A/N: I posted my favorite pokemon by type in my profile. I have two reasons for doing this, 1. So you can get to know me a little better. And 2. To let you know what pokemon my characters will probably catch. Now don't think, "Oh, since these are his favorite pokemon, these are pokemon his characters will catch in all his stories." If you thought this, then you are absolutely wrong :P Actually the exact opposite, that is to say, if the pokemon's on the list, they probably won't be caught by a main character. (Maybe seen in a lot of my stories, but not caught. So sorry folks, no Buizel, I love that little furball too much for any of the chars to catch it xD)

Once again, I have to reasons why, 1. I don't want my stories to become one of those stories where it's basically just summarizing what the author did in their D/P Game, I mean, if we wanted to know, we'd just play our game :/ No offense if you wrote one of those stories and you're reading this. 2. I'm hoping by making my characters catch pokemon that I'm not particularly fond of, I'll gain a greater appreciation for them. (Except Dunsparce. You will never see it in any of my stories, I hate that thing! Creepy appearance and sucky moves, who needs it anyway? I only caught it to complete my pokedex and now it's just sitting around in My Pokemon Ranch getting picked on by my Gliscor, Wailord, and Stunky. He he he :})

Ch. 17: Bryce's Omen

"I caught a Buizel!"

"Shut up."

"I caught a Buizel!"

"Shut up!"

"I caught a Buizel!"

"SHUT UP!"

She had been singing this song long after the rain had stopped and even now as they approached the Eterna Forest, she continued to skip in an unusually girly fashion for her, and sing her little gloating song. They had returned all their pokemon, except for Psy and Haunter, while Stormie danced around flaunting Jet's pokeball in her right hand. Haunter drifted from left to right beside her chuckling as usual while Psy was sleeping in her arms. Bryce stomped his foot in frustration in front of the vast trees.

"If you're going to brag about that Buizel the whole time, we might as well go our separate ways right now!"

Stormie shrugged, "I'd like to see you try that, in this forest, pokemon like to pair up and attack unsuspecting trainers. But fine I'll stop."

With a sigh of relief, they kept walking before the ghost drifting with them started to sing a song in a tune that was very similar, if not exactly the same to Stormie's.

'Haunt Haunter Haunt Haunt!'

In the still of the forest, the two trainers walked while Haunter had a large knot on its head, rubbing it gingerly while Bryce had a satisfied smile on his face. The trees were so thick that the branches overhead practically blocked out the sun, shading the ground around them in green sunlight. After a while Stormie sighed while Bryce looked at his map once more in confusion.

"Just admit it, you're lost." She grumbled after Bryce turned it around and upside down for the umpteenth time. He blushed before turning his face and proclaiming, "We're not lost! Just taking a slight detour!"

"But we just passed that green rock for the fifth time!"

"Please, I'm sure there's a lot of green rocks."

"Oh yeah?"

She turned around and covered her eyes with a hand while she recited, "It's triangular with moss growing all around it. The tall grass ends two feet away from it and a sliver of sunlight is shining on the top of it."

Bryce looked at it and blinked before mumbling, "Lucky guess."

"Just admit it, we're lost."

"Fine! We're lost!" He finally admitted looking around before putting away his map. He realized that he probably should've caught a Starly or some other Flying type by now.

"It's getting dark." Stormie announced as she looked up. Bryce looked around, the green sunlight seemed as bright as ever.

"What makes you say that?"

She pointed into the branches as she said, "Look."

Bryce looked up and spotted a black winged pokemon perched on a branch looking at them. Its head seemed to have a series of feathers shaped like a witch's hat as it cocked its head to the side to stare at them. It ruffled its feathers for hopping a bit closer to them onto a lower branch. Bryce pulled out his pokedex and scanned it.

Murkrow, the Darkness Pokemon. It appears near travelers to lure them into deep forests. Feared and loathed by many, it is believed to bring misfortune to all those who see it at night.

When Bryce put it away, Bryce turned when he heard muttered words and spotted Stormie with her hands clapped together in prayer while Haunter held Psy for the time being with his head bowed. He managed to catch her say, "Lucky, uki, mai ki ki." Before her words faded away. When she finished, he cocked an eyebrow at her while she received the Psychic pokemon from Haunter.

"What was that?"

"It's a chant to ward away Murkrow's bad luck."

Bryce scoffed as he looked up at the sky in disbelief. "Please, you believe in that sort of thing?"

"You don't?"

He laughed as he pulled an empty pokeball from his belt. "Of course I don't! In fact, I'll catch it and it'll help us out of the forest just to prove my point!"

'Buneary!'

Just then there was a hard thud on the back of his head as he fell face first into the mossy ground. He sputtered and stood up, spitting out moss, dirt and leaves while Haunter laughed and pointed. There on the ground in front of him was a small rabbit with white fur covering its legs and feet. Its arms and legs were bent as though it was getting ready to leap again. His pokedex chimed in his pocket as the sensor picked up the new arrival.

Buneary, the Rabbit Pokemon. It slams foes by sharply uncoiling its rolled ears. It stings enough to make a grown-up cry in pain.

Stormie just shrugged. "I told you pokemon like to team up on trainers in this forest, if you want that Murkrow, we're going to have to get past its little friend first."

Bryce just scoffed. "It's just a Buneary, like it can do much."

Without saying anything else, he hurled the pokeball at the crow over its head.

'Buneary!' Came an angered cry as it jumped up and reflected the pokeball with a cushioned ear. The sphere came corralling back and slammed into Bryce's face, leaving a large red mark.

