Shadowed Over Fairy Dust
8
~Under The Stars~
A/N: This Fan Fiction is based on the Galar region and games (Sword/Shield) featuring CanonXOC
The sun soon fell and night set heavy over the Wild Area. It was far bigger than the two had anticipated, and leave it to Hop's recklessness and Anani's no sense of reading a map for them to wind up lost like a couple of idjits despite not being too far off from their destination in the first place.
That aside, they still managed to get a few wild battles in, fill out a few Poke'dex pages as well as had their fair share of trouble makers.
Hop and Anani panted heavily from chasing a Purloin that had cleverly stolen their packs.
"Sheesh, this is bonkers!" Hop huffed, "At home it's Nikit we have to deal with..." he blinked,"Here in the Wild Area, it's Purloin..."
"I wonder which is worse?" Anani panted out, but she was beginning to reach her limit, "Ugh, that is IT!" she huffed, "I am going to capture that Purloin! Punkoon, let's go!"
"Zagoon, Zaa!"
"All right, Anani, go for it!" Hop beamed.
The feline snickered and loosened a hiss when Punkoon went in for a headbutt.
"Nice shot, Punkoon!" said Anani.
It was indeed a nice shot, but not one that Purloin took too fondly. A series of stinging scratches were granted to the racoon dog in response.
"Now I've got you, you little deviant!" Anani huffed as she tossed a poke'ball. It startled the cat creature, which may have been why it seemed to have succeeded so easily...
"Nice catch, Anani!" Hop beamed as he rushed toward their stolen luggage, "And look! We got our packs back unscathed!" he laughed softly returning Anani's belongings to her, "Guess that Purloin wanted more to play than much else, eh?" he chuckled, "So...what are you going to name this one?" he wondered curiously, leaning in closer toward the collected Poke'ball in her palm."
"Well this little Miss was a deviant, so I'm thinking exactly that!" Anani giggled.
"Ha, a truly fitting name indeed!" Hop chuckled, "But at least our packs were un-rummaged through." he sighed, "I would have felt awful if I had lost all of our food and supplies as WELL as the way to Motostoke."
"You've got to admit though..." she said between giggles,"That Purloin was right cute!"
"Aye, but that's how they get ya!" Hop stated,"My mum has a Purloin...you can't trust those little buggers as far as you can throw them!"
"Well...we wouldn't have had that problem if we didn't lose our way to Motostoke..." she sighed.
It was dark now and starting to become far too late to keep going. It was near impossible to see too well, even guided by the light of the millions of shining stars above them.
"No worries, I used the GPS location on the map function on the Rotom phone!" Hop stated,"We're not far off from Motostoke at all. Come morning light we'll be there mid day, before noon." he said,"Plenty of time to make it for registration."
"That's good to hear." she said in relief.
XXX
Hop hummed a soothing tune while he stirred the pot of curry.
"Mmmm~" Anani hummed hungrily,"That smells delicious!"
"I hope so." Hop chuckled, "I'm no cook like my mum, but I can atleast whip up a basic curry." he said softly, "It should be ready soon."
They enjoyed a fresh hot bowl of a well cooked meal together with their Poke'mon as the moon shone high overhead, and as meal time died down the knackered Poke'pals lay calm while Anani and Hop, unable to sleep yet from the excitement, sat up exchanging playful night terror stories.
"And so...lured in by the Phantump's childish cry, the Drifloon had their prey...and whisked them away. Vanished, without a trace."
Anani shuttered as he finished up with a dramatic ghostly cry.
"Poke'mon are amazing creatures..." she spoke in a low tone,"Yet somehow you also managed to make them sound creepy too."
Hop chuckled as he shrugged.
"Well...it's just a silly story anyway." he said as he fell back on his arms.
But the story itself got Anani thinking deeply for a moment in silence.
"Say...Hop." Anani blinked, calling for his attention.
"Oh, Aye?" Hop replied,"What's up, Anani.
"You don't suppose something like that is possible, do you?"
