North, South, East and West: North – Hoenn: Of Ground and Water
Ok, without further ado, I present to you a (possibly) eagerly awaited Chapter 3.
Also, a quick note to inform any who are interested that I am still accepting OT submissions. Please refer to the previous chapter for guidelines.
Disclaimer: All Pokemon and related official characters are owned by Nintendo. I own Richard and Jeffrey is owned by Blake Wilson.
Chapter 3: Along the Dusty Road
"How far is it to Petalburg anyway?" Richard asked wiping the sweat out of his face with one hand and snapping a small twig off of a tree with the other. He passed the twig to Treecko who was still sitting on his shoulder. The small Pokemon examined the twig in every detail before frowning in disapproval and throwing it over his shoulder to land in the leaf litter.
The two companions were walking along the only dirt track that led out of Littleroot town. Constant use had worn a bare path in the undergrowth that the boys were walking along. However, low-lying shrubs were abundant on either side of the path and their thorny branches kept snagging Richard's trousers. Also, the trees overhead had grown to an extraordinary height and their crowns bent over the path, subjecting the two travellers to a muggy and humid shade.
"We should make it to Oldale Town by nightfall." Jeffrey replied over his shoulder. He was also sweating profusely but his headband kept all of the sweat out of his eyes. "We can spend the night in the Pokemon centre there and we'll move on to Petalburg tomorrow. It's pretty much another day's walk from Oldale to Petalburg anyway."
Richard sighed and snapped another twig off a tree and handed it to Treecko. This like its predecessor was examined minutely before being discarded.
"What's the big deal about this twig anyway?" Richard asked Treecko, who had now clambered on top of Richard's head and was swiping at low hanging branches himself. "Do you have to have one?"
"Of course I do." Treecko replied looking insulted. "It's a symbol of Treecko authority. A Treecko needs a twig, otherwise he's not a real Treecko."
"You've done fine without a twig up until now." Richard pointed out.
"That's because I haven't had a chance to find a good one yet." Treecko responded. "I've spent the entirety of my life up until this point in one laboratory or another. I'm just making up for lost time." Richard nodded and stooped in order to pick up another twig. This one was thin and long. It had a small leaf growing on the very tip making it look somewhat like a very organic cigarette. Richard passed this one to Treecko who again examined it. This time the green gecko gave a small smile and inserted the twig into his mouth.
"Good enough."
The trio walked in silence for another quarter of an hour before Jeffrey turned back to Richard.
"Say. Where's your Zubat?" he asked. Richard hadn't returned the bat to his Pokeball since releasing him in Birch's lab and the small creature had taken flight into the trees surrounding the path soon after entering the wooded area. Richard shrugged.
"No idea. He won't have gone far though. He still doesn't like bright light that much. He's probably just hunting for bugs." In fact, almost as soon as Richard had said this, a large thud to his right made him turn.
Zubat had just crashed into a tree. This was most likely because he was flying both backwards and low to the ground. He was doing this because he had been hunting for bugs. But the bug in question was not Zubat's usual prey of damselflies or ants. Rather, the victim of this hunting foray was a Wurmple.
The Wurmple was almost as large as Zubat himself was and, due to the bat's small size, his fangs hadn't actually killed the Bug Pokemon and it was desperately trying to wriggle free of his grasp while constantly screaming and yelling incoherent profanities. Thus the bat was trying to drag his catch back to the group so that they would help him finish it off.
"Look." Zubat said. The words were slightly muffled on account of the fact that he had a mouth full of Wurmple. "Just stop struggling and it'll all be over quickly. You won't feel a thing." The Wurmple's response to this was
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH! Lemmego! Lemmego you crazy sonofaNoctowl!" Zubat sighed in exasperation and continued dragging the flailing worm backwards. He stopped dragging when he bumped into Richard's leg. The bat turned slowly in order to look up into the disapproving face of his trainer.
"Ah. There you are." Zubat said, weaving slightly in the air due to the Wurmple's frantic thrashings. "Help me finish this thing off will you? He won't stop wiggling." Richard bent down and picked Zubat up with one hand and the Wurmple with the other.
"Maybe this one's a bit too big for you to eat." He said setting the Wurmple down on a branch. The Bug Pokemon scurried away as fast as it could go, still screaming as it ran. Zubat scowled briefly before relaxing and shrugging.
"Maybe. But I still caught it didn't I?" Richard smiled and rubbed Zubat between his oversized ears.
"Yes you did, and it was very impressive. But maybe you should go hunting for smaller prey next time." He placed Zubat on his head and moved Treecko down onto his shoulder before turning to Jeffrey.
"Sorry about that. Now, shall we continue?" he asked. Jeffrey nodded and the two walked on down the path with Zubat and Treecko talking animatedly while perched on their trainer.
