A New Life Through The Eyes Of Kanto: An Autobiography

Battle To The Death

"After Obsidian City, we have a ton of options for where we can travel next that have Gyms, too," I said. "There's Vermilion City, Gringey City... There's Cerulean City back the way we came from, too."

Me and a couple of my Pokemon were walking through a forest, on our way to Obsidian City. We had left Pewter City just the other day, all of us in good health, including Primeape.

Those nurses sure knew how to perform miracles for any situation.

Hoothoot flew in the air, close by all of us, turning its head in complete circles, carefully checking out the area with glowing red eyes. Prof. Oak had told me that Hoothoot would be great protection once I got to Obsidian City since there are Ghost Pokemon located there. Hoothoot's move, Foresight, could reveal Ghost Pokemon in disguise and dissipate their created illusions.

Charmander walked right beside me.

It was great to get out and spend some time with my Pokemon. Especially Charmander, since me and it had such a rocky start in our relationship. I told it a little bit about my life growing up in Pallet Town and my goals I had set for myself to accomplish. It was fun being friends with Charmander now and I was in such a good mood that I found myself starting to discuss where we would go after we beat the Obsidian Gym Leader. Because we would beat him or her. No question there. That Badge was mine. The longer I spoke about our next destination, the more a certain fact I had in the back of my mind became more apparent.

It was dark outside.

We'd been traveling for over a day and my legs were killing me, my feet throbbing, and I was really thirsty. Plus, I was starting to wonder if we were lost. The map showed that Obsidian City was a little less than a day's walk away from Pewter City. A decent walk, yes, but I'd gone above and beyond what I had expected to physically deal with before getting to the city.

I came to a stop, Charmander stopping as well and looking up at me.

Hoothoot's wings flapped and kept him in the air as he turned to me.

Nothing but trees were in my sight as I spun in a slow circle. The only things visible beyond the trees closest to us were more trees and an overtly dark darkness. It even seemed abnormally dark. "Charmander, Hoothoot, stay sharp," I warned.

Charmander and Hoothoot nodded seriously and we continued to move ahead.

I was terrified walking through here. Who knows how long we may have even been walking in circles all this time? I was starting to get hungry, and I knew my Pokemon must be as well. But there was no way we could stop now. Not in this creepy place.

A high pitched scream, louder than the shrillest whistle, rang out from right next to my ear. Just as I screamed in terror and shoved my hands out in the direction of the noise, stumbling backwards, a pair of dark, shadowy hands reached from the darkness and snatched my Hoothoot from the air! "HOOTHOOT!" I yelled, my heart slamming into my chest, staring in shock as my Hoothoot, terrified, was pulled into the darkness and trees! "HOOTHOOT!" I ran after my Pokemon, and a horrifying face shot out at me from the depths of the deep black nothingness between the trees.

It was a rounded face of some kind of beast, only twice the size of my own head. The face was split in half, directly down the middle, maggots squirming and dropping to the ground from the gash. There was no body attached to the neck. The head just hovered in front of me, shredded, moldy looking skin just hanging from the end of the neck, seeming to curl and writhe on its own disgustingly, and I was sure there were maggots feasting beneath. Though clearly an animal, there seemed to be human-like features in the mix, almost sewn throughout the fur. The eyes were a hard blue, but somehow not like an animal's eyes. They almost looked familiar in their cold, knowing glare. Its open mouth contained the long, razor sharp blades of a deadly predator, but they weren't white or yellow or even resembled teeth very much. They were a darker gray color and seemed to be made of maybe stone! Its tongue slid lazily over these powerful looking fangs or whatever and then rose up, almost kind of pointing at me! It was when I saw the matching pink antennae reaching out for me that I realized it wasn't a tongue reaching for me, but a slug!!