Book One: Wrath, Chapter Four-
The man knelt down besides the injured Pidgeotto and stroked its gently.
"Who did this to you? Who could do such a thing?" the man yelled out into the forest. He then noticed Rei standing next to him and was startled.
"Was this yours?" she flatly asked.
"Yes," he replied, staring at her firmly. It seemed as if something had just hit him. "I remember you now. You're that girl from the shop." His expression retained its upset nature.
"Really," she sarcastically put.
"Thanks for totally wasting my time," he bitterly accused her. "There sure were a lot of monsters out here," he mockingly replied. "I searched all day, and the only thing I found was this." His fingers pointed to the fallen bird. "In fact, this entire area is worthless. The only things of use were those candies you sold me to even make this thing worth the Pokeball I spent on it." He thought a short while and spoke again. "It's strange that it would happen again to it. You see, I found it just like this. It was laying behind a bush in wounded mess." He trailed off, "I wonder how it happened." Rei nervously laughed to herself.
"Well, it wouldn't be a mystery if...you found out... it was me... both times," she quietly unfolded. The man stood up with his eyes full of rage.
"You?! What did you do that for?"
"It wasn't my fault," she innocently replied, holding the Kakuna closer to her. "It attacked us."
"It attacked you?" he asked in disbelief, looking at Rei and the Kakuna, neither of them with a scratch, and then back to the Pidgeotto, to which he was amazed that it was still breathing. "It looks like it didn't even touch you." She stood, scratching her head, trying to think of what to say.
"You should really train that thing better." That was the only thing she could thing of. Luckily, her comment was not heard. He and the Kakuna had their eyes locked together. The man looked as if he had seen a ghost, and the Kakuna tried to squirm from Rei's arms.
"Spike?" the man questioned the cocoon. "Is that really you?" She now had to use all of her strength to hold it back. "Miss, where did you find that?"
"I found it in the forest," she told. "Of course, back then it was still a Weedle. Why? Have you seen it before?"
"Have you seen it before?" He laughed at the very question. "It's mine."
"What?" she said baffled.
"Right before I came into that trash hole of a village of yours, I ditched that good-for-nothing worm in the forest," he clarified. "I'm surprised that it's still alive."
"So it was you who abandoned it? How could you?"
"With ease," he spoke. "The thing was a waste the effort I put into it." He narrowed his eyes. "It figures someone like you would have kept it. I don't know why anyone would bother with such a frail creature."
"If you think this is weak," Rei scoffed, "then what do you call that filth next to you? After all, it was the 'weakling' who trounced it all of those times." The man stood silently with his mouth open.
"You're right," he admitted. Turning to Rei, he said, "Then there is only one thing that has to be done. Give me Spike."
"You can't be serious," asserted Rei. "You rejected it. It doesn't deserve to be given back to you."
"That's not the point," he stressed. "Spike is mine, not yours. Look, it even wants to come back to me." He was referring to the way it struggled to free itself from Rei's arms and join him. Rei, however, was determined.
"No," she flatly stated. "Why don't you just get your pathetic bird and get out of here." Her refusal did not help with his mood any, and it was bad enough from the start.
"Fine then," he told her. The words were almost cheerful yet twisted with a trace of ire. It could have been ignored except for that his face also wore the irritation. "Keep it." Rei slowly backed away with the man's fiery gaze following her. As she turned around to face the city, out of the corner of her eye, she could still see the man. He parted his long overcoat and pulled out some medication to recover the Pidgeotto. As he coat was parted, she could barely make it out, but she was certain of what she saw. It was a crimson 'R' on jet black cloth. The man was a Rocket, and Rockets mean trouble.
Now she was scared. She was not as scared about the man as much as she was what he was capable of doing. Rockets are cruel and unforgiving, and she knew that she would have to get back to her hometown as quickly as possible. She ran the entire way to the hospital. As if things were not bad enough for her, rain was starting to fall upon her exit of the forest. If Flubit's Nidoqueen was not fully recovered by then, she was prepared to take it by force. Fortunately, she was just on time and retrieved it without a fuss. On her way out, people were knocked down or pushed aside from her path. She did not care about them, however. Her fleet pace was maintained though the forest.
Rei came to the spot were she had last seen the Pidgeotto. All that remained was bloodstained earth. Now things were worse then she originally feared. The man was now in flight, and there would be no way for her to catch up with him in time. Holding her haste, she ran for hours. She stopped only when she heard voices ahead of her. Just to be safe, she ducked into the shrubbery. Two men came walking by, dressed in black with large sacks hanging over their shoulders. One of them was fat, and the other had a squeaky voice. Rei remembered them well and listened mindfully to what they had to say.
"That was an easy heist," the fat one commented while examining the contents of his bag. His colleague chuckled.
"Aren't they all?" Now it was the plump one guffawing.
"Yeah, but that last town barely put up a fight. It was like they wanted us to loot them." As the man inspected an item pulled from the bag, she easily recognized it as Flubit's staff. He needed it to walk and thus never went anywhere without it, and if they had it, then the reason why was obvious.
Rei's fist clenched tight. As soon as they crossed in front of her, she leaped out from her hiding place. Her forceful impact released the staff from his hand and knocked the chubby Rocket into a tree on the opposite side of the trail, smashing the smaller inbetween. Still dazed from the blow, he was forced to the ground by Rei as she placed her boot over his neck as she caught the falling cane. He struggled to breathe.
"What are you doing here?" she blatantly asked. The overpowered man saw his fellow member recuperate from his collision and charge Rei. Never moving her head, she held out the staff, catching him in the stomach, and, during his flinching in pain, swatted it over his head. His body laid on the earth completely motionless. Her eyes grew colder as she applied more pressure onto his neck. "And tell me everything." Tired of trying to decipher his gargled croaking, she let up her foot a little.
"Our boss," he muttered, "has been staking out a town in the woods for some time now. He told us it would be easy pickings, so we took our business there." In spite of the situation he was in, he cracked a smile. Rei's eyes became large as she was thrown into shock.
"No... No," she murmured, "I... I don't believe you."
"Believe what you want," he told her, continuing to snicker. "We took the place for all it was worth and then wiped it out."
"How many were there?"
"Lots," he confessed, "but most of them have already split. Just the boss stayed behind to 'clean up'." The words left her grief-stricken. They both knew that nothing she could do to him would undo what they had done, but at least something could make her feel better. The man's choked cackle ended as she dropped onto her knee on top of him. She left him in his silent pain. While she was still a good distance away from the village, she could smell it and knew what the Rocket had done. She smelled smoke, and in the approaching dusk, a fiery light shone through the trees.
Rei stepped out from the forest and fell to her knees. She watched as the buildings in the town burned to the ground. The drizzle of the rain had turned into a downpour, but it did not quench the raging fires. Once again, her life was life was made empty. Swallowed by emotions, she remained in her stance with her head hanging and water running down her blank face. Mindlessly, she fondled her amulet. As her mind raced with a thousand thoughts, one of those thoughts out shined all of the others.
Revenge. Her keepsake reminded her of the nature of the first desolation. She knew who was behind it, yet there was nothing she could do about it. Being to weak to make a difference, she could only accept the pain. Now was different. She knew who did the great wrong to her this time and had the power to make him pay for it. A new spirit filled her body, one of vice and malice, as she looked down the road at the source of her suffering.
Slowly, she rose to her feet. Her goal was now clear. Knowing what hardships would lie in her way, she went onward to confront her foe.
