AN: If you were starting to get annoyed that it has been five chapters and there's no mention of the silver fang yet... the wait is over! I introduce it in this chapter.
I woke up on the ground again. This time, though, Arice was still in the room; she was sleeping in the bed.
I opened the blinds of the window and noted that it was still early dawn; there was minimal light. I usually never woke up so early. I must not have been that tired.
After I went through my morning routine, I sat down on one of the wooden chairs and tried to think of what I wanted to do. I didn't want to wake Arice up, as we had gone to bed pretty late last night; the other three in my group had spent a lot of time teaching me how to play various card games, while all four of our starters had played together.
While I was thinking, fidgeting with my Beast Ball, I realized I could watch TV on mute. I looked for the remote, and remembered that Tyson's Gastly had flushed it down the toilet the night before. Giving up on finding entertainment, I went back to sleep on the couch.
Reek watched from outside a pokemon center room on the second floor. He was on the roof, leaning down to peek through the tiny slit at the top of the window that the blinds didn't cover.
He had found the boy who had the Poipole. As he was leaning down, he nearly fell of the roof. He yelped loudly and managed to maintain his grip. This seemed to wake up the boy. Reek decided he would follow the boy and pickpocket the Poipole. After all, the boy could've been a powerful trainer, so a straight up fight may not turn in Reek's favor.
I guess I'll wait on the roof of this building until he leaves. I can steal the Beast Ball then.
It was a few hours after I went to sleep during early dawn that our group was ready to set out. After we had eaten breakfast (which was thankfully free for pokemon trainers) and gathering our things, we all left the building together. I felt a little tingling feeling in the back of my neck, as if we were being watched, but I couldn't see anyone. At least if it was a bandit or something, us four trainers travelling together wouldn't have been an easy target.
"Onwards to Petalburg City!" Arice yelled, and we all released our pokemon as we reached the outskirts of Oldale Town. A Poipole, a Gastly, a Mudkip, and an Abra.
We entered the route, and I noticed that on either side of the path laid out, there was grass growing up to our shoulders.
"There are some interesting pokemon here. Maybe we could try catching our second pokemon..." Tyson said, cracking his knuckles.
"Aw, it's so hot!" I complained, wishing I had bought a hat.
"It's fine! I heard there are ponds here, so maybe you could take a swim!" Arice chirped.
"The ponds won't be clean, Arice," Kyra noted. "Anyways, we should get going."
We all walked down the path, noting the various wild pokemon that walked by. All of them ran off when they saw us; I guess our numbers were too intimidating.
"Hey! You people!" A girl yelled. The four of us turned around to see a girl around our age, with blonde hair tied in a ponytail with a pink ribbon.
"Can one of you tell me which way it is to the Buzzing Pond?"
"What's that?" I wondered aloud.
"It must be one of the ponds in this area. I don't actually know it myself, though," Kyra whispered to me.
Apparently none of us four knew what it was, and we told her so.
"You people are all dumb!" The girl said, before skipping off towards Oldale Town.
"To be honest, I thought she might have wanted to battle with us," I said.
Tyson laughed. "She didn't seem like a trainer. Too bratty, I guess."
We decided to continue moving on, but there was a problem; Kyra was missing.
"Hello? Anyone here?" Arice called, cupping her hands to her mouth.
For the first few seconds, we weren't that scared, thinking she might've ran after a wild pokemon, but then as seconds turned into minutes, we realized she might not have been coming back from wherever she went.
"Did she run off after that kid?" I asked.
Tyson shook his head. "She wouldn't do something like that."
I nodded, then I noticed Arice was also missing. "Hey Tyson... is this a prank?"
He quickly realized it was just the two of us, and paled. "Kyra would never agree to do a prank. Is Arceus erasing their existence because they are too weird?" Tyson said.
I raised an eyebrow, realized he was starting to go slightly insane. I felt a sudden chill, and remembered the feeling from before that someone was watching us.
I was about to tell Tyson about that feeling before I noticed he was also missing. I gasped, and turned around in all directions. It was just me and my Poipole now, which I had returned a little while before when I had realized no wild pokemon was going to suddenly attack us.
"Now what?" I muttered.
"You really only have one pokemon? How pitiful," A deep voice said. I scanned every direction around me, but all I saw was dried grass and the gravel path.
"What do you want?" I yelled nervously.
"That Poipole. Hand it over and you get your friends back."
"No!" I yelled, and I started running across the path. I didn't want to be captured by a maniac collector, or whoever that was!
While running, I turned around and saw a large, purple pokemon. It was something I hadn't seen before, but I knew what it was. A Naganadel. It has very similar colors to my Poipole, but it had the form of a kind of alien wasp, with spikes and stingers and what-not. It looked cool, but more importantly, it struck fear into the core of my being.
