Fun in the... Pitch-Dark Caverns... Oh, Yay...

[[Xero][Hayle][Shell]]

He chuckled, brushing his snow-white hair to one side. It always got in his eyes and it bugged him. He'd wasted about a week letting Hayle try hair sprays and gels to try and keep it out of his eyes. When those had all failed and she had reached for the scissors, he had decided to lock himself in his room for a few days until she promised to give up entirely. Truth be told, his hair was one of the few things people envied about him. He'd really rather not have it altered against his will.

Mt. Coronet was rather quiet at this time of day. It was early in the evening and all the miners had called it a day. They had the mine to themselves. Just the two of them and all those wild Pokemon. Xero was practically giddy to uncover the various secrets hidden within the darkness of the mountain.

"Xero, are you forgetting why we came here in the first place?" Hayle asked sternly.

"Oh, um," he stuttered, "Are you sure this will even work? I mean, just because we found Lileep here doesn't mean it actually lived here or anything. The dark caves and numerous Pokemon might just scare it even more."

"Look," she explained, "You worry about research, and I'll worry about raising your Pokemon to be healthy and happy. Do you have a mother's instinct in you, Xero?"

"No..." he mumbled quietly.

"Exactly!" she said, smiling triumphantly. "So I think this is the best idea. If we put Lileep in a familiar environment, away from technology and society in general, I bet she'll feel tons safer and maybe you guys can actually be friends. Then you can gather all the data you want."

He felt a strange sadness when Hayle said that. Data? Was that all this was? The thought of that, the way it sounded, made him think of someone cold and calculating, unfamiliar with the concept of emotion and love. It was a thought he didn't like, something he didn't want to be. But... he wasn't like that, was he?

"I'm... not just..." he mumbled quietly to himself, unaware that his thoughts were forming into words.

"What was that?" Hayle asked, looking over to where he was.

"N- nothing," he mumbled, even quieter still. "Sorry."

She chuckled and sighed, "Geez, boss, you sure are an absent-minded guy, sometimes. Such a typical scientist."

He chuckled a little and allowed himself to smile a bit. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

"This looks like a good spot," she exclaimed. "Why not let the others out here?"

Xero looked at the place she had pointed to. It was an open chamber of the cavern with a high room and crystallized walls. It was a very dimly lit place that gave off an illusion of light through absence of darkness. There was too much space for the various shadows to cover, so it seemed to be less dark and eerie than the rest of the mines.

Xero sighed, smiled, and hoped for the best. He tossed three Poke balls in the air and watched as three different creatures materialized from within. The first was an Aron, healthy, happy, and battle-ready. It seemed to shine brilliantly even in the absence of sunlight, as if the shadows were glinting off its finely-polished shell and glowing. The second was a Phanpy, tiny but full of youthful energy. She had a sparkling glint in her eye that added an aura of naivety and innocence that couldn't be explained scientifically. The third and final Pokemon was a flower-like creature with a shaky disposition and a posture that suggested the fright in its eyes. Xero had found it in Mt. Coronet only a few weeks ago, and, so far, nothing had gotten through to it. It had lived jumping at shadows and hiding in the safest, dullest corners it could find. All attempts to get through to the Pokemon had ended in failure. Even Shell couldn't reason with her. Though, in retrospect, none of Xero's Pokemon were exactly sociable...

"Well," Xero muttered, "I hope this works."

[Oath]

Wurmple hid cautiously in Alistar's bag in fear of the darkness. Neither was used to deep, dark, and damp caverns that leaded to who knows what.

"Get out here you chicken!" Alistar called to his scared Wurmple. "Your supposed to be out here protecting me, not sitting in my bag in fear!" Alistar pouted. "Maybe I can find a strong Pokemon in here," Alistar thought. "One that can protect both of us." Wurmple never shined to the idea of another Pokemon in Alistar's team. He didn't want to lose Alistar's favor, and if he found a Pokemon stronger than Wurmple, he might never let Wurmple fight. Although that wasn't the case in the slightest, even Pokemon can let insecurities get the better of them.

As the two wandering deeper in the cavern, they began to hear voices, both a boy and a girl, and a few Pokemon from the sounds of it. "Hmmm..." Alistar thought. "I guess their here for some Pokemon as well..." Alistar continued foward and began to see the sillouttes of the group. Alistar began to pick up pace, hurrying over to the trainers. Suddenly, Alistar's foot was stopped in motion by some unknown factor, probably a rock. His bag flew off his arm with Wurmple in it, was stopped by something. A loud thud was made from Wurmple's impact with the object. Alistar on the other hand, had face meet floor with a second thud.

