Anybody Else Like Seafood?
Most of the journey passed without any serious incident. Sometimes a wild Pokemon would approach, but their Pokemon (generally Zippo) would yell at it and drive it away. During their travel to Rustboro, it was there that Ron discovered that Zippo really liked to eat Bug type Pokemon, especially Wurmple.
They passed by Oldale during the night, and walked throughout the night until they got to Petalburg, at about 3 in the morning. The found a small inn to stay at, and rented two rooms. They all fell asleep rather quickly. Jack fell asleep so fast; he didn't even take his armor off.
The next morning, the small band of travelers was on their way towards Rustboro and Petalburg Woods. After eating a hearty, yet cheap, breakfast in Petalburg, they had set off towards Route 104.
The walk to Route 104 was relatively short, only about a half hour walk, before coming up to a large sign.
"ROUTE 104 SOUTH TO ROUTE 105 SOUTH TO DEWFORD TOWN.
ROUTE 104 NORTH TO PETALBURG WOODS."
"Well. I guess we go north to Petalburg Woods, don't we." Jack said with a sarcastic drawl. The only one who chuckled was Birch. So the small band set off north, towards Petalburg woods. Unbeknownst to them, many pairs of eyes watched them from the shadows. The big Mightyena growled softly at them, with a vicious hunger in its eyes.
"So, it splits into two?" Ron asked. They were standing at a fork in the road. The one to the right was on a tallish plateau, with a gentle curving slope. The road to the left led them to a long beach.
"Which one do you guys want to take?" Lauren started to open her mouth to answer, but Birch cut her off before she could say anything.
"Plateau. The beach would hinder our progress." He started off to the right before anyone could say anything.
"Oh… ok?" They all followed him.
The road to the plateau was fairly long and was a good slope, but it was relatively easy to the young, in-shape teenagers. Professor Birch on the other hand…
"C'mon Birch! It's not that bad! It's like… a 15 degree angle!" Jack shouted down to Birch. Birch was wheezing in the cool air.
"The salt!... The salty air… It gets to me!" He barely had the lung capacity to call up to the trainers. They all had to suppress snickers as Birch tried to keep up with them.
"We're wearing body armor too!" Ron yelled at him. "It's… it's about 10 extra pounds! We're doing fine!"
After another 20 minutes of walking, and Birch barely keeping pace, they finally got to the flat part of the plateau.
"Phwew!" Birch exclaimed. "Glad that's over with." He promptly sat down. The three teens exchanged a glance, then sat down with him too. They released their Pokemon, and got out some food.
"Might as well take a break." Ron thought. When he released Zippo from his ball, he noticed something in his eyes. He had a certain glint that wasn't there before the fight with the pack; a certain fire in his eye that wasn't there in his friend's Pokemon. Cinder was rather timid, as all Cyndaquil are, and Xylem was laid back, as most Treeckos are wont to be. But Zippo was different. Ron had studied the Charmander line quite a bit, and the trademark aggressiveness didn't start to manifest until it evolved to Charmeleon. Maybe Zippo was different; only time would tell.
After about 20 minutes, Ron determined that the break was over.
"Alright! Let's get going. I want to try and get to Rustboro within 3 days." Birch started to protest, but stopped quickly when Ron gave him a look. The small party was on the move again, this time with their Pokemon out, as a deterrent.
As they were walking, Zippo smelled something in the air. A very mangy and dog like scent. He looked up at the humans, but they didn't notice. He looked at Cinder and Xylem, and they could smell it too. It was the smell of wolves. He was instantly on alert, but the wind changed, taking the smell with it. However, he didn't relax. He was even more alert than he was.
"Aw man!" Birch whined. "We're out of water!" Ron snickered
"You are at least. Don't worry, we'll find a pond or something. You can refill there." As if on cue, Lauren pointed one out.
"Hey, there's one right there!" She exclaimed. She had seen a small pond down a slight slope, and behind some bushes. Without saying anything, Birch scurried over towards where she was pointing, the rest of the group in tow.
"God, he doesn't give any warning, does he?" Ron said to the others. They nodded their consent. Before they could get much further, the air was split by a loud scream. They all looked at each other in shock, then sprinted towards the sound, their Pokemon right behind them.
When they rounded the corner around the bushes, a grisly sight greeted them. Birch was on his butt, scooting away from a dead body, half floating in the water. The corpse was bloated and pale, with massive gashes in its torso and face. Birch was white as a sheet, shivering at the thought of nearly touching it. Ron hadn't seen too many dead bodies before, but he had seen some. So he had been around the block.
He and Jack kneeled down near the body, trying to determine what had killed the unfortunate person. Lauren was over near Birch, helping him get up and moving.
"This guy has been dead for some time now…. Probably a few days at least." Ron observed.
"You're right… Hey Ron, look at the claw marks. They seem jagged." Ron looked at what Jack had pointed out.
"You're right! Especially the gash on his neck… it seems like it's a… zig-zag…" He trailed off. Partially because he didn't know what else to say, and partially because he saw something moving in the water out of the corner of his eye. A slight shadow in the water, moving towards the two trainers. Ron couldn't tell what it was at first, but then…
"Jack, look out!" Jack jumped away from the water, and not a moment too soon. A massive claw shot out from the water and grabbed at where Jack had his leg a half second before. Ron scrambled away from the water's edge as well, calling for Zippo as he went. He shot to his side, growling at the threat. The claw retreated back into the water, and a few feet away, thin eyestalks pointed up.
"What the hell was that!" Birch yelled.
"Probably a Crawdaunt." Lauren responded. "Aren't you a Pokemon Professor?" She asked sarcastically.
"Hey! This is not the time for that!" Ron yelled at the two. "Get ready for a fight!" They all backed away from the water's edge as the massive crab Pokemon got out.
"Jeez, that's a big crab." Ron muttered to himself. The Crawdaunt stood at least 6 feet tall, and its claws were the size of Ron's torso. It hissed a challenge at the intruders. Zippo growled back at the monster.
"Zippo! Use Ember!" Ron yelled, at the same time as Lauren commanded Cinder to do the same. The two small streams of fire smothered the crab in flames, but it simply shrugged it off. The Crawdaunt opened its mouth, and let loose a gout of water at the two fiery Pokemon. Both of them dodged out of the way, and just in time too. The stream of water impacted at the ground and blew away a big chunk of dirt. Ron shook his head at the thought of that impacting with Zippo.
"Xylem! Use Pound! Get above it!" Jack commanded. Xylem nodded at the order. He started sprinting on all fours, and just as Jack crouched down, he leapt on Jack's back, then jumped high in the air. He did several flips in midair to gain momentum, and then started to bring his tail down towards the monstrous crab Pokemon. Just as he was about to hit the Crawdaunt, it shot its claw up into the air and knocked Xylem away. However, he recovered in midair and landed on all fours.
"Just like a Skitty!" Jack said, proud of his Pokemon's effort. However, his victory was short-lived, as the Crawdaunt shot another stream of water towards Jack. He had to roll to avoid it. Zippo and Cinder shot another combined Ember towards the monster, but it shrugged it off again.
"Damn! What's it going to take to kill this thing?" Ron asked Lauren. She merely shrugged, stumped as to how they were going to kill it. They were brought back into the fight by the sounds of lots of sharp cracks. Xylem was shooting Bullet Seeds at the monster, peppering its shell with the small projectiles. The Crawdaunt seemed visibly annoyed at the pain, and hissed at Xylem. It shot a torrent of water at Xylem, who rolled to the side to avoid it. He shot another burst of seeds at the Crawdaunt, and this time it did some damage. Its shell cracked, right in the center of the chest.
"There!" Ron shouted. "Aim for the crack!" Zippo and Cinder acknowledged the order, shooting Embers at the crack in the shell. The heat of the fire, combined with the continuing barrage of seeds, widened the crack even more. The crab Pokemon started to panic at the pain, shooting streams of water at its assailants. However, due to its panic, the aim was terrible. The trainers and their Pokemon found it continuingly easier to dodge the water attacks, until they didn't even have to move it missed so terribly.
Eventually, under the combined withering assault, the crack grew bigger and bigger, until finally a piece of the shell fell off.
"There! Xylem, use quick attack!" Jack ordered. Xylem took a few steps back, then shot forward with tremendous speed. He rammed into the crab with massive force, shattering the chest of its shell and exposing the soft flesh underneath. Xylem jumped back away from the crab. Zippo, seeing his change, charged forward. He leapt onto the Crawdaunt's chest, tearing into the rubbery flesh.
Zippo had ripped a piece of the crab's flesh from it, and while trying to take another bite, the Crawdaunt knocked Zippo off. Zippo dodged out of the way of a massive hammer blow from its claw, and back away. Bleeding profusely, the Crawdaunt was on edge. It shot blasts of water one after another at the trainers and their Pokemon; so much, they didn't have a chance to counterattack. They kept it up, until Lauren finally messed up. She slipped in her dodge, and a blast of water hit her square in the chest, knocking her backwards.
The monstrous Crawdaunt advanced swiftly towards her prostrate form, claws raised for the killing blow. Ron tried to run forward to get to Lauren first, but the crab shot a spout of water that knocked Ron back, and kept advancing.
It was barely 4 feet from Lauren when it happened. An intense flash of bright light swamped the whole battlefield. All the combatants were momentarily blinded… except for Cinder. Because where Cinder the Cyndaquil used to stand, stood Cinder the Quilava.
Without being issued an order, Cinder cloaked herself in fire and charged forward in a burst of speed. She knocked the legs out from under the Crawdaunt. The crab, already unsteady and weak from the damage done by Zippo, toppled to the ground.
Seizing her chance, Cinder opened her mouth and shot a stream of fire at the downed Crawdaunt. Against the weaker Ember attacks, the Crawdaunt's armor stood firm. However, against the much more powerful Flamethrower, it had no chance. The crab Pokemon was essentially flash-boiled inside of its armor.
With the battle against the monstrous crab finally over, the group collapsed in exhaustion. Dodging the spouts of water had taken a lot out of them… literally.
"Are you done throwing up?" Jack asked Ron. Ron wiped a small trickle of vomit off of his chin.
"Yeah. Not my fault though. Hit me right in the stomach."
"Yeah Jack!" Lauren said, albeit with slightly weak voice. "You didn't get hit by it. That hurt like hell!"
"Heh heh heh…" Jack chuckled. "It's cause I was agile to dodge it. Birch didn't get hit either… wait a second. Where is Birch?" They all looked around for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. On an unspoken order, their Pokemon all took off to look for him.
"BIRCH!" Ron shouted.
"Right here!" The reply came from the bushes ten feet from them.
"Ahh, jeez! Why were you in there?" Ron exasperatedly asked. Birch was busy untangling himself from the bushes while saying
"Cause I didn't want to be eaten, that's why!"
