Pokémon Chronicles 零 (ZERO)

Episode 2: A thief's ambitious intentions

Today was turning out to be a long day for me. Long days always have weird stuff happening in them, and today wasn't any different – it was filled with new experiences and exciting changes to my usual, routinely life. And yet, for some strange reason, I wasn't feeling it right now.

In front of me was a threatening monster I had never seen before, not even in pictures or books. It was three times my size, probably even bigger, sporting two heads that acted independently. Its black, rough and stained fur gave away that it was some kind of dark type Pokémon, possibly a hunter, but the blue scales underneath that fur gave me the impression of a feral dragon.

Despite how terrifying this monster was in appearance, I stared it down without hesitation, aiming an arrow at the mouth of the head on my right. My heart was heavy and thumping loudly, but my body didn't shudder, and my mind remained focused on my options. I was afraid of this monster, and yet... I wasn't afraid. My mind was telling me exactly what to do, when to do it, and what my options were if things went sour.

"If you come any closer, I will fire!" I warned, tightening my gaze. The creature stopped.

"You dare to threaten me? The great Edvard?" one of the heads laughed. I lowered my bow.

"Edvard? Is that even a name?" I questioned.

"You idiot! Of course it is, and it's our name!" the other head shouted. "Don't say 'me' next time. It's us, us okay? US!"

"Whatever, does it matter? We've got ourselves Piplup meat! And this one looks like an explorer as well, so it'll have money!"

I aimed my arrow at them again. "I was told not to harm anyone with this, but if you guys keep this rubbish up, I'm gonna have to break that rule. Leave me alone."

"Not without your money, at least," Edvard-left smiled evilly, as his whole body stepped even closer. He was far too close now, I had to make my threat real if I wanted to get out of this unharmed. I didn't get the chance to keep weighing other options sadly, as both heads lashed out at me at once to bite me. This was easily dodged with a jump backwards, but I lost my aim doing that and couldn't fire the arrow as I warned.

"Ha! You're just a kid. Know what's good for you and just hand over all your goods!" Edvard-right shouted. I gasped and backed off again, this time turning around completely to make sure that I didn't run into anything I couldn't see. Edvard proved to be faster however, and those unprecedented instincts of mine kicked in again, this time so painfully that it actually hurt my head. I couldn't tell exactly how, but I was acting perfectly, almost as if I wasn't thinking.

I was attacked by another series of bites from behind, but every single attack was dodged by a pulse through my nerves that made me lean to my side or jump straight to the left or right. Even stranger was my instantaneous reaction to turn around and finally fire the arrow I was holding, taking no time at all to properly aim, and yet just about grazing my target. Both of Edvard's heads cried out a reaction, implying that I had really hit something attached to them. They had stopped to tend to whatever damage they had taken, giving me the chance to stop moving and stare properly.

"How in the world did I do that...?" I couldn't help but whisper, blinking in shock. This was actually my first ever fight for my survival, as well as the very first time I had ever used a bow and arrow. To turn around so quickly and almost hit my target directly, as well as avoid attacks without even looking at them, had to have been serious beginner's luck.

"That's it you little scamp. You asked for it!" Edvard-left barked. He reared up his head slightly, breathing in deeply to fill his mouth with energy. It was only when that energy started to leak from his mouth as blue flames, that I realised what was about to happen and quickly flared up my own mouth for a Bubblebeam attack.