Weedu looked at Chirin and Karama with hurt 
eyes. All of his efforts to make friends with the blue ewe had 
failed. Why? What was wrong with him? Why couldn't she just see past 
his having been in the Mure? Why couldn't she cling to him and look 
at him like she did at Chirin? 

Chirin knew what Weedu was thinking, he thought the same thing. 
Karama hadn't come into season last fall. Ewes occasionally bred at 
other times. And with them having moved into warm weather, anything 
was possible. Not likely, but possible.

Anything, said Lararu...anything was possible.

"How do I know you aren't just bringing her along to guard her?" said 
Weedu. 

"Because i'm not bringing her, she's just coming with me if she wants 
to. There's a difference."

"C'mon, Weedu, why not stay here?" Hiro asked, bounding over a 
little closer to the group. "There's gonna be plenty of other chances for 
you to see Karama - well, that is, if she's going also - ...right?" 
And if the ampharos went along, then there'd be one less person to 
help protect against any possible attacks...
 
Although if the denryuu was so set for going if the flaaffy was, 
then persuading him otherwise might not be too easy.
 
Weedu shook his head, looking at hiro with a ram's stubborn 
streak. "You don't understand."

"I, um, guess I don't." If he had to ask, then he definitely didn't 
understand. Hiro scratched the back of his head with a hindfoot. He 
looked back and forth, between Weedu and Karama. They were both 
sheep...ah, he had an inkling now of what might have been going on in 
Weedu's head. 

Weedu looked back at Chirin with a glare. His head jewel flashed as he 
leaned forward from his shoulders in a gesture of dominance. Chirin 
found himself unconsciously returning the posture.

"We battle,' said Weedu. 

"No," said Chirin. "i've battled enough today, or tried to battle 
enough today. If you're really willing to prove you're not a traitor 
you'll stop this right now. This isn't helping anyone."

He felt the breath of sun and sky beating down on him, making him 
sweat. The grass trembled and trees whispered to each other.

Chirin realized he was taking Karama with him without a 
doubt...Weedu's assertiveness had set off a nerve in him. He'd fought 
ram battles before...this would even give him a chance to release the 
tension that had built in him earlier. Somehow, crying hadn't been 
enough.
His foot scuffed the ground and he watched Weedu with an expression 
that would have been almost neutral, were it not for the sparks on 
his lights.

The two rams faced each other with equal levels of stubbornness... 
the testosterone was almost a visible haze between them.

Karama walked in between the two rams. She had her head down, and 
was shaking with pure rage. She glared at Weedu and Chirin, and then 
she screamed, "ENOUGH!"

ChiChi yelped and fell backwards, rubbing his head and looking at 
Karama, now even more scared of her. 

Karama looked from Weedu to Chirin, still angry, and breathing 
heavily.

"Listen Chirin!" Karama Growled. "You've been in enough fights 
today, alright? And I'm sick and tired of you always putting your 
hoof down and doing what I should be doing! You keep treating me 
like a little lamb! Well guess what? News flash! I'm no longer a 
lamb, so, stop sticking up for me all the time! I appreciate it, but 
you do it far too much! For once, let me take care of things 
m'self." Then she rounded on Weedu. "As for you, Weedu, you're a 
nice guy. I like you. A lot. More than I thought I would at first. I 
know how you feel, alright? When I was a Mareep, I felt the same way 
about Chirin, but now I don't, alright? I like you both, but this is 
just plain RIDICULOUS! You are always trying to fight Chirin, well, 
guess what? I've had enough of it! Either you two chill out, or I 
leave and well...find another flock or something. If I can't do that 
then well...I might go back to the humans."

"Karama..." ChiChi began but Karama cut him off.

"IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME THEN JUST KEEP PUSHING MY BUTTONS, OKAY? 
THEN SEE WHAT HAPPENS!" the Flaaffy bellowed. And then she stomped 
off into the trees, and sat there, breathing heavily, wondering why 
she did what she just did.

When Karama exited the scene, she left Weedu and chirin staring at 
each other again. They continued to look at each other for a moment 
longer.

Chirin couldn't believe how he had lost a hold on himself. Once more 
he'd forgotten everything as soon as he'd thought about ewes in heat! 

"Karama..."

