The Unlikely Alliance

[2gamers]

“Oh thank you thank you thank you!” Zippy shouted with glee. “I’ll do whatever you say, promise!”

The girl tackled Michi with a hug, very appreciative of his help. How lucky she was to find a friend in such a grumpy old man. As Zippy turned to lead Michi towards the gatehouse, she caught sight of the girl from earlier. The blond girl was watching them from a bit of a distance, as if too shy to actually talk to them. True, they had a small discussion earlier, but that was only initiated by the girl’s shinx. Perhaps she would open up if Zippy introduced herself.

“Hey,” Zippy spoke to Rowen, “I’m Zippy, and we’re on our way out of this town. You wanna tag along? The more the merrier, as they say.” She was sure Michi wouldn’t mind having another person to travel with. Maybe it would improve his mood!

***

The group made there way to the gatehouse, the only obstacle between them and the rest of the world. Soon, Zippy would find her parents, in torduce them to her new friends, maybe have some dinner, and help Michi find his phoenix friend. It was a small adventure, but an adventure noentheless. Zippy wouldn’t have it any other way.

There was just the small matter of the gatekeeper, who wasn’t terribly pleased to see her.

“AHA!” the gatekeeper shouted, pointing to Zippy. “I see what you’re trying to do! You’re walking with a bunch of random strangers, like you’re part of some group of responsible trainers! Well, you’ll have to do better than that to get past me!”

The gatekeeper attempted to grab Zippy’s wrist, but he was thwarted by a levitating shinx. The combination of Magnet Rise and Charge allowed Ari to appear a bit more ferocious, his fur standing on end from the surge of electricity. His tiny growl only made him appear cuter in Zippy’s eyes.

[Deleted]

“Hey,” The girl from earlier walked over to Rowen. “I’m Zippy, and we’re on our way out of this town. You wanna tag along? The more the merrier, as they say.” Rowen thought for a moment, and nodded her head. “Sure, I was done here anyone.”

* * * * *


The walk to the gatehouse was quite, but Rowen didn’t mind. The blue eyed girl enjoyed the silence, the time to think. Growing up in a house of two older brothers had never allowed her much time just to think, and overall just have time to herself. Rowen loved Stephen and Chase to death, of course, but they were so reckless and hyper, if it wasn’t Stephen almost breaking his wrist, it was Chase really breaking his wrist.
However, this time of silence came to a halt when the gatekeeper saw Zippy.

“AHA!”, the gatekeeper shouted in what Rowen considered an annoying and unnecessary way, “I see what you’re trying to do! You’re walking with a bunch of random strangers, like you’re part of some group of responsible trainers! Well, you’ll have to do better than that to get past me!”The gatekeeper then had the nerve to try and grab Zippy’s wrist, which Rowen felt was out of line. She had just started to say something when Zippy’s shinx starting floating and growing. Rowen grinned at the sight, but still felt she needed to do something.
She couldn’t explain it, but there was something about Zippy that the older girl liked. Maybe it was her attitude?

“Um, excuse me, Sir.” Rowen said to the gatekeeper with what she considered the right amount of sincerity and innocence in her voice.
“Oh! You again, the girl who said she was one of the Pokedex Holders. Please.” The gatekeeper snorted, and Rowen sighed, fishing her ‘dex out of her back.
“Well, you see, I wasn’t lying, and I know my little cousin tried to sneak through here earlier, and I’m sorry for any trouble she maybe have caused, but she just needs to get to the next town to meet up with her parents. I’m sure my Aunt and Uncle would be most displeased if they found out the reason we’re late is because you didn’t believe us. So, please, Sir, may we leave?” Rowen cocked her head to the side and waited. This trick never failed.

“…Whatever. Miss, just make sure your little cousin doesn’t wander off.” Rowen nodded, and the group walked out of the gatehouse.
“Sorry about that, Zippy, but I had to think of something. I’ve dealt with people like him before…” The blonde haired girl shrugged.

[Diamond]

Michi sighed. Kids. But, that was a stroke of brilliance on Rowen's part.

"And what about you? You the Grandfather or something?" the obviously grouchy gatekeeper asked.

