Poke-world

Erin slowly got to her feet, the run really getting to her. Her body working against her, the muscles in her legs struggling to cooperate with her. She sighed and straitened herself, patting Glaceon on the head. They’d better be getting back to the others but…. She stiffened. She had no idea how to get back to the others. She had no way to get back to Gastly. She suddenly felt rather scared and alone. She hadn’t been away from him ever since…. They met.

**********

Gastly barely managed to dodge the attack, more worried about the bag than himself. It wasn’t like physical attacks would do him much harm anyway. He debated ignoring them and leaving to continue his search… But…. They may have seen her. It stopped fleeing, setting the bag down in a gesture of peace. Suddenly disappearing, air twisting and churning in a multitude of colors, reappearing in the form of a little girl. A little girl who looked a lot like his trainer.

“Have you seen a girl that looks like this?” The Pokemon said in the girls voice, the stutter gone.

*************

“Biiiiiiii” Celebi hummed cheerfully to itself as it worked on the Pokegear. She had originally just been playing with it, seeing all of the little functions that the device had. Some poor bloke in Sinnoh was probably rather confused when they got a phone call from the Pokemon. She stared at the device, waving cheerfully before hanging up on the man. From there she began to delve more into the device, seeing what she could do to fix it. She always found that she liked fixing things, this being no exception.

Deep in the Petalburg Woods, she finally noticed that they had been traveling, when Codex finally came to a stop. She was set on the ground as Codex scurried about, making a nest for itself. She had noticed in traveling with him that he always seemed to make nests, no matter where he went. She stopped tinkering for a few minutes and put her hands to the ground, trying to help out. Where he had set sticks and branches into an arrangement, vines began growing, twisting around, binding the nest together with the tree it was cradled in. Soft leaves growing in the inside, flowers sprouting occasionally as well.

After a minute or so, she hovered up to the nest, finding a small corner to lean against, and began playing with her toy again to a satisfied ‘Biiiiiiiiiiiii’

Before Gale had realized it, he was alone. Codex and Celebi were no longer in front of him. He turned about. Eevee was looking quite sad and lonely near the fire. That trainer and her pokemon was gone, too. And that other one that the big one had been fighting with. Gale made a small whimpering noise, that soon stopped.

"Let's go, Eve..." He said, rather sadly. He liked that big pokemon. It was big and soft and saved him. Something in the child recognized its actions, but he couldn't remember from where. It was like deja vu...

Shaking his head, he opened his arms and Eve jumped into them, settling comfortably in his light grip. After he set the poncho back down, the boy walked off in the woods again, humming a tiny little tune to himself.

While building it's nests was something Codex liked to do by itself, it always appreciated the little help Celebi offered. Destroying the nest later was harder, but it made them stabler and quicker to finish. After a few more trips to the canopy of various trees and bushes on the ground, Codex dumped the final touches into his next and stamped them down as he climbed in.

A withering glare was cast at Celebi and her toy. He didn't understand her fascination with human devices. Though he didn't care much either, or at least didn't show it. Shaking his head at the little fairy pokemon, he lay down in the nest. Rolling on his shoulders to finding a comfortable position. And for a while, simply lay in the nest. Recounting the morning and listening to Celebi fawn over the electronic device.

After a while, it began to gnaw at his temperance. That sound...tickticktaptickbeeep biiiiiiii~! So annoying. He couldn't think. Had he made a nest this morning? Did he remember to destroy it? Ticktaptaptiptack beep ticktickbepp bibibibibiiiii~! He listened to this repetitive routine for a few moments longer. Then finally just rolled himself out of the nest and dropped to the ground below. It wasn't dark yet, so all the juicy nocturnal pokemon were still sleeping, but that was fine. He could do for some good day hunting.

~

“Kirliakir~” The little dancer pokemon cheered happily, lounging in a bobbing basket. Said basket attached to a swiftly riding bicycle. And seated upon said Bicycle was Terral, looking quiet flustered. For just a few meters beyond him rode a crowd of bicyclists, hooting and hollering something or another about a bike thief. “Mayhap I shouldn't have borrowed a bike from a biker gang..heheh....”, he chided quietly to himself, Kirlia absolutely oblivious to the goings on behind them. She never liked him stealing, even if it was often part of his job, or how they got by half the time. So he peddled as fast as he could to not only keep away form the bikers, but keep Kirlia from noticing them following. Terral was getting tired though. “Ach...gaining....! Ah...Eh...How about a detour!” Bad idea, he soon found out. Turning off the trail took him for a long, down hill ride through hell. At least he couldn't hear the bikers anymore. Or maybe that was because he was screaming like a ninny about to die?

Angelique jumped slightly in surprise. A Ghastly that knew Transform...and how to talk? She eyed it suspiciously, Skarmory waiting nearby for the order to attack again.

"No, I haven't seen anyone like that...is she your trainer?"

The ‘girl’ sighed, the trainer didn’t trust him. “Yes…. This is what my trainer looks like. She’s lost in the woods, and I have to find her before she gets herself into trouble. Now have you seen her or not?” It asked, annoyance dripping from every syllable.

*************

Celebi was totally engrossed in playing with the Pokegear, it barely noticed Codex leaving. It wasn’t like it was unusual for it to leave for long periods of time. Off fighting other Pokémon. It knew she didn’t like it, so it tried to not think about it. He’d be fine. He’d come back. He always comes back.

A high pitched scream brought it’s attention away from her toy, along with the crashing of tree branches and debris. A sharp thud resounded, shaking the tree Celebi was in. The nest held firm, and it peeked over the edge. A man was sprawled out on the ground, along with a dented bike, it’s wheel still spinning.

“….Luu Biii?” Celebi pondered as it floated down from it’s perch, curious to if the man and his Pokémon were ok.

Kirlia was the first of the pair to rise from the crash. Protected by the sturdy bike basket, She tumbled out and dizzily looked for Terral. He wasn't hard to find, honestly. He was right where the bike had landed and laying quite still on his back. Terrified he might be dead, Kirlia pranced frantically around his body, screeching and ranting as she tried nudging him awake. She he finally reacted to her nudging, she ducked and stare frightened at her owner as he let out a yowl of pain.

“ACH! Meine Schulter!” The violet haired man jerked upright and cradled his arm tight against his side. It throbbed and hurt like nothing. Well...he couldn't say nothing; With the people he worked for, he went through a lot of shit. Broken arms and shattered knee caps..... Of course, that didn't make the present pain go away any. Except for one majorly missing factor. Looking around the messed up bike, he noticed he was alone. “Ah...Kirlia!? Kirlia! Where are ya, girl!?” “Kirli?”, he heard a little sniffle from beside him and was comforted to see the little dancer just fine and dandy. And looking quite worried and in all sorts of disquietude.

Sighing with a pained smile, He gave her a small pet on the head with his good arm. Coxing her out form behind him. “Neh~It's okay, Mien puppe. I'm okay, ja?” The pokemon sniffed and picked at his sleeve, but he flinched, scaring her back. Seething, he clutched the throbbing arm and flopped on his back. “Owowowowowowwwww.......ow...wah!?” staring up from his place, Terral was startled to see an odd buggy little Pokemon floating over head. Big blue eyes just a leerin' at him. Kirlia followed his stare and was quick to stand close to Terrals side, leering back at the unfamiliar pokemon.

"Eev?" The boy looked at his Eevee, confused.

"What is it?" He asked, shifting her around in his arms. "Is something bad over here?" He looked about himself, kind of confused as to where he was exactly. They were going the right way... weren't they?

Eve leapt from his arms and landed on the ground. Running nimbly around his feet for a few seconds, she bolted into the underbrush. With a cry, Gale followed, pushing aside branches and twigs. Tiny feet smashed down grass and almost tripped over a Weedle. Luckily, he caught himself.

When he heard Eve's excited, nonstop talking, he knew he had caught up to her again. Dashing out to a clearing, he saw his eager little Eevee bouncing to and fro in front of a man. It's nonstop yammering to another pokemon filled teh clearing as Gale slowly exited teh tall grass.

The small child slowly appraoched the man and said, "Excuse me, mister! Do you know where the road is?" Curiously, he studied his arm, head tilting to the side slightly. Was he hurt? Did he need a potion?

Pala, seeing that Erin was a little too confused to get moving herself, nudged her in the leg and went off ahead. She had a good sense of direction, and felt she could lead Erin back to where they had started.

Erin followed after the Glaceon, feeling rather tired from the run from before. She tried to straiten herself out, ignore the wobbliness in her joints. She was out on an adventure. She had to be able to walk on her own. But for how long she’d be able to do so… Even she wasn’t sure…

After a few minutes of traveling, she noticed two figures in the distance. One of them looking rather familiar… too familiar. Erin watched as ‘Erin’ noticed her, and scooped up her bag and left the other trainer, wisping in a flash of color and light into it’s original form, circling around Erin as it looked rather glad to see her. Inspecting her and chiding her for leaving on her own, having lost human speech once it dropped the illusion.

