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'What's up, pal?' Gary asked, looking up from where he had been writing in his notebook at Arcanine, who was growling deep in his throat. Following his gaze, Gary saw a large haze of dust heading towards the herd of Tauros that he had been observing. Quickly, Gary stuffed his notebook back into his bag and pulled out his binoculars. As he focused on the dust cloud, he saw that it was a large convoy of trailers being pulled by a heavy tracked vehicle.

'I don't like the looks of this...' Gary muttered, as the trailers stopped, ramps lowering from the sides with the faint whirr of hydraulics and then the riders emerged. Each was dressed in rough clothes with a bandana over their faces, riding on a Tauros. As Gary watched, they split off into two groups, flanking the wild Tauros and driving them back towards the Trailers.

Rustlers. Gary thought, shoving his telescope back into his pocket and standing up. 'C'mon, Arcanine. We've gotta stop 'em.'

Arcanine growled as Gary leapt onto his back, bounding down the cliff to land lightly on the dusty ground.

'Let's get their attention.' Gary said, with a grin. 'Flamethrower!'

Arcanine roared with a rumble that Gary felt up his spine, a jet of flame lancing out to strike the ground next to two of the rustlers, blasting them off their feet. Then, with a rumble of hooves, the rest of the gang turned and charged towards him.

'Blastoise! Pidgeot! Gary yelled, releasing two Pokeballs from his belt and letting them fly.

'Hold them off.' Gary called and Blastoise lowered his head, two blasts of water sweeping aside the Tauros that had been about to gore him. While Blastoise kept them at bay, Pidgeot swept down, the downdraft from his wings knocking three more Rustlers out of the saddle.

'Come on.' Gary said and Arcanine sprang forward towards the trailer, where Rustlers were hurriedly sealing up the pens. Even over the rumble of the engines, Gary could hear the roar of the Tauros. Seeing Gary approaching, they scrambled into the cab, the engine rumbling to life and the trailer pulling away in a cloud of dust.

'We've gotta catch up!' Gary said and Arcanine put on a burst of speed, bounding towards the trailer.

Here goes... Gary thought, leaping off Arcanine's back to grab onto the side of the trailer. He hung by one hand for a second before getting a grip, hauling himself up with his feet and grabbing onto the bolt. However, it had already been padlocked.

Dammit...

Reaching for his belt, Gary grabbed another Pokeball and released Umbreon.

'Can you get it open?' Gary asked and Umbreon nodded, his claws glowing purple and he sliced off the lock.

'Thanks, pal.' Gary said, as Umbreon hopped onto his shoulder. 'Now...ahh!'

With a jolting rumble, the trailer jolted up a gear and Gary lost his grip.

'Arcanine!' Gary yelled, as the ground rushed up towards him, Umbreon clinging tightly to his back. Arcanine bounded up to catch him, Gary landing on his back with enough force to knock the wind out of him, wrapping his arms around his neck.

'Thanks, Arcanine.' Gary said, as he landed lightly and he looked around. The door had fallen open, Tauros pouring out of the trailer and the Rustlers were running away, hurried on by Blastoise and Pidgeot.

'Nice work, guys.' Gary said, pulling out his cellphone. 'Officer Jenny? Can you get out to Dusty Flats? I have a little something for you...'

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Any reviews, comments or constructive criticisms very welcome.