Slaves and Soldiers

Rating: Teen; 13 & up for scenes of

graphic violence and mild language

Chapter 1: C'est la Vie (Such is Life)

"Taken..."

"Stolen..."

"Removed..."

"Captured..."

"Kidnapped..."

"Lost..."

"...Gone."

There were many words to describe what had happened to me. What happened to my life, what happened to my home, and what happened to... us.

It was just supposed to be a normal day. It was just supposed to be another boring day of waking up at 8:00 in the morning. It was supposed to be a typical day of gathering food and arguing over who gets the head and who gets the rear end of that Stantler we hunted. It was supposed to be another laborious day of guarding Johto and making sure no one killed each other or did anything stupid. That's how it was SUPPOSED to go. Of course, the key words here are 'supposed to be a normal day'. And it turned out to be very far from normal…

Not much longer than an hour ago, I had stormed out of the cave in a furious frenzy after getting into another fight with Entei, one of my counterparts. With his mastery over fire and fierce power, he is considered a very proud and majestic creature, though he can kinda be an ass at times. You see, I'm part of a trio known as 'the legendary beasts' and we have come to be created after our death by a ferocious fire in the Brass Tower (now the Burned Tower) by Ho-Oh, the guardian of the skies (or as we prefer to call her, Mom). Some people have humorously referred to us as 'legendary cats' or 'legendary dogs', possibly because I come from the feline family, yet my water counterpart Suicune has more canine characteristics and Entei is... well, we're not sure what Entei is.

What the funny thing is though, is that I don't even remember what the fight was even about. It doesn't even matter what it was about anymore.

But, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what the fight was about now. Now… it makes no difference. What matter now is that I've been taken away from the ones I call my family.

However… I do remember some of the insults thrown though...

They were horrible words. Despicable insults, low blows, and uncaring attitudes towards each other. I don't ever want to repeat them, not in good company. Feelings were hurt, and even some blood was shed. We're a family. We're supposed to stick together through tough times, and even when we don't get along. We're not supposed to abandon one another. The details? They're a little fuzzy, to be honest...

Then again, you probably wouldn't recall the exact details of a stupid fight either if you were captured by some nutcase from Team Rocket and stuffed inside their truck. I should really tell you how I got myself into this mess.

It was such an obvious lure. When I had stormed out of the cave, I was so furious, just wanting to murder whatever crossed my path, so I really wasn't thinking twice about where I was going and got myself lost among the forests of Johto. The only thought I remember is that I had wanted Entei to go crawl and die in a hole. Being the moron that I was, I got myself lost among the forests of Johto. Had I been in a more rational and sane mood, I would've noticed something suspicious about a Sandslash, a Rhydon, and a Golem, all gathered up in a forest field and that they were completely out of place.

Man, I want to shoot myself in the head for being such a complete and total moron. Being in the lovely mood that I was, I told them to get out of my way or get electrocuted.

And the winner for the dumbest decision of the decade goes to none other than... ME! Thank you, thank you, I'm SO happy to accept this award!

...Sigh.

"Golem, use Earthquake!"

I heard the commanding voice from the bushes, though I didn't see anyone. The voice was slightly high-pitched; presuming me to believe it was a woman. Those thoughts didn't stay in my head for long as the Golem launched Earthquake. With me being an Electric-type, I couldn't take the move very well. The earth shook tremendously and knocked me over, causing me to hit the side of my head onto a nearby tree; right on the sharp bark as well, leaving a bloody gash.

I pushed my paws against the ground, slowly supporting myself to stand back up. Whoever this person was knew who they were going after. The only reason you would drag around a bunch of Rock and Ground types is to take down a powerful Electric type, such as myself.

But I'll be damned if they take this Electric type down without a fight.

"Rhydon, use Tackle!"

The Rhydon ran towards me, trying to ram his horn into me. Fortunately, he was pretty slow, so it was easy to dodge him. I retaliated by using some of my limited mental powers to throw an Extrasensory his way. It drove him crazy, and he kept hitting his head repeatedly on a nearby tree to try and get rid of the pain.

The voice then ordered a new command from her Sandslash.

"Sandslash, use Dig!"

The Sandslash obeyed without question and dug into the earth. Since it was in the earth, I had no idea as to what spot on the field and what direction it would come from. I knew that Sandslashs often used their opponent's movements to their advantage. The best solution, I thought, was to stand still.

That certainly didn't change a damn thing.

It emerged directly from under me, painfully piercing my stomach. I screamed in horrifying agony from the blow and blood began gushing out. I hit the ground hard and was completely helpless, lying there like a dead dog.

"No…" I whispered. "I... can't give up. I've… got to… fight."

I tried to stand back up, but the pain was too excruciating. I flopped back down and set my right paw over the thick, long tear on my stomach with the blood seeping through, getting in between the spaces of my fingers.

It was an embarrassment. To be defeated so easily without even having to fight back was humiliating. It was absolutely degrading to me as a Legendary Pokémon. Thinking back at it, I should've just run when I had the chance. I should've just ran back for the cave and never looked back. My entire adventure would never have happened if I just ran for it. But that's one of my problems. I'm just too damn proud for my own good.

The bushes where the voice of authority had emerged began shaking and out came a woman.

She had red hair that went down to shoulder-length, with the sides flipped up. Her dress was mostly white, with black stripes on the rims of her arms and the bottom of the dress. She wore a black belt with a silver lock on it. But I knew immediately who she was upon seeing her uniform.

"Hold up... You're with Team Rocket, aren't you? Your outfit... your logo... that unmistakable smirk on your face and that gleam in your eye... There's no mistaking it..."

She smirked. "For a legendary Pokémon, I was expecting a harder fight. I'm actually wondering if you'll even be of any benefit to Team Rocket."

I groaned. I hated myself SO much at that moment. But there was nothing I could do...

The malicious woman shrugged her shoulders before tossing a standard issue Pokéball at me. The ball tapped my head and bounced in the air. It shot out a beam of red energy at me and transported me into it. With my extremely weakened conditions and inability to fight, I was easily captured.

You know... I take it all back. It's hard for me to say but I take every word I said to Entei back now. If I had never fought with him in the first place, I wouldn't be stuck here. Both of us are to blame, but I should've stepped up and taken responsibility.

You don't know what you got until it's gone.

Life can be so cruel. It robs lives, ruins spirits, and breaks families. I'm sure most of you can relate.

And now, here I am. Here I am now, trapped in a Pokéball inside a truck. That's not the bad part, actually. The ball was really very comfortable and it had anything a Pokémon would want. A field to run around in (though I couldn't due to my injury), a river to get fresh water from, berries to pick… of course, I wasn't stupid. I knew it was all just a simulation set up by the device to adjust to the captured Pokémon's needs.

Anyway, to get back on track, that wasn't the bad part. The bad part was WHO I was captured by. I have never actually seen the woman who caught me before, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that she was bad business. She was with Team Rocket, who was not to be trusted. Team Rocket has done a lot of evil things that would make most moral human beings sick to their stomach. Some of their smaller crimes were cutting off Slowpoke Tails and selling them to the black market because they're valued as a delicacy and brought in an extremely high profit. But some of their higher-profile crimes were capturing Pokémon, many of them already belonging to other trainers. Most of the time, these Pokémon would never see their trainer again. The Pokémon were forced to work for Team Rocket. Those that refused were brainwashed with high-frequency sound waves.

Fortunately, a couple years ago, a kid; Ethan was his name, had helped saved Johto and the captured Pokémon by defeating and disbanding Team Rocket. I'm pretty sure he also destroyed said brainwashing machine as well.

Or so I thought.

Ethan beat Giovanni at Tohjo Falls by travelling back in time with Celebi to when Giovanni was training there, preventing him from returning to Team Rocket at the time. Many had believed Giovanni committed suicide after his loss against Ethan. It's a plausible theory, but I couldn't believe he was truly dead unless I saw the corpse myself. But if he's still alive, it's safe to assume that he went back to Team Rocket. I don't know if Ethan's still out there and knows Team Rocket rejoined, if he's even trying to stop them, or even if he's on an adventure in another region. At this point, he might not even care anymore.

As for that... abomination of a device, I'm not sure of its status. If they did fix it and I don't comply with them, I can kiss everything I know, as well as my own consciousness and self-existence goodbye.

Such is life, I suppose.

It's still hard to believe that this all happened because of some stupid argument that I don't remember.

Normally, I would be asking myself that out of all the Legendary Pokémon, why did I have to get kidnapped? That question won't change what happened though.

I may become their puppet; I may have to work for the ones I hate and battle the ones I love. I can't be sure of anything. I can be sure of only myself.

Whatever they do to me, whatever they want me to do…

I must keep my head up, stand strong, and I can't let them break me down. And maybe, just maybe...

I'll survive.

Pokémon © Nintendo/Game Freak

Picture of cover (c) SkyWolf11 on deviantART

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