David woke or rather decided to get up.

He hadn’t slept well, if at all. Every loud Pokemon call in the night had him turning to listen anxiously. Most of the cries petered out without the caller coming any nearer, but twice something had brushed against his tent. Both times had David clutching at a repurposed tent spike anxiously. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was a sharp point. Everything had vital organs. Nothing liked to be stabbed.

Pokemon calls weren’t abnormal during his stay in the clearing, but they came from further away. There had been a definite barrier between the surrounding woods and the packed dirt camping area. Not a physical barrier but a human presence that Pokemon avoided. That safety net didn’t exist here.

“Morning Pidgey,” David whispered to the ball that lay by his neck.

Usually the pokeball would be buried deep in his backpack while he slept, the metal ball packed out of the way so he could use the backpack as a pillow. He couldn’t pack it away last night though. Not when Pidgey got hurt protecting him.

To David’s fear there was no movement from the ball. Sighing he undid the tent’s zipper and started to pack up.

 

-.-

 

While packing up the tent he found evidence of his night time visitors in the grass. Small red and purple hairs had been caught in the ropes and tent seams. The purple he could attribute to Rattata, foraging in the dark to avoid the large Meowth presence in the area. The red hairs were an unknown that he didn’t enjoy. He would need to consider if he wanted to return to the area again tonight.

His chosen campsite for the night was upstream and to the north of the clearing. It was likely towards the edge of the badgeless zone but that was fine with David. Anything to reduce the chances of being found.

Once he had cleaned up all signs of his presence, bar the divot pressed into the grass, David set off for the stream. He’d wait there until Pidgey woke up. It was an open area which made it harder for anything to sneak up on him.

David had one goal today and that was to hide. After setting up a campsite yesterday, he had spent the rest of the day replaying the morning over and over. He’d reached one conclusion.

He was fucked.

After being ambushed by Team Rocket, he had run through the city streets to the Pokecenter. He burst inside, drawing everyone's attention and then, in front of a crowd, blamed Team Rocket and had the police called. The police that would not help him.

David didn’t know much about Team Rocket, but he had no doubt his performance would get back to them. And that they would be upset. Criminals were rarely happy with their victims going to the police. Snitches get stitches.

After that realization the rest of that day hadn’t been very productive. Not that it could have been with Pidgey’s still ball, but the knowledge Team Rocket would be after him again with a vengeance had made it harder to concentrate. He’d liberated one of the tent spikes which wouldn’t help much against a Pokemon, but the weight of it in his pocket reassured him.

The only work he managed to do was leafing through his foraging manual to prepare for the night. Most of the recommendations, like getting a powerful Pokemon to scent mark the area, he couldn’t use so he went with a minimal approach. The book had notes on where to find pungent herbs that, when crushed, would help keep Pokemon away. Based on last night these herbs had mixed results, but David wondered if these herbs were what repels were based on.

He fished out the manual and looked into tips for travel. Between the season starting and Team Rocket, it might be a good idea to get out of Saffron as soon as he had a badge from the gym.

 

-.-

 

After an hour or so of watching the small Magikarp chase after the growing tadpoles in the stream, Pidgey’s ball shook.

David picked it up with hesitant hands.

When he released her for dinner last night, Pidgey had been woozy. She didn’t react to him at all and after devouring one and a half Oran berries, she fell asleep again without even chirping to be recalled into her ball. She moved stiffly and the balding spot on her right wing was obvious, but David was unable to see any further damage.

The nurse had told him that she would recover but he couldn't help but worry. He had to hold himself back from examining her. She wasn’t well enough to be poked and prodded.

David closed his eyes by rote to avoid the flash as he pressed the button to release Pidgey. He heard her tired shrill before he saw her.

“Good morning Pidgey,” He said as she began to hop in a circle. Her reduced speed and slow landings was noticeable.

David cut open her food sachet and set it down in front of him. He waited for Pidgey to turn fully, feeling worse as he was given a full view of her damage wing. The dark and bruised skin underneath was painful to look at. Shattered roots of feathers stuck out from her skin.

Pidgey let out a chirp as she finished and began hopping over to the food. She stopped and bent forward to investigate the food.

David tensed as she paused with her beak above the sachet. He had no more berries, the remaining half Oran had served as his dinner.

Pidgey lifted her head and stared at him. She let out a light shrill and hopped towards him and the backpack to his side. David sighed and pulled the backpack to him. He opened the drawstrings and tilted it forward.

“There’s nothing else Pidgey. I’m sorry.”

Pidgey was not dissuaded and continued to hop forward. She hopped up to his backpack and.. kept going.

“Pidgey?” David asked.

Pidgey let out a low squawk behind him. David leant forward, making to get up but froze as a chill ran down his spine. A second later the sensation passed and David fell back down.

Pidgey let out a smug chirp and continued hopping around to his left. David turned to look at her as she came back into view. She watched him for a second before puffing up. She tilted her head back, beak up and let out a loud chirp.

David watched her in confusion until Pidgey began to spread her wings. Her left unfurled smoothly but stopped as her right shuddered. Pidgey’s chirp turned into a pained squawk.

“Pidgey!” David hissed and scooted himself over. She needed to rest that wing.

As David approached she retracted her wings and hopped back out of his reach.

“Pidgey?” David asked, confused and worried. She hadn’t acted like this before.

Pidgey shook a little to settle before holding her beak high and hopping back over to the food. She dug in.

 

After her meal, Pidgey returned to more normal behavior and hopped over beside David to settle in a roosting position. Together they watched the Magikarp and tadpoles swim by.

But Pidgey wasn’t watching for the same reasons as he was, given the way that she leaned towards the water when a Magikarp got a little too close. David even needed to put his hand on her head a few times to prevent her falling in.

A flash of red upstream caught his eye. At first he thought it was a large Magikarp coming up for air but as it bobbed closer it was clearly a Razz berry.

David shifted around to lie on his stomach. Extended over the stream like this, he was able to catch the Razz berry as it floated by.

David inspected the perfectly ripe berry before turning to Pidgey.

“Want to go for a search?” He asked.

 

-.-

 

David set Pidgey down and slipped his backpack off his back. He panted as he looked back downhill. Between carrying Pidgey and his backpack, the hike up the hill had been a workout. The loose scraggy rock had made it a slow, painful walk up. Falling was not an option. He didn’t have a free hand available to catch him, and Pidgey could get hurt if he dropped or fell on her. A couple of close calls left Pidgey making shrill calls, but they’d made it in the end.

David turned to Pidgey, wiped the sweat off his brow, hefted his backpack and then her up.

“Nearly there I hope.”

He set off up the diminished stream again. The Razz berry bush still eluded him after an hour of walking. He knew he was out of the zero badge area now, but he wasn't too worried. A few glimpses through the thinning tree cover revealed Saffron in the distance. This close to the city he was probably safe.

Pidgey chirped and David’s eye flicked down to her before turning to face the direction she did. He scanned the bushes and sparse trees but there were no berries.

Pidgey chirped again and wiggled forward in his hands. David slowly moved forward, watching out for any movement. Step by step he walked forward until a squawk from Pidgey stopped him. David scanned the area but saw nothing. He looked down at Pidgey and followed her gaze to the ground.

“Ugh Pidgey,” David groaned, moving back.

He had nearly stepped on the carcass of what looked like a Caterpie. The body was partially buried in the above ankle grass. Half the Pokemon had been eaten and this close he could smell the corpse.

Pidgey let out a chirp and wiggled forward.

“No Pidgey! No roadkill.”

David turned her to the side and away from the carcass. They hadn’t found any berries yet but they weren’t this hungry.

Pidgey let out a loud squawk which left David wincing and looking around.

“Sssh. Whatever did this might still be around,” He murmured to her.

Pidgey wiggled fiercely and with a sigh David set her down. Maybe this was a Pokemon thing. Hopefully she wouldn’t get sick.

As Pidgey hopped towards the increasingly vile smelling carcass David looked away. Hopefully he wouldn’t get sick.

Seconds later Pidgey let out a loud chirp and David turned back to her. She hopped towards him with her beak held high. Something in her beak glimmered silver. As she reached David she dipped her head and a silver ring fell on the ground.

David bent over and picked it up. A small gray stone was set on the ring. A vague memory of a request for a missing ring on the noticeboard at the Ranger’s office stirred in his mind.

“Great job Pidgey,” David murmured as he examined the band.

 

-.-

 

The Razz berry bush was slightly disappointing when they found it. He harvested three ripe berries, but after finding two berries floating downstream he had hoped for more. He wanted the bush to have tens of berries like the ones back home did.

The silver ring in his pocket would have made the trip worth it by itself though, so the berries were an extra bonus. Any reward would be worth more than a berry or two.

David picked a different route down the hill to try and avoid another scramble which brought him more luck. A bush full of ornament shaped berries. This new kind had yellow and green patterns scattered across its dimpled skin. He was able to pick three ripe ones to add to the crate.

With a successful haul, he headed back to the campsite from the previous night. The corpse had helped give him some perspective. If nothing attacked him last night they were unlikely to do so tonight. 

Along the way he told Pidgey about the berries from home. How you rarely found bushes out on a walk but you could buy berries by the hundreds in most shops. That ‘berry’ had become a flavor of itself and most berry flavored food didn’t include berries.

If his voice cracked slightly as he spoke about his grandmother’s blackberry jam, who was to know.

 

-.-

 

“Choose,” David instructed and set a Razz and Aspear berry down in front of Pidgey.

It hadn’t been hard to identify the yellow berries with the help of the manual. Unfortunately they were a common variety, which made David place the Aspear a lot closer to the roosting Pidgey.

Pidgey shuffled up and bit and leaned forward to examine the Aspear. After a second she grabbed it with her beak to pull it closer.

David smiled and reached for the Razz. Another 35P tomorrow.

Pidgey froze before jolting back and letting the Aspear fall. She let out a squawk and hopped away from the berry.

“Pidgey?” David questioned as he looked at the Aspear. A small bit of juice leaked out of a cut in the side of the berry but nothing had changed.

Pidgey shot forward and grabbed the Razz before retreating away.

David’s shoulder fell as he reached for the Aspear.

‘I guess I counted my chickens before they hatched.’

He put a finger on the cut and brought a dab of the juice to his mouth. His lips pursed.

‘Sour.’