Author's Note: I deeply apologize for the sudden stopping of updates. The week before school starts back is always a very busy week for me, and being sick made it where I would do what I had to do and come home and sleep. I can't write when I'm really sick or if I get a headache, so usually, if I say I'm gonna update, and I don't do it, either one of those two things have occurred, or a teacher decided to pile me down with more than three hours of homework. :/ Also, food poisoning is evil, that's why I've been sick this time. I just thought I would inform everyone of that, so that my readers will know that for future times. Also, thank you all so much for all the awesome reviews. It makes Munchie happy to know that her story is a bit popular.
Chapter Seven: The Spore Path
"Wow..." Melony breathed from under the mask, her eyes examining the area.
The group was now on the Spore Path, and it was an amazing meadow area that stretched for miles ahead. The grass was bright green, and sparkled with various colors from the spores that filled the air. Nurse Joy had informed the group that the spores weren't dangerous to people as long as they weren't ingested or as long as they didn't enter an open wound.
The plant life of the path was possibly more beautiful than the plant life of Solace Forest. There were trees lining the path that were decorated by either bright, ripened berries and fruits, or huge, multicolored flowers. Huge flowers grew from the ground in clusters, and smaller, pale colored flowers dotted the ground in a more random pattern.
They could see Pokemon walking around, not seeming to notice the trainers that were approaching. The first Pokemon they noticed was a Meganium with a line of four small Chikoritas following her. There was also an Ivysaur snuggled up to a Venusaur, both sleeping. Something green flashed overhead, jumping from one tree to the next and Xander explained that it was probably a Treecko.
"Torterra..." One of the Pokemon, a huge turtle with a scar on its face, appeared from an opening in the trees, blocking the groups path. A huge tree grew on the pokemon's back, and there were multiple bug Pokemon, as well as a tiny Turtwig surrounding the twig.
The Torterra stood firm, his eyes narrowed.
"What do we do?" Melony whispered, her voice unsteady. She was sure that the pokemon could probably take down all of their Pokemon with ease.
"Torterra, can we please get past?" Nico asked, in a slight pleading voice, even though she knew it probably wouldn't help.
Torterra shook its head, moving its entire body in the process. A few bug pokemon fell, and fled, and after a whimper, the Turtwig also fell, tumbling down its mother's back.
"Woah!" Nico moved quick, and caught the Turtwig right as it was about to hit the ground.
"Wig..." Turtwig's voice was high pitched, and full of panic. His small eyes held relief though.
"Here's your baby back, can we pass now?" Nico asked, offering the Turtwig to Torterra.
"Terra..." Torterra nodded, putting its head down so that Nico could place the baby on its head. Once everything was done, the Torterra slowly moved out of the way.
They were left now with a small, red, round bug staring at them, specifically at Sera.
"What's that?" Melony asked.
"It's a Kricketot, one of the many bug pokemon that are useless before they evolve," Xander explained. "It must have been the only pokemon that fell off of Torterra that didn't run."
"It's cute," Sera grinned, though it wasn't visible through the mask. "But... Why is it staring at me?"
"Do you think that it is paralyzed from some of the spores?" Lauren asked.
"Maybe, but you'd think that Pokemon would adapt to it after living here for so long," Xander said.
"Tic, tic!" Zaye flew up to the Kritetot, and after a second of flying in front of it, Zaye poked it.
The Kricketot responded by hopping to its feet and beginning to jump up and down in a random, crazy fashion.
"TIC!" Zaye was surprised by the Kricketot, and flew back to Kelly, tears in her eyes.
"Ri..." Nova growled at the Kricketot, and Kelly grabbed him before he charged at it.
"Zaye, I don't know if you have the right to be scared, Nova, don't attack the baby bug," Kelly held one Pokemon in each arm, Zaye snuggling her, and Nova still glaring at the Kricketot.
Kricketot continued to jump up and down for a few seconds, and then charged at Sera, clinging to her leg.
Sera let out a small squeal, stumbling back. She stared down at the Kricketot, confusion on her face.
"What is wrong with that thing?" Melony asked, placing her hands on her hips.
"Tortle..." Izumi was watching cautiously, standing up straight on Melony's shoulders.
Sera knelt down and pulled the Kricketot off of her leg, and held it in front of her.
"Kricketot!" The Kricketot squeaked in glee, hearts in its eyes.
