kale."

Bull was aptly named; he was at least six foot five, towering over everyone else, and looked extremely tough. He had sandy brown hair and light blue eyes that, while ice-hued, seemed warm and helpful. He was clad in baggy khaki cargoes and a gray tank top under his brown leather jacket. He waved, somewhat hesitantly, but didn't say anything.

Kale was slightly shorter than Nori, but with enchanting, deep blue eyes and spiky dark hair. He was clothed in dark blue, baggy jeans and a black T-shirt with blue lining his sleeves and collar.

"Hi all," he said, grinning, before winking cheekily at Nori, who smiled and gave him a look that suggested he would be dead, or at least maimed horribly, if she hadn't this box to carry.

"Nice to meet you," Nori said, meaning it, even with Kale. "I take it you three are traveling partners?"

"No, we actually kind of teamed up for the Trick House thing, but that's starting to sound like a good idea, now…" Ace glanced at Bull and Kale, who nodded in agreement. "Where're you three off to?"

"Let's see…back to the pokémon center to get our stuff, and then we're off to Mauville, I think," said Dom, glancing at Nori for confirmation.

"Same here. Are you taking the bike path or the swamp trail?"

"It'll probably have to be the swamp trail…I don't own a bike," said Nori.

"Yeah, neither do I," said Fernando, Dom nodding agreement.

"I think we're in the same situation," said Ace, glancing at Bull, who nodded agreement.

"Eh, I've got a bicycle," said Kale, "but it's no use if my partners don't. They don't allow people without bikes on the path."

"Right. Well, I was wondering if you three'd care to temporarily join forces, so to speak, with us. I've been hearing stories about how treacherous the marshes can be if you're in small groups."

"Well…I don't know," said Nori, doubtfully. "A group of six sounds just the thing for scaring pokémon away, not to mention it'd be kind of unwieldy."

"I know, I feel the same way, but I've heard about people getting trapped in the mire for days because no one was around, or their friends couldn't get them out and had to run back to Marshore for help."

Nori considered this before shrugging. "Sure, but in Mauville we go our separate ways. Agreed?"

Ace nodded. "Agreed. Meet you at the pokémon center?"

"Sure."

~*~*~

Nori took a moment to inspect her pokéblocks before converting them to data onto her berry storage unit, just to be safe. It took longer than her normal storage device, but it would be unfortunate to find that her hard-earned candies had been damaged in the transfer. The different colors were separated into groups: purple, indigo, brown, light blue, olive green, white and even some gold. She was still a little disappointed that she hadn't won the grand prize—the fact that Hans Mueller had made her grind her teeth in frustration if she dwelled on it too long—but there were enough indigo blocks to make her feebas evolve. There would probably be plenty left over if she wanted to evolve another for whatever reason, or prepare a pokémon for a beauty contest.

It'll have to wait until Mauville, though, she thought, as the box was slowly converted to data. There aren't really any decent bodies of water around here, and I think I may need a pokéblock holder before I can find out exactly what flavors they are.

~*~*~

"Um, Nori? I think we're lost."

Nori resisted the urge to whirl and launch a tirade of abuse. She was hungry, weary, footsore and covered in muck. So were the rest of her comrades, by the look of them. She sighed.

"I know."

This swamp was truly hellish. It had begun as a happy outing, the trainers walking single file along a series of wooden bridges while their water pokémon swam in the reeds and among the water plants. The trees had been primarily massive, ancient weeping willows, their drooping fronts delicately shading the path, with ferns serving as the major undergrowth. Bulrushes, duckweed and floating water-lilies littered the open water. Everywhere one could look had been a symphony of green, speckled with blossoms of every hue, lush and beautiful. Lotad floated gently in the water as taillow sang somewhere overhead. Rustles in the underbrush could have been anything from an oddish to a zigzagoon.

Abruptly, the wooden path had ended, as if the builders had left, overcome with disgust at what lay ahead. The ferns and reeds had given way to a uniform, semi-liquid grayish mud, with a slightly more solid 'path' along it, if you could call it that. Huge trees, their trunks covered in moss and fungus, formed a virtual tunnel, sealing in heat and insects. They all slipped on submerged rocks or tripped over rotten logs more than once, but the eventual coating of mud only gave relief from the biting insects for a short time. The trees began to thin shortly after, allowing in a cold mist that would have prevented the bugs from even flying, anyway. It was here that the swamp turned into a maze, but the trackless, oozing mud gave them no indication whether or not they had come that way before. For some bizarre reason, the trainers' compasses refused to work, their needles swinging randomly in any direction. They were all forced to pull out flashlights as the light dwindled.

But everywhere, everywhere was the stench of corruption and rotting plant (and possibly animal) matter. There was no escaping it.

Nori had grown more and more agitated, threatening to snap at any minute, but the admittance that they were, indeed, well and truly lost, had replaced anger with lethargy.

"So…what's the plan?" asked Kale, trying to scratch some hardened mud off his eyebrow.

"It would be nice to stop at some point," said Dom, looking pale with tiredness.

"I'm not a big fan of kippin' in the mud, myself," said Nori, not unkindly. They were all tired from slogging through this infernal bog.

"I guess…maybe continue until we locate civilization or pass out with weariness?" suggested Ace.

"Whichever comes first," added Kale.

"I'm liking it. Come on, all," said Nori, striking off and immediately slipping on a smooth rock. The others had the decency—or maybe simply the exhaustion—not to laugh. Bull helped her back up, and she trudged forward, followed by the others.

