Another day, another Episode. And the first one to be done on my new laptop.

Not everybody seems to be pleased with the idea of the Tate and Fervo joining the party. That's pretty much all I can say about this Episode without spoiling any of it.

Comments are still being asked for, that is not a good thing.

Episode 126: Civil Difficulties

It took us around five minutes to find the others, which was plenty of time for Tate to get a little nervous.

"What if your trainer doesn't want us to come with you?" He asked as he fidgeted with a small pebble.

"If there is one thing I know about Moron, it is that he would love more Pokémon. If it helps keep me sane, then all the better," I answered with a smirk as we found said Human in the clearing

"You're alive!" Moron cheered as I was knocked off of my feet in a hug, which really did the gashes in my side a world of good. (For all you idiots out there, that was sarcasm.)

"I won't be for much longer if you keep up the squeezing," I gasped in reply as I finally got him to let go with a boot to the ribcage, which resulted in me falling towards the ground untill Fervo made a last second save.

"Is life with you always this painful?" He muttered as I got off of him and helped him up.

"Depends on how stupid you are, really," Squirt chuckled as he stepped over and held out his paw, "Wartortle, at your service."

"Fervo, leader of Blue Nine," the Treecko nodded, completely ignoring the paw shake.

Squirt pulled back his paw and chuckled to himself before saying, "why do I have the feeling that you're going to be another Flame?"

"Well they are a lot alike," Tate said, shying away when Squirt turned to stare at him.

"And who might you be?"

"Tate, Totodile and second in command of Blue Seven," I interrupted as Tate seemed close to having a complete breakdown, "he is the one that got us out of those caverns alive."

Squirt stared into the Totodile's eyes before shrugging and walking off to talk with Scout, Moron watching the development with puzzled eyes. I wasn't that far off myself, the whole thing was confusing.

"He doesn't like me," Tate muttered, downcast. Fervo patted him on the shoulder and tried to comfort him while I stormed off after Squirt. Scout spotted me coming and nodded, Squirt turning around and taking a step back as I grabbed hold of his arms and pinned him up against a tree.

"Listen, Squirt," I growled, "Tate is my friend and I would have expected you to be a little nicer to him, instead shrugging him off like that."

"Oh I'm sorry," he replied, with all smiles and cheers gone from his face, "I didn't realise that I was supposed to enjoy being replaced like that. Good thing that Blacky is too young to be affected by that Roco showing up and taking his place."

I froze at those words, releasing Squirt and turning away. I didn't know what to say or do, so I walked away.

"Nobody else might be able to see it," Squirt called after me, "but you are slowly replacing each of us."

"Nobody can replace Blacky," I said over my shoulder, trying to reassure myself, "or Scout or Scyther. Not even Pika can be replaced. As for you, you've changed so much that you have gone and replaced yourself."

Now he was the one who was struck speechless as I pushed my way past a stunned Fervo and headed back into the trees.

"Am I really replacing them all?" I muttered as I splashed water onto my face and wiped the scales clean, I had found my way back to the lake purely by accident and was kneeling down by the water. My reflection stared back at me, the white scar standing out against the orange scales. The water rippled in the breeze and a leaf fell down from the treetops and landed on my reflection's face. I slowly reached down and picked up the soggy plant, dropping it beside me and returning my gaze to the Charmander in front of me.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of someone approaching and glanced across as Cray and Roco plonked themselves down a little way off.

"Fervo told us what happened," Cray called over, "are you okay?"

"Do I look as though I'm fine?" I muttered, although I knew that they would know what I had said, and thrust my claws strait into my reflections face.

I glanced back up as Roco limped over to me and sat down by my side.

"It took both the Pidgey and Tate to stop Fervo ripping that Wartortle to pieces," he said as he looked up at me, "although I can see where the turtle is coming from."

"Really," I muttered, turning away from his gaze.

"Flame, look at me," he said, "you saved my life back in those caves; I'm going to help you with yours."

I looked down at Roco, having to smile that the serious look on his face that clashed so badly with his looks.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" He laughed as Cray came to join us, "now, the turtle was a starter Pokémon, correct?"

I nodded and he continued, "so he'd have grown up surrounded with others. Unlike wild Pokémon, he's always had someone to talk too. So he's never really been alone. It scares the crap out of him."

"So, when I fell into the caverns," I interrupted, "he was forced to be without that comfort."

"Yep," Cray added with a laugh, "so when you reappear and you and the other took out that Tangela while he could do nothing but watch, he figured that you'd moved on and replaced him."

"That doesn't explain why he turned on Tate but not Fervo," I muttered.

"Well, Fervo is no threat to his position as the water type of the group. Tate is. So he's the one that get the worst of the hate. His meekness around strangers doesn't help much, he was afraid of everyone back when he was first brought into the caverns," Cray explained, "he was a starter too, so he had the same fear of being alone. The Greens whipped it out of him, and he grew to become the Tate you know. Of course, with that evil dead, he's reverted back to his old self."

I climbed back to my feet and smiled fully, "you're right. And me moping around isn't going to solve it."

"So what's the plan?" Cray asked me, "to get, at least, the turtle back to normal."

"We're going to need a lot of vines, and that Tangela managed to be somewhat useful and leave us plenty," I laughed, "they are not going to know what hit them. Let's go."

I was right; they didn't know what hit them. Squirt was leaning up against a tree, muttering to himself when me and Cray jumped him. We had even got Scyther in on it, who helped us by using some sleep powder to knock Squirt out before he could react. As we bound the turtle's arms and legs, Roco limped off and distracted Fervo long enough for us to get the jump on Tate too.

"What the hell is going on?" the Treecko asked as we hauled the bound Tate past him.

"We're just fixing a few problems," I laughed as we went past, "just count yourself lucky that you're not going to be the next one we ambush."

I found myself hiding in the treetops by the lake as the two of them awoke to find themselves bound by their limbs, right next to the lake. Fervo was with me, still wondering what the hell we were doing when Cray and Scyther stepped out of the trees and into the view of the captives.

"What the hell? Scyther, let me go!" Squirt yelled, which got a chuckle from the Nidoran.

"We've all had a nice long talk and decided that you two are going to sort out your differences on your own," she explained while Tate just watched silently compared to Squirt's cursing.

"Scyther will release Squirt and Tate when Scyther thinks that things are as they should be," Scyther added as the two of them turned away and vanished back into the tree line.

"Bastards!" Squirt yelled after them, "when I get out of here, I'll kill you all!"

"If you ever get out of here," Tate interrupted, "Scyther strikes me as the kind to not joke around, so we're stuck here."

"Good thing Tate is actually smart," I whispered to Fervo, who had finally figured out our plan, "or we could have a long wait."

Even with Tate's smarts, it was soon obvious to the two of us watching that we were still going to be there a while. It was a good thing that Roco had managed to find us something to eat before we climbed the tree, so I wasn't going to pass out with hunger.

"Bastards, let me go!" Squirt yelled while Tate just watched the turtle.

"Are you finished?" He asked, eventually, "we're not getting anywhere with you yelling."

"Well, I don't see you doing anything that'll get us out of this," Squirt replied coldly.

"Because, I know that yelling at the plantation will get us no closer to getting out of this mess," Tate said, he'd gone back into leader mode and all the shyness had vanished.

"Well, how do we get out of this?" Squirt asked, finally cooling down

"The only reason we are in this situation is because you were so hostile to me. My best guess is that they want us to put aside our differences and agree to be civil to each other," the Totodile suggested.