Story Notes:
Im starting to rewrite it, so if it contradicts itself at times, its because i havent gotten to that chapter yet. chapters with the word 'rewrite' at the end have been rewriten.
Amnesia? Chapter Nine- The Real Journey Begins, and A New Companion Joins
Blaze opened his eyes slowly, memories from the events before unconsciousness' grip claimed him coming back in a flood. When his eyes could see, he didn't recognize the roof he was under, and he sat up in an almost snap-like motion, looking around. He was in what appeared to be a hospital room, with whitewashed walls and ceiling. Almost the instant he sat up, a woman in a nurse's outfit entered the room. Seeing Blaze trying to get up, she hurried over and pushed him back down, saying "No! You're injuries still haven't healed fully! You have to rest." She spoke in Japanese, which Blaze understood, but he ignored her, pushing her away, before standing up. Then he dashed out of the room.
He was only a few feet down the hallway, when he heard the nurse shout, "Stop him! He's still not healed!"
Many tried to do as the nurse instructed, but all who got in his path failed to stop him. At the last stretch of hallway, his pursuers slowed. At the end was a pair of Plexiglas doors, which had been locked, and no one ever saw what happened next coming. Instead of stopping, Blaze picked up speed. The men and women behind him could only watch in amazement as an orb of spinning amethyst flame appeared in his hand, before elongating into a spike. At the last possible moment, Blaze jumped forward, yelling, "Makai Kachuu: Hellspike!" he then slammed the tower into the doors, and flew through in a whirlwind of glass, landing with a roll in a shower of said substance.
He barely had time to stand up before a pink blur slammed into his chest, knocking him back down. He pushed Sakura off and stood up again, looking around. It took him only a moment to locate the receptionist, due to the small number of people currently there, and when he did, she nodded to a closed door off to the side, which Blaze entered, kicking the door in, as he didn't want to bother with the locks. At the back of the room, on a dusty shelf, lay his equipment. No sooner than he had finished reequipping it, he heard an ominous click, as of a gun being cocked. He raised his hands and slowly turned around. Behind him was a young man of perhaps twenty, in police uniform, and pointing a gun at him. Obviously thought Blaze he saw what happened to that glass door.
Out loud, he said, "Look, I don't want to hurt you, so put that gun down, and we can pretend this never happened."
The man gave what was obviously a forced laugh, and said, "I'm the one with the gun, and you're the criminal. What are you gonna do, hmm?"
"This," was the last thing the man heard, before Blaze dashed forward faster than the cop could react and cut off every part of the gun above his hand. The cop just stared at his ruined weapon in dismay as Blaze walked past him, through the lobby, and out into the street, where he ducked into an alley to avoid the police he could hear coming.
Once they had passed, Sakura asked him, "Why don't we fight?"
"Primarily because there is almost no limit to their numbers, but also because they aren't our enemies. They're just average guys that are trying to do the right thing." As he said this, Blaze climbed into a window and ducked inside. Then he passed through the small, vacant apartment and walked out into the hall, his hand never leaving the grip of his gun, even as they climbed the stairs, and onto the roof. Once there, Blaze realized that the building on either side of this one was significantly taller. Without a second thought, he ran toward one of them and jumped, diving into a family having dinner in a shower of glass and rolling over the table. A stream of curses followed Blaze as he ran out of the apartment, yelling apologies back as he ran. He headed to the roof of the building and when he got there, he pointed to the tallest building in sight, and asked, "Can you teleport us to the top of that structure?"
"Certainly, but... why not just fly?"
"That's probably how they found me in the first place. The more I use my powers, the easier it is for whoever is trying to capture me to triangulate my position, due to the unique signature it gives off." Sakura didn't bother questioning this, and teleported them to the roof of the building. Once there, Blaze saw a police helicopter about to take off, and had Sakura teleport them down. Without using his weapons, he knocked the twelve men who were on board unconscious and sat in the pilot's seat on the right, while Sakura hovered next to him. Almost instantly, he got the craft in the air, grateful that they had gotten to it at the right time: just before it took off.
