1 The Knight's Oath

"Acid."

At Erika's soft call, Oddish's body inflated like a balloon as she began mixing chemicals, and the tips of the leaves on her head swiftly darkened. When Oddish was finally ready, she spewed a decoction of vile purple onto the wall, and the duo hung back as they let the acid slowly eat its way through. Although Erika knew the smell was surely foul, the cotton in her nose protected her from the noxious fumes.

The concrete of the wall started sizzling, visibly degrading before her eyes. It had taken only a scant few seconds for the ancient grout to wear thin, corroded away by the potent poison. With a deft hand, she slid a knife through the wall, and after observing minimal resistance, carved an opening large enough to fit both her and Oddish.

Excellent. They were finally through.

This had been a plan months in the making, and Erika could hardly contain her excitement as she balled up her fists in glee. The building they had just broken into was a front for the Celadon Claws, one of the city's most notorious gangs and pokemon trafficking rings.

Normally, Erika wouldn't have dared to mess with the Claws, no matter how highly she thought of herself. There was a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and crossing one of the most powerful local tyrants just to steal a pokemon was definitely on the dumber side of the metaphorical line.

However, three months prior, she had overheard one of their grunts talking about an incoming shipment of goods, and on a whim, pickpocketed the unfortunate grunt for his phone. After fiddling a little with the password and realizing that she couldn't guess it, Erika dipped it in a little water and took it to a local shop for maintenance. They happily took out the old data to place into a new phone - which unbeknownst to them, Erika had stolen from the shop merely days prior.

Upon opening the new phone and reading through the massive backlog of texts, Erika discovered something truly extraordinary. The Claws were shipping in a snivy.

Snivy! Erika practically salivated at the word. It was Unova's premier grass type, and only given to a dozen or so graduating trainers every annual circuit. Each snivy was painstakingly bred to be as strong as possible, and the Unovan league itself restricted their breeding to a select few trusted farms. To steal one from under the Unovan League's noses was nothing short of implausible, yet the Claws had somehow managed.

More importantly, snivy were practically tailor bred for grass specialists. Trainers who bonded with snivy as their starters would enjoy a massive boost to their grass affinity, and they would gain the allegiance of a pseudo dragon.

For someone like Erika - a no name street rat from the back alleys of Celadon, even saving up enough money to purchase a pokeball was a farfetch'd dream. If she actually bonded a snivy as her starter… perhaps her ambitions could truly become reality.

With these blissful dreams in mind, she and her plant friend quickly hurried through the building, making sure to keep away from the ceiling cameras. Oddish bumbled alongside Erika with uncharacteristic grace, making short hops and taps with her diminutive feet. Although the cameras were probably dead anyways after years of disuse, Erika felt it was better to be safe rather than sorry, so she did her best to conceal her face with a scarf.

Despite the darkness of the interior, Erika could easily make out the shapes of broken chairs and tables strewn across the floor. There were old coffee machines, boxy computers, and what she thought looked like a beat up printer. It was hard to tell even if you squinted due to how dim it was. This was probably some kind of office building in its prime, Erika surmised.

The building had been abandoned years ago, and the city had never reclaimed the land for redevelopment because the surroundings had been contaminated by chemical spills. What little remained of the inside could hardly constitute a proper office in Erika's opinion, and it was easy to notice the graffiti and tags lining the walls.

Although the place looked empty, Erika knew there was more to this place lurking beneath. The schematics and floor plans for every building in Celadon were publicly available if you knew where to look, and she had made sure to download a copy from a computer in the local library.

By looking closely at the floor plans and comparing them to the building schematics, Erika would noticed that they didn't display an underground floor, while the schematics clearly indicated instructions for workers to clear out a space beneath the ground. This was the most likely location for the Claws to hold pokemon before selling them.

Erika had been ridiculously proud of herself for figuring that out.

The entry point where Erika had commanded Oddish to break through was at the back of the building behind the parking lot, and they had emerged onto the ground floor. To get to the underground section, she would need to shimmy down the ventilation shaft, since taking the elevator was a surefire way to commit suicide by Claw.

Erika took out her knife and wedged it into the iron grate blocking the vent, twisting and contorting it to warp the thin strips of metal so she could access the screws behind. It took some fidgeting, but the screws eventually came loose and the grate fell to the ground with a soft thump, landing on the carpet she placed beforehand to cushion the fall. Erika took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart, and prepared to squeeze into the vent.

Unlike other would-be burglars and thieves, Erika was merely eleven, and could more easily fit into the cramped space of the vent. It took a little experimentation, but eventually she settled on entering headfirst while facing the ceiling, making sure to grab onto the metal strips of the grate for support as she hauled the rest of her body in. She made sure to carefully replace the grate, installing the screws back in and bending the strips into place.

