The Nickit thrashed on the ground its eyes squinting in pain. It looked like an easy target—some free exp for Zigzagoon, who got close and stood for a second. Claws lit up with pale sandy light as Zigzagoon swiped at the ground, a wave of sand appeared out of nowhere as it blasted into the Nickit’s eyes, blinding it for a second. Sand Attack.
Zigzagoon panted, its tongue lolling out as it huffed with excitement. Patrick caught up, throwing his sandals away and trudging through the river. The cold water engulfed his legs, reaching up to his shins and leaving his shorts dry. The water clung to his skin as he shivered with the cold breeze. He rushed up to Zigzagoon’s side as multiple growls emanated from the trees’ shade behind the Nickit. More orange filled Patrick’s vision as three Thievul’s entered the clearing. Their thick, bushy tails carried the weight of a mace, and their eyes were covered by black fur like a thief’s eye mask. Patrick’s leg shook, both the coolness of the river and the fear of facing a pack of Thievul’s forming an amalgamation of shivers.
“We’re not here to fight.” Patrick raised two arms. “We were just drinking and saw this Nickit squirming in pain.”
Zigzagoon looked up at Patrick with a tilted head. It ignored his peace treaty and pounced on the already blinded Nickit. Taking the chance before the Thievul got close enough to intervene. It bit the Nickit’s nape and carried it, running off to the river. It swam with the whimpering Nickit thrashing about in its mouth. The Thievul’s eyes grew red as their fur puffed out. They crouched to prepare a pounce and growled, a collective rumbling noise. Patrick turned around and darted, running through the river, splashing water onto his bare chest and shorts.
The Nickit slashed while held by Zigzagoon, swiping its claws at it and leaving blood-stained marks. Patrick carried them both, the unprecedented heavy weight pulled him down and he just about tumbled into the river. He lost his footing as his feet slid on a wet rock on the river’s bed. He teetered in the river, losing precious seconds as the Thievul closed the distance. Zigzagoon slipped from his hand as it resumed its swim, Nickit’s nape in its mouth.
The Thievul lost no time as they jumped over the entire river in one leap. Patrick ran with Zigzagoon, the pants of the running Thievul blasting warm air onto his neck. One look behind Patrick injected more adrenaline into his body as he saw three Thievul biting the air, catching up to them. The Nickit opened its eyes, the sand exiting the confines of its eyelids. It extended both of its limbs, its body glowing red. Patrick glanced back to find the other Thievul glowing the same hue. Dark, shadowy clouds with red hues connected the Thievul to the Nickit.
“Beat Up!” Patrick shouted the move’s name.
Zigzagoon caught on, and with the Nickit in its mouth it used Lick. A ghostly mirage of a tongue, larger than Zigzagoon’s, swiped the Nickit covering it with ethereal saliva.
Yellow flairs surrounded the Nickit’s body as the Lick pulled through. It was paralyzed. A 30% chance, Patrick thought. We got lucky. Patrick winced in pain as he hauled Zigzagoon off the ground and threw it up a tree. His bandaged hands pulsed in pain. He scaled the tree with his arms wrapped around its bark pulling himself up in a repeated, painful movement. His body shook as the bark dug into his bare chest and stomach, leaving lines of red, raw skin. His hands were useless now but his arms moved in a rapid blur. The time he spent in Slumbering Weald with Amber and Mimikyu was paying off. He got on the branch and looked at Zigzagoon who dropped the Nickit on the branch. Its body was unmoving, paralyzed with flairs of electricity surrounding it. Patrick held it with his forearms, not risking it falling down to its pack.
The Thievul thrashed below, slamming into the tree with speed unnoticed by the naked eye—Quick Attack. It shook the tree as Patrick and Zigzagoon held onto the branch in urgency. The pack then screeched in a deafening sound in—Snarl. Patrick’s ears rung as he covered them with his shoulders, offering little reprieve. Some jumped up the tree, not reaching high enough. It took them a few minutes of futile attempts before deeming the Nickit unworthy. They turned back and marched deeper into the forest.
Natural selection.
Patrick’s heart thumped into his ribcage as he settled back onto the bark. The beating pumped into his ears, the sound deafening him for a few seconds. Zigzagoon beside him puffed its chest, a smile reaching up into its cheeks.
Victory.
