CHAPTER 8
Evina felt breathing, heavy breathing, in her face. Her head hurt, and she was too afraid to wake up, for she thought she was captured by Team Rocket again. The breathing was annoying, though. She slowly opened her eyes to see, right in her face…
A white ball of a head with dark blue ears, a big, round, orange nose, two big and shiny eyes, freckles on its cheeks, and a smile that would be engraved in her memory for years.
She yelped in surprise as the odd looking Pokemon cheered,
"She's awake! She's awake, Miju! Hey, Iggy, she's awake!" the Pokemon cried as it danced around. She looked around her to see that she was on a cold, metal table with a bit of cloth draped over it to keep the Pokemon warm. Around her were all these high-tech stuff that she did not understand their use or reason for being there. It was a lot cleaner and more humane-looking than when she was imprisoned. Where was she?
"Mimi, stop, you'll scare her half to death," a small fire pig said as he walked up to Evina and smiled, "hey, sorry about that (snort) Mimi is usually very excited when new Pokemon arrive; it's a chance to make friends, ya know?" he sat down in front of her, but at a distance, he was a Fire-type, after all, "My name's Iggy, the Pokabu, and behind me is Mimi, the Mijumaru."
"Pleased to meet you both, my name is Evina," she introduced, "tell me, where am I?"
"You're at Professor Araragi's lab! You're here 'cause…Miju! Weren't you that Pokemon on the news that everyone is looking for 'cause of the reward and stuff? YAY! We found you! I wonder what our reward will be. I hope it's lots and lots of shells!" with that she detached the shell on her belly and waved it around, "I want more of these shells! This can, like, be used as an awesome lightsaber, look!" she focused all of her energy into the shell, and it started to glow a blue aura around it which formed into a blade. Mimi then made lightsaber sounds as she swung it around, "Woosh, woosh!"
"Gah! Be careful with your Shell Blade, Mimi! Playing or not, that's still a dangerous attack!" Iggy said, trying to move away from the blade.
"So, why am I here?" Evina asked, "I think you two may have the wrong Tsutarja…"
"No, we don't! You and your friends are, like, all over the news, Miju! Prof. Araragi has been looking all over for you, and when we saw you, we kinda, like, waved a leaf that smelled like you and looked like you and you fell for it and stuff. You're here to, like, be some trainer's companion. Like me!" Mimi grinned wide enough to show her razor-sharp fangs as she pointed to herself.
"But I need to go! I need to find my family somewhere in Isshu-"
"Bless you," Mimi interrupted, giving her a glare from Iggy, "Sorry, go on."
"…anyway, I need to find my mama and dad, where are they? You must have belonged to a family, too…right?"
Iggy and Mimi gave each other a concerned look, then Iggy piped up,
"Actually…Ms. Evina…that's not true. We were raised in this lab and trained to be at level five to be suitable for any trainers that want us. Mimi, and any other Pokemon who arrive in the lab, like Professor Araragi's Chillarmy, are my family," Iggy walked over and sat next to Mimi, "I'm sorry, Evina…but…you're kind of the same way."
"What? But…I must have been separated from my family; they must be looking for me! They have to be!" Evina got all choked up, "They have to be…"
"I can tell you," a small voice said. Suddenly a pair of large, cream-colored ears poked from the table. The character then hopped up, showing that it was a little Chillarmy, "I was there when it all happened…I have to tell you that it is not a happy story at all, though…"
"Jaroda, your final evolution, is one of the very few endangered Pokemon. Their skin is so beautiful that it has been used for things like wallets or handbags…the police declared a ban to this type of stuff, but black markets still sell them, and poachers still hunt them for food. My…well, I shouldn't call her a trainer since she doesn't exactly use me in battle unless she really needs to…so I'll call Prof. Araragi my 'owner'. Anyway, she and I were in the forest gathering berries, produce, and some Pokemon DNA to use to find out more about them. I helped, and so did Iggy 'cause Mimi wasn't born yet. She's the youngest. Iggy told me that he heard a noise behind us, and all of a sudden we saw a huge blast of fire in the same direction as that noise, so we decided to follow it. When we got there, we saw two Houndoom attack two Jaroda and two Janobii. Since there are no Houndour, let alone Houndooms, in Isshu, we immediately knew that they belonged to someone. We didn't know what to do at this point, both Pokemon were really, really strong, and we were kind of weak…all we could do was watch as the type disadvantage between the two came into effect and worked when both of them used Purgatory, yes, Purgatory, on the family, and then finished it off with a Flamethrower when they were done. Because of the two Pokmeon using Fire moves, we assumed they did this because they wanted the two for food, but attacking a whole family?"
