Disclaimer:

If I claimed to own Pokemon, I'd probably have to GO.

Anh? Anh? Topical? Yes?

Skyler: I take off for story duty and see this. Max please.

Chapter 40: Not In A Shy Way

Medici

Shouting, screaming, buzzing and cutting, shooting: the biggest problem with having enhanced senses is the fact that you HEAR every damn thing. Amber-chan, who wasn't aware of what was happening, sat peacefully enough, whittling away at a marbled rock for some reason, and I did my best to try and mask my concern.

It was really, really freaking hard. I don't know how Inigo does the stoic act. My fingers were twitching, and my eyes were tilting back and forth in their sockets as I heard huge machines rip through the brush. I hadn't heard them rip through anything NOT timber related yet. That was a good sign.

I was almost so focused on action to the South that I didn't hear what was sneaking up on us from the West. Almost. I'm not about to let a random group of dumb hunters sneak up on an incomparable psychic such as myself, now am I? I stood up from my meditative stance and floated forward, seeing a group of five hunters make their way through the pine needles and into the clearing in front of the Sawsbuck cave.

"Wouldn't come any closer, if I were you," I grinned, gesturing my head towards Amber. "That one'll tear you to absolute shreds if you get close, and to get to her you'll have to go through me. So high-tail it outta here and I won't melt your minds too much."

"Shut up," one of the hunters yelled, the scraggy looking wimp hoisting a rifle to threaten me. I sighed... bored, to be perfectly honest, and bent the barrel skyward with the power of my mind. I raised an eyebrow.

"Still looking to shoot that thing?" I goaded, winking.

"You think you're tuff just cuz you ken bend metal, eh?" a brawnier hunter growled, picking up his own rifle and snapping it in two: casually admitting that he knew it wouldn't work, I should add. "Show 'em, Car."

Four of the hunters turned to look at the apparent leader of the bunch: a broad-shouldered woman wearing a smug smile, carefully rolling a black Pokeball between her thick fingers. "We came prepared. Did you?" she whispered, tossing the ball out into the clearing.

I'm not exactly the type to be scared of anything: I am kind of OP and all. That said, when that pitch black ball hit the ground and erupted, the earth shook with such force that for a second my life flashed in front of me. Didn't last long, and when I came to my senses I was dumbstruck for a moment. It was a Tyrannitar: I could tell that much from the outline, but where the average one stands just a bit taller than an ordinary person, this one was at least fifteen feet tall (more than seven times my height!), and a dark verdant shade that looked like a forest at midnight. The size was intimidating enough, for sure, but it was the eyes that actually made me uneasy.

Pale, sickly amber eyes. Dead in the sockets. Eyes that were perfect windows, showing how soulless the thing had become. Behind me, Amber gasped, and the Deerlings of the herd immediately flocked around her for protection.

I laughed. Only defense mechanism I had left. "Well... I've got to admit, I wasn't prepared to fight Godzilla today. Did you have to go for Godzilla 2000, though? That's... I mean, your tastes are your tastes but..."

The woman yelled something and the Tyrannitar unleashed a pulsing purple wave of energy at me, and I actually snorted. Dark Pulse? Really? Check your match ups, lady, I'm a fighting type.

Needless to say, it was a hell of a surprise when the blast knocked me off my feet and smashed me into the rock wall, the energy pricking my skin like thousand searing hot needles. To say that I flinched was an understatement. I crumpled to the ground, breathing heavily, completely unable to defend myself as it lunged forward and stabbed me in the chest with a mighty Stone Edge. My vision went blurry and blue. I tasted blood. What WAS this thing?

Amber yelled something, and Totodile blasted at the Tyrannitar with a Water Gun... drawing it towards them. No! I hauled myself off the ground and grabbed it from behind, digging into the soil and lifting, flipping the thing over my head and on top of me. Normally I wouldn't risk using Submission, but it was all I could do. The thing grunted lightly, as if it had only stubbed its toe, and stepped on me, kicking me to the side as it stood up and towered at its full height, screaming into the night sky.

