“…”
“It wasn’t... supposed to end like this...”
“..…”
“I didn’t mean… please I just...”
“....…”
“If there’s a god out there…..“
“…..”
“Please.... take these tears away…”
she sobbed as she tried to fight them back, the tears now flowing down her face.
* * * * *
It had been about a week now, since she set out on this expedition. Her target was set, her mind ready and her body just about in tip-top shape. Of course, that wasn’t anything a few stretches of the limbs couldn't fix. Exhaling a bit, she spread her legs apart a few inches and moved the top half of her body to the right. It looked a bit like she was leaning over as she stretched her body as far right as she could.
”Ahhh” she let out softly as she stretched her right arm over her head as far as she could manage, her legs in the same spread position before doing the same with her left. After a few seconds she brought herself back to her neutral position, her arms and feet now relaxed. She felt a bit more mobile after the stretches, but frowned as she still felt a little stiff even after the mini workout.
“Just a few more…” she whispered as she bent over to touch the tips of her toes with her fingers before shifting into a few squats to help get her legs in order. As she worked on her squats, she began to feel a slight burning sensation in her legs and smiled. That was what she had been waiting for, jumping up to her feet. A yawn couldn’t help but escape her as she glanced around her camping area. It was about eight in the morning with the sun proudly shining its rays through the layout of trees that made up the forest she had been traveling through. Moving her hands down to her hips, she began to really assess her surroundings, noting the layout of the trees before catching a particular scent in the air. She hadn’t noticed it before, but this smell had to mean there was a source of water nearby and noted that fact as well. Aside from the smell of the water, the air smelled as it should, a mixture of different natural smells without any she would associate from the city. Well, not that a city smelled like anything in particular, but there was a difference between city smells and ones out in natural habitats. Taste was another one of her senses in addition to smell that helped to differentiate city from natural smells, but that was something for another day. She nodded after she finished her scan of the area and walked over to one of the trees, removing a small knife from a bag around her waist. She carved a crudely shaped S into the tree as a mark before placing her hand over it.
“I hope you’ll forgive me…” she whispered before moving her head down to look up and down the tree she had marked and stepped back. She nodded and then turned to her camp, to clean up after her camping mess to leave the area as she found it. It would be no good if she had ruined what could be something’s future home by leaving the place in disorder. Once she had her sleeping bag and everything packed into her bag and everything back in order, she was off to continue on her expedition. She had been on several expeditions in the past, in all kinds of areas and each one had the same goal at the end of it. She smiled a bit at the thought of her goal and accomplishing it. There was no way she was going to fail this time, a flash of her sobbing over something playing across her mind for a few seconds. In those seconds, she had came to a stop, biting her lip before shaking her head.
“No…. never again!” she whispered as she tried to push the memory back into the recesses of her mind. There wouldn’t be a repeat of her last expedition. There couldn’t be. She wouldn’t allow that to happen again, no matter what happened. Her body was shaking despite trying to push the memory away. There was no way she was going to forget it. There was no way she COULD forget it and why would she be able to be? What justice would there be if she could simply forget or dismiss any wrong she had done? There wouldn’t be and this was her punishment for it. To live the rest of her life knowing that she had caused the loss of another. A loss she could never atone for or replace. You only have one life and unfortunately not only are you in danger of losing it yourself, but others are capable of taking it away from you. Thats right. She breathed and then exhaled slowly.
“I…. I…..” she said through shaky breaths before jumping at the touch of something on her shoulder. By then, tears were streaming down her face, her eyes red and puffy despite desperately trying to fight the feeling away. Touching her shoulder was a small light green hand that belonged to a Gardevoir hovering beside her. Her shoulder’s began to rise as she felt her emotions rise and then suddenly grabbed the Gardevoir in a tight hug as she cried into its chest. It was hard to live with the fact that she had directly caused someone else’s loss. In an expedition similar to this one, and many of her other ones prior to the incident, something had gone horribly wrong as her mind drifted to a time before that moment.
* * * * *
“…”
“It wasn’t... supposed to end like this….”
“..…”
“I didn’t mean… please I just….”
“....…”
“If there’s a god out there…..“
“…..”
