10,186/10,000
This story from here out is no longer part of a contest, and word counts will discontinue. Enjoy.
* The Thief Game *
* Chapter Six *
* The Boy Who The Forest Almost Claimed *
"Please don't be a dead end. Please don't be a dead end. Please—DARNIT!" I stomped my foot in frustration. Large tree trunks and thick undergrowth were far too dense to continue on this way.
I slumped against one of the trunks with a sigh. It couldn't be past ten in the morning, but I was still exhausted from yesterday. Even though I had eventually set up a camp, when it actually came down to the sleeping part, I couldn't stop thinking about the day. It was, after all, the worst one of my life by far.
I shook my head attempting to rid the thoughts from my mind. Thinking about it would only make the situation worse, I decided. Getting out of these woods is what I need to concentrate on now.
And so I set off the other way, attempting to retrace my steps the best I could back to where I started off that morning. I did a bad job of it though, because I ended up nowhere near where I started. I felt like crying, but I already had my emotional breakdown today so I didn't let myself.
I really needed water though. My throat was so dry, if I could see it, I'm sure I would see something that looked like a literal desert—tumble weed and all.
I checked my bag for something to drink, but all I could come up with was an empty Reggie Rattata themed canteen and some tablets to purify fresh water. The cartoon rodent's happy-go-lucky expression on the flask mocked me and my parched mouth. I almost threw the thing into the bushes but thought better of it. Instead I tried covering the sides with soil, which didn't work that well and just made it slightly dirty. Oh well, at least the stupid-head got a face full of dirt.
As I continued to look for water or a way out of this place, I thought I heard Devin up in the trees again. I wouldn't be surprised if it was, even though I had already found and recalled her at least three times. She always managed to escape the ball without me noticing.
"Hey, Devin, do you know where a river or something is?" I called out half-heartedly. In the past twenty-four hours of owning a scyther, I found that this particular one did not like listening to orders. Or at least my orders.
To my surprise, a spearow flew out of the branches. It cawed and circled me once, then flew into another tree.
I felt for the miniaturized pokéball I had in my pocket. I had been looking for a spearow yesterday, and maybe a pokémon that would listen to me was what I needed. A flying one would be extra handy right now.
I studied the area where the little brown avian flew into the dense tree-tops before tackling the task of climbing the tree. The bark dug into my hands as I shimmied up the trunk. My hand broke off a thin branch I tried grabbing and I wildly searched for a new handhold. When I did, I caught a glimpse downward and gulped. I really did not want to fall from here. But from the few seconds I did stop, I spotted a small lake not too far from here.
Now I had two choices: go to the water, or continue to try to get the tiny bird. Technically, I could do both, but seeing all that water made me remember just how thirsty I was. I didn't want to wait a second more to get that water. I also wanted that spearow though, and to just give up on it like that seemed like kind of a waste.
"Ss—ther," Devin growled from above me. The spearow she was holding in her mouth no longer had a head.
* T * T * G *
I washed my arms in the cool water of the lake, enjoying the feeling of freshness that came with it. I hadn't realized how much dirt I had accumulated until I compared my now clean arms to my filthy legs. I guess my legs would be dirtier anyway though because of my shorts.
After I got all the dirt off my legs, I sat on the shore and looked over myself. I noticed I had a lot of small cuts all over them from trudging around the forest and all the underbrush catching them. I decided I needed longer pants when I got to the next town. That is, if the clerk would even let me come into the store.
My heart jolted as the sudden awareness that I would be a wanted criminal, struck me. Full on, prison worthy criminal. Would I ever be able to go back to a normal life? My stomach turned uneasily at the thought. I mean, I knew I was in a bad situation before, but thinking just how far this would go to affect me, forever, made me want to throw up.
I think the worst part was being alone for that realization.
I took a couple of deep breaths and willed myself to calm down. Mattias did say that if I won, my name would be cleared, didn't he? All I had to do was win his, stupid, game and then I was home free. Yeah, just keep focusing on that. The man was insane, but he had also had given this some deep thinking. He also had that alakazam to stop him from making me do anything impossible, right? Yep, this is good. Not going to break down again. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
…
I can't do this.
This situation sucks and I'm caught in the middle of it. How am I even going to get eight badges? Most people drop out after five or six for a reason. How am I going to do this? With a scyther who doesn't listen, and with cops, who will be after me—Gods, I'm so dead!
I dunked my head under water to stop myself from having a panic attack. After letting the water run down my face for a bit, I calm down.
It's okay. I can do this. I made a promise to myself then and there, no more break downs, no more doubting myself. Time to be strong.
My stomach started to growl again.
