(5) V1 - Chapter V
CHECK OUT THIS STORY ON SCRIBBLEHUB!! IT WILL ALWAYS BE A FEW CHAPTERS AHEAD OF THE STORY POSTED ON HERE!!
The trip back to Kozan, despite not venturing too far into the forest, took around 5 hours due to the group needing to take multiple rests and the number of Pokemon attacks. There weren't too many attacks, thankfully, but there were some. It seemed that Venonat and Spinarak are rather attracted to large groups, either that or the blood, most likely both. Vulpix made quick work of them, though, bringing Vulpix's EXP to 319/547, Scyther's EXP to 181/919 and Kasumi's EXP to 268/586. Due to this, they made it to the PokeCentre without much trouble.
"Oh my Legendaries! Someone call over more nurses! And tell them to bring stretchers with them!" Nurse Joy calls out, rounding the desk and making her way to Kasumi and the rest of the group that entered with her. "What in Arceus' name happened?" She asks, a look of urgency flashing on her face.
Kasumi doesn't know why Arceus is being brought up since they weren't here when the incident happened. The question is on the tip of her tongue but she replies with something other than the question she's pondering about, "The level 17 Scyther that we were warned about attacked their group. I'm not aware of the specifics since I wasn't there."
"Well thank Arceus you weren't! You could've been killed! I assume it fled after a while and you helped their group get here? Thank you for that," Nurse Joy beckons to the nurses that flood the entrance room, each with a stretcher, "Put the injured on here and they'll be wheeled off to the emergency rooms."
Kasumi nods, doing as she's told, placing Hazel on a stretcher and helping Dan off of her back and onto one as well. He passes back Kasumi's bag once he's laid on the stretcher, glancing at Nurse Joy and vocalising his thoughts, "Sorry, Nurse Joy, but you've got some of that information wrong, Kasumi actually—"
"It's alright Dan, I'll talk to Nurse Joy about it, you need to get treated." One of the men interrupts, he has a couple of scratches, cuts and bruises along his arms and a bruise on his neck but other than that, he appears to be one of the minority that are healthy and didn't get damaged too much from the Scyther and the venture back to Kozan.
"Ah alright, fine," Dan replies, relaxing into the stretcher as he is wheeled off with the rest of the now patients of the group, leaving Kasumi with two men and a woman.
Nurse Joy turns to address the remaining people of the group and Kasumi, "Now, let's get to a private room and file a report. We can send it off to the rangers so they can deal with the Scyther, half of the Centre is filled with patients because of it." She sighs under her breath, assuming she can't be heard. Kasumi heard it.
Once they enter a new room, they're all guided to sit down, "Tell me what happened, start to finish."
Kasumi shrugs, relaxing into the chair and leaving the others to talk about the situation since she hasn't a clue as to what happened in the beginning. Vulpix jumps up and lays on her lap.
"So we, the group of 18 we were with, ventured into the forest hoping to get some easy experience by defeating the weaker Pokemon, I guess we got cockier the further we went in. We made a lot of noise with each battle, I'll admit, and I'm assuming that drew the Scyther towards us? Anyway, we spotted the Scyther and some idiot with a Chimchar in our group thought we could take it on, ordering his Pokemon to fire an Ember at the Scyther. Obviously, the Scyther wasn't happy and became overly aggressive from that point on. I don't think it even saw us, we aggravated it so it wasn't an unprovoked attack." One of the men, the one with ginger hair since that's how Kasumi is now deciding to identify them, explains, the other man with blonde hair taking over the talking after.
"He was the first to go, the guy with the Chimchar, yeah? Got hit in the face with one of the Scyther's blade claw thingymajigs, pierced right through the skull. Blood went EVERYWHERE, and his Chimchar was next. Panic went through everyone and they chucked out all their Pokemon, attacking at every opportunity even if it wasn't going to hit. It was wild, and I didn't like it one bit. The guy with the Chimchar, Samuel, deserved what happened to him, but everyone else? Nuh uh."
The woman, she, too, has blonde hair, cuts in, "Sorry, that's just how he speaks, you'll have to ignore that. Anyway—"
"Nah, I'm continuing. So the Scyther then massacred the group, we had a total of 24 Pokemon between us 17, 15 died, 5 fainted and got returned before they got killed and 4 are just barely alive and still able to fight. As for us Trainers? I think 7 of us were killed, everyone was injured in some way, some more serious than others, thank fuck I ain't injured like Dan the Man, his legs are all eugh, anyway, shit went down. The 4 Pokemon that were still able to fight were doing just that, one of the guys that could still move his legs ran off saying he was going to get help and thank the Legendaries he did."
"That's where Kasumi comes in." The woman finishes, "Want to take over the talking?" She asks and Kasumi shrugs.
"Vulpix!"
Kasumi gives Vulpix a stroke and continues from her perspective, "Shall I start from the beginning of my journey or just when that man found me?"
"When the man found you," Nurse Joy responds.
"Okay. The man found me, panting, and told me about the situation, pleading for help. I asked Vulpix if she was up for the task and she said yes so we ran towards the battle. The Scyther was at 38 health out of a total of 50 when I got there, I gave Vulpix a couple of orders and she jumped right into the battle. I helped people on the outskirts of the clearing and told them to hide in the bushes and get the more able to help the ones that can't move. I gave some first aid stuff to a woman with a Growlithe, though no one else had first aid on them, and if they did then they didn't use it. That's beside the point, Vulpix attacked, hit the Scyther with two well-shot Embers—"
"Vul!"
