Mistaken Identity

Written by Dan-the-Countdowner

The whole morning had been terrible for me. I was feeling under the weather. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want to be accused of being a hypochondriac. Things unexpectedly went wrong for me during the course of the morning and I was the cause of it, apparently. That's when I decided it was the last straw.

"ALL RIGHT, THAT’S ENOUGH!” I yelled, and banged my fist against the table, and it hurt. “Aargh!”

Serperior noticed I had started to well up.

Shaking in pain, feeling very ill and emotionally hurt, I said in a hushed voice. “Now, look. Something is very wrong here. I’ve been wrongly blamed for the strange events that have taken place over the past hour or so. I am determined to get to the bottom of this and so, to prove my innocence, I’m going to collect my thoughts by getting some fresh air. Hopefully, it’ll do me the power of good. I’ll...see you later!"

And off I staggered, holding my throbbing hand, out of the log cabin I had rented for the day...CLUNK! went the door. The snake Pokémon were taken aback.

"I say, w...what just happened?" asked Alfred, the Arbok.

"I don’t know," replied Roxy, the Seviper. “but, didn’t Sketcher look ill to you?”

“Hmm. Now that you’ve mentioned it, he did.” replied Alfred, recalling the green patches on my face.

Poor Serperior, (probably the most loyal of my team), who had a great liking for me and who was the only one not to blame me, had tears rolling down her face.

"Y-y-you were really horrid to him, you know." she said, shakily, and went out of the door. “Poor old Dan...” she said, quietly. And, silently sobbing, she slithered into a quiet room to recompose herself.

Unbeknownst to all of us, something smirked nastily from behind a wall.

I never felt as terrible as I was feeling right now. As I quietly walked through the forest, I thought back to what happened earlier that day. The last thing I remember seeing back at the log cabin were claw marks in the log walls and some broken logs further down. I was pretty sure I was not responsible for that, but there was only us four in that cabin so it could have been the previous occupants. Then again, the breaks in the wall looked freshly made...it was all very confusing. Trying hard not to let my emotions overwhelm me there and then, I felt like breaking down - I had been blamed for something I didn't do, I looked as green as a leaf, I felt ill inside and, worst of all, I’d got angry with my snake Pokémon friends. On top of that, it began to pour heavily with rain, with flashing lightning and loud claps of thunder overhead – it didn’t take very long for me to get soaked through. I clutched my head as it throbbed.

"Ohh! As if this day couldn't get any worse!" I groaned.

My heart sank - it just got worse! I was too busy concentrating on my pounding head that I didn't notice there was a deep pitfall up ahead and I fell right in. SPLASH! There was a small pool of rainwater beginning to form, and I was face first in mud. Feeling extremely miserable, I practically gave up.

“This just isn’t my day!” I sighed.

I sat up, still clutching my head and huddled, hoping to ride the storm.

...

Back at the log cabin, about half an hour or so after I went out, Alfred and Roxy were still discussing the strange events that occurred earlier. As they went to comfort Serperior, Roxy noticed claw marks in one of the logs of the wall and a snapped log further down.

“Pssst! Excuse me, Alfred...look here.” she whispered. “What do you make of these?”

“Hmm. Claw marks and a snapped log...I say, wait a minute!” Alfred gasped. “Those marks couldn’t have been made by Dan...and it looks as though that log was broken by a tail. Now that automatically discounts both Dan and the three of us, because we don’t have claws. Your tail blade’s much too thin to have made those kind of slashes, Roxy darling.”

“Which could only mean...we have an intruder in our midst!” said Roxy, looking around and flicking her tongue, trying to locate the intruder.

A door opened, and Serperior slithered out, tear-stained, but now calmed down. “What’s going on, you two?” she sighed.

“Sketcher was right after all, Serperior. It really wasn’t him who was responsible for the events earlier.” explained Roxy.

Serperior sniffled.

“We believe an intruder has found its way in and bally well battered this wall.” added Alfred, looking studiously at the damage.

Serperior looked as well. “Hmm. Curious.” she said, wiping the last of her tears from her eyes with her vines.

Just then, there was a knock at the front door.

Alfred answered it. “Hello. May I help you?”

A Dratini was standing there, wearing a blue baseball cap. "’Allo, mate. I've come to see you regarding what ‘appened earlier." said the Dratini in a male Cockney voice.

"Oh, you heard what happened, young chap?" asked Alfred, slithering out onto the path and forming a circle.

“Too right, mate. Saw it, too!” Replied the Dratini.

Alfred rested his head on his pile of coils and listened to what the Dratini had to tell him. By now, Serperior had calmed right down and joined them.

