Responses to Reviews...
The Real Contestshipping Princess: Lol! I'm glad I got you so excited! :D
Twilarose: I don't know if you missed it, but in the sixth or seventh chapter, May said that she couldn't think of the absol as Drew whenever he was killing something, so she referred to him as Absol in those moments. Other than that, she would call him Drew. I also reviewed for your fanfic! I liked it! Will you be continuing it, or was it just a one-shot? If it's not a one-shot, I hope you update soon. :)
xDragonairx: Thanks! You'll find out soon!
Jace'sVampiress97: I know. I'm so mean to the both of them. :(
MelodicWaters: Lol, they will all be answered shortly!
Monochrome13: Hahahaha, you think? I think she's probably thinking "FML" ten times over. x)
Fprmr1: Don't worry! I hate cliffies, too, but I always leave my readers with one! If you're a hypocrite, then I am, too. ;D
animeartist123: Thanks! Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long!
splitheart1120: Let's see, shall we?
Pear-Shaped: Lol, this story is very confusing, I'll admit. All of your questions will be answered in the next two or three chapters. Six more to go! Woot woot! :D
chocolatehell: I understand completely. Mondays are the absolute worst. :\ Let's go Drew!
Pokemaster: HAHAH! Your review was so funny! You forgot your own questions. xD
LoveLoverGrl: :D
EeveeTransformed: Lol! Come now, I don't take that long to update, do I? ;D Wait, don't answer that, I do! Haha, sorry! And I saw the movie and I loved it! So good! It was as close to the book as I hoped it would be! :D Oh my god, my one friend said the Hunger Games was stupid without ever reading the books or watching the movie. I don't know if he was just teasing me or not, but he is now dead to me. ;D
Empress Empoleon: Right? Are you proud of me? :D You loved the cliffhanger? Lol! Everyone else hates it! And yes, it is an important fact! Hope I updated soon enough this time. Otherwise, we're going to have to find something else that will make me update faster. xD
Glaceon34: It's not over yet! There's still a lot more in store! Six more chapters to be precise, but believe me, six chapters can contain a lot. But what do you mean by prologue? It's kind of too late into the story now for a prologue, isn't it? :P
MapleRoses: How'd it go? I hope it went well! :)
Absol chapter 9
Everything happens by in a blur. One second, I'm staring into the human eyes of eight pokémon—an umbreon, an espeon, a leafeon, a liepard, a sandslash, a victreebel, a quilava, and a weavile. The next second, everything is thrown into action. Espeon is the first to lunge at me, its fangs bared, but Absol pins it down before it can get to me. I flinch automatically as the blood shoots out of it once Absol rips off one of its legs.
Sandslash and weavile, the only two bipedal pokémon in the group, are the next to come toward me. They charge at me from the left and right respectively, their claws extended and ready to dig into me. I'm frozen in place, entirely convinced that this is the going to be the end of my life. Absol is busy tearing up the espeon, who isn't fighting back. In fact, none of the pokémon are. They're all focusing on me, which is a comforting thought. I'd rather die knowing that he survived this than to live on knowing that he didn't.
But I'm not going to let death take me so easily. I'm going to at least attempt to keep myself alive. If I'm going to die, I'm going to at least die with dignity.
My eyes dart from side to side, gauging the distance between myself and the two approaching pokémon. They're both about the same distance apart from me—about seven yards away. With their quick feet, I decide that it should not take them long to get close enough to me—five seconds at most. I begin to count down from five in my head, closing my eyes to hear their footsteps better. Once I reach one, I throw my eyes open and snap my head to the right. Weavile is less than two yards away.
I duck to the ground and turn to slap a handful of dirt into Weavile's turquoise eyes. It cries out in anger—blinded temporarily—and begins to swipe wildly at nothing. After a couple of typhlotic swipes, its claws actually make contact with something—Sandslash's eyes. One, clean strike across and Sandslash is deprived of its sight forever. Absol is quick to take it out after hearing its roar of pain, and then the blinded weavile. The end of my life has just been delayed.
But then, something snares me around the ankle and I'm pulled off my feet, sending me slamming onto the ground. I look down to find that the victreebel is pulling me closer and closer to its mouth with its vine. Panicked, I begin to fumble with the vine, trying to pry apart its grip, but it won't budge. I'm dragged right through the legs of Quilava, who takes a snap at my head. It misses and tries to chase after me, but Absol takes it down before it can. Drips of its blood manages to splatter on my forehead.
A couple of snapped branches and jagged stones catch my eye as I'm dragged past them. I twist my body around to grab one—any will suffice at this moment. Most of them are just out of my reach. If I were given just another second, I may be able to get my fingers around one. But Victreebel isn't allowing me the luxury of time. With the distance between its mouth and I quickly drawing to a close, I have to act quickly.
I splay my fingers out on one hand and try to dig them into the ground. Its extremely difficult with the way that Victreebel is dragging me across the ground. The tips of my fingernails break off, drawing blood, and stinging pain runs down my arm from my fingers. But I keep trying. I keep clawing at the ground, trying to shove my fingers through the surface. It takes a while, and I'm almost at entrance of Victreebel's mouth, but soon enough, I manage to plant my fingers into the soil, momentarily stopping myself in my tracks.
Victreebel cries out in anger and tugs on me, trying to pry me away from the surface. I ignore its tugging and throw my body to the left to reach for one of the jagged rocks. Another tug on my ankle sends my body jerking to the other side, pulling me just far enough away so that I can't quite touch the rock I have my eyes on. The sound that escapes my mouth surprises me—I actually snarl at Victreebel as I yank my leg back. I stretch my torso to its limit as I make another attempt to grab the rock while Victreebel continues to pull my leg in the other direction. I feel as if my body is being torn into two. The pain is excruciating, but then...
"Yes!" I hiss under my breath as my fingers manage to wrap around the jagged stone. I grasp it tightly in my hand and yank my leg back, bringing my knee up to my chin, and drive the stone into the vine. Victreebel shrieks and its grip on my ankle tightens while it tries to pull my leg back. But I hold tight to my leg and stab the stone into the vine again, and then again repeatedly. Every stab I send into the vine makes the victreebel's shrieks grow louder. It claws at my ears, but I continue to pierce the vine with the sharp tip of the stone. Just when my fingers begin to slide out of the ground, the vine snaps and the yanking on my leg seizes.
My whole body trembles as I look at Victreebel's brown eyes. It drags its severed vine back as it stares at me, its glare filled with so much hatred that its eyes smolder. I bring myself to look away as I force myself up off the floor. Absol charges past me at the plant pokémon behind me just as I get back on my feet. I don't bother to take a look. Instead, I run in the opposite direction, right past the remains of the leafeon. The sight actually causes my heart to wrench in pain. I had wanted a leafeon before I evolved my eevee into a glaceon.
Glaceon...my poor baby. I miss my pokémon so much, it hurts. Every time I think of where it could be, tears sting my eyes. I shut my eyes to keep the ones that have filled my eyes now from spilling over. It could be anywhere right now—most likely the ocean—trapped forever in its PokéBall.
And then, something knocks into me from behind like a gigantic fist. I'm thrown forward from the impact, sending me smashing into a tree trunk. Pain rattles through my body like an earthquake and envelops me in its crushing bind. My breath is knocked out of me, rendering me incapable of a simple groan. My legs buckle from behind me, so I have to grab onto the bark to keep myself from collapsing to the ground. It takes me a moment to gather the strength I need to turn around.
A pair of hazel eyes captures my gaze when I do so. They belong to the umbreon, who must have been the one to push me into the tree. Its height is easily twice that of a regular umbreon. While they are usually only about three-foot tall, this one appears to be at least six. I can tell that it could easily tower over me if I were to stand right in front of it instead of five yards away.
It glowers at me, its lips pulling back from its teeth as it snarls. With every tiny step that its big paws take, it shifts more and more into a crouching position. I brace myself against the tree to spare a glance over its shoulder at Absol. He's glaring at Umbreon from where he's standing. The distance between us is far, but with his legs, he could easily cross it in a matter of seconds.
