The rays of the morning sun peaked over the horizon, heralding the dawn. Two Pokemon walked across the hills, warmed by the light's rays. Datura stopped at the top of the hill, judging their progress. It had been a few hours since they left the forests, into the foothills beyond. The forest Mystery Dungeon lay behind them in the distance. Looking forward he could begin to see the gray croppy outlines of rocks. He smiled to himself. He recognized those rocks, beyond them lay the coast. He even remembered going there a few times, having to save a few stranded travelers. Heck, one time he even had to save some children who had somehow gotten through forest, over these hills, then through the cave network of the gray coastal mountains, just to play at the beach. The fact that those kids had survived for him and Ember to reach them was a minor miracle.
His reminiscing was interrupted by a loud *thud*. He whipped his head around, looking for the source. But he saw nothing.
Wait
He looked around again? Where was the Shuppet? Panic began to rise, he felt it coming up his throa-
*snooooore*
He blinked. Looking down he saw her. She had collapsed, book fallen off to the side, gently snoring away.
Oh. She probably hasn't slept since last night.
Datura censured himself for not noticing earlier. She had been lagging behind, and clearly had not slept in some time. He picked up the Shuppet and walked down the hill. Looking around he found a little overlook to hide under. He gently set down the shuppet in the shadows, the shadows providing plenty of cover from anything wandering by. It was then he realized another thing. They had no supplies. The shuppet had her book, but that was it. He didn't have any either, him being Undying precluded any need for such stuff on his part. However she certainly would need food to survive. He would need to scavenge.
Taking a look around, he decided that this was a secluded enough spot that he could leave her be. He went out to the river, and looked around. Scout training dictated learning to scavenge, as bringing all your supplies was unfeasible for long trips. The first priority in scavenging was always food. The rule of thumb was to look for sun and water. The two things needed for a berry bushes that dotted the continent to grow.
With that in mind Datura though out the layout of the land. The hills funneled the water into a small few rivers in the valley. So he was already in the right place for that. However the hills surrounding here were a little *too* high, blocking out the sunlight. He had no doubt some bushes grew here, but larger, more abundant ones would be found in places with more sunlight. He needed to find smaller hills, ones that wouldn't block out the sun. So he headed away from the mountains back towards the forest. Figuring the hills would be smaller and more fertile around there.
He wandered through the hills, taking a different path than the way he came. Enjoy the view a little. He had enjoyed hiking, so he took his time. After what felt like an hour, he eventually stumbled onto an Oran Berry bush with berries that were clearly ripe. So he started collecting Berries, piling them into his arm. After he collected as much as he could reasonably carry (he was starting to miss his bag around now), he started to head back.
However around halfway back to the overlook, something caught his ear. Curious he thought, and followed the sound down the rocky valley he was in. Carefully making his way not to cause any sounds, he tiptoed his way closer and closer, taking cover behind the rocks as he went down the valley. Eventually he found himself behind a large rock with the sound of music so loud he suspected whatever was singing it was right behind it. He peaked out. In front of him was a small group of Jigglypuff, all in a nice pink circle. They were singing, slowly swaying their arms. Datura didn't know what they were singing about, and given they were probably ferals, they probably didn't either. Datura could feel his worries melt away, he could feel calmness was over him.
He slumped against the rocks. His eyes slowly drooped.
He never saw the drowsiness coming. One moment his was listening, the next he was fast asleep, Oran berries spilling out from his arm.
Trim stirred, she was in a half sleep, barely aware of the world around her. To her left she heard what sounded like running water. Beneath her she felt the something hard, and rather uncomfortable, it felt bumpy. Despite that, she continued to lay there. Slowly waking up.
This continued for some minutes, until she was cognizant enough that she realized that wherever she was, she was *really* uncomfortable. Something had been digging into the back of her head, causing a dull throbbing pain.
Ok, Where am I?
She opened her eyes, and looked around. She seemed to be under a small cliff, lifting herself up, she looked around. To her left was indeed a small river happily burbling away. Looking down she saw what she was sleeping on, lots of pebbles, which explained why she was so uncomfortable. Looking around she couldn't see the Roselia.
This caused her a great amount of unease, her mind already catastrophizing.
Did he abandon me?
Dead he get jumped by an undying?
What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?
The unwanted sense of panic started to slowly rise. But she caught herself, and took some deep breathes to calm herself down.
Ok. Panicking isn't going to you anywhere. I need to find out where I am.
She slowly left the cover of the overlook, and immediately shut her eyes when she left the shadows. It had been so long since she had been in sunlight that her eyes were not ready for the glare. After blinking for several seconds the rest of the world came into view.
She gasped, it was beautiful. Before her was a luscious green hill dotted with multicolored flowers. The grass was a vibrant green. Looking around she saw the river that snaked its way around the hill. Small bushes dotted the riverside, and some of the deeper parts of the river had reeds sticking out near the bank. It was a vastly different place than the Fortress she had lived in before. Mostly because she had never seen so much green. Last night was so dark, and she was too focused on surviving for her to really look at the world around her.
She floated there for a few seconds, soaking in the scene around her. She wondered if maybe the rest of the world was this colorful. Her curiosity piqued, she started to wander around, looking and interacting with all these new things. Seeing a brand new world she had never known.
Elsewhere, a Roselia was also waking up.
Owww. Why does my head hurt. He felt something hard on his back, and he was in a rather uncomfortable position. He immediately opened his eyes, got up, and took stock of his surroundings.
First he noticed the oran berries scattered around him. Then he noticed that the singing had stopped. Peeking around the rock he realized the Jigglypuffs had left. After looking around for enemies, he went to collect the berries.
Looking up the sun had climbed quite a bit higher in the sky than where it was this morning. Which by his reckoning meant he was out for a few hours.
Wait! The Shuppet! Is she still OK?
He immediately started running back to the overlook. Cradling the Oran berries in his arms. Cursing himself for being so careless as to be put asleep.
Trim was in a world of wonder. Everywhere she went was new sounds, new sights, new smells. It was all so different from the mountains she had called her home. She messed with the reeds, laughing as they spring back no matter how far she pushed them. She started exploring the hills around her, looking at the flowers, wondering at the cottony fluff of the cottonwood trees that seem to litter the hills.
Everywhere she looked, there was something new and different for her to explore. Any thoughts of looking for the Roselia had long left her mind.
Datura made it back to the overlook. Desperately searching for the Shuppet. But to no avail.
Where is she? Am I at the right overlook?
Stepping outside only confirmed his fears. It looked familiar. It looked exactly like the overlook the he left her at. He immediately ran back inside searching for clues. But couldn't find any. Which in his mind was good and bad. Good in that he didn't see any signs of a struggle, so she probably hadn't been eaten by anything. Bad in that he had no idea where she went. She floated, she didn't leave any traces of her presence.
Something caught his eye. It was the book, the corner peeking out behind some rocks nearby. This made him feel a little better. She probably hadn't gone far if she left the book behind.
But he had no time to lose. The world was a dangerous place, if he didn't find her soon, who knew what would happen to her.
He dropped the orans and headed out into the valley.
Thoughts of danger where the farthest thing from Trim's mind at the moment. She had started collecting the cotton fluff and was trying to make to the largest cotton ball possible. Unfortunately it seemed the fluff was having some issues sticking together, so she had started to weave it together. But the sticky mess was unwieldy and very tangled, her efforts came to naught, with the only reward for her efforts the feeling of frustration. But far from being deterred by it, she redoubled her efforts, channeling her frustration and anger into tying to thread the clumps together.
Worry clawed at Datura. It had only been a few minutes but he still couldn't find any trace of her in the valley. He needed a new plan. Looking around he realized that he was near a fairly large hill, noticeably larger than the ones he had already passed. Maybe the hill could give him a better overlook? He rushed up the hill, trampling the flowers in his path, in a desperate dash to get up the hill as fast as possible.
The clumps were not sticking together! Trim felt the frustration continually rise, she had already thrown the malformed ball of seeds and cotton onto the ground once out of anger. But she was determined not to give up. She would make a big cotton fluff ball, no matter how uncooperative the fluff was being. She focused in on the clumps, using her ghostly powers to thread them together, one piece at a time.
Datura scanned the horizons. The hill was in fact higher than the surrounding ones, so he could see fairly far. His eyes darted from place to place. Methodically scanning each hill for the signs of the Shuppet. He couldn't afford to linger too long on any one place. He saw various isolated cottonwoods, the jigglypuffs from earlier bouncing around in another valley… and there! A small purple blob on a hill not too far from him! That had to be the Shuppet! He gave a sigh of relief. Then immediately felt the icy grip of fear as he noticed what appeared to be a Mightyena silently stalking up the hillside. The top of the tall hill became empty again as Datura found themselves in a sprinting towards the Mightyena.
This was just not working. The cottonwood fluff was just too chaotic. Maybe if she found a way to straighten it?
Grrrrrrr.
Her head shot up. Looking around. But she could not see anything else on top of the hill. It was just her, the tree, and the fluff.
Maybe that was my stomach growling?
However before she could return to her work, a strong gust of wind started blowing across the top of the hill. Snatching the fluff and ripping it out of her ghostly grasp. She could only stare as her effort was blown into the sky. Leaving her only with the howling of the wind and the rustling of the cottonwood leaves. There was also another noise that seemed to mix with the wind, but given how loud the wind and the rustling was, it was hard to make out what it was. Whatever, it didn't affect her so she paid it no mind.
The Mightyena was slowly crawling up the hill. It had spotted the Shuppet from another hill and did not take too kindly to the idea of the trespasser coming so close to its territory. It decided the Shuppet could make a light snack to make up for its trespassing.
However halfway up the hill it suddenly felt a multitude of stinging sensations on its back. Whipping its head back it saw the source; a Roselia running at them at full sprint, shooting leaves from one of its roses. The Mightyena tried to sidestep the next round of leaves, but the leaves seemed to magically reverse direction midair and impale themselves on the side of his head. The cuts were painful and blood started to trickle down one side of his face. Giving a small growl it lept towards the Roselia, but to no avail, the green Pokemon deftly sidestepped the pouncing Mightyena causing the black furred Pokemon to go tumbling down the hill. Before the Mightyena could recover it felt a glob of acid hit their side, eliciting a painful yelp from them.
The Mightyena grit their teeth as the acid began to eat away at their fur. The Roselia stood there above it, unharmed, and seemingly preparing another acid.
Deciding that a Roselia and a Shuppet wouldn't make a good meal anyway, and already having trouble staying upright from 3 attacks, the Mightyena decided to cut their losses and began limping away as fast as they could.
Datura watched the fleeing Pokemon. Deciding not give chase, they would leaving soon anyways, so the Mightyena probably wouldn't have the chance to bother them again.
He turned around and marched up the hill to confront the Shuppet.
Trim stared out across the hills, all her work undone by a strong gust of wind. She wasn't too upset, it's not like she was going to do anything with it after all. She was hungry, maybe she should-
"*Ahem*"
She turned around, coming face to face with a very familiar, and somewhat irate looking Roselia.
"So, care to explain yourself, Shuppet?"
She blinked. "What?"
"I was looking everywhere for you! What were you thinking, leaving the overlook?"
The Shuppet was taken aback by the sudden accusatory tone. Anger started to well inside of her. What right did he have to just barge up here and start berating her?
"What was I thinking? We'll I'll tell you what I was thinking! I wake up in a place I've never been before, and you aren't there! I thought you abandoned me!"
"Abandoned you? I was looking for supplies! What did you think I was doing!"
"I don't know! I barely know you!"
"Regardless would it have killed you to wait a little while!?"
"Wait? Wait for how long? You were expecting me just sit around on the chance you might come back?"
"YES! That's exactly what I expected you to do!"
"WHAT? Seriously?"
"Yes seriously! You almost died out there!"
"Died out here? The heck are you talking about? I've been doing just fine!"
"Only because I scared away that Mightyena!"
"What Mightyena? I don't see any Mightyena!"
"That's because I scared it away! Weren't you listening?"
"Oh sure, you saved me from some 'Mightyena' that was going to eat me. A 'Mightyena I haven't heard or seen. Yeah Right."
"Are you seriously suggesting I made this u-." Datura caught himself, this argument was going nowhere. "You know what, nevermind. It's dangerous out here, you can't just wander off on your own."
"But you can?"
"Yes."
"How is that fair?"
"Because you're young and sheltered and I have 80 years of experience with this stuff."
"Oh so now I'm 'sheltered' too. Seriously? Think I can't hold my own out here?"
"Yes."
The blunt answer halted her train of thought. She merely blinked, surprised.
"Look, you've never been out here before, you've never faced the Undying. They're merciless. I wasn't kidding back in the woods when I said to run if you saw one. I've been fighting them for decades and I still don't stick around to fight. Nothing bad happened today, but that doesn't mean the next time will be the same. Please just do as I say, don't wander around, and stay hidden."
The Shuppet just stared at him for a little while.
So I can see the world for the first time in my life, and this guy just wants me shut myself away again.
"Fine." Trim replied. The venom in her voice barely palpable.
I only need you till I find the Death-Seekers anyways. Then I'll be free to do as I please.
"Thanks. I got some berries back in the cave. Come on."
Elsewhere near the grey mountains by the coast, a beam of light erupted by from the ground. Glowing concentric circles started to form on the on the ground. Then just as fast as it started the light cut out. In its place stood an Electabuzz and an Azumarill.
"That is the last time I'm ever letting you touch the Magnagate cards. 'Trust me I know what I'm doing', flippin Magikarps could've remembered the correct card alignment better than you."
"Hey it's not my fault those Blighted broke down the door so fast. How was I supposed to guess they had a Blighted Machamp with them? I didn't have enough time!" Replied the Electabuzz.
"Oh and I guess hitting every single dead end before the exit distortion in the Magnagate Dungeon was also the Blighted fault?"
"C'mon it was late, and I was tired, we haven't slept since, since, I don't even remember. I'm still tired. I'm amazed we even made it through that dungeon in one piece."
"Hmmph. I'm still not happy."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. Look we need to sleep, we're barely standing as we are. Let me make it up to you, I'll take first watch tonight, let you get some sleep."
The Azumarill gave a slight smile. "Alright. Just don't screw this up to. If we get jumped because you feel asleep and I get turned into an Undying, my first priority is making sure you turn into an Undying too. Shove that stupid grin of yours down your throat. Burn that comic collection you got as well. I know you stashed in your bag."
"Of course I did. Gotta save what matters right? Who needs such silly nonsense like food and medical supplies."
The Azumarill only rolled her eyes at that.
"Alright well just make sure you focus on what matters most right now. Which is making sure nothing attacks while we sleep. G'night."
"Good night."
The Azumarill layed down, pulled a blanket out of her bag, and went to sleep.
The Electabuzz looked at her with a soft gaze for a few moments, before setting himself up for first watch.
