The Children Are Hunted

Alyss yawned and uncurled. Her arms cracked, thankfully finally healed. She went to go clean herself off in the water, making sure no one was watching when she changed. For a while she let herself dive under, ignoring the way the water twitched at her wings. She liked the water but she couldn't hold her breath as long as she liked. She burst up, soaking wet and happy. Waving at Arca, she dove under again.

"I don't think she's hungry," Arca told Esper in amusement. Zaria seemed normal a moment, watching Alyss with a mixture of pride and joy.
 
Esper chuckled.
"So it would seem," he said. Thomas walked over to Robby.
"Hey! You can't sleep all day! Wake up!" Thomas said. Robby jerked awake, and a rock flew into the air. He blinked, and let it settle back on the ground. Marcus handed him a fish.
"I wonder what will happen in Venice," Marcus said aloud.
"I'm getting my fourth badge, but beyond that, I don't really know," Thomas said. Vulpix finished eating his ferret, and sat spitting out fur.
"God, I hate those things! Their fur gets everywhere, and what's worse, it tastes god awful!" he said, still spitting out fur.
"That wasn't the first ferret you've eaten?!" Marcus asked horrified. Vulpix laughed.
"Hey, you take what you can get! If you had a bowl of oatmeal for free, would you pay money for a steak that probably wouldn't show up?" Vulpix said.
"Vulpix, that makes no sense," Thomas said. He looked around to see what had happened to Alyss for a moment, then decided that she'd show up on her own soon.
 
Alyss reluctantly left the water to go get dressed. Shaking her wet hair, she pulled her dress back on. "One of these days I am going to rip the fabric," she mumbled, slipping her shoes on. She flapped her wings, flying back over to the others. She ignored her wet feathers, spreading them out as she landed, hair drooping over her eyes. "Good morning," she mumbled shyly.
 
"Morning!" Thomas said cheerfully. Marcus looked at everyone.
"You guys all ready?" he asked. Thomas nodded.
"I'm ready," Robby said. Vulpix walked over and spat the last bit of ferret fur out. He made a face.
"Remind me never to eat one of those again! I'd rather have a fish, as disgusting as those things are!" Vulpix said. Esper looked at him.
"Fish are one of the most delicous things on this planet. You simply have no taste," Esper said, broadcasting it so everyone could hear. Vulpix muttered something to himself, and shook his head. Marcus looked at them all, and called out Gyarados. Marcus, Robby, and Vulpix climbed on him. Thomas looked a little nervous, but followed them aboard.
"Don't tell me you get seasick, Pokeboy!" Vulpix teased.
"Oh hush before I push you overboard," Thomas grumbled. Vulpix started laughing. Robby turned around.
"Knock it off you two! You coming Alyss?" he said.
 
The little girl nodded, but flew up to land on Gyarados' head, patting it expertly and smiling. She actually liked these kind of Pokemon. They could be perfectly docile when they wanted to be. Alyss hummed to herself as Arca leapt on, scrambling on to join her. Alyss pulled her wings to her back so the others could see and was staring at the water below eagerly, watching the fish and occasional Pokemon float by. Arca laughed at Vulpix's comments.

"You just haven't tried good fish yet Vulpix. One day you should try sushi. Weirdest yet most interesting fish I've ever eaten." Alyss hummed and laughed, still patting Gyarados' head.
 
Gyarados seemed to enjoy the attention. He set off at a very brisk pace. The land was practicly flying by. Thomas had no idea how fast they were going, just that they were going fast.
"I think I'll pass," Vulpix said. Thomas lay back. This wasn't that bad. It was a very smooth ride. Marcus looked at Alyss patting Gyarados.
"Heh, you big softy!" Marcus said to his pokemon. Robby was making a bubble of water float along next to them, bouncing it off the surface of the water. His face was a mask of concentration. Thomas decided not to bother him. He leaned his head back and looked at the sky. Esper climbed lightly on his chest, and lay down purring. They were going to be there fast.
 
Alyss giggled, "All Pokemon are softies really, when you get them to calm down." She focused on the wind, as Emma flew around them, zapping the air. Arca chuckled.

"You're just bad at trying new things aren't you?" Alyss giggled again. Her whole body twitched suddenly. Asha and Zora were ahead of them, she could feel it! Zora was feeling okay from what she could tell. There was some strange aura around his power though... like a harness. Weird. Oh well, best not to think about it.
 
