Chapter 1 - Don't Lose Sight

The day had been going well enough, at least it seemed so--no one had attempted to Mach Punch another or attempt to Giga Impact anyone off a cliff. At the time, the only disturbance to the piece was a young Luxio named Pebil being chased by a blush pink Flaffy named Fleep. Both were screaming unintelligible words at each other, though the only coherent pieces seemed to be cries of distress from the Luxio, and cries of devotion from the Flaffy.

This was a common occurence between the two, and other tamed Pokémon had begun placing bets on whether the two were an eventual couple, or just another flame to die out with the next breeze. However, it seemed the only Pokémon truly participating in the bets was Kensa, a hyperactive and self-proclaimed "Ladies Monferno". His pals, Winseye the Quilava and Strei the Lucario, listened calmly to his ever changing bets, waiting for their dear but foolish friend to quiet himself.

Winseye didn't mind the bets, but he did not dare to make one for fear of Abbie the Buneary's reaction. If he betted against the "blossoming" couple, Abbie was sure to scold and nag him for being against the ways of love. However, if he betted towards the two and their eventual happiness, Abbie would nag and force him into a relationship built soley on her eternal crush him. So, he simply nodded to whatever Kensa said but never truly chose a side.

Strei, a dedicated figher with a voracious appetite, did not care about the clueless Flaffy or the determined Luxio--he was focused on only two things at his age, beating all of his opponents, and eating all the best Poffins for himself. And he would have continued to focus on only these goals, had it not been for his half-sister, Abbie, seating herself down amongst their clearly all male group and starting to blabber on and on about love.

"What do you think, Winseye?" she asked, snuggling against the Quilava and tickling under his chin with her ears. "Don't you think they'd be a cute couple? Think about the sparks that would fly between the two, right? It'd be so cute, yes!?" Her speech went on for several minutes, each of her sentences ending in a rhetorical question, as was her habit when talking. While each Pokémon heard what she was saying, the only apparent active listener was Kensa--his crush being so immense on the adorable Buneary that he clung to every word of hers in hopes that she might be talking about him.

Winseye regarded the Buneary with a mixture of confusion, embarrassment, and uncertainty. "I-I guess," he stuttered, afraid to give a real answer in fear of Abbie's reaction. In truth, Winseye was enamored by her, but his bashful nature kept him from ever admitting it, no matter how unhappy it made him to keep from bursting out with a passionate and heartfelt love confession at any moment. The very idea of it made him turn blue with embarrassment, which Abbie picked up on immediately.

"Oh Winseye!” she gasped, “You’re turning so blue, you know!? You want them to be happy together, right? Because you believe in love, don’t you!? True true love, love so hot it melts glaciers and so strong it breaks through mountains, right!?” Abbie, ever bold, was quick to assume and read further into the situation than necessary. Her statements, posing as questions, were growing more and more persistent--to the point Strei feared she might suddenly decide that Winseye did love her, and from there it would only be chaos. For one, Winseye was certain to start stammering so hard he would never speak clearly again, and Kensa would probably kill himself right then and there.

“Enough, Abbie--haven’t you asked enough questions today? Huh?” Strei asked, munching on a sour poffin as he scowled at his half-sister. The two were constantly bickering, though Strei usually won due to his steel and fighting abilities--Abbie was just no match for him.

“Oh, what do you know? You’re steel, your so hardheaded that you don’t even comprehend love, right?” Abbie shot back, “I bet that’s why you are so into fighting, because love can’t reach your metal brain and you can’t feel emotional pain, yeah!?”

“Huh, said the Ice-Vespiquen,” Strei retorted, popping a spicy poffin into his jaw and making a face at the taste. “If I couldn’t feel emotional pain, then I wouldn’t be sick to my stomach from listening to you blabber on and on about your feelings.”

Abbie squealed and threw a curled paw at him, her paw glancing harmlessly off Strei’s arm and causing him to laugh.

“What was that, huh!? What are you, a Magikarp? That was as effective as Splash!” he hooted, “I see, you were trying to invent a move! It’s not super-effective!”

Abbie growled something under her breath, bouncing to her feet and hopping away in swift and determined strides. Winseye and Kensa watched her leave with equal fascination, though Strei turned his eyes back to his pile of treats. “What a Poochyena, right guys?” he snorted.


Paws moving swiftly, Abbie plucked and filled her knapsack with a variety of mushrooms. She grabbed as many as she could find, some being as big as her head and others as tiny as her nose. Some smelled good, and others were foul and covered in slimes. She stuffed her bag with as many mushrooms as she could find, tying it shut and tossing it over her shoulder.

With large bounds she made her way back to the outskirts of Ecruteak City, where the team had been camping out the past three days while their trainer attended to personal affairs. The mushrooms were for Strei, as a peace offering--or, at least, that's what she would tell him. She had secretly slipped in a few she knew were toxic enough to give Strei bellyaches and perhaps cause him to vomit a little.

He was a glutton, she knew, and he wouldn't be able to resist an offering in the form of food--and, just in case, she would use her cute charm on him to seal the deal. Putting on her best apologetic face, Abbie approached Strei by the steps of the Bell Tower.

"Strei?" she asked, her voice timid. "I'm sorry for bothering you earlier, you know? And for trying to punch you, yeah?"

Strei looked at her doubtfully--it was rare for Abbie to apologize, not without their trainer present at least. "Uh-huh... why's that?" he asked, eyeing the bag in her paws.

"Well I... um..." Abbie stammered, "I just think we should try to get along better, yeah? Our trainer would like that, right? And, besides, I brought you some mushrooms--as a peace offering, you see? I thought you might like them... okay?"

"I see..." Strei said, "Well then, thanks Abbie--you're right, our trainer would like it if we could get along better."

Abbie handed him the mushroom stuffed knapsack, smiling sweetly at her half-brother and sitting down beside him. She watched him eat a mushroom or two before removing herself from the steps of the Bell Tower and hopping away, she had a special place in mind where she could watch the chaos ensue as the mushrooms took their effect on Strei.

It took longer than she thought, though, Strei managing to eat through the bag and eat all the safe mushrooms before actually consuming any of the mushrooms Abbie knew to be mildly poisonous. The wait was worth it, though, or so she thought as within two hours Strei was starting to look a little peaked and was clutching his tummy.

He looked around several times, squinting and rubbing his eyes--Abbie could only wonder if he was suffering a hallucination or if he was attempting to ensure that no one was around before he threw up. Standing up, he hobbled unsteadily down the Bell Tower stairs and collapsed in the grass, his paws ripping grass from the dirt and stuffing it into his jaw. Abbie giggled, realizing that he was going to try and force his stomach to release its contents in hopes of ridding it of the nasty toxins.

Though he swallowed enough grass to feed a small farm of Tauros, Strei was unable to clean his system of the poisonous mushrooms. He was panting and creating an excess amount of spit, his body trembling as he laid in the dirt. "Poisoned... Abbie!? I know you're there! I know you can hear me!" he started to scream, clawing at the dirt. "You poisoned me! Why!?"

Abbie hesitantly left her hiding spot. "You'll live!" she snapped, "You deserved it, for being so mean always, you know!?"

"So you admit to it, it was on purpose!" Strei snarled, attempting to lift himself from the ground and stand to face her. He was barely able to get to his knees, but as he searched around he was unable to locate her. "Where are you!?"

"What do you mean where am I!? I'm right in front of you, what are you blind!?" Abbie spat back.

Strei ignored her though, dropping back into the dirt. "I can't see..." he said softly. "You demented Pokémon, I can't see!!"

"Don't be so dramatic, yeah? You'll be fine--stop whining, okay!?" Abbie said, though her voice wavered. She didn't know what kinds of mushrooms Strei had eaten; she didn't know for sure if he'd be alright, she had only hope to go on.

Strei growled and forced himself to his feet, his paws facing outward as he searched for Abbie. When a slight breeze slid past him, he lunged at it and fell to the ground again. This carried on until, exhausted, he was unable to stand anymore. Abbie uncertainly approached him, truly concerned now.

"Strei, I'm sorry," she started to say, wringing her paws together. Strei's paw shot towards her, though she bounded gracefully out of the way.

"Get away from me! Just get away!" Strei yelled, "If you're really sorry, go get Kensa. And, after that, don't ever come near me again! I hate you; I'll kill you if you come near me again!"

Strei's bitter words echoed through the trees and off the tower, Abbie shivering and turning quickly away from Strei to find Kensa.


Strei was unable to leave the PokéCenter for nearly three days, thus further delaying their trainer's journey, though she didn't seem to mind. Like their trainer, the team kept Strei company and attempted to cheer him up. The visit to the PokéCenter had revealed that, while they were able to cure the poisoning, the damage it had done to his eyes could not be reversed.

Their trainer left him at the PokéCenter to travel home and visit the Pokémon Professor, though this was also a dead end and there was still no cure to be found. What they did learn, though, was that the mushroom Strei had consumed was extremely deadly, and the only reason Strei was not dead was because of his resistance to poison, though this was not a comforting fact to anyone.

"Maybe you should just stay at the PC," Kensa advised, when Strei began to grow restless. Strei had been permitted to go outside, though he wasn't any happier for it.

"No. I want to keep training," Strei muttered.

"But, dude, you're blind--how are you going to fight when you can't see your opponents?"

"I am going to keep training!" Strei snapped.

"Get up, man," Kensa said, standing up as well and waiting for Strei to join him. "You can't fight blind--you'll get creamed!"

"Stop saying that," Strei said, "You don't know that."

With a sigh Kensa low-kicked Strei and took him down with ease, pinning him beneath his knee and shaking his head. "Don't you get it, man? You can't fight! You're useless now, it's no good!"

Strei shuddered underneath Kensa's knee, a light blue glow enveloping him as he sprung up. "Shut up! I can fight, you'll see! I'll take on anyone--be it you or the Elite Four!" he roared, delivering fast and strong hits that Kensa fought desperately to block. He couldn't block all of them, though, and was soon knocked to the ground by Strei.

"I'll be the strongest of the team, just wait!" Strei promised, his cloudy and blind eyes glowing with the power called Aura.

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