=Chapter 4, To Help, A Legendary!=

(Jacob's PoV)

Jacob could not believe his eyes, there was no way it could possibly be what his eyes were seeing. The moment he laid eyes on that blue fur with white diamond spot pattern, that purple flowing mane that was said to resemble the aura borealis, with two white streamer-like tails that seemed to wave toward its front, and that hexagonal cerulean blue colored crest atop its forehead, removed all traces of weariness from his eyes. It could not possibly be what he had only ever heard about on the Pokenet. It could not possibly be a legendary Pokemon, here in the Petalburg Woods, where trainers and travelers pass through each and every day in droves.

Someone would have reported seeing it, someone would have been spreading wild ridiculous rumors, people would have been gossiping about it way before he even entered this forest. Someone, anyone would have been talking about seeing a legendary Pokemon, attempted to have captured it, something long before he even stepped NEAR these woods. There was absolutely, no way, not in a hundred years, would he have imagined seeing what his eyes were showing him right now!

Yet there was no doubt in his mind that he was seeing a legendary Pokemon right before his eyes.

"No way… it can't be…" Jacob whispered, quietly pulling his Pokedex out as Sara, Harold, Ivan, Roran, and Kora all stared at the Pokemon before them in awe as well.

He flipped it opened and had it scan the Pokemon, wanting to be one hundred percent sure it was what he thought it was.

[Suicune, the Aurora Pokemon, Suicune embodies the compassion of a pure spring of water. It runs across the land with gliding elegance. It is said to have the power to purify dirty water.]

"It is… a Suicune… here in Hoenn…" Jacob whispered as he watched the Pokemon sleeping, covered in bruises, cuts, and looking slightly thin. "What's it doing here… aren't Suicune native to Johto? And why is it so badly injured?"

(Jacob… that Suicune… is in… so much pain… right now…) Sara whispered to him from his shoulder. (It's in… so much… pain!)

"You can tell just from feeling its dreams?" He asked Sara.

(No… but those wounds… they must… be hurting it… so much!) She said as she shook her head at him. (If any of… us had… those wounds… we'd be… screaming in agony!)

"Well… what do we do?" Jacob asked his team as they all just watched the Suicune sleeping soundly in a clump of bushes. "It doesn't exactly look like it's able to run like the Pokedex says and it looks like it's really hurt!"

"Tail…" Roran said just as confused.

"Tree…" Harold said in agreement.

"Hnnnng…" Ivan moaned quietly.

"Wuuuurmple…" Kora said as she wandered up to the Suicune.

"No Kora don't!" Jacob whispered, trying to stop the Wurmple from waking the sleeping legendary.

Unfortunately his loud whisper and rush to stop Kora from doing so, just so happened to be what woke the Suicune up. Its eyes opened suddenly, and it turned its head and opened its mouth so fast that Jacob and his team barely had any warning to dodge its first attack.

It let loose with a powerful gush of water, so powerful that everything in front of the Suicune was blasted back, including Jacob's hat that was left hanging in the air because of how fast he moved to avoid the attack. Yet just as quickly as the attack occurred, it ended as it started coughing and gasping for breath.

Jacob watched with Sara and Kora beside him on the ground as the Suicune wearily stood up to its full five feet height, before collapsing back to the ground as it tried to take a single step.

It gasped desperately, eyeing Jacob with a glaring eye that was full of fear and anger. Each breath it seemed to take looked painful to Jacob, but still it stared at him defiantly.

(Jacob… what… do we… do?) Sara asked him nervously.

"I'm wondering the same thing Sara…" Jacob whispered, not daring to stand up and risk getting hit by another attack that powerful.

After the attack passed Ivan, Harold, and Roran stood in front of Jacob, faces determined and each assuming a battle stance to protect him and the two female Pokemon. Jacob knew that his Pokemon, despite their small size and lack of true strength when compared to the Legendary's, would fight to the end to protect him from it. So for a good ten minutes Jacob and his team watched the Suicune nervously, wondering if it would attack again, and the Suicune, taking painful breaths each and every second, watched him nervously. Even as it watched him, Jacob could see the bags under the legendary Pokemon's eyes, and could see the red coloration in them.

*The poor thing hasn't slept properly for days if those bags are anything to go by.* He thought to himself as he looked at the wounds next. *And those bruises, those aren't normal… they look like they've been building up again and again for weeks at a time. Those cuts too, and the way it's breathing, a clear sign of exhaustion, as if it hasn't been able to rest properly as long as it hasn't been able to sleep properly. That attack as well, that was a Hydro Pump, Arky showed me one during our lessons. That should have been three times stronger and lasted longer; it must be out of stamina to fight for that attack to be so weak. And the way it tried to run, its legs must be badly injured if it couldn't even stand up properly.*

Jacob looked back at the Suicune's eyes and once again, saw that sense of fear as well as anger in them. It was angry at being cornered by him, angry that it did not have the strength it once had to fight him or run away from him. It was also afraid of him, afraid of what Jacob might do to it, whether it be capturing it or hurt it it did not know. It was at his mercy, and that was what the fear in its eyes was telling him.

