HOME | DD

Description
Here we've chapter one of Zira's and Nova's journey.
Not sure how often I'll write another part. Always when I'm in the mood I guess.
Actually I just wanted some story to draw illustrations for.
But maybe the story will be actually nice to read as well. Let's try. But keep in mind that English is not my first language. Thx ♥

German Version:
Kapitel 1 - Die Flucht

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER 1

"AH OUCH!." There was a crack and a thump as the wooden crate hit the ground with a jolt.
An Eevee gasped as a Meowth landed right in there face as the crate came crashing down. The crate, which still contained half a dozen smaller Pokemon, had come to a stop.
Apparently, while unloading the ship, it had not been placed on top of another, taller crate with much thought, and eventually fell to the ground. The terrified Pokemon, who had just screamed in horror, were now completely silent and almost held their breath, so that many, panicked hearts could be heard beating.

The Meowth struggled to its feet.
"Are you okay?" it gasped to the Eevee it had just collided with. The other six Pokemon, had clumped together in a ball and were staring frightened at the other two.

"Yeah... ouch," the Eevee replied, rubbing the spot on its head that it had bumped against the inside wall of their prison with one paw.
"stupid... crappy box!" it suddenly cursed and rammed its head into the wall, this time deliberately. "AH!" it said, staggering back two steps and cursing again.
The Meowth gave it a pitying look. The two had been in that box for two days now. But no one had talked yet, ever since rough hands had crammed them all in here together.
"What's your name?" the Meowth now asked cautiously. "Eh?" made the Eevee and tried again to reach the painful spot with its paw. In doing so, it fell over.

"What's your name," the Meowth said louder. "Ehm Zira..." replied the Eevee. It stopped rubbing its head and scowled at a spot between itself and its counterpart.
"And you?" it asked after a while. "I'm Nova..." again they were both silent. "Kinda stupid to make small talk, well... in this situation." Zira started after a while "but maybe it helps, I mean. It's creepy enough in here." she caught Nova's gaze and then asked "how did they get you?". Nova sat down, hung her head and curled her tail as tightly as she could. "I've lived in some industrial area since I was little. Well, in a city, but where few people live. There it can be endured. But since I left home it wasn't so easy to get food and so on. So I had to move closer to the tourist mile, where all the restaurants are."

"Restauwhats?" asked Zira, confused. "That's where people go to get food. And what they leave they throw into big bins in the alleys where no one walks. That's where I usually found food" Nova explained. "And yeah, at some point some creepy guys showed up, on motorcycles and with dogs and nets. They chased all the Pokemon that were there out of the alleys, and they caught me-" Nova faltered. The memory seemed too fresh to talk about it. Zira looked to the side, embarrassed. She had experienced a similar fate, even though she had not been hunted directly in the city, but in a wooded area near the city limits, where there were no other people. She also was attacked and chased by Pokemon and eventually found herself totally entangled in a fine silk web, spun by an Ariados. One of the slaves of these Pokemon dealers.

"You know what?!" said Zira now, with a disgusted look on her face "they're buggers!". "Buggers?" repeated Nova timidly, hiding a tear behind her paw. "Buggers!" confirmed Zira. "Buggers!" now agreed Nova stoutly, almost laughing for a moment. "They're not keeping us here! It's not like I've outrun some moronic so called trainers and their catchballs umpteen times and now I'm sitting in a shitty box!" Zira now began scanning the box walls. Nova chuckled "yeah for real!" she confirmed and sniffled imperceptibly. Apparently Zira was right. Their pointless small talk wasn't so pointless after all. For some reason, their anxiety suddenly seemed to give way to a new drive. "Here," said Nova, who in turn had been scanning the walls. A nail seemed to have come loose on a corner where the crate had fallen earlier. The wooden wall could be pushed in a little. Zira was there in one leap, ramming her paws against the boards as well. "Tackle?" asked Zira now. "Will try" Nova nodded. They both set to work and took turns ramming their heads and paws against the board again and again, gradually opening a gap. "Maybe we could score it" Nova mused. She curled the toes of her front paws and her claws emerged. With a slash, she hit the claws against the board. Nothing happened.
"Go ahead. Then I'll ram again." said Zira, rubbing her head again, though now she had a glowing expression on her face. Half excited, half angry. Nova hammered a few more times with scratch against the wood.

Whenever she paused for a moment, Zira rammed her body against it again. The gap widened.
"KRACK" after some back and forth, the board that was harassing the two little Pokemon was broken at the scratching point. Zira and Nova gave each other a tanse look. They barely dared to breathe. Had someone heard them? The other Pokemon in the box, had not stirred. After a few seconds, Zira and Nova dared to move again. They carefully pressed their paws against the bar and pushed it in further. It was narrow but with some effort, they should be able to squeeze through it. They both looked at each other again.
"Who's going?" whispered Zira now. Her voice trembled slightly. Whether from nervousness or excitement was hard to tell. "I'll do it," Nova answered, also whispering. "I'll get to higher things quickly and can look from there".

She squeezed through the gap while Zira tried to push the bar further out. Nova managed it. She jumped nimbly and quietly onto the box she had just been trapped in and listened.
Human voices could be heard. However, at some distance. She jumped to the top edge of the higher crate they had fallen from earlier and peeked over the edge like a shadow. "What are you doing?" hissed Zira from below. She was still half stuck in the crevice from which she was just trying to escape. "I'm looking to see what they're doing. There's the ship! I knew it!" she jumped down and started pulling on Zira to help her out of the box. "I don't know-...why they unloaded us here" she gasped. Eventually Zira got out into the open too "but maybe they store Pokemon here and then sell them" Nova concluded. "Maybe they're waiting here for customers". "My ass. " hissed Zira. "And we're the goods, right?", "looks like it" replied Nova sadly. "What about the others?" she added. "I don't know" said Zira, peeking back into the rift "hey, you guys! It's now or never. The box is open. Move your ass-", footsteps.

The hairs on the back of Zira and Nova's necks stood on end.
They scrambled to their feet and spurted off, around a corner, behind a pile of rubble. They crawled under a collection of large pieces of shot and watched from their hiding place to see who approached.
Two bipeds dressed in black were apparently patrolling the area. One pointed at the box they had been trapped in a moment ago and said something the two Pokemon couldn't understand. Sadly, they had to watch as the crate was heaved back onto the larger one, the one black figure watching the gap, while the other took tools to hand, again hammering a nail into the broken lath to close the gap.

"Let's get out of here," whispered Zira. "But the oth-", "they have to help themselves, sorry. And we're no good to them either if they catch us again."
Zira gestured with a her head to a Houndoom about 20m away. Nova shuddered, "If she catches our scent, we're done for" Zira said, tugging at Nova. Nova nodded and they both crept further away from the hound pokemon and the black clad bipeds. It was dawning now. Lucky for them, it was easier to hide in the dark. But they could still see that they were in a kind of bay, surrounded by rugged mountainsides. There seemed to be only one road leading out of here.

Engines howled rattling and a cloud of dust now puffed up not far from them. The crunch of gravel could be heard as the car began to move and turn. Zira and Nova gave each other a meaningful look and both started to run. Well camouflaged by the dust, they got under the car and jumped left and right onto some kind of cross-sheet on its underside. The engine roared again and the vehicle began to pick up speed. It bumped enormously. Dust and rocks flaked into the eyes of the two Pokemon, and if Nova hadn't been able to climb, they probably would have both crashed right back down. They managed to keep up with the judder of the car for a few minutes. First riding along the ridge, then into a path between a higher cliff and rocky hills on the other side. It was almost dark by now. Probably about ten to twenty minutes had passed. The next rise that caused the car to jerk was one too many. Zira finally lost her balance and Nova, who was trying to hold on to Zira with all her might, was swept along with her. Both hit the gravelly ground and rolled along for a few meters in the direction of travel. The occupants of the car did not notice anything, because the vehicle drove blithely on.

Nevertheless, they had to get away from here, because any other car would recognize them immediately. They struggled to their feet, coughing.
"Which way?" gasped Nova, looking left and right. Zira was still coughing up sand "I...would say the lesser of two evils" she pointed to the less elevated outline of the rugged landscape to the left. They dragged themselves as fast as they could to the side and scrambled up the hills dotted with prickly pears. The ground was loose and it was hard to make progress. Not least because thorns and cactus thorns were ubiquitous. Fortunately, both of them were good at night vision, and so somehow they managed to keep going. The way the landscape looked, it had to get very hot here during the day. Everything was dry as dust, although the sea, as they knew, was not far away.

The two of them had made it over the crest of the hill and rolled onto their sides, panting. They looked at each other, breathed heavily, began to grin at each other and at the same time could not suppress their tears.
All the panic, adrenaline, and tension of the last few hours, the last few days, all this was slowly falling away from them. They were both shaking and giggling feverishly.
"By my coin... we actually got it... we're out of there. I..." babbled Nova. It felt unreal. Zira giggled again. They both lay facing each other, as their pulses slowly regenerated. Eventually they came to the conclusion to take a short break anyway. They didn't know how active the bipeds were in this region. Was it just a stopover for the ship? Or were they chasing wild Pokemon here, too? If they had bird of prey pokemon, it would all have been for nothing. No, they would not be recaptured. They would keep climbing, keep wandering. After they had recovered to some extent, they marched off. Straight into the labirynth-like system of jagged rocks.

CHAPTER 2:

Description
Here we've chapter one of Zira's and Nova's journey.
Not sure how often I'll write another part. Always when I'm in the mood I guess.
Actually I just wanted some story to draw illustrations for.
But maybe the story will be actually nice to read as well. Let's try. But keep in mind that English is not my first language. Thx ♥

German Version:
Kapitel 1 - Die Flucht

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER 1

"AH OUCH!." There was a crack and a thump as the wooden crate hit the ground with a jolt.
An Eevee gasped as a Meowth landed right in there face as the crate came crashing down. The crate, which still contained half a dozen smaller Pokemon, had come to a stop.
Apparently, while unloading the ship, it had not been placed on top of another, taller crate with much thought, and eventually fell to the ground. The terrified Pokemon, who had just screamed in horror, were now completely silent and almost held their breath, so that many, panicked hearts could be heard beating.

The Meowth struggled to its feet.
"Are you okay?" it gasped to the Eevee it had just collided with. The other six Pokemon, had clumped together in a ball and were staring frightened at the other two.

"Yeah... ouch," the Eevee replied, rubbing the spot on its head that it had bumped against the inside wall of their prison with one paw.
"stupid... crappy box!" it suddenly cursed and rammed its head into the wall, this time deliberately. "AH!" it said, staggering back two steps and cursing again.
The Meowth gave it a pitying look. The two had been in that box for two days now. But no one had talked yet, ever since rough hands had crammed them all in here together.
"What's your name?" the Meowth now asked cautiously. "Eh?" made the Eevee and tried again to reach the painful spot with its paw. In doing so, it fell over.

"What's your name," the Meowth said louder. "Ehm Zira..." replied the Eevee. It stopped rubbing its head and scowled at a spot between itself and its counterpart.
"And you?" it asked after a while. "I'm Nova..." again they were both silent. "Kinda stupid to make small talk, well... in this situation." Zira started after a while "but maybe it helps, I mean. It's creepy enough in here." she caught Nova's gaze and then asked "how did they get you?". Nova sat down, hung her head and curled her tail as tightly as she could. "I've lived in some industrial area since I was little. Well, in a city, but where few people live. There it can be endured. But since I left home it wasn't so easy to get food and so on. So I had to move closer to the tourist mile, where all the restaurants are."

"Restauwhats?" asked Zira, confused. "That's where people go to get food. And what they leave they throw into big bins in the alleys where no one walks. That's where I usually found food" Nova explained. "And yeah, at some point some creepy guys showed up, on motorcycles and with dogs and nets. They chased all the Pokemon that were there out of the alleys, and they caught me-" Nova faltered. The memory seemed too fresh to talk about it. Zira looked to the side, embarrassed. She had experienced a similar fate, even though she had not been hunted directly in the city, but in a wooded area near the city limits, where there were no other people. She also was attacked and chased by Pokemon and eventually found herself totally entangled in a fine silk web, spun by an Ariados. One of the slaves of these Pokemon dealers.

"You know what?!" said Zira now, with a disgusted look on her face "they're buggers!". "Buggers?" repeated Nova timidly, hiding a tear behind her paw. "Buggers!" confirmed Zira. "Buggers!" now agreed Nova stoutly, almost laughing for a moment. "They're not keeping us here! It's not like I've outrun some moronic so called trainers and their catchballs umpteen times and now I'm sitting in a shitty box!" Zira now began scanning the box walls. Nova chuckled "yeah for real!" she confirmed and sniffled imperceptibly. Apparently Zira was right. Their pointless small talk wasn't so pointless after all. For some reason, their anxiety suddenly seemed to give way to a new drive. "Here," said Nova, who in turn had been scanning the walls. A nail seemed to have come loose on a corner where the crate had fallen earlier. The wooden wall could be pushed in a little. Zira was there in one leap, ramming her paws against the boards as well. "Tackle?" asked Zira now. "Will try" Nova nodded. They both set to work and took turns ramming their heads and paws against the board again and again, gradually opening a gap. "Maybe we could score it" Nova mused. She curled the toes of her front paws and her claws emerged. With a slash, she hit the claws against the board. Nothing happened.
"Go ahead. Then I'll ram again." said Zira, rubbing her head again, though now she had a glowing expression on her face. Half excited, half angry. Nova hammered a few more times with scratch against the wood.

Whenever she paused for a moment, Zira rammed her body against it again. The gap widened.
"KRACK" after some back and forth, the board that was harassing the two little Pokemon was broken at the scratching point. Zira and Nova gave each other a tanse look. They barely dared to breathe. Had someone heard them? The other Pokemon in the box, had not stirred. After a few seconds, Zira and Nova dared to move again. They carefully pressed their paws against the bar and pushed it in further. It was narrow but with some effort, they should be able to squeeze through it. They both looked at each other again.
"Who's going?" whispered Zira now. Her voice trembled slightly. Whether from nervousness or excitement was hard to tell. "I'll do it," Nova answered, also whispering. "I'll get to higher things quickly and can look from there".

