FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 18

The creature that steps out of the grasses seems to be some purple pokemon that is easily larger than all of us by a good margin, at least twice my size and almost half the size again of Allen. A bunch of spines adorn his back as well as a long thin horn around the center of his forehead. On top of that his ears both seem to be considerably larger than even Shoul's large ears but also much flatter in general shape. Even without seeing the anger and intensity in his eyes the sheer look of him unnerves me, as if some part of me is telling me that not only is he dangerous but I'd be much better off just running away than trying to fight this person.

"Greetings," Allen waves as he and I begin moving in opposite directions in an attempt to surround him. "What brings you to this neck of the woods."

"Be quiet trainer filth!" he scowls.

"What did you call me?" Allen shouts back.

"You're just like all the rest of them. You don't care about our people. This is all a game to you, isn't it?"

"It's not like that," I try to defend our position, not entirely sure what he meant.

"You don't count," he retorts at me. "You don't get a say in the matter. You're just one of his slaves, willing or otherwise. That's all we are to humans. They sic slaves against the free pokemon. If they are impressed they enslave that one into a life of nothing but having to fight."

"Is this about us attacking all those bugs?' I ask.

"No, I don't care all that much about that. For all I can tell they seem to enjoy being beaten up this time of year. Can't fault someone for doing something to someone that they seem to enjoy. Heck to do otherwise I'd be a hypocrite as I myself will indulge them of a beating for sport." The purple individual half chuckles.

"Then why?" Sanaline asks.

"There is a human phrase I had heard a long time ago. 'Animals are considered vicious if they will defend themselves when they think you're going to harm them.' Pokemon are treated in much the same way. So long as we play by their rules and never put up a real fight they'll let us be. We'd be free to be under the constant threat of being randomly attacked and potentially enslaved just for their enjoyment. We're not allowed to properly defend ourselves from such actions. If they move to chop down the trees we must let them. If they build a dam that will flood the nearby wildlife we have to let them without putting up any resistance. If we do anything to try and preserve our way of life, if we put up any fight for this rampant destruction we are labeled rogues and hunted down. That is the way things are."

I am somewhat taken back by the words. I open my mouth to speak but it takes me a while to get the words to fight back the emotions enough to speak.

"But that doesn't give you the right to just go about attacking everyone you can find."

"And who will?" He confronts, taking a step towards us. "Do you think that any of the others will stand up? If I only attacked the worst offenders how far do you think I'd be able to get? They aren't exactly easy to find. But if I take on all of them, show them all that there are consequences to their actions then they'll be far less likely to take us for granted. And if I can remove enough trainers from the equation then I'll hopefully get more pokemon to rally behind me. If I get enough to stand and fight the humans, to rise up against our injustice then they'll know that they can't just walk all over us and expect us to just take it anymore."

"And don't you think that trying to instigate a war against the humans is a rather foolish endeavor?" Allen retorts.

"Whether or not a cause is foolish can only be determined if it accomplishes anything."

"That's my point," Allen responds. "If nothing happens then your efforts are futile. If you do manage to start a war the humans will simply decide we aren't worth keeping around anymore and slaughter thousands of us.'

"A war is going to happen anyway. When a people are oppressed for long enough they will inevitably revolt. That is simply the way of things. All we need is to have the right catalyst and then the entire thing will begin."

"So then are you going to let us go? Was your intention just to try and recruit us to your cause?"

"No. I don't need the assistance of such weaklings."

"Then why come to us?"

"Because I was a while ago unsure as to whether to let you go or not. I saw pretty quickly your fight between the two yellow members of your group. I was tempted to let you go because you were pokemon and likely wouldn't have acted the same way as the humans do but watching how you treat your friends," he gestures at Allen, "I'm almost positive that such is not the case. That you are going to be exactly the same as all trainers."

"Look," Allen states again as he manages to keep the purple pokemon facing him while Shoul and I have moved to opposite sides of him. Sanaline is busy trying to push the bag as much as she can away from the group. "I don't really care what you think of us. Sparkles over there is a fire type. I'm a water type. Stop saying that how I treat him has anything more to do with anything than that. But what you're doing is wrong and will only lead to more deaths. What I'm trying to do is prove we can be equals, prove that we are being wronged the right way."

"And I don't care what your reasons are. I don't care what delusion you've convinced yourself. Your path would have you walk over defenseless pokemon just like all the other humans. It's even worse because you can see what you're doing. And for that I'm going to have to kill you lot now."

I'm the first one to make a move. Having watched the conversation as soon as I could see that we wouldn't be able to talk our way out of this I began to build up a flame inside my mouth, letting it burn hotter and hotter. As soon as I could see the rogue just about to attack I open my mouth and push all of that flame right out at where he was going to be. My attack does cause him to jump back. But with my attack his intent to attack again seems to wane. But with the look in his eyes it doesn't seem like he's actually going to back down. Instead it seems more about being cautious and sizing us up. Knowing this and having complete faith in this strange ability of mine to see attacks before they happen I build up another flame but do not release it. Allen and Shoul, however, fire off one of their attacks as soon as they are able, each aiming at the purple pokemon. The rogue doesn't retaliate but instead simply seems to watch them and dodge the attacks as best he can, though a few manage to graze him and they do seem to be getting much more accurate.

I puzzle over this for a while and just as I figure it out he begins to charge at Allen right after he's unleashed his attack. I unleash my flame at him and he manages to dodge it considering how far away I am from him but it did slow him down enough that Allen could dodge the rogue's charge and quickly runs the other way until he's back at a comfortable distance.

"He's timing our attacks!" I warn, though I'm pretty sure it's too little too late.

