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

[Suicune's Fire]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Please free us!” someone else pleaded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Is this yours?” he asked me.

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

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

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

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

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

“Sure,” he replied.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

***

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

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

“Watch it!” I growled, flaring up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“...Why?” I asked with a flat tone.

“Well...partners in our work.”

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

“Hostile?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

KABLAMO!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The bigger, the better!” Pokol chuckled.

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

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

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

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

“You got a name?” I asked unenthusiastically.

“Reaver. Nice to meet you.”

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

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

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

“...Yes,” he replied.

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

“Smart theory.”

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

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

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

“...Yes.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Revenge is not justice.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oooo!” the crowd around him bellowed.

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

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

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

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

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

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Eight: Fighting for Freedom

All of the pokémon had now laid their eyes on me, staring intently. I was finally beginning to think that I was gaining respect, and I suddenly felt more important. “You all want to escape, and because of that, I know you’ll help me complete the task willingly. But for this to work, I need your full cooperation and you all need to listen to my instructions!” I glanced around, seeing some pokémon here and there looking doubtful. Some were intrigued by my words, and probably thought that my plan was a small flame still illuminating their shallow pools of hope.

I felt sorry for most of them, actually. Pokémon who were presumably respected and honourable, standing by the sides of their trainers were now attempting to gain shelter in their shells of negative thoughts and impossible ambitions.

But not me. I wouldn’t stand to be pushed around by the apparent superiors who call themselves Team Rocket. Did they seriously expect to catch Dusty the flareon without a struggle? I may have been weak back there in the water with Izante and we were ambushed by the oversized fossil, but on land I can kick serious behind. Especially that of some amateur humans. And with the whole room overflowing with pokémon, we stood a perfect chance against them all.

I was yet to discover how many Rockets patrolled the top of the ship—or however many were on the entire sea vessel, but I was sure we could conquer and defeat them all. Deaths in the process were the cost of freedom, and I was more than willing to accept that. It was a horrible fate, but we would die with dignity still in our hearts. Because it was the last chance we had. And to survive, you must be willing to sacrifice.

I wasn’t the only one to assume that there were other crates just like this one onboard, and if that was correct – and I knew it was – then there would be all the more pokémon to help us battle our way out of here. However, that also meant more pokémon to free. And I would have to issue a battle plan. If everyone followed my suggestions and commandments, we might just be able to pull it off. But...you can’t put a poliwag straight into hot water—you have to gradually heat it up.

“Ghost pokémon! What kind of ghost pokémon do we have in here?” I called out, my voice echoing throughout the crate which was now silent. I had climbed up onto Luck’s shoulders to see from a higher perspective. We’d piled some cages on top of one another so I had a wide view, and I assumed that most could see me. “Just raise your paw...or tentacle, or fin, or claw, or flipper, or hoof, or hand, or tail, or foot, or crest, or—” I stopped as a lone purple hand rose. It was floating—not connected to an arm. It belonged to someone near the back of the middle of the group, and the pokémon rose from the crowd.

He stared at me with large eyes planted either side of his jagged mouth, one of his two hands coming down by his side, curled over and with three pointed fingers. “Well?” I started. “Come on up here.” The deep purple haunter floated through the crowd, the harmless spikes protruding from the sides of his body brushing against the occasional pokémon, before levitating to my side and facing the audience. “Anyone else? Come on, there can’t just be one ghost type in this whole bunch.”

“I-I’m ghost type,” a voice admitted. It sounded low and dopey—the kind of voice you would expect to hear from someone who had a master he always followed around. A five-fingered grey hand popped up from about the second row. A browny-grey body with horizontal black lines across his body stood on two stubby legs without paws or feet. There was a singular eye placed near the top of the egg-like-shaped pokémon, and on top of his head was a thin cloud of browny-cream fluff that flew behind it.

“Come on up,” I prompted, and the dusclops followed my directions. “Okay, now: which of you can go through walls?”

“W-walls?” the dusclops questioned, stuttering a little.

“Yes, walls. You know—those tall plastery things that keep houses and other structures together?”

“...I can,” the haunter said, his eyes almost looking through my own.

“Good,” I began, leaning over Luck’s large paws and dropping on my own front two. “I have a plan. If you can get through that wall there,” – I signalled to the broad wooden wall that had two large doors which were bolted down – “and you hide in the shadows until the humans aren’t looking, you can attack the lock on the doors. If I’m correct, the doors could then swing open and we’d all be free!”

Hearing my plan and probably figuring it to be one that might work, the crowd of pokémon began cheering and beaming. As happy as I was to see them like this, I had to shut them up again.

“Guys, GUYS!” There were a few voices muttering bitterly to each other, eying me, but I heaved another sigh and ignored them. “Thinking ahead here!” I turned back to the floor, my mind sorting through possibilities. “Hm... All bird pokémon, please make your way to the right of the room.” Presumably waiting for someone else to make the first move, nobody fluttered an inch. “...Hello? Come on!” Muttering once again and hesitating to do so, the huge group of pokémon all shuffled to the side in order for the flying types to bunch in one area. “My right. Not yours!” I restated, and they all stopped. Beginning to change their course, I called out again. “Wait! Don’t worry about it now.” I closed my eyes and brought my face down to the paw I raised. Master used to call this ‘face-palming’. Once the pokémon had come to the appropriate place, I sighed again—this time with relief. “Alright, now, you lot: as soon as we get out there, fly to the shore to find things like rocks to bring back and attack the humans with.” I hoped that this was a good idea, but since the humans possibly had guns, they could hurt the pokémon. “Hm...but, in any way possible, tempt the humans to bring out any flying types of their own. If their pokémon are in the air with you, then they probably won’t want to take their guns and shoot you in case their pokémon are struck.”

With a huff, one honchkrow opened her short yellow beak. “That’s suicide! What happens if they do shoot at us, hmm?” She had her fluffy white chest puffed up, and the hat-like feature on the top of her head made her look more ‘proper’.

“Yeah!” another pokémon shouted, and, soon enough, they were all crowing again.

“I don’t think this will work...” muttered another sadly. “It sounds scary!”

Near the back of the group of bird pokémon, an altaria – who had large, cloud-like wings and blue feathers – turned to a pelipper which sat with his gaping yellow beak. “Ha! I’m just going to fly away and not come back. What’s the point in returning?!”

The pelipper laughed, exclaiming, “I was thinking the same thing! That flareon’s plan is ridiculous, anyway. It’ll never work. Don’t know what in the world she’s thinking.”

“What about all those pokémon who would just fly away and not return?” a voice in the non-flying type bunch queried. I simply scoffed and a sour expression formed upon my face.

“Any kind of sick-minded selfish flying rat that chooses to do such a thing won’t be going to the nicer of the two Afterworlds. They’d be leaving us all! They’ll live to carry in their hearts a great deal of guilt.” I glared at the bird pokémon with a threatening frown. If that didn’t shut them up, then I don’t know what did. After a few seconds of silence, I changed the topic. “All vine whip users—throw the humans off board, along with any pokémon that try to oppose us! Pokémon with confuse ray—confuse them until they can be confused no more! Pokémon with quick attack, speed charge or agility—use your speed to your advantage! By the way,” I turned to the haunter beside me, “you’ll have to repeat all this to the pokémon in the other crates before you break their locks.”

“B-but...how can I remember all that you’ve just said?”

“...Hm... Can you go through walls with other pokémon?” I asked.

“O-only one,” he replied.

“Good enough!” My eyes jumped flying pokémon’s heads until I came across a black one that resembled a music note. “You, chatot!”

“Yeah?” came a reply.

“Come up here, will ya?”

Hopping along the wooden, muck covered floor, the music note pokémon cocked his head to the side once stopping in front of me. “What?”

“Chatter.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re excused. Chatter,” I repeated.

“Ch-chatter?” he questioned.

“Chatter! Use your move, chatter. This haunter will take you through the wall and into all of the other crates so you can repeat what I’ve said. That way, everyone in the other crates’ll know what to do if they haven’t already figured it out, and he won’t have to remember anything I’ve said.”

“What?! I’m not doing that! It’s putting me in danger!”

A wicked “HA!” escaped my mouth, making the chatot withdraw slightly, and by the look on his face that held a pink beak, he began to use the move out of fear. “You think that nobody else is going to be in danger?” I turned around, looking Luck in the eyes and he held out his paws. I pounced onto them and followed my route to his right shoulder. “Listen!” I commanded. “This is not a game! Neither is it a guarantee that everyone is going to escape unharmed...or even alive.” I turned to the flying pokémon. “If you lot think you’re in more danger than the rest of us, you’re wrong! Every one of us is going to be fighting for our lives. If a bullet from the humans’ guns is fired at any of us land pokémon, we’ll be more likely to be hit than any of you! Team Rocket humans will have more land than sky pokémon. That means we will be the ones being injured the most!” I stood proudly and high as I made my speech, and I watched as some of the bird pokémon turned away with shame. “I want you to all understand that we have to work as a team and co-operate if we want this to work out. The humans are going to put up a fight...and we must counter it with all we've got.”

Just then, a moan drew everyone’s attention and gave half the pokémon near it a start. Realising it was the Team Rocket man, I continued to watch what they did next.

“AAHHH!” exclaimed a spinda nearby, using a dizzy punch with her right, red paw to hit his face. A beedrill, who had zipped over from the flying type group, hastily thrust one of her pointed needles through the man’s chest, instantly killing him with a sickening squish. The man had no time to react, and couldn’t possibly have seen what was coming.

My jaw dropped and my eyes widened as I held a breath in my throat. I didn’t know what to do about it whilst standing there, but the scene ended with me having a single thought. ‘Many Team Rocket members and pokémon are bound to be killed... That man could have been one possible murderer of someone in this room if he had lived...’

***

“So you know what you’ve gotta do?” I asked, attempting to comfort the unsure pokémon to my left. He nodded slowly, hands on either side of two blue, folded-up-and-by-the-side-of-a-body wings. “Go!” I commanded, and the nervous haunter seemed to melt into the wooden wall without a trace. I was left staring at the spot that it vanished into, reassuring myself that the pokémon had done what I had said. And by keeping solely to the shadows, he would surely be able to stay hidden.

I turned back around to the large cluster of fellow pokémon. They all seemed fidgety and biting their lips in anticipation. I didn’t blame them, though. I bothered Luck to give me a boost once more and addressed the pokémon in the crate. “Once he gets back...we’re movin’ out!” I yelled enthusiastically, attempting to crank up the morale.

“YEAH!” everyone cheered; I saw some smaller pokémon be tossed into the air—probably by pokémon who didn’t have anything else to throw. My eyes widened, but I said nothing as I stepped back down.

***

Outside, human men patrolled the area, poké balls here and there on belts. Most of them had black bulging bum-bags hanging at their waists as well. Their uniforms were dirty put neat and repelling yet enticing.

Once a Rocket member with a straight face marched by, the nervous haunter bearing a flying friend slipped into the man’s shadow so as not to be noticed. The ghost type was glad to be a haunter. Haunter and gengar could melt into shadows and basically become part of them. The chatot was also brought into the human’s shadow, being masked by the haunter. However, unknown to the ghost type, he was covering not all of the bird pokémon.
Passing by another member of Team Rocket, the haunter hovering to keep up with the shadow removed a hand from one of the chatot’s wings, reaching up to scratch its face. With the other hand, he held the uncomfortable pokémon against his body. Unknowingly the chatot—who was told not to move—came into view a little.

The minion stared with a frown at the man’s shadow, confused to be looking straight at a pink beak that seemed to be floating. He blinked repeatedly, and when the man rounded a corner, the perplexed grunt followed. Once he peeked his head around the side of the crate, however, he saw nothing following his fellow Rocket member. Figuring it was due to lack of sleep, the man shrugged and returned to his post.

‘Phew! That was close...’ thought the haunter, the chatot agreeing without hesitation.

“This one!” the chatot whispered, straining to be heard over the bickering of humans and waves of the sea while simultaneously trying to stay quiet.

Making his way to the closest crate, the haunter timed his exit perfectly, slipping into the wall with the chatot cringing, not understanding how it was possible to do so.

***

For the fifth time so far, pokémon in their cages began to yell and pout, trying to interrogate the random free haunter and chatot. The two positioned themselves near the front of the crate where a thin strip of space fit them nicely, and the haunter cringed as his rather loud comrade began to speak over the loud uproar.

“Shut up, shut up! Listen to me at once!” the chatot exclaimed. The pokémon seemed to continue shouting, but after the flying type screamed out something about him and his partner being able to free them all, the bunch quietened down to a soft mumbling. “You have been here for a long time, trying to break free. None of you have succeeded! That is because the cages are pokémon-proof on the inside and can only be broken from the outside. The crate that this haunter and I come from is filled with as many pokémon as there are in here, but a flareon has spoken up and issued a plan to free us!” The pokémon cheered and the chatot could see that a lot of them jiggled with excitement while others sighed with relief. “I will now repeat a speech made by the flareon with my special move, chatter. It’s quite long and some of you near the back may have to listen hard!”

***

“All young pokémon are to be evacuated by flying and water types! This should ensure that they all get to safety. All fish pokémon are to be set into the water before it’s too late for them! Break this formation and you forfeit the plans for safety and freedom. Good luck, and may the Legendaries watch over you!” The end of a pre-recorded speech spoken by the fire type left pokémon of the other crates with hope. The flame in their eyes was relit, enlightening their thoughts and paths. Belief and courage arose within them, causing their breathing to become deeper and their claws sharper. Their hearts seemed to lift again, the unmistakable beating of each loud and clear.

The blue-winged pokémon who was now strongly for the escape plan slashed at cage locks with wing attack and peck, followed by sucker punches and hidden powers from the haunter. Cage after cage and crate after crate, pokémon were released. They were all excited beyond what they had been in days or possibly weeks, and filled with the appropriate attitude.

Finally the seventh crate came, and the haunter was relieved to finally be attending to the last few. He and the chatot had been at this for at least three or so hours; it was a painful process.

At one stage they were forced to wait for over twenty minutes for the path from one crate’s shadow to the next to be safe from the humans patrolling the area. He and the chatot knew that it was vital that they stay hidden. In another crate, a pokémon had died from malnutrition amongst other things, and the other pokémon were not only complaining about it, but insisting that that haunter throw the body overboard, for they demanded that it be ridden of, and he could not leave it in the open where it could be seen. Therefore he’d been forced to take care of that, no matter how much he resisted, which had slowed he and his partner.

Held in a cage at the front of the bottom row, a tan coloured figure sat with her head on her brown paws. She had large green ears atop her head and a green leaf-like, jagged tail that was wrapped around her body. The haunter had noticed that at the mention of a brave flareon, the leafeon had raised her head almost in surprise. He pretended not to pay her any attention, but secretly kept a pupil on her. Figuring she must’ve known the flareon, he approached her after the speech had subsided.

“Do you...know that flareon?” he wondered, a little shy about talking to her.

The leafeon stared at him for a moment. “Uhh...yes. I...I think so.” She swallowed and looked down, then back up. “Is she okay?”

“Yes, yes, fine. She...c-came up with the plan,” he replied calmly. Pokémon around him momentarily snatched his focus as they screeched for liberation and wriggled impatiently, including two other pokémon in the same cage as the leafeon. The ghost type frowned before she spoke again.

“I gathered that,” she mentioned. The haunter had a feeling she was trying not to sound rude so as not to start conflict of any kind rather than in an effort to be polite to him.

“O-oh,” the haunter mumbled. Deciding the conversation ended there, he then readied a hidden power attack, closing his eyes and pressing his hands together. He looked as if he was building up pressure of some kind, only to release it when he brought his hands apart again. White spherical orbs of light were thrust out from his body and sent soaring horizontally until they came in contact with metal locks that were rusted and clamped shut. Four at once were destroyed, and the remains of the metal blocks clinked against the ground as they dropped.

Cage doors swung open, a number of pokémon swarming out of each one. This surprised the haunter, as this was the first crate which held more than one pokémon in a single cage. He figured since it was the last one, space must have been tight and therefore the humans were forced to cram as many into these cages as possible.

One of the pokémon in the cages that was liberated was the grass type. She stood up cautiously and then slipped out of the cage, the two other pokémon having exited before her, and she seemed happy to be out. Instead of thanking the haunter, the pokémon ran straight to a large buff coloured pokémon. The feline pokémon strode out of his cage, acting like he was of high importance and shook off, closing his eyes as he did so. As the haunter analysed him briefly, he noted that he was the evolved form of a meowth—a persian. The rounded red gem on his forehead glistened as his small ears, similar to a meowth’s, straightened upon spotting his new company. His whiskers were smaller than his pre-evolved form, but his sleek talk with a curled end was nearly the same.

“Talyn!” exclaimed the leafeon as she dashed over by his side. She began to rub against the side of the persian’s neck, and the pokémon himself looked down at her, closing his own eyes and rubbing against her head.

“Izante,” he replied in a straight-forward kind of voice. Once they stopped nuzzling, he continued to look at her, not spying the haunter from the corner of his eye.

More and more pokémon spewed from their cages as time passed, and they anxiously rushed to other ones to help break more locks. The haunter saw many different pokémon—small ones, tall ones, brown ones, blue ones... He could’ve seen about fifty by now. But one thing that caught his attention was not the fact that there were so many pokémon, nor was it that the chatot he had escorted endlessly severed locks on cages and the cages themselves, but it was a small discussion going on in the far left corner piled with cages that were unoccupied.

Curious, the ghost type neared the two pokémon he had seen before with lowered voices. He melted into the shadows of the many cages, concealing himself slyly.

“That flareon...is that not the same flareon you have known for years?”

“I think that’s her,” Izante responded. She didn’t seem excited as such, and she said it in an emotionless tone.

“Are you going to be escaping with her?” he questioned.

“I...I have to. ...I do have obligations...and she’s...my friend,” the leafeon stated, raising her voice a little.

“Shh! We don’t want to be heard!” the persian hushed, checking his surroundings to ensure he wasn’t being watched. Upon seeing this, the haunter crept a little closer, still invisible in the casting shadows. “Friend? Don’t tell me...” The persian shook his head disapprovingly. However, he took another path. “She’s going to get in our way!” The grass type, absorbing the reality, sighed heavily, looking completely unsure of what to do. A sort of helpless expression found its way to her features, winding itself between her facial fur.

“Haunter!”

The sudden voice shook the likes of the purple ghost pokémon as he eavesdropped, almost knocking him out into the open where he would be spotted by the secretively chatting duo.

“Haunter, where in the world are you?! Report here at once! We must move on!” the chatot squawked, flapping his wings with intolerance.

Sighing much like the leafeon he had just examined, the haunter made an effort not to come into the view of anyone until he popped up behind his partner. “I’m here...” he stated, barely above a whisper, levitating behind the flying type. The chatot jumped, fluttering his blue wings once more before recomposing himself and straightening his feathers.

“Don’t do that again!” he huffed, shaking his head briefly. “Let us be off at once,” he demanded, basically handing himself over to the haunter.

“Alright...” the pokémon agreed, wrapping his detached hands around the pokémon’s wings. Effortlessly the haunter turned and dissolved into the wall, noting from the corner of his eye that those two suspicious pokémon were once again snuggling. It made him shudder, wondering why they were doing such a disturbing thing, and began to set his mind back on the task ahead: to free the last of the pokémon!

***

With the haunter and the chatot having returned some time later, I was grinning with satisfaction. All the crates had pokémon craving freedom running around in them—almost how it was supposed to be. ‘And to think that I was once lying in my cage without any sort of plan...’ The thought made me realise something: I had come up with this plan, and so far it was working. With the help and support of fellow pokémon, I had successfully managed to rid every pokémon on the ship of their wicked imprisonment stages and to bring them all justice. Now there was just one thing left to do before the attack—break the massive locks on the crates.

Spirits were high, and I knew that the right time to make our move was nearing. Although most of the pokémon – including me – were half-starving as a result of a lack in nourishment, I hoped we would hold up. As pokémon, I assumed us all to be tough. After all, a lot of us would naturally live in extreme weather. Ice types would live in the icelands raging with constant blizzards; most fire pokémon could withstand extreme heat temperatures – even fire itself – and rock types dealt with solid and difficult ground, treacherous mountains and the waterless underground.

“We all good?” I asked, raising my voice to be heard. The pokémon who were sorted out into groups shouted in response, cheering and roaring with excitement and agreement. They, like me, waited in anticipation for the right moment to strike. I had sent out the haunter again – this time by himself – to go around to all of the other nine crates spread throughout the massive ship to ensure that they were all ready and to then break their locks once ours was broken. Whilst he was gone, I had really gotten the crowd pumped.

“Nice work,” a voice praised, not as loud as the noise surrounding me. I knew who it was and smiled without rotating my head in his direction. A sly grin crept across my face.

“Thank you, Raiys. I thought so myself,” I chuckled, not boasting, but saying it humourously. He also chuckled, padding to stop beside me.

“I’m eager to get out of here. You really have done the pokémon of this crate a big favour,” he added, nodding.

“Aw, well, I couldn’t have done it without your motivation and Pokol’s blast seeds.”

“Heh,” he chuckled again, acknowledging the fact that what I had said was true.

Smiling at him friendlily, I happened to notice that there was someone behind him. It was a canine pokémon like myself, but slightly larger and had blue fur. My facial expression changed instantaneously, and a frown fell onto my face out of nowhere. ‘Oh—HER,’ I thought with bitterness. It was Azure—the glaceon with something against me.

“Raiys, let’s group with the other pokémon,” she butted in, facing him and speaking as if I wasn’t there.

The quilava blinked a few times, just registering that she was there and speaking to him. “We will not be in the same elemental group,” he told her, but to the statement, Azure continued to insist, however, clearly thinking something of snatching him from me. My face grew even more contempt, and I tried to talk over her pointless ranting.

“Raiys, stay here. We’re not ready to go yet!” I snarled at her, leaking smoke from my nostrils.

“No—” she started, throwing a harsh contemptuous sneer at me. “Follow me. I am your partner.”

“HEY!” I exclaimed, getting her attention. “He chooses! He was here with me first!” I formed a defensive battle stance, and, to my surprise – but at the same time, expectations – she, without warning, shot an ice beam at my face. It struck me head on, and I was forced to keep my eyes bound and endure the attack whilst standing my ground.

“Azure, stop it!” commanded Raiys, making a move to leap out in front of the attack. However, before he could do so, the glaceon broke off the attack.

Pieces of frost flew as I shook off once the beam faded, but it had taken a bigger toll on me than I had expected. Not because of the strength of an ice type attack like that, but because I was already weak. I flared up, fire enveloping my body until I released the pressure, and I blinked. It felt warm again, as did my toes and tips on my ears. After that was over I threw daggers at her in a piecing glare. “YOU—”

I heard the patter of pawsteps before a body appeared before my own. “You okay?” the quilava asked. I nodded, glaring past him at the stubborn and unfriendly glaceon who had seemed to look down on me with the sense that I was inferior to her.

“Dusty! There you are!” called out someone from behind. My gaze was torn from Azure to a black, blue-ringed figure approaching. He seemed somewhat relieved to have found me, and I noticed that in his wake was the same species of pokémon that had stepped on my paw a while ago.

“Hey...” I grumbled, finding that his face seemed overpowered with worry. “What’s wrong?”

“You have to come quickly! There’s a crazed sandslash holding a ralts hostage!” he explained, a serious expression upon his face.

“WHAT?!” I yelped, confusion smacking me in the face much like the ice beam had.

“You have to hurry; he’s injured her badly!”

“Oh, for—” I left my sentence there, taking off with Reaver delaying before tailing me.

As we were running, the umbreon called out to me, “He said he wanted our leader to come forward, so, since you came up with the plan, I assumed he meant you!”

To that statement I managed to smirk quietly to myself. He had referred to me as the leader... I didn’t think I’d ever be considered the head of a group or anything of the sort. But, then again, it wasn’t some really important one. Focusing back on the matter at paw, I scowled, hoping he hadn’t done too much damage as of yet. ‘Gahh, I wonder if it’s that Wulua kid again...’

I almost slipped several times on muck and waste on my way there, running as fast as I could with pokémon everywhere. I was constantly dodging creature after creature, and a few times I had banged into a couple, and I heard Reaver apologise for me as he passed them behind me.

Once coming into the opening of a large circle of pokémon near the very back of the crate, Reaver and I having come from the front, I stuck out my paws and skidded to a halt a few metres in front of the sandslash who tightened his grip at the sight of me. As my dark type friend and the grotle slowed to a stop behind me, I began to assess the situation.

It was Wulua.

“Stay back!” the ground type demanded, the claws on one of his paws laid across a ralts’ neck. The ralts’ head was drooping, and I could clearly tell that she was unconscious. I knew I had to take this seriously—considering that a pokémon had already fainted. If he had used a number of attacks on her to knock her out, I knew that it was very possible for him to be now able to kill her with his claws. And if I made the wrong move, he could easily extinguish the psychic type’s life.

“Wulua! What are you doing?!” I blurted out, spreading my front legs further apart.

“Why are we still here?!” he yelled at me, his eyes drained of their sanity. I recoiled a little at his aggressiveness, wondering what had driven him into such a state—but it then popped into my head as the most obvious thing currently on my mind It was surprising not everybody had flipped out by this stage. “Answer me!” he hollered, raising his muzzle. Pokémon around me flinched, waiting for me to step in.

“W-we have to wait for the haunter to come back,” I calmly replied, my mane settling down a little. Maybe if I remained relaxed, he wouldn’t feel as threatened.

“NO! Not wait, now! We have to get out NOW!!” he shouted hysterically, actually worrying me a little.

“Look, just calm down! He’ll be back soon,” I tried to reassure, my voice a little stressed. However, I knew I wasn’t telling the full truth. I had no idea when the ghost pokémon would return—but now, I hoped it was sooner than I had originally predicted.

“Shut up! Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!” He pressed his long, sharp claws into the Ralts’ neck, and my eyes widened.

‘A little more pressure and he could pierce her skin.’ I kept silent, watching him breathe heavily; He looked ready to explode into a rage-induced frenzy. However, when he started twitching his eyes, I had to say something. “What is it that you want?” I quietly asked, attempting to hide the frightened and/or agitated side of me.

“I want to get OUT OF HERE! I’m SICK of being held hostage by this wooden prison!” I then lowered my eyes, finding him a hypocrite. He was doing himself and everyone around him a disservice.

“We all do,” I mentioned. “We all want to get out...” He kept up his breathing, but before he could speak, I decided to go about it another way. “...If only that stupid haunter would hurry the hell up!”

Wulua seemed to frown a little at my sudden attitude fluctuation, but the stress in his face loosened up just a little. “What’s taking him SO LONG?!”

“You’re right! Doesn’t he care about us?!” I pretended to fire up. I turned to the pokémon around me, widening my eyes to enforce my encouragement for them to join in.

“He’s too selfish to help us!” Wulua accused, the spikes on his back lowering.

“All he cares about is taking FOREVER!” I droned, rolling my eyes. By this stage a few more pokémon had joined in, and I smiled on the inside. My plan was working.

“He’s a brainless ghost type!” he rumbled, distraction clouding his head as the pokémon in his claws slowly slid away.

“Yeah! What’s the matter with him?!” A look of disgust that passed across my face apparently edged on the sandslash.

“I want to get out!” he roared.

“Well, attacking the wall will help. Your claws are so strong!”

The ralts was now lying on the ground, and the sandslash’s arm had dropped with her. Without a word, Wulua glanced behind him. The wall was less than four metres behind him, and as tempted as he was, suspicion kept him from releasing his prisoner and going for the jackpot.

I readied my paws as the insane pokémon considered his chances, beginning to look as if he was about to ignore his protective instincts and stick with those that told him that he wanted to escape and he would do anything to fulfil that goal. Midway in pondering over what he should do, the sandslash turned away towards the wall.

Seizing the opportunity, I lunged at the pokémon with a soundless push-off, opening my jaw and pointing my small claws at him. With a screech from my opponent, I knocked us both to the ground, and the sandslash released his grip on the fainted ralts completely. We tumbled to the end of the crate, smacking against the wall. However, much to my dismay, I was the one who slammed against it, and Wulua was in front of me. He rolled onto his back, shook, and got to his feet.

I ducked with a yelp as he thrust a clawed paw at the wall—however, since it couldn’t be harmed from the inside, the claws were forced to change direction to downward, a cry emitting his mouth as a cringed. With his other paw, however, he swiped at me without hesitation, striking me in the gut. I gasped, but rapidly generated a weak shadow ball before sending it spiralling at close range into the pokémon’s face. Luckily it made him vulnerable for a few moments, and quickly I glanced to my wound. It was only a scratch on the surface, thankfully.

I pounced past him, then turned to face him as my paws skidded against the wood and muck, and leaped at him with a bite—big mistake. I rammed into his spikes, causing my body to take the shock and clunk against the ground. I shook off, barely being hurt by it as they folded rather than speared me, and I jumped backwards as he suddenly swung at me with his paws yet again. Countering it with a leer attack, my piecing glare made him have to cover his eyes as if a bright light had just shone into them. Letting his guard down by mistake, I cast a flamethrower in his direction, searing the pokémon only to the point of unconsciousness. Collapsing in a heap of defeated sandslash, Wulua fainted on the floor.

“...That haunter is trying his hardest.” I narrowed my eyes and exhaled in a long puff before hearing a number of worried pokémon storm over to us.

“Dusty!” called one of them. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, fine,” I simply replied. I smiled slightly, happy that my plan had worked, but it vanished quickly as I remember that Wulua had officially gone off the sanity scale—and it seemed like nothing could make him return to a safe state of mind, posing a difficult decision as to what to do with him. “Somebody watch him,” I commanded, turning around to whoever was there.

The umbreon beside me nodded to several pokémon around me—two ninjask who were cicada-like pokémon of assorted colours. Nodding, they followed orders and buzzed over to the inert ground type. Among them was also a loudred – a blue pokémon with an enormous mouth with two ears that looked as if they absorbed sound – and a shuckle who had a red shell with white rings where the holes for her long, yellow legs and neck were.

I strode over to the unconscious ralts, gathering that she looked in a somewhat fine state. I examined the pokémon briefly and nudged her. She didn’t move straight away, so I took her small body softly within my jaws and trotted over to the nearby grotle standing with Reaver. I plonked her onto his shell-armour, and his umbreon friend nudged her further up onto his back in a stable position so she wouldn’t fall. I figured keeping her immobile up there was a suitable idea, being off the ground, and being in someone else’s care.

Most of the pokémon around were silent. “...Don’t do anything wrong, and you won’t end up like that sandslash over there,” I announced, nodding my head in the pokémon’s direction. “Do something wrong...and you’ll get the same treatment.”

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Nine: Rough and Tough

After the ralts had woken up, I had asked her how she had gotten herself into such a situation. I figured that she hadn’t done anything wrong—Wulua had just abruptly gone berserk at her. However, as I had asked her, she just eyed me as if I had done something unforgivable, and turned straight to Reaver.

“I was...listening to...her,” she hissed, gesturing with her head upwards at me, “and shortly after, that psycho maniac sandslash began to attack me.”

“I see,” Reaver replied, seeming to ponder.

“Where’s my ribbon?” She interrupted Reaver’s thinking and began looking about. “I was wearing it before he attacked me.”

“What did it look like?” I asked, stepping into the conversation she had cut me out of.

Before she replied, she seemed to glare at me. “It’s gold. Like your yellow fur but prettier.”

“W—” But before I could say anything, Reaver, by the looks of it, butted in so as to stop me starting a fight.

“Where did you last have it?” he asked calmly, drawing the ralts’ attention.

“Um...over there somewhere.” She pointed to the front left corner’s direction, straight along the wall, as we were situated on the left but at the back.

“Do you want me to go and get it for you?” I asked, trying to sound nice but actually clenching my teeth a little.

She was silent for a few moments before replying with, “Fine. Go and retrieve it.” Frowning, I began to pad in the direction she pointed. “Fetch,” I heard her mutter after I was a few metres away. It was intended for my ears...but I wondered why on earth that little brat was being such a snob to me! I hadn’t done anything to her but save her...

Muttering under my breath, I sniffed the floor for the ribbon’s scent. If I was correct, it should’ve smelled like that ralts... But with the many, many pokémon inside this crate and so much...disgusting waste everywhere, it was proving to be not very easy to locate.

I glanced up, scanning my surroundings. I was amidst many pokémon – a lot of them in their elemental groups I had said for them to go in – but what caught my gaze was a large circle of pokémon who weren’t categorised by their types. It was around where the ribbon should’ve been, so I decided to stride over to them to check out what they were looking at.

After approaching the circle of pokémon that had managed to distract my attention, I stuck my nose between a plump, blue and cream sealeo and a stocky nuzleaf with a green leaf atop her head. They seemed a little bothered by my intrusion, but it was soon worth it as I spotted who was the centre of attention.

“They suspect...nothing.” The purple floating figure smiled, speaking with neither satisfaction nor timidness. “The humans are clueless...”

“Haunter!” I cried, pushing through the two pokémon who frowned at my actions. “You’re back! How did it go?”
“...They suspect nothing! The humans didn’t see me,” he answered almost proudly.

“That’s great—but are the others ready? All out of their cages?”

“Y-yes. I had to help, though.”

“Awesome!” I quickly shouted, becoming excited on the spot. Hearing such news was clearly getting me all jittery. “We need to do one last thing before escaping.” The haunter looked at me, raising an eyebrow...or whatever was a haunter’s equivalent. “Break the locks!”

***

Back outside again, the purple ghost pokémon stuck to the growing shadows around the ship. He, one last time, was going from crate to crate, letting the pokémon who were still prisoners to the sea vessel know what he was doing. This was the third time he would be entering the crates that day. Why hadn’t that flareon just asked him to do it in one go? ‘Oh well,’ he thought, watching as a human wielding a device that displayed light marched past him without noticing him. ‘I guess striking at night is a good plan, anyway... And she probably knows what she’s doing...hopefully.’

He arrived at the front of a particular cage, slipping inside and calling out to the pokémon—who were, thankfully, willing to listen up and formed in their elemental type groups. He began to stutter once the attention all came down on him, but he swallowed, built up his courage, and then told them that he was about to break their crate’s lock from the outside. He said that when he and/or any other ghost pokémon came in through the wall and gave them the order to attack, they would be able to storm out by breaking the door open – or down – with ease then that their lock had been broken. He also explained how the inside of the crates were soundproof, which was presumably part of their isolation program, and explained why no Team Rocket members had come in to see what all the noise was.

The pokémon howled with pleasure and excitement, ready to give the evil Team Rocket a taste of their own pokéblocks! The haunter would join in, of course, with all of this and contribute to the destruction of this human ship which travelled through the middle of nowhere.

The pokémon would take the Rockets by surprise, starting with Dusty’s crate to make them feel like they have the upper hand, but eventually, as the haunter melted into each wall of other pokémon’s crates, everyone else would help with the brilliant plan and ultimately take over. They would make sure the ship was left in pieces, and the humans were destined to be stranded out in the ocean, probably never to see land again alive. Their pokémon would go with them, if that was the case, or else attempt to seek revenge on their own by joining the freedom fighters.

But then again—who knew how this would all turn out? For all this haunter knew, everything could backfire and they could end up all being tortured and thrown into other smaller and rusting cages. On top of that, the Rocket count was unknown, and therefore nobody could be sure how outnumbered they would be. Maybe the prisoners would be outnumbered, causing inconvenience for all pokémon who had once been locked in metal cages. Not one soul wanted it to turn out that way, however, and hopefully their desire would keep Arceus from letting them down.

Again and again the haunter hid in the shadows which were casting themselves in blotches around the ship, darkening the day and making it harder for the humans to make out where things were; their eyesight was poor in the dark. But with the cylindrical objects they held in their hands, light was projected upon their wishing. However, it was only a line of light; although long, the beams weren’t widespread.

This pleased the haunter as he thought about it whilst slipping into another shadow. He knew that if one of their devices shone on him, however, his presence would be revealed. ‘But, then again,’ he thought, ‘they could either assume that I had escaped or that I was a new pokémon who happened to wander onto the ship. Since they probably assume that their system is foolproof, maybe I could just—’ The purple ghost pokémon squealed as he shielded his eyes with his two hands in response to a blinding bright light.

“Halt!” yelled a human voice, his footsteps an indication of his nearing presence.

‘Oh, crap,’ thought the haunter hastily. However, he decided that he better not slip into the wall next to him. Although it would be an easy escape route, he would probably be better off being caught by a Rocket and thrown into a new cage. If he simply sunk into the wall, the man might become suspicious... He wasn’t going to take chances and draw attention to the crate and possibly endanger the inhabitants. That would be reckless and unintelligent.

“Don’t move, you pokémon scum!” he ranted, and the haunter sighed.

‘I’m not moving...’

Soon enough, the man had called out a meowth to attack him. However, since meowth were normal types, the haunter knew that he wouldn’t be harmed by any of their usual attacks—and he was right. Little did he know about the man’s friend’s mightyena, however, which used bite on him. Being a ghost type, most pokémon would expect the haunter to be non-solid matter. However, he was as real as an igglybuff’s rubber-like body.

As the sharp teeth of the grey and black pokémon struck him, he yelped, but did nothing in his defence on purpose. The pokémon’s nose was red, and he could see that from his view. He had two black stripes that trailed from his back onto the front of his face, and he had black legs.

The haunter endured the attack as the jaws were clenched tightly around his lower body, and the first man who had stopped him was dismissed by the Rocket who owned the dark type pokémon that was latched onto the haunter. The man recalled his meowth – which looked in a poor condition – and the haunter was quickly taken downstairs into an office of some sort which held a large, frowning man who looked most indifferent.

He was wearing a different uniform to the Team Rocket minions—one that was rather like a suit and that lacked the gloves, boots and a hat that the other uniforms had. Under his jacket was a white shirt that stood out against the black. “What?” he growled rather demandingly. The grunt seemed to straighten and speak with a wobbly and somewhat cowardly tone.

“Uh, th-this pokémon was found wandering the sh-ship, sir,” he explained, trying his hardest to keep his brown eyes locked with those of his superior’s. The higher-ranked man, who sat behind a desk and on a large black chair, shifted his gaze to the haunter in a timid mightyena’s mouth. The pokémon must’ve felt the way his trainer – if you could call Team Rocket men trainers – felt towards the man.

“Cage it. Must be either a wild one or another one of you girls’ pokémon,” he grunted, the top of his lip twitching with what seemed to be contempt for the creature. “Throw it in one of the crates. I don’t give a rattata’s **** which one. Just don’t let it go. Any extra pokémon for labour and money is useful.” He looked about to get back to his papers before adding, “And check the internal cargo hold once you’re done with that.”

'Internal cargo hold?!' the haunter thought in shock. ‘This means there’s another place full of pokémon!’

“Y-yes, sir!” the minion saluted to the man, almost shakily hurrying out of the office. In spite of how much the haunter was in pain, he managed to utter a harsh chuckle. Although, it made the pokémon carrying him without a care in the world for his wellbeing simply squeeze his jaws tighter as punishment.

“Arghh,” the ghost type cringed, his body increasingly finding it harder to inhale oxygen.

The Team Rocket minion proceeded down a long hall that the haunter would’ve found somewhat fascinating if he hadn’t been in a mightyena’s mouth. He was carried, still hanging upside-down, past several rooms. Smells of different sorts wafted in his direction, and he had to hold his breath as particular doorways passed by. One of the rooms, which smelled like chemicals and other bitter human products, occupied a man with black fur on his head and round lenses stationary on the bridge of his nose. His fur was neatly cut and short, and he had his forearms behind his back. He wore a long, white human jacket, which looked like it clipped together in the middle. The rest of the room looked pristine and white, but disturbing at the same time. How could a room with cooking chemicals be clean?

The male human stepped forward as the haunter and his two captors passed by, but seemed to call out to them. The Rocket came to a halt and turned inside. However, the dark canine pokémon stayed put outside. He took a seat on the floor, the ghost type hanging from his mouth. The haunter had gotten used to the pain now, and he noticed that the jaws were relaxing a little bit, so the pressure wasn’t so much.

The humans discussed some things, and apparently the one who was in the white pelt mistook the minion for someone of higher importance. The haunter could hear about apparent chemicals that the human was telling the Rocket about, and he heard that one of them was unmistakably labelled by him as ‘hydrochloric acid’. The haunter could see a sheet of thin silver metal that was significantly large leaning up against the wall. He could hear bubbling and spluttering of some sort, and there was something wafting his way which reminded him of bananas crossed with...a substance that humans used to run their ‘automobiles’. It was called ‘petrol’.

‘Banana petrol...?’

***

“Banana petrol?! HAH!” I laughed – or out-burst – at the comment made by the haunter who floated next to me.
“Y-yeah...” he confirmed, seeming to giggle a little.

“Anyway, that’s another human we won’t need to worry about,” I stated, motioning to a body lying unconscious against the wooden wall of our crate.

Once my friend, the haunter, had brought two captors (one being the human’s pokémon) with him to the crate as he rested in a new cage – which we broke with ease – the Rocket man issued his mightyena to attack. Before the male pokémon had a chance, the pokémon of the crate panicked and attacked the human. One blow of an iron tail by a raticate instantaneously rendered him no longer conscious, which, I figured, was necessary. We would kill him shortly, but first he would be the hostage that we display to the Team Rocket members as a decoy for when the haunter would go around to the insides of the crates and inform the pokémon of their release time. According to the ghost pokémon, the eight of the crates’ locks had been shattered, and ours was one of the last ones—as he was captured by the Rocket before he could do anything, and therefore he didn’t have a chance. Lucky he hadn’t done it yet though—if that Rocket had realised that when he came to our crate – which he probably selected as the cage to put the haunter in for its low pokémon count – to lock him up in, he could’ve seen the severed lock and made a fuss over it.

The mightyena that accompanied him was threatened by a few of us, but he had given in (typical for a Team Rocket member) and said that he didn’t want to fight us, the innocent pokémon. I was glad he refused the offer to stick with his trainer, though. It meant one more pokémon to fight on our side, and one to be taken off Team Rocket’s side. It also meant we didn’t have to silence him, and the dark type explained that he never wanted to be a Team Rocket pokémon anyway, and they had only caught him for his threatening appearance and skills in battle. He had shown us his trainer’s other poké balls, which contained a zubat and a bronzor. They, too, were more happy than not to join our side—which suited us just fine.

