Chapter 2

'How spectacular,'

Will's body shook with energy as he flung a feather into the bark of the tree. It stuck with a thump.

Another one flew.

It jabbed itself deep into the tree too.

'Yet so strange,' He eyed his wings, 'but that's okay,'

With the flutter of his wings, Will rose to the air.

As he did so, he unleashed even more feathers.

This stream of sharp projectiles continued until Will soared to the branch he fell off of. He descended right after. The blades were in two rows and looked like the legs of a long centipede.

'I can't help it,' Will landed, 'I had some fun,'

He turned and made his way to the stream flowing close to his position.

All he saw in the water was his reflection.

"No pokémon," He muttered, walking away from the river, 'Where am I?'

From the looks of things, this forest area had quite the density of trees. Will couldn't put his talon on it.

'That's not the point,' He soared into the air, 'what pokémon will I see?'

As he landed on the branch, Will looked at his move pool in his stats.

'More is better than four,' He turned his body to face the tree, 'let's experiment,'

So, Will focused, his feet gripped tightly for comfort and wings spread open as if he were in mid-flight.

'Furthermore...' He stood silently, "how must I activate these moves?"

For a full minute, Will tried saying the move's name like a command, thrusting his wings forward, as if trying to summon something and even struck an elaborate pose, which he stopped doing the moment he did. This charade went on.

Until he did it.

Out of nowhere, a plenitude of leaves appeared, swirling around Will like a moth to a light. They darted forward without a second wasted and pelted the bark of the tree, precisely where he had his eyes on.

Will had such a shock, that he fell back.

However, his firm talons gripped hard, and Will swung like a pendulum until he stabilized.

Upside down.

This froze his core a little before the light movements of leaves floated past him. He watched them. As they descended to hide within the green, the leaves crumbled away as if they were like paper.

'That tells me a lot,' Will shook his head, preventing himself from complaining, 'but I made a promise,'

After a while, he found that hanging upside down was quite comfortable. Will took in a deep breath with contentment, enjoying the upside-down view.

But there was still much to do.

In a hesitant motion, he dropped from the branch and landed once more on the ground.

Again, the shenanigans began.

From what he assumed, to activate the move, Will had to do it nonchalantly. Much like with flying, it had to be embedded within him in some way.

It happened before, he could do it again.

'Okay...' He exhaled, his round body unleashing any tension it may have cooped up, 'don't think too much...just go with it...'

As the light rustle soothed his soul, nothing happened.

'...' Will frowned, walking closer to the tree, 'nothing makes sense,'

BAM!

Just like that, he slammed into the tree.

Like finishing a difficult task, or reaching the end of a book or movie you enjoy, Will felt that when he did this. It was as if he did something right.

"Ow," However, the cost was pain, as he covered his head with his wings, "I understand,"

When he jumped from the leaf attack, Will not only had surprise but this feeling of satisfaction.

'Now that I know the feeling,' Will trudged back a few feet, which required a lot of steps, 'does this mean I'll be able to do it again?'

Before he commenced, Will sucked in some breath.

His wings pulsed forward.

That single action let loose a gust of wind. For a moment, it looked unstoppable, but that was it, for when the rushing wind collided with the tree, it vanished.

'Great,' Will did it again. The wind perished like before, 'it works,'

He remembered only three, so Will brought the system up.

[Moves: Astonish; Growl; Gust; Leafage; Peck; Tackle]

After seeing the new move, he rubbed his eyes, looked elsewhere, blinked, and looked back.

'That fast?' He rolled his left shoulder, 'I'll be strong by sunset,'

Having earned such a move, a thought came to mind.

'What could I eat?' Will looked around, trying to see for any food, 'Other Pokémon? Berries?'

No food.

'I know what this means,'

He sighed and rose to the air.

If Will could be honest, he was blissful to his surroundings. His wings carried him past trees, and he flew in and out of shade and sun. There had to be food.

Despite flying in a straight line, Will felt lost.

The endless amount of trees lulled him into a state of boredom.

A path snatched that away.

Landing in a nearby tree, hidden by the leaves, Will studied the path. The road seemed clear and dusty. Maybe it's still being used? He didn't know. Will couldn't tell. In spite of that, a road cutting through a deep forest meant one thing.

'Humans.'

Will blinked. For there to be humans, anything could be possible. If he were to be captured and led by a trainer, that would open a whole other can of worms that no one wants to deal with.

A voice solidified that.

"Finally, some food!"

Still like a painting, Will's eyes locked onto the other end of the road, a bit beyond the bushes. They rustled slightly. Will felt his insides churn with anxiety and anticipation. Whoever spoke would reveal themselves right before him.

He took a sharp intake of breath as the bush opened.

Revealing a Rattata.

Not a human.

A Rattata.

It looked to be holding something in its paw.

Something blue.

Three more came out.

Each with this same object.

'Oran berries,' Will examined from his spot, keeping himself hidden, 'wait...'

The closer he looked, the more features he saw from this group of Rattata. All had some type of scars scattered on their purple fur.

Plus, their chattering was intriguing.

"Oh Arceus, I'm starving..."

"Our plan worked flawlessly,"

"Can we dig in?"

All gazes shifted from amongst themselves to the bush.

Raticate.

It crawled out, two berries in each paw.

However, the stain of red across its front almost made Will gasp.

"Let us enjoy this meal, my friends," He spoke, his hungry eyes glaring at one of the berries, "it will only last us a day,"

In an affirmative of all the Rattata in unison, the group scuttled across the road and disappeared into the forest not too far away from Will.

But he was not bothered.

'What...' He narrowed his eyes at the bush, as if staring beyond it, "...happened?"

Will waited a few more seconds before making his way to the tree right next to the bush the group scampered out of.

As he settled, his face paled.

His body grew heavy and his head turned drowsy.

Beyond the bush, was what could be called the aftermath of a battle. There were places which looked to have been the sign of a struggle, with cuts on the floor and some trees. The scorches of burnt ground sent a cold wind down Will's spine.

Huddled at the foot of a tree away from the skirmish, a Vulpix lay.

What was a Vulpix.

As blood leaked from the large gash in its neck, Will could only spin his neck around.

The feeling he had stuck within him could be described as daunting and dreadful. Like something crawling under your skin. In his past life, Will never saw someone die right before his eyes. Sure, he saw it in movies, but those were just movies, they weren't real.

But this was.

It was real. It was tragic. Before him was something that could think, that could learn, that could talk.

Now, it was gone.

Even if Will still had his human mind, this was more than the death of a dog or a cat.

Of course, anyone would be devastated if these precious gems were to pass away, and hearing about a man dying was somewhat sad.

Seeing the dead body was a different story.

That is what Will experienced in that moment he locked eyes with this corpse.

Now, as he turned away, he spun too quickly.

Will snapped his head forward and gazed at the ground beneath him in horror.

From his beak, hurled a canister of puke.

The liquid bubbled out of his mouth, splashing onto the scene below. Will's body grew weak, and he found it difficult to balance.

Immediately, he left, flying over the road.

Once he plopped onto the ground, Will wiped his face clean, the memory of the scene worsened in his head. All he could do was wrap his wings over his eyes, completely shaken by the event.

'This is what the world is, isn't it?' Will thought, his face blank, 'I'll never forget that,'

He tried to take to the skies again, but his stomach felt queasy and a wave of nausea rubbed that in like salt to an open wound.

"Oh God..." Will groaned, his throat filling up once more, "Urgh..."

Nothing stopped the second round.