Kyte lay on her side, nearly motionless except for the slow rise and fall of her side as she breathed.  Her tails wrapped around her, over her legs and against her nose as she feigned sleep.  In this place, the Ninetales feigned sleep more often than she slept, anyway: a horrid little cage was nothing compared to the comfort of sleeping on her master Jamie's sofa or at the foot of his bed...but he'd come to get her, the Ninetales knew that.  Still, even though she was here against her will, the conditions they'd kept her in – little contact with anyone save for the occasional examination from some sort of doctor – could be worse: they'd been keeping her fed and watered well with three meals a day, all fairly decent.  It made her wonder why they'd even brought her here in the first place, why they'd taken her from the Hoenn Daycare her master had left her at for a few days.

Her stomach growled and she looked over at her half-empty food bowl at the edge of her cage, beside the door.  Standing and walking over, she began to eat, stopping every so often to lick any stray scraps from her muzzle.  After she had contented her hunger, she sat and allowed her eyes to wander over the room.  There were many others held here, besides her, and so Kyte assumed most of them were unwilling.

In the cage next to hers was an Arcanine female, also lying on her side.  Unlike Kyte, she was nursing a small litter of four Growlithe pups, looking no more than a week old.  The pups suckled loudly as they pawed at her belly, her tail flicking in contentment despite her own captivity.  The Ninetales's sight soon stopped on the Arcanine and her pups in the cage besides hers, and she watched for a few minutes, in which time the two females made eye contact.  The Arcanine looked up at Kyte and smiled slightly before she curled over to groom her pups.  Once that was out of the way, she returned her gaze to the newest arrival and asked, "Did you need something, dear?"

Kyte's ears folded back slightly.  She hadn't realized she had been staring.  "Uhh, no.  Sorry," she responded with a slight shake of the head, before she chose to amend her comment with, "Actually...could I ask you something?" she inquired, walking over to the wall of bars that bordered their two cages.

The Arcanine nodded, moving to sit up a little with her hind end still on its side so her pups could continue to nurse.  "Ask away."

"All right...."  Kyte paused to think about how to ask her question tactfully.  She ran it through her mind – thankfully taking no more than a minute – before asking, "To ask what you probably know I'm thinking...what on Earth is this place?"  It was blunt, but it was basically it.

The Arcanine sighed slightly and looked down at her pups.  "I...don't think I should tell you.  They might hurt me if I do," she answered, her eyes looking around the room nervously and her mane bristling slightly.

"Who's 'they'?" the Ninetales vixen asked suddenly, tilting her head to the side and trying to follow the Arcanine mother's gaze around the room.  She suddenly felt worried.  "And why would they hurt you?"

A quiet "Psst" came from the next cell, which contained a Nidoqueen who was often taken from her cell over the last couple of days, sometimes after a brief, even if futile, struggle.  The bulky, muscular female was sitting against the reinforced bars that kept her contained.

Kyte's head turned and she looked over at the Nidoqueen, her namesakes swaying behind her slowly as she did so.  She didn't really know much about the female, besides watching her get taken away once or twice.  Then again, it was nothing to her.  The few days Kyte had been here, she'd been taken out a few times and looked over, most of the time in a degrading way by a doctor.

The big Pokémon's tail flicked as if subtly beckoning the Ninetales over.  Her eyes were looking about the room; she knew she, being something of a troublemaker, was probably being monitored, but she was determined to keep as surreptitious as possible...not a Nido's strong point, to be sure.

Kyte stood and trotted over, craning her neck to look the large, armored Pokémon eye to eye (as best she could, anyway).  The blatant need for secrecy was starting to instill a faint feeling of insecurity.

The Nido looked slightly over her shoulder until she could see that Kyte was watching her, and then she looked down at her own midsection.  She rested one big paw on the side of her naturally large middle, pointing at it with one nail.  She then pointed back behind Kyte at the Arcanine.

Kyte looked between the Nidoqueen and Arcanine a few times.  One then the other, one then the other...then paused to think.  After a few moments, her gaze snapped back up at the large female before her, and she mouthed, "They're breeding us?"

The Nidoqueen nodded slightly, shifting to lie on one side.  A black 8 was dyed onto her thigh.

Kyte's thoughts shifted as the number caught her eye, and she looked down to her own side.  On her right thigh, standing out against her pale creamy-gold fur was a large, dark blue 9.  She then looked back over at the Arcanine, looking her over to see if they were all branded likewise.

Seeing Kyte look around, the Arcanine moved around so that the Ninetales could see her hip.  Her thigh was dyed with a white 5.  When she caught Kyte's gaze, she mouthed, "The Nido was bred yesterday...."

Kyte looked between the two other females again for a moment, still trying to take in what was going on.  They'd bred the Arcanine and she now had pups, they'd had the Nidoqueen mated...and then it clicked.  "What're they going to do to me?" she asked neither of the two in particular, her voice a whisper.

The Arcanine opened her mouth to respond, but the sound of someone approaching the room opening interrupted her.  She yipped at the Ninetales, hoping Kyte would understand.  Kyte's own ears had caught the footsteps approaching, and she trotted back to her corner quickly, curling up to once again feign sleep.

The door swung open and in walked one of the handlers, accompanied by a Wartortle.  He stopped in front of Kyte's cell and tapped the bars with his knuckles.  "Up and at 'em," he remarked.  By routine, Kyte yawned and stretched before trotting over to the section of bars that separated her from the handlers.  This was the same as all the times she'd been taken off before.

The handler and Wartortle escorted her to the usual examination room and had her jump up on the table.  A woman in a white doctor's coat soon came in and walked up to Kyte, patting her head.  "Hello, Kyte.  Feeling well?" she asked.

Kyte licked the woman's hand, her tails swaying behind her.  Being a hand-raised trainer Pokémon, she never really disliked any humans unless they gave her reason to, and finding out she was going to be bred against her will was reason enough.  But fighting wasn't going to do her much good now, certainly not by herself, so she figured she may as well play docile until she could make her efforts count.  Sitting down on the table, she rubbed her head against the woman's arm.