"Guys… stay here for a second… and don't look provocative." He whispered as he slowly took his backpack off and stood up.

The Suicune tensed up the moment he started to stand, as if preparing to use what little strength it had left to fight to the bitter end. It watched him slowly walk ever closer, step by step, as if waiting for him to do anything to provoke it into attacking him.

Meanwhile Jacob was slowly advancing toward the Suicune with his hands raised and opened up to show he was unarmed and didn't mean any harm. "It's okay… I'm not ganna hurt you…" He said quietly to it, even as it looked at him with determined eyes. "My name is Jacob… Jacob Beryl… I'm a Pokemon Trainer from Littleroot and I just want to make sure you're okay…"

It eyed him still as he got closer, but didn't attack him outright, or probably it lacked the strength to actually attack him. Either way it gave Jacob the chance to get closer to the legendary.

Step by step he drew closer to the Pokemon, and step by step it grew more and more nervous. When he was right in front of it, Jacob was careful to kneel down and made himself appear smaller, just so it would not attack him again.

With one careful and slow moving hand, he touched one of the Suicune's paws. Instantly it flinched at his touch, and moaned in pain quietly, it's breathing growing rapid the moment he did.

"I'm not trying to hurt you… I'm just trying to see what's wrong with you." Jacob said gently as he touched its cool, fluid-like fur, and felt its heart racing. "I won't capture you, I promise, I just want to see if I can help you."

This time the Suicune stared at him at the mention of the word 'capture', as though suspicious that he was lying. It stared at him as its breathing slowly calmed down to a more normal state, but still tense and ready to fight.

"Okay from what I can tell… you have a few sprained limbs, several cuts and bruises across your body, and you are suffering from malnutrition." He whispered more to himself than to the Suicune. "A lot of these bruises and cuts are quite severe, and almost all of them are quite old with a few fresh over the last few weeks. This is going to be hard to heal unless we have Hyper Potions, which unfortunately are both out of my reach and price range."

If he was to help heal this Suicune, he would need to use all of his potions to get the healing process a jumpstart. Then he would need to feed it regular doses of Oran Berry Juice to give its body the nutrition it needed to heal naturally. Even after everything was considered, it would take at last a good four, maybe five days of constant care before the Suicune would be fully healed. Even with Hyper Potions, the Pokemon would need sleep and food before the potion could do anything.

All Hyper Potions did was heal the wounds and speed up and stabilize the natural healing of the Pokemon's muscles. His normal Potions that Arky had given him were only meant for minor bruises and maybe a few cuts, combined his potions might do the work of a couple Super Potions, but for the real heavy work to repair the damage to the Pokemon's body and muscles he would need Oran Berries, and lots of them.

If he had maybe a few Sitrus Berries, they might help heal it better, but since there weren't any to be found, he would have to rely on Oran Berries to help the Suicune heal.

He nodded confidently at his decision, knowing that he would have to stay here with the Suicune in order to help it. It would definitely set him and his team back from leaving the Petalburg Woods, but this was something he could not just ignore. A legendary Pokemon was in need of help, and he was the closest and maybe best chance it had.

Standing up carefully and making his way over to his team of Pokemon, he sat back down and told them the plan.

"So guys, we need to help out this legendary." He said to them, pulling out a small empty bag from his backpack. "First things first, we need to prepare some food for this Suicune. Harold, you and Ivan start gathering sticks and anything else we can burn here for a small fire. Roran, you and Kora start looking around nearby for some Oran Berry trees, there should be some nearby. Check them and bring back any berries you find that are ripe in this bag, and no eating the berries Kora. Meanwhile Sara, you help me with treating some of these wounds on Suicune okay, and also try to talk to it, see if you can get it to trust me a little bit. Suicune are known to be roamers by nature, and very wary of humans, especially trainers."

"Tree!" Harold said, and he and Ivan both left to start gathering sticks.

"Tailow!" Roran said, taking the bag in its claws and flying off with Kora wiggling after him.

"Alright Sara, I'm going to dig through my pack for all my potions, you try and talk to the Suicune." Jacob said, opening his bag and starting to pull out some supplies.

(Okay…) Sara whispered as she started waddling toward the Suicune, still eyeing Jacob with a determined expression.

(Sara's PoV)

Sara walked toward the legendary Pokemon, leaving her Jacob to gather his medicine and cooking tools. She was so nervous about approaching the powerful Suicune, weakened or not, it still frightened her. It was powerful enough to beat her and all of Jacob's Pokemon, even kill them, and that was what frightened her.

