POKEMON RANCHER
CH. 13


I slid down the door and placed Crystal, Ruby, and the egg on my lap. My mind racing over thoughts of the Latias, it's egg, and the strange man that had killed the poor Latias. I was mostly thinking of was I going to leave the Latias there, for the man to do what he pleased with it's body? And if I left to go and rescue the Latias, what would I do with the egg? Then I remembered that I wasn't alone.

"Crystal, Ruby I need you two to do something for me." They both looked up at me. "I want to go back and see if theirs anything that can be done for that poor Latias." Crystal cocked her head to the side then gave me a long low mewing sound. "I need the two of you to look after it's egg while I'm gone."

"Tor Torchic". She said, which I hoped was her way of saying that they would look after the egg. So I got up and placed them all on the bed and watched as Crystal moved over and wrapped around the egg and Ruby sat on top of it.

"Thanks you two. Hopefully I shouldn't be gone that long." They both gave me a chorus of notes then nods. "I am not sure if that man we saw hurt that Latias followed us, but just in case, I want you to attack anyone that tries to either force their way into this room or doesn't knock first." Another set of notes and nods. With that I opened the door and stuck my head out to look down either side of the hallway for any sign of the man.

A quick shiver went up my spine then I quickly moved out of the room. It didn't take me all that long until I reached the warehouse again, since I already knew the way there. On the way over to the building I was constantly looking over my shoulder thinking that someone was following me. When I reached where plywood door cover was supposed to be, I saw that it was no longer there, or even in sight. Thinking the worse I quickly made my way down the stairs and into the storage area. Once I was down to the bottom of it I saw that the whole place was a mess.

The dust on the floor had many more foot prints in it as if he had been searching, several crates and barrels were either upturned or tipped over, and others were smashed. I made my way over to where we left the man but there was no sign of him. 'Of course.' When he realized that his prize was gone he went around the store room, smashing, breaking, and tipping over everything in his search for the egg. I saw that the Latias was where she lay before we left. It seemed that she was no longer bleeding from the wound. Just seeing such a magnificent Pokemon hurt like that made me want to cry for it. Slowly, I walking over to the dead Latias. I placed my hand on it's forehead and rubbed it.

"I'm sorry Latias. I couldn't save you. But I promise to take great care of your child. And I promise that I wont let that man who did this to you take your child away from me." With that I knelt down and picked up the Latias as several tears ran down my cheeks. She was a little heavier than what I had expected but I was still able to pick her up. Once I was standing again I started to make my way out again. When we got outside I saw that the sun was about an hour to an hour and a half away from the horizon, which meant that if I was going to burry this Latias I was going to have to hurry. Quickly looking around I started to see if there would be a good place to burry the Latias. My eyes eventually landed on the perfect spot.

It was on top of a cliff that overlooked the sea. On the top of the cliff there was a tree, though the tree looked like it was dying. That would be a perfect place for her to watch over her child. As he made his way up a small Ratata trail I cursed myself for being so stupid. Even though I had found a good place to burry her, I didn't think of how he was going to burry her.

I was half way up when I realized this, so there was no way that I was going all the way back into town and ask for a shovel with a dead Latias on my back. I eventually made it up the steep trail and finally found myself on top of the cliff. The sun was about an hour or two from the horizon, so I was going to have to be quick. Gently setting down the Latias I began to dig with my hands.

Now anybody who has done something like this before will tell you that digging a hole with your hands is not easy. It's a down right painful. Especially if what your digging through is compacted earth. Fortunately for me the earth on top of this cliff was fairly soft, so in the course of an hour and a half and a lot of cursing, I had finally dug the hole. The hole wasn't that deep considering that I did dig it on top of a cliff, but it was deep enough to accommodate the Latias. I jumped out of the grave and walked over to the Latias and picked her up and gently placed her gently into the grave.

"Again, I'm sorry Latias that I couldn't save you. And again I promise that I will take great care of your little one. So may your have a swift journey to your final resting place, and may you finally find peace".

With that I buried the Latias. Once I was finished I looked up and the sun was halfway set. For the few clouds in the sky it gave them a gentle orange, pink, and red colors. A beautiful sun set to burry the Latias under. I turned back to the buried Latias and said my final farewell and headed back to town. During the whole trip back to the inn, I couldn't stop thinking of how poorly that Latias was treated, how she would never see her child, about the man that had killed her, and what I was going to do with either a baby Latias or a baby Latios.

As I made my way back to the inn my mind raced. Then it stopped on the fact that the man wasn't where we left him. Then a scary thought popped into my head. What if that man had followed us to the inn? Out of fear I quickly made my way back to the inn. Rushing through the lobby I nearly ran down several people. Though I apologized to everyone, they still shouted at me and a few cursed.

