(((Characters mine. Pokemon Nintendo.)))

Chapter 4
Close Encounters with the Not-So-Common Kind

"Ugh…that bird better be hoping I don't catch it and wring its nasty little neck," Jemilie muttered, clawing at about two or three feet of pale lavender hair. She had just spent the last half hour rinsing it of the disgusting salty salivary discharge that Pelipper called a Water Gun attack in a nearby creak, located opposite of the one across the crag where the Blaziken had previously left. Having the stuff in her hair, trickle down over her face in its oozing sloppiness put her on the edge of coughing up her lunch, and finally did herself a favor and threw off her soaked shirt, dipping her head into the cool creek despite being quite apprehensive about bathing in natural bodies of water like this forest stream, teeming with a number of bacterial organisms. Taking just one class in Microbiology can do that to your self-consciousness. In any case, it was better that having to walk around with the slop on, and she was sure to be doing a lot of walking after this.

Her little fire lizard moseyed in the dry grass, waiting for his trainer to finish. His sapphire eyes were cast skyward, searching for his missing partner that flew off after the Pelipper.

"Chaaa…rrrr?"

He blinked in awe as a dark figure dashed through the air for a brief second, humanoid in appearance, black all over except for the cream colored feathers adorning its head and neck. Its eyes were a brilliant sapphire, just like his, so bright he can see it clear across the wide space that separated them. In a heartbeat, he hung in midair, fluid grace and elegance streaming from its form, before disappearing into the thick brush, gone, maybe forever.

The fire Pokemon was still staring at the sky, mouth wide open just as his trainer finished her bath, donning a fancy black and maroon patterned tube top, a pale yellow bath towel wrapped around her hair. She also replaced her boots with a pair of bath slippers. "Any sign of Aura, Hwajeh?"

The Charmander averted its gaze finally to glance up at its trainer. Just for a moment, he paused, wondering if the black Pokemon he just saw qualified as a legit answer to her query, and then simply shook his head when he realized she was only concerned about the small Swablu. The girl gave a lopsided frown, folding her polo inward so that the dry part stuck out, and stared at it blankly, not knowing their next course of action. Having no idea where Aura or the pelican flew of to, she may very well have to over the entire forest. She turned back to the steam, moving her eyes along it and where it trailed off. "Perhaps we could follow it," she suggested, half to herself, half to Hwajeh. "That bird was a water Pokemon."

It made sense. Unless Aura chased it out of the forest, the most likely place to find the sea bird was in a large watery area, or a high cliff somewhere at least. Right, she had something to build off of now. With a nod to her companion to follow, they began to track the stream together. The cool dark water didn't change much after a few meters, though it was notably spreading wider. The scant presence of the fish gliding within told her the current was probably catching up as well. She briefly glanced at the sky as it began to dim, the red orange from the afternoon sun making way for the dark blue of the evening. She felt her stomach growl, thinking of the fish and how she really didn't eat all that much for lunch. The trail of water stretched very deep into the forest; she could see it was quite vast. It couldn't be helped that they would need to spend the night out here.

After a while, Jemilie noticed Hwajeh casting odd glances at their back. His chirps were soon accompanied with growls, and he paused, turning to the shadow that finally detached itself from the dark. She stopped as well, and turned to face a small body, dark in the dim twilight, but still with features distinguishable, the most fearsome a pair of saber tooth canines sliding down both sides of its maw, large and wickedly curved back to a sharp point. Azure eyes peered up at them from beneath a scruffy chestnut brow, and a maroon nose flared below with their scents. It was hard to tell, but its dark gold fur did seem to be giving off a rather subtle glow.

Just as their eyes met, it lowered its head, lips drawn back to reveal two rows of tiny sharp teeth, dwarfed by the two massive canines, and a rolling, high pitched growl escaped its throat. The fur on its shoulders bristled even more; its shaggy tail lashed out sharply.

A Poochyena, the girl concluded, after taking a good look at it. One that's a bit off-color, but definitely a Poochyena. She turned her body to fully face it, bend both knees and stuck both arms out, flailing them forward in a shooing motion. "Beat it!"

The action didn't really do much of what was intended, except to make the little dog angry. It started barking instead now, rapidly and excited, backing up away from the girl's flailing, and then standing its ground.

The trainer shook her head, cringing at the canine's loud barking. Nothing good was definitely going to come out of this unless she could get it to shut up somehow. "Please…be quiet. Look, I'm leaving now, okay?" She picked up Hwajeh and started to back out the way they came. "Look…leaving…"

"I du nut tink yu shall be leavink quite yet, mademoiselle!" A childish, suspiciously accented voice rose out in the air. It didn't come from the Pooch; somewhere out in the brush beyond, accompanying with the loud rush of wide feet pounding the foliage, steadily getting closer. "Monsieur Scruff, vue aur comink to ze resucue! Monsieur Buckingson…charge!"

The racing sound of feet was changed to the pounding of hooves, a cry erupting from something that Jemilie could discern as deer-like. Whereas she was clinging to her fire lizard, wary of whatever creature that was planning to appear, the Poochyena snickered, and ran off, just as the large beast erupted into view. Her assumption was right as she froze before a Stantler, a proud, mahogany buck with two grant twisting antlers, dark psychic pearls hovering in the distorting space within them.

It stopped its charge, paused to swing its great head about in search of its target, and rested its eyes on the girl. She kept absolutely still, lowering her head to the ground it stood, wary of the mystifying antlers. It snorted once, stomping with its hooves, waiting for her to give it a reason to charge through her. She could feel the Pokemon's leering gaze on her, could feel the tension it was sending, making her tremble fearfully. It became increasingly diffuicult holding her statue-like stance. She knew the most prudent thing to do in the face of adversity such as this was to make no sudden moves, no quick actions or noise that would provoke the danger to attack.

Unfortunately, her companion wasn't as knowledgeable, And before she could help it, he was pulling himself in her arms, roaring as best as a Charmander could at their attacker. Fire billowed forth in bright flashes of red and orange, scalding the air. Stunned, she quickly clamped the Charmander's mouth shut, but by then it was too late. The buck found its motive, and acted accordingly. It lowered its head, horns aimed at its two new targets, pawed the ground eagerly, and ran full speed, energy emitted off its head as its charge's power escalated to a full-on Take Down attack.

The next few seconds were those in chaos' grip. Horrified at what her small companion had caused, and at sight of the large animal charging full speed towards them brought her in such a level of anxiety that she could not think straight enough to move out of the way. Her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts racing against each other, mostly consisting of the chant 'Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh-AHHH! Dark! Can't…see…towel…' She staggered, flailing her arms around in a desperate attempt to reclaim the fire Pokemon, who decided to take refuge atop her head, pulling her yellow towel she had been using to wrap her moist hair in over her face in the process. "Hwajeh!"

No time left, and no way to see, she did the only thing she could and flung off the offending fabric forth. It spread out in the air, seemed to hang there for a brief second before being violently snagged between the buck's two great antlers, spreading over to hinder the Stantler's POV. It was about the only reason why she was spared an agonizing, bone-breaking collision...plus a small stone on the ground, minding its own business, that the deer Pokemon just happened to stumble upon that changed its course ever-so-slightly at the last second. The Stantler didn't stop though, kept going despite being blinded. It was only a matter of time when it finally tripped over a low shrub, another innocent bystander in the vicinity rudely disturbed of its non-involvement-related activity, smashing itself against a tree, and lay there, still and unconscious.

The only noises now were Jemilie's and Hwajeh's rapid breaths, and the odd shifting of the overhanging leaves in the eerie evening wind. A cry of frustration was released, from the same mysterious speaker hidden within the bush.

