I'm back! Yay! You all thought I was dead, didn't you? Come on, don't deny it. I know it was drifting around in your heads….somewhere or another. Anyway, I hope you like this one. Hellfires, I hope I like it too….eh.
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. Duh. I mean, seriously now. Does anyone who writes these storys own anything accept some characters and pokemon? No. Didn't think so. So….why do we even bother writing these?
Anywho, on with the story.
Chapter 4: The Little Healer
Today we find our heroes leaving the Charmander Café in Viridian City, haven eaten a nice big meal after their encounter with Team Rocket the day before. They had spent the night at the Pokemon Center, and were now preparing to leave for Pewter Town. But first they have to get through Viridian Forest, where anything could be lurking in the shadows of the trees. Will they make it through?
ooOOoo
Viridian Forest was much thicker than the one they had encountered after leaving Pallet Town. Little to no light escaped through the branches to the bottom, and what did cast long, gnarled shadows stretching out to be swallowed by darkness. There was rustling in the branches, and it was hard to tell if it was the wind, or some kind of Pokemon hidden within them.
Involuntarily Terra shuddered, hugging the feline in her arms closer to her. She had picked up the Meowth early on in their walk, the broken branches on the forest floor cutting into the cat's paws. Now she served more to quell her rising fear as she felt many eyes upon her, watching her every move.
"Rinoa" She said, her eyes glancing around at the small patches of sunlight and the red eyes which seemed to be getting more and more numerous. "Is the forest supposed to be like this? I mean…I don't know…but…"
Terra felt more then saw the cat shake her head.
'No. This forest should be bright and lively, filled with people and pokemon. This is wrong. Very wrong.' The cat replied, her glowing eyes silted, trying to detect movement. 'We should go back to Viridian and wait until the forest is normal again.'
Terra nodded slowly, turning around so she could head back to Viridian, only to come face to face with a tree. She yelped, surprised by it, and took a couple of steps back.
"Wha….What the!"
Terra's eyes widened. Looking around, she paid close attention to the trees that seemed to be swaying in some unknown wind. One that wasn't really there. Slowly they moved, changing their position until the forest was no longer the way it once was. Shaking, she pulled out her compass, only to watch as the needle spun around in circles. Putting it away again, she clutched Rinoa tighter.
"This isn't good Rinoa. If we don't find a way out soon, we're going to be stuck here…" The violet-eyed girl said to the cat. "…And we only have so much food before we run out, and I don't see any fruit trees or berry bushes anywhere."
Rinoa looked up at Terra.
'We won't starve, will we?' She asked.
Terra frowned, her eyes hardening. She looked up into the trees and bushes at the glowing eyes, then looked back at Rinoa, shaking her head.
"No." She stated, patting the cat's head. "There are much worse things to worry about than that."
ooOOoo
"Brrrrrr…This place gives me the creeps. Why did we have to follow that brat in here?"
"Because Luke, we have a score to settle with them! Anyone who messes with Diane Heboni will feel her wrath!"
Sweatdropping, Luke shook his head, gazing around him at the red eyes. He felt a chill go up his spine, and subconsciously prepared himself to throw his pokeball. Suddenly Diane stopped, and she glared at the spiky haired guy behind her.
"Did you just touch me!" she said accusingly to her companion.
Luke blinked confused and shook his head.
"Noooo. Why?"
Diane glared at him a little while longer, but didn't say anything else….for a minute.
"There! You did it again!" Diane exclaimed. "If you don't keep your hands to yourself I'll…!"
Luke put his hands in front of his face.
"Diane, I swear, it wasn't me!" He defended, cutting Diane off before she could tell him just what she would do unto his person.
"Really?" She said, not sounding that convinced. "Then just what is doing it, huh?"
Luke shuffled his feet a bit, trying to come up with a viable answer.
He opened his mouth, prepared to give his excuse, (Something about cheese and the ghost of a plumber) when movement caught his eye and he froze. His eyes went wide, and he just stood there, staring at something.
Diane's eyebrow rose, and she waved her hand in front of her companion's eyes. Nothing, he still kept gaping. Maybe wave more vigorously? No? A slap on the face then. Wait, that could end badly. Hmmmm.
"Luke, hey Luke! What's the matter with you? Snap out of it! Luke?" Diane shouted, getting a little perturbed that she was being ignored.
Luke's eyes widened even more, if that was at all possible, and he pointed at something over Diane's shoulder with a shaky finger.
"Mo…..mon…..mmm…mons……mmoonnnnsstt….." He said, stumbling over what he wanted to say.
"Huh?" Diane questioned, trying to decipher what he was trying to say. Curious, she turned her head towards the direction Luke, was pointing, only to be met by a pair of large, red eyes next to her face.
"MONSTER!"
ooOOoo
Both Terra and Rinoa had heard the shriek in the distance, though, it only came to them in an indistinguishable mass of words and letters, unable to tell just what was said. Terra froze, halting in her walking as a chill ran up her spine. She could feel a presence, close by, and with malicious intent. In her arms, she could feel, rather than see, Rinoa crunch up into a ball, moving as far as she could into her trainer,
She had sensed it too.
And that only seemed to make it worse.
"Rinoa." Terra whispered, her voice barely audible to herself. "I'm going to set you down and bring out Kanti. There's something behind us and if worse comes to worse I want you two to make a break for it."
Rinoa looked up at her trainer, green eyes wide and full of worry.
'But what will you do?' She asked. 'We can't just leave you out here to defend for yourself! You could get really hurt, or…'
Terra shook her head.
"I'll be fine." She said, setting the cat down and grabbing the pokeball containing Kanti.
She released the Growlithe, who looked up at her with confused eyes.
"Be on your guard you two. Here it comes."
ooOOoo
A small, white creature walked quietly across the forest floor, it's green head looking back and forth at the trees that wouldn't stop moving. It knew what was causing this, having seen the monster with it's very eyes. With a little sigh, it walked though some bushes, stopping short when it came to the other side.
There was a human in the clearing! And two pokemon!
The little pokemon put a paw (?) to it's mouth, curious as to just what was going on. They looked scared, nervous, but determined to. But why?
But then it became very clear.
IT was there.
And it lunged itself right at them.
And all the little pokemon could do was watch.
ooOOoo
There was only a split second of time between there being only them in the clearing and there being a large, dark mass lunging itself towards them.
Terra's eyes widened, barely registering the fact that this….thing….was no pokemon that she had ever seen before, if it was even a pokemon at all. No, all it was was a horrible black mass with large, slit red eyes and two clawed limbs sprouting from it's sides. It screeched in a high pitched voice, closing in on the pokemon and human.
A rocket of flame shot past Terra from Kanti, and the creature went back some, bounced off a tree, and lunged at them again.
This time it came at them so fast that there was no time to stop it. Before they could even blink, the monster was in front of Terra, swinging it's claws at her, and successfully connecting with her skin. She yelped, backing away as the monster jumped back to prepare for another launch at them. She was clutching her shoulder, which was bleeding heavily enough that she could pass out if not bound soon.
'Terra!' Both pokemon shouted, extremely worried for their trainer and now infuriated at the monster for causing her such harm.
"I'm all right." She said back, though painfully. "You two get out of here. That thing will kill you if you don't!"
The pokemon just shook their heads, leaping in front of Terra to protect her from the next attack.
'No! You helped me, now I'll help you!' Rinoa declared, back arched and hissing towards the monster.
'And it is my duty and privilege to help you! You are my trainer. What other reason do I need then that!' Kanti growled out.
Terra's eyes softened, and she looked down at the ground.
"Guys…"
The monster growled, leaping up to a tree before bouncing off it, hurtling towards the group once again. This time they were ready though, Rinoa and Kanti double-teaming to do a body slam which sent the monster hurtling into the brush. It recovered quickly though, and was soon visible again, staring the group down as if calculating it's next move. It's eyes caught with something in the bushes next to them, and if it could have smirked, it would have.
Terra followed its eyes, and her own eyes widened. There was a pokemon in there! It was going to go after the pokemon! Without really thinking about it, Terra leapt towards the pokemon, just as the monster did. Time seemed to slow down, and almost as soon as she had the pokemon safely tucked to her chest she felt the long claws of the monster tear across her back.
She cried out, nearly collapsing on the pokemon she had saved as she fell to the ground. Vaguely she could hear the furious cries of her pokemon as they viciously attacked the monster with renewed vigor and ferocity, and she could see the vague outline of the white creature as black spots filled her vision.
"Sorry…" She said quietly, before her world went black.
ooOOoo
The white pokemon stood there stunned. No one had ever done that for her. Not even remotely close. And now, here was this human, bleeding to death on her behalf. She couldn't leave her like this. It would be unthinkable!
Looking to the side, the pokemon saw the human's pokemon, battered, but blasting away at the monster until it was little more than wisps of smoke. Already the forest was beginning to clear and the trees no longer moved. Satisfied, but still very worried, they padded over to the human, the Meowth nuzzling her face and the Growlithe pushing her side.