If only Liepard wasn't so intent on killing me. It distracts Absol when it leaps over his head, stretching its body to its limit to bound a longer distance. It almost succeeds in completing the jump, but Absol lifts his head just when it is in midair and snags it around the ankle with his mouth. Liepard lets out a yowl as it is flipped onto its back and Absol begins to dismantle it.
I bite my lip as I bring my eyes back to Umbreon to keep it from quivering. Absol's distracted by Liepard and can't come to my rescue now. Even if it only takes him a matter of seconds to rip off its legs, Umbreon only needs two seconds to rip off my head. By the time Absol gets to us, I'll already be dead. I see no way out.
The malicious glint in Umbreon's hazel eyes shifts to something different. Something more light-hearted, yet just as aggravating. Provocation. It's taunting me. This pokémon is actually taunting me before it kills me. Something really close to anger flares up inside of me at the realization. Now, I'm more determined than ever to stay alive. This pokémon will not make a meal out of me.
Everything happens in a matter of seconds.
One second, the umbreon takes a very small step forward. The next second, my sapphire eyes clash with its hazel ones. The third second, it shifts into a full-on crouch. The fourth second, it pounces.
I duck and slide across the ground right under Umbreon just as its teeth clamp around the tree where my head used to be. It growls viciously as it wrenches it teeth away, pulling the bark off of the tree in the process. I only spare it a quick glance over my shoulder as I get up and dash over to Absol.
Absol's eyes zero in on Umbreon, who is just beginning to charge at me. He snarls at the pokémon and launches himself forward. I break into a sprint, putting as much distance between Umbreon and myself as possible. It's gaining on me—I can feel it, but I'm not going to let it get me before Absol can get it. Just as Absol bounds over my head, I throw myself to the ground and brace myself for the yowl of pain. It comes a short second later, followed by a splay of blood that splatters all over my body.
My heart pounds in my chest while my blood pulses in my ear. My breaths become jagged and uneven as I pry my eyes away from Absol and Umbreon to take in my surroundings. Various body parts of the dead pokémon are littered all around me. The area is drenched in their blood, dripping from the trees to form puddles on the ground and flowing to create tiny streams in the cracks. Every fiber of my clothes are soaked, coloring them a bright crimson. The putrid stench of the blood and gore clogs the air, making me feel nauseous and sick. Whatever food I managed to get into my system these past two days threatens to come up my throat and out through my mouth.
This is the kind of scene where nightmares are born.
Something that Absol flung lands at my feet with a thud. I draw my trembling legs back so that I can get a better look at the object—its Umbreon's bushy tail. Because the umbreon was so big, its tail is about the size of a linoone. Blood is oozing from the wide end like milk would spill from a glass. I feel like throwing up again.
May?
I look up from the tail to meet a pair of green eyes. "Drew?" I breath shakily.
He nods, and then scans our surroundings.
The change of emotion in his eyes is instantaneous. After snapping out of the frenzy, his eyes showed bewilderment. Now, after taking in all of the blood and gore of the dead pokémon, his eyes show different emotions. Fear. Resentment. Disgust. And the one that stands out from the rest—remorse.
I did it again, didn't I? he asks, his telepathic voice enveloped in pain as he realizes what he has done again. He takes a step forward, only to have his paw land in a puddle of mud. He draws it back immediately. I just killed more pokémon, didn't I?
Words fail me. I can only nod solemnly.
I immediately regret doing so. His eyes instantly gloss over and something close to a strangled sob echoes in my mind. He's crying. Drew is crying. The remorse that he feels is actually making him shed tears. My heart feels like it has just been broken into a million pieces. I never thought I would live to see Drew cry. I didn't even know that he was capable of crying. This island has broken him in ways that I never thought he could be broken.
And it has broken me, too.
