It wasn't just my side that ached upon waking up. My whole body seemed to ache from last evening. Suddenly, I remembered the events of yesterday and quickly shot up, before realising I was in some sort of flat, open, den. I tried to think of what humans would call it, seeing as I was back inside a building - a sterile, white walled building I realized with a panic - but my brain refused to think back to the lab.
Suddenly, the door to my newfound cell opened, and out walked some lady clad in obnoxious amounts of pink. Once the door opened, I tried to run for it but my muscles gave out before I could get up, resulting in me slumping over on the sleeping quarter rather awkwardly. She saw this and attempted to rush towards me, but as soon as I started hissing and whirring my wings - almost the only things that worked - she halted and started backing away. Surely she didn't expect me to let her anywhere near me after what the other humans made me do. She attempted to reason with me.
"Calm down, calm down... I'm only here to help you feel better. Your trainer-" I stopped listening after she dared to utter that word to me. I had quieted my snarling while she was talking, to see if I could gain any information about if this is truly the laboratory, but a trainer? I've learned of humans like those through Mother during training, but I have had no such thing. Father must have contacted her and told her sweet little lies just like he fed me them my life. I hissed louder this time, interrupting her spiel as she took a step or two backwards. Good. She's afraid. I attempted to slash at the air to scare her off more, but the only thing that accomplished was me weakly pointing at her before my arm gave out.
"Okay, okay, so you don't have a trainer then, or don't like them…" she then whispered something under her breath. Did she really believe what she said? "Either way, you need to sit still and calm down, it'll only make your injuries worse." I looked down at my body, noticing various white cloths wrapped around different parts of my body. Do they cover wounds with these? When did I get so many? My wounds burn worse as my brain makes the full connection to them. They seem to be mostly shallow cuts, but still able to bleed. There is a single, very deep cut that was torn up very badly in my midsection. I could still remember the feeling of the blade going through my torso. The serration of it tearing up my insides as they pulled it free. I gasped out of the memory, falling back onto the flat den. My brain had decided to block that experience off until now.
"Do you have a name I can call you?" The woman asks, staying where she was in the room. So Father neglected to even tell her my name. Of course. I wasn't certain where my tag was, if I did I would've cut it off. I just know that it's in one of my blindspots. I turned away from her slightly, revealing where I hoped that the tag was, somewhere on the base of my wings. Flicking my wings slightly, I think she saw it as she made a noise of surprise. "I will have to walk closer to look at that though, I don't want you opening up any of your wounds. Are you okay with that?" I didn't respond, but visibly kept my guard up. She'd be foolish to challenge a bladed opponent without any weapon of her own. She slowly approached me after seemingly understanding my response, before taking a glance at what was on it. I felt her suddenly poke me with something sharp and cold, and so I immediately whipped around, snarling. She quickly retreated, but I could see her holding something in her hands now. In one, a tool that looked rather sharp, and quite similar to my blades if I put them together in an X-shape. In her other hand was what I assumed to be my tag. I ceased my hostility after seeing that. She did it for me? She could've at least warned me...
"I'm terribly sorry for startling you, the tag looked terribly uncomfortable there, I should've let you know before hand." She looked startled as she said it, and then proceeded to look at the tag.
O-Oh my... well that's an interesting name you have. You seem far too sentient for being a wild Pokémon, so that's why I asked. It seems I was right." Are others not smart? Am I special or is she lying to me? Should I have not revealed my name? It seems that she could tell I was panicking, because she backed away while saying, "It's alright, you're okay. Nothing will happen to you while you're here, okay? I make sure that Pokémon that are injured like you make it back here and live." Is Father making you say that? "Since I've made sure you're okay, I'll take my leave now, I hope you can grow accustomed to us." Who's us? Father? Humans? Are there more of you? Or are you just dumb? Was there someone I didn't notice? I'm brought out of my thought process by the door clicking shut. Alone. Yet again.
My mind has run rampant the entire time I've been here, my mood rapidly decreasing the longer I'm kept in this white chamber. White this, white that, sterile this, sterile that. The supposed 'nurse' here has checked up on me every so often, but after the first couple days she came less and less. I don't want to admit it but I've started anticipating her visits. While she never smells like anything but sanitizers, she brings me food and is polite towards me. It reminds me too much of Father, though in a different, more positive way. What's quite strange though is that even after asking me for my name the nurse hasn't referred to me that way once.
