"Th-that's it. I can't walk anymore," Walcekite fell on a nearby stump in the ruined forest. She was breathing deeply. She felt how much her eyes wanted to close.
The sun was setting fast and the sky was colored in a pink, red and yellow palette. The dark blueness was coming from the other side and inviting the moon to the sky over Nimbasa City.
"I don't think you can do more, Walcekite. You don't have flying type pokemon, nor water type. Only they could help you search. But like this, you are just making yourself suffer. Let's go back to the pokemon center. At least Catlesy should be there," Meilli mostly stayed on her trainer's shoulder and didn't feel tired, but she felt Walcekite's exhaustion.
*sigh* "Yeah... I-I just wanted to find him, you know? He protected me and we wanted to go back to the pokemon center... but we ended up falling into the river... If it weren't for me, we would all be traveling further already, but now... I ruined everything."
"Grrr. Walcekite! The only one who ruined anything here is Farrioust! That... " Meilli wanted to yell out everything she thought he is, but knew Walcekite didn't want to hear her starter's yelling on a human that she spent so much time searching for.
"I know, Meilli. You hate him. But... I don't think he's that bad. Maybe he had his reasons," she suggested and stood up. "Alright. Let's go back and hope that he will return by himself."
Meilli sighed. Why can't her trainer understand how bad that guy is?
(^***^)
When Catlesy calmed Farrioust's pokemon down, or rather, just got them back inside of their pokeballs, she sadly sighed:
"Where could they be?" she thought. "We were supposed to travel together for so long. Well, Farrioust can leave the picture, but Walckeite and me have to be like sisters. Why would she leave?"
"Excuse me, miss Catlesy, but I think I saw them leaving the pokemon center somewhere before midnight and they didn't come back after that. They went out separately and I don't think they were planning on going somewhere far. Maybe something happened to them in the storm?" she suggested the uneasy truth.
"Yeah. It might be," she said sadly and thought. "But they are the strongest people I know. How could they be gone just because of a little storm?"
She was cunning, but she was still a little naive too. She was the youngest of the three, after all.
Catlesy ventured outside. The sky was still gloomy and rain was still pouring, but recognizably less. Catlesy didn't have an umbrella. She knew it was about time to get one. But not right now.
"If I would be caught in a storm, where would I go?" she thought with her outer voice and looked back at the pokemon center. "Well, I would try to get back. Or at least find a shelter. They should have done it too. So if they aren't in the pokecenter, they have to be hiding from the rain somewhere else... Definitely not the in the buildings, because then it would be easy to come back. That leaves somewhere beyond the city," when spoken out loud, Catlesy's thoughts were clearer and could develop faster.
She looked around and spotted a forest. Route 4.
"Well, if it's not Route 5, it will be Route 4. Hehe, 50/50?" she smiled awkwardly. But the fourth route was closer, so she chose that one.
She remembered, what they went through in that route:
"1. Me and Walcekite both tried to catch an Emolga for ourselves, but I just ended up hurting the little one so much, Walcekite took her from further harm.
2. We all visited the Litwick Mansion and Walcekite managed to catch two new pokemon.
3. Meilli said that Farrioust is the enemy. Heh, I kind of agree with her on that.
And finally, we got attacked by that crazy Zubat guy.
Oh yeah. And already in the city, a weird taller Farrioust appeared and gave Walcekite a note."
With the memories, her mood lightened. It was fun to travel with them. But now she even missed Farrioust and all the fighting with him, when she realized they might never see each other again.
"Idiot," she said, maybe to herself, maybe to him.
The Route was already quite known to her, although she only walked through it once. But where should she go? Follow the path? But Walcekite and Farrioust also walked through this route. Maybe Farrioust even did it more than once, with his travels. Then how can they get lost in this one?
"I think I made a mistake," Catlesy looked around. "If they are in a route, then it means they can only be in Route 5 or further. Curse me and my lazziness," she sighed.
"Quickly, secure it! It has to remain alive," Catlesy heard loud whispering.
"I know, I know. But the Sleep Powder didn't kick in yet!" another voice explained.
"That no good Tangrowth of yours!" the first voice was clearly unhappy.
"She's perfect! It's just that the powder always takes time to kick in... See?"it seemed whoever or whatever that was needed to put to sleep, was finally out.
"Alright, alright. Catch it and let's go," the first one said with a more indulgent tone.
Catlesy hid behind a tree and tried to get a better look of the scene. It was a bit challenging, to not be seen, but enough to understand.
"Two male teens, one older than the other. The younger one has blond, quite long hair. The older one has almost white hair with a few black highlights. They are both wearing similar outfits with the main color being blue. A Tangrowth is nearby and a... a..." Catlesy didn't get to see what pokemon they were capturing, because it had already turned into matter. The blonde girl growled from frustration of her mediocre spy skills that didn't let her see the full picture in time.
"Alright! Mission - complete!" the younger boy rejoiced and tucked the used pokeball safely in his bag.
