The first few days of walking were slow going. The days seemed to drag on longer and longer although technically they had been losing a lot of sunlight due to the steadily advancing fall. The party maintaining the philosophy that they were still getting used to being back on the road again meant that they took a lot of downtime to do other things, whether that was trying to catch new Pokemon or touching up on some of the lessons they had sustained from the Ranch.
Training with Water Pulse continued as Psyduck was putting the finishing touches on his aim. Edric had it attempt the attack in many different ways; in the air, upside down, throwing it behind him, a combination of all three – The Pokemon seemed to really enjoy being upside down. When it began to look like Psyduck had completely mastered the move against stationary objects, he began to test Psyduck against moving targets again. The battle against Trevenant had gone fine because Psyduck mostly used Water Pulse up in its face, but Riolu was too fast for it. Edric still had a good bit of work to do with it.
By the end of the first week and starting into the second week, he started to feel like they had returned to full trainer form again. After weeks of Mt. Coronet, and then subsequent weeks of vacation, the four of them got more adventurous with walking into the later hours of the evening. There were much less people out then and Ethan liked to look up at the stars anyway, so no one had any disagreements about going the extra 3 miles or so before setting up camp.
One day during the second week of the proposed three it was supposed to take to Pastoria City, Edric was reminiscing with Emily about a summer vacation to the beach neither of them could really remember when Edric's foot caught on something soft and he nearly tumbled face forward. He hears the other three exclaim beside him as he stumbles to regain his footing and catches a brown and white blur dash into the forest to his left.
"What the hell was that?" Edric says. Just then, not a split second later, two more small figures shorter than Edric's knee run from the treeline and into the road, chasing after the first. Two small brown dog-looking Pokemon with a puffy white tuft for a tail speed across the road and into the treeline, disappearing from view. Edric turns back to his friends with his hands in the air.
"Anybody know what that was?" Hart says, pulling his phone from his pocket again. "I saw Brown fur with white on the neck and tail."
Emily sprouts a devilish look on her face, grinning from ear to ear. "I don't know but I'm going to go see!" With that she runs off into the trees after the three Pokemon, grabbing a Pokeball from her belt. After a few seconds she's out of sight past the brush.
Edric rests his arms above his head as she goes. "I guess we're waiting here then. Any idea what those things were, Hart?"
Hart finishes rapidly texting on his phone, then apparently finds what he needs. "They could've been several things in this part of Sinnoh, but by the colors I'd say they're probably a small group of Rockruff." He pauses a bit, scrolling on his phone. "Funny though, there were only three of them. They're supposed to travel in massive packs."
Ethan pulls out a piece of jerky from his bag and through a mouthful, he begins to say something but is interrupted by a sudden rumble. Edric's arms come down and he looks around warily. In the corner of his eye, he sees another group of Pokemon, this time little black rock-looking ones with a brown rock on top that wave about as they hobble across the road slowly. Just then, he hears Ethan exclaim and his head turns toward his boyfriend as another group of Pokemon break the treeline, then another, then another.
Edric gapes as a swarm of Roggenrola, Rockruff, Geodude and the occasional Cubone come running past him into the opposite side of the road, causing the three of them to stumble around frantically as they try to watch their step. Edric realizes that the rumble underneath them is from some Pokemon attempting to dig their way away from whatever they are running from when he missteps and his ankle sinks knee deep into a caved in tunnel.
"Edric!" Ethan shouts as he grabs Edric's arm and pulls him out of the worked ground.
Edric nods at his boyfriend thankfully as he steps carefully away from the small dug tunnel and the rumble underneath them continues. He takes a quick breath and realizes he doesn't see Hart anywhere. When his eyes catch Ethan again, he says "Did he go to make sure Emily's okay?"
Ethan nods quickly as Pokemon continue to pass him by. The numbers have slimmed down and they're no longer being bombarded with the sudden onslaught of Pokemon, but there are some stragglers here and there that weren't fast enough to keep up, mostly Roggenrolla. Some have attempted to just roll on their sides across the road to run bit faster. Edric giggles a bit watching their little brown head rocks flop around in a circle.
"What do you think made them all run?" Ethan asks, bending over and swiping dirt off his worn jeans. His head turns toward the trees, squinting. Edric looks down as his own pants to see they are covered in dirt and dust as well.
"I don't know. Probably something big. Rock Pokemon aren't really the easiest to spook usually, are they?" Edric says, swiping his own jeans. As Edric comes back up, Ethan is already stalking off toward the treeline where the swarm came from. Edric yelps a bit and then sighs. "Big means dangerous, E! Do we really want to – Ah, fuck it."