"It think it heard you."

"Well aren't you going to help?"

Stormie grinned and took out her most recently obtained pokemon much to Bryce's displeasure. "You only needed to ask."

Bryce pulled his pokeball out as well and hurled it in front of the Buneary. "Go Lash!"

The large pink pokemon wielding his sunglasses appeared in front of him with his tongue out. The Buneary leaped as a reflex and shot a foot out to kick the pokemon in the chest. "Defense Curl!" Lash inhaled a large amount of air, puffing his chest out as the Jump Kick hit it in the inflated area, successfully reflecting it as the rabbit went flying back. "Now Wrap, then Supersonic!" The Lickitung's tongue shot out and flew towards the Normal type's body. Unable to maneuver in mid-air, the Buneary was helpless as the very wet and sticky weapon wrapped itself around its small body. With a sharp crack like a whip, it constricted as the Lickitung opened its mouth and emitted a high pitched screech in its direction.

It was then the black crow swooped down from the branches and started to peck rapidly at the pink pokemon's tongue. Lash winced as the volume decreased on its Supersonic but didn't let up. He persevered as the Murkrow continued to peck over and over with its sharp pointed beak. Bryce clenched his fist and turned to Stormie who was watching the Murkrow intently.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" He demanded as the black pokemon kept up its relentless pecking on poor Lash's tongue. She said nothing in response and as the Murkrow flew back to land a final blow that would ensure the release of its partner, she finally hurled out the pokeball at it crying, "Go Jet, Aqua Jet!" The pokeball shot out a red beam, letting out a pokemon in mid-air in front of the hovering Murkrow. But instead of the sleek body of the Buizel they had all been expecting, out came a round pokemon with a long flat bill. Its clawed hands held the sides of its head as it let out an inquisitive, 'Psy?' Before falling through the air like a rock and hitting its head.

Psyduck, the Duck Pokemon. It has mystical powers but doesn't recall that it has used them, that is why it always looks puzzled. When its headache intensifies, it starts using strange powers.

The battle paused for a moment as the duck jumped up running around as it gripped at its pained head crying, 'Psy-y-y-y-y-y!'

Everyone stopped and stared at the pokemon that was obviously in pain from the fall. After what seemed like an hour passed by, a chuckle came from Haunter, followed by a cackle by the Murkrow until everyone burst out laughing at Stormie's expense: Haunter, Bryce, Lash, Buneary, Murkrow, and even Psy who had woken up to the commotion was having a good laugh at the dopey Psyduck. Stormie clenched her fists and turned bright red, so mad that anyone could think that she'd probably let out a Flamethrower at the yellow duck. This turned out to be a mistake, while Lash let out his muffled laughter, he relaxed the muscles in his tongue and released the Buneary who smirked and did a somersault, slamming its ears into the Lickitung's head.

"Bryce!"

Bryce covered his mouth trying to hide his amusement as he turned to his Double Battle partner.

"This pokemon can't be completely useless! Give me some moves!"

"Knock Off!" As Stormie called out the order to the duck, Bryce shook his head. "Not you! Lash!" Lash's tongue whipped out with the familiar dark tint around it as it did an uppercut and collided with the rabbit, making it fly into the air and out of sight. The Murkrow was busy tormenting the poor Psychic pokemon by pecking it repeatedly with its beak while letting out a couple of Night Shades from its wings to harm it. Psyduck just ran around in circles clinging to its aching head as the pokemon kept it up before Bryce sighed and just threw a pokeball at the black pokemon. With a "Clunk" the ball hit its target and swallowed the Murkrow in its depths. It fell to the green forest floor and wiggled once, twice, then went out as the bird was caught. Psyduck let out a sigh of relief before falling to the ground and going to sleep.

"You caught a Psyduck!"

"Shut up."

"You caught a Psyduck!"

"Shut up!"

"You caught a Psyduck!"

"SHUT UP!"

Bryce was dancing around exactly the way Stormie had been doing it, obviously to irritate her. Haunter let out a chuckle before Stormie shot him a look and he looked away trying to look innocent while whistling a tune and twiddling his thumbs.

"What? If you can't take it, don't dish it out." He said simply with a shrug. With a sigh, she realized he was right and noticed the darkness around them. They'd been battling the whole way through the forest against two or three Wurmples, the same Buneary as before (Obvious due to the welt where Lash's Knock Off had hit it.), and an unsuspecting Silcoon who had simply been in the mischievious Haunter's way.

"We should rest here for the night, it should be a while before we get to the city." Stormie stated. Bryce shrugged and they found a large tree to sit under. They took out a couple of sleeping bags while Stormie handed Bryce her Psyduck's pokeball.

"Why not just release it?" He asked as he scanned the Psyduck and Murkrow's pokeball.

"I'm not giving up on it." She said before muttering under her breath, "No matter how useless it is."

"Got it," Bryce chimed. "Looks like your Psyduck's a male and it knows Scratch, Water Sport, Disable, Tail Whip, Water Gun, and Confusion. My Murkrow's female and it knows Peck, Astonish, Pursuit, Haze, Wing Attack, and Night Shade."

"So what are you going to name it?" Stormie asked as she took back the Psyduck.

"I don't know. What's wrong with Murkrow?"

"It's boring."

"Well you didn't nickname Combusken or Haunter."

"They didn't want one."

"Well I guess I can call it Bad Luck, seeing as how it prompted your pokeball to catch a Psyduck." He said with a snort.

Stormie rolled her eyes before suggesting, "How about Omen?"