Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, this is a FAN fiction!

A/N

Well, to the ones who has been reading this story before should've noticed that the chapters are about to change a lot here, since I'm trying to make them as short as possible. And I'm pretty sure people will start complaining about the Scyther acting evil. It is not evil, it's just pissed off! You'll see in later chapters.

"Normal Talk"

'Thinking'

"Psychic Talk"

(Translated Pokémon talk that Bill doesn't understand)

"Damn you!" – Jonathan Huntley


"A Life on the Line"

Jonathan stood there, facing the feared praying mantis of the Viridian Forest. His friend, Bill, had been threatened by the Pokémon, and judging by the bug's behaviour, he was sure it was going to kill him. By throwing a pokéball at it caused it to turn its attention to him, and it also took it as an invite to a battle.

While the Scyther couldn't say no to a good fight, it had to cautious when it faced a trainer, trainers could have very strong companions with them. But if it turned out to be a loss for it, a quick call of its friends should do the trick.

Jonathan hurled his Pokéball containing Pidgey, and the light brown bird appeared. He saw a slightly disappointing look in the Scyther's eyes, but it got into fighting stance nevertheless.

"Come on, Pidgey, don't let that bug get the better of you!" Jonathan said to his Pokémon, the Scyther simply chuckled scornfully, lowering the bird Pokémon's confidence. "Blow him down with your Gust attack!" he then commanded. When the brown bird started to flap his wings, sending a gust towards the opposing Pokémon, the mantis dropped its fighting stance and stood tall, taking the attack head-on.

It didn't even flinch.

"Uh oh," was Jonathan's remark. He now realised that this Scyther was quite strong, he had to admit, it was a strong and experienced warrior of its nature. He knew it would take more than one Pokémon to defeat this beast of prey.

"Kick some sand in its eyes!" he suggested, ordering a Sand Attack. Pidgey advanced carefully and kicked sand towards the Scyther, hoping to blind it. But the mantis grinned and calmly took at sidestep to the right, dodging the sand. Jonathan then remembered that Scythers were the fastest bug Pokémon in both Kanto and Johto.

"Quick Attack it, now!" he shouted at Pidgey, who flew forward at a tremendous speed towards the mantis, hitting it with his head. The Scyther staggered backwards a little, but it decided to start its offence, no more playing around.

It readied its blades, and started to slash around, cutting the very air. It slashed faster and faster until it suddenly stopped in the exact same pose it had at the beginning of the battle, the blades were glowing faintly white. Jonathan didn't really know what kind of attack that was so he brought up his Pokédex.

"Swords Dance attack: by performing a high speed exercise with its weapons, the Pokémon's strength increases. The effect wears off after time passes," it informed in its robotic voice.

The dark green mantis dashed forward at a speed faster than Jonathan could see, its weapons raised to strike the bird. Pidgey reacted at the last moment and dodged, watching the weapon that would've killed him if he hadn't moved.

"Pidgey! Watch out, it-" Jonathan never got to finish what he was about to say, directly after the bug Pokémon had missed its target it quickly turned around and charged again. This time it hit perfectly, a deep, red, bleeding cut on its cream coloured underside. "No!" he screamed in shock, but his Pokémon wasn't dead, it was gravely injured though.

He quickly recalled it into its pokéball and brought up the one containing Rattata. She was his fastest Pokémon, and he hoped she could wear down the mantis enough for his next Pokémon. But when he was about to toss the pokéball, Caterpie broke out from its own pokéball, very eager to fight.

"Caterpie! What do you think you're doing? You'll get torn apart!" screamed Jonathan, knowing that his bug Pokémon would be an easy snack for the predatory Pokémon. It turned around and looked at him.

"CATA! Cata cata, cater pie pieca, pic ter cater!" (SHUT UP! Listen here human, if you're taking me away from my home today, I'm going to have a fight today!) it growled. Scyther chuckled at the amusing growl the caterpillar Pokémon emitted.

"Scy scyther scy? Ther scythe therscy scyscy, scythe ther," (Are you going to fight me? You're nothing but a quick meal for me, but if you insist,) it hissed, baring its fangs. Caterpie didn't seem any scared, however.

"Caterpie, you're going to get killed! Get in your pokéball!" Jonathan demanded, but the caterpillar Pokémon shot some sticky substance towards him. "Okay, battle then! But I'll call you back if you're losing!" he then warned it. It then turned to the mantis.

"Ca pie cater! Cata catpie caterpie catapie, PICCATA!" (You're not scaring me! I'll bring you down, you little bitch!) the bug screeched. First, the Scyther chuckled at its opponent's threat, but it got pissed when Caterpie said the last three words. It dashed towards the little bug, preparing to cut it in half.

Caterpie calmly waited, readying its Tackle attack. It waited until the moment it lunged forward, avoiding the blade that swiped directly over it, and hit the mantis's left leg, throwing it off balance. The mantis fell down face first to the ground, caught off guard by the small bug's sudden attack. How could it let itself to be humiliated like this? A mere Caterpie had downed it!

But when it tried to get up, a sticky substance was shot at its folded wings. That was a result of Caterpie's String Shot; the whitish goo wrapped around the wings and kept them folded. The praying mantis jumped to its feet and tried to get the substance off the wings, but that was not an easy task when someone had blades for hands.

Caterpie used that momentum to spray out more of the gooey silk towards the Scyther, who was busy trying to clean its wings. When the substance hit one of the blades, it immediately used its other blade to scrape it off. But since Jonathan's Pokémon continued to spray, the goo hit the other blade too, wrapping them together. The substance began to harden on its wings, and the scythes were kind of glued together due to the sticky silk, this made it even angrier, it tried to separate the scythes from each other but the substance began to harden there too.

"Unbelievable," Jonathan said quietly. He was astonished of what he had seen, he saw the Scyther calm down, taking a few breaths. His newly found Caterpie had defeated it, by using one Tackle and a couple of String Shots.

Caterpie slowly crawled to the Scyther, who was sitting down, looking down in defeat. "Cate, pie erpie! Pie cater, catpie catacata!" (You're weak; I can't believe you killed all of my friends! But now, you've met your match!) the caterpillar Pokémon triumphantly said, turning its back to the mantis and laughed.

It was then Jonathan noticed something frightening. While his Pokémon had its back turned, the Scyther lifted its head up, smiling devilishly. This was only a temporary victory; the dark green bug Pokémon had faked its defeat, Jonathan fumbled with the pokéball where he kept his bug Pokémon in order to recall it. The Scyther hissed as it brought up its deadly weapons and in one quick motion, it pulled the scythes from each other, breaking them free from the hardened silk.

Caterpie turned around quickly when it heard the hiss. It saw the Scyther break free from the hardened silk that had wrapped around its blades without any effort. The next thing it knew was two scythes that clasped around its upper body part, and it was slowly brought closer to the Scyther's face, its mouth slightly open.

"Scyy, scythe scyther ther scy scythe? Scyhthescy ther scyther," (Fool, don't you know that I'm much higher up in the food chain? You can't win with such a weak attack,) it hissed as a line of drool trickled down from its mouth. The smaller bug didn't answer; it couldn't since its air supply was cut off by one of the scythes.

It opened its mouth, preparing to bite and tear off the head of the caterpillar. But just as it brought its jaws together, it only bit air. It looked at its scythes for a moment, wondering where its meal had gone. It remembered the trainer, and stood up. It saw him holding that accursed ball, having used it to recall that slave of his to save it from its fate.

"Caterpie… I don't want you to become an 'easy come, easy go' Pokémon," said Jonathan quietly to the pokéball containing his recently recalled Caterpie. He put the pokéball in his backpack so it couldn't break out, and brought up Rattata's pokéball again. "C'mon Rattata, you can do this!" he said as he hurled the pokéball towards the ground.

The purple rat appeared from the pokéball. She looked around curiously before noticing Scyther, when she did she jumped in fright at the sight of the predatory Pokémon, who was scraping the last of the hardened silk off its scythes. When it finished with the cleaning it looked at the rat, the bitter frown turned into a smile of gleefulness, licking one of its fangs in anticipation.

"Ssscy, scyther scythere scy ther," (Oh well, there's nothing better than a diced Rattata,) it said, giving her a leer that made her back away. Jonathan saw the worried look in his Pokémon's eyes; the Scyther was scaring her, that's all, or what he hoped to the least.

"Don't let it intimidate you! Attack it!" he then ordered his Pokémon, who ran forward to bite the mantis. It dodged with ease, casting a quick glance at the wounded human it would kill after the minor annoyance was dealt with. It kept its gaze at him, it saw him lying down, clutching his bleeding leg. That would keep him from attempting a cowardly escape.

