Chapter 2- A Small Expedition
"Follow me," Serai said quietly, turning and walking into the large Guild building, with the scyther and arbok following closely behind. Kinje could hear the echoes of the rapidash's hooves against the stony ground before they emerged into a large brightly lit area where the floor was covered with soft grass and moss.
Kinje darted past Serai with surprising speed and skidded to a halt in the middle of the room. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "It's so big! Do pokémon train in here? Wait…where are all the other pokémon?"
"Calm down!" Serai snapped sharply, wishing the scyther would have more patience and be willing to wait for her. Calmly she walked toward him, Cera following more slowly. Though Serai didn't admit it, she was surprised that the young scyther could run so fast. She watched Kinje, who was darting from one side of the room to the other and quickly reminded herself that that was normal for his species. "The other pokémon are out on rescue missions or else training," she explained to him, "When they get back, the Guildmaster will have a quick meeting with all of you." Seeing Kinje's confused look, she added, "We do that every time someone new joins the Guild. Now, see that ladder over there?"
Kinje and Cera followed Serai's gaze and noticed a tall wooden ladder reaching up to the next floor. "Climb up there and I'll show you the training rooms and the rooms where you'll be sleeping."
Kinje wondered how Cera would climb a ladder, but to his surprise, the arbok easily slithered up the ladder and onto the floor above. Excited, the scyther jumped on the ladder, immediately struggling to keep from falling off as he tried to find a way to hold on to it with his blades. Once he had steadied himself, he looked up, seeing Cera waiting patiently for him above.
Stepping up on the ladder, he suddenly gave a gasp of shock as one of his scythes cut deeply into one of the ladder's steps. "Oops…" he whispered, and quickly scrambled up the ladder, though rather awkwardly, until he stood beside Cera on the next floor, hoping that Serai hadn't seen him damage the ladder.
The rapidash stood beneath where the ladder reached up into the floor above, and with a mighty leap she bounded through the opening and onto the second floor.
"Wow!" Kinje exclaimed. "How did you do that, you didn't even use the ladder!"
Serai ignored him and pointed with one of her hooves to a door near where they were standing. "That leads to the training room," she told them. "You'll train here often, by practicing your attacks." She broke off as a commotion from the floor below interrupted her.
A few returning pokémon had just come back from a rescue mission, and from the sound of it, one of them had stepped on the broken section of the ladder and caused it to snap, sending the pokémon crashing to the floor. Serai rolled her eyes and walked away as the pokémon began to let out a stream of curses and Kinje rushed to follow the rapidash, looking frightened.
Serai soon stopped in front of another door, and told them that that was where the pokémon ate their meals, and went on. Kinje glanced sideways and noticed a large door with an intricate carving of three pokémon he had heard about only in legends, Moltres, Entei, and Ho-oh. "What's that?" he asked.
"That's the Guildmaster's room," Serai replied. "You won't be going in there unless the Guildmaster wants to speak with you. And if you end up having to go there, odds are it's because you need to be punished." She fixed Kinje with an annoyed glare and went on.
They soon reached another ladder, and this time, Kinje was careful to use the dull sides of his scythes when climbing. He still struggled, but managed to make the climb easier this time. After Cera and Serai had both reached the next floor, the rapidash led them to another room which was much smaller than the others, and completely empty.
"This will be your room," she told Cera. "You can bring in more moss and grass for a bed later. Remember where it is…I'll only be showing you once."
Cera nodded and they followed Serai up to another floor where there were more empty rooms. "This will be your room," she told Kinje, pointing to another empty room almost identical to Cera's.
"Cool!" Kinje exclaimed, starting to dart into it. Serai stuck out her foreleg, causing Kinje to stumble and trip.
"You can have fun exploring your room later," the rapidash told him sternly. "Sayu's team should be back soon, and when they are, the Guildmaster will hold a meeting."
"Oh…ok," Kinje replied, standing up.
Serai led them back to the training room, and this time, she pushed open the doors and told them to follow her inside. Kinje and Cera stared in surprise as they watched several pokémon, all of various species, practicing their battle techniques and attacks, while others watched and shouted advice to their teammates.
All of them stopped and stared as Serai entered the room, followed by the two newcomers. The piplup and eevee from before were there, as well as a small charmander. Cera realized that they might be a new exploration team.
