A Pallet Pair #3:
Sidetracking, Backtracking, and Backpacking
The people of Viridian City weren't exactly sure what to make of the odd spectacle that appeared out of Viridian Forest.
The least noteworthy of the group was a young girl, about five feet tall, with dull brown, shoulder-length hair and amber eyes, wearing a light sweater thrown over a collared tee shirt and jeans. She wheeled along a beat-up-looking, muddied bike, with a basket hanging on the handlebars and two hanging off either side of the back tire. From one handlebar hung a badly cracked bike helmet. On her shoulder rode one of the stranger members of the party - a small, somewhat thin Eevee with fur that matched the girl's dull brown hair.
Beside the girl walked a boy, slightly shorter than his companion, with red hair that was cut low in front of his ears and high on his forehead. He wore a green jacket over a dull gray tee shirt and jeans. He looked somewhere between eight and ten, which was odd, because his apparent age didn't fit with the serious expression on his face. His body may have looked maybe nine years old, but the look of intent concentration on his face was that of someone two or three times that age. Along with that, there was simply a look to him, something… not… quite… right. Something that, no matter how many double-takes people took, could neither be identified, nor dismissed. In his arms he carried an Eevee much like the one on the girl's shoulder, except that its fur was lighter, and its tail had the appearance of an electrocuted stiff wire brush.
At the girl's side walked a graceful, if limping, Persian. Its sleek ivory coat was dotted with thin lines of red, as if it had just escaped from a harsh battle. It was somewhat tall for a Persian, with long whiskers, longer legs, large and intelligent eyes, silent paws … but no tail. That, too, gained them many second looks.
Around the heels of the two humans and the Persian scampered two other Eevees, one with thick, soft fur, and one with a black, rather than cream-colored, tail tip. Occasionally, the Persian would take one or the other in its mouth, separating the two, but the moment it let go, one of them would pounce on the other. Their squeals and high-pitched growls at one another and the Persian gained them even more attention, as people turned around to see what the fuss was about.
By the time the odd group reached the Viridian City Pokécenter, the girl was no longer that unnoticeable, as her face had turned a color very close to that of the boy's hair.
*
Ivonar Marain sighed in relief as the doors of the Pokécenter closed behind them. "That was the most embarrassing thing I have ever gone through," she moaned. She slipped her backpack off one shoulder, in order to lean against the wall by the door, without injuring the hidden passenger within her pack. "In its own way, that was worse than the Beedrills. At least with the Beedrills, I didn't have to think about all those eyes." She shuddered.
Even without a hint of a smile, Joey "Remmy" Remshaw managed to look amused. "I didn't think you were shy," he teased.
"Shut up," Ivonar told him tolerantly. "Bad enough we had to backtrack our way here. Do you know how much time we must be losing?"
"Time?" he echoed.
"You may not want to, but I want to get my first badge, before Misters 'Nose-in-the-Air' and 'Head-in-the-Clouds' do!" She scowled as she picked up the two Eevees on the ground. The one with the soft fur had been running in and out of the door, amazed at the automatic opening mechanism, while the one with the black tail tip had been more interested in trying to eat her shoelaces. Both complained bitterly at the interruption of their fun. Their complaints upset the Eevee still on Ivonar's shoulders, making her whimper. "Oh, quiet, you crybaby," Ivonar shushed the Eevee on her shoulder. "Cole, Fluffball, you guys behave!" She lugged the protesting Eevees to the front desk, while trying to keep the far-from-agile Eevee on her shoulders from falling off. "Could somebody help me, please?" she called.
A pretty young nurse appeared from a doorway leading further into the clinic. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "We just completed surgery on a Rattata. We had to amputate the poor thing's whiskers on one side of its face. It got attacked by a Fearow, we think. A trainer found it, but they've disappeared. We're not sure what we're going to do with it. Can I help you?"
"I hope so," Ivonar replied. She put the two Eevees she was holding on the counter.
"Oh!" the nurse cried softly. She picked up the one with the black tail tip. "I've never seen one with a black tail tip before. Why are these poor things so thin?"
"We found them in a den in the forest," Ivonar replied, nodding slightly toward Remmy. "They… lost their mother."
"Oh…" The nurse cuddled the Eevee she was holding, but all he did was squirm.
