The Pokemon Fighting Ring
"Are we there yet?" Kameron asked, in a sarcastic, almost weary manner.
"Of course not," I replied. "You're the one with the compass anyway."
Kameron sighed. He was bored with walking, as was Maki. The Makimur had picked up a flower from somewhere and was carrying it in his mouth, almost falling over it. It was almost comical.
Clouds broiled in the sky. It had been a couple of days since we had left Cumulupus, the beautiful Cloud Wolf behind, two days of trudging towards the distant Lake Eerie. I had heard strange things about the lake, about how it got its name. Some said it was haunted. The first time I had gone there, the village on its shore was being bothered by some type of water beast stealing their food. It had turned out to be a vaporeon, which I had captured. We were going to investigate an archaelogical site on its northern shore, where a strange fossil had been discovered.
Suddenly Kameron paused. "I hear something," he hissed.
I paused too, and could hear something whimpering.
"Something around here is hurt!" He exclaimed. "We have to find it."
"Where's Maki?" I asked.
"Oh crikes, the little rat's run off again!" Kameron muttered.
I turned a fearsome gaze on him. "He is not a little rat and he has not run off, he's just investigating, ok?"
Kameron took a step back. "Yes oh great fearsome one."
"Maki maki maki!" Maki suddenly came running past, a female Nidoran running after him. When she came close to us, Spike turned to her and growled. The female Nidoran dropped to a crouch and growled back.
"Shoo!" Kameron chased the challenging female away. Spike strutted back and forth as though he had scared her away. "Hey, here it is!" He scooped and picked up something that was lying concealed in a scrubby bush. "It's an Eevee!"
And so it was, a tiny, greyish Eevee lay in his arms, shivering and trying to bury its nose in his armpit.
"It's hurt!" He exclaimed, and I leaned over to investigate.
Its foreleg had a cut running around the entire circumference, as though someone had tied a very tight piece of string about it. The skin about the wound was worn free of here and an ugly blackish-red.
"Poor wee mite," I mumurred. "I guess someone did this to it."
"Yeah," Kameron agreed. "How could they? How could someone do this to a poor little Eevee?"
I shrugged, then noticed Spike was staring up at me, trying to get my attention. "You don't think its from the same place Spike came from, do you?"
"Nido, nidoran."
"I think that's a yes," Kameron replied. "Spike me ol' friend, was your old home near here?"
Spike paused a moment, scented the air, then nodded.
"Could you take us there?" I asked him.
The Nidoran looked at me, nodded, then shook his head furiously.
"He can, but won't," Kameron translated.
"I gathered as much. Come on, let's get this wee guy to a Pokecentre. I think we need to talk to Officer Jenny too."
Luckily we were relatively near a city, and we managed to make it in there by nightfall.
"We cannot have people treating Pokemon like that," Officer Jenny replied. "We must find this place. Can you take me there, Nidoran? Eevee?"
Spike looked at her for a long time, then nodded briskly, glancing up at us. Eevee was still cowering in Kameron's arms. It seemed to have taken quite a liking to him. It was frightened of me, the Officer, even Nurse Joy, although its wound had been mostly healed now, the fur was still missing around it.
"I'll investigate later today kids," she said. "I've just got a couple of things to work out first. I'll get back to you tonight, and return your Nidoran."
"Wait," I interjected, "you mean we don't get to come with you?"
"This is Police work, not child's play," she replied.
"You have to let us come," Kameron interrupted. "Nidoran won't behave without Kat around."
"And Eevee won't leave Kameron's side."
"Ok, ok, I know when I'm bet. You two can come along, but you're to stay away from the action, alright?"
"Of course." We chimed in unison.
"Nidoran!" Spike agreed.
The Police wagon bounced along the rough country road. Kameron and I sat together in the front seat, beside Officer Jenny. We couldn't sit in the back, because a very large Arcanine was lying there, lazily. Maki watched it nervously from the back of the seat. He had been very quiet, I think he was a bit daunted by what was happening. Spike sat in my lap, his front hooves balanced on the dashboard. Every now and then he would say "Nido!" or "Ran!", which he had been instructed to use for "left" and "right" respectively.
Suddenly he growled, low in his throat, in a most menacing fashion. Eevee, already curled up on Kameron's lap, drew itself up inside his trenchcoat.
Officer Jenny stopped the wagon. "I think this is the place, kids," she stated.
