The first thing I felt when I was consciously aware of myself had been a thick, warm blanket covering me and laying on a plushy futon. The air smelled of boiled tea leaves while every now and again, my ears caught the sound of footsteps. I moaned as I started to rub my face with sluggish hands. The second I touched a part of my forehead however, pain started to radiate from a small bump that sat on my face. "Oh hell!" I exclaimed as I quickly sat up and nursed the injury.
"Hey kid, you're finally awake! I was starting to get worried for a sec! How are ya feelin'?"
After taking a few minutes of collecting myself, I weakly opened my eyes and turned to see Aarune sitting at a small, wooden table drinking tea from a ceramic cup. "My head...what happened?" I managed to croak out and laid back down; my body suddenly began to feel really sore. The secret base expert finished his drink before helping himself to more from the black pot on the table.
"Well..."
-Third Person P.O.V-
"So long Sycamore!" May boasted with upmost arrogance as she had flipped him the middle finger before jumping through the entrance opening; completely forgetting that the only safe means to get in and out was climbing the bright green vine. Overall, leaping straight down wasn't the brightest idea. Aarune meanwhile was coming around back to the area to check on the trainers to see how their secret base building was going. So far, everything seemed to be going okay. Well it was, until he got to May's base. Just when he got close to the tree, the trainer's blurred form suddenly flashed passed his eyes and stopped abruptly as she met the ground with a loud grunt.
"Oh shit!"
Aarune broke into a run and caught up to the now knocked out May Maple to inspect her for any serious injuries. Fortunately, the only thing he saw physically wrong with her had been a swollen knot forming on her forehead. It was too early to tell if there was anything else amiss. At the same time, he was curious about what had made the girl crazy enough to just jump out without thinking, but helping her was a more important priority. Thankfully, there was a small rest house near the base.
With some effort, he slung the trainer over his shoulder and carried the girl along with a now trembling skitty attached to his hat.
-End of Third Person P.O.V-
"And that's how we ended up here! I have to say that it was pretty stupid of you to jump out like that. You're lucky that you didn't break a leg or anything," he said before taking another sip of his tea. I let out another groan from realizing my idiocy and pulled the blankets over my head.
...
Once he made sure that I was somewhat in good health, Aarune bid us (the old lady who owned the rest house and I) good-bye and left for his travels. Not long after that, I started to get up. The old woman insisted for me to lie back down and focus on recovering, but I grimaced at the idea of being lazy while the poor old person worked her fingers to the bone. As my form of gratitude, I began to help tidy up the house.
Skitty wasn't very happy with me about on account of nearly killing us both from the terrifying jump I made. She merely laid on the zabuton* and glared at me whenever I had been her line of sight. There was a suspicion that she was also angry about her playtime with Sycamore being terribly cut short. As if it wasn't bad enough that I had to watch out for Metang's disobedience in battle, but now I had to patch up my relationship with Skitty!
Later that evening after the bathroom was clean, my party and I took a bath. The restroom had a big and square wooden bathtub with a small wooden bucket and platform. The tiles on the wall were little tan squares and the floor was decorated with larger, grey ones. The sliding window was slightly ajar so that the occupant wouldn't be too overwhelmed with the steam.
I wrapped a towel around my torso and put up my hair and started washing Chirpie. The firebird enjoyed the experience as it squawked happily when I washed his feathers. He seemed to have liked the water when it wasn't being forcefully sprayed at him. After him was metang; it was a little awkward because of its gaze intensely on me when I started scrubbing its hard surface. The steel/esper-type probably wanted to make sure that I didn't miss a single spot. Casecoon outright refused to take one as her body stuck fiercely to my arm before I could put her in. She seemed to be afraid of the hot water for some reason; I wonder what that was all about. Wingull on the other hand got excited cried out to pour a bucket of water over her head. Shortly before her turn was done, she silently sat in it and swam around in circles. Poochyena kept lapping it up and sprayed me with droplets when she shook herself dry. Good thing I wasn't wearing my night clothes. Finally, I got to skitty. While I was able to get her clean, she glared at me the whole time. Geez skitty! How long are you planning to keep this up?!
When I was finished with them, it was my turn to wash up. After the wooden bath was filled with water, I slipped in. I was there for a while with my mind on planning what to do for tomorrow. There was no doubt about leaving early. If Sycamore could find me in a tree house base, then I certainly would t be hard to track me to a rest house not that far away from it. *sighs* I feel so tired.
...
The next morning, I woke up extra early to depart. There were many urges to stay asleep on the comfortable futon, but the possible consequences forced my still aching body to move. I left some money on the table and cautiously stepped outside where the smell of ash greeted me. It wasn't overwhelming at first, but as I journeyed onward, the scent became stronger. The air was dry, but warm as I peered into the night that was slowly dissipating from the breaking of dawn.
What I noticed from the other places I traveled, was that the morning here turned into a dull grey instead of the vibrant mix of colors I had grown used to. It almost felt like it could suck all the fun hues and life out of everything that decided to come through here. Suddenly, I noticed that flakes of ash started to fall gracefully like misunderstood snow. Metang (whom I chose to let out this time) looked around itself with wonder as almost everything was covered in the bleak dust. It would occasionally shake itself of the stuff; a fairly easy thing to do when you're made of metal. I was doing the same, but it was difficult since I had skin and sweat to keep it stuck on. I gave up after dusting myself off for the fifth time.
