When you wish upon a star

[Red]

They had started out fairly late to begin with, and by the time Shira's small group reached the forest edge which marked the end of Route One and the start of Route Two, dusk was starting to fall. Not that it really mattered too much for this group. The raichu pokemorph had an excellent sense of smell as well as night vision, as did her luxray daemon. Still, why travel in the darkness of the night unless you had to?

They got only a short distance into the forest before Shira decided that it was getting late enough that it was time to set up for the evening. With William's help, Shira collected a number of decent sized sticks and branches with which to set up a fire.

With a tap of her finger, Shira released Auva from her pokeball, where the pylenti had been recovering from their battle with William. ~Oh~ Auva said quietly as she spotted the biddof. ~Hello. Did you decide to join us?~

William grinned at the shiny feline. ~Yup~ He agreed ~I'm one of you now. we're going to travel and have so much fun!~ Auva wasn't sure what to do with that kind of enthusiasm and retreated back to Rin, feeling safe when she was near to the massive luxray daemon.

"Auva. Come light the fire for me" Shira called as she began to pull food out of her bags. After a couple of false starts the young pylenti managed a carefully controlled ember attack to light the fire. The results of those false starts were several burned and muddied patches of ground where Skari had been called in to put out the flames.

Shira set out three bowls and filled them, one for each of her new pokemon. A pot was set up on the fire, filled with oats and water from a nearby stream. It was simple faire, but Shira preferred simple foods and it was easy and quick to make, not to mention easily reheated for tomorrows breakfast.

"You know, I've missed this" She said to Rin as she leaned back against the luxray, legs crossed as she ate. Looking up at the stars which were coming out, Shira smiled. It had been too long since she had last seen the skies like this. Clear and unpolluted by the lights of human civilisation.

Her voice started out soft, but slowly grew in volume, and was slowly joined by other voices, first Rin, then Auva.

"When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true"

Half way through the song, another voice had joined them, high notes weaving around Shira's deeper tones and the lighter voices of the two felines.

A slow glow came above the fire, revealing a pokemon as it died away. A pokemon none of them would ever have expected to see in their lifetimes.

~I heard your wish~ The little pokemon looked at Shira, and then around at the pokemon. ~A wish so strong. One felt by all of you~ It spread it's little arms wide ~Family. Friends. Pack. People you can trust~ It's smile lit up it's dark eyes as it said. ~That too is my wish.~

It floated over to Shira, hovering before her. ~My wish and yours. Together~ The pokemon reached out and touched one of the pokeballs at the trainer's waist. With a flash of red light, the pokemon disappeared into the pokeball.

For a long moment, Shira stared at the space where the pokemon had just been. "Was that... Jirachi?" She asked, sounded stunned. ~Yup~ William replied, sounding just as stunned. "Did it, just join us?" ~Yup~

Reaching for her belt, Shira removed the pokeball that now, theoretically at least, held a Jirachi. Touching the button, a beam of red light escaped, forming into the star shaped form of the wish pokemon.

"Hello there" Shira said. "Do you have a name?" No... Do I need one? The jirachi looked at her new friend. "It would be best if you had one" It was Rin who spoke, the Luxray's red and gold eyes focused on the legendary pokemon.

~How about, Asha?~ Surprisingly, it was Auva who suggested the name, the pylenti's voice soft and timid, but just speaking up like this was a big step for her. ~Asha....~ The Jirachi considered for a long moment. ~I like it~

"Asha it is then" Shira might be able to take many things in stride, but this had left her distinctly off balance and she was struggling to regain her mental equilibrium.

"Shall we sleep?" She asked the group, looking around at the pokemon. Hopefully this would all make sense in the morning. At a quiet nod from the group, they settled in. Shira slept with her back to Rin, Auva curled up in the hollow between her trainer's legs and the luxray daemon. Skari elected to return to his pokeball, but both William and Asha stayed out. William was surprised but pleased when Shira pulled him in to cuddle before they slept, Asha joining them soon after. Shria talked a good game, but there was a fondness for small and fluffy creatures hidden beneath the sharp tempered attitude.

