Finding Hope (Ongoing)

Chapter 6: Ambush

A/N: meeeeeeeeeeh.

"Who ever heard of monsters in the dark?" I muttered under my breath.

I walked through the forest, wanting to look at the dark sky but realising that the trees mostly blocked it out.

Charmander walked next to me, and I'd just caught a Pidgey, and was planning to get familiar with her tomorrow back in the city.

I was wondering whether or not to catch more of the sleeping Pokémon when a Pokémon cry echoed through the forest.

I knew I shouldn't help, knew from experience that this would only end in trouble for me, but the principles my sister had drilled into my head were hard to forget. Even after four years, it was still a habit.

I cut through the forest, following the sound, until I found the source.

An Umbreon, caught in a Pokémon trap commonly used for Beartics and the like. The teeth of the trap had gone straight through the leg of the Umbreon. I didn't stop to question why there was an Umbreon in the middle of the Viridian forest, I simply assumed it was abandoned, then caught in a trap that those groups that sell Pokémon off illegally used.

I set to work freeing it, considering it looked to be in a lot of pain. The sooner it was free, the better. I had to get this Umbreon to the Pokémon center soon.

But just when Charmander and I managed to get the Pokémon free, the forest erupted in sound around me.

Stupid. Of course it was a trap.

~~-~~

I was taking my time to walk back through the forest, thinking through all that I'd heard.

I knew she was hiding something, by the way she refused to tell me what her assailant looked like, but simply looking at me with pained eyes before saying she needed to go.

Why would she hide something? None of us has anything to hide anymore since the time when we both lost everything.

Like she knew I would ask more. I had a sneaking suspicion, but I wasn't going to chase it, considering it would only destroy me more.

Then the sounds of a Pokémon battle caught my attention. Strange. Who would battle at this time of the night? And it sounded a lot more intense than something that was held in a forest should be.

Then I remembered those orange eyes that had mocked me, even though it held a sliver of understanding. Somehow I knew she would do it.

I was an idiot. Of course she wouldn't heed what I said.

~~-~~

"That's our Pokémon, bitch, so hand it over!"

"Over my dead body!" I hissed, before realising that that was horribly clichéd, and would probably give a lot of incentive to do just that.

"That can be arranged," the girl with the purple hair streaked with yellow. Just as I predicted. "After all, we were only ordered to bring in Pokémon alive, not anything else." She blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Besides, I wanna have some fun tonight."

The green-haired boy who had mocked me and insulted me smirked and stepped back, inclining his head toward the girl. "I'll let you handle it, Michelle. Any last words, girl? By the time this battle's over, your body's gonna be so mutilated your family won't even recognise you."

That was a mistake. Any mention of my family, no matter in what context, always got me defensive and riled up to fight.

But even I could see how low my chances were. I was too deep into the forest to call for help or run, and I had only a level 8 Charmander, a Pidgey who would probably not fight for her, and there was nobody to help me. I no longer had the team of reliable Pokémon I'd had 6 years ago, back when I had no intention of ever making this journey. But they were all gone, and I knew they would never come help me.