***

“Okay—shush!” I exclaimed, attempting to silence the group of pokémon in the crate I was apparently in charge of. “He’s going to break our lock now!” I yelled again, once again standing on my pal, Luck, for height. “Where’s that mightyena?” I asked, scanning the room.

When someone near the front row stepped forward, I whispered to him to take the human outside before we killed him. The same beedrill that had killed the previous human would do the job quickly and simply, and then they would attack the Rockets. The mightyena nodded, jogging across to his previous master’s side. He clamped his jaws around his arm, but carefully so as not to wake him. I bit my lip. Getting the mightyena to assist us in his trainer’s death was risky, but a test of where his loyalty lay. I knew I could never harm my master, but hopefully his was horrible enough to kill.

“He’s just gonna break the crate next door’s lock first, and then ours. We shall all be ready to fight within less than thirty seconds!”

Everyone hesitated to begin to chant. We all trembled to begin with—what would the fight turn out like? Would we win, or...would we all die? How many Team Rocket members were there out there with their many pokémon among them? Would our numbers be great enough to fend them all off? Only time would tell. Only if our courage helped us pull through. Only if we overcame that sense of doubt and lack of faith.

“SEVEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO...ONE!!” Within the next few moments of cheering pokémon, the door creaked slightly open. It silenced us all; even I stopped moving. I could feel the tension build as the near-impossible thought of our liberation surged through the hearts of us all.

“...FREEEEEEDOMMM!!” I yelled once spotting the haunter’s purple body peep in.

“YEAAAHHH!!!” everyone roared over all other noise, stampeding through the enormous gates of prison and back into the real world—where they belonged! Vibrations were forced not only through the crate’s wooden, cleanliness-ridden floor, but probably throughout the whole ship’s surface!

The only things I could hear were pokémon’s battle calls being shouted at the tops of their lungs and the stomps and steps of the escapees. I let a huge grin creep across my face as I leaped down from Luck’s shoulders once the crowd had pretty much filed out, competing against each other to be free, and I rushed over to any remaining, usually small pokémon who had been trampled. Most of them were okay, but a few had been knocked out already. I helped the awake ones up and gave them smiles, and Luck tended to those who were unconscious. I noted that the human was gone, and I assumed that his pokémon had dragged him out. Good thing, too—it meant he was becoming less and less attached to him. I couldn’t image anyone with an attachment to a Team Rocket member personally, though.

Gathering myself and holding my fluffy chest high, I coated my body with a gush of flames, feeling the heat surge through my veins. I let out a long, loud growl, listing all the attacks I could bestow upon the humans and their pokémon. I pictured each and every one of them, allowing my eyelids to fall. Focus was required to battle, and as soon as I stepped outside, I would expect to immediately enter some sort of battle. Side by side, all of us would get through this terrible episode we all had to live through, and we’d fight to the end. Support would hold us together, and if we all believed enough, we would all survive and prevail; helping each other was the key to survival.

Hopefully everyone had all listened to me and they would get the fish pokémon into the water first, then secretly ship off the baby pokémon or any other not able-bodied. The last thing that I wanted was for the little ones to be hurt, and for the sick to perish before their time. Everyone was important, but the pokémon had to understand that the weak were first on the agenda. They most-likely couldn’t fight properly, so there was no point in having them on the ship anyway.

I had organised for some pelipper to carry pokémon like any togepi or cleffa in their large bills to shore. Pokémon like lumineon and golduck could carry pokémon under the water if not on the surface, since I did know most water pokémon to be very skilled and fast swimmers.

Getting my mind back on track, I set my goals on one thing: escaping alive and doing anything in the process that would help. And not only for just me to escape...but every other innocent pokémon who had done nothing to deserve what they’ve had to endure...

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Ten: Futile Conflict

I bounded to the doors to the large crate, emerging into the salty air. The smell hit my nose like a rock; it was such a different change from what was previously poisoning my nostrils—a somewhat pleasant change. The sloshing sound of the waves met my ears with a warm welcome, and it felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders.

Slightly surprised by the fact that I wasn’t lunged at as soon as I stepped outside, I began to find out why. I interviewed a pokémon nearby, being informed that at the front of the huge number of pokémon was the mightyena with the human male in his mouth. I pushed my way through the crowd, wanting the credit for conducting this bunch of pokémon, and I managed to find my way to the mightyena. I grinned at the sight of so many Rocket humans piling up to witness what was happening, and some of them were not moving at all, worried about the mightyena’s decision. A buzzing noise also drew their attention, and I soon realised what it was: the beedrill. She was rubbing her large, twin spikes she had for arms together, generating a grinding noise that was all that could be heard aside from the blue waves.

One of the Rockets moved, however, much to my surprise, and out popped a meowth. The pairs of whiskers poking from the sides of his head were bent down, and one was even absent. The golden coin-like object resting on his head appeared to be rusted and dirty, with sections chipped off and a greasy substance smeared across it.

His ‘trainer’ spoke to him, presumably instructing the normal type to communicate with us. The meowth nodded his head briskly, seemly eager to tear his fearful eyes from the Rocket man and over to me.

“I... Uh, Master wants to know how youse gots outta y’ cages, an’ why ya has his co-worker hostage,” the meowth stuttered in the humans’ language, his words spoken quietly. I didn’t know if he was talking to me or the mightyena to my right, but I decided to answer. Luckily I could understand human speech—only one language of it, though. At first, I suspected that I was hearing his speech wrongly, but I then realised that it was merely because he couldn’t speak the humans’ language properly.

I looked at him with sympathy. “We...” I began to say, drawing a deep breath. “We’re rebelling. Team Rocket won’t get this man back.”

The meowth translated my words to the humans, and they all seemed to stiffen, their lips pressing together. With a sudden outbreak of words in a harsh tone, the meowth’s master shouted at him again.

After cringing, the pokémon turned to me again, this time looking as if he was trying his hardest to be brave—but about his trainer, not because he was trying to stand up to me. “WHY...not?” he questioned, his teeth gritted as a result of his fear. I noticed he had his claws drawn, most of them chipped and dirty.

“B-because! They shouldn’t treat any of us like their subordinates!” I scoffed, taking a step forward so as to emphasise my point. The mightyena tightened his grip on the human while the big yellow bug pokémon with red eyes and flitting wings needed not to rush to the human’s front, holding the tip of one of her long, pointed drill-like cone-shaped arms to the human’s neck.

The cat-like pokémon screeched, enduring a slap from his master’s hand. He then clenched the pokémon’s tail, hearing the poor thing scream as he brought him to his face. The meowth whimpered, drawing his paws in together as he hung upside-down.

“I SAID, stop them!” raged the human, then thrust the pokémon to the ground ruthlessly. “Is it that hard?!”

“Stop it!” I exclaimed, but of course the humans would only hear me yelling my species name. A rumble in my throat showed my anger and disapproval of the human’s actions, and my spine seemed to rise as my fur bristled. My tail rose as well, fluffing up more than usual. I immediately thought back to Roarake’s trainer as I began to growl even louder. Without hesitation I shouted at the meowth to come and join us. To rebel and take matters into his own paws.

After taking a few paces away from his trainer and towards me, he became shocked and still; he had obviously never considered doing such a thing. For a trainer to abandon a pokémon was cruel and wrong, but to abandon a trainer was ultimately betrayal and it, too, seemed wrong. It was like leaving your mother too early, or deserting your best friend. However, the meowth then pondered for mere seconds that seemed more like hours.

His trainer was not his mother. His trainer was not his best friend. In fact, he was far from it. His trainer had never been good to him. He had never hugged him, fed him treats, congratulated him, praised him, talked to him nicely or shown him affection of any kind—not even a pat on the head. He was forced to battle under harsh circumstances, and was barely healed between fights. The food he had only ever eaten were scraps that would sometimes be dirty from the ground, or cheap pokémon food with virtually no goodness in it. Consequently he was very skinny, his ribs easily shown, and his fur was matted and in terrible condition. He clearly had poor health, his teeth yellow and cracked and his muscles weak and frail.

When he had come to think of it...he had never been fond of his master. Never. He hadn’t even liked him. Not ever.

Other Team Rocket pokémon had boasted about how well off they were with their masters, but this meowth could not once understand. The only reason he even stayed with his master was because he imagined that he was never able to escape. Else, it was pure and simple fear. The thought of becoming free was such a dream...and he suddenly realised it could become a reality. The pokémon in one massive group before him were all captured, and were somehow...free. Maybe he could become free as well. Free of Team Rocket, free of his miserable life, and free of his master.

“...No,” the white feline pokémon stated firmly. He was shaking on the outside and frightened to his core. All eyes shifted to him as his back turned to his master and his face became stern and decided.

“What?” The human formed a hideous sneer. “...DON’T be a fool, you worthless rat!” boomed the sick-minded human. He attempted to approach his pokémon, but the meowth span to face him, baring his fangs and tightening his disdainful face. Three claws on each paw revealed gleamed dangerously, and the Rocket man halted only a few paces away from the scratch cat pokémon.

“I am [i]not[i] w-worth less than you!” the meowth hissed, moving a brown back paw backwards towards us. Half of it remained upwards, his pink, dirtied pads drawing my eyes for a heartbeat.

“I AM YOUR MASTER! Follow my orders or prepare to be beaten by my own fists!”

“NO! You is NOT my master! Masters are kind! Masters treat his pokémon with respect! MASTERS CARE!” With a final yell, the meowth snapped. In a flash, he had lunged at the Team Rocket member and in a fury of anger and revenge, he sliced at the man’s face, scarlet drops splashing up onto the pokémon.

The man bellowed with agony, and the other Rockets did not delay in rushing to throw the crazed meowth off their fellow worker—probably to exterminate the pokémon shortly after. A few humans removed their weapons from their holsters, and I gasped.

Fearing that it was the end for the enslaved pokémon unless I acted instantaneously, I howled at the top of my lungs for my army to stampede to the rescue. Before we all took off, the sound of flesh being pierced and severed floated to my ears with haste, and I immediately knew that our human hostage had had a long, spear-like drill bit planted into his neck.

I pounded the ship’s surface floor with my paws as I loped towards my new ally, not realising I was just in time to have him slam into me. The force was not great, but I fell over, tangled with the normal type. We both scowled, getting to our paws and wasting no time. A look of relieved gratefulness flashed athwart the pokémon’s face before he took off again as the galloping pokémon around us swarmed around the Rockets, and I could’ve sworn that I spotted my trusty haunter friend melt into the walls of the crate next to ours. It made me snicker, rethinking about how we would probably double if not triple their numbers.

***

“Hurry up, Bagon!” squeaked a small voice.

“I’m trying! It’s a little...difficult. I’m s-scared,” came another rustier but still young one.

“Quickly, now! We want to be as fast as we can!” an older, female voice urged subtly, following the orders of a dark almost cat-like pokémon instructing her.

Making a leap for it, a short blue pokémon with stubby arms and a silver helmet-like head feature landed with a thump on a darker blue fish-like pokémon’s back. Large butterfly-like wings expanded from the fish pokémon’s body, which was lined with a much lighter blue. The bagon went to grip these, but as he did so, the water type shot him a red-eyed glare. Instead he turned nervously to his friend.

The pokémon who had been on the water type first was yellow with black ear tips and tail and quite petite—the smallest of the three. The pichu, as her species was named, helped her friend’s confidence by steadying him on the lumineon’s back, ensuring that the pokémon taller than her wouldn’t slip off and tumble into the sea below. Her small paws weren’t much good, and she was not strong, but at least her bagon friend avoided falling; instead, he lay on his front so he didn’t have to balance.

“Go!” a rushed, hasty voice insisted, her large claws moving in a shuffling motion. Water rippled across the top of the sea as the lumineon sank below the surface, her passengers holding onto their breaths and attempting to grip the water type’s slippery back.

Several of the water ferries set off with pokémon on their back, transporting them away from the danger that was lingering just around the bend. Almost all of the baby pokémon had been shipped back to land, and a sealeo was the one to be leading the shoal to their destinations. It was a long way away, so once certain pokémon knew the way by themselves, the sealeo would take it upon himself to speed back through the water to the ship to assist more pokémon.

Turning around to gather the last of the few remaining pokémon, Zhol the sneasel blinked repetitively after finding herself looking upon a small blue pokémon. She had a protruding bobble on her head and squinted eyes, with small circular feet and a flat black tail that ended roundly. Two arm-like ear-type features came down from her head, and she used them to press against the deck. The pokémon had her face to the floor and was frowning delicately, her zigzag mouth barely moving.

Taking a second or two to figure out what the wynaut was doing, Zhol zipped away from her post. “What are you doing?” she asked quickly, studying the blue psychic type. The wynaut’s head rose, her strange black eyes fixed on the something she had been distracted by.

“Hole!” she exclaimed, not taking her eyes from what she was looking at.

Zhol felt a frown tugging her eyebrows, and followed the wynaut’s gaze down to a diminutive opening in the ship’s top floor. She opened her mouth, two pointed fangs being revealed, and set her long-clawed paws onto the surface. She focused her pupil and attempted to scan whatever could be seen through the hole. At first there was nothing, but as her nocturnal-trainer eye focused, she gasped and pulled her head away. “...Pokémon,” she whispered wearily, confused by simple factors. Moving cautiously, she returned to her feet and gave the wynaut an approving nod.

In a hurry, the blue pokémon waddle-ran to the white, single-horned dewgong who was waiting for her. The long limbs coming from her head jiggled back and forth as she ran, and her bobble was blown backwards. Zhol was not distracted as she turned back to the hole, despite being at the wrong angle to see through it. ‘...There are more pokémon to free, but...getting down one floor is a challenge in itself.’ She thought hard before coming to a conclusion.

***

“Well, I know I would not have come back to the ship if it weren’t for that pushy flareon’s inspiring speech. Hearing it actually changed my mind, ironically enough,” explained a navy blue bird pokémon as his large wings beat the air.

“Inspiring? Ha!” retorted a pokémon of the same breed, although she was more a lighter black than so much blue. Her underbelly was white, and her chest was coated with dark red feathers. She opened her yellow beak and flicked her two-pronged tail as she scoffed, “I thought it was rather stupid!”

“What? ‘Stupid’ my tail feathers!” squawked the male swellow, clearly upset with his flight companion. “If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be free!”

Taken aback, the female flying type widened her eyes in disgust and surprise. “Well...” she started, at a loss for words. The stranger – the other swellow – soon came to assume that the female was probably expecting him to agree with her.

They continued to soar in the opposite direction to the human’s generously large ship, the wind brushing past their delicate feathers and rippling down the rest of their bodies. The single baby pokémon in their grips whimpered as they were carried trees and trees – in regard to height – above solid ground. However, none of them dared to even think of squirming. If they slipped from their carriers’ grasps...who knows what would happen to them?

Other pokémon were in the flock, making their ways to the land which was not yet in view. It would soon be, however, and they could confirm that because of other pokémon who had returned to the ship and let everyone know where the land was.

The moonlit water guided the flying types across the expanse of ocean, careful not to get them lost. Each wave was directed to the shore, and the white, fluffy foam being carried on their tops seemed to become mangled involuntarily with the salty liquid.

As another flying type cruised leisurely behind the rest of the flock, the small pokémon in her grip’s eyes danced graciously, following the sparkles shimmering across the sea’s surface. His long brown ears both tipped with cream fluff were blown backwards in the soft wind, probably tickling the feet of the bird pokémon carrying him. His small paws were held against his chest, the right one’s crusty scab being bristled by the short brown hairs.
Two back paws were dangling in the breeze, their pink pads showing up on their undersides. His small black eyes held great interest as they didn’t take themselves off the wondrous sight, but he couldn’t help squinting as the wind’s paws poked at them. He felt the shallow scar curving across his right eye being exposed to the wind’s currents, which bothered him a fraction.

He finally was forced to close them, his cream coloured rounded eyebrows pressing down carefully. He sighed, opening them into slits so he was looking behind him. He began to feel marginally woozy as he was carried further, as he was facing directly below and straight at the intense waves. The bird pokémon had him by his waist, the talons wedged perfectly into the thick cloud of warm torso fluff, and as a result, the normal type was both unharmed and reasonably safe. The claws were just missing the large gap between two sections of the front of the fur. It had been separated some time ago—around the same time he received scars across various parts of his body.

The buneary gave a contented yawn, his tongue showing as his lips made way for the gaping hole of his mouth. ‘I’m glad I don’t have to battle,’ he thought happily, ‘but I hope everyone gets out safely.’ He pondered over why Team Rocket would have wanted so many pokémon, and why they didn’t just go out and catch pokémon themselves. It didn’t last long before he locked the thoughts away as a different thought came into mind. ‘I wonder when I’m going to get back home...’

***

“Go! Go off and release them all! Great job with the others—now finish what you started,” I commanded, my words flowing out hastily to the haunter levitating on the other side of a collapsed pokémon. He nodded and disappeared off into the night, fusing with numerous shadows. “Set them free...” I uttered, amused by the sight before me.

Countless Team Rocket pokémon were being brought down by the pokémon of the crates, helping in liberating themselves and fighting for each other. Humans were also being seized and tossed into the bottomless sea, being disposed of without a soul having to worry about them again. Their remaining pokémon would either be defeated and tossed over as well, or some would request mercy and elect to switch sides. I did underestimate their numbers a little bit, but with eight crates having their large wooden doors wide open, the innocent, ‘good’ pokémon were pouring out in unexpectedly high numbers.

Finding that a blue pokémon with no eyes and a hole in its head was flitting towards me, screaming at the top of its little lungs with a supersonic, I bent my ears down before whipping up a flamethrower. A burning sensation fizzled and then a stream of fire blazed towards the bat-like pokémon. Before the Team Rocket pokémon knew it, it dropped from the air and onto the ground with a thp.

Pleased with the result although secretly upset I had to injure such a defenceless pokémon, I turned tail and bolted by using a quick attack to a nearby large, tall-standing purple snake pokémon with rings coiling themselves down her body. A powerful, thick tail was supporting her full weight, and the almost frightening black, yellow and red jagged design on a large flap-like chest made me recoil slightly. The marking appeared to be an intimidating face painted on the arbok’s skin which turned to me once the poison type had thrown a long brown and cream coloured furret aside with her snapper.

I continued to feel my body fly across the floor, my legs frantically snapping back and forth to propel my body whilst barely skimming the actual hardened surface. I became increasingly closer, and it was too late for me to dodge a flurry of white, glowing needle-like objects. They all hammered into me, breaking into pieces whilst causing damage. However, by simply staying put, the arbok had not had time to evade my own attack, and when I came close enough, my body slammed into hers, making the tall standing pokémon cry out in a grunt.

A thump sounded as I landed at her base, springing backwards in time to miss one of her tail whips. Countering it in midair, I opened my jaws widely, summoning a black matter-composed shadow ball. My body felt as if it was strengthening, and I was thrust backwards as the attack was sent spiralling into the pokémon’s flap-like skin. The shadow ball was, as everyone knew, more powerful in the time of shadows. It made the ghost type move deal more damage to its target, which situated me at the good end.

With an agitated hiss, the ekans evolution lunged at me open-mouthed and struck my leg with a bite attack. “AHH!” I yelped alarmingly. My head flung around to meet the distracted poison type’s colourless eyes. They held just about no emotion; all of it had probably been driven from them at a young age or shortly after being caught and tamed by the sinister Team Rocket organisation. However, since I had mine burning alive inside me, I could react. “Gahh! Get off!” I yelled in her near invisible ears, preparing a weak, quick and hot flamethrower.

Stinging the arbok’s face, a screech issued my release. I shook off, licking my leg. Since the arbok’s fangs, which only jutted from the front of her mouth, missed my leg, no blood had been drawn. It pleased me to see the arbok fleeing, but it saddened me also to see a great pokémon like that slither away in fright, only to come across another form of prey and attempt to attack it. However, it was definitely the wrong sort of ‘prey’ to be picking on.

With an icy cold breeze I could feel from where I was standing, a familiar form vomited out what looked to be an ice beam. Shards of sharp ice engulfed with frozen water were shooting from a blue canine pokémon’s form, smashing into the cobra pokémon’s sleek body. The poison type came across like a machine: a soulless robot following orders to attack innocent creatures and continue moving on to different pokémon in order to satisfy its master, probably only to then be rewarded with another tiring battle and maybe scraps afterward—if it was one of the lucky ones.

‘Holy miltank...’ My thought came to be loud and clear as I relaxed my tensed muscles and unblinkingly kept my big black eyes steady on the poor slave only a few metres before me. ‘Probably all of Team Rocket’s pokémon are treated like this...’ It was almost bewildering to visualise a scenario so punishingly terrible. ‘No love, no treats...maybe the occasional member would treat their pokémon with love, though. The young, inexperienced ones who have yet to learn how to...abandon their feelings for their precious companions...’ I, for one, could never have imagined my trainer treating me as I imagined these poor souls were being treated. My master was kind, caring; she was lovely to communicate – as best we could – with and be around. It wasn’t until now when I realised what else could be happening in this world. Surely, worse things than this would be happening to unsuspecting po—

“Having trouble keeping up?” a mocking voice taunted, biting me into the present. “Hmph, well, I wouldn’t expect you to be up to my standards.”

I focused my vision on a now-clear view of a glaceon. Her smug smirk showed just how condescending she was and meant to be towards me. I blinked several times, gathering what she had said, before coming up with a reply. “Get away from me,” I spat, returning her look but without the self-satisfying smile. Mine was mere scorn.

“Suit yourself,” she answered poshly, flicking her long, dangling blue locks. “You clearly think you can handle Team Rocket on your own.”

“I’ve gotten this far!” I snapped back, my ears flat against my head while baring my teeth threateningly. “You did nothing to help these pokémon! What did I do? Just look around, *****. Maybe using your eyes instead o’ that dirty mouth o’ yours would be a nice change!” And with that, I flung my fluffy tail in the air, showing my (not pretty) rear to her face. I heard her scoff with disgust—presumably at my language, correctness and my, uh...heinie.

I blew through my nose, frustrated, but glad to have redeemed myself even slightly. But before I could get far, a rather flickering Azure materialised right in front of my nose. Shrieking after having not expected it, I almost tripped over my tail and fell onto my backside. “Wh-what the?!” As an echoing voice found its way to my ears, I couldn’t help but to stare around with confused expressions.

“Nobody—nobody insults me!” she roared hostilely. With the anger building up around me, I felt almost uneasy! Azure had gone crazy, had she not?!

My theory was proven as the pissed off glaceon sent flurries of pointed yellow stars from her mouth. Eight separate bunches were dealt in my direction, and I was doomed not to know which group were the legit, real ones that would injure me. I closed my eyes, not having time to react, and the attacks first went through me, but it was clear that one bunch did strike, making me cringe for the time I was being hit. ‘I’ve got to eliminate these fake copies! She can’t renew her other copies once she’s drawn them back, so even one at a time would suffice for the time being!’ With confidence for my throat, I provoked my fire-storing sacs to expel another attack. So, drawing more power from my trusty body, I snapped my mouth open, a golden orb of a newborn flamethrower growing behind the visibility of my tongue. Then with the anger I felt for the attacking pokémon, I unleashed my fire on the Azure in front of me, the two next to it and the next two who were to my right. They all disintegrated the instant they were licked by the flames—just like a normal ice type should have when hit by a fire attack.

The remaining three simultaneously lunged at me, and I had to admit that I didn’t know which one to dodge. Their tails were shining with a blue light as they bounded towards me with...smiles? The Azures had smiles on their faces. Not friendly smiles, though. They were greasy smiles of superiority and an assumption that they would win. It made me want to spit. However, focusing back on the attack, I noticed the apparent flow of water sloshing within the blue glow and the bubbles rolling off and becoming airborne. The figures closed in on me, and I suddenly wished I knew double team! But then it struck me: speed.

In the last possible heartbeat, I bolted away and into a white, brown and green pokémon with another quick attack. I was glad to have avoided an aqua tail, but slamming straight into another ice type’s back and tumbling over with him wasn’t the plan I had in mind.

The pokémon I knew was on Team Rocket’s side turned to me quickly once we stood up, but I was ready. A flamethrower blazed in his face, knocking him out instantly due to the type advantage. I looked at his motionless body without pity, but thinking myself lucky to have attacked a pokémon not on my side. His almost branch-like arms – most of them being white – were deep green and pointed with four fingers. He didn’t appear to have a mouth or nose, but the two eyes resting just below a white three-pointed head feature upon his head were large enough to recognise. Since his body was reasonably egg-shaped, there was no way I would have expected him to be a speedy runner. And, undoubtedly, he wasn’t.

Disregarding what I had just done and remembering about the fight I was in, I realised something. I shouldn’t be battling with a supposed ally. Azure the glaceon was ‘apparently’ on my side, and we were required to work together as a team. But instead we were wasting time and energy in a pointless fight to prove who was better. And anyway—what exactly was there to prove? It was clear that I was better, stronger and more decent-natured, but I guess she just couldn’t admit to it. ‘Reminds me of me...stubborn...’ I thought to myself, nearly unaware of the ice building up before being blasted my way. ‘Also reminds me of Izante...’ And it was only then when I snapped myself out of it. “...IZANTE! She’ll be out of her cage by now!” And with a surprisingly fast jolt of energy to help me avoid Azure’s attack, I sped past the fainted snover, over a few other pokémon that I, for fun, sprayed fire onto as I passed, and closed my eyes as I turned to my nose. ‘Help me!’ My ears perked up and I positioned myself to be completely still.

Pokémon of all sorts, shapes, sizes and ages were fighting; they battled it out as I relied on my senses to search for me. One after the other, pokémon of both the cages and of Team Rocket were being hauled over the side of the ship, thrown onto the floor or outnumbered in unfair groups. Sometimes it was for the better, of course, because it forced the Team Rocket pokémon into changing alliances and murdering their bosses. However, other times it was to taunt not so strong pokémon of the crates, and snicker at them before torturing them and disposing of their bodies over the edge—else making a snack of them once they were defenceless. However, the carnivores were not only on Team Rocket’s side, and occasionally I would see one tearing up a Team Rocket rattata or spearow. Personally I felt it was the wrong time and place to be doing such a thing, but on the contrary, they would not have eaten in a collection of days.

‘Dusty! Izante!’ I repeated, the recurring thought flashing in my head. I took off once more, not knowing where I was going, and kept my eyes peeled this time in case I happened to spot her. ‘You twit! Why didn’t you think of this earlier?!’

“D-DUSTY!” a voice yelped, literally making me jump to the left with surprise. Instantly making my erected and I aimed for the ground. Once I landed, I anxiously darted my eyes from pokémon to pokémon until they set themselves onto a surrounded-by-pokémon...pokémon! I recognised him, though...those bushes on his back and those stumpy legs...

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

“That’s right!” I barked—I’d have clicked my fingers like the humans do if I had them. Doing it with toes seemed ridiculous and un-pokémon-like.

“Dusty, help!” he called to me again, and that’s when I realised that the green and yellow pokémon was in a damsel-in-distress situation...although he was a dude-in-distress. I kept my eyes in his direction, seeing the stuck pokémon encircled with two arbok, a hitmonchan, a meowth, two golbat and a gligar. It was hard to tell what they looked like properly in the dark, but once they all turned around, I managed a better squiz at them. The hitmonchan was mostly a bleached brown with high, pad-like shoulders. It had a red glove as each hand, and a faded purple grey dress-like body frilled at the bottom and marked in the middle with a black belt. I chuckled mockingly, remembering how Master used to wear ‘dresses’ similar to that. I had never seen a male with one on.

The golbat was much like a zubat—blue and with a giant mouth which took up most of its body’s space. It had small, triangle ears on its head and wide-spanning wings which were purple on the inside skin. Its two thin legs which ended in funny looking worm-like feet dangled from the body, and the small, angry eyes held no colour.

The gligar was hooked to the floor, the blue flaps that sat between two scary looking lavender pincers folded nearly. Two ears erected from the flying and ground type’s head, which were thin and almost like straight horns. What was most intimidating about the pokémon was the circular orb with a single point between his legs of a similar build. The pokémon’s teeth were bared as he crept closer to the grotle, and a horizontally large tongue hovered out as if hesitating to protrude entirely.

The hitmonchan, golbat and meowth approached me while the others closed in on my associate, and I was left to make a decision. I pondered what to do for mere seconds before fixing my mind on a single, set-in-concrete situation. ‘...Izante’s going to have to wait, Dust.’

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Eleven: Attempted Murder

I made effort to delay myself as I sprang into action, starting off by firing a toxic purple splatter which first fizzed almost uncomfortably in my throat. The disgusting liquid bubbled once landing on the three pokémon; one – the golbat – painlessly shook it off as if she had a poison-resistant down coating her deep blue body. The other two, thankfully, became victims to my poison type move, and looked already a smidgeon weaker. But I was surprised when a sudden swift human-looking boxing glove met my jaw, and I felt a crunch as I was plunged backwards—mostly by shock. I tensed up and rubbed the side of my jaw against my available shoulder, knowing no internal damage was done. It was only a mach punch, after all. Although the pain would haunt me for a while.

I sprang back up, biting down and feeling aching in my mouth, and lowered my head. I felt my body stiffen and prepare itself for any oncoming attacks. My mane seemed to become denser, as did my tail. I let myself feel where to strike next, subconsciously taking precise aim. In the meantime, a pay day struck my forehead, a consistent stream of loose coins being cast out of the meowth’s peculiar oval-shaped headpiece. Nevertheless, I stood my ground and kept my body steady.

Feeling like I’d charged up enough energy, I bent all four of my legs and flicked my head so I could see my attackers. Aimed at the meowth, I charged forward without warning, and slammed head-first into the feline pokémon, flinging us both in the same direction – although he travelled backwards – and colliding with the gligar clinging to the floor who was undoubtedly oblivious of the act. Tumbling over two pokémon, I somehow landed near to my friend, who was considerably stunned. But I didn’t blame him—sudden randoms coming into his personal space like that? I knew I’d be confused!

I looked up, nearly smiling. “Hi, there!”

“Dusty! ...I’m, uh, glad you came,” he replied slowly, watching me spring off the two figures beneath my paws. I came down on the floor space next to his almost shell-like build. I eyed the two fallen frames that would remain so only momentarily, making sure that’s what they weren’t doing.

“So, you know my name,” I began, “but what’s yours?”

The grotle blinked before replying with, “Chance. I’m a friend of Reaver’s.”

“Oh, you are? I didn’t know that,” I remarked, swaying slowly. As the grass type continued speaking, I happened to notice a pink curled ear expose itself from behind his leg. A single round eye which was mostly white also revealed itself, distressed fright as its core element. I furrowed the fur above my eyes, closing them lightly. I side-stepped to my right, noticing the body huddle closer to Chance’s behind.

“Dusty!” Chance barked suddenly. I slapped my head in his direction, frowning harder. I knew the tone present in his voice to be one not of annoyance, but urgency with a hint of anxiousness.

Soon leaning why, I drove myself into the dress-wearing fighting type closing in on us. The hitmonchan looked as if he was barely enraged as he neared, holding two red gloves to his chest. Unfortunately, those balls of padding were what prevented me from knocking him backwards, but that changed as I used a quick attack at his unsuspecting frail legs.
He toppled forward, coming down on my back and unfortunately squashing me until Chance launched a number of rounded green buds my way, which all planted themselves onto the hitmonchan covering my body. I only managed to slip out after he jumped up, shocked by the sudden attack. However, getting back up only led me to two deep-lilac coloured plump stems. I followed their trail, and found myself staring at the high bodies of two arbok, who in return hissed, flaunting their forked, reddened tongues.

I squealed, bowling myself out of harm’s course as their heads plunged into the floor. “Heh, heh, heh,” I chuckled under my breath. “They went to hurt me, but got themselves injured instead!” I sat on my rump in the dark, forelegs outstretched before me as I realised that I was sitting and not battling.

As it occurred to me, I received a painful blow in my side, knocking the wind clean out of my chest. A look of worry filled my face as I noted just how close the two arbok were, and how long their tails could extend to. The two snake pokémon hissed quietly, tasting the salty air with their split tongues.

As I was sprawled on the ground, another tail sped towards my muzzle, purple colouring fuzzy in front of my eyes. But before it struck, I cranked open my jowl, hoping for a tail-in-the-face prevention, and without warning, a thick mound of flat scales filled my mouth. I blinked in succession, somewhat stunned. I found it sensible to clench my teeth, and as I proceeded to do so, an ear-splitting squeal told me that I had done what I had planned.

The purple pokémon made a desperate attempt to withdraw his tail, yanking it from my claim. I held on until I regained my breath from being winded, and it was then when the poison type followed through with his tail, flying me along with it to the other side of his body. My body shuddered as it crashed against the hard floor, but I was barely injured by the rough landing. I had finally released my grip and I shook off, but was then bothered by a swooping figure that flaunted her harmful tail’s purple tip. I ducked momentarily, next poking my head back up and turning around to blow fire onto the passing attacker. However, my flames were losing their effectiveness, as I could only disperse a certain amount before I had to recover. ‘Time for a power boost before my flame sac loses its flames!’ I thought without having to get my own permission.

I twisted my neck up at the two arbok not three metres away, and the hitmonchan battling Chance. There was no sign of the meowth, however, so I assumed Chance had either defeated it, it left and went to another battle...or it was right behind me. Checking to make sure, I peered over my shoulder. Thankfully, the assumption was merely my suspicion and sense of humour, and I could return to focusing.

My ‘focus session’ was cut short as something suddenly began to burn my skin. I instinctively knew that fire type moves couldn’t harm me much at all due to an apparent ‘ability’ that most flareon had, so it couldn’t be flames. I felt instantaneously uncomfortable, and I flung my head to my back, about to lick my burning patch. However, I was stopped straight away, seeing that it was clear bubbling acid. Whilst I hadn’t been paying attention, one of those arbok had regurgitated acid and spewed it onto my pelt! “How dare you?!” I wretched, scrunching my face at both the sight and in anger. “You vomited on my coat! MY COAT!” If they had known how much I hated my fur being messed up, perhaps they wouldn’t have dared an attack like that one. “RAAGH!” I viciously screeched, using my legs to push off and ascended into the closest arbok’s chest with a quick attack, and in my favour, the attack felt stronger than usual.

Proving my hypothesis, the great cobra pokémon slammed to the ground with me standing on his outspread skin. As soon as we landed, I growled louder, bounding off his head in time to fly at the other poison type’s shocked face. Having prepared, I shot a shadow ball – while still suspended – in his direction and watched its black almost electricity-looking effects send him back. Ill-equipped, he tried to fight it, but when he broke off, the pokémon belonging to Team Rocket plunged into the floor with a black sphere the size of his chest following, only to explode on his exposed skin as it dealt more damage. It made me narrow my eyes with satisfaction, but I was too late once I crashed into an incoming ‘ally’.

A squeal reminded me that I had still been airborne from having jumped, and I knew as soon as I opened my eyes again that I had made a mistake. “YOU!” snarled the blue idiot I had rammed into.

“Not again...” I bellowed, slightly afraid of how the situation was going to pan out, and what would happen next.
I got a face full of ice, that’s what. Followed by my neck muscles automatically drawing my head back as a reaction. I opened my large eyes, narrowed them, and got to my feet. Flamethrower would have happily been my next move – and on Azure – but I needed to conserve my fire, which bugged me. “Grow up,” I simply spat before turning tail. Of course...there was the tush in her face again. That made me giggle mockingly to myself as I loped towards the hitmonchan about ten metres in front of me busily attacking Chance—who appeared to be protecting someone...the pink someone I had seen behind him before. “Hey, you—hitmonchan!” And the last thing he would have remembered was turning around and being winded by a quick attack, next having a rather big shadow ball fired at his gut. It had whirled around, charging with the night, and plummeted into the attacking pokémon. He collapsed in a crumpled heap, and I grinned greasily. The toxic attack had done its job, and the fighting type had slowly become prey to the process of his decreasing health. I grunted with satisfaction, flinging my head to the pokémon behind me.

Azure seemed to simply huff at my three-in-a-row pokémon defeat, but I could tell she was hiding her impressed thoughts. Her tail swung from side to side as I turned to displayed my proud smirk, the pointed tip cutting through the air. “I think you’re the one who needs growing up,” she sneered. I breathed a loud, irritated and agitated sigh in response, eying her afterward. “Defeating a mere three pokémon in some poor attempt to impress your superiors? I would have thought more highly of you than that... Oh, wait... No, I wouldn’t have.”

“Would you just leave me alone?! What makes you think I’d need to impress you?! You already hate me for no reason, and clearly you’re not going to change your stupid, precious mind! So just get away from me!” I exclaimed. I knew she was only trying to stir me up and get me back for leaving the fight, but why did she have to keep pressing like she did? But to that, the glaceon said nothing. Possibly because I pointed out that she apparently hated me, she drew back a few centimetres. “Is it that you have a grudge against me? Do you hate fire types? Or maybe it’s just flareon! You hate us because we can melt your sorry **** in battle. Or maybe you’re too selfish to have appreciation for strangers you don’t know! Who knows?! Why would I want to know?” Silence overcame us both for a matter of moments, my frowning, snarling face being the only sign that I was lecturing her. “Look—I don’t know what’s up your ****, but it’s got nothing to do with me! And if it has—I’m sorry for offending you!” I barked at her with a hint of sarcasm, my left paw forward. Again, silence fell upon us, and a sharp intake of breath came from the ice type. I was breathing normally, on the contrary, but through my gritted teeth.

“Do you know...what it’s like...to trust someone and have them deceive you?” she hissed, her voice wavering as if she were holding back tears. “Someone close to you?” At the sight of her weak form, I nearly felt sorry for her... What could she be talking about? Someone close hurt her...

‘It’s fairly obvious, numbskull,’ I told myself, and I would’ve rolled my eyes if I hadn’t woken up and realised the broken glaceon seeming emotionally troubled. “Uh...no,” I answered firmly, an eyebrow raised. “But what's that got to do with—”
“Then why would you understand...?” She narrowed her eyes in the process of shaking her head while speaking the sentence, her words directed more so at herself than me as she averted her eyes. She looked...disappointed, as if almost having picked me for someone who would have understood.

I didn’t know what to do at that moment until an incoming blur widened my eyes, and I obeyed my initial reaction. This time it was me gasping, and like a great fire burning fiercely bright, I hurled myself into who I was just talking to. We tumbled after and I cried aloud, my leg muscle enduring a puncture. The glaceon, her tears now free, roared in my ears. I responded with a cry equally as loud, my leg leaking scarlet liquid. I glanced at it without acknowledging the glaceon, and she herself moved her head toward it. She looked at me, brow furrowed, only just becoming aware of my sacrifice. “MOVE!” I shouted, and she scrambled with an open mouth from underneath me before another bang sounded, chipping my left ear this time. I knew it was intended for her, and I was relieved for a second that she had followed my orders. But still, even after the second shot, she stood watching. Her face was almost soaked in bewilderment, but also confusion. I could tell she wanted to speak, but couldn’t bring herself to. “Why are you—” I started, stopping to groan, “—just standing there?! ...Get away!”

This time, with a frightened look but hidden thankfulness, the blue eeveelution tore herself away from me, leaving my helpless self sprawled in the middle of a battle scene.

A body came close to landing on me before I moved again, using all but my left back leg to propel myself. Another gunshot whizzed through my tail, striking the fallen pokémon I had dodged square in the side of its head. I whimpered, attempting to lope away from the scene. My attempts proved feeble as another gunshot sounded, the bullet issuing a round hole at my tail’s start.

Another body thudded before me, its consciousness – and life, presumably – absent. I was forced to stop, and my immediate reaction was to stare at a human wielding his gun around fifteen metres away. He cast a preying grin before gripping the gun with his other hand, and my heart could only beat at the speed of sound as I waited for the final blow. He was going to shoot; I was sure of it. His eyes glimmered with hate, burning with the desire to kill innocents such as myself.

It would take a miracle to save me now.

Before accepting my fate, a specific scene popped into my head quickly—back when Izante and I had gone hunting a few months back...

***

“Dusty, we’re going to go and get something to eat for dinner from the market in the nearby town,” my master informed, her legs bent at the leg joint as much as possible so she was at my level. “I can get you some fish, but you can hunt around here in the meantime if you like. Or you can come with me.” Despite my urge to follow and protect her, I took Master’s first suggestion after being persuaded by Izante. The leafeon seemed keen on hunting, and though I first rejected her, I thought that maybe sharpening my skills wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

I nodded understandingly, my tail swaying gently as I raised my head for my master to pat it. While doing so, Izante nodded at the same time, her master miming something to her.

“Bye!” Master sung sweetly, drawing my attention and giving a brisk wave before wandering off with Izante’s master. Instead of questioning her, I padded through a number of trees beside my best friend, noticing her shy smile broaden.

“What’s that for?” I asked, grinning a little bit myself.

“Nothing. I can smile, can’t I?” she responded, trying to sound entertaining but actually sounding rude. My own smile lessened, and I cleared my throat. I listened to the jingle of my chingling bell, the joyous sounds ringing in my large orange ears.

“I don’t think wearing my collar is a good idea for hunting. The noise’ll give me away.”

“M-kay,” Izante mumbled. We kept padding, the trees stretching taller as we progressed, and the sound of birdsong shimmered through the air. “Pokémon that aren’t yet a month old are best,” she told me, not making eye contact. “Pokémon mate all year ‘round, so we can still find them now.”

I gave her a raised-eyebrow expression. “Izante...I was the one who told you that.” She denied it, telling me she already knew.

However, I ignored her, focusing on a particular flying type’s calls. I laid eyes on a pokémon with an enormous wingspan. She was mostly brown from what I could see, and her wing feathers were tipped with cream. Her head held a red crest which was spiky, and an elongated creamy-pink beak was pointed in the direction of her nest. She fluttered before landing, her clawed toes hooking into the home made from twigs and dried grass. Cheeping told me that offspring were waiting to be fed. If I was correct, around four or five, by the sounds of it, were there.

“Food! Food!” they cried, demanding nourishment just as all baby pokémon did. I turned my head to Izante, who had kept walking, not noticing my absence.