"Owwww...." Alistar groaned. "This is why you can't run around the pool..." Alistar checked around for his bag, but couldn't see it aroud him. "Wurmple!" Alistar cried. This is where the venture took an interesting turn...

[[Xero][Hayle][Shell]]

"You didn't count on all that just then, did you, Hayle?" Xero muttered.

All she could do was chuckle sheepishly and shrug. Lileep, meanwhile, had dived straight into the darkest corner it could find and was now meekly poking its head out from behind a pile of rubble. It had practically faded out of existence, all of a sudden. Shell was watching, already in a battle stance, and Elle had bounded across the cavern floor into Hayle's arms. She gently lifted the elephant Pokemon off the ground and held it protectively against her chest.

"Someone should go check it out," Xero finally said. He glanced over at Hayle and Elle.

"Wh- what are you looking at me for?" Hayle answered, unconsciously taking a step back. "Um.. I mean... one of us has to make sure Lileep is okay, right? Do you have a mother's instinct?"

"I'm beginning to doubt you do..." he mumbled under his breath.

"I heard that, you know," she said bitterly.

"Good," he replied. "I expected you to."

Shell, meanwhile, had already darted into the darkness of the caverns, searching for the source of the suspicious noises. He leaped over some small piles of rocks, evading the various creatures and life forms who the shake-up had disturbed and scattered. Finally, coming upon a seemingly discarded backpack, Shell timidly approached it, visions of were trainers and Ursarings snatching up unsuspecting travelers dancing through his head.

"Aron... Aron a...." Shell growled, obviously intimidated by the darkness and unfamiliarity of things. But he wouldn't let these things get the better of him. He was the strongest Pokemon in the world- no, the strongest Pokemon in the universe! He was invincible if he just believed it. He could do anything if he just tried hard enough! He was not afraid of the dark because he was the scariest thing in it. Other Pokemon should be afraid of him, in fact! He feared no challenge and faced all enemies with a glare of cold stone. He was the immortal Shell!

"Wurm..." a Pokemon groaned from the bag.

Shell nearly peed himself.

[Oath]

Alistar rose slowly, hearing people and Pokemon alike reacting to a loud noise. "Wurm..." Alistar thought to himself. He began to slowly go forward. Each footstep making a loud pounding sound. He continued until he heard a small growl coming from not too far away. "A-Aron..." was the sound of the growl. "Aron?!" Alistar thought, "Whats an Aron doing here?!" Alistar rushed forward, his footsteps getting louder. Mean while Wurm, rose slowly out of the bag, only to find an Aron staring dead at it. Wurm nearly peed in the bag.

"Wurm!" Alistar screamed over and over again, in hopes of his companion responding. "Oh man," he thought. "He's gotta be around here somewhere." Wurm stared at the Aron in pure fear, thinking that the metallic monster was going to eat him. But the Aron simply store back at him, was he scared too? Wurm crawled out of the bag and next to the Aron. "Wurmple!" He said in an attempt at communication with the Pokemon. But before Aron reacted, the two began to hear loud footsteps. "Wurm!" Alistar screamed. He was running their way. "Wurmple!" he cried to get his master's attention. But Alistar simply ran by, completly missing the two Pokemon he ran by. "Wurm..." Wurm sighed. He sometimes thought his master wasn't too smart.

Alistar kept screaming over and over again, but was suddenly stopped. He crashed into something... or someone. When Alistar opened his eyes, there was a boy with white hair on the floor in front of, more than likely what he crashed into. "That.... hurt...." Alistar grumbled.

[[Xero][Hayle][Shell]]

Hayle jumped back, startled, as a blond-haired stranger bowled into her boss, knocking him to the ground. Xero just looked up at the stranger, trying to keep his face from splitting into into a pained expression. Something about seeing him so stunned seemed to annoy Hayle, in a strange, irrational way. It wasn't as if it were the kid's fault- he didn't know Xero was incredibly shy around new people, incredibly intolerant to pain, incredibly germaphobic, and incredibly thrown off-guard by the whole thing- but she still couldn't help but feel strangely as if it were.

"Hey!" She cried. "Why don't you watch where you're going? What, you didn't hear us? It's not as if we're being quiet over here! And you can't even apologize? You just ran into my friend!"

Hayle ran to Xero's side and offered her hand to help him up. He looked up and smiled sheepishly. Whatever light there was in the cavern caught the watery glint of his eyes as he did so. He gently but firmly clasped her hand with his own and allowed her to hoist him up.

"Are you all right, Xero... ?" she asked, the worry shining in her eyes even in the dark.

"Phanpy." Elle said, also rather concerned by Hayle's tone of voice.

"I'm... I'm going to be fine, don't worry. I just.. didn't expect that... you know how I am with unexpected things..."

Hayle chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, you do have that problem sometimes."

Lileep, meanwhile, was gathering up the bravery to come out from behind the rocks and failing miserably. She wondered to herself why the two people were still holding hands even though she had already helped him up. Xero had actually completely forgotten about the fact that he was still touching her, and Hayle didn't mind much at all.

Shell, meanwhile, was now staring down a Wurmple, trying to figure out if it was a threat or not. It was in a bag, maybe t was a trainer's. By the other Pokemon's reactions, he might guess it was that trainer that ran by before.

"Aron, aron aron a." he said, trying to mean something along the lines of "Who the heck are you and why are you being so noisy?"

But he was a tad rusty on his Wurmple, so who knew how it came out?

[Oath]

"Oh, don't worry about little old me," Alistar said rubbing his head. "I'm just wondering if I cracked my skull! Jeez, sorry I ran into your friend! But at least show a little concern for me!" Alistar scolded this weird girl who seemed to be quite angry with him. Alistar took a look at her friend, he seemed beyond uncomfortable.

Alistar sighed. He felt bad. He got in the way of two complete weirdos who seemed to have some sort of romantic tension. Alistar accidentally became the third wheel. "I'm really sorry." Alistar said head bowed. "I lost my best friend in these caverns, and if I don't find him... he'll more than likely get eaten by something bigger than him."

Meanwhile, Wurmple stood with the strange Aron who was attempting to communicate as well, but somehow Wurmple knew he didn't talk to too many bug Pokemon. "....." Wurmple noted in silence. "Wurmple Wurmple Wurm Wurmple" Which more than likely translated to "Um, me and my master are looking for new Pokemon to add to our team, I was wondering if you could help me find him, he just ran by." The Aron, now fully aware of the conflict, looked at the Wurmple.


Back with Alistar, he had just finshed explaining why he came here and what happened to Wurm. "Look, I don't mean to get in the way of your venture, but my Pokemon is somewhere in this place, and I need all the help I can get to find him. So please, I'm asking from the bottom of my heart..." Alistar fell to his knees. "...help me find Wurm. I'll be your best friend!" Alistar paused. "Wait..." He thought. "What the hell am I doing?"

[[Xero][Hayle][Shell]]

((Sorry, pal. No time to respond, but here goes. I'll do better next time, I swear!))

Aron listened to the Wurmple, nodding. Master? If this Wurmple had a trainer, that meant Xero might have an opponent! Shell jumped up.

"Aron! Aron aron aron aron!" he exclaimed, racing back into the darkness to find Xero and Hayle.

"S- sorry," Xero said, hoping he was being loud enough to be heard. He let go of Hayle's hand and walked forwards to extend hs own in a gesture of introduction. He completely ignored the fact that the other trainer was on the ground, begging for help. "I understand what it's like to be without your best friend. We'll help you find him."

Hayle nodded in agreement. Phanpy squirmed in Hayle's arms. "Phanpy." It exclaimed happily.

Lileep just buried itself deeper into the rocks to hide from all the noise.

[Oath]

((Its ok dude, but next time I expect a 40 line response Xd))

Alistar looked to see this stranger standing before him offering a helping hand. Alistar took his hand, and got on his feet. "Thanks for the assistance." Alistar smirked. "Names Alistar, but you can call me whatever you like." Alistar looked around. He only saw the two trainers, and some Lileep hiding in a pile of rubble. "Ok guys, time to find Wurm." Alistar cried. "He's about 2'1, red, and is hiding in a bag, you can't miss him!"

Meanwhile... Wurm sat in the darkness after his only chance for help ran away deeper into the caverns. Wurm looked around, hearing the sound of Zubats chirping and the dripping water drops. Wurm was terrified. He jumped into Alistar's bag as quickly as possible. Suddenly, He heard a might roar far behind him. "Wurmple!" Wurm cried. He jumped out of the bag in an attempt to flee, but he stopped. He couldn't leave his master's bag alone with some beast. Wurm bit onto the bag, and tried to drag it with all its strength. The sound of Wurn's struggle did not fall on deaf ears. A grunt came from the direction of the roar not long ago. Whatever that thing was, it knew Wurm was there.

"What was that?!" Alistar turned in response to the roar. He store into the darkness. All of a sudden, he heard a cry... "Wurmple!". "Wurm!" Alistar screamed. He turned to the trainers. "C'mon, he's back there!"

[[Xero][Hayle][Shell]]

Xero turned toward the darkness, prepared to enter the abyss in search of a Pokemon he didn't even know, when Hayle exclaimed, remembering something, and turned to look back behind her. Xero followed her gaze, a tad confused, and asked the most obvious question.

"Hayle... what are you looking for... ?"

She pointed without speaking to the pile of rubble in the far corner. Lileep, now that the trainers had moved into the shadows, had crept out into the open and was tenderly exploring her surroundings. Elle watched silently alongside Hayle with a childlike gleam of curiosity in her eyes.

"It's Lileep." she explained, as if Xero himself couldn't see it. That annoyed him, but he knew she was just saying it for his benefit. "I think she's starting to get over her anxieties a bit."

He chuckled and nodded. "I see that. Should we... worry about leaving her alone?"

As he was speaking, Elle was squirming in Hayle's arms restlessly. The young assistant let the Pokemon down to satiate her, but Elle just took off in Lileep's direction, not at a breakneck run, but at a cautiously curious approach. Startled, Lileep retreated backward in a single bound, not retreating to the rubble pile but the stone wall. As Elle got close enough, Lileep didn't back up farther but instead stood its ground. Elle extended her snout to investigate the strange Pokemon and looked up at it, finding a pair of neon yellow eyes looking back.

"Phaaanpy..." it exclaimed.

"I... guess I'll stay here." Hayle said, a bit awed herself.

Xero nodded and turned back to escape into the darkness when he heard a familiar call from the darkness.

"Aaaaaaaaarrrrooooooooonnnn!!!!"

The silver-shelled steel-type suddenly appeared from the darkness, careening into Alistar's shins in what looked like a very painful form of headbutt for both involved parties.

Both Lileep and Phanpy looked on curiously.

[Oath]

Alistar paused. The sound of the impact as if a metal baseball bat hitting a baseball. Alistar held back a scream with all his might. He began to hop to the right, in order to maneuver around the Aron. He hopped three times, only to trip and fall face first onto the floor yet again. He layed on the floor in silence. His eyes were dull, holding back the tears. He didn't want the first impression of these two new people that he was a big cry baby.

He rose to his feet again. He stumbled, only to barely be able to stand in place. He began to ease his way forward. "Don't worry Wurm," He thought to himself. "Even if it kills me, and at this rate, it just might." Meanwhile, Wurm stood in the darkness, alone, in an attempt to make whatever was aware of his presence to forget about him. Suddenly, a loud crash came from behind Wurm. It sounded... metallic. This thud was not only heard by Wurm, as he turned back again, a loud crash came in front of him. It was a footstep. It was coming to investigate the situation.

Wurm didn't want to make a sound, if he screamed, not only would this creature come looking for him, so would his master. And if his master came, the monster would hurt master because he was trying to protect Wurm. Another loud footstep came crashing down. In the process, awakening a group of Zubats. It flew above Wurm, like a waterfall. This intimidating show of sheer strength only made Wurm more fearful of whatever was able to make such a loud noise.

Alistar continued forward. He paused, he heard something. Alot of something. Flapping. "Uh oh." Alistar murmured. The pack of Zubats came towards him. Before he was able to react they flew through the boy, a few of them grazing him. One flew directly into his chest. With the speed he was flying, it knocked him to his feet. The Zubat fell to the ground, injured. "Man, I just can't get a break..." Alistar mumbled. All of a sudden, he heard a weak cry. It was the Zubat. It was lying directly in front of him. It reminded of him of Wurm. Alistar went to his knees, and crawled to wards the Pokemon.

"Hey there little buddy." Alistar whispered. It didn't move. It was playing dead. Back with Wurm, he grabbed the bag yet again, and once again attempted to flee with it. This time he didn't stop. He slowly dragged it. He saw a hazy figure, on its knees looking at something on the ground. Another footstep. This time it sounded much closer. It was coming. Wurm carried the bag with all his strength. The figure became more clear. It was master.

