Chapter 2: Death Scythe
Once they were far enough down the route, Samuel let go of Solstice and looked at her sternly. The girl fell to her knees on the ground, punching the dirt angrily. Bitter tears of anger and betrayal ran down her cheeks.
"You signed up for this, you know. If you think I'm going to let you chicken out that easily, you've got another thing co—"
"Why the hell didn't you let me pummel them?!" Solstice snarled, glaring at the older boy.
Samuel yelped, feeling a shiver of fear shoot up his spine. "Pummel them? You weren't trying to run?" he asked, confused.
"Yes, I was! Juniper and my mom forced me into this! I don't want any part of it!" she shouted. "Once I got back at them for this, I'd have run as far away as I could!"
"Why?" Samuel asked, lost.
"BECAUSE I HATE POKEMON! THAT'S WHY!" Solstice yelled.
Samuel fell on his butt at that. "You hate Pokemon? No way! How can you hate Pokemon?" he asked, shocked. "They're cute, strong, loving, loyal—"
"Disgusting, cruel, heartless little monsters!" Solstice argued. "I hate them! I hate all of them, no matter how cute and cuddly they look! They're all mean underneath!"
"That's not true!" Samuel barked, offended. He jumped to his feet in anger. "You just never got to know them! Sure, some can be mean at first but once you get to know them, they can be really nice to be around!"
"That's a lie! All the Pokemon I've met have either attacked me or done something gross to be!" Solstice growled.
"Maybe you did something to get them mad first!" Samuel accused. "Pokemon never do anything without reason!"
"I did nothing to them! Most of the time, I never even knew they were there!" Solstice argued.
"You must've gone into their territory! That sure makes them mad!" Samuel cried.
"How the hell am I supposed to know it's their territory?!" Solstice demanded.
"I… I…" Samuel sighed, sitting down on the ground again. "I guess you wouldn't know, huh? You're new, after all."
"New or no, I hate Pokemon. That's not going to change." Solstice said, glaring at him.
Samuel looked to the side, frowning. "…We better start making camp. It'll be dark soon. We'll move once night falls."
"Why? We're only going to be attacked. Do you want to die or something?" Solstice questioned.
"We'll be attacked whether we stay or move. It won't matter to the Pokemon." Samuel replied, standing up. "Are you going to come with me? Or will you stay here and fend for yourself?"
Solstice glared at him hatefully. I don't want to go anywhere but home! Why do I have to go deeper? Is this guy suicidal? But…he does have a point. I can't go back…
"…Fine. I'll go." Solstice grumbled.
Samuel instantly brightened up. "I knew you'd come arou—"
"Under one condition!" Solstice quickly interrupted. "I'm not helping with this mission. I'll go with you, but don't expect me to help you. I hate Pokemon and I'm not planning to catch any. I'm definitely not going to fight."
"That kind of defeats the purpose of us being partners, you know." Samuel commented.
"I don't really care," Solstice shrugged. She held out her starter's Poke Ball to him. "You can have this. I don't want it."
"No, you keep it. In case something bad happens to me, you'll have somebody to protect you." Samuel said, pushing her extended hand back.
"Nothing's going to happen to you. You're the Kanto Tournament Champion! You won't lose to anything out here." Solstice argued.
"Nobody's invincible, Sol. I'll lose to something eventually. Now then…" Samuel snatched the Poke Ball out of her hand. "Seeing as you don't want to meet your partner, I'll just force you to meet."
"No! Wait! Don't!" Solstice shrieked, fighting to retrieve the red and white sphere.
"Here we go! Come on out, little guy!" Samuel cried, pressing the button at the sphere's center.
Solstice instantly ducked behind Samuel as white light exploded from the Poke Ball. Once the glow faded, a small figure rubbed its eyes tiredly in front of them. Then it turned to look at them, confused.
That's when Solstice saw the scar near the outside of its right eye.
"AAAAAHHH! Not that thing again!" Solstice screamed.
"You've already met him? Cool!" Samuel said, smiling.
"Osha! Osha osha!" the Oshawott cried, pointing at Solstice and glaring at her. It stomped closer, clearly mad. "Oshawott! Osha!"
Solstice screamed again, burying her face into Samuel's back. The Oshawott froze before looking away. Samuel stared at it in confusion.
The Water-type looked at Solstice and frowned. "Osha!" it cried.
"Make it go away! Please, Sam, make it go away!" Solstice pleaded.
"He sure is mad. What'd you do to him?" Samuel asked.
"He touched me in the lab, so I kicked him. He hit a bookshelf. I thought he was dead!" Solstice wailed, clinging to his back. "Just make it go away! I knew Juniper was up to something when she gave that Poke Ball to me. I should've thrown it away when I had the chance!"
"So that's how he got that scar," Samuel muttered.
"Osha…" The Oshawott looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. "Osha osha…"
That's when Samuel remembered something. "Hey! Sol, give me your PokeDex!"
"Sure." Solstice handed it over without a fight.
