Chapter 7: Worry

Cindy entered the room where Jason is being taken care of. Her attention was on the basin as she entered the room. After she placed the basin full of water on the desk, she looked at the bed only to have found a slightly disturbed bed and a towel on it.

"What th—I've told the guy to get some rest!" Cindy, who was annoyed, said. After a few moments, that annoyance was quickly replaced with worry as she quickly bolted out of the room and tried to find Jason. After a while, she noticed a Buneary nearby and she approached the Pokémon. The Buneary noticed the approaching Zorua and quickly turned to face her.

"Belle! Have you—seen a Snivy around here somewhere?" Cindy asked, pausing for a second to catch her breath.

"Yes I did! He seems to be lost so I gave him some directions," Belle the Buneary quickly and happily said.

"Come on, Belle! He's a patient! I don't think he's fully recovered yet," Cindy said, which almost sounded like she's scolding the Buneary. At the same time, the Buneary realized her mistake and she apologized to the Zorua a couple of times. Cindy just sighed and tried to get more information.

"Do you know where he's going to?" Cindy asked.

"He did asked directions to the forest," Belle said.

"Thanks. I have to go," Cindy said as she ran towards the exit. As she ran, she thought why would Jason go to the forest.

Meanwhile, Wilfred and Elaine are with Mincy. The three of them are walking down the path as they were talking about something.

"What are we looking for again?" Elaine asked.

"We're looking for some healing herbs and a few Rawst berries. I'm pretty sure there are lots of them in the forest nearby," Mincy said.

"Those are for Mark, aren't they?" Elaine asked.

"Yeah. He protected me so I have to pay him back somehow," Mincy said with a hint of sadness.

"Why would someone do that to Mark?" Wilfred wondered out loud. Mincy fell silent and looked down to the ground. Elaine looked at the Minccino and noticed that her eyes expressed how sad the Minccino is. They continued to walk until they are at the forest entrance. At the entrance, there are different paths in the road ahead.

"Why don't we split up so that we can quickly find the things we need," Wilfred suggested.

"I agree," Elaine followed.

"Okay. Let's meet here after thirty minutes," Mincy said.

All three of them took different paths as they enter the forest. After some time, Jason arrived at the same entrance. He looked ahead and saw that there are different paths ahead.

'Is this the same forest?' Jason asked himself. 'I don't know why but I'm worried about something.'

Jason paused for a while to think about what he saw back then. He can remember that the background was definitely a forest. Still, he has some doubts about what he saw.

'I guess I won't know until I try,' Jason thought before he entered the forest and took the rightmost path. Meanwhile, Wilfred was walking around while he's trying to find the things he's trying to look for. Then, he heard a sound, which alerted him.

"Who's there?" the Oshawott shouted. There was no response so he thought that it might be his imagination. After a while of searching the forest grounds, he saw one of the herbs growing some feet away from a tree. He gladly picked it up and kept it in the bag he brought along with.

Meanwhile, Cindy arrived at the forest entrance. She stopped for a while to catch her breath while asking herself why Jason decided to go to the forest. After a while, the Zorua ran to the leftmost path and kept shouting Jason's name as she looked Jason. After quite some time, Elaine heard Cindy's voice and went to look for her.

"What are you doing here, Cindy?" Elaine asked as soon as she found the Zorua.

"It's Jason. He left his room again. Belle said he went to the forest," Cindy explained.

"I think the guy has a death wish."

"Stop it, Cindy!"

"I'm just kidding!"

"It's not funny."

"Fine. Anyway, it's about time to meet Wilfred and Mincy. Why don't we explain the situation to them so that they can help find Jason," Elaine said.

"Okay," Cindy agreed and both of them went back to the entrance. After a while, Wilfred was able to meet them and Cindy was able to explain the situation to him. Wilfred agreed to find Jason after they explained the situation to Mincy. A few minutes have passed but the Minccino is nowhere to be found.

"Mincy is late," Elaine said.

"Maybe she's too much worried about Mark and she's too concentrated to notice the time," Wilfred said.

"I hope so," Elaine said with a little bit of worry.

Meanwhile, Mincy placed a Rawst berry into the basket she placed on the ground. The basket is full of herbs and Rawst berries.

