The Second Challenge

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Minerva stalks through the forest, tails swinging, and her eyes are narrowed to slits in keen concentration. Every time a blade so much as bent over, she'd be on it, but her search of the forest yields little more than startled Caterpie and the occasional feisty Kakuna.

"Is everything in the woods going to be this disappointing?" she asks. "At this point, I'm hoping Reginae's 'predator' comes out and attacks us. At least today would be interesting, then."

I watch the EXP bar piddle up a few more notches. I admit I wanted to get something accomplished as well, at least with our current deadline. "I thought there'd at least be trainers. Isn't this place supposed to be a bug catcher's paradise?"
"If you define 'paradise' as having a higher number of the same generic Bug-types you can find anywhere else in the region at higher levels, then yeah, total paradise." Minerva snorts.

"You can find wild Butterfree and Beedrill. That's not all that common." I say, scrolling down the Pokedex to check the encounter rates for the region. The stoic expression and familiar glint of compound eyes greet me as I roll over the Pokedex entries for both. It's been a long time since I had a Bug-type on the team. Now's no time to add a new Pokemon to the team, especially with how long it took to get Hyacinth up to speed, but perhaps after everything's over...

"Are you talking about the Pokemon that only need to get to level ten to evolve? Gee, I'm sure they'd be great additions to any team." Minerva shoots back.

"Shut up," I say, remembering Khrys's two-fanged smile and D'spinas's brutal stingers.

"What?" she asks.
"I'm being serious. Shut up."

"She's right, shut up." Fang says, angling his ears forwards.

"Are you on her side now?"

"There are no sides." I say, lowering my hands. "Everyone calm down. We're not dealing with this today-"

Fang interrupts, "Quiet, quiet! I heard something." He takes a few more steps forwards, tail low and red eyes wide. I can feel his heartbeat on the inside of my chest.

"There's more scratches," Reginae notes. "Right over there." He gestures towards a nearby tree, whose bark is scoured by diagonal slashes. Some branches have been burned clean away from the younger trees.

We take a quiet step forwards, in unison, and something slashes through the air like a lightningbolt. I don't see the perpetrator but there's now a long, sharp gash going inches into the nearest tree, right before us. It looks like a slit neck- a warning.

The bushes in front of us rustle with movement, like a building storm.

"This is getting good," Minerva says. She lowers herself into a crouch, tails undulating like waves on the ocean, and then she freezes. Her paws move into perfect motion, everything locked into place for the pounce, and a golden streak of light intercepts her. With a swing of its tail, it throws her away. The Pikachu pauses for half a split second, tiny ears twitching with anger, incisors bared and tiny hands spread wide out in front. "That's not level 8," Fang notes. There's a sinister energy about the small beast, and it moves as if time doesn't exist for it. It sees us and bolts away, lightning crackling as it appears above us in the tree, staring down with beady eyes.

"So, who's ready for a smackdown?" asks Minerva, poking her head up from against a tree. I feel her strain as she turns back onto her paws like a Torkoal turning itself back over, feel her spine burn, but she sure doesn't look hurt.

"I'm ready to run," Reginae says.

"We can't run from that." Minerva and I say at once, though for utterly different reasons. She looks to me, sharp eyes on mine, and Hyacinth's bone misses me by inches as she swings it in a wide arc, piercing the branch the Pikachu rests upon. The Pikachu lands with feline agility and charges at Hyacinth with its tail coated in a bright silver.

Reginae begins firing Petal Dance but the projectiles are too slow and the Pikachu shows no signs of stopping. Several petals embed themselves on nearby trees or Bug-types that were minding their own business.

Fang looks down at the Bug-types, and then back at Minerva, Reginae, and Hyacinth, who are just holding the Pikachu off. Out of fear of a critical Thunderbolt, Ten stays close to me, and I'm afraid even Ethan would have little we could use in a situation like this. Expecting Hyacinth to overpower this beast, even with the type advantage, is a terrible strategy.

"I have a bad idea." Fang tells me. "It involves running, though."
"I'm all ears," I say.

