Chapter 23- I Get A Visitor
Noise woke me up. The cookware hanging from the top of my tent clinked together softly, but in the silence of the wilderness, it was more than enough to bring me out of my stupor. A shadow moved outside. I put a hand on Vola's muzzle, and she woke silently. I could barely see in the diffused moonlight, but her luminous blue eyes took in far more than I could.
I reached over for the zipper to the entrance. Vola moved on silent paws across me, avoiding waking our teammates. I pointed at the moon, then the shape, then nodded and pulled the zipper.
Vola exploded out of our tent with a loud, "Vuuul!" accompanied by a storm of frost. She caught the light of the moon on the crystals gathered on her tails, and focused it like a beam against our intruder. I didn't think it was Izzy, but just in case it was, Moonblast would be a nasty shock, but wouldn't actually hurt him the way Freeze-Dry might.
There was a cry of surprise and a thump as something was knocked to the ground. Vola advanced, tails starting to glow with light again if her opponent tried to retaliate. I was already getting up and crawling out behind her. I jostled Spin and Dart slightly on the way, and they opened sleepy eyes to find out what was going on. Well, Dart did. Spin let out a soft grumble and shifted around the egg, getting more comfortable before going back to sleep.
I heard movement from the siblings' tent as the commotion grew louder. Now that I was outside, I could make out the rough size of our visitor. The shadows and moonlight that made it through the trees broke up the silhouette too much to get an outline, but with the wavering glow from Vola's tails, I could tell it was too small to be Izzy, or another human.
"Easy, girl," I told Vola. While a wild Pokemon carried different risks than a human intruder, there were risks all the same.
The shape clambered to its feet. Its movements were awkward, but it didn't necessarily seem injured. It seemed more surprised than anything. Not good. "Vola, dodge, then Disable."
"Pix!" she chirped.
The Pokemon stood, apparently unafraid. Then, a haunting melody began to echo off the trees. Vola perked up, ready to dodge, but as the song continued and no attack came, her tails slowly drooped. Then she drooped, asleep.
"Ot-to," I heard from next to me, and barely turned in time to catch Dart from falling in midair. Uh-oh.
I heard a zipper behind me right before I realized just how pleasant the song was. Then I, too, drifted off.
I wasn't asleep long. I woke to a gentle shaking and soft, repeated calls of my name.
"Whuh?" I managed.
Once I was semi-conscious, the pain in my arm and side brought me most of the rest of the way. I sneezed from a tickle in my nose, which didn't go away. My eyes opened to Lila kneeling next to me, a camp lantern illuminating her from the ground between us.
"Are you okay?" she asked, "That looked like it hurt."
"What?" I said again, because it seemed like the right thing to do.
"You fell over," she told me nervously, "and you didn't move when you hit the ground."
"Was 'sleep," was what came out of my mouth when I attempted more coherence. I shook the cobwebs from my thoughts and tried again, "I was asleep." There, much better. I realized the tickle was Dart's tailfeathers, eased her off me, and looked around. "What happened? Where's the wild Pokemon?"
"I caught it!" Lila said, more than a little pride creeping into her voice. "I don't know what it is yet, but when I saw you fall down with both of your Pokemon unconscious, I didn't think it was something I could fight off. Izzy could sleep through an earthquake, so I didn't bother trying to get him. All I could do was throw a Pokeball and hope. And it worked!"
Whatever stupid look of surprise made it onto my face only seemed to encourage her. She beamed at me. "Let's find out what it is!"
Without further ado, she released her new Pokemon. Small and pink, the Clefairy looked around in confusion. "Fairy?" it asked.
Lila squealed in delight, "Mystical Mew, it's adorable!" She ran over to it, wrapping it in a hug, cooing, "You're just the cutest thing! I'm so happy I get to be your trainer!"
"Clefairy? Fairy?" it replied, still apparently unsure what was going on.
"Maybe introduce yourself," I suggested. Lila started at that.
"Of course!" she said. "Where are my manners?" She put Clefairy down facing her. "I'm Lila," she started, "I'm looking forward to getting to know you. Now, I can't just call you 'Clefairy'. Do you already have a name?"
Clefairy looked back at her, then cocked its head to one side. That sent Lila into a fresh squealing fit. "That's it," she said, "Since you're as cute as a button, I'm going to call you Buttons."
Buttons seemed uncomfortable with the attention, but she nodded shyly. Lila opened her arms for a hug, and it seemed that was something the little fairy was familiar with. She jumped into her trainer's arms with a smile, and I couldn't help but echo the expression.
"Congratulations on your first catch," I told Lila.
She grinned back at me.
"And you didn't wake me up for that!?" Izzy demanded incredulously. "I would have loved to see you meet your first catch. Remember how excited you were when I caught Psyduck? Didn't you think I wanted to be there for you, too?"
We were about an hour away from our campsite, approaching the foothills around Route 4. Lila looked Mareepishly at him. "I'm sorry, Izzy, really. I was just so excited, and you were asleep, and…" she trailed off.
Before Izzy could harp on her again, I interjected, "If it's that important, why not catch another with her on our way to Cerulean today?"
Izzy gave me a dirty look. I couldn't tell if he was mad because I'd interrupted, because I was telling him what to do, or because he actually liked the idea. It didn't end up mattering, though, because Lila's eyes shone at the thought.
"Let's do that! We can each catch another one."
"Hmph. I guess. I doubt we'll find anything I want to catch up in the mountains, though."
"Then it's a good thing we're nearly out of them," I said. "Route 4 is next to a river; you can fish while Lila looks for another Pokemon on land."
Izzy glowered at me again.
Another hour or so brought us to flat enough ground that I could have gotten back on my bike, but that seemed like it would be rude. It wasn't long before the Cerulean River came into view.
"There it is!" Lila said, pointing. "Izzy, that looks like a great spot to fish. And there's some brush right there! Lila, do you think you could make some noise a bit away? Maybe Pokemon will run away from it towards us, and I can catch one."
That seemed like a solid plan, so I made my way down the road toward Mt. Moon, then released Vola. She stretched and yawned, coming awake after her unexpected nap. "Okay Vola," I said, "Time to make a scene. Think you're up for it?"
Vola was so excited, she didn't even give me a look for asking such a silly question. She just slunk into the brush, and soon I heard the squawks and cries of wild Pokemon being unceremoniously routed from their cozy homes by chaos incarnate. The noises were followed by the rustling and stamping of creatures running every which way, including towards Lila down by the river.
After a few minutes, though, the scramble was drowned out by an ear-splitting screech. Right after, a massive shape launched into the sky, its long neck bent so it could glare down at the underbrush in search of my Vulpix.
Whoops.
"Vola, back here," I called in between shrieks, "Someone's decided to do something about your rampage!"
At the sound of my voice, the Fearow's head snapped towards me, its beady eyes locking on the threat it could see.
Whoops again.
Vola would take time to make her way back through the foliage, and I didn't think the Fearow would be kind enough to wait until I was ready.
"Dart, I need help!" I said, releasing her into the air. She swooped in glee at the new surroundings, but we didn't have time right now. "The Fearow, Dart," I yelled, "Whirlwind!"
Her eyes caught the Fearow, and she beat her wings to maintain position, then began whipping up a massive vortex.
Fearow wasn't having any of it, though, dipping one wing to sail around the edge of the tornado. It used the wind pulling upward to gain height, then tucked its wings almost all the way in, leaving the tips to catch the air. The maneuver started it spinning, and it dove beak-first at Dart.
"Get out of there," I called, "See if you can reposition to catch it in another one!" She was moving before I finished my sentence. It was subtle, right up until it wasn't. She held her wings forward, catching her own winds and getting flung to one side, out of the way.
Fearow's wings snapped out, arresting its dive and carrying it into a climb back towards Dart.
She wasn't done though. She rode the edge of the Whirlwind until she was opposite the Fearow, then blasted out backwards, using the movement to start a new cycle of wingbeats. I couldn't tell what was happening in the air, but I saw her gently correcting to keep Fearow in front of her. After a few beats, a glimmer in the air caught my eye. It looked like something was spinning inside the greater cyclone, and it began to glow. A whirling tornado of light began to take shape, spinning against the wind.
Dart must have felt it was done, because with a final wingbeat, she whipped it at Fearow.
Fearow tried the same trick again, but this new wind spun oddly, and it misjudged. It was caught by the full force of Dart's attack. Its wings were caught and pulled hard, its neck pulled tight as its head was pulled by the chaotic energies. Dart let the winds die down.
Though battered, Fearow looked like it was about to regain its composure, so I called to Dart, "Finish it with a Quick Attack!"
Dart dove in, striking Fearow behind the wing and driving it down. She pulled up right before they hit the ground, and Fearow crashed down into the leaves and branches of the bushes below. Wow. I'd have to check out Dart's new attack.
Vola trotted out of another section of foliage in time to see the finale, so she went over to it and blasted it with a Freeze-Dry for good measure. I gave her a scathing look, then ran over to make sure the Fearow wasn't too badly hurt. "That was a little much, Vola," I told her. She adopted an appropriately scolded expression. I sighed. "Adding your version of excitement to these Pokemon's lives is one thing, but it's cruel to really hurt them for no reason." I thought back on my conversation with Lila, and said, "It's one thing to defend ourselves. Dart did a great job keeping it from hurting any of us. But once it was down, attacking it again wasn't funny, it was mean."
Vola's expression shifted slightly, and I could see the genuine regret behind it. She moved closer to Fearow's head, gently patting its beak with her paw. "Piiiix," she whined, and Fearow's eye fluttered open to look at her. She curled her tails under its chin to cushion its head, and Fearow's eye closed again. It let out a sigh. I smiled at her
"As long as you understand."