We started to go in the tall grass when a small group of children dressed as ninjas jumped out and nearly gave the both of us a heart attack (or whatever he had that qualified as one). There were five of them with their Pokémon already summoned out. Five koffings with their kind of nightmarish expressions rushed forward. I abruptly fell back with surprise, for they looked to be aiming an assault on me and made my pack come loose off me. Before I could get caught in their line of fire however, metang swung in front of my view and used its heavy arm to slam into one of its opponents. The gaseous thing fell back instantly and fainted. The actions of the movement kicked up the ash; clouding the trainers, Pokémon and myself.
I looked around cautiously as everything fell silent with the exception of the distant humming sound that came from my battle partner. Then, a big purple gas-inflated ball came out from the cover of kicked up ash and came right for me. Instantly, I dove out of the way before it could hit. I don't understand: Why was it attacking ME?! Were their trainers bandits and this was an ambush? That would make sense since there were five of them. When I did it in Slateport, it was because of Team Magma; otherwise, I stuck to the traditional rules of a trainer battle.
The lodging turned around and started making these strange gurgling noises from...wherever it came from before it spat out a gob of purple goo at me. It was only by mere inches that it missed, but the attack still made my heart skip several beats. If it ever successfully landed, it would be more than just damage that'll be inflicted.
People that got hit with a Pokémon's poison generally didn't have a great experience. The only person alive in the world, who was able to resist it, was the Fuchsia City's gym leader, Koga. He kept the secret from anyone who wasn't within his family.
Back into the reality of running for my life, I tried to find cover for myself but another koffing appeared to block my path. It too started to make those gross sounds and prepared to drown me in its poison. So this is how I was going out?! Ambushed by a bunch of koffings?! That wasn't fair at all!
Just as it launched the poisonous goop at me, I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself for the worst!...and kept bracing...and bracing...man, when was it gonna be ove-
I opened my eyes slowly and realized that the assault was stopped by metang's arm. Hanging on the other one was my pack. The steel/esper-type gave out a furious metallic sound and sent out waves of a bright purple color at the poison-type. The move drove it in turmoil and fell down. My Pokémon then turned to the other one and quickly made it fall by punching it square in its inflated torso.
When it was deemed safe, I climbed on metang and hugged its body with static relief. "Good arceus! I am VERY glad to see you again!" I exclaimed while my head rested on its ash-dusted surface. Now that we were reunited, our plan was to finish off the other two Pokémon and confront the ninja kid bandits. They were going to taste the fury of May Maple; and it would be ridiculously spicy.
I grabbed my pack from metang and put it on as the other two koffings appeared to engage in battle. Metang didn't give them any time to think up an attack as it brutally slammed itself into one of them. To be honest that was a very scary moment, for I was too unprepared for the sudden choice of assault and was just barely able to hang on. Maybe I should command it before it goes crazy and attacks the trainers."Okay metang, let's just use-"
The final koffing didn't even get a chance to blink before it connected to my Pokémon's heavy fist and forced it to slap against a rock. Okay...that's one way to do it.
"Oh no, koffing!"
No sooner had we defeated the last one, did one of the kids come out and try to return it to its ball. When he came within our view, I jumped down to face him with an angry scowl on my face. "Hold it right there you little brat!" I ordered fiercely with a pointing finger. The kid ninja became startled and jumped back.
"I hope you little monsters have a dam good excuse for trying to attack me; even though I'm not gonna listen to it anyway-"
"You're a person?"
"...whaddya mean 'I'm a person'?"
"Um..."
...
It turned out that the reason for the attack was because all the ash that covered the two of us and my bow gave off the appearance that metang and I were roaming wild Pokémon. Because of this, I couldn't find any fault in the misunderstanding...though that didn't stop me from giving each of them a goose egg on their heads for my troubles. With that dangerous scenario behind us, we went onwards across the bleak-looking route.
"So, you wanna tell me what that was all about?" I said with a mischievous look on my face as we walked/ hovered along. It turned to look at me, but quickly looked back ahead in an attempt to avoid the now looming subject. "Giving me the silent treatment, eh? Nice try, but you're not fooling anybody! I know you care about me! Even though you don't like to listen-OH FUCK!"
I didn't pay attention to where I was stepping and got my foot caught in a ditch. My balance was lost and I fell on top of a sharp rock that effortlessly punctured the skin of my arm. Pain shot through and shocked the rest of my body. Nevertheless, I quickly shot up and sat back to feel the wound with shaky fingers; they were smeared with blood. The injury hurt so much that tears sprang into my eyes and I whimpered in the start of a cry.
