Chapter 4: Mastermind and Metal head

    I bit back a scream, terrified eyes fixated on the white tights that covered the slender leg I had tripped over. Was that… Could it be… I wound the chain of my pendant around the front circle of Polienix’s Pokèball, securing it with a quick tug, before getting onto my skinned hands and knees and crawling forward into the bush that hid the rest of whoever’s body.

Why am I such an idiot?

    Any smart person would have gone and got an officer Jenny on the scene, but what do I do? Go and stick my great big nose in it.

    I crawled through the first prickly barrier of sharp sticks and leaves, following the line of the body the whole time, until I came to the end and found myself in a sort of dark, leafy prison. What lay beside me was undeniably Nurse Joy, a hurt Caterpie clasped to her chest. To my relief she was still breathing and only seemed to be unconscious by a nasty bump to the side of her head.
    I leant over her prone body, checking for anything that I might have missed during my first look when something rustled to my left. My head snapped up, amber eyes scanning the surrounding patch of bushes and trees along the side of the path, but my senses were greeted only by the harsh cold of the air and the crooked shadows of a tree’s branches. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, but turned back to Joy, aiming to carry her on my back to the safe refuge of the Pokèmon centre.
    I was just about to lift her fragile form over my shoulder when I was once again bombarded by the sensation of being watched. And this time I knew I wasn’t alone.

    I had crawled through a thick wall of spiky bush to get to where I was right now, in a clearing of sorts with a birch tree left and a bit behind me and surrounded by dark shadowy undergrowth. In the periphery of the area I was sure something was moving, large heavy footsteps circling and circling, getting closer through the darkness. I snapped up to my feet, turning on the spot as my daytime eyes searched in vain through the darkness of the night for any proof of movement.

    CRACK, SNAP, CRICK, CRUNCH, SNAP.

I spun wildly, my senses elevated by fear and thick hair tickling my cheek like an insistent child.

CRICK, CRACK, SNAP, CRUNCH, CRACK.

There! A shadow brushing past the single tree! It disappeared back into the darkness, but I was sure that it was larger than your average car, and if I hadn’t known better I would have sworn I had seen a flash of sheer silver in the moonlight.

CRACK, CRUNCH, SNAP.

    I strained my ears for the continuation of the footfalls of the huge monstrosity, but no further sound came. It had either stopped moving or was simply being stealthy. I figured it was somewhere in front of me, on the side furthest from the road, so I backed the way I had came, bending over to catch Joy by the wrist and pull her away over the ground. Sorry, nurse, but better cut and bruised than dead-
    FWOOSH, a strong gust of iron-smelling air forced its way into my ear, accompanied by something cold and wet. I yelped and fell forward, redirecting my flight with a hand so as to avoid crushing Nurse Joy. I landed treeside of her and scrambled onto hands, heels and arse to avoid baring my neck to whatever had been tracking me.
    That whatever now towered before my fallen body, a huge black wolf with shaggy fur that blew in the wind. It glared at me through deep-set, forward facing red eyes that glinted menacingly in the moonlight reflected by the Regenball around my neck and let out a grating, almost metallic, growl, taking one step forward on its huge heavy paws.
    It was then that I again caught sight of something shining in the thick fur of its legs. A flash of silver drew my attention even further and I realised there were hinged metal rods running from the base and top of each paw to front and behind the knee joint. Although I couldn’t actually see them through the forest of obsidian fur, I was sure that similar mechanics connected the legs to the body. What was this thing, some sort of machine? Or perhaps a…

    I scrambled backwards further, using the heels of both my hands and feet to propel me away from that thing until my back made hard contact with a tree. I gulped, realising that I was trapped, and pulled out my Pokèdex. It was a sort of spontaneous thing to do, but I had the sneaking suspicion that the towering monster before me was a Pokèmon. Perhaps surprisingly, I was right.

    “MECHYENA, THE STEEL WOLF POKÈMON. THIS POKÈMON WAS CREATED FROM ITS PREDECESSOR, MIGHTYENA, BY SCIENTISTS FOR THE CRIMINAL GROUP, EMERALD. ITS JAWS ARE SO STRONG THEY CAN BITE THROUGH SMALL CARS.” The Pokèdex told me in its normal monotone voice, the blue light flashing with each syllable.
“Oh great,” I muttered, “Just what I wanted to hear.”
    From my position cowering beneath it on the ground Mechyena certainly looked big enough to bite through a Mini or two. Comparing it to the lone tree I was backed up against I’d say it was seven, eight feet tall at the shoulder, its muzzle maybe a foot and a bit across. It would take more than one bite, certainly but… Wait, what was I thinking?! Whether this damn thing could eat a Mini or not didn’t matter right now, I needed to figure out a way to save myself, Joy and that Caterpie, not to mention Polienix in her Pokèball, something I was sure would take every ounce of intellect I possessed.
    As Mechyena moved even closer, taking its time for maximum fear factor I guess, my eyes flickered over everything around me. Most obvious would be to grab Joy and Caterpie and run, but I was ready to bet that Mechyena was at least four times my normal speed and carrying someone else really wouldn’t help. There was also the tree I could climb to shout for help, but chances were no-one was close enough to hear and Mechyena would just tear down the tree to get at me.

    My mind sifted through butt loads of escape routes, but all seemed to end in a nasty trip into Mechyena’s jaws. As I sat there, shivering with fear and wondering if I should have stayed with my father a month more, I prepared myself for the worst. Now scarcely more than five feet away (I had scrambled further than I had originally realised), Mechyena bared silver steel teeth and leaned back a little, its red eyes flashing amber for a split second before it leapt.
    I was too scared to scream. In a last dying hope of at least saving someone, I hurled Polienix in her Regenball away from me into the bushes and pulled my arms up to cover my face. Time seemed to slow as the huge black dog soared toward my weakly protected body, huge paws and metal claws reaching for my face, aiming to rip and tear and maim.
    Suddenly a fresh burst of adrenaline shot through my veins, so much it hurt my muscles to stay still, and I rolled fast to the right, grabbing Polienix’s Pokèball and stumbling to keep on my feet. I tore my way through the bushes just as I heard Mechyena hit the ground with a loud thud and a flurry of dirt and leaves. And then I was out in the open, the lights of Olivine shining like a huge welcoming beacon as I sprinted full speed towards them.

    Never before in my life have I run that fast. The wind ripped at my hair and oversized t-shirt, the freezing cold temperature flaying the skin on my face and arms like a thousand whips. My feet barely seemed to touch the dark dirt that flew away underneath me and I could only hope that there was nothing to trip me because I probably couldn’t have altered course to avoid it.
    There was a roar of ripping leaves behind me and then Mechyena was on the path, its giant paws beating out a face-paced rhythm against the hard packed soil. It only took a matter of seconds before I knew it was right behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, tripped over my own feet and skidded along the ground, the bandage and scab covering the wound from yesterday torn away and replaced by a bloody mess.
    The huge wolf-like Pokèmon threw itself through the air just as I turned onto my back to be able to see it, its huge front feet slamming into my shoulder and the ground on impact. I screamed as I loud crack issued from my collarbone, the pain almost unbearable. For a split second I was sure I was going to faint, but I clung onto consciousness like a Hitmonchan in the ring just like my father had taught me many years before. To lose consciousness was to lose life here, that was for certain.
    Mechyena glared down at me, its weight crushing my broken shoulder further, and then shot its head at my face and exposed neck. I did the only thing I could think of: kick it in the snout. My foot made harsh contact with the very wet, very living nose of the huge dog, making it rear back a bit in surprise. There was no way that kick could have hurt it from the position I was in on the ground, but I doubted many of Mechyena’s other victims struck back so what I had done had confused the beast to no end.

    Taking advantage of its surprise and the lessened weight on my shoulder I tugged myself out from underneath it and started running again, the pain so bad that things around me started to blur with the tears I refused to let fall. I had to get back to Olivine, had to live, had to get a search party of strong trainers (or simply foolish ones) out to rescue Nurse Joy…
    “GUROAWR!” Mechyena’s booming machine-enhanced voice roared as it steps sounded up again. “Get down!” A familiar voice from the Pokèmon centre ordered mere seconds later. I didn’t question, I ducked. Why? Well, it might have been due to the barrage of Arcanine flame coiling and burning in my direction. Unless, of course, you’d prefer to believe that I simply felt like being a good little muffin at that particular moment.
    A sharp yip of pain pierced the cold, dark air as the deadly Firewall attack sent Mechyena retreating fast and squealing like a puppy Poochyena.
‘Steel type is vulnerable to fire.’ The part of my brain that wasn’t fried with fear pointed out. The rest of me was now absolutely drained from the incredible adrenaline rush that had saved my life.

    The last thing I saw before sleep finally took me and my head hit the soil was Nurse Joy and the Caterpie being carried to safety by the wounded Machoke I had seen earlier in the Pokèmon centre. The adrenaline rush had obviously saved more than just me…

    There was a desk and there was a lamp. A chair inhabited the space behind the desk, its high back projecting power around the room like only someone of great importance could. Other than that everything in the room was purely there for looks.
    The silken forest green carpet, accented perfectly by the medium toned wood trimmings and furniture, wasn’t there for comfort on the feet as no-one entered without their shoes. The framed images on the walls -old advertisements for department store sales, a list of the league champions from the last one hundred years, a boy with his Poochyena- they were simply to make entrants feel slightly more at home. The bottles of Vodka and Gin, some sort of drink that looked insanely expensive but the label was too withered and old to read, were never moved from their pristine glass-faced cabinet. Their owner didn’t drink.

