~~~ Ch. 36 - Fidget ~~~

With their long-term memory, problem solving, and creative use of tools, Leavanny are on the upper end of the bug-type intelligence spectrum, though still considered low in comparison to the more intelligent pokemon. They may be quite stubborn, though with their creativity, have been known to learn mildly-complex battle-strategies and plans over time. [...]

In terms of physical limitations, leavanny are considered to be sharply limited by their physical mass, though they easily make up for it with their surprising speed as well as their crafting and creativity. The league allows leavanny to use their own crafting and creations in battle. For example, many Leavanny make their own Razor Leaves, rather than "summoning" them. [...]

Their height, as logged in the pokedex, is measured by the full extension of the tarsi at the bottom of their legs, to the tops of their heads, minus their antennae or leaves, and can range from 3’2” at the smallest-known, to 4’3” at the tallest-known measurements. After evolving, Leavanny do not moult, and thus do not grow in height. [...]

They have been observed to live to fifteen years in the wild. Like other pokemon, trainer-owned Leavanny can live much longer lives given proper care. [...]

* Unovan Pokedex Entry on Leavanny

~~~

In the yellow light of the cavern, Art rolled over in his sleeping bag. He'd fallen asleep, and barely awoken to the various tugs of the leash he'd lashed to his wrist. Pulling his cellphone out of his bag, he squinted his eyes open at the time. 6:48 A.M. He'd slept for ten hours. Groaning, he sat up. Several text messages awaited him. He returned the phone back to his bag. Whatever the messages were, they could wait. Few people even had his phone number—Alder, Kate, the professor, Emily and his own father. He hadn't called his dad since he'd left Anville. Rubbing his eyes, Leah was lying down, asleep on the tunnel dirt. Leavanny, whom Art had yet to name, was a foot away from Leah.

Their faces in a permanent grin, their sleep was indicated by their lack of motion and their dark red eyes. He didn't see Minitina anywhere, no fake sewaddle. In fact, he hadn't seen them since the bike ride.

"Hi—", one of the girls from the other night spoke to him, drawing his attention. "Sorry to bother you!", the girl said, holding her swadloon in her arms, her blonde hair tied back in a hasty ponytail. "Is your name Burgh?" She'd asked.

Despite the fact that he was still struggling to wake up, being called Burgh had his attention. She looked a couple years younger than him. "Eey", he croaked, before coughing. "Sorry," he said, pulling up his bottle of water, and taking a quick drink. Still in his sleeping bag, the girl was talking before he could set the bottle down.

"Uh, you dont haveto sayanything ijustwantedtosay yourleavannysaved mylittlesisterlastnight and wesawthevideoof yourleavannydancing and iwantedtosay yourleavannysreallygreat and we havetogonowbye." He swallowed the swig of water he'd taken as the girl immediately went back to the other side of the tunnel, to her younger sister, hopping on their bikes, ditching Art. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, then laid back down. His calves and thighs were voicing their strong objections to moving.

When he awoke again, it was to the tugs on the end of his wrist, as the Leavanny was rolling around, wrestling—and losing— to Leah. The sun was shining in the tunnel entrance, and a pair of bikers on electric cycles rolled through, their quiet motors humming as they rolled through the middle of three tunnels through Pinwheel Forest. He pulled up his pack, pulling out another container of compressed food he'd packed at the gym, drawing his two bugs up next to him.

He was still half asleep, and instead of reaching for the bowls he'd brought, decided to dump the bags into their mouths. The tunnels all had water fountains in the center, which was only a few feet away. Opening one bag, he dumped the contents in Leavanny's mouth, who immediately proceeded to mash them down as fast as possible, spewing their drool. The food was hyper-dense, and was, like many foods, modified to be ultra-nutrient dense. Even dried, one of these fruits in these packs had the density of four or five of the wild variants. He smiled, as Leah came forward.

Leah had so far been a more peculiar beast, in terms of mannerisms and behaviors. The pokedex said the leavanny line was particularly well-known for their creativity, but there was more to it. His girl wasn't any ordinary bug. She was a rescuer, and had a bit of a knack for getting into unexplainable trouble. He opened her bag of berries. She held out her leaves. Even with the potion application, he could tell— she'd been rubbing her arms again. She had been anxious. She twitched a bit, brushing them ever-so-slightly together—she was still anxious.

He held out his hand and bag, pouring it into her leaf-blades, cupped together. "Minitina ran away on you?" He asked. Of course, he had no idea what was really bothering her, though the missing leaf-sash his armored girl had crafted was as good an indication as any other. The other option was general anxiety of being in a tunnel or enclosed space. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out his own hyper-dense nutrient bar, stretching his legs out in the bag from the warming day.

He stood up, stretching his legs, feeling the nutrients of the bar hit his stomach, the soreness of his body fading as the food hit his bloodstream, healing the torn muscles, building them stronger. The road was either more empty than he'd expected it to be, or he'd slept through the worst of the traffic already. It didn't matter, it all just meant that he could have a slow start in the morning and wouldn't have to feel bad about it. Picking up his sleeping bag, he dusted it off, then rolled it up and compressed into its storage capsule. The continuing light drizzle and mixed cloud cover said he'd need to wear his jacket again.

The soreness wasn't completely gone, but as he stretched, doing a pair of lunges and touching his toes, Art was feeling pretty good about the remaining three-hour ride to Nacrene. It was a Friday, and the trickle of traffic said that some had traveled through the worst of the night's rain to get out of the city. Packing the capsule into his backpack, he decided to walk for the next few hours, giving the nutri-bar additional time to work. Spraying Leah with the elixir, he decided that it would be a good idea to get off of the road and do a hike through Pinwheel Forest. It would give the leavannies more time outside the pokeball, him some extra time to think and to plan, and maybe he'd even be able to do some extra training.

Putting on his backpack after putting the last of the garbage and stuff in his pack away, he took his first step to walk to the other side of the tunnel, when Leah chirped at him. Had he forgotten anything? He looked at her. Her little leaf-dress was covered in mud, and hid her leaf-leggings, but the tarsi at the bottom of her legs were still visible. Her shoes were missing, which was fine. Wait, how did she get them off? And where are they!? His stomach had dropped at the thought of replacing them. Bug-types didn't often get shoes, and that specialty store in Castelia was probably the only place with booties designed for bugs, and they had been expensive. The relief was fast- the shoes were at his feet. She'd dropped them for him.

He chuckled at his brief panic. He'd been right in his estimate— she was smart enough to get velcro off. In comparison, the other leavanny hadn't managed to get any of the velcro straps leashing him off. Art picked up the shoes, and was reminded of the girl who'd thanked him, hazy though the memory was. "Burgh," he whispered to himself. The shoes were sopping wet, and would get everything in the backpack wet too. Instead, he hooked the shoes' velcro together, hanging one off each strap of his pack. He gave Leah a quick bow, smiling to himself, then when the mud-covered bug reciprocated, he laughed out loud.

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"Come on, let's go," he said to her, waving at her to lead the way. The goober at the end of the leash hadn't quite figured out the trainer-pokemon relationship yet, but followed Leah around in approximately everything she did. As they walked forward, Leah had reached over to a little outcropping of the rock wall, picking up the fidget spinner. He smirked. If Leah hadn't been so full of surprises, he'd have said another trainer was being nice, keeping it out of the dirt of the un-paved tunnels. The events of the past few days told him that she'd probably placed it there on purpose, probably to keep it out of the dirt. Or out of the reach of the conditioner-addicted goober. As she spinned the fidget spinner, the trio walking their way to the little misty morning sun, he paused and opened his pokedex. He had a name for the leavanny now. Fidget.

After entering the name for the male leavanny and putting the old dex away, he checked his phone. No calls, just texts. One from Aurea and another few from Kate.

"Talking to my dad, trying to get him to come around, but you were right. He'll retire when I get through Caitlin and take the regional champ title."

Leah had continued walking.

"You really gonna take the title of Burgh!? At first I didn't think it was u when I heard it, but they mentioned a dancing leavanny this morning. I thought you s—" his reading was cut short as Fidget tugged on him, pulling him a step forward, a step closer to the mist and late morning. Leah had found some interest in a hollowed tree that was just off the path. Ugh, he thought to himself, putting the old, battered phone away. You weren't supposed to take a trainer title until you had a few badges under you. Some people never actually took a title. To be assigned one? And with the pressure on from Cedric? The thought made him grind his teeth. He was glad the old man was so old-fashioned he didn't even own a television.

Artemus stepped forward, walking out into the trail, taking varying strides and lunges in the rain to stretch his leg and let the nutri-bar hit. Another couple hours, the soreness would be gone, and he'd be able to bike at least as far as he had the other day. He walked up to the hollowed-out tree Leah had walked into—he had to bend over to enter it, but both Leah and Fidget were able to get inside and stand up, a good foot or two of room between the leaves behind their heads and the roof of the trunk. What had Leah found? It was a patch of sweet-smelling moss and mushrooms. Fidget sliced a bit off with his blade and licked it, then decided following Leah was a better idea.

