Through the Eyes of a Flareon [PG] (Chapter 31 FINALLY up)

[Suicune's Fire]

Decided it was time to post the rest of the chapters... Since Pe2k is gone I'm gonna have to reformat it all. Ugh. I'll be posting the rest of the chapters over the next few days...to whoever cares. xD
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Chapter Seven: Escape Plan

“One hundred and ninety-eight!” I called, my voice almost becoming hoarse from the strain I was putting on it.

“Excellent! Keep at it!” an encouraging yell called back. “Ninety-nine.”

I smiled as I spat out yet another explosive seed. “Watch out,” I warned, the seed landing right below the lock on the cage before me. A loud pop and a bang sounded at almost the same time, blowing holes where the locks were only moments before. The lotad who I had just freed came scuttling out of his cage, as did the starly whose cage my quilava friend blew a hole in.

“Thank you, thank you!” the small water weed pokémon beamed. I found it hard to see his eyes under the giant lily pad on his head.

“No worries. You’re number two hundred,” I chuckled. In actual fact I was giggling at the large tan top lip that was spread across the pokémon’s blue face. However, I decided not to mention anything and the lotad crawled with the starly – who flew – over to the large lot of noise-making bunch of free pokémon. There were still about another four or so hundred to free, and they were all poking their paws — or whatever they had — between the cage holes, shouting to be liberated.

“DUCK FOR COVER!” a voice rang, making me jump. A bang also made me flinch, and I stared back at the pokémon who had caused it. He was a bit bigger than me in size and orangey-yellow in colour. He had long feet which were half brown, small arms with paws that were brown, almost leaf-shaped ears which were curly at the end—also brown, two yellow spots on either of his cheeks (which had red markings through each), a white belly and a long, thin, black tail with a lightning bolt at its tip. He wore a strap around his waist with a buckle in the middle shaped presumably like another sort of bomb.

“Oh, Pokol,” I began to say, getting the raichu’s attention, “where would we be without you?”

“Still stuck in your bomb-less cages!” he replied with a grin. The huge sack that accompanied him (which the raichu apparently entrusted to a pelipper in an effort to keep it undiscovered from the Rockets) still, even by this stage, had some remaining explosives.

I chuckled once more as I raced back to the pile of toe-sized blast seeds stacked up near the raichu. I sucked up the seeds one by one into my mouth, storing them in my bulging cheeks for transportation. I leaped onto an empty cage and then the one on top of that. The three cages in front of me were empty, but behind them were still rows of pokémon.

“Get us out!” yelled a desperate pokémon to my right.

“Please free us!” someone else pleaded.

“Me first, me first!” another voice insisted.

I frowned, becoming slightly confused. “Okay, alright; wait.” My speech came out in little more than a jumble, and I began to dribble involuntarily as I tried to keep my mouth ajar for a little longer. I placed by front paws onto an empty cage to the right and pushed until it came to the edge of the stack and toppled off. The pair of cages beside it also fell, clashing against other cages and causing me to give a greasy – and awkward – smile. I turned and raced back to the pokémon I was going to release, making sure my toes didn’t slip between the wires under my feet. The last thing I wanted was to have something to distract me and slow me down. If I was to get outta here, it wasn’t going to be at any kind of leisurely pace.

Phoo, phoo, phoo, phoo! I spat out four seeds in a row, making sure I took aim before doing so. The exploding seeds blew up as they made contact with the metal and four more pokémon cheered as they bolted out and away from their cages. “Bring them to the aron!” I instructed, seeing the pokémon hastily rush off the scene. In response to my commands, all four of them returned to drag - or push - their cages to a group of about six aron. Since they had all been starved during the past few days and we needed a way to get rid of the cages, I thought it would be sensible to feed the hunks of metal to the hungry steel types. It worked for us all, and we were more than satisfied when it turned out to be working.

“Flareon,” began a voice from behind, and I almost jumped. “I require releasing.” A pair of sharp, long claws slid between two bars of metal in a cage behind me, making a slight click against them. Apparently I’d missed a cage. All cages around her were empty, but the dark pokémon must have blended with the lack of light.

Taking a step toward the pokémon, I stared up into a semi-familiar face. It was somewhat elegant and came down to a slight point at the bottom. There was also a gem on her forehead and one of her ears was elongated and pink. But the most recognisable feature was the wound only hours old on her side. I gasped. “You’re the sneasel!” I began, my eyes widening. “Who...who was electrocuted...”

“...I don’t want to talk about it,” the sneasel, who was obviously female, hissed defensively.

“S-sorry. I just...I saw it happen, and I really wanted to help.” I looked at the pokémon with sad and sincere eyes. “I really would have if I could at the time!”

“You can help now by freeing me,” she pointed out.

“Yeah...” I nodded with assurance, and bounded down a few cages to get to the shrinking pile of blast seeds. I suddenly hoped there were enough for every last pokémon.

“W-where are you going?” the sneasel called to me, sounding urgent and slightly frightened.

“Getting you a blast seed; hang on!” I yelled back. I neared the stack of seeds, trying to fit between a small, pink happiny and two red-winged spearow. ‘Move it!’ I growled inwardly, my impatience getting the better of me. As more pokémon closed in around the seeds to gather them – and probably rescue their friends – I sighed and figured it would be sensible to wait. Normally I would have barged through, but by chance one of these pokémon would release the sneasel anyway.

“Having trouble keeping up?” laughed the quilava who was seated only a few metres away from me. I almost smiled at him, and nodded slowly.

“Shame, huh?” I replied, taking a few steps toward him. “They’re pretty popular.”

“Here.” A seed flew in my direction. I made an effort to catch it in my mouth, but it slid and bounced away. I rolled my eyes, hearing a “sorry” from the quilava, and pursued the escapee. I kept my eyes on it as I ran after it, but I was slightly alarmed as a black paw placed itself on top of my target, causing it come to a halt.

‘Huh?’ My legs slowed to a stop, and I looked up to see a figure standing in my way.

The paw was connected to a black leg with a blue ring on the top muscle. The leg belonged to a body, which held three more legs, each with the same blue ring in the same spot. I shifted my gaze to the pokémon’s face, which had yet another blue ring on the forehead, and big, red eyes—however, they did not seem threatening. The pokémon’s ears were long and much like a pikachu’s, and had, again, those blue rings wrapped around them close to the top. His tail looked exactly like the ears, and, obviously, it sat on the black pokémon’s rump.

‘An umbreon,’ I came to think. ‘...But why is he blue?’

“Is this yours?” he asked me.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” I took the seed in my mouth as I bent down once the umbreon removed his paw, and took a step back, placing it between my two front paws.

“You’re welcome,” he answered, smiling. We both stood on the spot and an awkward silence fell upon us as we neglected to say anything. I glanced around, spotting the sneasel who had now sat down and begun to fiddle with her long claws.

“...Anyway,” I continued, breaking the silence, “I need to...go and help—”

“Yeah.” The umbreon nodded, knowing what I was going to say.

I nodded, still trying to smile. “...I’ll...see you ‘round.” I scooped the seed up again and hid it in a cheek pocket.

“Sure,” he replied.

I kept standing for another few seconds before turning around and springing off the wooden floor. My paws landed on top of a cage nearby, which had nothing but air inside, and continued bounding my way up until I reached the sneasel. She was about to speak, but I cut her off with my own words. “Shield yourself,” I advised, and the sneasel hesitated before following my instructions. She held her near-black arms over her face as she pressed her body up against the metal bars behind her. I bulged my cheeks, then shot out the seed that seemed incapable of blowing something up. However, it proved itself to be useful as it did its job and freed the ice and dark type pokémon, spatters of material spraying us both in the process.

“Thank you,” the sneasel speedily spoke. “I am Zhol. And I am forever in your debt.”

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Forever in my debt?’ I thought, frowning slightly. ‘Poor thing doesn’t know that neither of us will be alive forever.’ “I’m Dusty. And...you don’t have to be in my debt,” I chuckled.

“I shall do what I can,” she reassured, nodding once as she stepped out beside me.

“Alrighty, then. How about for now, you could help me rescue some more pokémon?”

