Chapter Twenty - Human-trained vs Human heart

'Get out of the way you moron, you're only gonna make this more difficult!' Taylor snapped at me, and I narrowed my eyes further, glaring at the trapinch. I'd show Taylor that I wasn't useless, that I could battle just as well as he could. He wasn't going to steal the glory again.

Trapinch glared at me through his tiny dark eyes, then put his jaws down to the ground and began shovelling dirt, burrowing into the soil until he was out of sight. Was he trying to escape? Surely he wouldn't be backing out already . . ..

'Be careful Kit, that's a Dig attack,' came Elsie's voice.

'I know that!' I snapped back at her. I'd seen Numel use this move before. It had just . . . slipped my mind, that was all. She didn't have to act so cocky like she knew what was going on and I didn't.

I felt movement beneath me, and looked down to see a trail appearing as clumps of dirt were shifted out of place. So, Trapinch was tunnelling towards me. Well, I'd be ready for him. As the trail came closer and closer, I stepped back farther and farther, always far enough away to be ready for the attack.

I suddenly felt my tails brush against strands of grass, and I instinctively turned to see what was behind me. I opened my eyes wide as I saw a curtain of grass hanging down over a ninetales-sized opening. That little rascal had backed me all the way up to the entrance of the tunnel! I couldn't let him chase me outside. Down here, it might have been cramped, but out there, his trainers were waiting, and most likely, they'd have a bunch of strong pokémon with them.

I heard the ground in front of me give way, and quickly turned back to see Trapinch shooting up out of the dirt. Fragments of sand and dust flew at me, and I raised a paw to cover my eyes. It hadn't been a direct hit, but the dirt blasting into my face had certainly thrown me off. When I lowered my paw and opened my eyes, Trapinch was bearing his massive jaws at me. I gulped, and took another step back. He advanced on me, and I stepped back again.

Come on Kit, can't you see what he's doing? He's pushing you back out of the den into the open so his trainers can get at you! You can't let him do this, you've gotta fight back!

But the serrated edges of those gaping jaws were too much for me. His disproportionate head meant that when he opened his mouth, it not only served as a weapon and a scare tactic, but also as a shield. It was impossible to get to his small body while those jaws were in the way; in a tunnel this narrow, there was only forward or backward. Forward, into Trapinch's jaws, or backward, into the open where the trainers were waiting for me.

I had no choice. I didn't want to face those trainers, but running straight into those teeth would be crazy. If I went out into the open, I'd at least have some sort of a chance; maybe I'd be able to make use of the wider space, and if I couldn't beat him, at least out there I'd have a better opportunity to escape.

So I backed out until I felt the grass run over my back, my head, and finally down my face. I was outside.

'Hey check it out, it's a vulpix!'

At the sound of the human voice, I turned to see its owner. I found myself looking at two boys, around eighteen or so, wearing long trousers, jackets, walking boots, and carrying large backpacks. At the sides of their belts were a series of red and white metal balls. So these were Trapinch and Croconaw's trainers . . ..

I turned my attention back to Trapinch. He was still approaching me, but thankfully he had closed his jaws. I lowered my head and tensed my body, ready to fight back.

'Great job, Trapinch! Now, use Sand-Attack!'

Sand-Attack? I strained my mind to try to remember if I knew what that move did. But before I could come up with any answers, Trapinch had dug his jaws into the dirt and flicked it in my face. Caught off guard, I didn't have time to cover my eyes, and I cried out as they stung horribly. When I tried to look back at Trapinch, my vision was hazy. Though I could make out his shape, it was blurred and I couldn't be sure if he was really where I thought he was. I blinked a few times, but nothing changed.

'Kit!'

Hearing my name, I squinted in the direction it had come from, and saw three figures rushing out of the entrance to the den. A green one, a white one and a purple one. I squinted harder and finally realised that they were Cam, Connor and Elsie.

'Woah, check it out, a white vulpix!'

'What on earth are a kecleon and an espeon doing down there?'

'Who cares? I want that white vulpix! Trapinch, forget about the brown one, go for that white one!'

'I'm on it!' Trapinch nodded, and turned his attention to Connor.

No way. You can't pick on Connor . . . I might not be the best battler around, but at least I'm healthy. Even after Eustacia had healed him, Connor was still recovering, and from what I'd seen and heard, he was never particularly healthy to begin with. What ever happened to the pokémon trainers' ideals of fairness and understanding? Battling is one thing. Catching pokémon is one thing. But picking on pokémon that are weak? That's just plain low.

Trapinch advanced on Connor, and the white prince only looked at the trained pokémon pleadingly.

'Why can't we try to sort something out without fighting?' he asked. 'Surely there's no need for this!'

'There's plenty need for it! William knows what's best, and nothing you can say is gonna stop me fulfilling his orders to take you down!' Trapinch opened his wide jaws in a grin.

'Is it because you're not strong enough to take on any of the others that you have to pick on someone who's sick?' I asked. If I could play on Trapinch's pride, maybe I'd be able to stop him from attacking Connor. 'What's the matter Trapinch, can't take on someone who actually has battling experience?'

'I'm not listening to you any more than the espeon.' Trapinch stepped closer to Connor. 'I'm gonna do exactly what William tells me, not what any of you stupid wild pokémon think I should do!'

With that, he opened his jaws wide and charged on his tiny legs. But before he had managed to get anywhere near Connor, a purple glow suddenly surrounded the trapinch, and he began to float into the sky.

'Aaahh! What's going on!?' Trapinch exclaimed, thrashing about in mid-air. I forced myself to turn my startled eyes away from his floating body to look around for what had happened. I caught sight of the purple figure that was Elsie, and saw two glowing spheres in place of her eyes. Suddenly she flicked her head to the side, and Trapinch was sent flying, crashing into a tree several metres away.

'I . . . I must thank you for stopping his attack, but isn't there a way to solve this without violence?' Connor looked up at Elsie.

'I wish there were,' Elsie told him. 'But we can't negotiate with these pokémon. They're trained to obey their humans, and we have no way to communicate with the humans while Taylor and Kit are in their pokémon forms.'

'Trapinch! Get up! Show that espeon who's boss around here! Full-strength Faint Attack!'

Trapinch shook his head and got to his feet. Narrowing his beady eyes, he charged at Elsie. The espeon lowered her head, bracing herself for the attack.

Trapinch laughed. 'Let's see your psychic powers dodge this!'

Suddenly his body became a blur, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the effects of Sand-Attack, but I thought I saw him split up into several copies of himself. Elsie raised her head and darted it around, but there was no way she could keep track of all those copies. Before any of us quite knew what was happening, the copies had disappeared and Trapinch was knocking her down from behind. She fell to the ground, and Trapinch stood on her back proudly.

'Now, Trapinch! Finish it off with Crunch!'

'You got it!' Trapinch opened his jaws wide and slammed his head down, and I had to lower my head, shutting my eyes tightly as I heard Elsie cry out in pain. Why are you just standing there, Kit? Why aren't you doing anything to help her? Listen to that cry, how can you just ignore that?

But when I raised my head again, Elsie was lying on the ground, her eyes closed, still. The attack had completely knocked her out.

All I could do was stare. How had that little trapinch been able to drain all of Elsie's energy so easily? But more importantly . . . how had I been able to just stand there and let her faint? I hardly knew Elsie, and I didn't consider her to be my friend, but surely that didn't matter . . . surely I should have tried to help her just as I knew I would have tried to help Cam if he'd been in the same situation. So why hadn't I?

'So are you gonna catch it?'

'Nah, you can get an eevee easily just from a pet shop. I'd rather grab that white vulpix. That's something you won't find on sale anywhere!'

'Elsie!' I turned to see a cream-coloured figure rushing out from the vulpix den. Though I couldn't make out his features, the voice told me it was Taylor. 'Elsie, no!' Reaching the unconscious espeon, he bent down and nudged her with his snout. 'Elsie, wake up, come on!' When there was no response, he took a deep breath and stood up straight. He turned to me. 'This is all your fault.'

'What!?' I exclaimed. 'My fault!? It was that stupid trapinch that did it to her! How the heck is any of this my fault!?'

Taylor stormed over to me, and when he reached me his red eyes glared down at me fiercely. I took a step back. It was only at that moment that I realised just how much bigger than me he was. More than twice my height, he practically towered over me.

'I told you to say out of this and let me handle it, but no, you had to try to show off your skills, of which you have none, and she came out here to try to protect you, knowing you'd do something stupid, so she put herself in danger to keep you safe!'

'You have no idea! You were down in that cave the whole time, you have no idea what happened out here! She did it to protect Connor, not me!'

Taylor continued to glare at me for a moment, then glanced over at Connor.

'I'm so sorry,' Connor shook his head. 'I'm so sorry!'

I swallowed. I knew it wasn't Connor's fault, and I shouldn't have put the blame on him. But I didn't believe that it was my fault either. Elsie hadn't had to try to protect me. I could have handled that trapinch on my own, for sure . . . no, you're fooling yourself, Kit. You know you couldn't never have done anything against that trained pokémon.

'Trapinch, what are you waiting for! Hit that white vulpix with a Dig attack!'

