The Path of Destiny Part 18

The Path of Destiny

Chapter Eighteen - An Unwelcome Return


Rosie awoke to find herself in the same gym-like room, in her same cage. To her surprise, the mightyena from the battle was seated not far from her. For the first time, Rosie studied her carefully, and noticed a rather strange-looking collar around her neck, one that seemed to spark slightly. It was a lot similar to hers, only it seemed…more dangerous. Rosie shuddered. She then realized that the mightyena wasn’t in a cage. Why didn’t she run away? Did she want to be in such a horrible place?

“What are you doing?” Rosie yelled out suddenly, unsure why. “Why are you just standing there?”

The mightyena turned her head in Rosie’s direction, and the vulpix detected a hint of sorrow in the dark pokémon’s red eyes. “I’m their guard,” the mightyena replied quietly. “My job is to make sure no one escapes.”

Rosie scowled, some of her older self returning as she stalked angrily up to the bars of her cage. “Oh? And you just let them order you around, so if anyone happens to be clever enough to escape, you can end their hope for them once and for all!” Her fur stood on end, and she bared her fangs.

The mightyena didn’t look threatened by the small vulpix in the least. She reached a paw up to her collar, running a few of her claws lightly over it. “You see this?” she stated plainly. “If I go so much as half a mile away from this place without one of the trainers deactivating it first, the shock will kill me.” She lowered her paw and said nothing more.

Rosie felt her anger vanish, to be replaced with pity, yet she did not know what to say. “It’s…horrible…what they’re doing to us…” she mumbled at last. “What are they training us for anyway?”

“You and most of the others are being trained as battlers, and will be sold…well the ones that succeed that is,” the mightyena added uncomfortably. “Otherwise they sell you for your pelt.”

Rosie flinched at the statement, but decided to ask another question. “How many humans train pokémon here?” she asked.

“There’s quite a few,” the mightyena replied. “They all work together to catch or steal pokémon, or buy them from other poachers.” She shook her head sadly and went on, “But let’s not talk about that…my name is Eve, and you?”

“Rosie,” came the vulpix’s reply. She knew that the mightyena was just trying to distract her from their predicament, and though she couldn’t stand the idea that Eve would deliberately change the subject when she had so many more questions to ask, she realized that it was probably for the best. There wasn’t much she could do about her current situation anyway.

“Rosie,” Eve said with a smile. “That’s a nice name. Are you from Stonedust?”

“Stonedust?” Rosie repeated, confused.

“Oh…it’s er…a human city,” Eve stammered. “I heard that’s where a lot of pokémon…well…”

“Got caught by poachers,” Rosie finished for her.

Eve nodded.

Rosie sighed. There wasn’t much she could talk about that wouldn’t lead to a conversation about the poachers anyway. “I hope my friends haven’t been caught…” she mumbled, almost inaudibly. “Snowcrystal…she’s a growlithe with white fur…I’m afraid they’ll catch her…and Spark…” She shook her head hopelessly before continuing. “I bet he’s walked into a trap already simply by not looking where he’s going.” She smiled a bit, in spite of the situation. “At least I know Wildflame will be fine…” she continued. “She’s a great fighter…but the others…I’m not sure…”

A sudden shout from another room distracted Eve from Rosie’s ramblings. “I must go,” the mightyena whispered. “But they’ll put me back in this room to guard the cages again later…” With one final glance at the vulpix, she got up and left.

                                                                                          -ooo-

At the sound of Katie’s shout, Justin shined his flashlight over in the direction of the rocks. He felt a rush of excitement. She must have found the white growlithe after all! Pushing his wet brown hair out of his eyes, he ran toward the group of stones, ignoring the fact that he was splashing through deep mud. When he reached Katie, however, she snatched the flashlight out of his hand.

“Give me that!”

“Hey!” shouted Justin. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Katie didn’t answer, and instead began crawling into a small cave. Justin saw her stop near the entrance and crouched down beside her in the hopes of seeing the white growlithe…

But what he saw made him jump back, which in turn caused him to slip and fall onto the muddy ground. A scyther…what on earth was a scyther doing here? Quickly he scrambled to his feet. “Katie, what are you thinking?” he shouted. “Get away from there!”

