Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or associated characters, only characters of my own invention.
Chapter 5 – On the Tail
'Goodbye,' said the boy simply as he left the clearing, heading into the forest. He pushed his hair slightly irritably out of his eyes as he started following the route that his Jolteon had taken the night before. It needed to be cut.
The boy's thoughts turned to the girl that was undoubtedly just now starting to stir from her slumber. He wondered how long it would take her this morning to realise that he had left without her, smiling as he imagined what she was going to yell at him today. She was amusing when she was angry.
As he waited for the inevitable, the boy turned his attention to the path in front of him. Looking ahead he could see several deliberately broken branches, signs left by his Jolteon to guide the way-
'HEY!' came the anticipated yell, and the boy rolled his eyes. He would have to teach her a thing or two about stealth and secrecy sometime, a shout that loud would easily have awoken every living creature within a half-mile radius.
The boy ignored the shout, weaving his way through the trees as he followed the signs. She caught up with him several minutes later, and he turned to find her still in her night clothes and wearing an extremely angry expression on her face. God she was cute, the boy thought, and then turned quickly away from her, scolding himself mentally.
'What the hell is wrong with you?' Tirrielle was demanding. 'At least give me some warning before you're going to leave!' Her voice dropped slightly and she started muttering angry, more to herself than him. 'Even five minutes would be nice, enough time to eat some breakfast, get changed... ugh, and I need to relieve myself... this sucks so much...'
Deciding that commenting would only lead to further yelling, the boy continued on through the forest, leaving Tirrielle to continue her rant as she followed along behind.
They walked throughout the day following the signs from the Jolteon, the path through the forest becoming wider and more worn the further they travelled. Tirrielle soon made a game of trying to spot the signs before the boy did, whether they were an arrow carved into a tree by electricity, an arrow drawn in the sand or a number of rocks placed to form the same shape. Some of the signs were rather elaborate, which gave Tirrielle the impression that Jolteon hadn't been in much of a hurry and also had a bit of a tendency to show off.
To her surprise Tirrielle was feeling much better than she had done the day before. Her legs felt strong, she had managed to eat some food as they walked and therefore wasn't hungry, and somehow her blisters didn't seem to hurt as much as they had. All in all it was enough to lift her mood and despite the emotionally cold and distant boy beside her, Tirrielle found she was enjoying herself for the first time since she had left home.
'Arrow ahead!' she exclaimed, pointing at a tree.
'I already saw that one,' said the boy.
'Liar! You can't just claim that, it ruins the game.'
'Who said I was playing the game?'
'I did,' said the girl.
'What you decide on your own does not concern me.' The boy altered his path slightly, following the course of the arrow.
'You're just a bad loser,' Tirrielle declared, and silence fell between them again as the boy refused to reply.
'We're getting close,' he said several minutes later. No sooner had he spoke than Jolteon came bounding out of the bushes, startling Tirrielle. The boy knelt down and patted his Jolteon. 'Good work,' he said softly.
'What are we close to?' Tirrielle asked, expecting a "does not concern you" answer. To her surprise however the boy actually answered her question. Maybe she was making progress. He still wasn't looking at her though, which irked Tirrielle slightly.
'Up ahead is the major base of this region for the Darkness Organisation.'
'Darkness Organisation?' repeated Tirrielle. The name sounded familiar, but she wasn't sure where she had heard it before.
'Criminal group,' said the boy.
'So you actually are on a mission?' said Tirrielle, more to herself than anything, before realising the boy had already taken several paces away, Jolteon trotting obediently at his side.
'Wait!' demanded Tirrielle exasperatedly, hurrying to catch up.
As they neared the camp they circled to the right, Tirrielle catching glimpses through the trees of a collection of shelters like the one they had slept under the previous night along with a few patched and faded tents. She also noticed at least a dozen people sitting around fires idly. The sight was enough to terrify Tirrielle and her breath caught in her chest. Suddenly she felt very vulnerable. How the hell had she ended up stalking around what appeared to be the main camp of a criminal organisation? She hoped the boy knew what he was doing. Tirrielle had already seen that the boy was strong, but she was worried about if he was strong enough to take on ten people at once. Come to think of it, she had no idea at all why he was here in the first place. Of course the boy would tell her that it was none of her concern, she thought, rolling her eyes.
They continued to circle, Tirrielle wondering what the boy was looking for. At about the opposite side of the camp to where they had started, he stopped and beckoned Tirrielle closer.
'I want you to stay here,' he told her seriously, looking into her eyes for perhaps the first time. Tirrielle blinked as his deep blue eyes met hers, but the boy didn't seem to require an answer, turning to stroll boldly into the campsite. She scrambled to find a better position, peering through a gap in the trees as she watched the boy wait to be noticed.
'Who're you?' she heard somebody snarl in his direction and watched as people stood up all over the camp, also appearing from inside tents.
'My identity does not concern you,' said the boy emotionlessly.
'Kieran... So nice to see you again...'
So Kieran was his name... Tirrielle smiled in triumph, watching as a boy looking around the same age as Kieran entered her view. The new boy had shorter hair than Kieran, slightly larger than average ears and was about the same height.
'Do I know you? What's your name?' Kieran asked coldly.
'Marcus. Semi-finals of the Under 20's Championship ring a bell?' said the boy cockily.
Kieran narrowed his eyes. 'You're working for them? Such a shame, you had potential...'
Marcus laughed coldly. 'My potential is so much higher now than it ever would have been had I not joined. I've seen the light, so to speak.' He chuckled, appreciating his own joke.
'Such as shame for you then that it all ends here...'
Marcus laughed again, and many of the others around him joined in. 'Well this should be entertaining... I'm much, much stronger than when we fought last, and yet you expect to defeat me and everyone else present in this camp all by yourself?' Marcus sneered.
Tirrielle tensed worriedly. It seemed an impossible task. Kieran however was unfazed. His Jolteon stood calmly by his side, reflecting his mood.
Marcus sneered again at his lack of response, producing a Pokeball from his faded jeans and flicking it onto the ground. A large purple dinosaur looking Pokemon burst forth, with a long tail, spines on its back, a dangerous looking horn on its head and ears that bore a bizarre resemblance to its trainer.
Kieran stepped back several paces to increase the distance between the dinosaur and his face, as the people around Marcus all released Pokémon in many different shapes and sizes, hardly any of which were recognised by Tirrielle. Kieran copied their movements, Zoë and his Dragonite appearing on either side of Jolteon.
'Whenever you're ready then,' said Kieran.
As if on cue the purple dinosaur charged, throwing its head forwards and aiming the sizeable horn on it at Jolteon. The lightning eon dodged nimbly to the side, pivoting and striking with two well placed kicks in a row. A barrage of elemental attacks from the other Pokémon flew in from the side, but Zoë and Dragonite each fired a Flamethrower, negating the attacks.
'I'm not messing around. Nidoking, Earthquake,' ordered Marcus, grinning slightly manically.
Kieran's eyes widened slightly, but he remained calm, recalling Jolteon and Zoë in the blink of an eye. He then stepped onto Dragonite's back and they took to the sky, an instant before the Nidoking slammed its foot into the ground, creating a shock wave which threw Tirrielle off her feet at is passed her. She scrambled back to her knees and peered through the trees again to survey the destruction in the campsite. Tirrielle soon realised that she had got off lightly, near the epicentre of the blast there wasn't a single thing left standing, be it human, Pokémon, tent or shelter. Some of the tents had even collapsed onto the fires, and smoke started to rise as the material burnt through.
Marcus too had fallen to the ground, and he glared upwards towards Kieran as he pushed himself to his feet. Having successfully dodged the attack, Dragonite dropped back to the ground, allowing Kieran to step lightly from its back.
'Thanks for that,' he said unsmilingly, while Marcus glared back. 'Blizzard.'
As Dragonite concentrated its powers, a chill wind rushed passed Tirrielle, making her shiver. The wind swirled around Dragonite, before being thrown forth in a flurry of ice and snow which crashed into the Nidoking, turning it from purple to blue.
'Slam,' said Kieran, and Dragonite followed up its earlier attack, hitting Nidoking across the side of its head with its tail and knocking it out.
Marcus recalled Nidoking, but his face held a smirk that seemed out of place for the situation. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye Tirrielle saw a black and yellow striped winged Pokémon that looked like a bee flying towards Kieran from behind, and recognised it as a Beedrill.
'You're too complacent and arrogant Kieran. And now it's going to cost you...'
'Look out!' Tirrielle yelled desperately, but the Beedrill was closing in and she knew he would never react in time to avoid its oversized stingers...
Author Note: Yay for cliff hangers. And yay for giving protagonists actual names. Makes it so much easier to write. =)