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Ch 69 - Improvise
🕑 Added 2023-12-13 11:45:20 +0000 UTCDavid packed up slowly the next morning.
He couldn’t quite decide if he preferred the smooth ground by the cliff edge as a campsite over the long grass in a wooded clearing. His feet and clothes weren’t soaked by morning dew, but the stone ground was cooold. It hadn’t been bad last night, but when he woke up this morning the chill had soaked through the stone into his thin mat. It was worse on his bare feet. The cold seemed to bite at his toes.
Still, it was with an odd sense of loss that he waved goodbye to the misshapen face carved into the cliff. David set out into the woods again, following the ridge and heading south.
The woods were quiet today, settling into a tired peace after the last few days of strong winds. Branches drooped down from exhaustion. As David walked, freshly fallen leaves that had settled on the overgrown grass below fell once again. It wasn’t a dark morning as much as grey with light clouds blanketing the sky above.
It was a lovely bit of hiking. David entertained himself by weaving through the trees and looking for more faces carved along the ridge to his right or berry bushes on his left. His backpack didn’t weigh upon him as much today, he was growing used to the weight again. Red skin on his left foot warned about a potential blister, but he was taking it easy today and walking at a slower pace.
Really, it was a lovely morning to be out alon-
Pidgey’s ball shook.
David groaned. He’d barely even started. It hadn’t even been an hour since he left camp. Cloudburst was getting up earlier and earlier these days and when she got up..
David shrugged off his backpack, hanging it on a nearby branch to try to avoid it getting wet. He untangled the mess of string hanging around his net and pulled her ball out. With a click and a bright flash of light, Cloudburst appeared.
“Pidge!”
“Good morning Cloud,” David said, rolling his shoulders. Maybe he wasn’t quite used to the backpack yet.
“Pidgey!” She hopped over and bumped into his legs.
“Right, right, Cloudburst.”
Pidgey let out an annoyed squawk and left him behind, turning instead to her only desire at this time in the morning, and the thing that would grind David’s progress to a halt for the next hour. With a light flap of the wings, she made a boosted hop up onto the branch that his backpack hung from. She ducked her head forward and began pulling at the drawstring blocking her access.
“Stop it!” David called. “Last time you only pulled it tighter and it took ages to undo.”
Pidgey let out a slow squawk and gave the string one last pull.
David hurried over before she decided to start using her talons.
A few minutes later he was nibbling on a Mago berry, while Pidgey dug into her sachet. It was funny how she’d gone from treating the packets with suspicion and distaste to making them her morning version of coffee and catnip. His own pink and yellow berry was quite sweet and fruity. Maybe a little too much for breakfast, but it kind of reminded him of strawberry and banana pancakes..
Shit. Now he had a craving for pancakes. Pancakes and nutella. Pancakes with sugar and lemon. Pancakes with whipped cream and-
Pidgey hopped over to him, breaking his train of thought.
“What’s up?”
“Gey.” She dropped the empty sachet wrapper at his feet.
“All done?” David asked in surprise. That was much faster than usual.
Pidgey chirped and hopped up on his lap.
“Huh? You want me to help smooth your-”
Pidgey snapped her head forward and snatched away half of his berry. With her prize in hand, she flapped her wings and escaped behind a tree.
David stared after her for a second before sighing and with one bite finishing what little remained of his breakfast. “Of course. I should have expected as much.”
He didn’t have enough sachets to increase the amount he fed her in the mornings. His original twelve from the Celadon Pokemart had already dwindled to six left today. There were still five normal type sachets, but he was still holding out hope that those would be eaten by his next Pokemon. Instead he would need to supplement Pidgey meals with more berries. Which meant more time scouting the woods for the berries.
David sighed again. He should be close to the bridge and would have to balance travelling with foraging. If he spent a lot of time foraging he would have plenty of berries but his sachets would be gone before he reached Fuchsia. Too much time travelling and he wouldn’t be able to feed Pidgey. There was also no telling how soon Oliver’s ‘wagon’ would arrive to ferry him across the bridge.
Pidgey chirped cheerfully, hopping back from behind the tree. The very picture of innocence and good behaviour. She continued hopping until she was near David where she settled down into a roost.
“Oh you’re happy now are you?” David asked with a raised eyebrow. “Not here to steal any more of my food are you?”
Pidgey chirped, shuffling her feathers a bit.
David couldn’t help but smile. “Well since you have so much energy, let’s head out in a minute.”
She croned sadly, pulling her feathers in a little tighter and dropping her head forward to close her eyes.
David smiled and leaned back against the tree. A few more minutes wouldn’t hurt.
-.-
“What do you think Pidgey?” David whispered, leaning around the tree and scanning the clearing once more.
Pidgey let out a quiet shrill, but she didn’t pull away or pull her wings tight to her body and show fear. She was worried, but not afraid of whatever Pokemon had laid claim to this berry bush.
It was a lucky find. A bush full, and he meant full, of red christmas bobble-like berries right on their path beside the ridge. The berries hung from vine-like branches that intermingled and pushed off each other to reach higher. It was too lucky a find, and David had learned from experience not to trust in his luck.
David pulled back behind the tree. He crouched down to Pidgey’s level.
“Here’s the plan. We go in, try to pick the berries and leave. If the Pokemon spots us, we start a battle and while you distract it, I pick the berries. If it’s dangerous, we run, if not we keep battling and get a bit of experience.”
Pidgey looked at him and blinked.
David blinked back. Of course. She couldn’t understand him. “Right. Just follow my lead.”
Stepping slowly, and trying to avoid any of the leaves on the ground, David walked out from behind the tree. It wasn’t that the leaves were crunchy, but he would prefer to leave as little a trail as possible. Pidgey followed behind him, understanding the need for stealth and quiet at least. She hopped up and spread her wings, floating down gently like with a parachute.
Step by hop and hop by step, they made it to the Cheri berry bush. David eased his backpack off his shoulders, making great efforts not to ruffle the waxy fabric and keep the clink of equipment inside to a minimum. The drawstring knot came undone in a quick moment and David reached for a berry. He picked one near the top, a luminous red bobble ready to eat.
His fingers closed around the berry. He took a deep breath and tensed, ready to run. He scanned the surroundings once more. Finally, he plucked the berry.
Pidgey’s head swung on a swivel, frantically scanning the surroundings as the berry came loose.
David did the same, expecting some late evolution Pokemon to jump out screaming.
Nothing moved. Not even the leaves on the trees.
David’s shoulders relaxed. He placed the Cheri berry in his backpack and reached for the next. Two. Three. Four. By now both he and Pidgey were starting to relax. It looked like the three bears weren’t home and Goldilocks was free to eat.
David took a fifth, and last ripe one from the top of the bush. He scanned the scraggly branches again, wondering if he should inspect the bush from the other side or try to reach the berries at the centre.
It started as a crunch, growing until it was a rough rumble.
“Geeeeeeo.”
David snatched the last berry he’d been considering, a half ripe one and shoved it into his backpack.
Pidgey choked as a berry went down the wrong way. She’d snatched one from the bottom of the bush when he hadn’t been looking.
David frantically scanned the area, looking for what he’d missed. Something moved at the rockface. No - the… rockface moved.
A rough spike burst from the flat surface first, sending shards of brown rock to the ground. It was followed by a second about seventy centimetres to the right. The spikes twisted, rotating and refining. More pebbles and stones fell to the floor as the spikes were chiselled into hands. The hands turned and pushed back against the rock face they had come from.
Cracks shot up the rock face.
Two eyes opened.
The rock face splintered.
Geodude emerged.
Cloudburst squawked and finally hacked up the berry her throat had been caught on.
“-idgEY!” She screamed out, announcing herself back.
It wasn’t quite the same with the spluttering, especially after the volume of the Geodude’s call.
“Fight or run Pidgey?” David asked, scanning the newly appeared Pokemon.
The Geodude was nothing like the ones he’d seen before. For one it was a reddish-brown colour, closer in shade to the rock face behind it than the muted grey he remembered from the league office. Its central body was almost spherical but rough, with spikes and shards of rock jutting out. Two arms, its only limbs were the same, giving the creature an almost fuzzy appearance. Where the League's Geodude was polished, this Geodude was coarse.
Pidgey lifted her wings out wide, puffing herself up and preparing. She gave a low squawk.
The Geodude paused, considering them. It placed both hands down on the ground to steady itself.
David relaxed a fraction. Maybe they could talk this out.
The Geodude dug its fingers into the rock and pulled. A football sized pyramid of stone came free.
“Launch!” David shouted and started stepping to the side himself.
Pidgey swept her raised wings back and took to the air.
The Geodude swung its hand forwards and threw. The pyramid of rock shot through the air, right under the ascending Pidgey’s talons. A crunch behind them sounded a tree’s death knell.
“Cannon,” David ordered, moving further back from the Pokemon that seemed to be an actual cannon. He didn’t know how effective the Flying type move would be against the Rock type, they’d never faced one before, but he didn’t have many other options.
The Geodude dug the fingers of its other hand into the ground.
Pidgey paused, holding her wings back and gathering energy. Swirls of lavender started to form.
The Geodude threw.
Pidgey swung her wings forward.
Glowing twists spiralled forward. A rough pyramid of rock shot up. The rock continued unhindered. Some spirals disappeared.
Pidgey tucked her wings and dived. The rock chunk missed her by twenty centimetres to the left.
The Geodude didn’t bother to move. Spirals struck down, carving canyons in the dirt. The same spirals barely scratched the Rock Pokemon.
“Shit.” David bit at his lip. With Gust being all of useless, Pidgey was only left with Tackle and Peck to do damage and against a creature made of living rock.. Well it wasn’t looking good. There was no winning this fight unscathed. But first they needed to weaken the Pokemon. “Leer.”
Pidgey swung round, flying higher and creating more distance between herself and the Geodude. If she didn’t need to attack directly she could make dodging easier for herself.
The benefit of this was made immediately clear as Geodude launched another rock, already grabbing for another. The rock flew up, but Pokemon magic-bullshit aside, it was still a rock at the end of the day. Gravity took its toll and by the time it reached Pidgey it was slow enough she barely had to make an effort to dodge. The rock plummeted back down and took its anger out on a tree’s canopy.
The Geodude’s rocky exterior vibrated as Pidgey locked her gaze on it. Crumbled rock fell off its body.
“Again,” David roared. He didn’t plan on finishing this fight, there was no reason for Pidgey to run into a brick wall, but if they wore the other Pokemon down it would be less likely to chase them.
The Geodude raised another rock holding back and.. paused.
Another shudder wracked its body.
The Geodude dropped the rock and swung its hands forward. They hit the ground and the Geodude pushed up, flipping into a somersault. It hit the ground and began to roll towards where Pidgey circled above, stopping after a metre or so when another flip was required. It was a weird, jerky movement but it was quick. The Geodude was eating up distance fast.
‘Why is it doing that?’ David wondered, searching his memory for any Moves that being under Pidgey would help with. Was it trying to avoid her gaze? Or..
David blinked and traced the path again. The Geodude was heading for Pidgey. And in a direct line behind Pidgey was David. Pidgey had circled back above him like she’d usually do in trainer battles on defined pitches.
The Geodude, unable to get Pidgey, was going for the other interloper on its territory.
Him.
“Shit.” David pushed away from the tree he was behind and started to run.
There was a crash behind him as Geodude’s flip-roll was disturbed but the rhythmic thumping was resumed soon after. Then came a high pitch shrill as the Geodude passed underneath Pidgey, and she realised where the wild Pokemon was now focused on.
David tried to keep his attention on his surroundings. The Geodude was moving a lot faster than he could run.
Pidgey let out an angry squawk and the canopy groaned as they were cut from above.
The thumping stopped. Branches cracked. Pidgey shrieked in pain.
David stopped. That was Geodude. Pidgey made herself vulnerable to draw its attention and it worked. Too well. He turned. He started to run, not back towards the Geodude, he wasn’t suicidal. A single hit from one of those rocks would break any bones in his body. A hit to the skull.. He ran at an angle. It was time to see how the Geodude turned.
“Leer!” David roared, hoping that Pidgey was okay enough to do that. If not, the next few minutes were going to be very dangerous.
To his relief a pained chirp rang out.
“Geodude.” The gravelly response to their new tactics was not impressed.
More branches cracked as another rock was launched at the heavens.
“Piddd-gey!” Cloudburst shouted back.
The rhythmic thumping started again as the Geodude decided to switch targets again.
David clenched his feet and ran faster. He was aiming for the berry bush again, but on a wide circle path. “Again Pidgey!”
More thumps as the geodude cycled from flips into rolls. It was growing closer.
A wavy body hit the ground and a struggling, hacked cough wracked the air.
David grinned. Leer was having more and more of an effect. “Leer!”
A brown wall of rock loomed ahead of him and he turned, running alongside the ridge.
The thumping started up again.
David jumped over a newly fallen tree and landed heavily, crunching down on his right ankle. Cursing, he stumbled, staggering forward towards the Cheri berry bush.
Pidgey let out a light shrill, now circling above.
David pushed through the pain and jogged across to the other side of the clearing. The Geodude bowled through the fallen tree behind him, shattering the trunk with a punch from its heavy hands before pulling itself through.
David turned and faced the enemy. The Geodude hung low, resting its reddish brown body on the ground tiredly. Its hands lifted forwards, moving in the clearing but not quickly. Once fluid movements were now stiff.
Even with his injury, David was confident that Pidgey and he could get away from the weakened wild Pokemon. He recognised the signs that the Geodude was at its status effect limit. But, things had changed. He could feel Pidgey’s righteous anger above him. They were injured, but they weren’t leaving without drawing blood. The rock may rage, but it was the sky that reigned high.
“Tackle.” David ordered.
Pidgey dived.
“Gee-O.” The Geodude brought its oversized arms in front of it and wrapped them around its front. Beige shimmers grew around it.
A beige haze grew around Pidgey too, strengthening until it was a cloak around her. She angled forward, leading with her beak.
David counted down the seconds, hand pulling Pidgey’s ball free just in case.
3.
2.
Beige flashed and Pidgey bounced off the Geodude. She fell back, feathers in disarray as she tried to right herself from her dive.
Geodude rolled backwards. A dry scream scrapped across the air.
David waited for it to unfurl, to get up and fight again. It didn’t. A beige glow wrapped around it again.
Cloudburst righted herself and shakily stood. She spread her wings wide.
“Piiid-GEY!”
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In this chapter you see that Pokemon can be assholes too. Or just not morning people, and wild Pokemon don’t have access to coffee.
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