The Poochyena's chest heaved slowly as he faced the Poison Pokémon. His hardened garnet eyes narrowed defiantly as his dusky gray and black fur bristled furiously, showing he still had some fight in him despite his long run as he got into an aggressive fighting stance. He took a few moments to catch his breath, "Now….give me back my Relic Fragment or I will personally slice open your stomachs, burn out your eyeballs with the acid and suffocate you with your own intestines!" The Poochyena snarled out as he bare his teeth into a furious scowl, the two fangs poking out of his lower jaw gleaming.
Zach halted, one of his paws frozen mid-step as he suppressed a shudder at focusing on the Poochyena with a sharp gaze. …What?
Zach snapped out of his daze and quickly rushed up to the scene. He fought back the urge to flinch when the Poochyena fixed him with a short glare from his blazing garnet irises as he looked from the corner of his eye at Zach when he came to stand beside him, before turning back to the Koffing and Zubat. The flash of recognition in the Poochyena's eyes reassured Zach that the Dark Pokémon wouldn't turn on him, but he was cautious of the unfamiliar male just the same.
"Hey Koffing…it's that shiny wimp from the beach we saw earlier." The Zubat sneered.
"Sure is…who knows, this little rock may actually be worth something since the wimp followed this other little tenacious wimp in trying to get it back." Koffing's narrow eyes became even smaller slits as his wide smile became even wider when an idea struck him. "Maybe we should sell it! Whoa-ho-ho—all the more reason not to give it back!"
The growl rumbling in the Poochyena's throat became louder. "Damn it, give it back!"
"Fine…if you want it back that badly…Come and get it! Heh-heh-heh!" Zubat laughed mockingly.
"Have it your way!" The Poochyena sneered cockily, as he prepared to charge at them; but before he made a move he glanced over at Zach. "Hey…will you back me up?" He whispered.
Zach, although he was ready to do that anyway, was still surprised by his question. "W-Wha?—Y-Yeah, of course!"
"Come on!"
The Poochyena charged at Zubat first, with Zach easily keeping pace at his side. He'd obviously never fought as a Pokémon before, and had no idea what moves he could use but at feeling a rush of energy course through his body, he realized it couldn't be too hard.
The Poochyena latched onto the Zubat with a vicious Bite and sunk his teeth into the Poison Pokémon's wing until it angrily cried out. Zach halted when he saw Koffing charging through the air as it prepared to ram into Poochyena from the side and Zach growled as he gathered strength into his hind legs. He gave Poochyena a Helping Hand as he propelled himself toward Koffing and the two collided in mid-air. Koffing briefly had the wind knocked out of him when Zach hit him with a rough Tackle and floated a small distance away, scowling angrily at his short incapacitation.
Zach turned to face Zubat and saw that he'd forcefully knocked Poochyena away. Zubat drifted to the ground and cradled his injured wing; scowling at the deep bite wounds that Poochyena inflicted as his wing bled in thin and shining red currents. Zach and Poochyena raced forward at Zubat but Zach became slightly hesitant when Zubat smiled and opened his gaping mouth even wider and small blue circles were released. The blue circles rapidly increased in size and flew at Zach and Poochyena; engulfing them as they rushed forward and a short, high-pitched pulsing sound reached their ears.
Zach stopped running abruptly and suddenly started giggling as he staggered around; twirling and enjoying the swirl of colors around him in the Beach Cave Pit as he was now unaware of his surroundings. Poochyena kept running forward but the Zubat easily used his gauntly blue legs to side-step him and watched in amusement as Poochyena ran past him at full speed until he crashed into one of the bright burgundy reefs. Thick green algae was shaken off and landed on the Poochyena with a sickening splotch…
Zach continued to giggle and noticed that Zubat, and Koffing now that he'd recovered, were laughing at the two of them. Zach mindlessly laughed too, having no idea what was so funny but enjoying the moment anyway until Koffing decided to attack. It was a regular attack but knocked Zach on his back regardless; still confused and in his daze Zach only retaliated in a yelp of pain, easily giving Koffing more of an opportunity. Koffing decided, instead of bluntly attacking, to simply sit on Zach and breathe tangy and putrid smelling Poison Gas in his face.
