I believe this counts as a fast update for my standards. It also holds the record as the longest chapter I've written yet. 3,608 words exactly. I'm quite proud of this chapter. I definitely like it better than the last one.
Chapter 5 ~ Scouting
She didn't know what to do.
They had planned, trained, warned other Pokémon, everything they could do to prepare for this point. And then they came. Just like that. Their boat stopped at the shore of the island and the humans wandered off onto the solid ground. So now what? Go and raid their boat before they could do anything? Ignore them and wait for the trouble to really begin?
Levinia sat there, just like she had the previous morning, and then the the evening of that same day when she first saw the humans set foot on the island. She hadn't told anyone yet, as much as she felt the need to, she had yet to find the chance. That was when she realized that the smartest thing to do right now would probably be to go and do exactly that and tell the others. If nobody else knew, then she needed to find that chance. She had no need to get ahead of herself.
She stood up onto her back legs and glanced around for a moment, before jumping down to where her friends were gathered at the entrance to their cave.
But suddenly everything felt quiet. Nobody was speaking. It was as if everyone could sense something, some dark presence looming over them.
KRROOOOOWW!
The deep, booming voice echoed over them as a giant honchkrow soared overhead, flapping thick wings roughly as it turned back around. Many murkrow flew up to join it with exclamations of a welcome of sorts. The large Pokémon clearly wasn't from around there, as soon enough the staraptor flock that lived nearby joined the crows in the sky threateningly in attempt to drive them away.
So that was reasoning for the silence. The group of them down in the meadow stared up at the fight in the sky. The honchkrow had really angered the staraptor, that was for sure. Meanwhile, the murkrow flew around, not partaking in the fight and most likely struggling to decide which side to join.
HOONCCHH-KRRROOOOOOWWWW!
Two more honchkrow had arrived, stirring up the air with more bird Pokémon as they fought against the newcomers in defense of their territory. The murkrow, again, squawked as they flew to welcome the new ones, but the bossy Pokémon ignored them, immediately joining in with the unnatural fight.
One Pokémon fell. Two. Slowly, one by one exhausted bird Pokémon fell from the sky, injured and too exhausted to continue battling, leaving the task to the other members of their flocks.
There was a splash as a young staravia fell into the stream, moaning in pain along with others all around who just couldn't match the honchkrows' strength.
They were helpless. The land-dwelling Pokémon were helpless in the aerial battle above them, the screams and screeches echoing through their ears. As much as they wanted to join in the fight - to help defend their home - they couldn't. There were too many Pokémon, it would be impossible to aim. Even Velvet's psychic attacks with precise accuracy would be useless against the dark typed honchkrow.
But then it all hit them at once. The land-based Pokémon exchanged a single glance, and sprung into action. Even if they couldn't fight the powerful honchkrow directly, they would help in any way they could.
Velvet summoned a psychic wall of light in the form of a Light Screen to help protect them, as the others ran off to help those injured. Levinia ran over with Aki to help the staravia in the stream, who had been knocked out.
The helioptile started by dragging the gray bird out of the stream onto a small, natural bed of moss on the stones while Aki tried a Wish attack aimed for the staravia. A short distance away, Velvet kept the Light Screen around them stable with Yumi helping in every way he could. Saffi and Kefira stood side by side at the edge of the clearing with the ninetales sending out a Safeguard around them with the larger luxray sending projectile attacks out against any the honchkrow might try, resulting in many small explosions in the air.
Elysia ran into the cave to grab any berries that could help the injured Pokémon while Kitsune and Carbon ran off into the forest together, the two fire Pokémon working together to collect more berries, or anything else that might help. Flake went from one Pokémon to another, giving berries to the ones that needed them most, keeping Elysia busy with running back and forth between Flake and their berry storage.
It went on like that for a while longer. The sky multi-battle continued to rage above them, many of the Pokémon just beginning to tire out from the constant fighting. Small flocks of spearow and fearow joined in to help, using their speed and powerful beaks to their advantage against the honchkrow which, by their luck, were beginning to get weaker by noticeable amounts.
With the end of the battle nearing, the united bird Pokémon sent their final attacks against the honchkrow, finally urging them to retreat. Even if they could just end up coming back, the sight of the three unnaturally powerful honchkrow flying back in the direction of the humans' ship gave them just a tiny bit more peace at mind and the much-appreciated chance to finally rest.
