Me: About time I updated this… haven't worked on it as much as I should've due to coursework etc, Scarlet's road got most of my FF attention. But DtF got its own slight showcasing in that recently too, so… *shrug* Thought it was time I put some work in on another chapter of this.
Chapter 4
Berrybud City, the first Monoko city, and out of the five classified cities of the small region – the third largest. A city with no buildings higher than three floors, and all with flat roofs full of flowers and other plants, mini gardens filled with bugs of all kinds, from many a region. The berries grown here, and fertilised by the many butterfly and bee Pokémon that roam the town, are known all across Monoko and Pokoh for their taste, as well as the beautiful flowers that are in constant competition with those in their sister city, Shrubhill.
Like their sister city, the grounds of Berrybud are host to beautiful gardens, also in deep competition with Shrubhill's, the secrets of which lie with the native bug Pokémon that roam them as freely as they do the city. Friendly locals wander around town selling the city's famous goods and showing visitors around, other Pokémon owned by the natives running with the young children, or helping with chores. Many tend the gardens with grass and bug types, some focusing around the quaint little gym, which appeared to have a garden behind it, with a tall building with a constant buzzing sound ringing from it there too.
In that garden behind the little gym, a young woman suddenly bursts out of the building filled with the buzzing sound and slams the door quickly behind her, leaning against the door and panting. You couldn't see much of the woman's appearance, as she was dressed in a thick bee-keepers outfit, hat and all, but after a long moment of waiting, she finally sighed in relief and leant away from the door, pulling off her hat and shaking out her hair.
Long red ringlets fell to her mid back as she did so, and she had to brush some out of her yellow-green eyes as they fell the wrong way. She peered back over her shoulder to check the door was still sealed, then turned back and undid the thick white jacket of her bee keeper gear, hanging it up on the side of the building and then grabbing another jacket back, white too, but only chest length. The back of this jacket seemed to be missing, it only being made up of the collar, arms, and a small part of the front section. The shirt she had underneath was a yellow v-neck and covered in a bee pattern, and came down to around about her knees now it wasn't held up in the jacket. She kept on her bee keeping trousers and heavy dark green boots, then grabbed three bobbles – with Combee decorations on – and put her hair into them, two ponytails on the sides of her head and one on the back.
"Whew… I really need to stop forgetting about them…" She mumbled to herself, scratching her head. A laugh was heard, and the woman turned to see Annette standing by the side of the gym, having come in through the side gate.
"Forgetful as ever, 'ey Bea?" Anne said, smiling and walking over toward her, Electra waving from her head.
"…Anne? Oh m' god girl it's been ages!" The woman, Bea, grinned as she ran to meet her old friend in the middle of her walk, holding up a hand for a high five. Annette laughed and slapped her hand against the young adult's hand, smiling more.
"It sure has been. Life's busy being a trainer and then a ranger, haven't had chance to pass through my home region much. How've you been?" The vacationing Pokémon ranger asked her, "I heard you became gym leader."
"I sure did! It's fun, I get to battle with all sorts of trainers every day with my amazing bug types, its great!" Bea beamed. Anne smiled, then giggled as Electra hopped to her head, "Who's this?"
"My partner Pokémon, Electra."
"Hi!"
"Pachi!"
"So, you come here just for a social call or here for a battle?" Bea asked, looking back to Anne.
"A battle, if I'm honest. I'm using my vacation time for a journey around my home region, so why not do the league again?" She said with a shrug, Electra hopping back over to her, "You taking battles today?"
"'Fraid not, there's a bug catching contest that I'm running as well as entering on today, so I won't take challengers 'til tomorrow."
"Guess I can wait 'til tomorrow then, thanks, I'll come back then," Annette said, before turning to go.
"Hey, I can put you up at m' place whilst you're here if ya like, its less crowded than the Pokémon centre or the inns," Bea suggested, brushing hair out of her face again as a stray strand was blown by the wind. Anne turned back, and then nodded.
"Sure, okay, I'll take you up on that. Just gotta go stock up though, okay?"
"Yeah, alright, see ya later!" Bea said. Annette ran off to do her stuff, and Bea sighed, looking back to the giant hive, "Well then, now that's done… to the gardening!"
~X~X~X~
"Whoa, this place is really pretty, and it smells nice too!" Gemma said as she, Nathen and Holly all arrived at the first Monoko city, "So many flowers!"
"Can you please get down? Even I can only carry you so long," Nathen said, looking up at her. Gemma pouted at him before nodding and clambering off his back with a 'fine, fine', landing on the ground with a soft thud, "I have to agree though, it's a beautiful city."
"It sure is! Wow… So many gardens. And look at all those bug types! Some of those butterfly Pokémon are so pretty!" Holly said, watching as many a kind of bug flew past them, landing on all sorts of the plants, "I heard that this place has wonderful berries too!"
"No wonder with so many Pokémon here to help fertilise them naturally," Nathen said, looking around too, "Monoko's a stunning little region."
"The contest is in the next town, right? So we've just got the gym here?" Gemma asked as she wandered off a bit, Nathen and Holly soon following her, "And a bit of exploring the town of course."
"Yeah, that's right. The Gym is Bug, from what I heard. Kinda guessed by the amount of bug types in the city too," The eldest of the group said, ducking a bit as a stubborn bug type refused to fly over or around him. He laughed a little as that Pokémon promptly flew into another and they started having a tiny scrap, before another one came and pushed them apart.
