Power to Negreak's review.

Again, if you catch any errors do let me know. This was the hardest chapter to write-- it took somewher around three months, I believe-- but I like it the best so far. I'll rant at the end, ne?

It was stubbornly ominous.

Gina carefully let that sentence roll around in her mind. It had been tediously constructed, and she was then in a phase that consisted of considering the true meaning of it. It applied to so many things at once.

The decidedly bleak weather headed that list. The group had awoken to drizzle, and the drizzle's grip still had hold as noon neared. Gina wasn't particularly enjoying it, but she felt especially sorry for Sproing who, in his refusal to be belittled by Caterpie, did not want to go inside his pokèball. Instead, he was stopping to preen his matted feathers every few steps; he was uncomfortable and sopping. The kingler from the previous day, appropriately named Cancer, had been released and was gratefully enjoying the closest thing to the ocean it had felt in a long time. It ran around—a strange side-to-side shuffle—with Caterpie (who had made a game of trying to stay dry) chasing after it and trying to stay in one of the havens its large body and claw provided. Yes, the rain was stubborn and, Gina worried, ominous.

The mountain was something else that her concoction applied to. Jon had insisted that they stop traveling alongside the rock wall—something about slides that Gina wasn't paying attention to—so for quite a while they had gone without any directional marker. It had risen above the trees, though, and now towered over them; Gina wondered how this awesome congregation of solid rock could ever condense into something as simple as a plateau.

The next thing that came to Gina's mind was a more specific aspect of the mountain. The description of Widow's Peak in her field guide had been very foreboding, almost like a warning. Common sense told her that this was written like that purposely, to attract attention (though, she admitted, this was the same 'common sense' that had directed her wear jeans, which retain water very well and heat not so much).

This thought spurred several others. Her backpack was heavy. Her feet hurt. It was drizzling, and she was cold. She had layered her shirts, but a wet shirt was the same as several wet shirts: damp, chilly, and uncomfortable. And it wasn't as if she could simply fix all of these things, as she was flat broke. And more so, she realized, she was bored.

"Hey, Gi?" It was Jon's voice. Gina shook herself out of her thoughts to see Jon standing with two other boys, with Cancer nowhere in sight. Sproing and Caterpie, however, were standing by him. Jon nodded to the boys, and then approached Gina. "Look," he said quietly, "these guys want to do a two-on-two. All that this guy has been talking about is his amazing growlithe, so I figure I could beat him with Cancer and you could use your caterpie against the other guy, since he'll probably evolve soon anyway. Plus, you really need the money."

"Way to plan out the entire battle for me," Gina sighed. "What if that other guy has a flying-type or something? Caterpie would get annihilated."

"From what you told me, the caterpie beat up your bird pretty bad," he pointed out.

"It wasn't that bad. There were like five hundred other caterpie there. He took out all of the caterpie we saw afterwards easily," Gina said defensively.

"No need to get all offended. You want to try or not?" he replied.

"Sure… I do need the money, I guess," she shrugged.

After seeking out a small clearing suitable for battle, the four contenders took their places. It was about then that Gina realized she should have recalled Caterpie and Sproing; the two boys now had been given ample time to work out a strategy that could easily destroy either of her vulnerable duo. Three pokèballs exploded onto the field, and Caterpie ran out to join them. Gina surveyed the scene. Both Cancer and the growlithe had appeared, as predicted. The fourth pokemon had, as Gina guessed, been chosen strategically: it was an electrike.

"Alright, let's go!" Jon's battle cry rang across the field and rain.

Immediately, Caterpie dove for the electrike. What ensued was chaos.

Every kind of element went flying. Cancer shot a slow bubble in the growlithe's direction; at the same time, the growlithe spat an ember at Caterpie. However, by then, Caterpie had been thrown off the electrike. The ember instead hit the electrike as the growlithe was hit by bubble.

Trainers shouted orders, and Cancer lunged for the growlithe, whose name had been revealed as Lupine. The dog was subjected to a painful vicegrip, but the sudden shift in weight threw Cancer off balance and he fell forwards-- with the struggling growlithe still in his claw. Meanwhile the electrike, who seemed to not have a name quite yet, had begun to roll across the ground in an effort to choke the flames. Caterpie stood a safe distance away, watching the spectacle in amusement. As soon as electrike began to right itself, Gina sent Caterpie into another tackle.