Shortly after, their trek was interrupted by a growling from the undergrowth. Something light green burst out of the filthy plants and landed headfirst in the mud. It rolled around whining, apparently distressed because it couldn't see, but only succeeded in becoming more dirty. Out of pity, Nori bent down and picked it up, wiping the mud off its face with the last clean patch on her tank top. It looked at her, confused and tired. Nori realized that the dog-like creature was an electrike. She would have been able to see its distinctive crest and yellow stripes if it hadn't been coated in muck, though it would have been able to shock her, otherwise.

There was a growling from the trees and the electrike whined in fear, trying to hide itself without leaving Nori's arms. Two odd-looking mightyenas appeared, entirely gray at first glance but a closer inspection revealed that they were covered in the swamp's pale smoke-colored mud. One leapt at Nori and she booted it reflexively, her kick landing on the wolf-like pokémon's sensitive snout and dropping it, whining in pain, to the ground.

She fumbled for a pokéball as a third swamp mightyena appeared. "Go, Bitey!"

Her mightyena appeared in a flash of blue light, growling, his canines containing the venom for his Poison Fang attack prominent. Five other flashes of light and calls to battle confirmed that Kale, Dom and Ace had released their pokémon—she glanced at them—Bull's azurill, Fer's chikorita, Dom's gulpin, Ace's swellow and Kale's…arcanine?! Lucky guy…

As the six pokémon attacked the mightyenas, the trainers failed to notice that the wind had risen, taking the mist with it. The sun had set, and judging by the uniform blackness of the sky, it was at least ten-thirty PM. The only light came from the flashlights the trainers held, and from the full, pale moon.

They allowed the wolf pokémon to step back, as if preparing to retreat. Instead, they howled in unison, muzzles thrown upward toward the night sky. It was an ancient howl, speaking to the wild in Bitey of summoning, and long nights spent hunting in the trackless snow. It went straight from the human trainers' ears to a rarely used but ancient part of their brains, which said, very plainly, "run."

They were forced to comply as red eyes and snarls filled the shadows of the trees.

~*~*~

Nyee hee hee hee!! How didja like that, EH?! CLIFFHANGER~ *laughs insanely* Eh heh. Yeah, I'm feeling a bit unhinged today, it was the first day of school and all. Oh well. Tell me what you thought, kiddies! X3

Oh, BTW, I know I'm a bit of a hypocrite for basing this Trick House on the animé Trick House, rather than the game. I beg forgiveness, but it was far more entertaining and I'm lazy. :P

Also, for anyone who feels their character isn't really playing a prominent enough role, I'm VERY VERY sorry. Please forgive me, I'm trying to work them in, but in the end I have to go with whatever works with the story. Sorry, sorry again. T.T

To My Reviewer: Answer/Response Time! ^_^

The Crystal Wyvern: A Bagon? Nah, I don't care much for Salamence.

Koriku: Hehe, Bitey would've been pretty expensive if it takes that much effort to get a poochy with poison fang…makes a good present that way, I guess. Uh-oh, have I said too much? ;)

Personally, I figure it's some sort of secret genetic engineering project…experimenting with non-organic elements (iron, and such, with silicon involved) in an attempt to create some sort of super-weapon pokémon. So far, the created pokémon haven't really met expectations (i.e.: Grimer, Magemite, Voltorb, Porygon, Beldum's the best so far), but they're working on it.

Anyway, ERK, I feel your pain on the parental unit issue. They cut off my internet for the night, so I must stay up and write stories. Oh well, I guess it works out well for you guys. ;)

And yeah…Voltorbs are scary. O_O;;

Mal/Volvagia: *foams at the mouth* I MUST HAVE THAT PLAYERS' GUIDE

MuRm: I see. I was trying to support the idea that Metagross and family gain personality over time—Behemoth is still pretty cold and logical, kind of like Mr. Spock from Star Trek (okay, I'm officially a geek now, aren't I X3), whereas Steven's Meta is kind of irritable and whiny, since Steven's had him for a while. I feel that it and other pokémon are man-made, due to their unlikeness to any animal I can think of, and their lack of any sort of ecological niche. For example, magnemite hang around power plants, and that's it. They don't seem to eat and they can't reproduce on their own. Mind you, there are some who feel *all* pokémon are man-made…

Hmm, the only chapter where I was consciously limiting the amount of description that I can think of was that last chapter, where I didn't describe Slateport so much because we'd already been there. I was in a very weird mood when I first wrote the beginning of chapter twelve, and although I went back and touched it all up, there could still be some odd parts. Hopefully this chapter was a return to those old ideals?

With Behemoth, well, in my defense, I'd just like to say that it was, y'know, a Zubat. It doesn't take much to faint one of those things. Also, I feel that there is little a human being can do to fight against a telekinetic attack, but whatever you like.

All the rare and powerful pokémon, eh? Well, maybe I'm too much of a gamer to really see the fine line. I only train the pokémon I'm going to stick with in the long run; I don't bother wasting precious experience on some beautifly I'm going to dump shortly after I hit Mauville City. I mean, to me, having, say, a team of legendaries, or all three starters, a Salamence, a Dragonite, and a Slaking, that's the abyss I work to keep out of. What I'm trying to do, is balance power with reasonableness. I'm not going to have a team of 00ber-powerful gods, but then again I'm not going to have a team of the scrapings of someone's backyard, either.

The pictures are found under Animé Episode Pictures, and then you just click on the episode you want.

Um, yes. All that aside, tell me how you felt about the chapter by *reviewing*. It is verrrrry important to me. X3

P.S.: 4,759 words not counting the end bit. I rule all. XD