I had the human child hid safely away within the thickness of the brush. It had been simple to convey my order for her to stay where she was; it was only a matter of whether or not she would listen. Despite the brief time spent, I've already come to find out how very curious, as well as careless, she could be- prone to wander off the moment something beckoned her attention.
Up above, in the trees, I stare up at the winding, rocky path. A troop of Dialga's minions would sometimes come this way with supplies for one of their strongholds. The world being the wreck that it was, I often wondered how they still managed to find so many supplies, but I had no illusions of any prisoners getting any of it either- having spent time in one myself- and therefore felt no concern of taking from someone worse off than I was.
Finally, I can see them coming. At first, I am disappointed at the sight of a cart pulled by a pair of Sableye filled with rocks and the occasional gem. That was all fine and well for them, but stones didn't exactly appeal to my appetite and I highly doubt humans could digest them either. But then another cart follows, appearing over a hill close behind the first. This one bares fresh vegetables and is guarded by a Murkrow and a Weavile.
A more timid Grass-type would've had a fragile, wavering courage of risking a fight with a Flying-type such as a Murkrow, with the latter having a severe advantage, but I have no time for cowardice. I'm fortunate enough that these supplies arrived a day later than usual or else I would've had to go chasing after it with a good chance of never catching up at all. Besides, my experience and speed typically outweighed most disadvantages and the usual thug didn't stand a chance to begin with.
As soon as the second cart passes underneath my perch, I jump down behind it lightly and swiftly roll underneath, hanging on. The carts stop for a moment and there's some discussion going on just ahead concerning what the matter was. I don't even dare breathe, watching as all four turn around, looking for the source of a disturbance. When we start moving again, I release the breath softly and smirk.
It's just all too easy.
Grovyle the Thief- that was what Dialga's men had chosen to call me and I do well to live up to that name. Although I do nothing to threaten Dialga's reign, especially compared to the rebels, I didn't make it any easier by giving his goons grief. I ally myself with no one, but I had no love for Dialga either. He is the Guardian of Time- if anyone could return this world to what it once was, it would be him, and yet he does nothing to solve it. If anything, he has only made everyone's lives even more miserable. Unlike the rebels, I'm not so foolish as to believe I can go against him, but I have my own, smaller ways of fighting back. No one ever said I had to submit to my fate.
Careful to move quickly and quietly, I climb around so I'm hanging partially onto the back of the cart. The Murkrow and Weavile are guarding it by the sides, so their backs are to me. I sneak the nearest vegetables to me out one by one, a tomato here or an ear of corn there, putting them in a satchel hanging from my waist. A thief must be careful when discreet. Take too little and it might not even be worth the risk to begin with. Take too much and your enemies will know something's amiss.
The hard part over, I let go, twisting myself around to land on my hands just to pop up and speed off before they realize what's happened; if they realize what's happened. Standards must be getting deplorably lax amongst Dialga's men for them to hardly catch a glimpse of me. When I first began running these raids, I fought more than snuck my way from the carts. Then again, I have much experience. Smiling once I reach the forest, I adjust the strap of the bag and leap back into the trees.
It's a little while before I get back to where I had left the human child, and for a moment I wonder if I'm in the right place. I even head farther along the trail to see if I had been mistaken. Eventually, however, what I've refused to believe becomes very clear in an instant.
The child was gone.
"Human!" I risk calling out. Even though an enemy may lurk nearby, that said enemy could also be her capture or killer. "You can come out now!"
There was no answer. I frown in dismay and slight worry. The child had grown on me very fast and what could I say about myself if I couldn't even watch the creature within the short span of what would be a day? She may not be able to understand me, but would she perhaps somehow know it if I called her by her name? Surely she had one; humans always did. Unlike Pokemon- who typically found it a wasted effort to remember names and titles when calling other by what they were was so much easier, with nicknames only amongst few- humans had an odd fascination with names. What they meant, what the history behind them was, how it sounded, so much thrown away time went into one and even still some names weren't very good.
Her name… what was her name? I lunge from branch to branch, frantically searching for her from above as I sort through the memory of when I saw her and those other two humans. "Child, I swear it, reveal yourself now before I decide to simply leave you here!" Not that I would on purpose, but if she truly was lost chances of finding her would be slim, meaning a thorough search would be virtually pointless.
Lira! the answer hits me in a flash as I recall the eldest male sending her off alone, That's it!
"Lira!" I yell, "Where are you? It's only me!" She still doesn't respond and I don't see her anywhere. I jump down, hoping that maybe if she's somewhere nearby and sees me she'll know it's safe to come out.
There's a rustling sound just behind me. Reacting on instinct, I prepare to use Leaf Blade and spin around, poised to strike at my attacker.
"Eek!" The human girl squeals, retreating back a few steps and covering her mouth with her hands. I shake my head and relax, a mix of relief and anger swirling within.
"You were supposed to wait for me," I chide, trying to keep my voice level so as to not scare her further, "What was so important that you had to wander off?"
She tilts her head to one side, frowning. This language barrier was really beginning to get on my nerves. After a minute or so of thought, with us just staring at one another, she twists her own bag around and opens the flap for my inspection, "I help."
Peering inside, my eyes widen in shock to see the bag bearing vegetables as well, just like the ones that were in the cart. Did she follow me? I wonder. What else could she have done to gather those foods if she didn't steal them from the cart as well? However, I can't even begin to imagine how she managed such a feat for her age and lack of strength.
"You mean you stole that from the Murkrow and Weavile?" I still question disbelievingly.
She only giggles and grins up at me in reply.
Under better circumstances, I might not allow someone so young to follow in my footsteps. But only one thing came to mind; she had potential. The potential to be taught the ways of a thief, the potential to be useful rather than make herself a burden, and the potential to survive. What if I could- scratch that, what if I did teach her? I would put her life at risk, but that risk could prove worthwhile for not just the both of us as a team, but if the time came when I wasn't there to help her at all.
A startled caw alerts me that we need to get moving. With Lira having snatched away some food as well, the four thugs might now have finally noticed the disappearance of their inventory. Before they put two and two together, we would need to be gone. With one hand, I motion for her to follow me back to the cave.
For a while, we move as a duo, undisturbed. However, when she claims the urge to go, we're forced to stop as I wait with my back turned to the bush she's using. I roll my eyes at the delay, but I suppose it's best she go now rather than wet herself later.
"Are you done yet?" I question, risking a quick, sidelong glance over.
She's not there. She's gone… again.
This time, she's rather easy to track down, and it's all because of the screams of another Pokemon that leads me to her. I race through the woods to watch her as she approaches a Buneary with a bow tied around one of its ears, biting the knuckle of one finger and watching it in wonder. The Buneary, however, is absolutely terrified. I worry that she might hurt Lira if she gets scared enough, but hold back just to watch.
"A h-hu-human?!"she cries out in fright, shaking like a leaf, "What's a human doing all the way out here?!" Lira coos softly and, with a smile, gets down to crawl towards her. The Normal-type hops back, watching her intently and making her smile vanish. "Don't get any closer to me! I'm warning you!" As she says this, I see her long ears roll up in preparation for an attack.
My eyes narrow upon spotting the threat, and I nearly step out to make myself known, but then the human does the unexpected. Lira reaches into her bag, pulls out a carrot, and hands it out for the Rabbit Pokemon to take. Seeing this, the Buneary stares at her, confused for a moment, before asking, "Is… is that for me?"
The little girl smiles and sticks her hand out farther, urging her to take it and making her flinch for a second. Giggling, Lira cries out, "Bun!"
"Bun?" the Buneary sniffs at the vegetable and looks up into the child's eyes, bewildered, "…But that's a carrot, not a bun."
"Bun!" she exclaims again with a little laugh, covering her mouth with her free hand as she crinkles her nose.
This time I smile. Stepping out from the shadows and coming from behind the human, I say, "I think that's what your tongue sounds like to her."
Lira smiles up at me upon hearing my voice. Meanwhile, the Buneary returns to her previous state of terror. "Wah! G-Grovyle! Grovyle the Thief!" Her hands go up to her ears and she races behind a tree stump. "Please don't take my Nectar Bow! It was a gift from mommy!" she whines and begs.
As if I would want it to begin with; a Nectar Bow was a Buneary specific item- absolutely useless to me. Before I can assure the other Pokemon that she's safe from me as long as she doesn't strike first, the three of us hear a shout of outrage over to the left, "No!"
