Cornova: I'm glad that you like the diction I use, especially for Crescent. I liked to use words like "Noose" because it emphasizes on how trapped and desperate he really feels, though he doesn't actively realize it because he doesn't know what it's like to truly be free of it. Its one of the aspects I enjoy about writing from the point of view of a character as unique as Crescent, especially when he interacts with characters with different methods of thought that are just as lost as he is.As for what made his world go topsy-turvy... you'll see.
Nightelf37: Thank YOU for pointing out my spelling flub, I don't mind going back and changing some things to correct past mistakes. and improve my story.
That moment will likely forever be preserved by my memory in perfect detail.
It seemed as though it occurred slowly, as if I watched unfold in a lull of time. The unsettled feeling, as though my soul had parted from my body. The sickness in the stomach, as though I had plummeted from a mountain. The startled look on Jenny's face, so immediate was the shock that she had no time to remove her hand from the key in the ignition. There was that pull on my body, as though I was on a roller coaster, with the seat belt digging into my side. The glass pelting and cutting my face, like razor shards of flying hail.
My life flashed before my eyes, as pitifully short as it was. But that was second to all the sensations I felt. All the time in the world could not describe the things I felt in that single instant.
Then Jenny fell against the ceiling with a thud and did not move. Gravity worked its magic on me as well, but my seat belt saved me from an unfortunate meeting with the ground. My body seemed to move on its own, curling into a ball and then releasing the buckle of seat belt, meeting the Earth on my own terms, with my arms and legs taking the brunt of the impact. Having flipped a full three-hundred and sixty degrees in the last minute taxed me, and I rolled on my side dizzily before coming to my senses and coming to another frightening realization.
'It's a pinsir'
The glass from the side window erupted, pelting me with glass a second time. I haphazardly threw a punch in its direction and righted myself so that I was on my hands and knees. I reached for my belt, swearing as I found that both my weapons and my pokeballs were nowhere to be found. I looked back out the window and saw the pinsir I struck getting back up, and then felt my panic double with along with the number of things that wanted us dead. There was another one, closer now, in the front windshield.
Jenny was unconscious beside me, and Lawrence was in the bed of the truck- I tried not to think about what befell him. Escape for me while still disoriented from the crash was improbable, for all three of us- impossible.
"Duck!"
I flattened myself against the ceiling just as two angry horns came at me from the windshield. Briefly and sincerely thanking the voice in my head, I punched it between the eyes and then turned and kicked it away, then time seemed to slow again as I took a breath and analyzed the situation.
'Two enemies, some degree of intelligence. They set up an ambush. Very aggressive, probably a part of the group we fought yesterday. Tough exoskeleton, powerful horns, wicked claws. Slow though, center of mass is off kilter and its legs are scrawny, so its easy to set off balance. Punches and kicks might slow it down, but I need a sharp weapon.'
'Close quarters. Need to get out, where I have more room to maneuver, be aggressive, draw attention away from Jenny and Lawrence.'
I glanced around for a moment, searching for an impromptu weapon and instead finding my knife sticking out of the ceiling behind me, which I took gratefully concealed behind my wrist before attempting to roll out.
I was halted as another set of horns, this one belonging to the window side Pinsir as it charged me, missing narrowly as I rolled away. Realizing I was too close to the side window, I quickly flipped onto my back and crawled away, forcing the pinsir to bend down at its waist (for its lack of definable neck) and enter the truck through the window on all fours.
Every thought and plan I had up until that point was tossed to the wind as I saw how vulnerable the single action had left it; its eyes facing towards the ground so that it could not see me, suspended above a pile of broken glass, with its center of mass too far forward to hold itself up. I rolled back onto my stomach and threw myself at it, falling just short of it on my hands and knees. Before the pinsir could look to see what was going on, I clasped both of my hands together and swung them down on the back of the pinsir's head.
