Hi everyone! This is a heads up to let you know that this is the last finished chapter I have. I will try to update every week but from here on it may be touch and go on the chapters. You have my sincerest apologies ahead of time if this happens. Also, since I still haven't figured out how to make the italics and bolds work, words that have an unusual amount of stress placed on them will have these marks on them; 'really?' I hope this isn't too inconvenient. Enjoy this chapter and cliffhanger alert!
Disclaimer, I do not own Pokemon, the only things I own are the plot and characters.
A/N: Another chapter fixed!
Chapter Ten: Homecoming
Castor ran through the grass, his eyes wide with delight as he headed straight for his favorite hill. His paws beat a fast but steady rhythm on the ground. His heart hammered in his chest, with every beat it seemed to cry, almost home! Almost home! His friends were all running along beside him, each one trying to outpace the other in their excitement to see Nagai Kusa.
As they all began running up the hill, Leal began to pull ahead, his natural stamina aiding him in the impromptu race. Dale called to Castor from his right, "Don't let him get away!" Castor laughed breathlessly and urged his legs to go faster, almost home! Almost home!
As he slowly began pulling next to Leal, the Riolu call easily to him, "You cannot outrun a member of the lucario clan, friend Castor! We can cross entire mountains within a day without tiring!"
From just behind them, Dale called gleefully, "Then who is that up ahead?" The two forward Pokemon looked up the hill just in time to see a flash of Mira's yellow tail disappearing into the grass at its crest. How did she move that fast? "Come back here!"
Leal and Castor reached the top of the hill at the same time, with the others close behind. Mira was sitting upright, studying the scene below her. She glanced over her shoulder and smirked, she wasn't even breathing very hard, "Nobody outruns a Pikachu. Nobody. Now take a look down there."
Castor shook off his surprise at Mira's speed and looked down the hill. In front of him stretched his home, Nagai Kusa. From his perch on the hill, he could see Pokemon busily scurrying back and forth, still working on repairs. It looks like they focused on repairing Healer Miltank's home first. Makes sense, it is the biggest den here and she would definitely be willing to house the young ones. A smile burst over his face as he thought of the little surprise he'd brought for everyone. He started jumping up and down, trying to gain the villagers attention, "Hey, everyone! Up here! We're back!"
Sekani joined him, "Yeah, and we brought help! Lots of help!" Hearing the commotion, the Pokemon below began noticing the group on the hill. The sound of voices from below grew louder with excitement and several dropped what they were doing to start running up the hill.
Cora lightly punched Castor's shoulder, "What are we waiting for? Let's go home!" Without another word, she burst into a run down the hill, her green shell glinting in the afternoon sun. Castor and Sekani both laughed and immediately took off after her, followed by their new friends. From behind, Castor faintly heard Ahanu's trademark moan of disgust and at having to run again after just catching up.
By the time they reached the entrance to Nagai Kusa, all of the villagers were gathered to greet them with questions and cheers. Castor held up his paws for silence, "Hi everyone! Look, before you pester us with questions, I'd like you meet a few someones..." With perfect timing, the group of Diglett that had followed them here burst out of the ground, still chanting their digging song in perfect chorus with their leading Dugtrio.
The villagers stared in shock for several seconds before bursting into wild cheers. Castor waved his paws to garner their silence again, "Everyone, meet Quarry and his family. They're going to help us rebuild our village and become our newest residents." Everyone burst out cheering and whooping again and crowded around the newcomers, introducing themselves and asking questions.
Healer Miltank pushed her way through the crowd and towered over Castor, a huge smile on her face, "Such brave Pokemon you are! Here, I have something for you." Her smile got even bigger and she extended a hoof slowly. Castor felt his eyes grow huge when they caught sight of the small medallion dangling from it.
