Author Note: Hi, Absoltheharbinger here. In case you were wondering, Henry is an OC loosely based off myself. HE IS NOT FROM THE MAIN SERIES. Also, please don't give me flak about whether Ash is out of character; he won't be coming back ... muhahahaha ... [clears throat] I do not own Pokemon, guys. I'd have thought that would have been obvious, being as how its on this site ...
Absol was groggy the next morning. There was a smell of cooking bacon in the air. He was so considerate to her sometimes.
Somehow, something didn't feel right. Absol could feel it. The smell was overpowering. She could sense another body lying next to her in the bed. Her eyes snapped open. She screamed.
A dead body was lying on its side, facing her. Most of the flesh on its face was scorched off, revealed patches of blackened bone. It had no eyelids, lips or cheeks, its charred teeth grinning a skeleton's rictus, and its eyes wide and staring straight into her own. The only thing that identified it was the earrings, fused to the corpse's flesh. She flinched backwards in terror, falling out of the bed.
What was once a bed now resembled a lump of charcoal. The carpet was ash and dust. An orange glow permeated the room from a broken window. Absol edged out of the room, out of the apartment building, out into the street.
Rustboro City was a desolate wasteland. All that remained of the buildings were burned-out husks. It was like looking at thousands of rotten teeth. Fires still burned in the distance. The silence was eerie; by the sounds of things, she was the only survivor.
A crash filled the void like a gunshot. Absol looked around. Part of the wall had fallen down, embers still glowing in the edges. A single person stood in the gap. It was the corpse from the bed. It opened its sooty mouth, and screeched.
Other forms clambered from the ruins. All were scorched beyond recognition. All were dead. And yet they came for her.
Absol ran. Ran as fast as she could. The stumbling, limping people followed. Her breath tore in her throat. She choked on the ashen air. She tripped on a blackened spur of wood, cutting a deep gash in her foot. She swore and ran on, but her foot would not take her weight anymore. She must not stop.
But exhaustion claimed her. She had not eaten for twelve hours, and her body demanded energy. But there was no food in this burned, scorched hell. The bodies closed around her. She screamed for help. No-one came. They clawed at her with wasted fingers, tearing at her arms and back. She tried to fight them off, but it was like fighting off the fire itself; every time they fell, they got back up with renewed invigoration.
A stark realisation fell on her. She was doomed. The harbinger of disaster, condemned to death. She barely stayed conscious long enough to feel ruined teeth sinking into her from all sides.
Her eyes snapped open in an instant. She back in the bed. It was still dark. The person beside her was alive, untroubled in his sleep. She shuddered. A cold sweat drenched her body. It was just a dream. Just a dream … a dream … a dream … dream ...
"Are you alright?"
She glanced at him distractedly, nodding with a 'hmm' of assent. Absol didn't want to show it, but she felt like she would be sick if she opened her mouth. She looked half-heartedly at her breakfast. Henry had, in fact, done bacon for breakfast. Her face turned a pale green beneath her thin, black fur.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked again. He set a couple of mugs of hot chocolate before her.
Tears welled up at her blazing eyes. She looked momentarily like a child, frightened by the bogeyman. "Nothing. I'm fine. Just being silly."
"Hardly silly; you were screaming and thrashing earlier, when I tried to wake you up. And before that you looked like something was eating you."
The imagery of the nightmare flashed back so vividly she choked back a sob. "It was a bad dream. I haven't been sleeping well lately."
"What happened?"
"I'm fine!"
"No, you're not; that's what people say when they don't want to talk about their problems."
A tear trickled down her fuzzy cheek. "If you were to die, what would I do?"
Henry pulled her into a gentle hug. "I'm not going to die. Not any time soon. I've got too much to live for."
He gazed into her eyes, copper-green locking with ruby-red. "Come on; I've got a presentation to deliver."
Absol was sitting offstage, listening to his presentation on the importance of friendship and comradeship. She had to admit, he may not look like much, but he knew how to hold a crowd. Absol stole a smile.
"Excuse me."
A shabby-looking old tramp was standing behind her. A large, scrawny blue frog with two large, red claws stood at his heel, croaking gruffly. He wore a filthy coat and trilby hat, but his eyes sparkled with knowledge, and his beard looked trim and well-maintained.
