Sorry for the SUPER long wait, but chapter 8 is finally here! Enjoy everyone!
Chapter Eight: Secrets are Beginning to be Revealed...
"Guys...?" I said cautiously as Swoobat, Joltik, and my Pokémon led me to a large grassy field as they got me ready to battle. "I am not so sure about this..."
"Come on, don't worry!" Swoobat said with complete confidence in her voice. "It will be totally fine!"
Joltik just nodded at me.
"Well, if you say so..." I then gulped as I got ready to face my opponent. "But who am I going to face?"
"Me!" My Salamence roared, striking fear into my heart. Me versus him?! That is crazy!
"No... no, no, no. I can't do this." I said as I began to back away.
"Come on... it will be fun! I won't be too hard on you." Salamence quickly told me.
I turned my head to look back at my friends, who continued to nod, and then back at Salamence. I then sighed.
"Fine, you win. Let's hurry up and get this over with..." I said. Then I heard a something ring in the distance.
"What was that?!" I said, freaking out.
"Jeez, Sky, haven't you ever heard a bell before? It is announcing you guys to start fighting!" Swoobat said, pointing at the bell in her hand.
"Where'd you get that?!" I quickly said, my cheeks beginning to feel hot.
"Don't you think we know how to make bells and such?" Joltik told me, holding his sides as he laughed.
"Ugh..." was all I said. I then faced back to Salamence, and got ready to fight. As soon as I heard the bell ring again, I quickly used Sucker Punch, which hit Salamence pretty hard. But he soon hurried and got up again, using Outrage on me!
"Owww!" I screamed in pain. "I thought you were gonna go easy on me?!"
"I am... you must've trained me too well then, eh?" He said with a menacing look in his eyes. "Hey, Pidgeot! How about me and you switch out?"
"Sure!" Pidgeot quickly said, as it came to face me. "You ready for this, pal?"
"I think so..." I said, quickly getting up and shaking my fur. "Come at me." I was beginning to have a lot of fun with this, actually.
"Take this!" Pidgeot yelled as she tried to use Air Slash. But I quickly used Sucker Punch before she had the time to fully execute her plan.
"Ack!" She yelled. She fell to the ground for a moment, but quickly got up and shrugged off my attack.
"For your first time battling, you are pretty good!" She said with a soft smile on her face. "But can you take this?"
"Let's see." I said with a determined smile on my face.
"Well, here you go!" Pidgeot yelled as she used Hurricane on me. I tried to overcome the attack by using Bite, but my attack missed as Hurricane swept me away.
"Ah!" I yelled as I got swept off the ground.
"Can you keep going?" Pidgeot asked me softly, with a concerned look on her face.
"Yeah... I will be fine. As a matter of fact, do you have any potions I could use, Joltik?" I asked the spider quickly.
"Yeah, sure... but is it ok with your Pokémon if you use one?" He said, already skittering to go show me where the potions are.
"It is fine, right guys?" Pidgeot asked the rest of my Pokémon. They all nodded their heads.
"Awww, thanks guys." I said as I walked over to where Joltik stashed his potions, which was back inside the house on a shelf stuffed full of berries and potions. I quickly grabbed one and sprayed it on myself, and I gradually began to feel better.
"Alright, let's finish this!" I yelled playfully as I ran back over to my Pokémon. Pidgeot and Zoroark looked at each other and both nodded. Zoroark came to battle against me next.
"Let's see if you are a match for my lightning fast moves." She said, smiling at me with a determined look on her face.
"Oh yeah? Let's see..." I said as I tried to use Sucker Punch on her. It hit her, but didn't do too much damage. She quickly retaliated and used Foul Play on me.
"Ack!" I yelled as the move hit me at full force. "You are pretty strong, Zororark."
"Well, it helps that I have a great trainer." She said back, with a sweet smile on her face.
"How about some of this?!" I yelled as I quickly used Razor Wind on her. She yelled as the wind sent shivers down her spine as it whipped her around.
"I... I can't battle anymore. You found my weakness with my defense... good battle." She said weakly. Swoobat quickly carried some potion over to her and let her spray it on herself, so she could get better. She then gestured for my Pikachu to try out its luck with battling me. He obliged, and hurried over and got ready to fight.
"Let's see if you can beat my own lighting fast moves, pun intended!" He said with a mischievous look on his face.
"Alright, let's do it!" I said as I got ready to fight. But right when I was getting ready to try to use Sucker Punch on Pikachu, we heard something in the distance.
"Huh? What is that?" I wondered... the noise got louder and louder as it came nearer and nearer. My fur bristled, and my Pokémon got ready to fight in case they were needed. Swoobat and Joltik just look onwards with scared looks on their faces.
"I don't know... uh-oh." I said, as I saw a shadowy figure coming towards us. A large one.
"I think it is a... a Tropius!" Joltik shouted.
"What?!" Swoobat and I both said at the same time.
"Jinx!" She said back. I just groaned... this wasn't a good time for one of her goofy jokes.
I turned to look at the Tropius once more. It's eyes were a deep red, and the Fruit around it's neck was rotton and gross. The leaves on it's back were wilted and dead looking. I gulped, as I tried to think of a way to overcome this thing. What did it want with us? As it was clearly another of the Evil Absol's henchmen. Er, make that hench-Pokemon.
"What do you want with us?!" I shouted as I ran up to it to try and use Sucker Punch. But the Tropius didn't say anything, and just began to run up to me to try and use the move Leaf Storm. But my Sucker Punch hit it first, making it fall to the ground (as it had previously been flying), and looked at me.
As it looked at me, I noticed it was making the most sad eyes I could ever see... they were red, that was sure, but there was sadness behind them... an innocence, as if it didn't want to hurt me... but it had to because it was being controlled.
I stopped attacking, and just stared at it for a moment. But the sadness soon left it's eyes as it got up once again and used Magical Leaf, trying to hit me. I quickly tried to dodge the attack, but I wasn't quick enough - Magical Leaf quickly hit me. I yelped in pain as I felt the sharp leaves rush over my fur, slicing me in all directions of my body.
I looked at the Tropius with a true look of innocence, and I saw it once again have a sad look from the back of it's eyes. But this was soon interrupted when Joltik came running towards the Tropius as fast as he could, and used Thunderbolt on it!
But unfortunately this didn't work so well, as Grass Pokémon were already very strong against Electric type Pokémon, and because Joltik was so much smaller then the large Tropius.
"Uh oh..." Joltik said as he began to panic. The Tropius was beginning to lift it's giant foot above Joltik, and was about to slam it down on him!
"Hey! Leave my friend alone!" I heard Swoobat yell, as she swooped in quickly and used Heart Stamp on the Tropius. This thankfully made him flinch, and gave Joltik just enough time to make his getaway.
"Thanks, Swoobat." Joltik huffed, looking thankfully at his friend.
"No prob." Swoobat quickly said back.
But by the time this has all taken place, the Tropius was already getting up and heading my way!
"Ah!" I screamed, as I quickly rushed towards it to try and use Bite. But I quickly tried to halt as I saw the look in the Tropius's eyes once again, which showed a look of pure innocence. I tried to stop my attack, but couldn't as I was already rushing towards Tropius. I then used the attack, which knocked it out.
"What happened, Sky?" Joltik quickly said as he rushed over to me.
"I... I don't know. It was if I knew that the Tropius wasn't meaning to do this... there was a look in it's eyes... of pure sadness." I said back, gasping for breath.
"Really?" Was all Swoobat replied.
I was about to reply back to her when I saw the Tropius begin to stir. It slowly got up, and I got ready to fight if I had to - but I was hoping I wouldn't.
"Huh... where am I? Where is my baby, where is he?!" She said getting up, while she began screaming.
"Hey! You are with us... something happened to you. But I think you are OK now." Was all I said back, trying to sooth her. Something had clearly happened... she hadn't meant to attack us. I could see it in her eyes once again.
"Who are you? Why am I here? Please, just tell me where I can find my baby!" She said, starting to cry.
"Woah, woah, woah. Hold on. I am Swoobat!" Swoobat began to say quickly. "And this is my buddy, Joltik, and my new friend named Sky!"
"Nice to meet you all... but please, I just want to know where my baby is!" She was getting very desperate now. I could tell.
"We will get to that. First off, what happened? You were trying to attack us a moment ago... why?" I cautiously asked her.
"I what?!" She said, bursting into tears. "I am so sorry! I didn't mean to... it all was because of this evil Absol..."
My ears perked up at the words "evil Absol". "What about this evil Absol?!" I quickly said.
"Hold on, Sky. Let's take her back to the house... we can get her something to eat and try to make her at home, and then she can tell us her story." Joltik said, thinking things through.
"Alright... good idea. I am sorry, erm... your name?" I said, blushing.
"Oh, you can just call me Tropius... now my baby on the other hand is Junior. But I will tell you all about what happened to him once we get back to the house..." her voice trailed off, as she began to start crying again. I knew this would be a long night, but I would try to do the best I could to make Tropius feel at home, especially so my friends and I could get some desperately needed answers...
"Well, it all started when I was outside picking some fruit for my baby the other night, when all of a sudden this Marril, Chatot, and Absol rushed over to me. But they didn't look normal... their eyes were red, and the Absol had a terrible scar running down the side of his face." She said this with a look of terror on her face.
"It has to be them!" I said out loud, thinking to myself.
"Hmmm? Who?" Tropius asked.
"Oh, never mind... please go on." Was all I said back.
"Well, alright... so these Pokémon came over to me, demanding me to hand over Junior to them. They said that they were going to do something special with him... but of course I said no, so with that they ran into my house (which is a little cave by the way) and took Junior right from me! I did everything I could to try and stop them, but it was just no use... they were too strong! Especially that Absol..." her voice began to trail off once again.
"Please go on!" Swoobat encouraged her.
"Well, all I remember after that is seeing a blinding light come over me, and seeing Junior being carried off by those horrible Pokémon, with me screaming in agony. I can't remember anything after that." She said this, tears streaming down her face. "I couldn't even protect Junior... what kind of mother does that make me?!"
Swoobat, Joltik, and I all just looked at each other. We each felt very bad for her...
"It wasn't your fault, Tropius." I began. "I think that Absol was trying to control you... but I don't know why exactly yet."
"Control me? Could it be true?!" She said, tears still streaming down her face.
"I am afraid to say this, but possibly." I said with a knowing look on my face. I will do everything I can to help save this Tropius's baby, I thought to myself, but I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to do that... but I knew I would find a way. Somehow...