Fen-Fen
Me but more fabulous
- 359
- Posts
- 8
- Years
- Age 25
- Colorado, USA
- Seen Nov 26, 2023
Arthur Crane
28 Years
He/Him
Agricultural Corp
~ A JP between Jay & Fen-Fen ~
> A Sprouting Seed - Part 2
28 Years
He/Him
Agricultural Corp
~ A JP between Jay & Fen-Fen ~
> A Sprouting Seed - Part 2
After a while of harvesting what they could of the seedlings, Felicity and Arthur were ready to return back to Jubilife, their mission a success. Though she was quite exhausted from a combination of a lack of sleep, the exertion of the trek and the harvesting of the crops, she was still stubbornly determined to keep moving, to be able to prove to her athletic co-worker that she was able to perform her duties. As much as she tried to hide it, though, she was moving slower and sloppier, and she was blinking rapidly as if trying not to fall asleep. Arthur however, was a man used to farmwork and long shifts. He knew better than most the importance of proper rest, as well as the signs that showed in a person if they weren't getting it.
"Hey…" He said, taking a step ahead of her pace and turning to focus on her face. "Are you sure you're going to be okay? You said you hadn't slept well and you look exhausted." It was a rather blunt way of putting it, but when it came to a worker's health, Arthur didn't believe in beating around the bush.
"Hmm?" Felicity replied, seeming to take a second to process what he had said. She waved a hand in dismissal and said, "I'm fine. I just…I'm just a little tired. Once we get back to - "
In that moment, Felicity had ceased paying attention to where she was going and stepped right off a sudden three foot drop, landing hard on her right ankle and causing her to fall forward on her face. Roi let out a startled chirp as he flew off of Felicity's shoulder. When she lifted herself up with her arms, she felt something warm and wet on her face. As some of it flowed into her mouth, the metallic taste confirmed it as blood, most likely from her nose.
She tried getting to her feet, but as soon as she stepped on her right foot, a white-hot pain radiating from her ankle caused her to fall back down. She let out a pained scream, grimacing and closing her eyes.
"..!" One second there and then gone, Arthur reached out too late to grab Felicity as she fell. Cursing under his breath, he slid down the side of the drop and hopped down to the new ground level. Opening his mouth to speak, he took a step towards her with an outstretched hand, but was cut off shortly by her scream, which caused him to bristle and tense.
Moving quicker now he stepped forward and placed his large hand to her mouth, muffling her quickly with a more serious expression than she had yet seen from him. "Felicity, listen, I know it hurts but we're in the wilderness right now, if you're too loud we could get into serious danger." Another, very forward move on his part, but the time for worrying about rudeness had just now, very rapidly, passed. He felt a warmth on his hand and was somewhat taken aback as blood from her nose had dripped onto it. She was bleeding there, but that wasn't the main problem, she had let out a screech when she tried to stand, so Arthur shifted slightly to look at her ankle.
A nasty lump and an off putting angle told Arthur this was a sprain at best, but possibly worse. "Okay now, deep breaths, everything's gonna be fine. We've got to get you out of here."
The sudden clamped hand over her mouth caused her to panic even more. She squirmed to try and wriggle free, but his grip was iron.
He was trying to hurt her. He was trying to suffocate her. She was gasping for air, but she still couldn't breathe. Her heart was racing out of control.
In reality, Arthur's touch was surprisingly light for his size and the urgency of the situation, but there was a panic he didn't expect in Felicity's eyes. A pang of guilt formed in his chest, a reminder of how intimidating he could be perceived by others, but even still it didn't take a genius to notice that Felicity seemed particularly panicked by his actions. He started to take away the hand, but before he could, clearly sensing Felicity's distress, Roi dove for Arthur's hand and Pecked it. Letting out a grunt of surprise and pain, Arthur pulled his hand away quickly and with her mouth freed, Felicity started scooting backward to try and put distance between herself and Arthur.
Before she got very far, however, another sight directly behind Arthur stopped her dead in her tracks. A very large pink Pokémon of some sort, towering over him, stared back at her with glowing red eyes.
Red eyes that seemed all too familiar.
In her panic, she let out another scream and pointed at it.
At first concerned that she was screaming at him, Arthur froze a moment, before noticing that Felicity's gaze was focused on something behind him. Whipping around he was faced with something that sent a shot of adrenaline straight through him. A large, round, pink hued monster. A pokémon far larger than any he had seen on Hisui so far, with burning red eyes. Everything slowed for a moment as the result he had feared was coming to pass. Some oddly shaped predator, working its way out of the woodwork to take advantage of them while they were vulnerable. There was no more time to think or hesitate, only act.
Arthur quickly plunged his hand into the dirt and soil below his feet, grabbing a handful of slick mud, mired by the nearby river. Slinging it with a flex of his arm, he launched the filth into the glowing eyes of the creature looming over him, causing it to sputter and stagger for the briefest moment. Without a word, despite any protestations, he almost lunged forward, slipping an arm under Felicity's legs and the other carefully balancing her back. It was intimidating how effortlessly he scooped up the comparatively small woman from the ground, quite a bit lighter than a log as she was.
"I told you to be quiet…" He grumbled, gritting his teeth in mild panic as he stood up. The Pokémon had already finished wiping its eyes clean and there wasn't any time to argue over fault or reasoning. Taking off into a sprint, Arthur kicked off part of the drop Felicity had initially fallen down and pushed the pair back up onto the trail, before taking off down the dirt path back in the direction they had initially come from.
Felicity looked over Arthur's shoulder, seeing the pink Pokémon lumbering behind them. Roi flew overhead, a note of fear in his expression, though he was trying to maintain a brave face for Felicity. The way that she had reacted to the other human made it seem as though he might be a threat, and he could be trying to abscond with her.
As he swooped down for another attack, Felicity shouted back and pointed behind her, "Don't attack him! He's helping me! If you're to attack anything, attack that Pokemon behind us!" Much to Arthur's relief it seemed, as Felicity sensed his muscles tensing to endure the strike, before relaxing just a bit as she called her attack bird off.
Roi stopped his dive, turning around in one swift motion. His claws started glowing a bit as he used Hone Claws to power up his attack. With a puffed out chest to make him seem larger than he actually was, he dove in and barrelled right into the pink Pokemon claws first.
The foe was quite resilient, however, as it shook off the attack with seemingly no problem. In retaliation, the Pokemon went for some sort of charging tackle in response. Roi just barely dodged the attack, causing the Pokemon to stumble a bit as it lost its balance.
She took several shuddering, shallow breaths, her mind racing and all too willing to stab her with the full extent of her failures. This was not at all what she had in mind for this mission. It was all her fault that they had gotten into this mess. If she hadn't had that stupid nightmare, if she hadn't run herself ragged, if she had been able to keep her composure, none of this would be happening.
"It's going to be alright." Seemingly in response to these fears, Arthur spoke up, his gaze focused forward as he ran, not looking at her as he spoke but in some way understanding how she felt. "We're doing a dangerous job, Felicity. Things are going to get hectic every now and then." Not even bothering with the makeshift log bridge, in between his attempts to comfort the woman in his arms, Arthur simply leaped, clearing the small ditch with minimum effort. "I don't know what's going on in your head right now, can't rightly tell, but I know what it's like to lose sleep to bad dreams. I know what it's like to have something weighing on you so much that you aren't at your best." He glanced down at her for a moment, his gaze meeting hers as he ran. "And it isn't anythin' to be ashamed of."
Slowly, Felicity's breathing started to slow down and she was able to draw in deeper breaths. Something about the way he said those words was getting through to her. Even amidst the chaos and the fear of the situation, she couldn't help but be taken by Arthur's sincerity and conviction. In a sea of anxieties and fears, his words were a lifeline she could hold onto and keep herself from being completely pulled under.
Arthur's eyes shot back up to the path ahead, focused and intent, dodging back and forth between the trees. He could still hear the pink pokémon charging behind them, being pestered by Roi.
Roi… did that little monster really care about Felicity? When he saw Arthur as a threat, he rushed to her aid, despite the huge difference in size. Without even hesitating when Felicity asked, he turned back and went to fight a red-eyed monster. Could it be that he understood her that well? No, that can't have been right.
Even still, despite his own feelings, the Rookidee was trying to cover their escape. He couldn't deny what was real. "Felicity, I'm bringing you to the edge of these woods, where we can call for help. Then…" He sighed a little, doubling his pace and grunting in annoyance. "I'll… go back for your damn bird. So just hold on a little longer."
Looking up at Arthur, Felicity breathed, "You…you would truly do that for us? I…"
She closed her eyes, suddenly feeling tears welling up in her eyes. "That's…thank you, Mr. Crane. I'm sorry, I…"
Arthur slid out of the forest, dirt kicking up as he quickly ground to a halt, they were back in the Obsidian Fieldlands proper now, the base camp and the entrance to Jubilife Village was distant, but in sight. Taking a breath and fighting off fatigue, Arthur quickly places Felicity down against a sturdy tree and glances back into the forest, the shadow of that pink pokémon still staggering after them… as well as the image of a tiny little bird flying around it persistently. Whatever that pokémon was, it was strong and resilient, it was taking Sinnoh knew how many attacks and shrugging them off like they were nothing, barreling through the forest after them completely unbothered. Arthur didn't know if he could do much to stop it, even if he tried. Still, he had to do something, no way in hell he was going to be in debt to a pokémon if nothing else.
"Don't thank me till it's over yeah? Just take deep breaths and if I'm not back in two minutes, start calling for help. The Survey Corp should be nearby at about this time." Taking another breath, he turned back towards the trees and steeled himself. "I'll be right back."
Feeling a rush of adrenaline and, he had to admit, fear, Arthur charged back into the forest towards their pursuer and Roi, who were still swatting away at each other. He couldn't believe this, that he was risking his skin for a pokémon, it was ridiculous. He couldn't let himself think like that, this was for Felicity, for a new friend and co-worker who was in danger, who needed his help. Whatever the truth of it was, he supposed, it didn't matter much now. He was moving, he was doing this, that was that.
It took a worryingly short amount of time to meet the pace of the two pokémon. Roi warbled out a furious cry as he went in for a Peck, though looking worse for wear than when he initially started his assault. It appeared that the pink Pokémon had managed to get several hits on the Rookidee, though it was maneuvering strangely defensively for a beast. The Peck made its mark, but nearly as quickly as it had hit, the enemy stepped back and held a glowing egg-shaped orb, cracking it and releasing a pulse of energy directed at itself.
Immediately any small wounds Roi had managed to inflict vanished. Every scratch and nick on the red eyes pokémon disappeared as if they had never been inflicted at all. Arthur's eyes widened with mild panic, it could heal itself? How? What kind of creature had the ability to just magic away its wounds like they were nothing? Quickly collecting himself, once again he decided the logistics of it all didn't matter. There wasn't any time to think, only time to act. He was here to save the bird, that was all that mattered.
Rushing in, the pink pokémon noticed him coming and seemed taken aback. He leaped forward, roaring out a shout to startle and intimidate his pursuer. The strategy seemed to work as the pokémon took a step back and started to prepare itself for something once again, no doubt another attack or some means to defend itself. That had been exactly Arthur's intention however, despite leaping and shouting he had no intention of going toe to toe with his massive opponent. As the pokémon was startled, Arthur instead quickly reached for Roi, a large hand that was almost the size of the bird pokémon by itself, clasped around him and plucked him straight out of the air. Holding on tight despite the little Pokémon's protests, Arthur hit the ground again and quickly slid to double back, sprinting back towards Felicity with Roi (quite literally) in hand.
Roi screeched and tried everything he could to wrestle free from Arthur's grasp, but his grip was too strong and he was unable to turn himself around to peck his hand. That dastardly fiend, he really was a bad human trying to prevent him from defending himself and Felicity! He had to protect her, he had to be strong enough! Unfortunately, the more he struggled, the more he realized the futility as he kept being dragged along by the other human.
He simply wasn't strong enough.
Arthur glanced back over his shoulder as he heard the sound of their pursuer taking off again. It was going faster this time, almost… desperate? He had always had a way of being receptive to other people's feelings. That strength didn't extend to monsters and yet… he couldn't help but notice that after all this time chasing, now that the light was clearer and the trees less dense, that the pokémon didn't look angry. It looked… almost concerned, frightened even. It cried out after him as he ran, reaching stubby little arms towards him. As was often the case with these creatures, Arthur could only assume its name was the same sound as the cries it made. "...Blissey..?"
He had let himself get distracted and had slowed down too much, Arthur found himself sprinting out past the treeline, right in front of the still injured Felicity. He hadn't expected the large and imposing Blissey to be able to keep pace so well, but now they were running out of places to run and hide both. Releasing Roi from his grasp, Arthur quickly shifted to move back to Felicity's side just as the 'Blissey' broke past the forest's edge, almost rolling out as it seemed to trip over its own feet. Arthur's chest clenched, they were out of options, he wouldn't have time to pick up Felicity again before it got a move off. Tensing his arms and muscles, Arthur moved his fists up defensively and took a wide stance in front of Felicity, resigning to what would come next. "Listen to me, we're out of time. Felicity, when it comes at us, you get up and you run, I know your ankle is injured but you have to try, scream and shout for help as loud as you can. I'll do everything I can to stop it following you."
Gritting her teeth together, Felicity tried standing up again by putting most of her weight on her left ankle. She let out another pained cry as she transferred enough weight on her right side to hobble forward a small step. By Zacian, it hurt so badly even doing that much, but the looming threat of danger and Arthur's urgent words forced her to take several steps forward.
Arthur tensed his entire body, gritting his teeth, fists at the ready, he glared into the pokémons red eyes, searching for an opportunity, waiting for it to make a move.
Nothing. How? Why?
Blissey's face contorted with worry as she looked past Arthur and toward the suffering human. It knew full well that not only did the male human spreading his arms out in front of it was scared of it, but the injured one was as well. It needed to do something to prove that it meant no harm. Instead of trying to walk around Arthur and head straight for Felicity, it backed away, reached into her pouch, held up a berry and pointed it toward Felicity. Arthur stared in confusion at the berry for a few moments in turn, before his expression shifted into one of shock. His shoulders released their tension slightly and shock gave way to confusion.
The berry was blue, dappled and round, it was squished a little in the afternoon sun and Blissey cradled it gently in its small hand. She had been carrying the berry for quite some time, he realized. The whole time, perhaps. "Felicity wait!" Arthur called out as the girl moved to stagger away, intensity gave way to silence. Everything seemed to stay still for a moment. He held Blissey's gaze in his own throughout it, searching its eyes for feeling. Concern, care… pain? The red glow wasn't natural, it was something else, something different. Blissey itself… wasn't aggressive, by choice?
Felicity turned herself around at Arthur's call, watching as Arthur and the Pokemon - Blissey - silently faced off. An understanding immediately dawned on her as she looked at the berry it held in its hands. Her fears of the creature started melting away as she realized that its purpose was not to hunt or chase them, but to heal her. It really wasn't a monster after all, at least not in the way that the panicked imagination of both her and Arthur had been painting it out to be.
Arthur steeled himself once more, then took one purposeful step forward, Blissey didn't flinch, but grew warrier all the same. Felicity was hurt, this pokémon had healing powers. It seemed so impossible to him, like something out of a fairy tail, something that wasn't supposed to be real, yet on a possible impossibility he made the choice to let his guard down and take a chance, for the sake of another girl who'd been hurt under his care. Gingerly, Arthur took the berry, which Blissey willingly gave, its eyes still meeting his, the large pokémon almost looked relieved, like it was finally being understood. "You… want to help her..?"
Blissey nodded. She started moving toward Felicity, this time unimpeded by her, Arthur or even Roi. The creature decided to hold her hand with its stubbly little arms, allowing her ease herself down into a sitting position. Despite herself, Felicity smiled a little as she looked up into Blissey's eyes, seeing a warmth in the strangely glowing eyes that she hadn't been able to see before. Blissey bent down and pointed its arms toward Felicity's injured ankle. Felicity looked on in awe as glowing drops of water materialized from thin air and flowed from Blissey's arms onto her ankle. In an instant, the swelling went down and the pain lessened with a soothing, cool touch, until it became only a dull, throbbing ache.
She let out a long sigh of relief. It was absolutely miraculous! This all-powerful creature, healing her as if it were magic, was simply amazing!
She let out an airy laugh, feeling an unexpected swell of joy. "I simply can't believe it, Mr. Crane! It worked!" With help from Blissey, Felicity got back up and walked over to Arthur with a limp. It was still quite tender and sore, but it was a far cry from the agony she had been in.
"You can walk…" Artur was incredulous, considering he had been forced to carry her mere moments ago. To think a creature could so quickly undo that damage, it was amazing, humbling and… frightening. It was clear Arthur was still on edge, though Blissey had helped him he knew it was a wild creature, coming from an untamed forest and a waterfall known to be dangerous to humans. Felicity, considering her panic, seemed so eager to switch gears but Arthur was finding it much harder to do. Furrowing his brow he took a step to the side, watching Blissey closely, scanning still for signs of hostility.
Nothing. He sighed gently to himself.
"I'm glad you're not hurt, well, not as hurt Felicity." He checked his bag briefly, seedlings still intact, then looked back to the village momentarily. Finally, his eyes rested warily once more on Blissey. "But we're not in the clear yet, we have to get back to the village sooner rather than later."
Felicity nodded. "Of course. I have had more than my fair share of adventure for today."
As Felicity started walking toward the village, the Blissey took a few hesitant steps following her. Felicity turned around to face it, a puzzled look on her face. "Hmm? Do you not have a home to return to? Surely you must have one as a wild creature."
Blissey pointed at Felicity, and then down to her ankle. She blinked, trying to think of what exactly the creature meant. She wasn't sure how much of her words Blissey actually understood, but assuming it had, it perhaps recognized the word home. Was it trying to say that home was with her, because of her injury? It did appear when she had cried out in pain after all.
She gestured to herself, and then to the village in the distance. "That settlement over there is home for both me and Mr. Crane. Are you saying you want to stay with me for a little while to tend to my injury?"
Blissey reached into its pouch, pulling out another berry and giving it to Felicity. This one was pink and heart-shaped, one that she instantly recognized as a Pecha Berry. Though it was well-known for its poison curing properties, it was a sweet, delicious berry in its own right. She gratefully accepted and took a bite out of it, the Pokemon beaming as it saw Felicity's face light up. "Why thank you! What a kindly creature!"
"Well, I suppose that if Blissey wishes to follow me, I shan't object. It would be most uncivilized of me to refuse polite company such as theirs."
Arthur of course seemed uncertain, frowning somewhat at the suggestion of another mouth to feed. Considering he was working on solving the food problem… and this particular pokémon looked large enough to eat him out of house and home… well, it felt like taking one step forward and two large, pink steps back.
And yet, just this once, considering what Blissey had done, maybe he could make an exception. "Who or what you bring into your home ain't my business I s'ppose." Arthur grumbled, but followed it with a small uncertain time. "Though I'm still taking you to medical, nice as Blissey's work was, I'd rather a trained professional take a look still."
It was with that note that Felicity and Arthur started heading back toward Jubilife, her new friend walking behind them. Despite all of the peril she and Arthur had been through, there was something about this encounter that made Felicity feel a lot lighter. Pokemon really weren't the monsters that she had to cower in terror over, not anymore than she did with Roi. They were wonderful, powerful creatures, just like she had always fancied them to be. Maybe not every encounter with a Pokemon would be so peaceful, but there had to be more out there just like Roi and Blissey.
Arthur on the other hand, still had a lot to think about it seemed. Today he had seen first hand, two pokémon help a human for no good reason. Roi could be argued to be in it for food and favors, but Blissey? Why would that wild creature make such a choice? He wasn't sure, he still didn't trust it, but for today he was content to let it go. Seeing the smile on Felicity's face as she moved forward with a new friend brought enough warmth to him that, at least for today, he wasn't about to make a fuss. While he could never know it, her love of Pokémon was something of great importance to her… and as much as he felt the need to reject them, she wanted to believe in them all the more.
After all, even the worst Pokemon surely did not compare to the horrors of man that she had been witness to.
"Hey…" He said, taking a step ahead of her pace and turning to focus on her face. "Are you sure you're going to be okay? You said you hadn't slept well and you look exhausted." It was a rather blunt way of putting it, but when it came to a worker's health, Arthur didn't believe in beating around the bush.
"Hmm?" Felicity replied, seeming to take a second to process what he had said. She waved a hand in dismissal and said, "I'm fine. I just…I'm just a little tired. Once we get back to - "
In that moment, Felicity had ceased paying attention to where she was going and stepped right off a sudden three foot drop, landing hard on her right ankle and causing her to fall forward on her face. Roi let out a startled chirp as he flew off of Felicity's shoulder. When she lifted herself up with her arms, she felt something warm and wet on her face. As some of it flowed into her mouth, the metallic taste confirmed it as blood, most likely from her nose.
She tried getting to her feet, but as soon as she stepped on her right foot, a white-hot pain radiating from her ankle caused her to fall back down. She let out a pained scream, grimacing and closing her eyes.
"..!" One second there and then gone, Arthur reached out too late to grab Felicity as she fell. Cursing under his breath, he slid down the side of the drop and hopped down to the new ground level. Opening his mouth to speak, he took a step towards her with an outstretched hand, but was cut off shortly by her scream, which caused him to bristle and tense.
Moving quicker now he stepped forward and placed his large hand to her mouth, muffling her quickly with a more serious expression than she had yet seen from him. "Felicity, listen, I know it hurts but we're in the wilderness right now, if you're too loud we could get into serious danger." Another, very forward move on his part, but the time for worrying about rudeness had just now, very rapidly, passed. He felt a warmth on his hand and was somewhat taken aback as blood from her nose had dripped onto it. She was bleeding there, but that wasn't the main problem, she had let out a screech when she tried to stand, so Arthur shifted slightly to look at her ankle.
A nasty lump and an off putting angle told Arthur this was a sprain at best, but possibly worse. "Okay now, deep breaths, everything's gonna be fine. We've got to get you out of here."
The sudden clamped hand over her mouth caused her to panic even more. She squirmed to try and wriggle free, but his grip was iron.
He was trying to hurt her. He was trying to suffocate her. She was gasping for air, but she still couldn't breathe. Her heart was racing out of control.
In reality, Arthur's touch was surprisingly light for his size and the urgency of the situation, but there was a panic he didn't expect in Felicity's eyes. A pang of guilt formed in his chest, a reminder of how intimidating he could be perceived by others, but even still it didn't take a genius to notice that Felicity seemed particularly panicked by his actions. He started to take away the hand, but before he could, clearly sensing Felicity's distress, Roi dove for Arthur's hand and Pecked it. Letting out a grunt of surprise and pain, Arthur pulled his hand away quickly and with her mouth freed, Felicity started scooting backward to try and put distance between herself and Arthur.
Before she got very far, however, another sight directly behind Arthur stopped her dead in her tracks. A very large pink Pokémon of some sort, towering over him, stared back at her with glowing red eyes.
Red eyes that seemed all too familiar.
In her panic, she let out another scream and pointed at it.
At first concerned that she was screaming at him, Arthur froze a moment, before noticing that Felicity's gaze was focused on something behind him. Whipping around he was faced with something that sent a shot of adrenaline straight through him. A large, round, pink hued monster. A pokémon far larger than any he had seen on Hisui so far, with burning red eyes. Everything slowed for a moment as the result he had feared was coming to pass. Some oddly shaped predator, working its way out of the woodwork to take advantage of them while they were vulnerable. There was no more time to think or hesitate, only act.
Arthur quickly plunged his hand into the dirt and soil below his feet, grabbing a handful of slick mud, mired by the nearby river. Slinging it with a flex of his arm, he launched the filth into the glowing eyes of the creature looming over him, causing it to sputter and stagger for the briefest moment. Without a word, despite any protestations, he almost lunged forward, slipping an arm under Felicity's legs and the other carefully balancing her back. It was intimidating how effortlessly he scooped up the comparatively small woman from the ground, quite a bit lighter than a log as she was.
"I told you to be quiet…" He grumbled, gritting his teeth in mild panic as he stood up. The Pokémon had already finished wiping its eyes clean and there wasn't any time to argue over fault or reasoning. Taking off into a sprint, Arthur kicked off part of the drop Felicity had initially fallen down and pushed the pair back up onto the trail, before taking off down the dirt path back in the direction they had initially come from.
