Chapter 3: Boom!
#3 of Pokemon Rangers 2: Eddies: A pokemon story.
Many things about the entire situation remain confusing, even to this day.
As an example, after the initial fallout following their arrival had subsided, where did the creatures go? Given only speculation remains as to their eventual fate, was the government involved, or had they simply vanished as mysteriously as they arrived?
Or are they living amongst us still, hidden from the prying eyes of the general populace by those sworn to protect them?
Perhaps we'll never know, just as it's as unlikely we'll ever be told the real truth as to their mysterious presence in our world. The government has covered it up, the people involved remain mute, and the creatures themselves; these pokemon; are the biggest enigma of the lot.
At least their presence here has answered one important question that's plagued humanity since the dawn of its creation.
We are not alone.
Perhaps we never have been.
Eddies
Chapter 3: Boom!
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
The audible "thwack" that resounded through the cabin as Chris's head ricocheted of the back wall of the cage caused even Skyy to wince.
Rubbing his head with his good arm, with his injured shoulder screaming out at the abuse, it took a moment for the stars in Chris's vision to clear enough for him to make out the creature regarding him from one elbow, raising its head to look at him in puzzlement through its good eye. Pointing a shaking finger at the thing, Chris was suddenly lost for words, but managed a stammered.."Whaaa..." before his mind settled enough to take stock of the situation fully.
"You talked!" he spluttered, as Skyy watched the shaking finger pointing at him with tired amusement.
"Yeah, so do you, apparently. Not very coherently, but who am I to argue" he replied, trying to raise himself further, only to groan painfully as his injuries left him effectively immobile.
Chris sat stunned, watching the struggles, before cautiously moving forward on good hand and knees to put an arm under its own, raising it up to sit, gasping, against the cage wall before him.
"Oooooh, fuck, that hurts!", Skyy groaned, pressing his free hand to his chest as his fractured ribs bit painfully into his chest. Chris paused, before tentatively running hands across its front, probing with cautious fingers as the creature sat numbly under his ministrations, wincing as Chris hit an especially tender area. As his injuries were explored, Skyy looked at his cage companion with initially confusion, then curiosity, as the scent of the human made itself obvious to his extremely sensitive nose. When Chris looked up to find the sniffing nose mere inches from his face, he grinned suddenly, watching the embarrassed creature pull away and shut its eyes.
"Sorry," Skyy said, breaking the silence with the first thing to come to mind. "Uhhh, you smell funny" he said, shutting his eye again as he realised how corny that had sounded.
Chris eyed the fox thing with a further smile, returning to checking its legs and arms carefully. "Yeah, well you ain't smelling like any bed of roses either, mate" he replied, before grabbing its shoulders as he moved its knee too vigorously, eliciting a yelp from the thing.
"Damn, sorry. I don't think it's broken, but you're pretty well fucked up, otherwise".
Skyy shuddered, turning an eye to the unconscious bulk of the human outside the cage. "Well, would have been a lot more fucked up if that piece of shit had kept at me." Eyeing Chris carefully, he said quietly. "So... umm... thanks then".
Chris nodded absently, continuing his exploration of the creature, trying to ignore the blood that coated his hands as he ran it through the dense fur looking for the more serious injuries.
Skyy sniffed again, wrinkling his muzzle in confusion. The thing was, this human really did smell weird. He had a faint metallic taint overlaying the normal pungent human smell that differed from anything Skyy had encountered before. Not that he'd had much experience around them, given most of them were generally "to be avoided at all cost" arseholes, not to mention the fact they normally smelt pretty damned awful. However, this one didn't reek like most of them. It just smelt...weird.
Chris finished his exploratory, finding nothing particularly life threatening, although the creature certainly had the snot beaten out of it. The ribs would heal, although painfully, and most of the bruises were deep but not debilitating. The cuts were another matter; the deep gash on its side, and another on its thigh, were particularly nasty, and he knew they'd need to be bound, and preferably stitched, before the tissue became so oedematous the wound edges couldn't be brought together. Having his own fair share of deep cuts over the years, he knew time was of the essence in getting them sealed up. Sitting back, he eyed the creature thoughtfully, and said "OK, you'll live, but we need to get these cleaned and bound up pronto. Think you can walk?"
Skyy looked down at himself doubtfully, before steeling his nerves and replied "I'll bloody well crawl out of this shithole if I need to", reaching out and grabbing Chris's arm to help himself up.
Unfortunately, he'd chosen the bad arm, sending Chris crashing on top of him with a yelp of pain.
"Shiiiii...." Chris cried, rolling off the creature to lie, dazed, on the floor on his back. When he opened his eyes to a snouted face staring down at him in concern, he groaned and tried sitting up, struggling to a point where his back was against the cage wall. As he got his breath, Skyy eyed him again, staring at the shoulder after noticing the sling hanging down his chest.
"Umm, shit. Sorry. I didn't know..." he began, but Chris waved away his apology. Turning towards him, he gave a wry smile, holding out his good hand and said "It's OK, honest. I had a little accident yesterday. Dislocated it. But I'm Chris."
Looking at the human's outstretched hand dubiously, the pokemon took a deep breath, before returning the grasp with a paw. "Skyy. Now, let's get out of this place, before the big prick over there wakes up, huh?"
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Getting "out" wasn't quite as easy as they thought. Bravado aside, Skyy wasn't up to much more exertion than falling in a heap somewhere, and with Chris having to support him with only his good arm, his back and shoulder were soon aching from the exertion. It took over ten minutes for them to reach the area he'd dumped his backpack, where they both sighed in relief as he lowered Skyy to the ground, leaning him against the trailer side as the pair caught their breath.
Looking exhausted, Skyy groaned as Chris used what was left of his first aid kit to bandage the wounds. The smaller contusions he left alone, as the kit contents were soon used up on the larger wounds. While the adhesive bandage tape would make a hell of a mess of his fur, and would certainly be a bitch to remove when the dressing needed changing, at least it stopped the bulk of the bleeding, although gore continued to seep slowly through the bandage to dampen the fabric. The entire time the pokemon watched the human go about his administrations silently, lip curling a few times during the more painful moments of the process, but otherwise keeping still. When Chris was finally finished, he turned to Skyy and muttered "We can't stay here, though. That shithead will be getting up at some time, and who knows who went where in the truck, or when they'll be back"
Skyy nodded, cringing at the thought of more walking, but determined to get as far from this place as possible.
"There were two of them", he said, reaching down to trace a claw across his bandaged thigh, the fabric deforming slightly under the pressure. "They caught me up at Euregon Ridge. I was pretty much exhausted, and didn't check the area before I made for the bushes to eat. Stupid, really...." he trailed of, looking again at Chris as the human grunted and nodded.
"So, what did they want you for, anyway", Skyy was asked, and he turned to Chris with surprise at his ignorance.
"It's the pelt they wanted, of course. Lucario aren't exactly common around here!"
Chris's eyes narrowed at the words. "They were going to kill you for your skin? But you can talk!"
"So? Since when has that made a difference? Humans kill pokemon all the time! At least I hope they'd have killed me first"
Chris stuttered, suddenly at a loss for words. "But that's... that's really fucked up!"
The lucario turned to him fully, realising he was shocked and not just putting it on. "Human's take what they want. That's the way it's always been here."
Chris went to respond defensively, then paused, realising that there were plenty of people he knew back home who did exactly that, although the thought of killing something sentient was abhorrent to him. He sighed then, reaching out a hand and gripping Skyy's shoulder firmly. "I don't", he said, as Skyy looked at him wordlessly before nodding.
The pair returned to their rest before Chris groaned, getting up carefully and slinging the backpack over his good shoulder. Reaching out an arm to the surprised creature, he took its outstretched hand in his own, cautiously helping him to his feet before wrapping an arm around his waist in support. As the pair hobbled back down the track towards the campsite of the previous night, Chris turned to Skyy with a furrowed brow, and asked "Umm, so what's a lucario?"
"What do you mean, what's a lucario??"
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It took an hour for the pair to find their way back to the rock pool Chris had fallen into the day before. By the time they arrived, Skyy in particular was exhausted, and Chris was forced to practically carry him the final few hundred meters to the small clearing in which he'd slept the previous evening. Dumping his bag unceremoniously on the ground, he propped Skyy against a nearby tree, rummaging through the pack for something to eat and drink. Passing the canteen to the lucario, who struggled for a while with the unfamiliar screw top before greedily swallowing the water inside, Chris scavenged some energy bars for them to eat, watching as his companion's initial tentative bite turned into ravenous consumption. Once three empty wrappers lay discarded beside him, Skyy sighed, shutting his eyes in bliss as his stomach was full for the first time in weeks. Aware of Chris's intent stare, he returned the look as the human suddenly looked away, suddenly absorbed with his own eating.
"So, you pokemon can all talk?"
"To each other? Yeah. To humans? Only a few different species of us can do that."
Chris pondered the implications of this new knowledge. "You mean, even though people here know you can speak, and can think, they still hunt and trap you? That's barbaric!"
Skyy looked at him, straining with his good eye to see if the human was joking.
"Don't they treat pokemon like that from where you're from?" he asked, curiously.
Chris sighed, leaning against the tree across from Skyy, and said "We don't have any pokemon where I'm from."
"What? You're joking!"
"Seriously! You're the first I've ever seen. Hell, you're the first non-human I've ever met who can talk back to me."
Skyy went to respond, but paused. The human had no reason to lie to him, and certainly seemed intent on his wellbeing. Plus, there was the odd scent surrounding him Skyy had not been able to place. He was an enigma, for certain.
"Perhaps you'd better fill me in on how you got to this part of the world" he asked, as Chris settled back and began his explanation.
"Well, it began when I went out for a ride on my motorbike, and nearly hit this huge yellow rat that kept yelling "pickle" at me..."
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"So what do we do now?" said Chris, his bizarre story ended, leaving the lucario bewildered. Unlikely though the story sounded, it managed to explain much of the confusion surrounding his new companion, and was probably too crazy to be anything but plausible.
Shaking his head clear, Skyy took a moment to think about the options they had. Returning to the lucario colony way up north was an option, but given his present dilapidated state, was likely to be incredibly difficult. Avoiding the humans was his own personal priority, although this didn't help Chris out of his present predicament.
Regardless, sitting on their collective arses was no choice, even though it sounded perfect wonderful to the exhausted pokemon. More of a worry, staying here was a decided danger, with those redneck trappers likely to come looking for them as soon as they could. In all, it was a real dilemma. He continued pondering it as his eyes slipped shut, sending him into an exhausted sleep.
Hearing his companion's sudden snores, Chris decided that moving today was not a real option. The morning was over, and the few hours of daylight remaining made it unlikely they'd reach anywhere better to camp than where they current were, in the condition they were in. Water was plentiful, and he had enough food to last the pair a few more days, at least. What they needed was rest.
Decision made, Chris pulled the tent out of his backpack, using the remaining guy ropes to string it up to the branches above, so that it at least basically resembled its assembled state. Throwing the backpack inside, he returned to the sleeping lucario, shaking his shoulder gently as the eyelid fluttered open, bleary red iris regarding him in sleepy confusion.
"Whaaa..." Skyy mumbled, as Chris helped him to his feet, wary the creature didn't fall down in his current state.
"Come on, mate. Let's get you inside. You can sleep to your heart's content then"
As Skyy was lowered to the ground, snuggling his head against Chris's backpack, he barely mumbled a reply before unconscious took him again.
Eyeing the sleeping creature thoughtfully, Chris turned back towards the water and began scavenging wood for a fire. Rough it they might, but there was no reason to be cold when doing it. It took a while to drag enough timber to the clearing to make a fire, and even longer to get the bloody thing lit. But soon enough he found himself leaning back against a tree in the early evening chill, toes toasty as they wriggled in their socks before the blaze, and the closest thing to a contented smile he'd experienced since arriving here crossing his features. As his own eyes finally shut and sleep overcame him, his thoughts drifted towards Skyy, and the strange, amazing world he'd encountered. Sure, he wasn't "in Kansas anymore, Toto" but at least he'd found a travelling companion who might be able to help him get home again.
Eventually, anyway. Once he'd had a chance to explore the place first, that is...
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A hard, sharp slap across the face woke him from sleep, head spinning as sparks clouded his vision. Snorting in surprise, he opened his eyes only to behold the gruesome face of the redneck they'd encountered in the cabin, hovering over him menacingly. As he attempted to rise, John drew back a meaty arm, landing a punch to his cheekbone that sent him sprawling back across the dirt.
