To Gain a Pokémon...To Lose your Heart: Prologue
To Gain a Pokémon; To Lose Your Heart; Prologue
Ilex forest was a maze. A veritable labyrinth composed of trees and steep gulleys, a result of erosion and water run-off on unstable, heavily-forested slopes. it was dark, moist, and hot, even in the middle of the day, muted shafts of light barely permeating the canopy of trees spot-lighting small circles of forest where Pokémon of all shapes and sizes would flit in and out of view.
And it was here that Greg was beginning his journey.
He was sixteen, far too old to begin his Pokémon journey in many peoples eyes, but after his father had passed away, it had been up to him to keep the family business going, that of making charcoal. He was to have been apprenticed to Kurt, the Pokéball maker, and learn his trade to keep the traditions alive, but his fathers death had caught everyone by surprise. Barely ten years old, he had given up his dreams of being a Pokémon trainer and instead taken up the axe to carve a living for himself from the forest.
He knew the outskirts rather well, what tree's to cut, the ones freshly dying, and those that were young and strong, and to be left alone. But further in, it was quieter, creepier, and unknown to him. Taking bearings from the sun was easy, but finding his way through the forest was not. His one companion was a Growlithe his family owned, a heedless, ignorant Pokémon that would burn wood to earn his dinner, but would follow no other orders. He was loyal only to Greg's long-gone father. Greg hoped to change that, over the course of their journey together, but he knew it wouldn't be easy.
The Growlithe, un-named, bounded through the tree's ahead, fluffy tail flagging behind him as he bounced, having resigned himself to his fate a few hours in to the journey.
"Not going to talk to me at all, are you?" Greg asked with a shake of his head.
The Growlithe paused a moment, and then looked at him over its shoulder. "...No." he replied flatly.
That was the one thing Greg had over other trainers...he could understand Pokémon.
"Be like that then." he said with a shake of his head, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder. The strap was beginning to cut in to his flesh. He had packed as light as he could, but still, there was so much he had to carry, especially since he was doing the equivalent of leaving home.
By Greg's estimation, they were somewhere near the heart of the forest, trekking through the darkest area's to reach Goldenrod as soon as possible. He didn't want to camp in the middle of the forest, where anything could happen...or anything could be lurking in the shadows.
But up ahead, there was some kind of commotion, a trainer battle, by the sounds of it. There were yells for attacks, and the sound of Pokémon battling amongst the tree's. Greg didn't intentionally steer towards it. If the battle ended while he was nearby, and the winner, or loser, wanted someone else to face?...He was quite certain his Growlithe wouldn't be up to the challenge.
There was a blast of fire ahead, and the scent of singeing tree's, and then a roar of anger from another Pokémon, and the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.
But now, Greg was close enough to hear what was going on.
"Kill her!" one of the trainers was demanding, his voice cold and flat. He absolutely meant what he was saying.
This confused Greg, and he shied back a little bit as another blast of fire lit up the dark forest. His Growlithe was unperturbed by the flames, but then, he was a fire-type. But killing a Pokémon? Why would anyone want to do that...?
Moving forwards further through the tree's, his Growlithe at his feet, snuffling curiously towards the action, he finally got the battle itself into view. It was a Lopunny, fighting a Ninetales.
The Ninetales was faster, but the Lopunny seemed to be winning, wearing down the fox Pokémon with quick bouncing attacks, while at the sidelines, a trainer hidden in the shadows commanded the Lopunny to kill the Ninetales with an almost sadistic fervour.
"Kill her! Kill her! Make her suffer!" he cackled.
The Lopunny was bouncing at the Ninetales, slapping her around with its large ears again and again, and dodging out of the way every time the fire Pokémon tried to retaliate with a fire attack. As Greg watched, a fire blast almost singed his clothes, passing close by and leaving small spot-fires burning amongst the fallen leaves...at this rate, they'd be lucky not to start a forest fire!
