Crossed With Fear

by SpryGuy

A Sneasel and Scraggy were both raised together to cheat and lie. They didn't mean to do these things, but they just wanted food and a good shelter. They worked for a mean Bisharp that abused and mistreated them, but gave them food if they both found an item he liked. Will they stand up for themselves and confront Bisharp, or will they die trying?

2. Chapter 2: The Forest

Hey guys! Chapter 2 is now here. Please review and favorite this if you like it! Thank you very much! See you in the next chapter.

Morning sunshine peeked through the trees in Castelia City. It was very busy in the morning, and everybody was up do to their daily deeds today. But on the other side of town where Sneasel and Scraggy lived, it was quiet and dark. No Pidoves were happily chirping in the grass, no children were playing on the playgrounds, no honks of any passing cars down the crowded roads, nothing.

Sneasel yawned loudly and got up quickly when she heard a loud crash coming from a nearby garbage can beside the alleyway, both her and Scraggy's home. She lazily strolled on over to the trash can and peeked inside its metal insides. What she saw was surprising.

Scraggy was leaping and wiggling through mounds of trash and rubbish in the trash bin, making his smooth lizard body smell of Trubbish and old food. Speaking of food, Scraggy was looking for some breakfast to eat. He found some peanuts in a paper bag and started ripping the bag open, gulping the shelled peanuts down in the process.

Sneasel's sigh echoed through the garbage can, making Scraggy jump and squeak with unawareness. "Scrag, what did I tell you about rummaging through trash cans like that? You could get yourself trapped in there! Also, those peanuts you ate had peanut shells."

Scraggy looked confused for a second by Sneasel's remark, and then immediately jumped out of the garbage bin and started gagging the shelled peanuts out of his mouth. When that… scene he made was over he smiled amusingly, trying to not gross out Sneasel. "Oh Snease, you're always gettin' my goat. Anyways, I was hungry and I just wanted some breakfast! Can't a Pokémon eat food 'round here?

Sneasel rolled her eyes at Scraggy's comment and pointed one of her claws south, were a bunch of trees and shrubbery were at. "Y'know, I was thinking about both of us going in that forest, to catch some food the proper way. Want to join me in a Rattata and Patrat hunting spree?"

Scraggy looked at Sneasel in disgust. "Me? I'm not really a meat type of guy, and you should know that by now Snease. I like eatin' berries and leaves though. They're yummy to me! So yeah, I guess we can go to that forest and find some grub to gobble."

Sneasel then sheathed her claws and grabbed a hold of Scraggy's hand, making Scraggy a bit nervous. "Ok Scrag, let's enter the forest today as true partners looking for food!"

Scraggy shook his head in agreement and both him and Sneasel entered the tall, lush forest together.

When they reached the grassy woods, Scraggy saw tons and TONS of food right in front of him—leaves. Scraggy's reptilian hand left Sneasel's paw and starting picking the leaves right off the bushes and vines in the forest.

Sneasel told Scraggy what she was going to do in these woods. "Scrag, I'm going to find some small Pokémon to catch and eat. I'll be right back, 'kay?

Scraggy answered Sneasel with a bundle of leaves and other greenery in his mouth. "Mmm...'kay."

When Sneasel walked through the forest, the sun was already shining brightly in the sky. There were no clouds in sight. A slight breeze of wind ran through her fur as she was carefully sneaking around the woods, trying to find some food. A couple minutes later trying to hunt and trying to be silent in the forest, she saw her prey: A Pidove that was not in a flock. It probably got lost in this tall, lively forest. "Hmph. Easy prey, but such pretty feathers… Eh, too bad for it." Sneasel thought to herself. Sneasel then went on all fours and inched closer and closer to her prey, trying to hide in the tall grass. Went the time was right, she unsheathed her long claws and jumped on her prey, aiming for the neck.

A perfect blow.

Her claws perfectly slashed through the Pidove's neck, red blood dripping from its injured neck and onto the forest floor. The Pidove squawked loudly, in deep pain from Sneasel's rough attack. It tried to flee by flapping its tiny wings, but then the Pidove soon realized that Sneasel ripped them from his body too. Pidove was hopeless. He was in fear.

