Alpha's note:
Firstly welcome back. So now I'm going to be starting a new thing, perspective changes. I didn't have chapter one in first person because I started writing it as a 3rd person to get a description of Kyle and everyone else without it being set in Kyle's mind. Think of it as a biased opinion, for the future. Each time perspective changes It will be noted before the actual change.
Chapter 2
Kyle's perspective:
I woke up to the sun shining through the leaves above my head. Glancing around me I saw Sara cuddling with Bulbasuar. I smiled and sat up. Charmander next to me stirred slightly before settling back down into his sleep. Standing up I noticed that Toru had taken off already. Probably to train Squirtle some more. Walking around I found a nice place to start my daily routine. By the time I had finished I was extremely sweaty and decided to wash off in the nearby stream. I was washing up when I heard my pyromaniac of a pokemon calling for me.
"Over here Pyro!" I called out. My charmander hobbled over to the stream and sat down. "Sorry for the scare buddy. I was just cleaning up."
"Char Charmander." Pyro waved his hand in dismissal.
"Is Sara wake yet?" Pyro nodded to answer my question. "Well I better hurry up then."
I quickly finished cleaning myself before putting on the pants I was going to wear today. Walking back over to the campsite I walked past the line of trees to the opening. I looked up to see Sara with her back to me. She didn't notice I was there, thankfully. Her pale skin had a lovely glow in the sunlight as she pulled up her shorts. Her shirt laid on top of her bag in front of her. I quickly hid behind a tree and slowed my breathing. For some reason it got fast pretty quick, probably for fear of embarrassment. Pyro was walking up and looked at me confused.
I pulled myself together before calling out. "Sara, are you awake yet?"
"Oh hey Kyle, what were you doing?" Sara replied. I took that as a sign she was finished changing and stepped out of the treeline.
"Just my morning routine." I told her. Apparently I must have still been blushing because Sara took notice.
"Are you okay? You look a little red." She put a hand to my forehead which made me blush even harder.
"You do feel kind of warm. Are you sick?"
"No I'm fine. It must just be what I did."
"What is your morning routine?"
"Forget to breathe maybe." I fibbed. "It happens a lot really. If you don't breath you turn red pretty fast, especially during PT."
"PT? You work out every morning?" Sara asked.
"Yeah. My dad started me out before he, well you know."
"Yeah." Sara spoke softly. "Sorry."
"It's fine. don't worry about it." I slung my bag over my shoulder before looking around. "Are we missing anything? Besides Toru?"
"I don't think so." Sara put on her own bag.
"After you then madam." I said with an exaggerated swing of my arm.
"You're such a gentleman." Sara let out a lovely laugh.
As we walked through the forest we talked and trained our Pokemon. Charmander was making quick work of all the bug type Pokemon we met. Usually Wurple and Caterpie with a few of their evolutions here and there. We stopped for food around noon. While we were eating a Caterpie wormed its way over and was acting aggressive.
"Kyle you can have it." Sara's voice was muffled by the sandwich she was eating.
"Pyro, let's try finishing it off without fire." I challenged. I knew my pokemon could do it. Pyro jumped out in front of it and stood ready for a fight. Before Pyro could do anything though the bushes shook wildly before a small yellow ball flew out from the bushes and ran into the Caterpie. The Caterpie was completely knocked away leaving the yellow ball of fur in its place.
Pyro looked at it dumbfounded while it shook itself. The yellow furball stood on its legs. It was a Pikachu with a black heart on it's tail. The female Pikachu managed to lookup and see Pyro standing there. It looked like it had been through alot. Twigs stuck out of it's fur and bruising could be seen in patches of skin. Some of the poor things fur must have been ripped off. A dirty red collar could be seen around it's neck.
"Where did you go Pikachu? I thought you wanted to have fun?" A young voice called out. A rustle could be heard from behind a tree.
"There you are!" The pikachu got scared and tried to run but tripped and fell on her face. Pyro jumped in front of the Pikachu ready to defend it.
"Wow a Charmander! I tell you what Pikachu. You help me catch this Charmander and we can stop "Playing", how does that sound?" The kid said.
"How about you go stick that Pokeball where the sun don't shine." I said stepping into the view of the kid. He was just a normal kid holding a Pokeball.
"Hey I saw it first! It's mine!" The kid shouted at me.
"Wrong. It's mine. It's my Pokemon. Besides, that Pikachu couldn't do anything but hurt itself right now." I spoke in a calm voice as I took a few steps forward. The kid confidently stood his ground and shoved the Pokeball in my face.
