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The nine wolves, er, Mightyena begin to pace around me while the apparent alpha continues to hold eye contact and growl.

Slowly I reach for Blue’s pokeball, the big dog barks out a plume of almost black flames.

I click the ball but leave it on my belt, “Stay hidden buddy.”

All of the Mightyena snarl and glare, I can see their eyes following something to the closest tree. Half of them surround the trunk as my Phantump appears on the lowest branch. Seems they can sniff out ghosts.

A bark brings my focus back to the alpha just as it leaps at me, flames pouring from the massive canines.

Wind gusts at my back as I roll to the side, a blur of black flies over me and slams the alpha away midair.

My two crows land on my shoulders as I stand up, the stand off resumes. A few hounds watch from the corners while four guard the tree with Blue, the alpha begins to pace around me.

“Bonnie, go get the big bat. Clyde, just help me keep them off us.”

All of the Mightyena get more agitated as one of my crows takes off and races in the direction of the town.

Two from either side of me lunge forward, Clyde intercepts one with a wing attack while I kneel to catch the second by the throat. It’s claws rake my forearm as I throw it off to the side. Both retreat back to the sidelines. I swear the alpha smirks as blood runs down my arm.

Gritting past the pain, “Blue give me the stick.”

Childlike laughter echoes in the clearing, a short branch lands at my feet.

The Alpha and I both raise a brow and look at the little ghost in the tree who is miming throwing the stick and panting like a puppy.

“Buddy… we’re cutting back the cartoons. The Spear!”

He rolls his little red eyes and taps his staff against the tree. A root breaks the ground in front of me, growing straight up. It lacks the usual speed, Blue is still tired from using a Z move.

Unfortunately, Alpha doggo isn’t waiting, it dashes forward, a trail of black smoke from it’s maw. I position the root spire between us and kick it forward. The pole snaps at about five feet long, the alpha jukes to the side to avoid impaling itself.

I mirror the movement and break off the remainder of the makeshift spear, leveling it at the hound.

Frustrated, the alpha Mightyena starts barking out a series of ‘Yena’s.

A small, instinctual, part of me feels insulted at this mutt making demands… demands?

“Alright, you want something?”

Big dog huffs out a breath of smoke, it stops pacing and nods.

Right, pokemon aren’t just animals, they’re intelligent… which would make eating them awkward but I’m pretty sure its all fake meat, well some of it,

“Yena!”

“Right, sorry,” I focus back on the pack of scary dogs, “Am I trespassing?”

It growls, shaking to the negative and pawing forward.

“I have something?”

A small bark and a nod. Then it goes on a rant of snarls and growls and it’s lost me.

Clyde lands back on my shoulder and squawks out, “Sawsbuck.”

Alpha wolf nods and glares at Blue up in the tree.

“You want me to let the Sawsbuck go?”

It nods, then growls as if to say ‘Or else.’

“You don’t like my Phantump?”

Claws rake the dirt in impatience, it hasn’t forgotten I sent Bonnie off. I’m just over a mile out of town, with her top speed, gives me another minute before she gets back to the house. Assuming she can wake up that lazy bat, he’s even faster, add on tailwind, I just need a couple minutes… hopefully.

It growls and I hold up a hand, “Alright, let's connect some dots.”

“You don’t like my Phantump, you want me to free the Sawsbuck, and if I remember correctly, yall should have moved on to Petalburg Woods by this time of year.” I did notice a couple of the dogs were smaller, like recently grown from their puppy stage.

A simple nod.

“The Sawsbuck keep away the Trevenants don’t they.” This is all the result of an invasive species… Which is why Fire Fang here is in charge.

Scowling I make a face as if actually considering the demand for a moment before dramatically sighing, “Well pal, change is coming. I won’t give up the deer,” the Mightyena starts smoking at the mouth again as it growls, “Instead I’m going to take away all the Trevenants.”

All of the Mightyena stop and look at me, their ears perked up.

I lower my pointy stick slightly, again pausing for effect to look at them all, gotta drag out every second here.

“I’m moving all the ghost pokemon from the Petalburg Woods, to this peninsula…”

A few of the dogs’ eyes go wide, some of the older ones snarl.

“You’ll have your peaceful woods back, just raise the pups close to Petalburg. I know the Gymleader has a soft spot for your species.”

The Alpha’s eyes narrow, it nods… but smirks showing off canines as it makes a display of looking at the whole pack and then back to me and taping a paw once.

“You say that that’s fine but there’s still ten of you and one of me?”

Between the upper branches I catch sight of a large shadow approaching.

“Are you sure? I’m playing nice so far.”

Cracking it’s canine neck, the alpha tenses up, preparing to lunge for another attack.

“Next time we meet, how about you do something useful like figure out where those trees came from to begin with?”

It’s head cocks to the side in confusion before a crashing of branches startles it to look back just in time to see the massive Golbat pluck it up and slam it back into the ground.

“About time ya big lug! Common boys, we’re leaving.”

I return Blue to his ball while Bonnie and Clyde circle above as I hop on Shak’s back. The Mightyena growls and claws at my bat while pinned to the ground.

“Let's go!” the wings begin to pump to lift us up, he struggles slightly to gain air while still holding the dog, “Drop it, that’s not lunch!”