A couple more hours passed - the sun already in the center of the sky, the days just seeming to pass so quickly. Just the single unexpected arrival of three such beasts sent by the humans, resulting in so much fighting with many getting hurt. If that was the result of a group so small, then who knew what could happen next? But for the time being, they all just tried their hardest to help the injured recover enough to go back to their own homes.
It was evening by the time all of the hurt flying Pokémon had been deemed well enough to leave. After a full day of having to watch that reckless fighting in the sky right above them, spending all too much energy just in the attempt to help those who'd been injured, even they were exhausted.
Luckily for Levinia, the mystery of the honchkrows' unnatural power was drawn to the conclusion of them being the humans' Pokémon, leaving it unnecessary for her to mention what she watched the previous day. All they could do now was hope for a peaceful sleep before deciding on a real plan of action for the days to come. But one more conclusion had also arisen from the fight:
Those humans did not come in peace.
CRRRAAASSHHH!
The group was awoken by the sudden noise that stirred the forest from peace. The sound of a tree falling, and of course breaking apart any hope they might've had for a peaceful sleep that night in the process. If the battle hadn't been proof enough, that one long, deep sound solidified it all. A small tremor shook the ground from the second the tree fell, proving it was a large one.
Levinia eyes shot open, only to find darkness still surrounding her. Everything was quiet once again, almost as if nothing had ever happened, aside from the small moans and rustles as the others awoke around her.
"What... was that?" Levinia heard Kitsune ask from her left. She glanced over in her friend's general direction, but pitch-black still coated her sight so she couldn't be sure of exactly what she was looking at.
Velvet spoke up next. "I believe that was one of the larger trees by the shore falling over. The humans most likely knocked it over. Why they decided to do so at this time of night, I don't know." She paused for a moment. "Yumi, some light?" she asked.
Yumi, (presumably) nodded, and a moment later a thin yellow light filled their cave from the umbreon's glowing rings. It wasn't enough to see very much detail, with most of her friends still appearing as dark silhouettes against a slightly lighter background.
"Should I light the woodpile?" Kitsune asked, and Levinia could see the vulpix stand up. "It would make it a lot easier to see."
"Alright. Saffi, could you help her?" Velvet agreed, she too standing up. "I'm going to go outside and try to see if I can tell what tree it was that-"
CRASSHH!
"...fell. Or, make that which two trees fell."
As the espeon left the cave, Kitsune and Saffi lit their small fire in the corner, next to the exit and opposite the former's nest. The flame provided more light, and finally Levinia could see a little more than just the silhouettes of her friends.
"I'm going outside too." Aki arose from her nest closest to Levinia's and shook out her fluffy fur. The eevee turned to her. "Levy?"
Said helioptile nodded, following her friend outside into the small meadow. The moon and stars above radiated a thin pale glow, providing them with just enough light to see as they climbed up the ledge to the lookout. Velvet, having come outside just a moment earlier, was sitting near the edge and gazing silently out across the forest before them.
"Can you tell which trees it was?" Aki asked her mother, approaching to sit next to her. Levinia followed her slowly, sitting down nearby.
The espeon in front of them shook her head, not moving from her spot. "Too dark. We'll have to wait until morning comes to have any hope of seeing anything."
Aki nodded in understanding, silence surrounding them as the three of them sat there, gazing out across the dark forest. "Mum?" the eevee spoke up again, "what'll we do if that does happen? If the destruction comes too close?"
Levinia stayed silent as the espeon answered the question. "We'll have to leave. Try and avoid the danger before it gets that close." Another crash was heard, echoing around them as the third tree fell to the ground. "But at this rate, we may not have very much time."
Aki and Levinia both nodded, listening as Velvet explained. She stood up, flicking her forked tail. "Go get some rest. We'll send Hawk out to scout the area around there in the morning. For now, you don't want to be tired later."
Doing as they were told, the eevee and helioptile leapt back down to the cave entrance and wandered back inside. Settling into their nests once again, they went back to sleep in hopes that not too many more trees would fall before they awoke.
