Disclaimer: Sorry to disappoint you, I still don't own Pokemon. Just Violet, and the characters' personalities.
Chapter II: With Heroes Like These
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"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."- Andrew Carnegie
"We're lost."
Violet, now no longer dressed in her pajamas, and instead in incredibly mismatched, Pokemon-oriented clothing of obnoxiously bright colors, glared up from her map. "We're not lost," she insisted bitterly, staring back down at the map clenched in her hands. Scowling at a particularly confusing, jumbled mass of intertwining roads, text, 'you are here's', and tiny illustrations representing trees and dangerous pitfalls, she tilted it over in her hand, head mimicking its angle. "I just… I'm just having trouble reading this."
Right behind her, standing on a tree stump, was Jax, craning his body over her shoulder so to get a better peek. "You sure you're not holding it upside down?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.
An annoyed Violet sighed, then moved the map out in front of her, so she could properly inspect it in full view. Her eyes combed it briefly before she responded, already sounding frustrated, "No."
Jax sidestepped to the right, occupying Violet's other shoulder with his intent gaze. "You didn't buy it from some shady dealer?" He pressed on.
Violet sighed again, lowering the map. Her face was fixated in an almost blank, irritated scowl. "No," she said, firmer than before. The more she looked at the map, and the more her efforts to shut Jax out of her peripheral hearing and vision, the worse the start of a horrible headache started to encroach on her thoughts. Some part of her wondered why he even bothered asking her, his eyes looked narrow enough to penetrate through flesh and bone all the way to the map.
Jax remained silent again, thoughtfully pacing in small circles around the stump—it was large in circumference, the remains of a freshly-cut massive tree. Violet savored the silence in all its brevity, returning to examining the map until she heard the sound of fingers snapping.
Shoulders sagging, Violet awaited the next question. Behind her, his voice asked nonchalantly as he twirled his tail like a fiery baton in his grip, turning it into a flaming pinwheel, "Did you buy the directions in Spanish?"
Violet opened her mouth and turned around to glare at him face-to-face, half-ready to both shout curses at him and strangle him, until the thought completely registered in her mind. A thoughtful look came across her face, sedating her. Glancing back and forth, as though she were trying to make sure there were no other witnesses to her humiliation, her eyes returned to the map, which she hunched over protectively. After a moment of looking it over, she stared back up, totally befuddled.
"Well," she said, blinking. "This explains a lot."
Jax nearly unintentionally imitated the fate of the tree that used to occupy the tree trunk. In his shock, he managed to balance himself before he fell, then sighed, rubbing miserably at his temples. "Wonderful. Just wonderful. So we're stuck in the middle of nowhere, and we're undoubtedly lost."
Violet seemed very offended by this statement, even as she folded up the map and slipped it into her backpack--out of sight, out of mind. "Hey, let's not jump to conclusions here," she spread her arms wide and gestured to their surroundings, looking as confident as she could be despite the fact they were, indeed, in the middle of nowhere.
More specifically, they were in the middle of nowhere IN Viridian Forest, the only way to get to Pewter City by walking that didn't involve using any conventional Pokemon abilities. Foliage, trees, bushes, you name it, it was growing there, in every single nook and cranny of the forest, creating an emerald blanket of leaves above in the canopy of the forest, and below, on the forest floor. Slivers of green-hued light were the only evidence of daylight through the impenetrable wall of leaves, and were the only things to aid any travelers struggling to navigate through the labyrinthine forest.
Example number one: Violet.
"Move over for a second," Violet said to Jax as she ushered him off the stump, regardless of any incoming answer, "I need to think." Not wanting to acquiesce to the more brutal road of pushing and shoving, Jax rolled his eyes and hopped off on his own accord, leaning against a fully intact, youthful tree covered in pockmarks of spongy moss.
"Oh, good luck with that," he said, and started idly pacing, making sure his haphazard tail-flamed skillfully avoided anything flammable in the forest—and such things were plentiful here.