Felicity looked over Arthur's shoulder, seeing the pink Pokémon lumbering behind them. Roi flew overhead, a note of fear in his expression, though he was trying to maintain a brave face for Felicity. The way that she had reacted to the other human made it seem as though he might be a threat, and he could be trying to abscond with her.
As he swooped down for another attack, Felicity shouted back and pointed behind her, "Don't attack him! He's helping me! If you're to attack anything, attack that Pokemon behind us!" Much to Arthur's relief it seemed, as Felicity sensed his muscles tensing to endure the strike, before relaxing just a bit as she called her attack bird off.
Roi stopped his dive, turning around in one swift motion. His claws started glowing a bit as he used Hone Claws to power up his attack. With a puffed out chest to make him seem larger than he actually was, he dove in and barrelled right into the pink Pokemon claws first.
The foe was quite resilient, however, as it shook off the attack with seemingly no problem. In retaliation, the Pokemon went for some sort of charging tackle in response. Roi just barely dodged the attack, causing the Pokemon to stumble a bit as it lost its balance.
She took several shuddering, shallow breaths, her mind racing and all too willing to stab her with the full extent of her failures. This was not at all what she had in mind for this mission. It was all her fault that they had gotten into this mess. If she hadn't had that stupid nightmare, if she hadn't run herself ragged, if she had been able to keep her composure, none of this would be happening.
"It's going to be alright." Seemingly in response to these fears, Arthur spoke up, his gaze focused forward as he ran, not looking at her as he spoke but in some way understanding how she felt. "We're doing a dangerous job, Felicity. Things are going to get hectic every now and then." Not even bothering with the makeshift log bridge, in between his attempts to comfort the woman in his arms, Arthur simply leaped, clearing the small ditch with minimum effort. "I don't know what's going on in your head right now, can't rightly tell, but I know what it's like to lose sleep to bad dreams. I know what it's like to have something weighing on you so much that you aren't at your best." He glanced down at her for a moment, his gaze meeting hers as he ran. "And it isn't anythin' to be ashamed of."
Slowly, Felicity's breathing started to slow down and she was able to draw in deeper breaths. Something about the way he said those words was getting through to her. Even amidst the chaos and the fear of the situation, she couldn't help but be taken by Arthur's sincerity and conviction. In a sea of anxieties and fears, his words were a lifeline she could hold onto and keep herself from being completely pulled under.
Arthur's eyes shot back up to the path ahead, focused and intent, dodging back and forth between the trees. He could still hear the pink pokémon charging behind them, being pestered by Roi.
Roi… did that little monster really care about Felicity? When he saw Arthur as a threat, he rushed to her aid, despite the huge difference in size. Without even hesitating when Felicity asked, he turned back and went to fight a red-eyed monster. Could it be that he understood her that well? No, that can't have been right.
Even still, despite his own feelings, the Rookidee was trying to cover their escape. He couldn't deny what was real. "Felicity, I'm bringing you to the edge of these woods, where we can call for help. Then…" He sighed a little, doubling his pace and grunting in annoyance. "I'll… go back for your damn bird. So just hold on a little longer."
Looking up at Arthur, Felicity breathed, "You…you would truly do that for us? I…"
She closed her eyes, suddenly feeling tears welling up in her eyes. "That's…thank you, Mr. Crane. I'm sorry, I…"
Arthur slid out of the forest, dirt kicking up as he quickly ground to a halt, they were back in the Obsidian Fieldlands proper now, the base camp and the entrance to Jubilife Village was distant, but in sight. Taking a breath and fighting off fatigue, Arthur quickly places Felicity down against a sturdy tree and glances back into the forest, the shadow of that pink pokémon still staggering after them… as well as the image of a tiny little bird flying around it persistently. Whatever that pokémon was, it was strong and resilient, it was taking Sinnoh knew how many attacks and shrugging them off like they were nothing, barreling through the forest after them completely unbothered. Arthur didn't know if he could do much to stop it, even if he tried. Still, he had to do something, no way in hell he was going to be in debt to a pokémon if nothing else.
"Don't thank me till it's over yeah? Just take deep breaths and if I'm not back in two minutes, start calling for help. The Survey Corp should be nearby at about this time." Taking another breath, he turned back towards the trees and steeled himself. "I'll be right back."
Feeling a rush of adrenaline and, he had to admit, fear, Arthur charged back into the forest towards their pursuer and Roi, who were still swatting away at each other. He couldn't believe this, that he was risking his skin for a pokémon, it was ridiculous. He couldn't let himself think like that, this was for Felicity, for a new friend and co-worker who was in danger, who needed his help. Whatever the truth of it was, he supposed, it didn't matter much now. He was moving, he was doing this, that was that.
It took a worryingly short amount of time to meet the pace of the two pokémon. Roi warbled out a furious cry as he went in for a Peck, though looking worse for wear than when he initially started his assault. It appeared that the pink Pokémon had managed to get several hits on the Rookidee, though it was maneuvering strangely defensively for a beast. The Peck made its mark, but nearly as quickly as it had hit, the enemy stepped back and held a glowing egg-shaped orb, cracking it and releasing a pulse of energy directed at itself.
