Pokemons Gift Chapter 4: Into the Forest
The sun was just peeking out from the horizon giving everything that was touched by its light a heavenly beauty.
"This looks like paradise doesn't it?" Commented Ark.
Terra just nodded, wishing that she could speak with him as easily as he spoke with her. -Such are the limits of being a pokemon. - She thought.
Ark sighed. "The only problem I have with leaving this place now are the miltank. Who's going to take care of them while were away?" He mumbled leaning up against the fence. As if on cue one of the miltanks trotted up to him, holding a note.
"Don't worry about them. I have certain people that will take excellent care of them in our stead. Draven." He read aloud. "Well I guess that takes care of that, nothing holding us back now." Ark felt a twinge of sadness; he knew it would be a while before he would see them again. He said his goodbyes to the miltank, and proceeded south towards the forest that lay between him and Eterna City.
The forest was quiet for the most part, a few pokemon here and there were just waking up as the sun touched them in their nests and made a little bit of noise. Ark had walked through this forest many times before, and it always made him feel happy to just enjoy nature, but he always had to look over his shoulder in case a wild pokemon decided that he was stepping to far into their territory. This time however, any pokemon that had issues was either asleep or afraid of the lopunny who was with him, that made him feel safe and secure.
Without any worries holding him back, he dropped into a trace-like state, just aware enough of his surroundings that he would change his movement if a tree came into his path. He knew that they should pick up the pace if they were going to make any real progress today, but honestly didn't care, he was to busy enjoying the moment.
It was some time before Ark suddenly felt a cold shiver run down his spine as if something malevolent was watching him. He looked around and saw nothing and was about to start walking again when he saw a small yellow worm like creature with a spike on both its head and tail at the base of his feet. It was a weedle. He froze; this one pokemon held one of his deepest fears.
He was in the garden at the time picking some tomatoes for lunch when he'd seen it. Curiosity overtook him and he reached down to touch it. The weedle sensing danger lashed out and struck his hand poisoning him in an instant.
Terra looking over at her trainer saw him frozen in fear at the weedle. Under any other circumstance she would have laughed at this, but the look of sheer terror in her trainers eyes prevented it.
She sprung into action running up to the weedle and powerfully kicking it towards a tree; it stayed there for a few a while and seemed to be dead. Terra turned her back on it to check on her trainer. She didn't notice the weedle recovering from the blow and preparing to lunge at her.
"Terra watch out!" Cried her trainer, she spun around quickly ready to dodge something, but she wasn't fast enough, the weedle had already lunged at her and now was to close for her to even block it.
The tip of the spike on the weedle's head struck her in the leg. She felt the poison pumping into her painfully. Quickly flinging it off herself with a swipe of her paw, she rushed after it and began attacking with a frenzy of blows, desperate to end this fight quickly before the poison had a chance cripple her. When she finished with her relentless assault, the weedle was little more than pulp. The adrenaline of the fight still coursing through her she walked back to her trainer who seemed to have regained his composure.
"Amazing." Her trainer said in awe, forgetting for a moment that she'd been injured. Her mouth twitched as she tried to smile but found herself her legs buckled as the poison worked it horrible ways upon her leg muscles, and in a few moments, she started to have violent spasms across her body.
"TERRA!" Ark yelled in despair, he knew the effects of a weedle's poison all to well, and he knew he had to find something fast to help cure her. The poison was rarely fatal but still needed to be cured quickly before any permanent damage could be done. Not seeing any pecha berries around, he pulled the edible plants and mushrooms book from his bag and quickly flipped to the index, he searched for "curing poison" to see if this book had anything on the subject. "Okay, page two hundred and fifty three, please hold on Terra." Quickly flipping through the book, he found it.
"Jewelweed is a very useful plant. In occurrences of poison ivy, poison oak, and other related rash producing plants, the juice from the stem and leaves can be used to lessen the rash and itching. The seeds are perhaps the most beneficial of the jewelweed plant and are commonly used by pokemon trainers for curing poison that has been inflicted upon their pokemon when pecha berries are not available or in season. This plant is very common in most forests and can be identified by its large leaves, spotted flowers, and hollow stem. Perhaps the easiest way to identify them is by touching the seedpod that it produces, the seedpod violently pops when disturbed."
