Chapter 04

Use Return!

His name was Marcus, Flourish had told me while we ate. The soup had tasted good, it had meat and vegetables that warmed me and made me feel more content. I had watched the trainer pack up his tent and put out the fire, and then I was in my red chamber again. I didn't so much like the chamber, but I didn't know how to get out. I scratched at the sides, nibbled at the opening, but I just couldn't find away out. After a while of trying to get out, I curled up and decided to take a nap.

However, I didn't get to nap long. Voices woke me from my short nap and I yawned, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. I looked up, though all I could see through the red ceiling were vague shapes. I couldn't make out language, either. I sniffed, but as it was coming to normally be, the air was stale and I couldn't smell anything that was outside of it. I growled in irritation, but sat up and pressed my face against the red ceiling. I could see a bit better, and made out two human forms. I wondered if one of them was Marcus, or if they were others. I turned around and saw the shadow of my trainer, as my chamber was still hooked on his belt.

My tail wagged in excitement. Would I get to meet them, too? Would they be exactly like Marcus? Did they look like Marcus? I dug at the walls excitedly as I heard their muffled voices. They were both lighter than Marcus' voice, but one was especially lighter, and I made a guess that they were female. What kind of difference did human males and females have? Were their teeth bigger as males, like zubat? Maybe that patch of hair on their heads was different in length, or color? I tried to listen, but I could only get words and incomplete sentences at most, the rest was just muffled. “Let me out! I wanna see!” I called, but the words just echoed around my chamber.

After a few minutes, I sat down in defeat, yet, just like that, a shadow fell over my red chamber, then there was a flash and I felt the grass beneath my paws. “Yes!” I called and shook off the staleness that felt like it lingered in my fur from the chamber. I looked up at the two new humans. They both had bright, light hair atop their heads. The female had longer hair, just past her chin, while the male's was shorter. Both of their eyes shared the same blue color and wide shape. They looked like a male-female mirror of one another.

The girl squealed and crouched down next to me, in which I jumped back nervously. “Your Eevee is so cute! Oh, and it's shiny, too!” She smiled widely at me. I looked myself over. My fur had a sheen, but it wasn't exactly 'shiny'. All well, humans were a bit confusing, sometimes. I raised my head and strutted up to her.

“Hiya! I'm not that shiny, but that's okay. who are you? I'm Ghost!” The moment I uttered the last word, I stopped. My name had been Pale, but it had changed in that one blink of an eye. It was Pale, right? I felt like it was already a distant word. I wasn't Pale anymore, though, I was Ghost, and I had started over with Marcus and his team. My partners. Yes. I am Ghost now. Pale was a klutz, and Pale made too many mistakes. I wouldn't be Pale anymore, and I would show my new partners how great I can be.

As I looked up at this human's blue eyes, there was a difference. Marcus' eyes were a steely grey, but that wasn't the only difference. Hers were brighter, she looked more excited and friendly. I smiled at her. I liked her. “Yes,” Marcus replied as he picked me up. He was strangely gentle. “I just caught her, so she's not very well trained yet. That's why I wanted to ask if I could battle with one of you?” He smiled at them. Right then, there was a different light in his eyes. He looked more friendly, too, as he looked at the human twins. Was this just the appearances they made when they greeted one another, perhaps?

“Oh, I would love to battle, my Lullaby needs a bit of training, too!” The girl replied. She took on of the balls that had the chambers in them off of her belt. I watched curiously as an Oddish appeared from the flash of white light that the ball emitted. She shook herself and looked around, then gleefully greeted her trainer. “Ready?” The girl asked Marcus, who looked down at me expectantly.

“More than ready!” I called and jumped out of his arms. The trainers took their respective steps back, and the boy twin stood between the two and to the side. He said something about refereeing, but I didn't really understand or care that much. I was excited, would this be like the battle earlier? I forced myself not to wince as I thought about the burns Major had given me, instead I focused on watching Lullaby for any movement.

“As the challenger, I'll go first.” Marcus said smoothly. I saw the girl nod. Were they battling, too? I wondered what humans could do, in attack terms. I hadn't really ever known much about them... “Ghost, use Sandattack!” Surprised, I stumbled on realizing what he wanted me to do. So he was giving me an order! I kicked dirt at my opponent, but her trainer had already reacted, telling the Oddish to avoid it. Then there was retaliation. Acid was shot at me, I heard Marcus tell me to dodge it, but I was already on it. I leaped to my side, though the spray still stung my tail and a bit of my left side. I winced in distaste for the stinging, but turned back to my opponent as Marcus uttered another attack.