"When the two Houndooms and their trainer left," Iggy piped in, for the Chillarmy could not finish the story, for she almost burst into tears, "it was a mess…The attack left a huge blanket of ash, burned leaves, twigs, grass, they were all over the place. It was only from the miracle of Arcus himself that the entire forest wasn't burned to the ground. When we were sure they were out of our sight, we ran up to check on the family. Sad to say, the children were too low a level to withstand a double Purgatory attack, and perished…the dad was captured by the crooks for…whatever they wanted the Jaroda for, but the mom was still alive…I can still remember that time I talked to her, too…"
Iggy slowly walked over to the burning mess, since he was a fire-type, he was used to the heat. He sniffed the air, polluted with ash and soot, and his eyes watered from some of it entering his eyes. He looked back and saw the Chillarmy was gone, she went to alert Professor Araragi about what they had seen. When Iggy got to the catastrophe that used to be a happy Jaroda family, he saw the mother tightly wrapped around something in the nest, too weak to even move her head, which was placed down on the soot-filled ground away from the nest, her eyes glazed and emotionless, not even acknowledging the Pokabu in front of her until he talked.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm so sorry…"
The Jaroda looked at him as tears formed in her eyes, then she spaced out again.
"I should have done something, but I couldn't…I'm too weak, only at level 3, I wouldn't have stood a chance, even from a fire attack…and I regret it, too…," his voice began to crack, he had never seen such carnage in his life.
The Jaroda looked up at him again. Iggy could see where her tears trailed by the only clean lines starting from the bottom of her eyes and down the sides of her face.
"Help…help her…"
"Help who?" he asked. The Jaroda loosened her grip on whatever she tried to protect and revealed an egg, warm from the mother's body.
"Help her…please take care of her for me, I…I can't anymore…" the Jaroda's eyes closed, "Keep her safe…make sure she grows up to be perfect, that's…all I ask…"
Iggy gently rolled the egg out of the nest and returned to her side, trying not to cry, but he was failing real badly with that, "No problem… No problem."
The Jaroda mother gave a weak smile and looked at him again before shutting her eyes for the final time and exhaling the last breath she would ever have to take.
"Not too long after, Professor Araragi came over with a couple of police to examine what happened. If you want a happy ending, they eventually caught the person who killed them, and he was sentenced to life in prison and banned from using Pokemon entirely…If you're wondering why you ended up in Hoenn, I can't tell you that; neither I nor Ms. Chillarmy were there, but you could imagine how upset I was when I found out you were gone, Evina…"
"I…so I…I came…all this way…f-for nothing?" Evina could not control the sobs coming out of her, "I should have stayed in the nest! This whole trip was to see if I had a family of my own…only to find that they died long ago!"
Iggy, Mimi, and Chillarmy all looked at the other, and went up to comfort the devastated and disappointed Tsutarja.
"Thanks for helping us, Mr. Haderia, we had nowhere else to turn," Scepter said to a medium-sized dog Pokemon that looked like he had a moustache, bushy eyebrows, and a cloak on his back, actively sniffing the ground.
"No need ta thank me, young Janobii! Now, by what I've smelled, yer little sis went into a van o' some sorts and it went this way. It smells like lab equipment. I think ya ought to follow it."
"Captured again?" he groaned, "Alright, fine. Come on, you two, we have a Tsutarja to rescue...again. Man, I didn't know she was the 'damsel-in-distress' type," he ran towards the direction where the Haderia pointed.
"Thanks again," Emmy said politely.
"You're welcome, lass. Good luck!" he barked and then turned the opposite direction and ran.
It was the afternoon. Evina's eyes were shaded red and baggy from crying, and all she did was sit in the middle of the cold, metal lab table, her tail twitching here and there. She saw the doorknob twist and the door open, and in came a woman with a long, white lab coat, glasses, and a pink flower in her long, violet hair. Immediately when she came in she spotted Evina and squealed.
"AWWW, aren't you the cutest little thing!" she picked her up and smiled, "My name is Makomo, and I, with the help of Professor Araragi, will be taking care of you so you're fit enough to go to a nice, loving trainer! Doesn't that sound exciting?"
"Tsuta..."
Makomo noticed how miserable the Tsutarja looked, "Aww, what's wrong, little girl? Are you okay?" she gave Evina a hug, "Don't worry, you'll be just fine here, I promise. Now how about we get you into the training center to see how powerful you are?"
It was not like Evina had a choice, for she was carried over the assistant's shoulder, like one would hold a grown cat, and brought to a large, Pokemon Gym-like room, but it was all white and tiled, with cameras in all corners of the room.
Iggy came out of the door across from her, all pumped.
"You ready?" he said, "I only have Ember as my fire attack, so be ready for the burn!"
As they were talking, Makomo, who was in a room above the whole thing, was looking at Evina's stats.
