My eyes flickered open, and for a moment I thought I was back in my home forest with Mom and Dad and everything. Then I remembered: Fighting the arcanine... Mom attacking... leaping in front of the slave ball... But, if I really had been caught by a slave ball, how did I remember anything? And what was I doing in a forest?
There was grass and moss beneath my paws, and bushes and other undergrowth dotted the area. Thick trees rose from the ground, reaching their leafy boughs to the bright blue sky. But... it wasn't really the sky. It was flat and limited. And this wasn't really a forest. Green... walls closed it in. It was more like a patch of forest, like some pokemon had taken a giant claw and cut out a little square of woodland. Two - what were they called? - windows rested in walls facing opposite each other. There was no wind, the air wasn't fresh, and I couldn't smell anything. The bushes weren't laden with any berries or fruit, and no pokemon scurried around in the undergrowth. All I could hear was my own breathing.
So this is what it was like inside a poke ball. Now the stupid thing seemed to be mocking me, tempting me with thin representations of my home. I trotted over to the other window and raised myself up on my hind legs, scrabbling at the wall to try to see out, but I was too short. I let out a huff of irritation and landed on all four paws, starting to pace.
Then it hit me, crashing into me like a wave that threatened to knock me off my paws.
I wanted Mom. I wanted Dad. I wanted Keira. ...Might as well throw in Lunan, too, I thought bitterly. Great Mew, when was that stupid trainer going to let me out of here? As soon as I got out, I was going to shred him! ...Okay, fine, I was going to make a break for it. I didn't have time to sit around beating him up. But... he would probably just recall me. Plain and simple, I wait till he's distracted.
I gazed around at the still, silent, windless, empty, scentless forest. I had never been patient, and frustration was building up inside me, centering in one place, until I thought I was going to burst. Suddenly, the whole forest - everything - became red, then faded into pure red light. I felt that tickly feeling again, looked down and saw only red light. Then I was out of the poke ball, forming back into myself, the tickly feeling almost unbearable. I lifted a paw and sighed in relief - it was back to its regular brown color. "Eevee, use Sand-Attack!" Only then did I notice the rattata that stood several feet away, long teeth bared and trying to look fierce in its battle posture. Oh, yeah, like I'm going to listen to you. You're the one who stole me from my home.
"Didn't you hear me? Sand-Attack!" The trainer yelled, a note of anger in his voice. Or maybe... I kicked up sand with my back paws, which flew straight into the trainer's face - he had been bending down to inspect me, or something like that, maybe hit me? He coughed and spluttered. "Not on me!" he screeched. "On the rattata!" I snorted. Yeah, like I didn't know that. All of a sudden, the rattata barrelled into me, knocking me off my paws. Stupid rattata. Whipping around, I directed my tail straight at its face - ignoring the trainer's wails of "Tackle!" - but then the rattata rammed straight into my back, leaving me swaying.
"It's time to end this," I growled under my breath, and I stood in my battle stance, watching carefully. Undoubtedly, the purple mouse would use its speed to its advantage as much as possible. There! A blur of purple. I launched myself at the rattata, colliding with it head-on. Although we were the same height, I had more weight, and I managed to knock the small pokemon to the ground. I pounced, biting and scratching, feeing the rattata squirming beneath me. "But... you're only level 8. You don't know Bite or Scratch," my trainer said, cluelessly.
The rattata beneath me let out a cry and went limp. It was still alive - I was tempted to finish it off and have me some rattata - but I stepped gingerly off of it and whirled around, baring my teeth at my trainer. But his back was turned to me. I heard the sounds of poke balls hitting stone, and I was joined by an ivysaur, a vulpix, that god-forsaken arcanine, and two other pokemon I didn't know - this bipedal, humanoid one with grayish skin and three small tan ridges atop its head. Its red eyes bored into me. The other floated several feet above the air, a dark purple color, with a grotesque, wide smile that displayed two small fangs. It had large eyes and small pupils, with a ghostly, lighter purple circle of matter at it that fringed at the edges and dissipated into the air.
The trainer set out several bowls on the ground, each one filled with dry brown pellets, pokemon kibble. I'd seen trainers feeding those to pokemon in the forest before. Lunan and I used to scoff at those pokemon for eating something that didn't even look like food.
But I was so hungry. I hadn't eaten all day; I had rushed out of the den to gather moss without thinking, and then there was the arcanine attack. By now, it was late afternoon, the sun sinking below the treetops. I was surprised at how late it was. But then again, it's impossible to tell time in that torture chamber of a poke ball, I thought sourly, padding forward. The trainer poured a few bits of kibble into his hand and held them out to me. I drew back with a glare. Think I'm going to trust you that easily, retard? I snorted. Stupid. You just stole me from my forest. The trainer hesitated, then dumped the kibble into a bowl, pouring more in, and pushed it toward me with his foot.
I slunk over and bit my head, crunching the dry kibble. Its taste held the slightest suggestion of meat, but that was it. It was nothing like fresh rattata meat, once again a thin representation, just like the artificial forest I had to stay in. At least he could've given me some berries, I thought sulkily. They're easy enough to find, aren't they? I finished crunching down the food, the hunger in my stomach successfully driven back.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my back, the rough fingernails poking at my skin. I yelped in surprise, whirling around and sinking my teeth into the offending hand. Turns out it belonged to the trainer, and he screamed and pulled away. Scarlet drops trickled down his wounded hand. Serves you right. A low growl sounded nearby; the arcanine advanced, his eyes flashing in anger. "Srrr," the ivysaur muttered disapprovingly. The ghostly-looking pokemon eyed me in disregard. But the last pokemon - that bipedal one with the gray skin - looked at me with sympathetic, understanding eyes.
The trainer seemed to be restraining himself not to hit me. Instead, he pulled something out of his pocket, a small green and white ball. He pressed the button and it enlargened to the size of a large oran berry, and then he pressed the button again. It popped open and red light streamed out of it. Before I knew what was happening, the tickly feeling came over me again. I was made completely of red light.
Then the light faded, and I was presented once more with that cursed forest.
Swear words I wasn't even supposed to know rolled off my tongue.
A/N: So, there it is. The latest chapter of Friend Ball. I've been meaning to update a lot more now that it's summer, but I've been so lazy... I've been pretty busy. Anyway, I've decided to reply to reviews lately, so here are the replies.
Anonymous1 - Nope, I don't mind anonymous reviews, or else I would turn them off. ;) Thanks for the review.
Nikolai Riuyoh - Thanks. Yeah, kind of a shock, huh?