"I don't care. It's useless anyways. It's only bread for contests anyways. It can't fight so it's pointless to have." Something in me just, snapped. I picked the kid up by the shirt and forcefully placed him against a tree.
"You know what I love about the forest kid? Nobody can hear you scream. So unless you want to die here then you're going to..." Sara grabbed my shoulder before I could do something I would regret later.
"Kyle." She said calmly. "Drop him." I let my grip on the kids shirt loosen and he fell to the ground.
"That's right. You better let me go or else." The kid yelled with tears in his eyes.
"Drop that pokeball now." Sara growled. The way she looked at the kid was enough to scare the boogieman. The kid slowly dropped the pokeball before running off into the woods crying. Sara picked it up while I ran over to the small Pikachu and pulled my bag open. Carefully scooping the small thing into my arms I started to use the medicine I brought with me and patched up what needed to be patched.
"It's okay girl. It's all okay now. I'm not going to hurt you." I soothed. The small mouse Pokemon slowly relaxed. I felt the collar bump against my arm so I looked at the tag.
"Tesla. That's a beautiful name. Is that yours?" I asked.
"Pika." Tesla answered weakly.
"My name is Kyle. That's my friend Sara and my partner Pyro. We are going to take care of you, Okay?" I explained caringly. "Go ahead and rest. I've got you." Tesla fell asleep in my arms. Carefully I packed up my stuff and slid the strap on my shoulder.
"Let's get out of here before that kid gets his parents and comes back." I told Sara. Sara nodded and we walked off. Sara took care of all the Pokemon we ran into until we stopped for the night. Tesla was still asleep in my arms. I leaned against a tree and let out a sigh.
"Man, that kid really ticked me off. Saying things like that, what is wrong with him." I said.
"The kid or your mom." Sara said hitting the nail on the head. Like usual.
"You know what I've told you. Ever sense my dad died she started the abuse." I recounted.
"I know. Is that why you snapped at the kid?" Sara asked. She slid down the tree next to me.
"Yes." I admitted. "It just. Something just snapped and I only realized what I did when you told me to put him down."
Sara handed me an opened energy drink, my form of a herbal tea. I thanked her before taking a sip. Pyro cautiously padded over to us. Apparently what had happened put him on edge.
"Sorry about that little guy." I started. "I just, well. Come here, I have a story to tell you." Pyro climbed onto my lap to listen. Sara hadn't really heard the full story herself but she did hear most of it.
"When I was a kid my mom left my dad for some reason, I still don't know. When I was ten my dad had started dating a new girl and married her. He took me out camping with Will his Arcanine. I loved camping with him. We always slept out under the stars leaning against Will. Staring up into the night sky we would picture what other worlds were. As a kid I always thought of worlds full of monsters or giant robots which my dad laughed at. During the day we did camping stuff; swimming, fishing, hiking, whatever.
"It was on one of these camping trips that I lost my dad. We were hiking when we stumbled across a man hurting some of the local Pokemon. My dad jumped in with Will to save them. The man released a Tentacruel before getting into a fight with my dad. I was helping the Pokemon get away when I heard my dad scream in pain. Looking back I saw that the man had put a knife into my dad stomach. Will was also distracted by my dad's scream and was hit by a poison attack.
"I screamed, I yelled, I cried but it didn't matter. The man simply pulled the knife out, returned his pokemon and left. Will crawled over to my dad. We helped him onto Will's back and walked back, trying to make it back before anything could happen. We made it close to the edge of town when Will collapsed. The poison reaching his heart. Will was dieing, my dad was too. I was crying for help, screaming for help but nobody heard me.
" 'Kyle,' my dad managed to cough out. 'Kyle, come here.' I grabbed his hand and held it tight. 'I'm right here dad. We are going to get you help.' I told him wiping the tears from my eyes. I looked at my dad and he smiled at me. 'You're such a tough guy. We both know they won't get here in time. Will is already gone, and I don't have much longer either. Listen Kyle. I need you to listen to your new mom. Do what she tells you to do, and remember...' "
I sniffled and wiped the tears from my eyes. My voice had long been cracking. "His last words were his favorite saying. 'Never let your fire die'. He died right after he said it. I sat down shaking him trying to get him to wake up, to get up, but he never did. The police and ambulance came too late. Apparently some managed to hear my wailing and called them. My stepmom ended up raising me for the next six years. I think she blamed me for what happened.
"She always was finding some way to hurt me. Manipulation, physical, mental, emotional. All were fair game. Eventually I turned sixteen. Man I wish I could have seen the look on her face when she found the way I left the house." I let out a laugh. "I never found out why she had a fear of pokemon though. It might have been to hurt me more or because she was genuinely afraid of them."