Sneasel then bit her victim with her sharp teeth, paralyzing the Tiny Dove Pokémon and killing it, its eyes staring blankly and lifeless at her.

Sneasel laughed happily and smiled vigorously at the dead Pidove, picking the limp Pokémon up with her mouth and was now standing on her feet, going back to where Scraggy was.

When she was following her trail back to where that yellow reptile was, she suddenly felt a sharp pain through her leg. She looked behind her to see a creature biting her leg. Sneasel jumped in the air and yowled as the creature unhooked his teeth from her limb, landing in the short grass and dirt.

Sneasel growled at the dog—like animal, now holding the Pidove in her paws. "Who… who are you?"

The hound laughed maniacally and glared at Sneasel with daring eyes. "I'm Poochyena, but you can call me Pooch, baby. Saaay, can I pleeease have that tasty morsel that you have in your soft, luscious paws? You can pet my fur if you like—"

Sneasel heard enough of that crazy Poochyena. She dropped the dead Pidove on the ground and unsheathed her claws. She hated it when other Pokémon flirted with her. Sneasel growled even louder and went in her attack stance. "No. You can't have this prey, it's dead. Just like what you're going to be in a couple of minutes!" Sneasel was annoyed by Poochyena's appearance and smell, he just reeked of trouble.

Poochyena laughed softly and grinned at Sneasel with grimaced eyes. "Ooh, you're a feisty one, girl! I like you… But you'll have to die!" Poochyena giggled at his own words, ready for battle.

Sneasel started off this fight, running towards Poochyena and using Fury Swipes on him, scratching up his dirty pelt with multiple cuts of her trusty claws.

Poochyena didn't even flinch or feel the pain of Sneasel's Fury Swipes. He just shrugged it off. He taunted Sneasel with daring words. "Aw, c'mon baby! You can do better than that." Poochyena then walked closely towards Sneasel, smelling her fur with his snout. He liked what he was seeing and smelling. "Mmm… your fur smells so good, girl!"

Sneasel then screamed and blindly swung a claw at Poochyena, unfortunately missing his face and instead scratching the edge of a thin pine tree. She was angry now, and annoyed by the way Poochyena was "playing" with her.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the wild forest, Scraggy was stuffing his face with different kinds of berries and leaves. This was a buffet for him, and loved the juicy taste of the berries and the wavy texture of the leaves in his mouth and down his throat. When Scraggy was full, he started wondering where Sneasel was. "Hm, Snease should'a been back by now… Aw well, she can take care of herself, Can't she? I'm just going to sleep on this lovely tree stump here and wait for her." Scraggy then stepped up on the tree stump and laid down, and took a nice relaxing nap.

Poochyena taunted Sneasel once more, knowing that he would win. "Why don't 'cha just give up and run, lady. To be honest, I'm not that hungry anymore and you can take the Pidove. I'm done playing with 'ya."

Sneasel looked at the Poochyena, sheathing her claws and stopping in her tracks. She told the Poochyena, "Oh… ok, I'll just leave now and I'll leave you in peace. It was great knowing—"

"SYKE!"

Poochyena then picked up the dead Pidove and then ran as fast as he could through the long forest. Sneasel was surprised and angry. VERY angry. She let him and her prey get away! "How could I've been so DUMB? I knew he was lying, I really did…" She thought to herself, stomping away towards the forest entrance where Scraggy was located at. She hated Pokémon that stole food and lied, but… she did it as well. She knew how it felt to cheat. But Sneasel was different now. She wanted to stop lying and stealing and wanted to start her new fresh life of honesty and independence.

When Sneasel got back to Scraggy at the forest entrance, she saw him sleeping on a tree stump, his belly stuffed to the brim with leaves and berries. She wanted that feeling in her stomach as well. When Sneasel was getting ready to wake up Scraggy from his nap, she saw a pair of six insect eyes staring at Scraggy in a nearby bush. She looked at the glowing eyes in the bush and growled, hoping to scare the monster away. Its glowing eyes suddenly changed from curiosity to nervousness. The creature spoke aloud, "Oh! I'm terribly sorry! I'm not a bad guy, I swear!" The mysterious Pokémon crawled out of the bush. Sneasel jumped back from the bush to see a strange—looking insect.

A Galvantula was staring at Sneasel, apologizing for her unnatural actions. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you and—"

Sneasel looked at the rather small Galvantula and smiled at her. "It's okay, I didn't mean to scare you either. Why were you hiding in that bush?"

Galvantula calmed down and took a deep breath and started talking. "Ok, so I was on my web waiting for bugs to catch, okay? Well, a mean Poochyena clawed and bit my web apart into pieces! I was so sad… I then nervously got up the leftover silk I made and swallowed it. I then ran towards the entrance of this forest, and hid in that bush. I saw a really weird yellow thing sleeping on that tree stump and I was just... studying it."

Scraggy then yawned, stretched his arms and legs, and got up from the wooden tree stump. He sat on the stump and jumped off from it, landing on the lush grass. He saw Sneasel, and almost fainted when he saw Galvantula. He was really scared of bugs. He reacted to the EleSpider Pokémon in a frantic manner. "AAH! A SPIDER! CLAW IT'S EYES OUT, CLAW IT'S EYES—"

Sneasel then interrupted Scraggy's screaming with a loud response. "Scrag, don't worry! She's a friendly Galvantula! She's cool with us."

Scraggy's screams then turned into nervous laughter. He shyly walked up to Galvantula and bowed in apology. "I—I'm so sorry ma'am, I'm just scared of bugs, that's all."

Galvantula smiled at Scraggy, forgiving his apology. "It's all right man, everyone has their own fears."

Scraggy smiled at Galvantula and then looked at Sneasel, looking to see where her prey went. "Hey Snease, where's your food at? Did 'ya eat it whole already?"

Sneasel wanted to lie at Scraggy, saying that she did eat the Pidove already, but she wanted to do the right thing and to stop lying at people. She told Scraggy the truth. "I caught a Pidove, but a tricky Poochyena stole it. He was really strange, I actually think the Poochyena that stole my prey was the same one that tore Galvantula's web in half!"

Galvantula head then perked up. Sneasel's theory was probably right. "Y'know, you could be right about that, uh, Snease was it? Speaking of names, my name is Vanity." Vanity then "bowed" at both Scraggy and Sneasel in a polite manner.

Scraggy replied to his best friend and new acquaintance, "So, this Poochyena fellow was doin' bad things to you guys, huh? Well I'll take care of 'em!"

Vanity agreed with Scraggy but edited his sentence. "Yes, we will take care of them, right my friends?"

Sneasel and Scraggy nodded and agreed to Vanity's response, and the three of them settled out to find that sneaky Poochyena and defeat him.

When our three protagonists were searching through the deep forest looking for that freaky Poochyena, they suddenly heard thunder boom in their ears dn lightning flash in the sky. It was pouring down rain. Sneasel thought this to be weird, since a minute ago there were no clouds in the sky and the sun was up, lighting up the forest.

Scraggy flinched when he heard the loud thunder across the forest, and hid in a knot inside of a tree. His instincts told him to stay away from rain, since he could get electrocuted by the lightning in the sky. He told both Sneasel and Vanity, "Guys, I'm gonna stay in this tree and come out when it's all better out 'dere. You guys go without me, I'm scared of thunder and lightning…"

While Sneasel and Vanity were walking through the wet stormy forest looking for Poochyena, Vanity turned her head at Sneasel and smiled amusingly and then whispered to her, "Is there anything Scrag isn't scared of?"

Sneasel giggled at Vanity's sentence, then responding to her. "He is really jumpy at certain things sometimes, but I know one thing that he's not scared of: me."

Vanity straight up laughed at Sneasel's reply, but then silently continued to crawl through the forest with Sneasel. They both had to confront that Pooch Pokémon and kill him, even if It was the last thing they would do.

While Scraggy was hiding in the hole of a big structured tree, he saw a strange looking creature in the sky. It was on a cloud, and looked kind of like a humanoid. It was green with purple spots on its arms, five fingers, and body. It had grey hair, a spiky white mustache and two pointed green ears on each side of its head, it also had a long, curling tail, tipped with a whirl. The creature then looked down at the Scraggy, then fled through the dark, stormy clouds. Scraggy didn't even want to question what that Pokémon was, he just went back to sleep in the hollowed tree, thinking about sunshine and happiness.