"What do you mean?" Hop asked.
"You know...that thing about Poke'mon...spiriting someone away like that?"
"I'm pretty sure that type of story is just a silly fairytale parents tell misbehaved children to put them in line." he blinked,"Why do you ask such, Anani?" he turned to her curiously when it finally hit him,"Oh...right." he blinked as he sat up slowly to be on level with her as she hugged her knees to her chest, lost in thought.
"Could you be thinking about how you wound up in the Slumbering Weald back when I found you?" he blinked,"You think it right possible to be some form of spirited away by some mad Poke'mon?"
"Maybe..." Anani shrugged,"I keep trying to figure that out but it's all for naught." she sighed.
"Why rush it?" Hop blinked,"I understand it's a right strange situation you're in..." he blinked,"But I imagine trying to force yourself to remember can only bring about a mad head ache."
That managed to give her a light chuckle.
"Well...you're not wrong." she chuckled and let loose a long sigh as she leaned back on her wrists, eyes facing up to the stars."I manage to recall things from time to time." she stated,"Nothing too clear though."
"Really?" Hop blinked curiously,"Anything you can tell me of?"
She shook her head and sighed.
"Not too much." she stated,"...I feel like I was running from something...but I can't recall what or why."
"Running?" Hop blinked and he shot up with balled fists,"You don't think someone's out to hurt you, do you!?"
"Well like I said I can't recall." she blinked,"I do seem to connect to fear to that memory though..." Before she could finish her sentence, she soon found herself wrapped up in the tight warm embrace of a good friend.
"I promise you, Anani..." Hop said, speaking in a sudden serious tone that was odd to hear from him,"So long as I'm around...no one's gonna hurt you." he said softly, "Because I will always protect you."
She wasn't entirely sure if there was someone after her...her memories were fuzzy. That being said, it still made her feel good knowing that she had a friend like Hop, waiting it out with her beneath the same starry night sky.
Though the sound of shifting and echoing cries startled them both and the girl's shoulder's tensed up.
"I knew it! The Poke'mon have come to spirit us away!" whe whimpered.
"Say what!?" Hop jumped a bit himself, "B-But that was just a story-" he gulped, "Or, at least I thought so-" He stood slowly, "Stay here, I'm going to go see what those cries were-"
"No way, not by yourself you're not!" said Anani- "And I'm certainly not standing here alone in the dark!"
"Yeah...fair point." Hop gulped, "Right then, just stay close!" he stated.
Though it didn't take lon of creeping through brush just to discover that the odd echoing cries were of a poor Poke'mon with it's head caught in the hole of a fallen Berry Tree.
"It's just a Pancham..." Hop blinked lightly and sighed, "Poor fellow must have smelled our food and got hungry."
"Aww, poor thing." Anani said softly, leaving Hop's shadow to approach the creature, "Hold on now, I've got you..." she said softly, retrieving the panda Poke'mon from the tree, to which it kindly thanked her with a hug.
"Aww, it's so cute!" she giggled softly. Pancham seemed to rather like that idea a lot.
"You sure are making fast friends with the Poke'mon here aren't you!" Hop chuckled, "And to think earlier you were worried about being stranded in the Wild Area!"
, "You said it was probably hungry right? we should feed it then." she smiled.
Pancham seemed to rather like that idea a lot.
"I don't see why not." Hop hummed, "It's not like we don't have any left overs...though afterwards, I say we get a proper rest." he sighed as he collapsed for a breath after having been relieved that it was just a hungry Poke'mon and NOT something coming to spirit them away.
"I'm knackered." he sighed, "We still need to get to Motostoke before registration tomorrow." he smiled and offered a hand, "Come on then, bring that Pancham along with you." he chuckles softly, "First it was Zigzagoon bullying my Wooloo...then it was Nikit swiping our map, next Purloin making off with our packs, and now Pancham, about to fill up on our snacks!" Hop laughed, "I must say, Anani- you sure know how to pick a winning team!"
To Be Continued