The two that had flown into each other were both the same Pokémon. A basic shape a lot like Beedrill, but with four main body parts, two smaller chest pieces and a larger base, with a skull shaped head. Its chest pieces are dark purple, its base black as well as its head, and its eyes are red, and a very sharp shape. Around its base are sharp purple stripes, around its chest sections the same stripes in black. It had a stinger, red or black, on its base. Its arms are thin and have sharp stingers on the end of them too. It has two wings that are sharp in shape.
The one that had pushed them apart had a basic moth like form with two body sections, as well as a head. It has four short green arms, sticking off its two body sections, two on the white base section and two on the black chest section, each with small yellow claws on the end. Its head is simple and round, green in colour with black antennae, and large but lazy yellow eyes. It has six rather large, rounded wings, white in the centre and black around the edges, with yellow circles in the centre of them.
"Wonder what Pokémon they are…" Nathen said, going for his Pokédex, though Gem had already beaten him to it, pointing it at the two Pokémon first.
"Spitreeze, the Spiteful Bee Pokémon, and the evolved form of Chrystility. Spitreeze are even more violent than Beedrill, and are agitated for very different reasons, many of them not known," The voice of the Pokédex said, all round views appearing on the screens of the Poké Dex. The images then changed to that of the other Pokémon, and it recited the next entry: "Neutrift, the Neutral Moth Pokémon and the evolved form of Simpligroth. Neutrift are more willing to fight than previous evolutions, especially in the ownership of a trainer, but still prefer to fly around eating all the time."
"Wonder what their previous evolutions look like…" Gem said as she looked the information over, then turning her Dex off, looking back up at the Pokémon.
"We'll probably find out in a town this filled with bugs, watch you don't step on any," Nathen said, treading over a little bug Pokémon right after he said that, chuckling, "Well, let's find somewhere to stay then. Inn or Centre?"
"From what I remember, most Centres have only a few rooms here so they're often booked… Hopefully there should be a cheap inn around though, Monoko runs on them with its trainers and stuff," Gem said, "So we can check out one of them."
"Alright then, might as well give that a shot. Looks like we might need the gym and contest prize money a lot, hm? If we're using inns on top of supplies," Nathen said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "Let's go find one then."
"We can all chip in, I've got some money for the journey off my family anyway, on top of what I earned around Unova," Holly said.
"We haven't got all that much… we haven't been able to get money off family like that, even with seeing mom and dad the other day I wasn't just going to ask for money, and they didn't give me much," Gemma said, shrugging and turning around, walking backwards, facing them, "But come on, we have enough for a night or two! Let's g-… Waaaah!" Gem let out the small shriek as she tripped over backwards, foot knocking a bug who wasn't impressed, grumbling its name and scurrying off after giving her a glare. It took a moment, but Nathen and Holly began to laugh lightly at this, before Nathen helped Gemma back up to her feet and ruffled her hair, making her blush and squirm.
"Let's go, clumsy," The teen chuckled. Gemma giggled nervously, scratching the back of her head, before nodding, then starting to head toward one of the inns around the city.
After roughly ten minutes, the trio found a quaint little in with a beautiful garden on the roof, which had cheap trainer rates for multi-bed rooms, and they booked into a bunk and single room for a couple of nights and then went up to it to ditch any unnecessary baggage.
"I call top bunk!" Gemma said as she walked in, throwing her bag up to the bunk and then clambering up the ladder, hopping onto the bunk.
"I'll call single," Holly said, throwing her bag to the single bed, placed near the window. She sat on the edge of the bed, taking things she didn't necessarily need out of her bag.
"Guess that leaves me with bottom bunk," Nathen chuckled, going to the lower bunk and putting his bag down too, then pushing up the sleeves of his jacket and shirt. Gemma giggled and hit the mattress off the top bunk, the bang passing through to Nathen, who laughed, "Better not do that in the middle of the night or you'll have me on the offensive from shock."
"Heh, I'll try not to then," Gemma beamed, poking her head down over the side of the bed, sticking her tongue out at him. Nathen chuckled. Gemma then popped her head back up and pulled out a few things that she left on her bed for that night, and a few things she wouldn't need during the day walking around. She pulled out a little toy at one point, nearly shoving it straight back in the bag, but ending up pulling it into her arms for a long moment, holding it tight to her chest. Holly saw this, and curious she walked over and clambered up a couple of the steps, peering at her and trying to see what she was holding.
"Whatcha got there?" She asked, prying off her hands and taking hold of the small toy. Gemma quickly snatched it back, holding it tighter to her chest and burying her face against it, "Geez, just asking."
"P-Please don't touch it…" Gemma said, tightening her grip, biting her lip. Nathen stood from the bed and looked up at them.
"What's up now?" He questioned, standing on the edge of the bottom bunk to look up. Gemma slowly loosened her grip and showed a small Embolf toy, before gripping it tighter again, "Ah. Holly, don't touch that, I got her that some months back for her birthday, she's slightly protective over it," The teen informed the red haired girl, reaching forward a bit and gently stroking the top of the toy's head, which made Gemma smile a bit. She then kissed the toy and then placed it by the pillow, just underneath the covers of the bunk, a light blush on her cheeks as she adjusted it as if to make it comfortable, embarrassed at the childish behaviour.
"I see. Well, I won't pry then, sorry Gemma," Holly said, hopping down from the ladder and giving her a smile. Gemma smiled a bit back, then hopping off from the top bunk, managing a precise landing on Nathen's back as he turned to get off the edge of the bed. He let out a small grunt, before sweatdropping and supporting her legs.
"You'll lose your ability to walk if you keep hitching rides off me, tiny," He said, looking back at her.
"So? Then I can make you carry me more often!" The tiny girl said with a huge grin. Nathen laughed lightly, tickling her under her knees, making her squirm and laugh.
"Come on you two, let's go!" Holly said, giggling, "You two are so easily distracted."
"Only by this little monster," Nathen pointed out, tickling Gemma again, getting a few kicks as her legs flailed out a bit, "Ow."
"It doesn't hurt you and you know it," Gemma said, poking his head.
"Off we go then, let's find where the gym is," Nathen said, chuckling under his breath at her, shifting her up his back a bit and then heading for the door, "You better lock the door behind us Holly, I've got my hands a bit full."
"Alright, will do," Holly said, grabbing the key from one of their beds as Nathen walked out, following after him and locking the door, shoving the key into her bag, "Wonder what the gym's like."
"Guess we'll just have to see to find out," Nathen said.
~X~X~X~
Now closer to the gym we can get a better view of it. It was a simple white building, with the same garden adorned roof as the vast majority of the other buildings. The wood panelling on the outside of the building seemed to be an interlocking pattern of Hexagons, not just straight panels, and every few or so one was painted yellow or orange. More bee Pokémon seemed to focus around this house than other bugs, buzzing and calls of names like 'Combee!' were constantly heard.
However, today there was a large sign put up across the door, reading 'No Battles Accepted today due to Bug Catching Contest!'. Nathen stood scratching his head looking at it, just about deciphering the very messily scrawled onto the paper with a sharpie. Holly was sweatdropping, hands on her hips, whilst Gemma had lost interest in the sign itself fast, and instead turned her attention to the posters about the weekly Bug Catching Contests on the wall of the gym. They were big and bold and had 'バグのキャッチコンテスト' written at the bottom, with the English 'Bug Catching Contest' written beneath it. Above the writing were many images of bug types, some of which Gemma recognised and some of which she didn't.
"Looks like she's headed to this," The sandy haired girl said, pointing at the most visible of the layers of posters, "Its kinda stupid of her though, she should be focusing on challengers, right?"
"Gym leaders can have lives too, Gem," Nathen chuckled, ruffling her hair and looking at the poster.
"Wonder where they hold this thing, the city or the woods around it," Holly said as she walked to look at the posters too, "They could easily do it in the city, it's so full of them."
"True," Nathen said, "Well, now what do we do? There's nothing much else in this town, other than the gardens."
"We could always check out the Bug Contest," Holly suggested, "We could probably get a new Pokémon out of it, look, it says: 'All Captured Pokémon are kept by competitors'. Plus we could always go out for some of the famous berry dishes after, it'll be getting close to dark by the time it's over."
"That sounds good!" Gemma said, "Especially the bit about food!"
"Alright than, we may as well do that. Where does it actually say it's being held?" Nathen asked, looking closer at the poster and managing to find the location, "It's at the… north east of the city, by an entrance to the forest. Let's head up toward it."
"Take it I can't steal another ride this time?" Gemma asked, pouting. Nathen sweatdropped, ruffling her hair again, "Heeey! Quit it!"
"Geez you two get distracted easily!" Holly grinned as she ran off, "Betcha can't beat me this time!"
"Hey, that's cheating!" Gemma called, starting to run after her, even though she knew she was never going to keep up with the two of them. She'd learned that earlier.
"You snooze you lose!"
"Gemma'll lose this anyway!" Nathen chuckled as he ran off too, running after Holly and passing Gemma easily. Gemma quickly tried to speed up, but only just managed to catch up with them a couple of times, nipping just on their heels, only for them to speed off ahead again.
"Oi! Stop that! Guys!" She called, running faster. The other two just laughed for a while, before Nathen slowed enough for her to grab onto his hand tightly and just about manage to keep up as she was being dragged along and didn't want her arm dislocated. Nathen held her hand tightly, not wanting her to fall behind.
Holly glanced back and giggled at them, before calling: "Oh I am so easily beating you now!" and then promptly speeding even more.
~X~X~X~
Around this entrance to the forest, canopies were set up where trainers or normal residents entering the bug catching contest could register for it. Poké balls were being handed out to those who didn't have any, and others were waiting by the entrance to be allowed in. At the very front of that group was the woman we know as the gym leader, Bea, grinning widely and waiting for the contest to start, hiding how impatient she was. There were people of all ages around her, some with Pokémon already with them, others without, all talking amongst themselves.
A big digital clock was set up at a time of one hour, ready to count down during the contest, giving the time limit for the capturing of the Pokémon during the contest. As soon as the green numbers would hit 00:00, a bell would go off to signal the end and all contestants would be required to return to the canopied area. The rules were being explained to people as they passed through the desks.
Holly was waiting by the entrance to the canopied area, arms folded, as Nathen reached her dragging Gemma. Nathen and Holly both easily stood straight, barely fazed by the run, whilst Gemma was bent over with her hands on her knees, panting for air with her legs aching.
"You alright Gemma…?" Nathen said, raising an eyebrow and crouching, looking at her. Gemma crouched down, then fell onto her butt, still panting for air, "Take that as a no?"
"I… can… barely… bloody… breathe!" Gemma gasped out, holding her chest. Nathen sweatdropped and just helped her stay sitting whilst she caught her breath, "That… was so… you two's fault… I… can't run that fast…"
"I'll just shove you on my shoulder next time then," Nathen chuckled, standing and giving her a hand to help her up. She grabbed it and pulled up to her feet, breathing beginning to turn back to normal.
