Every inch of Pyrite was baking underneath the endless pounding of the hot desert sun. He was sweating through his thin, ratty old shirt (which was just a couple of sizes too small for him) and looked enviously into the windows of the rusty old buildings. They might be crap, but they were air conditioned crap.
There was no point. They wouldn't let him in. Why should they? He was just some penniless street kid that'd probably just rob the place.
They weren't wrong, he admitted. But damn, he'd kill for a cool breeze. Maybe he'd get one of his Eevee to evolve into a Glaceon…
Nah, who was he kidding? He didn't even know how to evolve one of his buddies into a Glaceon. He'd only ever seen Glaceon in crappy movies from Sinnoh and magazine ads. They'd never be in his budget anyway. How did you even evolve an Eevee into a Glaceon? Was there an Ice Stone or something?
Oh well, he thought as he spied a short, fat man dip into one of his alleys. The man was pale and sweating like an Emboar. His skin was flushed red with sunburn and he staggered as if drunk. Probably just some stupid foreigner visiting this junkyard of a city for some reason Wes didn't really care about.
He just cared about the man's expensive clothes, shiny gold watch, and lack of pokeballs.
Wes glanced around at the other inhabitants of Pyrite. Most were too busy gawking over the battles in Duel Square, drinking, or shooting up to bother hanging around in his neck of the woods. This network of alleyways was his little territory he'd carved out. The only other people here were a few junkies passed out by a dumpster, a Hypno hovering over the junkies that he got along with (Wes and the Hypno both preferred to be left alone), and a couple of little kids Wes let crash here when their parents got too crazy. They brought him food all the time so he didn't mind.
But more importantly, he didn't have any competition. He could rob the drunk idiot – the fat man had just started throwing up in the alley and Wes couldn't wait to make him pay for stinking it up – and pawn his stuff off to Bilo. That guy would be more than happy to take it off his hands. He'd just have to time it around that Miror B guy's patrols…his men had started getting more aggressive lately. Wes had been keeping his head low until Duking's guys cleaned things up.
That wasn't important right now. It was about time to get this show on the road. He pushed off the alley he was leaning against and tapped against the red-and-white spheres at his waist. One flash of light – the Hypno and kids glimpsed up at him warily before returning to their business – and he grinned down at his little buddies.
"Hey there," Wes grinned cockily down at the twins. They didn't come from the same egg or anything, but they'd hatched at the same time. Bright, the larger of the two, yipped and brushed against his leg. He reached down to scratch his friend's ears (and got a love bite as a reward) and glanced over to the more serious Lucky. Lucky was the one who liked this sort of thing.
"See that loser?" He jabbed a finger over at the man collapsing to the ground. The idiot was covered in his own vomit and all three of them wrinkled their noses at the bitter smell. Bright and Lucky both bared their fangs – they didn't like the man stinking up the alley any more than Wes did. "Yeah…we're gonna take his stuff. Sound good?"
Lucky growled and his tail fluffed up. Wes grinned. His buddies might be cute and cuddly (just as useful as being tough in his opinion) but they could be mean when you pissed them off. "Alright, I'll go take it. If he makes any trouble just scare him, alright? Don't need Duke sending his guys here to clean me up."
Both Eevee nodded and followed him closely, ready to surge forward and attack at the first sign of trouble. His friends could hurt, but they couldn't kill easily. Swift was their strongest attack and that wasn't gonna put them on top of the world anytime soon. Nobody wanted to scrap with them if they didn't have their own pokemon, though. It was a fight they wouldn't win.
He walked over to the puking man and glared down at him with gold eyes. Wes kicked the jackass in the ribs. All the guy did was roll over and gurgle uselessly. He rolled his eyes. What a dumbass. Anyone who got this drunk in this side of Pyrite deserved what was coming to them.
Wes gagged as he took a knee next to the puddle of vomit that stank of beer, liquor, and grease. No wonder this guy was sick. He glanced over to Lucky and Bright and snickered at the looks on their faces – they looked miserable standing there. Bright looked especially miserable.
"Calm down guys," Wes laughed as he easily slipped off the man's watch and pocketed it. That'd go for a few hundred easy. Maybe he'd have enough to get a cheap motel room and shower…plus he'd finally be able to feed himself for a bit instead of just Lucky and bright.