"Don't look so surprised," Serai told the pokémon in the room flatly and without much enthusiasm. "Just a few more new recruits…not like you haven't all been through this before. Sayu's team is on a quick mission and should be back soon, and then we'll hold the meeting."
She turned and darted out of the room. Looking back at Kinje and Cera, she told them, "I'm going to wait for Sayu's team. You two stay here." She ran off, and Cera began to stare at the ground, clearly uncomfortable about being around strangers.
A tall typhlosion, who looked as if he was one of the ones in charge of the training, waved to them. "So you're the newcomers!" he said cheerfully, walking over to them. "My name is Forge. I'm usually in charge of the training here." He looked down at Kinje, who was looking up at him with a confused expression. "Aww, you're just a little scyther!" he said cheerfully, patting Kinje's head. Kinje looked up at the typhlosion, annoyed. He didn't think he was all that much shorter than him…at least he wasn't for his age.
"I'm not little!" he growled.
"Actually you are," Forge replied, rolling his eyes. "But don't worry. As you train here you'll grow a lot stronger. You'll be a fearsome scizor one day."
"I don't wanna evolve," Kinje muttered.
"Oh, well you say that now," Forge told him, "but one day you'll change your mind. You'll see."
"No I won't," Kinje replied angrily.
"Aw, come on," Forge replied cheerfully, "evolution is something to be embraced!"
"I don't like embracing things," Kinje muttered, crossing his scythes and scowling at him.
"Well ok then…" Forge sighed. "But you'll be sure to change your mind sometime!" He then turned to talk to Cera.
As they were talking, a raichu, a young one obviously still in training, walked up to Kinje. "Hi!" he said cheerfully, "My name is Cyal. I'm new here too!"
"My name is Kinje and this is Cera!" Kinje said excitedly, pointing with his scythe toward Cera.
While Kinje began talking with the raichu, and Forge left to talk with one of the pokémon who was training, Cera glanced over all the other pokémon in the room, and found her gaze rest on the three smallest ones, the piplup, charmander, and eevee. They all seemed to be struggling with the training, and some of the other pokémon were patiently trying to help them.
Soon the sound of hooves distracted her and she turned to see Serai, along with a tyrogue, leafeon, and manectric. "All right everyone," the rapidash announced. "Stop training and sit down-the Guildmaster will be here soon."
"Hey Sayu!" Cyal the raichu said happily, waving toward the leafeon. "Have any trouble on your mission?"
"Of course not!" the leafeon snapped. "Who do you think we are? Some rookie team who would get lost in the Rocky Field?"
"Uh…sorry…" Cyal muttered. "I didn't mean for it to sound that way…"
Sayu rolled her eyes and she and her manectric friend, Teri, walked over to the group of pokémon sitting down and waiting and took her place beside them. Seris the tyrogue followed more slowly, giving Kinje an annoyed glare.
"They actually let youjoin?" the tyrogue muttered, though Kinje wasn't sure anyone else had heard. He stuck his tongue out at Seris and followed Cera to where the other pokémon were. Serai stood near the group, looking annoyed and impatient for the meeting to start and be over with.
It wasn't long before the Guildmaster arrived. Kinje looked up in surprise as the pokémon strolled into the room with long, graceful strides. The Guildmaster was a very large and powerful looking arcanine, with a vivid flame colored pelt marked with thick black stripes. Long white fluffy white fur covered his chest and muzzle, and trailed gracefully from his four large paws. Kinje could see that the arcanine had unusually long claws, which clicked softly against the floor as the arcanine sat down. He gave Kinje and Cera a long stare before speaking.
"As you all know by now," he began calmly, showing none of the impatience that Serai was obviously feeling. "Two more pokémon have decided to join us and train to be members of an exploration team. If they were willing to join, they are obviously aware of the danger they might face." His gaze flicked from the group of pokémon and back to Cera and Kinje again. "Tell us your names," he told them.
After the two newcomers had done so, he turned back to the main group. "These are your new training partners," he told the two young pokémon. "Learn to work with them and respect them and remember to always listen to the advice of Serai and those who have already formed exploration teams. Today Serai will take you and the others for training in the Silent Woods. You'll learn more of what you need to know there." He stood up and turned to leave. "Get ready," he warned them. "It's not as easy as it sounds."
The arcanine then left, and some of the pokémon got up to resume training, while Serai began to talk to a few of them. "That was it?" Kinje asked, looking at Cera.
