A/N: Update (2/21/10): Sorry, guys, I completely forgot I had the release date set last Friday. However, I'm still waiting on ReLeaS to beta the next chapter. Unfortunately, this upcoming week is going to be living hell. There's no other way I can put it. Chapter 5 is going to be a few more weeks down the line here. Bear with me here. Imagine high school, doubled (because I'm also taking college courses), AND extracurriculars, missing two days for a funeral (so I'll have some homework to make up… _), AND having a report to write. Yeah, that's this coming week…
Update (2/8/10): Hopefully I didn't confuse you guys too much, but I have changed the name and summary of this story in an attempt to attract more readers. It's still the same story, though. For those interested, the name is a reference to a 1956 movie adaptation of Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game", which this story is inspired from.
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Chapter 3: The Misty Surface
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The village had erupted into a frantic fury as villagers scurried in all directions, fleeing from the beedrill swarm. In a blink, Cindy had joined the few fighting them off.
I stood there, not knowing what to do. My head started to grow heavy as my heart once again kicked into high gear. I started to slip into swirling white clouds but jumped into action and found myself on top of a beedrill in one fluid motion, struggling to keep the stingers pinned to the ground.
"He's not going to give up, pet boy," I heard Cindy say and looked up to see her fly by the wing of of one with a blinding quick attack. It fell to the ground, its wing wrinkled.
I frowned and looked down at my captive, who was putting everything he had into his attempts to stab me. Without a second glance, I dug my hind paws into his forearms and kicked off. I turned around and saw bug pokemon, now with dented stingers, stagger off with the rest of its crippled kind.
"You guys are being too kind."
"No, Mike! Don't!"
I looked up and the sun that peaked through the canopy was eclipsed by a pidgeot piercing the torso of a beedrill. The bee fell to the ground in two pieces and the bird landed triumphantly beside it. I choked at the sight.
"That was too far!" Cindy yelled again, sizing herself up to him.
"But Cindy," the pidgeot spoke sternly. "This is war. The bug pokemon aren't going to quit until they eradicate us and take our territory. We have to kill them if we want to survive."
"But…" Cindy began, crestfallen. "There has to be a better way."
Mike smirked. "Alright," he said. "We've got a new mind now." He turned to face me. "Let's see what little Jean can come up with. That is, if he wants to become one of us."
"Don't you think that's a bit too much for one pokemon to do?" Cindy countered.
"I'll do it," I said, almost too quickly.
Cindy faced me with a panicked expression. "Are you crazy?" she said. "You can barely beat one, pet boy. What makes you think you can take the whole gang?"
"What happens will happen, I guess," I answered with a shrug, but failed to conceal the fear in my voice. "Besides, you don't want to follow Mike and kill them all, do you?"
"Alright, pet boy," Mike said, laughing. "If you can get rid of the beedrill once and for all, we'll accept you as a member of our village."
With that, he took flight laughing, leaving the rest of the villagers to survey me with mixed expressions.
---
That night I got together with everyone I could to discuss the plan, which came down to the resounding five who somewhat trusted me: Cindy and her parents, Father, and, surprisingly, Momo. Momo seemed keen on some fun and it was nice to have an opposable digit again.
We set to work on the stage. It turned out to be an all-nighter, even with the extra help Cindy's family managed to get. However, those who had consented to helping me out seemed to warm up to me, at least more than they had been. But when we were finished, Cindy had run off crying. The forest was a blur of brown and red, relinquishing her from my sight.
"You should ask her," her father had told me when I asked. "I don't think we should tell you without her knowing."
I slid to a stop at their house and walked inside. Cindy was curled in a corner, her sniffs echoing off the bark. I could make out one word she repeated over and over. "Luis, Luis, Luis."
I rested a paw on her back but she didn't make any response and kept crying. "Are you okay?" I asked softly.
Again, she didn't answer. I sat next to her, looking at the wall. Her sobs slowly came to an end and after a few minutes of silence, she spoke.