Electrike, she had found, though they were in fact (and obviously) electric pokemon, did not have the ability to learn more than one electric attack before evolving, and that attack was merely thunder wave. Gina looked up to see the little animal pawing wildly in a desperate attempt to beat of the caterpie. When he became bored, the caterpie deftly made to a safe distance and covered his foe with a string shot.

It was then that Cancer succeeded in righting himself, and, though his large claw was becoming hot and sore, he still held on to the puppy. The crab shook his opponent, only to receive hot embers in the face. The vicegrip tightened. Suddenly, from the other side of the field, a noise, almost liked a muted gunshot, was heard and Caterpie staggered backwards, slightly convulsing. While Caterpie tried to recover, the electrike turned toward Cancer and, despite his trainer's call of, "No!" let loose a thunder wave toward the large crustacean as well. As electricity generally is, the shot was almost immediately transferred to the growlithe. The giant claw slacked for a few seconds, and the electrike pulled Lupine out of its hold.

Caterpie—having (for the time being) overcome the paralysis—charged the growlithe before it, too, had a chance to recover. The bludgeoning that came with the larva's tackle followed soon after, and it was a considerable time before the growlithe managed to shake him off.

While he was distracted with Caterpie, another series of bubbles made their way toward the dog pokemon. Electrike cut in, taking the hit. Cancer again tried to grab one of his foes, but the electrike moved, and the crab's weight had nowhere to go. Cancer toppled forward; the claw came painfully close to crushing Caterpie.

Caterpie took no mind, however, and Gina quickly saw the advantage caterpie's his partner had laid out for them. With Gina's orders in mind, he made his way behind the huge claw and, using it as a shield, proceeded to shoot string madly through the opening the grooves the teeth of the claw produced. From there, he climbed the crustaceous mountain to look down on the electrike ramming his head into the underside of a very unhappy Cancer. As he was about to douse the green dog in string, the paralyzing effects of thunder wave once again made themselves noticed, and he fell forward in time to take a charge from electrike.

With every ounce of strength he had, Cancer managed to lift himself enough to send a flurry of bubbles aimlessly onto the field. Jon, very unsure of how to help his friend, stood still with his mouth open, waiting for the correct order to come to him.

It was about this time, as Gina and Jon stood, feeling very helpless, that Caterpie made his way around the living mountain and threw himself into a desperate charge at the growlithe's very injured midsection. Still getting hit by stray bubbles (and increasingly annoyed by the rain), Lupine took the hit hard and he sprawled onto the ground nearby. He gave a whimper and was gone in a flash of light.

All save the electrike who was still ramming Cancer—not much counting poor immobile Cancer himself-- watched intently as Caterpie stood stationary, gazing absently at the spot the growlithe had been and slightly shaking. Not now, Gina prayed, not now. You need to be able to really move, Cat. Cancer can't get up. But Caterpie paid no heed to Gina's thoughts, and a glow radiated from him as a chrysalis was spun.

The metapod sat there for several seconds as Cancer's underside became rawer as a result of the repeated charges by the electrike. Suddenly both Cancer and Metapod gave a lunge, the crab shoving himself backward, successfully trapping one of the electrike's legs under his massive midsection. Gina looked on, slightly embarrassed, as the results of the former caterpie's attempt at movement took effect: Metapod wavered for a second, and then fell over. Cancer continued to push himself backwards, and it wasn't long before, in a flash, the electrike was gone.

The rain, as if having waited for them, then began to pick up. Jon recalled Cancer, re-releasing him in an upright position along with his totodile, Lockjaw. Sproing, who had retreated to the shelter of a shrub to watch the battle, ran over happily to meet Lockjaw. Gina gave her little bird a smile as he ran to meet his unlikely friend, and she went to retrieve Metapod. The traveling again began in silence, and Gina fingered the bills now in her pocket. She thought about what she'd buy, sell, and exchange once they reached the next city, or even the mountain.

