“Give her back! Give her BACK!” A little boy cried through gritted teeth. A 
muscular grunt grabbed him around the chest and proceeded to drag him out the 
door. Tears poured down his cheeks as he witnessed a group of grunts torture 
and brutally kill his starter Pokemon and faithful companion, Shimmer the 
Charmander. “You bastards,” he screamed, “you heartless bastards!” He tried 
to break free of the brawny man’s grip but it did no good. He was dragged 
away from the lifeless body of his once beloved Charmander. “You bastards,” 
he repeated under his breath, “you merciless bastards.” He closed his eyes 
and tried to envision a better place and that was when he felt it. An intense 
heat passed by his face and the grunt loosened his grip. He heard a masculine 
voice shout out a command and then everything went dark.

“Hey kid,” The modest young man slowly opened his eyes. “Good, you’re awake.” 
The boy moved slightly, he felt something on his face and he couldn’t see out 
of his left eye. “It’s a bandage,” the huge senior man said before the little 
boy had a chance to ask. “Say, what your name boy?” he asked. “Leo,” the 
little boy shifted. “Name’s Chinky, weird name I know. Ma was a little on the 
dense side.” The elder said with his back towards Leo, he was hunched over a 
steaming pot. Leo scanned the area; he saw a huge crimson canine sleeping by 
a campfire. She had thick black marks all over her body and a beautiful 
golden tail that danced in the light. “That’s Flaire.” Chinky said as if he 
knew what Leo was thinking. “You owe her a great debt of gratitude sonny, 
saved your life. Sorry about your little Charmander though. Hate to see ‘em 
go so young.” As he heard these words, tears came to Leo’s eyes. “We can go 
back for the body if you want to give her a proper burial.” “No,” Leo said in 
a hushed tone. “I’d rather not,” “Can’t stand to see her, ‘ey? Know the 
feeling all to well. Bastards captured and killed most my Pokemon few weeks 
back, Flaire’s the only one that escaped.” He heard sniffles coming from 
Leo’s direction and he stopped what he was doing to go to the boy’s side. He 
took him in a warm embrace. Leo could hear the brawny man’s heart beating 
ever so slowly. “Didn’t mean to make ya cry, kid. I’m honestly sorry.” “No, 
no. I’m thankful for everything you’ve done.” “Then what is it?” Chinky 
asked, concern concealed beyond his words. “Everyone I’ve ever loved has 
passed away. That Charmander was my father’s, his Charizard gave birth to it 
two years ago and she was supposed to assist me on my journey, help me catch 
and raise other Pokemon and now she too, is gone.” “Well I ain’t got any 
family either, so I know how it is. But if it helps any, I’d be honored if 
you joined me and Flaire, kinda like a father and son relationship.”  Leo 
sniffed, “Sure,”

Leo woke the next morning around six, the sun was just rising and he gazed in 
awe at its beauty. He was so entranced by it he didn’t even realize Chinky 
and Flaire were gone. Leo lay back down in the sleeping bag Chinky had given 
him and closed his eyes, trying to remember the good times he had had with 
Shimmer. Now everything was going horribly, he was supposed to go to Pewter 
city accompanied by Charmander and any other Pokemon she had helped him 
catch, but he hadn’t expected any of this to occur. “Good morning Leo,” he 
heard Chinky’s deep and raspy voice say. “Hey Chinky,” He opened his eyes and 
saw Chinky walking into camp with the female Arcanine at his heels. “Sleep 
well?” Chinky asked. “As well as I could on this hard ground.” Leo said 
somewhat disappointed. “First time camping, ‘ey? Don’t matter; we’ll be 
moving into town soon. Care for some breakfast?”  He said as he held out a 
plate of bacon and eggs, waiting for Leo to grab it. “Thanks,” Leo said as he 
clutched the porcelain plate firmly. 

“So, why are we heading into town tomorrow and not today?” Leo asked as he 
sat down on the log beside Chinky. “Team Slayers in town, be gone by tonight 
I suspect.” Chinky replied informatively. “Team Slayer?” Leo repeated. “Group 
of nasty criminals kills Pokemon for sport. Leader Bron was attacked by a 
Pokemon as a child, hated ‘em ever since.” “So he killed-“Chinky cut Leo off 
before he could finish his question, “your Charmander? Not necessarily. 
Could’ve been a number of his lieutenants or grunts, he’s got hundreds 
working for him.” “So-“Leo began to utter another question but Chinky 
interrupted him, he obviously wasn’t comfortable about the subject. “I was 
thinking before we headed into town tomorrow we’d stop to catch you a 
Pokemon.” Chinky offered. “I’d like that.” Leo said as he finished what was 
left on his plate. 

The rest of the day Chinky was training Leo. They had decided that since 
nobody was putting in any effort to stop Team Slayer they would attempt to do 
it themselves. The only thing wrong with their plan was that they would have 
to wait till Leo educated his Pokemon, or even obtained one. Leo had already 
picked out a Pokemon that lived in the nearby forest, a Poocheyena he had 
spotted the other when he and Shimmer walked by. It was the runt of the 
litter so he wouldn’t have to worry about any other starting trainers trying 
to catch it.

