Chapter Eleven:
Rota Village Retaliates
"What in the-?!" Howl said again, glaring towards Sally, "When did-?!
How did-?!
What is he doing here?!"
She shushed him once more, a little angrily this time, and settled her gaze on Pip for a few moments before finally answering him,
"I dunno. I think he might've followed you.
When I finally managed to get you upstairs, I saw how badly you were hurt - I mean, I'd thought at first it was just a flesh wound, but when I got some light on you, I saw how horribly wrong I was about that.
I was scared. I know how to treat minor injuries, but you needed genuine medical attention. But what doctor would treat a Pokémon? I didn't know what to do. I was really starting to panic. So in the end, I just thought I'd have to try and stitch up the wound myself and pad it down as much as I could. I went around gathering the things I'd need for that, and when I came back…"
Her clear-blue eyes moved towards the foot of the bed once again.
"…And when I came back," she continued softly, "…he was in here with you. Right by your side, pressing juice out of this blue, fruity-thing into the wound.
…And it was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was like… like the juice was making the wound heal itself!"
"Oran Berries," said Howl, "They're a native food to our world. And it's just as you say, the juice has some special quality that can heal wounds."
"Are you serious?" she exclaimed, her eyes widening.
"And then what?" he asked stubbornly, determined to know the rest of what had happened.
She blinked and went on,
"R-Right… Then I… Then once I saw the effect that the juice was having, I figured… Well, I figured it'd be safer to treat you with what seemed to be working, even though I didn't know exactly what it was.
I mean… I don't have any experience with treating actual wounds like that. So either way was pretty risky, but I just thought I should go for the option that was less risky."
She glanced away from him in what looked like shame, as though she thought he might be angered by her actions. But he was not angered in the slightest. In fact, he was rather impressed.
She glanced back at him and said,
"So… was I right?"
"Yes, I believe so," he answered. He leaned forwards and made to lift the covers in order to see his stomach, but Sally put out a hand to stop him.
"I-It's okay now, don't worry," she said swiftly, "It's stopped bleeding, but I cleaned and dressed it anyway just to be on the safe side.
Plus, you might wake…" She nodded towards the third presence in the room.
He looked towards him too, and hesitated briefly before finally nodding and leaning back against the wall.
"He's sweet, isn't he?" said Sally after a few moments, her eyes on Pip.
"Um…" Howl said awkwardly, clueless to how he ought to respond to this.
"I think he was really worried about you," she went on, thankfully relieving him of the need to say anything, "He wouldn't budge one bit and kept on trying to scratch me whenever I got too close. I think he thought I was trying to make you worse instead of help you.
I tried explaining to him what I was trying to do, and unfortunately, that didn't work. Then once you were all patched up, I tried to show him I was a friend by petting him, and that-"
She held up her hand, revealing it to be wrapped tightly in a bandage,
"-really didn't work."
Howl gazed towards Pip in silent wonder. Could that really be true? Had Pip really been so protective?
"I can really tell how much the little guy loves his dad," said Sally.
Puzzled, Howl looked round to see her smiling at him.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Surely she didn't think what he thought she did…
"Oh!" she exclaimed, seeing the look on his face, "Sorry, is he not… um…"
But before either of them could say another word, there came a noise from beyond the balcony door. They turned their heads towards it at once and fell silent, listening closely.
It was the sound of heavy footsteps drawing steadily closer and closer, and they could hear a great amount of wheezing and panting alongside it. Howl looked at Sally, meaning to ask what this was, but before he could, she stood up and strode through the balcony door and looked out beyond his line of perspective.
"H-Hello?" came an unfamiliar male voice from the ground before the building,
"Y-You, Miss! Are you perhaps… Miss Sally Luna? …O-Of Luna Tavern?"
"Yes!" Sally called downward, "Are you the courier?"
"Y-Yes, Miss!" replied the voice, panting heavily between every few words,
"I-I come with… a response… to your… last letter…!"