    Mechyena, as it staggered towards that room with its fur singed and smoking, still a little damp from the plunge in a river to put out the flames, didn’t know any of those things. All that mattered to it was Master, Master was there. It had to get to Master; Master would make it all right again. Master wouldn‘t mind that it had failed…

Not this time at least.

    When I came around again I was in a sunlit room spread out over a warm bed and covered by wrinkled sheets. The blinds were drawn over the three windows but they were too thin to make a difference in the lighting. Scrubbing my sleepy dust-sealed eyes I rolled over to find myself face to face with the head of a certain blue bird.
    “Raven! You’re awake!” Polienix squealed in delight.
I was quite tempted to roll back over and ignore her, there’s nothing I hate more than a happy face in the morning, but there was something I needed to know. Well, actually, many somethings.

    “Pol, how long have I been sleeping for?” I inquired, stifling a morning yawn.
“Three days, seven hours and eleven minutes.” She replied cheerfully, “It’s now 10:23.”
Trying to cover my surprise (I didn’t know I could sleep that long in truth) I sat up and stretched my arms over my head. “And is everything else okay now?”
More cheerfulness.

    “Yup, Joy wasn’t even concussed so when she woke up and took Blissey and Chansey out of the closet the Pokèmon centre was back up and ru-”
“In the closet?” I interrupted disbelievingly, “How’d she get there?”
“Oh, some men came in and tied up Blissey and Chansey,” She explained, “Stuffed them in a closet, then took away Nurse Joy and the Caterpie she was looking after. Officer Jenny came here to investigate earlier and she wants to talk with you when you wake up.”

    I could practically hear the cogs in my half-asleep brain clicking and clunking as they tried to keep up with this barrage of new information. Officer Jenny? Interview me? NOW?!
“Could you tell them to wait a while when you tell everyone I’m awake?” I begged Polienix. “Okay Raven.” Her dark eyes sparkled happily, “Bye.”
    Before I could even open my mouth to return the temporary farewell she had opened both fully healed wings and sped away down the stairs. I sighed and got up, nearly falling over when I realised both my legs were dead. After much rubbing and pampering I regained the feeling in both limbs and lurched out the door like I’d been injected with the T-virus* or something. One glance back caught me the sight of some clothing spread out on one of the chairs in the room. Obviously someone had decided it was time for me to wear something better than a huge white t-shirt and spandex, a thought I certainly didn’t regret them having.
    After succeeding in getting over to the chair I held the garments up to see and nodded in appreciation. In my hands I held a pair of hipster black combats, a navy blue t-shirt with sleeves that stopped just above the elbow and my own underwear, cleaned after the bog incident. Pretty much what I would have chosen, which was good.

    Tossing the new outfit over my forearm I left the room and entered the small bathroom. I was on the upper floor now, if you’re wondering where the bathroom came from, so there were facilities for longer-staying trainers.
“Trainers.”
I slipped the word over my tongue, liking the sound of it.
“Raven the trainer.”
Okay, it was my dream, but right now the cynical side of my brain was complaining about being a shoe. Stupid mind.
    The bathroom was small and a bit cramped, but as sparkly clean as the rest of the place. There was a shower stall in the corner opposite the door that stood beside a window on the same wall. Right in front of the entrance sat a porcelain sink complete with mirror and mat and across from that sat the toilet. There was about a three foot space separating them all.
    As I passed it I glanced momentarily in the mirror, scowling at my messy black hair with its red tints and dull amber eyes. Some people would probably kill for those eyes, but in my face they seemed to clash with everything from my under-sized nose to stupid broad mouth. Stupid face.
    I turned away from the mirror and stripped down before stepping into the near boiling water of the shower and cleansing my half-healed scabs. It was painful at first, but I soon got over that and allowed myself to enjoy the massaging effects on my coiled muscles. If there’s one thing I can guarantee you in life, it’s that there’s nothing better than a steamy shower after an unwanted encounter with a Mechyena On A Mission and a three day sleep. Absolutely nothing.

Except perhaps waffles.

* [T-virus] The disease in Resident Evil that transforms people into zombies.

   Yes, that's my secret, I love waffles. Steamy hot with maple syrup, yuuuummmmm... Unfortunately, I have yet to see a decent waffle over here in England, so I'll just settle with GREGS food. Yuuuuummmm, GREGS...
   ^_^' Okay. That's enough of me and my food fantasies. I've got to say what I always say, right? Well, since you know already, I'll just state my e-mail again. Savvy? TrinethStorm@hotmail.com. And now, ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!!