The pinsir crumbled under its own weight, its thin legs unable to support the bulk of its horns and the force of my arms. It fell flat on its face, grunting in surprise, but not pain. I grabbed it by its horns-hissing as my fingers brushed the jagged chitin- and dragged it forward through the glass, causing it to begin shrieking in earnest shriek. I spared a glance over my shoulder, searching for the other pinsir, finding it standing still, watching, hesitant to enter repeat the mistakes of the first. Working quickly, I flipped the flailing pinsir on its back, getting my first look at my handiwork.
Tiny flecks of glass found purchase in its armor, and its arms and legs had small cuts where they scraped across the glass. These injuries were slight, almost not worth mentioning. Its eyes however, were unrecognizable; one a deflated sac shaking freely within the socket whilst dripping sclera, the other marginally better- finding itself as the home of a particularly nasty piece of glass the length of my thumb.
As the bug-type screeched and flailed in pain, I worked quickly to put it out of its misery, taking my knife and plunging it into the terribly ruined eye. The pinsir stopped flailing, then resumed screeching with newly found energy. I withdrew the knife and then thrust it between its eyes, to no avail, then flipped it on its back and stabbed it where I imagined the spine would be before the screeching seized.
I turned towards the other pinsir just in time to see it get knocked over with a resounding crack. Lawrence quickly dove down, grabbing another gun-my gun- pointed it an pulled the trigger, only to be met with silence. Scowling, he picked up a shovel and slammed the blade into the pinsir, not stopping until the bug-type stopped screeching.
"Lawrence, Lawrence! What the hell is going on?"
"The hell should I know? I just got tossed out of the back of a truck and this ugly son of a bitch is standing around. I don't see Jenny, is she alright?"
"She hit her head, she's out cold. Give me my gun, then I'll hand her off to you, drag her into the woodline."
"Right, on i-the f-"
Lawrence next word was interrupted as the truck lurched again. I instinctively curled into a ball as the truck flipped right side up, tossing me out the window and onto the ground. I rolled to a stop, then uncurled and looked around, finding a third pinsir next to where the truck was lying previously upside down. I glanced around again, finding Jenny lying on the ground nearby. I crawled over on my stomach, trying not to draw attention to myself as the pinsir yelled and cried. When I made it to her, I hastily drew her gun, turned off the safety, aimed and pulled the trigger on the bug, ripping through the right of it abdomen. The gunshot was loud, but the recoil was manageable, allowing me to quickly take aim once I had recovered and fire again, this time poking a messy hole between its eyes.
I turned the safety back on and then grabbed Jenny's arms and then dragged her off the road, into the shrubs and set her there. I next took position and withdrew Jenny's firearm yet again, examining the crime scene.
'Lawrence isn't on the road' I noticed with some elation, it was likely he had the same idea I did and was sitting in the shrubs across from me.
'Most of our stuff is on the road' was my next observation, the food that we had stuck in the back of the truck had been flung onto either side of the road. We had to collect some before fleeing, our stomach was empty and journey full of days yet traveled.
'Lawrence's pokeballs are behind the truck' If either one of us could reach them, we could stave off further pokemon attacks.
'My pokeballs are in front of the truck' I would have to retrieve them before leaving.
'The truck is still running' And indeed, against all odds, the truck was running in spite of having been flipped twice. Once I had collected everything I needed, I would have simply to make sure that Lawrence was inside and get Jenny inside.
'Jenny' In spite of all the chaos, she had yet to have woken up. I crawled quietly over to where I set her down and checked her pulse, breathing a sigh of relief as a rhythmic thumping pushed against my fingers. I shook her harshly, attempting to rouse her. Realizing the futility- as she had been shaken as much as I had- I slapped her across the face, sparing no force from the strike. She was still not roused.
Then something caught my attention- not ten feet from where I lay was a large hole, no less than one yard in diameter. Dirt lay around the edge and scattered on the leaves of the bushes closest to it. A light bulb went off in my head 'They came from underground, they were probably NESTING underground, this isn't retaliation, we are sitting on top of a den of very irritable bugs!'
There were more, small lumps of displaced soil, scattered about the road- thus far we had been attacked with little rhyme or reason; in the ambush at the cabin they attacked with little forward planning and no regard for their own safety or that of their allies. Now it made sense, they were burying themselves to hide from the cold front the last few days. Whichever ones were roused by the noise came to us, still drowsy and angry. But worse still, the cold front was dying down, the cold was had receded and today was the warmest day I had ever felt.
This made the pinsir easier to rouse, easier to anger.
But more to the point, move and make noise, you're toast.
So I moved gingerly, prone on the ground and careful not to let my stomach drag, anything beneath me would be sure to hear it. I crawled first to my own pokeballs and placed them within my jacket. We could avoid another direct confrontation against the pinsir if I simply collected everything quickly and quietly, then got everyone in the car and slammed the gas pedal before they could react.
I paused momentarily as I approached the broken windshield, scattered in a million shards in front of me. Careful not to break any of the glass, I pressed onwards, relying on my jacket to protect my arms from the sharp shards. I adopted the tactic of holding my chest above the ground, fearful that my beating heart against the earth could alert enemies in the deep.
More crawling, gathering an armfull of food as I went. I sidled along the ground, up to the car door, slowly rising to my feet and opening the passenger door. I silently put the food I had grabbed on the floorboard, then crawled back to the bushes where I left Jenny. I checked her pulse again, then shook and slapped her again in an attempt to rouse her, but to no avail.
A rustling in the bushes behind me caught my attention, prompting me to tuck Jenny behind a tree and flatten my stomach to the ground, pointing my gun in the direction of the noise. Another rustle, and my thumb flipped the safety off, holding my breath as I looked down the sights.
A human hand breached the bushes, and I lowered my gun in relief as Lawrence fully emerged from the greenery. Lawrence looked around briefly, sizing up the situation before pointing at Jenny and giving me a worried look, to which I gave a thumbs up, then proceeded to signal my plan to him with my hands, knowing full well that some bugs communicate through faint buzzes, and not wanting to bet money on their lack of hearing abilities.
Lawrence stopped me halfway through the plan, holding one finger out, turning his head away, and closing his eyes. The message couldn't have been clearer if he had spoken it.
Quiet, I think I hear something.
I followed his lead and closed my eyes whilst keeping ears peeled for any noises. At first I heard nothing, but as the seconds passed on a faint vibration that I felt rather than heard became evident, and growing more clear by the second. By the time the noise became clear the terrible implications of it were running through my head. I opened my eyes and tried to keep calm, thinking of the best option forward.
Lawrence however, had neither my patience nor my calmness, instead opting to grab Jenny and make his trying to make his way out of the bushes.
"Stop him!"
I was surprised by the return of the disembodied voice, and more so by the advice that it had given me, but I quickly realized I'd have come to the same conclusion myself.
'The sound is coming from the direction that the truck is facing'
'There could be more nearby'
'We can't fight AND guarantee Jenny's safety'
I reached out and dragged him into the ground, glaring at my whilst he looked at me in shocked horror.
"It'd dangerous to run now, you have to wait for the right moment"
Again, the disembodied voice came to conclusions I arrived to myself.
'It's probably not after us, the forest is filled with bug types that couldn't care less'
'It's unlikely that whatever that buzzing is is coming exactly in our direction. Whatever it is probably doesn't want to stay on the road, meaning it won't come exactly this way'
'Moving only attracts attention, and increases-'
My justification was cut off as Lawrence reached up and slapped me, before attempting getting on his hands and knees and heading towards Jenny. I stopped the motion as quietly as I could manage, grabbing both his ankles and yanking them out from under him. Lawrence glared back at me, to which I held a finger up to my lips, then scowled back and tapped my head with a finger.
Lawrence's scowl faded at my reprimanding, and the crazed instinct-driven look I hadn't noticed left his eyes. He lowered himself onto his stomach and slowed his breathing, laying quietly on the ground as the buzzing grew louder and louder. Another buzzing accompanied it, higher pitched and softer, then a sound like scratching on gravel, then the confusion.
The sound of pinsir screaming, mingled with a symphony of violent (and while welcome) and terrifying sounds. Larwence looked at me perplexed, queuing me to crawl forward through the shrubbery and peek into the noise.
What I found surprised me. Pinsirs half-emerged from the ground by the dozen, either rising from the dirt and fighting frantically or being plucked from the ground, their lives and limbs scattered like the seeds of a dandelion blown upon by a child.
Blue shapes moved along the holes, their shining navy forms contrasting greatly from the dull browns and grays of the Pinsir they grappled. A half-emerged pinsir attempted to halt its demise as it pointed its stags in the direction of its assailant, only to be impaled through the head by a single much longer horn. Vicious gray fluid burst from the hole in the chitin, and against all odds, the pinsir continued clawing at the horn imbedded in its head. The horn's owner was less than amused, throwing the pinsir out of sight, leaving only the thick mess of blood caked on its head.
I was right to be afraid of what might have been lurking within my pokeballs. Despite the shared species, the pokemon fighting in front of me wore scowls and angry looks in place of my heracross' dopey, half-aware stare. No, these were wild animals, and violent warriors.
Even as I watched however, the tide of battled was shifting in the Pinsir, who outnumbered the half-dozen heracross at least three-to-one even after the brutal first strike. I could take advantage of this opportunity, while they were all forced into sight and occupied with one another. As it was, the fighting was moving away from the truck as the pinsir became fully mobilized and pushed the heracross back, forcing them into a fighting retreat as each was forced to engage as many as four at once.
I gestured for Lawrence to crawl forward with Jenny to see what was going on, then gestured to run to the car when I gave the signal. Lawrence gave a thumbs up, and threw Jenny over his shoulder. I busied myself with watching the battle.
The heracross were more than a match for the pinsir. There were seven of them, but several broken bodies of heracross that were either not fast enough or not smart enough were scattered about. They worked in pairs, with one heracross aiding the two most in need and helping them retreat into larger groups. The synergy was strong, when one pinsir would charge flailing its horns around, one of them would slip its horn under it and flip it over, then it would either throw the entire beetle into the distance or flail its horn wildly to defend the other as it kicked the fallen pinsir repeatedly, each blow ripping through the exoskeleton with the foot's sharp claws.
"Now!"
The voice startled me from my fascination with the fighting, now a safe distance away from the truck and each participant facing away from us. I tapped Lawrence on the shoulder and emerged from the bushes, half-crouched. I opened the passenger side door for Lawrence as I passed it and then walking around to the drivers side. Lawrence quietly set Jenny into the passenger seat and buckled her while I checked to make sure the key was in the ignition. I sat down at about the same time he jumped into the back of the truck, then closed the door behind me and searching for something to protect my eyes in place of the now shattered windshield until I heard Lawrence yell.
"Shit! Move move move! Get us out of here!" he bellowed. I complied, turning the ignition and slamming on the gas, just as the world erupted in an orange flash to our left. I squinted into the strengthening wind as the car sped up and out of sight, not slowing down as we approached a bend, inviting Lawrence to yell obscenities that almost drowned out the sound of his side bashing against the wall.
I held the pedal down regardless, until Lawrence stopped swearing and complaining, until the trees faded, and hills turned to mountains, and the trees came back again. By the time I had processed that we had escaped, the danger was far behind us.
Lawrence brought his hand to his nose perplexed, then walked over to the front of the car and placed his hand on the hood. Lawrence's frown deepened, then jerked his hand away "Good news and bad news."
"What's the good news?"
"Its just coolant, its easy enough to replace, we can just fill the coolant tank up with water for the time being, and it will work just as well."
"And the bad news?"
"The coolant hoses run tightly throughout the whole system. If it's a busted or disconnected hose it could take a while to find and fix. If its a busted pipe, it will be easier to find the culprit, but I'd have to take it out and weld a metal patch onto it."
"What's the likelihood that its a busted pipe."
"Not high, and even if it was I could pry some metal off of the chassis and use it as a patch, and use Magnezone's electricity to weld it on. If its just a hose, then I could attempt to seal it with adhesive, if its not damaged too much. If it is damaged too much then I'll have to find some way to replace it. Then there's the worse news; the engine overheated."
I shook my head, even I knew this was possibly the worst case scenario. A fuel line could be repaired or replaced, a gas tank leak could be patched and filled with booze to make up for the lost fuel, but an overheated engine? "How bad do you think it is?"
"I'd have to open it up to see, and right now its too hot to look at. Best case scenario we just wait for the engine to cool down a bit, turn on the car, run the heaters to vent out some of the heat, and I can find the leak, fill up the coolant and we hit the road again. Worst case scenario is I crack open that hood and I find that our engine is a piece of molten slag. Nothing we can do at the moment, so we just have to wait."
I felt a twinge of guilt. I was the one that was pushing the car so hard, and I was the one that should have noticed the engine giving out. Instead it was Lawrence, who was sitting in the back of the truck who noticed the trail of fluid behind us, heard the choking of the engine, and rapped on the glass until I realized something was wrong. It was incompetence in its truest form, and could have left us stranded.
"Well" Lawrence said "Did you check on Jenny?"
I nodded solemnly "She's alive, but I can't seem to wake her. She probably has a concussion."
Lawrence looked at me with a serious look in his eyes "Pull out the map so we can see where we are."
I quickly retrieved the map and traced a finger along the route we were taking before looking around "Do you see that?" I asked, pointing at a mountain in the distance "Ecruteak city is supposed to be right around that mountain, if we can make it there. That hill over there is probably this one here on the map, and since we were coming from Goldenrod, I think we are on this road here."
Lawrence looked at the map "That's too far, and it would be hard to get around the mountain. It's time for a change in plan."
'A change in plan? Where else can we possibly go?'
"What do you suggest we do then?"
"This place, Olivine City" Lawarence said pointing at the map "It's a larger city, it also has the entirety of Johto's navy, small though that is, due to the disarmament pact after the last war."
"Since when are you an expert on Johto's military encampments?"
"Since Jenny told me. We shared a lot of information, in case something were to happen to one of us. She originally intended on heading to Olivine City anyways, before we met her in the sewers."
"It won't work anyways" I scolded "Its on the water, even if the navy did hold, how long could they keep it up until the tentacruel make it inland?"
"Its a different situation. When I was working on the pokemon contest hall I found out that Goldenrod City was originally built on top of a salt-water swamp, as a port city that could transfer goods between Olivine City and the Kanto region. There were concerns about the city sinking, that's why the sewers were open to the sea: to move water from the ocean away from the city."
I shook my head violently "It's still to dangerous theres-"
"What about the last two days has been 'safe' we were attacked inside a cabin, we were attacked in the truck as giant BUGS popped out of the GROUND and ambushed us, and very nearly creamed as we drove away by a hyper beam that would have disintegrated us had a DIFFERENT giant bug not rushed it and tackled it! Even if we can reach Ekruteak City, how do we know that its still standing when the land is every bit as dangerous as the sea!"
"He has a point, you know."
I was silent for the moment, giving Lawrence a chance to reach over and grab my shoulder "We don't know when or if Jenny will wake up. If this isn't something she can work herself out of on her own then she needs professional help, and at that point it isn't our choice what we do. We don't have the time or the security to make a drive around that mountain."
I looked to the ground, swallowing my discomfort at the thought of heading so close to the water, to a place that could very well be another Goldenrod. "You said 'drive around that mountain', so I assume that you have a way for us to get to Olivine City if the engine is fried as bad as we think."
"You catch on as fast as ever, don't you?" Lawrence said, grinning.
I lied in the A/N for the last one, sorry. I tried to get all the research I need for my story out of the way already, and for the most part, after sifting through the internet for a long time and comparing MRI's and diagrams of various insects' nervous systems (thrilling, I know) this chapter at least was ready. I've also been working on some ideas to bounce off of Cornova concerning this universe, which took longer than I thought to research and get the fine details down.
As for this chapter itself, I think it turned out alright. It's hard to write an almost entirely action-based chapter from a first person point of view, because you have to take in account what the character is doing, feeling, and what is actually going on, and its a lot to balance.
If you have any suggestions though, please let me know. I'm always happy to find ways to improve in my writing, so review and let me know what you think, eh?