"Cole doesn't like cuddling much," Ivonar told her. She ran her hand down the back of the thick-furred Eevee. "Fluffball likes it more, but Sweetie and Static are the real cuddly ones." She took the Eevee off her shoulders and gave it a loving squeeze. The Eevee burst into a high, growlish purr, which sounded vaguely like "Yeeyeeyee!" "Aren't you, Sweetie?" The Eevee trilled even as she purred, and rubbed her cheek against Ivonar's.
"They're obviously very fond of you," the nurse admitted, "but I think they should stay here for awhile. They look undernourished. They're probably low on a lot of nutrients. What have you been giving them since you found them?"
"Well… uh…" Ivonar felt a little silly. "We gave them milk when we first found them, and they've had normal Pokémon food for a couple of days."
The nurse nodded reassuringly. "You did the right thing, considering what you had on hand. They'll need a special Pokémon food for infants for another month or so, though. You don't have any, do you?" Ivonar shook her head. "I didn't think you would. Most trainers are good enough not to steal infants from dens or nests, but you didn't steal them did you?" Ivonar shook her head, a little upset at the idea. "I'm not trying to accuse you," the nurse apologized. "I'm just thinking out loud. I'm sorry. Most trainers don't carry infant food. I'll be happy to give you enough for them. You did the right thing."
"Thanks," Ivonar said, smiling as best she could. "I'd also like to have my Pokémon healed. We got into a big fight with this Beedrill's nest, and none of them are in good shape. Not even Manx here, and he's the best off, besides Nuisance."
"What happened to his tail?" the nurse asked, frowning.
Ivonar shrugged. "He lost it back when he was a Meowth. It didn't grow back when he evolved. We've had him for about two years or so. That's how long he hasn't had a tail."
"Oh. Okay."
"The real problems are Ratzy - my Rattata - and Pidge - my Pidgey. Ratzy got poisoned by too many stings, and Pidge was burned when Char - my Charmander - helped capture him, and when he fought against the Beedrills, I think his burn got infected."
"We'll see what we can do," the nurse assured her, smiling. Then she looked at Remmy. "How about you?"
He took out two pokéballs. "Well, my Bulbasaur's a little exhausted, and my Pidgey's missing a lot of tail feathers. My Spearow's okay - he isn't very nice, but he's not hurt or tired."
"All right."
Ivonar reached into the pouches in her belt, pulling out the five occupied pokéballs. "My Charmander's exhausted, too," she said. "My Fearow seems okay, but I think she's a little tired out, too. And do you think you can do something about Manx's cuts?"
The nurse sighed heavily. "Four undernourished Eevees, a poisoned Rattata, one Pidgey with an infected burn, another with missing tail feathers, a Persian who needs treatment for cuts, and three cases of exhaustion?" She frowned a little. "We can treat that, but that'll take most of our personnel who aren't already busy."
"I'm sorry," Ivonar apologized.
"It's not your fault," the nurse told her.
"Yes it is," Ivonar disagreed. "See, I was the stupid one who thought I could get a Kakuna from the Beedrills. All my Pokémon are hurt because of me."
"They're all hurt, and you didn't get a Kakuna?" The nurse sounded upset.
"I did get the Kakuna," Ivonar told her, patting her backpack. "I wish I didn't though. If I hadn't been stupid, they wouldn't have gotten hurt and we wouldn't have had to backtrack back here. We're from Pallet Town."
The nurse smiled again. "Don't worry," she said. "The fact that you're sorry, and that you were willing to come back to get them treated, proves that you are responsible. I admit, raiding a Beedrill's nest was probably the stupidest thing you could've done…" Ivonar cringed; she knew that already! "…but you're making up for it now. The only thing is… the Rattata without its whisker. When it wakes up, it needs to be helped a bit, to adjust. Rattatas are dependent on their whiskers for balance. The poor thing will need to be helped around for awhile, until it gets used to only having whiskers on one side."
"We could do that," Remmy said.
"Could you?" the nurse asked, sounding hopeful.
"Of course we could!" Ivonar agreed. "After all, you're being so nice and helping us, why shouldn't we help you?"
"That's wonderful!" the nurse said. She put the pokéballs into a tray, then clicked her tongue a little. "Come on, pretty Persian. We'll get you some ointment on those cuts, so they heal right up. And we'll check out that limp of yours, too."
