Okay, next chapter is here! It's super long for a couple of reasons. One is that I wanted to keep all of this stuff in one chapter to make it easier on me and you. Second is that I'm getting my wisdom teeth out (yikes!) and braces on (even more yikes!) within a couple of weeks. If I suddenly don't update for awhile, I'm not dead haha. I'm kinda nervous about it, and if I can make time to update I promise I will. But enough about me! I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter :)
Note: Thoughts are in itallics
Chapter 9: Hunter and Hunted
"Oh how I love a good hunt in the moonlight."
Three dark shapes flew at top speed in the forest that night. Two were hunter, and one was prey.
"Dammit! Those things are pesky as hell! Keep swerving through the trees Mimzy!" The trainer placed a hand on his partner's neck which was inhaling and exhaling deep gulps of cold night air. "I know your tired girl, but we have to keep flying. It's our only chance of out maneuvering them, and I know you can do it!"
The Mystic Pokemon responded with a soft growl of new found energy and increased her speed by flapping her giant diamond-shaped wings. She easily avoided the thick trunks of the trees that attempted to cease her flight, but she pushed on even after an hour of intense flight.
The young man who was crouched on her back was aching in his arms and legs and was feeling fatigued as well, but knew that their pursuers, a couple of Crobats were still close behind.
How in the hell did they find me already? I must've been watched closely from the moment I set foot in that Valley. Dammit...
His thoughts were interrupted when a terrible noise emitted from behind the boy and he knew that one of them had fired another Screech attack. Most of their attacks had missed them, but this one hit the two full blast. Mimzy wailed in pain as the trainer pressed one hand to his head. It felt like nails were being shoved in his eardrums and his skull was going to split in two. He gritted his teeth in pain, and then tapped his Pokemon's neck with his palm.
He screamed, "MIMZY! Fly above the trees and make a sharp turn right, then dive back down again! That might throw these two pests off our trail! Go now!"
She complied with a loud cry and momentarily ceased flapping in order to propel herself upward and through the thick roof of branches and leaves the giant trees had created. He could hear the two Crobats continue to screech in the same direction they had once traveled and the young trainer smirked at the thought of his plan working.
The two were soon above the forest and silvery moonlight bathed them. Mimzy hovered in spot for a moment, out of breath and purring to her trainer. With a small pat he said, "Well done girl, but we aren't out of this yet. Get back down into the trees before they notice we're gone, and then we can-"
Out of the corner of her eye Mimzy saw a red hot beam of energy coming straight at her, and she soon shot even higher into the air to avoid being hit. The young man had just enough time to snatch onto his Pokemon's neck to avoid falling off, and he turned his head to realize that another figure was hovering nearby.
Mimzy snarled softly and spread her claws apart on her small muscular limbs as her trainer glared at the figure before them with deep red eyes. "Who the hell are you?"
A large husky figure was hovering in spot about 20 feet from the duo, and in the moonlight the young man made out the shape of a dragon hovering on half-oval shaped wings that were blood red. It had torso of pale blue with a white underbelly, three spikes protruding from its fang filled mouth, and a thick tail swinging behind it. The beast roared at Mimzy but she simply growled back with no fear in her throat. The young boy continued to glare with deep red eyes.
"Oh ho ho, your giving me the scary eyes aren't you!" chuckled his attacker. "But I've got to admit you've got some skill to outrun my Pokemon and dodge an attack like that. The name is Damon. What's yours kid?"
"I'm not obliged to answer that" sneered the young trainer.
"It's not polite to not introduce yourself. You young kids are just plain rude these days." sighed Damon as he pressed a palm to his head. "You really are a troublesome brat, you know?"
"Your kinda troublesome yourself man. Why don't you just leave me alone, that way you can get away from a brat like me and be on with your pointless life." said the boy in a cool voice.
"Can't do that kid. I'm in need of that small box that your carrying there. Toss it over and I'll be on my way. Nice and simple.": demanded Damon.
"Can't do that man." said the boy in a low chuckle. "I have to keep this box away from old creeps like yourself, so why don't you go sit in a hot bath and boil in your own putrid filth about how rotten all us kids are. Then I can be on my way." The boy smirked and with an edge in his voice he said, "Nice. And. Simple."into separate sentences.
Damon's Pokemon roared once again. As he stood behind the beast's neck he gave a quick pat to its head and said, "Easy, Salamence. I can't risk damaging that box, and if you attack it could be lost. However..." He paused for a moment, and close his eyes while raising one hand to his chin as if he were thinking. Damon snapped his eyes open and grinned maliciously. "However, attacking the kid is not entirely out of the question. What do you say?" The Dragon Pokemon growled and bared its fangs at Mimzy once more, and she responded by showing off her small but sharp teeth to the larger opponent.
