Chimchar and Abra

The Daycare smelled like hay and old people. A boy Trainer opened the dark blue door, and held it open to let his two Pokemon walk through. First came the smaller of the two, a brown monkey who had a burning flame for a tail; the Chimchar scurried inside, looking this way and that before going to sniff a nearby table. The other was a vaguely human-like Pokemon that had yellow skin and sharp features. The Abra shuffled in on his two feet, his tail moving slightly to keep him balanced. Although his eyes were closed, he did not trip or falter in following his Trainer up to the desk.

The old woman wearing a pink shawl adjusted her glasses, then smiled at them. "Welcome, and good afternoon. How may I help you, young man?"

"Hi," the Trainer said, placing two Pokeballs on the counter. "I've got a reservation here for my two Pokemon, under Kyle Jenkins."

"Oh yes, I remember." She brought a reservation file up on her computer. "And it is for Albert the Abra and Ali the Chimchar, correct?"

"Yes, m'am."

"All right, it's 550 Poke total for your reservation. Any time over that must be paid for before you may pick them up."

"Right." He handed over the money. While she was dealing with that, Kyle knelt down and whistled. Ali stopped smelling the chairs and came over. "Look guys, I'm sorry I gotta leave you here, but I have to be at that meeting without any Pokemon. It's okay; it's not like those guys are going to kidnap me or anything. Be good for the folks here."

"Aawoh," the Chimchar whimpered, then brought his arms up for a hug. Kyle gave it to him, then one to Albert.

"Zzurrou," the Abra said in his strange voice, placing his hand on the boy's forehead.

"It's gonna be okay," Kyle said again, then got up to sign a paper. After that, he said goodbye and left the Daycare.

The Daycare woman got up and left her seat behind the counter. "Okay, little ones, I want to check you both over before I let you outside. And I'm glad you're awake," she patted Albert on the head as she led them to a scanning station, "so that I can tell you both something important. Don't leave the grounds that are marked off by the fence. It's all in range of where we keep the Pokeballs and if you get out of range, we cannot help you if you get in trouble. Understand?"

The two Pokemon nodded. Ali didn't like staying in enclosed spaces, but Kyle had said to behave, so he would. On the other hand, Albert didn't mind staying in fenced off areas, but made sure to memorize the order.

"All right, then step in here for a moment and we'll make sure you're okay." After she approved of both their scans, she let the two Pokemon outside.

On looking at the large space that counted as the Daycare's yard, Ali was pleased and began dashing here and there, sniffing things and checking out what other Pokemon were around. Albert yawned, then walked out of the way of the door and sat down by the wall. Although his Psychic abilities had been strengthening to the point that he thought he might evolve soon, his physical strength seemed to be weakening. Not that Albert had been strong physically in the first place.

But, it was getting hard to even carry his own weight sometimes. Albert still managed to walk around if needed, but found himself using his mind's power to support himself. That effort wiped him out fast, even though they hadn't walked far from the Pokecenter. The Abra lowered his head and was soon asleep.

In contrast, Ali was not going to sleep any time soon. Dangerously skirting a pond, he raced over to the fence and leapt onto the post. He wasn't going to leave the area; he was just going to sit on the fence. But that wasn't much of a challenge to the Chimchar, so he leaped back into the yard and zipped over to a tree. Before long, he was sitting a third of the way from the top.

Trees just had one drawback; he had to be careful when navigating one. Not because he would fall, but because of his flame tail. If he didn't watch what he was doing, he might set the tree on fire. And people tended to not like that. Ali didn't mind fires, but didn't want trouble. So he picked his way down carefully. Once he hit the ground, he ran for a large pile of rocks and began climbing that.

Only… the rocks turned out to be an Onix that was trying to sleep. The rock snake jerked awake, nearly throwing Ali off. He instinctively clung onto his current hold to avoid being hurt. But then the Onix shook itself violently to get him off. Losing his grip, Ali curled and tumbled when he hit the ground. When he looked back around, he saw the angry eyes of the Onix.

