Chapter 7: Extinction

Ericha continued running on the sidewalk. Tears flowing down her cheeks, leaving a faint trail on the sidewalk. She slows down her pace as she found herself near a playground. She noticed a familiar person sitting on the swing beside a certain Pokemon.

"Blaze!" Ericha shouted, but quickly covered her mouth.

"Ericha!" The Houndour jumped off the swings and ran towards her.

"Blaze, what are you doing outside?" She asked.

"Tristan and Jesselyn took me out for a walk, but Tristan had to use the washroom, and left me here in the park," Blaze answered.

Ericha gave out an annoying huff, "Those two idiots. Saying that they'll take care of him, and just leave him outside."

"So he belongs to you?" Shermar's voice made Ericha jumped. She forgot that he was standing right beside her.

"Y-yeah," She answered still shocked, but she was able to calm down a bit. "What are you doing out here at night?"

"I decided to take a walk away from my family for a while," He answered, with a slight giggle escape his lips. "And I found him sitting on the swings, so I've decided to give him some company."

Ericha stared at Blaze, and then at Shermar. "So you don't mind that he's...you know..."

"Animated?" Shermar finished. "Not at all. I find it amazing that this Houndour came from another world far away from earth."

"Yeah, " Ericha smiled as she looked down at Blaze. "I was surprised myself when it crash landed near my apartment."

"That explains the loud noise I heard when I was walking home that day," Shermar said, thinking back to the time when he's walking home after passing by Ericha. "And the two criminals found unconscious in your house?"

"Yeah that was me," Blaze said, puffing his chest. "If it weren't for my Flash Fire ability, then I would have been burned from the inside out."

"Flash Fire?" Erich turned to the dog with a puzzled looked.

Blaze was about to explain, but Shermar beat him to it. "It's an ability that allows the user to be immune to fire based attacks. When fire makes contact to the user's body, it absorbs the heat, raising its special attack powers."

"Wow," Ericha said in awe. She turned to Blaze. "So if you are in the middle of a forest fire, you would survive it no problem?"

"Unless a tree falls on top of me," Blaze added. "But he's right. That bald guy made me swallow a lighter, as well as putting the stove on. He thought that it would burn me to death, but boy he was wrong."

Ericha visualized her and her family coming home to find not just police cars parked at their apartment, but fire trucks, and a paramedic truck. Plus their apartment burned to the ground.

"Anyway," Shermar interrupted her thoughts. "There's something I wanted to tell you about Blaze."

Ericha and Shermar sat on the swings, while Blaze to explore the playground by climbing up the big slide.

"Do you know what kind of Pokemon Blaze is?" Shermar questioned.

"He told me that he's a Houndour," Ericha answered.

"A Houndour?" Shermar said looking puzzled. "I never heard of a Pokemon called a Houndour."

Ericha's eyes widen in disbelief, "Really? I thought you, out of all the students would know about these things."

"Yeah, I know about all the Pokemon from Kanto, Jhoto, and the Hoenn region, but they didn't mention a Houndour in the games or anime," Shermar stated.

Ericha turned to Blaze who tumbled down the slide and got his head stuck in the sand. Luckily he was able to get it out but had to spit out the substances out of his mouth.

She turned to Shermar, quietly whispered. "So you're telling me that Blaze's species doesn't exist?"

"I don't know," He answered. "Pokemon Emerald just came out last month. So there shouldn't be any new Pokemon to be revealed for a while."

"Maybe in his world, they have tons of Pokemon we haven't heard of," Ericha said.

"That may be true, but what if something happened to his kind when he was born?" Shermar thought out loud.

"What do you mean?" Ericha asked.

"Pokemon are similar to our animals in our world. They have unique ways to gather food, find shelter, and defend themselves and their young ones from predators," Shermar explained.

"So, what does that have to do with his species?" Ericha asked, looking puzzled by his explanation.

"Think about it, what do dinosaurs, dodos, and woolly mammoths all have in common?" Shermar quizzed.

Ericha gave him an odd look for a while and then answered. "They all went extinct..."

She suddenly felt all the puzzle pieces coming together inside her head to reveal an image that made Ericha's heart sank.

It shows Blaze surrounded by corpses of his kind...

Ericha mouth was open, but no words came out. She slowly turned to Blaze who was able to make it at the top of the slide by using his canine teeth to bite the part of the slide.

"So you're saying, that...Blaze's species are...gone?" Ericha asked as she kept staring at Blaze who was on the play structure.

"Well I don't know for sure," Ericha almost fell forward from his answer. "But that would explain why the Houndour's, and it's evolved form wasn't mentioned in any of the games."

"Evolve?"

"ERICHA!"

The two including Blaze turned to find Jesselyn and Tristan running up to Ericha and Shermar. Blaze went down the smaller slide to join the group.

"Tristan! Jesselyn!" Ericha put her hands on her hips. "You two better have a good reason why you left Blaze at the playground."

The two looked at each, hoping that the other would speak. After a couple of silence, Jesselyn steps forward. "Well Tristan needed to use the washroom, so we went to the library. While I was waiting for Tristan, I overheard your so-called "friends," talking about a prank they're gonna pull at the Graduation Dance."

