A Mightyena Named Wolf

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon

This chapter has been rewritten in 2009.

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Chapter 2 ~ The Collision Of Two Worlds

At the mansion not far from Rustboro City, 13-year old Will Bronx lay awake on his bed, listening to the howls of an unknown Pokémon. He did not think much about it. It must be a Pokemon calling another of its kind or something. Whatever it was, it actually soothed him.

Will was the only kid in the Bronx family. His family was rich. His father owned Solar Studios, a huge filming company notable for producing blockbuster movies. Unfortunately, that meant Mr. Bronx is usually away.

Will's mother on the other hand, likes to go to town to attend meetings, functions and goodness knows what. As such, Will is usually left alone in the mansion, save for his mother's Espeon. However, he was never really on close terms with the Espeon.

He always wished he had a Pokémon. He wanted to travel too, to acquire all the gym badges. It was a common dream among people his age. Having a Pokémon would help him accomplish his dream. Most important of all though, he wanted a Pokémon to be his friend.

He tried visiting the nearby woods everyday to catch a Pokémon but he never even came close. For starters, he had no way to weaken the wild Pokémon to make captures easier. Secondly, as much as he hates to admit it, he was frequently frightened by the unnerving stares the wild Pokémon gave him whenever he attempted his feeble captures.

Next morning came and Will felt it was going to be a day just like the others. Still, he would try his luck in the woods again… 'Perhaps I will finally get lucky!' he thought, ignoring the fact that that was what he felt every other day too.

He ran down the stairs to the living room only to find that he was completely alone in the house. Again. Sighing, he headed towards the kitchen.

He ate a quick breakfast and left immediately after saying a brief goodbye to the Espeon reclining on the sofa. He knew his mother would be back in a moment to bring the Espeon out with her, so the Pokémon was probably idling around until that time. Will walked out of the gates, checking to make sure that he had brought several empty Pokéballs with him. Just in case, he thought.

In the woods, he had an interesting confrontation with a Spinarak. As he had found out long ago, not many Pokémon seemed to like being hit on the head with a Pokéball. For his efforts though, Spinarak rewarded Will with some String Shot.

"Spinarak!" the Spinarak said indignantly before marching off.

Ah well… he'd try somewhere else. But he knew it would be difficult catching a Pokémon without using another Pokémon to weaken it first. He did not choose any of the three starter Pokémon because he thought they were very common. All his friends have them. He had nothing against any of the starter Pokémon, but he just wanted to go with a different one.

He trudged along a small path he frequently walked, keeping his eyes peeled for any Pokémon that might be lurking around. He was getting desperate; he has lost count of how many times he failed a capture.

If he did not capture a Pokémon anytime now, he might never ever get one.

A new location! That's where he would go look. When the path he was waking along branched into two, he took the path that he had never taken before. Soon after, he found himself at the cliffs. The view from there was breathtaking… but the sight of a Pokémon laying there unconscious was even more surprising.

Will has studied enough to know that it was a Mightyena. It was lying on its side, not moving. Yet, it doesn't look as if it was sleeping. It was either dead or injured.

Even though it was unconscious, Will still felt intimidated. However, curiosity pulled Will closer.

Will slowly placed his palm next to the Mightyena's nose, all the while afraid that it might suddenly spring into life and snap its jaws at Will's hand. "Still breathing..." Will muttered to himself.

Will bent down to further examine the Mightyena. One of its hind legs was bleeding. All in all, it didn't seem to be in good shape. Will did not bring any medical supplies with him, but he couldn't just leave the Mightyena there...

Yes. He has to bring the Mightyena to a Pokémon Center. But how? Capture it? He thought it wouldn't be fair to catch a poor defenseless Pokémon.

Carry it there? Yes, that's the only solution.

Will slowly placed his arms around the Mightyena's body and lifted it off from the ground.

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Rocking… rocking…

Yeah… He's on a rocking ship on the way to Heaven…

The Mightyena slowly opened his eyes. This doesn't look like heaven…

The Mightyena could see two feet below him. Two human feet. He looked up. A human. Carrying him. A Mightyena.

He wouldn't let that happen.

The Mightyena began struggling with all of his strength left, which wasn't much. The boy almost let go of him in shock – apparently, he did not realize that the Mightyena had regained consciousness. However, the human maintained a strong grip.

The Mightyena whined and growled but was ignored.

Great… he's now so weak he can't even free himself from a human boy. There goes his life now. He's going to be trapped in a Pokéball and become a puppet used to help human fools gain badges…

I'm sorry, mom… dad…

The boy began to speak in a gentle voice. "Don't worry, I'll... I'll bring you to the Pokémon Center at Rustboro City. They'll fix you up in no time."

