Chapter 2: Aftermath
It was a slightly cloudy night in Blackthorn City. A pale moon shone brightly upon on the city, and thousands of tiny stars glittered in the sky, only for large patches to be blocked out by the dark, fluffy masses. Down in the city, the street lamps shone brightly, illuminating the street below with a pale yellow light. The buildings were dark, their residents sleeping peacefully inside. Everyone that is, except for a darkly clad figure that was running across the roofs of the houses. He could barely be seen by the faint lighting as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, a dark cloak trailing behind him.
About a minute later, he came to the end of the line of houses, and quickly jumped off of the roof and into a dark alley. He paused for a second, listening for anything in the darkness, before continuing to make his way through the city. He was careful to keep to the shadows of the alleyways to avoid the street lamps and the light they gave off.
Eventually, he made his way to a large black lake on the edge of the city. He quickly took out a small sphere, and tossed it into the water with a quiet splash. There was a flash of light, and a giant, blue jellyfish-like creature emerged from the depths of the lake. He had two large red orbs with a small red orb in between the two on his large blue head. Underneath that was a smaller, black, and somewhat round head-like area, where two eyes looked at the man. A large blue beak could be seen under his cold eyes, and he also had multiple tentacles extending out of the bottom of his body, waving gently in the water of the lake.
"Tentacruel," the jellyfish bellowed.
"Quiet!" The man hissed as he jumped onto the Tentacruel. The jellyfish immediately cut off his shout, and glanced upwards at his trainer. "To the cave," he whispered, pointing to a black opening in the mountains. Tentacruel grunted in reply, and started swimming towards it.
Inside, the cave was soaked with perspiration and pitch black, the light from the moon and distant street lights unable to reach the enclosed space. Tentacruel didn't seem to be affected by the minimal lighting, however, and continued on fearlessly, making small splashing sounds as he swam. The sound bounced off the walls of the cave, amplifying it louder than it actually was.
After a while, a faint light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Soon, the cave seemed to open up again, until finally the darkly clad figure and his Tentacruel emerged in a second, larger lake, surrounded on all sides by sheer rock walls. The walls ended a few hundred feet in the air, leaving a large, almost round opening at the top that allowed the light from the moon and the stars to reach the hidden lake.
It's a dormant volcano, the man thought silently to himself as he looked around. Indeed, the place he found himself was once a very active volcano millions of years ago. However, it had long since lost its ability to spew lava from its depths, and the remaining leftover molten rock had solidified. Eventually, it filled with rainwater, creating a lake that branched off to various other bodies of water thanks to the old lava tubes. Of course they'd put the den here. It has natural openings for Pokémon to fly in through the top or swim in from a tunnel all the while being almost invisible if you flew over it unless the sun was in just the right position.
"Good job Tentacruel," the man whispered as he directed his Pokémon to a small piece of land that was created by various rocks sticking out of the water to his right. He quickly jumped off of the Jellyfish Pokémon and recalled him with a beam of red light, before looking around. The small piece of land that he was on wasn't very large, nor was any of the other rocks that managed to jut their way out into the lake. The walls surrounding the lake were much too steep to climb without special mountain climbing gear, and even then it would be risky thanks to the moisture from the lake.
As for the lake, it seemed fairly peaceful. There was no wind due to the sheer rocks surrounding it, and it seemed as if the few water Pokémon that inhabited it were asleep, or hiding. There was one odd phenomenon on the lake though. A black mass seemed to suddenly rise out of the water, larger than any of the rocks and more uniformed looking. Upon further investigation, the man could see that the mass was actually a house that had been built on various pillars of wood that disappeared into the dark waters below. The house's large wooden deck was surrounded by a spiked metal fence on all but one side, where two giant statues with long, serpentine creatures stood guard.
So that's the Dragon's Den, huh? The thief thought. This is going to be too easy.
The black haired man quickly brought two more Poké Balls out from his belt, and quietly opened them up. Two Pokémon emerged in two flashes of light, and stood silently for their orders. One was a small, black bird with a weird bunch of feathers on her head that from the right angle looked almost like a hat. Her tail feathers fluffed out wildly, which resembled the end of a broom. She had a large, yellow beak, and two small, red eyes, which started intensely at the man.