Erika pressed her back against the cold metal of the shaft and her feet into the opposing wall, arresting her impending fall, and then began to slowly descend.

Oddish sat snugly on her head, unaware of what was going on, and Erika was forced to bop her on the head to quieten her merry hums. The warmth radiating from her made Erika's temples sweat profusely, and she nearly lost control of her descent several times.

Upon reaching the bottom of the vent, her knees immediately gave out from the strain. Erika took a few moments to calm her breathing and wipe away her sweat before beginning the long crawl towards the other side of the building. The horizontal section of the vent was far easier to traverse, yet also more annoying at the same time, since she had to drag Oddish as she wriggled through. The angled grate she was forced to crawl over also hurt her knees, but it was far more bearable compared to the initial descent.

"Say, how much do you think the dratini would sell for if we auctioned it publicly?"

Erika immediately froze upon hearing the voice. Even her plant friend knew to quieten down, her leaves drooping and curling up to minimize rustling.

She didn't dare to move her body, only craning her neck slightly to gaze down into the room below. It was brightly lit, unlike the floor above, and she espied four men lounging on mismatched couches. They were garbed in casual clothing - a tee and slacks, with slides for shoes. The sight of them was so absurd Erika was tempted to laugh, despite the seriousness of the situation. She never imagined that criminals would dress so domestically. It made a sort of strange sense, though. They were regular people too.

"Dumbass!" The man in white smacked the head of the person who asked the question. "You know what happens if we're caught selling a Class IX. I'm not risking life imprisonment over your stupidity."

He turned back to the assembly, glaring at each member as if daring them to make another stupid comment, still oblivious to Erika's presence. "Dragonite only breed once a decade, and most of their spawn die before maturing. In terms of rarity, it's definitely far greater than our other cargo." Through the alternating layers of the grate, Erika could see him motioning toward a group of stacked up cages. Most were regular cages with wire mesh frames, but a few were solid tanks of water.

She waited with bated breath as he pulled off the covers from one of the water tanks, revealing a serpentine creature with prismatic scales. It cowered from the light and curled up into a ball, exposing a tail with a jagged birthmark. In any other situation, Erika would have been marveling at and admiring the young dragon. However, the sight of the dratini's reflective scales only inspired terror within her.

Marvel Scale? That was Erika's first, horrified thought. It was the predecessor to an ability which only one dragonite in Kanto had.

As if reading her mind, the man continued speaking and answered the question she was hoping desperately wasn't true.

"We actually got this Dratini from the Champion's dragonite, believe it or not," said the man, his tone far too casual for the circumstances. "She likes to mate with pokemon on Mt. Silver, so we had our crew stake out the lower peaks until we came across the dratini. Almost every dratini egg laid is stillborn unless the dragonite's partner is another of its species, so I don't anticipate a dragon mother chasing us down to reclaim her young. They tend to mate and leave, and only check to see if their bastards survive once every few years."

This dratini was the spawn of Champion freaking Oak's dragonite.

"You're certain that it's a bastard right?" A gruff voice muttered. Erika turned her neck slightly to see a short man dressed in a loose purple tee. "If that's the case, there shouldn't be any risk of us being discovered then."

He gestured to the cowering dratini in the corner with an exaggerated motion before glancing back at his companions. "I just don't want heat from the League, much less a champion tier dragonite. As long as you can guarantee that its origin remains anonymous, I'll happily take the dratini off of your hands."

A third voice then chimed in from the right, projecting with a smooth baritone. "I can certainly assure you that no one knows of the dratini sir. I personally captured it, and transported it in person to you."

As the men talked, Erika's eyes suddenly goggled as she noticed the pokeballs on the third man's waist. He had a full set of great balls - but that wasn't what astonished her. It was more the fact that they were emblazoned with the letters ACE, with 3 tiny golden stars trailing the letters. The capture styler hung by his waist only cemented her shock further.

Erika felt her blood run cold. Trying to steal the snivy didn't seem as appealing anymore, when faced with a three star ace who was part of the ranger corps. Knowing that the Claws had stolen a Champion tier dragonite's spawn was one thing, and could still be explained away. Perhaps the league's rangers had been incompetent and let a few lucky poachers through.

Seeing an ace - no, a ranger as well, in front of her was another matter entirely. The implications alone made her shudder.

This man was someone who already stood near the peak of society. Never did Erika think she would ever get the chance to meet - for a certain definition of meet - such a high ranked ace. Even Celadon's chief of police was only a two star. Aces typically weren't willing to be bound by the government, and only enlisted if they were truly patriotic.

So why was there a bloody three star ace colluding with the Claws? Not to mention, he was a ranger as well. Did the league's corruption truly run so deep, that even a ranger was willing to collude with traffickers for a quick buck? They were supposed to be the face of Kanto!

All of a sudden, the method by which the Claws had managed to steal a snivy from a foreign region, and now apparently a dratini from Mt. Silver - a restricted zone where only league rangers were allowed to traverse - became clear to Erika. The Celadon Claws had their claws sunk deep into the league itself. She even suspected that they had managed to subvert one of Kanto's foreign diplomats, because they were the only people legally allowed to cross regions.

Erika frankly still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Rangers were paid incredibly well, and were supposed to be vetted by the league for loyalty. They had to pass multiple psyche tests, personality screenings, background checks, and were often incredibly patriotic. He had zero reason to sell the league out.

Furthermore, what was truly scary was the fact that the ace was behaving deferentially to the man in white. These guys were no grunts, of that she was sure. The white garbed man had no visible pokeballs on him, so he was likely a representative of the Claws, and that frightened Erika immensely. It implied that the Claws had stronger, more influential people in their pocket, to the point that it could deter even a three star ace from behaving arrogantly.

Four star ace… It was highly likely that the Claws had at least one of them backing up their operations.

Erika started to feel the urge to backtrack and leave the building.

The man in white suddenly spoke up. "Stop worrying about the league. They don't even know the dratini exists, and we've covered our trail well. Our contact in the parliament will also nudge attention away from Mt. Silver, in the unlikely event that anyone gets suspicious."

He pulled out a heavy-set briefcase and opened it, revealing rows of neatly bound paper bills. "Here's the fifty million pokedollars as promised." As quickly as it was opened, the briefcase was snapped shut and slid over to the ace. Erika wasn't even surprised at this point. She idled her time away, watching them hand over the dratini and the briefcase, waiting for the men to conclude their business.

She couldn't quite see their faces as they were masked, but she did her best anyways to forget what they looked like. The shape of their bodies, their height, hair color - Erika drove everything out of her mind. Aces were extraordinarily sensitive, and if she ever ran across them again, they would easily be able to pick up her fear. It was better to forget.

Only when the men finally finished and left did Erika dare to deeply exhale, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She was definitely in over her head.

Still, she had already come this far, so she might as well pursue it to the end. The men had definitely left, and despite her fear, Erika was resolved to steal the snivy.

For her destiny, she was willing to bear much, suffer much, and plunge herself headfirst into danger like a moth to flame. The quality of one's starter determined a trainer's future achievements and potential, and she couldn't afford to pass up the chance to seize a first rate grass starter. Grass types weren't inherently powerful in the first place, and the number of pokemon which Erika felt suited her could be counted upon her fingers. The chance to bond with a snivy from a foreign region was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Erika waited patiently for another ten minutes to see if anyone came back, and then had Oddish spray more acid onto the vent. With a hissing pop, a section of the vent came loose, and she dislodged it carefully. She dropped down onto the floor with a rough thump, and Oddish quickly followed into her waiting arms.

Now that she was properly standing in the room, it was easy to find the snivy she was looking for. His was the only cage that wasn't made from wire mesh.

Snivy was trapped in a dense cage of thick steel unlike the other pokemon, and there were only a few openings from which she could see into. From what Erika could observe, his limbs had been bound by manacles, and his face was locked in a mask of anger.

It was telling that he still had his regal nose upturned, despite his predicament. Snivy was definitely a fighter, and that was something Erika could respect. The old scars lining his legs told Erika that he resisted the imprisonment furiously, and had likely shattered his legs multiple times trying to break free. Compared to the cowardly dratini Erika had seen previously, Snivy was far worthier of her respect. To be willing to break, but never bend was a truly admirable trait in her opinion.

The thump of her landing had apparently alerted the serpent to her presence, because he stopped struggling and bent his head towards her. When their eyes met, Erika involuntarily shuddered. She felt an electric sensation travel up her spine, like that of a thousand biting ants. And as if challenging her to take the measure of his being, Snivy raised his pointed head further skyward with the pride he could muster, straining against the chains that kept him rooted to the cage. He matched her stony gaze with ease, in spite of the pain he must have been feeling.

A special pokemon indeed. This snivy was no base creature. She was just about to order Oddish to melt the cage when a click sounded behind her, causing her to instantly freeze. A cold object pressed itself against her skull from behind, and Erika felt a warm breath land on her. "Don't move. What you're going to do is lie down on the grou-".

Erika immediately ducked on reflex and screamed for Oddish, "Acid now!"

By now, the cotton in her nose had already fallen out, so when Oddish unleashed her acid attack, the rank smell made Erika instantly light headed and woozy. She heard a terrible scream from behind her and a gunshot, followed by a loud crack as the bullet ricocheted off the ground. The bullet had barely missed, and Oddish had been responsible for saving her.

