Pokémon: Outcast of Comb Island (Ch2)

[previous: http://pastebin.com/SRBR6iGW]


Chapter 2
Losing Battle


	CIS4 opened her eyes to find herself outdoors again. She was hovering in the air and facing a dense gathering of trees with a narrow and seemingly well-trodden dirt path cut through them. She looked up and saw the same overcast sky that she had seen from inside the human’s room. Above the trees, the clouds were tinted various shades of red and purple, implying that it was evening even though she could not tell where the sun was. When she turned around, she saw a field of rolling hills and flowers, with the dirt path winding back out of sight over a hill. On this path, a few feet behind her, stood the human himself. He wore a large yellow raincoat, and had his arms crossed as he looked at the Combee.

	“Alright, we’re here,” he said. “It’s kind of late by now, so we won’t be able to get much done, but we should still do what we can. Costa Town’s pretty far away now, so there are bound to be wild Pokémon nearby. Just stay close and I’ll look for a weak one to fight. If we run into any problems, my Scyther and Weavile can help out, but hopefully we won’t need them to step in. Let’s go!”

	Vincent walked forward past CIS4 and entered the forest. The Combee paused. She considered for a moment whether it would be a good idea to flee while the human had his back turned, but she decided against it. She might be able to get a good distance away from him, but that sphere of his might be able to call her back at any range, and that would make fleeing pointless. And even if she was able to get away, what could she do? Without him, she was an outcast, and it would be too risky to leave this human and return to the wilds alone again. So, she quickly flew after him into the forest and caught up to him. She began to hover a foot above his head as they progressed through the woods.

	Once Vincent heard the buzzing of the Combee overhead, he looked up and smiled at her. She tilted forward to look down at him as he said, “Good. I was wondering if you’d follow me or not. I didn’t hear your buzzing, so I guessed you’d stayed behind. I was just about to call you back to the ball if you didn’t follow me on your own. I’m glad you decided to join me of your own accord.”

	He looked down, and reached into his raincoat to withdraw his Silph Scanner from its pouch on his belt. He activated the device’s scan feature and held the scanner out in front of himself, slowly sweeping the forest with its blue beam of light in search of wild Pokémon. As he walked along with CIS4 hovering close above him, he explained more about his research to her to pass the time.

	“Now, as part of my usual research protocol when I catch a Pokémon for study, I have to test out your combat prowess,” he began. “That means we’ll look for wild Pokémon and engage any weak ones we find. In order for this to be successful, you’ll have to follow my orders. I’ll give you advice and tell you how to fight, and I’ll record how well you execute my orders, how well you improvise, and how good you are at fighting in general. That should provide some good data. Understand?”

	CIS4 understood, but she did not feel very confident. The encouragement of the human before they left his room, along with his insistence that she would be safe with him, helped to calm her nerves. But even so, she still felt nervous about battling. As she thought back to the duel just a few days prior against her rival, the crimson-marked warlord, she knew that being a bad battler was what made her outcast in the first place. However, she refused to dwell on that incident, and tried her utmost to gather up as much confidence as possible so she could oust her fears from her mind. The main reason she had lost that duel was because her rival was much stronger than her, so if this human ensured that she only faced weak foes, she would likely not lose again.

	After a few minutes of silent travel, Vincent heard his Silph Scanner start to beep. He paused while CIS4 floated down beside his head to get a closer look at the strange device, wondering what the noise meant and why it had caused the human to pause. Vincent tapped the screen, and a silhouette of a Pokémon appeared, alongside a small amount of information about it. He read it and looked over at the Combee.

	“There’s a Nincada over there,” he said, pointing off the dirt path. “CIS4, follow me.”

	He walked off the path and between two large trees, wading through the undergrowth while the Combee followed close behind him, hovering right behind his head. She looked around for the Nincada, but saw no sign of it yet. However, as she searched, she did believe that she saw shadows flitting about in the distance, darting amongst the trees. They vanished in an instant, and she doubted whether they had ever been there at all, but they still put her on edge as she followed the human through the forest.

	Soon, they stepped into a clearing devoid of undergrowth or grass, the ground made of bare dirt. Above, the forest’s canopy opened up to reveal the clouds that had been covering the sky for the last few hours. The clearing was vaguely circular, and a few dozen feet in diameter. Trees and bushes lined its edge, and standing before a tree on the other side was a Nincada with its back turned to them. Vincent and CIS4 slowly approached it, and the Combee beat her wings as slowly as possible to quiet her buzzing. The duo stopped in the center of the clearing and watched the Nincada closely.

