:0 More ficcyness from Sem.
It picks up where WL ended but it is not a sequel. Don't read this until you have read this. If you read Rin first you'll be a bit confused, and wonder where on earth Fida and Sem came from anyway.
Enjoy.
-Chapter 1-
Late afternoon sun warmed the backs of two trainers as they sloshed out of the water.
"Thanks, Starmie," Sem said as he pulled out a dive ball and returned his beloved water-type.
"T-that was very fast," she looked up at Sem, ignoring the cackling she heard coming from the Sableye. "You do that every time you need to get across water?"
Sem nodded. "Yes. It's a very handy trick, combining Psychic and Surf."
The whole trip had taken them a mere fifteen minutes, not including the other half hour it took to cross the island in the center of the lake that bore the entrance to Mt. Mortar.
Elvia was gliding around and scanning the immediate area for signs of anything hostile, which confused Fida a bit. Elvia had never done that sort of thing before.
The teenaged boy stood, his left arm held his right, staring at Fida. She returned his gaze with a quizzical look.
"You going to release that Vileplume? I'm curious to see what it does," he responded.
"Oh, right!" Fida exclaimed as she pulled out the Pokéball. She had completely forgotten about the Vileplume, still excited from her trip across the water. She pressed the button on the ball, releasing the Grass-type onto the ground before her.
After shooting a quick glare at Fida, Vileplume began feeling the ground with its feet, roots going in and out as if sampling the soil. The roots sank in and it planted itself there, now taking the time to look around, ignoring the humans completely.
Elvia floated back to Fida's side, as she still wasn't entirely sure about the Vileplume, nor entirely sure of Sem for that matter.
"Well… here you are…" Fida said to the Vileplume.
The giant flower pokémon looked at Fida then for a moment then but soon turned away, giving a simple nod. Uprooting itself, it began walking away towards the cluster of trees not far from the road.
"Well there it goes…" Fida muttered as she watched the red petals vanish into the greenery.
"Maybe…" Sem narrowed his eyes before turning them away and towards the continuation of Route 42. He brought his hand to cover his eyes and looked at the sun. "Well, if I keep walking until night falls then I should be in Mahogany by tomorrow afternoon," he turned to Fida and waved. "Nice to meet you." With that he turned and began walking away - his Sableye gave an unsettling smile as a goodbye.
Fida bit her lip and looked at Elvia. "W-wait!" she shouted.
"Hm?" he turned his head and looked back at the young girl who was twirling a piece of her hair around her finger, looking at the ground in a sheepish manner.
"You're going to Mahogany too?" she asked. He nodded to confirm what he had already stated. "M-mind if we go together?"
Sem's brow rose for a moment before he shrugged, the corners of his mouth turning up into a tiny smile. "Sure, why not?"
"Thank you!" Fida thanked him as she jobbed to catch up with Elvia gliding smoothly along the ground behind her.
"Why are you traveling alone anyway? You're rather young," he inquired as he continued on his way with Fida in tow.
"It's a long story," was the girl's only reply.
-------
The duo set up camp under a full moon by in an indent in a cliff-side. Sem went off to gather wood while Fida organized the campsite and set up her sleeping bag.
Sem returned and placed the wood in an orderly fashion in an already existing fire-circle, evidence that they weren't the first people to use that particular spot as a campsite.
Sableye jumped down from his trainer's shoulder and with a quick snap of his fingers a small blue fireball formed at the tips. He directed the Will-O-Wisp at the wood and soon the deepening darkness of the campsite was penetrated with a warm orange glow.
"Thank you, Sableye." Sem said as the Ghost/Dark-type scampered off, probably in order to find some food.
Fida scanned the Sableye with her PokéDex, Tara's PokéDex, as he went off, adding the creature's data into its database. She closed the device with a sigh and put it away. "So, what are you making?" she asked as Sem put a tiny water-filled container over the fire.
"Instant noodles," he smirked as he stirred in the noodles. "Not exactly five-star, but it works. It's a wonder I haven't gotten tired of the stuff yet."
"Oh…" was Fida's almost silent reply as her eyes glazed over, giving her a distant look. Sem looked over at her and continued stirring.
"But…" he added. "I try to make things a little different each time I cook it. I found some berries today and picked them, I'll probably have those on the side just for variety." He sat silent for a moment. "I know you probably have your own food, but you're welcome to join me," he looked at her and nodded towards the steaming container and smaller container of berries at his side.