"Err ... who are you?" she asked.
"Oh, they just call me the Pest Controller."
"But I've never called ..."
"A different, altogether more dangerous type of pest. I deal with mutants."
"Mutants?"
"Human and Pokémon alike. Mutants are a weed, swamping and suffocating innocent society. Oh, they seem likeable enough, but then they strike."
"Very interesting," said Absol, uncertainly. What is he doing here? "But what does all this have to do with me?"
He put his hand on her shoulder. Normally, this would be seen as a consoling gesture, but his fingers were clamped tight, and he seemed much more hostile.
"I'm sorry about all this. I hope under that grotesquely disfigured body there is an innocent Pokémon, but I can't run the risk. Think of it as a liberation."
Absol screamed as the Toxicroak struck, its poison-laced talon carving through her flesh and into her veins with practised ease.
"... and that's why we ..."
A shrill scream of pain and terror cut across Henry's speech. He frowned and shouted off-stage.
"Absol, you all right?"
Silence. That was worrying.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this presentation is postponed until further notice." And with that, he fled.
Absol wasn't looking good. Sick yellow tendrils snaked through her skin, visible even under her fur, spreading from a puckered, weeping wound in her throat. She was staring at nothing, milky swirls filling her eyes, and her mouth was foaming. She was breathing intermittently, gurgling on the bloodied froth in her throat, and she was shaking spasmodically. He smeared a finger in the wound. Some sticky, stringy fluid followed.
"Is everything all right?" asked the teacher, lobbing his head round the curtain.
Henry looked round at him, seeming much older, his eyes shining red in the half-light.
"Call the Pokémon Centre. My Absol has been badly poisoned. NOW!" he added, a tear rolling down his cheek.
He pulled a flask of yellow fluid from his bag, spraying the contents into the wound. "Come on, baby," he muttered, "don't give up on me."
"I've told the Pokémon Centre. They say bring the Absol ASAP," called the teacher, coming backstage.
Henry dabbed a tiny droplet of the venom onto his tongue. It tasted disgustingly bitter and smoky.
"I hope you know what you're doing; we don't want you falling ill too."
"Toxicroak poison," Henry mused, spitting the venom onto the floor. "Have you got a Pokémon that can easily carry her?" he asked the teacher.
The teacher nodded, releasing a tall, blue-grey, muscle-bound man with four arms. A Machamp; more than enough to carry a sick Absol a few blocks. The Machamp picked up the convulsing Pokémon, cradling her with surprising gentleness in arms like beer barrels.
"It's lucky that the Pokémon Centre is not far!" shouted Henry, as they bolted from the school gates.
"How long do you reckon she's got?"
"The Antidote should help, but I'd say we'd be lucky to buy twenty minutes!"
"Champ!" That should be enough!
"I hope so!"
"Good afternoon, welc-"
"No time!" gasped Henry. "My Absol needs emergency help."
The pretty, pink-haired Nurse Joy looked taken aback, but took one look at the shaking Pokémon, and nodded. "Bring her in."
Absol was strapped down to the examination table, due to the fact that her flailing limbs nearly upset several computers. The diagnosis took barely any time at all.
"You were right; it was a Toxicroak. She needs SecretPotion."
Henry thanked the nurse and pulled out his Pokénav. He knew someone likely to have some SecretPotion.
"Hey, Dug! OK, I'll cut to the chase: Do you have any SecretPotion?"
"Whoa, how do you know about that?"
"For its name, it's hardly much of a secret. Now do you have any?"
"Yeah, I do. Just bought some, as a matter of fact."
"Get it to Rustboro Pokémon Centre ASAP. Absol's not doing good."
"God, you're serious."
"Just get it here," he said, clicking off the Pokénav. Hold on, Absol. Help is nearly here.
It was ten agonising minutes before Douglas Parkinson, Henry's older brother, arrived. Dug was twenty years old, tall, and skinny. He had short, messy, mouse-brown hair, blue-rimmed glasses and blue eyes like glass chips. He always wore a black trilby hat, and he wore a khaki T-shirt and cream trousers. He landed and hopped off the huge blue swallow he was riding. The Swellow chirruped as he returned it to its Pokéball.