She agreed with another nod, following me down the stack of metal cages and over to the seeds. But there was still a long line. Pokémon after pokémon seemed to be lining up in order to get a few seeds each.

I sighed and turned around. “How about we collect cages instead? We can give them to the aron,” I suggested. Zhol nodded, and we both made our ways back to the cages. I craned my neck, trailing the pile upwards as I realised just how many there were. I knew that the aron were hungry, but they wouldn’t stay that way for long.

Straight after that quilava – whose name I had yet to learn – freed me from my prison-like cage, we began to release the pokémon on the topmost rows, then threw their cages down, liberating more pokémon as we descended.

Earlier a Rocket man had stormed in, probably after hearing the ruckus, and the quilava and I had a zubat use confuse ray on the man. Whilst he was dazed I had charged at him with a quick attack, hitting him hard. I then spat up gooey purple sludge by using toxic, which poisoned the man until he was knocked out—which was also when the poison wore off. He probably needed medical attention, but in such a situation it seemed impossible without exposing our plans. Therefore he still sat hopelessly slouched against the side wall unconscious. He may have woken up a few times, but there was a bidoof and a natu on guard – in case he woke up – to send him right back into unconsciousness.

I lowered my brow as I turned away from the sorry sight, and couldn’t help thinking of my trainer. Even if she had been bad, just like these people...there was no way I would ever leave her in that kind of shape. I had to wonder if we were really doing the right thing...

***

Finally, after what seemed like ages, every pokémon that were being held captive were free. Just about every cage had piled up in a corner of the giant crate, or else eaten by the aron and a lairon who now sat happily with full bellies. It was found that the cages were, in fact, pokémon resistant on the inside due to some kind of human technology, but the outside was like any other metal and was vulnerable to pokémon attacks. Eventually we worked out that the shortage of blast seeds wasn’t tragic, as our attacks worked perfectly when destroying the locks.

The only problem now was that there were pokémon everywhere, and I was now finding it hard to see through the large crowd of chatting and panicky creatures. But what was worse was the smell. Pokémon who had become sea-sick had vomited wherever they had happened to be standing at the time. And I wouldn’t even know what they had in their bellies to throw up. But the amount of droppings and urine was also disgusting, and you never knew when you were about to step in some. My nose was constantly crinkled by the foul smelling waste, and my paws were covered in who-knows-what. With the continuous string of pokémon needing to let loose either way, the brown – and sometimes green – muck would only build up... We needed to win our freedom. And fast.

***

I wanted to get through to that quilava. He seemed smart and from what I had gathered and I assumed that he would be the ideal plan-constructor—with my help, of course. So far we had all escaped our cages. Now we just had to break down the crate... Relocating the fire pokémon was the best idea I had, and I truly hoped he had a better one. There was only one way to find out.

I flinched as a something heavy stepped on top of my paw, dirtying it all the more, and I flicked my head to its direction. In front of me was a round, mostly green-coloured pokémon with two bushes on its back. I could see three large legs rounded off with thick paws from this angle, but there were obviously four. I ascended to his face, noting that half his head was cut off by the large yellow armour he carried on his back. His mouth was hooked, and his cheeks came to points and were yellow, matching the bottom jaw. As fancy and nature-loving as he was, he had no excuse for standing on my now-thumping toes!

“Watch it!” I growled, flaring up.

“Sorry,” insisted the grotle, shifting his large paw.

“Good...” I muttered, not in a forgiving mood.

“...Have you seen an umbreon?” he wondered, taking a quick glance through the crowd.

“No, I haven’t,” I replied with a frown. ‘I wonder if he means that blue-ringed one...’ “Have you seen a quilava?” I asked once we had both attempted to look over the mass of pokémon once more—but with little success.

Assuming he didn’t hear me over the noise, the bulky pokémon pushed between others and disappeared. I was about to call out to him and follow, but I was shoved backwards by a lardy yellow makuhita. I toppled over and crashed onto my side. ‘Talk about paranoid...’ I thought sourly as the fighting type held her head and let out a distressed cry. She was complaining about the fact that she was trapped in the crate without her precious trainer. “Aren’t we all?!” I questioned, a husky quality to my voice. The plump, yellow pokémon turned to me, and through her squinted eyes, she must have seen my frustration. She frowned and kept her mouth shut, and moved out the way as I barged through once I was on my paws again. ‘Where is that bloody quilava?!’