"Thank you," Fida nodded trying to smile, though it looked more like a grimace. She looked over to see what Elvia was up to, but found that her guardian ghost hadn't left her side. She pulled out Kieran's Pokéball, Sem noticed that it was a Dusk ball, and she released the tiny black bird, allowing him the chance to walk around and scavenge for food; the hair-tie around his neck glinted in the firelight. Sem's Sableye had returned by then and looked on in minor interest.
"All ready," Sem declared as he poured the soup into two smaller bowl-like containers and passed the first to Fida, as well as a handful of purple berries.
"Thank you," Fida repeated before taking a mouthful of noodles.
The only sound for the first few minutes of eating was the crackling of the fire. It was a peaceful night, barely anything could be heard from the trees around them. They were protected nicely against the wind because of their location. Fida wondered if Sem found the silence awkward as she did, but looking at him, he seemed perfectly content in the silence.
"So," Sem stared after swallowing a berry. "I take it you're not native to Johto?"
"Oh, yes I am," Fida corrected as she popped a berry into her mouth as well, chewing it thoroughly.
"Oh, sorry," he apologized. "Johto's pretty nice from what I've seen, and I've seen quite a bit."
"And where are you from?" Fida asked.
"Hoenn," He replied before taking a drink of water. "Was born in a tiny town called Pacifidlog - a place that's out in the middle of the ocean."
"Really?" Fida asked with a surprised expression.
"Yep, it's pretty neat, but I'll go into further detail later," he capped the bottle. "Though, I may have been born in Hoenn, I've spent about just as much time in Sinnoh. My parents have a second home up in Snowpoint."
Fida pursed her lips for just moment. "Wow, that sounds nice. Your family must be rich,"
"Heh," Sem smirked. "Not really. The house up in Snowpoint is much nicer than the one in Pacifidlog, nicer in that it's simply a better house. The Pacifidlog house is nice too though, I like both places."
A loud crunching sound cut into the discussion.
Fida shifted her gaze and saw Sableye sitting by Sem with a chunk of rock in his mouth. He was chewing the thing like it was cookie or something, and made it look just as soft.
"Sableye eat rocks?" Fida asked, amazed.
"Yeah, that's pretty much the only thing in their diet besides water, which he prefers with a bit of dirt in anyway," Sem answered. "Saves me money on food too."
"How long have you known him?"
"Oh… thirteen years now; I was very young, four if I recall, so yeah, thirteen. Too long for my liking either way." He flicked the Ghost-type's ears. Sableye stopped chewing and turned his head at an unnatural angle his trainer, and gave him a look and a grin that effectively said, ‘Sleep with one eye open tonight.'
Fida giggled a bit, despite being a bit grossed out by the Sableye's head movement. She noticed that Kieran had also returned. "Did you find something, Kieran?" she asked.
The bird simply nodded as he trotted towards her, his gaze was fixed on Sableye and the light that glinted off all of the creature's gems.
"Here," Fida said as she outstretched her hand towards the bird, offering him her remaining three berries. Kieran seemed annoyed to turn his gaze away from the dual Ghost/Dark-type, but quickly plucked the berries from Fida's hand nonetheless.
"Which reminds me…" Sem said as he took the remaining berries in the container. He used his fork and poked holes through each in turn and refilled the container that had held the noodles and placed it over the fire again.
"Once this boils I'm going to throw these in, should get us some sort of tasty beverage in return," he explained.
Once the water had boiled he put the berries in as he said and waited a few minutes, then he served the concoction to Fida and himself. It turned out to taste very good, Fida thought so at least.
They talked a bit more while they drank before putting the fire out and made off to their sleeping bags; Sem settled in across from Fida on the other side of the smoldering fire pit.
Before turning in for the night Fida and Elvia went off for a stroll not far from the campsite.
"He reminds me of Tara," Fida sighed to Elvia who floated along side her. "He's like her in some ways." She hadn't even known the boy for a day, but she was picking up on things about him already that made her remember her friend.
Elvia nodded in agreement, but sent thoughts into Fida's head, images of instances and ways where he was not like Tara.
"Yeah… he's different too." Fida said as she gazed up at the moon. "It'll just take some getting used to, but I like him, don't you?"
Elvia nodded once more, which meant yes, though it was the kind of yes where you could have easily stuck a ‘for now' afterwards.
The duo returned a few minutes later and found the older boy already asleep, though his little purple friend was not; his gemstone eyes glinted at them in the darkness, and they could barely make out the wicked smile etched onto his face.
"Him I'm not so sure about," Fida whispered before settling in her sleeping bag.
-------
Fida was awoken by the sounds of Sem packing the campsite. She yawned silently and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she rose to a sitting position, squinting her eyes so as to not be blinded by the morning sun that showered its rays upon them.