After a bit of button pressing, the boy found what he was looking for. Pointing it at the Oshawott, he pressed a button. A beam of white light erupted from the PokeDex and struck the Oshawott, causing him to leap back in surprise, scalchop brandished in order to retaliate. The beam vanished without a trace.
"What was that?" Solstice asked, confused.
The Oshawott frowned, reluctantly returning his scalchop to his stomach. "What the hell was that? And where the hell did it go?"
Samuel and Solstice both stared at him. He looked up, noticing the staring. Then he glared at them, gritting his teeth.
"What the hell are you two looking at?" he demanded.
Solstice gasped. Then she screamed. Samuel and the Oshawott yelped, clapping their hands over their ears. When the screaming ended, Solstice grabbed Samuel's shirt collar and shook him.
"What the hell did you do?! Why can he talk?! Pokemon don't talk! Why did you do that?! Are you stupid?! I hate you! Make him stop talking, damn it!" she shouted.
"Would you quit screaming already?!" the Oshawott finally yelled.
Solstice fell silent, staring at him in shock. The Oshawott frowned, crossing his arms over his chest again. He gave the girl a stern look.
"Since you apparently couldn't understand me the first time, I'll say it again. You are the one that gave me this scar, as I'm sure you remember. As much as I'd love to exact revenge on you for that, the professor asked me to protect you from other Pokemon out here. Whether I like it or not, we're partners now. I'll expect you to quit screaming every time I do something, okay?"
"…Okay," Solstice nodded, frightened. "Just please quit talking. You're not supposed to do that."
"Not happening, kid. You have the right to talk and, as of this moment, so do I." the Oshawott said. "I'm not shutting up that easy."
"Well, now that we've all met!" Samuel piped up, attempting to break the tension between Solstice and her Oshawott. "Do you happen to have a name, Oshawott?"
"Of course I got a name," the Oshawott snorted, glaring at Samuel. "We Pokemon have names too, you know."
"Then what is it?" Samuel asked.
"The name's Death Scythe," the Oshawott replied, smirking.
"Do we want to know why that's his name?" Solstice squeaked, terrified.
"How about just Scythe?" Samuel suggested.
"It's Death Scythe. Nothing more, nothing less," Death Scythe said firmly.
"O-okay," Samuel nodded, shaking with nervousness. "Death Scythe, it is. This is your trainer, Solstice."
"I am not that thing's trainer! You are!" Solstice insisted.
"He's yours, Solstice," Samuel reminded. "You own his Poke Ball. You're his trainer."
"I don't want him!" she cried.
"You need a Pokemon to protect you, Sol. I'm sure you two will get along eventually." Samuel reasoned.
"I never wanted a Pokemon!" Solstice argued. "I never wanted to be out here! I just want to go home, maybe beat up Juniper and mom for making this happen to me! This is all their fault!"
"You've got nobody but yourself to blame, damn it!" Death Scythe shouted.
Solstice froze, staring at the Oshawott in shock. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. Samuel looked at them in confusion.
"I've heard everything about you from the professor, missy. You hate Pokemon, you refuse to make friends, and you're under the impression everything's out to get you. Your mom and the professor have done everything to try and help you. And what do you do? You throw it back in their faces and laugh! Everything and everyone near you has supposedly hurt you somehow, so you lock everyone out. You hide your fear behind anger and hate, making you near-impossible to approach without you getting violent. You're a pathetic excuse for a trainer if I've ever seen one! Yet the professor insists on still trying to help you. I'm not surprised she eventually snapped and tossed you out here with me. You've got a lot to learn and only six months to do it in…if you survive that long."
Solstice just stared at him in shock. Death Scythe smirking, knowing what he was saying was correct.
"Like the professor said before, this is the time of year when it's pitch black for six months. It's far more dangerous than the rest of the year. Lots of unknown Pokemon show up and people have gone missing or died. If you want to survive, kid, you better buck up and start trusting people. I need you to trust me, too. I may not be the nicest guy around, especially in light of what you did to me back in the lab, but I'm willing to put that behind us in order for us to get through this mess…together, if possible. Samuel and I are the only ones you've got right now. Things are going to get rough and you will get hurt, but you've got to keep going. Toss away those fears! They'll only slow you down out here."
Samuel smiled, nodding in agreement. Solstice stared at the ground, embarrassed and afraid. Tears slid down her cheeks.
Death Scythe noticed this and sighed. He spoke a bit more gently. "I know it's scary out here. It's going to stay scary until we see daylight again. That's not for six months. Until then, you've got to be brave and be ready for anything. Yes, you're going to have to fight Pokemon. Hell, catch a few if you can manage that! You're not alone, okay? Samuel and I will be here for you. We're not going to abandon you. But you can't let us do all the work. You've got to help, too. I'm not going to force you, if I can help it. That sound okay?"
Solstice wiped away her tears. "…Fine. I'll help. I still don't want you to touch me."
Death Scythe smirked. "We've got plenty of time to overcome that fear."
