Pokémon: 4 Deaths: 4

"Right, this is the last one," Saylee said, lowering herself over the ledge carefully. "No going back after this. Ready, guys?"

"'Course," Geoff grunted, floating over the ledge and letting his own weight drop him down. "C'mon, gal, we ain't got all day!"

"Of course we do, fatass," Pedro teased. "It's a great day, perfect time to hang around and train a bit! Whaddya say, doll?"

"Sounds like a plan," Saylee said, dropping down the ledge and then releasing Miranda back from her pokéball, where she'd temporarily been placed for ease of movement. Saylee knew that most people kept their Pokémon in their pokéballs all the time, as a matter of convenience, but she knew she'd feel lonely without them, and anyway she wanted her team to have a rapport. She watched Chaz drop easily down the ledge, and then looked over Geoff and Pedro. Pedro was extremely close to evolution— he was just a plume short of being a Pidgeotto already. "Alright. What do you say we find something to fight?"

The area was mostly barren, aside from a fairly stagnant stretch of river from which Saylee refilled her filter bottle (Miranda apologized profusely and promised to evolve soon), but soon Pedro spotted some thickets of grass and trees in which wild Pokémon had probably nested. Not far in, they found a tangle of Rattata scrapping with each other.

"Are they fighting over food scraps?" Chaz asked, looking almost pityingly on the writhing mass of purple.

"Hold it, there ain't just Rattata there," Pedro said, peering at the fight. "Give it a scan, doll." Saylee clicked open her Pokédex, watching it scan over six Rattata and...

"You're right!" she gasped, examining the readout and watching a status bar drop. "That's an Ekans! They're quite rare!"

"So, spare that one?" Pedro asked, stretching his wings. Saylee nodded. "Sweet." His growing wingspan blew up dust as he shot over to the tangle, his sharp talons and beak flinging small purple rats out of the fight and smashing them to the ground. It took him all of five minutes to leave them in an unconscious heap, separate from the feebly stirring Ekans.

"Here we go," Saylee said soothingly, spreading some potion on Ekans' wounds. Pedro flapped over to her side, preening his new pink crest. "Wow, Pedro! Look at you!"

"Badass, bro," Geoff agreed, grinning at Pedro. "Just you an' me now, Miranda!"

"Congratulations," Chaz said, patting his friend on the head. "So, are we keeping her?"

"Let's see," Saylee said, smiling at the long purple serpent that was staring at them all in awe, particularly Pedro. "So, what's your name, sweetie?"

"Eliza," she said softly. "Thank you for saving me, ma'am... sir. I'm very grateful." She waved her tail in a funny little twist around her head, which Saylee's Pokédex informed her was a sort of salute.

"I'm Saylee," Saylee said. "That's Pedro. I'm his trainer. I'm... looking for new teammates right now. Would you like to travel with us?"

"Travel? With you?" Eliza looked them over, staring longer at Pedro, before blushing and nodding. "I'd love to! I-if that's all right."

"Nice t'meetcha, Eliza," Pedro said, nodding at her, before going back to showing off his new wingspan and feather colours to Chaz and Geoff. Eliza only looked away from him when Saylee spoke to her again.

"This is Miranda," she said, indicating the large orange fish in her arms. "That's Geoff, and Chaz. And, like I said, Pedro." She winked at Eliza. "Cool, isn't he?"

"Oh! Ummm... yes," Eliza said, slithering around to hide her head under the coils of her body.

{}

"Holy... is this what I think it is?!"

Miranda dipped her head into the pool. She was only a Magikarp, but she was still a water-type. "It's clean, Saylee. Completely clean. Ooooh, it tastes nice!"

"No shit," Pedro gasped, dipping his beak in the water. "How the hell'd they manage this?"

"Good question," Saylee said, emptying her bottle into the ground and refilling it from the clean spring. "There's got to be a market somewhere in Cerulean, I can ask somebody there."

"There's more plants around here, too," Chaz noted. "They look healthier. Cerulean could be a source of clean water for the whole country!"

"So why aren't they?" Saylee sighed. "Gahhh, everyone has such a... closed-in mentality! I wish people would trade more..."

"Ya gotta protect yer own, gal," Geoff pointed out. "Ain't nobody got time ta care 'bout anybody else."