Greg realised though, as he watched, that there didn't seem to be a Pokémon trainer for the Ninetales...
The Ninetales saw him after a moment, and in that instant of distraction, the Lopunny struck a hard, vicious blow, slamming both ears together against the Ninetales skull as hard as it could, which caused a minor sonic boom centred on the fox Pokémons skull. Unconsciousness was instant.
Greg expected it to end there. Expected the Ninetales to be withdrawn by the trainer.
His Growlithe whined at him softly, worriedly. Behind them, a spot-fire took root in a tree, and suddenly, the entire forest was lit up as the fire grew in size, and Greg could see that the Ninetales had no trainer...
"Ember!" he called, pointing at the Lopunny.
His Growlithe, for once, obeyed, bounding forwards and opening his mouth wide, an ember building up in his throat. The trainer seemed momentarily taken back by the surprise attack from this unknown avenue, and could only watch as flames engulfed his Lopunny.
Greg grinned, and then his face slowly fell as she watched the Lopunny step from the dissipating flames as though they were no more than a slight nuisance, and then narrow its eyes at his Growlithe.
The little fire Pokémon gave a faint whine, and stepped backwards slightly, looking uncertainly towards Greg.
"Tackle it!" he called, as he dropped his pack and bounded over to the fallen Ninetales, gripping her around the chest and hefting her onto his shoulder, starting towards Goldenrod as fast as his legs could carry them both, trusting his Growlithe to follow him.
There was a yelp behind him, and he set the Ninetales down quickly and turned in time to see his Growlithe thrown against a tree like a fly hit with a fly-swatter, bouncing off and thudding to the ground heavily. The trainer stepped up as the Lopunny drew back a step, glowering at him through the trees as its trainer drew a wicked-looking knife from his hip.
"No..." Greg breathed, starting towards the trainer. But it was already too late. With a flick of his wrist, the trainer cut the Growlithe's throat, pausing and then looking up at Greg with an evil, twisted smile. The growlithe hadn't even made a sound.
Greg felt slightly sick in his stomach, and as if the forest had suddenly started crowding him.
"Lopunny, kill them both." the trainer stated flatly, wiping the blade on the Growlithes coat and then re-sheathing it.
There was a slight pause, as Greg and the Lopunny locked eyes, before he scooped up the Ninetales and fled as fast as he could.
Through the bushed, dodging trees and jumping fallen logs, bounding up over large tree roots and through gulleys, ever-aware of the soft pad of footsteps behind him, and the faint breathing of the Lopunny pursuing.
Greg was strong from years of woodcutting, but he wasn't fast. Not fast enough to outrun the Lopunny on foot, carrying a Pokémon that weighed as much as he did.
"Wha...what's going on?" the Ninetales asked groggily, and Greg shushed her as best he could as he leaped clear over a rotting log, landing heavily and jarring his legs.
"I'm saving your life!" he panted between harsh breaths, before something heavy and powerful slammed into his back. He was thrown clear off his feet by the blow, the Ninetales falling from his grip as he flailed for a handhold, landing hard in the soft rotting leaves and rolling repeatedly, slamming his back against a tree root and twisting himself at an unnatural angle, grimacing and arching hard at the pain.
There was the sound of rapid pawpads, and then a burning sensation across his cheek as a clawed paw slapped across his face repeatedly. His eyes opened, and he jerked his head backwards just in time to avoid an ear-clap that left his ears ringing when it barely clipped him.
The lopunny was too close now, and he lifted a leg, kicking its chest as hard as he could, pushing it clear as he tried to regain his balance and composure.
"Look...can't we just talk about this?!" he asked breathlessly.
The lopunny gave him the same sort of sadistic smile the trainer had. "Oh no, I'm supposed to kill you. I wasn't ordered to enjoy it...but that's just a bonus." it stated with glee, bounding forwards towards hims again.