The second Pokémon resembled a small, black weasel. He had two large ivory claws on each hand, which gleamed in the moonlight, along with two smaller claws on his feet. Her left ear seemed to have a red feather sticking in front of it, and three more red feathers jutted out of his lower back. There were two yellow, oval-like markings on his chest and his forehead, and his eyes darted back and forth, taking in his surroundings.
"Murkrow, Sneasel, I need you to do search and disable any security this place may have," the man whispered. Both of his Pokémon nodded, before running off to do their jobs.
Murkrow flew silently through the air, carefully scanning the building below her. Opening her mouth slightly, she released a cloud of black smoke, which could barely be seen in the darkness of the night, even with the light from the moon. The smoke quickly settled on the wooden deck of the outside of the building, which revealed multiple crisscrossing infrared beams of light.
Now being able to see the lasers, Sneasel quickly ran across the side of the rock face skillfully, his sharp claws digging into the stone allowing him to do a hop run along the side, before jumping towards one of the rocks jutting out of the lake. He continued to jump from rock to rock, until he finally reached the edge of the house's deck. Quickly darting his way through the lasers, he reached one of the statues. Jumping onto the back of the statue, he opened a small panel in the back of the dragon's head, Sneasel quickly sliced through a bunch of wires using his razor-sharp claws. The statue's eyes illuminated a bright red color for a second, before fading out, along with half of the lasers. Moving quickly, Sneasel darted to the second statue and repeated the procedure, taking out the rest of the lasers.
Whistling quietly, the man signaled to his Murkrow to come back. She did so, landing on the man's shoulder.
"Excellent work as always," the man whispered, giving Murkrow a small, red, sphere of candy. Murkrow's head shot forward similar to a snake's, snatching up the sweet from her trainer. She chewed on it happily, a smile on her face.
"Now, would you please give me a lift to that house over there?"
Murkrow cawed quietly, spreading her wings. The man quickly grabbed a hold of the Darkness Pokemon's yellow talons as the bird took flight, pulling him into the air with her. With a huge amount of effort, Murkrow managed to carry the man over to the deck of the house before collapsing in a heap, breathing heavily.
"Excellent job Murkrow, return," the man whispered, taking out a Poké Ball and recalling his Pokémon with a beam of red light. Smiling, he replaced the red-and-white sphere back on his belt.
Looking around, he noticed Sneasel a little ways off, picking the lock to the house with his claws, a look of intense focus upon his face. With a small click, the lock snapped open, and Sneasel carefully removed it from the door, setting it down on the wooden platform.
"Good work Sneasel," the man said as he joined his Pokémon. "Now, keep your eyes open. We don't know what to expect in there."
Sneasel nodded, and the man slowly lifted his hand and carefully clasped the doorknob, weary of a trap being set off by his touch. After a few seconds of waiting, he started turning it slowly, the doorknob squeaking slightly in protest. The man and his Pokémon freeze, listening for the sounds of anyone, or thing, that may have stirred from the noise. Not hearing anything after a few seconds, the man finished turning the knob, and the door swung open with a small squeak, which sounded like a blood-curtailing scream in the silence of the night.
The man took a cautious step inside, and two fires instantly ignited on both sides of him. He froze as more fires suddenly ignited down a line on the two sides of a rectangular room, making two rows of swirling flames. The extra lighting only added to the creepiness of the place; the dancing flames giving off a strange light that seemed to only intensify the shadows around the room. Sneasel hissed quietly at the flames, eying them wearily. Obviously, being part Ice, she and fire of any kind really didn't get along.
"Keep your guard up Sneasel," the man whispered as he tiptoed forward, his eyes sweeping the room for any movement that may suggest that he and Sneasel were not alone. That was harder than it sounded, however, as the moving shadows made it appear as if someone was about to step out and confront him. Indeed, it almost seemed as if the shadows themselves were alive. No one confronted them, however, and he and Sneasel managed to soundlessly make their way safely to the end of the room.
Here, a large podium was raised up on a platform, obviously there for someone to use while conducting a speech or meeting. Behind that sat twelve elegant wooden chairs that appeared to be quite old and hand carved by a master craftsmen. None of this really mattered to the man, however, as he quickly scanned the rest of the room.