About five minutes into the flight, Blaze began to wonder where he had learned to fly, but pushed that out of his mind when he nearly hit a flock of birds, which, although he couldn't tell whether they were pokemon or not, he didn't want to have splattered all over the window. Instead, he brought up the V.I.S.A.R., and told it to search for the professor Oak that Gary had mentioned. After a few seconds, he found a promising lead in Pallet Town in the Kanto Pokemon Region, which was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. When he searched for the quickest transportation there, he groaned. The only way to get there at the moment was to take a ninety-thousand yen cruise that took six months and stopped in every other region first. He ground his teeth as he brought the helicopter down about twenty miles from the city. He scavenged some supplies from it, as well as about ten thousand yen, and left.
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That night, Blaze was setting up camp on the outskirts of a small town and Sakura was off getting wood for a fire, when an unfamiliar voice entered his mind, saying, "Please...help...,"at the same time as he heard something crash through the brush and into the clearing, then a thud as something hit the ground. Blaze looked over to see what looked like a bipedal dog with tan fur on its back and chest, blue thighs, black shins and foot-paws, blue arms and tail, black hand-paws with steel-like spikes protruding from the backs, and a mostly blue head with a black, mask-like pattern on it, with four black braids hanging from it. Not a second later, a man wearing travel-worn clothing pushed through the same spot the pokemon had. Only now did Blaze notice the numerous lacerations that covered the pokemon's form, and the knife in the man's hand. As soon as Blaze saw this, he moved between the two of them, arms spread protectively.
The man clearly didn't like this. "Get away from my pokemon, freak!" he yelled. The man was perhaps twenty years old, and the knife dripped what looked to be a combination of blood and poison. Blaze's eyes narrowed in anger.
"What did you say?"
"I told you to get away from my pokemon!" the man yelled. "She disobeyed me, and I'm punishing her. Interfere, and I'll kill you, too."
That was the final thing he ever said. So fast that the trainer didn't even see it, Blaze drew Gouka and, in one stroke, severed his aorta, cutting through the knife in the process. The man dropped to the ground, dead before he could comprehend what had happened. Blaze removed the blood from his blade with an elegant swing, and walked over to the dead trainer's body and took his backpack, where he found a lot of trainer supplies and five other occupied balls. He flung it over his back and bent down to examine the pokemon, activating the V.I.S.A.R. as he did. It locked onto the pokemon and came up with the relevant data. It was a female lucario, a steel/fighting-type, with an interesting ability unique to the species. Currently, it was weakened due to severe poising and blood loss.
When Blaze saw this, he reacted on instinct. He grabbed the only empty pokeball, and returned the lucario. Then he placed all six of them in six of the slots at his waist on the A.R.M.O.R. then he looked up the nearest town in the V.I.S.A.R. and started running. An hour and fifteen miles later, Blaze charged through the doors of a hospital, and up to the reception desk. Placing the six balls on the desk, he pointed to the lucario's and said, "Poison and lacerations," then he pointed to the other five, "no clue," then he collapsed. Even before he hit the floor, the lobby became as busy as a kicked anthill. The last thing Blaze felt was two pairs of hands pulling him up by the arms. Then, nothing.
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A sweet voice called his name as Blaze as he floated in darkness, calling for him to wake. He resisted, and the voice paused for a second, then came back, more persistent, and he started to wake, if unwillingly. He opened his eyes slowly, finding his vision to be very blurry. When it finally came into focus, he saw Sakura hovering above him. He then tried to sit up, and found out the hard way what sheets tangled around your limbs and twisted tight can do, which is to say, he only managed to move a couple of inches before he nearly fell off the bed. He fumed for a few seconds, trying to untangle the sheets, but he was so thoroughly caught, he may as well have been trying to break a cement wall with his bare hands. But when he heard voices on the other side of the door, he ceased his efforts so he could listen.
"Might... sleeping. Don't... noise, ok?" the sound was broken and barely decipherable. Sakura dove for cover the instant the door swung open, revealing a woman in nurse's garb, with the lucario standing next to her. Blaze gave her an "About FUCKING TIME!" look, and she moved forward, picking up a pair of scissors, and quickly cut him free. The lucario came forward as the nurse left, and helped him sit up.
