Chapter Five: Spinerak Attack
It was almost a strange sensation when the sound of crunching along a gravel path melted away into the sound of dirt shifting beneath her soles. It made her heart give a slight squeeze as Rin realized that the change in sound meant that she had just left the invisible boundaries of her village. For a moment, she simply stood and absorbed the feeling, taking a deep refreshing breath before she started walking once again. By her side, happily stretching his leg muscles, Salem noticed her reaction and let out a soft inquiring bark. She smiled down at him, understanding his question in some way.
"It's been a long time since I've left home," she explained quietly, watching the puzzled expression that blossomed across his face. "The village is what I consider to be my home."
His blue eyes flickered over his shoulder, staring for a moment at the thing she had called a village and home. He then let out a soft snort as the understanding escaped him, finding the evergreen forest in front of them more interesting. As he turned his attention back to it, Rin noticed that there was movement ahead of them. A small brown body was wriggling in a patch of grass a few yards from the boundary of the first trees, tiny squeakings and chirps floating to them. After a moment, the creature paused and abruptly stood up on its hind legs, squinting suspiciously at them. It was shaped like a long rodent, covered in a short brown pelt and almost looking like he was wearing some sort of vest. Rin carefully reached for her Pokédex and just as carefully opened the cover, pointing the small camera towards the creature.
"Watchog, the lookout Pokémon," the device chirped happily, showing a duplicate image of the Pokémon on its screen. "There are luminescent compounds in Watchog's body that allow its stripes and eyes to glow. It uses this ability to threaten predators. Its cheeks can hold a large amount of seeds, which it collects and spits at its opponents. Watchog possess night vision and can view its surroundings in the dark."
Glancing up, Rin watched as the Watchog gave it's yellow markings a few flashes in their direction before it bent down once more and gathered a small pile of seeds it had apparently been gathering and rather hastily stuffed them into its mouth. Cheeks bulging, it landed on its front paws and ran hastily into the forest, giving its tail a few more warning waves. As she watched it disappear, Rin had the feeling that the Pokémon hadn't been as small as she first thought it was. It made her grateful that it hadn't decided to attack them. As she looked down at Salem, she could tell he was having similar thoughts. Sliding her Pokédex into a pocket on her pants, Rin found herself wondering when they would be able to finally have their first battle.
Most of the afternoon quickly slipped by in blissful moments of peace, occasional conversation drifting between the two partners. There had been a brief explosion of excitement when the idea of battling and training had come up, quickly followed by a bout of Salem trying to find anything and everything that would take him on in a fight. One eventful moment even resulted in him attempting to climb a tree to get at a Pachirisu that was apparently scolding him from one of the top branches. It had taken a bit of quick thinking on Rin's part to convince him that it really wasn't worth it.
Currently, he still seemed to be sulking slightly over the lost opportunity. Squinting up at the sky for a moment, Rin decided to try an idea that might cheer him up. Finding a soft patch of grass only a few feet from the side of the road, she slipped her backpack from her shoulders and settled it onto the ground, unzipping a few of the pockets. This seemed to rouse some curiosity in the Poochyena mix and he quickly began investigating with a series of sniffs.
"I think it's time for lunch," Rin said by way of an announcement, pulling out a small propane stove, a few packages of dehydrated food, and a large bottle of water. She took a moment to study the labels on the sides of the packages before deciding to ask Salem's opinion. "Do you think we should have rice and vegetables in cream sauce," she held out the first package, "or pasta in tomato sauce and cheese?" she held out the second package.
Salem squinted between the two packages, apparently trying to decide which sounded better. After a moment, he lifted a paw and placed it onto the one containing the rice.
Laughing, Rin gave him a scratch behind the ears, "Good choice." She then proceeded to measure out the appropriate amount of water into the small bowl on the top of the stove and turned on the heat to get it boiling. She then ripped open the bag and poured the contents inside, putting a lid on top of the whole thing when she was done stirring. She then sat back to wait while their meal cooked.
Salem watched the stove for a while with evident curiosity, but seemed to grow bored after some time had passed by without anything eventful occurring. Rising from his seated position, he took to sniffing around their temporary camping spot. As he was interestedly investigating the roots of a nearby tree, the pokédex let out a happy pinging sound. Reaching into her pocket, Rin opened the cover of the light blue device and watched as the screen flickered on and notified her of a new message. Pressing the small envelope icon on the screen, it pulled up her message in an instant.
Dear Rin,
I know you must not be very far on your journey yet, but I've been working on a new program that compiles team data and I was able to produce some new information for your device specifically that will allow you to keep tabs on your team and the different moves they have an understanding of. I put a special tweak in the programming so that it would recognize Salem and some of the possibilities of the attacking moves he might know. Go ahead and test them out when you get the time. I do hope that it works for you! Let me know if there are any problems.
Best of luck, Prof. Pine"
Following this message, she noticed an icon that said download program. Giving it an experimental poke, she watched in amazement as her device returned to the home screen and proceeded to add Team Information to the top of the list. Eager, she excitedly pressed this button and was quickly prompted to enter the data of her first Pokémon. Assuming this meant pointing the camera at Salem, Rin lifted the Pokédex until it was able to see her Pokémon. After a few moments of scanning and thinking, information appeared on the screen. It listed all of the different DNA strands that made up her Pokémon and then proceeded to string out a list of possible moves it was likely he would know.
Wanting to test a few of them out, Rin lifted her head and called softly, "Salem, want to do some training?"
Her words received an instantaneous reaction, the Poochyena mix spinning around on the spot and quickly trotting over to her. His head was tilted slightly in a way that she was quickly becoming used to, long tail twitching.
Accepting that response as an affirmative, Rin Took another peek at the list in front of her and selected an interesting sounding move. "How about you try out howl," she suggested, glancing back up at Salem to see his reaction.
He was looking rather thoughtful, eyes slightly distant. After another moment, something seemed to click into place and his small angular head tilted back. His howl was pitched high and was haunting as it started out low before wavering higher. As it tapered off into silence, he looked expectantly at his trainer.
She smiled brilliantly at him and gave him several approving nods. "Excellent! You did that perfectly," she praised, causing a slight embarrassed shuffling of paws.
Glancing around, Rin quickly picked up a few branches scattered around their temporary resting spot and stuck one end of each of them into the ground. It looked rather silly, but it made for good target practice. "Try using bite on one of these branches," she then suggested, again watching him as he thought about it.
It didn't take him as long this time to understand her command and the Poochyena mix quickly sprang forward at the first stick. Halfway there, he opened his jaws to reveal his pointed fangs before they were suddenly hidden again in a quick snap of teeth and twig. As he spit the broken pieces of his properly demolished target out of his mouth, Salem again looked intently at his trainer. He appeared to be alive with excitement, blue eyes brighter than normal.
Rin responded with a scratch under his chin and praised him, saying "good."
She had already chosen the next move from the list and therefore didn't hesitate when she said, "let's give a leer to the next one." She indicated the next twig with a gesture of her hand.
Salem seemed a little confused by that one and took longer in thinking over it. Eventually, his eyes narrowed in a glare that practically melted the bark off the branch as it was visibly dropping its defense.
Without hesitation, Rin continued on to say, "now use ember."
With growing amazement, she watched as her partner again opened his maw and a flickering light began to grow in its depths. Then all at once, a small ball of fire shot out from between his teeth and completely engulfed the top half of the stick.
For a long moment, the two of them simply stared at the partially glowing remains of the stick, Rin in amazement and Salem with something close to thrilled excitement. Seemingly as one, their heads turned to look at one another.
"Amazing," Rin breathed softly, causing a look of respect to come across her Pokémon's face. He walked over to her purposefully and gently rested his chin upon her knee. She began to run her fingers through the thick fur of his neck before a sudden hissing sound caused both of them to jump.
"It looks like lunch is demanding to be eaten," Rin commented, turning to look at the small stove where the food was cooking.
She reached over and turned off the heat and used her robotic arm to pull the lid off, releasing an explosion of steam. Salem quickly lifted his head and watched intently as his trainer got out two bowls and a spoon. She swiftly divvied out the appropriate portions and began to blow on the steaming rice to cool it off. As she did so, she carefully poured a small amount of water into the stove and turned the heat back on at the lowest setting, planning on boiling off the food residue.