He ran his hands over the dumbass's shirt, seeking out anything that might be hidden in those fancy pockets. Wes frowned when he felt a hard, metallic casing. He was quick to yank out a small, compact device he recognized as a PDA. "Huh, that's cool…" he muttered. Wes pocketed that. It might be worth keeping if Bilo wasn't willing to cough up enough cash.
"You suck!" Wes accused when he realized the man didn't have anything else on him – he must've lost his wallet already. The man just dribbled some vomit-specked drool onto the pavement by Wes' boots in reply. He grimaced and glanced at the idiot's expensive shirt. It had a little puke on it, yeah, but it was made of some kind of shiny fabric that had to be worth something.
Actually, he had a better idea. Wes really didn't want to see what the guy looked like underneath that shirt…plus he didn't want to get some of the guy's sweat on him. His pits were soaked. Whoever this was really didn't know how terrible the sun was in Orre. Dude deserved this if he'd come to this wasteland unprepared.
So he took his "leather" shoes – looked like that synthetic crap from the core regions – and wrinkled his nose at the stink. This guy wasn't wearing socks and it showed…he wasn't even sure if Bilo would take these. They stunk something fierce even through the general muck and grime of the alley.
"Thanks a lot," Wes sneered down at the man as he straightened up. He pulled a few strips of jerky from his pockets and tossed them to his buddies, who were quick to gobble them up. Bright and Lucky might eat more than he did, but that wasn't saying much. Wes just went hungry more often than not – he had the bad habit of giving stupid little kids too much of his hard-earned meals.
Damn their big eyes.
He turned to go back into his "home". It was just an abandoned building not worth the effort to turn into an apartment, but it was his. Wes didn't mind. It wasn't too hot, pretty well insulated, and kept him from worrying about someone coming across him at night.
There wasn't much he needed to do. Just stash some of his stuff, warn the kids that they probably didn't want to hang around past nightfall, and get a few other knick knacks he'd "found" to take to Bilo. His stomach rumbled in anticipation…he hadn't been full in ages. Last time he scored this big was when he'd come across a few beaten up snobs from Phenac who'd managed to hide away some of their valuables before Miror B's boys had snagged them.
Bright trotted ahead, tongue lolling from his mouth, and wagged his fluffy tail. His joy was pretty damn infectious and Wes mirrored it – this was a good day. Lucky slunk behind him, always suspicious of everything. He had to admit Lucky had the right idea. Never a good idea to let your guard down in this shithole of a town. Lucky was his guard. He was too paranoid to sleep without one eye open. It'd saved their asses more than once.
Wes had barely taken three steps before his trained ears caught heavy footsteps coming up behind him. He whirled around and glared at the newcomer, a tall, burly man wearing pretty standard minor clothes and a bandana to protect himself from the sun. Must've been sweating like crazy underneath all that crap. Couldn't blame him, though. Sunburns sucked.
But more importantly, why was he glaring at him with an Ekans at his side? The snake's forked tongue flitted out as it stared at Bright and Lucky. He didn't like that look. It was hungry.
His hands tightened into fists and his heart pumped hard. Wes wasn't about to let this son of a bitch take what was his! He'd throttle that damn snake with his own two hands if he had to!
"Hand over whatever you took from him," the man said, pulling down his bandana. He looked at the fat man, who'd collapsed into a motionless heap. Only the rise and fall of his chest told Wes he was still alive. "I did all the work. I'm not letting a little shit like you steal from me!"
Wes scoffed. "Heh, like I believe that! You're not missing out on much," he sneered as Bright and Luck took their places in front of him. They were awfully scary for such fluffy little guys…a deep rumble came from deep in their throats that drew the man's attention. Ekans was quick to slither forward and coil up in front of the man. "Guy didn't have crap on him."
The man stepped forward. "Don't try to play me!" he said. Whoever he was, he was pretty pissed. Wes squared himself…he'd have to run if this turned serious. He wasn't gonna risk his friends' life in a fight against another pokemon. Didn't mean he'd turn over what was rightfully his, though. "I know he has a PDA on him and you'd better hand it over."
"The PDA?" Wes raised an eyebrow. Why'd this guy want a piece of junk like that? The watch was definitely worth more.
"Yeah. The PDA," the prick took another step forward. Wes tensed, ready to run. He'd have to return Bright and Lucky first, though. He wasn't going to risk them getting caught by that Ekans. "If you don't hand it over, my friend here," the man looked pointedly at Ekans, "is gonna tear their cute little heads off before he strangles you and eats you alive. Got it?"
