Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon! Everything else is mine!
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Ember barked in surprise before running behind his trainer. The little growlithe peered out from around the blue-haired girl's legs and whimpered.
Riku looked confused and sat down on the riverbank to try to comfort the growlithe. "What's wrong? I've never seen you so frightened before…Except that one time before my first battle with a gym leader…" She paused, "Then again, we've only battled against three gym leaders…" -_-;;;
Ember curled up in a tight ball in her arms and hid his face with his fluffy tail. Riku could feel his small form trembling violently. She looked around but could not see anything particularly suspicious looking by the riverbank that would frighten Ember so much. In her opinion, Ember was probably one of the bravest growlithe she'd ever met.
Riku cradled the growlithe in her arms and began walking alongside the river. She sighed. 'If only I hadn't gotten lost and wound up back in Goldenrod…I wasted a week walking in circles…That old fart told me to follow the path, only there was no path! Old…absentminded…geezer…Couldn't tell the difference between a rock and his brains…' She let out a deep breath then ran her fingers through her hair. She made her around a particularly large boulder and gasped in surprise when she nearly tripped over someone lying prone on the ground.
"Hey! Watch where you're lying!" Riku snapped in frustration, still mad at herself for taking instructions from the old man. "I almost—eh?"
The boy was lying half in and out of the river, his long, black hair was matted with mud and dried blood and she could see that, under his tattered shirt, there were many deep slashes running down his back. His breath was coming in short, shallow gasps. There were claw marks in the dirt all around him.
"Hey…" Riku said softly, kneeling down next to him, all previous aggravations forgotten, "Are you okay?" 'He looks like he's just a little older than me…'
There was no response.
"Gah…How can he respond?" She asked herself, "He not even conscious."
One of the boy's eyes flickered open and his voice cracked as he whispered, "…I…I'm…conscious…but…barely…hanging on…" His breath was coming slower now and his eyes were beginning to lose what little life they showed before. He shivered as cold, river water splashed against his body.
"There's no way I'm leaving you like this! You'll catch your death of the cold." Riku said, pulling the boy further up the bank. "Ember, lend me a paw will you?"
Ember whimpered softly and the boy eyed him warily with dim eyes. The growlithe froze at the sight of the blood red eyes staring unblinkingly back at him. Suddenly, the boy gave a sigh, and he closed his eyes.
"Agh!!! What happened?? Did he just die???" Riku cried, quickly feeling for a pulse. She was greatly relieved when she found the weak pulse. She quickly dragged the limp form to a grassy area and began to set up her tent. "I just took the tent down ten minutes ago and here I am, putting it back up again." She muttered. "Then again, I don't want to try to move him too much in his current condition."
Ember was keeping his distance from the boy, often throwing him quick, frightened glances. A quick sniff confirmed that there was something very strange about the boy, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
Riku did her best to clean the boy's wounds and quickly wrapped bandages around the deep cuts. "Good thing I brought bandages before leaving Goldenrod." She said brightly, "They finally came in handy…Now, I can stop complaining about carrying the extra weight…Not that bandages really weigh that much. Oy! Ember, where are you wandering off to?"
Ember was sneaking off to mope in the bushes nearby, but came back at Riku's call. Riku ruffled his soft fur and hugged him. She sighed, "We haven't made that much progress have we? You'd think that after a month we'd already have our fifth badge. Mom says three badges in one month, if you include the time we spent lost anyways, is pretty good. After all, it took my brother nearly a month and a half to get three. Whitney's miltank pummeled his eevee. The poor thing just couldn't compete with something that could heal itself halfway through battle. So, to avoid having our butts kicked by the next gym leader like Vincent was, we should spend some more time training. How's that sound to you, Ember?" She smiled when Ember began wagging his long tail eagerly. "I guess that settles it. Let's go!"
~*~*~*~*~*~
It was nearly dark by the time Riku and Ember returned to their camp. "Ah! You're up! That's good," Riku said, noticing the black haired boy was awake. "I'll make dinner and you can…er…sit there and rest for a while. I don't think it's a good idea for you to move to much…"
The boy didn't say anything as he tried to sit up. Riku quickly began her regular struggle of lighting the campfire. The boy watched in silence as she dropped the match on the small pile of dry twigs and began praying like mad that the twigs would burn.
"Oh…by the way, my name is Riku. Er…what's yours?"
"I…I don't…remember…I really don't know…who I am anymore…" He said softly, his head drooping considerably.
