A Superior Land (Mega Adventure Tribute) - Wizarmonfan X Mandriel

"Come on, Tackle!" Wyvern turned her back on him, ignoring the wild Pidgey that was pecking at the ground a few metres away. Ara breathed a sigh of frustration, "Tackle!" he repeated. For a little while, he'd actually thought that his Pokémon was going to start obeying him, but whatever progress they'd begun to make appeared to have been short-lived.

Perhaps seeing the Cottonee had reminded Wyvern why she hated Ara so much in the first place.

He flopped back down onto the ground with a sigh as the Pidgey fluttered away. This was hopeless. There had to be some other way to get Wyvern to listen to him, but how? She didn't respect him, that was for sure. But how was he supposed to earn a dragon's respect when he was fumbling alongside low-levelled Pokémon and weak starting trainers?

For a moment, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and his stomach twisted. He leapt to his feet, his skin feeling the prickling gaze of eyes peering through the undergrowth at him. He scanned his surroundings, but found nothing but branches rustling gently in the light breeze. The Pidgey from earlier swept past, making him scream as it landed nearby.

He almost groaned aloud as he sat back down. His natural jumpiness was not going to make this quest easy. Ara recalled Wyvern back to her ball before he continued onwards through the forest, the unsettling feeling that he was being watched following him every step of the way.

 

Ara tried to get Wyvern to battle a few more wild Pokémon to varying degrees of success. She refused to listen to him at all until the rattata she was supposed to be fighting bit her on the nose. She then unleashed her rage at the small rodent, knocking it out and proudly standing over its unconscious body. At this rate, the only way Ara appeared to be able to train her was by provoking a reaction out of her to motivate her to battle.

It was only when he was reflecting on how he could train her when he realised he'd completely forgotten to receive his Pokédex. He groaned aloud. He'd gotten so caught up in the Pokémon thief and his own problems that he'd neglected the very first steps of his journey. Great. Just great. If Ryu could have seen Ara at that moment, his brother would have shaken his head in disappointment.

Somewhere nearby, a twig snapped. Ara forced his racing heart to slow down. It was just a wild Pokémon. Or maybe a kid out training their starter. Either way, there was no danger. No harm could come to him...

A high-pitched shriek sliced through the forest. Wild bird Pokémon fluttered from their roosts and Ara almost tumbled to the ground. Any previous thoughts he had on his own safety was shattered. Something was terribly wrong.

 

Branches slapped Ara in the face as he dashed blindly toward the direction of the scream. In hindsight, it probably wasn't in his best interests to charge straight toward the sound of somebody in distress, but he didn't stop to consider the consequences of his actions.

He burst into a clearing in the trees, tripping over a clump of ferns and landing ungracefully on his face before a pair of grunts and their Gible. His sudden appearance struck them by surprise and for a moment, they were too shocked to command their Pokémon to keep beating up the poor trainer they were harassing.

Ara didn't wait for them to recover. He stumbled to his feet, wheezing as he reached for Wyvern's ball when his eyes fell on Kayla the red-haired Pokémon thief. "You!" he gasped.

 

Much to Ara's astonishment, Wyvern didn't even hesitate for instructions, slamming against the closest Gible and knocking it to the ground before her trainer could even open his mouth. The little dragon growled, her scaled tail lashing as she faced her opponents.

Feeling a surge of confidence, Ara shouted, "Draco Meteor!"

He was embarrassed but not at all surprised when his Pokémon completely ignored his command and charged at the Gible she had previously attacked with another Tackle. He could feel his face go red when one of the grunts snickered.

"Some trainer you are!" he laughed, "A Pokémon trainer who can't even control his Pokémon. You won't make it past the first-" before he could finish, Wyvern sent his dazed Gible soaring through the air and he grunted as it slammed into his legs, almost knocking him over.

 

A wave of nausea washed over Ara. He barely registered the shock when his knees slammed into the ground. For a few moments, he was deaf to the sounds of battle until Wyvern trotted haughtily over to him, her nose in the air as she turned her back on her unconscious opponent. Without hesitation, she tapped on her Pokéball and vanished in a flash of red light, determined to make it clear how little she enjoyed his company.

He heaved a sigh. Even if his Pokémon was somewhat willing to battle for him occasionally, he was far from making any real progress as a trainer.

As if he had read his mind, one of the Team Prime grunts laughed, "Wow, you really are pathetic." he smirked, "I can see why your family was so eager to get you out of the house; they probably couldn't stand to associate themselves with you any longer."

Ouch. Ara did his best to blink tears from his eyes without revealing that he was crying. He failed miserably, which only seemed to entertain the defeated grunts even further.

 

"I don't follow the orders of some bratty nobody." he snarled, hands curling into fists. Ara's mouth went dry at the sight of the pure malice flickering in the grunt's eyes and he heard Wyvern give a low growl, her tail lashing in response to his aggression.

The other grunt's eyes widened and he grabbed his companion's arm to restrain him, "But your Pokémon-"

"I don't need a Pokémon to pummel the hell out of two little bastards." he interrupted, taling a step toward them and Ara flinced, scooting back a few feet.