Manx snorted a little, stood up, and stretched, yawning. Ivonar gave him a quick rub on the head. "You make sure those guys behave, okay, Manx?" Ivonar told him. He leaned into her hand, demanding an ear tickle. She chuckled, and obliged. "Make sure those Eevees don't give anybody any trouble. We'll be back when everybody's feeling better, okay?" He snorted again, and stalked over to the nurse. A rough purr burst from his throat as he rubbed back and forth against her legs. Ivonar pouted a little, then got over it. She was getting along better with Manx than she ever had before. Just because he'd never purred for her…
"Come on, you two," the nurse told them as she lifted the tray with their pokéballs. "I'll take you to your patient."
*
"Rata?"
Groggily, the Rattata opened his bright red eyes. "Poor guy," a human murmured.
He sat up - then fell over. Confused, he got himself upright again, laying on his stomach. He tried to sit up again, only to find that the world was skewed heavily to the right, but almost non-existent on the left. He lay down again, whimpering slightly. He rubbed at his ears in frustration. What was wrong? Why did the world tilt like this? He rubbed at his face - and stopped.
The left side of his face… it wasn't right.
With the back of his right paw, he rubbed at his left cheek. There was a piece of material there - a Band-Aid, a word he didn't know, he just knew it felt like a leaf of some sort, but that it was stuck to his face.
His… his whisker! Where was it?
He rubbed at his face again with both paws. The right one was still there, but not the left. Why?
He remembered vague things… a flash of orange fur and fire… a growl, a roar, a bark… he whimpered, laying down with his chin on his paws. Vaguely, he remembered pain that he no longer felt, wounds that he no longer had. His face twitched. It felt heavy, on the right side. That was why the world tilted; his face was heavier on the right, so he was leaning that way. The left side of existence seemed… numb. Vague.
A gentle hand brushed against his head. "Poor thing," the same human voice said. "Your world feels sideways, don't it?"
"Ra," he agreed, sniffing a little. He felt his teeth with his tongue… uh-oh, he'd chipped one. The left was shorter than the right. What had it been, that had wrecked the left side of him? His whisker, and his tooth… his tail felt kind of stiff, too, but at least that was still there.
Fire. Orange fur. A growl, a blaze of light, something ramming him…
The memories weren't clear, as if they had happened long ago. Had he been sleeping long? Where was his mate? He tried to sit up again, this time using his eyes rather than his whiskers to get his bearings straight. Humans liked horizontal lines; he had to make the lines he could see horizontal. It made him dizzy, to fight against what his remaining whisker told him.
Why did he have only one whisker?
Why hadn't they just taken off both, instead of leaving him like this?
He swayed sideways; a gentle hand, a nice hand, a good, human hand, held him up until the horizontal lines were horizontal again. "He seems to be getting it," a new human voice said.
"I can't help but feel sorry for him," the first one said. "I mean, the whole world must seem off-balance."
"Or at least askew," the second voice agreed. Another hand ran down his back, again and again, gentle, unthreatening. "He seems to be adjusting pretty well."
"No he's not. He's just sitting there staring at the wall over there."
Cautiously, he tried looking to the left, toward where things didn't seem real. The human he could see there was brown-haired and amber-eyed - that was all he got before he started to fall forward. He yelped, but the human moved a quick, strong hand to catch him. Its mouth moved. "It's okay," the first voice said, gently. "Take your time. This'll take some getting used to, until it grows back."
The gentle hand on his back continued to stroke his fur, but it wasn't the hand of the human he could see, the one who had one hand supporting him from the front, and one brushing the fur on his head. The hands were so nice… they smoothed his fur gently, in the right direction, soothingly. For the moment, he let himself relax. He was in a human place, but these humans were good humans. Not like the one who had been with the orange blur. Not the one whose harsh, high laugh had been the last sound before… whatever… what hit him…
He had to go home! What if that cruel pair had attacked his mate, his nest? He struggled to stand up, focusing on that one horizontal line. He walked forward gingerly, as if walking on hot sand. He came to the edge of the… thing… he was on. The floor was three times his height down. No problem. He leaped.
The floor came quickly, slamming into him. With a squeal of pain, he crashed, legs splayed, head knocking against the floor.
The humans were there immediately, the one he'd seen getting him on his feet again, the other helping to straighten out his legs and tail, but always, their hands were so gentle, so careful. He'd always been suspicious of humans; was this what he had been wary of? Had he been silly to be worried?
No. A human had commanded that orange demon. He had to be careful. He had to be wary. One of these humans might set the orange blur on him again. He stiffened himself to their gentle touches and their soft petting. He bared his teeth at them warningly.