Then there wasn't any sort of turn. I followed Marcus' orders whenever I could, usually he was quick to react, and I was the slow one. He told me to move once, but I reacted sluggishly and was powdered in purple dust that made me feel sick to my stomach. After that, I felt dizzy and like I was going to vomit. I was even worse off after that. “Ghost, use tackle attack!” Marcus called. I growled and headed straight for my opponent. Lullaby's trainer was too slow to react, and commanded her to dodge too late. I hit dead on, throwing the oddish back.

As suddenly as that powder made me feel sick, I began to recover from it. I shook my head to clear it and watch Lullaby jump to her feet again. Her trainer told her to use another attack, in which Marcus again told me to move. I leaped to my left, leaving the orange powder to float gently to the ground. I was ordered to use Sandattack, which I did, and Lullaby's absorb simply had her choking on dirt. I grinned and wagged my tail. Clever Marcus! I charged as he ordered me to use another tackle, at the same time that Lullaby's trainer ordered her to use an attack.

I darted straight through a cloud of yellow dust, but I still rammed into my opponent. However, as Lullaby got up, my muscles felt stiff. I stepped back, though my muscles angrily fought the movement. I felt horrible, it was like my bones and muscles had suddenly locked into the position I stood in. I squeaked in discomfort and tried to shake myself out of it, yet the response of my body was simply trembling.

Suddenly, I was drenched by an acid attack, in which I cried out pain and shut my eyes tightly. I felt weak, but my muscles wouldn't let me collapse. I took another step back as the painful burning liquid slipped down my sides. Marcus told me to attack, to move, to dodge, but I could barely tremble as the oddish attacked again. An absorb attack, but finally my muscles released me. I collapsed. I was in pain, as I laid there. Had I failed Marcus? No, I didn't want to fail him. I just didn't! I growled and forced myself to ignore the aching, the stiffness, and the sickness that ravaged my body. Only Pale would give up now.

I felt something new come about. My mind was set on doing something new, something to impress Marcus. Something I couldn't do before. I moved faster than I ever had before with a quick attack. I hit Oddish dead-on, as no one had expected the attack. I panted as I watched Oddish roll backwards. Marcus didn't say a word on it, but the human girl exclaimed in surprise. “Lullaby, use return!” She cried afterwards. I was through. The Oddish made a ball of energy, but I had no hope in moving out of the way. I was out of luck, and already on the verge of passing out. Then it hit me, and I was thrown back. I don't remember landing, because I blacked out in the air.

To be continued...

Chapter 03

The Assessment. I turned my attention back to the others, just in time to jump out of the way of Cannon's aquatail. The attack hit the ground, hard, and I was quite thankful for my reflexes. I dug my paws into the earth and kicked it into his eyes. A simple sandattack. So, I just needed to stay on my feet? Well that wouldn't be too hard, I guess. I got a sudden plan. I was obviously to small and weak to knock them down myself, but maybe...

Cannon roared and rubbed his eyes. He nearly stepped on me, but I yelped darted back a few paces. Flourish came out of nowhere and used Megahorn on the Blastoise, who staggered back from the attack. I quickly moved forward and tackled the back of his leg as he tried to take a step backwards. Cannon fell backwards and landed awkwardly on his back. He growled in frustration. I grinned at the Sawsbuck, who nodded approvingly.

I saw Storm in the corner of my eye and turned in time to see the electricity coming it me. My eyes widened in that quarter of a second I had. There was no time to react, but an energy ball met the attack before it hit me. I was so relieved not to get hit by the electricity that I stayed still too long. Major stood directly in front of me and his glare was murderous. I saw Rampage and Flourish were busy with Storm, as Rampage had finally jumped in now that I was out of Storm's sights. “Let's go, Kid!” Major barked and leaped at me. Now to work out my plan.

