As a result, Kenji spent mu
It was as though the forest purposefully grew to make the terrain as difficult to traverse as possible.
An entirely likely possibility, Kenji thought to himself, considering the strength of the Pokémon safeguarding the Energy dense clearing. While the growth would have taken decades, the beast certainly had the time to do so. Especially if those that took sanctuary in the glade assisted with its efforts.
Putting the guardian Pokémon out of his mind, Kenji focused on freeing his sled from a particularly stubborn root. A crook in the wood managed to hold part of the frame tight. He had to be careful freeing the sled lest he break one of his only means of carrying his meager supplies.
"Finally," he grumbled with relief when the leg the finally tore the frame loose. Strips of wood were left behind as he continued his trek.
While he marched, Kenji was sure to forage for any available food he could find. Bunches of berries and handfuls of fruit were slowly added to the sled, weighing it down once more. Too much of his store was gone as he freely gave it to the beasts in the clearing.
The further they traveled, the smaller the forest around him became. Close to the glade, the trees grew to unbelievable heights, with massive trunks that were wide enough to pace around. Kenji felt like a bug walking amongst giants, humbled and in awe.
When he arrived back in my familiar terrain, Kenji felt more at ease. While there was no sense of hostility, there was a distinct feeling of being watched. He felt unwelcome, with only Sprout's eagerness in the Energy rich environment encouraging him forward.
So, despite the cultivation haven he discovered, Kenji was glad to leave it behind.
Unfortunately, they did not make the river before nightfall.
Recognizing that the evening was growing short, Kenji made camp with his sled propped up against a tree and his leathers working as a pillow. Originally intended for gardening, he was forced to cut strips free to make handles for his stone axe and knives. There was still enough remaining to cover his chest and arms, though with the warm days and hard travels he primarily left it on the sled.
Pulling free the half-finished staff, he spent the remaining sunlight carving strips from the length of wood. With Pokémon Hunters wandering the forest with him, he was loath to travel without a more familiar weapon at hand.
The axe was suitable but Kenji felt more comfortable with a bō. It was the weapon that his father trained him in since was old enough to hold one. It would do little against the Hunter's Pokémon, but if he managed to close with one of the Ronin then it was possible he could finish the fight without the need to battle them.
Dreams of being chased by the Hunters plagued his sleep, causing him to wake in cold sweat at every errant call of a beast. Sprout grumbled as his tossing and turning disturbed the young turtle. The rising of the sun did little to help and Kenji finally gave up on trying to fall back to sleep.
Crawling out from under the propped up sled, Kenji rubbed blearily at his eyes. Yawning widely, he forced himself to at least attempt his morning stretches. The only reason being that he knew he would be regretting it later if he did not.
"Beau," Flutter greeted him with a trill. Nectar clung to the butterfly's proboscis, with a dusting of pollen on its limbs.
"Goo-" Kenji broke off his greeting to yawn before trying again. "Good morning, Flutter."
Sprout soon appeared as well, pawing at the sled for breakfast.
Kenji took a break to feed the young turtle, and eat as well. He greedily sucked on the juice, trying to slack his thirst. The tightness in his head barely eased, and suppressed worries at not finding the river in time.
He chose the fruits that he knew to be the juiciest, as he did not know when he would arrive back at the river. Only the mountains and forested plateau kept him from being hopelessly lost.
With a craving for water, Kenji pulled on his pack and grabbed the sled. He set a hard pace for himself and Sprout, Flutter easily able to stay with them.
The younger Pokémon warbled in complaint, earning a raised brow from Kenji.
"You carry a source of Energy," he said. "If anything, you should be moving faster than me."
To help distract the turtle, and himself, Kenji resumed their training.
Sprout's main issue was primarily the Pokémon's young age, with his weak health a close second. There were few techniques that young beasts were capable of performing, often simple actions that were imbued with a modicum of Type Energy.
Withdraw into Shell was a prime example. As a turtle, it was natural for the Pokémon to use the hard scales for defense. However, it only became a proper technique when the Pokémon used Energy to reinforce its shell. The turtle's constant fear likely aided him in learning the move, while making more offensive techniques difficult to achieve naturally.