Suddenly, he found it: a faint rectangular outline near the corner of the platform, hidden by the dancing shadows. Because of its particular position, it was almost impossible to make it out in the faint lighting, and he probably would have never noticed it if he hadn't been looking it.
Moving quickly yet quietly, the man and Sneasel made their way up the platform, and inspected the hidden door.
"Could it really be that easy?" the man thought, before reaching out with his hand and pushing the door back, before sliding it the right. The door easily slid open, almost as if it was welcoming him inside.
Taking a cautious step into the dark room, the man waited for something to happen, some kind of trap to spring and attack him, or an alarm to go off. The only thing that happened was a tiny flame springing to life in a stone basin, filling the room with enough light for the thief to see clearly.
It was a fairly small room, only large enough to fit one or two people inside. There was a large shelf above, which held the stone basin with the flame in it as well as various other items. On the ground in front of the man was a large glass case filled with various items resting on a giant red cushion.
The man smiled as he gazed upon the case. It was filled with various expensive-looking items, most of which appeared to be made with either gold or silver. This wasn't what caught his attention though. In the middle of the case, resting on the satin cushion, was an old, dirty looking fang.
"Jackpot!" the man whispered excitedly. Sneasel nodded in agreement, before walking over to the case, extending his claws. Taking care to make as little noise as possible, he quickly scratched a circle into the glass before yanking the circle of glass away from the case. Carefully reaching into the case, Sneasel managed to grab the tooth with one of his clawed hands, hooking it with his two claws. Using the upmost care, he lifted it out of the container, through the circle, and out into the air.
"Excellent job Sneasel," the man whispered as he took out a small, brown box from the pocket of his pants. Opening it quickly, he revealed a cushioned-lined case with a second fang in it. Carefully removing the second fang, he gave it to Sneasel, who handed the real fang to the dark haired boy. The boy quickly grabbed a black cloth pouch from his belt, dropping the fang into it.
As the man tied the pouch back to his belt and replaced the box in his pocket, Sneasel carefully placed the duplicate fang into the glass box. After he was finished, he took the panel of circular glass and placed it back on the case. Blowing quietly, Sneasel released a stream of cold air from his mouth, freezing the circle of glass back to the case.
"Hopefully, no one will notice that," the thief whispered as he examined Sneasel's handiwork. "I guess that is about as good as a job as any though. Now come on, let's get out of here."
The thief turned and took a single step when the floor below him started to sink. The thief managed to utter a curse just before an alarm pierced the silence of the night, nearly deafening the dark haired boy and his Sneasel. Cursing quietly to himself, the thief quickly tried to work out a plan how to get out.
"Oh well," the man said as he took out another red-and-white sphere from his belt. "Since they already know I'm here, we don't have to be stealthy anymore…"
Two figures quickly raced towards the Dragon's Den. They had both been awakened by an alert, signifying that something was wrong was happening. One was riding on a large, blue and yellow serpentine creature, who was plowing his way through the water. He had four white fins on his back, and a large, gaping mouth with two blue whiskers positioned directly under it. A woman with long blue hair tied in a ponytail was riding on his head, an intense look on her face. She was wearing a tight-fitting blue outfit, blue high-heeled boots with two black rings at the top on each one, and a pair of blue gloves with a similar black ring at the end of each one. She also had a black cape, which flapped behind her in the wind.
The second man had spiky, reddish-brown hair. He was wearing a long sleeved blue shirt with three orange lines going down the front of it. The sleeves were red at the cuffs, and were separated from the blue by a zigzagging orange line. His pants were also blue, and he had brown boots with two horizontal orange stripes at the top. Finally, he also had a black belt, and a large black cape with a collar. He was riding on the back of an orange, dragon-like Pokémon, who had a scaly, ivory colored belly. He had a single small horn on his head, and his wings were a blue-green color.
"Do you know what's going on at the Dragon's Den?" the woman shouted, trying to make her voice carry over the howl of the wind.
"No idea," the man replied. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see what awaits us there."
The house was getting closer and closer by the second, when suddenly, an orange beam of energy shot out of the wall of the building, blasting part of the front of the house and making both the man and woman's Pokémon swerve to avoid it.
