I awoke early in the morning and blinked a few times, trying to figure out a few basic details. For starters, where was I? Considering the realism of the environment, it wasn't a Pokeball. Besides, I only once fell asleep in a Pokeball, and that was a day or two ago. For some reason, sleeping in a Pokeball actually makes me more tired later. I glanced around the area and saw a sleeping Charmander, immediately reminding me of the events of yesterday. Now where was Spark? I looked behind me and saw the Pichu hiding behind my coils. "Hey, Spark. Why are you up?" I asked him. He squealed happily.
"You find me! You good at game. Me turn to find!" he said. He turned around and covered his eyes with his paws. "One...two...me no know...me no know...five...me no know...seven...eight...me no know...ten! Me look now!" he said. He turned around excitedly and stared in confusion. "Ooh, you good! Me look!" he said happily, running around the clearing, looking behind bushes, under rocks, behind trees and in the stream. The last one would have been a good hiding spot if it was deep enough. He ran over to the still-sleeping Ember and tried to pick her up, determined to see if I was hiding there. Unsurprisingly, Ember woke up, and was not pleased with being awakened.
"What are you doing?" she asked Spark grumpily.
"Me playing with dragon. Me look!" Spark replied. Ember stared at him tiredly.
"Huh?" she said finally. Spark sat down.
"Me playing with dragon. Me look. Dragon under you?" he asked her. Ember yawned.
"Huh?" she repeated. Spark was completely unfazed by her inability to understand what he was saying.
"Me playing with dragon. Me look for dragon under you. Me no find," Spark repeated cheerfully. His happiness seemed to be annoying Ember.
"Oh...okay then," she said, clearly still confused, but she rolled over and went back to sleep. Spark stood up, looking around again. He ran around, once again checking behind bushes, behind trees, and under rocks.
"Dragon good at game. Me give up," Spark said after a few minutes.
"You forgot I can float," I said and Spark looked up and waved happily. I was hovering about 20 feet above the ground, partially obscured from view by tree leaves.
"Dragon good hide. Me no find. Dragon win," Spark said happily as I came down. I nodded before going over to the apple tree and knocking a few down. One apple hit Ember, who shot upright and glared at me.
"WHAT?" she said angrily.
"Accident," I said, as Spark grabbed the apples and began eating. Ember seized the apple that had hit her and took a bite, still glaring at me. After a few bites, her anger faded and I smirked to myself as I ate an apple of my own. After everyone had eaten their fill, I gathered a few more apples for the trip and we started out again. Ember was still tired, but seemed to have resigned herself to traveling.
"Me see Mommy and Daddy?" Spark asked me and I winced.
"I don't know. We're going to try to find out if they have the report that says where your parents are. Maybe we'll be lucky and your parents are there. Wonder what the Rockets are studying. Probably some boring science thing most people don't care about," I said optimistically.
"They take their research seriously," Ember said tiredly. I glanced at her.
"That was random," I said when she didn't elaborate.
"I'm tired, snakey. The labs are locked, so they must be doing something important," she muttered, yawning.
"Snakey?" I repeated, incredulous at how poor of an insult that was. She must be really tired. "It's probably so they don't get interrupted or Team Magma or Aqua dont infiltrate the labs and steal the technology," I suggested.
"Those teams dont have much presence in Kanto," Ember mumbled. I was about to reply when Spark interrupted with a nervous whimper. I turned to him in alarm.
"What's wrong?" I asked, and he pointed, whimpering. Ember glanced back to see what he was pointing at.
"That's just a Pidgey. Mostly harmless," she said dismissively. Then she let out a small scream as an Ekans emerged from hiding, swallowing the Pidgey. Spark let out a terrified wail, sparks shooting from his cheeks, striking himself and me. I shook off the shock quickly, once more pleased I had resistance to electricity. Spark was crying in terror and I glared at the Ekans, who was staring at Spark with an expression I didn't like one bit.
"Fressssh..." the Ekans hissed, slithering closer. Ember sent a fireball at the purple snake, who paused its approach. "Yesssss?" it hissed with a small chuckle.
"Get away from us," Ember snarled. The Ekans considered her for a moment.
"And if I dont?" it challenged.
"I'll blow you apart," I replied with a scowl. The purple snake Pokemon smirked at me.
"A Dragonair...how rare to sssee around these partsss. Sssince you are ssssnake-like, I won't attack you. Leave our territory now!" the Ekans sneered, before turning back and disappearing into the woods.
"Isn't this a public path?" Ember asked me as we cautiously moved on, Spark still crying and clinging to my neck. I had decided it was safer for him to travel on my back then on foot.
"Some species of Pokemon are territorial to the extreme. They claim an area and then attack anything within the boundaries. This path must be within the boundaries," I explained. Ember shuddered.
"I hate snakes," she said. I looked at her strangely. She noticed my expression and hastily added, "You don't count."
"Thanks," I said sarcastically. Ember looked agitated now.
"That's not what I meant! I mean, I don't think of you as a snake!" she said quickly. I looked at myself for a second.
"I think I look like a snake. No limbs, long body. Wraps things. Sometimes certain Charmanders call me snakey," I said with a smirk. Ember groaned in frustration. "Relax, Ember. I know what you mean," I said.
"Me scared!" Spark said, once again interrupting our argument. Ember stared up at him. "Me no like mean snake," he said with a whimper. I nodded slightly, careful not to make him lose his grip on my neck.
"You're safe with us," I told the worried Pichu. Ember nodded in agreement. "If anyone tries something, they'll have to get past me and maybe Ember, assuming she doesn't faint from fear. I'm kidding!" I said quickly to the Charmander, who was about to object.
"I hate you," Ember muttered. I smirked.
"Here, have an apple," I said, releasing one apple from my coils, and Ember caught it, eating it slowly.
"Me want apple!" Spark said excitedly.
"Maybe wait until we get out of the Ekans territory," I said, glancing towards the woods.
"But me want apple!" Spark whined.
"And I want you to survive the trip, so I'm not taking risks," I replied. Spark starting pouting, but since I couldn't see him, his guilting method wasnt working on me. Ember seemed to find this amusing somehow.
"Mean snake!" Spark suddenly screamed, clutching my neck tightly. I looked towards the woods and flinched. It was an entire group of the damn things, and they were all slithering towards us. Ember tensed, ready for a fight. "Me scared!" Spark cried, and I could feel sparks flying from his cheeks with great intensity.
"Intrudersss!" an Ekans hissed. Several other of the snakes hissed in agreement.
"Get losssst..." I replied, mocking their hiss. The Ekans near the front, who I assume is the leader, hissed in rage.
"You will die for that!" it hissed.
"We'll ssssee..." I mocked.
"Sssmart move, Dragonair," Ember said. Then she paled, realizing she just hissed her words. "Aw damn," she muttered.
"Kit nearby. Don't ssswear," I chided her. She rolled her eyes.
"Let's get them then!" she said, baring her claws excitedly. For someone who's typically calm, she seems to enjoy fights. All the better for us, I suppose. The snake Pokemon hissed their bizarre battle cries.
"Kill them!" the leader Ekans snarled and the snakes slithered towards us.