FSE

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To Gain a Pokemon...To Lose Your Heart

Spearows chirped in the trees, bounced backand forth between muted shafts of light permeating the dense canopy of the tree of Ilex forest. The scurry of leaves and twigs betrayed the presence of other small pokemon, while the shril cry of a pidgey fought for dominance with the drone of a patrolling beedrill hovering around the trunks like a lost sentinel.

Greg was a woodcutter, or, more specifically, a charcoal maker. One might think that charcoal was easy to make, take wood, add fire, but the best quality charcoal came only from the best trees, prepared the best way, with no mistakes in the methodology.

He wasn't quite at the proper level, just yet, to be able to the best kinds of charcoal on his own; the kinds of charcoal that sent fire pokemon wild with glee. It was just carbon, really, in an impure form, but the closer he got it to being 'pure', the more the fire pokemon loved it. He had only been making charcoal for a few years now, starting when he was twelve. Rather than set out on his big cliché pokemon journey to be the 'best', and collect all the gym badges, he had stayed at home to continue the family tradition.

Right now, he was searching through the trees, for recently-felled boughs, or maybe a tree fallen from high winds or a storm; they made the best charcoal when they were at a mid point between green and dry. So far, he was having little success, so he was wandering deeper and deeper into the forest. It had been a mild summer, and the usual storms weren't as strong as expected; not many trees had been felled by the storms, and Greg wasn't about to cut them down by himself.

He had his families Growlithe with him though, and as such, felt safe travelling deeper into the trees in search of good forage. The Growlithe would protect him.

There was one thing that Greg didn't tell many people; something that set him apart from the others. He could speak to Pokemon. Well, most of them. Beedrills were heedless assholes, caterpie were always silent, and several other species refused to talk to him or lacked the vocal abilities to converse with him. Strangly enough, his families' Growlithe seemed to think of Greg's gift as a sin, or a problem, and refused to speak to him at all. He had once caught him talking to a wild pokemon, but they had both stopped when they realised the young human was listening.

Greg had just found a decent tree to start cutting on, and was standing, one foot on the fallen trunk to hold it steady as he raised his axe, swinging down hard at the branch and chopping it from the trunk with a satisfying chunk!

His families' Growlithe watched him for a moment, before turning his back on the human and watching the forest, settling down on his stomach, chin on his forepaws, watching the trees in a very bored manner, not so much guarding, as lazing.

Greg set about removing all the boughs from the tree. It was newly fallen; probably only a few weeks, considering the amount of caterpie bites along its twigs and the lack of leaves; the branches and boughs would be best for making charcoal. The rest of the tree would have to sit for a few more weeks to dry out to the proper extent.

"You know, we really do need to work on our communication." Greg said between strokes of the axe, collecting the cut branches and putting them in a pile as he cut them, to be carried back home. The growlithe gave no outward sign of hearing him, but a single ear perked back at him for a moment, and Greg grinned a little bit. "I mean, you must have something to say to me. Even if it's just to tell me to shut up." he stated. "Or you could ask me for food...instead of just staring at me like I'm crazy when I open the wrong can of food for you." he said with a knowing grin.

The growlithe turned for a moment, giving him a glower before going back to his lazing. The incident in question was when Greg had opened a tin of sun-dried tomatoes for the pokemon, 'mistakenly' putting them in his bowl instead of pokemon food.

Greg grinned at that, and shook his head a little bit. "One of these days, you'll have to answer me." he said.

"Shut up!" the Growlithe hissed, and Greg raised a brow. It was literally the first thing the pokemon had ever said to him.

"Progress!" he said with a wry grin, as he cut another limb from the felled tree.

The Growlithe glared at him with such fiery eyes and scowled expression that Greg paused on his next swing, his brows furrowing, going quiet.

He heard it too.

There were footsteps, wandering through the underbrush. They were coming towards the pair; not directly at them, but rather, off to the side. Whatever it was would pass nearby, and it wasn't a small forest pokemon either. Even a Pincir didn't make that much noise. And the footsteps were odd...faltering and hesitant, as though the owner wasn't sure which way they were going...or was hurt.

"Hello?!" Greg called into the bushes, announcing his presence. There was nothing worse than startling a wild pokemon with your presence.

A cold wind picked up, blowing the detritus of fallen leaves and pine needles about, but otherwise, the forest remained completely silent.

"Hellllllo?" Greg called again, frowning to himself, taking a step forwards, pushing his feet down properly against the ground, so it crunched loudly. He didn't want to sneak up on a wild pokemon. Even with the axe in his hand, he doubted he could take on some of the denizens of the forest, and didn't think he would want to try.

There was a flicker of movement in the trees ahead, before it disappeared. His eyes narrowed a little bit, and the Growlithe moved to stand besides him, growling faintly in the back of his throat.

"What is it? Can you smell it?" Greg asked, uncertainly.

"...I don't know." The growlithe answered warily, his loathing of conversing with the human forgotten with the new threat.

"Well, only one way to find out." he said, shaking his head slightly, and then striding forwards with purpose towards where he had seen the movement.

After a few paces, a heavy breathing became apparent to him, like a runner after a marathon trying to catch his breath, and he frowned slightly to himself, pushing a branch aside, and staring at what he discovered.

A Lucario.

It was a mess.

It was resting against a tree, nose tilted downwards, ears splayed backwards, one black paw resting on its shoulder, blood seeping from between the thick 'fingers' and drooling sluggishly down its form. The usual blue and black was marred with splotches of dirt and what appeared to be charcoal residue, possibly from fire attacks, and its tail was bent at an odd angle.

"Holy shit..." Greg mutter, dropping down onto one knee and lifting a hand to lay on the Lucario's shoulder, expecting it to be too weak to cause him any harm.

The Lucario's head instantly came up, and the damage to its face became apparent; There was a long trio of lines across its face, from one side to the other, trailing across its eyes, which seemed to be bleeding from under closed lids.

The next thing Greg noticed, was the Lucario's iron grip on his left arm, squeezing intensely hard. His face contorted into a grimace, and before he could say anything, the Lucario rose to its knees in a fluid motion, lifting, turning, and twisting with its arm at the same time, turning his arm outwards and tugging him off balance. The pokemon spun into a kneeling position, facing away from him, and leant forwards gripping his arm tightly in its paw, sending Greg tumbling over its shoulder in a perfect over-the-shoulder throw, sending him crashing down on his back in a heavy, painful heap.

The impact winded him, and he gasped for air, eyes staring at the trees and the sky beyond them, wide and unresponsive.

And then his vision was filled with a black fist coming crashing down towards his face, the spike on the top gleaming in the light. It grazed his cheek in passing, before slamming into the ground besides his head, leaving an impression in it, while the spike itself scraped a line down Greg's cheek, just above his lip, grazing painfully.

The Lucario bounced backwards as it finished its attack, panting faintly and standing in a ready position, unwavering, even though blood was dripping rather profusely from what looked like a puncture wound in its left shoulder. Its ears were swivelling, listening carefully, while its eyes were held tightly closed.

The attack that came from the left, however, had no heralding sound. It was a blast wave of flame, a fire attack from a pokemon that used its fire every day to make charcoal, Greg's Growlithe opening his mouth and sending a stream of fire splashing out over the Lucario.

The steel type pokemon recoiled from the flame, flailing a paw helplessly in the direction of it and reeling backwards, sidestepping and trying to get away, its foot catching on a tree root and sending it crashing to the ground in a heavy heap, before it rolled nimbly to its feet and bounced backwards, displaying a cat-like balance, which was interrupted as it slammed back-first into a tree trunk and bounced off, putting a paw out to arrest it fall, ending up on its knees, a cry of pain leaving it as it tried to put its weight on its injured arm, sending it dropping to the ground once more.

"Stop!" Greg said, lifting an arm as he rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself to his feet, holding his cheek with his free hand. his cheek was throbbing and hot, and extremely painful in that numbed way that blunt force trauma had of hurting.

