Chapter 5
Brotherly Love
Tammy sighed and looked on. Umbreon was now rejecting orders from her trainer. This wasn’t a really good sign. Vaporeon lied down on the arena waiting. “Vaporeon, come on! This is still a battle! Let’s win and you two can make up after the battle! Come on, Vaporeon!” Tammy instructed. Vaporeon reluctantly got to his feet and growled. Umbreon stopped and turned around. She started to walk forward but Vaporeon pushed her back. With a slight shake of his head Umbreon understood. “Now, onto the battle! That sure was close, folks!” said the commentator. Umbreon stood up straight and glared at Vaporeon. “Umbreon!” she cried out. Soon the battle was going again. Vaporeon waited for instruction. “Vaporeon, use Water Gun!” Vaporeon opened his mouth and water sprang out at a speed that, when it slammed into you, it hurt! It zoomed through the air and slammed right into Umbreon. Umbreon was knocked off her feet. The Umbreon fainted. Or did she? The crowd gasped as Umbreon stood up. “The battle isn’t over yet, folks!” the commentator, Mr. Copper, said. He waved his arms around and was in a very good mood. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile in the woods, Duchess sprinted through the woods. How could the master do something like that? Doing something right had a huge price. What if she had gotten on the master’s nerves so much he shot her? There was no risking it. And so Duchess continued on and on. As you know Pokemon can talk to other Pokemon. When they talk to humans if comes out as their language. But sure enough, Pokemon can talk to other Pokemon and understand every word. Duchess went on and finally she had to rest. She spotted an old elm tree and sat down under the branches. The mist of the morning was slowly going away. Soon Duchess heard a rattling and a chi chit! Up in the tree a little Sentret was scurrying about. It was carefully watching Duchess and soon figured out she was safe to be around. The Sentret scampered down the tree and looked at Duchess. “Hello,” said Duchess. Someone had to start talking. Duchess hated long silences when there was someone to talk to. “Oh, yes, hello, hello!” the Sentret said quickly. “I do say, why are you out here all alone? You have a collar I see,” Sentret looked at the collar. “Oh yeah, that dumb thing is still on me. Would you mind taking it off for me, please?” Duchess asked politely. Sentret agreed and took it off. Duchess shook her head and her fur shook around freely. “Feels much better, thank you,” Duchess smiled. “Oh, no problem,” Sentret said. She smiled back at Duchess. She sighed. “So, why are you all the way out here? The village is miles away.” “I don’t live in a village. I used to live in this little house back there somewhere.” She pointed her head to the direction she came from. “I see. But why did you run away?” Sentret asked curiously. She waited for an answer. “Well, this morning my master and I went out to these here woods. I don’t know why. But anyway, he wanted me to sniff out some Pidgey, don’t know why, either. So I sniffed them out and showed him I found some. That was easy, and he said that I did it right. Then he walks up to the tree with the bird in it and shoots it. That was cruel. The tube, which he calls a gun, made a big blast. I didn’t know what happened until I walked over to him. He held up the bird and I was horrified. It was terrible. So I ran off.” “I see. He wants a hunting dog, then. Well, you did do the right thing sniffing the Pidgey out. He is a hunter, you know. Hunters are feared by the Pokemon in these woods. They come for no reason other than sport and kill innocent Pokemon for fun. The worst thing is that they turn Pokemon against Pokemon. The Pidgey should have been watching and listening carefully. The Pidgey in these woods are known for their ignorance, though, sad to say.” Duchess held her head down low. “Why me?” she asked herself. “It’s alright. It happens many a time. Many hunting dogs come and track us smaller Pokemon down. Then they call their masters and the masters come and shoot us. A horrible thing it is, hunting for a sport. Then they hang the skins on the walls or as a rug or something like that. My friend, a Pikachu, once snuck into the house once. He saw many skins hanging on the walls and a skin of an Eevee draped over a chair. He came