"Eek?" he questioned meekly.

The Onix growled in anger and threw a rock at him. Ali dodged but seeing as this wasn't a supervised battle, he fled back towards the main building. The Onix pursued him, sending Pokemon fleeing from its path. Albert vanished before Ali's eyes.

In the tree, the Abra stirred a bit. What had tripped his subconscious danger sense? Oh, the Chimchar was getting in trouble again. Figuring he could handle it himself, Albert went back to sleep.

"Hey, HEY!" The old man who worked at the Daycare called out, trying to get the attention of the two combatants. "Let's not fight; break it up or I'll make the others do it for me."

Seeing a chance, Ali darted towards the old man, crouching down near him. The Onix turned and saw that. Irritated, the rock snake snorted, then crawled off to sleep in a less active corner.

The old man looked down at Ali. "Well now, here only for ten minutes and you already get someone chasing you? You're a little trouble magnet, aren't you?"

"Oooook," Ali pleaded, keeping himself low. He wasn't trouble.

"It's okay," the old man said. "Just be more careful now."

After spending a bit of time near the old man to calm down, Ali went back out exploring again. The day was so nice, with a bright sun, and soft green grass, and interesting smelling flowers, and (non-living) rocks to climb, and a pond to avoid, and… and so many interesting things that the Chimchar got all excited again and searched for something fun to do.

But every time he found something fun to do, he also found trouble. A game of kick the ball with a Happiny ended up with a Tauros chasing them; it ran into the tree Albert was sleeping in and forced the Abra to teleport again. Tossing sticks into the pond got a Seaking mad at him, which nearly drenched Albert too. And just running about the yard got the Tauros annoyed again.

But Ali never gave up on searching for a new game.

As the sun went down, most of the Pokemon began seeking areas to sleep, whether in the stables or outside. Even Ali was getting tired after an exciting day in a new place. He started poking around looking for someplace to curl up, but then he noticed the Onix was stirring. Remembering how furious it had been earlier scared Ali. So he decided he'd have to sleep somewhere hidden. Or maybe with Albert. The Abra always teleported away just before he got hurt, even when he was fast asleep.

But where was Albert? Ali checked the tree, the taller grass, the rock, along the building, inside the stable… but the Abra was nowhere to be seen. Whining softly in worry, he started sniffing, seeing if he could find his friend's scent.

He did, but it came from a peculiar place. It came from above, on the roof of the main building. Ali checked the walls and was pleased to find that they were painted bricks. Gripping the slim lines between the bricks, the Chimchar scaled the building. The roof had an overhang, but he crawled over to the corner, then leapt at where the overhang was smallest. Just managing to clasp the roof's edge, he scrambled to pull himself up and over.

And yes, there was Albert, sitting and sleeping on the rooftop. It was probably a smart choice, Ali realized, as it kept him within the fence boundary, but got him out of the way of the playing, chasing, and arguing Pokemon below. Ali approached Albert slowly, not wanting him to teleport all of a sudden.

When he got to the Abra's side, he sniffed, then gently poked Albert on the shoulder. The Abra stayed put, but did raise his head. He woke up enough to turn his head, then opened his small eyes some. Having been around him, Ali knew that he didn't show people his dark brown eyes often.

Ali yawned, then licked his fingers. He patted them against his tail flame, to get it to go out. Then he put his arms and head on one of Albert's legs and curled up there. Hopefully he wouldn't teleport now.

But no. His friend softly drawled, "Zehrruull," then placed his hand on the Chimchar's shoulder. Before long, both were asleep, left to peaceful dreams.

Not even the Psychic knew that the next day would bring bad news.

…

Chimchar Diamond entry: It agilely scales sheer cliffs to live atop craggy mountains. Its fire is put out when it sleeps.

Abra Pearl entry: Even while asleep, it maintains a telepathic radar. It teleports when it is threatened.

Dun dun dun! Yes, an evil cliffhanger on a story I am unlikely to pursue. It just insisted on being put down, especially after Kyle's lines earlier in the story.