“They’re all so far up,” I commented. The grass type swung her head.

“What?” She clearly hadn’t heard me.

“All the bird pokémon are too far up.”

“Look closer to the ground,” she advised. I continued forward, glancing about. There were no low nests. None. If we had any chance of catching prey, it’d be prey on the ground or fish in a river.

“Do you wanna go and fish instead? There aren’t any nests close enough to the ground.”

Izante grumbled before agreeing, and we both raised our noses into the air. Smelling the lingering freshness, I caught the scent of a few things. ‘Plants, trees, bird pokémon, Izante, human...water!’ I took off in the direction my nose led me, Izante following sluggishly. My paws picked up squashed dirt and leaves as I ran, but I tried my best to avoid any droppings that could possibly appear along my path. I heard different insects about: flies, crickets, cicadas...

I ended my travel at a rushing river, the lovely, peaceful hum of the water flowing to my ears. Salmon tails flicked the water’s surface as they were washed downstream. I placed my paws at the water’s edge, bringing my rump down to sit. I licked my lips hungrily as I heard my stomach rumble.

With a bound and a grunt, Izante flew across the stream. She landed on a large rock, printing its silver surface with the mud from her paws. I landed closely behind, repeating her colour-changing actions. “Do you wanna use your tail? Mine’s a little too fluffy,” I suggested, gesturing with my head at the river.

“Hmm,” she started. Turning around, she laid her butt on the cold surface before dipping her tail into the rushing water. She almost pulled it out, probably not expecting a cold temperature. “It won’t work without bait.”

I didn’t need more than a moment to think. “I’ll find us a worm.” I bounded into the bracken, frail branches moving on my command. The ground was soft and moist—just what was sufficient for digging. I knew my nose wouldn’t give me an reading of a worm’s whereabouts—and neither would any of my other senses. Nevertheless, I ploughed into the ground, dirt flying about. ‘I used to know dig,’ I thought sourly, thinking it would come in handy after all. ‘I should’ve kept using it...I’d need a TM to learn it again.’

Neglecting the thought and moving on, I sighed as my hole failed to expand once I hit hard earth. ‘What is this?!’ I growled, eyes narrowing. As I moved on to another spot, it then occurred to me that perhaps ground prey was a good idea. ‘I could probably find a newt around here somewhere...’ But before I could begin considering it, my ears unexpectedly twitched. I pulled my paws from the ground. Another noise sounded. With curiosity my prime thought, I very carefully slinked back to the bushes I had come from. I spotted Izante’s figure off to my far right, standing before a cluster of trees. I discovered another pokémon, but they were obscured by the bushes. I wanted to creep closer, but I was in no way inclined to expose myself to this odd situation. But could barely make out Izante’s voice...let alone her company’s... I strained my ears, shutting my eyes as if to focus my sight’s energy on their chatting. The other voice was whispering, but I could tell it was female. Izante’s voice was also hushed, overrun by the river’s rushing and the insects’ buzzing. Although...I could make out a few sounds.

“He...qu.....” I think it was Izante. “W...”

The other one kept quiet long enough for me to assume they changed the topic. “Do....ow.” There was a pause before the other pokémon continued. “A... you ...lo...”

Izante shuffled her paws, and I drew myself close to the tree beside me, staying silent until I felt her gaze flick back to that of her company’s. “No.”

“W... s... have...th...sk. Th...ins...w... b... rel... to...s...”

“...D...st...d. I ...ve t... ...o.” Replacing herself by the rocks where she stood before, I swore, scuttling back to where I had been digging. Thin twig-like branches hung low to the ground, inviting me through them as I sought out my spot. I arrived, diving into the clay. I rolled all four paws into it, staining them all the more. I wiped my muzzle in a pile of mud and managed to flick up pawfuls of earth in the direction behind me, listening to the faint patter as it met the ground. Shortly after, rustling of bushes and another voice turned me around.

“Are you having any luck?” the leafeon asked, only making eye contact between her sections of looking away.

“It’s not luck,” I corrected, twisting back to my ‘hole’. “It’s whether my skills are high enough for me to recover a worm or not.” I emphasised the word ‘worm’ just for fun, and I heard her approach me. “...Care to help?”

She moaned, clearly not inclined. “...Do I have to?”

I flicked a mud-stained snout at her, a sarcastic expression etched into my face. “I’m not going to do all your dirty work. So...yep!”

She heaved a sigh, acting similar to a mother espeon when her eevee won’t do as she says. Regardless, she dug in, darkening her naturally brown paws. Within no time, we came up with a few tiny grubs and those weird little jumpy bugs, but no worms.

“That’s strange...and annoying,” I commented, hauling myself out of the ground. “Must just be looking in the wrong—” Izante on the ground kneeling before a tree caught my attention. “Uhh...what are you doing?” But the response I got was a twitch of a tail and a muffled bunch of words which weren’t even directed at me. The grass type continued mumbling, her face level with the tree’s base on the ground. I stared at her behind, eyes squashed with confusion and a frown. “Izante, what ar—”

“Shh!” she hissed curtly. I blinked repeatedly, not sure what to do next. So I watched her. Her tail caught my eye as it swept the ground, rolling pieces of dirt and crumpled leaves. The swaying became faster, and soon my friend was up on all fours, her head craning to a papery branch far up above; it must have been around two rhyperior high!

What startled me was what happened next! After speaking the words ‘like a rocket’, Izante shot up into the sky, firing herself onto a peeling branch at least a metre off the ground. The tree’s limb bounced, and she crouched herself again only to then spring higher. “Izante!” I called, having no idea what she was doing. All was soon revealed when the leafeon landed on the branch she was previously dedicated about reaching and dug her head into a nest. I heard cheeping, and felt sorry for the prey, and then plodding as Izante landed branch by branch to the ground. She strode over to me, plopping the two baby pidgey on the ground. ‘They’re all too young to defend themselves...’ I thought sadly, my jaws fitting around one’s head. I bit through the tendons, its chirping turning to silence immediately. Izante did the same.

I had gone fishing with my tail afterwards, Izante having found some worms. I managed to lure one using the bait, and my leafeon friend leapt into the river and snatched it up. We would have caught another one had she not let it slip, but the one we snagged was large enough for us both. “Hey...Izante,” I started, my brain still turning. We had been sitting by the rushing river, but I insisted that we moved into the brush a little more so that I wasn’t taunted by the rushing flow of sickening water. We were back at the digging spot. “How did...how did you, uh...” I wasn’t comfortable finishing my sentence, and instead shifted my gaze to the tree.

At first she didn’t get where I was at, but after another gestural nod to the birch, she muttered, “Oh,” carrying the word on a little with acknowledgment. “I, uh...” As if to change the subject, she pulled her half of the salmon corpse toward her with a paw, sniffing it. “Is it edible?”

I frowned. “Of course it’s edible.” She sniffed it again, licked it and eventually stole a bite before coming back for more. “But...” She pretended not to be interested, munching on her fish. “That’s dumb... Why ‘like a rocket’?” To that she nearly choked, coughing, and following the mistake was half of the salmon’s spine. “Don’t eat the carcass!” I yelled as a reaction, but then figured it to be an accident. She didn’t meet my glare, but instead eyed what remained of the fish. “Why not ‘like a spoink’?” Clearly not wanting to be disturbed, she stayed seated, the two of us silent and frozen in our different poses. Crickets and cicadas were, again, the only sound besides the nearby stream. Izante was sitting, her front legs appearing long as they supported her front. She was looking away, fur shaggy over her eyes.

My two shoulder flareon who I spoke rarely to both appeared again. The red one sighed. “...Great. You insulted her. Now she’s not gonna answer.”

The light flareon repeated the sighing motion and murmured, “Neither have done anything wrong.” To that the red flareon exposed her tongue and squeezed her eyes, but the other and I ignored her.

Izante eventually got up and began to leave, what she didn’t eat of her salmon lying before me. I quickly slid a mouthful off, leaving the bones. “We should head back,” she suggested, moving her head only slightly while my eyes fell to her rump. “Our masters will be getting back soon.” She disappeared through the bushes, and I heard her leap over the river as I gathered myself. I was about to scamper after her when I remembered the two mouthfuls of deceased marine animal that would go to waste if I left it. I speedily snatched the salmon piece in my mouth and sped after her.

“Hey! Wai’ u’!”

***

He put his second hand to the trigger, daring to press on it. I cringed, trying to recall more memories with Izante. However, one was all fate allowed me.

His cheeks compressed, rising to make room for his mouth. I guessed that he knew I was the one running the operation, otherwise he would have already fired. I was breathing heavily, remembering the bullet my muscles caught. It stung, but somehow didn’t seem to bother me as much as the deafening roar that pulsed through my body, my eyes forcing themselves shut. My toes stiffened, separating. My ears bent downwards, hoping to drown out some of the sound. This was it. The blood slipped in and out of my brain, flushing through the rest of my body. It screamed inside my head like a staraptor about to close in on its prey and slashed at my mind like a vigoroth whose claws were far from blunt. I began to ride the wave of death, feeling its cold embrace as it washed me downstream...

***

“Dusty,” a deep voice lulled. I stirred a little, feeling large arms cradling me. My eyelids made way for my pupils, which looked fuzzily at the darkened brown and yellow face staring down at me. ...But that didn’t make sense. I was dead, wasn’t I? “You were unconscious,” he stated solemnly. “It was lucky I had been there.”

The form morphed into none other than Luck, my large and reliable ursaring friend. “...R-really? So, I’m not dead?” I moaned through a presumably unwell face.

“Haha,” he chuckled, setting me upright onto my paws, “no. I hope you’re not disappointed.” He pointed to a corpse about fifteen metres away and looked stern. “I slayed the human. You fainted – assuming it was from fright – just before I stepped in. I saw you collapse and thought he may have fired the lethal shot. I was glad to have been proven wrong.” I listened to all of this, trying to absorb the information. My mind wandered; I considered the possibility of this human not shooting me and felt the need to search my body for gunshot wounds. I then snapped back into reality, crouching as pokémon attacks were cast to my left and right. I was surprised not to have been attacked then and there.

I observed the carcass after creeping up to it unsteadily, firing a toxic on my way at a bronze raticate who came too close while preparing her buck-teeth’s strike. She screeched and scurried away, running into another predator that knocked her overboard with a single blow. I barely noticed as I crept closer, taking in the deep claw gashes that ran slashed across the human’s neck. His metal gun sat alone and separated from his hand. Cerise blood stained his uniform, and a dense pool soaking his black hair and hat had formed from the wound’s leakage. I let a frown lick the corners of my face. ‘Looks like it’s kill or be killed.’

***

“Do we have a report on the sides?” I questioned Luck, limping with him and two others, not making eye contact while on the watch.

“What do you mean?”

“Do we know if someone’s winning or not? How many of us have been...killed?”

“That haunter’s got the information, I believe. He has lain low to note the observations,” Luck explained, probably not looking at me either.

“He’s really proved himself, hasn’t he?” I grinned, obviously happy with the ghost type. He had provided me with great information, along with the awesome powers he had shown in being able to release pokémon when nobody else could...apart from the blast seeds, of course.

“Yes, I agree,” Luck nodded.

“Dusty.” I turned my head. “I just wanted to thank you for before. I couldn’t fight them all off.” Chance bowed his head while we were travelling, concealing ourselves in the shadows on one side of the ship. The thin railing lining the sea vessel would apparently help prevent people falling into the ocean. But then again, people, not pokémon.

Crates passed by slowly as we made our ways while scrutinising the battles through gaps between the wooden prisons. Following me was Luck, Chance and Reaver. I suspected that the little pink being I saw with Chance before had also tagged along, but I couldn’t be sure—until I asked.

“Ohh, no worries,” I sighed. “Hey, Chance? Was there someone—” I halted, witnessing a Rocket man being tossed over the side a few metres up ahead. He yelled all the way down, being silenced by a splash. The wind whipped around our small group, almost chilling me. I barely had time to process this before distraction fell upon me again.

“Oh,” a familiar tone rang, “Dusty.” He was panting, blood probably from humans grazed across his face and cream side—however, it wasn’t fresh and there was barely any.

“Raiys!” I beamed, “It-it’s good to see that you’re...alive!”

“Heh, same with you.” His gaze shifted to my paws. “Getting into it?”

“Yes, uh...” I subtly tried to wipe off the blood I had stepped in. I noticed his paws were blood-free. I assumed it was a good thing that I was facing the wrong way for him to see my bullet wounds. At least, the one in my upper left hind leg. “So, what’s your number?”

Raiys cleared his throat. “Twenty-three.” Before I could widen my eyes, he had bounced away, coming down onto the back of an arbok not too far away.

I was silent for a few seconds, thoughts busily carrying themselves around in my mind. I wasn’t sure what to do next, but a call for my name once again changed my course. “D-Dusty!” A darkened frame zipped up to my nose after pushing through the small group of pokémon standing behind me.

“Yes?” I answered in a simple, wondering voice while blinking twice.

“You need to see something!” The urgency in Zhol’s voice almost startled me. She was also very rushed, and didn’t wait for me to ask before continuing. “There’s another crate of pokémon down below in the cargo hold on another floor.”

“WHAT?!” I blurted, my legs instantly spreading and my mane and tail bristling. “Well, I need to get them out!” I turned to my surrounding comrades. “I want you guys to get an overview of the battle,” I mentioned. “I want you to help anyone in danger and drive the humans off the ship. If we can, we should hijack it. We could steer it back to land and rescue everyone who hasn’t escaped yet.” I almost bounded away, but Luck stuck one of his massive paws out to stop me. I followed it up his body to his face.

“You can’t run. There’s a bullet in your leg.” Although I tried to deny it, he was right. “Please, let me pull it out for you.”

“What?! Uhh—” I wanted to tell him ‘no’, but I knew it was best. He hesitated before I sighed, rolled my eyes and silently granted him permission. The great bear-like pokémon bent down, his thick and terrifying claws withdrawing each time they touched my skin as if being burned, but I knew it was because he was trying his best not to hurt me.

“Sorry,” he apologised, sincere truth in both his eyes and voice. His claws finally found their place, and one of them poked into my wound hole. I grunted, forcing shut my eyes and automatically tensing my leg. Luck pulled his paw away. “My claw is too thick,” he sighed. “It won’t fit properly.”

“...May I try?” an almost-dopey voice asked. For a moment, thoughts like a flock of pidgey streamed in one ear and out the other as I tried to work out whose voice the sound belonged to. My question soon answered itself as Chance revealed a pink pokémon who came out from cowering secretively. His ears were curled back onto his head; he was rather plump and stood on four stumpy legs all ending with white hoof-like nails; his long, white-tipped tail was suspended over his body.

‘Oh! That was the pokémon Chance was trying to protect before!’ My mind flashed images for only me to see as I recalled the few pieces of the pokémon I previously spotted.

Everybody watched him as he – very leisurely – made his way to me. “You helped us before,” he stated slowly—the complete opposite to the rate of Zhol’s speech and actions. “I will help you in return.” It was hard to estimate his age—I could tell he wasn’t a child, but neither an adult. He was in the middle, perhaps?

“O-okay.” But when I looked down at his useless paws, I wanted to question him about how he was going to do it. The pokémon stared at me, and I had to blink to avoid fuzziness clouding my vision. When I looked back at him, I noticed the dramatic colour change in his eyes and the fact that he had changed his focus to the bullet wound. Radiating from his eyeballs was mysterious red colouring. That same redness was glowing from the bullet that appeared before me in a matter of seconds. “Woah...”

The bullet clinked against the floor as it landed, snapping me from my confusion-induced trance. ‘He used his mind, not his paws.’ I beamed, happy to see the bloody human ammunition out of me. “Thank you!” I wasted no time in nudging the slowpoke’s tan muzzle before turning to Zhol and flying away with her.

***

“Through here,” the sneasel directed, pointing a claw at a minuscule opening in the ship’s floor. “You can smell them.”
I bent down, daring a sniff with my nose. My nostrils widened, inhaling with the sound of breathing. ‘Materials—metal, meat—for food, and—ah huh!’ I recognised the last smell as a pokémon’s scent. It was so familiar, yet...somehow it didn’t feel one hundred percent ‘okay’. ‘Maybe they’re just sick. Or the food is interfering with their scent.’ I doubted the latter, but it could have been that way. “Good work,” I complimented, and Zhol nodded briefly, blinking at the same time. “We have to get them out—come on!” I sprang off, hearing the patter of pawsteps racing after me. She reached me in no time.

“Just you and me?”

“Either of us can break the lock. We don’t need more pokémon.” She agreed, her legs slowing for me. “We’re tough,” I added, noticing her subtle toothy smile. I smiled back, and we continued on in the direction I was headed.

We needed to travel to the other end of the ship, where the humans’ ‘hang out place’ was, where the Rockets served each other food. Further on, in the last few metres of the ship, was the captain in a small cabin, surrounded by three body guards, gripping his huge wheel. To access his company, the Rockets would walk from their food-eating area through a way in the wood and up a small flight of steps. However, I knew that none of it was relevant. Access to the captain’s cabin was only step one of the operation to gain control over the vessel, and it hardly needed planning.

We crept past battles raging to our right, and the crates gradually passed us by while sticking to the outside of the ship where the wind blew our faces and the waves licked the ship’s sides. In a hurry, Zhol’s arms flew behind her and my tail soared through the rippling breeze.

I nearly had a heart attack when a loud bang caught me off guard, throwing me into Zhol, who was on my left and beside the ship’s railing. She squawked before our tumble commenced, and we halted in a crumpled mess with limbs in different directions. I growled inwardly. A fat frown ruffled its feathers, shook its behind, and plonked itself onto my brow, joining the sarcastic eyes. ‘Great,’ I thought sourly. I heaved myself up, straining my ankles as Zhol slipped off my back. She shook her head, putting a paw to it while her other arm propped her up from behind. “Sorry,” I muttered, then decided to investigate the murmuring going on a few metres away between two crates. I stepped over a random body, peering ‘round the crate’s corner. I immediately retreated to avoid detection as soon as I recognised the chatting beings as two Team Rocket men. One was slumped against the crate I wasn’t touching, and the one on my side was facing the other way, looking down the end of the narrow ‘alley’ as he spied fights.

The one against the wooden wall was also standing, his eyes closed as if he was relieved and/or tired. He let out a sigh, and his acquaintance turned to him. They were both gruff and not yet middle-aged, I guessed. The one leaning had short, thick, black hair under his hat, and he had a dense moustache sitting between his nose and mouth. The rest of his facial hair consisted of tiny little spikes dotting his chin.

“I fink we lost ‘em,” the man facing away stated. His pronounced his words rather sloppily, I noticed. “You fink we’re safe ‘ere?”

“Yeah,” the other one breathed after moments of pause.

They both stared through the break of crates to watch something while I scuttled across the floor to my dark and ice type friend. “Let’s go—before they look again!” Before she had time to question me, she followed as I crept past the gap where they both stood looking the opposite way. We made it successfully, and I was glad to find that we were about half-way up the ship. Just as I was about to shoot off, I heard them start to talk again, but this time louder. My curiosity got the better of me, and I dragged myself back to the two. This time, I didn’t bother looking around. Instead, I pressed my side against the box while sitting, listening to their words.

“What should we do?” questioned one of them, clearly unsure.

“Shoot it!” the other insisted frantically, and a brief shriek echoed through the gap between the crates as I heard a thump.

My eyes were wide and my heart began racing as I recalled my previous encounter with a human and his gun. I was sure these men had just sentenced a pokémon to their death, but I couldn’t be sure until I checked.

A duo of claws touched my shoulder, and I snapped my head around to find Zhol standing before me with a modest expression. “Z-Zhol...” I stuttered, momentarily frozen.

“Yes?”

“...We should kill them first.”

Zhol’s brow furrowed and her feet remained planted. “...No,” she responded firmly.

“W-what?” I was shocked—until I realised she wouldn’t have known about the fallen pokémon. “They just killed someone!”

The sneasel’s expression became solid and serious, but she still needed convincing. Although she hesitated, she seemed rather curious as she zipped back and ‘round the corner. Haughty talk met me before screams and thumps. Then, trotting out with a tinge of resentment etched between her features, Zhol stopped in front of me to wipe the blood from her front with the side of her arm. Her claws were dripping with the same substance, and she quickly scraped half of it off on the crate’s corner. I wasn’t sure what to think. “...That was quick.” However, I couldn't help but to think that we may have done the wrong thing...even though they were our enemy... Was killing those Rockets when they didn’t threaten us first being as bad as them? My face grew reassurance as I told myself that they deserved it; we were merely paying them back. If they hadn’t killed that pokémon, I wouldn’t have insisted on their deaths...

As I restrained myself from looking back at them, Zhol and I nodded to each other before springing away.

***

We came to the stairs that would lead us down below. There was a strange smell wafting from beneath the deck, but we ignored it as we left behind the floor of lifeless humans and pokémon.

“Coast is clear,” I mentioned to Zhol, who was at the top of the stairs while I was at the bottom. She whizzed down, and we both slunk past several rooms. The first was to our right with a door closed. I sensed something sinister lurking behind the walls, and I crinkled my nose. Zhol probably sensed it too, since she did the same.

We crept past door after door, weaving through corridors and making our ways past labs that had shuffling and mumbling emitting from inside. Several of the labs had their doors open and...smelled like banana petrol?

“Zhol...” I finished my scan of a two-way passage. She turned from my right. “We should split up to find that crate. It’s either at the end of that corridor—” I gestured to the left hallway, “—or that one,” then to the right.

“I’ll go this way,” she said, deciding for us.

“Okay.” The weavile pre-evolution whizzed down the right hall, disappearing as she turned a left corner. I stuck with what I had been given and dashed down my allocated path, feeling the scratchy carpet under my paws. I came to the same corner that Zhol had – mine being a right turn – and I thought that maybe we would join up once turning a second time. So, trusting that theory, I bolted down the corridor heedless of the pokémon who rounded the next corner and smacked into me. I whined in response, picking myself up at the sound of another pokémon’s snarls. I leaped backwards, a fire blast burning its way just out of my reach and onto a wall to my right.

I widely eyed the smoking black crustiness that was left in a metal wall after the fire attack dissipated, and trailed it back to an orange bill. Two eyes sat above the mouth, and above them were red lumps that formed into yellow flame-like fur. Her whole body resembled fire in some way or another, whether it was in colour or pattern, and she even sheltered a naked flame on the tip of her lemon-coloured tail.

“State your business,” she demanded, assuming a defensive pose while making her claws apparent.

I held my breath. ‘Should I tell her? ...I guess I should... She’ll attack me no matter what, probably.’ “I’m here to free the pokémon,” I declared, not feeling overly confident about what I had just said. I suddenly felt like a fool for telling her. But at the same time, I felt uneasy at the thought of a battle with her. When I faced fire types...I just...I didn’t feel comfortable. As if I would have trouble beating them because our elements would cancel each other out.

“What?” the magmar spat. She, instead of continuing to act defensive, almost seemed sceptical. Like she couldn’t imagine I was capable of it or something. “Uhh...you don’t look like a Team Rocket pokémon...”

“W-what?” ‘Is she stupid or something? Maybe she doesn’t know about what’s going on outside...’ I was considering attacking, when I decided to play along... “Uh—well, I am.” But to that, the magmar stiffened again.

“I-I don’t see your trainer.”

“I...uhh... Master sent me down here on my own,” I lied. I always was a horrible liar.

“And he asked you to release those...pokémon?” She raised an ‘eyebrow’.

“Well, yeah. One of the Rockets needs, uh...another pokémon to help him train. And I was asked to get one from this cargo hold...thing.”

“I find that a little odd... They’ll easily be able to kill him and his pokémon.” She considered what I’d said before adding, “And you’d better make sure you have their remotes.” She brushed past me as I stood on the spot.

‘Remotes?’ I thought with wonder. ‘She must mean for a remote controlled door or something. If these pokémon can kill others so easily, it’s possible they lock them down here behind remote controlled doors or something.’ I considered her words and thought, ‘They’re probably all the highest evolutions of the caught pokémon—which is why they were kept here and not with the rest of us!’ I checked to see if the magmar was leaving – and she was – and turned back to where I needed to go. As I walked further, my pace evolved into a jog. I passed more doors, all of which weren’t the right one. I kept my nose high and my senses sharp...

“Here!” I told myself after going around another corner and finding a wall before me. “...Wait...” I looked to my right, but no entrances were present. I poked my head back around the corner to see if I had missed the door and managed to pick up the scent I had previously missed, but what I smelled wasn’t close enough for its whereabouts to be near. The smell of a forest lingered behind the wall that dead-ended me, and the one that a door should be planted in. I scowled. ‘Zhol got the right way. This way was the wrong one.’ I reared back, taking off down the hall. After the long stretch – presumably the width of the ship itself – I zoomed around another bend, then my last one which I knew would’ve connected up to the part with the wall blocking me. However, the wall was probably thin and the room’s door was at the end of the way, which meant I had to wear myself out that extra bit more. ‘I should’ve just blasted my way through the wall!’ I scowled. But my good side used its brain. ‘That wall could’ve meant the difference between sinking the ship and staying afloat. Soaking yourself or keeping your fur dry.’

I came to a halt before I ran my way into the hard surface, and craned my neck. The door loomed over me; it was bigger than a usual one. The door had a sign with human language on it, and a black skull against a yellow background. There was a dried maroon human handprint on the door to top it all off, smears and a splatter of matching colour. I frowned, wondering what could have happened.

I blew a flamethrower on the door...but to no avail. I was rather shocked. I charged up a toxic, vomiting it up onto the entrance’s metal surface. The poison didn’t even stick to it, let alone make a hole. Instead, it slid slowly down the impenetrable surface and dissolved through the floor. I shrugged, peering down through the hole it made, and figured that it would disappear before it could corrode the bottom’s hull and what other layers the ship had.

I looked back to the door. How on earth could I open it? ‘Hang on...Zhol’s not here, which means she has to have been able to get inside.’ I sat and pondered. “Hmm...” My eyes wandered to a paw-sized, camouflaged button on the wall. I smiled ‘evilly’, as Izante would call it, and pawed at it till it did something. However, it was only a sliver of blackness that told me that I had opened the door.

I decided to wait. No noise at all was coming from inside, which concerned me. “Zhol!” I called. The sole response reaching my ear was my echo, so I paused before repeating myself. “Zh—”

The door swung widely open, and cold claws snapped me up. I almost screamed, but they were shoved over my mouth to silence me. Lights came on, blinding me in the instant, and the door was slammed shut before I had a chance to breathe.

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Twelve: Unpredicted Revelation

“What’s going on?!” I exclaimed through the two claws. They pressed together again, making me shuffle out of the paws’ grip. The room had become instantly black as soon as the door had closed again, and I demanded to know what was happening! “Zhol,” I decided through a whisper, “where’s the crate?” I turned around, knowing she was going to be there because she had just embraced me.

“There’s no crate,” she replied from further up the room. I frowned, having underestimated her speed.

“Well then—”

“Shh!” she hissed, and I shut my gob immediately. I wanted to question her more, and I didn’t know why I had to be shushed. “Whisper,” she said again, doing so herself.

“But why? And what’s with the ‘no lights’ thing? It kinda makes it a little hard to see.” When I got no answer – just the sound of soft clapping against the floor – I rolled my eyes impatiently. I began to yawn, feeling a wholesome breath of oxygen fill my lungs. The swirling gas came out as a warm puff, and I swayed slightly after. I hadn’t had much sleep over the transportation period, so I knew my energy was draining rapidly. The fact that it was night – when I slept – didn’t help. The bullet wound in my leg still throbbed, as did the small section of my ear which was missing due to the same thing.

It was impossible to see in the never-ending blackness, but I knew I didn’t need to see to be able to sense some sort of strange presence... A very odd but negative atmosphere hung in the enclosed space, and I almost felt unwelcome.

Disregarding my weariness and focusing on my curiosity, I dug deeper for extra fire that wouldn’t be used in a flamethrower, and spurted it out so it was a constant flicker of a flame spilling from my mouth. I blinked, trying to rid my eyes of their sleepiness, then patrolled the open chamber with th—

My heart stopped. My heart stopped beating—probably in awe of the sight before me. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to act, how to breathe any longer. My attention was completely held by what my eyes exposed me to. I may have been looking at pokémon...but in a crate? Huh, far from it. This...this was like nothing I had ever laid my sights on. Zhol must have seen it by now, but I could tell that she was not nearly as intrigued as I was. But I just...couldn’t...

In the room I was in, there were thirteen tall-standing capsules containing wicked-looking pokémon. And by ‘wicked’, I wasn’t referring to them looking really cool, but, in fact...matching the aura I had sensed only seconds previous to my discovery.

The thick tubes were placed six to my left and six to my right, with a significantly larger one seated right at the end in the centre of the path. They were all glass with dark plastic rims at the bottoms and tops where they connected to either the ceiling or the tiled floor. But...filling the pods was a liquid which appeared transparent and somewhat denser than normal water. Bubbles ascended clumsily from within the devices attached to the pokémon in the enclosed spaces and dissipated at the surface. I couldn’t quite identify the species suspended in liquid before me from the lack of light, as my flame merely reflected off the glass covering. However, one I recognised as a medicham—because of its round, pink thighs and the thin grey body. “It’s huge!” I exclaimed, my fire dying instantly. I couldn’t make out much more...other than it looked stranger than a usual one. “What are they doing here?” I mumbled, the flare extinguishing right beforehand. I scoffed, flicking my head in any random direction. “Zhol.”

“I don’t know.”

“...Zhol, why can’t we turn on the lights? I can’t really see properly. And there’s nothing I can use for...like, as a...you know, ‘cause if I use my fire for light, I’m gonna need something to set.” I blinked a few times, unable to solve how I could word my sentence to make proper sense. I then shrugged, receiving an answer.

“Lights might wake them,” she snapped.

“Wake who? The scary-looking pokémon in the creepy-looking tanks?”

“Yes,” she simply said.

“They seem fast asleep to me... But...wait...there isn’t a crate...but there are these tanks with pokémon in them. Why?” I crept closer to a nearby tank, blowing a flame from the gap between my lips. It was the medicham again. As I was reminded of its size, I took a breath and asked, “Do you think Team Rocket’s done something to these pokémon?”

There was silence before Zhol answered, “They are being held here for a purpose. For what purpose I’m not yet sure.”

Since the noise level was zero (apart from faint bubbling from the capsules, me talking and Zhol’s clicking claws), the room could have projected the ring of a carvanha’s tooth dropping—which is what it did when something paw-sized clanged against the tiled floor behind me and probably behind the right string of tubes holding pokémon. Straight after, a shoofing and an almost-suctiony sound to my left threw me into a battle-ready pose as I was confused about the direction I should concentrate on. “What was that?” I quickly questioned, assuming – or more like hoping – it was Zhol. Sneasel could...run fast. Zhol could’ve gotten from one side of the room to the other and made both noises! ‘Y-yeah...’ I thought nervously, fright licking my heart. I swallowed as my back seemed to heat up.

“I don’t know.” There was pattering as she presumably zipped across the surface to the source of the sound.
I waited in angst for something to relieve me, but the dark and ice type took a while to reply. “Feels like a remote!” she mentioned, and I soon learned that she had begun to prod at random buttons on it as the tanks suddenly lit up brightly after flickering. Blue light shone from the base of the tanks, illuminating their contents from the bottom. The whole room became dimly lit with a cobalt blue—but only really enough to faintly make out both me and Zhol and brighten the walls behind. Wild shadows were tossed across the floor, and any of them could easily have been used as a hiding spot...especially if I wanted to conceal myself and jump out at Zhol if she were to walk past! But I knew it was the wrong time, of course. Still...

“Light, wondrous light!” I chanted, beginning to sway back and forth in a dancing fashion. Zhol said nothing and eyed the continuously silent cylindrical containers, probably just waiting for the frightening pokémon to shatter the glass and slaughter us both. However, I think I could speak for Zhol as well as myself by saying that we were glad to find that the light didn’t even make them stir. But now we could snoop around. I revisited the medicham for a third time, figuring I could gather its details better this time. As well as being abnormally large, I saw that it had a heavy-looking metal collar ringed around its neck. I frowned, digging through my mind to find any sort of answer to the question of why it would need one. I spotted something else strange: black rings around its eyes. They reminded me of the marks Master used to get under her eyes when she didn’t get enough sleep, but these went around the pokémon’s whole eyes and didn’t look natural. “Zhol, this is creepy...” I waited for a comment from my sneasel friend before I said, “We have to save them.”

“No,” Zhol hissed, appearing by my side. I suffered a small jump and flicked my head in her direction. “We don’t know what will happen if we release them.”

“Release?” I questioned with a slightly shocked tone. “You make it sound like they’re dangerous captives...” The moment I spoke those words, I knew the possibility. Zhol’s solid gaze reiterated my thoughts, and I suddenly felt a wave of extreme curiosity. Why the giant pokémon? Why were they in tanks filled with bubbling liquid, and why were they separated from the others? Only investigation would solve the question, but not even that seemed overly safe. Investigation that was too thorough could only lead to disaster—as I’d once discovered as an eevee after being told one day not to aggravate a wild machop.

I strode forwards, lifting my nose. ‘...Hang on.’ I flicked my head around. ‘How come I can still smell the forest? Some sort of familiar scent...’ I almost used all my senses to reveal who – or what – was in the room. ‘Eh, my nose is probably still clogged up with all the disgusting stenches from earlier,’ I figured, shrugging. I decided that snooping around more was a better use of my time, and I was probably right, after all. ‘Or these pokémon could have once belonged to a forest...’ I began to search my thoughts. ‘I hope they were willing to be brought here...’

I continued down the room, inspecting the strange, floating pokémon concealed behind glass. Bubbles span to the top of the dense liquid, becoming part of the above pockets of air. Long, black tubes connected to cups on the pokémon’s mouths suddenly came to my attention, and my suspicion met its peak as I discovered they were to supply the pokémon with oxygen. After all, how could they breathe in wet matter like this? ‘Wet matter... That stuff doesn’t appear natural. It’s not fresh or salt water—or water pokémon water. Everything here is artificial...’ My fur stiffened. ‘No wonder this place or these pokémon don’t smell right. Zhol was right about letting them out. Who knows what would happen...?’

I blinked in succession. “This one’s gone!” I exclaimed, spinning to face Zhol.

“A pokémon?” she asked, catching up with me. As she did so, I turned to the tank.

“I swear there was one in here a second ago! When I had my fire lit...the tanks were all full with a pokémon!”
Zhol grabbed her chin with a paw. She frowned, thinking hard, probably.

Spoiling our ‘being surprised’ session, the door to the room slammed shut without warning, the lights blinking out. “WAHH!” I blurted, my muscles seizing. We both jumped out of our fur; we probably would have soiled ourselves if we hadn’t both been familiar with being alarmed.

Silence overcame us as we waited for something else to happen. When nothing did, we both stared at each other—or, at least, I looked at her. Without light, it was kind of difficult to determine whether she was doing the same or not.

I flicked back my head, generating a small flame, and hurled it from my mouth toward the room’s entrance. It lit the place for a matter of moments, dissipating as it crashed into the floor before the door. Nothing there. “But...the door wasn’t even open for it to close!”

“It may have been the pokémon that escaped from its tank,” Zhol alleged. She was thankfully still gripping the remote, and prodded at it until those glass container lights relit. I could see her face again. “But...how did it escape...?” Zhol continued her stare, her thoughts whizzing.

“And how did it sneak past us?” I added. I hoped all would make sense in the end. It usually did, anyway. I padded slowly away, nearing the biggest tank in the room. It was the one near the back of the room in the centre of the pathway between the two rows of tubes. This one – rather than bubbling, holding a pokémon, and being blue – was an extremely dark maroon—almost black. It was not bubbling, however, and the pokémon was absent. It hadn’t been occupied when I had come in, so I figured that there was nothing in it to begin with. I found it awfully strange how it was differently coloured, but I thought that maybe different...‘pokémon’...needed types of tanks to survive in.

As I let a frown push down my eyebrows, I neared the tank. For the first time in a while, I hoisted myself up onto my hind legs, my front paws pressing against the thick glass as my toes spread out. My head was tilted upward, and I could see human communication characters painted on a small sign. However, since I didn’t know how to interpret human language when written, I merely shrunk back down to all fours and returned to the sneasel. I was about to tell her of the human written characters when I was suddenly interrupted.

“Dusty?” a voice started. I flinched violently, the sneasel beside me growing a quick frown.

“...Did you h—” I began, immediately cut off. The feeling of when your ears pop struck me, and it suddenly felt like they were blocked.

“Dusty, it’s Raiys! We need you up here!”

“Did I what?” Zhol queried, a look of concern and perplexity coating her face. She sounded muffled—like I had my head submerged in water or something.

“Shh!” I hushed, turning away from her. “W—how-?!”

“I’ll explain once you’re here. There’s something you need to see! And hurry!” My head felt clear again as I shook it, my eyes searching the floor as if looking for answers.

“Zhol, we need to go,” I stated, facing her seriously. There was a pause while she contemplated this.

“But, Dusty, what about these—”

“Doesn’t matter about them—we need to go!” I sprang off the floor, not giving her time to reply, reaching the entrance and slamming into it. I expected it to swing open, but to my displeasure, it didn’t. Instead, I ended up with a sore right shoulder as I stood moaning. Zhol slashed through the air as she appeared at my side within a heartbeat, and blinked repeatedly at me. She craned her neck, then leapt upward, yanking down the horizontal handle. It became almost vertical as there was a click, and the dark and ice type swung open the chamber’s metal guard.

I just stared with my eyelids at half-mast after moving away from the door. “Why did I do that?” I muttered.
I focused back on task and bounded after Zhol and up the hallway, turning left shortly after it started and nearing a series of short pot plants coming up on our rights.

***

A lithe figure concealed itself behind a row of potted plants situated against the wall of a corridor, knowing exactly what it was waiting for. It didn’t take long before it heard a shuffle of paws and negative muttering. It waited almost indifferently; however, a tinge of remorse pawed at its stomach. It knew what it was doing, but felt nearly a little regretful for doing so. Even though it chose this path, second thoughts whizzed through its head. But it reconsidered as it recalled the reasons, telling itself to forget it among other things. Washed away was the last part of the feeling as it saw, speeding ‘round the corner, an orange and yellow quadruped, as well as a much zippier midnight green pokémon who stood – or raced, rather – on two legs ending with feet and sharp claws.
It took its eyes off the both of them, squashing itself against the floor as they whizzed past. Wind generated by the speedily travelling duo blew back appendages carefully. Once they disappeared around the corner, the sleek-framed creature darted from where the flareon and sneasel had come, inhaling familiar scents as it neared the chamber.

The heavy door was carefully shut once it entered and the creature made its way across the cold floor. It whispered particular phrases not understood by the average being, and as a result the tanks grew their lights. Approaching a specific machine it knew the flareon and sneasel missed which was located behind the main, biggest cylindrical tube near the room’s end, the wanderer stood on its hind legs and awkwardly tapped at buttons on a keyboard. A black screen revealing brimming yellow eyes appeared on the back of the tube – where it was looking – and began to speak. “Master,” it hummed after clearing its throat. “They will...witness our power very soon. Subject D3 has been released.”

The being behind the source of the screen toothily grinned, despite its follower unable to see this, and snorted in triumph. “Excellent. Annihilate every last one of those opposing weaklings. Make sure you spare the Rockets. We need them.”

The minion nodded, trying to keep a sustained pose. “Of course.”

“And find out...who initiated the freedom of the prisoners.”

“I-I already have that information, Master,” the creature explained, feeling slightly regretful but confident afterwards.

“Ahh...excellent. I expect a full report when you return,” mentioned the dominant being, its eyes narrowing.
“Yes, Master.” The smaller creature then nodded, and waited a cluster of seconds before the screen flickered, shrunk and vanished.

***

I almost skidded and slipped when I scrambled up the steps, seizing a human as he pointed his gun at me. Zhol came zooming up from my behind, thudding across the floorboards and into the second Rocket, slashing her paw swiftly through his neck. Maroon liquid reddened our surroundings; I was prey to a few drops, but it didn’t bother me. I finished off the man I was fighting, hurling toxic acid on his face and watching as he accidentally swallowed it. We passed through many battles, slowly making our ways to the opposite end of the ship close to where the crate I was held in was. A large circle of pokémon had gathered, and frankly I was surprised that a few Rocket pokémon or trainers hadn’t interrupted it. Zhol hesitated to push past assorted pokémon while I thoughtlessly ploughed through them, occasionally excusing myself. I found myself in the centre where an ochre bear-like frame lay inert, appearing beaten up and with spatters of blood in select places.

Raiys was gloomily seated next to him, his head flame up for the first time I saw him. He laid eyes on me after having them pointed at his paws, and rose. He looked about to speak, but words were far from his reach.

My bottom jaw trembled, my eyes wide with shock. “L-Luck...” I was almost speechless as my sneasel friend finally appeared by my side. “He’s...” My nose fizzed, my eyes becoming cloudy as my vision blurred. I exhaled loudly, rushing forwards. Shivers erupted along my back, and a twinge twisted in my stomach.

“It’s okay—he’s not dead,” Raiys reassured. I held my breath, my tears stilling.

“He’s...he’s not?” Answering the question for myself, I lowered my head to his chest, my ear easily catching the pumping of his heart. I withdrew again, witnessing the rising and falling of his chest and belly. “Oh.” I blinked out the tears, bringing my right shoulder forward and bending my head down in order to rid the brine from my eye. I copied my actions with the opposite side.

I heard Raiys draw a sharp intake of breath, and I assumed he spotted the miniature hole in my leg and ear, since he was standing to my left.

“Do you know who did this?” I questioned, my neck twisting to the left. The quilava stared back forlornly.

“Yes,” he admitted, clearing his throat. Chance stepped forward from behind him.

“It was a beast,” the grotle interrupted gravely. “Something unlike I’ve ever seen. Unlike anyone’s ever seen.”

The blood-curdling thought pierced my brain, sending more tingles down my spine. I bound my eyes shut, squeezing them with extra effort before releasing the pressure. ‘I wonder...’

“Raiys!” I snapped my head to face forward, my eyes large and my mouth small and insignificant. The volcano pokémon did the same.

“Y-ye—”

Reaver materialised before us, his face serious and his body stiff. He stopped panting to talk. “It’s back. The monster came back.”

***

“What did he mean by ‘monster’?” I asked as I shoved the floor with each running step.

Raiys’ expression held undetermined thoughts. “I know something you don’t,” he admitted.

“Yeah—what he meant!” I waited, almost expecting that statement to act also as a conversation provoking mechanism.

He shook his head a little, and I barely noticed as his whole body flexed while he ran beside me. “A pokémon turned,” he began, and he hesitated to continue, his eyes on track while mine were set on his. “An artificially modified pokémon...”

We were running with many other pokémon. Reaver led proudly, constantly dispelling his aura sphere to dispose of those who hindered his goals. The shiny umbreon was a nice guy, but when he was in a state of fury...well, you’d wanna be on his good side.

I knew Raiys desired privacy to discuss the matter, and he wasn’t inclined to continue unless that want was fulfilled. Following the thought, the fire type jerked his head to the left, and it was easy for me to catch his drift. Leaping over some and racing between others, we escaped the pokémon stampede and ended in the space of two crates near the edge of the ship’s left side.

He panted again, regaining his breath. He looked up at me. “The monster that attacked Luck is pure evil. Yes, it used to be a pokémon, but now it’s a feral monster... Destruction and death is all it knows.” He bound his eyes closed, as if recalling something painful, before he let them see again. “Don’t let it get too close, or it might deal a fatal blow. All it needs is one chance to strike and you’ll be gone. Your friend is lucky to have lived. He must have high endurance...”

I was having trouble absorbing the information, but once I did, I still couldn’t think of anything to say. Instead, I just thought about it. I finally decided on a question to ask. “What...what did you mean by...well, when you said it was ‘artificially modified’?”

He swallowed hard. “It...means that the pokémon...was toiled with.” It took me a moment to think that over, whispering his words to myself for repetition. “Put differently... That pokémon was experimented on.” At those words I felt a wave of ice wash through my veins.

“...Where did this...monster...come from?”

I could tell the quilava wanted to talk, but something was stopping him. I didn’t know what, but bugging him about it wasn’t going to help him find his voice. I changed the subject.

“...How many of the Rockets are defeated? And their pokémon?”

Raiys shook his head again, but not at me. He waited before he answered. And to my surprise, that sneaky grin returned. However, it was a small grin—just a devious smile with slightly lowered eyelids. “We’ve defeated a lot of them. Maybe more than half, even. Including the pokémon.”

I nodded. “Oh, good.” I swung my head around, noticing the rampaging pokémon had passed...finally. “I’m gonna go back to Luck. I trust all of you can fight off that...thing. I’ll come to your rescue if you need me to.” I smirked before running off, bolting through the darkness of the night.

The bottom half of the ship was virtually empty—apart from the abundant corpses, of course... I caught too many scents to distinguish between each one as I neared Luck motionless on the floor, obviously still unconscious. The pink slowpoke Raiys had attained help from in order to telepathically communicate with me was lying beside him on guard—although, since he needed protecting back when I met him and Chance properly, I thought that maybe he wasn’t the right pokémon. However, as I approached, I noticed a lot more pokémon guarding him. ‘But...wait a second...’

I skipped closer, increasingly furrowing my brow with every step. Upon arrival, I sensed something not right. Something completely not right. All the guards were down. And I knew they weren’t just snoozing. “Hey,” I barked, but there was no response. “Uhh...are you awake?” I approached at the psychic and water type with a concerned look. ‘Clearly not,’ my thoughts growled at me.

“Urrgh...” he murmured, his lips not parting. There was nothing before his eyes slowly shifted in place.

“W-what happened here?” I questioned, lowering my head as I stood.

More breath-groans escaped the pokémon’s...nose. His mouth didn’t move. But then again, every other inch of his body was completely still, apart from the barely notable inflation of his belly. I could tell he was desperate to say something...but it appeared he couldn’t. He began to whimper nasally, his eyes whipping about. They met mine, and I could suddenly see through them.

‘I think he’s paralysed...’ I thought, wondering who or what could have attacked him and all the other pokémon. On top of that, why would they not properly injure them? With the number that was here...nine or so, they could easily have stood up to a group of pokémon. And if this slowpoke wasn’t knocked out to the point where he wouldn’t be waking up to anything anytime soon, then why were the other pokémon? Or, at least, that’s how it appeared.

I threw the assumption aside, focusing on the matter. By the time I drew my head back to the slowpoke, his eyes were not as frantic.

“Get away!” he screamed inside my head, my ears having the popping feeling again. I blinked, crimson and blue swirls surrounding the slowpoke’s head.

“What? Why?!” I answered, speaking aloud.

“It’ll be back!” he explained, and I hesitated.

“...W...what is ‘it’?”

A bone-trembling screech shattered my focus, and I was thrown into questions as a stream of blue and black fire scorched the floor at my paws, and I was forced to jump backwards to avoid it. ‘WHAT THE?!’

From behind a nearby crate to the slowpoke’s left stomped two strong legs the height of my body. It was huge and its skin was dark. It had a thin waist and chest, and its front was dark grey. It had a semi-circled patch below its front’s colouring which was a light grey, the same as the star pasted on its jutting-out head. Its jaws were intimidating as well as its strange arms which both ended with a hooked spike each, and I shuddered at the thought of a puncture wound. Its tail was long and spiked twice at its tip, and I immediately knew it would make a powerful weapon.

I could tell it was larger than a normal garchomp, and definitely scarier. The dramatic colour difference struck me as bizarre, and increased the frown marks deepening my concern. I knew that pokémon were different colours, but the bright, deep red eyes piercing my very soul suggested that this pokémon was far from natural.

I blinked in succession. “This one’s gone!” I exclaimed, spinning to face Zhol.

“A pokémon?” she asked, catching up with me. As she did so, I turned to the tank.

“I swear there was one in here a second ago! When I had my fire lit...the tanks were all full with a pokémon!”

I bit my lip, cursing silently. This must have been the escaped pokémon—the evil creation Raiys was telling me about!

“The monster that attacked Luck is pure evil,” he had said. “All it needs is one chance to strike...and you’ll be gone.”

‘Don’t let it get too close...’ I told myself, imprinting the imperative thought into my mind. I held my courage high as I drew energy from my rage and fear, from the shadows around and the darkness blanketing the Earth. A wicked ghostly sphere formed strong in my jaws, a deep purpley-black matter resulting from its power source. Glimmers of white and pink among other assorted colours were present in grains, and the ball was, in a short time, as big as my head, and soon enlarged to finish once it became as large as my body.

The biggest shadow ball I had ever composed stopped its growth, the very innards flickering and seeming to spark and crackle with ghostly energy. My negative emotions were contributing to the attack, helping it to reach its peak in power, and when the garchomp was close enough to be unable to evade, I jerked backwards as I released it. It tore up the floorboards, leaving them a wreck, and hammered into my opponent with a small explosion. The expectation I was hoping for was to knock it out instantly; however, I knew that such a creature was capable of withstanding powerful blows, and my shadow ball was no exception.

The creepily sustained pokémon took the mighty attack with little effort. Although being pushed back a metre or so, it only seemed to affect it slightly if at all. I knew that shadow balls reduced a pokémon’s endurance for non-physical attacks, but I had no idea how. All I knew how was that the next time I fired such an attack at the beast it would have slightly more of an effect.

In return, another jet of flames came in a flurry towards me, just barely skimming my tail as I turned and fled! ‘That’s no ordinary dragonbreath!’ I thumped the floor, my pace building until I suddenly slammed flat into something that crumbled my body and initiated somewhat of a headache. I shook my head, my tuft swaying about. I blinked a few times, cocking my head. I...hadn’t run into anything. Well, I had, but there was nothing in front of me. Hearing the beast not far away, I got up and plunged into an invisible wall for a second time. “W-what?!” The desperate need to escape held me by the neck in the place of where my collar used to be wrapped, and squeezed my throat. “An invisible wall? At a time like this?!” I began to sweat – something I didn’t often do – and my breathing became heavier as I sensed the dragon and ground type was stalking me. I whipped around, my head low and my contracting pupils staring up in fear at the beast. The luminosity of the deep redness bordering its pupils swirled into mine and began stirring my mind, hypnotising me. I fell into a trance, unaware of the nearing predator. My head felt light, my body becoming limp...like I was melting...

“DUSTY!” a muffled voice screamed, jumping me back into reality. I was shocked to find that Raiys had situated himself just outside the invisible force field, and was staring hard at me. His head flare was alit, the burning sensation becoming almost tangible as I stared through what appeared to be glass. My heart fired up, but I knew all those hidden flame sacs needed time to recharge. I required energy to keep going, and the food I had recently consumed was far beyond nutritious. Thinking it over, I would only assume that every pokémon on the ship was malnourished—probably including the tools used by Team Rocket they claimed to be their pokémon.

“Help!” I exclaimed, feeling the creature creeping up on me, its shadow stretching backwards in a menacing pattern. My claws dug into the wood as much as they were able, and I was prepared to keep them stuck until my toes bled. My maw was clenched, the stress on my teeth nearly as much as what my heart was dealing with. I attempted to reach out to the quilava with my longing eyes, but I knew he couldn’t touch me.

“Behind you!” he yelled again, and I was quick to flick ‘round. The giant monster groaned, and if I hadn’t taken off the second I had, the foul flames would have consumed me. I raced, not looking back, towards where Luck was. To my great relief, the large brown pokémon was shaking his head as he sat somewhat clueless on his hide. The slowpoke was still conscious, and he was moving as well by this point.

“Luck!” I pounced onto his chest, setting him down on the floor again as he grunted with surprise. He blinked in succession, and my terrified face must have set in realisation for him. A ground-shaking roar from not too far away must have rocked the entire ship, and Luck gently pushed me off and made it to his feet. I couldn’t bring myself to smile considering the circumstances, but at least he was alright.

“Wait,” I protested as I predicted his movement. “Don’t try to fend it off!” I looked at him, eyes brimming with fear, and he took a moment to breathe. His frown remained, but he intended to listen. “That thing is cursed. Raiys told me that it could kill even a mighty ursaring with just one strike!” His face didn’t change, and by that stage I imagined he knew so already. “Luck, please don’t put yourself in danger!” I inhaled and exhaled frantically, trying my very hardest to persuade him. “...It’s evil.”

Luck’s shoulders relaxed and he contemplated his options. “Very well,” he decided, but I still couldn’t smile. Neither could he, by the looks of it.

“How are we going to defeat it?!” I spluttered, hanging my head. I couldn’t hide the anger, fear, sorrow and lack of hope strangling my face. A giant paw rested itself onto the side of my mane.

“Not you,” my friend decided, and I looked up with puzzled eyes. “You’ve done enough for us already.”

“Wh-what?” I started, but he didn’t seem keen on changing his mind.

A splintering smash gave way to a shattering wood only a couple of crates away, and I could only imagine the garchomp had impounded a portion of one of the many crates that previously held hundred of pokémon. It didn’t take me more than a moment to realise its full potential, or even the small fraction of it that it used to destroy something that seemed so impenetrable not hours before.

Fear gripped me tighter, and I strained every tendon in my body as I began to panic further. “I know I can’t do much, but I can’t not help you! We have to work as a...as a team!” I shook my head, blinking over and over to rid fuzziness from my eyes. I couldn’t feel anything in either of them, but...Luck was blurring. I bound them tightly shut, raising a paw and rubbing my left eye, following up with the opposite. When I reopened them, it had cleared up. I focused back onto the normal type.

“Dusty, you have to rest. You’ve done a lot of thinking and battling today. Leave it to us.”

“W-wha—?!” He wouldn’t let me protest, and instead looked about in the darkness. “Luck!” He looked at me. “I’m not tired!” I lied, and he could tell. “I’m still full of fire!” He puffed a sigh, and I let myself charge up. I aimed at the invisible barrier and shot a burning trail of fire. However, its volume was suddenly much less than I expected. I stopped my attack, recoiling. I flashed the ursaring an accidental look, and remembered my target. Crackling flames were spat pathetically from my maw, and the stream quickly dissipated. “Ahh!” I reacted, trying my hardest to release lines of fire again and again. When it failed every time, Luck made his move.
“Dusty, please stop,” he advised.

“No! I’m not...” I cringed, shutting my eyes again as the blurriness flowed back. “I’m not done!” I inhaled lengthily, almost swaying too much as I shook my head. When I exhaled, beautiful flames follo—

There was nothing. Nothing but heat escaping my mouth. I shrieked, and with embarrassment written all over my face, I fluffed up my mane around my face. No flames? No fire?! NO FLAMETHROWER?! Without anything left to do, I did the one thing I did know what to do—and it wasn’t an attack!

***

It was a poor sight to see Dusty without her signature element. Fire was, as it appeared, her way of life. Without it, she would surely go insane. “Excuse me,” the slowpoke inquired, getting Luck’s attention in a slow voice. “What is she doing?” Luck’s eyes followed back to the very same flareon who had saved hundreds of pokémon and led a determined mob of the captured creatures into rebellion.

She was running in circles. With a confused expression, the overtired pokémon was running in simple circles. She might even have been chasing her puffy tail.

Luck softly placed a paw on his forehead, shaking his head. “Please keep her away from the monster.” Luck gave more suggestions as to what the slowpoke could do, and the pokémon nodded. “Dusty needs...some time.” The pink pokémon didn’t quite understand why, but he followed the normal type’s commands anyway. He approached the fickle flareon and ushered her to the sidelines, the pokémon uttering phrases like “no fire”, and “all gone”. Luck frowned delicately, thinking it was a shame that such a soul stumbled into the deranged world she had gone.

Surprisingly, the whole time the creature had kept out of eyesight, and hadn’t shown up since Dusty had come back to the newly-conscious pokémon. Luck recalled the deafening bellow the monster dealt to the supposed indestructible crate, and could only imagine other pokémon were currently fending it off. Its claws so sharp and those blood red eyes so piercing. He could almost feel its harsh, callous attack for the second time. The same attack that rendered him unconscious on its first turn. ‘I think what she said was true...’ the ursaring mused. ‘One hit is all it takes.’ He reassured himself and mentioned that the task had to be done, regardless of who was to be sacrificed for the heroic act.

With a last roar and a rare, heated temper, Luck the ursaring stormed in the creature’s direction, hoping to at least be able to weaken it.

***

“Are you alright?” panicked a voice, and I lifted those heavy eyelids. I unclenched my teeth and set my sore tongue free, hoisting myself up into a sitting position.

“Ugh...” I moaned, reaching up with a paw to rub my left eye. There was a pokémon in front of me. He was staring with a worried look, yet it wasn’t a strong one. “Uhh...hi,” I said. He seemed almost surprised, and I frowned. “Are you okay?” I waited for a reply. My eyes were drawn to an empty, rectangular plastic item lying on the floor, and I cocked my head to one side. “What’s that?” I got up off my butt and sniffed it, picking up a human scent. It smelled like a Team Rocket human! But...it looked like a small container Master used to carry around with her. It was a battle item. It held pills capable of aiding a pokémon inside or outside of battles. She had rarely used them on me, on account of how she preferred feeding me berries instead. I then realised that small particles seemed to be present on my tongue. They felt hard at first, but with the tiniest bit of pressure from my teeth they disappeared. ‘Hmm...’ I began to think, ‘I wonder...’ I backed up, facing away from the slowpoke. I readied it, felt it about to be spewed from within...

And, surely enough, a raging line of flames hurled its way through the air, singeing any trace of dust floating about. “Yes!” I shouted triumphantly, turning immediately to the slowpoke. “Thank you!” I bowed my head in respect, and the young psychic type smiled back.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, the mellow quality abundant as usual. I took off after Luck’s scent, aiming to help him.

‘No doubt I went crazy again once I figured I was out of fire,’ I thought sheepishly. ‘Argh, it’s been a problem since my youth... But what fast working pills! Lucky, too...’ I shook the thoughts from my head, telling myself to focus. We had to bring this evil thing down, and I was prepared to go to extreme lengths to do so. I...was a flareon. A strong-willed fire type ready to fight some big ol’ monster endangering those that posed no threat.

I kicked the floor harder, propelling myself across the wood. A sudden thought struck me and I nearly lost focus. ‘What if Raiys saw me going insane?!’ I tried not to think about it, but it mocked me. ‘Luck and that slowpoke must already think I’m a complete and total fool. I don’t need more of my newly-acquired friends – if I could be considered one – thinking lowly of me.’ I shook my head harder, flinging the thought out one ear. ‘I don’t care anyway,’ I muttered sourly and spotted the bad-aura creature. Luck was battling with it! I couldn’t tell who had the advantage, although I could guess, and I again sensed that same invisible barrier that had mysteriously planted itself around a random area of the ship. At least it wasn’t just me trapped inside it...

Suddenly, my eyes widened at the sight before me. The great ursaring was trapped in a corner between the wall of the ship and the invisible one running the width of the deck. The creature was closing in on him, and by assumption, he knew he wouldn’t be escaping. Courage began to bottle up within me, and I snorted black smoke. My teeth grazed against each other and the flames waiting to be released gurgled with excitement. My paws raced me closer, and I could feel the pressure raking at my chest.

In a loud burst, powerful fire roared from my throat, engulfing the menacing creature. Its bone-shuddering cry hurt my ears, but it was a near-guilty relief to hear it in pain. I swooped in between it and Luck, and before he could react, I skidded, turned, and dragged ursaring out of the corner and into the open again with my jaws. We ran alongside the barrier and I tripped over my own paws, tackling him down by mistake. We crashed and didn’t stop for a metre or two, and a momentary rest began the gathering of our mindsets. After realising what had happened, I found myself wagging my large tail while standing on top of him, and the bear-like pokémon looked dumbfounded! He stared at me, eyes wide with question, and opened his mouth to talk.

“Saved ya,” I cheered half-heartedly, flipping off his chest and moving my head in a semi-circled fashion to charge up another hot attack. “Take...” I felt shivers following my train of thought as they tingled up my spine and to my face. “THIS!” My mouth exploded as a voluminous fire raged ruthlessly towards my enraged enemy. It swallowed the dragon and ground type and charred as much as it could, and more pain-triggered cries screeched throughout the area.

“Dusty!” Luck bellowed, snatching me from the battlefield and extinguishing the flame burning in my heart. “What are you doing?” he asked with steady self-control.

“Well, technically I’m talking to you right now,” I chuckled, but received an unimpressed glare from the ursaring. “But just then I was...attacking the garchomp,” I added, speaking slowly since I thought it was obvious.

“Please, Dusty—I don’t want you getting yourself injured.”

“And I don’t want you—”

A powerful blow from behind rendering me breathless and nearly unconscious was delivered by something I didn’t anticipate, and I was tossed forwards like dead prey for what could have been twenty metres, slamming into a crate daring to interrupt my crash-course. I struggled greatly to inhale, but my muscles had contracted and allowed me not a single breath. Nothing else moved apart from my eyes, and I was left unwillingly inert. The fuzziness set in again, and I attempted with strong intentions to oppose the oncoming injury. My lungs ached for oxygen and the most terrible feeling settled in, choosing me as its involuntary victim. ‘Help,’ I thought desperately, but my open mouth and motionless body must have indicated that I was less than a heartbeat away from passed out.

***

Luck cursed silently as he failed to warn the preoccupied flareon about the incoming predator coated with a sapphire glow. “Dusty!” he shouted as the fire type soared through the dense night air and slapped against the battered wooden wall of a previous prison. Her frail shape crumpled into a messy, furry heap at the crate’s base, her chest lacking the breathing motion it was required to consistently do. He snapped back to the garchomp, his furious face becoming the result of his much younger ally’s lifeless body. He boomed magnificent roar, charging forward with a vicious face and raised thick claws. His adversary grunted as he neared, and his slash attack dealt more damage than expected.

The garchomp roared, lashing out with its own claws a second too late as Luck ducked. The ursaring suddenly vanished before the garchomp’s body, and the robust creature rumbled with a sense of confusion as it waited. Nothing happened after a matter of seconds, and the beast came to assume that it had defeated the worthless, inferior pokémon like it did the flareon. However, as the monster was least expecting it, an impact caught it off guard and it lurched backwards to follow by landing on its tail end. Luck had turned up out of nowhere, and with a black, sizzling energy surrounding him, he had tackled his foe with a phantom strike attack. His eyes buzzed a deathly white, the uncommon hatred he bore fuelling the dark type move as he had struck the monster. He went for the creature again as it was reassuring its footing, his paw raised, but the gigantic being dodged the slash attack with speed Luck didn’t predict it possessed. It roared again, setting free the sapphire flames seen earlier by Dusty. Luck, barely believing he managed to avoid its path, rolled from the stream, and the garchomp stopped.

Luck deceived his attacker for mere moments, reappearing before it and punching it square in the arm with a faint attack and following up with slash. He jumped from its range, but was surprised as he saw the tall monstrosity had toppled over. He took advantage of the situation and inhaled deeply, filling his lungs, and breathed out pink spores barely visible in the scarce light. The creature, while regaining its bearings, appeared to become slightly relaxed. However, the attacks’ effect didn’t prevent the pokémon from finding its legs again and slamming Luck’s belly with a mighty headbutt, sending the ursaring sprawling a number of paces away.

Meanwhile, a machop who had been on guard with the slowpoke and other pokémon found himself awake, and rubbed his head. His strong arms lifted him up, and his eyes scanned the area. He spotted pokémon scattered about – both dead ones and ones who had been attacked while watching over the ursaring – and frowned. He was ready to wake some of them up, but something else snagged his attention. Grunting and battle roars were ringing in his ears, and his sturdy legs made the choice to investigate, carrying him to his right between two large crates. He emerged into the open where, to his right, along the side of the ship, a monstrous, discoloured evil-looking creature loomed, screeching at the same ursaring the machop had been protecting! His open mouth and surprised face indicated that he was rather aghast, but a yellow and orange blur to his right was quickly his prime focus. He made a note of the injured flareon, and stood—a little unsure of what to do. Was it still breathing? Had it been killed by the creepy, bad-aura pokémon?

He leaned down, holding out a light bluey-grey hand in front of the fire type’s muzzle. No hot air was being exhaled, and the machop lifted his short body to be standing again. He thought it was a shame that so many pokémon were being murdered... He was lucky to be alive!

He ran a finger down one of the three copper half-discs that sat atop his head. His large, red-iris eyes shifted about. “If only you were here, Father...” he murmured, his arms down by his side as his human-like body stood still and his circular head eyed the shining moon. Grey clouds passed leisurely over the magical sphere as if brushing it—

The flareon’s belly suddenly filled with air, life flowing back into her body. The machop jumped, assuming a fighting stance immediately after. He watched the flareon carefully as its eyelids peeled open to reveal charcoal eyes with a hint of green and white. They searched the surroundings, and the machop could see that she rested them on the battle between the pokémon not too far off. “H-hello?” the fighting type wondered.

The eevee evolution’s eyes tried their best to bring him into their view, but for some reason the pokémon didn’t move her head.

***

‘What’s wrong with me?!’ my head yelled. ‘I can’t move! I can’t even speak or close my mouth! How is...whatever’s there supposed to know what I want?’ My right ear itched, and I longed to scratch it, but trying to move any part of my body aside from my eyes proved to be feeble. It was like during bad dreams when I can’t wake myself up, and instead I sit there pathetically, unable to do anything.

While I was busy giving myself a lecture about why I couldn’t get up, grey feet moved in, and luckily the machop was short enough for me to see his whole self. ‘Help me!’ I growled at him, but clearly he couldn’t read my thoughts. I couldn’t even frown to show my anger!

“Are you...okay?” he questioned, speaking slowly, displaying his confusion. However, of course, I couldn’t reply. None of my muscles bothered to work as I already knew, and this meant I couldn’t blow fire, either... “Maybe you’ve been paralysed.”

‘Of course!’ I discovered, finally realising that paralysis would explain everything. The machop said something along the lines of getting me up and off the battlefield, and after tossing a worried look over his shoulder, he reached two arms down. However, the moment he touched me, I immediately came back to life, all of my muscles reacting and springing me to my paws. The machop reeled back, completely shocked—but I couldn’t say I wasn’t the same. In fact, I stood staring and glancing at myself for seconds on end before shaking my head. “I don’t know what you did,” I started, facing the superpower pokémon, “but thanks!” I raced away, suddenly feeling an eruption of aches throughout my entire body, and I nearly stumbled.

However, I managed to get by with the addition of clenching my jaw and binding one eye at a time, and met up quickly with Luck. Upon sighting me, he was utterly stunned. He must have thought I was dead—or at least going to be knocked out for longer. He turned to face me.

“Dusty—”

The side of a giant claw slammed into Luck’s jaw, and he was sent sprawling to the deck. I gasped sharply, horror overcoming me. “LUCK!” I exclaimed, but the garchomp swung his thick head in a loop, knocking the wind from me yet again as I was thrown backwards along the ship’s edge until I landed in a tumbling heap. As I lay temporarily incapable of movement, the ocean’s waves washed around below, taunting me. A new fear slipped between the fissures in my mind, and I rolled to my paws and stole a quick glance at the not-so-distant ocean. If I fell in...

“AUGH!” Luck cried, blue flames engulfing his entirety in no less than an instant. My clenched teeth surely forced tears from my eyes, and I shakily lifted my head. The sound of stony fire swelling and searing weaselled its way into my erect ears, and I shivered. Building up combined pressure for two attacks at once, my head was aching. My limbs began to shudder, my eyes leaking salt liquid. I was burdened with seconds of uselessly before I finally released the flaming shadow ball into the deserving garchomp’s back, and it thundered in agony. Its attack was instantly cut off, and it swung around to stab my eyes with soulless ones of its own, readying its two wide arm-wings as it appeared slightly hunched.

From behind me yelped the slowpoke, his eyes becoming pink as he issued a confusion attack on the creature. It hollered again, but straight away charged at me, each leg creating a miniature earthquake. I rolled out the way, and it continued on to pursue the slowpoke. I was sure that the little pink psychic and water type would have endless problems with running, but I was proved to be wrong as he easily led the thing away. It wasn’t so much that he was fast, but it was the garchomp that wasn’t gifted in agility.

I developed a worried frown, biting both my lips as I folded them in, and trusted the slowpoke to do what he could for as long as he was able. “Luck!” I jumped to the pokémon’s side impetuously. He seemed to be out cold, and my tail sagged as I noticed this—my ears doing the same. “Luck...” I breathed, clamping shut my eyes.

He suddenly moaned, and my ears perked back up. “Ugh...” His eyelids hesitated before opening, revealing his tired eyes. “Little...Dusty...” he whispered, and shivers ran through me. I tried to hold back tears. “I’m...glad Larse was...able to revitilise you,” he wheezed, and I cocked my head.

“L...Larse?” I questioned sadly.

“The slowpoke...” He cringed in pain, and I was about to cry out when he spoke before me. “I’m...done for...” I shook my head in denial while scanning his body. From head to claw he was covered in burns, as well as numerous rips in his coat where solidifying blood crusted the surrounding fur.

“No,” I tried to correct. Tears clouded my vision. “Don’t say that!”

I couldn’t believe he managed a smile. It disappeared after a contraction somewhere in his body probably due to pain. “Fight...the garchomp. I’ll be here...if you need...” He coughed again and returned with no less of a smile. “...Bait.”

“BAIT?!” I whined, a crying quality creeping into my voice. “I will...I will kill it. I’ll save you too.” He forced another sweet smile, closing his eyes for a few seconds before reopening them.

A thudding made me turn, and I knew the slowpoke and the garchomp were coming back. They came into view within a few heartbeats, and I tore myself away from Luck. If I was going to fight the despicable creature, it wasn’t going to be near him. I threw him one last hopeful and crooked smile before taking off, running straight at the slowpoke. I used telepathy via his confusion attack, as he was open to speech by thoughts while in the psychic process.

“Just keep running toward me!” However, only metres away, the garchomp fired a weak stream of blue flames, connecting with Larse as he tumbled over and slammed into the floor, which surprisingly knocked him out cold. The demented pokémon continued to run, however, right towards me. I let a frown lick my face as I pounced at the right time, releasing a flamethrower into the garchomp as I flew through the air. It came in contact, dealing the same damage as always, and I only then realised we were about to collide! ‘Didn’t think of that!’

I poked out my claws as I was sent forward and rammed into the giant beast with outstretched legs. It stumbled back from the force as I tumbled down and onto the floor again, landing with my belly facing down, all limbs beginning to pound from the impact.

I groaned with pain, my head thumping from lack of energy, sleep, food and water and from the attacks I had been enduring—or, at least, trying to.

Without warning I was tossed back, tangled in a heap as I landed and the harsh sloshing of the waves returned. Throwing my head over my shoulder, I realised how close I was to the edge of the ship, but I was too weak to haul myself up within the instant. I stared warily up at the enormous shadow after sensing it blocking my path, and shuddered. All my fear swarmed in at once, and my vulnerability dawned on me. ‘Oh...sh—’

“HAAAH!” I heard, and I was booted to my left as something strong tackled me out of harm’s way. I rolled over myself several times, feeling bruises in assorted places, and looked up in time to see Luck’s brown body stand momentarily before being thrust backward and directly overboard, as we were close to the ship’s edge. The railing had shattered, having provided nothing to prevent Luck’s fall.

A dastardly stomach-twinging shudder simmered my innards and flushed my face with a violent shiver. My eyes bulged and my limbs seized up, a hollow realisation manifesting within my body. The breeze seemed to still and the garchomp became non-existent as I lay in silent pre-panic. Reality tugged savagely on my heart.

“LUCK!!!” I screamed, disregarding my injuries and flying to the railing. I witnessed nothing but a high-rising splash metres and metres down, the disdainful sound searing through my ears. “LUCK!” The tears welled faster than a scyther could fly and poured out into the ocean, traces of my sorrow falling with them. “WHY?!” I droned, unable to contain the agonising feelings stacked up inside me. “What did he do?”

I wailed, facing my head to the sky with my eyes tied shut, then resting my head onto railing which was still present. A roar brought me to my senses, and I spun furiously around to view the disgusting, hideous abomination hunched indifferently before me. “YOU!” I boomed, heaving with every breath in an extensively livid manner. “YOU MONSTER!”

I began to brew flames in my throat which hissed of brutality, planning to combine them with a shadow ball powered by hatred, fear, sorrow and pure lust for its bloodshed. Although it probably burnt up my insides and scarred my throat, I expelled white-hot flames sure to roast anything it came in contact with. Along with the fire were streams of shadow ball composed of negative emotions. The deadly mixture soaked into the depths of the monster’s skin and weakened it dramatically, and I followed up with a screeching scream, unleashing a lava plume as waves of red heat rocketed towards the creature. I hoped it would melt its very skin and char its black heart until it suffocated in dancing, taunting flames. It would forever burn in the deep corners of the Underworld, its soul unchangingly cringing in the darkness of its own hideous mistakes.

However, I collapsed in a heap before I could see the end result, bathing in my own tears. I couldn’t hold them in. I couldn’t clean them up. A close friend I had only met that very day had died...and to save me. ‘First Sed was taken because of me, and now Luck. Who next?!’

Deafening shattering didn’t faze me as I lay on my side, my tuft lazily laid out and my tail frayed and messy. “Dusty?!” exclaimed a hasty voice, and I barely heard the pattering of her claws as Zhol materialised in front of me. She had entered from in front of me—where the rest of the ship was. She had somehow broken through the invisible wall, and stood before me in a distracted state of mind. She wanted to say something, but it appeared she was short on words. In the background I could hear shouting as the beast presumably chased Raiys off somewhere, now that the barrier was apparently out of order.

“...He’s dead,” I muttered.

“W-wha... Who?”

“Luck... He died saving me...”

“Died?” gasped the sneasel, seemingly affected by the horrific news. I kept my head down and didn’t see her reaction before I finally lifted my head. She saw this and fought to catch my gaze. “We have to leave!”

“No. He died for me...” Zhol stopped, probably contemplating how upset I really was. “HE DIED! And it’s MY FAULT!”

She wasn’t silent for long. “However unfortunate, it was inevitable. Some had to perish for the cause,” she reasoned. I was about to question it, but she spoke quickly. “Haunter’s set the bomb to go off within a few minutes. We have—”

“You know,” I interrupted, “his name’s probably not ‘Haunter’.”

“Dusty!” she snapped, and I slumped my head against the floorboards again, unwilling to listen. “We have to escape!”

“I’m not going,” I murmured defiantly, my eyes closing. “Let the ship take me with it.”

Presumably figuring it would persuade me without question, Zhol stood up. “Luck died in vain then.”

The sound of waves hit me again, and I screwed up my face, cutting the rush of tears down my face. ‘No... She’s right... Why does she have to be RIGHT?!’ my head reluctantly screeched. I lay with my jaws clenched and my paws covering my eyes as I heard her dissipating footsteps. With several different paths hovering before me, I scowled, neglected my tears, and heaved myself up. “...Let’s—”

Crashing behind me made me leap in surprise once I had faced Zhol’s direction – back out onto the ship – and I snapped my head around to address it.

Presumably from an attack from the garchomp I had momentarily forgotten about, a round, solid body had torn up wood from the floor. The body belonging to a familiar face rolled slowly, and two brown legs began supporting a sphere of rock again. The steady pokémon didn’t see me as my face turned pale. “Roarake...” I whispered, barely believing my eyes. Who knew I would see him again?

The golem instantly snapped his head in my direction, his eyes diluting as he laid them on me. “F-flareon,” he stuttered, the stillness of his body displaying his shock. A breeze swirled between the both of us as we stared.

***

“How do we break it?!” a sneasel questioned, frantically zipping up and down a section of the invisible force-field. She couldn’t see Dusty; the quilava had insisted that they assess the wall down the other end in case it was weaker in another spot, and to briefly search for the culprit.

“I...I don’t know,” the quilava replied, trailing off as he tried his hardest to think.

“We have to break it down,” Zhol reminded him, and he nodded impatiently. She spun around to the sound of breaking rocks, and ducked as one nearly struck her. She looked up and frowned, speeding over to the pokémon whose attack apparently sprayed while he issued a rock throw on an arbok who collapsed shortly after. The sneasel positioned herself behind the pokémon, leapt up onto a hard shell before a reaction could take place, and thrust her claws to the pokémon’s throat. She paused as the creature remained still and she narrowed her eyes, confused at what two of her senses told her. The pokémon released a low rumble, but made no move to retaliate.

“You’re a Rocket pokémon,” Raiys commented, assessing the golem carefully by scent. “Why are you—?”

“I am not one of them,” the golem spat, clearly but unexpectedly insulted by the accusation.

An awkward silence whispered past the three, and the rock type span, ready to leave the small circle. “W-wait,” Raiys pleaded, his dull-yellow paws taking steps forward after the golem. The large rock-like creature halted, his head side-on to the two pokémon behind him. “Could we have your help, please?” he asked, waiting on the spot some three metres behind the stranger.

The duel typed pokémon sighed impatiently, facing them both. “What is it you need help with?”

Zhol and Raiys led him to the see-through wall, and the sneasel slashed forcefully at it, but her attempt was rejected. “It won’t break,” she mentioned in a hurry. “We have to get through!”

The golem stood for moments, calculating the solution. He didn’t hesitate to focus, build up power and slam his fist at the wall, shattering it instantly and creating an opening large enough for a charizard to fit through. The quilava was relieved to have been able to get through, but wondered how on Earth the pokémon managed such a big hole with a single punch. Solving his questions, the golem spoke. “It was a light screen reinforced with a barrier attack,” he explained, and Raiys made a note of it, discovering that the pokémon was familiar with the attack brick break. “I’ll break it further up,” he offered, and stomped alongside the barrier before the creature suddenly met him at one of his openings.

***

“Flareon...you were captured.” He appeared stunned, albeit I wasn’t sure what else. “...You’re still alive.”

“Is that what you were warning me about?” I asked with desperation, taking a step forward. “Is that why you wanted to win? To protect me and Izante?”

At the mention of Izante, the golem rumbled, baring his teeth. “Yes... But not that leafeon,” he growled. I frowned, offended that he spoke about my best friend like that.

‘I guess he’s just angry at her because she finished him off before he had a chance to warn me properly about what he was saying to me,’ I decided, shrugging mentally.

“Roarake, look out!” I shouted, following a squeal, a nearing tail coming to a stop as it whacked into my friend’s shell with a thud. I happened to push off the floor at the right time, so it avoided me completely.

Roarake stood still – having endured the attack without trouble – and eyed me. “Flareon—get all the remaining pokémon off the ship!” he demanded, and I gasped as I backed up to get out of the monster’s range.

“Wh-what? I can’t just leave you here!” I retaliated, standing my ground. The creeping image of Luck returned, and I knew I had to stay this time.

“Don’t be a fool!” Roarake caught himself saying; it was clear he partially regretted it, but stood by his word. “Go, now!”

“B-but—” I flicked my head to Zhol, the sneasel standing presumably at the entrance to the enclosed space walled off by the invisible barrier. Raiys was directing pokémon who were previously protecting Luck – including the slowpoke and machop – out of the sealed off area and onto the open part of the ship again, and I could tell that it was the last few pokémon who were being ushered out. I looked back at Zhol; she had a look of angst etched into her face, and she was waiting with gritted teeth.

“Luck would have died in vain then...”

I turned away, bounding toward the dark and ice type as she acknowledged my decision and led the way. I stopped as I was exiting the barrier’s boundaries, looking back one last time. Roarake gave a curt nod as his strong left hand released a white light. He slammed it into the garchomp’s tail, and I heard a roar shortly after. Mega punch.

Raiys appeared by my side, grinning as he met my eyes. I couldn’t return his expression, but ran with him away from the devilish creature brawling with another of my loyal protectors.

***

It wasn’t long before just about all the pokémon were off the ship, and I managed to round them all up (with the help of Raiys, Zhol, Chance, Reaver, the haunter and Pokol, who I hadn’t seen for a while) without much trouble. Azure had disappeared, but that naturally didn’t disappoint me.

Pokol had found a Mr. Mime hidden behind a crate, looking as if he was focusing on something. He was then assumed to be the mastermind behind the light screen and barrier attacks, but he vanished after using another light screen to contain the raichu. The electric type luckily knew brick break and was able to set himself free. I had also seen Vesp, who had reported that Koi had been taken back to the mainland shortly after everyone was released from their crates. Wulua hadn’t shown up, and that bothered the drifloon, but I reminded her of the fact that he had snapped and taken that ralts hostage.

The scene dissipated and slunk out of my mind as I used toxic to repel one of the few remaining Rockets, my throat being scratched at before I threw it up. I had come to believe that the remaining humans were all pathetically hiding down below, and most of them probably lacked their pokémon. There had to be someone in charge of the ship, and so far – unless he looked like all the other humans – he hadn’t been sighted. ‘And what about Izante...?’

“Are you ready to go?” someone known asked, and I looked to see a black quadruped figure situated near the edge of the ship. I smiled at him, nodding.

“Do we have to go just yet?” the raichu wearing a black belt whined, the large, lumpy sack still in his possession. “I wanna blow up more stuff!”

“We should probably go before the ship itself blows up,” mentioned Chance, and I blew through my nostrils.
“Yeah...” I agreed. “Wait,” I began, “how exactly are we getting outta here?”

There was a pause in everyone’s movement, and then Raiys stepped forward. “Earlier I organised for a few water types to assist us in our escape,” he said, signalling to three blue forms hovering on the water’s surface down below. It was a long jump, and my stomach turned as it came to me that I’d have to jump in... “It’s not as scary as it looks,” Raiys reassured. I just scoffed.

“Hold on,” Reaver interrupted, “there are seven of us...and only three water pokémon.” Zhol, Chance, the haunter, Pokol, Reaver and I each turned our heads to Raiys simultaneously, concerned expressions printed on our faces. “Care to explain?”

Raiys kept his cool, placing his buttocks onto the surface of the ship. “Haunter can float,” he stated, “and there’ll be two each to a water pokémon.” We all nodded, but I was unsure.

‘How will I be able to grab on? And even if I do, I’d be dragged through the water... And I hate water!’ I told myself to get over it, reminding myself that it was the only way out and I had to accept it.

“I...I’ll go first,” volunteered the haunter, almost waiting for permission before hovering through the air to join the water pokémon. I wondered why fire types couldn’t float, ‘cause that would make my dilemma non-existent.

In the meantime, Pokol jumped, yelling, “YIPPEE!” and a loud splash made me frown almost in disgust. Chance was next, and he took a deep breath before dropping from the very slowly moving ship and landing with the same spat of seawater.

“Dusty,” Rayis murmured, getting my attention, “you next.” He smiled sweetly at me, but I truthfully didn’t want to go, and no measure of sweetness was likely to persuade me. As much as I longed to get to dry land and away from the stinking, rotten human transportation unit, I was extremely hesitant to even consider jumping.

‘I hate getting wet...’ I moaned silently, sheepishly flashing my teeth as if saying, “I’m fine”.

“Something wrong?” the quilava asked.

“Quick. We don’t have all night!” the shiny umbreon pushed, and I chuckled with clenched teeth and lowered eyebrows...

A gust of wind blew forward my ears and tuft, my mane also flying towards the ocean.

I froze instantly. Every nerve in my body came to a stop, all turning with my body as my wide-eyed expression formed. I faced back onto the ship, the faint scent of familiarity burning alight my flame again. ‘It can’t be...’

Without warning I zipped off, the shouts of my fellow pokémon fading into the distance as I ran in the opposite direction. “I can’t believe it!” I chanted, my legs repeating their movement as I sped after the smell. I skidded around a corner, the sweet scent whistling through my small black nose as I heard soft voices.

“Are we gonna swim to shore?” a familiar voice rang, making my grin a grin too large for my face, and my eyes rapidly gained the tears so frequent in the past few days.

“Hah!” laughed the other pokémon cruelly. “And wet my fur? Not a chance,” he sung. I had no idea who it was talking to her at first, but when they finally came into view, all was revealed.

“IZANTE!” I screamed, leaping onto her in one swift motion and rolling with her until we smacked against a crate. She was shocked and astounded, and didn’t recognise me, it seemed, until she almost attacked me as I stood over her. “It’s me!” I licked her face a few times, and she didn’t know how to react. “I missed you!” I exclaimed, stepping off her. The leafeon got to her paws, her eyes holding answers to questions I was yet to ask.

