This is One Heck of a Kitchen Tap

[Haku]

Mahogany eyes fixed on her prey, the sleek cream Persian bounded through the undergrowth to the rhythm of her own four paws and the four hooves of the Stantler she was chasing. She could feel her muscles tightening with cramps more in each bound, but the little white tail of the deer Pok?mon was flipping up, as if teasing. She then saw the Pok?mon turn, and she caught it by turning as fast as possible, cutting the distance between them. She leapt, claws outstretched and dugging into the coarse fur as she clung for dear life. She balanced as well as she could, but couldn't get a neck bite before she fell off the bucking Pok?mon. As the Stantler bolted away, she realized with dismay that she hadn't punctured the skin anywhere, only torn out some fur, which itched between her claws and even her teeth.

All this for extra cleaning! she hissed to herself, and awkwardly tore clumps of the tawny fur out and shook them into the grass. She then stopped, ears swiveling to pick up the faint sound. Rushing water!

It only then occured to the cougar-like Pok?mon than she was parched. She kept her brown ears pricked, trotting towards the sou nd as it got louder. Still, no sight of the wonderful liquid. But it then got louder. And louder. What is this, a thunderstorm or-

Kalli turned around and found the largest kitchen tap she ever saw, or something like a bunch sprawled together and opened to the world. Moss grew on all the rocks, and water poured out in an opaque flow of white and loud mixed together. Fortunately, it smelled delicious, with a fresh tang which filled her nostrils. The Persian crept up to the bank and lapped it up. For a while, since hunting Stantlers is not an easy task. The calls of bird Pok?mon filled the air, so not even the rustling bushes made her look up. Everything seemed so quiet when the white waterfall faded into white noise.

Finally getting up, Kalli caught the last droplets with her tongue and put a paw delicately into the water. It was cool, but not freezing. It felt great, especially on such a sweltering day even for Pok?mon without a coat of fur. Cautiously the cat put three more paws in, and she let her tail relax and float half-submerged. Bathwater had never worked this way.

Kalli reminded herself sharply that she needed to be on the lookout in the wild. She thought of Nikki with a pang of homesickness, but looked around, sensing vibrations. She felt lots of Pok?mon, but didn't see any danger. Or so she hoped.

[SierraLou]

Sunlight filtered through the stain-glass canopy, tinting the pollen-laden air green; branches hung still, their bark slick as if heavy with sweat. Late blossoms drank from the sky; fruit swelled. Somewhere in the distance an insect whined.

Heruga meandered through the forest at leisure, allowing his almost permanently tense muscles to loosen a little in the heat. This was the climate he most enjoyed: hot, but nowhere near as sweltering as Orre, the god-forsaken region he’d long ago escaped, which had brought even him out in a sweat at high noon. Winter, of course, was something he despised: the very thought made him shiver in distaste. For now, though, things seemed to be looking up, and Heruga was as content as a cynical old hellhound could hope to be.
His stomach, however, had other ideas, and made it known with a growl. The rich aromas of fruit and flowers made his lids droop, but proffered little in the way of a meaty mid-afternoon snack. This in itself was a little odd, Heruga thought, his mind lazily turning over the dilemma while attempting to soothe the oncoming hunger pangs. He hadn’t made a sound and yet the wildlife seemed to have run for cover. Maybe they’d all caught his scent and known a legendary predator was in their midst, electing to take an early siesta rather than risk meeting him.
There was, however, still life awake in the forest. A spearow’s caw reached his ears from perhaps a quarter mile away – and then an answering cry, much closer. Heruga smiled, and padding softly through dappled shade he made his way towards the source of the sound.

For all his hunter’s prowess, the bird must have sensed him. It exploded out of the sunlight, beak open and shrieking, talons outstretched to rake at eyes, flesh. The shock made him hesitate, very nearly at the expense of his eyesight, but the spearow veered upwards at the last moment. It wheeled about for another assault, but it had seemed reluctant to strike, a small detail that had not gone unnoticed. It wouldn’t act that way unless it had a nest nearby, and yet it feared for its own life in the face of the Reaper’s Dog.
The Reaper’s Dog was still feeling indignant that he’d been spotted. As the mother bird came in for another screeching attack he was forced to push such trivialities aside as the instinct from his gut took over, tensing his body and leaking saliva to his tongue. The last vestiges of courage left the bird as quickly as they’d come, firmly slamming the door behind them without so much as stopping for a drink. The bird turned tail. Heruga sprang.