Watching a Caterpie waddle by, he idly noted that the forest was completely overrun with the population of Bug Pokemon. Easy picking for a Fire Pokemon, and they knew that, so most of the smarter Pokemon kept their distance.
Behind him, Violet took her seat, resting her cheek against her fist. Jax heard nothing from her besides ruminative humming and the grass crunching beneath her sandle-clad feet as she shifted her position every so often. Jax decided not to say anything as he protected his tail, instead entertaining himself by the marching rows of little Pokemon skittering by, and into the giant patches of tall grass. Finally, he heard the snap of fingers that signaled Violet had come up with something that she had deemed intelligent enough to announce, and he glanced over to the girl. A triumphant grin stretched across her face, her chest bloated out like an arrogant rooster.
"Eureka!" Violet proclaimed, pointing to the branches and twigs obscuring the sky above jubilantly, "I've got it!"
"Goody," Jax said, folding his arms and keeping his tail elevated, "So what's your bright idea?"
"We ask for directions."
There was a pregnant, very uncomfortable pause, which was finally broken by Jax muttering, "You know, I actually think that could work." After all, quite a few trainers prowled throughout the tall grass in the area in search of Pokemon.
His remark slapped Violet right in the face, leaving her absolutely stunned. "Really?" she asked incredulously, then shook her head in a rather futile attempt to erase the look of total shock off of her face, like it were drawn on there with marker or plastered on like make-up, "I mean, of course! It's an absolutely brilliant plan!" She clasped her hands together expectantly, grinning a wall of rows of yellow teeth, "Now, let's find someone to ask…"
--Ten and a Half Minutes Later—
Violet stared bitterly up into the branches of the heavily flourishing tree towering high above her, an Electabuzz notepad in one hand and a pen with a Jigglypuff bobblehead on the eraser in the other. "For the last time," Violet repeated to the tree for the fifteenth time that day, speaking very, very slowly, as though for the benefit of whoever she was talking to to understand, "Do-you-know-the-fastest-route-out-of-the-forest?"
She got no response, much to her frustration. Forehead burning a bright red, Violet almost flung her notepad to the ground and snapped her pen over her knee in anger, and probably would have gone on a small rampage not only because of the silence of her ticket out of the forest, but because she thoughtlessly decimated her only writing tools. Thankfully, she exhibited some self control, and instead just spun around, stomping her foot on the ground with a loud 'thud', and a grind of a heel into the grass that turned tiny leaves into miniscule crumbs. Jax was staring at her suppressed tantrum, eyebrow arced and his lower eyelid hiking distastefully up.
Although he knew the answer perfectly well, he couldn't help but say something to get on her nerves, "So how did it go?" he asked pleasantly, splaying his fingers before him so he could carefully examine each sharp nail.
"I don't get it!" Violet whined, slumping over in defeat. She was so self-absorbed in her vexation that she didn't keep gravity in mind (it was most likely ejected to make room for the furious, raging bitterness spreading to every point in her body), and stumbled over, landing sprawled on her stomach before she could try and balance herself. Jax winced empathetically, but despite the fact her face was pressed against the undergrowth, Violet continued complaining, "We FINALLY find a perfect resident to help us, and then he's uncooperative as all heck!"
She slid her hat down in front of her upturned head, as though defending herself from her second degradation for the day, or protecting her identity. Suddenly curious, Jax shimmied over to the tree, stepping over Violet's body as he did so, gazing up into the twisting vines of branches and the dome of leaves created over the trunk of the tree. His eyes met the dangling forms of groups of cocoon-like creatures the color of mustardy yellow, hanging from thin wires of sticky goo latched to the branches. Despite the fact they all seemed to collaboratively stare at Jax with their unblinking, opaquely black eyes, they didn't move a bit, not even crooning a deep call like most all Pokemon were capable of when they couldn't speak English. Satisfied with his discovery, he turned around and faced Violet, who had moved behind him to get a better view.