As I continued to push through the creatures surrounding me, I heard pokémon after pokémon talking about being so worried and afraid. They sounded as if they were thinking the worst, and it kinda of bugged me to see them all like this—so hopeless and cowardly. Not all of them, but most probably had trainers they longed to go home to. I know I did. Vesp, Wulua and Koi all did as well. It was a pretty horrible thing to do to pokémon, and I would show no mercy once I managed to get out there and kick some Team Rocket hind.

A slender body which was seated against a wall with a blue pokémon next to it caught my attention. As soon as I recognised the pokémon as who I thought he was, I rushed over to him with a sigh of relief. “I finally found you.”

“Hm?” The pokémon looked up at me with that same cool expression.

“I’d been looking for you,” I repeated, deciding to hide behind manners.

“Who’s this?” asked the blue pokémon beside my friend, rising to her paws. It was either just me, or she sounded defensive.

I was about to speak after taking a good look at the female eeveelution in front of me, but the quilava did it for me. “This is...?” He moved his head to the side whilst looking at me with eyes not fully open.

“Dusty,” I finished, once realising he didn’t know my name yet. He then turned to the glaceon. She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and instead just looked at me with a hard expression.

“Raiys,” she started, her eyes set on me agitatedly, “why, may I ask, does this flareon know you?”

I blinked a few times, and realised that it was almost as if I didn’t exist. She was talking about me...when I was right in front of her... ‘But still...Raiys, huh? I gotta remember that.’

“Well, I helped Dusty escape right after we saw her earlier,” he simply replied. I wondered what he meant by that, and assumed the glaceon would know who I was if they saw me together. “Is there a problem?”

To his reply, the glaceon smiled—in a threatening kind of way. However, in a flash, the smile vanished and was replaced with a bored yet angry look. She opened her jaw, and then shut it again, looking as if she was shuffling her cheeks out of the way for her teeth to settle down onto one another. She avoided my eyes and shook back the long appendages coming from her headpiece. Without looking at either of us, the blue ice type muttered, “I have other business to tend to.”

As she walked away, I blinked whilst my cheeks rose, forming a frown and an unhappy mouth. “What’s her problem?” I really didn’t care if she heard me. Just means she’d know how I feel.

Raiys rose to his paws, still looking at his friend as she squeezed into the dense crowd. “She’s my partner.”

I blinked a few times, once again, in slight shock. “Partner...? Partner for what?” Did he mean mate?

“Something that’s best not said.” He turned to me, an expressionless look upon his face.

“...Why?” I asked with a flat tone.

“Well...partners in our work.”

I lowered my cheeks, but the frown still remained. But more of a thinking frown. What kind of work did they do? Did pokémon have to work in the wild? I drew a breath, deciding not to intrude...in that area. “B’t... Her attitude toward me was—”

“Hostile?”

“Well, yeah,” I responded. If he knew this, why was he ‘partners’ with her?

“Azure has a history of unusual events. She’s the way she is.”

“Can’t she be somewhat friendly, though?” I questioned, almost recognising my tone as that of disgust.

“She’s unfriendly to strangers, but to her friends she is different. Gain her trust...and maybe you’ll see that side of her,” Raiys explained, a slight smile licking his lips.

I thought it over, and calculated it to make sense. It’s not like I’d ever want to become her friend, anyway. However, now wasn’t the time to think about that. I did come to my fire type friend for a reason. “Hey—Raiys?”

The quilava’s neck rotated to face me. I could tell that he was surprised to hear me call him by his name. His eyes gave a sign of his attention being paid. “Mm?”

“You wouldn’t...happen to have a plan for escaping... Would you?”

Then the grin returned. It made me smile back, but I raised my eyebrow as he told me that although he had an idea, I would have to figure it out myself.

***

“If there’s one thing I know,” I was told whilst trying to hear over the noise, “it’s that, explosives? ...They solve everything.”

KABLAMO!

My mane and tuft were blown back like a pidgeotto using gust right in front of me. Brown ears and a long tail next to me were also blown backwards as the explosion caught us off guard.

Once it stopped, I felt kind of disappointed, staring at the result. “...It didn’t do anything...”

The raichu with an insanely creepy grin on his face turned to me inch-by-inch, and I withdrew my head with a frown—however, I thought of it to be a little funny. “Well then...” His face returned to normal, “we’ll just....TRY AGAIN!” Immediately the sack came back out and a bomb almost too large for Pokol’s paws was suddenly under my black nose.

“UHH!” I interrupted, raising my voice before he set it off. “Maybe we should try something different.”

Pokol’s face formed a little bit of a frown. “What? Why?” He shoved it closer to me. “Explosives!!”

“Well,” I started, “this is the thirteenth one. And they don’t exactly seem to be working.” I tried working my way around my words with a particular tone, trying not to offend him.

“Oh... Oh well!” He threw the bomb and grinned once more as it hit the wall and exploded.

This time I was actually pushed back a little. “Woah...” I muttered. ‘I think that one was a little stronger...’

“The bigger, the better!” Pokol chuckled.

“You have fun with that,” I laughed, and smiled in a funny way as I searched with my eyes for any sign of Raiys. ‘That freaking quilava is the master of evasion...’ I couldn’t see him anywhere. ‘It would help if I was taller. ...Maybe he can turn invisible. Or perhaps he flew away.’ I amused myself with odd thoughts, making my way through the difficult crowd and to the back of the crate. ‘If I can’t find him to help me come up with a plan, then I should may as well think about it myself.’ I padded across the mucky, now-stained floor and reached the back. I found a vaguely clean spot to sit, and I inhaled deeply. ‘Now...think! It seems pokémon proof from the inside, just like the cages we were in... But... The cages weren’t as strong on the outside... Huh.’ I gave a smirk. “I think I just found my solution...”

“Solution to what?” I spun around to the sound of a voice.

“Uhh... Oh, hey! You’re that guy from before.”

“Heh, yes. I’m ‘that guy’,” the black pokémon replied.

“You got a name?” I asked unenthusiastically.

“Reaver. Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, ditto. I’m Dusty.” We sat there for a little while longer, and then the shiny umbreon decided to speak.

“I hope the solution you’ve got is one to get us out of here,” he mentioned, sitting back down.

“Actually...yes.” I nodded, and before he could ask what it was, I cleared my throat. “Well, I reckon if we could get to the outside of the crate without the Rockets knowing, we could break it open.” Reaver nodded, but it slowed. “You know how the cages were unharmed by any pokémon attack from the inside?”

“...Yes,” he replied.

“And we could easily melt them down on the outside. They must have some sort of unbreakable, invisible force fields or something. I think it’s the same for the inside and out of this crate.”

“Smart theory.”

“Thanks... If it doesn’t work, I don’t know what will,” I mumbled, turning away. “It’s all I got, really.”

“It’s worth a shot,” he shrugged, but I couldn’t tell whether or not he was sceptical of my plan’s legitimacy.

“Yeah...” I turned my head and asked, “Do you have a trainer?”

“...Yes.”

“...So you know what it’s like to be separated from her...” I looked down, eying the floor. “Or him, if it’s a male.”

“For me it’s different. I spend endless hours away from my trainer all the time,” he told me, and I gasped.

“Wh-what? But why? Don’t...you like her?”

He gave a chuckle and shook his head. “She’s a pokémon ranger. I help her out when she needs me, but most of the time, she travels with one partner alone. That partner isn’t me, which means we have to be apart.”

I widened my eyes, developing many questions. “Wow...so...if she’s a ranger, what does she do?”

Reaver chuckled a little. “Rangers don’t capture and train pokémon like a regular trainer.” he explained. “They protect things, like certain towns or areas. They work with wild pokémon without capturing them. I was given to her at a young age, but we never spent that much time together after she left to study at a ranger college. She found a partner who could fly her around, because, hey, I lack wings. No hard feelings. Instead, I scout places for her and report back if I find something she or another ranger should check out. Unfortunately...it ended me here.”

