I slept better that night, in a perverse sort of way. My dreams were haunted, but at least I had managed to fall asleep for long enough to actually dream. It… hadn't been much more restful than last night - not by a long stretch. Seeing my friends and colleagues torn apart by those terrible golden beams had left me a shivering wreck. Telling myself that it was just a dream hadn't brought me any comfort.

It was silly - childish, even. We had won - I knew it; I lived it. But the images stuck with me anyway.

Vespiquen had noticed my distress, but she didn't ask and I didn't tell.

With the first rays of dawn sunlight peeking over the horizon the both of us were up and about. We still had a good stock of berries left from Vespiquen's foraging yesterday, so we ate together.

"How are the injuries going?" I ask between bites of my breakfast.

She nods. "Well. The Oran berries" she gestures to the berry I'm eating "I found yesterday have done their job well."

I look at the blue fruit closer. It had a peculiar sort of mildness, and had a mix of flavours that I couldn't identify. The fruit itself was chewy, and about the size of three knuckles across: larger than a strawberry, but smaller than a mandarin.

"You said that they have healing properties? Do they work for all Pokemon, or just Vespiquen? What about humans?"

She shoves another berry into her mouth, devouring it whole. "I don't know about humans, but they work for all Pokemon. You'll have to ask another human if you want to know about that."

I finish my berry, picking up a different one. It's large - looking more like a cantaloupe than a berry. Vespiquen had dug into these ones with a fervour yesterday. I had seen that the insides resembled a pineapple more than anything else - lots of pulp, and lots of juice.

"How about these ones? The same deal as Oran berries?"

She shakes her head. "Sort of. Those are Iapapa berries. Their healing is more potent, but not everybody can handle the flavour." She smiles "They're my favourite."

Interested now, I cut it open with my now properly cleaned knife. I pick out a small slice to try and pop it into my mouth. Instantly, my palate is assaulted with an explosion of overwhelming, biting sourness. I break into a fit of coughs, the slice flying from my mouth in my surprise. My face scrunches up, and I'm left reeling from the experience.

"You-" I hack once more, unable to shake the aftertaste "-You actually enjoy that? I think I almost hurled."

She breaks into a fit of tittering laughter, sweeping the dreadful fruit from my arms. "Like I said, not everybody can handle the flavour. I think I'm glad you don't like them, though - more for me!" She digs into her food with a zeal, spraying juices as she does.

I pick out another Oran berry - one of the last - to try to clean my palate. "So-" I say between bites. "-You're well enough for travelling today?" She nods "Like I said yesterday, we're headed for the road to the south. I need to learn more about the people here - the safest way I can do that is by watching them. I'd planned to head directly there and I ran into you on the way. You probably know this forest way better than I do - is there a better route we can take?"

She stops for a moment, considering. "Going the way you were yesterday is the fastest way, but that part of the forest is home to some pretty aggressive Bugs. We'll have to fight our way through parts of the journey." She shakes her head, throwing the last chunk of the fruit into her mouth. "If you wanted to cut down on the risk, we'd be better to head in that direction" She points off into the forest - to the east, I think - "until we reached the bottom of the ridge, and then follow it down to the road."

I nod - she'd know best, in this case. "What sort of Pokemon are we looking at coming across if we take that option?"

"Leavanny and Swadloon mostly. Maybe some Sewaddle if a clutch has just hatched. They're pretty friendly - they won't give us trouble if we don't cause them trouble. We might run into a Lilligant, but they're pretty relaxed too. The only thing that might attack us would be a Liepard, but they tend to stick close to the road."

Leavanny, Swadloon and Sewaddle must be related to each other, I figure. "Liepard? What do you know about them?"

She buzzes, contemplating. "Well, they've always left us bugs alone, but I've heard from an Audino that they're pretty nasty to some of the other types of Pokemon - I wouldn't put it past them to attack humans. They're four legged, furry, purple, and very sneaky."

Sneaky? That might be a problem. Purple isn't the best colour for camouflage in a forest, but it wouldn't do too poorly in the right lighting. "Do they work in packs or alone?"

