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

**Suicune's Fire** · 07-31-2013, 02:24 PM

.;Through the Eyes of a Flareon;.

And welcome to TtEoaF's Crossroads thread! I haven't got much to say, but basically I have stopped posting new chapters on PE2K for obvious reasons (but if you would like to see its old thread, it is located here), and now, as well as ff.net and DA, I shall post them on Crossroads!

Notes:
- This story was started in 2009. Chapter 30 was written in 2013 I think, while Chapter 31 was written in 2016. Just as a disclaimer, my writing style has evolved and improved over years of practice, so please do note that older chapters will likely contain weird wording, awkward sentence structure and irrelevant content. xD I also had a bad habit of over-describing things. If you hit a wall of description, feel free to skip over it. XD
- As of the time I am posting this, 30 chapters have been written. I will post them steadily as I go, but bear in mind that everything up until chapter 30 has already been written.
- I do not capitalise the first letter of pokemon species names, nor do I capitalise "pokemon" itself unless I am referring to the franchise. This is a choice I choose to make and therefore not a story error/flaw, as are non-capitalised items, abilities, attacks, and anything else in the games/anime/whatever which is unnecessarily capitalised in my eyes. Please do not point these out as errors, since they are a conscious choice.
- PG for mild violence and the occasional swear word. These will most likely have an asterisk in the middle for younger readers.
- Most of the chapter pictures are old. XD Keep this in mind.

Summary:

Dusty the flareon has a normal life with her trainer until she's kidnapped by Team Rocket and forced to face an enemy that had always been closer than she thought. She finds new allies in a colony of random pokémon who take her in while planning to return to her trainer. Little does she know, Team Rocket has other plans for her and many other unsuspecting pokémon.

Chapter Navigation:

Book One: Voyage

Chapter one: The Battle
Chapter Two: Night Sky
Chapter Three: Abduction!
Chapter Four: The Capture
Chapter Five: Boxed and Caged
Chapter Six: High Seas
Chapter Seven: Escape Plan
Chapter Eight: Fighting for Freedom
Chapter Nine: Rough and Tough
Chapter Ten: Futile Conflict
Chapter Eleven: Attempted Murder
Chapter Twelve: Unpredicted Revelation
Chapter Thirteen: Washed Up
Chapter Fourteen: Travelling Just Drags On
Chapter Fifteen: A Wet Quest (Oh, Dam!)
Chapter Sixteen: The What-sters?
Chapter Seventeen: A Tour
Chapter Eighteen: Expedition Challenge
Chapter Nineteen: Tasting the New Life
Chapter Twenty: Stories

Book Two: Uncovered

Chapter Twenty-one: Confrontation
Chapter Twenty-two: Interrogations
Chapter Twenty-three: Separate Paths
Chapter Twenty-four: Past and Present
Chapter Twenty-five: Unearthed
Chapter Twenty-six: Knock-knock
Chapter Twenty-seven: Attracting the Wrong Crowd
Chapter Twenty-eight: Aim and Fire
Chapter Twenty-nine: All Shapes and Sizes
Chapter Thirty: Between Stone and Soil
Chapter Thirty-one: Untimely Reunion
Chapter Thirty-two:

Character Directory & Pronunciation:
A little spoilery

Spoiler:

Chapter one: The Battle

I stood by the side of my best friend.

The only friend I had had in a long time who understood me. She would always be there to comfort me in the darkest of times, and help me along the way when things got tough. The fact that we were both females only made it easier to connect. We were meant to be best buddies. And we knew it.

Although she did have a somewhat different way of expressing herself and going about things, we both felt comforted by one another. Ever since I was a little eevee, my trainer and I would search all over the regions for new pokémon to befriend. We came across thousands upon thousands of pokémon throughout our journey, but not once did I admire a pokémon the same way I look up to Izante.

One day, when I was still an eevee, both my trainer and I happened to bump into a human. A male human. Straight away did I sense a something special between him and my female trainer, and I was happy for her. She seemed attracted to this gentleman, as did he to her. And that had to mean his pokémon would make a great friend.

It was that same fateful day when I met Izante, of course. She too was an eevee, but we both eventually evolved. She had evolved first, growing many new features. The deep green curvy leaf on the top of her head had waved while her sword-like tail, being almost fully green, had danced in the soft breeze. Her whole body became a light, sandy cream colour, matching her large head. Her big brown eyes were full of wonder, but not the slightest bit of wisdom. She had brown socks on her paws, or so they were called because of the colour change from the maize. Her ears were big and nicely shaped, and were an emerald green colour, with obvious, darker green veins flowing through them, resembling leaf veins. These same lines scribbled her tail. She was as beautiful as the moon's reflection shining off the sparkling surface of a lake back then, and just the same today.

The thought of ‘today’ caught me off guard and snapped me back into the present. The sweet smell of a near-victory passed through my nostrils as I stared back at the two pokémon that Izante and I were facing, eying them carefully. They must have thought about the irony of two female eevee evolutions up against them at once. Maybe the combination of a flareon and leafeon together was perhaps a little bit intimidating. However, there was no way I could have known. The two pokémon in front of me had minds that I clearly had no access to.

One of the pokémon was a butterfree, who was a butterfly pokémon with large rounded wings, each twice the size of her body. The wings had black trails flowing through and outlining them like thin string. Her body – not too much bigger than her head - was a deep purple, and she had two red orbs for eyes on either side of her face. A small mouth-like feature was placed below in the centre of her head, under the eyes, which had two small pointy white teeth poking out. Two blue feet, the same colour as its three-pronged small paws, were dangling from the body, and a long pair of antennae protruded from the top of the butterfree's head like two strands of hair. The pokémon was hovering above ground by slowly beating her large wings back and forth.

The second opponent was a golem—a very round and heavy boulder-like pokémon. His small, snake-like head was copper, holding two vicious eyes with scarlet irises. There were two strong arms poking out both sides of the rock pokémon, embedded with three fingers that had sharp claws on the ends. The two powerful legs under his body were obviously strong, being able to support his weight.

Seeing as the golem was a rock and ground type pokémon, Izante had been attacking him, as she had the advantage. The butterfree, however, was all mine. The few fire attacks that I had launched at her seemed to have weakened her quite a bit, and I could see her panting with exhaustion. Obviously, we had the upper hand.

Izante glanced at me with a grin and frowning eyes, making her appearance malicious-looking. I reflected her expression, thinking that this battle would end now if not sooner.

“Dusty!” called my master. I flung my head towards her. The long brown wavy fur on her head swayed in the wind as the calls reached my ears. The small hazel eyes on her face glinted as sunlight passed through them. Her expression was filled with determination and belief in me. I was so lucky to have such a trainer. “Attack that butterfree with a flamethrower!” she commanded, and I nodded a brief ‘okay’.

I took less than a second to lock onto my target before a hot jet of streaming flames shot towards the bug and flying foe. “Hhaaaaa!!” I called into the afternoon light.

The two trainers we were up against commanded their golem to block the attack, and the fire did not harm him in the slightest. ‘What a waste of energy!’ I thought, scoffing as the golem barely felt the warm fire against his rock shell. But that was when Izante jumped in. She had probably been thinking along the same lines as me. Great minds think alike!

My friend swung around and savagely used a leaf blade attack with her tail on the golem, which injured the foe badly due to the type disadvantage.

I seized the chance of an off-guarded butterfree, and released a stream of fire onto her frail body, scorching her and causing the butterfly pokémon to shriek in pain. I smiled greasily with satisfaction. It wasn't too often that I was involved with trainer battles – because they weren’t easy to stumble upon – and when I was, I loved to win and know that I was controlling the fight—relating to power and advantages.

The butterfree reeled back and fluttered her broad wings furiously at me. I struggled to stand my ground and fight the whirlwind attack. It was working, but barely. The force was just not enough, and I managed to stay on the spot, although being pushed back a little bit at a time.

All of a sudden, an explosion of pain erupted in my left side, and I was tossed through the air to crash land on the dirt, grazing my skin a little. A gravel-grinding sound zoomed around me while I contemplated my pain. “UHGH!” I yelped in a cry of discomfort. I instantly knew that I had been hit with something I was weak to.

“Dusty,” a familiar voice chanted, “watch out for that golem’s attacks!” It was Master calling to me.

I lifted my head from the ground, and spotted the golem close—too close! I swiftly bounded to my feet and barely dodged the great rock pokémon’s rollout move in time to still be standing. He skimmed my bushy tail as he screamed past, but seeing my tail was almost entirely fur, I didn’t feel anything relating to pain... Unless I was referring to the aching pain in the side of my body. But that was a different issue.

I nearly stumbled as I stood on all fours. The rollout attack had really caught me at a bad time, and when I was least expecting it. It’s a pretty terrible feeling to be hit unexpectedly—especially when the attack is one of the worst to hit me.

I eyed the golem with focus as he sped towards me along the ground. Golem could heat-seek their targets when they were curled like a ball so as to guarantee a direct hit—or at least to be able to stay on track.

He whirled around and came back at full speed towards me. I stood a little dazed at the incoming attack before me, and that’s when I heard a shriek from my trainer. “Dusty! Watch out, girl!”

I pushed off the stony dirt and sprang to the left. However, the golem came straight back around and flew into my right side this time. I screamed before I hurtled to the ground, inconveniently landing on Izante, who was nearby. We both tumbled, and I could feel my energy going down at a rapid pace. I rolled off my friend and onto the ground beside her. The little bell attached to the collar around my neck jingled and made a pretty little sound. The bell was a miniature chingling—yellow with a red and white scarf-like feature wrapped around its neck. However, the features were minuscule, but detailed magnificently. I think it had been quite expensive in human currency.

Izante seemed to yell at me a bit after we were done groaning in pain, but only because I crashed into her while she was in the middle of regaining her health, using her synthesis attack to do so.

“Sorry!” I blurted out, turning towards her. We both hauled ourselves back up. Izante’s tail was sagging, and her eyes were tinged with fury. Mine would have been, but I was too busy feeling sorry for myself because of all the injuries I had withstood. ‘I wonder how Izante’s feeling... I hope it isn’t too bad,’ I thought. ‘Well, better get back on track. The butterfree and golem’ll be coming back any second.’ Izante and I stood next to each other, eying the golem that sped toward us, still curled in a ball. “Wait for it...” I slowly said, standing with my legs shoulder-width apart for support.

“Wait for it..!” Izante mimicked.

The spinning golem neared and we readied ourselves. “Now!” called our masters.

“Feel the wrath of my fire!” I yelled, boiling hot flames spilling out from inside of me.

“Eat grass!” Izante exclaimed, looking as if she was doing the same. I stole a quick glance from her, confused at what she had said as opposed to what I had said; she just shrugged by widening her eyes, focusing back on track.

Simultaneously, Izante and I unleashed a staggering combination of fire and grass, which stopped the golem in his tracks, and I watched the colourful power surge through his body. Izante had struck him with the glittering shards of a magical leaf, while I harnessed a powerful flamethrower right at the butterfree. All around us, dirt and dust from the ground rose and whipped wildly around the trees, forcing the grass to bow down before us.

After a good, long burst of energy and tiring effort, our attacks ceased, and we both stared at the golem who had been knocked out cold, and the butterfree who had been blown away by the flames—but was still going!

Exhausted, I collapsed onto the ground, panting. I could still fight – I could tell by the rage and the boiling feeling inside of me – but I wanted just one moment to catch my breath again. I heard Izante bound off, most likely to attempt to now faint the butterfree and end the match for us. However, I lay on the cold earthy ground with my eyelids closed, making an effort to regain the most energy I could get my fangs around. Maybe after I had rested for long enough, I would be able to stick with my best friend to fight the bug and flying type. After all, I did have the advantage over her.

I managed to get a grip of some more strength, but it would take a while before I was going to be fully recovered enough in order to put up a good fight if need be. However, I did not think it was necessary to be thinking about fighting now. Izante had bounded off to take care of our flying foe, which she could most likely handle on her own, and the golem had fallen hard.

“Great job, Dust!” praised my master from another side of the field, and I smiled inwardly.

Just when I thought I could get a few minutes to myself, I sensed and then heard someone approaching and I assumed it would be Master. I stayed put and kept my eyes closed. Sometimes it was better to use my hearing instead of my sight.

I then heard a voice trying to persuade me to get up and continue fighting... But wait... This one wasn’t one I recognised. It was extremely low and gravelly, and had an angry quality to it. And when I came to think of it, the footsteps were loud and too irregular for it to be my master.

It was then when I sensed a shadow towering over my back. As my heart pounded, I quickly whipped my head around to see two large, brown, rough feet. I looked upwards at the figure, and to my surprise, it was the golem again. I shrieked, wondering how in the world he could still be standing. Maybe he was holding a reviver seed, or he did actually have energy left, and he ate a berry he was holding or something to boost what remained of it.

