Chapter 14: What She Came For
"Here they come!" I yelled over to Ted as I spotted an entire flock of Beedrill flying right towards us.
"Oh no!" cried Laura. "They caught up!"
"Yeah. I can see that," my master said, still holding Charcoal as we ran.
"Zack man," Ted said. "We're going to have to ward off these Beedrill. We can't run forever."
"Yeah. I know," I said. "But what about Laura and my master?"
"We'll have to cover them," Ted said.
"Right then," I said, skidding to a stop and firing off a Psybeam at one of the Beedrill, only to have it stop short before it could hit. "That's not good." My stomach growled, causing me to remember that I was hungry and tired. I didn't think that my attacks would stop short or be that low. In short, I didn't have a lot of energy to fight.
"I guess it's up to me then," Ted said. "Zack, protect our trainers for me, would you?"
"If you promise not to get poisoned or die," I said.
"Promise," Ted said, cracking his knuckles as the Beedrill began dive bombing him. I turned back around, catching up to the trainers to outrace the Beedrill and keep them off them.
One. Two. March. April. Ho. Hum. Lol. Ha. Why was my mind on marching music? And where were these strange words coming from? Oh well. Continue on marching, following this odd green crawly thing. Or was he following me? Hmm. Oh right. I was taking him back to his family after saving him from a bunch of yellow-black stripes which- TREE!
I whipped my head around, staring at it. I don't know why but it beckoned me. And why was I having this urge to whack the green crawly thing with a stick while laughing maniacally? Oh well. Urges must be filled. I walked toward the tree, my claws coming out so I could climb it when that crawly green thing said something to me. "What?" I asked, stopping my approach to the tree and looking at him.
"My clan is that way," the green crawly thing said. "Why are you heading off that way? I thought you said you'd keep me from getting bullied by anymore of those Beedrill."
"Oh right!" I said, instantly remembering what I was doing before my urges took over. "Sorry bout that. Sometimes urges overtake me and then I forget what I was doing in the first place." Which reminded me, was there something important I was supposed to be doing? My eyes diverted to the left of the green crawly thing to see a branch lying there right next to him. Kind of odd for a branch to be lying there after I had wanted to climb up a tree. Wait. Tree. Branch. Tree. Branch. Tree. Branch. Yay! I made up a new word! But now what to do with it.
"I guess it's O.K.," the green crawly thing said. "Besides, we're nearly there. It's right around that big tree over there."
"Last one there's a rotten potatoe!" I said, running ahead of him.
"Hey wait!" the crawly green thing said. "Wait up!"
"You'll never catch me, creepy crawly green thing!" I shouted as I quickly reached the tree the crawly thing referred to, spinning around and sitting, waiting patiently for the green crawly thing to catch up. My mind blanked and nothing else was thought of until my attention returned, focused upon the crawly green thing as it crawled up to me, breathing hard.
"You sure... can... run... fast," he said between gasps of breath.
"Meh," was all I could think of, turning my head and looking at a rather tiny clearing. "So this is your clearing, right?"
"That's... right," the crawly green thing said. "I know it may look real small, but it's where my friends and I come out to play. Our parents keep watch from up in the trees."
"Tree!" I said, already climbing up the big tree I was next to. I quickly skittered up the tree and stopped just below the first treebranch. And there was that new word I made. I looked down. Boy was I high! The green crawly thing looked like an ant from here. "Hey! Come join! It's like you can see the whole-"
I was stopped suddenly as something very large blocked my view and began trying to knock me off the branch by scratching at me. Course, it didn't really hurt since the scratches seemed gentle. But it was enough, however, to quickly get me down from the tree. Course, then again, the thing kept bothering me the entire climb down. It wasn't until I hit the ground did I finally tune in to what it was saying.
"You stay away from this area, you hear?" it hollered at me as it flapped around me. "This is our territory. You will not harm the young ones."
"Geez!" I said. "Will you get off me?"
"Mom!" the green crawly thing yelled, stopping the assault raid on me. The thing that wouldn't leave me alone turned its attention to said crawly thing.
"Shring?" the now revealed butterfly said surprised. Odd. I chased a butterfly just like this one a while ago before I met this crawly thing. Why didn't I see the connection? "How many times have I told you not to go running off?"
"I didn't mom," the crawly thing said. "You're too fast a flyer. I just turned around and came back here."
"Well, I'm glad you're all right," the butterfly said. Weird how I manage to pay attention at times, eh? "And as for you, away from this place. I will not let you harm my son or his friends."
"But mom," the crawly thing began to say, only to be interrupted by his mom. Time to intervene.
"I saved him from the yellow-black stripes," I said. The butterfly turned and looked at me.
"What?" she asked.
"This nice pokemon saved me from some Beedrill bullies," the crawly thing said. "And then she brought me back here." He lowered his voice to a whisper and said something else, one I couldn't- Ooh! A tail. I must chase it! I winded up chasing said tail til everything around me began spinning. I didn't last long as I stopped chasing and kept my head aspinning.
After everything cleared up, which took a couple of seconds, the butterfly flew over to me and landed, staring at me. And staring. And staring. And staring. It was getting rather creepy. "Hey wait a minute!" she said. "I recognize you."
"You do?" I asked.
"I think I saw you chasing after me leaping at me," the butterfly said.
"Oh yeah," I said. "You were flying kind of low and I just had the urge to leap at you so I did and-"
"Yes, well, anyway," the butterfly said. "Being that you rescued my son from the Beedrill and brought him home safely, I think a reward is in order. I really don't have much to offer. If there's anything in particular you need, feel free to say what's on your mind."
So in other words, she'd give me anything I wanted, right? Hmm. So much to choose from, but what to choose was the ultimate question, I think. Maybe something with sugar in it. I did like sugar. I like it when I'm crazy! But then again, I could use something else to my advantage. A leash would do. Why a leash? I had no clue. And of course, I still desired a treebranch. Oh the people I could whack if I had one.
But then, my stomach growled and just like that, my mind whirled back to something the blue raccoon said to me. Something about the lizard being poisoned or something like that and having me search for a picka something. "There is something you could give me," I said, my mind now racing. "I'm looking for something called a picka, I think."
"A picka?" the butterfly questioned. "I never heard of a picka before."
"Sounds close to those Pecha berries we have, doesn't it mom?" the crawly thing asked. Pecha? That word rang a bell. Was it possible that this pecha was...
"That's it!" I suddenly yelled, startling the two.
"What's it?" the butterfly asked.
"That's what I need," I said. "I need those pechas."
"O.K.," the butterfly said slowly. "Wait here. I'll be back in a moment." The butterfly flew up into the current tree I was climbing, leaving me with the crawly thing. I didn't know what else to say, so I just started humming a little tune to myself in my head, looking around randomly. Silence occured between the crawly thing and I for several seconds before he asked, "Nice weather we're having, isn't it?"
"What?" I asked, blocking out the tune in my head as I turned to look at him as the butterfly returned holding a brown bag or something like that.
"Here you go," she said, handing me the bag, placing a loop over my head. "A bag full of Pecha berries to go. Put them to good use and remember not to eat them."
"Right," I said, trying to remember- oh yeah. I had to save the fire lizard. "Well, glad I could help you guys. Laters!" With that, I turned and began running back the way I cam, but was stopped short as the crawly thing called out to me.
"Hey!" he yelled. "You dropped one." I turned my head back to see one of the Pechas being thrown to me. I don't why it possessed me, but I used my tail and caught it, the berry setling onto my tail.
"Thanks!" I yelled back. "Now I can go use these on the fire lizard. I will save him!" I ran off, leaving the odd family behind, rushing past a bunch of trees. Man they just seemed to keep going. I stopped suddenly, skidding to a halt as I realized something I hadn't a second ago. I was lost! I had no idea where the handsome raccoon and his friends were. Guess I'd have to run around until I eventually found- TREE!