Jai needed to get out of here. That much she knew for certain. So long as she was in Hoenn, there would be familiar signs, things she recognized, people that could possibly recognize her, despite her attempt to fade into the scenery.
She had a pokemon, so, it was only a matter of time before she could get together enough money to buy a boat ticket away from this place. She wouldn't care where. She'd happily go somewhere she had never heard of before, somewhere obscure, somewhere she could begin anew. At least now she was away from the town. Jai preferred being alone on the many obscure routes she managed to find.
She stared at the pokeball she held in her hand. She had released the cubone a few more times since healing it at the pokemon center. It was a good pokemon, obedient, easy to train. But it was still fearful. There was only so far they could go on fear alone.
"Fear!" came the cry from above her. Jai shook her head. Hearing things again, no doubt. "Fearow!" Jai looked upwards. A fearow was circling above her. It spotted her and dove. "FEARRROWWW!"
"Quick, Cubone, go!" Jai shouted, releasing the pokemon into the grass. She didn't need to look at it to know that it would be afraid of the great bird ahead. The biggest thing they had fought up 'til this point was a rattata. Even then, it had taken some coaxing to get the cubone to attack. The fearow was coming closer.
"Fearow, quick, grab that sandshrew. We can't have anything escaping this time," Xenon shouted.
Fearow screamed before diving down and grabbing the sandshrew. The rodent pokemon cried out, but Janny had long since learned not to feel pity for pokemon. They were, after all, just a piece of the larger puzzle.
Jai imagined fearow coming down and carrying cubone off. It was certainly strong enough. There was nothing to stop this large pokemon from clobbering hers. It had death in its eyes. Jai quickly lunged in front of cubone, an action complicated by her crutches. She tripped over one of them and fell to the ground in front of cubone.
The Fearow was coming towards her, but she didn't care. Let it attack her. She had plenty of scars, no need to protect herself from a few more. She could feel the wind from the pokemon's dive. Then, a flash and the fearow was thrown back. Jai ducked as a bone came back her way and was caught by Cubone.
"Cubone!" the pokemon cried triumphantly.
Jai looked at the fearow. There was no way that blow from a bone could have thrown it back that far. But there the pokemon was, knocked out on the ground. She walked over to the fearow. Its beak was bleeding. It must have been hit hard right on the beak's tip. The Fearow must have been knocked out from shock from being hit at such a sensitive place, rather than any actual power. Jai quickly threw a pokeball at it. She wasn't the type to pass up an opportunity like this.
She heard clapping from behind her.
"Well played, well played."
An unfamiliar man was standing behind her.
"Um, thanks," Jai said.
"I was talking to the pokemon. That little cubone of yours packs quite the punch."
Jai looked at the cubone and it started to shake, shake just because she had looked at it.
"Now, I'm going to make you an offer you can't resist," he said, "You're obviously not the greatest trainer out there. No offense to you, but, I saw the way you acted out there."
Normally, Jai would have come to her own defense, but she didn't have anything to back her up right now.
"You obviously don't trust your pokemon, don't see its true abilities. Now, let me tell you about myself. I am a four-time league participant. I can spot a great pokemon when I see it. I have what it takes to make that cubone an expert fighter."
"Your point is?" Jai didn't like this guy already and she didn't have the energy to entertain his blabbering any longer. In her better days, she was sure that she could have beaten him. And even if she wasn't able to do it alone, she could have set the entire Dark Hand on him. He wouldn't have a chance against them.
"I'm proposing a trade," he said. He brought out a pokeball and released a meowth.
"Meow?" the pokemon purred.
"See this pokemon—it's a nice pokemon for a nice girl like yourself. Perfect for Pokemon Contests."
"I'm not a coordinator," Jai said, "I'm a trainer. And you'd be a fool to think I'd trade away my cubone for that meowth."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, I may not be the brightest out there. And you've already told me that I'm not the greatest trainer. But even I can recognize the signs of a poorly cared-for pokemon. I doubt that meowth has seen the light of day more than a few times. What did you do? Hatch it with a thousand other meowths then let it rot away in your PC?"
The meowth was in bad condition, but Jai knew that her cubone wasn't much better. She just had to trust that this guy didn't see that as well.
"I traded for this one a while back," the man said, returning meowth to its pokeball. "It in no way reflects me as a trainer. So, you want a battler? Hows about this one?" He threw another pokeball to the ground.
"Charmander?" the little orange lizard said.
Jai frowned, hiding her pleasure. She had always had a thing for fire types. Her parents had specialized in them. She bent down to examine it. First, she opened its mouth. It obediently allowed her to look inside. Its skin seemed like the correct shade of orange. Its paws were dirty, but didn't show any signs of being over-worked.
"I'm telling you," the guy said, "You're not going to find a finer charmander out there."
Then, Jai caught sight of the flame on its tail. It burned bright. Fire.
The flames lapped at her feet. She smiled. The flamethrower in her hand spit even more fire onto the ground and then at the trees around her. There was nothing, absolutely nothing that could beat the feeling of fire. Fire destroyed things. Fire made things new. It didn't matter where she stood with the Dark Hand. In the fire, they were all equal. Fire was all around her. She inhaled more smoke than she had intended. The flames crept closer. And then it hit her-- there was no way out.
Jai jumped back despite herself.
"Keep your cruddy charmander," she said, returning her cubone to its ball. Then, she ran. Screw the crutches; she left them there. They were too much of a pain to carry around. And if anything, she realized now that they would make her more recognizable. All she really wanted to do right now was to disappear.
~*~
"It almost died," the nurse informed her, "In fact, if I really think about it, I should have your trainer's license revoked. Do you know how much blood your fearow lost? If you had half a heart, you wouldn't have waited so long to bring it over here."
Teach her to ask about the condition of her pokemon.
"Look lady," Jai said, "I found it that way. I found the fearow like that. What—do you really think that I could have caused that sort of damage? You saw my other pokemon. Timid little cubone—couldn't hurt a fly if it wanted to. So, are you really going to blame me for fearow's condition? I could have left it there to die."
"Don't raise your voice," the nurse said, flustered, "This is a pokemon hospital. I'm sorry if I was quick to jump to conclusions."
"Now, can I see it?"
The nurse led her through the halls of the pokemon center. Jai could smell death. It was the way of those inner-hallways. Everything was sprayed over with disinfectant so many times a day that you knew the scent had to be covering something. The further one went down one of these halls, the more it resembled a morgue rather than a place of healing.
The nurse opened a door. Jai saw pokemon. Pokemon who were only half alive. Most of them were closing their eyes. The nurse left. Jai walked around the room. A vulpix was hardly breathing. It looked so still, so peaceful. Another pokemon was attached to so many wires that she could hardly recognize what it was beneath-- a beedrill. And there, in the corner was the fearow. It opened its eyes instantly when she approached, as if it could sense her presence. The pokemon glared at her. She didn't know whether it could recognize her as the person who had brought it so much pain, or if it was simply the nature of fearows to always look angry. Either way, the nurse had been right—fearow wasn't in good condition. The pokemon was hooked up to an IV. It wouldn't be ready for battle for a long while.
"Monster…unprovoked aggression…nothing more we can do…" Jai heard from the room next door. She cringed before realizing that they weren't referencing herself. Curious, Jai pressed her head up against the wall so she could hear more clearly.
"Are you sure?" came another voice.
"If there was anything else, we would have done it. It's best to say goodbye now. This creature's caused enough damage."
Silence.
"Goodbye boy. Sorry I failed you."
Jai could hear footsteps, the door opening and closing, more footsteps. Then, they were gone.
Jai rushed out of the room and back into the hall. She peaked through a window into the room next door. It was full of cages, most of them empty. Undoubtedly, this was the place where they kept the pokemon who were to be put down.
She opened the door, ignoring the plaque that said "Staff Only".
When Jai got into the room, she realized that she had been wrong—the cages weren't empty. Most of the pokemon were to small to have been seen from the window. There were a number of mudkips and torchics. They must have belonged to young trainers who simply weren't cut out for the profession. Jai wondered what the people at pokemon labs were thinking, entrusting mere children with living beings. Granted, Jai herself wasn't the best trainer out there, but at least she did care for her pokemon once they were in her possession. Her mind flashed back to the fearow, nearly dead in the next room over. She could have gotten to the pokemon center sooner. She could have healed it with one of the potions she had with her. She hadn't. A low growl interrupted her thoughts. She turned to see an arcanine in one of the other cages. It towered over her, still growling.
"Why are you growling at me?" she asked, nonchalantly, "I'm not the one who's about to kill you."
The arcanine glanced at the door.
"Yah," Jai said, "Those people, they're gonna kill you. But you already knew that. So, what are you gonna do, just sit here, growling at me?"
Arcanine stopped growling. It took Jai in. She got the feeling that it was memorizing her features. A look of shock crossed its face and it backed up into the corner of its cage emitting growls alternating with whines.
"What, are you afraid of me?" Jai asked, suddenly annoyed. She was more annoyed at herself. What had brought her to this point—the point where she would taunt possibly rabid pokemon? Did she have a death wish or something?
The arcanine whined more. Pathetic.
"Now look here," Jai said, "There is nothing keeping you here." She grabbed the bars of the arcanine's cage, "These bars are like sticks in comparison to your power." She pulled at the bars. "You could destroy them and be free."
It stared at her, as if it didn't know what to think of this.
"Fine," Jai said, "Just stay here. Let them destroy you." She looked at all the other pokemon in the room. Mudkips, treekos, a mankey, two ratticates, a spearow. "Let them destroy you and all the other pokemon in this room."
Jai was about to leave, then she had another idea.
"Arcanine," she said. The pokemon's ears perked. "Use flamethrower on the bars of your cage." The pokemon held her gaze for a moment before obeying. The other pokemon in the room began to chatter as flames spewed from the cage, melting the bars. Arcanine jumped through the bars and landed outside of its cage, fire in its eyes.
There was fire everywhere now. Some of the other pokemon had been released from their cages by arcanine's flames and their chattering had increased. The sound of a fire alarm pierced Jai's ears. Between the sirens, she could hear voices.
Jai's heart rate increased as the flames grew taller. She collapsed. The last thing she was aware of was the figure of arcanine lunging towards her.