Prologue

Part IV - Delayed Reactions

We had two days of quiet monotony until Seviper lashed out.

And I'm so scared right now, I'm shaking.

It started when we were talking a walk through town. I was keeping myself occupied by pointing out various shops and landmarks, telling him stories I recalled when I first moved here. He was with me when we turned back onto the main street, I remembered that for sure because he almost ran into a flower pot and I kept myself from laughing, but when I turned back a few minutes later he was nowhere I could see.

With frantic movements I traced back where I had walked and kept asking if anyone had seen where he went. I was halfway back to the flower pot when I heard screaming. I took a step back without thinking. My body was quite aware of my physical frailties.

People ran past me, shouting and panicked. A teenager tripped over his feet nearby and I moved to him with a purpose.

"What's going on?" I asked quickly, helping him get back to his feet.

"There's this huge pokemon going crazy in the Pokecenter! A trainer tried to battle it but it tore through his pokemon like they were paper," he panted out, his voice cracking. "I gotta get to the police station - I don't think the trainers there are strong enough." With that he bolted off as if he were being chased.

No. It can't be. But I couldn't afford to wait and see if Seviper would magically reappear safe and sound. He doesn't know anyone else here, I can't leave him. Breathing deeply I gathered my fear and shoved it away. Fear wouldn't help me find him. But the adrenaline will keep me hyper aware.

I made my body walk down the road towards the Pokecenter, because I knew that if I started running it would be away. A bright colored object was hurled through the front window, and as it hit the ground and rolled I realized it was a body. A pokemon. It laid limp on the pavement. Dark liquid seeped from between yellow and green feathers.

Oh god... I moved over to it and picked it up. It peeped weakly as I cradled the small bird in my arms. It reeked of acid and iron. Please...no. My arms trembled, not because of the pokemon as it weighed so little I barely noticed. They trembled in fear of what I would find if I moved through those doors. Unmoving bodies? People and pokemon crying in pain? Blood pooling underneath souls that had already fled?

No. I shook my head fiercly to throw such harrowing thoughts from me. This has to stop. If I can help by pulling wounded pokemon away then I will. Determination blossomed then, and I let it. I felt the emotion take root in every limb of my body and felt it nestle in my soul.

"Will you be okay if I put you around this corner?" My voice was quiet, as if trying not to draw any attention.

It peeped at me once.

I took that as an affirmative and settled it on the stoop of a nearby building. There was a low wall there so it would be protected if any wide range attacks went off.

"Stay low and out of sight. The police are on the way, okay?" I turned away as the last word left me, and I walked towards the Pokecenter with the image of that frail pokemon thrown through glass fueling my determination. The sliding doors opened with a cheerful jingle, but I only heard the very start of it as the music was swallowed by the sounds of violence.

There was Seviper in the middle of it all. His tail bashing and slapping anything that moved. A young girl with a set of pokeballs attacthed to her waist was calling commands to a dun colored pokemon with antlers brandished defensively in front of it.

"Keep it focused on you, Stantler! We have to let these people get out of here before they get hurt." The trainer called out, already resizing another pokeball "Furret, I choose you!" A long striped shape materialized and she issued the same orders.

Tearing my eyes away from Seviper and the girl I saw that there were some people low to the ground making their way quickly to me - no, the exit I was blocking. I removed myself from the doors and they slipped past me. A streak of color grabbed my attention and I realized the nurse was behind the counter, the Chansey attendant unconscious beside her.

"Stantler!"

My head whipped back to Seviper and I saw that his fangs were tangled in the dun pokemon's antlers. It made a low sound as it took a step forward, pawing the ground with another hoof.

Why? Why would you do this? The striped pokemon hurled itself at Seviper and was batted away. Sure, you got mad at me and threatened me that first day, but you didn't threaten anyone else. As much as I tried to hold onto the whisps of anger that this sight smoked out of me, they lacked subtance. I didn't want to be mad at him. I was mad at all the violence, yes. It pissed me off to know that Seviper was beating up other pokemon without provocation-

Unless there had been provocation. Dammit. I was thrown off balance so badly I forgot my own skills. Analyze faster. Seviper never attacked first. In the grocery store he didn't strike me when he felt uncomfortable, and that first day he didn't even touch me. Scare me yes, hurt me no. I found him confronted by a trainer fighting and a group of scared people flighting. Maybe he frightened them by accident? The trainer was defending now, not attacking.