"Hmm...Speed is her only IV that's 31, and she doesn't have a lot of EVs in her...however her level is pretty high for a starter-type: 17. Wait, seventeen? She should be a Janobii, why doesn't she evolve?"
Professor Araragi came in the room Makomo was in, "What did you say? She's seventeen?"
"She is... It's understandable, though. I don't doubt she gained a few levels on her way here."
Iggy charged at her, ready to bop her with a Tackle attack, but Evina dodged and used Vine Whip to smack him down.
"Woah, (snort)...that was more powerful than I thought it was going to be...," Iggy said as he staggered up on his feet, "I guess I'll have to pull out the big guns: Ember!" and with that, Iggy blew out a flame from his nostrils onto Evina, causing her more pain than it should have caused because of her type disadvantage.
"Well, she seems to fight fairly well against low-leveled Pokemon like Pokabu," Professor Araragi said as she watched the fight, "What are her moves?"
"Let me see...," Makomo looked at her move chart, "She knows Grass Mixer, Vine Whip, Wrap and...Oh my god..."
"What is it, something wrong?" Professor Araragi quickly turned to look at the computer and her eyes widened as well, "How…she can't learn that attack by herself! Who tutored her?"
"I don't know, but it's so cool! I hope she knows how to use it in battle!" Makomo said, excited.
"I don't know… That's a VERY strong move for such a young Tsutarja like her."
Evina pulled out her vines and coiled them around Iggy, then proceeded to tighten them hard around his belly. Iggy countered this by flaming one of the vines with Ember, but Evina would not let go. Iggy then saw a hint of rage in Evina's eyes as the vines tightened even more.
"Why did you just stand there and watch!" she growled, "Why didn't you help them, you and that Chillarmy could have saved them if you just tried! But you decided to watch because you were 'too afraid' or 'too weak'… I can't believe you…I can't!"
"E-Evina, listen to me! They would have killed your family whether I stepped in or not! The difference would just be that now they would have had bacon with their meal! Now please stop…"
Evina's vines loosened around him and she let him fall to the ground. She plopped down on the ground and refused to move. Professor Araragi and Makomo saw this and Makomo pressed a button that allowed her to talk to the Pokemon through a small megaphone on one of the walls,
"Come on, little Tsutarja, you can do it! You can beat Pokabu!"
Evina did not move, her eyes were vacant of any expression as she thought about the loss of her family and the burden she must have been on Scepter.
"Hey….HEY! Where are you going? Our nest is this way!"
"But it's not my home, it was never my home. I'm going to find where I came from, if you want to follow me, fine."
"Well…I did it," Evina whispered as she looked around the lab, "I found where I came from and what I was supposed to do."
"Come on, sweetie!" Makomo cheered on, "You can win the fight; you were so close!"
Evina answered Makomo by using her vines to whip off the megaphone in her own anger and frustration, causing static on the other end.
Makomo stared at Professor Araragi for a moment and finally said, "I don't think she wants to battle right now. I suggest you just let her rest for the night, she looked really miserable earlier today."
Professor Araragi sighed and nodded, "Okay, take them out."
Night fell, and after wandering around Kanako Town trying to be discreet, they came across the Pokemon lab, or at least Emmy did, the others did not know a house from a tree.
"I found it!" Emmy cheered, "I found the lab!" she jumped onto one of the window panes and looked inside, where she saw Iggy and Mimi go in their Pokeballs to rest, and it looked like Evina was about to do the same.
"Scepter, come on! Your sister is about to go into a Pokeball!"
"What?" he ran in and was about to knock the door down when he saw a little doggy door down below. Emmy and Pippy were able to get through said door effortlessly, but Scepter…
"If I was a Treecko this wouldn't have happened!" he said as he was trying to pull himself in.
"If you didn't have such a large butt, this wouldn't have happened!" Emmy said as she and Pippy grabbed one of his arms to help him in. They got him in, but he was launched at such force that he suddenly ended up in the Pokemon Lab room where Evina, tail on her lap, expression blank, unaware of the comedy that just happened in front of her.
She looked at the empty Pokeball next to her and was about to press it, but she saw a familiar hand on top of the Pokeball. She looked up to see a smiling Grovyle and looked away.
"Evina, what's wrong?" he asked, "You look fed-up."
"I am…I'm not leaving," she said, "I'm staying here, you can go home, and I'll stay here where I can fulfill my duty to be somebody's Pokemon," she had tears welling up in her eyes, "I'm sorry I was such a burden to you all this time. I won't be one anymore…"
"Evina, what on earth are you talking about? You were never a burden to me or anyone else on this trip and you know that! Why are you giving up all of a sudden? You were the one who wanted to find your family and that's what we're going to do, so come on!"
"I don't HAVE my own family!" the Tsutarja spat.
