Chapter 3: Introductions

"/That is very noble of you human. Let us see if your words have any substance.\"

King Hamee rushed toward Kind, preparing a X-Scissor aimed right at the human's throat. At the very last second, the crossed blades stopped their advance. Kind didn't even flinch, staring King Hamee in the eye throughout the ordeal. The blades press harder on the giving flesh, until they each drew a single drop of blood. After a moment, King Hamee lowered his arms. Kind was careful to hide his sigh of relief.

"/Son.\"

A young Scyther stepped forward. He dropped to one knee and held his blades behind his back before speaking to his superior. "/Yes, King Father.\"

"/You will travel with this human as his Pokémon.\"

Although he had so many thoughts buzzing through his brain that he was feeling dizzy, his only outward reaction was to respectfully say, "/Yes, King Father.\" Without another word, the juvenile walked toward the human, who tensed at the Pokémon's approach. Kind was completely surprised when his 'attacker' bowed before him. After contemplating for a minute, Kind unhooked a Pokéball from his belt and pressed it against the Scyther's forehead. A red light enveloped and then absorbed the Pokémon. Kind stood still, still shocked by what just happened. He was shaken out of this state when he heard a rustling behind him.

The injured Rattata was crawling away. Kind took out some Pokémon food and offered it to her. The Rattata dug into the food as soon as Kind moved it within her reach. "If you want, I can catch you. You will not be a part of my team. Instead, you will live at a laboratory that will study you. There will always be a warm bed and good food, and no predator will threaten you." The Rattata looked up at the human and nodded eagerly until the Pokéball was pressed against her side.

Kind stood up and turned to the swarm and its leader. "Thank you for the benevolent mercy of sparing this Rattata." Kind said while he bowed in the same manner that the other Scyther, or rather his Scyther, bowed earlier.

King Hamee returned a more conservative bow, bending only at the waist. He replied, "/Thank you for the unfaltering strength of training my child.\"

"…and then I walked back here and finished packing." Nory had attentively listened to the entire story. If anyone else was telling it, he would not believe a word; but Kind had always been truthful. He actually reads the contract you sign whenever you check into a Pokémon Center because he, 'Wanted to make sure nothing I say is true is actually false.'

"They never even touched you?"

"Apart from these two marks on my neck, never."

"But those cuts, and your torn cloths…"

"From when I was running through the forest."

"Then what happen to your nose."

Kind turned his head to the side and deadpanned, "I think that I broke it."

"But how! Did one of the Scyther attack you once you were away from the rest of the swarm? Was it something else?"

"Events happened." Even though Kind was clearly trying to avoid answering the question, Nory would have none of that. He knew that raising the stakes a little would be all it takes to crack Kind.

"Maybe we should alert Officer Jenny that some Pokémon out here broke your face?"

"No, no. That is not necessary." Kind rubbed his neck and kept staring to the side. "You remember the part where the swarm's leader and I were acting really respectful to each other? Right at the end?" Nory nodded. "Well, after that I turned to walk away and, uhh… I kind of walked into a tree."

"WHAT! You stared down a whole swarm of angry Scyther, only to get your clocked cleaned by a tree?" Nory burst into laughter so loud that Kind could not stop himself from chuckling along.

Once they calmed down, Kind finished his story by adding, "I am pretty sure that the Scyther leader facepalmed." A whole new round of laughter started up and did not end for quite a while.

imgur.*/PQuzalX [replace the * with 'com']

Nory was teary eyed and coming down from his laughing fit when he remembered his original goal. "Oh! I finally caught a pokemon that can beat your Larvitar and it's silly Ground typing! Go Barboach!" Nory let his new catch out of his ball.

"/...help...\" it gasped.

"What's wro- OH GOSH WATER FISH RIGHT!" Nory hastily returned the pokemon to the comfort of simulated lake with a look that made Kind chuckle as he was trying to treat his nose. "A WATER-GROUND TYPE! So Chol takes quadruple damage from it's water moves and Quilava's fire moves only deal a fourth damage!" Nory was rather proud to have memorized quite a bit of type effectivenesses. He knew with that and some training (and a suitable environment) he could take on that dreaded type that made his previous team so fearful.

"Oh hey, I just realized that Amp can even take care of your new Flying type! While I was fishing, I also was thinking of some names for my Mareep and came up with Amp. How do you feel about it Amp?"

"/You won't stop using that name from now on no matter what I say, will you?\"

Nory turned to Kind and asked, "Wanna brainstorm some nicknames for the new catches?"

"Maybe later. Right now, let's just get going. I want to reach the Pokemon Center today because of, you know." Kind gestured toward his broken nose.

"Wait wait wait wait. You can't tell me you caught a Scyther and then NOT show it to me! That would be just cruel."

"Fair enough." Kind threw a Pokéball up into the air and yelled, "Scyther, come out!" After a flash of light, a proud Scyther stood before an inquisitive Nory.

"Cool, look at its large blades. They're like swords!"

"/King Master, is this one of your servants?\"

"/Hey!\" interjected Amp. "/Nory is no one's servant! If anything, Kind is the servant.\"

The Scyther turned toward the smaller Pokemon with a truly intimidating stare. In a voice so even and flat that it was almost monotone, he replied, "/You should watch your mouth. Those that tell lies tend to suffer the most.\"

Amp put on a brave face, but was trembling on the inside. Somehow this creepy, calm voice scared Amp more than if he flew off the handle. "/Well, at least Nory knows how to dodge trees!\"

"Look, our Pokemon are making friends," Kind happily remarked.

"Err, making friends. Yeah... That's what they are doing." Fortunately, the stand-off was broken when the group started walking toward the Pokemon Center. The two Pokémon decided to stay on opposite sides of their trainers for the whole journey. They arrived at the Center at about 7:00 PM. "Thank goodness we're here. Another hour and we would have been caught in the dark. How's your nose doing by the way?"

"On one hand, the bleeding has stopped; on the other, the swelling have become worse." After walking through the door, the human duo headed to the counter while the two Pokémon sat down in the lobby. "Hello Nurse Joy. Can-"

"Dear me, we have to get you treated right away! Chansey!" Kind barely had enough time to realize what was happening before Norse Joy and Chansey started dragging Kind toward a back room.

"I'll see you in the cafe," Nory called before Kind was out of earshot.

Written by Kindoflame of FanFiction and NgamerS of AO3