Spitting gravel while nursing his cheek, Chris spluttered an objection, cut off as a hard leather boot landed in his side, throwing him towards the drop off to the lake. His injured shoulder screamed protest as he peered back towards their makeshift campsite, seeing a second human tearing open the zippered entry to the tent, and dragging the partially conscious lucario out into the open.
Regardless he was unable to help the injured pokemon, as his own problems were looming aggressively over him. "I'm gonna kill you, you little bastard!" he spat at Chris, who narrowly escaped another impact from the boot by rolling down the drop off into the water.
"Yeah, I should've smacked that ugly maw of yours a damn sight harder down your throat, arsehole" Chris swore in return, retreating into the quickly deepening water as his attacker jumped down bank before him, fists clenched in anger. Dried blood marred the human's face, clear evident of his previous injury, and Chris gave him a forced grin, trying to delay the human in any way possible. "Next time, I'll beat a lot more of the ugly out of it for you!"
With another bellow, the human launched himself at Chris, arms outstretched to grab his throat. As they landed into the deeper water, the meaty fingers closed around Chris's windpipe, cutting off his air as he was forced beneath the surface.
Stars began forming in Chris's vision as his oxygen starved brain registered that the pool might end up his final resting place. Good arm grabbing the wrists holding him, he wrenched at the fingers to no avail, before reaching forward to claw at the others face. With vision blacking out he took his last resort, grabbed at his rear pocket, searching frantically for his folding survival knife. Fumbling it open with one hand was difficult, but with his remaining strength, he thrust it hard into the abdomen of his attacker, followed by a second and third thrust, until the restricting hands loosened, then gave way. The twitching body of his assailant dropped into the water beside him, leeching red into the murky water, as Chris watched in shock.
With feet contacting the bottom of the lake he pushed upwards, desperate to gain the surface and life-giving air. The gasp as he broke from the water echoed throughout the clearing, and as he began a painful paddling towards the shore, he saw the other human break off his attack on Skyy to race across the clearing to the water's edge.
As Chris dropped exhausted and gasping onto the bank below him, the man began a frantic scanning of the water. "John!! Where are ya!" he shouted, but as the seconds ticked by without a response, he turned his gaze back to Chris, a look of pure fury in his face.
"Where's my fucking brother!" Bob shrieked, drawing a much larger knife from a sheath at his waist and lunging at Chris, who rolled frantically out of the way. Gaining his feet, he staggered back into the water, attempting to avoid the thrusts of the huge blade swung at him. Having lost his knife in the earlier scuffle, Chris began a desperate search out of the corner of his eye for something... anything... that might keep this crazy away, while dodging the blade parting the air in front of him.
For long moments he successfully avoided his attacker, until a sunken root ended his retreat, sending him sprawling onto his back as the redneck loomed over him, knife raised for the coup de grace. Unable to escape, Chris closed his eyes and waited for the finale, pleading to the PTB's for a miracle, when the clearing was rocked by a thundering heat blast, accompanied by a brilliant blue flash of light bright enough to penetrate his closed eyelids. As the shock receded, he opened them frantically, staring in disbelief at the human straddling him, who stood dumbstruck staring down at the gaping hole blown through his chest. As the knife dropped from numb fingers with a splash, Bob's eyes met Chris almost entreatingly, before he collapsed backwards into the lake.
Eyes wide in shock, Chris stared towards the clearing, looking for the source of the blast. Skyy stood there swaying, arm outstretched and with a fading blue nimbus surrounding his clenched fist, before the pokemon collapsed onto his back in a heap on the upper bank.
Ignoring his own injuries, Chris staggered to his feet and bolted from the water to his side, dropping into the sand to lift Skyy's face from the ground and rest it against his thigh. Cradling the furred head carefully, he watched as the ruby red eyes fluttered open, and a small grin made its way to his muzzle as they stared at each other.
In a whispery voice, Skyy muttered "Well, you did want to know what a lucario was, didn't you?
At Chris's mute nod, the eyes closed again, and he rested back into the human's lap with a sigh.
"Well, now you know.... "