Behind Erika, the cages of pokemon erupted into cacophony, as all manner of beasts began to howl and whine at the realization that there was an intruder. They all desired rescue, and made as much noise as they could, much to her chagrin.

Erika leapt to her feet as fast as she could and screamed in an incongruously high pitched voice at the man, "Piss off! Oddish, spray him again and then drain him!"

This time, Erika saw firsthand the acid splattering on the man, and the horrific cries he let out. The acid quite literally ate through his flesh and bone, dissolving his clothing in a matter of moments and melting him alive.

The heart wrenching screams shook Erika on a visceral level, and she watched in gruesome fascination as his legs gave out and fell apart into corroded chunks, causing him to fall to the acid soaked floor. Oddish also began draining his body and absorbing his life force. What remained of his body began to shrivel and wither slowly, like a grape when exposed to sun.

The man was little more than a tattered corpse at this point, but his lips still appeared to be moving, and his eyes were wide open with obvious agony. Erika guiltily stuck her knife into his head, wincing at the squelching sound as her blade sank through acid-softened flesh. Although his head was relatively intact, his face could no longer be identified, the acid having shorn off almost every facial feature. Even third degree burn victims looked better than he did.

While most would have dropped to the ground in shock, Erika had grown up on the streets of Celadon, where violence was commonplace and death just around the corner. She had to fight for every scrap of food and drink, and Erika had been beaten by her fellow rats mercilessly whenever she let down her guard. Seeing a man melted by acid was just a little step up the totem pole of what she was used to, and she quickly recovered from her shellshock.

Erika was confident that this man was the fourth person in the room, who had asked the question about publicly auctioning the dratini. The fact that he had returned was a bad sign. Erika needed to grab Snivy and escape, and fast, before the other grunts - if there were any - were alerted.

She didn't dare to think about the man in white or the ace. If they came back, she was well and truly screwed. The only reason why she didn't immediately attempt to escape was because she was already exposed, so she might as well take Snivy with her.

Erika decided to be pragmatic and stop worrying, calling out to Oddish. "Release your sweet scent! Pacify the pokemon in the cages. That should buy us some more time." Oddish immediately inhaled and puffed out a fine mist of pink, and Erika could smell the bloody stench covering the room visibly dissipate as the sweet scent diffused thorough.

The rampaging pokemon became sedate quickly, and she turned back to the cage trapping Snivy. "Acid again, Oddish! Cover the left side of the cage," Erika ordered quickly. Oddish obeyed her command and spewed her poison, slathering the left side of the cage as comprehensively as she could. The steel began to hiss immediately, but it was clearly slow to melt.

Erika cursed, realizing that Snivy's cage was probably designed to resist corrosion. The designers had likely accounted for the fact that the snivy line learned Gastric Acid, and prepared for the eventuality that its prisoner might try to escape by regurgitating their stomach fluid.

While the metal couldn't fully ignore the potent acid Erika had taught Oddish to produce, it clearly had some level of resistance, enough to slow Erika down that she might be caught and killed by whoever came to investigate.

She hesitated momentarily. Surely her life was worth more than the snivy right?

Memories of hunger, beatings, cold nights spent under bridges, and eating stale food salvaged from dumpsters flashed through her mind. Erika remembered her weakness, her inability, and the feeling of helplessness that overtook her whenever she cared enough to think about her future.

No! She had already come too far. Regardless of what happened now, Erika was determined to risk it all. Life wasn't worth living as a filthy street rat. Erika believed, no - knew, that she was destined for far greater things beyond her current station. The mere thought of giving up disgusted her beyond reproach. She would seize her place in the world with two hands, and wrench it away from whatever stood in her path.

It was time to take a stand. Oddish was clearly exhausted already, her small body heaving and on the verge of withering, but Erika urged her to push on. "Keep using Acid! Keep going, and don't stop until the cage shatters!"

Erika felt somewhat guilty for refusing to bond with Oddish and pushing her so far, but she was unwilling to waste her first aura bond on what she viewed as a walking cabbage. Had Oddish been bonded to Erika, she was sure that Oddish would have tired more slowly, and recovered faster.

It was cold, Erika knew, to train a pokemon and refuse to bond with them. It was like adopting a child and ignoring them, refusing to ever acknowledge them as one of your own children. However, such was the way of the world. You couldn't get ahead in life by relying on sentimentality. A trainer's first bond was their most important one, and forging a connection with Snivy would give her an immeasurable future, one that Oddish couldn't provide.

"Faster Oddish! Again and again!" Erika roared. At her frenzied exclamation, the cage abruptly fell apart, collapsing into itself with a groan and revealing the chained serpent beneath. Oddish collapsed to the ground, withered. She would survive, of that Erika was sure. The extra energy she had drained from the man previously would ensure she lived.

