Record #3: The Pride
As the elder of their pride looked towards the unfamiliar being in their presence, the few Luxio that noticed were quick to make a short bark, as to call the attention of the others. The message traveled quickly, with their forelegs resting against one another and reaching the ears of those both far back or currently distracted by the loud chitters of the Shinx. Thus, amidst Damien's own growing alarm of his current situation, it only seemed to further worsen as more and more stares, too, grew upon his own figure. Only the aching of his body and continual pricks of the tiny lacerations in his hands distracts him.
The boldest of the Luxio soon began a rallying cry of short growls. With the sudden change in mood within the current situation, even the little Shinx that was in Damien's own legs a moment earlier notices the shift and turns their own head curiously back to him. Damien, on the other hand, still caressing the lacerations on his hands, was responding to the current situation by, really, not doing anything at all. His eyes are locked onto the red & golden ones of the Luxray's and his mind was currently ruminating over an answer to get out of his predicament the best it could.
'Should I be running? Or, would that be shown as an attack? Perhaps moving backwards slowly would be a better option… unless I'm overthinking all of this and I should actually be showing dominance despite how illogical that seems?'
Damien was currently wishing he paid more attention to the documentaries he'd watched as a child, or at least actually took biology as a class over physics. Nonetheless, the unintentional staring contest between him and the Luxray continued while Damien's face scrunched up in concentration to keep his eyes open, as if blinking even once would spell out the worst of the situation coming true. Damien feels the air enclose around him as tingling sensations on his arm make his hairs stand on end. He barely holds back a shiver as he keeps his gaze focused on Luxray's eyes; in the corner of his own, Damien barely misses that the front paws of a few Luxio were reaching outwards.
Seeing the action almost made Damien begin to back away, his own hands having reflexively tugged on the grass below his feet. This only ended in him completely tearing the blades of grass from their roots as he became startled by a sudden more subdued bark compared to those of the Luxio.
"Shin- Shinx!"
His eyes finally breaking contact away from the Luxray, Damien looks down to notice the Shinx standing closer in front of him, as if opposing the rest of his pride. With the Shinx's opposition, the Luxray's glance also falls downward before growling out in response, as if to ask 'what are you doing?'
The Shinx's expression changes to one of determination as they let out continued, though still more subdued (as compared to their evolved siblings), barks. Even a few Luxio seem to back down, their front paws reverting to a straight position and the scent of burning slowly fading out. The original brave Luxio that started the rallying growls still hadn't backed down, however, and Damien wasn't so premature as to believe his situation was truly over, having readjusted his glasses as he glanced back to the Luxray that now seemed to sport an exasperated expression.
The Luxray, having enough of Shinx's barking, let out another loud growl, almost causing Damien to actually flee while he had the chance and actually causing the small Shinx to silence themselves. But again, like some miracle, Damien was stopped by the grunt of a Luxio that was beside the Luxray which points a paw at the Shinx and lets out a few hums, seemingly taking the Shinx's side. Following a few silent moments, Luxray finally lets out another grunt. They look to Damien again, seemingly assessing him for something before turning around as they use one of their own front paws to signal something to the Luxio of his pride. This time, all (or at least the rest) of the Luxio do back down, and together, follow the Luxray as they turn around and start walking away, presumably back to their own home.
Staying still for a moment to finally comprehend the conclusion of his situation, Damien lets out a much relieved but stuttered sigh of relief before having his back fall down to the bed of grass beneath him. Looking at the clouds above him, Damien ponders back to a short encounter with the pride for a moment longer.
'It's most likely not going to be the only time I face a situation like that, aren't I?'
One hand goes to readjust his glasses that got misaligned when he had voluntarily fallen down onto the grass. Inspecting the hinges, Damien sighs inwardly.
'I swear the screws of these glasses are getting looser by the day… I really need to get them fixed, though, that might take a while.'
Quick recollections of the day pass through Damien's mind, not having the chance to relax since he awoke: wake up in a bush, barely avoid having a panic attack, survive an actual attack by a horde of Beedrill, and avoid uncertain doom by a pride of Luxio. To Damien, the current bed of grass he's laying on is like heaven. Thus, when he laid his hand down, expecting the feeling of individual blades of grass, Damien was not expecting to instead meet with the now familiar feeling of fur. A happy purr is let out beside him as his hand instinctually starts petting said fur, before stopping as the realization hits Damien. He cranes his neck to where he'd heard the sound, and this time, correctly to his expectations, the Shinx that had just saved him is laying next to him. Damien pushes himself up with his arms, still ignoring the now fading aches in his back, before speaking to the Shinx at his legs.
"Hey buddy. I thought you'd gone off with your uh… pride. What're you still here with me for?"
Hearing his question, the Shinx looks at Damien with bewilderment before they shake their head and turn around, pointing out with a paw to their pride, still visible in the distance, with a happy chitter. Damien nods slowly, the movement hesitant.
"Yes, that's your pride… shouldn't you-"
Before Damien gets to complete his suggestion, the Shinx looks at Damien once more with an expression of irritation before they put a paw on his hand and then back to their pride. Damien, luckily, is able to piece together Shinx's suggestion as he looks from the pride back to Shinx. His own expression, however, is less of knowing and more of shock in certainly not anticipating such an invitation.
"You want me to follow them?"
Shinx responds with yet another happy trill, nudging Damien's hand slightly with a paw before they shift to jogging onwards to their pride. As a small breeze passes through Damien's hair, his mind quickly ponders whether he should actually follow the pride that had just been about to attack him, or not.
'Still… I should make sure the Shinx gets back safe...'
Damien wasn't about to risk the pride running back under pretense he endangered Shinx (again), and the pride, he supposes, is the best solution he has to getting to civilization so far. (His mind unneededly supplies that he, too, has always been a cat person.) Quickly realizing that Shinx had run farther than he would've thought, Damien rushes to his feet and runs back to the bush he'd fallen onto earlier in the day.
"Wait up!"
He didn't know if the Shinx would actually hear his remark, but feeling it a natural course of action, he said it anyway. Damien winces as he feels the pricks on his hands from the bush, aggravating his already present lacerations further. It was a mere moment later that Damien finally found his duffel bag hidden under the bush. Settling the handle of the bag back onto a shoulder of his in record time, having easily done the action hundreds of times before, he squints to see the Shinx seemingly approaching a hill and starts sprinting through the grass before he could lose sight of them.
Though his chest heaves while he was still adjusting back from a long run through the meadow, Damien had managed to catch up with the Shinx's much shorter pace. When they noticed Damien catching up to them, the small feline let out a short meow in delight before their pace slowed to a brisk walk. It wasn't far from their home, after all, and the Shinx seems to know how to get home on their own from where Damien and themselves were: right atop the hill the Shinx had run from that morning. From what Damien could see down below, even Shinx's pride had slowed their pace, going from their synchronized march to a rather dysfunctional parade, like a crowd of individuals passing through one another, except it's with Luxio speaking in short grunts or hums.
Feeling like no time had passed at all, Damien and the Shinx both arrive at the pride's home. While it seems no different than the rest of the grassland he'd traveled from, Damien could see the clear signs the location was lived in. The few sparse trees around show burn marks with clear indentations that claws had run through them and patches of grass grew shorter in some locations as if to signal it was a place tread on frequently. The most prominent was a small cave that cut into a hill and centered almost perfectly to the rest of the area. With the hill sloping downwards around the sparse trees, it made a natural border to certify the area as being the pride's own.
Noticing the Luxray stand still for a moment, Damien had an etching thought he perhaps wasn't invited to the pride's home and should've left, but, like nearly every other time he had a thought, Damien was briskly interrupted. A roar, though not as loud as the one he'd heard chasing away the Beedrill, ran throughout the territory, forcing Damien to nearly cover his ears. With the Shinx at his side merely gripping onto the grass in response, Damien looks to see that another Luxray was approaching from the small cave.
For a moment, Damien wondered if there was to be some territorial argument between the Luxray before he noticed a difference between the two: the Luxray that came out from the cave has a black mane that appears shorter than the Luxray that only just returned home. Perhaps to some random Pokémon fan that didn't mean much, but to Damien that grew up on playing Generation IV, it was the clear gender difference between male and female Luxray he'd grown to recognize.
With that in mind, it didn't take much for Damien to realize the interaction was the elder female's recognition of the male leader's return.
'There had to be some other Pokémon guarding their home after all, especially since there weren't any Shinx present… other than the one next to me.'
The female Luxray let out her own roar of recognition (that causes Damien to nearly cover his ears again) before she seems to turn back to the cave. However, as Damien witnesses her sniff the air as if it was some regular behavior of a pack's return, her own eyes quickly glances at Damien, recognizing him as an intruder. She turns back around to the male leader as she growls to him, wondering why Damien was in their home. The male leader, too, turns around at the female's comment, and as he spots Damien with the Shinx beside him at his feet, Damien grips tight onto his bag's handle as he breathes through his nose.
"Lux, Luxray."
Although Damien had expected the Luxray to follow up with another growl in accusation of his presence, the male Luxray instead simply grunts in acceptance of him, seemingly expecting it. The female Luxray's gaze stays at Damien's figure for a moment, assessing him much like the male Luxray earlier in the day. Yet, this time, Damien feels it lasts longer than the male's and as if it was boring into his soul, but soon, the female Luxray moves away from Damien as she nods, and then actually, returns back to the cave. Shaking away the cold sweat on his hands, Damien takes a deep breath and thinks to himself.
'What… was that?'
Truly, the whole situation he's been in had all been one completely out of Damien's own control. But, while he'd been expecting to have been attacked at some point, Damien can only conclude they took the words of Shinx more seriously than he thought they would. Which, speaking of them, he glanced down at the Shinx next to him. Their eyes seem to concentrate on the Luxray in fascination, however, letting out a silent mew in what seems to be awe.
Shifting his focus to the Luxio around him for a mere moment, Damien lets out a sigh of relief as most only appear to look at him in their own curiosity or have gone on to play with one another, play-fighting and rolling around on the earth. The rest that seem to look otherwise are seemingly just looking for a fight. With the Shinx accompanying him, they look to one another. A lone Luxio hisses and fakes a growl as to point out the earlier seen acceptance of Damien among them. With that, the fight-hungry Luxio grunt, seemingly accepting the fact there was to be no fight to be had and instead look to their surroundings as if trying to find another Luxio to play with, allowing Damien to finally take a moment to think, his gaze returning to the Shinx next to his feet.
For one, Damien's glad that the leader Luxray of the pride seems to be one that takes the words of his - children? siblings? - other pride-mates seriously. Perhaps his own irrationality in trying to save Shinx wasn't the worst decision he could've made after all (not that he's going to ever actively try to make such decisions from now on anyway). Damien doesn't know if the 'listening' behavior was one all Luxray leaders shared, but if it was, it doesn't seem to apply only to males, seeing as the female Luxray left him alone as well.
He barely noticed the gender difference between the Luxray but, looking at the Shinx he's befriended, Damien realizes he's also been only thinking of the cub as a 'they'. If he remembers correctly, the differences between Shinx were much clearer, with the tuft of fur on their heads being shorter on females than males and the hind paws of male Shinx being black while females were light blue. While his eyes had been driftless, staring at nothing as he was in thought, he glances back down at the Shinx. They have black hind paws and a tuft of hair that seemed awfully longer than he had originally seen it as; to be fair, he wasn't really looking for details about the Shinx back then.
His mind concluding that his befriended Shinx was indeed a male, he then feels a small tug on his pants. His eyes look down, registering that said Shinx was biting on his pants and looking up at Damien with his golden eyes, seeming to want his attention. Bending down and slowly prying Shinx's mouth away from his pants, Damien nods as he instinctively decides to pat the Shinx's back.
"I was too lost in thought, wasn't I? Sorry again buddy. What's it you want?"
Satisfied, the Shinx looks to the cave in the distance and points his paw to it. Damien blinks for a moment as he connects the pieces of information he's learned into another conclusive statement over what Shinx wants.
"You want me to go in the cave with you? I know that's where your friends would be but I'm not sure if they'd-"
The Shinx below him lets out a baby growl in frustration as he bumps into Damien's legs to move with his head. Damien himself wonders if the Shinx really understood the statement before shaking his head as he looks at the quadruped again with a smile.
'Pokémon have been shown to have an odd innate understanding of the human language…'
Sighing, Damien does actually get his legs moving, keeping his bag tight on his shoulder. The action startles the Shinx for a moment, as if not actually expecting Damien to move before they meow happily and start dashing away to the cave.
'Better know now than later…'
Despite not having conclusive evidence that he's harmless enough to the Luxray that he'd be allowed in what he assumes as their den, he also doesn't have enough evidence against it either. And so, the human and pokémon arrive at the cave where a sudden burst of blue and black fur bundle onto the Shinx next to Damien.
"Shin Shinx!"
A cacophony of trills, grows, purrs, and mews come from the pile of Shinx at Damien's feet. He sees the pile move and jumble around before the head of a Shinx pops up, letting out a grunt in frustration as it takes a moment to breathe. For once, Damien actually chuckles at the moment before he hears a growl behind him - a Luxio. Freezing for a moment, Damien witnesses the pile of Shinx become more of a simple crowd of them, though Damien realizes he can't figure out which exact Shinx was the one he befriended. A spike of melancholy runs up Damien's mind for a moment as the now familiar sight of a Luxray comes out from the cave's darkness.
Said Luxray seems to nod at the Luxio's work before drifting to look at Damien again, leaving Damien to grip tightly on his bag's handle, now feeling the presence of the female Luxray much more clearly then before. It's the closest he's been to any of the Luxray, and silence would've filled the air between them if not for the happy chitters of the Shinx. Finally, taking a breath to reorganize his thoughts over why he had approached the cave in the first place, Damien speaks:
"Is it… uh, alright if I enter the cave? I understand it's your den but a Shinx appears to want my company."
Damien's eyes wander to the group of Shinx next to the elder Luxray, trying to figure out which is the one he'd befriended before a hum causes Damien to stop his search. The female Luxray, too, seems to look at the group of Shinx before she nods and points a paw at Damien, growling as if to say 'don't dare do anything to them'. Finding an odd, alleviating acceptance at the Luxray's words, Damien nods.
"I aim to never hurt them, ma'am." With that, the Luxray returns to go inside the cave, and the Luxio that Damien momentarily forgot was behind him from being under the Luxray's presence follows her. Damien peers at the cave entrance before him as his attention focuses on the most visible things in the cave: littered boulders, stalagmites, and stalactites were dotted around, serving as a wall that protected against the cold. While he didn't see the Luxray, Damien only guesses she was behind the small secondary wall of boulders he was barely able to view amidst the parts of the cave the sun didn't reach.
Having been given permission to enter the cave, he briefly peeks at the crowd of Shinx that started moving inwards to the cave that was their den. Damien still hadn't been able to make out which Shinx was the one he'd accompanied, but as the Shinx play by jumping and shaking tails with one another, he ignores the need to search for the particular Shinx, deciding to survey the cave further and let the Shinx enjoy their time with the others. Finally taking his first steps into the cave, Damien carefully avoids tripping on the rocky floor as he took the moment to settle down, lest he walk unaware into the dark or disturb the Luxray behind the wall of boulders.
Finding himself sitting near the wall of the cave, close by to the entrance but not so much so the wind chills his figure, Damien finally rests his eyes, tilting his head up to the cave ceiling. His hands rub the now-scarring lacerations he'd earned earlier in the day from the bush he landed on, his duffel bag carefully set by his side on the rocky ground. Curling his legs up to his chest, Damien breathes, letting off some of the exhaustion he'd earned from all the running and induced stress he'd had throughout the day. He certainly hadn't enjoyed waking up in a bush, and then, while meeting Shinx wasn't so bad, the realization and near panic attack that accompanied it wasn't. Damien had been about to recount his experience with the Beedrill before his body decided it was time to finally doze off…
Before he even noticed, it'd become noon as evidenced by the sun being right in the center of the sky, at least from what Damien notices from looking out the cave entrance. He'd only just woken himself awake from his short nap as the sounds of an argument between Luxio through rather vocal hisses and grunts outside woke him up. Stretching his arms out, Damien glances to where the group of Shinx had been playing at previously to only find them completely missing. Still hearing the sounds of happy chitters and mews, however, Damien still knew they had to be somewhere. Looking around to still find none of the Shinx within the cave, Damien had been about to get up from his resting position before he noticed a small light within a dark corner of the cave he'd yet to inspect fully. If Damien's back wasn't already against the cave wall, he would've moved further back as the light seemed to approach him, but, as the light soon became a pair of golden eyes, it didn't take long for Damien to realize what the light was.