"How're you doing?" asked Dug, extending a hand.
Close-to, it would have been easier to tell them apart. Dug was thickset and muscly compared to Henry, and his skin was darker. This didn't necessarily mean he had been travelling to exotic locations; Henry spent so much time hiding from the sun he had developed the pale complexion of a vampire (no-one actually knew whether he did bite young maidens in the dead of night, but it comforts people to assume not). His ears were also normal-shaped, as opposed to Henry's elfin ears.
Henry didn't take the hand. "Do you have it?"
Dug produced a paper pharmacy bag from his rucksack. It rustled faintly as he shook it.
Henry took it and ran into the Pokémon Centre, Dug in hot pursuit. Henry poured himself a cup of water from the dispenser in the corner. He plucked a single brown pellet from the bag and dropped it in the water. Then he frowned. If this were a cartoon, a small thundercloud would have formed over his head.
"What's wrong?"
"If this was SecretPotion, it would have dissolved, turning the water a golden shade. But this isn't dissolving."
He took another pill, and bit it in half with one of his canines. It looked strangely sharp, like a fang. One could see the fury rising in him. He turned to face Dug. In his palm was half a ...
"Chocolate peanuts?"
"Hey, how was I to know? That guy was selling it cheap!"
"What guy?"
"He looked like a tramp. It was a genuine bag, though."
Henry groaned and belted his head on the table, revelling in the slice of pain that sleeted through his skull. He dug out his Pokénav and located a number.
"I don't care if you're busy, can you get here in the next six and a half minutes?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Do you have SecretPotion?"
There was a sound of a zip being undone. "Yep."
"Check it dissolves in water."
"Yes, it does. Henry, what ..."
"Get to Rustboro Pokémon Centre. You have exactly six minutes and thirteen seconds."
A figure stepped out of a portal of blue light. She was very tall, as tall as Dug. She was wearing a knee-length black coat with a black fur trim, and black trousers and boots. Her hair was long and fair held in place with a hairband with four large, black beads. Her eyes were grey as slate, with an amused look. Her Pokémon looked a bit like a bipedal wolf, with what appeared to be a cream boxer's vest and bright blue shorts. It had a large, metallic spike on its chest, and another on the back of each paw. Lucario.
"Good morning, Cynthia," said Dug. "It's been a while."
"Here's your SecretPotion, Henry. And, Dug; I've nearly forgiven you."
"Hey, that was a fair battle."
"Henry," asked Cynthia, "what in the name of all that is holy is going on? You call out of the blue, and I wasted a perfectly good Martini just then."
"No time," he said, grabbing the paper bag.
He checked his watch, and bolted back into the Pokémon Centre. By the time Dug and Cynthia caught up, the SecretPotion solution was being injected into Absol. Her thrashing ceased, but her breathing was still fluttery and weak. Her eyes were still staring, but they were clearer. The EKG was blipping reassuringly.
He could have laughed with joy. Absol was going to live.
"Hey, easy."
Absol sat up on the bed. It was half an hour before she was well enough wake up. Cynthia had gone back to Sinnoh, and Dug was heading back to Johto. Nurse Joy was shining a light into her eyes.
"Everything seems to be okay. You're free to go."
Henry helped Absol to her feet. She was still shaky, but could stand.
"What happened? All I know is that you were attacked."
Absol shut her eyes, grimacing as she tried to recall what had happened. "There was ... a tramp, or something. He had a dirty hat and coat. And a short white beard. He called himself the Pest Controller, I think."
Henry frowned. "Pest Control?"
"I can't quite remember what he said. Something about ... weeds and ... parasites. Oh yes, and mutants. He went on a bit, and then his Toxicroak attacked."
"That was a narrow escape. Two minutes and you would've been dead."
"What was he on about? He thought I was a mutant, or something."
"He's not going near you again. If he does, give him hell."
Absol turned to look at him. "Henry?"
"Yes?"
"You saved my life back there. Thank you." She leaned in and kissed him gently on the cheek.
"It was the least I could do. I still owe you."