As Trapinch dug his way underground, Taylor darted over to Connor.

'Be careful, prince,' he said, eyeing the ground for traces of Trapinch's path. 'He'll leap out of the ground and surprise you. This move is hard to avoid. Cam, you'd better get out of the way.'

'But . . . what about you two?' Cam asked.

'Don't worry, I'll try to take the hit myself, the prince will be fine, and I can handle a Dig attack.'

I narrowed my eyes. What, so now you're gonna try to protect Connor and do exactly what Elsie did to get herself knocked out? You think you're so much stronger than her, do you? I just hope that Dig attack knocks you out so you'll shut up. I just hope those trainers capture you so I don't have to put up with you anymore. I don't want to have to listen to you blame me for no reason again. I'm sick of tolerating you.

Suddenly the ground shattered beneath Connor and Taylor. Taylor pushed the prince out of the way as Trapinch shot out from the ground, covering the ninetales in dirt. He coughed and his body shook, but he managed to retain his balance. You'd better try harder than that next time, Trapinch. Knock that stuck-up brat out cold.

'Trapinch, Faint Attack!'

Trapinch turned to Connor, and I opened my eyes wide as copies of the trapinch appeared all around the white vulpix. Connor looked around, eyes wide, mouth open, and tried to back away. That moron Taylor had stopped Connor from getting hit by the Dig attack, but now the prince was wide open for Trapinch's next attack.

The copies disappeared, and the real Trapinch slammed into Connor, knocking him to the ground.

'Prince!' Taylor cried out.

'Pokéball, go!'

Suddenly a red and white ball hit Connor's back, and his body dematerialised into red light. He was sucked inside the ball, and it dropped to the ground, still.

'Yeah! I got it! Great work, Trapinch!'

'Connor . . .' I breathed. No, we couldn't let Connor get taken away by these guys! He had more answers to the questions that were spinning around my head than anyone. I had to stop them from taking him.

I ran at the still pokéball, ducking past Trapinch and grabbing the sphere in my teeth.

'Hey! Give that back! Trapinch, after that vulpix!'

'Wait, I'll handle this. Water Gun!'

Water?

Something slammed into my back, and fell to the ground instantly before I could even registered what I'd been hit by. It hadn't been a physical attack, or an object. No, it had been a torrent of water.

My whole body felt cold, weak. It wasn't that the attack hurt, it just seemed to completely dampen my energy, wash it away. I felt dizzy, and the pokéball slipped out of my jaws. As my head fell weakly to the ground, I caught a glimpse of Croconaw standing at the entrance to the cave. I had completely forgotten about him. And now . . . now it was too late for me to do anything. I couldn't even move, let alone pick up that pokéball and escape. I'd failed. Just like I'd failed Cam, I'd now failed Connor. Could I do nothing right? Was I destined to always fail the people around me? Maybe Taylor was right. Maybe everything really was my fault.

'Pokéball, go!'

I barely heard the trainer's voice. I hardly felt the small metal ball hit my back. But then my vision blurred, and my body felt light, distant . . . and then I couldn't even feel it at all, and it was as if all that existed was my mind. My vision turned red, and faded away into nothing just as I realised what was happening.

You can't capture me! I'm not a pokémon, I'm a human just like you! I'm not like the rest of them! You can't capture me, you can't! That's just . . . that's just impossible!

It wasn't. I heard the click of the pokéball snapping shut, with me inside.

It was dark, but it was warm and cozy . . . despite how much my subconscious was telling me to get out of there, I couldn't help but feel comfortable. It was so relaxing in there, so nice and peaceful . . . so free of restriction. I couldn't feel my body anymore, and was much as that startled me, it felt nice. I wasn't comfortable with my body, and the way it kept defying my expectations, transforming into something different. My mind was something that was constant. Something I could trust, something I could rely on. And if I could exist just as my mind, without my body, then all the better.

'Yes! I caught one!'

The voice was muffled, and I couldn't tell where it had come from. My instincts wanted to look around for its owner, but then I realised that I couldn't. I wasn't in a physical place anymore. There was no head for me to turn, no place for me to look. There was only this strange, calming half-existence.

'Kit!! Give her back! Let her go!'

The distant voice sounded both familiar and strange. It was high-pitched and slurred . . . but I didn't know anyone with a voice like that, did I? I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure whose voices I knew, or if I even knew any. Voices didn't seem to matter anymore. Things I knew didn't seem to exist anymore.

But that was all right. I didn't need to know anything. This place was too peaceful for me to be worrying about facts or memories. No, I'd rather forget everything, be free of the burden of knowledge, and just exist here where everything's comfortable.