[Rin]

Unbeknownst to the little group, the singing had attracted another Pokemon aside from the newly named Asha, one used to being awake in the nighttime while others were sleeping. He didn’t have the ability to feel the power of the wish like Jirachi innately could, but he did enjoy the tune of the soft voices, clear as the night sky above them. He hopped from branch to branch quietly, blinking his large red eyes as he the group, now having stopped singing, came into view. They looked so warm and cuddly there by the fire, all in a big restful heap, their backs gently rising and falling as they rested and began the process of falling asleep.


Hoothoot: Level 8
Ability: Keen Eye
Male
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Foresight, Hypnosis

Sometimes Trainers were loud and obnoxious, and sometimes they wrecked the forest around them. This group, however, seemingly headed by the orange-furred trainer (he couldn’t tell which Pokemon was her daemon because they were all huddled around her) . ~It would really be nice if more humans like this showed up in our forest,~ he decided. And, he decided, he’d spend the night watching over them, just in case something nasty decided to attack. Because sometimes nasty things did pop out of the forest. Hopping to a tree that overlooked the clearing in which they slept, he cocked his head, giving a doleful blink and a light “hoo” as he surveyed the surroundings.

[/blockquote]

[Red]

There was a reason Shira had not chosen to set a watch, despite that she was well aware of how dangerous it could be in the wilder places of the world. Both she and Rin were sensitive sleepers. Living on the streets or in the wilds for most of their lives, they were more in touch with their natural instincts than most. Their subconscious minds would filter the sounds around them, sorting the simple and innocuous from those that might signal danger. The difference between them, predator versus prey, meant that between them, they could catch nearly any danger.

And none of the group were naturally nocturnal, except perhaps Asha. Shira felt bad asking one of them to keep watch when it wasn't part of their natural cycle to be awake at this hour. Not to mention that Auva and William had had a long day today, between their battle and travelling the route with her.

Both pokemorph and daemon twitched and shifted as the hoothoot came closer to them. Gold-red eyes opened, Rin's ears twitching as she looked up at the owl pokemon. "Hello up there" The luxray daemon called quietly to the hoothoot as Shira stirred, the raichu morph, carefully shifting so she could get up without disturbing the pokemon who had curled up with her.

The woman's ears twitched and her tail flicked lazily from side to side as she followed Rin's gaze up into the trees. She set a hand on Rin's head, scratching idly behind one ear as she called out to the wild pokemon "Hello there. Are you keeping watch on us, or for us?"

[Rin]

Hoothoot saw that perhaps his watching over the group was not needed after all. He was a fairly silent Pokemon, and while he had given the “hoo” to alert them to his presence (it wasn’t very nice to sneak up on others after all) it had been soft enough as to sound as if it were just a sound of the forest. He gave another slow blink at the Luxray whom he now suspected was the Trainer’s daemon. ”And good evening to you and your little party,” he said politely down to the pair, red eyes staring a little eerily (he couldn’t help it – he was still a Hoothoot).

”I found your singing pleasant,” he said a little pompously, lightly ruffling his feathers in an important sort of way. ”It’s nice to hear music in the forest. In return, I will watch over your group as your sleep. The nighttime isn’t the friendliest part of the day, after all.” He hopped a little closer until he was sitting on a branch almost directly above them, then stopped and rotated his neck slightly, in that odd way owls tend to do.

[/blockquote]

[Red]

It was Rin who spoke in response to the hoothoot's statement, the luxray shaped extension of Shira's soul much better at polite formal wording that her human half would ever be. "Thankyou" She said softly, knowing the owl pokemon's sharp hearing would catch her words "We have always enjoyed singing, though we rarely sing for any but ourselves" Indeed, the last time Shira had sung, was the last night they had spent on the road with Navi and the others.

"No. It's not" Shira's words were more to herself than to the hoothoot as she recalled just how dangerous she knew the night could be. Here in the forest, on a warm clear night like this, was a far more comfortable and comforting place than many she had spent the night in the years now past.

Knowing now that the pokemon who had approached them was not a threat, Shira returned to where she had been, settling herself back against Rin's side and cuddling up with her pokemon. Rin, however, once again exercised the manners that Shira so often lacked. "Thankyou for watching over us" She said to the hoothoot. "Perhaps, if you are still here when we waken, we can talk some more" They tended to wake at dawn, when the skies began to change with the coming of the sun, a natural rhythm as old as life itself.

Once again human and pokemon settled back to sleep, finding themselves oddly reassured by the presence of the strange pokemon who had chosen to watch over them this night.

