Chapter Six: Making a Home
"Nice attitude." Storm sniffed. "He goes and saves us and then leaves us all alone on this Arceus-forsaken island."
"Well, the first thing we should do is build a shelter." I said.
"How are we going to do that?" Storm asked. I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"Good thing somebody paid attention in the survival course. Bulba, come out!" I said, throwing my pokéball. My little Bulbasaur popped out of its pokéball.
"Bulbasaur!" Bulba said.
"And..........what are you going to do with Bulba............?" Storm asked.
"I'm going to lash some branches together to make a shelter.....but first we need to find some good ones. C'mon Storm, let's go into the forest and try to find some big branches." I said.
"Okay." Storm said. We walked into the forest, Bulba trotting obediently behind us. The forest was filled with calls of pokémon.
"This is like a tropical rainforest.....holy Miltank.....look at these trees!" I said, approaching a big, wrinkly-looking tree.
"Wow. I've never seen a tree like that before." Storm said, coming up next to me. I slowly touched the bark.
"It feels wicked strange..." I said.
"Come on. Let's find some twigs..." Storm said, pulling me away from the tree.
"Okay." I said. Bulba, Storm, and I walked through the forest, not saying anything. "Hey, here's a sturdy-looking bough." I said.
"Are you sure we're going to be able to carry that?" Storm asked.
"Sure we are. You lift up that side while I lift up this side." I said. We slowly picked up the branch and took it back to the beach where we had washed up. "See, now I'm going to bind this branch to the tree." I said, lying the bough down against the tree.
"And.....how will you do that......?" Storm asked.
"Bulba, use Vine Whip to lash that bough to the tree!" I commanded. Two vines snaked out of Bulba's back and tied the bough to the tree. "Okay, Storm. Now we'll build the shelter on this. Storm, grab some stout boughs and some ferns, and I'll tie everything together. Chiki and Tropicana, come out! Help Bulba!" I said, throwing two pokéballs. Chiki, my Meganium, and Tropicana, my Tropius, popped out of their pokéballs. Storm released Gyro, Toad, and Squirt and walked into the forest.
****
Within a few hours, we had finished building the shelter and we were roasting bananas over the fire I had created with Bulba's Solarbeam.
"Roasting bananas.....this is actually a pretty good idea." Storm said and took a bite of his browned banana.
"Mmmmmm." I said, breaking off a piece of my banana for Bulba. "In the morning, we should go and look for food and try to think of a way to get off this island."
"Yea, I dunno. Lappa probably isn't strong enough to take us all the way to Kanto..." Storm said, quickly glancing at his Lapras, who was sitting in the water giving him an indignant look.
"Yea, I dunno." I said.
"If Gyro would evolve into a Dragonite he might just be able to make it.....but we can't wait that long." Storm said.
"Bulba!" Bulba said and ran down the beach toward the water.
"Bulba, where are you going?" I asked. Bulba reached into the water and pulled out two very soggy bags, one blue and one green.
"Hey, it's our stuff!" Storm said. I took the bags from Bulba's mouth and patted her onto the head.
"Chiki, Vine Whip!" I told my Meganium. She wrapped a vine between two trees.
"Oh, good idea." Storm said.
"Yea, we've got to hang all of our clothes up." I laughed.
****
"That's my last shirt." Storm said, throwing a blue t-shirt over the clothesvine. "I never thought I'd miss my dryer."
"Me neither." I said and laughed. Storm yawned.
"I'm so tired....." Storm said.
"Me too." I said. We headed toward the shelter. I pushed back the moss flap that we used for a door.
"It's cramped in here." Storm said.
"It's to conserve body heat." I said. "We don't know how cold it gets at night. The more cramped you are, the less likely you'll get hypothermia." Storm nodded. "And that our sleeping bags are on the clothes.....um.....vine.....it's more important."
"Good point." Storm said. He lied down on the ground. "Good night, Lilly."
"Good night, Storm." I said. I turned onto my side and tried to fall asleep, but I couldn't. Worry about Shaymin had crept into my head. Was she feeling okay? Or was she feeling really sick, as Joseph had described? I started rubbing my temples to try to calm myself. When that didn't work, I turned to look at Storm. His eyes were shut and his chest was slowly rising and falling with each relaxed breath he took.
He's lucky, I thought bitterly. He doesn't have a pokémon with a deadly disease to worry about. I turned away from him and stared at the shelter wall. "Shaymin." I whispered to the wall. I heard Storm stir slightly. I turned back to him. I sighed. I sat up, my head brushing the top of the shelter. I gingerly stepped over the peacefully sleeping Storm and out of the shelter. I sat down on the sandy beach, my arms wrapped around my legs, staring out at the sea and sky.
The stars were like little jewels, glittering in the sky. I stared up at the sky. Shaymin, Shaymin, I hope you're okay. I thought.
"Lilly?" A voice asked from up the beach. I whirled around.
"Storm! I thought you were asleep...." I said. Storm sat down next to me.
"I was." He said.
"Sorry." I said.
"It's okay." Storm said. "I don't mind. I could tell you were worried about Shaymin." I sighed.
"Sometimes I swear you're Mew in disguise." I laughed. "You always know what I'm thinking!" Storm smiled. A cool breeze ruffled my hair. Storm looked out at the sea.
"I've always been intrigued by the sea." Storm said. "The sea holds secrets that we will probably never know."
"We probably would know if Squirt and Toad weren't there to save us." I said. Storm laughed.
"I guess we would have." Storm said. Storm gingerly reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Lilly.........you know.........you've been a really good friend." Storm said.
"What? Me? No, you've been way better than I have. I mean.....helping me on this journey to go find the elixir berry......." I said.
"I'm sure you would've done the same if one of my pokémon were sick instead of Shaymin." Storm said patiently.
"........You're right, I would have." I said. There was a long silence. I suddenly felt tired. "I'm going to bed." I said.
"Me too." Storm said. We walked into the shelter.
"Good night, Storm." I said.
"Good night, Lilly." Storm said. I turned away from Storm and closed my eyes.