I've heard occasional quiet chatter outside. There was never chatter able to be heard in the laboratory. There's mostly friendly chatter, but I was once woken up by a person yelling, an unrecognizable tone in their voice. Something about 'save them!' and 'they'll be alright, right?!' I'm not sure what lhappened, but it sounded important. I can't usually pick up the words other than that one occasion, but it began to slightly ease my mind that I'm not the only focus here. Only slightly.
The food here is strange, but much better than the lab's. It consists of these brown pebbles that somehow taste like fresh prey and a hint of something sweeter that I don't know the word for. Plus, there's usually a drink of some sort of tasty juice. Something along the lines of a 'Rawst Berry Juice,' if I can recall. What I can definitely recall is the ripe, bitter taste of it agreeing quite well with my palate. No matter how tasty it may be, it takes me a while to check it out and make sure there's no odd smells to it and no secret traps inside of it. It all seems too good to be true...
A knock on the door took me out of my train of thought, and I immediately went into my scowl that I have become known to the lady to have. The scowl quickly turned into a full-blown glare once I realized that the person who walked through the door didn't have a lot of pink on them. Or any pink at all. I realized this as a bare foot coated in a tan sandal walked through the doorway, followed by a bare leg leading to a pair of green cargo shorts. This figure's body was also much wider than the nurses. I instinctively flinched away when I saw he was wearing a white lab coat, the memories of the lab flashing in my mind. Luckily Father was much skinnier than this man in front of me. He also wore a blue shirt underneath the sterile coat. Though, taking a sniff of the air, I can tell that it isn't as aseptic as I first thought. He also had brown messy hair and a beard across his jawline. His round face looked surprised, since I was now on the opposite side of the object I now know is a 'bed.'
"I get that I'm a big, imposing man, but I promise you I'm not that scary," he said, trying to ease my tension. I realized that I must've looked frightened, and snarled at him while flaring my wings, my dignity destroyed by my first impression. Not that I cared for those. His only response to my threat was a hearty chuckle, as he looked at me with thoroughly calm eyes.
"Well, uh, H-457, feels wrong even saying it - let me tell you that whatever experiment you were forced into was a truly terrible thing to do to a Pokémon, and will be hunted down and promptly stopped by proper authorities." That statement jarred me out of any thoughts that I held at the time. How did he even know about that? Are they really against Father? Or do they just want me to cooperate? He must've noticed the surprise on my features, as he elaborated. "It isn't terribly hard to figure out just from the name, or more like designation, they gave you. I hate to break it to you but normal people and Pokémon aren't named after a string of letters and numbers." They aren't? Then what's the nurse's name? What's his name? I guess it makes sense, considering the only other naming of things that I know are Mother, Father, Scyther, and Human. "Let me introduce myself, my name is Professor Birch, and I'm here to help you. Can you walk yet? I understand if not, but-" I cut him off with a snap of my jaws, as I attempted to clamber off the bed. My clawed feet made contact with the ground, and as I lifted myself up, I only lost balance for a split second before standing before him, one blade kept in a defensive position.
"Well color me surprised, I thought your wounds wouldn't have let you stand for weeks." I gave him a dirty look, raising my other blade to his plight. "I guess that's Pokémon for you... come on, let's walk. I'm sure you want some fresh air outside of this Pokémon Center." He beckoned me with his hand, walking towards the door with his back turned. I could slash him right now. Kill the stupid, vile human, blood spilling out of him. But... Why would I? He's been nothing but supportive and helpful. He told me they're trying to fight the laboratory, and now he's taking me outside. Maybe I'll just follow him. See what he wants.
I follow him through the door, and the halls of the so-called Center are rather empty at the moment. I see a rack of cleaning supplies and Birch halfway down the hall looking at me, but nothing else. No one else. I turned and followed the professor after looking for a moment, listening to the sound of my clawed feet clacking against the tile on the ground. It was rather quiet during the walk, but as we approached the end of the hallway I could hear a swish sound, followed by a lady's voice and then a man's voice. We turned the corner right as I could hear the end of a sentence.
"-hope to see you again!" said the feminine voice as the man took a couple of spherical objects from her hand. I could see that the lady talking was the nurse that took care of me - I always wondered what she was doing outside of my room - and the man was a gruff-looking person who was about to turn around and leave before he spotted the professor and I. He waved with a smile at the professor, but upon seeing me his brown eyes widened and I realized that he must have been looking at the bandages around my torso. I felt the slightest bit of pride for just a moment as I realized that I would have battle scars, but then that realization fell faster than it arrived. I do not wish for a group of reminders about what I had done.