"There's a Beedrill nest over that way, through the grove." Fang replies, with a winning smile. "Want to poke it with a stick?"
"I think the Pikachu might want to." I wink at him. "He's already poked one nest of Beedrills."

"Are we really a Beedrill nest? Even metaphorically, I mean, we're not that coordinated..." Fang looks into my eyes and admits, "Bad time. Let's go."

I relay something like a plan to the others through telepathy, trying to mentally set up the best plan of attack to get a certain Pikachu to angle its attacks through the grove, towards the nest, with minimal risk.

We're doing what? asks Minerva.

Oh come on, you're just upset you don't get to take it out yourself. Reginae replies. Little help over here?

Minerva sends another firebolt sending through the air, which is so large that the Pikachu fails to dodge and instead braces to take the hit it to the side. It perseveres through the flames, not moving an inch, and looks back with furious hatred, moving its jowls back to reveal its shining teeth again.

You do not want to be bitten by those. Take it from my leg, Reginae says.

The Pikachu rounds on Minerva, who jumps in the way of the grove, and even with normal human hearing I can detect the faint hum of buzzing behind it. A glorious orb of holy electricity swells in the clearing, and the Pikachu swings it around its tail and bats it like a baseball player towards Minerva, who needs only fling herself out of the way.

The lightning hits the trees and doesn't stop, burning its surroundings to charred oblivion and landing a direct hit on the now-exposed hive. Several dozen heads turn our way and red eyes lock onto the Pikachu, which is no more afraid of the Beedrill than it was Minerva's flame.

"See, this is the part where we run." Fang says as Beedrill fill the air, blocking out the remaining light. I withdraw the team, save for Hyacinth (for back up) and duck out of there, running until it feels like my feet are numb. I take short cuts off the path, I jump old logs; it doesn't matter what happens next as long as I get out of here.

This forest goes on forever. It is infinite as the agonizing pain in my body, the aftermath of the adrenaline ebbing out of me to be replaced with new soreness.

The buzzing of the hive has long since faded into the distance and the sun is beginning to leave the sky, threatening to plunge the forest back into darkness, but I keep walking, a numb warmth overcoming my legs. Hyacinth, who has been steadfast this whole time, climbs over a log and keeps walking, trying to keep pace with my uneven, staggering gait. Her eyes are full of concern as they fix mine.

"Thanks," I say, and my voice is so ragged I hardly recognize it.

Hyacinth puts up a small thumbs up. Her legs are a quarter of my size and yet she's still so stable. Her presence in the back of my mind is calm and smooth, like the New Bark seas at dawn. Her stillness is miraculous.

Speaking of miracles, Hyacinth moves her thumb forwards towards a patch of light in the distance, where the trees end to reveal open air and a winding route. I burst out, feeling a relieved smile spread across my face, and withdraw the rest of the team.

We're homefree.

"Did we make it?" asks Reginae.
"Take a look around," I say.

"I hope those Beedrill are okay," Fang says.

"Shoot," I say, threading my fingers through my hair.

"It was a risky plan." Minerva says. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking something along the lines of 'we have nothing to counter this Pikachu and are about to suffer battle casualties'," I say, tears welling in my eyes. "I don't want to lose you guys."

"It was my idea," Fang says, "and we made it out. Calm down, we're all going to be fine. Alright?"

"You need some sleep." Reginae says. The sun is setting, staining the sky shades of cantaloupe, and I catch the glint of glass on the buildings of a distant city. My legs are still shaking beneath me, and I can't think of anything more agreeable than lying down for long as our schedule will allow.

Minerva looks towards the horizon, gaze shrewd, and says, "We can't sleep."

"We can and will, if we can find anywhere to stay..." I say, brandishing my lifeline. "Pokedex is out of batteries."

We enter Viridian City to find that despite the sleepy city seeming no more crowded than other place, the first three hotels we encounter are no vacancy. They're small, cozy places, with only a singular chain establishment in the whole city, which seems unusual for any Kanto city, let alone one so close to Victory Road. I consider passing out on a park bench, but my Pokemon sense the thought and I'm immediately shot down.

"It's cold outside," Fang complains.

"We'll just keep going." Minerva says. "You can lean on me if you want."

I fall onto her back and clutch her neck ruff. She's warm, like holding onto a cross between a stuffed animal and a non-threatening version of a radiator, and my eyes close in seconds. Every now and then, they flutter open to trees overhead or the sound of my teammates talking to each other, but I can hardly make out the words. My body has claimed dominance over my mind and is now dragging both into the deep abyss of sleep.

I'm almost there, too, before Minerva unceremoniously dumps me onto the ground. I fall onto the leg that took the brunt of the beating in the forest. I must've run into five separate fallen trees and I definitely remember tripping all the way over at least one. My leg reminds me of the earlier abuse by erupting into heat and pain. I grimace, rubbing it down before trying to stand, and gasp. The pain is intense but I manage to struggle upwards by gripping Reginae's neck. Hyacinth assists me up, and I come face to face with a young woman with wavy caramel hair.

"Are you looking for somewhere to stay?" she asks.

I nod.

I'm afraid Pallet Town's near entirely residential. You won't find any hotels here, but if you need to rest, there's an open bed at my house."

I shake my head again, gratefully. "Thank you so much, miss."

"Daisy Oak will do. I assume you've passed through Viridian? That's my kid brother leading the gym. Hogs all the traffic. No one comes to Pallet. I mean, they didn't before, so I suppose nothing's changed. Anyhow, I have sort of a soft spot for trainers. You lot are a real driven group." she tells me.

"Alright." I say. "I'll bring my team back in, and come in in a few. Thank you again."

"No problem. I'll have tea ready." She waves me off before turning to walk into one of the larger houses in the town, located next to a near-identical copy and a two-story building labelled as Prof. Oak's Lab.

Oh man. They're Oak's kids.

Duh.

I turn back to my Pokemon, none of whom seem particularly happy about our accommodations, and say, "You can stand to spend one night in the Poke Ball."

This is why I preferred to opt out of the traditional team structure, speaks a deep and familiar voice from behind me. Suicune stands, shimmering in the dusk. Its tails billow out in the wind and it continues, I have word from Morty. I went to speak with him when I went west to speak with my brethren.

"So you're our personal courier now?" Fang yawns. "Rad."

I wouldn't say that. Not because I am not indebted to follow Ashley's commands, as I certainly am- Suicune pauses, their eyes wide with fake sincerity- but because the seas are growing unkind to water-walkers, even legendaries like myself. It appears Red is cutting out most of the shortcuts that we legendaries use to get from place to place, simply by using the restrictions on movement already imposed into the game code. While I can manage the land route, it may take me days, even as long as a week, and we have precious few of those. I'm afraid the few we have left will not do.

"Can I pass one more message to Morty?" I ask.

If you wish, Suicune says. I can handle one more if something is of utmost importance for planning reasons, though I suppose I'll be stopping in Ecruteak anyways before I travel on to Sinjoh to attempt communications on behalf of Ho-Oh themself.

My mind flashes through everything I want and need to say- everything from I'm sorry, to the I love you I didn't get in, to Are you okay, to Hold down the fort for me.

Suicune, amused by my confusion, watches my struggle. You humans have have always confused me, especially you, Ashley, but never have I seen a human so thoroughly confuse theirself.

"Thanks," I say. "I guess just the last three."

If you insist. I suppose I get the message. Suicune tells me, turning to go. Their tails flutter in the wind by their side, and the awe of having a Legendary Pokemon so close to me strikes me again, cutting like a sword through my dazed tiredness. Good luck on the waters.

"You too."

The legendary dog takes a flying leap out onto the water, but instead of falling in, it picks up into a run and remains on top of the waves, each step like another jump. It goes onwards and upwards, accelerating into a speed rivalling that of the Pikachu's.

"Take care of yourself," Reginae warns me.

"I'm literally going to be inside someone's house. Furthermore, it's the granddaughter of an associate of my-" I hesitate, "-stepdad, so I already kind of sort of know what I'm getting into. Three degrees of association."

"Nice," Fang says. "Good night."

"See you tomorrow." I tell him, before withdrawing the four of them.

Ten, who so happens to be last, says, "Bright and early?"

"Bright and early." 

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