I dove between his legs and under him, racing off behind him. He growled in frustration and followed. I glanced back and was somewhat deterred by how fast he was. Obviously several times faster than I was. I looked ahead and found what I was looking for. A tree. I kicked up dust behind me, a rather bad attempt to use sand attack, or at least to distract him from the upcoming obstacle. He was gaining, and fast. I wished that I could use agility for this. The tree was only an foot away when I leapt up, then I kicked off the tree trunk and dodged Major, barely, just as he ran head-long into the tree.

I panted and turned around. Major roared in pain as he hit, nose first, against the tree. He skid and hit his chest against the trunk, too, but he twisted around without falling over and stood again, shaking his head to get rid of the shock of running into the tree. I saw Flourish knocked down by a thunderpunch in the corner of my eye. My fur bristled as the Houndoom's red eyes found me again. I backed up nervously as fire began to form at his lips. I didn't know what fire attack he was going to use, but I did know that fire hurt either way and that I wanted out of it.

I spun around and only managed to take a step before Houndoom's fangs sank into my back and burned my skin around it. He lifted me off the ground as I cried out in pain and shook me back and forth, then I was tossed into the air. I went pretty high, and I shut my eyes tightly to brace for impact while trying hard to ignore the burning and stinging of my singed skin along my back. Rather unfortunately, I landed on my back. Which hurt. A lot. I cried out as I hit the hard earth and quickly rolled over to keep dirt and grass out of the wound.

I knew I was out, I was off my feet. I opened my eyes to see what was happening. Major and Storm were ganging up on Rampage. The Garchomp roared and used dragon rush, but Storm dodged it and retaliated with a thunder punch, which hit Rampage in the center of the back, nearly knocking him over. Nearly. Rampage spun around hit Storm with a dragon claw, throwing him back onto his rear end. Major then came from behind and used flamethrower, hitting Rampage with enough force that he finally fell forwards. He caught himself with his hands, but snarled in frustration of defeat.

I finally pushed myself off the ground and sat up, panting. It stung just to move, and I felt somewhat sore from running faster than I usually could. I guessed that it was just my emergency strength, that exciting pulse in my blood that only happened when I really needed it. I stood and walked back to the trainer, who had been watching very carefully. He was patting Major for his success when I walked up. I sat down and looked up at him. He glanced at me, then stood up.

“Alright, now let's just make sure everyone's figured out how it works.” He glanced at me again, then look at Cannon. “You were the first to fall, and you could have so easily avoided it if you had gone for Sawsbuck instead, who was free after Major and Storm went after Rampage.” He said coldly, then put the second smallest bowl out for him. I blinked in surprise. Blastoise were big Pokemon, didn't they need more than that? The tortoise Pokemon shut his eyes in defeat. The human turned to Flourish.

“And you, if you had just watched where you were going, you could've dodged that thunder punch instead of getting stuck on a damn tree root.” He shook his head and scooted the third smallest bowl to Flourish. “I thought that I trained you better than that!” He growled. I looked at the Sawsbuck rather sadly. She had saved me from that thundershock, why did he not bring that up as a good thing? Then, his eyes turned to me. He looked me over, my tense position was a mixture of nervousness and pain. “I haven't really gotten to training you that much yet, but with how you started out I thought you would've been smarter than to turn you back to your opponent.” He snapped and I looked at the ground. I had messed up...

He gave me the same bowl that he had shown to me in the first place, the smallest because I was the smallest Pokemon. I didn't eat, because no one else was yet. I sat and watched his criticism of all his Pokemon, even Major. It seemed he searched for them all to do exactly as he would want, but then the fight would've gone on forever, and the food would have been cold. Then again, the food had cooled down from it's boiling heat, and it smelled like it was still warm and tasty. My belly growled in protest of not eating it already.

Finally, after all criticism was finished, the boy gave us permission to eat. I was about to dig in when he picked me up. I whined from the pain as the skin on my back stretched. “Quiet.” He ordered and I was silenced. I looked up at him apologetically. I didn't mean to be bad, I was making mistakes again! What use was I if I couldn't do anything right? He held a white and purple spray bottle that I sniffed curiously as he pointed it at my burns. I clenched my teeth as the stuff stung when it hit my wound. I didn't want to whine again, he had told me to be quiet, so I just pressed my forehead against his arm to help ignore the stinging.

