Ch.3

Tragic Past

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"Maris did save my life after all. That dream, that nightmare, meant more than just a random wild pokemon attack," Dmitri thought sadly as he wordlessly walked down the dirt road with his loyal starter.

Maris noticed the pained expression on his face and immediately confronted him about it.

"(I know for a god damn fact that you're not okay after last night. We're going to see the school psychiatrist the second we get to the academy,)" Maris said firmly as she wouldn't let her friend suffer the psychological torture he was obviously going through.

Dmitri didn't say anything as he continued to walk down the dirt road with his head hanged down.

Someone caught Dmitri in a hug from behind and they both turned around to see Delia with a worried expression on her face.

"It was a bad dream again wasn't it?" Delia said as more as a statement rather than a question.

Dmitri wordlessly nodded as continued to stare at the ground. Suddenly a small smile crept onto his face as he looked at both his childhood friends.

"It was just a dream though, I bet it was nothing. Come on guys, we're going to be late to class," Dmitri said with a forced smile as took both their hands and led them down the dirt road.

Maris and Delia looked at each other and shook their heads sadly. The rest of the trip to the Battle Academy was a long silent one as neither of the three said anything until they finally reached the front gate.

Dmitri released Delia as she waved goodbye to both of them as she made her way to class. Maris waited until she entered her classroom before roughly leading Dmitri to the psychiatrist's office. Maris felt a twang of jealousy as she remembered the academy separated students based on three categories which were tactics, strength, and technique.

Since they were battle rookies and Delia was a battle ace; that meant the walk was going to be a long one as the office was situated in the southeast end of the campus. Maris furrowed her brow as she knew Delia was only one step away from being the highest rank the school could offer; battle master.

She shook her head and scolded herself for her selfish thoughts as she remembered that they were walking to help Dmitri, not to get to class.

Once they arrived, Maris comically kicked the door open which scared the living daylights out of the psychiatrist who fell out of his chair and took cover behind his desk, expecting a follow up attack.

The psychiatrist scanned the room for potential threats and when he only found a confused student and his annoyed pokemon, he let out an embarrassed laugh and resituated himself on his chair.

"Um classes are in session, but what the heck? I can always give you a pass. So what can I help you with?" he asked in a cheerful manner.

Dmitri hastily told him about what happened in his nightmare and about the tragic death of his father.

Flashback

"Mamma, Maris and I are going to go out to play!" a six year old Dmitri yelled at the top of his lungs as he was about to leave the classroom.

A thick, green tail suddenly wrapped around his mouth to prevent him from breaking any unfortunate soul's eardrums as Dmitri gazed into the eyes of a very annoyed Stephanie.

"(Would you keep your voice down? Your mother is in a very important meeting about your enrollment into the most prestigious academy this world has ever known!)" Stephanie silently yelled into Dmitri's ear.

Maris immediately fired a row of lighting fast stars at Stephanie; who acted like the swift attack wasn't even there as she lazily turned around to glare at the young Mienfoo who dare to attack her.

"(Let him go, he's just a kid he doesn't know any better you pretentious snob!)" Maris shouted angrily at Stephanie.

Stephanie went wide eyed as she continued to stare incredulously at the little squirt who insulted and then she narrowed her eyes at Maris.

"(Don't you dare talk to me like that you loudmouthed ragamuffin! His mother left me in charge while she's discussing his very future in the next room and I won't let him ruin it with his banshee like behavior!)" Stephanie yelled between barred teeth.

Stephanie took a deep breath and released her grip on Dmitri before finally speaking to the duo once again.

"(If you must go outside to relive yourself of your boredom be my guest, but I'm coming with you for two very obvious reasons. One is because I don't trust you two to stay within the vicinity of the school and two is because if you run into wild pokemon Maris won't be able to protect you Dmitri as she couldn't win a fight against a punching bag,)" Stephanie stated rudely.

Maris angrily and incredulously stared at Stephanie and was about to protest until she swallowed her pride and reluctantly agreed with Stephanie. She was still growing up and wasn't that strong yet as she was only seven years old so she didn't know any strong moves yet while Stephanie knew a plethora of strong and various moves.

As the trio left the school grounds and into the forest not too far away from the school Stephanie started to get a bad feeling in the back of her head. She shook it aside as she let an arrogant smile form onto her face. If something did indeed attack them, she could easily smash their skulls into the unforgiving ground and call it a day.

Something in the air shifted around Stephanie's head and as quick as lighting, tackled Dmitri and Maris to the ground. As Stephanie twisted her body so she was in an upright position she noticed that they were surrounded by a pack of wild whrilipede and venipede. Stephanie pondered about why they were attacking until she came down to three conclusions; they were protecting a nest, they were trespassing in their territory, or they just wanted to pick a fight.