Greg let the Lopunny leap at him, claws flailing at his face, and he leaned backwards, to try and make it sail over his head, but its legs tenaciously gripped him as its clawed paws slashed at his face and chest again and again, leaving ragged red lines as those large ears delivered hit after hit to his shoulders and temples.
He hit the ground hard, and let himself roll backwards further, knee's coming up and driving into the Lopunny's stomach to throw it clear, though it hung onto his neck with strong paws, so it ended up underneath him. Greg straddled its waist, snarling in pain as a claws sunk into his thigh, and delivered the hardest, most violent right straight he could to the Pokémon's face. It went limp.
Sagging to the side, he tried to inspect his wounds, rolling off the still Lopunny and crawling away a few metres, leaving a trail of blood. A warm, moist nose snuffled against his face after a moment. "Are you dead?" asked a cold, feminine voice.
Greg turned his head towards the Ninetales and gave a faint groan, trying to lift himself into a sitting position and failing. "I've been better." he admitted painfully.
The Ninetales peered at him for a moment, and then stalked over to the Lopunny, bending over her head and pausing for a few moments. A second later, a nauseating crack was heard, and Greg averted his eyes.
"...Not a fan?" he asked weakly, sizing up the Ninetales as it stalked over closer to him.
"Bitch had it coming." the fox Pokémon replied bluntly, watching him. "You saved me." she stated.
"I did what anyone would do." he replied, managing to crawl up into a sitting position, holding his neck, where a large, ragged gash was bleeding profusely.
The Ninetales snorted slightly. "I don't need any saving." she stated flatly, turning away and limping into the forest before Greg could say a word.
He watched her nine tails flick around a tree trunk, and she was gone.
A faint groan left him as he stood up shakily, still holding his neck. Blood was seeping between his fingertips, and it hurt like a bitch, but the pain was manageable, and he wasn't in danger of dying from blood loss. He decided rather quickly that he had to leave the area. He had no Pokémon, the trainer was probably still after him, and the trainers dead Lopunny was lying a few feet away. Not the best day of his life, and certainly not how he'd pictured his Pokémon journey starting.
There was a crash in the trees, and Greg sprung to his feet, wincing slightly as the movement stretched hurt muscles, readying himself for that whole fight-or-flight ultimatum.
A panicked Stantler came charging through the tree's, the leaves that rustled and fell between its antlers seeming to warp and distort before returning to normal while the Pokémon charged past, fast. Looking past the obviously scared Pokémon, Greg's eyes widened. A forest fire!
A towering inferno of fiery heat was working its way towards him, and the air suddenly became stifling, hot and thin, and his breath seemed to catch in his throat as he drew his shirt up over his nose and mouth, and began to blindly struggle towards what he hoped was the edge of the forest. Mainly though, he wanted away from the licking flames at his heels. Already, he could see embers dancing in the air in front of him, the smoke of burning greenery stinging his eyes and making his lungs hurt, begging him to stop and clear his air passageways of the clogging ash he was now inhaling.
He stumbled hard over a tree root, and went sprawling one-handed across the ground, the other hand still holding his shirt over his mouth vainly, winding him and forcing him into a hard coughing fit as he tried to regain his feet and his breath at the same time, failing both, doubling over and almost retching. The heat was getting unbearable, and his clothes seemed to be burning sheaths of cloth covering his skin, in danger of combustion themselves as his flesh began to turn pink.
Crawling on hands and knees, he tried to make it away from the searing heat licking at his sneakers, removing the grip on his shirt in favour of patting a patch of fire out on his shorts, teeth gritting in pain as he excited the coals and caused them to sear his skin, rolling over onto his back and gripping his leg, even as dancing red motes of glowing agony landed in the claw wounds on his chest, making him convulse helplessly in pain and cry out.
And then, as if his situation could get worse, something latched hard onto his wrist, teeth sinking into his flesh and beginning to tug at him. A Pokémon was attacking him in the midst of the fire storm!
