Pokémon PrismGold

Chapter Thirty-Four: "Broken & Hardened Hearts"

Nate winced as the icy wind cut across his damp body. His anger was boiling over so much that he barely felt the heavy snowflakes pelting his face. The strong gusts of wind were nothing. Aerodactyl drifted on the wind, pumping his wings harder like he was chasing prey through the storm. Nate leaned more over Aerodactyl, guiding him over the side of the mountain and sending him into a sharp dive on the other side to pick up speed. Nate could hear muffled voices over the speakers of the headset around his neck, but he blocked them out. They would only talk him out of this. They didn't understand. He had to do this. He couldn't let them get in his way. This was between Giovanni and himself. He had to prove to himself that he was not a pawn in someone's game again. Not after everything he had done and everything he'd become for him. He heard the screeching of pokemon fighting nearby but kept his eyes on the raging water below. He wanted to find that ship more than anything.

Finding it, Nate coaxed Aerodactyl into a nosedive to head straight for it. Ducking his head to keep the snowflakes from blinding him, he noticed that the Styler on his wrist was blinking a bright red. He didn't know what that meant. How long had it been doing that? Aerodactyl swooped down over the ship, when it suddenly jerked like something had struck him. Nate thought it was a wind gust that forced Aerodactyl to jerk like that... until he saw a white light burst off Aerodactyl's body. Aerodactyl let out a wild roar, going into a spin that Nate wasn't ready for. Aerodactyl roared, its head twisting around to try biting Nate's legs in its strong jaws! Nate screamed as the Aerodactyl spun fast enough in the air that Nate lost his grip and fell. Hitting the wet deck of the ship, Nate yelped and rolled a few feet from the momentum. A bit dazed, Nate looked up in time to see Aerodactyl coming straight for him with his claws and teeth posed for the attack! Nate rolled quickly as Aerodactyl's hind legs slammed into the deck, his sharp talons piecing the wood deep enough to easily kill a human.

Gasping loudly, Nate forced himself to keep rolling up onto his feet. Barely missing Aerodactyl's long snout as it leaned forward to snap its jaws inches from Nate's arm. Nate had no time to think. Bolting across the wet deck at full speed, Nate heard Aerodactyl pull free of the deck and rush after him with a predatory snarl. There was nothing to slow Aerodactyl down, allowing Aerodactyl to catch up to him quickly. Being a prehistoric pokemon, Aerodactyl was extremely dangerous to trainers who encountered it. It didn't battle to win. It battled to EAT, and humans were often its victim. Nate reached for a pokeball on his belt, but screamed as Aerodactyl's jaws snatched his arm by his shoulder. Aerodactyl's sharp teeth sliced Nate's skin, but he got more of his leather jacket than of him. Aerodactyl thrashed his head, shoving Nate off his feet to tumble across the ground. Aerodactyl shook the snow off its body as it rushed over to him with teeth bared to go in for the kill. Nate screamed, rolling to his back to raise his legs in the hopes of kicking Aerodactyl's jaws away.

Aerodactyl's jaws opened wider going straight for his legs, causing Nate to kick out early. The kick grazed off the side of Aerodactyl's slender lower jaw, before it thrashed to snap at that leg. Nate rolled in a panic to try and avoid it, but Aerodactyl just changed to his other leg as it came up. Snapping his jaws on Nate's shin, Nate screamed loudly in blinding pain. Aerodactyl yanked on his leg to pull him closer, quickly putting a foot on Nate's back to pin him to the deck. Nate was thankful that his leather jacket protected him from the sharp tips of his claws, but he was more worried about his leg. Thrashing like a wild animal, Nate tried to punch Aerodactyl's snout off his leg, but it only made Aerodactyl bite down harder. Nate was torn between summoning a pokemon or not. Odds were that this Aerodactyl would eat them. He didn't want his friends to get hurt. Settling on Gengar, he prayed that Aerodactyl couldn't eat ghosts. As his hand reached for the ball though, a beautiful call broke out from the side of the ship.

Aerodactyl jerked its head up at the strange sound. Nate looked too and stared confused at a small Lugia that burst up from the water to hover in the air. The little Lugia's eyes were a blazing baby blue, but its aura was a bright pink. Nate had never seen a baby Lugia before and was transfixed by it. The baby Lugia let out an aggressive call, then shot forward to slam into Aerodactyl at full speed. The baby Lugia was fast! Nate flinched as the Aerodactyl was knocked off him and sent flying off across the water. The Aerodactyl managed to recover before splashing into the water, flying aggressively back toward the ship. Nate staggered to his feet, watching the Aerodactyl ignore the baby Lugia to head straight for him! It was common that if Aerodactyl knew it couldn't win a fight, it would try to snatch its meal and go somewhere else to eat it. Nate tried to run for the cabin door. He would get close to the door, but Aerodactyl was already on him. Just before his claws snatched Nate, baby Lugia's tail whipped up between them to swat Aerodactyl's jaw shut.