Raven cocked his head, brow furrowed in confusion. He raised his left arm, waving it back and forth. Shrugging, he stepped closer to the mirror. "Guess that is me."
He hadn't really paid attention to his reflection when he walked into the bathroom. It would just be the same, scrawny kid he had seen all those times on the ship. But now that he had taken a shower, it was almost like a different person had stepped into the room. He even felt different. It felt like several layers of dirt had just been washed away. Probably because it had. His hair was the most noticeably different part about him, and despite it dripping water, it looked considerably less greasy.
He grabbed a towel, wincing slightly as he rubbed it along himself. As he finished wiping up the excess water, he slung it back on a rack, grabbing his boxers and slipping them on. He opened the door to his room, just then noticing how hot his shower was as steam flooded the room.
"Snorunt sno sno," Berri grumbled as the steam warmed him up. He shivered, forcing the air around him back into a state below freezing, just how he liked it. He tapped a TV remote, changing the channel.
Raven laughed. "Sorry, it's been a while since I've had hot water." He walked over to the armchair, where he had laid his jeans over the back. He reached for them, frowning as he picked them up. "I suppose I should get my clothes washed too. Maybe some new ones." Berri rolled his eyes.
He shrugged, pulling them on anyways. He didn't have anything else to wear in the meantime, so what did it matter? Berri changed the channel again.
"Alright, now that I've cleaned up a bit, we need to make some more money." Raven said, reaching for his shirt which had been placed under his jeans.
"Sno, sno snorunt," Berri said, changing the channel again.
"Oh, come on." Raven stood in front of him, blocking the view. "You're not even interested in any of this stuff anyways."
"Snorunt…" Berri shrugged, turning the TV off and hopping off the bed. Battles were more fun anyways, if a little more work.
Raven nodded, pulling his shirt on and shaking his head back and forth. His hair slapped around his face, flinging water everywhere. He merely ignored it and opened the door, letting Berri walk out in front of him, following close behind when his head jerked to the left. "You hear that?"
"Sno?" Berri asked, looking around.
"Sounds like someone yelling…" Raven said, looking suspiciously toward the window at the end of the hall. Seeing nothing of interest, he headed toward the stairs, slightly worried by the growing noise.
As he took one step into the lobby of the Pokemon Center, the doors slid open, revealing the blonde girl who had waved to him earlier. She dashed inside, holding two piles of feathers in her arms. Nurse Joy looked up with a frown on her face, instantly preparing the machine beside her to heal the two pidgeys. "What happened?" She asked.
The girl screeched to a stop at the desk, handing over the pokemon as gingerly as she could before throwing her hands against the desk, buckling over and panting heavily. Nurse Joy instinctively took the two birds and placed them on the machine beside her, which started to glow with a faint blue light. Raven watched from the bottom of the stairs, unsure of what to do as Berri looked at the two pidgeys curiously. Their injuries looked brutal.
Even though she was struggling for breath, Raven noticed that she never took her eyes off of the pokemon she had brought in, only beginning to talk when their bruises began fading. "I was training my pokemon at the edge of the forest…. there was this explosion that came from somewhere inside. I went to go look, but two thugs ran into me as I got close to where I thought the explosion was… I tried to stop them, but…" She looked sadly at the two pidgeys, stroking the closer one's feathers. "We didn't stand a chance."
"Sounds like a bunch of troublemakers…" Nurse Joy said, pressing a few buttons on the machine beside her. "Seems like we can't go a week without a group of them doing something. But don't worry; your pokemon will be in perfect condition in no time!"
This happens often here? Raven thought as Nurse Joy consoled the girl. Huh. Guess I should try to head out earlier than I had planned… He shrugged, starting to walk toward the doors.
"No, I would have just run if they hadn't been carrying a pokemon with them!" The girl cried, her hands balling into fists. Raven stopped, bristling. What..?
"They had a pokemon with them?" Nurse Joy asked worriedly. "Did they use it to fight?"
"No, it was in a cage!" Raven's right hand clenched. "It was a little growlithe, and they were being so rough with it and shaking it around like they didn't care if it got hurt!" His brow furrowed. Berri hunched over, glowering. A brief image of a skitty beat and wounded in a cage flashed before his eyes. The air around him grew colder. "One of them used zubat to fight while the other one ran off, and-"
The girl stopped short in shock at the sudden touch on her shoulder. She turned to see Raven, feeling her legs go limp at his expression. "Where did they go?"
