{Freedom!}Strange{It's}Encounters{Great!}

[Birdybot]

A little Cyndaquil rushed about Route One excitedly, sticking his long nose into every bush and flower he passed. He chuckled in delight, then hurried over to take a smell of a large yellow flower. He blinked, his nose tickling, then sneezed loudly.

"Wow, Fairo, I'm surprised you don't have half the Route attacking you by now, the amount of prying you've been doing." Sulteron said jokingly, grinning, as she could up with the firey mouse. She bent down and lifted him up.

Fairo the Cyndaquil giggled, then struggled in her arms, stubby legs flailing in the air. His trainer tickled his belly, and he laughed even harder. ~I wasn't prying, I haven't been here before! I was exploring!~[/color] he insisted, feeling his trainer loosen her grip. He leapt to the ground and grinned up at her. He liked his trainer; she was part Pokémon, so she could understand every word he or some other Pokémon said. Plus, she had mint green fuzz in various places on her body, like on her face and arms, and had a really cool tail which split into two at the tip.

Fairo bounced up and down on the spot. Sulteron laughed. "Alright, alright, Mr Hyper. You were exploring. Of course." she said, but didn't sound convinced.

Fairo squealed indignanetly. He was helping, right! He was her only Pokémon, so he needed to be doubly good! He ran over to a huge, thick bush which rested at the foot of a tall, leafy tree, a good place for any Pokémon which could climb or fly to hide. ~Look, I'm helping! I'm gonna find a wild Pokémon and battle it! I'm gonna win and you'll get another Pokémon, you'll see!~[/color] he insisted, ramming into the tree in case anything was hiding in there, and rustling plenty of branches of the bush and tree.[/size]

[Prof. Crow]

There was a sudden squeal from the tree that Fairo had tackled, and in a flurry of fur and leaves, down fell a small, fluffy mankey. It looked weaker than the standard of its kind, and its fur was fluffed up and looked incredibly soft. It landed with a muffled thud on the grassy ground below, and let out a furiated hiss. A large lump had already formed on the top of its head, and dirt had gotten into his mouth upon impact. Spitting out the dirt, it jumped to its feet in rage-driven energy and threw its paws over its head, stomping its feet into the dirt.

'What do you think you're doing?' it yowled in its pokemon language, 'You just ruined my naptime, you jerk!'

[Birdybot]

Sulteron watched as the disgruntled monkey Pokémon fell from the tree. Uh-oh... it didn't seem too happy. She chewed her lip as she heard it speak. She had heard about Mankey's unpredictable temper; her parents would warn her about all sort of dangers Pokémon would present. She pulled her Pokédex out of her pocket, flipping it open. She knew it would come in handy, and was now glad that it was in her pocket, rather than making her have to unzip her backpack and get it out. She didn't really know how to use it. She pressed a button that had a power sign on it, and the screen flickered into life. She pointed it at Mankey, then pressed various buttions. The round one in the middle of four arrows did the trick.

A photograph of a Mankey was shown on her screen, and an expressionless machine's voice trailed out. "Mankey, the Pig Monkey Pokémon. It lives in treetop colonies. If one becomes enraged, the whole colony rampages for no reason." it bleeped. Sulteron pressed the right arrow button, and the screen showed that Mankey was a Fighting type, had the Ability Anger Point or Vital Spirit, and Mankey's moveset. She assumed that Mankey would not be higher than level nine, and all the moves below that were learned at level one; Leer, Focus Energy, Scratch, Low Kick and Covet.

She motioned to Fairo to come to her side, putting her finger to her lips for silence. When the fire mouse had reached there, he hopped up to her shoulder, so she would be able to tell him what was wrong without the risk of Mankey overhearing. He didn't like the look of that angry Pokémon, after all.

"Fairo, it might be best if we leave Mankey alone. The Pokédex said that if one became angered, the whole treetop colony would go on a rampage!" Sulteron whispered, looking up at the tree. There would easily be enough room to house many more Mankey. Fairo's eyes widened in fear. Sulteron took a step backwards. "D-don't worry, Mankey, we didn't mean to disturb you... honest! Calm down, go back to sleep!" she assured it, wondering if her words would actually have any effect.

[Prof. Crow]

The mankey stamped its feet again, throwing its arms about even harder. It certainly didn't seem like it was about to go back to sleeping. No, mankeys were known for their blazing tempers and their abilities to hold grudges. This one was no different. It began to howl and snarl as it delved even further into its own fit of rage.

'No, no no! You've ruined everything! Now I'll never get to sleep!' it yowled, 'Ruined, ruined, ruined, ruined!'

