Symbiosis

Chapter 3

Alex and his coworkers made their way out of the warehouse and towards the edge of town. They passed the scene of a car wreck almost immediately. Three cars had piled up on the side of the road with the lead car flipped on its side with its belly facing the other two. This unnerved the three greatly and they all unconsciously sped their pace towards Preston's home. They walked in tense silence for only ten minutes before they came across another overturned car directly in their path.

"Ugh, great. Guess we have to go around this building," Preston muttered.

"Hey guys, I know this is going to sound weird, but does something feel... off, to you?"

"You mean besides the hundreds of cars that got wrecked all at once? No, of course not. I feel just peachy," Preston snapped. Nick just rolled his eyes and looked away.

Alex gave an irritated huff. "I mean aside from that. It feels like something is watching us."

"In broad daylight in the middle of a city? Dude, I know today took a turn absolutely no one was expecting, but I'd be surprised if someone wasn't watching us," Preston replied tiredly.

"Um, guys? What if he's talking about that?" Alex and Preston both stopped and glanced back at Nick who was pointing at something in the distance.

Alex had to squint to see what Nick was pointing at. It was bright green and looked to be about as big as a person. And were those claws that it had? They looked gigantic, though. It looked like it was standing near yet another car wreck.

Preston recoiled, having never seen anything like it before. "What IS that? It looks like some sort of giant mantis!"

Alex's eyes widened, as a certain image clicked into his mind as soon as Preston mentioned the word 'mantis'. "I- is that a-" Alex stuttered before trailing off.

"A scyther. I'm almost positive that's a scyther," Nick said slowly, finishing Alex's thought.

"And a scyther is...?" Preston left the question hanging.

Alex pursed his lips and glanced back at Preston. "Scyther is another type of pokemon."

Preston's eyes widened and looked back towards the scyther in the distance. "Wait what? So that thing I turned into- there are more here?"

'Yes, but I could've told you that.' "I.. I guess so," Alex trailed off a second time as his mind once again started trying to make sense of everything. He didn't get very far before Preston started yelling.

"Nick, wait! Where are you going?" Preston started running after Nick, who had run back towards one of the first couple car crashed they passed.

"Nick, what-?" Alex started following Nick right behind Preston as soon as his mind registered that they both had taken off. "Where is he going?" Alex asked Preston while mid-jog.

"I dunno, he just ran off!" Preston almost yelled in response.

"Ugh, well we better make sure he doesn't end up getting himself hurt doing whatever."

They didn't get very far before they saw Nick running back towards them, breathing heavily and looking slightly alarmed. "Dude, where did you go? Why'd you run off like that?" Preston asked forcefully.