CHAPTER EIGHT

"So Sparkles, that invitation's our best lead to restoring your memory."

Mt. Moon hadn't been that hard to get through once you navigated all the bat tunnels. We were now heading toward Cerulean on a route with overgrown grass and browning bushes.

"Restoring my memory?" I questioned.

"Yes indeed, sweetheart. A dose of familiarity should restore your memory, and if you're Team Rocket's Pokémon, a Team Rocket party should help."

It did make sense. But…

"Denari," I said, "How are we going to get into the party? We don't have an invitation."

"Rules are meant to be broken, darling. You'll be fine."

Denari suddenly stopped, causing me to smoothly ram in to his rear end, making me fall over but doing no damage to him. He perked up one ear and stood frighteningly still.

"Something's watching us," he said.

Something yellow lunged at me, snarling and revealing a set of sharp white teeth. My bone club was violently knocked out of my hand.

"You," the thing growled. "You're the one that took them away. You had the courage to come back, huh? Kill the rest? It's not going to happen, bitch."'

The creature was large and dog-like, spiky furs shooting out everywhere like quills. Her coat crackled with electricity.

"You're not going anywhere," she continued. "You killed them. You stole them! You and the horrible humans dressed in black, and I begged you for mercy, but you didn't listen, you shoved them all in gunny sacks, like they were shit, and you took them. You took my family away, you bastard!" She paused and I noticed how heavy she was breathing, and that tears glistened in her eyes. "But now the tables are turned."

In an insidious move she dove at my shoulder and bit down. Denari jumped forward, landing on the thing's back. He was blown back by electricity and fell into a bush, groaning as little jolts of energy ran up and down his fur, rendering his limbs useless. I reached over and grabbed my bone club, hammering it into the dog's snout. The creature recovered and I clubbed her in the head as she lunged at me. She screamed, blood gushing from her face, and fell backwards. She attempted to stand up but only fell down again, her legs wobbling. Suddenly she began to sob.

"P-please don't take the rest," she whimpered. "They're only babies, they didn't do anything…"

She began to shoot weak sparks at me, all harmlessly absorbed into my club. She cried louder, panting with effort at her useless attempt to hurt me. It felt like hours, me just standing there while she shot jolts at me, each attack getting weaker. It was so pathetic I almost began to pity her. Soon her sparks grew so mild they were harmless little blips, yet she continued to try and sob, screaming gibberish and curse words. I stood there, watching her with wide eyes and nursing my shoulder.

Denari untangled himself from the bush and ran over to the Pokémon, slashing at her with claws enveloped in shadowy light. The dog didn't move.

"Is she…?" I tentatively asked.

I then noticed two tiny Eevees pop their heads out from behind a bush.

"It's the monster! She killed mommy!" one cried, tears running down her furry face.

"Now she's gonna kill us!" the other yelled, grabbing his sister and running away.

The yellow dog, which I now recognized as a Jolteon, opened one eye. "Demon…" she muttered, then twitched and fell silent.

Denari walked over and stared at me. "Well," he said, "I guess that Jolteon was confused. Let's go now."

And that's all he ever said about it.

"Denari," I said, looking back at the Jolteon, "Is she going to be okay?"

Denari stared at the ground, clearly avoiding my gaze. "I don't know, Sparkles. I really don't know."

A/N: Short chapter, but the last one was long and so is the next one. Thanks for reading. What did you think of this chapter?