"Professor! - I get that you're trying to help, but taking the patient out of bed early isn't going to help it," the nurse advised Birch after noticing what the scruffy man was looking at.
"Well he seems fine enough to take a short walk, and he was getting restless inside there. You can't keep a Pokémon like Scyther cooped up like a room forever. You should know that." the round man responded with a smile on his face. The woman just looked the other way and waved her hand dismissively at us. "Come on now, I want to show you around. Let you know what's outside of your room." Birch said, turning to me before heading for the door. I approached behind him, passing by the man who had backed off to the side of the room, and when we exited the building I was rather surprised to find us in the woods.
I would have expected a place as human-made as this PokéCenter to be surrounded by more buildings, but here we were in a forest. It took me a moment but the longer I looked the more I realized that we were in a city. There was a building to our left, and there was a path that led into the treeline. As I looked up at the trees I could see bridges going across trees, and they lead to more buildings inside of the trees. I was quickly broken out of my stupor by Professor Birch talking.
"It seems you've already noticed the specialty of this town we are in. Welcome to Fortree City, my friend. Your new, albeit temporary, home." What is a friend?
-.-.-
I pondered that question as Birch showed me throughout the town, telling me about the PokéCenter, the PokéMart, which is where a trainer would buy items for travelling; a shop for buying furniture, whatever that is; and he showed me various houses where these humans seemed to live inside of. I didn't like how populated they were making the forest, but it's better than replacing the trees with big, sterile, white buildings. I tried to fly or run away once, but he quickly caught up to me after I would fall due to my chest heavily disagreeing with my sudden movements. He persuaded me that I would never be stuck here against my will, only after I heal from my injuries. Luckily, I can climb ladders just fine, though I think I broke a single rung. Human's fault for not making it properly. Climbing down isn't an issue since I can hover with my wings just fine, but trying to make the force in order to fly strains me too much.
"It usually rains a lot in this town. You're pretty lucky to not have any today!" he said, as we walked across a bridge up in the treetops. He stopped walking about halfway through the bridge, and seemed to be contemplating something for a moment.
"...how do I say this? How... would you like, hmm..." I chittered at him in response, wishing for him to hurry up and spit it out already.
"Would you want to be trained by a trainer?" I hissed in response. Be trained, let alone live with, a human?! One of you filthy people who forces us to attack others?
"Yeah, that's about what I expected. It was just an idea in my head, sorry if that hurt your trust in me. Like I said, I won't make you to do anything, so if you don't want to I won't force you." I stopped snarling at him after he said that, but I was still mentally bristling. Stupid humans and rheir thoughts.
"There's one last place I want to show you, if you'd let me," he said, beckoning me across the bridge. "It's just this way, a couple treetops away and down a ladder. Trust me, you'll like it." I ruled to doubt his words, since he seems to think a lot of things in his head.
We approached the large domed building, almost taller than it was wide, though it might've just been perspective. Birch had an expectant smile as he pulled a small device out of his pocket. From what I remember he called it a PokéNav. I do not know its purpose, but he assured me it was nothing harmful.
"Now then, if we go inside you can see exactly what I wished to show you." the professor claimed, stashing away the device and leading the way into the large structure. There was some sort of symbol above the door and lettering that I couldn't recognise, only knowing my name's letter and numbers. Walking inside, there seemed to be some sort of entry room, where 5 other people sat and seemingly just sat there, waiting. There was one human who had a creature of some sort standing next to him. The creature was a feline-like creature, bipedal and covered in yellow and black fur. I didn't like the feeling in the air when I got close to it as we passed by. The humans in the room all seemed to snap to attention when Professor Birch walked in, it seems like he's an important person. I don't like the stares I get. He walked up and started talking to a female worker at the front desk, but I didn't listen to them as I looked around at the surrounding people. I could see all of them were probably trainers, due to them having the supposed 'Pokéballs' strapped onto them. Two of them had three, one had four, and the other two had six. The one with four had the strange-air-feline next to him.
"Come on, let's go check out the next match!" Birch said, trying to excite me about this place. He went down a hallway to the lady's right. I followed him but I was also trying to figure out what he meant about the match, but he must have sensed my confusion.