"Drew," I manage to choke out. Tears sting my own eyes as I get myself up off the ground to make my way over to him. "Please, don't cry. You didn't want to. That wasn't yo—"
Don't touch me! his telepathic voice snarls after I reach out with my hand to touch him. He glares at me with such an intense amount of anger for a moment—all of the remorse leaving at once—that my hand automatically recoils in shock. But after seeing the pain etched across my face, the remorse returns and his face crumbles again. When he speaks, even his voice sounds broken. I'm a monster, May. Don't touch me. I just killed all of those pokémon without any sign of remorse. How many more pokémon am I going to slaughter? Stay as far away from me as possible. Get off this island, and never come near me again. Otherwise, I don't know when I'll turn on you. I don't want you to be the next life that I take.
The tears that have flooded my eyes spill over as I listen to his words. Staring to his eyes, I now truly begin to understand what people mean when they say that a person's eyes are the window to their soul. I can see the remorse that haunts his soul. I can see the pain that he feels, and I feel it as well. Almost as if its a tangible object, his pain reaches out to me and grabs me in its iron grasp, gripping me so hard that I can barely breathe. And yet, I still feel as if the pain I feel is merely a fraction of the agony that he's suffering. I wish I knew a way to put him out of his misery.
"You won't hurt me," I tell him, my voice surprisingly calm and steady despite my mood. I hesitantly reach forward again to take his face into the palms of my hand. He visibly flinches at my touch, but doesn't make any move to get away from it. I am somewhat comforted by this fact. "I know you won't. You don't want to kill me, just like you didn't want to kill any of those pokémon. You just couldn't control yourself. The one who killed those pokémon wasn't you. And I definitely won't stay away from you. I'm going to get off this island, and you're coming with me. We're going to go home, and then we're going to find a way to change you back to normal, okay?" I bite my lip in concern as I decide to take a bold risk by leaning forward and wrapping my arms around his neck. I whisper into his blood-stained fur, "You won't stay like this forever, Drew."
Since his height surpasses mine, I have to strain in order to reach his neck. But considering the fact that he isn't moving away from me, I'm perfectly fine with a little bit of strain. He doesn't speak nor move for a while. Out of all the times that I have wished that I could know his thoughts, this time has got to be the most desperate. I want to know what he's thinking. I want to know what's running through his mind. I want to know why he isn't saying anything. I want to know just how much these past two days on this island have broken him. I want to know if I can still repair him.
I feel his neck shift in between my arms as he bends it in order to rub his chin against my shoulder. Its the closest thing to an embrace that I can get from him in this form and, even in a time like this, his embrace still manages to make my heart soar. I feel the purr that rumbles in his throat as I hug him and I sigh in harmony. It's almost as if he's really with me, as a human, and I let myself imagine for a few seconds that this really is the case. He's not broken beyond repair, after all.
Minutes bleed together and an hour shifts into three before Drew and I finally emerge from our resting spot in a thicket. Both of us had been exhausted after the battle with the eight pokémon, so we sought out a place where we could take a rest. We ended up wandering away from the site of the bloodbath because we didn't want to be anywhere near the blood and gore. Once we found an abandoned thicket far enough southeast from the sight, Drew checked it for an lurking dangers before allowing me to climb in with him. After cuddling up together, we settled to sleep.
By the time we woke up, it was probably past noon. We're wandering through the forest now in the direction of the beach. I don't hear the ocean, so I assume that we're not very close. But Drew tells me that we're probably closer than I think because he hears it. Of course he does. He's the one with the enhanced senses from being a pokémon. I'm still stuck with my crappy human hearing.
We pass by a stream in the forest. The crystal clear water practically calls our names, so we stop to take a drink. After doing so, I inform Drew that I'd like to wash up a bit. The blood that got splattered on me has long since dried up, but it makes me feel extremely dirty and sticky. I know that hygiene should be the least of my worries on an island like this, but I'd like to rid myself of the substance. Drew objects, though.
Leave the blood. With any luck, it'll cover up your scent so that the other pokémon won't find us, he insists.
I want to scoff at him. Luck is a luxury that we certainly do not have. It doesn't like us, so it doesn't like us have it. If we did, we wouldn't be on this island to begin with. We'd be home in Hoenn, enjoying our lives in a safe and secure environment. But I bite my tongue; he only means well. With a sigh, I leap over the stream and follow him as he begins to lead me through the forest again. We walk for a few minutes, and then Drew stops in his tracks. I almost ask him why before I'm cut off by a low, guttoral rumbling in his throat. My blood immediately runs cold as I realize what this means.