She squeezed through the gap while Zira tried to push the bar further out. Nova managed it. She jumped nimbly and quietly onto the box she had just been trapped in and listened.
Human voices could be heard. However, at some distance. She jumped to the top edge of the higher crate they had fallen from earlier and peeked over the edge like a shadow. "What are you doing?" hissed Zira from below. She was still half stuck in the crevice from which she was just trying to escape. "I'm looking to see what they're doing. There's the ship! I knew it!" she jumped down and started pulling on Zira to help her out of the box. "I don't know-...why they unloaded us here" she gasped. Eventually Zira got out into the open too "but maybe they store Pokemon here and then sell them" Nova concluded. "Maybe they're waiting here for customers". "My ass. " hissed Zira. "And we're the goods, right?", "looks like it" replied Nova sadly. "What about the others?" she added. "I don't know" said Zira, peeking back into the rift "hey, you guys! It's now or never. The box is open. Move your ass-", footsteps.

The hairs on the back of Zira and Nova's necks stood on end.
They scrambled to their feet and spurted off, around a corner, behind a pile of rubble. They crawled under a collection of large pieces of shot and watched from their hiding place to see who approached.
Two bipeds dressed in black were apparently patrolling the area. One pointed at the box they had been trapped in a moment ago and said something the two Pokemon couldn't understand. Sadly, they had to watch as the crate was heaved back onto the larger one, the one black figure watching the gap, while the other took tools to hand, again hammering a nail into the broken lath to close the gap.

"Let's get out of here," whispered Zira. "But the oth-", "they have to help themselves, sorry. And we're no good to them either if they catch us again."
Zira gestured with a her head to a Houndoom about 20m away. Nova shuddered, "If she catches our scent, we're done for" Zira said, tugging at Nova. Nova nodded and they both crept further away from the hound pokemon and the black clad bipeds. It was dawning now. Lucky for them, it was easier to hide in the dark. But they could still see that they were in a kind of bay, surrounded by rugged mountainsides. There seemed to be only one road leading out of here.

Engines howled rattling and a cloud of dust now puffed up not far from them. The crunch of gravel could be heard as the car began to move and turn. Zira and Nova gave each other a meaningful look and both started to run. Well camouflaged by the dust, they got under the car and jumped left and right onto some kind of cross-sheet on its underside. The engine roared again and the vehicle began to pick up speed. It bumped enormously. Dust and rocks flaked into the eyes of the two Pokemon, and if Nova hadn't been able to climb, they probably would have both crashed right back down. They managed to keep up with the judder of the car for a few minutes. First riding along the ridge, then into a path between a higher cliff and rocky hills on the other side. It was almost dark by now. Probably about ten to twenty minutes had passed. The next rise that caused the car to jerk was one too many. Zira finally lost her balance and Nova, who was trying to hold on to Zira with all her might, was swept along with her. Both hit the gravelly ground and rolled along for a few meters in the direction of travel. The occupants of the car did not notice anything, because the vehicle drove blithely on.

Nevertheless, they had to get away from here, because any other car would recognize them immediately. They struggled to their feet, coughing.
"Which way?" gasped Nova, looking left and right. Zira was still coughing up sand "I...would say the lesser of two evils" she pointed to the less elevated outline of the rugged landscape to the left. They dragged themselves as fast as they could to the side and scrambled up the hills dotted with prickly pears. The ground was loose and it was hard to make progress. Not least because thorns and cactus thorns were ubiquitous. Fortunately, both of them were good at night vision, and so somehow they managed to keep going. The way the landscape looked, it had to get very hot here during the day. Everything was dry as dust, although the sea, as they knew, was not far away.

The two of them had made it over the crest of the hill and rolled onto their sides, panting. They looked at each other, breathed heavily, began to grin at each other and at the same time could not suppress their tears.
All the panic, adrenaline, and tension of the last few hours, the last few days, all this was slowly falling away from them. They were both shaking and giggling feverishly.
"By my coin... we actually got it... we're out of there. I..." babbled Nova. It felt unreal. Zira giggled again. They both lay facing each other, as their pulses slowly regenerated. Eventually they came to the conclusion to take a short break anyway. They didn't know how active the bipeds were in this region. Was it just a stopover for the ship? Or were they chasing wild Pokemon here, too? If they had bird of prey pokemon, it would all have been for nothing. No, they would not be recaptured. They would keep climbing, keep wandering. After they had recovered to some extent, they marched off. Straight into the labirynth-like system of jagged rocks.

CHAPTER 2: