"I really am going to stay put this time.." Ivy muttered to 
            herself as she sat her pink rear on the wet ground, seeking some 
            shelter from the falling rain. She was well aware that Chirin, 
            Azalea, and everyone else were relatively close...the ones she 
            wanted to stay as far away from as she possibly could. Even if she 
            was following them from a distance. Why? The answer was simple. Ivy, 
            late with her own evolution, had been just as late with something 
            else as well. 

            She was in season. During the spring to boot. And she knew it.

            Her wet wool clinging close to her chest and hanging in her eyes, 
            Ivy sighed to herself. She had to stay away...for more than one 
            reason. Azalea and her realtionship with Chirin for one. Something 
            like this wouldn't have helped the situation at all..and she didn't 
            deserve to have a chance like that. Not when she'd taken Azalea's 
            away, as much as she knew she'd do the same if..

            And, another reason. She couldn't properly take care of a lamb, no 
            matter how much she might want one. Not when she couldn't even keep 
            her own little sister was safe, or Noona, or anyone for that matter. 
            What sort of mother would she make if she couldn't even do that?

            A snap of a twig snapped her from her thoughts, eyes wide as she 
            whirled to look behind her. 

            No one.

            She turned back, shuddering both from fear and the rain. This had 
            been happening alot in the last few days since she'd left Chirin and 
            the others without a word. A sound with no source that she could 
            see. Well, scratch that. She'd seen a flash of it once or twice, 
            whatever it was that was following her. Like a stalk--

            "Good evening, madam!" a cheery voice called..above?

            Slowly, she craned her gaze upwards...and froze. Something was 
            sitting comfortably, right in among the branches. A brown figure, 
            looking almost like the humans she vaguely remembered from the 
            farm..only she was sure this was a pokemon. He wore red things on 
            his paws (or were those his paws?). At that point, 
            it...winked?....and jumped from the tree, about a foot in front of 
            her. "A pleasure to make your accquaintence, madam." he said, adding 
            a bow for effect.

            Ivy just gaped, her eyes still wide. 

            ...Stalker...

~

"Hm," said Chirin, noticing her strange glances around. Maybe she was 
slyer than he thought. A spinarak web she might've wlked into? Those 
were sticky, but they didn't run like rivers. "The rain running down 
the front of your neck? If that's icky...I don't think it's icky..."

"I ..." Chirin turne around and started walking another way. He 
glanced at Ira...damn. He'd smelled it too. Even in the light rain 
there was no mistaking it. 

A ewe. In heat!

"I am going to find one this time," he said. It was not Cookie, but a 
different ewe. The rain did obscure who it was. Chirin and Ira 
immediately turned off the path.

"What is it?" said Azalea, who had smelled a ewe, but didn't take it 
in quite as sharply. She wasn;'t attuned to it like a ram would be. 

"A ewe," said Chirin. 

Azalea just snorted. "Figures. Does this mean a detour?"

"It does for me."

Chirin pickd uup to a trot through the rain. It was misting again.

"What?" Selenity's riddled thoughts were interrupted, and she guessed 
she wouldn't be having to think of one now. A ewe, of course. She 
sighed a bit and watched his pace quicken. She would never understand 
this, she knew, as she sniffed the air. "...so I guess we'll be 
waiting up for you then." She flicked a light to him.

She glanced over at Naki. Her sneeze had given her the answer 
before. "Oh, and, I guess it's your...er...mucus." It had taken her a 
moment to find the most appropriate word.

"i will be back," called Chirin. He noticed out of teh corner of his 
eye that they had a third party. and it wasn't Skip, or even Ray..not 
that he had ever shown the slightest interest in ewes, poor thing. It 
was Dodėdė. 

The flaaffy had picked up after him and Ira. Chirin grinned. Well, he 
wanted to come, he could come. He threw a grin over his shoulder and 
flashed his tail to whatever ewe was ahead.

She was farther away than he had thought. Chirin and Ira had both 
picked up their pace through the wet green. "No ghosts this time."

"Yes," said Ira. "Good idea. Every ram has his limitations!"

"That is too true!"

~

Finally getting the voice to speak, Ivy choked for a minute before 
            responding, in a near whisper "H-hey...urr..."

            "Allow me to introduce myself, fair maiden." the strange pokemon 
            went on, earning a sweatdrop from the flaaffy ewe. "My name is 
            Manhatten. Manhatten the hitmonchan, if you want to go into 
            specifics. May I ask yours, my lady?"

            Hitmonchan. Definately a very...odd...hitmonchan. "Oh, my 
            name..urr..it's Ivy.." she said quickly. 

            "A beautiful name, I may add!" Manhatten grinned widely. "If you 
            were wondering why I've been following you, my dear lady...well, you 
            see, I'm quite new to the life of a wild pokemon myself..call this a 
            small excursion of mine, if you must. And, you see, your positively 
            glowing features and alluring scent drew me to you..but I'm a shy 
            type myself.."

            *Doesn't seem like that to me..* Ivy thought to herself with an 
            inward sigh as he continued. "And I must say, it is quite a pleasure 
            to meet one such as yourself so quickly after beginning my little 
            vacation."

            "The pleasure's all mine, Manhatten." Ivy replied, attempting to be 
            polite anyway. "Although, stalking isn't exactly..."

            "Stalking?" Manhatten shook his head. "No no no no..you misread me, 
            my lady. I merely have been following you from afar."

            ..And that wasn't stalking?

~

Two big rams came jogging through the grass. Chirin still flashing 
his light to the ewe. He recognized her scent now, and as he rounded 
a stand of trees he recognized the light even more clearly. "Ivy! You 
are alive!" And she was ripe!

"C-chirin..." Ivy sputtered, surprised. He'd found her, even after 
            all that effort to stay hidden. "Alive?" she asked, even more 
            surprised at that remark. They thought she was dead? 

"Yes," said Chirin, "it is a relief! We'll have to run back and tell 
the others  you're okay. i know that I seem, well, different right 
now, but I really was worried and really am glad to see you well and 
good." And in heat. "Ira can you go back and tell the others she's 
all right?"

"Like hell I will," said Ira, laughing even as he shook his 
head. "Nice try buddy, nice try."

"I can't say I did not try."

Ivy chuckled despite herself. It was tempting to suggest Manhatten, 
            just for the sake of having him away for the moment...

Hungry for more than grass and flooded with relief at he same time, 
Chirin kicked into a run. Dodė was left in the rain as Ira picked up 
close behind him. 

Chirin rounded on Ira as they neared. Was she ready tostand for them 
yet? 

"Ivy--what happened? We were looking everywhere for you...then we 
smelled you."

"Well..I...that is..." Ivy started.

            A sweatdrop forming, Ivy opened her mouth to speak again.

Ira pushed in front of Chirin. "Yes, we hung around all day by the 
fence, calling--"

Chirin pushed in front of Ira. He clutched the apricorn shell for 
luck. "what wonderfully wet winds bring me wandering to you now--"

Ira shoved him away, roughly. Chirin staggered away. Chirin laid his 
ears back and growled at Ira. Then he faced Ivy again, but only 
partly. He had to watch here..Ira was still a good dead heavier than 
him. He knew he had little chance of winning a fight against him. It 
just wasn't fair. Ivy was his friend. "Who...who is this?" Chirin's 
ight flashed, and faced the intruder with an agggressive, un-chirin-
like stare. Ira did the same. As if they both realized, 
simultaneously, that while they were fighting, that brown pokemon 
could be winning./

Ivy, finally taking the chance to speak while she could manage it, 
            said quickly. "His name's Manhatten..he's a..."

            The hitmonchan puffed out his chest proudly at hearing his fair ewe 
            introduce him.

            "..a stalker."

            Toppling over, Manhatten chuckled. "My lady, how many times must I 
            tell you that I'm not a stalker..."

            "We'll get into this later." Ivy said with a sigh, then went on 
            before the fighting-type could interrupt "I'm sorry if I worried you 
            all by leaving like that..."

"It's okay," said Chirin, "just..next time tell someone. Naki was in 
tears. So was Sparaka. They will be floating with Watakko when they 
find out. It is a weight lifted from us, to find out you're here and 
well."

"Yes," said Ira.  

            Ivy smiled a bit, though she felt a bit more guilty to find out that 
            her being gone had upset everyone so much. She probably should have 
            at least said something to Naki or Sparaka..."I'll be glad to see 
            them again...I've missed all of you."

"They are not far back, I thought more would come...but me and Ira 
did run out on them a bit fast." Chirin grinned. "They would love to 
see you, obviously. They could be coming round right now."


Dodė came running up behind them. Dodė stared at 
the flaaffy who was a little taller than him. 

"Ivy?" 

"Yes," said Chirin, "the one and only. Hi, Manhattan." Chirin faced 
the fighting type pokemon with sparks on his head jewel for warning. 
He would not have the ewe...Ira sparked as well. They were both 
expectant, and aggresion flashed in their lights. Their musk perfumed 
the rain.

Ivy looked at Dodė, blinking once or twice before smiling at him. 
            "Hello." 

"Hi." Her scent made him back way on instinct. He didn't know what to 
say or do and the situation was making him blush deeply. Obviously he 
had never been with a ready female, thought Chirin. 

            Ivy surpressed a bitter laugh. A long, long time ago, this sort of 
            ram would have been an amusing toy to flirt with...of course, she'd 
            long since outgrown that stage of her life.

            Manhatten seemed slightly unnerved by the looks he was getting. 
            "Ehehe..greetings and salutations, lad..." Perhaps now would be a 
            good time to make an exit. Stage left. If he had a stage left to 
            exit to...and if those were special effects.

Chirin nodded. His head jewel staggered sparks around it. He had 
leaned his head forward on his neck in a postire of dominance. Ira 
had done the same. "Greetings. Would that we could meet in less tense 
circumstances."

Ira watched Manhattan as well. There was a waiting hanging between 
them. When Manhattan got far enough away, they would turn to the 
battle, if one would ensue. 

Chirin's mind raced. How could he fool Ira, trick him? He had 
nochance winning any rights by battle, so he would not try. Bt there 
wasn't much to fall back on. They were both fresh, and there were no 
other ewes. Nothere to hide, either, right around here, and no other 
sheep to distract him.

"Urr..I see." Manhatten gulped and chuckled. "Ohhh..would you look 
            at the time. I do apologize my lady, but this is around the time of 
            day when I usually find my dinner...so...I'd best go to find it..." 
            Quickly, the hitmonchan scampered off, happy for the logical excuse 
            he'd come up with.

            Darnit, if he hadn't been so meek about it, he may've won her heart 
            already!

            Ivy watched after him for a moment, almost relieved to see him go 
            for the moment. For more than one reason on her part.

