Chapter 70

Several miles north of the flower meadow, a Bidoof was sniffing through the underbrush in search of a branch thick enough to gnaw on. It passed over several twigs that were much too tiny, its small nose twitching as it went.

He could tell it was going to rain soon. His nose always itched when it was about to rain. The sky was dark that day, but the rain wouldn't come until the next night. There would be plenty of time to return home with his brothers and sisters to wait out the storm. Until then, he needed to find a branch that would tide him over until the rain ended.

The strange storm three nights ago had caught him unawares. There had been no signs to show that it was coming. His nose hadn't even itched. Everything in the forest had gone into a frenzy when it started. Wurmple, Rattata and Bidoof alike had scattered in all directions looking for shelter. But the storm had finished only minutes after it began.

Some were saying that Kyogre itself had risen from the bottom of the sea to take a deep breath for the first time in centuries, before diving back into the depths. Others claimed that it was merely a side-effect of a human battle, exploiting the rituals and techniques that Pokémon used to keep nature in balance. Still others said that the north wind, Suicune, had brought the rain to play a joke on the forest's inhabitants. Initially, Suicune was silent on the matter, but, to protect its own reputation, it had asked several of its accusers if they believed that Suicune was truly a trickster at heart. None of them did.

But this particular Bidoof did not know which to believe, nor really care what the truth was. He simply needed to find something to chew and no amount of speculation was helping him.

Now, he had to admit that there were strange powers sleeping on this island. Though he had lived in these woods his entire life, visiting Wingull often commented about the strange energy that flowed around the island. It was hard to ignore their superstitions. Especially when they told tales of faraway places that he would never see.

The forest itself was a sign of the strange magic around the island. Sometimes he would leave a delectable piece of branch somewhere carefully hidden and return later to find that not only had the branch been moved, but the hole he had buried it in was gone too. Several times before, he had strayed too close to the mountain and upon rushing home; his mother had scolded him for being gone for as long as three days.

Of course, all of these things felt ordinary compared with the energy coming out of the core of the mountain. On one trip, in particular, he had decided to find out for himself what the cause of the time skipping was and he began to climb straight up the mountainside. Unfortunately, he had only gotten halfway there when two bad-tempered Geodude had forced him to turn around. Still…as he climbed that mountain all of his hairs stood on end and he could sense the power sleeping deep underground.

That was the closest any Bidoof had ever come to finding out what was inside that mountain. There had to be others inside that knew, but the Geodude weren't sharing. Whatever it was, though, it was strong. Even stronger than Suicune.

But what was truly strange about that power wasn't its source or its size. Because this particular Bidoof had also seen several of those strange half-breeds walking through the woods. They weren't quite like him and they weren't quite human, but all of them had a little bit of that mysterious power inside of them.

For an island that had humans living so close by, few of them ever came inside the forest. All but the most recent ones, the inhabitants knew on sight. Though it was mostly the old man, whom the fish enjoyed teasing. But even he hadn't been in the forest for almost three years. All of the humans that came into the forest had those strange half-breeds with them.

The Bidoof didn't have any strong feelings one way or another about them. Generally, he just avoided them and they left him alone. Others, in the forest, hated them and cursed their very existence.

One time, he had asked his mother what they were and she told him a story about a foolish Bidoof who asked the wish-maker, Jirachi, to turn him human. Jirachi did as he asked, but he couldn't fully transform him into a human. He still had his large teeth and fluffy ears and even his hands and feet were webbed like a real Bidoof. When the humans saw this strange creature, they swarmed the abomination and killed him.

After the horrible tale was over, he asked his mother why they still saw the half-breeds if all the humans wanted to do was kill them. His mother told him that they came into the woods because in the human world, they were forced to disguise themselves or they would be killed by the humans. The forest was the only sanctuary they had.

But even that didn't make sense. If the forest was a sanctuary and all the humans killed them on sight, then why did everyone in the forest hate them so much? Shouldn't they try to protect them?

To that, his mother told him that it was not their duty to protect those that had cursed themselves. Those half-breeds were only a little bit luckier than the Bidoof from the story. It was their selfish wish that had doomed them. To turn their backs on those like them and transform into a human was an appalling and horrible thing to want.

Still, he didn't know what to think about them. And, like the power inside the forest and the mountain, they had been there his entire life. Besides, all he really needed was a nice, thick branch to chew on. Then he could just-

Suddenly, his hair stood on end.

He jolted to a stop, but that was a mistake. He could sense one of those half-breeds right behind him. He wanted to run, but his legs were frozen from fear.

Suddenly, something grabbed his back leg and lifted him off of the ground. He wiggled and scrambled, trying to get loose, but the grip on his back leg was too tight. He was lifted almost a full five feet, straight up into the air. Still panicking, he squeaked in fright as his captor spun him around to get a good look at him.

The girl had bright red hair and emerald-green eyes. The flaming tip of her tail shone just outside of his field of vision. It was another half-breed.

Without thinking, he bristled his fur and began to gnash his teeth at the girl. But she paid no mind. This was not the first time a Bidoof had acted this way towards her.

"Thirty-three," the girl sighed. With that, her mouth opened wide, revealing a set of teeth that were slightly more pointed than most humans. Her canines were especially sharp and as he watched, small flames sprouted around them, filling her mouth with fire.

The Bidoof switched back from hostility to sheer panic, squeaking and trying to flee from the half-breed girl. Then her searing-hot teeth sank into him as she bit him. The pain was intense, but it only lasted a moment before he passed out.

"This is boring!" Cherry whined, tossing aside the unconscious Bidoof. It landed with a thud a short distance away. After a few more moments, the Bidoof blinked his eyes open, shook his head and dashed away into the underbrush.

"Cherry, calm down," Mark sighed, "I know this isn't what you had in mind, but we still need to do it."

"I know, I know," the little girl groaned, "I'm just saying that at least the Aipom were a challenge! This is just…lame."

Mark didn't really have any other way to console her. The problem was; he agreed with her. Cherry hadn't been hurt even once since they began. Most of the time, she didn't even need any instruction from Mark. Bidoof were simply weak, ordinary, common Pokémon that most trainers only bothered with when they had to. And now they had to.

"Well, look at the bright side," Mark began, trying to convince himself just as much as Cherry, "you've caught thirty-three and we've only been out here for two hours. Another hour and we're done."

"We'd better be…" Cherry muttered, "'cause this is seriously-OW! Owowowow!" Cherry clutched her head and sank to her knees. Recognizing the symptoms, Mark rushed over and knelt down with her.

"It's alright, it's alright," he tried his best to sound calm as he consoled her, "I'm here. Now, what is it?"

Without answering, Cherry began to shoo him away. A half-sick look appeared on her face as though she were about to vomit. Mark just managed to scramble off to the side before she spat out a cylindrical ball of flame that shot forward about fifteen yards before exploding into small cinders in every direction. The tiny flames it created dissipated in the air, just before they might catch the surrounding woodlands on fire.

"Flame Burst," Mark observed, calm, though wide-eyed in amazement. He turned back to Cherry who still clutched her head in obvious pain. "Alright, you can forget about Ember, now."

Cherry didn't ask for confirmation and her horrifying headache finally subsided. She breathed in and out a few times, steadying herself before standing up once more. Fire Fang, Smokescreen, Dragon Dance and now Flame Burst. Their progress had slowed, but Mark was immensely grateful for everything she had learned thus far. They would need it.

"Alright," Mark also got to his feet, "now we're getting somewhere. Flame Burst might not be as strong as Flamethrower, but it's way better than Ember. That'll be our best bet against Shinobi."

"Shinobi…right…" Cherry panted a little, recovering from learning her newest attack, "is it always like this?"

"What is?" Mark asked.

"Learning new attacks…" Cherry said, "Does it always hurt like that?"

Mark hesitated before answering. He couldn't lie to her, but he didn't understand it any more than she did.

