Season 01

Episode 08

A Lonely Star

It had taken them a few days to reach the base of Mount Moon. Their camp was a little crazy with all that was going on. Heather was preparing dinner with the help of Jigglypuff and Ledyba. Ponyta was stood nearby grazing on a simple bush. Crystal was sat against Arcanine as usual while watching over her Pokemon. She had them do some funny looking training. Charmeleon would lay across Mudbray, so Mudbray would learn to stand up without throwing Charmeleon off. Also the weight of Charmeleon would help strengthen Mudbray's muscles. Bulbasaur was also using her vines to lift Squirtle and move him about.

'All right everyone, now for… what is it Arcanine?' Crystal had noticed that Arcanine had become alert. His ears were twitching.

Arcanine was turning his head around while twitching his ears as if trying to find the direction to the unknown sound he was hearing. Arcanine's alertness had got everyone else alert.

'Wait. Do you hear that?' Heather spoke up.

'Staa…' it was faint.

'Yeah. I think I hear it.' Crystal replied.

'Staaar…'

Arcanine had finally figured out where the sound was coming from and was staring in the direction almost back towards Pewter City.

It wasn't long until they saw a Pokemon flying in their general direction. Well, it was struggling to fly. Its flying was quite erratic.

'Is that a Spearow?' Crystal asked no-one in particular.

Just then the Pokemon dropped out of the air and crashed into a tree.

Crystal turned and pulled herself onto Arcanine with the help of Charmeleon who pushed her up. 'Mudbray, stay with Heather. Charmeleon, Squirtle and Bulbasaur, follow us.' With that, they ran towards the location where the Pokemon fell.

'The Pokemon should be around here. Find it.' Crystal called out.

They all fanned out. Everyone's heads moved side to side, up and down. Heads poked into bushes. Looked up at branches. Arcanine's ears twitching for sound and nose sniffing for anything.

'Blubasaaauuur. Bulba bulba! Bulbasaur!' Bulbasaur started calling out.

Bulbasaur kept calling out until everyone arrived.

'What did you find?' Crystal asked her.

Using one of her vines she pointed up into a tree. Everyone looked up and saw the Pokemon. It was wedged into the nook between branch and stump. It looked quite injured and pretty much unconscious.

'It's not too high up. Charmeleon, can you climb up to it?'

'Char.' Charmeleon replied and started climbing. It didn't take long for him to reach the Pokemon.

'OK Charmeleon. Gently pickup it up. Bulbasaur, use your vines to grab it from Charmeleon and bring it down to me.'

Charmeleon nodded and carefully lifted the Pokemon up. Bulbasaur reached up and gently took it from Charmeleon and brought it down. Charmeleon climbed down just as Bulbasaur handed it over to Crystal.

'Oh man. This Pokemon is in very bad shape. We're too far from the nearest Pokemon Centre. Quick everyone. Back to camp. Now.'

Arcanine bolted and ran as fast as it could back to camp, leaving the other Pokemon trailing behind. It didn't take long to arrive back at camp. The hasty arrival startled Heather.

'Did you find it?' Heather asked.

'Heather. It's an emergency. Here.' Crystal revealed the Pokemon in her arms.

'Oh dear.' she looked at Jigglypuff. 'Get my medical bag. Quickly.' she then ran over and took the Pokemon from Crystal. Laying it gently on a blanket she started looking it over. 'It's in bad shape. Lots of injuries, and not to mention it's thin. I don't think it has eaten in days.' Jigglypuff brought the medical bag over and Heather started working.

She rubbed ointment on cuts and bruises. Applied bandages. Made one of her fruit drinks and mix in some tablets before forcing it to drink bit by bit. During all of this, it woke up only twice. Charmeleon and the other two also arrived.

Heather rubbed her face and took a deep breath. 'I've done all I can. Only time will tell if I have done enough.'

Crystal who had already climbed down off Arcanine, crawled over and sat next to them. 'Do you recognise which Pokemon it is?'

'It's a Starly isn't it?' Heather replied.

'I thought so as well, but…'

'I know. Its colouring is different than usual.'

'Aren't Starlys' meant to be grey-brown in the colouring of its feathers?' Crystal pulled out her Pokedex and scanned the it.

'Starly. They flock around mountains and fields, chasing after bug Pokémon. Their singing is noisy and annoying.' the Pokedex spoke up.

'The Pokedex shows a Starly to be grey-brown, but this one is a sort of two-tone red. It still has the white mask and chest spot though.' Crystal started pressing buttons. 'It looks like this Starly may also be female. According to the Pokedex, the mask on females are smaller than on males.'

Heather handed Crystal a bowl of fruit juice. 'Whenever it wakes up, give it some of this. Only a bit at a time. We don't want to shock it by making it eat a lot on an empty stomach.'