"I believe your friend has been ‘ad by some geezer known as Krookodile. I saw the idiot do plenty of damage in the rooms of this building. Blinkin’ well ‘eard it, too! Cor, what a row! I never ‘eard such a noise in all my life!”

Alfred began to feel guilty as the Dratini continued his story. "A Krookodile?" Alfred repeated, his eyes widened in realization.

Serperior started to scowl, a frightening expression replaced her usual sweet-natured one. There was a crash coming from the kitchen area as the sound of clashing blades was heard.

“Sssso! You’re the one responsible for the damage, eh? Get back here, you brute!”

Roxy had discovered the real culprit and was trying to capture the Krookodile, whose eyes were intent on destroying the kitchen. Roxy bared her fangs in exhausted anger.

Alfred stared. "Poor old chap! What have we done?" he muttered to himself, his voice wavering.  

“You may well ask!" Serperior was angry. “Fancy mistaking Dan for a Krookodile! Really!”

Recently, she had defeated a Krookodile shortly after evolving. She slid back inside, caught the Krookodile and dragged it outside with Roxy.

"Yeah, that's ‘im! That's the blighter!" said the Dratini.

Roxy and Alfred wrapped the writhing Krookodile up while Serperior unwound from him and gave him a huge punch with the end of her vine, which was clenched up like a fist. The crack that came from the vine was amplified by the sudden clap of thunder. The noise echoed everywhere.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, you...you...monster!" Serperior yelled.

"Puh! What do I care? The stupid trainer is gone, and...AAAAAARGH." sneered the Krookodile.

He yelled as Roxy and Alfred tightened tenfold.

"Enough!" snapped Serperior, using Glare.

"We happen to be very close to our trainer! Ssssketcher...er, I mean, Dan may be a tiny bit accident-prone and he may mince his words ssssometimes, but he is not sssstupid at all.” Hissed Roxy.

“Don’t take him for a fool, you crook!” snarled Alfred.

Joining in with Serperior, Roxy and Alfred both used Glare to fully paralyse the Krookodile. They both released their grip and backed off, leaving Krookodile frozen in place.

"Right, then! Now, if you don’t mind, I'll go and find Dan. We owe him an apology.” Said Serperior, calming down.

Alfred and Roxy, blushing in guilt, agreed.

“If the poor dear felt ill before, he must be feeling absolutely terrible right now...he may be more hurt than he is...could be hurt badly..." Serperior’s voice trailed off as a fresh wave of tears started to form in her eyes.

"I'll come with you, Miss." said the Dratini. “’E's too much of a nice fella to do anything like the Krookodile did.”

Serperior nodded and petted the Dratini’s forehead with her vine. "Yes...yes, you'll need to explain to him what happened. Come along, then."

Serperior flicked her tongue to find my location, then she and Dratini set off, leaving Alfred and Roxy to keep a close eye on the Krookodile in case he broke free of the Glare.

...

Whilst this was all going on I sat up, soaked and shivering, in the pit fall. The steadily falling rain had removed the mud from my face, but that did little to raise my spirits. By this time I was feeling so cold and miserable that I was beginning to give up all hope of being found or forgiven by my friends for the incidents that took place earlier. Although I had been away for only an hour or so, I was beginning to miss my friends, terribly. The pain in my head felt worse than it did as it pounded relentlessly. I hid my head in my arms as a small tear started to roll down from my eye in pain.

“Darn it! Stupid me! I...I shouldn’t have been so angry with them...” I whispered to myself, sadly. “ATCHOO!!! Argh! Oh, of all the days to fall ill, it had to be this one!”

Then I cheered up as I heard a couple of voices.

"Dan, m’lad? Where are you?"

"Come on out, mate!"

"That...that sounds like...Serperior..." I said to myself, drying my eyes. “And who's that with her? Hey, Serperior! I-is that you? I'm d-down here!" I called, shivering.

My voice echoed from the pit, followed by a sneeze or two. The two serpentine Pokémon heard and turned their heads.

"Listen, Serperior! It's coming from that ‘ole in the ground." whispered Dratini, pointing to the pitfall entrance.

Serperior flicked her tongue at the pitfall. "That’s Dan, all right! Let's go."

They slithered over, peered in and there I was.

"Oh, there you are! Thank heavens!" Serperior sighed.

I sneezed again, winced, held my head and looked up. "H-h-hello, Serperior..." I shivered.

Serperior, seeing I was suffering and feeling sorry for me already, started to well up again.

"Am I glad to see you, dear friend." I continued.

The Dratini looked up at Serperior, whose emotions had got the better of her and she curled up and burst into tears into her pile of coils.

“Ahh, the poor dear!” The Dratini jumped into the pit fall, fell on my lap and bounced up and down twice.

"Oh! Well, I’ll be!” I gasped in surprise. “So it was a Dratini I heard, eh? Hello, there. How nice of you to...er, well, drop in!"

The Dratini laughed at the pun and wrapped around my shoulders, massaging my head. "Wotcha, Dan! ‘Ave I got breakin' news for you!"

I listened as the Dratini told me about the incidents with the Krookodile and how I wasn't to blame for the rogue’s crimes. My eyes widened.

"What’s that? A Krookodile, did you say? That explains the claw marks in the log cabin wall. Well, I told my friends that I wasn't to blame, but now they’ll have to believe me because we have clear evidence from a witness." I said. “Thanks for informing me, Dratini.” I petted the light blue dragon Pokémon’s head.

“No worries! Ah, that feels so good right there, mate!” replied Dratini, closing his eyes in delight.

Then, feeling awful about earlier, (on top of my current headache), I looked up at my poor Serperior, who was still sobbing into her own coils. I immediately felt very sorry for my friend.

"Oh, Serperior...” I sighed, wincing slightly.

Tearfully, Serperior raised her head from her coils and looked into the pitfall.

“Do you think you could get us out of here, please?” I asked.

Serperior sniffled as she pulled the Dratini and me out of the pitfall, then wrapped me up almost completely and, moving her head over my shoulder, rested her head against my back, drying her eyes.

“Shh...calm down, dear friend. It’s all right, I forgive you...and the others." I said, trying to calm her down even more by petting her back, which was shaking from her quiet sobbing.

Serperior held me there for a couple of minutes while she calmed down. Then, with her voice wavering, she sighed "Oh, you’re so cold, m’lad! Poor old dear, you look so terrible and not your cheery self. I knew you weren’t to blame for that Krookodile’s actions."

Serperior’s coils tightened slightly as they absorbed the rainwater soaked into me. From the warmth her coils generated, I felt drier, warmer and better than I had been that day - it was like sitting close to a fireplace on a miserable, cold day. What’s more, the warm breath from Serperior wafted around my head and seemed to cleanse it from the inside so my headache was gone in mere seconds. Added to that, the colour returned to my face and I no longer was green.

“I’m so sorry I was angry earlier. I was feeling under the weather earlier, and...to tell the truth, I still feel rather terrible about that outburst.” I whispered, hanging my head in deep regret. “That certainly didn’t help matters, did it?”

Serperior brought the end of her tail up to touch my cheek.

“Come on, Serperior, cheer up for me. Please?" I pleaded.

Serperior lifted her head from over my shoulder and now faced me, just inches from my own head, heaved a sigh and stopped crying, red in the face.

"Ahh, that’s it, there we go! That’s my dear Serperior!” I sighed proudly, hugging her and gently holding the side of her head for a minute or so.

This cheered Serperior up right away and she nuzzled my hand.

“That’s much better, now isn’t it?” I asked.

Serperior responded by licking me affectionately, smaller tears falling from her red eyes. As she rested her head on her top coil, Serperior looked up at me and smiled that huge, wide smile she does so well - that cheered me right up and we both laughed for a couple of minutes. For the first time that day, Serperior felt and looked more like her cheerful self.

“Ahh, that is so much better! After what happened with that Krookodile, I certainly needed cheering up good and proper and you’ve done exactly that. Hee-hee! Come here, you...” she giggled, snuggling up to me and giving a long, warm, friendly squeeze with her coils. “Thanks very much indeed, m’lad.”

"Ha-ha! Anytime, dear friend.” I replied, chuckling. “This is probably the first time I’ve seen you smile all day and I’m so glad you’ve cheered up.”

“It has to be said, you’re looking far better than you were a few minutes ago, yourself. How are you feeling now, m’lad?” asked Serperior, bringing her head level with mine, adoringly gazing at me with her snout touching my nose.

“So much better, thank you, and even more so for you coming to find me.” I replied. “You have no idea how much I appreciate it, Serperior. Just a pity that it’s still raining heavily, isn’t it?” I added, glancing at the steady rainfall.

“Oh, I think I can deal with this rain for you, m’lad.” said Serperior, looking up to think.

“What did you have in mind?” I asked the Regal Pokémon.

“Just watch this!” smiled Serperior, and with that, she rested her chin on my head as normal.

Only this time, she curled the end of her tail into a circle and placed it on my head, (it felt like a sort of snaky umbrella,) and she started to snooze with me snug in her cocoon of coils. Feeling more and more like my old self again, I felt at peace with myself in the knowledge that I was exonerated. The Dratini, still wrapped around my shoulders, had long since fallen asleep. I relaxed as I watched the rain being absorbed into Serperior’s body.

