Chapter One: Time to go Adventuring~!

[xxninja]

Lee cringed. This wasn't doing any good.

"O-okay Poochyena, don't worry! We'll get you out of there! Just hang on..."

She sure hoped she sounded more assuring than she felt as she bent over and reached for the device. It was really quite lightweight, despite all the buttons and switches and joysticks. "Now I just have to figure out how to work this thing..." she mumbled, more to herself than anyone. She figured the joysticks controlled its movements, so she decided to leave those alone for the moment. If only there was a magical button with a picture of teeth that would release the jaws! Or, better yet, a self-destruct button like the ones you see in the cartoons...

"Uhhr... Here, Iza, see if you can figure this out... I'm going to call the Rangers." she declared, setting the contraption back down. "Well what do you expect me to do with it?!" he complained, but she had already fished out her cell phone and punched in the number. Holding it up to her ear, she silently urged them to pick up before anything really bad happened.

[Birdybot]

While Lee dailed a number into her mobile phone, Iza was working at the controls of Arcanine. They didn't seem very simple of labelled or anything, but the grunt had worked them with such ease... Even if one knew where everything was, it would be extremely tricky to work such a thing in a way that made it look so life-like. Perhaps there was a secret to it? A special order, perhaps? On the back of the remote... smooth, shiny plastic covering up the innards. Best not to open the back; who knew how long it would take to wire it up again if the mass of wires inside spilled out!

Then something became clearer. Yes, finally, something! If Iza used the controls on the far right, the tail moved. If she moved to the bottom right, it was the back paws. It seemed that these controls were arranged as Arcanine was arranged! They may not be shaped like it, but they were positioned right. Now it would be much easier to find the mouth!

Meanwhile, Lee's mobile phone started beeping, as they do when they're calling. Then the beeping sounded and a voice came through.
"Hello? This is the Pokémon Rangers, do you need help?" a man's voice asked.

[xxninja]

Lee Ann gulped and cleared her throat.

"Y-yes," she stammered, passing a side glance at her daemon to see how he was doing with the remote. He seemed to be pretty deep in thought, so she let him be.
"I.. Just had an encounter with Team- Team Tsuasa!" she explained, voice wavering. "He was controlling this big, robot Arcanine, and... And... And he was abducting all these Pokemon! He threw them all in this big bin where they couldn't escape and most of them are really hurt and I don't know what to do. P-please help!"

Then Iza hissed: "Tell them where we are!"

Lee nodded quickly. She'd been so flustered she had completely forgotten to let the Rangers know where all this was happening!

"I... We're... It's in Route One, just past Professor Pine's lab...?" she added, hoping that helped. "And p-please hurry!"

That settled, Iza returned his attention to the controller. If this back one controlled the robot's back paws, and the one next to it led to the tail... Then the very front one should be for the head! Very carefully he took his paw and placed it on the joystick, slowly pulling it down. He cringed at the thought that he could be making this worse... But he really had no other choice. He just hoped Lee would hurry up so she could help figure this out! She was the one with apposable thumbs, after all!

[Birdybot]

The man sounded surprised at this. Tsuasa were still only small and their crimes didn't happen very often, although the number of them was increasing. He nodded, although Lee wouldn't see that. "I'm on my way. Stay calm. Try to help the Pokémon if you can, and most importantly don't take any risks." he instructed her in the way he had been taught to. He then put down the phone and turned around on his swivel chair to face the other rangers. "Right, James, Poppy! You're our best Rangers, you're coming with me on an urgent mission! I'll explain on the way!" he announced on his run for the car, the other two Rangers quickly joining him. Others stared; it wasn't often that the Head Ranger needed two other Rangers to do a mission.

The remote in Iza's paw hummed gently as it made the Arcanine's ears move. The next button down made the eyes blink, although the reason for went unanswered. Then came the nose, a larger on the whole head, and finally a joystick which, when Iza gently touched it, made the mouth release it's grip slightly on the Poochyena. Aha! Finally, they were getting somewhere!

A squeal of tires announced the arrival of the Rangers at that moment. The ran to Lee, faces serious. The leader, the one she would recognise from the phone call, was the first to speak. "Are you the one who sent the call through? I'm Charles, and this is James and Poppy. Show us what we need to do." he half said, half ordered. Each Ranger was accompanied by two living creatures; one a daemon, the other their partner. Charles had a Dragonite daemon with one hand on his shoulder, and his partner was a Jolteon. Jame's daemon had the form of a Swellow, perched on his back and resting over his shoulders, and his partner was an Ivysaur. Poppy's daemon was a Growlithe, her partner an Abra.

[xxninja]

Lee paced back and fourth in her anxiety, tugging at a strand of her hair as she often did in times of crisis. The ranger had told her to stay calm, but she didn't know what to do. And when she didn't know what to do, she panicked. It was all really frustrating, so she decided not to do anything - which corresponded with the other order she had received, which was not to do anything stupid. Gee, was it getting hotter here? And boy was it humid...

To get her mind off of getting her mind off of not panicking, she turned and cast her glance back to her daemon, who appeared to be making progress. His eyes met hers, and he pulled his lips back in a fanged grin.

"I think I've got it about figured out! Come see!"

Lee stooped over the device, brows furrowed in concentration as he began to explain how the placement of the various buttons and levers somewhat corresponded with the anatomy of the robot; he proceeded to show her how to move the tail, paws, and finally head area.

"And I'm almost sure that this one will control the jaws..." he continued, gesturing to the joystick that had slightly loosened the iron grip on the poor pooch. His nose twitched slightly and he looked up at his human. "...Would you do it? That way, if you mess up, you'll get the blame."

Lee bit her tongue, nodding before slowly reaching for the remote...

Luckily, at that very moment the rangers arrived, giving her an excuse to not bother with the controller at all. At the slam of doors Lee stood up to approach the three who had come. The one who appeared to be the oldest stood in front; his daemon, a regal-looking Dragonite standing next to him. Two others accompanied him, a young man and woman with a Swellow and Growlithe daemon respectively. Izara looked up, nodding to each of them in turn, yet lingering at the male who's appearance matched his. It was a bit embarrassing to have the same form as the daemon of someone so... skillful, so he returned to his Poochyena form and hid his face. Lee flashed an apologetic grin before becoming serious again.

"Over there's the crate I was telling you about.." She gestured to the large transparent box, each pained Pokemon inside squirming and jerking in an attempt to get free. She shuddered - the mere sight of something so cruel made her blood curdle. "And Iza here has the remote that controls the robotic Arcanine." Listening with an ear cocked, the pooch gently picked it up in his maw - careful not to push any unnecessary buttons - and trotted over to Charles, dutifully placing it at his feet before returning to Lee, sitting warily at her feet.

[Birdybot]

Charles nodded to Iza as he delivered the remote, his daemon placing a hand on his shoulder as she examined the new object now in his hands. She muttered something to him. He laughed softly, muttering something back which made her blush before pointing out the joystick on the remote which controlled the jaw. He nodded, smiling. Carefully, he began to ease it open. It seemed as though Poochyena would be OK with the fall, but just in case, he ought to order his Rangers to do something. "James! Go make sure Poochyena gets out OK! Poppy, make sure the girl's all right!" he called as his expert fingers glided over the controls.

James carefully took hold of Poochyena, even though it was out cold. His daemon perched on the Arcanine's muzzle, ready to tell him when to expect weight and so on. Ivysaur drew out a Vine Whip, helping support Poochyena's weight and providing backup in case things went badly. The jaws eased open, and Poochyena was freed. There was a bad wound on it's side, James noted, but other than that, it should be just fine.

Poppy looked at Lee. "Hello, I'm Poppy. My daemon is Perry, and Abra is called Alfonso. Are you all right? Did you get hurt? Don't worry, everything's fine now." she said soothingly, ready to give Lee a hug if she needed it. For some reason, Poppy always had been good at calming and soothing people in distress. Charles looked over at her. She nodded back. "Do you remember how you found out what's what on the remote?" she asked kindly, needing to know so they could smash open the crate. Perry held out a paw to Iza, and Alfonso... well, it's hard to tell what an Abra is thinking or feeling. He was just sitting.

[xxninja]

Lee nodded. "My name's Lee Ann, and this is my daemon, Izara." Iza touched his snout to Perry's outstretched appendage, growling slightly in approval. His human looked down to him, then smiled up at Poppy. "Well, to be honest, it was Iza who figured that out." The pooch lifted his head, an odd mixture of embarrassment and pride sparkling in his eyes.

"Well, I figured out that the buttons are placed sort of like the Arcanine's body. Like, for example, the bottom ones control the lower limbs - it's legs and tail - and the top ones control the frontal ones. Except it's... More complicated than that."

Once he'd explained it, Lee cast a glance behind her. There were still tire marks from when the man had driven off... She turned back to the ranger, speaking urgently:

"I think you should know that the Team Tsuasa member drove off in that direction." She pointed down the path; not that there was really any other way for him to make an escape... She wrinkled up her nose. "You'll be able to track him easily 'cuz he reeked of death... And sweat." Iza rolled his eyes, turning into a Wingull and fluttering up onto her shoulder.

[Birdybot]

Poppy chuckled softly at Lee's wonderful description of the man. Hm. The fact that he smelt wasn't exactly enough to go by or anything. She would otherwise be straight out there on a motorbike, zooming after the criminal in question. She looked to Lee. She was glad that the girl wasn't in shock or anything, just a little stressed. "Do you remember anything else about him? His hairstyle, colour, clothing, skin tone, eye colour, face, and so on." she asked Lee. "We need something to go by in a search and wanted poster." she smiled.

