PokèDruids [PkmnWattys2016]

Winter Ghosts

Death was right in front of him, looking him in the eye. He couldn't even touch it; If it were truly death, what would it matter, and if it were a Pokemon, he had no way to touch it, being a ghost type. What could he do to hold it off? He could run away, but if he were sleeping and the Duskull found him? He needed to somehow keep it away. How did it find him? And why?

Eros put some distance between him and the ghost, having the major advantage of speed over it. He quickly swept his stuff back into his bag and gave himself more distance from the ghost. The horrific creature was a ghost type- rock moves affect ghosts, right? Eros quickly grabbed a small rock lying around and tossed it at the ghost. To his surprise, it let out a small cry and winced at the hit, dropping its scythe. Well, that was easy enough.

The ghost floated down and tried to reach for its scythe, bringing it behind its back again. Eros picked up a larger rock this time and threw it with all his force, slamming into the hard mask of the Duskull and causing it to 'fall' to the ground. The creature was trying to levitate up again, so Eros grabbed another rock and threw it at the ghost, hitting it down once more. The Duskull was on the ground, trying to get up but only managing to roll onto its back. Eros acted quickly and grabbed another rock, but instead of tossing it, he ran over to the Duskull and started to smash it into his face over and over. The Duskull had winced every time the rock came down, smashing into its face over and over. Eventually Eros slowed down, then stopped attacking completely.

Eros looked down. The red orb in the Duskull's head was faded, indicating it had fainted. What had he done? Well, to be fair, the thing tried to kill him, so they're even. He looked at the ghost, now in his hands. It actually looked pretty sad like this, even if it wanted to kill him.

Eros put the ghost at the base of a tree and grabbed its scythe. He put the flat part of the blade under his foot and grabbed the shaft, pulling up and snapping the staff near the blade, rendering the weapon almost useless. Whoever made the weapon didn't put the greatest care into making it sturdy, for sure. Eros tosses the shaft and blade into the forest, far away from each other. Then he started to walk north for about an hour before realizing that he needed to sleep, having been attacked in the middle of the night. He picked a spot in the middle of some massive pine trees, towering above the sky and blocking the moon from sight. Eros slept uneasily that night.

Eros' luck must have been on its trough today, as he woke up to a Sneasel rummaging through his bag only a foot away. In fact, he could grab the Sneasel right now if he wanted to, which he did. His hand wrapped around the weak limb of the Pokemon, keeping it in position somehow. The Sneasel stiffened itself up, looking at the laid out Eros with fear in its eyes. It was cold to the touch, and its presence gave an eerie feeling.

Eros whispered kindly to the thief. "You don't need to be afraid of me. I don't have any food, if that's what you're looking for." The Sneasel looked confused. "You know, I can understand you."

The Sneasel looked a bit sorry towards Eros, than said, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Eros thought for a second. "Hey, shouldn't you be farther up north? You know, being ice type and all?" Eros loosened his grip and the Sneasel withdrew its arm, responding slowly.

"How can you talk to Pokemon?"

"That's a secret. Now why don't you answer my question?"

The Sneasel gave another brief pause. "I was looking for something." Another pause. "Where are you going? You shouldn't be here."

"I'm headed to a temple up north, looking for a partner to fight with. Do you know anything about it?"

"You're a weird man." The Sneasel paused again. "Oh, I know that temple. That's a secret place where a bunch of Riolus train under a grandmaster Lucario. Sometimes you can hear an aura sphere attack go off, so I know they are really powerful. I've always wanted to train with them- Hey, if you're going there, can I come with you?"