Finally, he placed my down after spraying a red and orange bottle, too. I shook myself in irritation, but my back felt better. He didn't spray any of the others with it, even though Rampage had some burns on him. They weren't serious, though. Was mine worse, maybe? After all, I didn't really look at the wound, I just knew that it hurt quite a bit. I looked up at the trainer, who put the medicine back in his bag, then started eating his own food. I looked back to the soup and licked my lips before finally digging, hungrier than I had been before the battle.

Chapter 02

Ready? What!? GO!

I found myself conscious again, but still within my dark, red chamber. I shook my head and looked around. I felt... different. I didn't know how, but something felt like things had changed. I knew already that I would probably never see Eevee or Vileplume again, but that would be a good thing, because that meant they would stay free. I shook myself to wake up better. I was a trainer's Pokemon now, but what did that entail? Listening to him? Being his friend? I didn't even know if those stories were true. I hoped they were, though, and nothing could stop me from it. Then, there was a sound, it was like a mixture splashing water and rushing air through caves.

The first thing was the feeling of air against my light pelt. It wasn't cold, just nice and cool as it gently grazed my skin, not stuffy like that red chamber. I opened my eyes and found a tall figure. Looking up, it was Ampheros' trainer... my trainer. I don't know how humans are supposed to look, but he was taller than Ampheros, with black hair that was about chin-length and silver eyes. He was looking rather intimidating with how to shadows spread over half of his face in the dawn light. I was surprised, I must have slept for half a day and a night.

He crouched down next to me and I stepped back cautiously. I knew, then, that one thing that had changed was that I could understand his language. ”Hey there, Eevee,” He smiled and reached out a hand towards me. I narrowed my eyes. Why did he think my name was Eevee, when obviously it has been Pale for a while.

”My sister's name is Eevee.” I stated, slightly defiant towards him. He caught me, and took me away from my family, and thinks I'll just forgive him and let him pet me? His hand stayed where it was, not moving towards me, but not moving away, either. It seemed like just an offer. He didn't seem to understand my words, like I could his, and just kept his face calm and inviting. Why was he so hard to walk away from, so suddenly? Why couldn't I just run away now and go back home? Something felt like it was holding me here, with him.

The trainer looked over my fur. I think,” He began. ”I'll name you Ghost.” I wanted to be defiant, but something held me from growling or telling him off. My name was Pale. I wouldn't accept another name. It wasn't like he could understand me if I told him, though. I glared at him a moment as continued looking over me. I was usually up this hour every day, so it made no difference, but it seemed somewhat strange how awake he was, too. Weren't human's supposed to be full daylight creatures?

It wasn't long before I noticed my hunger, and couldn't help but to sniff his hand to see if, maybe, there was any food on him. I could smell food, but there was none in his palm. He suddenly moved his hand and rubbed the top of my head. I growled a bit and he stood and turned to a fire I only noticed when he turned attention to it. I looked at it with wide eyes, wondering why it wasn't spreading and why he wasn't afraid of it. Well, if he wasn't afraid, then there was no reason to hide from it.

I moved forward and sniffed around the edge. My nose tingled with the heat and I sneezed as ash caught in my nostrils. I smelled food, somewhere, though. My belly growled and I looked up at a the boy as he stirred something that smelled really good. Not as good as Vileplume's aromatherapy, but food smelled amazing and my mouth was watering at the scent. I could smell meat, vegetables, and herbs mixed wonderfully together in boiling water. I licked my lips and sat down as I curiously wondered if he could eat out of a pot so big.

He finished cooking quickly, and went to his backpack. I watched him curiously, wondering what he was doing over there. He pulled out wooden bowls, seven total, and placed six of them in a row. I wondered why he did this, it seemed strange. He took the pot and filled each bowl, all of which were in a line of smallest to biggest, then filled his own bowl with the rest of it. He put the bowl in his hand down and took out five of those red and white balls. Wordlessly, he released five Pokemon from their chambers. I looked at them all, they were so big and strong, I felt small.

”Everyone, this is your new companion, Ghost.” The trainer announced to them all. I spotted Ampheros first, and glared at her, remembering how she had cruelly attacked Vileplume. Then I saw Blastoise, Garchomp, Sawsbuck, and Houndoom as they all looked me over critically. I felt like I was being judged, so I held my head high, even though these titans were far above my level. They all looked very dangerous, and very strong, and definitely much bigger than me. ”Now, let's eat, why don't we?” He called and all the Pokemon gathered, but it seemed mechanical to me, there was no emotion as they walked to their respective bowls.