And it was fast. Very fast. I saw an old man in a white coat walk out from the tall grass, and smirk at me. I stopped running, and twisted to the side suddenly. The Naganadel chasing me zipped through the air where I had once been.
"SOMEONE HELP!" I yelled to the air. There didn't seem to be any trainers nearby. The only one we had seen was that Buzzing Pond girl, but she had gone in the opposite direction.
The Naganadel repositioned itself, and released a ball of purple goop from its mouth, headed towards me. It was sludge bomb. I had accepted my end. Even if I could live by giving away my starter, I would never be happy again.
"Sandslash! Rock Throw!" A female voice yelled. I saw a large rock collide with the Sludge Bomb in mid air, corroding the rock and spilling the sludge, but it was directly below the collision; not on me.
I looked around to spot my savior. It was the same girl with the pink ribbon, who now had six fully evolved pokemon out and around her, facing off against that old man in the white coat and his Naganadel. I had realized it was an alien who was attacking us, but I wasn't sure why he was interested in taking my Poipole. They had given it to me willingly, after all.
I noticed a Gallade running towards me, and it touched my forehead. Immediately, my surroundings changed. I was back at an entrance of the route to Petalburg City, in the outskirts of Oldale Town. It was a different entrance, however.
"Wha-"
'My queen has commanded me to teleport you away from the battle scene. I have done as she has told,' A voice said. I realized it was in my mind.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed, turning to the Gallade. "I've never had a psychic pokemon talk to me in my mind before!"
'Your friends are elsewhere in the route. My queen realized a Pheromosa has been transporting them to various locations in the same route.'
"Pheromosa? Oh yeah, the super fast Ultra Beast..."
The Gallade turned towards the pathway. 'I have read your mind and I now know everything about you. I deem you fit to keep that Poipole. I will now take my leave.'
"Wait!" I yelled, but the Gallade teleported away a second later. I looked around me, confused. I still had my Beast Ball and my backpack, but I was separated from my group. And why was that girl so powerful? Maybe she was also an ace trainer who came to investigate the psychic shift. But she was interested in the Buzzing Pond, not Littleroot Town.
I ran my fingers through my hair an focused on what made more sense.I assumed the other members of my group were still going to try making their way to Petalburg City. I decided to do the same.
I released my Poipole, and explained the situation to him. He nodded, still without any expression.
"Well, I'm going to have to survive a week in an unforgiving road all by myself. This'll be fun!"
"Poi!" My Poipole said.
I laughed and rubbed his head. "Alone with my pokemon, I meant. Hey, do you want me to catch another pokemon here? I actually have a few empty pokeballs in my backpack."
"Poi!" My poipole said. Apparently he did have emotion, but his face never showed it.
"Well, let's get going then!" I ran into the pathway, with my Poipole following behind. It only took a minute before a wild pokemon jumped in front of me. A Zigzagoon.
"Poipole! Acid!" I yelled, and my Poipole zoomed into the Zigzagoon at point blank range and loosed orange acid that immediately fainted the wild pokemon.
"Wow! Nice job!" I praised, truly surprised that my Poipole could one hit KO a wild pokemon in these areas. Then again, near human settlements, the pokemon were weaker. It was in the true wilderness where the stronger ones resided.
We continued on the path for the next couple dozen minutes, defeating wild pokemon, picking random paths when we reached a fork in the road, and complaining about the heat.
Then, as a Surskit waddled across the road, and I told my starter to use Peck, I realized it was tiring. It had taken a few seconds before registering what I had said.
"We should take a break," I said after the Surskit had fainted. My starter shook its head.
"No, I don't want you to push yourself. Here, take this berry," I said, taking an Oran Berry out of my backpack. Oran Berries were berries that relieved a bit of fatigue from pokemon, and they weren't that expensive. They were a staple item for all kinds of trainers around the world.
My Poipole ate it and visibly perked up. "I'm happy you liked it," I said, and I looked up at the sun's general location. I estimated it was nearing noon. After that hearty breakfast we had in the morning, though, I wasn't feeling hungry.
"We can keep on going, I guess."
The two of us continued. I slowly started feeling like the wild pokemon weren't the main issue, but the heat and energy levels were. We did come across pokemon that my Poipole had a little bit of difficulty with, but none of them were able to land proper hits on my starter.
"Hey Poipole. There's no species here worth capturing. Maybe later on, we could find a rare species and capture it," I told my Poipole.
