OC submission is almost over! Only two chapters left until it's all over! Submit now~! Geodude? Gastly? Duskull? Muk? Ninjask? Marill? Abra? Snivy? Hero or villain? Motivated by forbidden love or just in it for the money? Let me know!
Fruits... berries... he could smell them all around, the dinner table covered in delicious foods. He could hear the gentle crackle of the fireplace, and the laughter and singing of friends all around. He could see his beautiful house, filled with all sorts of happy company.
Then, he felt something else, and he returned to the world of the living. The smell of food became the smell of sea air; the sound of laughter and a log burning became the sound of waves gently crashing on the shore; the sight of his dream burrow became the sight of a Kirlia and a Shuppet staring at him curiously.
Nicholas the Lopunny sighed as he rubbed his tired eyes and stood up, moaning, "Good morning," to the two children who were staring at him.
Neither replied. They continued to stare.
Nicholas ignored that and examined his surroundings. He was on a beach, lying on top of a large turtle shell with the two kids. He could hear loud snoring from inside the shell, suggesting that Chris was asleep. The Umbreon, Shade, was nowhere to be seen. Well of course, he mused. Don't bother asking guys, just leave me to babysit the kids. He groaned when he heard his stomach growl. "Any chance we have anything to eat?" he asked the two kids.
Both continued staring.
Nicholas raised an eyebrow. "What, is there something on my face?" he asked.
Finally, the two spoke: "Are you sure you're not a girl?"
Nicholas groaned. "Yes. I am positive I am, in fact, a boy."
Both children looked at him with faces full of confusion. "Okay..." Faye said, unsure. The Kirlia stood up and dusted herself off. "Do you know where we are, Mr. Nicholas?"
Nicholas looked at the sky. By the position of the sun, it was likely noon; Chris had let them all sleep in. He hadn't gotten any food though, much to his stomach's disappointment. How he would love to have a carrot right about now, and a nice warm bath to wash the sea salt out of his fur...
See, the manly voice in his head shouted. This is why everyone thinks you're a girl. Because you always whine! Man up!
"Well," he said. "I don't know where we are, but it isn't stormy, and it isn't dark, and we're on land. Maybe there's some food around here."
"Well then what are we waiting for!" Faye shouted.
"Let's go!" shouted Ghost. "I'm starving!"
The two younglings ran off to the large jungle to find fruits, Nicholas shouting in protest. "Wait! We don't have a map! What if you can't find your way back?"
The two younger Pokemon didn't hear him as they continued to run off.
Nicholas began to panic. "Oh no... oh no..." he muttered, running back to the still asleep Chris. "Chris! Chris wake up! The kids just ran off!"
Chris snored loudly.
"Chris! This is important!"
"Snort... Go ask Shade..." the turtle muttered, still asleep.
"He's gone too! What do I do?" shouted Nicholas.
"Snore..."
Nicholas groaned. Well, yeah, Chris had saved them all, and he did deserve some rest. "But where is that Shade?" he growled. "He says nothing, and does nothing too!" he exclaimed, losing his temper.
His only answer was a snore from Chris.
He groaned. "Fine, I'll go get them. Any objections? No? Good. Here I go!" he announced, walking off.
"Snore... Snort... What a nice guy... Snore..."
Hours went by, before Nicholas was finally able to find the two younglings.
Faye and Ghost were sitting under a tree, deep in the woods. The tree sat next to a small tranquil pond, and a pile of assorted berries piled around the two of them. Both of them looked incredibly satisfied as they popped the fruits into their mouths.
"Not bad," Faye said, her mouth full of pulp. "But not spicy enough. Needs more zest, you know?"
"Try this!" Ghost said, lifting (with invisible hands, I guess) a yellow fruit.
Faye popped it into her mouth, tasted it, and then stood up and began running around, shouting, "Too hot! Too hot! Need water!"
"Try this one!" Ghost said, holding a beige colored berry.