Castor reached out a paw and reverently touched the multi-colored stone glinting in its center, "Mom's pendant, it survived the earthquake ... how?" Healer Miltank chuckled, "I'm not sure, but when we were trying to excavate your den they found it under a large rock. It was dusty, but as you can see, it's perfectly unharmed. We have yet to find the smaller one, but I'm sure we will soon." She suddenly reached out and gently hung it around his neck.
Castor blushed and went to remove it, "No, no! I couldn't! My mom said-"
The large Dairy Pokemon lightly slapped his paws, "I am well aware of the legend your mother told you about this medallion. I am also firmly convinced that she would have wanted you to wear this today. What you and your friends did was a brave and noble thing and our village will be forever healthier for it! Now wear it! Wear it with pride!"
Castor blushed deeply, "Thanks, Healer Miltank. That means a lot to me." She simply laughed and shooed him towards the dancing that had broken out, mostly due to Sekani, in the center of the village.
Castor found himself swept away in the laughter and song of his fellow Pokemon, he leaped and spun, jigged and clapped. He was so swept away in the merriment that he failed to notice that one of his new friends wasn't there enjoying it.
Mira could hear the impromptu music rising from the square, compliments of Quarry and his brood. The other Pokemon were dancing and clapping in time with the mining song gleefully. She smiled softly, all it took was hope and suddenly the damage of the village has seemly vanished. During all of the excitement of a homecoming, no one had noticed that Mira hadn't run down the hill with them. Even the late-coming Ahanu had failed to notice her sitting perfectly still in the tall grass.
Mira bobbed her head gently in time to the merriment below, content to watch from afar. It wasn't as if she didn't want to see the village, it was simply that she didn't want to face the natural curiosity that her appearance would spark. The fewer questions she would have to face, the better it would be. A feisty urge welled up inside her, begging to join in the fun below.
No, she told the urge firmly, I would just ruin it. Despite her stern mental reprimand, the urge did not go away, if anything, it became stronger. Mira's tail was the first part of her to give in. It began flicking and bouncing, followed soon by her right rear paw, then the left. Soon, Mira Pikachu found herself happily dancing by herself to the music below. Her paws quickly slid into a familiar dance routine of jump, pirouette, bow, jig, and repeat.
Her thoughts slid past the dark memories that so often haunted her and finally produced the happier ones beneath with shameless clarity. Mira laughed bittersweetly as she continued to dance, Oh, Jack ... you would have loved every second of this. You would have probably insisted we go down there and dance like proper Pokemon. Mira suddenly stumbled, her concentration disrupted at thoughts of Jack and a hidden rock on the ground. Her paws flailed outward in a surprised attempt to halt her fall.
Small paws caught her around the chest, "Are you okay?" Mira looked up into Dale's big brown eyes, startled by his sudden appearance.
Hastily rearing back onto her hind paws, she found herself blushing a little bit, "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."
Dale sat down in front of her, a tiny smile playing on his lips, "You could go down there you know, I promise the villagers won't bite you."
Mira shook her head and averted her gaze, feeling embarrassed, "That isn't what I'm afraid of. Pokemon don't usually like to dance with someone they know nothing about. I'm not in the mood to answer questions." She abruptly looked back up at him and cocked her head to one side, "Why aren't you down there?"
It was Dale's turn to avert his eyes, "Pokemon like to dance with someone who has a bad leg even less then they like dancing with strangers. I'd just get in the way." Mira felt sudden pity stab her heart, He always acts as if his leg doesn't bother him, I guess that's not entirely true.
Something in Mira acted on its own and extended a paw in invitation. The words leapt from her mouth before she had time to think about it, "I'll dance with a lame Pokemon if you'll dance with a stranger." Dale looked up at her, shock in his eyes.
Then he smiled lopsidedly, "I thought I was supposed to be the comforting one of this group."
Mira laughed to cover up her faint, unexplainable embarrassment, "Watch it Eevee, I don't do the warm fuzzy act often. Enjoy it while you can."