"Wurmple! Wurmple!" He cried. Alistar heard the cry. "Wurm!" Alistar cried. He rushed forward and grabbed his Pokemon. He gave Wurm the biggest hug he could muster. Together again, bag on Alistar, Wurm in bag, the duo returned to the Zubat. Alistar picked up the Pokemon, it showed no struggle. It must have been unconscious. Another large footstep. A hazy figure, bigger than Alistar, was about 45 feet from Alistar, but still too dark to see. "Thats not a good sound." Alistar said.

[[Xero][Hayle][Shell]]

((Lol Dr. Horrible: "That's not a good sound..."

btw you've gotten really good really fast. I'll have to kick up my game a bit, lest I appear incompetent...))

"Shell? Is that you?"

Xero fell to one knee to get a closer look at the shuddering critter. It was recoiling from the sheer force of the blow, he supposed, but there was no doubt about it. It was definitely Shell.

"Where did you run off to?" Xero scolded. "If I didn't know you better, I'd have been worried, pal. Seriously. You can't just go dashing off places. We're a team and we've got to work together."

Shell mumbled something under his breath and motioned back behind Xero, his implication obvious to the kid who had been raising him since childhood, in some sense.

"Okay, I KNOW Hayle isn't here right now... or Elle... or Lileep... but that was a coordinated decision, and it was carefully thought out before being executed. Ever hear of that, Shell? Thinking?"

Aron looked away harshly, and Xero had to all but stifle his laughter. "Come on, pal. Don't be like that. The kid whose shin you ran into? Yeah, he's looking for his friend. We were going to help him out. We can argue about your stubbornness later, 'kay? By the way, are you all ri-"

He looked up, noticing for the first time that Alistar had soldiered on into the caves without him.

"We'd... better hurry up, Shell. We're losing to an accident-prone newbie with a bad shin."

Shell nodded determinedly and Xero stood to proceed, but, just then, a flock of Zubat intercepted them. Xero flinched as the passed inches from his face and backed into the cave wall, sliding down to his knees again, unable to keep a fearful whimper from escaping. Shell lunged at the swarm with a Headbutt attack, attempting to keep them from his master. He landed in front of Xero, having missed entirely and only managing to scatter the swarm a bit. His posture was solid and courageous. His eyes burned with the passion of combat. Just as he prepared his next attack... the swarm moved on.

"Thanks, Shell..." Xero mumbled. Perhaps he should have felt a bit embarrassed at the fact that his Pokemon was braver then he was, but, in his mind, Shell was as good as any fellow human, and an equal, if not greater, to Xero. This had dawned on him just now, and he realized that the feeling had been growing since he and Shell had met that fateful day. They had likely come to blossom long ago, but, looking back, it was odd to think that things would have ended up like this.

He had been about eight when his father had brought Shell back from an expedition of his. He had been so hesitant to show young Xero what he had found on the trip. Naturally, the intelligent little child he was, this only made Xero all the more curious. It didn't take a terribly long time for him to manage to convince his father to show him just one thing he had acquired on his trip. The old man rummaged through his bag and pulled out a Poke ball. Xero's eyes lit up as he threw it in the air. From it materialized the form of a tiny, heavily-armored animal with gleaming, wary eyes. The light caught the glinting silver shell and caused it to shine with unrivaled brilliance to anything else in the room. Xero was entranced. Mr. Aklekzander looked on warily.

"Aaronn..." the creature mumbled.

"An Aron..." young Xero mused. "Is that what you are?" He observed the critter from all angles, poking and prodding, making little notes in his mind. Arron shied away a bit at first, but it was only when Xero grabbed his hind legs and lifted him off the ground that the Aron finally lost its cool.

His memory past there was a tad fuzzy. It involved a well-placed tackle attack to the skull, a bit of crying, and a generally negative experience. Yet, here he was now, looking at the Pokemon in a new light, seeing not just a specimen or n ally but hi closest and truest friend. Hayle was close to him, too, but... that was different. They weren't close in the "best friends" sense... it was something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on...

On the topic of Hayle, she was cautiously approaching Elle, who was busy having an extended conversation with Lileep. Elle seemed to be talking on and on, sometimes, without breaking sentence, grabbing a rock or something close by with her snout and placing it in front of Lileep. The ancient Pokemon, meanwhile, watched Elle curiously, not saying a word herself but appearing intently interested in the conversation.

Hayle smiled warmly at that, seeing Lileep growing more comfortable with her environment and her new friend. She heard a strange noise coming from, the cave, and nearly didn't notice it, but she turned just in time to catch shadows deeper in the cave, seeming to be taking definite shape and closing in. Something was about to happen. It was going to be pretty big. She didn't know what it was, but the hectic shadows were a sort of prelude to the events that were to follow... She wondered what they were...