"I think it really likes you, Sera," Melony giggled.
"Maybe you should catch it," Nico suggested.
"Yes, it will become fairly strong when it evolves," Lauren agreed.
"Do you want to come with me, little Kricketot?" Sera asked.
"Kricke, Kricketot!" Kricketot hugged Sera with its small hands.
"Okay, you're mine," Sera, holding the pokemon in one hand, took out a Luxury Ball, set the Kricketot down, and dropped the Luxury Ball on it. The ball wiggled three times, and flashed. Sera knelt, picked up the ball, and let Kricketot back out.
"Tot!" Kricketot jumped up and down a few times, and then jumped into Sera's arms.
Melony took out her Pokedex, got the dex for the Pokemon and informed Sera that it was a male Kricketot.
"Okay, then... I'm going to name you... Terra, because you were living on a Torterra's back!" Sera grinned under her mask, and her eyes sparkled. She held up the Luxury Ball, and returned Terra. She opened her bag to put the ball up, but before she could, it burst open, and Terra appeared again.
"Kricke!" Terra jumped up and down in the same random manner that it had the first time, and then jumped into Sera's arms.
"It appears that he likes you too much to go into the ball," Lauren noted.
"I wonder why..." Xander spoke in a playful voice, his mask hiding a smirk.
Sera glared at Xander. "Be nice, Xander, or I'll make Melony scold you!"
"Melony isn't going to scold me..." Xander spoke slowly. "She loves me back," he ended his sentence in a "matter-of-fact" tone.
"What are you writing down?" Melony wasn't paying attention to Sera and Xander at the moment. She was leaning over to Nico, who was scribbling something down on a notepad.
"As a Pokemon Ranger, I must take down notes of things that I observe in the field, like how all of these Pokemon live in harmony, and the spores, and the plant life here," Nico responded without looking at Melony.
"It appears that Melony doesn't love you enough to even be paying attention to you right now," Sera said, her eyes narrow, a smirk on her face.
"Melony, we need to get to the next town soon, don't we?" Xander asked.
"Uh?" Melony was snapped out of her reading, and she nodded once she realized what Xander had said. "Yeah, let's go."
The group continued to walk again, Xander slightly out of it, and a smug look on Sera's face.
The Spore Path was a pretty uneventful path up until two blade-like leaves came sailing, knocking Izumi off of Melony's shoulders.
Izumi fell to the ground, barely able to land on her feet. "War..." Izumi let out a whine and turned to see a Grovyle with a Bulbasaur, a Chikorita, and a Turtwig standing beside it.
"Grovyle..." Grovyle's mouth was curled into a smirk, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Hey, what was up with that?" Melony's eyes narrowed, as she stood firm behind Izumi, expecting to have to battle soon.
"Vyle!" Grovyle's eyes narrowed and its smirk faded, and within seconds, it charged, and hit Izumi with a powerful Leaf Blade attack.
Izumi flew backwards, slamming into Melony's stomach and causing Melony to fly backwards as well, colliding with a tree, a struggled gasp escaping her throat.
"Melony!" Sera, Kelly, and Nico said in unison.
Kelly and Nico ran for Melony and Izumi, and Sera was about to before Terra jumped out of her hands, and dashed for the group of Pokemon. "Terra!" Sera whined.
"Are you okay?" Nico asked, lifting a fainted Izumi off of Melony's stomach, and placing her on the ground, on her stomach.
Lauren and Xander glanced back, but they were concentrating on the Pokemon situation.
Sera was running for Terra, who was now attempting to repeatedly punch the Grovyle in the foot. "Tot, tot, Kricketot!"
"Gro..." Grovyle chuckled, before reaching down, grabbing Terra, and throwing him at Sera.
Sera caught Terra, and hugged him tightly. "Don't do that!" She snapped.
Terra let out the best whimper that a bug pokemon could manage, and buried his face into Sera's shirt.
"Lauren, we need to put this Grovyle in its place, right?" Xander's eyes narrowed. He threw a glance over his shoulder, and bit down hard on his lip.
Melony was half unconscious, groaning as Kelly and Nico shook her, and pleaded for her to wake up.
Zaye pulled at Izumi's ears and tail, her eyes wide and brimmed with tears. "Togetic!"
"Yes, I do believe we do," Lauren spoke softly, her voice bitter. She had a Pokeball in her hand.
Xander let out a sigh, thinking to himself that he wasn't making himself look too good for Melony, choosing to battle instead of help her. He took out the ball that contained Dagger, and he and Lauren tossed the balls in the air at the same time.
"Go Stratos!" Lauren called at the same time as Xander said, "Go, Dagger!"
An Altaria and a Scizor appeared next to each other, both with serious battle expressions on their faces.
The three smaller grass Pokemon backed away, but the Grovyle merely chuckled.
"You won't be chuckling for long. Dagger, use your X-Scissor!" Xander cried, his hands now curled into tight fists, his knuckles white.
"Sciz..." Dagger nodded, and charged with his pincers in front of him.
Grovyle dodged and it was time for Stratos' attack.
"Aerial Ace, Stratos..." Lauren's voice came out as a purr, making it seem as if she wasn't too worried about the situation at hand.
"Taria!" Stratos charged and hit the Grovyle in mid air, both Pokemon crashing into the ground.
"Flash Cannon and finish this!" Xander's signature smirk had returned when he saw that Grovyle was left wobbling on its legs and Stratos was back, flying over Dagger.
"Zor!" Dagger jumped into the air, a bright orb forming in front of him, and when he was at the angle to hit all of the grass Pokemon, he fired at the group, and when the flash had disappeared, the grass pokemon were nowhere to be seen.
"Excellent," Lauren recalled Stratos at the same time as Xander recalled Dagger.
"Stratos and Dagger did a pretty good job," Xander mumbled, his mind already off of the battle as he sprinted towards Melony, who was still on the ground.
"Mel, wake up! Ya can't pass out on us," Xander said, kneeling beside Kelly.
"Hmm, mh..." Melony groaned, her eyes dull, and only half opened. "Izumi..." She whined hoarsely.
Zaye had succeeded finally in getting the Wartortle to sit up, and at the sound of her name, Izumi crawled over to Melony, her limbs shaking under the weight of body. "Tortle..." Izumi put a hand on Melony's face.
"Hi..." Melony's eyes slowly opened a bit wider, and with the help of Nico and Kelly, she sat up, and Xander sat Izumi in her lap.
"Is she going to be okay?" Lauren asked, standing over the rest of the group.
"I'm fine," Melony mumbled weakly, her hand toying with Izumi's ear. "Are you okay?" She asked, her eyes on Izumi.
"War..." Izumi nodded, attempted a weak smile.
"We need to go," Melony spoke as she wrapped her arms around Izumi. "I don't want anything like that to happen again.
"First off, is anything on you hurt or anything?" Xander asked.
"No, not really. My head hurts a bit and my back is aching, but I think I can make it to the Pokemon Center to get Izumi healed," Melony struggled to push herself up with little success.
"We gotcha," Kelly said. "Help me," she spoke with her eyes on Nico.
The two each grabbed one of Melony's shoulders and pulled her to her feet.
Melony stumbled, but Kelly and Nico held onto her for a minute while she regained her balance.
"What happened to Terra?" Melony asked, looking at the crying Kricketot in Sera's arms.
"Grovyle was mean to him. It kicked him," Sera's bottom lip poked out as she spoke.
"Oh, and what happened to those grass Pokemon?" Melony asked.
"Lauren and me got our Pokemon to take care of them," Xander explained, half a smirk on his face.
"Okay. That's good," Melony nodded, resting her chin on Izumi's head. "Let's get to the Pokemon Center."
The group began to walk once more, Kelly and Nico flanking Melony as to make sure that she didn't collapse or anything.
It was uneventful and slow moving, and there was an awkward air to the silence of the group. They had two injured Pokemon and an injured person, making them need to hurry, without the ability to hurry.
As they neared the entrance of Kefii Village, they noticed two things: first, the village was gated, and the gates were locked with a huge iron padlock, and second, they could see a mass of people on the cobblestone streets and they heard screaming of both people and pokemon.
"Uhhh... This most likely isn't normal," Xander spoke cautiously.
Author's Note: I apologize deeply for the super-late update. This has been a very, very, very, busy week for me, and I wanted to spend some time with my boyfriend before school started. Now, school starts tomorrow, and the updates will be slow anyway, but I will try to update this story at least once or twice a week.
Please review and thank you for the reviews. :)