It's Getting Closer...

Hey guys, I'm the MidgetBear and this is my first official Pokepasta. Give me feedback and tell me what you think!

__________________________________________________________________________________________... Something's stirring.

... Something's approaching.

It's getting closer!

It's right nearby! It's gusting hard!

Haven't you ever wondered what "it" is? The mysterious force that causes your rescue team to exit the dungeon in defeat? After all, we don't really know what to think of "it", because nobody has ever seen "it".

...

And returned.

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The team was all ready, Charmander and Squirtle and their friend Absol. Today was going to be a training day for the new recruit, a small Pidgey who had joined the team at level 4. So, since the team had no rescue missions from Pokemon in danger from natural disasters, they were headed out to the Tiny Woods near the team base to train Pidgey up, maybe even raise its level a bit. The Tiny Woods were a perfect place to start training; after all, there was nothing dangerous there at all. Just a few Wurmple and Sunkern, and even some other Pidgey. Nothing that could do any real harm to a level 23 Charmander and his partner, a level 22 Squirtle.

Those poor naive fools.

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A few hours in, and the training was already showing results. Pidgey had grown to Level 8 and even Absol had achieved a level. The team had reached the third and final floor, and were going to train just a little longer there before leaving. Things were going great... until the wind started blowing.

Just as the team was was heading towards the corridor that led to the stairs, Absol froze in place.

"What's wrong, Absol?" asked Charmander.

"Can't you feel that?" Absol said nervously.

"What are you talking about?"

Absol seemed frozen in place as though by a spell, before briefly replying, "... Something's stirring."

His teammates all gave him questioning looks, but Absol only responded with a piercing look and the quick, nervous command, "Keep moving."

A few steps later, Absol, who was in front of the group, stopped again. "... Something's approaching."

"What's approaching?" Asked the timid Pidgey.

"Nothing we can't handle," Squirtle said reassuringly. "We're all way overpowered compared to anything in this-"

"Keep moving!" Sharper this time.

By now the other three had started to notice that the wind was blowing harder and that leaves were starting to blow around in the sudden gusts.

After yet another brief interval of walking, Absol stopped again, this time looking pained. "It's getting closer!"

"What are you talking about?!" Shouted Charmander. "What's going on?"

"I can feel it closing in... I can sense a disaster coming..." panted Absol.

The wind was blowing almost uncontrollably now. The team was struggling to make it to the stairs, even though they were now within sight. The team was only one tile away from the stairs when Absol screeched, "It's right nearby! It's gusting hard!"

Just as the four were about to turn around to face the newcomer, the wind, which was now completely out of control of any force in the world, tossed them out of the dungeon like the leaves they had seen so harmlessly blowing about before.

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Several years had passed. The once-timid, level 8 Pidgey was now a fully-fledged, level 50 Pidgeot. Squirle had evolved into a level 55 powerhouse of a Blastoise. And Charmander, the original founder of the team, had achieved the ultimate goal of all Pokemon: He was now a level 100 Charizard. Time had also changed Absol, who was now on the verge of joining Charizard at level 100 with only a meager 500 experience points keeping him from it. The incident in Tiny Woods had not been mentioned in years... until the hard-headed Charizard sat the team down for a meeting at the team base.

"As you all probably know, it's been a long time since we explored the Tiny Woods. Well, I for one think that we are all at a point where nothing there or anywhere else can stop us. We've beaten the Legendary Birds, the Legendary Dogs, we even beat Rayquaza and Mewtwo. What I'm trying to say is, who's up for going back into the Woods to give whatever lives there a piece of our minds?"

This speech was met with mixed emotions. Blastoise looked eager and ready to go. Pidgeot looked slightly shocked but not at all opposed. But Absol was the one who flat-out rejected the proposal.

"You're kidding right? Don't you remember what happened the last time we were there?"

"Aw come on Absol, that was years ago!" laughed Blastoise. "We were all so low-leveled then. I bet we can take it on now, especially with the four of us in our prime!"

"You idiot," snarled Absol, "are you really that eager to go back into that kind of defeat? We couldn't even catch a glimpse of the thing, and you want to go back and challenge its power AGAIN? What do you have to gain from being defeated by it again?"

"Who said we would be defeated?" responded Pidgeot. "I for one think that we're above able to face anything we may find there."