The young man's lip pulled back a bit and as small snarl spread across his face he clutched the box with both hands and kept it under the crook of his right elbow. "Do you want to fight me? Is that it?" he questioned.
"I want to pry that box from your unmoving hands is what I want. Sorry kid. It's nothing personal really. Salamence, Hyper Beam attack now!" commanded Damon.
The Salamence opened its fang filled mouth and dots of energy began to form until a solid orb of yellow light formed in its mouth that increased in power and brightness every second.
"Mimzy use Dragon Pulse!" said the boy as he clung to his Pokemon's neck with one hand. She cried out and opened her small mouth. A spinning vortex of purple, blue and white began to take shape in the middle of her open mouth and it soon grew to a high volume.
As the Salamance fired it's deadly beam of energy once again, Mimzy released her Dragon Pulse and the two energy beams collided in midair for a moment. Pushing back on one another with nothing but pure energy, the two dragons put up a decent fight to keep their attacks going strong.
After being in contact for so long, the two attacks exploded on one another, and a dark cloud of thick smoke soon consumed both trainers and their Pokemon in a confusing swirl of stinking fumes.
The young man coughed violently and his eyes watered from the stinging fumes that had covered the air. He shouted through his coughs, "Mimzy! Fly...above the smoke! Hurry!" She too coughed from the smoke but complied with her trainer, and with her huge diamond wings she rose above the cloud.
As she broke through and gulped in the deep and refreshing night air, a terrible roar was heard from above and she could see the white underbelly of the Salamance diving down to attack her with its claws extended. She gasped and avoided the attack, and as the Dragon Pokemon curved and surged upwards once again, she was stricken from her left and right with a horrible screeching noise.
The Crobat duo were flapping their leathery wings and emitting pulses of deafening noise onto the poor Pokemon, and her trainer commanded, "Hurry! Dive back into the smoke!". Mimzy shook through the pain and tucked her wings in and dove back into the death cloud of fumes.
Not a moment later another roar from the Salamence was heard, and the Mystic Pokemon was tackled from the right side. She cried out in pain from the impact and the boy heard Damon say, "Use Dragon Claw!" Three lethal and curved claws that glowed a pale orange swerved into view and Mimzy had barely enough time to dodge the attack.
The boy gritted his teeth in anger and said, "Mimzy! If we can't get out from above, dive below the smoke and we can get out of here!" Coughs wracked his body once again, and Mimzy soon tucked her wings in again and allowed her body to drop just as the Salamence swiped another Dragon Claw at her.
After breaking through the bottom of the smoke the dragon-type unfurled her giant wings and caught an updraft of air. She soon cried out in pain once again as the Crobat were flapping and emitting more Screech attacks onto her and her trainer.
Through the loud noise the young man screamed, "Mimzy! Back up! Quickly!" With a weak cry she began to flap upward and the duo braced themselves for the suffocating fumes that were getting closer and closer. The trainer thought,
Dammit all! He's used those Crobat of his to track us through that dark forest. That's why they could see us and not hit any of the trees that came their way. They must've used their Supersonic to bounce off sound waves to see where solid objects were located. They're doing the same thing here in this awful cloud of smoke. Whenever and wherever Mimzy and I try to break free their right there, pushing us back into the smoke with a Screech attack so that damned man can attack us. The Crobat must also be keeping this smoke going with some form of smokescreen, and I pray to Arceus this stuff isn't poisonous. I can't worry about that now though. How in the hell do I get us out of this?
As the pair entered the smoke once more, an idea snapped together in his mind, and he smirked at the thought of it working. "Mimzy, I need you to listen carefully for Salamence to attack us again. You have to concentrate hard. Once that happens you have to dodge and get above him, and then listen to me for immediate instructions. You got that?" The Mystic Pokemon turned to look at the face of her trainer, and even though he was squinting through the burning smoke, she saw trust and confidence burning in his bright red eyes.
Her throat ached from the smoke in her lungs, but Mimzy growled quietly in determination and nodded her head. Turning to face the nothingness in front of her, the Flygon closed her eyes and hovered in place by silently flapping her wings.
A deep growl was heard from her right, but she kept still and continued to flap. "Steady, girl" said the boy in a voice barely above a whisper.
Mimzy picked up on a sudden flapping of huge wings and an increase of growling. She realized the noise was coming from her right backside, and she snapped her head around to the back right side of her body and saw the shadow of the huge beast coming closer.
Time felt like it had slowed down. As soon as she could make out the blue and red crest on its snarling face, she saw a leg outstretched in front of the torso of the beast, and all three of its claws were glowing with the signature pale orange light of a lethal Dragon Claw.
Just before it could snatch her trio-diamond tail, she pulled it towards her underbelly and rose her wings with a powerful upsurge and with a few quick flaps she was over the mighty Dragon Pokemon. Damon glanced upward in shock as his powerful Pokemon continued to move forward, still caught by surprise of Mimzy's sudden move. His eyes widened in surprise and shock, and the young boy on Mimzy's back opened his mouth and screamed, "MIMZY! DRAGON PULSE DOWNWARD! NOW!"
Without any hesitation the dragon-type opened her readied attack of a purple and white vortex and rings of power pulsated on the exposed back of the Salamance. The beast roared in pain and it ceased moving its wings, and it soon dropped like a stone. "Mimzy! Cry out now!" said the boy.
The Flygon wailed its name into the heavens and from below the cloud of smoke another awful Screech attack was being unleashed. The Salamence bellowed in pain and from the musky smoke cloud the trainer could see bright beams of light and energy hit their targets. The two Crobat cried out in pain and could be heard flapping away from the smoke in a huge hurry.
"Salamence! How dare you attack without permission! Come back here you fools!" screamed Damon in a fit of rage. The smokescreen soon was beginning to dissolve and the trainer could see the faint outline of Damon standing up behind his Salamences' neck while he shook his hand in rage at his fleeing poison-type Pokemon.
The boy shouted at the top of his lungs, "Mimzy! Dragon Tail on Salamence now!"
Mimzy built up a long cry and felt all of her power flow into her tail and it soon emitted a bright but soft blue light. As her tail condensed with the powers of a dragon, Damon looked up, and all of the color drained from his face.
With a swift cry, Mimzy folded her wings and dropped towards the Salamence at a frightening speed and at the very last moment she whipped her thick tail downward and unleashed her powerful move onto the exact same spot where the Dragon Pulse had burned into the Salamence's back. The large Pokemon bellowed in deep pain, and it soon folded its wings and dropped like a boulder.
Mimzy continued to hover in the air after her attack, and while she panted from exhaustion, her and her trainer looked downward at the falling shape of Damon and his Pokemon as they crashed into the treetops from the forest below.
Mimzy sighed deeply and her body was aching from fatigue. Her trainer patted her neck and said, "Good job. That's my good girl. We aren't done yet though I'm sorry to say." They Flygon shook its head and smirked at her trainer with a small grin and he said, "You sure are spunky."
She nodded at this comment and began to slowly descend to the ground where Damon and Salamence had crashed. The young man thought to himself,
Poor Mimzy. She's probably dead tired, and not to mention she went through a lot of airborne battles today. Combined with the fact she was inhaling that harmful smoke and carrying me so high in the air, I'm amazed she's still able to move. I'll see to it that she gets rest after I deal with this pain in the neck.
After a few moments, Mimzy slowed her flapping so that she could land on the ground. She dropped to all fours to the soft dirt so that her trainer could easily dismount. After he jumped off his Pokemon's back, he glanced from left to right to see where his enemies had crashed.
A huge crater was impressed into the ground with a few wisps of smoke were still rising form the hot compacted dirt, and the boy wondered where the large beast could have gone.
Immediately he saw something flash by his eyes and he hear Mimzy cry out in alarm. Not a moment later something thin and whip-like lashed out at his leg and even though the pants he could feel his skin break and he cried out in pain. Soon after a crack cut through the night like a gunshot and something snapped across his face. A searing pain on his face burned with intensity at the exact same moment, and a deep red welt was forming on his cheek. As black dots scattered around his vision the young man's knees buckled and he dropped to the ground while keeping one hand pressed to his swelling cheek.
The boy heard Mimzy squeal loudly in pain and with great difficulty he squinted one eye open to see the Salamnce overpowering Mimzy and finally pinning her under it's massive body with one thick leg pressed firmly over her throat. She tried to squirm free to help her trainer, but as soon as she began to move, the boy felt another whip like attack lash out on his back, and he almost passed out from the pain. He gritted his teeth in pain and collapsed to the moist forest floor, huffing with great difficulty. He grunted, "Mimzy...be...still...". She whimpered at the thought of her trainer being hurt, but as soon as a noise escaped her throat the Salamce growled deeply and began to press its massive leg down harder on the desert dragon. Mimzy began to gasp painfully for air.
Anger blazed in the boy's red eyes and as he propped himself up onto one elbow he huffed, "Don't you dare...hurt her...you beast...". Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his assailant raise something above its head and he braced himself for another whip when a voice boomed out from the shadows, "Mienshao! I told you to hurt the kid! Not kill him! Step back before you get carried away." Damon stepped out from behind a tree with his arms crossed
The meerkat like Pokemon glared at the older man and with her snout raised in the air like some prissy snob, she folded her arms in front of her and sauntered away to stand next to Salamence and a trapped Mimzy. Damon then continued to walk towards the beaten boy with Mimzy struggling to get free once he took his first step. Even with her throat being crushed she was determined to protect her trainer.