"Was that a Hyper Beam?" the woman asked as she regained her balance on her Pokémon.
"I believe it was. Come on, we should hurry over there to see what's wrong."
At that moment, a large, dinosaur like creature jumped out of the hole made by the Hyper Beam, and flew directly upwards, heading for the opening at the top of the cliff walls. There was just enough light to make out a large-jawed creature with razor teeth, brown leathery skin, a tail that ended in a triangle, and two large leathery purple wings.
"Was that an Aerodactyl?" The woman exclaimed as she watched the Fossil Pokémon fly out of sight.
"I believe it was. I'll go after it," the man replied, turning his orange dragon in the direction Aerodactyl had flown.
"I'll see what happened at the Dragon's Den," the woman said motioning for him to get going.
"Good luck Clair," the man said as his orange dragon took off, flying quickly after the dinosaur Pokémon.
"You too Lance," Clair mumbled as she turned her attention back to the Dragon's Den.
Cinder heard the knocking at her door, but she ignored it. After all, what would be the point of answering it? It was unlocked, and if someone really wanted to come inside, they could do it themselves.
After a few seconds, the doorknob turned, and Cinder's mother walked in, carrying a tray with a sandwich and a glass of water on it.
"I thought you might be hungry," she explained as she set the tray down on a table beside the bed. Cinder grunted in response, continuing to stare at the stretcher in front of her.
Her mother sighed as well, before sitting down on the bed next to Cinder, throwing an arm around her daughter's shoulders. Cinder continued to ignore her, choosing instead to continue to stare at the stretched out white sheets in front of her. Anna looked as well, and saw the battered form of Typhlosion lying on the stretcher. He was covered with scratches and bruises, and the heat radiating off of his was intense. Even sitting a few feet away felt like you were sitting in the middle of a sauna, and Cinder's mother had already started to sweat. And yet, Cinder didn't seem to be affected by the heat at all.
Anna stroked her daughter's hair lovingly as she remembered the last couple of days. Cinder had refused to leave Typhlosion's side except to use the bathroom, and even then she had made sure that Blayze, Soot, or she was keeping an eye on him. Cinder herself was intent on nursing him back to health. Cole, meanwhile, had been out of the house a lot, either training with his Pokémon or going down to the city. Never once had he mentioned the battle, but nor had he gone up to see Cinder either.
"You know the doctor said that Typhlosion was going to be fine, right?" Cinder's mother finally asked after what seemed like an eternity of silence.
Cinder grunted in response, still only looking at Typhlosion. Her mother sighed, before continuing.
"Anyway, I thought that since you haven't been out of the house in a while, that you would like to go out and have a bit of fun. After all, the Dragon Festival is tonight. I know it's one of your favorite things about Blackthorn."
This was true. Cinder had always loved the Dragon Festival ever since she had moved there when she was eight. The colorful lights and special ceremonies had captured her attention and imagination when she was younger. Not to mention that she had been lucky enough to help the Blackthorn City Gym Leader, Clair, in the festival the year before she set off on her journey.
"I'm not going," Cinder grumbled.
"Why?" Anna asked, slightly surprised.
Cinder mumbled something inaudible, and shrugged her mother's arm off of her shoulder. She sighed, before standing up, Cinder's bed creaking as she did so.
"Please eat something at least," Her mother said pleadingly, her eyes full of concern.
Cinder didn't respond verbally, but did pick up the sandwich her mother had brought her and took a small bite of it.
Her mother gave a small nod of approval, before quietly slipping out of Cinder's room, silently closing the door behind her. Cinder didn't even notice she had gone, as she had returned her attention back to Typhlosion, all thoughts of her mother and the sandwich forgotten.
"How's she doing Anna?" Soot asked Cinder's mom as she took the last few steps down the stairs.
"She's still really upset," Anna said, sighing.
"Of course she is. What were you expecting?" Blayze asked as he lazily flipped through random channels on the television hanging off the wall while lying on an old, slightly battered couch. "And let me guess, she also told you that she didn't want to go the festival."
"Well…" Anna mumbled, biting her lower lip.
"Thought so," Blayze said as he stood up and stretched his stiff limbs. He lazily flipped the TV back off, tossing the remote on the couch behind him without a backwards glance.