	“Looks like it’s distracted,” Vincent whispered. “Not sure what it’s doing. It’s probably drinking sap from that tree. Still, as long as it hasn’t noticed us, that’s all that matters. CIS4, here’s the plan: stay here, and use Gust on it when I say so.”

	CIS4 bobbed back and forth, eying the Nincada. It was one of the weaker kinds of Pokémon on the island, and defeating it would not warrant much respect or prestige from one’s fellow Combee. Still, it would be good practice, and if the human wanted her to fight, she felt in no position to refuse.

	When the human gave the order to attack, CIS4 beat her wings quickly to kick up a strong blast of wind and throw it at the Nincada. The wind lifted the oblivious bug off its feet, and it flailed its limbs as it was blown into the trunk of the tree it had been standing in front of. It fell off and landed on its back, and struggled to flip over.

	“Again!” Vincent said. “Just another hit or two should do it.”

	CIS4 unleashed another Gust, blowing the Nincada off the ground and into the trunk again. It bounced off once again and this time landed on its feet before leering at CIS4, hopping back and forth as it prepared to fight.

	“One more time,” said Vincent.

	CIS4 charged up another Gust, feeling much better about her chances in this fight now that she had landed two hits and taken none. While she prepared to use Gust, the Nincada stomped the ground with its forelegs and then threw them up, tossing a patch of dirt at CIS4 in a Mud-Slap. The move missed her and fell to the ground before reaching the hovering Combee, and CIS4 quickly unleashed her Gust attack before the wild Pokémon could try again. The wind lifted the Nincada and tossed it at the tree trunk a third time, and that was enough to make it faint. The Bug/Ground-type hit the ground and lost consciousness.

	CIS4 looked back at the human. After beating such a weak foe, she expected him to barely care, which was why she was so surprised to see him smiling at her. He beckoned for her to return to him, and she did so. As she got close to him, he grinned widely, causing her to pause and tilt to the side in confusion.

	“You did it!” he said. “Nicely done.”

	And he truly was happy for her, even though that meant they would have to keep fighting in order for her to eventually faint and for him to get data from her. He still regretted having to do that, but for the time being, he wanted to keep the Combee motivated, and so he continued to act nice to her. He reached up and patted one of her heads, and she froze up in surprise, forgetting to beat her wings for a moment before quickly buzzing them up to speed again and hovering in place.

	“What’s he doing?” she thought. “That was just a Nincada. They’re easy to defeat. He shouldn’t care about that, but he’s praising me anyway? This feels wrong.”

	CIS4 hovered back, away from Vincent’s hand. He looked at her confusedly, but thought little of it, as he had a more important matter to take care of. He walked towards the unconscious Nincada and slipped off his backpack.

	“I guess I’d better take a hemolymph sample from it while it’s knocked out,” Vincent thought as he felt for the container of syringes inside his backpack. “I hate to do it, but it’ll be beneficial to—wait, what’s that?”

	He heard something rustling in the bushes at the edge of the clearing where they had encountered the Nincada, and he put his backpack on again and raised his Silph Scanner to investigate. He aimed it at the bushes, and CIS4 cautiously moved over there. She had noticed something too. Just outside the clearing, she saw a thin, nearly invisible web strung between the trees and bushes. The web moved every so often as if something was jostling it. Clearly, something was moving back there, most likely whatever had spun the web. Vincent noticed the web too, and he grew nervous as he wondered what could have made it, and whether it would be dangerous to him or CIS4. As he continued to scan the area around the web, the Silph Scanner finally beeped and displayed an image of a Pokémon weaker than the sort he had feared.

	“Spinarak,” he said. “Not too strong of a Pokémon. I think we can take it. CIS4, get ready.”

	The Combee hovered between Vincent and the bush, feeling more confident about her chances considering how Spinarak was indeed a weak Pokémon. In a few seconds, the Spinarak that Vincent had detected emerged out of the bushes. It gave the unconscious Nincada a short glance before looking over at the Combee and the human. Determining them to be the only real threat here, it lowered its stance and glared up at them, prepared to fend off any attacks.

	CIS4 glanced back at Vincent, who nodded. “You can do this, CIS4. Just like with the Nincada, keep using Gust.”