Edric trots a bit to catch up with his boyfriend's long strides, careful not to step into another shallow tunnel on the road on the way.
They walk on through the trees before they begin to thin out and change into very tamped down packed dirt perfect for Pokemon to dig into. Edric is careful to not lose an ankle as he's sure there are tons of tunnels running everywhere here. There are boulders of every shape and kind scattered everywhere out here. Some look like they've been shattered or broken in half or taken a bite out of. There is the occasional tree or two scattered about the large clearing of packed dirt but not enough for any Pokemon to live in. The area is mostly barren of life save for more of the occasional Pokemon running by.
After about 2 or 3 minutes, they reach another large clearing of tamped dirt, separate from the last by a thin strip of trees about 50 yards wide.
"You think this is where they came from?" Ethan says as they walk around a particularly long length of several boulders.
"Definitely. This is like, a rock den if I've ever seen one. There's probably a huge cave system around here somewhere." Edric says. He looks over toward the treeline about 200 meters off, something glimmers just over the base of the trunk and Edric puts his hand over his eyes to block the sunlight. He feels Ethan tug on his jacket sleeve. Suddenly he has stopped walking.
"Uh… Ed?" Ethan says, his voice suddenly hushed.
Edric turns to his boyfriend. "What? Why are you whispering?"
"Onix." Ethan whispers, quieter than before.
"Where?"
As the words leave Edric's mouth, the boulder behind his boyfriend lurches to the left several feet and launches into the air. Edric freezes in fear as the boulders adjacent to it snap to life and rise several feet in the air as well. The front boulder spins from the ground and reveals a large fin-like rock formation moving to the top of the boulder. Thin indents split on the rocky lead boulder, revealing white slitted eyes as it continues to rise five- ten- fifteen feet into the air. The Pokemon opens its massive jaw and lets loose a shrill roar in Edric's face as it stands maybe 20 feet above his head at full height. Edric stares at it at full attention, his hands down to his sides. Sweat begins to pour from him as his stomach jumps up into his chest. He feels Ethan slowly slide his hand into his and give a slight yank.
"On the count of three, we run." Edric makes out. Ethan's voice is so quiet he barely heard it over how big this Pokemon is. "One, tw-"
Suddenly, Edric sees another figure enter his periphery from behind the Onix, breaking the treeline and sprinting directly toward them. It is mostly brown with what looks like an orange set of tiny horns on a massive head with a wide, chomping jaw. It runs on two legs with sharp looking white claws. Edric's mouth opens slightly as the thing rockets at them, kicking up a cloud of dust in it's trail. Edric squints and notices a slight glow to it as it closes the space between them.
"What the fu-" Edric gets out before Ethan's grip on his hand tightens and he shoots away from him, sprinting the opposite direction of the Onix. Edric stumbles to follow his boyfriend as he turns away and runs as fast as he can as well, holding onto Ethan's hand. He feels a rush of air fly past him and looks back over his shoulder as the smaller Pokemon slams into the Onix from behind. Onix lets out a surprised yelp as it completely loses its bearings and flattens as the unknown Pokemon's attack follows through. There is a large crash as it hits the floor, throwing rock and dirt everywhere.
"Edric, duck!" Ethan screams and skids to a halt, jolting Edric backward as a boulder comes soaring over their heads, completely crushing the spot Ethan would've been if he'd kept running. Edric regains himself and turns back to Onix as it tries launching a barrage of rocks at the Pokemon a tenth of it's size. It appears as if the Pokemon is dodging them before suddenly the rocks turn in the air and slam into the side of it's head, sending it flying several feet away. Onix rounds on the Pokemon, it's tail end glowing with a silver sheen as it slithers toward it. Edric winces as Onix whips around, slashing the Pokemon with it's tail and sending it flying once again.
Edric's head grows hot as he lets go of Ethan's hand and sprints back toward the battle, ignoring a small protest from Ethan. He grabs at two random Pokeballs from his belt as he nears the fight and launches them as far as he can into the air toward Onix. As soon he sees a glimpse of Sawk's rocky blue skin and Psyduck's yellow fur, he calls out "Help that Pokemon, quick!"
Both Psyduck and Sawk nod with understanding and launch into the action, Sawk running a lot faster than Psyduck can.
"Psyduck, Aqua Jet! Sawk, hit it from below with Low Sweep!"