Suddenly, as if summoned, six others appeared in the lowest branches of the tree, all of them mankeys, and all of them angry. Six sets of eyes narrowed in unision, and six bodies dropped to the ground next to their comrad, and six pairs of arms flew into the air in preparation to charge. It seemed like that one tackle had angered the whole mankey colony!

[Birdybot]

Fairo squealed in fear and hid behind a clump of Sulteron's light brown hair. She swallowed, eyes widening. She knew Fairo would perhaps be able to defeat, say, one Mankey, two if he was lucky, but seven? Sulteron was unsure of how she would ever be able to defeat all those Pokémon. She was in a very tricky situation here, and it was not the best of feelings. After all, she had been prepared for, say, Caterpie and Poochyena, not a colony of angered Mankey!

Fairo whispered something in her ear as a plan ocurred to him. ~Sulteron, I have an idea. I won't be able to defeat all these Mankey, but perhaps if you defeat and catch six wild Pokémon, I'll be able to defeat them all with their help!~[/color] he grinned, pleased with himself.

Sulteron discreetly shook her head. "Fairo, that would take up too much time. I say we call upon the assistance of six wild Pokémon nearby, possibly battling one to level you up, then all working together to defeat the Mankey, one each. How does that sound?" she muttered back.

Fairo nodded. That was a better version of his, and it sounded good. She was right; fighting six Pokémon would take a long time. He hopped higher, onto Sulteron's head, standing on tiptoes. ~CYNDAQUIL! Help us fight Mankey, any wild Pokémon!~[/color] he hollered as loud as he could, Sulteron joining in. While they called, their eyes watched the area carefully for signs that their help would arrive.[/size]

[Prof. Crow]

"Use gust, Drif-"

Dana's command was interrupted by the clear call of a cyndaquil which sounded distresssed. She whipped her head around, surprised. Cyndaquils were rare pokemon, and they weren't likely to live around this grassy route. What was one doing here? The young trainer brushed the worry off. She was about to catch her fourth pokemon, after all!

Or was she? Turning back to her battle, Dana let out a gasp of horror at the realization that her target had flown away! Drat! The pidgey could be seen flying toward the direction of the cyndaquil's call. How odd. The young girl shrugged, and dashed after it, her small drifloon floating waywardly after her. This pokemon wouldn't get away from her!

She chased it down the path, over a particularly steep hill, and toward a tall tree.

It was her great surprise to find that, as the pidgey came to a stop, it was at the side of another trainer, facing a pack of angry mankey! Who would have thought? The cyndaquil on the other girl's shoulder, though, explained alot. So it looked as if the two were in a bit of trouble. Dana rolled up her sleeves and joined them, pokeball in hand.

"Need some help there, stranger?" She retorted, a cockey, yet friendly edge to her voice.

[Birdybot]

Sulteron took a step back as the Pidgey flew towards her, narrowly missing crashing into her. Fairo grinned. It was working; a Pokémon had come to help! Yay! He then heard another voice. This one sounded like it was human, like his trainer's voice. Maybe... maybe there was a trainer come to help! Wow, that would be amazing! Trained Pokémon were always stronger than wild Pokémon! He grinned at Dana as she hurried into view.

Sulteron watched as the trainer came. She was here to help her! That was fantastic. Sulteron smiled sheepishly, pointing to the angry Mankey that had woken up. "Um, I guess I could do with a little help. My name's Sulteron, by the way. I got Fairo from the Lab not more than an hour or so ago, and we were looking for Pokémon when we accidently woke up a Mankey. Now the whole group's enraged. Are you the trainer of that Drifloon? Could you help me fight the Mankey?" she asked hopefully.

Fairo reached out to Pidgey with a stubby paw. The more the merrier, right? Well, if they needed more help, what a better way to get it than through a wild Pokémon which had suddenlt flown in? ~Hello, Pidgey. I'm Fairo, and me and my trainer accidently got these Mankey really agry. Could you help us fight them off?~[/color] he requested of the bird.[/size]

[Prof. Crow]

Dana tipped her hat up with her thumb, a grin playing on her face. She'd stumbled into a real mess, but it was worth it to get the ego boost that she did. Dana always felt more skilled when she showed off her pokemon to newbies, despite lacking real battle experience. The trainer was disturbingly calm in the face of the six angry mankey. She didn't have remarkable pokemon, after all, and she'd just started her own journey a few weeks ago, yet she held an air of superiority.

"Well, sure!" Dana chuckled, "I'd be willing to teach these fuzzballs a lesson in manners!"

Her drifloon happily showed its agreement in an excited 'Driflooooon!' Dana wasted no time in drawing out her other pokeballs. With a nonchalant toss, white light poured out of the spherical devices to reveal a ledyba and a rattata standing upright, already expecting a battle. Their expressions faltered a bit when they realized just exactly what they were supposed to fight, but after exchanging nervous looks, the bug and rat pokemon shaped up and held their heads high. It seemed obvious that Dana trained her pokemon to be courageous battlers.

