To o-CrystalSakura-o: I'm so glad to see you're enjoying the story! It means a lot to me! Thanks for the notes on the grammar, I'll try and look things over again at some point. Hima isn't japanese... It's short for Himalaya, so technically it's... nepalese? It makes sense that pokémon would be hunted in that world, the same way animals are hunted in our world.

To Zukone: The battle scene wasn't supposed to be too long, but I think I can lengthen it a little... it was like one or two attacks long originally... so yeah! Also, I'm flattered once again that you feel my story is so epic! And who knows... I MIGHT be working on a sequel... I might not be... we'll just see won't we?

To family of the geeks: Yes! Longer chapters! ...Well, actually, two chapters squished into one, but I did add SOME filler in there.

Hurray for moderately quick updates! On with the show!

Mack panicked as the beartic approached, breathing ice claws onto her paws. Mack shouted, "Hey! Listen! They're lying! It wasn't him, it was them!" But the beartic took another step closer. Without thinking, Mack jumped in front of Hima, "Don't do it! I… I know Energy Ball and I'm not afraid to use it!" he threatened.

The beartic walked right in front of Mack, looked down at him and said, "Quiet, or you'll get it, Bambi!" And stepped right over Mack… And to Mack's surprise, she only pushed Hima out of the way.

Confused, Mack looked passed the momma freezing pokémon to see the two mienfoo defensively waving their arms as the little cubchoo pointed at them, saying, "scary pokémon! Scary pokémon!"

The short mienfoo yelled out, "This was your plan?"

The other said, "It sempt like a good idea in the moment!" They both quaked in fear as the mother came after them. "Quick! Follow Me!" Suddenly, the taller mienfoo force palmed the beartic, knocking her down and shocking the other mienfoo. "Come on!" he shouted as they jumped over the paralyzed freezing pokemon.

"Hey!" Mack said jumping in their path. "You got a lot of nerve kidnapping, framing, and attacking people out of the blue!" he said, as he released an aroma from the flower on his head.

"And you've got a lot of stupid, making friends with the enemy!" one of the mienfoo said, pointing at Hima who was struggling to keep up with all that was going on around him. "Kurt warned you not to trust humans. They don't belong here!"

Mack growled back, "not all humans are the same!"

The short mienfoo threatened, "get out of our way before we-"

"Graaaaaa!" the taller mienfoo ran at Mack readying a drain punch.

But Hima reacted quickly. "Mack, Jump Kick!" Mack jumped up and the mienfoo stopped in its tracks just in time to see a hoof coming down right at his face. Mack kicked the mienfoo back, but the shorter one was already shooting a swift attack his way, striking Mack and distracting him from the other mienfoo who ran up and doubleslapped Mack to the ground. Mack shot an energy ball to knock the mienfoo off of him. "Mack!" shouted Hima, "look out!" but it was too late as Mack saw the other mienfoo readying a force palm with no time for Mack to react.

Mack fell to ground again and could only lay there and watch as the two mienfoo walked up to him and laughed. The taller one threw his hand back, ready with a drain punch. "This is for all the pokémon of the forest you betrayed."

But before he could throw down the strike, a whirl of snow blasted past Hima and over Mack, slamming into and freezing over the two mienfoo. They both struggled and mumbled in the ice until they heard loud footsteps behind them. They looked up to see two frozen paws above them. The paws simply twitched, making the icicles on the claws come crashing down on their heads, causing them to flinch and dislodge from the bridge. The blocks of ice they were frozen in slipped right into the water and floated away as they mumbled out screams of panic and pain.

The beartic grabbed her little cubchoo, saying to Mack, "thank you so much for helping to save my baby. If it weren't for your blizzard, then I don't know what would have become of him."

Mack was confused. He thought, "but I don't know Nature Power…" Just then, he saw –in the corner of his eye- a white horn sticking out from behind a tree, but ignored it for the moment.

The beartic and cubchoo went on their way and Hima was still trying to make sense of it all. "I've got to say," he began, "that was pretty cool how you helped that beartic with your aromatherapy."

"Aw, it was nothing," Mack thought.

"And it looks a lot like we do make a pretty good team," Hima continued. Mack looked up at Hima as he said, "We did a pretty good job at helping those pokémon. And I'm sure you and I both feel like we could do a lot more helping out here."

Mack smiled. "Yeah… Yes we could."

"Would you help me help them?" Hima said. He looked right into Mack's eyes and asked, hopefully, "would you be my pokémon?"

Mack stood ready for capture and said, "only if you'll be my trainer."

Hima smiled, "cool." He reached for the pokéball in his bag. However, "Uh-oh…," Hima said uneasily. "I think I forgot it at home."

Mack sighed, "really? You're serious?"

Hima stammered, embarrassed, "Um… I guess I'll go get it. I'll be right back! Stay here!"

As Hima ran back to Icirrus City, Mack walked into the bushes and found a sawsbuck. "Hey Max, thanks for that blizzard."

Max stared at Mack for a while before saying, "I didn't know you were serious when you asked about being a captured pokémon."

"Well," Mack said with dodgy eyes, "I wasn't totally serious because I was the one who was gonna be caught, not you."

"I realize that Mack. But I just don't understand why you would do this," Max said with a scowl.

"You didn't see a problem with it when you were the one gonna be captured. And you don't understand because you don't know how much I could help others!" Mack pleaded.

"'Help others'?" Max said, shaking his head. "What about helping mom?"

Mack raised his brow. "It will help mom! It'll help everyone! It's gonna keep them safe!"

"What about you?: How am I supposed to know you'll be safe? Do you know how upset it would make mom if something happened to you?"

Mack started to get agitated, "I can fend for myself just fine!"

Max stomped his foot, "and how am I supposed to believe that? You made up those stories about beating up a trainer, I saved you in your own fight. How can I believe you, Mack?"

Mack growled, "Yeah, you did fight my battle. If you'd let me handle it, you would have seen that they never stood a chance against me! But you'd never know it because you didn't give me that chance!"

"Fine!" Max yelled. "You want a chance?" He walked right up to Mack and got in his face. "Take one." Mack stepped back, shocked. "You can't even step up against me, how are you supposed to fight a human hunter?" Max turned around and started walking away.

"Max!" Mack called out, shaking from frustration. "Wait! It's not that simple! I don't have to fight to stop hunters! I'll show you Max! I'm gonna stop it! I will!" Max started to run off and Mack chased after him. "Wait, Max!"

The last thing either of them heard was the sound of the cocking of a gun and Hima's father screaming, "wait! No!"

Hima ran through the door and reached for the pokéball sitting on the counter. "Hima!" He was startled when he heard his mother's voice. "Hima, you're safe!" She ran over and hugged him.

Hima was confused, "of course I am." He had no reason to think she might have known about the mienfoo. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Your father is out looking for you. He heard from the other men around here that there was a visitor out here looking for a trophy from a season pokémon," she said, watching the expression on Hima's face drop.

"Mack...," Hima started to panic, "Mack!" Hima ran out of the house. Almost immediately, a shot rang out in the crisp winter air.

Another cliffhanger! Evil! ...And it'll probably be awhile before I update! Because I have an art project I'm working on! Even more evil! Who was shot? How will it impact Hima? You'll just have to wait to find out!