Hey all, I've done a bit of a clear out of my fics. In the ten or so years since I published anything, life has moved forward for me, so I expect I won't be writing anything here for a good long while.

And so I felt like tying up loose ends.

I wanted to keep this story here as it was the one that I was most fond of, and represents the theme I had during my writing for the Pokemon fandom – that Pokemon were the tools of their trainers.

Enjoy the story!

Capybara 773

P.S. Italics will denote a flashback, and words enclosed in brackets will denote one Pokemon speaking to another.

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I tore through the dense rushes, my breath reaching me in desperate, throttled gasps. Blades of grass ripped into my arm as I struggled my way in a path I knew not.

Shed tears mingled with the sweat roping down my face, which constantly looked back at the column of shaking bushels, their rustling voices freezing my courage whilst it melted to the beat of my caged heart.

A few reeds wrapped around my leg, wrenching my hasty feet from under me. I slammed into the dusty earth, and my head cracked into a rock, sending tremors of agony shuddering through my skull. My brain became intoxicated with pain.

I howled.

For a few long seconds my tear-choked voice rang as I cradled my throbbing head in my hands. Then my screams died down, and I lay there sobbing curses under my breath, pounding my fist into the dirt.

Why is this happening? What the hell is going on!? None of it made sense.

I staggered onto drunk feet before limping along again, my hand plastered to my head, covering the trickle of blood from my wound.

This time I kept my head low and my eyes wide open. My pursuer didn't seem to be near. As I slipped along the path, I began to notice that this place… it felt so unnatural. The tall grass reeked of chemical fertiliser, and yet it was the sort that would be found in the rural territories; not the sort to be watched over by a mezzanine of concrete filled with hungry-eyed humans.

They were watching me.

I pushed myself through the next set of rushes, before stepping into a cleanly cut lawn. I blinked dazedly at its emerald glare, my toes stroking the grass as my nose sniffled the unmistakable scent of freshly trimmed grass.

All of this felt so unreal. Those gawping humans… the building from which they watched looming over me like the jaws of hell… the strange transition of terrain was unsettling by itself, but the combination of this all would have been farcical were it not for my dire situation.

For at the centre of all this was this kid who pursued me and my friends without relent. This Pokemon Trainer who would not give up in his mission to hunt every last one of us down.

No buts. No maybes. Capture. Absolute.

I accepted the fact that he wanted to capture us. Pokemon Trainers capture Pokemon as humans are wont to twist bough of and hew the flesh from the mountains for their own ends.

But like I said: I'd accepted that. Yesterday my Pokemon Trainer was the truest friend I could ever have had. Now he was gone.

Tongues of icy rain licked my scalp, trapping my mop of green hair to my scalp. I shivered miserably, huddling deep in the hollow of a dead tree. My parched mouth quivered open, and I let out my tongue to catch a few drops of precious water.

I heard a crunch over by a bush, and my sunken eyes widened. I stared at the spot, gritting my teeth to the cold shudders of apprehension reaching up my spine.

A foot ventured out of the bush, and I caught a glimpse of a white sneaker tarnished with mud, before a boy in a heavy, black rain jacket emerged, bearing a Pokeball.

Yet not all humans think of Pokemon as tools.

The boy looked at me sadly, stowing the Pokeball away and stepping gingerly towards me. I peered at his hands as they began to dig into his bag – humans couldn't be trusted.

The kid saw my eyes, and he gave me a warm smile before slowly retrieving a plastic box. He opened it and picked out a pair of chopsticks, before carefully spooning out a bit of rice.

I sniffed at it tentatively, before temptation overcame me, and I reached out to snatch the food with my teeth. Its wholesome taste warmed my body, and I swallowed soothingly, before turning back to the boy.

He fished out a red computer-device the size of a wallet, and flipped it open with a flick of the wrist. He turned it so the eye-like Pokeball icon to face me inquisitively.

It was a Pokedex.

"A Ralts, huh?" The boy murmured, before closing the Pokedex with his thumb. "Poor thing. You look so lonely, and the picture looks so happy…"

He reached out and stroked my hair with a warm, gentle hand.

"Shall I take you to Nurse Joy at the Pokemon Centre? She's a really nice person…" The boy asked me.

I eyed a small ravine of craggy rocks where the Pokemon Trainer had sucked a wailing Mudkip into a Pokeball.

He tossed the ball into his bag with a smirk to the applause of the crowd, and I gave a furious snarl as he sniggered:

"Now to find that Gallade! I've wanted one in my Pokedex for ages!"

The crowd began to chant, "The grass! The grass!" Some of the humans even threw food at me, and others their cans still dripping their foul brew.

The trainer swivelled round to face me. He grabbed another Pokeball, his sneer biting into his cheeks. He gave a greedy chuckle, and started sprinting at me, brandishing the Pokeball over his head and ready to throw.