"This place is what we like to call a Gym. Trainers come here to challenge the Gym Leader, a very powerful trainer, in a test of their own prowess. If they win they receive a badge that certifies their combat, technical, and overall training prowess," He explained. This is a normal thing? Fights and blood and dea- "Don't worry, there is never intentionally any blood spilt." He interrupted my thoughts, somehow knowing what I was thinking about. "These are what we call sanctioned fights, where if either party metaphorically steps over the boundaries, then there are punishments." We came to a staircase that we shortly climbed until the passage opened up.
The sight before me was another amazement in this world.
Rows and rows of chairs were sprawled out before us, and in the middle of all of them was a steep drop before a massive battle-scarred arena. I ran up to the guard rail on the edge so that I would get a better look at everything. I could see trees split in half, dirt freshly burnt, and two stands on either side. The ceiling of the chamber seemed to just keep going, looking like it was as tall as the trees that stood just outside. The arena looked like it was just used, but there were no bodies, no blood, nothing there. What happened here? Suddenly, a loud noise startled me from above, as a device I've come to know as a speaker flared with a screech.
"Hello everybody! Welcome to the Fortree City Gym! Please give a warm welcome to our favorite Gym Leader, Winona!" The speakers said. I only just realized that while I had been distracted by the battlefield, the seats around us had filled with humans and Pokémon alike, though mostly humans. I looked back down, as a lady clad in blue clothing walked out, supposedly Winona. She doesn't look as strong as Birch said. Looks like she could still die to a cut.
"And now, please welcome the Gym Challenger, Jamison Richard!" On the other side of the battlefield, the man from earlier, who had the feline, walked up to the stand opposite of Winona.
"Make sure to watch carefully during the fight," Birch mentioned to me, leaning slightly towards me to speak above the roaring crowd. Suddenly a bright pink shimmer flickered in front of us. I reached my blade up to touch it, but Birch lightly tapped the shoulder of my exoskeleton.
"That's a Barrier, I wouldn't touch it just in case. They put it here to protect the crowd from dangerous or wild attacks." I flinched my arm back after that. This strange thing can stop a blade? Can it stop even more? I was quickly interrupted by the speakers bleating once more.
"Gym Leader, please send out your first Pokémon!" I watched as the woman grabbed a pokéball from inside of her jacket and opened it up, releasing a light from it. A large bird with navy blue and red downy materialized in the light, quickly taking flight.
"And Winona starts with her Swellow! A great start for the fight! Let's see if the challenger has what it takes to bring down this gutsy bird!" the announcer shouted, amping up the crowd. The boy on the other side of the field grabbed a ball off of his belt and raised it to the field, releasing the creature within. What came out was some sort of bipedal Pokémon that almost immediately flipped onto its head for some odd reason. I quickly understood as it spun rapidly.
"An interesting choice for the challenger to choose, considering Winona specializes in Flying-type Pokémon! The challenger sends out his Hitmontop!" The speakers announced, as I looked towards the professor at my side for an explanation as to what a type was, however it seems that he didn't get the message that I was trying to convey.
"Hitmontop is a fighting-type Pokémon, which is a matchup that leans unfavorably towards it. Kind of like your bug-type." Birch explained, but only answered a few questions of mine, while leaving many more and some new ones unanswered. I sat there frustrated at the language barrier between us, before turning back to the arena.
"Remember challenger, two item uses and two switches allowed! The match will begin in three! Two! ONE! BEGIN THE FIGHT!" The crowd roared as the two Pokémon launched into battle. The Hitmontop had punched the ground, breaking a portion of it in order to send itself spiraling in a direction that seemed completely random - how could it know where it was going during that spin? - right as the Swellow began a to spin around in the air, a purplish energy surrounding it as it seemed to grow faster, but how could it be? It must be an illusion, right? The Hitmontop slowed its sudden movement next to a tree, when the Swellow stopped spiraling and disappeared from the air - no, it shot towards the Hitmontop! I couldn't even see it, but the spinning fighter managed to completely deflect the blow, a small barrier protecting it from the blow.
