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Jessie the warrior princess and James the bard stood in a dimly lit hallway alcove that opened into a bright and public podium. The whole town of Clover was gathered in the small courtyard below the podium, and the two friends watched the crowd. "Oh, I have to go out in front of ALL of them?" he whimpered. Jessie leaned on the wall opposite to him, her arms crossed and her eyebrows creased in thought. Absently, she said, "You never had stage fright before . . ." "I've never been in front of a crowd this large before, though." "At least you look decent." James snickered. The meeting was scheduled for right after Mistique's hair appointment, so, while she was trimmed and made proper, Jessie and James had to sit and wait as hailers ran through the town, spreading the news. There was no time for baths, so James had a little purple on his left hand, (that he kept on picking at), and Jessie's hair was still a terrible knot full of parasites, *that weren't there!* The warrior, inattentive, reached up and picked something out of her tresses and flicked it on the floor. Her blue eyes were unfocused, and her lips puckered. James cocked his head. "What's the matter, Jessie? You're not all here." She didn't reply immediately, she just leaned on the wall, her eyes blank. Suddenly, the same eyes were filled to the brim with tears, and she covered her face. "I'm worried about Arbok!" "Arbok?" He would have gone over and patted her shoulders soothingly, but little white specks dancing on the straps of her leather kept him away. If he was going to die, he didn't need to with parasitical hair. She raised her face from her hands and stared out at the swarm of people. "Yeah! I'm so sorry I fed him that applesauce, and if you say stew, I'm going to rip all of your skin off. Will he come back? What if he broke a--" she was about to say "a leg", but then she remembered that Arbok's don't have legs, so instead she said, "--a . . . scale. Well, what if he's in awful trouble, but I don't know where he is, so I can't save him!" She gave a hysterical sob and covered her face once more. James hummed a little in concern for his friend, but he didn't particularly want to get near her. Thinking quickly, he picked up his quarterstaff and patted her shoulder with that. "There, there, Jessie, I'm sure Arbok's fine. You trained him well." ~*~*~*~*~*~ Meanwhile, as Jessie blubbered over Arbok, Arbok was having a grand ol' time slithering through the forest, away from the swamp. He had followed Mistique's trail to Psykappa and he splashed around for a bit in the cool spring. He didn't know how to swim, but traveling through a swamp, even inside an Orb, made one remarkably disgusting. After drying out in the warming sand as the sun came up, Arbok slithered down the path, following Mistique's trail, with which she had picked up another human and a Pokmon. An Oddish by the looks of the tracks. But he didn't want to find Mistique, she would return him to Jessie and her disgusting "applesauce". He had had applesauce before, and what she had made that day was NOT applesauce. So he took a cut into the surrounding woods and contented himself into glissading between the trees. A little later in the morning, near another feeding time, he guessed, Arbok found his way into a large meadow. The grass wasn't very tall, but tall enough to hide a purple cobra if it flattens himself on the ground. Maybe he would find a Ratatta hole and catch himself some lunch. Maybe even a Raticate. He found a small hole, and out popped a Diglett, to which he instantly ate up, since he was so hungry, even though Diglett wasn't his favorite. He continued on and came across a good sized hole. Excited, he sat and waited. He didn't have to be patient for long, for a few minutes later, a Raticate popped its nose out from the hole and sniffed the wind for danger. Luckily, Arbok had reminded himself to stay upwind of his prey. Feeling everything was safe, the rat stepped out of his home and scittered this way and that, nibbling on seeds that dropped from some wild wheat. Later, it would probably find a Caterpie to eat, but Arbok didn't plan for that to happen. This Raticate was fat, and looked delicious after applesauce and a Diglett. The Raticate finally scampered near enough for him to strike. It was an easy lunch, Raticate's aren't the best fighters when surprised. Happy and full, Arbok continued wandering through the meadow, his head held high above the grass. He didn't need to be stealthy, he wasn't looking for anymore prey, and he didn't particularly want to run into a Pokmon that wanted to fight. (Having run across them before, he hoped Spearow weren't in the area.) But as he slithered, he noticed something a short distance away. It looked like some sort of camp. Curious, he glided nearer, wondering who was there . . . ~*~*~*~*~*~ The brightly colored tent flap was flung open as a man stalked through. He wore dark, leather armor with several daggers hanging from it, most of them with carved hilts into the shape of human skulls. He placed a helm back on his head that was decorated with several silver pieces and dark feathers from a Dodrio. Another man, smaller and less imposing, came out of the same tent, nervously chasing after the feather-crested man. "You need to find me another Arbok," the crested man grumbled angrily. "Yessir," the smaller man mumbled. "I thought I had trained Ardo better than that, to go eat a Weedle." He stopped at the outskirts of the camp. "I thought I had taught him that they were POISONOUS." He sighed stressfully, and pushed his helm back. "Make sure this new Arbok is stronger, and smarter than Ardo. I can't attack a town without a decent steed." "Yessir, General Koso, sir." He saluted. "I will get right on it, sir. I'll ride to the next town, not the one we're about to raid, and--" As he turned to leave, General Koso reached out and grabbed him roughly by the shoulder, and twisted the underling back around. "Smeteus, what's that on the hill over there?" Smeteus squinted and shaded his eyes from the sun. "It . . . appears to be . . . an ARBOK, sir." He grinned. "What remarkable luck! It looks quite healthy, too." Koso's face gained a smile, and his eyes sparkled. "Smeteus, that is the most beautiful Arbok I have EVER seen! If it's so pretty, it must be very smart. IT probably wouldn't eat a Weedle. Smeteus," he grabbed his shoulder once more, producing a gasp of pain from the small man. "Go get me that Arbok! I will ride it gloriously into the next raid! With that beaut, I shall not fail!" He removed his hand and turned glistening eyes back to the Pokmon that seemed to be staring right back at him. Smeteus turned and went to another tent to gather necessary capturing supplies. He sighed, and grumbled a few things that weren't so nice about his general, like he hoped an Arbok would trample him, so Smeteus might finally be able to go home. But that was just wishful thinking . . .
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