A huuuuge thank you to…. (drum roll please)…. YukitheRedFox, Foxyjosh, trherring, Stolloss, Sceats and pokefrfan for the reviews and alerts.
Maybe it was a bad decision to just walk away. Jessica wasn't all that bad, a little cranky and picky at times, had she really meant anything by it? And Murphy, he hadn't done anything wrong. He had taken her under his wing, fed her, looked after her, stood by her when things were rough. It wasn't like he had been forced to.
Was it selfish? Yes. But right now, Natalie didn't care. What she needed was to distance herself from normal people like them and find this so-called professor alone. Teaching herself normality along the way. Something little, like not being able to open Hermes' pokeball, wasn't going to force her to go crawling back.
Besides, after wandering dusty paths for almost half-an-hour, she wasn't entirely sure which path took her back.
"Grr…" she grumbled, trying to slide her fingernails in between the grooves, "… … … Ah, ow!" The pokeball fell from her grasp and clattered away as she nursed her torn nail. Droplets of blood flecked the pavement by her feet from where it had ripped too low. Sucking it to stem the blood flow, Natalie crawled her way over to the pokeball's resting place. It had gained a few tiny scratches and was speckled with dust, but still intact. So much so that Hermes remained locked inside.
Glancing up and down the empty walkway, Natalie took the device in both hands and raised it high above her head. She caught herself before dropping it, though, and sunk back onto the hard ground feeling exasperated.
"Why won't you open?" She asked it angrily, turning it over and over, fighting the urge to shake it. Hermes had enough emotional turmoil to deal with, without her making him scared of the only thing that kept him safely tucked away.
"Hermes," she tried, opting for a different tactic. Perhaps Hermes controlled when he came out. "Please will you come out? I'm cold and hungry and I'm sure you must be too." There must be plenty of plump vermin scavenging about- they could hunt for their dinner, just like Murphy did with his Pokémon.
The ball shook a little, but nothing major enough for it to open. Natalie did notice the slight red glow, however, and spent the next several minutes searching for it. Or, rather, where it had come from.
It did look strange, a young teen sat at the side of the dirt path, turning her only pokeball over and over in her hands, staring at it in frustration. Bag and its contents strewn across a selection of rocks, a little further up.
Eventually, Natalie gave up and racked her brain trying to remember what Murphy had told her. Something about a button. The only button visible on the pokeball did nothing more than increase or decrease the size, though, and there were only so many times she could do that without feeling dizzy with motion sickness.
But how had she returned him? Hadn't she pointed it in Hermes' direction and… and… It was no use. When she thought back, all that filled her mind was Jessica's spitefulness and a red mist of anger.
Sighing, Natalie made her way back to the jumble of possessions that were hers. Another pang of guilt for walking away hit her, but her stubbornness dismissed it. Stuffing almost everything in the slight bag, she started walking again, in the hope to find a Pokémon Centre. She could remember being told that they were open to the public and provided free help to trainers. However embarrassing it was, admitting she didn't know how to retrieve her Pokémon, it was better than sitting in the open getting nowhere.
Perhaps to taunt her, but night seemed to fall quite quickly. Her stomach growled regularly and her legs ached from plodding around familiar territory. Everything looked familiar when it was miles of grass, rocky crags and other shrubbery, but walking in circles couldn't be ruled out.
The lack of life spooked her. Surely there would be some Pokémon, at least. On every other route she had spotted flashes of various colours diving behind objects large enough to hide behind, birds taking off from the treetops, making nests, or as black dots in the sky as they flew. In fact, the only other place that had been void of Pokémon had been where they had met that boy.
Natalie spun round, goosebumps scaling their way up her arms. He, it, couldn't be here… right?
If only Hermes would come out to protect her.
She forced herself onwards, searching for the dirt path from which she had strayed in her search for another human. If she could keep to the path, maybe that would lead her to the next town.
Even if she had to beg for forgiveness in the Jubilife Pokémon Centre, that was better than sleeping under some tree with an empty stomach. She would ask for a map, get a room for the night, stash away some food at breakfast and then head to the nearest library. If she had to spend hours reading up on everything she once knew then so be it. Carrying on like this would do her no good.
The wind whistled, rustling the leaves of a nearby bush. Natalie eyed it, freezing up and feeling jumpy, but relaxed once the wind passed and the bush returned to its stationary state. She stepped forward, continuing to look for the pathway, but stopped as the bush rustled again.
It was more violently than when the wind had shaken it. And was that… Growling could be heard from its clutches. Natalie, having turned in surprise, staggered backwards and tripped over her feet in her bid to escape. Feeling trapped, she opened her mouth and let out a scream as a shoeless foot emerged.
"Hey, hey, hey!" A female voice spluttered, the rest of her body fighting its way out of the shrub. She ran a hand through her tangled mess of tawny hair, tugging out twigs and leaves, before focusing her attention on Natalie.
"Am I that scary?" She asked, now trying to sort out her torn clothes. "Oh great, I lost a shoe. That's the last time I chase after a bidoof. Looks like I have to go clothes shopping again." She poked her finger through a small hole that was torn into her pleated skirt. "Ah well, see ya!"
"Wait!" Natalie called out as the girl turned to leave. "Could you… Could you tell me how to get to the Pokémon Centre?"