	On cue, CIS4 turned towards the Spinarak and beat her wings quickly to launch another Gust attack. The Spinarak lowered its head and managed to stay on the ground, though the wind battered and weakened it regardless. Once the attack ended, the Spinarak retaliated by launching a small glowing needle of energy from its mouth at CIS4 in a Poison Sting attack. The needle hit CIS4, and she buzzed loudly, drifting backwards and grimacing in pain.

	“Keep it up!” Vincent said. “You can do it!”

	The attack had done little damage, and CIS4 was able to quickly recover and fly closer to the Spinarak to launch another Gust at it. The Spinarak slid back from the wind, and spat a line of webbing at CIS4 once it ended. The Combee saw it coming and avoided it before using Gust one more time. This one finally lifted the Spinarak into the air and sent it flying back into the bushes whence it came. She sighed in relief and looked back at the human to see how he reacted to her victory.

	She saw that he was smiling at her, and indeed, Vincent felt glad that she had not run into any trouble other than the single Poison Sting attack, which could be easily healed. She seemed to be good at following orders, and was able to deal a good amount of damage with her attacks while withstanding enemy attacks as well. He made a mental note of this and prepared to congratulate her on defeating the Spinarak, but then he saw the web start moving again and heard more rustling. Unsure whether the Spinarak was still conscious or if another Pokémon was approaching, he raised his Silph Scanner to investigate.

	He had no time to activate the device before a thin line of webbing flew from the bushes and stuck to the unconscious Nincada. Then it was promptly yanked back into the foliage, and the fainted Pokémon vanished from the clearing in an instant. Vincent watched with surprise and no small amount of disgust at the fate of the helpless Pokémon, but he knew he could not fret over it for long. There was obviously still something back in the bushes, and apparently it was hostile. He raised his Silph Scanner and tried to see what was hiding in the bushes, while CIS4 hovered in place and peered towards the foliage herself in an attempt to see what was back there.

	“That’s not good,” Vincent muttered as his device displayed the image of the Pokémon it had detected. He looked over at CIS4 and said, “There’s an Ariados in there.”

	CIS4 stared at the human in surprise. Ariados were rather powerful foes, even to groups of Combee. Though they were no match for large swarms, a small group could easily be defeated by a single Ariados, and a lone Combee would be utterly helpless. She did not want to get in a fight with one.

	Vincent was thinking the same thing, and so he reached under his coat and grabbed the Quick Ball at his waist. “Maybe that Ariados is related to that Spinarak we fought. Perhaps part of a group with it or something. But that’s not too important to think about. An Ariados is too strong of a Pokémon for you, CIS4, and it’s too risky to keep you outsi—”

	He was interrupted by a white projectile that flew out from amongst the bushes and arced through the air to strike CIS4. The projectile splattered as it hit her, and Vincent realized that it was a thin web of spider silk. The web spread out and wrapped around the Combee once it hit her. It immobilized her wings, and although she struggled to keep them moving, it was useless. She could only buzz in fear as she fell from the air and landed hard on the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dirt as she hit it.

	Before she even struck the ground, a large Ariados stepped out of the bushes and quickly scuttled towards her. The helpless Combee struggled to break out of the webbing around her, but it bound her too tightly, and all she could do was wobble back and forth on the ground as the Ariados approached.

	Her thoughts grew cluttered and jumped between terror and anger. “The human said I’d be safe! Why didn’t he get me out of there sooner? Is that Ariados going to kill me now? Why can’t I get out of this webbing? Someone help me!”

	The last few words were spoken instead of thought, and came as a loud buzz that made even the Ariados pause before continuing its approach. Meanwhile, Vincent held back and watched the scene. He remembered what Susie had told him earlier, and wondered if he should allow the Ariados to knock the Combee out before summoning his other Pokémon to fend it off. But he feared that the Ariados might hurt her severely, or even kill her, if he did not help her. He paused a bit longer to see if CIS4 could escape by herself, but upon determining that she could not, he finally came to her aid. He grabbed the Quick Ball from his waist and clicked the button to recall the immobilized Combee. But nothing happened. He looked at the ball in confusion and pressed the button again, but it still failed to work.

	“That move the Ariados used on her must have been Spider Web,” he said. “That must be what’s stopping me from recalling her! But I’ve got to help her—if that Ariados gets her, she’ll be in serious trouble.”

