Chapter 3: Caught Without a Swablu
"Swablu!" Ester wailed as she ran past mud and forested. Her gown was now dishevelled, covered in twigs and mud. Her hair could hardly keep the twin buns in check. Tears streamed down her face, running the makeup making her cheeks rosy, as she stumbled across the woods. "Reindart!" She cried out again. The sun had lowered much like her energy levels and soon she collapsed from exhaustion, crying herself to sleep.
When she woke up, the stars were in the sky and the moon shone down on the forest. She hugged her knees close to her body as she looked around. The sounds of different pokemon filtered through the night, breaking the silence and whatever peace she felt.
After sometime, she built enough nerve to stand up and walk through the forest. While she walked, her way was barred by a giant shadow with ominously glowing eyes.
"Who-Who's that pokemon?" Ester trembled as she slowly stepped away from the pokemong bigger than her.
The mystery pokemon lunged forward and Ester yelped as the pink and black pokemon with horns and a cow bell around its neck pounced on her. She screamed as the pokemon rubbed its face against hers. The pokemon smiled happily as it rubbed its face against the grimacing Ester.
"Milktank! I finally found you!" someone said.
Milktank got off Ester and tackled the newcomer to the ground, doing the same thing it did to Ester.
"Awe, Milktank, get off me!" the girl said in between giggles.
Ester got on her hands and knees as she stared at the spectacle. "Another girl?"
"Hello," the girl said still giggling. Milktank allowed her to get up. "I hope Milktank was not too much trouble."
"That monster attacked me!" Ester shouted.
"She woudln;t," the girl said patting Milktank on the head, "she's very friendly."
Milktank mooed in agreement.
"I don't recognise you," the girl said as she and Milktank got closer to Ester. "Are you from the village?"
"Village? No, I am not a country bumpkin." Ester said. "I am the princess of this kingdom, Princess Ester!"
"You mean the princess woh ran away from her coronation!" The girl quickly bowed. "Your majesty!"
"Ran away? I didn;t run away! My uncle tried to kill me!"
"You mean King Vizard." The girl offered.
"He's king now!" Ester stomped her foot angrily. She crumpled onto the floor. "Oh who am I kidding. If uncle wants the throne, there is nothing I can do to stop him."
Ester's stomach began grumbling.
"Your highness, you cannot sdtay here." The girl offered Ester her hand. "You can come with me to the village. I can cook you up something there."
Ester smiled. "I'd be very pleased if you did that... uhm..."
"My name Day."
"Day," Ester said as Day pulled her to her feet, "it is nice to meet you."
/
Vizard sat on the throne, looking out to the empty room, empty other than the woman in a green cloak holding a staff with a green gem walking towards him. Steelix, who was resting behind the throne, bristled as the Witch approached.
"My lord," she said bowing before him. "Is the power of being king all that you have dreamed of?"
"That and much more."
A Murkrow flew in from a high window. The Witch raised her arm, allowing the Murkrow to perch on it.
"Pursing!" The Murkrow cawed.
"What does that mean?" he said.
"My flock has not caught the princess yet," she said.
"Hmpf, I should have known," he said, "never send a woman to do a man's job."
The Witch's black painted lips twitched at that before curving into a smile. "Not to worry my lord. This is just a messenger Murkrow to tell me that the hunt is still on. And besides, you are king now. I doubt there is little a man like you has to fear from a woman, especially one as young as our dear princess."
"I don't care what you think, witch." Vizard slammed his fist against the arm rest of the throne. "I want results. I want the princess gone."
"It shall be done," The Witch curtsied.
/
"Hey Day!" A bearded man greeted her. "I see you found your Milktank. I was about to call the rest of the villagers to... to... who's your dirty friend?"
"I am not dirty!" Ester snapped. "I'm just slightly dishevelled."
The bearded man giggled. "Really?"
"Yes and I suggest you watch how you speak to me, peasent." Ester turned her face up. "You are speaking to Prim... mm mm."
Day quickly placed her hand over Ester's mouth. "She's Primrose!" Dya quickly said. "A cousin of mine just passing by."
"Oh," the bearded man regarded the two strangely. "Welcome Primrose." The bearded man left them."
Ester slapped Day's hand away. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I'm sorry, Ester but I don't think it's a good idea to tell everyone who you really are... you know, especially since the king is hunting you down."
"Oh... yeah. I guess I can forgive you."
"Let's go home, right Milktank?"
Milktank mooed in agreement.
/
"I hate it," Ester said as she looked down at the brown dress Day had given her.
"I'm sorry, Ester but that is all we have." Day said as she packed bottles of milk in a box. "And I'm still going to wash your dress."
"Urgh, fine!" Ester spun around in her dress. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to the market," Day said. "I'm going to sell this milk."
"Oh, I guess I'll come with you. I don't want to stay here and be bored."
