If there was one person I’d like to smack on the head right now, it wouldn't be Mr. M or Mr. BH or even the Arbok’s shady owner across the hall from me.
That one person I’d pay to get a punch on the face would be the suspicious-looking investigator who was supposed to be here a second ago. I mean… just how often does a kid run away from an evil organization and live and not expect said evil organization to come back after them again. Clearly the guy wasn’t fit to be a detective if he couldn’t even figure out something that simple and at least offer some goddamn protection for your only witness!
That being said, I didn’t expect the Pokemon Liberations Army to come back for me either, to think they’d spend that many resources on a single kid…
But complaining about what has already happened was about as helpful as the ginger nurse lying passed out on the hallway floors.
Okay let’s all just calm down and assess the situation. That good for nothing detective is gone right when we need him. I’m stuck here with Mr. M’s buddy who looks like those typical runts back in the Pokemon game, even his Pokemon screams mediocrity. I mean seriously, an Arbok? Really? That’s like the most iconic Pokemon used by every villain-wannabes out there, he’s pretty much screaming: ‘Hey I’m a bad guy that’s about to do bad things with this bad Pokemon.’ And I mean that quite literally, Arbok is one of the worst Pokemon out there, stats and movepool wise.
And the way he dresses alone should already be a dead give away that he’s up to no good. His face is covered by a high collared pitch-black jacket, he has tangled dark hair running down his face, his pants and undershirt all made out of some black reflective material and a pair of boots that are… surprisingly gray. His uniform actually makes the frilly abominations that Fred made look good. That’s how bad it looked.
How did the hospital even let someone like that into the children’s ward in the first place?
And then I remembered a certain dodgy detective who had a fit with the same general color scheme.
I’ll never understand the fashions of this world I guess…
But I had a bigger crisis to face than people’s eccentric tastes in clothing right now. As useless as Arbok was in the game, it was still easily three times my size in real life. Now that I was granted a closer look, I was able to make out each of its individual purple scales on its slithering body very clearly. The way its skin refracted and glistened under the sunlight and the way its gigantic mouth snarled and snapped at me all seemed too real for my comfort. Okay… maybe 4 times my size and very scary looking…
“Ku ku ku… Arby here is hungry for snacks… but you must be the little girl boss told me to bring back… ku ku ku…” the runt shrieked in a voice so shrill it made my ears hurt, “boss said to retrieve you alive… kuku… but he didn’t say I couldn’t play with you…ku ku ku.”
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Okay what’s with the villains always having notoriously sharp voices. Is there some kind of trend I’m not getting? And what’s with their lines sounding staged af, is adding a "kukuku" to every sentence really necessary? Even the original Pokemon games had better dialogue than this.
And really… Arby? I mean…when was the last time you’ve seen an Arbok nicknamed Arby. Oh wait, people don’t use Arboks!
“W-What are you smirking about? What’s so funny!?” The scraggly man screamed at me while his voice broke several octaves.
Oh great… he’s cuckoo in the head as well…
I opened my mouth for a witty comeback… but remembered I was socially awkward decided not to be involved with a guy like him, at all.
The hospital floors were loitered with puddles of dangerously looking purple substances that seemed to sizzle. A quick scan of the hallways revealed cracks and debris that no doubt came from the beast’s thrashing about. Those were all clear indications that a nasty fight had just broken down. The good news was that everyone was able to clear out of the building in time as I didn’t see anyone lying on the floor unconscious.
Except Fred. The poor nurse must’ve gotten caught up in the fight… wait… no…
It took me a second to realize but it wasn’t Fred who was caught up in the fight. He was the one that started it.
And he did it all to protect me, a kid he’s barely known for a week.
Maybe it was rage, maybe it was something else. But the thought that Fred had sacrificed himself for me made my blood boil. It wasn’t supposed to be this way… Fred had people that cared for him, he had someone dear to him that he had to find… he had a life and family he could return to. But this man, he took it all away from him.
I clenched my fists tightly to my side and stared down at the liberations army crook with stern eyes. My breaths became short and heavy but it felt different from when I was crying. Fred was the first to ever show me compassion, even if the concept of friends and family are still so hazy to me, I felt like I could finally change… for the better. But this man, he took it all away from me.
My knees were wobbly as I was hit with light-headedness, forcing me to lean onto Blibly who was still standing by my side, shielding the unconscious nurse and me the entire time. Her back felt smooth and warm to the touch, as if I was above a heated cushion. The sudden rush of emotions must have depleted my oxygen levels too quickly, but I had little time left to recuperate before the deranged snake and its owner decided to unleash their next wave of destruction. To survive, I’d not only need a leveled-head but also a brilliant plan.
“Arby, blast them with Sludge Bomb!” The PLA grunt didn’t want to give me time for any of that though as he commanded his Arbok to launch viscous venoms at my direction I watched in horror as the enormous cobra’s mouth grew larger in size, before finally ejecting a boulder sized sludge that was hurling fast towards me.
I quickly whispered a few words to Blibly, praying to whatever god out there that she understood me. If not, I might as well be buried together with the ginger kid today.
And then I closed my eyes and braced for impact, hoping that my second chance at life wouldn’t end on this day.