'I'll do just that.' Crystal placed the bowl down. 'So what do think happened to it to get like this?'

'I don't really know.' Heather started preparing food for everyone. 'I can only guess. When you see Starly, they tend to be in groups. However, it's known that when a group gets too big, they start to argue amongst themselves for one reason or another. Arguing over who is the leader of the group. Arguing over food when there isn't enough food. Those sorts of things. When that happens, some of the flock tends to separate from the group and go their own way.'

'So you think that this one separated from its group for those reasons?'

'That's my guess. But still, it doesn't explain its current condition. Something else must have happened.'

'I think you're right… oh, it's awake.' Crystal fed Starly some of the fruit juice and it quickly fell asleep again. 'Let's just hope that it pulls through and we can ask it what happened.'

'I hope so. I certainly hope so.'

Time passed by in relative sombre. Crystal kept watch over Starly while Heather took care of everything else with the help of the other Pokemon. Arcanine however, stayed with Crystal. Hours went by and night fell. Charmeleon kept the campfire burning. Heather brought a snack for Crystal. Starly woke up and stayed awake just long enough to be fed some more juice and get a change of bandages and medicine before falling asleep again.

Crystal woke up to find Starly with its head in the juice bowl. Starly was going at the juice like it was the best thing it had ever tasted. Now and then it would raise its head, eyes closed as if to savour the moment, before dunking its head again. Eventually Starly raised its head, the bowl covering it. After a moment it shook the bow off which rolled to oneside.

'Are you feeling better Starly?' Crystal spoke up. Starly jumped in surprise. 'Don't be afraid. No one here will hurt you.'

Starly looked around. Arcanine was watching them, but didn't give off the feeling of danger towards it. Bulbasaur was hunched up and still asleep. Squirtle was still asleep in his shell. Charmeleon was curled up, his tail flame almost touching his face. Everyone else was still asleep in their own way.

'When I found you, you were injured and looked like you hadn't eaten in a long time. So my friend Heather who is still asleep…' she gestured to one of the open tents where Heather's head could be seen next to Jigglypuff. 'took care of your injuries. I have been watching over you all night. Feeding you a little of the fruit juice whenever you woke up.' Crystal chuckled a little. 'The very same juice which you've just finished drinking. So, how did it taste?'

'Starr…' Starly opened its wings and started calling out in a happy mood but suddenly clenched up in pain.

'Easy now. You're no where near recovered.' Crystal flopped down onto her front and started crawling over to the medical bag nearby but Bulbasaur reached out with her vines and grabbed the bag. 'Sorry Bulbasaur. Did we wake you?'

'Bulba. Bulbasaur.' Bulbasaur shook her head as if to say "Don't worry about it."

Crystal moved back to Starly and Bulbasaur placed the bag next to her. 'Thank you Bulbasaur.' she then started looking through the bag. 'There should be something in here for pain relief.'

'For pain relief you will want to use some Heal Powder.' Heather called out. 'Be careful, it's rather bitter.'

Crystal looked over at Heather who was now watching, but had not climbed out of her sleeping bag. 'Heal Powder?'

'Yeah. It's a powder made out of certain herbs. It helps a Pokemon get rid of all known status effects. Paralysis, Poison etc. For some reason, it helps with general pain. Like muscle pain, that sort of thing. Also, no more food and drink for a while. Starly has had enough for a while. We don't want to do more harm than good.'

'Thanks Heather.' Crystal smiled at Starly. 'Don't worry. We'll have you feeling much better. Just don't rush yourself or get over excited. Just rest up.' she gently placed a hand on Starly's cheek and smiled. 'Now then, for the medicine.' she looked through the bag again. 'Right, this must be it.' she held a small tub which says "Heal Powder".

'There's a small spoon in the bag. You only need a single spoonful.' Heather called out.

'OK. I found the spoon.' she prepared a spoonful and offered it to Starly.

Starly sniffed it and pulled away with a look as if to say "I'm not having that."

'Listen Starly. I know this medicine won't be to your liking, but you need to take it.'

'Star star. Starly.' Starly shook its head.

'Hey Starly.' Heather called out. 'Shall we make a deal. If you take that medicine now and rest up, I will make you some more of the fruit juice later. What do you say?'

Starly looked at Heather, then to the spoon, then to the bowl which was laying upside down nearby. After staring at the bowl for a moment Starly quickly bit onto the spoon. Almost immediately Starly recoiled and started coughing and shaking its head.

'I know I know. It tastes bad.' Crystal placed her hand on Starly's cheek again. 'But you'll forgive us when you feel better.'

'Star.' Starly looked over at the bowl.

'You'll have more juice to drink later. If you have more right now, it will hurt you. Do you understand?'

'Star.' Starly looked rather sad, but nodded anyway.

'So Starly. Do you feel up to answering a few questions?' Crystal crawled over to Arcanine and propped herself up.

Starly was watching Crystal before walking over and placing a wing on her leg and trying to give it a little push.

'Don't worry about me Starly. I was injured a long time ago and can no longer walk. I will tell you the story later. But first, for the questions about you.'

'Starly.' Starly sat next to Crystal's legs and looked up at her.

'OK Starly. You only need to give me yes or no answers. Is that OK?'

'Star.' Starly answered with a nod.

'OK. So here goes. It is difficult to tell, but are you female?' Starly nodded. 'That's nice. Sorry, but your unusual colouring was making that difficult to know which one you were. Tap on my leg the amount of nights since you last had something to eat and drink. Not including last night when I found you.' Starly tapped her leg four times. 'Oh dear. You poor thing. It's no wonder you were looking very thin and barely able to fly. You're still looking thin, but that will soon change.' Crystal gently placed her hand on Starly's face again. 'OK. About your injuries. Were they caused by your flock?' Starly nodded but then shook her head. 'OK. Let me ask again. Were the injuries started by your flock?' Starly nodded. Crystal thought for a moment. 'Let me guess. Were the rest of the injuries caused by other Pokemon when you went looking for food?' Starly nodded.

Crystal sighed. 'I think I understand now. You were kicked out of your flock. Every time you went looking for food, other Pokemon didn't like you trespassing and attacked you. Out of sheer hunger, you flew in no particular direction in hopes of finding food. Am I correct?' Crystal looked at Starly, but she had fallen asleep.

'I think Starly will sleep for a few hours. I suggest you do the same. I'll watch over her for a while.' Heather walked over while carrying Crystal's sleeping bag.

'That's a good idea. Thanks.'

Several hours later Crystal stirred from hearing a commotion. She sat up in her sleeping bag to see Starly making a lot of noise in front of Heather. Jigglypuff and Ledyba were trying to calm her down.

Crystal crawled out of her sleeping bag and dragged herself over to them. Starly was so fixated on Heather that it was a surprise to her when Crystal grabbed her from behind.

'Starly, you need to settle down.' sadly Starly was still frantic.

Arcanine stepped between Heather and Starly. He just stood there quietly staring at Starly. After a moment Starly started to calm down until she was quiet. A moment later Arcanine nuzzled her before walking behind Crystal.

'What was all that about?' Crystal looked at Heather.

'I was preparing breakfast and haven't finished making the fruit juice that I promised. When I told that to Starly, she started acting that way.'

Crystal turned Starly round so they faced each other. 'Were you upset that Heather hasn't finished making the fruit juice for you? Were you eager to drink it?'

'Starly.' She lowered her head in a motion that she was regretting what she did.

'Listen Starly. I know you spent days without food and are eager to eat again, but you need to calm down. We will feed you, but what I think Heather is trying to do is feed everyone at the same time. Which would you prefer, to eat quickly, or have a nice meal alongside friends?'

'Star.' Starly looked around at everyone. 'Starly.' She seemed to cheer up. She walked over to Heather. 'Starly. Star star, starly.' She wasn't being hyper or upset. She was calm and being polite.

Heather crouched down. 'You don't need to apologise. So, have you decided to eat with everyone?'

'Star.' She nodded.

'That's a good girl.' she patted her on the head. 'Now then. When I give you the fruit juice, you need to remember not to drink it quickly. You don't want to upset your stomach and being sick do you? Drink a small amount and wait a moment for it to settle. Then drink another small amount. Do you understand?'

'Star.' she nodded.

'That's a good girl.' After patting her on the head again, she returned to doing breakfast.

'So then Starly. Why don't you go and talk to the other Pokemon. Get to know each other. I'm going to get cleaned up a little.' With that she crawled to her tent. Arcanine followed along with Bulbasaur. Starly watched her, tilting her head from confusion.

Noticing her confusion, Squirtle walked over to her and started talking. Now and then Starly would looked over at Crystal with a look of surprise, or sadness. Then Squirtle started introducing the other Pokemon. Most of them happily greeted Starly, but Ponyta simply snorted and returned to munching on some grass. Starly seemed to look a bit sad, Squirtle simply explained something to her and she cheered up a little. Ledyba and Jigglypuff happily greeted her, but returned to helping Heather.

After a short while, Heather handed out the food. Starly had followed Heather's instructions and took her time drinking the fruit juice.

'When we've eaten, we'll continue on to Cerulean City.' Crystal spoke up and got cheers from most of the Pokemon and a nod from Heather.