"Nope," Michi said, pulling out a rather important looking paper with the League seal on it. "I'm here on league business, so I trust you won't delay me any longer, correct?"

The gatekeeper made a soft squeak under Michi's glare and waved him through.

Once outside, Michi turned to look at the girls. "While that was a stroke of pure genius, Rowen, it's easier to not lie and just let me pull importance and elder status. If I'm not with you, sure, go ahead. But if we happen to give two separate lies and those people end up talking, we could end up arrested on suspicion of conspiring with Rocket and their ilk," he said.

Then he awkwardly patted Rowen's shoulder before turning to Zippy. "Which way to your site?" he asked.

[2gamers]

“That’s quite alright,” Zippy replied to Rowen. “I don’t mind being your cousin for a little while.” With her parents still missing, it was nice to have gained another family member, even if it wasn’t official. While Michi was lecturing Rowen on how old and important he was, Zippy looked back at the gatehouse and stuck her tongue out. She was pretty sure the gatekeeper could not see her.

When the discussion turned to the location of the circus, she sprung to attention and grabbed her floating shinx out of the air.

“It’s this way! Follow me!” In total disregard to what Michi said earlier, Zippy raced across the route with abandon. The girl blazed through the tall grass, scaring off a flock of pidgey in the process. Loki held on for dear life as she raced towards a small lot in the northern portion of the route.

To Zippy’s surprise, the lot was entirely vacant. Not even so much as a popcorn kernel remained of her circus. That didn’t mean that the place wasn’t serene: there were large black spots upon the ground, clearly evidence of a fire.

“Hello? Mom? Dad? Anyone?” Zippy called out to anyone within the circus. Surely someone around here must have cleaned everything up. They had to know what happened to her parents.

As Zippy looked around for any evidence of her place, there were a series of flashes from within the forest overlooking the lot. She had no idea that someone was watching her, as well as the rest of her new party. Someone wanted pictures of all of them, but why. That question didn’t even cross Zippy’s mind: she was completely oblivious to the cameraman.

[Deleted]

Rowen nodded. “Yes, Sir. I had to think of something when it came clear he wasn’t planning on letting Zippy through.” She smiled a little at the younger girl.
“That’s quite alright,” Zippy told Rowen, as Michi was still talking to her, “I don’t mind being your cousin for a little while.”
Rowen smiled and nodded, wondering. ‘Where will this adventure lead? I need to figure out what Team Rocket’s doing…. Maybe Stephen would know…’ She wondered to herself, her seventeen-year-old brother on her mind.

Zippy suddenly started run down the road, and Rowen sighed, running after the girl. ‘Okay, forgot reminding me of, well, me. She’s like a younger version of Chase.’ The blue eyed girl mused to herself, smiling at the thing in common between Zippy and her oldest brother.
When the bright lights flashed, Rowen blinked, confused, then pulled out Mako’s pokeball, and glanced around. What on earth was going on? Someone was taking pictures, but why?

“Okay, whoever you are, show yourself!” She commanded her voice a steely cool. There was a rustling in the trees, but who stepped out surprised her.

“Stephen?”

Rowen’s brother nodded, grinning. “Nice to see you too, Sis. Was I the only one who randomly saw bright flashes of lights? Oh and who are these?” The gray-eyed teenager said in one breath.
Rowen smiled and shook her head. This was going to be interesting.
“Nope, I saw them to. We all did, in fact. Stephen, meet Michi and Zippy; Michi and Zippy, this is Stephen one of my two brothers.

Stephen nodded at mention of his name. “Hi, Zippy. Hello Michi.”
“Stephen what are you doing here?” Rowen asked her brother, and his face darkened.
“Team Rocket or whatever they’re calling themselves…I ran into them…They…they stole Totodile. I thought they came this way…” He muttered.

[Diamond]

"Well, that's not good," Michi grumbled, frowning a bit. "How long ago was it? A few minutes? A few hours?" he asked, still looking thoughtful.

Team Rocket stealing pokemon again...as if his life needed to be even more difficult. Boy, was he gonna give Sammy an earful for all this when he got back to Kanto.

