Chapter 2: The Tortoise and the Hare
I followed the Buneary through the forest, ignoring the small sounds that I heard so often in woods, from the gentle whisper of the wind through the trees to the small noises made by Starly and other various Pokémon.
Before, when I'd first moved to the forest, I'd been unfamiliar with this place. Every sound, with my sensitive ears amplifying it, meant danger. Now, I'd learned to ignore the background noises, and could focus on other, different sounds.
Like the noisy group of Pokémon in front of me. I figured that that was where we were heading, and I'd had my suspicions confirmed when we came into another clearing, similar to mine but much larger.
A large group of Pokémon milled around, chatting among themselves. Wondering why they were so loud (trainers flocked toward large noisy groups of Pokémon like Combee to flowers) I covered my ears slightly. Although I'd gotten used to regular forest noises, this was way beyond what I normally heard.
The Buneary beside me (I still hadn't caught her name) glanced at me, her eyes hardening. "Come on!" she hissed impatiently. Giving her a slight glare, I complied.
The group shifted as we approached, till they were bunched behind a slightly wizened Pokémon.
I looked at it with narrowed eyes. I realized that this was an unfamiliar species to me. It appeared to be a huge spiked tortoise with legs the thickness of tree trunks. Even weirder, however, was the fact that a tree seemed to be growing out of its shell. I wondered how much of a strain that was on the back. And here I'd found it hard to carry a pile of sticks!
While I looked at it, it looked back at me gravely, and then looked at the Buneary.
"Sabine, who have you brought to us?"
I rolled my eyes slightly. If he wanted to know my name, he could have just asked me. Not the Buneary, who had never even introduced herself. Of course, I hadn't either, but that was beside the point.
She glanced at me, as if just realizing she didn't know my name. Dumbass. "Um...I didn't...catch his name," she looked slightly embarrassed.
The tortoise shook his head. "And you, our best recruiter. I am disappointed, but not surprised." Burn. He turned to look at me, and I could see his gaze soften somewhat. What was it with Pokémon underestimating me? My color didn't mean that I was weak or tender!
"And you are?" he asked.
"Audino. Just Audino," I replied shortly. Although that wasn't my given name, I had put my old one behind me long ago. Here, the only one of my kind, it was just easier to use that instead.
The old one furrowed his brow, staring into the distance. "Interesting name," he said finally. I nodded at him. Looking at me again, he spoke, "Well, to get to the point, you have come here, most likely, because you have heard of the grievous acts that the Honchkrow, Caractacus, has inflicted on us, the inhabitants of Eterna Forest."
I nodded again, "Yes, Sabine here mentioned something along those lines," I glanced at her a few times while I spoke, gauging her reaction. She stared back, her button eyes challenging me, contrary to the staccato of her heartbeat.
The old tortoise interrupted my thoughts. "We of Eterna Forest pride ourselves on our ability to survive anything: from powerful Pokémon and ghosts to the multitudes of trainers that pass through here. However, this Honchkrow has taken from us what we value most: our dignity." He shook his head. "Forcing us to serve him, he has declared himself de facto ruler of this whole territory. Either we resist," and at this, he raised his head, a fierce glint in his wrinkled eyes. His breathing quickened. "Or we turn away, like cowards, and let him reign rampant over our home. Which would you choose?" he directed his burning gaze on me. Feeling nervous with the sudden attention, I babbled, "Definitely fight."
Nodding in satisfaction, the old tortoise gazed off at an area past me, eyes clouded. His breaths got slower and slower, and his heartbeat went back to a normal pace. I could hear by the way the breathing of the Pokémon around him paused that they felt impressed by his words. I myself wasn't sure what to think. Yes, if it were true, then a Pokémon who killed others without regret was a terrible thing, and needed to be stopped, preferably without bloodshed, though I held little hope of that. But what if he were lying? I just couldn't tell. Well, no, that was a lie right there. There were little clues in heartbeats I'd learned to pick up, but they weren't always reliable in detecting the truth. Though according to them, he'd been speaking truly.
Eh, I'd go along with it, see where the road would lead.
"Excuse me," a Pokémon stepped into view, glaring at me. I glared back, just because I could. And because he was a Bidoof.
"How do we know that we can trust this stranger?" he exclaimed. At this, my dislike heightened.
Glaring at me some more, the stupid plump mouse turned to the tortoise. "He drives away any that come near his territory. And he doesn't even try to socialize with the other Pokémon. In fact, we don't even know what he is. He just screams suspicious!" the Pokémon finished angrily.
At this, I started to give a snarky reply, but the tortoise beat me to it, "I have observed him myself," he said. "He is not aligned with Caractacus. He is just antisocial.
Or I just want to be left alone. But nobody will let that happen, will they? I snarled internally, ignoring the fact that I came here of my own free will. Common sense is annoying.
"Regardless, if Sabine has brought him here, he must be an asset to this. And we need all the help we can get," the tortoise lifted his head proudly.