Having had several attacks from both Allen and Shoul I'm sure the rogue now knows exactly how long it will take either of them to attack. Even if they started changing up their interval he'd still know the minimum amount of time they'd need and should be able to react accordingly. Which means the only variable left in this situation is myself. Since I had fired only two shots at him, both right in front of where he was going he wouldn't have figured out how quickly I can attack yet. But if he pressed too hard and kept going after them I'm sure he'd be able to find my timing too and then we'd lose even that small advantage. In order to maintain it I know I'm going to have to do the difficult thing and actually not block for Allen and Shoul anymore and instead work on timing it to where I know I can hit him.

To increase my chances of which I move in closer a bit, making myself the more viable target as I also try to continue flanking him so that I'm directly behind him. However, he doesn't seem to take the bait but instead waits a moment until it'd be the soonest that Shoul and Allen can attack again. Sanaline begins using the time to no longer trying to protect the bag itself as it's too big for her to move but rather to fish the balls and the device out and move them away one at a time to a place she can better protect. I appreciate her thoughtfulness since it'd be a lot easier for her to protect the part that's important than protect them and the bag.

The rogue manages to get in close enough to Shoul that instead of attacking Shoul turns and tries to avoid being hit. I am too close to the fastest I can fire off a shot to risk using it to try and save Shoul and so I decide that I'll just have to hold it for now. Shoul gets hit by the charge and sent into the air. He stares at me a moment before continuing his onslaught of Shoul. Knowing that he will be in a lot of trouble if I don't do anything to help him I unleash my flame to stop the attack. As soon as I do so the rogue turns to charge against me, shrugging off a hit by Allen in the process as he gets very close to me.

I put as much faith into my body as I possibly can as he continues to charge at me. I can see the motions he's going to take even before he takes them but he's too fast for me to reasonably react in a conscious effort. Instead I simply let my instincts take over and move me around as I focus all of my attention on keeping my eyes on him and building up another ball of flame in my mouth for when I reach the best chance to have some effect. Since he is so close and knowing what would happen if he hit me Allen stops firing off his water attacks though Shoul still attacks with his.

"You're pretty good. You've got good instincts," the rogue half laughs as he keeps up his assault on me.

I find it somewhat disheartening to think that I'm putting everything I have into avoiding getting hit and yet he's able to keep it up and can even laugh at it. I take that as just a good enough example of just how much outmatched I am by him and knowing that I know for certain that though these eyes allow me to see his motions for now eventually I'll tire out long before he has. Even this small drop in my concentration allows him to get in close enough to slash his claws against my nose, drawing blood and almost making me open my mouth and unleash my flame too early.

"Still too inexperienced, though, considering such a simple discussion makes you slow down significantly."

I manage to catch a break as one of Shoul's attacks manage to be particularly accurate and causes the purple pokemon to hesitate from the pain for a moment, giving me enough time to unleash my attack right at his face without any worry of missing. Right after releasing it I quickly turn and run away from him as directly as I can while still keeping him in the corner of my eye just in case. With me no longer in danger of being hit by his attack Allen unleashes his own water attack at the rogue, hitting him in the side with him stopped just as well.

Even though I am starting to build up another flame within me I stop completely in my tracks once I'm certain that I've gotten far enough away in order to take a look at the rogue. In particular I'm trying to see how much change there is in how he acts and moves after having taken a direct hit from all three of us. This will give me a good idea of how the fight will turn out. If he's severely weakened by the attacks then we might have a chance of winning. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. Though dazed a bit and clearly enraged at the fact we managed to all hit him he doesn't seem to be any worse for wear. In fact given how he's moving at most he might only get a bruise or two from our combined attacks. At which case the only chance we have of surviving is if Caleb comes back with people with strong enough pokemon to handle him or we come up with a stronger attack against him.

"Well that hurt. Let's handle this another way," he states before a cruel grin begins to cross his face.

The smile is definitely unnerving but I maintain my resolve and continue building a flame in my mouth. He charges at us again but that grin doesn't change. At first I'm thinking he might charge at me again but instead as he approaches us he waits a moment and then suddenly veers off and begins heading at Sanaline who had managed to get quite a bit of distance away from both us and him. Allen and Shoul apparently notice this just as quickly as I do as Allen tries to intersperse himself between the rogue and himself, as does Shoul. I however know that simply standing in his way won't do enough but I rush towards Sanaline, hoping to try and maybe carry her and the balls off. If Allen and Shoul can even delay him a bit I might have a chance at reaching her.

Unfortunately he doesn't even slow down as he plows through both and I unleash my fire at his back but that doesn't even phase him. At the rate he's going I won't even have a chance at reaching her. Instead of running away to protect herself Sanaline turns around and faces the rogue, slowly pushing the balls behind her.

Knowing full well the risk of doing so I begin to burn my entire body as hot as I can as I begin to rush right after the purple pokemon, trying to cut him off before he can reach Sanaline and our stuff. I can see from my legs in front of me that I've managed to get my body to burn hot enough that it's starting to glow and I'm already having trouble maintaining the focus to keep it at this temperature. Even still I run as hard as I can towards him, panting as I do so. Seeing what I'm doing and knowing he can't do anything to help Allen unleashes a blast of water right at Sanaline and the balls, much to her displeasure. But the force from the attack does manage to push them far enough away from the purple pokemon that I'm able to get to him before he can get at Sanaline. Instead of attacking with my mouth I rush to the most dangerous part of him with my head aimed low.

This measure carries with it a lot of risk. Not only does it put me in range of the rogue's teeth and claws but it's something that I can only use once and then I'm more or less out of the fight. If I miss then there is almost no chance that we could survive without aid. Having seen me he opens his jaw and bites down onto my neck but I don't make a sound and instead rotate my body so that it lies as close to his as possible before purging as much of my body's inner flame as I can.