Dale stood up and placed his chin in her outstretched paw, "Okay then, I will." Mira hesitantly smiled back before she resumed dancing, albeit at a much slower pace. Dale watched her routine for a minute before making up one to go with it.
Bobbing his head and tail to the music, he began to thump his forepaws against the ground in rhythmic patterns of four in sets of three before making two small jumps in Mira's direction as she jigged around him in a circle. He continued to repeat it, one-two-three-four, pause, one-two-three-four, pause, one-two-three-four, jump, jump. Slowly, the two Pokemon began to speed up as they became more comfortable around each other and their respective dance roles until the two were a blur of color, motion, and laughter.
When the music finally stopped, both Pokemon flopped breathlessly onto the grass. Dale's ears flopped comically as he stretched on his stomach, "Wow, I never knew dancing took so much energy..."
Mira nodded from her spread-eagle position the grass, "Yeah, some Pokemon use it to train their speed and evasiveness. Of course ... most-" Mira stopped herself from finishing the sentence just in time. She had almost said the word, 'trainer'. Rapidly revising her statement, she finished, "Well, most Pokemon prefer traditional methods and so don't explore the possibilities concealed in dancing."
She could sense Dale watching her closely for a moment and suddenly felt bad about lying to him, Well, not a total lie, a lot of Pokemon don't consider the potential of the dance floor ... it's just their trainers are even more narrow-minded. Besides, humans are a myth here so he wouldn't have believed me anyway.
Dale either didn't notice or didn't comment on Mira's guilty inner turmoil. Instead, he pushed himself to his feet and lightly nudged her paw with his nose, "Come on, let's go get something to eat in the village."
Mira groaned, "Wonderful, buy one lunch get village sized info grilling for free."
Dale laughed, "Don't a scared skitty. You'll have to face it sometime and with the Quarry's family having just arrived they may not notice you so much."
Mira sighed and rolled to her feet, "Fine, whatever, I guess your right." With a mildly dejected look on her face, Mira slowly followed Dale down the hill. When they reached the village square, they were just in time to hear Sekani's 'grand performance'. The Aipom was standing on a large rock gesturing wildly and recounting the fight with the spearow gang.
At least, she assumed that was the story he was telling, it was hard to tell under all of the exaggerations he was slathering over it like miltank butter. Mira felt her ears droop sarcastically, Three Fearow using Flamethrower? Why does that sound just the tiniest bit off? Oh yeah, Fearow can't learn that move! Dale leaned over to her, "Sekani's got some imagination doesn't he?"
Mira nodded, "He's making it sound like he did all of the battling and we just sat there twiddling our paws." Dale cocked his head to one side, "Except for you. Can pikachu's even learn Bolt Strike?" Mira chuckled and shook her head. Nope, I don't know Zap Cannon either. Impressive to think that I took out 'twenty spearows and those fearow all in one blow' with it then. Mira noticed Ahanu listening off to the side, his squinted eyes shining with naive belief of every word. Good grief, he was there. He can't really believe this stuff, no Pokemon is that dumb.
When Ahanu caught sight of Mira his face lit up and he happily waddled over. Leaning over to her and whispering so no one would be disturbed from Sekani's narrative, "I had no idea the fight was this intense after I passed out! Why didn't you tell me you knew Zap Cannon?" Correction, one Pokemon is that dumb and I'm stuck with him.
Mira gave Ahanu an unreadable look and opened her mouth to say something when Sekani's narrative came to an abrupt end because of Cora's interruption. The spunky female Squirtle had marched firmly up to Sekani and grabbed his ear, "Good grief! Why don't you just throw in a story about rescuing the Guardian himself and have done with it? How you can hold so much hot air in that tiny body of yours, I'll never understand."
Sekani whined and protested on behalf of his ear, "Come on! Let go! You'll stretch it out at this rate and if you stretch it out, my head will look lopsided and if it looks lopsided then I'll be considered an ugly hermit for ever and ever! Then I'll never find a mate or fans or get a comfy twenty room den or-ow!"
