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The Dark Type	By : Manifest Destiny Category: Pokemon > General Views: 36310 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is copy write by GameFreak, INC. and Nintendo. I make no money from this story, nor do I seek any.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
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Chapter 2: Cry in the Night
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“I’m going to ask him tonight, Kate.”
Katelyn was lying on her bed reading a book when Iruni came limping into her room, her hair flowing down the sides of the pillow she lay on. Despite being three years apart in age, Iruni and his sister were sometimes mistaken for each other. This was likely because of their similar choices in hair length. Azula was curled up and asleep on her smaller circular bed in the corner of her room. The floor was mostly filled with Kate’s boxed-up belongings for her move back to Saffron City. Outside, snow was falling heavily at a slight angle, just fast enough to obscure the forest that began Route 44.
“And you think I need lessons on common courtesy? Ask who about what?” Katelyn asked, annoyed. She set down her book on the nightstand next to her bed and sat up to listen to what her brother deemed important enough to interrupt her reading.
“I’m going to ask Dad if I can start my Trainer career once this storm’s passed,” he told her.
Kate looked rather surprised. “Where’s this coming from? I thought you were fine with waiting until you were eighteen like Dad said.”
“There’s no way I’m waiting until July to leave home. I have nothing to do here. The only reason I took those advanced classes at school in the first place was so I could get an early start on my journey. I’ve just been out of school for over two months and I’m going crazy with boredom. I know I’ll regret it if I wait another half a year to get out of here and actually start living my life. And right now, the only thing stopping me is Dad being overprotective.”
“That and you’ve got a broken shoulder, or did you already forget about yesterday?” Kate asked, crossing her arms. “There’s no way he’d let you head out in your condition.”
She has a point, Iruni admitted to himself. The scuffle at the Lake of Rage seemed to take a harder toll on Iruni than he had thought initially. As the doctor at the Mahogany hospital had explained, he suffered from a broken left shoulder, a sprained right ankle, and two cracked ribs. His left arm was currently in a brace that kept any movement from the shoulder to his elbow at a standstill.
“It’s not as bad as it looks. I can move around just fine. I’ll just have to take it easy for a while.”
“You know Dad would never buy that. You saw how freaked out he was when he saw you coming back from the lake all beat to hell. He doesn’t want anything to happen to us. I know he can be excessive sometimes, he has been since Mom passed, but he just wants what’s best for us.”
Their mother, Jennifer Thomas, had become very ill just before Iruni entered high school. She passed on just before he finished his freshman year. Their father had seemed to bounce back emotionally from the loss rather well, as did Iruni and Kate, but he had become much more involved about keeping his family safe as a result.
The subject of his mother often made Iruni fall silent. His mother’s passing was one of the worst times of his life, and made his high school career all the more difficult. Iruni’s mother had been a Pokémon researcher in Kanto before she met his father. The entire time she was sick, Jennifer was never upset about her illness, and seemed to take it better than anyone else. She often made jokes about it, and was the one that laughed the hardest at them. She always had a commanding presence about her. She always knew how to cheer up her children when they had a problem.
In honor of his mother, Iruni had modeled his extensive essay on Dark Types on one of her research documents he found, and even dedicated the document to her.
The silence continued for a few more moments before Iruni let out a long and drawn out sigh.
“Fine, I get it. I was just getting ahead of myself with the idea. Do you think he‘d let me leave once my shoulder got better?” Iruni did his best to steer the topic away from the topic of his mother.
“Pfft, I’m not him, I wouldn’t know,” Kate said dismissively.
“Do you think I could make it on my own?”
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see you have potential as a trainer. You’ve got more common sense than to go and try and take on the Gym Circuit unprepared. You already have a Pokémon, and the two of you get along great. You have a great head on your shoulders when it comes to battles, and hell, you’ve got most of my Pokémon’s moves memorized, so I think you’ll do fine out there. As for Dad, he’ll need some more persuasion than a lazy Houndour and nearly getting eaten by a grouchy Gyarados.”
“I just hope he will see it your way,” said Iruni. “I understand the concern and all, but I really feel like I need to get my life moving. Speaking of leaving, when is your trip to Saffron happening now?”
Kate laughed before she answered. “Since I’m not mortally wounded, I will be leaving once this storm has passed, but who knows how long this’ll last.” Kate looked out her window, guessing in her head how much had already fallen. The storm had bypassed the ‘accurate’ time frame the meteorologists had predicted again. “So, you still plan on asking him?”
“Tonight, after supper. Speaking of, I’m feeling like cooking spaghetti with garlic bread tonight. What do you think of that?”
“Sounds good to me. Just don’t burn down the house trying to boil the water, alright gimpy?”
Iruni tried to think of how one would actually go about performing such a feat when he heard the front door open.
“Hey guys, I’m home!” Iruni’s father called as he took off his coat and headed for the front closet. Vester, who had gotten absolutely covered during the walk from the bank, sent snow flying through the house as he shook himself.
“Hi Dad,” Iruni and Katelyn called back in unison.
Their father came over to Kate’s doorway, still with his snow-covered coat and briefcase in hand. Vester was close behind, annoyed at the current weather outside and his wet fur.
“Whew, that snow is getting pretty heavy out there. I sent everyone home at lunchtime. Vester hates having to walk when it’s snowing out.” He laughed as his Persian came in and jumped up on Kate’s bed, trying to warm himself.
“How bad are the roads out there?” Katelyn asked as she got up and put a blanket over the shivering, wet feline.
“It’s a level three snow emergency as of now. The Center is going to stay open for emergencies, and the city is trying to use the salt trucks and plows to keep the major roads passable. But it’s really coming down out there. Imagine the skiing conditions right now…” Bruce had always been an avid skier whenever time allowed it. “How’s your arm doing, Iruni?”
“Better. I can move it from my elbow down without any pain.” Iruni demonstrated that his lower arm had all but the full range of motion, limited only by the brace keeping his shoulder in an ample healing position.
“Make sure you don’t aggravate it. I don’t think getting to the hospital would be easy in this weather.”
“Well, our resident one-armed chef here has volunteered to cook tonight, so what time should we start worrying about supper?” asked Kate.
“Oh? What are you cooking?”
“I thought we’d have spaghetti tonight. We haven’t had that in a while.”
“Sounds good. Let’s shoot for around seven to start cooking; I have some paperwork to get done on our accounts while I have the files with me.”
—————
Once the Thomas family had finished their meal—which took longer to prepare than Iruni had initially thought—Bruce headed to his work room down the hall.
As he was clearing the dishes, Iruni contemplated the best way to open the subject of his early departure.
I should lead into it gradually, rather than say it out of the blue. He might just tell me to ask him later if he’s busy, so I have to finish this up soon. I can’t let him shut me up. He’s my Dad and all, but I won’t let him ignore me. I don’t want to piss him off, though. I shouldn’t have to be afraid of my Dad, the worst he could do is say ‘no’ anyway. If he does say ‘no,’ could I just accept that? I can’t stand just being at home anymore. I could leave home whenever I’m better. No, that would only make everything worse.
As Iruni continued his inward battle with himself, he failed to notice that he’d stopped putting the dishes away, and that he had been staring off into space for some time.
“HEY GIMPY!”
Iruni almost dropped the casserole dish he was holding, catching it by trapping it between his left leg and his working right arm. He wheeled around to find Katelyn laughing at his reaction.
“What’s the matter with you? I could’ve dropped this!”
“But you didn’t. Now will you hurry up with the dishes?”
“Oh, right. Sorry. Is Dad working on anything right now?”
“Not sure, but I’d hurry up with that before he gets busy… actually, here, I’ll finish this up while you go try and convince him.”
“Thanks a bunch, Kate. I owe you one. And stop calling me ‘gimpy’…”
“I’ll remember that for later, and that nickname sticks until you can remember how to walk correctly like the rest of us. Now hurry up and ask him already!”
Iruni made his way to his father’s office. The far wall had large sliding doors that led out onto the back patio. The right wall had his father’s desk and computer in the corner. The room had three bookshelves lining the wall where the door connected to the hallway, two of which were filled with old bank statements and similar documents. The third was a display case without the glass door. It housed the things most precious to his father: his wedding pictures, his high school and college diplomas, various trophies from past competitions he had won, an ornate sword-shaped letter opener embedded in a clear crystal base, and five empty Poké Balls which used to contain the other members of his old Pokémon team. The occupants of the balls in question had been released years ago. When Bruce retired from being a Trainer, he offered to let his team return to the wild. Only Vester chose to stay. At the center of the five spheres of varying colors was a stand to prop up an open Trainer Badge case, which was absent. Bruce was holding his case, examining the eight symbols of accomplishment he had earned all those years ago.
“Hey Dad, what’s up?”
“Oh, nothing much, just feeling a bit nostalgic tonight.” He set the case filled with freshly polished Badges back on its pedestal. “I was thinking on finishing up this paperwork now, and heading to bed. You need anything?”
Iruni took a deep breath and sighed, a feeble attempt at ridding himself of his nervousness. I guess no leading up to it gradually. It’s now or never.
“Um, yeah, actually. I know I had agreed to wait until I was eighteen to start my Trainer career, but I was wondering if you would consider letting me start a bit earlier.”
“I see… How early did you have in mind?”
“Once my arm is better, and this snow is gone and melted. I know it’s soon, but I really think I should leave as soon as possible.” The look on his father’s face didn’t seem like he was giving him a convincing case. Iruni started to panic.
“I don’t think that would be a very good idea,” his father said. “I don’t think you’re ready yet to head out into—”
“But I do!” Iruni all but yelled. His father stopped what he was doing at his desk. “Kate does, too! You might think you know what’s best for me, but I’m the only one who knows what feels best! I know it’s because you care about my safety, but I’m not a little kid anymore. I don’t have anything to do here and I don’t think waiting around for half a year doing nothing will help prepare me. I know you can still refuse, but I’m not backing down on this. Mom always taught me never to back down on something if I believe in it.” As Iruni continued his rant, his father just sat at his desk, not making a single objection to what his son was saying. When he finished, he met his son’s stern look with a calm and relaxed expression.
“So, you won’t back down and let me stand by my original answer? Even if I were to lay out consequences, such as extending the time until you can leave?”
“No Dad, I meant everything I said. I will keep at this.”
“Hmm…” Iruni’s father grabbed a small stack of papers, pulled out one, and handed it to Iruni. “Do me a favor and read when that account was made, and who can access it.”
“‘Account opened September 16, 1994. Account Holders: Bruce Atticus Thomas, Jennifer Ellen Thomas,’… and me? Why is my name on this account?” Iruni went wide-eyed when he saw the balance of the account; a sizable amount. “Why didn’t I know about this before?”
“Well, your mother and I had a long talk when we got back from our trip to Kanto that year. We saw how much getting Karros excited you about being a Trainer, so we opened up an account in all of our names. This was meant to be your funds for your training journey, and with me and your mother on the account, we could add money any time you needed it. I wanted to keep you at home until you were eighteen so that the account would grow as much as possible before you set out. But I can see that you’re serious about leaving sooner. I’m glad that you have the determination to follow through on your dreams.” He got up from the desk and handed Iruni a worn envelope, weathered from years of being stored in a filing cabinet. Still shocked that his father had actually agreed to his request, he shakily opened the envelope. Inside was a small debit card, with his name below the logo of the Johto National Bank.