When I arrived at the door I could see that it had been forced open from the outside.

"CRYSTAL, RUBY"! I shouted as I stepped into the door frame. The sight before me made my mouth drop and my eyes bug out. The whole room was covered in scorch marks, holes in the walls from what looked like they came from a pressurized water cannon, and the room wasn't looking any better. The sheets to the beds were nearly torn to shreds and the lamps that were around the room were either lying on the ground or smashed beyond any recognition.

I heard a soft mewing sound and I quickly followed it under the bed. Quickly dropping to my knees I looked under the bed to find a Dragonair there. She looked utterly exhausted and she was wrapped around the egg.

"Is that you Crystal?" She gave me a soft mew then nodded. "Where's Ruby?"

"Com-bus-kin." I jumped up and turned to follow the sound and saw that it was coming from the bathroom. Moving quickly to the bathroom I tried to hold back a laugh. The first thing I saw was a Combuskin lying sideways in the bathtub with it's legs hanging over the side. But just like the bedroom, the bathroom was covered with scorch and burn marks. She had her eyes closed and looked like she was just as wiped out or just about as tired as Crystal.

My fears had proven true. The man must have followed us to the hotel and tried to take the egg back. Just then Ruby opened her eyes.

"Com...bus...bus...kin." She cried, then leapt out of the tub and flew right into me. I quickly wrapped her in a hug where she cried against my chest. 'Man that guy must have done something really bad to upset her like this.' So I scooped her off her feet and went back into the bedroom. I saw Crystal was now on top of the bed and she was wrapped around the egg.

I walked over to the bed and set Ruby down on the only dry part of the bed and then started to hug them both at the same time.

"Thank you both for all that you've done. I'm sure that the mother Latias is very grateful." Just then BANG, the door to the room flew open and there in the doorway was a man and an officer Jenny.

"That's him officer. That's the man that killed my Latias and stole it's egg." He said in a squeaky voice. The man was a little shorter than me but much older. Like he was in his mid forties to late fifties. He is wearing a black shirt and black pants. His cloths looked like they were a little drenched and scorched in some areas. 'Oh crud, here we go' I thought.

"Now that is a bold faced lie. You were the one who chased the Latias to the old abandoned warehouse and killed it with some kind of knife." The man and me started to bicker back and forth for a while.

"Ya, you would say anything to get out of this. Kid."

"THAT IS ENOUGH." Officer Jenny shouted. "Now the both of you are going to have to come with me to the station to answer some questions."

I nodded. "I would be happy to come down to the station with you officer Jenny."

"I don't care about that. All I want is that Latias's egg." And thus his first mistake. He walked towards Crystal that was wrapped around the egg. Both Crystal and Ruby weren't going to have any of that. Ruby stepped in-between him and the egg, then a slight step aside so that Crystal could attack him as well. For you see both Crystal and Ruby opened their mouths to release another set of fire and water attacks.

"Now hold on!" He lifted up his hands and backed up a couple of steps. "I just want to reclaim that egg. Officer Jenny could you tell them to back off." Mistake number two.

" I wouldn't call them beasts if I were you. They get quite angry when people call them that. Now officer Jenny I will release this egg only into your care, not his." So officer Jenny stepped beyond the man and walked over to the egg. Ruby and Crystal turned to me and I nodded. "It's alright you two. We can give her the egg. She will take good care of it." They nodded and Ruby stepped aside while Crystal uncoiled from the egg.

I guess the man thought that now was his best chance to get the egg since he made a lunge for it. Just then both Ruby and Crystal let loose a set of fire and water attacks. Their combined attacks slammed the man against the back wall. Once they let up he slid to the ground, unconscious. Mistake number three, checkmate.

"That's what you get for trying to take what isn't yours. You damn murderer."

"Well it would seem that this man has been leading me on from the beginning." She turned to face me and smiled. "Well it looks like that Latias's egg is in good hands. Though I have to ask, where is the Latias?" I lowered my head and shook it.

"I buried her on top of the hill with that bare tree on top. I thought that since I'm going to go out to sea that she could look over her baby and make sure that I raise it right." I walked over to my Pokemon and scratched them both.

Just then I heard a ratcheting sound and turned to see officer Jenny put a set of handcuffs on the man. "Well I'm going to take this man down to the station and have him answer some questions for me."

"What about the egg"? I asked. She just smiled to me.

"I think that the egg is in good hands. Have a nice day." She turned and dragged the man out of the room. So I sat down next to Crystal and picked up the egg. "Well you two it looks like were going to have a new little friend in a little while". I set the egg down and Crystal wrapped around it. "Well I guess the next thing to do would be to find a new room. Probably one that doesn't have water and burn marks all over it."Chapter End Notes:Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended