Whatever was in our camp, it wasn't a trainer. This was too low to the ground. Being a puddle, I had too low of an angle to see clearly. It was in the bushes around our camp! It went right through Umbreon's bush! However, instead of attacking or distracting it, he only looked at it funny, with his head cocked as if he wasn't quite sure what to do with it.
A tiny paw with fingers reached out of the bushes, towards Inferno's tail. It looked almost like a Mankey... but it was a bit too small. What was it?
Whatever the paw belonged to, it took hold of the end of Inferno's tail and pulled.
"YOW!" Inferno yelled from within the rock as he briefly cloaked his tail in flames, burning his attacker. It squealed in pain and tumbled out of the bush.
That's no Mankey... I thought as I watched it start crying. "That's a human kit!" I said as I emerged from my puddle. It was rather cute, with the weird cloth-things that humans wear over their skin. It smelled a bit yucky, but even so. "Inferno! You hurt it!" I shouted as it continued to wail.
"It pulled my tail!" he retorted, pulling himself out of the rock (head first this time). "I thought it was a predator!"
"Fair enough," I shrugged.
"Does that mean it's safe to come down?" Bolt asked from the treetop.
"Yes! All clear!" The rest of the clan came out of their hiding places one by one. Bolt crouched on the edge of his paws staring at the human kit as if it were from another world.
"What IS it?" he asked, awestruck.
Espeon and I answered at the same time. "It's a human kit."
Clover looked dubious. "This is what a human kit looks like?"
Umbreon shrugged. "I guess. ...But where's its fur? Humans have patches of fur on their heads!"
Snow sniffed it carefully. "There's a tiny bit here, but it's all wispy. I hope it's not cold." she said as the kit continued to bawl.
"And how do we get it to stop crying!?" Inferno shouted. "At this rate, every piece of prey will be gone, and every predator and trainer will come running!"
"Then we need to make it feel better!" I said over the din. Trotting up to the kit, I sprayed cold water over its burnt paw. It's crying slowed a bit.
Snow walked up behind me. "Let me help." She blew a cold breeze over the burn while I resumed spraying water. Espeon came up as well and emitted a soothing psychic suggestion to the kit. Eventually, the crying subsided. It looked at the three of us. Then, it grabbed the fins on my head.
"Ow!" I complained. "Not for pulling!" Luckily for me, Inferno stepped in and wriggled his fluffy body between me and the kit. It started petting him. "Thanks," I muttered, shaking my head.
"No problem," he said softly. "Now that I know it's not a threat, well..." he trailed off.
"Question?" Bolt asked. "What do we do with it?" Everyone fell silent.
Umbreon shook his head. "We can't keep it. What would we do with it?"
"Besides," Espeon meowed, "it must have a mother somewhere."
"Then why isn't it with that mother? Maybe something happened," Clover said with concern.
"Well, we can't abandon it," Surf reasoned. "Both Umbreon and Clover are right."
Everyone fell silent again, trying to come up with a solution before it pulled more of Inferno's fur out. An idea came to me. "Ok, we'll do it like when we needed the Search and Rescue party after that fire. One team of three goes out looks for the mother, and comes back. If they find her, another three will help get her back to her kit."
Surf looked at me fondly. "I knew there was a reason we made you leader."
Fifteen minutes later, the search team was ready to go. Inferno would not take part in any of the parties, seeing as the kit loved him so much. When he tried to leave for a second to get a drink, the kit had started wailing again. Thus, Inferno would watch the kit. Whether he liked it or not.
Umbreon, Surf, Clover, and I started off. "There's a human town this way," Umbreon said. "We'll have to be careful, though. There are trainers." The rest of us nodded and continued walking solemnly. We were a Search party, so we ignored the two Tailows that we saw on the way.
Some time later, we reached the edge of the town. Dusk was falling, so we had a bit of cover as long as we stuck to the shadows. "Split up," I whispered. "North, east, south, and west. Call if you run into trouble. Meet back here in half an hour." Everyone nodded and split up without another word. If I knew my clan, Umbreon would take the south side, Clover would go east, and Surf would prefer west. So, I took the only remaining cardinal direction.
Five minutes later, I was creeping between houses on the north side of the town. Compared to most human camps, this one was rather quaint. The dens weren't that big, and the fence-territory was larger than most. I stuck to the shadows and melted the second I heard motion. Many dens were closed with lights on inside. One or two humans were outside their dens, most with Pokemon of various species. But no matter how hard I looked, I just couldn't find a distressed female.
Surf dove into a big, blue pond as a trainer came out. Hopefully, he doesn't want a swim, Surf thought as he melted quickly. This water was strange. It had stuff in it that made his eyes hurt a bit. Also, it was too blue. Humans are weird, he thought to himself. After a few minutes, the trainer went back inside, much to Surf's relief. He jumped out as quickly as possible and shook himself off. He looked up at the rising moon. He had been out here for 20 minutes, and not one sign of a human missing a kit.
Umbreon rolled his eyes as yet another human walked right by him in the shadows. How stupid could you get? He wasn't afraid to spray poison from his glowing rings if spotted, but he preferred staying out of sight in general. He only had 3 more dens to check. He chuckled as he walked, thinking to himself I wonder if they didn't notice the kit is gone. Just 3 dens left. Then he could go back to Espeon. As he passed one, the door to the den burst open. Umbreon jumped and hid in the shadows. A female human ran out, sobbing. "Isabella!? ISABELLA!" she cried. Umbreon faded further. Well, he thought, I think I found the mother.
Clover searched among the dens, anxious to find the kit's mother. She ran down the gaps between them, not using stealth as much. If danger came, she could always hide in a bush or tree. Nothing there... Nothing here... No humans here... Where is she!? So caught up in her thoughts that, as she rounded a corner, she almost crashed into an Arcanine. A hungry-looking Arcanine. Clover skidded and reversed direction just as the Fire-Type's teeth snapped shut on the spot where she was a second ago. Clover ran blind, looking for somewhere to escape. She could feel its heat on her tail. It was catching up! Seeing no other option, she bounded up a wooded fence that marked the edge of a human's territory. She stopped just in time to see two Houndooms in the fence-territory! Both jumped up at her, barking fiercely. She looked back and forth. Fire-Type dogs on either side! She was trapped! "Help!" she called desperately. "HELP!
No comments:
Post a Comment