	The researcher returned the Quick Ball to his waist and dashed across the clearing towards his Pokémon in an attempt to reach her before the Ariados and bring her to safety. As he approached, the wild Pokémon looked up at him and hissed menacingly, and Vincent’s eyes widened as he saw its shadow stretch out towards him. He jumped to the side right before the Shadow Sneak hit him, and its burst of dark energy flared up harmlessly just to his side. He stumbled as he landed, then he backed up, a change of plan on his mind. Vincent reached for the two standard Poké Balls attached to his belt opposite CIS4’s. Grabbing one in each hand, he tossed them into the air.

	“Looks like I can’t do this alone,” he said. “Scyther! Weavile!”

	The balls glowed and split open, releasing the two Pokémon within. Vincent caught the balls as they fell, and prepared to deliver an order as his two Pokémon morphed out of their energy forms and became physical again. However, he froze up as he saw that Scyther was lying on the ground, fast asleep. Weavile glanced over at her partner and slapped him on the head to wake him up, and the insect looked up with a start and glanced around before finally realizing where he was. He hovered off the ground and got to his feet beside Weavile, who simply sighed and glanced over her shoulder at Vincent. The researcher shrugged before returning the balls to his belt and shouting an order at his Pokémon.

	“Distract the Ariados while I help CIS4! Weavile, use Icy Wind to slow it down. And Scyther, use Slash!”

	Weavile nodded at him before stepping forward and blowing a gust of frigid air at the Ariados. The wind passed over CIS4 and struck the Ariados, causing the bug to wince and lower its head. As it looked up, it caught a brief glimpse of Scyther flying at it before the Mantis Pokémon slashed its face, leaving a dent in its exoskeleton. The Ariados stumbled back, and Scyther landed a few feet behind it before spreading his wings again and lunging for a second attack. However, the Ariados had recovered from the first strike by then, and turned to spit a glob of webbing at Scyther before he could attack again. The webbing struck one of his wings, sticking it to his body and immobilizing it. The Scyther spiraled into the ground with a grunt, sliding past the Ariados a short distance before coming to a halt. As he pushed himself off the ground, the Ariados lowered its head, and its horn began to glow as it prepared to hit him in the back before he could recover.

	“Weavile, cover Scyther!” Vincent ordered as he hurried towards CIS4. “And try to get that webbing off of him! Keep distracting the Ariados!”

	On Vincent’s cue, Weavile ran across the clearing and past the immobilized CIS4. She jumped forward and attacked the Ariados with Metal Claw, scratching the exoskeleton of its abdomen and leaving three more marks in addition to the earlier one on its head. Weavile landed and leapt aside as the Ariados retaliated with Poison Sting. She dodged the attack and hurried to Scyther’s side, using her claws to slice the webbing around his wing. Scyther cut at the webbing too with his scythes, and together, the two Pokémon cut it enough for Scyther to take flight again. He hovered above the ground, and he and Weavile circled the Ariados, preparing to strike it again.

	As they did, Vincent finally reached CIS4 and took a knee beside her. The Combee continued to struggle against the webbing, and Vincent reached down to help her. He grabbed a handful of the webbing and tugged on it, but it remained stuck to the Combee. It was clear that he could not tear away the webbing with his bare hands. He had a multitool at his belt, but he felt it might be too risky to use its blade, as he could cut the Combee by accident. Unsure what to do, he yanked his hand out of the webbing and looked down at CIS4 dejectedly. The Combee had managed to roll over onto her back, and so she was able to meet his gaze as he spoke.

	“Looks like I can’t get this webbing off of you myself. Once Scyther and Weavile defeat that Ariados, they can help me, but until then, you’re stuck.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, CIS4. This is my fault. I should’ve called you back quicker.”

	“His fault?” CIS4 thought. “How is this his fault? I’m the one who lost. The Ariados defeated me before I could get a hit in. Don’t tell me he’s just trying to be nice again, like when he congratulated me for beating the Nincada. That wasn’t worth praise, and this isn’t his fault. If I were in the wild, getting beaten so easily would just dishonor me even more. He shouldn’t be acting like this.”

	She continued to wriggle in an attempt to escape the webbing, and Vincent kept trying to rip it off of her, but their efforts were fruitless. While they struggled, Weavile and Scyther kept circling the Ariados and ensuring that it did not attack the fallen Combee. Eventually, the Ariados seemed to grow annoyed at this distraction. After glaring at the two Pokémon around it, it suddenly leaned back and let out a high-pitched screech. Weavile winced and covered her ears against the loud sound, but Scyther had a different reaction. Though the screech affected him less than it did Weavile, as his ears were less sensitive than hers, being a Bug-type like Ariados meant that he could recognize the meaning of the noise it made, and that made him quite nervous. He landed on the ground and raised his scythes defensively. Weavile glanced at him and cocked her head to the side, wondering why he was so agitated, and his only reply was to gesture towards the bushes from which the Ariados had originally emerged. Weavile looked over there, and gasped at what she saw.