Faye grabbed it and chewed it. She paused, sighed, and fell over against the tree again.
"So, you didn't like it?" asked Ghost.
"Are you kidding? It was great! Give me another one!" Faye replied. "Add it to the list of things to serve at the juice bar!"
"Gotcha!" Ghost said, checking a mark off in his head. "So, how about this one... oh, hey, it's Mr. Nicholas!" he said, floating up as Nicholas ran into the clearing.
"There you two are!" the tired Lopunny panted. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"
"We've been here, sampling the berries. Have you tired any?" asked Faye. "We saved a pile for you," she said, gesturing to a small pile filled with mixed fruits.
Nicholas sighed as his stomach growled. "You could have waited for me, you know," he said. "I was getting worried that something might have happened to you. What if some Pokemon had been around here and had decided to attack you?"
"We haven't seen any other Pokemon around here!" Ghost said, before chewing on one of the spicy fruits. He began to spin around as the spicy flavor burned his mouth, searching for one of the beige berries from before.
"None at all?" asked an unconvinced Nicholas.
"Nope!" Faye replied happily as she examined a red fruit. "I wonder what this tastes like..."
Nicholas sat down with the two kids and pulled out a berry, and oran berry, one that he recognized, and started chewing. "Well, might as well eat then..."
"Ahh..." Ghost said, his mouth cooling off. "Definitely adding it to the list!"
Nicholas chuckled. "Opening a juice bar?" he asked, picking up another berry.
"More or less," replied Faye, as Ghost floated off to find more berries. "We're going to be the greatest drink and gummy makers in the world... Well, after I evolve, of course."
"And me too!" Ghost shouted, floating to the small pond to search for more fruits.
"Well, I'll be sure to drop by," said Nicholas. "You haven't seen Shade around, have you?"
"Nope!" called Ghost from the pond. "We haven't seen anybody or anything!"
"Well," Nicholas said. "Then I guess all we can do is wait, huh?"
"And eat!" Faye said.
"Wow!" Ghost exclaimed from the pond. "Faye, look at this!"
"Oh, what is it?" Faye said, jumping up and prancing to the pond, Nicholas following.
Ghost was sitting in a small nest like structure, made of water plants strongly wrapped together. "Check out this weird nest thing!" he said.
"Wow!" Faye said, sitting in the nest with him. "This is cool! Mr. Nicholas, check it out!"
Nicholas examined the large nest closely. "I've seen something like this before..." he said, thinking. "Ah, I remember! This is a Marill nest!"
"Oh, what's a Marill?" Faye said, spinning around in the nest.
"A Water Mouse Pokemon," explained Nicholas. "I studied them when I was a bit younger. You nests like this all the time on the mainland." He examined the nest and frowned. "But, what are these?" he asked, pointing to a few large tears in the ceiling of the nest, like a pair of claws had torn through them.
"It looks like something attacked the nest," Ghost said.
"Something that could still be around," Faye said, her happiness draining.
"But we haven't seen any other Pokemon all day!" Ghost said. "Why haven't we seen anything?"
"Maybe they're all at the beach?" offered Faye, if only to get out of the woods, which were now beginning to feel very big and endless.
"Well, let's head back and talk to Chris about it," offered Nicholas. "Maybe he'll have some ideas." He turned around to walk back to the beach, but stopped when he saw the forest.
The sun was beginning to fall, and darkness was taking the woods. Much to Nicholas' dismay, he realized that they were indeed lost. "Oh, boy," he muttered.
"We're lost, huh?" Ghost asked.
"Looks that way," Nicholas admitted.
"Well, let's get unlost!" Faye shouted, as she began to run into the forest.
"Wait!" Nicholas shouted, grabbing her. "We can't just run blindly into there. We need to have some idea on where we are going." He looked around, and caught sight of a tree with low hanging branchs. 'I'll climb up there and see if I can find the beach. You two stay right here!" he said firmly, running over to the tree and climbing up.
