AN: Thanks to Fallen Vanguard for reviewing my first chapter.


CHAPTER 2: THE FIRST RESCUE

̎"Help me! Please! Somebody!"

The voice was coming from the woods. The Tiny Woods, as Mudkip called the place. I had the feeling that the voice could be coming from far enough, as there didn't seem to be anybody in that forest, except this Pokémon (I dared to believe that it was a Pokémon). So, that feminine voice could cross through the trees and through the bushes, without coming across anything on its way.

It was difficult, however, to see who it was. The sunbeams went weakly through the trees' foliage, thus creating a few zones of shade of considerable size and greatly reducing the visibility in some parts of the vegetation.

Finally, in the middle of all that shade, a silhouette appeared, emerging from the obscurity, and getting nearer to Mudkip and me. I had seen that shape before, though I couldn't remember where or when. It was a small round body from which emerged a thin pair of rounded wings, as well as two antennae from the top of its body. The Pokémon was flying very quickly, as if it was fleeing a pursuer.

̎"Help me!" ̎

It was the same voice we were hearing, only even louder. There was no doubt anymore, it was really that Pokémon who was begging for help. But I could only see that Pokémon and no-one else. No sign of any enemy or any pursuer or anybody else.

She was only at a few feet from us and she was getting into the sunnier zone at the edge of the trees. Mudkip and I finally saw her clearly: it was a Butterfree.

She emerged from the side of the woods and when she saw us, she abruptly stopped her high-speed flight. She was visibly in a state of panic and she was panting, probably out of exhaustion.

̎"Help me, I'm begging you!" ̎

̎"Ma'am? What's happening?"̎, Mudkip asked.

̎"My baby… My poor little Caterpie…" The Butterfree was breathing so quickly, she practically had to take a break between each sentence, as short as it could be.

̎"What's the matter?"̎, I asked.

̎"There has been… an attack…"

̎"An attack?"̎, I said.

̎"An attack… of Pokémon?", Mudkip asked.

̎"Yes…", she answered, ̎"Some Pidgey… Some Pidgey attacked us, me and my boy. There were a whole flock of them… I really don't know what got into them, but… There were flying silently above us, in the forest… And then suddendly… They dived and they charged at us…"

"What?! They did that?"̎, Mudkip said, surprised.

̎"Yes… And yet, we didn't do anything to them… We were calmly passing by, without making a noise, without speaking… But… They did it anyway…"

I sensed tears getting into the Butterfree's eyes and her voice was turning shaky and jerky.

̎"The Pidgey attacked us… And… And… I couldn't see anything. Only the Pidgey surrounding me, flapping their wings ragingly… And then they were gone… Flown away… But… But… My baby was gone too. My… My Caterpie… Gone!.... Oh dear, dear, dear…"

She was sobbing. I stayed there, standing still. I was unable to move. I guessed that story shook me up too. Mudkip seemed to be sad as well.

̎"Did… Didn't you look for Caterpie by yourself?", I asked.

̎"I tried to…", she answered, ̎"But I was scared… Too scared… I looked all around me, but I couldn't see him. And shortly after the Pidgey were gone, I heard another flapping of wings… I thought they were coming back after me, so I had to flee."

Mudkip and I stood there, not uttering a word.

̎"I have to find my baby… He must still be in the woods… But I can't go all on my own. I'm… I'm not strong enough. If the Pidgey ever come back, I can't even imagine what they could do to me…"

I glanced at Mudkip. He did the same. Our looks met. His face took a determined look and he gave me a nod. I answered by the same gesture. It was clear, we had the same idea in our minds.

̎"Ma'am, we're gonna get your son back.", Mudkip said.

Butterfree turned her head toward him.

̎"Really?" ̎

̎"Really.", I replied, ̎"These woods sure look dangerous, but we cannot let your son in a place like this one, with all those Pidgey possibly still roaming around. We're gonna find him!"

Butterfree's eyes became shiny. There was a mix of joy and relief in her face.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! From the bottom of my heart, I wish that you find him."

Mudkip moved toward Butterfree with a resolute look printed on his face.

̎"We're gonna succeed, I promise you.̎" He then turned toward me. ̎"Let's go, Charmander!" ̎

I nodded and rejoined him on the side of the woods.


We were going deep into the Tiny Woods, walking straight, following the same route as Butterfree used to get out of the forest. By taking the same path, maybe we could arrive at the same place where the Pidgey supposedly attacked. Maybe Caterpie was still around. But it was uncertain. He could be anywhere in this forest.

The sunlight was filtering unevenly throughout the vegetation. The shady zones were spreading on a large area. That lack of light wasn't comforting. I had the unpleasant feeling that somebody could suddenly jump from behind a tree at anytime.

We had already spent some time walking throughout the woods without encountering anybody. There wasn't a single noise either. No sign of life anywhere. This wasn't natural to me. Nothing seemed to indicate there could have been a flock of Pidgey hiding around.

