Summary—We meet Pyro! Yeah! Celebrate! I Love PYRO! Ahem, well, yeah, okay. We meet Pyro.
Chapter 8:
Once Burned, Twice Shy
"If you hadn't over-loaded the circuits," Ash started under his breath, shaking his head as he sat in the long grass.
Shamin overheard him and snapped, "Hey, I said I was sorry!"
He ignored her. "All those trainers! Professor Oak must have gone nuts!"
"They're getting set back."
He actually started to talk to her now. "By mail! I mean, stealing money's one thing, but that? Don't you have any standards!"
"Oh, give it up!"
"No! I mean it!—"
Miriam held her head, walking away from the repeated argument and into the forest, hoping that they'd have cooled off by the time she came back. He refused to let the topic drop as they walked on, and it was almost three days ago. Blondie had real morals on Pokémon. One was you did not steal them. The idiot had even gone as far to gather up all the Pokémon that weren't his—and that had been a devil of a job—and make Miriam write the oh-I'm-sorry-we-took-the-Pokémon-we-mistook-you-for-a-bank-some-Pokémon-ran-away-while-we-were-hiding letter, pretending that they were the hackers, as Shamin couldn't spell and the professor knew Blondie's handwriting.
Actually, Miriam thought it was funny. Damn funny, but she didn't want the Ash mad at her as well. She knew that was his name, too, and not Shan. Miriam was not stupid, not one bit, and she'd had a lot of hunches.
One was the missing posters. Some days when they went into town, they'd come across those posters that display runaways, kidnappings, or whatever. Miriam wasn't surprised that her picture was never up there. Shamin's was, although seriously out-dated. Ash always stopped and looked at them. Once Miriam saw him slip a paper in his pocket, and, when he was asleep, Miriam sneaked a peak at it. The resemblance was too much to be a coincidence, something Miriam did not believe in anyway.
There had been a reward stated, and it had seriously tempted her to call in and get the money, screw friendship and her conscience. She could deal with herself in the morning, with all that money to comfort her . . . But Miriam found she couldn't, even for all that money. Blondie was rubbing off on her, damn him. Damn him to freakin' Hell.
Two, she had once opened one of his letters home out of curiosity, wondering if he wrote about her or Shamin, and could plainly see—well, almost, because his handwriting wasn't the clearest—that his name was Ash and not Shan.
Miriam did not take offense that he lied to her, not like Shamin probably would. Miriam was used to lies, and it was clear to her that Ash was not used to giving them. This was new to him, and the way he spoke of home it was obviously he wouldn't mind going back that much. But you couldn't force someone back, not someone who had determination like Ash had. It was futile, and it'd do more hurt than good to him. They have to go home on their own. Miriam knew she didn't want someone dragging her back.
And he'd go back, of that Miriam was sure, once he got finished with his battles. How long could that take anyway?
(She still didn't know everything about Pokémon.)
Throwing back her head and running her fingers through her hair, Miriam looked up at the darkening sky. It was clear, some of the brighter stars coming out. She smiled, walking while looking up.
She should have been watching where she was going, really. If she had been, Miriam wouldn't have stepped off the edge of the ravine edge and ended up rolling down a hill to a puddle.
"Yeeew!" she groaned, flinging her hands to remove the slime that was stuck to them. "My clothes!" She sat down heavily in the watery muck, instantly regretting the action as her butt got wetter.
"Yuck, ew, gag, yuck, gross, ewwww!" Miriam spat out every word she knew to describe disgusting as she stood up, her high-heeled boots sank in. She whimpered helplessly, trudging out of the gloop.
"Now I know why I don't hike! My clothes." She was near tears, remembering the exact circumstances in which each was stolen.
Miriam looked up at the crevice in which she had fallen, deciding there was no way she could climb up that, because it'd ruin her clothes even more. So, instead, sinking a bit with each step, Miriam walked on, pitying herself. There was no way in Hell she was going to call for help, though. No, siree.
It was totally dark within a few minutes, and her wet clothes made her shiver. "Life sucks, life sucks!" she sang operatically under her breath. "Sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks."
By nature, Miriam was not a jumpy person. Also by nature and practice, she was a night person, so the shadows that played with her mind gave her no such fears that it might give another. She merely walked, unconcerned with anything but her clothes and hair.
****
She walked simply by placing one gooey foot in front of the other, and she knew that she'd eventually hit dry land. Worry did not radiate off her, and Miriam did not cry over her predicament. Crying got you nowhere in life, she had learned. Although she cried a bit about her clothes, that did not last long. She finally did leave the swampy forest and enter a meadow. Hours had past, and Miriam could see a small fire made by her companions a good distance away. Sighing, she started to walk.
As stated before, Miriam was not a jumpy person, and the darkness gave her no fear. So, as she walked, when her keen ears picked up a soft noise, she was not in the remotest corner of the world frightened. At first Miriam did her best to ignore it, but it was always there, insistent but quiet. It was like a whine, and Miriam did not care for whiners because whiners were the bane of existence. She continued to trek, but the noise bothered her even more as she tried to ignore it.
She knew she past the source some time ago, but it was still loud in her ears. Finally Miriam gritted her teeth and turned on her heel, ready to kick whatever was making that blasted noise like a football over or in or round or whatever the goal stick or whatever the frick the stupid goal-thingy was called.
"All right, where are ya?" she snapped, looking at the ground and kicking the grass with her boot.
She tried to trace the sound to its source, but, when she did, she couldn't see the source from the ground it laid on. In fact, she ended up kicking it, and it ended up planting its teeth on her boot. Luckily, it was a very weak bite and she wore thick boots.
"Hey! Hey, that's leather!" she screeched, trying to get her foot out of the little mouth. "Give me back my boot!"
A growl escaped the creature, and Miriam suddenly saw that her boot was both free and on fire. With a yelp, she quickly started to bang her foot against the other to extinguish the flames.
"That was my boot, whatever pyromaniac thing ya are! I have a good mind to kill ya now!"
A growl was her answer, and Miriam squinted her eyes to look at the little devil.
It was small, only a tad bigger that Rodent was, and very dirty. The eyes were a terrible red color just from the reflected moonlight. In fact, the light reflected a bit of metal too, and Miriam's heart instantly melted.
"Aww, ya poor thing," she cooed, bending down. "Ya're stuck in a trap, huh?" It answered her with a growl. Miriam frowned at it, slowly removing her coat. No way she was leaving something in trouble, even if it did ruin her boots. "All right, stay calm," she murmured, holding her coat out. Then she leaped, throwing the coat over the little creature. Within a second though, Miriam jumped back, her coat gone in flames.
Something had hit the ground, and Miriam jumped when a beeping noise sounded, followed by a jagged computer voice.
"Ninetales, the fox Pokémon. The evolved form of Vulpix, this Pokémon can be very dangerous to approach when wounded. It is best to use fire-proof nets and clothing when capturing."
"That's for the warnin'," Miriam snapped, picking the Pokédex up and shoving it in her pocket. "Didn't like the coat anyway," she sighed, sitting down to look at the Ninetales. "A Pokémon. Woo hoo, go figure."
The Ninetales growled at her, angry at the attack she had just given it.
"Look, ya want out of that trap, huh?" Miriam demanded. Much to her surprise, the Ninetales' growls quieted. Hmm, they understood English pretty well, she thought. "Then I suggest ya be nice to me, or I'll leave ya, capeesh?" No answer. "Capeesh?"
"Nine," the creature said reluctantly.
She really did not like the tone, but Miriam approached the Pokémon in any case. "Now, don't ya dare burn me, Pyro, but this is gonna hurt. Gettin' yar paw in one of these always does." Carefully she gripped the handle and squeezed, and the Ninetales quickly freed its front paw. "There ya go."
The Ninetales stood up shakily, trying to place the paw down. It whined piteously, and collapsed.
"Poor Pyro," Miriam sighed, already dubbing the Pokémon. "I bet Blondie has something for that paw, if ya come along. Ya're gonna too, cuz he'd kill me if I left ya got here with a broken paw or whatever ya got."
The Ninetales growled when she advanced, and even went as far as releasing a ball of fire of her, but its heart wasn't in it. Its paw really hurt, and it curled up in the woman's arms, willing to fall asleep as she muttered something about her hair.
****
Ash gasped as someone kicked him in the side. It was Miriam's preferred way of waking him up, and he sat up with a gasp and start. "Miriam!" he complained, looking up at her in the dim light. He blinked in shock. "What happened to you?"
"I went for a swim," she said sarcastically. "I need yar help with somethin'."
He yawned. "What?"
"This." She bent down, and showed him the sleeping Pyro. "I found it in a trap. Its paw's hurt. Ya can do somethin', right?"
His eyes were wide. "Whoa, a Ninetales! You know how rare and hard to capture these are!"
"Oh, shut up with the shop talk. Can ya help it or not?"
Ash looked at it carefully. It was still sleeping, and he was surprised at how small it was. It was no bigger than a Vulpix, even smaller, when it should be double the size. He touched its paw carefully, and suddenly tiny teeth snapped down on his hand. He would have screamed if Miriam hadn't slammed her hand across his mouth.
"Shh! Ya'll scare it!"
"He bit me!" Ash replied through gritted teeth, retrieving his bleeding hand. His own action of drawing back to escape had made the gouges even longer and deeper, so now streams of blood were literally flowing down his arm.
"Yar own fault! Now bandage its paw!"
Ash turned clutching his hand. He dug in his back for a medical kit, something they had taken from the abandon lab. He quickly bandaged his own hand before turning on the Pokémon. "You make sure it doesn't bite me again."
Miriam nodded, hearing Pyro growl loudly. Actually, she didn't plan to do anything except watch. After all, she liked a good show as well as the next sadist.
****
After "Nurse Ash" was finished, he used up an entire tube of severe burn cream and several rolls of wrapping while Miriam cuddled the Ninetales.
"Ya need a bath." She saw Ash give her a look and he put on a new shirt. His last one was now just ashes. "We both do."
"It's so cute, Miriam!" Shamin cooed, running a hand over the creature. She and Pikachu had woken up during the doctoring. And, of course, neither had decided to help.
"It's a he, just so you know, Miriam," Ash said, kneeling down. He brought his wounded hand—which was attached to his heavily wounded arm—up to pet it, but the fox growled dangerously, and Ash brought it back with a frown. "Hey, I helped you too."
"He doesn't like Mr. Trainer," Shamin teased, pushing him playfully. He winced from the burns. "Oh, the poor baby got burned really bad, didn't he?"
"Shut up."
"He's cute," Miriam smiled, making a baby face at the fox. "Yes, he is. Pyro really is, isn't he?"
"Pyro?" Shamin asked.
"It's his name, because he burned my boot and coat."
"And me," Ash put in quietly, petting Pikachu, the only one who was giving him any kind of sympathy.
"Well, he's doesn't like ya. Well-known fact that women are more tolerated by animals than m—boys," Miriam said slyly, and Ash looked at her savagely. "And we're gonna go get cleaned up, right, Pyro?"
It was a while before it responded with another reluctant, "Nine."
"Good boy," Miriam cooed.
"Dumb boy," Ash smirked. "Now he's going to be wearing bows."
Pyro released a mild five-second flame-thrower attack at Ash's smile.
"Pikachu pika ka, Pikapi."
"Yep. It is Charizard all over again," Ash agreed, falling back and feeling where his bangs once were.
****
Pikachu sat next to Pyro, watching as the Ninetales re-lit the fire. Their Trainers were asleep in their respective sleeping bags. They hadn't done any traveling today.
"Pyro?" she asked timidly once he had finished. Pyro ignored her. "Pyro?" She touched him gently.
"What, Rodent?" he snapped, releasing smoke.
"Pikachu," she corrected meekly, seeing that Miriam was rubbing of on him already.
"Whatever," he said loftily, resting his head on his paws. "What do you want?"
Pikachu was quiet for a moment, wondering how to phrase her question. "Why are you mean to Pikapi? He's only trying to help you." Pyro snorted. "He is. He was the one who bandaged your paw, and all you do is hurt him."
Pyro turned his head to look at her. "He's got you brainwashed, Rodent."
"Does not. Why do you, though?"
Pyro tilted his head. "I don't like males."
"Why not?"
He looked at her like she was a moron, and a bit hungrily. After all, he was a fox, and they did like to dine on mice. Yet, in Pyro's present condition, there was no way he was going to be able to capture swift and agile Pikachu. "I'm territorial, Rodent. I protect what's mine."
Pikachu sat back on her hunches. "Pikapi doesn't want Chuka. And Chuka isn't yours."
"She is mine like Blondie is yours," Pyro snapped. Pikachu nodded her head in agreement now.
"So that is why you attack Pikapi?" she asked after a moment, looking at the fire.
"Mostly."
"Why else, then?"
"Males are dangerous. They set traps."
"Pikapi did not set that trap! You might as well blame Chuka for setting it if you're gonna think like that!"
Pyro snorted again. "Don't be daft. Only males protect territory like that."
Pikachu looked at the wild Pokémon in disgust. "You know nothing about my Pikapi then! He helps Pokémon. He helped you!"
"Only because she told him too."
"He would have helped even if she hadn't, I bet!"
Pyro literally started to laugh.
"He would!"
"Prove it."
"All right, I will! You just do what I tell you to and you'll see. Pikapi is a nice male, no matter what you do to him!"
Pyro laughed again, red eyes looking at the mouse somewhat piteously. "Forget it, Rodent. It doesn't matter."
"Something bad happened to you, didn't it?" Pikachu asked kindly. "Bad trainer?" She figured he must have been a Trainer's Pokémon. Ninetales (or any stone-evolved Pokémon, for that matter) were exceedingly rare in the wild, for there were few chances for them to reach an Evolution Stone to evolve.
"No! No trainer, ever!" Pyro spat savagely, dimming remembering shadows of a time many years ago when a young cub, newly evolved at such a young age, eyes just open, slipped from the basket and fell to the hard ground, the cart or other occupants not even noticing.
"What about Chuka?"
"She isn't a trainer. She's a . . ."
"Friend," Pikachu supplied with a smile. "Pikapi is my friend."
Pyro didn't respond.
"So you don't trust Pikapi because you think a male set the trap?"
Pyro sighed. She won't understand. "Yes, Rodent. That is why."
Pikachu shook her head. "I pity you."
"Don't you dare!" Pyro roared, jumping up heedless of his injury. Then he fell down. "This wound is nothing!"
She looked at him from over her shoulder, heading over to Ash. "I wasn't talking about that, Pyro. If you see all males like that . . ." She shook her head. "May your eyes one day open up."
"Why don't you open your own? He's using you!" Pyro screamed.
Pikachu ignored him now, hopping onto Ash and nuzzling him. Ash's eyes fluttered open, and he smiled. "Hey, buddy," he murmured, sleepily petting her head with his bandaged hand. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow we got to get going."
"Pikapi," she cooed, closing her eyes. He smiled at her, then turned his head. Ash ended up meeting the savage gaze of Pyro, and he managed another small smile at the Pokémon's growl.
"Love you too. Good night, Pyro."
Pyro blinked as he set his head back down on his paws, licking the wounded one off-handedly. Slowly he fell asleep watching Pikachu get petted by Ash's tired hand long after both had fallen asleep.
"Rodent's wrong. All males are the same. I should know. I am one."