A Shinx appears out of the darkness, soon followed by a few others, their faces covered in a small mess of red, blue, and yellow juices. The exception came with the initial Shinx that had come out from the darkness though, as it seemed to glance around, looking for something while they held what Damien would refer to as a berry in their mouths. As the Shinx caught sight of Damien himself, they quickly dash over, and Damien was only half-unprepared as they pounced their front paws onto his side, causing Damien to wince.
'Note to self: Pokémon are definitely more powerful than you think they are.'
The Shinx didn't seem to notice though as it drops the berry at Damien's side, pushing it with a paw as to signal it was Damien's to keep. One hand massaging his side, Damien looks at the Shinx before assessing the situation. He hadn't known why the particular Shinx in front of him had run over to give him a berry, but, noticing the black hind legs of the male Shinx, Damien had a rather good guess as to why.
"It's you huh buddy? Well, thanks for the treat."
Damien gives a content smile to the Shinx next to him, his tail wagging around in anticipation. Grabbing the berry off the rock floor and dusting it with his hands, Damien inspected the berry he hadn't gotten a good look at in the darkness of the cave from earlier; dark blue with a green stem on top. The berry was simple and almost comparable to a blueberry if not for its size being much larger.
'I suppose I haven't eaten in a while.'
Taking a bite, Damien blinked at the mess of flavors that hit his tongue as he chewed. Being much harsher to chew through than one would expect, it felt dry and bitter before the spice and sourness kicked in. Overall, Damien deemed it to taste so much worse than it looks and while Damien figured out what actual Pokémon berry it was: Oran. He doesn't necessarily want to eat more of it. That said, though the effect wasn't instantaneous, he felt some of his exhaustion begin to wear off.
'It's nice to know the effects of berries don't only apply to Pokémon.'
Damien would like to call it bull that a berry could taste that bad, especially as he reluctantly swallows his bite of it down his throat, but the magical effects of the berry proves it to be at least of some use if Pokémon eat it without a problem. Seeing the tough skin of the Oran berry in his hands, he put on a displeased expression. The Shinx beside him however, seemed to pick up on it as it whined slightly before it ran off before Damien had the chance to look at him. Quickly returning from the darkness with yet another berry in their mouth, Damien let the Shinx drop the berry into his hands, aiming to not get pounced on his side again.
The berry in his hands in question this time was one that was much more obvious to Damien, having simply used it more. In the shape comparable to a peach but much smaller, the Pecha berry was pink, had lighter pink spots, and had a stem which sported two green leaves. Damien didn't know what to expect of the berry other than its use of curing poison (and thus an expectation of not having some effect on him this time) so, as he bit into it, Damien was pleasantly met with the taste of sweetness and only sweetness. Not taking much effort to finish it, Damien looked back down at the Shinx next to him that seemed much happier than when he'd tasted the Oran berry. He smiles at the sight.
"Thanks again, buddy."
The Shinx happily chitters as it took Damien's comment as permission to continuously run back and forth to bring Damien more of them. He did try to call out to the Shinx about not needing to do so, but the Shinx only seemed to ignore Damien and he soon found it a fruitless endeavor.
"You don't have to keep getting me more. I'll be fine…"
It didn't take long before Damien ended up with a meal consisting of only Pecha berries.
A/N:
And here's the final chapter i've managed to prepare over Winter Break! Apologies for uploading it so late, schoolwork hates me. Whether or not i'll manage to get a chapter out next week is... something we'll see next week. (Probably wasn't a good idea to work on editing the chapter at 4 AM in the... morning? night? whatever, and accidentally pull an all-nighter. Oops.)
For starters though, I do want to clarify that 'Luxio' / 'Luxray' / 'Shinx' in this chapter or any chapter hereon are both used interchangeably between singular and plural. I understand if it seems annoying but I find it to simply sound more correct compared to 'Luxios' or other. I just hope i've given enough context for you readers to understand.
Asides from that, I don't believe there's anything critical that I can't simply answer in the comments so, that said, I give my (now) usual thanks for my beta readers avardiris, ShiroHatzuki, and raindrops! See you next week (hopefully)!