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Dan sighed. "Sometimes I think how much easier life would be if I had a fire stone. Then I could actully evolve Peter and get places faster. Arcanines are the second fastest pokemon in the world. Only Rapidashes are faster."

"So, you were going to define 'Thing'?" Dan asked, still clinging to Peter so the Growlithe wouldn't fall.

Dan frowned. Lacking a parachute, he had Peter use Flamethrower to slow their fall. It worked similar to a jetpack, but didn't work nearly as well. The reptilian fire types get the power, and the mamalian ones get the longevity. "Next time, remind me to grab a parachute." He said as he landed with a jolt and placed Peter on the ground.

((Oh, joy. *already has something in mind* I can "tame" second evolution pokemon, right?))

Dan nodded and walked off with Peter. The forest was dense and dark, but it seemed to have a vibrant life in it. This raised his suspiscions of what the pokemon could be.

((Right. Well, I doubt it would be third evolution. Considering how early it is in the RP, it'd only be about 35. And it evolves around 40 I think.))

Dan groaned as he continued to walk through the forest. Plenty of pokemon tracks were he was, and all leading in one direction, but absolutely no pokemon aside from Peter. Not even a Caterpie. And then he saw a grey flash out of the corner of his eye. On instinct, he fired a capture disc at it. The disc bounced off, but it did get the pokemon to stop. It wasn't a pokemon that would usually be grey. A Metang, arms folded back for speed and everything. And it was now glaring at him, its eyes starting to glow with psychic energy.

He retrieved the capture disc and shot it again. Compared to the Steelix, which had taken over thirty circles, the Metang only took about ten. "Peter, use fire spin to keep it still if it tries to move." He said. Instead, he ended up having the disc psychicly hurled at him just as the tenth circle was finished. The Metang knew Confusion. "Whoa there. Look, sorry about the whole capture disc thing. Can you just help us figure out what's going on here?" He asked it, cautious to pick up the capture disc again in case the Metang tried to hurl it at him again.

It nodded and beckoned him further along the path of tracks.

Dan sighed as he continued to walk. Still no sign of any pokemon other than Peter and that Metang. Speaking of which, the two of them seemed to be moving faster now. And conversing. And various other things that diverted their attention from Dan. So of course neither of them noticed when he got pulled into a river by a Gyarados. He sturggled to get away from the beast, and found that it was impossible. Now hardly moving in an effort to save what little air he had left in his lungs, he used his styler on a nearby Lanturn. A few seconds later, it was captured. He attempted to signal for it to attack the Gyarados and braced himself for an electric shock. At first, the Lanturn stared blankly at him as he ran out of breath. And then it began to sparkle with electricity before ramming into the Gyarados. The huge amounts of electricity shot Dan out of the water.

Upon landing on the shore he had been trying to get to, he saw another person with a styler on the opposite bank. The other person happened to be shouting orders to the Gyarados. "********. Lanturn, Thunder Wave on them both." He said, looking for Metang and Peter. The two pokemon were now moving back towards him, looking thoroughly worried. "I'm all right." He muttered as the Gyarados and the other person were shocked with a thunder wave. It was far from secret that the other guy wasn't a ranger. No ranger in the world wore a Team Rocket uniform.

Upon being reasonably assured both the Rocket and the Gyarados were paralyzed, Dan ran for it, Metang and Peter both appearing just as scared as he was. He set off a yellow flare to warn Aaron to avoid the area as he ran. Metang and Peter seemed to be right back on trail, and looking at the styler he saw that indeed Lanturn was no longer under its control. But neither was Metang.

He looked at the pokemon, which seemed to still be under the control of the styler anyway. Weird.

((Well obviously I was refering to it's second stage.))

((Just assume when I say evolution I mean stage. It'll make things much easier for both of us.))

Dan frowned as they came to a valley. Well, what was a valley now. It was apparent that this was fairly new, almost as if pokemon running to see whatever it was had stampeded over an old tunnel. The only way across would be by flying. Sighing, Dan looked around for anything that could fly. Aside from Aaron's Dragonite, which was doubtlessly flying over Aaron, he didn't see anything in the sky. And then he heard the thud in front of him. He slowly turned around. An Aerodactyl had just flown out of the valley and landed right in front of him, glaring at him, Peter, and Metang, who still seemed to be under the styler's control even though the timer had long ago finished. Perhaps he had 'tamed' Metang?

In any case, the Aerodactly was angry. "Peter, please explain to the nice Aerodactyl that we didn't cause the ground to collapse on its lair." He muttered. When a rock was hurled at Peter, he decided to try a different tactic. "Metang, Metal Claw and tell it that if it isn't nice it gets more Metal Claws." He ordered. Metang turned and stared, then slashed the Aerodactyl with its claws. Aerodactyl screamed in pain after the Metal Claw and immediatly went into a prone position. Dan used the styler and a few circles later the Aerodactyl was captured. "Fly us to the other side." He said, getting on and taking Peter up with him. Metang grabbed onto Aerodactyl's tail, and they flew across. Dan spent the time petting the Aerodactyl and apologizing for having to hurt it and telling it how sorry he was that its home had been destroyed.

As they landed, Metang threw itself ahead of Aerodactyl while Dan and Peter slowly made their way off once Aerodactyl was on the ground. Thanking the Aerodactyl for its services, Dan released it. It flew back down into the valley, only to come back up with something orange and shiny in one claw. As the rock fell, Dan realized it was a Fire Stone, and it was going to land right on top of Peter. He rushed to grab it before it hit Peter. He thanked Aerodactyl again, and they were on their way towards the source of the problems again, with an Aerodactyl shadow on them as the made their way through the forest.