Erika internally swore to herself that if they escaped, no matter how weak she thought Oddish might be, she would give Oddish her second bond for her loyalty. Although Erika was pragmatic, she wasn't heartless. Loyalty was to be rewarded, and Oddish's devotion was beyond comparison. She deserved a seat at Erika's promised table, no matter the weakness of her species or her limited potential.

As quickly as she could manage, Erika pulled off her jacket and used it to scoop up the remnants of acid from the floor, applying it to the chains binding Snivy. The metal was already weak from his previous attempts to escape, and it broke apart with a keening whimper.

At long last, Snivy was free. He strode out with confidence and arrested his movement, before affixing a cold gaze upon Erika.

Instinctively, Erika understood that he was unimpressed by her treatment of Oddish. She had used Oddish up until she was no more, and that surely spoke volumes as to her character. She was unworthy to command Snivy.

However, Erika knew she had to try anyway. This was the culmination of her efforts, the lever which would upend her life and uplift her into glory. She would move mountains, if only Snivy would give her his allegiance.

Erika knelt before Snivy, and though her pride screamed at her to get up, she forced herself to remain still.

This was the first time she had knelt before another, and it would also be the last. With begrudging reluctance, she picked up her acid soaked knife and raked it across her palm, barely holding in an anguished scream. The acid burned, but Erika knew it would not kill. This was a corrosive acid, one designed to burn, not to seep in and poison.

Her action seemed to do quite a lot to appease Snivy. Erika knew she had permanently ruined her left hand. Even if the acid didn't fully eat away at the nerves, she would be left with a horrific scar on her hand for the rest of her life. It was a shocking display of commitment that spoke to her willingness to change.

Only after Erika had fully cut open her palm and spilled her blood did she finally speak. "I swear this to you now, that I will obey the covenant of knighthood." While she didn't want to bind herself to the strict code of knighthood, this was the only way she could win Snivy over now. Offering a traditional knight's oath was the one thing she could think of that might redeem her in his eyes.

Erika paused briefly, hesitating, before continuing. "I will take virtue as my shield and honor as my sword, and never again spill the blood of an innocent. I will cherish innocence, and treasure modesty. I will uphold justice, and decry evil. I will never speak of falsehood, and truth will flow from my lips like a river. I will be beneficent and generous to all. From this day forth, I declare my allegiance to goodliness, and forever bind myself to become a knight."

She painfully gripped her hands and spurted out more blood, letting it trickle to the floor in congealed drops. The acid sizzled on her skin and made her tear up, but Erika refused to cry. This was the only chance she had of persuading Snivy to bond with her.

Erika knew she had overlooked the snivy lineage when she was researching them. She had forgotten the most crucial detail - Unovan snivy were ridiculously moral and honorable, and they categorically refused to bond with immoral trainers. In fact, some obeyed such a strict code of honor that they would rather commit suicide than do evil.

Before saying the final oath, Erika quickly amended her statement, and met Snivy's judging gaze. "I will do my best to uphold the virtues of knighthood. However, you cannot expect me to be perfect. Celadon is cruel, and I must sometimes bend my oath, if not outright break."

At her words, Snivy shook his head in disdain. Erika gritted her teeth, and continued speaking. "If you desire to continue living, then you must accept my oath. Already, our captors near us. Surely, you must have unfulfilled desires. Those who captured you, who betrayed you - I am confident that you must want revenge, no matter how ignoble." She watched Snivy closely, and the barest twitch of his eyes confirmed her suspicions.

"I know that Unova guards the Snivy breeders well. Only an insider could have smuggled you out. Someone definitely betrayed you," Erika spoke confidently. Snivy again reacted to her words, and she continued pressing him. "I'll make an audacious guess right now: it was someone close to you who sold you out." At this, Snivy began to tremble violently.

Erika knew she had hit the right buttons at his reaction, and continued earnestly speaking to him. "I cannot promise that I will be a true knight. What I can do is promise that I will obey the spirit of knighthood, if not the rules to the letter. This is the only compromise I can offer. If you cannot accept my oath, then let us both die here. Let the both of us die with regrets - me with my unfulfilled dreams of glory, and your miserly lack of revenge."

She held out her bloodied hand to Snivy, and with her right, dragged Oddish over. "My companion is not yet dead, merely wounded. If you take me as your liege, then you will give me the ability to save her." Erika hoped vainly beyond belief that this would be enough to convince Snivy. If appealing to his desires would not work, she would try his sense of honor.

"Please take my hand. Accept my oath, and my bond," Erika urged solemnly.

She trained her eyes sincerely upon Snivy, nudging Oddish closer to him. Snivy continued to hesitate, gritting and grinding his molars as if the decision pained him. All of a sudden, a massive slam sounded from the elevator and the doors were violently forced open. The wrenching noise alerted Erika to the fact that backup had arrived, and she knew it was now do or die.

