Following the bird, I was led even deeper into the woods. Now that nothing was flying at my head, thankfully, I was able to take a close look around. Everything was off. Not in a "all the trees have eyeballs and tentacles" way, but more of a "everything in your friend's house is rotated thirty degrees" way. I'm not a woodsy guy, but I could tell that all the plants were bizarro versions of what one would find in a park back home. Most of the trees seemed almost like oak trees, but did oak trees have soft, petal-like leaves and slightly rubbery bark? The undergrowth seemed more or less the same that I remembered from camping with my mom, but occasionally squat, dense bushes would be hidden in the brush. The bushes seemed to be growing brightly colored fruit.
When the bird saw a bush, it trilled happily. Turning its head to squawk at me, it stopped at the bush and carefully plucked a vividly red fruit with its beak. It tore into it excitedly, holding it down using its claws.
I reached into the bush and picked my own. I held it in my hands carefully, staring down at it, thinking. Isn't seeing birds eat something in the wild mean its okay to eat it yourself? Shrugging, I bit into the red fruit.
It was spicy. Very spicy. My eyes started to water, and I spat out the mouthful of food. Sighing quietly at the lost opportunity for snacking (I am a teenage boy, after all), I turned my attention away from the plant life and towards my native guide.
Currently, the bird was tearing into its second spicy fruit. The remains of the first were covering the thing's beak and feet, staining them an unnatural red. Because of this, it looked far more intimidating than any basketball-sized bird had any right to be.
Its beak, while small in comparison to its head, was slightly hooked, like a falcon. Its head was covered in rough, brown feathers, which swept back from its beak, forming pseudo spikes all around its face. Its back was a pure black. Its stomach was a cream color and was interrupted by thin horizontal stripes. Its legs were featherless and pinkish with two front claws and one back one. Its talons didn't look very sharp, luckily. Its wings were stubby and a deep red color. Its tail feathers were the same brown as its head.
Overall, it looked like a oversized pigeon with an angry falcon head.
Once it was finished gulping down bites of the red fruit, it cawed at me and started walking again. I decided to try to communicate with it.
"So, where are we going?" I asked politely. The bird squawked a response.
"Ro. Err-spear-err."
I nodded knowingly. "I see." I didt not see. In fact, I had no idea what in the world the bird was trying to communicate to me.
"How come you can understand me perfectly, but I can't understand you at all? Or can you understand me? Maybe you've just been telling me 'no hablo ingles' in bird. Maybe I've gone crazy. Maybe..." I stopped walking. The bird, who had been watching me with its head tilted, stopped too, giving me a concerned look. Or, as concerned a look one can give you with a beak. "Maybe this is just a big joke of Clockworks? Do you think he'd do that?"
The bird trilled reassuringly at me. Now it looked downright distressed by my ramblings.
"I'm sorry, I've just had a weird day. Are we close to our destination?"
Perking up, the bird tweeted happily.
I smiled at it. Honestly, considering our rocky start, I was beginning to warm up to the thing. It was kinda cute.
"Maybe I should keep my questioning to yes/no questions. Are you a boy bird monster?"
The bird gave an affirmative chirp. "Row!"
"Okay, cool. Do you have a name?"
"Spearow-err-ear. Ow-spee." I sighed deeply.
"I'm gonna need a yes or no, bud." The bird cooed a single negative note. "Since you don't have a name, I'll have to give you one. Let me think…" The basketball-sized bird gave me a cheerful look and peeped quietly.
"That's it! I'll call you Basketball! Cause that's how big you are! Get it?" The bird trilled cheerfully.
"Ro-roww-spee!"
"You like it? Man, I'm great at naming things. You should meet my sister. She's awful at naming th-" I thought I could hear something. "Did you hear that?" Basketball cawed and broke into a run. I sprinted after it. With my battleborn quickness, I was able to easily keep up with the small creature.
Soon, I could clearly hear the noise. It was a child. It was crying.
