Rhin smiled to himself in that way that his mom always told him made him look really cool and, producing a Pokeball from his belt, he threw it up in the air as light pooled out of it.

"Ha! Finally, something to break up the monotony! Let's stretch those legs, Wyvern!"

The Charmander materialized onto the grassy field of Route 5, standing on all fours and growling defiantly at the Venonat before him. The tiny ball of purple fur jumped in fear, nervously spitting a cloud of musky yellow gas toward his opponent.

"You're faster; run circles around him!" Rhin commanded. "There's no need to hurt him, we want him for our team after all."

As Wyvern began running on all fours around the scared creature, Wolfswift approached from behind with that usual nonchalance of his, hands on the pockets of his jacket. Even after having been blinded, he always looked as though he were in control of the situation. Rhin wished he knew how he did it.

"I'm starting to doubt we're going the right way," said Wolfswift. "Why haven't the others caught up to us?"

Rhin waved the matter away with a smile. "They probably got distracted causing chaos and destruction like the senseless criminals they are. They'll catch up to us, don't worry."

"I don't know about that. Something about this place smells… off."

"Trust me, it's gonna be fine, Wolf. Can I call you Wolf?"

"No."

"Listen Wolf. Once we're inside Mt. Moon we can find a place to rest, and then when we wake up the others will surely be close by," said Rhin. "Trust me, I…"

And at that moment, Rhin narrowed his eyes, which emitted a pale, crimson glow. Wolfswift froze in place as a voice spoke in his head.

"I can check."

It took him a moment to relax. "Ah… I see. You're one of those."

"Righto! So there's nothing to worry, Wolf." Rhin gave him a thumbs up, then turned toward his battle once more. "Alright, Wyvern, you got him on the ropes! Whip your tail and use Ember around him!"

It was a matter of seconds. Wyvern ran past another cloud of paralyzing dust and, using the momentum of his run, whipped at the air with his tail, sending a coiling whip of flames that engulfed the grass around the poor Venonat. He screeched and shrunk into himself, horrified as the wall of flame closed in around him.

"Don't worry, you won't get hurt! I just wanted to intimidate you a lil'. Makes you easier to catch," said Rhin with a smile. "Here it goes!"

The Pokeball flew through the flames and bonked the Venonat on the head, trapping him inside. Wyvern ran to the scene and stomped all over the flames, extinguishing them, and once he did Rhin walked to the middle of the ring of scorched grass and grabbed the ball containing his new partner.

"Alright! Looks like we have a new partner!" exclaimed Rhin. "Couldn't have done it without you, Wyvern."

Wolfswift scoffed behind him. "If you're finished wasting your time with that Venonat, we should probably deal with the girl over there."

"Wh–girl? What girl?" Rhin turned around, frowning. "And how did you know it was a Venonat?"

"I'm starting to get used to the blindness. My other senses are slowly sharpening," explained the man. "Still… I can't quite discern if she's dangerous or not."

Before Rhin could ask who exactly he was referring to, they heard a soft, sweet voice behind them.

"Hehe, I guess you caught me!"

His first thought as he turned around and met the girl's eyes was 'How the hell did I not notice her there before'? She was sitting on a big rock, leaning forward casually as she greeted them with a smile of perfect white teeth, a gesture that the Magby atop her shoulder imitated a second after. She looked young, probably no older than either of them. She had short, disheveled orange hair and wore the traditional apron and thick gloves of a Pokemon breeder.

"I was watching your battle. A trainer, eh? Not many of those around anymore, so that's pretty cool!" She spoke dizzyingly fast, almost enough to make it hard to understand what she was saying. "I'm one too! Or, well, a breeder I guess but still. This Magby here helps me out with all the eggs, mostly to make them hatch faster, you would not believe how hard it was before I caught him! This one time I was commissioned by one of my clients to hatch a Dratini egg and I'm not joking you it took me six months to get it to…"

She seemed to catch herself, letting out a short chuckle and shaking her head.

"Ah, sorry, sorry. I tend to ramble. Anyway, my name's Charity!" She pointed at herself with a thumb, and the Magby did the same. "I was supposed to go to Lavender but got lost on the way, so lucky me to have run into you two, right?"