Erika took the chance to shove her hand into Snivy's own and screamed at him, "Lend me your strength! I swear my oath!" The combination of their impending death, Erika's panicked words, and Oddish's rapidly withering body finally broke apart whatever reservations barred Snivy from taking her oath, and he extended a vine-like feeler to wrap around her arm.

Her arm felt as if it were lit aflame, yet Erika only exulted. Success at last, oh how sweet it was.

Erika spasmed violently in pain, before the world slammed back into her and she was awakened to potent new senses. The stench of the leftover acid smelt more acrid and fouler each passing second. The glare of the overhead ceiling light sharpened and became more pronounced. The itchy texture of her shirt became instantly more noticeable, and she could feel the fibers brush and rustle across her skin. Even her hearing began to subtly change, as Erika could now pick out the soft whistling of the wind as the enemy pokemon charged her and Snivy, encasing itself in a shroud of gray that she assumed was normal aura. It was likely Tackle, or Body Slam if they were really unlucky.

Thankfully, it seemed to be the former, and Erika was able to barely dodge what surely would have been a fatal strike. Human bodies were fragile compared to pokemon.

With an exuberant shout, she leapt backwards, and nudged Snivy through the bond of aura they had just formed. New vitality surged into his body, and the tiredness and weariness that he seemed so consumed by was banished by the overflowing aura that he now released.

Nothing could have prepared Erika for when she finally awakened her aura. The books all described it as a minor shock or jolt at most, but that was because average trainers only bonded with common pokemon. The lance of pain and following spasms she had experienced was proof that Snivy was the correct choice.

This was Initiation. She had finally achieved it. The first step to becoming a true trainer - establishing a bond with a pokemon, and attaining the initiate stage of aura.

"This is my destiny!" Erika cried jovially. "Today, I shatter my fetters in triumph! Whosoever tries to stop me, I shall shatter them as well!"

With her melodramatic declaration, Erika lunged for Oddish and called out to Snivy, "Leer at the enemy, and bash them away with Vine Whip!"

The serpent obeyed her order instantly, which Erika felt extremely gratified by. He unleashed three vines onto what Erika could now see was a raticate, and knocked it off course by slamming it with his feelers. He continued his assault by whipping the raticate, but each lash seemed to only annoy it, and its screeches grew in volume with its irritation.

Upon making contact with Oddish, she nudged her now awakened aura into her and formed the second bond. The withering halted, and Oddish's desiccated body began to rejuvenate itself as she poured all of her aura into her. Fresh new leaves sprouted from her head and spider veins crawled their way down Oddish, as her eyes snapped open with new purpose and life. She sprung to her feet and instantly charged the raticate without even needing to hear Erika's order, such was the extent of her loyalty and devotion.

The raticate had yet to be injured at all. Its skin was tough and leathery, and Erika suspected that it could only be hurt by cutting attacks. Blunt force trauma wouldn't be useful unless they were evenly matched or surpassed it in raw power.

From inside the elevator, the grunt laughed at Erika. "Old John here might not be competition material, but he's still a fully evolved second stage 'mon. I'd tell you to surrender, but seeing as you've killed three of my mates," he gestured to the fallen grunts, "I'm not in a very amiable mood. Kill the girl! Quick Attack!"

The raticate accelerated to superhuman speed and lunged for Erika. Erika was sure she was dead. Blast it! A Quick Attack user already? Baseline humans like her even when augmented with initiate aura couldn't hope to dodge that! However, her fears were unfounded, as Oddish courageously leapt between them and slammed into the raticate, changing its trajectory and sending it flying into one of the pillars of the room.

It was unfortunate, but Oddish wasn't made for physical combat, and already Erika could see terrible bruises lining her body. The raticate got up unfazed once more, without injury and angrier than before.

Still, it was quite odd that Oddish had managed to intercept the raticate at all. Oddish were innately slow, and fully evolved raticate were known to be agile and fast moving creatures. Her mind raced as Erika tried to puzzle out what was going on.

To her delight, Erika realized that the raticate was already old. Although it retained most of its fighting strength as a fully-evolved pokemon, its reflexes had long since dulled. The fact that it couldn't even dodge Oddish was irrefutable proof of that. She now noticed how its fur no longer shone, and lacked the characteristic gloss of younger raticate. There were even some patches of gray, and one of its eyes was a discolored milky white.

This was a doable fight, especially since it had become two on one. Erika didn't believe in notions like a fair fight, especially when her life was on the line.

"Stall the raticate, Snivy. Keep him away as long as you can manage and we'll come back for you!" Erika called out. "Oddish, come with me and take out the grunts!"