But then the bleeding leg caught its attention again; it was red, the sight of red liquid that oozed out from the wound made it keep the gaze at the human even longer. It imagined how it would kill him, maybe the old fashioned throat slitting? Or maybe a simple decapitation? Nevertheless, the human had wounded its pride challenging it and defeating it, and killing him would heal it to a degree. The human looked at it with great fear now, seeing that it stared at him. But his fear suddenly turned into a smile; did he finally lose his mind?

Its thoughts were interrupted by something that latched on from its behind, next thing it knew, a pair of fangs that dug into its carapace. The fangs broke through the thick armour and sank even deeper in. It had lost the concentration in the battle because of the distraction, and its opponent had landed a Hyper Fang attack on its right shoulder. It tried to shake it off by turning to the left and right repeatedly, but it wouldn't let go.

"Rattata! Don't let go! Try to bite harder!" Jonathan commanded, he had taken advantage of the Scyther's sudden gaze at his friend. Rattata had a firm grip using her fangs, but soon she'd be thrown off from the raging mantis.

Blood trickled down its left side of the body, this rodent put up a nice fight after all. It couldn't reach her, nor could it get her off it. It backed up to a nearby tree and prepared to ram its rear side into the tree, hurting the biting opponent as well. It slammed its rear body into the tree, and between itself and the tree, was the Rattata. But by pressing the purple rat against the tree caused her to dig her fangs deeper into its round shoulder, and its wings served no purpose since they were still covered in that hardened silk substance.

Jonathan saw what the Scyther was doing, or attempted to do, and he knew he had to order a new attack fast. "Rattata, scorch it with you Flame Wheel attack!" he shouted at the distressed rat. Rattata kept her grip firm as she closed her eyes and concentrated, a ring of fire appeared around her body, circling around her at a high speed, and then she jumped off the Scyther and released the ring of fire at the mantis.

The Scyther screeched in pain when the flames surrounded its body and scorched its armour. Fire was one of its weaknesses, and this rat had the ability to summon fire, but now the rat was defenceless. The fire died down, and it checked its wounds, no serious damage, but still that was a powerful attack.

The good thing for it was that it burned away the white stuff on its wings, but the wings had been a little burnt too. It glared at the rat, knowing that she would not stand a chance against it now that she wasn't at its back. It took one step towards her, giving her another sample of the Leer attack, which made her back away.

"Don't let-" Jonathan was about to continue, but when he saw the Scyther charging towards his Pokémon, splitting into two more Scythers. "Oh no, the Double Team attack," he said quietly to himself. "Rattata! Attack it! The left one!" he ordered, but Rattata didn't respond, she was too confused.

The right one was the real, it slammed into her, knocking her down. Jonathan knew she couldn't take anymore beating so he decided to recall her; he picked up his pokéball and aimed the beam toward the downed rat. Then, something unexpected happened.

A green tinted scythe interrupted the red beam that was about to recall Rattata, it was the Scyther. This time it wouldn't let the trainer recall its breakfast right under its muzzle, not this time! It turned to the panting rat, her fate was now sealed since her trainer couldn't recall her now. The trainer attempted yet another futile effort to recall her, but it interrupted the beam without any effort.

"Scyther, scyte scy. Ter scyther scyscy, scythe scy, ther scy!" (Diced Rattata, very delicious these days. And you trainer can't recall you, now you're mine, only mine!) it said gleefully while licking its fangs. It had the rat trapped now, it kicked her over once so she landed on her white underside up. Another red beam travelled swiftly in the air in order to recall her, it was interrupted again by the mantis again.

'It's preventing me to recall her, what should I do?' he thought frantically, then slapping his forehead. 'Of course! How stupid I am, this isn't a trainer battle I could use Growlithe right now,' he quickly concluded. He saw the Scyther lift its deadly blade, preparing to slash up his Rattata. He wasted no time grabbing his pokéball containing Growlithe, but it was too late.

The Scyther slashed across the rat's white underside, the gash wasn't serious, but it had opened up a bleeding wound on her. Jonathan gasped at the sight, and hurled the pokéball to the ground. A mainly orange coloured dog with small black stripes on him appeared in front of Jonathan, he also had some cream coloured fur under its mane.

"Tackle it, quickly, before it kills Rattata, Growlithe!" was Jonathan's order. The Scyther quickly turned its head to see that the human had called another minion, this time it got nervous. It knew that this mutt had a type advantage to it, and the dog could hurt its exoskeleton pretty badly if he used a fire attack. It got rammed by the charging Growlithe and was thrown away a couple of metres by the impact. The dog checked if his friend was too injured, to his happiness she was still breathing, he watched his trainer call her back into the pokéball.