When he was but a few metres away from me he branded the thing like a baseball. It curled deftly towards me, and it was only by narrow chance that I batted it away with my blade-arm, sending it flying away.

Then I dashed off, streaking towards the water's edge, beyond which lay a low wall I could easily clear. The trainer jeered at me, hurling another Pokeball in pursuit.

The ball fell short, and escape was in sight; yet I did not feel content. Something yet stole my heart and hope in the dead of my mind.

I looked out into the rainy day with refreshed eyes. It looked so peaceful; the falling water pattering on the window, and soaking the young trees. I brushed a strand of emerald hair from my eyes, and gave the Taillow and Staravia roosting on the branches a tranquil smile.

I heard a light step behind me, and I turned to face the boy. He gave me a happy grin, and shuffled anxiously.

"So did Nurse Joy patch you up?"

I nodded.

"That's great!" He laughed. "Hey Ralts, I'm just kinda starting on my Pokemon adventure… and, well… do you wanna be my friend and come with my on my adventure? It'll be heaps of fun…"

I smiled. (Yes.)

The knot in my chest tightened. My throat ached with sorrow, as well as with the toll of each breath of air dragged across it.

My eyes met the goal, and while I tried to tell myself that the end was in sight, I knew that it couldn't be over so soon.

That day, my master, when you told me you'd be my friend, did you mean it? If you did, then why aren't you here to protect me?

I noticed a Pokeball flying right over me, and I grinded to a halt as a Gengar burst from the ball with a searing flash of light.

(You won't get away.) He sniggered devilishly.

(What do you want with me?)

(My master wants to catch you.) The Gengar answered. (He wants you in his battling team.)

(Then that brat can look elsewhere.) I said bluntly. (I've already got a trainer, and I've got no time to dawdle around here if I'm going to start looking for him.)

(A TRAINER!?) The Gengar cackled, slapping a hand to his head. (Oh that's right. You don't know, do you? When a trainer finishes their Pokemon adventure, they transfer their Pokemon to someone else using this place: Pal Park.)

(Transfer? But my master would never-)

(In other words, your so-called master doesn't want you any more.)

(LIAR!)

I charged with lethal speed at the Gengar, disappearing from sight, and reappearing behind him, blood spraying onto my back as a great rent tore itself through his shoulder.

The Gengar collapsed, spluttering, (Damn… that Psycho Cut you did… but you still won't escape…)

I felt a dull pain in my chest, and my eyes popped open as I noticed a bloody, gaping hole over my lungs. I coughed up a gobbet of blood, and glared back at Gengar, who wheezed tauntingly at me, (Shadow Ball got ya…)

I fled from him, a hand clutched over my throbbing chest.

"We won our first battle, Ralts! We did it!"

I leapt from the water's edge, sending a wave of shingle flying up beghind me as my powerful legs carried me soaring across the glassy water.

Below its shimmering surface, all I could see was a lonely Ralts; weeping in the hollow of a dead tree as he drowned in the winter rain.

"Wow! You're a Kirlia now!"

I looked at my rather feminine form and cast my head shamefully. I didn't look that awe-inspiring at all. Not for a guy, any way.

"Naw, don't worry about it. We won't let anyone disrespect you; I promise. And someday you're gonna be a Gallade! How cool will that be?

I looked at the wall, beyond which lay my escape. I will go free. I WILL see my friend again.

I landed deftly on the water, creating a slight barrier, which I launched myself off of with a single toe.

Yeah! We got eight badges, Gallade! We'll finally be able to take a shot at the Pokemon League!

Just as I was about to pass over the wall, a blazing barrier of light rose up before me, reaching towards the heavens; blocking all hope of escape. I turned cold.

There was no way out.

I shrieked my frustration as I crashed heavily into the barrier, before toppling into the pool below.

(In other words,) The Gengar sneered, (He doesn't want you any more.)

The deep water's rushing currents about, their groping hands wrenching my jaws apart. Blood flowed freely in the water as its clammy touch reached into my wound. I flinched in agony as the pain from the fall stung my back.

I turned my eyes towards the glossy light above, and my pain receded to have despair take its place. My heart beat gloomily. Did I even want that light; that life any more? I just didn't know.

Those words… did they have any meaning to you, my master? My whole body aches with misery, my soul drowning again in that winter rain. Where are you to protect me and take the force of all this water from my chest?

Do I mean anything to you?

A boy leaned over me, sheltering me from the rain. He offered his hand.

"Will you be my friend, Ralts?"

I howled my pain to the stars unborn.

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And that's the story!

For everyone who's coming into the Pokemon fandom, I wish you every success for your writing.

And for those of you who remember me from the old days, I hope life is going well for you (things have been going well for me ^_^). I may not be in touch, and will probably only be coming back on here semi-frequently, but I cherish my memories with you all.

Sayonara!

Capybara 773