Vines & Briars

Chapter 8: Revisiting the Beach

The next day, Rick was awoken yet again by Pitch's wake-up ringing and he attended another morning meeting, before Rio and Quil proceeded to the bulletin board and started to pick out another job for them to do as a team. However, Rick was distracted this morning. Roserade's request from the previous evening was still on his mind, and her uncharacteristic behavior was a little odd.

There was no mistake in Rick's mind that Roserade seemed like one who was stern and was as hard as the thorns on her vines. But there, in her own chambers… she had opened up to Rick, who was virtually a stranger to her, about something, and she had sounded so downcast.

Wish I DID know this Elisa they've all been asking me about… then maybe I could make sense of all this.

His thoughts were interrupted by Rio and Quil having found a job.

"Okay Rick, this next job is gonna be a bit harder than our first one with you. We'll have to first go through Prickle Ravine to get there. We're headed for the Terra Fields."

"Prickle… Ravine?" It took a second for the name to register with Rick, "You mean that ravine where I ran into you two?"

Rio nodded.

"Yep, that's the one. From there, we'll be going south to the grass-lands, known as Terra Fields." He said, "Would you like me to outline the path for you?" he offered pulling out a piece of paper that was clearly a map.

Rick nodded and watched as Rio laid out the map and Rick got a look at the lay-out of the island.

"Okay, so first we'll be going here…" Rio said, tracing a path roughly north-east from the marker that indicated the village, over to what was clearly the ravine, "Then once we've gotten through there, we'll be going to Terra fields, roughly south-east." He said, tracing the path again.

Looking at the map, the former human recognized the course he had taken to the ravine. He remembered the lake and the forest that he had seen and as he looked, he realized that he had been through that field before. It was the one that had seemed like a maze to him.

"I've been there before." Rick said then looking at the map carefully, he pointed out a shore-line south of the field, "I washed up on this island here."

Rio was a little surprised.

"Well, that's pretty convenient. So we'll be going through familiar territory for you then." He was grinning in anticipation, "And once we've done our job there, maybe we can visit that shore and see if there's anything that could help you regain your memory."

Rick shook his head doubtfully.

That wasn't where I woke up first though… that's just where I arrived here from. I don't see where I might've woken up on this map. It must be on another island or something.

"Anyways, let's get going. We're supposed to go find an item for someone over there." Rio said, folding up the map and putting it away in the bag again.

He then led the way out of the guild and they departed for the ravine.

-0-

It wasn't too far into the day before they arrived at the ravine and they headed down into it.

Rio led the way this time, Quil behind him and Rick bringing up the rear. The Snivy couldn't help feeling a little uneasy as he remembered his encounter here with those who were now his allies. The very thought of getting burnt was still giving him chills to the day.

Rio regularly slammed aside rock-types, their bodies sometimes fragmenting at the Riolu's strikes. On occasion, one would attempt to ambush them from behind but Rick was just as wary and his vine lashing the rocky pokemon put a swift end to any would-be assailants.

At one point, they encountered a pokemon that looked like a simple lump sticking out of the ground with eyes and a nose. It was covered with fur.

Upon encountering the team, it promptly smacked the ground with its head, sending an unexpected glob of mud flying at Rio, splattering him across the face. Rio spluttered and wiped at his eyes before attempting to hit the lump. His aim was off though, thanks to the mud obscuring his vision and it simply evaded the attack.

"Allow me." Rick said, advancing forward and lashed out at the Diglett with a vine. This attack hit more on-the-mark and the pokemon was down.

Rio looked a little irritated at being shown-up but shrugged it off and they proceeded, Quil giving Rick a small smile of approval in-passing.

The team continued on their way and by the time they arrived at the other end of the ravine, Rick was feeling a little worn-down but nowhere near as exhausted as his first time through. Having Quil and Rio backing him up was really helping him to conserve strength, and he was quite aware that having them around in these explorations was quite useful.

I wonder if I might not just join for good… no, nevermind about that. I have other things I have to do…

Rick shook his head, discarding the idea as he followed his two teammates out of the ravine and they started south.

-0-

After having taken a brief rest on the way, the trio arrived at the familiar wall of grass that the former human had passed through once already.

"Alright team… let's find that item. Then we can also visit the beach Rick says he woke up at before we head back." Rio said, looking at the two of them.

They then pushed into the tall grass… unaware of a relatively tall figure that had been watching them since the lake… and following them into the field.

Terra Fields proved little harder than Rick's first time through them. Rio and Quil's company made things even easier as the small rats that Rick had had to fight previously stood little chance against Rio. Most of them, Rio slapped once with his paws and they were knocked tumbling away, unconscious.

Then a very large snake emerged. It was black and purple in color with long red fangs and what looked like a blade on its tail. The way it slithered up to them, eying Rio in particular was unsettling to Rick.

"C'mon, let's take this down together." Rio said, and the three of them lined up to challenge the viper.

It lunged forward swiftly first thing and promptly entwined its thick body around Rio, wrapping him and attempting to crush him.

