* The Thief Game *

*Chapter Eight *

* The Boy Who Got Burned *

My face was hot.

Burning hot.

I tried to ignore the feeling, but it soon became awful to tolerate. My face felt as if it were literally melting. What was that light? Ansel, did he teleport me to the sun or something? I opened my eyes and I was met with the harsh glare of fire.

Fire! Flesh searing off me! I was burning alive! He did teleport me to the sun!

"Ahhhhh!" I screamed. I floundered in fright and ended up falling to the ground in doing so. (I was on something?) My face got a mouthful of dirt.

"Oh look who's finally awake," a condescending voice sneered.

"Isaac?" My head swam, not fully awake just yet. (The fall didn't help)

"That's right, butt-breath, and while you've been snoozing away on my ponyta, we've made it almost all the way to Pewter. I hope you're happy that we carried your ass over here instead of just leaving you behind."

I tried not to let his swearing bother me too much. Arceus knows I've heard enough on this journey already.

"Lay off, Isaac," Hayden spoke up angrily. "He's been through enough." I blinked warily at her. Did she find out somehow…? "Spencer's probably sick. Why else couldn't we wake him up?"

It took me a second to remember my fake name.

"Not to mention why he was outside the tent when the rest of us woke up," Colton added. I noticed he was wearing my orange bag.

"I'm fine," I said as I stood up, using the pokémon beside me for support. Isaac's ponyta whinnied at me.

"Oh boy," Hayden said, her eyes growing wide when she got a good look at me.

"What?" I asked. I touched my face to check if there was some soup or something still on it but I quickly drew my hand back with a hiss of pain. What was that? Isaac snickered. Oh no. "Your ponyta burned me!" I pointed at the black-haired trainer accusingly.

"You should have gotten up earlier then," Isaac said, waving his hand dismissively. He started to continue the path with his evil ponyta trotting to catch up with him. I swore to get him back for this one.

"Ignore him," Colton sighed. "Once we get to Pewter we won't have to deal with him anymore."

"What about my face?" I cried. Now that I was aware of my burn, it continued to sting brutally.

"I might have some sunburn stuff in my bag, but, all the healing supplies I have left are mostly for pokémon…"

"Please," I begged.

Colton searched his bag thoroughly but came up short with anything to help with human burns. Figured. No one ever had anything I needed. He did, however, have several burn heals. I had to beg again for him to try to use them on me. He was hesitant at first, but I managed to convince him and he agreed with a reluctant, "Well… Okay…"

I found out that burn heal was not for humans. As soon as the spray hit my face, the burning sensation immediately got one thousand plus two times worse.

"OH MY GOD, MY FACE IS ON FIRE!" After several seconds of me running in circles scratching in a vain attempt to get the burn heal off my face, Hayden shouting things in worry, and Colton attempting to calm me down (speaking to me in a much calmer tone), things were beginning to get out of hand. Finally, the Latter trainer gave up and called out a pokémon to order a water attack on my face.

"Maii?" Colton's blue pokémon tilted its head.

"…Thank you…" I could feel the medicine drip off. It still stung, but it was feeling better already.

"Don't mention it."

Ahead of us, I could hear Isaac laughing hysterically.

* T * T * G *

We arrived at Pewter City that afternoon.

I actually managed to return Devin in her ball, but somehow none of the others saw it, nor did they believe me. Though, I wasn't so eager to call the scyther back out, so I begrudgingly accepted they would never believe that I did own the bug.

The four of us walked right into the pokémon center without anyone looking my way. That was a relief because it meant that no one had recognized me as a wanted thief right away. I was safe. For now.

The center lobby was full of trainers. Young trainers like me and Hayden scampered around with their starters varying from the standard (And very expensive) Kanto starters, to common pokémon like pidgey and rattata. There were many veteran trainers as well with their powerful teams displayed around them. I think I even saw a sneasel somewhere in the crowd. We had to push past the mass of bodies just to get to the front desk.