"No," he said, "not for normal Pokémon, anyway."

"Is it because I'm human, then?" she tried to sound braver than what she felt.

"I think so," Mark told her, "humans don't learn anything like this. I think it's just too much for your head."

"Okay…" she nodded, "how many more times do I have to do this, then?"

Again, Mark hesitated. He didn't know the answer, but it would be a simple task to look it up in his Pokedex. Everything was right there, waiting for him. All of the data that trainers and scientists alike had gathered about Pokémon after generations of battling. But knowing the number wouldn't comfort her. It would only fill her with dread and make her hate training.

"Never mind," Cherry groaned, though Mark was admittedly relieved, "I don't want to know."

Mark had to feel sorry for her. Being a Pokémon was not easy. Being human was not easy. And being both was worse than either of them. This girl's life seemed to be nothing but pain. She might not even be able to fulfill her dream of flying. She could be stuck as a Charmander for the rest of her life and never evolve into a Charizard, the way she dreamed. He owed it to her to tell her, but when?

"Hey," Mark called to her, "it's almost noon. Why don't we take a break?"

"Do we have to?" she asked, unexpectedly, "I don't want to fight these things, but if it's only going to be another hour, then let's just get it over with."

"Alright," Mark agreed, "if we head more towards the river, we should find some more of them."

"Okay," Cherry agreed.

As they made their way forward, she stayed about twenty yards ahead of Mark. Most of the time, Mark didn't even see her catch a Bidoof. She simply called out the new count and kept going. The little things didn't stand a chance against her.

With nothing better to do, Mark decided it was time to check on Lily and Eric. So far, he hadn't heard a word from either of them. Before, he thought he could dismiss it, but now too much time had gone by. Something was wrong.

He started with Lily.

The phone rang so long that Mark was beginning to wonder if Palkia's Woods was interfering with the call. But, finally, the call went to voice-mail and Lily's chipper voice answered.

"Hello! You've reached Lily Riddell! Sorry I can't answer, right now. I'll get back to you as soon as I can." There was a short pause before she finished, "and, if this is Mom. I'm okay. And yes, I'm eating well." A short tone sounded as Cherry shouted out "thirty-four!"

"Hey, Lily, it's…uhh…Mark," he hated phones, "I…uhh, was just wondering if everything's okay. I didn't see you this morning. So…just checking in. Okay, bye." He ended the call and began searching through the list for Eric's number.

"Thirty-five!" Cherry called out.

Before he could find Eric's number, his phone buzzed once, telling him he had received a text message. It read:

We are fine. There is no cause for worry. Please continue without us.

Mark raised an eyebrow at the strange wording. Lily didn't type those words. It sounded more like Shinobi. Everything the ninja said was proper and polite and this was no different. So why was Shinobi texting him instead of Lily? And why did neither of them answer when he called?

In any case, they were safe. That was all he really needed.

"Thirty-six!" Cherry called again, "no, wait, thirty-seven!"

Next was Eric. This time it was Tsunami's gruff voice that answered.

"Good morning," he answered, "soon to be afternoon, actually."

"Uhh…morning," Mark greeted, "is everything okay? You weren't around this morning…"

"Ah, yes," Tsunami feigned ignorance, "sorry about that. We should be there shortly. And we have some new information you might like to hear."

"What's that?"

"Nothing too serious," Tsunami said, "just a few new recruits for our little war against Team Deus."

"Really?!" Mark exclaimed, "Well, alright. Awesome. We'll see you soon, then."

"Later," Tsunami hung up.

"Forty!" Cherry screamed again.

It was a wonder they weren't just surrendering to her…

AN: not a whole lot going on in this chapter, really. Just checking in on Cherry's progress and bringing things together. Day Six is lasting a very long time.

Well, once again I must apologize for being late. I'm also late on responding to PMs and reviews and such. Thankfully, though, I have some extra time off between now and New Year's. so, I should be able to get back on schedule and respond to everybody very soon.

So, if I don't see you, have a great New Year's and thanks very much for reading!