くみうた

“After you.”  He gestured for her to go first.  Kotone’s Marill attempted to climb after her, but the rungs were too far apart for Azure to reach for the next one.  Kazuki scooped her under his arm and hurried up the ladder himself.  He placed Azure on the ground and opened the door to let in the trainer and her Pokémon.

“Home sweet home.”  Hime bounded up to Kazuki as soon as she saw he had guests.  The Whimsicott was overjoyed to see a new potential playmate and immediately attempted to engage the Marill in play.  The rest of his team was rather unaffected by the new arrivals in comparison.  “Well, this is the family.”  He pointed to each of his Pokémon to offer Kotone their names.”

“Hime the Whimsicott, Tatsue the Cofagrigus, Hiro the Reuniclus, Tadaaki the Emolga, Reiji the Mienshao.  It’s okay if you can’t remember their names, it’s not like they would pay them any mind.”  Reiji hurmph’ed in reponse, turning his nose upward.  Kazuki gestured towards the fire that Tadaaki was poking at with a stick.  “Feel free to warm up, I need to go change.”

Upon entering the home, the girl was surprised at the number of foreign Pokémon that were inside at once. She didn’t usually let more than one Pokémon out at a time unless it was for battle, but then again, she had a 445lb. Armor Pokémon in her possession. Azure happily accepted the Whimsicott’s offer to play and, despite being as wet as could be, went off to play with the other Fairy-type for the time being.

After thanking the boy for his hospitality, Kotone took off her raincoat and left it by the door—unlike Azure, she didn’t particularly want to get the entire interior of this house soaked in rainwater. Heading over to the fire where Tadaaki was, she attempted to talk with the rest of his party as he went to change, despite the probability that they’d all ignore her.

                    The last time Tetsu had let Crys out by herself without any of his                     other Pokémon to assist him, she had practically ruined the set when                     he took his eyes off her for one second…

                    So why had he decided that letting her out alone was a good idea?!                     The young man blamed the fact that because he thought it was a                     forest, she couldn’t possibly cause any trouble or break anything                     important, but the moment he saw her taking off for a girl dressed in                     blue and red he already knew what would happen. The baby Eevee                     was probably enamored by her hat, which probably resembled a giant                     marshmallow in her eyes, and the moment she pounced on the other he                     let out a yelp of agony.

                    The girl was currently bending down and inspecting a patch of flowers                     that had a wide variety of species within it, her large Herb Pokémon                     next to her as she did so. It wasn't often that she found herself                     interested in plants of any kind, but ever since arriving here Meguri                     was completely enraptured by the large number of rare species that                     existed here in the forest. So naturally she had to accompany him to                     investigate the various flora—she was his trainer after all.

                    Lyra was so taken in her conversation with her Meganium that she                     failed to hear the faraway cry of the young man in the distance until                     it was too late. Before she knew it, a large force at the back of her                     head sent her falling face-front into the flower patch, surprising                     both the girl and her Pokémon alike. While luckily none of the                     flowers were damaged, Meguri didn't waste time in picking up the                     baby Pokémon by the scruff of her neck and off his trainer's poor                     head. As the trainer of the Eevee approached them, she gave him a                     smile despite her currently red and swelling forehead.

Moonlight cast the Forest in silver and shadows, a sight that took her breath away. The full moon was huge and brilliant in the clear night sky, seemingly closer than she’d ever seen before. Lunis and Dianne were frolicking around the clearing, clearly enjoying themselves. Both were glowing — Lunis’ eyes and Dianne’s markings cast their own soft light. It was rather late, almost early, but her Pokémon were quite energetic despite the hour. Runa was starting to feel rather drowsy; she wasn’t as young as she used to be, accustomed to a fairly regular sleep cycle.

Try as she might, she really couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer, drifting into light slumber. It wasn’t until a strong gust of wind whipped her into her face that startled her awake. Yawning, she scanned the clearing for her Pokémon, eyes catching on a humanoid shape under a tree. Was that…? No, it couldn’t have been Miyuki, the other girl would have come to meet her, wouldn’t she? Another gust of wind made her shiver involuntarily, and she pulled her jacket around her tightly. Why was the other person out so late? There were no Pokémon around them, and as she walked closer, she saw that they, she, was sleeping.

"A-Ahh, how embarrassing... I-I'm fine, it just looks like I've fallen asleep..." The girl turned her head away and covered her mouth as she spoke, not wanting the other to smell her morning breath. How careless of her, falling asleep outside... and for such a long time too, seeing as how the sun was nowhere to be seen. "I'm sorry for worrying you, I meant to just take a little nap but I guess I was more tired than I thought I was."

Kotone took her hat off and ran a hand through her hair as she stood up, hoping that she didn't look too messy after her so-called "nap." It was the first time she had slept for that long outside, but she was nevertheless thankful that this girl had found her. Otherwise, she probably would've caught a cold but she wouldn't be surprised if she ended up with one tomorrow. Her Pokémon had all been left back in the cabin; it wasn't like she planned on taking a nap outside, after all.

“This is all way too weird,” he said as he noticed the Meganium taking one of her berries. Despite its tremendous size, it was apparently gentle, and to think he’d been scared by it just moments before… He had to mentally kick himself for that.

Her next question piqued his attention, his worries about the forest forgotten even if only momentarily. “Oh? I’m a Pokemon Ranger! I guess we’re not really as well-known as Trainers in a lot of regions, but instead of battling we work to protect Pokemon and their environments. Stuff like that, y’know?” 

“Speaking of weird,” she exclaimed as she pointed her finger to the border of the clearing a few yards away, where a path leading somewhere was in plain sight. “That path over there wasn’t there when I decided to live in this house, but one day it was just... there. Isn’t that strange?”

A puzzled look crossed her face as she said those words, but they disappeared as she listened to the other began to talk about being a Pokémon Ranger. That was what they were called! The bright look that crossed his face made Lyra smile unconsciously—it was always a pleasure to see someone talk about something they were passionate for, and it showed very clearly in the boy’s face.

“Seems like you really enjoy your job!” she said as she grinned at him, her Meganium next to her nodding in agreement. “I think I came across a few when I was traveling, but they were Trainers as well as Rangers since they always challenged me to a battle.”

“Actually, do you perhaps know how to cook with these?” she asked as she motioned to the fields behind her. “I have all these berries and vegetables ready to harvest, but it’s a little tedious to just eat them raw... ah, but if you don’t it’s fine! I was just wondering!”

“Although I suppose it is a good idea to dry off.  Tell you what, my tree house is just back that way.”  He pointed towards the direction he had been running from.  The roof to his house could be seen just poking over the treeline.  “Since Tetsu probably won’t make an appearance anything soon, I think I’m just going to go home for a bit to change.  If you want to come with me I don’t mind.  We have a fire going right now if you want to warm up.  Plus my Whimsicott is always looking for a new friend.”  

“That sounds good to me!” she said, face beaming brightly as she returned the thumbs up. She turned her head to look over to where he was pointing, where the roof of the building in question stuck out just a bit from the leaves. Now she could finally stop feeling so guilty for being dry, though with Azure constantly trying to wiggle out of her grasp she was starting to get quite wet.

無題

He felt himself smile back at her despite his persistent nerves. “Ah, yeah. I think I’ve only been here for a couple days now.” Truthfully, as intuitive as he tried to be, he’d lost track of how long he had been here. Days blurred together, and he could only hope it hadn’t been too long since his disappearance. “Hey, listen, do you know where we are?” he asked cautiously, praying he didn’t sound as crazy as he thought.

"Truth be told... I’m not sure where we are either.” she replied, laughing the slightest at how strange her answer must’ve seemed. After all, shouldn’t that have been a big problem? “I just stopped wondering after a while, since my Pokégear doesn’t help much either; it says ‘location unknown’ no matter where I go in this place.”

“Oh! I can’t remember how long I’ve been here either, isn’t that strange?” she exclaimed as her Herb Pokémon bent his head down to nab an Oran Berry from a nearby plant. Lyra turned her head to look at him, curious of the reason behind his movement. She chuckled upon seeing his mouth chewing the missing blue berry, and reached out to gently pet his wet head before looking back at the boy.

“Oh, I just realized I never introduced myself! My name’s Kotone, and yours?” she asked, giving the other a smile despite the weather. “I’ll be sure to let you know when I spot this mean Pokémon of yours!”