"After a moment of setup, Swellow Quick Attacked the Hitmontop, but they predicted the move and used Quick Guard while they still could! Can Swellow get away from the melee fighter in time?" The announcer shouted, though I only understood half of the declaration since I was still struggling to understand all of this. Suddenly, the Swellow split into two copies of itself - how? - and split off in different directions, but the Hitmontop was ready and slammed its foot onto the wing of one of them, slamming it into the ground next to it. I could hear the screech of pain from the bird, but it still managed to crawl up and slash the fighter with it's glowing wing, smacking it off course of its spiraling. The Handstand Pokémon's spinning slowed for a moment, but it suddenly jumped up off the ground and slammed the ground with its feet before the Swellow could take flight, and at first I thought it was pointless - why stop the defensive spinning? - when suddenly a massive pillar of rock shot out of the ground right underneath the Swallow Pokémon, knocking it sky-high before being hit by a red beam and disappearing. I was confused for a moment, before looking at where the beam came from, and seeing Winona holding a pokéball.
"Woah! A sudden Stone Edge from the Hitmontop instantly knocks out Winona's Swellow! Who will she send out next?" the speaker blared. What was that? How did that rock just... show up? Right underneath that Swellow? Winona took yet another ball from her jacket and released her second Pokémon. What materialized was quite frankly a massive creature, definitely the biggest I've seen. Tree-trunk-like legs, a massive neck, and leaf-like wings that unfolded from it's back. The moment it appeared, the Hitmontop across from it flipped back onto its head, spinning once again, but then stopped and turned around, looking at its trainer with it's black eyes.
"Jamison is using his first Switch! I wonder what he's planning?" the announcer let the audience know, as the red beam once again came out and retracted the fighter. The next thing that he released was quite a confusing sight for me. The moment it was released, the stadium became slightly hotter, as a large puddle of bubbling liquid materialized, with a dark, blackened shell on its rear.
"Hoo boy, a Magcargo! If you're in the front rows you've already felt the temperature change. Winona's Tropius is in a great deal of trouble, especially with it's Sunny Day strategies." I didn't like the feeling of the heat from the creature, and I wondered if the barrier was reducing the temperature at all, and if it was, how was that Tropius feeling? The battle quickly went into action once the Tropius flapped its wings at the Magcargo, taking flight while releasing a flurry of leaves which quickly spiraled around and formed into a tornado. The attack launched itself at the snail, lacerating it's rocky shell, but combusting against the lava. The creature retaliated with a slow movement before it's shell glowed red hot and it spewed a spout of lava out at the massive creature. With how slow it's movements were, the Tropius wasn't expecting this fast of a jetstream to come shooting at it, and it scorched a portion of its torso and caught the end of a wing. The pain of the blow grounded the Fruit Pokémon as its legs slammed against the ground. It seemed like the round was a guaranteed win for Jamison, but as the Tropius hit the ground, everything started shaking, with the ground shaking so hard underneath the Magcargo to break the earth. The intense vibrations badly hurt the lava creature, in fact, enough so that it slumped over and fell unconscious.The challenger looked greatly shocked at this, and it took him a moment to raise the ball to his Pokémon and recall it.
"Woah! A surprise earthquake from Winona's Tropius comes out of left field and strikes the challenger's Magcargo hard enough to instantly down it!" I nearly fell over after the sudden shaking of the ground. Can something really be so powerful as to shake the earth? How does one get so powerful? I sat there for a while contemplating the sheer power of these Pokémon after standing up, shocked and deaf to the world. I suddenly came back to reality as the challenger's recently released Pokémon, his Hitmontop again, had just used another 'Stone Edge' to knock out the Tropius, and Winona released her third Pokémon. What came out was another bird, who had a massive bill on it's white and blue body.
"Winona's Pelipper is ready for action! Don't underestimate these Pokémon, just because they're plentiful does not mean that they cannot grow strong!" The round started with the Hitmontop dashing forward before leaping into its spinning form, rapidly approaching the new bird. Before the bird could flap away, the fighter quickly encroached upon it, and released a very quick three-spin kick. This kicked it back onto the ground, but as the Hitmontop tried to race after it, it sped into the air and released a ball of water from its mouth. The sphere reached into the air and spread into a large cloud, which then started downpouring onto the field. The Hitmontop sped through the quickly dampening dirt and shot through the air, much like how the Swellow did at the beginning of the Gym Battle, and impacted against the Pelipper. The Pelipper slightly faltered in its flapping, and descended slightly, before pulling back its wings and preparing for a massive flap of its wings. Before it could, however, the Hitmontop, as it fell, shot forward in a dark haze and kicked the base of the Pelipper's wing, seeming to barely not cause major injury. Although it was a big hit, it didn't stop the Pelipper's attack.
"Hold onto your hats, everyone! Pelipper's combo is about to be releas-'' Just as he finished relaying the message, the announcer got drowned out by the sounds of roaring winds, and a gale force unlike any other unleashed from the bird's wings. What... is this the result of training? I questioned myself, astonished by the torrential rain and wind combination. The Hitmontop, just barely about to hit the ground, was quickly lifted up and away from it, rapidly spinning around in the winds that whipped the arena. Not soon enough, the wind started to die down, and the Hitmontop was roughly tossed at the ground. At first it looked like it was out of the count, but it slowly crawled upwards, panting heavily.
"Wow! A Hitmontop's stamina is truly incredible! That potion used by Jamison earlier must have really counted here!" What? Had I missed the trainers doing something? Did they interfere with the fight while I wasn't looking? The Hitmontop, though heavily exhausted, did not let the fight rest. Neither did the Pelipper, either, as its bill was filling with some sort of thick liquid. The Hitmontop, struggling as it was, quickly smacked the ground, a telltale sign of its previous attack, Stone Edge, right as the Pelipper let loose a shot of briny water. The two attacks connected with their targets, and as the two of them slumped and fell, two red beams retracted their targets. Even with that power, that fighter managed to tie it? How... How do you manage to get this strong? Maybe it really is worth it to get a trainer...
Professor Birch POV
I had gotten used to Gym battles by now, so most of my attention was actually put on the peculiar Scyther to the side of me. After the earthquake move displayed by Winona's Tropius he seemed to be completely stunned, which was exactly the kind of aspect I was looking for from this. As a Pokémon, let alone a Scyther, he should have a natural call for being the strongest out there. And this alone should have spurned that burning fire inside of him. I still wonder what could have happened to him to give him those wounds... I'm sure that's a discussion for another day however. Glancing back at the field, I see the ace of Winona has finished mopping the floor with the rest of the young trainer's team. The kid had a great chance, but he underestimated the power of a Pelipper in the right conditions and also didn't expect a ground move to come out of a Tropius. Not that I blame him, however, it just takes experience. I'm sure he'll get her next time he challenges her. People were already filtering out of the seats, but the Scyther hadn't budged or noticed anything amiss. I lightly nudged his shoulder, which he then flinched out of his stupor and noticed the quieting noise level.
"The battle's over, my friend, it's time to head on out of here. That is, unless you want to stay here and watch the next one in an hour." He surprisingly took a moment to ponder my words, but ended up turning around towards the exit instead, looking back at me to lead the way. I gave a chuckle, but walked ahead of him anyway. The walk out of the gym was completely quiet, with me giving him time to mull over his thoughts. Upon getting outside, I turned around to him, stopping my lead. He almost bumped into me, but stopped just short, looking up and realizing his surroundings. He looks much different than usual when lost in his mind. More lost, more anxious, but also surprisingly curious. However, that changed back to his usual scowl when he looked back at me.
"Want to head back to the Center? I'm sure this has been a long day for you, since it's your first time outside of that white room." I asked him. He seemed to stiffen when I mentioned his Care room, not a good sign.
"Scy." he replied, I'm guessing an affirmative based on his behavior.
As we arrived back at the PokéCenter, I was rather surprised when I got a sharp poke in my back. When I turned around, the Scyther's face had completely changed from earlier. It looked... resolved? Like he had just figured out some conflict that was pestering him. Could it be...
"What's up?" I questioned, curious. He took his arm-blade and pointed back behind me. Looking back, I could see him pointing at the Pokéball symbol on the Pokémon Center.
"What about it? Is it something to do with the building?" His look seemed to darken at that, as I turned to look at him again. Definitely not that. "Is it about the Pokéball?" He nodded. "Can you point out what about it?" He paused for a moment, his right wing flicking slightly as he thought, or hesitated, I wasn't sure. He then pointed at the Pokéball again, and then at himself. I internally gasped, making sure not to startle him out of the decision. "Do you want to be caught?" He nodded at me. "Do you want a Trainer?"
He nodded.
That's it for Chapter 1 folks. I'm quite surprised by how this turned out. Now I definitely understand why people write short chapters, and why people write long chapters. Eventually it just felt like it was going to keep going and going. I'm quite happy with how this chapter turned out! Let me know any criticisms/thoughts/questions or even just comment anything! Also don't forget to vote/favorite this story if you like it.