The group had passed around the tip of Portugal. They had been heading East for an hour and a half. Thankfully, nothing had happened. Thomas was bored! He was ready to pull his hair out! They stopped at an island. Thomas looked around.
"Why'd we stop?" Thomas asked.
"You want to sleep out on the ocean?" Marcus asked.
"What?" Thomas asked, shaking his head.
"This is the only island for miles!" Marcus said. Thomas laughed a little. He helped the others set up a camp out on the beach, then went off to train some. Vulpix walked over to watch him. He loved watching Thomas train. Robby was fishing again, leaving the fish out on the sand for Marcus to cook them. Thomas saw a dark shape lurking in the shade of a cave. It dashed out and snatched up the fish.
"Hey! That's ours!" Marcus said and he ran in the cave after it. Thomas told Draco and Amber, the two he had been working with, to keep training. Thomas ran in the cave after Marcus. Vulpix sighed.
"Silly humans," he said.

Thomas caught up to Marcus. He had Magby out, and they had the cave lit up. It was a small cave. On the other end was a Poochyena, growling at them. He had dropped the fish.
"Easy, we don't want to fight," Marcus said.
"Mine," the Poochyena growled.
"Of course. You can have it," Marcus said slowly.
"You... You don't want to take it from me?" Poocyena asked.
"No. No harm was done, and you look very hungry. How long have you been out here?" Marcus asked.
"My old trainer left me here a few days ago. She said I was weak, that I wouldn't amount to anything," Poochyena said quietly.
"Well... If you want to, you can sleep out there. We have a camp fire. It would be a lot warmer than this dank cave," Marcus said. Thomas let him do all the talking. He just made agreeing noises and smiled charmingly.
"Really? That would be great," Poochyena said slowly. Thomas and Marcus left the cave.
"Hey, why don't you see if Poochyena wants to join you?" Thomas whispered to Marcus.
"Really? You think I should?" Marcus asked. He hadn't thought about that.
"Yeah, I think he'd make a good addition to your team," Thomas said. Marcus turned around. Thomas smiled, and left the boy and the dog in the cave. He sat down and began to cook the fish Robby had been catching while they were in the cave. Vulpix and Esper had each taken one for themselves, and were eating.
 
Alyss watched this occur, preferring to stay with Gyarados. She tossed a Pokeball, allowing a Pokemon to disappear under water. She eventually left to go explore the island, Arca racing after her. Within moments she was being chased by a wild Pokemon, but it was all for fun, the Pokemon chasing after her happily. It was a Deerling and it looked to simply be playing tag, occasionally knocking Arca aside in tag.
 
Thomas finished cooking the last fish. He watched his pokemon. Training had somehow devolved into Amber chasing Volt around trying to play with him. Razor was out flying over the sea, enjoying the rising air currents. Draco was still practicing his Zen Headbutt. He was really starting to get the hang of it. Deluge was out swimming with Gyarados. Robby walked over and grabbed a fish.
"Marcus in there catching that Poochyena?" Robby asked.
"Yup," Thomas said.
"This is horrible!" Vulpix said.
"What?" Thomas and Robby asked in unison.
"This!" Vulpix said, poking the fish with his paw.
"Maybe you should try one of the cooked ones," Robby said. Thomas relaxed. He had thought it was something important. Marcus walked out of the cave, followed by Poochyena and Clefairy.
"Meet the newest member of my team! Poochyena!" Marcus said. Thomas and Robby exchanged grins.
"Great job!" Robby said.
"Congrats," Thomas said. Marcus sat down and grabbed a fish. Thomas sat and looked at the sky. The sun was just beginning to set.
 
Arca came running up. She snatched two fish and then went back to where Alyss was. The Deerling was climbing up on the rocks, keeping her occupied. Zaria seemed to smile. "Just like a kid," she mumbled affectionately, looking at the setting sun. "You'd never think she was capable of hurting anyone." She jumped at a sudden cry of pain. Alyss had fallen and was coughing, her hands over her chest. It was bleeding, dented in. A Sawsbuck was standing over her, horns glowing orange. Alyss thought fast, scrambling backward as Arca leapt over her head, releasing an Ice Beam.

The Deerling looked confused. "Why are you attacking her?" he cried. "We were just playing!"

"Playing with a human?" The Pokemon scoffed. "Hardly." Alyss couldn't speak, coughing from the Double Kick that should have at least knocked her unconscious. Thankfully her wings had blocked most of the blow. She kept coughing for air, rolling aside as Arca fired again, aiming for the antlers that were still shining.

"Stay away from my friend!" Arca hissed, not aiming to kill but considering the idea.
 
Thomas and the others heard the cry of pain. He got up and ran toward the source. He saw Marcus and Robby keeping up with him. Vulpix disappeared in front of them. Thomas heard him snarling.
"Leave her alone!" Vulpix yelled. Thomas ran out into the area. He saw Vulpix and Arca looking at a Sawsbuck with a great deal of anger. Alyss was on the ground, gasping for air. He ran over to her and pulled her away him the Sawsbuck.
"Are you ok?" he asked, realizing it was the dumbest question ever.
 
Alyss was still coughing but she managed a nod. Her chest was bruised but she would ignore it. "Arca..." she whispered. The Deerling looked at her sadly, sniffing at the wound. "Arca... Vulpix... stop... it's not worth it..."

"I am going to force that train of thought out of you eventually," Arca growled, rising her head to fire shads of ice, looking worse than angry. "Look, ya over-grown alpha," she snarled. "I dunno about my friend here but I can easily end this fight. So apologize for hitting a little kid and get out of here. Your kid wasn't doing any harm and neither was my partner."

The Sawsbuck snorted again, readying himself to charge. "A human do no harm? What a lie!" he lowered his head to charge but Arca got there first. She leapt, dodging and rolling the Deerling aside.

"Go on now," she told him and the Pokemon obeyed. Arca sent another Ice Shard, causing the evolved grass type to stumble back.
 
Vulpix caught on to what Arca was doing and sent a Flamethrower toward the Sawsbuck's feet, causing it to take another step back.
"I don't care what you think about humans. This is one of the good ones. And you couldn't beat either me or her apart. We will not let you hurt Alyss. Get out of here!" Vulpix said.

"You sure? Nothing broken? And don't worry about Arca and Vulpix. They won't hurt the Sawsbuck," Thomas said. Though he knew if they had to, there would be one less Sawsbuck on this island. He hoped that wouldn't be the case.
 
Alyss shook her head and tried to get up. "Stop... he's scared."

"That's why he kicked you?" Arca repeated incredulously. "Jeez," she muttered and she began to concentrate. "Get out of here!" Sawsbuck growled and obeyed, disappearing in the direction Deerling had gone. Certain he was gone, she ran to Alyss's side, examining her wings, one of which was bleeding. The girl coughed a thanks to the Pokemon before trying to stand up.
 
Thomas helped Alyss to her feet, then once he was sure she could stand, took a step back. Vulpix watched as the Sawsbuck left. He huffed to himself and walked over to the group. Thomas saw that Robby was holding Marcus back. After the Sawsbuck had left, the two of them came out to join Thomas and Alyss.
"Are you alright?" Robby asked.
 
She saw him and gave him a painful little nod. "He was just scared," she repeated as Arca hesitantly went into her arms. Her blue eyes were troubled and sad again. "The Deerling said humans usually don't come here, so they aren't used to them as much." She tried to smile. "It's just old hate being brought up again. It'll be okay." She tried to move her wings but they seemed to protest so she kept them still, letting the others lead them back to camp.
 
Thomas looked her over again as the others left. She seemed fine, just a little banged up.
"We got a lot of that on my uncles farm back in Georgia. Come on, we should get back," He said. He turned around and walked back to camp. The sun had set by now, and they could tell where the camp was by the fire. He walked into camp and rifled through the first aid bag and pulled out the ice packs.
"Deluge, use Ice Beam to make these cold!" Thomas said. Deluge did as he was asked, and Thomas handed the ice packs to Alyss.
"Here, put these where it hurts. They'll make it hurt less, and stop the swelling. But they'll be cold," Thomas said. Marcus had Poochyena out already, and had stolen one of Thomas's brushes for Esper and was grooming the delighted Poochyena. Robby was skipping stones, and was quite good at it. Vulpix walked back to camp a moment later. He curled himself up near the fire. He was shivering.
"The only thing I don't like about partnering with an ice type in battle is how cold it gets! Everything else is great, I just hate the cold!" Vulpix huffed.
"You seem to hate a lot of things," Robby observed. Marcus chuckled.
 
Alyss smiled weakly as she sat down, carefully putting the ice pack under her dress. "I survived winter without shoes," she said softly. "I'll probably survive this." Arca huffed playfully at Vulpix.

"I thought fire-types could deal with the cold," she quipped, smiling as there was a nearby splash. "Especially older ones right?" Alyss nodded, spinning an empty Pokeball for Arca. The Ice-type grabbed it and ran to the water. A sea serpent, a Milotic, burst from the water, returning to the Pokeball. "I think she enjoyed that," she told Alyss.

Alyss nodded and put it away. "She's not very strong, but she's getting better."
 
"I'm less than a year old! And I can deal with the cold, but that doesn't mean I like being cold!" Vulpix said. Deluge came out of the water.
"Did you have fun?" Thomas asked. Deluge shouted out his joy, then lay down and went to sleep. Thomas smiled at him and said, "Lazy bones!" Thomas looked over at his other pokemon. Razor was still flying around happily. Amber had given up trying to play with Volt and was digging in the sand. Volt himself was laying lazily in the sand. Draco had stopped practicing and wandered over to Amber. Esper was laying in the mouth of the cave, staying cool. Thomas leaned back. He was happy, for the first time in a long time. Things were getting better. He wished he could just stay here and forget his troubles. But, life is not that kind. He had something he had to do. So he would enjoy this respite while it lasted, then get on with his life.
 
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