"Yeah. But these missions are so easy. Capture a rare pokemon of some sort and you're home-free. I'd like to have some more difficult missions," the other one sighed.
"We will quickly reach a new rank and you'll get all the difficult missions you need," the blond one smiled. That smile was so warm and so naive, it seemed he was a child.
"Yeah. I bet," the older one smiled back, but not so childishly. "Let's go. Time is points."
"You changed that from "Time is money"? Clever," another naive smile flashed in the younger ones face.
"I think you are too soft for this world," the white-haired one scratched his head and before the blond one could say anything, he started walking in the direction east of Catlesy.
"Well, maybe I'm not that bad of a spy, if they didn't notice me," Catlesy smirked. "B-but why was I hiding and spying? I don't know. I just felt like it?" Catlesy questioned her own motives, but cleared it up quickly... kind of. "But maybe I should have asked them, if they saw Farrioust or Walcekite? I'm not in the mood to travel during this drizzle."
Catlesy carefully got out of her hiding place and went after the boys.
"Excuse me! You two! Could you help me?!" she shouted and waved at them. The blonde one turned around first and smiled. He seemed to want to help, but the older one grabbed him by the arm and didn't let him stay for a chitchat with a suspicious girl that might have seen what they have done.
"Maybe she only wants direction?" the younger one suggested, while he was being dragged away.
"I don't care. If she's lost, she can find her way out of here herself. We won't help." the white-haired one said strictly.
"You always have bad assumptions about people," the naive one sighed and got out of his teammates grasp. They again speed walked side by side.
"I guess they won't help," Catlesy stopped. "Maybe they were really doing something bad there and didn't want people to get more information about it. Well, I guess I didn't get much information out of that, but still..." she puckered her cheeks. "Rude!"
Catlesy came back to Nimbasa City somewhere around noon. Her stomach wouldn't let her continue searching, but she knew she would only be wasting time in that route. As long as she was there, she looked, but with no hope.
The blonde young girl went to the same cafe she and her two friends went to yesterday. Even the waiter was surprised Catlesy was by herself. The young trainer felt even worse. The three of them were supposed to be inseparable. Or at least that was how Catlesy imagined friendship.
She looked out the window. The storm was gone. No clouds, no rain, just a clear blue sky. It wasn't the same. It was lighter, but it managed to bring Catlesy down better than darkness.
"Nurse Joy, any sign of Walcekite or Farrioust?" Catlesy came back to the pokemon center.
"No, I'm sorry," she shook her head.
"Oh, I see," the blonde-haired girl looked down. "Well, I hope I'll find them tomorrow," she softly smiled and went to her room. She hoped she would. But hope was little.
(^***^)
It was the morning a day after the storm. Everything was peaceful and quiet. Only Catlesy was shaken up inside and refused to calm down. She couldn't sleep for a few hours after getting to bed.
"Why am I so worried? This is almost ridiculous. I'm sure they're fine," she kept thinking like that, but it didn't help. "Too bad my Purrloin doesn't know Yawn, like Walcekite's Chesire," she sighed and looked at Shanna, sleeping next to her, like she would use Yawn on her trainer. But that didn't happen.
It was a restless night, but morning finally came and managed to wake her with a few weak rays of sunshine.
Catlesy didn't want to waste time and got up immediately. Her pokemon that slept on the same bed didn't show such wish to move.
"Alright you little sleepy heads. Another day and another chance to find those nitwits," she felt better calling her teammates names, because she felt that only she can find and save such people.
When the pokemon were back in their pokeballs, probably sleeping already, Catlesy turned to the door... but saw something unexpected.
"A note?" she leaned down to a piece of paper that was probably shoved under the door sometime at night.
"Hi Catlesy,
I'm sorry for the sudden separation, but me and Farrioust went out in the storm and got thrown into a raging river. I'm safe and healthy in the same room as before... Sadly, I couldn't find Farrioust.
I hope you weren't too worried.
Walcekite"
"She's... She's alive," Catlesy clenched the note in her hands and spoke in an undertone. "After all that worry, I can breath easier," she tried to smile, but something was wrong. She raised her fingers to her cheek and touched something wet. "T-Tears? So I finally broke... When it's over... I broke."
"Catlesy? Are you awake?" someone walked up to the blonde girl's door.
Catlesy tried to stop her tears, but they weren't hers to control. So she had to open the door with a happy, but wet face.
"Wh-what's wrong, Catlesy?" Walcekite observed her teammate.
"Oh, it's nothing," she smiled even more and brushed a tear off her right cheek.
"I'm sorry, if we made you worry, Catlesy," Walcekite looked down at her shoes. "I just want you to know that I think of you as a younger sister and..."
*swoosh*
Walcekite was almost knocked down, but the little blonde girl wasn't so heavy.
When Walcekite understood she won't fall, she hugged her teammate back.
They both didn't say a word, only Caltesy quietly sobbed.
"She's so small. Just a kid. I should have came back for her in the morning. We could have both gone to look for Farrioust," Walcekite thought sadly.