The woman smiled at Kyte and scritched her chin, and then she started her examination.  It went pretty routinely for the most part: examining Kyte's heart rate, breathing, weight, and temperature.  Then came something new, something that set off warning bells in Kyte's head: the doctor left the room and returned with a syringe filled with red fluid.  Kyte had remained stoic and relaxed for most of the examination, finding nothing really awkward save for the woman's method of taking her temperature, but indeed, like almost anyone, Kyte immediately panicked at the sight of the needle.  Putting something in her or taking something out of her?  There was no way she'd let them probe her with one of those things.  Acting on pure reflex, she tried to scurry off of the table, only to be grabbed around the middle and chest by the hander who had brought her to this room.  She struggled, but lacked the strength to break free from the handler's arms...that, and she didn't want to risk giving the Wartortle a good reason to take a shot at her when she couldn't fight back at her best.

The Wartortle tensed up at Kyte's scrambling, but his trainer's restraint of the Ninetales told him to hold back.  "Don't worry, dear, this'll only hurt for a second," the doctor said as she used a ball of cotton to dab some rubbing alcohol on one of Kyte's forepaws, then inserted the needle into a vein and slowly injected the substance.  Kyte could feel a slight pressure and warmth run up the artery as it was injected.

Kyte growled, feeling a strong urge to bite down on the nearest accessible part of either the doctor or the handler, but as soon as the needle was empty, the slightly warm substance that had been administered made her relax for some reason.  She knew enough about human drugs and medicines to know that common problems were feeling dizzy or drowsy afterwards, and so dismissed it.

The woman withdrew the syringe and disposed of it, then cleaned the slightly bleeding puncture.  "You're a very lucky girl.  We're going to move you to a new room.  You'll even have a roommate," she said cheerfully as she scratched Kyte's headfur, waiting for the injection to take effect.

Against her better instincts, and due to the doctor's calm disposition, Kyte murred quietly from the petting.  Simple affection was something that most any Pokémon enjoyed.  Her voice was even calming, almost...and through a combination of both the gentle scratching and the aftereffects of whatever they'd injected her with, she fell limp in the still-gripping arms of the handler, asleep.

Once the humans were sure Kyte was asleep, the handler lifted her from the table and carried her into a room that was actually rather plush, with softer carpets and cushions than those in the holding cells.  He set her down on a cushion and patted her shoulder.  "I'm just gonna go get your roommate ready," he said to the unconscious Ninetales.  He left and headed to the male section of the converted hideout, soon passing the room again with a Quilava in front of him and his Wartortle.



"Stupid guard shift," the guard grumbled, strumming his fingers against the skin of the Sealeo he was Surfing on, swimming around in random formations around the cove that gave the nearby city its name.  He'd been out here for the past three hours, feeling his boots flood and the rear of his pants get wet every time his Pokémon had to submerge itself just enough to keep itself damp while keeping its trainer relatively dry.  "How did I get stuck taking John's shift, too, hmm?  You tell me that?" he asked, receiving a blunt response from his ride:

"Se-e-ealeo."

Perched on top of one of the several rock spires outside the island's docks was a little red and white figure, nearly invisible to them.  The creature on top had taken great care to swim stealthily up to the spire and climb to the top.  After keeping a close eye out for additional patrols, and to its great happiness, seeing none, the Pokémon waited for the Sealeo and its guard to circle around again, crouching down when they turned to look in its direction.

"I'm telling you, buddy, I have no idea why I even took this job," the guard continued to drone on to his Pokémon, who was looking rather PO'd at his master’s constant commentary.  Soon the Sealeo was just drifting ahead aimlessly, trying to tune the rider – "Richard" according to his ID tag – out.

The Pokémon saw its chance approaching.  It crouched down and wiggled its hindquarters as it prepared to pounce.  Just a little closer...closer....

The Sealeo continued to drift, tuning out as much of Richard's drivel as possible, except for the occasional word like "wife" and "work" and even "moron."  The Pokémon was starting to realize why the shortened version of his trainer's name was "Dick."

They passed by it!  Their backs were turned!  Now!  The Pokémon sprung forward and went into a clockwise spin, putting its forelegs over its head and stretching out its hind legs, turning itself into a drill as it darted down on the human and Sealeo, performing a drilling Crush Claw on the Sealeo and swing its hind legs out against the human's head.

The Sealeo, being a seasoned fighter despite his trainer's career, took the hit and turned to growl and launch an Ice Ball at the attacker, but Richard was knocked from his mount and fell face-first into the water.  As the Pokémon Dived down after him, it took some self-control to not shout out, "He shut up!  There is a god!"  When the Sealeo resurfaced with his unconscious rider spread-eagled across his back, the white and red blur that had attacked them was already out of the water and preparing a second attack.  It had, in fact, swam back to the rock spire and was climbing up it, ready to spring off halfway and pounce the sea lion Pokémon, but it didn't take long for the Sealeo to find it again: the white and red of the other Pokémon stood out clearly against the dark, damp rock, and the Sealeo recognized his attacker as a male Zangoose.  Readying an Ice Ball attack, the Pokémon aimed as best it could without dislodging Richard.

Shoot...the Sealeo actually had some experience.  The Zangoose dropped enough in height to dodge the Ice Ball before he pushed against the rock spire and sprung at his adversary again, forelegs spread to be ready to Slash the Sealeo.  The Sealeo reflexively started to Dive to dodge the attack, but the moment he realized he'd left Richard floating on the surface he came back up again just in time to take the Zangoose's Slash attack, and right to the face.  "LEO-O-O!" he yelled, trying to counter with a poorly-aimed Aurora Beam.

The Zangoose, not expecting to have to fight the Sealeo on his own terms, was hit by the Aurora Beam and momentarily blinded by the bright colors.  Shaking his head, he leapt forward as best he could (which was only enough to cover the few feet between them) and grabbed onto the Sealeo, his hind legs scratching at the sea lion's chest.  The Sealeo let out another loud cry and flailed about, throwing his head forward and hitting the Zangoose with a Take Down.  He made contact with his target and knocked the Zangoose off of him.  Unfortunately for the attacking party, the recoil was too much as his eyes rolled back before he collapsed into the water, thankfully with both him and his master able to breathe.

The Zangoose was stunned for a few seconds, nearly sinking below the waves as he treaded water.  He pushed the Sealeo and the rider to the rock spire and then pulled them up above the water where he could leave them for the authorities to collect.  He looked at his reflection in a small tide pool and flinched slightly; the Take Down had given him a nice bruise on his forehead.  Well...he'd have to be more careful now that he knew for sure his enemies weren't just playing around.  He put his claws in his mouth and whistled loudly out to sea.

A few moments after the whistle, a small shadow moved through the water up towards where the Zangoose had positioned himself.  As soon as it reached him, the Pokémon surfaced: a Croconaw male with a chipped tooth poking out from his lower jaw over his upper lip.  "Ya called, boss?"

The Zangoose smirked and pointed at the Sealeo and human.  "Get the others ready to move in quick, and make sure Aquarius limits himself to disabling shots.  We don't need him going out of control," he said, referring to a few other wild Pokémon he had rounded up for this strike.

"Yessir, boss!" the Croconaw responded with a quick salute.  "And great job, too, taking out a Sealeo and its trainer!" he added before vanishing below the water's surface and swimming back to shore.



Something felt different.  The hard floor she'd come to recognize these past few days wasn't there.  Instead there was something soft.  Opening her eyes, Kyte glanced ahead, her vision blurred from what was probably the most restful state she'd been in since her arrival.  Yawning and sitting up, the Ninetales blinked the sleep from her eyes and tried to take in her current surroundings.

Curled up on a bed for smaller Pokémon was a male Quilava, awake and looking at her.  He looked to be rather young, barely into adulthood.  He smiled slightly.  "Sleep well...?" he asked a bit nervously.

Kyte blinked again, this time rapidly and in confusion as she looked the Quilava over.  "Uhm...yes.  Yes, I did," she replied a little sheepishly, wrapping her tails around her paws as she did so.  "You...yourself?" she then asked, if a little awkwardly.

The Quilava stretched out on his bed and stood up, responding, "Same."  He padded over and sat down on his rump next to her.  "Well, I think you can tell what this room's for...."

It didn't take long for Kyte to realize where he was going with this.  "You lay one paw on me, sweetie, and I'll make sure that you can never use this room for that purpose again.  Do we have an understanding, here?" she told him in a far-too-sweet tone as she smiled a little wider than normal, showing off both rows of sharp, well-kept teeth.

The Quilava flinched slightly, but nodded.  "Don't worry.  You know what they want from me, and you.  But they aren't going to get it."  He smiled over at her hopefully.  "Some of us guys think with more than our genitals," he remarked.

"My, my, my..." Kyte grinned a little, tail tips flicking slightly, "a male who thinks with his head?  Whatever next?"  Though she was still saying rather bitter things, her tone and expression portrayed a more amused state than anything...at least this Quilava had an ounce of sense.  "Well, it's a pleasant change, at the least."

The Quilava sighed a little and lay down on his belly again.  "I guess I deserved that...though I'm not sure how."  He looked around the room for some way to escape, but no obvious avenues presented themselves.  "So...since we're stuck here for a while...care to tell me about yourself at all?"

"Why not?" Kyte asked herself, choosing to remain sitting.  "Well...what to tell?  For a start, you can call me Kyte.  What about you?  What's your name, hmm?"

"I'm Cinder.  Born in the wild, actually; that's the name my mom gave me.  They captured me about a month ago, but wouldn't tell me why I was here.  I figured it out on my own, though," he said as he put his head on his paws.

"You're wild?" Kyte repeated, looking down at Cinder with her head tilted to the side slightly.  "Can't say I've met many wilds personally.  I was hand-raised since I was born, and my master...."  She paused.  Her master.  He'd left her at a daycare center several days ago, and it was from there that they'd brought her here...wherever here was.  "He must be worried about me.  I bet he's looking for me, right now...and I found out what this place is from an Arcanine and Nidoqueen in the room they'd kept me in."

Cinder nodded.  "Never understood trained Pokémon.  Then again, I was raised in the wild, y'know?"  He looked up at her and cocked his head.  "But your master sounds special.  He must care about you a lot to raise you from birth."

"He does, he does," Kyte said proudly, puffing out her chest.  "He's had me entered in Contests all over the country, you know.  I even won the Master Rank matches in Lilycove and have a painting of myself up in the art museum!"  She smiled widely, swaying a little from side to side as she did so.  "I mean, he hasn't had me in a contest for a while, now, but that's probably just because there's almost no competition left for me."

Cinder beamed up at her, smiling widely.  "Wow...I don't know what a museum is...but you sure look like a winner to me!" he chirped.  "And me?  Um...I do stuff too...!"

"I'm sure you do," Kyte said with a chuckle, grinning down at the little Quilava, "and would you mind telling me what those things are, hmm?" she asked, leaning over him and grinning all the wider.

"Well, um...I have my own den, at least.  Nice place, south of the mountain town in Johto.  What do they call it?  Buckthorn?" he asked.

Kyte looked at him in confusion.  "Blackthorn.  You're all the way from Johto?" she asked, tails swaying behind her.  "That's over the sea, isn't it?  I've seen maps, and that's a long way away."

"...I am...?  Oh, no...."  He covered his neck with his paws (his forelegs being too short to cover his head effectively) and shook his head.  "What am I gonna do...?  Mm...by now it's probably been taken over."

"You...didn't know?" Kyte asked quietly, letting her ears fall back just slightly.  "Uhm...well, I'm sure you'll find a way back, right?  You'll get out of here and find a nice trainer or maybe sneak onto a boat to Johto...or Kanto, even.  Plenty of ships go that way."  She was trying to be reassuring, but couldn't really think of how to do so effectively.

The Quilava looked up at her and rubbed the top of his head against the bottom of her chin lightly in a display of thanks.  "Well...if we can't get out of here, it's not going to really matter anyway, is it...."

"No, I guess n-" Kyte began, cut short by a loud Pokémon roar like that of a Gyarados outside the room, followed by the sound of an explosion and a shaking of the room.  She and Cinder looked around in surprise and fear as smaller quakes followed soon after, and then everything went quiet until at least ten minutes later when there was a sound of a "thud" outside the door.

"The guard's down, boss!" the Croconaw grinned, grinning toothily as he stood with one foot on the back of the lab coat-clad human who had been guarding the door.

"All right!  Get back to the docks and wait outside until Aquarius comes back out!  Don't let anyone escape!" the Zangoose ordered, in full commander mode.

"Aye aye, sir!" the Croconaw responded and hopped off of the fallen human before zipping past with his off balance, waddling gait.

The Zangoose tried to open the door, finding that it was locked.  He stepped back and spoke up, "Anyone inside, get away from the door, it's about to be cut open!"

Cinder squeaked and scurried to the back of the room.  Kyte was quick to follow the Quilava, getting clear of the door.  "Who's out there?" she called, only half-expecting a reply.  This day was turning out to get odder and odder with more and more going on at every second.

"A friend," the cat ferret answered.  After a few seconds of silence, the Zangoose's claws tore a line down the door's latch, cutting the lock.  He pulled the door open and grinned at the two inhabitants.  "Don't worry; I'm here to rescue you.  Are either of you hurt?"

"Uhh...."  Kyte blinked in surprise, looking the Zangoose over as she spoke, "No, I'm fine...we're fine.  Who're you?" she asked, trying to make order of what was going on.  She was being held prisoner for breeding, that she knew, and now a Zangoose was here to free her?

He bowed slightly.  "The name's Montague, friends call me Monty.  Now, if you'll come with me, we're getting you out of here."  He motioned for them to follow.

Cinder looked up at Kyte and cocked his head.  "Should we...?"

"Do we have a choice?" was the Ninetales's reply as she looked down at the Quilava before starting to follow the Zangoose.  "We stay or we take a risk.  Now come on, hothead."

Monty led the Fire-types down the hall out into the main dock where quite a few more Pokémon awaited, the most notable being the Gyarados rearing out of the water, looking around the dock for trouble.  The dock looked like quite a war zone, with many of the machines blasted to smithereens, a few freshly-made craters in the ceiling and walls and piles of rock underneath them, and deserted of humans.  Near the end of the dock was a huddle of diverse rescued Pokémon, most of them looking to be in no shape for combat, either pregnant, tending to young, or too frightened by what was going on.  A Crawdaunt and Machoke stood guard in front of the huddle and waved at Monty as he came back into view, while a Kadabra spoke comfortingly with the rescued Pokémon.

Kyte's immediate instinct was to look the crowd of rescued Pokémon over, checking to see if she could catch sight of the Arcanine and her pups or the Nidoqueen from the caged room.  "Is this everyone?" she asked Monty, looking over at him quickly.

"No.  There's one Pokémon missing: an Arcanine who they say birthed a week ago," Monty answered as the Quilava rushed into the safety of the crowd, looking for familiar faces.  The Zangoose spoke up, "All right, I'm going to go find the Arcanine.  If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, start evacuating," he ordered, most of the Pokémon nodding.

Kyte gulped.  The Arcanine she'd met in the caged room had a few pups with her.  She and the Arcanine could probably carry one in each of their mouths, and Monty could carry the other two if he walked upright, but....  "I'm coming too!" she said quickly, hopping up behind the Zangoose, "you'll need help."

Monty raised an eyebrow at her.  "Excuse me, ma'am, but we're here to rescue you, so if you'll wait here with the others..." he began.

"Tell me, what can you do, hmm?" she asked him sharply, already making a quick trot back to the corridors.  She'd been moved around enough times to know a little bit of her way around this place.  "You can move quick and cut fast, I bet, but you can't really expect to get her out by yourself.  Trust someone who used to battle daily, okay, hun?"

Monty was about to tell her to stay here, but seeing that the Ninetales not only wouldn't take no for an answer but was already off, he shook his head and ran behind her, having to go on all fours to keep pace.  "Well...maybe you can help," he admitted.  "Since you probably don't know, we're in Team Aqua's old hideout.  Since they moved back in, they've made some big changes in here, taken out a lot of teleporters and converted a lot of rooms.  You know where they might've taken the Arcanine?  We've opened all the cells, but the Nidoqueen we rescued said the breeders came and took the Arcanine away.  I guess those females were special; she was the only one they were able to hide."

"If they took her anywhere, I doubt it's somewhere I know," Kyte replied, stopping at one of the doors.  She'd seen it open once when she was led to be examined.  "Can you read human?  Because they keep a lot of files in there, and a computer...but that's asking a lot."

Monty slowly opened the door, peeking in before he waved for her to follow.  They entered a small room with the walls covered by shelves of folders with a computer in one corner.  Kyte trotted in silently behind him, looking around the room.  It seemed as if everywhere she went in this place gave her the creeps: lots of metal, glass and other cold things.  Not even the strobe lights on the ceilings brighten it up.   Monty flipped on the light and started skimming the shelves.  "Okay, lemme see, Arcanine...Arcanine...here!"  He took one folder out of the shelves and flipped through the papers it contained.

"I'm not sure what we're meant to be looking for..." she muttered quietly, eyes still glancing over the random objects about the room, "they could have moved her not long after they moved me, or they might have taken her when you guys decided to launch the rescue."

The Zangoose stopped browsing once he found a certain sheet.  "Okay, lemme see...successfully bred shortly after abduction...but failed to produce desired offspring?" he said to himself as he read.  "But is still the closest they've come to success, so in case of emergency, she and her pups are to be.....oh, shoot!"  He dropped the folder and zipped to the door.  "Come on, we gotta move it!"

"Huh?"  The Ninetales blinked a few times in succession as the Zangoose sped past her.  She was accustomed to being the fast one, and Monty's zipping past her was more than a little surprising.  Shrugging it off, Kyte hopped out of the door and followed behind Monty.  "Where are we going?"

"They're gonna try to get her to a helicopter pad we didn't know about, and if they get her on a helicopter, we won't be able to stop them!" he said alarmingly as they darted down the halls.  They soon came to a room filled with teleporters.  "Okay, lemme see...we gotta do these in a certain order...but what?" he asked himself as he regarded the warp tiles.

"I think I saw someone, uhh..." Kyte muttered, looking the panels over, "I was brought here, and there was a few people walking about.  One of them..."  She paused, sitting and shutting her eyes.  She muttered quietly to herself as she recalled what she'd seen, and....  "This way!  Now!" she ordered, jumping onto one of the teleporters.

Monty followed her and they zipped over to another panel in the same room, which had three adjacent teleport panels.  "Mm, okay, now what?"

The two Pokémon continued to navigate the maze of warp tiles using Kyte's experience, instinct, and when those failed, sense of smell.  After the fifth warp, they appeared in a stony cavern lit by the mid-afternoon sun shining in from the open ceiling.  A transport helicopter was waiting for its cargo on a concrete helipad, its engine and blades whirring lowly, so the sound of the Pokémon's warping in was muffled.  The Arcanine was lying on a big cart, on her side with her eyes closed and her tongue poking out of her mouth, being pushed toward the helicopter by a Team Aqua grunt.  Her pups were in a cage being carried by another grunt.  An Aqua executive stood by, watching the events with a slightly disdainful stare.

Monty quickly grabbed Kyte and brought her behind some nearby crates before the Aqua executive could look over at them.  "Lemme think, lemme think, lemme think..." he muttered under his breath, his head poking up and looking around for something he could exploit.

Kyte looked at Monty suspiciously, her tails flicking.  "'Let you think'?  I think not!" she muttered under her breath, looking between two crates at what was going on.  "You're fast, right?  They're on wheeled platforms...you could push them out of there, but you'd need one heck of a distraction to pull it off."

The Zangoose nodded.  "And I think I got it."  He ducked back behind the crates and looked at Kyte.  "There're a few barrels that I can only hope contain fuel nearby.  I'm gonna throw one, and I want you to hit it with whatever Fire attack you can.  How's your aim?"

Kyte grinned, opening her mouth and shooting off a short and very small line of flame.  A moment following, a fly hit the ground, smoking.  "Answer your question?" she asked him, smirking.

Monty's eyebrows raised and he nodded in approval.  "Yes...very much, especially cuz we'll still have to deal with them."  He took a deep breath.  "Okay...here I go!"  He leapt out from behind the crates and to the barrels, their scent confirming that they did contain fuel.

"Hey!" one of the grunts yelled as he reached for a Pokéball on his belt, but before he could throw it, the Zangoose had thrown his weight against the barrels, knocking them toward the helicopter.

"Now?  Now!"  Kyte threw herself out from behind the crates, locking her sights on the barrel before launching a focused Flamethrower at it, ducking away again quickly before she could see if there was even a blast to dodge.

As Monty planned, the blast was against the side of the helicopter not facing the Aqua members and their captives, not putting the Arcanine or her pups at risk.  He was barely able to jump back behind another nearby metal crate before the barrel exploded against the helicopter, the heat and shrapnel of the small explosion causing the machine to spew thick smoke and steadily .  He felt the heat of the explosion on his side before he ducked to safety.  Kyte shuddered as the blast sent an almost palpable wave of heat and energy outwards and over them even with their cover.  Fire types were sensitive to heat energy, and even they felt uncomfortable with sudden changes in temperature.  Shaking off her momentary fear, she ran out from behind the barrels and towards where they were keeping the Arcanine and her pups.

The executive growled and barked at his grunts, "Stay with the Pokémon!  I'll deal with these mutts myself!"  He flung a pair of Pokéballs from his belt and called out, "Go, Mightyena and Seviper!"

The Dark- and Poison-types regarded their opponents with battle-ready glares, the Mightyena's ability to Intimidate causing a chill to run down Monty's spine.  "Well, lookie here."  The Seviper smirked widely as he slithered over towards Monty.  "A little Zangoossse...been licking yourssself clean and eating ssssickly little fruitsssss?" he jeered before he laughed and whipped his tail out once, just to further egg on its specie's sworn enemy.

Monty hissed, crouching and ready to pounce, his fur standing on end.  "I'll show you what a licking is!" he retorted as he began to do a Swords Dance to recover the slight loss of offense the Mightyena's Intimidate caused.

"Bring it, furball!"  Without waiting, the Seviper lunged forward and tried to land a Bite on Monty.  This was going to be fun for the Seviper, win or lose.

The Mightyena, meanwhile, was just out for fun and being much more direct.  "Mm-mm-mm...what we got here?  A pretty little Ninetales..." he said, standing up tall and puffing his chest out as he advanced on Kyte.  "Yanno, doll, ya don't have to fight me...not unless that's what you want, of course."

Kyte bared her teeth at the Mightyena, only taking a step back because of his Intimidation, snorting out a cloud of smoke.  "The name's not 'doll,' pig."  By Ho-Oh, she hated it when other Pokémon hit on her even during a battle...but loved to set them straight.

"Come on, sweets.  Why d'ya wanna fight me?  I happen to know they got nice room here that we could make use of...maybe ya know it, hmm?  Lotsa pillows...."  He leaned close to her, almost nose-to-nose, as his paw brushed against the tip of one of her tails.

Kyte growled, shivering with indignation at his touch.  "So you like my tails?"  She whipped her body around, her tails straightening and taking on a metallic sheen as she swung them at the Mightyena in an Iron Tail.

Monty yowled as the Seviper bit him on a foreleg, swinging his legs around the Seviper's body and trying to close them to get a grip on the serpentine body as he took a Slash with his claws at the Seviper's head.

Both Aqua Pokémon yowled as their enemies' attacks made contact, the Mightyena rolling across the floor once before self-righting himself again.  "Ngh...fine...you want to play rough?" he asked, spitting out the chipped end of one of his teeth.  "Fine then!  I'll beat you down right here, and get what I want one way or another!  So bring it, bitch!" he snarled and leaped forward, locking his teeth down on Kyte's leg in a Crunch attack.

Kyte yelped from the Mightyena's Crunch.  "I'm a vixen, your mother's a bitch!" she retorted.

Even dazed from the Slash across the head, the Seviper continued to taunt Monty.  "Peh...using clawssss...limbssss get in the way and can be bitten eassssily!" he snapped, whipping the end of his tail into Monty's back with a Poison Tail attack.

The Zangoose arched his hips to the side and let out a gurgled "Gah!" from the Poison Tail hitting his hip, thanking his Immunity as he saw the swordlike tail glistening with thick poison but nonetheless losing his grip and having to back off, one paw on the wound as he stared the Seviper down.  

"Why, you-!  DON'T YOU DARE BRING MY MOTHER INTO THIS!"  The Mightyena tried to lunge at her with a Take Down, but in his anger he had let his guard down and gave Kyte enough time to open her mouth wide and blast him with a point-flank Flamethrower as he charged.  His momentum carrying him through the fire, he hit, but only with a glancing blow and then charged right into the crates nearby.  He'd hurt himself a lot more than he'd hurt his target.

"Heh...not bad, but your best moves aren't gonna work on me," Monty taunted the Seviper.

"Ooh, you try ssso hard, don't you?  Do better!" the Seviper snapped as he lunged forward and made another Poison Tail swipe at Monty, but as soon as the Zangoose was within reach, Monty hopped to the side, causing the Poison Tail to go past his back and hit the Mightyena's thigh as Monty had planned, the canine letting out a loud yowl.

In the blink of an eye, as the Seviper was pulling back his tail, Monty had spun around and, using the force of the spin, grabbed the Seviper's tail under the blade and pulled the serpent's head toward him, giving the Seviper a clean Slash up his face.  Following through with a second complete spin, Monty flung the Seviper against the crates and next to the dazed Mightyena.  The Zangoose hopped away and smirked at his teammate.  "Finish 'em off."

Kyte grinned widely for a moment before she jumped next to Monty, turned her body to face the Mightyena and Seviper, and spread all of her legs to anchor herself.  Her tails fully extended and her mouth opened to reveal a bright, fiery glow shining from the back of her throat.  After a couple of seconds of readying her attack, with a whoosh and roar of heat, a swirling ball of concentrated fire shot from her mouth at the Mightyena, Kyte being pushed back a few inches by the Fire Blast's recoil.  The two Pokémon were blasted away by the fireball exploding into the character for "fire."  They were both taken out in one strike, made all the worse by the fact that the Fire Blast also hit another drum of fuel Monty had failed to notice.  The explosion immediately spread to adjacent barrels, and Monty's quick reflexes allowed him time to move in front of Kyte and wrap his forelegs around her, not able to move her behind the crates but instead trying to interpose himself between her and the explosion.  The Aqua grunts and executive abandoned their Pokémon and fled into the teleporter, disappearing as the smoking Mightyena and Seviper fell back to the ground, thoroughly defeated.

The Ninetales shook slightly, feeling drained from both attacking and being attacked.  "Yay...we won...."  She grinned slightly, tails swaying as she looked over at the fallen Mightyena.  "Stupid womanizing ass...."

Monty, however, was more focused on himself than on their fallen opponents, namely because a piece of shrapnel had cut through his side.  It was had missed his organs, but he stepped away from Kyte with his paws over the cut, a bit of blood making a red stain on her fur where he had been holding her.  "Erf...that's not gonna be good," he grumbled as he panted from the rush.

Kyte didn't notice the blood on her fur (though, like most Ninetales, she would most likely throw a fit about it in other circumstances).  Thinking Monty to be fine, she trotted away from Monty around the helicopter to make sure the Arcanine and her pups were okay.  "Oh...whew," she breathed in relief as she completed her brief inspection and found no wounds on the canines.

The Zangoose quickly scanned the cavern and located a first-aid kit, rushing over and wrapping his waist in gauze.  "Okay...that was way too close...another few inches and I'd be without a kidney," he breathed.  

"Yeah, close, I- wait, what?"  Kyte blinked rapidly, looking over at Monty.  "Oh...my...what happened?!" she asked incredulously, running to him and examining his side.  "Oh, no no...that looks pretty deep..." she continued, her tails swaying behind her slowly.  Those injuries on herself were nothing she couldn't probably heal, but....

He gave her a slightly pained smile.  "Eh heh, don't worry, I'll be okay.  Nice thing about being a Zangoose is our Immunity: protects against poisoning and such nuisances as...what do the humans call it...tet-nis?"

"Tetanus," Kyte muttered, correcting him.  "Yeah, I guess...."  She tried to shake the worry over Monty off and looked over towards where the Arcanine and her pups were still waiting to be moved.  "Come on.  We came here for a reason," she said in a hushed tone, quickly trotting back over to them.  "Hey?  Hey, can you hear me?" she asked the Arcanine.

The Arcanine was unresponsive, just breathing slowly but steadily.  Monty finished tending to his injury and came back over, though slower so as not to aggravate his cut.  "She's probably sedated.  We'll have to push her, but I can't...wait...I have a better idea."  He started walking back over to the teleporter.  "I'm going to send someone to help...but are you all right by yourself for a little while?"

"Uhh...."  Kyte looked over at Monty for a moment, then down at the Arcanine, then back at him again.  "Yeah, I'll be okay for a little while...you sure your side's okay?  Because...running around like that can't be good...and...can you remember the sequence, and, what about, uhh...."  It was at this point the Ninetales realized she was worrying for the sake of worrying.  "Just go before I have a stroke."

He nodded.  "Just sit tight," he said before he stepped into the teleporter and disappeared, leaving Kyte with the sedated Arcanine and the cage containing her pups, which were now whining and clumsily crawling around, upset by all the noise and the lack of their mother's familiar body.

Her ears spun towards the sound of the pups' whines and it wasn't long before she was at the cage in which they were being held.  The grunts hadn't bothered to lock it, obviously thinking they didn't need to, so Kyte was able to quickly swing open the top of it.  Moving them to their mother would just make it harder to move all of them out of here, and they were too upset to just leave them there.  "It's okay, sweeties," she said quietly, leaning over into the cage, down to the pups' level, "it's okay, your momma's just taking a nap.  She asked me to watch you for her."

The four Growlithes were slightly calmed by Kyte's voice and presence, drawn to the sound of her voice and piling up on each other to try to get closer to her.  One pup climbed on top of its siblings and looked up with barely-open eyes at the Ninetales, yipping at her.

"Hey, there."  She smiled and licked the top of the little pup's head.  Hoping Monty would be back soon, she looked the cage over.  Thinking it about the right size, she carefully lifted herself over the side of the cage and sat down, resting her tails down over the pups.  Even though she wasn't a mother herself, she didn't need to be to know that the pups would feel better just with something warm nearby.  The pups nuzzled and licked her tails, and their whining stopped as they were comforted by the warmth and softness of her fur, even if she didn't smell like their mother.  The pup that had greeted Kyte most directly stumbled over to her and curled up next to her body.  "You better all be feeling lucky," Kyte said, though mostly to herself, "ain't many who could get this close to the tail of a Ninetales and not get at least a small punishment for it...then again...."  She smiled down at the one little pup beside her and nuzzled the top of its head gently.  "Most ain't as cute as you guys."

Soon after, the sound of the teleporter activating signaled an arrival, this being the Machoke from the dock.  The humanoid nodded at Kyte and stepped off the platform, followed by the Croconaw Monty had brought.  The Machoke walked over to the Arcanine and turned the cart around as the Croconaw came up to the cage and smiled at the scene.  "Can ya move, ma'am?"

"Uhh, sure.  Sorry," Kyte answered with a nod, looking the pups over one more time.  They seemed to be settling in to sleep already so she assumed it was as good a time as any to climb back out.  "Try to be as careful as you can, okay?  They're sleeping," she told the Croconaw before climbing out of the cage and looking over at the Machoke.  That should've been all of the rescues dealt with, but....  "Where's Monty?"

"Th' boss said he had to get some stuff before we left.  Dunno what, just showed us how to get here," the Croconaw explained as he carefully picked up the cage, his somewhat stubby arms making him take small steps so as not to risk dropping it.

