Test of Fate, Part One
Chapter Five-Jungle Hazards
Theo was up early the next morning. She jumped to her work, cleaning up her campsite and gathering her things together again. She recalled Nari while she was still asleep, not wanting to disturb the Pikachu. When everything had been gathered up and her pack was on her shoulders, Theo bent over and picked up the red flag that lay close by her.
The flag was wet with dew from the night, and Theo ran her sleeve across it to dry it. She smiled a little in satisfaction. The flag was theirs now, really theirs. By now, she had had possession of it for twenty four hours or more, perhaps, and that meant she was no longer at risk of losing it to someone else. They were safe from that particular problem.
Theo sighed then. Well, they had others to do deal with now instead. The girl tucked the flag under her arm and pulled the map out of her bag. She looked over her charted course again.
It was simple really- through this area, the Manya Jungle. That was the quickest, if most dangerous, path to take. Theo was sure that they could get through it all right though. Then, past that, there was a small area of mountains and rocky hills. Judging from how the map portrayed them, the entire place was steep, rocky, and full of dangers. Theo had the feeling that one misstep could send her rolling down the mountainside. She looked for an alternate path, but couldn't find one. The path through the Manya Jungle led straight through that next obstacle. Theo looked closer. The trail split strangely though. On path led through a small dip in the peaks. It was a low area, like a break in the mountains. It was labeled on the side chart- Mountain Pass. Theo raised an eyebrow. Not a very surprising name. It was marked though. A single black x was printed right next to the name. Theo sighed. Great. More risks. More danger. What was she getting herself into here?
The other path led up one mountain, and stopped very abruptly at the top. Theo studied it, confused. That was strange. Why would they have a path through the park that didn't go anywhere? The idea hit her then. Of course. So simple. The path did lead somewhere, and Theo was willing to bet that it led directly to where a flag was placed. What a good idea too- just hard enough to reach that it provided a challenge, but easy enough that nobody risked a broken neck. Theo smiled. She already had a flag though. She didn't need a second one.
So, that was the plan. Through the Manya Jungle, then on through Mountain Pass. After that, the park roads split in many different directions, all of which led to the beach right before Sunset Island. Theo smiled. If she pushed it, she could easily make it through the park in the last two days. One end to the other. Her grinned widened.
She had a road, she had a plan, she had a flag, and she had six pokémon on her belt that were willing to help her if need be.
Then Theo frowned, and her fingers brushed over the sixth pokéball on her belt. The one containing the blue monster. Well then. Five, at least. Theo sighed. It was one thing to watch footage of Gyarados destroying entire towns and villages in mad rampages, but entirely another to have such a crazed and dangerous beast tucked into her belt. Another sigh escaped her lips. She was going to avoid using that sixth pokéball if she could.
The sun was just coming up over the horizon when Theo started out again, flag in her hand and her backpack slung across her shoulders. The road was nicely kept here, the same packed brown dirt that she had been walking on before. Theo had the distinct impression that the road wasn't paved anywhere in this place. They must be trying to keep it as close to what you'd find in nature as possible, she mused.
The trees were lit up with the sun's first golden rays, the green of the forest now splattered with a warm yellow color where the light hit the road through the trees. The ground was still wet from the last night's dew, the grass still dripping little drop of water onto the ground. Theo sighed happily. She was a city girl, and had never been out in nature like this before. She liked it. And she liked being out on her own like too, in the woods. She felt…Independent. It was nice to be taking care of herself, all by herself.
But that made her wonder about other things as well. Other people. Theo looked up at the blue sky, squinting at the sun. She wondered how Tyler was doing, if he had gotten a flag for himself, if he was making as good time as she was. Theo wondered if, by some strange twist of fate, the two of them would meet up in the park again. She smiled faintly at that. Just a fantasy, perhaps, but a nice one. She wondered if he'd be proud to know she had gotten herself a flag. Theo continued walking, still looking up at the sun. Yeah. Tyler would have been proud. And he would have said something along the lines of, "Don't see why you're so surprised though, Theo. I always knew you could do it."
She flushed at the thought.
Theo was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the scenery changing until a large shadow fell across the path in front of her. She stopped, surprised by the sudden difference in light. Theo looked up, and had to swallow her fear. She had been walking through some kind of clearing before, but now the path led into a new kind of forest. The trees there seemed to wind around each other, as if some kind of giant hand had come down from the sky and twisted the gnarled branches around each other. Thick, leafy vines hung down from the upper reaches of the trees branches and hung, their tips just brushing the ground. Bushes with sharp thorns and wide, green leaves were everywhere, almost engulfing the sides of the path. The road disappeared into the gloom of the forest, because the trees were too tightly packed for sunlight to penetrate their leaves and hit the forest floor.