They walked through the village with Milktank following close behind. Ester looked around at the humble villagers going about their day.
"Your village seems... poor." Ester said.
"Yes, we are a poor village and we receive no support from the kingdom." Day said. "The kingdom collects our taxes but provide no help."
"That's... not good." Ester said.
They walked in silence for a while.
"Uhm... Ester, what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know," Ester shrugged.
"Aren;t you going to try and get your thrown back?"
"For what? I never wanted to be queen and I'm too scared to go against Uncle Vizard and his Stelix." Ester said.
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I want to live in a huge house with servants to cater for my every need," Ester said.
Day tilted her head in confusion. "Well, you can;t go back to the palace so how are you going to do all of that?"
"With a lot of gold of course."
"So you have a secret supply of gold somewhere?" Day said excitedly.
Ester opened her mouth than shut it again. "No, I don't."
"Then how are you going to make all the gold you'll need?"
Ester opened her mouth again but then quickly shut it. "I haven't thought that far actually."
"Well hello there, Day!" A boy said, surrounded by a few other men. "Who's your pretty friend?"
"Please leave us alone," Day said. "We have to get to the market."
"Have you paid your protection money?" the man said, running his finger through a strand of Day's dark hair.
Day whipped her head away. "Here it is," she said between gritted teeth as she picked out four bottles of milk.
"Nice doing business with you, Day." The guy took the bottles from Day. "And I'll see you later, Day's cousin."
"Hmpf, who was that jerk?" Ester said after some time as they continued onto the market.
"They are part of the village gang," Day said bitterly. "They extort 'protection' money from all who use the market."
"How dreadful, someone should do something about them!"
They spent a few hours at the market, selling milk... at least Day was selling milk while Ester sat around.
"So this is what commoners do all day?" Ester sighed. "It's terribly mundane!"
"Sorry Ester but this is what we do." Day sat as she collapsed on a chair exhausted from shouting out at passer bys.
"Ester looked out and saw a Murkrow perched on a roof, staring intensily at her.
"Oh no!" she said.
"What's wrong?"
"That's... That's a Murkrow!" Ester said pointing at the pokemon.
"Yes it is. Strange, Murkrow are not very common around here."
"It's after me!" Ester got up and began panicking.
"IU think your being paranoid, princess." Day said. "Look, its not attacking or anything. It's probably looking at the shiny bottles of my milk."
"Why would it be looking at that?"
"They like shiny things, if I remember about them." Day tapped her chin.
"Oh yeah, you're probably right." Ester said sitting down. She then shot to her feet. "Oh no, you're wrong! I should've known better than to trust a commoner."
In the horizon was a black cloud, a black cloud made of Murkrow!
"Ester, run!"
Ester did as Day suggested and sprinted away. She stumbled past the people of the village and ended up in an abandoned area with a damaged building, its bricks having been reclaimed by nature's moss.
Ester stumbled and could do nothing but watch as the Murkrow came closer. Milktank and Day appeared between Ester and the Murkrow and immediately they hesitated, hovering in place as they watched the two.
"Day, think goodness. Now, take these stupid birds down!" Ester thrust her fist out enthusiastically.
"Uhm... that's going to be difficult." Day scratched the back of her head. "I've never actually been in a battle with Milktank."
"What?" Ester looked sad.
"Have you been in a pokemon battle?" Day looked to Ester hopefully.
Ester puffed her chest out proudly, "Actually, I..." she slumped, "have also never been in a pokemon battle."
Day sighed and mimicked Ester's sad posture, however it did not last long as a fire burned in her eyes. "But I guess there's a first time for everything! Right, Milktank?"
Milktank mooed in agreement.
"Alright Milktank, use watergun!" Day ordered.
Milktank looked at Day questionably.
"You don't know watergun?"
Milktank nodded furiously.
The Murkrow regained their confidence. A Murkrow's body began to blur before an image of the Murkrows was sent speeding to them.
"Ah! Milktank, look out!" Day and Milktank dove away from the attack which hit the ground they had been standing on.
"Milktank, are you okay?" Day asked.
Milktank mooed.
"Oh good!" Day looked angrily at the flock of Murkrow. "Alright, Milktank, attack with whatever attack you have!"
Milktank crossed its arms, gathering its energy. It uncrossed them and releases a stream of yellow projectiles shaped like stars. The stars hit some of the Murkrow, making a small dent in their numbers.
"Nice one, Milktank! Do that attack again!" Day said.
Milktank sent out another stream of yellow stars. This time the stars were countered by C-shaped projectiles made of air. The stars were easily overwhelmed and Milktank was hit by the wind projectiles.
"Miltank!" Day shouted as her pokemon fell to the ground. Milktank determinedly got up.
In an instance, the Murkrow had surrounded Milktank.
"Milktank, get out of there!"