	Vincent looked up as he heard his Weavile bark loudly, and asked what was wrong. She replied by pointing at the bushes behind the Ariados, and Vincent started as he saw what had startled his Pokémon: from the bushes, a group of Ariados and Spinarak had emerged. He counted close to a dozen Pokémon, which all began to spread out and leer at the human and his three Pokémon intimidatingly.

	“Great,” Vincent muttered. “Just what we needed.” He looked back down at CIS4 and reached down with both hands to pick up the immobilized Combee. He lifted her up and hugged her to his chest with one arm under her and the other across her front side, crossing between her upper and lower faces. She squirmed slightly, as she was not used to being held, but Vincent’s grip and the webbing around her made it impossible for her to move. She soon gave up struggling as Vincent stood up and shouted to his Pokémon, “Scyther, Weavile, come back here!”

	On cue, Scyther hovered over to Vincent’s left side, and Weavile hurried to his right. The Ariados they had been distracting did not try to stop them. It knew that it had the advantage, and felt like toying with the Pokémon some more. It allowed its allies to gather around, and their three foes watched the wild Pokémon warily.

	“If we run, they’ll just hit us in the back,” said Vincent. “We’ve got to stay and fight. CIS4, just stay put. Scyther and Weavile, on my mark.”

	The two Pokémon crouched down, ready to pounce at their trainer’s orders, while CIS4 glanced back and forth between them and the swarm of wild Pokémon, unsure if they stood a chance.

	“We can do this,” Vincent said. “Ariados and Spinarak aren’t too strong, especially against Pokémon like you, Scyther and Weavile. They should be easy to take out. Just follow my lead. Now: Weavile, use Night Slash! Scyther, Wing Attack!”

	His two Pokémon leapt forward, and the battle began. Vincent continued to shout out orders, and Weavile and Scyther obeyed him closely. They lashed out at the wild Pokémon, dealing significant damage to their targets, while the gathered Ariados and Spinarak retaliated with a flurry of attacks. Some launched webbing, others fired darts of poisonous energy, and a few pounced at the two trained Pokémon, trying to strike them with their horns or mandibles. However, the wild Pokémon were not as strong as Vincent’s trained duo. Even though Scyther and Weavile were outnumbered, they still managed to defeat several of the wild Pokémon, who either fainted or slinked back into the bushes, unwilling to battle further.

	While Scyther leapt towards the center of the group of wild Pokémon to fight them, Weavile engaged the large Ariados that had immobilized CIS4 and summoned the backup in the first place. She jumped towards it with Metal Claw, but the Ariados jumped aside and dodged it. Weavile flew past it and landed off-balance. While she struggled to regain her footing, the Ariados quickly spun about and lunged at her to clamp down with its mandibles on her nape. Weavile cried out and flailed her arms behind her to scratch at the Ariados. Her movements grew weaker each second, and she soon collapsed to her knees and began to go limp as the Ariados continued to tighten its mandibles’ grip on her neck, digging through her fur and into her skin.

	“That’s Leech Life,” Vincent said. “Scyther! Help her!”

	Scyther was busy fighting an Ariados, but heard his trainer’s words and obeyed. He flew up into the air, avoiding his foe’s next attack, and soared towards the Ariados clamped on to Weavile. He shot past the Ariados, using Wing Attack to slice its back with one of his wings before looping around and soaring back to resume fighting the group of its allies. The hit caused the Ariados to let go of Weavile and stagger, while Weavile collapsed to a knee, breathing heavily. She put a clawed hand to the back of her neck and pulled it away. She grimaced as she saw blood staining her white claws red. She looked back at the Ariados and began to growl quietly, then stood and advanced on the wild Pokémon. It backed away and charged another attack, causing its horn to glow, but well before it could use its move, Weavile jumped forward and unleashed a vicious series of Fury Swipes that knocked the Ariados out. She continued slashing even after it had fainted, and Vincent had to shout at her to stop. She leapt away from the unconscious Ariados and glanced back at her trainer with an apologetic face and drooping ears.

	“I swear, you need to learn when to hold back,” he said. “But now, keep fighting. Just don’t waste time fighting fainted enemies. And don’t worry about your wound, I’ll heal you up once this fight’s over.”

	While he spoke, he heard buzzing from below, and glanced down to see that the webbing around CIS4 had disintegrated. The Combee beat her wings and squirmed out of his grasp, spinning about to face him as she hovered before him and bobbed back and forth.

	“Hey, the webbing’s gone!” he said as he put a hand to his chin. “I guess Weavile defeating the Ariados that spun that web caused the web to wear off. That’s good. That means I can recall you.” He reached into his raincoat and withdrew the Quick Ball. “I’ll call you back now. It’s too dangerous for you out here.”

	To his surprise, CIS4 shook back and forth to show disagreement.

	“Wait, are you saying you want to fight?” Vincent asked. CIS4 bobbed up and down, and her trainer shrugged. He wanted to recall her despite her insistence he leave her out, but at the same time, allowing her to fight would likely get her knocked out. Then he could get data from her, so long as he got her out of danger soon, and so long as she was not too badly hurt. As such, he decided to leave her out.

	“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he told her, “but so long as you avoid any more Spider Webs, I could always recall you if the going gets too rough. In that case, if you want, give it a shot. But be careful. Just listen to what I tell you, okay?”

	CIS4 tilted up and down in a nod, and then turned to stare down the horde of wild Pokémon, ready to fight to regain her honor.

	“Alright, CIS4, use—”

	She was struck down by a Poison Sting before he could finish speaking.


***


	CIS4 awoke with bleary eyes and a clouded mind. She was vaguely conscious of being jostled around, and surrounded by darkness. She also had the feeling of being pressed against something soft and warm, but she could not determine what it was. She could hear the sound of falling rain and heavy breathing, but she had no other clues as to where she was or what was going on. With every breath, she winced in pain. She tried to beat her wings and see if she could move, but she found the effort painful and too much for her. She buzzed sadly, but went quiet when she heard a familiar, yet muffled, voice.

	“Stay still,” the human said. “Don’t move. We’re almost back to town. Once we get there, I can get you healed up. Just try to rest for now.”

	CIS4 was surprised to hear the human, but did as he suggested and stopped moving, though her thoughts remained quite active.

	“He’s taking me to get healed? But back there, against those Pokémon, I failed. I was defeated before I could even land a single hit. Combined with the duel I lost earlier, and my becoming an outcast again, that fight really makes me a disgrace through and through, but this human doesn’t care. This is so strange. Losing a fight should mean dishonor, but he doesn’t seem to care. He’s actually trying to help me recover instead of just abandoning me?”

	She soon felt herself drifting back into unconsciousness, and her last thoughts were filled with confusion. “Nobody’s ever treated me like that. That’s not how it works in the wild. This is too weird. Why does he care about me?”


***


	A breathless Vincent ran towards Costa Town through the heavy evening rain. The rain had begun to fall again shortly before he left the forest, and so he had been forced to close up his raincoat and keep CIS4 inside, hugging her to his torso to keep her out of the rain. The two of them were thus able to stay dry, but the same could not be said for Weavile and Scyther. Vincent had kept them out of their Poké Balls so they could fend off any wild Pokémon that happened to accost them on their way out of the forest, and although they had escaped the woods without incident, he chose to keep them outside because he thought it would be too difficult to get their Poké Balls out and still keep a hold of CIS4 without stopping. Scyther did not mind being in the rain, as his exoskeleton caused the water to slip right off him. In fact, he even enjoyed being out in the rain, and he occasionally tilted his head back and tried to catch raindrops in his mouth as he hovered along after his trainer. In contrast, Weavile grimaced as she ran along behind him, arms crossed and body shivering as her fur grew ever more soaked with rainwater. She shot angry glares at Vincent every time he happened to glance back, in hopes that he would notice and feel bad for leaving her out in the rain. But if he saw her, he did not react at all.

	They soon crested a hill, and the small coastal town of Costa appeared below. The darkness and precipitation of the rainy evening made it difficult to see the details of the town, but the cluster of lights dotting the coast below revealed its location clearly. Eager to make it back, Vincent hurried downhill along the dirt path that connected Costa Town to the forest. The path turned into cobblestone partway down the hill, and soon led into the town itself.

	Vincent entered the small settlement and hurried along the road, dimly lit by the sparse streetlights and lights within the buildings lining it, and tried to remember how to reach the Pokémon Center. As he passed between the stone buildings of Costa, he noted that the streets were mostly empty, as the rain had forced almost everyone indoors. Only those who needed to be outside remained in the pouring rain. The few people walking the streets besides him paid him no mind, keeping their heads down and their hoods or umbrellas up as they briskly walked through the rain to wherever they needed to be. After some time, Vincent finally stepped into the central plaza of the town, and took a quick glance over at the fountain in the middle. Atop it stood an oversized statue of a Vespiquen, a representative of the island’s myriad Bug-types.

	To Vincent, the statue bringing up thoughts of his Combee specimen, causing him to wonder if she would evolve during her time with him.

	“The Scanner said she’s Level 15,” Vincent said to himself, “so she still has a way to go. But those two fights she won before that Ariados appeared must have given her some experience. Still, because she’s such a weak kind of Pokémon, it might take a lot of tough battles for that to happen. The Rare Elixir could help with that, but I don’t want to give it to her now. She’s too hurt. She needs healing more than anything.”

	As he talked to himself, Vincent looked around the plaza and finally spied the Pokémon Center. He hurried towards it, and his two Pokémon followed close behind. The doors of the Pokémon Center slid open automatically as they approached, and the trio happily stepped into the warm and well-lit interior of the building. All three of them were glad to finally get out of the rain. The familiar cheerful song that played in all Pokémon Centers drifted from speakers high on the walls as they walked towards the counter straight ahead. Weavile stayed behind for a few moments to shake herself vigorously, tossing rainwater off her fur and earning a couple of annoyed looks from the few patrons gathered in the Pokémon Center. She paid them no mind and simply hurried to catch up with Vincent and Scyther, who were already standing before the counter and the smiling nurse behind it.

	“Welcome to our Pokémon Center!” she said with a bow. “We heal your—”

	“Yeah, I know,” said Vincent flatly as he unbuttoned and unzipped his raincoat. “I’ve got these two behind me, and this Combee.”

	He carefully took the unconscious body of CIS4 out of his coat and placed her on the counter. He then reached to his belt and, one by one, recalled all three of his Pokémon into their balls before handing them over to the nurse.

	“If you don’t mind my asking, why did you have your Pokémon outside their balls?” she asked as she placed the balls on the healing machine behind her.

	“I got in a fight with some wild Pokémon, and it turned south. I kept my Weavile and Scyther out so they could be ready to fight if we ran into any other hostile Pokémon. And keeping that Combee in my coat made it too tough to reach the balls and hold on to her at the same time. Besides, it was good exercise for Weavile and Scyther. They didn’t seem too happy about it, though.”

	The nurse nodded as she pressed a few buttons on the side of the machine. “I see. Forgive my asking—it’s just not a common sight here. It’s more of a Johto thing to keep your Pokémon outside their balls.”

	The machine hummed for a few seconds before playing its characteristic jingle to show the Pokémon were healed. The nurse handed the balls back to Vincent, and bowed once again.

	“We hope to see you again,” she said after Vincent as the researcher stepped out of the Pokémon Center and back into the storm.


***


	CIS4 awoke in midair, and took an instant to be surprised before falling. She quickly began beating her wings to stay airborne, and looked around in confusion. She realized that she was back in the human’s room. The light on the ceiling was on, and the window was closed and shuttered. Standing nearby was the human himself, holding the ball that he had caught her with earlier that day. He nodded as she spotted him, then turned and placed the ball on a nearby low table beside two others before turning to face her again.

	“We’re back home, CIS4,” he said. “I got you all healed up. Unfortunately, it’s too late now to do any more battling. It’s been a long day for me, travelling through the wilds and looking for Combee, and now it’s night out, so I think it’s time we get some rest. Now, the question is, do you want to stay in the Poké Ball for tonight, or sleep outside?”

	She was a bit surprised at his offer, as she had not expected him to allow her to remain outside, where she could potentially escape. That showed a level of trust he had in her, and she appreciated it. As she contemplated his question, she decided that she preferred to remain outside, sleeping naturally like she usually did instead of being drawn into the ball again and forced into unconsciousness. But she did not know how to respond to him considering the language barrier, so she simply hovered in place. Vincent realized what she was thinking, and spoke again.

	“Bob once for outside, twice for the ball,” he said. CIS4 bobbed once, and Vincent nodded in response. “Alright then, I’ll let you stay out. Just let me get some kind of bed set up for you.”

