How we meet

Chapter 23

You awoke in the caves, the darkness still lingering in the air. You tugged gently on the blankets pulling them closer to your chest, waking the man besides you. He reached over muttering softly about a thief but pulled you and the blankets closer. Your eyelids were so heavy that you didn't realize that you had fallen back to sleep.
Your eyes fluttered open later but were greeted with darkness once again. You didn't feel tired, you didn't feel like it was a day. Yet you sat up twisting N's wrist to see what his watch said. It lights up at 12pm. You blinked confused and reread it. You were too confused. You gently pushed on N's chest.
"Hey something weird is going on."
"What?" he turned, gazing around the room. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Blinking as you turned his watch to face him.
"It's noon."
N stood tugging on his bag. He pulled out a flashlight and small portable lantern. "Lets go look around." he cradled Venipede in his arms and waited until you had also gathered your things.
You explored the caves wondering down where the main entrance was until you were met with a wall of thorns. You reached out touching the prickly surface. You watched as the vines twisted and turned, opening themselves so you could walk through. You grabbed N's hand and pulled him through. The vines twisted back down as the tree of you made your way through. Until rocks stopped your path. It took only a few moments before roots grasped the rocks and pulled them back. They pulled the rocks away from you and back to where they were original.
You started out as the cave started to look familiar. The carvings were the same as the photos. You walked out still holding his hand. The campsite was still there yet it didn't look the same. You stepped out of the cave wincing at the bright light and walked into the grass. The cars were broken and ruined, yet no one was left to be seen. The portable lab that you had spent most of your time in was now trashed and every sample destroyed.
You reached the woods N placed Venipede into your arms stepping out to the trees. A watchog stepped out and whispered to N ehat had happened. Virizon standing atop the mountain. The tranquilizer fired into their neck. They way they limply fell to the ground moments later and were dragged away to a new camp a few miles south.
He told you to wait for him there and left to go deeper into the woods. You were left alone with Venipede. You held him close to your chest. Your blood is filled with anxiety. It poisoned you, the eyes of watchog didn't help either. You were left quiet, your feet rooted into the ground. When you heard the familiar sound of N's footsteps you were surprised to see a Sawsbuck beside him.
His hand rested on the base of its neck. It stood even taller than N himself. Oh you hated that you knew what N was asking of you. You tried to step forwards but your knees nearly gave out. Instead N drew closer with the Sawsbuck. You reached out, pressing your hand flat against its back and N helped you up. N pressed his back against yours and even as fear filled your lungs and drowned your senses.
He held you gently, as you closed your eyes and focused on breathing. You were overwhelmed, being this close was too much. Your eyes filled with tears and your nails dug into your arms. Ropes of anxiety had chained you down, your fears that had clung to you from your past had grown at once.
You cried silently. N's soothing words whispered into your heart; a sweet tune of a bird singing its children to sleep. He made sure you didn't move, that you didn't fall and most importantly that the sawbuck did not move too suddenly.
He held you in place as your breathing became slower, your heart rate slowed down and your skin started to cool. You panic was still there but you had become used to it. The fur against your legs seemed more like a blanket now and less like a sharp bed of nails. Stiff shoulders melted into relaxed ones. You slumped slightly, your eyes stayed shut if anything you looked like you had fallen asleep.
The sawbuck was gentle, he watched his surroundings with the utmost diligence. He ducked under branches that he knew wouldn't hit you or N. He knew that N would hook you and make sure you stayed safe and untouched as long as the sawsbuck stayed steady.
He let the wind blow through his fur and he trampled over leaves and rocks. The woods rustled and shook as you passed under the branches. The canopy of leaves dropped speckled sunlight across your skin surrounding you with a divine halo of light.
You may not have been asleep but you had slowly become relaxed. The sky overhead watched with wide eyes and rolling curls, they gazed down. With gentle eyes they dimmed the sunlight so you didn't stir as you traveled. After your breathing had calmed down you cracked an eye open.
Your grip on N's hand tightens slightly as your heart skipped a beat. You took a breath opening your eyes again and gazing out at the passing trees. You had to fight with your mind and convince yourself to look down. You looked at Sawsbuck's coat, dark brown fur, thick and smooth. It wasn't the horrible bed of nails that your nightmares made you believe.
You took a moment to just breathe and take in the feeling. Soft, warm, comfortable. The Pokémon wasn't hurting you, it was helping you. It was guiding you to the correct paths. Carrying you to where you needed to go. It wasn't a cruel monster that your mind lied about, twisting tales of horror and pain inside your brain.
This Pokémon was gentle and caring. You realized that over time, perhaps you could become better. Maybe you could move on and post your fears, the nightmares of your childhood did control you now but maybe with time and help. Perhaps with N's assistance you could slowly move on, work your way through the piston tipped thorns in your dreams and out of the cage you had been locked inside.
You let your hand reach down, you let your fingers Graz across the fur and stroke his back. He puffed, it startled you but N's lips pressed against your ear whispering honey coated words to you.
"You're doing great," he whispered the drops of liquid gold into your brain, making your heart flutter and bloom with color, "He likes it."
You hadn't angered the Pokémon like you feared. You made it happy. The gentle strokes of your fingers felt like an angelic massage from the gods. Sawsbuck felt honored that you attempted something you never would have done.
N was prouder. His heart and soul beamed with pride. He stroked his fingers over the back of your hand breathing a heavy sigh, glad that you had started to relax and changed again. You had taught him many things, he felt that he was now returning the favor teaching you this.
When the Sawsbuck drew to a stop as close to the camp as he could get, N helped you down. You let your hand hover over Sawsbuck's back as if letting him go would doom you to never be able to touch another Pokémon again. You wished desperately to never go back to being scared yet you knew that it wouldn't be that simple.
You had N's hand hold yours as you stroked the pokemon's fur softly thanking him. You had never done such a thing before. This felt so foren. The concept of riding a wild Pokémon and thinking of them for their assistance had been a fantasy that you never could grasp, could never think about. It was strange.
You noticed that ever since you had met N that you hand changed, for better you hopped. You also noticed that N was changing too. It was more subtle than you. He didn't pull away from touch as much, he talked and conversed with people more. He seemed less out of place.
While the plants still danced around your legs, they now started to dance with N's legs too. The vines and leaves mingled but they did not grab. They tugged but they didn't drag claws across skin, carving gashes into ankles and ripping at the seams of the human body. N had been changing, he understood more about the world.
He cared more about the things surrounding pokemon than he did before. It reminded him of how he thought of trainers before. How he thought the relationship was wrong, parasitic, and that it only led to pokemon being harmed. His thoughts from then were different now, the concept of a trainer and pokemon partnership had developed again and would continue to. N had also learned more about humanity and pokemon's relationship with the physical world. That they relied on plants and specific things in the world that most people didn't understand. He had learned more about the bonds of the world and how everything was intertwined into the beautiful weaving he could see now.