"He was my brother," she said, "and one of the best. I really looked up to him."
I sat there as she started to cry again before continuing. "He was always taking charge of our village's operations."
So it must've felt like she was working with her brother again, I realized, nodding along.
"He always knew what to do. Mike didn't like him very much." She giggled a bit. "Even though Mike was stronger, Luis would always outsmart him in battle."
Cindy was looking me in the eyes now. "One day, Father was spotted by a trainer," she went on. "He wasn't strong enough to defend himself and Luis jumped in. Father was able to escape, but Luis wasn't so lucky."
She broke into sobs again and I nudged her shoulder with my nose a bit. So this was why they were so high strung against humans. I didn't know what to say. She was telling me this as a fellow pokemon, but I was really human. I felt like the filthiest thing on Earth.
---
I woke up first the next morning and stroked Cindy on the shoulders again before leaving. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, bathing the forest in orange. It was a chill fall morning and the only sound was the chirps of early-morning insects.
"Hey, Momo, it's time to go!" I shouted and the monkey pokemon fell from the branches above. "You said you know where the beedrill nest is, right?"
The aipom slowly pushed himself to his feet and groggily stretched. "Yes, sir," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "I know this forest like the back of my tail."
I rolled my eyes at the pun and heard a groan. Cindy was walking out of the tree, rubbing her eyes.
"You're really going to do this, huh?" she said. "I still think a swarm of beedrill will be too much for you."
"Don't worry," I said. "If all goes according to plan, there won't be any battles today."
"Good luck," Cindy shrugged, adding with a strong hint of sarcasm, "Remember, Momo's helping."
"Hey!" Momo retaliated.
I stopped him there and, after exchanging good-byes with Cindy, took off down the path after him. The beedrill nest wasn't too far away, but Momo still found time to try and discourage me with stories of how his uncle had found himself on the wrong end of a beedrill and was left paralyzed for a week before finally succumbing to the poison.
Whether the story was true or not, I didn't know. Nevertheless, I gulped as Momo announced that we were close to the nest. Suddenly, my ears were filled with buzzing. A loud, bloodcurdling screech sounded among the buzzes that made even Momo jump.
"What was that?" he yelled, his voice shaking. "That was no beedrill!"
With that, we took off down the path towards the beedrills' nest – our eyes were met with nothing but carnage when we arrived. Michael was having a hay day through the clearing. The beedrill were helpless, falling one after the other. Some tried to attack from behind, but he was flapping his wings hard enough to blow gusts to keep them away as he tore through them.
"What now?" Momo stammered as we watched. "It looks like Michael has this under control."
"Get ready," I simply said.
"Huh?"
"You heard me. I won't let Mike have his way."
I dashed into the clearing. The sound of the crunching leaves under my paws attracted some of the beedrill and they dove down toward me. I quickly chanced a look back at Momo, who was still standing there, and glared at him. He nodded and started running toward the river.
I felt the wind pick up and the beedrill were knocked off course. I stopped and looked up to see Michael land in front of me.
"So you came after all," he said with a sneer. "Don't worry. I've decided to help you."
I scowled and merely tackled him in response. Being caught off guard, he fell backward with me on his breast.
"We're not killing them!" I shouted furiously. "Without the beedrill, there won't be any pokemon left to scatter pollen and seeds. Don't you realize that? Trees would grow next to each other and kill each other off. This forest would die!"
The pidgeot growled and lurched himself up, throwing me to the side. I rolled a bit, but quickly shook the dizziness off. I suddenly heard a screech of pain and looked up. Michael's down was dripping in red and a scyther stood behind him, his arm held firm in mid air over the gash he had left on the bird's back.
Before I had time to think, the beedrill were on to me again. I gasped and quickly took off down the path. The curtain of yellow and black was on my tail. The chill breeze danced with my fur. The trees vanished in blurs of red and gold. My scraped paws begged me to stop. But I couldn't. My beating chest told me otherwise with threats to burst wide open.