Elvia was moving about the area, helping out with whatever she could, and it seemed that Kieran had just returned from another food-venture.
Fida got herself onto her feet and stretched. She went into the woods to change her clothes and to wash her face in the stream that ran past. Once she returned she began packing her things and soon enough the place looked just as it did when they arrived yesterday, ready for the next weary traveler.
"Breakfast today will be fruit," Sem stated as he handed Fida some apples. "Courtesy of a tree I found this morning." He took a bite of a juicy-looking red apple and offered some to Sableye, who looked at his trainer like he was insane and continued nibbling on his rock.
"Ready, Kieran?" Fida asked her Murkrow who was perched on a low branch on the nearest tree, overlooking everything. He clicked his head towards Fida and nodded, allowing himself to be enveloped in the dark matter of the Dusk ball.
"We have some leftover berry-tea-stuff from last night," Sem informed her as he handed Fida a canteen. "Though, now it's more like juice, but still good."
"Thank you," Fida nodded as she accepted the bottle and took a drink.
The duo set off, continuing their trip towards Mahogany Town. Elvia drifted from side to side, always keeping watch.
"So, you have a Mismagius," Sem noted after swallowing the bite of apple he had taken. "And a Murkrow as well. And while I can't say anything about the Murkrow, Elvia looks particularly strong, yet you're very young," he looked down at her. "so, what's your secret?"
"Well…" Fida began, looking down and trying to keep her voice light. "Before I met you, I was traveling with another trainer; she helped me a lot."
Sem waited to hear more, but after a few moments it became obvious to him that that was all the pig-tailed girl cared to say. "Well that was nice of her."
The two decided to skip lunch and eat an early dinner once they arrived in Mahogany, if only to get there faster and to not have to stop. Fida didn't have much of an appetite lately anyway.
The rest of the trek went by rather quickly, though Fida lamented the fact that Sem did not appear as chatty as Tara was; much of the day passed in long silence, save for the scraping of feet on dirt and the sounds of nature around them. It wasn't until late that afternoon that they saw signs of other people.
"You're a monster!" came the bitter remark of a young trainer, he was cradling a Furret in his arms; its breathing was very erratic and inhaled with gasps, its eyes had rolled up into their sockets.
"Hmph," was the reply of the ‘monster'; a purple-haired (obviously dyed), male who seemed to be in his late teens. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt that bore a purple skull and crossbones. He wore a purple long-sleeved shirt under the black one and the shoe laces on his black shoes were also the same purple. He towered over the younger trainer.
"Don't be mad because you lost," the purple-teen shrugged, a smug expression on his face, recalling a glob-like creature that was also purple. The stench of it was strong enough to reach Fida and Sem.
"I never even agreed to battle with you!" the boy countered, very red faced with anger. "You forced me!"
"Take your pet to the Pokémon Center, and pray that it's not full," he smiled darkly and walked away, the boy cursed under his breathe in response and ran off as well.
"What was that about?" Sem murmured as he looked at each trainer in turn. Sem and Fida were close enough to hear every word that was said.
"I dunno," Fida answered, looking concerned.
"Well, that kid with the Furret ran off in the direction we're headed, I'd guess that behind that knoll of trees up ahead is Mahogany." Without another word he began walking again, following the boy.
He turned out to be right; as soon as the trees cleared the town of Mahogany lay before them, brilliantly lit by late afternoon sun, a large lake shimmered in the distance to their left.
On the streets people walked about, doing errands or running home with groceries. The combined smell of countless dinners made the duo's stomachs growl. They strolled through the quaint gate of the town, tired and ready for some food and rest. Elvia made herself invisible at this point, covering Fida in her presence, but otherwise remaining unseen.
Everything seemed in order, though the pair did notice quite a few police officers as they walked down the streets, more than what was normal. Despite the air of normalcy about the town, there was a tension present as well. They both quickened their pace on their way to the clinic.
It was an older center, the doors were not automatic and the outside of the building looked worn. Before the duo even stepped inside they new there was something going on inside.
As soon as Sem pushed open the door a flood of voices and sounds rushed their ears. There were trainers everywhere, each with a face of concern and stress, and even anger that matched the face that boy from earlier had had. Pokémon lay out on mats on the floors, their trainers by their sides. Furniture had been pushed up against the walls and the white floors seemed completely covered by trainers and Pokémon. Odd scents hovered in the air.
"Miss Joy will my Elekid be ok?!"
"Nurse Joy please tell me that my Raticate will be fine!"
"Nurse Joy please do something about my Noctowl!"