Theo swallowed and took an involuntary step back. This- quite obviously the Manya Jungle- looked like the dark and scary forests in fairytales Theo had read as a kid. She almost turned back right then, scared of the twisting, writhing forest ahead of her. She didn't like this one bit. The three x's flashed through her mind suddenly.
…What could possibly be in there to make it so dangerous? Poisonous plants? Did the path twist and turn, making it easy to get lost? Were…Were there dangerous pokémon in there?
Theo stood there for a couple of minutes, staring at the cruel looking forest decorated with vines that hunched ominously over her. The Jungle seemed to be, in the strangest of ways, watching her. Waiting for her. Theo swallowed once again, then clenched her jaws and steeled her nerve. She walked into the woods.
The first step was the hardest to make though. Once she was inside the Jungle, Theo breathed a sigh of relief. When she wasn't looking at it from the outside, it didn't look nearly so bad. In fact, the darkness she had perceived before was a welcome change- she finally had some relief from the hot sun. It smelled nice as well. Not flowers she recognized, certainly, but nice flowers all the same. Birds sang, and the Jungle rustled with movement. It really was alive, though not nearly as sinister as Theo had pictured it to be.
She walked down the path, flag still tucked against her side.
Her thoughts turned to Tyler again, and she sighed a little. She hoped he was doing as well as she was. But…Theo didn't doubt that. Tyler didn't get scared of things the way she did. She was scared of a little bit of forest. It would have taken a lot more than that to make Tyler blanch. Theo sighed and smiled a little, looking at the ground. Yeah. If she knew Tyler, he was well on his way to getting his license by now. Nothing would stop him. He had wanted this since they were kids. Theo knew that Tyler's drive to achieve his goals was enough. If he wanted something, he worked until he got it. Theo scuffed her shoe against the ground. Not like her. She could wish all she wanted, but that alone wasn't enough to get her through. Theo mused on that for a second. She and Tyler had talked about that once. What had he said about it…?
You just think about the things you think about too much, Theo. I mean…- and there he had rubbed the back of his neck like he always did when he was at a loss for words- Well…You just have to do the things you do sometimes. You can't second guess yourself all the time like that. You just have to…do what feels right sometimes. You think about it too much and you lose sight f what you were trying to do, cause you don't know how you felt about it in the first place anyway. You know what I mean?
Theo had smiled and old him they had a word for people like that: Impulsive. And, in his case, incoherent. They had laughed and turned away from the topic.
But Theo had taken the words to heart, even if she couldn't always follow them.
The Jungle had changed around Theo, even if she was too lost in her own thoughts to notice it. The foliage was thicker now, the trees bigger and more gnarled than before. Vines hung everywhere, and sunlight barely reached the forest floor. The path was overgrown now, with thorny bushes reaching out to snatch at Theo's clothing and hair. No birds sang. The Jungle was quiet.
Theo was busy listening to the sound of Tyler's voice though, and didn't notice the silence. Or the sound of rustling leaves that shattered the stillness on her right side. And her eyes were focused on the forest floor, her attention on the thorny bushes she was trying to avoid getting snared on, so she didn't see the shadowy movement on her left.
But then, when the walls of vines on either side of her burst open in a flurry of broken tree limbs and loose leaves, Theo noticed. In fact, she did more than notice. She screamed and threw her arms over her head and crouched down on the forest floor. Something hot and wet splatted on the ground next to her, and droplets of something thick and sickly yellow splattered all over the arm of her coat. There was a hissing sound, and steam rose from the burning fabric. Theo screamed again, and stumbled backwards. She looked up at her attackers.
There were four of them, all identical in shape and form. They were also, undoubtedly, the strangest creatures Theo had ever seen.
The pokémon were large, as big as Theo was herself. Their bodies were yellow and shaped a little like the giant bells in church steeples. Like hideous bells. Hideous bells with fangs and narrow eyes and noxious yellow liquid dripping from the tops of their heads, where their mouths were. They glared at Theo, and one whipped the vine protruding from its head around menacingly.
Theo gulped and slid backwards on her butt, fingers sinking into the wet, packed earth of the path. She stared up at the fierce looking pokémon in front of her, terrified. She was too scared to move, too scared to even think. Definitely too scared to run.
"Tree…." On hissed.
"Treebel!" Another answered.
"Victreeeeee!"
"Victreeeeebel!"
