Avon and Marcus - Chapter 11

Avon and Marcus - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Nightmare's return

Splash!

The two boys woke up to a sound barrier shattering splash in the river nearby, as if glass had broken on the floor. The wake of the unknown thing that had plummeted into the ripples in the water were still fresh, giving the boys the idea that something had just recently dropped in.

"What the hell?!" Avon shouted, hearing the splash and waking, abruptly, to it.

"Something had to have taken a plunge in the river," Marcus grumbled, turning over in his sleep.

The two boys jumped out of their sleeping bags to check out the impact of that powerful splash. They then looked up to a chopper which was right above the impact of the water. Unbeknownst to the bystanders nearby, the chopper took off and left, seeming to have done their job.

"Who the hell?" Marcus asked.

Avon looked over to where the splash had occurred, curious to what it might be. "Don't know but whatever they dropped sure didn't look light, that's for sure."

"Right on that," Marcus then looked at the fading ripples, the water slowly returning to the slow currents that it was before the object plunged in. "But whatever it was, it's not our concern..."

"Still, I want to know what it is..."

Marcus sighed. "You're really determined to find out what it is, aren't you?"

"Hell, it could be anything; maybe even a Pokémon. Though, one thing's for certain; I want to know what it is."

"Avon..." Marcus said nonchalantly, pulling himself up to a sitting position. "Must I remind you of the whole BS ordeal we've gone through already? What if we stumble upon another one of those? I ain't ready for that I tells ya."

"Well..." Avon smirked, backing away, to the land's edge, "Only time will tell..."

With that line, before Marcus could question it, Avon dove into the river, backwards, from land he was on. Marcus jumped up, out of his sleeping bag, to see where Avon had dove. However, once arriving there, Avon resurfaced holding a surprised look on his face.

"What?!" Marcus asked, now concerned, "What did you find?" he suddenly found an interest in the matter of what Avon found.

"They sank lower, before I had a chance to check it out. I need a bigger breath..." Avon held his breath and then dove down under the surface again. Marcus, now intrigued by what Avon had found, sat on the ground's edge, waiting for Avon to resurface. However, he did so, in somewhat shock and empty-handed. "A girl!"

"A what?!"

"A girl! She's unconscious but drowning down there! I can't pull her up!"

Marcus groaned. "Oh for Christ's sake..." Marcus then diving down under, to help with the rescue. With Marcus's help, the two could resurface the girl's head much easier. With the help of Bulbasaur's Vine whip, the boys had the girl completely surfaced and back on land while they swam to shore.

The girl had long, light-blue hair, nearly about roughly the length down to her elbow. A long, white dress, about knee length, which is open, revealing a bit of her chest within a "V" shape; however, closed up with an eight rhombus shape symbol as a centerpiece. She wore high heel shoes, though the strapped laces also contain the symbol, as the one on her dress. She wore a blue ribbon that ties in the front of her long, soggy blue hair.

"Well," Marcus said, after they hit shore, only watching and waiting for the girl to wake up.

"'Well,' what?" Avon asked.

"You're the guy who took field first aid! Give her the Heimlich!"

Avon glared at Marcus, "Oh, like I really want to get that close to her face." Avon twisted his face at the boy, slightly older than him by a month or two, "What if she wakes up? Then what? I don't want to be put in an awkward situation, Capiché?"

"Dude," Marcus took hold of Avon's soggy collar with one hand, "The girl is dying for crap's sake! Ignore all of your morals and decency to save her, for once in your stinkin' life!"

Avon raised an eyebrow; however, both eyes were narrowed down to a glare, even after Marcus had let him go. His mouth was twisted in many shapes of a line, him having a troubled time trying to decide whether to follow his learning skills or to follow his morals. Once he began checking for signs of life in the girl, his answer was quite clear.

However, shortly after performing two rounds of CPR, the girl showed the boys a sign of life; coughing. She was going to live. She stirred a bit, clenching her eyes tighter, only turning over to roll into a soggy mess of the dress she was wearing. She was going to need a wash for the dirt on the ground was clinging to it.

"You mention one word about that event to her," Avon threatened, "I will wring your neck like a sponge..."

"Secret's safe with me," Marcus chimed, with a smile.

However, the good mood is shifted, as they heard another shuffle of feet, within the layers of forest around them. All of Avon and Marcus's Pokémon were growling at where they heard the shuffling feet. Avon, also, getting a familiar feeling of danger; the same exact one he felt before on Route 101, on the way to Viridian city. He flinched, as if he anticipated who it already was, his hunch having not been wrong about it before.

"Oh f***," Avon murmured, "Here we go again..."

Marcus heard him. "'Again?' Don't tell me it's-"

"Me!" yelled a familiar voice, shouting as he emerged from the shadows of the forest, katana in hand, ready to strike, "Good night, Marcus and Avon!"

"S***! Not again!" Avon shouted.

Avon had been trying to pick the girl up, but had little luck moving her on his own. Marcus moved out of harm's way; however Avon had still been stationary, in hopes that he'd move the girl out of Nightmare's strike in time, but remembered that Avon wasn't strong enough to move her on his own. However, Nightmare landed directly in front of him, not yet striking down but still holding his katana ready to strike. He was savoring the moment.

"I'll be rid of one of you, now..." Nightmare avowed and then swung down to attack Avon and the girl.

However, as Avon expected to be dead, he looked to see Marcus, fending the attack off by holding the blade by its edge with both of his hands. This was somewhat smart but not very, since blood was trickling down his arms, dripping off his elbow. While this was an excellent feint, he wasn't much succeeding in keeping hold of the position for too long.

"Avon! Run!" Marcus commanded. "Get her out of here! I'll fend off Nightmare!"

"R-right! B-but," Avon stammered, "Wh-what about you?!"

"Don't worry!"

Avon picked the girl up and ran for the next city. It hurt him to leave his friend, and he really didn't want to, but he had to. If he had stayed, no doubt that Nightmare would've made the girl a new target. Not too far behind, Avon's Pokémon, Bulbasaur and Gligar, tailed behind him, Bulbasaur running at full speed, while Gligar glided in the air.

**********

Back with Marcus, Nightmare couldn't reach Marcus with the blade, so he resulted in kicking the boy away. Marcus rolled back onto his feet, getting back into his own stance as Nightmare reared up to attack again. However, Nightmare was struck by Munchlax's Mega Punch, square in the gut, knocking all the wind out of Nightmare temporarily. It was a smooth dodge, but Marcus saw that he had the right away. With a hand gesture for Munchlax to get out of the way, he charged in for a punch himself, not daring to back down from this unavoidable fight.

Nightmare, on the other hand, recovered quickly, and summoned up his Gabite from the sidelines to attack them. Marcus, having saw Nightmare being back on his feet, and barely spotting the Gabite, had skidded in his shoes and jumped back; Gabite's head slammed into the ground and shook it as he missed the attack. Marcus took a few paces back and then turned to his Charmander, as Gabite was getting up for another attack toward .

"Dragon Rage! Go!" Marcus commanded.

"Dragon Rush!" Nightmare commanded.

Gabite went into a frenzied charge, running toward Charmander to attack as it started to emit a powerful aura as it ran. Charmander aimed and fired the ball of energy, not quite aiming at Gabite but the ground beneath him, to throw him off target. However, the plan ended in failure.

Gabite was thrown into the air, as Charmander had intended, however, it merely glided with it's two propeller-like wings back to it's target. It smashed into Charmander, also throwing it aside, as it made a hole in the ground. Charmander winced as it got back up, but gave its opponent a stern glare, shrugging off its injury.

However, quickly as they had started, both trainers had recalled them right back to their balls. Marcus saw the look in Nightmare's eyes, he wanted to settle this man-to-man, not with their Pokémon.

"So, Marcus," Nightmare said, as he took his stance for his own attack, "Did you get any stronger?"

"As a matter of fact," Marcus balled in his fist, pulling back for a punch, "I did."

Marcus then ran in for his own attack, only to miss as Nightmare quickly strafed to the left. Nightmare laughed it off.

"Were you trying to hit me?"

"Heh... No! I just need..." Marcus had to quickly think up an excuse, "to... Entertain you for a while."

"So, you're still as weak as ever."

Marcus ran toward Nightmare again, throwing a strong kick but with more anger in his attack. "Shut up!"

Much like last time, Marcus missed, Nightmare, once again, laughing at Marcus's feeble attacks. "This place will be your tomb, Marcus, so just stop trying to resist and die already."

"Don't worry about me, just make sure to have one for yourself."

While Marcus missed, Nightmare landed his blow perfectly on his next strike, and connected his blade to Marcus' flesh of his lower right shoulder. He didn't pierce through, but made sure it was enough for Marcus to survive. Out of all the ones Nightmare wanted to feel pain, he wanted Marcus to hurt the most.

"Oh, and before I forget, don't worry about your friends. The moment you fall unconscious, I'm going after them and giving the Nightmare special- Slowly removing each of their body parts while they're still alive; and then leaving them to die in front of you, while you stand there, not able to stop their suffering."

Marcus seemed to have taken an even fatal blow, and managed to kick Nightmare away, knocking the sharp object out of his shoulder and getting a tad distant from Nightmare, for the time being.

"Stay still and die!" Marcus shouted, in retaliation. However, quickly after getting distance away from Nightmare's blade, he grasped his injury he took from the blade.

"What, I hit a soft spot, Lamech?" Nightmare taunted. Marcus rushed in, throwing a combo of missed and blocked kicks and punches, keeping his right arm from any action due to the injury.

"Stay still already!"

"On it!" shouted a voice from outside of the brawl.

Marcus halted from his next attack, as he heard the call, looking to see where it had came from. However, despite the opening that he gave Nightmare, who was preparing another attack of his own with his katanas, a harsh breeze of sand was kicked up and wrapped around the two in a heavy storm. The sand tore at the two's skins, drawing some blood from the two's arms, as well as tearing each others' clothes a bit.

Shortly after the sandstorm was summoned, thorn vines emerged from the ground beneath Nightmare and wrap around him, keeping him from attacking or escaping, if he could. Marcus could barely see this happening, but it became much more clear as the sandstorm was dying down. As it completely goes out, leaving a large mess of sand in the area and Nightmare restrained down, Marcus taking his opportunity as the sandstorm died down to give Nightmare his well-earned punch in the face.

Once getting his satisfaction, Marcus looked around to see who was responsible for helping him out. For all he was concerned about, he was yet convinced if this stranger was any ally of his.

"Who did that? Answer me!" Marcus demanded. The figure continued to hide. "I said answer me!"

"Oh me? Well what fun would it be to simply tell you my name? Call me Regret, The Regret. As in, you'll regret you never got my name." The person appeared to have left.

"What? The Regret?! Tell me your real name, damn you!" Marcus shouted. However, he heard no reply back and only groaned once in anger before treading off to get treated for his own wounds. He left Nightmare be; with him still in a bit of a bind, he wasn't going to be tailing after him anytime soon.