"Wait a second," Soot said, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at Blayze, who gave an innocent smile in response. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Why, I'm going to go talk some sense into my sister. Since when did that become a crime worthy of interrogation?" Blayze asked.
"And since when did you become the voice of reason? Better yet, when did you get a voice of reason?" Soot asked.
"Hey, people change," Blayze fired back, and began moving towards the stairs. He didn't stop there, however, as he walked past both of his parents and the staircase, instead opening a side door leading into the kitchen.
"I thought you said that you were going to go talk to your sister?" Anna asked as Blayze began rummaging around in the refrigerator.
"What?" Blayze asked, pulling his head back out of the fridge to stare at his parents. "I can't face the wrath of my sister on an empty stomach."
Cinder sat silently as she stared at her starter and closest friend, Typhlosion. As she softly stroked his feverish fur, she couldn't help but to think back to the first day they had met…
Cinder eagerly hurried forward, pulling her father's arm with hers in her eagerness to get to Professor Elm's lab.
"Slow down Cinder. The Pokémon aren't going anywhere," Soot said, chuckling as his daughter rolled her eyes and pulled on his arm even more.
"But we need to get there first so I can get a Cyndaquil!" She replied, her voice a mixture of emotions. She was practically bursting with excitement at the knowledge that in a few hours she would be on her very own journey. Of course, she was also a bit afraid of what lay ahead of her, not to mention that she was also worried that she would be too late to receive her Cyndaquil, and would be forced to take a weak Pokémon like Chikorita, or, even worse, a Water-type like Totodile.
A few seconds later, Cinder was able to see the lab ahead of her. It was an interesting building, two or three stories high, and was painted a light yellow color with a red shingled roof. Two large glass windows were positioned to each side of the double red doors. There were also various, smaller windows around the building, showing various machines and the occasional Pokémon inside.
She barely saw any of this, however, as she continued to run forward, charging straight for the double doors. Not breaking stride, Cinder pushed them open and ran straight into a large room filled with various machines. The floor itself was covered in white tiles without a speck of dirt visible on them. Near the back of the room were two doors, one on each side of the wall, which Cinder assumed led to other parts of the lab. Also in the back was a set of stairs, leading to the second floor where a large, open office was clearly visible from even the first story, filled with various desks and computers.
However, the main thing Cinder saw was a group of people, most of whom were wearing white lab coats, standing in a circle around some sort of machine on the ground floor. To her dismay, she saw two kids around her age, and with a pang of panic she realized that she may be too late; her Cyndaquil already given to someone before she even had a chance to meet him.
"Oh, hello ther-" A man with short brown hair started to say as he heard Cinder approaching him. His sentence was cut short, however, when Cinder, who was still running, ran straight into him, sending them both to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Cinder shouted with horror, quickly getting off the man, her face flushed a deep red color. The other men wearing lab coats started chuckling at the event that had just transpired, while the two kids were both shaking with laughter.
"Oh, it's perfectly alright," the man Cinder had knocked down said as he started patting the ground, apparently looking for something. Cinder wondered what he could possibly be doing when she noticed a pair of glasses a little ways away from the man's hand. She was just about to point them out when the man she had knocked over grabbed a hold of them. "Aha!" he said as he placed the glasses back on his head. Afterwards, he quickly stood up; attempting to smooth out the newly formed wrinkles on his already crumpled blue shirt he was wearing, while at the same time gathering up some of the papers he had dropped. "See? No harm done. Anyway, what can I do for you young lady?"
"I-I'm he-here to get m-my first P-P-Pokémon sir!" Cinder stammered, her face turning an even darker shade of red.
"Ah, you must be…um, Cinnamon, right? We've been waiting for you." The man motioned to the two other kids there. The first one was a girl with long, curly blond hair with green eyes. She was wearing a simple yellow short sleeved shirt with two buttons green buttons at the top. The ends of her sleeves and shirt were green as well. Her hands were tightly clenched around the sides of her sparkly green skirt as she gave a nervous glance at Cinder, and quickly looked away, biting her lower lip. Overall, she didn't look like the traveling sort of girl, and Cinder doubted that she would last very long on any sort of journey.