“Yeah, I...kinda missed you too,” she replied half-heartedly, and my grin nearly faded by almost fifty percent.
‘Isn’t she happier than that to see me again?’

“Who is this?!” screeched the cat-like pokémon who was the one chatting to Izante, and my friend hardly made any move to obstruct the persian’s path as he leapt at me with his claws sharp and ready for a fury swipes.

“Hey, wait!” I yelped, nearly being clawed at as the normal type missed. “I’m a friend!”

“Talyn, stop,” Izante simply commanded. The persian, his large body mainly buff-coloured, eyed me suspiciously and kept his teeth visible, retracting his claws. His gaze descended downwards as if I was inferior.

“This is the flareon,” he guessed, but the statement sounded more confident than a mere assumption. Izante nodded, and I began wondering what was going on. ‘Talyn’ turned to her. “Come on, Izante—we’re leaving.”

“Wait,” I began, trying to smile again. “W...how are you goi—”

“Oh, stick your nose into some other pokémon’s business!” the ‘classy’ cat pokémon snapped, sneering as he took a step forwards with one of his front legs, his muscle showing near his neck. I recoiled, an angry frown quickly developing. I growled and he hissed, backing up to sit next to Izante. I narrowed my eyes, shifting my attention to the undecided leafeon.

“Come with me,” I insisted. “Let’s get outta here. Back to our masters!”

“She’s not coming with you,” Talyn huffed, his tail stroking Izante’s back as it flicked about her.

‘He thinks she’s his property,’ I came to think. “You can’t speak for her,” I retorted, fluffing up. “I know her better than you.” I snorted again, spitting a wisp of fire from the side of my mouth.

“Heh. The flareon’s getting pouty,” he teased, and I boiled inside.

I fired a stream of flames at him, but he swiftly snatched Izante and dodged to the side. I blinked in succession, both agitated and surprised by his unexpected speed. He nudged Izante in the direction they were facing, and she gave me a blank look before taking off with him to their left, disappearing between two crates.

“Izante!” I exclaimed, determined to rescue her. She was probably under his control or something! I pursued them, spying the persian’s tail curl ‘round a corner between two other crates to the left further up, and I hastened my pace to become faster. I rounded the bend, but was immediately stopped as I ran into something bony. “Ugh!” I muttered, falling back onto my rump. But by the time I opened my eyes again, a human body was looming over me. I squealed and urged my paws to scramble away, but a metal-barred cage was shoved over my top, turned upside-down and quickly locked. “AHH!” I screamed, and used a hot flamethrower on the bars. However, they were like the earlier ones—coated with pokémon-proof invisible fields on the inside! “HELP!” I cried, rocking the cage as the human held it. He revealed a handheld device, and I drew a sharp breath as I realised what it was.

The electricity surged through me, making me slump as my tail leaked between gaps in the cage. Tears dropped from my eyes, and I wearily lifted my head to the direction I suspected Izante to be in. She was boarding one of the Team Rocket humans’ fearow with the suspiciously persuasive persian and another human, and I could tell she knew I was captured. While avoiding my eye contact, she buried herself in the large feathers of the bird pokémon. ‘How could she do this to me? Why?!’ I stressed my teeth. “IZANTE,” I screeched through dense tears. But the leafeon only restrained herself from facing me, which confused me all the more. “IZANTE!” I exclaimed again, and it must have been so loud that even my friends back on the other side of the ship could hear me.

Just as the passing thought struck me, something hacked at the Rocket man, blood splattering everywhere—including on my face. At first I thought it was Izante coming to my rescue, but that was an amateurish guess. “Reckless!” Zhol accused, growling at the human but clearly speaking to me. She blew an effortless icy wind on the cage’s lock and followed up with slash, destroying the lock and even searing through some of the ice-damaged bars. I didn’t manage any kind of smile, but instead a distressed expression combined with relief and misery. “We have to go!” she yelled at me, the human collapsing as he feebly held his slit throat. I nodded briskly, tackling the cage door and making it swing open. Gunshots sounded from behind Zhol, and she zipped out of the human on the fearow’s sight. My thoughts were telling me thousands of things which all rushed through my perplexed mind, and I leaped from the cage, coming to a stop. I hesitated and shed my last tears as I tore away from the sight of my past best friend. I could have sworn I glimpsed a flicker of a smile on the persian’s face before I disappeared, trailing Zhol as closely behind as I could while missing a bullet by a hair.

***

I couldn’t think straight as we were racing back, and I was so confused! I didn’t even want to consider reasons why my ‘best friend’ didn’t help me out as they weakened my legs and softened my heart. The last flame of hope and trust guttered helplessly, and I struggled to find reasons to keep it alight. ‘She was under a spell; that persian was controlling her!’ I kept repeating, but nothing seemed to help. I couldn’t bring myself to believe my own words of reason.

Suddenly, cold blue flames seared before me, cutting my path. I whimpered as I had to halt, and the garchomp gave a mighty roar as its fire died and its eyes burned bright. I shouted in agony as I realised how much pressure was put on me at this point, and I wanted to scream! The evil, possessed monster thudded towards me threateningly, and I evaded with everything I had, just missing its path of destruction. I used my paws, slipping to be still and turning to face the enormous beast. Zhol had also halted, but probably knew if she interfered it would go for her or attack me because of sudden movements. “Save yourself,” I instructed, my eyes not removing themselves from the monster. The sneasel waited in anticipation, as did I, and something told me she wasn’t going to comply. But Raiys and Reaver had probably jumped already, or if they hadn’t, they’d be waiting for Zhol to return with me.

Wind howled around me, mocking my suffering and baiting the garchomp. My tuft blew, my eyes locked in place. Tears were swept from my eyes, but they were ones previously formed. I was no longer crying, but clenching my fangs. This murderous, artificial bastard was about to kill me. I was scared out of my fur, and I didn’t particularly want to die. But I would rather it be me than my friends. If it wanted my life...it would have to fight me for it.

The monster closed in on me, the ocean roaring behind as waves licked the sides of the ship, reaching out for us. I shivered uncontrollably. Would I die right here and now? Was I prepared to throw my life away for this seemingly worthy cause of the beast’s disposal? And on top of that...could I actually defeat it?

The genetically modified pokémon raised a giant claw, readying it for when it came down and plunged into my body. My heart pounded in my chest and hammered my ribs, ready to explode from my chest and litter the ship’s deck with my insides. Moments before it prepared to strike, it probably grinned on the inside. But I would never know.

“MOVE!” exclaimed somebody determined. I became confused, and my limbs seized up. The rocky sound of a fast-moving attack knocked at my ears, and my brain visualised an image. I still couldn’t move though, disobeying the pokémon I hoped to stand by until the moment we were simultaneously unable to aid one another.

Being shoved suddenly from harm’s way, I tumbled with a small and nimble dark figure before a slapping noise got me to my paws. I wished my eyes were deceiving me as a round ball of rock slammed into the garchomp, ruthlessly throwing both itself and the monster over the edge of the ship. A deafening scream erupted from my mouth, and I again bolted to the beams lining the ship’s edge. “ROARAKE!” I cried, the rock and ground type uncurled from his rollout attack to see eye-to-eye with me. “No...” I whispered, my eyes shaking and my nose fizzing. The faintest of depressing smiles before his tears generated crept onto the golem’s face, something telling me he was almost grateful or happy. The smile was the last thing appearing on my mind as I wept to the sound of a splosh. He seemed to dissolve into the salty expanse of liquid, the waves happily taking him and washing over where he landed. The garchomp attempted to swim, but was obviously unable to and began to sink in a flurry of splutters and protesting roars. “Oh, Roarake...” I wailed, mouthfuls of tears washing down my face and dripping eventually into the sea. I inhaled, crying at the same time. “First Luck,” I whined, “AND NOW YOU!” I fell to the deck in an emotional breakdown, feeling the heavy inhale and exhale which choked in my throat and ended with coughs and saliva. Two claws rested on my back as an act of comfort, and I would have shoved them violently off if I hadn’t been so unwilling to hurt another pokémon again.

“Golem cannot swim. The water pokémon wouldn’t have been able to carry him. He was unable to survive regardless,” Zhol stated, raising her voice to be heard over my loud sobs.

“HE’S DROWNING RIGHT NOW!” I hollered, raising my head to do so and lowering it once more.

“Rock and ground types are susceptible to water. It may have rendered him unconscious by this stage.” Although she wasn’t helping emotionally, Zhol made a good point. I guessed this was her way of cheering others up. I knew she only hid her emotion to be strong; someone had to.

“Dusty; Zhol!” exclaimed Reaver, who bounded into view. I found it ironic that he only happened to appear after the garchomp had perished. “Come on! The bomb’s going to blow up in any number of minutes! Hurry!” Zhol reacted immediately by removing her paw and helping me up, and she zoomed to be next to the umbreon as I slumped my head and forced myself to follow.

The reason I managed to get myself up was a powerful one; it was one that helped me surrender myself to the cruel oceanic waves as I leaped from the ship with the two dark types either side of me. The wind rushed through my throat and brushed each strand of fur on my body, blowing my ears wildly back. With a brief time to brace ourselves, we pounded through the sea’s surface, the freezing water handing me stabbing shock on a silver platter. I forgot to breathe, but the reason came back to me. Just like how I’d been swimming only days ago with Izante, I waved my paws about, strolling without enough effort towards the surface to break free of the water’s hold and inhale the fresh but salty air. I was too weak to pull myself onto the walrein that was to help me and Zhol, and instead I fell through the water again, barely noticing as something swept underneath me and collected my sodden body. I began to drift away from reality as the walrein continued on, my many saviours slipping from my head. The ursaring and golem who sacrificed themselves in order to save a measly flareon like myself may have been considered foolish by me, but obviously they thought the exact opposite. Was I really worth saving if the consequences were so severe?

The image of my best friend also wandered away from my consciousness, swaying her tail as my eyes clinked closed, and making the final decision to desert me once and for all.

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Thirteen: Washed Up

The ship had exploded into shards and splinters, incinerating anybody or anything that happened to be on board at the time. Raiys had explained to Zhol (who then explained to me) how – and I don’t know how he knew it all – that if all of the evil pokémon onboard weren’t killed because of the impact, then they would have drowned as a result of their incapacity to swim.

When I awoke on land, I was pleased to find that my sneasel friend was with me. I had asked her about everyone else’s whereabouts, but she told me that we had all become separated in the force of the explosion. The seas were rough and the pokémon we were riding on were weak from past events. I had lowered my head at the news, wallowing in the remembrance of three lost friends. However, I was glad to have Zhol around, as I certainly didn’t know these lands—nor did I have anywhere to go or want to be on my own. Master was who I longed deeply for, but knowing that...Izante was now suspected to be a Rocket pokémon, her trainer most likely was too. And our masters were together...

I would find her one day. One day when I would construct sufficient courage to track my human down and sniff her out. At the moment, I would have not the slightest inkling of which way to go, or what I might encounter along the way. I wasn’t inclined to drag Zhol along with me, and neither did I have the desire to traverse unfamiliar lands alone, so until I recovered, found the right companion and discovered the way home, I would set out to find her again. I continuously questioned my reasons for not returning immediately, but splitting away from Zhol would mean I ran the risk of coming across uninvited Rocket pokémon, and she had the same problem.

Zhol had explained that her home colony would happily accept me – or, at least, they would let me stay with them for a while – so following her back would be desirable. I was extremely grateful to hear so, but showing my happiness wasn’t something that was easy to do. I couldn’t act friendly to anyone in my current state even if I tried, and for an understandable reason, I’d assumed. But I was somewhat confident that having something to eat and drink – and also resting – would help me recover...physically, anyway. My mental side would need more time and effort to heal. My current sights were set on chasing after any pokémon I knew from the ship—Raiys, Chance, that slowpoke... I had to know where they were.

“No. Wait till tomorrow,” the ice and dark type had advised, but I was reluctant to listen. “It’s dark, and you need food and rest.”

“I want to find him—any of them!” I had growled, my paws digging themselves into the familiar dirt. I was angry and torn...and I knew I was wrongly taking it out on Zhol. I hadn’t thought it thoroughly through, and the sneasel knew that.

“...Be careful,” she had said at last, and I silently thanked her for understanding—or deciding not to argue.

My trekking had taken me along the water’s edge and away from Zhol. I had not the slightest clue of which way we had come on the ship, and chances were that I was going in the complete opposite direction. I didn’t care though, as I just wanted to know that my friends were alright. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t know what to do. I had lost nearly everything precious to me...Master, Izante, my old, brilliant life where nothing was wrong... I missed the sweet sensation life had been stroking me with prior to the great mess I had become tangled in.

‘You’re not going to find them,’ my thoughts teased. ‘They were all split up because of you.’

I trudged through thick weeds, changing my ways and heading into the forest rather than trailing the sea’s border. I continued to cringe as my two bullet wounds coursed pain through me again, just as they had been since I had awoken. Although the bullets themselves had been taken out by that slowpoke, the wounds didn’t disappear with them. I hadn’t expected them to, especially as the salt water stung, but at least it would have purged the germs. And the blood matting my coat had thankfully washed off...

The weeds were tall and plentiful, and I had to keep my head held high to see through them. Their slimy touch slithered along my fur as I brushed past them, and it was almost as if they began to taunt me as well as my thoughts.

‘You were the one who ran off to chase a lost cause and made them wait for you.’

A cold breeze swooped into my face, jolting me back and forcing me to close my eyes. My ears and tuft also flew back, and I fought it, pushing my legs and opposing the wind. I made it out of the reeds, and the wind subsided.

‘If they had gone when you were about to jump the first time, they wouldn’t have been blown back by the blast of the bomb.’

I tumbled into a hole in the ground, whamming numerous body parts as I rolled clumsily. I came to a halt on my front, my head set out straight as the pressure was put on my jaw. I took a moment to jack myself up with my legs and climb effortlessly out of the ditch.

‘For all you know, they could be injured...they could even be dead.’

I shook my head, becoming more tired with each and every breath. Hoothoot hooted; eyes flashed off the surrounding shrubs. My heart pounded as I suddenly realised I didn’t know where I was. My head was becoming clogged, my chest feeling heavy and my lungs filling with a gas that weighed me down.

‘If you weren’t around...Roarake and Luck wouldn’t have had to die.’ The thoughts became louder, their jeering piercing what remained of my confidence. ‘For a WORTHLESS EXCUSE FOR A FLAREON!’

“JUST STOP IT!” I screamed, shutting my eyes and tossing myself violently.

Voices cackled in my head, and rustling made my eyelids snap open again. I was extremely tense, and I directed my insane glare where I thought the noise was. I shivered wildly, a wicked chill edging on a spasm as my fur still dripped with saltiness. The world spun before me, the trees growing toothy grins and evil stares. More hoots taunted me, and my recurring thoughts brought tears to my eyes. I was so confused...so scared.

I screamed one last time before I completely freaked out, failing to control my fear and spiralling into a hollow hole of confusion and blackness.

***

“...Hhhr...” I groaned, my eyes revealing the world to me as I apparently awoke again. I was quick to observe my surroundings and figure it was still nighttime. I could smell a salty tang, knowing the ocean accompanied me. The sweet saltiness drew my mind from insanity to food, and I groaned, my stomach probably about to leap out of my body to satisfy itself. I heaved myself off my side, shifting into a sitting position. “...Zhol...?” I murmured, coughing a few times in a row while she realised I was conscious and turned. She was sitting about a metre in front of me, preparing a spread of sticks she had gathered while I was busy being zonked out.

“You’re awake,” she said in a curt manner.

“W-what happened to me?” I asked groggily. The sneasel explained how she had heard me screaming in the woods nearby and raced to my rescue. And a good thing too, because she said I had passed out by the time she reached me, and I could have been stalked by unkindly predators or frozen to death. Well, not death, but something uncomfortably close. “Thank you. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t brought me here.”

The sneasel didn’t really know how to take the compliment, and blinked. “It’s only fair. I’m forever in your debt,” she reminded me, and I shook my head lightly as she tended to the twigs again. “The wood requires a small flame.”

I exchanged a stare with her before I shrugged and padded forward. I took a deep breath and exhaled with a fiery spice, lighting the shreds firewood and prongs of sticks. The bonfire shuddered to life and quickly brightened. Satisfied, I was about to cast my glace at Zhol for approval before I noticed the trio of fish laying on a bed of sand. My stomach once again rumbled, tossing restlessly and growling repeatedly at me. I almost drooled, but restrained myself from taking further action, saliva collecting between my cheeks, and I placed my rump on the damp dirt below.

A small noise sounded in a tree to my right, and my head shot up, alert. Focusing on the woods reminded me of the little episode I lived the last time I was conscious. The feeling poked at my stomach and rose to my chest, almost returning, and it felt terrible... But I forced the imagery from my head and filled my nostrils with the scent of fish again.

Grass surrounded one half of the area along with countless tall-stretching trees reaching for the sky, and the ocean was nearby to our other side – on account of how we barely walked a few metres from the shore – and there was a constant breeze eddying around the both of us, mingling with smoke from the fire in graceful wisps. The water didn’t bother me, however, nor did it provide comfort. It was just...there.

I didn’t know why cooking the fish would be necessary, as I usually ate meat raw, so I mentioned to Zhol that, in contrary to how she preferred her fish, I would humbly eat mine straight off the sand. Without consideration, she permitted me two of the three, which I gobbled up without a second thought. There was plenty of meat on each fish, and they were fresh, salty enough and altogether filling. She had to wait at least five minutes before she could stick her claws out to the skewer her fish resided to remove the stick from over the flames. She blew on the fish prior to biting at it as she held the stick at each ends with her paws. During that time, I sat watching contentedly.

I thanked Zhol once more before curling up and nodding off, and the sneasel did the same as we were warmed by the bonfire.

***

I backed up, my hind paws feeling the edge of the ground as sections of dirt crumbled. I turned to see them fall hopelessly into the lava lighting me from behind. I whimpered, knowing that being a flareon didn’t mean I could withstand lava temperatures. In fact, there were only a few species of pokémon I knew of who wouldn’t be killed instantly upon contact with the bubbling liquid.

My ears were down away and I held great fear in my heart as two silhouettes closed in on me, their daunting, single-coloured eyes boring into me. Grins were pasted on their maws, and they didn’t bother to exchange speech with each other to know what the other was thinking. One was significantly larger than the other; however, I couldn’t distinguish between the two pokémon’s species.

In the background lay many lifeless bodies. I could hear shouting coming from somewhere else. My dark and gloomy surroundings told me I was in an unfamiliar place—one I didn’t want to know about. I didn’t dare think about trying to escape—first, there was nowhere for me to run, and second, even if I did I knew it wouldn’t end well...

But what really got to me were the strange feelings I had—one being the sense of bitter hatred and disgust flowing through me which was greater than the fear that lingered about. My head was lowered, and I began gritting my jaws together with such strain that my teeth gained hairline cracks and my eyes watered. I felt betrayed...and in more ways than one. I was so very angry, my energy focused solely on one creature...and I knew it wasn’t directed towards one of the figures closing the distance between me and them, despite the seething rage I had for those creatures as well.

“Dusty,” one of them sneered, the smaller of the two evil beings approaching. The following speech was jumbled, and I couldn’t make it out.

However, I replied, growling, “No... Get away from me,” with a cold tone. The figure grinned wider, moving closer. It asked me something next that I couldn’t make out again, yet somehow I devised a reply. From what I could understand, the creature was asking me if I would join it in committing hideous deeds. “I would rather die!”

The creature laughed a silent laugh, and screech from a distance in its place made me cringe. “That was the sound...of torture.”

“You disgust me,” I spat. The form stopped grinning and stood upright.

“What’s the matter? Don’t you like the sound of suffering?!”

“Of course not!” I roared, careful not to get too distracted and slip backwards.

The creature glanced at my back toes, lowering its head. “Careful. Wouldn’t want to slip.” It released a chuckle. “Join us or suffer the same fate as those fallen rocks.”

I emitted a growl. “I would choose death over you in a heartbeat.”

The smaller figure stepped back upon the larger one’s request in time for something in the background to lunge at the two opposing me, and I watched in awe. Someone was coming to my rescue! I was unable to identify my saviour until the second I focused properly. I recoiled in shock. I recognised who it was.

Thump.

“Ahh, what?!” I spoke, flinging myself into a sitting position. My tuft swayed as I glanced left and right, finally resting as my head stilled. I sat my paws on the ground to prop myself up and looked down past my mane to see a feathered pokémon who appeared to no longer be living. I blinked, silently questioning what I was viewing. I looked up, having to blink again to clear my vision. “Hey, Zhol—did you catch this?” I asked. However, she just huffed and spun around, pouring sand onto the firewood as it rushed between her claws. I glimpsed an angry expression before she turned away, which puzzled me. ‘I wonder why she’s in such a bad mood...’

***

Zhol was venturing back through the forest, brushing past leaves and bushes. She was headed back in the direction of where she and Dusty had slept, and used her tongue to pick the last scraps of meat left between her teeth. She brushed the tiny white flakes left by bird feathers from her chest – where they had dropped – with a paw, and rose the other one, holding a second starly. The flying type had a brown head and a grey body, with its wings being half tipped with brown on the end feathers.

“I was lucky to get two.” She smiled weakly to herself, having spotted the duo still asleep on a branch. “The early sneasel gets the starly.”

She stared to the east to view the dim light that shone just above the horizon. The beautiful amber illumination of the world was quite a sight to see. But it also meant more pokémon would be waking—which was bad news if the area belonged to aggressive pokémon. Zhol had to pack up her act and get out of the premises with Dusty soon. She was glad she managed to catch a meal before having to head out—and catching something for Dusty as well. She would certainly be thankful for it and happy to eat!

Catching the scent of ocean and nearing the sandy dirt, Zhol was happy to see that Dusty was waking up. She was moving her limbs as Zhol approached—a sign of her presumably stretching. She couldn’t see the flareon’s face, however, as she was lying with her back to the dark and ice type. “Dusty...?” she began, just to ensure her theory was correct. “Are you awake?”

“No,” she replied darkly, and Zhol was surprised. “Get away from me.”

Zhol stood on the spot after her smile vanished. She pretended she didn’t hear the last bit. “We need to leave soon. But first, you must eat,” she said, holding the starly out.

“I would rather die!” Dusty exclaimed, and Zhol frowned, confused and taken aback.

“What?” she demanded, distaste in her tone. But the flareon didn’t reply, her back still turned as she lay on the sand. “I caught you a starly.”

“You disgust me.”

Zhol recoiled, wondering why in the world her friend – if she was – was acting weird. “You...don’t like them...?”

“Of course not!” she yelped.

The sneasel sighed, forgetting the fire type’s strange attitude. “...If you won’t eat, then get up. We have to leave. This isn’t our territory.” She kicked a twig aside and watched it meet with the ash-covered ones used in the fire. “Staying here with unknown pokémon could be dangerous.”

“I would choose death over you in a heartbeat.”

Zhol flinched, astonished. She was frozen with confusion. What in the name of Arceus would make the flareon make a comment like that? They had only met a number of days ago, but Zhol had hoped they could be friends. If this fire type preferred to be apart from her, she wouldn’t object. She had no idea why the flareon was reacting so strangely, or even why she hadn’t gotten up to talk to her properly, but the sneasel needn’t concern herself. She narrowed her eyes, trying not to let newfound contempt control her. She rested her eyes for a collection of seconds. Abruptly she turned and threw the dead prey behind her and onto the eevee evolution’s body. Her legs began to carry her to the fire’s remains as she mulled over the past couple of days, frustration tinting her face.

Suddenly the flareon shot up. “Ahh, what?!” she questioned, throwing her head about. Zhol was leaning down by the burned pile of logs, dumping pawfuls of sand in some attempt to cover them. Dusty seemed to wait a moment before inquiring, “Hey, Zhol, did you catch this?” The sneasel flashed a completely unimpressed expression before going back to the fire, and then stood up. She zipped out of sight and into the forest, rounding a tree and continuing past it.

“Zhol? W-what—wait! Where’re you going?” Dusty called after her, and the shuffling of feathers and paws indicated that she was coming up behind the tree. She arrived, found Zhol leaning against a trunk further up, and walked a few paces forward to take a seat. She placed the bird pokémon on the ground, not taking her eyes of the sneasel, and then raised her head again. “Everything okay?” she queried, and Zhol threw her a stern glare. The flareon made herself appear submissive and puzzled. It was also part of her plan in sitting down—to make herself smaller and somewhat innocent. “Zhol?”

Dusty cocked her head as the sneasel moved off. Dusty sighed, figuring her for the silent type who generally kept to herself. She furrowed the fur above her brow, scooped the flying type into her mouth again, and bounded away in hot pursuit of the zippy sneasel.

***

It had been days since I had been near a forest, and the change of atmosphere – smell, sounds, scenery and even the texture of the undergrowth – were all fantastic! I loved forests. I wasn’t sure what Zhol was thinking—she’d been rather grouchy since the start of the day and I hadn’t had a proper chance to talk to her. We had been on the move for a few hours, stopping every once in a while and thankfully coming across rivers we could drown ourselves in (figuratively), and then continuing. It was such an overwhelming relief when we found our first batch of water. Zhol smiled for the first time in the day, and I was so happy that I almost felt like swimming in it! However, such a concept was ruled immediately out.

We had spent a good half an hour by it, and I couldn’t stop lapping up the cool, fresh water that felt so good washing over my tongue and flowing down my throat. I must have swallowed a few mouthfuls of seawater while I was unconscious, because otherwise I don’t know how I would have survived...or, at least, I don’t know how I wasn’t unbearably thirsty the previous night. Being a fire type certainly didn’t help when water was scarce...like on the ship. Koi had been generous enough to share his...body fluid...with me and the others on the three-day trip in the human transportation vehicle, and aside from that I think they gave us a few mouthfuls. I was not surprised to find that some of the pokémon in the cages on the ship...had died even before they were freed...simply because they were dehydrated. It was mainly young pokémon...

“You know what?” I began while Zhol and I raced through shrubs and trees. “Those Rockets killed so many pokémon that day...” I trailed off as a firm frown began to plaster itself onto my face. “Malnutrition and dehydration was one cause, and then how many of us were lost on the battle against imprisonment...” Our paws thudded against the ground as we went, kicking up dirt and crunching leaves. Zhol could run much faster – I could tell – but she was running my pace on purpose. Her arms were flying behind her as she raced, and it was simply amazing how rapidly her legs switched places with each other to propel her forward. I had always loved speed, and being able to run the speed of a sneasel sounded exciting...

I kept my eyes up ahead as I weaved between trees and jumped over burrows and stumps, and avoided ekans if I happened to spot any hidden under the foliage, waiting for prey to wander by. Luckily I was too big.

“I’m glad I was there, though,” I admitted, narrowing my eyes as I extended my four legs while clearing a log. “Fighting for others in need...it just seems like the right thing to do.” I could sense Zhol considering my statement, and I could only imagine that she agreed. After all, what kind of pokémon would think otherwise?

***

A man in a black uniform paced himself as he made his way down a corridor, a collection of three pokémon following him. His black hat that consistently slipped forward on account of how it was too large for his smaller head fell over his eyes yet again as he glanced down at his fidgeting fingers. Everyone had been deliberately laughing at him for being chosen to see the boss... They constantly mentioned the dangers of angering the boss, or even having to deal with him when his temper dictated his thoughts, and the newly-joined Team Rocket minion was not looking forward to facing him.

He kept up his pace until reaching the boss’ door, which he stopped before and took several deep breaths. He muttered reassuring words to himself under his breath, his eyes closed, and looked as if he was counting things on his fingers. He finally mustered the courage to take another step, but hesitated before turning the knob on the closed door. Once he entered, he swallowed hard, ushering the three assorted pokémon into the room and directed them to the desk situated near the back of the small room. He cowardly followed.

Behind the plain desk sat a tall black chair that widened out at the top. On the desk was a phone, along with stationery, papers and blueprints, and a white mug with various stains. The desk itself had probably been one of great value when it was new, but the varnish had been scraped off in places and dirtied with marks. Around the room were a few things: a bookshelf (that looked as if it hadn’t been sorted through in a while) to the left, several cabinets to the right, and a screen fixed to the back wall—the one he and his boss were both facing.

“B-boss?” started the young man, “I’ve brought th-the three el-eligible pokémon...sir.” The chair didn’t move, and as the screen on the wall flashed with different images, the man waiting assumed that he was busy. Fearing he didn’t hear him, he spoke again. “...Boss?”

The screen’s image shrunk to nothing as a tink sounded. The man held his breath as he realised he may have upset his superior, and he waited in angst with a straightened back to be acknowledged. The chair creaked slowly around, and a man with smooth, dark hair and a shady face showed himself to his follower. He was wearing a suit with a black tie, and his eyes were barely visible under the shadow clouding his face. He placed his elbows on the desk, his five fingers meeting with each other as they straightened. The Rocket grunt seemed to shake almost noticeably as he stared past his boss with vertical arms. The boss seemed not to move his head as his hidden eyes scanned over the pokémon choices, and a gruff sigh escaped his lips. He inhaled, and the minion prepared himself.

“Who chose these?” he questioned, his voice low and serious. The man stuttered.

“Uh—uh, the Beta Admin, sir.”

“Is that a fact or an assumption?”

“U-um...fact?”

“I didn’t choose him to pick a mere YOUNGLING!” he raged, getting to his feet and tossing an arm to the right. His other hand slammed against the solidness below him as he yelled his last word. The young Rocket breathed uneasily as he continued to stand as straight as he could, fear surging through him. He tried his best not to fall backwards.

“I-it’s a very good fighter, s—”

“How could one of THOSE be a GOOD FIGHTER?!” he exclaimed, flecks of his saliva spraying onto the desk’s surface.

The Rocket cringed, his eyes closed. “They were all tested,” he informed, fighting the instincts that told him to flee. “It’s only young, but there’s something amiss with its—its...with how it grew.” The boss appeared to stop his heavy breathing, his teeth becoming unclenched and his arms lowering to his side. He stood tall and broad as his minion continued. “It was...trained very hard by its trainer...and has the mental c-capacity of an adult po-pokémon.” The boss maintained his frown, not easily convinced. “His trainer was killed on—on the 700-T, and another trainer brought him back, s-so now he doesn’t belongs to any, anyone...e-except you, sir.”

To this the Rocket’s superior ran a hand across his stubble. He lifted an eyebrow in disbelief. “Demonstrate.”

Not ten seconds later, a stout pokémon was brought in held inside a cage. It had its hands wrapped around the cage’s bars, and its angry eyes showed its fury. It was thrashing about in the cage, unable to free itself, and seemed barely tame if tame at all. The Rocket carrying it didn’t stop to shock it with a Rocket taser he pulled from his pocket, a device that emitted an electrical shock current to be sent throughout the subject’s body, thereafter incapacitating them. They were specially designed for Team Rocket’s use: silver hand-held weapons with a button in the centre of the top. They were small and convenient to carry in pockets, and were constructed of mainly metal-like plastics and bamboo, and could not be recognised by a metal detector. It was a powerful tool that was easy to store, carry and use.

The purple pokémon’s body locked up in a seizure, and it shook uncontrollably afterward on the floor of the cage, its limbs having given in. The cage was set in the middle of the room and the door was opened. The man holding the cage lifted it up, tilting the pokémon out and onto the floor, still paralysed.

One of the three pokémon who were brought in by the timid Rocket member was told to approach the newly-placed pokémon, and he complied without thinking twice. His one-foot tall body gave his opponent the impression that he was weak and helpless, but the small, rounded pokémon had a menacing grin. His opponent finally got to his feet, still feeling the lasting pain from the electric surge, and stared at the pokémon a third of his size.

The pokémon appearing to still be half in his shell took a deep breath, his eyes altered by the frown accompanying the grin he wore. He analysed the normal type before him. He was mostly bluey-purple, with the exception of his closed mouth that would usually be open, which was maize-coloured. A duo of round twitching ears extended from the sides of his head. Four blunt teeth were revealed as the loudred opened his mouth. He appeared overtaken by rage, and he let out a deep rumble from within his throat—the one that was connected directly to his torso. He stamped his feet repeatedly, sneering at the minor threat which he had a difficult time finding intimidation for.

However, the first of three specifically chosen pokémon barely had to ready himself. The six cream spikes standing erect on his head did not waver with effects of timidness.

“Metronome,” commanded the boss out of concern, the pokémon leisurely swayed his tiny cream paws, neutral sparks dancing between them. A gust of wind erupted from the two limbs, and a miniature tornado was sent spinning horizontally forward. It swept past the loudred as he braced himself in the centre, the sharp wind currents buffeting him and scraping at his skin. The attack was cut off, and the normal type lunged toward the smaller pokémon, his feet out in front. He came down onto the togepi, but the younger pokémon seemed anything but fazed.

“You’re willing to fight for them?” spat the loudred, his stomp attack having hit his opposition head-on. The togepi only smiled, his unusual blood-red eyes coming into effect and washing over the loudred’s astounded face.

“Metronome again,” the boss said, both arms outstretched as he braced himself against the desk’s surface.

The togepi’s arms waggled back and forth under the pressure of another pokémon on top of him and magnificent light flashed, illuminating the whole room and causing everyone looking to shriek and protect their eyes—including the loudred, who stumbled backwards and held his two paws to his eyes. Again the egg-like pokémon leisurely moved his paws, and this time he was shot forward and he slammed into his advisory, streaks of light in his wake.

The swift move was one unable to be evaded, and due to the blindness the loudred’s eyes currently withstood, he was condemned to miss his following attacks and was hit by his enemy’s. He attempted to lunge, but his legs weaved and a thud rang out as his face was planted into the carpet. He seemed to get all the more frustrated, but had no time to express it as the togepi instantaneously became encased with sharp rocks suddenly summoned, and they flung forward onto the loudred, the pokémon reacting with a sharp cry of pain. The togepi didn’t seem to sympathise with his foe, and instead swung his paws back and forth. This time, a wicked sphere of cerulean energy formed between them, and it crackled as white colour mixed in. The sphere acquired ebony tinges before it grew to be nearly the size of the pokémon wielding it, and with a grunt, the tiny pokémon jerked backwards as he released the ball. The loudred was witnessed getting to his feet and having not a second to bellow in fright before an aura sphere pounded into him. The boss’ eyes were wide as light exploded and the unconscious pokémon stayed airborne until it whammed into the front of the desk.

A heinous smirk slithered onto the boss’ face, his eyes becoming darker once more. For now, he was pleasantly glad to have been initially wrong about the chosen pokémon...

***

I had been lucky to avoid discovering Zhol’s temper. Angering the sneasel seemed like the worst mistake I could make—even though I could only guess how scornful she would act. She had been withdrawn and quiet ever since I had woken, and I still hadn’t figured out why.

Her prey-catching skills were very sharp, and she was particularly good with catching fish. I knew that humans use a long line of fine, tough plastic attached to some sort of flexible pole as well as simple spears (which were only really used when their technology hadn’t begun to bloom). I learned that Zhol didn’t need a spear—her claws were so sharp that she could pierce a solid rock if she really tried. And all she had to do to capture prey was focus, aim and plunge her fist into the rushing river. I had taken a seat on the bank to watch, not even thinking about venturing into the water or even onto the steppingstones Zhol squatted on to score our food. I was also glad to have had her sharing the fish with me—a lot of pokémon would probably keep it all for themselves on account of how they caught it, which, although practical, could also be seen as selfish. Especially when with another whose skills for hunting were unsharpened. Nevertheless, Master had always encouraged me to catch my own meals. Although...Izante usually did the majority of the hunting. This was, after sitting next to the river and simply watching my sneasel friend catch dinner, specifically why Zhol instructed me to collect (by what means I wasn’t sure) any berries that happened to be growing anywhere in the area. So, compliantly, I had wandered off.

I hummed quietly to myself while scanning shrubbery for any signs of juicy fruit I could possibly lug back, but spied nothing useful. The forest we were venturing through was a repeated scene as far as the eye could see, and for an hour I had been looking for fruit without success. The underlay was composed mostly of dry pine needles – which had turned a copper colour – along with other extremely tall trees’ leaves which happened to drop. The trees themselves stretched up for ages before they stopped, giving the impression that they were still growing. Their branches obscured any patch of sky, and as a result the forest was constantly darker than a normal day would be. It was also colder, but being a fire type, I didn’t feel it as much as other pokémon may have been able to.

I proceeded forwards, coming to a stop when I scented something. It was extremely faint, but as I lifted my muzzle and put my nose to work, I caught a whiff of another type of plantation. Excited, I raced up the growing hilly forest, passing tree after tree as the scent began to strengthen. Once atop the slope, I needed not to glance about for long before laying eyes on a row of berry bushes at the foot of the small hill. The forest still stretched on for kilometres each way, looking the same, although there was a row of shrubs lining the hill’s bottom that went off left and right.

The path was thicker beyond the bushes of fruit, and shrubs were more abundant. It was a better environment for stalking prey due to more coverage and the opportunity for hiding behind just about every plant and tree. If I happened to spy a bird pokémon or something along the lines of small, vulnerable prey, I might just have had a chance to snag it. It would most likely boost Zhol’s mood, and I would feel more useful. But if I was unable to find food with meat, I would have to return to my friend with what the bushes provided, which, although less desirable, was my original intent anyway.

I wasn’t sure if sneasel generally ate berries. I wasn’t too fond of them myself, but I did enjoy some sweetness on my tastebuds once in a while, and they were that satisfying that I would certainly eat them or any other fruit if there was nothing else available.

I only had to run about twenty metres before tumbling into a bush growing nose-sized red berries, and I got to my paws and shook off so I could encase one in my mouth before tugging it off the stalk it was connected to. I bit down – regretting it as soon as I discovered the pip – and chewed the flesh, ejecting the hard centre. The odd flavour filled my mouth, making me raise my cheek muscles in response to its sourness. I decided the particular one I was testing was unripe, but I finished it regardless and swallowed. My eyes squinted and I stuck out my tongue, shaking my head speedily, while widening my mouth. “Eulegh.”

Once the odd taste passed I began searching for a better piece of fruit to taste. I moved on to a bush to my right, padding slowly and assessing the plant’s berry from where I stood. I made a noise of acknowledgement and happily slipped my fangs into the fruit’s skin. I didn’t expect it to be so soft and passive, but apparently it was. I tugged on it, hoping to rip it off the branch it was attached to, but it proved to be an annoying task. The first attempt ended with a bite of the berry in my mouth, the sweetness rushing over my tongue, and I chewed and swallowed, satisfied with the taste if not pleased by it.

The berry itself was shaped like two spheres stuck together—the bottom one larger. At its top was where it connected to the short branch, and the leaves surrounding the stalk attached to the berry were frayed. It was a rich, pinky-purple colour from what I could tell and it was about as tall as my head—but only about half the width. I had taken a chunk from its bottom, and the rest of the berry was still resting in the bush. I moved my mouth to the other side of my face as my brow burrowed, and tried again. This time I bit the thick stalk, and thankfully the fruit dropped and thudded against the earth. It acquired dirt and broken leaves on its exposed flesh wound, but I barely noticed as I snipped another two berries from their stalks and they dinted themselves upon meeting the ground.

The sudden feeling of being watched swept over me like a harmless surf attack. My fur stiffened and I whirled around immediately to catch whatever was spying on me. Peculiar shuffling and fluttering sounded nearby, and something materialised before me, a battle-ready cry being blurted beforehand. I jumped backwards as a frightened reflex before my eyes could focus and, being as clumsy as I was, I stumbled as my paws caught on each other. Being on an angle, I happened to topple into the bushes I had just been pruning and became mangled in the thin twig-branches and leaves.

I released a noise of discomfort and fright as the event occurred, and I felt many prodding ends spike into my skin. I heard a troubled gasp and another flurry of rustling as whatever it was zoomed away before I could weave myself out of the bush and onto the ground properly again. I made haste as I collected myself and stood on all-fours, my chest protruding more than usual and my head high as I scanned for predators. Thankfully nobody was there, but I was on my guard for the next twenty or so seconds while keeping dead silent. I waited longer to make sure, and when I realised the only things I could hear were the buzz of crickets and whisper of trees, I began to breathe again.

“What on Earth...was that?” I asked myself. Whatever it was, it had gone. My best bet would be that it became frightened of how strong I looked and fled.

Reconsidering as I glanced to the bushes again, I gave a small smile. My imagination was amusing.

***

I was still puzzled by the strange semi-encounter with a creature. I decided to try to narrow it down. It had to be something light, perhaps, because it managed to creep up on me so silently, but it could’ve been anything to have scuttled away at the speed it did. Judging by how it sounded, it zipped away faster than I could run, but then again I hadn’t seen it go—my face was buried somewhere deep within leaves and branches at the time. I hadn’t even had a look at it before I had my little accident, so in terms of appearance, I had nothing to go off. Even the creature’s colour had been undeterminable in the lack of light, let alone other sorts of detail.

I guessed that it didn’t matter all that much since it had come and gone without causing me harm. I just hoped it wasn’t going to come back for me...with its friends. But then again, how threatening could it really be? I could surely defeat it. Many of them if not all. I was totally strong enough to overcome a pokémon who escaped before I could get to my paws and fight it. ‘Coward,’ I thought sourly. ‘And if it was something small enough for me and Zhol to eat, I could’ve caught it for us!’

I padded through fluffy dirt, sure that I was reaching the site we were resting at. Grains of dirt flew as I kicked with each step, as they would with anyone’s movement, and pattered back down again harmlessly. I stretched my jaws open to yawn sleepily, involuntary and unexplained tears gathering as I repeated the process a number of times in a row. I had stopped exerting energy to support my tail, so the bushy bunch of fur was being dragged behind me. The sleepier I got...the more my thoughts cast me into solemn territory, where thoughts of things I otherwise resisted thinking of lurked in wait. With the tiniest spec of dread, I reminded myself of Izante.

‘I wonder what she’d be doing right now...’ I shook my head furiously, trying to force myself not to think of her in that moment...but it was so hard. To have this friend for years upon years...and to have her suddenly disappear like a flamethrower into the ocean? The mist of what once was? It tore me apart...and thinking about reasons she had to betray me like she did made my nostrils flare with the scrapings of sorrow.

