On the bank of a swollen river, hidden by the undergrowth, an exhausted Shaymin lay, gasping for air. Soaked through, they shivered against the chilly morning air.
Through the nausea and the cold, Shaymin tried to think about what happened to them. It was mostly a blur, but they could remember being violently thrown around until they became dizzy, and an impossibly large beast clad in rusted gold rushing towards them with jaws opened wide.
They were going to eat me, they realized with a shudder. They were thankful that they had somehow managed to escape the beast, even if said escape involved being swept away in a freezing river.
Somewhere deep inside of them, past their pounding head and the chill in their bones, an ancient urge was telling them to move. Go to the flower field. . .
Shaymin panted as they slowly sat up, their muscles begging for the to lie back down. They knew they couldn't waste time resting, despite how exhausted they were. They needed to keep going, towards the flower field.
Shaymin couldn't afford to miss it. With as much strength they could muster, they got to their paws, and started to walk.
I need to get there. I need to get to the flower field. I can't get left behind again. . .
To the sound of the nearby burbling lake and several Camome calling to each other overhead, Sora Hantā placed another bowl down onto the rim of a large sandpit. Beside him, his Pikachu did the same, making sure to place them in a line.
"Thanks, Pika." he said, stretching out his back as he stood up to look around the picnic area. It was a nice spot that overlooked the lake, with a water fountain, a picnic table, and a sandpit.
Satoshi wasn't back yet. The trainer and his own Pikachu had disappeared not long after they had settled down to have their lunch. The last Sora had seen the two was when they were leaning over the nearby fencing to look out at the lake just as they started setting up the stove they had rented.
Sora huffed to himself. He hated it whenever Satoshi ran off without warning. Trouble always seemed to follow Satoshi's every step, so not being able to keep an eye on him made Sora anxious. At least Pikachu's wae 'im, he reasoned. 'r Ah cin jist caw 'im back if he's been away fur too long.
Shigeru Okido stood at the stove, flipping a hotcake he was making. Sora couldn't help smirking as he walked past the taller brunet to set the table.
Shigeru was wearing the pretty pink apron that Sora and Satoshi had gotten him as a joke after Satoshi's Lizardon accidentally turned the last one into ash with a stray Flamethrower.
Instead of turning his nose up at it, Shigeru happily accepted the gift and started wearing it every time he cooked. Can't let such a lovely gift go to waste, he had told them as he put it on for the first time.
As Sora sorted their cutlery, a trio of shadows zoomed over the table. He tilted his head back to look skyward at the flying Pokémon overhead. Among the odd Comome, his Bohmander (Bara) was chasing Lizardon and Satoshi's Mukubird in a game of tag.
Looks like der enjoyin' da fresh air, Sora nodded to himself.
Just as Sora started to place the cutlery onto the table, his Gamale fluttered up to him with plates floating in his Psychic.
"Good boy, Duffel." he praised, getting a happy chitter in return. "Cin yae put dem oon dat table fur me?" He pointed to the spots where he, Satoshi, and Shigeru were going to be seated. "Ah'm here, Satoshi's der, 'n Shigeru's sittin' ova here."
"Gama!" Duffel carefully placed the plates down in their places, allowing Sora to put a knife and fork beside each one. After sending Duffel off with an appreciative pet between his antennae, Shigeru grabbed the breeder's attention by tapping the top of the stove with his spatula.
"Hey, Sora. Can you—uh, do the thing to get Satoshi back here? I'm nearly done with the batter, so-" he gestured with the spatula vaguely. "do it, please."
The thing was a shout that Sora had created while he was travelling through Hoenn with Satoshi. The both of them had gotten separated in a dense pine forest after Satoshi chased after a Massuguma. Sora couldn't keep up with him on the best of days, so he was left behind. Sora had panicked and started to call out for Satoshi, getting louder the longer Satoshi didn't call back.
