Oakshell rolled his eyes, highly annoyed.
"Goldeye, stop it!"
"You're not my mentor! You're hardly older than I am!"
"At least I have some maturity!"
Oakshell rumbled, deciding that he was done listening to the argument between the two females.
"Both of you, quiet, or I will tell Moonshine to send Dusktooth back to camp."
The two stopped their argument, embarrassed. Rocktail spoke first. "I don't know what you are talking about…" Goldeye just bowed her head.
Dusktooth, who was standing nearby, yelped in surprise at Oakshell's words. "What did I do? Why would I be sent back?"
Oakshell grunted at the young rock type. "Because you are the reason they are fighting."
The dusk form lycanroc just shook his head in confusion. The two females, however, just hung their heads in shame, their argument forgotten.
The torterra grunted in satisfaction. "Good, now, stay quiet."
Dusktooth looked around, still confused. Whitetails, who was walking by alongside her son, chucked at him, while Redtail just looked at his mother in confusion. The spotted vulpix glanced at Dusktooth, who could only shrug. He sighed. Females...
Lillie glanced at Cal, who hadn't turned around from his perch on the balcony when she entered. Moonshine, who had slipped in between her, quickly made her way to his side and sat down, before looking up and quietly barking. The leafeon and audino hung back, seemingly waiting for Moonshine to finish.
Briefly, she saw a pair of glowing eyes floating in the air at the edge of her vision, but when she turned her head to get a better view, they had disappeared.
Dismissing it as a trick of the light, she looked back at Cal, who had turned around and was now kneeling down, and the leafeon and audino had joined him and Moonshine, and were now both seemingly checking him over, but were having some trouble due to the fact that he still had his cloak on. However, Moonshine barked at Cal, who just glared at the shiny dark type. She barked again, this time firmer, and Cal just muttered 'fine' and removed his cloak.
To say Lillie was shocked would be an understatement. The most she had seen him was during class when he had reluctantly been removing the cloak's hood at Kukui's request, but the rest of the cloak always remained on, with him parting it only to use his arms, which he did a lot less frequently than your average person.
Underneath his cloak, she could see that he wore a fairly simple but sturdy looking leather tunic with leather pants that were just as simple and sturdy looking. Both garments had numerous stains on them, showing just how much action they had seen. His shoes, despite being sneakers, were well worn and covered in mud to the point that she was unable to identify what color they were originally.
Something else that was immediately clear when he took off his cloak was that he was armed. Not with guns, but with a sword, which Cal was in the process of lying on top of his cloak, still in its sheath, as well as a short staff.
Briefly, Lillie wondered why he had them. She recalled that several days before, in one of the few times that she, Mallow, and Lana had gotten him to open up about himself, he had mentioned that many of his pokemon had been rescued from poachers or abusive trainers, and Lillie suddenly realized what he probably used them for.
Not knowing what to do, and feeling very awkward, she just stood back and allowed his pokemon to do what they needed.
After a few minutes, the leafeon barked at Cal, who nodded and glanced at Lillie. "Greenleaf wants to know if your garden has Chamomile."
Lillie frowned, confused. "I-I don't know. Why does she need it?"
Cal shrugged. "Something about soothing my mind, or something."
"O-oh, ok. I'll go check with the staff. Would she like to come with me?"
The leafeon nodded, and followed her as Lillie left the room.
Mistfeather chuckled as she watched the girl leave the room, followed by Greenleaf. 'She's very kind. And she cares for you a lot.'
Moonshine and Pinkear nodded, hints of a smirk at their mouths, and Cal glared at his pokemon. "Are you going somewhere with this?" He said, slightly annoyed.
Mistfeather frowned. He's not aware… Moonshine just rolled her eyes. "You'll figure it out eventually."
Pinkear chuckled as she unwrapped one of the oak leaves beside her. Mistfeather heard Cal groan as he saw what the leaf contained.
He glared at Pinkear. "Seriously? Poppy seeds?"
The audino nodded, then glanced at Mistfeather. "Hold him down, and keep his mouth open."
Mistfeather nodded, and her eyes began to glow as she used psychic to hold her trainer down, as Moonshine used her paws to hold Cal's mouth open so Pinkear could put the poppy seeds in his mouth, and then forced the trainer to chew them.
Greenleaf sighed, glad that she had an excuse to not hold down her trainer. As much as she loved him, he was resistant to any treatment of any kind. Which made it hard for her and the other healers to help him. They had brought a large amount of poppy seeds, enough to keep him asleep for a while if they needed. Sighing, she picked up the Chamomile in her mouth, and followed the girl back to where her trainer was.
The leafeon's mind began to wander. The girl liked her trainer, that much was obvious. She wondered how her trainer would react to this. He had been secluded from human society since her parents were young, her mother was only a child when...it happened, which was now more than a decade ago. In that time, her trainer had developed a general distaste for his own kind. Which of course, was fair. They had mostly encountered poachers, with few interactions with humans that didn't poach or abuse pokemon, and most of the team had been rescued one way or another, so much of the team also had a disdain for humans.