“Oh, Serperior, you clever girl. Now that’s a different way of getting a drink of water!” I whispered, chuckling to myself.

The storm raged on and rainwater sprayed on my face, making me wish someone would invent a proper pair of sunglasses with properly functioning windscreen wipers! I jumped as a clap of thunder echoed everywhere, but Serperior didn’t stir and slept soundly. About half an hour later, Serperior woke up, yawned and gave me a little nudge.

I wiped the rainwater from my face and got ready to stand, then Serperior unwound herself from me and I said “I think it’s about time we got back, Serperior. I want to apologise to the others and have a word with that crook!”

The Dratini, still wrapped around my shoulders, was beginning to wake up.

"Huh? Heeey, would you look at this? The poor chap..." I whispered to Serperior. "Hey, Dratini, do you want to come back with us? Dratini...?"

"Hmm?” he said, sleepily. “Thanks, but I couldn't move my own coils right now, mate.”

"Then, why don't I carry you?" I offered.

The Dratini looked at me, then Serperior, who nodded. "Are you all right with that, mate?" he asked me.

"Yes, of course! No problem!"

"Thanks, pal!" The Dratini nudged me gently with his snout.

"Hold tight now, Dratini. Come on, Serperior, let’s go!"

...

Hastily, we rushed back to where Roxy and Alfred were. The both of them were coiled up, still keeping an eye on the Krookodile, who was still paralysed from the Glare.

“I wonder if Serperior’s found poor old Sketcher yet? She’s been gone about an hour or so.” sighed Roxy.

“Well, why don’t you see for yourselves?” Came a quiet, gentle voice from directly behind her.

Both Alfred and Roxy jumped. They recognised the voice straight away and turned their heads. The sky lit up with lightning. As the light faded, there I was standing right behind them with the Dratini around my shoulders and Serperior standing next to me. When Alfred and Roxy saw me, both of their faces lit up at once.

“Hello, you two.” I said, walking forward slightly.

The two snake Pokémon playfully knocked me down onto my back in the wet grass, wrapped me up and Roxy licked me.

"Hey, hey! Take it easy, Roxy!" I laughed.

Roxy blushed and retracted her fangs.

“Ahh, come here, you two!” I continued, and as I brought Alfred and Roxy closer to me as I sat up in the wet grass, they tightened their hold slightly.

"I say, Dan. You’re looking much more like your old self! We're terribly sorry we blamed you, old chap." said Alfred. “Dratini told me everything about what happened earlier.”

“We found out that the Krookodile was the one responsible for the broken logs and the claw marks in the wall...and...oh, I’m so glad you’re safe, Sketcher!” added Roxy, giving me a friendly nuzzle.

"And I'm sorry for the outburst earlier, my friends." I replied as they both helped me back up. “I wasn’t feeling that well earlier and, uh, I suppose that outburst didn’t do me any favours.”  

The Krookodile, still paralysed, was in a heap in the grass.

“I take it that that’s the fiend who’s responsible, right?” I asked, pointing to the red crocodile Pokémon.

“Mm-hmm, that’s him, Sketcher.” replied Roxy, unwrapping from me, Alfred following suit.

The Dratini got down from me, and went to sit on Alfred's hood.

“Excuse us, please.” I said as I, along with Serperior, went over the Krookodile and glared at him.

Serperior’s usual sweet expression quickly changed to that really angry one, making me feel dreadfully nervous inside.

“Uh-oh! This is new!” I said to myself, trying to keep calm.

Seeing this, Serperior gave me a reassuring wink and laid her vine loosely on my shoulder. “It’s all right, m’lad, don’t worry.” She said in a serious voice, slightly squeezing with her vine.

"Oh, you're back! Shoot!" growled the Krookodile, nastily.

"Sssilence!" hissed Serperior, rapidly wrapping the wretched Pokémon and squeezing hard.

"Nghhh! Stop it! I've already been through this!" gasped Krookodile.

"Well, too bad!" replied Serperior, and loosened her grip slightly. "That'sss what you get when you make three ssssnake Pokémon REALLY angry!"

The squeezes were exaggerated on each of the last five words of her sentence.

“Essspecialy when you drive their trainer away by blaming the sssstuff you did on him...on PURPOSSSSE!”

Another strong squeeze made the Krookodile spring his jaws open in pain. The Krookodile tried to bite down on the coil prison he was in, but his jaws were sealed and pressed by Serperior's tail, effectively shutting him up.

"All right, Serperior. You can stop now!" I laughed, nervously.

Serperior removed her coils from the Krookodile's jaws and body. She hissed and panted and still had that scowl, so I went to calm her down.

“Hey! Serperior, calm down!” I called, trying to snap her out of her angry trance. “SERPERIOR!!!” I called again.

Still hissing, panting and scowling, she looked down at me at the same time another rumble of thunder echoed everywhere and more lightning flashed overhead, making me jump.

“Gah! Easy...steady...relax. Come on, now!” I coaxed, trembling a bit.

Serperior then recognised me and started to pull out of her angry trance.

“Thaaat’s the way.” I said, breathing deeply and trying to remain as calm as I could. ”Now then, you just stand there with Alfred and Roxy. Have yourself a little rest, OK, dear friend? Let me take it from here.”

Serperior calmed right down and her usual sweet-natured expression returned. She extended a vine and held my shoulder. “Hee-hee, all right. Sorry about that, I got a little carried away, there! Good luck, m’lad.” replied Serperior.

“Phew! Thank goodness for that!” I heaved a sigh of relief as the Regal Pokemon retracted her vine and slithered off to join Alfred, Roxy and the Dratini.

The Krookodile felt a little flat, but could do no harm because he was fatigued. I walked over and glared at him.

"You devilish rogue!" I growled as a flash of lightning lit up the dark sky. "Because of you, this had turned out to be a bad day for me, but having Serperior find and rescue me, on top of the Dratini telling me what actually happened, made it better again."

The Krookodile rolled his eyes. "So, what are you going to do about it?" he asked, meanly.

"THIS!" I yelled.

Filled with a strength I didn’t even know I had, I grabbed his tail and started to swing him in a circle.

"Ooh, er!" he muttered.

The Snake Pokémon watched on in amazement as I span faster and faster. At the last minute...

”Take THIS!”

I threw him to the ground, captured him with a Pokéball and bound it up with string, keeping it shut.

"That's...that!" I panted, dusting my hands off. "Don’t you dare come out! Ugh! Despicable things, Krookodiles." I growled in disgust and fell to my knees, a bit worn out.

I heard cheering as Roxy wrapped me up, almost completely and hugged me again.

“That was an awesome finish! Since when did you learn to do the Seismic Toss, Sketcher?” asked Roxy.

“To...to be honest, I...haven’t the foggiest, Roxy,” I panted as we both touched each other’s forehead. “but, I really, really hope I shall never have to use it ever again!”

It was then that I realised something.

“Oh...yes, and Roxy...” I added.

“Yes, Sketcher?” asked Roxy.

“You’ll be glad to know that lump on your head has completely healed and gone now. You’ve made a great recovery, my friend. I told you that you would!” I replied, petting Roxy’s forehead.

Roxy giggled and rested her head on my shoulder as Alfred and Serperior came over and coiled themselves around us, securing me in that three-way wrap I experienced back in the forest a while back. Despite the rain, I felt so much better for being with my friends. I looked up at Dratini, who was still sitting on top of Alfred’s hood.

“Right then, you three, I think we've all got Dratini to thank," I said. "for identifying that Krookodile as the culprit.”

The other snake Pokémon agreed and Dratini blushed bright red.

"Ahh, It was nothing, mates."

"Would you like to come along with us?" I asked, holding out an empty Pokéball.

The Dratini jumped down from Alfred, slithered over to me, jumped up, pressed the Pokéball button and disappeared inside. CLICK!

"Oh! I take it that’s a ‘yes’, then!" I replied.

Alfred, Roxy and Serperior laughed.

"Let’s get out of this rain. I wouldn’t want you three to catch a cold! Coffee, anyone?" I asked.

"You Bet!" came a reply, and the Snake Pokémon unwound themselves from me and went back in the log cabin, except for Serperior who noticed me staring in disgust at the Pokéball that held the Krookodile.

“What’s wrong, Dan?” asked the Regal Pokémon, extending a vine and holding my shoulder.

I looked at her, thoughtfully. “Even though I caught him, I need to put this beastly Krookodile in solitary confinement for the problems he caused us. He certainly will not be travelling with us, that’s for sure!” I replied.

“Hmm. I think I can arrange that, m’lad.” came a reply and, using her other vine, Serperior took the Pokéball from me, and slammed it into the boggy ground so hard that the Krookodile had no hope of escape for a long time.

“Good shot, Serperior.” I said.

“Hee-hee! Thank you, m’lad!” replied Serperior.

“Now, then. Let’s go and sort out that wall, shall we?” I said, rubbing my hands together.

As the two of us entered the log cabin to put everything right (after the Krookodile made a mess of it), the storm clouds finally dispersed and the sun reappeared.