"Pika." Tesla had woken up to hear my story and was crying. I noticed that everyone was.
"Hey I'm the one supposed to be crying. Not all of you." I joked trying to lighten the mood. Sara let out a little laugh. Night had fallen already and the stars were shining through the leaves.
"Say which star do you think has trees colored pink?" I asked after a while.
"Probably the one next to the world filled with giant robots." Sara answered. I laughed.
"Yeah your probably right. Let's get some rest. We will get out of the forest tomorrow." I told her. After a while I heard Sara's breathing even out signalling she was asleep. I looked up at the night sky again.
"Never let your fire die." I whispered before falling asleep myself.
-WalkingAlpha-
I woke up to a Pikachu's cry followed by a sparking before a small explosion was heard.
"What happened?" I sat up quickly.
"Char Char Charmander." Pyro explained.
"Tesla destroyed her Pokeball. Okay I thought we were under attack." I admitted. "Hey Tesla, how are you feeling?"
"Pika Pika!" She cheered before running around to show she was feeling better.
"That's great." I smiled. Looking around I noticed that Sara wasn't here however her bag was.
"Where did Sara go?" Pyro shrugged his shoulders before saying that she did say she'll be back in a little. I thanked him for the information before starting the day with my normal routine. Sara came back as I was just finishing up.
"I wouldn't use the pond here to clean up." She told me. "It's pretty gross."
"Duly noted." I responded. "I'll just clean up in town when we get to town."
"Great idea. Shall we leave then?" Sara put on her pack then started to leave. I was right net to her with my bag. Tesla jumped onto my shoulder and watched the trees passing by. It was around lunch time before we finally made it to Pewter City.
"Man, I'm starving. Do you want to get some food?" I asked.
"Yes! I would love a nice Cheeseburger." Sara exclaimed. We stopped at an outdoor diner and got our seats. Sara got her cheeseburger while I ordered some boneless chicken wings. Tesla, Pyro, and Bulbasaur got there own food as well. in the middle of eating Tesla suddenly stopped eating and went rigged.I stopped eating.
"Something wrong?" I asked worriedly. Tesla stared in fear at the entrance of the diner. Looking I saw the kid from earlier with what seemed to be his dad. The kid seemed to be depressed. the kid must have felt us staring because he looked up and saw us.
"You! You stole my Pokemon!" The kid shouted. "Dad that's the man who hurt me to get Pikachu." A lot of things happened right there. Firstly, the dad came at me and Pyro pushed him back with a fire attack. Secondly, the kid tried grabbing Tesla which ended up with a chase around the table. And lastly...
"Enough!" An officer who was calmly enjoying his meal close by shouted. "Sit down or I will arrest you all!" Being the guy I was, I offered the dad the chair I was sitting in, sarcastically. Tesla ran behind me to hid from the kid. I picked her up in my arms.
"Calm down, he's not going to get you." I whispered to her soothingly. "I won't let him." That seemed to calm her down a little but she was still trembling.
"Now then, what is going on?" The officer demanded.
"He stole my Pikachu!" The kid shouted. The officer looked at me holding Tesla protectively and Pyro standing in front ready to attack anyone who came close by. Sara was sitting down trying to not bring attention to herself. She hated confrontations.
"Sir is that your Pikachu?" Officer Johnny, as his name tag said, questioned.
"No, Tesla is not mine." I told her. "Well not officially."
"Did you take Tesla from this child?" The officer motioned to the kid who was crying.
"As a matter of fact, I took this Pokemon away from a life threatening situation in the forest." I told her.
"So you didn't take Tesla from him."
"He was the life threatening situation." I said so matter of factly before telling the story of how I met Tesla. "I woke the next day to her destroying the Pokeball that kid had her in."
"So you're claiming that you saved this pokemon from an abusive host?" Officer Johnny asked.
"Yes, I am." I managed to say before the brat screamed.
"He's lying! He found me playing with it and beat me up to take it away from me!" He let out some tears to sell his story. "He took away my Pikachu from me! Your going to get it back for me right!"
"Maybe you should actually call it by the proper gender at the least." I snapped at the brat. "You don't even know what gender it is do you? Or what the collar around her neck says do you?" The brat stopped crying at my outburst before starting again with more force into his father's shirt.
"You!" The father said jabbing a finger at me. "You have the guts to steal from my kid then claim he was abusing it. That Pokemon was given him by his uncle for his birthday!"
"Officer, is it illegal to take a run away Pokemon with you?" I questioned.
"No." The officer said seeing the way out of the entire situation. "But you need a way to prove it ran away."
"Well an officer of the law saw it happen. Is that prof?"
