Hello everyone! So I decided that I will, indeed, put music here XD I'm only going to be ably to provide you with song titles and artists, though, because my internet is bad . oh well! SO the first song I will put here is "Heist" by Lindsey Stirling. It has the right upbeat, awesome tone to go with the beginning here, but has little, softer breaks that go with the tender moments too :)

OshawottStream gets love for being a follower. 3

Review for love, hope, and chocolate :3!

We had just emerged from the forest when two Plasmas ran into us, running away from Striaton like their lives depended upon it. Cheren and I glanced at each other, and immediately began chasing them. We followed them along the route until we rounded a corner just in time to see them duck into a cave. I whistled and my little friends came bounding out of the forest to precede us into the cave. When Cheren and I got there, my Pokémon had surrounded the Plasma members, and were keeping them where they were for me.

"Now, just where do you think you're going?" Cheren drawled lazily, casually reaching for the cuffs.

"Anywhere but here!" One of them said. I saw that his jacket was wiggling. "Nathaniel!" I called, and he, having noticed the same thing, lept at him. The guy's eyes widened in panic and he yelled, "Patrat, go!"

The Patrat intercepted Nathaniel and they rolled on the floor, fur and claws flying. As they fought, my eyes flicked anxiously from the Plasma member to the two Pokémon battling, not wanting to let either one out of my sight. I remembered far too well what had happened the last time I'd gotten distracted from a fight, and was determined that it wouldn't happen again.

The fight ended with the Plasma guy's Patrat dead on the ground, Nathaniel, hurt but still standing. As he turned to return to my side, however, he took a step, wobbled dangerously, and then collapsed. That's when I noticed that not all the blood in the area they'd been fighting in was his opponent's.

I ran over to Nathaniel, praying fervently that he wasn't hurt as badly as he looked, but as I came closer, it became apparent that he was hurt far, far worse than I had thought. He was cut and bruised all over, his blood and his opponent's blood staining his fur a dark, sticky red. His eyes were shut and I couldn't see him breathing. Panicking, I knelt and, hands shaking, felt for a pulse, and then tried to see if he was still breathing. I let out a shaky sigh of relief when the answer was yes for both, if barely. Quickly, I got out the bandages and medicines I'd gotten and started gently patching him up whilst Cheren cuffed the Plasma member. Then I fashioned a sling out of my jacket to carry Nathaniel in, gently placed him in it, then stood up, slowly, so as not to bump him unduly. At this point, Cheren had cuffed the other one.

"Cheren, this one has something under his jacket. I saw it moving."

He looked at the first Plasma member just as whatever it was wiggled again. "Well that explains why you attacked him, seemingly with no provocation." he muttered, then turned to the Plasma member. "Let's just have a look, shall we?" he said, reaching for the zipper on the guy's jacket. I caught his wrist and said, "Maybe it's best if I open the jacket?"

He considered this for a moment, and then nodded, stepping back. I stepped forward and unzipped the jacket.

To my surprise, a rock fell out of it, and then squeaked and tried to curl up into a ball. I immediately knelt and started murmuring to it soothingly, gently petting it, though I wasn't sure if it could feel my petting.

"Leigh, I've got backup coming. It might be best if you left."

I looked up. "Okay..." then I looked down at the little Pokémon (it couldn't be anything else, though I couldn't imagine what it had mutated from to end up looking like a rock) wondering if Cheren needed to keep it for evidence or something, because it was so obviously scared that I wasn't sure if I was okay with that.

"Hm, well I thought saw this one's jacket move, so I unzipped it and what looked like a little rock fell out of it, but it ran off too fast for me to be sure." Cheren said, half-smiling. I grinned back, gently picked up the little thing, being careful of Nathaniel in the sling, and left the cave, still petting and crooning to the quaking rock.

Once I made it well away from the cave and into the woods, the little rock had stopped shaking in fear and was now, for lack of a better word, purring: making a rumbling noise like the sound of a very quiet engine idling and vibrating ever so slightly. I knelt, put the purring rock down, and gently took off the sling and set Nathaniel down while I fashioned something that would be a little more convenient for me whilst still being comfortable for him. In the end, I took a Totoro backpack out of my bigger backpack (I'd put it in there a while ago, intending to give it to a friend or something, and had never taken it out, and since I hadn't used my backpack since then, I'd forgotten it was there) I hesitated to put Nathaniel in there because he might get jostled or wake up and freak out. Engelbert seemed to understand, and he gestured first to Nathaniel, then himself, then the backpack. It took me several repetitions to figure out what he was trying to say.

"You'll stay with Nathaniel in the backpack to make sure he doesn't get jostled too much or freak out if he wakes up?"

Engelbert nodded enthusiastically, squeaking happily. "Okay, I'm going to put him in first, then you, but not right now. I need a bit of a break." Engelbert nodded, and went to sit beside Nathaniel. I was about to stand up from my squatting position when the little rock from earlier ran over to me, jumping up and down in place like an enthusiastic child. I laughed and remarked, "Well I don't suppose you want to come with me at all." The little thing wilted, sitting down and hunching over pitifully. I chuckled. "That was something called sarcasm, little one. It's when someone says something, but use a certain tone of voice to indicate that they mean the opposite." The rock immediately jumped back to its feet, bouncing excitedly on the balls of its feet, if that was even the correct term for that. I chuckled again and said, "You can come along if you like. I think I'll call you Afriel." Afriel jumped happily a couple of times, then ran over to where my other Pokémon were gathered, squeaking joyfully. I grinned, then stood, stretching and looking around for a comfortable place to sit. Eventually I settled on sitting with my back resting on a tree trunk, my left leg bent, right leg straight, left arm resting on my left knee and my right arm resting on my right thigh. I tilted my head back, resting it on the tree, and closed my eyes, enjoying the sun on my face and the warmth of the day.