Sure she was a Pokemon, and sure she was a psychic type, but all she knew was how to growl, and maybe try to use a confusion attack that she had never done. That and she had never been in an actual battle before. Sure she understood the gist of how a battle worked, and maybe against a Pokemon her size she might win if Jacob trained her well, but to battle a legendary Pokemon in her state? If she tried to fight this Pokemon she'd be nothing more than a thorn in the side of Suicune's crystal headpiece.

Still, she saw how that Suicune nearly hurt Jacob with its first attack, and no matter what happened to her, she would protect her trainer, even if she was technically wild.

When she was close enough to talk to the Suicune she decided to talk normally with it, only using her telepathy to speak to Jacob. "Uh, hello?" She asked nervously.

The Suicune ignored her, still watching Jacob as he pulled out the small pot he used to cook with.

"Uh… excuse me, Suicune?" She tried again.

"What?" The Suicune whispered in a feminine voice, barely loud enough for Sara to hear.

"What happened to you, who did this to you?" Sara asked nervously.

"Humans, what else?" She whispered again, still barely speaking up to keep Jacob from hearing. "Humans, all hunting me like I'm the last Suicune alive, that's what did this to me. Your human's no different."

"No, Jacob is a good human!" Sara said determinedly. "He just wants to help you get better, I swear!"

Suicune glanced at her for only a fraction of a second before she returned her full attention back to Jacob, who had pulled out his potions at last. "Yea right, let's see how long it takes him to capture me, just watch… he'll capture me because he knows he won't get a chance like this again." She said to her. "I'm too weak… to run away… he'll capture me… just watch… he's no different."

"You're wrong… Jacob is a good human, I know it!" Sara said as Kora and Roran came back with a bag full of berries, Kora having berry smears across her face.

(Jacob's PoV)

"Alright now we just need to wait for Harold and Ivan to finish gathering the firewood." Jacob whispered as he checked the berries that Roran and Kora brought him. "Kora I told you not to eat any berries!"

"Wurmple!" Kora said happily as she licked the juice off her face.

"Oh well, at least we have all the berries we need to cook." He said as he put the berries down and filled the small pot with some water. "Okay first things first, I need to use these potions on Suicune to jumpstart it's natural healing."

He picked up the five potion bottles that he had with him and walked slowly over to Suicune. It watched him every step of the way, growing more and more wary of him as it eyed the potion bottles he was carrying. "It's okay, they won't hurt you. These are potions." He said soothingly. "They just help you to heal faster, that's all they do."

It still watched him with fierce eyes, but didn't attempt to attack him or run away as he put the potions down next to it, taking one in hand and preparing to press the nozzle next to its body. "This will sting a little, but I promise you will start to feel better in a few hours."

He pressed the Potion nozzle next to the Suicune's blue fur, and pulled the handle to inject the bluish-purple liquid into the legendary's body.

Instantly it reacted to the potion's effects. "Raaaw!" It groaned as the potion entered its body, working through its system and starting to perform its duty.

"Easy, easy, don't fight it!" Jacob whispered gently as he tossed the empty potion to the side and picked up the next one. "Let the potions do their work, they can only help you so much with all of these injuries. I need to use all of them to even have a chance of healing you."

One by one he injected the Suicune with the potions, and as each one deposited its healing medicine into it, the Pokemon groaned less and less. Eventually all of the potions were spent and he could already see visual signs of the potions doing work. A few of the more minor cuts and bruises were starting to vanish slowly, while the more serious ones were still there. He could even see the Suicune's coat looking just a slight shade shinier than before. Its breathing however still was rapid and harsh, and he could tell that the Potions were starting to sap what little strength the Suicune had in order to start repairing its injured muscles and damaged systems. It needed something to replace that lost energy, as well as fuel the potions efforts during the night.

"There, you should start feeling better in a while." He said as he picked up the empty bottles and looked over the Suicune one last time. "I think now all you need is a good meal and a good night's rest before your body can start to recover. I'll make you something to eat so you can have something in your stomach."

He smiled at it one last time before wearily heading back to his Pokemon who were all gathered with Harold and Ivan, having finally gathered enough sticks for a fire. He didn't even notice that in his tiredness he had accidentally left an empty Potion bottle behind next to the Suicune.

The Suicune looked quickly at him and pushed the bottle into one of the bushes before he or any of his team could notice it.

Ten minutes later a small fire was burning under a cooking pot of just finished Oran Berry soup, the smell of which made Kora really hungry. However nearly his entire team was so tired from the day's traveling and activities that only Sara and Jacob were still up as he put the soup into a bowl for the Suicune. The rest were all in their balls waiting for morning.

He picked up the bowl and with Sara on his shoulder again, walked back to the Suicune as it still lay in the bushes. "Hey there, you okay?" He whispered to the legendary.

It didn't say anything to him as it eyed him with its fierce eyes, but its breathing had definitely steadied. Yet still it didn't look like it was ready to 'run across the land with a gliding elegance'.

"Are you hungry, I've got some food for you if you are?" Jacob asked presenting the bowl of food. "You need something in your stomach or those potions aren't going to help you out very much."

It still didn't respond to him as he presented the food to it, it merely stared at him with its cold, determined, resistant eyes.

"Sara?" He asked, looking at Sara for any kind of hint.

(She… doesn't… trust humans.) She said tiredly. (I told her… you are… a good human… but she doesn't… trust you. She thinks… you'll capture… her… the moment… she looks away… from you.)

"Alright I understand." Jacob sighed unhappily. "Well in any case, here's the food in case you get hungry."

He put the food bowl in front of the Suicune, before backing away from her and heading back to his backpack. He wearily unraveled his sleeping bag, opened it up and put his bag deep inside to protect it from wild Pokemon. He and Sara were so tired that they didn't even bother putting the fire out, instead letting it die out on its own.

He curled up in the sleeping bag with Sara curling up next to him, and immediately fell asleep.

(Suicune's PoV)

Suicune eyed the human that left her the food, still staring at him with determined eyes even as he fell asleep, but now with a sudden spark of gentleness that she didn't show before. He had the BEST chance any trainer could have had to take advantage of a weakened legendary Pokemon and capture it, and he threw it away. She couldn't have run away before, couldn't have escaped him if he chose to throw a Pokeball and capture her, and she wouldn't have been able to resist being captured even with a fight.

Here she was, lying in a bunch of bushes, starving, weak, tired, almost defenseless, and instead of doing what other trainers would have done, capture her and take her to the Pokemon Center that her mother's mother spoke of. He uses strange bottles to help her, and even cooks food for her. Why?

Still her stomach gave a small rumble, and it forced her to look at the still warm food. Taking a whiff of the bowl of still warm food, she smelled the wonderful aroma of Oran Berries in it, as well as some other fruit that just made it five times more enticing. Her stomach rumbled again, it so loud this time she was surprised it didn't wake up the human and his Ralts. Unable to resist its demand any longer, she dug into the food with extreme gusto.

It was absolutely the best meal she had EVER had in her life. The warm, wet, and soothing feeling of the food going down her parched throat and into her bare, empty, and desperately needy stomach just about changed her opinion on the human. The first taste was nothing short of amazing, it drove her to just eat more. The next few bites were paradise, it washed down her throat and soothed all of the pain her throat had been feeling and wet her parched tongue. The rest of the bowl was absolute heavenly for her, she couldn't believe how incredible the food was, and it only reminded her of how long she had gone without food.

The fear of the humans hunting her all but vanished, replaced by a sense of calm and peace that she had not felt for nary an age. She licked the bowl clean, drank all the juice inside it, and savored every last flavor she could of her first true meal in months. Already she could feel her stomach calming down and putting it to good use, silencing its complaints as its hunger was sated at long last.

She left the bowl where it was and looked up at the human again, sleeping soundly as the fire he had made was starting to die out. *Was I wrong about humans?* She thought as she watched the little Ralts and her trainer sleeping calmly. *Was I completely wrong about humans? Maybe it's just an act… yea it has to be! He probably just wants me to lower my guard… right?*

She looked down at the empty bottle and flipped it over with one paw, reading the instructions on the back.

She couldn't read the smaller words on it, but thanks to some small pictures that acted as instructions, she saw what the bottle did. The first picture showed a Pikachu with a bruised tail, the second showed the potion being applied to the Pikachu, and the third showed the Pikachu's tail all better.

She looked back up at the human, and wondered again if she had been wrong about them all this time. However she couldn't focus anymore of her energy on looking at him, because despite her now full stomach, and her limbs feeling slightly better, she was still very much too weak to stay awake. She still hadn't had a good night's sleep and she knew that if she was to heal, she needed it. Yet still she was afraid, that human hadn't left her alone, he was still there and still had his Pokeballs, Pokeballs that could potentially capture her.

She had to take the risk though; she was still much too weak to run away right now. For now, she would have to trust this human to keep his word. He had said he wasn't going to capture her, and he wouldn't hurt her. There was no way she could fight him, at least not until tomorrow when she was more rested. For now, she would have to trust the Ralts' word that her Trainer was a 'good human'.

With a sigh, and heavy eyelids, she fell asleep again, hoping that in the morning, she would still be free of a Pokeball, and the Human would keep up what he did tonight for her.