The second kid, however, looked completely relaxed as he gave Cinder a friendly smile, his hands in the pockets of his blue jacket with white lining. His spiky blue hair jutted in multiple directions, with a few parts of it falling into his clear blue eyes, completely obscuring one of them from view. He was wearing a clean white shirt under his jacket, along with light blue pants that had two white stripes traveling down the outside of both legs. He also had a brand new pair of blue and white running shoes. Finally, his outfit was completed with a white scarf that was wrapped around his neck.
"Uh, it's actually Cinder sir," she mumbled, biting her bottom lip nervously, glancing from the man to the two other kids.
"Yes, that's what I said. Anyway," the man said, stammering slightly as he pushed his glasses back up from the end of his nose. "Now that we're all here, I guess that means we can start." Walking over to the machine the other men wearing the lab coats were standing around, the man Cinder had run into pressed a small, red button. The dome at the top of it quickly split open, revealing three red-and-white spheres each lying in a half circle indentation.
"Now then," the man said, picking up the three Poke Balls. "Here are the three Pokémon you can choose from."
The man opened the three spheres, releasing three very different creatures in a flash of white light. The first one was a small, green, four legged creature. She had a large green leaf attached to the top of her head, and a ring of green buds around her neck, which vaguely resembled a necklace. Her four short, stubby legs all had one nailed toe at the end, and she smiled at the three kids, wagging her small green tail enthusiastically.
The second was a small, blue, crocodile-like creature, the most noticeable part of his body being his large, strong jaws. He stood on his two hind legs, which ended in two flipper-like feet, while his arms were shorter, and ended in three pointed claws. A yellow V-shaped pattern was visible on his chest and a row of red spines ran along his upper back and tail. He looked at the three kids, smiled and clapped his hands, before leaping at the blond haired girl. The girl shrieked as the tiny crocodile bit down on her hair, and two of the men wearing lab coats rushed to help her.
The final Pokémon was standing on all fours, like the first one, only he had sleek blue fur covering his back and soft, cream colored fur covering his face, belly, arms, and legs. He had a long, slim snout that took up the majority of his face, and four yellow spots of fur on his back. He yawned loudly, before curling up into a ball, attempting to fall asleep.
Cinder's pulse quickened at the sight of the final Pokémon. Out of the three Pokémon that were just released, Cyndaquil was the only one that she wanted. She couldn't even bear to think that one of the other two kids standing next to her might take him away from her.
"Now then," the man said as he finally managed to remove the blue crocodile from the girl's hair. "Shall we begin? Let's see…why don't you go ahead and pick first Amanda?"
The blond hair girl sniffed as she finished wiping away a few tears that had managed to find their way outside from when she was attacked by the crocodile. She still nodded, though, and walked up to the three Pokémon. She took extra care to step around the man holding the crocodile before coming to a stop in front of the remaining Pokémon, studying them. The green one waved at her, while the Cyndaquil continued to snooze, ignoring Amanda completely.
"I want that one," Amanda said, pointing at the green Pokémon why cheered happily, waving the leaf around on her head.
"Ah, that would be the Grass-type Pokémon, Chikorita," the man holding the crocodile said as the tiny lizard attempted to jump and clamp onto the girl's hair once again. "Could you please get Chikorita's Poke Ball for me George?"
"Sure thing Professor Elm," one of the other men wearing a lab coat said. He quickly retrieved one of the three Poké Balls that had come from the machine, and handed it to the blond haired girl. "There you go."
"Now then Jack, why don't you go ahead and choose your Starter Pokémon next?" Professor Elm suggested, making Cinder groan in frustration.
"It's an easy choice," the blue haired boy replied, walking up to the Professor. "I want Totodile."
Hearing his name, the blue crocodile wiggled his way out of Elm's grasp, and jumped at Jack. The Totodile's strong jaws clamped around the top of Jack's head, but instead of crying out in pain or surprise, he just laughed and calmly reached up and grabbed the blue crocodile. The Totodile quickly let go, and waved his arms happily at Jack, grinning from ear to ear.
