A.N. Its been a while huh? I've started and restarted this chapter a few times and now have failed snippets on several hardrives.

UM: Chapter 25

"Its good to be home!"

Hands raised and fists clenched, tensing a solid musculature into a yawn-worthy stretch, Ranma stood at the center of his main clearing. Around him were chirrups and happy barks of his friends and the local wildlife welcoming him back.

Cream and russet blurs bounded from nook to cranny, branch to trunk to wall of cabin and back in a manic game of pinball tag. Well, it looked like Dian was playing. Pio, being 'it' looked like she would take her pound of flesh thank-you-very-much. Ranma thought Dian's method of pulling one of her tails to make her 'it' was very reminiscent of him insulting Akane when he wanted attention... Great. Now he's gone and depressed himself again.

The happy stretch turned into a slump of shoulders and the whole clearing almost face-planted when every moving thing paused in response to their benefactor's mood.

The Umbreon, being very new to the amount of respect being genuinely shown to a trainer whined a bit and pawed at the hemline of his capris. The human, alerted to the confusion and distress the little not so fuzzy exhibited reached down.

The dark thief crouched in a cower as he purely expected his new master to strike him for impertinence when the human was visibly having a moment of weakness. Blue eyes opened when fingers gently scratched the sleek dome of his forehead and inched their way around one of the elongated ears. His suprise was so great that the uncontrollable thumping of a hind leg shocked him out of his stupor. When he pulled back to stare at the hand, Ranma chuckled and tapped a nose before moving toward the cabin.

The cabin door was swiftly unblocked, heavy lumber and mid-grade stones being chucked into a pile next to the door with ease. While watching, ears flopped to the side as the sleek head tilted in bemusement. That stuff HAD to be heavy! Surely only Machop or other sorts of heavy lifting pokemon could shift the material that easily? How strong was this human?!

When all clear, Ranma stepped in to give a circumspect evaluation, ensuring nothing had snuck in. He exited and whistled once to get all the locals' attention.

"C'mon guys, I want to talk about settin' up classes again."

So saying, there was a minor exodus following the feral one to the usual clearing. The few days away had given the lush forest some time to repair minor bits of damage Ranma's level of training did. There was some ingrowth of grass, but not much in the way of brush. That tended to be the first thing to go in a Ranma grade spar.

Ranma settled on a semi-emerged boulder near the back of the clearing. It was a natural height for a seat, and he lounged as if it was the most comfortable of silk divans. Growing up on the road had conditioned him to see the dubious comforts of nature, and to this day, it felt weird to sleep on any futon thicker than a quilt made in the Western style.

"Alright!" he clapped his hands. "I've got some news. I found people, just like you guys said," Ranma nodded to the present Nidoran who 'nii-ed' with the acknowledgement.

"The thing is, though, that they were Amazons...."

A Kricketune took the opportunity to chirp. The species as a whole seemed to be opportunists when there were awkward silences. The unnamed insect seemed to be mocking the human. That chirp was their equivalent to 'Sooooo?'

Pio promptly flamed it, leaving a lightly crispy Kricket who exhaled a smoky mushroom puff. No more comments from the peanut gallery.

"Erm," Ranma muttered when his statement didn't generate the response he was looking for. "I mean, Amazons, where they go after pokemon instead of purely martial fighting styles." At the widening of eyes from various species, he was quick to reassure them. "Hey, don't worry, I lost the stalkers on the outskirts of Shade. Me 'n the guys are good at not leavin any trails, so they're lost by now."

From a relatively safe perch on the rock next to Ranma, Dian added in a smarmy suave voice which can only be done justice in his native dialect. It had a faint essence of 'nanny nanny boo boo'.

He just called you one of the 'guys' Pio.

Pio only licked her chops after disposing of the Kricket heckler and replied.

Its better to be one of the guys than the burden, who's weight had to be carried under arm like a kitling.

This, with a pointed look at the black furred nuisance crouched at the base of the boulder.

Hey! he yipped, I resemble that remark! .... Oh wait... That didn't come out right.

Ranma hid a smirk at the byplay between his first two friends and the newcomer. Even though he couldn't catch the specifics, tone always conveyed a lot, and they sounded like some of the Wrecking crew on a snarky non-murderous day.

"I just want everyone to be alert to three possible intruders. I don't expect trouble, but they might be highly curious. That aside, I want classes to start again tomorrow. When I left off, the Pika and Raichu's requested a special session on endurance. I want to ask the Wheedle a favor and have about five come to this class as proper motivation to keep up the speed."

At the lead Wheedle's nod of acquiesence, he turned to the Nidoran population. Of about seven present, the human searched out that rarity who had dedicated his life to the healing arts.

"I could use your help too, if you're up for it. I'm expecting a few practice related injuries and quite a few accidental poisonings."

The healer barely thought about it before agreeing too. It would help him practice doing mass healings. The little Nidoran then turned to two others in the group and ordered as a medic to assistants in training to go and gather as many Pecha berries as the bushes could comfortably afford. As they rushed off, he chastised, Don't take too many! Some will be needed for planting!

"That's about it... Oh, can someone tell the 'Buzz's and assorted fliers that they're going to be the day after. I've noticed some of the fliers don't do too well with the electricity. It's pretty hard to dodge and I want them to be more familiar with it in a controlled environment. And HEY!"
he called out after one of the leaving pokemon, "Tell the Buzz tethra that he needs to stop leaving presents at the door. He don't need to apologize anymore. I get it already."

To himself he muttered, "Though why that guy thinks I need funky colored eggs..."