“Ahh... Gee, that sucks. Did you manage to tell her before you got captured?”

Reaver sighed. “No. Unfortunately. But the second I get out, I’m heading straight back to her.”

“Me too... I need to go and find my trainer.” I felt longing prod at my chest. It had only been a few days, but I missed her already. “And these Rocket morons are going to pay.”

“...Don’t let your anger consume you,” he warned, and at his words, I recoiled slightly.

“...Wadda ya mean?” I questioned, a serious face soon coming on.

Hesitation gripped his throat for a moment. “Taking revenge on these people will only continue a cycle of destruction.”

“What?” I exclaimed, shaking my head as I took a step back. “These humans stole me from my trainer.” I tossed my head about and met eyes with him again. “ALL of these pokémon from their trainers. Or habitats! Don’t you want justice for that?”

“Revenge is not justice.”

My eyes froze on his. I was finding his reasoning a little hard to comprehend. “Well, I believe it is.”

“There are many evil people out there. And pokémon. But that doesn’t mean that they should be fought with more violence.” He tried to catch my gaze, but I scoffed, feeling like I had signed up for a lecture. “Legendary pokémon have clashed in the past and angered each other beyond belief. If they held grudges, the whole world would be in tatters.” The umbreon lowered his head. Silence invaded for another few seconds before he lifted it again. “I know what it’s like to lose someone close. And taking revenge doesn’t make it hurt any less...” His pupils seemed to suddenly lunged at mine, pinning them against a metaphorical wall. He was definitely serious.

Suddenly I decided that arguing with someone who felt strongly on the topic was a bad idea. Instead, I switched the subject. “Well,” I began, interrupting the thick silence, “I have a plan.” The umbreon refreshed his face, seeming to let go of the conversation we had just had. “Ghost pokémon can travel through things, right?”

“Yes. But most can only traverse through things that aren’t living. Like...rocks, for instance. Only skilled ghost pokémon can travel through other pokémon or humans.”

“Excellent...” I snickered, a sneaky smile appearing on my face. Turning away from Reaver, my eyes darted around the room. ‘Tall pokémon, tall pokémon...’ I squinted, pulling a paw up to my nose as the continuous stench floated my way. But since a lot of pokémon in the crate were taller than me, I couldn’t exactly see that well. However, I wasn’t bogged for long. ‘Ah huh! Luck’s coming my way...’ I smiled, spotting somebody who I had met earlier. I squeezed between several pokémon, both diminutive and higher-standing than me, and leaped onto a brown shoulder after pushing off. I barely managed to land without falling off, and my claws hooked onto the fur under my paws. “Hey, Luck!” I exclaimed into a somewhat small, rounded ear.

At first the normal type was startled and I could tell that he was about to defend himself, but when he realised that it was me, he sighed, putting a paw to his chest. “You gave me a start,” the bear-like pokémon explained, chuckling a little afterwards. His voice was reasonably deep—suiting the large creature he was.

“Hah, I’m good at that,” I mentioned, hearing another chuckle from my adult-aged friend as he brought a great paw up to my head and started scratching me behind the ear with a large claw. I smiled, my nose-end lifting and my tail wagging. After a few seconds, he stopped scratching me, and I scrambled further up onto his shoulder, then slumped over it with my legs hanging either side. I laughed at this, since I couldn’t be bothered standing up—or anything proper like that. The forest-dweller smiled. “Oh,” I then realised, remembering why I came to see him in the first place. “I need a favour!”

“Yes? Anything for releasing me.” His yellow muzzle continued holding that same smile.

“First, I need you to come to the back of the crate, please.” With a nod and no hesitation, the ursaring who I was still slung over began to make his way to where I was sitting before with Reaver. I could see that the umbreon hadn’t moved, and he was seated as he watched me.

Every step was a thump against the wood, and I felt somewhat excited to be so high up. I could see much more from up where I was, providing a good overview of most of the crate. As he stopped, I let Luck know that I wanted him in the centre of the back wall, because I was going to make a speech. He happily agreed, striding to where I desired. “Is here alright?”

“Yep! Here’s great; thanks,” I answered. The pokémon came to a halt, standing upright and high.

“Um, excuse me, everyone!” I tried to yell over the noise. However, only a few pokémon – one being Reaver – turned to look at me. “Hey!” But it still didn’t work. Trying once more, I called, “HEEEYY!” Again only a few pokémon stopped to turn, and their attention disintegrated as they went back to what they were doing. I frowned, drawing a deep breath. “...SHUUUT UUUPP!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. About twenty pokémon realised and faced my direction. Twenty. OUT OF HUNDREDS. As the chatter continued, I couldn’t help but to frown with dissatisfaction. If nobody would listen to me, I wouldn’t be able to explain my plan to everyone. “HELLO?!” I tried again—but with the same results. Pokémon here and there who had chosen to listen to me had turned away, but others still paid me the attention I required. “Luck,” I moaned, wearing a disappointed facial expression, “they’re not listening...”

“Would you like me to try?” he offered delightfully. I thought that might work—considering his species was the stereotypical scary monster, and I had a feeling he could be pretty loud when he wanted to.

“Awright,” I decided quickly, trusting him to take care of it. I bent my ears down, knowing that Luck if I didn’t I might walk away with burst ear drums, and I braced myself.

With extreme power and volume, a mighty roar just about shook the whole crate. Pokémon all around us squealed and made an effort to cover their ears—however long, short or colourful they may have been. It echoed throughout my head, knocking me off Luck’s shoulder and onto the floor after I had squirmed in midair. I landed with a thump on my left side behind the ursaring, and I had the wind knocked right out of my chest as I stared across the floor in front of me—which was covered in waste that I would rather not have seen.

The roar stopped when Luck realised that I had slipped off his shoulder, and he quickly shifted his head down to me.

“Oh dear!” he called, reaching down. I managed to take in a small breath before being picked up, and Luck looked me in the eyes with worried ones of his own. “Are you alright? I’m sorry, little Dusty!”

It took me a few seconds to inhale properly once again, and when I could, I uttered, “It’s fine...”

He was still holding me with his two paws when he turned around to the sound of an angry pokémon. “What’s the big idea?!” one called from near the back. He was a male kricketune—I could tell by his ridiculous, long moustache (as well as his voice).

“You could’ve made me step on a smaller pokémon!” a vigoroth yelled, her white body standing out in the middle of the crowd.

“While you’re deafening us, we’re trying to deal with the loss of our trainers!” exclaimed a yanma, his wings beating at a very fast speed whilst his large, green head moved with sudden movements.

Most of the pokémon then began to yell and chant, agreeing with the three comments. But before their attention moved on completely, I managed to stand up and frown at them all.

“Hey! Don’t have a go at him! I asked ‘im to get your attention.”

“Well how about you keep your LOUD EXPRESSIONS to yourself?!” answered the kricketune again, throwing a thin arm up in the air as he spoke. Pokémon around him all roared with support.

“How about you keep your jerk-like opinions to yourself?!” I retorted, unable to resist. I puffed my chest up.

The kricketune stopped hi-fiving the surrounding pokémon, and he stared at me. “What did you say?”

“Oooo!” the crowd around him bellowed.

“Oh, bloody hell—I don’t have time for this!” I boomed, catching some of the front row pokémon off guard. “Don’t you all get it? We have to get outta here before those Team Rocket jokers find out we’ve escaped our cages!” I yelled, silencing the stupid lot of pokémon.

“What, and you’ve got a plan?” questioned a shuckle in the front row.

“YES!” I snapped, making the pokémon’s head withdraw into her shell. “As a matter of fact...that’s why I wanted your attention.” I stopped to rain evil eyes onto those few who were still showing disrespect. “I know you all want your freedom, and so do I. So how about zipping your lips and listening?”

“How do we know this isn’t a bogus idea?” questioned anther pokémon, and I sighed audibly.

“You’ll just have to listen.” Finally all chatter subsided as the creatures became increasingly interested in what I had to say. It was all about them, clearly, so if they were going to benefit from what I had to offer, then they were going to pay attention. If not, then they were about to set out on their pathway to doom.