"It's nice when they do, though," Eliza mumbled, licking a toothmark on her tail.

"Just a little trade in necessities could benefit everybody," Saylee fumed. "It's so simple!"

"Well then, doll, you gotta bring it up with whoever runs this joint, don't you?" Pedro pointed out, flapping his wings slightly to stay airborne. He could hover now, and was about ten feet above their heads, guiding them towards the Cerulean settlement. "Ah, this world's a craphole."

"Didn't useta be like that," Geoff mused. "Sure it didn't when we first went round the caves… everythin' was fresh caved in. Can't remember why, though…"

"You remember... Geoff, how old are you?" Saylee asked curiously. Geoff shrugged.

"Sixty... eight?" He hazarded. "Countin' by sediment layers. Just a rough guess."

"You're nearly seventy?" Chaz gasped. Geoff rolled his eyes.

"Ya organics, don't last no time at all," he huffed. "Coupla centuries ain't nothin' when yer a rock... course, ain't th' most interestin' life either." He laughed. "Had more fun the past coupla days than I ever had!"

"Do you remember exactly what happened?" Saylee asked curiously. "When... well, what happened?"

"Who does, gal?" Geoff reminded her. "Hell knows what it was. I only know it caved in th' caves, whatever it was… 'bout sixteen years ago."

"Sixteen years... that's as far back as anyone can remember," Saylee thought, remembering the confused, whispered conversations of older members of the Pallet settlement. "Some kind of earthquake...? But how would that make people lose their memories? What were we before? Did we even exist...?"

"I'd never heard any of this before," Eliza said. "Mother never said anything like it, though she was only six years old..."

"I only have faint memories, since I was a baby," Chaz said, "but I know things were... different. Before."

"Me, I don't know shit," Pedro said. "Hell, I only hatched eleven months ago! Anyways... watch them bushes, and we're there!"

{}

"So there's two gangs around here," Saylee said, as she released her team again. She'd returned them to their pokéballs while she was in the marketplace; from the looks of her bag, she'd gotten a good deal on supplies. "The Nugget Bridge gang, and Misty's gang. They're really butting heads at the moment, I hear."

"So, whose ass are we kicking first?" Pedro asked. Eliza nodded enthusiastically.

"Apparently, Misty's responsible for the clean-water supplies," Saylee said thoughtfully. "More importantly, she has the upper hand right now. So we should probably take out the Nugget gang first. Besides, it seems they're hoarding gold nuggets."

"Real gold?" Chaz asked with interest. "You can trade that for a high price!"

"Don't see why, tastes shit," Geoff muttered. "Too damn soft an' chewy."

"Not all of us eat rocks, scree-brain," Pedro snarked, making Eliza giggle. Saylee grinned to watch Eliza slithering around after Pedro. She seemed really smitten with her saviour. It was really very cute.

"We have to head north to get to the bridge where the Nugget gang hang out," Saylee explained, slinging her bag up onto her shoulder and scooping up Miranda. "C'mon, we spent all afternoon yesterday training, so how about we go kick some ass?"

"Am I hearing you right? You're looking for trouble? Yeah, that's gonna set your mum's mind at ease."

"Blue," Saylee said, spinning on her heel and glaring at her occasional best friend and general worst enemy. "It's been a while. How are you and Sam?"

"Nearly ready to evolve," Blue boasted. "I think beating you ought to get us the experience we need!" He raised a pokéball, giving her a challenging grin. "Well? Or are you going to run away?"

"Oh-ho, hell no," Saylee growled. Damn him for getting under her skin again, but she wasn't backing out now. "You're the one who should get out of the way right now, if you know what's good for you..."

"Yeah, right," Blue said, chucking out the pokéball and revealing a Pidgeotto. "Check us out!"

"Oooh, I've got one too!" Saylee said, petting Pedro proudly. "Hey, Blue... I think mine's bigger than yours."Blue's grin vanished as he scowled at her. "Sorry, I just had to say it. Geoff, you're a couple levels down, but with your new trick you can handle this, right?"

"On it, gal," Geoff promised, hauling up some large rocks from the ground. Pidgeotto's quick attack struck the slower Pokémon a couple of times, but did barely anything against his rocky hide. Geoff started throwing rocks, slamming into the Pidgeotto and knocking it to the ground. "One down!"

