Why Me? Chapter 1 - The Beginning of the End
#1 of Why Me?
Why me?
Chapter 1-The Beginning of the End
"Why me?"
The question had entered my head many times, and each time I came up with the same answer, I was the smallest of the triplets of which I had been born, even though I was the first hatched from the eggs. As a Larvitar, my life was hell. Why you ask? My brother. Around my mother he acted nice and sweet, but should we be left alone, hell began for me.
It all started when my mother was out collecting food and I was tagging along when we met a human. He was about six feet tall and was dressed in black from head to toe, complete with a black hat turned backwards so the bill was pointing behind him.
My mother had tried to get us away from him, but he had already seen us. Upon sighting us, the human had reached towards his hips and grabbed a red and white ball and threw it at us.
The ball opened in the air and from it emitted a white light that took the form of Feraligatr. Six feet tall, red spikes running down its blue scaly back, two inch long razor sharp fangs, this was a pokemon meant for fighting.
My mother had a name, I think it was Katherine. She was big for a Tyranitar; she had to be at least seven feet tall. She bore the family marking on her tail, a black ring around the base of her tail. Her eyes were a warm, caring red, her skin a pale pine green. Everywhere she went a warm and friendly aura followed, she had to be the gentlest creature on this planet. If she needed to protect her children she could, I'd seen her tail cut down a medium sized tree in one sweep with her strong tail.
The human then spoke some words in a language I didn't understand and moments later the water creature launched a powerful jet of water at my mother. The attack hit her square in her chest and she fell to the ground groaning. This was a powerful pokemon, and it had the type advantage over my mother, not a good situation. This was turning ugly fast. "Run! I'll hold him off for as long as I can!" My mother yelled at me.
But I couldn't move, and to my horror the human than took another ball, similar to the one that contained the gator, and tossed it at my mother. It tapped her tough hide and she disappeared in a flash of red light.
The ball rocked once, twice, then a third time before it was still. Smiling triumphantly the human walked over to the now motionless ball and picks it up as he watches us. He knew what he had just done, he had taken the mother of a Larvitar and he didn't care. Without saying a word he puts the ball that now contained my mother onto his belt and walks off.
Crying, I run after him as fast as my small Larvitar legs could carry me and it only took a few seconds for me to catch up to him.
When I reached him I jumped and tried to get my mother's ball. However I missed and ran into his legs and causing him to fall to the ground. We both try to get up, but I was faster and so I grab the ball that had imprisoned my mother and run. I didn't even look where I was running, I didn't care, and I needed to get away from the monsters that had stolen her.
I had run into a bush and kept going, his feraligatr close behind. I had the advantage here though; I was smaller and had no problems with evading the gator in pursuit of me.
I felt tired as I returned to the cave where my family lived. There I sat and tried desperately to pry the ball open, but to no avail. The ball remained closed, almost mocking me.
I felt horrible, I had lost my mom, rescued her, and now here I was, unable to free her from her prison.
Then I remembered something, the human had thrown the ball that contained his Feraligatr. I mimic the human's actions and throw the ball, my eyes closed as I hope this works. The ball sails through the air and mid-flight it opens and out comes my mother.
There are no words that could describe how happy I felt when I heard her be freed from that hellish device, but the happiness quickly turned to worry and horror as I open my eyes.
Yes my mother had come out of the ball, but she was still injured. She was groaning in pain, holding her chest. "Mommy you're hurt!" I exclaim as I rush to her side.
"Y-yeah I am Tommy. Do you know what an Oran berry looks like?" She replies; her voice strained from her encounter earlier.
"Yes mommy I do, we have some in our stash don't we?" I answer.
"Yes we do, go get me some Oran berries; they'll help ease the pain of my injury." She replies.
I rush off to our stash of every berry imaginable. We had been saving up for the coming winter.
We would collect berries together, the four of us. I had never known my father, when I went to mother one day asking where daddy was, she replied "I don't want to talk about him." and that was where I left the conversation.
When we would collect berries, my mother taught us about how the berries could cure you, we learned how Pecha berries could cure almost any poison and that if you get a burn to rub Rawst berry juice on the burn.
It doesn't take long for me to find what I'm looking for. A minute after she asked I'm already at her side once more with the Oran berries.
I give them to her one by one and she swallowed them. Slowly as the berries take effect she stops groaning, the pain fading away.
Eventually she removes her paws from her chest and I see the wound for the first time. Her skin had been worn off revealing the red flesh underneath. It made me feel sick to my stomach that some humans where like this. Once again my tears start to flow as I ask "M-mommy.....are you going to be okay?"
"Y-Yes I will honey" She replies, not sure of her answer as she pats my head lovingly.
"Why did that human do this to you?" I ask.
"Some people just like to hurt others. That human was one of those people." She answers, starting to feel drowsy from the berries and her injury.
"Do you need anything mommy?" A childish female voice from beside me asks.
It was my sister, Crystal. She was about a foot and a half tall, the second largest of the triplets. She bore the marks of our family, a black ring at the base of her tail. The mark came from my mother's side of the family, as she too had the same black ring at the base of her tail, as did my brother and I.
Like all Larvitars, she had ruby red eyes, pale green skin, and a horn on the top of her head. She was the second to emerge from the egg, thus making her the second oldest.
"I think I'm good for now, thank you for asking Crystal." She replies with smile.
From behind me I hear a male voice ask "What happened to you mommy?"
"I had an incident with a human, your brother is a hero David, he saved me." my mother replies.
Upon hearing my mother say I had saved her he turns to me and gives me a look that sent chills shivering down my spine.
He was always trying to impress my mother and make her proud. He loved the attention and so when he heard I had saved the one he was constantly trying to impress, he hated it.
"I'm feeling tired, do you three think you can behave while I take a nap?" my mother asks, her voice sounding weak and delicate.
"Yes mommy, we can beh-Mommy you're bleeding!" I reply.
True to my word, a small trickle of blood was flowing down her side. "Get some sitrus berries and squeeze the juice onto the wound, hurry." She replies.
Running to the stash once again I find what I was looking for, several sitrus berries. These berries helped form blood clots in large cuts and scrapes and so I knew why she wanted the sitrus juice, it would help stop the bleeding.
I run back to my mother's side and with the assistance of Crystal we squeeze the berries of everything they had. Slowly the bleeding stops and I become calm once again.
Crystal and I step back from her and she says "Thanks you two, now I'm going to go to sleep now...please behave while I'm asleep."
I nod and reply "We will mommy."
She smiles as she closes her eyes and falls asleep after whispering "Thank you."
David waits until he hears Katherine's soft and steady breath signifying that she was asleep before walking to me and saying "You think you're a big hero don't you?"
He pushes me to the ground and Crystal says "David stop it, he's had a rough day and he doesn't need you causing more problems for him."
David ignores her as he kicks me in my side, knocking the wind out of me as he says "The only reason you saved her was that you got lucky. You won't be as lucky with me though."
He kicks me again, this time in my groin. I curl up in pain as I cry silent tears of pain, begging Crystal to help.
"I'm going to make sure you come down from your high Rapidash." David says.
I hear the whistle of an arm or leg moving quickly and I brace myself for another hit. That blow never comes though, what follows the whistling is a loud slap, followed by David yelling "What was that for?!"
When I look over at David and Crystal I see my brother holding a paw to his cheek as he rubs a red paw shaped signature on his face, indicating that he had been slapped quite hard by my sister.
"You deserved it, plus much more. Leave Tommy alone, he's had a hard day. Without him you wouldn't even have mom right now."
"I should've saved her; I'm the biggest of us." He replies.
"You're right, you are the biggest, you're the biggest jerk in the whole world." Crystal retorts.
"At least I can fight well enough to defend myself." Replies David.
"Only because you bully us to make yourself look better." Crystal replies.
"I'm not bullying you, I'm making you tougher! Besides you need it, you're a girl." David retorts.
"And I can still hit harder." She replies before slapping him again.
Silently I was hoping my mom would wake up, and then the fighting would stop. I knew she wouldn't wake though, Oran berries make you drowsy, and combined with the fact she was a heavy sleeper, this fight would have to work itself out.
Silently I crawl over to a wall of the cave and weep quietly. I never wanted to be a hero, I just wanted my mom and so I did what any kid would have done. I cried and ran after her. I didn't want my brother to hate me.
Crystal and David argue back and forth some more but I didn't pay attention to the yelling, it was only adding to my small heart's aching.
When I feel a paw on my shoulder, I look up and see Crystal's smiling face staring down at me. "He may not appreciate you saving mom, but I do, thank you." She says as she sits next to me and puts a caring arm around the back of my neck.
I lean against her, glad she had stopped the fight. I hated fighting; I was too gentle to fight and even if I wasn't involved I would cry at others fighting. Fighting was a conflict; I wanted everybody to be peaceful. My sister and I tried to make friends, all my brother cared about was himself and how many fights he had won. "T-Thank you for defending me Crystal." I whimper.
"You're welcome; I'm going to try my hardest to not let him hurt you. He thinks that fighting is everything." She replies with a soft caring voice.
I silently nod, tears still running quietly down my face like soft raindrops trickling down a window. Her words were comforting and had the same effect of a baby with its security blanket, it calmed my sorrowful heart. "I d-don't want to be a hero, I just want David to like m-me." I whimper, knowing that what I wanted would probably never happen now.
"Why do you want him to like you?" She asks.
"Because he's my brother and that means he is my family, just like you're my family because you're my sister." I reply with sadness tingeing my voice.
"That's true, but he's just going to hurt you." She replies.
"He's still family." I reply as I start to question my thinking.
"He's just a big meanie, even if he is family." She replies.
"I heard that!" David exclaims.
Ignoring my sibling's outburst I say "He's my brother though..."
She wipes my tears off with her claw and says "You don't have to put up with him for much longer, in a few years we became Pupitars and then he won't be able to hurt you. After that we become Tyranitars and move away from home, and then you won't ever see him again."
I nod at what she says; after all, it was true. When I became a Tyranitar in four years I would probably never see David again. "But what will do after I become a Tyranitar? I can't fight, and even if I could I couldn't hurt a Butterfree, you know that! The first thing that challenges me to a fight because I'm a Tyranitar is going to beat me to a pulp!" I say as my tears start to flow again.
She hugs me and says "You can come with me, I'll protect you."
I look up at her visage, tears still flowing as I say "Thanks sis, that means a lot to me."
She smiles at me as she replies "You're welcome."
Her smiles were special; they made you feel warm and fuzzy, even if it was the middle of winter with a blizzard blowing outside. It was the cure for tears of sadness also, she knew when a smile could change your day, and this smile was no different, upon seeing her angelic smile, my sorrow was lifted and I nuzzle into her chest, my eyes slowly closing as I fell asleep in her arms.