"Wh-…what are you talking about?" Scepter said, thinking that this whole thing was a prank Evina pulled to be some sort of jerk. His thoughts drastically changed when she told him everything Chillarmy and Iggy told her about the Houndooms and the fire and the fact that she was basically an orphan.
"…so we basically came here for no reason," Evina finished angrily, "and all this time I've just dragged you all over the place against your will to visit a nonexistent family in Isshu!"
"Even though that's really sad, and I'm really sorry that happened to you, but I've been trying to tell you that you have had a family all along! Weren't you the least bit curious as to why you ended up in my mom and dad's nest?"
"No, 'cause you all made me believe I was a Treecko like the rest of the group, so I didn't even bother," Evina hissed, "when I found out from that Seviper that I wasn't like you guys, I wanted to leave to find my own family and leave you all 'cause I knew, I just knew you guys didn't want me!"
"Just because we didn't like you did NOT mean we didn't consider you a part of our family, Evina! Besides, it was kinda natural that my parents almost rejected your egg; Pokemon nature, you know? If I was born into a family full of Jaroda, I think your family would see the same way."
"I guess…"
"But what makes me mad is that you're talking as if you never had a family to begin with!" Scepter wrapped his arms around his sister, "No matter what you do and who you are, you are family to me…"
Evina thought about this conversation for a while before returning the hug.
"Now," Scepter said, letting go, "How about we get us out of here?"
Evina looked at the Pokeball that was meant to be hers and then looked back at Scepter and nodded.
After they left Kanako Town, they went back into the forest where they were greeted with Vipera whipped onto a tree, bleeding, hurt, and tired.
"Hey, it's the Seviper we saw back in Hoenn!" Evina said as she ran over to her, "What happened?"
Vipera looked at Evina, and then the rest of the gang before she dropped to the ground, her breathing shallow, she chuckled
"Evina, Scepter...my have you two grown," she winced in pain as she tried to get up, "You two have got to get out of here, it doesn't matter how you do, as long as you all are out of Isshu!"
"Why? What's wrong?" Emmy asked, though she knew in her gut what the problem was.
"That Zangoose…he's been tracking you guys all the way here, and he won't stop until all of you are dead…and he'll slaughter anyone in his way…" any life in the Seviper's eyes was fading, "Your mother and father have been looking for you, both of you, since you started this stupid trip, I would highly suggest you find them now before that damn Zangoose finds you and kills you all."
"How did he find you?" Evina asked quietly.
Vipera sighed, "I will admit that that is entirely my doing…it was all in instinct, I couldn't help myself…how stupid I was when I underestimated his power, but like hell I gave up. I gave him some new scars in addition to the ones he already had, but I let my guard down once…I'll tell you, something was not right with the battle I had with him…he was using moves that Zangoose shouldn't know, one of them was Claw Sharpen, which, as the move implies…made his claws sharp every time he used it, and made his physical attacks hit me a lot more, plus, they were more powerful," Vipera was too exhausted to explain any more. She lowered her head down, "My time has come…pity, I was planning on using you two as a side dish when you got home…I'll tell you this before I go: Stay away from that Zangoose…because I feel he isn't one at all…and…stay away from my Oran bush…" and with that, she passed.
"…Well, you heard the Seviper, we have to leave!" Scepter said as he began to walk away. Once everyone else was gone, Evina pulled out a small Oran Berry and placed it next to Vipera and whispered a thank you before catching up with her team.
Emmy walked a lot closer to Scepter, more nervous than ever, and it did not help that it was getting dark.
"What if he finds us?" Emmy stammered, "He's really powerful, we would have no chance in beating him!"
"Don't you worry, dear Emonga!" Pippy said triumphantly, "I, Piponimus Alexander II, will protect you from any Pokemon whether Gulpin or Groudon!"
Emmy looked at the boastful Piplup and smiled before getting close enough for them to snuggle.
Pippy blushed, "H-Hey! What are you doing, Emmy?"
The flying squirrel smiled, "I'll feel much safer with such a 'powerful' Pokemon like you…"
"Well, ain't that sweet…," a sinister voice said, "it's a good thing you both will die together so one doesn't have to suffer heartbreak, no?"
The voice revealed itself to be the Zangoose, smiling with such murderous intent other Pokemon would mistake it as a Glare attack.
"You!" Scepter growled, "Don't you come any closer!"
"Or what?" he said, "You gonna wave a leaf at me? Give me a break, I'm not even here for the likes of you…I'm here for your precious Emonga…"
"Don't you touch her!" Pippy cried out, "Or face my wrath!"
The Zangoose smirked as his claws glowed a light purple and slashed the Piplup effortlessly, "Pathetic excuse for a Pokemon I've ever seen…"
"Pippy!" Emmy said as she scuttled over to his side.
"Emmy, you take care of Pippy," Scepter said as he got ready for battle, "I'll take him on…"