Chapter 26: The Chase

They were running. Desperation was evident on their faces as Ark accompanied by a faster Sylph were sprinting through the forest.

The duo had spent the past few days traveling slowly through Viridian Forest and stopping to train whenever it was time for them to eat. Although it had only been a couple of days since their first steps in the forest, the difference in ability between Sylph from before and now was significantly larger. Not only was she hit speeds that could rival Ark now, she was also becoming increasingly more proficient in controlling her Psychic energies within her body. It seems that Sylph could become more proficient with her moves in order to increase their power. While it was true that Sylphs speed could now rival Arks, her stamina was nowhere near, plus her height held her back and made her exert unnecessary amounts of energy when faced with larger obstacles.

Now, as for the reason the two were running, Ark had jinxed himself. The main reason he took Viridian Forest was for its relative safety when compared to forests he had no deep knowledge of. Unfortunately,, Ark was cursed with misfortune, as his first encounter in the forest was a...

Scyther.

A Scyther, a Pokemon which is known for its danger considering it is constantly armed with sharp blades for arms.

Normally, one would not be too weary of a Scyther, especially with Sylphs potential. Should there be a fight between the two, Sylph had a pretty high chance of winning when combined with Arks strategy. However today was too different. They were currently located in a forest, a dense forest full of blind spots, dark shadows and tall grass to act as cover.

From what Ark could remember, Scyther was based and acted like a ninja, this mean't that it used its environment as a means to camouflage itself before pouncing on its prey. This fact scared Ark shitless. How could he compete against a Pokemon that is a natural born ninja?

Ark was confident that he may be able to compete with some minor Pokemon, but Scyther was anything but a minor Pokemon. Thus, he ordered Sylph to retreat. Over the past few days, Sylph has started to respond to Arks commands in a more regimented fashion, so they were able to react in time and avoid its trap.

They have been running for about an hour now and clear signs of fatigue started to appear on Sylphs face. Noticing this fact, Ark reached into his Pocket storage and removed Sylphs Pokeball. Without hesitation, he aimed it at the running Sylph and recalled her.

"Sorry Sylph, but I need to have as much freedom of movement if I want to get away from this guy!"

Ark picked up his pace as he weaved through the trees, at times, he used his hands as a way to swing himself and change directions. His hands had become red raw with the skin breaking and revealing fresh tender skin beneath it.

Ignoring the pain, Ark soldiered on as he ran towards Pewter City. Sweat gathered on his forehead as the sounds of cutting winds rang in his ears. Arks eyes grew sharp as he planned his route, his legs started to take longer strides as he dodged behind trees avoiding the 'Air Slashes'. A cold sweat started to run down his abck when he imagined how trained the Scyther must be in order to know 'Air Slash'. Although it was tempting to catch it, Ark knew that any attempt would come at a major loss, and he was nowhere near confident enough with his luck to think that he would be able to capture it without a fight.

"Seriously, this guy is way too persistent! Did I intrude on its territory or something?"

He was thinking over what led to this sort of situation, but all he could be sure of was that this Scyther will not stop until Ark is out of the forest. Unknowingly, his speed had decreased as he slowly sank into thought.

Suddenly a sharp pain ran down his left shoulder dragging Ark out of his thoughts. A wet feeling spread across his shoulder and slowly spread down his back. Ark yelled out in pain.

"What the fuck?! It feels like my arm has been torn off"

Ark tried to move his left arm but found no response. It refused to move even when he tried to force his muscles to respond.

Biting down on his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, Ark pushed forward as a long trail of blood flowed down his arm, creating a faint trail behind him.

Ark was forced to accept the reality in front of him. His stamina was quickly dwindling while the Scyther was continuing to trail behind him at a steady pace. This made Ark start to think in a different direction. It was obvious that he will eventually collapse from either blood loss or exhaustion, therefore he needed to find a way to get away from Scyther to rest.

Surveying the surroundings, all Ark could find was trees and bushes. A faint trace of despair crept upon his face. There were no holes to hide in, no water to swim in, and he could not fly. Looking up at the sky, Ark saw that the trees were very tall.

Ark froze, his body reacted before his mind had finished his thought. He used his remaining arm and legs to pull himself up using the branches. Luckily, Ark had fairly good upper body strength otherwise this gamble would be over before it even started. He clawed at the tree and pulled himself onto one of the highest branches, as he sat down, the view of the floor was before him. Way too high.

The height of the trees were unnaturally high. It seemed like a miracle that Ark managed to drag himself up there. Removing his gaze from the ground, Ark tore off a part of his shirt and tied up the cut around his shoulder. Though it was a stop gap measure, it should slow down the bleeding enough for him to rest and gather strength to run again.

Once he had finished wrapping his wound, he noticed a speedy green Pokemon dodging from side to side as it followed the same path that he had taken. When it reached below him, it looked at the ground before searching in all directions.

A clear look of confusion was upon Scythers face. It had noticed that the blood trail had just stopped. Scyther continued to look around in each direction and closed its eyes as it listened for any movements.

Forgetting to breath, Ark remained frozen to the spot as Scyther continued to listen. Slowly, Scyther opened its eyes before releasing 'Air Slashes' in all of the directions he had checked. The slashes which were so sharp they were visible to the eye, tore through the air and punctured and sliced the trees and bushes in its path.

Seeing its attacks yeilded no results, the Scyther reluctantly turned back the way it came and darted off.

Seeing this, Ark released a sigh of relief and took deep breaths to make up for his alck of breathing.

"That guy is crazy... how bad did it want my head, seriously..."

Like this, Ark rested atop a tree branch for a few hours and tried to regain strength by eating something from his Pocket Storage.