It was quiet when she awoke once again, and the light of dawn filtered through into their cavern home. Levinia blinked open her eyes, straining to get used to the sudden bright light around her. A few moments later, she stood up onto her small back legs and looked around. Aki, Elysia and Kitsune's nests were all empty, so she assumed they were outside together, probably having woke up earlier and not wanting to disturb her. Flake and Carbon, still there from when they had come back from up north, were both asleep in their nests in the two furthest corners of the dimly-lit room.
Pausing for a few moments, she slinked silently outside. As expected, her friends stood gathered around a rather large staraptor, who Levinia soon recognized to be Hawk - the one that Velvet had mentioned the previous night.
Slowly, she went over to sit by her friends, who were talking quietly to each other. Aki smiled, turning her head as the helioptile sat down. Listening in on the older Pokémon's conversation with the staraptor which appeared to have come to visit, she decided against joining in with her friends' conversation.
"Hawk, do you think you could do us a favor?" Yumi spoke first.
"Sure. I don't really have much else I could be doing. With the forest being destroyed and all, most of us birds have already fled down to those scattered forests in the south. Apparently some are even planning on leaving the island all together to go live on those larger regions populated full of the humans. I don't see how that makes any sense though. Maybe they just seek some nicer ones. That is, assuming that all of those who've invaded here are mean and evil ones. I suppose we don't have much way to tell, seeing as there isn't-"
"Okay. Hawk. We get the idea." Yumi interrupted mid-speech. "We all know how talkative you are, so maybe we'll give you the chance to talk more later, but only after we've told you what we need you to help us with. Okay?"
"Sorry..." the staraptor stared down at his feet apologetically.
"Thank you." Velvet cut in quickly before Yumi continued.
"Okay, getting to the point. Do you think you could go and scout the shore area for us for a little? We want to know of how much of this destruction seems to be happening, but we can't exactly fly, so..." The umbreon asked, looking up at the larger Pokémon.
"Sure can. I was planning on going to look anyway, because my friend Harrier was wondering about going to move down south with his family until all of this was over with. Do you want me to leave now?" Hawk nodded, going on with a long answer like usual.
"Yes, please. As soon as you can. Do you want some berries for energy before you go?" Velvet offered.
"No thanks. I'll be fine. I'll see you guys later then, when I come and report back with what I see. Bye bye!" And for once, the loud bird Pokémon stopped chirping and with a single flap of his long, wide wings took off into the air, seemingly completely uninjured after the aerial battle he had been in just a day earlier.
When everything was finally quiet again, Levinia blinked, rather surprised by the seemingly-crazy staraptor's rambling. For arceus' sake, it was just a single, simple question. Not that she found it all that annoying, because luckily it happened to be about what the other Pokémon were planning on doing about it all. Hawk was somewhat like a flying news station because of his habit to do that.
"...well, that was interesting." Aki muttered from beside her, as if she could read exactly what Levinia's thoughts had happened to be. Elysia and Kitsune nodded in agreement.
Hawk soared around above the forest, his sharp eyes focused on the tree tops below, alert for any signs of something of importance. It was slowly nearing midday as he dove downwards, scouting the area from just meters away from the tops of the trees around him. Swerving to avoid a tree slightly taller than the rest, he proceeded onwards.
"Hi Hawk!" A voice chirped as a much smaller Pokémon fluttered down beside him in the form of a young shiny starly. Hearing a second starly approaching to join the first, Hawk slowed down, turning around and landing on one of the branches of the previously-mentioned large tree.
"Hi Star, hi Thrush," he greeted as the two starly went to land on one of the smaller branches sticking off from the larger branch, where he perched.
"Are you spying on those non-Pokémon human-thingies that arrived a couple days ago? I don't like the sound of the trees falling... I hope nobody is hurt." The shiny one - Thrush - asked.
Hawk nodded. "Yeah. The Pokémon living in the meadow over there," he pointed with his beak in the direction of said meadow, "-asked me to. They wanted to know of how much destruction those stupid humans were causing. I'm assuming they're also thinking about leaving to go somewhere safer until those creeps decide to leave us be."
Star nodded, looking out over the forest near the shore. Many of the trees could be seen on their sides, leaning on others while tall piles of sticks and branches littered the ground like if there had been a giant wind storm. But that was only of what they could see from their distance away. The trees just seemed to be disappearing all too quickly...
After a short moments silence, Hawk spoke up again. "I should be going now. The meadow Pokémon would probably be expecting me back by midday. Tell Harrier I say hi."