"Guess we'll learn more as we go along," Cera replied, looking up as Serai approached them with several of the other pokémon.
"We'll be heading to Silent Woods soon and splitting up in groups," the rapidash told them. "This will prove if you really do have what it takes to be part of a team. We're leaving now."
"What? Now?" Cera replied, looking more nervous than before, and Serai merely nodded.
"Yes, now. I know you don't have any supplies, but you'll be traveling with Teri and Sayu." She paused to gesture with her head toward the manectric and leafeon. "You can share their supplies." Ignoring Sayu's outraged look, she turned to Kinje. "You will go with Tarak." She indicated the small eevee he had seen before. "And Seris. The rest of you will be in your own group."
The tyrogue gave Kinje a dark scowl, and Kinje wasn't sure why. He couldn't remember having done anything to make Seris angry at him. Maybe Seris was just annoyed at him for following Sayu. Not noticing the tyrogue, Serai immediately began to lead them down to the first floor, during which Kinje tripped on the ladder and fell to the floor below, much to Seris's amusement and Cera's embarrassment.
After they left the Guild building, Serai led them through a small part of the town before heading off toward a forest that lie in the distance, yet not too far from Sunny Town.
"Oooh…Silent Woods!" Teri the manectric exclaimed excitedly. "We've never been there before!"
"Of course," Serai replied, "it wouldn't be a test if you had."
"It should hardly be a test anyways…" Kinje heard Sayu whisper to Seris.
Throughout the short journey it took to get to the woods, Kinje and Cera both noticed that Tarak the eevee and his companions, the piplup and charmander, were keeping up well with the others chosen to go along. Remembering the way they had seemed to struggle with the training back at the Guild, and how they were now keeping up so effortlessly, Cera began to wonder if they really weren't new to the Guild, but just had a hard time battling.
"Do we get to go on rescue missions soon?" Cera heard Kinje ask. "Or exploration missions?"
"Soon," Serai replied, "but not before you've had training."
The group easily reached the outskirts of the woods, where Serai halted and turned to talk to the small group of assembled pokémon. "As you should obviously know by now, this is Silent Woods," she began. "It's more dangerous than some of the areas you are used to traveling in. But don't worry," she added, seeing Cera's worried face. "There's nothing in there that'll cause you any serious harm as long as you're careful. You first-timers should be fine. You're going to split up into your groups and go into the forest. There's a very large bush in the middle of the forest that grows mago berries. Bring back at least one of those berries to me."
"Why do we need the berries?" Kinje asked, giving Serai a confused look.
Seris rolled his eyes, annoyed that Kinje didn't understand the concept. "It's the not the berries you need, genius," he muttered. "It's the practice. You're going to have to rescue pokémon sometime."
"Right," Serai replied, giving Seris a slightly annoyed glance. "Now, the first group, Cera, Sayu, Teri, you can enter the forest from here. The rest of you come with me."
The three pokémon nodded, and headed into the woods, while Serai led the others along the row of trees and stopped in front of a tall oak. "Ok…Seris, Tarak, Kinje, you enter from here."
"Sure!" Kinje replied happily, bolting past the towering oak tree. The tyrogue and eevee followed more slowly, catching up with the overenthusiastic scyther.
Kinje turned towards them, hearing Serai's voice fade away as she led the remaining pokémon to another area. Seris turned to face Kinje, giving him a scowl. "Ok," he muttered, "first things first. I'm the most experienced one here, so I'm going to be the leader. Serai didn't split up my team for nothing…she wanted to make sure pokémon like you don't get hurt." He gave Kinje and Tarak a fierce stare, and walked past them. "Follow me."
"Hey, if you and that leafeon and manectric are an exploration team…" Kinje began, "what's your team called?"
"It's called Team Skystorm," Seris replied.
"That's weird…" Kinje replied. "Why is called that?"
Seris turned to face him, clenching his hand into a fist. "What? You have a problem with the name?" he growled. "It was Sayu's idea anyway…"
"Uh…no…I don't have a problem with it…" Kinje replied, looking confused. Seris certainly didn't like being around those not belonging to his own team, though he still had no clue why.
"Good," Seris muttered, turning around. "And by the way, we only have my items. That I bought with my team's money. If you get hurt, that's your problem…same with you, runt," he added with a glance at the small eevee.
"Don't worry," Kinje told Tarak, "I'll make sure you don't get hurt."