Finally a few hours after noon (a time I estimated), we took a break in a clearing. That way, if wild pokemon rushed out from the tall grass, my Poipole and I could detect them faster. I took out my lunch; bread. It was the hard kind of bread that was healthy and as appetizing as a Garbodor's rear end.
After suffering through my lunch, I got up and the two of us continued. This is actually pretty boring, I thought. I was feeling miserable, lonely, and hot. Completely unlike the magnificent adventures I had dreamt of as a kid.
"Poi!" My Poipole said, tugging at my sleeve. I looked to where it was pointing, and I saw a pond a few meters off of the path I was walking on. It was surrounded by reeds, and a few Surskit were walking around it.
"Well, isn't that interesting. Oh look, a sign!" I got closer, seeing a wooden post near the pond. It read 'Buzzing Pond'.
I laughed. The pond was only a few meters wide and long! Why would an ace trainer be interested in it! I decided to take a look, walking into the tall grass. I felt my legs itching, but I ignored it and walked to the edge of the pond.
"Masquerain!" A pokemon said. I looked up, and saw the evolved form of Surskit; Masquerain. A fully evolved pokemon.
"Poipole! Focus on Peck!" I yelled, and I ran back to the path. I watched my Poipole battling the Masquerain, and I felt cold sweat forming. Kyra had said evolved forms of pokemon were extremely rare in a route like this! Well, considering my luck, I should've expected to see one.
The Masquerain sent a Gust flying at my Poipole, which blew him into the pond. The Masquerain then did a little dance in the air, and high above, dark clouds started forming, and it was only a few seconds before it started raining.
I recognized it as a weather changing move. At least the sun wasn't beating down on me anymore. But more importantly, I had to get us out of there. I frantically thought of my next course of action.
My Poipole thankfully got out of the pond. "Acid! Keep distance!" I yelled. My Poipole complied, floating around the air at erratic angles and using Acid. The opponent Masquerain was too powerful, however, flying through the air at breakneck speeds. I didn't even consider trying to catch it, or defeat it. Escape really was our only option. We wouldn't be saved by a super powerful trainer twice in one day, after all.
"Poipole! Let's hide in the grasses!" I yelled. My Poipole looked at me for a second before doing so; it went down into the grass at the same time I did. I was lying down on the ground. It was muddy before of the rain, but I didn't care.
"Masquerain!" The Masquerain made a whoosh noise, and right next to me, the grass was chopped into fine pieces, and the topsoil was overturned. Air Cutter.
"Poipole! Hide in the pond! I'll run away as a decoy!" I yelled. I got up and ran on the path, not waiting to see if Poipole listened to me.
As I ran, I didn't have to look back to know the Masquerain was following me. It was buzzing behind me. I knew it would catch up to me. Turns out my diversion idea was crappy. Then the buzzing grew louder, so loud, it almost reached the decibel level of one of Ray's tantrums.
I fell to the ground, clutching my ears, and groaning in pain. The buzzing suddenly stopped, and I exhaled loudly. My head hurt - a lot. I turned around and saw my Poipole fighting the Masquerain, using Peck. A head-on fight.
"Poipole no! You'll faint!" I yelled, but my Poipole didn't listen. Hadn't I told him to hide?
I crawled across the ground, returning back to the pond, and not caring one bit how dirty I was, I fell into the pond. The Surskit from before had fled a long time ago, so I was alone with the dirt and water. Only my head was above the surface, watching my Poipole get beaten up by the Masquerain. The decisive move was an Air Cutter, which hit my Poipole and fainted it.
I felt a pain in my chest, but I also felt a pain in my foot. I picked up a silver-colored object from the bottom of the pond; I had stepped on it. It looked like a curved fang of sorts. I looked at the Masquerain that was now flying towards me. I decided that the fang would be my weapon. The Masquerain seemed to be aware of the fact that pokemon moves didn't affect humans, and thus was apparently going to try to bite me to death.
As it came closer, I stabbed it with the fang, but missed. The Masquerain managed to tear off a tiny bit of flesh off my arms and legs before I stabbed it through its head. Hot blood spurted out onto my face. I ignored the blood and continued stabbing the pokemon. I knew it would just faint; after all, pokemon didn't die. They just fainted, and when revived from it, their injuries were erased.
After stabbing it several times, I was confused. Blood was still pouring out of it, even though it had already stopped moving. That wasn't supposed to happen.
It was dead. I realized so a few seconds later. I remembered stabbing Wurmple with sticks back when I was younger. They would stop bleeding quickly, as fainted pokemon entered some sort of stasis. This case was different. I looked at the fang I was holding, and threw up. Whatever that fang was, it shouldn't have existed.
Chapter 6 MC/age/pokemon changes:
Reek - found out to have a Pheromosa