[Rin]

Hoothoot nodded and blinked in response to Rin’s polite thanks, bright eyes still staring straight at them strangely. The Raichu-human and Luxray closed their eyes once more, and while Hoothoot could tell that they were light sleepers, he noticed their shoulders eventually soften and their stomachs move in that slow manner of the peacefully sleeping. He stayed silently perched, completely still on the branch above them, only once ruffling his feathers to warm himself in the cool summer air as he listened to the occasional nighttime rustle and whoosh of the wind rustling the leaves in the trees.

Several hours had passed – exactly six and a quarter, judging by his own internal clock as well as the change of position of the moon in the sky (it was beginning to dip towards the horizon and the sky was barely starting to lighten in the east) when Hoothoot heard, far-off, the snap of a branch. He tensed, swiveling his head so he could peer in that direction. For some reason, the snap seemed…unnatural. He waited another minute or so, then a light crunching noise met his owlish ears. A human. He let out a low warning “hoo” to Shira and Rin – the human didn’t seem outright hostile, but certainly not friendly at all either. He could now see the human in the underbrush watching Shira and particularly Asha intently, wearing a white shirt and strange reflective glasses, with a Murkrow on his shoulder and the strangest looking Pokemon floating next to him. Hoothoot let out another warning “hoo,” this one louder.



Pokemon Collector Landon – Murkrow Daemon Natasha
Landon’s Sigilyph – Level 13 - Ability: Wonder Skin – Female – Moves: Gust, Miracle Eye, Hypnosis, Psywave, Tailwind

[Red]

That same unnatural snap and the crunching sound of booted footsteps that the hoothoot noted, woke Shira and Rin. Rin's ears twitched and her tail flicked around to curl around Auva and the others who were curled up against her side. She might be nicer than her human half was, but she was just as suspicious at times.

Shira's eyes caught the light as she got to her feet, her pokemon stirring around her as the agitation in their trainer and her daemon translated itself to them. Auva's red eyes peeked over Rin's tail, while William got to his feet and stood by his trainer's side. Asha floated up, her body level with Shira's shoulder, her dark eyes filled with fascination as she looked at the unknown trainer and his strange looking pokemon. Rin glanced up at the friendly Hoothoot, before her red and gold eyes fixed on stranger. She didn't know if the murkrow or the strange floating pokemon next him was his daemon, but she didn't much like the look of either of them.

"Do you mind?" Shira's voice was sharp as she looked at this stranger who had entered her camping space without invitation. "What the hell are you doing wandering around the woods at this hour of the night? This is a private campsite, so if you could bugger off, that would be much appreciated"

[Rin]

Hoothoot watched intently, noticing how Shira immediately became hostile and protective towards her party once the rather creepy stranger had crept close. She seemed very different from the calm ‘morph singing sweetly earlier – maybe this was why she had a Luxray daemon, regal and kind but able to show dangerous fangs if necessary. His gaze shifted back towards the strange man again.

The strange Pokemon continued to float besides the glasses-wearing Trainer. He did not run away when Shira snapped at him, but did pause for a moment, then stepped out of the bushes so that he, the odd Pokemon next to him, and the Murkrow on his shoulder was in plain sight. ”Um, hello. Hello. Sorry about that. About creeping up on you. So very sorry.” He did actually sound apologetic for irritating Shira, even if he didn’t appear to understand why sneaking up as he had was wrong. However, there was an odd away how his fingers kept on twisting with each other, and while he did address Shira, his eyes kept straying towards Asha with almost a hungry look. ”Couldn’t help myself, you see. Couldn’t help myself. I’ve been tracking Jirachi for days. And now I see she’s joined you. Not that that’s bad. I respect her decision.” And while the Trainer seemed very strange in his mannerisms, he did appear to mean it at the moment – he gave kind of a courteous head bob towards Asha as he said ‘Jirachi’ and didn’t move any closer to the group, staying a respectful several meters away.

”But. I have been watching Jirachi for a while. And since she’s joined you, I was wondering what kind of trainer – why – such a rare and gifted Pokemon would join you. Would you battle me and my Sigilyph,” the glasses-bearing man said, gesturing to the weird looking Pokemon next to him.

[Red]

Shira's fingers were twitching, the blunted claws pressing reflexively against her palms and her toes shifted, the pads of her raichu like feet pressing into the ground. Shira's unusual feet meant she didn't wear shoes and the earth was cool and clean beneath her, a calming sensation that she was much in need of. Shira had a strong pack mentality when it came to her team, and her position was that of the leader of the pack. That also made her the protector and defender of her pack. They were her family and she would always do everything within her power to keep her family safe.

When the man addressed her, Asha bobbed a bit in acknowledgement. She was very young as Jirachi went and didn't understand why her new trainer was reacting in such a hostile manner to the stranger. Clearly though her trainer thought the man a threat, and Asha hovered a little closer to the raichu morph, finding herself a touch nervous about what was happening.

When the man asked to battle, Shira glanced at her team. She would never force any of them to fight, but if any of them were interested, she wasn't going to say no. Shira was a touch surprised when Auva left the protective safety offered by Rin's larger form to come and stand next to her. However, it was William who stepped in front of them, the bidoof's expression determined.

~I'll battle~ He said. This man wished to see what kind of trainer Shira was and William was willing to be the one to work with her to show that. Shira had shown herself to him to be kind, caring, and willing to look past the outside to see what was within another. She had taken him in and seen what he could be, rather than simply dismissing him as yet another bidoof like so many others before her. He would do anything for the woman who had seen past his species to the pokemon he was inside.

Rin nudged Shira's shoulder, the Luxray daemon silently encouraging her human half to have patience with the strange man with the Murkrow daemon. "We'll fight" Shira said curtly, one hand reaching down to fondle Auva's dark ears while the other gestured to William. They chose to wait to see what the stranger and his strange pokemon would do for the first move.

[Rin]

The glasses-bearing trainer nodded, hands still twitching around themselves. He looked with interest at Auva, the Murkrow daemon on his shoulder appearing to nod to itself when the Shiny Pylenti stood by the Raichu-morph with a determined expression. However, both of their faces fell when it was William who took the stand. Unlike Shira, it seemed that this trainer immediately wanted to dismiss William for being a Bidoof. The trainer’s happy expression at Shira’s nod to fight turned into a bit of a frown and lip-curl when William stepped up. However, he didn’t say anything about it except for, ”Thank you. Thank you. I look forward to seeing what kind of a Trainer Jirachi would join.” and he motioned to the Sigilyph which floated eerily forward.

Hoothoot continued to sit above them, settling himself down to watch the battle, although his ears were still open for any odd sounds. He did admit to himself, he was interested in seeing how Shira and her Pokemon would fight. He was also pretty curious about what that weird Pokemon that the glasses Trainer – it was called Sigilyph? – could do.

The Pokemon Collector waited awkwardly for Shira to make the first move, but when she didn’t, he bit his lip, motioning to the Sigilyph. ”Okay Sigilyph. Please. Use Tailwind. And then Psywave.” The strange Pokemon Sigilyph, showing now expression, drifted about in the air, seeming to not have heard her Trainer’s command. Then suddenly a strong wind gusted through the clearing, and Sigilyph appeared to shift through the air, now its floating motions blurring slightly. The Speed of the Pokemon had clearly been boosted considerably. It then let out a psychic blast, aimed at William, rings of light purple trailing in the air. Psywave was a move of varying power, and this one appeared to be neither particularly strong nor weak. It was almost if the weird creature was testing William.

[Red]

Shira bristled at the implied insult in the way the stranger looked at William. Though it was in a way hypocritical to be taking insult in this when once she would have done much the same, Shira was not one to over-think such things in terms of her own self. That was a thought process more likely to come easily to Rin than to the raichu morph whose tail twitched in agitation as her brown eyes remained focused upon the man who had challenged them.

William gritted his teeth as he took the hit from the psywave. It was not an especially strong psywave, but that didn't mean it didn't still hurt as the psychic energy struck him. "William. Defence curl and then rollout" It was the same strategy that the bidoof had used against her. It was a sound set of tatics, since defence curl would double the power of the rollout. The plump mouse pokemon did as he had been instructed, curling up into a defence curl and then rolling his curled form forward, aiming to hit the Sigilyph with his rollout attack.

