AN: So after a long wait in which I have completed 2 months of university, had a job and in general got on with life, I have finally managed to complete another chapter. Hopefully I will be able to start getting chapters out on a regular basis again. Enjoy.
Chapter 4 - Distractions
Red rolled over, wide-awake. His dream felt too real, too vivid to have just been a dream; he felt raw and open, like a Vigoroth had used him as a punching bag, and then used his intestines as a skipping rope. His stomach was tight, his breathing heavy. He had watched his mom die.
Swinging his legs off the bed, he reached for the control set installed in the hotel room. The control set looked very much like a box-computer: a silver, briefcase-shaped item with a phone on one side, a video call screen in the middle and an alarm clock setup on the left. From the centre of the box, where the clasp usually is, protruded a handle, which when pulled out displayed a functional keyboard and trackpad.
The base of the case was attached to a movable arm, which in turn folded into an alcove in the wall. This was standard in all Pokémon centres across the Kanto region, ever since GIOCorp got the monopoly on any and all things Pokémon related: Pokéballs, Pokémarts, Pokécentres and Pokénavs to name but a few. GIOCorp - the Global Innovation and Orbific Corporation.
Opening the control box, he checked the time. 1:32. Sighing, he got up and quietly pulled on his clothes. Clipping his belt on, he quietly left the room, checking that Leaf was safely locked in behind him. He may not have cared much for her, but he still had a moral obligation to look after her: travelling partners are - for better or worse - for life; if he lost her now he wouldn't travel again for the same number of years that she had lived, according to the customs of the region.
Legend has it that two travellers had crossed the length of the Johto-Kanto Island together over the course of three decades and were, in essence, as close as two people can be. It was such a unique relationship between the two that they were unable to live without the other. This particular legend details their last times together.
On coming to the pass between the two halves of the island, the two travellers came to a rock-strewn field. Having crossed the field many times before, the two travellers hurried across their regular route to the other end of the field. Halfway across, a boulderpile collapsed as the companions walked by , threatening both of their lives, but the first companion pushed his friend away, and the entire pile collapsed on him.
The saved traveller looked around in desperation for anything that would help him save his companion, but the only thing he could see was a weak-looking snivy.
Running up to the snivy, he begged for it to help, and the snivy agreed. Attempting to free the traveller from under the boulders proved too much, so the second traveller gave his strength to the snivy who willingly absorbed it, using it to free the companion. When the first traveller recovered, he thanked the snivy who had saved him, but when he looked around for his companion there was nothing there.
"Your friend gave his life for you," a voice said to the first traveller, "This snivy shall now change form for his selflessness as well. He will one day be a serperior, the most powerful of them all. You will guard him traveller, and he will bear a scion as powerful as he, and his line will carry on and protect your line for the rest of time, as you and yours will defend them.
"Pass this story on to your children, and let them pass it to their children. Your friend will be resurrected in another time, far distant from now, in a form more powerful than any before. It is your job to ensure that your family recognises this power and protects it when it surfaces, and reminds it of its deeds. So says I, Arceus," and so saying, it happened, and Arceus disappeared.
The traveller did pass on the story, and 200 generations later the story still survived as a reminder that not only did a companion bring luck, but also someone who would spend their lives with and for you, protect you and who you would do the same for. This was the moral of such a story.
Waving to the morning shift nurse, Red walked out the lobby, ignoring the questioning look the nurse had given him. Releasing charmander, he continued to walk in silence, with the lizard Pokémon scurrying along next to him; on the path, up walls, onto roofs, into trees, along fences, all with his tail flame dimmed to conserve energy, on all fours to make travel easier.
Red watched the little saurian with a slight grin on his face, walking patiently along behind him. His thoughts wandered to his dad, who had disappeared in the Ilex Forest in Johto, a forest more dark and sinister than its cousin here in Kanto.
The last time he had been in this forest had been strange, almost dreamlike. He had felt as if something or someone was watching him, and he was drawn to it like a venomoth to a charizard's flame… the only problem with that analogy was that the charizard usually ate the venomoth that burnt to death in its flame. The only reason he had stopped his advance into the forest was that his mother had rushed in after him and pulled him out.
He hadn't thought of that trip in years. And now that he thought about it, why had his mother been so anxious to get him out of there? He only remembered his mother's eevee finding him and calling to his mother.
This eevee was special in that not only was it an albino eevee, it was also the most powerful eevee in the surrounding areas. No challenger had been able to take this eevee down in the past few years, but nevertheless it remained a humble eevee. Actually, it had met a feisty raichu who was extremely excited after it had been defeated; it had found a mate worthy of it. Strangely, as many possible mates as the eevee could have had, it had only taken one now. But that was a few months ago.
Red realised he was thinking on several different tangents with a wry grin. The grin disappeared when he saw his charmander sitting on an old man's shoulder.
The old man was chuckling as he rubbed the scaly head.
"You're a gorgeous little thing aintcha? What a beauty!" he exclaimed.
"Chaaaaa!" was his excited reply.
"Say, where's your owner little tyke? I bet his round here some –" he suddenly stopped when he saw Red, looking like he'd seen a ghost.
"Thanks for watching out for my charmander, I lost track of time for a while there. My name's Red, I'm – are you okay?" Red asked, as the man was rapidly backing away after putting the charmander down.
"Y-you look just l-like him," the man said almost running now.
"Who? Who do I look –" Red began, before watching as the left side of the man's head caved in, splattering gore across the ground.
Red raced up to the man, before looking around for the source of the shot. There had been no sound, but as it had come from the left he looked along the highrises, just in time to watch the glint of a sniper scope as it was lifted and slung over the broad shoulders of a vague, man-like figure on the roof, who turned and walked away, into the blackness.
Two security guards sat in the gloom of an underground laboratory, huddled around a television set in the corner. The room in which they were in was sparce, apart from a clear, thick glass cylinder in the center of the room and status monitors behind it.
In the cylinder was a vaguely humanoid shape, aside from the long, tail-like appendage protruding from the back of the creature. It was mostly white, with the entire abdomen being vivid purple. There was no sign of movement from the tank.
The chamber was dark, with the only light source coming from the television set. The film was just coming to an end, the guards riveted to the screen. From the set came the sound of the movie, a voice that was like a giant set of jaws grinding gravel between gargantuan teeth which said "I am fire. I am death!"
And in the darkness, power stirred.
