Welcome to Gaia! ::

A sigh of relief escaped Robyn as she set foot in Solaceon Town. It was one of the few times she hadn't gotten lost. Getting from place to place without getting lost was hard for Robyn. Soon she'd have to catch a flying or psychic type to make traveling easier. The Mudkip atop her head patted Robyn's forehead, as if praising his trainer for making it to their destination with no problem. The pair often didn't get along- differences of opinion, Robyn figured- but they had their moments to make up for all their arguments.

Her usual care-free smile overrode her features as she skipped like a little girl through town. The first part of Robyn's mission was to find the daycare man. Simple enough. It wasn't like a daycare was hard to find. It stood out as much as a Pokemon Center. It was the building by the enclosure full of Pokemon. By the fence stood a old- er well experienced man, holding an egg. He watched the Pokemon with a tender, gentle look.

“You're the daycare man, right,” Robyn asked as she approached him. Kipper, Robyn's Mudkip, asked a question of his own, supposedly about the egg-if his eying it was any clue.

”Why, yes I am, dearie. Are you the one who is suppose to guide me the Sevii Islands, to Lady Selphy?” Robyn answered with a small nod- anything bigger would dislodge Kipper from his resting spot- of her head and a smile. She felt Kipper lean forward, trying for a better look at the egg.

“Kipper, don't lean forward so much or you'll-”

Too late, the water type took a tumble from his trainer's head and smacked into the ground. Robyn's hands hovered in the air uselessly, proof her reaction speed was a little too slow. ”Oh my. Is he okay?”

Robyn watched as Kipper got up- a part of her wanted to help her pokemon up but knowing him, it'd hurt Kipper's self-esteem if she did. Once on his feet, the Mudkip looked up at his trainer, his lower lip slightly jutted out in a pout but otherwise unharmed. “Seems like he's okay. Kipper is one tough little pokemon,” she replied bending down and patting her pokemon on the head.

Kipper beamed up at the two humans, pleased that he was complimented. Robyn straightened out and looked at the daycare man, smiling. “We should get going. We have a long way to go.”

“Alright.” The old man took a step forward and stumbled- as if the air itself had decided to trip him. He regained his balance with a small chuckle. Both he and the egg were safe. “That could have been bad.”

That incident should have been a premonition of things to come but Robyn and Kipper took no heed of it. Their trouble came in threes. The first was a Sneasel, a primarily black Pokemon with a red feathered ear and tail. If one looked at the ear, they'd be able to tell that the Sneasel was female but Robyn wouldn't notice this until later. What was noticed was the Sneasel flashing by, grabbing the egg.

For a few precious seconds, they were shocked still. Until the Sneasel looked back at them and snickered at their dumbstruck faces. Robyn looked down at her Mudkip. “Kipper, aim a water gun at the path Sneasel will be taking.”

Kipper, confused at his trainer's logic, did as he was commanded. With the water gun, the ground before Sneasel turned muddy. The dark type, oblivious as to what had happened, continued on its high speed getaway. As she stepped into the mud, the Sneasel began slipping and sliding- mud was different to run on than dirt and Sneasel had no time to adjust her running. Sneasel fought to regain her balance but it was for naught. The Sneasel feel, landing on her back- the egg flew free of her grasp.

Robyn ran to catch the egg, only to slip and fall in the mud herself. The only ones left to save the egg from becoming scrambled on the ground were Kipper and the daycare man. One look at the old man told Kipper that the male human would be of little to no use. The water type Pokemon positioned himself under the falling egg and let lose a gentle water gun. The stream of water escorted the egg safely down, until it was right above Kipper's mouth.

He cut off the flow of water, the egg fell straight into Kipper's mouth, like he planned- so the egg wouldn't crash to the ground. The Mudkip's eyes widened. The egg getting stuck in his mouth wasn't part of the plan- he began to freak out.

In the meantime, the Sneasel had gotten back on her feet and began rushing toward Kipper. Robyn pushed herself from the ground, only to slid back down again. With a muttered curse, the woman grabbed a pokeball from her waist and released the Pokemon inside. From the red light came a Numel.

“Lemun! Ember that Sneasel, now!”

He tilted its head to the side, slowly, before releasing the fire attack. The attack hit the dark/ice type in the back. In a graceful but obviously pained movement, the Sneasel spun around- anger flared in her eyes. She launched herself at the Numel, her claw gleaming like steel. The metal claw hit the fire type upon the head. Sneasel held herself straight up, proud but her pride soon deflated. Lemun blinked his eyes slowly and tilted his head the other way, the attack had barely affected him.

“That's my Lemun! Now, heat wave,” Robyn commanded- by this time, she had managed to get to her feet.

Lemun opened his mouth, a ball of orange fire began forming. To try and stop the attack, the wild Sneasel charged the Numel, her claw closed into a fist- surrounded by an icy glow. Robyn smirked as the ice punch found its mark. The attack hadn't done what the Sneasel wanted, the heat wave was still coming and Lemun was still going strong. As an added bonus, the Sneasel was now closer and the attack would be more devastating.

As if on cue, Numel released the attack and a flame of winds was hurled at the Sneasel. The dark type was flung back several yards but was still standing on her feet- although, unsteadily.

“You're a rather unyielding one, aren't you?” Robyn smiled to herself, as if she was a child who had just come up with a mischievous plan. She pulled out an empty pokeball. “I think you'll make a great addition to the team.”

Robyn drew her arm back and threw the pokeball. It slammed into the wild Pokemon's head, a red light drew the dark type pokemon into the pokeball. It shook once, Robyn was tense throughout her whole body. Another shake. The woman chanced a glance around, to see how her pokemon, the daycare man and the egg were doing. Kipper was still struggling with the egg in his mouth. The old man was helping the water type by slow removing the egg, inch by painstaking inch. Lemun was splashing in the mud. Her eyes snapped back to the ball by the time the third shake finished. Robyn held her breath and when it didn't move again she wanted to let lose a loud cheer. She rushed over to the still ball and snatched it from the ground- hastily putting it away before the Sneasel decided to she didn't want to be caught.

With a quick thank you to Lemun, Robyn returned the fire type to his pokeball. Then the woman made her way over to her Mudkip and the daycare man. The man had retrieved the egg from the water type's mouth. “Seems like the egg extraction was a success.”

”It was quite difficult at first but- Oh dear. You have a little mud right, well everywhere.”

Robyn looked down at herself and groaned. She had a thick coated of mud covering almost every inch of her. She had known her face was covered with mud and she should have known that logically, the rest of her was now sporting a lovely mud coating.

“Great. Just great. Kipper, you think you can help me out a little,” she asked with a laugh. It was much better that she'd be covered with mud than anything to happen to the egg.

Kipper looked his trainer up and down- he seemed to approve of her new look. Something about her looks must have convinced him that she was better without the mud, for Kipper fired a water gun at his trainer. The water rushed over Robyn, washing the mud away. As the last traced of mud disappeared, the water gun ended.

All had gone peaceful until they were on the boat headed for the Sevii Islands. That was when the second mishap occurred. Robyn and Kipper were standing at the railing, watching the sea and water Pokemon when the daycare man joined them. That was when a particularly rough wave hit their side of the boat. It rocked the old man rather bad and his hold on the egg loosened. It slide from his hands and rolled over the side of the boat.

Robyn stared at the man, disbelieving before jumping in after the egg, Kipper was close at her heels. The water was ice cold, making Robyn gasp. Water flooded into her mouth, causing her to resurface to refill her lungs with air. Once done, she submerged herself again and began to swim down. It stung her eyes to open them beneath the water but she did it anyway. It was hard to see anything and the egg was already long gone.

Kipper swam into her line of sight. The Mudkip was excited and motioned for his trainer to follow. A flash of memory popped into Robyn's mind. Mudkip's fins acted as sonar. A quick nod of her head and she followed after Kipper.

The further they descended, the more excited Kipper became but it was becoming increasingly difficult for Robyn. The pressure was getting to her. Especially around her stomach, it felt like something was squeezing it. It seemed like Kipper was getting further and further away. A sudden tightening around her waist forced the air out of her. The air float out of her into the water as bubbles. Her hands flew to her mouth, trying in vain to keep the air there.

Robyn's ice blue eyes looked to her waist. Tentacles. Tracing them back to their source, she discovered they belonged to a Tentacruel. Robyn began to struggle when he was pulling her to him.


Kipper didn't notice his trainer was in trouble. He didn't even notice that she was no longer following. He kept swimming, using his fins to find the egg that had fallen overboard. It wasn't long before he found the egg and who had picked it up. A Wailord. It was sitting on his back as if hitching a hide.

To say the Wailord was big would be an understatement. Kipper trembled as he approached but continued anyways. “Kip kip. Mud kip mud mud. Kip kip kip muuuuuud kip!” He explained the situation to the other water type, hoping the Wailord would be reasonable.

“Waaaaaai.”

He understood! He even offered to bring the egg up to the surface for Kipper. The Mudkip turned around to inform his trainer that they could head back to the surface with no worries but she wasn't there. Worry set in. She couldn't breathe in water like Kipper could. No could she swim very well like water types. He sped back along the way he came, sure the Wailord would follow at his own pace.

It didn't take much effort to find his trainer. She was wrapped in a Tentacruel's grasped and was being hauled through the water. She was limp. Enraged, Kipper fired a mud-slap at the escaping Pokemon. Though the attack was fast, the water dissipated the mud until only a clump that hit the Tentacruel was left.

It turned back around and lashed out a tentacle to grab the Mudkip, but Kipper rolled to the side- out of the way. He opened his mouth and let loose a stream of boiling hot water at his enemy- specifically at the tentacle holding his trainer. The Tentacruel released Robyn as the pain spread through his tentacle.

Robyn began sinking into the water. Kipper swam to her and positioned himself under her and began to swim her up to the surface. A jerk on his leg. The Tentacruel had a grip on one of his legs. This wasn't good. He couldn't save his trainer and fight at the same time.

Wailord rose up behind the Tentacruel and releasing a menacing sound. The tentacle on Mudkip's leg unraveled and the water/poison type retreated. Two against one was a little too much for it. The Wailord swam under Kipper and his trainer and began to rise to the surface- the two getting a fast trip up. He broke through the water next the their boat. The sailors began yelling at each other.

Soon, Kipper found himself, his trainer and the egg safely aboard. The Wailord left without even waiting for a thank you, he didn't get along well with humans. Kipper watched over the egg as the people gathered around his trainer. The daycare man was pushing on his trainer's chest. He then bent down and Robyn's hand shot up and covered the old man's mouth.

She head to the side and began coughing up water. When she finally could talk she said, “That's not necessary.”

Kipper rolled the egg over to his trainer and the man. Someone had fetched a blanket for Robyn and she sat shivering under it.

“Where were you,” his trainer demanded, her teeth chattering. Before he got a chance to answer, Robyn grabbed him and the egg and embraced the two under the blanket. “I can't believe I almost got CPR from an old man,” she muttered under her breath.

The rest of the boat ride went without incident, except for the sailors that kept asking if Robyn was okay. The final event happened within spitting distance of Lady Selphy's home. Soon after getting off the boat, Robyn returned Kipper to his ball for a much needed rest and returned the egg to the daycare man, hopping that he would hold onto it better.

Boy, was she wrong. They were walking down the path to Lady Selphy's house when the old man tripped. Not over air like he had before leaving Solaceon Town but over a Diglet who happened to pop his head up right at that instance. The egg went flying from his hands.

Without thinking, Robyn grabbed her nearest pokeball and threw it. Out of the red light dashed the newly caught Sneasel. The dark Pokemon raced forward and caught the egg before it hit the ground. Begrudgingly, the Sneasel handed the egg back to the man.

