Luck
Chapter Two
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I watched as the human changed.
It landed in this area three days ago. I couldn’t really see what it looked like, and was too far away for me to risk leaving the water long enough to get to it and get back. I’m a water pokegirl, a Shy Maiden to be exact.
Three days ago, I was eating a few fish when a bright flash blinded me. I slammed my shell shut to protect myself from whatever it was that was attacking me, but nothing did. I opened my shell just a crack and saw the human fall out of a hole in the air, hit the ground, and roll down the hill a little before stopping on its back. It tried to get up, but fell back down before it could even get on all fours. That was when I saw the sticks that were stuck in its stomach.
Three days later, and it still hasn’t moved. I wondered what it was doing there, but I wouldn’t try to go to it. When the sun set on the third day, it rolled over and turned into….
I really don’t know what it was. It walked on four legs and was covered in fur, so it wasn’t a human. Maybe a pokegirl? It sniffed the air with a long snout for a moment before falling back on its haunches and howling.
I hated that noise. It was bone-chilling, cold, and mournful. I clamped my shell shut to try to block the dreadful sound, but it still came through.
As suddenly as it started, it stopped. A few moments passed. I thought it had left and opened my shell just a crack, only to find a pair of burning golden eyes staring at me. The thing started to sniff at me before moving into the lake. I heard splashes, and the creature walked back up the hill to where it was before changing. I saw a flash of silver, and saw that it was eating a fish. No, it wasn’t eating it. It was violently ripping the fish apart, gulping down the shreds of meat like the creature hadn’t eaten in days.
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That shell bothered me. Shells didn’t get that big in the Empire. As I wolfed down a fish I caught, my nose caught the scent of a human nearing. Twenty meters. Fifteen. Ten.
“What’s that?” a human female said. Beside her was a creature that I had never seen before in my life. Maybe four feet tall. Large wings that reminded me of those small insects in Ka-san’s garden. What were they called? I couldn’t remember.
“Zalira, what is that?” the human asked. She was young, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old. Warm grey eyes, dark red hair, and lean build. The wolf watched her, completely in control of our body. I knew what was coming. The bug thing, whose name was apparently Zalira, looked relatively weak. The wolf knew that one snap of his jaws would crush her head. He knew that this was easy prey, and would make a decent addition to our pack. Temporarily, at least. Just until we were able to get back to my home, with my sister and mate.
“Zalira no know. Maybe new pokegirl?”
I don’t know what the hell that thing was talking about, but there is no way on Earth or under it that I’m a pokegirl. The wolf started growling at them, trying to gauge their reactions. The bug fluttered behind the girl, who took out a red device and held it up between us. We both tensed, the wolf and I thinking in unison that it was a weapon, but it merely began to speak.
“No data. No data. No data,” came a cool feminine voice.
“It must be a new type. Come on, Zalira, let’s catch it and take it to Daddy,” the girl said. The wolf snorted at that. Catch us? Good luck. If the best trackers in the Empire couldn’t catch us for twelve years, what does some girl who probably still sleeps with a doll think she can do.
“Zalira, gust!” the girl shouted. The bug flapped those delicate, yet apparently strong wings, judging by the wind they created. The wolf lowered himself to the ground to protect us, but was ready to spring in either direction if needed.
“Okay, now use Poison Powder!” that wench shouted. A purplish mist spread from the bug’s wings, following the winds straight for us.
Move, Wulf! I said to the wolf.
I know, human, he leapt to the left. I don’t need you to tell me what to do.
He ran in a zigzag pattern, avoiding the “Gusts” or whatever they were as well as the multi-colored powders that came with them. As he ran, I filed away information that might be needed later. Listening to the girl and watching the attacks, I figured that the purplish mist was Poison powder, which sounded like it wasn’t fun; the green mist was Stun Powder, which sounded like it was supposed to stop us from moving; and Sleep Powder, a bluish mist that was apparently a tranquilizer.
“This one good fighter!” Zalira shouted. Wulf and I side-stepped her, and leaped toward the girl. She pulled out another device, this time a sphere that was half red, half white, with a button in the center. She threw it at us with a triumphant look in her large grey eyes.
That ball flew at us, but Wulf twisted in mid-air to avoid it. He landed a yard in front of the wench and started his next leap, this time with the intent to bite her and spread our curse. That was the intent. However, there is a saying that my mom used to tell her children.
Nothing ever goes as planned.
Wouldn’t you think that having your body magically and forcefully reshaped would be painful beyond belief? You remember what I told you earlier? About me feeling pain being delayed for some reason? Well, it came back.
Wulf and I fell over, writhing in agony. It felt as if someone had put a thousand needles in a bonfire, left them in there until they were white-hot, and finished it up by jamming each and every one of them into our body at the same time.
“Stefanie!” the bug shouted. “Good Fighter fell over. What do now?”
“We capture it. Pokeball, go!” that wench shouted—why did she have to shout? I was in enough pain—as she threw another of those spheres. This one hit us, but bounced off of us as we laid there. Wulf pushed us onto our feet, and started snarling at the girl and her companion.
“Zalira, Sleep Powder! Quick!” she shouted. That blue mist spread from the bug’s wings and hit us before we could move. The world started spinning, my peripheral vision disappeared, and the last thing I heard before we fell over again was:
“We’d better get this to Daddy. There’s no way that it can be a pokegirl.”