Greg struggled half-heartedly, gasping for air that seemed not to reach his lungs, his vision getting dizzy and blurry, his hand clenching into a fist the last real struggle he could put up, before he passed out from pain, shock, and asphyxiation.
Nurse Joy was in the back room, gathering medical supplies, and dragging out her stock of Rawst berry extract, a smooth, blue paste often mistaken for a Pokéblock that made an excellent burn dressing, bustling out of the room with her arms laden with boxes in preparation of an influx of wounded Pokémon and people due to the fire that had started in the forest.
It was a natural part of life, and the fire actually helped seed the forest anew, and clear space for newer trees to grow, prospering new life to grow where old had whithered and burned, but she still didn't like it. It hurt, and killed, so many Pokémon...
The boxes fell from her arms, and her hands flew to her mouth as she saw a black Ninetales, teeth dripping with blood, dragging an unconscious human through her Pokécentre!
A faint groan left the man, and he tried to struggle free, and Nurse Joy made her mind up in an instant.
Greg groaned faintly as he tried to summon up the willpower to open his eyes. They were heavy, and the world tilted crazily to one side, and then the other, and a burning, stabbing pain behind his eyes told him that opening them was a very bad thing to do.
"Double-Edge!" came a command, and Greg cried out as the teeth embedded in his flesh withdrew, and he was dumped unceremoniously on a hard, slick surface.
Was this a trainer battle?
With great difficulty, his eyes managed to open, and slowly, oh-so-slowly focus on what was happening, just in time to see a black Ninetales sail past him and slam heavily into one of the tables, bouncing off with a howl of pain and a puff of black dust, before regaining her feet in time to be assaulted by a rampaging Chansey, who struck at the fox Pokémon again and again.
Snarling ferociously, the blood on her teeth giving her a very beastial look, the Ninetales drew her paw back, and swatted across the chansey's face, loosening her grip enough for the Pokémon to squirm free and land nimbly on her feet, beginning to circle, ripples of heat starting to roll off of her.
Greg weakly interposed himself between the two, holding out his unbitten wrist. "Sssss......ssss...." he croaked, swallowing hard to try and get his throat working properly. It felt like it had been replaced with sun-aged cardboard, and it was a few tense seconds before he could make any kind of sound. "Stop..." he whispered weakly.
The two Pokémon glared at eachother, but neither seemed willing to go through Greg to get at the other, and Nurse Joy interceded before any more attacks were levelled.
"Chansey, desist!" she ordered, and the pink Pokémon begrudgingly lowered her guard, walking backwards to return to her place behind the counter while warily watching the Ninetales. "I trust this is your Pokémon, then?" Nurse Joy asked him without preamble.
"Not mine." he whispered coarsely, swallowing hard a moment, staring sideways at the still-growling Ninetales. Her fur was black, oddly enough, from nose to many tailtips, and it was a moment before he realised. "She saved me." he explained as best he could, holding his hurt arm.
"You'd best lower your hackles, missy, or Chansey's kicking you out." Nurse Joy warned the Ninetales, glowering at her as she took Greg's hand and dragged him into the back room, sitting him down on a free stretcher and then pressing her hands on his chest, forcing him onto his back.
Greg winced as she immediately went to work on his bitten wrist, which was, he realised belatedly, dripping blood all over the floor. The Ninetales teeth were sharp, and she hadn't been gentle dragging him out of the fire. Once she had put gauze on his wrist, she moved onto the burns, smoothing a blue paste across them that made him gasp, and then give a low sigh of relief as pain he didn't even realise he was feeling slowly faded, and left him rather dopey and listless in its aftermath.
The Ninetales slinked through the doorway, with the chansey hot on her heels, watching her closely. Greg noted groggily that she was walking with a limp, obviously hurt from the short, vicious battle with the Chansey and too proud to admit it, or say anything.