"Oh, come on!" the first voice chided him. "How is it our fault you didn't stick the landing?"
True, it wasn't their fault he hadn't landed on his feet… he lowered his lips, but his ears remained laid back against his skull. For now, he would allow them to help him, so long as they seemed to help. But one suspicious move, one hint of betrayal, and he didn't care if he had to run on vertical ground - he was gone.
*
As soon as the Rattata seemed ready, the threesome wandered outside. A few people glanced at the lopsided, drunken-walking Rattata, but not nearly as many as had looked at them when they came into town with the four Eevees.
"Maybe you should bring that poor thing to the Pokécenter," a woman holding a child by each hand suggested.
"That's where we were just from," Remmy assured her. "We're trying to help it adjust to only having one whisker."
The woman frowned a little, but moved on.
"He seems to be trying to get somewhere," Ivonar said, frowning a little.
"Maybe he's trying to get home," Remmy suggested.
"That's… possible." She smiled down at the Rattata. "You want to go home, huh?"
The Rattata looked back at them, his head cocked to the side, in confusion and surprise (and from the fact that the world seemed less confusing with his head at an angle). He squeaked a little, then continued on. He started to stagger right, then forced himself left again, but always headed toward the forest.
"Come here, Rahta," Ivonar murmured kindly, picking him up. She pet his head gently. "I'll give you a break. You obviously don't want to stay in town."
Remmy grinned. "Naming him?"
Ivonar smiled. "We can't just call him 'him' and 'he', can we? Doesn't he deserve a name?" Then her smile faded. "I decided," she said. "I'm going to give you Ratzy."
"You are?" he said, surprised. He'd made that offer, sure she wouldn't take him on it. "Why?"
"Well, two reasons," she replied as she continued to smooth down the fur between Rahta's ears. "For one, I don't feel right about keeping all four of the Eevees without you getting something in return. For another, when my Kakuna hatches, I want to keep the Beedrill." Then she frowned, obviously thinking of another reason. "And, besides that… with Manx, I already have a normal Pokémon. You have a couple birds and Saurus. You need a normal Pokémon."
"I do, do I?" he said, raising his right eyebrow skeptically.
"You can't back out of every fight you come across," she retorted. "And besides, don't you want to go back with at least a couple of badges?" He shrugged. "I saw you fight against Samurai. Joey Remshaw, you have a talent."
He shrugged again. "I don't know," he said. "I just… don't care, really. I don't want to fight my Pokémon. It doesn't seem fair to them."
"They like it!" He shrugged yet again. She groaned, rolling her eyes. She put Rahta on the ground. "You are as hopeless as Manx!" He grinned. She rolled her eyes again. "I just don't get you. Either of you."
The Rattata started off down the path, quicker now, since he was getting used to how the world seemed a little lopsided. He managed to walk in more of a straight line. Ivonar and Remmy followed, keeping quiet as the Rattata walked, then paused, sniffing the air, and continued. Finally, after a few minutes, he crawled under a bush. Almost immediately, he started whimpering.
"What's wrong?" Ivonar fell to her knees, peering under the bush. The Rattata pawed at what looked like a caved-in den, similar to the Eevees'.
"Ra?" he whimpered, peering through the bushes around the den. He crawled out again, turning his head this way and that. "Ra? Tata-ra?"
*
The humans didn't understand, but he saw it too clearly.
She had left. She'd taken the two little ones, collapsed the den, and left.
Whimpering, he tried catching her scent, but what traces of it he could find were faint, old. Where had she gone? Where would she go? Had she seen what had happened - was that why she'd left? Did she think that what had attacked him was going to come after their little ones? Why hadn't she at least waited to see if he would return - or had he been asleep longer than he thought he had been, and she had waited? Tears stung his eyes, but he blinked them away: bad enough the missing whisker set him off-balance. He didn't need to be blinded by tears, too.
He shouted for her, abandoning caution. The humans were here: if he was lucky, and that orange blur came back, they would protect him. If he was truly lucky, the blur was gone, and she would return. He shouted, again and again, over and over.
No orange blur came to finish what it had started, but she did not appear, either. A different male answered challengingly. He cringed, and fell silent; he did not want to fight over now worthless den-space, especially not in the condition he was in. All he wanted was to know if she was all right, if the little ones were safe. He wanted to know where they were.
But all he knew was that they were gone.
He moaned, pushing his ears over his eyes, and cowered in sheer defeat. No! No! He'd held on for them! Where were they? How could they leave? Where could they be? Where? Where?