"We're doing everything we can!" a distraught nurse croaked in response, repeating the same answer to them all in turn. Her shoulders sagged and there were dark bags under her eyes, and her hair was not in the pristine condition Joy-hair usually was. "Sir, please, just sit down!"
There was a Blissey by the nurse's side, instructing people to sit and telling a few Chansey where to place certain Pokémon. The Blissey and Chansey also looked very concerned and stressed, and when that happened, you knew something bad was happening.
"What on earth is going on…" Sem muttered, looking left and right as he walked through the maze of people and mats. Fida stuck close to him, observing the different Pokémon on the floor. Some had very awful burns, while others seemed unable to move at all. Few had parts of their bodies completely frozen, and others exhibited the same symptoms of the Furret from before.
"Sir, do you have any injured pokémon?" Sem found himself being asked by Joy.
"No, ma'am, and neither does she," he nodded towards Fida.
"Oh, god," the nurse replied simply. Perhaps it was out of thanks, or the stress of the situation, either way she was not happy. She held a hand to her forehead and sighed deeply.
There was ding from behind the counter.
The woman jolted to the computer that had dinged and began typing furiously. Sem and Fida walked over behind the counter and stood over her shoulder, seeing that a video link was open. Another Joy was on the screen, though she looked healthy and rested.
"I'm just not able to cope with all of these patients! The center's just not big enough," the Mahogany nurse blurted out. "These conditions are bad and it takes too long to cure each individual one. Simple medicines and the healing machine are useless!" she leaned forward, resting her elbow on the desk and held her head.
"We have some room here," the other nurse replied, looking concerned.
"I can't tell the trainers that their pokémon are being sent to Blackthorn! They'd throw a fit knowing they'd have to go through the Ice Path."
"I've already contacted Claire and she's willing to help. She can ferry trainers over the mountain, she can't take very many at a time but it'll be faster."
"All right," the Mahogany nurse agreed. "I'm going to start transporting them as soon as possible, whatever you can't take will go to Ecruteak."
The Blackthorn nurse nodded and the link was closed. Nurse Joy got up out of the seat and grabbed a sheet of stickers from within a drawer.
"Please move or take a seat," she murmured to Sem and Fida irritably. "I have a lot of work to do."
"Let me help you," Sem said. "I work in a lab and I know how these transport systems work."
"Fine," The woman nodded. "Good idea, other nurses won't arrive to help me until tomorrow." She ran her hands over her uniform, straightening it out and erasing wrinkles in the fabric. She stood and faced the rest of the trainers from behind the counter. "All right everyone, I need your attention!" she said loudly.
The loud chatter continued for a few moments but eventually died down with the help of shushes and waving from the nurse.
"It is very important that you listen to me!" she shouted. The room quieted down and it was actually silent, save the labored gasps of some of the Pokémon. "All right! This center is not big enough to help all of you-" she was immediately met with a wall of yells and panicked cries. After a few moments of more shushing it was quiet again. "I'm going to need to transport your pokémon to the Blackthorn center- wait, wait!" she had to say after loud growls started to rise out of the crowd. "For those of you who don't have transport or are unwilling to pass through the mountain, the Blackthorn gym as offered to help in taking you there."
There were less murmurs and opposing words. The trainers were all listening. Most of them realized that no matter the cost they would do anything to help their companions.
"I will be passing out these sheets." She said as she handed one to the nearest trainer. "Please write down your name, species name of your Pokémon, nickname if it has one, and gender. Return your pokémon to their Pokéballs and place the sticker on it. We will be coming around to collect them."
The noise started up again as people scrambled around for stickers, pens, and their Pokémon.
While Sem fired up the transport machine Joy, Fida, and the Blissey and Chansey were gathering Pokéballs from the trainers. Sem placed the spheres on the conveyor belt as he received them; each of them disappeared in a brilliant flash of white light.
Within thirty minutes the Pokémon on the floor were taken care of, the last of which were sent to Ecruteak. The only trainers left were trainers who had Pokémon in actual rooms.
Nurse Joy collapsed into her chair and sighed so deeply it sounded like she was crying. "Thank you for your help," she managed to say.
"I was happy to," Sem nodded.
Fida sat with them. She had been rather busy gathering Pokémon from trainers and helping the nurse to tell them what to do. Trainers who had no transportation of their own waited outside for the arrival of their draconic transports.
"What's going on here?" Fida asked.
"It started a few days ago." The nurse half-said, half-moaned. "Cases of severe conditions; burns, paralysis, poison, even freeze and sleep." She shook her head. "There isn't a trainer in town that hasn't been caught by it, or any person just traveling through, they got everyone."
"Who?" Sem questioned.
The nurse shrugged and looked at him. "They just call themselves, The Ailments."