Why did she do it? Wasn’t I her most treasured life-long friend? Wasn’t I the one she could count on until we both no longer drew breath? The progressing thoughts brought that worthless, arrogant persian she was glued to into the picture, and I snorted as soon as he entered my head. Losing my best friend to a disgusting pokémon like that was distasteful, unbelievable and...heartbreaking.

In the midst of my whirring thoughts, I had to drop the four stalks connected to berries that my teeth held in place and shake my head. I clenched my eyes and forced my clawed toes into the earth below. My ears straightened like spikes out of both sides of my head. My muscles locked up as I began to shiver and my nose fizzled. I let out a breath that had built up, the first of my tears following drip by drip.

I tried my hardest not to think about such things as I opened my eyes after having them closed and collected in my mouth the berries by their stalks. I pressed on, knowing that dwelling in my own sorrow wasn’t going to do me any good. ‘But...I don’t understand!’ I yelled silently. ‘Why would she leave if she seemed so at peace?! She could have told me what was wrong, and maybe I could’ve solved it! Friends talk to each other... They sort things out...’ I froze, releasing the fruit, and stared through the darkness. My eyes didn’t waver as I felt a tingle between my shoulder blades. “What if...what if I was never a good friend...?” The breeze drifted by, blowing my tuft lightly to the right. “What if...what if I was too unreliable to talk to about her problems?” I frowned, searching my mind for more answers. I blinked continuously, a frown etching itself onto my face. “Was I even...her friend...at all?”

Panic flooded me from the tip of my ears to the end of my tail, and I was rendered suddenly helpless. My body was still as my eyes began to quiver. They welled with more tears, my vision blurring as the light I could see from the corner of my eye stretched in fuzzy extensions. A droopy, worthless feeling began to stab me with its sharpened point. Maybe...maybe I deserved betrayal. Maybe it was a just punishment for some kind of heightened inadequacy.

‘But better yet...’ my mind began, and I listened quietly. ‘Maybe she only pretended to like you this whole time.’

A fake friendship. Only for it to end with me realising...how it felts to have been played...and eventually abandoned without hesitation. The game was won and I was not the winner.

I felt like I was taking a beating. A truth-awakening beating I should have had a long time ago. To have believed she was a true friend all these years was so foolish. It proved how blind I had been—how caught up in some wonderful adventure I was, only to run head-on into a wall and wake from the dream. And to seriously think that there would be someone who could take her place only ended with another assumption of an inevitable betrayal. Friends, enemies... I was beginning to doubt there was much a difference if the former could become the latter in the flick of an ear, or perhaps was for a long time...longer than anyone had known. And what was the point of a friend when you’re clearly not worthy, or when in the end they’re going to leave with no explanation, only for you to sit on the spot and blame yourself...?

I hung my head, listening to the many thoughts and theories convince me of the truth... I began to feel like something was eating away at me, as if I was some sort of enticing platter for negativity. I dropped onto the ground, weakened eyes gazing emptily at the soil...

...and just wept.

***

I felt ripples down my spine as I heard running water nearby. I hadn’t noticed it before, but there was the faint rushing of a current in the near distance. I suddenly felt cold – something I didn’t often feel – and I warily lifted my eyelids. The woods had become even quieter, and it seemed gloomier all of a sudden. I blinked a few times, noticing the stiffness of the fur under my eyes.

‘Did I...did I doze off?’ I questioned, my head rising to scan the area. I was in the same place I had broken down in, but this time it felt different thanks to the increased surrounding creepiness. I felt my tail keeping my back left leg company, and the berries I was taking back to Zhol were scattered around my muzzle. I couldn’t have dozed off for too long; it seemed like only minutes ago when I slumped down on the spot, and the berries could have been stolen if they were unattended for long—if anyone had the heart to steal from a hungry flareon, that was.
I hauled myself upwards, stretching my legs and feeling heavy afterwards. I lazily moved my head in the direction I sensed the river was in and began to follow my ears as soon as I had collected the fruit. It was an effort, but I managed to do so fairly easily. The wounds in my leg and ear had both become scabs, and I could no longer feel my leg muscles aching when I walked on it, which was good. And they were healing quickly, too.

I travelled for at least a few minutes before crossing paths with a wide and deep river snaking between trees and through the forest. The branches above were more spaced out, and I could see the sky, bluey black and dotted with stars. I set the food by my side and sat down. I lowered my head to the running water and began to lap it into my mouth. The iciness must have cooled my systems and put out some internal flames, and I had to stop drinking to allow my brain to unfreeze. My throat also ached, but I was too thirsty to stop straight away.

“Hi, there. Are you lost?”

I jumped out of my fur, literally almost toppling into the stream and onto the creature before me. I saved myself with a flareon’s agility, luckily, and my heart thumped like a speedy suicune in my chest. I almost let loose a stream of fire in someone’s half-submerged face, but I stopped myself before it left my jaws. At first I hadn’t the slightest idea of what this thing was, but the familiarity of the species hopped into my head. I stared as the creature’s face turned to a frown, and I took a moment to process the situation.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I questioned, rather incredulous. I knew my heart would need time to calm itself, and in the meantime, I planned to find out exactly what this pokémon wanted.

The water type smirked. “A fire type, ‘ey?” I blinked a few times, wondering what he meant. But by his unimpressed expression, he wasn’t too happy about the fact. “Alright, waddaya want?” His eyelids lowered to rest at half-mast, and he climbed out of the water easily despite the current. His whole figure was steel blue and arched, his eyes large with red irises. I watched as he stretched, the single blue curl sprouting from his head bouncing a little, and then hung over his face. His two red cheeks rose with amusement, making me narrow my eyes a little in response. His body appeared slimy and wet – which made sense – and I had to wonder if he was cold or not. Although I was a fire type, being in water for too long – or any cold place for that matter – was a terrible mistake.

“Uh,” I started, flicking my head once or so to rid myself of the sleepiness still lingering. “I was—I was just getting a drink.”

“From this river?” He shook his head. “You’ll be killed; this stuff’s deadly.”

Shivers erupted along my spine, and I couldn’t do anything but stare. I would... I would die? “W-what?!”

“Geez, you scare easy. I’m only pulling your leg!” he laughed. “Lemme cool you off.”

With no warning other than the ambiguous words which sprouted from his mouth, a jet of chilly mud pushed through the air and onto my face, and I cringed and drew back as soon as it hit. I yelped in objection, scrambling backwards and holding up a foreleg in front of my face in some poor attempt to protect it. “Stl-l-l-l-l-l-lpp!” I gurgled through the sloppy grit. The attack was called off, and I spluttered and forced up a hunk of mud, beginning a coughing fit and keeping my eyes squeezed shut. I could imagine him stifling his cruel laughs as I stumbled to the river without opening my eyes, dipping a paw in brusquely to make sure it was there.

I went to slam my face into the water, only to discover rocks just below the surface, and a splitting pain erupted in my head after a collision with one. I let out a loud screech underwater, but unfortunately that used up my breath and I had to rise out of the despicable substance. I sucked in a breath with a wide-open mouth, releasing a cry afterward which was louder than the sound of the river itself. Knowing I still had mud on my face, I dunked it back in carefully this time, and shook it from side to side with the hopes of it washing away.

After what seemed like minutes, I pulled myself from the stream and slumped by its edge, panting repeatedly. I could hear chuckling nearby, and as soon as I had swallowed in mid-pant, I threw my head is his direction, glaring with annoyance. “You idiot!” I roared, but suddenly my anger paused, drawn to something nearby.

“What the hell was he thinking?!” chirped a shoulder flareon—the black one with a blood red mane, horns and little wings. She suddenly appeared hovering to my left, her anger directed at the politoed before me. I was surprised; I hadn’t seen her in a while besides the momentary encounter back on the ship. She always happened to show up, as well as the angelic one, after a bump to the head. Not that THAT affected anything at all!

“He was only trying to help,” insisted the white and gold one with little wings and a halo above her head. She floated by my right, looking at me with an innocent but matured expression.

“Help?! Hah!” spat the demon-like one. “I didn’t know you were so funny!”

“It wasn’t a joke, you simple-minded, rage-driven flareon.” The angel-like one just sat in mid air, her anger controlled if not absent. The other growled, her head lowering and her fur puffing up.

“Uhh...” I butted in, and the two looked at me. I moved my head to each of them at a time. I didn’t really know what to say...so I didn’t.

“What?” insisted the one to my left, but I just shrugged.

“You must have a view of your own,” the angelic one mentioned.

“Well...I do have to agree with you,” I decided, pointing my muzzle at the demonic flareon.

“HAH!” she yelled, crossing to the other one. “She agrees with me and not you.”

“Dusty,” the other one spoke, coming out in front of my muzzle with the other one following. “Don’t let Miss Grumpy here dictate your thoughts. She doesn’t set a good example for anyone to follow.” By this point, the demonic one was fuming again. “Letting scorn control you like you’re its puppet is not the way to go.”

“Hatred is powerful! More powerful than your stupid ‘calm and happiness’ crap.” While speaking part of the sentence, the black and red one danced around and used a silly voice to show her disapproval. “Oh, look at me, Miss I-Know-Everything! Don’t be angry! Don’t seek revenge! Don’t do anything that could possibly hurt anyone.”

The calm shoulder-flareon sighed. “You are so immature...”

“You’re not seriously going to listen to her drabble, are you?” the ash-coloured one questioned.

“Uh—uhh... Well, you gotta be angry and seek revenge sometimes. Bottling up the anger isn’t going to cure anyone,” I admitted.

“Hah! Told ya. My way’s better,” jeered the darker one, reclaiming the left shoulder again with a smug grin and a flaunty gait.

“Dusty, just please don’t make a fool of yourself like my negative counterpart here. Remember to see things from others’ points of view. It’s important for success.” She slowly faded away until she was but nothing. The other one had her tongue poking out as her opposite vanished, but shortly after, she too began to disappear. She had a grin on her face, and as she was seated, her tail flicked back and forth beside her as it rested against the non-existent ground. She still held the naughty smile as she faded completely, and afterwards I took a breath.

I turned to the politoed, noting his perplexed face. It was essentially a frown with an open mouth and confused eyes. “Uhh...are you okay?” he asked with caution. I snorted in a laughing fashion, knowing it wouldn’t make sense to him even if I explained.

I shifted my paws around and paced backwards, then bent my neck down to collect the berries. I glanced back over my shoulder with the stalks through my teeth before I padded away, following the river back through the forest. I imagined he would have sat there for about twenty or so seconds before deciding to splash into the water – as that’s what I heard not too long after – and thankfully he didn’t follow.

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Fourteen: Travelling Just Drags On

Zhol and I had made our way north for two or so days since I had met up with her after the politoed incident. At certain stages we would come across various pokémon who attacked us for territorial among other reasons, avoiding other unwelcome parties, but we were still a while away from her home. And despite my great skill, I, for some reason, was unable to catch any prey at all...and Zhol had been getting all our food instead. For variety we ate some of the berries I managed to bring back nearly most nights. Eventually we had covered a wide expanse of land and we were both somewhat confident we would reach her colony within several days if we stuck to the right path – and with my sense of direction it was likely – and didn’t take too long when we stopped for breaks.

“Ugh...hungryyy...” I complained as we sat down, belly rumbling. Zhol was probably hungry as well, but knowing her, she’d be the last pokémon to complain. I tore a leaf from nearby off its twig and began to chew, but I spat it out straight afterwards, shaking my head as if in an attempt to rid my tastebuds of the bitter flavour. “Lehck,” I reacted, pulling a paw up to my face and licking it to kill the taste. “Even my fur tastes better...”

The sneasel let out a barely audible sigh as she sat with her paws set in front of her with her legs spread lazily, her back straight against the boulder behind her. Apparently she wasn’t hungry, or if she was, she wasn’t letting the world know...unlike me. She closed her eyes and lay down, noting that the shaded sky was a good indication of the time. I knew that was how it was supposed to be as well, but without food...it would take me forever to fall into an unconscious state. ‘Who goes to bed on an empty stomach?’

As a result, I forced myself to get up and search for something to satisfy myself with. “Zhol...I’m just gonna go for a stroll,” I notified, and she responded by sliding her eyelids up about two centimetres and then returning them. “Heh, heh,” I began, “I just rhymed unintentionally.”

***

It hadn’t been long when I stopped for a break. Kicking up soil in a frustrated manner, I slumped myself onto the earth and huffed. Why was there nothing to eat around here? No prey, no bushes with fruit... All I could do was nibble on leaves... LEAVES! ‘This is getting ridiculous...’ I thought angrily. ‘There’s always a bush with some sort of fruit...’ However, complaining wasn’t going to get me anywhere... “But still!”

I got to my paws again and began to make my way agitatedly back to where Zhol was, knowing – but still secretly hoping otherwise – that on my path back there wouldn’t be any food sources I had missed the first time I walked past them.

I could hear hoots and crickets as I continued through the darkness. Although I liked it, it was better when there was someone with me... But I pushed aside the thought. Or I tried. My mind wandered back to when Izante would accompany me wherever I padded... She’d be right beside me, laughing at one of my jokes and calling me crazy while our trainers were dawdling behind with each other.

I halted. It suddenly dawned on me. “Our masters were together... Izante’s master and mine...together... But if...if Izante’s a Rocket pokémon, then doesn’t that mean...her trainer is too?” My eyes grew wider and I clenched my jaws. “They might still be together now...” I began to ponder another possibility, as well... A possibility that I hadn’t come across before. “What if she...” I muttered, looking down. “What if her trainer wasn’t a Rocket? Maybe she... She could have joined Team Rocket while on the ship so she could escape. That...that stupid cat could have persuaded her... And it makes sense as to why she couldn’t...help me.” I cringed at the memory as I let my eyes twinkle across the ground’s surface, reconsidering. “No,” I grunted, “impossible. There’s no way they would have let her join so suddenly. Surely they would have to undergo some sort of test or training or whatever...” The plausibility of her master not being on the Rocket’s side seemed minimal, which only led me to believe he was the one who started it and Izante was forced into it as a pup. “Holy Moltres...” I visualised several images of my trainer in multiple situations where she was at the mercy of my ex-friend’s master, each predicament twisting painfully in my mind. “No!” I shouted, stressing my toes. However, I stopped to think. Master was smart. If she had raised me to be as smart as I was, then obviously she had to be responsible for some if not all of it. But...but what if she had been fooled? What if he led her into an alleyway in a dreary city on a blackened night and...and...

Catching me off guard, crunching leaves echoed from behind—to the west. I threw my gaze about, unable to spot whatever was making the noise, but it was obviously something distant which was drawing nearer. It was too far away and obscured by the trees between us for me to spot it – let alone identify it – and through the scattered, branchless-until-high-up trees, one would assume that it would be an easy task. And yet the darkness was lowering my sight’s accuracy for one and there were many slopes throughout the forest which happened to be skilled at concealment.

I felt the need to hide, but without much cover whatsoever, it was hard to find a spot. Any shrubs – which were less than common – were not plentiful enough to provide protection and the trees were too thin for me to dart behind. They were also too spaced out for me to use more than one at the same time, so unless I could divide myself into two, a skill I was sure would be handy at times, there wasn’t much of a hope. ‘Even though it would be cool...’ I shook my head, thinking that it wasn’t the time to be fantasising about things I was unable to do, and kept trying to come up with a solution. With the presumable pokémon closing in, I didn’t have much time. ‘I could run,’ I thought, but reconsidered once I confirmed that I was keen on finding out what it was. By the sounds of its pawsteps it was large, but then again I couldn’t be sure.

Figuring I would be kept at a safe distance but I would still be able to see it, I dashed behind a tall trunk and barely had to wait until something furry came over a slope. It was taking enormous strides and it reached my place within seconds of when it was slipped into my view. I couldn’t make out what it was because of its pace and the blurred darkness, but whatever its species...it was far larger than me.

The quadruped raced past with blinding speed, and I was amazed (and thankful it didn’t bother to stop and...injure or eat me). However, I widened my eyes at something I caught a glimpse of before it passed... There was something...on its back...that was pointing at me. ‘Pointing,’ I repeated in my head, ‘like humans do.’ It took me another second to consider the thought of, even though I found it confusing and strange, a human actually being what was on its back. But by that time the pokémon was gone and the alleged passenger was no longer visible. It had disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“Oh well. I’m too tired to worry about it,” I muttered, trotting back to Zhol’s sleeping spot a while later. “I should get some sleep...” I walked to the rock behind Zhol and climbed on top of it. It was smooth and had few spots of moss in little patches. I sat down, drawing my four legs in towards my body and wrapping my tail around my back two. I set my head on my paws, but my ears remained rather erect. I gave a sigh and shut my eyes, letting my mind settle in preparation for a long, well-deserved sleep.

***

“Where are we supposed to start looking?” asked a figure that sighed with agitation. The tiny light coloured pokémon seemed to avoid being touched by slimy reeds leaning over next to him.

“I don’t know...” another one replied, looking disappointed and almost sad about the fact.

“Is this the place?” questioned the first form. A third pokémon bent over and skimmed a white glove-like hand over pawprints.

“It’s where we were told they were,” the one who had spoken second – a stout green pokémon walking on four legs – confirmed. He too glanced about, scanning the area with his triangular eyes. Two fangs stuck out from below the two nostrils he used once lifting his head to scent the air. Leaves and a closed bud on his sloping body wobbled as he zipped between nearby trees; he was sure he spotted a lead. “This way,” he suggested, and the other two pokémon followed. They passed many trees on their way through, stamping marks in the dirt as they went, and finally spotted a collection of small charred logs. As the trio approached the remains of a resting place, two of them smirked. Ash sprinkled the wood, and four feathers with traces of blood on one were on the ground near their feet. Pawprints dotted the sandy dirt, and there were bigger circles where pokémon would have once sat as well as a faint scent.

“It appears we’ve found their campsite,” the tallest of them all pointed out. He neared the collection of logs and bent his thin pink, white knee-capped legs to touch the coals. He wasn’t expecting them to be hot at all, and his assumption was confirmed as he held one easily in his white gloved hand. He inclined his pink head to the left and then his right, addressing both his colleagues, and grinned maliciously.

***

“Dusty,” whispered Zhol, “wake up.”

“Mrmh-hurm-hurm,” I uttered, eyes still closed.

“Get up,” she hissed with impatience.

Lazily I opened my eyes as I realised my head was hanging off the rock. The moment I gained sight, a sharp nose – and glare – was staring down at me. “WAHH!” I squealed, scrambling from my awkward sleeping position to a seated one with my defences raised. It must only have been an hour or two later than when I had fallen asleep because it was still dark. We had company this time. “Uh, wh—...” I leaned closer to Zhol, my grogginess nearly causing me to tip. She stood right in front of the rock I had slept on and seemed to be looking sternly at a shaggy figure. She didn’t move, but since I had my muzzle inches from her right ear, I knew she could hear me. “Who are they?” I began gazing around with my eyes as my head remained close to the sneasel’s face, breathing slowly. By the way they had us surrounded, I was sure they weren’t sticking around to play.

“Why,” murmured a grass type double my height, “do you trespass?”

“...We do not trespass to cause trouble,” Zhol calmly replied, her eyes serious and firm. “We are passing through.”

“Nonsense!” snapped the pokémon, reacting with his whole body. “Too common is that response! And too often does it prove to be a lie!” His blanket-like mane of grey settled on his back after being tossed about while the three leaves on the end of each arm also calmed.

I expected Zhol to react with a yelled sentence of her own, but she inhaled and held her steady gaze. “Excuse me, mister shiftry,” I intervened, and his piercing glare almost threw me off the rock. I took a moment to continue... “We were just leaving, so...” I dropped from the rock and flashed a phoney smile and a quick stretch. “Thanks for the hospitality. It was a pleasure to meet you all!” I strode over-gleefully off in the direction we’d be heading, but two nuzleaf stepped in my way, closing off the space between them. I kept a small, pretend smile. “‘Scuse me!” But the grass and dark types narrowed their eyes and held up a hand each in an offensive stance with their other hand drawn back. Zhol shook her head disapprovingly while the shiftry stared intently at me. “Okay! Sorry!” I said in an annoyed fashion. I could have been talking to either the shiftry and his crew or Zhol—both, I figured.

“Sneasel,” began the shiftry in a rusty voice, dragging on the word. Zhol’s eyes switched to his. “Your kind does not live in these areas,” he mused, suspicion written all over his face. “Are you not an outsider? Do you wish to pass through for a valid reason? Or is it you come here as spies?!”

“We’re going t—”

Zhol snapped her head in my direction, her eyes wide and her message clear—she definitely wanted me to shut up. I submitted willingly, folding my lips in. The dark and ice type’s head slowly moved back to the direction her body was facing. The shiftry only seemed more impatient. “I, Zhol, sneasel of the Usster Colony to the north, am journeying home.”

‘...Usster Colony, hey? Hmm... I wonder what kind of pokémon she lives with...’

“Where is it you come from? Hunting? You are not north enough to be on a simple hunting trip!”

I first thought he was asking where she was from again right after he had already asked. ‘Uhh, she just said, ding-dong,’ I had thought with sarcasm, but when I realised what he meant, I was the one sounding dumb.

“You must be Rokont spies!” he howled, and his gang of nuzleaf tensed and became both uneasy and angered.
I drew my head back, my face encompassed with a frown. ‘...Ro...kont?’ But that became the least of my worries as I realised these pokémon could spring any second and take us out. Due to that, I readied myself in case I needed to loose a stream of fire.

“A ship,” Zhol stated coldly. “We came from...a human ship.” Several blinks of surprise flashed on each nuzleaf’s face, and I scanned their group, noticing how shocked they all were. It was odd to see the sudden change in their attitudes.

The shiftry growled. Obviously he didn’t like the sound of that. “A human ship, you say?”

Zhol responded first with a nod. “Team Rocket’s ship.”

Sharp breath intakes made me aware of these pokémon’s familiarity with the organisation, and I had to wonder how popular they were. I heard two to three names being exchanged between members of the nuzleaf gang, and the shiftry’s posture weakened a little.

But suddenly he perked up again, catching our attention. “I have had kin who were pokénapped by those vile monsters and never returned!” The pokémon stepped forward a pace. “If you are lying, I will show you no mercy. What is your proof?!”

“Shiftry,” I started, stepping beside Zhol as if to back her up. I swallowed. “Have you seen a Rocket up close?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Zhol – sneasel of the Usster Colony to the north – who is this?”

Zhol was stumped at this according to her reaction – or lack-there-of – and I realised I was the only one besides Izante who knew about my history. Despite this though, she had a go. “She is...Dusty, flareon of another land.” To ‘another land’ the shiftry appeared uneasy, but Zhol didn’t allow him to get a word in. “She was the rescuer of every captured pokémon...on that vessel. Had it not been for her, many pokémon would not have escaped and many more of them would be dead.”

I shrugged, holding an “oh, shucks” look on my face. The nuzleaf evolution looked more convinced, but I could tell he wasn’t going to stop there.

“She also fought off a possessed beast for the safety of other pokémon.”

“As I have asked, what is your proof?” he shouted to silence his minions as they began quietly muttering after Zhol’s explanation. “You,” – he looked at me – “were asking me this why?”

“Oh!” I realised I hadn’t finished. “Well...have you seen one up close?” He sneered and answered in the affirmative. “Then did you happen to see...what they’re equipped with?” I asked in a serious manner. The shiftry obviously had seen what they carried, because he flinched as soon as I mentioned it. The wicked image of when I had first seen Zhol returned to my head, and it hurt me to let it resurface on purpose. “Well, if you want proof—!”

I bent my head down at Zhol’s right hip, pointing with my nose to a mark on her body where something had singed her fur and left a burn on her skin. The shiftry gasped, staggering backward. He gathered that a pokémon couldn’t have done this—especially in the shape it was, and it looked more like an electricity wound than one caused by fire.

“The Team Rocket taser is a handheld weapon carried by humans who do the bidding of Team Rocket’s leader. This device shoots electrical currents through the subject’s bodies to make them seize up and become incapacitated via two prongs of metal—hence the two-dotted mark it left. This was used on poor Zhol because she was trying to fight for her freedom!” I almost became angry with all the motivation my explanation was gathering. “And if that’s not proof enough, then...well, surely you would know of guns.” I turned so my left side was facing the grass and dark type so he could see, and it must have only then set in that we were telling the truth. “I was shot by a human for finding freedom and helping other pokémon.” I bent my head down, letting my wounded ear come into view to clarify it again. I waited a pawful of seconds before returning myself, and I began to analyse the shiftry, who seemed more believing.

“Hm,” he grumbled, looking away. “...Do not underestimate the forest as you may have done your freedom task.” He changed his position, standing with his back to us. He turned his head so we could see the side of it. “May your journey be safe.” I knew he was trying to be nice, or perhaps even sympathetic, and I appreciated the effort.

In a matter of seconds the long-nosed pokémon and his gang were bounding between branches off in the direction I was facing, and I smiled. We had been able to convince a pokémon of the forest—a nice change from the pokémon we had been running into lately who wanted to challenge us without reason.

“We should get going,” she mentioned, and I blinked at her, a little dumbfounded.

“Why?” I glanced to the rock I had slept on. “We barely slept!”

The sneasel closed her eyes and took a moment to breathe. “We are not well tolerated in this area. I would advise that we keep moving so we don’t overstay the little welcome we have.”

“Alright...” I grew a look of exhaustion as she walked in front of me, her right side in my face before she took off. “W-wait! Slow down, will ya?” I had to catch up, so I began sprinting after her. But, being so early in the morning, I couldn’t quite get a grip on a proper speed and my limbs failed to move properly after a stiff sleep. “But wait! What about my sleep? I get cranky if I don’t get enough sleep!” However, she didn’t seem to care much for that. “Hey—will you wait up?” I growled, slowing down to a stop with a grouchy expression. “Fine,” I said under my breath, huffing a wisp of fire. “Stupid nocturnal...partly.” I eyed a spot of grass at the base of a common tree since rocks were less than abundant and strode over to it with slow steps. I was tired and hungry. ...And annoyed. ‘Why can’t she just agree for once and listen to me?’ But as soon as I sat down, a sudden hoot made me jump. I froze in the instant and began feeling...a little lonely.

“Hoo, hoo...”

I skimmed the leaves visually, trying to filter out any pokémon that would explain the sounds, but all I captured was rustling clumps of canopy and the noise of fluttering wings. My breathing’s pace increased, and I began swallowing frequently. My fur fluffed and I became completely still while my ears awaited the next sound. Suspicious hooting and chuckling rang in the small space I had created around me, and I finally regretted having not followed that darn sneasel. I also came to realise that only then, when I was alone, I started to be freaked out by this common and harmless audio...

I squeaked as something sharp poked the back of my leg, and I leapt forward and spun around. However, I identified the predator as...a stick. “Great. Now the twigs are preying on me...”

“HOOO!”

“Eep!” I seemed to shrink as I tried not to listen to the taunting pokémon around me, but I knew I couldn’t stay frozen and cowering for long. “...Okay, alright,” I sighed quietly, “I’m coming already...” I bravely uncurled and turned around, unable to see far into the dark distance—meaning I couldn’t see Zhol. I didn’t hear her footsteps, either, which made me bite my lip. “D’aw,” I whined, finding the courage to bolt through the darkness the same way Zhol vanished. ‘Funny,’ I mentioned to myself. ‘You can stand up to a possessed garchomp several times your height, but you can’t confront the darkness on your own with a straight face?’

I travelled for only a few minutes, zooming through the scenery with multiple thoughts on my mind. “Zhol!” I exclaimed, targeting the dark silhouette standing on what looked like the end of the path. My paws trampled hundreds of twigs and leaves as I continued to run, and the ice and dark type whirled around, slipping a claw to her lips vertically. I was aware of the rushing current I could hear a short ways away, and since she was standing on the edge of a padded (because of the thick blanket of foliage) cliff, I assumed that there was a wide river resting far below.

She seemed to be annoyed with me, and at a guess I assumed it was because I hadn’t been able to keep up and chose to remain behind. But it wasn’t my fault! She shouldn’t have run off on me when I was still tired.

I exhaustedly padded towards her once my pace faded into a tired hobble, and every breath was a pant. “Thanks...for waiting...” I managed to sarcastically say before collapsing onto the forest’s floor in front of her, several multi-shaped leaves rising and floating back down again. I could have drifted off within mere minutes had Zhol let me, but she signalled silently for me to stand beside her. I rolled my eyes and slipped out a sigh backed with agitation, stepping next to her.

“I wasn’t smart to leave you by yourself,” she admitted straight off, and I flattened my mouth.

“True, true,” I said while nodding, my eyelids only half open.

She turned back to what was in front of her, and only then did I see it. A river as wide as I had imagined was running downstream in a rightward direction down below, and in a few places it snaked into different ways. The land that continued stretched into the distance was on the same level as the river—therefore making the cliff we were standing on the highest ground for many kilometres. Of course, there were cloud-reaching mountains in the distance that looked like they would take weeks more to reach that were far taller than the land we had been travelling on, but that didn’t count.

Off to our left was the same cliff that we were on which extended until it curved around and kept going in the direction we had been heading, and I could see that not too far away it began sloping down and probably stopped doing so as it reached the rest of the land’s level. The cliff had created a waterfall which fell to keep the river from stopping, bouncing and rolling off the giant stones jutting from the cliff face. One of the ways the river after the waterfall turned off in was in the direction we were headed, toward the mountains, and it basically followed the land that began slanting a few metres away from it. I might have been able to pick out more detail had it been lighter, but it was bright enough (courtesy of the glimmering stars which stroked the world with their shining touch) to make out the path ahead.

“That’s lovely and all,” I began, turning my head to the left, “but...can we sleep now, please? I’ll promise to admire it properly in the morning and give you a melodramatic reaction.”

Zhol took a breath, running her claws laxly down a tree’s trunk her right paw was on and met my gaze as she faced me. She was about to comment, but nodded instead, holding back a smile I knew would have come if she hadn’t been as aware of it.

“Score!” I whispered, slumping down immediately and curling up.

The sneasel turned and wandered to a tree a few metres back with a rather wide trunk and I watched as she, her back to me and on the other side of the tree, took a seat and crossed her arms. It was smart to be on watch; she was facing the forest where the more likely source of predators would come... Plus, bigger trunks meant more width which led to more comfort. It also looked like a great place for me to curl up at, and...the water nearby began to get to me. And although I could still hear it after I got to my legs and wearily walked paces back, I was happier to be right next to my travelling buddy. And besides, it was further away from the liquid. I rested my head on my paws and wrapped my fluffy tail around my side. ‘...Zhol nearly smiled. That’s both a good and rare sight.’ I relaxed myself, happy to be allowed more sleep. But the thought of the dark and ice pokémon wanting to rise and shine early made me groan on the inside. That could wait till it actually happened.

***

I woke to a start as a leaf split in two. My ears flew directly up and I shot to my paws. A pokémon’s eyes darted to mine, and I sleepily squinted. ‘Just a pidgey,’ I thought. ‘Wait... Breakfast!’ I bolted towards it under the direction of my stomach as they took to the air after cooing uncomfortably. “Come back! I just wanna eat you!” I taunted. I found it very convenient that the bird pokémon didn’t fly through the roof-like leaves protecting me from the sun’s rays, but along an obvious path of straight ahead. Luckily the way we were moving wasn’t the way to the edge of the cliff, but in the direction it ran—towards the waterfall. I almost began drooling as I neared it, and I could feel my teeth about to nip its wings, but I could tell the flying type was petrified.

At first a spot appeared wherever my eyes looked, but rapidly my vision began to darken. I was alarmed and immediately tumbled over my paws, collecting droppings and dirt as I rolled. I shrieked, confused as I could no longer see. ‘A pokémon attack?!’ I suspected, but my thoughts temporarily disbanded as I skidded to a stop in a strange position, my body aching of scratches from stones. Something had reopened my leg muscle wound by the feel of it, but I was unable to confirm since I was blinded! “Z-Zhol!” I called awkwardly, staying completely still in fear of something happening. Although it didn’t hurt, my head felt like it was spinning and being squeezed. I blinked several times, panting heavily...and the blackness slowly leaked from my head. I blinked three more times, finding that by the end of the period my sight was almost completely clear. I waited a moment before slowly untangling myself. My head cautiously patrolled my surroundings, but nothing was out of the ordinary. I could no longer hear the pidgey’s flapping wings, but food was off my mind. Sensing everything was fine, I lifted myself up, looking around another time.

“Dusty!” a frantic voice hissed, and I whipped my head around as a speedy sneasel entered from behind me.

“Z-Zhol! Stop!” I ordered, and I noticed her concerned expression as she abruptly followed my request, a fair distance between us. She obviously wanted answers, as anyone would, but I took a few seconds to keep talking. “There’s...” I continued, glancing around again. “There’s something out here.” Zhol’s head cocked to one side, and I imitated her as she tossed her gaze about to confirm my words. She scented the air as I watched her for a response, but once she finished she returned her eyes to me.

“I smell forest, you and me, and river,” she said. “Bird scents linger, and several other pokémon’s, but that is all besides other natural wild smells. Can you not smell for yourself?” she asked with wonder to her tone.

“Yeah, but...” I hastily trotted over to her, suspiciously checking all directions as I went. “I was blinded!” I whispered in a serious manner, her response multiple blinks. “Something fogged my vision with darkness!”

She didn’t need long to have a change of expression, and the perplexity in her face subsided. “Tell me what you did,” she asked. I understood why; if I made too much noise or something I could have woken up a grumpy forest resident. One who could have felt an obligation to punish me.

“Well, I woke up to a pidgey nearby which made me jump. At first I didn’t care, but then I thought that it might have been a good menu item and so I chased after it, but not long into my run, black colouring suddenly crept into my view and I couldn’t see! ...And then I fell over.” I remembered my injury and turned my head over my left shoulder to see its damage. The scab had been removed, so it was bleeding and it hurt. I looked back to her as she crossed her arms and spoke again.

“You...got up the moment after you woke up and began running?” she confirmed, and I paused, then nodded. “Was it painful?”

“Yes!” I replied straight away, and she grew a light frown. However, it vanished after she heard my next comment. “Well...not that much since it was only stones and sticks, but...” I met her eyes again, and realised she was asking about the sight thing. “Oh—the blindness didn’t hurt, but my head went all weird...but that didn’t hurt either. Just felt strange.”

Zhol sighed, beginning to walk past me in the same direction I had been chasing the pidgey—the way we needed to go. I shouted after her, asking her what her she thought it was and where she was going, and she stopped to turn her head as I caught up. “Blood.”

“...Blood?” I wondered.

“Yes. As you lie, your blood pools in certain places in your body and doesn’t circulate as effectively as if you’re standing, so when you get up too quickly after being in a lying position for long enough, the blood rushes to your head, causing dizziness and blackened vision,” she explained. I nodded, taking it all in.

“So...it wasn’t a pokémon attacking me?”

Zhol probably wondered why I had thought that in the first place, but she shook her head. “Be more careful next time. Okay?” She waited a moment and then continued ahead. I followed, leaping twice to catch up.

“Well, come to think of it, it’s happened to me a few times before. I never really got a chance to ask anyone about it.” Interested, I wanted to know more. “But, Zhol—it doesn’t happen often.”

She sighed, probably presumed we were done with the topic, and said, “It’s due to low blood pressure. And since you haven’t eaten properly in more than two days, that would also be a cause.”

“Uurgh, don’t remind me,” I complained, feeling my stomach whine at me. I told it to shut up.

I heard several screeches and other bird-like calls waver as they weaved through the air, filling all ears listening in nearby. Accompanying it was the soft swaying of the leaves and the rushing current of the river—all natural sounds. Unlike when we were on the ship; the audio there was the humming of the vessel’s engine, the mournful cries of pokémon distraught or dying, the crashing waves keeping the ship afloat and the noise of pure fear. Cold, hard fear. A fear that I had never sensed or witnessed before...

The ongoing current nearby recaptured my attention. I widened my eyes. “...HOLY MILTANK!” I yelped, bounding across to the cliff’s face and looking out at the scenery first before staring down. The water sparkled under the sunlight and the view spanning for kilometres was fantastic. The assorted trees danced as their branches reached for the high flying bird pokémon, the clouds watching down from the turquoise sky. It was truly a sight to behold. “ZHOL! This is magical... I can’t believe a place like this exists!” I was half serious and half acting, as I promised her a proper reaction when I woke up, but it was true that this place looked better when it was light.

Zhol nodded, leaning against a trunk with her arms crossed. Even though she wasn’t a happy and bouncy pokémon, she was appreciative of things worthwhile. Not that the two were obviously connected, but it was nice to see her in a situation that she was content about. And seeing her reaction, I wondered if she lived in a place like where we were and what we could see. It was either that or, being a sneasel, she lived in a frosty area cold and ice type-like and rarely got to see sights such as this one.

Reminding me of something I had been meaning to ask her regarding her living environment, once we were back on track I cleared my throat. “Hey, Zhol,” I began, not waiting for a reply, “you never told me what your colony was like.” She kept her eyes on our path as we stepped around holes and the occasional branch, seeming to think. Specifying, I continued, “Like...what kind of pokémon are part of it? Species, I mean. Is it mixed? Or...”

She craned her neck, swaying her arms subtly as her claws met and then parted. “The Usster Colony is a clan of pokémon from around the lands... Some came there for specific reasons and for others, it was random.”
“How did you wind up living with them? Don’t sneasel usually reside in icy plains...or something?”

From the moment I asked the question I knew I had chosen the wrong questions. Zhol’s fists curled and tensed and her legs froze. Her face turned to that of a hurt and sorrowful expression—one I didn’t often see from not only her, but anyone. She kept her glare fixed on a twig as I first thought to meet her eyes but quickly decided that would prove troublesome, so instead I stayed where I was, a step ahead of her, my gaze at the ground as well. The sneasel took a breath but didn’t remove her stare. “Dusty...have I been fair and willing to talk to you whenever you asked something?”

I broke from where I was looking to change locations, but she didn’t rise to meet me. “Uh-uh...yeah?”

“Then it should be reasonable to say I can’t talk on behalf of this one particular matter,” she uttered, a tinge of hostility to her words. I feared it was directed at me and lowered my tone.

“O...okay. Y-uhh...” I was unsure of what to say, but Zhol stepped forward and continued walking, so it was clear that all I had to do was follow. “Hey...Zhol,” I started. I expected her to stop, but she kept going. “...Sorry. I didn’t know it was...something you’d—”

“Dusty.” She halted, this time allowing me to grab her eyes. “...It’s alright.” She shuffled through the leaves as I stayed on the spot for a moment and frowned.

‘...It... It is?’

Eventually we reached the end of the cliff before it turned to our right. The waterfall’s before-river had a rapid flow prior to tumbling off the edge, creating the very plentiful cascade. It was loud and threatening—I don’t know how so many pokémon could think that the sound was soothing. A beautiful sight? It spat on me and beckoned for me to fall and have my head hammered in under the might of its crushing weight. Refreshing? To jump in there would wreck my coat as well as extinguish any brewing fire. ‘I’ll never understand the fascination with water...’

We crossed it with a few precautions by using rocks lodged in the bottom of the water as stepping stones. I almost slipped at one point and accidentally dipped my tail into it, so the end of it was wet. Yay. But after that it was pretty simple: we moved on down the slope accompanying one of the rivers that branched off from the main one and continued to follow it through more forest.

That part of the forest was much less dry than where we had previously been, and moss was rather copious and grew almost everywhere it could. We saw more pokémon—a few more water types like goldeen and remoraid in the waters and spotted a cluster of combee buzzing about an enormous oak tree with probably enough space for a giant hive. Pachirisu were common amongst large tree and were often able to be spotted in groups of three before scurrying out of sight again. Other insect-like pokémon such as caterpie and weedle popped up in places as well, often using the same method as the pachirisu. It wasn’t very welcoming that nobody was there to even give us a warm ‘hello’. Sneasel and flareon never normally eat bug types! So why would either of us? And catching a pachirisu was another matter entirely and by the looks of their speed and flexibility, I would surely lose them in a chase that wouldn’t last long.

Neither of us really said anything for the next few hours. The same thing repeated itself as we trekked closer to the mountains, and we both (Zhol rather reluctantly) ate a few berries we happened to pass. Water was freely available, being only metres away from us the whole time, which, although unnerving, was quite convenient.

A day had passed before we managed to snag some fish from a small pond we crossed paths with, and I was finally satisfied as I had a decent-sized one to myself. We had also covered significant ground since the day before at the waterfall, and I was confident Zhol knew where she was going. ...And hopefully she was too.

Evening fell yet again as it always did near the same time each day, the Sun hinting that soon it would submerge beyond the horizon as it shone its last rays. Zhol and I were still trekking up a hill that seemed to go on for a while—a sign that the mountains were drawing nearer. The trees were thinning out and becoming less abundant and the temperature – although at a leisurely rate – was increasingly dropping. She told me that once we were at the top of the hill we would stop and rest, and depending on how tired we were by the end we would either sleep or keep moving.

It seemed like another fifteen or so minutes before we would reach the hill’s peak, and that seemed to pass painfully slowly. My legs ached by the end, but at least there was relief to aid me as I slumped against the ground and let my eyelids slide down and meet. “Zhol,” I panted, listening as she must have leaned against a tree. “We are not going on.” I waited about five seconds for a reply, but I decided I wouldn’t get one. “Come on—let’s go to sleep.”

I could only imagine her frown. “It’s too early for that,” she muttered. “And, Dusty—there’s no shelter here.”

I growled with annoyance, dragging on a frustrated noise while opening my eyes to look at her. “Whyyyyyy?” But I knew why. In fact, she had already said why. “Well...can we at least rest for a while?”

“...Yes,” she agreed, sitting against the tree. “With the progress we’re making, we should be there by tomorrow afternoon.”

I blinked with surprise, a frown of my own weaving across my face. “Umm...what?” I questioned with disbelief. Was she crazy? I moved my head to the tall mountains situated still a fair while away. I became disappointed as I realised how close I thought they were compared to the reality. They hadn’t been within my view for the whole day because of trees and that enormous slope, so I had pictured them not to be far. “How do we get to the mountains – let alone climb to the other side of them – in less than one day?” I asked cynically.

