“Die…!” Claire sidestepped out of the way, dodging from a Bite, whatever this thing was, she did not want to get hit. The skeletal Charmander slowly looked back at the Vulpix, shaking uncontrollably as it tried to charge at her again, the same result happening.
“What is wrong with you?! Who are you, and what happened to you!?” Claire asked, however, it seemed like the Charmander didn’t want to talk as it tried to scratch her, completely ignoring the fox’s questions. ‘Seems like it’s not here for a talk… but why does it want to kill me!?’ Claire thought as she dodged another slash. “Fine, if you want a fight, then so be it!”
The Charmander screeched again before charging at the Vulpix again, who this time stood there and shot a fireball at the Charmander’s face. Even though it seemed that it didn’t do much, the skeleton screeched before putting its claws on its face. “It hurts, it hurts, it hurts…!!!” It looked back at the monster! That proves it, they want to kill it, they want to kill it, they want to kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it kill- “I’m not letting you kill me you monster!” Claire tilted her head before recoiling at seeing the Charmander’s chest flame glow and letting out purple flames directly at Claire. She barely managed to roll out of the way as she looked in the direction of the purple fireballs. The Vulpix saw the balls of flame impact a tree, however, it seemed to do no damage whatsoever to the trunk.
“Wait… what?” Claire muttered before looking back at a roaring skeleton Charmander that was in her face, who managed to hit her on the side with a Scratch. “Gah!” She retreated back a bit, blood dripping from the gash. She gritted her teeth as she tried ignoring the pain from her wound. The fire fox considered if it was a good idea to call for help. ‘No! I can’t chicken out now, I’m supposed to be the best explorer that ever was, this will be my test to prove it!’
Claire then ran back towards the skeleton and it started shaking uncontrollably again. “Stay, stay, stay, stay away from me! Die…!” The Charmander let out more of those purplish flames, Clare sidestepping them while getting closer to the skeletal lizard. The Vulpix then summoned purple flames of her own around her and launched them towards the Charmander. It flinched as it got hit, although it didn’t feel any pain, its whole body was starting to burn. “It burns! Oh god, it burns…!” The skeletal lizard then fell on its back, convulsing, squirming, and trashing. “Make it stop! God, make it STOP….!”
“...” Claire just looked confused at the whole display, on edge trying to see what the strange Pokémon would do. However, it just kept screaming on the ground. “Um… can I honestly help you-” Her ear twitched and she looked to her side to find a violet armored Pokémon with swords for hands. “Who are you!?”
The swordsman stood silent before going towards the squirming Charmander. He just looked at the lizard before speaking. “Pathetic, losing to a kid? I expected more from your kind.”
“Hey!” The Ceruledge looked back to the Vulpix, giving her the side-eye. “What’s going on here!? What did you do to that Charmander!?”
“It is none of your business kid. You saw nothing here…” The armored Pokémon started sinking into the ground with ghostly powers, pulling the Charmander with him.
“Answer me!” Claire demanded before charging at them both with fire coming out of her mouth. She pounces at them, aiming her fire at the armored menace. However, one of the swords of Ceruledge extends and slashes Claire across the chest, sending her backward towards a tree. The Vulpix slumps to the ground, her vision blurring as she saw the two disappear. Her chest burned, she tried to get back on her feet, but immediately failed. “No… come… back…”
After the two disappeared, she heard a shout in the distance, someone was calling her name. “John… help… me…” She then closed her eyes as she fell unconscious on the grass.
----------------------------------------
…
“Hey, Claire! Are you alright?”
“Oh, um… I was just thinking about something, nothing much…”
“Claire…?”
Claire looks towards him. “Yes?”
“Is it really a good idea to go to that dungeon?”
“Of course! We need to get stronger, or else our dream of forming an exploration team won’t be realized! That was the promise we made together, remember? So don’t go telling excuses just because you’re scared! You hear?”
“Of course not!” The Riolu started running, with Claire following behind him. “So… to Mt. Gelo we goooooooOoOOOOOOOOoooo-!”
. . .
[Help me…-]
“That’s right! Let’s beat that dungeon-!”
. . .
[So cold… it’s so cold…]
“You and me! Together we’re unstoppable-! H31pm3#@$&#&@”
. . .
A Riolu appeared in the darkness, looking at her. Bits of his body were covered in snow, he was missing his right arm, his tail, and his left ear, and one of his eyelids was running frozen blood down to their cheek...
[Claire… HELP ME-]
In an instant, a hole pierced right through his chest, bursting with blood as an icicle spear could be seen coming out of it.
[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-]
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
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“HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIROOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Claire woke up, panting and crying. She coughed from her screams, her whole body ached and her chest felt even worse. After managing to calm down and slow down her breathing, she checked her surroundings. It appeared that she was in some kind of hospital room, on a hospital bed. She looked down and saw that her torso was covered in bandages. There was a tube connected to her leg, that led to an IV bag. “Where… am I…?”
She remembers walking back from the dojo… then finding a weird ghostly like Charmander, then it ran away with the help of a Ceruledge. She remembers his eyes being red, however. What was that all about, she asked herself mentally. ‘What did that Pokémon do with that Charmander, and why it was like that…?’
Suddenly, the door to the hospital room opened and a yellow and purple Goodra in a white and blue wet uniform entered the room. “Glad to see ya awake.” The slimy dragon said in a smooth female voice. Upon further inspection, Claire noticed that her tail had three pointed ends and had a bit of scales in it. The Goodra continued. “How are ya feelin'?”
“Well… my chest still aches a bit and my head hurts a little…” She said lowering her head. “Also… how bad is it from under the bandages?”
“Well, fortunately, the wound ain’t that deep. However, if whoever did that slash went five centimeters deeper, ya would’ve been in a very critical state.”
‘Did he… want me to live? Why?’ Claire thought.
“At any case, ya survived and that’s what matters.” The slug dragon smiled. “Also, ye parents are coming to see ya.”
Claire nodded, but couldn’t help but ask. “How long have I been asleep?”
“For four hours. It’s currently 7:35 in the night.”
“I see… wait! John! I gotta pick him up!” Claire stood up hastily but the nurse grabbed her with her slimy paws and made the fox sit on the bed again.
“Calm down! Ya can’t just waltz outta 'ere without any medic saying so. Ya need to wait this one out until ya begin to feel better, aight?”
“B-but my friend! I need to get him back to my house!”
The nurse put her paws on her hips. “Don’t ‘cha worry, we’ll notify ye parents ta get him latah. Now calm down, aight?”
Claire looked away and sighed before nodding at the Goodra.
“Aight. Also, I forgot, there’s someone wantin’ to see ya. A detective as he said. He wanted ta question ya when ya woke up. Do ya mind if let him in?” Claire shook her head. “Aight. He’ll be here shortly.” The nurse then left the room.
Claire couldn’t take her mind off something. That Charmander, it called her a monster before. Earlier that day, a normal Charmander called Pokémon monsters in general… was there a coincidence? “That Charmander… what did he mean by monsters…”
The door of the room opened again, revealing a Scizor that, unlike others of its species, had thick antennas. He was wearing a scarf covering his mouth and neck. “Excuse me, Miss Claire.” The Scizor walked towards her and sat on a stool beside her bed. “Are you feeling well?”
“Um… yes, I am.”
“That’s very good to know.” He sighed, leaning closer towards Claire with a more serious look. “You know what I’m here for, the nurse explained to you, right?” Claire nods. “Good. So… let’s start from the beginning. From what I know… a teenager, AKA you, suddenly was injured on a safe path in a trail, where no wild Pokémon could ever think of harming someone since they can’t have a territory. Yes, even though small bug types could make nests there, they aren’t very brave to suddenly attack someone who got close to their nests, or even have the power to harm a Pokémon like you that badly.”
“Yes… you’re right… I go through that path every Saturday.”
“Of course. I also went to personally investigate the area, I talked with a Samurott named Kofu who is supposedly your teacher, is that correct?”
The Vulpix nodded. “Yeah, he is my battle teacher.” Claire never would have expected to participate in an investigation before. Why was there an investigation happening? What is currently happening in the shadows of Burgroth? “He has a kind heart and just wants to see kids knowing how to defend themselves.”
The Scizor leaned back, crossing his arms as his antenna relaxed. “Alright. He told me you went alone and returned alone from his class. No one else left immediately after you except for Kofu himself after he noticed you had left an object there. That’s when he saw you wounded. So… if it wasn’t him…” The detective looked sharply at Claire. “Could you tell me what exactly happened since you left the dojo?”
Claire nods and starts explaining. “So… on the way back to town, I got the feeling someone was following me… and after I spotted the Pokémon… or should I even say Pokémon…?” The Scizor tilted his head. “Whatever it was, it looked like some skeleton-looking Charmander, with a purple flame at the end of its tail. It also had a… huge hole in its chest exposing its ribcage and another purple flame…”
The Scizor’s antennas rose up a little. “Can you remember if that creepy-looking Charmander said anything?”
“Well… it said things like he needs to kill every monster, and basically saw me as a monster for some reason…”
“Hm… anything more to add?”
“Well… it also looked like a scared creature in my opinion, I tried talking to it, but… it only wanted my death it seems.” The Vulpix then frowned. “I don’t know if it was just coincidence or not but… earlier today, a normal Charmander bumped into me, and called Pokémon in general monsters, then ran away. That was in Burgroth.”
“… Interesting…” The detective had a puzzling look, putting a pincer on his chin. “Proceed.”
Claire nodded then continue. “After I managed to burn it with my Will-o-Wisp, a Ceruledge with red flaming eyes appeared and grabbed the Charmander to run away.”
“Did they say anything?”
“They… called the Charmander pathetic and then said something about it losing to a kid. I think they said that their type was supposed to be strong or something…” Claire sighed. “As I saw they were escaping through the shadows, I tried to stop them and…” She looked away in shame a little“... Now I’m here…”
The Scizor leaned back on his stool making a thinking face before nodding. “Have you heard about the rumors about… Corrupted Pokémon?”
Claire looked back at the detective and tilted her head. “What are those?”
“Corrupted Pokémon, as the rumors call them, are Pokémon that started appearing suddenly across the whole world. No one knows where they came from, and why more keeps appearing. But there is one running theory going around that sounds plausible.” He gave a pause, looking back at Claire. “Humans-turned-Pokémon are disappearing left and right, without a trace. Pokémon suspect that there is some evil organization kidnapping them for their own profit. Using their knowledge from the world they came from to build the most money-making machines they can.” The Scizor crosses his arms. “Other rumors go as extreme as some companies using the knowledge of the humans to try to invade their world.”
Claire couldn’t help but let her eyes widen in shock. “Is that true…?”
“Like I said, just rumors, nothing believable. But now with your testimony… I may have an idea of what’s truly happening…” The Scizor said before getting off the stool and adjusting his scarf. “Thank you for your time, Miss Claire. I shall go now, take care and please, let the professionals handle criminals, alright?” He looked back at her with expectancy.
“I understand…” Claire said with hesitance.
“Also, one more thing. Keep what you know about Corrupted Pokémon a secret, alright? If one of the suspects like that Ceruledge ever notices there is someone spilling the beans about them, who knows what will happen to you or your family.”
“Okay then…”
The detective nodded and then left the room, leaving Claire to sigh. “I didn’t know John could become a victim if he isn’t careful… I need to protect him at all costs… I can’t lose him…” She gripped the bedsheets with her claws, before releasing them more calmly.
The door opened again and the same nurse Goodra came out of the door. “Claire? Ye parents are ‘ere.” She said before Claire nodded.
The ice and fire Ninetales entered the room and rushed to the bed where their daughter was. “Claire! Are you alright!?” Reya asked worried.
“What happened to you?” Izo asked concerned.
“Well… a long story…”