Tiger grabbed a berry from the pile, and climbed into a tree.
Smokey looked at his brother, and blinked. "So you still hide your
scar? You've had it for seven years" he asked gently.
Tiger just looked over, and replied simply after taking a bite from
the berry he grabbed. "Eh...most people are disgusted by it, or
they ask stupid questions about it" he said softly. Seemingly
unaffected by the presence of the scar now.
Tiger looked over "well it was a mixture of two things. Mainly from
a sacred fire attack, but also a flamethrower" he said kindly.
Cyndaquil flinched slightly, and Tiger pet his pokemon. "You didn't
trust me at the time. I understand why you attacked" he said softly
to the fire pokemon. "It's a long story, but we have some time if
you want to hear about it" he said softly to Mira.
Tiger nodded, and thought of where to begin. "Ok you see it all
started when I was five. Elm took Lion and I into Viridian Forest
so we could see some bug types. I was looking at a Caterpie when
Pichu heard something in the forest, and he ran off ahead of me."
he began, and closed his eyes to remember the day. "I chased Pichu
into the thicker parts of the forest, and managed to get him. He
had been drawn to a Pikachu that was practicing a volt tackle, and
didn't hear me call for him...I was going to go back to Elm when I
noticed that I had managed to get myself lost" he sighed. "Well
Pichu and I decided to back track to the river where we knew we
could make it to Viridian when..." he continued, and looked at the
sky. "A boy, a year younger than me, tackled me, and threw me to
the ground. He had an older man with him, and next to the man was a
Blastoise..." he sighed. "I knew exactly who the man, and the
blastoise were..." he said and trailed off as he was beginning to
become lost in the memories.
Tiger looked over, and smiled kindly. He nodded a thanks, and
continued. "The Blastoise belonged to my dad, and the man was my
father. He had joined team rocket shortly after my fourth
birthday..." he sighed. "I tried to plea with him, but he didn't
have it. He just said 'give me Pichu! I gave him to the wrong
child. I need to give him to my true son so he can become a great
Team Rocket member'" he sighed. "In the end I told him no, and
Pichu and I fought Blastoise, but we were weaker. I tried to
protect my pokemon, but Blastoise used a hydro pump, and knocked me
over. In the end Snow - the younger boy- got Pichu and the two
fled." he sighed, "I tried to keep up with them, but I was to slow,
and in the end I tripped over a root. Loosing sight of Pichu, and
the grunts. A few moments later, I began to cry, and call for Elm,
or Lion to find me, but I was lost. I sat there for a few hours
until almost nightfall when a pokemon fell from the sky, and
crashed behind me"
"It was Lugia. He had been critically injured in a fight, and at
first I didn't know what Pokemon it was. The Pokemon then
screeched, and he glared at me." He continued. "He then used a
strange power on me that went into my mind, and I heard thousands
and thousands of Pokemon screaming. Once the screams faded, Lugis
spoke. He told me to run, and to not stop no matter what" he said
quietly. "Though I wanted to know why. When he told me that he was
being attacked, I stayed." He sighed. "I stayed because I didn't
want to loose another friend to Team Rocket. The Pokemon who
attacked came back, and it saw me" he said lowly. "At first I
thought it was a Moltres, but it turned out to be Ho-Oh, the giant
bird had been captured by Team Rocket. They were after Lugia, and
the legendary was told to either kill, or bring Lugia in." He
sighed, "so I tried to stop Ho-Oh. I'm the end, Ho-Oh sent off his
finishing move, a sacred fire, and I stood in the way of the move,
and Lugia. Thus saving Lugia's life, and earning my scar."
"Same here" Tiger sighed. "I think Lugia may have taken some of the
damage too. Because he has burn marks as well from that day..." He
continued lowly.
Tiger smiled, and laughed lightly "yeah true, but what else could I
do? Lugia gave me my ability, and if I allowed him to die then I'd
be awful..." He sighed quietly.
Mira smiled. "You did the right thing. Even if it left a scar," She
chuckled a little bit. "And I know a ton of people who think of
scars as trophies... Signs of toughness or whatever. That's a
pretty good trophy."
Tiger nodded, and shrugged slightly "I count this as a mark. Not a
trophy. More of a reminder of what Ho-Oh can do" he said simply.
"And of the awful day I lost Pichu..."
Tiger nodded, and laughed lightly "we all need to be motivated
somehow" he said kindly, and yawned once more. "Well I'm going to
try and get some sleep. Night" he said kindly, and closed his eyes.
"Okay, night!" Mira called up to Tiger's tree, and slouched down
against her own, using her bag as a pillow. She stayed awake for
awhile, looking at the stars. "G'night Smokey," She said much
quieter, as he was closer.
Growlithe crawled beside her, falling asleep, acting as a space
heater. Pikachu had been out cold for awhile, clutching Mira's
shoulder, but now had moved onto her chest. Bulbasaur slept in
between her feet, and the combination of the three almost felt like
a hug as Mira drifted asleep.