Wow, another episode done just in the nick of time by me. This sure was another toughie to write, but the arc's conclusion is near. And then the real fun starts.

Episode 127: Tooth and Shell

"Why are you so damn grumpy?" Tate muttered after Squirt had spat in his face. I was really trying as hard as I could to stop myself jumping out of that tree and killing Squirt, Fervo was doing the same.

"None of you business," Squirt replied, turning his head and refusing to look at Tate. Tate stared strait at the turtle, looking decidedly calm. That was not comforting.

Eventually, Squirt snapped back with," fine! You want to know that badly?"

"Well, I'm perfectly fine with sitting here all day. Unlike you, I don't seem to be crushing my tail underneath me," Tate said as he looked away from the rabid Wartortle.

"Damnit. Of all the times for Tate to lose his fear and turn into a smartass, he had to pick now," Fervo muttered, untill I clamped his mouth shut with both claws.

"Shush, we don't want them spotting us."

I could have sworn that I saw Tate glance towards us, but the moment passed and he was staring back towards the lake. I thanked the shield of leaves that hid the light from my dimmed tail flame.

"You are afraid of me," he said after a few seconds, causing Squirt to mutter something that I couldn't quite catch, "or afraid of what might happen if I stuck around."

"So what if I am?" Squirt asked, on the defensive.

"I understand that feeling," Tate replied, "I'm from a different continent, being brought to Kanto with my trainer. Every time she came close to catching a Pokémon, I started to fear that she'd like that one more than me. Unfortunately, she was hopeless at catching so I never had to voice that fear out loud."

"How was that a bad thing?" Squirt asked, slightly puzzled about all of that.

"Because if she had a few more Pokémon," Tate sighed, a long tear rolling down his cheek, "then maybe I would not have been overpowered so easily by those two Onix and she would still be alive."

Tate looked close to breaking down into sobs as he continued, "that was around a year ago, I was stuck underground slaving away for a doom cult. I'd given up on any chance of getting back to the surface and was pushing myself over the edge, hoping that I would crack under the workload and they would kill me for not being able to continue. Around two weeks ago; the Pokémon that worked with me, an old Sandshrew, cracked and was whipped to death in front of us. I kept working, now doing both my own and his. Fervo and Roco were always right behind me, giving me the extra boost to keep me going. But, even then, I was tiring fast. Then Flame appears and I have a partner again, one who rekindled that fighting spirit that I had lost. I fought alongside him and Fervo in those caverns, outnumbered by the Greens and we somehow managed to escape there with our lives. As we did so, I was told by a friendly psychic type that I would find something in Celadon. I don't know about you, but I am going to that city. Even if I have to break out of these vines and make the trip on my own."

The sadness had vanished during his speech, replaced with a fiery determination that I was so familiar with. I guess that I'm a slight influence on some Pokémon, maybe a few Humans too (Moron did seem a fair bit more active then when I first came across him, less of a complete prat too. Although the transformation would not be considered complete untill I got him to ditch that stupid hat.)

Squirt stared at Tate before muttering something else that I couldn't make out. I managed to hear Tate's reply of, "damn strait, you were."

"Well, I guess I can let you stick around for a little while," Squirt said with a chuckle, "sorry for all the paranoia."

"Hey, you hang around Flame and that Scyther," Tate grinned, "I can understand being slightly jumpy around those two."

"You forgot that Fervo, he strikes me as a bit of a psychopath."

"Why that little bastard, I'd brain him but I don't want to prove him right," Fervo grumbled as he shifted slightly on the branch we were hiding on.

I shushed him again as Tate leant closer to Squirt, I kinda missed what they were doing as Fervo nudged me to the side and I glanced over to scowl at him. I turned back just in time to see that Squirt's arms were free and he was untying Tate's bindings. When Tate was released, he ripped the vines around Squirt's legs. I guessed that Squirt couldn't do it himself thanks to his shell getting in the way, but that wasn't what was important right then. What was important was the fact that they had freed each other and seemed to be looking for someone.

"We know you are hiding somewhere," Tate called out, glancing around at all of the plantation, "it's no use staying hidden."

"Shit," I muttered, "let's bail."

"Righto," Fervo replied as he slowly began to climb backwards, towards the tree trunk so we could get back down to the ground.

Of course, things didn't quite go as planned. As he moved to turn around so he could start climbing down, he slipped and cried out as he grabbed onto the branch with both paws before he could plummet to his grave. This had the affect of grabbing both of the water Pokémon's attention as he dangled there. Of course, I had to go pull him up, leaving the hiding place too.

"I think we found them," Squirt smirked as I was finally able to pull Fervo up onto solid ground.

"What are we going to do with them?" Tate asked as the two of us could do nothing but shake, fearing for our lives.

"Well this plan backfired, like my plans always do," I muttered as me and Fervo found ourselves tied up with more vines.

"At least we are still alive, which was surprising. Guess that Wartortle isn't as crazy as I thought," Fervo replied over his shoulder, as we were placed back to back so we couldn't copy Tate and Squirt's escape plan.

"Because I wasn't stupid enough to call him Squirt at that moment," I replied, "now how about we try and get out of this?"

"No need, buddy," Fervo chuckled, "here comes Scyther."

"About bloody time too," I grumbled, "I'm sitting on a rock here. And it is very uncomfortable."

"So you've said repeatedly during however long we've been sitting here," Fervo sighed as I heard Scyther approach.

"What happened here?" He asked.

"Well, Tate and Squirt are friends now. Unfortunatly, Fervo here gave our hiding place away and we got caught," I answered, getting a shoulder to the back from Fervo.

"Scyther will cut Flame free, hold still."

"Wait!" I yelled out as I felt something shoot past my spine and slam into the vines.