Chapter 2 - The dreaded Nightmare

Chapter 2: The dreaded Nightmare

"And we're off again," Avon said, proudly stepping forward, "Let's hope that no other crazy stalkers are on our tail..."

"Eh... Yeah, sure," Marcus took a look around.

Avon halted, surprised of Marcus' comment, "What do you mean by that?"

Marcus sighed. He felt he had to come clean now. "Let's just say I wasn't your average Joe back when I was in Sinnoh or Johto..."

Avon grimaced. "Please, don't tell me you have possible crazy people, like Cassandra, after you..."

Marcus gave Avon a stern look, "Well I've met people ten times worse then Cassandra."

Avon stood up, to continue walking, "You don't say..." Avon was still grimacing.

"I'll take responsibility if something happens." Marcus said.

"Then..." Avon gulped, "Let's hope nothing happens, then..." Avon's eyes widened, "For both of our sakes..."

As they get midway toward Viridian city, Marcus sensed something and heard something else to boot. Having a good idea who it could've been, he held out his hand.

"Stop." Marcus said, plainly. Avon stopped, midway into his step; having grunted as he had stopped. "I sense something wrong, Avon."

Avon backed up a bit. "Oh joy. Can't we get to Viridian, without the risk of getting attacked by some whacko?"

"Not like it's my fault dude." Marcus said, glaring back at Avon.

"I ain't blamin' ya, just sayin'-" Avon stopped, mid-sentence, something having caught his eye in his peripheral vision. Something had shifted in the bushes, along side of them and he had a sudden sense of danger.

"Something happen Avon?" Marcus asked.

Avon could barely speak at first, overcome by the danger. Instead, he pointed toward where he saw the being pass by. "I heard that thing you were possibly talking about... Shuffling through the grass back there..." Avon said, shallowly.

Marcus turned to his Munchlax, "Munchlax, stay alert and tackle anything that jumps or moves out of the woods and/or bushes."

Avon regained his nerve, and called out his only Pokémon, Bulbasaur, "Stay alert..." Avon uttered, scared out of his wits. The Pokémon, Bulbasaur replied by saying his name, the only words it could speak, but agreeing to Avon's command.

Marcus followed up Avon's example and called out his new Lizard Pokémon with a flaming tail tip, Charmander, "Charmander, stay close to Munchlax and use Ember on anything that tries to hurt us."

Munchlax and Charmander both nod, in agreement. All of the Pokémon, as well as both of the trainers, were diligently on the alert, looking out for the sudden movements of the possible attacker.

As things seemed to be calming down, something jumped out of the bushes, shouting in a startling fashion, "Good night, Marcus!" the man shouted, jumping out of the bushes as two katanas were brandished in his hands, ready to strike down. Currently, in his way were both Avon and Marcus.

Avon, with much shock, followed his first reaction to jump out of harm's way, "Oh s***!" He cried as he evaded the blow.

"Crud!" Marcus cried, as he dove out of harm's way as well, though rolled back onto his feet. The katana clashed with the ground, nearly hitting Avon's Bulbasaur.

Avon made heavy contact with the ground, as he jumped out of the way. He groaned as he recovered from the fall, "Crud. First it was a crazy girl, now it's a psychopath with a katana. What's next?" Avon complained.

Marcus stood up, "Don't complain."

The two tried to get a good look at the man, but he charged, blindly, at Marcus, with an intention to kill, "Die, Marcus Lamech!" he shouted, swinging his blades madly. Marcus made an attempt to dodge the blows and almost had all of them, except for the final strike, which nailed him good on the torso. Marcus cringed from the pain, and backed away, holding where he was hit as the blood seeped through his hand.

The mysterious man jumped back into his position, the light finally hitting him enough to be seen. He was quite tall, about a foot or two taller than Marcus. He had black, neatly cut hair that outgrew enough to completely cover his right eye. His left eye was black and bloodshot, as he stared at Marcus, with a lust for his blood. Most of his attire was covered by a large, brown trench coat, though the lower sleeves of his pants that were still visible was a sliver color, with armor protected black shoes. The man had stanched back into his place, ready to fight some more. "You've become weaker, Lamech."

"How do you know my name, you...?" Marcus stopped, staggering from the pain, though goes on to shouting his words, "you... you psychopathic katana swinging bastard?!"

The man straightened up, from his stance, "I'll say it only once. My name is Nightmare, but you may have known me as Chase Raghnall."

"Chase? That name sounds familiar, but I don't remember..." Marcus said, trying to ponder who this man was.

The man opened his trench coat, revealing his true appearance as he removed it. An iron glove on his right hand and several pieces of armor cover his torso, Chinese-styled armor; compared to that of samurai armor. All of this above his brown leather shirt, which was his first layer of clothing. Along side of the trench coat were all kinds of swords and weaponry in Nightmare's arsenal. Avon, mistaking the removing of Nightmare's trench coat as a flasher attempt, covered his eyes.

