Pokemon: Blood Curse!
Chapter 4: Immobile Kakuna?
About an hour later, after her nap, water bottles, small snacks, and potions were placed into an average-sized cooler. Hornet remained on her shoulder the whole time as Marce stepped outside to the platform and sat the cooler down. "Alright- Hornet, this is going to be a rough hold, but I'll have to slide down with one hand... Let's just hope I have a good grip. This cooler is heavy and I wouldn't want Mel to carry it all the way down. It was nice of her to carry the groceries up earlier but- I can't let her do this, I'm too afraid she might hurt herself," The brunette frowned and leaned over to pick it back up, unaware of her best friend exiting the house and watching her turn to jump down.
Marceline, I can carry it for you. It's not a problem at al- before Mel could even finish her sentence, through her pokemon speech that the woman could understand as clear as English, Marce glanced at her and shook her head.
"No, I'm not letting you do all the hard work. I don't want to exhaust you before you get to help Hornet train, I need to do this. I don't want to burden you," That last bit was practically mumbled and only Weedle's ears picked it up, to which he furrowed his brows.
A sigh, Mel knew she was defeated the moment she insisted but she still tried anyway and ended up failing. Her paws lightly patted across the wood to the edge of the platform, where she watched her friend descend the rope and struggle on her way down with one hand. She needs to learn to rely on me more, I'm more than capable of carrying that. With a shake of her head, those slits closed and a groan was hard to hold in.
With a slight loss of balance, she nearly fell backward if she hadn't held onto the rope after she reached the ground and a sense of panic rose in her mind. "Oh, my word... That was close," mumbling to herself, those hazel hues peeked up the rope and let go to watch Liepard effortlessly trek the branches and climb down the tree like any other feline.
After she saw Mel land and walk up to her side, her feet were about to pat across the ground until her best friend snatched the cooler and jogged ahead. "Mel, that's not funny!" Fuming, annoyed she was, Marce decided to try and chase after her this time and ran past a couple of wild pokemon along the way.
I told you I could carry it, didn't I? Over her shoulder, the feline questioned and blinked her mischievous yet concerned eyes, for she believed proving her capability would be enough to let Marceline give up.
"UUUGH, fine," an exasperated groan left the brunette's lips when her eyes rolled at her friend's behavior, she was still tired but not as tired as earlier and didn't care too much for arguing right now. "But I'm carrying it back home after we're done," Her lips tightened into an unintentional cute frown, a pout that Mel always that was amusing to see.
That's fine- because by then it won't be as heavy. You'll use a lot of this stuff before we head back. An almost teasing tone to her voice nearly made the brunette's eye twitch and caused another groan to escape, therefore, she continued her trek.
Through the trees they weaved and brushed away extremely tall grass that reached her waist, it made it difficult to watch Mel ahead of her. Past several bug types and monkey pokemon in the trees, even a Pichu or two in the bushes, eventually they made it to the clear she spoke of.
There in the distance at a long log that looked as though it's been used on occasion, considering its small butt dents in the center, and a napkin that looked rotted. I really need to clean this up a little... What a hassle. A sweatdrop could be felt down her head when she glared at the tiny bits of trash around the make-shift seat. "Hop down, Hornet. Mel will be your referee, I'll be your heal, and you can battle random pokemon here that wants to challenge you. I came here on occasion with Mel to provide healing and even let a lot of the wild pokemon here that this clearing is for challenging and training each other. That would include their own challenges against each other, not just us," the explanation she gave was a little detailed, but, it was enough for Hornet to understand the rules of her large clearing.
Okay! Easily accepted, Hornet nodded with his black-beady eyes closed and crawled his way down to the ground, off of her shoulder. When he looked up, he saw her make her way to the log and sit down, before the cooler was placed next to her feet. Mel, on the other hand, sat on the sidelines and observed from afar to keep an eye out for any wild challengers. I hope I won't have to face someone that's a flying type... shivering at the thought, he felt a chill run down his spine when he imagined a Rufflet or a Braviary swooping down thinking he's a snack.
Silence befell the clearing as a soft wind blew and the smell of rain in the air, filled their noses from the storm that passed. Mud had covered the ground but it wasn't enough to stop him from training, his sheer determination kept his eyes peeled for any opponent who demanded a challenge.
Soon, much to his relief for not having to wait a long time, through the tall grass approached a brave Caterpie whose eyes narrowed with confidence. Marceline blinked in the distance and leaned over onto her knees, allowing her elbows to keep herself propped up. Looks like he's already being approached. Her thoughts echoed and glanced over at Mel to see her stand up. Good luck, you got this. A faint smile, her hazel eyes returned to the Weedle and calmly cheered for him in her mind.
It was a stare-down, black eyes to another similar pair, both determined with squinted gazes and preparation. Suddenly, with a battle cry from Caterpie, it charged after Hornet with a Tackle and landed a solid hit on his forehead.