The two children sat together as Nicholas launched himself into the tree, jumping from branch to branch. "I'm scared," Faye muttered.
"I know," said Ghost. "I can sense it."
"I wish we were back at the beach," Faye said.
"I wish we were back on Jade Island," Ghost said.
"I wish we were back on the mainland," Faye moaned.
"I wish your parents were here," Ghost said.
"What? My parents!" said a shocked Faye.
"Yeah, they'd scare of any monsters around here!" joked Ghost.
Faye managed to chuckle. "I guess you're right! They'd scare Giratina himself!"
The two began to laugh hysterically, before Ghost paused. "Wait a minute..." he muttered. He began to float upwards. "I can sense... anger..."
"What?" Faye leaped up. Shuppet were famous for their ability to detect and feed on negative emotions. "Where is it?"
"It's coming this way... from the sky..." Ghost said, still floating. "It's headed... for Nicholas...!"
"What?" Faye panicked. "Nicholas! Watch out!" she called up the tree.
"What? What is it?" the Lopunny called back down.
"Ghost says somethings coming to get you! Hurry down!" Faye called.
"What? What's coming to... Ah!"
Nicholas went silent and they heard the sound of a branch snapping. Seconds later, with a yelp, Nicholas hit the ground, narrowly missing the two younger Pokemon.
"Nicholas!" the two cried out, shocked, as the Lopunny picked himself up off the ground.
"Are you okay?" asked Faye.
"Yeah," the Lopunny replied. "But not for long if we don't get back to the beach, fast!"
"What?" Faye said. "Why?"
A caw cut any further conversation off. A trio of angry looking bird Pokemon touched down. A fierce looking Skarmory at the lead, followed by a shifty looking Pidgeot, and a glaring Swellow.
Nicholas grit his teeth and raised his fists, putting himself between the birds and the kids.
"Oh, look!" the Skarmory said in a grating voice. "Lil' Miss Bunny thinks she's a hero!" The other two birds laughed at the joke, making Nicholas' frown deepen. "Are you gonna hit me, little Miss Bunny?" the Skarmory taunted.
Before the bird could react, Nicholas wrapped his hand around the bird's neck and stared into the Skarmory's now startled eyes. "I AM A MAN!" he shouted, before using Fire Punch, giving the Steel-Type a powerful uppercut.
The Skarmory crashed into a tree with a cry and hit the ground with a clank. He went still after that, fainted.
"Why you little twerp!" the Swellow growled in a female voice, charging at the Lopunny. "This'll teach you to mess with us! Giga Impact!"
Nicholas was unfazed. "Jump Kick!" he shouted, leaping at her, foot outstretched. Before he could hit her, however, The Pidgeot used Whirlwind, knocking him to the ground, dazing him long enough for the Swellow to strike him.
Nicholas gave a cry as he took the full hit. He fell back down, as the Swellow circled for another charge. "Say good night!" she said. "Giga Impact!"
Nicholas winced as she charged again. Faye and Ghost were starting to panic. But before the Swellow could hit the Lopunny, Ghost shouted, "Spite!" his eyes glowing red.
Swellow's eyes widened as she lost energy, and the ability to do Giga Impact. Which was all Nicholas needed. "Jump Kick!" he yelled, slamming his foot into the bird's face and knocking her down.
"Oww..." the Swellow muttered.
The Pidgeot shot by Nicholas, not bothering to attack him. Instead, he had his sights set on Faye. He knocked Ghost aside and siezed the screaming girl in his talon.
"Faye!" shouted Nicholas. "Let her go!" he screamed as the Pidgeot landed on a branch, the Kirlia still in his grasp.
"Not until you tell me what you're doing here!" the Pidgeot snarled. "Come any closer, and I'll put the squeeze on this twerp!"
"We just stopped for rest!" Nicholas said. "We only wanted food and shelter!"