"Yeah.  Now c'mon, let's get outta here," the Machoke said as he started pushing the cart towards the teleporters.

"Okay...he's probably checking those files again, seeing if anyone else was left," Kyte told herself as much as she told the Croconaw and Machoke.  "I just hope these were the last ones; there was enough trouble just getting to them."

The Pokémon made their way back through the maze of teleporters and soon returned to the dock.  Kyte was behind the Machoke and Croconaw the whole way, but her thoughts were on Monty...he'd be back quickly, she hoped.  The other rescued Pokémon immediately expressed concern for the Arcanine, but were relieved to learn that she was merely sedated.  They also fawned over the Growlithe pups and petted them as they waited for Monty's return.

Meanwhile, the Zangoose was back in the file room going through the folders, one such folder at his feet as he browsed the "N" section, soon picking out a folder and skimming its contents.  His focused expression changed to one of shock and confusion as he read, soon shaking his head in disbelief before he picked up the folder at his feet, tucked it and the "N" folder under his foreleg and headed for the door.

The Croconaw bumped into Monty as he exited the room.  "Ay, boss!  Everyone's waitin' and the Haunter we got searchin' the place says there's nobody else.  Come on, we gotta get movin'!" he said, shifting from one foot to the other at a quick pace.  "Come on, before that Ninetales threatens me with a fireball again.  Said if I didn't go get ya..." he continued before quieting into a mutter as he started walking back the way he came.

The Zangoose nodded.  "Yeah, go tell them to start 'porting out of here.  Make sure to send the Arcanine, her pups, and any others who need immediate attention to the Center first," he instructed as he started to return, his injury slowing his pace to a brisk walk.

The Croconaw nodded and picked up his pace.  "Gotcha, boss.  So, we're sendin' one Arcanine, four Growlithe pups, and a Grovyle we found in one of their doctor suites.  We think he's just sedated, but ain't too sure..." he trailed off as he reached the dock area and nodded at a male Kadabra in the mass of Pokémon.

The Kadabra spoke up as he walked to the Arcanine's side.  "All right, everyone, we're going to leave now.  Seeing as this, Team Aqua's old hideout, is right next to Lilycove, I will be Teleporting you to Lilycove's beach five at a time, where we will wait in an orderly manner until the police arrive.  First, though, I must bring the Arcanine, her pups, and the Grovyle to the Pokémon Center.  Are there any questions?" he asked as he touched his spoon to the Arcanine's side.  There was a spread of murmuring among most of the gathering, but nobody spoke up about it.  "Good.  Now, please return the Growlithes to the cage and bring it here along with the Grovyle."  The Pokémon gave the pups a last pet or hug and did as the Kadabra asked, the Crawdaunt setting an unconscious Grovyle down by the Kadabra's tail.  The Kadabra touched the cage with his free hand and the Grovyle with his tail, and in a flash of white light, they vanished.

Kyte smiled as she saw the Arcanine, her pups and the Grovyle vanish, knowing that there'd probably be some mayhem at the Center when they'd show up.  Putting that aside, she tracked Monty down and walked over as he returned to the dock.  "So, is that everyone now?" she asked.

He nodded as he padded over to the crowd.  "Yeah, should be," he said as he took a seat against the rock wall.  He put his claws in his mouth and whistled, signaling for their Haunter to return.

The jesterlike Ghost soon emerged from the wall behind him, but went slowly and silently as she opened her mouth wide behind Monty's head, as if to bite down on it, causing a few of the remaining Pokémon to snicker.

Kyte's fur stuck on end the moment the Haunter appeared and practically leaped away from it and behind the nearby Croconaw.  "Ghostghostghost!" she squealed, tails flared out behind her as if they belonged to a peacock.

Monty cocked an eyebrow at her, quickly realizing from the reactions in the crowd what was probably going on, and having his suspicions confirmed when the Haunter closed her mouth and enveloped his head in darkness with an "Ahm!"

"Hello, Chuckles.  Anyone left?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Mm mm!" she responded cheerfully, her eyes looking up at the frightened Ninetales.

Kyte was still too shocked from the Ghost's appearance to fully realize what was going on, and so jumped to the conclusion that the Haunter was trying to hurt Monty.  "She's on his HEAD!" she yelped, acting without thinking and sending a Flamethrower dead at the Haunter!

The Haunter's eyes and smile widened as she ducked back into the wall, soon leaving Monty a blackened and slightly charred Zangoose with a little flame at the end of his white ear.  He blinkblinked and just let out an "Ouch," causing the other Pokémon to crack up, including the Haunter when she reappeared, floating around and laughing as her disembodied hands covered where her stomach would be.

"Uhm...."  Kyte blinked almost in unison with Monty as she realized what was going on and looked between him and the Haunter.  She'd just made a fool of herself, and all she could think to say in this state was, "Whoops?"

Monty snuffed out the flame on his ear tip and shook off the soot on his fur as best he could.  "Mmf...this is gonna take forever to get out of my fur," he complained, though unable to help but smile at seeing his friends laugh.

"I'm really, really sorry!  Really!  I just...panicked!  I thought, I thought...!" she stalled, and then looked around.  Every Pokémon other than herself and Monty was laughing his or her lungs out, including the Croconaw, who was practically rolling around laughing, and the Gyarados, bellowing laughter even with its face in its usual nearly permanent scowl.  "Uhm...you know what, let us just say this never happened?  Please?" she asked Monty, almost visibly sweating.

"Hokay.  Just remember that Chuckles is on our side," he said, pointing to the Haunter who was somersaulting through the air laughing.

At that moment, the Kadabra reappeared and looked around.  "Um...did something happen?"

Kyte's ears drooped and she tried to hide her face, which was now bright pink.  "No!  Nothing!  Nothing at all!  Now take the next lot!  Now!" she blurted, trying to make herself vanish into the crowd of Pokémon.  She had to think of a way to occupy herself...and so she started looking around for the Nidoqueen she'd met earlier that day.

The Kadabra nodded slightly.  "Okay...um, if you five will link hands," he began, pointing at five of the Pokémon at the dock, which included Cinder, "I'll be taking you out now."  Upon taking Cinder's paw in his hand, they vanished.  Monty, on his part, went back to leafing through the papers he held, looking troubled by what he was reading.

The Ninetales didn't take long in tracking down the Nidoqueen and trotted over to her as calmly as she could.  "Heya, glad to see you got out okay," she said with a half-forced smile, hoping that her presence wasn't going to cause another fit of laughter.

The Nido smiled down at her, a wide grin on her face.  "Uh huh.  Glad I can finally talk to you without lookin' over my shoulder," she said.  "Man, I guess you really don't like Ghosts."

"Guh...."  Kyte shuddered with her tails frizzed-out.  "No...hate 'em...my master's brother had a Gastly while I was a kit, and...."  She actually looked scared for that brief moment, but shook it off.  "That aside, yeah, we're not watched anymore." she smiled, "I never did catch your name, you know. I'm Kyte."

She nodded.  "And my trainer named me Brunhilda, but you can call me Hilda.  So...I hope Monty was able to rescue you before, well, y'know," she began, getting right to the point.

"Don't worry, nothing happened.  The Quilava they tried to mate me to was a real sweet guy, and thankfully sane."  Kyte smiled and sat, wrapping her tails around her paws.  "Wish I could say the same for the Mightyena I also met, but some males are like that."  She paused and looked Hilda over.  "What about you?  What're you going to do now...that...you know."

Hilda smirked a little.  "Don't you worry about me.  I'm not even in season," she said with a chuckle.  "And if I were?  Well, then that's the way it'd go."  She stretched a little and looked around idly.  "Cinder, right?  Yeah, he's nice.  Too young for me, though...and a little naïve...and way too short," she mused.

"Yeah, he's a little bit of a ditz," Kyte commented with a chuckle and a wide grin.  "Shame, though.  If he weren't, I might have actually let him do what we were put there for...but he'd also need to gain about a foot," she finished with a laugh.

The Nidoqueen laughed heartily at Kyte's joke.  "Ho hooo, you're something else, Kyte.  Small wonder a diva like you wound up here.  I mean, after clearing the Master Beauty contest and being a semifinalist in the Master Cool contest a year ago?"  She chuckled.  "I must admit, I'm a bit of a fan."

"Oh, you know of me?" Kyte asked, both shocked and not so shocked.  "Looking at you, I'm guessing you must have entered at least one Contest.  Toughness?"  She smiled, but steered the subject back to her.  "Yes, I cleared the Beauty Contests...almost lost to a Dugong.  Darn Aurora Beam's something else."

Hilda grinned and patted her bulky torso.  "I wish.  I'd rather stay in the arena.  But you, you're special.  That Fire Blast you used to win was just incredible."

"Yeah, thanks.  Guess it's something of my signature."  Meeting a fan was really cheering the Ninetales up; as a Contest veteran, she loved to be praised.

The Kadabra returned and spoke up again.  "All right, the next five, please."

Kyte's ears perked up at hearing the Kadabra's announcement.  "You better get going.  Sooner we all get out of here, the better," she decided with a nod.  "So I'll hopefully see you again when this is all over, okay?  I'm sure my master will want me to finally take that Master rank in the Cool Contests."  The Nidoqueen gave her a thumbs-up and trudged over to the Kadabra and was soon Teleported away.

This cycle of Teleporting continued for a short while until the only remaining Pokémon were Kyte, Monty, and his team.  Monty stood up and took the Kadabra's hand.  "Chuckles and Aquarius can get back on their own," he said to Kyte, offering his paw.

Kyte smiled and rested her paw on Monty's hand, unable to keep from looking at his claws.  By the size of them, they looked like they really could do some damage.  "No wonder he managed to break in so easily," she thought with a small smile.

The Crawdaunt set his pincer on her shoulder and, their fields of vision going completely white for a moment, they found themselves on Lilycove's beach along with the other rescuees.  The Pokémon were milling about, most stretching and looking very happy to see the sun again.

Kyte's eyes hurt from the initial glare of the sun and she blinked it out, looking beside her at Monty.  "Perfect, freedom!" she exclaimed with a smile, taking her paw from his and stretching lengthily.  "It'll be great to see my master again...but Mauville's a ways away from here...."

Monty scratched the back of his head with his free paw, his other arm having the folders tucked under it.  "Um...Kyte?  There's really something you should know about that," he began hesitantly.

"Huh?"  Kyte looked him in the eyes, her vision now clear.  She knew that look on Monty's face.  "What is it?  Has something happened to my master?" she asked quietly, worry being the first emotion to take hold.

The Zangoose nodded.  "Yeah," he stepped closer and lowered his voice, "and I think we should talk somewhere a bit more private-like."

Kyte's ears folded backwards and she stared Monty down.  "All right...all right, we can go somewhere private, but...."  She paused.  "I'm not liking this already, so...if it's bad, don't sugar-coat it.  I'm level enough to be able to take it...I hope."

Monty motioned for Kyte to follow him, and they padded a short ways away so Monty could speak without worrying about upsetting the others.  "Well, okay then.  After we rescued that Arcanine, I looked through the file room for your information, and I gotta ask you this: does your master have any history of...being on the wrong side of the law?"

"Wha-?  No."  Kyte shook her head briskly as she answered, "He's never been in trouble for anything worse than jaywalking.  He's managed to avoid doing anything wrong, and he works hard to make money.  That's how he managed to get me through all those Contests."

"Then I'm afraid I have to be the one to bear the bad news."  He sighed.  "Kyte, your owner sold you to Team Aqua."

There was a long pause between the two of them, during which Kyte stared almost blankly at Monty.  The tips of her tails twitched and her ears folded back.  Then she spoke, "You...you're lying...."

"Not unless these are fake," Monty said as he opened Kyte's folder and pointed to a place on the page that read, "Specimen Kyte was purchased from her trainer Jamie of Mauville for 25,000 Pokédollars cash, and was arranged to be kidnapped from Hoenn Daycare Center, which was successful."

"No, you're lying!  He wouldn't do this to me!" Kyte snapped, a few small embers escaping her muzzle as she spoke.  "He wouldn't!  He...he...."  She sniffed stiffly, looking close to crying.  "These are fake.  They have to be!"

The Zangoose flinched from her reaction but stood his ground, expecting her to be so upset.  "I'm sorry, Kyte, but I'm going to send someone to keep an eye on him for a while.  Until we know for sure whether he sold you or not, I can't risk your safety, so I'd like you to stay with us."

Kyte sniffed sharply again, almost growling this time as she responded, "Is this some kind of sick way to get me to stay here or something?!" she lashed out, tails whipping and embers flying, "because I swear, if you're just another one of those thick-headed males...!"

Monty shook h