It was too late, as the Murkow had already sent out their afterimage attacks at the lone POKEMON. Milktank mooed in distress as it fell onto its knees. Milktank tried to rise to its feet again but was bombarded with another swarm of attacks.
"Milktank!" Day ran for it.
"Day, don't!" Ester said as she watched the girl get closer to the battling pokemon. "You'll get hurt!"
The Murkrow flock withdrew from Milktank to focus on the girl. However, Milktank began moving again. The Murkrow turned around to attack again but then Milktank was engulfed by a geyser of milk. The geyser began to shrink, as if it was being drawn into the middle. As the geyser of milk disappeared, it revealed the body of milk tank from the legs up until there was barely enough to cover its face, which had its mouth wide open as the milk was sucked in.
Milktank stood tall and proudly. Its pink coat gleaming in a healthy glow, as if it had not been battling at all.
"Hey, I know that move." Day said. "Th-That's Milk Drink!"
"Milk Drink?" Ester repeated.
"Yeah, its Milktank's signature move, which allows it or any pokemon that drinks its milk to heal!"
Milktank nodded at Day before looking determinedly at the Mrukrow. Its body began glowing white and it charged at the nearest Murkrow, leaving behind a stream of energy that was shaped like a double-edged blade. Milktank hit the nearest Murkrows, sending them hurtling away into unconsciousness.
The few Murkrow left flew higher up to escape Milktank.
"Milktank, use... that star-thingy on the Murkrow flying up!" Day said.
Milktank released a cloud of yellow stars at the Murkrow and took down a few more.
"Well done Milktank!" Day jumped in excitement. "We're taking these guys out!"
Milktank mooed in agreement.
The few Murkrow left parted to reveal three Honchkrow. The Honchcrows' eyes began to glow purple. A purple light surrounded the Milktank and it was hurtled into a wall, smashing the wall into bits.
"Milktank!" Day cried.
The Honchcrow pursued Milktank. They gathered energy in front of them in a purple sphere. The balls of energy were thrown at Milktank at the same time. The balls exploded and Miltank mooed in pain.
"Milktank, get them away from you by using the star-thingy!"
Milktank released another stream of stars but the Honchkrows dodged everyone. Two of the Honchkrow began glowing purple while the other collected energy into a ball. Milktank began unwillingly levitating as purple light surrounded it. The Honchkrow that had a ball of energy in front of it threw its ball at the same time as Milktank was sent flying towards it. There was a small explosion as pokemon and attack met. Milktank was still under the control of the other Honchkrowand they sent Milktank up into the air where the other Murkrow awaited, which attacked Milktank with an after-image attack. The purple glow around Miltank blinked away and it fell straight down into the ground.
The Murkrow began to fly around in a frenzy as their bodies glowed in dark energy.
"The-The attack they are about to use was the one they used to destroy my cart!" Ester said.
"That attack can destroy a cart?" Day wailed in worry. "But Miltank is already unconsciouss. It may not survive any more attacks."
"Well, don't worry. It seems weaker now."
"No!" Day ran for Miltank and stepped in between it and the oncoming Murkrow with her arms held wide in a protective stance.
"ay, no!" Ester said as Day was pelted by attacking Murkrow. Her dress slightly ripped and her skin bruised as the Murkrow attacked. Seeing Day like that, Ester began having flashes of the people and pokemone who had protected her, Reindart, Hoover, Strider, Swablu and now Milktank and Day.
Day finally collapsed, not being able to take anymore attacks.
Without the distraction the Murkrow and the Honchcrow all turned their attention at Ester, who desperately crawled back on her butt.
The Murkrow flew closer, their bodies glowing with dark energy. They all dived for her and Ester grimaced in preparation for the attack... the attack never came. She opened her eyes and saw that the Murkrow were as confused as she was.
Around her was a green hued sphere, protecting her from their attack and directly before her was a floating sword... no, she realised, not a floating sword but a pokemon shaped like a sword with a shield in one of its two appendages.
Ester gazed upon the pokemon, "who-who's that pokemon?"
"Uncle Vizard," Ester greeted the man with a curtsey.
"Lord Vizard," Reindart bowed respectably.
"You look astonishing, Princess Ester." Vizard said. "You will truly take everyone's breath away."
"Thank you, Uncle. Will you attend the event?"
"I would not miss it for the world." Vizard kissed her cheek before moving on.
Ester smiled at him before Reindart accompanied her on.
Vizard made his way across the halls until he stopped at a room, shrouded in darkness. In the room was the silluette of a cloaked women with a staff crowned with a shiny gem.
"I take it the plan has been put in place?" The woman stepped into the light, revealing her pale face and the dark lines around her eyes. She wore a flowing green cloak.
"Yes, prepare yourself witch."
The Witch curtsied informally, "As you wish my lord and future king."
/
As Ester and Reindart, two soldiers armed with spears barred their path.
"You two, out of the way!" Reindart commands.
The men point their spears at them.
Reindart clenches his fist in anger as Ester looks between him and the soldiers in fear.
"Princess, get behind me." Reindart steps forward. However, more soldiers come up from behind them. "Do you know what is the punishment for this? Abandon this plan now and thye princess will forgive you!"
The soldiers did not look willing to abandon their actions, instead they looked more determined.
"Wh-What do we do Reindart?" Ester said, her voice laced in fear.
Reindart glanced behind them, counting the six or so men and then returned his sight to the initial two in front.
"Run," he said quietly.
"What?" she whispered.
"Run forward, NOW!" Reindart charged forward. He grabbed their thrusting spears and in a quick motion, used their momentum to send them tumbling behind him and the running princess.
Some of the pursuing soldiers fell over their comrades but they quickly got up to give chase.
"Keep going! Keep going!" Reindart shoved the princess forward while she tripped and stumbled over her long gown.
More soldiers appeared in front of them.
"Oh good!" Ester said. "Help us, they are trying to...!" Ester was silenced by a spear, thrown by one of the soldiers, that sailed dangerously close to her head.
Reindart grabs her hand and shoves her into an adjacent room before slamming the door shut as both groups of soldiers converged on their position. Reindart pushed a closet in front of the door. Reindart looked around and spotted the window.
"We need to leave," he said opening the window.
"Out there?" Ester shook her head. "No!"
"We have no choice, Princess!"
"We'll die!"
"We'll die if we stay!"
"No, I can talk to them. I can..."
"You cannot talk to these men!" Reindart snapped as he roughly shook her shoulders. "They have committed to their task. To stay would be folly. Now come!"
Reindart forcefully pulled her forward. He forced her out the window.
"Now, slowly climb down."
"Can you not go first?"
"I have to keep guard." Reindart looked at the door, which the soldiers were slowly breaking down.
Ester climbed down from ledge to ledge. When she was far down enough, Reindart began climbing down. Ester slipped and screamed as she fell down. Swablu dived down and grabbed her, slowing down her descent to the ground.
Reindart climbed down and jumped down beside her before helping her up.
"I blame you, Reindart!" Ester shouted. "If we didn't jump I wouldn't have fallen!"
"We need to continue forward!" Reindart said, pulling her forward. "Hoover! Strider!"
"How... How are we going to survive when the whole army is against me?"
"It is not the whole army, it is just people loyal to Vizhard," he said. "Hoover! Strider!"
"Uncle? He would... never... do that," she said in between short breathe.
"Think about it Ester. With you gone, he has the most to gain."
Swablu, who was flying above them, cawed a warning. They stopped as a group of soldiers stepped in front of them.
Ester clutched her chest as she tried to regain her breath. She collapsed onto her knees. "It's over."
The soldiers began stalking closer to them. However, they were thrown about when a Rapidash crashed into them.
Ester looked out at the magnificent yellow horse with a fiery mame and tail. "Wait, is that...?"
"My Rapidash, Hoover." Reindart smiled proudly. Rapidash came next to them, allowing Reindart to carress him. "Hoover, where is Strider?"
Another Rapidash showed up. This one was attached to a cart.
"Strider! The stable boys have not released you from that, huh?" Reindart greeted the newly arrived Rapidash. "It is a stroke of luck. Princess..." Reindart offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet.
He guided her onto the cart.
"You cannot stay here for now, for we do not know who you can trust."
"What-What should I do?" Ester said as she sat on the cart, joined by Swablu who sat on her head.
"Go to my brother, Hugan So. Tell him I sent you. Tell him that he needs to honour his oath and serve the crown by serving you."
"Running away, niece?" Vizhard appeared.
"Uncle, there-there are people trying to kill me!" Ester said.
"You mean my people," as Vizhard said this, a few soldiers walked up behind him, brandishing their spear.
"Uncle... Why?" Ester cried.
"Because a child can never rule this kingdom," he said.
Ester cried.
"Ester, remember what I said." Reindart said. "Strider, go!"
Strider took off with Ester looking back at Reindart as he stayed back.
"You think I will let her escape?" Vizhard said.
"You will be too busy dealing with Hoover and I to do anything else."
Hoover stepped forward.
"Hoover, Flare Blits!" Hoover ran forward as a fiery aura surrounded the Rapidash.
As his soldiers flinched and slowly withdrew, Vizard stood in place, staring the charging horse down. There was a collision and a smoke screen followed the explosion of fire. Signed soldiers fell out of the smoke, unconscious.
The smoke cleared to reveal a shining collection of boulders made of steel, ringed protectively around Vizard. As the silvery glow faded from the boulders, leaving behind grey coloured boulders, the giant head of a Steelix rose to glare at Reindart.