"Hang on, I'll be right down!" Sally called, and returned into the room, closing the balcony door behind her.
"Sorry, I have to go get that," she said to him, "I'll be back soon, don't worry."
"Who did you send a letter to?" Howl asked sharply.
She paused and looked at him briefly, hesitating at the point of speech before saying finally, "OK, don't worry about it, but I sent a letter to the nearest available authorities - about the intruders last night!" she added before he could react, "They don't know anything about you, so relax. I think I gave them a pretty convincing story. But I suppose I'll find out now if they bought it or not, right?
Sorry, I've gotta go!"
She strode over to the door leading out of her room and glanced back at him over her shoulder.
"All right," he said finally. She nodded and turned the handle.
"Sally?" he said quietly.
"Yeah?"
He paused briefly, then said at last,
"…Thank you. For bringing me into your home. For treating my wound.
…Thank you."
He saw her cheeks flush slightly pink.
"I was happy to do it," she replied. She paused for a moment, her eyes on the sleeping Eevee before smiling in the same warm, kind-hearted way she had done before, and adding,
"…It wouldn't be very good if the Demon of The Forest died," before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Howl leaned forwards and gripped Pip by the scruff of the neck.
"Pip," he said, giving him a firm shake, "wake up."
"Mmm…uhh?" was Pip's response, before his expression shifted drearily into one of great discomfort. Howl tightened his hold and shook him again.
"Pip!" he growled, "Wake up! Now!"
Pip snorted and his eyes were open for only a second before he leapt to his feet and swung his paws in a flurry up at Howl's arm.
"No!" Pip cried out suddenly, "Get off me, get off! Sir?! Sir, please help me! Howl!"
"Hey!" Howl grunted as Pip swiped at his wrist with a full set of claws and then made to run, but still he held on tight.
"No!" Pip cried again, scrabbling desperately at the bedcovers to free himself from the iron grip, "Get off me! LET ME GO!"
"Pip!" Howl snarled, finally taking a full hold on the little one and turning him sharply round, "Snap out of it! It's me!"
Pip's tail froze in the air and he ceased his struggling in an instant.
"S-…Sir…?" he breathed, slowly raising his head. Howl released him gently and leaned back somewhat.
"Are you done?" he said gruffly.
Pip gaped before retreating a couple of steps and looking him up and down apprehensively.
"Sir…?" he repeated in the same breathless tone, "It… It's really you?"
"Yes…"
"I… I'm not just dreaming?"
Howl perked an ear at him, his brow furrowed slightly.
"No," he said, trying to contain his dawning impatience, "No, you're not dreaming. This is real.
Pip, what are you doing he-"
"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Pip burst out, and then he suddenly sprang forwards and flung his front paws around Howl's neck so enthusiastically that Howl choked and almost went tumbling onto his back.
Pip pressed his face into Howl's fur and echoed the word 'alive' again and again, and the Guardian felt his tiny paws tremble on his shoulders.
"Hey…" said Howl, looking awkwardly down at the top of the little one's head, which was the only part visible to him.
"You're alive…" Pip said in a muffled voice, "You're alive, sir…"
"Well… of course I am."
"You're alive… You're okay…"
"Pip-"
"There was so much blood…! When you wouldn't wake up, I thought for sure you… you'd…"
Howl's paws had been hovering uncertainly in the air on either side of Pip until then, but at these words, he rested one lightly his back.
"No…" Howl said reassuringly, "No, Pip… of course not. How could I be the Guardian of anything if I let myself die so easily?"
"You wouldn't wake up…!" Pip continued to say, as though he hadn't even heard him, "If you died… h-how was I gonna find my way back?"
"Sally would have taken you back. I know she would have."
"S-Sally? What's… What's a Sally?" Pip asked, finally extracting his face and looking up through glistening eyes.
"I'll tell you, I promise, but first I want you answer some questions of mine," Howl replied, smiling in the hopes of helping Pip to be more at ease,
"That won't be a problem, will it?"
"But…" Pip started, with clear reluctance, but after a moment he finally conceded, giving a little nod and mumble.
"Good," Howl said, lifting his paw from Pip's back, "Now come on, you, get off. Off."
Pip gave a silent, barely-audible gasp, then he positioned his hind legs on Howl's chest-spike and pushed himself away, landing with a soft thud on the bedcovers.
"Now, Pip…" Howl began once they were both settled, "What are you doing here? Why aren't you back in The Forest?"
Pip shifted his feet on the spot and his eyes darted to left and right.
"I… I didn't mean to…" he began apprehensively, "Please, sir… Please don't be angry…"
Howl remained silent, and when Pip stole a glance up at him, he indicated for him to continue speaking.
Pip gulped.
"I… I was following you."
"Why were you following me?" Howl asked at once, his voice completely calm.
"I… I wanted to talk to you, sir."
"Why?"
"It…" Pip shook his head, "…doesn't matter. It was stupid."
"I don't care if it was stupid or not, Pip, just tell me why."
Silence from the little Pokémon, then he muttered,
"I… I couldn't sleep. …I… I had this dream."
"Not a good one, I take it?"
"Mm-mm." Pip shook his head.
"So you couldn't sleep afterwards… and wanted to talk to me about this dream?" Howl ventured.
"Yeah…" Pip nodded, "But I was so stupid…! I shouldn't have left my hiding place, I know I shouldn't have! 'Cause once I'd gone pretty far, I couldn't find my way back. I just wandered around in circles for ages. I couldn't see where I was going and kept on walking into stuff. And one time I tripped over somebody who was sleeping and they got really mad and chased me away!
I ran away. And I kept on running 'til I bumped into somebody else. Then they got angry too, and I ran away from them. It was like I was running from the whole forest, and I only stopped when I was too tired to run anymore…
Then I… Then I heard somebody moving around. I could hear their footsteps, and I thought 'cause they were awake, I could ask them for help."
"Help?" Howl repeated blankly.
"I was lost," Pip mumbled, "I didn't want to call out, but I couldn't go very fast either, so I thought if I followed them… they'd eventually stop and I could ask them then."
"And this 'someone' you followed… was me?"
"I didn't know it was you!" Pip blurted out desperately, "Please, sir, I swear! I didn't know! I didn't even know we weren't in The Forest 'til it started raining on us!
I couldn't see you, I couldn't see anything! I could only hear you moving, a-and-! Please, sir, you have to believe me!"
"All right!" Howl said loudly, quelling the panic Pip was undergoing,
"All right, Pip, enough. I do believe you. Calm down…"
"Y-You do?"
"Of course. You're not a liar."
"But… aren't you angry?"
"No."
"But I- But I left The Forest! I-I-"
"It was an accident, it's fine. And after all… you did save my life. I'm not angry. I'm just glad you're safe."
They fell silent for a minute, Pip apparently collecting himself again and Howl determining what he should do next.
Pip had answered his question, and now it was time for him to do the same. The only thing concerning him was what he could and couldn't tell him. Howl was more than capable of keeping secrets if he needed to, and he was by no means a bad liar, but it was neither a skill he appreciated or chose to use.
He'd considered in the back of his mind what he might say when Pip awoke, and now he'd decided that it wouldn't be right to conceal the truth from him. Pip had told him the truth, so he would tell it to him in turn.
"All right," Howl said at last, his eyes moving around the human home, " I guess I owe you an explanation now, don't I? Go ahead, ask me your questions."
"Really…?" Pip breathed, looking up hesitantly.
"Really," Howl avowed, "Go on. Anything you want to know. Nothing held back."
"O-Okay…
What - No, who…
Who or what is Sally, sir?"
Howl looked towards the door through which Sally herself had left by, and thought on how best to phrase his answer.
"Sally…" he said at last, "…is a human. The very same human you… met last night."
