All of my eevees stared back at me as I explained my idea. As I explained how using their natural skills (or what I assumed that they had being dog like) they would be able to track down the escaped rapidash and if the opportunity came up we would either catch it or its foal. About halfway through me explaining how they would be able to do this Brandy rolled her eyes at me and walked over beside me. With a series of barks and yips Brandy had the others lined up and ready to go. How much smarter they all were was still taking me by surprise even though I had been relying on it at this time as I was asking them to track down a singular pokemon in a forest that only 2 of them had seen or smelt before.
“Ahhh good job Brandy” I said to her giving her a pat on the head.
“Allright gang, everyone keep an eye out for anything dangerous and lets try track us down a ponyta!”
As night fell and I was setting up my tent I thought over how enthusiastic I had been several hours ago. We had started out moving with such energy, me hiding behind trees and freezing at every sound in the forest thinking we might have found the missing rapidash already. Every interesting sound or scent had my team freezing and pointing like it was right there. As time moved on we all started getting a bit less keen and more and more distracted. With my whole team of eevees out and searching we found plenty of pokemon, just not the pokemon I was looking for. Loads and loads of grass and bug type pokemon, catapies, weedles, oddish and we even saw a group of them lead by a pair of gloom. I had been walking past a particularly large bush when Ale had started barking furiously at it which made me back away from it. As I did so I noticed that there was a small green vibe reaching out from the bottom of it and had nearly been about to touch my foot. Upon spotting it a bellsprout, which I could tell due to its bright yellow head, emerged and started waving its leaf/arms at us furiously. As I was alone and didn’t care about its opinion of me I had set 3 of my team to attacking it with a series of tackles, tail whips and a quick attack until it fled. No reason to fight one on one if I don’t care about it and no one is around to see me I thought to myself. Also I think it had been trying to eat me? Not sure why else it would try to snare me.
After dividing out the food between all of us, a series of dry rations soaked in cold water for me and pokechow for my team, I sat back and watched the forest as dusk fell. Anna had warned me before I left if I planned to stay out not to light a fire in the forest if I wasn’t ready to battle the local pokemon over it. Apparently grass and bug type pokemon don’t like fires in their forest. Fair enough really, especially if you are susceptible to it and/or flammable. So rather than stir up the locals and battle them away until we had proved our strength I had decided to have no fire and just wrap up warm in my tent. The weather was pretty good anyhow, somewhere around late spring/early summer so not to cold in the evenings and the sky that I could see through the canopy was clear as could be. Also by not winding up the local pokemon they were going about their business without hassling me. After watching for a bit I decided that the oddish were my favourite to watch as the waddled about the forest floor searching for food, I assumed. They would appear in twos or threes but when they met up they would bounce in joy around each other before wandering off in a line chanting their name. With a yawn I recalled 3 of my team, leaving Rum and Gin out to keep watch and wake me if anything bad started happening and crawled into my tent to sleep.
“eevee, eev vee vee eevee”
Blinking my eyes slowly I came too with one of my team nudging my chin quietly. Reaching for the small light I had nearby I was about to turn it on before a paw was placed on top of my hand stopping me from reaching it.
“Eevee ee vee”
“What? Whats going on?” I asked blearily. Looking at my watch I saw it was around 3am in the morning. My brain struggled to compute why I had been woken up.
With a quiet bark Rum turned around and exited through the tent flap motioning for me to follow her with a tilt of her head. Climbing out of my sleeping back I crawled out to see what had disturbed them. If they had woken me up I can’t be good news my brain slowly figured out, and I paused leaving the tent to grab my belt with the rest of my team on it. Having secured it I crept out of the tent and tip toed up to where both Rum and Gin were sitting, staring out into the forest.
“What is it?” I whispered not being able to see anything in the pitch black. Rum stood up and leaned against my leg and pointed into the forest. Squinting I tried to see what they were looking at when a sudden red flare erupted and disappeared.
“What the hell was that?”
Rum’s foot pressed down on the top of mine. “Was that what you two were trying to show me?”
Another press and a quiet bark which I took for confirmation. Red flare, fire? I thought to myself thinking about it. That would make sense. Someone’s campfire? Nah cause then it would be constant. Another flash of red light flickered through the trees. Then it clicked. Could be a fire attack. Someone or something battling? Could be a trainer or a wild fire pokemon. Anna said I wouldn’t be likely to find a wild fire type here so odds are that could be the rapidash I’m looking for. Now do I go searching for it now or wait till morning? Is chasing a strong wild pokemon in the middle of the night in a unfamiliar forest a good idea?
With that last thought I leaned down to whisper to my two eevees. “Good stuff waking me you too. We will head that way on the morning and see if it’s the pokemon we are looking for. I think it’s a bad idea if we go now so just keep and eye on it and wake me again if it starts heading this way.”
With a quiet bark both eevees went and sat down on either side of the tent entrance in the guard position. It made me feel quite safe knowing that I had these two looking out for me while I slept. Thankfully I was able to get back to sleep before too long despite the excitement that had started to build in me.
As soon as day broke I was up and packing up my gear ready to be off to try and find the rapidash and ponyta. I wasn’t sure what I would actually do if I found them, but if I challenged the the rapidash and proved myself they might let me catch the ponyta? That’s kind of how the shows went I think and the games were not much help. With a point in the right direction from Rum and Gin I returned them to let them get some rest, Rum quite liked being up at night, maybe she would be a good umbrion? They evolve at night I think, and the rest of us heading off looking for signs off the fire from earlier. It was within an hours walk when my team started getting interested in the smell in the air, judging by the way they kept sticking their noses up and sniffing. As we got closer and closer they all started getting nervous and looking around so I took that as a sign we must be getting close. Hell, I could smell smoke in the air. A couple of steps later I could see why. As we walked past a large tree I could see that one side of it was covered in sticky webbing. It looked just like the webbing that the catapies had been making the day before, except this time it was covering the side of the tree that looked like it had been set on fire. Looking around there was large burnt patches of forest that looked like someone had laid into it with a flamethrower and then covered with webbing. Are the bugs trying to put out the fire? I asked myself.
An excited bark dragged my attention over to where Brandy, Ale and Scotch were sniffing the ground with enthusiasm. Bingo. “Have you found something?”
“Eevee!” Brandy replied turning and pointing into the forest. Looking that direction I could see that the trees and bushes in that direction all looked like that they contained burn marks and various amounts of webbing.
“Good stuff guys. Alright lets keep going, everyone eyes open for anything dangerous” I told my team and we all started following the signs of battle. As we kept walking though the forest the burn marks on the trees and bushes started getting larger and more fresh looking. After 10 minutes walking the webbing started to disappear from the scorch marks as if the wild pokemon had not had time to completely put out the remains of the fire. I had started to be so distracted by the burn marks in the trees, some of which looked like they were still smouldering, that I didn’t notice the body on the ground until one of my team gave me a nudge. With a small nudge from Ale I turned to see what they were trying to show me. At the base of one of the trees that looked like it had be hit with a giant fiery x was a curled up shape that was covered in a black crust and smoking. Whatever it was it looked like it had been blasted into the tree it was lying in front off before falling to the ground. I wonder what that is? I thought to myself nervously. Until now there hadn’t been any sign of harm or damage done to pokemon or people but this made it look like that was going to change. Is it actually dead? I wasn’t afraid of bugs but that was because I grew up in a country that didn’t have dangerous bugs or anything approaching the size of what was in front of me. Walking over to one of the damaged shrubs nearby I broke off one of the branches that was at least a meter long before walking back over to the burnt body. Giving the body a quick poke to see if it moved before I tried anything else I placed one end of my stick underneath the shape and slowly levered it over revealing the underside. To my relief it wasn’t a human, I was not sure what I would have don’t if that was the case. I definitely would have got the hell out of there. Looking closely at the body I could see that the lower half of the body had yellow stripes running around it. Beedrill I realised. I should’ve clicked sooner, once I stood back and looked at it again it was easy to see the shape of its body and how curled up in front of it were what look like the remainders of its front stingers. As I stared at the body of the very dead beedrill it started to dawn on me that this little adventure of mine was not as safe as I had assumed it would be. This beedrill was most definitely dead. So do not all pokemon battle until one faints of gives up? Am I and my team actually in real danger? Looking around suddenly to see if there was anything in the trees watching me I realised something, it was very quiet in the forest at the moment. Thinking back the pervious day had been full on pokemon chirps and calls, now it was basically quiet aside from a dull humming sound somewhere in front of me down the trail of destruction. Mustering up my courage I decided to continue on down the trail to see what was causing the humming sound and see what had ended up happening, though Ill admit I kept hold of my new stick and held it tightly in one hand.
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AS my team and I continued to slowly walk down the burnt trail we encountered a couple more deceased, from burns, pokemon. One was another beedrill though smaller than the first one while the second was a weedle. What I found interesting was the weedle was in the process of being taken away by a bellsprout. Does that mean there could have been a lot more pokemon dealt too, but they have just been taken away by other pokemon? Circle of life type thing? As I stood there watching the pokemon be dragged away getting more and more concerned Scotch next to me started growling while Brandy grabbed the pants I was wearing ant started dragging me towards a nearby bush. She is surprisingly strong. And worried. “What’s wrong?” All 3 of my team were acting worried and their tails were tucked between their legs. Looking around I noticed the humming sound was getting louder and Brandy was getting more desperate to hide in the bush. Message received. They were scared of whatever was coming and I wasn’t going to argue. Jogging over to the bush I threw my pack into the smaller bush while I climbed into the bigger one. Looking around I realised that I couldn’t see Ale or Scotch however Brandy was sitting between my legs shaking, so I hoped that they had found good hiding places. The humming, no buzzing sound I finally clicked was deafening by this stage as one beedrill went hurtling past my hiding place. Then another, and another and another before what seemed like dozens of beedrill went flying past all in the same direction. I stood there wide eyed, there was no way we could have escaped from that. They outnumbered us at least 10 to 1 and were moving far faster than I could run. I didn’t dare to move, afraid that there might be one or two stragglers coming up behind the main swarm that might spot me. That’s when an equine scream of rage bellowed through the forest. Ahh. That’s where the swarm was going. I’m guessing they are off to get revenge on whatever killed their friends. I could hear the battle start with the buzzing continuing but interrupted with thudding sounds of impact and the angry roar of a flamethrower with large snorts. Looking around I could see Ale and Scotch poking their noses out from their hiding places and looking at me with concern. This was way out of their league and they new it. Gesturing for them to come to me they slunk over to me and reaching down I tapped them with their pokeballs recalling them. We were going to have to be stealthy to try and see what was going so I left just Brandy out to her and I started trying to make our way to somewhere we could witness the fight.
Slowly leaning out from behind a large tree I could finally see the small clearing that the battle was going on it. Running around the clearing rapidly was a large rapidash, a long mane of fire with trails of flame flaring widly from each of its hooves while circling around it just below the treeline was the swarm of beedrill. As I watched a singular beedrill swooped down from the swarm and tried to stab the rapidash with one of its front stingers only to miss as the rapidash spun rapidly and shot a stream of fire at it blasting it backwards. As the rapidash paused briefly I could see that it was heaving deep breaths and covered in sweat. It’s exhausted, why is it still here? Surely it could have out run these things ages ago?
The beedrill swarm didn’t miss their opportunity, as the other pokemon paused multiple beedrill dove at it trying to sting it with their large abdominal stinger while others shot thin pin like missiles at it from the air. The rapidash launched into a sprint again but was unable to dodge all the attacks with at least several missiles slamming into its sides, staggering it and turning its sprint into a staggering run.
Why is it not fleeing?! I thought. I didn’t enjoy watching this. This wasn’t a friendly battle, these beedrill were out for blood and for some reason the rapidash was staying here and trying to take them all on. The multiple cuts on its sides showed me that it had taken multiple hits and some of those wounds looked a disturbing purplish colour, making me think that it was poisoned. But still it wouldn’t give up, running around the clearing snorting and blasting out smaller jets of fire into the air. I felt a nudge on my leg. Looking down it was Brandy trying to get my attention quietly and started pointing towards something on the left hand side of the clearing. Backing around the tree to look from the otherside I saw a small bush that had a small fire at the base of it. Not a fire, a baby ponyta. It was lying flat on the ground as if it were trying to hide but the small flames from its mane and tail made it easy to spot.
Jesus that’s why the rapidash is still here, it’s protecting its baby! It must not be able to run any more!
I hesitated as I tried to think what to do. I couldn’t help fight all these beedrill off, and if I tried to lead them away that would result in me getting attack. I could either run away or try get the baby ponyta away so the mare rapidash could wither flee or attack without having to worry about her baby. But would she attack me for trying? I’ve got to try, I wouldn’t sleep well if I didn’t at least try and help.
I leant down to Brandy and whispered to her quickly. “OK girl, we are going to back off quickly and then circle around to where that baby ponyta is. If we can we will try lead it away. I think if I try and catch it the flash will alert all the bedrill. If anything comes our way Ill going to need you help to make them back off, attack with everything you got and then we all run like hell. Got it?”
Brandy gave me a determined nod back. Following her I backed off from the clearing and crept through the trees pausing when Brandy did. She definitely had better sense than I did. With a final sniff in the air she lay down and pointed towards the back of the bush in front of me. Lying down next to her I crawled forward until I could see the flames of the ponyta.
“Psss. Psssss. Ponyta.”
I hissed at it trying to get its attention. Its eares flicked in my direction briefly before it turned its head slightly from where it was lying flat on the ground. Now that I was closer I could see that its eyes were wide open and showing all the whites around them, and its whole body was shaking. Upon seeing me it let out a small whinny but didn’t move. But im guessing the rapidash heard it because another scream of horsey rage echoed out around the clearing.
Shit shit shit this isn’t good. What do I do? The ponyta wouldn’t move unless it gets told to or spooks and that could make it run right into the open. Ill need the rapidash to tell it too. That’s a trained pokemon, would it trust a random person right now? Only one way to find out. I crawled out a little bit further until my head and one arm was just free of the bottom of the bush. I started waving my hand gently trying to get the rampaging pokemons attention without the bedrill above seeing me. I could tell when rapidash did see me as It started building up a fireball in its mouth and aiming right at me before pausing for a moment and launching it into the trees above us, lighting a trees canopy on fire and electing a surge in buzzing from the bedrill swarm. I started pointing rapidly between the ponyta and myself and back away from the clearing hoping it would get what I was meaning. I could see the distress in the rapidash’s face as she ran around the clearing, trying to dodge the increasing attacks from the bedrill swarm while trying to continuously face her baby and me. With a large scream she stopped and glowed a brief red before a spinning tornado of fire erupted from her and spun around the clearing. AS the beedrill broke back from the attack she ran over to where I was lying before giving me a quick sniff and stare before speaking quickly to her baby ponyta and giving it a lick. Standing back quickly she nodded her head at me before letting out a challenging neigh and started blasting fire into the air, before starting a stumbling trot in the opposite direction form where we were hiding. Picking up sped she ran into the forest letting out small jets of flame and with an angry buzz the swarm started following her into the forest.
Brandi, the ponyta and I all lay there until the sound of the buzzing grew faint and we could not see any new flashes of fire in the shadows of the trees. “Ok little one I need you to follow me” I whispered gently, my voice shaking.
“Ponyta?” It whinnied at me quietly before stumbling to its feet, legs shaking. I slowly got to my feet before walking closer to it. The ponyta swivelled slightly to stop me getting too close but I could see that it was exhausted. The poor thing looked exhausted. Running for your life right after being born would do that I suppose. Reaching out slowly I managed to pace my hand on its back before gently stroking it. The fire from its mane seemed to switch between putting out a large amount of heat and nothing at all which I wasn’t sure how it was doing. Daniel at the ranch had said that the rapidash’s don’t burn anyone they don’t want to so I guessed the little ponyta could do something similar with its flames but wasn’t sure if it wanted to burn me or not. After a moment patting its back the ponyta stepped forward and leaned against my hip and its flames stopped being so hot against my body. I started walking away the ponyta stayed as close to my side as possible.
“Ok Brandy can you lead us back to my bag? I want to get out of here before that swarm comes back.”
With a bark Brandy spoke up giving the ponyta a jump before trotting off into the forest with me and the ponyta right behind her.