Chapter 28: Breakfast and Visions

"Rawr!" was the first thing my ears picked up upon waking up, and my eyes weren't even open yet, not that I needed to open them to know who it was.

"Morning, Skitty," I said with a yawn.

"Good morning!" she said back. "How are you?"

"Feeling loads better now that I got some sleep," I replied happily. "How are you?"

"I'm as perky as evah!" was her reply. "Say, why are your eyes closed? Can you see better when they're shut?" Why were my eyes still shut? I had no intention of going back to sleep. Some times I just don't understand myself. Opening my eyes and shutting them due to the sun being in my eyes and having to blink a couple times until my eyes adjusted, there stood Skitty, the sun beaming down upon her, radiating something off of her I couldn't quite describe. I watched as she tilted her head to one side and looked at me like I was her morning breakfast.

"Um, is something wrong?" I asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Hmm?" Skitty like she was lost in thought. "Oh. Nothing. It's nothing. Just, um…" she trailed off, looking around until she spotted Ted nearby eating breakfast. "Ooh! Breakfast! BACON!" Skitty zipped off before I could blink and was over with the others when I did. The rumbling of my stomach made me realize also just how hungry I was. Getting up and stretching out my muscles, I walked over to the rest of the group, being greeted by Ted.

"Morning, Zack bro," he said, sitting in an odd position. "Your food's over there if you're hungry. Laura did the honors of placing crumbled bacon in it to add flavor." What was this bacon being mentioned? Must have been a human food, which, oddly enough, I never really stopped to try any human foods during my travels. I mostly ate berries more often than not, along with whatever I found edible lying around on the ground. Then there was that green slimy stuff that floated around in lakes, but that's a whole different story. So all in all, I wondered how tasty this bacon stuff would be.

Walking over to what appeared to be a round, circular object, I looked down in it to see some mushy, gooey stuff sitting in it, along with bits of crumbled up stuff I assume was the bacon. I lowered my head and took a great whiff to get in the smell. I wasn't exactly sure what I was smelling, nor did I care, yet I could smell something… crispy lingering in the air. Was that meat? Without a second's hesitation, I gulped up everything into my mouth in one go and chewed, trying to feel the flavor. Honestly, I didn't even know what I was chewing. It could have been poisoned for all I knew. Oh well. At least I'd die with a full stomach!

"I knew he'd like it," I heard Laura say. "Guess the bacon was a big hit after all."

"Provided he even tasted anything at all," I heard Charcoal say, causing me to whip my head around and stare right at him, my mouth full of food. Charcoal just blankly stared at me as I swallowed everything in one go before smiling. "Now that's just creepy." Ted laughed as Skitty started smacking her bowl thing around and even picking it up.

"I know you has more treats in there!" she said, smashing the thing upon the ground. "Open I say!"

"That was good," I said, licking around for any crumbs. "What was that stuff anyway?"

"Chicken with crumbled up bacon, bro," Ted answered me.

"Hmm," I said, trying to think up of how well it tasted and how I wanted to word it. "Well, it did taste a little on the funny side, rather bland, but I suppose it was all right."

"Yet you ate the entire thing in one go," Charcoal said.

"I was hungry," I said.

"At least he actually tried feeling the taste," Ted said. "Did you at least taste the bacon?"

"I'm not sure exactly," I replied. "Unless it was that crunchy crumbled up stuff you mentioned. I didn't really taste much of that."

"Not bad for your first try though, right?" Ted asked.

"I'll have some more if-" I was suddenly interrupted as something smacked right into my face and stuck there. All I could see was the bottom of one of these round food dishes heard Skitty scream something.

"Strike!"

So after breakfast was over and I had asked Charcoal about where humans got their food from, which he started explaining to me about a building full of food that could feed a single person an entire year or so… wait, where was I? Oh. Right. So after we had our breakfast and the humans packed everything of their stuff up, we all left the area we spent the night in and made way to the next city, which only took us up until my stomach began grumbling again. Wow! The day went by quicker than I thought. That or my stomach digests too quick. I must have been lost in my thoughts a lot longer than I had thought, or maybe it was shorter, I couldn't tell. All I knew was that when I was snapped out of said thoughts, we were all standing before the entrance to the city we were traveling to.

"We're here at last!" my trainer said, looking up at the sign. "Cerulean City!" I heard Charcoal sigh behind me, causing me to turn about and take notice that he wasn't looking too happy. Must have been that whole 'water having the better advantage over fire' thing.

"Cheer up, Charcoal," I said. "We'll win this."

"How can I?" he asked. "I'm going to be fighting a water type. My fire attacks won't do a single thing to it."

"But what about your Metal Claw?" I asked.

"I don't like close combat," he replied. "I have a better chance of protecting myself with the use of my fire."

"Save for water, rock, and other fire types," Ted stated as we all walked through the gate, overhearing my trainer mumbling about where to find the next gym.

"Am I any of those types?" Skitty asked.

"You're a normal type," Charcoal said to her. "You'd stand a little more of a chance than I would. Zack and Ted could definitely hold their own. Say-"

"Afraid not, bro," Ted said almost instantly, reading Charcoal's mind.

"Was worth a shot," Charcoal grumbled.

"So anyway Charcoal, did you ever figure out a possible weakness Destiny may have?" I asked.