Suddenly, I felt my bow being moved around on my head. I looked up to see metang's glow as he used his telekinesis to take out my bandanna. It then floated through the air and tied around my arm. My Pokémon then lowered its three-stubbed arm and did something that resembled ruffling my hair. I was certainly surprised by the action. The same metang that disobeyed me in battle whenever it got too strong without having enough badges as proof of superiority did something that I never expected it to do; care about me. I thought that it only cared about a mandatory obligation of keeping me alive and wanted those tender caresses for the sake of sating the need of attention. Was the disobedience actually because of my appearance as a small, weak thing that needed to be constantly watched over and took on the role of a protective parent? Maybe, and I would get very pissed off if it was the actual reason. However, the tender act it made caused more tears well up in my eyes.
I stood up and pressed the side of my face against metang's body while giving it a hug. "*sniffles* Thank you, metang,"
Fuck, I hope there wasn't anything else out here to see me cry.
...
We continued on until found a small house in the midst of the ash-colored landscape. It didn't look like a rest house, but maybe there might be some chance could stay the night by doing some chores or pay money. When we finally got there, it turned out that the owner of the house ran a glass-blowing business. In return for spending a night, I had to go out and collect ash in a sack. That shouldn't be too hard considering how much got on me. For some reason though, it took nearly two hours to get the sack filled twice. The owner thought I did such a good job that he blew three glass flutes for me. Fortunately, I didn't have to be talented for them to work. He explained that the yellow one snapped a Pokémon out of confusion, the blue one woke them up from sleeping and the one that caused me that sparked my jealousy was the red one; its purpose of having a Pokémon get over its infatuations. Naturally, an unsavory, but blush-making image of THAT fucking professor came into my mind; so I ventured some questions.
"So, can you make one that works on people?"
"Uh, not really,"
"Is there anyone you know who can?"
"That's not possible Miss,"
"...how about now?"
"There's no such thing!"
Well at least I could sell the thing if I needed to. It just sucked that Pokémon got all the good stuff.
After spending the night, I ate breakfast with the owner and his son before setting out again. The sky was pretty much the same as yesterday: Grey and dancing with ash. Today, Chirpie was with me as we traveled onward and he reveled in playing with the ash. It didn't even take him less than a minute to be covered head-to-talon in the stuff. I made a mental note to give myself and Chirpie a shower the second we got to town.
Everything seemed to be fine and dandy until-"whoops! My bad!" Said a person who suddenly bumped into me. The slightly rough impact made me fall onto the ash-blanketed ground; covering me in it once again. My firebird came and helped me to my feet with a cry of alarm. When my sight focused on the newcomer, I could understand why.
That was because the person who bumped into me was a Team Magma grunt! There was no doubt about it with the color scheme of red with that stupid hoodie and nerdy shorts over that onsie sweater thing. Instantly, my anger started to flare up with the thirst to punch something. "What's a Team Magma grunt doing here?! Trying to rob innocent travelers and harassing scientists and old people?!" I accused with clenched fists. Normally, I would have just attacked the thug outright and lifted their wallet, but this one in particular was a fellow girl. I had the mindset of attempting to dissuade them from continuing their criminal activities; anyone could tell by my statement how well that was going.
The grunt just let out a laugh and leaned on a convenient rock. "Well, I'm kinda taking a break. It was pretty thirsty work this morning just being up trainers. But old people and nerds aren't good sport. You seem to be in good shape though..."
I was a little surprised by her response. Not because of what she said, but how she said it; very sarcastic and animated. The majority of the Team Magma grunts I encountered were all serious and stiff. Despite the differences, it was clear that she was up to no good around here. "If you stop your heinous acts now, then I won't hafta kick your ass!"
"No thanks! I get to do whatever I want while wearing this uniform! You know how many cops I passed on the way here without any one of them even glancing in my direction? I even attacked one just to see what would happen! Lo and behold, his candy ass did nothin'! I don't think I wanna be a goody-two-shoes like girl scout like you. By the way: Have any thin mints you can sell me?"
That's it! She's going down!
"Nobody calls me a girl scout and walks away without a black eye! Prepare your ass for battle!"
Immediately, Chirpie jumped in front of me and gave out a squawking war cry. The grunt looked excited and got up from her leaning position. On her belt, she pulled off a pokeball. I was looking forward to beating her in battle and then physically beating her up while taking her wallet as spoils. Then to pour Sal in her wounds, I would use her money to buy cookies. "Here's the deal..." She said while playing with the sphere. "You can use your whole team if you want, but I'll stick to one. If you beat me, then you can take me to jail and whatnot, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah! Now bring out your Pokémon out so Chirpie can curb stomp it!"
I was fuming from the insult and planned on being cruel with my strategy to defeat whatever she was gonna throw at me. What I didn't know at the time though, was what had been hidden behind those scarlet-colored eyes was not empty bragging rights, but time and experience. The grunt said nothing in response and threw out the pokeball. A bright light came out and took shape. What I also didn't expect was a Pokémon that was much bigger than any zubat, numel or poochyena to come out; nevermind the fact that it looked more terrifying. It had the appearance of a dinosaur that easily surpassed my height of four feet. The thing was dark brown with sharp teeth and small arms. Wow, didn't see that coming.
"Wipe the floor with them tyrantum!"
*To be continued in chapter 17*
*Zabuton = Chair cushion
