We Are The Pokemon, & We Don't Need You Anymore

Chapter 2

We ran.

The firefighters showed up, blasting the fire with a water gun, but they were too late. A forest was nearby, so we bolted for that; we were mostly unscathed, but Mudkip ran with a limp. I collapsed near a river and cried. Pokémon crying was extremely rare, but tears fell from my face and into the water as I sobbed uncontrollably; Mudkip was the same, a little louder but crying still. Tears welled up in Charmander and Pidgey's eyes as well, while Zoura and Snivy were silent and solemn.

"This is all my fault!" Mudkip wailed; Charmander patted him on the back reassuringly.

"Don't be ridiculous." He whispered.

"Yeah," Pidgey chided, trying to be helpful and sucking at it, "the probability of all of us escaping was at least 0.05 percent." That made Mudkip wail even louder.

Snivy slapped the flying type pokemon with a vine, "Stop it! All of you! None of this is helping." She snapped.

"Well what should we do now?" Mudkip asked to no one in particular.

Silence.

"I'll tell you what were going to do." I sniffed, standing up, "Were going to stop the people who did this." More silence.

"How?" Zoura asked finally -- he usually had a sly smile on his face, and was plotting some prank; now he looked drained, tired. I actually had no idea how, but looking at the Pokemon around me, I knew I was now the leader.

"Er, first we--" I started, but suddenly Zoura's ears shot up.

"Someone's coming!" he cried; we looked around, helpless, until I noticed the tree above us.

"To the trees!" I ordered, confirming my position as leader. Charmander grabbed Mudkip and scaled the trunk with him on his back, while Pidgey flew into the branches, and Snivy pulled herself up with her vines. Zoura lend me a paw onto the lower branches and we worked our way higher from there. A man in a black unitard walked around the corner two seconds after we were out of sight.

He had a large visor covering his eyes, and was cursing under his breath. My heart stopped; this was the person who caused the fire. A device on his hip buzzed and he held it to his ear.

"Hey boss--" A pause, "--Yeah, I might've caused that fire--" another pause, "--How was I supposed to know all those chemicals would be flammable!?" Pause, "--No, I didn't get his Pokémon--" pause, "--What do you mean fired?!" pause, --"Yeah, I'll return the suit...Fine." He slammed the thing shut angrily, "Great, gotta go all the way to Nimbassa City...ugh...stupid plan..." He stomped away angrily kicking at the dirt.

We waited until he was gone, and we hopped down; Mudkip launched himself in the direction he went and Charmander held him back.

"I'll kill him! I'll drown him in water! I'll bury him in mud! I'll -- I'll...Waaaaahhhh!" he broke off in sobs. Our trainer had hatched Mudkip from an egg, so he was the youngest and most vulnerable out of all of us.

I nuzzeled his cheek. "It's okay Mudkip, I have a plan." I told him; he sniffed.

"You do?" he asked quietly, looking up at me with big dark eyes.

"Yeah, that human said he had to return the costume in Nimbassa, so that must be where his HQ is." I explained.

"Uh, one problem," Snivy pointed out, "we are on the OTHER SIDE OF UNOVA!" I nodded.

"Then I guess we better start walking." I snapped back.

"After we sleep, right?" Asked Charmander; he was sweet, and strong, big brotherly more like, it was hard to remember how simple he was. I smiled.

"After we sleep."