Arc stepped outside the house, knowing that Harry had followed, probably with lightning, and turned to face his friend.
"I'll take you up on that battle...a friendly contest...One on one...obviously...Togepi, you're up..." Arc spoke, as his tiny egg Pokémon toddled forwards.
He then realised that he didn't know Togepi's attacks, so flipped out his Pokédex, and scanned Togepi with it.
He was hoping it would give out attack data, and decided to scan Lightning as well.

"You know what? I will give Togepi a nickname...uhh...let's go with Silver...Ok Silver, let's see what the Pokédex has to say about you and Lightning..." Arc smiled.

"Togepi, the spike ball pokémon," the pokédex hummed in a digitized monotone. "Togepi uses the positive emotions of people and pokémon as the source of its energy. It is considered to be a symbol of good luck. This togepi is male and level five. He knows charm, growl, and metronome."

The pokédex then moved on to analyze Lightning. "This doduo is male and level five. He is trained."

"Silver, huh?" Harry said. "Well, Silver, let's see what you've got! Lightning, get ready!" Harry seemed content to let Arc make the first move, and Lightning eagerly stepped out in front of him, both heads jabbering away excitedly as he pranced back and forth on his skinny limbs.

Silver looked up at his much larger opponent with some apprehension, but didn't back down. He seemed content with his new name, and attempted to conceal his nervousness with a little pre-battle banter as well, chirping something unintelligible at Lightning.

"Just like last time..." Arc smiled.
years ago, he had used Harry's mom's Growlithe to battle Flash, and had won in the end, by developing a strong bond with the Growlithe.

He had taken the attacks down in his mind, and knew that Togepi would be unpredicatable with his offensive attack...but it could work out pretty well...

"Silver, use Metronome on Lightning!" Arc yelled, taking intiative

"Be careful, Lightning," Harry said warningly to his doduo. "Try to dodge what it throws at you, then go in and give it a peck!

The doduo continued to dance lightly back and forth, nervous and excited, as it watched Silver begin his attack. The togepi rocked back and forth slightly to the rhythm of his metronome, stubby arms waving back and forth in tandem, surrounded by a blue nimbus of energy. The glow soon spread, rippling through the air around Silver and transforming into a multicolored, shimmering haze of pure energy. The togepi, at the center of it all, began to glow with the same shifting pattern of iridescence, before releasing the attack all in a rush. A curtain of pulsing, glimmering energy swept towards Lightning, and although the doduo put on a burst of speed to get out of the way, he wasn't able to avoid it entirely. The far edge of the powerful move caught him in the back and he went down, skidding along the concrete, but scrambled up just as quickly and dove at Silver, twin beaks reaching out to jab mercilessly at the small pokémon.

Silver squealed and raised his stubby arms as though to ward off the rapid blows and stepped back a pace, blood starting to flow from several long gashes on his chest and head.

(( Here's hoping that metronome doesn't pull up magma storm. ))

((Heh))

"Silver!" Arc called.
He knew that to beat Doduo, there were a few types of attacks that metronome would need to generate...perhaps wrap, sand attack, hyper-beam, Blast Burn, Tunderbolt, Thunder, Thunder Wave, or an attack that reduced speed...although the chance of one coming up was incredibly low...
Arc hoped that Silver could take another Peck, and so decided to continue his offensive attack.
"Metronome, and don't hold back!" Arc yelled.

{{Just for reference, which attack did Silver use last time?}}

(( Luster purge. ))

"Growl, lightning! Then peck again!"

The doduo let out a menacing double growl, and Silver, who had been about to start another metronome, flinched and stepped back a pace, looking agitated. Again Lightning darted in and started to peck at him mercilessly, leaving still more wounds on his small opponent. Though he looked inclined to fall back again, Silver forced himself to keep his head and start up another metronome.

Lightning hesitated, then broke off his attack as the togepi's arms once again began to wave back and forth, glowing a brilliant blue. This time, it was not a rush of multicolored energy that the attack produced but, rather, an odd bout of apathy. Silver suddenly yawned hugely, his metronome attack trailing off, and sat down lazily on the street, looking bored and unconcerned. More bizarrely, however, his wounds began to heal rapidly, the long cuts left by Lightning's beaks scabbing over and then vanishing entirely at top speed. After only a couple of moments, the doduo, who had been watching with stunned fascination, let out a frustrated cry--all the damage he had done had been eliminated!

{{Rest'll work too :P}}

"Come on Silver, wake up..." Arc mumbled.

He consulted his Pokédex on roughly how long sleep would last during a battle.
"Do another metronome when you wake up!" Arc hoped that Silver could hear him..

He looked at the angered Doduo, and smiled slightly, although he did not wish it ill, or anger...in fact, he loved all Pokémon...and soon hoped to be on the Road with Harry, catching their first Pokémon other than the starters...

Arc had also read somewhere that a Togetic had recently evolved into something resembling a dove...which meant that it evolved twice, rather than once like Doduo...
Admittedly it could have been fiction...

{{I read it on Wiki that Togetic evolves in D+P, is it true?}}

(( Yes. ))

"Sleep is a common status effect inflicted by pokémon attacks," Arc's pokédex intoned when he pulled up the appropriate file. "The rapid and unnatural loss of awareness that follows is generally quite short, not exceeding a period of six minutes. Although the sleep produced this way is much heavier and harder to break than natural slumber, particularly damaging strikes may cause a sleeping pokémon to awaken more swiftly than normal. In addition, some pokémon are naturally light sleepers and will rarely succumb to sleep for more than a couple of minutes."

Harry looked as aggravated as his doduo by the sudden change of events and yelled, "Peck again! Don't let up!"