“Please.... take these tears away…”
she sobbed as she tried to fight them back, the tears now flowing down her face.
In her arms laid a heavily wounded Meowstic, it’s white fur covered in a mixture of dirt and blood as it struggled despite its condition to move. On its left ear was a marking in the shape of a diamond. It’s breathing came in large gasps as it looked to a tree with part of its base hollowed out. It called its name as loud as it could, several times in fact before it yowled in pain, tears in its own eyes. With the Meowstic in her arms, she ran over to the tree it had been calling out to and got down to her knees, moving the Meowstic so that it could see the trunk in front of it. Three pairs of large light purple circles appeared within the darkness, rushing in their direction. One after the other, three tiny Espurr made their way out of the trunk and over to the Meowstic in her arms, all of them yowling and calling out their names as the Meowstic appeared to be responding to them. It was apparent this Meowstic must have been their caretaker, their mother rather, which only made the situation that much worse.
“Why… why did it come to this?!…I…. I have to save her…!” she thought as the Espurr appeared to be terrified, two of them crying and the other one panicking and hysterical. It wasn’t going to end like this. She wasn’t going to letting it end this way for this Meowstic or its Espurr.
“I’ll save her… wait for me…. I’ll save her no matter what!” she cried as she looked at the tiny, but frightened Espurr’s. She turned and made a mad dash in the direction she believed the closest pokemon center had to be. Everything from there was mostly a blur, between making it to the pokemon center, to handing the Meowstic to Nurse Joy for treatment and then back to the Espurr trio in the woods. She only wanted to make things right, but that was all too often, something to backfire. In wanting to help the Espurr’s by treating their mother, she left them alone to fend for themselves and in a matter of hours, were found by a pack of hungry Houndoom. As if things couldn’t have gotten worse, it was discovered once she was back at the Pokemon Center that Meowstic had escaped, even in its condition. It most likely… didn’t survive.
* * * * *
It felt like an eternity as she recalled back those memories, but it had only realistically been about 10 minutes. Time was a fickle thing, but in crying and going over the details of the event, she felt a tiny bit better, pulling herself away from the Gardevoir.
“Thanks Lyna….” she muttered as she wiped the tears from her eyes into her sleeve, sniffling still as she tried to regain her composure. She had barely even started the day and she was already a mess. She may not have actually caused the wound’s on that Meowstic back then, but her irresponsibility put it in harms way and eventually took both it and it’s children’s lives away. What made it worse was that she was too distraught and frightened to intervene.
“If only I hadn’t…. told that strange man I was tracking a Meowstic…. that would have never happened. He would have never found that Meowstic or be able to attack it. Even tho we managed to take him and his Houndoom down….. I couldn’t stop him from hurting that pokemon. Why….. Why do humans have to do such cruel things sometimes….” she whispered as she looked to Lyna.
“Voirrrr” Lyna responded to her inquiry which made the girl sigh a bit.
“I guess you’re right… well, lets get going. We have... a pokemon to befriend” she said with a small smile despite the tears still trailing down her face. Pulling her map from her bag, she looked for any parts of the area she had not scanned yet, spotting one just a little to the northeast from where she was. She folded the map down into a small square and then placed it into the right pocket of her shorts then adjusted the dark purple scarf wrapped around her neck.
“Let’s go Lyna,” she said again and proceeded to the northeast as had been planned. As she walked, Gardevoir beside her of course, she glanced around as Fletchling flew above her and tweeted their songs in the trees. To her right, she could see Zigzagoon pouncing about before running to hide in the bushes. She chuckled a bit as the little ones hid from her and waved at them as she walked.
“Voirrr” Lyna said with a slightly annoyed expression, her trainer giggling a bit as she caught the look on her Gardevoir’s face.
“Lyna, no need to get jealous now. I was just being friendly. I understand you want to protect me, but I cherish each one of you equally as my friends, my partners, understand?” she said looking back to the right where Lyna had been hovering beside her.
“Lyna…?” she said, blinking as she noticed the Gardevoir was gone and looked in the direction they were headed in when she about stumbled over suddenly, Lyna now on her back.
“Ah! Geez Lyna…” she managed to get out, her voice stressed a bit from having Lyna’s weight on her back all of a sudden. Her legs were shaking a bit as she attempted to take one step forward, dropping to the ground within seconds. She groaned a bit underneath the weight of her Gardevoir as Lyna quickly panicked and pulled itself off of her trainer, a worried expression on her face. Lyna helped its trainer to her feet before hugging her arm. Sou sighed, but laughed a bit as she couldn’t be mad at her.
“Let’s… not do that again okay?” she said with a chuckle, Lyna nodding both in agreement and embarrassment, but appeared to smile nonetheless. With another smile from Sou, they were off to the location she marked on the map, stopping behind a tree as a clearing could be spotted up ahead. According to the map, there was a single large tree here at the top of some elevated land, which appeared to be a hill. Her next partner surely had to be waiting in such a place, turning to look at Lyna and nodding her head. Lyna appeared to understand this message and went up ahead to survey the area. They didn’t want to scare off any of the pokemon there after all. While Lyna went ahead, Sou sat herself on the ground and took out a pair of binoculars from her bag. She then laid on her stomach into the grass and used the binoculars to scan the area from where she was, while leaving Lyna to scan the areas she couldn’t see. Through the binoculars, she spotted several pokemon just ahead of her, playing or possibly looking for food on the ground. It seemed to be relatively peaceful, which made things a little easier on her. Fighting in such an area would definitely scare off potential prospects for her roster.
Among the pokemon, she spotted more Fletchling, some Bunnelby, a Floette, Skiddo, Swirlix, and some Dedenne. She frowned a bit as she looked between each one of them. They were all good and perfectly healthy pokemon, but none of them seemed to click with her like all of her other partners. As soon as she saw them, she could literally feel a connection with each one of her pokemon. She sighed before Lyna finally made her way back over, shaking its head.
“Nothing… ?” she said with a disappointed tone. She had already been in this forest for about a week to find a new partner and to not find anything still was a tiny bit disappointing. She sat up and placed her binoculars into her bag before closing it back up. Once that was done, she reached into her right pocket and pulled out the map, marking the location on the map.
“And I was so sure we’d find one here…” she muttered, looking back to Lyna then down to the map, scanning for a new area for them to travel too. She tapped a pen she had pulled out against the map lightly as she hummed, looking at the areas that she hadn’t marked yet. There was another just a little west from where they were standing.
“Alright. Seems we have our next location, Lyna. Let’s hope we find something-" she said, trailing off as she stared at Lyna, an Espurr standing beside her curiously. It appeared to be staring at the Gardevoir in wonder. Lyna seemed to be uncomfortable as she moved away from the curious Espurr, with the Espurr following closely after, its gaze stuck staring at the uneasy Gardevoir.
“That’s the one!” Sou exclaimed, making the Espurr jump by the sudden noise and then quickly run behind a tree. Lyna sighed a bit in relief by this, but Sou was quick to get up and run over to the scared Espurr. She kneeled down by near it, a smile on her face, at least the best one she could muster.
“Hey little one….. do you want to be my friend perhaps?” she asked before reaching into her bag, and pulling out a handful of berries for just this kind of thing, well or a snack of course. Espurr was the last pokemon she’d imagine running into, especially after that incident. For some reason, she was feeling a connection with this little one, despite her last experience with its kind. A part of her wanted to take this chance, to show what would have or could have been and the other part of her told her to stay away. A part of her, didn’t want the same thing to happen again. A part of her feared that she’d be taking this Espurr from perhaps a family or rather its home. She was afraid of causing more loss, especially for what might be seen as selfish reasons to those on the outside. Despite that, despite those negative thoughts, she smiled as she held out the berries once more to the curious, but scared Espurr.
“You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to, but why not give it a shot huh?” she asked sincerely, the Espurr looking at her, then passed her to Lyna.
“Purr!” the Espurr cried as it flat out ignored Sou and ran over to Lyna, staring at her with its large purple eyes, its mouth open just slightly with one of its paws near its mouth. Sou still stood there, a bit in shock with a slight annoyed look at how quickly the Espurr ignored her for Lyna. She couldn’t get mad at it, but she couldn’t help but feel at least a tiny sting from the flat rejection.