After satisfying itself that she was ok, it hovered in front of the Glaceon, looking down at the ice Pokemon. “#Hello, thanks for finding her#”

*************

Celebi was glad to see that Kirlia was alright, but her trainer didn’t seem to fare as well. It hovered in front of him, edging closer as it noticed Kirlia’s unhappy glare, “#I’m just trying to help#” It assured her, as with a cheerful ‘Biii!’ It tapped the injury, it dissipating with a soft green glow.

It circled around the man happily, noticing the boy from before was there as well. Did he follow them? It had seemed to her that Codex knew him somehow, but she had been too preoccupied with her toy to mention it yet. It hovered away from the group, settling into a nearby tree, picking a small red berry from the tree. Nibbling it with a happy “biiii” as she inspected the humans below.

Cautious, as new faces entered the scene, Kirlia hopped down from Terrals lap and stood close to his side. "Kirlia...?"

Broken from his trance like stare at Celebi, Terral sat up again. His attention diverted to Gale. He gave the boy an odd stare, thinking he looked a bit young to be out by himself. "Vhat? Ah...De road? Vell, I jus come from dere. Hahah..ow..." Simpering, he clutched his arm again, but kept on smiling at the child.

Then the bug Pokemon swooped down, startling him again. "Ach! Nien! Berühren Sie nicht das! Ist....ist...." He stare at teh faint glow and rolled his shoulder with a look of awe.
#Whats the matter, Terral?# Kirlia tugged on his sleeve. "Ist so veird...It doesn't hurt any more...." #Really?!# Kirlia twirled excitedly and waved up to Celebi, chirping it's gratitude. #Yey! Master Terral is all better! Thank you, thank you, little mystery Pokemon!# "Kirli kirli kirlia!"

Amazed, Terral stare for the longest time up at Celebi, trying to figure out what kind of pokemon it was. He didn't even think to grab his poke gear to check. Abruptly remembering Gale, The violet haired man jumped up and fixed his glasses. Bowing apologetically to the child as he rambled nervously. "Ach! Mien apologies! I didn't mean to ignore you, mien puppe. Eh....de road, you axeded? It ist....er....Up dere! Ja!" He point up hill through a long trail of debris and tire tracks, sweating abashedly. "Ah....dat...vas a long vall, eh?"

Pala simply stared at the strange ghastly.
#She found...me. You should keep an eye on her, she looks rather...timid.#
Pala found herself slinking away, hiding behind Erin. She found the ghastly....disturbing.

Angelique hadn't had much of a chance to reply before the gastly had taken off, apparently having spotted its trainer. Still rather suspicious of the ghost pokemon, she followed, stopping a few feet away from the girl.

"I take it this is your gastly?"

Gale made a rather unhappy whining noise as he looked up to where the purple man pointed. That was a long way! A long way up! Maybe there was another way? But they would have to get through the forest. The boy looked over his shoulder, biting his lip. It was getting kind of late... was it? Gale couldn't tell.

He looked at the man again, noticed his shaking and twitching arm. "Hey mister are you okay?"

Gastly turned back to stare at the Glaceon, looking slightly sour before floating over to Erin’s bag. HE didn’t need to be reminded that he had let his trainer wander off all on her own. On her first day out into the world… He glanced over at her, trying to explain what had happened to the trainer who had attacked him. “#She has always been a little timid, and frail, but a good human. Now where is it….#” He began shuffling through the bag again, looking for a small vial. He noticed the girl was out of breath, probably from chasing after the Glaceon. Feh… Sometimes she was too nice for her own good.

Finally finding it, he floated over towards Erin, handing it and a small case to her, looking rather worried. Erin paused from trying to make conversation with the much older woman, biting her lip. She didn’t want to take that here, not while others were around…. But Gastly was insistent, giving her a look that was very plain to her… She always had been able to understand Gastly, one way or another…

Opening the case, she stocked the strange pen like device, holding it over a spot on her arm. With a slight wince, the shot was given, and she scrambled to put the device away. With advances in treatments, she was able to be out on her own, without being tied down to hospitalizations every few days or so, she already felt slightly better. But it wasn’t a cure, and she had to sit down after a few minutes or so, still rather fatigued and tired.

Gastly paced in his own way around the group, floating and bobbing in the air. He needed to go back and pick up the rest of the supplies, she had left the stove and poncho, along with the rest of the contents of her bag, back at the other camp. It wasn’t far, but he didn’t want to leave her alone….. He glanced up at the trainer… Could he trust her enough? …..Damn it…..

Shifting into another form, of a slightly older gentleman, flowing purple hair wisping around, he brushed off his coat, giving Angelique a questioning look. “…..About a quarter mile north of here, is a camp set up… Could you get the supplies from there, and come back? I don’t want to move Erin at the moment…”

*************

Celebi continued to look at the group below. It was indeed getting darker, and it didn’t like the idea of little children being out alone in the dark. Human or Pokemon, no one should be alone. She pondered the possibility of sharing the nest, before shooting that down. There wasn’t enough room for the humans to fit, much less Codex wouldn’t approve.

“…..Biiiii……” What to do what to do…. Oh! She could take them to the human town. Then they wouldn’t be alone! She swooped down again, pointing up towards the road. “#That way’s the human town right?#” She asked the Kirlia, who nodded to her. With a happy ‘Bi’ She floated down, taking the boy’s hand, gesturing for the others to follow. “#Then lets go before it’s too dark#” She said, beginning to lead them out of the woods and back to the human towns that occasionally dotted the landscapes.

It took him a moment to realize Gale had asked him a question. Look at his twitching and spazzing arm, Terral clasped his hand over his shoulder. For a moment he was expecting a spiraling pain when he remembered just moments before Celebi had healed it. '...Just a touch and it all went away....I swear I dislocated it, yet...'

Breaking from his thoughts, Terral looked down at a chirping Kirlia. The little Pokemon tugging of his pant leg. #Earth to Terral! Hey~! Are you coming or not?#
"Oh! Right! Er..." Dragging his trashed bike from the ground, Terral threw it up onto his quivering shoulder. Still no pain. That was so.... "Say! Vhat are ju doing vay out 'ere by jourself? Aren't ju...eh herm...Aren't you kind of....young to be training yet?" Jogging to Gale's side, Kirlia prancing right along behind, he attempted to make conversation. All while watching Celebi like a hawk.

The boy let Celebi take his hand. He giggled at her, following the Pokemon. He really liked this Pokemon! She was so nice to him! Eve trotted alongside them, chattering nonstop to Kirilia. #And then my boy tried climbing up the tree and it snapped so loud I heard it from my pokeball!# It said, weaving a figure eight between Kirilia's legs before trotting alongside her again. #I was so scared my boy would be in danger! My boy can be stupid sometimes, did you know that? But I love my boy!# She actually paused, takign a breath, and looked at Terral #Is he your boy? He looks like a nice boy!#

When Terral addressed Gale, he looked away, scratching at his neck. "I... I can train if I want to!" He said. "I wanna go on adventures and never go home!" He held tight to the Celebi's hand, his own beginning to quiver a bit. What if this man tried sending him back home? He didn't want to go back home! No, he would not go back home, nope. Not at all. He would go on his adventures everywhere first! And meet lots of cool Pokemon, like this one.

Kirlia hopped foot to foot in a fancy little prance, playing with Eevee's excited running. #Yes he is! He is a nice boy! I love him so much! I do! I do! he can be a stupid boy sometimes, too. I love him all the same though! He rode his bike right off the rod,e that silly boy of mine. Now he's going to be late, that he is.# Kirlia giggled and frog hopped over Eevee, skipping ahead and skipping back. It hadn't played with other Pokemon in so long. #Hey! Hey! Want to race ahead? Our boys wont mind. Hurry! Hurry! Last to the road is an unhatched egg!# Tapping Eve's nose, Kirlia danced nimbly up the hill.

Startled by the child's assertive answer, Terral swiftly looked away himself, instead watching Kirlia and Eevee dance about ahead of them. Picking at his cheek the man sighed with a small, belated chuckle. "Really? Ne'er? Das a pretty long time, but okay. Ve all 'ave our reasons for leaving de nest, ja?" Clearing his throat, Terral shifted the bike to his other shoulder and jogged a few paced closer to Gales side, his smile bright and friendly. "You...are...very admirable leetle boy, ja? Miene name ist Terral. Can I 'ave jour name, 'leetle man'?" Shifting, he offered his hand to Gale, eager to be introduced to the adorable child trainer.

After being sure that the humans and Pokemon were going in the right direction, Celebi left the humans alone for the moment, racing ahead after the Kirlia and Eevee, wanting to join in on the fun. “#Can I play too?#”

Soon the three of them were chasing each other in an elaborate game of tag, Celebi twirling and spinning in the air, low enough to the ground to remain fair. Shouting a cheerful ‘biiii’ as it chased the others around on the now empty road. The sun was setting as the town began to loom in the distance.

Angelique gave the ghastly and his owner a silent calculating look before nodding and turning.

"Fine...though you should really consider finding a town. Come on Skarmory..."

She would ask about the ethics of a sick child wandering around alone in the woods later. Making her way north, Skarmory guiding the way, she eventually found the campsite in question and began picking up the abandoned belongings. She could see signs of others having been there recently as well, but as it was thoroughly abandoned, she didn't concern herself with it. Though perhaps the girl had had companions?

It still wasn't her concern. Turning, she looked at Skarmory. "Back to the group."

Skarmory let out a "Skar" before turning and leading the way back. Birds were better at directions than humans, and Pokemon sometimes even more so.

Eve let out a giggle and began running dizzying circles about Kirilia's legs, looking up at Celebi, grinning a pokemon grin. #Play! Ya, play!!# LEaping up, she lightly tackled the Celebi, nuzzling her. #Tag!# And then she hurried off, little paws boucning up and down on the grass.

"Never returning home. Yup." He nodded to himself, making it a reality. No matter what happened, he would not go crawling back to the bitch's lair.

"I'm Gale," he told Terral, slipping his tiny hand into the older man's. "Nice ta meet you, Mr. Terral." Turning from him to check on the pokemon, he found his Eevee had ran ahead much more than he would have liked.

"Eve!" He called out, worry in his face. "Be careful! Don't get too far ahead."

"Eeevee!" It called out, running in a circle, jumping upand down in response to its trainer before sticking to jumping about Kirilia.

Holding the boys hand in his, Terral's face immediately brightened as he eagerly shook the child's arm. "Gale, eh?" Terral tested the name. It wasn't as cute a name as he was hoping to hear, but it was a name.
Blinking from Gale to the Pokemon, He thought to mimic Gales scolding, but Kirlia was hopping foot to foot and behaving all just fine. He wasn't too concerned with her play, anyway. Shaking his head and returning his attention to Gale, Terral leaned over while he walked, dumping the busted bike along side a tree. Then used his free hand to pat Gale's fondly.

Just a grinning ear to ear, he admired the little boys caramel skin. It was just the perfect tone; a shame his cute little face was marred with those strange scars...they were kinda cute too, though. And his nose; that tiny little thing. And his big, big green eyes. 'so shiny and lively~'
It took him long enough, but he finally just scooped Gale up and gave him a big hug. Nuzzling him fondly. "Ve vill be gewd friends, ja? Leetle puppe Gale~"

Celebi watched as the humans raced up to their respective Pokemon and it hovered above the group as it looked over the trees to see where they were. The lights of the town were much closer now, only a couple hundred yards away. Celebi floated back down, to see the man pick up the boy in a friendly embrace. They all looked so happy, it wondered if Codex would like hugs like that… it seemed to make the small human child happy.

“Biii!” Celebi chirped, floating down to the two humans, pointing towards the town. Now they won’t be alone anymore! It spun through the air around the two trainers, before waving at the two, making to leave towards the nest again.

*************

Erin had started to doze off when Angelique came back, jolting up from where she had leaned against a tree when the woman appeared through the trees. She quickly put the items in her bag, before glancing up at the woman. “……T….Thank you…”

The swoosh of air and the sudden feel of the cheek against his head confused him, even scared him, if only for a second. He stared at the man for a second more before hugging him as well, smiling. This sudden contact was strange to him. It didn't have the malice in it. Just a friendly overtone that slowly washed away Gale's fears, leaving little more than an unsettled feeling.

He grabbed him too. "Okay," Gale said. "Let's be friends." The little pokemon floated down to them, flitting about overhead, tugging at Gale and pointing away. He looked in that direction, seeing the faint, golden glow of the town, mixing with the darker colors of nightfall to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Gale turned to thank to pokemon, only to see it flying off. "Are you leaving?" He asked sadly.

#Hey!# Eve called rushing up to the Celebi. #You're leaving? Already?# Its face drooped, tail brushing the ground beneath it. #awww....#

Angelique nodded, leaning against a nearby tree. She looked the girl over.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to be out here?" She absently petted Skarmory, hand sliding over the smooth polished metal of his coat. "Honestly I never understand parents letting their kids wander around unsupervised..."

While the trainers were talking, Skarmory was turned toward the Gastly, eyes following its every movement, mildly curious of the ghost pokemon.