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Will was glad that the Mightyena had stopped trying to free itself. Maybe it has calmed down, or maybe it had no energy left. It looked really sad though… its expression was forlorn.

Will shifted his arms around so that his right hand had more room to move. He then ran a palm down the Mightyena's forehead, carefully stroking it. That attempt only started the growling once more. He gave one last pat on its head and looked forward. Almost there…

The Pokémon Center was open 24/7. It is a place where trainers would bring their Pokémon to treat them when they are sick or injured. The person running it is Nurse Joy, though of course, she has many helpers. Chanseys and Blisseys are two of the center's primary helpers, though Will had seen other Pokémon there helping out.

Will was panting when he reached the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy was at the counter, fiddling with a machine. She turned around and stared at him as he entered. A tall counter separated the two, and it obscured Nurse Joy's vision so that she did not see the Mightyena.

"This… Mightyena… found…" Will panted.

Nurse Joy looked confused. "Excuse me? Can I help you?"

"Injured…" Will paused to catch his breath.

"You're injured?" Nurse Joy said, eyeing Will carefully.

"No, this guy is," Will lifted the Mightyena higher so that Nurse Joy could see it.

She gasped, but got over her momentary shock quickly. She examined the Mightyena with great professionalism. "That's quite a nasty wound there…"

"Can you treat him?"

"Sure! You just sit over there and wait, OK?"

"OK…" Will said gratefully. He walked over to a chair and sat down on it, completely tired from carrying the Mightyena.

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An hour later, Nurse Joy brought out the Mightyena. The black-and-grey Pokémon looked better now, but was still bearing the same miserable expression he wore earlier.

"Your Mightyena is as good as new! He must be lucky to have a trainer like you who was willing to bring it here. You'd be surprised at how many trainers would just leave their Pokémon at home even when they are sick."

"Er, thanks, but this one is a wild," Will told Nurse Joy.

"A wild!? Well… that explains why it was quite unwilling to receive treatment from me. I had to use Blissey to persuade it!" She stared intently at Will for a moment before saying, "So, what are you going to do with it now?"

Will shrugged. He had been thinking for the previous hour about what he should do with the Mightyena after Nurse Joy had treated it, but he still had no answer. "I don't know. I suppose letting it back to the wild is not a good idea, huh?"

"No, not now. Why don't you capture it if it is willing?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Ah… maybe."

"Anyway, I got to go. There is a Muk that I have to treat at the back. Good luck with the Mightyena!"

"Thanks a lot, Nurse Joy."

"You're welcome."

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The Mightyena still limped when it walked, so Will decided to carry it again. To his surprise, the Mightyena did not struggle this time. Feeling pleased to have obtained the Pokémon's cooperation, he walked towards his mansion.

The Mightyena looked up as they neared the house. It was the mansion that he could see from the cliffs that day. He was rather surprised at this development.

Is this going to be his new home? Of course. Of course it would be. No way would this boy let him get away scot-free. He struggled, indicating he wanted to get down. The boy remained oblivious to his struggling though.

The Mightyena gave up as the boy carried him into the mansion. A quick scent-check told the Mightyena that no other human was in the mansion at that moment. He detected very faint scents of a Pokémon though, but he did not know of which kind. In any case, the Pokémon doesn't seem to be in the house at the moment.

If the mansion looked pretty from the outside, it was nothing compared to what it looks from the inside. Exotic rugs lay on the floor while glass chandeliers hang from the ceiling. Towering wardrobes leaned against the walls, boasting souvenirs from all around the globe, which was displayed prominently inside. The wallpaper was just screaming 'expensive!' – in fact, everything in the house did.

Funny, the Mightyena thought. The way this boy looked, you couldn't tell that he was from a rich family. The Mightyena studied the boy once more.

Not too tall, not too short. Brown hair, a little bit messy. Wearing a white jacket with several red lines running down the middle. Blue jeans.

Yep, not a rich-guy look. Then again… what does a rich guy look like? He has seen many kinds of people… he often visited the city when he was still a Poochyena…

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Will saw the Mightyena surveying him. For a few seconds, Will thought that the Mightyena was deciding on whether he would make a good trainer or not. Will hope he passed the test. Then he pushed the thought out of his head – he mustn't get his hopes up.

Inside his room, Will placed the Mightyena on the floor and left to get food and water for it. He saw the Mightyena staring fixedly at him as he left the room and wondered what was running through the Pokémon's head.

In the kitchen, Will browsed through the items available in his refrigerator. Obviously, a Mightyena can drink plain water, so Will got some of that. But what does a Mightyena eat? Will looked around again. Will figured a leftover t-bone steak would have to do.

With the items in hand, he made his way back to his room. When he reached there, however, the Mightyena was not there.