"Where!" he screamed in his own language, throwing his head back. "Where are you?!"
In reality, it sounded like he screeched, "Reeeeeeeee!" Ree ah tah tah!!" Both humans jumped, not expecting him to scream. Getting over her surprise quickly, the first human knelt down beside him and placed a gentle hand on his back. She frowned sympathetically, but remained silent. He whimpered pitifully, tears streaming from his eyes. The second human remained silent; the first said nothing as she remained still, kneeling down, with her hand resting comfortingly on his back. After a few minutes, he leaned against the first human's leg, weeping silently.
There was nothing left for him here.
Getting control of his tears, he looked up at the first human. Tears stung her eyes, too. Did she really feel so much for him to cry when he cried? How could a human care so much for someone who distrusted her?
Deciding, he crawled onto her knees, into her lap. He buried his face in her torso.
If she could care so much, so could he.
And, maybe, someday… he would find her again, with this human to help him.
Then, low in his throat, he growled, almost silently, baring his teeth to her cloth coverings, where no one could see.
And maybe, someday… he would face that orange demon and its human master, and his master and he would make them pay.
*
"Looks like you got another Pokémon," Remmy said quietly.
Ivonar couldn't get over the surprise of having the one-whiskered Rattata crawl in her lap, when only a couple hours earlier he'd been baring his incisors at her. "I… guess so," she murmured, still dazed. She put her hand on Rahta's head.
He looked up at her. His eyes were blazing, angry. She removed her hand. He tossed his head, putting it back into her palm, then started to tip to that side. She chuckled a little as she got him upright again. "None of that yet," she chided him, but she kept her hand on his head. "They're not here, huh?" she murmured, rubbing his head gently. He closed his eyes, the last remnants of his tears falling from them. "I'm sure they're okay." Gently, she picked him up, wrapping her arm around his ribs and between his front legs, as she'd once carried Manx, when he was still a Meowth. Her elbow pressed gently but firmly against his hindquarters, holding them up. Rahta's tail rested against his hindquarters, rather than being held in the air, as it should have been. It would be some time before the Rattata could bear to hold his tail high again.
*
There was a big commotion when they returned to Viridian City.
"What's going on?" Ivonar demanded of a person running by.
It was one of the children who had been with the woman who had asked them about the Rattata. "The Pokécenter blowed up!" the child screamed gleefully, then continued running.
"It what?!" Ivonar screeched. She and Remmy sprinted into the city. Rahta's eyes went wide as he felt Ivonar's elbow dig into his hip, trying to keep him from slipping out of her grip. Then she shifted him to her chest, holding him in place with two arms instead of one, so that he'd be more comfortable. Still, his drooping tail was now bushed out, and his ears were laid back, sure signs of how spooked the humans' fear had him.
The two trainers ran straight for the column of smoke that billowed from near the center of the city. They didn't slow down one inch a second the entire way. Their horror and worry for their Pokémon made exhaustion irrelevant. It didn't matter that they shouldn't have been able to run so far so fast without fainting: it mattered that something may have happened to Char, Manx, Nasty, Nuisance, Pi, Pidge, Ratzy, Ro, Saurus, and the Kakuna, not to mention all their gear.
In spite of the child's bad grammar, the kid hadn't lied: the Pokécenter had, quite literally, blowed - er, blown - up. Only smoking ruins remained.
"Nuisance!" Ivonar screamed, racing forward. "Manx!"
"Ivonar!" Remmy grabbed her arm, swinging her backwards. "You can't go in there!" he shouted at her.
"What about Manx and Nuisance?" she demanded harshly. "What about Saurus and Char?"
"I'm worried too, but we can't go in there!" he snapped in reply. "If they're okay, what good will it do them if you hurt yourself?"
"What do you mean, 'if they're okay'?" she shouted. "The whole thing is shrapnel! Destroyed! How could they be okay-"
"… unless they weren't in there?"
"-unless they weren't in there!" Ivonar shouted, then turned. "Huh?"
She was surprised to have something heavy ram into her leg. A rough grunt greeted her from below. She looked down, her mouth falling open in surprise and relief. "Manx!" She knelt down, spilling Rahta on the ground, and wrapped the tailless Persian in her arms, holding him as tight as she could. "You're okay!"
"Prrt," he agreed roughly, the sound bordering on a brief purr. He put a paw on her shoulder, as if to push her away, but didn't apply any pressure. He was embarrassed, not ungrateful.
