Chapter 2: Butterfly Wings
What is this place? Scythertwo thought as he flew down on the psychic energy that carried him along. He had arrived in what appeared to be a small town. Just one of the many places he once had to avoid, living on top of that mountain. But, he was here now. Why did I land here, anyway...? The cloned mantis pondered as he landed behind a shrub to collect his bearings. It was almost morning. Fortunately for him, there didn't seem to any humans or other Pokémon out and about, so he was free to wander...for a while, at least. Still, I should be careful. He had to admit, he was awfully curious about this place.
He wandered out from behind the shrub and started to observe his surroundings. A lot of, oh what are these things called...houses, was it? Scythertwo indeed saw many houses and some other buildings. He wondered if any other Pokémon lived in those houses with the humans. If they did, he hoped the humans were treating them well and not simply using them, as he had once believed they all did.
He wandered into what appeared to be the town's center and there was some kind of machine spouting out water. There was a stone figure of some kind of Pokémon that he had never seen before. It looked like it had two flowers in place of hands or paws, and water was coming out of them. Wonder what this thing is, Scythertwo thought as he dipped a scythe into the water. He splashed some on his face, and it was cool. It felt good, refreshing. That certainly woke me up, heh...
Suddenly, he heard a door open from a house nearby. Shoot, I guess some humans like to get an early start. Scythertwo started to fly, and headed over to a wooded area nearby. My cue to leave, for now. He definitely wanted to come back at some point, this place seemed interesting. Though, why he was taking such a particular interest in this town, even he didn't know yet.
He flew into a tree and sat on a branch for a bit. He thought about his game plan going forward. He had to find a place to stay, something to eat, and maybe something to do. He was a wild Pokémon - a real wild Pokémon. Scythertwo was a hideaway no more, so now he had to find a way to fit in amongst the real Pokémon.
He hopped off the branch and started to fly around, hoping to maybe find a berry bush or fruit tree. There were a few Pokémon wandering about. Some Caterpie and Weedle, and some of a similar species that he had never seen before. It was dark grey with what seemed to be a buck tooth at the front of his mouth. Scythertwo wondered what it was until he saw a few more of them heading over to a small grove. He decided to follow them, then saw some trees bearing rather fresh looking fruit. An apple tree caught his eye, so he flew over and looked up at it. His eyes gleamed at the sight of such fresh fruit, so without hesitation, he sliced some to the ground with his scythes then immediately flew down to dig in.
He bit into one and was very pleased with the taste. It was, indeed, very ripe and juicy. He ate a few more and was about to fly off again when he heard the sound of struggling. He looked over and amongst the Pokémon enjoying their food, he saw a strange little bird Pokémon at the base of a tree. It had a orange-red head and grey body. Its tail was black with a white strip going horizontally across it in a V-shape. Scythertwo walked over and saw that it was struggling to fly. He felt sorry for it. He looked up and saw that it was trying to reach some peaches in the tree. They do look good... he thought to himself. It also only made him feel more sorry for the little bird. He decided to help it.
He walked over slowly so that the bird wouldn't be too alarmed and spoked as softly as he could. "Hey...do you need some help?"
The little bird looked up at him and looked scared for a minute until his words were processed. "Oh, would you? That would be fantastic." He tried to lift his left wing and winced in pain. "My wing is injured, you see? Got into a scuffle with a Trainer..."
"Say no more," Scythertwo replied. Now, this is something I would never have dreamed of doing when I was..."born..." helping the naturally born.
Scythertwo flew up and spotted out the best fruits. Bingo. He collected a few by gently cutting into them with a scythe and then cutting the stem with the other. He brought four down to the bird, and dropped three in front of him and ate the last one himself. It was even better than it looked, and he was certainly grateful for having access to good fruit in these woods. Though, he doubted the water in the area would be as pure as that of Mt. Quena.
The bird dug into the fruit and smiled happily and very gratefully. After a few bites, he said "thank you so much! I really wanted fruit today and was trying to fly but..." he looked at his wing sadly, "it's just not fully recovered yet, I guess."
Scythertwo looked at the wing and sighed, before saying, "Well, I wish there were some way I could help." Why am I wanting to help others, anyway? He thought, as he said that. "What kind of Pokémon are you, anyway? I've never met a Pokémon like you before."
