Another small puff of dust wafted up in the wake of Syn's footfall. He raised his next foot up and stomped down again on a tiny pile of dirt and was again rewarded by a satisfying poof. He continued this march all down the road, enjoying the scent of grasses and the warmth of the sun on his bulb. The trees in the distance had grown much closer – in a few minutes he and the human would be in their shade. He glanced up at the human – his human, his trainer (a word that had taken on an almost-mythical tint in his mind after listening to the humans at the lab) – and he felt that the strange mixture of emotions he had sensed before was finally settling.
When they had left the lab, she had seemed happy and sad, excited and tired, determined and hesitant – he sensed that she was more familiar with "Professor" (he assumed this was the oldest human's name, as the human was never called anything else) and the other human than the two trainers from before based on their interactions, but he wasn't sure to what extent. She had nearly been in tears when the humans had walked out the clear doors and had embraced both of them – but why would she leave if it made her sad? Syn had been considering that in the back of his mind since the beginning of this trek down the dirt path, which began just after the younger male had handed the trainer one of the strange leaves which humans made marks on – this one had seemed more colorful than any he had seen at the lab, and they had exclaimed briefly as it exchanged hands – and she had slipped it into the detachable pouch she carried on her back.
Finally, though, she seemed to be more confident, and her long strides were often punctuated by small skips which grew more and more frequent and pronounced as the treeline grew nearer. She had referred to the trees as "Viridian Forest", but earlier it had seemed to Syn like more of a patch of woods than a true forest. Now, as the shadows of the trees crept steadily closer, he sensed that this was only a small strip of the full entity – that this was merely the entryway to a massive arboreal universe and the life that thrived there. As the first swaths of shadow dappled his smooth, cool skin, he could feel in his very being the great energy that connected all of this life – from the other Pokémon he could hear humming through the trees and undergrowth to those very plants themselves – and, as his feet began to fall on an ancient carpet of pine needles and dead leaves, the forest seemed to whisper its welcome.
A pretty short chapter, but the next few will be much longer. I just finished the longest yet, so that should be up sometime next week.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!