The Buneary & the Beartic (A Pokémon short story)

Part four ❄ Return

Minny sighed and looked thought the twig bared window of her room. Fresh snow sprinkled across the branches of the evergreen trees like diamond dust outside. The tiny bunny Pokémon longed to go play in the fresh snow, sit beneath the branches of the trees and enjoy the winters afternoon but she was not allowed to leave her home, now more like prison then Ice's cave had ever been. True to his word Drapion hadn't harmed her but kept her as a prisoner, as an item to use against Ice if he ever returned.

She missed Ice. She missed how he was the only one who took care of her. She missed the way he'd sit under the pine trees to watch her play or followed her when she wished for adventure. Now she couldn't do anything on her own. It had been weeks since Minny last left her home and she couldn't help but feel her sanity slipping away from her. She heard voices in her head and saw things that weren't there. She kept on seeing blurred out images of things she'd never seen before, things that scared or confused her. She was frightened by it all, she didn't know what any of it meant but she knew it wasn't good.

Over the months that Minny was kept in the room she'd stopped bothing to take care of herself the way she used to. Her once fluffy yellow fur was uncurled, dirty and unkempt, she didn't clean it or groom it, just watched it change as she did. Her usually springy ears were floppy, hanging down the side of her face without any the life they used to carry. Why bother taking care of herself, no one ever saw her but the Pokémon that brought her food three times a day and they never even said a word to her.

Her faded brown eyes once more wandered to the window before she jumped as her door was slammed open revealing the frightening form of Drapion. He glared at her like she was nothing to him, like he didn't even recognise her as a Pokémon but as nothing more than dirt. A shiver ran down her spin as she shrunk away the Poison Dark type Pokémon, hunching her shoulders as a subconscious way to protect herself.

"Your little Beartic friend has returned." He sneered, watching in amusement as Minny's hid herself from him

Minny's eyes widened in fear and in hope. "Wh-what has th-that got to--to do with me s-sir?" She stuttered, her voice was raspy, unused to speaking as she had no one to talk to. Minny looked down at her paws, grasping them tightly in one another over the purple jewel around her neck. "I-I c-certainly did not ha-have anything to do w-with it..."

Drapion rolled his eyes like she was stupid and grabbed her roughly by her arm, ignoring her surprised squeak of protest. "Well somehow he seems to care only about you, so therefore you're the only thing we have to use against him. Why else would I keep you alive during this time?"

"Is th-that all I a-am to you? Just an i-item to be used against someone you-you despise?" She asked him, hanging her head in shame. She hardly felt like her own Pokémon anymore, she'd been isolated so long, even she had begun believing that she was nothing more then an item herself, needed but unwanted.

Drapion snorted but did not answer as he dragged Minny outside, she froze. The cool air made her fur quiver in pleasure of finally being outside after so long of being locked away from the breeze, the sun and the freshness of the outside air. It seemed like a lifetime since she had last been out here. Tears gathered in her eyes as memories of playing outside with Ice, going out with him to collect berries surfaced.

She was snapped from her daydream by Drapion once again yanking on her arm, with an impatient growl. Minny stumbled after him, looking around for Ice, the friend she missed so much. She hoped that he had come to save her, to take her somewhere for the two to be left alone. Somewhere she'd be safe from the voices in her head and the fear she felt towards Drapion. 

Words could not explain the relief she felt when her broken eyes landed on Ice, standing calmly at the edge of the village. He showed no emotion at all in his onyx eyes until his gaze met Minny's. Anger ran through his blood, fury at the condition she was in, the pain in her eyes, the mess of dirty fur, the way her ears drooped by the sides of her face and the look of defeat her eyes held. He felt pain for his friend, he felt pure hatred to see Minny, the only Pokémon he'd ever brought himself to care for, like this. But he had to stay calm if he were to get Minny back safely.