Alistar stood over the unconscious Zubat, checking to see if it was okay. Wurn was beside him, reunited with his master at last. Something deeper in the cave seemed to be approaching, distracting the two of them. Xero stepped into view, his hand extended to Alistar. In it was a strangely-colored Poke ball.

"It's called a Dusk Ball. It'll work well to catch this Pokemon. You said you wanted new allies, right? This is a great chance for that."

He looked off into the caverns, seeing a shape forming within.

"I'll tell you what. I think Hayle has a few Revives and such with her in our bag. Use this Dusk Ball to catch that Zubat and I'll run it back to her. In the meantime, I'll leave Shell here to protect you. Don't worry. He's tougher than he looks."

He said the last part rather whimsically, and it got a bit of a rise out of Shell, but the steel-type just nodded, turned towards the enemy, and stayed put.

((Shell's still only under my control. Give commands if you want but no promises they'll be carried out. I'm hoping you know what to do next, like you spoke to Alice or something. This'll be a big letdown if its not epic... plus all this setup will have been for naught. :P))

[Oath]

Alistar looked at the downed Zubat, knowing it was an easy capture. Alistar reached out to Xero's hand and grabbed the Dusk ball, this being the first REAL pokeball he's ever held. "Lets see if I can do this right." Alistar thought to himself. He tapped the Zubat's head with the center of the Dusk ball, and as he did so, caused the ball to release a brilliant red light towards Zubat, engulfing completely. Before Alistar knew it, Zubat was at of his arms and was inside the Pokeball. Feeling no real sign of a struggle, shorty after hearing a small ting. "Sweet!" Alistar murmered.

He handed his prize to Xero. "Don't worry, I know your Aron will keep me and Wurm safe. Just head over and take care of Zubat." Turning to the other side of the cavern, Alistar looked at the hazy creature. He was scared, but he could not move. He looked at Wurm. Wurm peered into the darkness, scared of whatever came closer. Another crash, another step forward.


"Come on!" Alistar called to the young Wurm in the old forest where he found him. "Use Poison Sting!" He cried for what seemed to be the fiftieth time. Wurm just looked at him in silence. "Use String Shot!" Alistar cried. Again, Wurm did nothing. "Um.... Use Tackle? Anything?" Wurm stood in silence as he looked at this ridiculous kid thinking he knew what he was doing. Maybe he should just hit this kid with poison sting? Alistar picked the Pokemon up. He rose him eye to eye. "Look you little red Caterpillar. I know your not happy with me right now, but I caught you and I'm your master." This angered Wurm. Wurm squirmed out of Alistar's grip and grabbed onto his face. Alistar couldn't see anything. He began to frantically run around while trying to get Wurm off of him. Alistar was abruptly stopped by a tree. This effecting both master and Pokemon, and they both layed on the floor. "What do ya say...." Alistar said weakly. "We continue where left off tomorrow?" "Wu-rm....ple..." Wurm groaned in compliance.

"That was a couple days after I found him..." Alistar thought to himself. "I thought that old man would have made me release him by now. And now I stand here prepared to fight a monster with him, my best friend, a pokemon."

The monster drew closer, it was coming for them. Alistar braced himself for whatever was to happen. Finally, the creature began to become visible. Alistar figured since Xero's Aron was there, they'd be alright. Alistar turned to Xero's companion. "Your names Shell, right?" Alistar said quickly. "I know I'm not your trainer. But for the love Ho-oh, go beat that thing up!" "Wurmple Wurmple Wurm!" Wurm roared in agreement. All of a sudden, the bag seemed to get a little warmer... and wetter.

[Armaniac]

WILD POKEMON APPEARED!



Poochyena

Level 13

Tackle
Howl
Sand Attack
Bite

---

The wild Poochyena lunged out from the dark, a silent assassin intent on eliminating its target. It latched onto the Trainer's shoulder and dug its claws in, unleashing a vicious howl attack in the trainer's ear.

It pushed off the trainer's back, painfully wrenching its claws from the enemy's skin, and landed on its feet with a vicious type of grace. It growled viciously at the invaders, hoping they got the message and fled.

Shell watched the events unfold curiously, unsure of exactly what he ought to do. I mean, Xero was his master. His only master. He didn't take orders from anyone else. But, then, that wasn't really an order and this guy appeared to be some sort of friend of Xero's. So, did he attack or did he stand by and help? Such a confusing dilemma...