Nurse Joy took one look at us and her tense expression turned into an exasperated one. At first I thought it was because of how dirty and smelly we were but then she said something like, "Ugh, not more trainers!" under her breath.

Then her smile returned and she had us check in all of our pokémon. I reluctantly handed over Devin to the pink haired nurse. I caught Isaac smirking at me. He probably thought that I was worried I would be caught 'not having a pokémon after all'. No stupid-face, I thought. I'm worried I'll be caught for something much more serious!

I bit my nails as we lined up to get our free room keys and sign in. Colton went ahead of us because he was the oldest, and I think he wanted to show Hayden and me what to do without actually offering his help. Not that I needed anymore 'help' from that guy, as evidence from my still slightly stinging face. The gesture was appreciated, nonetheless.

He handed the nurse all of our IDs and she swiped them one by one into her computer. My whole body went cold at that despite my burn. What if Mattias didn't properly prepare my own ID? What if it went through and the words 'Error: Thief!' appeared? That's ridiculous. That wouldn't happen. I scolded myself for even thinking such a thought.

When I saw a chansey load up our poké balls into a machine, I broke into a sweat. I couldn't cut back my fears at the fact. I had no idea how it worked, but I was somehow sure that they could somehow sense when a stolen pokémon was being healed. Especially when the machine started to make an alarming beeping sound. My eyes went wide and I covered my mouth.

"Huh, what's the matter, Marbella?" The nurse asked, addressing the chansey.

"Chan." She opened the machine back open and fished around until she caught hold of the pokéball she was looking for. "Chan-sey."

Oh no. Oh no. Oh, no.

That was Devin's pokéball. I recognized. I don't know how, but I did.

That's it.

It's all over for me.

Nurse Joy took the ball from the chansey and hit some buttons on the screen before her. "Well it seems…" she stared slowly, "that one of you accidently gave me an empty pokéball."

Her words rang in my head in disbelief.

Isaac broke into laughter again for the second time that day. "I knew you didn't actually have a pokémon!" He snorted between breaths.

More surprisingly, Hayden joined him. Traitor. "Oh my gosh, I knew you didn't have a scyther. Maybe if you had picked something a bit more believable…"

When I looked, even Colton was holding back a grin.

Even a couple of the older trainers closer to the desk chuckled a bit.

My face heated up. I had sacrificed my freedom for a rare pokémon like Devin; the least everyone else could do was believe I had one!

"I do too have a scyther!" I shouted, grabbing the attention of more trainers. (Who smiled and laughed in turn)

It quickly turned into the entire center—including Nurse Joy and the chansey—laughing at me.

"Maybe you should just come clean, Spencer," Colton laughed.

I opened my mouth angrily, ready to argue with him, but the TV in the back of the center blared out a sharp warning that cut me off.

The laughing died out immediately and everyone's attention turned curiously to the screen that was now displaying a message.

"This is an emergency broadcast," a feminine voice announced. "Please focus your attention on the monitor."

"Oh gods, not another one," someone mumbled.

"What will it be this time?" another one added.

"This is an emergency broadcast. Please focus your attention on the monitor," The voice repeated. It did that several more times before it changed.

"Two feral arcanine are rampaging near Route 14. All pedestrians are advised to stay clear of this route until threat is neutralized. Trainers capable of terminating rank-8Fi pokémon are to report to the nearest gym leader for further instruction. Casualties are probable."

Several older trainers wordlessly stood up and returned their pokémon. A few of the other veteran trainers looked ashamed as they kept their seats.

One trainer had a determined look in her eyes as she headed straight to the doors.

"Avery, what are you doing?" said a boy her age, running after her.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she snapped. Her eyes narrowed as the boy gripped her wrist. "I'm going to kill those things. You saw what happened to Zack."

"Look, I know you're angry. I am too. Zack wasn't just your boyfriend; don't forget he was my brother too. But killing a fire type isn't going to bring him back."

"The world will be less of a shithole," she argued.

"You're a grass type specialist, Avery. Please, don't do this. For Zack." The boy visibly held his breath as the girl stopped to mull over his words.

"Two feral arcanine are rampaging near Route 14. All pedestrians are advised to stay clear of this route until threat is neutralized. Trainers capable of terminating rank-8F pokémon are to report to the nearest gym leader for further instruction. Casualties are probable."

"I can't ignore this, Noah." But she didn't move.

"And I've seen enough of the sentimentalities," Isaac said as he shoved passed me. "Nurse Joy, could I please check in now?"

She seemed surprised at the outburst. She wasn't the only one though. Several of the trainers suddenly seemed embarrassed over the fact that they too had overheard the girl and boy's exchange. It practically demanded the attention in the nearly quiet center.

"Yes, but we're short on rooms so you'll have to pair up with someone…" she trailed off.

"…Fine," Isaac growled. "With who?"

"Him," Nurse Joy pointed at me.

"Me?" I asked, bewildered. I did not want to share a room with him.

"Yes," she affirmed.

"He's not even a trainer," Isaac argued.

"He has a trainer card." Nurse Joy shrugged.

Isaac scowled as she handed us both a room key. "Stay on your side," he growled at me.

I stuck my tongue out at him as he limped towards the stairs that lead to the rooms.

"Try not to let him boss you around too much."

I turned to face the voice.

"Are you going with the rest of them?" Colton wore a grim expression. I hadn't considered that he would be among the fighting trainers. I felt a little sad at the notion. I'd be loosing one of my first traveling companions.

"Well, someone has to," he said evenly. "I'll be fine though, I've dealt with worse."

I decided I didn't want to know what 'worse' entailed and trusted that the older trainer could take care of himself. Pokémon attacks weren't exactly rare, but a lot of trainers died from them if they weren't prepared. He had his marill anyway. And he was an 8-badge trainer. Who cared if those badges were from some other region.

"Good luck then," I said.

"Thanks. Hopefully I won't need it."

I watched him walk out the door with his bird on his shoulder. Caw tweeted what I assumed was a goodbye.

"Well that sucks. Brock is probably going to be busy with this mess," Hayden spoke up out of nowhere. I almost forgot she existed. "I guess I'll check out the museum or something."

"Is that all that you care about?" I asked, disgusted.

"Well, yeah. That's why I came to Pewter after all. Oh, and the Rockfall Tournament."

"The Rockfall Tournament?" I asked. It sounded vaguely familiar.

"Yeah! I used to come see it sometimes with my papa."

Oh, that's right. The annual tournament took place in Pewter. I didn't usually pay attention to it because in Viridian we had our own earth-based tournament. It wasn't for another three weeks or so, but it did explain why there were so many trainers in the center in the first place. Still, shouldn't Hayden be a little more considerate of the trainers giving their lives to protect regular people from wild pokémon?

Hayden got her own room key and left to find it. (She had to share with another girl) It was around that time that the lighthearted atmosphere of the pokémon center started to return, save for the more solemn older trainers that kept to themselves, and the talking resumed.

I took it upon myself at that time to find my own room. The center seemed built just like the one in Viridian, so it wasn't too difficult. It actually made me thankful for my old school field trips to it. (Normally, such field trips were despised because they tricked us into volunteer work like washing the dishes or dusting the lobby)

The room key I was given had the number '14' written on it in faded sharpie. "12…. 13…. ah here we go, 14," I thought, peering at the number of each room I passed. The fourteenth door was cracked open slightly.

I sighed, grabbing the handle tightly and bracing myself to meet my insufferable roommate.

However, before I could, there was a loud BANG of something falling on the other side of the hall.

Isaac was laying face down on the floor, his growlithe barked protectively over him at the attacker.

"Scy."

I jumped.

That stupid, stupid bug.