The little bird looked at him and explained, "I'm a Fletchling! And you're a Scyther, correct?"
"Scyther" flinched a little as he heard that. "Yeah...a Scyther...just a normal Scyther..." He spoke the last part under his breath.
"Just a what?" the Fletching asked. This caused Scythertwo to perk up.
"Oh, uh...nothing." He didn't think he had said it that loud.
"Alrighty, then." The Fletchling began to walk. "Well, I'm going to go home and rest thing wing a bit. See ya' and thanks again!" He waved his good wing, but before he left they heard something. It was a human voice.
"Now, this is a shot I've certainly never gotten before!" The voice spoke. It was female, and young by the sound of it.
Scythertwo looked over and saw a woman with blonde hair and dark green eyes She was wearing a white shirt, grey-green pants and some sturdy-looking boots. In her hands, she held some strange, dark grey device with a piece of glass in the front. Behind her were two Pokémon that Scythertwo had never seen before. One was blue with four legs and a yellow antenna on its head. The other was some sort of butterfly Pokémon with primarily pink wings and a grey body. On its head were two antennae. "A Scyther and a Fletchling sharing a meal together..." she spoke to herself. "What do you think, guys?"
The two Pokémon spoke in agreement. "I like it!" The little blue one exclaimed enthusiastically. "Very peaceful!"
The butterfly spoke in a gentle but supportive voice. "I agree. It's not often we see this kind of friendship..." she looked at Scythertwo. "Especially one that we can capture so well."
That set something off in Scythertwo's head. "Capture?!" Is she trying to capture us? He started hovering and immediately assumed a defensive stance. Not if I have anything to say about it. They won't take us. "Get behind me," he told Fletchling. He did, and hoped that Scyther wouldn't get too hurt. He knew who these were, and that they were nobody to mess with. The woman appeared startled. The butterfly then realized what she had said.
"Oh, no, we weren't going to try to catch you," she said hoping not to engage in a battle, "I meant as in capturing a photograph." This left Scythertwo puzzled. A "photograph?" He wondered, what in the world is that?
The Trainer didn't understand what the Pokémon were saying so she assumed this meant she had agitated the Scyther. She saw it as time for a battle. "I guess we upset it, it looks like it's going to attack. Go, Vivillon!"
"Oh, dear..." Vivillon was worried. She hadn't meant to start this, but now she had no choice but to attack. She awaited her Trainer's command.
"Use Gust!" The woman shouted. Vivillon obeyed, and with her wings, she sent a strong wind towards Scythertwo. He crossed his scythes in front his face defensively and took the attack surprisingly well.
Then, he remembered his superior strength. My turn, he thought as he readied his attack. He charged Vivillon at an alarming speed and used his Cut attack. Vivillon immediately noticed his strength, and in a panic, she started trying to negotiate with him.
"We honestly weren't trying to catch you!" Vivillon then head her Trainer command a Sleep Powder attack. "We were just trying to get a picture of you!" She then used the move, hoping it would at least calm the mantis down a little bit.
Scythertwo felt the powder flow into his nostrils and began to feel calmer. He heard Vivillon say that they would get him and this Fletchling to a "Pokémon Center" or something like that before he eventually succumbed to the powder's effect.
Ohh, jeez... Scythertwo had finally woken up and quickly noticed that everyone was gone. No...no! Where did they go?! Where's- his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a familiar voice. He looked over and saw Vivillon.
"Oh, good. You're awake." She smiled at him in a manner that she hoped was reassuring. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working because Scythertwo immediately jumped up and began searching for Fletchling. When he didn't see him, he looked at Vivillon and started questioning her.
"Where is he?! Were you and Trainer the ones who hurt him?! What-" his rapid interrogatory exclamations were interrupted by another Sleep Powder flowing into his nostrils. Thought, this one was noticeably weaker, as he didn't feel like he was going to fall asleep. Rather, he just felt very calm and relaxed all of a sudden.
"Now, then..." Vivillon saw that he was now calmed and ready to converse, hopefully. "My Trainer, Viola, has taken your friend to a Pokémon Center to get his wing fixed. And we weren't the ones who hurt him, don't worry."
Scythertwo looked the butterfly dead in the eyes. "You're sure?"
She nodded and smiled. "Positive. Sorry for my poor choice of words back there." She hoped she was getting through to him. Then, he breathed a sigh and she figured that was him believing her.
"Alright, apology accepted," he said. "Sorry for attacking you. I've just been a little on edge recently..." Then something hit him, and he asked, "what's a Pokémon Center?"
Vivillon was confused now. How could a Pokémon who lived so close to town not know what a Pokémon Center is? "It's ok, but...you don't know what a Pokémon Center is?"
"No," he responded, "I, uh..." Now he to think of some phony story to tell her. "I...just arrived here, actually. It's not something I really wanna discuss." Man, I hope she buys this. Thankfully, she seemed to.
"Oh, I'm sorry if it's a touchy subject." She fluttered over next to him and sat. "If you don't want to discuss it, we don't have to."
Scythertwo was relieved that she had bought it. "Thank you, uh...Vivillon, was it?"
"Yep! That's me!" She exclaimed happily. "That other Pokémon was my friend, Surskit and our Trainer Viola is the Gy-wait, am I correct in assuming that you're unfamiliar with Gyms and the Pokémon League?" She realized that since he didn't know what Pokémon Centers were, he probably didn't know what the League was, either.
"Uh, heh...you assumed correctly..." Scythertwo chuckled nervously. He was now realizing that he may have a lot more to learn about the outside world than he initially thought.
Vivillon took a deep breath as she prepared to explain the Pokémon League to him. "Oooh, boy, where to start..."
She then proceeded to explain everything to him as best as she could. Everything from the Gyms, and their Leaders who specialize in specific types of Pokémon, the Elite Four and Champion, and competitive battling. To Scythertwo's surprise, he was getting really interested in this whole thing all of a sudden. It just sounded so...exciting!
"And, as it so happens, Viola specializes in Bug-Type Pokémon like us!" Vivillon hoped that she had done a good enough job of explaining everything to the Scyther, but judging by the smile on his face, she supposed she did.
Scythertwo was feeling very pumped about this whole thing, to say the least. Suddenly, he had an idea. He was about to ask Vivillon a question that he hoped he wouldn't regret. "Really? I, uh...don't suppose that Viola is looking for any new team members, is she?" The idea of battling challengers and getting closer to humans just sounded really appealing.
Vivillon looked at him. Was he asking to join their team? Well, it might not be such a bad idea. We could use the extra strength. She replied, "Well, I think that's a question for Viola. We can ask she gets here." Suddenly, as if on cue, she appeared with the Fletchling in her arms. "Ah, here she is now!"
"Hey there, guys!" She gently patted Fletchling's head and said, "we'll be looking after this little one for a while until his wing fully recovers." Viola then saw Vivillon come up to her, as she proceeded to do her best to communicate to her what the situation was.
After a minute, Viola seemed to understand. "Are you saying that Scyther wants to join us?" Vivillon smiled, nodded, and fluttered around as a positive response. Viola looked at Scyther who seemed to have a hopeful smile on his face. "Well, we could use a little more strength on the team. If you two have made peace, then I say the more, the merrier!"
Vivillon cheered and went over to Scythertwo. "Welcome to the team, Scyther! You're going to love it at the Gym!"
Scythertwo felt happy. Happier than he had been in a long time. He seemed to have friends who would accept him for who he was. Not that they'd ever know, but still. He was elated.
"Thank you, Vivillon." Then, he noticed Viola take something and hold it out. It was one of those Poké Balls that Vivillon had explained to him about.
"Go on!" Surskit said eagerly, "hit it!" And he did.
He tapped the Poké Ball with one of his blades, and it opened. He was then enveloped in some kind of energy and soon was inside the Ball. When he was, he spoke to himself: "I am not Scythertwo...not anymore." He smiled and sighed. "I'm just...Scyther." He was finally free. He finally had the chance to live here, amongst real Pokémon and be able to get closer to humans - a species whom he once believed were dangerous to him.
He then felt himself being coated in energy once again, and was out of the Ball.
"Welcome to the team, Scyther!" He heard from Viola. "Come on, everyone. Let's go home!"
As they began to walk, he thought about what his life would be like now. A life he never thought he'd be able to live. If he ever met that boy and his friends again, he'd have to thank them. But, until then, he only had one thing to do - enjoy his new life.
...
...and make sure that nobody finds out what he truly was.