Cats in Cold Blood
13/07/2014 - I've decided to redo these first three chapters of Cats in Cold Blood and flesh them out. That includes doubling the word count… Also, I am going to continue the story. Hopefully I've made it better. At the end of the story, I'll post the old three chapters up as 'bonuses'.
The world of Pokémon… A world of supernatural animals… There are only a few areas in the whole region that have not been discovered by humans and made a haven for humans and Pokémon everywhere.
Liepard, the minder of the two troublemaking Purrloins, Shadow and Trouble, was sleeping under a tree. He was having a very nice nap, having a dream about living in a luxurious mansion where he would be fed as many Pokéblocks and Poffins as much as he wanted. Shadow and Trouble were orphans and brothers. Liepard was their big brother, taking care of them for the time.
Their parents were very famous explorers, finding many riches, and discovering many new places that would become beautiful Pokémon villages in the future. The humans hadn't gotten to those secluded Pokémon havens.
Their mother was killed in an expedition to an unknown place; it was suicidal, but the mother Liepard was relentless. She couldn't help herself... The promise of gold was too enticing. She was lured into that and soon after, it became a bloodbath. There were no traces of the famous Alicia Kat and her fabled treasure hunters.
Their father… no one knows what happened to him.
Liepard was determined to get them into the state that their parents were. Shining explorers determined to challenge the definition of 'rich'. So, instead of living in the city streets, Liepard forced them to move. They had been travelling for hours on foot. Shadow was starting to shake about like a headless chicken, and Trouble had to be carried on the poor big brother's back.
They travelled half way across the region. Liepard had to experience Trouble's complaining striking through his ears. Finally, Liepard found the perfect place… except it was the worst place to be. Furlee Forest, famous for its confusing aimless clearings that just spanned across the whole wood, and the horribly strong Pokémon that would maul any Pokémon that could potentially be prey.
They had been walking for so long that it didn't matter to them anyway. The gleaming fireball in the sky greeted them anyhow.
There are no humans to disturb them. No humans to cram them into a tiny ball and squeeze their ribs into traction. However, Liepard's sense of direction could've been much better. They got lost in the depths of the forest. And now, the fate of survival really is in their hands.
And that's where our story began…
In one small clearing in the forest, they had set up camp. The cats' self-proclaimed home was built very quickly and without much expertise. They threw some big stones and sticks together and called it a den. Liepard had done all of the hard work, as usual.
"Hey…" whispered Trouble, into Shadow's ear. "Let's ditch this boring place. It's boring." Trouble had an adventurous look on his furry face.
"What? Why?" Shadow retorted in a bored expression. He knew what was coming.
"I just said why."
"You did? I wasn't listening." Shadow sighed.
Trouble stared at Shadow as if he was a demented baboon, hopping around the place, rather like a Buneary. Trouble had done these looks before. Liepard shrugged it off, but Shadow had to query it every time he saw the look.
"Why are you staring at me as if I am a demented baboon, hopping around the place, rather like a Buneary?" questioned a confused Shadow.
"What's a Buneary? It sounds cute." yaffed Trouble, with bottled up excitement.
"No, you're NOT going to find one." Shadow stared at Trouble, with a look on his face, rather resembling "OH NO, WE'RE DOOMED!"
"Yes, I will. I'm going to go on an adventure to find a cute-sounding Pokémon, while unintentionally making you follow me and getting hurt in the process." Trouble inadvertently slipped the wrong words out of his mouth; his thoughts.
"What?" Shadow tilted his head, puzzled.
"Nothing." Trouble looked around awkwardly. He had dodged that explanation, luckily… Shadow had a confused look on his face.
"Wait… wait… What exactly are you plotting?" questioned Shadow. He knew something was up, and he was alert. Trouble had been like this before.
"THIS!" Trouble bellowed, his mouth agape from the shout. He spun round, kicking Shadow in the face. Shadow rolled back, blinking. He opened his mouth to pacify the situation but his tranquil offering was quickly rejected with a final powerful kick in the head. Trouble's feet scratched along the velvet green grass as the pistons in his legs began to operate, kicking him forward.
