Akima's Tale: The Jalare League Chapter III: Dawn of Winter A loud bark echoed through into the heavy silence of early morning, cutting through the peaceful serenity like a knife. I jolted awake instantly just as a second chilling howl broke out, slowly dissipating into a throaty growl. I moaned to myself as I turned over, burying my head into my sleeping bag. I knew that growl. "What's that?" I heard Jake mumble dimly. "It's Rory." I muttered back. "Well go shut him up." I moaned again and upturned my face to the sky. "RORY, SHUT UP!" I yelled as loud as my morning voice would allow. There was a brief pause then the howling came again, even louder than before. Then another Pokemon joined in. It was Jake's Electrike. "No, not Shock too..." I muttered under my breath, forcing myself to my feet and opening my eyes. Instantly they were hurting. I cursed and close them quickly again, rubbing away at the sharp crusts of sleepy dust. I hated it, the stuff came to me almost every morning. I stumbled around blindly as I tried to peel it away painfully and make my way to whereabouts the howls were coming from at the same time, then my bare foot hit something hard and sharp. I yelped with pain and before I knew what was happening the ground disappeared from beneath my feet and I was tumbling head-over-heels downward. I let out a short, surprised scream and then I was hitting anything and everything as I cursed with every bump. On and on it went, then WHAM! A sudden sharp pain bashed my forehead and everything was momentarily black. Well, not like it wasn't already. Just then the sun started to rise. I could see sparkling light through my eyelids, and I hesitantly opened my eyes. The light disappeared and was replaced by pre-dawn light. I groaned and reached my hand up to my forehead. I touched it and instantly the pain set in. I withdrew my hand - I felt as if someone had taken a cricket bat made of wood and slammed it into me. My head spun and throbbed as I knelt up, and then I heard Jake yelling my name. It came out sort of muted, and my vision was all fuzzy. I spat out a mouthful of dirt as I looked up at where I had fallen. What had once been a slope of about twenty meters littered with small shrubs with protruding branches and loose ground foliage was now pretty munted up. I had left a rough trail of torn up bush and the soil looked like it had just been waiting for some poor unsuspecting idiot like me to fall down it to cause a small landslide of damp dirt and moss. And, at the very top, Jake was staring down at me. I glared back at him. "WHAT?" I yelled at him. He just burst into a fit of laughter. The stupid stuck-up ass! I growled moodily and looked down to see what my head had hit. It was a boulder, one of many lining the river. And there was a scrape of blood on it. Dazedly I took a few steps to the river and looked down. The dim light was enough to see that I had this massive red circle right in the middle of my forehead, and I was literally covered in moss, leaves and dirt. To say the least I looked terrible. I turned around and looked back up at Jake. He was out of sight, but I could till hear his laughing. In his place I could just see the forms of two familiar Pokemon. I just made out Rory stifling a grin and Electrike looking on passively. I scowled angrily. "Well you would care if it happened to you!" I yelled. Then they both disappeared. "You're not even gonna help me?!" There was silence. My mouth dropped open before I closed it stubbornly and I looked down at my reflection again, leaning against the boulder as my mind swam and I received a head spin. I stared at it. I had never looked so bad in my life. It shouldn't have, but it cut me deep for some reason. Tears pricked my eyes as I touched the red mark on my head. It was going to bruise something bad. It had better not scar. "Here." I jumped and turned around. Jake stood there in front of me holding out my bag and a towel. "You better get cleaned up, then we'll do something about that bump, okay?" I nodded weakly - it was all I felt I could do. "And no drowning this time." He joked. I glared icily at him and he got the message, climbing back up the slope to the campsite. As soon as he was out of sight I was in the water hiding behind the boulders scrubbing away with my hands at every part of my body in an attempt to get rid of all the grime, carefully washing my injury and inspecting for cuts. I already had multiple battle scars from my first day as a Pokemon Trainer, and I didn't need any more. Somehow I had the feeling I was going to get many more anyway. The water was freezing, even more so than before if that was at all possible. But I stayed in the shallows so if I got any cramps again I wouldn't drown; I could just sit there and wait for the pain to go away. Which was worse? Enduring the pain for however long it took me to struggle up the bank and wrap myself in a towel or yell for Jake? ...No way was I about to do the latter. Oh well. If I was quick it wouldn't happen. I was taking my hair lackey out when I chanced a glance over my shoulder through a crack in the stones, and I got a slight shock. There was this little pink creature creeping along the ground straight towards my bag! I sank lower into the water and watched it, trying to keep as still as possible. It had large red eyes, cute, pudgy legs with little claws and long spines lining it's back. It sported a pair of large ears, a few darker pink dapples and one single small horn protruding from it's forehead. What was it? My memory seemed to have failed me. That probably had something to do with my head-on collision with the rock. It looked like a normal-type Pokemon, that was for sure. I needed to know... it was just so cute. It's nose twitched and it's eyes settled on me. Then suddenly I remembered. It was a male Nidoran, not exactly common here on the island of Tor, but not rare either. I slowly reached out between the gap in the boulders. He was only about a meter away, but I reached slower still. I was determined not to scare him off. He just stared at me with those liquid eyes as I gradually reached toward him. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity my fingertip brushed his nose ever so lightly, but it was enough. The Nidoran flinched and immediately leapt backwards into the foliage. I closed my eyes still held in my motionless stance, cursing myself for being so stupid. It was a wild Pokemon and not used to the touch of a human. What as I thinking, that it would just come to my hand like a tame puppy? I opened my eyes again, and a slight movement at the edge of my vision attracted my attention suddenly. It was the Nidoran! It was hiding just at the edge of the forest, watching me with those large red eyes. They weren't like Rory's - his were full of spite and suspicion. These ones were full of curiosity and innocence. I smiled warmly at it, then slowly brought myself out of the water and wrapped my towel around me, before carefully unzipping my bag and searching around in it for a moment, keeping my eye on the Pokemon. Don't move, just don't move. I whispered to it in my mind although it could not hear me, forcing myself to be so careful that I even hushed my thoughts. I found what I was looking for, the container full of my mum's cooking from two nights ago. I really had to eat it soon before it went bad. I took a small piece of omelette made from egg, cheese, mushrooms, broccoli and vegetarian sausage, and slowly, gradually, inched my way toward the Nidoran. I remembered a time back home when I had been playing with one of the Growlithes. He was sitting on his stomach in the loungeroom, a toy resting in between his paws. I had been playing with and chasing him around for the past five minutes, and he was all fired up. I went about trying to get the ball, but this time instead of rushing madly toward him, I stepped extremely slowly in his direction. The Growlithe's tail started to wag madly and at an unbelievable rate, but as I went even slower still, the wagging slowly stopped. Normally he would have just bolted away for all he was worth, but now he just sat there and stared up at me, as if wondering what I was trying to achieve. Finally I was close enough to the pup, and my foot whipped out and I stepped on the ball and flicked it away from the dog Pokemon just as he leapt up to run away. I had picked up the ball and laughed at him. I know, a bit arrogant you'd say, but hey, I achieved something that day! And so I came to a conclusion that Pokemon would run away if I moved quickly and looked as if I were trying to attack them. It's only natural that they dodge away. But they don't expect an enemy to approach slowly and in their full view. So I was hoping that the Nidoran would see that I was no predator but find me of some strange interest so that he would stick around. I stopped about a meter from where it was and carefully placed the portion of food on the ground, then crept back to where I had been and waited. I waited for probably only a couple of minutes, but it felt like an hour to me. Impatience was eating away at me, but I used every inch of will there was left in my body after a frustrating 'sleep', my early wakeup call, the most uncomfortable, informal way to get down a hill and a dip in the freezing cold river that I had almost drowned in the previous day. I could tell that I was going to be grumpy for a while. Then Rory will get grumpy at me for what he brought on himself, then I'll get snappy at Jake, he'll chuck a sad at everyone and Shock will probably be more quiet and silent then he already is! A glimmer of movement suddenly brought me out of my irritated, brooding thoughts. The Nidoran! It was coming out! It slowly crept out of the scrub, waddled tensely over to the little piece of omelette, sniffed it, then wolfed it down. I grinned. No one could resist mum's cooking! But then, just as it looked up at me expectantly, there was a mad howl from up the top of the hill. And before I knew what was happening Shock was shooting down the hillside so quickly that he lost his footing and was immediately tumbling down the mud and dirt like a bright green and yellow ball, electricity jolting out in all directions, and the Nidoran was gone. My mouth dropped open with anger as I stood in disbelief, then Shock stopped his descent when he slammed into my legs. I cried out with surprise and stumbled backwards, the boulder pressed against my back the only thing stopping me from falling into the river. I stood there fuming as Shock unfurled from his position, blinking as if confused, then looked around wildly. I regained myself and scooped up the Electrike, fuming with anger. "You scared the Nidoran off, you idiot!" I yelled right in his face. "That's why it's not there, and that's why you're looking around like you don't know why or where it's gone! You're stupid, stupid, stupid-" "What are you doing?!" I was cut off as I looked up to see Jake and Rory looking down from the camping ground. I immediately placed Shock on the ground and scowled at Jake angrily. "Your Electrike scared off my Nidoran! It was gonna be mine! You should keep your Pokemon under a bit more control!" "He can't help his instincts!" Jake retorted. I fell silent, then glared up at them all as Shock reached his owner. After only a moment's hesitation, I yelled my challenge to him. "Jake, I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!" He looked at me and grinned. "You're on!" "In just a minute! Now shoo!" He nodded and the three walked away and out of sight. I hurriedly got dressed and realised how very warm it was. It was supposed to be winter, right? Not spring or anything... I took up my bag after packing the food back in and a few sad looks at the forest, then started making my way up the hill. I slipped a few times on the slope, but it was never too bad. But by the time I reached the top it was considerably humid and I was sweating. The sun however had hidden behind the clouds, which were gathering rapidly, dark and brooding with a bright silver lining. I felt there was going to be a storm soon, although I couldn't be too sure. Or would it snow? It was hard to tell. But whatever it was, I couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding. I came upon the scene of Jake, Shock and Rory putting out the fire and packing up the food. "Hey, what about me?" I demanded. "You've got your own food." Jake said. My mouth dropped open. The stuck up little... "What about Rory?" I asked. "I fed him." "But not me?" Ohh, that's just low... "Rory, come here!" I snapped. He glared up at me then trotted over. I crouched down and met his gaze firmly. "Look here mate, for once, just for five minutes, don't hate me. Please, just at least fight for me, just now. And when I say just fight for me, that doesn't mean do a little tackle and then refuse to move or anything. Please? I have to prove myself to this guy." I whispered, looking at him pleadingly. I couldn't think of anything else to say, really. I felt stupid though - I couldn't shake this strange, horrible feeling from myself. "Just fight for me, okay?" Rory averted his eyes and his bristled tail lowered. It was simple body language. He didn't want to. But I had already challenged Jake to a battle, and I couldn't just surrender to him. I sighed and pulled my bag onto my back. I wanted to get going as soon as this was over. "Are you ready?" Jake suddenly asked. I stood up and met him eye to eye. "Yes." "Okay then, let's do this." He said, and glanced down at his Pokemon. "Shock, let's go! Quick attack!" The Electrike shot forward in a sudden blur, crashing into Rory with such a force that he was thrown back several meters into the air. Nevertheless, the grey dog Pokemon landed deftly on his feet, and stared at his opponent. "Rory, shadow ball now!" I commanded, hoping I would win this battle. Rory bowed his head, a low growl emitting from his throat, then he shot out a ball of dark energy. It catapulted into Shock's side, knocking him to the ground with a painful cry. "Now bite! Let's finish this battle!" I yelled. "Thunderbolt!" Jake called out. As Rory ran hard at Shock, the thunder dog howled and electricity shot out from his body in all directions. The electricity hit Rory head on, coursing through his body as he gritted his teeth and kept running. I flinched as Shock dished out more and more electricity, but still Rory forced himself on. I could see every muscle in his body strained as he leapt upon his adversary, growling, scratching and biting in a constant onslaught, his face contorted with pain. I covered my face. I couldn't stand it. I could almost feel his pain in the air around me. Through my fingers I saw that Shock still held out also, but his elemental power was slowly dissipating. Rory's eyes were flashing wildly in all directions as his movements weakened. I couldn't take it anymore. "No, Rory! Stop it and get out of there! Jake, you win!" I cried out without a second thought. "Shock, stop now!" Jake commanded in reply. Shock immediately ceased his thunderbolts, darting away. But Rory wasn't stopping. He shot after Shock with a sudden renewed strength, his blood- red eyes emitting a faint glow. "Rory, that's enough! Stop it!" I said, despair flaring up within me. What was he doing? I glanced at Jake and he looked like he was thinking the same thing. Rory pounced upon Shock, shadow balls shooting out every second. "Rory!" I yelled. He didn't even register my distraught cry. I dimly saw Jake rush forward and scoop Shock from the ground, Rory still snapping and growling. I felt myself sway in the immense heat. The bad feeling deepened considerably, and I realised that all was silent. All except Jake's cries for help, Shock's whimpers and Rory's violent growls and barks. A pounding headache threatened. The clouds hung heavily, but there was no thunder or lightning. It was all too strange. I could see bright lights in the sky, lining the clouds, glistening. I stumbled as I forced myself to try and get to Jake and the Pokemon, to do something, but I couldn't. I couldn't think, all that I felt was the humidity and a horror deep inside me. Despite the lights in the sky, the storm clouds covering the sky blocked out all sunlight, and it was getting dark - so dark. I clutched at my head, trying in a futile attempt to block out the pounding in my mind. I caught glimpse of Jake tearing off his jumper, sweat evident on his body, and Shock whimpering on the ground as Rory's eyes flashed dangerously, yet full of fear, and he tore off into the bushes. I gasped and cried out in dismay. Where was he going? What was happening? I didn't know what was going on, what to do! Fear caught in my throat and I rushed after my Pokemon. I had to catch him! Jake could take care of himself, right? Right? I ran and ran, the headache steadily getting worse, and I was sure it was turning to a migraine. I only get them occasionally, but now it was worse than ever. I called Rory's name again and again. I never stopped for a moment. I wasn't even thinking of him. I wasn't thinking of anything when I glanced upwards to the black cloudy sky. Then I saw it. A dark cloud that was seemingly tinted green, glittering, swirling, intermixing with the blackness. I stared at it, still running, before I ran into a low tree branch. Then I set my eyes ahead, desperately screaming out for Rory. I had to get to him, I had to get him in his pokeball, I had to get to shelter - shelter from what? The oncoming storm? The lightning, the rain? My own fears? Or something else? The wind was whipping my hair all around me, in my eyes and catching on branches and leaves. The trees seemed to reach out to take hold of me, to keep me from going on, but I lashed my arms out, trying to push everything out of my way. But I couldn't go on. I collapsed right there on the ground in between two large trees, holding my forehead, just wishing for the pain to go away. I chanced a glance up at the sky. The green cloud was swelling larger. The sense of foreboding was clutching at my throat. I felt as if I couldn't breath; the air was so heavy and thick, even with the wind swirling it around in an array of sticks, leaves and dirt. Then all of a sudden I looked up. A group of little Sentrets flew past, followed by a few Rattata. Moments later a Gossamor, a large, red flightless bird native only to Jalare, stampeded past followed by a few little chicks, chirping with fear. I slowly looked in the opposite direction they were heading, and I froze. Large chunks of ice were hailing down from the sky from the green cloud, cutting through the air like knives. The air was bright with ice, and then the first hailstone hit me. It cut into my bare upper arm, leaving a thin trail of blood in its wake. I let out a short scream, clutching my arm in pain. Then I got up and started to run. I ran as the shards of ice rained down on me and upon the whole forest. The wind was lashing me almost as hard as the ice, my migraine almost as painful as both of them put together. My vision was darkening, and pure blind terror gripped me as I forced my legs to keep moving. Ice was cutting even through my jeans, I could feel it, and pain was covering me like thousands of tiny little needles pricking into my skin. I gasped and stopped in my tracks as a thin three was uprooted and sent flying toward me. Only my instincts saved me as I ducked, pressing myself to the ground as branches shot through the air and trees were pulled up by their roots all around me. Fear was the only thing that drove me on as I pushed myself to crawl over the ground, bright and white with ice. Still the wind and hail stung as I dragged myself over ice as sharp as blades, roots, sticks, the stumps of trees. My eyes were screwed shut for fear of having them slashed out, and the fear inside me was even stronger than the pain. Hard things hit me, what I assumed to be wood, sticks and small rocks. It went on and on, a neverending ordeal that was killing me. What seemed like after an eternity my hand pressed against something soft and warm, and the shards of ice suddenly disappeared for the moment. I opened my eyes to find the clutch of Gossamer chicks all huddled together in front of me, behind a large boulder, sheltered from the ice, but victims to the merciless wind. Their mother was nowhere to be seen. I gasped, trying to catch my breath, and took my bag off behind the shelter of the boulder. I opened the zip and found enough room to fit them all in. I scooped the little chicks up as they chirruped fearfully, then zipped the bag half shut. I looked around, quickly assessing the situation. There were more boulders nearby, but I could barely see beyond a few meters from the glittering ice shotting all around me. I gathered what little strength I had left and dodged to a larger boulder, hiding behind it, then saw a low overhang of rock in the bottom of a hill. I stumbled toward it and managed to squeeze my way in. It turned out to be a dark cave with a low ceiling, and the droppings of some Pokemon were littered over the floor. But I lay down on it gratefully, catching my breath and breathing freely. I was exhausted, but I managed to unzip my bag fully. Four Gossamor chicks stared out at me. I stared back at them, then lay back down on the cave floor. I dropped off to sleep. It seemed like I had barely slept at all when something warm nuzzled my face. I moaned and slowly opened my eyes to meet a pair of bright red ones. I immediately thought it to be Rory, but this creature was not grey and furry, it was pink. I sat up with a start, barely missing the ceiling of the cave. Instant pain shot through my limbs, from cuts and bruises littering my skin and from a steady, but weaker pounding in the depths of my mind. My arms and legs were so sore I couldn't move them out of fear of more pain, but then it all washed away for a few seconds when I saw the male Nidoran sitting on his haunches in front of me, staring intently. The Gossamor chicks were huddled together nearby, aside from one on it's own in the very corner of the cave, near the back. All of the Pokemon looked tired, hurt and weak, and something moved inside me. I tried to speak, but my mouth and throat were parched. I broke out into a coughing fit, and glanced outside from behind the overhang of dark rock. It was raining heavily. I rummaged through my bag and found my water bottle, which I drank from deeply. I felt so tired, but I kept on feeding myself with energy from just looking at the Pokemon, weak and fearful. Yesterday afternoon I had been looking in my bag and found that included in the beginning trainers pack was a variety of foods for different sorts of Pokemon. And that included birdseed. I found the little yellow grains and poured them into a bowl, then placed them next to the chicks. They looked at me and at the seed, then the three waddled forward and timidly tasted the food, but then grew in confidence and were soon eating their fill. I sighed with relief that they were eating, then took out the omelette from this morning, breaking pieces off for the Nidoran and eating the majority of it myself. When we finished that I just kept on producing food from my bag. I had skipped breakfast, and by checking the time on my pokedex I found that it was midday. My watch wasn't working, mainly because the screen was smashed and the little hands missing. After eating I inspected my many injuries and applied disinfectant and bandaids to the worst of them, then was inspired to flick my shiny black pokedex toward the Gossamor chicks, seeing as I had never used it yet. It spoke to me in a mechanic voice, and felt comforting considering I was in the middle of a forest with only Pokemon nearby. "Gossachick: The pre-evolution of Gossamor. These Pokemon are not very adept in fighting at their current stage, but with enough nurturing and care, these chicks will row to be strong Gossamors. They can not yet learn any elemental attacks, but can learn peck, shriek, sand attack and scratch." I looked them over. One could fit into my hand, and they were covered with fluffy, dark brown down that would soon shed and be replaced with reddish feathers. Little stubby wings were pressed against their sides, useless for flight. They had large pink and yellow beaks that would harden more as they grew, and when they evolved into Gossamors their necks would lengthen, and so would their legs, and they would have large clawed feet. Gossamors also had long crests of bright red feathers, as well as a long feather tail. They weren't too rare, but were notorious for having bad tempers. Therefore they weren't that good a choice for a beginning trainer, but with a thought I realised that if I had one it wouldn't really be any worse, considering what Rory was like. Then I remembered the little loner of a Gossachick, perched in the corner of the cave. I crawled over to it, Nidoran following me, and I reached my hand out to it. It shied away, trying to get as far as possible from me. I took a handful of seed and held it out to it. I crouched there for almost a minute I was sure, before it wandered toward my hand shyly and picked at the seed. In the darkness it was hard to make out, but its down looked a lot lighter than that of the others. But I didn't think much of it as it finished all the seed in my hand, and I took the leftover seed from the little bowl, as the other Gossachick had eaten their fill. I left the outcast and inspected all of the other Pokemon. None seemed seriously injured, with only a few tiny cuts that didn't seem to be bothering them, and Nidoran wasn't marked in away way. The way he paraded around the cave and soon settled on a bad of soft grasses and leaves, this was most likely his home. After that short realisation I felt as if I had intruded, but the feeling soon dispersed as the hours rolled by. And that time consisted mostly of making a little bed out of spare clothes for the Gossachicks and trying to go to sleep, but I was wide-awake. Finally I decided to explore my pokedex, seeing as I had no idea what features it had on it or anything apart from telling me everything I needed to know about Pokemon. One of the first things I found was an in-built mobile phone. I quickly dialled my home number using the small keyboard and waited. But nothing happened. As I heard thunder outside, I realised it was probably just bad reception. About an hour later of sitting around worrying about Rory, Jake and Shock I fell asleep again. I opened my eyes. Was it morning? I glanced at the open pokedex nearby, straining my eyes to see. 7:09 am. I started to get up, but found to my left side was the Nidoran, curled up next to me, and a Gossachick in the crook of my arm. I checked the Gossachick, and found this one to be the loner. I smiled at the two Pokemon being so trusting, then slowly slid away from them and got up. I had to awaken the others of the clutch to get my spare clothes, then I packed my things and emerged from the cave. I didn't know what to do about the Pokemon inside - I truly wanted the Nidoran for my team, and maybe a Gossachick, but I wanted them to choose to come with me themselves, not for me to catch them. Not after that traumatic experience yesterday. I shuddered remembering, and looking around me. The sun had only just risen, and the sky was blue and white with wispy clouds. No blackness, no horrible green cloud; I felt that this day would maybe be normal. The sunlight did nothing to warm me up however; there was a chill on the air instead. Winter had come. Thirteen and half years living on an island famous for it's highly unpredictable weather had taught me to look for the signs of the turning seasons. So winter coming meant that it was going to start to rain and snow. A lot. So I had better get a tent or something for the nights when it would be at its coldest, but I had absolutely no room in my bag for a tent, no matter how small, to fit. And I wasn't going to carry one around! I flopped down on a large log that belonged to a fallen tree, and looked at the devastation around me. Everywhere, as far as the eye could see, the forest was literally torn to pieces. Trees were either stripped bare or the smaller ones uprooted, sticks, branches and leaf litter were strewn all over the ground, ice patches here and there were brown with dirt. It seemed that this area had been the very heart of the storm, for in the distance behind me I could see the trees standing up straight if I strained my eyes hard, and even a bit of green on them. But I still looked around at it all. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the sight. Many of these trees had probably been homes for Pokemon preparing for a hard winter, and now they had to go and find new places to live, but first they had to survive their injuries. The best thing that could happen to any of those Pokemon would be that they could be captured by Pokemon trainers and taken to a Pokemon centre and healed. With that thought in mind I started to look around for any injured wild Pokemon to help, but I found none. Where were they all? I jumped at a nudge at my leg. I looked down to find the Nidoran nosing me, the loner Gossachick struggling to catch up with us, it's size giving it a hard time scrabbling over branches and the like, the other three chicks following. Then I first noticed. The Gossamor chick was not ordinary. Instead of brown down, it's was a snowy white save for a small streak of red on it's right wing. It's beak was the palest pink, and it's eyes, rather than glistening pools like black ink, were shining red. I stooped down as it came closer, and practically jumped into my hands as I picked it up. I lifted it up into the air and stared at it. I had never seen anything like it before. It was an albino Gossachick! Now I understood why I had been singled out from it's group. It was not uncommon for the mother Gossamor to feed only one or two of the strongest chicks in order to have at least that many survive the coming winter, rather than none, for Gossamor strangely mated during autumn, and their chicks hatched just before winter. Not only that but Gossamor had the fire element in them, as well as flying, even though they could not fly as well as a Pidgey by far. And any chick with deformities or the smallest of the clutch was usually outcasted. I checked it's gender. It's easy to tell with Gossachicks because as chicks if they have pink beaks it's a girl, and yellow for males. Then when they evolve into Gossamors the females take on yellow beaks and the males have pink beaks. It's odd, but at least you can tell at a glance. This one was a girl. A female albino Gossachick. She looked at me and gave a tiny little chirrup, so quiet I could barely hear it. I smiled. That's what I would call her. "Hello, Whisper." I said softly. She chirruped again. I grinned and put her in the crook of my arm as I walked so she wouldn't have to clamber over all the litter on the ground, and although I still had to, it wasn't that hard. The Nidoran jumped over everything, full of energy at not being caught in the storm. I expected the other three Gossachicks to continue following me, but as I glanced back they were all perched next to each other, looking all around. I looked at them inquisitively as they all started to chirp and shriek together. For being so small and cute I wondered how they could make such an uproar. I waited for Whisper in my arms to begin as well, but she never did. I started to walk toward her siblings, when suddenly from behind the hill that the cave was situated in the large mother Gossamor I had seen yesterday leapt out from behind a large cluster of boulders, nostrils flared and her black eyes wild with anger as they fixed on me. I froze, then as she started to charge panic rose within me and I turned and started to run, even though I knew I was no match a full grown Gossamor trying to protect her chicks. I tripped and fell, quickly turning onto my back in the air so I wouldn't squash Whisper, but that resulted in something sharp scraping against my back. I yelped and lifted my arms in a vain attempt to protect myself as Gossamor bore down on me. I closed my eyes fearfully and awaited the first blow, but instead there came a surprised screech and the cracking of branches. I opened my eyes and sat up to see the Gossamor regaining herself from being knocked to the ground. Nidoran was glaring down at her, with a look that could have said, 'Bring it on!' or 'Don't even try!', but whatever it was, it made Gossamor back away from us, then turn and tramp over to her three remaining chicks and herd them away and out of sight. She was gone almost as quickly as she had appeared. I watched after them, smiling. I had gained two Pokemon and survived a deadly storm. That meant I could survive anything, right? Then with a moment of sudden alarm I realised that I had never found Rory. I instantly looked around desperately in all directions. I saw nothing moving. I cursed and sat down on the log again. What was I going to do? I could think of a few possibilities in my mind of what had happened to him. 1) Rory's a strong Poochyena, he probably made it to some form of shelter and stayed there, and now he was running around in the forest thinking himself a free, wild Pokemon (that wasn't hard to imagine considering his attitude toward me). 