It felt like an eternity – the plunge, the struggle, the wave, the desperate resuscitation – but the clock in his head insisted it couldn't have been more than two or three minutes. A dizzying compression of time and terror.
'Too close,' Xiu thought, the adrenaline still thrumming beneath his skin, leaving a tremor in his limbs. 'I almost didn't make it back.' He felt the damp chill seeping into his bones now, the wet clothes clinging heavily.
A weak cough broke the thought. Beside him, the baby Kangaskhan stirred, its eyes fluttering open, hazy with confusion. Spluttering sounds accompanied small splashes as it tried to orient itself.
Xiu blinked, his own head clearing slightly. He looked around, noticing the rushing river, the muddy bank... and the frantic mother Kangaskhan pacing on the opposite side. The wave had thrown them clear across the watercourse.
'Right. Kangaskhan can't swim.' The realization clicked. The mother could only watch helplessly from the far bank, her low, anxious calls carrying across the water.
Gathering his remaining strength, Xiu gently scooped up the still-dazed joey. Its small body felt surprisingly dense. "Easy now," he murmured, wading back into the cold current. The water swirled around his waist, tugging at him.
The mother Kangaskhan mirrored his progress on the other side, her massive form tense, eyes locked onto her baby. The moment Xiu emerged onto her side of the riverbank, she rushed forward, bypassing him completely to gently retrieve her joey. She nuzzled it softly, deep, rumbling sounds of affection vibrating in her chest. Relief radiated from her, thick and palpable.
Watching the reunion, a pang hit Xiu unexpectedly. Images of his own parents flickered in his mind – faces growing indistinct with time, but the feeling of loss suddenly sharp. He hadn't appreciated them enough, not until they were truly gone.
"People..." he muttered under his breath, looking up at the twilight sky, the colours bleeding into bruised purple. "Always wanting what they can't have." He cursed softly, pointlessly, at the universe.
He brushed droplets from his face, noticing a faint, unfamiliar tang on his tongue. 'Strange... why did the river water taste... salty?' He frowned, dismissing it as a trick of his disoriented senses or maybe residue from the muddy bank.
Nothing catastrophic had ultimately happened. The baby was safe, the mother calmed. Reporting this incident would mean paperwork, questions, drawing attention he didn't want. Especially from Bao Ba. Fear of trouble outweighed adherence to protocol. Xiu decided to keep it quiet.
As the Kangaskhan mother and child melted back into the deepening shadows of the forest, Xiu dragged himself back to the cabin. He stripped off his soaked clothes, rinsed himself as best he could with water from the stream – shivering violently now – and collapsed onto the bed, too exhausted even to think about the packed dinner waiting on the table. Sleep claimed him almost instantly.
— — —
The next morning.
Sunlight, usually a gentle awakening, felt harsh against his eyelids. A raw tickle started in his nose.
"Today is also full of hope... Ah... Ah-CHOO!"
The declaration dissolved into a series of racking sneezes that left him gasping, head pounding.
'Damn it!' He sniffled, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. 'I caught a cold. Of course, I did. Jumping into a cold river will do that.'
But the garbage wouldn't collect itself. Work was work. He dragged his aching body through the morning routine, each movement an effort. His head felt stuffed with cotton, dizziness washing over him in waves. He stumbled several times during his rounds, catching himself on tree trunks, his vision blurring momentarily. But he pushed through, fueled by the grim necessity of keeping this job.
At the South Gate, he dumped the trash sack with numb fingers, skipping the cafeteria entirely. He headed straight for the small park infirmary instead. Flashing his employee ID, he received a small packet of standard cold-relief pills – free for staff. His meager savings wouldn't cover a proper doctor's visit, let alone prescription medicine. 'No Poké Dollars to spare. Can't afford to be sick.' His hopes rested entirely on these generic pills.
He forced down a couple of pills with water from a public fountain, the metallic taste coating his tongue. Thoughts of food were distant; all he wanted was rest. He turned back towards the forest path, intending to head straight to his cabin.
His mind felt foggy, disconnected from his surroundings. He walked on autopilot, the familiar path blurring. Just as he stepped under the shade of the first line of trees bordering the plains, a dark shape zipped silently over his head.
Instinct made him look up. A bird Pokémon – a Toucannon banked sharply against the blue sky. Clutched tightly in its talons was a white... net.
A net?
The word snagged in his fuzzy thoughts, then detonated with sudden clarity. A... NET!
Wilderness Area regulations strictly forbade capturing Pokémon through combat or aggressive means like netting. However, baiting, coaxing, and relying on luck – were sanctioned methods. Nets were the tools of poachers.
By the time the realization fully hit, the Toucannon was already a receding speck in the distance. He slapped his pocket instinctively. The communicator! It wasn't there. 'Right, it had been soaked yesterday.' Still useless, probably sitting inertly back in the cabin, awaiting a repair he couldn't afford. Useless!
This was his territory. He knew the Pokémon distributions here, the usual nesting spots, the favored hunting grounds. The Toucannon had flown west, deeper into the forest. That narrowed it down.
Urgency cut through the fog of his fever. Forgetting his sickness, Xiu broke into a run, pushing through the undergrowth, branches whipping at his face.
He arrived breathless at a small clearing, his lungs burning. Too late. The signs were obvious, even to his untrained eye: broken branches, scuffed earth, discarded scraps of something synthetic – remnants of a struggle. Someone had tried to clean it up, hastily, but the violence lingered in the air.
"A step too late..." he muttered, the words tasting like failure.
The adrenaline cleared his head somewhat. What would they target here? Something valuable... Only two Pokémon species of significant rarity frequented this particular area: the resident Scyther, known for its speed and territorial nature, and the family of Furret that lived nearby.
He sprinted towards the Furret den first – a burrow tucked into the base of a small hill near the forest's edge.
He slowed as he approached, scanning the area. Nothing seemed amiss. The mother Furret and her young were playing idly on the sun-dappled hillside, seemingly undisturbed.
Relief warred with rising dread. If not the Furret... then... He turned, ready to race towards the Scyther's known territory, when a sudden, icy chill shot up his spine, prickling the hairs on his neck. His fever-flushed face abruptly paled.
'Idiot!' The self-recrimination was swift and brutal. Rushing in like that... He'd been so focused on reaching the scene, on doing something, that he hadn't considered the poacher might still be nearby. Their methods were efficient, often silent. If he'd stumbled upon them mid-capture... he likely wouldn't have walked away.
'Calm down. Think.' He forced deep breaths, trying to quell the sudden panic. He needed to be smarter. Faster. Stronger, somehow. But how?
As he hesitated, trying to formulate a plan, the mother Furret noticed him lurking at the edge of the trees. She tilted her head, letting out a soft, inquisitive chitter. Her young mirrored her curiosity. Looking at their approaching, twitching noses, Xiu forced a smile onto his face, aiming for friendly and non-threatening. Judging by their continued confused expressions, he wasn't entirely successful.
— — —
(Scyther POV)
A flash of green-white, faster than thought. The scythe-arm blurred, shearing through the incoming net with contemptuous ease. The bisected white mesh fluttered uselessly past, snagging on nearby branches already festooned with similar failures.
Below, the masked human in the dark windbreaker cursed, fumbling to reload the strange, thick-barreled weapon. A Rattata, the human's apparent accomplice, darted around the base of the tree, its beady eyes fixed on Scyther, waiting for an opening. Overhead, the annoying Toucannon circled, diving periodically in harassing swoops that forced Scyther to keep repositioning, dividing its attention.
Scyther lost count of the nets. Each cut felt infinitesimally slower than the last. The enclosed space between the trees, now draped in sticky white webbing, constricted its movements, tangling its wings. The air grew thick with the scent of its own exertion.
What should have been effortless, cutting these flimsy traps, now required conscious effort. Its scythes felt heavy, unresponsive. Not because the nets were stronger, but because it was weakening. Fatigue seeped into its limbs, a leaden weight dragging it down.
Those Rattata eyes... infuriatingly persistent. Every attempt to break through the cordon, to gain altitude or distance, was met by another perfectly aimed shot from the human's weapon. The Toucannon's dives became harder to dodge. Exhaustion clawed at its awareness.
Its grip on the tree trunk faltered. Another swing, mechanical now, lacking its usual precision. Then, nothing. Its body simply gave out, tumbling downwards, a dizzying fall towards the hard, unforgiving forest floor.
Except... the impact never came. Instead of cold earth, it landed in something unexpectedly warm, and soft...?
(Xiu POV)
Xiu staggered, catching the surprisingly heavy Pokémon in his arms. The Scyther felt limp, exhausted, its sharp edges somehow muted. "Close one," he gasped, adrenaline surging again. "Almost didn't make it."
From across the small clearing, the masked poacher erupted in a furious snarl, lowering the net gun.
"You! Ruining my business again!"
The voice was distorted by the mask, but the raw anger was unmistakable. Again?
George clenched his fists, fury boiling beneath the mask. This guy! Three months. Three frustrating months since he'd joined the Hunter Organization, trying to prove himself, trying to climb the ranks. Integration required completing initiation tasks – quotas of specific Pokémon, delivered discreetly.
His target for this Wilderness Area run had initially been that Kangaskhan joey. Lure it away, use it to control the powerful mother. He'd studied her habits, noted her inability to swim, planned the ambush by the river. A solid plan.
But he was still green. He'd underestimated the joey's own surprising resilience, its struggles buying precious time. The mother arrived faster than anticipated. George knew he couldn't take on an enraged adult Kangaskhan directly. He'd panicked, flung the joey into the river as a desperate distraction, and fled while the mother was focused on the water. Pure luck he'd escaped.
He'd circled back later, cautiously, hoping for another chance, maybe find the joey washed ashore. Instead, he'd seen him. This same scrawny ranger, pulling the half-drowned joey from the river, reviving it. George had been forced to retreat, empty-handed, his carefully laid plan in ruins. 'Humiliating!'
He needed a new target, something valuable enough to appease the Organization. And then he'd spotted it – this Scyther. Solitary, clearly underage but brimming with latent potential. A prize catch.
Luring it here, using his Rattata and Toucannon to harass and box it in, tiring it out with the net gun – it had been working perfectly. This Scyther, once subdued and delivered, would mean a promotion. More Poké Dollars. Respect within the Organization. Maybe even, finally, a step towards the life he actually wanted... And now this ranger, again, sticking his nose where it didn't belong!