Wes paled. This guy wasn't dicking around. He pulled out the PDA and waved it around. "Here, here. Take it."
The man smirked. "That's what I thought," he snickered. Ekans eyed Wes and his Eevee with something like disappointment in its cold eyes. The other trainer's eyes darkened. "Alright, toss it over. And stay still. You run, you die."
He was quick to toss it over and stood stock still. Bright and Lucky did the same. They were on the same page as Wes – live and fight another day. No point throwing their crappy lives away for nothing, right? Whoever this guy was, he was bad news.
The man pulled his bandana aside and revealed a tan, scowling face littered with scars. It looked like there was more scarred flesh than there was normal. His eyes quickly scanned over the PDA as it flipped open…then he looked back up. "Give me the watch too."
"Seriously?" Wes complained, although he was quick to pull the glittering watch out of his pocket. He looked at it disappointedly as it flew through the grimy alley and into the man's hand. He'd always had good aim.
Damn. There went his dreams of eating for a night. Bright and Lucky both wilted. They'd been looking forward to it as much as he had. It was hard getting them to eat when he had nothing on his plate.
Mr. Dickhead stroked his unshaven chin as he examined the two Eevee at Wes' feet. Something in his expression changed and Wes' gut fell. He knew exactly where this was going.
This guy was gonna ask for something Wes would never give.
"Throw over the pokeballs," Mr. Dickhead said, confirming Wes' worst fear. He picked up on Wes' hesitance and his whole demeanor darkened. "Do it or I kill you and take them off your body!"
Ekans' tongue flitted out again. Wes thought he knew which arrangement the serpent preferred.
He hated to say it, but he thought Ekans was gonna be one happy snake.
"Fuck you."
"What was that?" The newcomer pocketed the PDA and sneered at Wes. "I know I didn't just hear what I thought I did. Sounded like some punk teenager just signed his death warrant."
"Nah, you heard it right," Wes narrowed his eyes. "Fuck. You." Bright and Lucky readied themselves for a fight – their tails puffed up in a way that would be cute if it weren't for the deadly snarls on their lips.
The man glared. "Alright, Ekans. Do whatever you want. Just leave the Eevee alive."
Wes tensed up. He wanted to run, but he knew exactly what was going to happen. This guy had to be with one of the gangs. Probably one of the Knockers. Nobody would be this willing to kill otherwise. If he ran now he'd just get his throat cut one night and Bright and Lucky taken off his corpse.
There wasn't a peaceful way out of this. Not like he could afford to get out of Pyrite. "Bright, Lucky –"
Ekans lunged forward. The purple snake's jaws opened wide, revealing giant, pointed fangs hidden behind its round snout. Its eyes were white and cold as it shot towards Wes, seeking to end this fight before it even started.
Lucky, always paranoid, intercepted the snake in midair. He snapped his tiny jaws around Ekans' throat and snapped down as hard as he could…Ekans screamed and thrashed around, lunging at the tiny Eevee furiously. Lucky didn't care and was swung away as Ekans missed its target and smashed into the alley wall, cracking the old bricks and dazing it for just a second.
Bright took advantage of that as Lucky stayed latched onto Ekans, taking advantage of the situation to rip and tear and scratch in a mindless frenzy that left Ekans hissing and bleeding from patches of ripped away scales. Finally, Ekans recovered and shot at Bright with inhuman speed, jaws agape as if to swallow the little Eevee whole and –
A flurry of sharp, glowing stars from Bright's Swift attack slammed into the serpent, knocking it back. It stunned Ekans for a moment and left a few trails of oozing red on its sensitive belly, but it didn't keep it down for long. Ekans immediately recovered and slammed Lucky into the wall. Lucky squeaked out an eep of pain and was forced to let go as he fell to the ground covered in brick dust .
Bright yelped helplessly as Ekans' huge fangs managed to graze his left foreleg. The larger Eevee quickly bustled back while the Ekans began to reorient itself, quickly sliding back on its scaly hide to glare at Wes. He backpedaled and his heartbeat echoed like a drum in his ears as adrenaline flooded him – Ekans leered at him, ignoring the twin Eevee for a time as it saw the chance to end this battle once and for all.
That was its mistake. Bright hammered it with another Swift, even if the effort seemed to exhaust the injured Eevee. Ekans hissed and slithered away to avoid being cut again, even if it wasn't too badly injured by the flurry.