Immediately any small wounds Roi had managed to inflict vanished. Every scratch and nick on the red eyes pokémon disappeared as if they had never been inflicted at all. Arthur's eyes widened with mild panic, it could heal itself? How? What kind of creature had the ability to just magic away its wounds like they were nothing? Quickly collecting himself, once again he decided the logistics of it all didn't matter. There wasn't any time to think, only time to act. He was here to save the bird, that was all that mattered.
Rushing in, the pink pokémon noticed him coming and seemed taken aback. He leaped forward, roaring out a shout to startle and intimidate his pursuer. The strategy seemed to work as the pokémon took a step back and started to prepare itself for something once again, no doubt another attack or some means to defend itself. That had been exactly Arthur's intention however, despite leaping and shouting he had no intention of going toe to toe with his massive opponent. As the pokémon was startled, Arthur instead quickly reached for Roi, a large hand that was almost the size of the bird pokémon by itself, clasped around him and plucked him straight out of the air. Holding on tight despite the little Pokémon's protests, Arthur hit the ground again and quickly slid to double back, sprinting back towards Felicity with Roi (quite literally) in hand.
Roi screeched and tried everything he could to wrestle free from Arthur's grasp, but his grip was too strong and he was unable to turn himself around to peck his hand. That dastardly fiend, he really was a bad human trying to prevent him from defending himself and Felicity! He had to protect her, he had to be strong enough! Unfortunately, the more he struggled, the more he realized the futility as he kept being dragged along by the other human.
He simply wasn't strong enough.
Arthur glanced back over his shoulder as he heard the sound of their pursuer taking off again. It was going faster this time, almost… desperate? He had always had a way of being receptive to other people's feelings. That strength didn't extend to monsters and yet… he couldn't help but notice that after all this time chasing, now that the light was clearer and the trees less dense, that the pokémon didn't look angry. It looked… almost concerned, frightened even. It cried out after him as he ran, reaching stubby little arms towards him. As was often the case with these creatures, Arthur could only assume its name was the same sound as the cries it made. "...Blissey..?"
He had let himself get distracted and had slowed down too much, Arthur found himself sprinting out past the treeline, right in front of the still injured Felicity. He hadn't expected the large and imposing Blissey to be able to keep pace so well, but now they were running out of places to run and hide both. Releasing Roi from his grasp, Arthur quickly shifted to move back to Felicity's side just as the 'Blissey' broke past the forest's edge, almost rolling out as it seemed to trip over its own feet. Arthur's chest clenched, they were out of options, he wouldn't have time to pick up Felicity again before it got a move off. Tensing his arms and muscles, Arthur moved his fists up defensively and took a wide stance in front of Felicity, resigning to what would come next. "Listen to me, we're out of time. Felicity, when it comes at us, you get up and you run, I know your ankle is injured but you have to try, scream and shout for help as loud as you can. I'll do everything I can to stop it following you."
Gritting her teeth together, Felicity tried standing up again by putting most of her weight on her left ankle. She let out another pained cry as she transferred enough weight on her right side to hobble forward a small step. By Zacian, it hurt so badly even doing that much, but the looming threat of danger and Arthur's urgent words forced her to take several steps forward.
Arthur tensed his entire body, gritting his teeth, fists at the ready, he glared into the pokémons red eyes, searching for an opportunity, waiting for it to make a move.
Nothing. How? Why?
Blissey's face contorted with worry as she looked past Arthur and toward the suffering human. It knew full well that not only did the male human spreading his arms out in front of it was scared of it, but the injured one was as well. It needed to do something to prove that it meant no harm. Instead of trying to walk around Arthur and head straight for Felicity, it backed away, reached into her pouch, held up a berry and pointed it toward Felicity. Arthur stared in confusion at the berry for a few moments in turn, before his expression shifted into one of shock. His shoulders released their tension slightly and shock gave way to confusion.
The berry was blue, dappled and round, it was squished a little in the afternoon sun and Blissey cradled it gently in its small hand. She had been carrying the berry for quite some time, he realized. The whole time, perhaps. "Felicity wait!" Arthur called out as the girl moved to stagger away, intensity gave way to silence. Everything seemed to stay still for a moment. He held Blissey's gaze in his own throughout it, searching its eyes for feeling. Concern, care… pain? The red glow wasn't natural, it was something else, something different. Blissey itself… wasn't aggressive, by choice?
Felicity turned herself around at Arthur's call, watching as Arthur and the Pokemon - Blissey - silently faced off. An understanding immediately dawned on her as she looked at the berry it held in its hands. Her fears of the creature started melting away as she realized that its purpose was not to hunt or chase them, but to heal her. It really wasn't a monster after all, at least not in the way that the panicked imagination of both her and Arthur had been painting it out to be.
Arthur steeled himself once more, then took one purposeful step forward, Blissey didn't flinch, but grew warrier all the same. Felicity was hurt, this pokémon had healing powers. It seemed so impossible to him, like something out of a fairy tail, something that wasn't supposed to be real, yet on a possible impossibility he made the choice to let his guard down and take a chance, for the sake of another girl who'd been hurt under his care. Gingerly, Arthur took the berry, which Blissey willingly gave, its eyes still meeting his, the large pokémon almost looked relieved, like it was finally being understood. "You… want to help her..?"
Blissey nodded. She started moving toward Felicity, this time unimpeded by her, Arthur or even Roi. The creature decided to hold her hand with its stubbly little arms, allowing her ease herself down into a sitting position. Despite herself, Felicity smiled a little as she looked up into Blissey's eyes, seeing a warmth in the strangely glowing eyes that she hadn't been able to see before. Blissey bent down and pointed its arms toward Felicity's injured ankle. Felicity looked on in awe as glowing drops of water materialized from thin air and flowed from Blissey's arms onto her ankle. In an instant, the swelling went down and the pain lessened with a soothing, cool touch, until it became only a dull, throbbing ache.
She let out a long sigh of relief. It was absolutely miraculous! This all-powerful creature, healing her as if it were magic, was simply amazing!
She let out an airy laugh, feeling an unexpected swell of joy. "I simply can't believe it, Mr. Crane! It worked!" With help from Blissey, Felicity got back up and walked over to Arthur with a limp. It was still quite tender and sore, but it was a far cry from the agony she had been in.
"You can walk…" Artur was incredulous, considering he had been forced to carry her mere moments ago. To think a creature could so quickly undo that damage, it was amazing, humbling and… frightening. It was clear Arthur was still on edge, though Blissey had helped him he knew it was a wild creature, coming from an untamed forest and a waterfall known to be dangerous to humans. Felicity, considering her panic, seemed so eager to switch gears but Arthur was finding it much harder to do. Furrowing his brow he took a step to the side, watching Blissey closely, scanning still for signs of hostility.
Nothing. He sighed gently to himself.
"I'm glad you're not hurt, well, not as hurt Felicity." He checked his bag briefly, seedlings still intact, then looked back to the village momentarily. Finally, his eyes rested warily once more on Blissey. "But we're not in the clear yet, we have to get back to the village sooner rather than later."
Felicity nodded. "Of course. I have had more than my fair share of adventure for today."
As Felicity started walking toward the village, the Blissey took a few hesitant steps following her. Felicity turned around to face it, a puzzled look on her face. "Hmm? Do you not have a home to return to? Surely you must have one as a wild creature."
Blissey pointed at Felicity, and then down to her ankle. She blinked, trying to think of what exactly the creature meant. She wasn't sure how much of her words Blissey actually understood, but assuming it had, it perhaps recognized the word home. Was it trying to say that home was with her, because of her injury? It did appear when she had cried out in pain after all.
She gestured to herself, and then to the village in the distance. "That settlement over there is home for both me and Mr. Crane. Are you saying you want to stay with me for a little while to tend to my injury?"
Blissey reached into its pouch, pulling out another berry and giving it to Felicity. This one was pink and heart-shaped, one that she instantly recognized as a Pecha Berry. Though it was well-known for its poison curing properties, it was a sweet, delicious berry in its own right. She gratefully accepted and took a bite out of it, the Pokemon beaming as it saw Felicity's face light up. "Why thank you! What a kindly creature!"
"Well, I suppose that if Blissey wishes to follow me, I shan't object. It would be most uncivilized of me to refuse polite company such as theirs."
Arthur of course seemed uncertain, frowning somewhat at the suggestion of another mouth to feed. Considering he was working on solving the food problem… and this particular pokémon looked large enough to eat him out of house and home… well, it felt like taking one step forward and two large, pink steps back.
And yet, just this once, considering what Blissey had done, maybe he could make an exception. "Who or what you bring into your home ain't my business I s'ppose." Arthur grumbled, but followed it with a small uncertain time. "Though I'm still taking you to medical, nice as Blissey's work was, I'd rather a trained professional take a look still."
It was with that note that Felicity and Arthur started heading back toward Jubilife, her new friend walking behind them. Despite all of the peril she and Arthur had been through, there was something about this encounter that made Felicity feel a lot lighter. Pokemon really weren't the monsters that she had to cower in terror over, not anymore than she did with Roi. They were wonderful, powerful creatures, just like she had always fancied them to be. Maybe not every encounter with a Pokemon would be so peaceful, but there had to be more out there just like Roi and Blissey.
Arthur on the other hand, still had a lot to think about it seemed. Today he had seen first hand, two pokémon help a human for no good reason. Roi could be argued to be in it for food and favors, but Blissey? Why would that wild creature make such a choice? He wasn't sure, he still didn't trust it, but for today he was content to let it go. Seeing the smile on Felicity's face as she moved forward with a new friend brought enough warmth to him that, at least for today, he wasn't about to make a fuss. While he could never know it, her love of Pokémon was something of great importance to her… and as much as he felt the need to reject them, she wanted to believe in them all the more.
After all, even the worst Pokemon surely did not compare to the horrors of man that she had been witness to.
Felicity Cadieux
21 Years
She/Her
Supply Corp
21 Years
She/Her
Supply Corp
