Author's Note: Sorry about how long it took me to finish this story. Had it done over Christmas break, but my parents misplaced the file, so I had to retype it from scratch. Truth is I finished 26 before I finished re-typing THIS one! Oh well, enjoy!
Scyther! The... Hero?
After two hours of moving, Ponyta had made her way well out of the desert. the reason Keji and Rei knew this?
"WATER!" Keji yelled, overjoyed. Indeed, there was a clear stream running through the path. Oddish wasted no time jumping off Keji's back... who was still on Ponyta, and landing on the ground with a thud and a groan.
Rei giggled, "Oddish is a bit thirsty..."
"So am I! Are you thirsty girl?" He asked Ponyta, patting her side. She neighed in response and trotted to the water, stopping to let her two passengers off.
"I say we stop here for a while... I know Ponyta could use a break." Ponyta neighed again, and leaned over, drinking water next to Oddish, who danced and swam happily.
Rei smiled, "Gee, Ponyta sure likes water for a fire Pokémon..."
The minute the "F" word came out of Rei's mouth, Oddish stopped and looked wide eyed at Ponyta.
"Oooooddddddd..." it spat out, shuttering. His eyes moved slowly over Ponyta until they met with her fiery mane, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!" It screamed and almost instantly was shivering and cowering on Keji's back.
"Oddish you coward! How could you have NOT noticed she was a fire Pokémon?!" Keji yelled, almost knocked over by Oddish's sudden addition to his back.
Rei shook her head, "Oddish.. stop being such a coward."
Ponyta lifted its head and neighed a bit, as if she were laughing.
"Oddish! Odd Odd!" Oddish yelled, getting a sudden burst of courage before hiding behind Keji's back.
Keji shook his head, "Oh great, I'll NEVER get Weed Head on Ponyta now..." he grinned evilly, and reached to his belt, "Looks like SOMEONE needs a Pokéball!"
"ODD!" Oddish yelled, shaking his head. He jumped to the ground and looked up and Keji pleadingly. Keji and Rei could almost SEE the halo above his head.
"Good. Now TRY and get along you two..." Keji muttered, putting the Pokéball back.
Rei laughed aloud, "Brilliant way of handling the situation."
Keji smiled and bowed a bit, "You gotta know how to handle weed head."
Oddish raspberried Keji, then trotted a ways down stream, far away from the drinking Fire Pokémon, and through some bushes so he could get some privacy.
"HEEEEEELP!" Oddish heard from... a cliff? Yes, behind the bushes was a sudden cliff and a bit of a water fall.
"Odd? Dish, Oddish, Odd?" Oddish yelled down the cliff.
"Is someone up there?" A little girl, no older than five or six was clinging to a branch for dear life near the water fall, "I need help! I didn't see the drop and fell! Help me!"
"DISH! ODDDDDD!" Oddish yelled. Suddenly Keji burst through the bushes.
"AAAAAAAAAH!" He yelled, flailing his arms, almost falling off the cliff.
Rei too rushed through the bush, but stopped in time to grab Keji and stop his plummet, "What's wrong Oddish?"
"Odd! Oddish Oddish Odd!" he yelled, pointing one of his leaves down the cliff to the little girl.
"Oh my god! Hang on! I'll try and help!" Keji yelled down the cliff, "What can we do Rei? She's too far down to climb!"
"I don't know!" She said, practically shaking at the situation, "Maybe one of our Pokémon could help!"
"Venonat has telekinesis! Maybe she could..." Suddenly one of Keji's Pokéballs burst open in a flash of light.
"SCYYYYYYY!" Came a piercing cry as the large Green Pokémon materialized... and jumped off the cliff!
"SCYTHER?!" Keji yelled, gazing over the side. He noticed some people gathered at the bottom of the cliff. They must be near a town, and everyone heard the little girl's cries.
Scyther fell a ways, then dug one of his blades into the side of the cliff like a hot knife through butter, stopping his descent right beside the girl, "Scy?"
