Beginning or an End
"Now hush little baby, don't you cry
I promise everything is going to be alright
Don't be scared by the sounds of the night
I'll ways protect you and that's no lie"
(3rd person pov)
The sun began to rise on the sinnoh region as three Staravia flew over the land, in search of their target.
(Staravias' pov)
"I can't wait to get my talons on that blasted Combusken!" yelled one Staravia
"Me too, he really screwed us over." Said a second
"I have to admit, he was very cunning. First he steals a Protector from a group of Rhyperior, and then he tricked us into trading some of our food for that Protector." Said the third.
"The Rhyperior then found us holding the protector and attacked us! Luckily, they left us alone when we threw it at them as we flew off." The second replied.
"I think I see him in that clearing!" Exclaimed the first.
(Combusken's pov)
I woke up suddenly, when my sixth sense alerted me that I was being targeted. Ever since I went off on my own, it saved my butt more times then I could count. This time should be no different. I looked up to see what had set it off, three enraged Staravia were about to dive bomb me.
(3rd person pov)
The birds attempted to attack the Combusken. He disappeared, then instantly reappeared behind them using his quick attack. The birds suddenly realized that this young fowl would be more of a challenge then they were expecting. The birds stopped short of hitting the ground, and whispered something as they came to a plan.
Two of the Staravia flew at the Combusken with wing attacks. The Combusken just stood his ground while using bulk-up, waiting for the right time to use his double kick. His sixth sense tingled and in response, turned around only to be hit with a quick attack by the third Staravia. The hit knocked him backwards to be hit with the super effective wing attacks. He fell on his right knee and used bulk-up once more.
"That's what you get for messin with us!" one of the birds arrogantly yelled.
"Want more?" another boasted.
The Combusken just glared in disgust as he wondered what to do next. He stood up and the Staravia flew right at him. They used the same formation and this time the Combusken used quick attack to jump over the two, but in doing so his sixth sense triggered and as he looked down the third Staravia used wing attack on his legs. Combusken landed on the palms of his wings and leaned forward, landing on his feet. Luckily bulk-up suppressed the damage, but the combined damages from this battle was slowing taking its toll on him
"What do I have to do?" he wondered to himself. Analyze, Understand, Anticipate, Counter. As these words came to him, he had a flashback of when he was training with his mentor as a Torchic.
-Flashback-
"Darn it Bruce, it's not fair! You're bigger then me. I'll never be able to take that berry off your hand!" Torchic complained.
"Not with that attitude, besides this isn't about strength or speed, it's about problem solving." Explained Bruce
"Huh" the Torchic replied.
"In life there will be situations when your strengths won't be enough. You'll need to be able to come up with a quick strategy." Bruce explained.
Bruce saw that the Torchic was getting confused.
"In other words, Instead of overpowering, try to out think your enemy." He continued
The Torchic tilted his head and responded, "Bruce… I have to say… I … have no idea what you're talking about."
The Machoke faced the floor and sighed.
With a twinkle in his eye, Torchic hit the bottom of Bruce's hand and quickly snatched the berry in his beak and gleefully ate it.
"Not really what I had in mind, but it got the job done." Bruce stressed. "You did analyze that my guard was down, you understood that I wouldn't react fast enough, you also did anticipate I would get distracted by your remark. Finally you used deception to counter my focus. Analyze, understand, anticipate, and counter. You did all four, good job. One more thing, I thought you might pull something like this so I used a spicy figy berry!" said the Machoke.
Torchic then ran around the now laughing Machoke.
"Oh no! I can't believe how sweet this berry is!"
The Machoke was now dumbfounded by the Torchic's remark. Bruce had to admit defeat when Torchic held out the figy berry and stated, "I knew something was odd about that berry. When you were focused with that berry flying in the air, I put a mago berry in my mouth. You thought you saw me catch that figy in my beak, but really I let it fall on my wing from the side of my body that you couldn't see. I knew that I had fooled you when I saw your confused face! Luckily I just happened to have stopped for a mago berry snack on the way here. So have I mastered strafiee?"
"Strategy Torchic, strategy and yes you have." The Machoke praised with a smile.
-Present-
Combusken returned from his trip down memory lane and knew how to take down these birds he was facing. He knew what the two Staravia were doing was just a bluff or a distraction, the third Staravia is the prime attacker. Also the third only attacks as soon as Combusken attacks. If he wants to counter the Staravia's attack plan, he would have to lure the attacker away from his partners.