Psyduck, with its enhanced speed from Aqua Jet reaches Onix first, barreling straight into it's mid-section boulder and rendering the Pokemon off balance again, giving Sawk, a few seconds behind it, space to break into a long baseball slide. The blue Pokemon with surprising strength uses both feet to completely uproot the Pokemon, effectively flipping it headfirst. But just then, as Onix's tail leaves the ground, the silvery sheen returns and flicks outward at Sawk, cracking it squarely across the chest like a whip and sending the Pokemon careening backward. Sawk lets out a loud yelp as it hits the ground in a small cloud of dust.
Edric curses loudly and bites his lip. Just then, Ethan runs up beside him and he sees Grovyle and Cubone speed past him.
"Leaf Blade and Brick Break, help them out guys!"Ethan calls.
"Water Pulse and Power-Up Punch, work together!" Edric joins.
Just after Psyduck fires its attack, Onix's tail comes up to block it. Water splashes harmlessly over the tail, but Onix is not ready when 3 other Pokemon barrel into it with three Super-effective attacks. Grovyle makes an upward swipe straight across Onix's rocky face as the other two slam into it's midsection, Cubone's bone gushing red electricity and Sawk's fist covered in a white-red energy.
"Keep it up, guys!" Edric calls.
Their Pokemon continue to pummel the Onix, trading blows back and forth as Edric and Ethan do their best to avoid flying rocks and stray Water Pulses from Psyduck's worse-than-usual aim. He glances at Ethan as his eyes are glued to the battle then sees past him. The unknown Pokemon is there past him, about 50 feet away watching the battle as well. It's eyes flash for a second and then it makes eye contact with Edric. Edric sees its wonderment at the battle turn progressively more sad. Edric tries to put on his best attempt at a comforting smile and the Pokemon just looks at him for a few moments before turning and running away, back into the treeline. Edric turns back to the battle as Sawk is launched away again.
"Water Pulse again, Psyduck!"
This time, there is no way for Psyduck to miss as Sawk had just swept the Pokemon off it's balance again and Grovyle and Cubone were bearing down on it with Leaf Blade and Brick Break. A pulsing sphere of water hit Onix square in the nose and Onix tumbled forward, throwing water everywhere as it fell to the ground in front of them. It's eyes squinted shut as the huge Pokemon slumped and fell unconscious. Before he could think, a Great Ball flies through the air toward the behemoth's body, bouncing off of it and sucking the entire mass of it in. The Pokeball makes an audible clicking sound as it falls to the ground.
"Fuck yes! That was excellent guys!" Ethan shouts in excitement to his and Edric's Pokemon as he walks out to pick up his Pokeball. "Very great work!"
Edric smiles a wide smile as well, nodding in agreement. "That was very good, Psyduck." He says, patting the yellow Pokemon's head. Quickly, he adds "You too, Sawk. Not bad for your first battle." The Pokemon nods quickly and he returns both of them.
"What do you think happened to that other Pokemon?" Ethan asks after returning his Pokemon as well. "It got sent flying then just disappeared.
Edric looked off into the treeline where it had disappeared. He frowns a bit, then turns back to Ethan. "I'm going to go find it."
–
They only walk a few hundred feet into the trees before they hear a tiny trickle of water in the distance. They continue walking and eventually they see it sitting on the bank of a small brook, it's large head hung as it looks at its feet and kicks rocks off the edge into the water. As it comes into view, Ethan's phone chimes and the Pokemon's head turns toward them, startled.
Edric places a hand on Ethan's arm and shares a careful look with him and Ethan seems to get the message as the taller boy turns around and stalks off. Edric looks back to see the Pokemon has stood but has not moved otherwise. He steps slowly, carefully up to the edge of the water beside the Pokemon and takes a seat, looking down at the clear water. He dips his hands in and rubs them together, washing the dirt off of them. Then he looks toward the Pokemon, still standing there.
"Do you want to take a seat?" he asks, patting the soft ground beside him. The Pokemon's big eyes stare at him with the same morose look as before and there is a long pause between the two of them and Edric smiles wide. "I only want to talk, I promise."
The Pokemon stands for a while, then slowly takes a step forward toward Edric. Soon enough, it's close enough that Edric can see the hard scales on the side of it's head. There is a sharp bruise there where the Onix slapped it with it's tail. Edric winces a bit and reaches out to soothe it and jumps a bit when the pokemon jerks backward slightly.
"You're a little hurt, I just wanted to make sure you were okay." The Pokemon stays still, looking at Edric curiously. My name is Edric, I'm a Pokemon Trainer." He starts. "I saw all of the other Pokemon run from Onix, why didn't you?"
The small dinosaur Pokemon makes an expression that looks like a bit of a shrugging motion. It's small arm seems to wave Edric off. 'You wouldn't understand' Edric thinks to himself.
"Well, you certainly fought with a whole lot of spirit." Edric says, turning back toward the brook. "Thanks for making space for us to get out of there."
It seems to nod slightly with a small incline of its head. A few seconds pass and it steps back up to the brook, seemingly a little more comfortable with being close to Edric. The two of them sit together for about a minute before Edric glances at the Pokemon again and notices the crestfallen expression has returned to the Pokemon's face. He tries to touch the Pokemon again and is surprised to feel it lean into Edric's gentle caress and suddenly he feels something press on the back of his neck. A small almost indistinguishable pressure as light as a feather. And then, mysteriously, his head fills with an emotion. Sadness, a feeling of loneliness and defeat.
– I'm a weakling, I'll never be able to protect anyone –
He gasps, a sharp intake of air, then speaks with knowledge that seemingly comes from nowhere.
"You're a Tyrunt, right?"
The Pokemon's sad eyes widen a bit before it inclines its head again.
"You guys are pretty proud by nature, I've read. I bet you didn't really like that Onix strong-arming its way into the homes of all your friends."
Tyrunt stares wide-eyed at him as Edric's hand drops back to his own lap.
"Onix aren't really supposed to be around this area much, and it just popped out of nowhere this morning and started making a ruckus, which is why all your friends ran away from it. There may be a lot of you, but none of you were strong enough to take it on." Edric said. Abruptly, he realizes he has no idea how he knows all this. He quickly shrugs it off as something he probably read while half asleep. Or maybe the Onix information was one of the vague memories he lost while on Mt. Coronet. Was there an Onix in the battle?
Tyrunt is quiet next to him as Edric rubs the back of his own neck where he felt the pressure just a second ago.What was that?
The Pokemon still looks quite sad as Edric watches it play with a rock with its tiny arms and huge back legs. He finds there's something oddly charming about it. Edric stands and Tyrunt looks up at him curiously.
"I'll tell you what, Tyrunt. You're not a weakling, not even close. Would you allow me to prove that to you?"
Tyrunt's head cocks a little at that and it gives Edric a look up and down, waiting for him to continue.
"Well, As you saw during the battle, I have Pokemon with me that are very, very strong, and getting stronger every day. We're going to be competing in a region-wide tournament soon where only very, very strong Pokemon will be allowed." Edric says, looking down at him. Tyrunt nods slowly, seeming to understand. Edric continues,
"If you were to become one of my friends like the ones here," he motions at the Pokeballs on his belt. "I can guarantee you you'll be one of the strongest Pokemon in the entire tournament for sure – Maybe even in the entire region!"Edric says. A smile from ear-to-ear spreads across his face when Tyrunt's eyes seem to go wide again, this time with wonderment. He sees a flash in Tyrunt's expression similar to the one he saw before the battle. The Pokemon nods.
Edric laughs, patting Tyrunt on the head affectionately. He realizes he forgot to heal it and shoulders his bag from his back, pulling a small berry out of the side pocket. "Try this, it should have you feeling better."
Tyrunt sniffs it carefully before reaching with one of its tiny arms and taking it from Edric. He takes a tentative bite, then another, and then swallows the entire thing whole. Edric bursts into laughter at that, which startles the Pokemon a bit at first, but then it turns to a cheery blush. As he stops laughing, Edric asks the Pokemon something he never had asked any Pokemon before.
"Would you be okay with a Pokeball?"
Tyrunt seems to consider it at first, but it eventually nods again. Edric pulls an empty Pokeball from his bag and taps Tyrunt's snout. The Pokemon is sucked inside and the ball clicks. Edric smiles warmly as he places the ball on to his belt. With a stretch and a deep breath, Edric begins to move back toward the way they came.
He finds Ethan in the large rock clearing, still empty and basically destroyed. He is tapping a text out on his phone screen when Edric says his name, catching his attention.
"What are you doing?" Edric asks.
"Just texting Hart. He says they're both fine. Just got a little lost on the way back. They said to set up camp and they should be around soon." Ethan answers. His eyes focus on Edric's head for a second and he reaches up to wipe some dust from his hair. "Everything okay? You were sitting there for a bit."
As Ethan asks, the feeling of pressure on the back of his neck returns. It feels different from before, not invasive, mostly just present. A reminder that its there, whatever it is. Edric pauses for a bit then answers.
"Yeah. Everything's fine."
