CHAPTER 2 Morning Travel
The once blue night is slowly transitioning into a light blue dawn as the sun peaks in the horizon; the surrounding trees are casting elongated shadows everywhere. Nearby pidgeys and yanmas fly and flutter about along the ground and tree branches. The lid to the burrow is opening up from below; Kirai pops out from the burrow with his bag wrap around his back. He proceeds to close the lid behind him as he treads on the grass in the direction where Pokemon Square is. Not a moment too soon, he encounters a neighboring sentret named Sally. She's a regular looking sentret with an orange bow attached to her right ear and a dark brown birthmark around the perimeter of her lips, which resembles lipstick. She's one year older than Kirai, and is holding a small bucket of water in her arms.
"Good Morning Kirai, I've heard you're heading out to the Pokemon Square. That's pretty far isn't it?" She asks. Kirai smiles at her.
"Hey Sally, hope you're having a good morning too, and no, the Pokemon Square isn't that far from here, at least for someone like me. I'm not a slowpoke after all . . but you probably are." Kirai mocks playfully. Sally puts the bucket down as she snickers.
"Oh, so you wanna start with that this early in the morning Kirai? I'll break your feet so you can't go anywhere you arrogant rat!" Sally declares as she tries to kick at his feet, but Kirai backflips to evade the attacks. Afterwards, Sally dashs full speed at him, tackling him to the ground with a playful bear hug. They're both laughing at the situation at hand, and Sally starts pounding on his face.
"Are you having fun? How does that feel Kirai, still think I'm a slowpoke?" Sally asks as she keeps up her act of dominance. Kirai struggles to grab hold of her paws as she targets his face.
"Hey, that's not . . fair. I have my bag on, its kinda heavy." Kirai brings up, hoping to get some mercy out his dear friend.
"Oh, such a shame Kirai, maybe you should have thought about that before provoking a fight out of me." Sally says in a carefree tone as she leans in near his face, looking at him with a malicious glint in her small eyes. Kirai's checks glow a bit redder than before, and he becomes a bit more nervous.
"And as a matter of fact-" Sally stops to raise Kirai off his back only to snatch the bag from around his body.
"Sally, what the hell?" Kirai blurts out as she proceeds to wrap the bag over her body in a backpack-like fashion.
"You're not even worthy of carrying around this bag if that's as fast as you can go, slowpoke. It's a dangerous world out there for dopes like you." Sally says whimsically as she winks back at him and darts off into the woods, leaving the pail of water behind. Kirai couldn't believe his eyes.
"Ok Sally, two can play at this wonderful game." Kirai schemes as he acquires the bucket of water, chasing her in the same direction. Sally isn't too far up ahead, but she looks back to check if he's there, but doesn't see anything coming. Consequently, she stops in her tracks.
"Well, that was pretty easy. Looks like I'll be going to the Pokemon Square in the place of Kirai since he was too weak to compete." Sally gloats as she flexes her stubby arms muscles in self-admiration. Moments later, a sudden downpour of water lands on Sally from above, leaving her in a daze as her fur is soaking wet now, along with a portion of the bag.
"Hahahahahaha, sorry to rain on your parade Sally, but you're the delusional one here. Hope you liked having a taste of your own medicine, or water rather." Kirai mocks as he lands steadily on his feet from the high tree branch above with the bucket in hand. Sally hugs herself in attempt to keep warm; her ears were curved downward.
"Well, that was a cheap trick, getting that water wasn't easy you know." Sally complains, causing Kirai to laugh once more.
"Well, you just proved my point, Bilon Lake is about a mile away from where we're standing, and even that is too far for you? Forget slowpoke, I think you just graduated into slowbrohood ." Kirai jokes delightfully, taking in the embarrassed look on Sally's wet face.
"Hey, if I'm a slow-anything, I'm gonna be a slow-queen, not a "bro," bro. And what's a slowqueen without a slowking?" Sally asks romantically as she flutters her eyes elegantly at Kirai, making his cheeks glow redder again.