—————
Not so far away from the Thomas home where Iruni was busy telling his sister his exciting news, two figures slowly made their way through Mahogany Town. The winds had picked up and now the storm concealed everything but the various sources of light that were still on around the town. The two men were dressed for the weather, both in heavy coats and hats, and belts with six Poké Balls each. The only defining feature between them was that the man leading had a length of silvery hair trailing down his back that could not be covered by his hat. The men walked a lonely path this night. Not a soul was out in this storm, aside from a few Ice type Pokémon common around Mahogany.
“Man, it’s so damn cold,” one man complained.
“That is because we are in the middle of an uncharacteristically powerful blizzard. Now shut your mouth before you compromise what we set out to do,” the other warned.
“It’s not like anyone else is out in this shit anyway. You always only see the mission parameters and regulations and none of the obvious.”
“I only see what is to be seen.”
“Hmph.” There he goes with his psycho-babble again. The two rarely got along, but were at least efficient as a team.
The two were headed north. While it might have been unwise to travel in such weather, it was necessary. These men could not afford to be spotted this night. Their destination was the Lake of Rage. One of their sources claimed to have a lead on what they were searching for. And with their target as elusive as it was, the two could not afford to pass up any opportunity. They chose to bypass the checkpoint entirely; the chance their informant was still on duty was very slim. They reached the lake after trudging through the snow and trees and began their search for evidence.
“What are we looking for again?” one of them asked.
“Our source said there was a battle on the western shore,” the other said. “Hyper Beams were used without much discretion, so I doubt it will be hard to miss the spot.” The man with long silver hair continued to lead the search, and within a few minutes they found the spot in question. There were several craters in the ground, along with assorted debris and uneven ground. The man with silver hair grasped one of the six Psy Balls from his belt. The specialized type of Poké Ball allowed a trainer to communicate mentally with a Psychic type Pokémon inside. It is a shame they discontinued these.
‘I apologize, Xatu,’ the man communicated to the creature psychically. ‘I know you hate the cold and snow, so prepare a Barrier.’
With a flash of light, a green-feathered bird stood in the middle of the snow covered lake side. Almost immediately after, a sphere of soft blue light enveloped the area, stopping the snow from falling on them.
“Alright Dalton, your turn. Go'n should do nicely, I think.”
“Finally, something for this damn cold.” The other man grasped a Dusk Ball from his belt and released a Magcargo. The ground where it now stood hissed and steamed as its body came in contact with the snow. The remaining snow within the Barrier didn’t last long with the Lava Pokémon’s body temperature of eighteen-thousand degrees. The Barrier also trapped in the heat while keeping the cold wind at bay. The two could see the true level of destruction now that the snow was no longer present.
“That detour to Sinnoh wasn’t all bad now, was it? This guy from Stark Mountain has come in handy plenty of times. So Sebastian,” he asked the man with silver hair, “how long is this going to take?” Dalton took off his coat and hat, finding their weight more annoying than anything.
Sebastian kept his coat on. “Patience is a virtue, Dalton. It all depends on Xatu now.” He closed his eyes and expanded his consciousness out towards his Pokémon.
‘Xatu, my friend. Let me see what has already been by lending me the sight of your left eye.’
The Xatu had stayed silent and kept its eyes closed until this point. At once, Sebastian and Xatu both opened their left eyes, sharing in the same vision while their minds were joined. What they saw was not the battle-scarred lakeside in the middle of a late night blizzard, but the lake when it was whole.
The events of the day prior scanned past their eyes in fast-forward, the trainer telling his Mystic Pokémon to slow down the vision for anything interesting. The point in time that caught his attention was when a Trainer and their Dratini came up on the shore. Before he told his psychic bird to proceed and skip what could be a boring afternoon outing, he saw the cause of the lake’s partial demolition rise up out of the lake.
Sebastian half-expected the novice trainer not to see the attack at all, but he watched on as they dodged the first strike. As he continued to watch the battle unfold, he could not help but feel a rush of encouragement for the would-be victims. Whoever this Dratini’s trainer is, it seems they can adapt well to the situation. He had to stifle a laugh when he struck the Gyarados with a simple rock, while sending away his only reasonable form of attack or defense. Maybe not. He could see what the trainer never did, and saw the Gyarados prepare its final ambush by burrowing under the shore. If not for his Xatu also watching the battle he might have missed what he was looking for. She alerted him to the second figure advancing on the scuffle.
Found you.
He watched as the man in the coat and hat took down the monstrous serpent with ease. He saw him help the battered Trainer to his feet, and while he could see the conversation between the two, Xatu’s post-cognitive abilities only recalled what was to be seen. The sounds of past events were lost in the ever expanding void of time. The final clues presented themselves as the man made his leave. Handing the Dusk Stone to the Trainer and his third Pokémon made it clear to him. A Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and a Honchkrow! Now I see… He sure knows how to make himself disappear when he wants to.
‘Thank you, Xatu. That will be enough.’ Sebastian severed the connection with his Pokémon and his vision returned to the present.
Dalton was sitting on the ground, leaning back against the rock-shell of his Magcargo, seemingly ignorant of the substantial heat it gave off. “So, what’s the word?”
Sebastian’s usual calm voice held an excited tone. “We are not far off. He was here just yesterday. Those long, thin gouges in the ground were from his Nidoking’s Thunder Punch. And I must apologize; your intel was in fact, correct. He was in Sinnoh; he just simply eluded us.”
“Ha! I knew it! How the hell did he get back to Johto without us knowing, though?”
“He has a Honchkrow now, which would explain how someone of his type specialty left the country with such ease.”