"Try it and I'll scorch you…" Gemma said, glaring, "I don't like being slung over your shoulder, carrying I like, but shoulder is so uncomfortable!"
"Alright, alright, I won't. Don't kill me!"
"Will you three be entering?" One of the people behind the desks asked, standing and peering over at them. The trio looked over.
"Yeah, we want to enter," Holly said, walking over, the other two following, standing in front of the woman as she sat down again.
"I take it you have Poké Balls of your own?" She asked them, taking out a few small forms, handing them to them. It was filled with just basic questions, which they filled out quickly and handed back.
"Yeah, we do," Nathen said.
"Good. Alright, I just need to explain the basic rules. You may catch up to a maximum of three Pokémon, though you can release any of them at any time to replace them with another. Only one of the Pokémon, of your choice, can be kept at the end of the competition. You may not use Pokémon to capture the Pokémon. When you hear the bell, all must return back to the canopied area here as it means that the competition has ended," The woman explained, "There's a few minutes until the contest begins, so you can wait where everyone else is."
"Alright, thank you," Nathen thanked, Holly and Gemma walking straight over to the gathering with him not far behind. They all stood rather near the entrance after managing to get through the crowd, "This should be fun."
"Probably," Gemma nodded, grinning, "Hope I don't trip over anymore bugs though."
"Heh, don't walk backwards then," Holly said with a grin, making Gemma stick her tongue out at her, "Child."
"Oh gee, real insulting that," Gemma said with heavy sarcasm, giving her a look with an eyebrow raised. Holly giggled and stuck her tongue out back, making Gemma giggle.
"The Bug Catching Contest will begin in two minutes!" A voice announced out of some speakers.
"Oh finally!" A voice came from just by the three, making all glance at the person who spoke. It was a young woman familiar to us, a woman with red hair and yellow-green eyes, now looking extremely bored and impatient, "I really need to stop getting here so soon…"
"Sounds like someone was eager," Gemma commented to her two friends. Nathen nodded.
"Yeah, sounds so…" He agreed, looking at the woman. She was pouting, slumped to one side a bit, with her arms folded across her chest. Her foot tapped impatiently, and she was chewing her lip, "And is still very eager…"
"Alright everyone, you may now enter the forest!"
"Finally!" The young woman said before entering the forest straight always, before most people had registered the announcement. Holly, Nathen and Gemma blinked for a moment, before looking at each other and giving a shrug, before entering the forest as the rest of the contestants began to file in.
~X~X~X~
"And the second we're in here, all the bugs are hiding," Gemma said, looking around, spotting only a few bug types around the trees and bushes around them.
"The best bugs are probably hardest to find," Nathen said, looking around too, "It might be better to use a lot of the time to search out a good Pokémon, than just catching a few small ones," He suggested, holding one of his Poké Balls.
"It'd be hard to catch good ones though, wouldn't it? We can't fight Pokémon to make them weaker," Holly said, tilting her head, holding one of her own empty Poké Balls.
Nathen casually lit up a flame in the palm of his empty hand, "The rules didn't say anything about humans with Pokémon DNA fighting the Pokémon before capture," He said with a slight smirk. Gemma raised an eyebrow, before giving a light giggle.
"I like how you think there, Pierce," She giggled, scooping the flame out of his palm as if it were simply a ball, flaring it up more with her own fire control, then simply extinguishing it by closing her hand, "Might as well get some use out of this."
"I'm not usually one for cheating, but I think I'll join in on this one for the laughs it'll surely bring," Holly giggled, "Though if I see a cute small bug I'll want it anyway."
"It's not technically cheating," Nathen pointed out with a light smirk, chuckling. Holly giggled again.
"Well, let's go search out some bugs then!" Gemma grinned; walking ahead… and then promptly falling over; face first, as she tripped over yet another bug. A longer moment of silence occurred, before Holly and Nathen burst into laughs again. Gemma sat up, blew some hair out of her face and glared at them, "You two. Run. Before I scorch you."
"Oh boy, run!"
~X~X~X~
(Budbloom Town)
"So where's the next town up from here?" A boy of around fifteen years of age asked a girl of no more than a year younger. The wind that ran through Budbloom town brought both the duo's hair to life, dancing around in the breeze; the girl's light blue pair of braids blowing out behind her, the male's dark and messy blonde hair blowing every which way, settling in a new arrangement every time.
Two white wings, which to an unknowing eye looked like just part of her blue and white bag, reflexively stretched out as the girl, stretched her arms and then grabbed a device, a PokéNav, from her pocket, focusing her Sapphire eyes on the map, "…Berrybud City, the first gym city. It should take us just under a day to walk there, so we might have to camp out considering it'll be getting dark soon," The girl then put the device away and casually tightened the green sweater tied around her waist, hanging down over the back of her black jeans, and creasing her blue t-shirt. She shifted stance a bit, and the small blue bell on a white ribbon around her neck shook and let out a tinkling sound. She gave a tiny flinch, but then smiled a bit as a Grovyle by her side patted her hand.
The boy turned his brown eyes to her, smiling lightly, "Alright then, we can walk for a bit then set up camp as soon as it's properly dark, I'll take my turn to cook tonight too," He pulled his red shirt down a bit beneath the tied blue sweater around his waist, pulling his jeans up a bit, adjusting his black bag.
"Alright Sam," The girl said, giving a small smile back, "…I wish we didn't have to travel around this region."
"If we want to stop them, we must, Swan," Sam said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "The only other place they operate in is Pokoh, and it would hardly make a dent if we managed anything there," The girl bit her lip, wings subconsciously flexing again, one moving to rest its feathers over Sam's hand.
"I… I guess you're right…" She said softly, holding one arm with the other and sighing. Sam rubbed her shoulder.
"Trust me, okay? Come on, flash us a smile," He urged, smiling at her gently, tilting her head to look at him. The girl let a smile break on her face for a moment before moving her head away, making the boy's smile grow more, "There we go."
"Gro!" The Grovyle said, smiling a bit then gesturing to the exit of the town, where they were going to head.
"Right, let's get going," Sam said with a nod.
These two are Samuel Black, and Seira Light. Two friends, born of totally different regions and under different circumstances, who had been united by the very same thing that had brought out main three heroes together: Team Existence. The team that projected such a positive image to the majority of Monoko's people of being protectors. The two had both lost dear Pokémon, and both had been implanted with those very Pokémon. Both had become adept at hiding their condition, though Seira Light finds it very hard to control those majestic wings of hers.
Both are here for revenge, they want to bring down Team Existence, much like our three heroes subconsciously plan to do, whilst also avoiding being caught and tested on more. Only time can tell how the duo will integrate themselves into our tale, but I can only assume it will be in such a way they will be deeply involved with our heroes' own struggles with Existence.
~X~X~X~
(Forest: Bug Catching Contest – 00:26:40 remaining)
After being chased by Gemma and wasting roughly ten minutes, the trio had begun to search for Pokémon to capture for the contest, as the sky got ever darker above them. All three had lit up the flames on their wrists to try and make it easier to see, but keeping them weak so that it didn't scare off any bugs.
All they had seen so far were a few caterpillar Pokémon, which didn't really take any of their fancy personally. They'd seen a lot of two particular Caterpillars, new to Holly and Nathen. One was a normal caterpillar like body with five body sections. It was dull purple in colour, and its face was black, its mouth pincers making it look vaguely like a skull, as well as its antennae. Its eyes were red. All over its body it had flattened, near invisible hairs, and on the end of its tail is a red or black stinger.
The other common new one they saw was the same sort of length, with most of its body is green, but its head half white and half black, with yellow eyes and green antennae, along with green pincers. Its legs were round and stubby, and its back section has a small, black, rounded addition that they can use to neutralise poisons in foods before eating. These two Pokémon were Irritillar and Naturillar respectively.
Gemma searched through a few trees at the side of a small path that had been worn into the forest by constant use, looking for bug nests or colonies. As she continued to walk through the trees, she felt her foot stop higher off the ground as she trod on something, hearing a little noise. Looking down, she saw a small caterpillar appearing Pokémon.
It had a basic caterpillar like form, with five body sections. The main body was a darker pink, with a lighter pink, heart shaped head, with two even light pink sections where the antennae would be, shaped like the top of a heart. Its eyes are a deeper pink. Its legs are all slightly shaped as hearts, and are deep pink too. On its end body section it has a deep heart shaped addition.
The Pokémon had a scruff mark on its back now, and whimpered a bit from being trod on. Gemma knelt down and gently petted the Caterpillar's back, an apology, "Sorry about that, didn't see you there."
"Luv… Luvbug!" The Pokémon said, looking at her, tilting its head. Behind it, another little voice echoed the same words, and Gemma looked to see another of the same Pokémon.
"You two a little family, hm? Sorry, really, I didn't mean to nearly squish ya," Gemma apologised. The trees at her rear shook a bit as Holly came through them, looking over her shoulder.
"Whatcha found, Gemma?" She asked, walking over and looking closer at the Pokémon, "Aw, they're cute! Wonder what they are…" The red haired girl added as she grabbed her Pokédex, holding it up so it could scan the two Pokémon.
"They called out 'Luvbug'," Gemma told her as the Dex booted up, beeping and then speaking.
"Luvbug, the Love Caterpillar Pokémon. Luvbug are peaceful Pokémon, who are known for staying in family cells for a long time," Recited the Dex, before beeping to signal the end of the entry.
"They really are rather cute," Holly said, kneeling and petting the other one a bit, letting it crawl onto her hand and up her arm, giggling, "Heh, tickles."
"How about we capture these two then? I have space to keep it on me, you can always switch it out with others if you keep it too, right? Since you've got a link set up and all," Gemma suggested, letting the other crawl up her arm too.
"Sure!" Holly nodded, grabbing the empty Poké Ball. Curiously, the small Pokémon on her arm tapped it, capturing itself, "…Well, that was rather simple."
Gemma giggled, grabbing an empty Poké Ball and holding it out for the little bug. Luvbug tilted its head, before tapping the end of the button, sucking itself inside of the ball with a red light, "There we go! I think I'll name her… Maeve."
"You name all yours too?" Holly asked as she stood up, putting the Poké Ball away.
"Yep, I like using human names too, makes them seem more like friends straight off the bat," Gemma grinned, putting hers on her belt and patting it, then patting her other Poké Balls, "Rylee my Nixiona, Dillon my Twitwing, and Nadia my Lumikitt."
"Nice names," Holly said.
"Hey, girls, where are you?" Nathen called from outside the bundle of trees, the girls able to see his flames shining through the gaps in the trunks.
"We're just in here, one second Nate!" Gemma called back, then looking to Holly, "Let's go back out to him, he still needs to catch at least one Pokémon."
"Yeah, alright."
The two fought their way out from the trees, careful not to set them on fire, and clambered out between the barky trunks by Nathen, who turned to them as soon as he heard them.
"What were you doing in there?" He asked.
"I was looking for bug types, and we found a couple, two Luvbug," Gemma said, showing him the image on Holly's Pokédex, "They were only small and we just had to tap them to capture them."
"Cool," Nathen said, "So, now we just keep searching? I think I found a spot where there seemed to be buzzing coming from it, it could just be more Combee, but you never know," He suggested, gesturing over to an area behind some more trees. Gemma and Holly glanced over, before nodding, Holly putting her Pokédex away. Nathen lead them over to the patch of trees he had mentioned.
Peering through the branches and trunks, the three could see a sleeping wall of Combee, hovering in mid air despite the fact they weren't conscious.
"Guess it was just more Combee," Nathen said with a light sigh, standing back. The girls kept watching however, eyes widening a bit, "Come on, let's move on."
"Uh… Nathen?"
"What? It's just some Combee, come on," Nathen said, raising an eyebrow.
"Um…"
Before the girls could say anymore, another Pokémon burst through the trees, a lot bigger than just a Combee. It knocked the two young girls off their feet and broke some of the tree's branches, hovering with a buzzing sound roughly a metre off the ground and looking around, eyes settling on Nathen.
It looked a lot like Vespiquen in general design and colours, but with some notable differences. The main upper body section is more angled; less rounded, and is totally black instead of yellow. Its arms are mainly the same, except the claws are sharper and longer. It has less a narrow waist-like section, instead a more human masculine figure, still black, that leads into split legs like trousers, instead of the dress form, but also formed like out of parts of honeycombs. Its head is sharper shaped, but still with the red gem and red eyes, with longer and sharper pincers. Its wings are more angled, and all yellow on the Pokémon was darker.
"Veeeesp! King, Vesp!" It hissed, buzzing more, its red eyes hardening the glare on Nathen. Nathen slowly dug out his Pokédex, not wanting to make sudden movements that would make it attack, and let it scan the Pokémon.
"Vespiking, the Beehive Pokémon, and the male evolved form of a Combee. Vespiking are less commonly found raising nests of Combee than Vespiquen, but have been known to raise bachelor squads or small families of fighters. They fight against other Vespiking for the best Vespiquen mate each year."
"I see… did I insult your colony of fighters?" Nathen said, slipping the Dex back into his pocket and looking up at the Pokémon, "I wasn't accusing them of being weak, they're just not what I'm looking for."
"King! Vesssspiking!" The Pokémon hissed, getting into a battle stance in mid air.
"Oh, I wouldn't try that," Nathen continued calmly, flaring up his flames more, making Vespiking back off slightly and hiss and buzz louder, "You don't like that do you?"
"Vesp!"
"Nathen, be careful!" Gemma said, worry in her tone, as she stood up, "Don't get stung or anything!"
"I'll be fine, don't worry," Nathen said to her with a smile, keeping one eye on the bug, "You know me well enough to know I can handle something small like this."
"…But still!"
The boy chuckled as he turned his attention back to the Pokémon, holding one hand out in front of him, sparking up a flame in the palm. Vespiking tensed, preparing to counter, but the powered up flamethrower that came from the spark of fire was enough to knock the Beehive Pokémon into the tree's branches above the girls. Nathen grabbed his empty Poké ball, and with a swift throw, hit the Pokémon with it and captured it inside. It fell to the ground beneath the tree and shook three times, before stopping.
"…Whoa," Holly said with slightly widened eyes as Nathen grabbed the Poké Ball and put it in his pocket, "You made that look simple!"
"Put enough power into an attack and that is easy," Nathen said with a shrug, "Well, I think this Pokémon should be all I'll need to stand a chance in this, how long do you think's left?"
"Probably only five or ten minutes now," Holly said, "We may as well start heading back to the entrance of the forest, we won't find anything else here."
"Yeah, let's go. Man, I can't wait 'til we get to eat! I'm starved!" Gemma said, blushing a bit as her stomach began to rumble right on que. Nathen chuckled, grabbing her hand.
"We can go and eat soon, don't worry," He said. Gemma giggled nervously then smiled, nodding, grabbing onto Holly's wrist and keeping hold of Nathen's hand, running off afterwards, "Hey!"
"Hey!"
"Now you know what it feels like!" She said, sticking her tongue out at them, giggling after and continuing to run back to the entrance.
~X~X~X~
(Berry Diner – Roughly an hour later)
"Yummy! These berries really are delicious!" Gemma said with a grin as she ate another forkful of the sweet berry pie she had in front of her.
It was dark out now, the moon was starting to raise in the blackening sky, time had gone quick since they had arrived in Berrybud. It had only been two days since the three had met up, due to their fast… 'walking' on the way to the city. The contest had ended just over an hour ago, and Nathen had tied with who they found was the gym leader of the city, who had caught a Pokoh bug type, a wasp Pokémon called Shadasp. Right after the contest she had released it however, which they were told was just how she did things by a native of the city who had seen their confusion. The three all still had their newly captured Pokémon on them, Nathen and Holly were planning on deciding whether to send it to Fir and Pine, or to keep it and send another back.
"Well, they're famous for a reason," Holly said as she took a bite of her own berry pie, one with a slightly sharper taste than Gemma's soft and sweet one, "They really are great though, I agree."
"This one tastes nice too, but it's a bit hot," Nathen said, swallowing some of his pie and then taking a sip from a lemonade on the table.
"Wimp," Gemma teased, sticking her tongue out.