* T * T * G *
After searching for the millionth time, I found two granola bars in the bag. I hate granola, but hey, who doesn't? Plus, I'm starving.
As I ate them, I saw something up ahead, or rather, heard something. Voices, I realized. I gasped. People! Oh no! I can't let them see me, I think. What if they saw me and turned me in?
Before I can turn and run, they come into view and I know it's too late. There were three people, a typical number for a traveling group. Or at least TV makes it seem that way. One of them was tall and tan with shaggy brown hair and seemed a quite few years older than the other two; another was short and had red hair and a lot of freckles on his face and exposed arms, and the last one was an intimidating looking kid with dark hair and clothing. "Hey!" the short red-head shouted enthusiastically. "Want to battle?"
"Uh. No." I said. It wasn't really that I didn't want to per say, I was actually overjoyed at the thought of having my first battle; it was something I had always dreamed about as a kid. But considering the mess I was in, and a certain scyther that was nowhere to be seen, I just wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible.
"You can't turn down a challenge," the intimidating kid sneered. His voice was quieter than I would have imagined. "unless you want to fork over half your cash right now." The other kids he was with gave him annoyed looks.
The way he said it made me angry though. "Look, I'm just trying to get to Pewter City. My pokémon isn't with me right now anyways, so if you'll excuse me."
"Whoa, hold up kiddo," the oldest one said with concern, catching me by the shoulder as I tried to get through them. "You really shouldn't be here if you don't have a pokémon with you."
"She's around here somewhere. I'm fine." I tried walking away again but the boy had a tight grip on my shoulder.
The red-head laughed. "You said you were heading towards Pewter, am I right?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"Well, the thing is," the oldest one said with slight embarrassment, as if he were afraid of what he was about to say. "you're going the wrong way."
"Oh…"
"You can come with us," suggested the older one. "We are happening to go the same way."
The intimidating one whipped around to the older one with a revolted expression. He looked as if he were about to protest, but the red-head clamped his mouth shut with his hand. "Yeah come'on, the more the merrier!"
"I hate you all," the intimidating one muttered as soon as the red-head removed his hand.
* T * T * G *
The head officer of Pallet Town's P.F.H.P.A.—Prevention of Feral and Hazardous Pokémon Attacks—Hembirge sat at her desk twirling her fingers through her long violently orange hair as she read over some important paperwork and snacked on a couple of Frito-Lays. She sighed when she glanced at the clock—still a half an hour left until she could go home and watch that new episode of the drama she was currently into. Those kinds of shows were her guilty pleasures, but she would die if any of her co-workers found out. She had spent a lot of energy into building her tough-woman image, something like that could ruin it.
"Hembirge—" someone knocked on the open door to her office before walking in timidly. "There's been a robbery. A pokémon was stolen."
"Pokémon are always being stolen, why are you bothering me about it? Isn't' it someone else's job to do the paperwork for that kind of thing?" She said lazily to her coworker, officer Haralson.
"Yes, but, the pokémon in question is a rank-6 pokémon. And you'll never believe where it was stolen from—"
"Hold up, did you say a rank-6?" Hembirge yelped, suddenly sitting on the edge of her seat.
"—Oak Labs. And yes. Rank-6. It was a scyther. So, rank-6BF. Almost rank-7BuSt if it were to evolve." Haralson bit his lip anxiously.
Ranks went from 1-10, 1 being the least dangerous, and 10 being the most. The first two letters were used to indicate the pokémon's typing. The list contained all the pokémon thought to be the most dangerous and are ranked by numerous things including but not limited to, how well they could kill, and how many they have killed. Trainers usually need a certain number of badges or years traveled before they were allowed to attain one.
"Oh Mew, that's not good," She added unnecessarily. "Do they have footage of the crime?"
"Er—sort of. What they do have—It's really blurry. Some kind of psychic wave seems to have tampered with it."
"Well, if a thief has an unregistered rank-6 running around, we'll catch 'em soon," Hembirge assured. "A scyther right? Did you out put the warning for that?"
"Yes. We did just a few minutes ago. But, you know, because there was no clear view of the thief, it's going to be more difficult."
"True," Hembirge sighed and shook her head. She glanced down at her nails and bit the inside of her cheek tensely before she added "I guess that just adds a bit of fun to the chase, doesn't it?"
Haralson laughed nervously. "I suppose."
"But that psychic wave you talked about worries me. And we can't get clearance to do anything from the league unless something happens. All we can do is try to apprehend the criminal before anything does, but… a rank-6. Shit, I guess that means a lot more paperwork for us later on eh, Greg…?" Hembirge's attempt to lighten the mood, like before, fell flat.
Haralson just nodded with a frown.