<em>Squeak!</em><br/><em>Squeak!</em><br/><em>Squeak!</em><br/><br/>The noise emanated from his Bike as he rode down the old Cycling Road.  The sounds were amplified and unnaturally loud from bouncing off of the concrete and not being absorbed by anyone, or anything.  He didn't have to worry about where he was going, or getting lost; the bike trail was narrow and straightforward.  Still, it was an uphill struggle the entire time and, before long, he grew tired and had to stop.<br/><br/>Getting off of his bike, he propped it up against one of the barricades that littered the tiny road.  Sitting down, he pulled out his canteen and started drinking some water.  In the distance, he heard an engine growl and began to get louder and louder.  In a matter of minutes, a hulking figure blocked out the sun, giving a brief respite from the sun before he spoke.<strong>"Hey, bud!  Hand over your water and your bike, or else!"</strong>The man was easily twice his size and behind him hovered two Koffing.  Both looked as if they hadn't eaten in a while, but that only fueled their anger.<br/><br/>John took out his Pokeball and pressed the button.<strong>"Get back on your bike, and ride away, stranger.  I don't want trouble, but believe me, there will be some if you don't back off."</strong>With that, he got back up and put his canteen in his backpack.  As he was reaching for his bike, one of the Koffing rushed him.  He jumped back and threw the Pokeball.<strong>"Blade! Show these guys we mean business!"</strong>The pokeball clattered open and Blade came rushing out, arms drawn.  He gave one Koffing a shallow, yet dangerously long, cut on its forehead.  The Koffing retreated and tried to regroup with his friend.  Blade crossed his arms in an "X" fashion, and prepared to take on both Koffing at once.<br/><br/>The biker just looked from my Scyther, to his Koffing, and then finally to me.<strong>"You little brat!  You're going to pay for hurting my Koffing!"</strong>The irony clearly lost on someone like him, he ordered both pokemon to attack!  Both Pokemon obeyed their master and charged into battle.<strong>"Blade! Don't let them get close! Keep 'em at bay with some Cuts!"</strong>Blade was able to fend off both of their attacks, but John could tell his friend was getting tired.  They outnumbered him, it was only a matter of time before Blade slipped up.  No matter how fast Scyther was, the Koffing were able to rise out of reach.<br/><br/><strong>"Blade! Take to the air! Pin one of them down and have at it!"</strong>With that, his Scyther rose to his full height and started buzzing his wings.  He wouldn't be as maneuverable as the Koffing, but he could at least match their malnourished bodies for speed.  Once in the air, the Scyther was a moving work of art.  Gracefully dodging both attacks made by the Koffing, it seemed as if they were playing an aerial game of dodgeball, with the Koffing comically flying here and there.  John knew that all of this flying was draining Scyther of his energy, and he was planning on it.  Finally, one of the Koffing slipped through his defense and managed to bite down on the Scyther's leg.  His exoskeleton held, but he could hardly move.  In an instant, the other Koffing bit down on his other leg.  Blade looked worried, but he trusted his friend.<br/><br/><strong>"Blade! You've got them right where you want them!  Finish them off!"</strong>Through his pain, Blade failed to realize what John meant.  Then, and everyone could see it, the plan clicked in everybody else's head.<strong>"Koffing!  Get out of th-"</strong>Too late.  With a visceral grin and a flash of his mighty blades, John's Scyther set about systematically destroying those poor Koffing.  Years of practice dicing sushi left Blade very adept with his natural weapons.  It took him mere seconds to cut the Koffing a dozen times each.  He stabbed them both, one with each blade, and flung them overhand at their owner.  They fell to the ground in a daze, and the Biker put one of them into his pokeball.  The other, he picked up and placed on the end of his bike.<strong>"Not so fast, bud!"</strong>yelled John, clearly angry at the gall of this man.<strong>"Give me that PokeBall and we'll call it even.  I won't even report you to the police."</strong>John's eyes narrowed as he saw the Biker panic.  The biker's eyes roamed from the tiny kid who had beaten him, to the ominous blades of the Scyther that had eviscerated his friends.  Finally, with a defeated sigh, he emptied the PokeBall and handed it to John.<strong>"Now get the hell out of here.  You're pathetic and you should be ashamed of yourself!"</strong><br/><br/>As the bikers dust trail vanished from view, John once again sat down and pulled out his canteen.  He had agreed to let Scyther out and it had payed off.  Scyther, after getting some water from his friend and eating some rations to get his energy up, flew down and had started fishing the only way he knew how.  And boy, did he ever know how to fish.  He came back up with armfuls of food and diced fish.  While John had never been uncomfortable around dead fish, he was always sad when a Pokemon had to kill one of its own for food.  Still, the food chain had always been, and would always be, so he tried to put his mind at ease.   Getting his flint out of his backpack, he used Scyther's razor sharp blades to help make a spark. Soon enough, they had a fire large enough to work with.  Placing a few fish on the fire, they waited for them to be done cooking.<br/><br/>In the meantime, John took a look at Scyther's wounds.   Growing up next to a Pokemon Center, he knew basic first aid, and could even stabilize an injured pokemon long enough to get it some help.  He pulled out a few bandages and wrapped them around Blade's feet.<strong>"Sorry buddy, I didn't mean for them to bite you this bad....but it was the only way you would have caught them without losing even more energy."</strong>Blade gave John a knowing look and sat down on his haunches.  As soon as John finished the bandages, he scooped the fish out of the fire and looked to Blade.<strong>"Here buddy.  You fought for me, fished for me, and came with me on this stupid journey.  You get first picks."