“Dusty! Quick, get to your feet as fast as you can!” called a familiar voice, this time. My eyes darted across the area for a face. I laid eyes on Master.

Frantically, I sprung backwards about a metre, obeying my commands and making sure I wasn’t easily within the golem’s reach. I would have expected him to come after me, but when he didn’t, I frowned slightly. I met his eyes. He did not seem to have any intention of coming after me...which was strange—considering before he was supposedly full of determination to attack.

I thought too soon. With a notable rumble, a strong leg came down upon the ground, alerting me that the golem’s eyes now held the urge to defeat me. I scowled, trying to figure this all out. There was something about that golem that made me glower. He looked so sinister... And already, his eyes had changed, now to look so eager to win the match. ...Although, for something more than a victory, it appeared. Pleasure, maybe? I had no idea. But I did know that I had to take him down. Right down. And right now. There was no time to wait.

“Give it a taste of poison! Use toxic!” Master instructed.

‘Toxic? That’s a bad idea. It’ll barely affect him!’ I thought with a bit of confusion. ‘Ahh, well. If that’s what Master wants, then that’s what Master gets!’

A bubbly sensation exploded somewhere in my body, and I felt my throat begin to burn softly with the taste of acidic fluid. Usually this wouldn’t happen, because I was used to using Fire type attacks so often. Although this time, it was a Poison type attack. In a blurted mess, the purple poison erupted from my mouth, spewing all over my opponent. Personally, I didn’t at all fancy using toxic, but it was one of the TMs that Master wished for me to learn. With the TM’s power and enough practice, I was able to learn a Poison type attack without accompanying more weaknesses.

The golem shielded himself as the attack slopped onto his rocky shell by turning his head in the opposite direction and holding up one of his arms. Following the toxic attack, Master instructed me to use bite, a Dark type attack.

I frowned. This would be difficult. Aiming for his arms, either of his legs or his head would be the only way of not breaking my fangs. In this case, a bite attack was a risk. I didn’t want to go to the pokémon vet. I hated it there. They inserted painful needles into a pokémon’s skin, injecting them with liquids that were apparently helpful. They would grope you and keep you still while they searched your ears for parasites. I couldn’t fathom how a human would want to do that to a pokémon.

My foe simply shook off the sludge and stared at me for a moment, catching my gaze and holding it in place. I released my frown and clenched teeth, and noticed something. Had the golem wiped off his anger along with the poison? At this, I was utterly confused as I stared hopelessly into his eyes. The crimson colour in them seemed to quiver and shake me to the bone. What was this rock type thinking? Did he have something he wished to tell me? Whatever it was, I think it was upsetting.

“Dusty, what’s wrong? Why can’t you use bite?” Master called to me. I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t.

“Hey! Golem! Get your stony butt into a rollout attack, now!” yelled a harsh voice. I glanced at where it was coming from, losing my concentration on ‘Golem’. It seemed to be a shaggy looking male trainer who had something mysterious about him—I could sense it. There was somewhat of a shady character behind that pretend smile and kindness he had displayed towards Master when he said he wanted to battle. He had a female as a partner, or so it seemed, who was just about as suspicious. She was the one who owned the butterfree.

“My name...is Roarake. Not Golem,” the pokémon standing before me grumbled.

I was shocked. I snapped back to him. “...Wh-What?” I answered after the hulking rock pokémon muttered something under his breath about a ‘stupid human’. ‘How could his trainer not know his name...?’ I thought. The male golem exhaled deeply and looked hard into my eyes. But I just couldn’t believe that he had just talked back to his trainer—even though he couldn’t have heard.

“Do not pretend you didn’t hear me, fool,” snapped the pokémon. I narrowed my eyes with scorn.

‘How dare he say that. First his master, then a fellow pokémon!’ I thought. “Have you no respect?” I questioned. He just sneered, widening his nostrils to make room for his mouth movements.

“I have plenty of it. Why else do you think I am trying to defeat you? Getting up after that blast was not easy, you know.”

After that remark, my brow furrowed. He didn’t make any sense. ‘What?! How on Earth is trying to faint somebody respectful?!’ I just shook my head. I had no time for this ridiculousness. If he wanted to play games, he could bring it up with someone else. “Well, then. If you’re gonna ‘defeat me’ then why in the world are you just standing there?!” I teased, raising my voice to be loud and clear. With an air-trembling roar of anger, the so called ‘Roarake’ launched himself at me shaped like a ball, and looking like a boulder. ‘Well, they don’t call them ‘golem’ for nothing!’ The thought rang in my head as I readied myself once again for the incoming attack. The boulder-like pokémon skidded on the spot at first, but then I realised that it was only to charge himself up to be faster for when he released his attack.

When he did come at me, I lowered the front part of my body near to the ground, then pushed off, this time leaping over Roarake rather than dodging it by flying off to one side. I landed on the ground, my paws absorbing all force caused by landing. Quickly swinging around, I saw the boulder do a u-turn and come straight back at me. I dodged to the left, and then he came at me another time. Once again, I pounced over the rolling stone. But this time I miscalculated my jump and the tip of my tail was caught on the spinning pokémon, and I flew backwards, trailing down the boulder and under its bottom in one blink of an eye. I screeched in pain as the boulder trampled over me, squashing me under its weight. The awful feeling shivered up my body as I had the weight pass over my chest and then my face before I flung out.

My distressful calls carried out across the battle field, which managed to catch Izante’s attention, thankfully. Master also seemed worried by the tone of her voice as she cried out towards me.

“Dusty! No! Are you okay, girl?” were her words. I was in a fair amount of pain, and for someone to ask if I was “okay” was completely ironic.

I winced at the aching I was experiencing, but if I didn’t move in a flash, that golem would come back and cause me more damage until I ran out of energy and fainted. And if it happened again, I would be in danger of breaking something—and I was lucky it didn’t happen the first time. The rock type performed another burnout, causing his attack to charge up to become stronger.

“Dusty!” Master called. “Hit that golem with a flamethrower before it hits you again!” I nodded, frowning harder, and stepped with my legs apart to give me more balance. As quick as I could, I heated up rapidly inside and flicked my head in a half semi-circle, looking up. The flames were tingling in my throat, and I could feel the pleasant sensation that tickled inside. With a deep breath, I spurted a long stream of fire into the my opponent. He ceased his attack, uncurling from his ball. He had barely endured the attack which continued on for about three seconds before I ran out of breath. Even though he was a ground and rock type, I could see that Roarake was struggling to hold onto his consciousness by the way he seemed to keep drifting away from reality. The flames engulfed him, chewed him up, and spat him out. Roarake toppled around as if he had consumed a rotten berry and become drunk. But even after all of the damage that this golem had taken, he shook it off, but was heavily panting.

‘He must now know how I feel,’ I thought, not having to remember about the pain that I had to deal with. But still, how on earth could this golem keep getting up?! It didn’t make sense to me, and I thought of it to be absurd. “‘Will Power’ must be your middle name. You won’t let yourself give up!” I commented, and the golem looked up at me while frowning.

“You are not bad at surviving attacks yourself,” he replied with a grunt, but slight respect. And because of that, I was a little surprised. Maybe he had been impressed by my strong attack that fended off his own. “But that does not mean I can let you win! If I lose this, you will regret it; I promise you! So I shall do all I can to prevent you from winning this battle—for your sake!” Roarake vowed. But I was left stunned once again.

“What are you on about? That makes no sense! Contradictory much?” I shouted. However, he didn’t seem to be listening at all as he charged at me. I snorted with frustration. If he didn’t want to listen, then I wouldn’t waste my time trying to talk.

I watched as he neared, running on his two massive feet. Every step he took made the ground rumble slightly, sending little vibrations crawling up my legs. I steadied myself, and calculated my jump just right this time.

Pushing off the ground, I leaped forwards onto the golem, using his head like a stepping stone to bounce on. Straight after I gained the elevation from the pokémon’s head, I bounded over his body and landed on the ground. Quickly I snapped my head around in the rock and ground type’s direction. He ended up falling over from the small force my legs caused. ‘He’s getting much weaker...as am I. I have to finish this!’ I silently declared. However, just as I was about to unleash another powerful flamethrower, I heard pawsteps padding behind me. Instantly I span around to find Izante in my face. I blinked a few times, then smiled. “Long time no see!” I laughed, my eyes closed with glee. She nodded.

“Hehe, yeah.” She smiled back at me while I reflected her expression.

“I’ll give you the pleasure of finishing him off. I’m pretty much exhausted,” I told the leafeon with assurance. She nodded back.

I watched carefully as my best friend charged up her power and then loped towards Roarake, her paws becoming squashed each time pressure was applied to them. The golem slowly and shakily turned around once on his feet, and his eyes widened instantly. For a split second, I felt sorry for him because of the worry that showed in his eyes. To him, this match seemed important. Very important. The crimson irises were fixed on Izante, but also seemed to touch me somehow, too.

I snapped out of it. This was merely a golem that we were battling for friendly competition. How could it be significant? It’s not like this was an experience we would never forget, or even remember for that matter. Guiding my mind back to the battle in front of me, I shook my head.

My leafeon friend sped past the golem, striking him with a glowing tail—iron tail. She then came to a sudden stop, but with the stop came a rebounding push of the ground to come racing back in Roarake’s direction. Next, Izante magnificently leaped, jumping so she would land perfectly on top of her opponent, and came crashing down with her tail first.

Right before the leaf blade attack slashed at Roarake’s shell, a cry emitted from the golem’s mouth. “Flareon, forgive me for my weakness! I failed to p—” His voice had been cut off from Izante’s attack, and he landed on the ground with a loud thump, bearing no remaining energy. His eyes danced with swirls as a moan escaped his mouth before they closed.

I spotted the butterfree not far off ready to be nursed by her trainer. She had been defeated by Izante. The golem had been knocked out cold by us both now, and it became evident that Izante and I had won the match.

**FedoraChar** · 08-01-2013, 04:12 AM

OmigoshYouPostedThisHereOmigoshI'mOfficiallySoHapp yI'mSpazzingOut

*breath*

ANYWAY, I kinda regret that I hadn't read this before--but! Now that it's here, I can finally catch up and stuff WOOT. First off, I love all the detail that you put in your writing--from describing how the characters look to the way the battle unfolded. I don't think I've actually ever read a story that looked at the Pokemon's perspective in the heat of the battle (Trainer battle, that is--and weird, I know), but you really pulled it off aplomb! It was engaging and well done! Not excessively over the top but easy to follow and downright exciting! I'm curious to see why the Golem was so anxious to win--for the sake of protecting Dusty, though. Wonder what that's about... (I know I could probably chase down the fullest version of your story, though I kinda want to follow it here, though, so I can comment and such x3) WELL, lookin' forward to finding out in future updates! ^^

So in conclusion, you're amazing and stuff! 8D Thanks for posting here! ^^

**Suicune's Fire** · 08-01-2013, 09:35 AM

OmgoshIloveyouandI'mexcitedtofinallypostitheretoo!

LOL. XDD But YAAAAAAAAAAY for reviews! Gosh, it's been so long. XD It's awesome that you thought it was great to read! And thanks for reading! :D I always did try to include the right amount of detail. When I first wrote this story, I always included too much unnecessary detail, but I learned to cut down on that so I hope I can stick to it right. XD This was edited a while ago though, so it probably has some stuff I would change, but not much. x)

Anyways, thanks so much for reading and I'll post more soon! :D Don't feel the need to read a chapter straight after I post it too. XD Just in case you were going to feel inclined or something. x) BUT YEAH this inspires me to write more and I need to do that, so yeah... xD

~SF.

**Suicune's Fire** · 08-01-2013, 10:02 AM

Chapter two: Night Sky

I was looking Izante in the eyes the night we won the battle. That same enthusiastic emotion had always stayed alive in them for as long as I could remember. She was smiling, and was more than satisfied that we had won the match—as was I.

However, I was a little worried. Those odd things that Roarake had said during the battle... What did he mean by them? Was he trying to make me feel uneasy? Because it had worked. The golem I had been up against had even told me odd things after the match, which was all the more strange.

I remember it clearly: my leafeon friend and I were celebrating our victory moments after she had fainted Roarake. Our masters had both cheered about it, and not long after, they joined us in the happy seconds of it all.

While I was nuzzling Master on her dry nose, out of the corner of my eye I happened to notice Roarake’s trainer walk over to him, rather unimpressed. He told the pokémon that he was useless, and a waste of time and effort. After he called for his poké ball to return his pokémon. However, the poké ball did not do so. Instead of popping open and the red energy flowing over the golem, the red and white sphere just sat still in the trainer’s hands. It was then when the human hit his fist against the round object, obviously angry with it.

Master had then put me down. She made her way to the female trainer who owned the butterfree, and Izante’s master walked to the male trainer who owed Roarake. “Great battle! You had the upper hand for a while there,” mentioned Master while I trotted across to the golem.

He spotted me and instantly looked away. The glance that I stole from him before he turned told me that he was ashamed. I stopped for a second, but then continued on towards him, edging into his space. “Hey, Roarake,” I called once I was about four or so metres away from him. He still seemed uninterested, but it wouldn’t stop me from continuing. “Nice battle back there. You were quite impressive.” But in return, all I got was a grunt. He didn’t turn around, either. “I thought I was going to lose at one stage. But I guess my speed paid off—as well as Izante’s save right at the end,” I mentioned, showing a friendly smile. I had a slight feeling I was talking too much though.

“Hmph,” he muttered once again. At that, I frowned.

“What’s your problem?” I blurted, my tone shifting completely. “I’m just trying to have a bit of friendly conversation here!” I yelled at him, agitated. I snapped a stick under my paws in the process, hardly noticing.

“....” He stayed silent as I stood on all fours in front of his boulder-like body. He flung himself around to look at me sharply. His eye twitched, as well as the skin just above his mouth. I stayed standing and glared at him. All I wanted was to make sure we were friends. After all, it’s never good when you instantly become enemies with the pokémon you were facing after a battle. All it did was create more tension, and the matches were supposed to be friendly and for mere, harmless competition.

But I thought again, realising that yelling at him wouldn’t do the trick. So I sighed, waiting for him to do or say something. I looked harder at him. The twitching began to make sense. Shiny pools of salty water began to generate in Roarake’s eyes. He began crying. Utterly confused, I blinked over and over again, wondering why in the world he would be doing such a thing given the circumstances.

‘Could he be...crying because he lost? Or...was it something I said?’

In the middle of my confused thoughts, Roarake’s lips separated. “Do you know...what it is like.....to be stolen away?” he bravely stuttered. He looked at me with such sorrow and agony. His eyes were droopy and stone cold—but not in a scornful way. It looked like the life had been drained right out of them.

I slowly rotated my head to the right in small jolts. I watched him with concern and a furry frown. “N...no, I don’t,” I replied, not knowing whether I wanted to know his reply or not. And from what I could tell...the answer would be one composed from his own personal experiences.

Taking in my reply, the golem had released a long sigh that was somewhat jagged. “I...was trying to—” he started, but was instantly cut off by his trainer. The human must have become sick of talking to Izante’s master and wrapped up the short chat. He put a hand under the golem’s chin and shifted the pokémon’s head in his direction. Personally I thought of him to be handling Roarake much too roughly, and if my master handled me like that I would definitely have something to complain about.

“Thank you for that wonderful battle, Golem.” He smiled greasily at his pokémon, speaking with sarcasm. After that, the trainer’s face turned to a frown. In response to his master’s statement, Roarake just sneered with a dark frown. He pulled away, the human letting go but scratching the golem’s face ‘by mistake’.

‘That’s not how you’re supposed to treat your pokémon!’ I thought while staring at the two.

His trainer looked immediately unimpressed with Roarake, and his face formed the most ugly expression of annoyance and intolerance. Frowning at this, I cocked my head to one side. What was going on?! And why did they treat each other that way? Pokémon and their masters were supposed to look out for each other and be happy together. But these two seemed like they were fighting fire with fire. ‘I wonder what’s up...’ I thought with negative curiosity, keeping a eye out for anything that would further my suspicion
.
Then the trainer looked at me. “What a fine pokémon you are,” he complimented, reaching out to stroke my head. “What a shame you are not so useful,” he s******ed condescendingly, facing Roarake. The great duel type rumbled back at him.

Suddenly I felt angry. A low growl sounded in my throat, which made the human’s furless paw freeze before coming any closer. Humans who treated pokémon like he did was one of the few things that made me sick. As his hand progressed towards my tuft, I snapped at his fingers, nearly hesitating in case Master was looking. But she would believe me over this man anyway.

The man stood up, spitting at me. I blew a flame at the falling saliva, causing it to vanish before it reached me. He sneered, turned around, and strode over to our trainers, seeing as I apparently won our strange argument. I turned back to the golem, eying him with a much softer glare than the one I gave his trainer.

Shortly after that, the butterfree’s trainer had lead it away from us all, and was beginning to walk back in a different direction to where we were headed—which was weird, because that was the way they came...

While Roarake’s trainer was saying goodbye to our masters, the golem’s gaze gripped me. “Do not let it happen,” he shouted to me, making me a little startled. “Be wary; be very wary! And let me tell you one thing.” Roarake had been absolutely serious about his every word. But I was still completely mystified. “Being stolen away is the most devastating event that could happen. It would be better to see our masters die than for us to be taken! At least you know...that you will never see them again that way!” And those were the last words I heard from him before he was called back, this time with a different poké ball which seemed to be the correct one.

Master turned to me, her face clouded with a mist of concern. “That golem...sounded distressed,” she mentioned to me, and I couldn’t stop frowning.

***

I watched as the bonfire burned in the cool night air, dancing across to blacken logs. The fire was using it to stay alive; washing over the different pieces that were once part of a tree and consuming their goodness. The flames climbed upwards and lapped over the wood time and time again, as if licking it and devouring it slowly. Tiny, tiny sparks flew from the pile of wood engulfed in flames, flicking around everywhere. A few even struck me on the muzzle...but I didn’t mind at all. My eyes were too busy swaying and flickering as I observed the amazing sight.

At the same time, I lowered my head with exhaustion. I knew that it was late, and Master had already gone to sleep. She had kindly allowed me to stay up to dwell in my thoughts, as I wasn’t ready for sleep at the time. I felt my fluffy tail hovering just above the ground, but curled it around the side of my body for more warmth—not that I particularly needed it.

Izante was lying about a metre away from me a little closer to the fire. She needed all the warmth she could get, being a Grass type who gained warmth from sunlight. While I was always warm, my best friend was constantly cool when the magnificent burning orb was not suspended between the clouds.

She threw me a soft glance and held her head in position. “We should head off to bed soon. I’m getting tired,” she told me. I nodded, but I didn’t plan to head back right then and there. I needed a minute.

“Soon,” I muttered back, my chin on my paws while I lay down.

Once we had stopped talking, all that could be heard was the small crackle of the fire spitting and spattering, and the soft padding of my friend walking towards the tent only sounded after a few moments. Silence was present, and I nearly let my eyes move from the fire.

“Well...I’ll be in the tent,” she called to me softly in an effort not to wake our masters. Deciding not to reply, my eyes stayed focused on the fire as it reflected its orangey-red light off my already-orange face.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the battle. The pain in the side of my body had nearly cleared up, as well as the other pains, and I almost felt fine about them. Master had sprayed me with a special healing spray that helped cure my wounds and fed me a few natural berries said to assist curing injuries. Izante’s master probably did the same to her, seeing as she looked the same as me relating to health statuses.

I had really thought deeply of what Roarake had told me, and those repeating words that circled my mind endlessly nibbled at my nerves, and it was the only thing on my mind...

“Flareon, forgive me for my weakness! I failed to p—”

What could he possibly have meant by that? And then the talk about being stolen? What did he even mean by that?

Though my wondering mind didn’t cease to slow down the gears, I knew I needed to rest soon. It would probably be a tiring day tomorrow, like any other day, and I had spent long enough thinking about the strange issue...

***

My sleep was very daunting. I was constantly having weird dreams that made no sense, but a lot of sense at the same time. Things would be muddled up in some places, frightening in others and plain mysterious at every other time... I knew they were partly to do with Roarake’s speeches, but other parts were randomly stuffed in there that had no relevance to him or the battle we had.

Eventually I had become sick of waking up repeatedly and gotten up, even though I felt dizzy and notably unwell. The tent we were staying in was fairly simple and rather small, to ensure easy transportability, so I needed to be careful of our masters when climbing over them to reach the entrance. They both had long sacks to sleep in, which were warm, silky on the outside and different colours. Izante and I lay next to them, but we also had the choice of returning into our balls. However, what crazy pokémon wouldn’t have chosen to stay beside their trainer as opposed to being cooped up in a tight and uncomfortable space where reality seemed not to exist?

As I had stood up, I noticed Izante stirring, and hoped that she was having a pleasant sleep—unlike me. Quietly, I crept around Master, being extra careful not to bump her or Izante’s master. They both looked to be sleeping peacefully, which was good. I made my way to the entrance of the tent which I had cleverly unzipped using my teeth. It did take some time, but eventually I managed to make a hole big enough to slip through. After I landed on grassless ground, I attempted to zip it back up, but I only managed to get it half way before I shrugged and left.

I stood out in the early morning air. The sun was a few hours away from rising, and I knew it wouldn’t be coming up anytime soon.

Looking for a nice place to be by myself, I began to wander north of the tent. I padded slowly through a tree-populated area where the branches leaned in all directions. Although I assumed they were there, I didn’t notice the many sleeping pokémon in the trees and bushes as I walked by, simply because I wasn’t concentrating.

The moonlight shone through the canopy, casting patches of light upon the dirt. There were barely any stones on the forest floor, which made it easier for me to keep walking without interruptions whilst staring upwards. The sky was like a vast sea dotted with many shining pokémon, and occasionally there would be the odd bird pokémon to fly alongside it.

My walk ended when I crossed paths with a beautiful lake. I was still coming out of the trees when I spotted the water sparkling and shimmering as the moon’s reflection wobbled across the lake’s surface. There wasn’t much of a breeze, so the water was almost perfectly still. I listened to the silent nature around me as I wandered closer and shut my eyes. This was as peaceful as it could get.

Opening them again, I stepped carefully onto the muddy ground lining the edge of the lake. The mud was squishy and reasonably cool, and it seeped in the gaps between my toes. I decided to dip my front paw into the water so its tip was under the surface. The water wasn’t very cold; it was just right. In fact, it was almost warm. ‘If I wasn’t so scared of water, I would surely go in for a dip,’ I quietly thought.

Then I began to wonder why I was so scared of water. ‘You’re a Fire type, silly,’ the voice in my head giggled. I smiled as my thoughts carried me to another world.

Just like the trees, I swayed in the night, my eyes at half-mast. I was suddenly startled as a splash caught me off guard. My eyes caught sight of something jumping out of the water. I didn’t get a good look at it, but from what I was able to see, a blue tail with patches of pink that was shaped like a butterfly’s wing flicked at the surface, then disappeared. ‘Finneon.’

While I was lost in the breath-taking sight, my thirst hit me like a rock. Even just touching the water focused my thoughts to my dry mouth. After all, when I ate my night meal I didn’t have anything to drink. So I lowered my head, but kept an eye on the moon’s shimmering reflection, keeping the magical sight in view. My tongue touched the liquid and felt a pleasant feeling; almost an exciting one. It lapped the water into my mouth and I swallowed, repeating the process to slurp the taste of nature to satisfy my body’s needs.
By the time I’d stopped, I was almost leaning into the water. My paws had dug their way into the mud, and I had to re-steady myself. The last thing I wanted to happen was to fall in.

Suddenly the sound of a stick breaking in half pulsed to my ears. They immediately perked up, intensifying themselves to be more able to hear. I span around to the direction the sound was coming from at the same time. I felt myself tremble with both fear and anxiety to fight. My fur stood on end as I looked hard at the bushes and trees which were now in front of me. ‘Whoever it is is going to get creamed,’ I thought with confidence, lowering my head and changing my stance into a fighting one. Another rustle sounded in the bushes, and I began to sense something sinister. My eyes widened, and in a split second, I had taken a few-stepped push off from the soft earth and leapt into the air!

I came crashing down onto my foe after a few moments of hang-time, and we rolled over each other. I was scared to the bone, but furious at the same time. Someone had tried to ambush me! I bit and scratched at what I thought was attacking me, not focusing on who it was. But once I heard that shriek, I stopped, realising that I was attacking someone very familiar.

At first I couldn’t identify the pokémon due to the dim light the moon provided, but once I adjusted, it became clear. Izante was the one beneath my paws, subtle whimpers escaping her muzzle.

