RMWJ: Chapter 8

"It's my turn to be on top," Ree said seriously. Scott glared up at her, arms around her shoulders, thoroughly unimpressed. She responded by leaning down, tickling his face with his hair. He batted it away and resumed his glaring.

"No, my turn."

"Mine."

"You did it the last two times."

"And you did it before that!"

"Ree, you don't get to boss me around all the time," Scott told her with a frown. "I'm all for sex with you, but hell, I get to be the man in this relationship once in awhile, too."

"What did you just say?"

The situation rapidly descended into immature bickering after that. Soon, they ended up on opposite ends of the bed, half-clothed and arms crossed. "...There's only one way to settle this." Neither of them wanted to give up their position—literally—but Scott offered the fair way of settling it. Ree nodded.

Two out of three Super Smash Bros. matches turned into three out of five, four out of seven, and so on until several hours had passed. Scott was the first to realize their mistake. It was sad that video games seemed to trump sexy times, but it wasn't often they got the house to themselves, so the opportunity couldn't afford to be wasted.

"Ree, stop! Stop. New match. We have to settle this, now. No items, no healing, no assists. Fox only. Final Destination."

"It's on."

They spent the rest of the night playing video games instead. But they were both okay with that; they had fun either way.

-.-.-

Chapter Eight: Ree Majors' Wonderful Journey Of Raising Hell

-.-.-

"Come on, Vince! We have to—get—going—!" Scott growled, fighting with his gigalith. The stubborn pokémon refused to move, and of course, rock types usually won out against human types. Finally, he sagged against his starter with a pained sigh. "Don't you want to go out and explore the world again? You were so excited when you were little!"

"Lith," Vince replied, snout in the air.

"Rocio!" Scott called. His scolipede bustled out of the house, laden with packs and her circlet. He groaned. "Rocio, do you really wanna take that with you? We're going out traveling again, and if you lose it, we might not be able to find it again."

She gave him an acidic look that clearly told him she was keeping her trophy. He didn't want to argue with her. He just wanted to get back on the road and track her down and demand, not over phone (because she wasn't answer it, damn it), but in person, why she had run off. Ree did a lot of things without reason, but becoming a trainer? He knew she'd done it before in the past, but not since they'd started dating. There had to have been a reason.

"Vince, we'll do this the easy way or the hard way," Scott threatened, butting heads with his gigalith. A snort was his reply. "I'm never going to buy you any more toys ever again."

"...Lith!" Vince whined, ducking his head low and shuffling guiltily. Scott leaned back and puffed out his chest. Trainer, triumphant. "Giga!" He leapt at Scott and licked him, sending him effortlessly to the ground, and Rocio had to delicately pry him out from under him.

"Okay, let's see," Scott said, trying to recover his dignity. He shook his hair out and retied his ponytail, thinking. "If she's asking me questions, she's probably in Lenora's gym. Nacrene City, so at least she's only a city away... But we have to go through Pinwheel. That might take awhile."

"Krook," Nigel pointed out and gestured to the darumaka sitting beside him.

"Yeah, I guess we can train up Barbeque." He hadn't thought, when he picked the new pokémon out, that he would become a trainer so soon afterward. Maybe one day, but not soon, and not to track down Ree. The rest of his team was capable and skilled, so he wasn't worried, but they hadn't been out and about properly for years. Rustiness may be an issue. "Where's Yorick?"

"Laaaa," came the yawned reply. His stoutland slunk out of the shade of the bushes near the house, stretching languidly. Somehow, Scott wasn't surprised. Come to think of it, Yorick hadn't had much training out in the 'wilderness', either. This... could be fun.

Vince came up and tried to lick him again, but Scott kept his enthusiasm at bay with a barked, "Rocio! Checklist!"

She obediently nudged open the packs and started pulling things out. He'd been out before; he knew what he needed and what would be excess weight. Practical, durable clothes, check. Charger for phone (and phone), check. His old pokédex, check. All of the non-perishables in the house, check. Water, check. Camping cooking set, check. Sleeping bag, check. Bare necessities, but he could pick some supplies up in Castelia, though it was out of his way...

"No, we're headed straight through. It should only take us... Two, three days at most if we run it. It's not as if the wild pokémon will be too much of a hassle, but it's pretty maze-like in there..." With a shudder, he remembered his first—and incidentally, last—foray into the forest. It hadn't been pretty. "Rocio, you're a native there, so don't get us too lost, okay?" She saluted with an antenna, knocking her circlet off center, and waddled off. "Wait, we're not leaving just yet!"

"Lith?"

"I have to write a note for mom, telling her I'm taking Yorick."

"Scol."

"I know he's mine. Just hold on a sec. Then we'll go, you impatient lot. Nigel, watch Barbeque. Let's not burn the forest down."

-.-.-

"Lenooooora!" Ree called, all too pleased with herself. In ahead of schedule! No gym trainer battles as distractions! She'd spent the week training, so she was confident in her team, and she outnumbered the gym leader, anyway.

"Ree, not so loud!" Harry squeaked. "This is still a library!"

"I'm here for a battle, not a book check-out. Lenora! A challenger appeared!" Ree called again.

"I heard you the first time!" came an irate shout off to their left. The pair of girls skittered further into the room where they'd been told the gym leader was waiting, and saw the woman coming down off of a ladder, books in her arms. She had horn-rimmed glasses perched on her nose and bushier hair than even Ree's. She could only stare for a couple moments. "I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting anyone so soon. You must be pretty knowledgeable, huh?"

"Something like that," Ree said, blatantly ignoring the pointed look from Harry. It had been blackmail, not cheating! There was totally a difference.