Vanity and Sneasel were both walking through the forest as usual until they heard a certain Pokémon laughing behind some shrubs. The two friends went through the bushes to find Poochyena bullying a small, helpless Sewaddle.

The Sewaddle cried and complained, saying things to Poochyena such as "Don't hurt me mister!" and "I don't want any trouble!"

The Poochyena put one heavy paw on Sewaddles body, squishing and killing it. He evilly grinned at the dead Sewaddle and talked to himself. "Finally, that weak grass Pokémon was talking way too much…"

Sneasel and Vanity looked at each other in astonishment. He just killed an innocent Pokémon! The had to do something fast. Sneasel ignored everything around her and focused on just one thing: Poochyena. She stalked behind him, getting ready to bite his leg off. While Sneasel was doing that, Vanity the Galvantula was building a strong sticky web on the left of Poochyena, hoping her plan to work as much as Sneasels.

Sneasel then striked, using Crunch on the Poochyena's leg, hearing his loud angry howl and probably crippled him for life.

Poochyena was as mad as a Tauros. He loudly barked at Sneasel, not noticing Vanity's presence. He didn't look so cool and his smile turned into pure anger. He growled at Sneasel, yelling, "OW! That really hurt, you stupid Sneasel! My leg, I'm not going to be able to walk anymore!"

Sneasel was calm. She politely looked at the Poochyena and told him, "Don't really. You killed that Sewaddle, and now we're going to kill you. Go Vanity!"

Poochyena looked puzzle and asked who Vanity was. "Vanity? Who's that—"

Vanity then bit Poochyena with her small fangs, paralyzing him. She then carried Poochyena to her newly built web. Poochyena yipped and squirmed, trying to get away, but he was too late. Vanity already skicked him on the web, spinning Poochyena up into silk, turning his whole body into a big white cocoon of web.

Vanity got off her web and smiled at Sneasel with her body full of relief and happiness. "I did it, Snease! Did you see that? I killed him!" Vanity then licked her lips, then whispering to herself, turning back to the cocooned Poochyena, "I'll eat that dog later…"

Sneasel smiled at Vanity and then told her, "You were a really good help Vanity! Do you want to… join me and Scrag to find a home?"

Vanity was glad with Sneasel's offer, but took it down. "No, I already found my home here, in this beautiful forest. Thanks for the request, though! We'll meet each other again, I swear."

Sneasel when waved "goodbye" to Vanity with her paw and walked straight through the bushes and immediately ran to the forest entrance to see if Scraggy was okay.

When Sneasel went back towards the entrance, the rain suddenly stopped. She looked inside the hole where Scraggy was. Sneasel's heart then skipped a beat.

Scraggy was gone.

Sneasel took a step back and put her paws on her forehead, her eyes looking down at the forest floor, tears escaping her eyes. "Where… where is he?! Scrag... SCRAG!" Sneasel repeatedly yelled out Scraggy name, trying to look for him.

She looked everywhere. She looked in the depths of the forest, even asking Vanity where Scraggy was. She looked in every bush and tree to see if Scraggy was there. He wasn't anywhere.

The only place where Scraggy could be is in their alleyway, so Sneasel checked there as well. She ran as fast as she can to her and Scraggy's home. She looked in the trash can, the piles of garbage in the streets, she even looked in the abandoned casino where Bisharp once lurked, but no sign of Scraggy there either.

Sneasel gave up. The sun was now setting, and she was tired and sweaty. She layed down on the hard concrete floor in the alleyway. She was in that Arceus—forsaken forest the whole entire day. She knew something bad would happen to Scraggy when he wanted to stay in that hollow tree without her and Vanity. She had to look for Scraggy and to hope, just hope, that he was still alive somewhere.

She was in fear, and for a good reason too.

Sneasel then yawned and suddenly got pulled into sleep and darkness. The only thing she was thinking about was her best friend and partner—Scraggy.

Until next time.

Oh no, is Scraggy still alive? Well, find out next time in the next chapter, chapter 3. Thanks for reading! Hope to see you again soon.