Chapter XII: Loopy, don't!
Flash quickly side hopped the first attack from the attacking Machop, who almost toppled over due to his whiff. Flash used this opportunity to run away to a safe distance in hope that Loopy would ignore her. But running through the forest wasn't that easy, as she had no straight path due to the trees.
She heard heavy running steps from behind and saw to her fear that Loopy had given chase after her. She focused on her way forward and quickly ducked under a low branch as she tried running faster. But the rampaging Machop was still catching up to her, and after another quick look over her shoulder it seemed that he wasn't running at his fastest. Loopy knew he was going to catch up with her anytime.
While not looking forward, Flash almost ran right into a tree, but still hit the side of it which caused her to fall down hard. She rolled a short distance forward, and tried retaliating as quickly as possible when the advancing steps closed in at a quick pace. When she managed to roll to her feet, a foot swung right where she would've been if she had stayed on the ground. She hopped a step backwards in shock of Loopy's attempt to kick her while she was down.
However, she tripped on her own feet and fell flat on her back. When she looked up, she stared right into Loopy's glowing red eyes that longed for breaking something in Flash's body. She became paralyzed with fear when she heard his growling chuckle that echoed inside her mind. He had her cornered, and he was fully aware of it.
Flash tried to shuffle away a little at first, but a quick, threatening growl from the hostile Machop quickly made her reconsider.
"P-p-please, L-Loop-p-py," she stuttered in fear, feeling beads of sweat run down her forehead, "We're p-pals, r-remeb-b-ber?" She noticed that her lower jaw was shivering uncontrollably.
Loopy, who had been staring at Flash intensively with his eyes glowing a red hue, cracked a smile showing gritted teeth. He dashed forward and shot his right arm forward quickly, grabbing Flash by the neck. He hoisted the Charmander up and held her aloft, keeping his toothy grin.
Flash tried prying the one hand grip off with her paws, but it was no use. She then resorted with scratching his face twice. The Machop briefly tightened his grip and rubbed his face. After rubbing his face with his free hand, he moved the fist close to Flash's face, sticking out the index finger while slowly rocking it left to right repeatedly.
Loopy suddenly rammed his fist into Flash's stomach with such a force it would've knocked a Graveler back a good distance. He then let go of her neck, watching her slowly crumple to the ground in pain. The blow had temporarily cut her breathing off for a good ten seconds as she clutched her stomach, writhed in pain on the ground.
She heard another growling chuckle from the Machop, and used all strength to look up and saw him punch his fist into his palm and then rubbing it. He then extended his arm as he bent down to pick her up again. This time, he held her aloft with his left fist, and put his right hand on his hip confidently. He shook her lightly, finding it entertaining to see her limp body dangling like a rag doll.
Flash looked at him with weak, pleading eyes. "L-Loo…p… y... plea…se… s…stop," she wheezed, slowly regaining her breathing. Though breathing had become a feat for her, as every time she inhaled, it felt like a wall of pain that prevented her lungs from functioning normally. "P… ple…ase…"
Loopy rolled his eyes, taking his glare away from Flash for a brief second, and then tossed her over his shoulder like a crumbled piece of paper. She flipped in mid air and landed hard on her back, bouncing slightly on the ground before landing limply on the ground. She struggled to get up, but Loopy calmly put his foot her chest, pinning her. He smiled as he flexed his arm muscles.
"Stupid Fighting Pokémon," Flash angrily thought to herself as she hopelessly tried to push the foot away. He loomed over her, his eyes glowing less red, and grabbed her by her scarf. He gently hoisted her up and put her down against a tree. He carefully positioned so she sat straight up while leaning against the tree.
She watched him ready his fists and feared the worst to happen.
"L-Loopy, pl-lease damnit!" she grunted, "don't d-do it!" Loopy scoffed and dashed forward, sending his clenched fist towards her. She screwed her eyes shut as she screamed in fear. The fist slammed into the tree, just above her head.
Loopy watched her shiver for a second before he grabbed her by the scarf and pressed her against the tree.
"And why should I not do it?" he growled, his voice oddly darker than usual.
Flash eyes shot open at the shock of hearing Loopy's first coherent sentence. However, the only thing she realized after that was she was staring deeply into Loopy's furious eyes.
"They gave me orders to rid of you!" continued Loopy, pressing her harder towards the tree. "And then, we shall rule the forest for etern-" He blinked once in confusion as he saw the faint reflection of his head in Flash's scared eyes. "Huh?" He let her go and ignored as she slumped down on the ground.
He put his hand on his head to feel the scarf that was tied around it. He yanked it off and studied the navy blue piece of textile fabric. He then looked at Flash's scarf and compared the colours.
He clutched his scarf angrily as the fist holding it shook. "How come these are the same colour?" he growled.
Flash realized that her scarf would be enough to make Loopy turn normal. "Well, uh, w-we're f-friends and used th-the scarves to prove o-our friendship."
Loopy looked briefly at his scarf, then at Flash, and then at the scarf again. Suddenly, his eyes shone red brightly for a brief moment. "LIES!" he bellowed as he tossed the scarf away. He grabbed her by her neck this time and pressed her against the tree again. "You thought you could fool me? Did you? Did you?" he snarled as he raised his fists.
Flash had recovered slightly from Loopy's previous blows and stared him blankly in the eyes. She had no choice; she couldn't her herself be beat to death by him. She quickly inhaled and spat out her second successful Ember right at the Machop's face at point blank range.
As Loopy was struck by the fireball, he dropped Flash while he clutched his face in pain of the burns. Flash saw the chance, and started to run away for dear life. She hoped that this head start would be long enough for Loopy to lose her.
"Damnit! Why didn't I listen to Orly? I wouldn't have gone through this mess if I had taken his advice," she thought as she ran through the forest. She fought through the foliage as she tried getting out as fast as possible. But if she did get out, what would she do to turn Loopy back turn to normal? If that Exeggcute woke up, it would make especially sure to keep Loopy.
She heard a distant roar from behind and quickly realized that Loopy was taking up the chase after her. Upon that, she poured more power into running, but the sinking feeling that he was going to catch up discouraged her. But due to pouring too much power in running, her stamina started to fail her, and she slowed down gradually. She started to breathe more heavily as he her steps slowed down.
She almost gave up when she placed one of her paws against a tree to rest. She looked up and thought for a moment. She quickly dug her small claws into the bark as she started to climb up as fast as she could. She managed to climb up a good bit until she heard Loopy closing in fast.
She reached a branch big enough that she could stand on it, and gained a foothold on it as she then remained perfectly still. Hopefully, Loopy wouldn't spot her. The Machop ran past the tree, but slowed down to a stop right after. He scanned his surroundings for a bit, seeming confused. He put an open hand to the side of his head, as if trying to listen to his surroundings.
He calmly walked around the tree Flash was at, looking to the left and right progressively.
And then, his head jerked up to look right at Flash.
"Ah-HAH!" he boomed, punching a fist into his palm.
Flash screamed in surprise as she lost her foothold of the branch. She slipped, but managed got grab the branch with her right paw. However, as she dangled, she realized that there'd no chance for her to climb up again.
"How did you find me?" she asked him, refusing to look down.
Loopy chuckled. "Your heavy breathing up there could be heard from a mile away," he simply replied. He walked up to the tree and punched it hard enough to cause it to vibrate. He did it two times more in order to make Flash lose her grip.
Flash finally looked down to the ground and saw that after the Machop was done punching the tree, he stood right under her with arms outstretched. The Charmander gritted her teeth as she realized that her grip was slowly slipping. She tried reaching up with her other paw in order to get a better grip, but that did it; she slipped, and she fell down and was caught in Loopy's arms.
"HAH!" he bellowed right in her face, "got you!" He lightly tossed her to the ground and then grabbed her by the scarf, ramming her into the tree.
"RRRAAAAGH!" he suddenly roared as he rammed her back into the tree three more times. "You thought that I'd let you beat down my master and not get away with it? You thought that, didn't you? "Huh? Did you?" He rammed her into the tree one final time.
Flash's sight blackened out with each ram, and knew her time was up, she looked at him weakly.
"That look won't save you. Any last words?" he growled as he raised a fist, ready to deliver a punch hard enough to probably crack her skull.
Flash coughed before saying, "At least you didn't hug me to death!" she snapped.
"Eh?" Loopy replied as he looked oddly at her. "Anyway, it was fun chasing you," he then said as he pulled his fist back to knock her out permanently.
"YARRRR!" someone bellowed as a pair of clawed paws clasped together in a knuckle struck Loopy's head from behind. The assault made him drop Flash and he furiously turned around to face the attacker.
A familiar Totodile with a grey bandana on his head, but it was covering his left eye. The green crocodile like Pokémon had obviously attacked from above from behind.
"Attacking innocent damsels are you?" he said in a pirate like accent. "Me mateys and I will teach ye a lesson. CHARRRGE!" he yelled as a Magby and a Pichu leaped out from a bush, attacking Loopy. Magby fired a volley of Embers and Pichu physically attacked using repeated Quick attacks.
While Loopy tried dodging the many Embers, he was struck by Pichu's Quick attacks. He got more furious each time he was hit and started to concentrate on taking down Pichu instead, trying to ignore the Ember.
Totodile joined the fray with a couple of Scratch attacks as he mostly aimed for hits behind Loopy.
Flash found a branch lying on the ground and picked it up. Loopy was too busy with the other three Pokémon she recognized as the Team Juvens she met in the town square earlier this day. She waited for a good opportunity to use her current weapon.
However, Team Juvens had a hard time keeping the enraged Loopy at bay, and the Machop got the better of them by first swatting the Totodile away, kicking the Magby in midst of her Ember assault, and finally grabbed Pichu by the ears.
As he hoisted up the squeaking Pichu, he planted his foot on the Magby, pinning her as well. He chuckled, though he was breathing heavily after all fighting. "Stupid kids…"
"Roaring Rhydon!" Totodile roared again in pirate fashion, glaring brightly at Loopy. "Let me mateys free, ye landlubbAARRR!" He took a step forward.
"Ahem," started Loopy, grabbing Pichu's neck with his free hand. "One more step, and the little mousey is a goner," he warned, eyes glowing as red as ever.
"Get your hands off me you big meanie," the little electric mouse squeaked as he struggled wildly.
"It is I who wAARn ye, landlubbARR!" Totodile snarled, as he took another step.
Loopy sighed, "Why didn't you list-"
THWACK!
Loopy fell limply to the ground face first. Behind him stood Flash with a broken stick which she had knocked him out with. Both Magby and Pichu quickly ran up to Totodile as they regained their breaths from the battle.
There was an awkward silence for a while, Flash still holding that stick.
"That was close, whew," said the Charmander, breaking the silence.
"Hey, y' okay?" asked Magby, rubbing her own back.
"Are we all okay, mateys? That's important!" snapped Totodile.
Pichu looked at the downed Machop and squeaked. "Hey, waitaminute! Isn't this the Machop friend you were with earlier this day, Charmander? Why'd he attack you?" he piped.
"Wh'n y' think about it, I w'nder tha' too!"
Flash scratched the back of her neck meekly and said, "Well, it started with-"
"Blistering Baltoy! I hate traitors! He shall walk the plank, says I!" Totodile growled, giving the unconscious Loopy a brief glare.
"WILL YOU JUST QUIT THAT FAKE ASSED PIRATE ACCENT!" Flash yelled at the top of her lungs. She breathed heavily after the outrage at the younger Pokémon.
There was another awkward silence until Pichu stepped forward, pointing at Flash. "We saved your life, you know," he pointed out.
"Yeah, w' did!" Magby agreed.
Totodile didn't say anything; he had crossed his arms and was looking away.
Flash sighed briefly and told them about the whole incident about the manipulated Wurmple and Exeggcute manipulating Loopy. That caught Totodile's attention, though, as he almost freaked out.
"Ye don't say, lass? He's still yarrr friend aftarrr that?" Flash nodded, "You met the Persian at the treasury?" Totodile then inquired.
"Bank," Pichu quickly translated with a cough, earning a slight glare from Totodile.
Flash rolled her eyes. "Yeah," she simply replied.
"Good, lass! She knows some psychic who could help him regain his senses," he told her, sounding a bit more serious, thus forgetting his accent.
"But the town's a bit from here, and I can't carry Loopy myself," Flash muttered.
Team Juvens burst out laughing, "Just use the button on your badge, you oaf!" they simultaneously said to her in between their laughs.
Flash growled and pushed the button and was zapped to her shack. She noticed that Loopy was right next to her, lying unconscious on the ground. She sighed in relief.
"Finally…"
But then she realized something, she was in her shack, and it was quite a bit to the town itself. She had to hurry to get to the Felicity Bank in the town to fetch Persian there so she could help her with her problem. She never knew when Loopy was going to wake up, and if he did, she'd be in a lot of trouble.
Before she took off, she realized that she was holding a grey bandana in her paw again.
"Aw… not again!" she exclaimed out loud as she threw down the bandana on the floor when she ran off to town.