Pathetic Partiarchy

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The afternoon sun was just about to disappear behind the tall trees of the Pecha Forest as Ned skittered between the twigs and dry leaves, that were covering the floor.
He still couldn't fully comprehend the situation. The Archen had asked him to go on a mission with him. But why?
It wasn't as if the Bug type could do anything the Archen wouldn't be able to achieve much more easily. But the Nincada needed the training, he needed to become stronger and the Rock type might be able to help him with that, so he decided not to complain.
At this moment the Ground type remembered, that he had forgotten to ask, what this job was actually about.
"So...what are we supposed to do here? Beat up someone? Rescue someone? Find something? Install windows? In a house I mean."

"What are you looking at, Acro?", the Nincada asked, oblivious to the sky turning darker as his eyes weren't the best and not directed towards the sky either.
"Any idea on how we are going to stop this thing from wandering off of the next cliff? I certainly don't have any to be honest. I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this."
There really was not much the Bug type could do and even less he believed for himself to be capable of doing. The duo simply wasn't fit for this mission in his opinion, although, to be fair he didn't consider for most any group with him in it to be qualified for most any mission.
"In any case something needs to be done and that quickl-...oh come on, not again..."

As the sun was setting, a murkrow made its way silently and swiftly towards the duo. It gave an eerie caw before landing on a branch just above the hiding spot. It did not seem to do anything, but to simply stare at the two as if they were disgusting insects to be crushed. As it arrived, the wind from behind it seemed to pick up ever so slightly.

Acro watched the murkrow, it didn't seem to be doing anything but stare at them. Acro shifted his gaze to the baby to check on it before looking back up to the murkrow. The murkrow gave a loud screech as Acro broke eye contact and it spread its wings wide before bringing them down, a large wave of fire forming and being shot towards the two pokemon!

((Heat Wave))

"Why can't anything ever go as plan-..."
The Nincada's eyes widened in horrified shock upon realizing what was happening.
The Murkrow was using a Fire type attack!
Even disregarding the logic of area-covering blazes of fire in a forest, Ned had seen - and felt - the pain and destruction the incendicary element could cause.
And what was even worse - there was absolutely nowhere to run. Nowhere to try to guide the baby to and nowhere to save one's own flammable hide. Tears forming in his eyes, the Ground type cringed in pain as the fiery blazes singed his vulnerable exoskeleton.
Even worse - there was only one ranged attack Ned had at his disposal, but as he tried to use Silver Wind, all the glimmering dust burned up in an instant only increasing the Bug type's torment further.
Indeed he was in quite a bit of a pickle at the moment.

Acro screeched as he too was struck with the fire type attack, grass began to catch fire, and slowly the flames began to spread. The murkrow only laughed as he repeated the same movement, except this time with a blast of ice. The cold blast put out the flames quickly, and Acro screeched in pain as the super effective attack blasted him. It was lucky that the archen was trying to attack the murkrow, and had shielded the nincada by accident from the blast by a fortunate accident. The archen wasn't done yet though, as his ancient power lifted nearby rocks and attempted to pelt the murkrow with them. The bird gave a screech in pain, the attack doing seemingly massive damage as it took on a critical hit. Acro felt the strange power course through his veins and strengthen him, but he didn't know if he'd be able to use that attack again due to his constant use of it...

After the hellish inferno Ned suddenly spotted the Murkrow about to fire an icy attack this time.
While his fear of the cold was not as prominent as his fear of flames, it didn't change the fact, that the Ground type was weak to this type as well. It was becoming more and more evident - this was where everything would end. The Murkrow was about to completely and utterly destroy them and there was nothing he could do against it.
Closing his eyes Ned prepared for the worst and...it didn't happen.
Even though he clearly had seen the Dark type launch the attack, the worst he was feeling was a cold breeze, which felt rather nice after all the burns he had to endure.
But the pleasant surprise quickly faded as Ned witnessed the reason for this. Accidental as it may have been - the Rock type had shielded him from the attack.
There had to be something Ned could repay him with!
Not being able to think of anything else, Ned skittered towards the tree the Murkrow had been sitting on, attempting to climb it.

The murkrow gave an angry caw before jumping off the branch to the forest floor, just under Ned.

Acro growled, his head low as he was cautious of the dark bird. The archen and the murkrow seemed to be stuck in a staring contest, one trying to make the other look away so they could attack. The murkrow paid no attention to the bug type just above him, more worried about what he thought was the bigger thread out of the two. Acro figured that the murkrow was confident that he would be able to take out the nincada with ease due to the bug typing. While Acro was a rock type, and wielded moves more powerful and effective against it. The air around them began to grow colder, as the murkrow prepared another icy blast for the archen.

Silently the Nincada chuckled to himself. How could any Pokémon fight this efficiently and then completely disregard one of its adversaries?
Letting go of the tree with a shout of: "Surprise, mother figure!", he leaped onto the Flying type below him, ignoring the excruciating pain his burns were causing due to the impact and applying a well-deserved Leech Life attack to the vile and revolting avian specimen that was the Murkrow.
Adrenaline was surging through his body, making him forget all the pain he was experiencing right now, instead focussing on one thing - draining the Murkrow's blood.
While this may seem disgusting to most species, the procedure definitely was restoring some of the energy the Nincada had lost over the course of the assault and additionally served the purpose of weakening the enemy.

The murkrow gave a surprised screech, another icy blast being released just as the nincada landed on the crow. The icy wind struck Acro as he had little time to react, and he could feel his will to fight draining as his health was becoming way below half its natural filled state. The archen forced himself back up in time to see the murkrow flying away, a few droplets of scarlet falling on the floor as the once confident creature fled the scene in order to save its own life should the nincada plan to end it.

Acro looked back to the hiding spot, the deino seemed to have managed to fall asleep right in the middle of the fight! As amazed as the archen was, he was a bit glad. He doubted he would be able to take any more unintentional beatings from the newborn.

Even though he had almost been tempted to keep draining the Murkrow, the Nincada refrained from doing so as such an act would place him amongst Pokémon like the clan, something he definitely did not want to happen. And additionally the Dark type had managed to shake him off as it departed, so he would not have had a chance to continue with his actions anyway.
Tumbling to the ground the Nincada let out a sigh of relief, followed by a pained yelp and jumping up in the air. Now that the adrenaline rush had subsided the Bug type was beginning to notice how badly he had been wounded in the battle. Hopefully the sun would emerge again soon, as he was sure that he would not be able to take this for much longer.

Acro felt the pain of his own wounds begin to fade in, he still had a bit of a burn, which felt strange considering he was cold because of the ice type attack. The archen looked to the nincada, "Y-You okay Ned?" he asked the nincada. The archen shivered, the cold remaining in his body as the heat of the day vanished into night, leaving nothing but more heat to be sucked out of the archen.

"G-Growing night time...H-He should be back in the M-Morning r-right?" he asked the nincada. They had been there for quite a while, all they had to do now was stick it though the night. The archen wondered how they would make it through the night staying up? Should they take shifts or just keep talking to each other to keep themselves up?

"I guess I am as okay as the circumstances allow. I was recently set on fire but I'm not defeated just yet. I think. I'm not so sure anymore."
This was going to be problematic. Ned definitely was not in any condition to fight anymore and the Archen had been wounded rather badly as well, so they would most likely be done for, should they have to face yet another enemy. Hopefully the Murkrow had learned its lesson this time as it was beginning to become predictable.
"I sure hope he will. In fact I'm hoping for him to return right now. Or anything not trying to hurt us at least. I've given up on being picky long ago. In any case we could use some reinforcements."

"Yeah...this job is tougher than it seems..." the archen spoke, checking the time in the sky once more to see the moon was only just rising. He sighed, "Looks like tonight is going to be a long night..."


The night was long indeed for the archen, but the two managed to make it through without another battle or problem. The hatched egg had remained asleep, and the sun was rising to make the new day come. Not far off, the vigoroth seemed to be approaching with a happy skip in his step and bag of gummi to enjoy. It blinked as it looked to see the archen and the nincada somewhat beaten up with half of a gummi in his mouth.
"What happened to you guys?" he asked with the gummi still being chewed in his mouth.

Sleepily the Nincada rose up from the ground again, barely able to believe that their mission had finally ended. Finally he could go back to waiting and relaxing somewhere under a tree or in some other secure place without constantly fearing being attacked out of nowhere.
With his eyes half-closed the Bug type replied:
"It is a long, long story full of fire, ice, blood, sweat, tears and other bodily liquids. But most important of all - it is over. Finally this mission is over. Have fun with your child because I am not going to help out ever again."
Turning to the Archen he continued:
"And by the way, should I ever express the desire to have children I want you to smack me as hard as you possibly can. Maybe carry me off to a mental institution."
In his mind Ned already envisioned him doing all the things he wanted to, but couldn't do over the course of the night. Getting a good night's sleep for example.

"Thanks mmlph" the vigoroth spoke, enjoying his snack, "You two make a good team and all that, thanks!" the vigoroth moved closer to the site of the egg and looked inside to drop his gummi bag and stare.
"Oh yeah...it kinda hatched..." the archen spoke as he started to walk off, ready to leave the father and son to be together. He began to wonder about what the vigoroth said though...it had told them they were a good team. He began to wonder if he should perhaps ask this nincada to join his team...would he leave like George did, run off like Flint did, or even die like Astrid did? He began to feel a sense of nervousness overcoming him.
"You wont know until you try..." a sudden voice spoke to his mind, it seemed to be the voice of Astrid. The voice surprised him, since he was used to the voices belittling him rather than encouraging him. He paused for a moment and looked to Ned, "Do you...want to join my team?" he asked the nincada, ignoring the Vigoroth currently being bitten by his newborn child in the background.

While the Vigoroth was once again displaying the worst case of parental negligence and ineptitude Ned had ever seen, the Nincada was wondering how such a creature could ever have found a mate. In fact he was so lost in his own thoughts that it took him a while to register what exactly the Archen had said to him just now.
"Yeah, sure, I don't ca-...YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?!"
The shock of hearing the Rock type's proposal was enough to cause the Ground type to jump a short distance into the air in surprise. He certainly had not expected something like this to happen.
"I-I appreciate the sentiment, but I am not nearly strong enough to be of any use. I haven't even evolved yet. In my current state I would only be a burden, keeping you from achieving your goals. I still have to become stronger. Then, when that day has finally arrived, then maybe I will be more worthy of your offer."