Metapod tried to make himself comfortable in Gina's arms. He knew he had been offered a ride inside his pokèball, and he knew he had turned it down. He eyed Sproing and Lockjaw jealously, wishing he, too, could be running around in the rain with Cancer as a joyful umbrella. Not that he was entirely unhappy about evolution; this meant he would be a butterfree sooner. He was simply bored, wet, and… uncomfortable.

He fidgeted again. It wasn't that he minded the rain. He'd always liked it. The drizzle generally drove everyone away, leaving him free to wander the fields. This wasn't to imply that humans caused any problems. No-- the dangerous, more experienced ones simply stepped over him. It was the other inhabitants of the forest who caused a problem. A caterpie was a quick lunch, a punching bag for venting any anger.

Not to say that he'd ever had that problem. He'd oft heard of it from other colonies, though-- those who lived deeper in the forest. Deeper in the forest was where the powerful trainers paid attention to where they placed their steps, where it was dangerous to be a small pokemon of any sort, caterpie notwithstanding.

It was dangerous to be a metapod. He'd seen so many butterfree, even in his own colony, who had been forever condemned to the ground, wings tattered and deformed. Some were sentenced to darkness, eyes not working properly. This was because they had to be metapod first: weak, immobile. It was no wonder there were hundreds of caterpie and so few butterfree. He wondered how his friends deep in the forest survived. He wondered if they were still surviving.

He shifted position and was glad to see that the girl had finally picked up on his lack of want for the pokèball.

That book that she always looked at might have told her. But the boy was stupid; he'd led them away from the edge, toward the Deep Forest. Metapod had seen power-hungry humans, but the boy was lacking some sense if he wanted so much to be in the Deep Forest.

He sighed again. It was good, he supposed, that he had ended up with a human, though such a juvenile one was not nearly what he had hoped for. But they were all juvenile once, and if his luck decided to carry him further she would be comfortable in the Deep Forest one day. He gave an internal laugh. He was never lucky. It was all chance, as far as he was concerned. Not to mention that she'd soon drop him for a pokemon more powerful. Something twisted inside him, and he closed his eyes. He'd had enough of this girl carrying him.

He called to Sproing. The little bird slowly approached them, and then began to walk in time with Gina. Metapod reassured him that there was no way he could cause the bird any bodily harm.

So what did he want, Sproing wanted to know.

He wanted out: To be placed on top of Cancer, possibly wedged in between two of the prongs in his crown for stability.

Cancer, hearing this, made his way over to the three. Gina slowed, and then stopped as the giant creature approached them. Metapod began to squirm.

"What's up?" Jon said, looking back at them.

"I think he's sort of uncomfortable. I think he wants to ride Cancer," Gina said, more to herself than to Jon. Cancer smiled in reply, slowly moving his torso into a twisted nod. Gina placed Metapod on top of the crab. Metapod toppled over as soon as his shuffle began.

It was a significant amount of time before the pokemon were able to communicate Metapod's desire to be lodged in Cancer's crown, yet it happened. With the language barrier leaving all frustrated, the rain continued.

----

Gina played with her hair again, trying to leash the horrible animal into a bun on the top of her head. The fact that it was wet made this extremely difficult, but she stubbornly refused to admit to herself that advice on getting a short haircut should have been taken. She gave an impatient sigh and turned around to face the entrance to Widow's Peak.

It was boarded up crudely. The hinges where a door had once been were still visible, and Gina wondered whether they were costume or if the door really had been torn off at one point. More so, she wondered if the door had been ripped off recently.

She turned back and hugged herself, rubbing her arms. Over the last few minutes the rain had picked up significantly, and between this and her ominous surroundings Gina was becoming increasingly uneasy. The land had become barren, with no path from the forest that sat several hundred feet away. A hardy tree or shrub had sprung up here and there. Gina continued to cuddle herself as she looked hopefully out into the oncoming darkness, wishing to see Jon coming back.

Her friend had left earlier, with Metapod—who had fallen asleep atop Caner-- in tow. Both trainers had wanted ghost pokemon, which had become more and more abundant as the closed in on the Peak (Jon had gone as far as to claim he'd seen a chimecho, which frequented areas inhabited by ghosts). After she wasted her final two pokèballs on a gastly, Jon offered to catch each of them a pokemon and meet her at Widow's peak so she could have ample time to check into the Pokemon Center and rest without the disturbance of the pokemon.