Meanwhile, upon hearing the boy named Jack choose Totodile, Cinder couldn't help but punch the air and give a slight squeal of joy. With everyone in the room staring at her, Cinder ran over to the curled up Cyndaquil, and in one swift movement she scooped him up into her arms. Not expecting to be picked up suddenly, Cyndaquil started to squirm and struggle, only to be crushed in a hug by Cinder.
"I take it you're happy with your Starter?" Professor Elm asked, smiling at Cinder. "Anyway, it looks like we're pretty much done here…"
"Uh, Professor?" one of the assistants said, raising their hand slightly. "What about the Poké Balls and the Pokédex?"
"Oh yes, that's right!" Elm said, smacking his forehead. Reaching over to the machine, Elm pulled out the final two Poke Balls, and handed one to Cinder, the other to Jack. "Those are Cyndaquil and Totodile's Poké Balls. You can use those to carry them around."
Two of the assistant researchers then walked up to Elm, each carrying a try with very different objects on them. The first tray had a small pile of red and white spheres, enough for all three kids to get five Poké Balls each. The second tray had three different electronic devices, which slightly resembled a double screened hand held gaming system, each of them in different colors; orange, white, and gold.
"First, here are some Poké Balls for each of you." Professor Elm said as he picked up the pile of red-and-white spheres and handed five to each of the three kids. "You will need these if you plan on catching Pokémon out in the wild and strengthening your team."
Turing back to his assistants, Professor Elm picked up the three electronic devices, before returning his attention back to the young trainers.
"These things are called Pokédexes. They have information about all of the known species of Pokémon in Johto, all of the known moves those Pokémon can use, and many other different applications that are vital to beginning trainers."
He then handed one Pokédex to each of the kids; the orange one to Cinder, the white one to Jack, and the golden one to Amanda.
"Well now, I believe that's all I can do for you. Now it's time for each of you to embark on your very own journey. I'm sure that each of you will be successful in your endeavors, whatever they are."
With a nod, Professor Elm turned, and headed up to the study area, while the various assistants scattered in all directions to continue their work, leaving the three slightly overwhelmed kids to themselves.
A knock on her door suddenly snapped Cinder back to the present. Before she could say anything, the door suddenly burst open, nearly flying off its hinges in the process, and a large, black dog pounced on her. Cinder yelped as the dog expertly pinned her to the bed, his front paws pressing down on her shoulders and making her unable to move her arms very well.
"Good work Houndoom," a boy said happily as he moved into Cinder's line of vision.
"Blayze? What the heck do you think you're doing?" Cinder shouted angrily at her brother.
"What do you think you're doing?" Blayze asked, grinning happily.
"I'm not doing anything! I was…"
"Exactly," Blayze said, cutting his sister off. "You've been stuck up here for days, doing nothing at all. Sure, you say that you're taking care of Typlosion, but there's nothing else you can do really. In fact, all your worry is probably making it harder for Typlosion to recover. Pokémon feed off the emotions of their trainer's, and a constant worry and slight starvation of his trainer can't be good for him, especially since he's trying to recover. If you don't stop now, think of all the irreversible damage it could have on him. He may never want to battle again for fear of getting hurt, because it would indirectly hurt you. His personality could be completely altered, most likely for the worse."
"Don't tell me what to do," Cinder grumbled quietly, making Blayze sigh.
"Come on! Doesn't anything get past that thick skull of yours? Stop worrying about Typhlosion. He knew that eventually something would happen to him, that one day he would be hurt fairly badly in battle, but he accepted his fate for you. And now you're just making it worse by worrying about him all the time! It's not your fault that he got hurt."
"Yes it is!" Cinder shouted suddenly, causing the Houndoom on top of her to cry out in surprise from the volume of his voice. He lost his footing on Cinder's shoulders, and his two front paws slipped off. Taking advantage to this, Cinder shoved the Dark Pokémon off of her, not even hearing the thump as Houndoom hit her floor, and quickly jumped out of the bed, getting right into Blayze's face.
"I was the one who sent Typhlosion out to battle that…that… monster Cole calls a Charizard! I should have known he was still too weak from his illness to take on something that powerful, but instead I sent him out to the front lines like a fool, and just look at what happened to him! He got utterly and completely destroyed! He never even stood a chance!"