"Yes it is."
I turned to the dad. "I will not make this Pokemon go with me if it doesn't want to. But I refuse to let it go back with you if it doesn't want to go back. So here is what we are going to do. I have a pokeball here that has not caught anything in it. Do you have an empty pokeball?"
"You're not taking it! It belongs to my son."
"Sir I am trying to find a way to peacefully solve this. I can't do that unless you help me. We are going to let this Pikachu decide her future. Would you force your son to leave your house if he didn't want to?" I could see that the father wanted to argue but he couldn't find a way to. Begrudgingly he pulled out a pokeball.
"Sara, could you help us out." Sara walked over to me. "Just take her and let her go when we put the Pokeballs down. Sir, we are going to put the Pokeballs down. Tesla is then going to get captured by the Pokeball of the person she wants to go with. Or she is going to run back into the forest if she doesn't want to go with anyone."
"How do I know it's not just going to be returned to the Pokeball you stole from me? It does look like the one I had." The kid tried to argue.
"Why are you so scared she's not going to pick you? Did you do something that would keep her from going to you?" I challenged.
"Son, let the pokemon decide." The father said.
"But dad! It's my Pokemon."
"Let it choose for itself." The kid realized he wasn't going to get his way and resorted to pouting instead.
"Sara, would you put Tesla down please." I said placing my pokeball down in front of me. Tesla didn't even give the father's pokeball a glance. She ran right up to mine and patted it with her hand looking up at me. I smiled at her. The ball shook three times before click could be heard.
"No! He just returned it!" The kid tried again to fight it.
"Listen here you little brat! Accept it, the Pokemon you were abusing is not going to be there any more. Besides, this is a specially made Pokeball given to me by Proffessor Oak for my birthday." I showed it to everyone around. The ball had turned into a yellow jewel.
"Wow, a Citrine." The officer said. The father looked at him weirdly. "Look, you have your hobbies and I have mine."
"Well Thank you Officer. I'm now in possession of a runaway Pokemon. It appears to not want to go back to it's original family. Am I free to go?" I asked.
"Yes, have a nice day." Officer Johnny.
"Thank you." I was about to turn to my food but I stopped and looked at the dad. "I am sorry about taking Tesla away from him however, she is not safe with him. Nor is any Pokemon. Please teach him that abuse is not okay. I don't want others to go through my life."
He looked at me before grabbing his whaling kid and leaving. I let Tesla out of her new Pokeball to finish her meal. When we were done we apologized to the waiter and left a excellent tip.
"So now what?" Sara asked.
"I'm thinking a shower, then maybe we could check out the pokemon gym." I answered.
"Sounds like a plan. I want to get the forest off of me anyways." Sara commented. The Pokemon Center was more than happy to give us rooms to stay in. I did plan on staying the night here. It was already midday and I would want to hit the gym first thing tomorrow. Too much has happened today anyways. The shower was nice and I even got to clean my Pokemon as well. Tesla loved the bath, Pyro however couldn't get in. I ended up using some weird scale cleaner for him.
"I wonder how furry Fire types get cleaned." I said to nobody in particular as Pyro was getting cleaned. Pyro simply shrugged his shoulders as I wiped his head off. After everyone was clean I walked to the entrance of the Pokecenter. Sara was already there waiting.
"You heading down to the Gym?" Sara asked me.
"Yeah, you about to do the same?" I answered.
"Yep."
The Gym was a Rock type Gym with a leader named Brock. Sara would be able to easily glide through the gym with Bulbasuar because she was a grass type. I on the other hand had two Pokemon that were weak to rock types. Well actually Tesla wasn't weak to Rock types at all, however I don't know of any rock type pokemon that isn't ground type as well. Tesla sadly will not be battling in this gym.
"Well Pyro, I guess it's up to you then. We just need to train you up some." I said.
"I'm just glad that this one wasn't closed like the last one." Sara commented.
"That was just messed up. How do you have a gym and not even open it for anyone?"
"I don't know. Eventually the league will get tired of him and tell him to either open or resign and hire a new Gym Leader."
"That is true." I glanced at the time. "So it isn't too late in the evening what do you want to do?"
"I'm thinking about going inside and challenging the gym leader real quick before finding something else to do."
"I think I might come inside and watch. It'll give me an idea of how to train Pyro."
"That is true." Sara said. "Well come on before I change my mind."
Sara walked into the Gym with her pokemon and I following. Inside was nearly dark. Small lights lit up a small boxes on either side of the gym. Sara stepped into one while a figure could be seen on in the other box. The room was lit up followed by a booming voice from the other side.
"Welcome Challenger!"