"Have you been feeling alright Sally? I know you're family is growing x-eye seeds in the community farm, I just hope you haven't been eating them lately because what you're saying is BS." Kirai brings up, confusing Sally slightly.
"Why do you say that?" Sally asks as she picks up a lone seed on the ground to eat on the spot. Kirai looks dumbfounded.
"Really bro?" Kirai asks mellowly with an upside hand gesture directed at her. Sally laughs out loud as she's caught in the act.
"It's queen, not "bro," and I knew you would say something, it was only a plain seed, silly." Sally corrects happily as she continues to giggle; Kirai couldn't help but sigh to himself and smile afterwards.
"Sally, you are "silly." In fact, that should be your new name now. 'Ah, what up Silly? Have those x-eye-seeds given you a hangover yet? Can I have one bro?' " Kirai role plays in a deeper, bogged down voice as he giggles uncontrollably to his own mocking. Sally rolls her small eyes in response.
"Kirai, shut the hell up you bro-calling bastard." Sally says all the while giggling along with a now cackling Kirai. The sounds of his own laugh causes Sally to laugh harder as well, this last for a few more moments before the couple can catch their own breaths.
"Oh man, that was a good laugh, but I you still haven't explained why what I said before was "bs" to put it nicely." Sally reminds him; Kirai gets his act together to answer the question.
"Oh right, I said that because I'm a 'fastking' not a slowking, so can take your 'slowqueen' bumble butted bee-hind somewhere else." Kirai rejects proudly as he crosses his arms and turns his head the other way with his eyes closed.
Unexpectedly, Sally loosens Kirai's arm fold by grabbing onto his right hand with her cold and wet paw, causing him to shiver on impact. "It's funny that you say that, because I don't think you have a choice Mr. 'I'm not a slowpoke after all.' Who was able to pin you to the ground just now?" Sally asks knowing she's making him eat his own words. Kirai is almost too embarrassed to look her in the eyes.
"That was a mistake, my bag held me back, and you probably had assistance from a Gengar or something you cheater." Kirai proposes; Sally just rolls her eyes again.
"Yeah, yeah whatever sore loser." Sally brushes off as she tries to embrace Kirai in a big hug. Before that happens, Kirai puckers up his lips to form a smoochy face, even making sounds that suggest kissing. Sally reacts in time to smush his face inward by pressing on his cheeks.
"This is how I know you haven't grown up at all." Sally says to him blatantly.
Kirai, with his face still smushed, asks the simple question, "Where's the love in this?"
"I was about to get to that until this other form of 'love' stepped in, now I lost my mood." Sally confirms snickering at Kirai's disappointed look on his face.
"You really are the definition of a mightyena in mareeps clothing, and I wasn't going to kiss you, I know you already have a boyfriend . . . I've been rejected many times before." Kirai confirms as Sally smiles, releasing her hold on his cheeks.
"I know you weren't, but that was still wrong of you, and here's your punishment." Sally threatens as she successfully hugs him again, cold wet fur and all. Kirai fur grows wet as well, shivering under the pressure of the embrace.
"Geez, you're so cold, who said you could be an ice-type?" Kirai asks.
"The same guy who was trying to turn me into a water-type just now. How does it feel to get a taste of your own medicine, AND water?" Sally counters back, Kirai snickers at how she used his own words against him. In the end, he accepts the hug.
"It feels refreshing." Kirai answers.
Sally gave Kirai his bag back, getting ready to wish him farewell.
"So, looks like you're ready to head off now right?" Sally asks.
"Indeed I am, but I'm glad we could have this little chat before my departure." Kirai mentions with a smirk on his face.
"Oh don't worry, I'll be here whenever you need a full-blown conversation." Sally promises, making Kirai snicker at the underlying meaning.
"And here, I wanted you to have this." Sally says as she unravels a hidden scarf from the base of her tail.
"Oh, is this an early birthday present?" Kirai asks as if he were a young child.
"It should be. It's a power band, I'm sure you know what that does." Sally says with a smile on her face as she slowly walks off in the direction Bilon Lake is at.
"Well, that's pretty thoughtful of ya . . wait a minute! No wonder you were stronger than before! I knew you weren't a top percentage of sentret out there!" Kirai points out in a flustered tone. Sally looks back with a smirk.
"Yup, oh and by the way, I lied about having a boyfriend, but good luck out there." Sally wishes, laughing along as she scurries off with the bucket wrapped around her tail, which was sticking upwards.
Kirai is dumbfounded once again, frowning only moments after her departure.
"I hope that witch gets cursed by a damn banette one day. Two lies is too many. " Kirai wishes under his breath as he kicks a small pebble to the base of a tree. He stuffs the power band in his bag and heads on out towards the Pokemon Square again, leaving nothing behind.
He makes some good progress in travelling. It was a rather peaceful venture for the most part with no interruptive pokemon or other distractions. He's traveled far enough to make it to a clearing of the woods which leads into a wide path that has bare soil for the ground, and a line of trees to either side. That checkpoint only took about an hour and a ½ to reach in a running/walking pace. There's mild fog in the area, though that's not unusual in the early morning hours. There's an old wooden sign off to the side near the treeline. Kirai investigates what it has to say.
It reads:
POKEMON SQUARE ↑
FOGGY HILLS →
LUSHLEAF WOODS ↓
SHYAN SHOWERS ←
"I see, so I'm on the right track, my destination is straight ahead. Woohoo!" Kirai cheers himself on excitedly. One of the bushes off to the side rustles wildly; Kirai switches from happy to alert and defensive.
"So, you're talking to yourself now? I always knew you were the oddball in the family." A familiar voice relays to Kirai from the spot. Kirai looks on with more wondrous scepticism, and then he figures who it is.
"Dad!? . . . You're up pretty early, but then again, you always had trouble sleeping; I knew this trip of mine was going a little too well for me. And by the way, you got a lot of nerve labelling me the 'oddball' of the family. Says the same man who travelled all the way out here just to say 'hi' to his son like this." Kirai fires back with a righteous smirk on his face. Daruuk chuckles with his arms crossed.
"Ok, I'll give you that one, but you should already know why I'm here." Daruuk adds on as he takes a fighting pose with his posture resembling that of an ape's. Kirai immediately takes off his bag from around his body, dropping it onto the moist soil.
"Wait, I do? Tell me again, I think I have amnesia; I wonder whose fault that is?" Kirai asks sarcastically. Daruuk couldn't help but chuckle at the sarcasm.
"Man, you really don't know when to shut the hell up, do you Kirai? Pikachu's can't even learn amnesia if I'm remembering correctly, uh?" While Daruuk is trying to remember, Kirai is snickering to himself.
"Don't worry Dad, you're right about that one, although the fact that you had to question yourself is quite worrisome for someone your age." Kirai comments as he kneels down to open his bag.
"Oh keep talking son. If there's one thing I haven't forgotten about, it's whooping smart-asses such as yourself. You can't fool me Kirai, I know you were planning on doing more than just 'check out the place' . . No sir! You're ready and ripe for tackling a rescue expedition right off the bat aren't you?" Daruuk asks exhilaratingly. Kirai raises his eyes a bit in shock, but changes to a more content expression on his face. Daruuk takes notice and grins.
"Don't look surprised Kirai, you may've grown up a lot from before, but you're still easy to read. Let's see if you're worthy of earning this privilege, however." Daruuk challenges, looking fierce and ready for battle.
Kirai retracts his hand from the innards of his bag, retrieving nothing out of it in the end. He zips it up and rises to his feet and faces his father.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I had a feeling this fight was going to come; it wouldn't be the first." Kirai reminiscences as he gets on all fours.
"And it won't be the last!" Daruuk declares as he charges forward to land the first strike.
CHAPTER 2 END