Here, the Pokémon's age hindered him further.
The turtle was simply too young and weak to attempt other techniques. Only recently did he start to imbue his Withdraw into Shell with Type Energy. As the Pokémon aged, he would naturally learn more techniques and be capable of learning those that did not come naturally.
As a result, Kenji focused on helping the Pokémon feel out the Energy. The gift of the large seed from the glade's guardian was a huge benefit in this.
"Don't reach for it," he advised the turtle as they hiked. "Let it soak into you, as the sun does the ground."
Sprout warbled at him, and Kenji wondered, not for the first time, how much the beast truly understood.
"Once you feel what it's like when absorbed naturally, then you will be able to reach for it intentionally," he continued, "The seed is chock full of Energy, it wants to grow with you."
Flutter trilled at his words, the sound soft and encouraging. As an evolved Type Beast, the butterfly understood what he wanted Sprout to do.
Sprout chirped back and Kenji sighed.
"You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?" he said to the turtle. Without a link to bond them, communication would always be hindered, and that was before factoring in the turtle's age.
The Pokémon chirped again at his words, eliciting an eye roll from Kenji.
"At least I have you to understand me," he said as he turned towards Flutter.
The beast in question squealed eagerly, ready to train. The Pokémon was determined to grow strong, though Kenji was sure that it was simply so it could claim the best flowers for itself.
"Like Sprout," Kenji eyed the turtle as it trundled alongside him, "The problem with you is your techniques. That is, I don’t know what you can do."
The butterfly trilled, bobbing in the air as it spun around.
"You've mastered Spit Thread," he started, listing what he knew the Pokémon was capable of. "You can use Body Blow to tackle others and Stir Up the Wind into a flurry."
Two were familiar to him, the former one that many of the Pokémon on his family's property were capable of. Spitting Thread was one of the techniques that nearly every Bug Type learned early on. Used to tangle predators or prey, the technique had many uses both in and out of a fight. The second, Body Blow, was a simple move that nearly every beast could learn and it was the one he hoped to teach Sprout next.
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"You can work on creating a stronger gust," he said, earning a huffed "Ti," from the beast that he ignored. "And I'm sure that there were other moves that I've seen you use."
Kenji thought back to the times he witnessed the butterfly fight. He remembered a piercing attack, where the bug used its long proboscis to strike at the other Pokémon. The other notable technique was more familiar, though he only saw it when the butterfly fought the horned fish back at the river.
"Absorb," he said suddenly, recalling the proper name for the technique. While odd, as the move was one often used by Grass Types to better absorb nutrients, it was useful for the flying bug to know. "Those on what you need to practice," he told the Beautifly. "Especially Absorb," he added.
With those techniques in mind, Kenji coached the Pokémon through training. He encouraged the butterfly to race through the trees to stretch its wings before Stirring Up Wind, as powerfully as the beast could manage.
"You don't want to blow away a few leaves," he told the Pokémon. "You want to blow away a forest."
Truthfully, Kenji was not quite sure how to help the Pokémon train techniques that used Flying Energy. The kingdom of Greenleaf specialized in Grass Type Beasts, as the forests and grassland was a haven for the Pokémon. Few Warriors wanted to use their limited links to bond with a beast that they had little familiarity with. Especially when doing so could earn the ire of their friends and family.
On the other hand, Kenji bore several insights into the butterfly's use of Absorb.
"Use it like you would when sucking up nectar, but instead of taking the nectar from a single flower you steal it from the entire plant. " he instructed as the Pokémon landed on a flowering bush.
"Ti?" The butterfly looked confused, perhaps not understanding how to steal nectar from a flower it was not touching.
"The entire plant is connected," Kenji explained. "Each flower is bonded intricately with the shrub, and is a sign of the bush's health and prosperity."
The Pokémon flapped its wings, considering Kenji's words. It probed one of the flowers in question and closed its large, clear eyes.
Pausing his steps to watch, Kenji saw a flicker of green travel down its proboscis and spread through the plant. The green energy caused the bush to shake briefly and flex before the wave of green rebounded. As it traveled back towards the Beautifly, the plant wilted.
Petals dropped, leaves faded in color, and bush collapsed.
The change shocked the butterfly who hurriedly flapped to avoid falling to the ground. The beast looked both happy at its success and horrified at the state of the bush, bobbing frantically around the dead shrub.
While the Pokémon did not know whether to be happy or upset, Kenji was pleased. While the ruination of the shrub was wrong, he was glad to see that the bug shared a similar reaction to its loss.
"Absorb is a useful move, allowing you to regain health and power from your enemies," he said seriously, meeting the butterfly's eyes. "However, while Pokémon can recover, the same cannot be said for plants."
Having said his piece, Kenji moved on, leaving Flutter to consider its use of the technique. A Pokémon could grow strong by using similar moves on their surroundings and leave devastation in their wake.
Fortunately, the technique was weak for now, and would return little of a plant's life force. Judging by what he saw, Kenji estimated that the butterfly received less than a quarter of the bush's total vitality, and likely even less than that.
The flying bug caught up quickly and they traveled in silence after that. Sprout was unnerved by witnessing the technique, no doubt recognizing how it could be used on him. Meanwhile, Flutter was despondent at the loss of the flowers it so clearly wanted to taste.
Before midday, Kenji heard the burbling of the river in the distance. With the thought of slaking his thirst and cleaning the dirt and sweat from his body, he stepped faster. Sprout heard the sound as well and warbled happily, no doubt looking forward to a swim in the river.
"Traitor," he muttered when Flutter bobbed ahead, leaving the two of them behind. "Come on, buddy. We won't be left behind," he said to Sprout.
Not soon enough Kenji finally sighted the rushing waters and he dropped the sled close to the riverbank along the pack. Wading in, he did not bother stripping before jumping into the cold river. He drank greedily, filling his stomach until he started coughing.
Rising out of the water, he started to clean his clothes and body. The river was refreshing, even cold as it was. Climbing out of the water, he wrung out his clothes before hanging them up. Sprout was splashing about in the shallows and Kenji joined the turtle. They played until his clothes dried enough to pull back on.
"I think that's enough for now," he told the beast as he dressed.
Sprout warbled back at him from the river, refusing to leave.
"Come on, little one." Kenji told him from the sled. "We've spent long enough playing around. It's time we get on the move again."
The Pokémon begrudgingly crawled out of the water. His shell was muddy, and his lower body picked up more dirt as he walked. After a short meal, they followed the river upstream.
The days passed slowly, blending into each as Kenji hiked towards the mountains. Details emerged, cliffs and boulders decorating the mountain sides. As he feared, there was no sign of vegetation growing, at least nothing that could feed him, let alone Sprout.
Meanwhile, the plateau continued to pull his gaze, the isolated forest a weight that continued to tug at him.
The forest around them grew sparser as they tread closer to the mountain range. The trees gradually became smaller and more spread out as the ancient forest grew younger. Boulders and rocks became plentiful, likely tumbling far from mountainside.
Kenji estimated that he was only a few days' travel from the low lying slopes when he was awoken by the horrendous bellow in the night.
Snapping his eyes open, Kenji was instantly awake, breaking out into a cold sweat. His eyes darted around, instinctively searching for the source of the roar. However, it was pitch black with not even the light of the moon to offer him sight.
The howl continued, an echoing rasp that bounced off the stones and trees.
Kenji shuddered in fear as a cold claw trailed its way down his spine. Despite being hidden by the propped up sled, it felt as though the reaper was coming for him once more. His mind contorted and rebelled as memories surfaced. Snarling against the feeling of being hunted, Kenji twisted on the ground.
He forced himself to his hands and knees, crawling up the sled frame. Vines, berries, and other fruit were covered by the silk and leaf tarp, blocking his view of the surrounding forest. Panting, he pulled aside the draping sheet, and fearfully peered out.
The smaller trees no longer created a tangled canopy that blocked the sky. That, combined with the pitch black night, allowed him a clear view of the lights dancing far above. Eerie and cruel, the purple and red wisps danced across the sky.
The gruesome, bellowing roar finally died off, granting Kenji a measure of peace.
He took a shuddering inhalation of air, feeling the sense of death faded. However, before he could fully relax, the roar picked up again.
This time, it was joined by others.
While weaker, the howls were no less terrifying. They filled the night, blending together into a fear inducing musical of demise.
Even Flutter was shaken, flapping down hurriedly to join Sprout and him under the lean-to. The butterfly was motionless except for its antennae and proboscis. The appendages were twitching wildly as the bug's eyes rolled in fear.
The younger Pokémon was beside himself, burrowing into the soil in an effort to hide. Kenji wished he could join the turtle as the terrified beast disappeared into his shell with a glimmer of Energy.
Kenji moved to join the Pokémon, hopefully to seek comfort together, but was stopped by a change in the evil wisps above. The ethereal lights slowly descended towards the forest. The lights faded, leaving behind distinct afterimages as they danced amongst the trees.
Cloth wrapped figures, glowing shadows, and wailing women rejoiced in the black of the night. A gray fog fell with them, further distorting the terrifying sight and hiding the forest from his gaze.
Deep within, Kenji felt an inexplicable urge to join them.
His spirit shivered, phantom tendrils crawling free to burrow through the soil. A mockery of root and wood, the tendrils crawled towards the surface of his soul.
At the same time, the link with his bond partner flared into a semblance of awakening. The air grew heavy with salt and humidity, his skin gritty with sand.
Kenji fell to the ground, his body writhing from the competing sensations.
Ghost Energy was thick in the air, rising from the soil and wood with the fog. His spirit and body were reacting with the familiar power, automatically reaching out for it. His bond followed suit, as the Energy was nourishing to it as rain was to a plant.
Instead of allowing deathly Energy to afflict his spirit, Kenji fought to channel it to his bond. The spectral beast accepted the offering greedily, inadvertently helping Kenji cleanse his body. Waves of ice flushed through his skin and bones.
Clenching his jaw, Kenji whimpered in pain as he curled into a ball. The fetal position was a familiar one, made more so as he started to clench down on his spirit. He exerted his control, the thin shell of aura mimicking him as he compressed his spirit.
Kenji fought through the night, listening to the wails of ghosts and monsters as he rejected the spectral power. Shuddering breaths and cramps wracked his body, leaving him twitching and sore. His muscles were cramped, and he struggled to stand as the morning sun rose to burn away the fog.
The Ghostly Energy faded with the thick mist and Kenji felt his muscles loosen. Groaning, he felt one hundred years older as he hobbled around. He shielded his eyes from the light and slowly tried to stretch his limbs. His body refused to comply, wanting to do nothing more than curl back into a ball.
Recognizing the futility, he gave up and shuffled to the river. His finished staff made for a useful walking stick, supporting his body to keep him from falling.
Sprout followed close behind, warbling in concern. The beast spent most of the morning nudging Kenji and even trying to offer his breakfast in the hopes it would help. Unfortunately, a small meal only enhanced his nausea.
Flutter was ahead, on guard against any of the ghostly beasts from last night. While appreciated the butterfly's concern, he doubted any of the spectral Pokémon lingered behind.
Kenji hobbled into the water with a splash, the cold water making shiver all the more. He soaked until his fingers pruned, finally crawling out to attempt another set of stretches. While he was more successful, it still fell far short of what Kenji knew he was able to achieve.
In spite of his body's extensive complaints, Kenji forced himself to move. His progress was slow, extremely slow, but it was progress nonetheless. As a result, it took longer than he originally estimated to reach the base of the mountains.
Four more days passed, his body slowly recovering as he moved. He still was not sure why the mass of specters and Ghost Energy prompted such a reaction and refused to dwell upon it for long.
Instead, he filled his days with imagining what was on the other side. Kenji wanted to hope that it was his home of Greenleaf, but reality was far crueler. He knew that there was no mountain or forest such as this within their borders, especially not one with such a varied array of unfamiliar beasts.
Afternoon was fast approaching by the time he reached the edge of the forest. Finding a largest tree in the area, Kenji dropped the sled at the base and free himself from his wooden pack with a groan.
Collapsing next to his supplies, Kenji smiled at the mountain range.