"Th-th-th-they were he-heading north I th-think!" She stammered, wincing as his grip on her tightened.
"Can you take me there?"
Nurse Joy frowned, gesturing to the two pokemon on the machine. "Raven, she's just gone through a traumatic experience and her pokemon aren't healed yet, you can't expect her to-" Her words seemed to fail her as he turned to look at her.
"No, it's ok!" The girl said quickly, twisting out of Raven's grip. "I can take you, but please heal my pokemon Nurse Joy!"
The nurse looked back and forth between the two, stammering. "Well-I-but… oh, alright, go ahead. They'll be healed in no time." She glared at Raven, ignoring his volatile expression for the time being. "Make sure to keep her safe."
Raven nodded, gesturing for the girl to lead the way. She took off at a jog, running out of the doors as Raven scooped Berri onto his shoulder, following close behind. His hair, still damp, started freezing together at the ends thanks to Berri's anger.
The girl was panting by the time they reached the forest's edge. Raven glanced around, noting the thin trail of smoke coming from inside the forest. "Which way did they go?"
She gasped, talking between breaths. "This isn't… where we fought."
"Then take me there! We can't waste any more time!" Raven said a little angrily, ignoring the hurt look on the girl's face. Apologies could come later. She stood up straight again, taking off into the maze of trees. He smiled, silently appreciating her efforts to help him.
They ran for another two minutes before a shockwave resounded through the ground. The girl lost her footing, her toe catching on a rock. She cringed as she fell face first toward a tree, only to feel strong arms wrap around her chest and stomach, pulling her back to her feet. She looked at the boy only to find him looking around once more, as if he didn't realize that he had just caught her. And he didn't even look like he was out of breath! "Was that another explosion?"
She frowned. "That felt more… like an earthquake attack… but this is the spot, this is where I saw them."
"Which way did they head?"
She raised her hand toward a gap in the trees, where some people had obviously run through recently. Trampled plants and upturned mud littered the ground, and several broken branches hung limply from their trees. Raven immediately took off in that direction, pausing when he heard the girl coming after him. He turned, looking over his shoulder. "You don't need to come, I can handle it."
She caught up to him defiantly, trying her best not to pant in exhaustion. "I do too need to come! I want to make sure that pokemon's alright!"
Raven shrugged. "Suit yourself." He turned and started running again. She followed, albeit a bit slower.
Raven dashed in and out of the trees, making sure that he didn't hit Berri in the face with any low hanging branches. The trail was still easy to make out, as if the two thugs were sure no one was following them. Or were cocky enough to think that they could beat anyone who did. He gnashed his teeth.
Dodging around another tree, he burst into a clearing. It wasn't as big as the one he had found near the beach, but it was big enough to make him lose the trail briefly. He slowed to a stop, looking around too quick to really notice anything. He heard the girl stumbling around behind him, feeling a twinge of guilt that he hadn't stayed back to help her. He brushed the feeling aside, looking around for any other sign of movement. He found it quickly, a similar trail beaten through the forest just up to his right. It looked as if it were heading toward the thin trail of smoke that was just barely visible. He took off once more, Berri holding on easily to his shoulder.
The girl made her way into the same clearing Raven had just moments after he left it. She sighed, supporting herself on a nearby tree as she tried to catch her breath. She glanced toward the path to her right, noticing it instantly thanks to the layer of frost that had coated the surrounding foliage. She didn't know if the boy and the snorunt were doing that to make a trail for her or it was just an expression of their anger. Judging from how determined he looked, she almost felt a little bad for the thugs she had run into earlier. She grimaced, thinking of her pokemon. Pity gone, she took off again, failing to notice that she hadn't actually caught her breath.
Raven could hear voices. They weren't loud, but it was something. The trail hadn't disappeared, but it was reassuring to know he was heading toward something instead of following a dead lead. He stumbled slightly as another earthquake attack shook the area, much stronger thanks to his proximity to its center. He took his fall in stride and dove around a tree, Berri hopping off as Raven rolled into a crouch. They could hear the voices clearly now, and they weren't happy.
"Why don't you just give up, Jenny?! You can't win!" a slightly raspy voice taunted
A much more feminine sounding voice retorted. "I can't! Not while you're holding that pokemon hostage!"
