Route 30 seemed as though it was going to be just as uneventful as Route 29, at first. The moon shining down, the stars twinkling up above and the Pokémon staying far away from the trainer and her glowing umbreon. Once the duo made it halfway through the route, however, things took a rather drastic change.
Following the much traveled path so as to avoid getting lost in the wilderness, the girl expected to make good time in reaching Violet City, where she would challenge her first gym for a badge. Feeling good about the pleasant, uneventful night, she had begun humming softly to herself. Knowing the tune after hearing it so often, her partner stomped every once in a while to add a beat to it.
The cheerful humming and stomp-drumming came to an abrupt end when a rattata lunged from the nearby bushes, its jaws open wide as it aimed for the girls' bare arm. The rustling of the bushes caught Xanora's attention, but she was wholly unprepared for such an attack. Much to her relief, Shard was plenty prepared. Possibly due to her clumsiness in the past, but that was a whole other story.
Before the rat Pokémon could reach his trainer, the umbreon pushed himself backward a small ways before leaping forward to strike the wild Pokémon down with a swift paw to its side in a Faint Attack. Sure the rat wasn't targeting him, but making a distracting move before actually striking was just something he always did. A habit of sorts.
Hissing at the unexpected strike, the purple rat lifted itself from the ground. It had landed on its side, skidding briefly from the impact. Instead of being to the girls' side, it was now in front of her. For the rat, it was a decent angle of attack even still. It crouched down for a moment before lunging forward, faster than before. It was using its Quick Attack, this time aiming for the trainers' stomach.
Not about to allow this Pokémon to injure his friend, the umbreon leaped into action with his own Quick Attack. Their heads collided in the air as the two strikes met, a dull smacking sound reverberating through the still night air. Being three times the rats size, as well as stronger than it, Shard pushed the rat backward, away from his trainer. Now between the rat and his trainer, he crouched low with his golden circles glowing brightly in warning.
Yet another odd behavior from wild Pokémon showed itself. The rattata ignored the umbreon's clear warning that he was ready to kill it if necessary. Instead, it leaped for the black Pokémon with its jaws wide in another Super Fang attack, aiming for the other Pokémon's neck. The action bewildered him, but Shard responded quickly enough to halt the rats attack. He growled slightly as his tail began to glow a dull silver. Before the wild Pokémon reached him, he did a front flip and slammed his Iron Tail into its head.
The small rat lay motionless on the ground after the attack. It wasn't even twitching. Unsure of what to think, Xanora slowly made her way toward the Pokémon, expecting for it to merely be unconscious. After all, a Pokémon strong enough to be adamant about battling Shard had to be strong enough to survive a hit like that.
Reaching the rats side, the girl bent down and slowly reached a hand out to check for a pulse from its neck. Nothing. She held her breath, willing her heart to stop pounding like it was, and paid as close attention as she could to what her fingers could feel. Again, there was nothing.
The small Pokémon lay dead at her feet. It wasn't the first dead Pokémon that she'd seen, but it was the first one she had actually watched die. It was unnerving.
Attempting to look on the bright side, the trainer straightened herself and gave a somewhat nervous smile to her partner. "Guess you just got breakfast, bud."
The umbreon had lived off smaller, wild Pokémon before she befriended him, and he still enjoyed a true, nature-made meal every once in a while. He did know, however, that it disturbed her to watch him eat said meals. Shard gave her a small nod before lifting the dead rat between his teeth and carrying it off to behind the bushes. After the first few times of eating in front of her, and seeing her puking as a result, he had made it a habit to conceal himself from her.
A few moments later, the umbreon returned to his trainers side from the bushes. His maw and paws had some blood smeared on them, but that part never seemed to bother the girl. It was only the body itself that ever seemed to bother her. As per usual, she shook her head with a small smile as she pat his head. "Always the sloppy eater." This joking tease had begun shortly after he started hiding his meal times from her, and so he took it as the joke it was, a small rumble emanating from his throat in what was probably a half chuckle and half snort.
Turning from the girl, the umbreon started forward on the path again, lightly slapping his tail against her leg as he moved. "I know, I know. Gotta keep moving." She rolled her eyes as her Pokémon urged her forward. He likely wanted her away from the carcass instead of simply wanting to move quickly, though. Which reminded her. "You know, I don't know where any ponds or streams are, since we're not at home anymore. You better clean yourself up every chance you get." She got no response from him that time, but she knew he understood and likely agreed. Back home, he tended to be quick with cleaning the blood off himself after a nature-made meal.
As the duo continued forward, they were greeted with one attack after the next. There were several rattata and spinarak that tried to attack the trainer, but each was fended off by the alert umbreon. He did what he could to hold back enough to not leave dead bodies behind, but they were persistent enough in their attacks that some ended up dead even with his efforts to simply knock them out. It was unnerving to the trainer, to say the least, seeing just how badly the wild Pokémon wanted to get her.
The sky was just beginning to lighten as a hoothoot swooped down at the two. After so many grounded Pokémon attacking, even Shard wasn't as prepared as usual to fend it off. The owl had come just close enough to peck at Xanora's head when the umbreon jumped up to kick it away. "Ah!" The girl lifted her hand to cover the spot on her head, to the top right of her forehead, that had been hit.
