Destiny [Pokémon]

❥ chapter I

"Sweetie, would you please come here for a second?" you heard your mom call out to you from where you were sitting in the lunchroom.

"Coming!" You quickly brushed some sandwich crumbs off your white nurse uniform before you ran to the nearest examination room. There, your mom was currently wrapping gauze around the sprained ankle of a Lillipup while its owner, an elderly man, was looking on with worry glimmering in his bespectacled eyes. "Good day, sir," you greeted him with a polite smile.

Your mom briefly looked up at you and gave you a smile, then she nodded to the man. "Mr. Abrams here just told me that he thinks he's heard a Pokémon crying in the grove around the cave."

"I'm no spring chicken anymore, and my hearing is getting worse the older I get," Mr. Abrams said. "I hope I'm not causing any inconveniences."

"It's no trouble at all," you assured him.

"Would you please go check if there's a Pokémon that needs help?" your mom asked. "I'm sure you won't have any problems locating it. And don't forget to take a Pokémon with you on your way out! Who knows what made the Pokémon cry in the first place."

"Will do!" With that, you hurried out of the exam room and down the hallway, past a few of your co-workers and some patients with their Pokémon on their way to receive treatment or to exit the clinic. You greeted all of them as you ran past them, receiving warm smiles, polite nods, and friendly hellos in return, which you only took fleeting notice of since you were too busy making sure that you didn't run into any people, Pokémon, or other obstacles.

In the waiting room of the clinic, you grabbed an empty Poké Ball from a drawer inside the reception desk. Looking around, you locked eyes with a Chansey. She had just finished escorting a Pelipper with a broken wing and its owner to the exit. You motioned to the Poké Ball in your hand with a questioning look, and the Egg Pokémon gave a simple nod and jumped straight into the opened ball, singing out, "Let's go!"

Now armed with a trusty Pokémon (in case there were agitated and hostile ones lurking around in the grove), you left the clinic building and set out for the small forest beyond the outskirts of town, avoiding tall grass along the way. The paved street soon merged into a gravel path, which led you right to Lucus Grove. The few Pokémon Trainers there refrained from challenging you to a battle because of your nurse uniform. Most of them were class- or schoolmates and called out a greeting to you.

Upon reaching the edge of the wood, you heard quiet, barely audible wails coming from deeper within. There really was a Pokémon in distress! Without wasting any time, you entered Lucus Grove, ignoring the beaten path and instead opting to follow the sounds of distress straight to their source trough the underbrush.

On any other day, you would have stopped and marvelled at the sight this grove offered. The sunlight seeping through the thin canopy of leaves overhead illuminated the ground below in a golden shimmer. Wafting through the air were the mellow tunes and melodies of birds, crickets, and Pokémon alike, blending with the noises and cries of other forest-dwelling Pokémon and animals all around you.

However, through these melodious sounds cut the pitiful whimpers like a knife. These were, along with the feeling of the smooth, cool surface of the Poké Ball against your palm, a constant reminder of the urgent and far more important matter at hand, the reason why you were here in the first place.

As you were getting closer to the hurt Pokémon, indicated by its cries slowly but surely growing louder, you could also distinguish the distinct sounds of a battle going on. This caused you to grip the Poké Ball tighter and pick up speed. With twigs snapping beneath your shoe-clad feet and bushes rustling as you cleaved through them, you did your best to dodge both low-hanging branches and roots protruding from the ground while making a beeline for the perturbed Pokémon.

Finally, you stepped, almost stumbled out into a clearing and immediately spotted a pair of Ralts surrounded by a small pack of Poochyena growling and baring their large fangs.

One of the Ralts was putting up a bitter resistance against the five Dark-type Pokémon. It countered their Bite attacks with Confusion and Growl in a grimly determined attempt to defend the apparently half-conscious and—most importantly—wounded other of its kind lying in the grass behind it.

"Hey, stop it! If you wanna fight, fight me!" you yelled at the Poochyena, who all turned around to you at once, visibly caught off guard by your sudden appearance. You held the Poké Ball up high and made a move to throw it. But before the ball so much as hit the ground, the pack of Bite Pokémon had already dispersed amid loud, panicked yowls of "Run for it!" and "Human is stronger than us!", bolting into different directions.

With the imminent danger averted, you could take a closer look at the two dual-type Pokémon to estimate the state they were in, not moving an inch for now as to not daunt them any further.

What you took notice of first was the striking fact that they were both shiny, their heads coloured sky-blue instead of light green. Both of their delicate bodies were littered in bite and scratching marks. But thankfully, all of these were minor injuries; none of them seemed to be severe, let alone life-threatening. Furthermore, the Ralts that had put up a fight against the pack of Dark-type Pokémon appeared to be on the verge of fainting. But it still willed itself to stand upright. It mimicked what you were doing, scrutinizing you with wary eyes.

For a moment, you both looked at each other. The Pokémon's two orange horns, a large one toward the front and a smaller one at the back, lit up in a soft glow before it turned away from you and towards the other Ralts. Taking this as a cue, you nodded to the Chansey to follow you and jogged up to the pair, the Normal-Type Pokémon trailing behind you.

"Don't worry, brother. The human girl has good intentions," the—what you assumed was, judging by the pitch of the Pokémon's voice—female Ralts mumbled. She stroked her brother's back, which was heaving up and down in slow, steady breaths. "She will help us. Stay strong."

"You're right, I'm here to help you. Chansey and I, we're gonna take you to a hospital, and you'll be up and about again in no time," you spoke softly as you knelt down next to the Feeling Pokémon.

Your direct answer caused her to halt in her movements and look at you, her tangerine eyes widened in surprise, which, in turn, caused an amused smile to stretch over your lips. Every Pokémon so far had reacted in the same manner upon being confronted with your ability, and their looks of surprise, bewilderment, and confusion would never cease to entertain you. But this was clearly not the time to laugh about the funny faces they were pulling.

"You—you understand us, human?"

"Yeah, I do, obviously," you couldn't help but tease, "but that's not important right now. We better get a move on. The sooner you're at the hospital, the sooner you're healed and free to return to your home. Chansey, give me a hand, please."

"I'm on it, Miss [Name]!" the ovoid Pokémon chirped. Carefully, she picked the unconscious Ralts up and placed him in her currently empty egg pouch to keep him warm.

In the meantime, you scooped the other Ralts up in your arms, holding her comfortingly against your chest, and stood with one swift movement. But just as you turned around and started walking towards where you had entered the clearing, a huge shadow that swept across the ground prompted you to stop dead in your tracks and look up.

Squinting against the bright sunlight, you stared into the cloudless sky, searching for the Pokémon responsible for such a large shadow. There it was! Yet again, the shadow flitted across the face of the sun and caused momentary darkness. After blinking once, twice to accustom your eyes to the sudden flash of darkness, you involuntarily let out a gasp of astonishment at the sight of a Pokémon with a sparkling trail of rainbows.

"Wow, it's Ho-Oh!" you exclaimed, your important task temporarily forgotten. Your eyes were practically glued to the legendary bird, following its every movement as it flew through the sky high above the ground, effortlessly gliding back and forth on a breeze. "That's awesome! What are the odds of seeing a Legendary Pokémon? I'm so lucky!"