Looking more determined than ever, Lightning got over his shock and dismay and leapt back into action with a will. Once again he jabbed viciously at Silver, and the togepi, though he had never fallen asleep, snapped back to attention quickly and started up another metronome. Again Lightning hesitated, ready to jump out of the way of an unexpected attack. The blue aura around Silver's waving arms spread out into a blurry field of binary codes that cloaked him in a whirling, shifting storm of digits and a strange static hum. When the attack cleared, however, Silver appeared no different, and he looked at his blunt paws with dismay. Relieved, Lightning swiftly resumed his pecking, rapidly regaining ground lost to Silver's slack off attack.

Arc was also shocked by the lack of any offensive power.
"Keep using Metronome...hopefully it'll be something damaging like Thunderbolt this time!" Arc yelled, not caring who he woke up in the early hours of the morning.

He could tell that Harry and Himself had both spend the previous day sleeping to prepare to set out early on this morning...
He wondered if there was a wild Charmander in Kutho...or an Abra...he was determined to capture one and befriend it...or even a Raichu...although he'd probably have to evolve it first...

He did love the larger or elegant Pokémon as well, such as Tropius, Gardevoir, Kirlia, Wailord...

That was something else he'd love to try...going accross the water with a Pokémon...he knew Togepi wouldn't be able to help, and Togetic would probably be too small as well, bt the third form might be...although by then he'd hopefully wave a Wailmer, a Gyrados, or a Nidoking, which he knew could learn the Surf attack.

He really wanted a Jolteon or a Vaporeon as well...and a Scyther...a Mudkip...a Machop...it looked like he had a full schedule in his lifetime...especially if he wanted to one day see a Moltres, the legendary bird of flame, and his inspiration for loving Pokémon...

He remembered many years ago, when he was a small child, seeing a large bird Pokémon streak across the sky above Pallet town, leaving a trail of fire behind it for a few moments, before it dissipated.
Arc had been overwhelmed by it's sheer beauty, and knew that he one day he had to see it...not catch it, but just to stand near it without either one of them being hostile or defensive.
Although he knew once he'd seen it he'd probably end up trying to catch it, which would fail of course, because of it's extreme power...
Supposedly it's Flamethower attack could melt diamonds, which impressed Arc even more.

While Arc was caught up in his reminiscences, Silver began another metronome attack. Feeling a little more confident that, this time, he wasn't going to get struck by anything particularly nasty, as Silver's last couple of metronomes had been non-offensive moves, Lightning pulled back and waited impatiently, despite Harry's command to, "Just relax and wait it out, Lightning. Dodge if you need to."

Silver was already rocking back and forth, stubby arms wagging rhythmically and surrounded by a familiar blue haze of energy. This time, however, something seemed to be different...

"What's it... doing?" Harry asked wonderingly, and Lightning began to look nervous again, two heads muttering to one another uncomfortably.

Silver was glowing with a faint green light, a shimmering haze of energy surrounding him as he continued to sway in time to the metronome. This time, however, the gathered power didn't seem to be forming up into any kind of attack, just settling around Silver's body, causing the air to shimmer and thrum with potential. Then, suddenly, the togepi stopped waving his arms around and pointed them towards the sky, letting out as un-togepi-like a howl as could be imagined, a deep, menacing sound that seemed to rise from more throats than his own and which throbbed around the sleeping town, echoing down dark, empty streets.

If Arc's earlier yelling hadn't woken people up, they were getting rudely awakened now, and lights started to go on in the houses of Willow Town, people getting out of bed and going to their windows sleepily to see what was up. A few night owls were already poking their heads out of doorways and windows, looking around nervously for the source of the unearthly sound.

The green glow that had surrounded Silver started to fade and ebb away into the empty air, but his stance remained unchanged--the togepi was leaning back at an awkward angle, both paws pointed directly up at the night sky. All seemed to be quiet, and Harry even ordered, "All right then, Lightning, go in for another peck."

The doduo didn't move, however, staring transfixed up at the sky where Silver was pointing, and, as Harry craned his neck up in puzzlement to look too, he beheld an odd patch of glowing green amidst the silvery flecks of stars, one expanding with unsettling rapidity.

"Go on, peck," Harry said nervously, although his eyes were still on the sky, and he didn't do anything to encourage Lightning when the doduo still didn't move. A faint roaring started off in the distance as the greenish light overhead drew nearer still and resolved itself into a host of smaller objects, flickering with the same strange energy that had previously cloaked Silver.

Before Harry could collect himself enough to react, either to the strange lights in the sky or the angry yells of Willow Town citizens who were either approaching on foot or hanging out of windows or doorways and demanding that the two kids shut up, stop their battle, and let everyone go back to sleep, the attack was upon them. The distant rushing, roaring noise crescendoed into an unbearable cacaphony, and, almost like a warning shot, something huge and wreathed in green flames streaked over Harry's head and slammed into the street a little ways beyond with an explosion of unearthly flame and a huge concussion. Molten asphalt and shards of half-liquid rock shot out in all directions from the site of impact, and the angry yells of townspeople were rapidly replaced by screams and shouts of terror.

Suddenly, the air was filled with flaming meteors, the roar of their passage and the deafening explosions they made upon landing mostly drowning out the cries of human and pokémon, shattering glass, and splintering wood as they slammed down all around Arc and Harry. Repeated shockwaves burst windowpanes and knocked Harry and Lightning from their feet as the ground jounced and bucked, rocked by impact after impact. The previously dark, quiet streets were now a riot of noise and lit by a sinister green-red glow as the bizarre fire that wreathed the meteors was joined by more normal flame as the extreme heat of their passage started peripheral fires. Throughout all the chaos Silver remained where he was, appearing serene and totally unaffected by the destruction unfolding around him.

One meteor streaked down dangerously close to Arc, slamming into the street a little to the left of their battle with an explosion that sent all the previous battlers flying backwards, even Silver, previously unaffected by the power of his own attack. Lightning, who had been closest to the impact, hit the pavement already unconscious, feathers smoking and mostly burned away from the front of his body. Harry, too, landed hard, although the impact seemed to have knocked him out of his daze somewhat. Recalling Lightning hastily, he scrambled back to his feet, ignoring whatever injuries he might have received as a result of his fall. "What--what kind of attack is this?" he yelled hysterically, rushing straight at Arc and grabbing him by the arm, trying to drag him away and towards the edge of Willow Town.

Another meteor slammed down just where Lightning had been standing a moment before, and the explosion set off by this one hurled Harry forward and on top of Arc, sending both of them slamming back into the pavement, Silver getting knocked still farther away from her trainer. The blast of heat that accompanied the sudden explosion was intense, searing into Arc's skin, and the roar of the explosion positively deafening. Molten debris hurtled through the air in all directions, but Harry's body shielded Arc from most of it, although some molten asphalt did strike his free left arm.

This time, Harry did not get back up, blood starting to seep into his hair from where a bit of shrapnel had struck him in the back of the head.

Update: Silver has gained 5 EXP and is at 80% health. Your left arm is badly burned.

(( Well, it wasn't magma storm. <_< ))

"Harry!"
Arc used his good arm to get out from under Harry's badly injured body, and raised his own Pokéball to where Silver, in what was probably characteristic for his species, was crying.
"Silver, return..."
Arc winced as he put the ball back on his belt, and looked over Harry's body.

"I need some help!" Arc shouted to anyone who could hear him.
He activated his Pokédex to hear the name of the attack, and see if he recognized it...if he did, there was a chance he could help...

He had been such an idiot...and it could cost Harry his life, and his own left arm's good use...
Metronome was good when people were prepared for everything, but not for a new trainer...perhaps he wasn't cut out for training Pokémon...

He waited, hoping someone would come forward and help him, even as he surveyed the extensive damage he had done with Silver to the town.

Silver eagerly returned to his pokéball, only too happy to be away from the catastrophe. The noise of the attack drowned Arc's voice out easily, however, and it was unlikely that anyone had heard his plea. Even his pokédex's cool monotone couldn't cut through the roar of falling meteors and the explosions they created upon impac, but fortunately the device displayed text on the screen as well as responding verbally.

"Attack identified as meteoric swarm. Type: dragon."

The attack at last seemed to be dying out, and although the occasional meteor strike still occurred, identifiable when a mounting roar like an oncoming airplane rushed through the town, followed by a booming impact and explosion, they were becoming much more infrequent, the sounds of full-on attack dwindling away to the sounds of the aftermath: the crackle of flames, the occasional shattering crash as a building gave way, the distant cries of other people, and, above it all, the wail of sirens.

The damage to the town was indeed extensive; even just the street that Arc was on at the moment sported numerous impact craters, the asphalt lining their edges still fizzing and steaming with heat, chucks of molten rock and street material lying all over the street. Some houses had been demolished altogether, and others sported large holes in their sides or roof where a smaller meteor had entered, probably making them structurally unsound. All around there was fire, turning the quaint little town into a hellish parody of itself.

"Someone help me!" Arc called again, not caring about the damage to the town...
Of course, he couldn't pay for the damage, so he'd probably have to flee the town immediately.
But what about when the police eventually showed up? They were bound to sooner or later, and probably had Pokémon like Nidoking or Arcanine with them...

Arc continued to yell for help, hoping that someone would find it in their heart to come and help Harry.
He wasn't even distracted by the sounds of wild Pokémon nearby, sounds which he couldn't really discern.

The only one he could make out sounded like a bird, and although he was too concerned by his friend's welfare to care much, he hoped he would catch it or another bird soon...

(( What's with these wild pokémon, now? There would be few to none in Willow Town under normal circumstances, and at this point anything in its right mind would be hitching a ride straight outta town. ))

Again, nobody seemed to be responding to Arc's call for help. Suddenly, the door on the house next to him burst open, and a man staggered out, coughing and wearing nothing but a soot-covered bathrobe over his pajamas. Smoke billowed out behind him, and a splintering crash from somewhere inside the house was soon followed by an explosion, causing the window to blow out, scattering shards of glass. The man had apparently had problems of his own, as his bathrobe was streaked with blood, and he hesitated for a moment upon seeing Arc, but then started off down the street at a staggering run, apparently either deciding that every man for himself was the best policy in this situation or recalling that Arc was the one who had started the whole mess in the first place.

A few other people were running down the street, too, but none seemed to be paying Arc any particular attention, all wrapped up in saving their own skins and getting out of town as quickly as possible. Standing out amidst the fleeing, sooty populace, however, was one person who didn't seem too bothered by the destruction. She was a middle-aged woman, her stringy graying brown hair blowing gently around her face in the hot wind sweeping through the town as she strolled along down the crater-marked sidewalk with a smile on her face. It looked as though she couldn't imagine anything happier than a pleasant stroll through a town recently subject to an attack by extraterrestrial objects in the wee hours of the morning. Flames reflected sinisterly off the panes of her glasses so that her eyes were obscured, and a wynaut tagged along by her side, skipping and bounding around in a crazy dance to the nonsense tune it was singing.

As she drew near, the strange woman took note of Arc's distress and wandered over casually. "Hey guy," she said with a broad grin as she bent down to talk to him, "Something the matter?"

Her wynaut hopped over to inspect Arc curiously, chirping "Wynaut wy!" in a giddy voice and favoring him with a similar bright, uncaring smile.

"Yeah, my friend and his Pokémon here are hurt..." Arc gestured to Harry on the ground, with Lightning's Pokéball on his friend's belt.

He smiled at the Wynaut, appreciating every Pokémon, even if it wasn't a Moltres or a Charizard, or an Alakazam.

"Do you think you can help please, Ma'am?" Arc said hopefully.

He saw that the crowd was thinning a bit now, probably deciding that it was every man for himself, and to be honest, Arc couldn't have cared less...but just wished that Silver had used something more like ember than Meteoric Swarm...

((Well, I always think of HootHoot and some other bird Pokémon as a real owl, and owls are generally pretty curious animals, in fact alot of birds are...so there's a chance one or two might be flying around, taking a look...whilst dodging deadly meteors...By the way, which Pokémon learn Meteoric Swarm?))

(( I think that unlikely, myself (regarding wild pokémon). In any case, meteoric swarm is an attack not learned naturally by any pokémon; it is available only as a special tutor attack, and then mostly only dragons can learn it. ))

"Hurt, you say?" the woman asked, sounding surprised, then looked at Harry as though she hadn't previously noticed his comatose and somewhat charred state. "Why, so he is! Let us see, let us see..." She leaned over to inspect Arc's friend, humming discordantly to herself all the while.

The wynaut smiled happily back at Arc, then started up its hop-skip dance again, bouncing around the boy in a dizzy circle. "Wy, wy, wy, wy!" it chanted happily with each hop, clearly enjoying itself immensely. In the distance there was an explosion, and the wail of sirens was growing more pronounced over the crackle of flames. Hopefully, emergency personnel would be arriving on the scene soon.

"Hmmm..." the woman said after a moment of assessing Harry. "Nasty bump he's got, there. Probably shouldn't move him. Risk of further injury, you know." She then proceeded to stand up, roughly hauling Harry's unconscious body along with her. For a middle-aged woman possibly with several screws loose, she was surprisingly strong. She held the limp teenager in an awkward grip, one arm hooked around his torso, and grinned at Arc. "Still, can't be staying around here much longer, can we? Risk of personal injury, and all that." As if to emphasize her statement, several loud crashes emanated from the burning building next to them, and the heat it was putting out intensified, the flames inside raging higher.

Her wynaut broke off hopping around Arc and rushed back over to her, leaping up and down excitedly, apparently eager to be off again.

"I agree ma'am, is there anywhere we can go? The police are the last people I need to see right now..." Arc really thought he sounded strange saying it, but it was true.
For all he knew, he could be arrested, and Togepi could be put in a detention camp...as soon as Harry was improving, Arc would leave, whether his friend accompanied him or not...just as long as he kept the blame of Harry and slightly mad woman and her Wynaut...

Still, he was thankful for her help, but the sooner he and Togepi got out of here and caught a few Pokémon to help him, the better...
He was slightly afraid of Togepi now though, although he knew Silver had meant well by unleashing the attack, the results had been disasterous, almost fatal.

"Well, I was just headed down to the main street to do a little shopping," the woman said cheerfully. "Lovely night for it, wouldn't you agree? But whyever don't you want to meet the police?"

She started off down the street without waiting for Arc, apparently assuming that he would follow. It wasn't obvious where she was going, but at least it looked to be towards the edge of town. The woman hauled Harry along with her, and his head lolled grotesquely as she went along, unsupported feet dragging across the ground behind her and burned back chafing against her side. It was a position that was no doubt extremely uncomfortable--although admittedly, in his current state, Harry probably couldn't feel it. The wynaut hurried on after its owner, then turned back around to Arc and hopped up and down on the spot a couple times, apparently urging him to come along.

Arc followed, somewhat reluctantly.
"I just destroyed an entire street...at one am...somehow I don't think the police are going to smile and give me a cookie...would you like me to carry Harry for you ma'am?" he spoke bluntly.
He smiled at the Wynaut, which he genuinly liked...and decided to try and catch one of his own one day...

He hoped the woman could at least give them a sofa to put Harry for a few hours to see if he regained consciousness...
"I don't want to seem insistant, but is there any chance you could please give my some assisstance with my friend?" Arc spoke again.

{{I take it it's available on Ruby, so I'll just play it safe and use a Dragonair or something...}}

(( No, it's a new attack for Diamond and Pearl only. Designed by a pokémon fan, actually, as part of a contest in the Japanese pokémon magazine. The winner got to create a new attack that would be included in the next set of games and, well... meteoric swarm. ))

Arc's would-be companion looked hurt. "But I am giving you assistance," she protested. "What did you expect? And that's all right, I'm fine with carrying him." Although looking somewhat more troubled than before, the woman continued on her way, perhaps moving even a little faster than before, wynaut still straggling along behind. Suddenly, she smiled, then glanced back at Arc. "And since I have you to thank for such a pleasant evening, it's the least I could do."

She turned a corner, which brought her back onto the town's main street. The shops here were mostly either destroyed or burning, although that hadn't stopped a few more enterprising individuals from dashing into those still standing yo see what they could salvage before the police arrived to restore order. The peaceful lane running through the center of Willow Town was no more--now there were only the shattered, smoking remnants of shops actually hit by meteors and their burning companions, and the few people still staggering through the streets, most of whom were injured--those fit enough to run had by now mostly done so. "Funny you should mention cookies," the woman said, and her wynaut looked up at her excitedly. Nodding to it, she watched as the little pokémon scampered off into the smoke and chaos, waiting calmly where she was for Arc to catch up.

Arc didn't speak, but simply sighed instead at the eccentric old woman and her Wynaut.
He knew that Silver was probably pretty upset in his Pokéball...but Arc couldn't risk letting him out just yet, incase the attack hadn't completely finished...that would most likely kill Silver, Arc, the woman, Wynaut, Harry, and destroy Lightning's Pokéball...

Arc knew that sooner or later he'd have to cross the ocean, and he wasn't exactly going to be able to surf across on Silver...maybe he should aim to get a Magikarp and raise it into a Gyrados...
After all, they were incredibly powerful, but supposedly very loyal...kind of like an Ivysaur of the ocean...only with Hyper-beam...

Arc followed the old woman, keeping her pace as he continued to walk right next to her.

The woman continued to stroll blithely along down main street, still headed out of town, and after a couple minutes her wynaut reappeared, skipping back down the street towards her, this time with, oddly enough, a pan heavily laden with cookies on his head, being supported by his prehensile ears. He was still looking as cheerful as ever, bouncing along happily, although a bit less energetically, weighed down as he was by his burden. The skipping wynaut seemed to have attracted some attention, as a wild, somewhat ragged-looking man dashed out of the smoke after it and threw himself at the little pokémon. The wynaut just gave an unusually large hop, however, and darted away from his attacker, leaving the man clutch at empty air as he fell to the ground behind the wynaut. If the pokémon even noticed his presence, it gave no sign, and scurried over to its owner without hesitation, offering up the cookies with a huge smile on its face.

The lady bent down and took one, biting into it experimentally, then smiling broadly. "Ah, nice and warm," she said, then giggled abruptly, as though finding the statement somehow incredibly funny. Waving a hand at Arc, she said, "Go on, take a cookie. Any cookie."

Wynaut tipped the tray in Arc's direction invitingly, revealing it to be covered with cookies of almost every variety.

Arc smiled, and took a Sitrus Berry cookie, ignoring the chocolate ones because of a mild, but growing stronger Lactose intolerrance.

"Thankyou ma'am, and Thankyou Waynaut..." Arc smiled and stood up, continuing to beam at the small Pokémon.

"Excuse me Ma'am, I know Harry's still down and out right now, but do you know anywhere I can get a Magikarp or any Water/Fire/Psychic Pokémon? I'm determined to get some more Pokémon to help out Si;ver...maybe some encouragement might help in another crisis if one occurs..." Arc spoke rapidly.


He continued to walk beside Wynaut and the woman, now chewing on his cookie, enjoying the tangy flavour/sensation.

"Magikarp? Why, you can find those anywhere," the woman laughed, "provided you have a rod, of course. And fire-types, there are a fair few of them wandering the routes around here. Look hard enough, and I'm sure you'll find one. Psychics, now--those are usually a little harder to find. Unless, of course, you know where to look..." She trailed off for a moment, giving Arc a level and surprisingly lucid look, then went back to smiling vapidly again. "You'd like one, you say? I have a friend who keeps them, you know. That's where I got my darling Hoppy."

The wynaut by her feet let out a happy "Wynaut wy!" at the sound of its name. "If you'd like, I'm sure I could get one from him for you. If you do a little job for me first," she added, smiling again and reaching down to take another cookie from Hoppy.

"I'd be glad to help you ma'am, and if you'll aid me in getting a Psychic Pokémon, I'm even happier...what's the job?" Arc grinned.

So, the Wynaut's name was Hoppy...it certainly seemed very cheerful, and if all went well, Arc could soon have his own Psychic Pokémon. He didn't mind which one, they were all powerful, and friendly...even super-powerful ones like Alakazam or Gardevoir...they tended to be the kindest of all in fact...

"Oh, that's wonderful, just wonderful!" the woman said, obviously delighted. She paused a moment, transferring the cookie in her free hand to her mouth so that she could use it to rummage around in one of her pants pockets. She soon pulled out a folded envelope, and then proceeded to remove the cookie from her mouth and eat it so that she could talk and hold onto the envelope at the same time. She then held it out towards Arc with a big grin. "Shouldn't be hard, not hard at all. Just take this to 1786 South Wharf, Docklands, and give it to the man who lives there for me. I'd send it through the mail, you know, but..." she leaned in close to Arc and glanced around, as though expecting someone to be listening in, then continued in a low voice, "...I just know they'll open it and read what's inside! You can't trust any of them in the postal service, no you can't. So if you could just deliver this little message for me, it would save me so much trouble! Oh, and you wouldn't dream of opening it, would you?"

But as the woman waved the envelope, which had "1786 South Wharf, Docklands" scrawled across its front in a tall, untidy hand, at Arc, a voice suddenly sounded from behind him. "Hey--hey, you! Kid!"

"I'd be glad to ma'am" Arc smiled.

At the sound of the voice, he expertly slipped the envelope into his pocket, and pulled his minimized Pokéball from his belt, hiding it in his hand incase he needed it, still looking at the woman.

"Wouldn't dream of it..." he grinned.

Arc then turned to see who had called him, hoping it wouldn't be neccessary for Silver to use Metronome so early again...maybe if he used THundershock it would be better...but still...

He turned fuly now to face whoever was trying to get his attention...he did not appreciate being called kid either.

The sight that greeted Arc as he turned around was not a pleasant one. A rough-looking man, tall and muscular and quite imposing for all that he was decked in nothing but a charred bathrobe, stood behind Arc, glaring at him accusingly. Apparently, he'd been making good on the chaos, because tucked beneath one of his arms was a large, lumpy bag, and hanging loosely in his other hand was a long, solid-looking piece of jagged wood, probably salvaged from one of the demolished buildings. As Arc turned around, his scowl turned to a nasty, satisfied grin. "It is you! The kid with the togepi!"

Turning away from Arc, he called out to the burning street around him at large, "Hey! I found him! The little runt who caused all this mess!"

"Oh, dear," Arc's companion said but, far from looking worried, she looked even more happy than usual, snagging another cookie from Hoppy's tray.

"I am afraid you are mistaken sir...I am new to the region, and have no Togepi...only a Magikarp..." Arc sounded convincing...at least to himself he did...