When he was stable, the lucario took a step back and looked away, and he noticed that her eyes were blue, as opposed to the normal crimson of her species, though he didn't mention it. Then Blaze heard an unfamiliar voice in his mind. It said, "Th-thank you for saving me. The nurse told me what you did to get me here, and I don't think I can ever repay you." Blaze quickly realized it was coming from the lucario.
"First of all," he said, "You can look at me when you speak; it's impolite to look away. Second," he continued when she looked at him, "You owe me nothing. I didn't save you so you could be indebted to me. You're free to do as you wish."
The lucario was surprised by Blaze's response. She had never met a decent human before, and she found the change rather refreshing. With no warning, an idea popped into her head. Why not have him become her trainer? She could stay close to him, pay back her debt, and she wouldn't have to worry about getting captured by another trainer like her previous one. There was only one problem: she was too afraid he'd get angry and possibly hurt her if she asked.
"If you want to go with him so bad, just ask. What's the worst that could happen?" asked a voice in her mind.
"I just... he might get angry and hurt me," she responded.
"I highly doubt that would happen," said the voice.
"What would you know? You're just a voice in my head," the lucario said.
"No I'm not," said the voice in a confused tone.
'I'm having a conversation with an imaginary voice," replied the lucario.
"No you're not. Here, I'll show you. Look down." The lucario complied, feeling extremely foolish, and Sakura, who had been hiding under the bed, poked her head out to get a good look at the lucario, as well as to prove that she wasn't crazy.
Seeing the flash of pink was enough to prove to the lucario that she wasn't crazy, but it didn't help her nervousness. In spite of this, however, she took a deep breath and said, with her mouth, assuming he wouldn't understand her, "Would it be alright if I accompanied you on your journey?"
To her amazement, he responded. "Well, I suppose you don't have anywhere else to go, so why not?" he said, "I just need to get my stuff and we can head out."
After a few more attempts to dissuade him, the lucario gave up. It only took a few seconds to "convince" the nurse to release them, and five minutes later, they headed to the local store, where they sold the lucario's former trainer's supplies, acquiring about one hundred and fifty thousand yen for them. After buying a tent for about two thousand, they left the town behind, heading for the ship that would take them to Kanto, which was two uneventful days away.
They managed to make it aboard the cruise shim mere minutes before it left, running on as the workers pulled the ramps up. No sooner had they set foot on deck than the ship started moving. He activated the V.I.S.A.R. and brought up the map he had downloaded on the way there. He still got lost twice, but managed to find his room in under an hour.
As he entered the room, the first thing that struck him was how HUGE it was, almost a thousand square feet. On the wall to the left lay a queen-sized four-poster bed with white curtains and sheets. Across from that was a door that led to the bathroom, which was so large it had its own echo, and so clean it almost hurt to look into it.
After putting his belongings on the bed, Blaze decided to take a quick shower. When he got out, he sat on the bed in his robe, thinking "Considering I'm going to be living her for the next few months, I probably shouldn't be surprised, but still..."
He found Sakura and the lucario loitering on the opposite side of the dresser that was next to the bed, just out of sight, and called them over. When they sat down next to him, he turned to the lucario and said, "If you're coming with us, you're going to need a name. Do you have one?"
The lucario tensed up a bit, and simply said, "Yes."
"From your reaction, I'd say that you don't like it. Would you like a new one?"
She relaxed a bit, but was still clearly hesitant. "If you would like to give me one, master," she said stiffly.
Blaze sighed in exasperation, tired of formalities. "Don't call me master," he said, "I've already told you that you're free to do as you please. I am not your master. Now, do you wish for a new name?"
"Very much so." Well, at least that was a bit better. She still wasn't completely comfortable, but she was improving. Blaze thought for a second.
"How does Taiga sound? It means 'river'," he said, after a minute of deliberation.
"May I ask why?" queried the canine.
"Yes, you may."
The lucario hesitated for a minute, before asking the one word question. "Why?" then she flinched as though she expected to be hit.
Blaze smiled in a friendly manner. "Because your eyes are as blue as the purest water, and show the unyielding strength of a raging torrent."
She blushed a bit at the praise, but said, "I...like it. thank you."