There are very occaisional moments where time slows down and events unfold second-by-second, as clear and distinct as frozen images unveiled. This was one of those moments.

In the first second, Heruga’s jaws were reaching to snatch the shrieking bird from the air as its wings thrashed for escape.

In the next second, something caught Heruga’s eye; an indistinct waver like a smudge on his retina. It was sufficient an oddity to distract him from the prey between his teeth, even the ground that was rushing up to meet him as his jaws closed on useless tail feathers.

In the third second, his eyes turned inside-out. Or so it seemed: he could see nothing but detached shapes, colours, twisted outlines –

By the fourth second, the ground had disappeared.

His vision, on the other hand, had reappeared, although he wasn’t sure if he was exactly grateful for the sight that greeted him. The forest sprawled away in every direction, and then suddenly, it was above him. His ears were full of roaring, but that didn’t stop his inner ear from sensing his rapid, tumbling descent. Time, the fickle thing it was, had sped up again.
The world spun past like a frenzied…mad thing. Heruga couldn’t quite think what it resembled. Then his thoughts were cut off entirely by a painful collision with a clear, shimmering piece of sky, which reverberated through his very bones and squeezed the air from his lungs. It took his befuddled senses a little while to register the water pressing at his eyes and eardrums, seeping inside to douse his fire-toxins, and realise what he’d taken for sky had been a lake, viewed upside-down. With this realization came panic and he thrashed upwards.
As soon as his head broke the surface his lungs expanded, dragging down gulps of sweet air. The roaring in his ears was still present, louder in fact, but he disregarded it for the moment. His mind could only tackle one thing at a time after being so thoroughly rattled. He sighted shore and clumsily splashed towards it, wheezing and spluttering as he sank his claws into the soggy earth and hauled himself unceremoniously onto the grass. There he flopped down, steam rising from his heaving black flanks.

[Haku]

A black shape suddenly managed to splash into the water, sending mist and some waves back on the tan cat. Caterwauling, Kalli sprung backwards as if it were a double-slap, not a belly flop by the mysterious Pok?mon. Who apparently was not a very good swimmer either, seeing as he flailed and gasped like a Magicarp out of water.

But Kalli eventually saw the tell-tale... bones, were they? The ones making three broad white stripes across the back, labeling the large Pok?mon as a Houndoom. She instantly felt a pang of pity, seeing as the fire creature was sufficiently doused. Hopefully the fiery dog of 'doom would not blow up(metaphorically and literally speaking) like the time in Trainer school, when Cyndaquil met the sprinkler.

Shaking the droplets off, she was glad to see only a couple soaked to her skin; the rest beaded and rolled right off. Must be the Magicarps... She thought. Apparently oils from finned Pok?mon gave the coat a water-repellant quality. The Persian then crept foreward to the bank, walking closer to where the Houndoom had gotten out and stood, sopping.

For not much explainable reason but her own sense of humor, Kalli broke into Persian style laughter. Mostly containing hysterical meows and the occasional huffy hiss. "Just what were you trying to accomplish there?" she meowed, tail swishing in a freindly matter. The hound didn't look happy, especially the way the water was steaming off of his black body. He was a fire type... but it was still intimidating. He couldn't be more than two levels lower than her, judging by her first impression and his size.

"I also didn't know that other Pok?mon this high of level were around. Just what level are you, and while you're at it, what's your name?" The Persian wasn't unfriendly, no, but that pet-like curiosity hadn't killed the Skitty. Yet.

With her newly-acquired Power Gem, she was pretty sure she could take him, especially so near to a giant water source, if it came to that. Kalli was happy that she thought of it; some kind of picture-perfect quality that she couldn't describe, about being better at survivng. Well, that's kinda cheesey.

[/color]

[Lesa]

The day was peaceful, the air calm and muggy, Beedril buzzing, busy on their way. Kricketune chirped. Rushing water dulled the other sounds of the forest. A flash of red was hidden amid the green leaves.

Storm twisted and flopped onto her back, sighing, only to start beating at the air. The dream had turned into a nightmare, again. It had been like this for months; she was barely sleeping.
"No...Snarl...no, you can't...I didn't....Jump!" The Vulpix moaned, and conciously shook herself out of it. She was just lucky she didn't shake herself out of her tree.

She blearily opened her eyes to gaze upon the sea of green. She was tired, bone-deep tired. Battling at least once a day, every day, even if only against a level ten, was tiring. Her inability to sleep wasn't helping the issue. She watched as a Pidgot came to rest on the tree next to her. They'd become friends, of a sort. He didn't attack her, and she didn't try to eat him.
It worked out.

Before he began to harp on the latest attack on his dignity, (not that he had much to begin with, this Pidegot was full of himself), water splashed on Storm's feet. Water, on her feet...she was a good ten feet back from the waterfall. Curious now, the Vulpix picked her way to the end of a branch. It wobbled under her feet, but held. There was a black thing in the water.
'Blackie' as she judged the blob, was having as much luck swimming as a Dugtreeo would flying. Absol-utely none.
She watched as Blackie flung himself on the bank. Hmm, interesting. High level hellhound, not black blob at all. Houndoom. Whataya know!

Deciding it might actually be worth her while to investigate the situation, she turned and stalked down her tree, listening to someone's questions. "Just what were you trying to accomplish there?"

[/i] Ah, the questioner was someone after her own heart...or so she thought until she caught a whiff of their scent. Persian. Wonderful. A battle-mad, snobby Persian. Probably a trainer around somewhere.

But then again...probably not. Another breath of air and the look of the Persian she got through the trees confirmed it. This Persian was one of those released ones. Tough luck on the cat, she thought dismissively. Just as long as there was no trainer around to attempt to catch her, Storm couldn't really feel pity for the other creature.

No, it was a Growlithe eat Growlithe world out here in the Forest. More like Vulpix eat Rattatatta, but that was beside the point.
"I also didn't know that other Pokémon this high of level were around. Just what level are you, and while you're at it, what's your name?" [/i] By now Storm had journeyed into the underbrush, making not a sound, moving not a twig.
She knew this Persian was undoubtably a released, now. How in the world could she not smell the power contained in the Houndoom? It was all in the nose, dearie, all in the nose.
Oh, what did she care? They were just spoiling her nap.[/size][/center]

[SierraLou]

Heruga caught sight of the cream cat from his position wheezing on the ground. He tried to push himself upright and was rewarded by an explosion of technicolour and temporary deafness. It felt like being under water again, with the dull roar of the waterfall in the background. He lay, his head spinning, as the stranger approached. The cat, a well-groomed persian, burst into hysterical laughter.

He groaned inwardly. He certainly hadn’t planned on meeting anyone while sprawled half-drowned in the grass, especially a creature of what looked like equal strength. It wasn’t exactly his idea of a desirable first impression. The shrieking laughter cut through the fuzz in his head and throbbed against his brain.
"Just what were you trying to accomplish there?" The persian meowed, calming down. Heruga didn’t answer right away. He was busy bringing the persian into focus, who was currently swaying about in a nauseating fashion. If she would just stay still, damn it -
"I also didn't know that other Pokémon this high of level were around. Just what level are you, and while you're at it, what's your name?”

[/i][/color]
His eyes finally stopped rattling around their sockets and began to function properly. Judging this as a good sign, he slowly rearranged his limbs and lifted his chest from the ground, this time avoiding a stomach-turning head rush.
“My name,” he began, before wheezing to a halt. He took a deep breath, settled back on his haunches and coughed up some lake water before starting again. “My name is Heruga. I’m not from around here.” Oh, fiddle, he thought, that almost sounded like a chat-up line. “My level, when I left my trainer, was thirty. But what are levels to a free creature? There’re no computers or statistics out here. I‘ve come a long way since then.” He sighed. “As for your other question: what do you think I was trying to accomplish? I was hunting birds,” he said, as if it were as plain as the teapot-shaped cloud that had just caught his eye. However, he could make out nothing of the strange anomaly he’d seen or any means of dropping a houndoom from the sky. A crease furrowed his brow as he stared at the clear blue heavens. They stared back, vast and innocuous, revealing nothing. The celestial teapot drifted on.[/size][/center]

[Haku]

“My name is Heruga. I’m not from around here.”

"Oh?" Kalli said, whiskers twitching. She sat down neatly, as she had been trained to; paws close to each other and tail neatly wrapped around to complete the package. She then nervously saw the Houndoom not so... well presented, and she relaxed nervously. Her haunches slid so her right hind leg sprawled a bit, more comfortably, and she arranged her paws so they didn't match up near-perfectly. Her tail uncurled, and thumped the ground softly. There. You didn't see that.

Sensitive whiskers twitched, and thoughts ran through the Persian's head before she had the time to snap her head around to look at the Vulpix. More like where it would be. Only snippets of red came through the leaves. Maroon. Small. Cute. Fire. Danger. Temper.

There'd been plenty of Vulpix(along with Eevee) at the Pok?mon Academy, for their rarity anyway. Cute, dynamic, power in a small package. And cute as well. This one didn't look so happy, but then again, Vulpix weren't particularly known for their happy attitudes. At least Val didn't show it. Val, the Vulpix with her head as high as her snob-kid trainer, Clarisse. This Vulpix showed it.

"Another Vulpix? What are all these fire-types doing in a forest, huh? Maybe that's why the giant water pool's here." Kalli mewled, giggling again. Her ear flicked towards the Vulpix. She wasn't worried about the Houndoom, no. He didn't seem very battle-minded, but the little red thing she wasn't sure of. If first impressions and facial expressions had anything to do with it that is. It's not polite to judge, The cream cat Pok?mon reminded herself. Well, this is the wild, so who knows. They might actually have a politness standard! Never seems to amaze me.

“My level, when I left my trainer, was thirty. But what are levels to a free creature? There’re no computers or statistics out here. I‘ve come a long way since then.” He sighed. “As for your other question: what do you think I was trying to accomplish? I was hunting birds,”

Kalli wasn't sure what to say. She certainly heard some birds. This whole 'smart comeback thing' wasn't working so far. She just dipped her head politely- and awkwardly. Hoping the awkward bit didn't show.

[/color][/center]

[Lesa]

"Another Vulpix? What are all these fire-types doing in a forest, huh? Maybe that's why the giant water pool's here."

[/i]

Storm grimanced. Ratatattas, she'd been spotted! Grudgingly, she gave the Persian credit for seeing her. At least the comment had some merit. "Even fire-types need to drink, and we overheat easier than any other type, seeing as our core temperatures start out so high." The red fox turned to lick down an errant clump of fur on her fifth tail, hiding her facial expression. It was currently stuck between curiousity, fear and loathing. What had the Persian meant by Another Vulpix? Sure, there were plenty of her species, but in this Forest? She was the only one as far as she knew. The only other Vulpix she knew of in the area at all that was Wild was...Snarl! And her mother, but Storm was more worried about Snarl being in the area, than her mother. Her mother still loved her. Snarl, he wanted her dead.
She would have to ask the Persian if the Vulpix she had seen was male or female. If it had been male....she didn't know what she would do. She refused to run again. Not now. Never again.

Silver-bright eyes turned back to the pair. "-What do you think I was trying to accomplish? I was hunting birds.”[/b] The Houndoom -Heruga- said. Storm couldn't resist this opening. It was just too good. And just the thing to snap her out of her maudulin mood.
"You were hunting? It looked more like you were trying to fly." She quipped, settling back on her haunches to gauge his response.

((Shortpost is short.))[/center][/size]