“Houuuuuuund!” the hellhound howled, as if to echo its name.

Sera dropped her frame down as she tensed her legs, unsure what to expect with the strange announcement of catching something. Her wings spread out part way like a tent, ready to be part of her arsenal of attacks if necessary.

“Zephyr? Time to go.” Sera told him quietly before gathering her magic. “Solitude, hide my companion from harm as I face the unknown.”

Zephyr frowned, looking between Sera and the hellhound, then at the ‘riolu’ now clinging to Zephyr.

“Zeph, Zephyr!” he relayed to the blue and black fur.

“Ri?” it seemed to ask before looking under Sera’s wing, then cried, “Ri!”

Riolu hopped down off the saddle, moving to go under the wing. Zephyr jumped down after, and yet even as Sera watched with one eye and kept the other toward the challenger, only Zephyr was able to enter the extradimensional space she had created. Zephyr quickly hopped out of the space, looking confused between the distortion under the wing and the Riolu.

“Another one? Ohhh that might be mom and child! Houndy! Take on the big one, try not to hurt the little guy!” the human called out.

“Hound!” The hellhound barked back before taking a quick breath and blowing a ball of flame straight for Sera’s chest.

“Zephyr! Little one! Go behind a tree while I fend them off if you’re not going-” Sera instructed quickly, growling as she grit her teeth in anticipation of shielding the others from the questionable magical attack. The fire hurt, but was manageable. The acrid smell of burnt fur wafted briefly in the air as she growled at the unarmored child, calling out to buy time for the smaller pair’s retreat. “Why do you attack unprovoked! Are you a bandit of this realm?”

“Whoah, it can talk?” The teenager asked with a broad smile, “That’s super rare! Go on Houndy! Get em! I’m gonna battle you and win you over to my team!”

The hound barked again before panting eagerly as it dashed straight for Sera. Zephyr and Riolu scampered quickly past Sera’s wings and tail toward a nearby thick tree trunk as Sera briefly reared onto her hind legs and took a heavy swipe at the canine.

“Enough! I will not be accosted by some youth and their pet hellhound!” Sera roared angrily.

The dark canine was far swifter on her paws than Sera had anticipated. As the claw came at her, she jumped straight for Sera’s neck, biting firmly on fur and scruff. Unfortunately for them, the fur was surprisingly thick and only barely grazed skin.

“Nature’s wrath and dark gray skies, gather and churn and set my foes alight!” Sera chanted as she gestured in spite of the bite. The magic gathering around her manifested as small sparks of blue jumping from fur clump to fur clump and wing edge, the sky briefly darkening before Sera called out, “Call Lightning!”

“Houndy!” The teen called out in concern.

The hellhound swiftly let go of the fur, abandoning its bite as a bolt of blue lightning went from the cloud down to where they had been a full half second before.

“Whoah… it knows thunderbolt even though it’s obviously a flying type? That’s amazing! Houndy, you good to keep going?”

Sera frowned deeply at the one directing the creature to attack. Even as she heard the happier bark of the hellhound, she eyed the child and decided to do what they clearly did not expect. It took only a brief shifting of her magic before the dark cloud above her sent another bolt at the spot before the child. As expected, they let out a screech and fell back onto the ground while she began walking firmly forward toward them.

“Whoah, whoah, whoah! That’s not supposed to happen! I’m not fighting here!” they yelled out, voice cracking.

“And yet, young ranger apprentice or whatever you may be,” Sera answered calmly as she continued to move forward in spite of the hellhound’s increased growling and attempts to raise its fur in threat. “You kept insisting on fighting me. Everyone knows you go after the healers and spellcasters that hide in the back, and while you may not know any magic, you clearly were directing this hellhound to fight me-”

“Hound! Houndoom! Doooom!” The hellhound barked furiously, more directly inserting itself between the two before leaping at Sera’s leg with jaws wide open.

“Ahh!” Sera gasped as she struggled to shift her weight away readily enough to dodge and the teeth sunk in. The unfortunately familiar sharp heated sensation meant the bite had found purchase. “So be it!”

Sera reached her head down, her neck curving as she positioned herself to give a counter bite. The canine let go as he sensed her moving down and ducked below a swift swipe of the claw before using her magic to call down another bolt of lightning.

The bolt found its mark, hitting the creature on its hind legs just above the tail and it yelled in pain before panting as a puff of dark smoke came out of its mouth

“Houndy, return! Flaaffy, it’s up to you, watch for its bite and claws and give it a good dose of real thunderbolts!” The youth called from further away, holding out an orb in one hand.

Sera watched, blinking several times as she processed a strange translucent red beam go toward the hellhound, transform it into more of that beam, then withdraw into the orb as another orb burst open and produced a pink sheep walking on its hind legs, yet white wool only appeared on parts of its body. The creature gave a musical cry and lightning sparked over its body far more readily than Sera’s magic had.

“Flaaaaa-FY!” It cried, lightning surging up before a fiercely glowing yellow orb that dashed straight for Sera.

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Sera found her body once again moving far too slow for the shot that was coming in. Before she could process that it was faster than most arrows, it hit her squarely in the chest and lightning danced across the whole of her body, leaving her yelling in pain.

“Yeah! That’s the way to go!” The youth cheered, “Keep moving and charge up for another one! She’s probably gonna be mad and chase you down after that so be ready!”

“Flaaf!”

Sera panted as the lightning strike finished. Her eyelid spasmed briefly before she decided she needed to end this. They were aggressive, for now, but their tune would undoubtedly change once they were on the receiving end.

“Wind and gale, gather and turn rain to hail!” Sera chanted, yet again gathering her magic and channelling it such that it would hit the strange lamb and pelt the youth appropriately. “Ice Storm!”

A cold wind blew around the Flaaffy and trainer as if a sudden blizzard had struck their area. Hail fell down and pelted the pair repeatedly. By misfortune, the boy took a larger hailstone on the side of the head and crumpled to the ground, knocked out cold by the look of it.

The sheep squealed in panic and despite the threat that the challenger posed, it swiftly rushed to the human and shielded him with its body, flinching as hail pelted its skin and a hand reached to another ball.

“Surrender and no more harm will fall you or the boy.” Sera instructed, suspecting they were about to call for help. “I’ll tend your wounds and ask some questions and then you will be on your way again. You have my word as one of the Councilmembers of the Kingdom of Phendrana.”

“Flaaa? Fla! Fla!”The lamb exclaimed, nodding as best it could while trying to shield itself from the pelting storm.

Sera gave a nod and shifted her magic once more, making the spell end. As swiftly as the gale had started, it stopped, leaving only slight dents in the dirt path. The lamb preoccupied itself with lightly tapping the cheek, squeaking in distress. Sera let out a very brief sigh as she heard zephyr and the other one scamper out from their hiding place and hid behind her instead as they watched.

“Pry loose the grudging grip of pain, mend flesh and bone once more. Cure wounds.” Sera chanted calmly, a green light enveloping her claw before it lightly touched the youth.

The lump on the head and bruising that had started to develop began to fade, turning from the darker colors to lighter ones. Nodding to herself, Sera noted that her healing was still working as expected and cast it again. It wasn’t until a third time that the lad finally stirred awake with much groaning.

“W-where… what-” he started to ask and push himself up off the ground when the lamb hugged him tightly and cut off his questioning.

“Flaa! Flaafy… Flaaaaaa!” it bleated by the end.

“I believe it is glad to see you are well. It shielded you from my spell and agreed that you surrendered to me.” Sera informed with a calmer voice, ignoring the ache in her leg. “You will not be harmed by me again, provided you do not attempt to attack me without provocation.”

“Y-you can talk? W-what kind of pokemon are you?” he asked, staring openly at them.

“Hm, I fear you might have had a concussion if you forgot you asked that question before. I suggest you return to your town and seek a healer then.” Sera frowned. “I do not know how to answer that second question, but yes, I can talk common and a number of other languages. Not nearly as many as our diplomat however. The terms of your surrender were simple. You stop attacking me, you answer my questions, I heal you, and then you can be on your way.”

“R-riiight… none of that made any sense, you know that?” He countered.

Sera let out a heated sigh as she felt Zephyr and Riolu move from by her tail to under her wing, peering out from under it at the two Sera had gotten to surrender.

“Then you remain in my care until we can get a healer to confirm you are healthy enough for travel. In the meantime, you must agree to not attack me or those in my care or I will treat you as the bandit I thought you were trying to be. Do you understand?”

“Uhhh, yeah, even if you did break the rules of a pokemon battle…” the youth grumbled.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Sera insisted, then turned to the two under her wing, “These two are under my care. The young green dragon is Zephyr, also of Phendrana, currently being educated in economics and architecture. The other little one we encountered earlier today. She was abandoned, but I am protecting her during my time on this plane. I am Seranalyn, Draconic Druid of the nation of Phendrana of the material plane of Golarion.”

“Uhhh Timothy.” The teen gulped. “You uh, already met my Flaaffy and Houndoom. I have two other pokemon but maybe it’ll be better if we just go back to a pokecenter to heal up anyway.

“Well then, Timothy, we shall go back to this center of yours and get the healers to check on you.” Sera answered, using a claw to carefully nudge him onto his feet. “Come on, up you get into the saddle- And no rummaging through my packs! There are all kinds of things that could get damaged if you’re not careful.”

“Wait, you mean we’re gonna fly? But I don’t have the badge for that!”

“Why should that have an impact on my ability to fly?” Sera asked with a raised brow. “As long as you can point the way back, I will try to handle the rest.”

“Okay, If you say so…” He answered before pulling out one of those two-toned balls to envelop the lamb ‘Flaaffy’ and then put the ball back inside his jacket before he clumsily attempted to climb Sera despite her shoulders being taller than he was.

“Honestly, you make it seem like I’m some kind of mountain you’re trying to scale.” Sera sighed as she used her tail to give his feet a boost, noting how different the style of his boots were as he scrambled his way up and tugged repeatedly at her fur. “You made that more painful than it needed to be. Now, strap your legs into the harness for safety and then secure this little Riolu for me so she will not fall either.”

“What about your green pokemon?”

“Zeph!” Zephyr half barked before almost proudly hopping up to under Sera’s wing joint and appeared to slip into some rippling air pool before disappearing through the ripple.

“Ri! Ri Ri!” the riolu cried out as it tried to enter the space. Its paws seemed to push against the air as it rippled and struggled with the entrance.

Suddenly a burst of green surfaced as Zephyr’s front half reached through the surface, held onto the riolu, and then he tried to pull the Riolu in. After a small amount of distress, the Riolu slipped into the space.

“There, I knew we could bring her in here!” Zephyr decreed in draconic.

“I suspect the spell will be slightly more unstable, but as long as the healer is close, we might have little to fear.” Sera commented, “Is the center you speak of closer than a few hours as the sparrow flies?”

“What?” Timothy asked, blinking as his light blue shirt flapped briefly in a small breeze.

“Can we reach your center if we fly in under three or four hours?” Sera asked, wondering how they could possibly not understand such a common phrase.

“Oh! Oh yeah, probably, if you fly fast.” Timothy said readily. “We left Solaceon Town yesterday. So it’s a day and a half that way.”

Sera looked at his finger, turning around to face that way, “A day and a half walk away? Hm, Might need to rely on the enchantment then. Very well. You are strapped in, yes?”

“Yeah, obviously.” Timothy answered as Sera spread out her wings.

“Good. Then let us be off!” Sera announced.

Sera pushed her wings downward in a powerful sweep, blowing air enough to make the undergrowth shake. A second sweep proved to be enough to get her off the ground very briefly and with a small run and a kick against the ground with her hind legs she took flight, ignoring the noises of the passenger in her saddle as she headed due south.