“Anything else? Any leads on where he might be?” Dalton was busy gathering up his winter clothing for their departure back into the winter weather.
“He saved a trainer from a rampaging Gyarados—the unfortunate recipient of that Thunder Punch.”
“A trainer saw him? Did they speak to him? Why didn’t you open with this? Did you find out who this was? Any noticeable features? A name at least? We might finally have the lead we need to find him.” Dalton failed to hide how eager he was to finally more forward with their plans.
“Xatu’s eyes cannot see sound. The only thing meaningful I could glean from the vision was that they wore their long brown hair without any significant style, and that they had a Dratini that wore a collar that held an Everstone. The Dratini should be easy enough to track down, but the trainer could blend into any crowd and we would not have the slightest advantage to us. I could not even be sure about the Trainer’s gender; they were wearing a large coat.”
“There you go again! Missing a crucial piece of information that could save us days or even weeks of extra effort.” Dalton continued his rant on the supposed ‘incompetence’ of his partner. Sebastian didn’t mind, he knew he had seen all that could be seen, and felt no worse for it. “Well then, at least we have a rough description. ‘A Trainer with long brown hair, who owns a Dratini wearing an Everstone collar.’ Dratini aren’t common in Johto, they must be from Blackthorn. I’m sure it’d be easy to get information out of the Elders at the Dragon’s Den. Too easy, really.” He began to laugh as he contemplated implementing some of his more unorthodox interrogation methods.
“You know as well as I that showing any sort of hostility towards the Elders of Blackthorn would result in a direct confrontation with Clair, or even Lance himself. We need to be smart about this Dalton, not barge in and threaten lives with a handful of questions. A confrontation with the Champion would not bode well for us. Coralis has his connections in that city, he’ll figure out what we need to know.”
Dalton mumbled some sort of dissatisfied comment under his breath. “Like always, eh? Well, before we move on to wherever our ‘fearful leader’ has us go next, where’d our man-of-the-hour run off to after his good deed of the day?”
“East, towards Mt. Silver.”
That comment seemed to strike a chord with Dalton, leaving a wide-eyed Fire type expert where the angry operative once stood. “You don’t think he’d…”
“Let us hope he is just heading back to Kanto, and not taking a detour on the way. Now we must leave this place. We need to find refuge from this storm until it passes.”
The two men left the lakeside as quickly as they arrived, leaving without a trace. Without the Barrier present, the evidence of the battle at the lake disappeared in a matter of minutes, invisible until the spring.
—————
The wind had died down to a dull breeze, letting the snow fall slowly downward. The outside world held an unearthly glow; snow reflected and scattered the light twinkling from the many sources of light around the city, leaving an effect of permanent twilight. Iruni sat in a chair on his back patio. He had set up their large umbrella that would usually keep them in the shade during a sunny summer afternoon, but it did a fine job of keeping the snow from burying him. Iruni often went outside during snowy nights, even if he technically was under a curfew. He liked to just watch the snowflakes as they only became visible when passing through some ambient light and listening to the silence the night offered, with the occasional patter of heavy snow hitting the umbrella. Even though it was getting very late, he was too occupied with his thoughts to sleep; he couldn’t fall asleep even if he tried. As far as he was concerned, he’d slept enough.
I can’t believe it. I’m actually leaving in a few weeks and finally getting a start on with my life. Now all I have to worry about now is exactly where I’ll be going to go once I head out. Iruni went over the options plenty of times before in his head, and each time he reached the same conclusion:
I have no idea.
Karros had been sleeping on his lap this whole time, not bothering trying to keep up with his trainer’s newfound interest in the waking world. Aside from his winter clothes, having Karros on his lap was helping stave off the cold; Fire types had a much higher body temperature than the average snowflake after all.
Iruni was enjoying the silence, now that his inner debate had been delayed once again, until two sounds shattered the peace. They first was slow and drawn out. A faint creaking followed by a loud series of cracks, the sound of a tree finally giving way and falling to the earth. The second sound followed almost immediately after the thud of the tree hitting ground, and it was this sound that sent a chill up Iruni’s spine that wasn’t caused by the temperature outside.
A sharp cry pierced his ears, actually paining his heart for having to bear the sound. Whoever—or whatever—had made that sound was in a terrible, unforgiving pain. Iruni couldn’t place why the cry unsettled him as much as it did; it was as if the cry carried past his eardrums, and struck something deep within his soul.
Despite the noises, Karros continued to sleep, leaving Iruni to wonder whether or not he had heard them in the first place. This unnerved him on an even deeper level. What if that call had been for him?
As it turned out, Karros awoke when the noise carried through the night a second time. The Houndour immediately lifted his head up and turned to face the direction of the sound. Karros hopped off his trainer’s lap and made to leave, but Iruni stopped him. Despite having already heard it once, the sound had the same chilling effect on Iruni.
“Wait up, Karros. I know, I know, calm down. I want to go see what’s up too, but I need to get something out of the house.” His Pokémon grudgingly agreed to wait for his Trainer as he snuck back in the house. He came back a minute later with a thick wool hat and his PokéGear in hand. Luckily, the storm wasn’t interfering with the handheld’s satellite up-link.
He checked the time; quarter past one o’clock. He would have to be back within five hours, before his family woke up. He opened his PokéGear’s map and placed a marker at his house. It’d suck to get lost in this blizzard… Just to be safe… He also put a marker on the Mahogany Pokémon Center.
As Iruni made his way to the tree line behind his house, he was surprised at how much snow had fallen, with many places having already accumulated enough to reach to his knees. The snow had less room to fall in the forest of Route 44, and the snow there was much easier to traverse than the snow on open ground. But what freedom the trees gave with the lack of snow to impede him, it took away by robbing him of his visibility and bearings. The trees themselves blocked his view of anything more than a few feet in front of him, and blocked most of the light coming from the town. The further he went into the forest, the darker it got.
Traveling in a dark forest during a blizzard is very disorienting, as Iruni soon found out. While he looked for the source of the desperate cries, he failed to notice a large tree root in his path. He hit the icy protrusion with his bad ankle and tripped.
“Shit!”
As he spun to his right, he caught a low-lying branch, suspending him inches from the ground and inches from further injuring his shoulder. He let go and slowly set himself down on the snowy ground, trying to catch his breath. That was too close. I really need to stop overestimating my mobility. I can’t afford to be out of commission for much longer or get stranded in the woods. His reprieve did not last long, however. He heard the cry again, and noticed the time between each of the cries was getting longer.
Whatever is calling for help, they’re running out of strength.
The cries were having an effect on Iruni; making him nervous, heart racing and he was starting to panic. I have to hurry. I can’t stand this for much longer. I need to help whoever’s in pain.
He was not sure why he had felt this increasing sense of urgency to find the source of the pleas, but he didn’t care. All he knew was that it felt right. He could still feel as if something else was in the cry, like some underlying message or emphasis to its meaning. To Iruni, it felt as if he had been searching for hours, but in reality, it had only been about twenty minutes.
He checked his PokéGear periodically, making sure they were a manageable distance from home and ensuring they didn’t come up on a cliff unawares. Each time they heard the scream, Karros would hone in on the direction to give them a fresh bearing. What little path existed this far out in the dense forest had gotten very repetitive. Trees in all directions, snow blown up and clinging to their trunks. The sameness of the forest, coupled with the ever-decreasing light, would have gotten Iruni lost in a matter of minutes.
Much to his relief, and eventual distress, he happened upon what was making the terrible noise after another thirty minutes of agonizing searching. The sight almost had him in tears. It was a Sneasel, and from what he could tell, she wasn’t very old. She—Iruni could tell the gender by the length of her head-feather—still had yet to gain the white markings on her paws, and her underdeveloped claws were no sharper than human fingernails.
The Sneasel's left leg was trapped under a fallen tree, the same one he heard fall back at his house. The bark of the tree had been feebly scraped at in a few places, in a desperate attempt to free herself. From the looks of it, the tree was long dead, and could no longer bear the weight of the snow that had gathered on its rotting branches. The Sneasel was trying to claw away at the heavy trunk crushing her leg, without much success. When she cried again, without trees or distance to distort or dampen the sound of her pain, Iruni nearly ran to her aid, but his reason returned to him.
Wait, I need to keep my head. Let’s think, a Sneasel this young shouldn’t be far from its parents, so they should be nearby. But she’s been calling for help for almost an hour; if I could hear her they should’ve heard her. Iruni checked the trees in the area at a glance, not finding any of the telltale signs that Weavile and Sneasel carved into trees to mark their territory. No markings; this isn’t Weavile territory. Why is this one out on its own? She can’t be more than a couple months old. Then the young Sharp Claw Pokémon made a cry so long and drawn out, its voice failed it, ending in a defeated whimper. It was enough to push Iruni over the edge.
“I can’t stand this. Karros, let’s go, but don’t rush over. I won’t cause her more pain.”
Karros gave an affirmative grunt, letting his trainer take the lead.
Iruni and Karros slowly made their way into the clearing where the tree had fallen. The Sneasel didn’t notice them until they were about two yards away. Iruni expected the reaction. She immediately took the best defensive position that she could and growled defensively at the newcomers.
Her angry snarl rose to a hoarse and feeble roar, but was cut short. Her voice being too ragged and worn out from calling into the night. She coughed, trying a few more times to howl the two of them, but settled for a few quick hisses and a low, cautionary growl.
“Karros, go wait over there, I’ll try and calm her.” Despite the clear message the Sneasel was sending him, Iruni went over to her and knelt down beside the injured Dark-Ice type, which resulted in getting a few swipes from her dull claws. He looked into her eyes, and saw that she was terrified. She needed to be calmed down before anything could be done about the tree. Iruni took off the glove on his left hand and offered his hand to the defensive creature. She began to take in his scent, determining if he was a threat to her.
“It’s alright, girl, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just here to help. I promise I’ll help your leg an— AH!”
Sneasel didn’t seem to take Iruni’s gesture of kindness as well as he’d hoped. She had latched onto his arm with her dull claws, tearing the fabric slightly, and bit hard into the side of Iruni’s left hand. Her sharp fangs had dug deep into his hand, sending blood dripping onto the snow below, and a sharp pain up Iruni’s already battered left arm. A young Sneasel's teeth were sharper than an adult’s, to compensate the lack of their signature Sharp Claws while they were still infants. She continued to stare back at Iruni, her red eyes gleaming with fear and determination.
It’s alright, don’t pull back; you’ll just do more damage that way. She’s just scared, that’s all. Show her you mean no harm. Let her see I’m only here to help. Just relax your hand and let her have her way. Iruni took his other, free hand and slowly reached out to gently stroke the side of her head.
“See? You can bite all you want, but I’m still going to try and help you. It’s alright, you don’t have to worry anymore.” As Iruni continued to give more words of encouragement, the look in the Sneasel's eyes began to soften, and eventually grew a bit remorseful at the realization of what she had done. As she relinquished her grip on his hand, she began to lick his wound clean, as if to apologize.
“There you go, you’re alright.” As she finished, Iruni inspected the wound himself; a near perfect semi-circular bite mark on both sides of his hand. The bite was still sending fresh blood running down the side of his arm and coat sleeve as he examined his hand. Iruni quickly put his glove back on his hand, wincing from the pain of the fabric touching the wound as well as the sight of the blood.