Snorting in annoyance, Shak drops the Mightyena and we take off into the sky. Gliding from cloud cover to open trees, Shak does his best to avoid direct sunlight, but I can see it’s already bothering him less than when he first evolved into a Golbat.

With me on his back, we can’t exactly break sound barriers to get back. After taking out an earpiece from my inner jacket pocket I hold pressure on the cut on my forearm. “Dexa, can Mightyena see ghosts?”

A ping sounds in my ear, a mechanical female voice with a British accent, “Pokemon with the Odor Sleuth move can more easily track evasive opponents, even ghosts, to a degree that moves that would normally fail will instead be effective.”

Well that’s useful, I may need to have another round of ‘Conversation’ with that pack. “Easy right, just convince a pack of sinister wolves to herd haunted trees.” I should probably talk about this with Max next week.

Bonnie and Clyde fly alongside us, Clyde looking at me as if I said something crazy.

“Alright you two, we’re going to take this whole week off thing a little more seriously. We’ll be training… getting every one caught up in strength…,” a wave of dizziness almost sees me falling from my mount, “Holy shit I've lost a fair bit of blood eh?”

Shak’s eyes hungrily glance back at the red oozing from my arm, “Lick it off your fur later bud cause you ain’t getting any direct from the source.”

The town comes into sight. Charming brick buildings, cedar shake roofs, the school and lab campuses, it’s a gorgeous town…

A jolt snaps my eyes open as Shak, big lug that he is, does his best to gently release me from his claws onto the front lawn. “Wasn’t I riding you?”

His eyes roll and he starts licking the blood soaked fur along his side. I can hear my crows frantically cawing at the front of the house.

“Arceus. Kurt!?” My lovely fiance races into view over me, “Naomi get the bag from the entry closet! Ribombee, use Aromatherapy!”

Naomi stutters, “Delphi, y-you too, Floral Healing!”

Waves of soothing scents and a comforting warmth fill me with ease…

…

I’m back in the library, standing, no, floating before the massive sands pouring from a galaxy of tiny lights filling the atrium.

“Not yet brat, I made a bet with that arrogant space deer and I Don’t lose. Dammit Vivianne they don’t practice dragon slaying on that world anymore! ...Where in all the hells is Nyx, does it take a bloody human sacrifice to get a drink around here?!”

…

My eyes open to the living room ceiling and the gentle scent of Lacy’s perfume.

“About time you jerk. Can you not even go for a walk without coming back bleeding across half of town and my front lawn?!?”

Her golden eyes have a redness that can only mean she’s spent a lot of time crying since I passed out. I reach up and pull aside her silky copper hair, “Whatever it takes to get a lap pillow from my girl.”

There's a hint of a smirk behind her scowl, “What were you thinking? Sending for your dumb bat when hitting the emergency button on your phone would have alerted the gym to send a teleport? ”

“I’m Batman.”

A hard pinch to my side almost makes me leap up, but I just don’t have the strength. "Sorry, I honestly didn't know about that."

She whispers, “You need to know that if Naomi and her Florges weren't there, nothing I could do would save you from that much blood loss.”

I glance at my right arm, the heavy feeling in it turns out to be a blood pack hanging from the coat hook that normally stands in the entryway.

“That gonna be enough to get me on my feet?”

Her hand grips my jaw, forcing me back to her tearing up eyes, “No! It’s not… It'll be two days before you can get up on your own. So no more leaving a trail of blood across the streets and rooftops of Rustboro. Janice ran over here screaming that she saw you fall off your Golbat’s back!”

Lacy cradles my head tightly, “She’s not growing up without a father!”

Shit.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m sorry.”

Not sure what else to say, I really scared her.

“I’m not the only one you need to tell that to.” She wipes her eyes, “Girls!” she calls towards the stairs up to the bedrooms, “He woke up!”

I can hear the sound of bare feet racing across hardwood floors, then down steps.

Naomi and Jane dash into the room.

“Howdy girls, guess you’re still stuck with an old man teammate. Where's the boy?”

While the princess slumps to a chair in relief, Jane snorts, “He left a bit ago to pick up dinner for us all, he couldn’t sit still.”

“I’ll text him!” Naomi fumbles about her red hoodie, “I left my phone upstairs.”

“I got it,” Jane sighs, “I told you he’s too wild to die from a dog scratch.”

Lacy practically growls, “That’s exactly the wrong idea to take from this! It’s a fact he technically did die, even if just for a couple of seconds, from that ‘Scratch’!”

Oh god did I get the Pulp Fiction treatment?! “Adrenaline?”

Naomi visibly flinches at the word.

It’s Jane that nods while Lacy continues to clutch my head like it might fly away if she let's go. Cool, “So who stabbed me in the heart?”

My ear gets pulled, “I did of course. Like I’d let a teen guess where to stick a needle like that.”

“How can you joke about something like that?” The young heiress mutters, “It was terrifying.”

Well, “Trust, faith, whatever you call it, I know I was in the best hands.”

The door bursts open, Citro nearly trips on his way into the room, tomato sized berries fly out of a bag leaving a red smear on the floor.

“Adding more stains to the hardwood today eh?” I chuckle.

““Kurt!””

“Alright I’ll stop joking about it,” Looking across my teammates, “So, shall we hear the plan Naomi worked out for our next gym battle?”

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