Chapter 32: Underestimation

"Charcoal! No time to ask. Throw out a fireball barrier right now," Zack yelled out to me. I raised an eye scale, curious to know what nonsense he was talking about.

"What?" I asked, making sure I heard him right.

"Do it!" he yelled. Normally I'd ask him what he was talking about and where he got the sudden randomness from, but I'd have to do what he asked of me a little later. I instantly readied a fireball upon hearing one of the four men who exited from the alarming building order one of his cohorts to kill us. To think we barely arrived in Cerulean and already we just had to run into some kind of trouble. And we haven't even made it to the gym yet. Of course, I should have known that a robbery was taking place with the masks the men were wearing. Guess I was distracted being nervous with the upcoming gym battle and all.

Focusing my attention back to the prior situation we were in, I inhaled, readying to launch what I hoped to be a rather nice sized fireball as the guy two contraptions down pulled out a long, sleek, shiny weapon and fired it right at us. Zack chose that moment to rush forward in a random direction, towards the incoming bullets. I had no time to scream out anything to Zack as I picked that moment to release my fireball. Opening my mouth, I spat out what was a fireball of a larger size than I normally spit out. I was rather impressed but how large I could make it, especially since it shielded all of us from the bullets.

As the fireball broke apart upon hitting the ground, I heard one of the robbers say, "What just happened? How'd that Umbreon do that?"

"Never mind him," came the voice of the lead robber. "Let's blow this scene before the cops arrive." As they started up their four-wheeled contraptions, I took a momentary glance to see where Zack was. Now standing in the middle of the road, Zack looked like he was completely unharmed by the bullets. How he had managed to avoid direct injury could only be the work of a new ability I concluded.

I was suddenly snapped out from my thoughts as the first four-wheeler passed by, the second one following close behind it. If these robbers think they were going to get away, then they had another thing coming. Readying a Metal Claw, I rushed out into the street as Zack barely dodged the third four-wheeler that came passing by. As the last robber was gaining speed to get away, I suddenly stopped short where the tires would be in reach and sliced my claw horizontally, making contact with the tires, causing them to blow. The robber, trying to control his mode of transportation and failing, decided to abandon said contraption as it lost control and flipped end over end.

Without missing a beat I said, "Of course, That doesn't mean that my Metal Claw is completely useless."

"Good job, Charcoal!" Zack said from behind me as I straightened up.

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

"No worries, bro," Ted said as I turned around, seeing him crouched down in that same position he always gets in right before he does his little speed trick. Zack, Skitty, and I will handle it. I trust you'll be able to take care of this one."

"No doubt," I said as I turned my attention to the robber who was only now staggering to get up. "Get going."

"Skitty, chase," Ted commanded Skitty. Before I could even turn my head, Skitty was gone like that, already half-way down the road when Ted shot off after. Zack quickly followed a split second later using his Quick Attack, knocking down the robber as he rushed off.

"He's all yours now!" he yelled back with a laugh. "Enjoy!" I had to admit that there were times Zack made the most worst of situations more… enlightened maybe? It made me wonder if he took anything seriously what with the way he responds in certain scenarios.

"Charcoal, quick! Stop him!" my trainer suddenly yelled, causing me to snap my attention back to the robber who was still lying upon the ground. At the moment, his hand was reaching down toward his waistline, causing me to spring into action.

"Oh no you don't," I yelled as I readied a fireball and spat out my regular normal sized one. The fireball made direct contact with the robber's hand just as he enlarged the pokeball. Unfortunately I was a little on the slow side. I had managed to knock the pokéball out of his hand, but by doing so I helped release the Pokèmon from within. Watching said Pokèmon burst forth, the light took form of a large, brown rat with sharp front teeth. I had to raise an eyescale at this. Seriously? The robber had a Raticate with him? I was expecting something a little more challenging say like a Persian or something.

"You're kidding me, right?" I asked, causing confusion in the Raticate's eyes. "Out of all the Pokèmon I could have fought, I'm having to fight a Raticate?"

"And what do you have against Raticate?" the Raticate asked glaringly.

"Don't get me wrong," I said. "I don't mind fighting Raticate. It's just that Raticate are one of the few who don't have a lot of strength put behind them when it comes to battling."

"So what you're saying is that you prefer an opponent who would be more of a match for you?" the Raticate asked.

"In more ways than one," I simply put.

"Oh," he said, looking like his feelings were hurt. "I see what you mean." I'm not sure what happened next after that. All I knew was that in the next instance, something sharp punctured through my shoulder, causing me to scream out in agonizing pain. Grimacing, I looked to see what was embedded within my shoulder. I couldn't really tell what it was due to it being almost completely embedded, but from what I was seeing, it looked like it was some sort of… claw?

"You should never really underestimate Raticate," the Raticate said with a smirk as I looked up at him. That smirk of his was really annoying. Thankfully he was at close range, so I raised my free, uninjured arm to take a swipe at him, only to swipe at nothing as the claw that was embedded in my shoulder disappeared as well, but not without adding more pain. I clutched at my shoulder as it bled, trying to ebb the pain as best I could.

"Charcoal!" I heard my trainer yell out in concern while Laura gasped.

"Heh," the robber said. "You kids certainly don't know where to learn your place. You'll pay for messing up our plans. Raticate, show this Charmander you mean business."

"With pleasure," the Raticate said as I took a look what was tied around his paw.

"Should have figured," I spoke, catching the Raticate's attention. "That's a Quick Claw."

"So you do know what this is then," the Raticate said. "Good. As you know, Quick Claw allows the user who holds it to strike first more often. And thanks to my Agility, my speed doubles, which means…" I barely had time to register anything else as I felt the claw suddenly go right into my uninjured arm, the pain searing even worse thanks to his doubled speed. I couldn't help but scream in even more agonizing pain,

which only pleased the Raticate further. "Sucks for you, I bet. Now you can't swipe at me with either claw."

"Funny," I grimaced, opening an eye at him. "I never recalled beating you with my claws now, did I?"

"What?" the Raticate asked as I readied a fireball.

"In case you've forgotten, I'm a fire type," I said. "Mess with me and you'll get burned!" At this I prepared to launch said fireball, the look of surprise crossing the Raticate's face. Unfortunately, as I spat the fireball out, the Raticate quickly moved out of the way, leaving the Quick Claw embedded in my arm.

"That was close!" I heard the Raticate say from behind me. "Very clever, Charmander, but not clever enough, unfortunately." I growled, spinning around as I went to fire off an Ember, only to be whacked in the face by an Iron Tail. And let me tell you, you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one, not ever. I was completely helpless as I went flying onto my back, but before I even hit the ground, I heard the robber order his Raticate a Quick Attack. I felt the Raticate ram hard into me and even though my arm was protecting most of my body, the searing pain caused by the Quick Claw flared up greatly. I gritted my teeth as I landed, skidding upon my back.

"Finish this with Hyper Fang!" I heard the robber shout as I felt the Raticate's weight upon me. Looking up at him, he was looking down at me, smirking, knowing full well that the battle was about to end.

"What's a matter, weak sauce!" he said triumphantly. "Where's all that bravado you had earlier? Something about a Raticate not having a lot of strength put behind them, eh?" I growled, clenching a paw, wanting to do nothing more than land a hit against the Raticate. Even so, I did what I could to actually try and move my arm, wincing as the embedded Quick Claw shot more pain through my body. The Raticate looked somewhat surprised. "What you serious? You're actually trying to land a hit against me?"

"Nobody… ever… calls. Me. Weak!" I yelled out, struggling to gain usage of my arm. The Raticate only chuckled after a moment of silence before his facial expression turned stone cold.

"I'm rather disappointed," he said. "I would have thought you would have something better to say as your last words instead of that." At that, he opened up his mouth, revealing his sharp fangs as he closed in on my throat. Just as he was inches from ripping out my throat, he stopped suddenly, looking up as a weird twirling sound reached my ears. A split second later, the Raticate was knocked off of me as he went flying into the air.

"What the-!" the robber said in confusion as his Raticate crashed into the mangled up four-wheeler. "Raticate!" Having craned my head up to see what was going on, I watched as a brown star Pokèmon spun about in the air, landing in front of an alley as a red-headed girl came stepping out from within.

"Good job, Staryu," she said. "Let's wrap this up quickly."

I heard the robber tsk in annoyance as he turned his attention to the newcomer. "Hey listen girlie, don't think you can go around playing hero. You have no idea who you're messing with."

"I could say the same about you," the red-headed girl said as the robber reached around for his own weapon. "Oh no you don't. Staryu, Water Pistol!" Water Pistol? That was a new attack I've never heard of before. Keeping watch upon the Staryu, he shot off his own version of a gun, the water small but quick as it struck the robber's hand, causing him to drop his gun. "Now use Water Pulse!"

A sphere made out of water formed at the very tip of the Staryu's head perhaps? I could only assume it was his head due to the way he was standing. The water had a slightly purplish tone to it as the Staryu fired it off. The Water Pulse struck the robber directly in the gut, sending him flying back into the mangled up four-wheeler and the now recovering Raticate whom I'm pretty sure was knocked unconscious having his own trainer landing on top of him.

At this point, I could feel my neck starting to ache due to me keeping my head craned up for so long. As I laid it back down upon the ground, the Staryu came walking over asking, "Are you all right there?"

"Nothing I won't live through," was my reply. Ironic being that I had something embedded in my arm. "Are the people I'm traveling with okay?"

"My trainer is talking with them now," the Staryu replied. "I do believe that they are unharmed."

"That's a relief," I said. "Thanks for the save by the way. I'd probably be mince meat if you hadn't shown up."

"It's my duty to help those in need and to protect my town," said the Staryu, which made me instantly realize something. Here I am in Cerulean City being saved by a Staryu, who just so happens to have water based attacks and currently lives within the city. Even what the Staryu's trainer said confirmed my theory.

"Are you two okay?" she asked my trainers.

"A little shook up, but we'll be all right," I heard my trainer said. "Thanks, um-"

"Misty," the trainer said. "Misty Waterflower, gym leader of the Cerulean City Gym."

Terrific.