"You…! S-Sir, you know that monster?!"
Pip both looked and sounded horrified.
"It tried to kill you, sir! It-"
"No! No, no, no. She didn't. She wasn't trying to kill me. She was trying to do exactly what you ended up doing for her. She was trying to save me, Pip.
I'm not really sure how to say this, but… Sally is different from the humans in the village, and the ones who keep invading The Forest.
She's… a good human."
"Wha…" Pip backed away, staring at Howl as though he were seeing him clearly for the very first time.
"But…! It's a…! Sir, are you crazy?!"
"As a matter of fact, no. I'm not. Don't you believe me? Shouldn't I be the one who hates humans more out of the two of us?"
"Urgh…" Pip groaned, shaking his head, looking up at him in incredulously,
"Sir, you… you can't be serious!"
"I'll take that as a 'no', then," Howl replied irritably, "I'm telling the truth, Pip. The proof is already there! If she'd wanted to, she could have killed us both with ease when I was unconscious and you were asleep. If she were like the others, she would have done it without a second thought. So why didn't she?"
"I-It…! M-Maybe…!"
There was a knock, and Sally herself came in, carrying a large wooden tray.
"Sorry that took so long," she said, closing the door behind her, "You won't believe how far that poor guy had to run to get here. Some people are really committed to their-" She stopped in midsentence, and her eyes widened on a space close to Howl's middle.
"Oh!" she said, "You're awake too, huh?"
Howl followed her gaze and saw that Pip had retreated behind him, and was peering out with his ears drooped and his expression cautious, following her every move.
"So what's your name?" she asked, smiling.
Pip blinked at her.
"You from The Forest?" she enquired, apparently undaunted.
Pip's ears twitched and he blinked again.
She smirked. "Heh. Tight-lipped sort, are ya? Ah, how I wish my customers were more like that…"
Silence.
"Wow, seriously, nothing?"
"He doesn't understand," Howl put in.
"Yeah, I figured that out," she replied, laying the tray by his legs, in-between the two Pokémon,
"Here. I hope this'll suffice for you both. I'm not really sure what's edible for you, so don't feel you have to be polite and eat it all."
"And so my debt to you grows," said Howl, taking a bite-sized slice of fruit from a bowl and sniffing at it.
"Nah, I'd say we're even with what you did to last night's guests," she said, waving her hand airily.
"Who were those men? Why were they breaking into your home?"
"Just some total strangers, I dunno. They were probably after the goods, thinking they could get them free of charge."
"Really?" said Howl casually as he helped himself to more fruit, "I was sure I heard one of them mention a boy accompanied by a hooded figure. I don't suppose they meant…"
"No. They were asking about somebody else.
…Look, it doesn't matter why they broke in. They're not going anywhere 'til the guards come here for them. They were a problem, but they're not anymore, thanks to you."
He ate another slice and then another before giving a mild shrug of the shoulders and saying, "Well, if you say so. Where are they now?"
Suddenly there came a series of rolling thuds from deep below so loud that all three of them gave their own individual starts of alarm.
"Ugh! What?! WHAT?!" Sally bellowed down into the floor, "You twits have got all the drinks you could ever wish for down there! Quit your complaining! You are really starting to get on my nerves, and I still owe you big for what you-"
But then they heard a voice from beyond the front door,
"Sally?!" it shouted, "Sally! Open the door! You have to open this door RIGHT NOW! Sally, ANSWER ME!"
"What in-?" Sally gawked, before springing up, flinging open the balcony door and staring down towards the front door.
"Who's there?" he heard her say, before she answered her own question a moment afterwards,
"Wha-?
Rowan?"
"Sally!" the voice replied, sounding considerably clearer through the open balcony door, "You're all right!? You're not hurt?"
"N-No? Rowan, what-"
"Sally, you've got to open this door quickly! Please!"
"A-Ah," Sally stammered at the point of speech before hurrying back through the room and to the door leading downstairs, but before she left the two Pokémon to themselves, she glanced back at them over her shoulder, her expression full of worry and confusion before telling them in a single breath, "You stay right here, okay?" Then without waiting for a response, she tore out of their sight, her feet pattering across the wooden floor.
"I'll be back!" her voice echoed.
Howl made to swing his legs round and follow her, but as soon as he'd so much as leaned sideways, he felt pain speed through his body and burn all the way through his middle.
"Sir?" Pip inquired when he jolted stock-still in the motion of getting to his feet. Howl managed to repress a grunt and inclined his body back to its original position. He closed his eyes and watched Sally - enveloped in the glow of her Aura - descending the second floor and heading towards the Aura of bright-blue, but then he noticed a strange occurrence within the blue Aura. It was unsettled and anxious, with its waves pulsing so swiftly and powerfully he could barely see them form. But he did see them, and the emotion he saw was unmistakable:
Panic.
But why?
The front door opened, and beyond the balcony door he heard the voices of the two humans conversing.
"Sally! Are you OK?!"
"Y-Yeah, Rowan, why wouldn't I-"
"Oh my-" Rowan cut across her, "Y-Your nose! What did they do to y-?!
No, never mind! Tell me later! We have to get out of here right now!"
"What? Why? Rowan, what's the matter with you?"
"There're people on their way here, Sally! Villagers! I've never seen so many people like this! They-"
At these words, Howl turned his Aura Senses away from the two below and scoured the distance for anything conspicuous, straining both his Aura Sight and Senses until he located a presence nearing where he knew the crossroads to be. But it was not just one Aura he could sense in the distance, it was multiple, perhaps even dozens.
Rowan's voice continued,
"They were all in on this! Those men who came into the tavern last night - they were all part of something bigger! Rota Village - I dunno why - but they think you're some kind of villain! The village elder sent people here last night and apparently told them that if they weren't back by dawn, they could expect some kind of vigilante group to come to their rescue! I don't know why they'd send a group, but they did! I saw a whole bunch of people preparing this morning - they're on their way here now!"
"And from what I can tell, it looks like almost the entire village has volunteered," Howl growled to them both, switching to telepathic speech.
Rowan's alarm sounded clearly all through the room.
"What the-?!" he yelped, "Who-?! What-?!"
"Rowan," Sally's voice said at once, "it's a bit complicated, but Howl's here too. I'll explain later. How long do we have until the villagers get here?"
"Wh-What? Howl? Why?"
"Rowan!"
"I-I don't-"
"Not a lot of time," Howl told them, moving his legs carefully out from under the blankets and getting unsteadily to his feet, "They're just passing the point where the road forks. Rowan is right: we have to move. Both of you, hurry and gather everything you need - food, supplies - everything! And be quick about it!"
"Hey," Rowan began incredulously, "hold on! How come you're telling us what-"
But then the Guardian saw the golden Aura extend an arm and pull the blue into the building.
"Come on, do as he says! Don't argue!"
He opened his eyes and gave his weak legs a moment to adapt before propelling himself forwards and calling over his shoulder, "Pip, come! We have to go!" racing along the corridor and turning right down the stairs.
He burst into the main room and saw Sally and Rowan cramming objects seemingly at random into two separate bags, and when they looked up at him, Sally said, "Here!" and threw a set of keys across the room, "Lock up all the doors and windows! If they think I'm still here, that might buy us time!"
"But then-? How will we-?"
"We'll be leaving out the side door. It's sort of, like, my emergency exit."
"Ah," he replied, darting across to the front door and locking it first before moving back and forth across the tavern and repeating the process with window after window.
In a matter of minutes, all the doors and windows were shut and the main room had darkened considerably, and then once they were finally re-assembled (for Rowan had insisted that Sally take a moment put on daytime clothing before leaving) they hastened into the private room Howl and Rowan had eaten in.
"The villagers must be getting close by now…" said Rowan, with an uneasy glance towards the window.
