Story 2 - Caves
Sometimes, Haru would take trips just for the sake of exploring different areas. There was still so much she didn't know about Unova, not having been from there originally. And because she had never travelled to collect badges and take on the Pokémon League, there were areas she had never visited, like Victory Road.
Because she was no longer a Pokémon trainer and a registered Pokémon Healer, Haru could go to any area under the condition that she not capture Pokémon, a condition she was fine with. And so it was with this thought that she wanted to take a trip up to the huge cave, and she knew just who to take with her...
"You want to take me where?"
Terrakion had come to visit the day she decided to go to Victory Road. Haru thought that he would be perfect to take with her, being that he lived in a cave. Little did she know that Terrakion lived in that cave!
Virizion didn't like caves much, so he didn't want to go, and he wanted to stay with Aramis, who was still growing. But Haru knew Terrakion liked caves, and being a part ground type, she figured he had to feel right at home there.
"It's called Victory Road. It's a giant cave up to the north of here," Haru said, "I thought you might like to come with me."
Terrakion didn't look too impressed with the idea, but inwardly he wanted to go. He loved caves and loved exploring new areas, not to mention it was easy for him to go as far as he wanted given how strong he was! Maybe it wouldn't hurt to consent just this once?
As he was thinking, Haru looked sheepish, "you don't have to come with me if you don't want to... I just thought you might like it..."
"Stop it," Terrakion grumbled, "I'll go, but not as a guide, got it?"
"O-of course!" Haru had expected that and she had no intention of asking for Terrakion's help. That was what her Seismitoad was for, after all!
Withdrawing Terrakion into his Pokeball, she turned to Virizion and Aramis, "I'll be back tomorrow."
Virizion nodded, "tell me if Terrakion gives you a hard time."
"Oh, will you beat him up for me?" Haru teased.
"Of course. I'm the only one allowed to pick on you," Virizion said, grinning. He then noticed Haru blush and looked rather confused at her reaction, "why is your face red, Haru?"
It was understandable that Virizion didn't interpret his own words the way Haru did... but Virizion showing his protective side in his own way was both touching and cute at the same time. Haru shook her head and said, "oh, it's nothing. Aramis, be a good boy for your papa okay?"
"I will!" Aramis had been learning telepathy from the other Musketeers, and he was starting to get the hang of it.
Waving them goodbye, she grabbed her bike and road into town.
She was at Victory Road within a few hours. There were a few trainers around, but they were all heading towards the Pokémon league. She hoped that she would not be noticed too much as the Pokémon Healer slipped inside.
Looking around the entrance to the cave, Haru saw that there were rivers flowing through it. Deciding not to explore that part, she went upstairs where an Ace trainer glanced around at her before heading on, realising Haru wasn't a trainer. Sighing in relief, Haru pulled the Heavy Ball off her belt and opened it, "come on out, Terrakion!"
The Cavern Pokémon came out of his ball, opening his eyes and looking around, "this is..."
"Sure is a tough place..." Haru smiled at Terrakion, "but what do you think?"
"Is this some kind of joke, human?"
Said human was very much taken aback by that question, "what do you mean? This is Victory Road..."
"This is where I LIVE," Terrakion thumped his head on the ground, "Victory Road... pheh, who would've thought you humans called my home that!"
"W-what do you call it?"
Terrakion gave her a rather frightening smirk, "the Trial Chamber."
'Well that figures,' Haru sighed at that, "Terrakion, you honestly scare me sometimes."
"Then my job is done," He said smugly.
"Hmm," Haru walked down the path with Terrakion by her side, "and here I thought a gallant Legendary Pokémon like you wouldn't pick on those weaker than yourself,"
"So you admit you're weaker than me?" Terrakion sounded surprised,
"Of course I am!" Haru pointed to the giant rock blocking their path, "for example, there's no way I could move that. But," she grinned, "my strength lies in tactical skill. I can teach Pokémon stronger moves to become stronger themselves, and in turn we become strong together."
"Hmph," Terrakion couldn't help but think of Isamu, and how they had become stronger together, "ridiculous."
"You think so?" Haru blinked at him, which was not the reaction the Cavern Pokémon had expected from her, "Virizion could kick your butt through this boulder with the moves I've taught him."
"Oh really?" Terrakion glared at Haru, who folded her arms and nodded, "that's right! I've taught him the ultimate grass moves and fighting moves,"
"Virizion could never smash me through a rock! He probably couldn't even smash a rock by itself!"
"Actually, I taught him Rock Smash, so yeah, he can," Haru smirked, deciding that if she continued to bait Terrakion, she'd probably end up getting where she wanted to go, "but come on, prove it! Prove you're stronger than Virizion."