Shadow fainted.
Liepard was unaware of Trouble's hit & run. He had called the day a 'break off', because he thought that the two felines could not get into trouble on such a beautiful day. The sky was illustrated with shining watercolours, with various shades of blue mixed together to form a flawlessly handsome colour. The Taillows were singing, the sun was beaming, and all in all, the day was beautiful. Liepard got up. He decided to go for a peaceful stroll. Explore the scenery, the cat thought.
Shadow ended up in the makeshift cats' den.
His eyes were closed. Obviously the kicks that had come from the rebellious cat were strong; at least the skull in his head shielded the blows.
"It's alright, Shadow. Your big brother's here…" spoke Liepard, peacefully. He had found Shadow lying on the floor, curled into a ball. He had assumed a rogue Pokémon had attacked him or something.
Shadow opened his eyes, prizing a grip on consciousness again. He was next to Liepard, lying down. Shadow irritably pulled himself up. A pain in his head was flying around, wreaking havoc in his skull. His head rose down.
"Oh, you're awake." Liepard spoke serenely.
"Grrr…" Shadow's fangs battled against each other like a sword on a grindstone. His head hurt too much to speak more. His anger beat through the pain. "Trouble…"
Liepard's ears perked up upon hearing the name "Trouble".
"What's he done now?"
Shadow spoke poisonous utterings. "He… grr… mercilessly assaulted me and ran off into the forest!" Shadow's speech turned into ferocious and aggressive growls.
"WHAT?" Liepard shouted at Shadow, although quite unintentionally.
"Trouble attacked you?"
Shadow spoke no more. He wanted to rest. Or that's what it seemed to Liepard.
Liepard thought for a second about what he was going to do. Kicking his own brother and then running into the dangerous undergrowth of Furlee Forest? Trouble was crazy!
"Stay here, Shadow. I mean it. I'm going to go deeper into the forest to find him."
Liepard's rear legs swung slowly across the floor. Liepard started with an elegant walk, and then he gracefully broke into a strong dash. That left Shadow in the den, thinking to himself. Tension was building.
Why didn't I ignore him? This always happens when I reply to one of his "Hey… Let's ditch this boring place. It's boring." I'm going to have to follow him, or something bad will happen. Because he's Trouble.
He locked away the anger, picking himself up. The words from Liepard went in one ear and out of the next. Trouble started this whole mess, and he would come back for his punishment.
Shadow strolled along, trailing outside of the den. He had wondered about things: one of the things being why Liepard hadn't asked him where Trouble went. Shadow saw him going in a direction before everything went black.
He walked up to the trees, inspecting the dark brown age-old bark. The wood had been scratched multiple times. Shadow remembered this tree as being Trouble's 'anger tree'. He stepped away and watched a Weedle slide along the ground curiously. Shadow hoped that the Weedle wouldn't unfortunately come across a ravenous Pidgey. It would end up with a… Shadow didn't even want to think of it. He lobbed the thought out of his mind and kept walking, deeper into the dark forest.
"This place is crazy…" Shadow murmured, the words gliding around the place. Unfortunately, the skewed words ended up in a Pokémon's ear. It wanted prey.
There was a grunting noise. Shadow's ears suddenly flew up and he was alert – again. He hoped that Trouble hadn't come back to haunt him more.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Shadow instantly realised his mistake: he had made himself heard. He wanted to crawl back to his den.
Shadow almost fell on the ground in shock when he heard a demonic reply ricochet through the trees. Shadow was frozen. It was as if he was rooted to the ground; constricted by a Victreebel.
He didn't know what the Pokémon was, and he wasn't about to find out. He recovered and his little feet skidded across the blades of grass. He didn't get very far until he stopped again.
An angry Crobat slashed through the trees. He cornered Shadow, against a few trees. Shadow greeted him sheepishly. He reached the same conclusion that the Crobat reached: he was food.
"Ha!" the Crobat grinned. "You're bigger and plumper than I thought."
Shadow relied on his brain for a quick and clever reply. All he could get was an extremely apprehensive squeal. This squeal seemed to satisfy the Crobat more. He fed on Shadow's fear.
Shadow started to plead. "Please don't turn me into mincemeat! I really do not want this story to be gory!" Shadow saw a sadistic purple bat flapping about with a confident smirk. His eyes flashed.
The Crobat suddenly looked puzzled. His initial speech broke off rather quickly. "S-story…?" He paused for a second. His teeth were ready to chomp. "Why not, whelp? I'd love to tear away at your flesh."
Shadow wobbled about like a cube of jelly. He spoke with conspicuous fear. "The readers won't like it!"
Crobat was again confused. He shook his head quizzically and started to draw in, his dazzling teeth bared.
Shadow thought of something. "Firstly, Mr. Crobat, bats don't eat cats. Secondly…" Shadow's voice trailed off as he saw the enraged expression of the purple bat. He saved his breath. Like he'd be needing that breath anyway.
Crobat decided to ignore Shadow's jaunt of trying to be clever, so he instead laughed evilly. "You're just PERFECT to eat! Although, the weird speech about a 'story' is making me puzzled. Since your brain is clearly flawed, I'll skip that while I'm devouring you."
Shadow would take that remark offensively, but he had his mind on something else. Crobat's wings drew energy and started to glow white. Shadow stared at the illuminating wings and swiftly dodged an Air Slash. The powerful wind discs flew into a tree, dissipating instantly. Shadow looked up.
Crobat was nowhere to be seen. Shadow focused his eyes and saw a white bullet spinning towards him. He avoided the powerful Fly that Crobat performed. Crobat bashed his head onto the mud, sinking. He immediately flew up, mud living on his face. He threw it off angrily.
Shadow stared at Crobat as he lobbed himself towards him again. Shadow jumped over the berserk bat. It swivelled and Shadow clawed it in the face. Crobat yelped in pain, and he made a quick escape. Shadow watched as the Pokémon emanating cowardice disappeared into the sky.
Shadow was unharmed. He sighed with relief. He dashed off, deeper into the forest, hearing a rather feline scream.
Shadow arrived at a rather spacious clearing. He spotted a familiar figure; only it was lying down in a puddle of murky water. Shadow galloped over to it. He saw a big cat named Liepard. Normally his tail would be swaying from side to side rather hypnotically, but it was dead in the puddle.
"L-Liepard?" Shadow's voice was quite inaudible. He shook the Cruel Pokémon vigorously, with no response. Shadow's heart sank, splattering on the bottom of his ribcage.
Shadow looked around awkwardly. He could see Liepard was still breathing. He saw his chest expand.
Shadow could only hear the faint whistling of the forest breathing. Perhaps Liepard had fainted of exhaustion.
Shadow left him to it, and stumbled away. He somehow discovered a small lake in the middle of the clearing. The water was painted a dark murky green. It was as if the water was found by an artist and made into a painting featuring the darkest watery green ever. Then, the artist threw it into a river, letting the paint be tickled by the curious water.
Shadow stared at his reflection, seeing the mirror cast into the water. He pawed at the water and his shaky reflection became transmogrified into a drawing that looks like it was made by a drunken Spinda that just got out of bed.
Meanwhile, Liepard yawned. His mouth opened and he stretched. He got himself up, thinking about his quest about finding Trouble. Liepard still assumed the more sensible cat would be residing at the den, scrubbing his paws with his pink tongue. He assumed wrong. Curiosity, or in this case lust for revenge, killed the cat. Liepard turned his head and saw a familiar feline with his head down at the water. He had wondered how Trouble had gotten there without Liepard noticing.
Liepard started to prowl. He was just about to pounce on Trouble when he thought: Is this really the best idea? I'll just pick him up by his tuft and bring him back to the den. His thoughts popped. He had the best idea. Liepard prepared to open his mouth, when his paw penetrated through a twig. The twig was louder than he thought, and it spooked the mischievous cat, sending him jolting into the water with shock.
Liepard suddenly realised what he had done. It took him a few seconds to focus on life again. All he could do was mutter with a sense of compressed consternation.
"Uh oh."