The Scyther, however, had landed a little too close to were Bill were lying, it watched with raging hate when its would-have-been breakfast was recalled by its trainer. It turned to look at Bill, the black oval-like shaped pupils stared into his own grey coloured eyes. If looks could kill, two poison tipped daggers would've shot out from its eyes and stab his guts out, letting the poison kill him.

It stood up and growled lightly at him, making him cower a little in fear. It quickly remembered the battle again, the sight of the human distracted it too much, that fiery mutt was barking at it, telling it to stay away from the human. It had to battle more strategically this time due to its weakness. It started to put the mutt down with a leer attack, its eyes glowed slightly red when it leered at the Growlithe.

Growlithe took a step back, feeling insecure. The effect of the Leer attack was getting to him, he felt as the mantis had said that he was weak and worthless, and that it was pure fact. A shower of insecurity was washed over him, why fight when he wasn't going to succeed? The puppy Pokémon whined a little when he saw the bug chuckling at him, crossing its scythes scornfully.

"Growlithe, don't fall for the Leer attack! Fire an Ember at it!" Jonathan ordered, knowing that Growlithe was actually his last chance of beating it since Bulbasaur had a double disadvantage against it. His Pokémon opened his mouth and shot out a ball of fire that sailed towards the Scyther, who simply dodged. "Now take it down!" was Jonathan's second command since he had anticipated that the bug would dodge out of the ember's way.

Growlithe sped towards the Scyther to bring it down with his whole weight. Since the mantis just had hopped out of the way so it wouldn't be hit by the fireball it was now open to the Take Down attack. Growlithe slammed his front paws at the upper part of its body, bringing it down on its back, with himself on it.

The impact made it lose its air for a split second, but it quickly regained it. The Scyther looked calmly into the canine's eyes. "Scythe, scy scythe. Scyscy therscy? Scyther scy scy ther, scy scyther," (Clever, very clever. But why do you still fight? Only a fool fights a lost battle, so give up,) it said lowly to the orange dog. The calmness from his downed opponent scared him, Growlithe quickly placed his front paws on its scythes to prevent it from suddenly swiping him.

"Roar at it to show who's the boss!" ordered the blonde trainer. The fiery canine let out a loud roar right in the face of the Scyther, hoping to scare it. But to Bill's, Jonathan's and Growlithe's horror, the Scyther chuckled at him, it quickly became a laugh, the mantis was laughing despite its position. "Quick, fire off another Ember on it to shut it up!" the blonde shouted in panic.

But the Scyther had other plans. When Growlithe was about to spit out the fire ball at it, it saw its chance and violently pushed him away with his left clawed foot causing the canine to get thrown off it. Growlithe yelped as he landed on his back, he watched the Scyther quickly get up and now it advanced towards him. Wasting no time lying around, he quickly got up.

"Bite it!" Jonathan yelled. Growlithe charged forward in an attempt to bite the mantis. Not wanting that to happen, the mantis charged itself, preparing to counter with a well aimed Slash at him. The two Pokémon quickly closed into each other, but just as Growlithe was about to bite it, it zoomed past him, having quickly made a quick turn.

Growlithe quickly turned around after his miss and snarled, he saw the Scyther standing there calmly crossing its scythes, smiling. He took a step towards it, a stinging pain shot out into its side; he looked at his left side and to his terror saw a delicate yet deep cut that had been made by the scythe. Blood soaked his orange fur on his left side, giving it a more red-orange blend on it. He lay down in pain, admitting a defeat, moving anymore would only cause the bleeding to worsen.

"Growlithe, no!" screamed Jonathan in anxiety, seeing his loyal dog bleeding.

The mantis Pokémon grinned at the sight of its defeated opponent and waited patiently for the mutt's trainer to recall him. It didn't intend to kill this Pokémon, fire Pokémon doesn't taste very good and the risk of burning itself in the mouth is much too high to be worth it. It waited for the trainer's next servant, usually they save the strongest for the end, but the human wasn't sending out another Pokémon. Was the mutt really his last effort?

'This Scyther was a lot stronger than I thought, Bulbasaur won't be able to beat it, it's too strong and it has a high type advantage over him,' Jonathan thought in worry, he saw the Scyther slowly walking to him, a confident smile on its lips. 'Oh no, what to do, what to do?' he thought frantically as it approached.

