Chapter Four - Burning
Hugh was not supposed to be there.
The tree ninja had mentioned him in passing, but as Rosa stopped at the entrance of the barn and heaved her body against the heavy wooden door to swing it open, his spiked midnight hair came into view.
He was a mess. His red and white jacket was streaked with mud and grime, and there was more smeared on his face and clumped in his hair. He was hunched over on his knees, and his arms were clutching a gray feathered object that Rosa quickly realized was a Pidove. The Pokemon was curled against Hugh with its eyes closed, and there was a streak of red seeping down its forehead.
Water dripped onto Pidove's head. It was tear that had trickled off Hugh's nose.
The sound of Rosa's arrival stirred him to attention, and Hugh's head snapped up to meet her eyes. Recognition sparked through them, and then he was shouting.
"Rosa, run!"
The breath was stolen from her as something heavy rammed into her chest. Rosa soared backwards, wincing when her head connected with the grass. Hot breath spilled across her face, damp and dense and reeking of outdated meat. Rosa twisted her head away to escape the assault of foul air in her lungs. She squirmed and braced her arms to heave herself off the ground, but an enormous paw came down on her stomach, pinning her to the ground.
"Another trainer coming to interrupt, huh? Thought you'd play the hero? Pesky teenagers."
Hugh's eyes tightened with fury. "Get off of her!"
"Shut up, boy. Unless you want to bury more of your Pokemon."
The owner of the Stoutland came to stand beside his Pokemon. The man was in his late twenties, but there were stress wrinkles pressed above his brow that made him appear older. His neatly buzzed hair was covered by a dark slumped hat with an X taped across the front. It was clearly designed to coordinate with his gray and black outfit, complete with leather boots. On the chest pocked of his vest was a cornflower blue P.
"This ranch was supposed to be empty. But no. First this clown shows up," He vaguely gestured towards Hugh, "And now this. Are you his girlfriend or something?"
Rosa couldn't reply, the weight of Stoutland's paw pressing on her lungs was too great. The man leaned close to her face, close enough she could see the light reflect in his pale green eyes, and he snickered. His breath was as sour as his Pokemon's. "Because I think he's supposed to be saving you, not the other way around."
Her exhale was strained. "Zaveid, water gun."
The blast of water caught Stoutland by surprise, and he temporarily removed some of the weight holding her down. Rosa shoved at the dog and rolled out from underneath his paw. She scrambled to her feet. Her otter Pokemon chattered wrathfully and swung his stubby arms around as if lecturing Stoutland, but the dog unleashed a shadow ball that forced Zaveid to move. Rosa frantically unclipped the occupied pokeball on her belt.
"Anna, I need you!"
Rosa knew her new Riolu was injured, but there was no way Zaveid could take down Stoutland on his own. The dog's level was likely twice that of either of her Pokemon, and with Hugh's Pokemon in such dire condition, she didn't know if she could rely on him for help.
Anna's face was scraped up from her capture, but her slender figure dropped into battle stance with little effort. Her swiftness was likely their only chance at winning.
More help came however, this time from Hugh. His Snivy was a blur as it crashed against Stoutland, and Rosa smiled when it used the momentum of quick attack to regain distance. Its feet planted in the grass a few feet from Anna and Zaveid. The snake's little body quivered with rage
"Anna, use counter. Zaveid, help her by using tackle!"
"Protect." The shady man ordered coolly.
A translucent sphere covered Stoutland. Zaveid's body was sent sprawling back, bouncing harmlessly against the defensive bubble. Anna's counter attack made contact with protect, then fizzled into nothing.
Rosa swore under her breath. Even with Anna's quick feet, her Pokemon couldn't compete with the massive difference in level. Still, she couldn't give up. "Okay Anna, fei-"
"Tauros, zen headbutt."
Stoutland didn't have time to react before two-hundred pounds' worth of psychic energy broke through its protective barrier. Tauros caught the dog by its horns and threw it into the barn wall, bellowing loudly as if letting out a war cry. Stoutland yelped and struggled, but Tauros didn't need a command to start stomping its hooves into the Pokemon's ribcage.
A broadly built, ginger-haired farmboy in a cowboy hat and riding gear glowered at the scene before him. He seemed to take it in slowly, first examining Hugh, then Stoutland's trainer, and finally her. Rosa shivered when she felt his piercing eyes trail over her. The deadly calm air about him turned her insides to ice. He used one hand to signal to his Tauros to stop beating the life out of Stoutland, then after a long moment of silence, directed his words to the man in black.
"You have ten seconds to collect your Pokemon and get yourself off my grandfather's property. I have an entire herd of Tauros, and if I see you within fifty miles of Floccesy Ranch again, I will personally turn you into leather. Ten."
Stoutland was returned to his pokeball in a flash. The shady man was in a near state of panic as he retreated from the barn and sprinted away into the nearly field. Rosa briefly wondered why he'd been allowed to leave, but decided she didn't want to go toe-to-toe with the furious rancher. Instead, she busied herself with returning Anna and Zaveid to their pokeballs.
She's forgotten about Hugh. He was still kneeling in the corner of the barn, his arms wrapped around Pidove. His eyes were an angry shade of red, and there were tear stains dampening the smear of mud on his cheeks. Snivy was beside him. It was intimidating to cross paths with the rancher, but she did it anyway to reach him. Rosa wrapped her slender fingers around Hugh's shoulder for balance as she dropped down to his level. Pidove didn't move as she reached out and stroked its breast feathers, although there was still a stream of blood dripping from above its ear.
Rosa's heart skipped a beat. She fingered its chest in alarm.