The dual-type Pokémon in her arms suddenly squirmed at the mention of being chased by an Electric-type, letting out a cry of discontent. Kotone’s smile only grew wider as she let out a small laugh.

        Scarlet hues gazed around the quiet clearing for the seemingly hundredth or even thousandth      time.  A meadow, a completely different environment compared to the never-ending winter of             Mount Silver had greeted him when he woke up which was strange–he did not leave the                       mountain.  He couldn’t.  Not with a trainer missing because of him. 

       A soft sigh escaped as he continued to flip through his notebook, chin tucked in to rest on his     Pikachu’s head.  The pokemon had situated itself comfortably between his shirt and his torso, a     habit it had done while the pokemon were in the freezing temperatures of the mountain.  It                     seemed to be reading his the messily scrawled writing along with him.

          He had gotten into the habit of sketching, or writing notes about the places he had been, but       there was no place like this in it.  Clearly he was not in Kanto anymore, but there was no logical reason why he ended up here.  He had fallen asleep in his usual campsite after an unsuccessful search for the female trainer, and woke up in a field of grass with a swinub crawling over him in search of berries. 

         Gloved digits continued to flip through the old book as his red gaze skimmed every page, drawing and doodle he had done.  The thing that soon broke him out of his trance was when he heard his Pikachu’s excited cry.  The twitching ears of the pokemon grazed his cheek softly, as the mouse pokemon jumped out of his shirt, before breaking into a dash between the trees.  

          His book was stuffed back into his bag, before he stumbled up and jogged to keep up, catching sight of the electric type’s triangular tail vanishing between the bushes.  His ears picked up an excited gasp before a sigh escaped.  

        But after being told from several people who were in the same situation as her that it was simply impossible to leave, she had stopped trying. After all, what was the point in trying when everyone else, who were all just as capable as she was, couldn't leave? Grief overwhelmed her as she struggled to grasp the concept of never being able to see her friends, Red, her parents, or Ethan ever again. It was simply too much to bear all at once.

        But perhaps it was due to the forest as well, that she was slowly able to accept that fact—it was in no way harmful nor did it pose any dangers other than the unnerving but ever-present fog. If anything, it put her soul at rest slowly, gently, patiently, until she was calm and had accepted the fact that she would be here for a while. So here she was, exploring the forest not out of dire need, but to quell her own curiosity about it.

        "You know, Azure, other than that weird rock and the Pokémon Center near it, this is just a regular forest isn't it?" After waiting several moments expecting an answer that never came, the girl turned to look behind her to see her Marill lagging quite a ways behind her, looking exhausted. Feeling bad for pushing her partner so much, she was about to turn and walk back towards her until she was tackled by something bright yellow.

        A loud gasp escaped her mouth as she fell onto her rear, and it wasn't long until the face of an ecstatic Pikachu entered her vision, rubbing its head against her excitedly. Lyra was confused at what exactly was happening—she hadn't seen any Pikachus in the wild, so where did this one come from? But the moment she heard Azure's joyful cry as she rushed towards the Electric Mouse Pokémon, a realization dawned on her as the sound of footsteps got louder from the nearby bushes. Her heart sped up as the gears in her head fell into place, and her eyes widened as she looked up to meet the gaze of a too-familiar trainer. The girl's lips quivered as they opened, speaking the name of a person she thought she would never see again.

He had to remind himself that by the looks of it, this probably wasn’t a wild Pokemon. It was friendly to the girl, at least. He guessed she was probably a Trainer… which further confirmed his suspicion that this forest wasn’t anywhere near his home region. He felt a creeping sense of dread at that, but he pushed it down and tried to refocus himself.

“Hello! I haven’t seen you here before, are you new around here?” Lyra asked, keeping a smile on her face in order to try and alleviate his nerves. She made his way over to him, taking care to not step on any of her plants as she did so. Thankfully she was wearing boots, or else the mud would’ve been up past her knees.

“A... Fraxure?” the girl repeated questionably, confusion evident on her face. She had never heard of such a Pokémon before.

“Are you not from the Johto or Kanto region? I’ve never seen or heard of a Fraxure before... can I help you find him? Or at least assist you somehow since I still feel bad for Azure making you crash into a tree.” she said, smiling a little as she realized how strange it sounded to point out his earlier mishap.