"I think I've picked too much. Anyway, I should get back," Mincy thought out loud. Mincy was about to pick up the basket but suddenly, flames burned the basket and its contents into a crisp. The Minccino was shocked when she saw what happened to the basket and the things she worked hard to gather. She looked at the direction where the flames came and she saw a Pansear, who has a wicked smile, and a Litleo.

"Remember us?" the Pansear said.

"M—Martin!" Mincy said with a little fear in her voice. The Minccino took a step backwards but the Pansear took a step forward. Mincy was planning to run but she can't because there are two things weighing her mind. One of them is fear and the other is the need to ask something.

"Why?" Mincy asked all of a sudden. The Pansear was a little bit confused.

"Why did you do that to him?" Mincy asked again.

"Hey, I don't know what you're talking about," Martin said.

"You know what I'm talking about! Why did you do that to Mark?" Mincy said as she bursted into tears. "Why did you do that to your own brother?" Mincy added.

"Why? It's because he's a grass type," Martin simply said. "Besides, I have a grudge on him."

"Mark has been looking for you for a while now. He's also worried about you!" Mincy shouted the last words.

"So what? What I care about is getting what I want!" the Pansear angrily said. "Flamethrower!" the Pansear added as he created red hot flames from his mouth. Mincy tried to dodge but the attack is too fast. Just then, Mincy felt something grabbed her and she was quickly lifted into the air. She looked at her waist and saw some vines around it. When she looked below, she saw a familiar Snivy.

"Ja—Jason!" Mincy said. The Minccino was carefully placed on the ground and she went towards the Snivy.

"What are you doing here?! You're not in your best condition," Mincy said, worried since she saw Jason fainted a while ago.

"I'm fine. Besides, you'll need help," Jason said.

"But—" Mincy said but she was cut off.

"Another grass type!" the Litleo said.

"Yeah. We'll have another victim, Ken," Martin said.

Jason looked at the two fire types, which are familiar to him. He thought that they're the same Pokémon he saw back then. Jason braced himself as he knew that a battle will start soon. Jason noticed the Pansear smiled but when he looked at the Litleo, he saw that the Litleo wasn't as excited as the Pansear is. Jason wondered about it but he was cut off from his thoughts as he quickly dodged a Flamethrower from the Pansear. The Pansear unleashed another Flamethrower and Jason dodged it by quickly jumping to his left.

"You're one slippery grass type," Martin said and unleashed another Flamethrower, which Jason dodged by quickly jumping to his left again. Just then, Jason quickly saw another Flamethrower headed towards him. With little time to react, Jason dropped his body to the ground as soon as he landed to dodge the Flamethrower. Still, the flames were able to touch the Snivy's head slightly.

'That second attack… I think it came from the Litleo,' Jason thought as he stood up.

"It's only a matter of time. Stop delaying the inevitable," Martin said. Then, he unleashed another Flamethrower, which the Snivy dodged by jumping to the left. Another Flamethrower was headed towards him after the attack so Jason jumped right after he landed. He was able to dodge that Flamethrower.

"Gotcha!" the Pansear said as he unleashed another Flamethrower at the airborne Snivy. Unable to move in air, Jason braced himself for the impact of the attack. Suddenly, some sand rising upward appeared in front of the Snivy and blocked the attack. As Jason landed, Mincy went beside him.

"Don't worry. I've got your back," Mincy said to Jason.

"Don't interfere!" Martin shouted as both him and Ken went towards Mincy and tackled her. The Minccino was sent flying towards a tree and she grunted in pain as she felt the force of the impact.

"Mincy!" Jason shouted.

Meanwhile, Wilfred, Cindy, and Elaine are waiting by the forest entrance. Just then, Elaine noticed something. She moved a little bit towards the rightmost path and sniffed the air.

"Is something wrong, Elaine?" Cindy asked.

Elaine sniffed the air once again and she feared at what she sensed.

"Fire. There's something burning," Elaine said.

"What?!" Both Cindy and Wilfred said in shock.

"Come on! Let's go," Elaine said.

Elaine ran ahead while the other two followed in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Martin and Ken focused their attention back to Jason, who readied himself for another attack. Jason was worried since he can't keep up if the two of them attacked at the same time.

'What should I do?' Jason asked himself.