"You couldn't have known something like that was going to happen!" Blayze shouted back. "And you can't keep babying Typhlosion! Sooner or later you were going to have to send him out to battle, and let's face it; any of your other Pokémon would have also been hurt fighting that Charizard. If you can't handle the fact that your Pokémon are going to get hurt as a result of battle eventually, you might as well give up being a trainer. In fact, I don't think you should even be able to compete as a trainer after the way you've been acting recently. Pokémon Trainers are supposed to handle problems head on, not hide in their room and cry like little girls!"
"Shut up!" Cinder shouted, and in one swift moment, sent her fist flying forward at Blayze's head. She didn't even hide her smile as she felt her fist connect with the soft skin of her brother's nose, sending him stumbling backwards to land on the ground.
The Houndoom growled as he saw what happened to his master, and was about to pounce on the insolent girl when Blayze held up his hand, signaling him to stand down. Using his other hand, Blayze gingerly tried to stop the flow of blood that was dripping out of his nose and onto his shirt and face.
"Nice punch," he mumbled, wincing in pain. "See, there's the Cinder I know. She's not some girl that goes and hides away in her room after every loss. She's a fighter, and she's not afraid to show you that."
Breathing heavily to try and calm herself down, Cinder couldn't help but sigh. As much as she hated to admit it, everything Blayze had said had been true. It was time for her to start acting like a real trainer, if not for her sake then for Typhlosion's.
"Thanks," she finally said as Blayze managed to stop his nose from bleeding.
"You're welcome. Every once in a while, everyone needs someone to come along and give them a reality check. Of course, you usually don't get punched in the face for your good deed, but I guess there's nothing we can do about that now, eh?"
"Yeah…sorry about that. You were just saying all these…things, and deep down, I sort of knew they were true, I guess. I just didn't want to admit it. You just made me so mad! And, well, you can kind of see what happened."
"No need to apologize. Now then, are you ready to go?"
"Go where?" Cinder asked, slightly confused.
"Why, to the Dragon Festival of course! How could you forget about that?"
"Oh…right, the festival. I guess I probably should start getting ready. I'm in desperate need of a good shower."
"And I'm not?" Blayze asked, motioning at the large red stain on his white shirt he was wearing, making them both laugh.
"Anyway, I guess I'll let you get ready," Blayze said, after an awkward pause of silence. "Just don't go back to sulky Cinder while I'm gone. I really don't want to get punched again."
"Don't worry," Cinder said. "I'm better now."
Blayze nodded. "Well then, it looks like my work here is done. Just one last question before I go."
"Yes?" Cinder asked suspiciously, wondering what her brother could want from her.
"You going to finish that?" Blayze asked, motioning to her sandwich.
"Hey, I haven't eaten anything for a few days," Cinder pointed out, snatching up the sandwich and taking a rather large bite. Blayze sighed.
"So this is the thanks I get for helping you out, eh?"
Cinder sighed. "Fine," she grumbled, ripping the sandwich in half and handing the unbitten part to Blayze, who quickly snatched it up and devoured it in two bites.
"Ah, much better. Thanks sis! Now then, let's get going Houndoom."
"Doom," the dog barked, as he and Blayze left Cinder's room, closing the door shut behind them.
Turning around, Cinder returned her attention back to Typhlosion, who seemed to be smiling slightly in his sleep. He even physically looked like he was feeling better, a little color returning to his face.
"Get better soon Typhlosion," Cinder whispered.
So, it looks like Cinder's back to normal. And it's all thanks to Blayze. Where would we be without Cinder's younger brother? Things would definitely be less interesting, that's for sure.
Plus, you guys also got to see how Cinder and Typhlosion met. Also, there are some hints of what is to come in that scene.
Truthfully, there's something bugging me about this chapter. Something just seems a bit off about it to me. Ah well, it's likely that it's just something in my head.
I'd like to thank Kyuuketsuki Fang for giving me the idea of a robbery to kick off the chapter. Although the OC himself is my own creation. And don't worry, we'll be seeing more of the mysterious thief soon enough, as in next chapter, haha.
The Dragon Festival will be coming up next chapter, along with a few unexpected surprises. A lot of surprises actually.
Anyway, as always, please review! Tell me what I could do better, what I need to work on, what I did a good job on, things like that.