"Wait, hold on just a moment." Wolfswift interceded, raising a palm toward her. "What are you implying? We don't know you, so–"

Charity jumped out of the rock she was sitting on and dusted herself off, shining them a brilliant smile.

"Oh come on blindfold guy, I'm trustworthy! And also lost. Like, very lost," she clarified. "Anyway, where are you guys headed? Are you alone? How many Pokemon do you have? Which ones? Oh right, where are my manners. What are your names?"

"I… er…" Rhin swallowed, unsure of how to deal with the intensity of this girl. "Well, I'm Rhin and this is Wolfswift, and we were headed tow–"

"Great! See, I'm actually kinda scared of crossing the mountains by myself, so I was hoping I could get you two to accompany me! For security, you know? What do you say, Ron?"

"I-it's Rhin and–"

Wolfswift placed a hand on Rhin's shoulder, shaking his head. "Rhin, we don't know her. It would be reckless to have her with us."

It's not like he would've had much time for it anyway, but Rhin considered their situation as best he could. And then, as he usually did, he decided to go with the option that involved trusting in people.

"Come on, Wolf, don't be a cynic. She seems nice," he said. "And besides, we trainers have to help each other, right?"

Charity pumped her fist high into the air, and Magby imitated her.

"That's the spirit, Ron! There's few enough of us to go around, so of course we gotta stick together when we can!" she exclaimed. "Alright, let's get to it! Together, we'll figure out a way through the mountains in a jiffy!"

Against the combined forces of two optimistic idiots, Wolfswift had, unfortunately, no choice but to accept their proposition.

----------------------------------------

Muffin hummed happily to herself as she examined a shelf full of different kinds of fishing rods. The supply store was mostly empty. Only she, Sammy and Siegfried were perusing through its wares, though the boy seemed more preoccupied with the Pokemon egg he was carrying.

"Ah, there's so much variety here!" said Muffin, raising her sleeved hands to her chest. "We can buy everything we need for the rest of the journey."

Siegfried looked down at the egg and smiled. "I just hope the others don't take too long. I've got a good feeling about this egg an–"

As if on cue, they heard the chubby man behind the counter address a group of people approaching the store.

"Welcome! Come in, come in."

Muffin didn't need to turn around to know that Ñako was the one to open the door, what with him slamming it against the wall. Not to mention that booming voice of his filling the room a second later.

"Don't have to tell us twice, geezer!"

The second voice was unmistakably Sabrina's, cold and full of irritation.

"What do we even need from this place, anyway?"

They strolled into the store, looking around with different levels of interest at the wares lining the shelves.

"A map, probably."

Sabrina frowned. "We came all this way for a stupid $10 map?"

"Er… $20, actually," said the owner.

"$20!? You cheap fuck."

Siegfried was the first to address them. "Was there any trouble on your side? You were gone for a while."

"And where are the other two?" asked Sammy. "Er, three. Vard, Silver and his… companion."

"They went ahead to secure our staying place for the night," explained Sabrina. "Big hotel, five stars. You're welcome, by the way."

"You don't need to ask how we got the money for it," said Ñako. "It's okay."

"You… didn't set fire to anything, did you?" Sammy frowned.

Ñako shrugged. "Nothing of importance, right?"

"Nope," muttered Sabrina. "S'all good."

Sammy stood in front of them with her arms folded, the look on her face reminding Muffin terribly of the one her own mom often had whenever she was trying to determine if her brother was lying to her or not. After a few seconds, she just sighed and looked away.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Anyway, we shouldn't spend too long here. Let's just get what we need an–"

A loud crack broke through the room. All eyes turned instantly toward the source of the sound, some more quickly than others. Sabrina's hand was already on her belt, though it froze in place when she realized what had caused the sound.

"Goodness!"

A happy grin spread across Siegfried's lips as he looked down at his egg, which had begun to crack. Muffin let out an excited gasp, and even Sammy couldn't stop herself from making a sound. All of them huddled around Siegfried as the Pokemon within the egg tried its hardest to free itself.

"Siegfried, look!" Muffin pointed excitedly. "You were right!"

"It's… it's about to be born!" declared the man, voice full of happiness. "We're about to witness the miracle of life."

Behind them, Sabrina muttered under her breath. "Tsk. Guess we can't eat it anymore, huh?"

The last of the cracks appeared on the shell, light filtering through, until finally with a sound like that of glass breaking the light exploded from within. The eggshells fell all over as a small creature began to take form on Siegfried's hands. It was round and blue, with big glassy eyes and a marking like a spiral on its stomach.

"A Poliwag!" Siegfried and Muffin yelled in unison, equally thrilled.

The rest looked somewhat disappointed, but Siegfried's reaction couldn't have been farther away from that. He raised the baby Pokemon high and shone him a kind smile.

"Welcome to this world, little one," he said. "Your name will be Murphy. I hope we can be friends."

"Wruui!"

"Ahh… that is wonderful," muttered Muffin. "I never thought I'd see a Pokemon being born."

"It's definitely not something you see much of nowadays," said Sammy.

"Eh. It's not that cool," Sabrina added. "I've seen b–"

Suddenly, the elderly owner slammed his hand on the counter and yelled out.

"THIEVES!"

Every pair of eyes turned toward him, some confused, most of them irritated by the sudden noise. Even the newborn Poliwag frowned at the man.

"Excuse me?" asked Sammy.

Sabrina scoffed. "We haven't stolen anything yet, what the hell."

"Yeah, I just smell bad!" said Ñako. "That ain't a crime last I checked."

"I swear, the nerve of some people," whispered Muffin.

"No, you idiots!" yelled out the owner, pointing forward. "Behind you, it's–!"

The door flew open, slamming against the wall with a loud, sharp sound. Everyone except Siegfried and Muffin already had a Pokeball in hand before they even turned all the way around, and their quick reaction was well-founded, as they found themselves face to face with a couple of men wearing black wool hats and scarves over their mouths. They both held pistols in their hands.

"This is a robbery! Everyone get down!" yelled the shortest one, his voice deep and rough.

"Yeah, stay nice and put if you don't wanna be Magikarp food!" the other one added, his voice much more shrill.

Out of the entire group, Muffin was the only one who gave the two the reaction they were probably expecting, gasping in fear and clutching at her chest with her sleeved hands. The others simply looked at the thieves gormlessly.

"'This is a robbery'? Seriously?" muttered Ñako.

"Yeah, and that line about the Magikarp food…" said Sammy.

"Talk about cliché. Where'd these clowns come from anyway?" finished Sabrina.

The lukewarm reaction was enough to shock the thieves for a few seconds, which gave the trainers enough time to reach for their Pokeballs. Ñako, however, hoisted his arm over his shoulder and unfolded his giant shuriken in front of him, a relieved smile on his face.

"Ah, whatever," said Ñako. "It's been almost fifteen minutes since we engaged in senseless violence. I was starting to get worried."

"W-wait!" yelled the owner. "Please, I don't want any trouble, I–!"

Ñako silenced him with a wink. "Don't you worry, we'll take care of these two and no one will even miss them. Everyone knows those who wear black wool hats are terrible people, right?"

Sabrina dug into the back of his head with her glare.

"Are we sure we should be–?"

But Siegfried's concern was cut short as the tallest thief scoffed and took a cocky step forward. His partner tried to do the same. He chuckled and then tried to spit dismissively to the side, but he forgot that he was wearing a scarf over his mouth and just ended up spitting on it instead. He froze, hoping that no one had seen that. Everyone had.

"You brats wanna step in, be the big heroes?" asked the tallest one. "We'll show you what happens to those who don't stick to the scrip–"

Two simultaneous lights exploded between the two groups, blinding the thieves as a Vulpix and a Treecko materialized inside the store.

"Alright, let's see if this works."

Sabrina grabbed a lighter from a nearby shelf and flicked it on, using it to light her cigarette. She took a drag, then threw the lighter down toward her Vulpix. As soon as the flame touched his fur it spread all throughout his body like a mantle of golden light. Inside Sabrina's head, a voice rang.

Flash Fire, activated.

"Light'em up, Rokon."

"Geek, take out these jokes!"

The roar of flames cut through the air, and by the time the tallest thief opened his eyes again they were already upon him. He screamed and threw his gun down to the ground on instinct as his hand was enveloped. His friend only had time to gasp at the sight before a green blur flew toward him and a thick green tail was buried in his gut.

"HGHK!"

He crashed against the door frame and his gun fell to his side on the ground.

"Heh. This won't take long." Sabrina smiled to herself. "Hope you can hold your own, redhead."

Sammy scoffed. "Same goes to you."

The thieves stumbled back toward the door, disoriented and in pain. The shortest one swallowed, his eyes going wide in fear.

"S-shit, they got Pokemon!"

"Calm down, dumbass!" the other chastised him. "They're not the only ones!"

Three new Pokeballs flew through the air, the explosion of light pooling into the shapes of Pokemon a second after. A Gastly, a Beedrill and a Kadabra. They stood between the trainers and the thieves, eyes narrowed, ready to attack.

"Get them!" yelled the tallest thief.

A buzz roared through the air as Beedrill shot forward like a bullet, the tip of his spear-like hand going straight for Ñako's chest. The ninja raised his shuriken, deflecting the blow with a loud Tink as the Pokemon flew over him, maneuvering to his blind spot.

"Rokon, dodge and counter with Ember!" The Vulpix jumped out of the way of the Psywave and spat another mouthful of flames at the Kadabra. "Ninja, take care of the bug! Siegfried, protect the old man! We can ask for money in return for saving his store later!"

"Got it!"

"Y-yes, of course!"

The sounds of battle and chaos reverberated through the store as the five Pokemon and Ñako engaged in a mess of a fight, flames and waves of psychic energy flying through the air and destroying the shelves and items around them. Sabrina kept on shouting orders, but she stopped once she realized something.

"Hey, cat ears." The mere act of talking to Muffin was enough to make the girl jump in place. "Were you planning on just standing there with those Deerling eyes or are you actually going to do something?"

Muffin's voice shivered as she spoke. "I-I… I d-don't…"

"If you're gonna be useless then you could at least find a way to cover the windows," Sabrina offered. "We draw enough attention as it is."

"S… s-shut up, I know how to fight!" spluttered Muffin, grabbing a Pokeball from her belt. "Milkshake, use T-Thunder Wave!"

The attack went out before the light of the Pokeball fully vanished, a cloud of crackling electricity shooting forward. Kadabra raised his spoon, blocking both it and the flames from Rokon. Gastly flew up and dodged. The thieves, however, weren't as quick to react.

"Agh!"

"F-fuck!"

The crackling bolts surrounded them like chains, paralyzing them in place. The tallest one fell back, holding himself up against the wall, while the other lost balance and fell to the ground, right next to the gun he'd previously dropped.

"T-this is getting out of hand!" yelled the former.

"I-I've got it. Here, I'll–!"

It happened too fast. Sabrina and Sammy were too focused on the fight and Ñako was busy deflecting the Beedrill's stings with his shuriken. Muffin and Siegfried were the only ones who saw as the man on the floor grabbed the gun with incredible effort and raised his hand as much as he was able.

"Sir, get down!" yelled Siegfried.

"P-please, I don't want trouble!" yelled the owner, terrified. "Take what you want, just–!"

The gunshot boomed throughout the store, deafening. The owner gasped, then looked down at the dark spot on his chest and opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed behind the counter, immobile.

"Tsk," muttered the thief. "I was aiming for the mannish girl."

"Sir!" Siegfried bellowed, eyes wide with horror. "Sir, are you–!?"

"NO!"

Muffin's scream was loud and shrill and broken. She took a step back, tears falling down her cheeks, and without thinking she grabbed a second Pokeball from her belt and threw it into the air.

"Please, do s-something! Stop them!"

A tiny wall of flames rolled through the room, spat out from the mouth of the freshly-materialized Growlithe. This time, Kadabra wasn't as lucky. He took the brunt of the attack and was thrown back while the remaining tongues of flame fell upon the two men. They screamed and fell back toward the wall, the shortest one dropping the gun immediately.

Sabrina whistled appreciatively. "About time you did something useful."

"W-what is wrong with you!?" yelled Muffin, her voice little more than a sob. "T-that man is… he was…"

"Dead. Shot. I'm well aware," replied Sabrina. "And we'll follow suit if we don't finish these fuckers off. Speaking of which…"

Grabbing her backpack, Sabrina shoved her hand inside and pulled out the heavy crossbow she'd used once before, a cold look of determination on her eyes.

"This is taking longer than expected," she said. "Ninja!"

"Just a sec!"

A spray of blood cut through the air as Ñako slashed through the Beedrill's side, earning a loud buzz from the creature and sending it flying unevenly toward the ground, where it stayed. The man then turned around, shuriken bloody, and smiled at the two paralyzed men.

"There we go," he breathed out. "I'll be honest, I was looking for a reason to kill you two without feeling bad, so thanks for that."

Ñako threw himself forward. Sabrina raised her crossbow and whispered. "Stay still for me."

"W-wait! Stop, we…!"

"Gastly, Confuse Ray!"

A ball of disorienting light was shot toward Ñako's face. He frowned, unable to change his trajectory, and braced for the impact.

"Geek, intercept it!"

Using its springy legs, Treecko jumped in front of Ñako just as the ball of light was about to reach him, taking it straight to the face and falling back to the ground, eyes spinning in confusion. Ñako chuckled and raised his hand, ready to strike.

Something whistled through the air. The tallest thief opened his mouth to say something, but then the bolt from Sabrina's crossbow hit him square in the chest, going straight through him and impaling him against the wall behind him. His companion looked at him and shrieked in terror.

"Where are you looking you git!?"

Ñako fell like a reaper atop him, and a single slash was all it took to finish him off. A spray of blood painted the floor red as they both collapsed to the ground, dead.

Silence set in for a few moments. The trainers looked amidst themselves, taking a moment to breathe, or in Muffin's case simply hiding her face behind her sleeves and shaking like a leaf. The enemy Gastly was the one of their opponents still conscious, but judging by that look of horror on his face he wasn't very keen to fight them anymore.

After a while, Ñako broke the silence.

"Think we might've gone a bit too far?"

The store around them was a complete mess. Three corpses laid on the ground and pretty much every item laying on the shelves had fallen off or been burnt to ash by Rokon's flames.

"I don't know what you're talking about," replied Sabrina, lowering the crossbow. "That was a perfectly legitimate case of self-defense."

"What?" breathed Siegfried, holding on tightly to the baby Poliwag. "That wasn't self-defense no matter how you slice it!"

Sammy rolled her eyes. "Self-defense or not, things will only get more complicated if we stay here. Let's go."

"Yeah. Redhead's got a point," said Ñako. "Besides, we got a five-star hotel waiting for us. The more we hurry the better."

After taking a moment to return their Pokemon and holster their respective weapons, the trainers hurried out of the door and away from the scene of the crime. Sabrina, however, stayed back.

"Hey. Gastly."

She approached the terrified Pokemon with a casual look on her face, hands in her pockets. Stepping over the pool of blood, she bent down and picked up the Pokeball that belonged to him.

"I know this is a bit sudden, that I killed your previous master and all that, but I'm afraid we've got little time, and you have a decision to make," she said, raising the ball. "I can trap you here and sell you to the highest bidder, or…"

A cold smile formed on her lips. "You can work for me, and become stronger. What do you say?"

Of course, both of them knew it wasn't much of a choice. After a moment of deliberation the Gastly did the best equivalent of its species to a nod, and Sabrina smiled to herself as she returned him to the ball.

"Welcome to the team, Stan," she muttered. "Now…"

But just as she was about to leave, Sabrina noticed that she wasn't the only one still in the room, disregarding the corpses. As she turned around she saw Muffin, frozen in place, eyes wide like plates. Her cheeks were stained with tears.

"What?" asked Sabrina, raising an eyebrow. "First time you see someone die?"

Muffin said nothing. She just glared at Sabrina with a mix of horror and hatred.

"Well trust me, it won't be the last," she continued. "But hey, first time's always the hardest, so you've gotten through that at least."

"Y-you…!"

"You're free to leave. Turn tail and never come back. It's what's worked for me before," said Sabrina, shrugging. "Or you can open your eyes and see the world the way it actually is. It's up to you. I would suggest moving sometime before the police gets here, though. If you get caught and rat us out I will kill you."

And with that Sabrina turned around and walked out the door, leaving a scared, sobbing Muffin behind.