~Chapter 11~
As I quickly came to, I immediately noticed the small brown cat from when I first woke up in the forest holding a half-eaten, blue berry in her mouth. Her lips were curled up in what I hoped to be a friendly smile, although I could see small canines poking out from the edges of her mouth. Yuzee, I think her name was.
The small feline turned its head away from me to look out into the forest, putting down the berry. “Hey Z, the purple one’s awake!” She called out in a female voice. “Do you think I should give her more?”
“Ugh, Yuzee, if she obviously needs more, then give her more. If she doesn’t, then don’t give her more,” a male voice called back from the forest. I recognized him as Z.
Looking back to me, her eyes scanned my body, before saying, “Hey purple, do you need some more Oran berries?”
I struggled to clear my throat for a moment, before answering, “What’s an Oran berry?”
She looked at me incredulously. “You know, the thing I just gave you? The thing I was just holding?” Her head bobbed down to the floor, scooped up the berry once more, and held it up for me to see. “Thee?”
Seeing as how I still hadn’t eaten, I rasped, “So, what, do I just eat it?”
The berry falling from her mouth, she rolled her eyes and made a groaning sound. “Yes, purple, you just eat it. But if you don’t, then I will.”
“Okay…” Slowly reaching out with a hoof, I pulled the berry towards me. Small, about half the size of my hoof, the spherical blue berry did nothing to look appetizing or appealing in any way, shape, or form. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for the berry, my hunger needed to be sated, so I took the berry and unceremoniously popped it into my mouth. It’s delightfully pleasant juices filled my mouth, the flavor not unlike that of a blueberry.
But, just as the flavor of the blueberry-like berry began to diminish, I felt my body beginning to grow warm. Eyes wide in surprise, I attempted to say, “Hey!” in my raspy voice, but found that I could not, for instead of it coming out like it had traveled through sandpaper, my voice was crystal clear. “What in Celestia was that?”
Looking at me oddly, Yuzee said, “Uh, an Oran berry? You know, the thing that heals you?”
“It-It heals you?” I asked. “I thought that was just Pokemon moves.”
“Hey guys, I’m back with the Cheri berry!” Z said, emerging from the dense trees behind Yuzee. “Oh, and hey there, Twilight!”
“Hey… I know your name! You’re Z, right?” I said, looking past Yuzee.
“Yup, that’s me, and now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go fix up Mew.” Trotting over to Mew, he pulled out a small, light red berry, and put into Mew’s mouth. The effect was immediate, causing Mew to snap up off the ground.
“Thanks for that, Z! Oh, and hi Twilight and Yuzee! Are you guys having fun yet?” Mew said, flying over to us.
“Yeah, but apparently purple doesn’t know what an Oran berry is. I mean, seriously, she just kept on asking questions about it. It’s almost like she’s never seen a berry before.” Yuzee answered.
“Oh, don’t worry about that, Yuzee. She’s just new around here. Where she’s from, they don’t have berries.” He directed his next statement towards me. “Don’t worry though, Twilight. I’ll explain the berries to you later. Right now, we need to head back through the Travel Trees.”
Mew’s words elicited mixed responses from us.
“Oh, thank you, Mew! Just remember, I’ll probably need some more, uh, leaves, to write on.” I said.
“Wait, you’re going to take us through the Travel Trees? Alright. I have always wanted to use those, but I never really understood how they worked,” Z said, smiling slightly.
“Ugh, are you guys really going to take the Travel Trees? Besides the youngest kids, who even uses those anymore?” Yuzee said, her head drooping.
“Well, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to, Yuzee.”
Looking down at the ground, Yuzee mumbled, “I guess I’ll go look for Chloe or someone. I mean, it’s not like I have anything better to do right now.”
“Great, then it’s settled! Bye Yuzee!”
Yuzee had all of half a second to look surprised before a pink flash enveloped Mew, Z, and I, and we were gone from her presence.
Reappearing outside a familiar Travel Tree, I stumbled around for a moment, nauseated. Mew’s version of teleporting was unlike any method I had experienced before, so unfortunately for me, I had quickly been overcome with vertigo, as many first time teleporters are. A glance to my side revealed that Z and Mew were having no such qualms.
“Ugh, come on, Twilight! It’s not that bad,” Mew groaned, his head sagging.
“Well, Mew, remember that not everyone is as accustomed to using Teleport as you and I are.”
Forcing the bile back down my throat, I smiled at them. “It’s okay, I think I’m good. So, we’re just headed down to the, uh, cave-thingy?”
“Yeah, and my home is pretty close to here, so we should get there really, really fast. Well, down we go!”
Having all jumped down, and landed on relatively close bubbles, Z said, “Hey, Mew, I know you can Teleport a lot farther than that. Why didn’t you just take us all the way to your room?”
“Oh, well that’s ‘cause there’s something about the journey being the best part and stuff.”
“... What?”