**FedoraChar** · 08-15-2013, 07:21 PM

Phew, finally got around to reading chapter 2! :D Sorry it took forever, but crazy life stuff happened, and it was crazy. STILL, great read (despite not much happening xD But hey, it really built up the suspense. I feel like you're dangling plot in front of me like a carrot in front of a rabbit xD) The descriptions were beautiful, as ever--the way you described the camp fire was poetic, really ^^ I'm also liking Dusty's personality as well--she doth be spunky and rash, and I look forward to the adventures to follow. :D

**Suicune's Fire** · 08-17-2013, 07:11 AM

WOOHOOOO! XD Hey, no worries at all! I'm thinking I might post a few chapters at once so it's not so slow to get into. xD Thanks for the compliments! It's always great to hear, haha. AND YES, spunky but rash is a really good description of her. xD Thanks again for reading. C: And don't worry about taking a little bit to read them--that's completely fine! I don't mind at all. xD

~SF.

**Suicune's Fire** · 08-17-2013, 07:14 AM

Chapter three: Abduction!

[Reeeeeeally ooooolddd picture xD]

How could I be so ignorant as to attack my own friend? Shocked, I instantly scuttled off her frail body. “Sorry ‘bout that, Izante!” I laughed sheepishly. “I guess my instincts got the better of me.” She too lifted herself up, shaking off the dust and mud stuck to her fur thanks to my paws. She mumbled a sentence of forgiveness, and then asked me what I was doing up so early. “Oh...” I started, slowly making my way back to the lake I already treasured. Izante trailed behind me, awaiting an answer. I curled my lips to the inside of my mouth, feeling my sharp fangs press against the soft skin tissue. “I couldn’t sleep,” I simply answered. My eyes were fixed on the water that trembled at the sight of us.

“Hmm... Is there something wrong?” Izante questioned quietly.

“I... I was busy thinking about...” I trailed off.

“About what?”

I sighed before replying, “Things.”

“What kind of things?” she pressed.

“Things! J’st...things...” I was a little frustrated about her questions, so I gave her an agitated answer... But I thought again. “Uhh, it’s just th’t...” I frowned. I then explained to my best friend all about the peculiar things I had been told by Roarake. About being taken, about the respect thing...

Izante’s thinking face became her expression once I had finished my explanation about Roarake’s weird words. “Odd,” she replied. “I wonder what he meant.”

“Surely you heard him as they were leaving...right?” I questioned.

She took a second to say, “Me and Master went back to the tent before they left. But...what he said seems weird. Eh, it’s probably nothing.”

But to her words I just turned away, faintly raising one of the corners of my mouth. “Yeah...” I tried to smile. “For now, though...let’s just enjoy a sight one could only appreciate at night,” I smiled, presenting my words calmly. I then chuckled, realising I had rhymed without intending to.

***

“Oh, come on! J’st, just do it!” Izante scowled, annoyed at me.

She stood right in front of me as we were placed on the edge of the lake, our feet squishing the mud underneath our toes. She was desperate to get me into the water, because it was not often that we could take the time off to go swimming, but she knew that I was uncomfortable with it.

In response to her bleating, I shook my head frantically with a frightened face. “Why not? You too chicken?!” my friend teased, and began to make clucking noises like a torchic. “Tooor! Chic-chic, tor!”

“Exactly!” I smirked, admitting it proudly. Izante lowered her eyebrows to form an unimpressed face, and when I was least expecting it, she rammed into me, sending me skidding across the mud and tumbling straight into the water. Luckily I managed to not get my head wet. I was surprised even further as I realised the fast drop into deep waters, which was only just away from the edge! My paws were kicking and waving about wildly, and I called out to her in distress.

“Relax!” she yelled back, smiling as if she had done nothing.

“RELAX?!” I exclaimed, panicking. ‘How could she say that at such a time?!’ “Izante, I’m a freakin’ Fire type! I can’t just relax in water!”

“Just chill,” she called to me. “Don’t be a baby!”

“WHAT?! Come on—get me out! Stop fooling around!” I squealed, binding my eyes in fear.

“Pfft, no!” Izante huffed with a rude tone. These were the times when I wished she had a better and friendlier attitude. “You’ll be fine,” she calmly stated, holding my charcoal eyes in her gaze.

***

Izante had succeeded. She had managed to get me back into the water without a kafuffle. I was almost comfortable in the lake, but the feeling of water rushing past me and slipping into unexpected places of my body – like under forelegs in that little ditch of skin and fur – was just creepy and weird. Despite the fact that I was too scared to put my head underwater, I felt pretty brave. Swimming had never been my strong point due to hating water, and when I was only little I had almost drowned in a lake much like this one. I had been rescued by my trainer. If she hadn’t been there...I surely wouldn’t have made it...

I waved my paws in front of me under the water one at a time, keeping myself afloat. I wasn’t swaying them fast, but it was consistent. Izante was also swimming, and she seemed to do it like it was an everyday easy activity. Though to her, it probably was just as simple.

Izante always went swimming, and she wasn’t even the slightest bit afraid of water. I found that strange, considering how I couldn’t comprehend how I or any other pokémon could ever like the awful substance. “So, just why are you so scared of water? You’re fine at swimming,” she stated while paddling around me.

“I’m not fine,” I corrected, “I’m just not drowning.” I could feel the cool water passing around me steadily. I barely noticed the ripples that Izante caused to bump across the water’s surface as she showed off.

“Get your head wet!” she insisted, suggesting that she was willing to do it for me.

“NO!”

“Come on, why not?” Izante continued to circle me almost mockingly.

“Why do you think?! I don’t want to drown! And I don’t wanna get my tuft wet!” I panicked, almost losing my focus on staying above the water level. “Also, I barely ever swim, so it’s fine to be afraid.”

Izante laughed cruelly. “Why would you drown?”

“Why? Well, simple. ...I’M A FIRE type! I don’t swim!” I yelped, more playfully than angrily. Izante stopped for a second, as if pondering something. “D-don’t even think about it!” I snapped.

She grinned. “Seems tempting. Maybe you sh—” Suddenly she paused, frowning slightly. She stayed silent. I frowned with concern. What was she doing? “Did you...did you hear that?” she asked slowly. I only panicked.

“What? Here what?” I frantically looked about, my eyes searching. There was nothing. “...I don’t hear anything.”

“Y-yeah—just listen,” she instructed, waiting in angst as if expecting something. But then I did hear it. It was a faint rumble, but became louder and louder. Izante’s attention was drawn completely to the noise, her eyes set on the bushes to the left of where we came.
But then...it stopped. I tilted my head. I waited. “...Where did it—”

All of a sudden, a large dark blue pokémon came crashing through the bushes from where I had pounced on Izante! His long, sharp arms, which looked like powerful weapons, were terrifying, as well as the two red eyes coming out of either sides of his face. A tail protruding from his back-side pounded the ground angrily, the two rounded spikes on the end of it made it look like a dangerous tool.

With a threatening roar, the creature charged towards the water, targeting us. He appeared focused and dedicated to whatever he was doing, showing no fear or emotion.
I shrieked and flicked my head to Izante. Her face represented both fear and seriousness. I imagined mine to be merely fear. If we were on land, then maybe I would think twice about being afraid. But I had hardly ever swam—I wasn’t capable of a match in water! “I’ve battled one of these once. It’s an armaldo!” Izante urgently spluttered. I groaned even at his name.

The beast stomped his way closer, and I knew I had to act fast. “Dusty! Swim!” Izante yelped. I nodded frantically, not daring to disagree, and began to unintentionally paddle towards the centre of the lake where I was vulnerable to predators. Not even the thought of foes in the water had crossed my mind. And only now I had thought about it. It was not very enlightening, nor pleasant.

Izante was in front of me, paddling away as I dawdled behind without meaning to. My struggle to keep up didn’t do me much good, and I felt a pain in my stomach caused by the trauma. My paws were aching, I felt like I was sinking, and I was sure I had a few stitches. My large bushy tail was also dragging me down, and the extra weight of it was enough to slow down my already-slow pace. The strain wretched at my chest, and I felt like screaming.

I heard a splash behind me, and I squealed in agony. I knew that that thing was trying to get us, but I couldn’t help but to wonder why. As far as I knew, I had done nothing bad, so this pokémon had no motivation!

The pokémon sped up, gaining more speed as he swam faster. ‘Oh, great,’ I thought, ‘he has to be an expert at swimming too!’ The soundless forest had become noisy as the armaldo splashed his way up to me, and from my back, he crossed his arms around me. I felt nothing but sheer fear as the long arms held me hostage and I was rendered helpless. I screamed at the top of my lungs, rattling the trees and disturbing all of the sleeping pokémon. The armaldo with sinister red eyes that glowed brightly in the night growled deeply. Assuming he was to drown out my alarming cries, the big pokémon sank into the water as he powered through the lake, not even giving me a chance to take a breath before doing so.

Just before I could no longer see above the water’s level, my eyes darted to Izante’s and I cried out her name as loud as I could, only to have it cut short. As my face hit the water, it was as if a whole ocean of fear swallowed me into its being. It rushed passed me, and I could barely open my eyes. The lake would probably have been see-through, but due to the fact that no sun shone this early in the morning, the water was almost pitch black at the depth that the armaldo had taken me—or at any depth!

Almost already out of breath, I was starting to struggle. The feeling of knowing that you are being abducted is one thing, but the feeling of knowing that you are being abducted and unable to breathe is absolutely traumatising. The only thing keeping me from fainting by now was that tiny burning flame alight in my mind that allowed me to think about that ounce of hope. I could still hope that Izante would come to my rescue. But with that realisation came the thought that I also needed to contribute.

With minimal amounts of strength, I faced the armaldo by looking straight up. The water made him hard to see, but I could make out his face. He didn’t look at me; he was too busy streaming along his path.

But I had to attack him. For my sake. But how? How could I do it? I had enough intelligence to know that my fire wouldn’t do me any good under water whatsoever, so I didn’t even consider it. I couldn’t use anything like skull bash... But maybe a bite attack would work.

I shut my eyes, feeling the pain of doing so seeing they had been open for a while underwater without me blinking. I could feel the sharp arms holding me too tight for my liking. They would be my target.

As the lake’s contents spiralled towards me, my lips separated, making way for my strong teeth which managed to latch awkwardly onto the armaldo’s tough skin.

With a yelp and a scowl, the Bug and Rock pokémon clenched me even tighter, slowing down a fraction, but planning not to set me free. However, if I did end up escaping his claws, there would be no chance of me getting away without being caught again—but I’d worry about that later. I snorted and bit down even harder, almost piercing the armour-like skin this time and allowing the loud sound of the armaldo’s cries to burst into my ears—even underwater.

I could barely hear the pokémon shortly afterwards as he accidentally released his grip. But it was a good thing that he did—another few seconds without air and I was sure to pass out—or possibly even drown! Waving my paws to send back the water from around me was hard work, but I had to do it in order for me to catch a breath. I could feel my heart pounding over and over; it was so fast I couldn’t count how many beats it did even if I tried! The need for air was crucial, and I could feel my lungs just about to escape through my throat. The feeling was horrible! I couldn’t bear it any longer. I was going to give up. I was too far underwater.

As my paws slowed, so did my mind. Everything was ready to shut down. Even my heart seemed to stop beating.

Just as I was getting ready to pass, I felt a cool breeze on my forehead, and my ears popped. The sound of rushing water was no longer ringing in my ears. I was shocked—I had made it to the surface!

Opening my eyes, I gasped, inhaling breath after breath, absorbing the oxygen I felt had been gone for so long. ‘This is the most relieving feeling I’ve felt in a long time!’ I thought.

I panted repeatedly, overjoyed to finally have air in my system. It was overwhelming, but the thing I longed for so fondly now was land. To place my four paws onto a hard surface seemed like a thought of heaven at this point!

Shortly after I had regained my senses, my eyes pointed out Izante; the swimming leafeon was merely metres away. I wanted to reach out, but the energy seemed to be flushed out of me. I wanted to call to her, but my voice was slowly disappearing. I tried to focus on her, but my eyelids drooped in front of my eyes. I could no longer keep my head afloat...and my mind was...beginning to drift away from reality...

**Suicune's Fire** · 08-17-2013, 07:17 AM

Chapter Four: The Capture

Again...really old picture. xD

As I opened my eyes and awoke, I was surprised to find myself alive. All of the drama that had occurred in the water had almost wiped me out permanently—or so I thought.

The wet tuft of fur laid upon my head sagged in front of my face and into my eyes. My tail drooped with sogginess, and the rest of my fur was pressed firmly against my skin, giving me a cold chill and making me feel uncomfortable. I stood up and shook off, sending droplets of water spraying all over the place and causing my fur to puff up. I felt rather ridiculous, but I’d rather feel and look that way than be...wet.

My eyes scanned the area. ‘Wait a sec... I’m not in water.’ How had I possibly have washed up there? I looked out into the water which was only a few metres away. Had someone saved me? I had no idea... But glancing over both shoulders, I developed another question: where was that armaldo?

