Hey DEARIES welcome to another chapter
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The rain began to fall harder, washing away the sins of the island.
Alex sat inside the hollowed-out trunk of a fallen mahogany tree, listening to the drumbeat of water on rotting wood.
He had put two kilometers between himself and the riverbank.
Every step had been agony, his ribs protesting with sharp, stabbing jolts, but the fear of the corpse being discovered had driven him forward.
He was shivering.
The adrenaline had completely evaporated, leaving behind a cold, trembling void.
He looked at his hands.
The rain had washed most of the blood away, but the rust-colored stains remained under his fingernails and in the creases of his knuckles.
He scrubbed at them with a leaf until his skin was raw, but the feeling of the knife sinking into flesh wouldn't leave his muscle memory.
"Stop it," he whispered, his voice cracking. "Focus."
He turned his gaze to the object sitting in the dirt between his legs.
The Pokéball
It sat there, innocent and red, gleaming in the dim light filtering through the cracks in the log.
Inside that metal sphere was a creature that had thrown itself into the mouth of a snake without hesitation.
A creature with Dark Red Aptitude.
Alex took a deep breath, wincing as his chest expanded.
"If I don't let him out, he dies in there," Alex reasoned.
"The ball puts them in stasis, but it doesn't heal them.
He was beaten half to death."
But releasing him was dangerous.
The Nidoran was aggressive.
It had the Hustle ability, a trait that often correlated with high aggression and restlessness in Pokémon lore.
And Alex was injured.
If the Nidoran decided Alex was just another enemy, Alex couldn't fight back.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the handful of Rawst Berries he had gathered earlier.
They were bitter, used for burns, but they were calories.
He also unwrapped the stolen ration bar...a dry, compressed block of protein and grain.
He broke the ration bar into chunks.
"Okay. Bribery.
That works on humans.
Should work on monsters."
He gripped the Pokéball.
His hand trembled slightly.
"Come out," he whispered.
He pressed the center button.
Flash
A burst of white light illuminated the cramped hollow log. It coalesced into a small, purple form on the damp wood.
The Nidoran materialized.
The moment it touched the ground, it didn't look confused.
It didn't look for its trainer.
It snarled.
Despite its injuries...one ear torn, blood matting its purple fur, a nasty bruise on its flank, it scrambled backward, pressing itself against the curve of the log.
Its oversized ears swiveled frantically.
Its red eyes locked onto Alex with a terrifying intensity.
The horn on its forehead glowed with a faint, menacing violet light.
"Grrrraaa!"
It lowered its head, ready to charge.
It was cornered, hurt, and feral.
Alex froze.
He didn't move a muscle.
He kept his hands visible, palms open.
He knew animal psychology or at least he had a dog at home, so he hoped he did.
Eye contact was a challenge.
Sudden movements were a threat.
"Easy," Alex said softly.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
The Nidoran hissed, baring teeth that looked too sharp for a herbivore.
It lunged forward a few inches,a feint.
It was testing him.
Waiting for him to flinch.
Alex forced himself to stay still, even though every instinct screamed at him to grab his knife.
"You're hurt," Alex said, keeping his voice level.
"That Ekans messed you up."
The Nidoran flinched at the word Ekans.
It remembered.
It looked around, confused, likely wondering where the snake and the human who had commanded it had gone.
"They're gone," Alex said, as if reading its mind.
"I killed the human.
The snake ran away."
He doubted the Pokémon understood the words, but the tone seemed to register.
The Nidoran stopped growling for a split second, its nose twitching.
It smelled something.
The blood.
It smelled the fresh blood on Alex's uniform. The scent of the other recruit.
The Nidoran looked at Alex with a new expression.
It wasn't fear.
It was... assessment.
In the wild, if you smelled like fresh kill, you were a predator.
Alex slowly, very slowly, pushed the pile of food forward.
The chunks of ration bar and the blue Rawst Berries.
"Eat," Alex commanded softly.
The Nidoran looked at the food.
Its stomach gave a traitorous growl.
It was starving.
The fight had burned its energy reserves.
It looked at Alex, then at the food.
It crept forward, limping heavily on its left hind leg.
It sniffed the ration bar.
Then, with lightning speed, it snatched a piece and darted back to the wall, eyes never leaving Alex.
It chewed aggressively, crunching the dry block in seconds.
Crunch, Crunch, Gulp
It ate the berries next.
The bitterness made it shake its head, but it swallowed them down.
Alex watched the Status Screen hovering over the creature.
[ Nidoran♂ ]
[ Trust Level: 10/100 (Wary) ]
[ Status: Recovering. Left leg contusion. ]
"Better?" Alex asked.
The Nidoran licked its chops.
It didn't growl this time, but it didn't come closer either.
It sat on its haunches, watching him.
Alex leaned back against the wood, exhaling a long sigh.
The tension in the small space was thick enough to cut.
"I need you," Alex said, talking more to himself than the Pokémon.
"I'm weak.
Look at me." He gestured to his bandaged ribs.
"I can't fight.
If a Pidgey attacks me right now, I lose."
The Nidoran tilted its head.
"But you," Alex continued, pointing a bloody finger at the small purple rabbit.
"You're a monster. I saw you.
You took a hit meant to kill you and you kept coming.
You have Hustle.
You have the fire."
He pulled the empty Pokéball...the one the Nidoran was bound to and rolled it gently across the floor. It stopped halfway between them.
"I'm not going to keep you in there if you don't want to be," Alex lied.
Well, it was a half-lie.
He needed the Nidoran to choose to fight.
A slave would fail him; a partner would save him.
"But if you stay with me, you eat.
You get stronger.
And we kill everything that tries to kill us."
The Nidoran stared at the ball.
Then it looked at Alex.
It stood up.
The limp was still there, but it moved with a surprising dignity for a creature that was essentially a poisonous rabbit.
It walked over to the ball.
It didn't enter it. Instead, it nudged the ball back toward Alex with its nose.
Alex blinked.
He reached out and picked up the sphere.
"Is that a yes?"
The Nidoran snorted.
It turned around, facing the entrance of the hollow log, and curled up into a ball. Its back was to Alex.
It was guarding the entrance.
Alex felt a lump form in his throat.
It wasn't affection...it was too early for that.
It was a transaction.
You fed me. I guard you. For tonight.
"Fair enough," Alex whispered.
He leaned his head back, closing his eyes. The pain in his ribs was a dull throb now, manageable.
He opened his interface one last time before sleep claimed him.
[ Pokémon: Nidoran]
[ Nickname: Unassigned ]
[ Aptitude: Red (Dark) ]
[ Moves: Peck, Leer, Poison Sting, Focus Energy ]
[ Egg Move: Sucker Punch (Locked - Proficiency too low) ]
Sucker Punch...A Dark-type move.
A priority move, It fit perfectly.
"I'll call you... Nidoking," Alex mumbled, his thoughts drifting as exhaustion took over. "One day. But for now..."
He looked at the small, spiked ball of purple fur shivering slightly in the cold draft.
"Let's just survive the night, buddy."
Alex Hales, the murderer, the survivor, the wearer of the mask, finally let his guard down.
Outside, the jungle screamed with the sounds of the night,screeches, roars, and the cries of other recruits meeting their ends.
But inside the log, for the first time in twenty-four hours, there was silence.
Authors Note:-
That's chapter 6.
Hope you guys enjoyed it.
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Reviews are welcome.
I have made a lot of chapters as draft so , I will upload some time to time.