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Quick Note: Changed this to No Spoilers cause It's more fun actually not knowing what happens in the story, but I can guarantee you that there is no weird stuff (iykyk), (I've made that mistake before of reading... let's just say a not so innocent fic before...) but regardless, i hope you enjoy (:
Hickory’s POV
Who knew finding your childhood home in the middle of the forest could be so challenging? It had been a couple of years since I had been in the area, ever since a human caught me. However, I have been searching for almost a month now, and so far, I have found nothing. I was starting to lose hope that I would ever see home again. Whilst I was lost in my thoughts, I was slowly eating some Oran berries I had picked from a bush earlier and admiring the sky above, watching all the different birds fly past.
Then I saw a figure, a lot larger than the others, most likely an eagle. I didn’t even it much thought till I noticed that I was now hovering in the air stationary staring right at me. We exchanged looks for a few seconds till we swooped down towards me. As it was coming down, I noticed that the Pokémon upon me was a Talonflame. It abruptly landed in front of me and in an instant, it demanded “Who are you? What are you doing here?” he squawked.
I felt quite surprised at the tone and aggression of the Talonflame towards me, but I brushed it aside and responded “I’m just wandering around the forest looking around for my home.” I responded in a somewhat calm manner trying to shake off his first impression as I watched his piercing black eyes stare me down.
“Okay then… where is your home then?” he inquired “I know every Pokémon that lives around here and I’ve never seen a Flareon before!” he exclaimed.
“Well, I used to live here, but then I was caught by a human- “
“Lies” he screeched as he swiftly opened his beak and unleashed a Flamethrower at me.
Panic quickly took over as I wasn’t expecting an attack so sudden as my mind was trying to comprehend the situation I was in. I remained stationary to the incoming flames allowing them to engulf me since I knew they did not affect me since I have the ability, Flash Fire.
As the Flames slowly dispersed, I was met with an utterly shocked and confused look of the Talonflame seemingly stunned that his attack did nothing towards me. “H-how… W-why did my attack not harm you?” he stuttered.
“My ability,” I responded. “Fire-type attacks do not affect me.”
“Fire…type? Ability?” he stammered sounding even more puzzled than before. It then hit me that wild Pokémon most likely don’t understand the concept of typing’s and abilities.
“Just… forget what I just said” I responded, not wanting to go into the depths of it. “Why did you attack me!” I yelled at him in an annoyed tone.
“You claimed you were caught by a human?” he questioned.
“Correct,” I responded in a somewhat blunt way.
“Such lies…” he tutted “There are no humans even near this entire area” he explained.
“Therefore, you’re a raider” he said as he positioned himself in a battle position.
I readied myself in a battle stance in response as I watched his movements carefully, till I properly processed what he just stated. “Wait…” I started “What’s a rai- “
I was suddenly cut off when he fired to what looked like the move Air Cutter towards me knowing I had briefly let my guard down trying to talk to him. I swiftly dodged his attack.
“Hey! What was that for!” I exclaimed. The only response I got was another Air Cutter heading directly towards me to which I jumped backwards to avoid contact.
“Fine! If that’s how you wanna play, then that’s how we’ll play!” I snapped back as I unleashed a Flamethrower at him. He responded with a Flamethrower causing a massive explosion, to which after the area cleared, he had disappeared! I frantically began looking around for him to I was struck from above knocking me backwards a few feet. As he was recovering from the drop, I used this quick chance to spiral a Flamethrower at him making direct contact.
As the flames disappeared, I knew there was no talking back out of this battle due to the look on his face. He lunged back into the air unleashing a Brave Bird towards me, to which I easily dodged as he grunted with the collision he made onto the floor.
As he was getting himself back up from the collision, I noticed something – the wing on the Talonflame had such a familiar scar. While I was lost in my thoughts, I almost didn’t notice the Talonflame charging towards me which I barely dodged in time.
“I think I recognise y-“
“Cut the chatter!” he squawked as he lunged towards me, which I easily dodged, Welp… there goes any chance of ending this battle, but I swear I recognised that scar. There’s only one Pokémon I know that has that scar. This must be Fletchy!
He went on the attack again and launched an Air Cutter towards me, to which he was probably expecting a Flamethrower back, but I slid to the left and struck him back with a Flamethrower, catching him off guard. He leapt out of the way, but it still connected, knocking him back a fair bit. As he slowly got up, I decided there was no point in continuing the battle as it would get me nowhere, so I hightailed it into the trees.
I kept sprinting away till I heard him chase after me and screech, “Hey, get back here you Raider!”
My mind was still stirring with confusion about what this Talonflame was saying. I quickly unleashed a Flame Charge to get away from this eagle, hiding behind a tree. I remained stationary trying to not make the slightest of noise, even holding my breath till I saw him fly past above me with an annoyed expression.
I gave a sigh of relief and once again I got lost in my thoughts till I was suddenly struck from behind, which sent me skidding into a nearby tree. I quickly scrambled to my paws, staring face to face with what just barged into me. It was a Herdier.
“Who are you?” I inquired.
“None of your business, you raider!” he yelled before launching a Swift towards me to which I responded with a Flamethrower causing an explosion from the contact. I spotted him in the smoke cloud of the aftermath of our attacks, recklessly charging towards me to which, I lay on my back to let him go over me before smashing my paw into his stomach and sending him flying into the sky before landing head first against the ground.
As I was watching the Herdier get back to its feet, I was just about to start speaking when I was suddenly engulfed in flames. Thankfully, the flames didn't affect me as I heard someone yelling.
“Ha! Have that you raider!” the attacker announced proudly, but as the flames disappeared, he looked utterly shocked as I was standing there completely unharmed. It was a Rapidash.
“H-how?” he stammered, staring at me confused. Just when I was about to speak again, something landed from above, sending me flying a few feet backwards.
I struggled to get back on my paws this time; my front right paw had a rather large bruise, making me wobble and wince quite a bit as I got back up. As the dust was clearing, I heard another Pokémon speak.
“Fire doesn’t affect him,” the Pokémon stated. I instantly recognised the voice, and as the dust cloud started clearing, I was right. The Talonflame was back again staring directly into my soul.
“How do you know, Falc?” the Rapidash inquired, still sounding confused.
“I’ll tell you later, Hooves. For now, we have a raider to deal with,” he squawked as he stared me down, ready to launch another attack.
“Hold on!” I yelled. “I don’t know what a raider is but I’m not a raider I tell you!” I exclaimed.
“And why should we believe you? After all, you attacked me first,” Falc stated.
“Because…Wait… but y-”
“Stop the chatter and let’s get him!” he announced. “Hooves? Cedar? You’re both with me, right?”
“Yes Captain!” they both said in sync, glaring at me, ready to attack. I felt a gulp down my throat as I was now in a three vs one.
I tried to back off and run off again, but the Rapidash ran behind me to ensure I had no escape. As they crept towards me, I tried to negotiate, but they completely ignored my words; it felt like I was talking an unknown language to them.
“C-Can we just talk things out?! This is ridiculous!” I exclaimed, but the only answer I received was three angry glares from different directions. It felt like time froze for a minute as nobody made a sound.
It was until the Talonflame launched an Air Cutter towards me and the Herdier behind launched an attack as well. I jumped out of the way of the two attacks, causing them to collide together.
As I was landing, I was suddenly thrown off balance as the Rapidash lunged towards me, making me topple towards the Talonflame. I took notice of his wings started glowing a clean white as I fell towards him. He’s going to use Steel Wing! I said to myself as I readied my own Iron Tail. Our attacks collided, giving off a loud clang, till
I went backwards with my tail and struck him hard in the chest putting him off balance a bit causing him to grunt in agony a bit.
I took notice of the Herdier preparing a Swift once again and as he launched them, I sent them spiralling back towards him, still using Iron Tail. Since he was a wild Pokemon he would have never expected his opponent to reflect his own attack against him. As expected, he looked shell-shocked that I used his attack against him. He managed to avoid the majority of the stars but he was still hit by a few, twitching him a bit.
Since he was distracted, I sent a Fire Blast towards him hoping to finish him off, but the Rapidash cut off the supply by using his own Flamethrower. My Fire Blast managed to overpower his Flamethrower, but he managed to hold his position to the oncoming flames.