Jax grabbed the Jigglypuff pen from her balled up fist and pointed to a cocoon with it, the pink, spherical Pokemon at the end of it bobbling on its spiral wire as he jabbed it to the air. "Violet, those are Kakuna," he said, deadpan.
Violet pushed herself up onto her knees and defiantly folded her arms, "That doesn't mean they can't make good conversationalists—"
"They're MUTE."
Violet's jaw froze from that statement, only letting a bare, mumbling syllable escape from her mouth. For a moment, she felt the dreaded, embarrassed feeling of being made a fool out for the third time this day—and instead of a slap, it was a suckerpunch, sending her blasting through wall after wall of her subconscious and formerly rock-solid pride. Gritting her teeth and fighting off the feeling, Violet straightened her hat and dusted herself clean of dirt until nothing but subtle brown splotches remained. Pushing Jax aside, she grasped the base of the tree trunk, jumping her feet up onto the wood. Jax's eyes widened as she steadily ascended, scaling the tree like she had been born that talent her whole life, or raised by primates.
The idea of a Tarzan Violet WOULD have been pretty funny, Jax admitted to himself, before he quickly returned to the panic of the situation from the final fall of a chunk of wood plating.
"What the HELL do you think you're doing?" Jax snapped, looking very worried all of a sudden, "Get back down here before you get us all KILLED!"
Violet hardly seemed intimidated by this, and easily reached the top of the tree, her steps and scrapes across the bark sending down a tiny hail of chips of timber and splinters. She groped for the nearest branch supporting a Kakuna, fingers straining when her arm couldn't reach, for the slightest touch. She started leaning forward the best she could without accidentally letting go and sending her plummeting down, yet it still remained tantalizingly from her grasp, like fate kept it from being grazed in the tiniest way from her fingers.
Giving a few swipes with her arm, she called down to Jax, "Getting him down here is what I'm doin'!" she punctuated that with a small thrust of her body that allowed her fingers to barely scrape the hard shell of the Kakuna before she was forced to retract. Not long after, she was back, and with more ardor than ever, like she had shut out the rest of the world.
As Jax shouted for her to get down, she barely noticed how worried he looked, or that the blaze orange color of his skin had completely drained of vibrant hue, maw opening to shout one last, "Violet, GET DOWN HERE, BEFOR—"
Then, as though the cord holding it had been snipped with an ephemeral scissor, the wire of goo snapped, sending the Kakuna falling to the ground.
There was another, uncomfortable pause, both human and Charmander gazing at the fallen cocoon laying in the grass. Neither of them said a word.
The silence was broken by Violet, who, wearing a smug grin as natural on her as her hat did, released her branch and dropped to the ground as well, landing in a crumpled, none-too-graceful position in the grass. She sat upright, smirking at Jax, while her hand groped around for her fallen panama hat. "Ha!" Violet barked, slowly climbing to her feet with her hat in hand. She slipped it on and cocked it, her proud grin never fading. "I don't know what you were so worried about, things went perfectly—"
Once more, they were interrupted, and not by the falling of a Kakuna.
Jax and Violet slowly stared at the army behind them, ears quivering from the incessant, droning buzzing humming in the air by thousands of rapid wingbeats—all meshing together to one horrible, monotonous sound that nearly made the air itself vibrate from the intensity. Hovering in the air from the constant movement of gossamer wings were an army of wasp-like Pokemon, with spindly legs and crimson eyes, that all seemed to be constantly glaring down at the two fleshy bleedy things that disturbed the peace of their nest.
Not to mention they possessed both a massive, curved stinger protruding from their abdomen, and a pair of long, conical, needle-like blades on their arms.
It didn't take a genius to know that they were utterly doomed.