Ira stared at Chirin, looking at him almost directly in the eye. 
Chirin growled, but finally backed away. There was no point in 
getting beat up over something that would have the same outcome 
either way. 

His friend had become a competitor, one that would take away the ewe 
he so wanted right now. Chirin would just stand there feeling the 
burn while Ira quenched his. 

The much younger ram pawed the ground with hisfoot while Ira 
approashed Ivy, sniffing at her. 

Chirin thought of a way to distract them...distract Ira, cast a spell 
or something. but he was truly at a loss. there was nothing he could 
do.

~

Naki sniffed, it was hard through snot and through 
rain. "IVY?!" she spun around and tried to see her light, squinting in the 
rain. There was an odd brown pokemon over there as well...

"Come on," Azalea headed off into the drizzle. It had begun to rain a 
little heavier again. "Ivy? Chirin?" she called, expecting to wind up 
seeing those two in some positions or other. Although with Ira there, 
who knew.

 "All right," Naki followed behind the flame-scarred ewe eagerly, wanting to 
ask Ivy if she was all right and everything. After all, she smelled a bit 
different right now..
    ...was that what was driving the rams crazy?

"Whoa." Skip tossed his head. "i smell the sweet smellof a ewe now!"

"Goodness," said Ray, "something tells me we're in for mating 
troubles all over again." He was caught between feeling lucky he 
never had to contend with ewes clouding up his head, and feeling 
jealous, that a ram's lustihood would never be his.

~

Ivy, not quite sure what to do (flirting had pretty much been for 
            forte once, but..), just stood pretty much still. Thoughts of a lamb 
            plagued her mind, worries of what would happen if..

            Unintentionally, she stole a glance at Chirin. It bought back 
            thoughts of when she'd had her perfect family plan, once...Chirin, 
            their lamb...

            ~*

            Manhatten poddled onwards, trying his best to subtly make his way 
            towards the other group of lights and faint scents (his nose may not 
            be the best, but it served it's purpose better than a human's would, 
            be assured) clouded by mist/rain. Could one blame him for being 
            curious? ^_^

Chirin wonderd if he could outrun Ira, take Ivy with him and head 
off, do something! He couldn't just stand here and wait, could he? 
The battle lust raged in him, forcing itself through his pores. He 
dripped with a ram's rage. The rain was his essence. Chirin bleated 
deeply, a bleat laced with frustration.

 Ivy again looked at Chirin, almost longingly. Azalea rang in the 
            back of her mind, but...the thought of Chirin being her mate one day 
            had kept her going, once. And here she was, about to be another's, 
            with Chirin watching...she felt completely torn by this point.

            ...Would Azalea really have minded? Probably..perhaps...did it 
            matter? 

            "Chirin..."

There were voices! Manhatten grinned to himself, keeping up his 
            dignified walk. Or attempting. "Salutations!" he called in 
            response..even if the voice wasn't quite calling him...but it didn't 
            quite matter, now did it?

Aah--the brown pokemon was approaching them. Naki stayed behind Azalea, eying 
it somewhat fearfully. No, it was a him. What did he want?

Ira turned to see the flock. In the moment when he did, Chirin 
quickly ran behind him and right behind Ivy. He attempted to get the 
jump on things, but hesitated, just in case she was not willing...yet.

            Ivy didn't know exactly what to do, then and there. But she wasn't 
            aobut to turn Chirin away. Forget Azalea!  For now, she wasn't too 
            concerned about the ewe's feelings on the matter.

"Ira!" said Azalea. "didn't know you were here too," as the rest of 
teh flock came up. She ignored Chirin who was beginning to mount Ivy. 
It meant nothing to her, really...after all, she wasn't in season 
herself and Ivy was. Ivy needed a ram. a part of her felt, well, a 
twinge...such as what comes when you see your best friend with your 
worst enemy, or something like that.

"Salutations," said Azalea to the hitmonchan. No, she had no idea 
what he was, but he wasn't attacking, he seemed rather friendly in 
fact. Mainly, he was outnumbered, so if he tried anything there was 
no threat really.

            Manhatten paused, then bowed in the direction of the two ewes. 
            "Please, don't mind me..pardon my intrusion. I do hope I haven't 
            offended either of you lovely ladies in heading this way so 
            recklessly."

Azalea had to wonder why he had not noticed Chirin with Ivy in a 
compromising position. but then, who was she to ponder the male mind?

Seeming to take absolutely no notice of Chirin or Ivy, Manhatten 
            grinned at the new ewe. "A pleasure, madam, to be in your 
prescence."

"The pleasure's all mmine." 


Her pink flanks were between his flippers. Chirin only knew that she 
had accepted him. He had no time to waste, and his body had no desire 
to dilly dally. Ira would turn around any second. Chirin leaned his 
weight on her and time was of the essence.

Ira turned around casually, at first. The moment he saw the situation 
his eyes flew wide. Chirin saw it reflected in the astonished flash 
of his lights. 

Bellowing deeply to teh spark of his red bulbs, Ira ducked his head 
and charged right at Chirin in his curent vulnerable situation. 
Chirin clung to what he had won. Injury wa worthit.