	Vincent walked over to the closet and took out a spare blanket. He crumpled it up and put it on the ground at the foot of the bed, between the bed and the desk. Being a wild Pokémon, CIS4 had never slept on a bed before, so she was confused by what the human was doing. But once he kneeled beside it and started patting it, telling her to lie down and see how it felt, she hovered over and descended as he asked her to. She landed on her back on the blanket, and found it to be surprisingly comfortable, a vast improvement over lying on plants or huddling with her fellow Combee in the wild. She nestled in, and looked up at the human kneeling nearby.

	“Snug as a bug in a... blanket,” Vincent said with a shrug. “Well, it doesn’t have a very good ring to it, but it’ll do. Anyway, there’s one last thing I should mention to you before I get to bed, CIS4.”

	Vincent rose and walked over to the low table beside his own bed. He grabbed one of the Poké Balls atop it and clicked the button to release its occupant, Weavile. She appeared in a flash of light and, after getting her bearings, patted her furry torso to feel for any lingering rainwater. Satisfied that she had finally dried off, she walked over to the foot of the bed, towards CIS4. The Combee eyed her cautiously, wondering what she was doing.

	“Weavile’s going to sleep out of her ball,” Vincent said, explaining why he had released her. “She usually does. Don’t worry, though, she won’t use you as a midnight snack.”

	CIS4 stared at the human in fear at his statement. She had never considered that the Weavile might try to eat her, but for some reason, hearing the human deny that such a thing would happen only made her fear it more. She buzzed her wings to rise from the blanket and hovered away from Weavile as she approached, but the Pokémon only gave the Combee a short glance before lying down and curling up on the carpeted floor at the foot of the bed, next to CIS4’s blanket. Her red eyes closed and her breathing slowed, and she seemed to drift off to sleep quickly. Once Weavile had dozed off, CIS4 finally felt safe enough to float back down to her blanket.

	“Seriously, you’ll be fine,” Vincent said as he watched her nestle into the blanket again. “If you feel nervous about staying outside of the ball, I’ll let you back in anytime. But you’ll be safe outside, trust me. Sleep tight.”

	Vincent turned the lights off and got into bed, leaving the room in darkness and silence. The only light came from outside, courtesy of scattered streetlights and a few buildings with their lights still on, and the only sound was that of falling rain. Vincent listened to it, and thought about the Combee he had caught.

	“Come to think of it, she still doesn’t know I’ll have to leave her behind when I depart the island,” he thought to himself. “And I don’t know if I should tell her. I know that life on this island is really tough for a Pokémon as weak as a Combee, and I’m sure she likes having companions now to help her. And that means she’d probably get upset if I told her. She might even run away, or at least refuse to cooperate with me, if she found out what I’m going to do. Because of that, I should probably just not tell her about it.”

	He sighed and rolled over. “But still, I feel bad withholding that information. Telling her would be the nice thing to do, to prevent me from lying by omission, and to prevent it from being such a shock when I eventually do release her into the wild again.”

	He rolled over again and frowned as he debated with himself in his head. “Even so, I really shouldn’t tell her, as much as I hate to do it. That would be the best choice. Even though it’s not really nice to withhold that information, it at least stops her from running away or anything like that. And besides, I feel like I’ve been acting too nice to her already. I’ll need to make sure she gets knocked out, so I can get the samples I need and test out that Rare Elixir. I have to focus on my research. Tomorrow, I’ll have to get serious about this.”

	As he drifted off to sleep, CIS4 tried to do the same. She lay on her back, glancing over at Weavile every few seconds, but the Sharp Claw Pokémon seemed to still be asleep. CIS4 soon stopped looking at her, and simply closed her eyes and tried to get to sleep herself. Now that she focused, she found that she was indeed quite tired from the exertions of the day. Fighting and fleeing had comprised most of it, even after encountering and being caught by the human.

	She thought back to that fateful encounter. She had yet to give it much real thought, even though it was a very significant event. She was no longer outcast—she now had a group that she could be with, and apparently they wanted to help her and keep her safe, made obvious from how they tried to fend off the Ariados and Spinarak when she was defenseless. She still found it odd that they treated her with kindness, as she had yet to prove herself worthy of such treatment, but she felt glad about it. It was far better than struggling to survive in the wilderness. As strange as their kindness was, she appreciated it.

	The outcast closed her eyes, and for the first time in days, she did not sleep alone.


[next: http://pastebin.com/edMNeV3w]