He didn't know what to say. It was clear that she did not understand 
what the battle had really been about...or she would have said 
different things... at the moment they were fighting *over* her not 
*for* her. It was her lack of understanding of these social 
subtleties...and  her lambish outbursts, that reminded him strongly 
that she was very much a lamb in her mind.

What was he supposed to do--just stand by while she confronted her 
enemies? Well...if that was what she really wanted, he would do so. 
He would respect her...he forced himself to put any thoughts of 
mating aside. She was his friend, and he had to stop being so selfish.

"If...if that's what you want, I'm sorry if my standing up for you 
hurt you. You may stay here while Norra, me and Selden go. No one's 
holding you to this flock...I'll miss you very much Karama, but 
you're quite strong, if you choose to leave I wish you luck." Clearly 
she didn't want to come with him--she wanted, and perhaps needed, 
distance from him. She didn't want to go back to the humans, she was 
just saying that in her anguish. He wanted to reach out and hug her 
but she had spoken. Maybe the reason she was still so lambish was 
that hehadn't given her enough of a chance to grow up? Could he 
really do that--care for her so much that it held her back?

He blinked and swallowed, trying to cram the tears back in. "Phos's 
light to you, then...know that you're my friend." 

One thing about her still being like a lamb, was that it gave him a 
lot more patience with her. At the same time he forced himself to not 
try hugging her and consoling her. 

Weedu stood back and thought to himself while Chirin sort of talked 
to her. He felt his crush on Karama fading fast.

Hiro's mind reeled after Karama got through with her shouting. 
Wow...there was no doubt now that she had a temper on her. It seemed 
to be able to rival even that of a nidorino's! Not that Hiro had 
mingled with *too* many nidorinos before, but he did know, anyways.

Chirin sighed a ragged sigh. He walked over to Selden, who was 
browsing a bush, and gently nudged his shoulder. 

"We're leaving."

Everyone was here--Loki wasn't in sight, but he came and went...he 
was nearby, probably in the woods again. Good--he'd already be a bit 
familiar with how things were in there.

He gave a longing look at Karama, sitting over there looking so sad. 
He had thought they were starting to really bond in cloer friendship 
this morning. The way they had talked to each other, chirin had found 
himself talking about his own past to her like he would takl to an 
older denryuu. He had begun to think she was really growing up.

~

Karama Growled to herself. She got up, and, with a last glance at 
the odd group of Pokees, sprinted off. She would show them...she 
would run away and evolve and show them all. 
What she didn't know, was that someone was following her, hidden in 
the shadows...

Petunia watched Karama go. She'd been waiting until chirin and the 
group left before she would have given her a real good lecture for 
treating Chirin like she had. Let her go--Karama would probably be 
back, and if she wasn't Petunia would not miss her. The ewe had to 
learn to grow up.

~

Loki's head was throbbing when he came to. The little baby Norra was 
sleeping next to him still. He looked about, a bit dizzy. He 
wondered where the little baby's parents where. It was too small to 
be on it's own or at least he thought so. 

He walked about leaving the little one nestled in the thicket. He 
gasped. He saw the two Marowaks lying dead. Both slain recently. The 
thick slap from the scent of blood made him back into the bush 
quickly. 

Vinny raised his head. He sniffed, he thought he caught the scent of 
a smeargle. But it was odd. Odd in that it didn't exactly smell like 
a real smeargle. He shrugged and went back to pulling strips of 
flesh from the dead marowak male. Bossa growled as she topped the 
dead female and began digging for her liver. Lucca laid down full 
and satisfied. 

Loki grabbed the baby and ran once he heard the seasal fighting over 
the kills.


Chirin stood at the forest's edge and bleated for Loki. He wasn't 
going into the woods that way. Loki's scent--or one of his pseudo-
scents--was left on the trail and now, what was worse, he smelled 
blood.

Could anything else go wrong? Hadn't there been enough trouble 
already?

"Loki are you in there?" he screamed. "what's going on?"

Chirin paced while he waited for an answer. Chaos, chaos, that's what 
ruled this morning. Evil had taken hold and left its mark.


He saw Chirin through the bushes. he almost ran out and greeted him. 
But...what if they didn't let him keep the baby Norra thing? He 
stared at it. The little thing cooed and snuggled to him closer as 
it still slept. He knew what to do! He tried hiding it behind his 
back as he walked back to the group. 