"My pleasure."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, but eventually Blaze got up, grabbed a pair of brown cargo pants, and a black sleeveless shirt (Sometimes called a beater), and pulled them on, setting a pair of aviators on his face to hide his features before pulling his old leather strap for the weapons on and, leaving the A.R.M.O.R. in the room, left to go get something to eat, the V.I.S.A.R. in place, but deactivated.Chapter End Notes:so if you liked it, tell me what in particular you liked. if not, tell me why, as long as its not just, "this is a stupid story" or somethin
He was only a few feet down the hallway, when he heard the nurse shout, "Stop him! He's still not healed!"
Many tried to do as the nurse instructed, but all who got in his path failed to stop him. At the last stretch of hallway, his pursuers slowed. At the end was a pair of Plexiglas doors, which had been locked, and no one ever saw what happened next coming. Instead of stopping, Blaze picked up speed. The men and women behind him could only watch in amazement as an orb of spinning amethyst flame appeared in his hand, before elongating into a spike. At the last possible moment, Blaze jumped forward, yelling, "Makai Kachuu: Hellspike!" he then slammed the tower into the doors, and flew through in a whirlwind of glass, landing with a roll in a shower of said substance.
He barely had time to stand up before a pink blur slammed into his chest, knocking him back down. He pushed Sakura off and stood up again, looking around. It took him only a moment to locate the receptionist, due to the small number of people currently there, and when he did, she nodded to a closed door off to the side, which Blaze entered, kicking the door in, as he didn't want to bother with the locks. At the back of the room, on a dusty shelf, lay his equipment. No sooner than he had finished reequipping it, he heard an ominous click, as of a gun being cocked. He raised his hands and slowly turned around. Behind him was a young man of perhaps twenty, in police uniform, and pointing a gun at him. Obviously thought Blaze he saw what happened to that glass door.
Out loud, he said, "Look, I don't want to hurt you, so put that gun down, and we can pretend this never happened."
The man gave what was obviously a forced laugh, and said, "I'm the one with the gun, and you're the criminal. What are you gonna do, hmm?"
"This," was the last thing the man heard, before Blaze dashed forward faster than the cop could react and cut off every part of the gun above his hand. The cop just stared at his ruined weapon in dismay as Blaze walked past him, through the lobby, and out into the street, where he ducked into an alley to avoid the police he could hear coming.
Once they had passed, Sakura asked him, "Why don't we fight?"
"Primarily because there is almost no limit to their numbers, but also because they aren't our enemies. They're just average guys that are trying to do the right thing." As he said this, Blaze climbed into a window and ducked inside. Then he passed through the small, vacant apartment and walked out into the hall, his hand never leaving the grip of his gun, even as they climbed the stairs, and onto the roof. Once there, Blaze realized that the building on either side of this one was significantly taller. Without a second thought, he ran toward one of them and jumped, diving into a family having dinner in a shower of glass and rolling over the table. A stream of curses followed Blaze as he ran out of the apartment, yelling apologies back as he ran. He headed to the roof of the building and when he got there, he pointed to the tallest building in sight, and asked, "Can you teleport us to the top of that structure?"
"Certainly, but... why not just fly?"
"That's probably how they found me in the first place. The more I use my powers, the easier it is for whoever is trying to capture me to triangulate my position, due to the unique signature it gives off." Sakura didn't bother questioning this, and teleported them to the roof of the building. Once there, Blaze saw a police helicopter about to take off, and had Sakura teleport them down. Without using his weapons, he knocked the twelve men who were on board unconscious and sat in the pilot's seat on the right, while Sakura hovered next to him. Almost instantly, he got the craft in the air, grateful that they had gotten to it at the right time: just before it took off.
About five minutes into the flight, Blaze began to wonder where he had learned to fly, but pushed that out of his mind when he nearly hit a flock of birds, which, although he couldn't tell whether they were pokemon or not, he didn't want to have splattered all over the window. Instead, he brought up the V.I.S.A.R., and told it to search for the professor Oak that Gary had mentioned. After a few seconds, he found a promising lead in Pallet Town in the Kanto Pokemon Region, which was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. When he searched for the quickest transportation there, he groaned. The only way to get there at the moment was to take a ninety-thousand yen cruise that took six months and stopped in every other region first. He ground his teeth as he brought the helicopter down about twenty miles from the city. He scavenged some supplies from it, as well as about ten thousand yen, and left.
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That night, Blaze was setting up camp on the outskirts of a small town and Sakura was off getting wood for a fire, when an unfamiliar voice entered his mind, saying, "Please...help...,"at the same time as he heard something crash through the brush and into the clearing, then a thud as something hit the ground. Blaze looked over to see what looked like a bipedal dog with tan fur on its back and chest, blue thighs, black shins and foot-paws, blue arms and tail, black hand-paws with steel-like spikes protruding from the backs, and a mostly blue head with a black, mask-like pattern on it, with four black braids hanging from it. Not a second later, a man wearing travel-worn clothing pushed through the same spot the pokemon had. Only now did Blaze notice the numerous lacerations that covered the pokemon's form, and the knife in the man's hand. As soon as Blaze saw this, he moved between the two of them, arms spread protectively.
The man clearly didn't like this. "Get away from my pokemon, freak!" he yelled. The man was perhaps twenty years old, and the knife dripped what looked to be a combination of blood and poison. Blaze's eyes narrowed in anger.
"What did you say?"
"I told you to get away from my pokemon!" the man yelled. "She disobeyed me, and I'm punishing her. Interfere, and I'll kill you, too."
That was the final thing he ever said. So fast that the trainer didn't even see it, Blaze drew Gouka and, in one stroke, severed his aorta, cutting through the knife in the process. The man dropped to the ground, dead before he could comprehend what had happened. Blaze removed the blood from his blade with an elegant swing, and walked over to the dead trainer's body and took his backpack, where he found a lot of trainer supplies and five other occupied balls. He flung it over his back and bent down to examine the pokemon, activating the V.I.S.A.R. as he did. It locked onto the pokemon and came up with the relevant data. It was a female lucario, a steel/fighting-type, with an interesting ability unique to the species. Currently, it was weakened due to severe poising and blood loss.
When Blaze saw this, he reacted on instinct. He grabbed the only empty pokeball, and returned the lucario. Then he placed all six of them in six of the slots at his waist on the A.R.M.O.R. then he looked up the nearest town in the V.I.S.A.R. and started running. An hour and fifteen miles later, Blaze charged through the doors of a hospital, and up to the reception desk. Placing the six balls on the desk, he pointed to the lucario's and said, "Poison and lacerations," then he pointed to the other five, "no clue," then he collapsed. Even before he hit the floor, the lobby became as busy as a kicked anthill. The last thing Blaze felt was two pairs of hands pulling him up by the arms. Then, nothing.
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A sweet voice called his name as Blaze as he floated in darkness, calling for him to wake. He resisted, and the voice paused for a second, then came back, more persistent, and he started to wake, if unwillingly. He opened his eyes slowly, finding his vision to be very blurry. When it finally came into focus, he saw Sakura hovering above him. He then tried to sit up, and found out the hard way what sheets tangled around your limbs and twisted tight can do, which is to say, he only managed to move a couple of inches before he nearly fell off the bed. He fumed for a few seconds, trying to untangle the sheets, but he was so thoroughly caught, he may as well have been trying to break a cement wall with his bare hands. But when he heard voices on the other side of the door, he ceased his efforts so he could listen.
"Might... sleeping. Don't... noise, ok?" the sound was broken and barely decipherable. Sakura dove for cover the instant the door swung open, revealing a woman in nurse's garb, with the lucario standing next to her. Blaze gave her an "About FUCKING TIME!" look, and she moved forward, picking up a pair of scissors, and quickly cut him free. The lucario came forward as the nurse left, and helped him sit up.
When he was stable, the lucario took a step back and looked away, and he noticed that her eyes were blue, as opposed to the normal crimson of her species, though he didn't mention it. Then Blaze heard an unfamiliar voice in his mind. It said, "Th-thank you for saving me. The nurse told me what you did to get me here, and I don't think I can ever repay you." Blaze quickly realized it was coming from the lucario.
"First of all," he said, "You can look at me when you speak; it's impolite to look away. Second," he continued when she looked at him, "You owe me nothing. I didn't save you so you could be indebted to me. You're free to do as you wish."
The lucario was surprised by Blaze's response. She had never met a decent human before, and she found the change rather refreshing. With no warning, an idea popped into her head. Why not have him become her trainer? She could stay close to him, pay back her debt, and she wouldn't have to worry about getting captured by another trainer like her previous one. There was only one problem: she was too afraid he'd get angry and possibly hurt her if she asked.
"If you want to go with him so bad, just ask. What's the worst that could happen?" asked a voice in her mind.
"I just... he might get angry and hurt me," she responded.
"I highly doubt that would happen," said the voice.
"What would you know? You're just a voice in my head," the lucario said.
"No I'm not," said the voice in a confused tone.
'I'm having a conversation with an imaginary voice," replied the lucario.
"No you're not. Here, I'll show you. Look down." The lucario complied, feeling extremely foolish, and Sakura, who had been hiding under the bed, poked her head out to get a good look at the lucario, as well as to prove that she wasn't crazy.
Seeing the flash of pink was enough to prove to the lucario that she wasn't crazy, but it didn't help her nervousness. In spite of this, however, she took a deep breath and said, with her mouth, assuming he wouldn't understand her, "Would it be alright if I accompanied you on your journey?"
To her amazement, he responded. "Well, I suppose you don't have anywhere else to go, so why not?" he said, "I just need to get my stuff and we can head out."
After a few more attempts to dissuade him, the lucario gave up. It only took a few seconds to "convince" the nurse to release them, and five minutes later, they headed to the local store, where they sold the lucario's former trainer's supplies, acquiring about one hundred and fifty thousand yen for them. After buying a tent for about two thousand, they left the town behind, heading for the ship that would take them to Kanto, which was two uneventful days away.
They managed to make it aboard the cruise shim mere minutes before it left, running on as the workers pulled the ramps up. No sooner had they set foot on deck than the ship started moving. He activated the V.I.S.A.R. and brought up the map he had downloaded on the way there. He still got lost twice, but managed to find his room in under an hour.
As he entered the room, the first thing that struck him was how HUGE it was, almost a thousand square feet. On the wall to the left lay a queen-sized four-poster bed with white curtains and sheets. Across from that was a door that led to the bathroom, which was so large it had its own echo, and so clean it almost hurt to look into it.
After putting his belongings on the bed, Blaze decided to take a quick shower. When he got out, he sat on the bed in his robe, thinking "Considering I'm going to be living her for the next few months, I probably shouldn't be surprised, but still..."
He found Sakura and the lucario loitering on the opposite side of the dresser that was next to the bed, just out of sight, and called them over. When they sat down next to him, he turned to the lucario and said, "If you're coming with us, you're going to need a name. Do you have one?"
The lucario tensed up a bit, and simply said, "Yes."
"From your reaction, I'd say that you don't like it. Would you like a new one?"
She relaxed a bit, but was still clearly hesitant. "If you would like to give me one, master," she said stiffly.
Blaze sighed in exasperation, tired of formalities. "Don't call me master," he said, "I've already told you that you're free to do as you please. I am not your master. Now, do you wish for a new name?"
"Very much so." Well, at least that was a bit better. She still wasn't completely comfortable, but she was improving. Blaze thought for a second.
"How does Taiga sound? It means 'river'," he said, after a minute of deliberation.
"May I ask why?" queried the canine.
"Yes, you may."
The lucario hesitated for a minute, before asking the one word question. "Why?" then she flinched as though she expected to be hit.
Blaze smiled in a friendly manner. "Because your eyes are as blue as the purest water, and show the unyielding strength of a raging torrent."
She blushed a bit at the praise, but said, "I...like it. thank you."
"My pleasure."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, but eventually Blaze got up, grabbed a pair of brown cargo pants, and a black sleeveless shirt (Sometimes called a beater), and pulled them on, setting a pair of aviators on his face to hide his features before pulling his old leather strap for the weapons on and, leaving the A.R.M.O.R. in the room, left to go get something to eat, the V.I.S.A.R. in place, but deactivated.Chapter End Notes:so if you liked it, tell me what in particular you liked. if not, tell me why, as long as its not just, "this is a stupid story" or somethin