"Oh god!" Avon cried out, shielding his eyes from what he thought was the horror.

Marcus, on the other hand, recognized all of the equipment in Nightmare's trench coat. "You're... a martial artist of sorts? A warrior... a sword wielding..." Then, it hit Marcus, to who Nightmare was, "Wait... Are you that crazy sword-wielding guy from the Johto Martial Arts tournament?"

Nightmare smirked, seeing as Marcus finally recognized him. "Glad you finally remembered me. But since you took a while to remember, I'll just let you suffer by killing your friend here." He fazed to Avon, "Are you afraid of death?"

Marcus realized what Nightmare was doing. "Not that stupid question! Avon, say no! Those who fear death die earlier than those who don't!"

Of course, Avon was too terror stricken to listen to Marcus, and was surprised of Nightmare's question, "What, are you nuts?! Of course, you crazy psychopath!" Avon shouted.

Marcus cringed, though only to Avon planning his own funeral, "Too late..."

Avon turned to Marcus, still with a crazed look on his face, "Well, 'scuse me for living!!" Avon shouted back.

"I see..." Nightmare replied, a sadistic grin sneaking across his face, "You should have taken your friend's advice. No matter... I'll deal with you later..." Nightmare phased over back to Marcus, raising his Katanas for the finishing blow. "Goodbye, Lamech. See you in hell..."

Avon raised his arm to stop the madman. "Wait! Before you kill him. I have a final request for him."

"Make it quick."

As if a reaction to Avon's last opportunity in life, he quickly turned to his Bulbasaur at his heels, ready to give the stalling command. "Razor leaf! Go!"

Bulbasaur let loose sharp, leaf bladed projectiles toward Nightmare, however, he leaped out of the range of the leaves, managing to evade them. Bulbasaur kept at it, keeping Nightmare at bay until Avon reached Marcus, giving it his best to pull him up and try to run. Avon felt a bit sorry for using his team as a scapegoat, but he promised himself, if he got out of this situation alive, he'd make it up to them.

However, as Bulbasaur keeps at his Razor leaf, the sight of Avon getting away with Marcus didn't go unseen. "I don't think so, pig! You're not escaping that easily!" Nightmare stopped evading and started skillfully, deflecting the leaf attacks with his sword charging for the two boys yet again. However, he was interrupted by small orbs, similar to Bulbasaur's Razor leaf attacks, except fire. The fire orbs were coming from Marcus' Charmander's tail, also known as the attack Ember. Nightmare was getting irritated. "You're now getting on my nerves... Gabite! Take care of 'em!"

As the Pokémon tried to keep at their attacks, they were stopped up by a large, land shark of sorts which blocked off their range of attacks with his fin-like arms. The Pokémon, spooked by the intimidating height and face of the Pokémon, felt themselves unable to attack it. All but Marcus's Munchlax, who was brave enough to attempt a tackle upon him, smashing full body into the large land shark Pokémon. However, when Munchlax struck him, Gabite did not even twitch from being hit by the weak attack.

Nightmare stopped his chase upon Avon and Marcus and decided to have his Pokémon attack them. "Gabite, spare them no mercy. Dragon Claw!"

Munchlax, backed away, to evade the first strike from the green claw attack and then charged in again for another Tackle. It managed to succeed landing two blows before being hammered down into the dirt, quickly being defeated by the overpowering Pokémon. The other two Pokémon, Bulbasaur and Charmander, backed away, but as his trainer commanded, Gabite wasn't willing to show them any mercy.

Nightmare threw his hand out, his katana still clenched in it, and spat out another command. "Draco Meteor!"

Gabite focused energy into his forehead and then unleashed small rays of energy, in the form of meteorites, hurling toward Bulbasaur and Charmander. The meteorites exploded on contact with the ground or Bulbasaur and Charmander, causing a series of explosions to finish the Pokémon off. Gabite was victorious, despite the numbers being three-to-one, however, Gabite clearly outmatched the other Pokémon.

Nightmare turned off to the fleeing duo, who didn't get very far since Marcus was heavier than he thought. Avon stopped to take a small break, even though he knew he shouldn't have, but Marcus' weight forced him to give into it. However, what Avon soon regretted it for a katana pierced right through his left side. It didn't hit any major organs, but it still hurt like hell.

Avon hissed, only to suppress his ability to scream. Not that it would have mattered, for Nightmare would kill them, regardless of witnesses. "Ack... D-dammit..." Avon rolled over, clutching his wound, leaving the semi-conscious Marcus wide open for Nightmare's sword. He aimed the tip of the blade toward Marcus's heart, ready for the final stab to end Marcus' life.