"I have your pokéballs here," the person who'd spoken before said. Ivonar looked up at a person in a nurse's uniform, someone she didn't recognize. "Nurse Joy is dealing with your Eevees right now. She's at the Pokémart, trying to explain what happened to the store owner, and get that Pokémon food she promised you." She held a tray of pokéballs in each hand; the tray in her left hand had six pokéballs, while the one in her right had three.
"What about our stuff?" Ivonar asked. "I had a Kakuna in my backpack. And my bike!"
The nurse frowned. "I don't know about your bike," she said, "but I'm sure we can replace it if it was damaged. But I think someone took your backpacks before the explosion."
"What happened?" Remmy asked.
"Too much electricity from far too many Pikachus," the nurse replied. "I think the trainer responsible for the Pikachu who wasn't one of the Pokécenter's has left. I always thought we had too many Pikachus." She looked at each of them. "Do either of you want a Pikachu?"
Ivonar looked pointedly at Remmy. He frowned. "Why?"
The nurse frowned, looking left and right before answering quietly, "I think we have far too many Pikachus here at the Viridian Pokécenter. We use them in case of electrical outages. But look what happened when we did! One extra shouldn't have done so much damage. We'll have to put a few up for adoption. Obviously, they've gotten too strong."
Remmy sighed, looking at Ivonar's smug expression. "I think we can each take one," he replied.
Ivonar's expression immediately went from smug to upset. But-"
Remmy turned to her, grinning his rare grin. He laughed. "Eevee, you can't keep every Pokémon you get! How many do you have now, and how many have you sent to Professor Oak? Let's see - you've got four Eevees, Manx, Nuisance, a Pidgey, a Fearow, a Rattata - two, technically - a Kakuna, a Caterpie, and a Charmander. Twelve Pokémon - thirteen, technically. And you have sent one to Professor Oak." He laughed again. "What happened to the rule where you're only supposed to carry six?"
Ivonar chuckled in spite of herself. Manx, having had enough of the mushiness, shoved against her shoulder with his paw, and went nose-to-nose with Rahta, a dangerous, bemused look on his face.
*
What're you looking at? he snapped at the big cat.
The cat smiled smugly at him. I don't know, he replied slowly. Dinner, maybe.
Just you try, he snarled.
The cat just chuckled. You're wounded, and off-balance, he purred. Why shouldn't I eat you?
Because I have nothing to lose, he replied coldly, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
The cat looked impressed. An interesting reason, he said. And what has made you lose everything besides your life?
An orange demon, with flame and pain, he replied. A fire creature with fur, and sharp teeth.
The smug smile left the Persian's face completely. A fire creature? he echoed, his smugness gone from his voice as well. One of my size, with teeth like my claws? The cat unsheathed his claws for a moment, to show him, before sheathing them again. He nodded wordlessly. The cat scowled, his ears rotating slightly backwards. I knew of a demon like that once, when I was your size, he said darkly. That demon cost me my tail, and my home. It cost me my brothers and mother. When I was finally able to search for them, they were gone, their scents old.
He nodded slightly in sympathy. These humans and I just came back from my den. My mate collapsed it, taking my little ones with her. Their scents are unfollowable. They have been gone too long.
Then you and I have something in common, rat.
It seems so, cat.
Which human do you follow?
The one with amber eyes and dull brown hair.
The smile returned to the cat's face, but the smugness was not as strong. She's a bit of a bother, but means well enough, the cat told him. She is an adequate master, but must be kept in her place. Be sure not to follow too easily. She expects too much when you do. Be stubborn. Don't always do what you're told.
You deal with mastership your way, cat, Rahta told him firmly. I will deal with it mine.
Manx simply smiled in return. Do as you wish, he replied, yawning. It means little to me. If you are not my dinner, little rat, then you are hardly my concern.
Rahta smiled as well. Cats were inherently smug and self-centered, but this one seemed well enough. He followed the same master, which meant they were duty-bound to aid one another, and they had something in common.
Perhaps he had made a good choice after all.
