Vines & Briars

Chapter 14: Light & Dark

Zoe initially had some trouble standing up and walking, as her chest was still sore from Rick trying to crush her until she had collapsed. No bones were broken, though Rick did wonder if his brutal actions had fractured any.

With his help however, she managed to stand up and started to walk with Rick following, heading deeper into the forest... or at least, the direction she took appeared to go deeper. Rick was only too aware due to the nature of mystery dungeons, that one direction did not always consistently go the same way.

As they proceeded, it seemed that Zoe's path wasn't as effective as it had been before at avoiding encounters with the local forest residents and they encountered other grass-types and the occasional bird on their way. She may have been injured, but Zoe proved to be still capable in a fight. Not only did she have a variety of illusions at her disposal (granted, they did not change what attacks she was otherwise able to use), but she was still able to expel large sprays of fire at a target, burning up anything in the way, though the trees of Denwood seemed to be rather fire-resistant and though Zoe's fiery attacks did scorch the trees more than once, they never actually burned.

Unlike previous attempts at exploration, Rick actually found himself contributing more to fights, as Zoe was slightly crippled from their fight and so, she needed his support, which he gave to the best of his ability. When handling other grass-types, he charged in and tackled the enemies, serving as a distraction until Zoe could blast the enemy with her flames. In the case of flying-type residents, Rick attempted to lash such opponents with his vines and pull himself up to them, trying to avoid getting pecked or clawed by their talons. If he could pull himself up without too much trouble, he then attacked and tried to steer the hostile avian towards Zoe, who would slash them with her claws and try to ground the birds before the two of them would full-on double team their unfortunate opponent, Zoe clawing at them and Rick draining the energy from them.

After a few minutes of traveling in this manner (and they had dealt with the latest resident to confront them), Rick got off the unconscious opponent and stepped back over to Zoe.

"You doing alright?" he asked, a little concerned that she might have been straining herself in the fights. Zoe nodded in response and gave him a smile, grateful for his concern. The more time he was spending with the zorua, the more Rick was finding her kind, meek personality was growing on him. He was, admittedly developing a liking for Zoe.

They traveled onward and Zoe stopped when they reached a small clearing which simply was a patch of flat, undisturbed ground. This was actually rather uncommon in Denwood as the trees around them had torn up most of the ground with their roots and much of their travels had involved clambering over roots and smaller, fallen trees.

"This is the place." Zoe said, looking around and she sniffed the ground, "This is where I saw him last."

It was evident that if Zoe was telling the truth, that whatever riolu she had previously seen here had since moved on. Rick wasn't surprised in the slightest, though as he looked around, he was disappointed to see no signs of where they had gone.

"Do you have any idea of where he went from here, Zoe?" he asked, searching for signs. Zoe sniffed around a bit more and she looked in a direction.

"That way." She said plainly, "I think he went that way."

The direction in question was even deeper into the forest. Rick started that way... and it wasn't long before he came to a rock wall. He was aware of the mountain behind the forest, so he deduced this was where the forest ended and the mountain began. At first, Rick thought the mystery dungeon might have led him to a dead-end, but then he noticed the cave set into the side of the mountain.

Wow... this, within the forest? I wonder if anyone else actually knows about this cave.

Zoe was following him and she came up behind him.

"Rick... is the riolu you're looking for one of your friends?" She asked politely, mild curiosity in her voice. Rick glanced back at her.

"If it's who I think it is, then yes, he is a friend of mine. Why do you ask?" he responded. Zoe's expression became demure and somewhat timid.

"I... I was wondering if I could be friends with him too." she said. Looking at her expression, Rick felt like he'd seen that look before somewhere else, but if he had seen it before, then any memory of it was lost in the fog in his mind. Regardless, Rick smiled kindly.

"We have to track him down first but if you want to be friends, I'm sure he'll welcome you to join us at the guild." he said. Zoe seemed to grimace a bit but she did not speak further, though Rick did notice and guessed it was because she was still scared of approaching the guild.

I can help her with that later, after we've found Rio. And I suspect it is him that she found in here.

Rick proceeded into the cave, Zoe timidly following him in.

-0-

As caves generally were, it was quite dark inside and Rick had to watch his step very carefully as they headed deeper and deeper into the cave. Oddly, they encountered no residents in the cave, which worried Rick as they continued inward. At one point Zoe, unable to see any better than Rick, accidentally stepped on his tail, which elicited a considerable yowl of pain from Rick. She had quickly removed her foot, startled but that didn't immediately remove all the pain Rick was experiencing and he clenched his jaw, trying to hold in several curses as he massaged the sore appendage.

"Sorry Rick. I- I-I really didn't mean to do that." Zoe said quietly and sounding as sorry as she felt as she stammered out her apology.

Rick had been about to tell her he was alright and that she didn't need to worry so much, but he was interrupted when he heard a noise deeper in the cave. Instead, he gently hushed Zoe.

Someone else is in here. Hope its Rio.

A little tense and wondering who he'd find, Rick edged forward into the darkness of the cave.
He barely avoided an attack that came at him in the dark.

The fact was, he had only seen it because he had briefly seen a faint light. Then more appeared and had rushed towards his head. Purest reflex saved Rick from getting a broken nose and he actually felt the slight breeze as whoever had tried to hit him barely whiffed.