He looked at me and crouched down. ”Come on, Ghost, come and eat something, I'm sure you're hungry.” He lured, indicating the smallest, but certainly big enough for me, bowl. I blinked at him, unsure for a moment. So, trainers were nice, right? Then... He was going to take care of me? I thought about my family, how I had let them down countless times. This was like a new start, wasn't it? A new world for me, a new life. I got to start over. I got to leave my mistakes behind, because no one here knew about them. I could be better.

I wagged my tail and delightedly hopped over. I would do better. I lost my indifference then, because my new start wouldn't be right if I made the mistake of judging them all because of what they've done. It was normal for trainers to fight and catch Pokemon, they were made for it. I decided, right then, that I would never let him down. I would stop my mistakes and be better than I was. I wished that I could have done that for my family, but now was a new beginning, so I had the chance wide open for me. Now was my time.

I sniffed the bowl, but at noticing no one else eating yet, I sat down and looked up at the boy. He smiled at me and patted my head. “Smart little one.” I said. I smiled. I had just done the right thing! I didn't even know what I had done, I guessed that it wasn't time to eat yet. I sat up as he stood and looked over his team. “Why weren't any of you smart enough to figure that out like little Ghost, here?” He asked them. The Pokemon glared at me, and I felt like I should sink into the earth, but I stayed at attention and only glanced at them self consciously. I swallowed nervously. The Garchomp looked quite ready to eat me.

He smirked and looked over them all. “Alright, pair up, three per team!” I was confused. Pair up? I watched as Garchomp and Blastoise paired up, then Houndoom quickly too his place with them as Sawsbuck and Ampheros paired up on their own. They looked at me rather nervously, then glanced at each other as if they had just lost. “So, Flourish, Storm and Ghost against Rampage, Cannon and Major. Hmm.” He paused for a moment, then; “Rampage, switch with Storm!”” The Garchomp looked outraged, but he followed orders and switched with Ampheros. He glared at me, but I was still confused as to what we were doing.

“Better get ready for the fight of your life, kid.” Sawsbuck, or Flourish told me. I looked up at her. We were fighting!? Each other? I looked to the other three, Ampheros, or Storm, Blastoise, Cannon, and Houndoom, Major. I swallowed nervously, again. What kind of attacks did I have against these three? Synchronoise wouldn't even effect any of them, and tackle could only do so much. Wait, wasn't my trainer supposed to tell us what to do? I looked to him curiously. He was looking over everything, then stood to the side between both teams.

“Alright, get knocked off your feet and you're out.” He stated. “Go!”

Chapter 01

Born to be wild?

What a sweet, enticing scent my Vileplume friend sent around us. Me and my sister had just narrowly escaped a pack of wild houndour. They were angry, because we had found their berry supply and, well, we didn't know it was there. Eevee's brown and cream pelt was a bit ragged and burned at the tips, having been hit with an ember attack. She took a deep breath as the burns began to disappear. “Thanks, Vileplume, for the aromatherapy.” She said politely, her ears slightly lowered.

“You're more than welcome, Eevee.” Vileplume said. She was like our mother, after Jolteon was caught by a trainer. I resent trainers for that, but there were so many tales of how well their trainers treat their Pokemon. If I had to be caught, I hope for a good human. “What about you, Pale? Do you have any burns?” Pale. My fur is nearly white, white around my neck and tail-tip, unlike my sister, so to keep us from getting mixed up, Vileplume calls me that.

I looked up at her and smiled. “No, we were lucky, and far away when we noticed them coming.” I explained. I liked Vileplume, she was almost as close to me as my sister. She had raised us since just a week after we'd hatched. We weren't troublemakers, Mom and Vileplume taught us not to do bad things on purpose, it was all an accident, really. This whole mess. Jeez, I felt guilty, because the whole mess isn't even just the berries. I felt like everything was my fault. I was the one who smelled the berries and brought Eevee there. I was the one who hurt my little sister with my synchronoise attack, even if it was by accident. I was the one who chased Shinx down the hill and ran into the trainer who caught mom. Obviously, I'm a bad guardian, just making things worse for everyone, all the time.

