Chapter 1: Get Me Off This Miserable Desert!
He was being hunted.
Panting furiously, the teen ran up the sand dune as fast as he could. Covered in sweat, grime, and trickles of blood, he looked much like a traffic accident victim who had just escaped from hospital. His tattered and dirtied clothes slowed him down rather than to aid him, but the teen dared not shed them. In the desert, the night temperature could drop below the freezing point, condemning the unwary to a lingering, shivery death.
His raven hair, once sleek and elegantly styled, was a tangle of lank locks that stuck to his forehead. His green eyes were bloodshot from stinging sandstorms and inadequate sleep, worsened by the chase that lasted for days. His jacket and pants were already faded from long exposure under the sun, shriveling against his slightly tanned skin and wry muscles. He had lost one of sneakers a few days back. Luckily there was nothing sharp to step on in this forsaken place.
The soft sand snagged his feet, sending him sprawling face-first into the gritty pile. A mouthful of powdery sand muffled his startled yelp but managed to cushion his fall a bit. Quickly scrabbling to his knees, the teen spat out sand and glanced over his shoulders.
Under the starry night, the great desert would've looked beautiful had it not been for dozens of pairs of yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. Leering undisguised hunger, the large shadowy forms were slowly but surely closing on their quarry. Their thorny dark-green bodies, though bulky, were surprisingly graceful and sure-footed on this tricky terrain. Like an army of ghosts, the beasts were gaining on him.
"Cacturnes… Why did it have to be Cacturnes!?" the teen groaned.
The only previous encounter he had had with these desert predators was through TV on a nature channel. He recalled with horror how these cacti Pokémon stalked their prey across the dunes until it dropped from exhaustion, then descended for a gory feast. Their appetites were voracious, and their stamina inexhaustible. There were very few predators in these parts more frightening than these beasts.
And now they were hunting him. And he was really, really exhausted.
Spurred by a jolt of fear, the teen took off once more. Half-stumbling and half-rolling, the teen made his way down the dune. Behind him, he could hear the keening wails the Cacturnes used to communicate with each other. The teen shuddered. Was it his imagination, or were those horrors moving in faster? He could already see the first of the dark forms gaining the ridge of the dune. That same creepy leer plastered onto its face seemed to say one thing.
We are hungry, and you are our prey. You will never leave this place alive. We will feast on your flesh and drink marrows from your bones…
"Like hell you will!" The teen yelled and ran on. His father has always told him he had a uselessly hyperactive imagination. He wondered where that old fool was now. Probably back at the family mansion in front of the fireplace, knocking back a glass of aged whiskey. If he could see his son now, the teen was sure the old man would be laughing, mocking at his weakness and egging those Cacturnes on. One more reason to stay alive. The teen hated the idea of giving his father any satisfaction.
But his body was at its limit. He wasn't exactly athletic, but the teen always prided himself in keeping himself in shape. What hours he had spent exercising now seemed like a complete waste. His feet felt as if they were made out of iron and bricks. His lungs burnt, and his breaths came like wheezing spurts of an eighty year old retiree who had smoked for half his life. He could not keep this up. Sooner or later, he would collapse from exhaustion, and then… The teen shook his head vehemently. Impossible. He needed to find a shelter pretty soon, where he could recover or even catch some sleep before resuming his escape. But what were the odds of finding something like that out in the middle of a desert?
As if to answer his prayers, the teen suddenly spotted a black lump drifting into his view in the distance. He blinked, then rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. The lump stubbornly remained in sight, as real as his current suffering. Hope suddenly flaring, the teen willed his tiring legs to bring him there. The moonlight soon shed light on the mysterious object, prompting the teen to let out an excited whoop. It was a sizable outcrop of rocks, rising out from the bedrocks into the sea of sand. And if he was lucky, then perhaps there might be…
The teen squinted his eyes as the rock formation loomed closer. The moonlight cast plenty of shadows, hiding plenty from his sight. But at last, his keen sight found exactly what he had been looking for: a deep crevice, formed between the two bases of adjoining rocks. Perhaps there would be enough space there for him to squeeze into, even a cave that could accommodate him. Arceus knows what manner of creatures might dwell in there. But between a certain death out here and an uncertain fate in there, the choice had already been made.