But now there was no Center and no Jon, and with Metapod out of sight, Sproing had gratuitously accepted Gina's last offer to enter his pokèball. Gina was unsettled and alone, without the initiative to check her guide to see if the Peak's closing was routine, normal. In fact, she thought, she had no intention of ever finding out if the closing was normal, as her gut feeling told her enough.

Her heart skipped a beat and she shuddered as creaking and banging could be heard from inside the mountain. Pokemon live there, she convinced herself, it's not like those stupid boards keep everything out and in. Gina had seriously considered breaking in; getting in trouble with an officer didn't bother her at the moment as much as the rain and mysteriousness of her surroundings. In fact, she thought, an officer might even sympathize with a young girl's situation.

Time passed slowly, and with every second came a new theory about what could have happened to Jon. Kidnapping, injury… if Gina didn't have such a twist in her stomach when she thought about leaving—abandoning Metapod—she would have been on her way to the city long ago. Of course, she knew, there were hundreds, possibly thousands of other caterpie, but she had taken a liking to hers, and had gained a sense of pride after he evolved. An early emotional attachment, she thought.

Headlights appeared in the distance at one point in the void of time, and Gina gasped loudly, a gasp that verged on a scream. As the truck approached, it became more and more obvious that it was not a police vehicle, nor any type of worker. She stood paralyzed for a second before working up the will to dash away. It took even more of a will to stop running and to make herself duck behind a nearby boulder. The creaking and banging suddenly exited the realm of 'I'm hearing things' and made its way over to the entrance of the plateau. The pickup truck pulled up to meet it.

Gina didn't want to see who was getting out, she realized, and she didn't want to hear what was being said. She didn't know why she'd stopped running. To hide… she was always good at that. She'd always win tag and seeking games. She recited to herself the old rules she had lived by in hide-and-go-seek: Don't look, don't move, be quiet, don't panic. Don't look, don't move, be quiet, don't panic. Don't look, don't move, don't… don't…

----

Metapod stirred. He felt his eyes begin to open, but he closed them again, begging Celebi to let him fall asleep once more.

A sudden thrust forward woke him up entirely.

He examined his surroundings. He was still on Cancer, though he had loosened significantly and one more such lunge threatened to throw him off. The land whizzed by too quickly and he couldn't see it well through his tired eyes, though it was obviously forested. Metapod wondered where they were, why they had left the barren land and headed back toward the forest. Most importantly, he wondered why he and Cancer were alone.

The king crab began to slow down in response to Metapod's twitching. Breathing heavily, he came to a complete stop and set his claw down, facing the way they had come from. There was silence. Metapod waited for his taxi to offer an explanation, but none came. The eerie, complete lack of sound from not just his companion but from the forest as well unnerved Metapod, and he had no desire to break the silence. It seemed to him that Cancer felt much the same.

The brush in front of them moved without the prompting of a breeze. Metapod stiffened, hardened. They had been running. And Metapod's common sense told him that a sea creature such as kingler, built for a life of leisure at the water's edge, would not be running so quickly-- against his nature-- without reason. As the bush again wavered, Metapod could hear a muted groan come from Cancer as he took off again.

Metapod finally worked up the courage to speak as they fled, ((What's going on?))

The sound of Cancer's feet dominated the air for a second before Metapod heard him grunt, ((Don't know.))

They again slowed as they reached the rock wall. Cancer turned in order to-- it seemed to Metapod-- make sure they weren't being followed. Several moments passed before Cancer declared their safety by setting his torso to the ground. Metapod gave a sigh of relief.

((So. You have a name?))Cancer asked, his voice still deep and more like a grunt than normal speech as he breathed heavily.

((Not by her yet,)) Metapod answered somewhat apprehensively. He wanted to know what had happened during his sleep, not what the weather was like. ((You're welcome to call me Carsu.))

((Not by the girl; that I know. But Carsu... Mean anything?)) Cancer droned, his breathing returning to normal. ((Not made for that,)) he added.

