Burning Land And Stormy Seas

by Moowell

Chapter 2

Twilight ran as far and as fast as her legs could carry her, though she was slowed due to her burn. Still, she seemed to have finally escaped that giant with the capture orbs. Now that she was alone and had time to think about it, that was probably why Torchic served them. She remembered seeing it pulled into and out of the orb in the small one’s paw.

'If I ever see another one of those orbs, I'll have to be careful not to be caught or I may never get back home...'

She shook her head and looked around. She may have escaped those creatures, but she wasn’t out of trouble yet. None of her surroundings were familiar, and there were other creatures around that seemed eager to fight. Over the last few hours, she mostly saw enormous caterpillars, but there were other creatures around as well. Feral dogs and such, not unlike the timberwolves from her books, but furry and less menacing. Still, she avoided contact with them. With magic being painful to use, and no experience in a hoof fight - not to mention her injured hoof draining her energy - she knew she wouldn’t last long against such predators.

Finally, she came to a clearing. Inside, she found several large buildings, each with their own unique signs and construction. She sighed in relief. "Finally! A town! Maybe somepony can help me get back home.”

She was just about to take a step into the clearing when she saw several of the giants from before walk out from one of the buildings. Then more appeared, each coming from a different place and traveling from building to building or down one of several paths leading to and from the town. One such building had a large symbol that looked like the capture orbs she had seen earlier. She made sure to avoid that one at all costs.

‘This is one of their settlements... How has Princess Celestia allowed such creatures to gather and capture other animals like they have?’ Regardless of why they were here, they were here, meaning she would have to find someplace else to rest. Someplace outside. Under the open sky. Exposed to the elements. And predators.

She breathed deeply to calm her steadily fraying nerves, just like Cadance taught her. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Raise a hoof to the chest, and release... There. Now she was ready to think about how to stay safe for the coming night.

Nearby were some trees she could... As she looked up, she realized there was no way she could climb them. No branch was within reach, and even if one was, she had never been a skilled anything-outdoorsy-er. She tested her magic, hoping to be able to pull a branch low enough for her to grab and let carry her up, but she found that it was no use. She was still burned out from whatever happened during the test.

She was stuck. If she made for the clearing, a giant would probably see her and try to capture her. If she stayed, she risked being found by a pack of those dogs or a giant. And if she didn’t figure it out soon, she wouldn’t have the strength to do anything.

A drop of water struck her nose, causing her to look up to the sky. High overhead, clouds were moving in. Twilight stared in momentary confusion. 'Where are the pegasi?' She bit down on that train of thought. 'Not important right now. The clouds are about to block the sunlight. If I'm going to run for it, I'll have to wait until then.'

*****

The Nurse sighed. It was going to be another long night. Few people ever visited Oldale Town anymore. Only people from Littleroot coming up for supplies, or Professor Birch on one of his research kicks. Sometimes the occasional scientist on their way from Petalburg to Littleroot and back, but they were typically good about keeping their pokemon healthy. Which was good, as it meant people were caring for their pokemon...

But it made for some incredibly dull days.

Sure, there were also bug catchers and youngsters running around and trying to become the very best trainers they could, which meant the day shift typically had a lot of customers. Sometimes repeats. Unfortunately, those customers tended to have curfews once the night rolled around.

The Nurse sighed as she took her position behind the counter and stared out the window. It was usually pretty tough to see outside, as the overhead lights reflected inward, but the rain made it even harder. Yet as dusk fell, she noticed something odd. There was a small figure just inside the edge of town. One she didn’t recognize, which struck her as doubly odd given her occupation.

She looked up at the clock. Her shift didn’t technically start for another five minutes, so she darted out from behind the counter and pressed her face against the window. It was a pokemon. Large compared to the usual fare in this part of Hoenn, quadrupedal, and had a horn of all things on its head. She wracked her brain, trying to think what sort of pokemon it could be, but nothing came to her. She did, however, notice it had a limp in its foreleg, favoring it as it stumbled forward.

Then it collapsed.

She gasped. Looking more closely, she could see splotches of darkness on its skin - no, fur - where something had wounded it. Probably burn marks, given its state of weakness. If left in the open, the Poochyenas would likely have an easy meal tonight.

Not that she had anything wrong with Poochyenas feeding, but this pokemon was trying to enter town and might belong to someone here. She blanched at the thought of some poor youngster who lost his pokemon finding the none-too-pretty remains of his pokemon in the morning. She looked back at the clock.

‘Three minutes. Plenty of time.’

*****

Itinerant Artist finished up sketching the Wingulls as they flew overhead, then packed up his easel and made his way back into town before the sun set completely. Yet all plans of moving on to the next town vanished the moment he saw the most majestic sight his eyes ever did see.

A royal purple pokemon, cradled in the tender arms of a human as she made her way into the Pokemon Center. The majesty of Rapidash! The grace of Delcatty! The hue of Nidoking! Such attributes have surely never been captured by human art! And when matched with the clear bond between pokemon and trainer, it could only be described as a magnum opus!

With his heart set, Artist made his way to the Pokemon Center.

*****

Twilight awoke feeling refreshed and revitalized. Even the pain in her horn seemed to be gone. 'Huh... Maybe I wasn't as burned out as I thought...'

She yawned and stretched, then pulled the cords off her legs, hopped of the bed and-

Cords? Bed?

She looked around and found herself inside a closed room, a window looking into the town, and a door leading... somewhere. There were bits of equipment that looked like medical stuff from back home, so she was probably in some sort of hospital. She looked down at her sides and hoof. Even in the early morning light, she could tell that there were no scratches or scorch marks anywhere, much to her surprise. It must have taken a highly skilled mage to heal her of all of that so quickly.

She vaguely remembered something picking her up and carrying her before she fell asleep...

There was shouting outside the door, bringing her from her thoughts. She couldn’t understand the words, but the language sounded similar to the giants from yesterday. There was a high voice and a lower voice, each going back and forth about something, getting louder and louder.

Whatever they were arguing about, Twilight resolved not to be around when they finished. Grateful for being healed, but not so grateful that she would stick around to give them a chance to put her in one of those orbs. She aimed her horn at the window and tried to lift it, but it was harder than she thought. She’d never lifted more than a page or three of a book, much less a window bigger than she was.

She thought back to the the entrance exam. The last time she tried to do magic that was really hard, she ended up, well... here. Opening a window was probably easier than hatching a dragon, but she really didn’t want to go through that again.

So instead, she pushed the bed - thankfully, it was on wheels - over to the window and climbed back on top of it. With her hooves pressed against the panes, she slowly lifted the window off its sill. Ever so slowly, to make as little noise as possible. Almost there, just a little more until she would be able to squeeze through...

And then the bed slipped.

The wheels ground sideways across the floor, and Twilight squealed as her position dropped a little. The shouting outside stopped abruptly. As the knob turned, Twilight threw caution to the wind and shoved the window upward as hard as she could, slamming it against the top of the frame.

Two giants shouted after her as she bolted across the town toward one of the three paths leading away. She made a mental note of which path she came from originally, using the position and appearance of the buildings as her guide, and bolted toward a different one, not caring which.

The possibility of escape was much better than the certainty of capture.

She heard loud shouting behind her, but forced herself not to look back. Looking back meant going slower or risking tripping or running into something, the punishment for doing so something she wasn’t willing to accept. However, that didn’t stop her from swiveling her ears back and gauging distance that way. They were almost on her.

Just as she came to the exit, she spied a mud puddle and leapt into it with all fours, shooting mud and grime high into the air. Normally, she wasn’t one for splashing into dirt intentionally. However, based on the loud yelp right behind her, she successfully managed to get mud into her pursuer’s eyes. She left the giants behind, leaving a dwindling trail of muddy hoofprints in her wake.

*****

“Agh! My eyes! Urgggh...” Artist growled, rubbing them furiously to try and clean out the dirt. “That clever little beauty...”

“Serves you right! Chasing that pokemon around like a maniac,” the Nurse chastised. “You should be ashamed!” The Nurse strode back to the Pokemon Center, happy to see the rude gentleman get his comeuppance.

As Artist finally managed to blink his dirty tears away, he found a trail of footprints leading out toward Route 102. “Well, at least I can get these down. Maybe a professor will know what they belong to..."

His bloodshot eyes gleamed with a wicked glint. "...And be able to point me in the right direction to find it again.”

Comments

[doompownr]

This was quite good. You will definitely see a favorite from me. Please keep it up.

[Moowell]

7209090
Thank you! I hope you enjoy what's to come as well!