Chapter 4: Cold Blood

This is honestly my most popular story I have ever written (next to Runaway) ! Six reviews already?! Awesome!

"So do you think the forest is the most popular route?" I asked, testing the next branch. Tyler shook his head. "Considering that we've only seen a few Leafeon and Flareon so far I don't think so. I'd think that the canyon would be the most popular traveling route. There's plenty of crevices to hide in and there's a fast-flowing river that runs down the middle of it. So at the bottom of it it's kinda like an oasis, there's water, shade, and food." Tyler explained as I crossed onto the next tree. I nodded, my ears twitching to stay straight as a breeze blew across the forest.

"Still, I'm surprised that more aren't using the forest. There's plenty of shade and food and places to hide-" "Yes, but it's missing one crucial thing. Water." Tyler stated. My eyes narrowed. "Well then how do we seem to be finding streams left and right?" I asked skeptically. "Um… I've kinda been coming into this arena since I was first told of the Selection Course so I'd be prepared. Now I know most biome by heart, every twist, every turn. That's how we've been surviving." My eyes widened. "You've been what?!" I gasped, unable to believe that he had snuck into this horrid ring.

I opened my mouth to say more, but Tyler slapped his paw onto my mouth. "Sh!" He hushed me, "look." He whispered, looking at the ground. I nodded silently and followed his gaze. I let out a small, but muffled gasp, thanks to Tyler's paw. There, about to walk past the base of the tree that we sat in, was a Vaporeon, and two Umbreon. One of them was shiny, and all of them were males. Tyler slowly removed his paw from my face. My ears flattened against my head, my claws instinctively sinking into the tree bark. I slowly sunk until my stomach and chin rested on the tree bark. To my surprise, Tyler did the same. We both watched the trio carefully.

"Hey Derek do you know where a stream is around here? We're dying back here." The shiny Umbreon barked, looking at the Vaporeon. The Vaporeon shook his head. "No, sorry. I'm trying to find some though." He said curtly. "Come on, you're a water type who can't find water?" The normal Umbreon complained, his red eyes flashing in annoyance. The water type whipped around, clearly offended by his comment. "You try finding water, Ciar!" He snapped, slapping the Umbreon's face with his tail. I'm glad Tyler and I get along… I thought to myself, looking at the focused ice type.

Noticing that Tyler had made his breathing slower and more shallow, I did the same, forcing my rapidly beating heart to slow until it was a fainter thumping. My breathing became nearly silent, making it easier to hide amongst the tree. "I don't think they see us." Tyler whispered, his eyes still following the trio. I nodded. Suddenly, the shiny Umbreon's amber eyes darted towards us, quickly narrowing. The other two quickly caught on, following his gaze until they found us. "What do we do?" I whimpered, panic pulsing through my veins. "Look, we're not looking for a fight, we want to survive as much as you do." Tyler said boldly, sitting up. I however, stayed pressed against the branch, only nodding slightly.

The shiny Umbreon, who seemed to be the leader of the group, opened his mouth to speak, only for someone else to beat him to it. "Well I am." The hair on my neck stood up as I recognized the owner of the voice. "No way… Arceus why him?" Tyler murmured, sympathy flashing his gaze for the unfortunate trio below them. The Jolteon who tried to kill me just weeks before stalked towards them, electricity foaming at his jaws. The two Umbreon quickly jumped in front of the Vaporeon, knowing he'd be the obvious target. I stood up. "Leave them alone!" I shrieked, not wanting to see cold blooded murder.

The Jolteon's focus turned to me, his eyes narrowed and a freakish grin was put on just for me. "Well, well, well, didn't think that you of all Pokémon would still be alive." The Jolteon laughed, sparks flying off his body. My body began to shake in fear, my claws sinking deeper into the wood. The Jolteon whipped his gaze to Tyler, who sat beside me. "Oh, mooching off of him eh? Not a bad strategy for a cripple like you." He sneered. I felt Tyler's fur bristle defensively at his comment. I only flinched. The Jolteon turned back to the Umbreon and Vaporeon. "Which one of you wants to die first?" He snarled, blood lust gleaming in his soulless gaze.

Without hesitating, I threw an energy ball. The Jolteon easily dodged it with incredible speed, glaring at me. "Don't get in my way, Cripple." He snarled, using thunderbolt on the tree that we sat in. I felt hazy after being electrocuted, falling limp onto the ground along with Tyler. Tyler quickly leapt to his paws, using mirror coat as the Jolteon shot another blast of electricity at us, causing the attack to bounce back at Jolteon. Jolteon however, easily absorbed the electricity, shooting us a smirk. I gasped. "Volt absorb?" I gaped, forgetting that such an ability existed. Tyler quickly shot an ice beam at Jolteon's paw, hoping to immobilize him like last time. But Jolteon was ready, he leapt over the beam with ease. "I'm not falling for that again." He laughed.

My eyes narrowed as I regained my senses. "I'm about to make you a cripple!" I shouted, using magical leaf at Jolteon. Jolteon leapt of the way, thinking he had dodged it, only to have the glowing leaves smack into him. I smirked. "That's magical leaf: the move that doesn't miss." Jolteon quickly got to his paws, glaring at me, more electricity brimming in his jaws. He jumped high into the air, using take down from above, just missing me by an inch. I used vine whip, only to have Jolteon grab my vine in his teeth, pulling me forward. My scream was cut short as I landed face first into the ground. My paw burned with pain, blood and puss leaking from a wound that Jolteon had caused. Tears began to roll down my now scraped and dirty cheeks. Jolteon stood over me, the electricity at his jaws becoming more visible. "I'm surprised that you bested me, it won't happen again." He snarled, getting closer to my neck. Once again, the weight of the blood thirsty Pokémon was lifted off me, the normal Umbreon had shot a shadow ball at the Jolteon's head, causing him to stumble off me. My vision still blurry through the pain and tears, I could barely tell what was going on. I felt Tyler lift me to my paws by my scruff again, but this time I just fell back down.

Ciar's POV

"Arceus what have I done?" I mumbled, watching the Jolteon get to his paws, hatred for me gleaming in his eyes. Cloaking himself in electricity, the Jolteon hurtled himself at me. Forgetting about my brother behind me, I jumped, narrowly avoiding the powerful attack.

"HELP!" Derek's scream made me whip around to see the Jolteon ripping at my brothers neck, blood flew everywhere. Jett was desperately trying to pull the Jolteon off Derek with no success. Stunned, I watched in horror. A flash of blue darted in front of me. I quickly identified him to be the Glaceon who was with the Leafeon with the bad paw.

The Glaceon's momentum knocked Jolteon off my bleeding brother, the two now wrestling with each other: Ice versus Electricity. It seemed like electricity was winning. The Glaceon had frozen the Jolteon's ears, and the Jolteon had just about barbequed the Glaceon. "T-Tyler!" I heard the weakened Leafeon call weakly from the far end of the small clearing. I forced myself to ignore her feeble call.

"Derek!" I shouted, racing to my brother's side. My eyes widened and quickly filled with tears at the sight of Derek: He was covered in blood, his body still brimming with the Jolteon's electricity, and… his throat was… was laying next to his head. "No… NO!" I screamed, beginning to sob. "J-Jett… what… what happened?!" I sobbed, staring at our decapitated brother. "He… he… he… I just couldn't… I couldn't get him away from Derek… not in time…" Jett whispered, trying not to let his tears escape his eyes with little success.

Mira's POV

I watched in pure horror as the Jolteon electrocuted Tyler over and over again, Tyler growing weaker with each blow. And here I was, about as useless as a stump, watching Tyler lose to that monster. I struggled to my paws, only to fall again. "T-Tyler!" I called out again, fear washing over me that I could lose my first and only friend. And something told me that if he was murdered I'd be next.

Then it hit me: Synthesis. I began to heal myself with the sun's energy and in seconds I was strong enough to at least limp to help Tyler. I fired another magical leaf at the Jolteon, knocking him to the ground, giving Tyler the advantage. He fought with the Jolteon for another five minutes, their moves getting more and more gruesome and deadly by the second. A good portion of Jolteon's face was frozen solid along with his shoulder, and Tyler was covered with electric burns and bites. They were both growing weaker by the second. The shiny Umbreon turned to me, tears in his eyes. "He's weak now… kill him… kill him so he can't hurt anyone else." He whispered.

I looked behind him to see the Vaporeon… bloody, decapitated, and very, very dead. I nodded shakily, taking my aim before throwing another magical leaf. It shattered the ice on his face, revealing the severe ice burns that Tyler had inflicted. The leaves only sliced his face up even more, damaging his left eye. He screamed out in pain, staggering away from Tyler, who had fallen to the ground, too weak to continue. I used one last energy ball, either killing or knocking the blood thirsty creature out.

I limped towards Tyler, who was currently bleeding out onto the grass. "Tyler?" I whispered, sitting down beside him. "M-Mira? That you?" He asked feebly, looking the wrong direction. I poked the back of his head. "Yeah, but I'm over here." I whispered, in an attempt not to cry. Tyler rolled his battered head towards me. "Why… why'd you do it? You knew that Vaporeon was going to die… yet you still tackled the Jolteon? Why?" I cried, tears rolling down my scraped and bloody face. "Because… after he killed the Vaporeon… he… he hated you so much… he would've come after you after that…" Tyler coughed, blood trickling from his jaw. I said nothing more, just cried. "Mira… go… go to the center… of the arena… there's a safe zone there… you can get medicine there… and food… the good stuff… and purified water… you can stay for the night there… just promise me… promise me you'll… you'll survive…" "Tyler… what are you saying?" "You know… you know that I'm dying…" "No… NO! You… you just can't… You're the first friend I ever had… don't… don't die…" I whimpered, not even noticing that the two Umbreon were watching me. "Your paw… it won't hold you back… I… I promise…" Tyler faintly smiled, a final glimmer twinkled in his eyes before they closed forever. "No… no… NO!" I sobbed, collapsing onto the ground beside him, balling my eyes out. "You had a better chance than I did at survival! And yet you died and I lived?!" I continued to sob, burying my face in his blood-stained fur.

Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while, I just wasn't sure how to lead from our previous point to this one, hope I did a good job. (Ps, should I keep it rated T or up it to M? I'm not great with rating so what do you guys think?)