"Hi guys!" He tried to keep his back away from them. He found the 
upright walking of the smeargle as a blessing as he kept his arms 
behind him. He smiled as he inched closer to a rock where he could 
hide the baby till they left.

"Oh, Loki, thank the lights of the first ancients," said Chirin 
breathing out his words in a stream of relief as he saw the smeargle 
emerge. Loki was holding something behind his back. a strong whiff of 
cubone reached his nose.

"Loki?" He cocked his head. "Who--what's that--" He stepped forward 
and around the ghost, trying to see if he'd really brought out a 
cubone from the forest. If there was a cubone it was a really young 
one--maybe even an infant. 

But where would he have gotten a baby cubone from--and why? Marowaks 
were very protective of their children...

Chirin didn't see Karama go--he had shifted his attention away from 
her. He was sniffing at Loki and trying to look behind his back. If 
there was a cubone, maybe it was an orphan? If it wasn't, he'd better 
go put it back where he'd found it...fast...

But was there a cubone at all? He looked around ...

This only confirmed his fears--that that forest was crawling with his 
kind's worst enemies. Norra might find a home there...after all, it 
was time she made some friends her own kind. She'd probably like them 
a whole lot more than him.

"Where are you going Karama!" Loki forgot about hiding the baby as 
he ran after her. "Stop Karama! I don't want you to go!" 
Loki began to run after her. 

He tried to balance the baby and run. He was getting nowhere fast 
this way! He wondered what he should do.

Karama paused. She heard the faint voice of Loki calling to her. 
Tears streaming down her face, Karama shut her eyes and ignored the 
cries, running on as fast as she possibly could.

A cubone! Was that real or an illusion? No--Chirin got a whiff as Loki 
brushed past him. It was real.

Chirin restrained himself from following Karama. She wanted to be 
treated like an older ewe, he would try doing so. It meant not trying 
to change her mind.

Loki could do what he liked. All the while Chirin felt so 
horrible...but she had screamed at him with such hatred that he felt 
distanced from her. Like their talk this morning meant nothing to 
her. That she was just as prone as ever to very Calima-like temper 
tantrums. 

And that was the last thing his party or the rest of the flock needed 
to have around.

Norra raised an eyebrow at Karama, even though her mask hid it, and stared at 
the Mokoko as she stomped away.
    Oh well, less sheep to deal with. She nodded as Chirin said there were 
other slow pokémon coming with them. "But'a, reall'a, do you think'a Loki 
issa' thatta' slow'a?" she wondered.
    Norra turned to the yellow-thing, which must be Loki. And, besides his 
usual absense of smell that she had now realized (since her nose was still 
getting better), there was another scent....
    "Cubone'na?" she wondered. She couldn't tell its age, health, or gender, 
as her nose wasn't entirely better yet, but still... "Yorra' smella' like'a 
Cubone'na." she informed Loki.

Loki stopped in front of Norra! He smiled! There she was! He then 
saw Karama was out of sight. His head dropped and he felt some tears 
well. 

"Cubone!" The baby shouted as he clunked Loki over the head with his 
bone. 

"I ....said...that....isn't....nice!" Loki fell backwards. The 
little cubone male laughed and danced on Loki's belly as the 
smeargle/gastly slept again.

"Awww...." Chirin was overcome with adoration for the baby as it 
jumped around on poor Loki. "He's so cute! Ohhh..."

Chirin ducked down to be on the cubone's eye level. He sniffed 
towards its nose. It might be an enemy kind...but how could he hate a 
baby? "Hi there! Who are you? Oh aren't you the cutest little thing."


Chirin just kept quiet as Norra misinterpreted what he had so slyly 
implied earlier about certain pokemons' lack of speed...he was just 
glad she hadn't taken any offense. 

"I'm not sure what Loki can do, really, but he'll be very useful to 
our group." He watched Norra as she obviously smelled the cubone too. 
How would she react to it? How young was it? That was the real 
question...whether it needed milk or not. If of course there was a 
cubone...


When Loki zipped past them, the cubone easily visible, Chirin 
said, "Well, we know he's fast!"
And that there was in fact a cubone...

"Loki! Be gentle!" cried the ram.

 Hiro wondered what was up with Karama, to have run off like that. Was 
it because she didn't feel like she was wanted? With the way Loki was 
yelling after her, though, it couldn't be that...not entirely.

She had little or no sense, he thought. Going off alone like 
that...didn't she realize there were predators out there? Ones that 
wouldn't mind picking off a solo flaaffy ewe? Well, at least none of 
the others would have to be again subjected to her yelling if she was 
gone for good...

The smell of Loki's little cubone teased Hiro's nostrils. The scent 
reminded him of marowak, but not quite...and the way that the cubone 
wore the skull mask (much like Norra), then that little ground type 
must've been of some relation to marowaks. Perhaps that meant it was 
dangerous...but it had been small - smaller than himself, even! It 
couldn't be TOO much of a danger, then, could it? Although there was 
a rule he remembered about predators: never underestimate them, no 
matter their size.


 "Sure, it may be cute now," warned Hiro. "But it's still a predator. 
Just wait 'til it gets bigger..." He couldn't help but agree, 
though...that cubone WAS a bit cute!...for an enemy species.

"Cuuuubone!" The little baby giggled as he stared at the big yellow 
thing. "Bone! Bo! Bo Boooooone!" 

"Awww," Chirin blinked his lights playfully, giggling back. "don't 
you just have the...loudest little voice there. You're adorable, 
don't you know?"
 

He sat down fiddling with his bone club. Then he stuck a finger on 
Loki's lip pulliing it back as he stared at the teeth in there. He 
giggled and grabbed hold of Loki's nostril. He was exploring. 

That big yellow thing looked like fun! He turned around and laughed 
as he swung his bone at it!

"Whoa, careful!" Chirin moved his head back. "I see, you want to 
play." Chirin stood back, not wanting to get whacked. "*Ampha, amp!*" 
he bleated, staying close but not close enough to get his head hit.

"Where'd you find him?" said Chirin, looking at Loki a little more 
seriously. He held out his flipper to the cubone to take, trying to 
help him off Loki's stomach. Loki didn't seem very comfortable being 
danced on. "Marowaks are very protective parents. And...what's the 
blood scent?" Loki didn't smell of blood, but the rules of smelling 
were a little different for his kind. The blood smell itself was 
still emanating from the jungle.

Loki slowly came to. He saw the baby swinging his club around again! 
That was it!

"I think I better have some protection around this thing!" He turned 
into a little cubone himself.

The baby laughed and jumped up as he saw a larger Cubone. He clunked 
his club at Loki.

"Bo! Boooooone! Cuuuuu!" He kept smashing Loki over the head.

"Are baby Norra's like this all the time!" He stared at the little 
one.

Chirin giggled. They looked cute together! But--he hoped the child 
wouldn't be alarmed by Loki's shapeshifting. If Chirin himself hadn't 
known better he would have thought Loki was a whole new stranger 
every time he changed! Babies didn't like those sorts of changes, 
well, not in his experience anyway. At any rate, the cubone seemed to 
have missed the sight of Loki changing shape and accepted the "new" 
cubone.

"Is this cubone alone?" said Chirin. "Where'd you find him?"

and what were they going to do with him if he was an orphan? He 
looked over at Norra for an answer to that. How was she taking all of 
this?


"We need to know where he came from," said Chirin, "and if possible 
give him back. Loki, where'd you find him? I don't know what to do if 
he can't be returned to his parents...we're setting out on a 
dangerous mission here." Sure the little boy was plucky, but he was 
clearly too young to face any danger! He looked so young he might not 
even be fully weaned. Chirin wished he knew more about marowak kind...

Loki grabbed the baby. He kept right on hitting Loki. He giggled 
loudly.

"He followed me! Can I keep him!" Loki smiled under his helmet.

Then he realized what Chirin was getting at.

"A pack of sneasals killed his mommy and daddy! He's all alone." 
Loki stared down at the baby.

"Ohhh...the poor thing..." Tears came to Chirin's eyes as he watched 
the baby play. He must not understand that his parents were gone yet. 
Chirin knew from his own experience that the shock would come later 
on, maybe tonight or tomorrow...when the realization came to his 
subconscious mind, something that he couldn't express in words but 
knew in his soul, that something was wrong. 

"How...how do yo uknow? Was...that the blood we're smelling?" he said 
in a lower voice, watching the cubone's happy face. "If his parents 
are gone someone's got to keep him...poor thing, I wouldn't let him 
go out there alone. He'd die."

They had a baby to care for...just when he'd thought that his own 
party would be made up of pokemon who were fully capable and had no 
one to be responsible for along the way. Now they had this cubone. 
But Chirin looked into its eyes and couldn't look away. Someone would 
have to take care of it.

"How old is it?" he found himself asking. "Can it eat solid food? If 
it can't it's...probably doomed to die..." He left off, remembering 
how these things brought the darkness on. But it was the truth. 
Chamadis was weaned fine, but lambs were precocious. He knew that 
marowaks' infants were much more dependent. although this one seemed 
pretty robust!

Norra walked over to the baby Cubone, Loki, and Chirin, bending over to 
examine the little Cubone. It didn't seem to be able to speak in proper 
pokémon language yet, just its own name.

    Norra suddenly threw a glare in Chirin's and Loki's direction. They might 
teach him to talk all wrong! She didn't know why she felt so strongly about 
him talking in correct Cubone dialect. "Cubone'NA. Say'a, cubone'NA." she 
corrected the baby, putting an emphasis on the 'na, prodding him with her 
bone club just enough to make him sway slightly.

Chirin stood back grinning. Norra was taking right to it! This was 
one of the sweetest sights he'd ever seen. Suddenly the trip could be 
put off one more day. 

"i guess we can stay here for now," he said. "I'm not about to head 
off with this baby here now. I know we can't just forge ahead with an 
infant."


             the cubone looked at the big one! He smiled and pointed at her.

"Cuuuuubone!" He thought Norra was his mother. "Boooone!"

He whined for her to pick him up. 

"Cubone!" He laughed and reached his hands out with his "fingers" 
wiggling, expecting to be picked up.

"Ahhhh, he likes you," Chirin was smiling ear to ear as the cubone 
reached for Norra. "That's so adorable..."

He managd to look down at his feet for a moment. "The question is, 
what now? I hate to say it, but...if we all go on this journey, who 
will care for him?"

Poor thing, the cubone couldn't help causing a complicated situation. 
Chirin watched his innocent eyes and was determined that he would 
find a home and get the chance for the childhood that Chirin hadn't 
gotten enough of himself.

"Heh, poor Chirin." Hiro grinned at the ampharos. "You always seem to 
be distracted by something when you're just about to leave. But 
you're right. It wouldn't be good to just leave this little guy..."

Predator or not, Hiro felt himself soften a bit whenever he looked at 
the cubone. It was just a little baby...almost like a nidoran kit, he 
thought. Except without spines and fur. And the poor thing had lost 
its parents, or so Loki had said. 

He looked at Norra. She was attempting to make the baby say words 
like she said them...but why? That would only make another pokemon 
around that would have that bizarre accent.

"He can't go with us on this journey," said Chirin. "that's no place 
for a baby. He'll have to stay here if we keep him. I'm sorry, but 
the very reason I'm leaving them behind is that a strong flock's 
needed to protect the weak ones like Chama. And this cubone has 
spunk, but there's no way we could subject him to such a rough and 
dangerous trip. Even if he was born in this forest."

Chirin went back over near the cubone, smiling at it. "Don't you 
worry, we're going to find you a nice safe place to live," said 
Chirin, who, being an orphan himself, felt a connection to it. Norra 
was an orphan too. Neither he nor Norra had had the good spirit-
fortune to find themselves in the care of others until they had 
gotten bigger...they'd both had to mostly fend for themselves. Chirin 
wanted to make sure this cubone was spared from that.

"He's my pet! I say he goes!" Loki hugged the cubone.

He felt the baby thump his bone against his head again.

"Orwin!" The baby giggled and kept thumping Loki.

"Is that your name? Orin?" Loki looked at him.

"Cubone!" He thumped Loki again. "Orinnnnn! Orwin! Orin!" 

He kept giggling. His name was Orion but, all he could manage was 
Orin or Orwin to come out. He leapt from Loki's grasp and clung to 
Norra's leg.

"Cubone!" He held tight.

"Orrin?" Chiri smiled. "That's a wonderful name! My name's Chirin-
chirin, of the Beacn flock of Pharos. Can you say "Chirin?"

He grinned. The cubone was absolutely adorable! And then anothe 
thought hit him. 

"By the Lights! I can't believe i didn't think of this before. If we 
bring him we might be able to find him a home with another marowak 
pair," he said. "The black forest's his home, so I guess bringing him 
along's the best thing."

He looked over at Selden, who didn't have any problem with it. It 
made better sense than leaving him with a bunch of sheep, who would 
not be able to hunt for him or find him the plants he could eat from 
within the forest. 

If he could eat them. Chirin was guessing he could, but they couldn't 
be sure. "Norra...do you think Orrin can eat solid food yet?"

Norra looked at Orrin. "Pretta' sure'a. Norra rememberra' much'a 'bout'a 
whenna' I was realla' little.." she said, squinting. She was so young when 
she met Keel'alla... "Think'a he canna'." she said decisively. If he 
couldn't, he was as good as dead, so they had to assume he could. Even not 
knowing that mothers needed to concieve to begin producing milk, Norra knew 
she couldn't make milk yet.


Chirin felt confident she knew best, and even though she wasn't a 
mother she seemed to be taking so well to the job! He felt so touched 
to see her like this, everything was changed now, suddenly there was 
a baby in their midst. 

"Pet?" Hiro stiffened at that word. "But that's just...it's just 
wrong, though, to say anything's your pet!" The fur on his neck 
itched slightly, as he remembered when he had once been a wretched 
human's 'pet'. "Especially someone that young."

"So that's his name? Orrin?" Hiro giggled. "Cute name. It fits him 
well."


"Orrin's a beautiful name," said Chirin. "He's all our pet just until 
we find him a home," said Chirin, who did not know the meaning of the 
word "pet" other than something you cared for, like a baby. After 
all...his kind had never kept pets. "Or if Norra wants to adopt 
him...of course, I'd help out any way I can if anyone would want help 
with him. but he can't be left out onhis own right now. He'll need 
someone to raise him, somewhere."

He looked over at hiro confused, wondering what was wrong with having 
to care for a baby.


Norra watched the Cubone stretching his little paws out to her, and 
couldn't help scooping him up, pulling him off her leg. How could you resist 
those innocent chibi eyes? "Cubone'na.." she repeated, in a somewhat softer 
voice.
    She felt like such a soft Upperworlder, but right now that just seemed 
all right.
    "He does'a like'a me!" Norra turned her attention to Chirin. "Mebbe' 
should'a stay.." she said slowly.
    "Orin'a? Thatta' issa' yorra' name'a?" she asked the little Cubone. 

"If you want to stay and help raise Orrin that's a wonderful thing to 
do," said Chirin, "and I would just be wishing I could stay with you. 
He's beautiful..."

He felt sad all fo a sudden, everyone else felt so free to go on with 
their lives exept him. He was stuck fighting all these evil things 
because if he didn't they would kill him. He would not get to sit 
back and grase these lovely fields tomorrow, he was going to be 
heading out into these wild woods to find the celebies. If he could 
even find them.

The temptation to call off the journey was immense. But he didn't say 
anything.


Orin smiled and hugged what he saw as his mother. He looked back at 
the other Cubone. He laughed and tagged "Brother" to this other one. 

"Orin! Cubone'a! Cubonnnnne! Orin!" He giggled in her arms.

"I found him rabbit! He is my pet!" Loki huffed at the nidoran.

Now chirin got a sense of something wrong. "Loki...it's wonderful 
that you found him, but Norra is clearly the best one to raise him, 
and you don't really own him..."

He frowned. "If you and Norra both want to stay back here and raise 
him, that's probably the best thing forhim for now, especially since 
you can probably hunt around in the forest where he was born."

Norra felt a slight pang of envy. Chirin could go off and kill the bad guys 
while she was stuck with that... cute adorable little Cubone! She forgot why 
she felt envious. 
    Norra didn't think she even knew the meaning of the words 'cute' and 
'adorable' until now.
    She creased her brow. Was something wrong with her?

"Well...what does everyone want to do?" he said, faced with the 
prospect of heading out into the forest alone with Selden now.

"I've got nothing against letting him stay, mind you." Hiro 
sniffed. "But that word...'pet'...it more or less implies that you 
own whatever creature your 'pet' is. Or so I've learned. And after 
what I've seen with humans, I don't think any creature needs to be 
owned by anybody." He glared at Loki for a moment. 