Seviper struck at me when he was angry. What if these people made him angry? As I thought it I saw it then. That same look he gave me the first day as his fangs were centimeters from my eyes. He was angry. Beyond angry. Nothing held him back from striking down the pokemon around him. He hadn't laid an edged scale on the trainer though. I glanced back at the front counter. Or a mark on her. There was no strikes at me either.

The trainer fumbled a pokeball from her belt, almost dropping it as she pointed it towards her striped pokemon and recalled it. Seviper had beat it unconscious while I was standing there. The dun colored pokemon was panting now, head lowered and sides heaving. No more time for thinking. Fight or flight.

"Seviper!"

Blood red eyes were focused on me, and the nurse was yelling now. The trainer said something about running away, but I ignored her.

"Are you okay?"

He froze. I started walking forward. One step at a time.

"I can help you if it hurts. But I can't help you if you're attacking everything in sight." My voice quavered. I could feel myself shaking and I didn't try to hide it. "Being angry won't help...please...I want to help you."

No reaction.

"Please, Seviper," my breath hitched, and I stopped within his striking distance. "I don't know what's going on...but I trust you."

"Are you crazy?" the trainer screamed ", It went batshit and you trust the damn thing?"

"You're looking pretty damn crazy right now yourself," I shot back giving her an exaggerated once over for effect. The trainer looked down at her disheveled appearance and shaking hands.

"It beat my pokemon up! Am I supposed to run over there and hug it to death?" the sarcasm fell from her words like rain from a cloud.

"I don't expect you to do anything, but if you'd care to use your eyes you'd see he isn't attacking anymore." I looked over Seviper and saw that his jaw was open now, fangs clearly being displayed to everyone in the room. Something tugged on my thoughts, yanking them like a child pulling coat tails. He remained in the same position but had opened his mouth, a somewhat disturbing show of-WAIT.

"Seviper. Where's your ultra ball?" I scanned the room quickly, and I didn't see any bright yellow to catch my attention. "Did you drop-"

He slammed into me so fast that I barely had time to scream, his coils curling around me and tightening. I felt his head bump into my chest as I took in ragged breaths with my fear holding me in place. Though I wanted to see what was going on, my eyes had shut the moment they saw Seviper fly through the air.

"Oh my god, it's crushing her" The trainer choked out and I heard her run away from me. A slow clopping sound followed after her, and I realized she had left her dun colored pokemon behind. What an ass.

Though I had to admit to myself, being crushed to death was a lot less painful than I thought. The tightness was uncomfortable but I could still breath, and though I was shaking more than I ever had in my entire life I was still standing up.

I wasn't making that rattling exhale though. That was coming from below me. Opening my eyes I saw that Seviper had the right side of his face against my torso, and the only eye I could see was closed. The noise was coming from him. Now that I thought about it, I realized that the coils hadn't tightened further since that initial second, maybe he wasn't trying to crush me to death.

"Miss! Are you okay?" The voice was unfamiliar, but looking a the nurse I put sound and source together fairly quick.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just got scared." My fear was dissipating though, as I realized something else. Seviper was shaking too. I shifted my arms and I felt the coils there loosen a bit so I could shift them. My hands hugged his head to my chest.

"It's okay. I'm right here." I said quietly. His tongue flicked across my forearm. "Would you mind if I sat down?" The sudden feel of his dead weight made the floor seem that much nicer when I reached it.

"We can start looking for your ultra ball as soon as your ready," I told him quietly. "I'm sure they won't mind us looking before they clean up the place." Another thought struck me. "Ma'am? If your equipment isn't damaged, the bird pokemon that was thrown through the glass was bleeding last I left it. I put it on a stoop on the left side of the street."

"You'll be okay?" The nurse called back to me, actually standing behind the counter now that the threat was calmed.

"That pokemon needs your help more than we do." I took a deep breath. "We'll be here when you get back."

I could hear the full jingle as she stepped though the doorway. Seviper's head was in my lap now, and I ran my hands down his neck scales. As he didn't pull away from it, I kept at it with the hope that it helped. There was nothing here to frighten us now. No need to be scared.

Shouting and the sound of bells echoed through the broken window. Great. The police are here with their pokemon.

Now all I had to do was figure out how to talk our way out of this.

Author Note: And now the other shoe finally drops. We are now moving up to the effects of the first "chapter" 's cause.