He had no wish to get into a physical brawl, but he was strong and agil, and could probably hold his own against a single man at a time...especially if he had his own weapon, due to his almost-natural fencing ability, which had never really been nurtured.

And if it was a Pokémon fight...Metronome would probably choose splash instead oh Hyper-beam...hopefully it wouldn't get to that though.

"I could help you look for this boy with the Togepi if you wish, once my friend here has been attended to...I myself and very annoyed with the person who did this, and believe him to be a moron...My friend and his Pokémon were almost killed, as were I and...Magikarp..." Arc spoke again, trying to keep emotion out of his voice.

The big man laughed nastily and took a step towards Arc. "Nice try, kid, but I saw you and your little friend there when your stupid battle woke up the whole town--and then destroyed it! And now... we're gonna make you pay!"

The "we" to which he was referring had rapidly begun gathering at the sound of his shout. Most of the gathering crowd were looters, primarily young men or teenagers lugging along pirated goods and, in general, weapons. A few were apparently just ordinary citizens, however, angered by the destruction caused to their town, mixing indiscriminately with the criminals, united by a common cause. Already, ten people had gathered, and more were coming--the group leered unpleasantly at Arc and muttered nastily, threatening to swiftly become a mob.

"I appologise for the damage done to your town, and I sense this cannot be settled peacefully...Silver, go!"
Arc threw Silver's Pokéball, releasing the Togepi, and Arc hoped some kind of string shot or stun spore would kick in...

"Really...I don't want to have to use Metronome...but this wasn't my fault...it was an accident...if this cannot be settled peacefully, then I really hope you all get a dose of Dragon Rage, Hyper-beam, or Blast burn..." Arc now smiled unpleasantly, standing at a massive height for anyone really...but smild nonetheless.

He hoped Silver was standing close to him, and getting ready incase attack was called for...

By now the crowd had grown to around thirteen, and although its members paused momentarily upon the togepi's release--they had all, after all, seen firsthand what the pokémon could do, and a few looked decidedly apprehensive at the thought of braving another metronome. The ringleader, however, just glared around at them. "Come on!" he snarled. "There's no way it can defend him against all of us!"

This appeared to strengthen his companions' resolve a bit, and a couple of them tossed pokéballs of their own to the ground, releasing a snubbull, a mangy-looking growlithe, an a pikachu, respectively.

Behind him, Arc's companion pulled a pokéball out of her pocket and flicked it to the ground. A mawile appeared on the pavement, and at a nod from her, stepped forward to stand beside Arc, while Hoppy carefully set the cookies down and flanked him as well. Silver looked extremely nervous, and although the two pokémon that joined him made him feel slightly more comfortable, he was still quite aware that sixteen on four was awful odds and whimpered, raising his small paws in front of his face, already prepared to let loose another metronome, despite being terrified of what his actions had caused the last time the attack was caused.

With a collective yell, the mob charged, closing in around Arc and his comrades at a shambling run, weapons held high.

"Metronome, and make it something offensive if you can! If not, keep trying until we get something...Silver, let's show them!" Arc yelled.

He stood next to the woman, feeling a rush of adreneline, knowing they were hopelessley outnumbered, but not outgunned with Metrnome...but Arc still felt a compulsion to scan each of the newly appeared Pokémon with his Pokédex...the Snubbull, then Pikachu, then Growlithe, then Mawile, then Wynaut...he wasn't really bothered about it reading out loads of data, as long as it gave weaknesses...and strengths...and maybe stored Data for later use.

Silver shut his eyes tightly as he began his metronome attack, fingers waving back and forth in front of his face as he started to sway in time with their movements. He had no control over the outcome of his attack and could only hope for the best as strange power began gathering in his small body, the strings of reality vibrating along to the rhythm of the togepi's metronome and resonating into some strange manifestation.

Arc's pokédex barely had time to rattle off basic stats on all the pokémon he pointed it at, and even as it was its voice was largely drowned out by the angry yells of the crowd bearing down on him. "This snubbull is male and level eight. This pikachu is female and level ten. This growlithe is female and level seven. This mawile is female and level fourteen. This wynaut is male and level ten."

And then, the wave of people broke against the small, ragged line of defenders. A strange wall of shimmering light abruptly rose in front of Silver, but the running humans and pokémon passed straight through it largely without noticing the golden haze rippling through the air around pokémon and human alike.

The mawile was the first to strike, grinning amiably at the onrushing crowd, then suddenly spinning around, huge metal horns sweeping out to knock two of the forerunners off their feet, a third tripping and falling atop his stumbling comrades and sending them all to the ground. Growling, he half-rose and lashed out with a long, twisted metal rod. The weapon clanged jarringly off the mawile's metal horns, and the impact appeared to have hurt the man more than it had damaged her. Leaping neatly out of the way of further swings, she scurried around to his side and reached out with her metal jaws once again, clamping down on his leg with terrible force. The man screamed and redoubled his attack on the mawile, but the pokémon failed to remove her jaws from his leg, no matter how many times he struck her, appearing largely unaffected by his desperate attack. There was a sickening, crunching snap, and the man screamed again, though the mawile loosed him from her jaws, his leg horribly mangled (not to mention broken), and he flailed around in pain as the two people pinned below him struggled to get him off.

Mawile's victory was short-lived, however, as a bolt of electricity and a barrage of flames shot out of the crowd and lanced across her side, causing her to cry out in shock and pain. Although the attacks seemed to have some of their power stripped away from them by the strange haze Silver had summoned, the mawile nevertheless spun around angrily and bounded towards the growlithe and pikachu, both of whom were closing in on her.

A trio of teenagers surrounded Hoppy, two boys and one grim, tough-looking girl, all brandishing makeshift weapons. One of the more bold ones lunged out with a ragged hunk of wood, slamming it down on the wynaut's head. Hoppy crumpled beneath the blow, but then suddenly rebounded, displaying almost comical elasticity, and sent the weapon flying back in a reverse trajectory and slamming powerfully into the unprepared teen's face. He staggered back in a pained daze, makeshift weapon falling from limp fingers as blood began to dribble from his ruined nose. His two companions advanced with more caution, and Hoppy danced happily in front of them, apparently unafraid.

Silver had problems of his own as the snubbull lunged for him, clamping down with a harsh bite. The togepi whimpered and struggled in the pokémon's jaws, small arms flailing in weak attempts at smacking the pink dog away. The attack seemed to be having little effect, however, and the snubbull only clamped down harder. Desperate, Silver began another metronome, hoping for something that would prompt the determined pokémon to let go.

This grim sight was rapidly blocked from Arc's view by the cluster of people closing in around him. The man who had started it all attacked first as more of his compatriots closed ranks around Arc, lashing out at at Arc's chest with his long, splintery slab of wood. The others lurked eagerly on the sidelines, prepared to pull Arc down if he would only give them the opportunity.

Throughout all of it, the strange woman just remained where she was, a little behind Arc and watching the battle without issuing any orders to her pokémon; apparently, she considered them capable of taking care of themselves. No one seemed to be paying her attention yet, so she merely stood, still holding Harry awkwardly under one arm and smiling widely at the unfolding fight.

"Silver...I can't let this happen to you..." Arc spoke.

He then dodged the blows by the man with the wooden object, and drove his knee into the man's stomach, and his fist into the man's nose.

"You will never harm Silver..." At this point Arc was kind of hoping that Silver would have regained a little health and would appear from his Pokéball, but knew how unlikely it was.

He looked to the woman, whose Pokémon seemed to be doing pretty well for themselves, and shook his head, turning back to Silver.

"Keep using Metronome, use it in rapid succession...and let's hope for shockwave or Thunderwave..." Arc yelled.

The man let out a grunt of pain and doubled over when Arc slammed a knee into his stomach, then was knocked back entirely, clutching his face, after the assault on his nose, but Arc's victory was costly--in the process of attacking the man, he left himself open to the crowd. They swarmed in around him, one man grabbing him by the shoulders and attempting to wrestle him to the ground and to prevent his escape, while the others lashed out with punches, kicks, and jabs of their makeshift weapons--it was impossible for Arc to escape all the blows, no matter how hard he struggled, and one actually rather timid-looking, scrawny fellow managed to land a nasty cut across his chest with a jagged-edged piece of metal, while more bruising blows fell across his shoulders and sides. The man grappling with him was heavy and strong, attempting to force Arc to the ground where he would be at the full mercy of the mob.

Terrified, Silver unleashed his metronome attack. While he managed to generate an electric attack as Arc had hoped, it was not one wished for. As Silver's fingers danced back and forth through the air, a strange electric hum built in the air around him, causing the snubbull to look around nervously, although it only strengthened its hold on the togepi, who whimpered slightly. Inexplicably, Silver slowly began to rise from the ground, dragging the snubbull along with him, the flat thrumming of the strange attack increasing in volume as the togepi rose higher, until the snubbull was forced to relinquish his hold lest he be lifted off the ground, growling at the now-levitating togepi and staring at him suspiciously. With the snubbull's mouth removed, Silver started to bleed profusely from the deep bite marks the dog's teeth had left behind.

The mawile lunged forward and snapped the growlithe up in a nasty bite, causing the fire-type to whimper and flail as the mawile's steel jaws sank inch-long teeth into its small body, injecting burning dark energy as they went. The mawile chucked the growlithe at the head of the man whose leg she had broken, knocking himself and his two companions back to the ground. The pikachu hissed angrily and blasted the mawile with another electric attack, although this time without the intent to damage--the steel-type let out a strangled cry of rage as the thunder wave pulsed through her veins, scrambling nervous signals and rendering her muscles stiff and unreliable.

Hoppy threw himself at the girl's leg with a battle cry, and she collapsed to one knee as a solid tackle nearly knocked her over, then swatted the blue creature away with an angry swipe and staggered back to her feet. Hoppy bounced across the pavement and easily flipped back upright, apparently without taking much damage, only to be hit with a vicious kick from behind as the other boy worked up the courage to strike the wynaut while he appeared distracted. This time, the psychic-type was not so quick to get up, and even looked a bit annoyed as he turned to face his three assailants, jabbering indignantly and apparently reprimanding them for their harsh treatment. The first boy to fall victim to Hoppy's counter was starting to regain his bearings, and he clutched at his length of wood with a snarl, murder in his eyes and blood on his face as he glared at the insolent pokémon.

Arc's muscles were not going to help him wrestle free of the man's grasp, it was his speed. He tried to jerk around fast enough to quickly jerk from the man's arms, and then yelled to Silver.
"Silver, metronome again!"
He then made a rapid glance to where the woman was holding onto Harry's body...in a very awquard position, and then remembered Lightning's ball on his friend's belt.
Even though it had been hit, it might still have a little bit of health left...maybe giving them, the edge they neded in a battle...
"Ma'am, release Harry's Doduo if you can! There's a chance it might have some health left, and it's fast enough to get us out of this mess!" Arc screamed.

((I'd like the appologise for coming so close to godmodding, I'm not really used to RPing using Pokémon or other animals whilst your character tries to stand back...but it's even stranger when you're being held down. I hope this edit has corrected the problem))

(( Not a problem. I know it's hard. ))

Arc's twisting succeeded, and his assailant was forced to let go, the actions of his fellow mob members hindering his attempts to recapture the boy. The very same, however, kept up their relentless and frenzied assault, lashing out at Arc with numerous punishing blows. In addition to several bruising strikes to his torso, he had the misfortune of being victim to a particularly shattering blow to the leg just below the kneecap as one of the looters got the idea that it might be easier to bring him down through injury rather than simple force. The wound was quite painful, and it was unlikely that Arc would be standing upright until it was tended to in some way.

The mawile was now quite paralyzed, but fortunately retained the capacity to growl menacingly at her attackers, who had finally managed to sort out their injured comrade and the growlithe in a satisfactory manner. Already well-aware of the mawile's abilities (their memories helped along considerably by the still-screaming guy lying nearby), they hung back nervously. The pikachu, however, was not similarly impressed, and blasted the steel-type with a thundershock, eliciting a brief shriek, followed by a dangerous hiss from the stiff-but-now-very-angry-pokémon.

Silver desperately began another metronome, not liking the look on the snubbull's face as it sized him up at all. This time, the blue aura surrounding the togepi's fingers bled out to a pale white radiance that surrounded his egg-shaped body, then faded as mysteriously as it had come. Nothing appeared to have happened, and Silver only had a moment for dismay before the snubbull tackled him out of the air, pinning him down despite his sudden inexplicable predisposition to levitation and clamping down with another powerful bite.

Hoppy had apparently decided that running was the best course of action for the moment, and he cheerfully led his three assailants on a merry chase around the outside of the chaos, laughing and bouncing along in a carefree way as the snarling teenagers dashed along behind, murder in their eyes and the initial point of their engagement forgotten. Hoppy clapped happily--and mockingly, to the eyes of his pursuers--with his bizarre ears as he went along, keeping them enthralled with an encore attack.

"Doduo?" the woman mused aloud, then rearranged Harry in her grasp so that she could reach down and snag the pokéball clipped to his belt. Apparently, she had not managed to remain entirely unnoticed--there was an unconscious looter sprawled near her, arm looking suspiciously broken. When the woman cast Lightning's pokéball to the ground in front of her, the doduo that emerged was equally as lively; Lightning was most definitely down for the count, plumage still smoking slightly from the meteor strike. The woman recalled him again, seemed to consider for a moment before clipping the pokéball back to Harry's belt. "Nope, sorry, it's definitely not going to be running anywhere for a bit!" she yelled over the clamor. Harry groaned weakly. "This one's looking a bit more lively, though!"

Her shouting attracted the attention of a couple of the fringe members of the mob, and they turned towards her, looking murderous as ever. She didn't appear to notice them, putting Harry down on the pavement before her semi-gently, frowning down at him.

Arc grabbed a rock from the ground, although he was still under attack, and aimed for Snubbull's body, throwing it with as much might as possible, hoping that Silver's next metronome would be more effective...
"Silver, use metronome again!" Arc yelled as the stone careened through the air.

He noticed Harry's few groans, and hoped that it means Harry was regaining consciousness...Harry's bodily speed was incredibly impressive for any human, and he could give them an edge as well...

Arc began to try and move towards Silver, preparing the pull a potion from his pack if he could get close enough, blood pouring from several long gashes, which were fortunately, not too deep, a few deeper ones, and then there were the many bruises and the injured leg, not to mention the still-present burn to the arm.

The rock that Arc threw had little hope of reaching Silver given his current position, but fortunately what blocked his shot was one of his assailant's heads. The man staggered back, shaking his head dazedly, but was replaced quickly enough by another. The lot of them continued their relentless assault on Arc, frenzied with anger and mob mentality.

Silver once again began a metronome attack, and this time the result was a dark, ghostly aura that slithered through the air around him, twining dark tendrils around the snubbull's body. The normal-type relinquished his hold and backed off, allowing Silver to float free once more, but then followed this with a scary face, visage contorting into a horrible sneer as his eyes glowed a sinister yellow. Silver watched, trembling and paralyzed with fear.

Mawile seemed to regain some control of her muscles and, after an ungainly stagger forward, advanced with only minor stiffness towards the opposition, growling all the way. The humans and the growlithe backed off, still nervous, but it wasn't them in which she was interested--lunging forward, she snapped up the pikachu in another of her vicious bites and began applying pressure. The electric-type yelled with pain and unleashed another thundershock directly into the mawile's body, but this only induced her to redouble the power of her crushing grip. Silver's light screen was starting to wear thin, however, and she felt the electricity more acutely than before.

Hoppy's attackers had finally managed to catch up with him, and the girl dove on top of him, wrestling the struggling wynaut to the ground. The wynaut bounced up unexpectedly, hitting her in the face with a tackle, but although stunned, she held on to him tightly.

Her grip was loosened, however, when with a snarl, a mightyena came pounding out of the smoke and fire, leaping and knocking one of her companions to the ground while growling viciously at the other, who stopped his advanced on the helpless wynaut and stared nervously at the new threat. Hoppy himself managed to wriggle free and started off towards his owner, muttering something irritable to himself and gesticulating with his ears.

The crowd around Arc suddenly began to disperse as a houndoom leapt into the fray, snarling and blowing a cloud of foul smog into the crowd. Thoughts of fighting left their minds extremely quickly as they began to cough and choke on the poisonous fumes, eyes streaming. Arc didn't get the worst of the attack--for once, his being on the ground was an advantage, as most of the attack drifted out over his head. The mob quickly attempted to disperse, but a cordon of intimidating pokémon sprang up around them, arcanine and manectric growling and barking viciously, running down any who attempted to escape. Mawile hastily released the bloodied pikachu and knocked it away with a slap of her huge metal jaws, then began attempting to look innocent.

"That's enough!" someone bellowed from the edge of the crowd, at the head of a group of intimidating-looking uniformed people. The police had arrived.