What was that I said about luck not liking us? I was wrong, terribly wrong. Luck doesn't simply dislike us; it absolutely hates us. My hands automatically clench into fists as I turn around to see what it is exactly that made Drew shift into such a menacing stance. A pair of silver eyes meet my own. The eyes of a persian.
The huge feline hisses as it creeps toward us. I take a few slow steps back until my back is pressed against Absol's leg. He growls at the touch, but the growl is directed at Persian, not me. At this sound, the pokémon takes its eyes away from mine to look into Absol's. It hisses in response.
And just like that, both pokémon lunge.
I already had a feeling that something when I saw the persian hiss at Absol. This is the very first time that I've ever seen a pokémon on this island make such a sound at him. Every hiss, every growl, every snarl—they'd all been directed at me, not him. They hadn't even bothered to look at him. Their eyes were always locked on me. I had been their target. They wanted to kill me so badly that they didn't even attempt to defend themselves as Absol assaulted them.
But this persian is different. Not only had it looked at Absol, but it also hissed at him. And now, it was fighting back. Every bite and strike that Absol made at it, it met with a snap and swipe of its own. With its claws extended, it aimed to claw at every inch of Absol that it could reach. I have never seen a pokémon fight back with such a vigor before in my life. It wants me, but it wants him, too.
To his credit, Absol is putting up a good fight against his opponent. He pounds Persian with his paws and slices it with his claws, drawing more and more of its blood with every passing second. But Persian isn't allowing itself to be the only one to shed blood. It's lethal in its attempt to take Absol down. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the battle if I tried.
They're rolling on the ground in a matter of seconds, both of them trying to pin the other one down and gain the upper hand. Neither stays pinned for longer than a few seconds before the one on the bottom flips to the top. Tails swish, paws fly, and blood sprays. I pray to Arceus that Absol isn't losing as much blood as I think he is.
I barely have time to duck when Absol is suddenly thrown at me. His body rams against the tree behind us, making it shudder violently as its roots struggle to keep it standing. It isn't until he falls to the ground behind me that I actually get a good look at his body. Its stained with even more blood than earlier, and this time, some of it belongs to him. Fresh, crimson blood is oozing out of some of the cuts in his body. I immediately gasp and run to his side. When I draw my hands back after touching his body, I find them looking as if I'm wearing red gloves.
He struggles to get back on his feet as Persian pants behind me as it circles us. Its silver eyes flash with a murderous glint as well as smolder with bloodlust. I follow its movements with my eyes, which are slowly narrowing. It hisses in response, and then, it lunges forward. I don't even need to think before I throw myself in front of Absol.
One of its claws impales the surface of the skin, drawing blood as it leaves a mark from my shoulder all the way down to my lower back. An angry snarl of pain escapes my lips and I turn around to glare into its human eyes—the eyes from the person who had been transformed into a bloodthirsty pokémon—before swinging my leg back and kicking it as hard as I can in the face, fighting against the searing pain in my shoulder where the wound that it created is still oozing blood. It stumbles a few paces back, giving Absol just enough time to recover and pounce once more.
I fall to the ground, landing on a broken branch. I cry out involuntarily as the object digs into my thigh and causes me even more pain. The world is spinning and spots in my vision are beginning to grow black. I feel like I'm going to collapse, but the toe-curling pain on my back keeps me from blacking out. With a loud hiss, I push myself off the ground with all the strength that I have left so that I end up in a kneeling position.
My breath puffs out of me in labored gasps as sweat runs down the side of my face. I hold my wounded shoulder with my opposite hand while the other hangs limply on the ground. The pounding of my heart muffles my hearing, but the noise of the battle still raging on in front of me still manages to reach my ears. I look up and am completely mortified when I see that Persian has Absol pinned beneath its paws.