She shrieked. "AH! GET IT AWAY! IT'S GOING TO EAT ME!"
Scyther shook his head, and wrapped his spare arm around the girl, careful not to cut her with his deadly blade, having a hard time holding her with her thrashing at the frightening Pokémon.
"Way to GO Scyther!" Keji yelled, throwing his arm up, "Now climb back up!"
Scyther shook his head, "Scy, Scyther Scyyy..."
"But how...? Oh... no... not..." Keji responded, shaking his head.
Scyther nodded, and suddenly let go of the cliff, falling the rest of the way down, landing hard on the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust and causing most of the passerbys to scatter in various directions, scared at the appearance of this intimidating Pokémon.
Suddenly the people heard Keji yell: "WAY TO GO SCYTHER!"
Following Keji's outburst, one of the passerbys clapped slowly, watching the Scyther cautiously. Then the applause grew, strengthened, and was accompanied by further clapping from some of the other watchers.
Rei smiled at Keji, "Wow, you really raised him well!"
Keji smiled nervously, "Yeah, and all this time I thought he wouldn't follow orders... come on... Scyther?" he looked down the cliff and frowned, "SCYTHER?!"
He watched in horror as the people carried Scyther away on their shoulders like a hero, laughing happily at what the usually quiet and cold Pokémon did.
"COME BACK HERE!" Keji yelled angrily, "You're taking my Scyther!" he spun on his heels, "Come on Rei, we've gotta stop them!" he began to run quickly back to where Ponyta was still resting.
Rei nodded and follower quickly after him.
"Odd?" Oddish waddled after the couple, still having no grip on the situation whatsoever.
"Come on Weed Head!" Keji yelled, sweeping him up as he leapt onto the rising Ponyta, who likewise had no grip on the situation, with Rei in hot pursuit, "Come on girl!" Keji yelled. Ponyta neighed and reared. Keji reached one arm down and Rei grabbed on, being lifted onto the saddle just as Ponyta tore down the forest in the way the people took Scyther.
The city Rei and Keji stumbled upon could hardly be called a city. The first thing they came across was a sign:
Newton.
Mining Town.
It wasn't much to look at. Dirt roads, small buildings, no cars, or much of any visible technology whatsoever.
"It seems deserted," Rei said, still holding Keji around the waist, even though Ponyta had slowed to a trot now, "This couldn't be where Scyther is."
Keji frowned, "No, he has to be here." He looked around wildly. If this wasn't the place, he didn't know where to look. Scyther could be lost forever.
"Scyther! Scyther! Scyther!" A cheer rose from down the road a ways, causing Keji and Rei to snap back to reality.
"I'm no rocket scientist," Keji muttered, snapping Ponyta's reigns, "but I think that might be where Scyther is."
"Brilliant." Rei muttered, nodding a bit.
Ponyta and her three riders made their way down the dirt road in the direction of the sound until they all got a glimpse of a large ground of people, converged in the middle of town, all surrounding...
"SCYTHER!" Keji yelled, pointing, bringing Oddish, Rei, and Ponyta's gazes in that direction.
"You're right!" Rei said happily.
"OH MY GOD!" Keji suddenly yelled, his eyes going wide.
"What? What is it?!" Rei looked around, worried and frightened of an attack.
"Scyther actually looks... happy!" Keji said, shaking his head. Whenever he saw Scyther, he always had a stern, thoughtful look on his face. But yes, now indeed the green bug Pokémon had a thin smile across its mouth.
"My goodness, you're right!" Rei replied, amazed, "I don't believe I have ever seen Scyther smile!"
Keji nodded and clicked his tongue, urging Ponyta forward. Obediently the flaming horse moved towards the crowd.
The first villager to see them was an elderly gentleman at the edge of the crowd, with a flowing beard, hunched over a cane. He gasped, and tapped a person next to him on the shoulder, who gasped and tapped a person next to him, who gasped, and... well... you get the picture, until everyone was facing the group, including a now disgruntled and grumbling Scyther.
"Uh... hi..." Keji muttered, waving slightly, nervous now that the attention was on him.
"Scy..." Scyther muttered.
"Hey!" Keji retorted, "We thought you were in trouble!"
"Scyther Scy Scyther Scyther Scy!" Scyther said, angrily.
"Oh yes, I am quite sure you can take care of yourself, considering you haven't won a battle yet!"
"Excuse me sir," The first elderly gentleman asked meekly, "But do you actually understand what Scyther is saying?"
"Sometimes I consider it a curse." Keji muttered.
"But Scyther is a hero!" a different man shot from the crowd, getting mutterings of agreement from the crowd.
"I can't honestly explain what drove Scyther to save that girl," Keji sighed, "I've never known him to do anything that wasn't hot-headed or selfish."
"SCYYYYYY!" He yelled angrily at Scyther.
"Well it's true!" Keji shot back, getting quite angry now.
"But he's our hero!" Another man shot out.
Rei looked into the crowd. All of these people were convinced Scyther was some sort of hero, and intent upon making Keji believe that he was the greatest hero of all time. Even Scyther looked happy to be here, content in having these people believe it, even if he wasn't really a hero.
She tapped Keji on the shoulder, "Maybe we should just leave... Scyther looks happy, and these people need him."
Keji blinked in surprise at Rei's statement, and frowned. Scyther did look happy, something he had never seen in the Pokémon. Instantly his mind drifted to when they first met.
"Scyther, I didn't win that fairly," Keji said, causing Hypno and Rei to stare, open mouthed at him. Even Taylor looked away from Oddish to see what was happening, "You were weak from the battle with Primeape, it wasn't a fair match."
"Scyther, Scy Scyther scy Scyther." It said, standing up slightly, but falling to the ground in pain.
It says there would be no way it could have defended against that attack, it was caught by surprise. Hypno translated.
"Scyther Scyther scy." Scyther added.
It says it has much to learn, and that it cannot learn it on its own. It wants to go with you for a while and expand its
fighting technique. Hypno translated again.
"Alright, I'll help you out, but I won't call you my own, you may go at any time."
Keji sighed, shaking himself back to reality, "If that's what you want," he said, rearing Ponyta around, "I told you you could leave at any time, and I'm as good as my word. I release you." He sighed and started away, watching the ground. He was hotheaded, arrogant, and sometimes even viscious, but he was Keji's Pokémon. Was.
"Good-bye." he said softly, knowing Scyther wouldn't hear it.
"Scy?" Scyther wondered aloud, eyes narrowing.
"YAY SCYTHER! HIP HIP HOORAY!" The cheers returned to the villager's mouths, only this time the smile did not return to Scyther's.
"Are you sure you did the right thing?" Rei asked when they stopped back at the river for another break.
"I know I did the right thing." Keji muttered, staring into the water.
"Odd?" Oddish nuzzled against his leg.
Keji didn't respond. He was going to miss the big green lummox. Even if he wasn't much good in a fight, or good company, he was still part of the team.
"Keji, if you miss him that much, why don't we go back and convince him to come with us? I mean, just because I recommended..."
"I don't miss him!" Keji interrupted, looking up angrily, "He chose to leave! It was his choice! He doesn't need me, and I don't need him!" Keji clenched his fist. He didn't need that two-timing traitor. He spun on his heels and rushed into the woods. He needed to be alone. Unfortunately Oddish didn't know this, and followed. Rei just shook her head and watched him run off sadly.
"ODD!" Oddish yelled, not able to keep up with Keji.
"What?! I'm not crying!" Keji shot back, keeping his back to his friend to hide the truth that he in fact was.
"Oddish! Odd odd oddish dish oddish odd." Oddish shot at him, shaking his head.
"What do you mean? I said he chose to leave!"
Oddish shook his head again and watched his friend, worried, releasing a heavy sigh.