It was nine O'clock by the time the small group made their way through the doors of the Oldale town Pokemon centre. The sun was just setting behind the trees and the group cast long shadows that streaked the ground. Once inside, Jeffrey checked in at the front desk as he had stayed at the Pokemon centre the previous night on his journey to Littleroot town. Richard on the other hand had to book a room on the ground floor. He wasn't surprised at the Nurse Joy at the desk being almost identical to the one he had met during his final exam. After all, most people knew that all the Pokemon Centres in the world were run by sisters from a large family of Pokemon practicioners. Richard bid Jeffrey goodnight before going to look along the corridor for his room. He found it easily and threw his bag down onto the plastic chair in the corner of the room. He dropped onto the bed and removed his shoes before turning to his two Pokemon. Zubat was now perched on the edge of the bed and Treecko was curled up in the centre of the duvet.
"Ok guys. I'm going down to the restaurant to get some dinner. You can come with if you want or you can go exploring on your own. I want you back by eleven either way." Treecko raised his head and made an impressive running jump off of the bed onto Richard's arm. The Wood Gecko quickly scaled the arm in order to rest on the boy's shoulder. Richard turned to Zubat who extended a wing.
"I'm going out hunting. I didn't really get to eat today since someone let my lunch go." He squeaked. Richard shook his head and left the room. Once the boy was gone, Zubat fell off the bed, snapped both wings open and sailed out through the open window.
The sun was almost fully down now and to Zubat's large ears the air was alive with the throb and hum of the nighttime insects. Zubat glided through the air above Oldale revelling in the sensation of flying through the air of a foreign land. A new world of adventure and more importantly, insects. Zubat did a few loops in the air in order to gain some height and take the bugs that were now all around him by surprise. Whether it was the nature of Hoenn insects or the warm evening Zubat didn't know, but the air was far more populated that it had ever been back home in Orre and for a while the bat ate well. Then, spying an old oak tree in a back garden, Zubat dropped towards it, recognising it as a source of insects.
However, as he approached, a large crowd of flying ants launched simultaneously from the tree and momentarily blinded the bat's echolocation. Stunned, Zubat didn't see the Hoothoot perched on the branch until he crashed into it.
With an avian shriek, the Hoothoot plunged off of the branch and straight into Zubat. The stubby wings spread open and the bird ascended, wheeling round for another attack. Zubat was not well versed in the ability to speak Hoothoot but as far as he could make out, the bird was shouting "Intruder!" over and over again. Zubat righted himself and tore at the owl, fangs bared and glistening with venom.
With speed that far outweighed it's shape, the Hoothoot descended, allowing Zubat to go over it's head. Then almost as suddenly, the Hoothoot rose and slammed it's entire body into Zubat's back, causing the poison Pokemon to scream in pain. As Zubat circled around again, trying to shrug off the pain, the Hoothoot's eyes glowed bright blue. A hypnosis attack.
It was late evening though. The time when Zubat are most active. This, coupled with the adrenaline of battle served to let Zubat resist the attack and slam the streamlined thin edge of his wing into the bird's breastbone.
Thoroughly Astonished, the bird began to fall as it stopped flapping it's wings in shock. Pressing the advantage, Zubat wheeled and bore down on his foe trying again to connect with a Leech Life. But, before Zubat could connect, the Hoothoot flipped right way up again and it's short pointed beak tore into Zubat's wing membrane. Purple blood spurted from the wound and Zubat began flailing as, with one wing out of commission, he began to fall to earth. His other wing swung round and managed to slug the Hoothoot in the jaw purely by chance. The Hoothoot was not perturbed and slammed it's foot into Zubat's back forcing him to fall even faster.
Zubat hit the ground with bone shattering speed. His wings had slowed his fall slightly but he was still too injured to resist the Hoothoot landing on him and starting to tear at his head with its beak. Darkness started to engulf his vision and repeated words "Intruder!" and "Die!" filled his ears. Just before he blacked out though, Zubat could have sworn he heard another voice over the top of the Hoothoot's.
"Ember!" A jet of fire tore through the dark evening and slammed into the Hoothoot, throwing it off Zubat and setting many of it's feathers alight. The Hoothoot screamed and rolled in the dust in order to extinguish the flames before taking into the sky back towards it's tree as fast as it's tiny wings could take it.
"Thanks Torchic." Jeffrey said returning Torchic to his Pokeball. He'd broken his promise to himself and released Torchic from his Pokeball almost as soon as he'd gotten into his room back at the Pokemon centre. The excitement of a new Pokemon was too much for the boy to bear. Neither of the two had been tired or hungry so they had elected to explore the town. Jeffrey had been sitting on a wall trying to teach Torchic the basics of ember projection when he had witnessed the Zubat/Hoothoot dogfight. Jeffrey had run to Zubat's aid and managed to drive the Hoothoot off just in time it appeared.
Jeffrey stooped over the bleeding bat and carefully picked him up. The wounds were many, but shallow. The bat was breathing weakly but his pulse was strong. With a remorseful look at the tiny Pokemon, Jeffrey began running back towards the Pokemon centre.
And there we have the end of Chapter 3. I hope you enjoyed it and will come back soon for Chapter 4. Don't forget to read, review, submit an OT or check out the other stories in the NSEW saga. Until next time.