The Zangoose scoffed. "I guessed you 'ad some kind of 'ead injury, looks like it wiped out more of your brain than just your memory! No, I don't recognise you!"

"Then why follow us all the way out here?"

"Wow, you really 'aven't sussed that one yet? Give me your bags. The both of you."

"Wh- you're robbing us?"

"Of course I am! One guy who don't even know where 'e is and one guy I could prob'ly take!"

Dell spoke up. "No. Get out of the way."

Zangoose scowled. "Well, I didn't want it to 'ave to come to the extra effort…" his right claw started to glow unnaturally. "But I will admit 'at I expected it to."

Zangoose then swung the glowing claw at Dell, catching him in the side. "AUGH, FUCK!" Dell screamed as he was flung to the side by the force of the strike, slamming into the tree that Zangoose had stepped out from behind. He writhed in pain on the ground, while Zangoose shouted at him. "Just 'and over the bag! None of this 'as to 'appen!"

Ioan had an idea. He took a step closer to Zangoose, who was facing away from him. "Oi!"

Zangoose turned around, and was immediately met with a solid punch. He clasped his nose with both hands and let out a muffled shout of "BUGGER!" as he staggered backwards, tripping over Dell who was still laying there. He pulled himself up with a low hanging branch, stopping to look at his palm. There was a trace of blood, and Ioan could see a small nosebleed had started. Ioan decided to heckle Zangoose, thinking it may discourage him and make him run away.

"Now piss off! We aren't giving you anything!"

Zangoose seemed enraged by that, and entered a stance as though he was about to charge at Ioan, seeming in his rage to forget that Dell was still laying on the floor in front of him. In a moment of quick thinking, just as Zangoose started to run forward he slashed a claw, glowing a faint green, upwards into him, slamming into his chest and throwing him to the floor. Ioan ran over and pulled Dell up.

"You alright?"

Dell rubbed his side. "I'll be fine, I'll be fine." Dell looked at Zangoose, who was laying on his

back, mouth open, eyes closed, a small amount of blood staining the white fur on his face. "Is he OK?"

Ioan looked at Zangoose. He could see him breathing at a fairly normal rate. "I think he'll be alright. Let's just leave him."

"I feel like we should at least do something… we might have injured him. Let's… let's just sit him up against that tree. At least."

"Phhhh… okay, fine. I'll take his left arm, you take his right."

They grabbed Zangoose under the arms and dragged him up against the tree, making sure he wouldn't fall.

"Right." said Ioan. "Let's get out of here."

They began walking off,at a slightly heightened pace to put distance between themselves and the unconscious Zangoose, Dell occasionally grasping at his side and wincing.

"Dell, are you sure you're OK?"

"Yeah, it's not bleeding, I don't think anything's broken, I should be fine… it's going to leave a nasty bruise though, I think."

"Alright, well, as long as you think it's fine..."

"Yep. Anyways, you saved my scales back there, I owe you my thanks."

"It's nothing, really. You saved me when I was out in the woods. Let's say we're even here."

"Aheh, fair enough. Anyway, when we stop to camp tonight, we should probably get off the trail, out of the way a little. Wouldn't want that, ah, fellow catching us out."

"Heh, no, absolutely not."

They walked at a bit of speed for a few minutes, without much conversation as Dell was feeling out of breath. Eventually, they slowed down, and Dell stopped for a moment to drink some water and catch his breath. The sky had turned the deep red of early evening by now, and they had exited the forest. They were now on a rocky path along the side of the mountain, with small caves dotting the edge of the path, and a small river which was flowing back towards Carcano on the other side. There were Magikarp visible, swimming along, seemingly unaware of themselves.

"So, maybe we ought to think about stopping for the night?" Ioan said as they started to walk again.

"Hmm, yeah, probably. Not just yet though. We'll walk 'til it gets a bit darker, by then we should've found someplace to sleep."

"Yeah, probably. I was kind of thinking that we're a bit in the open out here."

"Aw, yeah, we should be fine, nothin' to worry about."

They continued to walk, and the sun continued to sink in the distance. Eventually, as Dell had said, the path seemed to widen. The stream to the side of them seemed to turn off in a different direction, eventually disappearing from view. Eventually, they found a small cave, mostly obscured from the path by a blanket of ivy and some rocks. Inside, they found enough room for them to sleep comfortably, and one or two Zubat roosting on the rocky ceiling, which they decided not to shoo out, Dell saying that he'd been told it was bad luck to move a sleeping Zubat.

The night was not cold, and they slept through it fairly uneventfully. No sign of Zangoose.