The bird and I picked up speed. The bird seemed to have decided that running on its short legs wasn't fast enough, because it soon took off into flight. I decided against flying myself. I wasn't sure if this world had ghosts or supernatural powers at all, and I didn't want to freak anyone out. I didn't want to freak out Basketball, anyway. I only used a little intangibility to keep up with the bird as we raced toward the sound of soft crying.
Soon, we stumbled into a tiny clearing. A small boy, maybe nine or ten years old, was sitting under a large tree sobbing. He had a head of shaggy, coarse, brown hair. Clutched tightly across his chest was a dirty, torn backpack. Basketball reached him first.
I stopped in the underbrush, out of sight. The bird landed near the boy and started hopping gave a soft coo, trying to get his attention. The boy, who had been staring at the ground, looked up in fear. He closed his eyes and swung his backpack at the approaching bird.
"Go away!" he shouted in a shaking voice.
Basketball jumped away from the swing and twittered nervously. He obviously wanted to help the poor boy, but the child was terrified of him. He looked like a human being (but then again, so did I), so maybe he wouldn't be scared of me?
I deliberately rustled the leaves around me to get the boy's attention. He turned towards me, holding his backpack like a life line. I emerged from the bushes and immediately crouched down a comfortable distance away. I'd dealt with enough scared kids to know that looming over them never helps.
"Hey there. Are you okay?" I asked in a soft, calming voice. The boy looked at me silently. "My name's Danny. What's your's?" I waited for a moment, wondering if he was going to speak to me.
"Ryan," he whispered. His voice grew in volume and confidence as he talked. He had a slight accent, maybe Japanese? "My name's Ryan. I… I'm a little lost. Do you know where Route 5 is?"
"Hi, Ryan. I don't know where Route 5 is, but my bird friend might." I stood up and stretched out my arm toward Basketball. He quickly flew at me, landing on my forearm. His claws clamped tightly onto my skin, making me regret wearing a t-shirt. The boy flinched away from the bird, but seemed more at ease once it landed on me.
"Oh, that's your spearow? I thought he was wild."
"Spearow, huh?" I looked at the bird more closely. "Is that what its called?"
The boy looked a little concerned. He stood up, brushing the dirt off his pants. "Yeah, that's the species name. It is yours, right?"
I shrugged. "Probably. Why are you running away from home?"
The boy froze. He gripped the backpack in both hands, holding it between us like a shield. Basketball's claws dug into my arm. I kept my eyes on the kid. If he took off, I might lose him in this forest.
He barked out a short laugh. "Wh-what do you mean? I'm not.." I lifted one eyebrow. "How could you tell?"
"I've seen enough runaways to be able to spot one. Where are you running to, bud?" He sighed dramatically.
"I don't know. Away? I had a plan, but then I went off the path and got lost and your bird kept flying at me and… I just…" The fear returned to his eyes. "Please don't take me back."
"I won't. Do you want to tell me why you ran?" I took a step closer. He was quiet for a moment.
"My mom… she won't let me be a trainer. I may look small, but I'm almost eleven! I should have a full team by now! I should… Maybe trying to start my adventure without a starter wasn't a good idea, huh?" I nodded thoughtfully.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." The kid gave me a confused look and started to interrupt me, but I just kept talking. "What I do know is that this bird-" "Spearow." "-spearow probably knows how to get out of these woods and I for one don't want to sleep in a tree. I've tried it, kid, and I can tell you that its not fun."
The kid smiled a bit at my half joke. Basketball cooed reassuringly at the Ryan. I deeply hoped that the spearow actually knew how to get out of these woods, or gaining the trust of this kid and convincing him to return to his home would be useless.
"Why don't we go back to your home and we can talk to your mom about your trainer problem?"
Ryan deflated, his tired bravado slipping away. "You're right. This is stupid. I want to sleep in a bed." He slipped his backpack on. Hilariously, little kids in this world thought they looked cool wearing the backpack with one strap. I chuckled a little bit to myself.