It picks up where WL ended but it is not a sequel. Don't read this until you have read this. If you read Rin first you'll be a bit confused, and wonder where on earth Fida and Sem came from anyway.
Enjoy.
-Chapter 1-
Late afternoon sun warmed the backs of two trainers as they sloshed out of the water.
"Thanks, Starmie," Sem said as he pulled out a dive ball and returned his beloved water-type.
"T-that was very fast," she looked up at Sem, ignoring the cackling she heard coming from the Sableye. "You do that every time you need to get across water?"
Sem nodded. "Yes. It's a very handy trick, combining Psychic and Surf."
The whole trip had taken them a mere fifteen minutes, not including the other half hour it took to cross the island in the center of the lake that bore the entrance to Mt. Mortar.
Elvia was gliding around and scanning the immediate area for signs of anything hostile, which confused Fida a bit. Elvia had never done that sort of thing before.
The teenaged boy stood, his left arm held his right, staring at Fida. She returned his gaze with a quizzical look.
"You going to release that Vileplume? I'm curious to see what it does," he responded.
"Oh, right!" Fida exclaimed as she pulled out the Pokéball. She had completely forgotten about the Vileplume, still excited from her trip across the water. She pressed the button on the ball, releasing the Grass-type onto the ground before her.
After shooting a quick glare at Fida, Vileplume began feeling the ground with its feet, roots going in and out as if sampling the soil. The roots sank in and it planted itself there, now taking the time to look around, ignoring the humans completely.
Elvia floated back to Fida's side, as she still wasn't entirely sure about the Vileplume, nor entirely sure of Sem for that matter.
"Well… here you are…" Fida said to the Vileplume.
The giant flower pokémon looked at Fida then for a moment then but soon turned away, giving a simple nod. Uprooting itself, it began walking away towards the cluster of trees not far from the road.
"Well there it goes…" Fida muttered as she watched the red petals vanish into the greenery.
"Maybe…" Sem narrowed his eyes before turning them away and towards the continuation of Route 42. He brought his hand to cover his eyes and looked at the sun. "Well, if I keep walking until night falls then I should be in Mahogany by tomorrow afternoon," he turned to Fida and waved. "Nice to meet you." With that he turned and began walking away - his Sableye gave an unsettling smile as a goodbye.
Fida bit her lip and looked at Elvia. "W-wait!" she shouted.
"Hm?" he turned his head and looked back at the young girl who was twirling a piece of her hair around her finger, looking at the ground in a sheepish manner.
"You're going to Mahogany too?" she asked. He nodded to confirm what he had already stated. "M-mind if we go together?"
Sem's brow rose for a moment before he shrugged, the corners of his mouth turning up into a tiny smile. "Sure, why not?"
"Thank you!" Fida thanked him as she jobbed to catch up with Elvia gliding smoothly along the ground behind her.
"Why are you traveling alone anyway? You're rather young," he inquired as he continued on his way with Fida in tow.
"It's a long story," was the girl's only reply.
-------
The duo set up camp under a full moon by in an indent in a cliff-side. Sem went off to gather wood while Fida organized the campsite and set up her sleeping bag.
Sem returned and placed the wood in an orderly fashion in an already existing fire-circle, evidence that they weren't the first people to use that particular spot as a campsite.
Sableye jumped down from his trainer's shoulder and with a quick snap of his fingers a small blue fireball formed at the tips. He directed the Will-O-Wisp at the wood and soon the deepening darkness of the campsite was penetrated with a warm orange glow.
"Thank you, Sableye." Sem said as the Ghost/Dark-type scampered off, probably in order to find some food.
Fida scanned the Sableye with her PokéDex, Tara's PokéDex, as he went off, adding the creature's data into its database. She closed the device with a sigh and put it away. "So, what are you making?" she asked as Sem put a tiny water-filled container over the fire.
"Instant noodles," he smirked as he stirred in the noodles. "Not exactly five-star, but it works. It's a wonder I haven't gotten tired of the stuff yet."
"Oh…" was Fida's almost silent reply as her eyes glazed over, giving her a distant look. Sem looked over at her and continued stirring.
"But…" he added. "I try to make things a little different each time I cook it. I found some berries today and picked them, I'll probably have those on the side just for variety." He sat silent for a moment. "I know you probably have your own food, but you're welcome to join me," he looked at her and nodded towards the steaming container and smaller container of berries at his side.
"Thank you," Fida nodded trying to smile, though it looked more like a grimace. She looked over to see what Elvia was up to, but found that her guardian ghost hadn't left her side. She pulled out Kieran's Pokéball, Sem noticed that it was a Dusk ball, and she released the tiny black bird, allowing him the chance to walk around and scavenge for food; the hair-tie around his neck glinted in the firelight. Sem's Sableye had returned by then and looked on in minor interest.