"Yeah, they said that they're going to humiliate this guy so bad that once they upload it on YouTube, he'll won't have any friends in high school," Tristan added.

Ericha felt her rage building up. Not because of Tristan and Jesselyn leaving Blaze alone in the park, but because her friends that she spends so much time over the years are now planning someone else's misfortune.

"Ericha?" She was brought back to reality by Shermar's voice. "Are those two your siblings?"

"Yeah," Ericha turned to the two. "This is my brother Tristan, and my sister Jesselyn."

Jesselyn extended her hand towards Shermar who shook it, "So you must be the boy I've heard about at school. I'm sorry that my older sister has caused so much trouble for you in the past. I always told her that Curtis fellow was no good."

She then held his hand to her chest. "Please, please, please! Be very gentle with her. She'll learn her lesson if you go easy on her."

Hearing that made Ericha face turned red from her sister's comment. Luckily, no one beside Blaze noticed her.

Blaze whispered to Tristan. "Why is Ericha's face turning red?"

"I have no idea," He whispered back.

"A-anyway ," Ericha's hip bumped her sister out of the way. "We better get back home. Our mom will be worried about us for being out this late."

"Oh, well I better get going too," Shermar said. He stood up stretching his back. "See you at school Ericha."

"Bye! Shermar!" Blaze waved as he and the Hames siblings disappeared into the darkness. Shermar sat down on the swings and looked up at the stars glimmering on the night sky.

"Mom! We're home!" Jesselyn announced as she and Tristan raced to the bathroom with Blaze falling behind. Leaving Ericha alone in the living room/ kitchen with her mother who was sitting on the couch.

"Mom?" Ericha gently called out. Shelia turned to her daughter who was surprised when she saw her red, puffy eyes.

"I'm really sorry Mom," Ericha apologized. She sat down beside her Mom who grabbed a tissue and wiped her face.

"No, I'm sorry dear," Sheila sobbed. " I thought that...you were hanging out with those two again, causing you to be late."

Ericha knew that she was talking about Curtis and Anya. Sheila knew that Ashely was a victim into their pranks. Ericha reaches her right arm around her mother's back, giving her a comforting hug. "You were right Mom. Curtis is a big jerk. He's been picking on my friend throughout the school year, and now he's planning on humiliating him at the Graduation Dance."

After a couple of seconds of silence, Sheila stared at her daughter with a shocked look on her face. She wiping away any access tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand. "So that the reason why you want to go to the dance?"

"Yes," Ericha answered without hesitation. A small giggle escapes her lips as she hugs her daughter back. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too Ericha," Shelia whispered.

"Ahem!"

The two turned when they realized that Blaze, Jesselyn, and Tristan were sitting on the opposite side of the couch.

"Um..." Ericha decided to break the silence. "How much did you guys heard?"

"Up until when you explained to Mom about the ultimate prank on your boyfriend," Jesselyn answered.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Ericha angrily shouted. Her cheeks turning red. "He's just a friend."

"That is a boy," Tristan added. The blond haired girl shot a menacing glare at her brother.

Sheila giggled, as she stood up. "Well, I better get supper ready. Ericha, please wash up Blaze's paws for supper."

Ericha nodded her head as she, and Blaze went to the bathroom while Sheila went into the kitchen. Tristan and Jesselyn stared at the remote on the couch and without Sheila noticing, they both ran towards it.

Meanwhile, Ericha helped Blaze onto the counter and turned the tap on for him so he can wash his paws.

"What happened to your mother back there?" Blaze asked looking curious. "Her face looked puffy, and her eyes were red."

Ericha took a moment to create a good excuse, but sighed, and decided to tell him. "While you were gone, my mom and I got into a big fight, and I said something things that hurt her feelings."

"Did you two made up?" Blaze asked.

"Yeah, I told her I was sorry," She answered.

"Well, what a relief," Blaze said as he shook his paws. "I wish my sister was like you. She always pulling mean pranks on me and tried to get rid of me countless times. One time, she tried to mail me to Viridian City."

"Seriously?" Ericha stared at Blaze liked he was kidding.

"Yeah. Fortunately, I got myself out of the package before Delibird could get to our mailbox," Blaze joked.

"Does your mother know about this?" Ericha questioned. Wondering if his sister would be punished for attempting to kill him.

"Yeah she knows, but since were Pokemon, my mother thinks that we were playing," Blaze answered. Erich was dumbfounded by how his mother thought that cramming a puppy into a small box counts as playing.

"But, I'm still faithful to have an older sister like her," Blaze said with a soft smile on his face. At first, Ericha was taken back by his comment but quickly smiled. She was glad that Blaze still loves his older sister, just like she does with Tristan and Jesselyn, who drive her up the wall.

"Ericha?" Her thoughts were once again interrupted as Blaze called out to her. He was already near the door. "Are you coming?"

"Oh um.. I'll be there in a minute," Ericha said. Blaze nodded his head and went to the living room, leaving the blond hair girl alone in the bathroom with her thoughts.

Ericha stared at her reflection in the mirror with a determined look on her face."I won't let you hurt anyone anymore, Curtis."

Curtis was in his room, playing a computer game on the computer. He suddenly sneezed, causing snot to appear on his screen. "Aw man! I've got snot on my screen!"

Next Chapter: Mizella's Adventure on EARTH