"Yeah," Sally agreed, "We've got everything, so we should get out now before we see for ourselves how close they've gotten. Rowan, you ready?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Howl?"
But there was no response.
"Howl?" she repeated, turning to him. Again he did not reply. His eyes were wide and scouring the floor around their feet. Then, with nary a glance up in their direction, he darted into the main room and she heard him hurrying back up the stairs.
Before she could even react, another sound carried to her ears. The sound of heavy footfalls nearing the outskirts of the tavern. Rowan, unaware of what had happened, made to unlock the side door, but just as he was about to drag the bolt back, she hissed, "No!" and pulled him away, "We can't! Not without him!"
"What?" he replied, before realising what she meant and saying, "What is he doing?! Where did he go?!"
Sally's answer was never spoken, for then they both heard a sound that drew their attention away from everything else. A knock on the front door, and a voice calling for the tavern's owner.
They froze on the spot, individually looking towards the side door and then along the main room to the front.
"Sally…!" Rowan urged, taking hold of her arm and trying to pull her towards the side door, but she broke free and snapped, "We are not leaving him behind!"
"We can't wait either!"
Then they heard the voice outside issue instructions and then a crash upon the front door made them wrench their eyes away from their escape route.
"Are they-?!" Rowan started to say, but then there was another crash, and this time they saw the front door give a violent tremble. The villagers were trying to force their way through! They would be inside the building at any moment, and through the panic that was enveloping her, Sally turned her eyes to Rowan, to the side door, and then made up her mind as there was a sound of wood breaking into splinters.
"Sally!" Rowan called after her as she darted for the front door. The villagers had already managed to damage - if not dislodge the lock, so it was only a matter of time before the door gave way as well.
"Just shut up and help me!" she retorted to him, and began to pull one of the tables along the floor. Rowan gave her a look of great distress and then hurried to her aid. Together they pushed the table up against the door and then set about gathering everything they could to pile on top of it, but they had barely placed so much as a third chair on its surface before the loudest crash so far made the door break away from the wall at last and begin to drive the table back. Rowan and Sally gave yells of panic and then hurried round to the opposite end and tried to heave it shut, throwing all their weight down and pushing as hard as they could. Then there was a voice from outside and then more - even more force was piled against them.
"Noo…!" Rowan moaned as the door shifted towards them. Sally's pulse was speeding and her palms were sweating so profusely she could barely hold them in place to push. She could feel herself and Rowan being driven slowly backwards, and knew there was nothing they could do to stop it! Then she heard footsteps far across the room, and she'd not a moment to register them when there was a rush in the air, a blur of blue fur and then Howl was in-between them both and forcing the door back. With a vicious growl, he gave the door one great heave and it was almost slammed back into place.
"Now!" the deep voice snarled in her mind, sounding more wild and ferocious than she would have ever thought possible,
"Barricades! NOW!"
Sally and Rowan hurried to heave the table back into place, weighing it down with anything and everything they could before the Pokémon ducked underneath it and assisted them in forcing it against the villagers' assault.
They backed away, the two humans exhausted and shaking, and then she turned towards the Pokémon, intending to express thanks, and then she saw with mild surprise that the little one was with him, clinging tight onto his shoulder and staring, like his carrier, at the trembling pile of tables and chairs.
"So…" Sally gasped, "D'you… reckon you can handle all them?"
"Only if you think you can explain to your authorities why an entire village-full of people is unconscious outside your tavern," he growled, glaring at her with one fiery eye.
"OK then, smart guy, you think of something!"
His gaze shifted as there was another sequence of loud thuds, and Sally cried in anguish,
"Come on, Demon! Think of something!"
This chapter was a little rushed towards the end, but I think I've managed to at least write it decently. If you saw any grammatical errors or literally unfinished sentences, please let me know either with a PM or review and I'll correct it right away. Sorry about that!
The next chapter is already being worked on, and should be posted a little quicker this time. Hope you enjoy.