The metapod, seeing Cancer's lax attitude, tried to calm himself. If the crab, who had assumedly seen whatever had happened, could relax, he could as well. Carsu took some time to examine his position. He carefully surveyed his surroundings. They had backtracked through the forest, most likely searching for a new pokemon. He gave a snort at the ignorance of the children as he realized they had just run from the edge of the dangerous part of the forest. There was no telling how deep into it they had been before he woke up. That would account for the missing human, the silly boy.

Still, Carsu put the question into the open again, ((What happened?))

There was no answer.

Now becoming nervous and exasperated, Carsu neared a shout, ((Where is the boy? The girl? The stupid bird? The lizard! What happened while I was asleep?))

The silence continued. Carsu strained his body, trying to bend over and see if, possibly, the crustacean had been knocked out by exhaustion. No, the metapod concluded, his eyes were wide open. There were a few moments more of silence, before an agitated moan came from the cocoon, followed by: ((It means 'small falcon'.))

((Ah,)) Cancer came to life, ((I see. Don't worry yourself, as far as I know the girl is safe. She took the bird to the chansey building. If you'd kindly direct me, I'll take us to her now.))

((The boy,)) the metapod further demanded.

((He sent me to bring you to the girl,)) was the matter-of-fact reply.

((Why were we running, then?)) Carsu asked incredulously. He leaned over again, trying to look Cancer in the face. He wasn't sure intimidation would work on a kingler as it had on other caterpie, but he wanted to see if Cancer's expression gave away anything about the seriousness of their position.

((Before I left, we were attacked. We ran,)) Cancer continued, still unsettlingly serene. Carsu waited for him to finish; he expected some explanation for why they were alone. But instead he felt a rumble as Cancer again lifted himself and began to head along the side of the precipice.

((You're going in the wrong direction,)) the metapod offered, ((Turn around.))

Cancer complied, turning himself slowly, and they walked for a while, quiet, as both sides contemplated their situation. After several minutes, Cancer spoke, ((I don't remember what happened to the boy.))

Carsu remained silent.

----

Gina squeezed herself against the boulder, hands clasped tightly over her ears, for some time. When she listened, she could hear voices: some male, some female. She didn't dare try to get away. Suddenly, there were several loud cracking noises and someone laughed loudly enough to penetrate Gina's hold on her ears. Then everything settled back, with just the murmur of conversation.

At one point, there was a slamming noise-- unmistakably a car door shutting-- and an engine roared. The headlights again flared, casting long shadows. Gina opened her eyes to look at the shadows, hoping to have some idea of what these people looked like. What she saw instead astounded her; a huge silhouetted figure stood in front of her on six legs. Its torso was rounded, and it sported a single, huge horn on its head. Gina watched as it flailed one of its two disproportionate claws wildly, all the while making a loud droning noise.

Shouts of, "What is that?" emanated from the area around the truck for several seconds before someone called, "Come on, we have to get going anyway. Get in!"

As the sounds of the truck faded and the area again relinquished itself to darkness, Gina started at the spot where a black blotch could still be seen. She suddenly laughed, a noise that made the creature jump, and its horn wobbled and fell off. Gina threw her arms around Cancer to the best of her ability, never so relieved to see the type of creature that had plagued her childhood nightmares.

:looks up: So, for all who complained, I do have a plot. (Aside, and for all who didn't it's going to resume the slow pace by the middle of next chapter.)

Regarding a few things about the fic, name change and imminent chapter one revision heading that list...

When I started this fic, it wasn't to write a masterpiece, and it wasn't to write anything too serious. I didn't expect praise for it, the 25 reviews for3 chapters notwithstanding. That blew me away. However, particularly with the completion of this chapter, I've come to truly like and I think it's time for me personally to act like it isn't just another fic if I want it to be received that way. That, fair readers, is my explanation for a title and summary change, and somewhat for the Ch. 1 redo. The other thing that promted me into a scrap of that chapter, Ionem's beauty of a review notwithstanding, if that fact that chapter 1 has 25 hits while the other two chapter shave about 5 apiece. Not good.

So, in conclusion, I'm not out to receive, as Farla once put it, GoodAuthor!points for the revision. It's a favor to myself, ne?

Lots of reviews, hn? Whew. I'd have to say my favorite is from 'The Digital Shaman of Fire'. XD How sweet!