Learning to Heal the Hurt- Book I: Fire Red

Chapter 2: Fire Red

It was well past the midnight hour when I stumbled blindly over a group of large, strong vines hanging tauntingly from a nearby maple.  I cursed, balancing myself crazily on one foot as I clumsily attempted to free my other foot.  As soon as my foot was free, I set it down and began moving into the dark trees again.  Promptly, I tripped over a fallen log thrown stubbornly in my path.  Letting forth a stream of violent curses (most of which my mother certainly would not approve of) I glared down at the mucky damp floor of the forest, which was now about two inches away from my face.  The deep earthy smell of the rotting leaves and undergrowth filled my nose along with the clean smell of damp soil.  I pulled myself to my aching feet, and proceeded to wipe the worst of the mud off my clothing and icy hands before plowing on again into the darkness of the night.

If you’ve ever been out alone in the middle of the night, even if it’s in your own backyard, it’s usually a little freaky.  I’m not the kind of person who scares easily, but the darkness of the woods was beginning to get to my brain so much that I jumped at every little sound.  I plowed on attempting to ignore the stories flashing through my head about people who were caught in the forest at the…

I jumped and froze, my heart pounding so loudly in my ears I could have sworn the people in Kanto, the farthest region from Hoenn, could hear it.  I had heard a noise somewhere over in the trees off to my left.  It was nothing, absolutely nothing; just my imagination running away with me, I tried soothing my terrorized mind over and over.  I couldn’t believe myself.  I just have to keep on moving, I told myself, it was nothing.  I forced my stiff leg to take another step forward, planting my foot firmly in the soft earth beneath me before picking the other one up and moving it past the first.  One leg, then the other, one leg, then the other, one leg, and then the other…

This went on for sometime, allowing my mind to stay firmly attentive only to what I was doing so that it didn’t stray to other things, other things that would leave me both immobilized and defenseless, or emotion stricken and irrational.  Finally, I was able to calm my frazzled nerves and move easily without freezing up every time a twig snapped or a leaf fell.

I was stupid, I realized as I continued my never-ending trek through the forest, leaving home like that with nothing but the clothes on my back.  I mean, I was out here in the wilderness all alone in the dead of night, totally defenseless with not even a measly knife to protect me, not that a knife would have done me much good anyway.  I had no food or water to survive on, and I hadn’t eaten anything since early this morning.  Worst of all I was tired and hungry, as my stomach now informed me, with the night’s chill just beginning to settle deep into my very bones.

I was out here for a reason, I reminded myself, and that reason was cold hard revenge.  Revenge for the cruel, heartless deed of my mother’s death.  I felt my eyes begin to darken with a red mist, and my body grow colder than any chilling wind could make it as the rational part of my mind began to slip.  I pushed my rage down into a deep corner of my mind to let it simmer and grow for later.  Right now if I let my emotions take hold of me I would surely get hurt.  There were wild creatures out in the night, searching for easy defenseless prey, like myself, to wander straight in to their waiting hands.

What was that!  This time it wasn’t a suspicious sound that stopped me dead in my tracks.  I thought I had seen a bit of red flashing somewhere over in the corner of my eye.  Staying deathly still, I waited for it to appear again so that I would know I hadn’t dreamed it up.  There it was again!  I whipped my head around, dark brown hair flying out behind me, blue eyes searching. 

And again!  This time the bright red glint flashed somewhere under the forest bracken over to my left.  I slowly pivoted my body, and cautiously began to inch my way over towards the spot; you never knew if a wild creature was out there ready to jump you.  I slowly reached the spot where I had seen the red flash, and quickly dropped to my hands and knees.  The forest floor was muddy and wet, quickly soaking through my rugged and torn jeans to dampen my half frozen knees.  I dug my hands deep into the cold, muddy mess of rotting leaves, soil and who knows what else (probably some creatures dung, with my luck), cursing and shivering in distaste as my fingers immediately went numb from the sudden shock of the cold surrounding them.

I began clearing the rotting muck away from the spot I had seen the flash of red, hoping to once again catch a glimpse of it.  To my relief it appeared again only a little off to my left.  I immediately was off after it, quickly clearing away what I could of the forest debris.  I very soon encountered the object of my pains as my groping hand came into contact with something hard.  Closing my hand slowly around it, I noted its round, smooth texture, and almost dropped it again as a strange, buzzing warmth filled me, beginning at the hand that held the small object, definitely a stone, and spreading onwards, through my body, sending feeling back into my fingers, arms and legs.

I yanked the stone up close to my face so I could examine it better in the darkness.  It was a small, smooth stone that pulsed slightly with a strange rhythm as I held it, synchronizing with the beating of my heart.  It was brilliant fire red in color, and had a glassily smooth texture as if it had been in water for a very long time.  As I stared at the stone it filled me with a strange sense of power, like nothing I had ever felt before.  I stared at it a second or two longer before slipping it into my left pocket for safekeeping.  This was a special stone; that I knew.  I was definitely keeping it.