Somehow, he had gotten so loud that Satoshi had finally managed to hear him from a deeper part of the forest, and followed Sora's calls until they found each other. To Sora's vocal chords' relief, his call had since lost it's frantic edge and had turned into a simple, but effective shout.
"Yes," Shigeru nodded, covering his ears with his hands. "Do it. Brace yourselves, everybody!"
Sora looked around, unsure which direction Satoshi had run off to. In the large sandpit he had left the bowls alongside, Shigeru's Tatetops was taking runs at Sora's Bangiras' hard stomach. Shigeru's Windie, Rentoroar, and Blacky were dozing in the sun on a patch of grass with Satoshi's Fushigibana. Duffel and Satoshi's Glion were perched in the tree beside them, also unaware of their upcoming rude awakening.
Sora silently offered an apology to them before turning away to look for Satoshi elsewhere. He spotted the case of stone stairs that went down to the lake. Dat's probably ma best bet, he decided, eyeing the countless Comome and the odd Pelipper flying over the lake. Find da Pokémon, find da Satoshi.
He twirled around to face the large body of water, placing his feet apart. He puffed out his chest, straightened his shoulders, took in a lungful of air, cupped his hands around his mouth, and bellowed; "OI, SATOSHI!"
Most of the closest Comome scrambled to fly away, spooked by the sudden loud noise. A pair Kamex popped their heads out the water to look up at Sora in alarm. Over his own voice still ringing in his ears, somewhere in the near-distance, a voice called back. Satoshi had heard him.
Relieved, Sora waved at the two Kamex to come out and turned to Shigeru, who gave him a baffled look as he placed another hotcake onto the pile in the centre of the table. "How do you do that?"
The older brunet shrugged. He supposed that his anxiety had the rare perk or two.
"Okay then," Shigeru said slowly, almost looking disappointed by Sora's answer.
Sora shrugged again, then trotted over to the water fountain to wash his hands. His Pikachu was already there, leaning over the grate to wash her brown forepaws. He made sure not to splash her as he rinsed his hands.
His ears perked up at the sound of someone rapidly approaching. He lifted his head to see Satoshi and Pikachu fly into view after racing up the stone stairs. Their arrival punctuated by another burst of fleeing Comome.
Sora was quick to step in front of Pika so that she didn't end up being trampled.
Satoshi ran up to the fountain and started to drink deeply from the top faucet with Pikachu jumping up onto the fountain to do the same.
"Careful-!" Sora squeaked.
"Sorry," Satoshi panted, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Was thirsty."
"Clearly." Shigeru huffed, placing the last hotcake onto the pile. "I just finished the batter."
Satoshi's eyes lit up, and was about to walk towards the table when Sora stopped him. "Did yae see yir Kamex befur comin' up here?"
"Yeah," Satoshi nodded. "I passed them just as they were comin' out of the water."
As if on cue, the two large turtle-like Pokémon slowly sauntered up the stairs and into view.
"See?" Satoshi smiled before excitedly seating himself at the table, tearing off his gloves, and grabbing a fork. "Thanks for the-" he reached out to take one of the hotcakes, only for his fork to be blocked by a frying pan.
"Hold it. Did you wash your hands?" Shigeru asked him, his tone reminding Sora of his mother.
Satoshi stared at him, then awkwardly brought up his hands with an open-mouthed smile. "They're clean!"
Sora peered at them. They were filthy . Sora had no idea how Satoshi had managed to do it. He had been wearing his gloves, and yet his palms were practically caked with dirt. Sora didn't want to imagine what Satoshi had been doing to get his hands that dirty.
Shigeru screwed up his face in a mixture of disgust and disappointment.
Satoshi turned his hands around to look at them. His bottom lip quivered. From the fountain, Pikachu sighed.
Sora pressed his lips together to hold in a laugh as he and Pika approached the table.
"Hurry up and wash your hands." Shigeru said as he closed the stove's lid. "And do it properly this time."