"I see,: said Chirin. "Yes..he's definitely not anything to be owned. 
no living breathing pokemon is...someday humans may learn this. If 
Orrin came with us I was thinking we could find him a home with the 
marowaks who live in there, we might even be able to find some of the 
family he came from. But if we find no one, it's too dangerous for a 
baby."

"I'd help to raise him," said the nido. "But I don't think I'm cut 
out to be any sort of parent figure right now. And with a predator, 
even." 

Chirin blinked his light in agreement. It felt nice to have Hiro 
around--someone with good common sense. 

He distanced himself from the baby-cubone-infatuated group.

"I'm going to be going o this journey somehow," he said. "no one has 
to come with me, but who's still planning on coming and who isn't?"

Chirin was suddenly very frightened. He knew he had to go into that 
forest to find those celebies...but the cubone suddenly among them, 
was very concrete evidence that the black forest was crawling with 
marowaks. He and Selden would be marching to their death without a 
good strong party around them. 

He didn't know what to do. He could take Weedu...

...but Weedu would have the same problems he and Selden did--not 
meant for the forest, and weak to all kinds of things that were in 
there.

Tounga, then? Tounga was so agreeable...but on the other flipper, 
what if Tounga wasn't enough? He'd be dooming him too.

He'd gone from having too many volunteers to possibly having too few.

"Yorra' would'a be all'a by yorra' self'a! Norra' good'a 'dea." Norra said. 
"Wanna' come'a.." she said. "But'a norra' wanna' leave'a lil' Cubone'na kin-" 
she stopped. She was already considering him kin! "Norra' wanna leave'a lil' 
Cubone'na stuck'a with'a norra' body like'a himma'.." 
    Norra sighed. She had to decide between helping to raise Orrin or going 
off and seeing Celebi and beating evil Denryuu!
    What should she do?

"It's up to you and I'll respect either choice you make...either 
choice would be a good and responsible one," he said. He respected 
her now, even, for the serious thought she was giving all of it. 
Norra clearly found the idea of adventure more fun, but the infant 
was now there needing care. Chirin looked over at the blissfully 
oblivious Orrin. He knew he would miss Norra if she didn't come, but 
at the same time be even more fond of her if she chose to stay...it 
would be the hardest choice she had probably ever had to make.

"It's a hard choice, so why don't I put off going for a little 
longer," said Chirin. "i'll stay for the rest of today, and we can 
simply leave tomorrow--if anyone wants to come with me."


"Woah, woah...." Tounga blinked, a vine hanging out of the corner of 
his mouth that he'd dragged from the forest when he'd went to get 
soem lunch. There was a Cubone here now? Just WHAT was with them? They
attracted strange things to happen to them; it was almost uncanny....

Seeing as there was already a small throng of pokemon around Orrin, 
the Lickitung decided to hang back, stay on the outskirts a bit. "Now 
that I know at least Fire, and possibly other predators are staying 
here, I could help if you wanted. Your choice though." He sat down 
next to Hiro, tearing off a section from the other endof what was 
left of the vine. "Want some?" He offered to the Nidoran.

"I haven't seen Fire," said Chirin. "Have you?" 

He watched the lickitung eat and wandered over to a bush himself, to 
browse. It had been a long and complicated day already, full of near-
battles and definite upsets. The spirits were crowding the space 
around him so much he was beginning to feel like he needed room.

(left off at 33923)

~

As Karama walked, she found herself start to worry, and get a little 
frightened. She longed to go back. She started to turn and walk back 
towards the others.

~No,~ she thought, stopping dead in her tracks. She turned around 
and kept walking, further from the group...and deeper into an 
unknown danger. 

"I'm glad you started taking my advice! Least now i won't have to 
hurt you!" Dreama grinned as she stepped in front of Karama. "And 
you better stay away from him! He ain't your kind! He should be with 
me!" 

She was jealous Loki had given her flowers. Dreama didn't know Loki 
had done it out of friendship. Dreama saw it otherwise. She snorted 
at Karama.

"Now! Where can I find Heero-ki. I have a score to settle with him! 
Ebony swore to punish him for what he did to me! When I deliver Loki 
to her I get Loki and my revenge!" She stamped her foot.