"—and then I got the Scyther attention so it would charge at me rather than Vulpix since she was dealing damage. It came at me, I dodged one of its attacks and Vulpix hit it with a Flame Charge in the head, bringing it down to 3 health points. I unlatched a Pokeball, threw it, and caught Scyther. After that, everyone carried the ones that can't move and we brought them here." Kasumi concludes, absentmindedly stroking Vulpix's head.
Nurse Joy looks at Kasumi like she's grown another head. Kasumi hopes she hasn't but it's possible that her Transform has gone wrong. Thankfully, it hadn't and she was still in a human form—a normal human form, not one with two heads or anything of the sort. "So, you've caught the Scyther?"
"Yes."
"And what level was your Vulpix when that happened?" She presses on.
"Level 10. She's now level 13."
Nurse Joy's expression doesn't change, she shakes her head softly, "Unbelievable." She mumbles, writing down all the information.
"It really did happen, Kasumi was amazing out there with Vulpix! They were perfectly in sync and knew what to do, it was awesome I tell you. They're the only reason I'm alive right now." The blonde man states, looking proud for reasons Kasumi isn't aware of.
"Well the report has been finished, I'm still sending it to the rangers so they can scan the forest for more dangerous Pokemon. You can visit your friends in two days since they're all going through different medical procedures at the moment. Would you like a check-up?" Nurse Joy says, standing up from her seat.
"No, but can you heal Scyther and Vulpix?" Kasumi asks, standing up with Nurse Joy.
"I can." She puts her hand out and Kasumi places a Pokeball in her palm, then unlatches Vulpix's Pokeball from her belt and returns her to the ball, placing that in Nurse Joy's palm.
"I think this goes without saying, but healing Scyther will require you to restrain it since they're highly aggressive, I haven't had the chance to release it while on the way back so expect it to attack once it's released," Kasumi warns, looking at Nurse Joy pointedly who sagely nods.
The group returns to the entrance after handing their Pokemon to Nurse Joy and taking a seat, waiting for them to be healed. It doesn't take long, it never does, taking only 10 minutes maximum.
"A Scyther and Vulpix for Miss Kasumi?" One of the nurses calls out and Kasumi gets up, walking over and taking her Pokeballs back, latching the Scyther's on her belt and releasing Vulpix before putting her ball on the belt too.
Kasumi nods at the nurse, "Thank you."
As she turns to leave, the blonde-haired man stops her, "I was wondering if you wanna travel with me? We can ditch the big ass group and go as a duo," He grins, "I've got a Hoothoot."
"I appreciate the offer but no, I don't wish to form a group at the moment. Have a nice evening." Kasumi walks off, leaving the two men and the woman at the entrance.
"Wait, Kasumi!"
She turns around, staring at the blonde woman who called out her name, "Yes?"
"You're still going to be a trainer? You too, Kyle? Even after what happened?" The woman asks, looking at the blonde man, Kyle, and then Kasumi in disbelief.
Kasumi nods, "Yes. I was and still am well aware of the dangers that come with being a trainer. This occasion won't deter me from my goals."
"Yeah, what she said. My dad, quite literally, beat it into me." Kyle adds. The woman looks at him with sympathy.
"You were in an abusive household?" She asks. Kasumi takes it as her queue to leave, she shouldn't be listening in to a sensitive topic when it has nothing to do with her. She's a stranger to them, she may have saved them but she's still a stranger, so, she leaves.
After walking around for a while, Kasumi ends up in an open field, nothing in sight for a good mile or two. Vulpix, who's stayed quiet for this whole time, places a paw on Kasumi's leg.
"Vulpix?" She asks.
Kasumi shakes her head, sitting down on the soft grass, laying back with her arms crossed under her head, "I'd like to, but I promised you a break. We can get Scyther out of the Pokeball another day."
Vulpix nods, jumping onto Kasumi's stomach and sitting there. Kasumi brings one arm out from under her head and strokes along Vulpix's fur. "How're you holding up? This is your first day and you've already seen bloodshed."
"Vulpix, Vul." She admits that she's only holding up so well because of Kasumi and their bond, that she'd be more scared if she was alone and would've avoided it all.
Kasumi nods, giving Vulpix a small smile, "You're doing well, you'd have been able to do it without me. We'll have to get your confidence up," she gives Vulpix a scratch behind the ears, just as she likes it, "Would you like a name? Or are you fine with Vulpix?"
"Vulpix?"
"Yes, a name. I know it's not a common thing to do anymore but it's still done. Half of the trainers give their Pokemon a name, and half of them don't. I'm leaving the decision up to you whether you want one or not."
"Pix!"
"Very well, how about… Reiko?"
"Pix." Vulpix shakes her head.
"It didn't feel right, did it? Hmm, Akane?"
"Vulpix!"
"That's the one. You're now Akane."
*Ping* <
____
"Akane" —> Vulpix: Level 13. (319/547 EXP)
Growth rate: Medium-Fast
Nature: Timid
National No. 0037
Type: Fire
Species: Fox Pokemon
Height: 0.6 m (2'00")
Weight: 9.9kg (21.8 lbs)
Abilities: Flash Fire, Drought (hidden ability)
Known moves: Ember (Fire), Tail Whip (Normal), Disable (Normal), Quick Attack (Normal), Baby-Doll Eyes (Fairy), Flame Charge (Fire), Growl (Normal)
Stats: 42/44 HP, 17 ATK-, 19 DEF, 30 SP.ATK, 25 SP.DEF, 29 SPD+.
____