“Gardeee” Lyna cried itself as it quickly moved to hide behind its trainer, with the Espurr following after her. Lyna in turn moved away again as it kept being followed around before lifting itself with its psychic powers into a tree above, confusing the poor feline. The Espurr looked around with a confused look, to its left, then to its right, then around in a circle, sighing as it failed to find the Gardevoir.
“Puuuurrrrrrrrr!” It cried loudly, clearly upset that it was unable to find Lyna, getting its fur wet from the tears it was shedding. Sou sighed a bit, but then walked over to the rather upset pokemon. She bent down again, a thoughtful look on her face.
“Hey uh…..I can give you a cool nickname. How about Sepps?” she asked as the Espurr stopped in its crying and stared at her with probably the most unamused face in the history of the world.
“Okay…that was a bad name…what about Winston?” she asked as the Espurr began to show signs it was about to cry again.
“Ashton…?” she asked as it seemed to start shaking as though it was getting worse. At the mention of the name Comash it just about went hysterical, making even her panic a bit as Lyna dropped down from the tree she had been sitting in. The Espurr stopped its crying as it spotted Lyna and went over to it with tears in its eyes making Sou tilt her head a bit in confusion.
“Why does this Espurr like Lyna so much…?” she thought as she watched the Espurr practically cling to Lyna’s long white dress. It was young too, so its mother had to be nearby anyway, but she hadn’t seen a Meowstic in the field up ahead. Lyna surely would have taken it to its mother if it had seen it as well. She frowned a bit. Was this little one... lost or separated from its mother? Or... was it something much worse than that? A chill ran down her spine as she shook her head. Something like that wasn’t likely to happen again…. right? She walked back over to the Espurr and kneeled down once more as it appeared to be hugging a portion of Lyna’s dress.
“Espurr…. where’s your mother?” Sou asked, biting her lip soon after asking what could be a sensitive question. The Espurr turned to stare at her, its arms full of Lyna’s dress, its eyes wide as it looked away from her, rubbing its face into Lyna’s dress. It then let go of Lyna and stepped back away from the both of them. It was shaking, a pained look on its face as it appeared to be struggling to answer, looking up to find Sou with her hand on its head.
“You don’t have to say. If it's hard for you, I don’t want to make it worse. If we meet again though…why don’t you tell me next time, alright?” she said gently and stood.
“Let’s go Lyna. I think we're done here. We can’t keep our next friend waiting.” she said looking down at the Espurr again and smiled.
“Good luck little one,” she said finally before turning to face Lyna, catching a hint of white moving in the opposite direction she had turned in. Her breath grew still for a moment as she turned back to the Espurr, a Meowstic now by its side and on its left ear, a marking in the shape of a diamond. She froze in shock as she inhaled air, her shoulder’s rising as tears welled up in her eyes.
“It… can’t be….” she uttered, hot tears running down her face once more. The Meowstic stared at her and nodded, a blank expression on its face before looking to the Espurr that clearly had to be its child. It appeared to be communicating with its young before Sou collapsed.
“I’m….. Sorry…. I’m so sorry!” she sobbed, on her hands and knees, a mixture of both sadness and even slight relief in her voice. Not all had been lost that day, but the fact didn’t change the Espurr from then had been lost. At the moment however, she was lost in wavering emotions only to be knocked out of them just as fast by a sudden pain in her forehead.
“Ow!” she yelled as she watched a pebble hit the ground in front of her and looked up to see the Espurr from before. The Meowstic was gone from where it had been and the Espurr was standing with them rather than going where its mother went. She stared again at the Espurr.
"Purr!" the Espurr said staring up at shocked look on Sou's face.
“Are you… planning on coming with us?” Sou asked, sitting down on the ground by that point, the Espurr smiling as it jumped into her arms this time. She smiled as she began to cry lightly again, but this time more out of happiness. It seemed as though they really were meant to be together. She sniffled as she held Espurr close.
“If there’s a god…”
“Please… just this once.”
“Let these tears... stay.”
* * * * *
Pokemon: Espurr {Medium, 10-20k}
Character Count: 19,613
Author's Note: I can’t write, I’m sorry ; v;
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks