I've been pretty ill recently, so I figured I'd make the best of a a bad situation and write some more of this while I'm off school. And here we are; Goldenrod City, probably my favorite GSC town. Though Mahogany is cool and has nice music. Anyway, I'm glad people are enjoying this... it's really fun to write fics with no humans in. I guess it's the joy of writing a 'Pokémon' fic.
Chapter 3: The Magnet Train (Murky-blue)
A few quick flashes of Gabzy's claws and they wriggled through yet more trees on the side of the Goldenrod gatehouse. They stopped for a few seconds to catch their breath before realizing how huge Goldenrod City was. And how many people it housed.
"Oh hell." Gabzy sighed.
Everyone else was too scared to move. The sight of so many living things in one place was too scary for them. They were only used to one or two Pokémon sharing a cavern in the Ice Path and the sight of thousands of trainers and other humans bustling around in early morning Goldenrod was disturbing.
"Come on. We've got to find a way to blend." Gabzy said, snapping them back to reality. Freezachu hugged the bottle for comfort.
"Blend?" Ritzo echoed, still stunned.
"So we can get around without being captured. If we were Pidgey or Sentret it'd be all right, since they'd assume we belonged to someone, but even with something as rare as a Delibird, the greedy humans would try and catch you, let alone a Shiny or an undiscovered species."
"So what do you suggest?" Sarielle asked, hoping that nobody could see them as they were, standing a few feet along from the gatehouse.
Gabzy winced: he had an idea, but his pride really didn't want to let him do it. "Okay," he said, pointing to a garbage can not far from them. "I have a plan…"
"How're you doing?" a medium-sized box that used to contain popcorn asked a plastic bag with eyeholes.
"All right. This is so scary!"
"Guys! Where are you?" called a hamburger box in a low whisper.
"Over here, Sarol."
"Thanks."
"Hey Gabzy," began the popcorn box, which was housing Sarielle, "Where exactly is this train station?"
A large ripped guitar case came over to the other pieces of talking trash. "I have no idea. I suggest that we wander around the back roads without being seen until we find someone I can ask."
"Good idea."
"Okay…" Gabzy stuck his head out from under the case and peered around the side of a building. "Okay, we can go! Move!" Immediately, they all began shuffling towards Gabzy and around the side of the shop, when suddenly they heard a yelp. Whirling around, they saw Freezachu, who had had his tail trodden on by a passing human, fall flat on his face and was in danger of being crushed by a large group of humans who were approaching.
"Get up!" Ritzo hissed. Freezachu didn't hear him and stayed where he was, very scared. The humans, a group of teenage males, came closer and closer to Freezachu, who was half-covered by his plastic bag, but showing his crooked, icicle-tipped tail to everyone.
"Freezachu!" Sarol shouted, dashing out from under her burger box and over to the frightened mouse. "We have to go now!"
"I'm scared!" he whispered, hugging Stalegeon's bottle close.
"I know, but we have to-"
"Move!" hissed Ritzo, sounding incredibly worried, his little black eyes wide with fear as the humans approached.
Sarol grabbed Freezachu's paw with in her mouth and dragged him into a large shadow thrown onto them by a huge building. The humans passed by, oblivious.
"Phew…" sighed Sarielle, "that was way too close."
"I don't think we need these anymore." Ritzo said, shoving the plastic bag from over his body, grateful to be free of it. The other followed suit, shedding their camouflage.
"Where is it?" Freezachu suddenly shrieked, making them all jump.
"Where is what?" Ritzo asked, shocked by Freezachu's sudden outburst.
"The bottle! It's gone!"
"Oh, hell." Gabzy said blankly. While Freezachu had escaped unharmed, the bottle containing Stalegeon had been kicked across to where most of the people were walking. It would be impossible to get to it without being seen.
"I'll get it." Gabzy said, dashing off before his friends could tell him how dangerous it was.
Swerving expertly amid a sea of legs, Gabzy spied the bottle, the liquid it contained now a clouded blue, lying by the curb. He dashed over to grab it, but he was too slow. His tail feathers were trodden on by a passing human. He fell flat on his face, and slashed at the person's foot out of instinct. A Sneasel's feathers are a great source of pride, second only to their claws. The teenage human girl's sneaker was ripped open and blood spattered out from where Gabzy's claw cut the flesh, not deeply, but enough to hurt.
"Aarghh!" she screamed, dropping to her knees and grabbing her damaged foot. Gabzy used this as a distraction, grabbed the bottle and was dashing with it back to the others when one of the humans above him spotted the blood on his claws.
"It was that Sneasel!" he shouted, pointing.
Heads turned, and Gabzy realized that he was in deep trouble for attacking a human. He knew that if he ran back to the others now, they would be found, so he threw the bottle in the direction of the group of Ice Pokémon and ran as fast as he could away from the onslaught of grabbing hands.
Gabzy had never been into a human town before the adventure with Freezachu, let alone a city the size of Goldenrod. However, it was very similar to being back in the Ice Path, playing with Sarol and the others. Every bench became an icy rock that he would use to escape Sarielle catching him during a game of tag. Every human running towards him was a stalagmite protruding from the ground that had to be merely dodged. The Sneasel leapt off café tables, jumped over fences and dodged under the wheels of cars.
Sarol was craning her tiny neck to see what all the yelling was about before she was hit on the head by a flying bottle of water. Ritzo caught it, while Freezachu dashed over to check if the Swinub was all right.
"Guys…" Sarielle murmured, looking terrified, not even noticing that her best friend had nearly been concussed.
The Freezachu, Swinub and Delibird turned their heads in the direction that Sarielle was looking. Their expressions turned stony as they saw a larger group of people tending to a girl with a damaged foot, and even more people shouting "Grab it!", "Get that Sneasel!" and "Don't let it get away!".
"We should follow them." Ritzo said, looking around, "But from the backalleys. If we run fast enough, we shouldn't lose them."
"You're right." Sarol agreed, as Freezachu and Sarielle nodded. The four Pokémon took off, following the huge group of people chasing after their friend, but keeping to the shadows cast by the towering buildings overhead.
Gabzy's body was packing in on itself. His muscles ached, his mouth was dry, his claws were digging into his paws from being run on while withdrawn and his feet were screaming at him to stop. He had lost a large number of the people who were following him, but some of the more persistent ones were doggedly perusing him, although they looked as tired and exhausted as he felt.
"Gabzy!" came a hiss from behind a large building. He turned his head and saw his friends there, looking completely fatigued, but glad to see him. He dodged around a sandwich board and joined them, the humans suddenly wondering where the offending Sneasel had gone.
"We found it!" Sarol said excitedly.
"What?" Gabzy asked, his brain tired from running so far so fast. He extended his claws and licked at his bleeding paws, tending the wounds that his claws had caused. He suppressed a hiss of pain.
"The Magnet Train." Sarielle said proudly, not noticing. "All we have to do is sneak on without being seen and then get off at Saffron, in Kanto."
Gabzy sat, panting for a few seconds before reacting. "That's great. How far is it? Will we be seen?"
Sarielle solemnly pointed to the station, which seemed to be exploding with humans.
"I don't think that hiding under trash is going to work this time." Ritzo said worriedly. "There are too many people in one place. We'd get trodden on just too quickly."
"He's right." Sarielle nodded. "I think the only thing we can do is make a run for it."
"And if anyone tries to catch us, we've just got to attack them." Sarol said sadly, "There's no other way."
"We've got to try and hide Sarielle and Freezachu as much as possible though," Ritzo said, seeing the looks of apprehension on their faces, "We don't want the Ice Path getting raided again."
Ten years previously, when Sarol had not yet been born, and the others were only a few years old, the Ice Path had been raided by humans, and many Pokémon had been captured and taken away. These Pokémon included Gabzy's brother, who Gabzy hated on every level, and Ritzo's father, who the Delibird missed deeply. Mercifully, the people who conducted these raids did not see the back caves, where the undiscovered Pokémon were hiding.
"Okay then. There's no point waiting. When I say go, we dash to the station and try and get on a train. If not… just find something to hide under."
Gabzy tried to sound professional, but in truth, he was a worried as the others. There were so many things that could go wrong, the least of which was the fact that none of them had any idea what a train looked like.
"Go!" he shouted. The Pokémon broke into a run, and dashed across the street, trying to avoid being seen, stepped on and especially captured. They continued running, Gabzy being the fastest and Sarol the slowest, not even stopping as they entered the station. They dashed up the stairs, under the ticket barrier and found themselves at the platform, where a train was waiting, its door open.
"Okay guys!" Ritzo yelled to them, "this one!"
They all turned their heads and saw the Delibird indicating to the long train that stood in front of them. A loud voice was booming over the intercom, "The Goldenrod to Saffron Magnet Train will be departing in twenty seconds. Have a nice day!", but it made no sense to the little Pokémon who were struggling to board the train without anyone seeing them. Gabzy jumped and made it onto the train first, followed closely by Ritzo. Sarielle came next, looking absolutely terrified. Freezachu, with the bottle, jumped for the train and missed, but was grabbed by his friends, who hauled him up. Suddenly, a hissing noise sounded and the door began to close, while Sarol was desperately trying to run, but making little progress on her tiny legs.
"Come on, Sarol!" Sarielle shouted, panicking. Ritzo suddenly leapt off the train and landed next to Sarol. He seized her in his wings and threw her onto the train, where she was nearly caught by the automatic doors. The metallic sound of the electromagnets heating up sounded, and the Pokémon gazed with horror as they saw the Delibird standing there on the platform just as the doors closed. About five seconds later, they were all jerked backwards as the train started moving at a speed of two hundred miles and hour. Deciding that right by the door was not the best idea, they solemnly crawled under a seat and talked in near-silent whispers.
"It's all my fault... why do I have to be so slow…"
"Poor, poor Ritzo."
"What do you reckon he's going to do now?"
They spent the rest of the journey trying to cheer up the inconsolable shiny Swinub as they zoomed along, crossing the border between Johto and Kanto; a journey of twenty minutes that the Pokémon would be unable to travel in five days. The train halted suddenly, throwing them forward somewhat, and they waited for the humans to depart before getting off themselves, so as not to be seen. They somberly stepped onto the platform, hidden by a man pushing a large suitcase, pausing only to check that Freezachu still held onto the bottle, the contents of which were a kind of cloudy-blue.
"Hey guys."
They all whirled around at the familiar voice and saw Ritzo standing on the platform with them, his pure-white breast feathers smeared with a black oil, but otherwise fine.
"Ritzo? How on earth…?"
"I found a perch between the carriages." The Delibird said, indicating to the gap between the carriage the other Pokémon had been in and the one behind it. "Not the most comfortable half-hour of my life, but the front carriage shielded me from the wind, so I wasn't ripped off by the wind. Cool, eh?"
"Ritzo, you will never cease to-"
"Move!" Gabzy hissed, seeing a child spot them, as the human they had been using for cover had moved, and the little boy was tugging on his mother sleeve. The five Pokémon ran towards a group of humans, hoping that they were going outside, where cover was to be found.
...you didn't seriously think I'd leave Ritzo stranded in Johto, did you?