It halted its advance, still close enough to swipe him. "Scyscy, scy, scyther scy scythe scytherer," (You lost, human, but it was quite entertaining while it lasted,) it said to him, staring deeply into his frightened blue eyes.

"Eh…" was Jonathan's reply, not sure if it would kill him or not. It lifted its blade, pointing at him, and spoke.

"Scyscythe scy scythe ther. Therscy scy ther…" (But you've already wasted too much of my precious time. Now if you'll excuse me…) it said, turning around looking at its other victim. It pointed its blade at Bill, grinning. "…scy ther scytherscy," (…I've got an insolent human to dispose of,) it finished, starting to slowly walk to Bill.

Bill watched in horror every step it took towards him. Was this it? Would his life end after roughly three days after his stupid journey had begun? As the beast closed in, he closed his eyes, waiting for the beast's killing blow. He rested his head on the ground, hearing every step it took. Clearer and clearer they sounded. But he heard another pair of footsteps hurrying to his direction.

"Hey, Scyther, please don't kill him, just leave us alone! Please!" Jonathan pleaded. It ignored him, and Bill peeked through his fingers to see what was happening, he only met the murderous gaze of the Scyther. Jonathan shoved the mantis lightly from behind. "Damn you! Leave him alone, why do you-" he was interrupted by the Scyther who quickly turned around, swatting the trainer with the flat of its scythe in the progress. Jonathan fell down from the impact, he saw a scythe pointing at him, and in sheer fright he scrambled backwards, knowing that he had to keep his distance.

Satisfied of its accomplishment to scare the trainer away, it turned to the other human, only to see he wasn't there. Well, he wasn't at the exact same place he was before, he was now attempting another feeble retreat by scrambling backwards too. It watched him stand up, mostly putting his weight on his healthy leg. This was it, it poised itself to lunge at him.

Bill had just completed the first step of escape, to stand up. Now defeating it and running away was the remaining objectives, but he knew he'd never accomplish any of those. He'd only be knocked down by it in any second, he saw its eyes fixating on him like the predator does before the kill. It was perfectly still, daring him to move, scream or even look away, if he did, it was the last thing he ever did. The fear inside him made him sweat, and yet he felt so cold, but he didn't move.

It inhaled oxygen through its nostrils, smelling something in the air, it felt the smell of sweat, human sweat. It also felt the terror in the human, it smiled faintly, and the look the human had was the exact same look a prey has before death. They both stood there, completely still, one waiting for the other to move.

'No, I can't let Bill die, of course I don't know why it's after him in the first place. But if I can sort him out from this he might tell me, if he remembers, that is. But why did he have to anger it during their daytime hunting? Why couldn't it be during their night time hunt? Then they would have been sleeping by now,' Jonathan thought, watching the other two stand there.

'Wait a minute… sleeping? Why didn't I think of that earlier?' he then thought, an idea had struck him like lightning. He reached for his last pokéball, even though he knew he'd never defeat it, he could do something else.

Bill still stared into the eyes of the fearsome mantis, the jet black pupils that told him to move so this would be over with. His eyes started to get dry, and it started to burn slightly in them too. He suddenly saw Jonathan getting up, grabbing one of his pokéballs, was he going to catch it or delay it? He'd get killed if he tried to interfere again. However, the next thing he knew, was getting knocked down powerfully by the Scyther, he had done the mistake to look away.

He was on his back, seeing the dark green mantis almost directly above him. A scythe was placed on his chest to keep him down while the other one neared his throat, threatening to slit open his throat. He tried to push away the other scythe, but it just waved off his hand. Its tri clawed, reptilian feet were both on his shins, preventing him to kick it if he tried, and one of them had slightly scratched up the already hardened scab on his leg.

It opened its mouth slightly, letting a low chuckle emit from it. A hideous reek also wafted out from the open mouth, making Bill cough at the sudden stench. Slightly aggravated by that, he lifted his left hand to lightly slam it shut. He did succeed on that, though, it was caught off guard by that movement. But, that only irritated it more, it snarled slightly at him, making him drop his left hand quickly to the ground.

It then screeched shortly at him, lifting its blade to strike him. He waited for the end, not bad for a death, quick and easy. He closed his eyes and waited, all this because of a five minute stare two days ago, five, frickin' minutes of staring into those eyes!

A green vine wrapped around its neck, pulling it backwards. It was forced to raise itself to its knees, and it turned around to see what had dared to challenge it this time. It was that stupid human who had called another servant, a green coloured squat lizard with a bulb was the responsible one for attempting to choke it, bad mistake.

"Quick, Bulbasaur, send out some Sleep Powder!" Jonathan ordered. He had sent out his plant Pokémon, Bulbasaur, silently so he could surprise the mantis, and then putting it to sleep so Bill and he could escape. Bulbasaur released a cloud of pinkish spores that sailed towards the trapped Scyther, as soon as it inhaled it, it would fall asleep.

It would never allow itself to be defeated that way! It tried to cut off the vine around its neck but that little Pokémon only waved them away from it, still holding a firm grip, facing the cloud of incoming spores that would put it to sleep. It then got another idea, fluttering its wings would surely push those spores away from it; it spread out its wings, starting to beat them.

But someone was holding its wings, preventing it to flutter them. It furiously turned its head, looking over its shoulder, it saw that human it was about to kill holding its wings firmly in his hands. It tried to swiped him but the angle it was in prevented it from doing so, stupid Bulbasaur. When it turned its attention back to the little lizard it accidentally inhaled the spores, feeling drowsy. As a last ditch attempt to get free, it twisted around violently, ignoring the pain and the risk of breaking its own neck it could cause.

But to its luck, it had an open shot on the vine that held its neck. It promptly sliced off the green vine and shook off the remaining vines around its neck, it was now free but still affected by the spores. It drowsily walked over to Bill and looked at him, it fell down on one knee when it placed its scythe on his chest. The other scythe closed into his neck and was about to slit it open, but its vision began to blur, and it knew it would fall asleep any second.

The scythe that was about to kill him was removed from its position as it tried to get up, but it was too late. It fell asleep right on top of Bill, its head resting on his cheek. This was not what Jonathan had planned, he wanted it to fall asleep, yes, but he didn't want it to fall asleep on his friend. He saw his friend looking at him, if he moved he would wake the bug up, and that would result in a quick ending for Bill.

'Nice going, Jon! What are we gonna do now?' Bill mentally thought to his friend. He was pinned down by a sleeping Scyther, great, just so frickin' great! And to make it worse, the Scyther was sleeping with its mouth slightly open, letting a thin line of drool make its way down to Bill's face. 'Eww, of all Scythers out there I had to get one who drool while sleeping, my dumb luck!' he thought as he carefully wiped off some of the saliva from his cheek.

"Bill, be still, don't move," whispered Jonathan, advancing very slowly. "If you wake it up-"

"I know what'll happen, try to lift it off or something," he said, only to be hushed by Jonathan. The Scyther mumbled something while it slept, and moved around its head a little. Both Bill and Jonathan went stiff by that, they were scared out of their minds if it had awakened.

"Well, I could paralyze it but…" Jonathan paused for a while.

"But what?" Bill asked, a little too loud again. The Scyther moaned slightly and lifted its head, turning it to the other side and kept sleeping. Bill sighed lightly in relief.

"Keep it down!" Jonathan hissed, "I don't think I can have Bulbasaur paralyze it since it might affect you too, and Stun spores affects humans more than Pokémon, you could die," he then stated. Bulbasaur waddled forward to Bill, recognizing him, and he didn't like it.

"Bulba, bul saur bulba!" (Oh no, I'm not saving you of all people!) he said, reluctant on doing what his trainer told him to.

"Bulbasaur, if that Scyther wakes up, he's dead. Just because you're not friends now doesn't mean you're letting him die? Now try to lift it off!" he ordered, but the plant Pokémon just sat there.

"Bul ba!" (No way!) he replied angrily, glaring at the trapped teenager.

"Behave yourself! Now you do as I tell you or I'll… I'll…" Jonathan was getting annoyed by his Pokémon disobeying him just because he didn't like Bill.

"Bu ba saur?" (You'll do what?) he asked smugly, still looking at Bill. Jonathan uttered something that sounded like a grumble.

"It's back to the pokéball for you if you don't do what I say! Just try to lift it off!" he lightly shouted. In two ways this was stupid. Firstly, all of his other Pokémon were badly injured, and secondly he said it a little too loud, the Scyther started to move again. It yawned lightly as it raised its head.

"Mmm, scy scyther, mrrmr." (Mumble, stupid human, mumble) its eyes were still closed, and it craned its neck before opening its mouth and closing it several times, emitting a repulsive smacking sound before resting its head on Bill's once again. Another false alarm, Bill's breathing had stopped temporarily during those moments. He didn't know how long the Sleep Powder would work, and the effect could very well be wearing off soon.

