Save the Nidoran!
It was several days since we had left Ash and Misty in Sereniti and Rowan and I had caught the bus back to Eerie town. I bid him "farewell" again, as he boarded the bus back to Derriby Island. I would miss him, but I had more adventures ahead of me.
"Where to now?" I asked Maki. "I guess I have to take this fossil back to Siryntown," I answered myself, "but I'm almost out of money." I sighed. "I guess its footwork the whole way… How long can it take, seven, eight days?"
"Makimurr, maki mur mur," Maki answered, somewhat puzzled. I was talking to myself and he didn't like it.
We set off along the road that led back to Siryntown, Florion loping along beside me. For some reason he hated being locked in his Pokeball and kept clambering up onto things as though searching for something. Whatever it was, he wouldn't tell me and I couldn't guess. Maki curled up on my shoulder and fell asleep, which was most unusual. He hadn't seemed himself lately, it was almost as though he was ill or depressed. I'd take him to the next Pokecenter I came to.
The next four days passed reasonably uneventfully, and on the fifth, I arrived at a new city called Grymtown. It did look grim too, all these old, stone buildings and people absorbed in their work and personal lives. It looked fairly unfriendly and very unwelcoming. I could not find a Pokemon Hostel and eventually gave up and retreated to the fields surrounding it to set up my tent. It seemed lonely, even with Florion and Maki to keep me company. It looked as though this reasonably peaceful meadow was not intended to be that way for long. A sign had been put in the ground and several trees lay in pitiful heaps. It looked as if soon, this pretty meadow, would be a part of Grymtown. The ground was riddled with burrows, which I took to be Nidoran holes, quite accurately as it turned out. The sign read:
"Coming soon: Super Mall – over 300 stores for all your shopping requirements." Beneath which was a sketch of a particularly ugly building. Someone had spray painted over the sign in red, "Save our Natural Heritage, protest the Super Mall." And somebody had plastered a small picture of a Nidoran male and a Nidoran female, rubbing noses beneath it. It had "Don't destroy our wild Pokemon," written in bold print.
"Looks like there's some of your wild friends here, Spiko," I said (that had been Rowan's suggestion – he had been Spike when he was a Nidoran, so now he was a Nidorino, he must be Spiko), "So come out and see."
"Rino!" Spiko ran across the dirt, happy with the sheer exburence of someone who had been trapped too long.
"Maki," came a muffled voice, my delightful little Makimur backed out of a Nidoran burrow," makimurr…" he muttered as an irate female Nidoran snarled at him. Florion, meanwhile had clambered to the top of the pile of felled trees and was sitting there, as though waiting for something.
I set up the tent, something I was luckily quite good at doing alone, and released Ozmos and Snuggles. There was a small pond here with a couple of wild ducks (not Pokemon) floating on it. They flew away squawking as Ozmos charged them, either in a search for food or merely for the sheer joy of watching them run. After a seconds thought, I released Razor into the pool too, the exercise would do him good. I suspected that being trapped in their Pokeballs was not healthy for an extended period of time. Fresh air, food and exercise were all just as good as a Pokecentre and also gave them the chance to learn things. Maki, for example, was trying to fish.
He leaned over the water, light glowing from his star. After a short while, a Magikarp surfaced, attracted by the light, and Maki scooped it out of the water with one hand and onto the grass.
"Magikarp, magikarp," it said pathetically, twitching slightly. I walked over to it and pushed it back in the water, scolding Maki.
"You don't even like fish," I said, when he scowled at me.
"Maki!" he said, "Maki ki mur!" ("That's hardly the point, it was MY fish.").
"Come on, I'll get some takeaways." There was a Pizzarella just across the road from the park. I bought a large Vegetarian and a large Seafood pizza, so that all of my friends could share a slice. There was not a lot left for me. Florion carried his piece back to his pile of trees and I saw that he would stare down the road, then glance longingly at Vaporeon (who was begging for another piece), then back down the road again, and something dawned on me.
Florion had come with me, not because he felt more of a connection with me then Kameron (who had saved him as an Eevee, after all), but because he fancied Ozmos. Why, I didn't know, because Ozmos showed little interest in him, little interest in anything in fact, except food, and water. Sometimes I thought the only reason she stayed with me was because around me she got to try tasty novelties, like pizza. In truth, Florion was probably more loyal then Ozmos (who could be distracted by a pie), but his true loyalties lay with Kameron. I wondered if Kameron knew this, and that was why he had decided to swap. Florion was, probably, a very rare Pokemon, after all. Snuggles offered me another piece of pizza and then rubbed his head against my side, asking for it to be scratched, his short arms could not reach behind his ears very easily. He had a very sweet nature. I had managed to track his owner down to a young man in Sereniti who had grown sick of his cowardistic attitude and complete inability to even try and fight, and had basically dumped him. There was a wild population of Buru near Sereniti, but they were very territorial and aggressive and quickly pushed Snuggles out of their ranks and into the ranks of outcast. It seemed that I was the only one who would accept him. I didn't care if he wouldn't fight, I liked him just the way he was. I helped him pull the ring-tab on a can of soda, and laughed as he tried to drink it.
It was nearly dusk when a man came wandering across to the park, with a Growlithe on a leash. A couple of Nidoran that had ventured from their holes to graze and eat the fallen fruit, quickly retreated back into their burrows. Buru hid behind me. Maki bounded across, towards the Growlithe and quirked his head on the side.
"Maki maki mur mak mur?" He asked. ("Why are you on a leash, did you do something bad?"
"Growl – lithe," (The puppy Pokemon barked the last bit) it replied. ("No, it's the law.")
"Greetings," the man said. He looked to be in his late twenties, clad in an oversized sweater, sweat pants and running shoes. "You've chosen an interesting place to camp."
"Hi," I replied. "I can't afford a hotel and this place seemed nice enough. Why is that Growlithe on a lead?"
He sighed. "I don't like it anymore than it does," he replied, "but recently the council have decreed that all Pokemon within the city limits be restrained in some way. This is why I bring it here for exercise, because it's out of city bounds." He removed the collar and Growlithe immediately bounded off, happily chasing Nidorans.
The small Nidoran was terrified, the huge growling thing was bounding towards it, and it had strayed too far from its burrow. In desperation, it ran, leaping over a rock. It was somewhat surprised when the rock moved. So was the Growlithe. Spiko had been resting in a nice patch of grass and the little Nidoran had woken him up. It was frightened, and Spiko was very protective of his own kin. He stood up and scuffed his foot on the ground, "nidorino," he growled.
We both laughed as the Growlithe turned tail and darted back towards his human. Spiko gave us a puzzled look, as in "what did I do?"
"It's a shame that within a fortnight this park will be completely torn apart and encased in concrete," the man said, sadly. "I rather like the little Nidorans, I bring Growlithe out here for some exercise and training as my lodgings are rather small, and whilst he runs around, I like to watch the little things. But," he shrugged, "the council are dead against Pokemon it seems, says they're unnatural. They don't care what happens to the Nidoran."
I gave him a stunned look. "What do they think is going to happen to them when their home is gone?"
The man shrugged, brushing his short, and rather stylish, goatee, "I guess they just figure they'll go somewhere else."
"And won't they?"
"I doubt it," he replied, "the city lies that way, that way there is dense forest, not appropriate Nidoran territory, and eventually Lake Eerie, which is Nidoran territory, some open meadows and woodland. And that way is a housing development state. So I guess they have to go to the forest, where they'll be attacked by Beedrills and Butterfrees, Mankeys and all, not to mention Spearows, whilst not finding enough food to eat. Poor things."
"That's terrible!" I said, Spiko had made me very fond of Nidorans, and the thought of taking this land, their ideal home and turning it into a concrete jungle, whilst forcing them into a place they would probably last less than a few hours in, was horrible. "Isn't anyone trying to stop them?"
"That's not the only problem," the man continued. "I'm currently lecturing Pokemon Ecology at Grymtown college, and this place is what we call an island."
"But it isn't surrounded by water," I interjected. He looked at me as though I were foolish.
"By island, we mean an area bordered by something that does not allow new members of the species through, thus restricting the breeding within that area to only the individuals in the area."
I must have looked a bit blank at that statement, because he went on to explain further.
"I mean, more animals can't get in, so only those in the area can start families, and often they may be related," he explained. That time I understood.
"So you get sisters mating with brothers?"
"Indeed, and that leads to something we call inbreeding, which can often bring flaws into the offspring, disabilites such as deformed limbs, or susceptibility to disease."
I managed to grasp onto most of that sentence. "And if this happens too long, the group of Nidorans will die out because they'll be deformed or wiped out by a disease?"
"Exactly. How old are you, girl?"
"My name's Kataryna," I said politely, "I'm nearly thirteen, so I do know a bit about biology. I just don't understand all your technical terms."
He nodded. "I'm Doctor Frances Warwick, in my spare time I observe populations of wild Pokemon and try to learn about their behaviour, in my not so spare time, I teach students about it. I can tell you'd be a better pupil than some of them too," he said, sighing and shaking his head, "some of them have never caught a Pokemon in their lives. Some don't even own one. I think a lot more can be learnt by observation than listening to some old man blab on about them."
"You're hardly old," I interjected.
He shrugged. "Anyway, here's my card, if you find any interesting populations of wild Pokemon, let me know and I'll send someone out to study them. Perhaps one day you'll be in my class. I can see you're better than one of those trainers that just believe in fighting their Pokemon and wouldn't have an inkling of how they might use their special skills in the wild. Look at that Seadra for example."
We both glanced at the pond, Razor had just squirted a jet of ink at some insomniac moth, bringing it down so that he could reach it.
"That's the use of a special skill, I believe you trainers call it smokescreen or something? Although it's not smoke at all? It's not using the skill to fight, but to hunt food. Just as a Pikachu might use its thunder shock to scare predators away from its territory, or a Bulbasaur may use its Razor Leaves to cut fruit down from trees where it can't reach it. I believe that Pokemon evolved their special skills not to fight in foolish battles, but to better cope with their environment."
"You know," I said, "I think I agree with you. My Pokemon only fight when its important, like to defend me, sometimes they fight because I ask them too, but mostly they seem to view fighting as pointless."
"Maki maki!" Maki agreed.
"Burururururu bu." ("I don't like fighting much at all.")
"Va por?" ("Are you going to eat that piece of pizza, it's getting cold.")
I handed Ozmos the last piece of Seafood pizza. She ate it happily. The Growlithe was watching Seadra, stalking him along the bank. As the puppy playfully put its paw in the water, Razor brought his tail down hard, sending a splash of water into the puppy's face.
"Owlll," it whimpered, backing away.
"Dra dra dra!" Razor chuckled, squirting another moth down with his inkjet. He was unnerringly accurate. I think I knew why Razor would fight, he just liked teasing other Pokemon.
"That little lemur thing of yours is very cute," Doctor Warwick continued, stroking his goatee. "I've never seen one of them before, what can you tell me about it?"
Maki knew he was the center of attention and struttered in front of us, grooming his fine tail.
"He calls himself Makimur," I replied, "and was found by Gary Oak in the great Pokemon Jungle. I don't know how many of them there are, or what they evolve into, but from what I've gathered, they're fairly hard to train and insatiably curious about everything. Maki's learnt quite a few tricks too."
The Doctor smiled. "It might pay to study these things then, you travel a lot, yes?" He asked.
I nodded.
"Well, perhaps you'd like to go into this jungle and see if you can find Makimurs in their wild state. We'll give you everything you need, of course. I'd be very interested in learning more about them, as the behaviour of one individual is hardly an accurate representation of the behaviour of the entire species."
I glanced at Snuggles, who had drunk some more soda and had bubbles about his mouth. "Hardly."
"So, unless you have anything else to do?" He asked. "I can see you're not really a Trainer, yet you do seem to be wandering like one."
"Oh," I replied, "my other choice is to return home and slave for my mother. Personally, I like the idea of adventure better. I do have to go to Siryntown first though, I have an item for the museum there."
"What a coincidence!" The Doctor exclaimed, "I'm actually from Siryntown, I'm just here, in this horrible place as a guest lecturer. If you like, I can give you a ride there. I've still got another week of lectures though."
I shrugged. "Can I come to some of them?"
"Well," he pondered, "you're a bit young, but what the heck, you're probably better at listening then some of my students. You may have to leave Maki in the Creche though, I doubt he will sit still during a lecture."
I looked at Maki, who was stalking the Growlithe in an intentive way. "I think not."
"Anyway," the Doctor continued, "its been great talking to you, but I've got to head back now. Here's a map that'll show you where the college is. See you." He waved, calling his Growlithe to his side and snapping its lead on at the last possible moment.
I smiled. "He seemed nice," I said to Snuggles and Maki.
"Buru," Snuggles agreed.
"Anyway guys, time for some rest, return, all of you." I called in Razor, Ozmos and Snuggles, but Florion evaded the beam and shook his head. He wanted to keep watch, for what, I did not know, and Spiko seemed to want to stay with his kin, the Nidorans. I let them remain free, and lay in the doorway of the tent for a while, watching the Nidoran frolic under the moon. Some came awfully close to the tent, seemingly unafraid. Quite a few clustered around Spiko, as if his presence was a reassurance to them. After a while, I drifted off to sleep.
And was awoken in the early morning by gunshots.
"Maki!" Maki screamed in fear, and Florion came running through the tent flap and cowered beside me. He looked exhausted, I thought he must have stayed up all night. Comforting them, I ventured out of the tent.
A woman in dark clothing was standing there, a dead Nidoran in her hand. Nidorino was growling at her, and looked about to charge. She looked terrified and I didn't know if I could stop him. His side was bleeding, grazed by a bullet.
"Spiko," I called, "don't attack her for a moment."
He growled in protest but actually obeyed me.
"That thing is yours?" The woman asked. "Why is is roaming free, don't you know there's rules about that?"
"I'm outside the city boundaries," I replied haughtily, "I'm allowed to let him loose, if I want. Don't you know there's rules against killing Pokemon?"
She looked at me as if I was stupid. "They're just Nidoran, who cares about them? They're in the way of progress."
"And progress is a huge, ugly shopping mall, built for our convenience," I snarled. "Maybe I should just let Spiko attack you."
"Nido!" He liked the idea, it was only my asking him not to attack that had stopped him. It was amazing, when he was a Nidoran, he would have bitten her ankle and probably poisoned her, but now he had evolved, he actually was listening to me. Maybe he realised that he now had the power to actually kill someone.
"No!" She said, holding up her hands. "I just do what the council asks me to do. The council does not want Pokemon here, so I'm removing them from the area."
"What you're doing is killing them," I replied, "that's hardly the same thing. Look, if I can get all the Nidoran out of here, do you promise you will never kill anymore?"
"If you can get them out of here, it's a bleeding miracle." She seemed reluctant to leave.
"Ok, Spiko, see her out of here, ok? Don't hurt her, unless you have to…" I didn't really like adding the last bit, in case Spiko misinterpreted that as "Don't hurt her unless you want to…" but if I didn't add it, she would surely see he was not a threat.
"Nidorino!" He shouted, charging at her. She turned tail and ran.
Much to my amazement, Spiko ran slightly slower than her, so that whilst he looked as if he was about to catch her any second, something I knew he could do, he didn't. "Nido!" He said proudly, when she was gone, dashing across the road.
There was a chorus of "nido, nido!" from various Nidorans sticking their heads out from their burrows. But now what was to be done? There must be hundreds of Nidoran here, and I couldn't possibly catch all of them, but I couldn't leave them here either. Spiko returned to me, and I could see that he was bleeding worse then I had suspected. The bullet had more than scraped him, if his hide weren't so thick it would have killed him. I held an item of clothing over it to staunch the blood.
"Now what?" She would be back, I could not stay here forever, and even if I tried, the Council would come and move me, probably arrest me. There was no fighting progress, there seemed only one option, and it didn't seem the best one. I had to move the Nidoran population. Unfortunately, if progress continued the way it was, eventually all the wild Pokemon would be forced into the same habitat and then they would all die out. You could not continue moving animals from one place to another forever, as their habitat shrunk – eventually you would run out of food. However, that was a problem for Doctor Warwick, not me, I was just happy to move the wild Nidoran from this horrible place. I would be just as happy to move myself, in fact. I hated this place. Calling in my Pokemon and taking down my tent, I rushed to find the Doctor. Spiko refused to go, he wanted to stay and make sure the woman with the gun did not return. I could not force him, but I felt sickened. What if he got shot? And killed?
Thankfully, the woman did not return and Doctor Warwick agreed to help me find a suitable place for the Nidoran to go to. A place where they had been wiped out for some reason. I returned to the park with the knowledge that the Doctor would walk his Growlithe again tonight, and bring me news then.
Spiko greeted me enthusiastically, seemingly uninjured and I set about waiting. So did Florion, back on his perch.
By mid afternoon, Florion came rushing at me, shrieking "flori! Flori! Florion!" ("Someone bad is coming.")
A moment later, a helicopter drifted down to rest, noisily, in a patch of open ground, scattering Nidoran.
The door opened and out stepped, you guessed it, Loki and Freyja. Loki strolled forwards and glared at me.
"Give me back my Kadabra," he snarled.
"For the many'th time," I replied, "I don't have your Kadabra, have you looked in all the corners?"
"We searched the entire basement," Freyja replied tiredly. "Just give the damned thing back, ok?"
I shrugged. "I would if I could."
"Ok, well, if that's the way you want to play, go Fearow!"
"Go Nidorina." Freyja seemed bored.
"Go Ozmos, Florion, Nidorino," I chimed, releasing the first from the Pokeball and rousing Nidorino from sleep.
"Fearow, drill peck that vaporeon!" Loki instructed.
The Fearow swooped on Ozmos, only to find itself engulfed in cloud, than thrown back by high-pressured water. It drenched its wings and made it tumble to the ground in a mass of feathers.
"Va por!" Ozmos said proudly. ("I've still got it kid!")
"Well, go on, Nidorina! Get that Nidorino now!"
The two large Pokemon faced each other, scuffing their forelegs in the dirt in preparation to charge.
"Nido."
"Nidorina?"
"Nidorino!" They seemed to be having some sort of conversation.
"Well, don't dawdle, do something Nidorina!" Freyja shrieked in frustration.
"Nido?"
"Nido!"
They eventually came to a conclusion. Nidorina turned around, and the two of them charged at Team Rocket.
"Oh cripes!" Loki shrieked, running for the helicopter. "Lift her up now!"
"What did you do to my Nidorina?" Freyja shrieked.
The pilot of the helicopter started the engine and the blades started whirring. Loki leapt in, tumbling and Freyja was close after, just as the helicopter lifted off the ground.
"You haven't see the end of us yet!" Loki bellowed. Nidorina watched them go in puzzlement, "Nido," she said, and shrugged.
"Nidorino!" Spiko nudged her, and much to my surprise, she nudged him back, almost affectionately.
The Fearow dragged itself to its feet and launched itself wearily into the air, shrieking "fear oooowwww!" ("Wait for me!")
I looked at the two Nidos, and smiled. "That's a sure surprise for them," I said. "First I hide their Kadabra, then their Nidorina abandons them for my Nidorino." It was almost obvious really. When Spike had been a Nidoran, Nidorina had considered him lowly, yet now he was evolved, she could appreciate his strength and power. It was almost funny. Team Rockets Nidorina had chosen my Nidorino as a mate, or whatever Pokemon called them, boyfriend?
But now what? I approached the two of them, and Nidorina snarled at me. I doubted she'd let me catch her, and even if she did, I didn't want Team Rocket to get her back, and I'm sure they would. But if she were to become wild again, then that meant Spiko would once more be wild, and that would mean I would have to bid "farewell" to him. I didn't like that thought. And what about all the Nidorans? An idea was beginning to form in my mind, but I didn't know if I liked it or not.
It was early twilight now, and the Doctor had been and gone, showing me a map of the southern lands. There was an area there where the Nidoran had vanished some years ago, possibly after a disease or something. It looked like a pleasant place. He seemed amused by the story about the Nidorina, who at present was frolicking around the park, enjoying being free. Spiko lay beside me, eyes half-closed, whilst I scratched him behind the ears and listened to the Doctor talked. He could not stay long tonight, he explained, for he had some test papers to mark, but in the morning he would look to collecting lots of Pokeballs and hiring a van to carry the Nidoran to their new home. And then he left, whilst I watched the little Nidoran happily playing.
I fancied I saw someone, no, several someones walking across the grass to the campsite. Florion called out in terror and leapt off his perch, bounding towards me, as another gunshot echoed across the area, probably directed at the Eeveelution.
"They're back!" I cried. "Maki, go and alert the Nidorans, use your agility and make sure they stay in their burrows."
"Maki!" He saluted and darted off, pleased to be given such an important task.
As I ventured out, a disturbing sight met my eyes. There were at least five of them, all carrying rifles, and Nidorino and Nidorina were facing them, snarling.
I saw one bring their gun up to sight it on the two larger targets.
"No!" I shrieked.
It startled the gunman, he moved his gun slightly and misfired. At that moment, Spiko and Team Rocket's Nidorina charged them.
"No!" I cried again, running desperately towards them. I barrelled full-force into one of the gunmen who was just preparing his rifle to shoot Nidorino. He grunted and fell backwards, firing his gun almost by reflex. A seering pain shot through my shoulder. I screamed in agony, feeling the blood trickling down my arm.
"Spiko, return!" I cried, grasping his Pokeball in my blood-stained fingers.
"NiDO!" He replied, in abrupt denial. This was his fight, he would not be recalled. With his horn he flung a gunman backwards and into a heap on the ground.
A bullet whistled just over his head, removing the tip of his ear. He screamed in fury and whirled. Nidorina had sent one of the gunmen tumbling with a body slam, and they lay in a heap groaning. She suffered a bullet to the thigh before she sent another gunman sprawling. Suddenly a Cubone seemed to materialise from nowhere, swinging its bone about and sending the final standing gunman tumbling into the dirt. Everything was a blur. Spiko limped over to me, he was wounded, but not badly, and my vision was failing.
"Spiko," I said, "listen to me, they'll be back tomorrow and they'll be worse. You must leave NOW! Do you remember where the Doctor showed us on the map?"
"Nido," he said, in affirmation. I was leaning on him, trying to stop my head from spinning.
"Well, take Nidorina and all the Nidoran you can muster and head that way now, you've got no time to waste. I know you can do it, boy."
Spiko nudged me. "Nido, nidorino rino rin nido dorin." ("I know this is how it has to be, but I'll miss you.")
"I'll miss you too, Spiko," I said, tears coursing down my cheeks, "but you must go, otherwise they'll kill you for sure. Goodbye, my Nidorino friend."
Spiko licked me, them looked across at something I could not see. "Nido, rino, rin, ni ni nido." He said, and then turned, nudging the wounded Nidorina and trotting across the field. "Nido, nidorin, nidorino!"
Heads popped out of the holes and Nidoran ran out to him. Maki bounced over and licked my wound tenderly, placing his hands over it in an effort to stop the bleeding. My vision was blurring and the fire in my chest was so severe that I could barely concentrate. "You did good, my friends," I said, as the distant wail of a siren reached my ears and vision faded into haze. "Good journeys." And then all was dark.