Robyn released a sigh of releif when they reached Lady Selphy's door.

“I believe I can handle it from here. Although, I don't know why every time I have an egg, this like those happen.”

Thank Arceus this mission was over. She turned to go, Sneasel following, but Robyn stopped. She turned back to the daycare man. There was question Robyn just had to ask. “I've been wondering. What kind of egg is that?”

“This? Why, it's a Pidgey egg.”

Robyn looked down at Sneasel, flabbergasted. The dark type looked back at her with a hungry knowing kind of smile. Robyn had heard that Sneasel ate Pidgey eggs, she just never thought it to be true.

Robyn looked over the mission again, in apparent disbelief. It was just impossible to believe. Just plain impossible that she would be able to go to the famous gemstone exhibit. Well, it wasn't as if she invited or even allowed in- only if the culprits somehow made it in would she even be allowed to step foot in the museum. Still, it was exciting to be so new the Oreburgh Mining Museum with such an event going on. It didn't even occur to her how absurd the mission sounded. Actually, she hadn't read all the mission but Oreburgh Mining Museum and the gemstone exhibit.

It wasn't until she reached Oreburgh that she truly looked at the mission. “Rick...rolll? Oh, I know that song, mom sent me an e-mail just like week. If I hear it now, it's going to get stuck in my head for the rest of the week, maybe even month.”

With a sigh, Robyn began heading to the museum. She circled the facilities a few times- searching for something that seemed out of place. Nothing seemed off. Nothing at all, except that giant blow up Sableye in front of the museum. Which, wasn't so out of place as one would expect. It did have gem-stone like eyes and those precious stones all around its body. One of the perfect Pokemon for a gemstone exhibit- Robyn figured.

“This is getting me nowhere,” Robyn muttered to herself, kicking at the dirt. Her mood was turning foul. She grumbled and tsked, all the while something formed in the back of her mind. We're no strangers to love. “You know the rules and so do I.” The song was out of her lips before she even realized it. Instinctively, Robyn bit her lip to stop the flow of words. Once one began singing it, it was hard to stop.

”Oh. My. Gosh.”

Robyn spun around to find a woman at least a decade older than herself standing right behind her, hand over mouth. This can't be good. She could be one of the museum workers thinking I'm one of the rickrollers. “I can expla-”

The woman leaned toward Robyn. In an excited whisper, ”You're one of us, right? Oh my gosh. I can't believe this. A groupie. Come on.” She grabbed Robyn by the wrist and dragged her off to the back of the Sableye. Casting quick glances all around, the older woman unzipped a section of the Sableye decoration. Robyn wondered how she missed the zipper when she first looked as she was thrust inside. The entryway was zipped close behind her.

”Guys, look. Our first groupie,” the woman nearly shouted with joy. One of the synthesizer players sushed her. ”Oh, come on. This is like, so totally awesome. A groupie!”

”Are you sure she's a groupie? She sure doesn't look like one,” the other synthesizer said, looking Robyn up and down with a faint look of disgust.

”Totally, you think I'd bring her here if she wasn't?”

”Last time you did,” chimed in the drummer.

”She was singing the song outside. Totally proves she's one of us.”

While the conversation was going around, Robyn counted the people present. Five not counting herself and the place was getting cramped. From the looks of things, the singer- the Astley Impersonator- was missing. Being mistaken as a groupie turned out to be a good thing.

”I think our groupie is adorable,” another woman said, embracing Robyn in a hug. She must have been around the same age as the woman who dragged Robyn into the Sableye. ”Nice find, Liz.”

”Thank you, Cindy. Now, let's get ready for this event!”

“Sorry, but I don't think you guys will be performing tonight.”

”What are you talking? Everything is going perfectly. Have some faith. Nothing is going to stop us, Groupie.”

With a small sigh, Robyn release Kipper and Celes- her mudkip and Solosis. “You're wrong about that. I'm stopping you.”

”Geez!”
”Really?!”
”Groupie!”
”Tsk.”
”Not again.”

”Come on, Liz. Let's take care of this punk before Ricky dear comes back,” the woman named Cindy said as she released a Buneary from its Pokeball.

”Way to break my heart, Groupie,” Liz whined before releasing her own Pokemon-a Spinda.

“Ah, before we start.” Robyn knelled down to her Pokemon. “Kipper, this is Celes, a Solosis. She's newly hatched, so watch out for her. Celes, this is Kipper.” Robyn jumped to her feet with a little smile. “Ready now.”

”That was...”
”Weird.”
”Why didn't you guys attack during that time?!”
”Be quiet and let them battle.”

”Spinda, show that Solosis how well you dance with your teeter dance.”
”Buneary, be the perfect background dance and charm that Mudkip.”

“Celes, safeguard please.” A blue-green veil rose around Celes and Kipper just as Spinda began its dance. Although, Kipper got a tad flustered at the loving looks the bunny Pokemon sent him- effectively lowering his attack strength. Robyn groaned.

“Water gun that Buneary!”

Kipper opened his mouth, letting the water flow from him- hitting the Buneary. The normal type was blown back a few feet.

”You're so not getting away with that! Spinda, copycat. Aim the water gun at that Solosis!”

As the stream of water flew at the psychic type, Kipper tried his best to get between the young Pokemon and the attack but he wasn't going to make it. Without waiting for orders, the Solosis used the move protect, removing itself from harm with a slight little giggle. “I didn't know she knew that,” Robyn muttered to herself as she checked her SNAG.

"Use dizzy punch, now!"

The joint command set the two normal Pokemon hurtling towards Robyn's Pokemon- Spinda with its hand stretched out into a fist and Buneary with an ear stretched out. “Kipper, mud-slap that Spinda and Celes, think you can use hidden power on that Buneary?”

As mud-slap was fired at the Spinda, little balls of light flew from Celes- slamming into the Buneary. From the looks of the lights, Robyn figured the hidden power to be dark but she could've been wrong since there was nothing else to base it on.

”You think this finishes it? Buneary, jump kick,” she yelled when her Pokemon got weakly to its feet.

“Stop it cold, with ice beam!”

With an icy blue beam, the Buneary was frozen in its aerial jump- forming a cool little ice column. “You know what, Kipper. I think you had a rather great idea. They can't perform if they're frozen. Ice beam them all.” Kipper continued his attack, freezing everyone of the band to their spots.

”Dude, this is not cool.” Kipper had been kind enough to not encase their heads in ice.

“No, you're right. Its not cool, its cold,” Robyn giggled and then had to face palm herself. Sometimes the most lamest of lines came out of her mouth.

”Really, Groupie, that was bad.”
”Awful, really.”
”I can't believe you two lost.”
”You could've helped. Oh wait, you don't have any Pokemon!'
”Burn.”

Robyn bent down to both of her Pokemon and patted them. “Job well done. But I feel as if I'm forgetting somethi-”

”What's been going on?” I spun around to find a man who looked startling like the singer himself.

"Ricky!"
”Rick-man!”
”You're in so much trouble, now.”
”About time.”

”Liz let another groupie in didn't she?” The group nodded, Liz looked away from their leader in shame. ”You know the rules and so do I.”

“What?”

”Wigglytuff knows the game and we're gonna play it,” he said in a singsong voice, throwing out a Pokeball. A pink fluffy Pokemon emerged from the brilliant red light. Wigglytuff. This fluf ball seemed ready and raring to go.

A quick glance to her own Pokemon. They weren't too worn out but Robyn wouldn't push them too hard. She returned them to their Pokeballs. ”Running away? Gotta make you understand that you're not getting away. We're no strangers to battles.”

Was it just Robyn, or was that Astley Impersonator randomly using lines from the song as dialogue? “I'm not running,” she shouted back, slightly put off by this man. Grabbing the last Pokemon on her, she released her Sneasel.

Abigail looked around the area, her eyes bright upon seeing all the ice. Robyn silently prayed her Pokemon would stay focused. “Abigail, we have a battle to do.”

”Never gonna run around, are we Wigglytuff. Prove it to them with sing.”

It was never a good thing when anyone from the Wigglytuff line used that move. “What? No! Abigail, stop that pink lard! Brick break!” Hearing the urgency in her trainer's voice, Abigail launched herself at the Wigglytuff- paw/claw/hand glowing. It was too late. The Wigglytuff had already started her solo performance. Abigail hit the ground like a sack of oran berries, asleep.

Robyn had covered her ears- which works surprisingly well sometimes- and was saved the same fate. ”Wigglytuff, just tell them how you're felling. Wake-up slap.”

“Abigail!” Shouting was no use, the Sneasel slept on. The Wigglytuff walked up to the slumbering Pokemon. She picked Abigail up and proceeded to slap her. Robyn wince at the sight. The Wigglytuff released her grip and the dark type fell to the ground with a thump. The attack had caused Abigail.

"Way to go Rick!"

”I guess I am gonna make you cry,” the impersonator laughed.

That was it. Robyn returned Abigail to her Pokeball and practically growled, “Kipper!” From out of the red light that came from the Pokeball Robyn threw, Kipper appeared.

“Kip?”

“Let's make them give us up.”

”Don't go stealing our lines! Wigglytuff, double-slap!”

“Over power that lard with sludge wave.” Purple slime rose up and rushed over the ground in waves, pushing the Wigglytuff back as well as harming her. “Don't give her a chance to recover, water gun!” Out from his mouth poured forth a torrent of water, which smacked into the Wigglytuff- toppling her over.

”You're not even giving us a chance,” he complained.

“Yes and I'm quite enjoying it.” She turned to Kipper, giving him the final command. “Now that everything is nice and wet, ice beam, if you would be so kind.” Kipper nodded and let the beam of ice colored light hit everything in sight, freezing the Wigglytuff and Astley Impersonater and fortifying the others' encasement.

Robin turned and began to head out, Kipper at her heels.

”You can't just leave us here!”
”I can't believe Rick lost.”
”That's too cruel, Groupie.”
”Don't be so cold hearted.”
”Bummer.”
”If you leave me here, I'll catch a cold and my singing career will be over!”

“Sounds like a personal problem to me. Besides, someone will be along to free you....eventually. Probably after the gemstone event is over.” She left the Sableye, ignoring the complaint that followed after her. A quick look at the museum showed her the even was well underway and nothing seemed to be wrong.

Robyn crouched down and released her fainted Sneasel. From her bag, Robyn retrieved a max revive. She sprayed the healing item on the fainted Pokemon, reviving her. The Sneasel ever so slowly opened her eyes. She blinked. Hoping to her feet, she quickly move her head from side to side- searching.

“They're gone now.”

Abigail's body relaxed but a shamed expression formed on her face. “You'll get them next time,” Robyn comforted her, patting the Sneasel on the head. Kipper voiced his own encouragement from behind his trainer. “Alright, back into the ball. We have a long way home”

Abigail and Kipper returned to their Pokeballs- although reluctantly on Kippers part. Robyn made her way out of Oreburgh. If one listened closely enough, they would hear her sing, “Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you.~”

Fortree. The town of monstrously tall trees and tree-house type homes. Not only was the trees home to humans but in the highest branches, wild flying types made their nests.

Robyn swore to herself that she would never come back to this town. Ever. But after the message she received from her mother, Robyn had too. The message was simple and only contained three words. Come home now. Whether it was pleading her daughter to come home or a simple how are you, Alisa Connor's messages were always long winded and rambling.

It worried her and that's why Robyn returned to the town she grew up in. She made her way to the nearest tree, her eyes downcast- ignoring anyone who shouted out a greeting. Robyn had decided that this visit was going to be as short as she could possibly make it and no one was going to change that.