Luck was on his side this time, the Scyther had in its sleep decided to turn over to its back, rolling over to the left side of Bill's body, ending up lying on the ground. Bill felt so relieved, he saw Jonathan approach, extending a hand.

"Bul, babulb saur bulbas!" (See, it got sorted out after all!) commented the plant Pokémon, still glaring at Bill. Jonathan ignored that comment and was very close to reaching Bill's hand when…

SNAP!

Bill's smile quickly faded into an expression of shock and anguish, 'No…' he thought, the sudden snap from the twig Jonathan had stepped on made a loud sound that seemed to last forever. Jonathan froze in his position, his hand just a centimetre from Bill's, he was also startled by the sudden sound. A tear trickled down Bill's cheek, he was so close, and yet he was a mile away from his freedom, but had the Scyther woken up?

He lifted himself slightly from the ground to grab Jonathan's hand, but just as he did that, the blonde teen's eyes widened. Jonathan jumped backwards with a short scream, scrambling backwards and away from Bill. This reminded him of a missed train with all his friends on, and he didn't know where he was. But one thing was sure, the Scyther… had awakened.

Before he even blinked, the Scyther had one of its scythes around his neck, and he was forced down to the ground right next to it. He glanced at the Scyther and gulped, which caused it to hurt his Adam's apple a little, tears began to stream down his cheeks. He felt the hot, damp breath down his neck, the Scyther had noticed him crying and found it amusing, it chuckled yet again.

"Bulbasaur, get it!" Jonathan ordered, having gotten to his feet when he was at a safe distance. Bulbasaur was still reluctant, he didn't like Bill, he felt there was something strange within him.

The Scyther looked at the plant Pokémon curiously. "Scy ther scy? Scyther scy therscy scythe," (Won't you help him? Fulfil your duty as a slave for your human friend,) it hissed, waiting for an answer. "Scy scythe scy?" (You don't like him either, do you?) Bulbasaur nodded.

Jonathan and Bill followed the conversation, but never quite understood it. Jonathan had known his Bulbasaur for more than a year so he was pretty sure of what it was saying: He would aid the Scyther in killing Bill by not doing anything to prevent it.

"Don't you dare, Bulbasaur! Don't you even think of it!" warned Jonathan, but Bulbasaur wasn't listening. He was still looking at the Scyther who still had its scythe around Bill's neck.

"Scy, scy, scyther scythe therscy ther. Ther scyther scythe scy," (I'm terribly sorry, but even if you help me killing this pest I must still kill your trainer. I can't allow any human witness this, you can't do anything about it,) it finished. Bulbasaur looked at it with disbelief, yeah, sure, he didn't like Bill, but if this psycho mantis was about to kill his would-be lifelong friend Jonathan, it was gravely mistaken.

"Bulba bulba! SAUR! Basaur, bulba bulbsaur, buuulbaa!" (Don't drag him into this! I WARN YOU! If you want him, you'll have to get through me first, here and now!) he growled as he let out another loud growl, starting to glow white. The Scyther loosened its threatening grip in surprise when it saw what its opposing opponent was doing.

Bulbasaur was evolving.

The plant Pokémon's bulb began to sprout a little, revealing a rose red bud on its back. Around it was four leaves, and his body turned to a more turquoise colour. When he was done evolving he had grown up a little, he was slightly larger than before but not that much. Two small fangs, not as big as Scyther's, could be seen in his upper jaw.

'Wow, he sure looks meaner now,' thought Bill, still trembling in fright due to the fright of having a scythe to his neck and that the beast could slit it open any second. He carefully tried to push the blade farther away from his throat but stopped doing so when he heard a snarl.

"You, you evolved!" Jonathan remarked, "You evolved into an Ivysaur, finally!"

Ivysaur didn't listen to his trainer, he quickly extended his vines and whipped the Scyther right across the face, and then grabbed its neck again, this time lifting it up. Directly after it had been lifted up, the plant Pokémon threw it over to the ground, a distance away from Bill.

The Scyther, however, didn't want to go down that easily, it would never give up on its prey. After all, it was resistant to that squatty lizard. It quickly scrambled to its feet, ready to fight. But it saw the human being threatened by the Ivysaur, which infuriated it even more; this human belonged to the Scyther!

"SCYYTHEE!" (HE'S MINE!) it screeched, making the Ivysaur turn his attention to it. Ivysaur saw the mantis sharpen its blades, it was ready to fight, and it wouldn't hold back just because they both disliked Bill.

"Ivy, saur!" (Bring it, Birdie!) he beckoned, sounding a little more mature than he did as a Bulbasaur. The mantis charged at lightning speed toward him, one of its scythes raised to deliver a fatal blow. Ivysaur extended both of his vines to ensnare the mantis, but Scyther anticipated that. It jumped up, which made Ivysaur miss, doing one front flip and brought its both reptilian feet down at the plant Pokémon, pinning him down to the ground.

"Ivysaur, try to get it off you!" Jonathan shouted, he was worried if his Pokémon still fought independently, Ivysaur/Bulbasaur used to do that, and he often fought better then. But when fighting trainer battles, he had to give him orders. His Ivysaur couldn't move a muscle with the Scyther standing on top of it, he gasped heavily for air, and the dark green mantis bent down.

"Scy scyther scy, hmm?" (What was that again, hmm?) it sneered, looking at the face of the resisting opponent. "(Scy, scyther scythe scyscy, ther. Therscy scy ther scyther scythe," (Well, another one licks the ground, pathetic. But Ivysaurs does have plenty of nutritious contents inside that flower,) it stated menacingly, forcing the petals open with its scythe, taking a closer look.

Ivysaur saw his chance, he mustered the last of his strength and unleashed a cloud of brownish spores that quickly sailed into the Scyther's mouth. It coughed violently when it had inhaled the Stun Spores, enraged by that, it kicked the plant Pokémon hard and went for Bill.

It had inhaled too much of those spores, soon enough, it would be completely paralyzed. Its movements were completely different, its speed had decreased dramatically and it suddenly fell to the ground. It used all of its remaining strength to get up, but remained on its knees, its feet had turned numb, it couldn't stand up. It coughed again, much weaker this time, and it glared at Bill one last time before falling down to the ground, completely paralyzed.

Jonathan had recalled his beaten Pokémon and carefully made his way towards the fallen Scyther. To make sure it wasn't dead he touched its neck, checking the pulse, it was still alive. Its eyes shot open, glaring at the trainer, Jonathan's heart skipped a beat, but when he saw that one of the scythes barely was lifted, he calmed down. The green bug slowly, yet twitchingly, closed its eyes.

"It's over, at last," Bill whispered, not believing it fell for one simple attack. It could still be faking. He slowly got up, shifting most of his weight on his healthy leg. He limped over to Jonathan, casting one glance at the Scyther.

"Ha, verkar som du förlorade," he started, he saw the scythe lightly shake, but he now knew it would do no more harm. "Din lilla mes." He turned around, smirking as he approached his friend.

A sharp pain suddenly jolted up in his thigh, and a sharp object slowly dug into it. No scream was heard, only an open mouth and a look of pain. He slowly looked over his shoulder, seeing the Scyther having made its last move, stabbing him. It then fainted, having used the very last of its power.

With the scythe still stuck in his leg, he slowly got down on one knee. Jonathan rushed to him and looked in terror. "Bill, you stupid prick! Why can't you ever shut up? And what did you say anyway?" he asked angrily.

"J-just get that out of m-my leg!" Bill demanded, his leg starting to shake in pain. Jonathan walked over to the scythe, feeling nauseous of the sight. He carefully pulled it out, noticing the other scythe twitching, he got it out completely, and blood gushed out from Bill's rear thigh. Jonathan quickly dug into his backpack searching for any kind of bandages, finding some, he wrapped up the thigh, but it wasn't a good result however.

"I hope this helps for a while. We better get out of this forest as soon as possible, I don't know how long the paralysis lasts," suggested Jonathan, grabbing his backpack and attached it on his back. He then took Bill's and walked up to him. "Do you think you could carry it until we get to Pewter?"

"Hell yeah, dammit! I'm not gonna leave it here!" he growled, standing up, shaking, and flung on his backpack.

They both continued to proceed through the forest, having soon made their way out of it. But the wound Jonathan had tended had started to bleed again, and they weren't sure if Bill was going to make it…

To be continued…


Translation:

Ha, verkar som du förlorade. – Ha, seems like you lost.

Din lilla fegis. – You little coward.


A/N

So, this was probably the most intense chapters in this story so far, but I might have exaggerated it though, but I hoped you liked it!