"She's gone, Rosa." Hugh whispered hoarsely, catching her searching fingers. He squeezed them tightly, painfully, as if they were his lifeline. "That Stoutland got a hold of her and threw her into the barn door. She hit her head."
Her bottom lip trembled, but she bit into it to make it stop. A Pokemon dying due to battle was practically unheard of. All trainers followed strict rules specifically designed to keep Pokemon safe. Ignoring them was a crime.
Footsteps crunched in the straw beside them, and Rosa hurriedly wiped a tear from her cheek.
"I'm sorry about your Pidove, kid. I'm assuming you came here after that brute with the Stoutland?"
Hugh nodded mutely.
The rancher thoughtfully flipped his cowboy hat up further above his eyes. "I have a place for her."
Pidove smelled like cinder when it burned. Rosa didn't want to notice, but as she watched Hugh's companion dissolve into flames, her lungs were flooded with the aroma.
The rancher – who had finally introduced himself as Beau – had allowed a service to be held in one of his back fields. The space was lush with vegetation despite the Tauros grazing hungrily in the distance, and Rosa could again hear the babble of running water.
Beau built a small funeral pyre out of wood, and had supplied Rosa with fabric to wrap Pidove's body in. She'd asked Hugh if he'd wanted to be the one to prepare Pidove, but his only response had been to shake his head. The Pidove had been gifted to Hugh by his grandfather several years earlier, and although he'd never been an emotional person, his impassive attitude told her he wasn't handling the loss well. So she hadn't argued, and had busied herself securing the cloth with a baby blue ribbon.
Hugh was still quiet. The flames danced in his crimson eyes as he watched them, but no more tears fell onto his cheeks. He'd taken a shower earlier, so the mud was gone from his face and hair, but Rosa doubted he'd have bothered if she hadn't prodded him. She'd hoped the time to himself would help, but the expression he wore now frightened her. Had she ever seen him so empty?
"Rosa."
Beau's voice was low as he touched her shoulder with his broad hand. She jumped and stole a look up at his face, but swiftly dropped her gaze again. Despite the kindness he'd shown, he was still intimidating.
"I know this may not be the best time, but do you know anything about the man who did this?"
She shook her head, then hesitated. Her investigation of the ranch had come about because of the ninja's information. She'd had her doubts about how serious the warning had been, but now she was watching Hugh's Pidove burn.
So Rosa told him. It wasn't much, just what she'd learned in the forest and her reason for visiting Floccesy Ranch in the first place, but Beau listened attentively.
Hugh was listening too. His voice was stiff as he said, "He's a member of Team Plasma. That's what he told me when I confronted him in the barn. After I caught him sneaking around, he yelled something about trainers always getting involved in Team Plasma's business."
"Did he tell you what he was after?" Beau asked.
Hugh shook his head no.
The trio fell silent again. The name sounded vaguely familiar to Rosa, but she couldn't pinpoint where she'd heard it before. On the news, perhaps? It was upsetting that the man had wanted something badly enough to kill for it. Had he been after the reserve's rare pokemon, as he ninja had suggested? That would explain the Audino she'd found hiding in the shed. Something in her still doubted the theory, but what else could it have been?
Rosa sighed and rubbed her forehead. Standing around thinking about it wasn't answering anything. She had a long way to go before she and her Pokemon would be ready to confront the Plasma man again, and she was aching to take out her frustration through a brutal training session. Beau had saved both her and Hugh, there was no doubt about that, but next time she would be strong enough to save herself.
Hugh didn't mind when she said goodbye. He nodded and thanked her for coming to help him, but even as she wrapped her arms around his neck, his eyes never left the pyre. The expression he wore troubled Rosa, but she knew he needed time to grieve.
It was easy to leave Floccesy Ranch behind. The afternoon sun had not yet given way to evening as she retraced her steps back to town, but many of the trainers she'd encountered on her way up had left. The walk was quiet, but Rosa hardly noticed. Her thoughts were sufficiently loud.
"Back so soon?" Nurse Joy asked, not bothering to hide the surprise in her voice. Rosa shrugged and placed two pokeballs on the front desk. The Pokemon Center was slightly busier than it had been earlier that day. There was a pair of trainers and a ranger lounging in the waiting room, and she could also hear voices in the direction of the clinic's cafeteria.
Nurse Joy smiled sweetly. "Oh, you've caught another pokemon. That's wonderful! It's always fun to travel with lots of friends."
Rosa did her best to smile back, but it felt more like a grimace. The nurse seemed to pick up on her anxiety, because she gave Rosa priority and rushed into the back to heal her Pokemon. When she disappeared, Rosa leaned against the counter and used her arms as a pillow.
It had been a long day.
The nurse hummed as she returned to the counter, and Rosa immediately lifted her head. "Here you are. Your Pokemon are fighting fit." She said, handing the pokeballs back. Rosa clipped them to her belt, but Joy wasn't done with her. "I don't know if I can say the same for you though, ma'am. Are you certain you're all right?"
Rosa nodded wordlessly. If she said something, her voice would crack, and she couldn't afford that. Everything would be fine, just not right that moment.
She bowed her head respectively, then turned on her heels and headed for the door. The path to the ranch had been a good spot, she'd go there and battle until nightfall. Joy called out behind her, pleading her for to come back, but Rosa kept walking.
A/N Shorter chapter, but as promised, it's heavier. I'll be honest: I was going to completely rewrite the second half of this chapter. Maybe it is too dark for how this fanfiction has been going. However, I decided to keep it because things like this do happen in the Pokemon world. Take Gary's Raticate for example, or Cubone's mother (or the entire Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town). This story does not go by Nuzlocke rules, but I did want to show a side of Pokemon that is often ignored or avoided. Anyway, let me know what you guys think, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Have a lovely day!