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The hunters trudged through the brambles covering the bottom of the forest. They moved carefully, trying not to catch the exquisite tails of the vulprix clutch on the branches. The vulprix were very young and very healthy… or would be if not for the fact that they were all very dead.
The hunters reached a clearing and saw a golden-haired boy of about thirteen crouched over an egg and excitedly telling something to a young eevee standing next to him. The moment the hunters went out into the clearing the eevee turned, bristled its hair and jumped on the boy's arm. The boy turned around and slowly stood up, gently stroking eevee's back with a gloved hand.
'Shh, Donglord, it's OK.'
'Donglord' the hunter snorted to his companion. 'Youth these days.'
The boy's wide grin had faded a bit when he saw the hunters and he was looking at them now with a hard, stable stare of his yellow eyes, apparently unfazed by the abundant static coming off the eevee's fur as he stroke it.
'I know that clutch,' the boy's voice was weirdly bright, with a metallic edge to it. 'We're treating their sibling in the lab. You guys know this is a nature reserve? You're not supposed to be here You're not supposed to…' the boy indicated the murdered vulrprixes one of the hunters was carrying and a weird golden glint flashed in his eyes.
'What are you, some kind of hippy? Or maybe a trainer ?' the hunter indicated the eevee with the tip of their gun. 'And yet this is the only Pokémon you have?'
The young eevee looked ready to jump at the hunters and scratch their eyes out. Without even looking at it the boy put his hand up.
'Stand down, Donglord. And get down.'
The eevee stuck out its tongue in the direction of the hunters and obediently jumped down onto the ground and ran to the side of the clearing.
'Ah, not so tough, then? See, boy, we're doing important work here. Preventing overpopulation while challenging nature. A real duel, not like trainers who hide behind their Pokémon.'
The boy tilted his head not unlike a bird.
'You're poaching in a nature reserve. You will have to answer for that.' He wasn't smiling anymore.
So the boy was not stupid enough to believe them but stupid enough to stand up unarmed to two armed adult men.
'Dear boy, even if you call the police now, by the time they get here the only thing they'll find will be the corpses of you and your eevee.'
'I never said you will answer to law.' The boy smiled again. There was something unnerving in that smile. 'You said you were challenging nature…' The boy took a step forward; his eyes glowed gold and there was a smell of ozone and crackle of static electricity in the air around him. 'Well, I'm up for the challenge.'
***
Spark licked the small scratch on his arm. He was fighting a wave of nausea at the thought of two burned corpses lying in the clearing. He had never killed anyone before.
'TECHNICALLY IT WAS ME' said Zapdos in his head. 'AND IT WAS BARELY THE FIRST TIME FOR ME.'
Spark turned around and looked towards the clearing.
'THEY BOTH DESERVED IT. THEY CHALLENGED ME AND THREATENED WHAT IS MINE AND WHAT BELONGS TO WHAT IS MINE.'
Spark looked at the young eevee curled at his feet. Donglord was unharmed, his fur once again full of static from keeping too close to Zapdos. At this point Donglord was bound to evolve into joltreon one day. Spark leaned forward, took Donglord into his arms and patted him gently.
'Thanks Fearow but I felt it, I know it was both of us. This is how it's going to be for us from now, isn't it?'
'... THAT IS THE PRICE.'
'Well' Spark shrugged, 'I've always wanted to be close to pokemon.'