Lost or found?

Corus tilted his head from one side of the road to another and back again, but couldn't see much due to the taller Pokémon around him. He climbed on a nearby crate in order to get a better view. He repeated his previous action, ignoring everyone that spared him a glance in his search. After a few more seconds, Corus nodded to himself, jumped off the crate and sighed. Yup, he was lost, not all that difficult as he had no idea where anything in this town was. Even worse, he had lost sight of Teach Jack. Corus chuckled to himself in embarrassment as he recalled how they got separated. The Steel type had been amazed by the new sights and the many different Pokémon. So amazed in fact that he had been rooted to the spot and lost sight of his caretaker.

He looked at the iron strapped on his back, shrugged and put the bag on the ground as he sat on his hunches. He then picked an iron ore and started nibbling on it. He might as well stay put and wait for Jack to find him. The Bisharp would quickly notice he wasn't by his side any longer and immediately search for him. Or so Corus hoped. If not, then he'd just find a trustworthy looking Pokémon and ask for directions. It wasn't as if he was pressed for time and now he could even enjoy a little snack.

Niracamda looked around. This was the first time she ever came to Grassveil town. It was so much busier than the town she grew up in. A lot of large Pokemon were walking down the streets. The sight of them was a bit intimidating for the small Houndour. She already had enough issues with her own height but this didn't really help.

She moved at the side of the street to avoid getting run over by bigger Pokemon. She was quite impressed by the town. There were various shops around. One that caught her attention was a dye shop. She could get herself dyed to look like a normal Houndour. This way, nobody would pick on her weird coloration. As she was thinking about if she would go in or not, she wasn't looking were she was going and bumped into something. It looked like some iron Pokemon and this one actually seemed to be around her height. She immediately apologized to the Pokemon. "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you alright?"

Corus blinked as he felt something hit his side, but as he had barely felt anything, the Steel type shrugged it off as his imagination. He was thus quite surprised when he heard a voice apologizing from next to him. He tilted his head to his left and saw a quadrupled Pokémon with blue fur and what seemed like the part of a skull on top of its head. He kept his gaze on her for a few moments, not even bothering to hide the fact he was examining her. He swallowed the last bit of his ore before he closed his eyes and a made an upside down U.

"I'm just fine. Heck, if you hadn't apologized I wouldn't even have noticed you bumping into me." He spoke jovially, there was no reason to be a jerk to the creature. He grabbed another ore and took a small bite out of it. As he chewed, Corus gave a side glance at the crowd before he focused on the blue Pokémon and swallowed what was in his mouth.

"Say, you wouldn't have seen a Bisharp anywhere, would you? Red, baggy legs; same colour and broad shoulders; two blades on its front and an eternal scowl; might have been searching for someone called Corus? I'm Corus, by the way."

Niracamda looked at the Aron in front of her. She was surprised he didn't feel she bumped into him. He seemed pretty nice to her. The small Houndour watched as the Aron took something that seemed to be an iron ore. She was not surprised when the Aron ate it, although it was a weird thing to look at. Aron tend to live in mountainous regions, more specifically in places with a lot of iron. She didn't think she would bump into one here, although in a town as busy as this, it was probably not so difficult to get iron.

Niracamda looked at the Pokemon as he asked her if she has seen a Bisharp. "A bisharp? I don't think I saw any around here. I just arrived in town, and in this crowd, it is difficult to find anyone." Nira simply stated. Even if she had passed the Bisharp, she might not have seen him due to the crowd. "It's nice to meet you, Corus. My name is Niracamda."

"Hmm, I see. That's a shame, though I suppose you are right. It's a big crowd." He threw the rest of his ore in his mouth, chewed on it and swallowed the iron. He smacked his lips, and rubbed his belly with a satisfied look on his face. A bit of iron always hit the spot just right. He was pulled from his thoughts when the Pokémon introduced itself. Or should he saw herself? It certainly had lighter tone in its voice than the males from his clan, even lighter than the elder females of his clan. Maybe eating all that iron did make their voices sound more like gravel than anything else, just as Teach Jack said? Naaah, couldn't be.

"The feeling is mutual, Niracamda." He offered with another pair of upside U's. He looked at the crowd and tilted his head sidewise in thought. Well, plan A was a bust. Maybe he could ask someone else? Nah, it would be better to just find an 'officer'. Teach Jack had explained that they were in charge of peacekeeping and helping the normal 'Mon. Now, all he had to do was find one of these 'officers'. He turned his head to the blue Pokémon.