̎"Mudkip?" ̎My new friend turned his head toward me.̎ "How farther is this forest spreading anyway?"

̎"We're almost at the center of it." ̎

Well, I told myself, not bad for some Tiny Woods…

"There's something I don't understand.", I told Mudkip, ̎"Why would Pidgey attack a Butterfree and her Caterpie for no reason? It seemed to me that Pidgey are not aggressive by nature…"

"No, of course not. But some very strange things have been happening recently in the region. Many Pokémon have begun to behave oddly and attack Pokémon for no reason."

"Why?" ̎

̎"No-one knows exactly why. But many wonder if it could be linked to the surge of natural disasters which have hit us lately…"

̎"Na… Natural disasters?"̎, I asked, puzzled, ̎"What kinds of natural disasters?" ̎

̎"There have been disasters of many kinds.", Mudkip answered, ̎"Avalanches, mudslides, rockfalls… Rain storms or hail storms… Unusually hot days or unusually cold days… But I'd say that earthquakes happen the most…"

Great, I thought. I arrive into this world just as Pokémon begin to go psycho and Mother Nature is turning crazy…

"Why would those two phenomenons be linked?"̎, I asked Mudkip.

̎"Both have started to happen at the same time, more or less. So maybe they have a common origin…" ̎

Mudkip and I had been walking in the forest for quite a long time when we spotted a zone which seemed to receive more sunlight, and it was not far from us. There also seemed to have less trees in that area than in the vicinity.

"It's a clearing.", Mudkip said, ̎"Let's go." ̎

It took us only a short time to get there. The clearing seemed to act more or less like an oasis of sunlight, here to drag us out of the shady kingdom of the woods.

"And now?", I asked, ̎"Where are we gonna find Caterpie?" ̎

"We should look around here. He shouldn't be far anyway. We should search in… Oh, wait a second…" ̎

I turned toward him. He was staring at emptiness. His gaze was almost frozen.

"I sense something."̎ He closed his eyes, as if he was trying to focus on something. ̎"Yes, there's something getting closer…" ̎

"Could it be Caterpie?" ̎

Mudkip opened his eyes, but his face took a worried look. ̎"No… Definitely not… It's moving way too fast to be a Caterpie…" ̎

OK, that was definitely not a good sign. I didn't know how Mudkip could determine if there was indeed something getting closer to us, but he seemed to be certain of what he was saying.

Mudkip turned his head to look behind him. I barely had the time to do the same when I saw two brown shapes diving toward us while screeching.

The time of a reflex, I dived flat on my face just before one of the shapes could get to me. Nevertheless, I felt a heavy draft in my back and I even felt the flame on my tail wavering from that draft. The thing had barely missed me. I raised my head to see two Pidgey break in their impulse and then rising slightly in the air, describing half a spin in the process. They lowered slowly to find themselves right in front of us.

I quickly put myself back on my two legs, while Mudkip put himself on all fours. The Pidgey had missed him too, fortunately. But we weren't out of trouble for the moment, as the Pidgey were preparing themselves to charge on us again. We didn't have the choice anymore. We would have to fight them if we wanted to get rid of them.

We were face to face with the Pidgey. We stared at them and they were doing the same at us. It only lasted for a short moment however, as the two birds charged at us. I stayed perfectly still until the Pidgey were at a couple of feet from us. And then, very quickly, Mudkip and me jumped on our side to dodge them. It worked, but unfortunately, the Pidgey immediately turned around and one of them pecked me right in the chest.

I fell on my back, grimacing in pain. It was a nice hit and I had to close my eyes for a few seconds. It really hurt. I hadn't felt anything like that before. For a moment, I thought it took my breath away. When I opened my eyes, the Pidgey was just above me. It was frantically flapping its wings while shouting high cries. I didn't know what it was up to, but I could hardly move by myself, he was way too close to me. I was still laying on my back, with no possibility nor any space to get back up. I tried to wave my hands to make the Pidgey fly away, but it didn't work. It was keeping me under its hold and it really wasn't about letting me escape. I tried to give another shot at waving my hands. But this time, I successfully scratched the Pidgey in his abdomen. He unleashed a cry of pain and moved back.

Charmander have small hands, but their claws can do some damage to enemies of smaller or similar size. That's what I had just witnessed and I realized I could use my claws to attack this Pidgey. The injury I had just inflicted him was serious enough for it to drop its guard. This was my chance. I had to take benefit of it. In one bound, I leapt in its direction and I scratched it once again, this time in the face. It unleashed an even louder cry and it was now writhing in pain. It couldn't hold out much longer.

"Charmander!" That was Mudkip calling me. I turned to find out my friend in a rather uncomfortable position. The other Pidgey was pecking him and Mudkip couldn't get rid of it. I didn't have the choice. I had to step in.

The Pidgey had its back turned on me. I thought it would be the right occasion. I could breathe some fire right upon it. I focused with all my might and fired. But nothing came out of my mouth, but a light growl. Whoever would have witnessed this, it would probably have been labelled as cute… But it was definitely not the time to be cute… I tried one more time, unsuccessfully. And then one more time. And one more. But nothing, safe for weak growls. After much growling from my part, the Pidgey finally heard me, turned around and glanced at me menacingly.

The Pidgey let Mudkip go and took flight very close to the ground, getting farther from both of us. I wasn't sure of what it was up to, but it suddenly turned back to face me. Oh no, it would try to tackle me! And that's what it did… It started to charge right in my direction. Instinctively, I was able to hurl myself on my back, just before the Pidgey would have reached me. I fell once again on my back, on the warm and supple grass. But as I fell, I thought I heard not one, but two loud screeches. I took a look, only to discover that the Pidgey had tackled directly into… the other Pidgey, who was still standing behind me as the first Pidgey tried to tackle me.

The crash had been terrible. The Pidgey who had already been weakened by my claws had been tackled right into the stomach. It was knocked out instantly. As for its unwilling assailant, it was seriously beaten down, but was still standing.

̎"Let's finish this!", I heard Mudkip say. I saw my pal take a few steps backward, and then launched himself in a charge against the last enemy standing. The Pidgey had just enough time to turn its head as Mudkip tackled it with all his strength. The collision sent the Pidgey flying backwards at huge speed. Its flight abruptly ended when its body hit against a tree very hard. The Pidgey fell unconscious right upon the impact.

̎"Alright! We did it!"̎, I exclaimed. Both Pidgey were laying unconscious, almost side by side, knocked down by our superior power. I was extremely feverish. I had just won my very first battle as a Pokémon, with Mudkip's help.

I looked at my friend. We were both displaying a large grin on our faces. We had just experienced such wildly intense emotions and we had to endure some physical pain, but everything was gone now. We had won. And we were happy.

But there was one thing remaining: we still hadn't found Caterpie.


̎"Still nothing?" ̎

My voice was ringing out throughout the trees. Mudkip and I had been back in the woods for at least an hour now. Actually, I really didn't know how much time we had spent searching since we had beaten the Pidgey. I had somehow lost the notion of passing time. Hours, minutes, seconds… They didn't have any significance anymore. From then on, I could only count on the movements of the sun to catch up with time. But when you find yourself deep into the woods, where sunlight barely crosses through the foliage, time ceases to exist. At least, that's the feeling I had.

̎"Charmander! I sense something!" Mudkip was calling me from a distance. I quickly rejoined him by zigzagging through the vegetation.

̎"Is it good this time?" ̎

̎"I don't know. But there's something nearby." How could he know, anyway? According to me, he had a sixth sense… ̎"Follow me, I think it's this way…" ̎

Personally, I had absolutely no idea of where we should search. So I guessed it would be better to leave it to Mudkip… I let my friend guide me, even if in the end, I had the feeling that he wasn't sure of where we were going. All I could sense is that he had an intuition and he wouldn't let it go.

We walked for a few minutes, when we heard a voice in the distance. A high and extended voice, which seemed to be getting louder at each step we were making. There was no doubt anymore. There was somebody there. The voice went silent for a few moments, but Mudkip stayed focused and kept leading me in the same direction. Suddenly, the voice was getting heard once again, only this time, we could distinguish the words. And the first one we could hear was:

"Mommy?" ̎

As we heard that word, we knew we were getting closer to our goal. Some kind of new energy revived me up completely. I was walking faster, with a steadier pace. That's when we saw him.

He was nicely roaming, crawling across a tree. He seemed to be both lost and confused. His gait was jerky. It was Caterpie.

I wasn't walking anymore, I was running. He was there, at last. The fruit of our search. The missing son, finally at our reach.

"Mommy, where are you?" ̎

His voice was sad, and no-one could have doubted it. Nobody, at this age, wants to get separated from his mom and get lost in the unknown. But his nightmare was about to end. We were there to bring him back into the light.

"Caterpie?" ̎

The little worm jumped as he heard my voice. And as he saw me, he stepped back. He seemed to be really frightened.

̎"Caterpie, don't be afraid. We are here to take you back to your mom."

The little kid kept staring at me.

̎"Mom?" ̎

̎"Come with us."̎, Mudkip said, ̎"We'll get you out of here, OK?" ̎

Caterpie got closer to us, very slowly. He was still a bit scared, but I could see the fear slowly disappearing from his big, round, black eyes. He quietly got to me. I hold out my hand as a sign of good faith.

̎"You can trust us, Caterpie. We don't mean you any harm. We're just here to bring you back to your mother. Come with us and you'll see her very soon. OK?" ̎ Caterpie nodded. ̎"OK." ̎

And thus, Mudkip and I went back into the woods, along with Caterpie. We put ourselves side by side, with Caterpie right in the middle. Thus, Mudkip and I could protect him if anything happened. But I hoped that nothing would happen. At this point, I only wished one thing: to get out of these woods and bring together Caterpie and his mother. It couldn't take much long…