</strong>The Scyther looked hesitantly between his friend and the food.  Scythers were loyal and stubborn beasts, and John had never seen Blade eat before him.  Clearly, the decision was affecting his friend, because he looked confused at the idea of eating before his best friend.  Finally, he sat down on his rear end and just waited.  Laughing, John got up and handed him some fish.<strong>"Haha, alright buddy.  You got it.  We'll eat at the same time."</strong>He picked up a few Goldeen and snapped their horns off.  Handing them to Scyther, he placed the horns in his pocket.  Picking up a few crab claws, he ate what meat he could get off of them.  He saved one for later, hoping he might be able to fashion the hooked claw into some sort of fishing device.  Finishing up his meal, he got back on his bike.  He decided to let Scyther out of his pokeball for a while, just so he could burn off some energy.<br/><br/>Finally, they reached the end of the Bicycle Road and had to make a difficult choice.  Did he cut through the dense forest and walk a few miles West and end up in Pallet time by nightfall?  Or, did add 3 days to his trip and walk around the entire country.  Knowing that Scyther wasn't at full capacity added to his worries.  He decided to sleep on it, and let Blade decide whether he felt up to it or not.  Knowing he would sleep better in there, John put Blade back in his pokeball.  Then, he pulled his bike into the ditch and covered it and his backpack with leaves.  Finally, he got his blanket and pillow and covered himself with leaves.  It wasn't the best disguise, but there were definitely larger piles of debris in the ditch, so he didn't look out of place.  As he drifted off to sleep, he could feel the warmth of the pokeball under his pillow.<br/><br/>Waking up before the sun got up, John spent a few hours trying to connect the claw to some string, with little success.  Finally, he gave up and uncovered his things.  Letting Blade stretch his wings a bit, he asked him,<strong>"So Blade.  Do ya feel up for some more scraps?  It would certainly cut the time it would take to get there.  But I understand if you're not feeling at one hundred per-"</strong>He was cut off by Blade making a strange sound.  With a shock, John realized that his friend was laughing at him.<strong>"Alright, dork.  Let's get going then!"</strong>With that, he advanced into the forest on foot, so as not to spill and wipe out.  There were no paths, which was a good sign.  He didn't want to be following in someone's footsteps, especially when that someone could be a Poacher.  Within a few hours, he could see the light at the end of the forest.  He kept pushing through, when suddenly, he felt...something.  He tuned around, but couldn't see anything.<strong>"Blade....do you feel anything?  It feels like something is...watching us..."</strong>Blade didn't say anything, or make any motion that he had heard his friend.  Turning, he saw Blade standing very rigid.  There, in front of both of them, blocking the exit, was a swarm of Rattata.<strong>"Blade...easy buddy.  Don't fly off the handle.  Maybe they ju-"</strong>Nope.  Blade was having none of it.<br/><br/>Blade rushed to meet the swarm head on.  Diving into the mass of purple, he began slashing and cutting foes down.  It got to the point where he could hardly make out his green friend among the red and the purple.  Finally, he jumped back out of the fray, almost completely spotless, and got into his defensive stance.  Suddenly, the Rattata scurried away, and a giant rat appeared in front of them.  Brown, with a white body.  Beady black eyes filled with hate.  The Raticate examined its surroundings and, upon noticing the pile of slain Rattatas, began charging Blade.<br/><br/>Blade sat there, meditating, focusing his power onto his dominant hand, his right blade.  Before they had gone on this adventure, they had always sharpened it to a fine point.  Using his blade to cut sushi required precision and accuracy, both of which were honed to a point as sharp as his blade.  He sat there, meditating, and focusing all of his power onto his right blade.  The Raticate barreled onward, oblivious to what was going to happen.  John almost felt bad for the poor creature, until he remembered the night he first met Scyther; covered in bite marks, and teeth marks.<strong>"Give it to him, Blade..."</strong>John whispered, loudly enough so his friend could hear him, but quietly enough so he wouldn't disrupt his concentration.  Upon hearing John, Blade gave a slight smirk.  The Raticate was close now, within arms reach, when Blade reacted.<br/><br/><em>SLIIICE</em><br/><br/>A sickening noise was heard as, quicker than the Raticate could react, Blade jumped over the creature and placed his blade in the ground in front of the charging creature.  The Raticate ran itself through the razor sharp edge of Blade's arm; it's legs kept twitching, even after having been cut in half down his length.  Finally, the twitching stopped, and John had suppressed the urge to vomit.  Even for someone who worked at a place that served raw fish, seeing his best friend butcher an animal was downright sickening.  Blade, on the other hand, filled with primal glee, let out a battle cry that reverberated around the entire forest.  He used his arms to cut off the Raticate tail and the teeth of his enemy.  Both were quite valuable nowadays with Pokemon being so rare and dangerous.<br/><br/><strong>"Alright, Blade.  Back in your ball.  We can't have others seeing you like this.  Besides, I don't want you out when we get to Pallet Town.  You're my ace in the hole."</strong>That seemed to please Blade; enough so that he calmed down and submitted to being placed back into his temporary prison cell.<br/><br/>Walking the last few hundred feet out of the forest, he mounted his bike and began riding towards Pallet Town.  Blade needed some healing, whether the stubborn bastard would admit it or not, and John had to have a word with Professor Oak.  Riding up into town, he passed by the Legend's house and went straight into the Lab.<strong>"Professor?  I realize I came unannounced, but I heard the radio.  What do you need help with?  Hello?"</strong>