[Rin]

The Pokemon Collector nodded, pushing up his glasses with his middle and ring finger as Shira commanded William. It was a rather condescending, almost as if he was looking at Shira's tactics like she was a student and acknowledging she had done a good job. The Sigilyph did not even bother to move out of the way of the first rollout, simply floating eerily as William hit it with a sort of 'boff' noise. She did not appear to have felt the effect of the attacks at all, but the Collector didn't look surprised. He simply looked over at his Murkrow daemon, who nodded sagely back at him.

Then again, even with the defense curl, the first of a set of Rollouts always tended to be weaker. The Pokemon Collector addressed Sigilyph once more, "Sigilyph. Be careful. The Rollouts will get more powerful. Use your boosted Speed. From Tailwind. To evade." He coughed, then cleared his throat as the Sigilyph continued to float in the air, making no reaction to her Trainer's words. "And now. Please use your boosted speed for a Gust attack." There was a moment's pause, then Sigilyph started flickering around William looking almost blurred in the air, stirring up powerful winds to slice at the Bidoof with its colorful wings.

[Red]

Shira grumbled at the stranger as he looked at her like he was some kind of great and higher being and she was just a little pichu-morph again, doing something cute. Only Rin's teeth sinking into a fold of the clothing she was wearing kept her from going right over there and wiping the man's smirk off with her fist. How dare that man look at them like that. She was a pokemon champion in her own right and she hadn't let anyone look down on her or her friends since she was a child.

Sigilyph's gust attack struck William head on, sending the bidoof backwards. He bounced off a tree, uncurling from his ball. ~Oww~ He said as he got back to his feet. The gust had done him a decent portion of damage.

"Again William" Shira called to the pokemon. From the Psywave earlier, she thought that the strange levitating pokemon might be a psychic type. Rock type moves, of which rollout was one, did double damage against psychic types. Combined with the doubled damage from the earlier defence curl, an effect that would remain until William either fainted or she called him back out of the fight, and they should do a fair amount of damage to the enemy pokemon.

This time, William used a growl at the Sigilyph, hoping to lower it's attack some before curling himself into a ball and and hurtling himself at the other pokemon in another rollout.

[Rin]

[[ Ooc:// Rollout still does double damage against Sigilyph, but because it's Flying type, not because it's Psychic type ]]

Ic://
Sigilyph's attack lessened slightly due to William's growl, but again, neither the Pokemon Collector, his daemon, or Sigilyph gave any impression that it had done so. (Indeed, Hoothoot, who was still watching the battle, frowned and leaned closer to the ground, wondering if the attack had worked on Sigilyph). The strange Psychic-Flying type did, this time, give an indication the attack had hurt. She blinked her eerie eyes once, then let out a faint high-pitched keening noise as William hit her with the Rollout. It seemed that the Rock-type attacks were particularly painful for the guardian of ruins, even if it didn't show much emotion. Despite the order of the Pokemon Collector to evade the attack, she still hadn't done so, as if she took a while to process orders.

"Sigilyph. Do be careful." her trainer said briskly. "This time. Let's mix it up. Hypnosis." Sigilyph paused for a moment, then took aim at the Bidoof and let out a blast of strange, sleep-inducing soundwaves. Hypnosis was fairly inaccurate, but if the attack hit, it would incapacitate William for at least a couple of turns, as well as end the string of Rollouts. Sigilyph became faster that turn as well, finally seeming to have registered her trainer's order - the brightly colored Pokemon began to shift around in the air much more quickly, boosted by her earlier Tailwind attack. It was hard to predict where she would go next as it flitted about; Sigilyph seemed to be able to fly in any direction, like a gigantic warped hummingbird.

[Red]

[[OOC: Sigylph's psychic and flying type, so it should be doing extra damage either way. Plus, that's just what Shira's thinking and right now she's under the impression that Sigylph's a psychic type. She hasn't gotten to thinking about it's second type yet.]]

The rollout hit and this time it was pretty clear that the Sigylph took some damage, with the keening little cry it made. Shira's ears twitched as she listened to the sound. Okay, so it seemed that the weird pokemon wasn't immune to the damage William was dealing, just weirdly stoic to an insane degree.

"William! Take it up high!" Shira yelled to her bidoof as the Sigilyph launched into a hypnosis attack. Following his trainers orders, William used his momentum to roll part way up the trunk of a tree, getting above the level of the Sigilyph and avoiding it's attack. Then he used the tree as a launching spot to take his rollout airborne, aiming to hit the enemy pokemon from above.