Location: Riverside, On the way back to Camp SAM.CG
Time: 2nd Day, After 10 am
Tagging: Salem, Cassie
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The nightmarish shade had grinned at him dismissively and Salem could not help but bristle a bit at the thought, unreasonable as it was. He was relieved when the Pokémon sank into the ground and disappeared with a chilling cackle that echoed around the area for a while longer.
As soon as it was gone, Lady burst into the scene, violently yet graceful. She looked around for trouble before settling her murderous gaze on Cassie. If it wasn’t for her controlled grace and fluent movement Salem would have thought the virus had gotten to her.
‘Speaking of the virus,’ he though, ‘that shade just now had not seem wild at all, and had actually let them go.’
“Cassie, I think there’s a trainer…” he began, looking up just in time to see the Liepard swipe at the girl’s face. He had taken a couple steps in their direction when a familiar red light enveloped the feline and sucked her back into the Pokéball at Cassie’s belt.
The small woman looked up at him, bleeding as she was, from her position on the ground and pushed up against a tree.
“Are you alright?” she asked him and Salem could not help but smile in wondrous amazement at the apparent strength of this fragile looking creature. He could see through her façade however. Something about her stance, or perhaps the look in her eyes gave her away, though he could not specifically say what it was exactly.
She got up and he stepped closer to her, wanting to offer his support, but then he noticed the subtle shift in her. It was barely noticeable yet she might as well have screamed for how obvious it seemed to him. She was shifty, her voice held a barely discernable tremor, and her eyes briefly darted in the direction the Infernape had disappeared.
With just that minute motion Salem understood. He vividly recalled her reaction to the monkey only a couple of hours ago. He did not presume to understand, but looking at her scarred hands even he could venture a guess.
She began to ramble, listing reasons and excuses for why he should get rid of the Pokémon and he wholeheartedly agreed.
Salem was normally not the type to use such measures in order to avoid a confrontation, but now was not the time to deal with the infernape.
As if on cue the fiery monkey leaped from the bushes and landed on the path behind Cassie. It was waving a large branch around like a baton and looking absolutely murderous, but when it couldn’t find the ghost that harmed it earlier it screeched and broke the stick violently over a knee.
Salem had acted as soon as he saw the Pokémon leap into view when looking over Cassie’s shoulder. He stepped forward and hugged the Ace trainer tightly as the heat of the fire type’s presence washed over the both of them. With one hand he quickly tapped the Pokéball on his belt, recalling the Infernape, before re-securing his hold on the woman.
Almost immediately after the Pokémon disappeared the heat abated and the calming lull of the jungle returned. Salem’s heart was thundering in his chest, he could feel it pounding from the adrenaline of the encounter.
‘no, that’s not quite it,’ he realized.
His heart was pounding on Cassie’s behalf. Somehow he had made part of her fear his own and his body was reacting to that. But Salem was master over his emotions, and with a deep breath he let his inner ocean wash over the flames of panic, quenching them almost immediately.
“Cassie,” he said softly after a moment, and pulled his head back to look at her. “I am alright. You can let go now.”
He smiled reassuringly.