Author's Note:

Ehhh. So much for getting this out before school started… At least I got this out to begin with, though. That's at least some consolation, yes?

Yeah… Expect updates to be considerably slower in rate due to a mixture of school and part-time-jobing. Rest assured, however, that this story will go on. I've had enough stories put on hiatus as is…

A quick shout-out to chi4angoo and JokersBatman for the Follows! Thanks!

Disclaimer:

Pokémon and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.


Of Children, Men, and Monsters

Chapter Thirty-Three: A Kidnapping


Marza awoke both groggily and much earlier than she would like, wiping away at her eyes before looking down at whatever was tugging at her pajama leggings. Turns out it was Oscura, and not, say, Chukorita. An angling of the neck revealed her to still be asleep, albeit in a slightly different position than some hours previous. When the Rock Skin Pokémon saw Marza look at her, she frantically pointed at a spot on the carpet near the door.

"Wha'…? What's wrong with the carpet…? Ehhh…"

She let her arms, which were struggling to hold her up a moment ago, flop lazily to tier side of the bed, eyes closing swiftly when she noted that it was only five in the morning.

Before she could go back to sleep, Oscura tugged at her leggings, actually managing to toss the considerably larger human out of the bed. This got Marza wide-awake, and she scrambled upright, tugging her leggings back to their proper position once she regained her bearings.

"Alright, alright, I'm awake! What's the issue here!?"

Oscura again drew Marza's attention to a certain section of the floor, pointing to it, then back at her. She repeated this emphatically in an attempt to ensure that her message got across.

"Wait a minute… Didn't I put my stuff there last night…?"

Her mind, still slightly groggy, came to the realization rather slowly compared to her usual mental speed.

"Oh. Oh. My stuff was taken. Is that what you're trying to tell me, Oscura?"

A quick series of nods, as well as a point to the opened window.

"And whoever did this went in and out through the window?"

A nod for the nth time. Marza glanced through the window and bent over a bit to look at the wall of the Center. The stylized wood had a rough surface, but only vertically – it provided little to no aide-to-side ledges to grab onto to climb upward.

'So whoever did this was either a Pokémon capable of ascending without the needing for the leverage of a wall, or a human with access to certain tools. This is why I need to remember to close and lock the windows every night instead of leaving them openOh, and–'

"The egg is gone too," she said lowly, equal parts panic and anger in her tone. Her mind made up, she said to her only companion that was awake, "Alright, then. We'd better wake Chikorita up and go as soon as that's done with – don't want anyone thinking me as some sort of weirdo going out this early in the morning, with my pajamas on no less."

The lass then proceeded to poke Chikorita, telling her sleeping form to get up. When this failed, she shook her gently. Then roughly. Then threw her off the bed, is what she would have done next were her patience at that moment even shorter than it was.

"Guess I'll just carry you," she mumbled, taking the Leaf Pokémon in both arms, awkwardly opening the door with one and exiting along with Oscura.

"Now, where do we start our search…? As far as I could tell from the window, there wasn't exactly a trail to follow… Guess we'll just have to pick a direction and go a ways out. May as well start from the direction the window faces – I don't see any direction more likely as to where the culprit went than that one…"

And so another quest within a quest began.

Cue music - Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal soundtrack - Ruins of Alph

Precisely twelve minutes and thirteen seconds passed before Marza, Oscura, and a still sleeping Chikorita encountered their first of (thankfully only) two difficulties: a group of unfamiliar Pokémon that had created a large and complex webbing system. This, as well as their appearances, heavily reminded Marza of greater arachnid species back home. A few of the specimens were wide awake, wearily watching the lass and her companions while hanging upside-down from various tree branches. The frowning, face-like patterns on their abdomens unnerved Marza to some degree, causing her to pull out her handy-dandy 'Dex quite a bit slower than usual.

"Pokédex Number One Hundred Sixty-Seven: Spinarak, the String Spit Pokémon. Typing: Bug/Poison. Ability: Swarm or Insomnia. If prey becomes ensnared in its webs, it patiently waits for it to tire, identifying it with its durable, vibration-sensitive string during these time frames. It will then injects its prey with highly potent venom before consuming it."

"Yeah… Better just find a way around them… Well, scratch the "find" part, just need to go some feet to the left or right."

Thusly is how they demonstrated that particular danger was avoided, glares from the Spinarak aside.

The second obstacle surprised our two conscious protagonists more than the first, though not necessarily for the reasons one might expect.

The trail of spotted egg shells is what got the two's attention first. The high-pitched, mildly irritating whining is what got Marza and Oscura's attention second. Despite their mutual waves of worry, they carefully and methodically paced through the shrubbery and trees to the general direction of the crying, breaking into a run as soon as they entered a relatively tame section of the woods.

This is why they were so surprised: because they managed to find both the egg (or, rather, the Pokémon that it had hatched into) and the culprit after looking A) looking for about half an hour, and, with an even greater amount of luck, B) in the first direction they went.

The very literal kidnapper looked like a particularly unimaginative child's portrayal of a ghost; round, with comically large eyes sporting tiny pupils, and with a seemingly solid black center and a gaseous outer rim. It was floating low to the ground, looking at the other, smaller Pokémon, some concern surprisingly evident in its eyes. Her bag and the belongings therein was laying on the ground, laid awkwardly at its aide.

'Looks like the purple stuff that the thing that was following left behind in Sprout TowerHope I don't have a stalker of sorts on my hands.'

"Alright, just what are you doing to that Pokémon? Besides kidnapping them, I mean," Marza spoke up, startling the gaseous Pokémon and drawing its attention from the other Pokémon on the ground. The tears in the corners of its eyes, as well as its indignant expression, aroused even more concern in Marza and Oscura.

'So that's what it hatched intoIts cuteness is all the more reason to get it back!' she said in her mind, quickly connecting the dots between the similar appearance of the egg's shell and the Pokémon's exterior. Heck, it even looked like the egg was still attached to it, bottom and top aside.

The floating Pokémon appeared to panic, eyes quickly darting to Marza and the two Pokémon near/on her and the freshly hatched Pokémon. After several repeats of this, it resigned itself to a confrontation, floating over with a grin even wider than its actual body.

It looked quite forced in Marza's eyes.

"You want a fight…? Fine! Give this kidnapper what it deserves, Oscura!"

She stepped up with some degree of eagerness, raring to go. The ghostly Pokémon speeded to Oscura and gave her a cheeky lick with a tongue that could easily be labelled "immense", instinctually making the Rock Skin Pokémon freeze up and shiver violently. She let out a distressed moan of a cry, reminding the only human present of a drawn-out "Whyyy…"

The spherical Pokémon chuckled in glee at this, but was rudely interrupted when Oscura got over her disgust of this action, giving her foe a vicious Bite in payback for the Lick. It appeared to be severely drained of energy just from that one attack, signaling to Marza that there was, in fact, either a Type advantage or a stark difference in strength.

"Just another Bite'll end this, Oscura! Finish 'em!"

She closed in for the finisher, hardly needing to be told twice. Her foe flinched before instinctually pulling out a gargantuan needle from seemingly nowhere, pointing it at itself in an inexplicably threatening manner.

"Woah, there! Wait a second! Let's not get hasty with self-inflicted pain…!"

The needle was raised, poised to strike the ghostly Pokémon…

Until the newly hatched Pokémon came into play, stepping between the two parties with some surprising poise and calm, stubby little arms straight at its sides. Turning to the ghostly Pokémon, it repeated the syllables of its name, the apparent words getting it to glance away in what may have been shame and making the needle disappear just as quickly as it showed up. It then whirled around to face Oscura, speaking in a soft tone and managing to quell her tension, as well.

The tyke turned one heel-equivalent to the human. Before it could even begin, Marza stated, "Yeah, I'll stop this violence. All I want is my stuff back and an explanation as to just what specifically is going on."

The smallest Pokémon present nodded, starting with a deep breath before launching on a supposed tirade, saying its name over and over in swift succession, gesturing wildly all the while. Marza realized with all due speed that this was a fruitless request quickly, and next said, "Okay, never mind, I can't understand a word of what you're saying."

A sigh.

"How's about we just… go back to Violet and have Oscura try and translate? And don't you dare try to get away from us, you, ah… ghost. Thing. You know what, I'm just gonna go to the 'Dex for this…"

Upon flipping it open and tilting it in the gaseous Pokémon's direction, it displayed for her:

"Pokédex Number Ninety-Two: Gastly, the Gas Pokémon. Typing: Ghost/Poison. Ability: Levitate. Its body is mostly composed of gases. Despite its small size it can envelop a foe with its poisonous gases, causing suffocation and potential poisoning."

"Pokédex Number One Hundred Seventy-Five: Togepi, the Spike Ball Pokémon. Typing: Fairy. Ability: Serene Grace. It is considered to be a symbol of good luck. Some say the its shell is filled with feelings of joy, and that it shares this happiness with those close to it."

'May as well be opposites on the good/evil scale,' is what Marza said in her mind once she read this information.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, we'll just–"

Looking up from her reading, she found that the Gastly was out of her sights. A sweep around revealed that it was nowhere to be found.

"Fleeing just a few moments after it knew its little stunt was over… what a wuss. Then again, I gave it plenty of time to flee with that poorly timed 'Dex reading…" Marza remarked, frustrated. A sigh left her next. "Nothing to do about that Gastly now… Better get back to the Center."

Marza reached to pick up the grounded Chikorita, being interrupted with huff from the newly born. It had its stubby limbs at its sides, like a human whose arms were at their hips in a sassy manner.

Now, understand that Marza is not one to take into account a person's age, race, gender, background, or even age when making her disdain known. There's also the fact that, despite probably only being a few hours old at most, Togepi was quite intelligent. With this in mind, she decided to let an insult (and miscellaneous tangent) slip: "No need to get sassy just because I'm not immediately giving you some attention, little noble. Then again, it's not nearly as bad as me some years ago, and that's what most children are like…" The youngest present looked insulted at first, then confused. "Never mind, that's getting off-track. Anyways, my name is Marza, this is Oscura, and we came here to rescue you from that Gastly. Or, rather, were, because it ran away and stuff."

The Spike Ball Pokémon just looked continued to look up for a moment before appearing unimpressed, sighing with a touch of haughtiness before allowing itself to be scooped up in the human's free arm. Marza couldn't help but snuggle the Togepi a bit (much to the tiny Pokémon's chagrin) as she beckoned her oldest companion to follow her home.

And so the quest within the quest ended.