When she had heard that they would be around other humans, especially those around her trainers age regularly, her feelings had been mixed. On one hand, his mental health was terrible, which could be helped by being around those his own age.
She sighed. Of course, the opposite could be true as well. With her trainer, you just didn't know.
Glancing at the girl in front of her, she smiled. This girl had already somewhat gained his trust, which was something no other human had managed to do in nearly a decade. Maybe she could help him…
Moonshine sighed in relief as Greenleaf and Lillie arrived back in the room, with the leafeon having several white flowers in her jaw. Pinkear, who had spoken very little, smiled at the sight. "Greenleaf, that's perfect! Bring it over here, quick!"
The leafeon nodded, and quickly trotted over, laying the herbs next to her asleep trainer.
She heard Lillie say something, and looked back at the blonde, confused.
Lillie frowned, seeing her newest classmate sound asleep on the ground, with the audino and Moonshine standing beside him. She frowned. "Why is he asleep?"
'Because he's too stubborn for his own good.' Lillie jumped, having not expected to receive a response that she could understand. Glancing around, she noticed an additional pokemon she had not noticed when she entered the room.
The Pokemon in question was decently large, having a pair of stiff wings, a long neck, and a friendly looking face, with two tufts of fur-like feathers sticking up, along with a small mouth, which had a large, kind smile, and two adorable eyes. Overall, it was mostly red and white, with the red feathers dominating the top half of its body. It floated about a foot off the ground, and its wings were remaining still, making Lillie guess that it was not using the wings to remain in the air.
Nonetheless, Lillie did not recognize the pokemon before her. She frowned. "You can talk?"
The mystery pokemon's smile grew. 'Kind of. I use telepathy, not actually speaking with my voice.' Lillie nodded, processing the information. The unknown pokemon chuckled, and extended one of its two arms, which had been tucked near its body. 'Nice to meet you. I'm Mistfeather.'
Lillie hesitantly shook the three clawed hand Or, paw maybe? "I-I'm Lillie. Nice to meet you."
They were interrupted by a short grunt. Lillie watched as Mistfeather glanced over to Cal, who was waking up, before glancing back at her. 'Excuse me.' The pokemon said, before floating over to her trainer's side.
Frowning, Lillie remained where she stood, watching the pokemon check their trainer over.
Silverflame gave a small frown, watching his son and Flameflare train, with Flameflare trying to demonstrate quick attack to the spotted vulpix, who was struggling to keep the attack going for more than a few feet.
He continued watching, thinking to himself, until his focus was interrupted by his mate settling next to him.
"How's it going?" She asked, watching as their son slipped in a patch of mud during a quick attack, resulting in the fire type landing in said mud patch and sliding several feet.
He grunted, then turned to his mate. "Do you think Redtail is cut out to be a warrior?" He asked seriously. Whitetails glanced at him, confused. "What do you mean?"
He glanced back at his son, who was in the process of shaking the mud off his pelt, while Flameflare stood back and seemed to be explaining something, most likely giving his apprentice some advice on the attack. Silverflame sighed. "He reminds me of Ribbonfur." He said, referencing his old apprentice, who also happened to be Flameflare's youngest daughter. His mate frowned thoughtfully. "In what ways?"
He sighed, glancing back at his son. "They are both much more concerned with the wellbeing of the others, and she also struggled with attacks. It was only until after she became a healer apprentice that she started doing well in combat training." He paused before continuing. "And I feel like you had a similar experience with Greenleaf, right?"
Whitetail nodded slowly, considering her mate's words. What he said was true. She had been having the same problem when Greenleaf was her apprentice, although to a lesser extent, before the eevee had decided that she wanted to become a healer.
She glanced back at the shiny fire type. "What do you think we should do?" He considered the question for a moment, before responding. "We can talk to Flameflare, and if he agrees, we can have Greenleaf and Ribbonfur speak to Redtail. They were similar situations, and they might be able to help."
As she watched Greenleaf and Pinkear treat Cal, Mistfeather frowned. We're too spread out like this.
Sighing, she glanced at Moonshine, who was watching Cal carefully. "Moonshine, may we speak in private?" She squeaked. In the corner of her eye, she saw the girl, Lillie, Mistfeather recalled, glancing at her in surprise. Probably surprised by my voice she thought, smiling.
Moonshine nodded and followed Mistfeather out of the room, leaving the earshot of those inside.
"What is it, Mistfeather?" The shiny dark type said in her typically monotone voice. Mistfeather frowned. "We're too split up. Flamebranch doesn't have nearly enough warriors at camp to keep up the levels of patrols, and we don't have enough to hold off any major attack. And we know an attack is coming."
Moonshine frowned, thinking over what her teammate had said. She was absolutely correct. The attack that they had encountered on the way here was not going to be the only one, and she knew from experience how hard it was to organize patrols with the numbers that Flamebranch had back at camp. She glanced back at her teammate.
"What do you suggest we do?"
Mistfeather internally breathed a sigh in relief. She had been worried that the older pokemon would dismiss her or not take her seriously, but she was paying attention and considering her opinion. She allowed herself to feel a small amount of pride.
"I think we need to regroup here, make a new camp within the walls of this home's yard."
She saw the yellow gaze of the dark type narrow, and immediately worried that she had said something wrong. She waited a few tense seconds before the shiny dark type responded.
"Is Soundwave on guard duty?"
Mistfeather frowned, confused by the question, but reached out with her mind, searching for the dragon type, before shaking her head. "He's currently nesting."
Moonshine nodded. "Let's go find him." Before she began walking down the hall, towards the stairs that led to the ground floor of the building.
Confused, Mistfeather followed the dark type.
Snowy silently watched Redtail train, quietly admiring him. He's so… she paused. What was he? Sure, he was strong and smart, but in her heart she knew that these were not the attributes that she had been admiring. Was it that he was fun to be around? No, that couldn't be it either. It had to be something else…
Her thoughts were interrupted by one of the ninetails sitting off to the side, also watching Redtail train. "Would you like to join us?"
Snowy glanced at the speaker, an alolan ninetails, who was looking at her with kind eyes. She bowed her head. "If you'll have me." She said hesitantly.
This caused the alolan ninetails to smile. "We would love it. Right, Silverflame?"
The shiny kantonian ninetails smiled as well. "Of course."
Bowing her head, she made her way to a spot beside the alolan ninetails and settled down, slightly nervous of the older foxes, but they just smiled kindly at her.
"What's your name, little one?" The ice-fairy type asked. Snowy glanced up at her . "S-Snowy" she said shyly.
The alolan ninetails nodded, but before she could respond, a large explosion coming from the entrance of the estate interrupted them.
Flameflare glanced at Whitetails and Silverflame, who nodded, and quickly looked back at his apprentice. "Go, take the girl and her vulpix to Cal's room, you will be safe there." He saw Redtail nod, before turning and running off in the direction of the explosion, Whitetails and Silverflame close behind him.
Moonshine heard the explosion, and glanced at Mistfeather. "That didn't sound like training, did it?" Mistfeather nodded, before the two females shared a look, and dashed out of the doorway, headed towards where they had heard the explosion.
Kukui and Mohn glanced at each other as they saw the explosion in the distance. At first neither of them spoke, an uncomfortable silence between them. Finally, Kukui spoke.
"I think that's another attack." Mohn nodded, subconsciously reaching for one of the pokeballs on his belt.
Quickly, Kukui made his way to the nearest video phone, and after a few moments of panicked requests, six pokeballs materialized on the video phone's receiver, before he hung up and joined Mohn in rushing towards the entrance of the estate.
When they reached the location of the explosion, they were greeted by a full out battle, with Cal's pokemon holding off waves of attackers, who were having trouble filtering through the estate's relatively narrow gateway.
Quickly, they both pulled out their own pokeballs, releasing them, and quickly commanded their pokemon to assist Cal's team, who were on the verge of being forced to fall back.
Goldeye growled, launching a thunderbolt at an attacking sawk, temporarily holding it off. Beside her, Rocktail, Dusktooth, and Oakshell were firing off their own attacks, trying to hold off the tide of attacking pokemon.
Her feeling of satisfaction was dispelled when she was hit by a scald, which had been launched from a simipour, burning her. Wincing, she retaliated with a thunderbolt, hitting the Unovan water type in the chest, sending it flying.
Before she could find her next target, an incinerate flew past her, hitting a scoliopede. Briefly glancing behind her, she saw a dozen pokemon behind her, being commanded by the shirtless man who had brought them, and a blonde man, who Goldeye guessed was the father of the girl. Smiling, she continued firing off attacks, standing her ground.
Snowy ran behind Redtail and Lillie, both of whom were dashing to the room where Cal had been staying. A large explosion shook the building, causing her to squeak in alarm. Redtail slowed and allowed her to run beside him, looking at her worried.
"Are you ok?" The spotted vulpix asked, making Snowy blush. She nodded, and the two young foxes continued to their destination, following Lillie.
Greenleaf growled lowly, glaring at her trainer. "I forbid you from joining the fight, Cal. You are in no mental state for combat!" From behind her, Pinkear nodded. "I must agree, master. Please, remain here."
They were interrupted by a growl, before a dark pulse was fired at the leafeon. Greenleaf dodged, before firing a retaliatory magical leaf, which was joined by Pinkear's dazzling gleam, which hit the attacking liepard, knocking it back. Before the dark type could recover, however, an ember hit it from the rear, which was quickly joined by a powder snow.
Hissing, the liepard turned to face it's new opponents, before being hit by Greenleaf's leafblade and Pinkear's secret power, which knocked the dark type out.
Glancing past the fainted purple body, Greenleaf saw Redtail, the girl, and her alolan vulpix. She sighed in relief. She looked at Redtail. "What's going on out there?"
The spotted vulpix bowed his head before he responded. "I don't know. I was training with Flameflare when we heard the explosion. Flameflare, Silverflame, and Whitetails went to go help, and Flameflare told me to bring them here." He said, motioning to the two females behind him.
Greenleaf nodded, but before she could respond, the girl spoke. "Where did Cal go?"
There's the thirteenth chapter!
I think I've gotten to a point where I should be able to update this story weekly, but no promises. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and please feel free to review!