'Tis an Angel Under Cover production. Written by Dewin Duvae. Disclaimer: I own all the characters mentioned. Nintendo and Gamefreak own the name Far'fetched. Ponytaur, Charamanda, Bunny, Aupair, Kitten and Widow are twisted versions of pokemon and this is a completely different universe from the one described in Gregg Sharps Pokegirls & Wild Horses. (Except of course that it's just like it.) Pkgrl - Family matters 5 Family afoot ------------------------------ The trees swayed in the breeze gently that way only trees can do. Rocking back and forth and allowing the sun to play with the shade on the sandy road. An elderly man wearing jeans, a flannel shirt and a heavyduty backpack came trudging up the road, whistling happily. Lagging a few meters behind came a bluehaired girl of about 20, maybe 21. In turn towing a blueharied little furball who stayed very quiet. "Daaad! Don't pekuu on me. Hold on." The woman was, as you might guess, panting heavily. "Come on hon." The man called over his shoulder. "This is nothing," He increased his pace. "We used to hike a hundred times this when you were a baby." "So what! I'm not a Ponytaur to run along. How am I supposed to keep up with you?" She sat down in a huff and closed her eyes. "I'm not taking another step and that's that." The 'furrball' promptly copied her position. Huff and all. "Alright." He sat down on a stump by the side of the road. "We can take a small break. As long as yo tell me why you wanted to tag along." He smiled amicably and motioned for her and the blue creature to sit beside him. The woman looked suspiciously at him. Putting her hands on her hips. Again the little on by her side copied this. The little ones frown was so close to the larger original that he just couldn't keep from laughing. "Oh," he said as he started to calm down, "that is so precious. What is her name by the way?" He looked up at her with laughter still bubbling in his stomach. The woman frowned. "It's name is Cecellia." She turned away. "Can we go on?" As she took her first step to continue on the path, she felt a sudden vicelike grip on her arm. "Elise! You did not just say that. I suppose your mother, may her soul be blessed for all time, is an 'it' to you too?" She could feel him staring at her. Like a Charamanda biting into her neck. "My mother," she spit the words out with as much restraint as she could muster, "died when she turned sixteen." She unhocked her arm from his hand and kneeled. "Come Cecy. It's time we left." Cecilia chirruped happily and jumped into her embrace. Carefuly, Elise straightened up and glared at the old man. "Goodbye father." He stood there for awhile, watching the both of them moving away. Then he removed from his front jacket pocket a red and white ball. "I'm sorry honey, she didn't really mean it. I'm sure." He carefully put it back and extracted another on from his belt, wich he threw towards the woman. It opened up and a Bunny who looked faintly like a playboybunny, materialised. "Tara, stop her." Tara nodded and bounded off. He sighed softly and walked after the trio. His steps were heavy and slow as a mountain trying to move. Showing every year of his age twice over. "Well, Mack old boy. It's time you took a stand. You supposedly raised her after all. Anything she has in her head is your fault." He sighed again. "I suppose I should have known better. I just thought it would be better for her to be on the road with us. Better than to be stuck in a school with people telling her the 'evils' of pokewomen." A snort escaped him. "It's not like we're not all cursed with it. From trueblood to Aupair. We used to be human once, I wonder when we stopped..." "Mack, I'm back." Tara landed in front of him, holding Elise and Cecilia beside her. Elise glared at him, he nodded. "Mack." Tara held his shoulder, kneeding it nervously. "Put me back." She rubbed her legs together, there was a faint odour hanging in the air. "Please?" He nodded, pulled her back and fastened her ball onto his belt again. "I swear, that woman has a serious problem." He turned to his daughter and said, with what he thought of as a stern voice. "Elise. You were lucky. Many women never had the opportunity that you had." Mack looked at the blue little furball lodged on his daughters shoulder. "Yes, your mother could grill food on her stomach. That does not mean she did not have feelings. She had you when she was twenty. And don't think for a moment that you weren't planned be- LOOK AT ME when I'm talking to you." He gripped her jaw tightly. "It took me a full year just to get the permissions. YOUR," he raised his voice angrily at the word, "mother was overjoyed when she saw you. She promised to me, to her parents, to the courtroom they took us to. She promised that she would take care of you and make sure that you would not turn into a pokewoman." "Yeah," Elise snorted, "and then she takes me straight out on the road with you. To every single gym in existence. Great way to stop me from thresholding dad." Mack winced. "That wasn't exactly what happened. She actually had a house in mind when she said that. A gym as a matter of fact. Her plan," he said licking his lips, "was for us to settle down. You wouldn't be allowed near the gym facilities and," he frowned, "your aunts wouldn't be allowed in the house part of it." He noticed a cloud that looked a bit like a house ansd studied it throughtfully. "It would have worked if I hadn't decided to make a last tour of all the gyms. For memory's sake." An embarrased blush started to spread across his face. "When we came back, the court had ruled us unfit parents because we didn't keep our promise. After that point, we were actually running from the police." He sighed heavily. "I still can't look at a Jenny without having my heart clench in fear." "Father?" He gulped, she never called him that. "Just for my sanitys sake." Her voice sounded really dangerous now. "What promise did you make?" Too sweat, that's what it was, she was never this sweat to him. "Uhm, promise?" His own voice sounded a bit off. A bit high-pitched. He made himself calm down. "Oh, common daddy. You don't think the court would have taken the word of a pokewoman do you?" She smiled the same way she used to when she was little. There was something different about it though. Maybe the fact that it seemed less sincere now. "Well..." He took a step back. She stepped with him. "Well?" She asked with a hint of steel. Mack sighed, it was like seeing a baloon loose all it's air while still being held by a child. The childs face would have looked the same way as his did now. Slowly, he sat down by the wayside. "Take a seat." He patted the grass beside him. Elise nodded smuggly and sat down. "Well?" She put her child in her lap. "The court was ruthless. There was a new laywer acting for my in-laws, someone who wanted a name for himself. We were just a number I suppose. Still, he kept going on about how you were lucky not to be a pokegirl. You must be a really high-risk threshold case. My lawyers strategy was to tell the jury that it wouldn't matter in the long run, because it was inevitable for you to threshold." He snorted. "Even I could have figured out how stupid it was say that. I mean-" He stopped and looked at Elise. His daughter glared. He sighed and nodded. "I did promise. I promised to stay put. I was still young. I thought one time couldn't possibly hurt." He growled. "It's not as if it really counted anyway, right." "I was wrong. But all in all. Your mother was the one who payed the price, not you." He swallowed as bile threatened to rise up. "She was tired already. She got weaker for every step. The only reason she was alive for so long was because she refused to be outside her ball unless we were in a village or a city." He looked at her bitterly. "Didn't know that did you? Your mother sacrifised eve- honey?" "You idiot!" She was as red as a beet, almost purple actually. "A Far'fetched would have had more brains than you. I can't believe you! And you know what?" He could see the fires burning behind her eyes. "You didn't even stop there. You were this close. This close!" She held her fingers out, millimeters apart. "To saying I caused her death. If you had just stayed put. Aaaargh!" She threw her arms up in the air. "My whole life." "Shh. Quiet down. I think you're upsetting Cecy." He pointed to the little furball in her lap. Cecy looked like she was frothing at the mouth. Not quite, but again a perfect imagery of her mother. It took Elise two seconds to smack her father upside the head. The next thirty or so, she spent worrying if she'd killed him. "Ow." He said rubbing his head as he regained consiousness. "What did you do that for?" She breathed out in relief, then stood up. "Look, dad! I'm going to help you out." She flexed her hands like a kitten. "We are going to walk to the next town. There, we are going to set up a gym. Then I am going to make sure you stay in that gym until you are stayed and comfortable. Then I will leave. If you do not stay put for a full year. Not even my aunties will be able to protect you. Understood?" Mack nodded solemnly. "Okay. But about your husband." "My husband!" She clenched her fists. "My husband can get eaten by a widow for all I care!" She grabbed hold of his arm and yanked him up standing. "Now march!" And so they marched. As he they trundled along the path he thought. It wasn't supposed to work this way. I was supposed to sort out her problems, then she was supposed to go back to her husband. "Oh well." He sighed. She's got something else to think about now. Maybe it will all work out. Yes, he smiled, and then I can take a trip to celebrate. Elise got slightly suspisious as she saw her fathers smile build, but she didn't say anything. Let the old tamer believe that he was right. He was usually easier to deal with that way. As long as they could get a safe place to stay and to figure out where to go next, everything would be well. And that, as she had learned from her many years on the road, was all that mattered. --------------------------- Authors notes:It's funny. You start out with a Katsuhito Masaki character and before you know it, he turns into a Genma Saotome who's Nodoka left him before marriage. Yes, this was Mack. You'll see more of him in the future. Oh yeah, you'll see more of Tara as well. (Yupp, Tara McKenzie. I was weak, I allowed Dave to talk me into it.)