"How touching..." A familiar, patronizing voice shot through the woods.
"Who's there!?" Keji yelled. He recognized the voice, but, no, it could be him! Not after the incident in the river so long ago.
"I'm hurt you don't remember me, Fujikiro, I remember you quite well." A small rustle of leaves was the only thing warning of the attack that came from behind him, connecting in the form of two connected fists falling down hard on his back, knocking him to the ground in pain. He quickly rolled aside, avoiding the second attack.
"Hunter?! You're dead!" Keji yelled, getting up slowly.
"Do I look dead, Fujikiro?!" He yelled back, drawing a Pokéball off his belt, "I don't know how you knew I'd be here, but you aren't stopping me this time! Spyder, GO!" He opened the ball, releasing Spyder, who landed softly onto the ground, "Web Attack!"
Keji barely leapt aside in time, "Oddish, Petal Dance!"
"Poison sting!" Hunter yelled.
Oddish began his Petal Dance, but was interrupted by Spyder's fangs sinking into him, causing him to scream in pain.
Hunter laughed evilly, "Just like old times, eh Fujikiro? Spyder, BODY SLAM!" he yelled, pointing at Oddish. Spyder nimbly leapt into the air and landed hard on Oddish, who didn't have the time or strength to respond.
"ODD!" Oddish cried in pain
"Again Spyder!" Spyder repeated the attack, this time Oddish did not cry out. Spyder stepped off of Oddish's body, battered and bruised, the Plant Pokémon was out for the count, "Pathetic." Hunter muttered, shaking his head. He spun, his cape flaring behind him. Spyder scuttled to his master, following him as he made his way through the forest.
"HUNTER!" Keji yelled, now at his friend's side.
"Save your Oddish, boy, and stay out of my business, or next time he won't be so lucky."
"Why not kill us both now," Keji muttered angrily, looking at him through teary eyes, "and save yourself a lot of trouble."
"Because I want you to watch as events unfold. I want you to live so I can take my proper revenge upon you." He replied, as he continued into the forest.
Keji clenched his fist and looked down to his friend, "Come on Oddish," he said quietly, picking up his friend, "we have to get you help."
"Odd..." he muttered in his sleep, causing Keji to sigh a bit in relief to see his friend alive.
"You're stronger than you look, Weed Head." Keji muttered as he started into the forest, returning to Rei and Ponyta. He arrived in only a few short minutes, "Come on, we need to go back to Newton." He said as he arrived on the scene, causing Rei to shake herself awake.
"Why?" She asked, standing slowly, her eyes suddenly worried at seeing Oddish's condition, "Are we going back for Scyther?"
"No, but we need to help Oddish," he replied, climbing on Ponyta, who was rising to her feet, "and I think we will have some business there soon enough." he urged Ponyta to a gallop, not too fast, as he needed to hold Oddish tight to keep him from falling.
Newton's town hall was now filled with happy citizens, as the celebration moved indoors. Scyther sighed. Didn't they ever quit? It's not like he saved the whole town, just one little child! Didn't these people have lives? He also couldn't shake this odd, lonely feeling.
"Scy." He muttered, looking up at the ceiling. For some reason he wasn't very hungry, and unable to force himself to participate in much of the celebration. He crossed his arms and sat in the corner of the town hall, and, though the party was in his honor, no one seemed to notice his discontent, no one, that is, except one elderly man, the one who had first noticed Keji's arrival in the town, and none other than the town's mayor himself, and one young girl, the same one Scyther saved earlier that day, both of them at Scyther's sides, watching him worried. Suddenly Scyther cocked his head up, as the air in the room suddenly grew still. It seemed even the humans noticed this, as a path from Scyther's gaze to a dark, foreboding man, a new arrival to the party, cleared in the crowd.
"Scyther... does that mean Keji beat me here?" the man muttered, walking towards Scyther, each footstep clomping hard on the wooden floor of the room.
"Scy!" Scyther said, jumping to his feet. It was Hunter! Keji's foe!