"What are you laughing at?" he inquired suspiciously. I gave him a quick smile.
"Nothing important. Now, where are we going? Basketball can lead us out of the woods-" I shot a quick imploring look to the bird, who nodded seriously. "-but I need to know where we're going once we get out of this forest."
"We need to head north. Route 5 is where I went off the path, so we'll probably leave the woods there. We'll just have to go north from there. I live in Cerulean City."
"Good. Lead the way, Basketball." The bird nodded at me again and flew off my arm. He chirped once and started hopping. Ryan and I followed close behind, walking side by side.
Luckily, the kid seemed to have a knack for weaving through the thick underbrush, so his much shorter stride didn't slow us down. Unfortunately, I am not woodsy. Since the kid kept looking at me, I couldn't just phase through any tangling branches like I had been doing. I ended up being the slowest member of our little group.
Ryan was uncomfortably quiet on our walk. I wasn't sure if that was because he was planning out what he was going to say to his mom or if he was just shy. (I quickly gave up trying to plan out what I wanted to say. 'Hi, ma'am. I was just wandering in the woods and I found your son. Also, I'm from a different world. And I'm a half ghost superhero. And this is my bird. Can I sleep on your couch until I figure out what quest I was sent here to do?' Everything I came up with sounded completely crazy.)
"So… what's the name of this wood?" Ryan gave me another incredulous look. I was starting to get tired of those. (I'd gotten enough of them from my parents after the Disasteroid. Yes, Dad, I can use my ghost powers all the time, even in human form. No, Mom, they're not killing me.)
"Cerulean Forest, I'm pretty sure." He squinted at me suspiciously. I could almost hear him ask how I didn't know where I was.
"How old are you?"
"I'm almost eleven," he said defensively. "How old are you?"
"Almost eighteen."
"You're pretty old."
"I guess. So, are humans the dominant species?" I asked as casually as I could.
"...Are you serious? Yes, of course they are! Are you insane?" I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Just checking that you didn't get a concussion or something." He relaxed once I said that, believing me completely. Hah! And Sam thought I was a bad liar. "What's your full name?"
"Ryan Accipio. What's yours?"
"Danny Fenton."
"That's a weird last name."
"So's yours."
"...That's fair."
We traveled in a much more comfortable silence after that. Soon, we emerged from the trees, blinking in the unfiltered sunlight. Basketball trilled a happy song and flew a triumphant circle around Ryan and I. We were at the edge of a wide, well beaten path that I guessed was Route 5. Occasional patches of waist-to-shoulder high grass were strewn around the entire area. I could see a small cottage in the distance to our left.
"Good job, Basketball!" I called to the excited bird. I held out my arm again and the bird landed hard, claws first. I winced a bit at the impact, but luckily it didn't break the skin.I brought my arm around so he was right in front of my face. "Thanks for leading me to Ryan and then out of the woods. You were really helpful. If you want to leave you can, bud." I would miss the bird, but I didn't feel that bringing an intelligent, wild bird along to the city if it didn't want to go would be a good idea.
"What, are you a ranger or something?" asked Ryan. I assumed he was being rhetorical and I kept my eyes on Basketball.
"Spee-ow," the bird chirped. Then, he leaned forward and rubbed the side of his hooked beak against my face. His face feather tickled.
"Awww! That was adorable," Ryan squeaked. "He really likes you."
Basketball leaned away from my face and turned to Ryan. He squawked angrily in his direction. Ryan threw his hands into the air.
"Fine, you're not adorable. You're tough." The bird trilled happily.
"Technically, you're the adorable one here, Ryan." I pointed out mock-seriously. Basketball nodded gravely, his mouth slightly open in a beaky smile. Ryan started to splutter, embarrassed at being called adorable.
I laughed and turned left, walking towards the cottage in the distance. Ryan quickly ran after me, his face still red from blushing. Basketball flew off my arm in a flash of feathers. He seemed to prefer walking in front.
Now that I could see the horizon better, I could see that it was late afternoon.