As Iruni got up to try and assess the damage done by the tree, and to see about freeing the Sneasel, he felt something tug on his glove. The Sneasel had bitten his left hand again, but this time to only try to get him to stay, not biting hard enough to fully penetrate the glove. She now had a new fear in her eyes, a fear that she would be abandoned and left with her crippling pain.
“I’m not going anywhere, don’t worry. I need to see if I can get this tree off your leg.” The Sneasel didn’t seem convinced. “I promise I won’t leave you. Please, trust me.”
She grudgingly let him go, making a mewing whimper as if to ask, “Are you sure?”
“I’ll be just over here, I promise. Karros, come over here.” As Iruni and Karros circled the tree to find any sort of opportunity to exploit, it became increasingly obvious that the only way was to move the tree off the Sneasel's leg was rolling the trunk with sheer force. But with Iruni’s newly injured hand and previous injuries, it didn’t seem likely he was going to help much in moving the heavy tree.
Alright, let’s not panic. What can we do here? I can’t do much in the heavy lifting or pushing department, so there goes that. I won’t risk burning the Sneasel with Karros trying to burn the tree. What can I do? As he continued to wrack his brain for answers, he remembered something. Oh well, looks like I don’t have much of a choice. It’s not as if anyone’s around to see anyway…
“Karros, come with me.” Iruni and Karros made their way back to the trapped Sneasel, who wasted no time in showing her gratitude for them returning. “Karros, crouch down next to the tree and wait for the word. Now Sneasel, this might hurt a bit, but we’re going to try and be as careful as possible. It will be all over in a few seconds, alright?” At the nod from her, Iruni steadied her by placing his right harm behind her back, and gave the order. I could get in a lot of trouble in anyone from the League saw this.
“Karros, use Strength! But keep it gentle, try not to hurt her.” Using such moves outside of battle without the proper Gym Badge requirement could mean the revocation of his Trainer’s License, but no other option remained at this point.
Houndour’s body began to glow white, and with the apparent ease of nudging a simple pillow, he slowly pushed the heavy tree off the hurt Pokémon’s leg. Once there was no danger left, he pushed the tree with the remainder of his strength. The tree slid about ten feet, flinging a large amount of snow into the air. Karros stood and watched the snow settle over the tree’s new resting place, proud of his feat.
“A little overboard but good job, Kar.” Iruni made to brush off the snow that had fallen thanks to Karros’ little act when he heard the Sneasel cry out again. She thought it would be wise to try to get up and move on her own, but her leg would not allow that.
“Oh, no, no! Don’t try and move yet. Here.” Iruni unzipped and took off his coat, an awkward move due to the brace he wore. Making sure to not to aggravate her leg anymore, he picked her up and cradled her in his left arm. He zipped up his coat back up enough to where the Sneasel could look out, but be stable enough to where he wouldn’t accidentally drop her, and have his right arm free to helm navigate the icy forest. “There we go. That should hold you. Let me know if your leg is in too much pain, alright?”
She still seemed to have trouble finding her voice, but mumbled her thanks anyway. She looked up into Iruni’s eyes, this time without a look of fear or of regret, but of happiness. Gratitude. The poor Sneasel couldn’t remember the last time she was treated with such kindness.
Iruni checked his PokéGear, and set it to display the marker on the Pokémon Center. He put it back in his coat pocket, so he could access it with his free arm.
“Karros, I want you to lead. Keep a low Ember on, to melt the snow as we walk. I don’t want to risk falling again, so I need to see where I’m going. The Center should be directly north of here.”
Karros barked and let out a short stream of flame from his mouth, making a path in the snow as it melted away. Karros began leading the way back to Mahogany, with Iruni carrying his precious cargo.
“And try and not catch any trees on fire.”
The Houndour whined and brought his ears back, looking almost disappointed at the request.
Crazy pyromaniac, he though as they started to head back to town through the blizzard of the decade.
—————
Their trek back to town was infinitely easier than the trip from. With Karros’ flame he had little chance of tripping and falling, and the light from the fire made it possible to see. However, the trip was taking longer than Iruni would have liked. Karros had to melt every bit of ice that had layered over during the storm, and that took time with such a low flame. On top of that, the wind had picked up, cutting their movement to a slow crawl and further obstructing their visibility. After a few minutes into the drudgery, something was unnerving Iruni, something he’d missed. Until now, he had been preoccupied with searching for the source of the cry, and now with a calm and alert mind he noticed something.
“Karros, kill the flame for a sec. Wait here.” At the word of his Trainer, Karros cut the Ember. Through the sound of the wind blowing, Iruni could hear soft footsteps in the snow. After a few seconds they stopped, having noticed the group’s sudden halt. Something was following them. Iruni waved Karros on, and continued without flame. When Iruni heard the footsteps again, he quickly turned to see their pursuer. He saw nothing but snow blowing in the wind, and heard the steps stop again.
We’re being followed? By what? And why can’t I see what it is? It sounds like they’re right on top of us, but nothing’s even near us. If it’s a predator, they’d have an easy fight. We need to get out of these damn woods.
“Karros, pick up the pace! I don’t care if you scorch a few trees, but be careful you don’t set any ablaze. We need to get out of here now!”
Karros howled into the wind, acknowledging the urgency in his trainer’s command.
When Iruni said “now”, Karros seemed to take it quite literally, letting loose an enormous Flamethrower and clearing a path for a hundred yards. To Iruni’s surprise, Karros did miss most of the trees, and only charred a few of the ones that were in the path of the flame.