We peered out the window at a grimy barn, almost hidden behind an overgrown hedge. Spike growled from my knee. I knew this had to be the place. Officer Jenny stepped out of the wagon and opened the back door so Arcanine could jump out. Jenny cautioned us behind her as we walked towards the hedge. There was a ricketty wooden gate set in it.
"You kids stay here," she cautioned us, "I think I can handle the rest myself."
"Yes madam," I muttered. I glanced at Kameron and he grinned at me.
"Good," Officer Jenny replied. We sat down by the gate and watched her walk down the overgrown path. It looked as though noone had been here for years. The grass was overgrown and the path was covered in dead leafs.
"I can't believe she made us wait out here," I muttered.
"Nido," Spike muttered in agreement.
"Where's Maki?" Kameron suddenly asked.
I then realised I hadn't seen the little Lemur for sometime. "I guess we'd better go find him then," I replied. "We shouldn't shout out, we might alert them to our presence."
"My thoughts entirely," Kameron nodded. "We can't let him wander around all alone. Something might happen to him."
"And Officer Jenny certainly can't blame us for searching for a missing Pokemon." I grinned.
"Maki maki murrr?" Maki suddenly sprang down from the hedge. I think it translated as "are you looking for me?"
"Oh Maki," Kameron sighed, "run inside that hedge will you, so we can follow you?"
Maki quirked his head on one side. "Maki?"
"Isn't that some type of pretty stone over there?" I pointed.
Maki's golden eyes swivelled to focus on said stone. He squeezed through the gate and loped over.
"We'd better follow him," I exclaimed.
"Nidoran."
Maki played the game well, scampering away from us everytime we came near. I could hear Officer Jenny having a conversation with someone at the door, and then she went inside. The lawn was hardly worth describing as a lawn. It looked as though it had not seen a mower for the better part of a century. Small children could get lost in here. There was no sign of any Pokemon however, although Eevee was so freaked out it hid inside Kameron's trenchcoat. Spike seemed different from usual, less aggressive and slightly jumpy. I knew he did not like being here, I also knew that this place must be the right one.
Suddenly Maki leapt out of the grass in front of us, pouncing on Spike. Spike growled and the Makimur jumped back. This wasn't typical behaviour for his friend.
We heard a sound from around the back, it sounded kind of like a dog. Arcanine?
"Come on," Kameron called. "Let's go see what it is!"
"Maki!"
We darted around the back, slowing as we reached the edge of the barn and there we saw what we had been expecting all along. A wooden pen with high walls, behind which stood a beautiful white fox with nine tails. It was wearing a muzzle about its muzzle and appeared to be tied to the fence.
"Nine tails," it muttered, through the halter.
"Makimur!" Maki sprang on the fence in front of it, quirking his head to one side. "Maki makimur mur ki."
"Talkative wee chap isn't he," Kameron mumured. "The poor Ninetails. It should not be tied up like that but either in a Pokeball or free."
I nodded. "It's hurt too."
And indeed it was, on foot was held off the ground, as though it had been injured, burnt from the look of it, and never treated. Suddenly we heard Officer Jenny calling from the gate.
"Cripes, she's finished already," Kameron shouted. "We best get over there. Don't worry Ninetails, we'll have you free in no time!" He ran off, back around the barn. I rushed after him with Maki struggling to keep up.
"I'm afraid I can't see anything wrong here," Officer Jenny replied, much to our disappointment. "It appears to be some kind of training arena, but they showed me a couple of Pokemon they had and they all appeared fine. I can't arrest someone on the words of a Nidoran and an Eevee, unfortunately. I need solid proof."
"Is an injured Ninetails enough proof for you?" I asked.
"I'd have to see it. You kids didn't go off doing some sleuthing of your own, did you?"
"Maybe," Kameron scuffed his foot in the dirt. "But it was her Makimur what ran away from us!"
She sighed. "Ok, show me you Ninetails."
We led her around the barn, but when we got back, the pen was empty.
"I don't understand it," Kameron whined. "It was there a minute ago. They must've seen us."
"I'm sorry, but it's not illegal to train Pokemon in a barn. Come along children, I guess you were just imagining things."
"We don't imagine things," Kameron stuck his chin out.
"Surely there's something you can do?" I whined.
Officer Jenny shrugged. "Not a lot I'm afraid, not unless I fin firm proof that something bad is going on in here. Otherwise all we have is an aggressive Nidoran and a terrified Eevee, which could have got injured anywhere."