"What do you want?" the mayor asked shakily from Scyther's side, "We don't want any trouble."
"I don't want much. I merely come here on behalf of Team Rocket to claim your gold mine for the greater good." He replied, a bit of a sneer crossing his lips.
"Our Mine?!" The mayor said, surprised, receiving confused mutterings from around the room, "It's been ours for generations! We can't just..."
"SCYTHER!" Scyther leered at Hunter.
"Pah... you think you can stop me?" Hunter chuckled, pulling out a Pokéball.
"Scy! Scyther scy scy ther ther ther scy Scyther!" Scyther said, pointing on of his blades at Hunter angrily.
"You have no more sense than Keji, I see." Hunter sneered, "Very well, I propose a battle..." he reached out and snatched the little girl from Scyther's side before Scyther could react, and was already out of his blade's range before he finally realized what had happened, "Winner gets to do with these backwards simpletons whatever he wishes." he spun and left the room, chuckling to himself, holding the little girl by the back of her neck with a powerful grip. The girl finally recovered from the shock of what had happened and began to kick and scream.
"SCYYYYYYYY!" Scyther burst out of the room angrily, skidding to a halt in the dirt street outside the Town Hall, facing Hunter, who still had the girl and a Pokéball, one in each hand.
"Since you have only one Pokémon on your side, I propose we make it a one on one match," Hunter chuckled, "Arbok, GO!" he yelled, hurling his Pokéball out, releasing the snake Pokémon, who sneered at his foe.
Scyther bellowed in anger and charged Arbok, who easily avoided each of Scyther's clumsy and poorly thought out attacks. Hunter smiled to himself. He had watched Scyther in action before, from afar, of course. He was hotheaded, and a poor tactician. He would stand no chance in his current battle rage.
Arbok dodged yet another blow, this one throwing Scyther off balance.
"Poison sting." Hunter said, as calm as could be, sounding like he could fall asleep at any moment. He looked around with sadistic glee at the townspeople watching their hero get trounced.
"Aaaarbok!" Arbok hissed, and dove at the exposed Scyther, his fangs gleaming in the setting sun.
"NO!" Keji yelled, tackling Scyther out of the way, Arbok's fangs scratching him, easily tearing through his jacket and shirt, digging a deep wound in his shoulder.
"SCYTHER!" Scyther yelled in surprise, his exclamation lost in the surprised mutterings of the crowd. Arbok landed to the side, and simply watched.
"You... you can't jump into... this battle..." Keji staggered.
Scyther blinked at looked at Keji's shoulder, the deep gash. Arbok made his mark... on the wrong target. Scyther pushed Keji off of him gently and watched his former master, confused, rising to his feet.
"KEJI!" Rei screamed, bursting onto the scene on Ponyta. She leapt off her back and ran to Keji's side, who began to shiver as the poison started to take effect. Ponyta whinnied, Oddish simply laid on her back, still out cold.
"Arbok, Poison Sting!" Hunter said finally.
Scyther spun, his eyes flared red, and swung wide at the snake yet again, and again missed, leaving himself exposed to Arbok, who sunk his fangs into Scyther's shoulder, causing a scream to erupt from the bug Pokémon.
"BOK!" Arbok laughed, leaping aside, avoiding Scyther's clumsy retaliation.
"This is too easy!" Hunter laughed. He squeezed the girls neck just enough to cause her to yelp in pain and surprise.
"Scyther... you... you have to think..." Keji muttered, his head in Rei's lap, barely audible to Scyther, or even Rei now, "Agility... avoid the blows..."
Hunter shook his head. Scyther never listened to Keji, and there was no chance he would start now. He was killing two birds with one stone. He would get the mine, and get rid of Keji, all in one fell swoop! He had wished a more fitting end for Keji, but he would take whatever he got, "Poison sting. Finish it."
Again Arbok lunged. Scyther shook his head, ignoring the poison and pain, and swung for Arbok, and again missed by a mile. Arbok dug his fangs into Scyther's leg, dropping him to one knee, and causing another scream of pain.
