Pokémon: Nemesis [PG-13]

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Pokemon Nemesis

For Jaye, a better friend than I deserved,

Chapter One
Silently, I snuck through the streets of the city, keeping my eyes peeled for both opportunities to fill my stomach and obstacles to that goal. However, as I darted through bushes and behind trashcans, I found neither. My patience was wearing thin and soon people would be waking up. I had to either find a suitable target in the next fifteen minutes or start foraging for berries. Suddenly, two aromas wafted into my nose: the smell of fresh produce, and of humans. I focused on the former, following it into a nearby alley. I saw a trashcan nearly overflowing with refuse, but that wasn’t the source of these delicious smells, which were growing fainter by the moment. Besides, it was going to be a dark day if I started digging through dumpsters for my meals. My eyes caught sight of a steel door closing and my other sense told me that the food was beyond it.

Well, I was not about to miss out on this bounty. I poured all of my energy into dashing towards the closing door. With each sound of my paws hitting the ground, I felt my window of opportunity shrink. But I was only going to get one shot at this and it had to work. When I felt the distance was just right, I leaped at the shrinking opening between door and frame, putting every ounce of stamina that remained into my hind legs and made the jump. I doubted I would make it, but as I sped through the air, I felt no abrupt stop or rush of pain that one would associate with hitting a metal door at high speed. Instead, my paws hit a tiled floor and I scrambled to gain purchase on the slick, freshly mopped surface. I was wholly impressed with my feat and took a second to bask in my pride, that is, until the door closed on my tail.

I bit my tongue and grimaced to prevent myself from crying out in pain. Any sound could alert any humans in here to my presence. So slowly I pushed back against the door, grunting until it opened just a crack more and my tail could be pulled free. After I retrieved my appendage, I waited until I heard the click that meant that the door had been secured. The sound was painfully loud to my nervous ears, but no alarm was raised and no human came to investigate. I gave a sigh of relief and decided to take a look around and see if there was any food ripe for the picking.

The room I was currently in was nothing more than a hallway leading to the alley I had entered from. No, there was nothing of interest in here to me. But beyond this room, the smell of food was overpowering and I knew at once that my hunger would be satisfied. Cautiously, I stepped into a large, brightly lit area. Aisles full of food stretched from one end to the other, and I guessed that I must be in a supermarket or a fallout shelter. Either way, the owners probably wouldn’t miss a couple of apples, or a few boxes of crackers, or a jar of peanut butter. My stomach growled. It had been awhile since I had such a variety of choices. The key, I had to remind myself, was not to get too greedy. I would eat my fill and take some extra food for later. With any luck, I could keep coming back over the next few days until they discovered me or ran out of food, whichever came first.

There wasn’t much time though, so I hastily made my way over to the rows of fresh fruit and dived headfirst into a pile of juicy red apples. I grasped the first one in both of my paws and sank my teeth into the fruit, resulting in a loud crunch that was both satisfying and the loudest noise in the whole store. With the delicious taste of apple in my mouth, any worries about being discovered were pushed from my mind, and I finished the fruit and shoved its core deep into the pile, hiding the evidence of my theft. Then, wiping away the juice that had leaked onto my face, I started in on the next piece of fruit. I continued my feast, finishing off at least half a dozen more apples and bloating myself on sweet fruit.

After I had eaten my fill, I hopped onto the floor of the store. My stomach may have been full, but I was willing to keep an open mind about dessert and see what I had to choose from. Besides, I could always take it with me as a back-up plan if the restaurants and few tourists weren’t feeling very generous. So, I perked up my ears and listened for any signs of life besides myself. From what I gathered, there were very few people in the store, but none of them were close enough to provide any real danger of discovery. Satisfied, I wandered from aisle to aisle, looking for something to treat my sweet tooth with. There was a row of shelves that claimed to specialize in Pokémon toys, food, and treats, but one whiff and I was onto the next aisle.

Scanning the other aisles and searching for something both delicious and easy enough to carry back to the forest where I lived, I was about to settle for some sour cream and onion potato chips when I saw it. My jaw dropped open and my eyes widened. I never thought that I would see it again, not after the class action lawsuit, but there it was. I dropped to all fours and scampered to the object of my affection to gaze upon its glory. My paws extended slowly towards the brown cardboard box that housed my favorite cereal, Double Diglett Bites, with fifteen percent more marshmallows for a limited time only.

I clutched the box close to me, content with my prize, but this moment of tranquility was shattered by the sound of footsteps echoing off of the polished floor. I was in the middle of the cereal aisle with nowhere to hide. Combining the data from my ears with a couple of sniffs of my powerful nose, I discerned that there was a human less than two aisles away and quickly closing the distance. I had no choice but to make a dash for it. Hopefully, I could get away without a trace and with my Double Diglett Bites and survive to pilfer again. I clutched the brown box to my chest with one paw and dropped down on my other three and ran to the far end of the aisle and ducked around the corner, seconds before the human passed my aisle. Relieved, I leaned myself against a two-for-one special on family-sized cereal boxes, panting to catch my breath.