Zhol looked surprised. She glanced to the same formations I had been referring to and then back to me. “You...plan on passing the mountains?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah...” I waited for her to give me an answer to my question, but when I gave her the time to, she didn’t. I then thought of something. “Wait... Your colony...is on the other side of those mountains, right?”

“No... Was that what you assumed?”

I let my thoughts figure it out, pulling myself up so I was sitting. “Hah,” I chuckled, clearing my face of negative expression. “I never actually asked where it was! For some odd reason the impression I had was that it was...” I sank into a laying position, facing the direction we would head off in. “...So, does that mean the clan lives close to them?”

“Relatively. It’s a few days from the foot of the closest mountain,” the sneasel told me. She rose to her feet and shifted her eyes to mine. “...When is it you want to continue?” she wondered.

I met her soft stare. “Oh, soon...” I answered. “...Come on,” I offered shortly after, brushing the grass beside me with my fluffy tail, smiling with a friendly tone, “take a seat.” I nodded as if gesturing to the spot and telling her to sit. “We’ll wait for the Sun to go down and then we’ll head off. ‘Kay?” I increased my smile and closed my eyes gleefully, and after she hesitated but complied, I began to sway the puff ball on my rear end. She gave somewhat of a smile of her own and bent her knees so her feet were touching and laid her arms so her paws were in the gap between them. “Great view, huh?”

“Mm,” the dark and ice type nodded, and soon after, she stretched out her legs and leant on her arms before extending them behind her. “It’s...pretty.”

***

“...So, is it possible? Can you help us?”

I stared at the pokémon before me with the same confused and sceptical face as before, trying to understand why these creatures were so boneheaded! And I was still upset with them for their apprehension method. My head hurt. “Wh— Look, I’m sorry, but we have problems of our own right now, and to sto—”

“Please! We’re begging you! We need your help!” pleaded one—the leader, it seemed.

“But you don’t even know if I’m your ally or your foe at this stage! You can’t just gra—” I explained in a what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you manner, but I was interrupted yet again.

“But please! We can see you’re a good pokémon!” the head of his colony tried to convince, his speech impediment getting on my nerves.

“But that doesn’t even—!”

“We’ll give you a reward...” an accomplice – the pre-evolution of the pokémon in charge – cut in hopefully.

I sighed, glancing behind me. My two abductors stood on guard—well, sat on guard at the entrance. They were, too, looking worriedly towards me, their heads lowered to make them look almost as if they had done something wrong, but I knew they were concerned about my answer. “...How long will it take?” I asked after sighing and looking at my toes. I kept my eyes on him with a non-impressed expression, agitated and impatient. My tail flicked with irritation.

“N...not long,” said the supposed superior, looking to his side to the smaller pokémon, and I assumed he began to wonder if I was, in fact, going to agree. By the look on his face, I assumed he was more convinced I would help out.

“No, I want a figure. Minutes? Hours? If you ca—”

“A figure? Oh, no, no. It could be a while before they come back, or it could be in seconds! And the dams usually take most of the night to build,” interjected who must have been second in charge.

I gave her a forced, very light smile as I twitched with annoyance, my hostile eyes getting in the way of my appearance of a calm flareon. But I stopped, going over her words in my mind. “Dam?” I glanced between the two pokémon, a tad eager for more answers. “What dam...?”

Fifteen minutes earlier...

Like I had promised, we rested for around ten minutes before getting up, stretching and clearing the other side of the hill. It had been a while since I had gone downhill, and I was forced to lope down it awkwardly, unable to own control over my ability to stop. Zhol looked as if she had similar problems, but she wasn’t the one who ended up tripping and landing face-first into a tree trunk...

I redeemed myself by picking up my body as if nothing had happened and shaking off. I had become distracted and pounced on a cricket hoping to hop from harm’s way, making sure I didn’t crush it. Zhol watched, looking as if her plan was to press on, but I leapt after the small insect, swiping with my paws and keeping my back end raised.
We stopped moving, and Zhol explained that she was going to go ahead while I remained behind. When I asked why, she said it was to survey the coming area after claiming to have heard chatter. She aimed to keep my mind one-tracked by telling me to keep on my guard before she raced away, swerving behind a mass of bushes.

Every time I spotted a cicada or a beetle to distract myself with, I automatically switched back on task and recited the sneasel’s words to remind myself of my purpose. There were only few as opposed to the many I found earlier, but the answer stumped my toe as I screwed up my face. “Ow,” I whispered quickly, vengeful of the root that had disturbed me and eying it with my slit-like glare. I hadn’t noticed it because of the sly darkness, and it only then occurred to me how dark it had grown. ‘Oh. Well that explains the vanishing bugs.’

“Pick a fight with that root,” someone – or something – began, “and it’ll become obvious who’ll win.”

I jumped and froze on the spot, the hairs on my body standing on end as if guarding something themselves. I found it rather ironic that Zhol had kept me here to protect me in case whatever was up ahead was harmful when back where I remained was where someone else lurked. And I had no idea what their intentions were! After all that had happened, it could have been anything. I chanced a breath, keeping immobile so I could rake the suspect out of the bushes that had been appearing much more frequently. My front and right side were bushed off, giving plenty of room for a predator of any sort to slip into and conceal themselves. I swallowed, unable to spot even the slightest sign of movement.

“Seriously,” they said again, and I recognised the voice to be male, “you really don’t stand a chance against it.”

I whirled around, the voice reaching my ear from diagonally to my right and back, where the bushes continued to stretch. There was no face...not even a claw I could see. And if I took it upon myself to release fire, it could cause a problem for the forest – as would using toxic – and attacking by using my body wasn’t smart because—

“Wait... What?” I questioned, all fear ridding itself of my body before I acquired an insulted feeling. “Hey! I might look like a regular flareon, but I spurt a mean flamethrower,” I huffed, throwing my head back and to the side whilst fluffing my mane even more. “...That root wouldn’t last five seconds.”

“Neither would I if you burned down me and my home,” he chuckled, having moved a few paces ahead but still to the right. I frowned, drawing my head back.

‘How could he...move? When I was listening for movement the whole time...?’ “I wouldn’t attack a root,” I confirmed, not so sure about the accuracy of the comment when I spoke it.

“You positive? You’re pretty feisty!”

“Ye-ah. Comes with my attitude. Now how about showing yourself?”

“I’d argue that it comes with your hot temper, you fiery flareon, you,” he teased.

“Wh-what?” I blurted in disbelief, waiting a moment before shaking my head and stuttering in a frustrated attempt to find words and express my angry confusion. “H-h—how can you even say that?!” I exclaimed, my emotions rising.

“Well, quite easily. And I’d say, since you have a flair for flaring up so quickly...your ideal nickname would be Flair.”

“But you don’t even know me!” I boiled, offended he thought he could be so quick to judge me—even if I was hot-headed! “And I don’t even know you, so how about you just step out—” I squeezed through the shrubs difficultly, barely noticing as thin branches prodded my skin, and came into view of a river. It flowed down a hill to my left, in the same direction Zhol had followed, but disappeared as bushes covered the view further down.

I glanced around, puzzled about the fact that my stalker was not present, and scowled. But at the same time I noticed that the forest had changed. What I was staring out into was a large plain with only few trees. Bordering the plain was the normal forest, but I found it rather odd that there should be such a vast glade when we had seen none till this moment.

The trees and smaller plantation held their posts like troops along my right and turned to stand as a wall far in front of me and continued down the left for a while whilst bordering the exposed area. I knew I was standing in a corner, but something told me that after the part of the forest I had just been before appearing here was more of this open grassland, and since Zhol headed straight forward, she was probably there. I could hear faint noises in the distance and I wondered if perhaps there was any pokémon living further down, but at the moment, I could only see that the river turned into the area further down in a large expanse...

All too fast I was dragged back into the bushes and slammed on my side, and I immediately fired a stream of fire, but it was cut horribly short as I blacked out before I could even feel the adrenaline rush.

***

A silhouette observed as the flareon was knocked out and restrained, nodding as he imagined he had done a satisfiable job. A section of his lips parted so many fangs glinted as he grunted in a humoured fashion. “Wonder how this’ll end...” With another chuckle, the creature rose and flicked a slim tail. “May fate draw us together again in the near future.” He grinned, looking back another time. “...Now that would be interesting...Flair.”

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Fifteen: A Wet Quest (Oh, Dam!)

The present:

I basically had no choice but to accept the offer. I could say no, but until I knew the power of this colony I didn’t want to risk doing anything stupid. But at the same time...these pokémon were often known to humans, from what I remember whilst travelling with Master, as dopey and annoying as well as easygoing, so maybe I did stand a chance. But since they were part water, it posed another issue. But regardless, the only thing I was interested in was to keep moving and find somewhere to sleep—not battle or build any dams!

“I understand why you need my help for fighting off your enemies, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a fire type! I hate water,” I reminded, hoping to jolt some form of memory in the brown, chunky pokémon’s presumably shrivelled mind.

“...Oh. But you could still help us,” the bibarel shrugged, clearly not absorbing the information through his thick skull.

“Uhh—how? If I’m not going near any water, th—”

“Carry the logs!” the bidoof side-kick suggested, and in response, I rolled my eyes.

“Once again, how? I’m no machoke! I can’t carry some half-eaten tree on my back or in my mouth!” I growled, my anger reaching boiling point. I knew I didn’t have to get all steamy over a couple of dumb water types, but they really pushed the wrong buttons. “How about I help you fend off...whatever you need fending off—”

“They’re strong!” the leader intervened, and I had no idea why. I was in the middle of a sentence.

“...And after that you can build the dam ON YOUR OWN!”

“No, no! We need your help! You can carry the logs!” the bidoof insisted, her buck teeth and goofy eyes racking me off.

“I already told you I CAN’T!” I yelled, fire leaking between my bared fangs as smoke fogged the air.

“Guards!” yipped the leader, his lardy form edging away from mine.

“H-hey!” I struggled as two bibarel came down on me like a ton of firewood. “G-get off me!” I exclaimed, unable to breathe properly. The crushing feeling spread throughout my body and I cringed, emitting a string of growls before giving in. “O-okay! SO...rry.”

The two pokémon stared at me indifferently before the bidoof motioned with her head for them to un-pile. “Off.” And once they did, it was a great relief to know I could feel the air circulating once again.

“Geez...” I mumbled disdainfully, eying all four pokémon with annoyance. The two in charge seemed to want me to say something else, and I sighed, blinking for longer than normal. “Look... I’ll just do what I can, and then I’m outta—”

“OH, GOODY!” exclaimed the leader and his side-kick too enthusiastically, their goofy grins expanding like a jigglypuff’s body inflating. I rolled my eyes, thinking something about them being overly eager while the duo of body guards appeared at my side. They apprehended me before I knew it, pressing against my shoulders as they attempted to gain grip and dragging me so my back paws were not touching the ground and my tail scraped the floor.

Soon enough I was outside in the dim light, staring at a small dome constructed of half-chewed logs I realised I had just been sighing in. “Oof,” I breathed as I was released and I lay on my back for only a second before rolling to my right and onto my paws again. “Where even...” Before I could ask myself the question, my whereabouts became clear to me. I surveyed the area, taking in the sight of several domes scattered about, some made poorly and some very well. Channels of water streamed through, and for a fair while, each direction was filled with rivers branching like streets in a human city, only more randomised. I was standing on the rightmost edge of the territory, in the only log structure that was the only one on its ‘street’—however, it was more like an inlet that a street, as it was a circular pool of water the house was situated in. Even though I doubted the bidoof and bibarel’s abilities in the first place, I knew that something about their dens was wrong. And as I squinted my eyes to view homes in the near distance, I finally discovered the reason—they were all too high up. Usually they would be on a really small hill so that they would have to swim under to enter and inside they would be on land, but every single den I could see has their ground floor exposed. The water needed to be at least twice the level it was currently in order to submerge the appropriate amount of the huts for grounding purposes, and I began to wonder if that was the reason needed for the dam.

“D-Dusty?” asked a voice, and I spun around to spot my dark and ice friend across a shallow waterway a few metres wide. I got a shock, but at the same time a bolt of relief surged through me.

“They got you too?” I blurted, completely not expecting her to be here. I then recalled her dashing away after instructing that I should not go anywhere—a wise piece of advice. The conversations she had heard must have been the pokémon living in the area, and when they saw her, perhaps more body guards had sprung her and tied her up as well. Until she escaped.

“...‘Got me’?” she questioned, and to that I gave a tiny frown. “Dusty, what are you doing here?”

“Yeah...um... You know how you told me not to move...from that place? Well, I did.” I gave a sheepish smile before I caught her questioning expression. “It wasn’t my decision. Some stupid pokémon started yappin’ about how I was weaker than a root. A root, Zhol! Anyway, he lured me outside the bushed off area, and then the next thing I knew I was seeing stars and being dragged into that house thing made of trees,” I growled, motioning to the ‘boss’ office’ behind me where I had been imprisoned. “I’m not here ‘cause I wanna be. Those bozos captured me against my will. And—and get this: now they want me to help.”

“Dusty, these pokémon are vague friends of my colony,” Zhol told me, and I blinked repeatedly.

“W-wh...they are?” I asked, surprised in a negative kind of way. ‘Why would they want to be?!’

“Yes. They raised one of our members as their own despite him being neither a bidoof nor bibarel.”

“Right... So, do you have any idea why they need me to help them fend off...‘invaders’?” I wondered, hoping she could fill me in. She only returned my question with a blank stare, and apparently it was me who needed to fill her in. “Well...according to them a group o’ pokémon have a problem with them,” I started, muttering that I didn’t blame them, and continued, “and the pokémon here are worried that they’re goin’ to attack.”

Zhol seemed to consider the piece of information I set in front of her, and she looked crowded with thoughts as I interrupted.

“We don’t have to stay...do we? It’s really not something I’m keen on doing...” She opened her mouth, but I couldn’t resist throwing more out there. “It’s not even our fight!”

“You shouldn’t be so hasty,” she advised, and I looked at her again. “It is true the battle does not concern either of us, but I cannot turn my back on the colony’s friends. In turn I guarantee they will help us when we’re in need of it.”

“Great, so it’s an ‘even if you’re not part of it, you should still care’ kinda thing?” I questioned, frustrated by the idea.

“...Please understand,” Zhol told me, and I assumed since she would have seen me sit, she took it upon herself to cross the stream. About halfway I gasped, nearly getting up as she looked about to be forced over. However, her balance was restored and she made it across alive.

“Welcome...” I neared her face, standing again, and spoke quietly and deeply. “To the dark side.” She almost looked amused, but her confusion got the better of her and she gave a tiny frown.

“Excusing me now, please,” interrupted a voice, and I whirled around and stared strangely at a bidoof slightly bigger than the one that had been inside the log enclosure. She was standing on her hind legs and waved with one of her front ones, and I had to wonder why she was doing such a thing.

We continued to look at her oddly as she waved. “Uhh... I am...excusing you now, please?” I answered, finding her way of speaking odd.

“You are coming with me now, please,” she insisted, and lowered herself.

I shrugged and neared her, but what I didn’t expect was for her to turn around and begin to lead me. “W-Wait,” I called, and she turned around—thankfully. I caught up to her in three leaps while Zhol appeared beside me. “Where’re we going?”

The bidoof tilted back her head to think, and it was a full few seconds before she came up with a reply. “I am taking you now to have the battle plan for tonight explained to you, flareon.”

She turned back on course and waddled away. I followed closely. “Battle plan?” I asked with a rather monotone voice. I felt like face-pawing.

We were led through the area and to a large dome. The problem was that it was surrounded by water...and I assumed it was deep water. “We are here now,” mentioned the duel type, bringing us to the edge of the part of land we were on. As I scanned the dome, I realised that it had no entrances and cocked my brow.

“Uhh...yeah. How exactly do we get in? I don’t even see a way through,” I huffed.

The bidoof made a sloppy dive into the water, drops flying through the air at us. I jumped back, still unintentionally catching some of them, and her head appeared shortly after, having emerged. “We are going underwater now, please, where the entrance is.”

“Wa-wh-WHAT?!” I yelled, my eyes large and unbelieving.

“Is there a problem?” asked our tour guide.

“Uhh, yeah! I’m a fire type!” I answered, thinking I’d have to spell it out for her. I nearly laughed at the sheer stupidity, my temper rising. “Fire types hate water!”

“Dusty, you have to comply,” the sneasel beside me mentioned.

I FELT BETRAYED...well, to a non-serious extent, but I was still reluctant. “But, Zhol!” I whined, reluctantly chancing a glance at the icky substance so plentiful around the bidoof/bibarel camp. “I can’t even swim properly...and my fur takes forever to dry! Why are you making me do this?”

“It can’t be helped,” she added, her expression tinged with minor empathy. “I’m not too fond of water myself.”

I cocked my head, wondering what she meant. “But you’re part ice,” I replied absent-mindedly.

Zhol didn’t give me that look I know some pokémon like Azure would give me, telling me I’m an idiot for not knowing. “Ice and water are two separate elements, even though one is created from the other.”

“Oh yeah...”

“We will not dawdle for any longer!” grumped the bidoof, her tone still plain but slightly impatient. “Be following me now!”

I sighed heavily. It had to be water. Walking though fire I’d be fine with, even if I was burned. I would have even crossed a clearing with poisonous gas and sludge trails, risking death by inhalation. But going into water? “Ugh...”

That horrid, daunting sound of a body hitting liquid made my ears curl, and I shuddered. Zhol didn’t surface for a few seconds, and I was almost worried. When she did, she seemed considerably uncomfortable. She turned to me, her arms swaying in the water to keep herself afloat. She looked expectantly at me, as if silently telling me that if she could do it then so could I, but she didn’t understand the loathing-with-a-passion I had for water...

“Quickly!” snapped the bidoof, and I eyed her with an angry glare and a scrunched nose.

I breathed in and out again, staring at the water. I held my chest high and met its edge, and it seemed to jeer at me as I contemplated the consequences. I narrowed my eyes. “I’ll show you... Stupid water...” I dipped my paw in, recoiling instantly. “Bleh-bl-bleh-bl-bleh!” I babbled, showing my disgust with an end whine. “There’s no way I’m going in there!” I backed away and met the bidoof’s agitated eyes, adamant about my decision. “Put me through fire, chuck me into a pit of snakes, but do not expect me to swim for you.”

***

Dripping wet and slouching in the cold, a look of scorn was written all over my face. I threw my glower at Zhol for the umpteenth time, finally catching her neutral glance, and hissed under my breath, “This is stupid.” She nearly smirked in response, her eyes flicking to the main bibarel speaker up the front of the room. I was glad we hadn’t arrived when they were setting up—even though the audience filled up most of the large space and therefore the setting was not complicated, pokémon would have taken aaaaages to get in line. Especially knowing these species...

“Commencing battle plan!” The bibarel up front attempted a walk on his hind legs, and though it was shaky and looked rather pointless to try, he was doing fairly well. He had a stick in his maw he used to point to certain marked areas with on the mud-board he had behind him. It was completely dried and had unwanted cracks in certain spots, but when it was still wet someone had drawn...something...up. There were chewed leaves mounted in selected places to show specific landmarks or areas—like the start of their territory and presumably, on the edge of the board, the start of the attacking pokémon’s territory.

At one point the clumsy normal and water type nearly knocked over the large slab, which made me smile with harmless amusement, but at the same time I thought a bit about it. Was this kind of accidental behaviour common among these creatures? It seemed worrisome that it would, and I would hate to have been born as someone who couldn’t help making those unfortunate mistakes all the time. Shortly after, the bibarel tilted his head and released his grip on the twig by accident and nearly choked on it. And as opposed to anyone laughing or rolling their eyes, all the pokémon in the room panicked and stood up, all ready to help their fellow colony-mate. I found that heart-warming...even if it wasn’t necessary for them all to get up since only two or three were needed to assist him. Even if these weren’t the smartest pokémon I had met, they were all friendly (although strangely antisocial) and thought it to be natural to look out for everyone—family, a friend or a stranger.

Half way through the battle plan meeting, I noticed that I had no idea who we were going to be up against. So far the whole discussion had been based around soldier arrangement and the huts to flee to where the young would shelter with a pawful of guards and supervisors. I was unsure of their numbers, as well, and even this colony’s was a mystery. It only occurred to me then that I could ask.

“E...excuse me,” I interjected, and bidoof and bibarel around me met my eyes. “Uhh...hi.” Some turned back around while others kept staring, and I decided to try again, my ears standing tall to be more noticed. “Excuse me!” This time every member in the whole room had their sights on me, including the instructor...or whatever he was.
“...Oh. Are you and the one next to you the foreign pokémon I was told about who are here to help us?” he questioned, the stick having dropped from his mouth.

With all eyes on me I felt a little uncomfortable (even though back in the giant crates it didn’t bother me...probably because I was angry or something), and I took a moment to reply. “W-well...‘here to help us’ is...” I shook my head briefly, deciding not to dwell on the terminology that didn’t quite agree with me. “Um—who exactly are we fighting? And how large is their army?”

All heads turned to the front again in sync. “...I do expect you all to know that we are going up against our regular enemies—the Narrawu Colony.”

They all swung back to me. “How was I supposed to know...?” I muttered, but looked at him again. “Uhh...and they would be...?”

And they turned again. “Our enemy colony,” responded the bibarel.

I sighed heavily, rolling my eyes. “I figured that...”

“What?”

“N-nothing...um... That’s all.”

The pokémon twirled around, collecting his stick and holding it in place with his large teeth, and began talking again as if I hadn’t even addressed him. I glanced to my left, catching Zhol’s gaze. I raised my brow, silently communicating, and she seemed to understand I was referring to the lack of communication between me and the brown pokémon up front.

We emerged from the dome near an hour later (as much as I did and didn’t want to), and I brushed off the many brown hairs that chose my pelt as their home after leaving those around me, shaking at the same time to fling the pools of water from between each fur strand. “Zhol, thank you,” I muttered as the sneasel shook off by my side. She directed her gaze at me.


“For what?” she queried after waiting for me to give a reason.

“For not being part of this colony,” I answered, nibbling at a knot on my right shoulder. I saw the dark type smirk from the corner of my eye.

“Get ready!” called that head lecturer bibarel after hobbling onto land from the water. More of his kind scurried around like lost rattata, looking determined but going nowhere as they would pause and turn around, only then discovering they chose the wrong way. “We should expect them...” The normal and water type looked about to give a time frame in which they would arrive; however, his expression told me that he did not know when, so he left his sentence where it was.

“Hey, Zhol, we should expect them,” I mocked.

“Yes...” Zhol responded, and instantaneously rocketed away. She followed the waterline downstream, heading in the toward the end of the colony’s territory. I was shocked, wondering why she had fled so rashly and without even consulting me. Did she plan to escape? But surely she would not abandon a fellow colony in need...not that I wouldn’t, but it was against Zhol’s nature to do something like that—especially since she told me herself earlier. I wiped that choice off the possibilities list.

“Zhol!” I called out, but she didn’t reply as she became smaller the further away she sprinted. “Where on Earth...?” I rolled my eyes and looked ahead, charting my course as I chose to run along sections that weren’t close to the many watery paths. I readied myself and pushed off the ground—only to be yelled at from behind. It sounded like one of the colony members, and they were shouting out ‘flareon’ repeatedly. I groaned, forcing myself to come to a halt. I watched as Zhol kept running near to the edge of the steeply-sloping cliff that was to the side of the normally-sloping land, and I dearly hoped she was going to stop before reaching it. Just to ensure she did, I stayed facing her for as long as I could, but it was cut short as the pokémon who had been trying to address me came closer. I spun around, disapproving of a sneaky approach, and looked the bibarel in the eyes. “What?” I quickly asked.

A little caught off guard by my turning and speech, the pokémon took a moment. “...What are you doing?” Her face seemed clouded with something close to worry and concern. “You weren’t leaving us, were you?”

“What?” It then clicked that that would be an appropriate assumption, on account of how I probably looked about to escape. “No, I was, um, following my friend. I didn’t know where she was headed.”

The water and normal type cocked her head and stared past me. She must have spotted the sneasel in the distance, and as I turned around to see her myself, the pokémon spoke again, recapturing my attention. “She’s the look-out now.” I was marginally confused, but before I could question her statement, she interrupted. “She was assigned as the new look-out for the war to spot the enemy.”

“W-what?!” I spat, taken aback. “...War? What war? What do you mean by ‘war’?!” I began shaking my head in denial. “I didn’t sign up to be a soldier! I thought this was only a stupid feud!” Images of what happened on the ship leaked into my mind, the blood staining my brain’s walls and those pain-filled cries echoing from one side of my head to the other. I blinked, trying to rid my mind of the image.

“War is what we refer to battle as,” mentioned the bibarel. I slid my fretting to the side, meeting her gaze with near-disgust.

“...You refer to battle...as war?” I hissed, my face tinted with disdain. “Do you know...what war’s really like? What war is? You use the term as if it means nothing but a pointless tussle!”

The pokémon seemed to not know exactly what I was talking about, and calling something so minor ‘war’ was probably normal for her...as misinformed as that was. She stayed silent for a few moments before saying, “Come on,” and began to lead me away.

“Huh?” And when I realised she was trying to separate me from Zhol, I stood my ground. “No! Where—where do you even want to take me?”

“Leave the look-out by herself and follow.”

“Why? And what gives you the authority to boss me around?”

“Flareon, all outsiders are to stay in an allocated area until they can go after the w—...battle.” I was slightly encouraged by her term replacement, but it didn’t alter my state of mind. I was in a foreign place with strange pokémon who forced me into helping them when I did not volunteer, and I had no idea what the end result of the whole experience would be or what to expect. So defying orders was fairly high on my agenda and as part of my defence, as well.

I looked away reluctantly. “...But why? ...Why can’t I stay with Zhol? ...Why do I have to stay in a hut until the battle?”

The pokémon stared at me with a hint of sympathy. “It is so you don’t do anything you aren’t permitted to beforehand.”

“Like what?” I snapped, capturing her attention. I secretly knew taking my anger out on this random colony member wasn’t going to achieve anything, but it wasn’t fair. “You don’t even have a right to keep me here. I could leave now.”

“Flareon, please... If we don’t get back, the battle plan may be sabotaged.”

I scoffed. “What battle plan?” I shook my head. “Aren’t we just gonna storm ‘em when they get here or something?”

“...Come on,” she urged, beginning to throw her glance in assorted directions. “You want to be prepared for when they attack...and so do I.” She stood firm, her mind nearly as made up as mine.

As stubborn as I felt, and although I was convinced my paws that had been planted into the ground were not going to move unless I got my own way, I began to contemplate my decisions. I didn’t want to dwell on them too much, as I knew those two shoulder flareon would pop up. One of my thoughts whispered about the fact that that the faster I followed the bibarel and got to the hut, the sooner I would learn how to kick the enemies’ butt. But on the other paw, I didn’t want to be parted with my only friend.

“Flareon...” The bibarel looked me in the eyes. “Let’s go.” She whirled around after bounding a few metres forward, glancing over her shoulder to make sure I was tailing her. I gritted my teeth...and ripped my paws from the ground, the scent of dirt and the rushing currents surrounding me suffocating as I sprinted after the bibarel. As much as I didn’t want to leave Zhol...I knew she would be fine on her own.

We arrived at the den after half a minute of running. To my relief it was not another underwater entrance one, so all I had to do was waltz in as opposed to getting myself completely drenched in order to be inside a place I hardly wanted to be. I still hadn’t dried from the previous encounter with the awful river, and I certainly didn’t want the process to begin again.

The bibarel led me through a small hole on the far right of a mud wall we encountered as soon as we came in. It opened into the main room. Pokémon filled the entire hut, chatting and going over plans while others itched for the battle to begin. The place was lit up by fire at the end of the room. Since I didn’t light it, my guess was that they had another pokémon able to control fire or it had been lit long ago and was kept alive by constant fuel. A musky smell occupied the air, and I felt a tad uncomfortable having it waft up my nostrils. In the midst of searching for somewhere to sit down to wait, I suddenly stopped. I blinked.

There was a face.

One that had stuck with me through our capture...through arguments and battles for freedom...and against each other that the contempt we shared. That intense dislike that sparked between us from the moment I laid eyes on her.

“Azure?” I stared with a blank expression that could easily have been mistaken for a light frown. She looked terribly dumbfounded and returned my stare as if she was surprised to see me...to see me alive. Her bottom jaw separated from the top one slowly, and I was sure she was about to say something. I didn’t know what she could possibly say at such a time, but I wasn’t about to find out.

I heard scuttling from behind, and even though I felt so distracted by the glaceon, I whirled around to view someone I was glad to see. On the contrary, she hardly looked interested in having a little chit-chat.

“They’re coming.”

***

I barely had any idea what was happening as the soldiers of the colony formed in a long line, some sitting in water. The enemy clan turned out to be another bunch of bibarel and bidoof, and they lived downstream from this one. They appeared steaming mad, and all were in fits of rage as they faced us in their line. I watched as their leader and this colony’s leader were talking it out in the section between the two colonies. They discussed an issue I couldn’t quite grasp, standing tall on their hind legs.

“You’re selfish—selfish, I tell you!” yelped the opposing side’s leader, growing madder and madder by the moment.

“Am not! You’re selfish,” retorted this side’s leader.

“It’s your fault! You’re at fault here because you live upstream.”

“If you didn’t live down there then there would be no problem! We need water too,” the dual type huffed.

“See, see—selfish! We can live wherever we want.”

Noticing they were not getting anywhere, I tapped the bidoof beside me with my front paw. “What are they talking about?” I whispered, shaking my head as I watched their pathetic argument. She seemed to be too enthralled in their babbling, so I rolled my eyes and stepped forward. The second I did so, claws gripped my back left leg. I whipped my head back to find Zhol. I tilted my head, wondering what she had to say.

“Bibarel are known for their goofiness...but also their tempers. Among other things.”

I nodded and she let go. I turned and progressed towards them, and as I did, all eyes fell onto me. I tried to ignore the many stares as I approached this colony’s leader. “Hey,” I began in order to get their attention, interrupting their conversation. Their gazes drew to mine, and I shrugged.

“...Who is this?” questioned the other leader.

“Dusty,” I answered.

The two bibarel exchanged looks. “What does she want?”

“I want to know, um, what you’re fighting about.” I threw my head over my shoulder to spot Zhol, who looked alert. She stared at me expectantly and I span back to the two pokémon. “Uhh, uhh... Because...I could help?” I continued, spinning back ‘round to check if I had done the right thing or not. Zhol became less tense, and I sighed. I would have thought bibarel were supposed to only be known for being laid-back, not for their attitudes as well.

“You don’t know?” questioned the other bibarel.

“Would I be asking if I didn’t?” I mumbled, and after he asked what I said, I stuttered, “Uhh—no, I don’t.”

“For years our colonies have been at war,” – I cringed at the term – “because of our disagreement.” The two pokémon laid disdainful eyes upon one another and I was certain they would start up another argument soon.

“Well...what’s the disagreement?” I queried. At first the army pokémon who were able to hear us clearly looked from face to face as if they were unsure themselves, and then the two leaders seemed to chuckle. I raised an eyebrow and glanced about. “Am I...missing something?”

“The disagreement is...” began the leader who had held me hostage. “It’s, uh...about...the dam.”

“The dam...yeah...” I waited for them to proceed. “What about it?”

“Well...years ago, the dam...was built...a dam was built between our territories,” explained the other leader.

“Uh huh,” I pressed, not understanding the oh-so-dire problem that sprouted from a dam.

The leader from the colony behind me then spoke. “Our land slopes down...and downwards lives them,” he sneered. “And they have a problem with our dam.”

“The problem!” intervened the opposing normal and water type. “The problem is that when that dam is up...my colony gets no water.”

“Oh, that’s tauros cr—”

“IT’S the problem, Boon,” growled the other bibarel.

“Right...” I mused, going over it in my head. “So...” I stepped between them. “You’re willing to sacrifice your time and, more importantly, lives over this...this...petty dilemma?”

“Petty dilemma?!” spat both bidoof evolutions, and I puffed my chest and tail to show that I wouldn’t be overthrown or challenged by either of them.

“Well, this stupid indecision, then. Why can’t you—”

“Because he’s too stubborn!” shouted both pokémon simultaneously, and I felt like folding down my ears and gluing them to the fur on the sides of my head.

“Well then, be unstubborn and work this out before anyone gets hurt, or worse!” I demanded, taking turns to look both pokémon in the eye. They were completely against the idea...I could tell. But what was the point in fighting when they could have just sorted everything out? I didn’t understand how it could have been that hard. “You may not think it’s my place, but you,” – I glared at Boon – “forced me to help with the battle between the two colonies, so how about you listen?”

The two bibarel flashed glowers at each other and at me. However, they seemed to calm down a notch. “Fine. But only if he apologises,” reasoned the other pokémon, and Boon raised his voice and the two were quick to begin arguing again.

I rolled my eyes and clenched my jaws, unsure of what to do. “Guys,” I started, but their attention was on each other. I twirled around as a reflex, as if to ask someone to help. I laid my sights on Zhol and widened my eyes, jerking my head towards the pair of water and normal types. “A little help?”

In the blink of an eye Zhol had appeared beside me, and soon stood between the bibarel. They seemed somewhat offended and again the other bibarel questioned her identity. “Zhol,” the sneasel quickly replied.

“Look, will you guys just quit it and sort this out instead?” I intervened. “Don’t let this turn into a physical fight.”

Zhol stepped back, stopping on my right. “Please,” she started, the two falling silent. “...It’s in the best interest of bother of your colonies.”

At this the dual types blinked in unison. They made no move to speak as they considered it. “She’s right,” I admitted.

“...Yes,” agreed Boon’s right-hand bidoof. “They are right.” She turned to Boon as all other colony members listened in. “If talking doesn’t work, we’ll do it how it’s always been,” suggested the smaller pokémon, and the two leaders nodded.

“What? N—” I began, but Zhol held up an arm. She turned her head to catch me with one eye, and I gave in.
The many bidoof and bibarel in the armies conversed quietly, wondering what their leaders would choose. Some I heard thought the new plan was a better idea, but others were more interested in a battle. Luckily it wasn’t up to them.

“...Very well,” Boon decided, his threatening tone disappearing. He and the other bibarel dropped to all-fours. “Tu and I will have a private meeting with this flareon—”

“And Zhol,” I added.

“...Yes. And the decision will be made then.”

“Wait...” I began, meeting Boon’s gaze. “Do we get to go after that?”

He asked himself before saying, “Only if it’s resolved.”

At that I gaped, beginning to growl. Zhol tried calming me down with her piercing eyes, but I wouldn’t back down. It was completely unjust to keep us with them when we had nothing to do with their situation. If they made the choice to brawl instead of talk, why was that our problem? If it was up to us, we’d have them figure it out by using words, because such a stupid reason to spend energy and shed tears was...well...stupid! But rather than taking this any further, I made up my mind. If they were too stubborn to resolve the issue peacefully, I was going to escape. With or without Zhol.

***

An hour later we – Tu, Boon, Zhol and I, as well as the leaders’ side-kicks – sat in an isolated lodge on the edge of one colony’s land. I found it challenging not to fall asleep, since it had to be almost midnight and it had been a day packed with travelling, and since the room was dim it hardly prevented tiredness. We were seated on long logs that, if two more were present opposite the ones already there, would make a diamond shape.

“So, what is it you were thinking, flareon?” wondered Tu, repeating himself after I asked him to.

“Oh, um... Well, so...this whole thing’s about the dam...” I looked to Boon. “When you guys build it, Tu’s colony pays the price because they don’t get a good flow?”

“Yep,” Tu confirmed, but Boon only sighed.

“Well, in my opinion, you shouldn’t have the dam.”

“Uh-huh! Uh-huh,” supported Tu. The other bibarel was staggered.

“But we can’t do that! The dam has to stay,” the pokémon protested, his voice raised. His assistant held the same opinion, and Zhol looked to be against the idea as well.

“Why do you need it?” I asked, not sure of what it even did.

“Without the dam, our water levels drop because our land is on a slope. So we have to have it!”

“And when you do have one up...Tu’s territory suffers the consequences,” I muttered, finding the situation to be an inconvenient one. “Well, that’s annoying.”

“Have you...tried to make a deal before?” Zhol questioned, possibly thinking up a solution.
“We were never interested,” Boon’s bidoof answered, “because they tear the dam down after we spend all night making it.”

“You...you do?” I faced Tu.

“That was after you refused to negotiate!” Tu yelped in his defence.

“Alright, okay!” I shouted, feeling the tension rise. “Well...looks like we need to figure something out.”

“Indeed,” Zhol nodded. “I suggest...” We all turned to her as she gazed at the floor. “Perhaps if two dams were put up it would solve the problems.”

I tilted my head. “...Go on. I think you’re onto something.” She nodded.

“One would be between the colonies, and the second would be after Tu’s.” She slid off the log she was on (the one diagonally across from the one Tu, Tu’s bidoof and I) and drew a wonky square in the dirt with one of her powerful claws. A few centimetres after it she drew a small line, and then repeated the two shapes. “This square represents the first colony, and,” – she directed out attention to the second square – “this square is the second colony. If the dams are between the two and after Tu’s, the water will stay in place and neither colony will have shortages.” She circled each part as she spoke, and sense began to squeeze past the impossible walls – or dams – in the bibarel’s minds. “The dam after the second colony will be built first, so the water can build up, and after that the second dam will be built to fill the first colony’s space. When too much water builds up or you simply want a fresh supply, remove the dams and later you can put them back into place.”

All five of us nodded, impressed by Zhol’s smarts. “...Nice going,” I mentioned, and she gave me a weak smile. “...Cool!” I grinned as I dropped from the log. “So it’s all good? Good!” I triumphantly fluffed up, happy to finally have this worked out...even though it hadn’t been too long. But who knows how much longer we would have had to stay had Zhol not have come up with such a brilliant idea? ‘Sleep time, sleep time!’ I cheered inside my head, and the thought of freedom teased me as I imagined sleeping at the foot of a tree again once away from all this!

As I danced a little jig, Boon and Tu nodded to each other. “Your dam, then mine,” Boon checked, and the other pokémon concurred. “Let us...get to work.”

“Huh?” I slurred, stretching. “Work?”

Stares piled on top of me. “Yes, the dams. They must be built.”

“Mm, great,” I mumbled. “When?” My eyelids felt heavy, and hopefully I could get a few hours of rest before they made me do anything.

“...Half an hour, maybe?” suggested Tu. Boon was content with that.

“HALF—half an hour?!” I spluttered, choking on my own yawn. “But, but—it’s nighttime! I am so ditching you.”

“Dusty,” Zhol whispered, her back to them. “Bibarel and bidoof can be nocturnal or diurnal. I think this colony is nocturnal.”

“Well, flareon can’t be! The only thing we’re hard at work doing during the night is sleeping!” I howled. After the statement was made, I realised that it was perfectly normal for any flareon to be nocturnal as well, but ignored that fact and stuck to my words. “Besides...how can they not be woken up by the Sun?” Although straight after the question I felt stupid, as I noticed the only source of light there could be in one of the domes was fire. “Maybe...maybe light’s not a problem, but still! If they expect me to do anything starting from in half an hour’s time...they’re dreamin’!”

***

“Roll it down!” a bidoof called to me, and vengefully I gave a giant log a forceful push with two front legs. It tumbled down the hillside until a team of the beaver pokémon stopped it (looking kinda funny since they were so small compared to the log). I had been at it for ages now, and it was always a few minutes before they asked me to do it again. Several times I had come close to dozing off, but not long after I was caught in the act and woken up. But those bidoof and bibarel would never understand...they were nocturnal! They were used to busying themselves this time of the day...or night. I wasn’t.

“Okay!” chanted a nearby water and normal type, gleefully grinning at me. “Log movement is complete!” He looked about to pass on some sort of congratulatory gesture – such as a pat on the back – but his actions weren’t going to commence after he noted the fiery glare I thrust in his direction. Instead he chuckled sheepishly and plodded down the hill in order to see how else he could be of assistance to...someone else.

With a frustrated sigh, I whirled around, unsure of what to do next. I took a step forward, tripping on a small rock and planting my face into the dirt. Grumbling, I swished around to see what could be so strong as to make me fall, but I never got the chance as I slipped on a patch of stray mud and tumbled backwards. I expected to stop within a second of beginning, but the hill on that side – where nobody happened to be at the bottom of – dropped rapidly and before I knew it, I was on a roll—literally!

“Waaaah!” I screamed, unable to navigate my way down or view my path. Sharp twigs and protruding rocks stabbed me as I continued, and it was less than comfortable.

All of a sudden, my stop was softened...and I had no idea why. I had slowed near the foot of the small hill, but I halted altogether as I clonked into what definitely didn’t feel like a boulder or a tree. Dazed, I hoisted myself up, only to find I was facing the hill. Curious, I turned around and saw...and saw nothing but more ground. I blinked repeatedly, confused. To my left shrubs and taller plants grew, but nothing that would have cushioned my fall like it did, and nothing in the right spot! Causing my thoughts to stray, my ears flickered. I padded forward several metres before the sound become louder, and on the other side of tall grass I overlooked a river. It was a reasonable drop downwards, and I instantly found myself to be...extremely lucky to have been stopped when I was, because at the rate I was going I could have rolled off the edge and been carried all the way to the nearest ocean. The thought lingered until a rustle from those bushes caught me off guard. I leaped away from the short cliff and faced the plantation suspiciously, my eyes fixed on them and my stance became that of a defensive one.

“Who’s...who’s there?” I wondered, my voice low despite my wishes against a battle at this hour. I waited in angst for another noise, but I didn’t hear another one until it was my own voice. “If...you were the one who saved me...”

“Hey, you!” called someone from atop the hill.

“Ahh!” I screeched, nearly suffering a heart attack.

“What do you think you’re doing down there?” It was a random I didn’t know, and she looked grumpy.

“You gave me a—”

“There’s work to do! So come back,” she demanded, not looking about to give up her post until I followed her order.

Cautiously I strode past the clump of greenery and eyed it, ready to spot any trace of movement. However, the first rustle must have been my imagination because not another breath was heard from that direction. And even if there was someone there, my eyesight wasn’t powerful enough to spot them in the darkness.