Its tongue flitted out as it stared at Bright, who glared back with his dark eyes as he readied himself for the inevitable lunge.
Ekans was too fast. It shot at Bright like lightning, wrapping around the Eevee quickly and coiling its body around Bright in an instant…Wes felt his breath hitch uselessly in his lungs as the Ekans stared him down, an obvious threat.
Wes reached into his pocket and carefully took hold of his switchblade. It wasn't great quality, but it would mess this snake up…well, if it didn't kill him first. All he needed was an opening…
Lucky gave it to him. Wes didn't dare look away from Ekans, but he could see a violently white glow emanating from the corner of his eye, right where Lucky had fallen a few moments ago. Wes had no idea what it was but he wasn't going to worry about that right now – as the glow intensified and Ekans glanced at the threat warily Wes struck.
He was on the Ekans in an instant. Wes flicked the thin, brittle blade of the switchblade out and didn't bother worrying about how he was probably going to die, or how this wasn't going to work, or anything else. He lost himself in a frenzy, blood pounding, head aching, vision red.
Wes gave a guttural scream as he raised and lowered his knife into the Ekans again and again and again – he lost count how many times he stabbed the snake, plunging his knife past the heavy scales and into the solid muscle below – and then Ekans screamed, whipped around, and sunk its giant fangs into his shoulder.
He screamed as its tail rattled frantically, muscles squeezing Bright tightly in its coils, and the fangs stabbed into his arm – not too deep, just forced into muscle, but then the tip of one of the venomous points scraped his bone and his vision went white, whiter than the vibrant glow coming from the corner of his eye to the even brighter glow inside Ekans' constricting coils –
Ekans' head was knocked aside, covered by an inky black interspersed with rings all over its body. They flared a violent, deadly gold and Wes heard unholy snarls and growls and a low rumble that instinctively made him back away as he stumbled to the ground. He stared up at the sky as the sounds of a vicious battle reached his ears – it wasn't long before the hisses ended.
Wes struggled to his feet, blinded by the white-hot pain burning in his shoulder…it hurt worse than anything, even the time he'd gotten it dislocated by another thug. He grimaced, but ignored the fire as best he could and used his good arm to pull himself up.
"Bright? Lucky?" He called out, vision blurry with pain. Wes took a second before he looked down at the familiar sensation of a tongue licking at his hand. It was a warm, pleasant sensation that just barely numbed the agony pulsing and pounding and burning underneath his skin…
"What?" Wes trailed off, staring down at the Espeon licking his hand. Its forehead gem was a bright red and he squinted at it, numbed and confused by his pain, before realization struck him. He shot a look over at the sounds of soft squelching and took in a vicious Umbreon tearing the Ekans apart…its muzzle was covered in blood and a strange, oily substance that smelt of poison dripped down its fur. "Lucky?"
The Umbreon glanced over with its scarlet eyes and nodded. His words seemed to distract Lucky from his trance and he trotted over, completely healed thanks to his evolution. Bright, the Espeon, purred happily as Wes unconsciously rubbed his head. Wes thought he might be in shock. Everything felt so unreal. Evolution? He didn't even know his friends could evolve right now. They were still so young…
Then he blearily looked up and caught sight of the criminal from before staring at him – electricity jolted Wes alert and he pointed a trembling finger at the bastard. "Lucky, get him!"
The man jerked from his stupor and his eyes widened. He was quick to pull his bandana up over his face and turned to run even as the snarling Umbreon shot after him with impressive speed. All of Lucky's rings hummed and shone with that fiery gold light…something about it made Wes' head ache.
Wes collapsed to his knee. Bright whined and cuddled next to him, but all Wes could do to distract himself was watch Lucky chase after the man.
"Am I dying?" He wheezed, clutching helplessly at his shoulder as the venom seemed to pound incessantly over and over and over again. Wes bit back a scream and squeezed his eyes shut. There was nobody around but his buddies to watch him die…the Hypno and the kids had gotten out the second things had turned violent. The junkies were just laying a few feet from ripped up Ekans.
"Nah, not today. Killing Besin made my day."
Wes' eyes opened to slits and he stared up at whoever it was had just appeared. This was getting really old…he hadn't even heard this guy come up.