Another voice spoke up, unnaturally deep. "Oh, we're not holding him, he's our friend! Right little guy-" A snarl and a snap cut the person off, his cry of pain showing that he was trying to disguise his voice earlier. "Ah! You little shit, I'll-"
Raven burst through the line of trees that opened into an enormous clearing. There he saw a woman with blue hair and a police officer outfit crouching on the ground beside a nidoran, shielding it from a sandshrew and zubat. Behind them were two punks, looking to be no older than Raven himself. Between them was a cage with a growlithe in it, cringing while one of the thugs made as if he were about to hit it. All of them turned toward the newcomer, Jenny rising to her feet as moral obligation took over.
"Oh no, you shouldn't be here!" She cried, making shooing motions with her hands. "I can't let another citizen get hurt, they're too strong!"
Raven ignored her, his expression enough to make both of the thugs hesitate before speaking.
"Better listen to her kid." The one with the fake deep voice said, pulling his hand out of the cage. "We would have messed up that girl like her pokemon if she hadn't run off."
Berri hopped out beside Raven, looking much scarier than any snorunt had a right to be. Raven began walking toward the Jenny, the thug's pokemon turning toward this new enemy.
"Hah! A snorunt?!" The raspy sounding one laughed. It reminded Raven of seviper's hiss. "That thing won't stand a chance."
"Berri," Raven said calmly, not intimidated at all by the two pokemon in front of him. "Get them away from her."
"Sno…" Berri growled, his form blurring into several as he used double team. The sandshrew and zubat tensed, watching the blurry figures carefully.
The zubat let out a shriek as Berri rammed into its back, crashing into the ground from the force of the headbutt. The two thugs started in surprise. The sandshrew whirled around, seeing nothing but the zubat's limp body resting in a small crater on the ground. He turned back to where the double team clones were, only to see that they had surrounded him. Their icy stares were the first sight in a long time that gave the sandshrew doubt about a battle.
"Sandshrew, get back!" the raspy one yelled as the deep voice thug pulled out a pokeball, retrieving his zubat. The sandshrew hopped backwards out of the ring of illusions, doing several flips before landing in front of his trainer. Berri's copies slowly melded into one, that one sinking into the ground. The real Berri had already made it back to Raven's side, walking with him as they approached the astonished Jenny.
"How did you-" the police officer started only to notice the girl who had pointed her in the right direction from before hopping out of the bushes. She looked completely winded, unlike the calm individual in front of her. Kneeling beside her and reaching into his bag, Raven pulled out a small potion, handing it to Jenny. "Use this and go to the pokemon center. Your nidoran can't take any more."
Jenny turned away from the girl to look at him indignantly. "I can't run away, this is my job! I've already called for back-up, and-"
"We'll be gone long before they get here." The thug with the fake deep voice said confidently, tossing another pokeball in his free hand. He threw it at the ground, its shell opening to reveal another zubat. "Right after we beat this punk."
Raven slowly stood back up, turning to face the thugs. Berri had already placed himself between his owner and the kidnappers, the ground around him steadily becoming coated in ice. They took a step back.
"Eh… yea. We'll beat him in no time." The raspy one said, not sharing in his partner's confidence. He pointed at the newcomer. "Sandshrew! Use poison sting!"
His pokemon did as he was told, launching a noxious looking needed from its mouth, aimed directly at Berri. The snorunt's eyes flashed for a moment, but he made no other movement. The needle froze in midair, falling to the ground and shattering. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise.
"Berri," Raven said, his voice rising as he tried to restrain himself from going and taking care of them himself. He knew the grudge wasn't his alone. "Ice them."
Berri launched off the ground, not even bothering to create illusions of himself now. The sandshrew jumped into a defensive position, his arms crossed over his chest. The zubat flew around frantically, attempting to avoid being hit. When no attack came, they both glanced around, not seeing the snorunt anywhere.
"It's above you! Zubat! Use supersonic!" One of the thugs cried, no longer trying to disguise his voice.
The zubat turned upward, emitting a high pitch shriek that resulted in visible sound waves flying directly… toward open sky. The zubat chittered away, trying to find the enemy when it felts its wings become heavier. It flapped harder, but no matter what it did, it began to fall. It realized that it had gotten very cold very fast, just before it hit the ground.
"No!" one of the punks yelled as his zubat collapsed into a pile of snow. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. "That was my last pokemon."
"Don't worry," the raspy trainer said. "Sandshrew will wipe the floor with that runt, right?"
"Sand…" the sandshrew muttered, not even seeing his comrade get attacked. He glanced around warily, waiting for the same to happen to him.
"Behind you!" The raspy one yelled, sent into a fit of coughing afterwards. It seemed as if his voice wasn't being faked. The sandshrew curled into a ball just as Berri attempted to bite down on him. His jaws closed on what felt like a chunk of metal, but the snow pokemon had spent most of its life eating ice. It tightened its grip, not piercing the sandshrew's skin but definitely bruising it. He shook his head back and forth and flung the sandshrew away, slamming it into a tree. "No!" the raspy voice thug cried, ignoring the pain it caused him to raise his voice that much. His worried expression was changed to relief as the sandshrew got up, looking a little worse for wear but still standing. With a quick glance to its trainer, it began to dig into the ground at incredible speeds, quickly disappearing from sight. "Yea, that's the way, hit him from below!"
Berri rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to let loose another wave of snow, coating a large area around him with it. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on feeling the snow, waiting for any vibration that would indicate the attack…
There! No, it was still moving. It was circling, like it was searching for a weak point. Now! Berri jumped as the ground broke open directly under him, the sandshrew swiping at air. Scowling, it dug back into the earth, Berri not being able to catch it in time.
"There you go sandshrew, wait it out." The second thug said, who had at this point returned his zubat to his pokeball and was standing guard over the growlithe.
Berri waited patiently, leaping out of range whenever he felt the burrowing pokemon about to emerge. But, because of that, he was never able to get back down in time to land an attack.
Raven stepped away from the police officer, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, who had just been about to make a dash for the growlithe. "Not now."
She looked at him in despair, glancing back toward the fighting pokemon. Neither of them were making any noticeable headway, but perhaps that was his plan. "Are you trying to wait them out for the other police officers?" she asked, watching as Berri darted away as the sandshrew attacked again.
"Hmm?" Raven said, looking over his shoulder at Berri. "Oh, no. He's waiting him out for me to do something."
"For you to do something?" she asked.
"Mhm." Raven said, taking a few steps toward the thugs. They only noticed him when he was a few yards away from them, jumping around the cage defensively.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Don't take another step!" The raspy voice threatened.
"Or what?" Raven said, not slowing down in the slightest.
"Or… um…"He looked down at the growlithe, his initial thought being to hurt the pokemon, but realizing that hurting what they had done so much just to get their hands on would be a bit of a setback. "Um… Sandshrew! Get him!"
At first, nothing happened. Raven slowed to a stop, watching the ground expectantly. He took a step to the left, just as the pokemon burst from the dirt to his right. It swiped at air once more, a little more than annoyed by this point, but unable to linger on the thought as Berri rammed into his gut, sending him flipping out of his hole and into his trainer's chest. The thug stumbled and made to catch his pokemon, but only ended up falling alongside it. They crashed to the ground, groaning. "Aw, man, sandshrew, you-"
His voice caught in his throat as Raven appeared in front of him, cold anger emanating from his eyes. He tried to inch away, only for the boy to stomp on his foot.
"Aaaaugh!" He cried, looking to his friend for help, only to find him confronted with the snorunt. He was staring at it warily, unsure if he should try to run. Berri glared at him, fear and a little ice gluing his feet to the ground.
"So," Raven said calmly, pressing down with his foot, "what were you going to do with this growlithe?"
"What does it matter to you?!" The thug yelled, only for Raven to stomp again on his foot. He tried to swing his other leg to knock the boy's feet out from under him, only for him to jump over it effortlessly, his foot coming back down on the thug's shin. "AHH! Sonofa- Alright! Fine! We were trying to use it to get into Team Rocket, ok?"
"Team Rocket?" Raven said, the curiosity in his voice only a side note compared to the anger. "Is that their initiation?"
"Yea!" the other thug said, weakly attempting to regain his deep voice impression. At a glance from Raven, he bit his lip, rethinking what he had said. "Well… no, not really. We were hoping to get higher positions if we brought in a rare pokemon."
"They like to collect them and sell them off, so we thought it would be a ticket to officer positions or something," the raspy voiced one said.
"You're pathetic." Raven said bluntly, causing both of the punks to flinch. "I don't even know who these Team Rocket people are, but if this is what would get you into their ranks, they deserve to be destroyed." With another stomp for good measure, Raven stepped away from the thug, picking up the cage with the growlithe in it, softly reassuring it with his voice. He started walking back to Jenny and the girl, looking at the cage for some kind of latch. The two thugs looked at each other, both thinking that if they couldn't get away with the growlithe, at least they could get away. They started to run in the opposite direction when they heard Raven say something. "Powder snow."
All at once they felt their limbs going cold, feeling much heavier thanks to the snow that was quickly coating them. Once they were slowed to a crawl, Berri relented, spitting out just one more blast of snow for good measure. He quickly followed behind Raven, leaving the two thieves to chill.
"How long until your support gets here?" Raven asked, setting down the cage and kneeling beside it.
"It should only be a few more minutes," Jenny said. Raven found the crude latch on one side of the cage, almost ripping off the door as he swung it open. The growlithe flinched, moving up against the back of the cage as it whimpered. Raven's demeanor reversed instantly, his expression soft and caring as he held a hand out to the puppy pokemon, slowly beckoning it out. While it did relax slightly, it made no move to get closer to him. Smiling lightly, Raven reached into his pouch, pulling out a small plastic baggie that had several berries in it. The growlithe perked up at that, licking its lips. It took a step closer before remembering she didn't trust him, and backing away again. Raven pulled one of the berries out, holding it towards the puppy. "Come on girl… it's ok…"
"How do you know that it's a girl?" the girl asked, unwilling to come closer less she scare the pokemon more than it was.
Raven shrugged. "Just do."
Jenny noticed with interest that the berry he was holding was a sitris berry, native to Hoenn. Which made sense, as snorunts were also native there, but this just confirmed it. This boy was obviously from Hoenn, and recently too, or else she likely would have seen him before. But then, why didn't she see him when the boat docked..?
The growlithe finally began moving towards Raven, sniffing cautiously. Satisfied, she stuck her tongue out and lapped at the berry. Licking her lips, she took it out of his hands, munching on it happily. Smiling, Raven ran his hand through the tuft of fur on her head, scratching her behind her ears. "That's a good girl…"
"Wow, she took to you fast," the girl said, stepping closer. Immediately the growlithe backed up, running into the back of the cage. She stopped, backing up sadly. "Guess it's just you, then."
Raven shrugged again, noting happily that the growlithe came back out to him once the girl had left. "Guess so." He pulled another berry out of his pouch, feeding it to the slowly relaxing pokemon.
Berri hopped up onto Raven's lap, startling her. She dropped the berry in her mouth, crouching down but not backing away. Raven laughed, picking up the berry and offering it to her again. "Sno, snorunt snorunt, sno, runt," Berri said, his previous demeanor gone just as quickly as Raven's was.
The growlithe hesitated before responding. Her response came in a series of growls and yips, Berri nodding and patting her on the back. She took the berry again, eating it happily once more.
"You and your pokemon? That's just not fair," the girl said, bemoaning her inability to get close to the growlithe.
"Berri and I have had some… personal experiences with kidnapping." Raven said, stroking the growlithe's fur. "I suppose we can relate to it better."
"I suppose so…" the girl said, still not entirely reassured but curious all the same.
Just then, several voices started coming from the direction of town, quickly growing louder. Raven patted the growlithe reassuringly, glancing at the trees. "Guess that's them."
"Yes, they should be here within another minute." Jenny said, glancing at the two thugs. They hadn't gotten far from their earlier position, now resigned to huddling on the ground and shivering.
"Then that's my cue to leave." Raven stood up, brushing off his pants and helping Berri onto his shoulder. He patted the growlithe one last time before starting for the edge of the circle of trees.
"Wait, what?" Jenny said, taken aback. "You need to stay, we need to report this!"
"No," Raven said simply, reaching the edge of the forest and turning back, noting the confused look on the growlithe's face with sadness. He sighed, thinking of the empty pokeballs in his bag. He really had no right to try to claim a pokemon he had just freed, anyways. "See you."
"Wait!" Jenny cried fruitlessly as he entered the trees, quickly sprinting out of sight. Her hand fell to her side, not quite knowing how to react.
"Who is he?" the girl said, looking at the growlithe. She was obviously distraught, whining softly as she looked at the spot where her savior had vanished.
"I don't know," Jenny admitted. She looked at the puppy pokemon, sighing as she stood up. "Well, at least we can be sure that this growlithe is safe-" As soon as she spoke, the growlithe barked, dashing into the trees. She threw her hands up in frustration just as several other police officers burst through the trees on the opposite side of the clearing.
"Well, what a day this has turned out to be…" the girl said, wondering when she'd get back to the pokemon center for her pokemon…