"She needs....stuff." he croaked faintly at Nurse Joy, layig his head back on the oh-so-soft pillow with a faint grunt, and trying to keep his eyes open. The last thing he remembered seeing, before he was asleep again, was Nurse Joy and Chansey both trying to hold the Ninetales down to administer a potion to her and check her injuries.
"...I hate you." a voice stated.
Greg made a sound and opened his eyes slowly, staring at the ceiling for a moment before turning slowly towards where the voice had come from. The Ninetales was rolling on the bed next to his, deliberately digging her fur into the sheets.
"What are you doing?" Greg asked, watching as she rolled over onto her stomach to regard him. Something more interesting took his gaze right that moment, a glass of water! He snatched it up and sculled it jealously, panting for air once it was all gone and wetting his lips with his moist-again tongue.
"I am making a giant mess of this bed." she said sweetly, sticking out her tongue at the Chansey watching from the doorway. "I'm being kept for 'observation', and I figure I can at least make it hell for the bitch while I'm stuck in here."
"You not say bad things about Mistress!" the Chansey hissed, in a ludicrously high voice for such a large Pokémon.
The Pokémon shrugged, and set about rolling again, rubbing the ash out of her fur into the bedsheets, until there was a grimy gray coat to both her own fur and the sheets on the bed. They would need washing, probably several times. "There, nice and dirty." she said smugly.
Greg shook his head at her, and then tried sitting up, finding out that his arm was in a sling, frowning down at it and gingerly taking it out for a look. The potion had done its work, and the only reminder of his ordeal were pink, healing scares in a ragged circle around his wrist. All-in-all a lovely souvenir to a stellar first day as a trainer. Already got his Pokémon killed, and almost got killed.
"You dragged me out of the forest?" he asked, peering over at the Ninetales, who laying quite calmly on the bed now that she had nothing else to do.
"Well, we're even now." she said by way of answer, giving him a sideways glance, and then laying her head on her crossed forepaws, her ears pricking up to listen as she waited.
It wasn't long before Nurse Joy came and discharged them both, and a surly Chansey watched them both leave carefully, as though to make sure they weren't going to lurk and cause trouble in the centre.
Greg didn't have a pack, a Pokéball, or a Pokémon of his own now, having lost all of them in the battle and subsequent flight, and having nothing better to do, decided to go soak his feet in the ocean for a while. The Ninetales seemed to be heading in the same direction, continuing to walk towards the forest as Greg sat down at the waters edge and sighed a little bit, staring across the water, watching Magikarp pointlessly swimming back and forth in the shallows.
"...What are you doing?" Came the query, and he turned to see the Ninetales, a colour-scale of grey, white, gold and soot-black, peering at him quizzically.
"I'm...sitting." he said, with a faint shrug.
"I can see that, dolt." she snapped, eyes narrowing at him. "I mean, what are you doing? Don't you have some place to be? Somewhere to go?" she asked bluntly.
"...Nope." Greg said with a sigh and a shrug, turning back to the water and watching the sunlight ripple off it.
"Oh..." the Ninetales replied, staring at him for a long moment, an awkward silence stretching between them. "...What's it like?" she asked suddenly.
"What's what like?" he asked, confused, peering at her sideways.
"To not...have anything to do? To not have somewhere to be...or a purpose?" she asked.
"I suppose....it's liberating. I could do whatever I want at the moment...whether it be jump in the water, or beg for money to buy alcohol to drown my sorrow...but not having a direction isn't quite what it's cracked up to be." he said with a faint sigh.
"Can I..." she paused a moment, peering at him awkwardly, unsure, "Can I...sit here as well?" she asked.
"Free world...or at least, it's supposed to be free." he said, patting the ground besides him.
The Pokémon nodded once, and then moved to sit besides him, quite unsure of herself, her body tense and tailtip squirming slightly as she peered out over the ocean, twitching a little bit.
"...You're not good at the whole sitting still thing, are you?" Greg asked with a raised brow, after a few moments of silence had passed.
"It's just that I have things to do!" she whined in a sudden outburst. "And if I'm standing here staring at the water then I'm not moving any closer to accomplishing the things I need to do!" She seemed quite agitated now, her tailtips thudding against the ground a few times, before she rose to her feet and began to pace back and forth. "I can't do this." she hissed vehemently, moving away from the water and glowering at it as though it had given her great personal insult.
"You don't have to. You can go do your thing." he said, shooing her with his uninjured hand. "Go on, get out of here. And thanks for...well...making sure I wasn't turned into a fried meal for whatever found me after the fire was done." he added.
The Ninetales nodded, giving him a strange look, and then bounded away through the grass as though afraid that whatever he had was contagious.
Greg sighed faintly to himself, and then heaved himself to his feet, composing himself. It was time to ring his mother, tell her what a complete and utter failure his venture had turned out as...he had turned out as.
He walked over to the phone on the shores edge, and leaned against the wall of the booth as he hit the numbers for a reverse-call to home, the video uplink in front of him springing to life. It was good to see a familiar face after all the trouble, and he couldn't help but smile just a slight bit, even though he didn't really feel happy.
"Hey mom." he said, trying to act casual.
"Did you get into a fight?" she asked sternly, and Greg broke, beginning to admit everything at once.
"I saw a fight in the woods and I went to help but the trainers was too strong and he...he..." he trailed off, unable to bring himself to say the words.
His mother made a soothing sound. "Shhh baby, slow down, start from the beginning." she said helpfully.
Greg nodded once, took a deep breath, and then started from the beginning.
"I was...just walking. Just walking through the forest with our growlithe...and I saw a fight. This trainer was attacking a Ninetales, and I didn't want to get involved...but...the Ninetales was wild, and he was telling his Pokémon to kill it...so I had to step in, you know?" he asked, trying to seek validation for his actions.
His mother nodded but remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
Taking another deep, steadying breath, he continued. "And he obeyed me, for once, he listened to me, and attacked the trainers Pokémon...I just wanted a distraction so I could grab the Ninetales and run, and save her...but his Pokémon was too strong...and it beat Growlithe...And he..." Greg paused for a moment, trying to get the words out, his throat seeming to close up, and his eyes misting over with tears as he choked out; "H-he killed him mom! He took out a fucking knife and k-killed him right in front of me!"
He closed his eyes hard and tried to compose himself, and clear his throat, before slamming his fist into the phone booth after the phone itself. "And I couldn't do anything! I could save him! he just killed him and he's gone and it's my fault! and I'm sorry because I know it's the only Pokémon dad ever had and having him around was like having dad still in the house and I'm sorry..." he whimpered, holding the edge of the phone booth for balance and trying to remain calm and composed.
His mother made another soothing sound, "Look baby, we're going to find out who did this, and make sure he gets punished. You don't worry about it hun, I'm sure you'll be able to find another Pokémon." she soothed.
"I lost everything..." he murmured, shaking his head. "My backpack, my Pokéballs, my Pokédex...I lost it all in the fire..."
"I'll send you some money and you can catch a ride home with the next Rapidash courier that comes through." she said, as soothingly as possible, and Greg nodded dumbly, with nowhere else to turn.
"...I want to go with you." a voice said from behind him, and his head lifted a little bit to peer back at the Ninetales, his brow furrowing as he hastily tried to wipe his nose and clear his throat, composing himself self-consciously.
"W-why do you wanna do that?" he asked, staring at her. She was sitting there awkwardly, head slightly downturned, and her ears splayed fully backwards as though unsure of herself.
"I...don't know." she said with a shake of her head, "But I want to go with you, and I'm a Pokémon. Don't turn down help when it's offered." she said evasively.
Greg didn't push the subject any further, just shaking his head once and turning back to the phone.
"Mom? I've...maybe got a way to keep going...I'm going to see if it works out...can you please send some money, and I'll pay you back? I promise."
The Ninetales watched him with those ruby-red eyes of hers, her expression unreadable.