Old and new friends – a heated time
Bonnie and Laura were quite taken aback when Max and the doctor quite literally flew into each other's arms – well, in a manly manner of course, with much hand-shaking and back-slapping.
"Max! What are you doing here? Last time I talked to May you were still at the Petalsburg Gym. And I can't believe how much you've grown!"
"Brock! I guess I knew you were somewhere in Johto, but I was never quite clear on where. Great to see you again! I finally started my own journey, and here I am."
Looking at the girls' surprised faces, Max laughed and explained:
"Brock here was the fourth member of the gang, from when I was travelling with Ash and my sister."
"Oh, Laura piped up, that's the one in your stories, the pokemon breeder and great cook?"
Brock scratched his head self-consciously.
"Well, they tell me I'm good… I just like to cook! But I'm not a pokemon breeder anymore, as you can see. I discovered when I was in Sinnoh that while caring for healthy pokemon is great, helping sick ones get well again is even better! I'm still learning though, two more years before I'm all done."
"Is that why you're here?"
"Yes, it's a part of learning the ropes, we young trainee doctors do a lot of village to village consultations. I'm almost done in this area though, in a few weeks my replacement is coming and I'll move on to the next trainee position."
"Where are you going next?"
"I don't know yet. Wherever I'm needed I guess."
"Well," Bonnie declared, "I for one am really glad you were here today! I don't know what we would have done without you!"
Laura enthusiastically seconded that.
"I'm Bonnie by the way, and this is my partner Dedenne."
"And I'm Laura."
"Bonnie is from Kalos and Laura is from Hoenn, like me, except we met right here in Johto. We're travelling together," Max explained. "Bonnie also travelled with Ash for a while, can you believe it?"
That declaration naturally prompted a lot of explanations and stories. And Brock expressed his amazement at the unlikely chain of events that had Bonnie and Max travelling together now.
"The world is really a small place sometimes," he added. "Bonnie isn't even the first of Ash's companions I've met since we parted company."
He went on to tell the story of how he had met a pokemon connoisseur and his pansage, back when he was in training at a pokemon centre, and how they had teamed together to save the community from a rampaging gyarados.
"We never exchanged names or anything, so we actually parted without realizing we had a very good friend in common! But I figured it out later, while talking to Ash. The funniest thing is, Cilan and I alluded several times to this crazy friend we each had, and never guessed that we were both talking about the same person!"
They all laughed at that.
After a while, Laura slipped in the back to see Phanpy. Brock's Blissey was still caring for it, and the little elephant was sound asleep.
"Get well soon," she murmured.
"She will," Brock said, having entered the room after her. "She had a bad scratch on one leg, but I treated that. Other than that, she was mostly bruised and exhausted, but nothing that some sleeping won't cure! She'll be right as rain in a day or two."
"Well that's a relief," Max said from the door.
"Now let's all get out and let her in peace, she needs rest and quiet." With a last backward glance, Laura let herself be led out of the room.
"So, since it looks like I'll be staying here tonight, how about you join me for dinner and tell me more about what you all have been doing?"
xxx
Max was still smiling a lot the next morning, even after Brock departed. The trainee doctor was expected in another village, and he could not leave sick pokemon waiting. But running into him here had been great and brought back so many good memories! He could not wait to tell his sister the next time he had her on the phone. She would probably be more excited than when he had told her about his first badge, he thought wryly. May could appreciate that some people were more interested in gym battles than contests, but it was a very intellectual appreciation. When he had told her that he was finally going on his journey, she had actually tried to convince him to become a contestant himself, as if THAT was going to happen!
The black-haired boy finished packing his things. In the end, they had just spread their sleeping bags in the waiting room, unwilling to look for a campsite outside the village in the dark, after the very good dinner. The village only had one restaurant, but it sure was a winner! It had been funny to see Brock make gooey eyes at the waitress, but to Max's surprise, he did not make more of a fool of himself with a love declaration, as he used to. At his friend's prompting, Brock had explained that he was working on his self-control, as he would have to be more serious when he finally became a full-fledged pokemon doctor. And he showed Max and his friends his croagunk, a weird-looking frog pokemon who was apparently very good at helping Brock stay in line. Bonnie had declared Croagunk "cute in a goofy way", whatever that meant. Trust that girl to find any pokemon cute!
"Hey Max, are you finished daydreaming?" Bonnie's voice brought him back to the present.
The girls were all packed up, and cuddling with Phanpy, who looked a lot better than the day before. The little elephant seemed to love the attention, rubbing all over both girls' legs and almost making them fall.