Patrick let out a huge sigh of relief as he stared at the Nickit between his arms. It looked at him with saddened, damp eyes. Patrick couldn’t believe anything this Nickit did but a part in his heart felt a tang of pity as he realized that its pack abandoned it. The electric flairs around Nickit died down as it pounced off Patrick’s hands and onto the thin branch, abandoning its facade.
It puffed out its fur and growled, a rumbling deep in its throat.
“You’re all alone, bud. Your pack used you as bait and left you behind the moment they thought you were too much effort.” Patrick raised a bandaged hand towards the Nickit. “What are you fighting for?”
The Nickit’s ears drooped as the omnipresent, mischievous smile on its face got wiped.
“I can give you purpose. You can join us. No Pokeballs, no slave and master shenanigans. Just a share of mutual interests and an alliance.” Patrick smiled at the Nickit, his eyes widening with fervor as he imagined the force he could build with wild Pokemon.
The Nickit walked towards him in slow steps. It didn’t nuzzle him or show affection. It stared at his hand and back at the forest, where its pack vanished. It let out a sharp, calculating grumble as it stepped closer. Patrick still had a twinge of suspicion in him but he let it die down. He pointed at his pocket as Zigzagoon got the Pokedex out with its mouth. He pressed the button with his bandaged hand and pointed it at the Nickit, holding it between both bandaged hands.
“Nickit, the fox Pokemon,” the familiar woman’s voice rattled off, “cunning and cautious, this Pokemon survives by stealing food from others. Aided by the soft pads on its feet, it silently raids the food stores of other Pokemon. It lives off its ill-gotten gains and erases its tracks with swipes of its tail as it makes off with its plunder.”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Patrick nodded slowly. “You know what? You’ll fit right in.”
He found a button hidden among the machinery of the Pokedex called ‘Summary’. He pressed it with his obnoxious bandaged hand while pointing at the Nickit.
[Pokemon: Nickit | Level: 4 | Ability: Unburden | Nature: Rash | Current moves]
Quick Attack
Tail Whip
Beat up
Knock off
Stats:
HP 18 | ATK 8 | DEF 8 | SpA 11 | SpD 9 | SPE 10
For a special attacker, it’s got just about no special attacking moves. Patrick scrolled down its moveset searching for a special attacking move and found a single option coming up. Level 12: Snarl. He remembered the ringing sound Snarl left in his ears. A welcome discombobulating addition. Patrick nodded as he looked below him once more to make sure the coast was clear.
“Let’s get down for now,” Patrick said to his new companions.
Zigzagoon ran down the bark in a fast zigzag, moving in a blur like it was running down the wall. Nickit looked down, fear filling its eyes. Patrick lifted it up onto his shoulders as he climbed down the tree the same way he climbed up. The bark scratched against his bare chest, digging into the wounds it left on the way up.
Nickit jumped off his shoulder as they got to the ground. Patrick did one last check on his surroundings, fearing the return of the Thievul pack but it looked like they didn’t care anymore. He remembered Nickit’s stat spread and got curious. He pointed the Pokedex at Zigzagoon and pressed Summary with his elbow this time.
[Pokemon: G. Zigzagoon | Level: 6 | Ability: Pickup | Nature: Jolly | Current moves]
Leer
Tackle
Sand Attack
Lick
Stats:
HP 22 | ATK 10 | DEF 11 | SpA 9 | SpD 11 | SPE 15
He nodded once, happy with what he saw. “Okay, we’ve got more mouths to feed, but more hands to steal.” He looked down on his bandaged hands. “Well, not mine, but you two are stealing specialist.” Patrick’s stomach growled. “But we also need to get stronger. Zigzagoon, you’re our brawn now; Nickit, we need your cunning to lower a Pokemon’s guard. If those Thievuls come back, or something bigger finds us now, we’re dead meat.”
They both looked at Patrick and nodded. Nickit’s was curt. Zigzagoon went for quite a few more nods than necessary.
“We’ll head for the river.” He gulped down, the saliva scraping by his dry throat. “Surely weak Pokemon will converge on a water source. Pokemon like those Skwovet and Rookidee we saw last time, Zigzagoon.”
He tried pinching his fingers inside the bandages and found his hand cooperating more. The burns and bruises most likely healed, so he removed the bandages and took a peek. His arm still was colored in vague purple and red hues but it was much better. He closed and opened his fist, wincing slightly in pain but it was nothing unbearable.
