"Every-Bod-Dee UP!" Hollered a loud voice through the door. I blinked sleepily and saw that most were already up. Sleek, the Vaporeon, comforted her brother as he sulked in the corner with Snap. The two flicked shifty gazes at us while Sleek shrugged uneasily. Amber murmured with Rogue and Circe sat beside me.

"Where's Celerity?" I asked, sitting up and running my tongue along my canines. I was ravenous, not having eaten since the previous morning. "When do we eat?" was my second question. Another whoop from outside cut off any answer and we few Pokemon trotted outside for whatever duties were assigned. The new master sat upon Celerity, all pushed up with bulky strapping and buckles, but it didn't seem bothered Celerity at all. We lined up, Rogue, the Eeveelutions followed the rest of us by height and Snap, snapped at attention.

"Alright!" the Master yelled loudly. "Your goin on your first hunt-" I cringed at the word, shrugging back against the building and whimpering to myself. In my mouth I could taste the coppery blood of the fawn. I wouldn't hunt! I wouldn't! The master shot me a withering glare but I ignored it. I wouldn't! I wouldn't! I wouldn't!

Master Gulton continued in spite of me. "Your job is ta round up the herd of pokemon assigned ta ya. You’ll be put in pairs. And if any of them pokemon is hurt when you brings them in, there’ll be no breakfast for ya. And ya don’t even wanna know what’ll happen ta ya if ya run off."

I felt relief flood my chest as he began to give out assignments. Snap and Nettle, the Jolteon, were assigned to a flock Mareep; Circe and Amber were assigned to a herd of Tauros; Sleek and Ripple got a herd of Kangaskhan; finally Rogue and myself were assigned a herd of Rhyhorn.

With our assignments given we headed in the appropriate directions. Rogue and I headed north along a well-beaten path.

"I don’t like this." Rogue said after a long silence.

"What?" I asked.

"Snap and Nettle working together."

"I don’t trust them either…look there’s the herd." Before us a clearing opened up revealing it’s continence of between 10 and 15 of the rock pokemon. "So how do we move them?" We stared blankly at the Rhyhorn, they continued to graze the grass peacefully, ignoring the world around them with little care for what was about to come their way.

"Why not ask?" I suggested, and proceeded from one rhyhorn to the next asking politely and only receiving a dull grunt or a snort of annoyance. I nudged one and he immediately whirled around, his prized horn in the hollow of my throat before I could blink.

"Uh, nice day isn't it?" I stammered, trying to seem nonchalant. The rhyhorn eyed me for a moment more, then returned to the grass, placidly ignoring me. I growled softly in the back of my throat, irritated by their lack of compliance. Seeing I wasn't getting anywhere, I relented back to beneath the tree and Rogue joined me shortly, genuinely puzzled.

"Rude!" he sniffed haughtily, plopping beside me. "Any other ideas?"

"Not a clue." We sat deep in thought for a moment longer, and the giant arcanine raised his head. "I'll be back in a moment." I watched curiously as the canine skirted around the edge of the herd, trotting casually. When he was behind them, he flashed a triumphant grin, and howled.

I shrank down, my paws pressed against me ears. It was the first time I deeply regretted having one of the best senses of sound in the entire pokemon world. Rogue continued to thunder loudly, rumbling deep inside his chest. With my eyes screwed shut, I waited for the noise to die down and when I did look up, the rhydon only scuffed their feet, looking a little alarmed at the ruckus, but not too concerned.

Rogue came back towards me looking less then pleased by the results. He throw himself down next to me in frustration.

"This is going to be harder then we thought." I mused looking at the herd. We thought out loud for several minutes, throwing ideas back and forth not really getting any were.

"If we can’t chase them," Rogue contemplated, "then can we get them to chase us? I mean their unevolved rock types, how fast can they be?"

"Ok, I can agree with that, but how?" I asked, "I mean we can’t hurt them, so how do we make them mad enough to chase us?"

"Come on, I’ll show you." Rogue said as he got up. I followed him to the front of the herd, "Now get ready to run." He turned to the rhyhorn, who were still ignoring us. "Hey dung breath, your so slow I bet grass pokemon plant their seeds on you!" This effectively got their attention. They stomped and snorted and postured, but didn’t charge. Taking the hint I joined in.

"I bet your mother was a Shuckels." I called out. The rhyhorn increased their threats.

"The whole lot of you couldn’t move a hundred pound rock to save your lives." Rogue howled.

This one was the kicker; the rhyhorn made good on their threats and charged us. Rogue was right, we were faster then them, but just enough to have a comfortable distance between us. We raced down the path we had come from and headed south towards the house. Our endurance and speed kept us away from the deadly horns, but it was no easy work. Finally the house and barn came into view. Celerity with master Gulton astride her were waiting for us, holding open the gate to the pen.

It was at this point that we realized the flaw in our plan. To get the rhyhorn into the pen we had to go in first.

"We’ll have to jump!" Rogue cried over the stamped behind us.

"Easy for you to say," I called back, "The fence only comes up to your chest. You’re asking me to jump twice my height!"

"We need more distance."

"Got a plan?" I asked as I complied.

"Yap!" he said. We sprint the last 100 yards, more them doubling our lead in the process. As we past through the open gate Rogue suddenly grabbed me in his mouth and leapt the fence.

"That," I panted, "was close." I slumped to the ground heaving while Rogue looked uncomfortable as the Rhyhorn battered themselves against the wall.

"Don't worry bout it, they won't get through," I yawned, feeling very pleased with myself. The arcanine didn't look so comforted.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Suddenly a dull, CRIITT! Touched my ears. Oh, no, you had to be kidding!

"Run," Rogue growled, standing his ground.

"No, you’re running too!" I retorted, "or I ain't." CRRRRRIT!!!

"Ok, we run!" The wall exploded in an eruption of stone slivers, some wedging themselves in my fur and others sliding under my tender skin, I howled as I ran as already the stampeding stone feet were growing ever nearer. Gulton cried in outrage and surprise. Celerity whinnied in fear and turned to bolt but Gulton kept a check on her reins. Instead, he swung her head around and guided the ponyta in our direction.

"What the? What is he doing?" I yelled to Rogue.

"I don't know and I don't think it matters," he cried back, a slight limp in one leg. I understood, I could feel the stones grind against the bone but I couldn't stop for anything. I couldn't let those Rhyhorn get any closer then they already were. I grunted in pain and put on an extra boost of speed, trying to keep up with Rogue.

"Uhg!" I groaned, as I felt the thud of a foot just behind mine, even its musty breath trailed my tail. I whipped it hard, slapping the rhyhorn in the eye. It bellowed with pain and swung its head, catching my foot. I stumbled and went down, howling with pain. Oh, my leg! It screamed as the thud thud thud of feet trampled the ground and churned it into mud. One clipped my ear, another crushed my tail, I whimpered, curling into a tight ball. Then, when I thought nothing was left, a shadow fell over me, the glinting obsidian hooves of Celerity stood beside my broken body. Two rough human hands picked me up and sat me on the saddle, swearing about the loss of a stock dog. I whined and he shushed me. He pulled something long and silvery and gave it a quick blast. A whistle trilled the air and the thundering came to a halt, the Rhyhorn looked curiously and Rogue, lashing left and right stopped to.

"Gi up! To your pens!" Gulton yelled, and to my amazement, they did!