Chapter Two:
Rarity
Why "nya" after every other line?
Well, most people don't know this, but it's common pokémon practice to end complete thoughts or even sentences with a sound of some kind. Nyaasu are known to use the tactic more than some. Pikachu for instance, don't use it as much, but when I learned how to talk like the humans around me, it just remained a habit. Even in writing, I sometimes stick it in; though, a real mark for the "nya" would probably just be the period. After all, I read periods, exclamation points, and question marks all as various "nya" sounds.
I never bothered to get rid of "nya". I put it off as laziness, but sometimes I wonder if it was just because there was some part of me that did not want to completely lose my identity as a pokémon. Somehow, subconsciously even, I think I missed the simplicity of being just a cat when all I wanted was a little attention.
Maybe that's even why I would on occasion want to stay with other people who would think of me more as a cat. Team Rocket never would, and as a whole, it would be far better if they never did. As for Kojiro and Musashi, they only brought up the fact that I was a pokémon when they either wanted something from me that their other pokémon could not provide (nyapaydaynya) or they just wanted to pick on me. Lucky, they were never too serious, or I might have ended up in a pokéball — a place I detested more than almost anything else! I preferred "cat" over the literal meaning of the term "pocket monster" any day! Whoever decided to call us all that had some nerve.
But a lot of it was pride. The pride of being special. A rarity! I did not want to be human. I wanted to be a talking pokémon. The only talking nyaasu! If I could not have what I used to want, I'd get the next best thing: the center of attention. Fame, the honor of being a rare pokémon regardless of the common lowliness of being a simple, street nyaasu. Because if I wasn't special, I was just a stupid pussy cat as Musashi had so frankly put it and a failure of a pokémon who could not even use the move most famous for his kind.
With that all said and done, I leave off these thoughts only with the complex and yet oxymoronically simple, "Nya!"
"I can't believe we finally caught something!" Kojiro cried gleefully. He nearly danced in his excitement.
"Of course!" agreed Musashi as cheerfully as ever. "We're going straight to the boss and there's not an annoying kid in sight!" She let out a loud laugh.
"Nya!" Nyaasu agreed. "It's just perfect!"
They landed the balloon far away from the town, far away from the traveling trainers, and far away from anybody. There was absolutely no way anyone would mess this up for Team Rocket! Absolutely not way whatsoever!
Least of all the pokémon herself, who was by now so severely chained and bound that nothing could escape such preparation. Nothing! It was worth a couple rounds of evil laughter, that's what it was, and they even let out a third round. They won! Now all they had to do was fly her over to Team Rocket's base and their leader Giovanni himself.
Still, it was going to take a while to get back there on a hot air balloon, and some things, even for top notch villains, never changed.
Stomachs began to growl.
"We should get something to eat," said Musashi with a sigh that was just a tad disheartening.
"But how?" asked Kojiro. "You said so yourself, we don't have any money?"
"We'll steal some!" snapped Musashi. "Think, Kojiro! Or aren't even capable of that?"
Kojiro leapt upright to defend himself. "Hey, I'm capable!" he said. "And you didn't want to steal anything when I suggested it earlier." His arms crossed tightly in defiance.
Nyaasu smiled. "Are you sure you wan-nya bring that up? Nya?"
With a tensing scowl, Musashi knocked Nyaasu out of the way, and he hit the edge of the basket next to where the prize was still trapped. The prize watched the procedure with glaring blue eyes. She might have said something too if the gag around her face had not been so tight.
"You can stay with the balloon, Kojiro," said Musashi as she climbed out of the basket and hopped onto the ground.
"Why me?" Kojiro demanded.
"Because you'll just mess things up," said Musashi, "and I'm mad at you right now."
Kojiro frowned. "Why? What did I do? I thought you were mad at Nyaasu."
This was when Nyaasu who had had enough arguing for now, climbing onto the rim of the basket cleared his throat and clasped his paws importantly behind his back. He puffed his chest out even more importantly as both his partners turned to him with wide-eyed curiosity.
"I'll stay here to guard our prize, nya!" he said.
"You?" said Kojiro doubtfully.
"Nya … Well," continued Nyaasu holding a paw out in front of him; and though he faced it, he was really only looking at it for superiority's sake, "someone responsible should stay with her in case something happens, and you two are more than capable of getting the food without me, nya."
"No!" snapped Musashi. "You just want to free the pokémon we stole fair and square! Well, too bad. I'll stay with the pokémon!"
"You trust Kojiro and me to bring back the best to share?" asked Nyaasu innocently.
"Good point," Musashi admitted, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "But what about you then?"
"I already said, nya," said Nyaasu. "I'm tired of running around for a while, remember? I'm not in the mood for burglar-ing even if it is just food."
"Then you better not fall asleep!" Kojiro warned as dangerously as he could, which to Nyaasu was just laughable.