They stood on the edge of the clearing, peering through the bushes and finding their first prey. Bunnelby. It bent over towards the river, lapping the water as its long ears’ brown tips entered the running water. The Bunnelby being on their side of the river was a stroke of good luck, fortunately. Patrick locked eyes with both of his Pokemon, making sure they were all on the same page. He scoured his surroundings, searching for something useful. His eyes landed on a jagged pebble. He picked it up and motioned for his Pokemon to stay as he wrapped around the clearing and positioned on the other side.
The moment he threw the pebble beside Bunnelby, blue lines appeared around Bunnelby drooping to the floor: one of its stats dropped. It was either Leer or Tail Whip, both of which dropping the Pokemon’s defense stat. The Bunnelby ran away from the source of the pebble, unknowingly heading straight towards Patrick’s two companions. Zigzagoon exited the bushes and used Tackle, a white border encircling it as it thumped its head onto the Bunnelby’s chest. The Bunnelby weathered the blow, its ears glowing Earthen yellow as they swiped the ground. Mud condensed instantly inside the burrows of its ears but Nickit dashed forward in unimaginable speeds, landing a Quick Attack and throwing the Bunnelby’s aim off. The pieces of mud flew through the air landing on the tree bordering the clearing with a thud. The Bunnelby staggered as another bundle of blue lines signified the drop of a stat. Zigzagoon glared at the Bunnelby with a Leer dropping its defense.
Patrick rushed into the clearing, swiping a handful of soil from the ground as he ran, the Bunnelby glowed white as it readied a tackle but Patrick threw the mud at its eyes, blinding it.
He wasn’t here to play fair, he was here to survive.
Nickit’s claws were covered with black essence as it slammed it onto the Bunnelby with a Knock Off. Simultaneously, Zigzagoon slammed onto it with a white Tackle.
The Bunnelby finally fell on its back. It fainted. The Pokedex vibrated in Patrick’s pocket and he got it out. He found a few notifications.
[Pokemon defeated: Bunnelby (Lvl 12)! | EXP Allocated (Underdog Bonus Applied!)]
Zigzagoon has leveled up!
Level 6 —> Level 8
Stats: +4 HP, +2 ATK, +3 DEF, +1 SpA, +3 SpD, +3 SPE
Nickit has leveled up!
Level 4 —> Level 7
Stats: +6 HP, +3 ATK, +3 DEF, +3 SpA, +3 SpD, +4 SPE
Patrick’s legs gave out as he slumped to the ground. Zigzagoon flattened on its belly, huffing. Nickit slumped against a tree. Patrick’s eyes flitted to the Bunnelby as it laid still on the ground.
“Come on, buddies, eat.” Patrick looked at the Bunnelby on the ground with crazed eyes. “Leave nothing behind.”
The two Pokemon agreed and devoured the Bunnelby as Patrick tuned out the voices of the feast and focused on the running river. The river soothed his spirit with the sound of the water, he pushed his hands into the cold water, jolting in surprise with the pain and coolness. He kept his hands in, washing off the grime, serous fluid, and remnants of the aloe vera. He cupped a mouthful of water and gulped it down. The sounds of flesh getting ripped apart was still in his periphery as he struggled to keep the water down. A few more gulps until he heard a whirring sound. He paid it no heed, a Rookidee, a Pidove, or a Vikavolt flying most likely. He kept the water going into his mouth. He wiped his mouth with the back of his forearm and looked up, the sound of static caught his attention once he tuned out the running water’s sounds.
“Control, this is Unit 5. Footsteps in the wild area near the Southern gate. It looks like a kid. Closing in. Over.” A woman’s voice sounded from the distance.
Patrick’s heart hammered against his ribs. He glanced at the direction of the sound as his legs carried him off into the forest. Zigzagoon and Nickit weren’t slow in catching up as they ran alongside him. Zigzagoon licked the blood that covered its lips, glancing back at the remains of the Bunnelby with reluctance. A metal gleam shone in the middle of the trees, revealing the Corviknight taxi. A black vest and tie adorned the police officer, her hat gleamed gold with the symbol embroidered on its front.
They were coming for him. The consequences of his arson came sooner than he expected.
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