The Chronicles of Black.

The little red and white ball flies from his hand straight and true, bouncing off the unconscious Shroomosh before popping open and sucking him inside as a wave of red light. The ball falls to the ground and begins to shake, it's central button flashing red.

Both Brendon and Lee watch it with bated breath.

A nerve-racking ten seconds later, and the ball falls still with a quiet 'ping!'

Brendan can't contain his excitement. He throws his head back and laughs up to the sky, raising his shaking, adrenaline-filled arms. All the while, Mudkip beams with pride, up until Brendan snags him up in a hug. "We did it! We caught Shroomish!"

Lee can't help but find Brendon's smile infectious and looks down at Vulpix, who smiles faintly back.

'It's one thing to see it on a TV or a computer screen, but an actual catching is pretty incredible.' Lee thinks to himself. Then he clears his throat. "Hey, Brendan! I hate to rain on your parade, but your newest team member was looking pretty hungry and is no doubt tired now," the man starts, stopping Brendan and Mudkip's little victory dance. "I'm sure it'll make a good impression if you fed him and offered a spritz of Potion."

Brendan is quick to grab the now still pokeball and rush back under the shade with Mudkip at his heels. "Good thinking! He did seem a little scrawny..." He says, rolling the pokeball between his fingers as he settles next to Lee. "Say, how much further until we get to Oldale Town?"

"Hrm", Lee rubs his chin and looks up at the sun through the cool cover of leaves, estimating the time to be around 1 PM. "If we really make tracks, we could probably be there by the end of tomorrow. That means marching through the heat without any rest, however, and I don't know about you, but fuck that."

The young Birch tries to stifle a laugh at his companion's profanity. "Two days, then?" "Two days," Lee confirms with a nod. "Fuck Hoenn and this tropical heat. After the Ever Grande conference, I'm going to Sinnoh and staying there," he says, falling back into the soft grass.

Brendan just rolls his eyes as he digs through his bag, producing a spray bottle of Potion. "Wahhh, it's hot. I'm going to Sinnoh," Brendan mocks with a smirk, lowering his voice a few octaves to try and mimic Lee. "Then I'll complain about the cold and say I'm going to Hoenn next year."

Vulpix left out a few vulpine yips that sounds similar to someone trying to cough and laugh at once while Mudkip openly chortles.

"Har har, you're a regular comedian," Lee snorts. "Sounds like someone has rested up enough to keep going. Patch up your new friend and let's get going." Lee watches the simmering pan of meat and veggies carefully, occasionally moving it to keep it over the hotspot over the campfire and to keep the heat away from his sensitive scars. Inwardly, He curses and remembers what he forgot when the team set out from the lab. 'A flashlight. Campfire or not, it's so dark that I can't see shit.'

After traveling for several more hours and again finding few pokémon due to the sheer heat of the day, the duo came to a clearing off the road that made for a perfect campground for the night. The sun had just begun to set when they stopped, and now the entire surrounding area is covered by the gloomy dark With the silence broken by the minute noise of bug pokemon in the distance.

About twenty feet away, Brendan and Mudkip busy themselves with setting up the tent, both overcoming the exhaustion of a full day's walk with the childish enthusiasm that they throw into their work. Brendan had the foresight to bring a lamp, so their work is much more fruitful than Lee's.

Right next to Lee, Vulpix and Shroomish watch the elder human cook. The first watches with the same cool disinterest that she regards most things, and the second watches the pan and the food inside more than he does the human.

'The little guy must be absolutely starved,' Lee sends to Vulpix. 'He utterly scarfed that bland pre-mix food without a single complaint. Why was he so far from the woods, in flat grasslands of all places?'

Vulpix just looks up at him and gives him the mental equivalent of a shrug. A pair of images fly through Lee's mind. One of an oblivious Shroomish wandering until the forest around him vanished, and another of a broken pokeball. 'Got lost or abandoned, eh?' Lee sends back, glancing down at the still focused Shroomish. The little mushroom's skin is dry and taut across his form, and he seems several inches shorter than the 1'4" average that the Pokedex lists. Then he looks back to Brendan, who admires the now complete tent before a light breeze knocks it over. "Oh come on!" Brendan exclaims, pulling at his hat.

'Well, Brendan will fix both those problems.'

"Ugh...Finally," Brendan says with a slump of his shoulders

Both Lee and Brendan spy a rustic wooden sign along the road that reads the blessed words "Oldale Town 0.25 mi -"

Lee stretches his arms above his head and exhales, trying to hide his own fatigue. "Just about three days exactly. Not bad," he says with a tired huff. Lee glances up to the slowly darkening sky and stops abruptly. 'What the fuck?'

Brendan groans and stops as well. "What are we stopping for?"

Lee points towards the distant sky over Oldale, and Brendan does a double-take.

Coming from the direction of the town is an enormous pillar of acrid, black smoke, thick enough to blot out the colors of the sunset illuminated sky. The wind shifts for just a few seconds, letting both Lee and Brendan catch the scent of something burning in the air.

Brendan suddenly sprints forward with renewed energy, his hand already grasping at Mudkip's ball. "C'mon Lee!"

Lee groans and runs after his young companion, just barely keeping pace. "You know, common sense normally dictates that you don't run towards something like that!" The younger of the two doesn't bother with a reply, he just keeps running.

They cover the last Quarter-mile in record time, cresting the hill into Oldale. The pillar of smoke grows ever larger and more imposing the closer they become, billowing and covering much of the sky. Groups of people and the occasional pokémon stand fearfully and point at the smoke as the pair of trainers cross into a small residential area, many of them with exclamations of panic.

"Okay, hold the fuck up!" Lee snarls, reaching out and grabbing Brendan by the collar of his shirt, making the young Birch gag and stop in his tracks. "Running in gung ho will just get us killed. We don't even know what's going on!"

A middle-aged man who was watching the smoke from his porch with a stricken expression overhears and turns to Lee and Brendon. "Are you two Pokémon trainers?!" "We are!" Brendan yells back.

"The Pokemon Center is on fire!" The man exclaims. "I heard on the police scanner that some pokémon went berserk and tried to attack some younglings! It happened so fast! After that, the fire started!"

Lee freezes, his nightmare from several nights ago returning to him with cruel clarity.

Went berserk...

Happened so fast...

...Attacked cubs.

Lee licks his suddenly dry lips. "W-Well the police and firefighters should be there taking care of this, right?"

The man shakes his head and looks back at the smoke with poorly concealed fear. "Officer Jenny's Azumarill is our only firefighter since old man Ogden and his Swampert retired. Please! You have to help them!" 'You going to make a difference this time? Or are you going to just stand around with a dumb look on your face?' A voice in the back of Lee mind taunts.

The scarred man freezes then grabs Vulpix's pokeball with a white-knuckle grip.

"Damn it all."

🪄Visit my site at tiendup for more advanced content...🪄

🪄Read the complete novel in PDF, available at my Store!…🪄

🪄 https://calixto-books.tiendup.com/🪄