Disregarding this for a second, I weakly scrambled away from the water’s edge to observe my surroundings. I had no clue where I was...or how I came to be there. In front of me was a large tree with thick, light grey bark. There were wood grains covering the tree which made it appear as if someone had spent days carving them all in. It was quite a scene. Even something so small managed to catch my attention and hold it for so long. But what mattered to me now was something else. Something of high importance and meaning to me.

Frantically I whizzed around, no longer facing the tree, alarming myself with a sudden thought.

I had no idea where Izante was.

Had she been the one to save me? If so, where did she disappear to? It bothered me that I was unaware of the beast’s location, either. It had dragged me under the water and tried to drown me. The memories were all too clear, and when it dawned on me that the two pokémon were both missing, I came to the conclusion that Izante may be the armaldo’s prisoner now that I was not within reach. But there were pieces of the puzzle missing. Why would he have wanted to capture either of us? Did he want to save me from something? Did he want to drown me? Perhaps he was doing somebody’s dirty work for them. Pokémon were used like that too often. It could have been very possible.

Trying to think my way into the answer, I sat down to ponder further. But before I was going to collect the missing pieces so I could glue them back together again, I had to do something. First things first. I needed to find Izante and the armaldo. If they were together, who knows what would happen—and where they could be. ‘Maybe Izante is fighting him right now,’ I thought with concern. “And I should be the one to save her!” I declared, deciding for myself. Maybe it wasn’t the best way to go about things for me, but I wanted to know that she was alright. I also wanted to make sure that that rotten pokémon wasn’t attempting to chew her up and spit her out. Or worse—swallow her! “Izante!” I called out into the early morning. I figured it would be the best way to allow her to hear me. However, as I repeated her name several times, I received no reply—from her, anyway.

All of a sudden, a tiny, squeaky voice made me jump. It said something that alarmed me, and then again. “Oi! Some of us normal pokémon are tryin’ to sleep, you know!” someone ranted. I could tell she was someone very angry just by her tone. I spun around, facing the tree once again. What I hadn’t noticed before was a small gaping hole at its base. And out of it had scurried a small figure. She had a squirrel-like while body that was probably quite agile. Her tiny blue ears twitched with annoyance when she spoke, and the single tooth that stuck out of her mouth was frustratingly distracting. Her large tail was probably mostly fluff, as it seemed not to weigh her down at all.

“Sorry,” I sighed, looking about, “I need to fi—”

“Yeah, yeah! I don’t care about your stupid personal life. Just shut your trap so we can sleep!” she huffed as she growled in anger and exhaustion. What that rude pachirisu had just yelled at me made me frown. I just turned away, not interested in a lecture. I had no time for such petty nonsense. If I was going to look for Izante, I would have to make haste. We needed to get back to our masters. I knew they would be upset if they awoke to find us missing. And if they attempted to search for us, they could end up in the same position as me!

“Hey!” that same annoying voice interrupted. I rolled my eyes, and my face grew a furry frown once again. “Did you even hear what I said? Flareon?!” Impatience filled the tiny Electric pokémon’s voice as I ignored her once again.

“Would you shut up?” I exclaimed, turning back around after I received no reply. Instead, the electric squirrel pokémon puffed her chest...and she started again. As the pachirisu’s ranting began once more, my nose twitched with aggravation. I swung my head around again, so I was up close to her face. “Are you asking to be fried?!” I hissed, feeling the spit slip through my gritted teeth and onto the pokémon in front of me.

She seemed to be offended, and huffed, her chest large and puffy. “Don’t you speak to me li—” started the pest, but was abruptly cut off by the stream of fire I released.

She jumped back, both shocked and upset about the humiliation. She choked for a second, but got back on track. The little pokémon bounded her way back into her hole with a furrowed brow. And at that I snorted. “Looks to me like she could have used that,” I murmured, rolling my eyes. “Pesky brat.”

“Ahh! Let me go!” a voice protested. But not just any voice—a voice I would recognise from kilometres away.

“Izante,” I whispered. “Izante!” My fluffy body took off towards the distressful cries just moments away. Into the bushes I flew, determined to seek her out. “I’m coming!” I called. Whilst my paws swept beneath my body, I sneered, imagining how hot I could make the flames that would swallow the armaldo. I burst through a bunch of leaves that scratched at and brushed against me. One tickled my ear on the way past, making it flicker.

I landed with a soft thud on the earth covered with forest floor underlay. In doing so, I attracted a great pokémon’s attention, as well as a familiar friend’s. The armaldo stood high, metres in front of me, with Izante hauled over his shoulders to face over his back, rather than having the same view as her pokénapper. The large pokémon was clenching her tightly, and it was clear that he had the experience to be able to control her movement. Noticeably, Izante could not set herself free, and was very possibly injured.

“Woah,” I mumbled, a little shocked at what I was seeing. My friend lifted her head, managing to see over her shoulder and past the armaldo. She was in an awkward position, and probably found it difficult to turn and face me because of it.

“Dusty?!” she exclaimed, obviously not expecting to see me. “Get away! It’ll come after you!” The leafeon sounded urgent and bothered—because she was!

“I’m not leaving you!” I answered, scoffing. It was true, and I was sick of untrustworthy pokémon. It was time to right some wrongs before it was too late! “Alright, you overgrown fossil—you’re goin’ down!” My body sprung forwards, aimed at my friend’s captor. I saw a type of fury and determination within the armaldo’s eyes which frightened me. However, it didn’t distract me, nor did it contribute to the fact that the armaldo counter-attacked my leap with his heavy tail, which slammed into my belly. I felt the pain spread, and I was physically sent flying metres away from my best friend. I had become completely winded; the oxygen was knocked clean out of me.

As I slammed onto the stony ground, I could not breathe, and I was beginning to relive my memories in the water. Luckily it didn’t last for more than five seconds, and in no time, I had regained the strength to hold my position on my four paws. Although I was already beginning to run out of energy, due to the small amount of time I was allowed to recover from my scene in the water, I still had the will to fight. “Take...this!” I called viciously to the armaldo, spewing up poison after feeling a toxic bubbling inside. The purple poison swallowed my foe, almost causing him to drop Izante. He managed to hold his grip, but the pokémon also seemed somewhat affected by the attack.

Unexpectedly my foe charged up, looking as if he was building power, and summoned small, jiggered rocks to swarm around him. He took off towards me, preparing something big. I watched in awe as the rocks flew along with armaldo as he charged at me, Izante still in place over his shoulder.

A scream was coming from the leafeon’s mouth as well as some confused words as she was taken with the armaldo to attack me. And from then it all happened too fast. With great power, my enemy and I collided, the rocks brutally injuring me as the main attack.
I had never experienced an ancientpower attack...until then.

***

I was carried to a campsite by the armaldo. Izante and I both were. All around us were people wearing black uniforms and most of them were followed by a cream coloured cat-like pokémon with coiling tails that were half brown—like their hind paws. Several of them were transporting cages – which held pokémon for some reason – and dumped them into openings in machines on wheels, whereas others were shifting different containers of various sizes. Many more were standing around, guarding the exits with solid and heavy weapons that required two hands to support.

The dirt appeared infertile and unnaturally mixed with muck, and there was countless packaging scattered around both the ground and caught in bushes. It was a foul sight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I was to pick out not one wild pokémon.

The armaldo had dropped Izante and had put her with a female human who appeared to interrogate her with the help of her meowth. However, I was left upon his shoulder, facing the way he was facing, for another minute or two before another human approached. In the meantime I tried to make out what the woman was saying to my leafeon friend, and right before I was released I noticed an older looking man approached her and mumbled something to the female human. Izante was then led – or forced – away with them both.

As the leafeon disappeared from my view, I was carelessly tossed across the bumpy ground, scuffing my thin coat of fur and jingling my chingling bell a few times over. I landed at the feet of a suspicious human male who sneered at me. The human wore a black cloth covering his front, and other black material around his hind legs. A black rounded piece of cloth also fitted his head. On the designed piece of cloth that stretched across torso, there was a dark pink logo which looked like one of the human race’s markings that they use to write with.

The man was thinly built and didn’t appear at all pleasant. There was a particular feeling about him; a bad one. A grouchy expression was printed on his bare face, but he also looked almost happy to see me in front of him...defenceless, vulnerable, and without my master.

Then I realised something. I gasped, witnessing the human grin darkly in response. The familiar scent, the recurring expressions, the suspicious feeling... I knew I recognised it! This was the man whose pokémon Izante and I battled hours before!

The human was suddenly called by one of his colleagues, so he quickly walked away, standing only a few metres from me. I felt adrenaline begin to flare up as I thought I would have a chance at escape, but before I let myself take off, a female meowth that was accompanying the man blocked my way. Her greasy grin was discomforting as the whiskers on her face twitched. In between two whiskers on the top of her head was a golden, oval-shaped coin that shined in the dim, man-made light surrounding. Her large eyes were not very friendly-looking, each with pupils like slits.

She laughed, and I assumed she read my actions. “Y’ think you can escape?” she questioned, speaking in the humans’ language. Master used the same dialect, so it was easy for me to understand—but it was a surprise to hear her using it.

I had heard a rumour a while ago about a particular group of meowth. Ever since there was a first one to speak English, some humans (which I now presumed to be the ones wearing black clothes) discovered that the cat pokémon were capable of learning it. In time, they managed to breed an entirely different race of meowth which were trained to speak only human, which I didn’t understand the use of until recent minutes. They were translators.

But not only had these people trained their meowth to speak human, but also to stand on their hind legs at all times—except when sitting or sleeping. The majority of meowth I had both met and battled with had walked on all-fours. To see so many of these pokémon at once like this seemed strange—not to mention cruel. It was unnatural and just proved how selfish certain groups of humans could be...

I snapped out of my thoughts as the Normal type glanced over her shoulder, and it struck me then to try to make a break for it—or to at least find Izante. So, with the assistance of my quick attack, I dashed past the pokémon and left behind a slightly dazed scratch cat pokémon. The screech she emitted alerted a collection of humans and other pokémon, and I noticed frantic glances settling upon me as captured pokémon noticed my attempt at freedom.

However, just as I spotted Izante – who was, for some reason, eating from a bowl provided by a nearby female human behind one of their vehicles – I was apprehended. I barely had time to register what had happened as I felt a heavy body pinning me down and growling in my ears. I fought to find Izante again with my eyes, but the leafeon was gone and only the bowl and the human remained, leaving me considerably confused.

In no time at all I had been brought back to where I was previously where Roarake’s ‘trainer’ and his meowth were, as well as a number of new humans and their pokémon—probably to ensure I didn’t try to escape again.

“Well, well, well! It’s the flareon from the battle,” the horrid man began, and I was thrown to the ground by the pokémon who had caught me. I stood up and shook off, baring my fangs at all the surrounding figures. “Your ignorance got the better of you! You thought you could escape?” He let out a cruel laugh and signalled for the extra guards to return to where they had been. “We haven’t had one of your kind before. You should be honoured,” the man told me in human language.

In response I sprung backwards to be away from him. I spread my legs apart, lowering my head and growling deeply. That wretched armaldo stomped behind me, obstructing my backwards exit. However...I wouldn’t try to escape again. The beast had worn me out from the beating I received from him earlier, and the attempt I made only moments ago had been futile and tiring. Besides, it would mean leaving Izante to deal with everything herself. I simply did not have the energy, or even the will for that matter. My exits were sealed and there were far too many guards...

The human male just smirked, raising his head with a frown and a heartless smile. His meowth snarled, teasing me with the swaying of her body and jiggle of her tail. “Team Rocket rules!” she mouthed to me.

“You will be loyal to us!” snapped the human, attempting to intimidate me while spraying me with his spit. “Team Rocket officially owns you from now on!” Next to him, the Rocket’s meowth stood with a satisfied look on her face.

I blinked it utter disgust. ‘Who does he think he is?!’ my mind roared at me. I grew hot, wanting to fry him. It wasn’t fair to do this! I felt furious! I spat at the jerk, my saliva splattering on his left foot which was shrouded with another human material. “I’m loyal to nobody but my master! I’d never give respect to a low-life like you!” I hissed, wishing the human could understand.

I saw the meowth chuckle, and shifted my angry gaze to her. “Uh-oh, you’re in f’r it now!”

“Meowth! What did it say?!” grunted the Rocket man impatiently. His soulless eyes left mine and met those of his meowth’s. His female pokémon snorted, and her whiskers twitched.

“You ain’t gonna like dis, boss! Dis little fire-fox here says dat she ain’t loyal to nobody ‘cept her master.” Meowth snickered, blowing through her nose afterward in a miniature laugh. She looked as if she wanted to see me suffer the consequences. I growled back at her. “She also says dat she ain’t payin’ no respect to a low-life like y’self. Not dat ya are one or anytin’.”