"All ready," Sem declared as he poured the soup into two smaller bowl-like containers and passed the first to Fida, as well as a handful of purple berries.
"Thank you," Fida repeated before taking a mouthful of noodles.
The only sound for the first few minutes of eating was the crackling of the fire. It was a peaceful night, barely anything could be heard from the trees around them. They were protected nicely against the wind because of their location. Fida wondered if Sem found the silence awkward as she did, but looking at him, he seemed perfectly content in the silence.
"So," Sem stared after swallowing a berry. "I take it you're not native to Johto?"
"Oh, yes I am," Fida corrected as she popped a berry into her mouth as well, chewing it thoroughly.
"Oh, sorry," he apologized. "Johto's pretty nice from what I've seen, and I've seen quite a bit."
"And where are you from?" Fida asked.
"Hoenn," He replied before taking a drink of water. "Was born in a tiny town called Pacifidlog - a place that's out in the middle of the ocean."
"Really?" Fida asked with a surprised expression.
"Yep, it's pretty neat, but I'll go into further detail later," he capped the bottle. "Though, I may have been born in Hoenn, I've spent about just as much time in Sinnoh. My parents have a second home up in Snowpoint."
Fida pursed her lips for just moment. "Wow, that sounds nice. Your family must be rich,"
"Heh," Sem smirked. "Not really. The house up in Snowpoint is much nicer than the one in Pacifidlog, nicer in that it's simply a better house. The Pacifidlog house is nice too though, I like both places."
A loud crunching sound cut into the discussion.
Fida shifted her gaze and saw Sableye sitting by Sem with a chunk of rock in his mouth. He was chewing the thing like it was cookie or something, and made it look just as soft.
"Sableye eat rocks?" Fida asked, amazed.
"Yeah, that's pretty much the only thing in their diet besides water, which he prefers with a bit of dirt in anyway," Sem answered. "Saves me money on food too."
"How long have you known him?"
"Oh… thirteen years now; I was very young, four if I recall, so yeah, thirteen. Too long for my liking either way." He flicked the Ghost-type's ears. Sableye stopped chewing and turned his head at an unnatural angle his trainer, and gave him a look and a grin that effectively said, ‘Sleep with one eye open tonight.'
Fida giggled a bit, despite being a bit grossed out by the Sableye's head movement. She noticed that Kieran had also returned. "Did you find something, Kieran?" she asked.
The bird simply nodded as he trotted towards her, his gaze was fixed on Sableye and the light that glinted off all of the creature's gems.
"Here," Fida said as she outstretched her hand towards the bird, offering him her remaining three berries. Kieran seemed annoyed to turn his gaze away from the dual Ghost/Dark-type, but quickly plucked the berries from Fida's hand nonetheless.
"Which reminds me…" Sem said as he took the remaining berries in the container. He used his fork and poked holes through each in turn and refilled the container that had held the noodles and placed it over the fire again.
"Once this boils I'm going to throw these in, should get us some sort of tasty beverage in return," he explained.
Once the water had boiled he put the berries in as he said and waited a few minutes, then he served the concoction to Fida and himself. It turned out to taste very good, Fida thought so at least.
They talked a bit more while they drank before putting the fire out and made off to their sleeping bags; Sem settled in across from Fida on the other side of the smoldering fire pit.
Before turning in for the night Fida and Elvia went off for a stroll not far from the campsite.
"He reminds me of Tara," Fida sighed to Elvia who floated along side her. "He's like her in some ways." She hadn't even known the boy for a day, but she was picking up on things about him already that made her remember her friend.
Elvia nodded in agreement, but sent thoughts into Fida's head, images of instances and ways where he was not like Tara.
"Yeah… he's different too." Fida said as she gazed up at the moon. "It'll just take some getting used to, but I like him, don't you?"
Elvia nodded once more, which meant yes, though it was the kind of yes where you could have easily stuck a ‘for now' afterwards.
The duo returned a few minutes later and found the older boy already asleep, though his little purple friend was not; his gemstone eyes glinted at them in the darkness, and they could barely make out the wicked smile etched onto his face.
"Him I'm not so sure about," Fida whispered before settling in her sleeping bag.
-------
Fida was awoken by the sounds of Sem packing the campsite. She yawned silently and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she rose to a sitting position, squinting her eyes so as to not be blinded by the morning sun that showered its rays upon them.
Elvia was moving about the area, helping out with whatever she could, and it seemed that Kieran had just returned from another food-venture.
Fida got herself onto her feet and stretched. She went into the woods to change her clothes and to wash her face in the stream that ran past. Once she returned she began packing her things and soon enough the place looked just as it did when they arrived yesterday, ready for the next weary traveler.
"Breakfast today will be fruit," Sem stated as he handed Fida some apples. "Courtesy of a tree I found this morning." He took a bite of a juicy-looking red apple and offered some to Sableye, who looked at his trainer like he was insane and continued nibbling on his rock.
"Ready, Kieran?" Fida asked her Murkrow who was perched on a low branch on the nearest tree, overlooking everything. He clicked his head towards Fida and nodded, allowing himself to be enveloped in the dark matter of the Dusk ball.
"We have some leftover berry-tea-stuff from last night," Sem informed her as he handed Fida a canteen. "Though, now it's more like juice, but still good."
"Thank you," Fida nodded as she accepted the bottle and took a drink.
The duo set off, continuing their trip towards Mahogany Town. Elvia drifted from side to side, always keeping watch.
"So, you have a Mismagius," Sem noted after swallowing the bite of apple he had taken. "And a Murkrow as well. And while I can't say anything about the Murkrow, Elvia looks particularly strong, yet you're very young," he looked down at her. "so, what's your secret?"
"Well…" Fida began, looking down and trying to keep her voice light. "Before I met you, I was traveling with another trainer; she helped me a lot."
Sem waited to hear more, but after a few moments it became obvious to him that that was all the pig-tailed girl cared to say. "Well that was nice of her."
The two decided to skip lunch and eat an early dinner once they arrived in Mahogany, if only to get there faster and to not have to stop. Fida didn't have much of an appetite lately anyway.
The rest of the trek went by rather quickly, though Fida lamented the fact that Sem did not appear as chatty as Tara was; much of the day passed in long silence, save for the scraping of feet on dirt and the sounds of nature around them. It wasn't until late that afternoon that they saw signs of other people.
"You're a monster!" came the bitter remark of a young trainer, he was cradling a Furret in his arms; its breathing was very erratic and inhaled with gasps, its eyes had rolled up into their sockets.
"Hmph," was the reply of the ‘monster'; a purple-haired (obviously dyed), male who seemed to be in his late teens. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt that bore a purple skull and crossbones. He wore a purple long-sleeved shirt under the black one and the shoe laces on his black shoes were also the same purple. He towered over the younger trainer.
"Don't be mad because you lost," the purple-teen shrugged, a smug expression on his face, recalling a glob-like creature that was also purple. The stench of it was strong enough to reach Fida and Sem.
"I never even agreed to battle with you!" the boy countered, very red faced with anger. "You forced me!"
"Take your pet to the Pokémon Center, and pray that it's not full," he smiled darkly and walked away, the boy cursed under his breathe in response and ran off as well.
"What was that about?" Sem murmured as he looked at each trainer in turn. Sem and Fida were close enough to hear every word that was said.
"I dunno," Fida answered, looking concerned.
"Well, that kid with the Furret ran off in the direction we're headed, I'd guess that behind that knoll of trees up ahead is Mahogany." Without another word he began walking again, following the boy.
He turned out to be right; as soon as the trees cleared the town of Mahogany lay before them, brilliantly lit by late afternoon sun, a large lake shimmered in the distance to their left.
On the streets people walked about, doing errands or running home with groceries. The combined smell of countless dinners made the duo's stomachs growl. They strolled through the quaint gate of the town, tired and ready for some food and rest. Elvia made herself invisible at this point, covering Fida in her presence, but otherwise remaining unseen.
Everything seemed in order, though the pair did notice quite a few police officers as they walked down the streets, more than what was normal. Despite the air of normalcy about the town, there was a tension present as well. They both quickened their pace on their way to the clinic.
It was an older center, the doors were not automatic and the outside of the building looked worn. Before the duo even stepped inside they new there was something going on inside.
As soon as Sem pushed open the door a flood of voices and sounds rushed their ears. There were trainers everywhere, each with a face of concern and stress, and even anger that matched the face that boy from earlier had had. Pokémon lay out on mats on the floors, their trainers by their sides. Furniture had been pushed up against the walls and the white floors seemed completely covered by trainers and Pokémon. Odd scents hovered in the air.
"Miss Joy will my Elekid be ok?!"
"Nurse Joy please tell me that my Raticate will be fine!"
"Nurse Joy please do something about my Noctowl!"
"We're doing everything we can!" a distraught nurse croaked in response, repeating the same answer to them all in turn. Her shoulders sagged and there were dark bags under her eyes, and her hair was not in the pristine condition Joy-hair usually was. "Sir, please, just sit down!"
There was a Blissey by the nurse's side, instructing people to sit and telling a few Chansey where to place certain Pokémon. The Blissey and Chansey also looked very concerned and stressed, and when that happened, you knew something bad was happening.
"What on earth is going on…" Sem muttered, looking left and right as he walked through the maze of people and mats. Fida stuck close to him, observing the different Pokémon on the floor. Some had very awful burns, while others seemed unable to move at all. Few had parts of their bodies completely frozen, and others exhibited the same symptoms of the Furret from before.
"Sir, do you have any injured pokémon?" Sem found himself being asked by Joy.
"No, ma'am, and neither does she," he nodded towards Fida.
"Oh, god," the nurse replied simply. Perhaps it was out of thanks, or the stress of the situation, either way she was not happy. She held a hand to her forehead and sighed deeply.
There was ding from behind the counter.
The woman jolted to the computer that had dinged and began typing furiously. Sem and Fida walked over behind the counter and stood over her shoulder, seeing that a video link was open. Another Joy was on the screen, though she looked healthy and rested.
"I'm just not able to cope with all of these patients! The center's just not big enough," the Mahogany nurse blurted out. "These conditions are bad and it takes too long to cure each individual one. Simple medicines and the healing machine are useless!" she leaned forward, resting her elbow on the desk and held her head.
"We have some room here," the other nurse replied, looking concerned.
"I can't tell the trainers that their pokémon are being sent to Blackthorn! They'd throw a fit knowing they'd have to go through the Ice Path."
"I've already contacted Claire and she's willing to help. She can ferry trainers over the mountain, she can't take very many at a time but it'll be faster."
"All right," the Mahogany nurse agreed. "I'm going to start transporting them as soon as possible, whatever you can't take will go to Ecruteak."
The Blackthorn nurse nodded and the link was closed. Nurse Joy got up out of the seat and grabbed a sheet of stickers from within a drawer.
"Please move or take a seat," she murmured to Sem and Fida irritably. "I have a lot of work to do."
"Let me help you," Sem said. "I work in a lab and I know how these transport systems work."
"Fine," The woman nodded. "Good idea, other nurses won't arrive to help me until tomorrow." She ran her hands over her uniform, straightening it out and erasing wrinkles in the fabric. She stood and faced the rest of the trainers from behind the counter. "All right everyone, I need your attention!" she said loudly.
The loud chatter continued for a few moments but eventually died down with the help of shushes and waving from the nurse.
"It is very important that you listen to me!" she shouted. The room quieted down and it was actually silent, save the labored gasps of some of the Pokémon. "All right! This center is not big enough to help all of you-" she was immediately met with a wall of yells and panicked cries. After a few moments of more shushing it was quiet again. "I'm going to need to transport your pokémon to the Blackthorn center- wait, wait!" she had to say after loud growls started to rise out of the crowd. "For those of you who don't have transport or are unwilling to pass through the mountain, the Blackthorn gym as offered to help in taking you there."
There were less murmurs and opposing words. The trainers were all listening. Most of them realized that no matter the cost they would do anything to help their companions.
"I will be passing out these sheets." She said as she handed one to the nearest trainer. "Please write down your name, species name of your Pokémon, nickname if it has one, and gender. Return your pokémon to their Pokéballs and place the sticker on it. We will be coming around to collect them."
The noise started up again as people scrambled around for stickers, pens, and their Pokémon.
While Sem fired up the transport machine Joy, Fida, and the Blissey and Chansey were gathering Pokéballs from the trainers. Sem placed the spheres on the conveyor belt as he received them; each of them disappeared in a brilliant flash of white light.
Within thirty minutes the Pokémon on the floor were taken care of, the last of which were sent to Ecruteak. The only trainers left were trainers who had Pokémon in actual rooms.
Nurse Joy collapsed into her chair and sighed so deeply it sounded like she was crying. "Thank you for your help," she managed to say.
"I was happy to," Sem nodded.
Fida sat with them. She had been rather busy gathering Pokémon from trainers and helping the nurse to tell them what to do. Trainers who had no transportation of their own waited outside for the arrival of their draconic transports.
"What's going on here?" Fida asked.
"It started a few days ago." The nurse half-said, half-moaned. "Cases of severe conditions; burns, paralysis, poison, even freeze and sleep." She shook her head. "There isn't a trainer in town that hasn't been caught by it, or any person just traveling through, they got everyone."
"Who?" Sem questioned.
The nurse shrugged and looked at him. "They just call themselves, The Ailments."
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Thanks for the compliment though.