The blue in my vision began to bleed into my other senses. I heard it, tasted it, smelled it, wanted it, needed it. I let it flow into the veins of my arm and Teleported in front of the beast, smashing its blue belly in with a Dynamic Punch. I let out a laugh as it reeled back confused, crashing towards the band of hunters that had brought it and into a tree. The blue was power. The blue was everything. I felt my vision begin to fade completely as I let myself bask in it.

And then Amber yelled. "Medici! No!"

My vision returned slightly and I looked back to her, cocking my head in confusion. "No?" I mouthed. She shook her head, stern look on her face, eyes locking onto mine and refusing to leave. She was trembling.

"You're better than that," she whispered. "You don't need it."

I glanced over at the Tyrannitar, shaking itself from its stupor, the woman yelling at it for being such a fool. There was barely life to it. It was a machine... a weapon designed for the sole purpose of crushing everything in its path. I NEEDED the blue if I was going to beat it, even as strong as I was. But I looked back at Amber and saw fear, and on the surface of her mind, I realized it wasn't just the beast before us she was afraid of... it was me. What I might become if I let myself give in.

I didn't understand. Not then. But if Amber was afraid of this... I trusted her. I'd find another way to protect her. My way.

I cracked a smile at thinking that, and I whistled, my vision returning fully as my triple-necked guitar flew out of the cave and into my hands, and I hung it from my neck with ease. The weight of it sent a jolt of pain down my spine: a first. This thing had really done a number on me, even with the few hits it had gotten in. Undeterred, I started to rise into the air, plucking at the strings, noticing for the first time the gash in my chest and the blood trickling down from it.

"And now... the end is near. And so I face... the final curtain..."

"My friend... I'll say it clear... I'll state my case... of which I'm certain..."

I didn't care if it sounded cheesy. Or if my singing voice was raspy from trying to gulp for air. As I rose into the air to meet the thing's eye, I held off the urge to give into that blue power. I thought of Gardevoir, Vanna, Qwill, Shelligan... I knew that they'd have wanted this too. And more than anything, I found my solace in Sinatra.

"I've got orders from a certain Sawsbuck not to let you cross that line," I growled, nodding towards the very one that Buxton has drawn in the dirt. "And I'm not one to shirk my duties so easily."

The Tyrannitar roared and fired a Hyper Beam at me, and clenching the guitar tightly, I played. I channeled all of my energy into my ballad, squealing into the sky, reflecting the beam directly back that they monster. It learned quickly that I'd reflect everything it threw at me and so I charged, and I kept playing, lacing the baseline with spiritual energy: two could play at the type-crossing game. I managed to slow it down, sweat dripping from my forehead, holding it back with a sonic barrier as I poured myself into my music.

It reached over it , clawing at me, and I yelled as the gash in me grew deeper, but I channeled the pain, letting my need to protect take over, and swung the guitar over my head, cracking it on the skull and sending an enormous jolt of ice down it's body, freezing it completely. With a last gasp of air I spun and rammed my foot in its face, launching the titan over the trees.

I watched it soar for a moment, and felt proud of myself. Then the pain in my chest overtook me, and I fell.

Inigo

I arrived at the clearing in time to see the Tyrannitar blown from the ground by Medici's kick, gasping as I saw the cocky idiot collapse and begin to fall. "Shelligan, faster!" I yelled, the Squirtle spinning beneath me lunging forward. "I am kicking off, brace yourself!" I said as I leaped into the air, whipping my vines out to gather up the Meditite, flipping over to break its fall.

"Arceus above..." Shelligan gasped at seeing the wound that had been torn into the Pokemon's small body, immediately crying out for Amber and helping me move him over to her as quickly as possible. She had already broken out a needle, Totodile already reluctantly producing water to help clean out the wound.

"Take care of them," I instructed Shelligan, who had already managed to lash out and knock two of the hunters out cold, rounding on a third before nodding and returning to Amber.

"And you?"

"I am going to make sure that thing does not get back up," casually grasping two other hunters with vines and launching them into the trees, tangling them into the branches. They'd live. I darted into the trees and after the Tyrannitar, finding it struggling to right itself in a clearing that had not been there before.