Luckily, the river wasn't too far away and I breathed a sigh of relief as I dived into the water. When I surfaced, a cage of wood fell from the waterfall and the swarm slammed into the log bars before they could stop or even see what was coming. The impact caused the cage to sway on its rope and the door swung shut, the latch falling into place.
I looked up and grinned at Momo, whose tail was still on the makeshift pulley attached to a branch sticking out of the crashing water. The cage drifted lazily in and out of the waterfall. The beedrill twitched and thrashed inside the cage frantically. This should teach them to leave the village alone.
But even as I watched, the log bars shattered in a flash. Not losing a second, the scyther u-turned in mid flight and dived toward me. I ducked into the water, but too slowly. The left side of my neck and my left ear stung as my face submerged in the cool rush.
Crimson fused with the water around me and Jean's collar drifted to the surface, cleanly cut in half. I gasped from the pain and made for the surface for air. The scyther towered over me on the edge, sneering.
"Now the game begins," he said, "Tyler Young."
He took flight, leaving me to stare at the spot he had stood.
---
"Human, you say?" Father repeated with a glaring hint of disbelief despite his attempts to conceal it.
My stomach did a somersault, intensifying my anxiety and desire to be anywhere but standing before him in his office. I merely nodded.
While Father pondered this revelation, I scratched at my bandaged ear that was stinging from the iodine his wife, Helen, had applied to the wound. After the blood had been cleared, she found a notch where my ear had nearly been sliced off and a scar was left down the length of my neck.
"I have never heard of such an occurrence," Father finally said, breaking the silence. I couldn't bear to look him in the eyes anymore. "I don't know what we could do about it."
"That's okay," I said. "I thought maybe the Ruins of Alph would hold some answers, but I got lost and that's when I ran into Cindy."
"Well, we could help you with that, but you should stay until you recover. We're celebrating the end of summer tomorrow night. You should join the festivities."
This surprised me. "But someone's after me," I said. "If I stay here, you guys could be in danger, and that scyther didn't exactly leave Mike in a fighting state. What do you plan to do if something happens?"
Father merely smiled. "I appreciate your concern," he answered, "but you shouldn't worry about that. I don't want to leave a fellow pokemon on his own when he's hurt."
I looked down to my feet. "I feel like such a burden to you guys," I said.
"Chin up, Tyler," Father replied. "Why don't you go to Cindy's house? I'm sure they're anxious to learn how you're holding up, and I wouldn't be too surprised if they didn't have a nice dinner waiting."
My stomach growled at that and he laughed heartily. I hadn't eaten at all that day and food did sound like a good idea.
"Alright," I conceded. "Thanks for the help! Bye!"
Father smiled and waved and Helen gave me a strong hug before I walked out of the tree. I immediately caught Cindy in the corner of my eye and jumped in shock. She was leaning against the entrance to the tree, tear streaks lining her face that wore an expression of disbelief and anger.
"Cindy," I stammered. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard from Momo what happened at the river and came to check on you," she answered with a shaking voice. "I can't believe you'd hide something like this from me. I trusted you!" She slapped me across the face and ran off without another word.
I slumped down as she vanished into the foliage. I barely heard the rustle of the grass behind me until a shadow come over me. I looked up to see Mike glaring down on me and panting harshly. Helen had dressed him as well; a bandage was wrapped around his torso.
"It's time for you to pay for what happened at the beedrill nest."
***
A/N: Yeah, I'm sure everyone saw it coming, but the Tyler vs. Mike battle is coming up next if you were just dying for that. ;P
And now that I've introduced the main cast, it's time to answer some questions in the next chapter. Those of you who have stuck with me this long will finally get a little insight into what happened to Tyler and Jean! Yay, right?
As always, keep up in my profile for the expected release date and any other updates I put up. Chapter 4 is almost done and I might have it ready next week even. Cya next time!