Robyn rounded the tree and found what she knew would be there- a ladder that would grant access to the residential portion of the town. Grabbing a wrung, she began to climb, conscious of the growing distance between herself and the ground.

A flash of her seven year old self laughing manically as she recklessly climbed this very same ladder, trying to to beat the other kids' times, came to her. Robyn shuddered inwardly as she remembered slipping, although her child self recovered effortlessly and continued climbing with no fear. The child made it to the top, basking in the chorus of applause from the other children and the chirps from the bird-like Pokemon. This had been before the child had developed a fear of bird Pokemon.

Now, there would be no cheering children, only the loud and- to Robyn- threatening chirps of Pokemon. How would she handle that? The onslaught of noise would probably put the woman into a shock induced coma. There was only one way to find out. Robyn braced herself as she made her way onto the ledge. Nothing. Complete silence besides the wind blowing through the leaves. She should have noticed the absence of noise on the journey up but her mind had been preoccupied.

This was baffling but also a blessing, a blessing she wasn't going to question. Robyn got up and began to cross the walkways that connected each tree to each other- her body remembering the way as if she had been here just yesterday. In the back of her mind she was glad and yet disturbed that this was the only town that she would never get lost in. Several walkways later, the most eye catching house popped into view. It was painted four colors: gold, green, white and orange- the colors of the legendary Pokemon Ho-Oh.

Robyn smiled to herself. Painting it had been a blast. Halfway through the painting, her mother had started a paint war with Robyn. From head to toe, the pair was coated in paint. Yet, their house had come out decent looking enough, if you didn't mind the blinding colors.

Taking a deep breath, Robyn opened the door. Like usual, her mother left it unlocked- too trusting as always. One would think living in Pyrite Town would've have taught her better. With a sigh, Robyn proceeded inside. She was greeted by a high pitch squeal and a hug that was more of a tackle. Robyn stumbled a little, the air knocked out of her, but remained standing.

“Oh! My! Arceus! I can't believe it! You're really here, Robyn! When the Pokecenter rang saying they saw you in town, I thought it was a joke,” the woman squeezing the life out of Robyn cried.

Robyn smiled at the woman fondly but then stiffened as she felt hands moving at the back of her waist. It felt like she was attaching something to Robyn. Robyn's ice blue eyes narrowed into a rare glare. “Mom, what are you doing?”

The woman looked up into her daughter’s face, with an innocent smile- green eyes dancing with laughter. “Why, I'm attaching tail-feathers to you, silly. How else will you be able to fly?”

Robyn pushed her mother off of her by the forehead, all the while snatching at the feathers behind her. She pulled them off and brought them to the front. At least a dozen Swellow feathers were crumpled in her hands. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off.

“Don't crush them! Otherwise you won't be able to fly straight,” Alisa shouted. Her mother stood straight, her hands balled into fists. Her long black hair was pulled back into a braid, strands of hair escaped and framed her face. Due to her child-like face and having only five feet in height, she appeared much younger than she was. In fact, the older woman looked to be no older than her daughter.

“Then I'll fly crooked,” Robyn said and threw the feathers onto the ground. Instead of falling straight down, the feathers floated gently to the floor, causing Robyn to grunt in annoyance.

“Do you know how long it took me to collect all of those?!”

“A few days,” she ventured a guess, not really caring.

“No, more like five minutes,” her mother replied with a shrug. “But what do we have here?” Alisa held up a Pokeball and her daughter began to have a sinking feeling.

Robyn felt her belt for her Pokeballs. All were present but one. “When did you take that,” she asked. She really wanted to ask where her mother learned to “pickpockets” but had learned long ago never to ask those types of questions, she never got answers.

“When I was ever so carefully attaching your tail-feathers. Now I wonder what Pokemon you have,” she giggled and threw the ball.

From the resulting red light, Robyn Sneasel appeared. Abigail looked around in confusion. The dark type had been expecting a battle of some kind for the reason she was called. A scream that could make ears bleed filled the house. Simultaneously, Robyn and her Sneasel covered their ears until it died off.

“What- what- what are you doing with a Pidgey eater,” Alisa screeched, pointing a finger at Abigail. “Do you know because of those beasts the Pidgey population has decreased world-wide because they eat Pidgey eggs! How could you own one?! How could you betray me like this?! Your own mother?! What have I done to deserve this?! Why has my own child turned her back to me?!”

Robyn sighed and began to rub her temples. This visit was definitely a bad idea, no matter how worried her mother's message made her. The Sneasel exchanged a glance with her trainer. “Can you not talk about Abigail like that?”

“But-”

“It's insultive and I won't have it,” Robyn said, silencing her mother. She went over to her mother, reclaiming her Pokeball and returning Abigail to it with a silent apology. “Now that we have all the pleasantries our of the way, I'm here about your message.”

“You mean my message about if you've seen any of the Pokemon from the Unova region? That then went on to ask if you caught a Pokemon of your own yet? Which went into if you've had a battle yet? Then followed up with if you had a rival? And finally asking if you managed to snag a boyfriend yet?”

“I mean, you've always been slow to things like love. You didn't even notice that some of the boys here liked you. Seriously, you're just like your father in that area. It took him three years to notice my feelings for him. But then again, that was one of the things I loved about him. His carefree attitude. His wild nature. Even his ability to get lost so easily was cute. Which reminds me, have you been getting lost? Don't be afraid to ask someone for directions. Asking for directions is nothing to be ashamed of.” Alisa continued rambling, cutting off her daughter's thoughts.

Robyn had to put a stop to this soon, otherwise her mother would continue from one tangent to another. “Mom, that's not the message I was talking about. The message I got was a couple of days ago. Contained a surprising little amount of words telling me to come home. Ring a bell?”

Alisa paused and tapped her chin in thought. “Afraid not.”

Robyn looked at her mom with pity. “It's so sad to see people go senile so young.”

“Haha,” Alisa said with a roll of her eyes. “But seriously, I didn't send a message like that. Are you sure someone else didn't send it? Or maybe it was meant for one of your friends?”