"Say, would you have any idea where I can an 'officer', or their 'station'? I figure I might as well ask one of them for help."

Niracamda nodded and watched as the Aron threw the rest of the iron ore in his mouth. It was typical that a steel type would be eating this. She knew a lot of Pokemon would break their teeth if they even tried, herself included. She would much rather eat berries and fruit.

The Aron finished his "food" and rubbed his belly, or tried to at least. His paws were pretty short. She didn't know how he could reach it with those stumps. Of course she didn't say anything like that. She was not a mean Pokemon and didn't want to offend him. The Aron seemed happy to meet her. Niracamda glanced at the crowd again. She felt a bit bad for the Pokemon for having to try to find someone in this crowd, especially considering how short he was. Niracamda was pretty small for a Houndour but she was slightly taller than the Aron.

Her attention got pulled back to Corus as he started talking again. His voice sounded a bit heavy for someone so small like him. She was pretty sure he was not old, maybe he wasn't even an adult yet. Maybe his species just naturally had a heavier voice. He asked her if she knew where something was. "Do you mean like the police? This is actually my first time in town so I can't really help you. I don't know where anything is myself." She said in a kind of apologizing voice. She wished she could help the guy find the Bisharp.

Corus shrugged at the negative answer, not all that bothered by it. It wasn't as if she had wronged him, as she was a stranger to the town as well. Well then, might as well explore a bit. Maybe Teach Jack would be proud of him for taking initiative in exploring an unknown terrain. He looked at the crowd and made his decision. He'd just set out and find out where the 'officers' were. Or 'police' as Niracamda informed him. He pushed his body forward and landed on his four feet, making a little 'thing' sound due to his metal meeting the stone.

Just before he was about to test his luck in the stream that was the crowd, he turned his head to the furred Pokémon. "Say, I was going to explore the town a bit and try to find the 'police', maybe find that Bisharp. Want to tag along? Unless you have something planned yourself, if so then it was nice meeting you." He offered her one last eye smile before he walked in the crowd, glad for his hard and slightly rough body as it made other Pokémon move out of the way. His skin could be quite grating he'd heard from a Cubone back at home and it seemed that Cubone was correct. Didn't excuse her for throwing her bloody bone at him, though.

The shiny Houndour watched as the Aron stood up. She could hear a weird metallic sound as it hit the pavement of the street. She was wondering how strong the pavement was. There were probably various heavy Pokemon who came here from time to time. Some might be able to easily crack, or even break them. She wondered it it was a lot of work to replace them.

Being distracted by her thoughts, Corus' voice snapped her back to reality. He asked her if he wanted to go with him as he explored the town in search for the police station. "Sure, that sounds fun." She replied. "I'm not familiar with the town myself so exploring seems like a good idea." Niracamda noticed the Aron walk away and ran after him. She noticed Pokemon moved out of the way for him. Probably because of his iron body. It would not feel nice to trip over him.

It took a few minutes but Corus had finally made his way out of the crowd. Unfortunately, he had no clue where he was. He was just glad that the amount of Pokémon had lessened down and wasn't about to spit his luck in the face by complaining. He took note of his surroundings, but all he saw where Pokémon sitting down on 'chairs' at some 'tables' with berries in front of them. He saw a purple ball floating from one of the buildings to a 'table' with a platter on its head, perfectly balanced. That was quite neat.

Now then, he had to find a Pokémon willing to help. Speaking of helping Pokémon, he turned his head to his companion. "How are you holding up? Not too bothered from the crowd?" He was honestly curious, his body was tough and sturdy to he barely felt any whenever he bumped into someone or the other way around. He remembered one Pokémon slamming full force against him with their toes before it cursed loudly.

It was hard to follow the Aron through the crowd. She had to be careful not to get trampled at times. There sure were some strong looking Pokemon around. Being impressed by a strong looking Houndoom, she didn't look where she was going and got kicked in her side by a Nidoking. The poor Houndour got kicked against a wall. The Nidoking didn't seem to have noticed it. Nobody was paying attention to her.

"Urgh..." It hurt. Her back, that hit the wall, and the place where she got kicked hurt a lot. She knew it was probably nothing bad. Niracamda looked up and tried to see if she could see the Aron she was following. "Wh-Where is he?" It was not going to be easy to see him between those other Pokemon.

Corus blinked when he did not see his just acquaintanced companion. He turned his body completely and looked at the crowd. He turned his head to the left and then to the right, but to no avail, Corus did not see a small, blue coloured, quadrupled Pokémon. The Steel type tilted his head sideways as he pondered on his next course of action. On one paw, Niracamda wasn't his responsibility and she did seem like someone that could take care of herself. On the other hand, she had been willing to join him in the stampede of Pokémon just because he asked.

As he thought for a few seconds, he thought he might as well try to get her attention. He coughed once and cleared his throat, followed by a big intake of air. He held the air for a couple of seconds before he released his cry for help. Or as Teach Jack put it, his 'cry of scraping your nails on metal'. Maybe it would make Niracamda find him or run away. Maybe it would make the stampede stop or move faster. Maybe he'd meet one of those 'officers' that were there to keep the peace.

He'd soon find out, as he went and inhaled a second time.

Niracamda desperately tried to see where the Aron was.Then, she heard a cry coming from somewhere between the crowd. Some Pokemon jumped up from the sound, others ran away because it hurt their ears. The Houndour thought she saw a glimpse of the Iron Pokemon. She wasn't sure if it was really him.

Niracamda tried getting up. It was painful but she managed somehow. "Corus!?" She cried out, hoping he would hear her. "Corus, where are you!?" The Shiny Houndour yelled as she slowly tried to make her way towards where she thought she saw him. She had to be careful not to get kicked away again. Depending on the Pokemon, she might end up breaking a few ribs.

Corus stopped his screaming after his fifth try. The crowd had lessened a bit, and there were already Pokémon fixing their glares upon the little Iron Armor Pokémon. Not that Corus cared, he was too preoccupied to see if he could see a blue fur between the now somewhat scattered crowd. As his eyes travelled over the crowd, they stopped on the hunching form of a Pokémon whose colour he was quite familiar with. The Aron walked towards the crowd in the hopes to reach his acquaintance, but was stopped by a foot barring his way.

He looked up and met a leg, followed by more leg and then a feathery body and at last he met three heads. Two of them were glaring at him, while the last simply ignored him and opted so sigh as it looked at the other two heads.

"You little brat! What is your problem, screaming like that!"

"Give us one reason not to rip you apart?"

"Would you two give it a rest, and settle this like adults?"

Corus' eyes lay upon each different head that spoke to him. Well, that was quite the pecular creature. It looked birdish, but he didn't see any wings, so Corus didn't assume anything. He supposed that he could explain himself and perhaps apologize. Safire did tell him he could make quite the distinct sound.

"I was trying to find someone that I lost within the crowd and assumed that screaming would grab their attention."

The three heads shared a glance with one another, two still pissed off and a third willing to let it go if only not to be bothered with all of this.

It was not easy to move. Her side and her back hurt with every movement. At least there were not so many Pokemon around anymore. They all seemed to be looking at something. The Houndour followed their gaze. A bit further she saw a bird like creature with what seemed to be three heads. She recognized the Pokemon as a Dodrio.

That was not the only thing she saw though. In front of the bird, there was a small iron Pokemon she recognized immediately. "Corus!" She cried as she made her way through the crowd. She did not know what was happening but she hoped he would be alright. The Pokemon didn't seem to happy with that sound he had made.

Corus turned his head away from the bickering heads as he heard his name being shouted through the air. He focused his attention on the Pokémon in front of him and spoke to them.

"It would seem that our meeting helped my find my lost companion." He closed his eyes jovially and lowered his head in gratitude. "I'd like to thank you for helping me."

The three heads looked at him as if he was crazy, until the one that had been the most lenient released a squawk of laughter. His fellow heads changed their focus on their last companion, but kept their expression.

"Hahahah, go ahead brat. We're happy to have been of service." The two other heads seemed to want to continue the argument but the third head simply slapped them with his beak. "And you two, stop bickering like children and trying to fight with everyone we meet!" This immediately brought the three heads in another discussion, one Corus ignored as he walked to Niracamde.

He stopped just in front of her and gave her en eye smile. "Hey, where were you? I thought you were right behind me?"