"Leave it alone!" The fifeen-year-old shouted, his silver hair falling over his pale blue eyes and obscuring his vision.
"What did you say?" The taller boy asked, leaning down to glare into the young Kazuki's face. "What did you say to me, you little piece of trash?"
"I said leave it alone!" He spat, ignoring the look he was receiving from the bully. The inhuman cry issuing from the Meowth nearby tugged at his heartstrings, causing a certain amount of courage to flare up inside of him. How anyone could treat any pokemon so badly was beyond his understanding. "It didn't do anything wrong, so leave it alone!"
"Au contraire, pipsqueak. It disobeyed me," he sneered, pausing to spit onto the pavement beside him. "I ordered it to cut that last kid and it didn't, so it deserves whatever punishment it gets." And with that, he gave a swift kick to the small pokemon's ribs, eliciting another sharp cry of pain from the poor creature.
"I said stop it, you disgusting piece of s**t!" Zuki shouted, amazed at his choice of words and his tone. He was even more amazed at himself when he suddenly slammed his fist into the face of the bully, knocking out a tooth or two. Wide-eyed, he watched a stream of blood trickle down the other's chin before realizing the extent of his actions.
The sixteen-year-old stared dumbly at the smaller teen for a few moments before his gaze hardened, hands clenching into fists of rage. "Why you little..." He began, taking a step towards Kazuki, completely forgetting about the battered feline, which took advantage of the moment and promptly fled. Neither teenager noticed the footsteps until another voice joined in.
"Hold it. What's going on here?" Both of them turned to look around, having completely opposite reactions to what they saw. The older teen looked relieved, though Kazuki was merely even more panic-stricken. Forming a circle around the two of them were five others, at least seventeen years old. Each was dressed in all black with chains adorning certain parts of their clothing, some even wore leather jackets. The tallest one tossed his head slightly to move his black hair out of his eyes, taking but a moment to study the scene in front of him. "Ah, I see. Look, kid, you're going about it all wrong. Use your pokemon to beat him up, that way he can't get close enough to touch you."
"The useless little maggot ran off," the sixteen-year-old muttered with a glare as he looked around for the Meowth.
The elder teenager simply shrugged, pulling three pokeballs from his waist. "Then allow me to give you a quick lesson. If you want to scar the little pieceashit for life," he began, releasing the three pokemon from their pokeballs. Two Sneasel appeared in front of him, a Weavile appearing right behind them. All three looked around, glaring at each and every one of the teenagers save their trainer, who they looked to merely for instructions. The teen continued with a smirk, looking at Kazuki. "You gotta get pokemon with claws."
Kazuki's eyes widened, his face growing a shade paler. The gang he'd been avoiding like the devil now had him surrounded, and he was about to get clawed to death by their leader's pokemon. He opened his mouth to yell, call for help, anything, but nothing came; his mouth was too dry. He took several steps backwards and was surprised to find that the gang member who had been behind him had moved off to the side. As he glanced back towards the three pokemon, however, the reasons became clear: the Sneasel were both flexing their front claws, and a deep rumble issued from the Weavile's throat as he flexed his dagger-like claws, lowering his head a bit. That was all the prompting the young Kazuki needed. In an instant he had turned tail and fled as fast as his legs could carry him, away from the danger and violence, away from the threats and bullies and gangs of the damned city his parents had brought him to.
"Get him, boys," the trainer of the three said with a smirk. Instantly the Sneasel and their evolved counterpart set off at incredible speeds, eyes locked onto their target until he dashed around a corner and disappeared. They followed him quickly and then paused after turning the corner, looking around for where he could have gone.
"Weavile weave!" The leader snapped to both Sneasel, pointing to three different directions before dashing off down the street. The Sneasel nodded, one of them racing across the street to search there. The second one trotted forward a few paces before swerving into an alleyway, his red eyes flicking constantly from object to object. A flash of movement to his right was all he needed before he snarled and lashed out with his claws. A string of curses preceded a trash can slamming down around the offending pokemon, who had been standing atop a well-placed trash can lid. Scooping up the entire can with lid firmly attached, Kazuki swung the entire load into a dumpster and swiftly slammed the heavy lid down. He rushed from the alleyway and ran across the street, ignoring the painful gash on his right leg and the blood that ran freely from it.
As he entered the alleyway across from the one he had just departed, a sudden snarl sounded behind him. He turned around just in time to see the other Sneasel lunge at his head, and before he could panic he stepped on an empty glass bottle. Swiftly falling onto his side at the last minute because of the garbage, he quickly praised the accident as the Sneasel soared over him, landing squarely in another dumpster. Zuki jumped up and slammed the lid down on the creature, hoping to keep it in there long enough so he could escape. He turned quickly to run out of the alley but nearly ran straight into the Weavile, who quickly lashed out with both sets of claws. Kazuki instinctively reached up with both arms to cover his face, and just in time. The Weavile's claws grazed his right arm, but both sets made deep gashes in opposite directions on his left forearm, immediately drawing blood. The poor teenager cried out in pain as tears stung his eyes, walking backward quickly to avoid another injury. A threatening growl rumbled in the Weavile's throat as he bared his fangs, taking several steps towards Kazuki. The teenager panicked and glanced around him for something, anything he could use. Spotting an empty trash can near him he grabbed it and rushed forward, slamming it over the bewildered Weavile's head before running past it and racing off as fast as possible towards home, towards safety.
Kazuki bolted upright with a gasp, waking up in a cold sweat. He sat there for several moments, simply taking deep breaths, before hesitantly looking around the small room. He slowly became aware of the gentle rocking of the boat, of the sounds of the water sloshing against the sides of the large craft, of the soft sounds from the rooms next to him of others sleeping peacefully. A shuddering sigh escaped him as he drew his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them and leaning against the wall for the remainder of the night.