Eww! What is that smell! Who did it come from! Zach thought as he let out a violent bout of coughing. His eyes began to water and sting and at every attempt to clear his nose of the rancid smell it would quickly come back, sometimes more potent. This continued on for a few moments and Zach began to shudder at the effects, feeling sick as a slow burn coursed through chest and into his veins. Zach closed his eyes when the smell blew into his face again; but as he peeked open his eyes to see where it was coming from he snapped out of his confused state when he saw it was Koffing.
Zach shook his head, scattering the Poison Gas out of his face before he angrily Flailed his limbs, battering the Koffing away with hits to its eyes and mouth and face. Koffing flinched, and eyed Zach warily as he was now feeling very weak and attempted to float away to put some distance between them; but Zach rolled to his feet and mercilessly lunged at him with a finishing Tackle.
The Koffing then comically deflated and floated tiredly to the ground…
Zach glanced around until he saw Poochyena splashing in a small pool, attacking the reef he'd crashed into. Zach felt a bead of sweat drop down his head before he trotted over to Poochyena and roused him back into his sanity. Now that they were composed, Zach and Poochyena promptly finished off Zubat.
"Owowow…"
"Ugh…we got roughed up."
The two Poison-type Pokémon lay in the sand, unconscious or blabbering nonsense as Zach and Poochyena stood over them. Poochyena snatched his Relic Fragment away from Zubat and turned to Zach, grinned happily now that his treasure was returned to him. "Thanks for the help. You were actually an okay partner during the fight…"
Zach smiled despite himself and grimaced slightly at the Poochyena as the Dark Pokémon grinned at him, exposing glistening fangs, stained with the Zubat's blood. "Uh…no problem, and thanks. You were pretty good yourself…"
Zach suddenly swayed on his feet, his vision slightly spinning and felt sick to his stomach. The Poison Gas must've taken an effect. The Poochyena noticed Zach's demeanor and pulled out a small and fat pink berry that reminded Zach of a peach. "Here, you'll need this."
Zach briefly wondered where the Poochyena got the berry from but ate it appreciatively.
"Blast it! How'd we lose to these wimps?"
Zach and Poochyena looked away from each other and turned to Koffing and Zubat, seeing that the two had regained consciousness.
"Bah!" Zubat scoffed.
"Whoa-ho! Don't think you wimps are tough now just because you somehow managed to beat us! Your victory was a fluke! We weren't even really trying!" Koffing spat.
"Yeah! Remember that!" Zubat snarled.
Koffing and Zubat flinched as Zach and Poochyena fixed the two of them with a hard glare, and at saying what they had to say, the Poison Pokémon promptly fled the scene.
The Beach
"Seriously, Eevee, thanks!" Poochyena barked as he and Zach returned from the cave, his long and bushy tail wagging gratefully behind him as the two padded side by side. He's really happy and grateful about getting his…rock back. And I didn't even really do much…oh well, it's still nice to be appreciated! Zach thought with a welcoming smile toward the Poochyena but halted when the Dark Pokémon moved to stand in front of him so they could be face to face.
"Here's what they stole." Poochyena took out the odd rock and placed it in between the both of them so Zach could see it clearly. "I call it a Relic Fragment. I've had it for as long as I can remember and since then it's been my treasure."
The Relic Fragment appeared to be like a large, stone; it was jagged yet kind of circular, like it was broken off of something. The face of the Relic Fragment was smooth and had a strange white symbol inscribed on it in a shape that vaguely reminded Zach of some an eye or something. On impulse really, Zach bent his head down and gave the Relic Fragment a small sniff, as if taking in the smell of it would give him any answers but…his musing aside, Zach continued listening Poochyena as he told of why he liked it.
"I've always like legends and lore and I get excited when I hear different kinds of stories of the past or great heroes. Back when I was still a baby, my grandfather would tell me stories about how he once was a great explorer. He spoke of hidden troves full of treasure and vast uncharted territories veiled in darkness waiting to be explored and new lands waiting to be discovered! He and his team was top notch back in his day…but because he was a Mightyena, it was hard for his clients to trust his team." Poochyena snorted indignantly as he somewhat bitterly spat out the last few words.