Cora had jerked his ear more firmly, "Trust me, no one would notice the difference to your face if your ear became lopsided. Now get over here, sit down, and let Castor tell what really happened. Honestly, am I going to have to babysit you for the rest of my life?" Mira bit back her laughter as Cora dragged the protesting Aipom off of the rock and to the sidelines.
Ahanu's innocent question could be heard by all in the silence that followed, "We rescued the Guardian? When did that happen?" Mira slapped her face with her paw, oh, for the love of ... never mind. Dale's contained sniggers were drowned out by the laughter peeling from the other villagers.
Two weeks later, Mira glanced over the village and had to admit to herself one simple fact. Castor had been right. With Quarry and his family happily digging out the old dens, rescuing rocks in the ground and bringing them to the surface to that they could carved into new support pillars, work that would have normally taken months, took mere weeks. Already, the village had gone from mostly rubble and caved-in dens to almost completely repaired. Only a handful of dens still need renovations, the rest sat firm and proud in the earth, ready to withstand earthquakes or rambunctious kids.
Mira caught sight of Healer Miltank waddling her way and had to admit another, even simpler fact. She hated being here. Mira didn't even bother pasting a fake smile on her lips as the overly-caring healer approached, two weeks of constant questions from the residents and happy offers to share a den from the males did that to a Pokemon. She dipped her head curtly, "Healer Miltank."
Seemingly oblivious to Mira's sudden bad mood, the Milk Cow Pokemon nodded greeting to her and spoke in a chipper voice, "Good morning, Mira! How are you today?"
Mira kept her answers as short as possible without being downright nasty, "Fine, you?"
The Healer rubbed her large chin thoughtfully, "Well, actually, I was hoping to find Castor around here somewhere. Do you happen to know where he is?"
Mira knew that Castor was out training in the grasslands, he had been doing that a lot lately. Choices, choices. Say no and risk Healer Miltank inquiring about me, or tell her the truth and risk an irritated charmander. "Haven't seen him, sorry." Mira winced almost as soon as the words left her mouth, please go look for him, please go look for him, please don't ask me to engage in polite gossip.
Miltank sighed a little dejectedly, "Oh, well, I suppose I'll just have to talk to him when he gets back. It's a beautiful morning today isn't it?" Lightning bolts.
She was saved from answering by the approach of Dale. Her ears pricked in hope, here for training, yes! Dale caught sight of her look and a smile played on his lips, "Good morning, Healer Miltank, how are you doing on this fine day?"
Healer Miltank smiled happily at Dale, "Oh, I'm simply wonderful! What about you? I thought you were off playing with Cora and Leal?"
Dale shrugged, "I was, but then it occurred to me that Mira might like to join us," an evil twinkle entered his eyes, "unless of course, you two are talking. In which case I can come back later."
Mira's ears flattened against her skull, the only outward sign that she was nearly ready to strangle him, you are so going to pay for that if I get stuck with her, Eevee. Miltank glanced from the Pikachu to the Eevee and then laughed, "Of course not, you two go and play! I'm sure Mira would much rather do that then gossip with me."
Dale thanked the Healer for her kindness, but Mira was already too busy bounding away at top speed to call in kind. When Dale caught up with her outside the village, he gave her look of mild amusement, "You didn't have to run flat out you know, a jog would have sufficed."
Mira promptly tackled him in answer. The Eevee skillfully dodged her dive, "Whoa! No fair!"
She smiled grimly, "Life isn't fair, Dale. Especially when you nearly sentence me to spending time gossiping with that frumpy Pokemon."
Dale retaliated with his own tackle that was similarly dodged, "Healer Miltank is not frumpy. You're simply unsociable." His second tackle landed true and he stood triumphantly on top of her ... for about three seconds. Mira shot her back legs out and rolled her body forward so that most of her weight was on her neck, successfully knocking Dale off of her with a faint grunt.
She rolled left, back onto her feet and smirked, "Unsociable and perfectly proud of it, thank you. Besides, I at least don't lie to Pokemon."
Dale wiggled his shoulders in preparation to pounce on her, "Me? Lie? How so?" Mira danced away from his pounce and sent a small volt of electricity skittering across the wet morning grass to zap his tail. Dale yelped in surprise at the special attack.
Mira ignored his protest and answered, "You told Healer Miltank that you had come to invite me to join you, Cora, and Leal in play. Yet here we are, alone."
The Eevee lowered himself to the grass and began his signature 'figure eight' maneuver, attempting to confuse his sparring partner's senses with the constant motion and the sound of rustling grass his paws made. Mira closed her eyes and held still, focusing on the smell of freshly trampled grass, the sound of the Dale's paws, and her own heartbeat.
At exactly the right moment, she leaped straight up into the air and sent a light Thundershock onto the ground below her. Dale's grunt told her that her shock had hit home. Mira landed and initiated a small staring match with Dale. Without breaking his gaze from hers Dale answered, "I was going to give you a group invite. However, Cora and Leal got into a scuffle right before I left. I figured it would be better to leave them alone."
Mira reared up on her hind legs, "A scuffle? Those two?" Dale relaxed slightly at the silent truce sign.
Sitting back on his haunches, Dale shrugged, "Believe it or not, Cora can have a viciously short temper when she wants too. Leal was telling her the story of the Aka and Burū Rescue Team and then mentioned that no other rescue team has been officially formed since."
Mira blinked, "Why would that make her mad?"
Dale laughed, "Cora asked if there were any female members on the team and Leal told her 'of course not'. When she asked him to explain that he told her that the Aka and Burū Rescue Teams was made up mostly of the Charizard and Blastoise clan and was foolish enough to point out the low female birth rate."
I still don't see why she would get angry over that. "And? Surely that wasn't what set her off."
Dale wiggled his ears, a mischievous look on his face, "Leal just might have carelessly mentioned that female Pokemon were not best suited for the dirty rigors of a rescue team. She asked why he thought that and things went downhill from there, literally." Yep, that would do it. Females of a clan that has an unequal male to female birth ratio can be extremely touchy about that subject. Add a slight whiff of machoism, no matter how unintentional and you have the perfect ingredients for a living Squirtle bomb. Still, I never saw her as one to lose her cool over it.
The wind shifted, bringing new scents on its back to Mira's nose. She raised her head slightly, absorbing the information the breeze carried as well as the crisp after-storm morning sun. The soft spice of wood and tang of sweat tickled her small black nose, causing it to twitch, dodrio runner. "Someone's coming. Female dodrio."
Dale sniffed at the wind curiously, "Strange, a news runner perhaps?"
Mira's brow furrowed thoughtfully, "Maybe," she pricked her ears, focusing in the direction of the approaching Pokemon, "Whoever she is, she's running full speed. I don't think normal news would warrant that from a dodrio, their jog is faster than most Pokemon at a flat out sprint."
Dale was frowning now, "Let's meet her halfway." The two Pokemon broke into a sprint across the open grassland. The Dudrio was breathing hard when it came into sight, Mira felt her anxiety climb a notch, what would warrant running long enough to tire her out? Her clan are known for their endurance! Something is definitely wrong. The Dodrio ground to a stop when it finally saw the two approaching Pokemon, all three of her heads hung down and panted. Dale bounded up to the middle head, "You! What's wrong?"
The middle head blinked sluggishly and wheezed, "Message ... Una ... missing ... urgent ..." Dale cocked his head to one side and glanced at Mira. She shrugged helplessly to indicate that she didn't know who 'Una' was either.
Mira spun on her back paws, "Stay with her, I'll go alert Healer Miltank."