But my respite was cut short as the footsteps abruptly stopped, and then began again, this time drawing nearer instead of fading in volume. I was frozen by nerves until I heard them turn into the aisle I had just left. Discovery was almost inevitable now, unless I could make a very speedy escape. Preparing to risk it, I crouched low and shifted the weight of the Double Diglett Bites only to hear a young woman’s voice shouting. I looked behind me, confused why I had been discovered early and saw my tail was jutting out from behind my cover. The troublesome appendage was beginning to get on my nerves, but self-mutilation would have to be considered another time. Right now, I had to salvage the situation, otherwise I would find myself put in a pound until someone decided I would make the perfect gift to some obnoxious kid with delusions of being a Pokémon trainer.

Well, there was no way I would let the happen, so I stepped into the open space, revealing myself to my opponent, a teenage female who appeared to put more effort into her appearance than anything else, including her job. Our eyes met and narrowed. I had no need to resort to violence, but time was not on my side considering that any commotion would be likely to draw a crowd. Most humans didn’t pose much of a challenge on their own, it was only in numbers that they became an issue. Hopefully she didn’t want a scene any more than I did, but either way I was confident in my ability to escape. I had spent much of my life on the streets, I could take one gangly clerk.

The human made the first move, leaping at me with surprising speed. I guess she was hoping to subdue me with her size and strength, but unfortunately for her, it was just what I had expected. I tucked my cereal to my chest and dived out of the way, recovering with a graceful roll. The female was less elegant and hit the tile with a dull thud and a groan. I grinned at her stunned form and thought about grabbing another piece of food off of the shelf. Then I figured that she had been humiliated enough so I dropped to the ground and rushed to the front door. “Somebody stop that Pikachu!” she cried, but it was too late. The few people near the check-out area were too far away and too stunned to even make an attempt to apprehend me. So, I gave the sprawled-out human a grin and walked to the door, my Double Diglett Bites under my arm.

I pushed on the glass, but it didn’t budge. I pushed a little harder, but still nothing. My ears twitched, picking up the sound of the girl getting to her feet. Sweating, I continued to frantically bang on the door, but to no avail. When I turned to check on the human, I saw her advancing toward me slowly, a smile spreading across her face. I abandoned trying to get the door and instead shrunk up against it, trying to think of a way to get out of the situation I had found myself in. The grocery store’s customers had drawn closer to witness the showdown, cutting off most of my plans of escape. I closed my eyes as the girl took another step closer. My only way out would be to use my electrical attacks. I started to charge up, feeling warmth flood my cheeks as sparks started to dance across their crimson surface. I opened my eyes, ready to launch my attack, but as soon as the clerk stepped onto the carpeted mat I was standing on, I felt a whoosh of air as the door behind me opened up.

Startled, I fell backward, narrowly dodging the outstretched manicured hands and leaving them grasping empty air. For the moment, I was in relative safety. Now it was time to keep the trend going. First, I heaved my box of cereal into the air, and then I embraced my descent, turning my fall into a somersault and plucking the Diglett Bites out of the air as I recovered. Finally, sinking back down to all fours, I ran from the grocery store and back to my home in the forest to the north. My heart beat a tattoo into my chest as I ducked and swerved between pedestrians, vehicles, and other obstacles. I had almost been caught. Even if I had my prize, that fact still remained. Maybe it was because I was getting sloppy, or, even worse, old. As I mulled this over, I reached the edge of the city limits, marked by an oppressively cheerful sign marked “You Are Now Leaving Viridian City, Please Come Again!” Beyond it lay the vast expanse of forest that I, and many other Pokémon, called home.

Not that I had much dealing with the others. They all seemed to be content to stay within the forest, eat a diet of leaves and berries, and wait for some human to come traipsing along and capture them. Not me. We didn’t see eye-to-eye on more than that, and, after a few scrapes, I moved my home far away from the rest of them. Because they were wary of humans, the farthest I could get from them was just on the edge of the forest, where the pavement and grasses were cut off by a thick cordon of trees. I had found a nice little nook just inside the woods, bordered by thick brambles and a heavy canopy above. I was safe there, no one bothered me, and no one knew of my hidden spot.

At least that’s what I thought until I squeezed past the thorns and saw her floating just a few inches off of the grass that served as my living room. “Oh, hello!” she said, turning to me with a swish of her pink tail. “I’m Mew.”

(Special thanks to Xanthe for betaing.)