"Okay. Bye Hawk!" The two starly chirped, and Hawk watched them as they fluttered away. Even with the humans, they really did prove that not everything had to be filled with despair.
Seconds later, the staraptor followed suit, taking off into the air as he headed towards the shore. Flying evenly, he decided to start down by the central lake mouth and follow up shore to see exactly how much forest was gone. Slowing down as he reached his destination, he let the wind carry him as he scanned the area below.
The largest tree was still in one piece, surrounded by the smaller forest trees, but for how long Hawk did not know. Eyes down, damage did not become apparent until around a quarter of the way up. That was when he got his first close up glance at the human's giant tree-destroying monster thingies. They looked to him like something a magnezone or klang would like to call home. And, being a flying Pokémon, Hawk wasn't so keen on that idea.
But going forwards, he struggled to stay aloft. A low buzzing noise filled the air, like a beedrill only worse. The chattering of the humans talking about arceus-knows-what with the frequent crash and creak of tumbling trees only made the noise worse.
What he saw made it no better. Trees and sticks covered the dead ground, not a Pokémon in sight. Humans weaved in and out of hut-like things made of some strange material he didn't know how to describe from what he saw. The destruction only seemed to be getting deeper and deeper into their forest home. Or- what once was.
Fortunate for him, and as with most other bird Pokémon, his sense of smell was not the greatest so he didn't have to worry about it. But if he were to base it off what he could see and hear, he could tell it would be no good.
Flying upwards, he scanned the area below once more. And he didn't see what he wanted to see. By the looks of it, almost a quarter of the forest was gone already. Dead, and lost to the humans selfish gain. Lost to the point that only the legends, or a very long wait of time could ever help them restore it to what it once was. The result of just half a days work.
So that is what Hawk decided as he flew swiftly back to the meadow to report, grateful for the natural forest sights and sounds around him once more. He didn't look back as he slowed his speed, losing altitude as he landed softly on the grass in the center of the meadow.
"It looks like Hawk is back," Levinia murmured as she and her friends walked back outside from where they had been playing games in the cave.
"Yup." Aki nodded, bouncing ahead to sit and listen to the staraptor's report. Levinia, Elysia and Kitsune did the same, mentally preparing themselves for some long and over-done explanation of every single little detail they had seen. They couldn't really expect anything less from such a Pokémon.
"Are you guys scared at all? I mean, looking at all of this that's happened in these past couple days it'a almost a miracle we've been lucky enough to not get hurt at all." Elysia asked them as they waited. Hawk seemed to have occupied himself with a leaf as he waited for everyone. Levinia didn't understand why he didn't just call out.
"Yeah," Kitsune agreed. "But if something happens, then I'm fighting! Those humans won't be getting away with what they've done!"
They nodded in agreement. They didn't want their training to go to waste. If the chance came to help, they weren't about to back down. It was all in a Pokémon's nature.
Eventually, all of the older Pokémon had finally got back, and Hawk proceeded to explain what he had seen. From those hardly-important details like encountering Thrush and Star to the fact that all of the forest along the shore from a quarter of the total width north from the lake mouth had been destroyed and the humans seemed to be living in the strange shelters. Not to mention the fact there were no longer any Pokémon in those areas occupied by the humans now, as no Pokémon on the island had ever adapted to such an environment.
Luckily, Hawk didn't mention seeing any Pokémon that had been injured or worse, so they took that to be a good thing amongst the bad.
As he finally finished his long explanation, the meadow Pokémon took that chance to think over what Hawk had just explained.
After a long moment of silence, Kefira finally broke it and spoke up with her own decision. "I believe it'll all be best if we leave and head down to the larger meadows south of here. It'll give us more time to finally decide exactly what we should do to try and stop the humans." The luxray searched the group for signs of agreement.
Several of the Pokémon gave small nods of approval before Velvet meowed, solidifying their decision. "I agree with what Kefira suggested. We shall leave tomorrow at dawn."
…I hope it was okay. (and yes, I just had to squeeze in that appearance of my OC, Star :3) Depending on how quickly I can figure out how to start that next chapter, how evil school decides to be, and how much time I spend doing other stuff will all play a factor in whether or not I'll be able to get up the next chapter within the next month or so.
Please review/favourite/follow/something. I really appreciate every one of them :3