In the cave, Stormblade froze for a second. The voice sounded familiar…

He didn’t have time to think about it long, for the female trainer who’d been looking for Snowcrystal earlier shined a bright light in his eyes. Stormblade backed up a bit further, as close as he could get to the rock wall, and glared straight back at the trainer, swiping at the air with his blade in a feeble attempt to give her a warning to stay away.

Katie, however, didn’t back away. The scyther obviously wanted her to leave, yet wasn’t attacking. She merely watched the bug type, perplexed.

Justin had been trying to pull his friend away, and when he saw the scyther swipe its blade at the air, he picked up a rock and hurled it at the pokémon. “Stay away!” he yelled. The rock struck the scyther near its eye, but to Justin’s surprise, it did not get up and try to attack.

“Will you stop it?” Katie growled, pushing Justin back down onto the ground. “What good will that do? Stay here…I want to get a better look at it…it’s not moving much, and that’s strange...”

Justin knew he couldn’t stop Katie from crawling into the cave, but he called out, “Shouldn’t you at least let one of your pokémon out for protection?”

“No,” she replied, her voice echoing slightly from within the cave. “It hasn’t attacked us yet, what’s the big deal?”

“It’s a scyther! They’re dangerous!” Justin called back, but she ignored him.

Reluctantly, Justin crawled into the cave after her, fearing for his friend’s safety. He watched as Katie stopped a few feet away from the scyther, and he was aware of just how dangerously close she was. Though as he peered over her shoulder, he noticed something, and realized why the scyther hadn’t been attacking them.

Its upper body was covered in deep, scalding burns; from the more minor ones across the pokémon’s face, to the truly terrible ones all along its back. They looked beyond any sort of healing a pokémon center could offer. In addition to all this, its leg was damaged too, and it had a mark near its eye from the rock he had thrown. The scyther’s fangs were bared in a formidable snarl, and both rage and pain were clear in the pokémon’s expression. Justin backed away.

“Let’s…get away from here…” was all he managed to say.

“No!” Katie cried. “Can’t you see it’s hurt? We have to do something!” Before he could stop her, she had crawled further into the cave until she was right in front of the scyther.

Justin knew that there were some ways to ensure that one wouldn’t be attacked by a wild pokémon. Approaching an injured, cornered scyther on the verge of panicking wasn’t one of them. He was about to try to pull Katie back, when he realized the scyther wasn’t doing anything. In fact, it seemed fairly relaxed compared to the way it had been acting before. Katie was rummaging through her backpack for supplies, and the scyther was just watching her, not seeming to know what she was doing, but tolerating her presence. However, it still unnerved Justin to see her sitting so close to it. ‘What is she thinking?’ he thought to himself. ‘That THING is going to kill her!’

Just as he thought that, the scyther turned its gaze toward him. Justin shrank back. There was something about the look in the pokémon’s dark blue eyes that he didn’t like. Even when Katie got a potion out of her backpack, the scyther continued to stare at him. Justin had always thought scyther looked intimidating, but all the same…this wasn’t a good stare…even for one of its kind. Though why the thing was staring at him and not Katie, who was sitting right next to it, he didn’t know. Shuddering, he looked away, though he could still feel the wild pokémon’s eyes boring into him.

“I’m afraid this won’t do any good,” Katie muttered, looking at her potion bottle.

“No,” Justin agreed, wishing she would just leave the cave, “it’s beyond any sort of help…we should just leave it here.”

“Fine,” Katie snapped. “You go…if you’re so afraid…”

Justin felt stung by the remark, but he didn’t show it. Crossing his arms, he glared at his friend. “I’m not leaving you here to get killed! And for goodness sake, let out one of your pokémon already!”

“Calm down,” Katie replied. “He’s not dangerous…I think he knows we want to help!”

“He?” Justin repeated. “How do you know it’s a he? And yes, it’s dangerous! Just look at those scythes!”

“If he wanted to attack me, he would have done so already,” Katie stated calmly. “And I honestly don’t think he could do much in this state…he could barely lift his arm before. Everything’s fine. Look, see?” Katie reached out her hand and laid it on the wild pokémon’s head.

The scyther flinched at the touch, but otherwise didn’t move. After a few moments, he seemed to get used to it, or simply stopped caring, and relaxed. Slowly Katie began to stroke the scyther’s head, being careful not to touch any of his injuries. Justin stared at her.

“Katie,” he said slowly, as if she were crazy. “That is not a growlithe puppy, that is a scyther. Don’t pet it!”

“He seems tame…” Katie mused, ignoring him. “Do you think he has a trainer? Maybe he’s had one in the past…I think I’d have to capture him to bring him to the pokémon center, but I don’t know if he already has a trainer or not…”

Justin wanted to say, ‘What sort of trainer wants a pokémon like that?’, but he held his tongue. He hoped it did have a trainer. He didn’t want Katie to catch this pokémon. He didn’t want to see it again. Simply the name of its species brought back memories far too painful for him.

Katie looked through her backpack for a poké ball. “We need to get to a pokémon center as soon as possible,” she told him. “The white growlithe can wait…let’s see if I have a poké ball…I can at least try it…then I’ll know whether or not it has a trainer…”

“Wait!” Justin interrupted quickly. “Why not use your pokédex? Then you won’t risk wasting a poké ball. The pokédex should tell you if the pokémon has a trainer or if it’s wild.”

“You’re right,” Katie replied, taking her pokédex out of her pocket and holding it in front of the scyther, who watched her warily but did not try to move. “He seems too calm around me to be completely wild though…maybe he’s had a trainer before? This should tell me…” She pressed a few buttons on her pokédex and waited a minute before stating, “He’s wild. But I think he’s had a trainer before. Let’s see…original trainer…original trainer…” She stopped, a look of surprise crossing her face. “Hey Justin,” she said, turning to him, “did you ever release a scyther?”

Justin just stared at her blankly. “What?” he replied, confused.

“Your name shows up on the pokédex,” she replied, sounding more confused than he was. “Here, under ‘original trainer’…”

“Let me see!” Justin yelled, yanking it roughly out of her hand. He scanned the small screen carefully, and there, unmistakably, was his name. He felt cold fear grip him, and, not worrying about what Katie would think of his actions, he ran over to her and grabbed her arm, yanking her away. “GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!” he yelled.

“What? What are you-” Katie seemed too shocked and confused to form a proper sentence. Justin was staring at the scyther. With all those injuries, it had been impossible to recognize it, but now that he had given it a close glance, he realized it did look similar… Same size, same shape of its scythes…same cold blue eyes…this was the murderer.

Justin pulled Katie out of the cave, and she was too shocked to resist. Once away from the scyther, Justin released her. “What’s going on?” Katie demanded, sounding angry.

“Alright, look!” Justin replied firmly. “I had a scyther, okay? And it’s the reason I stopped being a trainer…I didn’t give up, I got my trainer license taken away because of what that monster did!” He stopped for a moment, shaking as he pointed toward the cave entrance, and went on, “It escaped from me…and killed a little girl…in cold blood! So you wanted to know why I quit training? Well, now you do! Are you happy?” Without another word he turned and ran, not caring where he was going, just blindly stumbling through the darkness, while Katie stared after him with a mixture of shock and horror on her face.

Justin kept running, even after he stumbled on a rock and badly cut his knee. He simply got up and kept going, the white growlithe momentarily forgotten. His voice shaking with rage, he muttered under his breath as if the scyther could still hear him, “Farewell for good, Scyther…I sure hope you suffer for what you’ve done!”

Katie, meanwhile, stood near the cave. She briefly glanced back at the entrance, remembering the suffering, injured pokémon she had been trying to help. She wanted to go back and help him in any way she could, but after what Justin had said…she wasn’t sure. She could tell Justin hadn’t been lying.

For a moment, Katie turned and walked toward the cave with the intention of continuing to try and treat the scyther, but then stopped. Finally making up her mind, she turned and left, not intending to return.

                                                                                          -ooo-

Stormblade waited a little while before finally venturing out of the cave, staring emptily in the direction the trainer had gone. He couldn’t believe it... He could have gotten help, real help…a real chance of survival. He could have been given food at a pokémon center, had treatment for his wounds, and relief from the pain…

He could have had help…but now he would have no way of getting any, unless he could miraculously make it to the city.

He thought about the way the female human had treated him. She had cared about him even though he was a stranger, a wild pokémon. She had dared to get close to him and hadn’t judged him simply for what he was. He had never met a human like that, but now…because of what Justin had said, she simply saw him the same way his old trainer saw him…

…As a monster…

Stormblade felt hopeless…truly hopeless. The nice trainer had left and he wasn’t sure any other human would be so willing to help him as she had. The trainer was gone…as were his chances of ever recovering before the infection became worse…

…If he’d had a chance that is. Though the others had tried to keep it secret from him, he’d heard one of them slip and mention that the Forbidden Attack wounds might never heal. He cringed at the thought. Would he have to live the rest of his life in agony?

And would the humans…probably the only ones who could truly help him…ever see him as anything but a merciless killer?

                                                                                          -ooo-

Snowcrystal proudly set down a dead pidgey, beaming at Spark as she stopped in the middle of the clearing. “Guess what?” she said cheerfully. “I caught my first prey away from the mountains!”

“She got lucky,” Wildflame stated with a teasing grin.

Snowcrystal swiped her paw in mock-anger at the houndoom, before turning to Spark again. “So…where are Thunder and Stormblade?” she asked, looking around.

“Oh uh…” Spark stammered, “well…Thunder wants to be alone, and Stormblade…well he…oh look, there he is now!” the jolteon shouted, sounding suddenly relieved.

Stormblade had staggered back into the clearing, and Snowcrystal noticed the injury to his eye. Seeing that she’d noticed, Stormblade turned his head away to prevent her from seeing the wound. Realizing that he didn’t seem to want to talk at the moment, Snowcrystal picked up the pidgey and ran over to him, setting it beside him. She knew that he had gone without food the longest; in fact, she hadn’t seen him eat anything, even since she met him by the ghost-haunted rocks. But to her surprise, he just brushed right by her, not even glancing at the prey.

“I’m not hungry,” he muttered.

“What? But-”

“I just want to be left alone,” he replied in a dull tone, and limped through the bushes and into the grove of trees. For a moment, Snowcrystal started to follow him, but she decided against it. Maybe it was better if she did leave him alone for a while. Sighing, she lay down with her prey between her paws, waiting for his return…

                                                                                          -ooo-

Thunder was still sitting beside the small pond, thinking. She had grown tired of traveling with the others. What did she need them for? Why was she even traveling with them anyway? She should leave…there was no point in her staying with them. Thunder stared at her reflection in the water, noticing old wounds that had opened up again. With a growl she turned away. She started to walk toward the hills and away from the pool. She was going to leave…go off on her own…she didn’t need them at all…

Making sure once again that no one was near, Thunder slipped off alone into the night. She felt too tired to run, so she simply walked, believing that the others wouldn’t care enough to follow. She didn’t have to worry about them seeing her leave.

Thunder hadn’t gone far when she scented blood. She quickly identified the source, a poacher trap…though the pokémon that had been caught was long gone. The snap of a twig behind her made her whip around.

“So…how did you enjoy your short-lived freedom?”

Thunder backed away. Standing framed in the moonlight between two thick trees was the human she thought she’d been rid of for good. Master…

Master walked toward her, not seeming too concerned about her running away. After all, she looked a lot worse off; she was even thinner than she had been before, and with worse injuries. He knew she wouldn’t be running anywhere. Volco, his quilava, hopped down to the muddy ground from the man’s shoulder, grinning wickedly at the scyther. His trainer smiled. Thunder’s recapture should be easy…she looked close to death already. He would punish her, yes…but not until she’d recovered a bit; he had invested far too much time in training her for her to simply be killed, but when she was strong enough, he’d certainly make her feel pain as she never had before.

Thunder growled, backing away. She stumbled over the chain attached to her arm and landed in a heap on the ground, which caused her shoulder to bleed more.

Her former master smiled, reaching for a poké ball. “Still feeling defiant?” the human said coldly. What he did not let his escaped pokémon know was that, besides Volco, he had only brought one other pokémon with him as he explored the hills. He hadn’t dared risk carrying around any of his fighting ring pokémon while so close to the city where he had talked with the police. And the spare pokémon he had used to fight a few poachers were recovering in the pokémon center.

But one pokémon would be enough when Thunder was in such a weakened state. He threw the red and white sphere into the air and in a flash of white, a familiar shape appeared.

Or at least, Thunder thought, somewhat familiar. The Redclaw Thunder remembered had been a growlithe; this was an arcanine. Yet she knew instantly that this was the same pokémon…

Master watched impassively, noting Thunder’s reaction. It had been risky enough carrying Redclaw around with the wounds the arcanine bore. However, they had been treated enough that he knew he would have gotten away with saying Redclaw was a rescue taken from an abusive situation.

They wouldn’t believe the same story about Thunder. He would have to recapture her and bring her back to the old town before he could resume his business here. He reached for her poké ball and watched Thunder step out of range. Knowing he couldn’t simply return her, he nodded to his arcanine.

Redclaw’s eyes widened; clear shock on his face. He lifted his head to look at Thunder, ignoring the thick metal collar that scraped painfully against his neck. Behind him, his Master smiled, while Volco watched eagerly.

“Go ahead Redclaw,” the human ordered. “Weaken her.”

Redclaw stood still. His gaze was fixed on Thunder, who looked too weak to be able to run. His expression was a mixture of surprise and sadness.

Master looked annoyed. “What?” the trainer muttered, looking amused. “Not smart enough to make decisions on your own? Fine then…flamethrower!”

Still the arcanine did not move.

His trainer narrowed his eyes. “What are you waiting for?” he demanded. “Move.”

Redclaw slowly turned around, and shook his shaggy head. He gave a low growl, a clear indication that he would not fight.

“Fine then…” Master muttered. “Learn the hard way.” He reached for a small device in his pocket, and pressed a button.

Thunder’s eyes widened as Redclaw suddenly let out a terrible scream, collapsing in the mud as he thrashed his paws. Master had activated the electric collar.

“Want it to end?” the human shouted, loudly enough to be heard over the arcanine’s cries. “Then fight.”

The shock stopped for a moment, and Redclaw lay gasping. Master waited for a moment, but the arcanine did not rise. He pressed the button again.

This time Redclaw’s scream was far more terrible, filled with such pain that it startled even Thunder. The arcanine thrashed on the ground, his shrieks growing louder. Master and Volco watched impassively, their expressions calm and unreadable. Redclaw’s cries began to grow weaker, his struggles feebler. In a desperate attempt to free himself of the agony, the arcanine lifted his paws and tried to slash at the collar with his claws, but to no avail. The electricity still pounding through his body, he focused every last bit of his strength on trying to remove the collar…to end the pain…

And at last he could do no more. Falling back on his side, the arcanine lay still, electricity crackling over his fur as the last spasms finally left his body. Master’s cold gaze fell upon him.

“Very disappointing…” he muttered, before turning to Thunder. Then he took a step back.

The scyther he had tormented for so long was looking at him in a way he’d never seen her look before. She was standing straight and firm, which surprised him. She had seemed so weak…so feeble before, but now she looked ready to fight despite her terrible injuries. Both of her scythes were raised. Through the moonlight he could clearly see each gleaming edge. The light reflected off her blades and onto her fangs, which were bared. But her eyes…he had seen pokémon give him hateful stares many a day; he was used to it, but this…this was something he’d never seen before. He had never seen a stare so full of hatred and anger. Master watched her in horror. Her blades had never scared him before, only fascinated him. He knew how to deal with dangerous pokémon, how to force them to submit to him. He had never been afraid of one…until now.

Thunder stepped closer, her eyes locked onto her former master’s. She walked almost easily, without a limp. Before, her pain had caused her an unbearable amount of torment; now, it only fueled her anger.

“You filthy murdering scum!” Thunder shouted, no longer caring that Master couldn’t understand her words; her meaning was clear enough. “You’ll regret what you’ve done! You’ll regret everything you did. And I’ll make sure you do! I’ll make you pay! For all the pokémon you’ve hurt, I’ll make you feel their pain a thousand times over!” Then, ignoring her wounds, the scyther took a running leap forward.

Master was going to pay…

To be continued…