Rio tried to repel it with a strike of his paw but the blow seemed to hardly faze the serpent and Rio was soon wriggling and struggling in its embrace. Quil inhaled and spat several flames, aiming at the viper's body, which protected Rio from getting scorched himself. It hissed and spat aggressively at Quil in-response, clearly disliking the fire more than anything.

As for Rick, he got a sense that this thing was extremely poisonous and he had no desire to end up infected with its venom, but...

I can't just let it eat Rio either so I'll have to attack.

He advanced on the snake and threw himself at it, plowing into it.

Hissing more angrily, it swiped its bladed tail around and Rick yelped with alarm as he was forced to beat a hasty retreat. A purple fluid was also sent flying from the blade and Rick's hesitation to get close only increased.

Poison.

There was an instinctive fear of that fluid… similar to his fear of fire.

"Eeerrrrrrgh… c'mon guys… we can handle this…" Rio grunted, trying to resist the length of snake-body that was attempting to crush him. He then pulled back and swung a paw at the viper's face, hitting it from the side. Quil charged and came rolling at their opponent, blazing with fire.

This knocked Rio free of the snake's hold and it was knocked sprawling away, still hissing and spitting furiously at them.

Trying to brave his fears, Rick advanced again and threw himself at their opponent, hitting it.

Again, it swung its tail at Rick who tried to avoid it, but the weapon caught Rick across the chest and the pain made his breath catch in his throat.

"Agh!"

He staggered away, gripping the wound with both leafy hands. A burning sensation was starting to spread from the wound.

N-no… poison… I don't want to die…

With a cry of concern, Rio advanced on the enemy snake and struck with blinding speed, kicking the snake across the face. The Quilava followed up with another spray of flames, which finally repelled the viper and caused it to retreat.

Rick was finding it hard to breathe now though, as each inhale caused the burning in his chest to expand.

Pecha…

Rick wasn't sure where the idea had come from, but his eyes went to the berry Torchic had given him previously and, almost automatically, he took the heart-shaped berry and jammed it in his mouth, swallowing it quickly.

It was quite soft in his mouth and in the brief time before it went down his throat, the juice that flowed out of it was sweet like candy.

A few seconds later with the berry in his stomach, the burning sensation in his chest died away and cooled, allowing Rick's breathing to ease up. The cut across his chest still ached with pain, but the poison seemed to have been nullified, much to his relief.

"Hey Rick! You okay?" Rio called out, running over to him to check on his teammate.

"Yeah… I'll be alright." Rick breathed, feeling as relieved as Rio looked as he said it.

I really need to thank Torchic if I see her again…

Rick's well-being assured, the team proceeded onwards through the grassland.

I guess that was a Pecha berry then… and it handles poison. I suppose knowing that was just more memories coming back or perhaps it was just instinct… but I wonder when I'll remember anything about myself…

The team's journey through the field, searching for the item they were there for, continued. They fought more opponents, dealing with them one at a time.

Eventually, they found the item they were looking for and Rio packed it away carefully.

"Alright, now to get through this area the rest of the way and visit that beach."

Rick and Quil nodded in agreement and they continued further on.

-0-

As it had happened, they didn't need to travel much further before they arrived at the edge of Terra Fields and Rick heard the distant sound of the ocean flowing in and out.

Taking the lead himself, Rick stepped out onto the sand of the beach and looked around.

"Yeah… this is where I washed up." He said quietly, looking around.

Is that voice going to speak to me, I wonder? Or maybe I could spot them around here.

Rio and Quil spread out, looking around and searching the area themselves. There was no sign of anyone having been here through and Rick's own foot-prints from his initial arrival were long-gone, washed away by the waves of the ocean and covered by the gentle wind blowing across the sand.

After a minute of searching, they regrouped… it was clear there weren't any hints on this beach. Nothing but sand and the ocean. Then someone spoke up, an unsettling quality about their voice.

"Hello there."

All three were surprised and turned to face the speaker. Rio inhaled sharply.

"Is that-?"

Standing between them and the way back towards Terra Fields, was a tall pokemon standing on its back-legs. It was mostly orange in color with a white underbelly, though there was also a drop-shaped patch of orange on its belly. There was also a yellow rubbery-looking thing that might've been a frill of some sort along its sides and going around its neck. A pompadour of fur stood up on the back of its head and Rick could see the sharp eyes looking them over and a fang sticking out of that grinning mouth. Rick also noticed twin tails twisting about each other behind the pokemon.

"Name's Denzel, resident Floatzel. And what brought you three here, might I ask?" he asked in a rather affable tone.

Rio promptly raised his guard as did Quil and, remembering Rio mentioning this pokemon before, so did Rick.

"We're an exploration team… and we came here on mission, but we can take you down and bring you in while we're at it." Rio said tensely.

Denzel laughed at this, much to Rick surprise… and unease.

"Oh-ho, I'm liking you three already!"

Then Denzel dropped down onto all-fours and rushed at them, water spraying around him in his charge. Rick didn't even have time to blink before he was in their faces.

"Let's see what you can do!"