"I don't need protection," the small eevee replied firmly.
"Well ok…" Kinje muttered, and hearing Seris shout from up ahead, he ran up to catch up with the tyrogue.
As the three pokémon walked further, the undergrowth grew thicker, and there were a lot more trees. They were constantly hearing strange sounds from everywhere within the forest, but they hadn't encountered any other pokémon so far.
"So where do you think this berry bush is supposed to be anyway?" Tarak growled as he crawled through a thorny bush.
"Somewhere in the center of the forest," Seris replied, trying to break through some thick foliage up ahead. "Sheesh…I don't see why they call this the 'Silent Woods'…what in the world is making all those noises?"
Up ahead, Kinje easily slashed through any vines or foliage in his way. Pausing to glance at Seris, he asked, "Don't you think it would be easier to go this way? I've already cut a path through all those vines!"
"I'm the leader!" Seris growled, giving Kinje a glare.
"Ok…" Kinje replied, walking back to where Seris was and cutting through the thick foliage in the way. "There," he said, "You see, I think if…hey, what's that?" he asked, suddenly darting ahead of the other two. He stopped in the center of a small clearing.
Seris rolled his eyes and reached down to grab a large, pointed stone. "Hey Tarak…" he whispered, nudging the eevee, "Watch me nail him in the head with this rock…"
Seris lifted his arm to throw, but something stopped him. Kinje had become suddenly still, and was staring down at something that lay in a dip in the ground. Confused, Seris dropped the rock and walked over, Tarak following.
The tyrogue stood beside Kinje, looking down at a large flat rock covered in strange markings. "What's this supposed to be?" he muttered.
Tarak scampered up to the two bigger pokémon, glancing down at the rock and then back at them. "It's nothing," the little eevee said simply, "let's keep going!"
Kinje tilted his head, still looking at the markings on the stone's surface. "Can you read it, Seris?" he asked.
"No," Seris replied with a shrug. "I wonder if it means anything…"
"We're wasting time!" Tarak mumbled impatiently. "Do you want the other groups to get back before us?"
Seris pondered for a moment more and then agreed. "Yeah," he muttered, "let's keep going."
Kinje followed the others as they soon left the clearing behind, heading even deeper into the forest. After a while, Seris paused to eat an apple from his supplies, while Tarak ate some berries he'd found and Kinje sat and waited to continue the journey.
Kinje was just about to suggest that they move on when he heard something moving through the bushes toward them. "What's that?" he shouted, standing up, just as a pokémon leapt from the undergrowth to land inches from Tarak, who jumped in surprise and darted to Seris's side.
The pokémon looked familiar to the three travelers; it had the same bright orange and white pelt and thick black stripes as the Guildmaster. However this pokémon was much smaller, and had no mane, but a tuft of white fur on its head instead. It was a growlithe…a fire type.
Kinje backed away instinctively as Seris rushed forward, swinging his fist into the growlithe's face just as it opened its mouth to release some sort of fire attack. The puppy pokémon gave a painful yelp as he was thrown backwards to land on his side next to a thick tree.
With a growl, the growlithe stood back up, growling something incoherently to Seris as he launched himself at the tyrogue, spewing flames from his gaping mouth.
Seris impressively leaped to the side, letting the flames hit the dew-covered leaves behind him. Kinje made a noise that sounded like a frightened squeak as he backed away from the fire, his eyes wide with fear. Now facing the surprised growlithe once again, Seris darted toward him, giving the fire type a powerful kick that both unbalanced and surprised him.
The growlithe recovered quicker this time, though as he darted toward Seris, Tarak leaped forward, sinking his tiny fangs into the fire pokémon's back leg. The growlithe whirled around, raking its claws down the eevee's face and sending him sprawling backward. This gave Seris time to catch the enemy pokémon by surprise and land a few more punches to the growlithe's face. Enraged, it fired another burst of flames, which made Kinje back further away from the scene of the battle.
Seris expertly dodged, leaving the growlithe confused and frustrated. Tarak, seeing his chance, opened his mouth wide, letting a small orb of dark energy form in front of his mouth before launching it at the growlithe.
The shadow ball struck the fire type in the shoulder, but it ignored the pain, crouching down before making a mighty leap toward Seris, opening its mouth to fire an attack that would be too close to miss its target.
However, it never got to. With lightning speed, Seris raised his fist and slammed it into the growlithe's jaw, knocking the pokémon back several feet. Tarak and Kinje winced as they heard a sharp snap when Seris's fist made contact, and the growlithe struggled to rise for a moment before sinking to the ground in an unconscious heap.
Looking around, Seris quickly realized that the fire from the growlithe's attacks was dying down; the forest wasn't dry enough for it to spread quickly, and stamped down on what remained of the flames to put them out. The tyrogue then turned to Kinje, who was slowly approaching the fallen growlithe. "Some help you were," he muttered, "just consider yourself lucky that I've had a lot of training for battles, even before I joined the guild. You're going to have to learn not to be afraid of fire. Now come on, let's go."
"I'm not afraid of fire!" Kinje replied angrily, "I just don't like fire types! I mean, I don't like their ATTACKS! And are you sure you should have done that?" he asked, glancing back at the growlithe. "It was only trying to protect its territory…you shouldn't have hurt it that much!"
"It was either that growlithe or me," Seris replied darkly, "now come on and be quiet…I'm sure its family will come and help it."
Kinje reluctantly followed, wishing he could be sure that the growlithe would be all right, and Tarak followed more slowly, rubbing his paw across the cuts on his face. Up ahead, Seris stopped suddenly, and Kinje soon realized why-there was a loud noise from up ahead, the noise of pokémon blundering through the forest.
Seris readied himself to fight, but it wasn't a forest pokémon that broke through the undergrowth…it was Sayu. Confused, Seris stood up straight as the leafeon came to a halt, quickly running her tongue over one brown paw before addressing her teammate. "Hi Seris…what are you doing here?"
"Just looking for the mago berry bush," Seris replied. "What else?"
Sayu glanced behind her as Teri stumbled into view, followed more slowly by Cera. "Well let's look together," Seris muttered. "I'd rather be around other pokémon who can actually fight…"
"Hi Cera!" Kinje cried, running over to the arbok. "Did you…uh…have to fight any pokémon on the way here?"
"No," Cera replied. "There were pokémon, but we mostly just kept away from them. Sayu wanted to find the mago berries quickly."
"Well of course," the leafeon replied, interrupting them. "We should be the first ones to finish! After all, me, Teri, and Seris are the most experienced ones here."
"Oh who cares!" Kinje muttered, running ahead, "let's just look for the berries together."
Sayu and Seris glanced at each other with annoyed expressions before they and the others followed Kinje.
"Wait up, little scyther!" Teri yelled, darting past Cera and Tarak and skidding to a halt beside Kinje. "Do you even know where you're going?"
"No he doesn't!" Sayu muttered, walking up beside Teri. "I don't think we should go that way."
"You know, you don't know the right way either," Cera pointed out, narrowing her eyes. "Just be glad that we'll be able to find our way out of this forest by scent once we've found those berries."
The groups of pokémon carried on together, and whenever a hostile forest pokémon appeared, Sayu, Seris, and Teri were usually the ones to fight them off. None of them seemed very strong, and most didn't put up a fight. Cera and Kinje weren't very surprised; this was one of the smaller, less dangerous areas, a good place for a small test. Sayu's team didn't seem like they needed one, but Kinje assumed that for them, this was just easy practice.
Sayu, Seris, and Teri took the lead instead, Sayu expertly leading through the forest, searching for any scent of the berries. Seris and Teri walked slightly behind her, knowing that a leafeon would be able to find her way through a forest better than they could.
As they walked, Cera looked down at Tarak, noticing the cuts on the small eevee's face. "Are you all right?" she asked.
Tarak looked at her in confusion, but quickly replied, "I'm fine."
"Hey, everyone!" Sayu shouted from up ahead. "Look what I found."
Kinje caught up to Sayu as the leafeon pushed past a group of bushes and emerged into a small clearing, bordered by a large bush covered in small, curved pink and yellow berries. "Let's get some and get out of here," Sayu muttered. "Then maybe our team can do some real missions."
After Sayu and Seris had gotten some of the berries, Sayu led the way back, following her own group's scent as they made their way through the forest. Sunlight filtered down through the leaves, creating dappled patterns on the ground and giving the area a sense of calm peace. As they walked, Kinje realized that the forest really had grown silent now; there was no sign or sound of any forest pokémon. Everything looked tranquil and still.
A bit too still.
At the front of the group, Sayu stiffened as she heard a whirring noise through the trees, which was steadily growing louder. With a cry of shock she leapt backwards as a streak of glowing white energy in the shape of a blade zipped past her and cleaved a nearby tree in two.
Seris glanced toward the direction the attack had come, looking confused and alarmed. "That looked like razor wind…" he said quietly.
Before anyone could say anything more, a white four-legged shape hurtled from the bushes, darting swiftly past Tarak and heading straight for Sayu. The pokémon's black claws and the long scythe-like blade which curved upward from the side of its head gleamed eerily in the dappled sunlight. The absol came to a stop as Sayu speedily dodged once again.
Beside Kinje, Cera narrowed her eyes and bared her fangs, rearing up slightly as she braced herself for an attack. Sayu, Seris, and Teri were acting the same way, only Sayu seemed more angry. Strangely, Tarak appeared calmer than them. Kinje didn't think he was ready for a battle. Instead of getting into a battle stance, he shrank away from the others standing in front of him, standing behind Cera instead.
As the absol simply stared at them, Kinje noticed that it had a faraway look, as if it was really gazing past them. Then it began to walk forward with jerking movements, its scythe glowing as it prepared another razor wind attack.
"Oh no you don't!" Sayu growled, swinging her head to the side as several leaves from the forest floor lifted up off the ground before zooming straight toward the absol, growing longer, and sharper.
Kinje expected the absol to at least flinch or cry in pain, but to his surprise it kept walking, not pausing or even acknowledging the attack as some of the leaves cut deeply into its flesh. Sayu seemed surprised by it too.
"What the-" the leafeon gasped.
"Look out!" Seris cried, and both he and Sayu had to dodge as another blade of white energy sped past, cutting a path in the foliage behind them. Before any of them had a chance to recover, the absol leapt toward them.
Teri gave a cry of shock as the dark type's claws raked across her back, and Seris had to dodge a blow from the deadly scythe. Once out of range, the tyrogue ran over to his manectric friend's side, ready to defend her. "Are you all right, Teri?" he asked in a concerned tone, and the manectric nodded a bit shakily before getting to her feet.
The two turned toward the battle, where Sayu aimed a leaf blade at the absol, but missed, though before the white furred pokémon could attack, Cera sank her long fangs into its leg, bringing it to the ground.
The absol struggled a bit, as if trying to get up without realizing that a hundred pound arbok was clinging to its leg. After a moment its head turned toward Cera and it raised a paw, slashing the arbok in the face. Cera reeled back, hissing in fury as she shook drops of blood from her eyes. The absol stiffly stood back on its feet, lowering its head and running forward, aiming to slash Cera with its scythe.
Seeing the danger his friend was in, Kinje forced himself to move toward the absol, knowing that Cera was momentarily blinded and wouldn't be able to see the attack coming. As he darted close enough, he lifted his scythes, intending to attack the absol from the side.
But he never got that far. Whipping around, the absol flicked its head sideways, and Kinje felt the pokémon's blade cut into his shoulder. He stumbled and fell, hitting the dusty ground hard and nearly landing on one of his own scythes. He looked up, seeing Teri strike the absol with an electric attack, which it ignored, and Seris managed to knock it backwards a few feet with a punch to its jaw. Tarak had backed away near one of the large trees, seeming to want nothing to do with the fight.
The stinging pain in his shoulder reminded Kinje that he was still on the ground, and he staggered upright, wincing at the pain in his shoulder and backing away, afraid he would get hurt worse.
Cera, who had regained her sight, watched the absol carefully as Teri struck it with a thunderbolt. After the attack had faded, the dark type seemed to be struggling to move. Teri's attack had paralyzed it. Rushing over, Cera wrapped her long body around its legs and neck, holding tightly enough so it that it couldn't get free, but not so tightly that it would cause the pokémon serious damage.
Kinje and the others watched as the paralysis wore off, and the absol struggled fiercely, causing Cera to struggle to hold it still. Walking toward it, Sayu smoothed down her fur before looking at the dark type disdainfully. "That's what you get for attacking us," she said calmly, giving the pokémon a glare. The absol made no response, and continued to struggle.
Seris looked it over, shaking his head in confusion, while Cera let go of the absol long enough for Teri to strike it with thunderbolt again, this time causing the weakened pokémon to drop to the ground in a faint. Everyone's eyes turned toward it, but no one said anything for a moment.
"That was really weird," Teri whispered, breaking the silence. "I didn't know absol lived here."
"Well obviously they do," Seris replied. "When it wakes up, maybe we should try to ask him why he attacked us like that. He wasn't defending himself. It's not like we stumbled uponhim or anything."
"I don't think you'll get an answer," Sayu muttered, looking at the absol and rolling her eyes.
Seris turned to the rest of the group. "Well, no one's hurt badly," he said, glancing around the group.
Sayu gave Cera, Kinje, and Teri a glance before turning to Seris. "They're fine," she agreed. "They were just a bit slow in avoiding all those attacks."
"I'll do better next time!" Teri said brightly, not seeming at all offended by Sayu's remark.
"You did great, Teri," Seris told her. "It was your thunderbolt that knocked that absol out, and paralyzed it." He then turned to Cera. "I gotta admit, you were quite a good fighter yourself. A poison attack would have helped, though."
"Oh…I never use poison…unless I have to," Cera answered quietly, her timid nature returning after the excitement of the battle.
"Here," Seris told her, handing her an oran berry. "Eat this and it'll prevent infection. Might even speed up the healing process."
"Thanks," Cera told him, before eating the berry. Seris handed one to Teri as Kinje walked over.
Seris didn't seem to be about to give him a berry, and Kinje didn't want his wound to get infected, so he decided to speak up. "I got injured too," he told Seris.
The tyrogue sneered at him. "Yeah, and you didn't even help!" he muttered. Before Kinje could protest, he added, "And after you got hurt what did you do? Walk away from the battle and stand over there out of the way, not caring that the rest of us were still fighting…just like you did when I fought that growlithe. And I saw you hiding behind Cera before the battle started, too!"
"Coward!" Sayu spat at Kinje.
Kinje wondered why they didn't mention Tarak, but he assumed a small eevee couldn't have been expected to take part in a battle with such a dangerous opponent. But he, being a bigger pokémon, would have of course been expected to fight. He started to back away from Seris.
"And now you think we're going to share our supplies with you?" Seris scoffed. "You need to realize that during a battle you can't back away after getting one little wound. You're not even hurt badly yet you were acting like it was bad enough to give you a good reason to leave the fight! Grow up already!"
Seris turned and walked back to Teri and Sayu, and Cera glanced at Kinje, who hadn't moved and was simply staring at the ground and avoiding her gaze. Tarak walked over to Seris, as the tyrogue picked up his group's supplies.
"Come on," Seris told the eevee. "Let' get out of here before that absol wakes up."
As the group of pokémon began to leave, Kinje hurried to catch up with Seris.
"Look, I'm sorry-"
"You better be!" Seris growled, cutting him off, and without waiting for him to say anything else, he turned and headed further through the trees.
Up ahead, Kinje heard Teri mutter, "I thought scythers liked fighting…"
Kinje looked up as he heard Cera stop beside him. "Thanks," the arbok told him, "for distracting that absol. Don't listen to what the others say-you're not a coward."
"But I was scared…" Kinje replied, not meeting Cera's gaze.
The arbok was about to reply when a shout from up ahead interrupted her. Looking up, both pokémon froze as they saw a group of absol approaching the other pokémon in front. Like the one they had battled, these ones all had a stiff, awkward gait, and were approaching steadily from different directions. There were seven of them in total, and Kinje was surprised to see that one of them, a small female, was a lot younger than he was.
Seris and the others backed up toward them, all glancing around warily while waiting for the first attack. "You better fight well this time, scyther," Seris muttered with a glare at Kinje. "It'll take all of us to bring them down."
Kinje stiffened as the absol all moved closer to the group, glaring eerily at them through emotionless red eyes. Beside him, Cera reared up and lashed her tail, and Tarak stood with his fur fluffed out, glancing from absol to absol. Sayu, Seris and Teri looked even more ready to fight, yet it was all Kinje could do to not turn and run.
Looking at each of the absols' gleaming scythes and claws, he shrank back. If just one of them was difficult to take down, how would they manage to defeat all these? Some of them looked bigger and stronger than the one they had fought, too.
At once, several of the absols' scythes began glowing, and without realizing it, Kinje found himself backing towards Cera. Then suddenly, one of the biggest absol leaped, ready to rip and tear with its scythe and claws. Kinje felt frozen with fear.
He wasn't ready for this.