As they crossed the little canal and stream, the drumming mist of rain came to an end. Emerging from the tunnel, little blue pokemon bounded out of the way, using their large flippers to run deeper in the grass. He whipped out his pokedex, and managed to scan one before they completely ran away. Tympole. "You scared them away!" a voice shouted, startling the three of the adventurers. A pansage emerged from a thicket of trees first, followed by the signature red and black uniform of the regional rangers. It was the ranger from last night. Leah and the pansage eyed each other, the pansage's fur prickling and ears perked, ready for a fight.

The lady smiled. She was shorter than Art, like most people, but taller than Leah. Also like pretty much everyone, except young kids.

"Sage, relax!" she said, as her pansage drew to the ranger's side. When she turned her head to him after Leah didn't also retreat, his face went flush.

"Oh, sorry! Leah!" His bug perked up. "Come here!" He said, bringing Fidget and Leah back to him.

"Still working on control, huh?" The ranger asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Hmm…", she said. "You're going to need a lot more practice if that's where you're at. Are you sure it shouldn't be leashed too? It seems like the type to get itself into trouble."

"Her name's Leah. And uh, the one I'm most concerned about is already leashed." Art said, chuckling dryly. "His name's Fidget." The air was drying, the clouds thinning. Fidget had taken to trying to wrestle with Leah, who ignored him, choosing instead to stare. Not at the pansage, but at the ranger instead. The lady smiled. Looking to be in her mid-twenties and in rain-gear, the ranger was quite muscular.

"Right. Where are my manners," she said, picking up her pansage in her arms. "Name's Irene. I'm one of the rangers patrolling Pinwheel, and this little guy—" she tickles the little tuft of broccoli-like green—"is Sage."

"Name's Artemus." He said. She raised her eyebrow at him. She'd been expecting me to say Burgh.

"Well, Artemus," she began, her pansage hopping off of her to climb up a tree. "I apologize for being rude a moment ago. Your leavanny saved a girl last night, all while you slept, after wandering out in the rain. She'd thought she lost her swadloon, but turns out it had just been playing with your other leavanny, while Leah here had been out roaming in the night."

"Oh," he blushed, looking at Leah, patting her on the head, eliciting a little click from the bug's jaw. She moved out of his reach, like she usually did. "Thank you!"

"I'm serious. She's shown she can handle herself well even without her trainer watching over her all the time. I'm impressed at the trust you have with her, and she's quite the chaotic dancer, apparently. Do you plan to enter her into any beauty, talent, or other contests?" She asked.

This time, he laughed. "No, I don't think so." Bugs were never a favorite in the first place, so it wasn't even a consideration for anything outside of the competitive circuit. Fidget was beginning to fidget again, annoyed that Leah had walked out of the range Art was willing to let him go with the already-defensive pansage. The ranger seemed to have noticed as well. "At any rate, it was nice to meet you- I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"It's Irene."

"It was nice to meet you, Ranger Irene, but I'm trying to get this one some more exercise before we bike the last stretch into Nacrene. That is, unless you want to try out a few rounds of training battles?" He asked, motioning toward Fidget, who was clawing into the bark of a nearby tree.

"No worries, Artemus. Sage and I are taking a break from battles for a few days as we work out some of his aggression, though he's been calming down." She turned looking up, holding up her arms out, saying "Come down!" Fidget watched as the sage jumped from high up in the tree into her arms.

As the ranger and her pansage stepped into the fallen, hollowed out tree, she paused. "Good luck against Lenora, you're gonna need it. She goes the hardest against no-badgers like you."

"Thank. You?" He asked, following up with a real question. "Before you go, any tips?"

"Not really?" she said. "She's why I'm a ranger. I only have six badges." Ranger Irene waved, leaving the trio behind, Art pausing as he looked at Leah, then at Fidget, who'd stripped the bark from the tree, chomping on it.

He sighed at his two goobers, smiling.

"Come on, let's get going on our little nature hike," Artemus said, calling Leah over, the trio setting off into eastern Pinwheel. As they walked, he made sure to keep his pokedex handy, half his mind cloudy with excitement and dreams of the near future, the other half cloudy with concern of just what exactly had been posted of him online and in the news/radio.

Then, he remembered what the guy with the mic had said.

Alder's Protege.

In the quiet of the woods, he laughed.

Oh, he laughed at the endless absurdities that continued to slide onto his plate.