Blood poured from the wound in Brother Michael's neck; I was panicking, trying to keep pressure on the wound while becoming increasingly aware that it was an ultimately futile endeavor. Blood was pouring through the cracks between my fingers and I could see the life draining from Brother Michael's eyes.
"It's okay, Eli..." Brother Michael managed to gasp out, between the gurgle of half-drowning gasps for air and the bubbles of blood popping between his words.
"Ev... Even if you could stop the bleeding, I'd just die from an infection caused by the... Arcanine's teeth."
"... Brother Michael?"
No response. I applied more pressure to his neck. Maybe there was still a chance. In the village there was sure to be a supply of healing powder and revival herbs - there was still a chance, damn it!
My hands were shaking, and tears streamed down my face through gritted teeth onto the lifeless form of Brother Michael. It was no use, the idea of revival at this point was just wishful thinking. Michael was dead, brutally savaged by a lone Arcanine.
Damn those vile beasts! For as long as I could remember man had lived in fear of the dangerous and unrelenting pokemon the gods had seen fit to bestow upon the land. It seemed a cruel punishment that he should gift men with reason only so they could better comprehend the fear that surrounded them, threatened them from every angle.
Diglets, Dugtrios and Onix's that would terrorize us from below the ground. Diglets swallowing children in their sleep, Dugtrios mangling and maiming grown men, and packs of Onix's devastating entire towns over night.
Charizards were a constant menace, burning and disfiguring unsuspecting victims as a matter of course. It's not that we didn't have the means to fight back, but many men would fall before a Charizard could be fended off or killed - and always with significant damage to our castles and keeps, fields of grain ready for harvest burned to ashes, famine would sweep our nation as a result of the hell fire from the sky.
As for the oceans, man had long since ceased to even try. Vile beasts, pokemon of all shapes and sizes, lurked in the deep. Tentacruels had often been spotted just off the sure, drowning humans while feasting on them alive.
Taken away by thoughts of rage I had forgotten my predicament. I was still a ways from the village, and the tall grass here was a natural pokemon breeding ground...