"Unfortunately finding a weakness takes a lot longer than just overnight," Charcoal replied. "Let alone an entire day. For instance, I'd have to see him in action physically. Know just how powerful he is, study the way he moves, know all his tricks,-"

And there went my brain again. I didn't mind his talking, it's just that he could tone down the intellect and give me things without all the unnecessary details. It made my ears ring, which I was beginning to doubt that the ringing was all in my head to begin with. "Hold on there, Charc. bro," Ted said, cutting him off in mid-sentence while sticking a claw in his ear and twisting it back and forth. "My ears are starting to ring." Was his talking that contagious? Glad to know I wasn't the only one hearing that ring, I think.

"Hey, do you hear something ringing or is that just me?" I heard Laura suddenly say. Since when could she understand Charcoal? Either that or she just heard too many of his "Chars" to make her head spin and ears ring. Heh! That'd be so cool to see a person's head actually spin around like a Noctowl.

"I hear it too," my trainer said. "It sounds like it's coming from around the block. Come on!" We all gave chase, rounding a corner and drawing nearer to where the ringing was originating from. Good thing it wasn't me.

"What's that ringing sound?" asked Charcoal as we all slowed down to a stop.\, reaching wherever the ringing was coming from.

"What do you suppose is going on?" Laura asked, walking a few steps forward when my trainer stopped her by grabbing her shoulder.

"I don't think we want to stay and find out," he said, his voice hinting something not quite right going on. My fur began standing on end because of that and I could feel that Ted and Charcoal were tensed as well. As the humans were turning around to walk the opposite way we came, I got a good look of what stood in the middle of the road. Apparently there were four strange contraptions lined up, unsure of which way they were facing. They were all sitting on something big, round, and rubber like, two on each side. My curiosity was beginning to get the better of me, the desire to check out what these things were.

Suddenly, something quite strange happened. I wasn't quite sure what was happening, but the ringing suddenly stopped just as four humans came running right out of a building and aimed straight for the contraptions in the road. Apparently they were big enough for them to sit on, for each one went to one and swung a leg over the seat. I took that opportunity to study what they looked like. It was rather difficult to tell with their faces covered. And they were all wearing the exact same black clothes, including what covered their faces. I noticed that one of the humans was pointing a finger at us, his mouth moving, but no words coming out. My eyes darted to the human two contraptions down as he was pulling out something long and shiny, pointing it at us as well. I didn't like the way that thing looked, especially when it started shooting off flashes. That's when everything slowed down.

Staring at whatever the human was holding, I took notice of tiny sized metal things being blasted out. Even though I didn't know what they were, I could tell that they were extremely bad, especially if they were being blasted out of something, like when I fire off my Swift, only I could practically see the air rippling behind these metal objects, telling me that they were traveling at an approximately high speed. There seemed to be a million of these metal objects clustered together as they were all fired out from the long shiny object the human held. And unfortunately, they were all coming straight for me, my friends, and our human trainers with no possible opening of esca- Wait! I spoke too soon. I noticed a rather wide gap in among the metal objects, some of them straying off to the side. It may not have been big enough to make for it, if one was a human, that is. Luckily for me, with the right speed and momentum, I might just be able to leap through that gap, only I would be the only one safe while everyone else would take the hit.

I was about to turn and yell something out to Charcoal when suddenly, the metal objects went into reverse, each and every single one of them returning to the weapon the masked human held. Things got even weirder as the humans reversed everything they did, jumping off their strange seated contraptions and running backwards into the building in a straight line without falling over. I barely had time to register what happened as the ringing suddenly returned. What just happened? Did I just obtain a new power to see into the future? My question was instantly answered as the same four masked humans came running out from the building and onto their strange contraptions again. I knew what was about to happen, so acting fast I yelled out to Charcoal.

"Charcoal! No time to ask. Throw out a fireball barrier right now."

"What?" I heard him ask.

"Do it!" I yelled as I watched the same guy on the contraption nearest the building point at us.

"Kill them!" I heard him yell. I watched as the other guy pull out his weapon and pointed it right at us. I took that moment to run straight at them, aiming for the spot I saw the gap at just as I heard a loud rattling noise. I leapt just as he did that, feeling the speed of the metal objects whizzing past me as I flew through the gap. I looked back to see how the others were as I landed, seeing a fairly nice sized fireball being launched from Charcoal, protecting him and the others from the metal objects. I'd definitely be needing to explain myself later.

"What just happened?" I heard one of the humans say as I turned my attention back to them. "How'd that Umbreon do that?"

"Never mind him," the human at the end said as a loud roar emitted from the contraption he sat on. "Let's blow this scene before the cops arrive." Oh! Now I think I understood what was going on. Unfortunately, I didn't have any time to do anything else as the contraptions the humans were on suddenly shot forward, the first two bypassing me. I had to leap to the side as the third one swerved to hit me. Then the fourth one shot forward after the others, only as he passed by the group, it suddenly went crazy. The human tried steering his wheeled contraption to stay straight, only to have it flip over, the human jumping off as it did. That was awfully strange. Something told me that that wasn't what he meant to do.

"Of course," Charcoal said as I turned my attention to him, his Metal Claw activated. "That doesn't mean that my Metal Claw is completely useless."

"Good job, Charcoal!" I said with a nod.

"Later," he said. "Those other three are getting away."

"No worries, bro," Ted said as he crouched into that position of his when he was about to do his speed thing. "Zack, Skitty, and I will handle it. I trust you'll be able to take care of this one."

"No doubt," Charcoal said as the human was getting up. "Get going!"

"Skitty," Ted said. "Chase." Skitty zipped off after the other three wheeled contraptions as Ted shot off in pursuit. I followed after, activating my Quick Attack and bowling the human over just as he got up.

"He's all yours now!" I yelled back at Charcoal as I laughed. "Enjoy!"