"Now, as I said before. Good-bye, Marcus Lamech." As Nightmare rose his blade to attack, however, he heard a shuffling in the grass. It wasn't a typical wild Pokémon shuffle, but more of a human's, "What the... Gabite, Hyper Beam."

Gabite unleashed a powerful beam from his gapping mouth firing it into the tall grass. It appeared to be a complete miss. From behind Gabite and his trainer appeared a yellow mouse Pokémon, with red cheeks and a thunderbolt-shaped tail. It appeared assertive for some reason.

"What? Only a Pikachu? Gabite, destroy it. Another Hyper beam." Nightmare commanded.

"That's not your typical Pikachu," said a voice from the grass, "Mike! Agility, then unleash Iron Tail!"

The Pikachu, nicknamed Mike, dodged the Hyper beam, with extreme agility, then appearing above Gabite, it's thunderbolt-shaped tail glowing as it descended. As it reached it's range, it swung it's full body at the Gabite, hammering it with his hard tail and head first into the dirt. Due to the Pikachu's amazing strength, Gabite's eyes bulged out a bit and it landed with a thud. Knock out. The Pikachu landed on top of the fallen Gabite, striking a heroic pose with it's fists upon it's hips.

Nightmare was furious. "What is that thing?!" He exclaimed, "No rodent should be able to knock my dragon unconscious!"

The owner of the Pikachu stepped out of the forest, revealing himself. From his serious, yet prestige look of experience, he was no novice. He had short, faded brown hair and brown eyes behind his D&G designer glasses. While his facial look had experience on it, his white button shirt and blue, slightly worn jeans spoke otherwise. He raised his eyebrow, at Nightmare, a smirk appearing on his mouth.

"You want to see a real dragon, then?" he asked, the Pikachu turning a transparent red and then being sucked into the Pokéball in his hand. The stranger then tossing up another Pokéball. Out of the light of the Pokéball appeared a light green colored dragon, on all fours, and solid red wings on it's back. The powerful Dragon, known as Salamence, growled in an intimidating way at Nightmare, showing him that the stranger's power was real.

Nightmare groaned. "Ugh...I knew I should've brought along my other Pokémon..."

The teen gave a stern look toward Nightmare, "You can either move along now, or face the wrath of Salamence," he warned.

"You do know that I didn't capture my Pokémon and I've only had them for so long. My game isn't Pokémon battles, it's combat!" Nightmare dropped his weapons and charged at the stranger, barehanded, "Thousand strikes!"

As Nightmare drew close, Salamence took wing and flew above the stranger. The stranger ducked from the blows, occasionally blocking them, and then jumped back from Nightmare when the opportunity arose. As Nightmare charged again to attack, the stranger's Salamence swept him off his feet and hovered him in front of the stranger, Nightmare kicking and struggling to break free.

The teen huffed, having escaped all harm, whatsoever. "Now, listen, you; Fists or not, you obviously don't know me," the teen thumbed toward his chest, "I'm Marc Anthony, one of the greatest trainers ever known. I'll spare you the self-bio, this time, being that I'm a little short on time." The teen, Marc, then swung his arm away, signaling to Salamence, "So long."

Salamence took Nightmare away, flying incredibly fast and away, from the area. After a while, Salamence came back, obviously having dropped Nightmare somewhere, quite proud of what he did as he smirked widely. Marc merely smiled.

Marcus grunted and then asked the question, "...Are we... safe?" he asked.

"Yeah, you are," Marc replied.

"... Avon... How're you holding up?"

Avon groaned. "Can't believe he f***in' stabbed me... the bastard... f***..." Avon groaned again, a hint of disdain in his voice. "Other than taking a stab wound I won't soon forget, I'm good..."

Marcus then grunted his speech, trying to apologize, "...Avon... I'm sorry for all of this... it was my fault that this happened... I'll become stronger for both our sakes..." Marcus strained himself, trying to get up and only curled up, in agony, "...I'm too tired to get up... these wounds were worse than I thought. Heh... well Avon... I got the point... I won't work as the leading man here so you'll have to... just know that the leading man is nothing without his support... night..." and with that, Marcus fell unconscious.

Avon groaned as well. "Will do," he said, cringing from the pain.

Marc, seeing the whole dramatic scene, scratched his head in confusion, "You guys need a ride to the hospital?"

"... Yes..." Avon grunted.

Marc shrugged and then tossed out a few more Pokéballs. Out came two bulky Pokémon. One, Rhydon, a large, gray rocky Pokémon with a large drill on it's nose. Two, Torterra, a Pokémon on all fours, a large tree on the left and three large spikes on the right of it's large turtle-like shell. Marc patched the boys up, to stop the bleeding then had his Rhydon place the two boys and their injured Pokémon on Torterra's back, leaving the Gabite behind. After leaving the scene, Marc and his Pokémon began their short walk toward Viridian city's hospital and Pokémon center.

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