Two more men emerged from the elevator following the raticate and holding guns, causing Erika to immediately bolt for cover behind the cages of trafficked pokemon. They were precious cargo, and she was staking her life on the fact that they wouldn't be willing to blast her.

Erika made sure to conceal the gun she had swiped from the man Oddish killed earlier, holding it low to the ground beneath the covers of the cages, and coldly ordered Oddish, "Poison Powder. Spread it as far as you can manage and go help Snivy."

Hearing her command, the men trained their guns upon Oddish and began firing, but she was far too small to accurately hit as she weaved and bobbed around. Each jump and hop Oddish made released a potent cloud of toxins, and she began breathing out even more of the misty powder as she ran towards Snivy's fight with the raticate. Oddish paused on occasion to spit out acid at the elevator, scorching the doors and splashing the grunt who had spoken initially. He screamed as he fell, and his companions started to panic as they noticed the poison rapidly spreading through the room. After pumping out as much powder as she could manage, Oddish joined the fight against the raticate.

For Erika, the cloud of poison was also beginning to become a problem. Her eyes were already itching despite having previously built up immunity, and she hastily pulled out a prepared antidote from her pocket and injected it into her thigh, feeling instant relief. She then fired into one of the water tanks with her gun, and took out a cloth. Erika soaked it with the spilt water and tied it around her face, which would hopefully delay the onset of poisoning she was sure Oddish's poison powder would induce.

Looking up, Erika saw the ceiling fans begin suck up the powder and diffuse it through the room even faster. The pokemon in the cages wailed as they choked on the powder, and the poison spreading through their system began to stiffen their muscles and destroy them from the inside. Blast. She had definitely earned herself a blood feud with the Claws by this point, by ordering Oddish to indiscriminately release poison. Their entire cargo had just been killed.

The grunts were in full panic mode now, and began to hastily retreat into the elevator in the hopes of escaping the poison. Erika knew it was time to act. She waited patiently until they had all reentered the elevator before raising her stolen gun and firing it, hammering the trigger until the magazine was empty.

Erika was a terrible shot, having never held a gun before, but it didn't matter when your targets were two big men huddled in a cramped space. No matter how bad her aim, her bullets would surely hit. Sure enough, the men howled in pain as the bullets struck them, and they dropped to the floor while bleeding heavily. She winced a little at the recoil of the gun, and her wrist trembled from the sheer force.

Since the raticate was being tied down by her two pokemon, Erika was free to run towards the elevator and grab the guns from the downed men. She rifled through their pockets quickly before finding a few pokeballs, and finished the men off.

Behind her, Snivy was clearly much worse for wear, having no real means to injure the vastly more experienced raticate. However, he had the support of Oddish, whose searing acid could melt away the raticate's tough skin. It was remarkable, actually, how tough the raticate was. Erika could observe that multiple portions of its skin had been charred off, but the acid was unable to penetrate further and truly rend its flesh and bone, unlike that man earlier.

Seeing a potential opportunity to kill the raticate, Erika slammed her feet into the ground and began running towards it, as she summoned her voice that was rapidly growing hoarse from all the shouting to relay instructions for Snivy and Oddish. "Snivy, I need you to restrain the raticate with your vines, and hold it down as best as you can. Oddish, start draining its stamina and weaken the raticate."

Her pokemon obeyed, ceasing their attempts to attack the raticate in favor of tying it down. The raticate was lashed to the ground by several invasive vines, and it wriggled and struggled with a great fervor to break free. Oddish started absorbing, and the rat's skin began to wither and shrivel. Its struggles weakened considerably, enough for Erika to line up her new gun to its head and begin firing.

Most of her shots missed, and the ones that did land ended up sinking into its head. However, the raticate's skull was far too dense for the bullets to penetrate, and Erika only enraged it further. The pools of blood that formed beneath it were merely from surface wounds, and it violently twisted in an effort to escape.

Finally, one of Erika's shots hit their mark and burst its eyes, making its way through the sole weak point on its head. The raticate let loose a terrible squeal, writhing this way and that as it finally died. The bullet had turned its brain to mush.

Erika collapsed heavily onto the floor, panting deeply and trying to recover from the intensity of the fight. She had been so incredibly tense that even sitting down hurt. Despite the fact that the floor was slick with blood, Erika couldn't find it in her to care.

After a few seconds of deep breathing, she beckoned Snivy and Oddish over, offering them the pokeball and great ball that she had looted from the two men.

Oddish tapped her head against the ball without hesitation, vanishing in a blink of red light as she was instantly captured. It took Snivy a few more seconds to make up his mind, but in the end he dipped his upturned nose slightly, and tucked his stubby arms into a faux bow, before pressing his head against the great ball and disappearing. Now that Erika had properly captured them in pokeballs, it would be easier to transport and deploy them as needed.