"Done your research, girl? It's been busy here lately, and I'd rather not waste both our time with some blind, rushed job. No gym battle is complete without research beforehand!" Lenora declared, taking off her glasses and stashing them in an apron pocket. She walked over to a desk and swapped out a couple of the books in her arms, and then made another pile for the rest.

"Uh, sure."

"What kind of pokémon do you have?"

"Aren't we supposed to be... battling?" Ree asked uneasily. She felt, briefly, as if she'd been tricked somehow. She was supposed to come in and earn another badge, way ahead of time, and go merrily on her way. Instead, there'd been the cute secretary and his silly questions, and now, a gym leader who seemed more interested in conversation than battling.

"I am, first and foremost, a researcher. A scientist. A lover of knowledge. That's why I became a gym leader—to see all the different types of pokémon. Even if many of them are locally found or from the lab, once in awhile, I get to see some things you just don't see in Nacrene otherwise. Why, just the other day, a boy came in with a woobat and a mienfoo—"

"Snivy, whimsicott, and pidove. Battle please?" She didn't like conversation in gyms. And all of the smart talk was making her sweat; what if, somehow, she found out that she hadn't passed the tests outside? Harry was still giving her the evil eye for that, too, so surely, it was only a matter of time before Lenora started questioning, too.

Lenora chuckled and planted her fists on her hips. "Are you sure you're ready to take me on? You seem to have gone pretty pale pretty quick there."

Ohh, so it was some sort of psychological tactic. Ree drew herself up to her full height—just shy of taller than Lenora herself—and narrowed her eyes. "I'm ready."

"Let's move out to the arena, and then challenger moves first," she replied with another chuckle. Ree eyed her warily all the way back out. Trying to psych her out. Mind games. She'd heard she was a tough trainer, and she supposed intellect went with the job of running a museum-slash-library, but still.

Ree let Whippy out first. He slithered up into her arms, but she tossed him back onto the field. She spotted a couple other trainers lean on the railings above them, watching curiously, and Harry backed off a safe distance. "You can do it!" she called, supportive. It was better than nothing.

"A fairly large specimen, possibly close to evolution. In fair health, male, all senses and limbs intact," Lenora said, chin in hand.

"Can we go now?" ...Did that mean she normally got pokémon without senses or limbs intact?

"Yes, I'm just preparing myself. Research is the basis to any strategy in life!" she said with a fierce grin, and called out a herdier. They were nothing new, though certainly not the easy little lillipup they'd been picking off for days. Whippy gave it a hiss, and it gave a short bark in reply.

Ree tried to do the same thing Lenora did. It worked for her, right? The herdier was... probably about average. Or maybe big? She couldn't tell what sex it was, but it moved like it wasn't blind or anything... It had four paws, at least. Okay, back to her usual strategy.

Which was watching mutely, and a little resentfully, as Whippy did whatever the hell he wanted.

She could tell it caught Lenora by surprise, as with many other trainers. Whippy leapt into action, throwing out a vine whip that caught the canine's front two legs, throwing it across the arena. It skidded onto its feet with a snarl, snapping at the retracting vines, but the first damage had been done. And, naturally, it went to both Ree and Whippy's heads.

"...I see," Lenora said with a nod. "Start off with a leer!"

Whippy, large eyes closed, strutted back and forth, waving claws and vines to the trainers who were watching from above. He completely missed the fact that he was supposed to be battling. The poor herdier's admittedly scary leer did absolutely nothing against the sheer might of the snivy's ego.

Ree looked around for a place to sit. This might take awhile. Running about like a madwoman, shouting ignored orders and making a fool of herself, it only led to tired legs.

The herdier, sensing an opening, ran at him. He vaulted gracefully over it, using his vines as leverage, still as snide and arrogant as ever. Until it snapped its jaws shut on one of his vines. There was one comical moment of his eyes snapping open, shocked, before it swung him around and into a far bookcase. Ree winced, and Lenora gave a shriek. "Not the books! No, bad boy! Keep it inside the arena!"

The herdier's ears drooped low, tail in between its legs, and gave an apologetic whine as it dragged Whippy back into the designated area. Lenora sighed and waved an aide over to clean up the fallen books. That... maybe could be used against her—and then Ree caught sight of the glare Harry was sending her. It was very clearly telling her not to do what she was thinking.

...Maybe later.

Whippy had gotten back up to his feet, though one of his vines was still in the herdier's mouth. He tried to shake it off, and even push it off with the other, but it seemed set on not letting him get away. There was a brief tug-of-war, each side digging in heels, until Whippy suddenly launched himself at it. The herdier tried to backpedal, but there was too little distance, and the snivy was upon it, biting and scratching and hissing. As with battles before, Whippy used his flexibility and comparatively smaller stature to get into places where his foe couldn't reach. He wedged himself between the herdier's shoulder blades and gnawed on its neck as he lazily yanked on its ears.

After a bit of a rodeo show, it finally had the sense to roll over, squishing Whippy underneath it. It seemed as if he'd been waiting for that, however; he finally got his vine free and threw the herdier off of him. The canine yelped and scrabbled at the floor, trying not to skid into another bookshelf, and Whippy watched with gleaming red eyes. Uh-oh. Ree knew that look.

"Use a bite! Try to get in close!" Lenora commanded. They were both relatively close-range combat pokémon, and Ree wasn't expecting anything too fancy or surprising out of the herdier. It had size, but Whippy had his vines and speed.

And he also had no sense of shame. The herdier came at him again, and he scooped it up and hefted it into the nearest bookcase. Lenora gave another outraged cry. "Whippy, don't!" Ree said at once, as a gesture of kindness towards the gym leader. "Stay inside the arena!"

He responded by pinning the herdier between the bookcase and his vines, watching flatly as it struggled and kicked, knocking down more books. Harry hurried over to help the poor aide pick them up as best they could, but he wasn't letting the herdier up.

"Whippy, let it get back in!" Ree ground out. Lenora was giving her the evil eye, and she didn't want to get disqualified because he was misbehaving. "That's an order, mister!"

"Vee," he pouted, but finally relented. The herdier limped back into the designated arena and the books could finally be returned to their shelves before more damage was done. Though to be fair, maybe having pokémon battles in the middle of a library (or museum) wasn't the smartest of ideas.

"I know you don't like it, but you can beat it! You've fought herdier before and come out on top!"

"Sni..." he agreed, albeit grudgingly. The herdier lunged at him, jaws open, but he darted out of the way. One of his vines had been bitten pretty badly, oozing a dark greenish-brown liquid, and the herdier had wised up to how to keep him away. Of course, he could stay away himself just as easily, so it was looking to be a long battle again.

"After the next attack, use a retaliate!" Lenora said suddenly with a wide grin.

Interesting that she said after the next attack, and it was almost as if the herdier allowed Whippy to get in close as he chomped down on its foreleg again, this time drawing blood even through the thick fur. Trainer and starter both realized the mistake as soon as the herdier, well, retaliated. Whippy was sent soaring across the arena (into another bookcase), holding his chest as he staggered back to his feet.

"Whippy! Are you okay?" Ree hovered behind him, noting the injury. It wasn't an open wound, but she could tell by the way he stood, curled inward, that it had to be painful. Just the force of the attack had been phenomenal. That wasn't something to be underestimated again.

"Vee-vee, snivy," he grunted, wincing as he removed a paw from his stomach. She didn't know what that meant, but he turned and glared at her. "Snivy!" He made a shooing motion, which was the real indicator that he wanted her to back up.

Nonplussed, she took a couple steps back.

And the surprise was hers when he unleashed a storm of leaves and gusts of wind, spinning as he did. Hair whipping around and papers (and even smaller paperback books) flying all about, Ree couldn't see the battle for a moment. She had no idea when he had learned that little trick, or how, but it was definitely something no one had been expecting.

And when the wind died down and the rest of the leaves floated to the floor, the herdier lay unconscious across the arena. Along with a couple shelves of books.

"I must admit, I hadn't expected a snivy to be capable of that move," Lenora admitted, but with respect. She returned her herdier—which meant she was half done! Granted, that had done a number on her snivy, but he had taken out her first pokémon all on his own!

"Alright Whippy!" He grinned arrogantly, snout in the air, and pretended like he wasn't dripping blood from his fangs. Ree beckoned him over during the lull, looking him over. He wasn't looking too good, and she had a sneaking suspicion that the blood on his mouth wasn't just the herdier's. "You're in pretty rough shape, mister. Are you sure you want to head into the next battle?"

"Sni!" he exclaimed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Her second one is her tougher one, Harry told us that. You're hurt. Even with that new leafy trick... Seriously, what the fuck? When did you get that?" He beamed up at her, tail quivering. She clearly wouldn't be getting any answers. Ree sighed and put her hand on top of his head. "If you're sure you want to stay out... It's gonna hurt." How to tell your starter that he was going to faint early on in the next round?

He pattered off, back into the circle. He either knew it or he didn't, but either way, it looked like he was set on remaining the center of attention.

"No matter how grim the situation, I'll find a winning strategy. Clever tricks are just tricks without the research and understanding to back it up!" the gym leader declared and released her last pokémon, a long, wiggly thing that seemed much faster than the herdier that came before it.

Whippy had already unleashed another leafy gust at it while she dug out her pokédex. She had to wait until it cleared until she could get a reading on it, but it confirmed her suspicions—it was the evolution of patrat. So a bigger, stronger, more annoying rodent.

"Hypnosis!"

Uh-oh. "Fuck! Whippy—" He hit the ground with a hissed snore before she could finish it.

"Crunch," Lenora said smugly. Ree couldn't quite return him fast enough to get him out of the way of the attack, but he was out for this, either way. She just hoped that hadn't hurt him too much more. So, a watchog with the ability to put things to sleep...

Fair was fair, then. "Lala, come on out! Throw out a stun spore, quick!" Her whimsicott alighted on the floor, fluff looking large again, and shook out a fine coating of gold all over herself and the immediate area. She then puffed it out, most of it floating over towards the watchog. It ran out of the way pretty easily, but Lala's usual strategy worked with even that.

Shedding it and leaving it where she went, she circled around it, chasing it with clouds of stun spore. It couldn't run backwards, so it couldn't turn around long enough to give her a hypnosis, since she was even faster than Whippy. Lenora frowned, and Ree smiled to herself. Two could play status tactics.

Finally, there was so much stun spore in the arena that even Ree was getting it on her clothes. The watchog finally ran into a particularly large pile, tumbling over its numbed paws and further coating itself with it. Lala gave a loud cackle as the paralysis began to take over.

But she had stayed in one place, and before either of them knew it, the watchog had sent a hypnosis her way. Lala swayed on her feet, woozy, but managed to stay conscious. The watchog, even slowed, had enough time to tackle her, and they both went skidding across the arena, sending up a splash of gold dust. Ree could see it stare at her again with those glowing eyes, and her whimsicott finally fell asleep.

It then sat on her and chewed away, though it seemed to have trouble getting through her thick fluff.

"Lala! Wake up!" Lala was the powerhouse, and the fastest. The watchog clamped down on her shoulder, drawing blood, and she stirred. But she didn't fully wake up. Ree danced from foot to foot anxiously; did she risk waiting to see if she'd wake up? Did she return her to prevent her from getting hurt worse? "Lala!" Ree shrieked, hoping to make enough noise.

"Retaliate!" Lenora called.

"Not fair! We didn't attack you!" Ree shouted, just as loudly.

"The move doesn't work that way. If you'd like, after my victory, I'll give you an outline on what exactly it does," she offered, not entirely meanly.

"Lala, wake up!" she tried again, but Lala didn't even snore this time. How she could sleep through a watchog biting her was beyond her comprehension, but evidently, hypnosis was a powerful thing. After opening another bite wound, Ree gave up and returned her. She did a little damage, and she did slow it down considerably... But she didn't like relying on Harper for an entire gym battle.

Although flight would be nice.

Ree tossed the pokeball into the arena and her pidove flapped out, circling to gain some altitude. Thankfully, the area was open up all three stories, and she had more than enough space in between her and the paralyzed rodent. Harper whistled, winging down to swoop over Ree and Harry. "Harper, you're the last one awake, okay? Don't look at it if you can help it!"

"Pii?" she tweeted, perching on the second story railing.

"A flying pokémon. Well played, and a smart choice. But a bird that young can't have many long-range attacks, either, so you'll have to come in close eventually," Lenora appraised with a sharp nod.

"She has gust," Ree deadpanned, and on command, her little bird sent down a sharp gust of air at the watchog. It wasn't quite fast enough to leap out of the way, thanks to the stun spore still coating its fur. True, that much distance between them weakened the attack considerably, but she could stay well out of range of any of its attacks.

Harper took to the air again, circling lazily, occasionally sending down a gust to stir up the golden dust or hit the watchog. It tried to dodge, and did managed to get away from some of them, but it was just running into more and more stun spore, and Whippy's only attack had done a little damage, too. For all of Ree's concerns, it was shaping up to be very one-sided, if painfully slow.

The watchog, after getting backed into a corner of the arena, did manage to glare a hypnosis up at Harper. She wobbled in the air, dipping dangerously, but shook her head and managed to land safely on a bookcase. It was on the ground floor, much closer to it, but still far enough away that she could sleepily hop to another bookcase by the time it tried climbing up that one. "Be careful! Try not to damage the books!" Lenora called fretfully, but she allowed her watchog to scale the shelves.

"And I didn't even have to use that against her," Ree told Harry, gesturing with pride as her pidove glided across the arena to another bookshelf, just as the watchog leapt at her.

"I'm glad, but the fact that you were entertaining it..." Harry sighed.

"Only a little."

Finally, Harper got the lucky shot she needed to really pull ahead. She managed to nail the watchog with a gust to the face just as it jumped at her; it fell, mid-leap, and hit the bookcase on the way down. She chirped excitedly, waking up a little, and looked over the edge down at it. It was slow to get back up, and she nailed it with another gust that pushed it back to the floor. This repeated twice more before it just didn't get up again.

"More than just talent, that was some motivation. And a little unorthodox battling, which I always applaud!" Lenora came over and clapped Ree on the back, making her stumble a bit. "I must admit, my initial theory about you wasn't completely favorable. But you won! Stand up strong, and proud, girl!"

Harper swooped down and settled on Ree's shoulder with an affectionate, drowsy chirp. Ree pet her with two fingers and gleefully accepted her second badge. She was so ahead of schedule! Three pokémon and two badges, and in just under three weeks out!

They headed back to the pokémon center, and all the while, Ree was admiring her new badge. It was just so shiny, and such a pretty shade of purple! The nurse on duty took her pokémon, including a sleeping Harper off her shoulder, and the two girls lounged on one of the couches while they waited. "Wow, it took us two tries to beat her. See? All of that training paid off," Harry said warmly.

"That's because my team is fucking awesome. And that new move of Whippy's... Shit, I'm going to have to get him to use that some more." Ree rested her head on the back of the couch, grinning hard. "I'm so ahead of schedule."

"Schedule?" Harry asked.

"...Uh." Ree shifted and fiddled with Sophia, avoiding her eyes. That had been a stupid slip-up. "I just... Want to do this quickly."

"Why?" There was no suspicion in her tone, but curiosity. Still, it made her nervous.

Thankfully, it seemed as if Harper was done at that time, and Ree hastily retreated to retrieve her. "Your pidove is mostly unharmed, and she's been woken up. She seems to be in very high spirits, and she's otherwise very healthy," the nurse said happily, allowing the pidove to hop from her wrist to Ree's. "Your whimsicott has some bite wounds, but most of them are minor and shallow, so she should be done soon. Your snivy, however, had some pretty severe damage to his ribcage."

"...Severe?" Ree said dumbly. Her mood teetered.

"Oh, please don't worry! He'll survive," the woman said quickly. Her mood didn't fall. "He did, however, crack two ribs, and he has extensive bruising in that area as well, as several smaller bite wounds. Those should heal right up, but we are worried a bit about his ribs."

"He'll be alright?"

"Oh yes. It will be painful for awhile as it heals, but there are two routes we can take right now, and we need your permission for either. It looks as if he's fairly close to evolving, which is wonderful for healing a pokemon's body. They'll heal right up that way. But since there is no guarantee as to when that will happen, and he can't undergo strenuous exercise until then, we can also try to fix as much as we can until then. But broken ribs are not like an arm or a tail; we can't exactly put him in a cast, so there isn't very much we could do. If you preferred to wait until he evolved, we would only do some minor fixes, and give him painkillers."

Whippy was close to evolving? As horrible as it was, that was all Ree really got out of that bundle of information. He took down Lenora's herdier on his own, he had that epic new move, and he was close to evolving! Her starter was going to evolve! It would be the first evolution she'd go through as a trainer, since previous endeavors had never lasted that long...

"We'll wait. Painkillers." Whippy was going to evolve! Lala was already strong and had evolved, so he'd get a lot stronger, too. They could be even stronger! And then, before she knew it, Harper would evolve, and she and Whippy both had one more left after that, and they'd all be stronger, and they could work even faster, and get even more ahead of schedule—

"—and one every morning when he wakes up, and one before bed. It's difficult to gauge when exactly he'll evolve, but we'll give you a two-week prescription. If he still hasn't evolved, you can renew the prescription, or see another nurse in any other pokémon center if you'd like to change your decision. ...Though really, I can't imagine it would take too much longer than a couple weeks for the little fellow to evolve!"

The nurse wrote out a list of instructions along with the prescription, but it meant that they would have to wait until the morning to get it filled. They also wanted to keep an eye on him, just in case he did something to further aggravate his injuries. Not even being stuck another night in Nacrene could faze Ree, though. After all, they were ahead of schedule, Harper was totally okay, and her other two were healing! Whippy would evolve! Two badges!

Ree was so happy she was doing a happy dance in the middle of the mess hall, much to Harry's embarrassment, while her pokémon gulped down food like they hadn't eaten in years. Strange looks and whispers couldn't do anything to dampen her mood. Whippy stealing an entire steak off her plate couldn't hurt her mood.

And then her phone rang, with Scott's ringtone. Even that had a hard time ruining her fun, until, after greetings, he asked her, "You're out training, aren't you?"

Ree slipped and fell onto her chair, Sophia clattering loudly to the floor. "...What?" she asked breathlessly, waving Harry's concern off. Surely she had just misheard him.

"You were asking all of those questions earlier, and I know you haven't played Persona 4. I saw Maya today." That snitch. That bitch. "You know she can't lie very well to people's faces. She didn't need to tell me. You don't, either, but I want to hear you say it, Ree. Are you a trainer again?"

"Vee-vee?" Whippy asked, leaning over the table to where she was still half-laying on the chair. He had stiff bandages around his middle and strict instructions not to move too much, and whatever they had given him while bandaging him up and put him in a better mood than his trainer, but increased his already monumental appetite. And even bandaged up like that, he was cute and haughty.

Staring up at her starter, Ree knew she couldn't lie again. "...Yes, Scott. I'm a trainer again," she said, utterly defeated. Her mood finally fell.

"Nacrene, right?" Her heart leapt into her throat. Ahead of schedule or not, she hadn't been gone three weeks yet! She couldn't let him catch her that fast! Because if Scott found her, there would be a confrontation, and things would be said. She wouldn't be able to justify herself anymore. Right now, she was alone, and had to stand on her own. That was the only way she could do this.

"You don't have to come see me. I'm doing fine," Ree said, too quickly.

"I want to see you. I want to know why you ran away to do this. ...And I want to see your pokémon. You've never had one, Aubie aside, for as long as I've known you." He sounded amused, which was a good sign, but she still didn't want to see him.

"Lilith was mine," she pouted.

"Lilith was Maya's when I met her," he reasoned.

"I... No."

"Why not?"

Unable to come up with a good excuse that wasn't the truth or an outright lie, Ree did the only sensible thing she could: she hung up on him.

"We're stuck here for tonight, but as soon as we get your drugs tomorrow, I want to head out," she told Whippy, and he nodded. "Eat well and rest up. You too, guys. We may have to race through the forest and Castelia..." They lived in a suburb of Castelia, so she knew that would be the direction from which he was coming. That meant that their paths would overlap either in the forest or the city, depending on whether he was going to try to head her off there. They had to spend the night in Nacrene, but there was no way he could make it through Pinwheel in just one night either, so there was no point fretting.

"Is, um, everything okay?" Harry asked timidly as Ree climbed back into her chair properly.

She had lied enough today, and the guilt was still sitting heavily in the bottom of her stomach. Harry had already proven herself to be a great friend. She deserved some truth. "I'm trying to avoid Scott, my boyfriend. But he's figured out the whole trainer thing now, and he thinks it's a great idea to come find me." She stabbed at the pasta salad on her plate, the only thing Whippy had left.

"Is he... Is this bad?" Harry asked in a whisper, eyes round. "Are you running away type avoiding? Is everything alright?"

"Oh! No, it's nothing like that!" she said quickly. "He's a great guy. I just... want to do this trainer thing on my own, leaving him and Maya behind."

"Maya's your sister, right?"

"Yeah, but she's behaving a bit better. He's the one who's being problematic right now."

"I-I know it's not my place to say, but, um... Ree, becoming a trainer is a big deal. Running away from your boyfriend and family isn't a very good idea." Harry fidgeted, looking down at Jackster instead of up at Ree.

Oh, if only she knew. "Harry, I'm the goddamned queen of bad ideas."

-.-.-

The next morning, the panic returned. Scott would've had all night to head through the forest, and they were sitting ducklett in Nacrene! As soon as she could, Ree grabbed Whippy's medication, threw her things into her bag, and headed out the door.

Then she returned for her pokémon and the cell phone charger she'd left plugged into the wall.

"Are you ready yet?" Ree asked, peeking into the bathroom.

"Juff a mom'n," Harry replied with a toothbrush in her mouth. She spat, rinsed out her mouth, and started putting away her bathroom things. Ree danced from foot to foot, Whippy whining as he swung in her arms, and looked around the room for anything she might've forgotten (again). "Ree, Pinwheel Forest is big. No one could get through it in just a night, even if they were the most powerful trainer in the world. There's just a lot of ground to cover."

"I know, but now he's gonna be in the forest, and we're gonna be in the forest, and we could run into each other! ...Harry, we need a plan in case we run into Scott or any of his pokémon. Harper can act as a lookout—oh, damn, none of my pokémon have ever met him... And neither have you, I mean! Fucking hell, I hate this, I don't want our paths to cross..." Running away from him? That was cool with her. But when there was potentially circling around and they were headed towards each other... Not so great.

"You're too nervous. It'll be fine!" Harry soothed as she finished packing the rest of her things. "Even if you do run into him... Well, it's a big forest. Just so long as he's not a track star, it'll be pretty easy to run off and find some place to hide."

"I am the faster runner in sprints," Ree admitted reluctantly. "But he's a runner, too! He jogs like, all the fucking time! He can totally outrun us for a long time, and we'll be panting and about to pass out, and he'd just come up like 'hey girls' and—"

"Ree, it'll be fine!" the redhead repeated, though she sounded a little panicky herself. She put her pokeballs in her pocket, pulled her obnoxious neon purple sweater over her head, and headed towards the door. "You have a jacket, or coat, or sweater or something, right? Pinwheel doesn't get a lot of sunlight, and it's definitely fall weather now. It can get sorta cool in there, especially at night."

"Oh, yeah, I have a jacket." She'd spent the first night curled up in it, after all. The reminder of the training portion of her life was soothing, too.

"Are you ready?"

"Hell yeah! Let's get this train wreck over with."

The girls restocked on non-perishable food and water, and a couple of other items Harry recommended, like lots of antidotes for various poisons and the like. It would be awhile until the next city, and while Harper would have the advantage on most of the common pokémon in there, it would still be tough. The first gantlet in any new trainer's journey.

It was about ten in the morning when they left Nacrene proper. They got as far as the outpost building before getting stopped. "You! Wait up!" Ree, fearing the worst, had Sophia out and at the ready before Harry could blink. She ended up almost hitting a man in the face as he jogged up.

Harry extracted the bat from her grip. "I'm sorry, my friend is just... excitable today."

"You got me fired." The pair stared up at him. Ree couldn't immediately place him, though he looked a little familiar. Cute, at least, so she'd give him her time. The man glared at her (and even did that attractively) and waited for some sort of response. When he finally figured out that it wasn't coming, he sighed and threw his hands into the air. "Yesterday! In Lenora's gym! You got me fired."

"Oh! The receptionist dude!" Now the puzzle pieces fell into place. Well, one. Ree looked awkwardly around. Threats aside, she hadn't meant to get anyone kicked out of a job or anything. And it wasn't like she had told Lenora. "Well... That sucks. We're headed out, out of your hair, though, so—"

"Oh no. This is your fault, so you're taking responsibility." Ree, responsible? She wanted to laugh. "I don't have many prospects here, and I only have one pokémon. Decent enough battler, but I'm not going through Pinwheel on my own. So this means that you're going to be my escort, miss."

"And listen to you bitch and moan and complain? No thank you." She turned to head back out, but he caught her by the back of the shirt and hauled her back. Harry kept Sophia away. "Let me go! I don't owe you shit!"

"You got me fired. Don't you feel any guilt at all?" he asked pitifully. That was more guilt-inducing than anything else.

"Ree, we're already headed in that direction, so it's not as if it's out of our way..." Harry piped up shyly.

"I'm not going to be a burden, I just don't want wild pokémon stalking me the entire way. I can handle my own battles, cooking, eating, whatever you like," he said quickly. It was looking as if she'd be outvoted on this. And who knew? Maybe she could hide behind him if they stumbled across Scott. (It wasn't as if Harry was tall enough to hide behind.)

Wait, Scott.

"Okay, what the fuck ever! We have to get going now! I have a boyfriend to avoid!"

"...What." Ree had already bolted for the door after snatching Sophia back, waving the bat around, half-expecting said boyfriend to jump out of the bush nearest the door. Harry and the ex-receptionist trailed after her.

Running around like a madwoman in an unknown forest got very boring, very fast. She also got completely lost and simply managed to circle around until she came up behind her two cohorts. After that, Ree gave up on the sprint and allowed herself to go at their pace, though she felt the need to complain about it.

Until that got boring too.

"So, um, I'm Harry," Harry said loudly, cutting across Ree's directionless moaning.

"You can call me Kev," he replied with another charming smile. He had nice smiles, really.

"Like Kevin?"

"...Something like that." That wasn't suspicious at all. But he turned to Ree expectantly, so the conversation moved forward regardless.

"Ree."

"...Interesting," Kev said, arching an eyebrow.

"It's a nickname, like Kev," she hissed at him, raising Sophia as a warning. "Why do you want to get to Castelia so badly again?"

"Nacrene doesn't have many prospects. Castelia is much larger, and there's a research facility there." The pair looked at him blankly. "For my first year here, I worked as a research aide in Lenora's gym. The, well, research portion of it, not the battling. You need a certain amount of strength to work in any gym, which I have, but I'm not here to be a trainer or anything."

"Your first year? How long had you worked at the gym?" Harry asked pleasantly. She was clearly happy at having a civil conversation.

"Two and a half years. Not long, but it was a comfortable job. I like researching pokémon." His smile was starting to wear down Ree's defenses, and she didn't like that. She had a mission! Gym badges, time limit, ahead of schedule, avoid Scott like all fuck. ...Oh yeah, pokémon were involved in that. She shuffled behind them and released her pokémon into the forest, glaring at the back of Harry's red hair for not reminding her.

Harper puffed up almost immediately, chirping at Kev. Whippy caught on a little later, but offered hissing, too. "Woah, stop it. He's going to be traveling with us for this," Ree said quietly, scooping up her injured snivy before he could leap at the man. Harper calmed and flapped around almost lazily, surveying the area with a keen gaze. Whippy moodily stayed in Ree's arms. "Don't pout. We'll be here for a couple days, so get used to it."

"Scott," Lala agreed. She bounded up the path, past Harry and Kev, and in no time flat, was picking fights with wild pokémon. It was training, at least.

"Sni!" Ree caught him as he leapt out of her arms. "Vee-vee?"

"You're still hurt, and you can't go running off. You're staying close to me, okay? Also, your medicine is soon, I think." She checked her phone, and surprisingly, more time had passed than she'd thought. Even more surprisingly, she had signal. "Hey, why's my phone still working?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Kev called back.

"Headed into Nacrene, I didn't have signal for a couple days. And that wasn't nearly as heavily wooded as here."

"Pinwheel Forest is problematic for new trainers, and even citizens of Nacrene. The region puts special emphasis on this area for things like phone signal to try to help people, and because there are so many accidents here every year." Ree shuddered. She didn't want any accidents. She'd fulfilled her quota, damn it. Harry continued, "There are usually many field researchers here year-round, too, so they need to keep in contact with various people. There's actually a lot of people in this forest at any given time. And, of course, even more pokémon."

"Ah, yes. A couple of my coworkers had done some of their early projects here," Kev said offhandedly, looking up at the trees all around. A couple of bugs looked down at them curiously, but aside from Lala picking fights, they were okay with giving them their space.

Ree allowed Harper to go off (after covertly showing her a picture of Scott from her phone, just in case), but made Whippy stay close. He wasn't happy about this. Later on into the afternoon, the whimsicott took pity on her teammate and led some pokémon back to them for him to battle, but Ree put a stop to that after he managed to get hit in the chest again.

"Vee-vee snivy," he growled, but Ree was unsympathetic.

"If you want to go off and do your own thing again, hurry up and heal. And you can only do that quickly through evolution!"

"Vee-snivy-snivy!" he burst out. Okay, maybe saying he couldn't battle wasn't the best route for getting him to evolve soon. But she didn't want him making his wounds worse.

"Why not have Lala paralyze things she brings to him? That'll cut down on risks," Harry suggested, always helpful. That was the compromise they finally settled on, and he returned to being a little hellion. Twice he knocked over Kev in his battling, which probably wasn't completely on accident, but he had a better time of it after he sweet-talked Lala into bringing him paralyzed foes.

"Interesting team you have," Kev remarked, getting up again. He rubbed his ass from where he fell, and okay, maybe she stared a little. He was just pretty. And there was nothing wrong with looking, as Maya was so fond of saying. "Strong enough for this area, but not exactly a cohesive group..."

"We do fine, thank you," Ree sniffed. "Harry, why don't you release your team? They can get a little practice in, too." She would get Jackster to behave like a proper battling pokémon again if it killed her. And, if they came across birds (of which there were plenty in the forest), she only had Harper to contend with them. Jackster could keep them away easily.

"U-Um, well." Harry flushed and rubbed her arm, staring at her shoes. "I just..."

"You have a team, too?" Kev asked in surprise.

"I'm not really training these days..." she mumbled, voice dropping low. Finally, after expectant smiles from both of them, she released her trio as well. She introduced them to Kev and spent the next half hour calming Jackster from the stranger suddenly in their midst. Maybe she had been right to be a little apprehensive of letting them out.

Evening soon came. Not that they could tell; it was very dark in the forest already. They were mostly checking their phones for timing, in addition to growling stomachs. Hattie and Lala brought back all sorts of edible plants and berries, though the two pokémon couldn't bring enough to feed everyone on just that. Lala grudgingly went back out with Whippy to get some meat as the trainers started a fire.

"We brought some food with us, but gosh, I just don't want to eat some so early on. Jackster, sweetie, don't you want to help Hattie bring in food?" Harry cooed, but he just whinnied nervously and sat down. He curled around her with another small cry. "Oh, that's alright. You can stay here with us."

"He's very... timid," Kev said tactfully.

"He's just a little shy," she replied.

"I'll say," Ree said, but she meant it well. Maybe it hadn't come out all that well, but it was the thought that counts, right? Wincing at the withering look she received from her friend, she opened her mouth to add something—and screaming suddenly filled their part of the forest.

Ree jumped to her feet and started off—only to skid back and retrieve Sophia. She knew that screaming! Waving her bat, she tried to track down her snivy by sound alone, but it was difficult in the dense, dark forest. She heard Harry calling after her over Jackster's scared neighs. He sounded close—and there, she could hear Lala's cries right under it.

She slipped on the half-rotted leaves under her boots, landing hard on her hip, but it proved to be a blessing in disguise when she spotted her pokémon through a gap in the trees. Harper swooped down, plucking at her shirt, trying to pull her back to her feet. It looked as if Whippy and Lala were fighting. ...Each other.

"What the fuck, guys?" Ree shrieked, sending them both into silence as they noticed her with big, guilty eyes. Then, after a beat, they were both shouting again, vying for her attention. "Calm down! Quiet—shut up! One at a fucking time!"

"Pii!" Harper added severely.

"Whippy, you go first."

"Vee-vee, snivy-snivy sni! Vee, snivy, sni—"

"Well that went about as well as I'd imagined," the brunette interrupted. She got up to her feet, dusting plant matter off her jeans, and picked Sophia back up. "Whatever you two are fighting about... Show me, or act it out, or conveniently teach me your language."