Something whistled by his face, then a stabbing pain lanced down his left arm. The teen cried out in pain and surprise, and looked down to see a row of wickedly sharp needles plunged into his bicep. More projectiles sped by him, and the teen gritted his teeth as more needles stabbed into his back. The Cacturnes, being wily hunters as they were, appeared to have caught onto his intentions. Rather than slowly following their prey as to toy with it, the cacti Pokémon were now sprinting across the dune. Several were shooting out Pin Missiles as they did so, intent on bringing him down before he reached safety. Those monsters were frighteningly fast, closing their distance quicker than he would've believed.
The teen swore, and sprinted with all his might towards the rocks. He reached the crevice within ten strides, and dove straight into the hole without hesitation. Rough rock walls greeted him, scraping at his elbows and knees, scratching at his scalp to let fresh blood ooze onto his face. But fear lent him strength. The passageway was a bit tighter than he would've liked, but it was sloping downwards, easing his efforts. The teen squirmed and wriggled until he was making decent progress down. To his delight, the crevice quickly gave way to a rather sizeable subterranean cavern. A shelter indeed!
The teen had almost pulled himself clear out the narrow passageway when something grabbed his ankles and yanked hard. If his arms hadn't been out before him, the teen would've been pulled clear back to the surface. Frantically bracing his hands against the lip of the passageway, the teen looked back.
The crevice, though big enough for him, had not been large enough to admit his pursuers. Still, that had not stopped one of the Cacturnes from reaching in with his thorny arms and grabbing at his prey. Snarling, the cactus Pokémon pulled. The teen felt his muscles stretching to a tearing point.
"Oh no, you don't!" Crying out in desperation, the teen viciously kicked at the Cacturne's leering face. Its grip slid down a little, and before both knew it, the teen found himself slipping free into the cavern, leaving his remaining sneaker in the hand of the enraged Cacturne. Roaring with fury, the Pokémon sprayed needles into the passageway without avail. The teen quickly scrambled off to the side, allowing the pins to clatter harmlessly off the sand-smoothed granite.
It took some time for the teen's heart to slow down. He was safe. He was safe! At first the concept seemed so strange and absurd that he began to laugh. After days of trekking across the endless wastes, he was in a foolproof haven! For now, he could sleep without having to worry about those nightmarish monsters tearing him into pieces. After making sure the Cacturnes were not following him in, the teen slowly propped himself up against the cave wall and stretched out his legs. He then spent a few minutes plucking out the sharp needles that had embedded into his flesh. Despite their sharpness, the pins did not seem to have been poisoned.
The teen had just time to sigh in relief before the sheer weight of accumulated fatigue bore down on him at last. For all its roughness, the rocky cavern felt better than the feathered beds he had become used to at home.
Wren Corday, the former heir to the Whitewood Hall and its neighboring estates, allowed himself a small smile before he drifted off to sleep. Out in the desolate dunes, the Cacturnes kept up a chorus of wailing, disappointed by their failure.
Wren awoke with a start. The thought of Cacturnes initially sent a shock of fear before he remembered where he was. He breathed out easy and looked down at his wristwatch. Despite the rough journey so far, the watch miraculously remained intact. Handcrafted by a master clockmaker in Kalos, it cost his family quite some money to procure it. The watch also happened to be the only thing of value on him.
"Two-Thirty in the morning," Wren muttered. How long had he slept—three, four hours? He already felt quite rested. After days, the little nap felt heavenly. He could always use more sleep, but instead decided to check his surroundings first.
Enough moonlight shone through the cracks in the ceiling to illuminate all but the most distant corners of the cavern. It was slightly bigger than one of the guest bedrooms back in the mansion, but with rocky walls instead of elegant wallpapers. The floor felt unusually soft though. Wren patted with his hands to find that it was formed out of soft layer of compacted sand. There didn't seem to be any other exits or entrances into this place.