Then Rick got slammed in the side of the head by his attacker's fist, which knocked Rick into the wall but he managed to keep himself conscious.

Ow! Can't see a thing in here. So how is it my attacker can see me in this absolute dark?

Of course, it didn't take long for Rick to conclude that his attacker had some method of seeing in the dark whereas he didn't. He heard Zoe's padded foot-steps running away from the fight.

Well, don't know how useful she'd be in this situation anyways. If she tried attacking, she might just end up hitting me instead.

Then he heard a different set of foot-steps advancing towards him and, guessing what was coming, Rick rolled out of the way. He heard a sharp crack as a rock Rick had been on top of was smashed by an incoming attack.

Ugh... at this rate, whoever this is is going to pin me down and clobber me. How can I see when it's dark like this!?

But then Rick remembered a similar darkness. He shuddered, thinking back on that time but it had certainly taught him one way to see his enemies.

Here goes then... time to rely on some instinct.

Rick focused himself and concentrated on sensing the raw energy around him.

When he could "see" it, he could of course sense bits all around in the ground around him... but there was a dense blob of nutrients before him.

That must be them. Can't really make out who it is when I'm seeing them like this...but at least I can "see" them somehow.

Resisting the instinctive desire to drain the energy from his opponent when seeing them this way, Rick instead watched them approach. He barely avoided the next attack coming at him as sensing his opponent this way wasn't the same as seeing them with normal sight, but Rick still grinned a little as he side-stepped the attack and he lashed out with his vines. He felt them wrap around a pair of arms and Rick yanked his opponent forward, using their own momentum against them.

"Gah!" a male voice yelped and there was a crunch and clatter of rocks and gravel as they fell on their stomach.

If this is Rio... I'm going to really owe him an apology afterwards.

Rick jumped and brought the weight of his tail down on his opponent's back, slamming them down into the ground.

"Oooooof!" Rick could hear the wind get pressed out of them by the impact. Afterwards, Rick seated himself on their back and used his vines to pull their arms back a bit so they couldn't get up.

"Oy! Rio, that you?" Rick spoke down to the figure under him.

There was coughing, then Rick was relieved when he heard a response.

"Ugh... w-who? How do you know my name?" Rick couldn't help a relieved grin in the dark.

"It's me. Rick. Sorry about beating you up a bit, but I wasn't sure who I was fighting and I wanted you to stop trying to break open my skull first." Rick said with mild amusement.

"Oww... don't know how you managed to see me... but ow..." Rio groaned, "You mind getting off my back now?"

Rick removed himself from Rio, though he kept a vine lightly wrapped around one of his arms so as to keep Rio tethered to him while the riolu stood up.

"C'mon... let's get out of this cave." Rick said, and started for the exit, lightly pulling Rio along behind him. Rio had to be pulled forward initially, but after that he kept pace with Rick and they headed up to the exit to the cave.

"I take it you woke up in Denwood?" Rick asked as they moved through the dark.

"Y-Yeah. It was nearly nightfall when I did and I wasn't about to try navigating the forest alone in the dark, so when I found this cave I decided to go in and just get some sleep in the dark. The next day, I tried getting out on my own, but I had some poor luck getting out." Rio explained, sounding annoyed as he admitted this.

"So you went in here again and I woke you up?" Rick guessed.

"It's been a couple days, I was still drowsy and when I heard you yell like that, I thought it was someone else under attack and I was dealing with their attacker. I could only see by aura, so when I saw one running away... I guessed that was who had yelled."

Rick rolled his eyes, though no one would be able to see it.

"Yeah... that was me who yelled. I made a friend in the forest and they stepped on my tail while following me in the dark." he explained.

I wonder if Rio would've kept attacking if Zoe had stayed put.

"You made a friend? Who is it?" Rio asked, sounding very curious.

"If they stuck around, you'll see." Rick said, "Otherwise, I'll tell you once we're out of this cave."

-0-

Rick was happy to see that Zoe had only retreated to just outside the cave, rather than fleeing the scene entirely.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Rick. You- You didn't get too badly hurt in there... did... you?" Zoe had started to apologize quickly but she trailed off as Rio emerged from the cave behind him and the next moment she looked intensely shy.

Rio looked around and saw Zoe soon enough, blinking as she stared at him.

Rick stepped aside so they could see each other clearly.

"Rio, this is my new friend: Zoe. Zoe... this is Rio." Rick said, gesturing as he introduced them to each other. He noticed that Rio was a bit cut-up across the front of his body which he guessed, with some regret, had resulted from his scuffle with Rio in the cave, though Rick himself was sporting a good bruise on the side of his head and a small cut along the side that had hit the cave wall.

Rio took a moment to size Zoe up, then smiled a bit and nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Zoe."

Zoe meanwhile, simply nodded timidly.

Looking at her expression, Rick once again, felt like he'd seen that look before, though he shrugged it off.

Eh... it doesn't matter. I've found Rio. Now it's time we got back to the guild.

Rick couldn't help feeling a mild sense of dread thinking about that.

Ohhhh... I'm going to have a ton of explaining to do to the Guildmaster. I wonder how she's going to take this?

Burying his feelings of apprehension for the time being, Rick led the way as they headed off to leave the forest and return to Roserade's Guild.