"Big sis," Catlesy whispered. "I like that," she started calming down and Walcekite could hear a smile in the young girl's voice. She embraced her tighter and let her get everything out of her system.
"So what will we do now?" Catlesy asked, when Walcekite got her pokemon back, after a night's rest, from Audino, because nurse Joy was somewhere else.
*sigh* "I don't know. If he was taken by the current, he can be even in the middle of the ocean. And he's not the type to get lost, so if he was able to get back to shore, he should be here already."
"Well, he left his pokemon behind," Catlesy raised Farrioust's bag from her shoulder and showed his belt, that contained his team's pokeballs, on her waist.
"So Raden won't be able to help him... Are any of his pokemon by any chance trackers?"
"I don't think so. But maybe we can try."
"Only outside," Walcekite stopped Catlesy's hand that was about to take the pokeballs from Farrioust's belt. "You know how big some of his pokemon are."
"Oh yeah," Catlesy scratched her head and giggled. "My bad. Let's go outside."
The attempt to summon the lost teen's pokemon was repeated and this time - succeeded.
So there was a Serperior, a Braviary, a Zweilous, a Larvesta, a Gothorita and a Gallade. An impressive team, as the girls thought.
"So, I know you know that your master is... missing, but we would like to ask for your help to find him. Are any of you trackers?" Walcekite asked with hope, but everyone stayed silent. "Oh. I see. Well, it was worth to try. Catlesy, you can get them back in their pokeballs," a gloomy mood caught Walcekite once more.
But before Catlesy could get the pokemon, the Gothorita's eyes flickered light blue and she ran to Walcekite and clung on her leg.
"Wh-what is it... Murina, right?" after a short nod, the Gothorita grabbed Walcekite's the end of her sky blue dress and tried to drag her. The cerulean-haired girl understood what was wanted of her and went with Murina.
The manipulate pokemon brought the girls back to the pokemon center. Farrioust's other pokemon wanted to come too, but Catlesy finally returned them and didn't let them cramp the building. Murina ran to the Audino that healed pokemon now, instead of nurse Joy, and chatted to her a bit. She seemed timid at first, but got herself together. It seemed it was important.
Audino smiled when Murina was done and came to the two girls. After another smile, it gestured to the teammates to follow it.
Walcekite and Catlesy looked at each other and shrugged. They didn't know what will happen, but they knew time is precious if Farrioust is still out there.
They went through a short corridor and ended up in front of a big door that had two round windows. Audino pushed both sides of the door, when she went through, and let Walcekite, Catlesy and Murina enter as well.
"Oh, Catlesy. I see you found Walcekite," nurse Joy left a patient that was partially covered by curtains and came to the two girls. "I have wonderful news. Some teens brought Farrioust in the late evening yesterday."
"Wh-what?!" both girls' jaws dropped. "Where is he?" Walcekite jumped towards nurse Joy out of anxiety.
"Follow me please," she smiled just like the Audino.
They passed a few pokemon, probably seriously injured. They were in beds that were covered by curtains from all sides except for the small semi tunnel they were walking in. Finally, at the end of the room, they noticed something familiar and both dashed towards it.
"Farrioust!" Walcekite yelled out, though she knew she shouldn't do that were pokemon were resting, but she was just so overwhelmed by emotion, she couldn't keep it down. She stopped just before his bed and quickly jumped to embrace him, similar to how Catlesy did earlier. "I'm so happy you're alright," she clung onto his body, that was covered by a blanket, but noticed something strange. He was cold. Maybe even freezing. "Wh-why are you so cold?" she looked up to the boy's face and only then noticed his closed eyes and pale skin. She quickly got her ear to his chest and tried to hear his heartbeat... Weak, but still there. "Nurse Joy, what happened to him?"
"Well, those two that brought him didn't explain much, but I think he spent at least a night or two in the water. I've been waiting for some fire type pokemon with the ability Flame Body to arrive and warm him up, but there's no news about them," nurse Joy sighed.
"I-I think my Litwick has that ability," Walcekite jolted and summoned Locus. "Hey, Locus, could you warm up Farrioust?" she asked and the shiny Litwick happily nodded.
There was a coffee table, or something like that, near the frostbitten boy and it was just the place for Litwick to give out his fire and not burn anyone... though the curtains were a guess.
"Marvelous. We were actually waiting for a Lampent and a Larvesta to arrive, but this Litwick seems to be perfect for the job too. Though it will take him quite some time.
"You said Larvesta also have that ability?" Catlesy wanted to make sure and after nurse Joy's nod, summoned Farrioust's Lessa. "Hey, Lessa, could you please warm up Farrioust?" she begged and when the torch pokemon started climbing onto her trainer's bed, she whispered like to herself. "I hope you have the ability Flame Body."
"Don't worry. Larvestas' and Volcaronas' only ability is Flame Body," nurse Joy assured the cerulean haired girl.
"That's great," Walcekite finally sighed and smiled with relief. She came up to the boy that must have suffered so much. But he'll be alright. He will finally be with them once more. Or at least they can hope for that.