Wearily, I trudged on through the forest for the next hour or so, never stopping to rest my forever aching bones or my eyes whose lids began to droop every couple of minutes, because I knew that if I did I would fall asleep and wouldn’t have the strength to go on.  I tried to ignore the constant gnawing of hunger pains in the pit of my stomach; I just had to keep moving.  I knew I couldn’t eat just any fruit that showed itself to me, it had a possibility of being poisonous, same with roots.  I kept moving.

Some hours before dawn my exhausted body stumbled wearily into a small, overgrown clearing only a few yards across.  There I collapsed into a heap on the ground, too exhausted to go on.  I didn’t even notice a branch poking me uncomfortably in the side; I was too tired.  My eyelids began to droop and finally to shut as I was thrown deep into the dark, soothing pit of sleep.

A noise startled me into wakefulness.  I jerked roughly up into a sitting position, wincing as the branch that had been poking into my side the whole time I lay asleep, yanked free.  I kicked the branch out of my way, and surveyed the area.  It was still dark, perhaps only an hour or so had passed since I’d fallen asleep.  The wind was rustling softly through the leaves of the trees surrounding the clearing, sending cold shivers through my weary body as I stared out into the pitch darkness.  The night was a clear one, millions of stars softly dotting the dark sky, and the waxing sliver of a moon casting barely enough light for me to see my hand if I stuck it in front of my face.  The wind wasn’t the sound I’d heard though.  I glanced quickly around me, my blue eyes searching, attempting to penetrate the almost pitch-blackness, and failing miserably.

Wait, what was that?  My eyes had detected a small movement that wasn’t just the natural swaying of trees in the wind, somewhere over to my right.  I turned my head slowly in the direction I’d seen the movement coming from, and squinted, my eyes barely penetrating the darkness.

Then I saw it.  I was a small Po… creature… very teddy bear like with a faintly glowing outline of a crescent moon on its forehead.  It appeared to be eating something…happily.  I felt the rage I had built up earlier in the night begin to surface, filling my once calm mind with murderous and irrational thoughts and suggestions about what I could do.  I could not let this thing be happy and eat while I was wallowing in despair and staving!

I jumped to my feet, tottering momentarily as my over used leg muscles protested, but soon regained my balance.  I glared daggers into the small thing’s back, thrusting my hand into my left pocket, feeling around for the stone I had picked up earlier in the night.  I didn’t care if the stone was somehow ‘special’; all that mattered was hurting the creature just as badly as it had hurt me!  I yelped in pain as my hand came into contact with the red stone, jarring my concentration on my rage momentarily.  I yanked my hand from my pocket and quickly thrust my burned fingers into my mouth.  The stone had been burning hot, just like my anger was.  What had caused the stone to turn so warm?  Surely not the heat from my body!  I wasn’t that warm!

Attempting to curse around my hand, I stooped down and grabbed the first thing that met my groping fingers: a stone.  The stone was lumpy, rough and disfigured, perfect for my aims.  Using my right arm I launched the lump of rock at the creature, hoping desperately that it wouldn’t miss.  Deri always said I had a killer arm, which probably came from pitching for my softball team six years in a row.  My stone struck its mark, point blank, right on the thing’s chubby shoulder.  The creature just sat there and blinked at me, looking thoroughly stunned, an apple halfway to its small pink mouth.  Then it began to wail, shattering the peaceful night silence like a gunshot.  “Tedi! Tediursa! Tedi!” It shrieked in a high squeaky voice, tears beginning to form in its small black orbs.

I smirked and sauntered slowly over to it, holding myself high, and neatly plucked the green apple from its tiny paw.  I winced as I bit into the apple; the baby creature’s wails were growing to a deafening crescendo.

“Shut up,” I said off handedly to it as I began to walk away, quite happy with the damage I’d done.

“Tediursa! Ursa! Tediursa!”

“What a baby,” I smirked as I chewed my latest bite of apple, my mouth and stomach enthusiastically welcoming the crunchy deliciousness. “Can’t even take getting tapped with a stone with out crying.” I turned away from it; a goofy smirk glued to my face, and began to saunter in the direction of the forest, enjoying myself for the first time in what seemed like months.

I froze.  Something was wrong.  The Tediursa’s cries had suddenly ceased.  Oh no, I told myself, don’t tell me...  A terrible guttural growling could be heard not far behind my still form.  Whatever it was it didn’t sound friendly.  I jerked myself quickly around hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature making that unearthly sound.