After slogging up the hill and being told by the bibarel to run along and find another task, I was instructed to be the director of the placement of the logs for the dam along with whoever else wasn’t moving and swimming with the branches and trunks. It was tiring and not overly calming, and frankly I wanted to slap those pokémon silly. They were painfully bad listeners, even though I could admit they were hard workers, so it made it all the more frustrating to tell them what to do.

But at last it was done...and I felt free. Free to go and free to sl—

“Now for the second dam,” mentioned one of the bidoof who had been directing with me and began waddling away. I stood with perplexity written all over my face before it clicked.

‘The second one,’ I thought with contempt, my eye twitching. ‘Just...another few hours of work... Just...just some more hours...’ In a fit of anger, I released a stream of fire on a nearby log, barely caring as I left and it blazed away.

***

Exhaling, the pokémon who nearly had himself revealed backed out from the shrubs. “...Lucky I was here... She would have fallen head over heels for that river down there.” He nearly chuckled at his own joke as he peered over the cliff, his thin tail flickering to show his dislike for the gushing...stuff. “She’s thankful,” he muttered, turning left to face the direction in which he knew the flareon was headed. Nearly as quickly as he came, the pokémon loped away, having a feeling that the eevee evolution wouldn’t need his assistance another time that night. ‘Until next time...Flair.’

***

Stirring and stretching my limbs, I felt grogginess beginning to bathe me. My mouth grew into a gaping hole and I exhaled shortly after. What a good sleep I’d had! We worked all night...and till an hour or two before the Sun would have risen – which I was furious about – but it meant that I had slept like a slakoth. I waited a few moments before recalling where I was and what I needed to do, and it became clear fairly quickly. Deciding I should get up, I hauled myself to my feet and glanced about as I tried to identify something – anything – in the blackness. A muddy smell fogged my nostrils, and I cringed, thinking some cleaner air would have been nice. I noticed an opening to the left of the far side of the room and attempted to avoid tails and heads as I weaved between several pokémon. Once I appeared before the hole, I slipped through to come into an enclosed room where the entrance to the dome led me outside into the morning air. It still smelled of mud, but looking upwards, I—

My eyes widened. The Sun was positioned in the centre of the sky—no, it was further west! “Oh no!” I raced back inside, hoping that Zhol would appear before me. However, I was engulfed in darkness and couldn’t see a thing. I panicked, trying to catch her scent. “...Zhol,” I whispered, “Zhol!” I heard movement, but after waiting several seconds I thought it must not have been her. I scowled, scampering back outside. In all honesty, I had no idea where to look. I thought to stick with the scent idea, but thinking again, I found it to be a futile means of finding her. There were far too many scents intermingled in the surrounding area.

“Dusty!” I heard, and my relief returned, my ears flicking up.

“Saved by the sneasel,” I chuckled, sighing. She appeared outside one of the lodges and dashed beside me. “Hey, Zhol! I didn’t know which hut they put you in.”

She nodded, looking somewhat impatient. “I’ve spoken to Boon about our...”

“Release?”

She flashed an amused smile. “Duty relief. We’re allowed to go.”

“Yes!” I chirped, bouncing on the spot. I grinned at her, and she nodded once. I sprinted away from the collection of homes, my excitement giving me an extra energy boost. “Good riddance!” I called once tilting my head skyward. I heard Zhol as she materialised beside me, and my happiness showed as I ‘woohoo’ed my way down a slope.

***

“Hey, Zhol,” I began, panting after being on the move for an hour or so. We had stopped by a stream and the sneasel was slurping up water she cradled in her paws. She stopped, giving them a flick to shake the remaining droplets free from her skin. I slumped off the tree stump I had climbed on top of and stood at the stream’s edge. “You know yesterday how you said that we’d reach your home by the next afternoon?”

“Yes,” she answered as I lapped up the cool liquid.

“...Well, because we slept in, do you think that’s now an inaccurate estimate?”

Zhol puffed out a long breath, searching for the mountains in the near distance. “I do.”

“In that case...how long do you think it’ll take to get there? Nighttime, perhaps?” I wondered, trying to calculate judging by what she had said the day before and keeping in mind how early she thought we would have woken.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Late.” She took my spot on the stump.

I went back to drinking, but when I had stopped I turned to her again. “You know... I saw Azure yesterday.” But to my remark my friend only frowned. “...Oh, right,” I chuckled, not having realised until then. She hadn’t been present for any of my encounters with the ice type. “You don’t know who she is... Well, she’s a glaceon that was on the ship.” Zhol seemed to flinch nearly undetectably at the mention of the ship, but other than that there was no physical reaction. “She... I met her as...a consequence of being friends with Raiys. She has something against me, but...I sense something unsettling about her. I don’t know what...maybe it’s just that I don’t like her.”

“That may be it,” Zhol guessed, and I nodded without meeting her gaze.

“Mm...”

Just as we had predicted, the two of us arrived on her colony’s land after midnight. I didn’t get a good look at the community, but I was excited to do so in the morning. And since it was so late, all I wanted to do was snooze. Zhol had disappeared, probably after telling me where she was going and where I could stay, but I couldn’t remember... I was too tired! So, drowsily I hobbled along the outskirts of the premises until I wandered in, hardly paying attention to my course. I made my way to some sort of sweet-smelling cave and brushed past a slimy boulder until I collapsed, burying myself in the soft squishiness below me. I became comfortable almost instantly, and the whisper-like cooing hoothoot lulled me to sleep, the peaceful hum of insects helping.

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Sixteen: The What-sters?

“A-are you sure...?”

“Yeah; how could she get past Splash? We all know he’s challenged, but...he should have stopped her.”

“Well...she looks nothing like a threat. I don’t th—”

“Huh?” I murmured, inhaling deeply to fuel my lazy self and stand up. My eyes were presenting blurs to me, and I hardly knew what was going on. “I may be small,” I started, sounding like I had trouble speaking for one odd reason or another, “but I’m tough!” I had raised my head for the few words, plonking it back down and feeling liquid squirt onto my face. I then licked it from my nose. “Mmm...oran berry.”

“S-see?” panicked a soft voice, although I wasn’t sure why she sounded that way.

“She looks kinda...out of it...to me,” mentioned another, certain scepticism about her tone.

A few moments passed...and then I snapped open my eyes.

“Waah!” I yelped, startled by the sudden appearance of a group of pokémon, and I hopped to my feet. “Wh—who are you?” I swallowed, my eyes darting between a navy blue pokémon whose body looked plated with armour, a large bird pokémon with puffy, snow-white wings and a tall, and a hovering white thing with blue, purple and red in certain areas. “And where...?” My mind turned as I remembered the night before...when I had not been paying attention to where I crashed...

“The—”

“Usster Colony!” I blurted, and I received surprised glances. I heard only the sound of birds chirping outside and other expected sounds as I waited for someone to reply.

The dark coloured one with an elongated horn protruding from his forehead raised one of his strangely shaped arms, looking about to talk, but the flying type, not noticing his gesture, spoke before he could. “What are you doing here?” She sounded defensive and stern, but I really had nothing to hide or be afraid of. And if need be I could totally take on these three pokémon...possibly.

“Uh...well, see, I—” I felt a fruit squash under my front paw, and I looked down. Then I realised something. The strange shack I had taken shelter in looked to be some sort of storage room for berries. And rotten ones, it looked like.

“You’ve been eating our stash!” the altaria accused, and I flinched in astonishment.

“What?” I questioned. ‘And a stash of rotten berries? Seriously?’

“It would make sense,” the heracross mused, a claw on his chin.

“What? N-no!” I wiped my face against my mane – as best I could – to rid it of false evidence. I had only stepped in some; I didn’t eat any of it. “I think you’ve got the wrong idea.”

“I know a thief when I see one,” snapped the flying and dragon type, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Well if you did, you’d know I wasn’t one.” We engaged in a stare-down before my ears twitched.

Rustling could be heard shortly before a voice began saying, “Yukra, where are those—” A bronze figure appeared at the entrance to the room I resided in, her head nearly touching the doorway’s top. As soon as she laid eyes on me, she let out a roar, but to my surprise it was a completely frightened one. She backed away, and a certain fire in her eyes told me that she wasn’t prepared to be friendly to a stranger. “Intruder!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide and her body frozen up. I had no idea what to do or even if I should have done anything, but I knew throwing myself at the wall instead of her doing it for me was an appropriate action. The instant I did, she struck the now-recognisable mound of rotten berries with her enormous claws. For the first time in a few days I was somewhat scared, and I was unable to regain my attention as she dislodged her massive paws from the berries and stormed towards me in a scatter of growls and grunts.

I screamed as I attempted to flee between her legs, ending up being kicked on my way through, and she rebounded off the wall to stomp after me. I zipped out of the room and into the wilderness before the heracross wrapped me in his strong arms and brought me to a stop. I whined as I realised I was restricted and began kicking and struggling. “G-get off! Let me go!” I was desperate to get away, and being held back didn’t do any good.

“Wynore! Stop!” the cloud-bird pokémon protested, spreading her wings to work as visual barriers. I heard a bellow, and presumably the ursaring had halted upon the flying type’s request. “We don’t think she’s a threat,” she continued, attempting to calm the pokémon.

“Yes—please settle down!” the white, red and blue pokémon added. She used a soft and worried tone, much like the first voice I had heard when I woke up. It was probably the same one.

I heard a reluctant snort before I hesitantly edged my eyes into view of the great bear pokémon and the other two. I was relieved to find that her sanity had returned and she seemed to snap out of her frenzy reasonably quickly. She glanced at me and I was too concerned to look away, but then she switched to the altaria’s eyes, a look of uncertainty and suspicion spread across her face. “Are you sure?” she questioned incredulously, her gaze flicking to mine to coat me in a veil of accusatory suspicion. I swallowed again, wondering quietly to myself what would happen next.

“We’re workin’ on it,” the pokémon tightly grasping me answered, no particular harshness about his voice.

“Uh,” I uttered, “can you...can you, uh, loosen your grip, please? It’s a little...um...” The pokémon obeyed and relaxed his hand. “...Tight. Thanks.”

Silence fell upon the five of us before the delicate upright one (whose species I’d never seen before) asked, “What should we do?”

The altaria needed no longer than a moment to decide. “We’ll take her to Habib.”

***

‘Habib?!’ I criticised internally, thinking the name was rather ridiculous—and from what I had guessed, he was a decision maker and intruder-labeller (hence these pokémon taking me to him). Which possibly meant a leader of some kind. Personally I found it a...strange name for an authority figure. But then again, I could be wrong. This ‘Habib’ could be their pet rock for all I knew.

Whispers and gasps echoed around me as I was dragged through a strange village-like setting. I found it odd that such a place could exist deep into the wild, but then again, judging the many pokémon I spotted, this community of creatures was pretty large, and they looked relatively capable of building huts such as the ones I spotted around. Master had once told me of humans using strong and muscular pokémon such as machamp and aggron to shift heavy luggage and/or to help construct homes and labour-intensive structures. They were extremely useful for those kinds of things, so I figured it was possible that they had helped with the structures in this clan.
I nearly tripped over a head-sized rock as I was transported towards the place the three pokémon (the ursaring had gone back to what she was doing before her little crazed attack on me) were taking me. “Ow!” I snapped, eying off the two pokémon beside me as they didn’t show a shred of concern. The altaria was in front of me, leading the way, while the heracross and the other pokémon walked either side of me. Running back the way I came would result in a capture by the bug type, with the help of the other one – who looked like a possible ice type – so that wasn’t an option.

It was strange how the one on my right hovered—was she part psychic or flying? Her body was somewhat flimsy and slim and her arms, connecting to her head, were strangely proportioned with blocky cyan at their ends, almost looking like fins, and a red ribbon-like appendage was wrapped around her waist. I had to wonder what the purpose of the two icicle-horns on her head were for, and how she could ever walk with a body that came to a random end before feet could be introduced; although, I came to the conclusion that it was the reason she hovered. I wanted to ask her what kind of pokémon she was, but at the moment she wasn’t exactly a friend.

“Um,” I began, attracting the attention of both pokémon on my sides. I quickly licked my lips. “Where are you taking me? And who’s Habib?”

The heracross only chuckled harmlessly, and the mystery pokémon smiled. “Our colony’s mayor,” he mentioned.

“...Right.” I continued glancing about, observing the ways of these pokémon and how they lived. We only walked through the housing area, however, but I knew there was more to the clan than just that—in the way of facilities. On the way past a few homes, I shuddered as I couldn’t help but notice a giant lake at least the size of the one I had been in when I was abducted, and patches of dense trees around the joint. As we passed near the lake and the far end of the column of huts, lone trees watched as we moved past them, their branches signalling the direction I was headed.

Finally we arrived. The place was pretty large—one of the bigger homes around. It was made mostly of tree trunks and other natural materials, but it looked nothing like the bibarel and bidoof enclosures I had seen. This was properly and professionally constructed, and my guess was that my theory about strong pokémon building places like these for colonies was considerably correct. One would also have to have a knack for designing to form plans one would follow.

We stopped a couple of metres away from the entrance, which was blocked by a slab of firm but moveable stone. ‘If this ‘Habib’ is the leader of the colony, how come his house is shut off?’ I wondered, frowning lightly. But I had to wonder no more as a voice from inside seemed to give permission, and the heracross left his place beside me, along with a random granbull and floatzel who had appeared without me realising.

They all assumed a position around the boulder and the heracross instructed, “On three. One...two...” The two other pokémon prepared themselves before ‘three’ was said, and then at once they all put their muscles to work.

“Heave, ho...” I muttered, and the two females nearby gave me a glance each. I shrugged, wanting to say ‘what?’, and looked back to the working pokémon. The heracross, due to the length of his horn, was slightly taller than the other two pokémon, but they were all nearly level. The floatzel was the smallest, since they were naturally rather little for strong-looking pokémon, but he wasn’t far off. When they had managed to shift the stone all the way across, I forgot my doubt in them and instead acknowledged the butterflies in my stomach which fluttered and bounced off rounded walls.

I wasn’t entirely sure why I was nervous, but I had a feeling I was about to find out as a pokémon stepped forward. “Habib, we’re in need of your judgement,” the bug pokémon stated, standing under the doorway once swinging open a frail wooden door. A voice from inside accepted the request and the heracross nodded, moving back for the altaria to usher me inside with an impatient look on her face. I nearly scowled at her but I was distracted by the inside. Grass coated the entire floor; some was deliberately planted while the rest of it was naturally there. Regular wooden panels making up the ceiling were interrupted by numerous windows to allow insects, warmth and light. A large batch of hay, moss and fresh grass lay at the far end of the hut, and two smaller ones were near the big one against the walls to the left and right. A wooden table composed of more logs (which I didn’t find surprising) was in the centre, where hardened bark and a carved bowl of berries sat.

Waddling steadily with the help of a thick cane, a hefty pink pokémon with small charcoal eyes and a few lemon coloured belly markings appeared before me and gave a soft smile. He bobbed his head leisurely at the heracross, saying, “Thank you, Yukra,” and the dual type pokémon closed the door with care.

Another fuchsia form strode forward—she was smaller and had a grey implement holding a rounded red ruby on her head. Around her neck was a frill streaked with white and blue and she had a very strong resemblance to a slowpoke. I recognised her as a slowking—and a different-to-normal coloured one at that. Perhaps she was shiny!
I waited in silence as the two pokémon wore neutral expressions. I was left to stand there and feel as my eyes darted between the two pokémon. “Uh...h-hi.”

The female regarded me with a nod and a smile while the lickitung placed himself in a seated position at the opposite end of the table. “Have a seat,” he insisted, the slowking also standing at the other end.

“O...kay,” I agreed, cautiously pacing forward a number of steps before sitting. Surprisingly the table was low enough so that I was able to even rest my front paws on its surface if I wanted to. Maybe the table was designed that way for small visitors such as myself.

“Miss Flareon.” I turned. “I will ask you a number of questions, as is my duty.”

“Uhh...alright,” I answered. He had probably figured I was not a threat by this point, as I failed to show any kind of hostility. Truthfully I was a little intimidated by him, being huge compared to me, and since he was the leader of a seemly powerful colony. I figured that if a heracross, a crazed ursaring, Zhol and all the other strong-looking pokémon I spotted were under his rule, he must have had a considerable amount of power and respect from his followers.

The lickitung asked something as I was distracted, and I only caught the last word. When I asked him to repeat, he followed up with, “Are you a traveller?”

“Well...kind of.” I thought the normal type might have been waiting for me to justify my hazy reply, but when I didn’t he continued.

“Do you have reason to come through here?” he questioned. He was friendly...but naturally suspicious.

“Well, I...um.” I paused to scratch my belly with my back leg, however awkward it was to reach. “I travelled here with Zhol. She said I could stay here for a while. She’s...a part of your colony...?”

“Ahh!” responded the pokémon, sparking up at the mention of the sneasel’s name. “Yes, Zhol! She has returned then?” After I nodded, he brightened up. “Excellent!”

“She, um,” I interrupted, not meaning to. When I felt it was okay to continue I did. “Zhol and I were on the same vessel after being captured.”

Suddenly the lickitung’s face clouded over with stern interest and concern. By the looks of things, he had no idea what I was talking about. Instead of questioning my words, he listened further. But when I was unsure of what to say next, silence tapped the air around us.

“The, uh...the vessel that we were being stored on for transportation. We were, uh...we were also in the same...prison, if you like.” I spoke with a calm tone, and Habib and the slowking gasped, the part psychic type resting one of her paws on the other pokémon’s shoulder. They exchanged a worried glace and then met mine. “Is something...?”

The slowking wore a forlorn expression as she hesitated to open her mouth. “Our son and three other members of our colony suddenly disappeared at least two weeks ago. We hadn’t heard from them since.”

At this I was only mildly surprised—Team Rocket had captured many pokémon, and I doubt witnesses of any kind would exist to let anyone know where their friends would have gone. They would either have been caught or...disposed of. “So...Zhol was one of those other three?” I wondered, and Habib replied with a yes. I hadn’t met any other pokémon from their colony on the ship, so it was possible they were in a separate crate or I simply didn’t get a chance to know them. But then I suddenly thought of something. “Wait...” I attracted their attention again as I went over things in my mind. “You said your son disappeared... What’s his name?”

The two flashed looks onto each other before the slowking turned to me again. “His name’s Larse.”

“Larse?” I confirmed, perking up. “Larse! I know Larse! I met him on the ship!”

A hushed cry of joy seeped from between the psychic and water type’s muzzle. “Wonderful!” A relieved and joyous expression painted itself onto both parents’ faces, and I couldn’t help but smile. If only I knew my master was okay...

“Did he return with you?” the slowking inquired hopefully, and I felt sympathy twinge within me as I took a moment.

“Uhh...um...no. I’m...sorry,” I replied, and the shiny pokémon seemed to deflate as she absorbed the information.
“Oh...”

“Is he well?” asked Habib, and I nodded, wanting to lift their spirits.

“He actually helped me a few times. He even saved me at some point.” I glanced at my left side, noting the hole that had been healing for a number of days now. It still hurt, but nothing could get in or out—thankfully. “Yeah. I was shot in the leg by a human,” I explained, standing and facing my body in a way so that the wound could be seen. The slowking nearly gasped as she saw it, and her eyes flicked to mine as I went on. “And when no-one else could, your son used his powers to remove the bullet.” Their expressions relaxed, and a sense of subtle pride tickled their faces. “After that, when I was battling...” I swallowed, averting my gaze. “Um, a...well, someone, he really helped me out. I was actually, uhh...really surprised at how fast he could run,” I chuckled, and the slowking’s smile broadened, her eyes soft and amused. “You’re son’s a...great pokémon.”

Habib nodded, knowing well what I meant. “He is.”

Before I let a silence fall upon us for the second time, I cleared my throat. “So, um... Is it...alright if I stay a while?” The two pokémon blinked a few times in a row, and I acted casual as I shifted about on the spot. “Heh, well, I mean, I could gather berries or...or hunt! I-I can hunt... Or, um...look after anyone who needs babysitting.” I shrugged, putting forward the idea even if I was less than keen on the latter.

The two pokémon seemed to consider it, but it didn’t take them long before coming up with an answer. “Of course,” Habib answered, and for a moment I was stunned.

“R-really?” I gave a hearty chuckle. “I can?”

“Of course, dear,” the slowking repeated. As I gave off grateful grin, she added, “We can tell you aren’t a bad pokémon. For bringing Zhol safely here we are thankful.” I nearly laughed at the comment, since Zhol was basically the one who brought me as opposed to it being the other way around, but I concealed my amused thoughts.

Footsteps pattered the grass outside and my ears fluttered to catch the sound. I flung my head around my shoulder as the flimsy door creaked open and a head with fangs, a snout and three spikes at the back popped in. A lime green body followed, and two elongated feet with three claws on each seemed to grip the floor lightly as the pokémon came fully into view. However, as I suspected that he was going to speak, he froze, and I was unsure why. The two dangerous-looking blades that acted as arms hung suspended in midair as I watched for movement. Wings were attached to his back, looking like those of a dragonfly. His torso didn’t, though—it looked armoured with a yellow undercoat, and a striped abdomen rested as his lower half, which was what the legs were linked to.
After analysing this creature, I identified him as a scyther—a bug and flying type. And by the looks of things, he was analysing me too. “‘Sup,” I stated to break the silence, smiling in a friendly manner.

The mantis pokémon just stared, his eyes wary and his body stilled. He looked about to strike if I went too near, which was mildly concerning. I elected to remain seated.

“Yes?” Habib asked, the scyther’s attention switching. “What is it?”

“...Your son’s returned,” he replied, distracted by my presence. “And another member.”

“Larse?” questioned the slowking, her face completely brightening. Habib stood, surprised and silently gleeful. The pink pokémon hurried past me, slipping in an, “Excuse me,” and disappearing through the door. The scyther held the door open as she went, and looked to Habib. At that point I followed his gaze to the lickitung. He bobbed his head once at the bug and flying type and then turned to me.

“We will organise an escort to show you around later. Right now you will have to excuse me, though. You are free to go as well.” He gave a friendly nod and waddled past me. He murmured to the scyther something about holding the door open for me and that naturally I wasn’t allowed to be in the room by myself, and the pokémon hesitated before agreeing.

Eager to greet Larse again and the other colony member who had returned (possibly from the ship as well), I too stood and approached the exit. The scyther narrowed his eyes slightly as I brushed past him, and I wanted to ask him what his problem was. But those sharp scythes prevented my questioning. After all, I didn’t want to end up like that famous glameow who was supposedly killed by curiosity.

I heard the door clunk after I emerged from it and spotted a crowd of pokémon in the distance. Habib was leisurely walking towards it with his mate in front, having nearly reached the mob, and I was about to bound up to him as a blur rushed by, and I realised the scyther had taken the place by Habib’s side. I huffed, thinking he was somewhat of a show off, and made the decision not to catch up.

Then something caught my eye. While passing the lake, two orange blobs managed to distract me before their eyes quickly closed and the heads submerged. I found my legs holding me on the spot before I scanned the rest of the lake’s surface with my eyes before deciding they wouldn’t surface again. ‘Someone was spying on me...’ I thought, but after I recalled the fact that there was more than one head. ‘Well...two someones.’

***

A duo of bodies weaved away from the constant noise, slipping into a stony passageway. An eerie breeze drifted through, chilling both figures as they padded onwards. Small indents in the walls imprisoned flames behind metal grates to light the path, and condensation caused by the fire and wet environment clouded the space between the walls; breaths were exhaled as mist. Drops falling sounded from somewhere in the passage, and every pawstep echoed off the occasional stalactite threatening to fall at any second. Sometimes the floor would feel slippery, and the occasional paw would slip, clunking into a bump on the less than flat surface.

One of the pokémon scowled, stumping her paw on a protruding rock. “Ow!” she yelped angrily, the light purr of the pokémon beside her floating about her ears in a soft laughter. She only grumbled, pausing for a second to rub a toe or two against her other leg in some kind of pointless attempt to make it feel better.

“Look where you step,” advised a pale pokémon, his body slinky and somewhat graceful.

“You can see better than me—you’re a persian. You can see in the dark,” the other pokémon – also a pale one – stated. She coughed as the fog entered her lungs, swallowing afterwards. “So, what do you think he wants to see me for?”

“How would I know?” questioned the persian, shrugging. “I don’t know—to get you to do more dirty work? Your rank has been rising...”

“Mm,” nodded the second pokémon, her partly green tail hanging behind her.

“You’re nearly as good as me,” mentioned the persian with pride. By the sounds of things he liked being of a higher status.

“Pff, I’m better than you,” retorted the leafeon, the odd leaf or two hanging from her body twitching. “I was here before you, Talyn.”

“Hah,” snorted the normal type. “Doesn’t make you better,” he smirked, flicking his tail with annoyance. Moments later, the two came across a stone doorway. “Oh, look. We’re here.” After a click, the persian slid his paw with a block in the wall forward, and it seemed to melt into the thick mass before another click sounded. With a heave and a shuffle, the door clunked and a split between two sections of it grew until an opening grinned at the newcomers. An eerie silence crept through the two pokémon’s ears, and a shiver overcame the leafeon.

She dared a peek inside, quickly scanning the area. She hadn’t entered the room before her in a long time...

“Hmph,” grunted Talyn, turning to walk away. “Try not to get yourself injured, Izante.” He padded forward a few steps before the leafeon stopped him.

“Can you...come with me?” she pleaded, her eyes round and convincing.

“Nope.”

“Oh, come on. Please?”

He contemplated this for a few moments. “Can’t you survive without me?”

Izante shook her head, only keen on not having to enter alone. “Apparently not.”

The persian took a breath and exhaled in triumph. “I wouldn’t have thought so,” snicked the classy cat pokémon, pushing his chest out proudly as he walked through the gap between the two rock slabs. The grass type smiled with relief, knowing who – or what – she would face was someone she didn’t want to see alone, and perhaps wouldn’t have to.

***

Izante clambered lazily from the rather large fearow she had been riding for the past three days. She’d been flying back and forth from the headquarters and the mainland, running errands and checking up on members of the syndicate. She had only been back from the Rocket Marine Vessel for half a day before she was selected – or more like forced – to commence the chores; she had been asked to gather any lost associate who had wandered in the wrong direction. This, she had known, would take more than just a few hours—and it had.

During the period she was away, nothing particularly exciting happened, but only a day ago she arrived back at headquarters in the landing port—a section of the headquarters that had walls reaching higher than the tallest trees. A visible ceiling was missing, but in its place was a disguise. A barrier had been stably holding its place for years, and from the outside it looked like a normal rocky landscape, but on the inside it was transparent. It provided a good means of separating intruders from fellow members, and it was another defence and disguise mechanism.

As the female grass type took less than three steps forward, she was approached by a pokémon. She recognised him as no more than one of their slaves and simply ignored him, but as he seemed about to spit something out, the leafeon stopped. He was cone shaped and dark grey with a yellow overcoat-like covering. Orange bordered the yellow around his face and pupil-less eyes stared timidly at the grass eevee evolution, hesitating to speak. But when her eyes grew impatient, he decided that staying quiet would do him nothing more than a disservice. “The Director...wants to see you.” He swallowed, nearly flinching as Izante scowled.

“I see,” she muttered to herself, pushing past the cowering snorunt. She was consumed by the crowd of sinister and uncouth creatures clogging entrances to the landing port, eventually squeezing between each pokémon and appearing in a connecting room. It was another open passage with pokémon scattered about, and channels leading to other rooms gaped at her, causing her to choose which one she would travel through.

After navigating herself around and getting lost once or twice, Izante came across the rocky passage leading to where she was required to be. She felt great hesitation as she stepped forward, wishing her companion was with her. She pressed on, her head low between her shoulders as she imagined why she would be called to the Director’s cavern.

However, as she approached, she could hear murmuring echoing from inside. She was relieved as she took that as an excuse not to go in as of yet, and placed herself at the entrance instead. After a minute of tapping her back paw and wiping her tail against the wall behind her as an act of nervousness, her ears pricked. A figure appeared at the other end of the rock corridor, where she had come in from.

“Izante,” a pokémon called, getting the leafeon’s attention. As she looked, she recognised the creature as a spinda—a two legged bear-like pokémon with longer ears, swirls for eyes and random polka dots of a pinky red blotched on her face. She curled her paw in towards her, signalling for Izante to come her way, and the leafeon, still hearing the chatter which seemed to be between two males, leaped down the hall and stopped before the normal type.

“What?” she hastily asked, squeezing past the spinda to be away from the path that led to danger and into the room she came from.

“Talyn needs you in the interrogation room. We have some...suspects.”

Izante gave a brief nod before hurrying off, the spinda following. ‘Anything to get away from...him.’

***

After she went to help deal with the prisoners, she had been assigned to fly back out on a suitable pokémon to gather the other captured creatures who had been apprehended after they were spotted fleeing from the ship area. They were violently arrested and forced to come to the sinister hideout where some still had yet to arrive, and where only two or three had been tossed into the prisoner cavern already—two of which had been the ones she and her had colleague questioned. So she had flown out and arrived back the next day, which she currently was living.

Izante had been lucky to have been distracted yesterday. But today’s appointment was real. Now she couldn’t escape, and she was staring his somewhat secluded cave right in its grinning face. She swallowed again, glancing to Talyn for mental – and physical if she needed it – support.

She skulked through the ‘doors’ herself, trailing the meowth evolution stealthily as she glanced warily about. ‘He could be anywhere...’

“The persian...” hissed an echoing voice, stabbing shivers down Izante’s spine, “...can leave.”

The leafeon threw her head dramatically to the left, her pleading eyes reaching out to her companion. But the normal type shrugged with slight helplessness and he turned to leave. “Ta—” the grass type began, letting her shoulders flop. “...Bye, Talyn.”

He nodded before striding out, the tip of his tail a hair away from being jammed in the concrete slabs’ grip as they clamped shut. He got a mild shock as the noise snapped at his ears, and he shook off, thinking of his leader’s manners to be poor. Before he retraced his steps back down the hallway, he set his eyes on the room he was in for only moments, hoping the one he cared for so much would not be shaken up from whatever the Director would do to her.

“Forgive me for my rudeness,” hummed a shady voice again, his form still hidden. “I cannot have...Talyn...interfering or...hindering your ability to speak the truth.”

The leafeon began shaking in plain sight, her attempt to conceal her fear failing. ‘Surely I’ve been a...good member of the team; I haven’t screwed up! So...so he has no reason to deal with me poorly. I’m...far too valuable to lose,’ she told herself, standing upright as she tried to compose herself. ‘...Aw, who am I kidding? He’ll find some excuse to—’

A chuckle rippled the surface of the large lake situated in the middle of the huge cavern which reached to its end. All around were stalactites and boulders of many sizes—some of them shattered or cracked in assorted places. Columns of rock thinned in the middle but thickened where they connected to the floor and the ground, and a spooky dripping noise rang every once in a while. As the leafeon continued to scan the area, she noted the scaly walls and the many indents to shape them strangely. The lake occupied much of the space in the room, and off to the sides at the far end were separate cave areas where the Director would keep...personal detainees to possibly torture. It was also rumoured to be the place that he held other, different pokémon.

“Now, Izante,” the voice followed up after chuckling, “you look so afraid. There is no reason to be.”

As the leafeon crept forward, hoping to catch a glimpse of something to indicate the leader’s whereabouts, she flinched and swerved around after sensing a shadow dart behind her. The dully-lit cavern made it hard to make out proper forms and cast whoever lay in wait unidentifiable. As another silhouette made her look frantically to her right, she panicked. More seemed to appear in assorted places, their eyes gleaming as they flashed and faded. It was only seconds before they began to surround Izante, and she cowered while watching as they closed in...

“Don’t be frightened by my guards,” he advised, and somehow Izante could tell he was grinning. The darkened figures crept about, coming to halts on top of boulders and in other places surrounding the grass type, and she exhaled deeply, keeping an eye on each of them. She couldn’t help but tremble.

“D-Director...” Izante gulped, “you need me?” She tried standing up straight and still, but couldn’t help scanning the room for any signs of who she hoped but hoped not to spot.

“Of course,” he replied, his calm tone more creepy than reassuring. “Come forward...to the lake.”

Figuring she had no choice, the leafeon paced forward a number of steps forward before coming close to the water’s edge. Once she arrived, she briefly gazed into its impossible depths, her uncertain and nervous reflection staring helplessly back at her. “A-am I...” she began, trailing off.

“...Yes?”

“Am...I here for punishment?”

The voice chuckled once again. “Not unless you want to be.” Suddenly yellow eyes revealed themselves on a dry island against the back wall of the cave where there was a circular break in the water. It was an area large enough to hold more than ten leafeon, so the leader fit easily in the space. Shortly after the eyes brightened, illuminating the darkness around him, a body became dimly visible, and it was clear that a rather big pokémon sat staring at Izante. That was where the source of the voice was.

Izante looked uneasy, and she cleared her throat before rephrasing her question. “Master, what...why was I... What did you call me for?”

“The report, my young apprentice.” The mysterious pokémon did not move, but his tail flickered, as if he was partially disappointed one of his best agents may have forgotten. “While on the Rocket vessel we discussed that you would provide me with a report on what happened.” She nodded slowly, and as if to prompt her, the so called ‘master’ spoke again—this time more firmly. “The casualties, the survivors, the number of prisoners who escaped...”

Izante seemed to get the picture by this stage and tried to sound confident. “The—the casualties...were large. On a grand scale, we lost more than...they did.” At this the pokémon tensed, but the leafeon quickly threw in, “But in all fairness, their numbers were ours tripled! Maybe more...” He relaxed slightly, but Izante still sensed his annoyance. “At a guess, we determined that...seventy-five percent of the prisoners made it out alive. The Rockets and their pokémon...only forty percent escaped without being killed...or less.” The grass pokémon knew her leader would be glaring by this point, and she could certainly class that as fact as his lips curled into a snarl and he scratched his claws back and forth on the steel-hard rock below his paws. She hesitated to go on until he told her that she should continue. “Uhh...by the end of it, most Rockets had decided the fight was pointless because they knew they couldn’t win, and at that stage all of...almost all of the prisoners had fled. Then me and Talyn left with a few Rocket minions on some fearows.” She closed her eyes for a moment before finishing. “We were out of range when we witnessed the ship blow.”

“Out of range when what?” boomed the leader, smearing disdain throughout his use of the sentence’s last word. His eyes were suddenly steady with docked rage.

“U—um...uh... When—when it...blew up, Master,” Izante confirmed, lowering herself with subtlety.

“Blew up?!” the Director exploded, his mood taking a hideous bend in the wrong direction.

The eevee evolution drew back in the instant, an immediate warning bell sounding in her head. She cowered and, in the midst of her fear, made the hasty decision to attempt to scramble away, but didn’t get far. With one astounding leap driven by negative surprise and hatred for what he was hearing, the leader scaled the lake with no trouble. Izante’s jaw would have come loose had it been able to, but instead it dropped to its possible extent. She was quick to close it as her eyes shook with sheer fear. It was almost as if her eyelids no longer existed as she watched her master with the widest eyes she could have produced.

“Explain to me,” the pokémon demanded in a fierce, dangerous whisper, “how this happened!”

With a frightening super-pokémon literally in her face and hissing guards on the watch nearby, the grass type could hardly breathe, let alone talk. Her heart was pounding too fast for her to know it wasn’t just a vibrating mess, and she could have sworn she was drenched in sweat and adrenaline. She let a breath ease out through her nose before drawing one back in at the same pace. “I-I-I-I d-don’t...kn—”

“Do NOT tell me you don’t know!” he warned, spitting his words with clear ferocity.

“It—it must have been a pokémon who escaped! I swear on Talyn’s life!” she cried. Her face muscles stressed her expression into that of desperation and emotional agony as her eyes kept themselves bound and her jaws interlocked. She forced them back open. “Please, I...I’d tell you if I knew...”

Several seconds passed while Izante stayed frozen in her cowering position, the dominant pokémon slowly edging away and returning to a normal seated pose, the contempt still printed on his face but otherwise he displayed a calm expression and stilled himself. “I believe you,” he informed, but that didn’t seem to mean much. At least, she thought, it meant that he wasn’t going to express his anger her way.

Silence wavered in the air, circling through the leafeon’s ears as she dared not to move. She had never seen the Director react so violently before, and she knew it was out of his general nature to snap so easily. Surely what happened didn’t matter too much. The Rockets who lived fled, but the ones who were dead or unconscious were left on the ship—who would probably have been useless after what they’d been through anyway. Other than that, all that was destroyed was... ‘Oh,’ the leafeon thought, her heart racing as she realised something: the only reason why her master would become so utterly infuriated.

Izante was distracted from her thoughts as the pokémon rose, a lengthy breath escaping his nostrils. He took a cluster of moments to regain his calm, and when he did, his head turned so the side of it was being watched by his follower. “...You are... You are free to go,” he explained, making an odd noise to presumably tell his guards it was fine to allow the leafeon to leave. The Director strode forward, stopping as his ears picked up no sound of shuffling. “Leave, leafeon.”

“Y-yes, Master,” the pokémon obeyed, scuttling backwards. She turned around and hurried to the exit, repeating to herself silently that she was nearly out of there. However, she didn’t get all the way before she was addressed again.

“Izante,” she heard, and she cringed as she heaved her eyes back in his direction. “...Who...initiated the release of all the prisoner pokémon?”

Her heart sank. She hoped she didn’t have to answer that question. “...Uhh... There’re only...rumours—”

“Don’t,” he started, raising his voice to interrupt her, “stall.” His eye glinted with calm amusement as he rotated his head, his body still facing away. “...I know...you know.”

Vibrations skimmed her back again; she hated it when he pierced her eyes with the deadly spears in his. She swallowed hard, taking a breath. “The...the flareon,” she admitted, feeling her ears droop. He seemed momentarily interested, obviously waiting for proper details. Izante contemplated her options before she gave a sigh.

“Say it,” he hissed, a tiny smile present.

“It...it was...”

***

“Dusty!”

“Larse!” I bounded to the slowpoke surrounded by other colony pokémon who were just as pleased and excited to greet him as I was. “You made it!” I nudged his face as he radiated a gleeful smile.

“Yes, I did.” He looked me up and down. “And so did you, I see.”

“I sure did!” I felt my tail beat furiously from side to side before answering the question I knew he was dying to ask. “Oh, and if you’re wondering why I’m here, it’s ‘cause I’m officially a temporary member of your colony!”

“Oh, are you? Good to hear,” he replied, and I was about to continue the conversation as he was addressed by another pokémon who just arrived in the circle—an ursaring. The ursaring. The one that attacked me!

“Young one!” she shouted out of desperation, a small teddiursa following.

“Hello, Wynore. Good to s—”

“I need to know,” she interrupted, and Larse seemed somewhat surprised she had done so. “Please, I need you to tell me something.”

“Yes, of course. And...what is it?” he inquired.

The normal type looked deeply into his eyes, as if holding them still for her question. She had dropped to her knees and her paws rested awkwardly on his narrow shoulders. “...Lakane... Did you...did you see him? Was he...was he with you?”

Whoever ‘Lakane’ was, I was certain the ursaring had some connection to him.

“L...Lakane... Yes, I did. I was w—” he began, but again was spoken over.

“Is he alright?” she pressed, her emotion overcoming her. She was certainly more than just concerned.

“I...I was unconscious for the time I was carried off the ship, and only awoke when I touched the ocean. So...I don’t know if he safely escaped the ship...” He looked down, unable to hold his gaze upon Wynore. Sympathy stroked my heart as I watched the female bear pokémon remove her paws and trace the dirt with her eyes. She slowly got to her feet, the sadness tugging at her face. The slowpoke mulled over a thought or two and became hopeful. “But the majority of us escaped healthily, so the chances of him being alive and well are high.”

The tiny teddy pokémon beside her looked curiously at who I guessed was her mother and wore a curious expression, the crescent moon pattern on her forehead brightening under the sunlight. “Where’s Daddy?” she questioned, and the ursaring just squeezed her eyes closed, clenching her jaws.

“I...I don’t know,” she answered, avoidant of the question. “He’s...he’s coming home later.” She barely made eye contact with the cub before turning and leaving, the small normal type with a button-like nose following with one claw wedged between her lips. I watched as they pushed between more pokémon who stared at them with sympathetic gazes and turned away.

I felt my tail sag as I plonked my tush on the ground. That battle on the ship... It affected countless pokémon on the spot, but when I thought about families, friends, trainers, packs...it was awful. I felt as if a tauros had hurled himself at me, and I struggled to endure the impact. Just witnessing what happened to two pokémon was reason enough for me to not want to remember. And all those pokémon I killed? And the humans I...slaughtered... Was it all really worth it? Worth...this? All the pokémon currently surrounding me had been changed by this event. That ursaring...she may as well have lost a mate. And Larse? His parents were living proof that he was cared for deeply, as well as the rest of the colony.

I was delving too deeply into these thoughts as a voice brought me back to the spot I was standing. “Poor Wynore,” one of the pokémon pitied—a bellossom. Her voice was swimming in sadness and remorse. “To think she might have lost someone so close to us...”

“So close to us all,” the scyther spoke up, and my eyes wandered to meet his before I lowered my head. He rotated eyes, catching everyone’s glance. “He is a good pokémon...and a great friend.” A smile flickered across his face. “He will return. I think it’s fair to say that we all know Luck well enough to say that he will return!”

I nearly gagged.

The oxygen was blocked from my nostrils. I flicked my head back up, my eyes seizing his. “What?!” I blurted. He seemed shocked that I had moved so suddenly, and more so that I had intervened so obnoxiously.

He gave me a bewildered frown and a cautious flicker of his confidence seemed to waver through his eyes. “...I said he was a great pokémon.”

I was practically having a heart attack. It couldn’t be him. Yet now that I assessed it, I was shocked almost to the extent of disgust at my failure to connect Luck with the female ursaring’s mentioning of a mate before the scyther spoke. I blinked, his eyes still on mine. “Luck...as in...ursaring Luck?”

“Y-yes...” he mentioned, seemingly annoyed I had sounded so abrupt and impolite. The rest of the pokémon exchanged confused looks, some of the shrugging and some muttering, while I just stared ahead at nothing specific.

“Oh...crap.”