"Eevee!" Eevee whimpered.
Kameron rolled his eyes. "Ok, fine, let's go then, let's leave the poor little beasts in trouble."
"I don't think I like your attitude," Officer Jenny stated. Suddenly Arcanine started whining.
"What is it Arky?" I asked it. It barked and started jogging towards a small shed. Officer Jenny raced after it. Kameron and I glanced at each other, then followed.
We paused as we reached the building, for noises were coming from within. It sounded like fighting. I stood on tiptoe to peer through a hole in the wall. Officer Jenny put her hand on my shoulder. "You shouldn't do that," she whispered.
"Look," I insisted, for inside the shed was a man, staring at two Pokemon within a small fenced area. It appeared to be a Growlithe and a Pidgey. The fire puppy had a halter across its muzzle, forcing its mouth to stay shut. The two were fighting in a way I had never seen Pokemon fight before. Obviously, in such a fight, a Growlithe would normally win, but the Pidgey appeared to be holding its own, since it was able to fly and smaller and the dog could not flame. It flapped its wings stirring up dustclouds from the floor.
The Growlithe growled gutterlly, the only way it was able to, and lunged at the bird through the flying dust, trying to knock it from the air with its paws. It was not the way a dog would normally fight, since they preferred to use their teeth.
Officer Jenny, who was peering through the hole over my shoulder, stated, "they shouldn't be doing that. Come on." She rapped on the door.
The man answered it, he was burly looking and had mean, piggy eyes.
"What doya want?" He asked brusquely.
"I heard sounds of fighting," Officer Jenny stated. "And I thought I'd better investigate."
"I'm just training me Pokemon," he muttered. "Ain't no law against that, is there?"
"Well," replied Jenny, glancing at the muzzled Growlithe and the Pidgey, which we could now see was tied to the fence with a piece of string about its leg. A long piece of string, but still string, never-the-less. "There is actually a law against training them like that."
"Yeah? Hey, I recognise that Nidoran!" Spike was growling at him. "That's my Nidoran, it got away from here some months ago and we thought kids must've stolen it. Looks like we was right. Give it back!"
"Nidorannn," Spike snarled. "Nido nido," he snapped.
"Did you steal this Nidoran, Kat?" Officer Jenny asked me.
"Of course not," I replied, "I got it from a breeder some distance from here. I would never steal a Pokemon."
Kameron barely repressed his chuckle and I kicked him in the foot. I had stolen his Butterfree back from Team Rocket, after all.
"Well, it's my Nidoran and I want it."
"Excuse me, sir," Officer Jenny intercepted before things could get nasty. "Why are your Pokemon bound?"
"To keep 'em from burning down me barn," he replied. "And to make the match more fair."
"You shouldn't tie them up like that!" Kameron snapped.
"Maki!"
"You've got that Nidoran tied up," the man pointed out, quite truthfully.
"That's different," I replied. "He's a bit ill-tempered and I don't want him running off and attacking you."
Indeed, it looked as though the Nidoran was more than willing to charge him within a seconds provocation.
"I'll prove my Pokemon are loyal and well-trained." He turned to the Growlithe and remover the halter from around its muzzle. "Go Growlithe, show these people that you are a well-trained Pokemon."
"Arcanine, intercept it," Officer Jenny ordered, but she needn't have bothered. The moment its muzzle was removed, the Growlithe spun around and spat a plume of fire directly at the man. He dodged barely in time, getting somewhat singed, and the flare nestled into the wall. Instantly, it set fire to the ancient timbers.
"Very well trained," Kameron replied, applauding sarcastically.
"Go Vaporeon!" I cried, "water gun the wall, put out the fire!"
Officer Jenny pushed us out of the shed door as Ozmos sprang happily through the door and sprayed water at the wall. It sizzled and then went out. Kameron was inspecting the Growlithe.
"The muzzle has cut into its cheeks and left cuts," he pointed out. "They're red and could be infected, should have been treated ages ago."
The Officer smiled at the man, who was backing against the black-scorched wall. "You're under arrest for Pokemon abuse," she stated mater-of-factly. "We're confiscating all your Pokemon for rehabilitation. You have the right to remain silent…" She went on to read him his rights, but Kameron and I retreated to the pathway. Our work here was done, Eevee and Spike's terrible treatment had been avenged. Eevee clambered up onto Kameron's shoulder.
"Eevee!" It spat at the man, which said it all really.