Good, he thought, then there would be no way those Cacturnes would break into this place anytime soon. But on the other hand, this meant that he would be stuck in this place indefinitely until those beasts went away.
A scraping noise rooted him to the spot. His breath catching in his lungs, Wren slowly turned.
From the dark distant corners, small white eyes were staring at him. Dozens of them. Blank and unblinking, something was approaching him.
Was it them? How on earth had those monsters find a way in?
The first of the critters stepped into the moonlight, revealing a small brown body with short stubby legs, dominated by a humongous oversized jaws.
"Trap-inch!" the ant-lion Pokémon squealed. Behind it, more of its kin followed.
Wren blinked, and then burst into a loud laughter. It took some time to compose himself, which tough given how much his stomach was hurting from the outburst.
"Oh, it's just you!" Wren laughed. "And I thought you all were something dangerous! Oh, this is so funny! And to think, I was ready to wet my pants!"
The Trapinches paused, as if taken aback by the teen's unexpected reaction. The one leading others tentatively stepped forward, and squealed indignantly. It tossed its oversized head, gesturing towards the crevice from which Wren had emerged.
"Oh what's that? You want me to leave?" Wren asked quizzically. The Trapinch vehemently nodded. Its kin chorused assent.
"I see…this place is your home isn't it? It seems I've dropped by unannounced." Wren pursed his lips in a thought, before a nasty smirk spread across his face.
"You know what? I don't think that's going to happen," the teen drawled, stretching out his back in a mocking manner. "In fact, I think I like this place. I might actually stay here for a while, rest up… Besides, there are some bloodthirsty beasts out there who don't appreciate me nearly enough. I'm not leaving anytime soon."
The leading Trapinch cried out in indignation, snapping its jaws threateningly.
"Tell you what then, you little vermin," Wren said. "If one of you can beat me in a single battle, then I'll leave this place without complaint. But if I win… it means I'm the king here. Agreed?"
The Trapinches stared at each other in confusion, muttering at each other in a low pitch. Presently, the leader reluctantly trotted forward.
"Hmm, not as cowardly as I thought," Wren sneered. "Come at me then!"
The Trapinch let out a shrill cry, and began waddling forward as fast it could. Wren, meanwhile, calmly removed his worn-out jacket.
When the Trapinch had nearly reached him, Wren suddenly thrust a sleeve of his jacket towards the ant-lion Pokémon. Startled, the Trapinch immediately clamped its formidable jaws onto the fabric. Wren's nasty smile widened.
"Gotcha, you little sucker!"
Seizing the remaining sleeve, Wren yanked the jacket into the air—and the Trapinch along with it—and whipped it against the cavern wall like a medieval flail. The unfortunate Pokemon, its jaws still locked onto the sleeve, suddenly found himself being pounded mercilessly against the rocky surface of its home. The force of the strike shoot dust from the ceiling. Squeals of dismay rose from the gathered Trapinches as their leader was viciously beaten before their eyes.
It took Wren a few more hardy strikes before the Trapinch dropped to the ground, knocked unconscious from its injuries.
"Useless. Utterly useless," Wren chuckled as he dusted his jacket and put it on again. "So…Anybody else got a problem?"
None of the other Trapinches dared to meet Wren's challenging gaze, instead shuffling and quivering idly on their feet.
"I didn't think so," Wren said smugly. "So…here's what's going to happen, you pathetic morons. I'm going to catch some more sleep, undisturbed. In the meantime, you all will find me something to eat or drink. If any one of you got a problem with that, he can talk to me and my jacket in person. Got it?!"
A low chorus of frightened and cowed squeals responded.
"Then chop, chop! Get to it! I'm getting hungry and food isn't going to get itself! And someone get this unsightly beast out of my sight!" Wren pushed away the unconscious form of the leader Trapinch away with the tip of his toes.
As the gathered Trapinches hurriedly scattered away into the darkness, Wren laid back, closed his eyes once more, and smiled.
Oh, yeah…it was good to be king!
A gentle nudging woke him once more from his rest. Wren cracked opened his eye to find the leader Trapinch perched next to him, its petite body still battered from its ignominious defeat before.
"What?" Wren snapped irritatingly.
The small Pokémon whimpered, and tossed its head sideways. Wren looked over to see a small pile of purplish berries neatly gathered in front of his feet, each roughly the size of an egg. Wren reached over and picked one up, wrinkling his nose at how unappetizing it looked. Probably a fruit from a wild cactus or sand shrubs… Still, he couldn't be picky and hunger easily trumped his disgust. Wren gingerly took a bite.
The berry was somewhat sweet, but left a sour and bitter aftertaste that almost made him spit it out. It however was juicy, which helped wet his parched throat. Before long, Wren found himself munching the berry by the handful. The Trapinches sullenly watched him chow down enough food to feed their flock for a week.
"Well… it's not a seared tenderloin steak and wine, but I suppose this will have to do for now," Wren said, sucking the juice off his fingers. "You've done well, I guess. How did you manage to get this anyway?"
Scanning the room, Wren spotted several upturned mounds of dirt all around the chamber.
"You've tunneled out of this place, uh? Hmm, looks like this whole floor is one giant sand pit. Lucky I didn't manage to sink right away… Say, perhaps if you would be so kind as to dig me a tunnel out of this hole?"
A loud smashing shook Wren from his thoughts. He looked up alarmed, as dusts and pebbles dropped from the ceiling. The Trapinches began wailing in terror, running fro and to in panic.
"What in blazes?" Wren muttered. Then, he saw a steady stream of debris cascading from the mouth of the tunnel. An angry roar split the air, and the coin dropped immediately.
"The Cacturnes! They're smashing into the cavern! They must've been hungrier than I thought…!" Wren whirled around. "You there! Gather your chums and do something about it!"
The leader Trapinch whimpered, staring at Wren uncomprehendingly. Some of its kin were already burrowing into the ground, desperately trying to escape the impending invasion.
"Are you all idiots?" Wren shrieked. "The Cacturnes will get in here and kill all of you! They will destroy your home! Can't you stop cowering in this stinking hole and think about fighting back?!"
The Trapinch fearfully shook its head. Wren snarled in frustration.
"Useless, useless! Spineless cowards, the lot of you! How you managed to survive out here so far is beyond my guess…"
As he looked over the panic-stricken Trapinches, an idea suddenly popped into the teen's head.
"It looks like I'll have to do everything around here then," Wren snapped. "You! I have a plan that could possibly save all of us from this disaster. But you and your family will have to obey my commands to the letter, is that clear?"
The leader Trapinch hesitated. Another booming noise followed by another torrent of falling rocks elicited a hasty nod from the frightened Pokémon.
"Very good then," Wren grinned. "Now listen closely. Here's what we're going to do…"
It took another half an hour of smashing for the crevice to finally become wide enough for the Cacturnes. As the first cactus Pokémon strode into the cavern, it saw the ragged teen calmly perched on the rocky ledge on the far wall.
"Took you long enough," Wren taunted. "I was starting to think you've given up."
Letting out a gleeful roar, the Cacturne eagerly stepped out onto the sandy floor. Its glowing yellow eyes were filled with feral hunger. Its spiky arms shot forward, ready to tear this impudent human from limb to limb.
"Now, you brainless gits! Now!" Wren shouted. Burrowed beneath the sand, the leader Trapinch used Sand Tomb, a signature move for a desert-dwelling Pokémon.
And so did dozens of its kin strategically burrowed all across the cavern floor.
Slowly but surely, the sand began churning, picking up speed until the entire floor had transformed into a large whirlpool of sucking sand. The Cacturne staggered in surprise as it found itself quickly sinking into the ground. Crying out in anger, the cactus Pokémon tore itself from the sands and began clambering out from the deathtrap.
"Oh no, you don't," Wren growled. "Don't let that bastard escape! Use Bite!"
Squealing with fury and fear, a dozen Trapinches burst from the sandy whirlpool and clamped their strong jaws onto the Cacturne's arms and legs. Weighed down by its assailants, the cactus Pokémon fell back into the heart of the whirlpool. The sands dragged the thrashing Cacturne into its cloying embrace.
Wren flashed a toothy grin and waved his hand as the Cacturne, bellowing in terror and anger, disappeared completely beneath the whirlpool. Trapinches, as natural diggers, could burrow in and out of the sands as if they were swimming in water. For other Pokémon like Cacturnes, being trapped underground meant a fate worse than death. Not that Wren cared. After having tried to have him for its dinner, being entombed alive seemed….quite a fitting punishment.
Wren looked up to see two more Cacturnes standing at the edge of the trap that had taken their comrade, frozen with surprise at this unexpected development.
"Well?" Wren drawled. "Care to join your friend? There's plenty more room for you both down there."
Wren saw a flash of emotions running through the Cacturnes' eyes, from disbelief that the 'prey species' like the Trapinches managed to find a way to destroy one of their kind, to the painful frustration that they were going to starve if they wanted to preserve their own lives. Desire for food was struggling mightily against the desire to live—and Wren, while not a genius, certainly knew what the outcome was going to be.
Seething in silent fury, the Cacturnes retreated back up the tunnel. A keening wail went up on the surface, and no more of the cacti Pokémon came down to the cavern after that.
The churning whirlpool slowed to a halt, once more becoming a still layer of packed sand. One by one, the Trapinches cautiously emerged once more onto the surface. Worn out from the short but intense battle, the small ant-lions dumbly stared at each other as if they still couldn't believe they had driven off a pack of apex predators.
"Well now," Wren said casually as he stifled a yawn. "This has been an interesting night."
The blazing sun was just rising from the horizon as Wren prepared to resume his arduous journey. The pockets of his tattered jacket was filled with the leftover purple desert-fruits, enough to sustain him for a few days if need be. Standing on top of the rock formation, the teenager shielded his eyes with his hands as he scanned the landscape before him. Nothing of interest caught his eye, though he thought he could see a snow-covered mountain in the far distance. There had to be an end to this miserable sandbox, he thought, and a settlement beyond that. At least he had plenty of time to search. After last night's humiliation, it was unlikely that the Cacturnes were planning to come after him anytime soon. They had thought to make a meal out of him, but Wren Corday showed them he was not an opponent to be messed with!
Wren was already in high spirits as he climbed back down. In the protective shadow of the boulders, the clan of Trapinches had gathered, staring at him with the same blank, beady eyes. They were still afraid of him, Wren was sure, but it seemed that a sense of wonderment had largely replaced any resentment they had.
Wren threw his head back haughtily and gave the Pokémon a lofty, patronizing look.
"You should all be ashamed of yourselves," he said. "Thinking of running away instead of protecting your home and your honored guest! If it hadn't been for my brilliance, Arceus knows what would've happened to you all! But on the bright side, now you all know what to do if any of those savage beasts come knocking on your door again."
"Not that you'd remember any of what I taught you," Wren added, after a thought. "You'll probably end up messing that up and waste this second chance I'd given you. I'll say it again: Useless. Utterly, absolutely useless."
Without a further word, the teen turned and set off into the desert. The Trapinches stood transfixed, watching this strange human until he eventually receded into the distant horizon.
The sun already felt warm on his face, promising another scorching day to come. Wren did not care one bit. He even found himself whistling a merry tune to the beat of his steps. Sooner or later, he would find a way off this stupid desert—and not a single bloodthirsty Pokémon was going to stop him. And then….he will fix everything right how it used to be….
His belly full and thirst quenched, Wren's thoughts inevitably turned to the one person who had started all this—the very person who was responsible for him being stranded out on this desolate landscape without money, companions, or his rightful inheritance. Of the thousands of people he had met throughout his life, his was the one face he could never forget. Oh, he would have his revenge on that brat a thousandfold for this indignity. No matter how long it took, Wren Corday will track him down and have his satisfaction.
That uppity brat from Kanto and his freakish Pikachu…
Wren's heart burned with anger as he growled out the name of his nemesis.
"Ash Ketchum….!"
R&R!