Wight: Duh duh duh... Oh, crap! I'm on!

Rill: Heh. Moron.

Wight: Fine, jerk. Wait'll you see how I get you back. Author, 'member? Anywho... Oh, yeah. I own NOTHING! Not Pokemon, or.. uh, a car... or... stuff... Nevermind. Anyway, read up, and I'll see you at the end!

Chapter Three:

Dogfights and Phone Calls

"For the glory of Team Magma! Mightyena, go!" "Witchfire, let's rumble." The large Magma grunt and the silver eyed trainer glared across the alley at each other, as their released canines snarled at each other. Rill smirked coldly, and petted his Houndour's back. "Let's start this thing."

On a rooftop over the alley, a dark haired individual watched the fight with a dark grin. His shadow colored clothing concealed the rest of his body, but as he turned, several pokeballs of a strange, dangerous design faintly glimmered in the waning light of the streetlamps. He chuckled to himself. "So. I've found you, Rillian. From here, things get interesting."

Back in the alley, Rill's mind shot forward at a thousand thoughts per second, formulating and discarding strategies as fast as possible. Mightyena are larger than Houndour normally, and this one is large for it's species. So I have to go with speed for now. And try to avoid getting Witchfire crushed. Suddenly, his foe shouted as his snarling pet, "Mightyena, smother it! Take down!" The large hyena-like creature rushed full speed at the smaller dog, fangs and claws bared. Rill's eyes narrowed. "Witchfire, Faint Attack!" A second before the larger creature struck it, the Houndour shimmered out of it's way and tackled it from behind, adding to the Mightyena's momentum and slamming it into the alley wall, leaving a large, cracked impact crater. The Magma grunt cried out to his Pokemon "Get up! Bite it in half!" The creature wobbled to it's feet, then shook it's head with a snarl. Giving an intimidating howl, it jumped up on Witchfire's back and clamped it's fangs into it, prompting a squeal of pain from the smaller canine."Ha! Shred it, Mightyena!" "Witchfire, no!" Rill winced, then got an idea. "Flamethrower, dude. At it's face!" The smaller dog snapped it's pained face around and fired a stream of superheated flames at it's foe's face, but only managed to blast the edge of it's foes face. Surprised and hurt, the Mightyena gave it's foe a hard shake and threw it into the wall. The Houndour hit with a thud, and crashed into a set of trashcans sitting beneath it. "WITCHFIRE!" Rill's scream burst from him, feeling every injury that his friend was. The large grunt laughed and his Mightyena even had a self satisfied air. "Looks like you lose, boy. Now, Mightyena, kill it." The large canine stepped forward, then lunged at the prone form of Witchfire, fangs bared. However, it was intercepted mid-lunge by Rill, who took it's fangs on his arm, and Stormfin, who began hitting and Water Gunning it. Rill threw it off of him, and crouched before his hurt pokemon, holding his savaged arm. "Stay away from my Pokemon!" The grunt laughed evilly. "Fine, then. Mightyena, Kill them all!" The large canine leapt at the angry Mudkip, downed Houndour, and bleeding trainer… And was thrown back as an angry Witchfire leapt out from the pile of trashcans, a brilliant white light surrounding its body. Rill and Stormfin watched in awe as the light faded, and revealed a changed Witchfire. The pokemon had evolved, and now resembled, instead of the black Rottwieller it had, a black Doberman with horns extending from its head and ound up larger than the Mightyena it had been fighting. Rill looked on his friend with a new respect. "Witchfire?" The black dog looked back at him and gave him a quick wink, then snarled and launched itself at the gray hyena that had dared attack him and his friends. "All right, Faint Attack Witchfire!" The larger canine disappeared, reappearing behind the Mightyena and jumping on top of it. Rill grinned. "All right, let's finish this! Witchfire… OVERHEAT!" The horned canine pressed its muzzle to the other canine's neck, an orange glow building in its throat, and released a blast of flames even more superheated than it's flamethrower. The Mightyena collapsed, smoldering, and was returned to its pokeball right before its trainer fled. Rill watched his foe's form vanish into the night, then ripped off the short half sleeve of his tee shirt, to expose the rest of his savaged arm. "Heh… Ya know, it didn't seem that bad befo…" Before he could finish, his eyes rolled into his head and he collapsed, as his blood pooled out from the deep wounds on his shredded arm.

The girl, forgotten in the conflict, looked out from her hiding place while clutching her package tightly to her self. Turning her head slightly, she Came face to face with the distressed Stormfin. "Kippppppppp! Mud Mu muuu mud KIPPPP!" He begged her. She looked down at him. "I… I'm sorry. I have to go." She turned to leave, but was stopped by a tug on her pant leg. Looking back, she saw the little blue fish digging it's paws in and biting her pant leg to keep her there. Its eyes seemed to beg her to help. "Oh, screw it. You guys did save me. Help me get him to the hospital." With a lot of maneuvering, they managed to get Rill onto Witchfire's back fairly well, and they moved out in search of the nearest hospital.

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The hospital room was a lot smaller than on the television shows the girl had seen. And the fact that there were three people and almost as many Pokemon in the room didn't improve matters. "All right, one more time. What is your relationship with the patient, miss?" The girl rolled her eyes. "Once again, I have no relationship with the patient. He stopped a group of thugs from hurting me, and was attacked by one's Mightyena. I wanted to help him, too." The doctor sighed. "That's a shame. We were hoping you might be able to help us contact his family. We can't find his wallet with his information. But it's not that important. He's just going to be weak for a day or two. He's lost a lot of blood. We'll keep him overnight for observation. You are welcome to stay with him, if you like." The girl thought it over, and agreed. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go, anyway…" she thought to herself. The doctor nodded and excused himself, leaving her alone with the sleeping form of Rill and his Pokemon. She looked at the small blue Mudkip staring at her from on top of his trainer. "What have I gotten myself into this time?" She asked, half to herself. The blue critter chirped at her, as if to answer, and then called to the large wolf-like Pokemon lying next to the bed. It opened one eye, growled at the fish lightly, then walked over to the girl and dropped something into her lap. "What's this?" She asked them. She held it up, and recognized it. "A wallet? His wallet?" The Mudkip nodded. "What am I supposed to do with this? Do you want me to contact his family?" This time it was the Houndoom's turn to nod. "Why me? Why not the doctor?" At this, both creatures shook their head. The Mudkip walked over to the mall plant on the desk, and after a small Water Gun into the dirt, and began to write in the mud. "Oh, I see… Seeing a doctor after that conversation could scare them. So you two want me to call them and explain what's going on?" Affirmative nods from both Pokmon met her question. She sighed. "Fine. In for a penny, I guess. Let's go make a phone call."

She sighed. Why me? She asked herself for the eighth time. "I'm sorry, no telemarketers allowed. Can I take a message? For English, please stay on the line." The elderly lady on the other side of the vidscreen seemed to be able to continue to talk forever, and showed no sign of hearing anything she said. "Look, ma'am, is there anyone else I could speak to? Anyone at all?" The old lady blinked, and started her speech over again. Just then, a large reptilian face popped into the frame, knocking the old lady over but not ending her rant. The Feraligatr roared, and was answered by a shout from the other room. Seconds later, a face filled the screen that caused her to double take. The man on the other side of the screen looked exactly like the young man in the room, only a little older and with blue eyes. "Hello, sir. Are you, uh, um… Rillian Riser's father?" The man's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I am Dr. Joshua Riser. Is my son in trouble?" "Oh, no, sir. Actually…He kinda… Saved my life." Dr. Riser's eyes returned to normal at this. "Oh, really? That's good. Where is he?" The girl fidgeted at this. "He's…" And her voice dropped to inaudiable at the end of this sentence. "My son is where, again?" Her cheeks burned. "The hospital." Dr. Riser jumped up at this. "What! Is he all right? I'll be thre right away! Are you still in Slateport!" "Please sir, calm down! He's alright! He just lost a lot of blood, so they want him to stay here overnight. And his Pokemon are with him, so he's well protected." The doctor took a second to compose himself, then looked at her again. "I see… So I wouldn't be able to do anything. And Rill would probably be angry with me for coming. Thank you for calling us." The girl nodded. "You're welcome. But It's really Rill's Mudkip you should really thank." Dr. Riser nodded. "I will when I see him. Thanks again. And have Rill call us when he gets better. Oh, I and I didn't catch you name either." The girl smiled. "My name is Tara Sedgwick. And I will. Goodnight, Dr. Riser." "Goodnight, Tara."

Tara: Took you long enough to get my name out there.

Wight: Sorry.

Rill: Well, things are going well. Congrats.

Wight: Yep. But It doesn't matter what I think, what matters is what you out there think. So Review, already! I'm starting to feel lonely. So please review.

Rill: Your pathetic.