{"sf1_id":797848,"sf2_id":null,"title":"First Flight - Chapter #2","author":"FBtH","words":2123,"posted_at":"2014-12-20T15:33:00.000Z","tags":["Brendan","Dragon","Human","Salamence","Trainer","pokemon"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/797848-first-flight-chapter-2","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/797848","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=797848\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"The second of my multi-chapter fics.","content":"First Flight:Chapter #2 - Clockwork Hearts~\nDisclaimers: I do NOT own Pokemon, its characters, its locations or\nanything associated with it. It all belongs to Nintendo. Brendan opened his eyes, his body lying stiff and straight\non the mattress.He had barely got any sleep last night, again. Two hours at\nmost.But not only that - he had also lost his appetite. Worse\nstill, he found that he could not battle well anymore, having lost most of his\nrecent matches.  It had been nearly a week since he had said his goodbye to\nBagon and during that interval he had departed Rustboro City and traveled on to\nOldale Town where he had rented a room at an inn for a few nights while he was\nstaying in town. He could not understand it. The Bagon had been no different\nthan any other wild Pokémon he had encountered. He had simply cared for it\nuntil it had recovered to a working healthy state again because it had needed\nsomeone to protect it, and then that had been the end of it. So why? Why was he\nwracked with such a terrible, sinking guilt? \n Shaking his despondency off like a heavy blanket, Brendan\nforced himself to get up off the bed to get ready for the day. He washed his face, brushed his teeth and changed into his\ndaywear, pulling his cap meticulously over the ghoulish scars on his head,\ngoing through all the motions automatically and lifelessly, as if he weren't\nreally there.Numbly, he left his room to go downstairs for breakfast,\nclosing the door softly behind him and making sure to lock it.  At the Poké Mart there were two schoolgirls chatting amiably with\neach other while browsing the shelves. As he passed them on his way to the\ncounter to pay for the items he had come for, he happened to catch a few words\nof their conversation.\"...heard that there was a Bagon over on Route 104 that's just\nsitting there on its own. Apparently, it's been there for about a week now...\"Brendan's head whipped back around to stare at the girls in\nshock.No...it couldn't\nbe...you're kidding...He stopped dead in his tracks as he listened to them, his\nheart rate accelerating. \"A nurse from the Pokémon Centre in Rustboro City went down\nto try and bring it back, but it won't budge at all.\"Something inside Brendan snapped. Dumping all the goods he\nhad gathered onto the nearest shelf, he turned around and ran out the store.\nOutside, he seized his bike which had been resting against the wall next to the\nstore entrance.Kicking it around, he vaulted himself onto the seat and took\noff, cycling heedlessly down the road, forcing pedestrians to hurriedly vacate\nhis path as they hurled angry shouts at him.He pedaled without stopping all the way back to Route 104.When he finally arrived, it was sundown. Throwing his bike\ndown into the grass beside the dirt road, Brendan dashed toward that pond where\nhe had left Bagon behind without even looking back once.He could already see the Rock Head Pokémon looking up and\nsmiling, brightening at the sight of the trainer, not having moved even the\nslightest from the same bench where Brendan had left it.But that wild, desperate illusion was dispelled in an\ninstant and Brendan blinked rapidly, only seeing an empty, deserted bench.A lump lodged in Brendan's throat, hampering his ragged\nbreathing. Hollow disappointment swelled inside him like a crushing weight,\nspreading to his very nerves and making his hands tremor uncontrollably.\"A nurse from the Pokémon\nCentre in Rustboro City went down to try and bring it back...\"Breath hitching sharply with a spark of hope, Brendan\nsprinted at once in the direction of Rustboro City.The nurse stared at him with her eyes widened in surprise\nwhen he burst through the front doors of the Pokémon Centre. She was the same one\nwho had checked up on Bagon when Brendan had brought him in. \"What are you doing back here?