Catching the faint scent of blood from his friend, Shard growled angrily at the wild Pokémon, one of his fangs peeking out from his mouth as he did. His golden rings were glowing brightly, just like with that very first rattata. The night was almost over, and he had prevented any and all injury to the girl until this one owl showed up.
Sensing the obvious anger from the dark Pokémon, and seeing the girl covering her head with one hand, the hoothoot hooted triumphantly. Sure it got pushed away from the human before doing any more damage to it, but its guard hadn't managed to hurt it when it kicked it away. It was off to a good start.
Doing his best to lock his anger away, Shard stared the owl down. Anger only made him miss chances at defeating his opponents, and that wasn't something he could risk. Not while his friend was the main target. "Shard, try your Confuse Ray!" The order from his trainer surprised him enough to have him glance back at her to confirm. The girl had claimed many times before that when they finally got to wander around, Confuse Ray would be their key to catching other Pokémon without hurting them too badly.
She actually wanted to catch a Pokémon that had just attacked her.
Sighing, the umbreon looked to the thrilled owl and obeyed. His eyes and rings began to glow blue as the attack was made. Once it was out, his eyes and rings returned to their normal coloring. At the same time, the cheery owl started to turn its head around as if trying to find something. Spreading its wings wide, apparently locating what it had been looking for, the hoothoot flew from the branch it had perched on and smacked straight into the trunk of a tree on the other side of the walking path. So much for assuming Confuse Ray wasn't that great a move. It seemed to work wonders on these wild Pokémon.
Smirking, Xanora crouched down and opened her backpack. Locating the pocket she had placed several Pokeballs into, she grabbed one and stood again, throwing the ball at the grounded hoothoot. Hitting the back of the Pokémon, it bounced up and opened, a red light covering the Pokémon before getting sucked inside, the ball then landing in the grass.
With a hopeful grin, the girl watched as the ball shook back and forth. After a few moments, it stopped shaking. Nothing came out. "Yes!" Bringing her fist up in front of herself in victory, she grinned widely. Shard just sat where he was, watching his trainer rush to the newly acquired Pokémon in joy. She picked the ball up and beamed at her partner, showing him the ball. "I always thought a noctowl would be a great partner for you, and now we're one step closer to having one!"
The umbreon blinked at that. Thinking back, he did vaguely recall her saying once or twice before that she'd wanted a noctowl as part of their team. Something about how a flying Pokemon would be great to have around, but something that could see in the dark as well as he did would be even better. Made sense, he supposed.
Her stomach growling, Xanora lowered the Pokeball and chuckled weakly. Her partner may have eaten, but she hadn't. With the excitement of having a new Pokémon on her team, her stomach was reminding her who the real boss was. Hunger.
Returning to the backpack that she had left in the middle of the path, the girl plopped down and dug out the remaining sandwich she'd brought from home. It was a bit soggy, possibly stale, but it was better than nothing. Shrugging a shoulder, she ate the last thing of food she still had for herself. She still had plenty of Poké food for Shard, but only because he enjoyed his nature-made meals and didn't eat the pellets all the time.
No longer quite so hungry, she took out her Pokedex and scanned the Pokeball with her newest Pokémon in it. It was a male and knew the attacks Peck, Foresight, Wing Attack and Hypnosis. She knew it had Peck, since it very clearly had a beak, but it was nice to know what else it could do. The Pokedex was really handy for this sort of thing.
Nodding to herself, Xanora let the Pokémon out of the ball. Knowing which gender it was, she already had a name for him. "Welcome to the team, Klaudan." She was smiling as she greeted the owl, but that didn't seem to matter. No sooner had she gotten the words out than when the Pokémon flew at her, obviously about to attack her again.
Eyes wide in both surprise and alarm, Xanora was too shocked to make any sort of move. Thankfully, Shard was a lot more alert than she was, as he quickly knocked the owl down. Fumbling for a moment, the girl managed to point the ball at her new Pokémon and recall it. "Why...?" The question was more one she was asking herself, and she hadn't even meant to speak it aloud.
A Pokémon was supposed to be nice and calm and friendly after it was caught. That's what she had been taught all her life. Sure, some might remain stubborn or feisty, but never aggressive. At least, not to the one who caught it.
Remembering the words from both nurse Joy and the assistant at Elm's lab, she couldn't help but wonder. Were Pokémon more aggressive than usual, not just in the wild, but all around? Her Shard was normal, so that couldn't be right. Yet the hoothoot she had just caught showed different. Was it that a tame Pokémon remained tame, but a wild Pokémon couldn't be tamed anymore? If that was the case, why was it happening. And how.
More confused than she could recall ever being, she simply stared down at the ball in her hand. Her ever loyal umbreon was at her side, leaning against her in an attempt to comfort her, but she could barely feel him there. Her mind was far too occupied with all of the questions she had that seemed to have no answer.
The only thing the trainer could think to do was get to Violet City. Surely a gym leader, with all of their experience with Pokémon, could tell her what was going on. They would know the answers.
Note: Klaudan is pronounced as kl-uh-dawn