Vileplume smiled. “Well, I'm glad you're both okay.” She said. I smiled back politely, but by the way she looked at me, I guessed that it didn't reach my eyes. The flower Pokemon looked at my sister. “Eevee, go lay down and calm yourself for a few minutes, I need to talk to Pale.” She said, glancing at me gently. Eevee nodded, then went off a little ways to rest beneath a young Oran plant. Vileplume started walking, so I followed. I felt like I was in trouble, so I held my head low, my tail brushing the ground, and my ears limp and hanging next to my cheeks. Vileplume looked at me after a moment. “Why do you always look so guilty, and like your in trouble, Pale?” She asked me.

I looked down at my paws and kept my pace steady. “I smelled the berries, Vileplume, but I brushed off the scent of houndour as if it wouldn't do us any harm.” I confessed. “Eevee said she was hungry, so I went in search of the berries, and she followed me, then she got hurt...” I shook my head. It was all my fault, everything was my fault, always. I glanced at Vileplume, expecting her to tell me off for it, but, as usual, her stare was calm and kind.

“Pale,” She began. “You are young, you make mistakes, you always will, but you learn from every mistake.” She walked close to me as she continued her speech. “All you have to do is forgive yourself for your mistakes, then you can move on and become better.” She told me. She didn't tell me it wasn't my fault, so it was my fault. She just said that I will make mistakes. Forever. What use am I if I make mistakes all the time?

I shook my head and shut my eyes. “But, Vileplume, how can I keep forgiving myself when all I do is hurt others?” I looked up at her blue and red form. “And why do I have Synchronoise, when it can only hurt Eevee? I don't want to be made to hurt her!” I cried. Vileplume opened her mouth, but a crashing sound made us both stop and look up. A human fell through the bushes, but he quickly caught himself before falling on his face. He quickly righted himself, then looked at us curiously. His eyes shifted from Vileploom to me, then his lips twisted into a grin.

“Pale, run!” Vileplume cried as a white light flashed and an Ampheros appeared. The human grunted something, and Vileplume went flying as Ampheros punched her with a ball of electricity twisted around her fist. I froze in fear as the Ampheros began to move to finish Vileploom off on the order of her trainer. I... I couldn't let this happen.

“No!” I cried and leaped between the Ampheros and my foster mother. The electric Pokemon paused, glancing at her trainer. The human grinned and spoke another command. His Pokemon looked at me and I lowered my head to get ready for it. She raised her head and a ball of white light appeared before her maw, then she looked at me and the signal beam was fired. It landed directly at my feet, sending me flying back from the powerful attack.

I landed heavily and groaned as I felt my side slam into a rock. I growled and twisted around to glare at the Ampheros. I wasn't even touched by that move, and I was hurt pretty bad from it. I had to shake it off and protect Vileplume, though. I just had to. Vileplume, on the other hand, had been hit directly, and looked knocked out. I felt my legs get weak, my heart sped up, and I almost fainted. I won't. I can't. I need to fight them off, to protect Vileplume and Eevee. I told myself silently. I didn't know very many good moves, but tackle would have to do. I jumped forwards and went to tackle Ampheros, but as I made contact, I simply bounced back, my opponent only stepping back slightly. I felt useless as I stared up at the trainer's Pokemon, looming above me.

The human shouted again, and Ampheros charged for only a second before sending an attack at me. The electricity was impossible to dodge. Shock ran through my body, at first it made me gasp and my limbs shook, but then my body tingled and my fur bristled against my will as I fell. My heart sped up and it was hard to breath. My limbs weren't responding, they just twitched uselessly. I would have cried out in the painful and helpless situation, had I even been able to utter a sound. I shut my eyes tightly to ward it off. I could only think, as my heart fell, how I had failed so miserably. At least Eevee was safe.

I opened my eyes as a figure loomed over me, silver eyes curious, but there was something in them that gave me a bad feeling. He pulled out a round device, with a top of red and bottom of white. He looked at it for only a moment before tossing it at me. It didn't hit me, though I flinched, instead, before anything else, I felt myself being pulled. I didn't have time to react as I found myself in a round, hollow place, lit in red light, barely big enough for me to stand in. I still couldn't move, but I struggled, pushing the sides and crying out as I found my voice. I tackled a side, but to no avail. Then, as suddenly as I found myself on the hollow ball, there was a red flash and I fell asleep.