--Two Seconds Later—
They were off with a collective scream, sprinting until their legs hurt across the forest floor. Behind them in a mindlessly straightforward path they left a trail—a legacy of upturned grass and crunched leaves, devastated beneath sandles and clawed feet alike. Jax's arms pumped frantically until they were carrot-hued blurs, much like his quickly-exhausting legs—while at his side, Violet kept heaving and panting all the way as she struggled to stay in momentum, clutching the Kakuna from before close to her chest almost protectively. Violet wasn't used to athletic activities besides tree-climbing, so she was the most likely candidate in falling behind and becoming victim to the claws and stingers of the Beedrill first, something she probably knew, and something that nearly made her scream 'I DON'T WANNA DIE' out to the world.
Behind them, the buzzing never ceased as the pack of Beedrill darted after them through the air, expertly weaving around the nature-born obstacles of the forest that were such a difficulty to wandering trainers like they were nothing but rickety fences. They were getting closer and closer, progressing inch by inch, and during their assault, a few Beedrill would separate in tiny squadrons to fly in different directions, only to zigzag their way to angles so they could catch them off-guard. Violet could see them when her eyes dared to venture away from the incoming shapes and objects to see the silhouettes, heavily shadowed by the trees, traversing the thick, flying blurs of trunks and clusters of leaves.
What kept her heart beating against her chest like a heavily abused punching bag was that they seemed to fluctuate—to dart in just so slightly, making her step away during her running to hug Jax's side, or even go behind or in front of him from a burst or decline in speed—in size and in posture, weaving in and out.
Finally she made up her mind and, with a panicked cry of, "To hell with this!" after seeing the shadow pursuing her sideways start to break through the brush and materialize, antennae-first, she pushed her sore legs into overdrive. She sped past him by a few paces—the superior length of her legs managed to allow her to sprint at least a few inches past, making her abused muscles scream in agony. It was worth it, though, because she saw no sight of any Beedrills buzzing beside her—but what concerned her was that the sound was still as vivid as it was before. They were still prowling, and hardly discouraged from catching the duo.
Speaking of duo, there was the matter of the second member, who was now reciting every curse word in his vocabulary directed toward certain religious deities, certain abysmal amounts of luck, and even more certain blue-haired, 4'8", 13-year-olds who had all but abandoned him. One or two Beedrill came in from behind him, twining in formation like they were braiding through the air, until one got the advantage it needed and approached him in one swoop. Jax didn't dare turn his head around, but cold perspiration broke out on his scaly forehead from the quickly scaling octaves of the buzzing alone.
They were right behind him, and this was confirmed with a flash of silver, and the blurred movement of an ethereal, crystalline white, hollow blade that flew right past his shoulder and neck, barely missing him. It struck the ground, fully embedding itself into the earth, and slowly solidified itself into a texture and form that resembled the needles the Beedrills sported. The Twinneedle attack, or at least a long range variation of it. Jax didn't need to look at it to be terrified—with a yowl he leapt in front of him as another of the needles grazed his toes, and ran at full pace for dear life, Violet's fleeing form drawing in rapidly as he tried not to focus on the sounds of the needles drilling into the ground behind him.
Ahead of them lay a clearing, or at least one with a denser concentration of trees and such. Most of it was filled with tall, healthy grass swaying in the breeze, and a few trees dotting it, probably home to Flying Pokemon rather than bird ones, and one of the many pockets of nature in the thick forest that made an appropriate habitat or haven for mammals not suited to it. Some of the trees above had broken apart in the junction of leaves, letting jumbled, watercolor mixtures of green and gold beam like beacons down. Violet wasn't sure if they could find anything that was worth hiding in there, maybe—
--her eyes landed on a large tree, tilted to the side and its roots upturned, creating a cavernous maw that tangled up on a formation of mossy stones besides younger, more intact trees, and mushrooms of various sizes. It made the perfect hideout. They could dive into the cave as refuge. They could—
She saw Jax run toward her, looking pissed off enough to vocalize the fact that Violet had nearly left him to his doom, but knowing that there was a time and place for everything. Violet slipped the Kakuna under her arm like a football and pointed ahead, implying extra emphasis toward the tree-cave. Jax immediately understood, and the two kept running, taking advantage of the cease fire the Beedrill had taken. They were almost home free. They were almost safe. Good bye, Beedrill, it was fun kicking your a—
Another pinneedle went flying, impaling a rather thin tree. Much to Violet's horror, it snapped from the sheer girth of the needle, sending both halves tumbling to the ground. It was no surprise that Violet had imagined herself in place of that tree, receiving the sharp needle right through her chubby little stomach, or maybe through her eye, or her ear, or her—she nearly stopped, unable to keep herself from being helplessly swept away by the raging river of possibilities. Jax had realized that they had continued their bombardment as well, and could only bless the fact that their constant movement had thrown off their already flawed accuracy. So long as one didn't approach them from the front, they would be alright…
So when a trio of Beedrill swooped in front of Violet and Jax, wings still buzzing, they knew they were in trouble.
Just as they realized the sibilant whir of the Beedrills behind them had quickly increased in volume, the remaining Beedrill units had completely surrounded them, and they did NOT look happy. It was clear in their red eyes like they were screaming it to the world—or it could've just been the natural, frightening color of their eyes, really. But all that mattered was the sight of its numerous pointy, organic weapons that they were all focusing on their two targets, some of which possessing such impeccable edges that Jax and Violet could see their reflections in it.
CrapcrapcrapI'MGONNADIE, was Violet's first thought as she squeezed the Kakuna like one of the PokeDolls she loved so much until paleness bled through her knuckles to her forearm, and branched up her fingers. For a moment she was just about to drop to her knees and beg for mercy from the violent drove, but under the opinion of the wise, that was a useless option. But when one was desperate, they were willing to do anything. They—
Even in her panic, she realized that she hadn't seen Jax through this. It was a stupid thing to think about it, but that thought, even as it was squashed flat by more important matters, was kept alive in the dormant corners of her mind where it was shoved in.
Lucky for her she learned what Jax was up to a few seconds after that thought entered her head.
The Charmander launched himself at the nearest Beedrill that was blocking his path, moving so quickly that it barely anticipated his movement from its would-be prey—and it definitely didn't expect it when Jax barreled right into the insectoid menace, sending both of them crashing into the ground. No matter how much the Beedrill's wings flapped—which kept all the more frantic until they were nearly invisible in their transparent blurs, like it would remain airborne from it—it crashed right on its back, muffling the 3'4" Charmander's own impact. Leaping off of the body, he swung his tail threateningly around, circling it toward all the Beedrill, keeping a deliberate pace.
"See this?" he asked, pressing a foot to the unconscious Beedrill's upper body, "It's called fire. Say it with me," he pointed to the flame, keeping a condescending tone, "F-I-R-E. And if you know what's good for you…"
He inhaled deeply, entrenching himself into firm concentration while he still watched them warily—they seemed to be doing the same, now focused on Jax's tailflame—and then snarled as the tailflame seemingly imploded, the plume bursting up in height and width, spraying wisps of fire and livid orange flecks. They rolled across the forest floor, quickly extinguishing before they could cause any damage—after all, they were just for show, and this was just a bluff.
With that display over, Jax found no further reason to continue the tangent he left off.
They stayed where they were, like they were weighing their options. It was obvious the idea to flee sounded more appealing than staying and fighting, despite the fact they outnumbered the intruders ten to two. However, the inherent bug-type Pokemon fear of fire won over, and slowly, they began to withdraw. It was like they were watching the two over their shoulders as though they expected for a blast of fire to strike them down and burn them to a crisp the moment they left the guard down. As their intentional lack of speed wore thin, and the low thrum of their wings started to pick up, they all sped past the group, leaving naught but disrupted leaves and grass twirling in the remnants of the wind.
--Ten Minutes Later—
"That was AWESOME," Violet exclaimed for the thousandth time within that time period, a look of amazement on her round face.
The two were now comfortably resting in the clearing they had ducked into, keeping their campfire on a reasonably barren patch of land close to the tree that would serve as their protection against dangerous Pokemon (or giant yellow jackets) so to avoid any accidental fires. Sitting on a log, Violet stared at Jax as he stretched out on the ground, keeping his tail centered in the fire without a single negative reaction to the flame's contact. Up above, silver intertwined with the green, fresh from the moonlight of the twilight, and its thousands of little stars in the satin sky. Such a spectacle was only visible in tiny patches, speckling the ground like incandescent mosaics, and provided the only light beyond the orange glow of the campfire.
"Listen, it was nothing," he said, voice a half-yawn, "And besides, it was just a bluff. If they were a smarter group of Pokemon, they'd probably bring my head back to their nest as a trophy."
Violet didn't say anything in return, just juggling her rather overstuffed backpack on her lap. Jax noticed this, and raised an eyebrow, pointing to it. "How's your, uh… first… Pokemon?" He couldn't find an appropriate term for it, so instead he just went for the classic one.
His choice in epithets pleased Violet, who did another impression of the 'bloated, prideful rooster' look she imitated before. The idea of catching a Pokemon so early on her journey pleased her—she liked to think that she was already escalating to the mantle of Pokemon Master. "He's doing just fine," Violet said haughtily, pulling the zipper down her backpack. Nestled inside was the Kakuna from before, as inanimate as always. Violet stroked its head affectionately, a kind expression fading into thoughtfulness. "I haven't decided on a name yet though. I'm stuck between Napoleon and Clay."
She tilted her head to Jax, quickly zippering the backpack back up. "What do you think?"
Jax sighed and stood up, stretching his arms high over his head until the joints made a low 'pop'. They were strained from all the running he had exerted before, and his legs were still sore. Exhaustion weighed heavily on his mind, even during the short trek to their makeshift haven. "I think you should think about it later… and focus on more important things. Like buying bug repellant for one."
The girl stared blankly at him, until revelation flashed in her eyes. "Genius!" she exclaimed, looking to the backpack accusingly, like he was keeping a great secret from her. "Now why didn't I think of that?"
The Kakuna did not respond.
Before Jax could slip inside the cave, Violet turned her head around to look at him, and spoke. "Hey, wait," she called, setting the backpack beside her feet.
Jax groaned and poked his head out from the mass of rocks and roots, already looking like he was ready to collapse and drift into sleep, regardless of wherever he did. "What is it?" he asked irritably, rubbing at his head. The movement of his arm was ratcheting, fatigued.
Violet shifted uncomfortably on the log before she finally spoke up, looking incredibly shamefaced. The flicker of the fire combined with the highlights of silver partially illuminated her face, accentuating the cocked edge of her mouth, made taut from drawing it into her mouth, all too exposing more about Violet's emotions than she would've considered comfortable.
"I'm sorry for leaving you back there," Violet said in a quick blurt, maybe too fast for her to sound sincere, as she turned her head away from him and frowned at something in the distance, but something about her made it seem honest, "You know… you could've gotten hurt and it was irresponsible of me, so…"
She sighed and rubbed her forehead, then opened her eyes, looking at him through her dark teal eyelashes with more truthfulness that she tried to show than before. "So…" she sighed again, and then just said, "I'm sorry."
Jax stifled a sigh and pulled back inside the cave, orange streaking the curves of the jagged rocks and masses of twigs. It was almost like a nest inside of there—and it was, since Jax had worked for a little bit to make it at least moderately comfortable. It was another reason why he was so tired.
"Forget about it," he muttered, folding his arms behind his head. "Just… do what you want. Don't set the camp on fire or anything."
Nothing but silence, save for the faraway chirping of crickets, followed his words, so Violet assumed he had nearly fallen asleep.
Chapter II: Completed…