Victini, can this Pokémon get any nobler? I wondered sarcastically. He stared at me, almost as if he'd read my mind. He's not a psychic type...is he? He seems like a grass type; that tree is a big giveaway.
After this statement, the tortoise proceeded to introduce himself. His name was A'Tuin, and he was the leader of KESFO: "Keep Eterna Safe from Outsiders," also known as a large group of noisy Pokémon. Their purpose was to drive off the Honchkrow and, well, keep the forest safe from outsiders. I wondered if it was this that made everybody just a tad hostile to me, since I wasn't originally from this place. I briefly regretted coming, but decided I'd have to deal with it, as I dealt with everything that came my way.
With patience. And violence, if need be.
Once we'd introduced ourselves and A'Tuin had explained the goal of the group, he wandered off to talk to others and I found myself alone.
It didn't really bother me. I was used to being alone. What did piss me off was the fact that I could hear a few Pokémon talking about how they still didn't trust me. The fact that they probably thought I couldn't hear didn't really help my mood. To be honest though, it was only a few. The rest just ignored me, continuing on with their lives. Mostly planning. It seemed that the group was divided into the regular fighters, and the leaders that led small groups. Said leaders were discussing their latest plan of attack.
"Sabine reported that she'd overheard Caractacus' minions discussing plans to attack the so-far neutral group of the Old Chateau. I propose that we launch a counter-attack there, saving the ghosts and encouraging them to join us."
"Why would Caractacus be so stupid as to attack ghosts? And also, that was when Sabine got caught by the Murkrow, so they now know that we know their plans."
"Think about it," another cut in, "they're dark types. The Old Chateau consists of ghost types. Dark beats ghost by a long shot. Also, that pink Pokémon fried the Murkrow right? So they're out of the picture."
"But they probably revived and reported back to Caractacus," argued the naysayer.
Bored by now, I moved away from the Pokémon, feeling slightly bitter. Welcome to the group, hello, we're glad to let you die for us, but we won't even try to make you feel welcome. Maybe I would've been better off not letting that Buneary near me at all. Speaking of her, I saw the bunny hobnobbing it with the other Pokémon. Although she wasn't an official leader, she seemed to be up there in the ranks. And while the officially ordained "leaders" were off discussing battle plans, she moved among the regular Pokémon, encouraging them and helping them out with their duties. Yes, a far different picture than the one I'd first had of her. That Pokémon seemed to truly believe in what A'Tuin said.
"Staring at Sabine? I don't blame you; she is quite the catch."
I was knocked out of my thoughts when I saw a red wormlike Pokémon with multiple feet and spikes near me. A small horn stuck out of its forehead, with a larger, red horn sticking out of the top of its head like a party cone. And don't ask me where I'd learned about those...
"Not that I like her. Now if she had feelers or spikes she might be more my type," it grinned jokingly, and I felt slightly disturbed at the mental image of a Buneary with multitudes of legs and spikes.
Chuckling at my expression, the Wurmple smiled at me. "I'm String, what's your name?"
"String?" I raised a brow.
He shrugged, "Hey, I was a kid when I came up with it, what do you expect?"
"Didn't your parents name you?"
"Nope," he shook his head…upper body…thing. "Beautifly and Dustox leave their children to fend for themselves. It's a bug thing."
"Sheesh, I'm surprised that there's so many of you!"
Smiling sadly, he replied, "Well, they lay a lot of eggs at a time, so at least a few survive. And we mature faster than other Pokémon do."
"So you named yourself..." I trailed off, wondering how many bugs ended up with names like "Worm" or "Twig."
"Yeah," he nodded. "Though most choose to wait till later to do it, but I was impatient. So here I am," he laughed.
I was going to make fun of him when I heard my stomach growl. I felt a tad embarrassed, but didn't really care. Food suddenly became the most important thing in the world. I'd never gotten to eat that apple, anyway. I'd been interrupted two times, the first by an annoying snake, the second by an annoying rabbit.
"Are you hungry?" asked the Wurmple with amusement. "We have food over near the large oak, if you want some.
He led me toward a large twisted oak that seemed as ancient as that tortoise. When I voiced this thought, the worm chuckled and said that A'Tuin was a Torterra.
"What are those?" I asked.
"The final evolution of Turtwig, a Pokémon that humans use as starter Pokémon."
I'd heard of "starter Pokémon," though they'd never really interested me. My old trainer had one: a fiery pig Pokémon. Just the thought of it set my blood boiling.
"Are you okay?" asked String concernedly. Nodding slightly, I forced a smile.
"Let's go. I'm so starving I could eat a Bidoof."
"I wouldn't recommend it," the bug muttered as he followed along behind.
Hey, Sethera again! Thanks for reading!
This might seem like just a filler chapter to you peoples, but it's necessary. Don't worry, there'll be more action later on! ;)
And many, many thanks to the wonderful Phoenix Vanguard for reviewing! You rock! :)
Psst, did anybody get the references? A cookie if you did! :)