"(Perfect just want I wanted in my day, fighting off a band of dirty thugs. Fine, you want to fight that's fine with me. Watch and learn Maris, you might just learn how attack instead of just flailing angrily,)" Stephanie said pretentiously.

They bunch of wild pokemon wasted no time as they fire off a barrage of poison stings at the green serpent who lazily smacked them away with a simple wave of her tail. Before they could get over their shock Stephanie struck them with leaf blade as the bug type pokemon were sent flying across the forest into unknown territory. Suddenly the ground started to shake as the rocks around Dmitri, Maris, and Stephanie bounced up and down while they stared on with a mix of apathy or fear.

Stephanie suddenly felt the saw the trees in front of her get knocked down like bowling pins as they crashed to the ground with a loud thud. Stephanie wondered what could have done this before she saw two large purple creatures roll towards with tremendous speed as more trees were brought down from the incoming attackers. Stephanie saw in the corner of her eyes that Dmitri was too petrified to move as one of the oncoming creatures was bowling towards him and Maris.

"(MARIS YOU IDIOT, GET DMITRI OUT OF THE WAY!)" Stephanie yelled with a mixture of anger and worry in her voice.

Maris shook out of her stupor and pushed both herself and Dmitri out of the way, but not fast enough as one of the spikes along the creature pierced her femoral artery which, like a switch, felt an enormous rush of pain shoot up her entire leg and to her shock, found that she couldn't move it, no matter how hard she tried.

Stephanie's eyes widened in shock as Dmitri futilely to comfort his friend and stop the bleeding at the same time as the creature formed into a furious looking scolipede with its partner standing tall in front of Stephanie with a contemptuous look in its eye. Stephanie growled in anger as now what should have been a simple training exercise turned into a life or death situation.

Stephanie was brought out of her thoughts as she danced away from an attempted poison tail attack and although the very prospect sickened every fiber of her being, she had to get Dmitri and Maris out of here and retreat. However, she had to deal with a certain pissed off 442 pound problem which happened to have the typing advantage. Stephanie immediately shot out leaf tornado and narrowed her eyes as she tried to think of any possible strategy to get them out of this situation.

Scolipede seemed to stare at the attack before plowing through the attack like dirt and fired a glob of poisonous sludge right at the shocked Serperior. Stephanie ducked under the attack and used growth to raise her attack and rushed forward with her tail forming into a razor sharp blade with a storm of leaves fired ahead of her to catch her opponent off guard. He could dodge one, but he couldn't dodge the other.

Stephanie failed to realize that the other scolipede was preparing to finish off her beaten foes for daring to not only crossing into her territory, but for also attacking their young! This would not stand!

Maris out of the corner of her eye saw scolipede envelop her tail in extremely potent poison and started to not panic, but focus on the one goal she now had; survive. Maris started to inhale through her nose and exhale through her mouth until she felt a surge of power rush through her. Faster than either Dmitri or scolipede could see, she sprang up on her good leg and with extreme discipline, struck her opponent right on the temple with rock hard palm.

Scolipede's world started spinning as she tried desperately tried to refocus her attention on the pesky fighting type. She didn't get that chance as she was struck with a barrage of star like shurikens and then finally clobbered with two slaps right on her center mass. With a final thunderous roar, scolipede collapsed to the ground like a falling tree.

Her mate's eyes widened in shock as he saw his mate fall and turned to attack the stationary mienfoo, but he forgot one important rule of combat; never take your eyes off your opponent. With the male scolipede distracted, Stephanie rushed forward and as he was overwhelmed by the hurricane of leaves, she struck him in the midsection, finally ending his rampage.

Maris struggled to keep her balance on one foot as Dmitri began hugging her, repeatedly thanking her and happily saying she was alright. Maris smiled slightly as she turned her gaze to Stephanie, who was looking at her with wide red eyes. Suddenly, Stephanie's face contorted into a small smile and nodded her head.

Maris nodded back as Dmitri made a makeshift bandage out of his t-shirt and picked her bridal style as he made his way towards Stephanie. The trek back wasn't long as Stephanie allowed them to ride on her and quickly slithered back to the school. To their surprise, they found Karen, Dmitri's mother, already waiting for them outside the front gate. She was hanging her head down with her eyes closed and her hands in her pockets. When they approached her she barely managed to say:

"Dmitri, I'm sorry son, but daddy's not coming home, he…he's dead son," Karen barely managed to croak out in a low sad tone.

Dmitri collapsed to the ground as Stephanie and Maris consoled their respective trainers as Dmitri began bawling, not able to comprehend what he was told. Maris put her chin on Dmitri's head as she closed her eyes and held him close. From that day she vowed to get stronger for not only Dmitri, but for herself as well, in both body and mind.