“I'm not sure,” she answered with a slight uplift of her shoulders.

“I'm glad you came though.”

“Yeah.” Now that she knew that everything was alright, Robyn was already formulating her escape plan. “This was real nice and all but I should be getting back.” She turned around to flee but a hand grabbed her elbow.

“Just because I didn't send you that doesn't mean I don't want you here.”

“I know-”

“Or need need you here.”

That caught Robyn's attention. “What do you mean?”

“I'll always need my little girl, just like I hope she'll always need me but that's not what I mean right now” Alisa wetted her lips before continuing, obviously thinking over how to deliver whatever news she had. “I'm sure you've noticed but for some reason, there's no wild flying types to be found in town or even in the routes around the town. If you could, would you try to find out why?”

Robyn blinked her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. “What? Why should I? Have you forgotten how you used to sneak pokeblocks into my pockets and how the those birds used to swarm me as soon as I stepped out of this house because of that? Because of your,” Robyn paused for a second, trying to find the best word. “Obsession, I've become afraid of bird-like Pokemon. I've only recently became able to be around trained ones but wild ones?!” She wasn't quite being fair. There was another event that pushed her over the edge into being terrified of bird Pokemon that had nothing to do with her mother's love of flying types.

“Winona would have taken care of it but she's off at a conference for the region's gym leaders. Please Robyn. What if they're hurt or sick? You know it'll tear at you knowing that Pokemon are out there suffering when you could've done something. You're just like me in the that area.”

Her mother was right, as much as Robyn despised bird-like Pokemon, she just couldn't leave knowing they were in trouble. She sighed and smiled at her mother. “How do you know me so well? I'll try my best but I'm not promising anything.”

Her mother smothered her in another hug before Robyn took off. “How am I going to do this? I guess checking the nests in town would be a good place to start. Although getting to the true upper portions of the trees will be hard. Plus, I truly only know where one nest is. I was able to get that one easily when I was a kid. Maybe I still can,” Robyn mused to herself, her body already heading toward the gym.

There was a tree near it- one of the tallest in the town- that contained a Swellow nest. The Swellow had once belonged to the gym leader but Winona had released it long ago. Robyn eyes looked to the ground as made it halfway across the village's longest rope bride, she could see the gym below. Only a little more and she'd come to the tree.

The distance between the walkway and the tree seemed farther than it had when she was a child. There also seemed to be more branches, which was a good thing. Robyn climbed over the rope rail and clung, forcing herself not to look down. All she had was one chance. One chance to jump over. How she wished for a grass type with vine whip or even a flying type.

The woman took a deep breath, steeled herself and jumped. Her feet landed on a branch but she stumble forward. Robyn's arms flailed out automatically, grabbing the next branch. She hung there for a few seconds, trying to regulate her breathing. She made the mistake of looking down. Thought many branches she could see the ground and her vision blurred.

“Bad idea, bad idea,” Robyn muttered to herself as she scrambled up onto the branch. She gave herself an extra minute to calm herself before moving on. She climbed the branches like stairs almost. A few times she had to resort to scrambling and squeezing between them. This was definitely easier when she was small.

Finally, she stopped. Upon the tree trunk a star was craved, indicating the place of the nest. Robyn crawled out onto the tip of the branch. The nest wasn't truly in this tree but the one next to it. There was a house somewhere below the nest so it was harder to get to it if one tried to climb the tree that housed it.

Fear and her memory started to bubble up. Feebly, Robyn tried to push them down, to bury them deep within her. No such luck. It happened soon after her ninth birthday. A handful of boys and herself had made the journey to view the nest. Robyn had lead the way for the others. At the end of the branch she bent as low as she could, peering down into the nest. Two parent Swellows were preening their pair of newly hatched Taillow babies.

Child Robyn had been so awed, so enchanted by the scene that she hadn't paid attention to anything else. Hadn't realized that she had leaned too far. Hadn't realized that gravity can be oh so very cruel. She slipped off the branch and tumbled into the nest, landing between the parent Pokemon and their babes. As often Pokemon will do when they feel their children are threatened, the Swellow attacked.

If Winona hadn't arrived when she did, Robyn would've ended up severely hurt instead of the few scratches and bruises she did end up with. Still, it was a traumatic event for the young Robyn. From that day forth, she veered away from all flying types- freezing whenever one got too close. When she became old enough, Robyn left Fortree and it's abundance of flying Pokemon behind. Even now, her phobia of birds was still strong.

Taking a deep breath. Robyn pushed some leaves out of the way and peered down. There it was, the nest. It was still intact but something look odd. There were singed marks and what almost looked like a sign of a struggle, or a battle. Robyn swallowed hard. Could someone have forced the Pokemon from the nest?

“But who could've? And what do I do now,” she asked to herself and began to retreat backward along the branch. A tiny noise. It couldn't be. Robyn looked back into the nest. There, under the twigs and rubbish was huddled a tiny baby Taillow. Pushing back her fear, Robyn only did what was natural. She tightened her legs around the branch and swung upside-down like an Aipom.

She stretched out her shaking arms for the Taillow, missing the Pokemon for it pulled away from her. Robyn's legs ached, protesting how much she had used them but she ignored them. She reached out further for the Pokemon, cooing softly to it like her mother did when she wanted a flying Pokemon to come to her. The Taillow looked at Robyn, confused. The woman cooed again, straining her body toward the Pokemon. Tentatively, the Taillow hopped toward her and into her awaiting hands.

Continuing to coo, Robyn pulled the bird to her and nestled it in the crook of her arm. Her legs were going to give soon. Using a burst of energy, she grabbed the branch with her free hand and hung like a Slakoth. It lasted for about a second before her hand slipped and her legs refused to hold her up anymore. Her back slammed nest, destroying it but the branches beneath it held Robyn's weight. The Taillow was unscathed due to being protected by Robyn's body.