The less enthused grunt winced, "I mean, they still have their own Pokémon." he feebly tugged at the fuming grunt's sleeve, "I'm sure the boss will forgive us, it's not like we screwed up anything imporant."

Ara was over the moon at the prospect of the two of them getting out of his sight. Unfortunately, he was too busy trying not to throw up in terror at that moment to feel anything other than the frantic pounding of his own heartbeat.

The angry grunt scowled and jerked his arm away from his companion, "Fine." he spat, jabbing a finger at Ara and Kayla, "But don't for one second think that I'm forgetting the two of you! Team Prime never forgets!"

The other grunt appeared to be so relieved that he didn't have to watch his friend get mauled by some ametuers' Pokémon that he didn't bother with a one-liner before ushering his partner and their defeated Pokémon away.

Ara let out a shaky breath, sweaty fingers digging into his legs as he did his best to smother his remaining feelings of panic. That was one encounter he could have lived without. One that he had a feeling would be burned into his memory for a long time. It was just his usual rotten luck that he'd come across Team Prime of all people on his first day as a trainer. Nonetheless, things could have ended up going disasterously if Kayla hadn't been there...

And speaking of the girl, she was still there. He found himself feeling surprised that she hadn't taken off the moment the battle had ended, but he supposed she didn't see him as enough of a threat to warrant her needing to avoid him. He found himself sighing at the thought. Imagine that. A memeber of the mighty Drago clan being viewed as an afterthought. His parents would have had some choice words of wisdom to give him. Something including the phrases 'major disappointment' and 'bring shame to us all'.

Still, Ara was several things, but ungrateful wasn't one of them. So despite his distaste for thieves, he found himself turning to Kayla, "Thanks." he said, voice still quivering from lingering fear, "You're not too bad, after all."

 

Ara wiped his clammy hands on his trousers and let Kayla help him stand up. His rapid heartbeat was finally starting to slow down a little. "Thanks." he said again.

A few minutes ago, the idea of hanging out with a Pokémon thief would have been the last thing Ara would have considered. But it looked as if the girl wasn't completely heartless. After all, she had stopped to help the rowlet's trainer and had stayed to fight Team Prime when it would have been easier for her to flee.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, "I-I guess we can travel together." he agreed meekly before clearing his throat and hurriedly finding a more professional way to phrase it, "I mean: I appreciate your suggestion. We'd, um, fare better if we travelled in a group."

His face flushed; he must have sounded so pretentious.

 

Ara took a moment to respond to her question, "It's nice, I suppose. I mean, I've been living around dragons my whole life, so I'm a little used to it. Since they're rare and often very powerful, dragons can be difficult to train." his hand brushed against Wyvern's Poké Ball, "And they're infamous for holding grudges."

Sometimes, a dragon never forgot. But, he realised, he didn't want to discourage anybody from training what they wanted.

"They're also loyal." he added hastily, "I mean, if you're a good trainer..." he faltered, fixing his eyes on the road ahead of them, suddenly eager to talk about literally anything else. "You said your parents never gave you a Pokémon?" the thought was unheard of to him, surrounded by family pets and battlers since he was born.

 

It was getting dark and from what Ara could deduce from his lacklustre map-reading skills, they were still a long way from Kagawa City. Despite his thick jacket, he found himself shivering at the prospect of having to stay the night in the open. Even in the company of somebody he was beginning to believe he could trust, there were still wild Pokémon roaming about. Not to mention those Team Prime grunts...

He forced the thought of Team Prime out of his head as he squinted at the map Ryu had bought him. It was a crescent moon, so he could hardly see a thing beneath the canopy. Had they been going around in circles, or was the forest just larger than he had initially thought?

Finally giving in to the fact that nobody would be sleeping in a warm bed that night, he folded the map and carefully placed it inside his bag so not to bend it, "Bad news, guys: I have no idea where we are."

 

The look of relief must have been evident on Ara's face. "Oh, thank goodness." the one thing he didn't bring was a sleeping bag. Though, Ryu had also insisted he bring a mat, despite Ara's insistence that he'd be able to find a bed on his journey. It was a good thing Ryu was so great at refusing to overestimate his brother; otherwise they would have had to sleep directly on the dirt.

Ara found himself flushing at the thought of him failing his journey as soon as it had started. Again. It was a good thing he had people like Ryu and Kayla to stop him from accidentally getting himself killed from exposure and forest-dwelling thugs.

At least he could get a fire started. He felt a little too proud after managing to coax a fire from a handful of twigs with his flint. The dancing orange flames lit their clearing up with a warm glow and he sat back, satisfied. If he couldn't find them shelter, he could at least try and keep the insects away.

He contemplated letting Wyvern out of her ball so she could sleep with the group, but ultimately decided not to. The last thing he wanted was for her to maul him in his sleep. Was that normal thing to be afraid of? He looked to Kayla for affirmation, "Are you letting your Pokémon out?"