Purity
A Chance Encounter
Perhaps, once upon a time, they were friends.
Or maybe they were enemies. No. Not enemies. How could he hate an 'impure'—as many fools put it—Pokémon? Allies, then.
N frowns as he pushes aside the thick grass, struggling when his bright white cloak gets in the way, to reveal a heart-wrenching sight: a wounded Pidove, cooing in pain, fluttering its uninjured wing fruitlessly. It starts at his approach with a weak cry, but after a few soothing words, it calms down, although it's breathing fast and its small heart beats wildly.
Hurts, it thinks, flinching as N touches the wing gingerly. Hurts a lot.
"I know," he murmurs softly, gently lifting the damaged appendage. He winces on the Pidove's behalf as he sees the major third degree burn, turning the feathers to mere soot. "But I'm here to help, friend."
The Pidove doesn't seem able to decide whether to be surprised that a human—a human—is helping it, or that he can understand it. It coos, pitifully quiet, which comes out as a vague, help?
N smiles for a moment. "Of course." His smile melts away. He has no burn heals. The nearby berries bushes are stripped of their fruit. He sighs and unfastens the brooch, a shining Team Plasma crest, at his neck and lays out his cloak.
N gently nudges and shifts the Pidove so it is laying on the stark white fabric, ignoring the cringe-worthy amount of blood that seeps into it, and picks up the makeshift sling. With a gentle glance at the bird Pokémon, he turns himself around and starts towards the nearest town. Nuvema.
White hastens to fix the house, air out the dusty rooms that still smell like paint, and get her Pokémon outside so they can burn off some energy while she cleans.
Some might say that a sixteen year-old shouldn't be doing so much housework, but she doesn't want to take the chance. They could be here any moment...and what would Mother say if she came home to a dirty house?
Nure, her Oshawott, steals her favorite seat—the day seat, looking out the window—and refuses to leave the house, just like her other three Pokémon. White lets out a somewhat frustrated sigh, but doesn't push them.
It's been difficult for all the inhabitants of the house.
White finds her Joltik, Zilt, trying to hoard electricity from an outlet, her ever-nomming Deino, Ahi, teething-but-not-teething on the kitchen chair's leg, and Rupture, her laid-back Drilbur, sleeping quite calmly on her dingy bed.
Then the doorbell rings.
Nure makes a vicious hissing noise that White swears only a Purrloin could possibly produce and jumps down from her perch, waddling towards the front door purposefully. She gestures towards the door dramatically with a white paw, chattering semi-agressively.
"Yes, I know there's someone at the door, Nure. Why don't you take everyone outside?" White says, patting the Oshawott on the head despite her obvious protests. Zilt makes a noise akin to a snicker before disappearing out the back door with a scuttle, as Rupture and Ahi glare after him.
"Now, you two—" The doorbell rings again, longer and more gratingly persistent this time. "Okay, everyone out, now."
Once her team is safely outside, White opens the door, dreading the person—people, perhaps—behind it. But she doesn't expect this guy.
N swears he's about to lose his mind if he hears one more foolish question. Yes, he wants the Pidove healed. No, he's not crazy. Yes, this is his natural hair color.
One boy in particular, with brown hair and hazel eyes and an aura of incredibly ignorance and idiocy, seems appalled by N's intentions. "You would help an impure? Only the town freak would help you with that." He gestures to the poor Pidove with evident disgust.
"Yes, I just want it healed." N scarcely breathed, for fear he might jostle the miraculously sleeping Pidove. "Who is this 'freak'? Where could I find him?" Perhaps this person has something N could use to heal the Pidove, since the small town obviously has very little to offer medically.
The boy barks out an unpleasant laugh, leaning against the doorframe of the house behind him with an attitude of supposed ease, but the nervous twitching of his hands betrays him. "He?" Another strange, unpleasant laugh. "Well, he has the house in the middle of town. You can find it around the trees there." He gestures towards them with an apathetic hand.
N nods, bowing his head slightly in an almost regal way. "Thank you."
As he walks away, N doesn't see the cruel smirk the boy has on his face.
N finds the house rather easily, a tidy little white establishment nestled quaintly among red, orange and golden trees. The once-golden doorbell is now quite rusty, as if it hasn't been used in a long while, but the rest of the house is unbelievable clean. It's as if not one blade of grass is out of place.
N hears a few scuffling sounds, what he thinks is an Oshawott saying 'someone's here, White' and a couple quick Joltik snickers. Then there's a human voice, too low to distinguish properly.
N presses the doorbell again, apologizing quietly as the Pidove shifts with a pained look. He waits for another minute or so before deciding to seek help elsewhere, and that's when the door opens wide.
Standing in the doorway is a...girl, maybe a year or two younger than him. Her ice-blue eyes contrast mesmerizingly with her dark brown hair, tied up in a high ponytail. Thick curly strands have come loose, framing her face, and N wonders if she's just too lazy to fix it, hasn't noticed or perhaps did it on purpose.
Now N realizes why the boy had laughed at him.
"...Uh, hello." An awkward pause. "My name is N."
"N? Odd name. Oh, what happened to you, sweetie?" N thinks for a second that she's talking to him, cheeks flushing pink with surprise, before realizing she's addressing the Pidove in his arms.
He quickly regains his composure. "Yes, I was hoping you could spare me a burn heal...for him..."
Now the girl is leaning in quite close, stroking the Pidove's feathers gently, her brow furrowed deeply in concern. She looks up with a smile in her eyes before she opens the door wider. "Of course! Please, come in!"
N blinks at the strange and unfamiliar warmth in her voice, and obligingly steps through the doorway. The girl walks ahead of him, and he quickly notices she favors her right leg slightly. A short, thick and tapering scar runs across her lower left thigh, almost directly on her knee. N finds it looks a lot like a scalchop's mark and vaguely wonders why she's wearing such short shorts in such cool fall weather.
The girl stops in front of a table and smiles sort of sheepishly at him, and N realizes he had been scrutinizing her without realizing it. "I'm sorry. I haven't even said my name, have I?" she says with a chuckle.
N lifts the injured Pidove slightly, remembering what he came for. "Where can I put him down?" he asks her, a bit bluntly.
The strange girl strokes her chin thoughtfully with a hum and curls and uncurls her bare toes on the cool hardwood floor. "Right. Put him on the kitchen table. I'll be right back."
As she disappears out of the room without a sound, N gingerly sets the Pidove on the warm wood and strokes the bird Pokémon's head with a kind finger, earning a soft, sleepy coo.
The girl's head peeks around the corner abruptly, blue eyes bright with an alien vibrancy. "By the way, you can call me White."
((Edit:)Tempest Bound: Let's try this again. XD Anywhoozles, most of you will not know me from my Harvest Moon fanfic, The Shade Law. I'm pairing up with the amazing Harvest Dragon for this collab, and I hope you guys enjoy. Excuse my failures, and we should get along just fine. And about the Harvest Moon/Yu-Gi-Oh things, what HD said. 'Cause I'm lazy like that. Check HD out you guys! Seriously.)
This is Harvest Dragon, co-writer of this fic, and I've partnered with the illustrious Tempest to bring you this lovely brainchild of hers. I'm really excited about this story, and I hope you, the reader, will enjoy it thoroughly! And if any of you like Yu-Gi-Oh, feel free to check out my page. For your Harvest Moon needs, I suggest a good dose of Tempest Bound. :)
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