Rage

Chapter one: Snatch

At 15, I really should have done something by now. Training, Contesting- as a kid, I never even signed up. I would chalk it up to a personality flaw than anything else. I don't like to change anything, stick to the status quo of being the kid that delivers Pokémon. 5 years of ferrying Pokémon from my mother's lab to the Pokémon centre and back. It's not the worst thing in the world. I see the city from the ground by the day, riding on my bike with a dozen or so poke balls in my basket and by night I'm staring down from one of the numerous skyscrapers, usually alone since mum was always at the lab.

Well, not technically alone. There was Grim, my Uncles wounded Absol. Some wounds even a Pokémon centre can't heal immediately so he was staying here in the city with us until he was. He limped a lot, and I think his injury was a lot more than his hind leg but I never asked. He was like a silent roommate that soon became a little to addicted to day time tv.

Today, it was a special batch of poke balls, I could tell. They were mostly ultra-balls, two great-balls mixed with them tipping me off that they were unusually high levelled for the lab to be dealing with. I'm not sure what the Lab was doing, my uncle studied Pokémon moves, how they vary from Pokémon to Pokémon and why some where shared and some not, he was usually out and about watching then in the wild. Mum was more of an indoors person, she studied Pokémon mental development.

I guessed these were some older caught from the wild Pokémon that were just caught that needed a heal up before being studied. From the Lab, I didn't even get to see mum before I was leaving with the new Pokémon to the Pokémon centre. Nurse Joy would have her work cut out for her this time around.

I saw Grim on the curb, tail up and aware and eyes transfixed to me. There were people around staring at him. I stuck my leg out to slow down and stop, staring to make sure it was actually him. That was the worst thing I could have done. I didn't see the car, but I heard it breaking.

Once, twice my body bounced of the pavement, my head connected with the ground one last time and I blacked out completely. I vaguely remember the crack of breaking bones, the faint screaming through the ringing of my ears.

When I woke up in hospital what I found to be a week later, I felt numb and heavy. The heavy part, I found out when I could focus my eyes was Grim, sitting vigilantly. The nurse, after the tests that I wasn't brain dead, told me everything in a gentle voice, and told me that Grim wouldn't leave me for a moment after the car hit me.

A leg broken in two places, five broken ribs, broken left arm, a broken collar bone and a fractured skull. It was a hell of a lot to survive in one go. I know by face is grazed, the bandages on my face indicated that much.

Time seemed to melt into nothing. Mum came to visit soon after I was cleared. She looked like she hadn't slept since I got hit, dark rings under her eyes, with an almost hollow look to them.

"I'm glad you're okay." She told me, holding my hands tight. They were soft. She hastily filled me in on what happened afterwards. Two people got out of the car, the driver remaining inside reversing to get away in the opposite direction, when he was done with the U turn, the other two had scooped up the majority of the shattered poke balls.

It was too quick for anyone to stop them, but someone had called for an ambulance when people realized I wasn't going to get up.

I felt my stomach turn. I had been run down for the poke balls in my basket. Someone had known me, watched me take my routes and waited for me. I felt so much guilt for things that just weren't in my hands, mum feeling horrible, the Pokémon stolen. She hugged me for the first time in a very long time when I sat up. She assured me it wasn't my fault, that bad people were to blame.

I stopped feeling guilt after the police asked me to make a statement. This wasn't an isolated incident. This was slowly becoming more and more common. Trainers were getting ambushed and their Pokémon taken, sometimes they survived the encounter. I was one of those lucky people.

The guilt I harboured in my gut boiled into anger. Who would be run over next? A ten year old with a rare Pokémon? How about old trainers that have long retired having their longest friends stolen away? The police told me nothing about who was doing it. They offhandedly ruled out Team Magma and Team Aqua, saying they disbanded a couple of years ago local gangs were off the list since a hit and run wasn't their style, especially in broad daylight and while it was Team Rocket's MO, they weren't any reports of them being in the country.

I felt heat in my body, like a fire had been lit just under my heart. Emotions I'm not used to feeling tightening inside like a Seviper death grip.

"Guess we match, huh buddy?" I tried smiling when mum after visiting hours ended but felt the musles in my face didn't like it. Grim was allowed to stay since he was so hard to get rid of willingly, and I guess mum wanted someone to stay with me. "I know you tried to warn me, I should have thought faster."

He refused to meet my gaze.

961 words- I should tell you guys that I'm having a Wager with Mr Scrone. First to 50,000 has drinks brought by the loser next get together.

And I'm totally going to win :D