\"   \"Bagon...the Bagon...where?...\" Brendan wheezed.She gave Brendan a cold, hostile look.\"He's gone.\"Brendan could only gaze at her, blank and uncomprehending.\"G-Gone? What do you mean, 'gone'?\"\"Gone as in I went down to visit him two days ago, like I\ndid every day once I heard what he was doing, and he wasn't there anymore.\"He did not want to believe it.  \"What kind of a\ntrainer are you? Just leaving your Pokémon behind, abandoning them like that?\"\"He wasn't mine...He-He was wild...\" Brendan could only stammer\nout. \"Would a wild Pokémon\nsit there and wait a week for a person to come back?\"Brendan shrank back, wounded, recoiling from the nurse's\nwords that pierced him like a knife.\"Get out of this Pokémon Centre.\"\"Please...you must have seen where...something...anything. Please,\ntell me!\"\"Get out.\"Brendan knew that it was pointless to continue pushing her.\nHe slowly turned around and dragged himself back through the glass double doors\nhe came in. As soon as he was outside, he let himself slump to the\nground in inconsolable dejection. He balled his hands into trembling fists and\npressed them tightly against his closed eyelids.* * *Days passed. Weeks passed. And then months. The healing process was agonizingly slow. He did not\nremember exactly when but sometime after that day he had returned to the\nPokémon Centre in Rustboro, Brendan had begun to write letters to the only\nperson he felt would understand his predicament, sealing these letters in red\nenvelopes before posting them.  Brendan didn't even realise that he eventually began to\nsubconsciously avoid wild Pokémon unless absolutely necessary, keeping his\ndistance from them. He started to sleep and eat again, and even regained the\nmajority of the glimmering battle form he had lost.      One day, as he was crossing through Route 115 just by Mt.\nChimney, he happened to pass by a Swablu lying in the grass next to the\nfootpath, letting out shrill and dire squawks while its fluffy white wings\nfluttered feebly. As he passed by, the Swablu peered forlornly up at him with\nits beady black eyes.Brendan hesitated for the barest of seconds before he\nsquared his shoulders and forged resolutely onwards, ignoring the Swablu. As he\nwalked away its mournful cries, fading gradually, continued to ring in his\nears, sounding almost accusatory. After nearly seven months, Brendan found himself back at\nMeteor Falls, at last. Brendan had arrived in Sootopolis City a month ago and had\nbeen caught up in the middle of the cataclysmic incident involving the\nlegendaries Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. Following the narrow aversion of the\ncrisis, Wallace had given him the HM05 technique, Waterfall, as a token of\ngratitude. In the back of his mind, Brendan had remembered how on his\ninitial expedition of Meteor Falls that there had been unknown areas at the\nhigher levels that he had been unable to reach. But now that he had acquired\nWaterfall...Brendan was not the type to put a place behind him unless he\nhad seen utterly everything that it had to offer. That had been a large part of\nhis motivation for becoming a Pokémon trainer in the first place - he wished\nwith all his heart to travel as far as he could reach, going anywhere he\nwanted; to see quaint beautiful towns, wondrous breathtaking landscapes and\namazing exotic Pokémon. For him, being a trainer promised an endless generation\nof vibrant sights and colours that he could only dream of back in Littleroot\nTown.  Even after obtaining the HM, Brendan had deliberately put\noff returning to that place for another month. However, a part of him deep down\nstill knew that sooner or later, he could not go on ignoring Meteor Falls no\nmatter what personal feelings he held. The longer he delayed, the heavier it\nweighed on his thoughts and the worse his inner turmoil became.While in Slateport City, Brendan stayed up the whole night\nin his waterfront hotel room mulling over it while staring out at the brightly\nlit, merry harbor bustling with people and listening to the breezy lapping of\nthe waves until he realised that not a single day lapsed where he did not think\nabout going back to Meteor Falls to finish exploring the areas that had been\ninaccessible to him the first time. Finally and begrudgingly, he accepted the\nfact that it wasn't a problem of if he would go back but of how long until he\ndid. In the end, he relented and decided to go back the very next day. Brendan now stood outside at the base of the cave where he\nhad once been mowed down by the most spirited and bullheaded blue bowling ball\nhe had ever encountered. At the memory, a ghost of a smile flitted across\nBrendan's lips but evaporated as quickly as it had formed when Brendan felt a\nsubsequent pang of guilt shoot through him. Steeling himself both mentally and physically, Brendan strode\nforward and entered into the pitch black darkness that awaited. Like crooked rows of jagged teeth, the interior of Meteor\nFalls was filled with speleothems from fragile, spindly ones to massive conical\ncolumns like oak trees, all formed from a purple salt-like mineral that\nglimmered like crystals. Even the grey stone of the walls and ceiling sparkled\nwith the same substance so that it seemed as if the entire cave was clouded in\na gentle violet haze.  Calling upon his Milotic, he clambered atop it and together\nthey steadily cruised up the waterfalls throughout the cave, fighting against\nthe surging, frothing torrents that hammered mercilessly down upon them. Once he set foot on the coarse black sand of the shoreline\nthat ringed the brink of the highest waterfall, Brendan disembarked from his\nMilotic and thanked it for getting him to the top. The majestic and elegant\ncreature gracefully bowed its head in reply and was recalled into its Poké\nBall.Almost at once, he was ambushed by an unnatural chill that\nhad nothing to do with the icy cave air that made him spin around, his pupils\nmagnifying in shock. He had explored dozens of caves before and none of them had\ngiven him the feeling of trepidation and unease that this part of the domain\nwhich he had not tread upon before did. It felt almost like a speechless menacing\nthreat coming from the very core of the upper cave itself.There was movement behind the veil of darkness and slowly,\nwarily, Brendan took a few steps forward, trying to define what it was. It\nseemed as if something was approaching him. And then out of the gloom, it emerged close enough so that\nBrendan could see what it was in full and a horror unparalleled by any other he\nhad experienced in his entire life fell upon him, rooting him to the spot where\nhe stood. A Salamence.  The huge and terrifying dragon Pokémon crouched toward\nBrendan on all fours, baring its fangs with a hissing snarl. Its body swung\naround and its tail lashed out like a whip, knocking the trainer right off the\nedge of the waterfall and back down to the floor below.As he crashed and tumbled along the ground like a tossed toy,\nBrendan felt his backpack slide off and skitter away from him. The top cover\ncame off and the five Poké Balls of his current party spilled out.The Salamence leapt down to where Brendan had been thrown; the\nimpact of its earthshaking landing marked by a shockwave of air that made the\nboy shield his face with a hand.As Brendan scrambled to back away and put more distance between\nthem, he felt a second chill on the nape of his neck and turned his head as\nslowly as he dared.No...Another Salamence was looming behind him at a distance of\nabout thirty metres. And even as he stared, unable to tear his terrified gaze\naway, yet another crept out of the darkness to join the second, both breathing\nout rattling primal growls. Brendan was frozen still, paralysed with panic and fear. His\nPoké\nBalls and bag were scattered far out of his reach with the\nadvancing trio standing between him and his five best tools to defend\nhimself.   As the Salamence closed in on the trainer, boxing him in, an\nunearthly bestial roar split the current atmosphere like a peal of thunder\nmaking them hesitate in surprise. Amidst a vortex of wind and beating wings, a fourth\nSalamence descended upon Brendan. However, unlike the others, the newcomer landed with its\nback to him, facing its three fellows with its red axe-shaped wings raised and spread\nto their utmost in a display of warning. Somehow, instinctively perhaps, Brendan knew who the late\nentry standing in front of him was and his dry throat could only manage a\nhoarse, incredulous whisper.\"...Bagon?\"  ","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/790189-first-flight-chapter-1.json"}