"Ahh…ze mademoiselle, she eez a verry crafty one, no? Zen vwe must mek tings more…leveled, as yu wud say it, yes? Yes…yu wud. Vwell zen…"

For an intense moment, nothing happened. Then a scratching sound, like a heavy object being moved about the ground; like metal grinding on grass. A spherical, red and white object slipped from the growth, rolling steadily towards them with a very moderate momentum. She caught it easily with her foot, and peered down with slight interest, thinking it was a Pokeball. But it was far too large to be any ordinary Pokemon catching device, and as soon as she caught sight of the large eyes glaring at her, gleaming with a destructive aura, it sent alarms ringing in the girl's head as truth struck her like a sledgehammer.

"Sh#!"

She swung her foot back, stopped, thought better of it, and lifted it instead, smacking it with a shove of the heel back to the dark unknown depths from which it came. And the dark unknown depths seemed not very appreciative of receiving their minion back as an unseen turmoil took place.

"Egads! Flee, Monsieur Scruff! FLEE!"

Jemilie took a glance at her fire Pokemon, looking panicked for once. "You heard him, Hwajeh! Let's beat it!" They both fled to the right, as far as their legs could carry them. Just before the blinding light of pure energy engulfed the entire vicinity, she managed to see two figures running off in the opposite direction, into the stream just as a violent burst broke through…

---------------------

" Say…did you hear that? "

The black Blaziken's falcon-like head turn, keen blue eyes catching sight of a column of smoke rising in the distance, suspiciously near the site where he and the Pelipper had just left. "Is it the ones that are after you?"

The water Pokemon blinked, a sort of confused look crossing her features. " Huh…Oh! Yes, yeah, I think it must be them. Yeah…good thing I ran into you. Just think of what would've happened. " She patted her pouch gingerly.

The larger Pokemon cracked his knuckles, blue fire spurting from his wrists in excitement. "Well, then. Time to take care of 'em-"

" Er, Wait! " the water bird interrupted. " We need to reach Plymonth Rock first! "

The fire bird blinked back in surprise. "But its best to eradicate the problem as soon as the opportunity comes up."

" Yes…b-b-but there could be more of them! " She spread her wings, fluttering around. " While you're taking care of them there, others might come from over there. Or there! You can't leave me alone! "

Frowning, Garuda Ra lowered his fists. He was prepared to argue, but she did site a good point. If he left her to get pummeled by whoever was after her, not only would it be a wasted effort to attack only a portion of the enemy, but he wouldn't get his reward as well. And he liked being thorough in his jobs. He took one last look at the fading smoke before leaping off again after her, feeling cheated of what could've possibly been a worthy battle.

----------------------

"Sacre bleu…Monsieur Scruff…are yu still in ze livink?" Sappius turned his round, drenched head slightly, towards the still figure of his companion on the grass. He was relieved to see his chest rise up and expel a cough, grunting, "Ggggrreat," as he did. Nodding, he rested back, glancing skyward just as the shadow of a female human loomed over him.

"…You!" she said in disbelief, eyes blazing like two emerald flares. "You're the one that's been attacking us! A Spinda?"

The form of the brown and tan Pokemon was still as the annoyed voice rang in his round, brown ears. Two brown eyes, one surrounded in a patch of brown fur, glanced up at the face of their intruder for the first time. "Oui, mademoiselle…tis I, Sappius Von Deu, zat 'as launched ze attacks," he admitted with a sigh, acknowledging defeat. "Du wat yu weel tu me; I 'ave lost zis battle and vwill aksept ze puneeshment. But pleez...zu nut punish Monsieur Scruff! He eez just a companeeyon!"

The human turned a wary glance at the small canine sprawled beside him, quivering and whimpering at the cold dampness matting his fur, to her own companion, chirping a soft "Char" in confusion, then back to the soaked bear type. "You know…it doesn't have to end this way."

The Pokemon opened an eye, the one surrounded with the brown patch. "Eet doesn't?"

Jemilie shook her head slowly. "No. It doesn't. Unless, of course, you aren't willing abide to my requests…" Her face remained a blank, no evidence of any emotion seen across it, that made both Pokemon glance at each other uncertainly. It was then a small rueful smile broke forth on her lips that really made them begin to worry.

--To be continued--

((Its only long cuz its actually two chapters…))