She considered releasing Oddish from her ball to continue fighting, but decided against it in the end. Oddish was already exhausted beyond compare, and had squeezed out everything she had to keep fighting at Erika's behest. The initial surge of aura had helped her overcome her fatigue, but it wouldn't be good to continue pushing her. Erika herself was spent, having pushed all her aura into Oddish to suppress her fatigue and injury, and she wouldn't be able to support the burden of maintaining Oddish in another fight.

Snivy popped out of the ball onto the ground next to Erika, and she quickly analyzed the room they were in. There was only one entry point other than the vent she had come in through, and that was the elevator.

That was potentially very good, and also very bad at the same time. More grunts were sure to come down through the elevator, but it also gave Erika the chance to set up an ambush.

Rule one of being a trainer: never get caught in an ambush.

You might control badass pokemon that can level a building, but being shot will still kill you all the same. The lifeless bodies of the grunts Erika had just killed were proof of the veracity of this saying. There was no time to waste.

"Snivy, use your Vine Whip to set up a tripwire at the door! Make it as low as you manage, and then come hide with me behind the corner. We'll ambush the guards - I'll shoot the second guard that comes in, and you need to batter the first into unconsciousness," Erika told him.

Snivy bristled at her order, clearly thinking that such a dirty tactic was dishonorable. He couldn't actually talk, but the discomfort and vehement disagreement he felt was being expressed to Erika through their bond. He had obeyed her orders previously in the heat of the moment, but now that things had calmed down a bit, he was beginning to disagree with her.

Erika gave him an incredulous look, wildly pointing to the elevator as if he were mad. "More grunts are coming! We were lucky to survive the initial wave, but that's not going to happen a second time. We can escape through the vents I came in earlier, but we need to stall the grunts to do that. If you don't obey my instructions, we're both going to die! Are you really choosing this moment to bring up your honor?"

Snivy had nothing more to say at that, and wordlessly turned away from Erika to carry out her instructions. It was clear that he was unwilling, but apparently he still had enough survival instinct within him to realize that they would end up dying if he refused to listen.

He dutifully began stringing vines across the door, and Erika got herself ready to fire by swapping her spent gun for the last remaining one.

The elevator opened once more and five grunts came out this time, before promptly running into Snivy's tripwire and falling. Without hesitation, Erika took aim and sprayed, flexing her finger to empty the gun's chambers. Again, the narrow passageway and cramped space of the elevator worked to her benefit, ensuring that all her bullets hit their targets. Bloody flowers of red erupted on their bodies, causing the grunts to seize up and become still. She could feel Snivy's judging gaze from behind her, and resolved herself to ignore it.

Before running to the vent, Erika hauled one of the grunts over to block the elevator door, preventing it from closing and returning to the first floor. Thankfully, there were no stairs leading down to the underground floor. The man was inordinately heavy - at least for Erika, who had yet to even turn twelve. She heaved with all her strength to barely lever the man over the corpses of his friends, and wedged it between the opening.

Erika didn't bother asking Snivy for help with this particular task, already knowing that he would refuse out of some moral objection towards disrespecting fallen enemies or some such nonsense.

"Keep watch on the elevator for me," Erika told Snivy seriously. "If they're crazy enough to jump down the elevator shaft and break through the elevator ceiling, you're responsible for stalling them. I'll beam you once I cross the vent." With that, she wriggled into the passage, and began her painful journey across the grated surface.

Thankfully, it seemed like the elevator still hadn't managed to return back up, or perhaps reinforcements were slow to arrive; Erika honestly didn't care, and she didn't want to know. It took her nearly a minute to crawl to the other side, and Snivy finally popped his head in from the other end. At the click of a button, she returned him to his pokeball, and with shaking hands, clipped his pokeball to her wait.

The climb took even more out of Erika, but she was now riding an adrenaline high that came from knowing that she had successfully stolen from the Claws. Her excitement seemed to sweep away her soreness, and though her legs screamed, she was able to slowly force her way back up the vertical section of the ventilation to reach the first floor. However, this wasn't where she wanted to stop. It definitely wasn't safe to get out here.

It took five more painful minutes, but she finally ascended to the top of the building, where Erika knew she could easily escape from. The rooftop was connected to the other buildings, and she would be able to hop across buildings until she felt it was safe enough to descend and escape. It was cold outside when she popped out the vent, and Erika lay down on the ground, completely spent.

The wind chill of the night seared on her clammy skin, causing her to shiver involuntarily. Despite the cold, she found herself smiling victoriously. She had found her starter, outsmarted the Claws, and had now successfully escaped with her prize.

Erika turned around to begin building hopping and was met face-to-face with the masked ace she had spied upon earlier, his half mask revealing a teasing grin. She screamed.