Slowly ascending above the peaks of Mount Moon, the sun revealed itself in a brilliant display of pale orange and pinkish red. A picture-perfect sunrise, if only the dusty-brown streak just above the tips of the mountain wasn't there. But it was, though no one paid much heed to it.

Yuuto noticed it. Almost nothing escaped his opaque emerald gaze. Normal people missed things. To him, they always assumed too much and never looked into anything enough to gain a real understanding of what truly was happening. Yuuto was different. And when looking at the brown line, he saw what other people didn't: danger.

He consideredtelling his father about the peril he felt as he stroked the head of his pokemon and companion Hikoro, an Ekans, butalas, Yuuto felt no need. Father would just ignore him, like always. Maybe it was the fact he had taken a liking to pokemon battling. Or possibly thecontrast in appearance between his parents and him disgusted his dad. Yuuto's parents each had shining brown hair and radiant, ocean-blue eyes. Their baby responded with hazy greeneyes and blackhair the shade of nighttime.

"Let's go practice your poison sting and bite some more, Hikoro," said Yuuto suddenly, switching tracks.

"Ekanssssss!" the snake responded.

Yuuto slid off the ledge he was sitting on, helping Hikoro down. That was his favorite spot. On route 4, the ledge was just high enough to keep others off and away from the exit of Mount Moon, but he knew the right footholds to climb up.

As Hiroko slithered towards their practice trees, Yuuto turned around to look at the mysterious brown line once again. He gasped, eyes widening in surprise. The line was now a bit larger! "But that's impossible!" he thought. There was no possible explanation for it. After all, it was just a line segment in the sky. It wasn't a living, moving thing! Although he seemingly shrugged off the topic and started to walk towards the practice tree, Yuuto couldn't help but wonder if there was possibly a live creature behind the streak.

"Perfect!" cried out Yuuto as Hiroko nailed the tree with a strong poison sting. He ran to his fellow pokemon, catching the proud snake in a tight hug.
Hikoro was happy, giving off a satisfied hiss: "Sssssssssssss…"

Releasing Hiroko, Yuuto noticed something wrong again. The wind had picked up a little speed. "No big deal," he thought, but as he returned his pokemon to its pokeball, the wind increased its speed some more. Then more. Soon the wind was howling, and trees scritched and scratched against each other while people rushed to their houses for cover in west Cerulean. They were staring up at the sky. Yuuto looked up, too.

Thoughthe shapes were vague, Yuuto instantly recognized them. A long line of Fearow flew in the horizon, quickly headedtowards Cerulean. Fearow were known to have bad tempers, but usually they did not roam in this general area or go as far to attack people in a horde like this. Why? What could have irritated them like this? There was no time, for he could see them approaching swiftly. It was only a matter of minutes before they reached the city.

Yuuto saw no need to warn anyone else now. He could see people rushing to route 4, pokemon companions by their sides. Taking out his own pokeball, he yelled "Hikoro, let's go!" A beam came out of the ball like red lightning, taking the shape of his purple, scaly friend. Battle was upon them as the front Fearow dived down, heading straight down at Hiroko.

The Ekans dodged to the side, avoiding a fierce drill peck from the enemy, but the Fearow swooped by, causing a powerful wind that knocked Hikoro and Yuuto back towards the route 4 ledge. Before landing, though, Hikoro fired a poison sting at the Fearow, hitting its left wing. The opponent came crashing down in front of them, though not hard enough to knock out any of the fight from within it. It glared at the duo as it got itself up, its savage eyes piercing down its targets. At that moment Yuuto noticed something odd about the Fearow. There was a metal collar around the neck.

He ordered his pokemon to attack. "Hikoro, aim at the collar!" The snake swerved side to side, dodging gusts of wind as the Fearow flapped its right wing to fire small but powerful whirlwinds. As he neared the bird, he took aim, but the Fearow managed to land an extra powerful whirlwind on Hiroko during the slight pause. The Ekans was sent flying backwards, crashing into Yuuto's chest while airborne, shooting them backwards until they hit the ledge, sinking to the ground.

Yuuto moaned a little after a second, lifting himself off the ground from the impact. He saw that Hikoro had already gotten up and was staring down the Fearow. It wasn't until neither moved the he saw what had happened.

Hikoro had used glare. He was only just starting to learn how to use the move, but under the pressure of battle he had effectively glared and paralyzed the foe. If only that Fearow hadn't responded with a mirror move!

"You did great, Hiroko!" Yuuto said to his pokemon while taking out a pokeball. They could just hide until all the Fearow were defeated by the other trainers.

Crack!

The pokeball hit the ledge, blown out of his hand. Yuuto looked ahead, stunned. The Fearow had broken one wing free of the paralyzation! Although it was very possible to break free of paralyzation, there was almost no way to do so that quickly. Soon the left wing was up, fully recovered from the poison sting. Yuuto took a step back, but his foot hit a wall. He was backed up against the ledge!

A shrill, piercing cry let loose of the bird's mouth; the pokemon flapped both wings, lifted a few inches off the ground, and darted straight for Yuuto. All he could do was stand, numb with fear, as the Fearow flew right towards him, beak as sharp as the tip as an arrow. Yuuto closed his eyes. He was going to die.

"Squak!"

Yuuto opened his eyes, a jackhammer pounding in his chest. He gasped.

Hikoro, perhaps the bravest and toughest pokemon Yuuto had ever met, resisted the paralyzation and had used bite on the Fearow, wrapping its tail around a nearby tree trunk with a strong hold on the bird's leg.

"Hiroko!" screamed Yuutoas an electrical current traveled up the snake's body. He must be in pain…

Yuuto flinched as the Fearow's beak suddenly came within an inch of his neck. It seemed to be aiming for the collar of his shirt. But Yuuto knew he couldn't relax just yet. He didn't know what to do next. He was safe, yeah, but what should he do now and how long could Hiroko hold out?

"SSSSSSS!" The Ekans struggled and shook as the Fearow began to slip from its mouth as the bird started flapping its wings frantically. Getting ever closer, the Fearow began swinging around its beak everywhere in a dire craze.

Yuuto began to break out in a sweat. "I guess nothing Hiroko can do can save me now…" But this compared to nothing to what he saw.

Hearing a victorious shriek in the air, Yuuto ignored his dilemma. He looked up, and stared in horror. A tiny flock of Fearow was escaping the battle, carrying prisoners on their backs! And amongst the townsfolk he saw was his parents, hanging on for their lives. As if in slow motion they flew away, his parents looking overcast in the sun-lit sky. They were staring at him in those solemn expressions!

Another close swing of the beak brought Yuuto's attention back to his own troubles. This bird must have given up on capturing him. It wanted Yuuto dead.

Around west Cerulean, more and more people were losing their pokemon battles and getting caught by the Fearow, being taken to the skies towards an unknown fate. He could not predict his own fate as Hiroko's grip on the bird began to weaken along with his strength, and the swings of the beak reached closer and closer to Yuuto's chest, seeking blood.