"I don't know. If we run into a friendly Pokemon I could ask, but Vespiquen aren't very well liked by most of the other Pokemon in the forest." Her tone is matter-of-fact - it doesn't bother her at all.

Something about her words niggled at me - just how much of an independant society did Pokemon have? "What sorts of Pokemon would be willing to talk with you?"

She shrugs. "The Leavanny, maybe. Audino - the pink ones that we passed by yesterday - are willing to speak with just about anyone. The Grass types like us better than the rest of the Bugs, so maybe them, too."

I lean forwards, her words caught my attention. "Grass types? What do you mean by that?"

"The ones that look like plants - Lilligant is one." Her tone shifts. "Those green monkeys - Pansage - are another, but they only ever talk with the other monkeys." Her voice is mocking - she obviously doesn't think very highly of them. She continues, "It's a way that we group similar types of Pokemon together. I don't know where it came from, though - I learnt it when I was young. All the other Pokemon I've talked about it with were taught the same system I was, too."

A classification system? It seems more taxonomic than the Power classification system that I'm used to. I'll have to look into whether humans have a similar system in the future. I guess it's pretty strange that Pokemon have developed a system like that, but I suppose that they're certainly intelligent enough to manage it.

Seeing that we're both done eating, I start packing my things away. "We'll have to talk more about that later - we're burning daylight, let's get a move on. Keep an eye out for someone that'd be willing to talk with you. It'll probably be a good idea to stock up on healing berries, too."

The trek through the forest was quiet. By mid-morning, my bag was once again filled with healing berries - I'd paid attention to where Vespiquens wounds had been and there was no trace of any injuries anymore, so they certainly worked quickly. My own wounds ached dully - they weren't giving me trouble, but the berries didn't seem to have done much for me. Maybe it was because I hadn't eaten the Iapapa berry?

Or maybe they just didn't work on humans - I don't know.

Not too long after that, I catch sight of an Audino. It was eating berries from a bush, it's back turned to us. I tap Vespiquen, pointing at the creature silently. She nods, motioning for me to stay here before slowly flying towards it.

"Audino."

The creature turns, chittering. It seems surprised - tilting its head, as if asking a question. It makes some more chittering noises - I can't understand it's speech, I realize.

"I've got a question for you. Do Liepard hunt in packs or by themselves?"

I can still understand Vespiquen, so it isn't a matter of it being outside my range - is it because my power doesn't work on it? I had a sneaking suspicion that was the explanation, but I will have to investigate it properly at some point.

The Audino chitters, it's tone sounding harsh. It's expression had twisted, too. Did Vespiquen do something to offend it? It nods, then chitters some more.

"Right. Thanks - enjoy the berries."

It turns back to it's meal, seemingly satisfied, and Vespiquen returns. We move away silently. When we were far enough away that it couldn't hear us anymore, Vespiquen quietly fills me in.

"They're lone hunters. Apparently they also prefer to fight with their claws rather than their teeth. That Audino back there had lost a pup to one a while back."

Ah - that would explain its expression. "I couldn't understand it. I think that I might only be able to understand Bugs."

Vespiquen turns to me, her confusion plain to see on her face. "What? That's strange. All Pokemon can understand each other - if you can understand me, I don't know why you wouldn't be able to understand the Audino."

"I think it might be to do with my power. The Audino wasn't a Bug, so my power wouldn't have worked on it. Whatever way that my power is doing the translation must only work on things it connects to."

She didn't have anything to say to that, so we start moving again. We make good time - none of the Pokemon approach us, but Vespiquen makes a habit of pointing out the names of the ones we see in the distance. Apparently someone who ran a hive needed to be knowledgeable about the forest and its inhabitants, because she's a wellspring of information on the topic.

We reach the base of the ridge a few hours before sundown and find a good place to camp not long afterward. We eat a dinner of more berries - I would need to diversify my diet soon. I don't think a human can live off of fruits alone - even ones with seemingly magical healing properties. But, that is a worry for later - according to Vespiquen, we will reach the road sometime in the afternoon tomorrow.