"Yeah, yeah. . ." Satoshi sighed, getting up from his seat. As he passed Sora, the brunet flicked water at him, making him flinch. "Hey-!" When Sora laughed, Satoshi gave him a playful shove before heading to the fountain.
Sora looked at the table, feeling rather satisfied with what they had assembled. It was the best looking lunch they've had in a long time. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten something that wasn't pickled burdock root or wildberries.
Sora wished that he had spoken up to thank the trainer with the Elekible that Satoshi had battled the day prior for pointing them in the direction of the town.
After giving their lunch another look over, Sora went to his backpack to retrieve the foodstuffs for their Pokémon's lunches. He had managed to make enough for that day's lunch and dinner, but hadn't been able to make more past that, so he promised himself to set some time aside that afternoon to prepare their food for the next week or so.
With Shigeru and a clean-handed Satoshi's help, it didn't take long for the food jars to be sorted and for the bowls that Sora and Pika had set down along the sandpit to be filled.
"Alright, everyone!" Shigeru called out. "Lunchtime!"
The three trainers stood back to let their collective Pokémon gather around to enjoy their lunch. Sora smiled to himself at their eagerness to eat the food he prepared. They seemed to prefer his food over store bought, which made him very happy.
Satoshi brought his hands up to his stomach. "Watchin' them is making me hungry," he admitted sheepishly.
Shigeru rolled his eyes.
Sora shook his head, exasperated, but kept his eyes on their Pokémon to make sure that Bara and Lizardon didn't snap at each other like they usually would during feeding time.
"Let's ea- huh?"
Hearing Satoshi cut himself off, Sora raised an eyebrow and turned around. He was ready to ask what was wrong, but the question died on his tongue. On their picnic table, there was a small Pokémon munching through their hotcakes with the salad bowl cast aside, now empty.
"Our hotcakes!" Satoshi exclaimed.
Sora blinked in surprise, then looked around and listened for a possible trainer as Satoshi and Shigeru ran up to the table to confront the eating Pokémon. Wild Pokémon weren't usually so brazen to steal from humans, especially ones with their own Pokemon, so he assumed that they had a trainer somewhere nearby.
"What do you think you are doin'?" Satoshi yelled, bringing Sora's attention back to the theft-in-progress. "This is our food!"
The breeder couldn't see or hear anyone, so he quickly jogged up to take a look at their little thief.
The Pokémon was tiny, much smaller than any of their Pokémon, and was covered head-to-toe in drying mud and dirt. Their fur was mostly obscured by the mud, but he could see flecks of green and white peeking through. They even had flower-shaped growths on either side of their small head.
Sora felt anxiety prickling up the back of his neck. If there was anything Sora was good at, it was his knowledge of Pokémon. He could recognize just about any Pokémon on sight and know almost everything about them, but he did have his limits. Limits that seemed to be rearing their ugly heads at the current time, much to his dismay. Maybe waeoot aww dat dirt in da way. . .
Pikachu, Pika, and Shigeru's Blacky had left their lunches to approach the table alongside their trainers. Pikachu jumped up onto the tabletop, while Pika hopped onto one of the stump-like seats.
Pikachu tilted his head to the side, looking unsure on what to do. Pika stood up, leaning forward to grip the edge of the table. She squeaked a question towards the unknown Pokémon, but she was ignored. The Pokémon continued to eat greedily.
Sora's eyebrow twitched. Excuse you.
Pika tried to speak again, but the dirt-covered Pokémon abruptly shook out their fur, creating a dust cloud.
Sand Attack! Sora turned his head away, squeezing his eyes shut. He choked on the dust, waving a hand in front of him to keep it away from his face.
He heard Pikachu letting out a pained grunt and Satoshi yelp in surprise. Sora opened a cautious eye in time to see Satoshi stagger backwards with the muddy Pokémon attached to his face.
"Satoshi!" Shigeru gasped.
Seemingly too surprised to just grab the Pokémon, Satoshi thrashed around like a Kentauros trying to dislodge their rider until he threw his head back. The Pokémon was thrown into the stove, which wobbled and crashed to the ground.
The Pokémon lay next to the stove, stunned and unmoving.
Sora's eyes rounded with fear. Worried that they had been badly hurt, he moved to get his backpack to find his first-aid kit. Where is it?!
Just as he reached into his bag to bring out the first-aid kit, the stove suddenly erupted in thick, black smoke. Sora's heart was in his throat as he whipped around to stare at the ruined stove. From the sandpit, their Pokémon collectively gawked.
Shigeru surged forward, waving his arms wildly. "Agh-! We don't have the money to pay for this!"
Satoshi followed him, coughing as a plume of smoke hit him in the face. "Lizardon!"
Upon being named, Lizardon jumped in and started flapping his large, powerful wings to blow the smoke towards the lake.
Sora got to his feet, first-aid kit in hand and Pika at his side. They were ready to run over to pick the Pokémon up and get them away from the smoke, but the both of them froze when they watched the smoke start to disappear into the little Pokémon's back.
Shigeru, Satoshi, and Lizardon stopped what they were doing so they could watch the Pokemon in astonishment.
". . .that cannot be healthy." Shigeru commented.
"Are they okay?" Satoshi asked nervously. "I didn't hurt them, did I?"
"A-ah hope no." Sora said, frowning as the small monster groaned and started to glow faintly.
"Is that Recover?" Shigeru asked.
"Ah don't 'hink so. . ." Sora mumbled, feeling the air around him beginning to vibrate with energy as the glow intensified. Recover didn't do that. When a Pokémon used Recover, they emitted a warm, comforting pulsing energy. This energy was growing denser, and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
Sora's stomach dropped. They weren't going to retain the building energy. They were going to release it.
Panicked, he grabbed Pika, clutching her to his chest and yelled. "Der gonnae blow up!"
As soon as the words had left his mouth, the compressed energy expanded and exploded. He was violently thrown off his feet, his stomach lurching and his lungs emptying.
He landed hard on his spine, making him bark in pain. Blood pumping loudly in his ears, he gasped for air and turned to his side, casting his first-aid kit aside. Around him, dust and tiny green specks drifted.
As he got his breath back, Pika wriggled out of his grasp. She placed a paw on his arm, her eyes filled with concern. "Chuchu pi?"
Sora coughed before slowly sitting up and offering his emotional support Pokémon a pained smile. "Ah'm awright. Wit aboot you?"
"Pi pika," she replied, pressing her forehead to his hunched shoulder.
Sora coughed again as he looked at the fallout. He had been thrown several feet, leaving him beside the picnic table. Satoshi was on the table, groaning, with Pikachu beside him with the salad bowl on his head. Shigeru was out of sight, but Blacky's position under the table suggested that he was on the other side somewhere.
Sora looked towards their Pokémon, afraid that they had been injured in the explosion. They were gathering themselves with the larger Pokémon already standing. They looked shaken, but unhurt. Sora let out a relieved sigh, thanking the stars that they hadn't been harmed.
Platinum and Lizardon were the first to glare daggers at their attacker, the rest of the Pokémon following suit.
Sora's gaze followed theirs, landing on the small Pokémon. They were sitting up, but panting heavily.
It. . .wiznae Explosion? Explosion always knocked the user out, but there they were, still conscious. Bit, dat felt way too strong tae be anythin' else. There had been some serious power behind that attack, but they hadn't managed to hurt anyone. Had they been holding back? If they had been holding back, they had clearly exhausted themselves.
"Is everyone alright?" Sora heard Shigeru groan.
"Ah'm fine," Sora said, picking up his discarded first-aid kit.
Satoshi slid off the table with a grunt. "Same here, I guess."
After shakily brushing off dirt from Pika's support vest, Sora watched the little Pokémon make an attempt to skitter away on unsteady paws.
They didn't make it far as they were quickly surrounded by the trio's angry Pokémon. Windie curled a lip to show a flash of teeth, while Duffel made a show of angrily fluttering his wings.
The tiny thief tried to back away, only to bump into Fushigibana's leg. They tried to flee in another direction, only to be growled at by Rentoroar. They desperately looked around and upon realizing that they were surrounded, they curled into themselves with a frightened cry.
Sora frowned. He understood that they were angry about their lunch being ruined, but they didn't need to freak the little guy out. They were obviously tired and unwilling to fight back after that blast.
Not accepting their behaviour, Sora used the table as a support to get back onto his feet. "Guys, stop it!" He stomped over, shoving Rentoroar aside so that he could put himself between their Pokémon and the tiny mud ball. Pika was beside him, sharing his disappointed scowl.
"Is dis any way tae behave?" He asked Lizardon, who huffed smoke out of his nostrils. Platinum was first to look apologetic. She took a step back, and used her tail to pull a protesting Tatetops out of the crowd. Fushigibana and Blacky bowed their heads.
"Is it?" Sora met eyes with Bara. She held his gaze for a long moment, but she relented with a grumble.
Sora waited until he felt like everyone had backed off enough before he turned and knelt down beside the balled-up Pokémon.
"Be careful!" Shigeru warned him. "We don't know how dangerous that Pokémon is!"
Sora glanced over his shoulder, seeing Satoshi and Shigeru standing some metres away, watching him warily. He waved at them, hoping to sway their fears. He was going to be fine. He was sure they weren't going to attack, and if they did—he wasn't going to be short on protection.
He looked back down at the Pokémon. They were making a low huffing noise. He wasn't sure if they were making the noise because they were on the defensive or if they were hurt.
"It's awright," he cooed. "We're no gonnae hurt yae." He heard disagreeing rumbles around him. He decided to ignore them for the time being.
"Pika-chu," Pika chirped, seating herself beside her trainer.
Slowly, the Pokémon uncurled themselves and peered up at him with unsure, sunken eyes. He smiled a little. He had seen that look on many other Pokémon's faces in his years helping with his mother's rescue project back home. It was a look that he could greatly sympathize with.
With a trained gentleness, he carefully rubbed his thumb along the Pokémon's head. They tensed at first, but slowly started to relax. He continued, wiping away the caked-on dirt to reveal white fur underneath. Dey need a wash.
"See? Dat didnae hurt, did it?" Sora asked. The Pokémon shook their head, making a small noise in the back of their throat. "Ah want tae see if yir hurt 'r no, bit Ah cannae look yae ova becuz yir covered in dirt, so cin Ah pick yae up 'n gee yae a wash?" He pointed towards the water fountain. "Ah promise Ah'll dae ma best tae be gentle."
The Pokémon nervously shifted their weight from one paw to another in thought.
"Pi pika," Pika said softly after crouching down to be eye-level with them. Her tail gestured to Sora, then to herself. "pikachu pi pika."
Thanks, Pika. Pika was always there to help him. Scared Pokémon typically trusted fellow Pokémon over people. It also didn't hurt that Pika was pretty good at comforting. It was her job, after all.
The Pokémon blinked, stared at Sora, and gave him a tiny nod. As gentle as he would with a newborn, Sora lifted the Pokémon and stood up. Cradling the dirty Pokémon to him, he walked over to the fountain with Pika following. He offered a grin to Satoshi and Shigeru as he passed them.
Sora placed them on the grate. The Pokémon looked past them with worry in their little green eyes. The breeder didn't need to look to know that his friends had walked over to watch. "Don't mind dem." he said. "Der no gonnae dae anythin'."
Pika nodded in agreement as Pikachu padded up to stand beside her, eyes wide with curiosity.
The brunet grabbed the fountain's faucet handle. "Dis is gonnae be cauld," he warned before turning the knob, letting the cool water fall onto them.
They let out a surprised squeak, but Sora was fast to start scrubbing at the dirt and mud, starting with their back. The fur felt spiky, and somewhat hard to the touch, like the bristles on a soft hair brush. Spines, he noted. hopefully der no poisonous.
He continued to wash them nonetheless, trusting them to not prick him. As the mud was washed away, the spines were revealed to be green with specks of yellow throughout. He slowly moved to the rest of their body. The fur there was short, soft, and white. The flower-growths were pink and felt delicate to the touch, and the Pokémon flinched when his calloused fingers rubbed a little too hard on one of the petals.
As more and more of the Pokémon was revealed to him, Sora started to believe that he recognised this Pokémon from somewhere, but he couldn't put a name to them or where he remembered them from. Wan eh ma books maybe?
Deciding that they were clean enough, Sora turned off the tap. "Cin somewan git me a towel?"
Pika nodded, quickly padding away to fetch one from his bag.
"What kind of Pokémon are they?" Shigeru asked, peering over Sora's shoulder to look at them.
"Ah. . .don't know." Sora admitted, as Pika returned with a hand towel in her paws. When Sora turned to take it, the Pokémon stretched and shook themselves, scattering water droplets everywhere. Satoshi and Shigeru had been fortunate enough to be able to step back to avoid the shower. Sora, Pika, and Pikachu, however, were not.
Danks fur dat. Sora blinked water out of his eyes, taking the towel and started to dry the sodden Pokémon. "Der we go, nice 'n clean." He sighed, wrapping them up in the towel and standing. Satoshi and Shigeru closed in, still cautious about the Pokémon happily wrapped in their friend's arms. See? Dat didnae kill anywan, did it?
"That felt good," a small, squeaky voice said. "but it was really cold."
"Sorry aboot dat, bit Ah did warn y-" Sora almost bit his tongue, and stared down at the bundle in his arms. He snapped his head up to meet eyes with Satoshi and Shigeru, who returned his surprised expression. Even though their wide eyes should have answered his unspoken question, he dumbly asked, "Uhh, guys? Y-yae heard dat, right. . ?"
"Sure did," Satoshi nodded.
"Yeah," Shigeru added. "that must've been telepathy."
The three of them looked back down at the Pokémon. The little Pokémon simply stared back at them blankly, as if a Pokémon speaking was an everyday occurrence. Though, there was a part of him that supposed that they shouldn't be too surprised by the Pokémon's ability to speak. It wasn't like they hadn't met other Pokémon that could do the same in the past, but none of them had been your average Pokémon either. At least this meant that they could tell them their name.
"Wit kind eh Pokémon ir you?" Sora asked.
The Pokémon's eyes narrowed. "I'm Shaymin, obviously."
Shaymin. Shaymin. The name bounced around in Sora's head until the image of a book from his childhood came to mind. A book with Shaymin on the cover.
That is where he recognised them from. He nodded slowly. "Shaymin, aye." He was so occupied with trying to remember more about the book, he didn't notice the look Shigeru gave him.
". . .where did you come from?" Satoshi asked, bringing Sora out of his thoughts.
"There." Shaymin sniffled, shifting their paws against the towel.
Satoshi frowned, an irritated wrinkle appearing between his eyebrows. "I don't know what you mean by 'there'."
"There is there." Shaymin said, like it was obvious.
Okay, so ignorin' Pika wiznae a wan aff 'hing.
"I just told you I don't know where 'there' is." The trainer snapped.
Shaymin paused, then rested their head on their paws. "There is where there is, there is where-there was. . ." they started to trail off, their face slowly beginning to turn a shade of warm pink.
Not understanding the sudden decline in energy, Sora gingerly placed a hand onto the Pokémon's forehead. They were burning up.
"Dey've goat a fevuh!" He cried, fear gripping him. "We hiv tae git dem tae a Pokémon Centre-!"
"Yeah, let's go!" Satoshi agreed, fumbling around to grab the Monster Balls on his belt. "Return, everyone!" He quickly returned his Pokémon one by one, then let Sora carefully hand over Shaymin to him so that he could do the same for his own.