*
While the Rattata and the Persian got to know one another - though none of the humans could understand the exchange, the fact that neither were trying to hurt the other was taken as a good sign - Remmy and Ivonar got their pokéballs organized. Ivonar handed over Ratzy's pokéball after giving him a hug goodbye, and five straight minutes of apologies. Then they followed the nurse to where their stuff had been relocated - a back room in the Pokémart. Around the packs, the four Eevees ran among at least a dozen Pikachus, trying to capture tails and tackle the rodents that outweighed them by at least twice. Some put up with the young Eevees' playfulness; others swatted them away. One was desperately trying to corral the Eevees together, but wasn't having much luck. "Pikapi!" it cried helplessly to Remmy and Ivonar. "Pi, pika pika pipichi!"
Ivonar laughed. "Hang on. Manx, come on!"
The Persian loped into the room. "Prrrrsh," he grunted, sitting down. Immediately, all four pairs of oversized Eevee ears perked up, and all four Eevees ran to him, mewling. The Pikachu slid off its feet, sighing heavily.
Remmy grinned, rubbing the Pikachu's head. "They're a handful, aren't they?"
"Pi," the Pikachu agreed, smiling tiredly.
The nurse came in. Immediately, all of the Pikachus lined up neatly in two rows. "Okay, you can each pick a Pikachu," she said. To the Pikachus, she added, "I'm sorry, but after what happened, I don't think all of you can stay with us. These two have proven to be very capable trainers, and I trust you to be in good hands with them. They'll be picking two of you to take with them. If there are any of you who really, really don't want to be taken, move to the back row. Any of you who would not mind being taken, move to the front row."
There was some shuffling around, as several of the Pikachus switched rows. Soon, an even number stood forward as stood back, but a lot of them were in different places than they had been originally.
Remmy crouched down in front of the fourth Pikachu in the front line. "We could use another babysitter," he said with a grin. "They'll learn to listen if they get used to you. Want to try it?"
The Pikachu - the same one which had only moments before been trying to get the Eevees to behave - smiled a little skeptically, then trained a tolerant eye on the Eevees. Cole came up to the Pikachu, looking at it with equal skepticism, before bursting into a smile. "Eee!" he said, crouching down playfully.
"Pika pi," the Pikachu said, reaching out to ruffle the fur on Cole's head. Cole gave it a dirty look, and tried to tackle it. The Pikachu fell backwards, tossing Cole in the air above it. Cole giggled as he went in the air three times, before the Pikachu put him back down. Fluffball, not one to miss out on some fun, ran up, squeaking protests against being treated unfairly.
Ivonar giggled. "Looks like you guys are set." Then she frowned. "I'm afraid any Pikachu I take will have to go back to Professor Oak," she said. "You probably won't get to battle much. Are there any of you who'd just like to retire?"
The Pikachus in the front row looked at each other, none of them willing to really accept that. They'd stood in the front row because they wanted to be trained!
Finally, one of the Pikachus in the second row pushed forward. It was the oldest of them, a big, no-nonsense crab of a mouse the others knew better than to get in the way of. It crossed its arms, scowling harshly. "Pi, pi, kapi chi chika pikachu," it snapped. "Pichi pikapi chipi picha."
Manx burst out snickering. Sweetie looked at the Pikachu in utter shock. Static, Cole, Rahta, and Fluffball all looked at the Pikachu with equal disbelief. The other Pikachus glared at it disapprovingly, but quickly looked away before the older Pikachu could catch them.
The most literal translation of its words would be, "If you can promise that I won't have to lift a paw for you, fine. If not, then you can take whatever pokéball you were gonna put me in and shove it up your butt."
"It says that if you promise it won't have to battle, it'll go with you," the nurse told Ivonar, choosing a more loose translation. That Pikachu had been nothing but grief from the moment they got it. He wasn't overly strong, electrically, but liked to push the others around physically. She felt a little ashamed, but she couldn't deny that she'd be happy to see someone else have to deal with it.
Ivonar raised her right hand. "I swear."
The Pikachu nodded once. "Pika," it agreed curtly.
Ivonar put out a pokéball, enlarging it first. The Pikachu walked forward, punching the button with its paw. The Pikachu disappeared in a glow of red light. Then the pokéball turned white, and vanished.
"Okay then," Ivonar said, smiling as she rubbed Manx's head. He glared at her tolerantly, then winced as Static tried climbing up his back. "Is everything set?"
"I don't see your bike anywhere," Remmy pointed out.
"I guess it didn't survive," the nurse murmured, frowning. "That's okay. I'm sure the garage where the Pokécenter kept its bikes is still intact. They'll let you two have some. Here." She reached into her apron, and pulled out two slips of paper. "These are vouchers. Give them to the garage attendant, and he'll give you a pair of bikes."
