Living in the Shadows: Bonus Features

GRANDMA RIKI'S STORY

Riki was slow to wake. When she did, she was lying on her stomach with her wings outstretched.

WINGS?! she silently exclaimed as she jerked into a standing position.

"Careful, Madam Riki." a gruff voice said behind her.

She swiftly turned her head and saw Skuntank.

"What . . . did . . . you . . . say?!" she asked in a stunned tone.

Skuntank sweat-dropped. "I said: be careful."

Riki was so startled that she fell over while hastily scooting backwards.

Skuntank sighed. "I know that hearing me talk in words you can understand would be a shock, but aren't you overreacting just a tad?"

Riki vigorously shook her head and smacked herself. "Wake up, Riki!" she commanded. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

"This isn't a dream, Madam Riki," Skuntank said, trying to calm her. "That evil madman sent us here with that thing-a-ma-jigger on his arm."

When she kept smacking her face and talking to herself, Skuntank tossed one of his stink bombs at her feet. The smell was so bad that Riki flapped her wings, blowing the stink in Skuntank's direction, and flew up to the branches of the trees, coughing up a storm.

"OK," he said after a cough before holding his nose. "Even I haveta admit that's bad."

"I'll say," a new voice said from the top of a nearby ledge.

Skuntank turned his head and saw Houndoom looking down at him with a paw covering his snout. "It got her to stop screamin' didn't it."

Houndoom sweat-dropped as Riki slowly hovered to the ground after her wings got tired. "Well, at least she wasn't hit by your stink bomb. Sometimes I swear your stink lasts longer than it should."

Skuntank spat a raspberry at him. "Have you found out where we are?"

Houndoom nodded before he jumped down from the ledge. "We are," he paused. "Good and lost."

Skuntank was not amused. "Has anyone ever told you how funny you're not?"

"Only the Young Master."

"Who?" Riki asked, after catching her breath from hovering in the air.

"Your granddaughter, Madam Riki," Skuntank answered. To Houndoom he said; "Do you at least know where we can find someone who can tell us where we are?"

"You're the one who's from this world, you tell me."

"Run that by me once again!" Riki exclaimed as she turned her attention to Skuntank.

Completely ignoring her, Skuntank retorted; "Do you know how long it's been since I was last in this world?! Ages before Lady Jenna and her brother were born!"

While the two Pokemon pressed their heads against each other, growling up a storm, Riki sighed and climbed up the ledge Houndoom was on. After they were within her sight, she stuck two feathers in her beak and whistled loudly and so far off-key it could have broken glass.

Both Skuntank and Houndoom cringed while covering their ears.

"Now that I have your undivided attention," Riki said sternly. "Here's how things are going to work. First: we are going to look for a path and follow it wherever it leads. Second: there will be no fighting unless we're attacked by a wild Pokemon. And third: if I have a question you will answer me! Am I clear?" She enunciated those last three words.

The two stunned Pokemon nodded.

"Good. Now, one of you, pick a direction."

Houndoom and Skuntank scanned the area before deciding to go, what they think is, Southwest.