Terrakion snarled and backed up, then rushed at the giant boulder and with one strong shove, it landed right in the hole beyond it, allowing them to pass through.
"Heh, what did you think of that?" Terrakion looked proud of himself, but looked around for Haru.
"Over here!"
Haru was standing on the other side of the rock, grinning, "thanks for moving the rock, Terrakion!"
"Y-you-" Speechless with rage, Haru laughed hard at the stunned look on his face, "you really are super strong, Terrakion!"
"You tricked me on purpose!" The Cavern Pokémon raged, looking furious.
"Aw come on, I just wanted to see if the rumours were true about you being able to break through castle walls. But I promised you I wouldn't ask you to be my guide, so I let you do as you please," Haru grinned sheepishly, "sorry I tricked you though."
"Ch," Terrakion was furious with himself for falling for what was an obvious taunt. But it was true, Haru had kept to her promise, even if she bent it a bit by playing a joke on him like that! Still... he looked over at the human looking around the cave, fascinated, and sighed. Walking forwards, he said, "not that way, stupid. That's to a dead end."
"Oh, sorry," Haru turned back and came over by his side, "I was wondering if the river led anywhere interesting..."
"This way," Terrakion started walking, and Haru jogged to catch up before walking by his side.
They walked up a slope together before going through a door that led outside. Haru loved the view it provided, and ran outside to look, "wow, what a view!"
Terrakion followed, looking around. He hated the way humans had modified this mountain... but on the plus side all they had done on the inside was add ramps. It seemed that all of the Pokémon that lived inside were perfectly happy except him, who held quite the grudge.
Some of the Pokémon had once asked him why he couldn't be happy like all of the others? The humans who had constructed this area had done so with as much care to the environment as possible, after all. But Terrakion didn't want any human construction near his home.
His opinion of humans had softened slightly when Haru came onto the scene and was Knighted, but he had by no means forgiven them as a race, and it was unlikely he ever would.
"I suppose we need to go this way next?" Haru pointed to the exit nearby, shaking the Cavern Pokémon out of his thoughts.
"Yes, let's go," figuring that there was no reason to not show Haru around his home, he inwardly consented to being her guide, if only because he didn't want Virizion on his back about not looking after his Knight.
They walked together in silence through the next area. Haru was looking around in awe, occasionally stopping to look at something or running over to an object to get a closer look. Terrakion watched her antics in silence as they explored deeper, but eventually he said, "what makes you so excited to be here?"
Haru looked at Terrakion in surprise (it was the first time he had spoken in a while, and obviously she had not anticipated the question) but eventually grinned a little, "I like going to new places and exploring... it's fun!"
"This place used to be entirely natural... until some humans came and added the stairs and openings," Terrakion looked angry at that.
"Didn't they respect your home?" Haru asked softly.
"What?" The Cavern Pokémon looked shocked.
"I mean, did they take away Pokémon homes when building through here?" Haru clarified.
Terrakion glared, "of course they did! Why else would I be-"
"That's terrible!"
The large Pokémon looked rather surprised at Haru's indignation. Of course he was aware that Virizion had monitored her movements within the Pinwheel Forest to make sure she did not disturb the Pokémon's environment, but he had not gone into great detail about how she had come to live there.
"It's so, so very important to talk to the Pokémon and make sure their homes aren't being destroyed when building through a Pokémon inhabited area. Ugh, some builders are infuriating!"
"W-wait a minute, you built your house in the Pinwheel Forest—"
"Yeah, but I made sure the trees I used to build weren't homes for Pokémon!" Haru folded her arms, looking annoyed, "In Fortree City, where I come from, we build our houses in the tree tops so we don't disturb the Pokémon homes. I was taught ever since I was young that while it's important for humans to have homes, we mustn't destroy the Pokémon homes either."
Terrakion was so surprised by her words that he couldn't reply immediately. To think, some humans actually cared about that kind of thing... but his mind was far from changed.
"You're one of a few," Terrakion replied softly and turned away, "most humans I've met just want to tear down what's in front of them and create their own homes."
"Terrakion..." Haru came around in front of him so she could look him in the eye. She looked down for a moment before facing him, "please don't misunderstand me... I know that there are going to be people out there who don't care for Pokémon homes like I do. But everyday there are more and more people who do care. Humans... we were not smart in the past when it came to resources. I know that... but we're getting better. I can say that much, at least,"
Terrakion stared at her for a moment before turning away, "it's too late for change."
"Do you really believe that?"
"What?" The Cavern Pokémon looked back at Haru, who was frowning at him.
"Do you really believe it's too late for humans?" Haru jabbed the mark on her shoulder, the mark of the Pokémon Knights, the mark he had watched her receive from Cobalion.
"I can't speak for him, but I doubt Cobalion would've chosen to give me this mark if he didn't believe in second chances," Haru moved her hand away from the mark and then said, "he gave humans another chance. What's stopping you from doing the same?"
"Humans need to prove they're worthy of that chance," Terrakion growled,
"It's a bit hard to do that... when it seems like nothing we do is good enough," Haru replied somewhat sadly, turning away to move through the cave by herself, leaving Terrakion standing there in his thoughts and nothing to say in reply.
He watched her disappear around the corner, going over her words in his mind. Was he really being overly stubborn in regards to humans? He couldn't help but be that way, with everything they had done...
'But the truth is... you haven't had contact with humans directly for hundreds of years before you met Haru,' he sighed, knowing that his inner voice was right. He had only perceived humans from the clouded perception of them from hundreds of years ago. Haru had freely admitted her races errors... she did not hide the fact that humans had damaged the environment, and hurt the Pokémon. At the same time though, she insisted upon change among them!
But it was when he thought about it clearer... did it begin to make sense.
His very home here in Victory Road had only been slightly altered to allow humans safe passage through the mountain. All of the Pokémon were happy with where they lived and had no issues to speak of. He was the only one who didn't... but he was remembering the old world... those other Pokémon were all too young to be influenced by it.
Sighing deeply, the Cavern Pokémon decided to shelve his pride, and went after the human.
Terrakion found Haru shortly afterwards sitting on one of the big rocks, watching the water flow in the river in front of her. She seemed to be deep in her own thoughts too. Looking at her reminded him of the fact that she had been chosen by Virizion, and as much as he commented that it was because his brethren was soft on females and hadn't trialled her like he would've, he knew now that that was just an excuse.
The truth was that he didn't want to admit his own error of judgement.
Coming over to the rock, he looked up and said, "if you fall off, I am not going into that river to get you out."
Haru jumped in surprise and looked down, "oh, you surprised me!" She jumped down from the top and landed in front of the Legendary Pokémon, "I'm sorry for walking off like that..."
Terrakion shook his head, "I'm the one who needs to apologise to you."
Haru looked surprised at that, "oh?"
He looked uncomfortable, but eventually he said, "I keep remembering the humans who hurt me when I look at you. I am seeing you as just another human when I should be focusing on who you are, rather than what you are. I... haven't been fair in judging you. For that, I apologise."
The Pokémon Healer had not expected Terrakion to apologise to her, ever. She had grown used to his aggressive, grumpy personality that she had brushed off most of his insults. The only thing that had bothered her was his contradictions... but given everything he had gone through, she couldn't blame him at all.
Haru smiled and stroked his head, "I understand, and I accept your apology, Terrakion."
The Cavern Pokémon blinked and brushed her hand off gently. He was glad it was dark so she couldn't see the blush on his face, "r-right..."
"Hey, will you tell me more about him?" Haru asked.
"Him?" Blush receding, Terrakion looked down at her, confused.
"Isamu," Haru smiled, "I want to know about your Knight."
Smiling a little, Terrakion sighed and said, "Isamu... he was..."
"ARGH, WHY CAN'T I EVER GET UP IN TIME?"
Racing down the halls of the castle, a muscular man with shaggy red hair and freckling so thick he looked tanned ran as fast as he could towards the meeting room. Beside him was the legendary Pokémon, Terrakion.
"Maybe if you stopped going to sleep so late you would wake up sooner!" Terrakion snorted.
"You're the one who insisted on playing that second round of brick crushing!"
"You're the one who LET me convince you!"
"That's because the last time I refused you tossed me on your back and demanded I submit!"
"Oh so now it's my fault," the legendary Pokémon growled, "that doesn't explain why you're late to everything else!"
"ARGH, I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!"
Bursting into the meeting room and panting hard, Isamu waved weakly, "I'm... here..."
"YOU'RE LATE!"
"Oww..."
Later on that day, Isamu was sitting under a berry tree, nursing a bruised shoulder from where one of his superiors had punched him for his constant tardiness. It wasn't his fault he was late all the time. It was because life was so fun that he always wanted to be awake and do everything at once, which led to oversleeping.
And of course, he was so busy enjoying life that he often forgot his engagements. His superior had once told him if he wasn't so good at his job he'd fire Isamu for constant tardiness!
"You're an idiot," Isamu looked up as Terrakion came over, a branch of Oran berries in his mouth.
Laughing sheepishly, he took one of the berries when offered and ate it, enjoying the dry flavour. He settled back against the tree and looked up, and an Emolga looked down at him, frightened at being spotted and looking as though it was hurt.
He blinked, then smiled, "come on down, it's alright, I won't hurt you."
The little Pokémon shook its head. Isamu stood up slowly and saw that one of its arms was hurt. Holding out his hand, he said, "really, it's okay."
Eventually, the Emolga consented to being scooped up gently by Isamu. Digging though his things, he pulled out a basic potion that treated minor wounds. "Now this might sting a little, but it will be okay."
Spraying it, Emolga winced but then blinked as the wound faded and so did the pain. Taking one of his Oran berries, he said, "here, eat this. You'll feel better in no time."
Terrakion watched as the two interacted, smiling slightly. Isamu was a giant idiot who was always late, but he loved Pokémon to the core, and that was enough for him.
"Okay Terrakion, see how you handle this one!" Isamu smirked and patted his latest creation. This wall was the strongest yet, but would it stand the test of Terrakion's brute force?
"Heh, there is no wall out there that I can't knock down!" Terrakion dug his hoof into the ground, then started running towards the wall. Isamu got right out of the way as the Cavern Pokémon barrelled into the wall at full force.
Debris scattered everywhere as he broke through it like sand in the wind. Isamu was amazed as always at the amount of power Terrakion held, and probably always would be. Smiling brightly, he ran over to the Cavern Pokémon, who was shaking off the debris, and bowed, "I concede defeat to the mighty Terrakion."
"Of course I beat you!" Terrakion grinned proudly, but then wobbled on his four legs and fell to the ground, dizzy.
"T-Terrakion, what's wrong?" Isamu knelt down beside him, touching his head and feeling a bump forming.
"Ouch!" The legendary Pokémon growled and looked at him, "that hurt."
"You've got one heck of a bump on your head. Huh," Isamu grinned, "I think we should call this match a draw, buddy."
Terrakion had to grin at that. So Isamu had finally built a wall that challenged him, huh? He sighed and stood up, turning to him, "get on one knee."
"Huh?" Isamu blinked at him, then did as he was told, "like this? Why?"
"Stay still and don't freak out," Terrakion formed a glowing sword with a wave of his head and grasped it in his jaws, but as soon as he brought it near Isamu, said human DID freak out.
"T-Terrakion, don't stab me!" Backing up on the ground, the human looked terrified.
"Idiot! I told you not to freak out!" Terrakion snarled, the sword dissipating into little light specs, "I'll let Cobalion do it then. Least he'll be able to paralyse you with his eyes, idiot Isamu."
Said human blinked and shifted till he was sitting on the ground, "s-sorry... it's kind of a defensive reflex in these times to not let a sword go near you."
The Cavern Pokémon huffed at that, and Isamu giggled a little before coming back over, going down on one knee, "go ahead... I trust you buddy."
Terrakion glanced at him for a moment, then sighed deeply and formed the sword again, "you should've said that to begin with..."
Putting the glowing blade on his shoulder's once, it then slipped inside Isamu's body, making him a Pokémon Knight.
Haru couldn't help but laugh after Terrakion told her his story.
They were in his home now, looking over the cave. Terrakion had settled down next to Haru, who had listened to the stories he told and found it very funny.
"What is so amusing, human?" He growled, and Haru wiped the tears out of her eyes and said, "oh... it's just that you and Isamu seemed to match so perfectly... it was cute and it was funny, too."
"Yes... I suppose we did," Terrakion looked out over the vast cave, and sighed. In the past when he had thought of Isamu, he had only felt angry and betrayed. But now that he had been able to think back after Haru discovered a flaw in how Isamu had 'betrayed' him, it was becoming more and more obvious that his Pokémon Knight didn't have it in him... just like Haru would never betray Virizion.
Haru was watching him and seemed to pick up on his thoughts, because she said, "are you still angry at him?"
The Cavern Pokémon looked at her and then back out over his cave. Eventually, he shook his head, "the more I think about him, the less likely what he said and did was of his own accord," He snickered, "he was too much of a soft hearted idiot to want to betray his friends."
"Yet, that's why you liked him, wasn't it?" Haru grinned, "because he was an idiot?"
Terrakion smiled at that, "heh, I guess that's one way to look at it."
They both laughed together.
After reaching the Pokémon League, Haru explored the place around it before heading back to her home in the Pinwheel Forest. She had left Terrakion behind in his home after a cheerful goodbye, and it was almost dark by the time she returned.
Both of her Virizions greeted her once she arrived home. Aramis jumped on her and licked her face, much to Haru's delight, while his father just snickered at the pair from his spot on the porch. Once the young Virizion settled down, the older one asked how her trip was.
Haru just smiled and said, "it was a success!"