Damon raised his gaze to look at the Mystic Pokemon and said, "Be careful dragon. Continue to resist me, and there will be consequences." He finished his sentence while kicking the young man on the ground in his gut. He fell to the dirt floor once again and began to take sharply inhale lost oxygen.
Damon squatted next to the trainer and said with a sigh, "Y'know kid I gotta admit, for such a small fry you sure know how to turn a situation against an opponent. I admire that you used my own smokescreen and Pokemon to be the cause of bringing Salamence down from the sky, but your also arrogant to think a simple fall like that coupled with a few attacks would do us in. Nice try though."
The boy lifted his head and flipped his sweaty black hair out of his eyes. With a small snarl on his face he said, "Why don't you beat it, you old buzzard. I have places to go and people to see, and you sure as hell ain't one of them." He continued to take short painful breaths as he recovered from his blow to the abdomen as Damon raised himself from his position.
With a swift lift of the leg Damon kicked a heavy black boot right at the hurt trainer's unprotected head. With a grunt of pain the young boy felt his head smack backward onto the ground. He lay in a limp and dirty heap on the floor as the whip marks Mienshao left on his back and leg oozed small amounts of blood.
Damon scratched his head. "This is why I hate kids." He reached a gloved hand towards the box that was still being held in the crook of the trainer's elbow when the boy raised a trebling hand to grab Damon's wrist. The older man looked into the kid's eyes, and was surprised to see so much determination and willpower still burning in the deep fiery pits of red.
With his other free hand Damon gripped the boy's feeble wrist and held it up as he removed the box from the trainer possession. He let the young man's arm drop to the floor like dead weight, and the injured trainer sighed deeply and squeezed his eyes shut as another wave of pain coursed through his wounds.
Walking away while holding the box he commanded, "Salamence, release the Flygon. Mienshao, get on Salamence's back with me. Our mission is done here. We are leaving immediately."
With a heavy growl the giant beast lifted it's claws off of Mimzy's throat. With a strangled cry she raced over to her bruised and battered trainer. With a gentle croon she lay her body near his and wrapped her tail around so that he was protected by his faithful Pokemon.
She watched as Damon and Mienshao climb onto the Dragon Pokemon's back. The older man turned half of his body to face the kid once more and shouted, "Hope that we never meet again kid! The next time that happens I ain't gonna be so nice!" With a few heavy flaps of its red oval like wings, the trio rose into the starry sky and Salamence flew away at high speed.
The Mystic Pokemon had watched them leave, but she now returned her attention and comfort to her hurt trainer long into the night. As the sky began to turn from a deep purple to a steady mix of orange and pale pink, the young boy steadily sat up with help from his partner.
He held his side in pain and with slow movements he removed his hood and protective mask from his face so he could gulp in the fresh morning air. "I'm grateful that guy didn't remove my mask. That would've been big trouble, huh Mimzy? he stated to his Pokemon.
The Flygon had a sad look in her eyes, and the young man knew she was upset about losing the box. "Are you worried about the box? Well you shouldn't be" Mimzy looked at the boy in alarm.
"It's what's inside the box. That's the thing he was after. This is what he was after." After digging around on an inside coat pocket the young man opened his palm in front of Mimzy to reveal a beautiful item.
It was a cluster of small crystals that had small points sticking out here and there, but nothing too sharp to pierce skin. It seemed to be transparent, but in the growing morning light it sparkled slightly and gave off a soft white glow. The item was slightly warm to the touch and felt nice on the boy's hand. When Mimzy leaned closer to the object, it began to swirl in a series of soft brown and deep indigo colors. The light of the colors reflected off of the trainer's hand, and a slightly surprised Mimzy eased her head back. Once she did, the crystal went back to softly glowing a warm white.
He leaned his face closer to it, but nothing happened. "I have no idea what this item is, but it's obviously important to the mission, especially if he wants it badly too. We should head back now Mimzy. I know your tired, but can you make it? His Pokemon chirped and nuzzled her trainer affectionately and he smiled in response.
The young trainer slowly stood up with his faithful dragon Pokemon. He kept one hand on his side while gripping the object in the other. With a fierce look in his eyes he gazed onward to the rising sun and said with a smirk,
"Sorry Damon. Looks like you'll have to meet with me sooner than you had hoped, and I'm eagerly awaiting for that day to come."
WOW~! I loved loved writing that chapter! Don't worry, the mystery trainer's name will be revealed, I just didn't want to say it yet :) I know this doesn't seem like it ties in with the story, but trust me, everything will work out! And everyone likes a little action chapter now and again. Things were getting kinda slow, so I decided to spice it up. Please comment or review and until next time I shall see you readers again soon! :)