Harper landed on her shoulder, still eying them both. Whippy and Lala led them back into the clearing they'd been fighting in. Lala pulled on Ree's pant leg, giving her big, sad eyes, but Whippy smacked her with his tail. "Whimsi! Scott, whimsicott."

"Snivy-sni!"

"Whimsicott!" she snarled back at him with a gesture up at Ree.

"Dove!" Harper cut back in, waving a wing at them to get back on track. She was surprisingly easy to read, for as tiny and quiet she (usually) was. Too bad the fighting ones weren't as easy to understand.

"Snivy." Whippy waddled over to one of the bushes near a tree, drawing back the leaves to point inside. That was ominous. Ree peeked into the gap, and found a small, trembling, gray blob. It was some sort of pokémon, surely, but it was difficult to see in the dark.

"...Okay, what the fuck are you two on about?" Ree asked. She didn't want to reach into the bushes to retrieve whatever it was, especially not without finding out why they were throwing such a hissy fit over it. The last thing she needed to deal with was rabies.

Lala reached over and picked up Whippy's tail, biting it. He jumped and hissed, but she dropped it right away. "Whimsicott."

"So you wanted to... eat it?" She had sent them out hunting, after all. Lala nodded vigorously. That would probably explain the shivering of the thing; a lot of her paralyzed victims started shaking as they tried to move. It would also explain why it wasn't running away or something.

"Snivy!" Whippy cried, drawing her attention again. He pointed back to the form in the bushes, now concealed again. "Snivy-sni, vee-vee!"

"And you... didn't," Ree guessed. He nodded, too. So that was the fight explained, but it left why he didn't want to eat the thing up to her imagination. He'd eaten far worse, and far more. They had a rule of not eating teammate species, but Harper was the only gray teammate, and that thing had had fur. At least, it'd looked like fur.

She couldn't see many reasons why he'd turn down his next meal, especially since he had killed a patrat just an hour ago. It wasn't as if his morals had suddenly changed.

"Vee-vee, snivy." He reached in and pulled the gray thing out. It gave a cry, for the first time, and uncurled as it fought to remain under cover. She could see four legs, a long tail, massive ears—definitely fur, definitely mammalian. With a grunt, he pulled it free and set it down in front of Ree, keeping his tail curled in between it and Lala. "Snivy."

"No," the small pokémon said pathetically, looking up at Ree with terrified, big eyes. Why did everything she ran into have excellent kicked lillipup eyes?

"Whimsicott," Lala pleaded, tugging on her pants again.

"Well... I'm not going to let you kill this thing in front of me. I don't want to see that shit. Whippy, you win this round, but you're returning with us to camp. Lala, you're free to go terrorize the night and bring back the meal, so you pick tonight," Ree groaned. She didn't want to decide the fate of wild meals-to-be. As long as she didn't think too hard about it, she was okay with eating whatever her pokémon brought back. But when it was still alive and staring at her? Different story.

"Vee-vee?" Whippy asked hopefully.

"Yeah, she's not allowed to kill it. Can't believe you two were raising hell over something like this..." She turned on her heel to try to find her way back to camp. She didn't see the light from the fire. "Harper, do you remember where we came?"

She nodded and flapped into the air, leading her back a vaguely familiar direction. Well, she would've been leading had Ree not been stopped by Whippy again. "Vee-vee, snivy?" he asked again, and then pointed at the gray thing.

Ree put Sophia under her arm so she could cross them. "What? You won, so it's safe."

"Snivy?"

"...You are not asking me if we can keep it."

He was.

Ree, reluctantly, followed Whippy and Harper back to camp. Whippy all too happily volunteered to carry the gray thing. She didn't recognize the species right away, and her pokédex was in her backpack. She didn't need it, however, since as soon as they returned, Harry exclaimed, "A minccino! Ree, is this why you ran off in such a hurry?"

"Yeah, thanks for the backup, you two," she groused and sat down. Harper landed on her head and made a nest of her hair.

"No offense, but I didn't feel like chasing after the screaming girl with the baseball bat," Kev replied primly.

"Um, yeah... But it's so cute!" Harry said and leaned over to look at the gray thing closer.

"Mister Snivy Whiplash wants to keep it," Ree explained scathingly. He beamed up at her. "I mean, I guess it's not... bad? But I hadn't wanted a fourth pokémon just yet. We're doing fine, and I'm still trying to get these three completely under control."

"But it's so cute!" Harry repeated.

It was true. In the firelight, she could see it better, and it was all fur and big ears and fluffy tail and googly eyes. It was still clearly unsure of the situation, but it didn't seem nearly as scared anymore. It was pretty cute... And Whippy seemed to like it well enough.

"I guess..."

"Is this normal for you?" Kev asked.

"Sort of." She fished her pokédex out of her backpack and pointed it at the thing. Minccino, normal type, and it liked to be clean. A normal type would be good, since it could handle birds and fire without massive damage. It would serve to balance out the team a little. "Whippy, I'm blaming you if this turns out to eat me in my sleep in revenge or something." She grabbed a pokeball too, and before the minccino could react, she dropped it on its head.

It shook a couple times, but stilled. It had been paralyzed, and possibly attacked before Whippy had argued. She still wasn't sure why he had, either. Ree just felt a little numbed by it. A fourth member, just like that. No adrenaline, no epic capture, not even a battle. ...But it was warm-blooded! She finally smiled. Four pokémon, two badges, ahead of schedule.

-.-.-

Next Chapter: Four teammates and a boyfriend lurking in the woods. Ree may have bitten off more than she could chew here, but at least the minccino is cute! Wait—she definitely bit off more than she could chew as things rapidly get out of hand, and not Sophia, not Harry or Kev, not all the teammates in the world could have helped her.