A few hours had past since both Joseph and Sarah left the last town, evening light shining over the treetops. Seth and Aye were cheerfully hopping from shadow to shadow. Joseph and Sarah were chatting about how their lives before leaving to be a trainer. "Really? You were living with your sister ever since your parents died?"
"Yep. It wasn't easy at first, but we adapted. So what about you Sarah? What was your life like before leaving." Sarah suddenly stopped in place, a look of sadness across her face. Aye quickly realized her trainer's dismay and rushed over to her side, looking up at her.
"I. I'd rather not talk about it. If that's okay." Joseph nodded, seeing that he dug up a sad memory of her's.
"It's alright. Let's get going. We still have awhile until we get to the next town." Sarah nodded, catching back up with him. The bushed to the right rustled and both of them stopped, Joseph's hands already around his pokeball. The rustling stopped and they relaxed. Suddenly, it felt like the ground beneath them gave way as they fell back. Before they knew what was going on, both Joseph and Sarah were hanging upside-down by vines, a small group of bellsprouts seeming to laugh at them. "Oh this is great. Ambushed by a bellsprout horde. Seth. Swift on these vines. Get us down." Seth carefully dodged the other incoming vines and quickly shot off a Swift attack, cutting the vines. Joseph and Sarah hit the ground on their backs. Sarah must have hit her head hard when she was flipped because she was now out cold on the ground. Seeing that the humans were free, the vines quickly found themselves around Seth and Aye. They cried out as the vines slowly squeezed them. Joseph glared at the bellsprouts. "Blackie. Go get them." He tossed up the pokeball as Blackie appeared, shaking his fur slightly. A few bellsprouts dropped down from the trees, landing in front of them.
It was Blackie against three bellsprouts. Time was against Joseph, as the longer he took, the tighters the vines squeezed around Seth and Aye. Blackie growled at the bellsprouts, who only seemed to mock the poochyena.
"Okay. Blackie use-." Before Joseph could finish what he was saying, Blackie rushed at them, throwing one of them against a tree.
The other two bellsprouts looked at their injured comrade before looking back at Blackie. They both sent out a Vine Whip that sent Blackie backwards, impacting hard with a tree. These bellsprouts were not very happy, nor were they willing to hold back. Before Blackie could get back up, he was wrapped up in vines and tossed upward only to be smacked back down by more vines. These plants were pretty much abusing the poor poochyena.
Joseph returned Blackie before much more damage could be done to him. With no other choices available, he was ready to take these plants on himself. Anything to get his friend back.
"Chimmy. Flamethrower." A torrent of fire shot passed Joseph, hitting the ground near the bellsprout. Joseph looked behind him to see Sarah and a monferno next to her. "Sorry for cutting it a bit close. Had to wake up first. Anyway. Let's see how these guys react to being burned." The bellsprouts on the ground quickly retreated, while those still in the trees were getting mad. They retreated, bringing Seth and Aye along with them.
"Fuck! Get back here!" Joseph rushed after them, but quickly lost sight of them. They were using the tree branches for quick retreat, vanishing from sight in a matter of moments. It seemed like there was no hope getting them back. However, with the last of her strength, Aye burned the vines holding her and Seth, dropping them somewhere in the forest. Aye was out cold on the ground with Seth next to her. He slowly dragged her inside a small, hollowed out, piece of tree. Night would be coming soon and Seth did not want to be roaming around with an injured partner to protect. At least here, they would safe until morning.
Joseph and Sarah were left to wander about until they finally came to the next town.
"Come on Joseph. Let's go rest for now. It's been a long day. Then we can go back out and search for them. Okay?" He simply nodded, too tired and worried to speak. Joseph was really upset about all of this. He blamed himself more than anyone else. The two of them checked into the town's small hotel for the night. Joseph took no time finding his way over to the bed and falling face-first onto it. Sarah felt bad just looking at him in this state. They didn't say anything the rest of the night. Joseph couldn't sleep and just stared out the window at the moon, wondering if Seth could see the moon where he was.