Chapter 1: Hunting Party
Most people in the world of Pokemon don't explore enough to fully understand the struggle of living in the wilderness. It's truly unfortunate to be born as a pokemon, constantly living in fear that something in your life will go wrong, and the rest comes crashing down onto you. These feelings disappear when captured at the very least, all concerns of survival are wiped from your very brain cells and you take up living the life of a human pet… or a battler. Some consider this slavery, this some live very deep in the heart of the Forest of Ciris, a faraway place from civilization. Few humans dare to venture this far from home, most return defeated or don't return at all. They call it a place that kills, those who live there call it a place without worry.
Berry trees are strewn about the lake that is home to many, constantly growing food for the pokemon who live here. Here they live as one, in a coordinated fashion like the humans once did millions of years ago. Killing is prohibited regardless, their food source mainly consists of the variety of berries throughout the forest. Every couple of days and nights a small party from each section of the lake gather their berries for their families. That explains these two Mawiles heading towards the trees to pick their share and bring it back for everyone.
"It's a rather nice day out, wouldn't you say?" said the one named Jasmine.
"I would say so. It's been raining for a while, it's nice to have a break from it all," said Evelyne, the shorter Mawile. Ever since the hurricane blasted the shores of the region, clouds of storm dispersed all over and left many stuck inside, unable to hunt. "Maybe it will stay this way for a little bit." Jasmine nodded. They were coming up on the berry trees, it was crowded with pokemon from the other sections. When the sections agreed to share the lake they made a compromise to have to ration the berries so there was enough for each pokemon within the sections.
Jasmine put her hands on her hips and scanned each tree for berries and Eve followed suite. Each tree was already being picked by a variety of pokemon, some struggling to balance holding so much fruit and some are already leaving with the trees stripped of any fruit. "We must have come late, these trees are barren," Jasmine pointed out. "We can't go back empty-handed, we have to show that we can handle ourselves." Eve shrugged and stepped forward.
"Hey you bugs!" Eve yelled towards a group of Butterfree. They flipped around alarmed by her voice, their expressions showed it. "Save berried for us! You have to share! Remember?" One Butterfree nodded and said something inaudible, and flew off dropping some berries for Eve and Jasmine. "Problem… solved." Jasmine laughed.
"That's one way to clear out the bugs, hopefully they didn't eat any," Jasmine replied, heading towards the berry tree and Eve followed. The Butterfree, fortunately, left most of the berries intact, which wasn't very surprising since the bugs are often greedy with the food. "Come on, let's grab some before there's none left."
"Right," she replied, picking up the Wiki berries. A variety of berries were strewn all over the ground from Sitrus to Aguav berries. Eve grabbed the berries she preferred the most before anything else, soon enough her hands could hold no more. "All done, ready?" Jasmine tilted her head a bit and examined her load.
"Not quite, you can hold more," she said, shaking her head.
"What? No, if you put any more on this pile I'm going to drop it," she replied. Jasmine's jaw dropped.
"I hope you're joking. You're a Mawile, Eve." She turned around and showed Eve that her jaws were also holding a load of berries. "Did you not use these in so long that you forgot you had them?"
Eve shook her head. "No, I just thought that wouldn't work," she said while picking more Oran Berries out of the tree. "Them being, my jaws and all." Jasmine laughed.
"Haha! Just don't slobber all over them and you'll be fine!" Eve winced at that statement.
"Thanks for the tip. Also… never say that again." They both laughed and started to head back home. The sun was high in the afternoon and leaves flowed through the air as the breeze passed by the Mawile's on their way back home.
"We haven't caught up, have we?" said Jasmine. Eve shook her head and almost dropped her berries. She shrugged. "Did you hear? I heard they're rearranging the homes and we're becoming roommates."
"Are we now?" Eve replied, trying to hold her berries in her jaws steady. "Maybe that's why it's just us today."
"Maybe… So what do you do nowadays Eve?" she asked. Eve stared at the treetops for a moment thinking and shrugged.
"Nothing much, just exploring, getting used to the terrain around here," she replied. She turned to look back at Jasmine. "There isn't all that much else to do around here… What about you?"
"Same."
"Really?"
"Uh-huh." They both fell silent again, Eve stared at the lake as they passed by an opening that gave her a view of the vast body of water.
While she was watching, she wasn't paying attention to her steps and tripped on a root of a tree. "Ah-ha!" she exclaimed, dropping all of her berries on the ground. Jasmine backed away and almost lost balance. "Ah, damn."
"Whoa. Watch your step Eve," Jasmine pointed out, she waved her off.
"I know. I know," she replied certainly while rushing to pick up her dropped berries.
Jasmine bounced impatiently. "Come on. Quickly, we have to get back."
Eve shot her an annoyed look. "Alright! Sheesh. Give me a moment." She finally got it all back in her arms and jaws. Jasmine nodded in approval and they started back.
"Anyway… Have you heard about what Typhus has been doing lately?" Jasmine started. Typhus is another Mawile in their section, there's a lot of Mawiles there but he especially sticks out the most because of his routines. As the adopted son of their leader, he often does what he wants without restriction.
"You mean that spoiled kid? Yes I have," Eve replied grimly after that humiliating moment. Jasmine frowned. "He ventured to that town and came back. So?"
"What do you mean so? You know what this means right?"
"Save it, we're here," said Eve as they arrived at the main area of their section. It was awfully busy today, couples holding hands, parents of their children walking to what they call school, and some are on their way to even battle. Eve leaned towards Jasmine. "Where do we take all of these, my arms ache." She gestured her to follow her and she responded with a nod. They walked past the central area onto a pokemon-made path that led into an opening in the hill, which had a stone pedestal in the center. Some berries were still left over from the last batch but wouldn't last until the next one. Eve laid her share on the pedestal and dropped the rest from her jaws onto it. Jasmine did the same and her berries rolled off the top and made a pile that was much bigger than they had thought.
"Huh. I'm not arguing with that," said Jasmine, admiring the size of the pile. Eve tapped her shoulder.
"What were you saying before? About Typhus," asked Eve, while grabbing herself a Wiki Berry. Jasmine grabbed herself a Mago Berry and began.
"Oh, right. Typhus went out to meet the humans there, and instead of attacking him like we would've thought, he came back with a basket full of poffins," she explained. "He shared them with everyone when he came back." Eve rolled her eyes.
"That kid… one day he's gonna get us all in trouble, and he doesn't even realize it," Eve remarked.
Jasmine frowned. "Do you have something against humans Eve?" she asked.
"What? You don't?" Jasmine shook her head in disagreement. "Jas, they use us as meat shields and make us fight each other… for fun! You don't see anything wrong with that?" Jasmine stayed quiet. Eve shook her head, just what she thought. She began to walk away.
"Where are you gonna go?" Jasmine asked.
"Wherever. There's still a lot of daylight left, I have to find something productive to do with it." Jasmine opened her mouth to say something, but Eve was already gone.
End of Chapter 1