"I'm good. But YOU seem to be yawning all the time, both of you, what's up with that?"
The two girls exchanged guilty glances.
"Well, actually, it was hard to sleep last night…" Laura started.
"I woke up after some time, and I saw that Laura's sleeping bag was empty…"
"I had been worried about Phanpy, so I just wanted to check on her for a while, then Bonnie joined me…"
"And we might have stayed up a mite longer than we should…"
"You both spent all night with Phanpy?" Max was incredulous, but the slight reddening of his friends' cheeks told him it was pretty much what happened. "Well, I guess we can take it easy today, it's not like we're in a big hurry."
"We pretty much have to anyway, if we're keeping Phanpy with us for a day or two, until we're sure she's alright," Bonnie replied. She smiled innocently.
Max looked at her with suspicion. He had already learned that the innocent façade was hiding a devious mind. "For a day or two? Somehow, I don't think that's really what you have in mind. Come on, spit it out! Do you want to keep Phanpy?"
"Told you he would figure out that something wasn't quite right," Laura commented to Bonnie.
"Yes, you did, you win this one! Max, I'd love to keep Phanpy as my companion, we both would," Bonnie replied. "But unfortunately, we can't."
"What do you mean?"
"Your friend Brock figured out that Phanpy isn't a wild pokemon, she already has a trainer somewhere."
"Does she really? Well, they're not doing a very good job, aren't they, considering in what state we found her, and where!"
"You might be right, but what if it was an accident? Things happen sometimes, you know that. Anyway, Laura and I would like to at least bring Phanpy to the next pokemon centre and help her find her trainer again. Do you mind?"
"Of course not! Why would I mind?"
"Well," Laura explained, "the nearest pokemon centre is a bit out of the way, so it's going to take more time than the straight route to Azalea Town, and we know how eager you are to win your second badge."
"As I already said, we're not in that much of a hurry. My pokemon and I can always use more training time. And I want to help Phanpy too!"
"Great, then it's settled!" Bonnie said happily. "Let's go!"
xxx
The detour brought them north and mostly out of the rugged terrain. They could see a very big forest stretching north of them, but turned westwards before really entering it, following a path along a little brook. Phanpy was walking alongside them, still looking a bit bruised but otherwise acting as if nothing much had happened, which probably was a good thing. Brock had given Laura a balm to gently smear on the bruises and a potion to help the little elephant recover her energy, and she made sure to give her both when they stopped for lunch.
"This pokemon centre sure must be in the middle of nowhere," Max commented as they gazed on the wilderness around them. "We haven't seen a house since we left the village! Must be lonely for Nurse Joy."
"It's wild here, sure, but it's really pretty," Laura replied. "And there must be lots of wild pokemon around, so I'm sure Nurse Joy has made lots of little and big friends. Plus, there are the occasional travelers, like us."
"Is that the building we see over there?" Bonnie asked.
The other two peered in the direction she was pointing. They had taken their lunch break on a small crest, and the view was pretty good.
"I think so, but it's hard to tell at this distance. You have sharp eyes!" Laura told her friend.
The blond girl smiled at the compliment. Sure enough, the house she had noticed turned out to be the pokemon centre they were looking for, and they reached it about one hour later. But it was totally empty! No sign of Nurse Joy anywhere. The three friends looked at each other, nonplussed.
"I suppose she could have gone for a walk in the woods, but wouldn't she have left a note or something?" Max wondered aloud.
"Oh well, might as well wait for her, she'll be back sooner or later. You want to train in the meanwhile?" Bonnie suggested.
Her offer met, as she had thought it would, with an enthusiastic response. Max was putting a lot of time into training, and it showed: she had to fight a lot harder to hold her own, and ended up on the losing side. Bonnie resolved to train harder in the future, she had found out that she did not like losing much. Meanwhile, Laura was trying out a combination move with Swablu and Espurr, which had both of her little friends going up in the air, one flying, one floating.
Several hours later, still no Nurse Joy. The day was turning towards evening now, and it would not be long before sunset. Suddenly, cries filled the air. It was a blissey, running towards the centre in a state of extreme agitation. She was filthy and looked rather tired. Upon seeing the three friends, she made a beeline for them and tried to tell them something, quasi jumping up and down in her desire to make them understand.
"I think she wants us to follow her," Bonnie decrypted.
"Blissey!" the pink pokemon agreed, emphatically.
"Oh, do you think something could have happened to Nurse Joy?" Laura worried.
"I don't know, but we'd better find out!" Max replied.
Despite her evident tiredness and her short legs, the blissey was taking off at great speed, and they had to run to keep up with her. She led the three children deeper into the woods, not bothering to follow any paths but evidently taking the most direct route to where she wanted to go. Max cast a worried glance around them, wondering where they were going and hoping that Blissey could guide them back to the pokemon centre afterwards. Though the sun had not quite set yet, the woods were already rather dark. Suddenly, quite a few pokemon appeared in the bushes, all running in the opposite direction. Bonnie, Laura and Max jumped behind a big tree to avoid being trampled.
"What was that all about?" Bonnie asked, puzzled, when they had gone. Blissey was already urging them to move forward again.
"No idea," Max replied.
"Hey, do you smell something?" Laura said at the same time. The other two sniffed as well. "There's a weird smell in the air, but… oh! It's smoke, isn't it?"
"Smoke? Is there a fire nearby?"
"Blissey, blissey!" Their pokemon guide got even more agitated at the mention of a fire.
Quickly getting concerned, the three friends moved forward. A few hundred meters later, there was no denying that they were going in the direction of a big fire. The smoke smell was permeating everything. Soon, they saw some flickering lights ahead. Sure enough, there was a forest fire, and it seemed to be raging. Fortunately, the wind was coming from their right, so it was not moving in their direction and the pokemon centre was probably safe.
"I hope all the pokemon had time to flee," Laura murmured.
xxx
"Help!"
The call seemed to come right from the fire. Advancing more cautiously, they finally saw Nurse Joy: she was right next to the fire, and seemed unable to move. A clefairy was protecting her from the sparks with light screen, while a wooper was using water gun to keep the fire from advancing in that direction. Nevertheless, Nurse Joy's face was rather sooty. As they got closer, they saw that a tree had collapsed on one of her legs. Alarmed, they ran up to her, though the heat was barely bearable.
"Nurse Joy, are you alright?" Bonnie asked. With that heat, she wondered how the red-haired woman had not fainted yet.
"Thank goodness you're here! I am uninjured, my leg is merely trapped, but I cannot free myself!" The nurse's frustration was obvious. "When I was alerted that there was a forest fire in this direction, I came to see whether the pokemon centre was at risk, and to check that all pokemon had escaped. But I got careless, and here is the result! Fortunately, I had my friends here, otherwise I would have been toast by now."
"Poliwag, come on, I need you!" Max ordered. The little pokemon jumped out of her pokeball. "Use water gun as well and help Wooper, will you?"
After a very brief cuddle of Max's leg, Poliwag obeyed. The doubled jet of water helped diminish the nearest flame, and the heat went down a few notches, to everyone's immediate relief.
"Alright, we need to move that tree, everyone. Let's heave!" Max suggested.
But their combined strength was barely enough to give the big tree a small lift.
"We need help," Bonnie panted. "Chespin, Litleo, come out! Chespin, you use vine whip. Litleo, you'll use headbutt from this side when we heave, that'll give us a boost. Dedenne, I know you want to help, but I'd rather you stayed a bit further with Phanpy, I don't want you hurt."
"Hey, quick thinking!" Laura said. "Espurr, come help us lift that tree too. Use psychic!"
"Ralts, you do the same!"
"And Blissey, you use pound alongside Litleo!"
This time, the tree was definitely moving, but they still could not lift it quite high enough for Nurse Joy to free her leg.
"We're so close!" Max growled, straining under its weight.
As they put the tree down again, Bonnie noticed that Phanpy was watching anxiously from where she had told her to stay put.
"Phanpy, do you want to help us?"
"Phanpy, phan!"
"Well, come on then, but be careful!"
The little elephant trotted gingerly forward. As she got closer to the tree, she picked up the pace, and…
"Hey, that's iron tail!" Max recognized suddenly.
Slash! Slash! The two biggest branches fell noisily to the ground, neatly cut.
"That's great Phanpy! We should be able to lift the rest now, thanks a lot!" Bonnie gushed happily.
Indeed they could, and the red-haired nurse got to her feet with a smile.
"Thank you, all of you," she told them. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't happened by. But everything else can wait until we're a bit further away, I think Clefairy, Wooper and even Poliwag must be getting tired!"
xxx
Everybody started to retreat, except for one pokemon, who stood his ground.
"Litleo, come on!" Bonnie called, seeing that her little friend had not moved. "I know you like the fire, but we need to get back to the pokemon centre now. And it's dangerous for us to stay that close any longer."