Fear surges through me like it never has before. Acting on pure adrenaline alone, I scramble for the broken branch that I landed on a few moments ago. Completely ignoring the stabbing pain in my back, I grab the long, thick branch in my hands and force myself onto my feet. The branch is clamped in my hands like a spear, the broken tip of it sharp as a blade. I don't like what I'm about to do, but I'm prepared to do it if it means that I'll be saving Absol's life. I hurry forward, raising the branch over my head in the process.
And when I reach Persian just as it prepares to snap Absol's face off, I ram the sharp end into the pokémon's back, making its body the sheath for my knife.
Blood pours out of the place where I had wedged the knife like a fountain, the rusty smell of the crimson liquid filling the air and mixing in with my own. The persian shrieks in pain, which is then cut off by a gurgle of blood. I try not to inhale too much of the stench in fear of unleashing the bile that has risen up my throat. With one final shudder, the persian falls to the ground beside Absol, who quickly goes to tear it to shreds. I fall to the ground as well, grasping my wounded shoulder again as I struggle to fill my lungs with air on my knees.
Drew is quick to come up to my side after he takes in my wounded state. His emerald eyes are wide with fright when he sees all the blood that is flowing out of my back. I don't need a mirror to know that my skin is probably ghostly pale as well.
What the fuck—May! What happened? his telepathic voice demands.
I completely ignore his question. "Why did it fight back?" I ask him instead, my voice hoarse and weak. "They never fight back. Why did this one fight back?"
I don't know, but it doesn't matter! Your back! You're losing so much blood!
"You're not exactly unscathed, either. Are you okay?"
Who cares about me? Look at you! May, we need to get back to that cave so that you can recover!
"Are you crazy?" I hiss, and then immediately wish that I didn't. The intense pain that comes from the three words almost take my breath away. I lower my voice to help ease it a little bit. "We're almost at the beach. I'm not turning back now."
But we need to treat your ba—
"No," I hiss, both in chagrin and pain. My voice, though weak and low, is firm and conclusive. He is not talking me out of this. "We're almost there. I'm not turning back now. I want to at least attempt to get us off this island before I bleed to death."
But, May—
Despite how difficult it is for me to do so, I get myself back on my feet, cutting off his objection. My legs wobble beneath my weight, and my body screams at me to succumb to the weakness and lay down. But I refuse. I can actually hear the ocean now—see it through the trees even—and I won't be turning back unless I reach it. We're going now, whether he likes it or not.
"Go," I command him.
My eyes narrow into a glare, daring him to oppose me. He doesn't even try to this time. He begins to walk to the trees in the direction of the beach. While I'm noting how he's also walking with a slight limp, I catch a glimpse of something on his shoulder.
"Drew!" I gasp, and he turns around in alarm. I make my way to him, ignoring the protests of my body. Once I reach him, I lift my hand to search through the fur on his shoulder with the tips of my fingers, unable to believe what I am seeing. Hidden away behind all of the white fur on his shoulder is a patch of tanned skin. Human skin. Drew's human skin. I gape at him in disbelief. "Y-you have skin! There's human skin on your shoulder!" I tell him.
His eyes widen and he cranes his head to get a look at his shoulder. I assist him by holding his long fur away from the skin, revealing all of its tanned glory to him. And, just like me, his mouth falls open in shock.
I have skin! he cries in my head. I actually have skin! Does this mean—
I cut him off. He doesn't need to finish. I know what it means. We both know what it means. "We have to get to the beach, now," I tell him.
He doesn't argue, and, together, we hurry out of the trees and onto the beach. I can't remember the last time I was this happy to see sand and the ocean. But then, something begins to emerge from the ocean. The silhouette climbs onto the shore. Dread instantly settles in when I register that it's another pokémon.
And I find myself looking into the navy eyes of a samurott.
Author's Note: Long chapter, eh? Quite a lot of pokémon died, too. And I left you guys with another cliffhanger! I'm sorry! I'll try not to keep you guys waiting too long for the next update. I'm really eager to write the next chapter, now! Thanks for reading, please review, and I'll hopefully see you all again soon! Well, not technically see, but you get what I mean. :P