My eyes popped wide open, and the half eaten apple dropped from my now badly trembling hand as my eyes came to rest on the creature standing behind me.  Terror took complete hold of my body, all the saliva in my mouth drying in an instant, for behind me stood a large, hulking monster no less than eight feet in height.  I, at 5’3, only reached the top of the yellow ring that tattooed its large hairy chest and belly.  It was glaring and growling at me, barring its sharp white teeth in a way I did not interpret as friendly.  Behind this large bear stood the small Tediursa I had struck with the stone, a large swelling protruding from its small skull, grinning at me in triumph.  I glanced back up at the bear.  This had to be the Tediursa’s parent, a fully-grown Ursaring, and from the way it was looking at me I knew it wasn’t here for a polite conversation.

Terror had totally overtaken my body.  I was defenseless.  My left hand strayed into my pocket to touch the Fire Red stone, as I had now dubbed it, as if a reflex.  It was a biting cold, so freezing that it numbed my fingers instantly at the touch.

I starred up at the angry bear, my eyes filled with fear.  I could feel myself trembling, shaking uncontrollably at what faced me.  I tried to will my legs to move, but my body would not obey.  My eyes locked with the Ursaring’s dark black ones, burning with an immense fire of rage.  I searched my mind desperately for anything I knew about Ursaring and their habits.  They were very protective of their young, and if I wasn’t confusing my Ursaring information with my Illumise information like I usually did (don’t ask) I was pretty sure that if anything hurt their young they would stop at nothing to get revenge.  This was not good for me, not at all.

Then it hit me.  An idea not the bear!  The Ursaring, as much as I disliked it, was like me.  I was out for revenge on Pokemon for the death of my mother; the bear wanted revenge on me for hurting its child.  There was still no way I could console this angry parent from attacking.

I felt a flare of mind numbing pain jump from the pocket that held the Fire Red stone, freezing my thigh instantly.  I stared down at my pocket to find it encrusted in small ruby red ice crystals.  Still wandering at the strange red stone I reached out a trembling finger to brush the ice. I yelped. The ice was burning cold, so cold that it felt hot. It didn’t melt at my touch either, like normal ice would.  That shock was enough to get me, and the bear, moving.  I turned and fled, running blindly away from the clearing into the dark of night.  I heard a loud, angry roar shatter the silence behind me, and the heavy pounding of large, padded paws on the soft earth.  The bear was pursuing me.  I was going to die.

I ran, sprinting past low hanging vines of all variations, thick, thin, green, brown; past fallen trees and branches bursting with fungus and small life.  I ran past trees, large ancient oaks to young, healthy cedars.  I ran past shrubs and bushes, large and small.  I flung myself wildly into to the night, flying over ruts and dips in the land, over logs and bushes, anything that lay in my path.  Still the bear pursued me, screaming its rage in long, low, terrifying growls and roars, a constant reminder of why I was running in the first place.

A few minutes passed in what seemed like hours to my terrorized mind.  My breath began to come in short, ragged gasps, my head began to swim in dizziness with the lack of air.  Still the bear was coming, roaring crazily in pursuit.  The Fire Red stone in my pocket sent me constant flares of freezing cold pain, urging my already exhausted leg muscles into motion, forbidding them to stop.  The only thing that gave me the strength to move at all was the pure cold terror that reigned in my mind.  If the Ursaring caught up to me I would be…no! I didn’t want to think about it!  I pushed on.

My hurt leg, which had been savagely cut from my fall off my bike, was throbbing painfully, begging me to stop putting it through this dreadful agony.  I winced and placed the pain at the back of my mind.  If I concentrated on anything other than escaping I would surely be caught and… I was not going to allow myself to think about that!

A rowan tree threw itself in front of my tearing path.  I threw myself quickly to the side and dodged around it, almost tripping on the log sprawled right next to it.  To trip would have been the end.  I could hear the Ursaring behind me, charging steadily, its heavy clawed feet pounding loudly on the soft forest floor, crushing dead leaves and bark as it ran.  I dared not look back.  If I did I would probably trip and then it would be all over; Talia O’Connel would be no more. Who cared one tiny bit about Talia O’Connel anyway?

My heart was hammering madly in my chest, and my lungs gasped desperately for air.  Lactic acid was building up in my legs and arms, turning every little movement into a complete agony.  Even if I had been on the track team at school I had never been forced to run like this.

Swiftly, I ducked a low, thick branch that appeared right at eye level, and then agilely leaped down a short half foot drop, and continued on, mind racing horribly in fear.  I heard a loud thwack! and then an angry growl from the bear followed by a sharp crack! of breaking wood.  The Ursaring had run into the low branch I’d ducked, snapping it clean off.  It would have struck me as funny had I been under normal circumstances, but now I just thanked my lucky stars that I’d been given a chance to live.

I risked a glance behind me.  Just as I thought the bear had struck the branch.  It now stood, only a mere five yards behind me, tearing the branch to pieces, allowing me to put a much needed distance between us.  All of a sudden I felt my left foot catch in something, and then my both my feet were ripped out from under me.  I felt myself fly forward, and then pain.  It exploded in my head like a firecracker.  My vision was blurred as yellow and white lights flashed before my unseeing eyes.  My head had struck a tree opening a gash in my forehead.  Then the headache hit.  It came as a roaring, agonizing pain that flooded my mind, knocking out all sense of time and space, sending me reeling into almost total blackness.  Even through the pain I remembered why I was running, and jerked my head around, wincing at the sudden movement, to stare in the direction the bear had been chasing me from.

Pure cold terror filled my mind, swamping even the pain of my run in with the tree trunk.  The Ursaring was still coming, a new light of triumph sparking in the depths of its fiery rage filled eyes.  It knew I was down and wasn’t getting up.  Now it was only five yards from me, so close that I could smell its awful scent, so close that I could see its unbearably sharp white teeth glinting in the scant moonlight.  When the bear got through with me I would be nothing more than a corpse, barely recognizable from my goring.  Not a pretty picture.

I tried, in one last desperate attempt to stand up, but then realized that my foot was hopelessly caught in a tangle of roots at the base of the old oak I had smashed against.  All hope was lost.  I glanced up at the bear.  It was only a mere six yards away and rapidly closing in.

Five yards...

Three yards...

Two yards… 

One yard.  I closed my eyes tightly, hoping that it would kill me quickly, and that it wouldn’t be too painful.  All of a sudden I felt an intense heat begin to grow in my pocket, and flare into a burning inferno, a vast change from the freezing temperature it had held all through out the chase.  I barely noticed it as I steeled myself for the pain that was going to come.  I waited one second, then two.  When nothing happened I peeked, confused, from one eye.

What I saw caused my eyes to fly open in amazement.  A fiery red barrier of light surrounded me, warming my chilled bones.  On the outside of the barrier stood the Ursaring, snarling in fury as it threw itself again and again at the red light, which appeared to be… solid?

I glanced down at my pocket to find that it was glowing bright red, so bright that it left spots before my eyes when I looked away.  Somehow the Fire Red stone had made this protective barrier, shielding me from what was almost certain death.

The Ursaring threw itself at the barrier for another full minute before growling one last time in rage and defeat, and turning off to disappear into the forest.  I just sat and stared, shaking violently from fear and exhaustion, watching the red light slowly fade away, soon exposing me to the outside world.

Finally the night began to catch up on me.  I hadn’t slept in what seemed like days, and with all the running I’d done it was a wonder I had been able to stay awake this long.  I tugged at my foot for a few minutes, attempting to get it unstuck and failing miserably.  Too exhausted to go on I shifted my position a few times, trying to arrange myself comfortably.  Finally, choosing a position I liked, my eyelids began to droop lower and lower, and finally closed all the way.  I was immediately plunged into the comforting darkness of sleep.

*  *  *

It was burning hot.  My skin felt like it was on fire.  Steam was rising around me in wisps, like smoke, and I could see that I was on a small ledge sticking far out over a vast deep pit.  Searing heat was radiating from it, and a bright red glow was cast from far, far below.

I started creeping carefully towards the pit, attempting to see what was making that horrible red glow.  I reached the edge of the ledge, and peered cautiously over.  Horrified, I stared incredulously at what I was seeing.  The pit was full of red-hot lava.  I backed quickly away from the edge until my back bumped against the steep rock cliff behind me.  I looked up the large cliff; it was tall and sheer, no way that I could climb up it.  I was trapped.  I glanced frantically around me for a way out, but there was none that I could see.

All of a sudden the ground beneath my feet started shaking: an earthquake!  The end of the ledge began dropping away making the small space I had even smaller.  My mind was reeling with terror.  It was then that I saw it.

It came out of the fire like an underwater mountain coming out of the sea.  Hot lava was pouring off its back, and it towered ten times my height.  It was red, the same color as the stone I now carried in my pocket, and it appeared to be like a mythical Pokemon that had jumped out of the pages of one of my old storybooks.  A dangerous glint was in its golden eye.

I stared at the great creature hoping it wouldn’t see me.  Somewhere I had seen this mythical beast before, somewhere that I couldn’t recall.  It turned its dangerous eye towards me, and I knew with terrible clarity that I had been spotted.  It started making a long slow move toward me, its large arms clawing.  I squeaked and began backing up frantically toward the wall behind me, hoping to somehow avoid it’s clawing grasp.  It hit my ledge, crumbling it into nothing.

I fell, fell towards the lava.  I could feel its intense heat hitting my sweating body.  My head was reeling: I was going to die!  As I fell one last word flashed through my terrified mind:  Groudon.