Meanwhile, the pidgey touched its wing to the cyndaquil's outstretched paw and sealed an agreement of sorts. It seemed like a chivalrous pokemon with a good head on its shoulders. Its eyes were hard, but determined, and seemed to possess a fire all their own.

'It would be my honor, Fairo,' the pidgey cooed, 'I'm ready to fight when you are!'

"Let's go, stranger!" Dana urged, not bothering to remember the newbie's name, "You're leading this show!"


The swarm of maney were steaming, their pig-nosed faces red with fury. How dare these others come and defy them? They were the ones who were the victims here! They were only seeking their rightful revenge! The first mankey snorted, rushing forward towards Sulteron, claws out. It was trying to use a scratch attack on the trainer!

[Birdybot]

Sulteron looked over at the two sides. Drifloon, Rattata, Ledyba, Pidgey and Fairo against seven Mankey. Five against seven. Not the most even of fights, but almost all their Pokémon had more intelligent humans to think up tactics and so on for them, saving them time and effort and being able to come up with better plans for their different point of view. So, all in all, they stood a chance. They could do this, no matter how many went down trying! She hoped that the Mankey were of a lower level; that would help, too.

The Espeon 'morph gasped in shock as the Mankey made a swipe at her. She was pretty certain that attacking the trainers was against the rules of a battle. Then again, an enraged Mankey probably didn't think too much about his actions. This was good, for that meant their strategy would be to simply hit as much as possible. She dodged to one side, then nodded to Fairo. "OK, don't worry if that happens again, I'll think of a way to use it to our advantage. Right, now, Fairo! Use Tackle on the Mankey sanding close to another one!" she called.

The Cyndaquil, although concerned, swallowed and nodded to show he understood. By Tackling this Mankey, he would hopefully knock the other one down as well. But his main worry wasn't on this; it was on how Sulteron would fare if a Mankey attacked her again. Reassuring himself that she would probably turn into her Pokémon form and use some Espeon attack on Mankey, he lined his muzzle up with the monkey and charged.

[Prof. Crow]

Fairo's attack worked just as expected. The target mankey was bowled over, colliding withy its companion and sending both to the ground, each one seeming to take a fair amount of damage. Unfortunately, however, both regained their stances quickly, even more furious than before. These pokemon seemed to grow more powerful the madder they became! The two pokemon threw their fists in the air and dashed for Fairo in retaliation, aiming scratch attacks for the cyndaquil simultaneously.

"Drifty, gust attack!"

A sudden twister of wind pulled one of the charging mankeys away from Fairo, hurling the fighting pokemon against the tree from which it had come. It struggled a bit to get up, however, the flying-type move had made a super-effective hit. As the first mankey fainted, Dana and her drifloon 'high-fived,' relishing in their first victory.

Meanwhile, the wild pidgey was flying over Fairo, perparing to assist the small pokemon in battle. He knew no flying moves of his own, yet, but he was confident that his tackle and sand-attack could pack a mighty punch in a surprise attack.

[Birdybot]

Sulteron grinned, punching the air as she saw Fairo's move prove a sucess. This was fantastic! She had never battled before, and she could really se why so many people loved it so much. The adrenalin, the sight of the Pokémon you trained becoming stronger and more powerful as they enjoyed the fight and exercise, the victory of watching the Mankey fall... it was just amazing! The Espeon 'morph cheered for Fairo.

Fairo grinned back, striking a pose before noticing the two furious Mankey looming over him. Oops. He supposed he should have gone about a different approach, no? He shook in fear as he saw them flex their muscles, preparing their attack... why didn't he know a Flying type move and be able to defeat them in one hit? Well, that had probably been the runt or something; these Mankey looked as though it would take a lot to defeat them. However determined he was to do so, he whimpered in fear as he backed slowly away, looking to his trainer for comfort.

Sulteron was thinking hard, but still smiled reassuringly at Fairo when he looked worriedly at her. She then frowned, looked at Pidgey. If Mankey were so intent on their revenge on Fairo, then maybe they wouldn't notice a surprise attack! Man, it was so frustrating that Pidgey wasn't her Pokémon in a time like this! But maybe it would still allow her to order it, for the Cyndaquil's sake... "Pidgey! I know you're not my Pokémon, but you can help Fairo! Surprise them with a Sand Attack! While they're stunned, both you and Fairo could use Tackle if you want!" she called. Fairo nodded, giving her a thumbs-up, and she waited to see if Pidgey would help out or not...