The Team Rocket human glared at me, his face looking ugly with frustration. I winced slightly as he streaked the back of a furless paw across my face. To be verbally harassed by a human was one thing, but being beat by one was another...even just a mere slap! As well as being humiliating, it was wrong. I immediately felt how Roarake must have felt...

I listened to the meowth’s rotten cackle while my head stayed in the position it had been forced into by the slap. I tried contemplating my decisions, but nothing came to mind. I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t believe my situation. It was so...insane. I could only glower with hateful emotion as I felt myself unable to attack due to known consequences.

I had officially been captured...and there was nothing in my power that I could do about it.

**Suicune's Fire** · 08-17-2013, 07:18 AM

Chapter five: Boxed and Caged

I couldn’t help but to feel miserable. The capture had made me feel unwell and shaky.

The fact that I was being transported away from my master pushed me into feeling even more dreadful. Although Izante being with me had altered my thinking slightly and drove me into slight relief, I was still not nearly comforted enough to change my down-in-the-dumps mood. I didn’t know whether she shared my emotions or not, and I was not very keen to find out. If she felt the same way as I did, that would merely make matters worse, and I would feel even more upset. But I would have to cheer up sometime if I was going to think up a plan for escape. There was no way that my brain would be able to function properly if it had no proper stimulation or determination flowing through it.

We had been at the little camp for another day after we were moved again. The time we spent at there was when we were in cages separate from one another, barely able to hear the pokémon next door. Team Rocket had treated us like we were lower than dirt and all we could do in return was growl at them in our hopeless cooped up state. There were a lot of other pokémon, but the men had set out all the cages to be far away from one another so that we could not communicate, and so that we were purposely isolated.

Every now and again, the Team Rocket men had strut past me with mocking grins and smirks on their faces merely to spite me. One even poked his fingers into the cage in an attempt to torment me. However, since the only feeling I had been experiencing was anger, I automatically snapped at them, slicing through one with ease. The moment after I did so, I realised I would have effortlessly been able to take a finger off.

“ARRGGHH!! You beast!” he had screamed, a hideous expression upon his face. “Poliwhirl,” he had called, withdrawing a poké ball from his tattered black belt. “Water gun!”

Landing on the ground in front of my cage, the dark blue pokémon with a swirl on his belly shot a stream of water out through the centre of his body, and it came gushing onto my devastated face. I had screeched at the shock of the attack, spluttering and spitting. I'd known I had to endure it until it was over, so that was what I had done.

When the attack had finally broken off, my drenched body appeared small and feeble. An attack like that may have been simple, but it had hurt! I shook off and growled at the man. I knew that he couldn’t differentiate between the tears streaming down my face and the water dribbling from every strand of my fur as he jeered and stumbled away.

“And that’s why you shouldn’t mess with Team Rocket!” he smirked, picking up a stone and tossing it at my forehead. I winced and drew my head back, huddling at the back of the cage. I had felt my eyes flickering with fear. My loud exhaling had become a sign of fury as my whole body trembled. I could not understand how these awful people could do this to pokémon. All of the trainers I had ever met were kind and they loved their pokémon... Well, maybe not all, but most of them. And what did these horrid humans do? Attack innocent pokémon, dragging them from their loved ones. I hope they knew...they wouldn’t get away with it.

***

I sat in a steel cage inside a moving van—a large metal human form of transport that moved with wheels. Izante, a marill, a drifloon and a sandslash were in the same compact space as me. I had been in the same spot for three days without food, and only a small amount of water which the Rockets had supplied us with. The rest of it was thanks to the marill. When we drank the liquid generated by the water pokémon, it had been slimy. I had felt the fluid flush throughout my system, and it tasted like salty...spit. Every time I swallowed it, I couldn’t help shivering with disgust. It would have been a whole lot better to be used as a substance for cooling off with. But it wasn’t. And I had to deal with it if it was nearly all that I had.

Thinking everything over, I raised my head slightly to see another cage nearby. It contained the marill and his drifloon friend. The cage next to it held a sandslash captive. They were all victims of being captured, along with me and Izante. They all belonged to the same trainer. I figured that they had all been taken at once, and were stolen for the same reasons we had been...which had not been set in concrete yet.

The sandslash, who I had overheard was called Wulua, was an irritated and a bully of a pokémon. He had displayed this by sitting around, fiddling with his sharp claws and pondering over how let he let himself be caught—and bullying the marill.

The marill, Koi, was a little male water pokémon. He often took deep breaths to calm himself, and apparently loved rolling around on the ground absent-mindedly. He was not very old by the looks of him, and didn’t seem to have matured yet, either. His intelligence wasn’t very high, and I suspected he was born as a marill rather than an azurill.

The floating balloon pokémon called herself Vesp. She was very quiet, but once I had been around her long enough, I would describe her as friendly.

“Are we there yet?” a small voice asked restlessly. My eyes scanned across the small room. A rounded blue body was rolling along the floor inside metal bars not too far away from me. The white patch on his stomach was appearing and then disappearing as he rolled. His black crinkled tail was big for his size, and ended in a blue bobble.

Making the decision not to reply, I merely shifted my gaze to the floor. There was a black spec of dirt placed in between my two eyes’ stare, and it caught my gaze long enough for me to zone out a little.

“No, Koi. Can’t you tell?” a rough voice snapped, and I heard claws clicking against a metal surface as he must have paced his paws on the floor.

“I wasn’t talking to you, Wulua!” Koi retorted, a child-like tone to his voice. As I moved my eyes to his face, I saw that he had crossed his arms.

“Your point?”

“It means you can’t answer!”

“Oh, really? Answer, answer, answer, answer. Are you gonna arrest me now?” smirked the ground type. Frankly I found him to be just as childish as the marill.

“...What’s ‘arrest’?” Koi asked Vesp, cocked his body to one side.

“‘What’s arrest’?! You’re dumber than I thought!” Wulua mockingly s******ed. He got to his feet as his restlessness grew.

“Wulua, leave him alone...” Vesp intervened, looking at him with a frown.

“Well I’m SOR-RY!” came a sarcastic voice. Koi snorted at him.

“You should be!”

“Oh, go play with your liquids, water boy!”

“Go and dig a hole, you meanie!” he shouted back.

“We’re nowhere near dirt, blubber head! Sheesh, I thought all pokémon had brains until I met you!” Wulua hissed. Still watching, I observed what happened next.

Very rapidly, Koi had grown a wobbly upside-down smile, and his nose began to twitch. His breathing had become slightly heavier, and tears began to gather at the bottoms of his little eyes.

All of a sudden, the water pokémon burst out into tears, and turned around to find himself being hugged by Vesp’s string-like arms with little yellow hearts on the tips. Her purple balloon-like body was not too big, but provided comfort for Koi as he bawled his eyes out. I felt sorry for the little fella.

“What did you do that for, Wulua?” Vesp questioned, throwing a hard glance at the sandslash that was leaning against the bars of his cage. His yellow body stood out against the dark wall behind him, but his black eyes blended in perfectly. His thick, brown spikes located on his back sagged a little as he was pressed against the wall.

“Eh, felt like it,” he muttered, sounding a little proud.

“Do you think this is a joke, Wulua?” the drifloon started. She was obviously not impressed. “Being captured is bad enough. A little marill having to deal with that as well as a bigger pokémon teasing him is not good. And far too much for someone of his age!” she scolded, clutching Koi tightly. The little marill moved his body in the sandslash’s direction. With a helpless frown, Koi’s mouth continued to tremble.

“What are you, my mother?” Wulua laughed. By looking at her face, I could tell that Vesp had had enough.

“I could start acting like it,” she replied calmly.

“Go ahead! And why don’t you put on some spikes while you’re at it?!”

From here, I couldn’t stand it any longer. Those three bickering made me so agitated! They’d been going on for the past...what, three days? Couldn’t they give it a rest already?! “Guys! Stop it!” I yelled, eying the two pokémon in the other cages.

“Your arguing isn’t making anything easier! J’st...chill!” growled Izante, her eyes averted in order to avoid visual contact. She didn’t much like confrontations.

“Oh, great,” Wulua sighed gruffly, “another pair of—”

“Would you just shut up?” I hissed, feeling embers sizzling inside. They felt about ready to leak between my teeth as invisible smoke stung my eyes. “We’re in cages, for Entei’s sake! You’re ruining any...drop of hope we have, Wulua! And, Vesp, I know you’re trying to help, but you’re just making it worse!” I explained with a hard scowl, rising to my feet.

Izante looked about to agree, but she contained herself and just growled impatiently. A small chuckle came from nearby, not surprised it was the sandshrew evolution as I swerved my head.

“And what are you gonna d—”

In a split second, a gushing stream of water shot directly into Wulua’s face, causing him to splutter and spit. I stared wide-eyed, and trailed it back to where it had come from. Koi was the water’s source.

When the attack stopped, I could have sworn Wulua was about to cut Koi in half – despite the fact that they were in separate prisons – when suddenly, we were thrown across our cages and we bashed into the walls.

We had all screamed and tumbled, feeling limbs poke through holes in the metal, Vesp still clutching Koi. Several thumps and bangs sounded as I realised the moving humans’ vehicle had come to a stop.

I moaned, heaving myself to my feet again. The cage had turned onto its side, and it seemed to become smaller.

“What the hell?!” Wulua questioned. I didn’t think he quite knew what was going on... Although, he wasn’t the only one.

There was a bright light before something hairy reached towards us. The light was blinding, and I found it difficult to focus after it bounced off my face. The spot-light shone on us all, and hissing could be heard as most of us recoiled into the unrealistic depths of the cages. The hairy thing baring the light was found to be an arm—a human arm. With a few grunts and murmurs, the human clicked a switch on his item. Somehow, the light dimmed and disappeared, almost like it had been sucked back into the contraption.

I looked at the other pokémon. Izante seemed to be upset and growling, Koi was huddling up with Vesp, and Wulua spat while covering his eyes with one of his strong, yellow arms. Next, a big man stepped into the room, and stuck his fingers inside Izante’s cage whilst lifting it up. Izante stumbled, and looked as if she found it difficult to balance.

“Hey!” I yipped, the man merely looking in my direction. I head-butted the cage bars blocking my way, but nothing happened. It was useless! Next, I tried firing a stream of hot flames at the man, and he yelled, and backed off—but still held onto Izante’s cage. He then pulled out some sort of small device, and neared me with a bushy frown on his face. I huddled to the back of my small enclosure and rumbled. However, it didn’t stop him from sticking the device in between the bars, about a hair away from touching me, and pressed a button.

Unexpectedly, my whole body stung with pain, and a sizzling sound came from my fur. “Ahh-aaahhh!!” I screamed. This was unlike any raichu’s thunderbolt attack! The pain surged through me, and I could only imagine that the other pokémon watched with shocked expressions. Hopefully, this would keep them from being as careless as I was.

I slumped on the floor of the cage, my fur bristling and my painting notable. The smell of electricity popped near my nose, and suddenly my body began chattering. I felt paralysed. The man smirked with a face of satisfaction, and continued out with the cage that had Izante in it. Before she disappeared through the opening, she looked at me with certain sadness. Her ears poked through the sides, between the metal bars, and it was blatantly obvious that the cage was barely big enough for the rest of her body. I tried desperately to cry out, but the best I could manage was a flicker of my lips and a hushed groan. My delicate hope was hanging by a thread as it marched behind the man with Izante’s cage, and before she completely disappeared, the leafeon’s turned away.

Soon enough, all of the cages were being carried by men all dressed the same. My large and bushy tail was poking out of all cracks in the cage I was in, and I was beginning to regain feeling in my legs again. Soon enough I was in full control once again, but I soon realise I was unable to stand due to the roughness of the man’s handling. Every time I tried to get onto my paws, I would be knocked straight back down again. It was another thing that made me feel helpless and weak.

I decided to pay attention to where I was being taken, so I looked ahead at the path in front of me. And it was astounding.

Hundreds of men, wearing the same black outfits, swarmed the area. They were everywhere! Their dirty clothing and hard faces told me they were all the same; they were followers of one another.

Apparently this area was the shore to the ocean, which stretched as far as my eyes could see. The men were all carrying one cage or more, which all held pokémon. Trees were scattered everywhere, because it was the edge of the forest, but the dirt was stale and dry. Nothing attractive grew—what vegetation there appeared to be was dry and soulless. Much like the humans themselves. ‘This must be where their proper camp is...’ I thought. Tents and human vehicles also occupied the premises, which supported my guessed theory.

One man, far ahead to the left, was holding a sneasel captive. She was a small, dark-coloured pokémon with one of her ears coloured pink—which was longer than the other one. The claws on her arms – two on each paw – looked sharp and deadly, while the two on her stout legs were no more than pins. A circular yellow orb both on her forehead and her chest glistened as she swayed by her carrier’s side, and three pink feather-like tails protruded from her lower back.

She hissed and swiped at her captor, nicking his shirt and tearing through it easier than a magikarp could lose a battle. The Team Rocket guy shrieked, dropping the cage. He cursed and yelled at the pokémon, kicking her cage several times to send it tumbling. The dark and ice type seemed to shake it off, looking hardly affected, and resumed her attempt to shatter the cage. The man then reached into his pocket and revealed the same device that shocked me into paralysis. I clenched my teeth.

‘Oh no...’ I thought as another bump from my carrier threw me over.

The man, completely without hesitation, shoved the electronic weapon in through a hole in the cage, and I watched in horror as the dual-typed pokémon sizzled and cried out in pain. I seriously thought that the man held his hand there for an entire minute, and after he finally stopped, the sneasel fell to her paws and knees. She cringed. “Learned your lesson yet?!” The Team Rocket man prodded the sneasel with the device, then pressed the button once more. For absolutely no reason whatsoever, the man shocked the pokémon for a second time, and s******ed at her suffering.

I boiled inside. He kept at it, and soon he was shocking the sneasel even after she had stopped moving. I couldn't help but to imagine her pain... It must have been excruciating considering she probably had no strength due to the poor conditions we were forced to survive in! And to be punished for wanting to return to her master sickened me, and stirred up my mind. If I could, I would have leaped to the pokémon’s rescue and happily defeated the man. But in my current state, it was clearly impossible—an unattainable goal.

Even if I did manage to break out of my cage, there was no way I would stand a chance against the number of enemies here. There were far too many bad humans in this place to even consider my chances...

**Suicune's Fire** · 08-17-2013, 07:23 AM

Chapter six: High Seas

I had my mind taken off the sneasel as I finally reached my destination: a huge wooden crate. It was aboard a giant ship, which held nineteen more of these—according to the man carrying me.

The man brought the cage up to his face, reached a fat hand in, and ripped off my most valuable possession: my chingling collar. My neck jerked down as he did so, and shortly after, the pain kicked in. He smiled greasily as he threw it to the ground, and I watched as he crushed it with his foot.

My eyes clouded over with fury. “My master bought that for me! How dare you!” I shouted at the human as he threw me into the crate, my cage scraping along the bottom and my fur getting caught between the metal and the wood. I knocked my head on the solid surface, and I screamed as one of my ears became wedged between my cage and the cage I had smashed into.

“You won’t be gettin’ outta there!” the man called, thankfully exiting the scene.

I whimpered as I felt the pain in my ear, and attempted to find a way to free it. I tugged at it once, but immediately regretted it as the pain surged through my ear. Deciding to endure the pain and keep pulling, I shut my weary eyes tightly. But it was no use, and for the sake of my pounding pain, I had to stop pulling.

I panted, my eyes still closed. I leaned my head against the metal bars as my limbs tensed under me. Just when I told myself I’d have to adapt to a trip forcing my trapped ear in place, I began to feel something strange. My eyes opened, revealing the scene before me. The wooden crate was turning! However, it only took me a few seconds to realise that it was me moving, not it! ‘Duh.’ I was turned over and my ear became free as I fell onto my left side with a thud. I shook my head, blinked a few times, and pushed myself up onto my paws again. My ear was finally unstuck, which made a feeling of relief relax my shoulders, and it didn’t take me long to wonder why. I turned to my right to investigate the reason for my fall, as I certainly hadn’t done it myself.

“S-sorry about the tumble,” apologised the pokémon inside the cage I was staring at. He seemed to shrink as he mumbled quietly, “I had to do it to get your ear free.” A smallish dinosaur-like pokémon had his long, green vines out. They trailed back to a giant bulb that rested on the pokémon’s back, which was also green. He had a large head with two triangle shaped eyes holding red irises. The pokémon was a light shade of blue with a tinge of green, and had darker green patches scattered in random places. He gave me a nervous smile as he waited to be either thanked or scolded—for whatever reason.

Looking this pokémon up and down, I recognised him as a ‘bulbasaur’. A few young pokémon trainers in the Kanto region would have them from the start of their journey. Commonly they would also have either an orange lizard pokémon who stood on two feet, or a cheeky blue turtle pokémon who was bald.

“That’s...alright,” I murmured. I was a little too focused on my pain to bother about giving a reasonable response to the stranger. However, he did do me a favour. “...And thanks,” I mentioned. He nodded shyly and sat his rump on the floor.

“Do you know...what’s happening?” I asked after a moment of silence. It was only then when I noticed we, along with about five others, were the only pokémon in the giant crate.

“I’m sorry...but I don’t know,” he mumbled. To this reply, I sighed heavily and tried to figure out why, in fact, we were being imprisoned. “But I think we have been captured, sorry to say. One second I was with my trainer...but now I’m here. The humans treated me roughly and without care. I’m...I’m scared of them,” the bulbasaur trembled, the fear in his eyes stressing his youth and timid nature.

“If they try to hurt you, you could use your vines to hold their arms or trip them over.” I gave him a faint smile. “Don’t be afraid of them.”

“B-but...they have those shocking things. A-and, us, as pokémon, aren’t supposed to attack humans. We’re bad if we attack them.” The bulbasaur had a panicking quality to his voice, and it showed as his fear began to speak for him.

“I believe that we’re allowed to attack them for our own self-defence. Just remember that the humans have no right to abuse us...” It felt weird thinking about abusive humans. I had only ever come across ones loyal to their pokémon, and in return their pokémon were loyal to them. Master never once mistreated me, and prior to now I hadn’t necessarily believed in humans such as the ones working for this ‘Team Rocket’.

I flinched as seven more cages were hurled into the crate, their occupants shrieking and crying out as they bounced against the hard wooden floor and metal of their cages. I flinched as every cage crashed to the floor; as every innocent, helpless pokémon were harmed. It began to build up. These pokémon were being hurt. “Bulbasaur!” I cried to the alarmed pokémon in the cage beside me. He looked me in the eyes with a frightened expression. “Use your vines to catch the cages!”

“B-but...that might hurt me! I-I’m sorry...I don’t think I can do it,” he retorted grimly.

“Would you rather try to help other pokémon with a small risk of you being slightly injured?” I snapped, my fur straightening out. I then blinked, as did the bulbasaur. I was getting pushy—and angry.

Another scream came closer as a different member of Team Rocket flung a cage in towards the other cages containing pokémon.

“Ahh! Quick! Catch that nidoran!” I pleaded, unable to stand another crash and shriek.

Long, green, almost string-like vines rapidly extended from under the bulbasaur’s bulb, and they stopped at the guessed landing spot of the cage. The cage continued through the air until it hit the vines, but as it did, both the cage and its supposed stopper plunged into the floor of the wooden crate, and the grass type pokémon beside me bellowed with a distressed cry.

‘Aw, geez—this kid is hopeless!’ I thought to myself as tears began to well in my neighbour’s eyes. His large mouth continued to let out an ear-piercing yell as I found myself feeling sorry for him, since it was my fault.

“Lift them up! You have to lift them up to free yourself!” I shouted at the bulbasaur, who was traumatized. It took few seconds to process, but the pokémon obeyed me as he heaved his thin vines up, standing the nidoran’s cage upright.

The vines dropped and retreated to their bulb as the bulbasaur continued to blubber. “Oowww!!” he whined. I could see that I had given him the wrong instructions. Maybe he was just too young to take the pressure and physical weight.

“Look...” I sighed impatiently, gathering myself. “I’m sorry. I got a little paranoid,” I guiltily explained.
I heard the bulbasaur beside me sniff and stop crying. He drew his vines near and inspected them. To me they seemed fine. It was probably just shock that affected the bulbasaur so.

“I’m...I’m alright,” he sniffed. “I forgive you, flareon. I think I was doing it wrong...” he replied with a red face.

“Dusty. M-my name’s Dusty,” I corrected. “My idea of catching the cages was to grab them while they were still airborne. It wouldn’t cause you any pain that way.”

“Oh...okay.” He seemed to lessen the sadness about him. “I can try that... But, my name’s Sed. It was the name my trainer gave me.”

“...Same. I was given to Master too early to have a name before-hand. She raised me since I was just a pup.”

“Oh. I’ve only been with my trainer for two weeks and...three days. He’s the only family I got,” Sed mentioned forlornly.

‘It must be terrible,’ I thought with sympathy. ‘He’s only been with his trainer for two weeks, and he’s already been separated from him...’

However, my thoughts were taken elsewhere as I heard another human approach. My ears perked up and stood high on my head as I stared with great interest at the entrance to the crate. “Sed...”

“I think I know what to do now.”

I turned to him. He gave a reassuring, cheek-raising expression. “You can do it. Just remember: catch them while they’re in flight,” I prompted. I shifted my paws to a more comfortable position as I watched in slight anticipation for a metal-barred box to enter the huge wooden crate at an unexpected speed. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” Sed answered. His focus was kind of questionable at first, but as the cage was tossed in towards us, he really proved himself as the vines reached out and caught the cage with little effort. The pokémon inside it opened her eyes after having them closed, and cheered as Sed set the cage down in front of us.

The pokémon’s body was a faint yellow colour, except for half of her ears, paws, cheeks and tail—which were all red. There was a cross pattern on her red cheeks, and her tail was shaped the same way. “Thanks for catching me!” she happily sung—or, at least, as happy as one could get given the situation.
“That’s okay. Glad...to help out,” Sed shyly responded.

“Incoming!” I broke the happy moment with my sudden word, my eyes trailing the new cube.
Sed looked past the plusle’s cage, hearing a grunt before another cage soared through the air. With a determined look on his greenish face, the bulbasaur outstretched his handy vines and snatched the cage out of the air.

I smiled both on the inside and the out. He was getting better! And with every new catch, Sed became more and more confident about his selfless actions, and he was swiping the cages one after another with reasonable ease. And pokémon after pokémon, I could see that he was happy with himself for doing something good.

***

Brown eyes set at half-mast in the far corner of the crate were locked on the two vines’ movement. The pupils moved back and forth as the vines caught and placed down each pokémon cage that was carelessly thrown into the wooden prison one at a time. The eyes belonged to a dark face which was somewhat rounded. A very small smile was placed at the bottom of the muzzle, which completed the being’s unreadable expression. Further up the face, past the eyes, were two smallish ears which match the eyes in size, and were also dark. His body was long and slender, and ended roundly and without a tail. The top half of the body, including most of the muzzle, was dark green—which was often mistaken for black. His underbelly and limbs were yellow, however. Two oval-shaped red polka dots were between his ears, and they showed up quite clearly. The same sort of spots appeared in a group of three at the rear—before the dark green colour rounded off and turned to a light, faded yellow.

The pokémon was sitting down, his front paws out in front while its chest sat up. “Hmm,” he began, “seems like this bulbasaur’s confidence has grown...” His theory was supported as the vines caught yet another cage which was about to collide with a different one on the floor. “Impressive... But he’s not the one with the brainy ideas. That flareon is instructing him... I wonder where she’s from.”

“I doubt it’s near,” interrupted a voice that came from behind him. “That flareon’s not from around here...”

The quilava moved his head coolly towards whoever spoke to him. He noticed a light blue body seated in about the same position as himself, who had long ears and a darker blue almost hat-like head piece. There were the same dark coloured blue socks on all of her paws, and she had dark blue marks on her back. Her swishing tail looked the same as two appendages coming from her headpiece, which ended in a darker blue diamond and drooped down on either sides of her face. She was a glaceon.

“Good observation,” the pokémon mentioned in response, looking back briefly.

Seconds went by, and the two pokémon continued to watch the green vines move around. However, one of the pokémon was getting impatient, her agitation growing by the moment. “Raiys!” the pokémon snapped. The pokémon she was talking to didn’t seem to flinch at all. “When are we getting out of here? I’m tired of being held in these cages, and it’s not necessary.”

“Soon enough, Azure. Once the humans load up the crate completely, we can break free.”

“We shouldn’t have to escape,” she growled.

“While at it...we should also free the other pokémon.”

“What? Why should we? They’re all just insignificant strangers,” Azure hissed, “and it’s not part of our mission! As a matter of fact, being in here isn’t part of the mission, either!”

“We could use their help. This capture is merely a minor hold up. And we’re quitting. Or have you forgotten?”

The glaceon narrowed her eyes. “No, I have not! Our last mission is to hunt that pokémon down and report his whereabouts. We should see to it instead of being held hostage.”

“Yes. After that...you and I part ways,” Raiys murmured. “I assume that you’ll be returning to your co—”

“Working with you has been a pleasure,” she muttered hastily. “Now let’s break free! Why do we have to wait?!”

“Calm yourself. Your icy body might melt if you grow any hotter with agitation. You could use some of that energy to help me set some pokémon free instead.” Raiys still kept his cool, speaking with a calm tone.

“I told you—we don’t need their help!”

“We need all the help we can get. Who knows how many Team Rocket grunts are out there who don’t know our identities?”

“Do what you want. But I’m sticking to escaping my way,” huffed the glaceon. “I can fight them off myself.”

“It’s a wonder why he hired you. Even I’m having trouble keeping you on your lead. And that’s saying something.”

The glaceon would have shuddered at the mention of her boss, but focused too much on Raiys’ comment. “I am no-one’s pet! My lead is far beyond broken, Raiys. And I was hired long ago...”

“Yes...your temper fires up too easily. I’m surprised you’re an ice type,” Raiys remarked. However, his supposed friend simply looked away, not wishing to listen to her fellow teammate. “It’s only a matter of time...”

***

Black shoes clapped against the hard ground, almost sounding like they were walking upon stone. Black clothes rustled and the red ‘R’ on the front became creased and almost unreadable. A man with high authority about him approached a large wooden crate aboard the large Team Rocket ship. He had a well-built body and was reasonably taller than the others around him. His facial expression – which suggested that he was always sneering – kept people from questioning his word.

As he neared the crate, he observed members of Team Rocket passing cages of pokémon from person to person, until it got to the crate entrance, which was only a tiny crack between two massive doors which nobody bothered to pay attention to. However, as the Rocket man was thrusting the cages into the crate, the man standing and observing him noticed something which made him mad. He tapped his foot until he realised it was, in fact, missing. “Why don’t I hear a clash?!” the angry Rocket member demanded.

“What?” scoffed the man tossing the cages. As he turned around, he regretted saying it immediately. The man he had spoken to with such disrespect in his tone was one of the Team Rocket admins.

The highly ranked man snatched the lower man by his shirt, and brought him close to his face. “Would you care to re-phrase that?” he growled.

“I m-mean, s-sir!” the young man stuttered, feeling completely terrified by the unwelcome visitor.

“Better,” replied the man with a raised right end of his lip, and a greasy tone, “but how about you answer the question?”

“Qu-question?”

“YES, fool! Why isn’t there a loud noise when you throw in the cages?! We don’t want these pathetic creatures to feel like they’re at home!”

The grunt swallowed hard, searching his mind for an answer. “U-um...I-I don’t know, s-sir.”

The admin tightened his grip, saliva seeping through his many teeth. “You pathetic WASTE OF SPACE!” he roared, his face radiating hatred. “I want them TREMBLING AT THE SIGHT OF TEAM ROCKET! NOW SEE TO IT!”

The intimidating Team Rocket member struck his victim across the face, then thrust him to the ground, hearing a thud as he landed. The smaller man scrambled up against the closest side wall of the crate, shaking and whimpering until his attacker spat and walked away. The frightened man slowed his breathing and reached to his eye where he had been punched. He could only see fuzzily through it, and when he pulled his hand away from to inspect it, red stained his dirtied gloves.

“Are you okay, man?” asked another random member. He bent over, placing down the cage he was holding, and attempted to tend to his colleague.

“Get OFF me!” he snapped, and the man who offered his help huffed, throwing the pokémon cage in himself. The man with the injured eye knew that the cage had been thrown into the large wooden crate, and he noticed something missing. “...He’s right... There’s no noise...”

***

“Get ready; another one!” I informed as an incoming cage appeared.

“SWIIII!” a pokémon cried as he soared through the air. The vines whipped (literally) into action, wrapping ‘round the swinub’s cage and holding it up in the air safely.

I smiled. This bulbasaur had really done a good job, and I intended to tell him.

“Thank you,” nodded a clogged-nose sounding small brown pokémon with stripes of black on his back.

“Hehehe...” Sed chuckled, still holding the cage in the air. I really thought he was having a great time. And with all these “thank you”s, he was bound to feel somewhat higher of himself than before.

I suddenly shrieked as a loud, ear-piercing screech echoed throughout the crate. A number of other pokémon cringed and squinted as it happened, and everyone turned their gazes towards the entrance. A rough looking man was hunched at the doorway, hanging one of his arms while the other one leaned against the door to the crate. His black clothes contributed to his unidentifiable silhouette as we stared, and I noticed Sed beginning to tremble.

The human stood with a rotten frown on his face and scanned the room as if searching for that someone to blame. But I was soon to find out that he was—and who that someone was. “YOU!” he boomed, directing a finger covered in black material at Sed and his frightened face. “YOU got me into trouble... This is YOUR FAULT!”

The man, looking like he was possessed with anger, drove himself into the crate. Sed screamed in both fear and confusion as he dropped the swinub’s cage and cowered at the back of his own. I stepped forward, my eyes widened and my chest puffed up. ‘I must protect him!’

The man reached for Sed’s cage, his hands progressing towards it in a frightening manner. However, it was then when I realised I couldn’t help my new friend—if I used my flamethrower attack, it would be more likely to hit Sed than to hit the man—who now had Sed’s cage.

In a desperate attempt to change the deranged human’s mind, I screamed, “NO,” and fired the flamethrower anyway. It powered through the bars of the cage and onto Sed, only mere embers jumping out to attack the Rocket member. I gasped horridly as I yelled out an apology, and screamed internally at myself for making a decision I knew would turn out horribly.

The man rammed spears into my eyes as he cast a wicked glare upon me, and I was beyond startled. “SHUT UP! You wanna be executed too?!”

I staggered backwards. ‘E-executed?!’

From Sed’s cage came another startling cry, and it killed me to hear him suffering while I stood helplessly and watched. I tackled into the bars surrounding me, but to no avail. I tried blowing scorching flames onto the metal, but still, nothing happened. I had come to assume that the cages, naturally, were pokémon-proof.

“Sed! I’m sorry! This is my fault!” I yelled to him, his eyes drowning in tears.

“WHY?!" wailed the green pokémon, his voice mangled with his whimpering despair. “Why did you do this to me?! I thought you were my friend!”

My pupils shrunk. Violent tingles ripped down my spine. My face became overpowered by the unrepairable guilt that plagued my very soul. I crinkled my nose and clenched my jaws together, the tears failing to contain themselves. My heart felt as if it had stopped beating, and it seemed to sink in my chest.

It was my fault, and I had let him down completely. How could I ever forgive myself?! ‘He’s gonna be killed because of me.’ I stabbed my claws into the metal floor, squeezing tears from between my eyelids. ‘BECAUSE OF ME!’

I slumped my body into a sitting position, hanging my head low as my tearful eyes followed my screaming friend out of the giant crate. I longed to do something...anything, but it was useless. He looked as if he would never feel happy—ever, ever again. And he wouldn’t.

As he disappeared from view, I couldn’t stop hyperventilating. In a matter of time he would be dead...because of me.

***

My eyes were shut. Emptiness lingered as meaningless throughs whizzed around inside my head. It had been roughly five hours since Sed was taken away, and he hadn’t come back. I knew he never would. All the pokémon were grateful to him for saving them from plummeting into the floor of the crate, but it would have been better for him to never have met me. He was surely... He had surely been executed by now. And for what—catching the cages of pokémon?! It was insanity! It was simply sick and despicable! And it made me feel more frightened and insecure. What kind of a monster would kill a pokémon? We were designed to battle, so being killed would take a whole lot more than a flamethrower and a tackle... Unless they used evil human ways.

The guilt that stirred inside of me made my breathing unstable. It made me only able lie on the ground with eyes that continuously dripped tears which were building up. The pain in my ear throbbed, but only reminded me of my horrible mistake. Even worse, it reminded me of Sed’s kindness, and how that was what got him killed.

During the more recent time of the five hours, the ship had departed, and the crate I was in was swarmed with cages. It must’ve been stacked up as high as three rhyperior—and I was on the bottom row. I truly hoped that the cages were strong enough to support the weight of so many pokémon. If not...then soon enough I would be as flat as a gengar who melted into a shadow.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself,” a calm voice interrupted my thoughts. “There’s nothing you could have done to stop it.”

I looked in the direction that it came from, and realised it was to my right—the cage beside mine. “You shouldn’t be listening to my thoughts,” I responded.

“It’s my job. If I don’t know what pokémon are thinking, how can I connect with them?”

“You don’t.”

“Haha, okay,” laughed the dark coloured fire type. However, I stayed quiet. I needed not to get involved with more pokémon I could possibly endanger... “Sorry to bother you. Just curious.”

“...Leave me alone,” I grumped, placing my chin on my paws and turning to face away from the quilava.

“Alright. Just thought you might like some help.” He didn’t seem to take offence, but instead he tried to lure me into talking to him again. ...And it worked.

“I don’t need help. What I need is some time to myself,” I mumbled, not bothering to look at him or take my head off my paws to be heard clearly.

“Sure looked like it earlier,” he stated. To this I twitched, and felt something make me frown. I clenched my teeth, automatically assuming he was talking about...the bulbasaur... “When your tackling didn’t seem to do anything but give you a headache.”

My tense feeling released. He was talking about me trying to escape, not about Sed. ‘...Wait...’ I realised. “What?” I asked, this time actually raising my head and facing him. My eyes darted from his right one to his left as a sly grin spread across the left of his face (from my point of view). The grin vanished, being replaced with a regular smile, and he nodded casually. “Are you planning to escape?” I questioned, the tone in my voice suggesting that the task was impossible.

He chuckled. “Yes.”

I really had no time for a jester. “...How?”

“Like...this.” One of the quilava’s claws fiddled around with the lock on the outside of the cage.

‘Oh yeah, that’s really gonna work,’ I thought sarcastically, nearly turning back to my paws.

Before I could say anything though, a small click sounded. “Ah-huh!” My eyes were wide with disbelief as the quilava then rammed into the cage door, and he stumbled out, falling onto his side.

“How the hell did you get out?!” I questioned.

The quilava lifted himself onto his paws and shook off. “I’ve been working on breaking this lock for hours. Lucky I have sharp claws, right?” he chuckled, smiling.

“Can you—can you get me out?” I asked with a slight frown and urgency.

“Hm, I don’t think so. I had been working on that for a while.”

To that response my ears dropped and my eyes became covered by a disappointed frown. I noticed him smirk.

“...However... If I can’t do it, I know who can,” he mentioned, causing my head to rise again and look at him.

Doing the last thing I expected, the quilava leaped onto a nearby cage which was poking out slightly from the stack, and continued making his way up to near the top rows. I couldn’t follow him for very long though, especially because I didn’t particularly want to look directly up from me. I was looking underneath a green and white pokémon... Let’s just say...it wasn’t the prettiest aspect of a kirlia.

As I was distracted about trying to find a way to keep track of where the quilava was going, a large explosion sounded. Many pokémon whipped their heads in the direction of the noise, including me, and before I found out what it was, a figure dropped down in front of me. In his mouth was a rather large seed.

“What’s that?” I questioned in a curious but also suspicious manner.

“I suggest shielding yourself.”

Slightly annoyed that the fire type ignored my question, I pulled my tail in front of me as I pressed myself against the back of the cage—which was barely different from the front’s space, considering the cage’s size.

A blur of yellowy colouring flew towards me—and frankly, I wasn’t expecting what happened next.

KABOOM!

The sudden explosion caught me completely off guard, and I shrieked as the sound carried out through the huge wooden crate. Lucky I had covered my ears.

As the smoke cleared, and several pokémon coughed and spluttered, I began to stare at the small hole that was only a few seconds ago not there. The silver metal around it had blackened, and it looked fragile and hot. That’s when the quilava dropped from above.

“That, Miss Flareon, is a blast seed,” he answered, smiling coolly with his eyes half shut.

***

A Team Rocket grunt snored loudly as his inanimate body lay slumped against one of the many large crates. His snoring would surely have disturbed anyone in close range. Drool dripped from one corner of his mouth while the other emitted the loud noise. His rough hair was carelessly shoved under a grubby hat which was pulled over his eyes, and his clothes were stained and stinky. The saliva slipping between his lips gathered in a small pool on his shirt, which was propped up because of the position he was ‘lying’ in.

A sudden explosion type of noise woke him with a start. His hat fell off his head as he jumped, and the drool trailed down the side of his top.

“Uh, what, what?” he uttered in a low, dopey tone. His hat brushed against his side as he brought his hat up, plonking it back on. He glanced around the place, expecting to see someone nearby with something like dynamite or a gun. This face searched around the premises, and only after did he get up to poke his head around the closest corner. He waited.

After seeing nothing strange, he sat back down in the same spot and lowered his eyelids. Again looking around to make sure nobody was looking, he lay back up against the wall of the crate, drifting off once more.

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

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