2) He's been seriously injured and is lying under a log or something somewhere in pain and he can't get out, waiting for someone to come and save him. 3) He's kept his loyalty to me and is searching for me now or has headed for the nearest town or settlement if he knows where any are, or, 4) He's been taken by some random trainer to be cared for at the nearest Pokemon centre or somewhere where he can recover from his injuries if he has any. I thought about them all in my mental list and confirmed that the last possibility was the one I would have most preferred. But I didn't know. And then there was Jake and Shock to think about. Jake would have called Shock into his pokeball anyway probably, and he would have fared somewhat like myself I assumed. Anything could have happened. I suddenly just wanted to see if anyone was nearby at all. I lifted my face to the sky and screamed, "RORY!" Whisper flinched and Nidoran blinked at me. I raised an eyebrow back at him and pulled out my map. Tor Chame was out of the picture at the moment, so it was best if I headed for the nearest town. That would be the town of Clair, but I had no idea which direction it was or anything like that. I didn't know my bearings. "Nidoran." I said, and his ears pricked up as he looked at me. "Do you know of any towns nearby?" He nodded and smiled at me. "Great, do you think you could lead the way?" He nodded again and with a little "Nido, nido." he started to jump and trot across the ground. I stood up, stuffed the map in my bag, made sure Whisper was comfortable and darted after him. It was only then that I actually started to wonder about the names of Tor, the western island of Jalare. As I wondered, everything that I learned in social studies with Mr Richards came flooding back to me. The three Cities of Tor are named after the man who founded them, Tor himself. That and a separate name after the 'Tor' bit. No one knows where he got those, but we do know that all the other towns that he started are named after all the women he loved. Clair was one of them, and Margaret, and Narcissa. There were a few more too, but I couldn't be bothered naming them. The little towns always used to mix me up, and that annoyed me. I looked up about half an hour later from picking my way over the fallen forest and broke into a happy smile. Here the trees still stood, and the foliage was as it should be. We walked through the trees for a little while, before stumbling upon the town of Clair, I knew by the wooden sign that was lying flat on it's back on the ground. Clair was a nice place; I had been here before a few years ago. There were about three streets worth of shopping, and only about 500 people were actually residents. But it was a common stopover for Pokemon trainers, and that meant me. There were a few people walking around, and I caught up with a man walking briskly toward the residential area, a Raticate darting after him. "Um, excuse me!" I called, and he stopped and turned, a kind smile on his face. "Yes?" He asked, blue eyes looking me up and down. "Please, do you know where the Pokemon Centre is?" I asked politely. He nodded and pointed toward the centre of the town. "That way. It's got a bright red roof, you can't miss it." "Thanks!" I sad briefly and started in that direction when he stopped me. "Were you caught in that storm yesterday?" He asked, concern marking his facial features as he rubbed his unshaved chin. "Yes." I replied, wondering what he wanted. "Oh. Well, there are a whole lot of trainers at the centre, just to let you know. A few of them are looking for battles." The man said, smiled again and started to walk off. "Good luck!" I blinked after him and raised my eyebrows. What was all that about? I headed toward the centre, and found it almost immediately. In fact, I walked right into a Pokemon battle between a girl and a boy who were only about twelve years of age, using a Squirtle and a Bulbasaur. I paused in mid-step to watch the battle end. Bulbasaur leapt forward and slammed head-on into the already weakened Squirtle, and the turtle Pokemon flew through the air and hit a tree hard. It tried to get up but couldn't. The Bulbasaur was the victor. The blond boy punched a fist into the air, cheering for himself, and the girl fell silent as she picked up her Squirtle and cradled it in her arms, handing over a $50 note to the boy, who grinned and stuffed the money in his wallet. I walked past them and went to open the door to the Pokemon Centre when the building next to it caught my eye. McDonalds! Yeah, what a legend! I hurried toward it and left Whisper outside with Nidoran, who was looking around cheerfully. I went inside and bought some Maccas pancakes then went into the Centre. It was full of people and Pokemon, most of them nursing cuts and bruises similar to my own. I picked up Whisper so she wouldn't get trampled or anything, and found an empty table and chairs to sit at. I put Whisper on my lap and my bag on the seat next to mine, Nidoran jumping up onto the seat on the opposite side of the table, facing me expectantly. I glanced up at him as I poured maple syrup on my pancakes, then I grinned. "You're waiting for some, aren't you?" I asked. He smiled back in reply. I broke the foam container into two bits and put a pancake on one, sliding it across the wooden table to him. "Eat up." After that I got out seed for Whisper who ate gratefully, then started on my own breakfast. As I ate, I watched everyone else. People were either standing or sitting around chatting, nursing their wounds, eating, feeding their Pokemon, or doing whatever they like to do. But then something caught my eye. Over near the open fireplace a girl was standing up in front of five other teenagers, and seemed to be relating something to them. All of a sudden she was raising her voice, but not in a harsh way, and a few other people started to listen in on her story as well. "...And all my friends back in Fortree City used to tease me about how I didn't like playing basketball because I was too 'afraid to break a nail', but seriously, I wasn't, I just didn't like the sport at all. But I would just love to see their faces if they saw me yesterday running through the forest, massive hailstones and branches and trees flying around me so fast that they were all in a blur, wearing high heels and a skirt!" She paused for a moment, running a hand through her long blond and brown hair, and brushed down her denim skirt. Next to her a strange Pokemon I