It hopped on her chest and chirped. “Yeah, I know, pathetic.”

Through the branches, Robyn awkwardly made her way down the tree, cradling the Taillow the whole way. Several times she had to backtrack due to sudden dead-ends because of the lack of accessible branches. Maybe it was due to weariness that she had accumulated throughout the day but Robyn didn't realize the branch she just stepped onto wouldn't support her weight until it was too late.

Snap. The branch gave way. Reflexively, Robyn crossed her arms over her chest, shielding the Taillow as leaves and twigs whipped at them. Their sudden free-fall was cut short when Robyn smashed against something firm. Already she knew her back was not going to like her tomorrow.

Turning her head, she tried to see what she landed on. Shingles greeted her. “A roof?”

The Taillow hopped free of Robyn's hold and jumped around on the roof before settling itself in Robyn's eyesight. It chirped a happy little noise. Luckily, the little bird Pokemon came out of the fall injury free. “I hate you,” Robyn whispered, not really meaning it. Sounds of angry and yet concerns shouts floated from below. “I guess we better introduce ourselves to this home's residents.”

It took a bit for Robyn to get up, her body protested every bit of movement. It took even longer for her to get down from the roof. Eventually, she just dropped down off the roof. A rather bad idea she decided when she landed on her bum. The Taillow glided down from the roof and landed on Robyn's head with an overly happy chirp. After making the appropriate apologies to the young couple who lived in the house and assuring them everything was fine, Robyn made her way back toward her mother's home. She had no plan how to proceed. Plus, she felt as if her whole body was one giant bruise.

As she approached the brightly colored house, Robyn noticed that the door was ajar. Leaving the door unlocked was one thing, but Alisa never left if open. Cautiously, Robyn pushed the door opened more, prepared in case this was a trap Alisa made to be able to attach more feather to her daughter. The house was dark and eerily silent. A flip of a switch and the place was illuminated with light.

She was stunned still in horror. It was trashed. The table was overturned, pillows torn apart, figurines broken. No sign of her mother. The feathers that Robyn had thrown to the floor were still there. Alisa would've picked them up right away. That meant whatever happened happened soon after Robyn had left.

Robyn could almost see it: her mother struggling with someone. Alisa would have fought tooth and nail- or beak and talon her mother would say- before being taken. Gritting her teeth, Robyn ignored her nails biting into her palms.

A chirp. A warning. Too late. I really had to work on her reaction speed, Robyn thought to herself as she lost consciousness, the sounds of panicked and fearful squawkings floated through the air.

“Robyn, wake up.” Her mother's voice sounded far away but worried. Robyn rolled away from the voice, she was too tired to get up. Just a little more sleep then she'd get up, her mind reasoned. Alisa's voice turned exasperated and firm. “Oh for the love Arecus! I just baked a cake. Do you want some?”

Bolting upright, ignoring the pain that erupted from moving, Robyn looked around for the cake. “Where is it?”

“Why is it you'll wake up at the mention of sugar but not when your mother tells you too?” Seeing her daughter still looking for the cake, Alisa sighed. “Stop looking for the cake. There is none. Geez, you'd think my daughter would notice that we're locked in a cage but no, she had to focus on a nonexistent sugared bake good.”

“You....lied about the cake,” Robyn whispered, disbelief coloring her voice. It took her another few seconds to process what her mother had said. “A cage?” Another look around revealed what Robyn had first ignored. They were trapped on all sides by metal bars. It wasn't only them either. There were other cages filled with flying Pokemon. “I guess that answers what happened to them but-”

“We don't really have time for this, he'll be back soon. This is our only chance to escape.” A chirp of agreement came from her mother's head. The baby Taillow was perched there. Robyn felt happy knowing the little Pokemon was unharmed. “Luckily, our capture wasn't smart enough to take your pokeballs. Got any that can help. Maybe one with teleport?”

“Teleport, no but I do have an idea.” With that Robyn released Abigail. The Sneasel looked around, curious as to why they were in a cage. Making eye contact with Alisa, Abigail sent her trainer's mother an ugly sneer.

“You can't think that that can hel-”

“I know Abby can help us. Now Abigail, I need you to ice punch the bars. Then, at exactly the same spot use brick break on them. Understand?” The ice type began as her trainer commanded.

“Because metal becomes brittle when cold,” Alisa said as understanding dawned on her. When the hole was big enough, the two humans and both Pokemon walked out of the cage. “Now we have to free the-”

“Why couldn't the both of you remain put until I got back?”

Both woman's eyes were drawn to a man with short tousled brown hair. He was a handful of years older than Robyn. She barely recognized him as one of the boys who had lived in Fortree when she did. She couldn't even remember his name but her mother did. “Julian, why did you do this? Why'd you lock up all the flying types?”

“After all these years, I realized that it was because of them that Robyn wouldn't come back. So I decided to get rid of them and it worked. She came back. You should be thanking me,” he answered with a twisted smile.

“Did Arecus fry your brain? This is wrong. Fortree is as much their home as anyone else's. This wouldn't make me come back. I like traveling, even if I do get lost. Also, without those flying Pokemon, Fortree would be overrun by bug type. It would disrupt the environment.”

“See? So why don't you just let them all go? No harm, no fowl.” Robyn stopped herself from laughing at her mother's small pun. Laughing wouldn't help them in this situation.

“I do see. I'll just have to convince her to see things my ways,” he sneered, releasing two Pokemon, a Fearow and Pidgeotto.

Robyn took a step back, her fear getting the better of her- her heart beating wildly. “Calm down,” she muttered to herself. “It's a trained Pokemon. It won't attack unless ordered. I can do this.” What she wouldn't give to have an electric Pokemon at this time. She'd have to use the next best thing. Grabbing Kipper's ball, she released her Mudkip. “Alright, I'm counting on you two.”

“You think your Pokemon stand a chance? Fearow, use drill peck on the Mudkip. Pidgeotto, I want you to use brave bird on the other one.”

“Straight to attacks? Alright, two can play this game. Kipper, use water gun on the Fearow to try to deter it from its attack. Abigail, go greet the Pidgeotto with an ice punch.” The Seansel rushed toward the Pidgeotto and the oncoming attack, fist glowing with an icy aura. She thrust her hand forward, her attack colliding with the brave bird. Meanwhile, Kipper released a strong stream at the Fearow. The water attack slowed the bird but didn't stop it. Beak still spinning like a drill, the Fearow tore through the water gun and gunned it toward Kipper.

Both of Robyn's Pokemon were blown back. Abigail had taken a considerable amount of damage from the brave bird but she pulled off her own attack. The ice punch had done it's job. On top of the ice punch, the recoil from the brave bird had rendered the Pidgeotto unconscious. The Fearow came out almost unharmed as Kipper struggled to his feet.

“That was disappointing. Oh well, they both almost look like they're about to drop. Fearow, drill peck again!”

“Let's try something new. Kipper, use ice beam this time. Abigail, help him out with a icy wind.” When Kipper opened his mouth, a n icy colored beam shot forth toward the bird Pokemon. From Abigail's mouth roared an subzero wind. The two attacks collided with the Fearow, clipping its wings. The Fearow plummeted to the ground.

“That ends that. Come on Abby, we have to free the Pokemon. Do what you did to free us. I know you're tired but I'm counting on you,” her mother said, taking command of one of her Pokemon. At least she wasn't still treating Abigail like she was a monster. They strolled to the nearest cage and began working on it.

“You think this is over? Not a chance. Don't you want to know how I was able to get them all together so easily?” Robyn began to answer with a not really but stopped when Julian released another Pokemon. A Flaaffy. “Let's see how well you do now.”

Kipper looked like he could only take a few more hits and how many electric ones, Robyn had no idea. She did a quick inventory of her Pokemon. Frazzle would be useless. Celes might prove to be helpful but she wasn't sure. Only now did Robyn regret leaving her two ground types back at the base. They would just have to do the best they could. “Kipper, think you can take this fluff ball on?”

“Kip!”

That was a yes is Robyn ever heard one. “Let's use your favorite move, mud-slap.”

“Don't let them get ahead of themselves. Double team.”

As the mound of mud was fired, the Flaaffy split into several different forms. The mud-slap passed harmlessly through one. “Teach them a lesson about opposing us, thundershock.”

The multiple Flaaffy disappeared as the electric attack was released, hitting Kipper. The water Pokemon dropped its knees. “Would you look at that. Seems this battle will be over soon-”

Everything went quiet, or so it seemed. Kipper was glowing white. His body began to distort and elongate. As the light died down, hie body settle too. “Marsh?” Kipper looked around, slightly confused, as he stood on his hind legs.

“You evolving changes nothing! Flaaffy, thundershock again!” The sheep charged it's attack again and released it. Upon hitting Kipper it did nothing. Even Kipper seemed confused by the lack of damage. “What? How?!”

“Don't you know anything? When Mudkips evolve into Marshtomp, they gain a typing. Ground. Meaning he's immune to your electric attacks now,” Alisa inform Julian from a new cage. She and Abigail had already gotten a few opened and the Pokemon free.

Robyn herself had forgotten that little fact. “Seems like the tables have turned. Let's try that mud-slap again, shall we Kipper?” Kipper opened his mouth and fired off a slab of mud. It looked different from his normal mud-slaps. Stronger, faster, bigger. It connected with the Flaaffy sending it reeling backwards and toppling to the ground. Evolving had increased Kipper's strength.

“Please, you have to understand why I did this! I did this all for you and-”

Julian continued on but Robyn blocked him out. “Kipper, think you can put him to sleep with a yawn?” The Marshtomp nodded his head and released a bubble. It floated over to the man before popping in his face.

“-just wanted to see-” His ranting ended as his eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep.

“Hopefully that's the end of that,” Robyn sighed. She bent down to Kipper and patted his head. “Now what was that move you used? We both know it wasn't mud-slap.”

“Mud shoot. They learn it soon after evolving. A good thing too. It only took one hit to take his opponent down. You're lucky he evolved when he did. I guess you get your luck from me,” Alisa said as she approached. She and Sneasel had been successful in releasing all the Pokemon- all of which had flown away but two Swellow.

The baby Taillow flew from Alisa's head to land on Robyn's should. It chirped a happy little melody and rubbed its head against the human's cheek. During this, the two Swellow had taken flight and appeared to be waiting. They chirped to the Taillow, whom stopped rubbing against Robyn and took to the air. It followed to two Swellow back toward Fortree.

“So those were its parents.”

“Seems like it.” A few seconds passed and Alisa drew her daughter into a Ursaring hug. “I'm so proud of you. You were magnificent and it looks like you got over your fear of flying types.”

Robyn wasn't about to correct her. She had gotten over noting. When those Swellow were present, Robyn almost high tailed it out of there. Well, maybe she had gotten a little better. She didn't freak out when the Taillow was near, that had to count for something. “What do we do about him,” Robyn gestured to the sleeping man.

“I'll have the police take care of him when we get back to town.”

“We? Sorry but no. I've had enough fun for one day. I'm heading back to Johto. Plus, I may have accidentally broken those Swellow's nest.”

“You didn't.” A small shrug in reply. “Oh dear. Alright, if you feel you must leave now, then so be it. Just remember, don't wait too long to visit again. You don't have to only come when there's an emergency.”

She hugged her mother and whispered, “I know.” With a twirl, Robyn released her mother and looked at her Pokemon. “Time for us to head home. I believe we'll find a ship in Lilycove.” The trio made their way south along route 119. Alisa decided not to tell her daughter that they needed the other route to get to Lilycove.

From the distance, Alisa could hear her daughter talking to her Pokemon. “Just because you evolved, Kipper, doesn't mean you're getting a new name. I think Kipper still very much suits you.”