This time, with still energy to spare, he wasn't down for the count that easily so he charged and sprayed his poison sting in hopes of poisoning his opponent. Surprisingly enough the Caterpie jumped and avoided it, with a quick shot of its String Shot catching the Weedle's feet.
It wasn't enough to hold it in place, it only slowed him down, and couldn't dodge in time to avoid the incoming Tackle. Flat to the ground with a cry, he thudded and shut his eyes. If I wait here, Caterpie might think I lost and lower their guard. Mumbled Hornet, for he remained in his spot and hoped the pokemon would get close enough for his point-blank planned attack.
Inch by inch, the Caterpie scooted to get a good look at him and watched for any signs of movement. When they believed he was done, their eyes closed from the victory they felt and were about to leave until... To their backside, came flying Poison Sting and sent it flying a couple of feet away from how hard it hit.
Soon, a sign of them being poisoned was exposed, when they shivered in place and tried to attack again. This time, they were the ones to miss, as Hornet jumped out of the way each time and continued to let the poison take effect. After he gained some distance from his last leap backward, he leaned back and sprayed his Poison Sting one last time, which seemed to have landed a critical hit since they toppled over and fainted.
Panting, sweating, a few wounds on his body showed that he fought as hard as he could. From the sound of hands clapping, his head turned to see his friend on the log smiling at him and giving him a congratulatory stare. "Nice, Hornet! Need some water and a heal?" a bottle and a potion from the cooler she opened, were lifted for him to see and an eager nod was what she received. "Keep at it, you're just starting to scratch the surface. I watched Mel train here quite a few times on her own, don't forget. I'm not a trainer but I still know a bit, enough to get by at least," a sigh escaped her lips as she wandered over to the Weedle and kneeled down.
One spray, then two more, the potion made his wounds recover and he felt almost as good as new. Then with a couple of gulps of water, he wiggled his little feet happily with his closed black eyes. Thank you, I feel much better! Cheerful and still eager to keep fighting, he turned to keep a lookout for any other challengers while Marceline walked over to the fainted Caterpie.
"Here, you too," A few sprays that were left in the potion, emptied it and healed the damage on the pokemon. "Don't worry, I'm not going to just let you stay in pain. Take care," A gentle wave of her hand, after they stood up confusedly and glanced up at her, she returned to the log.
A simple mutter of the Caterpie's name was mumbled as they tilted their head and took off back into the grass. "Okay... Who's next?" After a while of battling several pokemon and losing a few times, she just finished healing Hornet again and restoring its opponent's health with what remained of the potion.
It had been an entire hour of self-training, but after all of that hard work, something began to happen. Marce waved goodbye to the wild Scatterbug that crawled away after its recovery and she didn't even notice the bright light behind her, that was until she turned around. Her mouth gaped at the sight of Weedle glowing an almost white color and watched his silhouette change, his height grew along with its mass. "Is he... Evolving?" Blinking curiously, Mel chose to walk over to her and sit next to her feet to watch the miracle take place.
Yes, he is. It only took an hour, I'm surprised he's evolving this early. Answer with interest, Liepard's ears turned slightly to the surrounding noises from the on-looking pokemon and twitched her tail.
"I'm not. He was eager to live up to his name, so I think it's just his determination that pushed him to evolve like this," The brunette's words were true, for she wasn't surprised in the least but more of relieved that he was a step closer to achieving his Beedrill form.
Finally, after about a minute, there in his cocooned form stood Kakuna with his sharp, black eyes staring into the space before him. "Good job, Hornet. Wanna head back home and call it a day? It's still in the afternoon so you'll be able to chill," with one hand in her jacket's hoodie and its hood over her head, she carried the cooler when she walked over to him.
No response, no sound, only his pupils looked up at her and made her feet halt confusedly. "What's up?" Her hazel eyes worriedly stared into his and only the quietness of the clearing filled her ears.
Even Mel grew curious, for she inched closer and stood by her friend's side with a subtle movement of her tail. I... began Hornet, as he felt heat rise to his... cheeks? Can't move. His voice had changed, it seemed a bit deeper and not as childish as it was before; embarrassment was an understatement at this point, he couldn't even move to hide.
Both the brunette and Liepard hysterically fell to the ground with their legs in the air, dumbfounded by his words that broke the intense silence.
~~~Time Skip~~~
In her arms, she had to carry Kakuna back to the treehouse and Mel held the cooler's handle in her mouth. "Wow... No offense, but you gained some weight," She was struggling to hold him in his cocooned form and didn't even notice the embarrassed, red tints below his eyes.
It's to be expected from a cocooned pokemon, Marceline. Mel spoke through clenched teeth before she jumped from branch to branch onto the platform and sat the cooler down on the floor.
"Whatever... Hey, Hornet? How am I going to get you inside?! You're so heavy and big... I can't climb the rope or fly like earlier," the brunette complained and carefully set him down near the rope to stretch her aching back.
Leave that to me. Simply put, Hornet answered and somehow, from the top of his head, shot silk that yanked him high into the branches around her treehouse. Her hazel eyes lit up with surprise at that moment, for she never knew how they did that or manage to reach the treetops. "Cool... Just let me know when you're hungry, I'll try and bring up some food for you! Unless- you can't eat in that form... Which would ultimately suck," a sweatdrop could be felt trickling down her head at her own words, and watched as he simply waved his body from side to side as if to say okay.
A huff of air left her lips and brushed against her long, brown bangs before she began to climb the rope. I seriously just need to make a rope ladder... her annoyed thoughts echoed while an eye twitched at feeling her exhausted biceps, as she scaled and managed to reach the platform.
~~~Meigu~~~
"Man! I can't wait for the next episode of Detective Mons!" In some large-pocketed shorts, patterned with a camo design and a black T-shirt, sat Matsuo on a couch next to his pokemon.
Torch just nodded his head in agreement with mumbled words, for he even found mysteries just as intriguing as his trainer and crossed his legs on the cushions. His folded arms and leaned-over posture proved how sunk he was into the current series.
Suddenly, a strong hand on Blaziken's shoulder made his blue eyes look over at his trainer and saw a thumbs-up directed at him. "Nice job handling that Machamp, by the way. You sure taught him a few new tricks, didn't you?" The compliment nearly made him topple over from the embarrassment and impulsively push his trainer off of the couch. The anger he felt was enough to make one of his eyes twitch, so he stood up and left the living room, where Meigu remained on the floor. "There's no reason to be mean!" A frown curled his lips and with a swift motion he sat up to sit cross-legged, it was hard not to feel annoyed by Torch's antics.
"Where are you going, anyway?" Curious now, brown eyes blinked after he stood up and peeked around the corner of a door to the living room. In the other room, he watched Torch rummage through some weights and picked up some that he could wrap around his joints. "Ah, you want to go for a jog, then? How about we go to the park or maybe to the treeline of the woods nearby?" With a toothy grin, he finally stepped in all the way and felt relieved from a nice stretch he did with his arms.
A mumble of Blaziken's name was enough of an answer, especially when Torch nodded and tossed some joint weights over to his trainer.
"Cool! I'll take some water with us, do you want your usual Soda pop?" With ease, he caught them and began to strap them on while he asked. He heard his friend confirm it, with his pokemon cry as a reply, and put the last strap together around his elbows. Some were on his knees, waist, and wrists too. Hands close to his waist, Meigu's biceps flexed and grew thicker when his fists clenched. "Alrighty, then, let's go!" He seemed about as eager as Torch, for even his friend stood up and performed a few several high-kicked in place with those weights attached.
Moments later, after he gathered the water and Soda Pop, they jogged their way down the street past many gawking citizens. Some girls giggled and blushed at Matsuo's large, flexed muscles while Torch ignored some female pokemon who stared in awe with red faces.
Five other Pokeballs bounced around in his shorts' pockets during their jog, while murmurs echoed all around them on occasion and would make one of the spheres twitch. Past a stop sign, the grocery store he visited earlier with Marceline, they were heading towards the long path that led to the forest. "Oh, by the way, Torch-" At the moment he turned around in the middle of his jog and continued with his back to the path instead, they were still heading towards it. "You interested in any lady pokemon yet?" Meigu's wiggling eyebrows and stupid grin only caused his friend to sweatdrop, with a quick dropkick before going ahead of him.
"AAH! Hey, what was that for?!" Confusion made itself known in his brown eyes as he watched Blaziken get further and further away, so he had to hurry back to his feet. "Why does he always hit me when he gets embarrassed? I never understood that about him," mumbling, questioning Torch, he was far behind him now and sighed with a shake of his head.
That was, until, he saw the treeline coming close and halted where the flora started to grow. "Torch! We're supposed to turn back, remember?!" With both hands to the sides of his mouth, he hollered but received no response since the said pokemon ignored his words. "Dude, I'm sorry okay?! I was just teasing you!" Worried now, he was upset that his friend didn't take it too well so he decided to sprint this time to catch up to him and it took him a solid two minutes to do so.
However, he managed to catch up when Torch stood staring up at a tree and curiosity made him step in front of the pokemon to try and get his attention. "Torch?" He tried again, but alas, he failed, only a mumble of Blaziken's name echoed reached his ears, and with a raise of his clawed finger... "Hm?" Those brown eyes followed where he pointed as nearly let his mouth gape at the sight.
A treehouse, high up and close to the other treetops with a dangling rope, sat before them. "We've been through here once or twice but I've never seen this treehouse here... Hm- A new mystery," His fists pumped excitedly to his sides and a few giggles couldn't be held back, for he felt like an adventurous child at this point.