Breaking from the underbrush, a Lopunny and another Buneary- this one male- bound toward us. I grab Lira by the back of her shirt and yank her away in time to dodge the Tackle. "Get behind me!" orders the Lopunny to the first Buneary.
"Bubba! Sissy!" she exclaims, doing as told. Her brother looks her over to make sure she's uninjured as he joins her behind the eldest Rabbit Pokemon.
"We want no trouble here!" growls out the Lopunny to us, yet she's obviously prepared for a fight. As Lira bravely steps up, the Lopunny backs away, unsure. I get ready to defend her should things come to the worst.
The little girl digs through her pack and takes out two more carrots along with a decent-sized head of lettuce. She stands up on her toes and holds up one of the former and the latter in offering, beaming. If time wasn't already stilled, it would be right now, in this moment. I can feel as if each one of us, besides her, were holding our breath.
Carefully, tentatively, as if it were a trap, the eldest sibling takes the food, frowning at it sadly. Could it be… there- a glint of guilt in her eyes amid the shock and confusion? She watches the human with slight sternness as Lira splits the last two carrots with her brother and sister.
When all is said and done, Lira returns to stand by my side, grinning brightly. "Bun! Buneary! Punny!"
Lopunny blinks at her, her mouth slightly dropped. She's relaxed, at least a little, but she's still very much on her guard. "I didn't smell any poison, Sissy," says the girl Buneary as she takes a small step forward, gazing up at her sister, as if reading her thoughts.
She takes a moment to find this out for herself, leaving us all in silence, before shaking her head to clear it, "I don't understand…" She looks up at me, demanding an answer, "Why? What do you two want?"
Keeping calm, I shrug at her. "I'm not the one you should be asking, and the only person here who can answer that is completely clueless to what the rest of us are saying," with this, I nod over to Lira.
The Lopunny bends down a little and holds out the food to return it, but Lira steps back and points at her, frowning. "Nooooo!" she whines, "For you!"
I had a feeling, but hearing her admit it out loud still stuns me. She was giving away food, a thing hard to come by in this world, and wanted nothing in return. I wonder too, why? I mean, we still have more than enough to live on until the next time we needed to make a raid, but it was always wise to store it up when one could, because you never really knew when you could get more. I don't entirely agree with her on this, but I won't stand against the action either. She's already offered it; it would only seem… bad, to pull her away now and yank the items back.
I look down to the two young Buneary, their cheeks sunken in and their eyes so very weak. They're barely flesh and bone. Where was their mother anyway? Was she off somewhere else or was she gone? Was it just the three of them? Gazing back at the Lopunny, I assume the latter; I can see it in the way she guards them that she's taken a role of greater responsibility and leadership than of the typical sibling.
You can't do it, a voice in my head says, because you're too weak.
No, another states, you can't do it because you know it's wrong. Odd, how I've never looked into morals much until now.
When the two voices begin to clash, making me feel as if I'm losing my mind, I grab Lira by her wrist and start to lead her away from the trio of Rabbit Pokemon. "Come on, we need to get home," I tell her.
The Lopunny looks away from us for the first time to her two siblings, giving them a bittersweet smile. The pair nibbles on their carrots hungrily, obviously trying to slow themselves down in order to savor them. My assumption must've been correct.
"Thank you…" the eldest whispers softly, her eyes shimmering a little as she closes them, "… It is rare… To find such kindness…"
I'm unsure of what to say and stare at the ground for a moment before simply replying, "Just… be careful out here."
Lira and I make our way back home. As I mull over these sudden events, she hops and skips beside me, her hands pulled in front of her chest, occasionally scrunching up her nose or batting at ear. "Bun! Bun! Buuuuuneary!" she continues to giggle as she plays pretend. Eventually, she draws my attention to her completely, amusing me as she mimics any other Pokemon she sees.
"Pichu! Pi, pi, pi!"
"Chim, Chimchar!"
"Treecko Tree!"
How long until she starts copying everything I'm doing? The thought makes me laugh a little, especially after watching her mimic another from my pre-evolved form. I suppose her actions are too comical to be agitated at being copied.
It takes some self-control to keep myself quiet as we spot our raid victims along the way, arguing back and forth about the missing food and which of the two Pokemon guarding the cart took them.
