Chapter 4

On Her Way

Felix carried Lepedoptera out onto route 103, where she knew the pokemon weren't very strong. "We'll do some simple battles and a couple of exercises I read in a book when I was younger." She told the little caterpillar stroking it head. She set it on the ground and walked into the grass, stopping only when she couldn't hear the shrk-shrk of her pokemon following her. She turned around to find the docile little wurmple eating the grass. "Aww, that's right Oak and I ruined your lunch didn't we?" she asked as Lepedoptera chewed away at the grass.

"Wurmmm," Lepedoptera said the grass disappearing inside her mandibles. She clapped her front feet together enjoying the sun and food. Felix sat down and watched as her hungry Pokémon ate its fill grass.

Suddenly a zigzagoon burst from the underbrush growling and running towards Lepedoptera. "Goon!" it cried as it attempted to pounce on Lepedoptera. The startled caterpillar leaped back with an indignant "Wurm!"

The zigzagoon leaped forward again. "Lepedoptera use tackle!" Felix cried, hoping to scare the hungry raccoon pokemon away. Lepedoptera scooted forward meeting the zigzagoon's tackle head on. The Zigzagoon was pushed back two of its tail lengths and let out a growl, frustrated that its lunch had fought back.

Lepedoptera launched herself at the zigzagoon, its horn stabbing it in the shoulder during its reckless tackle. The Zigzagoon pulled itself away, small drops of blood covering its shoulder. A pokeball soared through the air and hit the Zigzagoon in the face, catching it.

"Lepedoptera are you okay?" Felix asked coming close to her pokemon.

"Wurmmmm," She shivered crawling over to Felix.

"Let's get you and the zigzagoon to a pokecenter. You did great in that battle, but next time, be more gentle," Felix told her the thought of the dead torchic still weighing on her mind. She bent down low towards Lepedoptera.

"Wurm," Lepedoptera cooed as she made her way up Felix's arm and to the girls shoulder.

"Hehehe," Felix laughed as Lepedoptera made herself comfortable. "That tickles. You okay right there?" Lepedoptera responded by promptly falling asleep on Felix's shoulder, using her suction cup like feet to stay on. "I guess that answers that question."

Felix stood up slowly, not wanting to spook the sleeping pokemon on her shoulder and made her way back to the pokecenter. "Perhaps staying on this route to train isn't such a good idea," she mused. "Too many things would want to eat Lepedoptera."

The pokecenter was quiet when she entered, though both Littleroot and Oldale towns were calm enough, the pokecenter was mostly there to fulfill a league requirement that every town must be within a certain distance of a pokecenter, though most towns just took this to mean they had to have their own.

"Back again?" the nurse asked as Felix handed her the Zigzagoon's pokeball.

"Yeah, I was training and Lepedoptera," she began reaching up and stroking the sleeping pokemon, "Wounded this Zigzagoon. I was thinking it'd be a good idea to have it checked before I just release it. We wouldn't have fought it if it didn't try and eat my her." She said watching the nurse run a diagnostic with the pokeball.

"Hmm, well the injury you mentioned should be easily healable. You should be glad your wurmple has such small spines; this could have been a deeper injury. What do you plan to do with the zigzagoon when you're done here?" The nurse asked as she began to type away at her computer running a program to release the zigzagoon into a holding pen so she could treat the injury.

"I'm thinking of releasing her, I only caught Lepedoptera because I couldn't get a friend off my back for only having one pokemon. I caught the zigzagoon because I didn't want it to get anymore hurt than it already was," Felix shared as she watched the nurse button a muzzle around the Zigzagoon so she could better treat the injury.

The nurse frowned. "Are you sure you want to release her?" She asked as she cleaned the wound out and put on a small bandage.

"Well, yeah, I'm not really cut out to be a trainer." Felix shared while the Zigzagoon trembled.

"I would recommend giving her to someone then. She's underweight, and small for her level, she might not survive being out there," the nurse said as she drew a small blood sample. "While you have her hear I'm going to check for worms. I need to know if I'll need to clean this containment area more thoroughly or not."

"Worms?" she asked looking at the zigzagoon. While it was hard to tell on the route, having the Zigzagoon here in the containment center allowed Felix to get a good look at her. She was smaller, and her coat duller than the pictures she'd seen of Zigzagoons.

"Yep. Its common in some pokemon. Bi-monthly wormers can really help. It's good to know what type of parasites can infect your pokemon, not all of them have been wiped out by pokemon's immune systems and still exist today. Many of them are from the reformation of the continents."

"What kind of parasites can infect treekos and wurmples?" she asked worried for her pokemon's safety.

"Neither of those species have to worry about worms, though treekos can get infested with aphids, which are tiny creatures that nibble on plants. They do less damage than a bug pokemon but they are affected by the same sprays. I can give you some start up monthly treatment if you want, though pokemon from Birch are typically treated when he gets them. I can use the pokeball to look up his record though if you'd like.

"Wurmples mostly don't have any parasites, though you have to be careful around mite infested areas. Just keep your wurmple clean as she evolves and bring her to a Pokémon center if anything seems off. Don't use soap on her either. Get yourself a bug cleaning kit. I think there's a dealer in petalburg city who sells those."

The nurse held looked into the microscope on her table, "Yep she's got worms. Luckily they're just tape worms. I can give her a shot to weaken them before you release her to keep them from spreading."

"You can't give her something that just kills them?" Felix asked.

The nurse shook her head. "Unless it's an epidemic we can't treat every pokemon that comes in, especially if they're just going to be re-released. But if you were to decide to train her then I could label it on her pokeball, give her the shot and give you the supplemental medication to get rid of them once and for all," the nurse replied as she prepared a syringe.

"Well, I guess I could take her. If it's a choice between her getting killed by the worms or me keeping her, I'll keep her," Felix told the nurse reaching in to stroke the Zigzagoon's ears.

"Excellent. Do you have a name for her? Since you haven't nicknamed her yet you still can."

"I'll call her Procyon, it seems to fit her quite well," Felix told the nurse.