Chapter 28: Played?
The next day I woke up to the sounds Cet and Nia were making outside my tent, last night they both resisted going into the Pokeball, I relented and let them sleep with me.
'Huh! Who unzipped the tent's entrance, Cet or Nia?' I wondered and stumbled outside to see two blurs moving through the air at impossible speeds, stopping at a place for a couple of seconds before becoming blurs again.
A blue blur chasing a purple one.
Nia was chasing Cet around with the usage of Quick Attack, with Cet unable to perform the move properly his escape options were restricted and Nia was fully utilising this short window of time, where she was faster than Cet, to bully him, hitting him with a wing attack, lightly, every time she caught up to him.
Just when I was about to order her to cut it out, I stopped to get a close look at Cet again.
'He is enjoying this,' I thought looking at the signs he was exhibiting, tongue lolling around, rapid beatings of wings even when stationary, and the angle at which his legs were hanging were all indicating he was happy.
'I mean it is not surprising as a game of tag is his favourite, Nia just added a slight punishment when he gets caught,' I thought looking at the speedsters- my speedsters zipping through the air.
Cet's Quick Attack was progressing impressively as the game went on. I didn't even call for training seeing my Pokemon enjoying themselves.
Nia got exhausted after some time, making me recall her so she could rest up.
Cet was not tired as this type of physical training was a staple for him from the day he was born.
I followed Cet as he flew before me sniffing at anything new, he saw. As I was about to stop him from licking a Kakuna, I suddenly spotted a bunch of berries hanging on a tree away from the dirt path.
The tree was partially obstructed by thick bushes.
'Impossible, they are not supposed to grow here,' I thought looking at the draion berries.
They are one of the costliest and rare berries which are generally found near Dragonite lairs.
'I am pretty sure that I didn't see any warnings for Dragonite when I chose this route. Maybe it's a ghost or psychic Pokemon playing a trick,' I thought releasing Nia, just in case.
I ordered Cet to move carefully and retrieve the berries.
Cet silently glided through the air, reaching the berry bunch. Just as he was about to bite the berries a root came alive grabbing him from the air and dragging him to the ground.
Cet disappeared as my vision of the ground near the berries was blocked by bushes.
I ran towards the tree, holding Nia.
'Now what! These days are becoming too unpredictable for my taste,' I thought and gasped as I saw a small ravine after darting through the bushes.
The berry tree was standing on the side of the ravine its roots creeping into the narrow crack.
I was able to hear Cet's voice from the crack, making me run over to the ravine and lean into it.
I was not able to see as darkness covered everything in the narrow gorge, the deepness of the crack undetectable, giving the feeling of the endless mouth of a beast.
I jumped across the crack to get a better look at Cet and I tried to recall him with no success as the recall light was not reaching Cet.
Panicking I called out for Brave Bird to see if he could illuminate his surroundings. The darkness didn't shift with the familiar azure glow speeding up my thumping heart.
Not knowing what to do I sent Nia down the ravine.
"Oh, come on," I thought as Nia too stopped responding as she entered the gorge.
The crack in the ground was deathly silent aside from the constant sound crunching of leaves like something was struggling.
I tried to recall Nia blindly getting a successful recall.
Calming my thumping heart, I opened my Pokedex to call for assistance.
"Enough!" I shouted exasperated and angry seeing the emergency calls getting cut off immaturely.
I haphazardly reached into the ravine, feeling for something to grab onto.
Grabbing a root, I slowly descended into the dark maw moving towards a sound, hoping Cet was the one making it.
Not even 1 foot into the gorge, my Pokebelt, shirt and pants got stuck on something, making me climb back again.
'Faster!' I muttered undressing myself and started to descend into the ravine again, in underwear this time.
I descended madly ignoring the cuts and scrapes with adrenaline as fuel.
Just as I was about to reach the sound, something pushed me and I fell.
.
..
As I fell into the bottomless ravine, screaming, I saw a white glow. Cet was chasing me, gaining sudden bursts of speed from Quick Attacks.
' He won't be able to reach me,' I thought curling into a ball hoping to cushion my fall.
Time passed making me question the depth of this ravine.
As Cet executed his third Quick Attack still a moderate distance away from me, I thought.
'I am so dead if he doesn't catch me. With me falling this long what I do doesn't matter anymore.'
I don't know why, but suddenly my mind became eerily calm as I shouted with my very being concentrated on the Zubat, who was failing to reach me.
"Cet! Come on!"
Cet blurred shining brighter than ever before and disappeared from my view.
Just when I was about to call out confused something painfully clutched my chest halting my fall.
Feeling that Cet finally caught me, relief washed over me.
"You are awe…" my words got cut out as the dark ravine shifted to become a brightly lit jungle, with me sprawled on the floor.
'What the. .' I muttered shocked, Cet licked my face, startling me enough to stand up to take stock of the place I was in.
I stood up, my mind still reeling from what just transpired.
I petted Cet, calming my heart as he wiggled in my embrace.
He looked different, like something profound changed in him.
Something moved in my periphery making to turn to see my clothes and Pokebelt floating towards me, making me jump back to collide with something hard.
I fell on my butt as my momentum was halted suddenly.
"Greetings Leon," A voice reverberated in my head, as I looked at the Pokemon I collided with.
The Xatu instead of the awkward look it got in the anime, looked more humanoid and impressive.
Its large wings unfurled spanning an impressive 1.5 meters as the Pokemon looked at me with eyes containing untold intellect.
"I give you my apologies for testing you without your consent."
Once again, an elderly voice rang in my head. The was voice distinctly feminine.
I shook my head and did what you are supposed to do when you face someone who can make you a retard with a look.
I wore my dress and spoke with a neutral tone.
"Of course, Of course No apologies necessary," I said wringing my hands, suppressing my rising annoyance on being played with.
"I knew words mean little to one as young as yourself, so I already provided you with a reward for causing inconvenience," the Xatu said, halting my thought process completely.
Swallowing my desire to ask about the reward, I asked.
"Can you tell me what the test was?"
"Oh! I just wanted to see how far you will go for your Pokemon," the Xatu said her wing on her mouth with a mischievous glint in her eye.
" I must say you are very brave."
"Huh! What do you mean!" I asked confused.
"You climbed down a narrow cliff, into a never-ending darkness where one missed step can cause you to fall to your death, if it is not bravery then what is," The Xatu grandiosely gestured with her large wings.
"Huh! But I just climbed down into a ravine, which presented no danger as it looked too narrow, giving me a chance to stop my fall anytime by just stretching."
"I didn't know until I fell that it opened up inside, increasing the risk of falling," I said honestly.
"You saw a ravine you say, very interesting," the Xatu said gaining a glint in her eyes.
"Leave it! don't you wanna know what reward I granted you," the Xatu asked gesturing with her wings.
'Why do I feel this Xatu loves drama!' I thought seeing her exaggerated gestures.
"Of course!" I said nodding my head.
"Take a good look at your partner, don't you feel something different about him," Xatu disappeared before appearing with Cet, holding him with her wings high in the air, showing him off.
'I didn't even feel her taking Cet from me,' I thought shrugging.
"Now my compensation contained two parts, creating an awareness field around your Zubat to amplify his concentration to focus on what he wants to do, which was saving you at that time, Of course," The Xatu dramatically gestured in the air, teleporting Cet back to me.
"But but.." the Xatu shook her wing like a finger and continued.
"Who knew your partner was single-minded to such extreme and contained such a focus and will that with just a small nudge from me.. he attained what many wild Pokemon cannot in their lifetime," the Xatu paused dramatically and looked me in the eye before saying.
"He achieved …"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone