31 Fire ... is dangerous! (1/2)
Laughter rang out and filled the woods to the brim. The laughter contained a huge mix of positive emotions that couldn't be kept still and needed to be released out somehow. The source of that voice and the cause for the criminal's distrust was the very same boy they had written off earlier, determined to be naive and seen as an easy job.
And thus it perplexed both Hazel and Chestnut completetly how this weak-minded and inexperienced boy could laugh in such desperate times. Did he go crazy from all the stress?
That was the only possible explanation both could think of at this moment. It wasn't far-fetched for a young child to lose his sanity and become delusional after going through all the hardships they had thrown at him until now.
It didn't matter either way for them. His time remaining alive was running low, his fate sealed and carved into a solid stone. Heck, even a miracle was too late to save him now, only if a god-like personaly descended onto earth they might consider a retreat and call the the day off. But fat chance this was going to happen!
.....
The Fire Spin gradually cooled down and only small dancing fire snakes remained of the previous confinement of blazing heat. Houndour couldn't keep up the attack for prolonged amounts of time and simultaneously fight a difficult enemy like that Sniebel!
Even though it had been weakend greatly and kept firmly in check by Zubat it wasn't on the level that Houndour could become carefree and let down its guards. The Sniebel's claws were just as dangerous as they had been when finishing the Bellsprout earlier in the battle.
Both Zubat and Houndour had witnessed the swift end of their comrade and knew to fear those claws and not let them make any sort of contact if possible. The Zubat was fairly safe, high up in the air, it was the Houndour that had suffered more than once under those deadly claws that were like the scythes of the reaper himself! Several bloodly wounds on its body being proof of their oppoents strenght and power!
That's why it needed to let go of the area created by Fire Spin to recharge its energy and keep the Sniebel busy while maintaining a safe distance.
This lightened the burden on the boy and the Sniebel for a little but it didn't change the stalemate they were currently in. Sniebel couldn't keep fighting forever, while their enemies only stalled for time and deliberately elongated the fight and kept avoiding attacks instead of counter-attacking much.
It was a clear plot targeting Sniebel's stamina!
Doubts flashed through its head but it couldn't come to a real decision yet.
It was in that moment that something unexpected happened. A huge change fell upon the boy's body, whereafter the child suddenly started laughing madly without any obvious reason.
The Sniebel wasn't knowledgable about humans, but considering the grave situation both of them were currently stuck in, was there really any reason to laugh at all? Or did that child just go mad?
Whatever it was, the Sniebel instinctively knew something major had happened to the boy. It's senses were very sharp, sharper than most Pokemon it had ever crossed paths with. His senses had never betrayed him before, and right now they told him a big transformation had taken place inside that boy, for good or for worse.
However, right now was a very bad for having any useless stray thought and quickly focused on the enemies it needed to deal with first.
...
”HAHAHA hahahaha, hahahaha, hahaha, ha ha ... ha, huh ... huh!!!!”, the boy kneeling on the ground spent all the breath in his lungs to laugh as much as he could, give a vent to all the pent up feelings he wasn't able to unleash in any physical way possible before. He did it for as long as possible, savouring every breath in and out as if they could be his last ones on this earth.
And damn was it refreshing!
”Finally, I am out ... huhhhh!”, he let out a long and satisfying sigh and made a wide grinning expression, resembling a prisoner that got out of jail and finally had a date with the outside world again, the air, the sunlight, his senses of touch, smell, hearing and sight.
Even the fricking pain assaulting every inch of his body just reminded him of how good it felt to be alive! Had he turned into fetishist or what?!
The image people would compare this boy with would be ... a mad man!
His sigh slowly took on a more reserved tone, and in addition to the rather positive feelings, another pack of emotions formed up. At first slight confusion, then a little bit of anger and then even more resignation and helplessness.
His wide smile curved up wrly, a far cry from the initial festive mood demonstrated by him.
”Just how did everything turn out like this? Is this a joke, god?”, he asked silently, not expecting an answer anyway.
Memories flashed by in his mind, memories that Arthur shouldn't possess and which he could never have dreamed of even in his wildest dreams!
They couldn't be experiences from a 12 year old child, no, they weren't his to begin with!
These memories belonged to a young man, born to spanish and german parents, raised in the big metropole city known as Frankfurt in Germany, west of Europe.
He grew up loved by his family and with no desires at all, as all of them had been fulfilled already. He spent most of his time playing his super super super favourite ultimate game, the best game in the world you could say ... srsly, it's the best, no doubt.
But all this came to an abrupt end when a mysterious man with silver long hair appeared in his apartment, narrating a crazy story to him and presenting him with a wristband that got him into an even crazier situation, something he still couldn't get over with easily.
He set forth on a journey, or rather he was set on it forcefully, that began with him losing his flesh and ended with entering another persons dying body instead!
He had stepped over the bridge of the endless void to cross into a completely different world filled with unbelievable fantastical creatures that people in his old world saw as fairy tales and characters of children's fantasies!
*Sighhhh*
Atiqo had somehow made his way into the Pokemon World!
”It really is ... the Pokemon World ...”, he raised his head to look at the battle unfolding in front of his eyes. He recognised all of the creatures instantly, even though their plasticity and the realistic dimensions clashed with the images he was raised with, they still resembled the Pokemon he so dearly loved!!!
”Zubat, Sniebel, Houndour ... they are real, they are really real, hahaha, I can't believe it even if it happens right in front of my own eyes ... oh, no, not my eyes ...”, his rising excitement took a turn for the worse because he was reminded of the state he was currently unwillingly stuck in.
His own body was gone, and he had occupied another person's body instead somehow. As ridiculous as it sounded, that was the inflexible reality for Atiqo right now!
Atiqo's mind was still in shambles, his memories all over the place, gradually coming back into the right order.
After entering the vast dark space various forces snapped and bit at his body until nothing was left. And yet he still survived somehow and guided by yet another mysterious force he was put to sleep inside this child's crippled and severely injured body!
It was a deep slumber, and one that continuously kept his mind numb and still.
After some time glimpses of the real world got sent into his consciousness somehow, his awareness redeveloped little by little. Pictures of a hospital, a huge city and a mansion filled his thoughts, but the things that truly made his spirit shiver with passion and excitement were these creatures everyone else seemingly took for granted!
Heresy! Ungrateful bastards! Why don't you kneel down and worship these incredible cute beings and offer your lives to them!?!?
This and many other thoughts swirled through his mind space all this while.
But the mysterious laws governing his sleep kept him from gaining more energy and he fell from his awakened state time and time again. Restraining him from fully awakening.
It was only recently that this suppression weakened significantly and his self was able to gather enough strength to manifest itself more and more.
It wasn't long for Atiqo to realize that his strengthening stood in direct correlation with the weakening of this body's main host consciousness, the young boy Arthur McNeal.
Atiqo's mind was slowly influencing Arthur's behaviour and personality in several subtle ways, and vice verca.
Even now Atiqo could still feel the emotional pain that this poor young child had been through. The loss of Arthur's father hurting deeply in his heart as if these feeling belonged to Atiqo himself, it was very similar to his own experiences when losing his grandfather who had played a huge part in Atiqo's live before.
It was thanks to these experiences that Atiao wasn't overwhelmed and swept up by the torrents of emotions barraging his heart.
He could only feel sympathetic and great admiration for that young boy who shouldered so many burdens and troubles on his own.