“Z, I think what Mew’s trying to say is that you when you’re going somewhere, the journey there is better than actually being there.”
“Eh, close enough. I don’t remember what it was, but I’m pretty sure that’s about right!”
“Of course, if we are going by the journey there being the best part, then why we didn’t walk to the first Travel Tree is a mystery to me.”
“Yeah, Mew, why didn’t we walk to the Travel Tree in the first place? If we did, then wouldn’t I have not almost gotten sick from the teleport?”
Struggling to formulate an answer, Mew said, “Er, well, that’s because, well, walking is… bad?”
“Meh, good enough for me. Twilight, does that seem good enough for you?”
“Well, I guess everypony is entitled to their own opinion, so… alright, it’s a good enough response.”
We made it back to Mew’s home without any further problems, although there was a bit of a disagreement on the subject of food.
“Look, Mew, I don’t care what kind of berries you like most. What I do care about is the fact that we still don’t have any food!”
“But Twiiiiiiiliiiiight, it’s not my fault if Lum berries are my favorite!
Having gotten tired of listening to our bickering throughout the entire trek through the caves, Z said, “Hey, if you guys want, I can go out and grab some more food. I mean, I probably won’t find much at this time of year- heck, we’d probably have to settle for berries again!- but it’s not like I won’t be able to find anything.
Looking up at Z, I said, “Are you sure, Z? I mean, we could probably just get Mew over here to just go, seeing as how it’s his fault there’s no food in the first place.”
“I can’t help their deliciousness!”
“Yeah, I can do it, Twilight. I just need to know the way back here through the Trees.”
I looked to Mew. “Mew, do you think you could show him the easiest and fastest way to the top?”
“Sure!” Quickly floating up to the ceiling, and to a previously hidden alcove, Mew continued, “Just take this one, ‘cause it goes almost straight up to the top. But you’re gonna come out in a big place, with lots and lots of regular trees, so don’t get lost!”
As Mew finished speaking, his eyes took on a light pink glow, and Z and I were teleported up to the alcove that held Mew. The vertigo came once more, although this time it was far more brief. “Well, have fun!”
Z looked into the tunnel here. “So, do I just follow this to the top?”
“Pfft, nope! You just have to hop onto a bubble, and it’ll take you there instead!”
Poking his head deeper into the tunnel, Z looked up, and then down. “Yeah, I don’t think there’s any bubbles here, Mew.”
A surprised look crossed Mew’s face. “Whoops, sorry about that!” His eyes took on a brief shade of pink once more, and after a brief pop!, pink bubbles began to float up from the ground, and through the small tunnel. “There you go!”
o.0.o
Taking a bite of one of the apples Z brought, Mew said, “So, Twilight, have you decided on how you plan on getting to Sinnoh?”
Swallowing the rest of what they called a Persim berry, I answered, “Well, I thought about trying one massive teleport there, but unfortunately that idea didn’t seem very feasible, seeing as how the amount of magic needed to go long-distances is very taxing on the body, and I could pass out. The longer the distance, the more magic needed. Also, I have no idea where it is exactly, and so I could very well end up somewhere in the ocean, or halfway in a building.”
Mew and Z both blinked. “...Meaning?” Mew asked.
I sighed. “What it means, is that I can’t teleport that far.”
“Oh, well then why don’t you just have a couple of the Xatu use Teleport on you to get you there?” Z asked.
“Xatu?”
“Xatu are these green, bird-like Pokemon that can see the future. When they get in big enough groups, they can teleport people and Pokemon almost anywhere in the world; although they do need a focus point for the Teleport.” Z said.
A joyful smile came to my face. So I could already start going against my original destiny! And if they could really see the future, then perhaps I could gain some insight on where my current path was to lead me. “Z, that’s perfect! And maybe before they Teleport me, they can tell me what my future’s going to be.”
Mew floated up in the air, an enormous grin on his face. “Alright, that sounds like a great plan! You’ll just have to get them to agree to do it, but if I ask them, then they’ll be sure to say yes! Hmm… wait, do you know what they look like, Twilight?”
“Well, no, not really, but a green bird can’t be that hard to find. Where can I find them, anyways?”
“Oh, you’ll probably see them when they all come back in about a month or two, when winter is over,” Z said.
My face fell. “In-In a month or two? But… but why are they going to be gone so long?!”
“Well, it is the middle of winter, so I’d be really, really surprised if any of them were to actually still be around. But if any were still around, you could probably find them by the really, really big cliff, all the way at the top of the North side.”
I sighed, but still weakly smiled immediately after. “I may as well try going to the cliff. It’s not like I have anything to lose."
Mew, spinning slowly in the air, said, "Okay, just take go ahead and leave through the alcove whenever you want."
My horn lighting, I cast the teleportation spell, and reappeared nearly instantly in the alcove in the ceiling. I waved at the pair, before turning around, and heading into the tunnel.