"Aw…Don't feel bad. You can tell me what's wrong, I won't laugh." Riku said kindly, resting her hand on his shoulder.
He shook his head, "I'd rather not…" He saw that Riku looked hurt and quickly added, "It's not that I don't trust you…" He began before his voice trailed off. "I…I'm sorry…but I…can't tell you…"
Riku sighed and stood up, brushing leaves from her pants. "That's no problem. I guess I shouldn't pressure you too much after all we've only just met…not that long ago. I'll go get some more wood. It doesn't look like those twigs are going to burn very well." She said, stalking off into the darkening forest.
She came back a few minutes later a said, "Until you remember who you are, I'm going to call you Kurou. Is that okay with you?"
The boy nodded slowly, as though unsure of if he really wanted to be called Kurou.
"When I found you washed up on the river bank, there were lots of claw marks nearby, so you know…Kurou means claw."
"Ah." was his only reply.
"I'll be right back." Riku said, running off again. Ember followed closely by her heels, not too keen on staying alone with Kurou.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Wow~ Let's just say you're a lot better at starting a fire than I am." Riku said, gaping as the flames hungrily consumed the wood she'd collected.
"You have a fire pokemon, right? The growlithe that keeps following you around…You could have had it do ember to start the fire for you." Kurou pointed out.
Riku blinked, looked at Ember, blinked, and turned red. "I knew that." She said quickly. "…Gah!!! If I had realized that earlier, I wouldn't have had to spend three hours every night, trying to start a fire! I'm so stupid."
"You're not stupid." Kurou said, "Most new trainers don't realize how much their pokemon can help them outside of battles. I presume you're fairly new at this? Fairly new, meaning you have not been with your first pokemon for more than two months. Some trainers decide to goof off and have a little fun with their pokemon when they realize their pokemon are good for more than just battles and are, in fact, very good companions."
"I've had growlithe for almost a month now. You seem to know a lot about pokemon training, are you a pokemon trainer?" Riku asked curiously.
"I…hm…I guess I used to be…" Kurou said softly. He looked like he was really straining for an answer. "Was I? Or…I'm not sure…I think I was…"
Riku and Ember stared at him. "You think you were a trainer?"
"I…my memories are…really scrambled…" Kurou mumbled. "I told you before…half the time, I don't even know who I am anymore."
"…Uh…Are you hungry? I'm famished…I think I'll make dinner now." Riku said, hastily changing the topic. She got up and began rummaging about in her pack for supplies. She pulled out a can of pokemon food and asked, "Do you have any pokemon with you? I think I have a couple more can of food in here…"
Kurou shook his head. "I'm…pretty sure that I used to be a pokemon trainer…but…what happened to my pokemon? How could they just disappear?" He sighed. "It's so frustrating…right when I think I have an answer, another question pops up and my patchwork of memories is too confusing for me to make any sense of it…"
Riku blinked. "Um…right. Forget I said anything…" 'I was desperate for company, but it seems like I've picked up some pretty strange company! …But the poor guy does seem awfully depressed…' She quickly put the pot on the fire and began chopping up ingredients for her soup.
Kurou glanced at Ember and the growlithe snarled at him. He cocked his head curiously.
Riku lightly cuffed him, "What's wrong with you, Ember? You're usually not so aggressive towards new people…There's nothing wrong with Kurou! He's a nice guy, a little depressed, but he's not a bad person! Right Kurou?"
Kurou failed to meet her gaze and looked slightly uncomfortable.
'Hm…probably shy…' Riku thought. 'Definitely picked up strange company…'
"I should probably be going now…" Kurou said, trying to get up. He winced in pain and quickly sat back down and gasping in pain.
"I told you not to move!" Riku said, exasperated.
"Sorry…I didn't realize I was injured so badly." Kurou gasped. He felt his back and pulled it away bloody.
"Aw phoo…I have to change your bandages. Ew…the blood's soaking through the bandages…Told you not to move…" She quickly unwrapped the blood soaked bandages and tossed them to one side. "You'd think that lying in the river would have washed most of the blood off. I guess you reopened the wound when you were trying to get up." She peered at Kurou and realized that he was looking at something over her shoulder. His eyes were wide open, but he didn't look so much afraid as he was slightly angry. She spun around and swore silently. "They must have smelled the blood and come over to investigate."
Ember snarled and crouched down in preparation of an attack. The houndoom stood in a large ring around the three. A couple of houndour were mixed into the pack. The largest houndoom, a battled scarred creature with one eye blinded, growled irritably at the little growlithe. In a flash, it was at Embers side. He lashed out with his strong jaws and tore a deep gash down Ember's shoulder. Ember howled in pain and fought to get away from the houndoom. In an instant, the pack descended upon the growlithe.
"Hey! Leave Ember alone!" Riku screamed, grabbing her heavy pack and beating the houndoom with it. As the pack hit one of the houndour, it spun around it surprise and snapped at Riku's leg.
Kurou could feel hate rapidly rising up in himself. He knew that the houndoom were hunting for dinner like any other pack, but he didn't want to see Ember killed. Ember was Riku's first pokemon and her best friend. Ember's death would crush Riku and hurting the person who had cared for him, a total stranger, was the last thing he wanted. "But if I do help…" Kurou began, "I don't know what might--"
Ember managed to break free of the swarming houndour and houndoom, but the pack quickly turned its attention to Riku. The houndoom were trying to wear Riku down rather than attack her straight on so she actually wasn't injured too badly aside from a couple of more shallow scratches. One houndoom suddenly came charging towards Kurou. He put up his arms in self-defense, but found it unnecessary. The houndoom skidded to a halt and sniffed the air. It looked puzzled and took a less aggressive stance. After another sniff, it began to growl viciously again and locked its teeth around Kurou's arm. Ember bit the houndoom's tail, but was instantly thrown off into a nearby bush.
Kurou began to tremble violently and quickly curled up in a tight ball. The houndoom that had bitten him bite down harder. Blood flowed from the open wound as Kurou's breathing became more ragged. Suddenly, he began to growl. The sound began as a deep rumbling from within his chest but it rapidly grew to a roar. Kurou's head snapped up as he launched himself at the houndoom, his eyes glowed blood red in the glow from the campfire. Alarmed, the houndoom let go and backed away several feet. The other houndoom stop baiting Riku and turned to eye Kurou in confusion.
'What happened? Why is Kurou acting so strangely?' Riku wondered, lowering her arms just a little so that she could see.
Kurou snarled viciously, his lip curled back to reveal his gleaming fangs. His long black hair hung in his face as he arched his back in pain.
"OhmyGOD!!!" was the first thing that came to mind.
The long, black, spade-tipped tail whipped from side to side as the boy continued to wheeze in pain. Because Kurou wasn't wearing shoes to begin with, Riku could see that his feet had become black, doglike paws. Bone bracelets had formed around his wrists and ankles and his nails were growing into sharp claws. His snarling was interrupted by a sudden gasp of pain as two spikes peeked out from under his mane of black hair and rapidly grew into a pair of curving horns.
The houndoom that had bitten him yelped in pain a Kurou rapidly closed in on him, his speed greater than that of any normal houndoom. Kurou jaws pushed outwards into a slim, brown muzzle as hit caught the houndoom by its throat.
The pack fell upon him, trying to dislodge him from their pack member. They clawed and bit and any surface of him they could reach. Kurou collapsed under the weight of the houndoom and let go, but not before dealing hefty blows to some of the houndour that were closest to him.
By this time, Riku was too frightened to do anything more than cling to a tree and whimper at being attacked and watching and innocent looking boy become a monster.
Kurou rolled out of the mass of dark pokemon and leapt to his feet. By this time, black ran down his back, arms, and legs. His ears were long and pointed at the tips. Rib-like bones like those of the houndour and houndoom grew down his scarred back. He grabbed a houndour by the scruff of its neck and slammed it headfirst into the ground. There was a dull crack and the houndour lay very still where it had fallen. Kurou's lithe form leapt lightly to one side to avoid an attack before his shot back into the melee to deal out more damage.
The pack fought for its life, slashing widely and biting like mad. After what seemed like hours to Riku, the last of the pack managed to escape back into the forest, any thoughts of dinner were long since forgotten.
The camp was a mess. Riku's tent was trampled and ripped and her things were thrown all over the clearing. The dirt was clawed up and ember from the fire were scattered everywhere. Blood was splattered on the grass and in Kurou's fur. The red glow in his eyes faded to reveal eyes as red as the blood that coated his jaws. He let out a deep breath before collapsing in a limp heap on the grass. He had lost a lot of blood before and during the fight and could feel himself rapidly losing consciousness. His vision was starting to get fuzzy around the edges. It wasn't long before his vision went black…
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A/N: Oog…depressing…Dunno why the hell I suddenly decided to write this thing. What got me back into Pokemon??? Since when did I write about blood? o_O;;; Should I end it here or keep writing?