The Staravia than changed their tactics. All three flew in close and started flying in a circle around the Combusken keeping him surrounded. Just as he was about to attack the birds, they used quick attack to fly faster around the Combusken and make their circle of flight smaller. The sixth sense warned that something wasn't right.
The Combusken then, charged forward with a quick attack. As he expected, a Staravia triggered Combusken's sixth sense from behind. Combusken then leaned back doing a summersault causing him to successfully land a double kick on the sneaky Staravia. The kick sent the bird flying into a nearby tree. The Staravia tried to get back up but an apple fell right on the bird's head knocking him out cold.
"The concern for their friend will be their down fall." The Combusken thought to himself. As the Staravia turned their attention towards the fallen bird, the Combusken took advantage. He used quick attack on a Staravia. Just as the bird was knocked away, the Combusken turned to the last Staravia and attacked it with another quick attack. It went crashing under the same tree as the first double kicked Staravia. The Combusken made his way towards the two birds, however the third Staravia still had some fight left in him.
The weakened Staravia was terrified as he saw the Combusken making his way towards his friends. Out of desperation, the Staravia ignored his pain and blasted forward with a quick attack. The Combusken knew he was about to get hit, but couldn't avoid it. Barely any time to react, he used bulk-up just in the nick of time. The persistent Staravia stood between his friends and his enemy. Both, Staravia and Combusken stared into one another's eyes, wondering what drives the other to do what they have done till now.
"What the heck is wrong with you!" yelled the Staravia.
"You tricked us out of some food, practically leave us to be blamed for your actions and now you're going to attack my friends when they can't even defend themselves?!"
"Well, to be fair, you and your friends tried to attack me in my sleep and fight me in an unfair 3 on 1 beat do-"ENOUGH" the Staravia interrupted.
"Prideful son of a" thought the Combusken.
"This isn't a food fight anymore!"
"Food fight?" the Combusken asked in an amused tone.
"You know what I meant!" barked the Staravia.
"I'm not going to let you hurt them, not when they can't defend themselves! AAAHH!"
That wasn't the first time this Combusken has seen those kinds of eyes, the eyes of someone who wants to protect something that means a great deal to oneself.
At that moment the Staravia began to glow. The Combusken's sixth sense started to tingle, at this he used bulk-up one final time. The Staravia then began to evolve into a staraptor. In a flash, both Pokémon charged at one another with their own quick attacks. However, the Combusken changed his attack at the last second. He hopped slightly and lifted his legs mid-air to land a double kick, drop kick style square on the staraptor's face knocking him out.
(Combusken's pov)
I picked up the defeated staraptor and placed him next to his friends. Poor birds, they had every right to attack me and still lost. I can't say I blame them for trying to get revenge though; I would have done the same thing. Still they did put up a good fight and their teamwork was impressive. I hope that what I'm about to do, doesn't come back to haunt me.
(The staraptor's pov)
I don't know how long we've been out. When I came to, I discovered something under my wing. My friends also found the same round object under their wings when they woke up. They were Oran berries. There was one for each of us. I found a note attached to the tree we were under. As I got up, I began to read it aloud. It read:
"To the two Staravia and staraptor,
Sorry about how things turned out. I know that this doesn't really make up 4 what I've done, but it's all I can offer right now. The 3 Oran berries are for each of you. They are my last supplies, they are 4 any injuries you or your friends may have sustained. I hope you 3 can forgive me. Maybe if we ever meet again I'll be able to make it up to you 3 if I can. Again, I am sorry for screwing you over and there is no excuse for the con I pulled on you and your friends. Well at least one of you got to evolve.
Sincerely, the Combusken you fought."
After reading that, my friends and I ate the Oran berries and took a vote.
"You guys think we should forgive him?" I asked my friends
"I don't think we have much of a choice, we tried to fight him on a 3 on 1 and lost, you even evolved and still he won. But at least he did give us these berries for recovery and on top of that, still had the courtesy to leave some form of apology." My friend said, and I had to admit he had some good points. So long as I never have to see that Combusken again, I guess I could forgive him. We all agreed to that.
(Combusken's pov)
It was still the middle of the day and I found myself walking around a rocky mountain. It is amazing where you can end up when you go about aimlessly. Despite me not having a clear destination, there is still one area that I try to avoid.
I pulled out my map of the region and apparently, I was near stark mountain. I preferred to be near MT coronet. Though I would have to cross a large body of water just to get to it, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about accidentally returning to that area I wanted to stay clear of if I was there. Too many bad memories made me almost hate the place I was trying to avoid. If that wasn't bad enough, that area always gave me the impression that it was cursed, because bad luck always seems to strike those who enter it.
As I remembered the area, it some how made me remember those birds from earlier, specifically the one that evolved into a staraptor. His eyes, they were similar to Jimmy's eyes before he passed away in a cave-in.
-Flashback-
His family and mine were supposed to have a picnic on the other side of a cave. We always had picnics almost every weekend. The other side of the cave had a secret oasis which was hidden by its natural maze. Getting to it was very inconvenient, but the trip wasn't that far and it was worth the trip. It was beautiful and private so no one bothered our two families. After eating we would always play games in that paradise. No matter what mood we were in, every time we left the oasis, we always left as one big happy family, despite his family being the Sinnoh's Empoleon species and mine the Hoenn's Blaziken species.
On the last trip our two families took, disaster struck. While in the cave's maze, something happened to make the cave unstable. When an onix burrowed through the cave, it shook the walls enough to trigger a cave-in. we all turned and ran for the exit. As we ran Jimmy, my piplup friend, got separated from his mother and father along with me.
It was like something out of a nightmare, everything was rumbling it was dark, and all the while large rocks were falling. Jimmy and I were desperately trying to find a way out. Jimmy was swiping away at the rocks in our way with his steel wing attack his father taught him and I kept firing off some ember attacks to light the way. They almost seemed like a waste of time, his steel wing attacks couldn't break through rocks bigger then the size of our heads, and my ember could only light about 5 feet ahead.
We kept running and running, trying to find an exit that may not even be there. The rocks continued to fall and threaten our lives. We turned to the left as a large boulder nearly crushed us it made a rumbling that nearly tripped us. Still we kept on running. Suddenly the floor behind us began to crumble away almost swallowing jimmy and me. Another large boulder almost crushed us as it fell, but we couldn't turn to a new tunnel. This rock however was oddly flat enough to climb over; we instinctively climbed it to find another tunnel to run through. Jimmy's wings were getting tired from al those steel wing attacks that I had to help him up. We ran as far as we could. The rocks still fell and we could feel the cave collapsing far behind us. As we ran through this tunnel the floor crumbled, and we fell down in to yet another tunnel.
Not sure how, but we finally found an exit. Finding the exit felt more like a spit on the face because the cave was collapsing faster then we could run. We both knew we couldn't make it out. So I yelled out, "We're not going to make it!" "Yes you will" I quickly turned my head to face Jimmy. He had those eyes that the staraptor had, a look of determination, selflessness, and an undying will to defy the odds.
At first it reassured me, but as I realized what he was planning I was horrified. "NO! DON'T DO-" before I could finish my sentence, he shot a water gun blast at me that sent me flying out of the cave just as it collapsed, crushing every thing inside. I yelled "JIMMY" at the top of my lungs, wishing that none of this were real.
Hearing my yell, Jimmy's family came rushing, along with my family. Both of whom realized what had happened. Jimmy's father as stubborn as ever, tried to rescue his son with tears in his eyes he smashed into the rocks with his steel wing attack. He got to through a few rocks before his wings began to bleed from the impacts from the rocks he was trying to break through. At one point my mother tried to stop him, but my father placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head at her to stop her.
At that time I couldn't understand the reality of the situation or what death was.
"Mommy why isn't jimmy coming out? Why is he still under the rocks? Isn't it heavy under there? Mommy?" in a way I already knew why but, I wanted her to prove me wrong. I unknowingly made everyone cry even me. Jimmy's father sobbed harder still trying to save his son though everyone knew it was useless except for me. I was still thinking that jimmy would pop out and say that he was okay or something.
When my father explained what happened to jimmy, I… I… I called him a monster believing that he was lying to me and ran to the spot were I first met jimmy and cried. Mary heard me and asked me what was wrong. I then tried to explain what had happen to jimmy, she seemed to understand and she hugged me to try to calm me down and her warmth did help me feel better. She was always more of an older sister to me then a friend and I liked that about her.
-Present-
Back in reality I continued moving forward, which I then regretted. As I walked, I saw two golem and a geodude playing together. Why does faith always have to remind me of everything I've lost? A mother and father, playing with their kid. The sight of them was like a slap to the face. Because it drove home the fact that I was utterly alone in this world. I almost wanted to cry just from seeing them happily playing together without a care in the world.
Everyone who ever cared about me, everyone who disliked me, everyone I had called friend, and my family; they were all ripped away from my and there was nothing I could of done to stop it. I know that I have been taught that in this world, it's a survival of the fittest, eat or be eaten. Although that concept has been proven to me time after time, I still couldn't accept it as the way of the world.
(3rd person pov)
While the Combusken was lost in thought, the father golem believed the Combusken to be a threat. The golem then shot a stone edge at the Combusken.
(Combusken's pov)
My sixth sense barely alerted me to the stone edge. It was too close for me to avoid. I used bulk up to reduce the damage, but the stone edge was still able to push me off the cliff of the stark mountain.
The fear I had rolling down that steep cliff rivaled what Jimmy and I felt in the cave. This time I had no one to save me. With every spin, things got more and more painful as I felt the rocks from the mountain dig into me. Try as I might, I was helpless to save myself I couldn't do anything. I didn't really have a reason for living any more after I lost everything and yet… I didn't want to die.
(3rd person pov)
Something inside of the Combusken took over, but the Combusken was unaware of his actions as long as the entity was in control. The entity then used his right wing to punch the side of the mountain. That stopped the rolling and contact from the mountain but he was still falling. The entity used a large stone, the size of a small car that was sticking out of the wall as a stepping stone and jumped off of it. However that loosened it enough to cause it to fall down moments after him. The entity landed on the soft sand below and noticed the large rock falling right on top of him. The entity just stood there, waiting. Then, it shot a wicked punch at the large falling rock, shattering it like glass. The entity then, receded and one of the stone edge rocks fell on his left wing, causing the Combusken to fall on his back as he regained his awareness.
(Combusken's pov)
I don't know if faith was spiting on me or pitying me when I landed on some soft sand. OW! DARN IT! I was pretty sure it was mocking me as I discovered my left wing was bruised. Other then that and some sores and minor scrapes, I was alright.
I looked around and saw that I was in a desert like area. Great. Worst part is it seemed like I was being forced to go forward. Cliffs to my left, cliffs to the right, and a dead end behind me forward it is then.
Before I started walking towards the desert, my mentor once warned me about deserts. He said that all living things need water to stay alive. Just because some can go longer then others without it doesn't mean they won't eventually succumb to thirst. Bruce also said that you must be very careful not to fall asleep in it, even if you have been properly hydrated. Sleeping is a huge risk especially during the day.
When I asked him why he looked me square in the eye and answered," If you do, you will never open your eyes again." His response sent shivers down my spine.
It just hit me that I haven't had anything to drink since last night. I pulled out my map, but with no land marks to reference, I couldn't tell where exactly I was. The cliffs were too difficult to climb I blamed my injured left wing. Either way I looked at it the only way out was through the desert. I started walking.
The bright sunlight and the hot desert made me feel so energized like I had an energy drink and followed it up with ether a candy bar or a sugar cookie. I felt on top of the world just walking in there, but I didn't get far before this burning desert started to mess with me. I felt light headed, thirsty and my legs felt weak. Those birds from early this morning, I shouldn't have showed remorse I should have kept my stuff. I should have left them under the tree. Now my pity on them was going to get me killed, and my loneliness kept me from avoiding this altogether. I wondered why I still hung on to my morals and emotions.
I looked up at the sky and thought I saw those two Staravia and staraptor flying in a circle over what seemed to be a berry tree. Wait, was it an oasis? What is it doing in this desert? Never mind that now I just needed some water, guess I should trust good intentions more often, those birds are saving me after all. Using what little energy I had left I ran to the oasis hopped on a rock and leaped into the water. The splash wasn't as refreshing as I wanted it to be because instead of water, I belly flapped on hot desert sand.
Stupid mirage. I sat up coughing out sand and was getting desperate for water. How ironic for a fire type to actually want water, though I needed it for survival. Barely able to stand, I could feel myself slowly dying of thirst. The inside of my beak was dry and slightly sticky from the drying saliva and I could still feel some sand, but I didn't want to spit it out because I wanted to keep what little fluid I still had left.
I tried to keep walking, but kept falling on my knees. Every fiber of my being was yelling at me to keep going, however it seemed like every part of me was just getting heavier and heavier with every step I took. Things were slowly getting blurry and dark as I fell for the last time. I saw something coming towards me. I tried to craw away and hide somewhere but everything felt too heavy to move. Whatever it was, it seemed to be about my size and red in color and it walked on two legs. The last thing I noticed was that it had a fire at the tip of its tail before my eyes closed shut.
I dont own pokemon this is just a fanfiction.
Anyways what do you think should i keep this story going? because it seems like a bad way for a Combusken to go. leave a review and let me know i want to hear your thoughts.