Zach understood the Dark Pokémon's plight…but he understand his grandfather's clients as well because, well, they were Dark Pokémon. A type of which are known for malicious behavior or ill-intent…Give me back my Relic Fragment or I will personally slice open your stomachs, burn out your eyeballs with the acid and suffocate you with your own intestines! Zach felt his stomach chill slightly as he remembered the Poochyena threats to the Koffing and Zubat. But it wasn't fair to judge a Pokémon by its type…it wasn't like they were Ditto and could choose.
Zach's ears perked up when he realized the Poochyena started speaking again. "I wanna change the perception of my type to my clients when I'm an explorer. I wanna make historic discoveries and tell others of exciting adventures just like the next Pokemon…" Poochyena sighed and turned to stare out at the sea, his deep garnet eyes sparkling wistfully. "It all sounds so exciting to me and it's been a dream of mine to have those experiences one day. So when I found my Relic Fragment, you can imagine how I felt. So when anyone takes it or tries to make fun of me for it you can understand why I want to beat the shit out of them. " Poochyena chuckled.
Zach smirked as he thought back on venturing into the Beach Cave; it actually was pretty fun and exciting although his mind was focused on other things at the time.
"What's your name?" Poochyena asked suddenly.
Even though it was better for the Poochyena to introduce himself first, Zach answered regardless. "Zachary."
The Poochyena nodded, "Ok, I'm Ridge." He picked up his Relic Fragment and began to wag his tail, "So… where are you from Zach?"
Zach fixed Ridge with a confused stare as he tilted his head to the side before remembering that other than his ostentatious appearance and decent fighting ability, how little the two knew each other. Oh yeah…I guess I'd just become so used to him that I'd forgotten how I ended up in this place. Zach thought, and then explained to Ridge about how he had no recollection of how he ended up in this Pokémon-inhabited world and woke up on the beach as a shiny Eevee. He led his story all the way up to the where the two of them were now and so on and so forth…
"Hmm," Ridge narrowed his eyes as he silently pieced together how all of this tied together, "Ok…so you lost your memory and somehow transformed into a Pokémon. I'm grateful that you helped me and all but what do you plan to do after this? You don't exactly have any place to go…"
"I don't know…" Zach murmured, finally realizing how his situation genuinely weighed on him.
"How about you form an exploration team with me?" Ridge asked bluntly, "I've been thinking of joining an exploration team as an apprentice, so I can chase my dream of becoming an explorer one day and uncovering the mysteries of my Relic Fragment. And on my way there is when those stupid bastards Koffing and Zubat stole it."
Zack flicked his ears as realized where the Poochyena was going with this. "From our little battle back there in Beach Cave, I'm convinced we can form an effective exploration team together. And as an exploration team we would have food and shelter on a regular basis so you won't have to worry about a stable place to stay. So…will you?"
Zach thought about it for a few brief moments, and it wasn't like he had any other options so… "Sure."
"Great! We'll make a pretty bad-ass exploration team and make a great combination!" Ridge barked excitedly with his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. "First we'll have to go to the Wigglytuff Guild and officially sign up as apprentices. I've heard that training might be a little tough but it's nothing we can't handle I'm sure…"
"No doubt about it!" Zach laughed and wasn't surprised when he felt his own little fluffy tail wag a few times in happiness. Ridge nodded in agreement with his tail wagging rapidly behind him; and held up his big black paw in the best imitation of a high-five that he could muster. Zach, already used the action from his human life easily met the Poochyena and smiled in turn.
"Oh, and one more thing. How is it that you're shiny anyways?" Ridge asked, and from the look on his face the question had been itching on his mind for a minute.
"I don't know. The probability of a Pokémon being shiny is about 1/8192 so I was just lucky I guess. There's nothing too special about it other than the coloring though…" Zach murmured, bearing good knowledge on Pokémon from the books he used to steal from Saffron City's library.
Ridge stared blankly at Zach, not really understanding his answer but shrugging as he accepted it nonetheless, "Ok, well, the Wigglytuff Guild isn't too far from here so we should be there in time before the gate closes for the night." Ridge told him informatively as the two began running along the beach toward their new destination when Zach suddenly stopped, skidding to halt in the sand. Ridge halted and focused on Zach with a confused stare when the shiny Pokémon suddenly exclaimed:
"DAMN IT!—THAT PIKACHU HAS MY GLASSES!"
Teehee! Poor Zach…anyways review please and the next chapter will be up soon!
~Graywind ^^D