"You are a monster too," I whispered, landing on top of its soft blue belly, drawing my Leaf Blade out. "I refuse to feel bad about enjoying this."

I struck before it could launch me off of it, digging my blade into it stomach, its rocky exterior yielding easily to my grassy assault. It shrieked and tried to swat me with its monstrous claws, but they were far too short to reach me: even when they came close I simply ducked to the side.

When I was satisfied that the gash I had torn into it matched the one it had inflicted on Medici, I leaped onto its head, sheathing my blades and bashing at it with my fists, sweat beginning to pour down my brow as excitement began to fill me. This was not wrong. This was the exact thing I needed: the perfect exercise to clear my head. Hachi had been right. I did not need to hide this side of me, not now. Not here.

Only when it truly began to struggle with moving did I yield, pulling off of it and staring into its yellow, pupiless eyes. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I registered that they were the same shade as mine. Monsters wearing matching clothing. I laughed at that.

"Return it. Now," I said as I header the telltale crack of the woman with the black Pokeball enter the clearing. She let out a gasp at seeing me. A natural reaction, I suppose. I pointed at her, knowing she could not understand me, and then pointed down at the beast I had helped fell... but she turned and ran, dropping the ball behind her.

For a moment, I considered leaving the thing out to die. But... I had done enough of that in my previous life, and my master would not approve. I crossed the clearing, gathering the Pokeball in my hand and tapping it against the Tyrannitar, collapsing it into red light.

I guess it is mine, for now. Perhaps I can find it a home when we reach Maxilla.

Danger

"Come on... stay with us, come ON!" is not the first thing that a ranger wants to hear when he finds who he's looking for, I'll tell you that much.

"What's happening here?" I yelled, bursting out of the woods with Vanna in tow, blinking and rubbing my eyes at the sudden wealth of stimuli. Two men with large bumps on their heads, two more tangled up in the tree tops, a Meditite bleeding heavily on the lap of a redheaded girl while a heard of Sawsbuck and a Squirtle looked on in concern. And a Totodile scowling in the corner the whole time.

"MEDICI!" Vanna yelled, bolting across the clearing and kneeling besides the Meditite, her Gardevoir and Xatu breaking from their balls themselves to join her. "Oh my God... Medici, hang on!"

"He's lost a lot..." the redhead said, lip quivering even as she padded the Pokemon's wound and worked. "And this gash is nearly too big for stitches, I can't... Vanna, I can't..." Vanna immediately bent down and embraced the young girl, clasping her tight as she continued to work the wound with shaky hands.

"Archimedes!" I yelled. "Get him to... no... if we move him..." I wrung my hands and paced, cursing myself for leaving the first aid kit back at the station: not that it had much more than the redhead was currently using. Needing to make myself useful to not stare at the Meditite's chest go rapidly up and down I started to tie up the nearby hunters, securing the two on the ground to nearby tree trunks before climbing for one stuck in a tree.

I almost missed what happened. It was by dumb luck that I missed the branch I was reaching for and nearly went caterwauling to the ground, facing the group again. But what I saw was incredible. The redhead had laid 'Medici' on the ground, wrapping a bandage across his wound as best she could and covering him up to keep him from the cold. She nodded, and with trembling hands she embraced Vanna, sinking down and starting to cry into her chest.

Then, the Gardevoir. She reached out and touched the Meditite directly on his wound, and opened her mouth.

"Live," she breathed.

Every sound of the night ceased. The thumping of my heart, the sobbing of the redheaded girl, the crickets, the Pidgeys, the Poliwags, all of it. Then a sudden rush of wind swept through the trees, and the Meditite was lifted off the ground, surrounded briefly by pale rose-colored light before being set gently to the ground.

Vanna smiled, and nudged her friend off of her, whispering in her ear. The redhead crossed over to the Meditite and removed the bandage carefully, and to my amazement the wound... well, it wasn't gone, but it was a hell of a lot better, I'll say that much. The redhead went to embrace the Gardevoir... who immediately collapsed in her arms. Vanna stepped forward and took the pretty psychic from her arms, nodding towards Medici, and the redhead dutifully took her needle once more and started to sew up the wound.

I do understand that this was simply a very powerful use of the move Recover but... I don't know. I felt for a moment that Ranger Danger's mission had a divine purpose to it. That I had become, in fact, an escort and emissary of the gods. Then again, what's to be expected of the great defender of the woods?

"Everyone alright then?" I asked after tying the final no-good-nick up. "Shall I have Archimedes take your Pokemon to a center, miss..."

"Amber," the redhead replied. "And yes, please, let's just..." she cleared her throat, wiping her eyes. "I'm not his trainer, so let's wait to make sure Axel knows."

"Axel? Ah, right, Vanna told me as much. I can go out looking for him if..."

"Right here." The boy jogged into the clearing, the Cyndaquil on Vanna's shoulder immediately leaping off of her and into his waiting arms. "Hey there, buddy. Thanks for keeping her safe. Though maybe I should have left you with Amber, hm?" He knelt next to the Meditite, patting him on the head for a moment before looking at Amber. "Did he?"

The redhead shook her head. "No. He did it his way."

Axel cracked a huge grin after hearing that, and straightened up, approaching me and offering his hand. "Thank you, sir. By all means, get him to a center ASAP. We'll be heading to Maxilla, that's closest one, right?"

I nodded. "Absolutely. I'll load him up on Archimedes and he'll be on his way." I whistled, and my Noctowl obeyed immediately, swooping down and lowering his wings, allowing the Meditite to be loaded onto his back. The Gardevoir peeled itself off of Vanna and looked at her amoment, then lightly pointed at Archimedes.

Vanna beamed. "Of course, Gardevoir. We'll see you in a few days, take care of him." The gym leader lifted her Pokemon onto Archimedes as well, and after I'd fastened them both, I sent him off.

"He'll be there in less than an hour," I assured them. "Sleep well tonight." I approached the cave, taking note of all the Sawsbuck held within. "As for these..." I opened my hands to assure the Sawsbuck I meant no harm. "I'll send out a report, make sure that the Ranger Society knows about this herd. Make sure this area gets the proper classification and protection it needs to preserve the species."

I grinned, clapping my hands together. "Anything else I can assist with? Ranger Danger is here to serve, after all."

"Yeah..." came a gruff voice from the forest. "Do me a favor, eh?" I frowned, seeing one of the hunters that I'd tied coming to, straining against my Ranger Danger 100% Inescapable Knots to know avail. "Take that gun of yours and kill me."

I blinked. "What?"

"I just needed one Sawsbuck pelt," he muttered, eyes wide and vacant. "One measly Pokemon skin and I could be on the next boat to Unova. You realize that? I could've gotten OFF this lousy continent if it hadn't been for that stupid... THING," he spat. "I'm gonna die now," he said, jaw shaking. "Maybe not today, but... he'll come. You know? She took my little sister, and my mother, so it'll come for me too one of these days." He snuffled, then growled, roaring at us from his tied up position. "SO JUST KILL ME NOW, WILL YA?"

I... didn't have anything to say. None of us did. Even if we did, not a moment later a Treecko walked into the clearing and knocked the man out with a swift punch, ending the moment.

Axel opened his mouth and stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say, before sighing. "Well uh... good on you to not use the blades, Inigo. That was classy."

Author's Note

Man oh man did I cram a lot into this chapter. I kinda like it. To be perfectly honest, I think this arc was already starting to wrap up, and I... didn't have a whole lot of interest in fleshing it out more, to be honest. The Maxilla arc should be ok. The Highbank arc, that's going to be AMAZING. I think. In my head, it is.

All in good time, though. One foot in front of the other. We'll have about one more chapter before Maxilla and then BOOM. City time. Not a gym though, so don't expect us to spend too much time there, just enough to do the character work I want.

It's been a long time. I'm getting back into this because I felt like it, and I actually had to re-read the story to get a sense for the characters again. Holds up surprisingly well, I think, though I AM biased.

And of course, though I don't actually remember why I do this, I'm not going to start breaking tradition now:

Viva la feminism?