Obviously, the four had made up their minds as to what Theo was in comparison to them, because they advanced then, snarling out their pokémon name.
Theo retreated again, scrambling backwards along the path. She had no idea what these creatures were, but she did know they weren't friendly. And she could just as easily tell they were hungry.
It happened in a flash then, a surge of adrenaline and instinct. Theo hadn't planned to rip the pokéball off her belt like that, but her hand scraped against her belt while she was pushing herself backwards. It had just felt right to do that.
The red and white ball flew open when it hit the ground, a a bright beam of light shot out. That made the attacking pokémon jump and hiss in surprise. And then the red light seemed to condense, and took the form of a massive, shaggy snarling dog. The other pokémon let out howls of disapproval. Flarefire answered with a rumbling growl that seemed to make the air around his head vibrate. He lowered his head. His black and orange hackles were raised, and his muscular legs spread far apart in a defensive stance. He lowered his head and bared ivory teeth at the other pokémon. They retreated a little more in surprise. Their prey did have defenses. Good ones. They would have to be more careful now.
Theo pushed herself to her feet and backed up a couple of steps, moving directly behind Flarefire, using his impressive bulk as a shield. His orange ears flicked back towards her, and he seemed to hesitate, as if unsure of what to do.
But just at that moment, the four pokémon flung themselves forward at Flarefire. They whipped at him with their vines, and snapped their strange jaws. Flarefire let out a volley of rapid barks and flung himself at his attackers, his own jaws snapping and his body a whirlwind of orange and black fur. His teeth came within inches of his closest attacker, and would have gotten him, but another came up on his blind side and slammed him hard on the left. Flarefire let out an injured yelp and went tumbling over, landing hard on his back. The four pokémon were on him in an instant.
"No!" Theo cried, and she plunged forward into the fray without thinking. Again. She kicked out at the nearest pokémon, and her foot connected with its fat body. The blow wasn't hard enough to do any actual damage, but it surprised the pokémon greatly.
"Victreebel!" the pokémon cried, and skipped out of the way of the offending boot. It was enough room for Flarefire to stumble awkwardly to his feet, moving towards and in front of Theo. He was panting, his dark eyes blazing with hate and pain. The other pokémon were glaring back, but neither made a move towards each other.
At first, Theo thought the pokémon were studying each other, but she realized quickly that that wasn't it. No. The truth was, none of them knew what to do. The four attacking pokémon had tested Flarefire's and her own defenses, and found them formidable. And Flarefire…He was watching them, but his eyes kept flicking back and forth, never staying long on any of them. He was tensed, waiting for an attack, but he had no idea where it would be coming from. His ears were flicking back and forth nervously, and he was panting, a little blood dripping down into one eye from a cut he had taken from a pokémon vine.
And it struck Theo then, watching the pokémon standing there like that. She knew what her job was. She knew why Flarefire needed her. Theo knew Flarefire had the strength to take the other four pokémon. Theo didn't know how she knew, but she did. But now, as she stood there, watching the five of them glaring at each other, not one advancing…She knew what a trainer's job in battle was.
Not brute strength. Not fearlessness.
Strategy.
Flarefire was a powerful fighter, a brawler. He had a bark, but he was twice as much bite. But he couldn't see the attacks coming the way Theo could, and he couldn't fight off four by himself.
But he wasn't alone, Theo decided then. Her fists clenched. She was there.
They were a team.
"Flarefire!" she yelled, and the pokémon looked back over his shoulder and barked loudly to her, "Use an ember attack!"
The Arcanine sprang forward and inhaled deeply. Then he opened his jaws wide and spat out orangey red flames. The other pokémon jumped backwards, looking as frightened as their "faces" would allow. Then their eyes narrowed and they sprang forward again.
"Vic!"
"Tree!"
"Bel!"
"Victreebel!"
"Flarefire! Dodge their attacks! Jump to the left!"
The command came just in time. The fire dog leapt to one side, and all four pokémon lashed out with their head vines where Flarefire had been standing seconds before. The last vine was a narrow miss- the sharp, bladelike protrusion on the end of one pokémon's vine cut a wide, deep trench inches from Flarefire's right paw.
Theo's heart was beating fast now. The sensible part of her head was telling her to be logically terrified. If she and Flarefire lost now, he was dead and she was pokéchow. There was "a lot on the line." But Theo didn't feel terrified. She didn't even feel scared. She felt…exhilarated. She was getting dizzy with excitement, her golden brown eyes gleaming in the shadows of the Jungle. She felt confident. She felt more than confident. She knew they would win. She didn't stop to try and ponder out why or how she knew, but focused on the battle in front of her. She saw it all with a kind of clarity she hadn't possessed before. She could see the small body movements the other pokémon were making, the way they twitched their head vines and hissed out their names wildly to each other. She didn't know what they were saying, but she knew they were nervous. She knew they knew they couldn't win. And she noted, with her new found clarity, that Flarefire was favoring his right side, that his front paw was injured somehow, and he was limping. It was bleeding a lot. Theo bit her lip. The battle had to end soon, or Flarefire might get really hurt.
Theo took a step forward, and the sensible part of her mind seemed to wash off her like water.
"Flarefire!" she yelled to her pokémon, and he lifted his tail proudly, like a long, flowing banner behind him. "Give them your best! Flamethrower!"
The fire seemed to blaze in the Arcanine's eyes before it reached his mouth. He growled harshly and lowered his head, hunching his shoulders menacingly.
"Aru…."
And then he sprang forward, uncoiling like a slinky being pulled out straight by a toddler, and flames leapt from his throat in a white hot flash that turned orange and red as soon as it left his lips. The flames hit the leader, and the pokémon squealed in pain. The others got scorched, but managed to escape getting too injured. The leader dropped on the spot, blackened and smelling slightly of burnt marigolds. Yellow slime began to ooze from the corner of its mouth.
Flarefire landed on all fours, and if his front leg ailed him from the hit he had received, he ignored the pain. He snapped his jaws menacingly at the remaining three pokémon, and small tongues of flame shot out from between his teeth.
Without so much as a pause for breath, the others fled.
Theo whooped loudly at their retreat, and Flarefire followed by adding his own loud, happy bark to her cheer. Theo grinned at her pokémon and walked over to him.
"That was amazing," she said seriously, and sank her fingers into the soft layers of cream colored fur on his chest. "You were amazing."
Flarefire whined happily.
Theo smiled up into the Arcanine's black eyes, then looked down at the fallen leader next to them. Her mood darkened instantly, and she frowned. Her hands stilled on Flarefire's sides.
"Crap," she muttered to herself, and Flarefire nudged her with his wet snout comfortingly. "I have to get out of here," she told him seriously. That sensible part of her brain was creeping back into its rightful throne inside her skull, and the full gravity of the situation was now beginning to dawn on Theo. "I really have to get out. Did you see those guys? Of course you did," she added quickly when Flarefire growled his disapproval. "They were going to eat me. I had no idea how dangerous this place was."
Theo sighed, and gloomily fixed the bandanna on her head with one hand. Actually, she had had an idea. Well, Nari had, at least. Theo looked down at the ground. She should have listened. If she had, they wouldn't be in this mess right now. The queen on her throne inside Theo's head began to scold her for her stupidity. Then Theo smiled a little, faintly. She patted Flarefire with her right hand.
"So much for trusting my instincts, right?"
He blinked. "…Aru…Canine?"
Theo shook her head. "Never mind," she added absently. "Doesn't matter. What's most important now is finding a way out of this place. And quickly, cause I don't want to run into anymore of those things." She pointed to the pokémon on the ground next to her.
For a second, the Arcanine stood still, staring at Theo. Then he whined resignedly, and nudged her elbow with his nose. When he saw he had her attention, he bent down a little, and jerked his head towards his own orange and black striped back.
Now it was Theo's turn to blink. "…What?" She finally managed.
Flarefire jerked his head towards his back again.
Theo blinked again. "…I take it…You want me to ride you?" Her voice was small.
The Arcanine nodded the affirmative. "Aru!"
"You wouldn't mind?"
"Arcanine!"
"…Are you sure you can lift me?"
"Arucanine Aru Aru canine!" And he had on the same look that Tyler got whenever Theo questioned his ability to complete a task.
"All right, all right!" she said quickly, throwing up her hands in front of her protectively, "I will! Just…Don't drop me, okay? The last thing I ever rode on was a merry go round at a carnival."
Flarefire tossed his head and whuffed snidely.
Theo grinned weakly, then placed her hands over the Arcanine's broad, soft back. After a couple of failed attempts, she managed to hoist herself up, and fix herself in the place a saddle might have been. She grabbed a couple of handfuls of Flarefire's soft white mane, swallowed, steadied herself, and nodded once. Flarefire's ears flicked back towards her, expectantly. She paled a little.
"All right. Okay. To Mountain Pass then. We're off?"
And it was a question, not a command. She had just wanted to check if Flarefire was ready or not.
But with a light spring and the soft scruffling noise of wet dirt being displaced, the two had disappeared down the path and into the trees.