When the food was sufficiently cool, she placed one of the bowls in front of her partner. He sniffed it for several seconds before glancing back up. Rin scooped out a spoonful of creamy rice and vegetables, which Salem was waiting for her to do, and placed it into her ready mouth. This seemed to be more than enough for the Poochyena mix and he promptly began to eat the contents of his bowl.
The meal passed in quiet serenity as they ate their fill of the delicious rice, spending time just simply enjoying being with one another as they allowed their stomachs to settle. Rin made sure to clean out everything before setting it aside to dry. They simply sat and listened to a few birds calling back and forth to one another for several minutes before moving on. With a soft sigh, Rin stirred and began to collect her things to replace them in her backpack, breaking the spell that had overcome them and made them want to sit like statues.
"Time to get a move on," she said as she got to her feet, settling her backpack into place on her shoulders. Snorting in agreement, Salem proceeded to tackle the last remaining branch, breaking it in half before trotting after his trainer with his tail held high into the air, streaming behind him like a banner.
•••
As the sun finally began to descend through the sky and the world became lit in twilight, Rin felt that it had been a productive day despite the fact that only a few things had actually happened. They had been major enough events that it had filled out the day and made it one she wasn't going to be forgetting anytime soon. Preemptively preparing to stop for the night, she began to look for a likely camping place that would be off the road but not require them to need to use force or constructive means to get to it. As she searched, she thought about the little Pokémon by her side.
He had been thrilled to finally get the opportunity to flex his attacking prowess when an unlucky Snivy had hissed at them and raised his tail menacingly. Quick as thinking, Rin had shouted the first attack to come to her mind. Being a super effective move, ember had been the best choice. The grassy snake had been quick in calling the retreat farther into the trees, flames still flickering along his tail. Smiling at the memory, she turned her green eyes down for a moment to cast a fond expression at her partner who was at this moment so full of pride and excitement, she could practically see his aura glowing.
Stifling a sudden chuckle that threatened to burst from her, she quickly glanced up towards the forest again. Almost immediately, she caught sight of a small clearing a dozen or so yards down the path. It was almost as if a giant hand had plunged into the edge of the forest and scooped away the trees, leaving an almost perfect half circle. There was a soft layer of grass as well as a cluster of berry bushes that made the entire scene very inviting. Picking up the pace slightly, Rin eagerly made a beeline straight for it, Salem only a few inches behind.
By the time they had made it to the small clearing, the light had decided to increase its rate of vanishing. It left just enough illumination for the trainer and her Pokémon to clear away a few branches and straighten out the sleeping bag Rin produced from her backpack. As she began to undress and locate her pajamas, it gave Salem just enough time to investigate the bush laden with ripe fruit before she called him over from her position inside of the sleeping bag. Making his way over to her, he took a moment to sniff her empty shoes before proceeding to crawl onto the spot near her head. They looked at each other for a long time as they allowed their bodies to relax, erasing the weariness of the days events. Turned onto her left side, Rin was able to place her metallic hand protectively onto the mix's back. He readjusted after a moment, lifting his head to allow one last yawn before his eyes finally flickered shut. Smiling, Rin quickly followed him into a state of relaxed unconsciousness as the world grew dark around them.
In the world of her dream, she walked slowly through the laboratory once again, studying the various enclosures that held all of the different Pokémon. But as she walked, she slowly began to realize that something was wrong. The Pokémon she saw now were not the happy creatures she remembered seeing earlier, but instead seemed to be crying over the bodies of companions or hiding in the corners of their cages. Many of them were strange and distorted combinations of several species. She saw as one and then another, and another of them snarled at her, clawing at the mesh walls and slicing them to pieces. With cries of joy, they sprinted for her with mouths open wide. Heart leaping into her throat, she ran for a door that stood open welcomingly, offering safety. Only a few inches from it, it quite suddenly slammed shut with a resounding crash.
