Salad 2.10

Aaron Fulan

Verdanturf Town, Hoenn Region

The next few hours passed in a blur. There was no way in hell we were going to make it to Verdanturf before nightfall at a walking pace. Artoria wanted to try teleporting with me, but I nixed the idea because our lives weren't in immediate danger anymore. Instead, I made a beeline to the nearest ranger station on my PokéNav. We were forced to travel much of it in the dark, but that was preferable to accidentally leaving a bit of myself behind in a botched teleport.

Covered in dirt and forehead throbbing red from when I stumbled face-first into a tree, Artoria and I nonetheless reached the ranger station two hours later. A cheery fire and two rangers dressed in their navy-blue and burnt-orange uniforms greeted me.

"Well don't you look like you've seen some shit," one said with a gruff laugh. He had a scruffy beard that merged with his sideburns and was smoking a cigarette while sitting on a stump. Behind him were a pair of mightyena scarfing down what looked like the remains of a raticate alongside a berry or two. On his shoulder was a zubat that seemed unusually comfortable with the flame.

"Don't start, Steven," his partner said. He too sported a beard, but it was better groomed into a goatee. A noctowl sat next to him and he was taking a comb to groom its feathers. A zangoose was seated at his feet, sharpening its claws in the same meditative way Artoria polished her spoon.

"Fine, fine. Well, kid? What's up?"

"I captured a mother ursaring and her cub," I told them. "The mother was heavily injured from a previous battle and went into a berserk rage until her cub found me and got me to help them. I patched up what I could with a super potion, but she's literally on her last breaths."

Ranger Steven's eyes narrowed at that. I could spot recognition there. "Shit. Wheldon, think it's the same mama bear?"

His partner nodded slowly. "Maybe. Missing an arm?"

I blinked in surprise. "Yeah, one eye too. How did you know?"

"That alert? That was because some idiot from Unova lost control of his zweilous. It evolved into a hydreigon and went on a rampage in the whismur colony before that spilled over. The ursaring took offense and fought it but got mangled and ran. We heard about it and were following along until she tired herself out so we could treat her without her throwing a tantrum. She's kind of a queen around these parts, you see."

"Guess you did our job for us, kid," Steven said. He tossed his cigarette. "You say you have the cub too?"

"Yes. He's not injured much as far as I can tell, but I sprayed him down with a potion anyway."

"Good call. You never know when you missed some internal bleeding. Pokémon are hardy, but not invincible, especially not cubs."

Ranger Wheldon reached for another pokéball on his belt and released a roselia. "Here's how it's going to go. You're going to release mama bear. If she's up, I need you to stay in sight and try to calm her but don't get too close. My Rosie here knows a move called Life Dew. It's similar to a potion and can help patch up the worst of it, make sure nothing's infected, that sort of thing."

I nodded. I didn't really trust my ability to provide first aid on that level anyway. "Yes, sir."

"Then go ahead and let her out. At a distance." I did so. Thankfully, the ursaring had not woken up inside the pokéball. Rosie the roselia still doused her with a hefty dose of Sleep Powder, just in case. Wheldon let out a low whistle. "Yup. Those are dragon wounds alright. Not much else can rip up a mature ursaring like this."

"Think she'll make it, Wheldon?" Ranger Steven drawled. He sounded largely disinterested, but I could see the flickering concern in his aura.

"We'll make sure of it, right, Rosie?"

"Roselia," the tiny rose pokémon nodded confidently.

The two began to poke and prod the bear, taking stock of her many injuries. With some help from Ranger Steven's two mightyena, they got her on her back. I was happy to see that the gash over her stomach had largely closed and that there was nothing poking out. The super potion did a lot of work.

"You did good, kid," Ranger Wheldon told me. "You stopped a rampaging mama bear and stabilized her this much."

"I didn't stop her. If the teddiursa didn't literally get in the way of her attack, she would have continued."

"Either way, good job. We can take it from here if you'd like."

'What do you think, Artoria?' I thought at her. 'Do you think we should leave the bears with them? The rangers will probably send them off to the pokémon center.'

'I would like to see this through, my lord. We took responsibility for their care,' Artoria thought back with a frown.

'You're right. We need to get back to the pokémon center anyway. I want to make sure nothing's wrong with you or Jeanne after this.'

"If you don't mind, can we join you? We'd like to things through. I kind of need to go back to the center I think. Restock on potions for sure."

"Of course you can. Steven's got a claydol that can teleport us."

We talked further while the roselia provided more emergency care to the ursaring. The rangers were remarkably high leveled for such a quiet place like Verdanturf. I found out that they'd been reassigned from Meteor Falls because they had experience with ornery dragons before.

"Not that we'll be the ones dealing with the hydreigon. We're just on containment," Ranger Steven said. "Word is that Elite Drake will be called in to try and pacify the thing."

"What happens if he can't?" I asked.

"Then he's gotta put it down."

"Can't they find its pokéball?"

"Sure, if they can find the original trainer's body. He's dead and body got lost in a cave-in. It'll be dug up soon I imagine, but who knows if the pokéball still works?"

Wheldon shot his partner a warning look. "Don't worry too much about that, kid. Let Drake handle it. Worst comes to worst, he'll likely beat it unconscious then wait for the pokéball before catching the hydreigon for himself."

I nodded. "Yeah…"

"Now, about your kirlia. I noticed you talk telepathically with her. That common?"

"Yeah. Artoria's been able to do it since she was a ralts."

"Hoh? Pretty impressive. Most don't start forming mental links until they're stronger."

Artoria flushed at the praise. It was so cute that I couldn't resist reaching out and patting her head. "She's something else."

"You headed east then north?"

"South to Oldale," I corrected.

"You sure, kid? Petalburg Woods isn't too dangerous, but the eastern side of the forest isn't really watched by us much. It's tamer, but it's still the wilds."

Ranger Steven grunted. "Let 'em be, Wheldon. He's got a kirlia. He'll probably be fine."

I blinked. "Why would that leave me better off?"

"There are four known covens in those woods. The rangers around these parts have friendly relations with them, though they're fairly guarded. They're much friendlier with people who already have a member of the ralts line, something about empathy and trust."

"That makes sense. It's good to know. Do you think those covens are worth looking for?"

"Not a clue, kid. Not from around these parts, remember? You might want to look for them though. Who knows? Maybe they can teach your kirlia a thing or two."

'Speaking of learning new things, how do you feel about Life Dew, Artoria?' I asked her. We watched the roselia flit to and fro as she generated some kind of clear water that shone with healing aura from her flowers. I saw Drew's budew use it in his contest routine, but didn't think much of it until now. 'I think it could come in handy in a lot of ways in the future, no?'

'It could,' she admitted. 'I would not be opposed to learning such a beneficial skill.'

I turned to Ranger Wheldon. The family library probably had instructions, but I figured another opinion was never bad to have. "Ranger Wheldon, how do I go about teaching Artoria Life Dew?"

He looked a little surprised at that. "Hmm? You sure? Most pokémon trainers try to focus on being the best battler."

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"I think tonight showed me just how dangerous that can be."

"True enough. Give me your PokéNav number. I'm going to send you some instructions, alright?"

"Thank you so much."

"Don't mind it. It's no trouble anyway."

When Rosie the roselia finished, I balled the bear and Artoria temporarily. The two rangers withdrew their pokémon and Ranger Steven let out his claydol. The claydol was an anomaly to my burgeoning senses. Where the mightyena was a dark void, the claydol was a brilliant beacon of psychic power, easily greater than anything else I'd felt in these woods. Yet, despite being a psychic beacon, it was also almost wholly devoid of emotion, as though it were truly nothing more than a clay jar.

"Ready, kid?" Ranger Steven asked.

I nodded. "Yes, I've been teleported before."

Then, the claydol's psychic aura enveloped us and we were back in the pokémon center lobby. I shrugged off the mild discomfort with ease. Stronger pokémon like Alfonse or Quinn could teleport people without them even noticing, even mid-fight, but that took dedicated practice or a special knack for the skill. The claydol clearly hadn't received that kind of training.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. All four of my pokéballs went to the nurses, the ursaring to critical care and the others into general recovery. Rangers Wheldon and Steven were ushered elsewhere to report to command while an orderly gave me my room key. Exhaustion caught up to me after a hot shower and I sank into bed to sleep like the dead.

X

The first thing I did next morning was visit the medical wing to withdraw my pokémon. Despite my paranoia, neither Artoria nor Jeanne had taken any significant damage so they were returned to me without a fuss. I thanked the on-call orderly and released them immediately.

"Hey, girls. How're you feeling?" I asked with a smile.

"Mareep!" Jeanne cried as she rammed my shin with her horns. "Ma! Mareep! Reep!"

I looked to Artoria for explanation.

'She is upset that you returned her without warning. Then, she was let out somewhere different with the local chansey prodding at her and you were not there,' Artoria dutifully translated.

I winced, but decided to be truthful. I knelt on one knee so I could meet her eye-to-eye. "Sorry, Jeanne. I didn't think you were in any state to listen to me and attacking the ursaring mother was only making her more mad."

"Mareep?"

'She would like to know what happened.'

"We'll tell you all about it in a bit, okay? Let's not hold the line too long." I turned back to the orderly. "How is the teddiursa?"

He clicked through a few files on the computer before answering. "Your newly captured teddiursa is fine, sir. However, due to his mental state, he had to be sedated for his own good. I believe he is still sleeping. Would you like him back?"

I considered it. My first response was to take the pokémon being offered; unplanned though it was, teddiursa could make a powerful addition to the roster. Then I kicked myself and reminded myself that I had to consider the pokémon's intelligence. He was wild, but he wasn't an animal.

If I were in his shoes, if my mother fought off a dragon with her life on the line for me, ran through miles of forest for me, then almost died in a berserk rage for me… I didn't think I'd be able to cope with anything short of knowing that she was okay.

"Can I take him to see the ursaring?"

"No, I'm sorry sir, but the ursaring remains in critical condition. Some of the emergency care provided by yourself and Ranger Wheldon had to be undone to avoid her injuries from healing incorrectly," he said, then hastily added, "Not that your efforts aren't appreciated. She's alive because of you, but while closing over external wounds can keep someone from bleeding out, it can also present problems in the long-term."

"I understand. When do you think she'll be well enough to see her cub?"

"Tomorrow morning. I believe the head nurse will be performing surgery today and she should be well enough to at least reassure the cub."

"Can we keep the teddiursa asleep until then? I don't want him to worry for days while we wait for the mother."

"Of course. That is no issue at all."

"Then please do so. Thank you so much."

"It's only our jobs to help pokémon."

I wasn't in the mood to eat in the canteen so I grabbed some granola and headed back to my room. I didn't even have to pay for my stay, perks of a gym sponsorship. Jeanne trotted ahead and hopped onto my bed before snuggling into the blanket.

"Mareep…"

'She says you smell nice, my lord… Congratulations?'

'Sheep have an excellent sense of smell, Artoria. We smell like home to her.'

'Ah.'

I took a seat next to my mareep and patted my lap for Artoria to join. We spent a few minutes cuddling on the bed. An ursaring wasn't a battle we were prepared for and it was only hitting us now just what a miracle our survival was. I buried my face in Artoria's green locks and ran my fingers through Jeanne's wool to reassure myself that they were safe. "It was scary, wasn't it?'

"Maa…"

"It's okay. I was afraid too. You and Artoria were amazing."

"Mareep…" she mumbled, her aura flickering into a depressed gray. "Ree…"

"You acted instinctively," I told her. I felt her sink further into my pillow but allowed my fingers to give chase. "But that wasn't a battle we could win. I was so, so scared I would lose one of you."

"Mareep…" Uncertainty. Fear. Envy. Guilt. Ugly splotches colored her aura.

"Yes, I was. You too, not just Artoria. It must feel lonely sometimes, knowing that Artoria and I can talk to each other but I can't understand you. It's okay. It's natural to feel left out."

"Mareep…"

"It's not your fault. I'll grow stronger, just like you. One day, I'll be a powerful psychic, strong enough to speak to you without Artoria's help. I can't wait."

"Mareep?"

I smiled bitterly. "Sorry, I didn't understand."

'She wishes to know why you are not more angry,' Artoria said. 'She believes that she almost got us all killed.'

'Ah, thank you.' I turned back to my little lamb and rubbed an ear between my fingers. "I'm not mad because I understand panic. You didn't think. You couldn't think. And do you know how to fix that?"

"Mareep?"

"Grow stronger."

"Reep."

"It's really that simple. If you panicked, that's because you lost control. So, get stronger. Strong enough to master your fear. Strong enough to control yourself. Strong enough that you never have reason to panic again."

"Mareep…" She turned to Artoria. "Maree-reep?"

"Kirlia. Kir-kirlia," she nodded. When I looked at her in askance, she explained. 'She feels that contest routines are pretty, but not enough to make her strong. I have agreed to spar with her more often.'

"That's great. I'm glad you're using this to push yourself further, Jeanne."

"Mareep!"

"That's why I'm going to give you Shock Wave."

"Reep?"

"It's an electric type move that Wattson gave me. Have you heard of it?"

"Reep," she nodded.

Figured, living amongst so many electric type pokémon, it would have been strange if she wasn't at least familiar with the full gamut of moves available to her species. "You've mastered Thunder Shock far enough that I think something more advanced would be good. You up for it?"

"Mareep!"

X

Despite having been an empath for thirteen years in this world, I could unreservedly admit that emotions weren't really my strong suit. Sure, I could tell what people were feeling, but I sucked at giving pep talks, as Liza found out when she didn't make the cut for her school play. With dad being largely absentee and mom being about as emotive as a rock, I didn't exactly learn better coping mechanisms than those I carried over from my past life.

Which was to say, I hit things with a stick. It was what I did; pretty it up with whatever words you like, but in the end, I was just a guy good at swinging a stick around. When I was pissed, I hit a dummy. When I was sad, I hit a dummy. When I was happy, I hit a dummy with celebratory vigor. Dummy-abuse was more or less my coping strategy for… everything, really.

That was how we found ourselves back at the Verdanturf pokémon center's backyard battlefield.

In hindsight, perhaps Artoria's training-nut behavior wasn't entirely her own doing…

I briefly returned Jeanne so I could hook her pokéball up to the TM disk. A minute later, my PokéNav beeped to let me know the download had finished. Truly, internet connectivity was a marvelous thing. With a flick of my wrist, I let Jeanne out again.

"What do you think? Can you use Shock Wave for me?"

"Mareep!" she cheered, raising her hooves to the sun. Then, as if to prove her newfound dedication, she let out another cry and filled the field with light. The terribly named move was the electric type equivalent of Swift, a move that'd never miss.

In reality, the attack used the unique electromagnetic signature of the opponent to grant a homing effect. It could be evaded, should an opponent be fast enough. Hell, there was a video of Wattson's manectric usurping control over someone else's Shock Wave by flexing its mastery of electromagnetic waves.

Without a target to home in on, Jeanne's Shock Wave looked remarkably like an empowered Thunder Shock at first glance, but I could tell from the elated aura around my sheep that she had used the move correctly.

"Good job, Jeanne," I told her, offering her a dried berry for positive reinforcement. "We're going to work on locking on to electromagnetic signatures next, okay? After that, we'll work up to being able to hit a target even when it's behind something else."

"Mareep!" she nodded resolutely. It was an expression I hadn't expected of her.

I next turned to Artoria. 'The TM is reusable and I know you can learn it, but I'd rather you work on other things for now.'

'Understood, my lord. I have no interest in the ranged attack anyway,' I heard with a shrug. 'What shall I be working on next?'

'I'm going to give you two choices actually. You can either work on improving your psychic constructs by learning Reflect and Light Screen as was my original plan for you, or you can work on your healing abilities by learning Life Dew since we got a firsthand demonstration of how useful it can be from Ranger Wheldon. Both paths have great supplemental value and I want you to learn both eventually, but you should decide where you want to focus for now.'

'I… I do not know. Should I master Reflect and Light Screen, I should be capable of extending the length of my blade, countering attacks before they have the chance to hurt anyone. But I also know that healing is a valuable and noble art…'

'You're going to want to learn both so just go with what you want in the moment,' I advised her. Those three moves weren't all I wanted to teach her. I wanted her to learn Lucky Chant, Calm Mind, Disable, Ally Switch, Misty Terrain, and Heal Pulse on the support side, as well as Magical Leaf, Thunderbolt, Icy Wind, and Will-O-Wisp on the offensive side so she could eventually form elemental blades. The possibility of spreading herself too thin was a real danger for gardevoir simply because they could learn such a large variety of moves.

'Then I wish to begin with the barrier arts, my lord.'

'That's fine. A part of me thought you'd go for Life Dew though.'

'It is useful, but… my ultimately passion is the blade. If I can learn to keep my loved ones from being harmed, then I wish to do so over merely mending the tragedies of the past.'

'Proactive, huh? That's fine. Actually, that might work out better in this case. I have a few ideas for joint training exercises. You know the theory?'

'Yes, my lord. Mother is fond of the barrier arts and I learned at her side.'

'Makes sense, Alice is the shield to Quinn's spear. Go ahead and practice that while I work with Jeanne. Come back when you have the basics down, okay?'

'As you bid.'

Artoria ambled off somewhere she wouldn't be disturbed. I looked back to an impatiently waiting Jeanne. I gave her an affectionate headpat and pointed at a tree near the far end of the field. "Okay, just you and me, Jeanne. Think you can target that tree over there?"

"Mareep," she bleated confidently.

"Great. Go ahead."

A Shock Wave lanced out but I could see it visibly fizzling thanks to the distance. Disappointing, but expected. I had her move a little closer then had her hit the tree from different angles and firing vectors, forcing her to rely on the homing properties of the move.

By the end of the training session, Jeanne turned the bark into a scorched mess. We moved on to smaller targets in the form of berries I threw into the air. The scorched berries were excellent rewards for the eager mareep.

Author's Note

The budew line learns Life Dew as an egg move. I thought it was a good chance to introduce the technique to Artoria.

Thank you for reading. To reach a wider audience, and because I enjoy a more forum-like setup to facilitate discussion, I like to crosspost to a wide variety of websites. You can find them all on my Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/fabled.webs.