had never seen before started jumping up and down, waving it's arms in the air ecstatically. It was a yellow and black creature that looked like it was wearing a dress that was actually a part of it's body, with violet eyes bright on it's face and a massive pair of black jaws as large as itself protruding from the back of it's head. I sifted through my knowledge and matched it to the name of Mawile, native to Hoenn. "As well as that, I had to stop every two minutes or something to put a wild Pokemon into a pokeball to save it! And I had a hard time trying to get this Poochyena, it kept on breaking out of the pokeball despite the fact that it was seriously injured! I was forced to pick it up and run with it practically eating my arm!" I froze. A Poochyena? Rory?! I stood up and glanced at my Pokemon. "Stay here." I told Nidoran and Whisper, who watched me as I made my way through people and Pokemon to reach the girl and her small audience. "And this morning I was attacked by this massive bird with a long neck, the reddest feathers ever and this big beak that looked damn heavy! I would've hated to be that Pokemon, having to carry around a permanent weight that is my mouth all my life! And-" I stopped in front of her and spoke, hope brimming up inside me. "Excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but did you say that you found a Poochyena?" I asked. "What? A Poochyena? Oh yeah, I found one! Bit me to death! Why?" The girl replied, looking at me curiously. "I lost my Poochyena yesterday when the storm hit. Where is he now?" "He? Oh, he's a he, huh? Here, I'll take you to him. I'll be back!" She called to the people listening intently, and they went back about their business. "Where is he?" I asked. The girl looked at me with bright hazel-brown eyes. "The infirmary. He was hurt pretty bad. Hey, nurse!" She called to the brown-haired lady, her hair pulled into a tight bun. She looked up with kind blue eyes and smiled. "Yes?" She asked, her voice soft. "I think I found that Poochyena's trainer!" The girl chirped, jabbing a thumb through the air at me. "Oh, really?" The nurse asked. She looked me up and down for a moment, then nodded. "This way." She led us through a door and into the infirmary. Everywhere were injured Pokemon lying on small white beds, bigger for larger Pokemon, most of them only there from being hurt in the storm. And, all the way at the back on the white sheets, lay a grey and black furry mass. I gasped and rushed over to the bed. Sure enough, Rory lay there seemingly sleeping, a thick bandage wrapped around his rump and left leg. "Don't run in this room!" The nurse snapped, a completely different tone in her voice emerging suddenly. I replied in a hasty apology and went back to inspecting Rory. "Aww, he's sleeping. Let's not wake him." The girl said, smiling down at him. I stared at him for a few seconds, then tilted my head and raised an eyebrow. His breathing was uneven. I smirked. "Wake up Rory, you fake." I said flatly. His eyes flicked open. "...Akima?" He asked, glancing around. "How did you know?" "I'm not dumb." I said, and kneeled beside the bed. "How are you? What happened to you leg?" "Ice and a sharp branch." Rory replied sardonically, his voice holding no expression at all. I nodded, then frowned. "Why didn't you stop fighting when I forfeiting the match? And why did you just run off like that? Had you been with me I could have recalled you into your pokeball and you never would have been hurt, and then I'd know where Jake is at the moment! What happened to you?!" He averted his eyes and didn't reply. "Look, how am I ever supposed to understand how you're feeling if you don't talk to me? You may be a Pokemon of few words, but I don't care! I used to be a shy little girl who would barely even speak to her friends, and I've grown into what I am today! I'm your friend, Rory, so please, just talk to me!" He didn't say a thing. "Mawile, le!" Came a sudden voice. I turned to see the jawed Pokemon tugging at the girl's leg. "Hm? What's that, Iattamos?" She asked, then began to follow the Pokemon. She glanced over her shoulder at me with a grin. "Maybe we can talk later, huh?" She asked cheerfully. I blinked at her but nodded okay. Why would she want to talk to me, and what about? "I'll leave you two then." The nurse said, and was gone. I nodded and turned back. "I don't know what was happening to me." I looked down at my first Pokemon with a questioning look. "What?" "I don't know what took over me. I knew what I was doing and everything, but I couldn't control myself. All I knew that I was fighting, and then I got this undeniable urge to just run. I was terrified. I didn't know what I was doing, and the next thing I knew I was being bombarded with ice and sticks and things were hitting me from all around. I called out to you again and again, but you weren't there." I stared at him, tears pricking in my eyes. "Then I was trapped underneath a tree, and that's when that other human came. She got me out, and again I couldn't control my own movements. I was attacking her. I just couldn't stop." He looked at me with mournful eyes and then turned away. I leaned in close to him. "I'm so sorry, Rory." I whispered. "I promise, I will never force you to fight like that for me again. Only if you want to, okay? But you have to talk to me." I waited for a comment but received none. "And just always stick close by, alright?" He slowly nodded. "You're not in much pain at the moment, are you?" He shook his head. "Well would you like to come out and meet your new team mates?" He looked up at me sharply when I mentioned that. I smiled and lifted him carefully, and gently carried him out into the hall.