"Ryan, how far is the city? I don't want to walk in the dark, even if we're on a path."
"It only an hour or two's walk from here, I think. We'll get there before the sun sets."
True to his word, we arrived in Cerulean City after what felt like an hour and a half. My feet were sore, Ryan kinda smelled like someone who had slept outside the previous night, and Basketball quickly lost his energy to hop and ended up being carried in my arms. I think he might have took a nap.
"This is it?" I asked Ryan. He nodded.
"Its not as big as cities in other regions, I know. I think its called a city just for the alliteration."
I had to laugh at that. "Nice."
The 'city' was maybe three dozen buildings arranged haphazardly. The houses were connected by the same sort of grassy path that we had just come left. The amount of grass and trees would have made even Sam very happy. The city proper was separated from the path by a small building lined with counters. No one gave a couple of scraggly kids and their tired bird a second glance.
In the city proper, my eye was immediately drawn to a white and red building with the words "Pokemon Center" emblazoned on the front. Ryan grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the left, dragging me past the building.
"Come on. My house is over here. After a few minutes of walking, Ryan stopped in front of a one story house with a green tile roof. He sighed. He looked up at me with furrowed brows.
"Do I have to go home?"
I pretended to think, shifting Basketball to one arm and scratching my chin with the other.
"Hmmm… Yes. Now, knock. Your mom probably misses you very much."
Ryan grimaced a little and lifted his fist to the door. After a short, tense pause, he banged his fist on the wooden door.
Almost immediately, a woman in her late thirties opened the door. "Yes?" She had the same short cut, rough hair as Ryan. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of him.
"Ryan! You're back! I was so worried." She looked at me and then glanced down at Basketball. "And you've brought home a trainer friend! Come in, come in." She ushered us all into the house. Once we were inside, she gave Ryan a warm hug, which he returned. While they hugged, I took the opportunity to get a good look at the house.
The house was small, but undeniably homey. It seemed gently worn and lived in. The sparse furniture that I could see was made of wood and was softened with use. The entire house was open planned, with the floor sectioned off into rooms by simple screens, all painted with designs of fanciful, brightly colored animals.
Ryan's mom ushered us to a low table surrounded by four pillows, then scurried away. I lowered myself onto a pillow carefully, while Ryan plopped with all the ceremony of a mudslide. I carefully moved Basketball onto the pillow beside me, hoping that he wouldn't try to fly around and make a mess. Luckily, he seemed as interested as me, and was looking around the house as well.
Ryan looked almost bored to be home.
"She's going to get you some tea. I hope you like mint berry leaf." Ryan seemed unenthusiastic.
Soon enough, Ms. Accipio returned with a tray. On it were a tea kettle and some cups. I was suddenly struck by the thought of complicated tea ceremonies. What if there was some sort of intricate ritual that I needed to know? I started to panic a little.
Ryan's mom poured three cups with relaxed efficiency. After a questioning look at Basketball and a quick glance at me, she poured a four cup. She then placed the cups quickly in front of each of us, including the bird. I watched Ryan to see what I was supposed to do.
Luckily, it seemed like there was no ritual for the tea, as Ryan simply picked his up and began chugging. I picked my cup up and took a few gulps. It was pretty good, a little strong, but I'm not really a tea person anyways. (Hilariously, Tucker was. He claimed that it was a good source of caffeine when his mom refused to buy him anymore energy drinks.)
Basketball hopped up on the low table to dunk his beak in the cup a couple times, but soon got bored of that and flapped back to his pillow. He fluffed up and settled down for another nap. His mother took a few delicate sips, then broke the silence.
"I'm so happy you're back, Ryan. Would you like to introduce your new friend?" She had the sweet, mother-y tone that I would have expected a mother to have, but she had sharp, no nonsense eyes that didn't miss a thing. I liked her.
"This is Danny." He waved vaguely in my direction. "He's a trainer from out of town, and he convinced me to come back home. That's his spearow, Basement-All." I grimaced at the mispronunciation of Basketball's name. Maybe they didn't have basketball in this world.
"Its nice to meet you, Danny. You can call me June. Thank you so much for bringing my son back. He's been gone for two days! I was starting to lose my mind with worry." I looked down, embarrassed. Ms. Accipio was so genuine, that my half-baked lies were beginning to melt away.
"Its no problem, ma'am. I was happy to be if help."
"So, where are you from? Where you traveling to Cerulean for the gym?"
"Uhh…?" I spared a glance at Ryan. He seemed interested in my forthcoming answer, too. "I'm from… not around here?" Both of the Accipios were starting to look suspicious. "I'm just passing through. I'm from far away. Very far away."
June raised an eyebrow at my vague half truths. "Okay… you're a trainer, right? How many pokemon do you have?"
"I- uh…" What in the world is a pokemon? Why does Ryan think I'm a 'trainer?' I was panicking. I started to sweat. I stood up quickly, knocking my shins against the table. "I need to go to the bathroom."
June pointed behind her and I darted away. The screens formed a hallway that led me to the only real room in the house. I quickly went inside and locked the door behind me. Inside was a toilet, sink, and shower. I went over to the sink and started splashing water into my face.
"You can do this. If you couldn't, Clockwork wouldn't have sent you." I made a face to the mirror. "Probably."
Sighing, I wiped off my face with a nearby towel. Maybe honesty was the best policy. I obviously didn't know enough to be able to lie convincingly. I braced my shoulders and exited the bathroom. Too soon, I was back at the low table. Ms. Accipio had cleared away the tray and cups and Ryan was playing with what looked like trading cards. Ms. Accipio was nowhere to be found.
I sank down into my pillow. Basketball gave me a reassuring coo, seeing my evident discomfort. I reached over and scratched the top of his head, trying to calm down.
"Danny," Ryan said. "Doesn't this look like Basement-All?" He scooted a single card to me face up. I picked it up.
"His name is Basketball," I corrected absently. The card was a light gray, with a picture of a furious spearow on the top half. "Nah, this guy's looks like a jerk. Basketball is nice. He's the one who led me to you when we were both lost. Though, he was a bully to a giant caterpillar."
"You mean a caterpie." I gave Ryan a questioning look. "Green, about a foot long? The pokemon you're describing is a caterpie."
I shrugged in what I hoped was a casual way. The bug was a pokemon? Is pokemon just another word for creature? "If you say so."
"You're not from around here, are you?"
"You have no idea."
Just then, June returned, her arms full of blankets and pillows. She looked a little embarrassed.
"Oh, honey, you're back! I'm so sorry for overloading you with questions. I know how you trainers get when you get back into civilization: not used to talking to anyone but your pokemon. Here." She hand me the blankets. "You can sleep here tonight on our couch. We can talk more in the morning, dear."
She led me around some screens until we came to a small area with just a small couch and an even smaller television. I dropped the bedding on the couch. June, who smiled and gave me a small, hesitant pat on the shoulder, hurried away. I began making up a bed, which didn't take too long. Back home, I was the sleepover master. I spent most days before the accident over at Tucker's to avoid my parent's weird experiments.
I settled down to sleep. After a few minutes I heard a flapping and saw Basketball winging small circles above the screens. He quickly spotted me and swooped down into the couch area, landing on the ground. He gave a few tentative peeps.
"Come here." I murmured, patting the couch. Basketball flew up and settled close to my side. I laid down and closed my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep. I could hear both June and Ryan settling in for sleep. I reached over and patted Basketball's back.
"Well, that happened. At least I have somewhere to sleep. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a touch less stressful. That would be nice, right, bud?" Deep breathing was my only response. He was already asleep.
I fell asleep not too long after, dreaming of bright creatures flying off of painted screens and dancing around me.
Things are finally happening, you guys. I'm trying to post longer chapters, yo.
If anyone has any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a review or send a pm. I'm always open to chat. :)