Meanwhile, Charles was figuring out this remote. He tapped a button lightly, and the claws shifted. He grumbled. His daemon then gasped as though she had discovered the thoery or relativity, leaning over his shoulder and tapped a joystick. The front left paw jerked up. Charles grinned, and together with his daemon, be managed to get a jerky and ungraceful robot Arcanine to walk around to face the crate. He brought a paw back, his daemon helping to do other things at the same time, then smashed it farwards. James was in front of the crate, ready to fish out the badly wounded.

As Pokémon spilled out, James began searching for those with more frantic cries, more in agony. Also, there were a few with no cries at all, and fewer still who never would cry again. A couple of tears dripped down his face as he did this, but he still persevered. He seperated the weak from the strong. Some of the strongest made it easier, merely getting up and racing off back home. There were all sorts of Pokémon here. James gave Poochyena to Lee to hold while he did the task, and Charles had some sort of dog carriers of varios sizes to put the injured and fainted in. Eventually, from Rattata to Bayleef had all been stored inside. They were loaded onto the van, ready to go to the Pokémon Centre. Of course, they had all been given treatment now, just tablets and cream to stop them from being in pain and to stop their wounds from being infected.

[xxninja]

Lee slowly nodded, racking her brain to remember the man's appearance. Luckily, it hadn't been too long ago - plus, he was so wretched and evil that he'd been imprinted in her mind like a mucky tattoo.

"Well," she began, not quite sure where to start, "he looked about thirty, and... had messy brown hair. Oh! And his uniform was mostly black with a bit 'T' on the front." She ran a hand through her hair. "That's about all I've got..."

When the Poochyena was handed to her, her soft side kicked back in. She immediately cradled it in her arms, gently stroking it's head though it had fallen unconscious. Iza, sensing her emotions, leaned over from his perch and nuzzled his beak in the dog's muzzle.

[Birdybot]

Poochyena was coming to. He stirred, yawning as he shuffled a little. He could see a girl's face, looking concerned as though she cared about his welfare, and her daemon, a Wingull, nuzzling his muzzle. The careful stroking felt so good, and Poochyena was so grateful that someone had finally saved him from the horrible cold, giant strange-smell Arcanine. He cuddled up to Lee, whining softly in please. His body ached, but he was sure he would be able to trust this girl to heal him or whatever. He gave a weak bark, tail twitching in what would have been a wagging motion if he'd have been strong enough.

Poppy and James were told something by Charles, and looked at Lee. "I'm sure you'll be fine with Charles, and we're going to search for the criminal. See you!" James called to Lee, scrambling onto his motorbike. Poppy did the same beside him, and together they drove off into the route somewhere. Charles smiled at Lee. "Do you want a lift to Route Two? There's a Ranger Base there, but no Pokémon Centre; however, we have people who could heal all these Pokémon before they're released back into the wild." he offered as he got into the driver's seat of the van, daemon behind him in a space between the crates containing the injured Pokémon.

[xxninja]

"He's waking up, he's waking up!" Izara announced, ruffling his feathers excitedly. Lee Ann's worried expression instantly brightened as the pooch's eyes flickered open; she softly caressed his limp frame as he whimpered softly, nuzzling up to her.

"Don't you worry one bit," she assured him, shifting him into one arm so she could dig around in the pack at her side. "I've got a Potion somewhere in here, and it's gonna make you feel much better."

After a few moments, she's retrieved one of the blue spray-bottles filled with medicine. "Iza, if you would," she instructed; the daemon nodded and fluttered to the ground, becoming a Zangoose. She gently handed him the pup, murmuring soft words of encouragement as she spritzed the Potion onto Poochyena's wounds. Once it was gone, she smiled. "There! Feeling better?"

Meanwhile, as James stated they were going after the criminal, she waved goodbye before they drove off in their super-cool motorcycles. What she wouldn't give to have one of those... The sound of Charles' voice brought her from her daydream, and the two looked to the ranger. "Well, sure!" Lee accepted the offer with a grin. It would really save them a lot of footwork, plus she would get to see the inside of a ranger's base! After awaiting his approval, she timidly got into the passenger's side of the vehicle; Iza became a Wingull on her shoulder again, and she set Poochyena on her lap.

[Birdybot]

Poochyena whimpered softly, aware of being taken somewhere else. His weak form felt stronger now, for the Potion was really working. He heard a distance human voice. "It's a good thing you used that Potion, Lee. Without it, Poochyena's wounds could well have been fatal." it sounded grim, and Poochyena gave a shudder. His paws weakly reached out, making contact with a warm body as his trusting eyes bore into Lee's.

Charles grinned. "Almost to Route Two..." he said, turning a corner. He was driving slowly, so that the bumps wouldn't be so bad for Poochyena.

You may move to Route Two.