“This Flareon has some moves,” The Rapidash complimented.
“Not the time, Hooves,” The Herdier told him, bluntly.
As I was too busy distracted by the two of them, I had completely forgotten about the other threat till I felt a sudden blow against my back completely sending me off balance. I stumbled over towards the Rapidash, who quickly kicked me away using his hooves, slamming me into a tree.
Seeing the Herdier prepare another Swift, I tried to get to my feet but felt a terrible aching pain in my front right paw. I collapsed back onto the floor and quickly glanced at it, seeing the bruise had grown quite a bit and was now very sore after all the attacks. While I was distracted by my thoughts, the Herdier launched the Swift towards me as one by one they collided with me. I felt my body become weaker and numb with each passing second, and if that wasn’t enough, the Talonflame had been preparing his Brave Bird. The second I thought I could have a quick breather from the action, he struck me head on and I screamed in agony, lying on the floor and unable to physically move any of my muscles.
The three Pokémon walked towards me staring at their victory over the injured Flareon.
“That better teach you a lesson to never come back here again!” the Talonflame screeched. “Great work you two, now let's get back to our patrolling!” he announced.
Patrolling? Patrolling for what? My mind kept spinning about everything that had just happened over the last couple minutes as I felt weaker and weaker as the seconds ticked by as I watched the merciless three Pokémon Walk away from me as I slowly fainted.
Elsewhere…
It was just after midday, and a curious Leafeon was wandering around the forest, admiring the beautiful nature around herself until she perked up her ears to the sound of small explosions. Hearing this, she decided to go quickly investigate. She knew her mate would detest her getting close to what sounded like a dangerous situation, but she just couldn’t help her curiosity as she began walking towards the commotion.
As she started getting closer to the source, she began to hear the noise dial down and some faint voices in the distance. She then also saw a recognisable figure flying away from the scene.
Oh no… not another battle, she stammered in her thoughts as she began pacing towards the scene until she came across what seemed to be the place where the battle occurred. All the Leafeon had ever wanted was a peaceful life to grow her berry garden and share with everyone and maybe, one day to reunite with a lost friend of hers.
After analysing the area, she noticed a giant lump consisting of a mixture of cream and orange fur. As she walked closer to it, she noticed that it was a Flareon, but what she saw next made her gasp. The Flareon was covered in countless scratches and bruises all over his body. He also seemed to be not much older than her but not much younger either and he currently seemed unconscious.
Her first initial thought was to help this Flareon, but then she remembered something. Falc was leaving this place… which means this Flareon has to be a raider! She took a few steps back, about to leave, but stopped herself and thought to herself, no, you can’t just leave this Flareon out here by itself! Even if he is a raider, the right thing to do is to help him recover. She rushed back towards the fainted Flareon and tried to pick him up on her back.
Even though she despised the Raiders as much as anyone else did, she knew at the end of the day it would be the right thing to do and all she wanted was some peace and happiness for everyone.
She was just about to squeeze the Flareon onto her back as she began walking back to her garden. Hopefully, he’ll wake up soon before Spruce wakes up, she thought to herself as she struggled to take the Flareon back to her place. Thankfully she wasn’t too far away from her garden and within a few minutes, she had arrived at her location. She gently laid the Flareon on the floor and quickly gathered some Oran berries for him to eat when he eventually wakes up and whilst she was placing the berries next to him, she took notice of the exceptionally large bruise on his paw. She knew that it wouldn’t recover that easily and it most likely needed something wrapped around it. She ventured back into her berry garden towards some Figy berry plants and gently ripped off a leaf.
Before she went back, she couldn’t hold herself back after staring at the delicate Figy berries blooming from the plant and briefly ate one. As she was munching happily on the berry, she took notice of the row of Custap saplings in front of her. She could only feel a bit of disappointment in her, due to her lack of ability to grow these berries. Maybe one day they will grow… she thought to herself before quickly making her way back to the injured Flareon.
She wrapped the leaf around his paw carefully, making sure it wasn’t too loose but not too tight as well. As she looked at the injured Flareon in front of her, she knew all she could do now was wait for him to wake up. Hopefully, he’ll be alright, she thought to herself as she went back to tame her garden for the time being.