Startled awake for the second night in a row, Rin kept her eyes tightly closed as the sound of her own harsh breathing filled her ears. Quietly as she could, she slowly controlled her breathing back to a normal volume and rhythm, consequently allowing her heart to decrease from its rapid pace. It took several minutes before she was satisfied with the results and finally opened her eyes. Salem hadn't been disturbed by her nightmare, still deeply submerged in his own dreams that made his legs twitch. She watched him for a little while, absorbing the peace his presence brought to her. Finally, she felt as if she were ready to fall back to sleep. Rolling as carefully as she could onto her back so as not to disturb her partner, Rin was suddenly seized by a flood of shock and something leaning towards terror as she finally noticed the bright eyes of the creature not two inches away from her face.
It took only a split second for the lime green spider Pokémon to realize that its cover had been blown and it reacted by spreading its bright yellow legs wide and emitting a high-pitched screech before throwing itself down upon her face. Vivid pink mandibles clicking menacingly, it lunged its face downwards towards her exposed skin. All of a sudden, it vanished behind an explosion of gray fur that barreled into it, sending it spinning through the air to land with a thunk against a nearby tree before falling to the ground. Rin took the opportunity as it lay flailing on its back to sit bolt upright. Salem didn't even twitch to look in her direction as he stood rigidly between the sleeping bag and the flailing limbs, blue eyes locked onto the Pokémon that had attacked his trainer. His lips were curled back in such a way as to expose his fangs and wrinkle his muzzle, a growl rumbling in his throat. Infuriated by the unexpected attack, the spider flipped its body upright and scuttled backwards in a half circle to face its attacker, screeching loudly once more. Rin didn't have to grab her Pokédex to know what it was, having heard many a bird trainer complain about their sticky webs. Spinerak, the poisonous web spitting spider Pokémon.
Scrambling to collect her scattered thoughts, Rin focused on the stiff hackles of her Pokémon. Some clarity seemed to return to her and she found herself shouting, "Salem, bite it!"
Reacting instantaneously to her command, the Poochyena mix dug his claws into the ground as he launched his body forward, mouth open wide. His teeth closed down around one of the yellow legs, causing it to crumple up against the green body next to another leg that had already been injured by the sudden tackle. The Spinerak let out a hiss of pain before turning its head to bite into Salem's side. Yelping at the painful attack, he jumped backwards away from the spider. It then proceeded to spit a string of sticky web towards him, But he was quick enough to jump out of the way before it could entangle his body.
"Ember," cried Rin as she realized that the attacking Pokémon would be susceptible to it, her memories flickering back to the information she had received from those other trainers.
Opening his jaws in response, the flickering light was briefly seen for a moment within his mouth before the flames shot towards the Spinerak, hitting it squarely in the side as it turned to scuttle to a better attacking point. Screeching as the fire blackened its abdomen and legs, it decided to use another sticky string shot. Salem didn't move as quickly this time and his legs were shrouded in the move inhibiting substance, slowing him down and causing him to stumble. Seeing its chance, the spider suddenly rushed forward to deliver another serious bite.
"Quick, use ember again," Rin shouted as she felt her heart give a frightened squeeze.
With only inches to spare, Salem launched another ball of fire straight into the Spinerak's face. The clearing danced with the light of the fire as the spider came to an abrupt halt, twitching and screeching with the pain of the fire rapidly engulfing its head. After several long painful moments, the screeching died away and it slowly toppled backwards onto the ground, all eight of its legs curling up against its body as it let out one final hiss.
With spots of light swimming in her vision, Rin hastily pulled herself from her sleeping bag and stumbled over to Salem. She tried not to glance in the direction of the crumpled spider, her face still itching where its legs had been. With fingers that slightly shook, she began to remove the sticky string that was clinging to Salem's legs, throwing it towards the forest. As the last of the web fell away and she tossed it into the trees, her Pokémon quietly walked over to the stiffening body and gathered it into his jaws. Just as silently, he walked off into the trees with only a slight rustle and came back a short time later with his mouth empty. Rin quickly gathered him into her arms and hugged him tightly to her chest, his body quickly reciprocating the affection by nuzzling against her, tucking his nose beneath her chin.
"Thank you," she whispered quietly as she returned to the sleeping bag and gently crawled back inside, still holding him close to her. Her response was one soft bark before she pulled the sleeping bag up and over both of their heads, protecting them from the world for the rest of the night.