[2gamers]

While Rowen was getting reunited with a member of her family, Zippy’s family remained absent. Perhaps they headed towards Cherrygrove? She hoped they were alright, but now wasn’t the time to despair. They had company.

After the young acrobat gave a quick hello to Steven, the conversation once again turned to Team Rocket. Not only did the organization take Steven’s totodile, they were apparently still in the area. Was there a connection with the cameraman from earlier? The flashes had stopped when Steven arrived. Did that mean anything?

Whatever happened, something was coming out of the woods. It seemed just a bit too big to be a person. Curious, Zippy walked towards the disturbance to investigate, her two pokemon in tow.

“Hello?” Zippy spoke to the shaking foliage. “You can come out. We’re not going to hurt you.”

In response, the creature burst out of the forest, letting out a mighty roar. It was a very angry tauros, ready to rampage through the field and anyone standing within it. Perhaps angry wasn’t the proper word to describe the pokemon. The group didn’t do anything to disturb him, and yet he was clearly ready to fight. Unknown to Zippy, there was a shadow in this creature’s heart. This would be her first encounter with one of the fabled shadowed pokemon.

“Loki, let’s set up a barrier!” Zippy shouted, treating the encounter like a normal pokemon battle. The mime jr. leaped off her back and approached the tauros. The bull pokemon ignored the smaller pokemon; his focus was currently on Zippy! The acrobat managed to roll out of the away of a horn attack, throwing her shinx across the field to safety. However, she could not get up in time before the tauros was practically on top of her. The bull prepared to trample Zippy, but not before Loki caught up, setting up a barrier between them and the deadly hooves. Though the barrier was keeping the attacks at bay, it would not hold off the tauros’ murderous rage forever.

[Deleted]

“Well, that's not good," Michi murmured. “How long ago was it? A few minutes? A few hours?"
“About fifteen minutes ago, Sir.” Stephen answered. Rowen grinned at the expression on her older brother’s face. It was a mixture of respect for the older man and what looked like a hint of fear.

“What the-” Rowen exclaimed as the angry pokemon burst out of the woods. Stephen let out a noise of surprise, and started to grab a pokemon when he scowled. “ I hate Team Rocket or Kali, whoever. Rowen, I’m assuming you have a pokemon I can use?” Rowen nodded and threw her brother the pokeball that held Mako.
“She’ll listen to you. Or, she’d better.” The blonde haired girl assured her brother.
Stephen nodded ad threw the pokemon saying, “Mako! Stand by!” The small electric type appeared, looking confused at the order from her trainer’s brother, but she didn’t disobey.
“Mako, use Charge!” Stephen ordered while Rowen threw the pokemon containing Saturn.
“Saturn! Use Bite!” Rowen told the dark type quickly.

[2gamers]

The tauros roared in pain as a poochyena bit down on him. This stopped his stomp attack, allowing Zippy to roll out from under the beast and run to the safety of her teammates. While Loki was safely in her arms, Ari was about to do something rather rash.

“Ari, no!” Zippy cried as her shinx rushed towards the tauros. To avenge his trainer, the cub joined the dark type in biting down on the bull’s hind leg with a thunder fang attack. The tauros was at its anger point, and charged forward, dragging the biting pokemon along with it. Strangely, the creature made no effort to remove the pokemon. Rather, its horns were directed at one of the humans.

It was getting ready to gore Rowen.

[Deleted]

“Saturn!” Rowen yelped, horrified at what the tauros was doing to her pokemon. The blue eyed girl then realized in horror where the bull pokemon was headed. Straight towards her! “Mako, use thundershock!” Stephen ordered, and the small electric pokemon complied.
A jolt of lighting shot at the bull pokemon, but the tauros didn’t even notice, except that Saturn fell off, whimpering…and right in the tauros path. “Saturn!” Rowen yelped and quickly grabbed the dark type and she heard a loud cry from the angered bull pokemon.
Rowen dodged to the side and glared. It looks familiar…The blue eyed girl thought, wondering why.
Then, with a horror she knew why the tauros looked familiar.
“Stephen,” She looked at her brother, talking loud enough for everyone to hear. “That’s-that’s Dad’s tauros!”