Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or associated characters, only characters of my own invention.
Chapter 3 – Rise and Whine
'Goodbye.'
Tirrielle felt the voice dragging her back from the realms of subconsciousness and opened her eyes. For several moments everything was blurred with sleepiness, her thoughts still caught somewhere better dream world and real life as she grappled with the subject of where she was, blinking around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Gradually, however, everything came back to her. She was on a journey. Last night she had slept in her tent, the blue canvas of which she was now staring around at. Other details slowly filtered through her mind, memories from the previous day. She had been assaulted... A knife had been held at her throat... At the memory of these events fear rose inside of her. What was to prevent them from happening again? Then another image floated through her brain, the image of a boy. Her fear slowly ebbed away. As long as she was with the boy she would be safe. He was powerful, confident, arrogant and complacent, but he had saved her twice already. As long as she stayed close to him Tirrielle was confident that no harm would befall her. And he had just said goodbye to her.
Tirrielle jumped in shock as the realisation hit her, and frantically she reached for the tent zip, pulling it up quickly and sticking her head out through the flaps.
'Oi! Stop! Wait!'
The boy paused, already more than twenty paces away, and looked back.
'What is it?' he asked irritably.
'What the hell do you think you're doing? Wait for me!'
'It's eight in the morning; I've already eaten and packed up, so I'm leaving. I can't afford to waste time waiting around for you.'
He turned and continued to walk away. They boy wasn't sure himself why he had said goodbye as he had walked passed her tent. It would be been only too easy and much less complicated to just disappear without waking her.
'Hey! Don't you dare leave me! STOP!' the girl yelled.
He ignored her and continued walking.
'Damn, damn, damn, DAMN!' Tirrielle cursed, racing around her tent and pulling the pegs out as fast as possible, before stuffing her collapsed tent haphazardly into her bag and dashing after the boy, barefoot and wearing the pyjamas she had slept in.
'I hate you!' she yelled at the boy having caught up with him, now in an extremely bad mood.
'It's not like I told you to follow me,' he said in annoyance.
Tirrielle glared at him, resisting the urge to punch the boy in the side of the head.
'Whatever,' she muttered bitterly, wandering how she could possibly find a way to get changed into some proper clothes.
Several hours of walking in silence later and Tirrielle was beginning to feel distinctly annoyed. Still wearing her night clothes, starving with hunger and feeling the newly formed blisters on her feet more painfully with each step, she was starting to wonder how much more of this she could take. Desperate for some relief, she turned to the boy whose name she still had been unable to discern.
'How about stopping to eat lunch?' she suggested tentatively.
'Sure. Whatever,' the boy replied.
Surprised but relieved at his response, Tirrielle began scouting the area for a good spot to sit, flinging her back down against a nearby tree and sinking exhaustedly onto the grass beneath it.
The boy kept walking.
'Hey! Why aren't you stopping?' Tirrielle asked in annoyance.
'Waste of time,' he replied, not bothering to stop or look back.
'You agreed to stop just thirty seconds ago!'
'No,' said the boy in annoyance, still walking. 'You suggested you wanted to stop. I said whatever, since it didn't and still doesn't concern me.'
'Freakin' loser!' yelled Tirrielle, struggling to her feet, snatching her bag back up and hastening to catch up to the boy, glaring at the back of his head.
Needless to say, she was ignored.
'When are you eating lunch then?' Tirrielle demanded.
'I don't eat lunch whilst on missions,' replied the boy, continuing to stare directly in front.
'I haven't even had breakfast!' Tirrielle shouted in his ear.
'That has nothing to do with me,' said the boy, not the slightest bit defensive.
'You were about to leave me behind!'
'So?'
Tirrielle suddenly found the urge to punch the boy in the side of the head almost overwhelming, and forced herself to drop back several paces behind him while she tried to cool her temper, muttering insults and curses angrily under her breath.
They continued walking in silence for several more hours, Tirrielle forcing herself to push past the pain in her body and the hunger in her stomach, before the boy stopped quite suddenly and after a moments inspection left the dirt road, veering off into the forest. Confused as to what this was about, Tirrielle followed, hoping desperately that she would be able to rest soon.
Roughly another hour of walking later, by which time Tirrielle was cramping badly and biting so hard on her lip to suppress the rest of the pain throughout her body that blood was dripping steadily from it, the boy stopped, crouching down on the forest path. Tirrielle practically fainted in relief, tumbling to land sprawled on her side.
After about ten seconds however, the boy started walking again, stopping to crouch again several metres down the track. Tirrielle groaned, forcing her body to crawl after him. This process repeated itself five times, by which time Tirrielle's annoyance was starting to give her energy.
'What the hell are you doing?' she snapped in frustration, struggling to get back to her feet.
'Quiet,' ordered the boy emotionlessly, peering through the dense foliage of the trees.
'Tell me what the hell you're doing then,' the girl shot back, albeit in a quieter voice.
'You ask too many questions,' said the boy, sounding irritated.
'And you don't give enough answers,' Tirrielle retorted.
The boy scowled. 'There's a campsite up ahead,' he told her, before reaching into his left pocket and pulling out a Pokeball. He pressed the button on the top of the ball lightly with his finger to enlarge it and then open it, a Pokémon appearing with a small flash of light at his feet.
Tirrielle let out a small exclamation upon seeing the creature. The shape and color of a fox, with reddish eyes and nine long flowing tales, it was the most beautiful Pokémon Tirrielle had ever seen. Stretching and yawning, the Pokémon surveyed its surroundings, giving Tirrielle an odd look that bordered on confusion and disgust, before turning to the boy and tilting her head, as if to ask: is she your girlfriend?
The boy glared at his Pokémon, before whispering to her several instructions, which Tirrielle couldn't quite make out. The fox nodded almost lazily, before disappearing into the undergrowth with a flick of her many tails.
'Where's it going?' Tirrielle asked blankly.
'That doesn't concern you,' the boy replied, returning to full height and walking off again.
Cursing under her breath Tirrielle struggled to her feet using a branch for support and painfully followed after the boy.
She hadn't gone more than twenty paces before emerging from the forest into a small clearing. On the opposite side of the clearing was a clumsily erected shelter, made from cut down trees and covered with leaves and branches to keep out the rain. Two boys were sleeping under the shelter, and if she had to guess Tirrielle would have put their ages at 15 and 16 respectively. The two looked as though they had been living rough out here for a long time, their clothes ripped and torn and their hair long and un-kept.
Tirrielle watched as her travelling companion walked up to the boy and prodded them with his foot, looking disgusted.
'Ugh... What the hell is it?' mumbled the elder boy irritably as he awakened.
'I want to ask you a few questions.'
The long haired boy looked up blearily and then jumped as he saw the unfamiliar boy looking at him with distaste.
'Damn,' he cursed loudly and simply, leaping to his feet quickly and releasing a Pokémon.
'What is it Jared?' muttered the second boy sleepily, as Tirrielle's travelling partner, for want of a better word, walked back, his eyes on the Pokémon that had materialised. It stood on four legs, with a trunk that seemed to double as armoured protection and two long white tusks. Frankly Tirrielle had no idea as to what it was.
'A Donphan, is it?' remarked her "partner", answering Tirrielle's unspoken question.
The Donphan snorted angrily, pawing the ground in an intimidating display. Tirrielle subconsciously moved closer to the boy, her eyes on the tusks.
As the other kid struggled to his feet cursing as he noticed the immediate threat, the boy summed up the Donphan with a piercing look. He had battled several Donphan in the past, and from what he knew of the species the length of the tusks on this particular specimen indicated that it was male. Harder to determine was its skill and strength in battle, but the boy wasn't particularly worried. He reached into his pocket again and drew out another Pokeball, releasing the creature inside.
His Banette appeared in a small flash of light, a Marionette Pokémon with what appeared to be a zipper for a mouth and what looked like the end of a broomstick for a tail. The Banette cackled in characteristic fashion, swooping at the Donphan. Seemingly enraged by its antics the Donphan leapt without command at the Banette.
'Sucker Punch,' commanded the boy expressionlessly, and the Banette dodged to the side, avoiding the leap of Donphan before slamming a fist into its side, sending the Armor Pokémon tumbling into the bushes.
'Grab all the stuff and run for it!' the elder kid whose name I assumed to be Jared said slightly panicky to the younger boy, who nodded, racing around the shelter and stuffing things into a travelling bag.
Meanwhile the Donphan leapt back into battle in a rage of fury. 'Slam!' Jared ordered, and Donphan threw its body at the Banette, who cackled as the Donphan passed straight through.
'Did you honestly forget about normal type attacks not effecting ghosts?' the boy asked slightly incredulously. 'Faint attack.'
Banette grinned gleefully, throwing its doll-like body towards the Donphan, which moved instinctively to block, however the Banette suddenly disappeared, appearing beside the Donphan and slamming into its unguarded flank and taking it out.
There was a flash of red light as the Pokémon was sucked back into its Pokeball.
'Got everything!' announced the younger boy, flinging the bag over his shoulder.
'Let's go!' shouted Jared, and they attempted to flee from the clearing in a rather undignified fashion.
Tirrielle glanced at the short haired boy next to her, and she was surprised to find that he made no attempt to prevent them from escaping, merely looking bored and disinterested. As the two boys were about to disappear into the bushes however there was a flash of fire, and Tirrielle watched stunned as the nine-tailed fox Pokémon from earlier leapt from the shadows of the forest, expertly catching in her mouth the bag, the straps of which she had just burnt through.
'The bag!' the younger boy exclaimed.
'Forget about the bag, just run, run!' Jared shouted, and they fled into the forest, the sounds of sticks and branches snapping in their haste slowly drifting away.
'Good work Banette, Zoë,' said the boy in his slightly monotone voice, recalling them back with two flashes of red light as the nine tailed fox deposited the bag at his feet.
Tirrielle had blanked on the practically the whole battle, only now starting to realise how little she actually knew about Pokémon, despite having grown up around many of them. She had always avoided making Clarity her Mareep battle, and therefore had steered clear of them altogether. The actions of the boy were confusing her just as much right now however.
'Why did you let them get away?' she asked in confusion. It seemed to her that both the Banette and the Pokémon called Zoë would have been able to easily stop them.
'That does not concern you,' said the boy without paying any attention to the girl behind him, instead examining the contents of the bag. Apparently finding nothing worth mentioning, (Although Tirrielle highly doubted he would have spoken even if the bag contained diamonds), the boy reached into his pockets once more and released another new Pokémon. This species at least Tirrielle recognised, the yellow spiky haired fur identifying the quadruped as a Jolteon. Like Zoë, the Jolteon glanced in surprise at Tirrielle before turning to look questioningly at its master, although she could have sworn that the Jolteon was smiling mockingly.
The boy glared at his Pokémon, all but confirming it, before muttering a set of instructions to the Jolteon, who nodded now looking serious before leaving the clearing at a brisk walk, heading off after the two kids without much of a hurry.
'What did you tell it to do?' Tirrielle asked out of faint curiosity.
'Doesn't concern you,' the boy replied promptly, anticipating the question. Tirrielle gave him a icy stare, but was too exhausted to argue back. All of her strength was currently invested in keeping her standing.
'We're spending the night here,' the boy added, pointing at the shelter. 'That is if I am to assume that you are still following me around?'
'If you're trying to get rid of me you're going to have to do a better job,' she said irritably, staggering over to the shelter seeking food and most importantly rest.
The boy grinned to himself and then immediately shook his head slightly, trying to refocus his thoughts. He needed his mind to stay on the mission at hand; he couldn't allow her to distract him.
Author Note: Oh look I added an Eon. x.x I know they're overused and appear in pretty much every Pokémon related fanfic, but I just couldn't resist, simply because like most people I'm quite fond of them. Don't worry though; I'll try to prevent them from making up 75% of the characters. ^^
Anyway, please review. Any feedback will be appreciated. =)