Ivy was rather caught in the middle as one ram tried to fight off 
another. chirin bleated back and the two rams roared. Ira's head 
connected with Chirin's flank as he began to back off from Ivy. 
Chirin went rolling in the grass. He sprang up onto his feet, just in 
time. Ira's flippers were rushing at him. the two of them slapped at 
each other, eyes squinted, ears back. Their lights, their bodies were 
alive with sparks. Chirin danced away from Ivy, he didn't want her 
hurt. Ira pressed towards him. His flippers still slapped and 
punched. Their feet seemed to dance with each other, frantic footwork 
in the grass and mud.

Ivy had nearly panicked at the sudden change ot situation and 
            erruption of battle. Her flippers clentched tight at her sides, her 
            mind in a slight daze. Of course, she hoped Chirin would 
            win...though she wasn't interrupting the battle either. It was 
            almost like a dance..and because of her...

            The thought chilled her to the bone, thrilling and disturbing all at 
            once.

A whine and crack as the rams stood tall, slapping, shoving. Chirin 
leaped high and dropped sharply down, tryng to force Ira onto all 
fours. The heavier ram resisted, and kicked at Chirin. chirin 
bleated, bounced back. The two of them locked on their glare like 
their head jewels had hands.  

The rams roared amid the lash of *denki*, like two things groaning 
and cracking against each other. They were a blur of yellow, red and 
electric blue.

If he didn't notice them before, he would have probably noticed them 
plenty as the two rams exploded into a scuffle. They were violent and 
loud. Their bodies steamed in the rain. Azalea winced as Ira's head 
connected with the tender side of Chirin. He could take it...she just 
didn't like to see it. 

"Oh Chirin, you've always got to get in trouble." 

Manhatten grinned at her again, before turning his attention to the 
            scuffing rams, finally. All this over a female...well, then again, 
            he'd do worse..if those rams weren't so damned big.

Azalea didn't like the look he gave her. the smile was off. And 
Azalea didn't often notice these things. She grinned back. 

The two rams fought with flipper and head, they locked arms. They 
twisted and shoved. Thrown to the side, Chirin wrenched himself out 
of Ira's grasp and sprang abck up. Chirin was forced back when Ira 
ducked his head and charged. 

"*AMP--A-A-AMP!*"

Ira chased the younger, smaller ram up the field, then doubled back 
to Ivy. Chirin came trotting back at a slower pace...he slowed down, 
hesitant, as Ira approached Ivy this time.

Ivy didn't move. Confusion flooded her..how had Chirin lost? It was 
            a thought that was nearly unbelievable. Ira was stronger than 
            Chirin. 

            But the stronger the ram...but Chirin...

            Ivy felt torn on another matter now. They were fighting over 
            her...but...was she more than a trophy? 

            A thought flooded to her. Hadn't Chirin already...? Her mind 
            descended into chaos, thoughts flying left and right. In any case...

Chirin watched with his body still rising and falling. His breath 
moved him in a visibly rhythm, in and out. His mouth hung slightly 
open. He had done it, but ira would seek to negate anything that he 
had managed to do. 

Lust clouded his mind. a release, a fight, turning everything he was 
made of into weapons, things that grabbed, stole. The forest demon 
breathed in him, demons and desire. He watched with a wish and a wail 
inside. High above them an oak like the one he had seen framed the 
sky with its branches, branches like black lightning. Dark *denki* 
inside him as he panted, watching Ira approach Ivy now. 

Chirin had lost control of himself. He was a creature who fought for 
what was at the root of everything--who claimed the next generation.

            Ivy was...she had no idea by this point. This was absolutely nothing 
            like what she'd thought it would be. Or was it? ..She was 
            condricting herself. Badly. She was beginning to think it would be 
            better just to get it over and done with, regardless of who the 
            father ended up and worry about the resulting lamb later on. Not the 
            best way of thinking, but..

Chirin's good friend had become something else. He had become 
something else to him. It was like an eclipse of the sun. It would 
pass but till it did there was shadow everywhere, there was dark that 
was so hard to see through.

Ira did not leave when he was finished for the time being. He stepped 
back, gaining his breath quickly; he looked all around at the others. 
When Dodė got too close, Ira pushed him back just by looking at him. 
But he was mostly focused on Chirin, and ready to block him if he 
came one step nearer.

Chirin waited until Ira ducked his head to graze before trying to 
rush over to Ivy again. His side was sore from where he had been 
headbutted, but it was getting better. 

Ira rushed him. His shoulder met with Chirin's lower chest. The 
heavier ram pushed him back; Chirin swerved off him and bounded away. 
He stopped, again, and waited. 

Ira threw back his head and bellowed, deep and loud.

Ivy wondered why this was still going on. Shouldn't it have ended by 
            now? They'd already mated with her..hell, two of them had! Wasn't 
            that enough to end this thing by now? But it was still going on..how 
            much longer would this keep up?

            Manhatten gave a small cringe at the bellow, not at all minding that 
            he'd avoided picking a fight with these fellows. There were others 
            to find out there, other than Ivy...though if they hadn't 
            appeared..not that it matter now. His vacation still had a loooong 
            ways to go!

Ira occasionally sniffed at Ivy. Who knew when her season would end? 
It lasted a couple of days at the most, and she had been gone how 
long? He would guard her until it was over. Strange how easily these 
instincts came to him, that he had rarely come close to using down in 
the Mure caverns.

Chirin was only a *gumaru*--a young ram. He had begun to feel much 
older and more capable over the seasons, with his uncanny experiences 
that many sheep never knew, and his very tall size coupled with that. 
Tallness ran in his family. Butit was not enough to pit him against a 
ram like Ira, who, he had in some ways forgotten, was a good few 
years his senior. Ira was seven or eight years old and in his best 
years. Chirin was so far behind him that it was rather amazing he 
could even come as close to contending with him at all, as he had 
come. 

Ivy's breaths still hung in the air between the flippers of the lucky 
ram Chirin-chirin, in his mind. Yes, Chirin had luck and quickness on 
his side, the *pia* had danced for him. He had friends in the bush, 
and he would use those powers to his advantage in the future. He 
would scamper fast and mate fast. He would dance the dance around the 
larger ram. 

Ira stood watching him. Chirin returned the ritual glare. His body 
was fired up, ready to go all day, all night; and thwarted, as if he 
was standing at the fence with the dog on the other side all over 
again.

Ivy waited, a bit impatiently. The sooner the season finally did 
            end, the better. This was just...

            She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The thought of 
            Azalea growing even more bitter about all of this burned in the back 
            of her mind. An apology wouldn't help anything..it hadn't last time. 
            Then again, this was more natural and less severe...hopefully.

Dodė watched in fasicination and fear. He didn't seem to get the rams 
mad if he stayed back by the others. He stayed near Naki, mostly. 
Chirin was totaly change...he wasn't the nice singing dancing 
understanding Chirin that Dode had known.

chirin waited, he paced around Ira. He stopped to nibble on the 
grass. Might as well eat. After all, it was not looking like he would 
get any more opportunities.

Xeon hovered up above the melee, looking down with fascination. 
Amazing... One minute, all nice and friend type. Now, they fight... 
and other stuff that baffled him. But, then again... most things did. 
He zoomed down, down to Ira's head. Xeon stared a bit. His head 
slowly cocked to one side, then the other, as he looked at the large 
ram. He slowly reached out a paw, and poked Ira's nose, then shot 
back a bit, still looking at him. "Mew?"

Ira flicked his ears back, but didn't think anything of the mew 
really. He crouched right next to Ivy, close to her tail. He kept his 
eye on Chirin from one view or another as he looked at Xeon. 

"Hello there..." His expression relaxed just a little bit. 

Chirin watched teh interaction, but saw no chance to get near Ivy. He 
lay down on his side and munched cud, not that that helped him calm 
down. He was still ready and could not stop watching her. Ivy had 
taken on another dimenion of beauty to him. She was beauty at its 
most ancient.

Ivy turned her attention to the mew, surprised by the appearence of 
            the furry little pokemon. It was...pretty cute actually. She vaguely 
            remembered having seen it before, very vaguely. At least this time, 
            she got a pretty close look at it, since Ira was rather close.

            From where he stood, Manhatten surveryed the new little pokemon with 
            interest. He didn't quite know what to make of it...but hey.

Xeon started giggling at Ira's responses. He didn't understand the 
instincts of a ram. He just saw a game. He inched up again, and held 
his paws out, seemingly not to touch anything.... while sneaking his 
tail up to flick Ira on the ear. The Mew's high small voice was heard 
giggling again, and he scooted back a bit again, wagging his tail 
behind him.

            Ivy watched the mew carefully, all too aware of more than one pair 
            of eyes on her. She glanced at Chirin, slightly uneasy. Even if she 
            did care about him..just the way he was watching her...hadn't she 
            wanted him to look at her like that?

Chirin could only look on from further away. He got up, and grazed 
his way towards the hitmonchan. He sniffed the air around him, 
getting his scent. He sized him up. Chirin had never encountered a 
pokemon like him. He looked vaguely like a human, the way he was 
shaped.

"And how are you?" The fighting signals in his body and lightshad 
toned way down. Chirin wasn't really in any kind of competition wit 
him now, it was Ira in control, and that put him and the newcomer in 
a more friendly position--for right now. Why not get to know him?

Chirin caught her stare and held it. His lights trilled to her, his 
gaze told only that he wanted her again...and again. It was so hard 
knowing that this fall would be a larger scale version of this 
encounter right now. His age was at odds with what he had 
experienced.

"Ah...sorry Xeon, not right now...I am not into playing, just righ 
now." Ira tried to let the little kit down easy...after all it was 
just a baby. He could see Chirin looking at him and at Ivy and knew 
this was no time to stop the vigil.

Ira's actions only tickled Xeon further. He looked at Ira with 
several funny looks, all the while giggling at him. The Mew was in 
too playful a mood to care about ram's instincts at the moment. He 
wagged his tail back and forth at Ira, and stuck out his tounge. This 
is better than what was happening. No fighting. He darted back, 
Looked at Ira again, stuck his tounge out again, then flew over to 
Azalea. Ira was boring.

Ira watched the mew go with some relief. He had been about to swat at 
him. Not out of wanting to do any harm, but for a mew who supposedly 
was pretty smart, he had been pretty dumb to try and play with him, 
not even seeing the situation and the very clear signals of anger in 
Ira's face. The mew clearl resented that he had beaten Chirin out and 
wanted to torment him. Well, that was just like the child he was.

Fights played over in Chirin's mind. The young ram got up and paced 
again, seeking some point of release. They didn't seem like they were 
going to mate again, rightnow anyway. It didn't matter;  chirin's 
instincts were driving him crazy.

Naki stayed close to Dodė fearfully. Did all rams get like that when ewes 
started to smell funny? What if she started smelling funny? She gave herself 
a sniff, just to make sure. Oh, she had forgotten her runny nose. She didn't 
know if she smelled funny or not! She was glad Ivy was back, but all of this..
    "D.. D... do I smell any different than yesterday?!" she asked Dodė 
quickly, trying to be discreet about it, but her flashing lights and how she 
emphasized the sentence easily showed how much she was worried about it. She 
didn't want any rams fighting over her! 
    Waitaminute, Dodė was a ram, and it was getting towards the end of the 
day and to the evening, too! What if he lied about it? Naki coughed a bit. 
Ugh, she felt horrible..

"I don't know." Dodė scraped his foot against a tuft of grass. He had 
been thinking along the same lines, like, would he become this 
someday? Was he already becoming it? He had followed them here first. 
Notihng had mattered tohim but getting there. "No, you don't smell 
any different. But...you don't smell well. Are you sick?"

              "I think so," Naki said, a bit dejectedly, her short ears with two black 
stripes and five striped tail drooping. She didn't want to have a cold...

Chirin paced in a circle, with Ivy and Ira in the middle. He let out 
a low hornlike bleat. Was he lucky to have gotten what he had gotten, 
or was he just unlucky to have to put up with Ira at all? 

It wasn't fall. Chirin could clearly think, even while the urges 
raged. He knew he and Ira would always be friends, but that this had 
made them temporary enemies. Or rivals. But weren't they always 
rivals? He would've never thought it was possible to have such a 
close friend who was also a rival.

Xean stared at Ira from a safe distance.Hmm... What could he do? Ira 
was obviously preoccupied, although Xeon wasn't too sure what he was 
doing. He stuck his tounge out at him again. Rams were no fun. Other 
than Chirin. Speaking of which, he was a bit odd himself... Like a 
totally different Chirin. 
Xeon looked around for someone... anyone? Everyone was affected in 
some way, and Xeon didn't understand why. What was so important? He 
rolled over in mid air like he was laying on a bed. *Bora...*

Chirin's eyes followed the mew. Xeon was certainly feeling bewilderd 
by al of this. "Hi Xeon," he called through the rain a it got darker. 
The growing dim began to emphasize everyone;s lights more. They were 
a glowing group of mostly red lights...but he had his eye on that 
blue one.

Rain poured down in the blue clouded sunset. Dodė sat next to Naki 
and put his tail against hers. And in the quiet waiting chirin 
crouched with readiness throbbing thwarted in him. He waited not for 
the passage of the night, but the passage of years.

Selenity stood with the rest and grazed, filled with fascination and 
some type of fear at the same time at the goings-on here. She 
couldn't stop looking at Ivy, wondering how she must feel, how she 
must see things. Selenity didn't know what it was like to be in 
season. Her heart still pounded from the fight before, at every blow 
directd in Chirin's way, how every part of her longed to have jumped 
there in between them. Good thing there was a brain to get in the way 
of that.

She sat alone and chewed cud in the tense semi-silence.

Chirin didn't know that Skip had reached his side until he saw the 
lights just behind him. He startled when he turned. 

"A little high-strung, now aren't we?" Skip chuckled and patted 
Chirin's arm. 

"A little beat, a little bit going crazy." Chirin rubbed the side of 
his face, where Ira had dealt him a nasty slap. The skin was a little 
reddened. "Nothing like this to remind me how quickly something can 
change. I guess Ivy left because she was scared somtehing like this 
might happen." Fortunately for her lamb to be, if one was coming, the 
north was warm in the wintertime...which was when it would be born. 

"nothing like this to make me alive again, though...for better or 
worse." Chirin had been growing tired of chatting and riddles. He had 
wanted something more.

Selenity had stood up again, feeling up for another graze. She saw 
Skip talking to Chirin and almost wanted to go over herself, but 
didn't think it would be such a good idea, due to the circumstances. 
Instead, she blinked her light to him while he chewed. If he was fine 
with her coming over she would have to wait and see if it was all 
right.

What a day...Selenity was glad of the soon-to-be coming night. Or 
maybe she shouldn't be. She could only expect it to bring on 
something new, or maybe, for once, they would have an at least 
somewhat normal night, like the night before. Whatever...as long as 
she got some sleep, as long as they made it north through those days 
and nights. She would like to see Mimishi and if at all possible, 
take a quick trip to the river to visit Gus. She hadn't seen her good 
slowpoke friend for a while now.

              Naki shared sparks with Dodė, it was cold and beginning to get a bit windy. 
Her leeriness of rams from this afternoon with their fighting over Ivy was 
beginning to fade a bit. Dodė seemed to be just fine right now, not acting 
all odd like Chirin and Ira had.. But how could she tell? She chewed a bit of 
cud sleepily. The sun was hardly even set, how could she be tired already? 
    Easy, she thought. She was sick. A thought occured to her. "Do you think 
I'm going to make everyone else sick because I am?" she asked the Mokoko, her 
voice a little affected by nasal clog but not seriously.

"I don't know," said Dodė, "but back down below, when someone got 
sick they took them away sometimes, and you never saw them again."

"Don't you worry Naki," said Azalea. "It looks like you've got a 
little cold--not surprising with all the different pokemon we;'ve 
been interacting with. That sort of thing spreads colds."

"I never got the chance." Skip shook his head. "All this...don't see 
the use. i'm not what I was, but oh I remember. I think I used to be 
taller."

"Does that happen?" One got smaller when they aged? Chirin had 
already heard enough about getting old and dying. He watched Ira and 
Ivy, both of whom didn't seem to be doing anything. Everyone was just 
waiting. Good thing they had picked a field of good grass to do it in.

"I guess it does," said Skip, "that or topside-raised rams are all 
just bigger. I never had enough to eat growing up, though."

Chirin tried to find something to say to Skip so he wouldn't feel bad 
about being too old to compete. He must know he had no chance in the 
fall either...not that he would not try. Every ram alive tried, or 
just about every one. And although there were rams who skipped a 
season here and there due to illness or just not feeling up to it, it 
did not mean they were not consumed by its fire. Haru's blase topped 
the changing trees and it coated every ram or buck alive. Including 
many spirits of males gone by. 

He thought of nothing to say. chirin nudged skip's shoulder and neck. 
There was this hole in his words wherein sat a life gone by.

Selenity came closer to the rest of the sheep. Maybe conversation 
would help satisfy her want to move, move, move. She had never been 
good with waiting, even if it wasn't for something that would affect 
her. It could only seem in her outward apearance that patience was of 
her virtue, while her ever-present restlessness inside clashed with 
it.

She sniffed towards Naki. "I'm not one who could be called an expert 
in illnesses," she said, "but I believe a small cold like yours will 
fade away eventually...I think." She questioned Azalea with her 
light. Azalea definitely knew more than her...pfft, to her, that ewe 
knew everything. Selenity couldn't help but wish she did too. Maybe 
the world would make more sense to her if it was so.

"Colds go away," said Azalea. "If they're just colds. Just take it 
easy, though...if you stress yourself you could exacerbate a cold 
into something worse. Pneumonia...bronchitis...the possibilites are 
endless, really." She rolled her cud to the other side of her mouth.

Ray wandered among the rams and the ewes. He was, for himself, 
enjoying the rest time. They had walked most of the day. "Hi, Chirin."

"Hi," said Chirin as Ira got up and started approaching Ivy again. 
chirin breathed deeply. 

Ray's ears flicked. "Well--looks like this is the place to stay 
tonight, isn't it."

"I guess so, although it's still early." Chirin's voice was 
distracted. He was watching again. Watching was one of his least 
favorite things to do in situations like these. He watched as if he 
would get another chance; and when watching did nothing and he 
couldn't stay still anymore, he put his nose to the ground and prayed 
to Haru.

Selenity swallowed her bite of grass painfully fast at Azalea's 
perturbing bit information, quickly turning to Naki. "But that is no 
reason to worry over it; you'll get better, she's right, just take it 
easy. I'm sure you'll be well in no time." Even though Azalea was 
only giving the straightfoward facts, it wouldn't do much good in 
helping make someone worrying over their illness feel any better, 
especially someone like Naki.

She glanced over at Chirin again, now talking to Ray, wondered still 
if she could go over and talk to him. She wanted to but at this point 
in time she may only be an annoyance...she just couldn't help but 
feel fidgety here not talking to him since seeing him being beat 
around by Ira.

"Oh, in all likelihood you'll be fine," said Azalea, "but just to be 
on the safe side I would takeit easy. Like getting to sleep early and 
so forth. I'm sure Chirin won't mind slowing the traveling pace down 
a bit for a while if you're having trouble keeping pace."

Chirin stood up, but not to stretch. He cast his light out over the 
group. He held himself ack from bellowing in frustration, and then 
chasing someone around. He wouldn't take his pent up anger out on his 
friends.

He grazed till he was stuffed, then he was waiting by  the group and 
watching. Far away he thought he heard the moan of autumn wind in the 
branches of the guardian tree.

Selenity stood up and came closer to him, body poised and light 
cautious. She scented the air and knew that he would probably not be 
up to a visit; she supressed the urge to go over and lick that 
reddened cheek, tend to any developing bruises on him. It all brimmed 
in her with the thought of ram fights. Never would she understand 
them...or downright like them, for that matter.

She flopped down in the grass near him, deciding she might as well 
have a rest instead, and sniffed at the blades, not too hungry 
anymore. The tips tickled her nose and she wrinkled her snout, ready 
to hold in a sneeze, but a small one came out anyway. Selenity yawned 
and lifted her ears so they could catch the rain, enjoying this 
period of rest that they had. She knew she should while they had it.


Chirin turned on Selenity and nuzzled her ear. His musk ran with the 
rain. Could Selenity come into season too? He knew from experience 
that the presence of rams helped bring it on, although not usually at 
this time of year. Maybe he should just feel lucky he had gotten a 
few precious moments with Ivy. But it was oh so hard! He was all 
juiced up; ready for action. It showed in his lights. The fight with 
Ira had only stirred him even more. Every ewe he saw seemed about to 
come in season. He licked Selenity's ear. 

"Hiya...how're you doing? How does the night find you?" He heard her 
sneeze and thought of Naki. "Are you feeling all right?"

He still had the energy to travel more, but it had been redirected 
into this vigil. It eclipsed his feelings for other things.

"Oh--" Selenity was pleasantly surprised at his affections and leaned 
in closer, returning them. She could smell him in a mix of sheep and 
grass and rain; strong but good, and naturally it made her stir 
inside. "Hello...yes, I'm feeling quite well. The night looks to be a 
nice one, as always. Just enjoying it." She smiled and flicked one 
sodden ear, drops spraying in random directions. "I feel I should be 
asking you the same, after all of that...how are you?" She reached to 
lick his cheek.

It seemed the longer it rained the better it felt, the more Selenity 
sensed it running down her skin and soaking into her wool, settling 
onto her ears and refreshing every part of her. Rain had become one 
of her favorite things on this journey, and as time dragged on in 
this moment she absentmindedly felt it against her, and enjoyed it. 
She only wished she could be running and singing and dancing through 
it too.

"Mmm." Chirin's breath was hot and heavy as he pulled her close. They 
were surrounded by his rosy light. "i am about as good as one can get 
in this situation. I admit it is not what I would hav wanted--but 
neither would I ever give up Ira as a light friend. This was not 
supposed to happen, until the fall, but I'm not complaining." He 
grinned. He wished there were more, that was the main thing. He 
sniffed at Selenity just to make sure she wasn't in season. She was 
acting almost as if she was.

Lust throbbed. Chirin held her as if to rock her to sleep. Feelings 
dark and hot ran charging from inside him. Like the thing that had 
possessedhim to grab Ivy and mate with her, that great being of fire 
and *denki* that had taken him away from his post guarding the tree 
house at the end of last summer. First them, now her, in an endless 
procession. 

Xeon twitched an ear in Chirin's direction, but wasnt moving. He was 
waiting for a chance to pounce on someone. ~But who?... Yeah.~ HE 
thought to himself. He had made up his mind. He started hovering, and 
then moved over to the group of sheep. He again hovered to size up 
the pounce he would do. He nodded, landed, and leapt..... straight at 
Chirin.

"*Amp!*" Static flared up ove Chirin's skin as the ram's body reacted 
on reflex. A loud pop was heard and Chirin knew it was the mew too 
late. No...

The electricitiy flared on his tail and all down his spine. He had 
not seen Xeon coming. The mew had pounced from his blind spot. The 
vaguely enemy smell that the mew had contributed. Chirin clenched the 
electricity away, but he was grasping at something that was already 
relieased.

"Xeon! I'm sorry, I didn't see you--I didn't know it was you!" He 
shot up and whirled around.

Selenity wanted to positively drown in him, melt into him, merge into 
him, whatever it was that felt so strong in her in moments like these 
when he held her close. Her face and light beamed at him through the 
red haze that seemed to take up all the world, and she opened her 
mouth to say something until the flying blur and the pop in the air.

Selenity cursed the world as she was separated from him, aware of the 
cool rain-soaked grass again, until she realized what had happened.

"Xeon!" She got onto her feet and looked around for the little 
mew. "Oh no...Xeon, are you all right?" Chirin's release of panicked 
*denki* made her dread the answer...it almost seemed the inevitable.

First it had been Artemis, now it was Xeon. He knew he could never 
train himself out of something  he did not control in the first 
place. He was bound to hurt his friends, if they were not also 
electrics. The little zap would not have hurt another sheep. But it 
might be enough to knowk Xeon out, or at least give him one hell of a 
sting. 

He nudged Xeon. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to release it. It was my 
current and my ancestors. They did nto forsee this happening." Would 
no one outside his kind trust that he could be played with 
innocuously? Would this be his curse, to hurt his friends every so 
often because they had startled him?

Xeon was a bit fryed, yes.. but hurt? No. He giggled a bit, then 
coughed. "Whoa.. That was a blast! Lets do that again sometime." He 
giggled some more. Well, not exactly his idea of playing, but it was 
fun nonetheless. "Although, it may not be good to do it on a regular 
basis." He broke into a giggling fit.

Chirin just scooped him up and hugged him in relief. That was not the 
usual reaction he saw when someone was electrocuted. He knew that 
what he had done had been mildly painful, at the very least--and it 
was probably worse than that. The mew being in the air partly might 
have lessened it, though.

"I...I am mystified that you aare okay, but there are spirits who 
protect from these things. You have someone helping you, and Phos, am 
I glad!"

Selenity wasn't so amused, but she smiled in relief anyway. Her heart 
still thudded and she put her flipper to it.

"I am glad too, really glad that you are not hurt; but be sure next 
time to remember that you cannot surprise him or any of us like that. 
We react with our *denki* in situations like that and we can hurt 
someone. Though at least you're okay, and that's really all that 
matters...just be careful next time, you really gave me a scare 
there!" Her light beamed as her body calmed.

Kimana edged over and huddled close to Azeala. She seemed to be 
the only ewe who knew much of what was going on with those 
rams...Heck, she seemed to know everything 
about...well...everything!

"Umm...Azeala?" Kimana asked, looking up at the Ampharos ewe. 
"What was Ira and Chirin acting all funny for? I thought they liked 
each other and then they were all fighting and such..."

It scared Kimana. They seemed to have been fighting over Ivy 
because she smelled...umm...funny. Very funny. She had never smelled 
anything quite like that...Did the rain make her smell funny? 
No...that was silly! 

Then a thought started to flicker in the eweling's mind...
Maybe Ivy had rolled in something funny! Or fallen in something 
funny! Then the rain washed it away but the smell stayed there...
Yes...that had to be it!

I'd better watch myself... Kimana thought grimly. If I fall into 
something funny then the rams might fight over me too! 

"YEs...It is our nature, we can be quick to react with current. 
Surprise is not safe if you are vulnerable to electric attacks. You 
do know, though, that I didn't mean to do it. It was just a reaction 
that came without thinking."

Chirin sighed and looked back at Ira. Maybe something would come out 
of the blue to stir things up a bit, although he could only hope to 
Haru that it did. and if it did not he would be stuck here resorting 
to other things.

(left off at 58400)