“You getting’ real good Leo.” Chinky acknowledged as they sat on the log 
around a huge campfire. “Soon we’ll be able to take on those heartless 
grunts.” Chinky said a hint of anger in his voice. “But-“Leo said quietly. 
“But what, sonny?” Chinky asked loudly. “What if we can’t defeat them by 
ourselves?” Chinky stroked his fuzzy chin slightly. “Never thought of that,” 
he finally said after about of minute of brooding. “But there has to be 
someone willing to join us, someone who has had their Pokemon taken from them 
too.” 
                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Shadow use Night Slash!” A beautiful blonde girl dressed in short blue tank 
top and matching blue jeans with pink flames riding up her ankles, shouted 
out commands to a small black dog with yellow circles on his fur. An outburst 
erupted on the battle field and Shadow brought up his hind legs as he was 
forced back by the explosion. “C’mon boy this is for Saber!” the girl blew a 
strand of golden hair out of her face with an upturned lip as she stared 
sadly at the purple Sabeleye that was being kept locked up in a steel cage. 
“It’s a pity. Pretty girl like you ain’t got any brains.” The beefy 
lieutenant said remorsefully. “You’re never gonna be able to defeat my 
Machamp.”  “Oh really,” the girl said with laughter in her voice. “Shadow, 
quick attack!” The Umbreon obediently listened to his trainer’s orders and 
charged at the huge four-armed beast with incredible speed. “A normal type 
attack, you must be retarded girl!” The lieutenant shouted across the 
battlefield “I’d feel bad to send my Machamp in to attack.” 

The Machamp stood his position as he watched the dark dog Pokemon charge at 
him. He was getting closer; Machamp thrust all four arms in front of him, 
bracing himself for contact. “Now Shadow, up and over!”  Umbreon glanced back 
at his trainer and nodded; he launched himself up into the air and flipped 
over the Machamp, landing behind him. “What was the point of that?” the 
lieutenant asked dumbfounded. “Machamp just finish that dumb dog.” He ordered 
as he thrust two fingers at the Umbreon behind his Pokemon. Machamp turned 
around and proceeded to thrust a foot in its direction. “Okay Shadow, this is 
working to our advantage.” “What?” the lieutenant shouted in confusion. “Use 
double team and follow it up with poison fang!” “Quick Machamp we ain’t got 
much time. Use earthquake to finish off all those damned clones.” Machamp 
slammed his foot down on the ground and followed up by slamming his fist 
vigorously till a huge rupture opened up on the battlefield and it was broken 
up into pieces. Shadows clones vanished, but there was no sign of him. “Where 
the hell is your dog?” The lieutenant asked angrily. The girl grinned and 
pointed toward the sky. Both the lieutenant and his Machamp gazed upward, 
sure enough Shadow was high in the sky, falling fast right above the Machamp. 
His fangs were showing and they were a bright purple. 

“Machamp, sky uppercut, NOW!” the lieutenant shouted, fearing he was losing 
the upper hand. Machamp thrust a fist up in the air and jumped. He was flying 
fast head first in Shadow’s direction. Shadow braced himself, he knew what to 
do. The Machamp came closer and right when he was about to slam into Shadow 
the dog spun rapidly, dodging the huge fist and punctured his teeth into 
Machamp’s arm. The Pokemon cried out in horror as poison began to leak into 
his veins. Then his body went limp and he couldn’t move. He glanced down on 
the ground beneath him and saw the battlefield coming closer at an enormous 
speed. Thoughts of fear spread into his mind and he was falling, falling to 
the ground below never to resurface again. His back slammed all too abruptly 
into the hard ground and his breath escaped from his lungs. Then his vision 
was dark and everything was calm now, serene.

The Machamp hit the ground hard and dust rose around him. Shadow landed a few 
feet away; he welcomed the ground beneath his feet and then rushed over to 
his trainer, obviously pleased with himself. “Guess I was wrong,” the 
lieutenant said as he gazed at the unconscious body of his Machamp lying in 
the middle of the battlefield. Then an evil grin spread across his face. He 
gazed at two grunts that were standing beside the cage were Sableye was 
imprisoned. “Finish her off.” He ordered. The grunts beside the cage nodded 
solemnly as they each pulled down a lever. Blue electricity began to protrude 
out of the bars of the cage. Then they began to inverse and Sableye let out a 
loud shriek as she was encased with electricity. The fury of lightning made 
quick work of Saber, her purple skin and bones quickly gave way beneath the 
intense heat, combusting her into nothing but a blazing pile of ashes.

“Saber!” the girl cried as she fell to her knees. Shadow quickly rushed to 
his trainer’s aide. She hugged him tightly. “Now who’s lost?” the lieutenant 
chuckled viciously. “How can you do such a cruel thing?” the girl asked as 
tears lingered in her eyes. “Who cares about Pokemon? Their vicious creatures 
that deserve to die, you just don’t see it. Humans are superior and we will 
do everything in our power and use everything in our arsenal to remain that 
way. One day you will thank us.” The lieutenant informed. “You’re murderers.” 
The girl coughed. “No, we’re more like…exterminators.” He said as he began to 
walk away.


The beautiful blonde was left all alone in the middle of the battlefield, on 
her knees and sobbing uncontrollably. She crawled over to the unconscious 
body of Machamp and slowly took out a pokeball from her pocket. “You can join 
us.” She said as she tossed the little red and white sphere at the four armed 
Pokemon. “Return,” she cried.