back and warned the Pokemon of the woods. He said he was going back the next day and I asked him to not. But the next day he left. He never returned,” Sentret ended sadly. “I’m sorry,” Duchess said. “Oh, ‘tis not your fault, dearie, for another hunting dog come and gets us. You are the first to roam from the master, though. You are very brave.” “Brave? I’m not brave! Not by a long shot!” Duchess said back. She sighed and put her head on her paws. Soon they both went to sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tammy watched as the Umbreon stood up. “Yeah, Umbreon!” Jamie cheered. “You can do it!” Jamie cheered and cheered and waved his arms wildly. “Vaporeon, use Scratch Attack!” Tammy ordered. Vaporeon walked over to Umbreon and growled. Then unexpectedly raised his paw and swiped Umbreon’s face. The crowd gasped once again for this was very rude and inconsiderate of Vaporeon. Umbreon looked up at him sadly. Then her face turned from sad to mad. She growled and jumped up on him. Vaporeon whined and tumbled over. Umbreon pinned Vaporeon down. “Umbreon, you scratch him!” Jamie ordered. He was still cheering. Umbreon lifted one paw and started to bring it down. Vaporeon turned slightly and then quickly rolled out from underneath of Umbreon. Umbreon’s claws came down and slammed into the floor. “Good job, Vaporeon!” Tammy insured. Umbreon came trotting over to Vaporeon. Vaporeon started to get up off his back. He was only starting to stand up when Umbreon went over and stood over him. He was now crouched down underneath her. He started to back up slowly, but Umbreon stepped forward when he did. He started to slip sideways and Umbreon blocked him. “Umbreon, attack him!” Jamie said jumping up and down. Vaporeon looked into Umbreon’s face. Her muzzle was swollen and red from when he scratched her. Now he realized what he had done. But no sympathy crept through him. He growled lowly. Umbreon looked very surprised and snarled back. What was he doing? ‘I can easily overtake her. But she’s my sister. Why would I want to? But this is a battle and battles must be finished one way or another. But yet, she was my sister. But I bet she would do the same thing if she was in my situation. A Vaporeon cannot lose a battle. My pride is in this. I can’t lose to my sister!’ Vaporeon thought, and with this he crouched down low, ready to jump. Then he sprang up and hit Umbreon knocking her off her feet and propelling them both in the air. Umbreon was knocked backwards and Vaporeon was getting ready to land. “Umbreon!” Jamie cried out. “Vaporeon!” Tammy said. They both watched intently. Vaporeon landed first very silently. Then he looked at Umbreon quickly and watched her drop to the ground with a loud thump. “Umbreon! Umbreon, get up! Please get up!” Jamie yelled out. Concern was in his voice. Umbreon didn’t get up. Jamie started to walk forward, but the referee waved a flag at him and ordered him to stay put. Had Umbreon lost? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Duchess and Sentret awoke. Sentret stretched and yawned. Duchess watched and sighed when she remembered the conversation before the nap. She still didn’t understand why the master would do such a thing. She decided to ask Sentret. “If you don’t mind me asking,” she began. “What is it?” Sentret asked. She watched as Duchess stood up. “When the master, er, hunters come and shoot the Pokemon here, why do they do it?” “Oh, well, they think it is a sport,” came the answer. “But why?” Duchess persisted. She sighed once more. “Well, I don’t really know,” Sentret confessed. She started to scamper off. “Wait!” Duchess called. “What is it?” Sentret asked again. She stopped and looked back at Duchess. “Well, I don’t know where to go and I was wondering,” Duchess began. “If I could go along? Well, usually I wouldn’t go along with a normal hunting dog, but since you aren’t a hunting dog, well, okay!” Sentret interrupted. “No, not that, I wanted-” Duchess was cut off again. “Oh no-no-no! I insist now! I’ll come along since you’re just a pup and you don’t know what dangers could be waiting around the bend!” Sentret said. She ran back over to Duchess. “Okay….” Duchess didn’t know what to say. “From now on, I will be your personal assistant, bodyguard, guide, companion or friend, or anything else you can think of. I’m here for you now!”
