Hey there!
Let's pick up where we left off, hm?
I DO NOT OWN POKEMON, OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!
While Purrloin looked for berries, Ash, Iris, Pikachu, and Axew all enjoyed exploring their surroundings. The forest path they followed had all kinds of interesting pokemon, fruit trees, berries, and mushrooms. And, they even chose to pick a few to thank their wonderful connoisseur friend for making lunch.
Upon reaching the path's end, they raced towards it, pleased to find that it led back to the clearing they left from.
"Man, that was great!" Ash said, adjusting his armful of produce. "Cilan's gonna be jealous he missed out."
Iris nodded in agreement, "Mhm! I think he'll appreciate all these fruits and mushrooms, though."
"Yeah, I wonder what he'll make with them."
"Curry would be nice."
"Yeah," He agreed. "Or, fruit sandwiches."
Just then, a rather nervous looking Purrloin passed by, which Iris stopped to observe. She wondered if it needed help and called out to the wandering pokemon.
"Hang on a sec," Iris said, turning around. "Hey! Wait up, Purrloin!"
"Huh, a Purrloin?" Ash looked around. "Where?
Purrloin turned when it heard its name and cautiously stepped up.
"Right here, see? Aww, and it's just so cute~!" Iris knelt down as best she could without dropping her own haul of produce. "Hi there, where are you off to so fast? Do you need help?"
Purrloin cocked his head to one side, lightly cooing his name. He sat patiently as he watched the girl reach out to him. At first, Purrloin moved back to avoid her touch. He wasn't entirely sure of her intentions, wondering if she was really offering to help.
"It's okay, see? I won't hurt you." Iris moved to sit on her knees and held her hand out further. "Look, there's nothing to be afraid of."
He gave her a soft glare, but crept closer to sniff at her outstretched hand, just to be safe, and found that he really did have nothing to fear. The girl genuinely seemed like she wanted to help, after all. Purrloin thought she was very nice. However, he now had the difficult task of getting them both to understand what exactly he needed. And, it was then that he noticed a conveniently placed pecha berry in her companion's arms.
Purrloin stood on his hind legs to point it out from the bunch. "Purr, loin-loin!"
"Me?" Ash wondered aloud, not fully understanding what the cat meant. When Purrloin moved closer to point it out once again, Ash knelt down beside Iris and presented his haul of berries and mushrooms "Are you pointing to these?"
"Loin," Purrlion took the opportunity to grab the pecha berry and hold it up. "Purrloin!"
"Oh, was that it then?" Iris smiled. "You can have it if you want."
"Yeah, go ahead. We've got plenty!"
Purrloin called out it's name gratefully before turning to run back towards the green-haired kid, leaving Ash and Iris behind.
Ash raised an eyebrow as he watched Purrloin scurry away. "Huh, I wonder where it's going..."
"Hmm," Iris was watching, too. "It looks like it's heading towards our camp."
"Uh oh," Ash's eyes went wide. "We better catch up, then. Remember, Cilan hates Purrloin."
"Oh no, you're right! We better hurry before he sees it."
Rushing to match pace with the small, purple pokemon, Ash and Iris noticed that Cilan wasn't around as they crossed the field to camp.
Arriving there first, Purrloin futilely tried to wake Cilan by nudging the berry into his face, but the boy merely flinched away with a pained expression.
"Something's not right." Ash said, picking up the pace. "Where's Cilan?"
"Pika pika."
"Yew-Axew?"
Iris gasped, suddenly dropping the fruits and fungi she held, and pointed towards what looked to be their friend laying in the grass. "Ash, over there!"
"Uh oh, Cilan!" Ash dropped his armful as well, running with Iris to check on their fallen friend. Avoiding Purrloin, Ash knelt down and shook Cilan's shoulder. "Cilan! Please wake up!"
Cilan wore a frown that only deepened as he groaned weakly in response, unable to speak.
"Wait, stop Ash! I think you're hurting him." Iris held out her hand to stop him, which made Ash immediately cease his efforts, horrified at the thought of making things worse. Eyeing the glowing, purple mark on Cilan's chest, Iris carefully checked his temperature. Cilan flinched, but calmed just as quick. "He's really burning up... I think he's been poisoned, and it looks pretty bad."
"Poisoned?" Ash repeated. "But, how?"
Purrloin suddenly looked even more sad, frantically spewing apologies at the two as he buried his face in his paws.
"Hang on, are you saying you did this?" The boy asked. "But, why?"
Purrloin apologized again, bowing its head in shame. And, Pikachu and Axew did their best to relay what he was saying to their trainers.
"Oh, I see," Iris began, "So, this was just an accident?"
"Purr-purr... Loin, purrloin."
"I guess that explains why you wanted a pecha berry then, huh?" Ash reached out to pet Purrloin. "It's okay, we can see that you're sorry. Especially since you tried to help."
"Yeah Purrloin," Iris petted him, too. "It's clear that you didn't mean to hurt Cilan. Let's just try to help him feel better now, okay?"
Purrloin looked over the injury he inflicted upon said connoisseur and nodded. "...Purrloin."
After prepping Cilan's sleeping bag under the shady tree, Ash and Iris quickly got to work on finding a cure for poison. However, since Iris had no luck in her search for the right herbs, they weren't making much progress. To make up for the lack, they resorted to using the pecha berries they picked to fight it, which barely had any effect. There was no doubt the poison type move Purrloin had used was quite strong.
"Man," Ash let out an exasperated sigh. "This fever's going nowhere, and Cilan won't take any more of the medicine you made."
"I know," Iris sighed as well, changing the wet handkerchief they used to cool Cilan's fever. She shared the same amount of concern and frustration he did. "But, we have to keep trying. Maybe he's not eating much because he feels sick?"
"I guess that makes sense, but I don't think we have anything that can help with that."
"Aw," she whined. "If only we had some ginger root... That would help a lot."
"Ginger root, huh...?" Ash thought for a moment. "Hang on, people use ginger to cook, right? That means Cilan might have some ginger in his bag for cooking."
"Hey, you're right! Wait here. I'll go check." She then got up and jogged over to Cilan's camp table, which held his bag and their forgotten meal. They never did check to see what he made, since it remained covered by his beloved platter dome. Curious to know, Iris lifted the dome to reveal a pile of fried croquettes, which smelled delicious. She picked out two for her and Ash with a sad smile. "Aww... Cilan really did make something special for us."
After plating the food, Iris moved to rummage through Cilan's bag for ginger root or spice. Whichever she found first, since they both would do just fine. Within the first few seconds of searching, she came across a bento-like box with several tiny compartments full of colorful powders and dry, ground leaves. "Wow, spices and herbs! One of these must be ginger. Alright, just hang in there, Cilan. I'll make a new medicine that's just gotta work!"
Watch out, poison! Iris is coming to put you in your place!
See you in the next one!