"I'm not done," Blue snarled, returning the Pidgeotto and releasing a Rattata. They all flinched at the sight of the purple rat, except for Eliza, the new acquisition, who looked worried at the expression on Pedro's face.

"Chaz, you can handle this, right?" Saylee asked. Chaz nodded, sharpening his claws and darting forwards. Razor-sharp fangs met steel claws, and while Chaz wasn't undamaged, he was larger and stronger and gave far better than he got. Rattata hit the deck first, but gently, merely unconscious.

"Dammit, how do you always do that?!" Blue fumed, grabbing a third pokéball. "Sam, you're up!"

"Hey Chaz," the little turtle greeted them. She was larger than before, and her skin was darker, but she clearly hadn't evolved yet. "Check you out!"

"Check me out first, babe," Pedro said, shooting forward to the defence of his disadvantaged friend. His quick attacks were powerful, knocking Sam off her feet.

"Oh, cool your head!" she snarked, blasting a powerful jet of water at Pedro, knocking him to the ground. Before he could struggle to his feet, flapping damp wings t dry the feathers, she slammed into him in a powerful tackle. Pedro yelled in pain.

"Pedro!" Saylee yelled, clutching Miranda. Chaz was injured and at a major disadvantage, and Geoff was disadvantaged too, so Pedro had the best chance of beating Sam, but he couldn't fly with his wings soaked—

"Pedro!" Eliza yelled, wrapping herself tightly around Sam. "Leave him alone!"

"Hang in there, Eliza!" Saylee yelled, digging for potions. "I'll heal them up..."

"I won't let her go," Eliza said fiercely, looking more dangerous that Saylee had ever seen the gentle snake. She tightened around Sam's shell, but winced as it gleamed, Sam hardening her shell in defence. Sam's shell stopped creaking, and instead Eliza's began to bruise. Saylee sprayed potion frantically over Chaz, grabbing another for Pedro. "Hang in..."

"Sam, get that snake!" Blue ordered. Sam nodded, swelling up.

"Eliza, look out!" Saylee screamed, frantically yanking the cap off a potion and leaning over Pedro. His wings were almost dry...

"Water gun!" Blue ordered. Sam blasted Eliza's head at point-blank range, the water gun hitting with the force of a truck. Eliza immediately went limp, uncoiling from around Sam's shell.

"ELIZA! DAMMIT!" Pedro screeched, almost bowling Saylee over as he spread his wings again and shot forward to attack Sam. Her rock-hard shell was no good when Pedro pecked precisely at her soft head.

"Sam!" Blue yelled as his primary Pokémon collapsed. "Dammit..." his hand hovered over a fourth pokéball, but to Saylee's surprise, he dropped it again, returning Sam. "You got lucky."

"Hey, don't you dare hold back on me," Saylee complained. "You have something else, why won't you use it?"

"Because it's an Abra, okay?" Blue complained, shoving his hands in his pockets and stalking off. "You're not the only one hauling around a useless load."

"Hmph." Saylee tightened her arms around Miranda, but she couldn't help smiling a touch. "If it's so useless, why do you have it? At least you're learning some patience..." She turned back to her Pokémon, feeling her stomach drop in an upsettingly familiar way. Pedro was crouched over Eliza, one wing spread on the ground for her head to rest on. Purple blood was dripping from her mouth, sizzling slightly on his feathers, which he ignored.

"Hang in there," Pedro was muttering. "You did great against that drip..."

"I... did?" Eliza murmured weakly. Saylee tried spray potion across her bruises, but it did nothing. Eliza's healing factor had already shut down.

"Fantastic!" Pedro said desperately. "Amazing! Coolest thing I've ever seen! So you just hang in there so you can show us all again, alright?"

"...Glad I did well..." Eliza said softly, closing her eyes. "Glad you're... okay..."

After a few moments, blood stopped dripping.

{}

{}

Dammit, Blue... I should've known a poison-type wouldn't be around long. They've so many weaknesses and so few strengths. Still, I've never used an Ekans before, and I was kinda looking forward to seeing what they can do. Guess I'll never know, now...

Name: Eliza. Species: Ekans. Nature: Modest. Ability: Intimidate.

RIP Eliza the Ekans, lvl 12-15.

I do not own Pokémon. That happy right is Game Freak's.