"S... Scyther... Agil...i...ty..." Keji said, his voice even weaker now. Rei shivered in fear, running her shaky, worried hands through his hair, dampened with sweat.
Scyther shook his head and looked up. His vision was fuzzy, his head was spinning, and felt like it would tear in two, but one word came through:
Agility.
"Wrap." Hunter yawned.
Arbok leapt at Scyther... but missed him as he seemed to blink out of existence, only to reappear beside Arbok.
"KEJI! HE LISTENED!" Rei said, her shaky voice now excited.
Keji opened his eyes slowly and coughed a bit, "Good... keep... keep dodging... wait for your opening...." They could win this! He needed to stay awake long enough to see Scyther through this.
"Poison sting! Slow it down some more!" Hunter yelled. Apparently the idea that Keji could win crossed his mind as well.
Arbok hissed and lunged at Scyther, who dodged again, landing beside Arbok, and bringing his elbow down to the back of Arbok's head, dropping the snake to the ground with a thud and a groan.
"Qu...ick attack!" Keji said, trying desperately to stay awake.
Suddenly the air around Arbok was a flurry of blades, each cutting shallow, but painful wounds into Arbok.
"Get UP!" Hunter yelled angrily.
"Doub...le... Team..." Keji said, his voice getting weaker every moment. Now he couldn't keep his eyes open, but he was yelling attacks blindly. They had to win this.
Arbok leapt at Scyther, his aim strait and true, yet he missed! His sleek snake form passing in between the two Scythers that now stood before him.
"Sc...yther..." Keji said, his voice fading, "Sl...Slash..." he muttered that one last word before his head falling back into Rei's lap, unable to stay awake anymore.
Both Scyther swung hard at the confused Arbok, both leaving a deep cut in Arbok.
"Bok..." Arbok muttered, falling to the ground.
One of the Scythers vanished, leaving the other one to spin and glare at Hunter, his eyes narrowed.
"Scy..."
The girl was dropped, "Arbok, return." Arbok didn't even disappear completely before the girl was clinging Scyther's leg in fright, "Very nice Scyther." He muttered, spinning, his cape flaring behind him, "This is not over..." he began into the forest.
Yet another cheer rose from the crowd, but Scyther didn't hear it, as he too closed his eyes and dropped to the ground.
"Keji... Keji?" A voice seemed to boom in his head. He flinched at the volume and raised his hands to his ears with a groan, "He's alright!" the voice yelled, even louder, inciting a happy cheer, which rang even deeper and more painfully.
"Keep it down..." he groaned. Suddenly he was lifted into an embrace. He opened his eyes to see that he was in one of two beds in a small room, one occupied by him and Rei (who was now hugging him) and the other by a slumbering Oddish and Scyther, not to mention the entire population of the town in the room looking on with happy, excited faces. Oddish was still being examined in his sleep by a woman in a white nurse dress, "Wha... what happened?"
"Scyther obeyed your commands!" Rei said happily, "And he beat Hunter's Arbok!" she said, hugging Keji tighter. He noticed that she was blushing, and was sure he was too, but he hugged her back anyways.
"How are... Scyther and Oddish?" He asked, pushing Rei away, gently.
The white coated woman put away her stethoscope and looked up, "Scyther took in a lot of poison, but he's very tough, he'll recover quickly. I wouldn't recommend any battles for Oddish any time soon, but he'll be fine as well. "she replied with a peppy smile.
"Wait a minute... Nurse Joy?" Keji asked, confused.
"Yes? Do I know you?" She replied, packing up her belongings.
"Don't you remember Oddish and me from Cerulean?" He asked.
"Oh, you must be talking about my sister from Cerulean... we do look alike I suppose." she smiled, "You should all rest for a day, then you should be well enough to be on your merry ways."
He shrugged and nodded, "Whatever you say, Nurse Joy."