"Hah!" Swellow said, picking herself off the ground. "A likely story! You're probably a bunch of bounty hunting losers who think they can handle the Reaper Wing Gang!"
"That's not true!" Ghost shouted. "We've never even heard of you before!"
"What?" the Swellow screamed. "We're the greatest gang of criminals of all time and you haven't even heard of us? Hah! That proves you're a bunch of liars! She turned to the Pidgeot. "Take the whelp to holding cell!"
"Why bother?" asked the Pidgeot. "She isn't the one we're looking for."
"I don't care!" shrieked the Swellow. "I'm in charge and I say-!"
"Psychic!" Faye shouted in her sing song voice. A wave of mental energy battered the Pidgeot, who released her with a shriek.
"Alright!" Ghost said as his best friend sprang free. He grabbed a lose branch from a bush and smacked Swellow across the face with it.
"Oww! You little brat!"
"Nah nah! Can't catch me!" Ghost shouted, floating away.
Swellow began to chase, but another Jump Kick from Nicholas knocked her out. "Great job!" he shouted to the two kids.
The Pidgeot glared at the trio. "I seem to have underestimated you!" he shouted, taking off. "But don't think this is over! Hyper Beam!" An orange ray burst from the bird's beak, narrowly missing the trio.
Nicholas grabbed the two kids. "Let's get out of here!" he shouted, hopping away at top speed.
"You're not getting away!" shouted Pidgeot. "Hyper Beam!"
Nicholas leaped over the beam and kept running as fast as he could.
"Look!" shouted Ghost. "Over there! A cave!" he said. A cave lay a few yards away from them. It looked dark, and damp, but Nicholas didn't have much of a choice. He gave a yell, a leap, and then the trio landed in the cave, just before a Hyper Beam struck them. The ray smashed into the cave's entrance, exploding. When the smoke cleared, the entrance was buried under a pile of rubble.
Pidgeot began to charge another beam to blow the cave open so he could finish them, when he heard the sound of a Noctowl hooting. The hoot was loud and shrill, so loud it woke up the two fainted birds.
Pidgeot took to sky shouting to his comrades, "The Boss wants us! Pronto!"
With a yawn, and a groan, Chris' eyes opened, and he returned to the world of the living. He gave a startled "Huh?" when he noticed that sunset was falling over the little island, and his passengers weren't present.
"Guys?" he shouted. "Where'd you go? We need to get moving? Guys?"
He walked down the beach, searching for any sign of them, but found none. "Dang it," he growled. "I lost them!"
"Lost what?"
Chris nearly yelped at the sound of the voice. He turned around and saw Shade, sitting in the sand and staring at him as if nothing was amiss. "Where have you been?" Chris demanded.
"I was taking a walk," Shade replied. "Where are the others?"
"Like I should know?" Chris said.
"Well, you were with them."
"Well, I was asleep! You were the one who was awake and should have seen them leave! What kind of nutty idea made you run off by yourself!"
"If you think they're in danger, then you might want to listen to what I have to say," Shade said, his voice slightly raised. "I searched all over this island and I found no sign of any Pokemon. I found old nests that had been left behind, but nothing else."
"What happened?" Chris asked.
"I don't know," Shade admitted. "But the others may be in..." He paused, and then turned around. "Do you hear that?"
"Do I hear..." Chris felt his ears prick. He looked up and saw birds. Lots of birds. Flying towards them, and shrieking angrily.
"What the..." Chris muttered. "They don't look friendly."
"Are you still tired?" asked Shade.
"Nope," Chris grunted, revealing his Hydro Cannons.
"Good!" Shade said as the Bird Pokemon descended. "Then let's go!"
Then two charged as the Bird Pokemon streaked towards them.
A voice spoke from the darkness. "Kill them."
A cliffhanger! Ain't I a stinker?
Also, I promise, promise PROMISE to stop using the Nicholas looks like a girl joke. I'm sure it's getting old.
Almost out of time to submit! Hurry, hurry, hurry!