"Litleo!" The little lion sounded quite agitated. After a last glance at Bonnie, he turned around and ran alongside the fire's edge, further away from the group of friends. Bonnie swore. She was quite tired after the last night and Nurse's Joy rescue, and was hoping that whatever Litleo wanted, it would not take long. Max and Laura looked at each other, nonplussed, while Nurse Joy, ahead, called to ask what the delay was about. Bonnie glanced at Litleo, then at the rest of her friends, undecided.
"We'll wait for you here, ok?" Laura said. "But be careful, just because the wind isn't blowing in this direction doesn't mean the fire can't expand around here too!"
"Sure! We'll be quick, I promise. Honestly, I don't know what got into him. What's wrong Litleo?"
The fiery lion cub only continued to advance. Bonnie, with a sigh, started to follow him. Dedenne, Chespin and a curious Poliwag decided to come with her. Litleo brought Bonnie on the other side of some big boulders. There, they happened upon a very agitated ursaring, who apparently wanted to head right into the fire. Puzzled at this behavior, the blond girl peered into the flames. What she discovered made her blood run cold despite the heat: a few meters away, half hidden by smoke, was another boulder, and on top of it, trapped by a line of burning brambles, a teddiursa and an oddish were huddled together. The oddish was using razor leaf to destroy any debris falling too close to the bear cub.
"Oh no, we need to rescue them!" Bonnie cried out. "Is that why you brought me here, Litleo? It's lucky you noticed something was wrong! Hmm…" The blond girl looked around, searching for ideas.
"Dedenne, climb up that tree, and tell me where there is the least fire between us and that boulder!" The electric mouse scrambled up at high speed, happy to help, and soon pointed out to a spot a little to the right. Indeed, the flames were neither as high nor as thick there, the sparse vegetation having partly burned out already, but there were still some burning bushes between them and the boulder, and the smoke didn't help orientation. Ursaring, who had followed their movements with interest, growled with frustration.
The boulder itself was three times Bonnie's size, another problem to solve. "Chespin, if I get you there, can you pick Teddiursa and Oddish up with vine whip?" "Chespin," the little hedgehog replied, puffing his chest out to look brave. "Very good! Poliwag, will you clear a path for us with water gun? And Litleo, can you guide us to the boulder through the smoke? Great, then I think we have a plan. Poliwag, Chespin, I'll carry you, you'll burn your paws on the ground otherwise. Ursaring, are you coming with us?"
The big bear reared and growled, quite a frightening sight. Chespin jumped backwards and fell on the ground, but Bonnie was not taken aback in the slightest, focused on the rescue mission.
"Poliwag, please douse us all with water before we start! Well, except Litleo obviously!"
They were all drenched in a matter of seconds, and Poliwag ran towards the fire with her most powerful water gun. Bonnie, who had tied a handkerchief around her face, picked her and Chespin up, Litleo came to her side, Ursaring followed, and in they went, as fast as they could. Oddly enough, the smoke and heat situation did not seem much worse than where they had stood just before. The visibility was bad, but Litleo had no trouble holding to the right direction. Twice, flaming branches fell from overhead, but the ursaring had a powerful fury swipes and destroyed them before they could be harmed.
After what felt like a long time, but was certainly less than a minute, they reached the boulder. Chespin extended his vines, and the oddish pushed the teddiursa towards them. The ursaring gripped her cub tightly as soon as she could, while Chespin picked up the other pokemon. They ran back out immediately, coughing and eyes tearing up. Bonnie, half-blinded, collapsed on the ground as soon as the temperature went down to normal. It took her a while to realize they had had an audience.
"Bonnie, what the hell did you think you were doing?" Laura shouted, running to her friend. "Do not ever do such a stupid thing again! Damn it, you almost gave us a heart attack!" The dark-haired girl was uncharacteristically swearing, a sure sign she was very upset.
"Sorry…" Bonnie puffed. "There was no time, I thought you guys were still back where I left you."
"Blame Laura, she pointed out immediately that you were likely to do something impulsive if left on your own and that impulsive and fire didn't mix. She was right, but we weren't quick enough," Max replied wryly.
"Is everyone ok?" Nurse Joy asked. The red-haired woman was just arriving.
"I hope so," Bonnie replied. "But the teddiursa and the oddish must have breathed a lot of smoke."
"Then we'd better get everyone back to the centre as soon as possible, and no detour this time!"
END OF CHAPTER
Hi everyone, I know I hadn't posted a new chapter in quite a while, sorry about that. I hope this big one makes up for it a little! I'll try to post updates more regularly.
Three rescues in two chapters, and a Brock cameo in the middle, I hope you liked it all! Though don't worry, one rescue or more per chapter isn't a new guideline of mine, it just happened that way. I have a few other plotlines in mind, wait and see