She smiled and walked out of the room, bag in hand, followed by the population of the town, all of them chatting happily about their heroes.
"Keji... I'm glad you're alright." Rei said, not looking at all ready to leave.
Keji nodded and watched her, "Why do you say that?"
"I was worried..." she said, hugging him again, "I was afraid I'd never get to see you again."
Keji frowned, not knowing exactly what to say to that. He wrapped his arms around her and started to rock a bit, noticing her body shivering slightly with tears, but not saying anything. After a moment Keji pulled away and looked at her, though she hid her face from him.
"Rei... thanks for helping me..." he said softly, "and Scyther..." he added quickly, embarrassed. He blinked and watched her, still looking away from him. He slowly reached his hand up, his finger under her chin, bringing her eyes up to meet his. He took a deep breath and leaned in himself, softly brushing his lips against hers, then pulling away. Rei simply blinked and watched him. Neither of them blushed, neither of them said a word, Rei simply stood, and walked out, leaving Keji to wonder just what the heck happened.
Two days passed before Rei would let Keji even think about leaving (and neither of them spoke of what happened, in fact, they acted like nothing did). Yet another day was spent planning their route, which way they would go, the location of the nearest town, etc. But after three days, the group was ready to move out, and the rising sun found Ponyta with Rei, Keji, and a peppy, fully recovered Oddish, on her back, facing Scyther, surrounded by the citizens of Newton.
"Scyther... I suppose this is... goodbye..." Keji said, watching Scyther, fighting off tears.
"Ther..." Scyther muttered. No emotions could be divined from his mood.
"Well... don't get all mushy on me..." Keji muttered spitefully, bringing Ponyta around, and trotting away without another word.
"Scy..." Scyther said, loud enough to cause Keji to look back over his shoulder. Scyther held up one blade in a salute to his former master. Keji blinked a few tears out of his eyes and reared Ponyta around. He didn't want to let Scyther see him cry, as he was doing quite freely now. Rei put a hand on his shoulder sadly, tears flowing from her own eyes now too.
"Goodbye friend..." Keji muttered in his shaky, saddened voice, Ponyta starting into the woods again, parting master from Pokémon, friend from friend.
Scyther blinked, a single tear trickling down his own cheek.
The mayor saw the tear, and put a hand up on Scyther's shoulder, "Scyther... you know where you belong... you belong with the people that need you..."
Many people in the crowd nodded, and Scyther felt a little girl cling to his leg, he looked down, and smiled a bit. He knew what they meant, and he knew he couldn't be sad about the parting that he knew must occur.
Keji heard a distant cheer, but didn't say anything about it. He wasn't crying freely anymore, but his mood, like the moods of his other companions, was down.
For half an hour the group rode in silence, their eyes downcast, their mood dark, until Keji heard a rustling above him.
"Stop..." he said, looking up suddenly, shaking Rei out of her thoughts.
"What is it?" Rei asked, scared.
"I heard something..." Keji replied, looking around.
"You think Hunter's baaaAAAAAAAAA!" Rei's question turned into a scream as something dropped out of the trees and spun to... greet them?
"SCYTHER!" Keji yelled happily, jumping off Ponyta, "What are you doing here?"
"Scy... Scyther scy ther scy scy." He said, crossing his arms and nodding.
"What did he say Keji?" Rei asked, excited.
Keji brushed away a tear, "He said the town people said we needed him more than they did... so he and they decided he was better off with us."
Rei smiled, "Welcome back Scyther."
Keji nodded, climbing back on Ponyta, "What she said bud, welcome home."
Scyther smiled, another tear trickling down his cheek, which Keji saw, but didn't comment on. Scyther followed Ponyta through the woods happily. He knew this was right. He knew this was where he belonged.
And so ends another adventure. It looks like Scyther's got a heart underneath that tough exterior after all... does this mean he'll start following Keji's orders and lead our hero to victory? Probably not...
Catch all the action at Keji's Pokémon Gym!