"Okay Terra hang in there, I'm going to see if I can find some Jewelweed." He told her before running off trying to find some of this plant. He cursed himself for not paying attention to his surroundings, He'd gotten careless and now Terra was suffering. He succeeded in finding some jewelweed, but had a little difficulty gathering the seeds that seemed to spray everywhere when he touched the pods with his shaky hands, but gathered about a handful of them. Rushing back as fast as his legs could take him he found he still conscious but she seemed to be on the verge of losing it, the only good thing he saw was that she was no longer having spasms.
"Eat these Terra, they should help." He prayed that the book was accurate.
She chewed the seeds slowly and weakly, obviously using all the energy she could muster. She began to feel better a few minutes after she swallowed the mouthful of seeds. Ark held her so she didn't have to waste any energy keeping herself upright, his memories surging up from the time his uncle had done the same with him.
"Eat these berries Ark, they'll help I promise." His uncle said in a kind and reassuring voice holding his nephew in a loving embrace, and handing him a bowl of soft pink berries. Ark did as he was told even though he felt weaker than he'd ever felt in his life, the berries tasted like the candy him and his uncle had made a while back. He felt better almost instantly.
"You're lucky I had some of these handy. You show all the signs of someone who is allergic to the venom. I don't even want to think about what would happen if I didn't." His uncle had started crying holding Ark tightly.
He looked down at the recovering lopunny in his arms, salty tears from his face dropping onto her. -I think I finally know how my uncle felt back then. - "I'm so sorry Terra that I got you into this mess. I shouldn't have froze like that; I should have been paying closer attention to my surroundings. I did so many things wrong. If you want to leave me because of it I'll understand."
His lopunny gave him a look that meant she wouldn't leave him because of something like this, with a little difficulty she reached up and wiped the tears from his eyes. He interpreted the look and relief spread across his face.
"You don't know how happy I am that you feel that way." A half hour later the effects of the poison were nearly gone, feeling that she was finally trying to stand by herself Ark released her.
Terra got up rather slowly, almost wishing the poison had weakened her longer. She enjoyed staying in his arms and feeling the kindness that surrounded him, it seemed to heal her as much as the seeds. A small growl came from an unknown source; she looked around trying to find where it had come from, and preparing herself in case she would have to fight it even if she was still a bit weak. Ark burst out laughing.
"I guess its close enough to lunch time." He commented mirthfully. She laughed, realizing that she had made the growl, and nodded at the same time. True, she was getting hungry and those seeds had been barely enough to call a snack. "Let's see what we can gather."
After agreeing not to take longer than a few minutes, they both went in separate directions seeing what they could gather. Terra followed her nose and found a small patch of Oran berry bushes and harvested them, taking only what she needed and leaving the rest. Her mouth watered in anticipation of eating them. She hoped her trainer had as much luck.
Ark went back to the Jewelweed and harvested some more seeds just in case they had any more troubles, he then looked around hoping to see something that he could bring back. Small mushrooms with porous looking caps lay by a large oak tree. He went over to them to see if he could recognize them, but immediately regretted it. They smelled like rotten fish. He wasn't even going to bother with them, even if they were edible who could stomach them with that entire stench that lingered around them. He went back to searching and found some wild onions, not his favorite by far but there was enough for a small meal. So, with a supply of seeds and onions he went back to where they had started.
Terra was already there waiting for him, she hadn't eaten anything preferring to wait until her trainer had arrived. She looked at what he had gathered. The seeds she assumed were for any future cases of poisoning, and the onions looked delicious.
"Now I feel kind of guilty. You brought a nice supply of Oran berries, and I bring some pathetic wild onions." She merely smiled at him. "I guess we could save them for dinner." He decided, disappointed in himself. Terra shook her head, took one of the onions and munched on it. "Okay I guess we won't"
They split the berries and onions into two separate piles, one for each of them. They ate slowly to enjoy the flavor and to finish relaxing from the stress of the past events. When they finished Ark began put the leftovers into his bag but Terra stopped him.
Praying that he wouldn't react negatively as her first trainer had when she done this, she took a few berries from him she walked near a small rotting log, dug a small hole, and planted them. "Give back to the earth from which you take." She recited in her language, finishing. It was an ancient ritual used by wild pokemon to ensure the berries would spread and feed others. She looked back at her trainer ready for his reaction.
"I hope they grow." Was all he said, a look of wonder upon his face. He understood why she had done it, but didn't understand what she spoke when she had finished.
"I do to." Terra responded, wishing he could understand her language. -I could use the "gift" which could enable him to speak with me. However, I've only known him for a single day. Giving him something that sacred to me, so quickly, would defeat the purpose of pokemon having the gift in the first place. - She thought back to when her mother had told her about the gift that all pokemon had. How it was to be given to humans that cared for pokemon above all else so the could understand one another like they had been able to in the old days, and how much it meant to give it to someone.
"Well I suppose we better get back on the trail." Ark stated, breaking Terra out of her trance that had formed. She nodded in response.
They continued where they had left off on their journey. Maintaining a steady pace and only resting once so they could make up for the time they had lost. Any wild pokemon that were wary of them, most had never seen a human before and regarded it as something dangerous and stayed away. The pokemon that did interrupt them were quickly dispatched by Terra, most of them not even getting a scratch on her.
Ark studied her while she fought and began to understand what moves she could use and her style of fighting, which seemed like a strange dance. He also noted her personality changed in a battle, shifting from a shy and sweet creature, to a vicious and cunning warrior.
When he felt confident, enough he started calling out different moves for her to use in some situations, he didn't know the names of most of them but did his best to make some up. Instead of being a commanding force, he acted more like a second pair of eyes noticing things that Terra missed. His influence changed battles that could have been nearly impossible for Terra by herself, into something that was almost trouble-free. He praised her after every victory and tended to any minor wounds she suffered, they slowly grew closer and their bond became more defined because of it.
Dusk was quickly approaching when Terra finished off a small orange vulpix that challenged them when they approached a small stream.
"Here seems like a good place to camp for the night." Ark said. Terra agreed with him. They were both tired from walking, Terra even more so from the energy she had to use to keep the other pokemon at bay.
There wasn't much to set up besides a fire. Ark gathered some small dry branches to help start the fire and a couple of slightly damp logs to keep the fire from going out until morning. He proceeded to use one of the fire starters from his pack to light it, a small bundle of matches came wit it for easy lighting. The matches weren't the best quality, most of them fizzled out before he could use them to light the starter, but eventually he got it. The fire went up quickly giving off a nice source of heat and light. The light was enough to where he could see the nearby stream. Grabbing a pot from his pack, he filled it halfway with water and set it upon the fire to start boiling some water for dinner.
The water rolled into a boil quickly, he then took the pot off and added some rolled oats to making oatmeal. Adding the rest of the berries from lunch to add some flavor.
"Dinner is served." Ark announced fishing a couple of spoons out and handing one to his lopunny. She looked at it with disdain, wondering why he had given it to her since he knew she didn't know how use it.
"You've done a lot for me today. You protected me, found food for us, and helped me start being an actual trainer. So, I'm going to start making it up to you." He smiled at her. "I'm going to teach you how to use a spoon. I know it's nowhere near what I owe you but it's at least a start."
He scooted next to her and with a great deal of patience, he began to show her how to use a spoon. He guided her hands to where she had to grip it, and helped her keep the spoon upright. It was hard since she only had four fingers on her paw, and the thick white fur on her wrist covered one. Ark kept encouraging her though; he never lost his patience with her no matter how many times she messed up, even when she had spilled some of the hot oatmeal onto his lap. Eventually she finally was able to use it on her own, though she was still a bit shaky with it. They ate quietly after that just listening to the sounds of nature.
"You learn quickly Terra." Ark said when they finished eating. "A lot quicker that I thought. That gives me a couple of ideas that we can try out, but for now, we should get some rest. We made some good progress today about umm." he glanced over to the south. "I'm guessing about nine or ten miles, at this rate we should be at Eterna city tomorrow night at most."
Terra smiled at him, happy that he was pleased with the results of the day. She helped Ark clean up the pot and spoons in the river, and set them near the fire so they could dry. Then she watched him reach into his bag trying to find something.
"I don't believe it." Terra gave him a questioning glace. "I forgot the sleeping bag at the farm. Tonight's going to be a hard night for me." He mumbled not looking forward to sleeping as much anymore. Accepting it, he lay down on the hard ground, watching the fire dance in a hypnotic way before falling into a deep sleep.
He woke only once that night. When he woke, he noticed a blanket of leaves over himself. -Terra you're too kind to me. - He fell back asleep quickly and didn't wake until morning.