'Come on Terra, get up. We just started. We still have to get those badges and be the best, remember?' The meowth said.
'Wake up Terra. Lying there won't get us to pewter.' The growlihe added.
The white pokemon nodded, decided on what she would do. Resting her paws just above the human they began to glow with a white light. The light covered the human girl for a while, and when it faded, there was no more blood and no more gashes.
The human stirred, blearily opening her eyes.
ooOOoo
Terra groaned. She had the worst headache she could ever remember having. And she could remember having quite a few. She opened her eyes, trying to focus on everything around her, and sat up so that she was sitting on the ground.
'Terra!' Shouted the two exited voices of her pokemon, who proceeded to jump into her lap as best as they could.
"Hey!" Terra exclaimed with a laugh, petting the two behind the ears. "You two okay? Where did that thing go? And where's that pokemon?"
Terra looked around, spotting the little white pokemon shuffling awkwardly around, as if not quite sure what to do. The human girl smiled, reaching down and picking up the small pokemon.
"You're a Ralts, aren't you? I didn't think there were any of your kind in this forest. Where did you come from?" Terra asked curiously, now noticing that the forest seemed much more bright and lively since she had been unconscious.
The Ralts bowed her head.
'My last trainer left me here, because I was to weak.'
Terra frowned deeply, a flare rising up in her eyes.
"You were abandoned here? What kind of a trainer would just leave their pokemon, weak or not! Pokemon are not to be treated in such a way, it's just sickening."
Rinoa and Kanti firmly nodded their heads in agreement.
Terra took in a deep breath and let it out, as if making up her mind about something.
"Why don't you come with us instead of remain here? We're on our way to get the badges, and I figure, the more the merrier."
The Ralts' head shot up, and was very quiet for a while, before a smile broke out onto her small face.
'Okay, I'll go with. You guys seem to be nice, and, I've always wanted to see the world.'
Terra nodded and smiled, taking out an empty pokeball.
"By the way, what's your name?" The silver-haired girl asked.
'Yuki' The Ralts replied, and with a nod was brought into the pokeball with a stream of red light.
As the glow died down Terra picked up the ball, smiling widely.
"I got a Ralts!" She declared, then looked down at her other two pokemon. "Do you two want to go back into your pokeballs?"
'No thanks' They replied, and Terra nodded.
"Alright then, let's figure out which was is Pewter."
Taking out her compass, which was finally working correctly, she pointed of to the north.
"There, that way's Pewter. Everyone ready?"
'Yeah!'
"Then let's go!"
ooOOoo
"Owwwwwww…..Diane, what happened?" Mummbled the half-awake form of Luke from the ground.
"You said you saw a monster, and…"
'Oddish….?'
Diane looked straight across from her, straight into the eyes of a creature that looked like a purple plant with grass on it's head.
She twitched, and turned towards Luke.
"You got us worked up over an Oddish?"
"Uh..I…uh thought.."
"A….plant…?"
"Well…uh.."
"Barely bigger then my hand…?"
"Ehhhehehh..well…"
"…"
"ummmmmm….."
"…"
"…"
"I'm going to kill you now."
'..Odd?'
"Uh oh…."
ooOOoo
The group reached the edge of the forest about 45 minutes later. It was refreshing to finally be out of the woods, and Terra doubted whether she would ever be able to step into a forest again. Well, at least for a while anyway. All of them knew that Pewter was but a hop, skip, and a jump away, and they were all thankful for it.
But what would await them in Pewter? Will they be able to obtain the boulder badge? Or will their journey be cut short? Find out on the next episode of, From Reality to Fantasy!
Reveiws
Kyre: Nice
Nightshadegirl: Thank you. And she probably will have a companion. Just not sure who yet. Carvahna, eh, maybe. She needs some kind of water pokemon anyway.
Roxas in a box: Yay! Iz am in da faves! Definitally need a water type, and maybe a dragon. hmmmmm.
Adi: Thanks. And since I'm alive again, if you still want to beta, that would be great.
Sandstone: Maybe Mew is. And, I suppose this chappie isn't so kawii. Little darker, kinda creepy, hope you like it anyway. It is rater T, so had to go crazy a little.
Flameboo: And remember kids, don't do the drugs.
timberfoxen: yes, I know.
Ruin Queen: And that shalt be a lonnnnnnnnnggggg ways away.
Ekeswede: Pffffttt who needs grammer? I'm only a freshman in collage….
Shadow: 'Muchies on the cookies' Eevee. Hmmmmmmm me like…..
RubyVulpix: Glad you like. And, I kind of figured you liked vulpix as, well, it's in your name!