"I won't!"
"And you better not let her go!" Musashi warned. She would not even have to have yelled it to make the threat convincing, but Nyaasu considered her just as laughable as Kojiro.
"Fine, nya, fine!" said Nyaasu. "Nothing will happen. I'll stay right here, and so will our prize!"
"If she's not …" Musashi hissed, leaning into Nyaasu's face, clenching her teeth so hard Nyaasu and Kojiro could almost hear them grind.
"She will!" snapped Nyaasu.
Musashi turned abruptly away. "Fine!" she sniffed. "Come on, Kojiro. We're going. Bring the grappling hook rope and the skeleton key pins."
"Couldn't we have stopped for food and then went all the way out here? It'll be nightfall by the time we get back here," Kojiro muttered. Now he was following her out of the basket as well, but was hindered when Musashi shoved him directly back in, and with a low growl he climbed back out again.
"I said, stop complaining!" said Musashi.
Nyaasu leaned against the balloon rope and watched as the pair began to head for town. He closed his eyes haughtily as he dropped back into the basket, but when he opened his eyes all pride left him as he was left face to face with the daggered, icy eyes of his prisoner. After a silent start, Nyaasu only returned the leer as venomously as he could. All the world quickly deteriorated save for two sets of feline eyes. At first Nyaasu felt quite superior over the other as the other's fierce glare began to soften ever so slightly, but whether her eyes drooped from weariness, or pain, or just loss of interest, Nyaasu suddenly felt quite small in comparison to her. He knew, as usual, that in a contest of strength he would be unable to beat the prisoner, but what shook Nyaasu was the fact that she could no doubt outwit him too. He could see it in her eyes, feel it in her very presence. Experience, strength, intelligence, and even wisdom — it just radiated off of her like the glow of a bulb.
At last he could stand this no more and leaping toward he let out an angry growl.
"What?!" he demanded. "We caught you fair and square! You should be proud to be caught by Team Rocket, nya!"
The prisoner closed her eyes and turned away with a snort.
"Well, if you're going to be that way," sniffed Nyaasu. "I was thinking about letting you have some water just to keep you from dehydrating in this humidity, but fine, nya!" He stuck out his tongue childishly.
Now the prisoner only shook her head, at least as much as she was able, tied up as she was.
With a heavy sigh, Nyaasu sat down, paws crossed, as he leaned against the basket wall. He looked up at the sky a moment, trying not to look at her, but it was no use. His curiosity was burning, regardless of her being a cat, regardless of what Musashi thought about him having a mini crush like the one he had had over Skitty! This was beyond simple infatuation! This was about meeting face to face with a stray pokémon down on her luck, tied up, miserable, and who, like him, had learned to talk.
The boss had no interest in talking pokémon as Nyaasu well knew, so this piece of rarity possessed little use as far as Team Rocket was concerned; though, she was obviously overall valuable.
All this burning inside Nyaasu built up to such a degree that despite the fact that he knew she could not answer back with her mouth gagged, he asked, "Who are you?"
The prisoner raised a brow.
"Where did you come from, nya?" Nyaasu continued. He stood up again and dared a step toward her.
"Hmm," growled the prisoner as she swiveled away again.
Nyaasu thought a moment and then said, "Nya … if you want I can take off the gag if you promise not to scream or bite. I'll knock you out if you try anything. I'll give you some water, and you can tell me who you are, nya."
The prisoner gave little indication either way whether she would be in a cooperative mood, but Nyaasu did not even wait for a response as he bounded to the other side of the basket to reach for the reserve water — now quite warm — and brought it back to where the prisoner resided. Carefully, he set to work untying the gag and with a rather genial smile he held up some water for her to drink from a Styrofoam cup.
"No, thank you," muttered the prisoner, once again turning away.
"Aw, c'mon, nya," said Nyaasu holding the cup closer.
"I'll take nothing from you," the prisoner retorted.
Nyaasu frowned.
"You're all mean, little cowards," she finished flatly.
"Cowards!" Nyaasu spat. "You should see what we put up every day, nya! We go through a lot for our work! Long hours, full minded scheme, explosive setbacks …!" he shrugged. "You wouldn't understand the work that goes into being an agent of Team Rocket, nya."
The prisoner was hardly impressed. "Then you're pigheaded cronies but still cowards preying on the helpless like you do."
"No. Opportunists," said Nyaasu tartly.
"Hmm …"
"But that's not why I ungagged you, nya!" Nyaasu snapped. "Are you going to tell me who you are?"
"No," said the prisoner.
"Why not, nya?" Nyaasu complained.
"I don't have to tell anything to you," replied the prisoner.
"Oh, n-yeah?" said Nyaasu, "Then why don't I tie you right back up, nya!"
Grabbing the gag, he attempted to retie her, but the moment he neared her, he knew he had made a mistake in removing the gag period for she bit at the upper ropes which bound her and clawed through the rest. The chains merely dropped from her form after that, and it was a simple task, Nyaasu noted, for her to kick right out of the cage.
Nyaasu who could only stare dumbfounded as she made her escape, only came to his senses by the time she leapt over the side of the basket.
"NYYYAAAAHH!" Nyaasu screamed, fur bolting upright on his body, and in blind panic he leapt after her.
There was no way he was going to be blamed for this! No way! He would chase her down all night if he had to. She was injured after all, but Nyaasu saw too soon that even injured she was outrunning him. In the craze of the moment, Nyaasu found himself forced for the first time in ages to run on all fours to chase after her effectively through the brush, in and around thorn bushes, over hedges, under a fence or two and skipping rocks over the river.
Now Nyaasu and his partners certainly were good when it came from fleeing the scene (probably the adrenaline), but for some reason running in the pursuit of something was an entirely different matter, and his breath became short and gasping while the escapee still dashed away like a rabbit from a fox.
Finally, he found himself free of the greenery and saw a faint white splotch on the top of a farm hill. She was waiting for him, he knew, but that did not stop him from forcing an extra boost and tossing a trail of dirt behind him as he rocketed the last bit of his run up to where she stood.
The strange pokémon watched as Nyaasu gasped for breath and tried to slow his pounded chest. She shook her head and sighed. Then after a moment or two she stood up and approached him.
"Tailmon."
Nyaasu's tongue returned to his mouth, and he instantly forgot his weariness as he asked with a raised brow, "Nya?"
"That's my name," said the creature. "Tailmon. You asked. There's your answer, but I want something in return."
"What's that?" growled Nyaasu.
"I want you to tell me where we are," she said.
"Hoenn," said Nyaasu.
She looked disappointed with his answer, and with a sigh she lifted her head up to the sky and the half moon overhead.
Nyaasu followed her gaze, and as he looked up at the black canvas of twinkling dabs of white painted across the sky, he thought he had just caught the end of a shooting star disappear behind the barn not far from them.
"Nice night," said Nyaasu.
Tailmon could not disagree and allowed a quick nod of her head.
"It's very clear," she said.
"You, um … lost, Tailmon?" asked Nyaasu. What he really wanted to ask was where she was from, how had she gotten here, when had she learned to talk and why? So many questions filled his head, but he could not manage to get himself to ask anything further for the moment.
For the first time since he had met this strange pokémon, her eyes widened in surprise at his words. With mouth dropping ever so slightly she turned her body to face directly towards him. Her eyes narrowed, studying him for sincerity, and again Nyaasu felt a little uneasy. Her penetrating stare was enough to make a brick wall start to feel uncertain about the manner in which it had been grouted.
But the stare soon subsided, and closing her eyes, Tailmon said in manner that Nyaasu considered rather dry, "You're pitiful."
Now it was Nyaasu's turn to stare. His mouth practically dropped to his feet, and he clamped it tightly shut again. Turning away with a growl and a firm crossing of his arms he muttered, "I don't see why I need your sympathy or your insults, nya."
"And that's the problem," retorted Tailmon.
Rage began building again.
"Look," said Nyaasu with a sniff, his back still to her, "it's nothing personal. It's just I'm from Team Rocket. Team Rocket steals pokémon and whatever else they can get their paws on. It's just what we do, and taking you in is all part of business, nya. So if you just come quietly, I'll make sure that we get you to base with as little pain as possible. I'll even make sure you get the best of the food those losers bring back. Maybe I can convince either Musashi or Kojiro to keep you, nya. It's the best I can offer and my final offer." He shrugged, closing his eyes importantly as he turned toward her once more. "By the way, Tailmon, I was wondering. Do you need to be in a great ball or an ultra ball, nya? You must be on a really high level if you, ny — NYAH!"
She was gone.
Nyaasu spun around.
"Nya?"
Nowhere in sight!
"Nya!"
Oh, how could he have been so stupid?
He was practically clawing his fur out of his head in his exasperation. His entire body tensed as he leapt to the side of the hill and scanned the entire area. Farm, wood, house, gate, a passing gliggar. Nothing else.
With a heavy groan and a slump, Nyaasu began a heavy march down the hill.
All he could mutter about the situation was the infamous cliché, "I'm getting to old for this," before letting out a last pitiable, "Nya …"
Maybe he would sleep outside the basket somewhere far away tonight. He had sort of lost his appetite anyway, and if he did get a little hungry maybe if he asked really politely he could get some from some milk from miltanks sleeping in the barn. Hopefully he would not run into anymore cats! He was not in the mood for meeting up with an angry barn cat, but he supposed an angry farm dog would be worse … Nothing would compare to meeting up with Musashi when she found out that he had let the rare pokémon escape. Even if he did not exactly let her go on purpose, he might as well have.