"You try it, it is rather hot," Nathen said, looking at her and taking a forkful of his pie, offering it to her. Gemma blushed a bit, but ate the chunk off the end of the cutlery, chewing, then quickly swallowing and taking a gulp of her own drink, Nathen letting out a light laugh, "Told you."
"I am reminded why I don't like spicy berries…" Gemma said, coughing once and sticking her tongue out, taking another gulp of her drink right after. Holly reached over the table to Nathen's plate and stole a bit of the pie with her own fork, eating it.
"It's not that bad," She said, swallowing and only taking a small sip of her drink, "Looks like you're the wimp here Gemma."
"Oh shuddup," The eleven year old retaliated, sticking her tongue out at the slightly older girl again, blowing a raspberry. Holly flicked a bit of the insides of the pie at her, landing on her nose, making Gemma go cross eyed as she tried to look at it. Nathen shook his head with a smile and wiped the berry off her nose with a napkin, "Heh, thanks."
"Today's been fun, hasn't it?" Holly commented as she took another bite of her pie, "We may have meant to do the gym if we could, but it was still fun."
"Yeah, I agree. We got a chance to look around some of the city, and got new Pokémon," Nathen said with a nod, finishing off his pie now, pushing the plate away a bit and sneakily stealing some of Gemma's, making her smack him lightly upside the head.
"We'll do the gym for you two tomorrow, right? Then off to Beebud town for my first ever contest!" Gemma beamed, taking a big bite of pie.
"You better get some training in tomorrow then, shorty," Nathen said, stacking up the three now empty plates, and finishing off his drink. He dug into his pocket for his wallet, and put out enough money for all of them before putting the wallet away.
"Yep, I know. I need to do some appeal stuff, then I need help on how to battle, I've hardly done much battling other than some limited normal training you gave me, Nathen, when we met and stuff. So I'll need more help," Gemma said, looking at her friend, mentor and crush. He nodded.
"I'll help you out."
"I'll help too if you like," Holly said, "It'd get some training in for me too then."
"Well then, we can all train for a bit before the gym, and then a bit after too, before heading on to the next town," Nathen said, "We better head back to the inn for a bit of rest then, we'll have to get up rather early to get in some good training before the gym opens."
"But I don't wanna sleeeep…" Gemma whined, pouting, then promptly yawning as soon as her sentence was finished.
"I think your body disagrees," Holly pointed out, "Come on, let's go get you to sleep sleepy head," She said with a grin, before yawning too.
"Says the other yawner," Gemma said, standing up, "Alriiiiight, let's go back," She pushed Nathen lightly until he stood up so she could get out, then took a few steps, letting out another yawn, and then… falling flat on her butt.
"See, told you that taking so many rides was bad for your ability to walk," Nathen said with a playful wink, helping her up onto his back. Gemma kicked his leg lightly.
"I'm just tired, meanie."
"A moment ago you didn't want to sleep."
"Just because I'm tired doesn't mean I wanna sleep," Gemma said, sticking out her tongue and then yawing again, nuzzling her head against Nathen's back.
"And that doesn't mean your body will listen to that want," Nathen said, shifting her up lightly, making her a bit more comfortable as her arms wrapped around his torso.
"Let's get back to the inn, she looks ready to drop off on your back," Holly said, poking Gemma's side and getting a thwack on the shoulder. Holly took a step away, not wanting to be hit again, before giggling as she heard Gemma's soft snores, "Too late, she's asleep."
"Come on," Nathen said, paying the money needed and then leading out of the diner, heading through the now streetlamp lit city toward the inn. The bug types still flew around, with some Volbeat and Illumise flying around performing miniature dances, visible mainly due to the bright lights of their tail. Gemma snuggled more against Nathen's back, grip tightening around him, snores continuing as she slept relatively peacefully.
"Once she's asleep she really is hard to wake, huh?" Holly said as they walked.
"Yeah, she's always been like that as long as I've known her. Hyper as hell throughout the day, but try to wake her when she's asleep and you're going to be trying for a while," Nathen said, smiling to himself, remembering a few such occasions.
"How long have you two known each other exactly?"
"Hm… just under a year or so I'd say."
"Really? You two seem like you've known each other for years…" Holly said, tilting her head. Nathen chuckled.
"I suppose we just clicked early on, we built up a level of trust fast and it continued to raise. She was in a state when I first saw her, but all she really needed to start recovering was someone she could trust," The runaway TUA member said, smiling more feeling Gemma snuggle yet again, "I needed someone too at that time, though I can't help but feel I've dragged her into more than she can handle. I can't be sure I won't be being chased down by another team, not just Existence…"
"If Existence want her back so bad, it won't've made a difference," Holly said, "Gemma seems really happy with you."
"I'm glad she is, she deserves that."
"We're back," Holly then said as they reached the inn. She slowly opened the door and held it open for Nathen to come in, before closing it silently. She dug the key to their room out of her pocket, and they made their way up the stairs to where their room was, the inn was silent, and both cringed whenever a floorboard creaked.
Holly put the key in the lock and turned it, a clicking noise heard as the door opened and she pushed it, walking in and closing it behind them again as Nathen walked in. The teen walked to the bunk bed and managed to lay Gemma up on her bed, just removing her shoes, glasses and jacket for her, and undoing her hair from its plaited bun, smiling as she grabbed her Embolf toy by instinct and held it tight. He tucked her in, then grabbed his stuff from his bag and went to the small bathroom to change as Holly changed in the main room. When they were both done, they bid each other goodnight, and clambered into bed to go to sleep.
~X~X~X~
(00:08am)
Gemma tossed and turned in her sleep, whimpering, holding the toy in her arms tighter than ever. Some tears were forming under her eyelids, a nightmare plaguing her mind. She let out whimpers of 'no, don't', 'please stop', and things to the same effect, her grip only tightening. Her hair frizzed up from the constant friction against the pillow, tears starting to spill from beneath her eyes, weak sobs breaking out in her sleep. Then, as she rolled herself onto the side nearest the steps, the toy popped out from her arms, and fell out between the wooden supports of the side. Almost immediately she tensed and sat up, looking around with teary eyes, panicked slightly.
"Wh-Where…?" She asked herself, looking around with blurry vision, then fumbling for her glasses, only succeeding in knocking them to the floor. She sighed and clambered off the bed quickly, not caring about her need for sight, just caring about finding what was missing from her arms. In the bottom bunk, Nathen stirred from the thud of her feet on the floor, picking up on her sobs and sniffles as she scrambled to find something. He sat up slowly, feeling something on his lap shift, the toy that had fallen from the top bunk having fell onto his bunk and shifted as he moved in his sleep.
"Gem…?" He asked, making the girl jump. She glanced up with blurred eyes, relaxing a bit seeing him, but still looking panicked, "You okay…?"
"I-I lost m-my Embolf t-toy…" She sniffled, searching around on the floor more. Nathen held it out to her, the girl immediately taking it and hugging it tightly, kissing its head and keeping it against her chest, "Th-Thank you…"
"No need, Gemma… it only fell, you didn't need to panic so much…" Nathen said, stroking her hand after taking a hold of it.
"I-I… had another n-nightmare is all…" Gemma said, wiping her eyes with her other hand, toy held tight. Nathen's expression softened even more.
"Oh Gem… come here…" He said, holding his arms out for her. Gemma sniffled and then let a sob break out, clambering onto his bed and wrapping her arms around him, sobbing onto his chest, gripping his black shirt tightly. Nathen rubbed her back, kissing her hair softly, trying to calm her down, "Shhh… it's okay… shhhhh…"
"I-It w-was th-the same one a-as always… s-seeing… wh-what happened to Embolf…"
"Shhh… don't think about it… it's okay…" He slowly leant back to lay on the bed, tucking her in under his covers with him, stroking her hair, "Don't cry… shhhhh…"
"Th-Thank… th-thank you…" The Embolf implant sniffled, another sob breaking out, but her eyes starting to droop. Nathen lightly hummed to her, trying his best to calm her down so she could sleep peacefully now. Her grip on his shirt loosened as she began to drift off, sobs and sniffles quietening down, snores replacing them. The boy looked at her as she fell into a quiet sleep again, peaceful.
"Oh Gem… how long will it take for this to stop haunting you so much…" He said softly to himself, stroking her hair as she slept.
~X~X~X~
(Pourvale Town – Existence Base – 00:46)
"Special Agent Merquatic, I trust you understand the importance of this assignment," A commanding female voice over a communications link, to a young male who was facing the screen the voice came from, blocking it from our view.
"Of course, Ma'am," The boy said in a polite tone, arms behind his back, "Without this 'Link', we cannot complete our goal. But what of the male link? And, may I ask, what is in it for me? This is a long and difficult mission, stealing her away will not be easy if I simply go in and take her straight off," he continued in the same polite tone, "Not meaning any offence, Ma'am."
"None taken, agent. Forget about the other link, we are relying on one of that darn team Universal Aura's agents that we have used for experiments before to bring him in, we'll hijack him for our use," The female said, "And you have right to ask. For this mission a promotion will definitely be on offer, and if you so please… the girl will become yours."
"A tempting offer there, Ma'am. I'll consider the second term, and I will take the mission. When shall I set out?" He ran a hand through light blue hair, though we could see nothing much else from behind, in the dark.
"You must set out tomorrow, the last sighting was near Budbloom town, so they cannot have gone further than Berrybud City. Head to Beebud or Skyvale, that should be a suitable place to introduce yourself."
"As you request, Ma'am. I shall bring Brylee along with me?"
"Yes, that oblivious twin of yours will be of use, she'll make your intentions seem perfectly innocent. Remember, make her feel you can empathise with her, she's weak minded, you can easily slip into their group and then take her when the opportunity arises."
"Of course Ma'am, if needs be my gifts can come up useful," The boy said, nodding at the image on the screen. The woman's voice seemed to obtain a smirk.
"Of course. If you so choose to accept the second term of rewards, you may do as you please with her as long as her body is not damaged for the process. After we have converted her too, you can yet again do what you please when we do not need her for her unlocked powers."
"I will keep that in mind. I will report in soon, Ma'am. I hope I will not disappoint."
"I am sure you won't, Braylen."
The communication cut off as the boy turned to walk out, smirking, purple eyes hard. They flashed a lighter purple for a moment as he walked out of the room and went to where he slept when in the base, making sure to pack all he would need from the room before tomorrow, where he and his ever oblivious twin sister would head off for his mission, and his mission alone. Of course, his sister didn't have to know that truth.
~X~X~X~
Me: Yay! I got it done! Yay! *giggle* I'm happy with this, it's a decent length, and whilst some of it was mostly filler, it all had its purposes and stuff, and I like building the characters and character relations. Legendary Fairy had two more OC shown here, Final Heir's other two should appear next chapter or the one after that, probably. I also showed one of my two new ones briefly too, he'll get explained more along with his sister soon.
The next chapter could be a while, I'll be working on SR again next and have homework, coursework, etc to do too still, so… *shrug* We'll see
R&R!