Chapter 5
Tasha's POV:
The teenaged trainer struggled through some thick undergrowth, muttering to herself. She could barely see in the dark.
"Mew could've picked any arena. ANY. Why did it have to be a jungle?" she complained to nobody in particular.
"Hey, look on the bright side. It could have been the inside of an unstable volcano!" a cheerful voice broke in. Tasha leapt a foot into the air and looked around wildly.
"Show yourself!" she ordered sharply. There was a crackling nearby, and a trainer that looked older than her stepped out of a bush. Tasha straightened up and held out her Pokeball menacingly towards her.
"Relax, relax! I don't want to fight! Let's just be friends!" the other trainer urged. Tasha's fawn brown eyes were narrowed.
"What's your name?" she put the Pokeball back onto her belt, but continued to glare at the opposer.
"Alina. And you?" the girl smiled. Her eyes were more of an orangish brown, and she had light brown hair that fell almost down to her waist. Tasha had never taken a liking to long hair... it took forever to brush and was difficult to put up. That's why she cut it short and kept it in bouncy ponytails. But anyhow, Alina seemed friendly enough. Her suspicion melted away.
"Tasha. Nice to meet you... you're the first trainer I've seen," she wavered upon realizing how tall Alina was. Almost six foot? She felt small and insignificant.
"Same here. You look familiar. Do I know you?" she asked. Tasha shrugged one shoulder.
"I look like a lot of people," she admitted. Alina laughed.
"Guess it's just a weird feeling. I've been getting a lot of them lately..." she sighed.
"Agreed. Should we make camp? It's probably around midnight, anyways," Tasha gazed around. Nothing but trees in every direction.
"Sure! Is your starter a fire-type? A fire would be great. I'm cold as heck!" Alina asked hopefully.
"It's not a fire-type, but it knows a fire-type move. Come on, let's go find a good clearing,"
"A clearing? Where do you expect to find a clearing in a jungle?" the taller trainer frowned.
"If we don't find one, then my starter will make-"
Suddenly, there was a bloodcurdling scream of pain. No Pokemon could make such a sound. Both of the teammates jerked in horror, their blood turning to ice.
"Do you think...?" Alina swallowed hard.
"I guess so. Should we go make sure?" Tasha shook her head with pity. She would never want to take a life, human or Pokemon. But apparently, it was required in this arena. The older trainer nodded silently in agreement.
The two of them crunched through trees, completely tense. Whatever had attacked this other trainer would still be nearby, most likely. Soon, they saw the piteous, limp figure of a girl on the cold ground. Her eyes were frozen wide, and she was laying on her back. Alina was first to walk over, and Tasha reluctantly followed. The trainer gently placed two fingers on her neck and sighed softly.
"She's still got a heartbeat, poor thing," Alina murmured. Tasha smiled eagerly.
"She's alive? Good! We can help her!" the younger trainer urged.
"Far too gone already. Look at this."
"Oh..." the smile dropped quickly.
The girl had a curious wound in the left side of her temple, bleeding slightly. It wasn't the blood that mattered, however. The mark looked deep enough to jab into her brain. It didn't look like something a Pokemon could cause, either.
"A knife?" Alina thought out loud.
"It looks like it. But... I thought this was just Pokemon battles!" Tasha's eyes were wide in terror now.
"Not anymore. Looks like people are resorting to attacking themselves. Perhaps this person's starter was not very strong." Alina shrugged.
"Why would Mew even let them KEEP a knife?" again, Tasha's anger was rising at the sadistic legendary. Alina stood suddenly.
"I have the strangest feeling that we're being watched. We should go."
Tasha gazed at the shallowly breathing girl. "She's trying to say something, Alina!"
"Yuki," it was a soft sound, so ridiculously soft that it just sounded like a broken cadence of breathing. There was a twitch of the girl's hand, and she unearthed a clod of dirt. Beneath it was a Pokeball.
"Is Yuki your starter?" Tasha was filled with sorrow for the poor little girl. What had she done wrong, to be thrown into an arena where mercy wasn't present?
"Y-yes. I'm-M-Marie. Take c-care of..." she fell limp, the Pokeball falling from her pale hand and rolling to bump against Tasha's knee. She picked it up as gently as a Pokemon's egg.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Marie..." there was a noise like breaking glass, and both the Pokeball and the girl burst into fragments before disappearing. Tasha sat there on her knees silently.
"Tasha! We need to go, NOW!" Alina said sharply from about ten feet off. She was ready to climb a tree faster than a Frogadier if needed, hand firmly wrapped around a low branch. Any pity she had for the girl, Marie, was gone now. Tasha reluctantly stood up. Why was she so tense? Certainly the ruthless murderer was gone now.
"Only an Arceus-forsaken weakling would target somebody so young. They wouldn't come after us," Tasha thought bitterly.
"Let's go!" Alina repeated.
"Alright, alright! I'm- OW!"
A greenish arrow with light brown feathers decorating the opposite end flew from the top of the tree Marie had been attacked in. It was covered in a glowing purple liquid. It sank deep into Tasha's shoulder, almost to the feathered tip. She took a good look at and winced in pain. It was only a small arrow, though. It hadn't done much. Alina was long gone now, for she had shot up into a tree.
She reached slowly to pull it out, her thoughts suddenly muddled. Any sense of urgency to run was gone now. Suddenly, a hailstorm of more arrows dropped from above. Tasha howled as more of them plunged into her. She instinctively rolled into a ball, hands covering her neck and head, and waited for the storm of weaponry to pass. Sharp needles sliced into her, further confusing her. What was happening? Thoughts kept slipping away before she could quite grasp them.
When she looked up again, nobody was in the tree. But that didn't matter much, because she couldn't see anything, really. The world was bright purple, with faint white outlines of trees and grass. She stood, made a strange choking noise, and fell backwards to the ground, her eyes frozen wide like Marie's. She couldn't move! She couldn't move! She saw a small, waifish figure drop to the ground, holding a dagger that glinted in the moonlight in her hands.
"That went easier than expected," said the figure.
That was the last thing Tasha heard before the knife plunged deep into her temple.
A/N: HOLY MOTHER OF ARCEUS I KILLED MY OWN OC! Wow. I was planning on having Alina save her, but this turned into something waaaay worse. It's a good thing this is an AU from my other story, or Tasha would be dead in both stories xD
Can any of you guess who the murderer might be? Hint, hint, one of the OC submissions in the comments says that "they carry a knife."
HEHEHEHEHE.
Anyways, enjoy this chapter!