The next morning, Seedeth and I woke to see Shi's face in our tent. Her face seemed softer that usual but still seemed to hold some firmness. Seedeth rubbed her eyes with a yawn as she looked at the Sneasel with interest.
"You've been gone for a while." Shi hissed softly, "I thought you guys had abandoned me like all the rest of my companions do." She gave a small smile, "But you didn't. That's a first."
"Why would we abandon you?" Seedeth laughed, rubbing the top of my head. "What's the matter, anyway?"
"Well, that umbreon..." She gave an annoyed sigh. "His name is Kron. And he wants to take me for a walk today." She gave a small nod. "We've been hanging out together for a while, but he seems a little too friendly for me." She then coughed, "So, um...how can you tell a person you don't like them, without hurting their feelings?"
"Well, just tell it to him straight." I yawned, rubbing my eyes with a wing. "I thought you didn't care if you hurt anyone, anyway."
"He saved me from that Golem and Ekans...I can't be mean to him." She gave a sigh, scratching her chin with a claw. "I owe him my life."
"Well, just look him in the eye and tell him you respect him as a friend and nothing more." Seedeth smiled, "And if he doesn't like that, give him a quick ice punch!"
Shi narrowed her eyes. "I want to be nice." She hissed.
"Oh, well just give him an icy push then." Seedeth laughed again.
"You're despicable sometimes." Shi frowned, and her head popped out of the tent again.
"Man, what a nice start to the day already!" I yawned, stretching my wings out wide. The duskull who was sleeping in her own little sleeping bag on the floor next to out bed floated up to us with empty eyes.
"Waking up without a master has never felt so...bitter sweet." She said softly, holding what seemed to be black rags. She got out a sewing needle from under her sleeping bag, and started sewing parts of the cloth together.
"What's that you have there?" I asked, wondering where the black cloth had come from.
"Her body..." Duskull told me with a low voice. "Maybe if I sew her back together, she will come back to look after me."
If I had a lip, I would have bitten it by then. I knew that this pokemon, at 12 years old, seemed to have a lower mental maturity than most. This pokemon didn't seem to understand the concept of death. But I didn't have the heart to tell her that the one who saved her from her master would never come back, so I shut my beak and gave Seedeth a knowing nod.
"Ok, but be careful." I said softly, " If strange things start happening, please stop sewing her together."
"But then she wouldn't be whole." Duskull said sadly.
Before I could argue with the pokemon, another pokemon popped his head into our tent. Grimsby smiled at us, his white beard seeming to look like a grin itself.
"Hello there." He said, coughing slightly, "I heard you returned, and just popped in to check on you all."
"Oh, that's good." I smiled, looking at the Honchkrow. "We're all fine...except a friend of ours is now dead, and we are mourning her loss..."
"Was it that pokemon that caused that huge blast of light the other night?" Grimsby asked, "Tickith and I wondered what the hell it was!"
"It was a destiny bond attack." Seedeth sat up, and got off our bed. "The 'I die, you're coming too' sort of attack."
"I didn't know that attack could kill!" Grimsby blinked, looking confused, "Normally, human trainers teach their pokemon not to kill with that attack...didn't this pokemon know how to use her attack properly?"
"She wanted to die." I sighed, looking away. "She did say that he and her must go down together."
"Oh, my." Grimsby sighed, "Oh well, least she died for what she thought was right." He nodded, and looked outside. "Oh, look at the time...I promised Tickith I'd be back..."
"You'd better get going then." Seedeth gave a small smile, "Its not good to anger the one you love."
"Right then!" He laughed, "Why don't you guys go for a walk, its a lovely day out there!"
"We will!" Seedeth said, "We need to collect some food anyway."
"Food?" The duskull looked up.
"Who's this then?" Grimsby looked at the Duskull with a curious look on his face.
"Uh, this is Duskull." I said, "She needs a name, and we need to think of one."
"How about Annitha?" Grimsby suggested, looking over his shoulder, "Um...I must go now." He then left the tent quickly.
"Do you like that name?" I asked, "Annitha?"
"Um, ok." Annitha looked up to me with her red eye. "Master used to call me 'thing'."
"Well, you aren't with your master anymore, so you can be called what you like."
"I like the name that Honchkrow gave me." Annitha floated up to me, dropping the sewn together bits of fabric to give me a hug. "Thank him for me."
"Don't worry, we will." Seedeth said, opening the flap of the tent. "Come on, its time to hunt for some food."
After a few moments of grumbling, I finally went out of the tent with Seedeth by my side. The aipom walked behind our tent and started picking fruit from the trees that where growing behind our tent.
"See, this is why I chose this spot." Seedeth said while chewing on a pecha berry. She paused for a second, and swallowed, "The berries grow at the back of the tents because there's so much fertiliser at the back."
"I really wanted to know about that, Seedeth." I muttered, trying not to think of pokemon doing their business behind our tent. Seedeth made a giggle, and threw me down a mago berry. I caught the pink, crescent shaped berry in my mouth and almost moaned at the amazing sweetness the berry gave me. Seedeth looked down at Annitha, who was staring into space.
"Which berry do you want?" Seedeth asked while hopping in trees and picking up random berries off the branches.
"I don't know...master never fed me berries...only burnt poffin and water." Annitha looked at the floor.
"Hm...I'll choose one that tastes the most ordinary then." Seedeth looked around and picked at a small blue ball shaped berry. She threw the oran berry at Annitha, who seemed to stare at it hungrily with her red eye.
"Well, go on then." I said, walking up to her and picking up the berry. "This is yours to eat."
"Oh...ok...are you sure I can...?" Annitha looked at me with fear in her eyes.
"Yes, I am very sure." I shook my head and sat down on the grass so I was at her level. "You can have as much food as you like, ok? And you don't need to ask permission to do things unless it is dangerous." I coughed a little, and looked back at the duskull. "You are not a servant. Not anymore."
"I'll try to remember that." Annitha sniffed. "Thanks." She then popped the berry in her mouth. After a few seconds, her red eye widened, and she gave a happy look.
"This tastes really nice!" She said, floating up to Seedeth and giving her a hug. "Thank you!"
"There's no need to thank me." Seedeth said kindly with a little giggle. "Now, shall we go for that walk?"
"Yay, please!" Annitha laughed, floating around in the air crazily.
"Right, let's be off then!" Seedeth jumped off the tree, and started walking in a random direction with Annitha and I following.