"I didn't have a bike, though," Remmy told her, frowning.
The nurse smiled. "That's okay. We won't need them until the Pokécenter's rebuilt, anyway."
Ivonar looked out the window. "I can't believe a bunch of Pikachus did all that."
"Neither can I," the nurse said. "But they did. Good luck with yours, young man. Good luck, both of you."
"Wait - is there a gym here?" Ivonar asked.
The nurse nodded. "Of course there is," she replied. "The Viridian Gym is very famous for its difficulty."
"In other words, I think we'd better come back later," Remmy said.
"Nonsense," Ivonar told him. "Where's your sense of adventure?"
"I forgot to pack it," he replied, completely straight-faced.
*
"Closed?!"
Ivonar banged on the door in frustration. "What do you mean, closed?!" she shouted at the sign on the door.
It hung there, an off-white, askew piece of cardboard, the single word written in tall, black letters.
CLOSED, it screamed at them.
Ivonar groaned in complete aggravation. "We come back all this way, totally off track, and it's closed?!"
"We didn't come for the gym," Remmy reminded her, rubbing the fur between Sweetie's ears. She didn't like him as much as she liked Ivonar, but that was okay. "We came for your Pokémon."
She sighed, leaning her forehead on the door. "I know," she muttered. "We brought them here only to almost have them killed with the stupid center blowing up. I wanted to make it up to them."
"I don't think Manx minds," Remmy pointed out, looking at the Persian. "Do you, Manx?"
"Prrt," the Pokémon agreed, even as he placed a heavy paw on Cole's tail, to keep him from biting their new companion's tail. He gave the Pikachu a pointed look, one that read, you owe me one.
"Chia," the Pikachu grinned. She'd taken a liking to the name Remmy had given her, and used it whenever she could. She whirled to protect her tail from a fuzzier attacker, tackling Fluffball gently, and tossing her in the air. Fluffball squealed, kind of disappointed to have missed her target, but just as gleeful for the even better game.
Ivonar shifted the pack on her back with another sigh. "We should just leave," she muttered. "Go and get those bikes and head for Pewter City, I guess. That's the next closest gym, I think."
"Sure you don't want to hike it for awhile?" he asked. "Y'know, just backpack."
"Are you kidding?" she demanded. "Didn't you hear that nurse? That guy who destroyed the Pokécenter was a trainer! I am not letting any trainer get ahead of me!" He grinned. "What?"
He shook his head, still grinning. "Nothing."
"Don't tell me nothing!"
"Your ears turn red when you get angry."
Her hands flew to her ears. "What?!"
He shrugged a little. "You asked. Come on, Chia."
"Chee," the Pikachu snickered, hurrying after her trainer, waving her tail to the Eevees. Cole quickly followed. Fluffball ran to catch up, with Static at her heels. Manx trotted along after the Eevees.
"Who asked you," Ivonar grumbled at the Pikachu, dragging her heels as she took up the rear of the procession.
As she passed through the fence surrounding the deserted gym, Ivonar stopped. She suddenly had this feeling, as if someone was watching her. Slowly, she turned around.
In the window on the top floor, a pair of long, cold eyes stared at her. She felt her blood run cold: never before had she seen such angry, bitter eyes. No glare Manx had ever given her even approached the boundless fury in that harsh, utterly joyless stare. She felt cold, drained. A shadow of despair and fear fell over her.
Those eyes…
For a moment, the furious eyes brightened, slowly, to glow a vague blue, when suddenly - they were just gone.
"Ivonar?"
She screamed, whirling.
Remmy's frown deepened into a scowl. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Ivonar turned back.
The eyes were gone.
She shivered, head to foot. "Let's just go," she whispered, barely able to breathe.
Ivonar's chill from the feel of those terrible eyes on her soon spread to the others. Remmy's scowl cemented to his face. Manx slowed his pace, taking up a discreetly protective position at her side. The Eevees stopped prancing about their heels, calming down. Sweetie cowered in Remmy's arms, then leaped to Ivonar's shoulders, curling her tail around her neck protectively. Cole whimpered softly as he huddled close to Chia; Fluffball and Static took up positions in the protected space between Manx's four silent paws. The feeling of dread became so thick that Manx growled slightly, and unsheathed his claws.
Something had happened, and he had missed it. That upset him.
He would not miss anything more.
Don't ask about the title - I just liked it. I tried to make it make sense - honest I did! ;-)