“The ride might get a little bumpy, Sneasel. Just hold on.” Sneasel nodded and gripped his shirt for support. Iruni and Karros made a run for it, or as much of a run Iruni could manage, for the rest of the way back, sending Flamethrowers when they ran out of open ground. Iruni never heard those unknown footsteps as they ran.
—————
The night-shift attendant at the Mahogany Town Pokémon Center was sitting at her desk reading a book. She saw the snowstorm as an opportunity to catch up on her reading, as opposed to a potential natural disaster. She was too engrossed in her book to notice Iruni running up to the automatic doors of the Center, but noticed the large amount of snow that flew inside because of them opening.
“Nurse! I need help! Now!” Iruni yelled as he entered the empty lobby.
“Yes, what seems to be the— Oh my lord!”
What the nurse saw standing in the front lobby of the Center was a Trainer and his Houndour, both out of breath and covered in snow, the Trainer holding something wrapped up in his coat, which would move about occasionally. The nurse rushed towards the emergency room and motioned the snow-covered Trainer to follow. Once inside, Iruni unzipped his coat and informed the nurse of the situation. The nurse seemed more alarmed than she should have been when Iruni gave a brief explanation of what happened.
“This is not only a crushed leg! She’s covered in blood! Where else is she injured— Sir, are you alright?”
Iruni was glad he had set the Sneasel down on the hospital bed, because once he looked at himself, he felt consciousness start to waver. His entire left arm and most of his left side was stained with blood. His blood. He saw that his once white glove on his left hand, and the inside of his coat, had turned a very deep scarlet. The wound on his hand had apparently never closed, and the run from the forest had accelerated his heart rate enough to cause an alarming amount of blood to seep from the wound.
“It’s just her leg… I promise… the blood’s mine… I’m pretty sure…” Iruni was losing the fight to stay awake. He braced himself on whatever was in front of him, his legs threatening to give out on him. “Just… take care of her… if you could…” Iruni couldn’t hear the nurse’s, Karros’, nor Sneasel's words of alarm, as his mind fell into darkness.
—————
Iruni woke up about an hour later to something poking at his face. When he opened his eyes, the Sneasel he had saved was sitting on his chest, gently prodding him awake. He was on a bed of his own. His left hand was bandaged and numb; likely from whatever the nurse had done to help the healing process. He was still in his bloodstained clothes, but he noticed his coat on a chair to his left, in which Karros was sound asleep.
I see someone’s terribly upset. Sneasel wasted no time in welcoming Iruni back to the waking world. She leapt at his face and nuzzled him affectionately. After seeing his blood-covered self again, Iruni nearly fainted a second time, but his newfound companion easily took his mind off of his clothing dilemma.
“It’s nice to see that someone was worried about me,” Iruni said as the nurse came back in the room.
“Now Sneasel, I let you lay on his bed because you wouldn’t keep quiet, but you can’t— Oh, you’re awake. That’s a remarkably fast recovery for losing enough blood to pass out.”
“It wasn’t the amount of blood that did it,” Iruni assured her. “I just don’t like looking at lots of it. Makes me take unplanned ‘naps’.”
Iruni sat up, making sure not to notice his attire, and let Sneasel sit on his lap, whose attitude took a sharp downturn at the return of the nurse. Sneasel laid down in Iruni’s lap, and soon fell asleep with him gently stroking her head. Poor thing, she’s exhausted.
Iruni noticed a series of small, and rather shallow, scratch marks covering the nurse’s hands and face. “How is she?”
“Well, aside from being very uncooperative, she’s going to be fine. As you said, most of the bones in her left leg are broken. You were lucky that you brought her here when you did, it wouldn’t have taken much to complicate an injury like that. I couldn’t find her Poké Ball in your coat or on your belt, so I had to make her a cast and set her leg manually. It would’ve been a lot simpler to use the recovery machine.”
“Well, she doesn’t have a ball; she’s wild. I heard her calling for help when she was trapped under the tree, and I went to help her.” Iruni finished explaining his story about his search through the woods to the nurse, whose face adopted an awed expression when he was finished.
“Oh, she’s wild? I just assumed because of how much she’s attached to you that she’d been your Pokémon. I can’t think of many trainers who would risk a storm like this to save a wild Pokémon, let alone a Dark type.”
That last comment caught Iruni’s bad side. “And what makes you say that? Why would you think any trainer should treat a Dark type any differently?” Iruni kept his voice down to not wake Sneasel.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you, really. It’s just that Dark types aren’t that popular with most people, so it’s a little unexpected to see someone go so far out of their way to help one. What you did tonight was brave and selfless and I wish all trainers followed your example, I do. I didn’t mean to offend.” The nurse at least looked sorry from what she said, so Iruni let it slide. “By the way, how did you get that bite on your hand? It was pretty deep.”
“My Houndour bit my hand through my glove to save me from falling on my broken shoulder.” Iruni couldn’t risk having the Sneasel being looked down on for something she did on instinct. “I tripped over a tree root that was covered in snow. It’s a good thing I had my gloves on, or I might be missing a few fingers. I can’t handle seeing so much blood, so I fainted. I should be fine once I get some food and some rest.” Luckily, there were bite marks on his glove to help solidify his story when the nurse went to investigate. She seemed satisfied with his answer.
“Since that Sneasel is wild, do you plan on keeping her?”
Iruni mulled the question over for a few moments before responding. “I’d like to, but I don’t really know. I’d want wait to let her heal before I’d try anything like a battle against her, but I could always ask if she wanted stay with me.”
“Ask a Pokémon whether they wanted to be captured?” The nurse laughed.
“What’s so weird about that? Back when I saved my Houndour from a flock of Fearow, he agreed to come with me. It’s not that odd to me.”
“You sure are an interesting kind of trainer, you know that? You have no bias towards Dark types, defend them even, and you braved a snowstorm just to save a Pokémon who might not even want anything to do with you.” The nurse finished her little giggle before continuing. “Do you mind if I ask you a favor?”
“What is it?”
“Well, I’m by no means an expert, but this Sneasel looks to be very young. I’d say she’s only about three to four weeks old, maybe a bit older. She’s too young to be on her own, even if she didn’t have a broken leg. If you would, I’d like you to take care of her to make sure her leg heals correctly, even if you don’t plan to keep her. I wouldn’t want her to be easy prey for some predator, and I doubt she’d be able to fend for herself very well without a working leg. As it is right now, we can’t take any long-term patients at the Center during this storm, or we might risk not having any facilities for emergencies. Besides, I doubt she’d mind if it was you helping her along.”
“I wouldn’t think of letting her out on her own in this condition. I’d love to look after her at least until she’s better, and she does seem to be grateful for me saving her life.”
“Thank you. I’d feel terrible if something happened to such a young one. And I have to admit, she looks cute all curled up asleep on your lap.”
“Yeah, she does,” Iruni realized that he’d been petting her the entire time he’d been talking. Sneasel had a content expression on her face, not bothered by her condition in the slightest. Oh man, what time is it? Crap, it’s almost five! Dad gets up in an hour. Iruni handed the sleeping Pokémon to the nurse and got up to get his coat. “Karros, get up. Time to head home.” Breaking curfew was one of the few things Iruni’s father never looked the other way at.
“Mr. Thomas, you’re in no condition to head back out into that weather! I suggest you at least wait until morning before heading home.”
“Can’t do that. I’m fine, really, so long as I don’t see another blood bath. Thanks for everything, would it be alright if I came in from time to time to have you check up on her?”
“Oh, that would be perfectly fine. Here, I don’t want her waking up and scratching me again.” The nurse handed Iruni the sleeping Sneasel, and he cradled her as he did when he brought her in. Once she was safe to travel, Iruni thanked the nurse once more and headed out into the winter weather. Fortunately for them, the storm had since dwindled to a slight flurry with little wind, so the walk back to Iruni’s house went without incident.
Unfortunately, however, Iruni failed to notice that they were being watched every step of the way, a pair of eager eyes watching them as they entered the house from the back porch door. Their silent observer smirked once the group was in the house.
Well then, isn’t this an interesting turn of events? I bet Ruby would love to hear about this…
—————
Once Iruni got to his room without waking the rest of his family, he made sure to lock his door to deter any unwanted visitors in the early hours of the morning. Iruni laid the still sleeping Sneasel on his bed as he got out of his winter wear. She hadn’t woken up at all between home and the Pokémon Center. She and Karros already have something in common. Let’s hope she’s not too against the change in scenery. He made sure to hide his blood stained clothes discreetly, he’d worry about them in the morning. As Iruni got under the covers, Karros jumped up to the foot of his bed and draped a paw over the sleeping creature.
“Make sure she doesn’t fall off the bed, okay?”
Karros yawned as he laid his own head down to rest from the most active night he’d had in a long time. It didn’t take long for Iruni to join them.
—————
Mmm… It’s so nice and warm here… and soft too… really comfy… Oh, why is it so bright now…?
Sneasel awoke with a start when she realized she wasn’t asleep in her den in one of the many caves within what the humans called Ice Path. Where she found herself was quite unlike any place she had been before.
All around her were strange objects and formations she didn’t recognize. A strange black rectangle sitting on a pedestal, with many other things attached to it with what she assumed were black vines of some sort, occasionally lit up with flashes of blue light, seemingly at random. A strange circle hung on the wall of the dwelling, with three lines surrounded by strange markings she didn’t recognize. She noticed that one of the lines moved at a constant speed, stopping at each of the small dashes around the perimeter of the circle.
She looked on the wall in front of her, and saw that the sun had risen, but the clouds were keeping most of the early morning light at bay. She could see snow falling out the opening in the wall, but none came into the room, and she felt no cold from the wind. As she continued to take in her new surroundings, she tried to stand up, only to find she was unable to move her left leg. When she looked at it, she saw it was covered in a hard and rough material, preventing any movement from her left leg. Now I remember… last night… that tree fell on me… I thought I wouldn’t make it… and then…
She looked to her left and saw the same Houndour from the previous night, sleeping on his back; legs sprawled out in an awkward fashion. He’s the one who pushed the tree off my leg… but where’s…? The answer to her unfinished thought came as a groan to her right. She saw the human who had carried her to safety, sleeping soundly underneath the soft and puffy sheet of material she had been sleeping on.
The human was sleeping on his right side, with his left arm draped over the bed in a vain attempt to stave off the morning brightness. The Sneasel noticed the odd garment he wore on his left shoulder, thinking it would make moving it around difficult. He’s the one who found me… and he took me to that place where that mean lady pushed on my leg… I guess it wasn’t just a bad dream… This place must be his den… I wonder why he brought me here?
The Sneasel crawled over to the human’s side of the strange soft square, and looked at his sleeping face. His long hair was draping over most of his face, and he wore a truly relaxed expression.
Why did this human save me? Why was he out in that storm? Did he hear my calls for help? The questioning creature noticed the bandage over his left hand, stained red. He saved me, risked that storm for me… and I attacked him… I didn’t mean to… I was scared… I thought he was going to hurt me… What if he’s mad at me? I didn’t mean to bite him…
She carefully moved closer to the sleeping human so as to not wake him. She sidled up close to his face and licked his cheek.
“Thank you for saving me… and I’m sorry for biting you…” Sneasel soon fell asleep under his arm, enjoying the flow of warmth from his body to hers.
—————
To Be Continued…
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The Dark Type