It looked like a two-on-one fight was about to erupt when Charizard hastily called a vote. "So who says we should go back?"

Blastoise and Pidgeot both responded by nodding. "Three against one Absol, too bad."

"Too bad for you, you mean," said Absol. "My level is high enough. I've been to every dungeon in this world with you three, and I've seen every kind of Pokemon. I'm handing in my resignation as a rescuer. That way you can't find me when you inevitably come to tell me I was right." And to stunned silence, Absol walked calmly from the room, and headed off into the wilderness where he had joined the team so long ago.

"Aww, don't worry about him," Charizard grunted roughly, "He can handle himself. So, if we all agree that we're heading out tomorrow, I'd say we call it a night."

Though he was obviously in as much pain and shock as the other two, Charizard tried to maintain a tough authority figure until the others left. Just before turning in for the night, Charizard sighed and spoke to no one, "You're wrong Absol. And tomorrow, I'm going to prove it." With that in mind, he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

This was the last night Charizard slept in the base.

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The next morning, the team, still greiving the sudden departure of their friend Absol, nonetheless were excited to re-visit the Tiny Woods. They breezed right through the first two floors, occasionally knocking out annoying, under-leveled wild Pokemon as they found them. Eventually of course, they found their way to the third floor, and suddenly their confidence was not in such high supply as it had been that morning. Except for Charizard, that is, who stubbornly and good-naturedly led his team through the corridors and rooms with a smile on his face and not a care in the world.

Eventually, as they knew it would, the wind started to pick up slowly. The others were jumpy and frightened at this point, but Charizard still urged them on. The leaves started swirling in the unnatural wind just as they had years before, and suddenly an image came into Charizard's mind that wiped the smirk right off his face: Turning as he had as a level 23 Charmander and seeing the frightened looks on his teammate's faces and hearing those disturbing words, "It's getting closer," from the mouth of his friend Absol.

That was what shook Charizard out of his memory: his anger and feeling of betrayal at Absol's departure. He hadn't let it on to his teammates, and there was no point mourning his loss now. Oddly reminding himself of Absol, Charizard croaked, "Keep moving."

As they progressed ever farther, the wind picked up in its velocity. At this point Pidgeot and Blastoise were not even pretending to be cool and calm anymore, and were moving ever closer to fully-fledged panic. "H-hey Charizard--"

"What?" he snapped.

"W-well," stammered Pidgeot, "I'm not so s-sure this was such a good idea."

"Oh please!" snarled Charizard, "You aren't seriously going to let what Absol said get to you are you?"

"It's just that..."

"Don't. Just don't." At this point Charizard had to raise his voice to be heard over the wind. "If you guys want to leave the stairs are right over there. If I'm the only one who sees this through, fine. Then Absol can laugh at how cowardly you were. I might join him."

Blastoise and Pidgeot exchanged a hopeless glance. Then Blastoise simply shrugged and said coldly, "Fine. Send a postcard from Hell, would you?"

Charizard looked shocked. First Absol, and now Blastoise, who had been with him since he started the team, were disrespecting him right to his face! For a moment Blastoise looked pained, and seemed to consider taking back his words. "Charizard..." Charizard merely closed his eyes and shook his head. "Go. Just go." Blastoise pulled out the Escape Orb he and Pidgeot had been keeping in the team's toolbox, and as they activated it he gave one last sympathetic glance at Charizard through the horrible wind, and then they were gone.

Charizard opened his eyes, which was a struggle what with the crazy winds brewing around him. All his sorrow and regret were replaced by blind fury as he spat a huge fireball into the sky and shouted, "FINE! COME AT ME THEN! LETS END THIS!"

Just then the wind reached its highest speed yet, and as he grabbed onto a nearby tree to avoid being blown away, Charizard remembered the last words Absol had said the first time this happened: "It's right nearby! It's gusting hard!"

Charizard, who had closed his eyes once again, this time in admission of defeat, opened them one last time and was immediately awed by what he saw. It was a Pokemon all right, a Lugia, and by the looks of it a Level 100. But what was that creature standing behind it, holding up a purple ball with an "M" engraved on it?...

The unknown creature threw the ball. Charizard was enclosed in darkness and knew no more until being awakened by a strange voice he did not recognize:

"Charizard, I choose you!"

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Written by TheMidgetBear