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The bullies, however, didn't understand. The Seviper, Keith, ruled the roost around these parts. He wasn't going to be punched around by some PUNK! So he and his gang members were waiting in the bushes with a long coil of rope, a water gun and what seemed to be a bunch of tomatoes.

They waited in silence until Atticus was just beyond them...and then they struck. They had sticks but the teens were too afraid to hit the little bug. They just wanted to put him in his place a bit.

One easily jumped onto Atticus' back and began to wind his hands with their rope, pushing his face into the mud and stone path.

Another punishing shove in the mud as his hands were quickly tied, in an attempt to keep him hushed. Then, he was lifted and bound to the trunk of a small tree, just off the main road. Someone would find him when they were finished.

But the fun was only half over. They'd get revenge for the cut that was now bandaged on the Seviper's arm. As he was a poison type too, the cut was just a cut with a bad infection around it.

"He looks dirty." Keith chuckled, aiming and firing the watergun at Atticus' face. It had been pumped for quite a while and the force was punishing.

After a round of giggles and bursting laughter, the watergun ran out of pressure and drizzled on the ground. There was a second smack assault on his face, though, as a rotten tomato came smashing against his cheek and shoulder. Another, to the leg! Then one to the face and another to the chest.

Eventually they were out of fruit, mounting their bicycles and laughing. "We'll KETCHUP with you later, bug!"
"Don't you come back now!"
The gan of four rode off, their assault done. They had to bail before adults showed up.


Skyler was walking down the road, sighing and trying to think of an excuse as to why he was so dirty.

Skyler stopped.

What the hell was that?! A fish? He peeked over the long grasses the boy was writing in. A dog? A dying deer? He slowly drew his bullet-less Derringer and approached the edge of the road, nervous but curious.

When he saw the boy from before he jumped back. Was he EATING something down there?! An innocent animal?! All that blood! He mistook the tomatoes for blood but the bruising damage they'd done may as well have been blood.

On closer inspection, he saw the other was hurt. He was also tied with his hands behind his back and he looked wet. It took about five seconds to realize what had happened.

But...Skyler was too lily-livered to take control of this situation on his own.

"Stay there." Was all he said, then he took off.

The venipede had saved him...he couldn't be all bad, right? The eevee ran for home.

If he woke, it was in Pablo's company. The burly black retriever barked at the boy in the grass, Skyler hugging his papa's leg and Pablo holding a lantern to see by in the coming night.

The scyther lifted the boy and, in a second, he'd cut the rope with the long spur growing from his elbow. He held him in one arm like a baby and they headed back for the house.

Once they were inside, Pablo worked quickly, placing the injured infant on the sofa in the corner of their cottage, by the stone fireplace.
"Skyler. Get me some tissues. We need to mop up his nose and see if its still bleeding."

Skyler nodded and hurried for the bathroom, returning with a roll of toilet paper, which Pablo gently began to dab on his face.

Skyler pulled up a little stool and sat, watching his Papa work on the boy.

"Don't sit up or move too fast, kid." Pablo said in a not unkind but not exactly warm fashion. "Some punks gave you their special treatment. You're gunna be just fine but I need you to lie still."

He looked to his son. "Skyler, go get me some of your pajamas. When he's up for it, go wash his clothes."

"Oh, yes, papa!"

"And get the kettle going. Anddd...some porridge. They really did a number to this kid. He might need to see a doctor."

"You're in Spades. I'm Pablo and that's my son Skyler. You're in my home because my boy felt sorry for you. I can tell you're not from here, but he says you saved him." He opened a small bottle of pills and what looked like rubbing alcohol.
"This is gunna sting." He gave almost no warning before dropping a whole capful of the alcohol into the injured boy's nostrils and immediately put a cloth to it to catch the mess that'd probably come sneezing out. He assumed there might be some tomato wedged inside.

Skyler busied himself in the kitchen, mixing up a reheated bowl of porridge and serving it up, fixing a cup of tea with the kettle and bringing it over, standing back as his papa worked.