He groaned as he saw a giant of a man standing over him. His impressive mustache was thin and wide, projecting off the side of his face. Scars littered his chest and face, some so thick and ropey they should have been fatal. The giant held the PDA Wes had stolen off the fat man (who was still passed out in the alley even after all this) and flipped it shut. This day was just getting worse and worse…
"Who're you…" Wes slurred. Bright laid his soft head on Wes' arm. He must've been really worried if he wasn't attacking the giant on sight.
"The name's Gonzap. Tell your Espeon to back off so I can give you an antidote."
He couldn't open his eyes. He could barely even speak. Wes' breath hitched as another wave of pain rolled through his whole body, though the two points where the venom injected was the worst. It was like someone had lit a match underneath his skin!
A light nudge pushed Bright away. "Do it…" he slurred. His head was swimming. He couldn't focus.
Wes groaned as a needle was carelessly jammed into his muscle. That was bad enough, but then a thick, tar-like substance shot into his bloodstream. It ached and Wes wanted to scream but he didn't dare.
He felt like shit, but he opened his eyes. Everything was still blurry and dark but he focused as best he could on the new guy. A dark shadow – Lucky – trotted over to his side and watched Gonzap warily.
"Why?"
Gonzap grinned – it was ugly, all teeth and no substance – and knelt. Wes wanted him to back off but there was nothing he could do. "You did pretty good against Besin. I think you could be pretty useful in my group."
"I'm not joining some fuckin' gang."
The man laughed. "Heh, like you've got a choice. You don't look like you're doing too good out here…"
"Wes," he filled in the gap. Wes started feeling just the tiniest bit of relief from the Antidote. It still hurt like a bitch but at least he could think now.
"Wes. I just saved your life. If it weren't for me you'd be dead in five minutes. Got that?" Gonzap stared down at him. Wes nodded, his eyes drawn to the eight pokeballs on the giant's belt. "If I wanted to I could have just left you to die and taken your pokemon. But I didn't because I'm a nice guy."
Bright and Lucky bared their fangs at that. Wes' eyes turned to slits as he glared at the giant. It wouldn't sting so much if he weren't so right…about the first part, anyway. Gonzap could have left him to die. It would've been easy. Espeon and Umbreon were both expensive pokemon. They would've gone for tens of thousands if Gonzap put them out on the market.
Gonzap definitely wasn't a nice guy though. If Wes could he'd get the hell away from the giant. He was pretty good at picking out dangerous people. It kept him pretty safe. Gonzap made all Wes' instincts scream to get the hell away from him. Nothing good would come out of this…nothing good except his survival, anyway.
"So I'll give you a choice. You can come with me and I'll get you out of Pyrite. No questions asked as long as you work with my Team. You'll get three meals a day and room and board. All we ask is for a few favors."
Wes nodded. "What's the other?"
"I take your pokemon and leave you here. The Knockers will find you in a few hours and you'll get made an example of."
Well, that sealed the deal. "I'm in," Wes groaned. He felt like he'd just made a terrible mistake, but he didn't really have a choice, did he? If worst came to worst he'd just run away. But at least he'd get some food out of it.
"Glad to hear it," Gonzap grinned nastily as he hauled Wes up. Bright and Lucky watched the giant warily…they definitely didn't trust him. He winced at the sensation – it hurt like a bitch – but Wes hid it as best he could and looked around the alley.
He had the feeling he'd never see this place again. Wes would say it was a bad feeling, but this place was crap anyways. This wasn't the worst Pyrite had to offer, but it wasn't far from it.
"Follow me," Gonzap ordered as he started walking out the alley. Wes figured it was a good idea to obey. He went ahead and returned Bright and Lucky. He'd just be ready to release them again at a moment's notice if Gonzap tried to screw him over.
Wes glanced down at the pricks body as they left the alley. He felt a little sick but didn't throw up or anything stupid like that. He'd never seen a body with its throat ripped out before, but he figured it couldn't have happened to a better guy. He stopped by the body, though, and scooped out the gold watch on the man's wrist before he jogged to catch up with Gonzap.
That guy was a dick anyway.
A/N: Alright, here's the last one before I start continuing the previous stories! Hope you enjoyed. It's a bit darker and bloodier than most of the Traveler universe but I thought it's appropriate for how I've set up Orre in the past. Keep in mind that this is the worst of Orre – you won't see crap like this happening everywhere, even in Pyrite. But this is when Cipher and Team Snagem are both on the rise and the region hasn't been cleaned up yet.
Thanks for reading! Make sure to review!
