Team Flora and The Forrest P3

"L-leave me alone!!"

Fern and Echo stared at the young Riolu who was  back up against a stump,  before him were three Phantump all giggling. The Phantump were making rather dark expressions at the boy, dribbling black ooze from their eyes and mouths and distorting their bodies to form long, ghoulish figures.

"I-I said get away!!" The Riolu snapped, whipping out with a kunai, which fazed right through its target. The ghost crackled as the Kunai's intended target swooped down and use Lick. " Gah!"The boy scowled, staggering back from the attack, only to yelp when he put weight down on a swollen ankle he was favouring. 

"Thats terrible!" Echo scowled. "Treating another pokemon like that, not to mention him being at a type disadvantage. "

"And age." Fern grumbled. Fern shook her head at the sight, and while the child seemed skilled for his age, he also lack confidence.  Not to mention his injury could be playing a big role in disorienting his focus. He definitely was not feeling 100%. "Echo. Can you put up your protect?"

"Sure." Echo summoned a small sphere of energy around herself, watching Fern untwine one of her vines for Echo to climb on. As soon as the bug was tightly in place, Fern leaped forth. She reared up on the stump, snarling and whipping out her protected vine. The ghost were all shocked by the teams sudden appearance, too stupefied to defend when Fern rammed them with her double attack. The Phantumps all yowled as they were throw away, before dispersing into the woods. 

"There." Fern  smiled as she allowed Echo to crawl back on her head. "Now, what are you doing here ki- huh!" Fern staled when she looked back at the Riolu, yet the child was ying to gimp away! "Hold it! Where are you going!!?"

"S-stay away from me!!!" The Riolu responded, swinging his paw out for emphasis. Saddly as he turned to do this, he didn't see the up coming tree stump. The pup bowled over the  block of wood, falling to the ground and landing on his bad foot. "AH!"

"Aw geeze!!" Fern gasped. "Hold on!!" She wobbled over to the boy, using her vines to retrieve him from the ground.  The child was ridged as she lifted him, but he managed to relax when she placed on his feet. He looked at her nervously until her vines were back in place. "Now what in the world is going on?"

The boy blinked back at her, looking at her with questioning distrust. "So... You aren't after me then?"

"Some ones after you?" Fern asked. "What do you mean?! "

The boy looked nervous again, he held onto a stump for balance and used his bad leg to scuff the ground gently. "Ummm.... Im... in trouble." He scratched the back of his head . 'With the Hunters..."

"Hunters? Hunter guild?!" Fern was shocked to say the least. "Kid you aren't going to last long on the run from them, they are called the 'HUNTERS' for a reason! I mean, what did you do?! And why hide here of all places?"

The boy huffed. "Cause everyone chased me in here! After an incident, that I don't wanna talk about, so many people want to catch me. They seem like they'd do anything to catch me! I-... I got scared and ran in here... for safety. Only I caught my foot in a hole and- well..." The child gestured to his swollen leg. 

Fern huffed and cocked her head. "Alright, so what are you going to do now?" She watched the boy shrug, before groaning inwardly. 

"We can't really leave him here." Echo whispered to her transport softly. She was usually shy around new pokemon larger than herself. Fern knew Echo didn't want to catch the boys attention, but it seemed his ears tilted slightly when the bug spoke. 

Fern sighed as she came closer to him. "Look, I know things seem bad, but running is only gonna make it worse! I think you should turn yourself in-"

"Thats what you'd all like right! Then you can hit me and stuff cause I was bad!! You adults are all so stupid..." The Riolu huffed, crossing his arms and looking away. While rebellious, the boy also seemed frightened, but Fern decided to tac that thought away for later. 

"I don't think they want to hut you kid. I mean sure you messed up, but if you tell them what happened they might not be a so cross. Especially when they don't have to waste time and pokemon power to pick you up, like they will eventually. Now more than before since your sporting that injury." Fern shuffled a bit as they boy seemed to contemplate this. "Look the hunters are a bit rough around the edges, but as far I know they're fair and kindhearted. They are helping rebuilding the town. Then there is Sundance, I mean, he's a good kid. With some one like him, you really think they'll really dig into you?"

The boy rubbed his nose for a moment before mumbling. "Their scout are really scary."

"Then I'll take you in, ok? I can carry you back and make sure you go right to Sundance, ok?" Fern said, pushing the subject a little harder, she wanted to help this kid, but the light of day only lasted so long, and her house was still rubble. She now could get her money for rebuilding. though if she did get home late, she could always start fresh tomorrow. 

"...." The chid shuffled, sniffling a bit. "Kay..."