The Growlithe paused, growling, and his hackles rose, before he sidestepped carefully away from the Lucario, not loosing the fire attack he had been building in his throat.

"We don't mean you any harm." Greg said with a frown, his eyes narrowing on the Lucario.

"Then just leave me alone, you stupid human!" the Lucario hissed as it pulled herself up onto a single knee, its paw once more pressed over the wound on its shoulder. Her tone was feminine, and angry.

"That's not in my nature." Greg said, working his jaw slightly to make sure the muscles still worked properly, pulling himself to his feet.

"You understand me?" The Lucario asked, her ears perking towards him incredulously.

"...No." Greg said with just the right amount of hesitation.

"Typic-...wait." the Lucario growled faintly at him. "Stop playing games, human!"

Laughing faintly in spite of himself, Greg shrugged. "What can I say. Getting beat up makes me joke around." he said proudly, hand still holding his aching cheek.

"Then you're going to get really funny, really quickly if you don't get away from me." the lucario stated rather bluntly.

Greg raised a brow. "You're blind, from what I can see. You only grazed me with that punch." he pointed out calmly.

"Do not belittle me!" she hissed in return.

The Growlithe growled, snapping at her for a moment. Greg shushed him gently.

"I want to help you." Greg stated.

"No. You don't." the Lucario stated flatly, her brows furrowing. She grimaced, holding her shoulder all the tighter.

"You're losing blood." he stated.

"I'm blind, not stupid!" the Lucario hissed, baring her teeth a moment in anger, and then gritting them as she shifted and stressed her shoulder.

"I'm going to get you to a pokecentre." Greg said with a shake of his head, stepping forwards.

"I'll hurt you." The Lucario said flatly, her tone betraying absolutely no emotion.

"...No. I don't think you will." Greg said calmly, stepping forwards heavily, deliberately letting his feet snap twigs and branches, being as loud as possible. "You're out here, in the wilderness, alone. Those aren't wounds from a pokemon battle of normal standards, and if you don't get help, you'll either die of blood loss, or from starvation, two options which aren't appealing to anyone." he stated rather calmly, getting closer and closer, until he placed a hand on the Lucario's uninjured shoulder.

"I'm going to make you regret this." the Lucario stated flatly, as he pulled her good arm over his shoulder.

"Shut it, just lean on me as you need." he said, straightening a little bit and hefting her weight. She was heavier than she looked.

"Going to hurt you..." the Lucario murmured, but relented, leaning against him helplessly as he helped take some of her weight, beginning to walk back towards town. The Growlithe fell into step behind them, watching the Lucario carefully.

It wasn't too far back to town, but less than halfway there, the Lucario stumbled, dropping to one knee, struggling to continue, fumbling forwards another step, and another, before dropping to her knees properly and would have ended up on her face if Greg hadn't caught her at the last second, wrapping his arms around her middle and holding her to his chest.

"Oi, oi?" he asked, lifting a hand and shaking her uninjured shoulder gently.

There was no response from the Lucario.

"Oh for christs sake..." Greg muttered, trying unsucessfully for a moment to lift the Lucario into his arms, but found her too heavy for that, huffing a moment at the predicament.

Eventually, he decided that getting her to the pokecentre was the best course of action, and so, he gripped her wrists, lowered her gently onto her back, and began to drag her along the forest path towards Azalea.

---

Nurse Joy was not particular thrilled to have a bloodied, injured Lucario dragged into her pristine, clean pokecentre, but within moments, she had bustled around the counter and without the merest hesitation, helped Greg to lift the Lucario up onto a gurney which was pushed in by a pair of Chansey. The two pink pokemon whisked the injured Lucario off to the back rooms, while Greg just stood there, not sure what to do.

"Mind telling me what happened?" Nurse Joy asked. Azalea was a small enough town that Joy knew that Greg didn't own any pokemon.

"She's wild...I think. I'm pretty sure." he said, rubbing at his cheek distractedly.

"Did she tell you?" Joy asked, peering at him seriously for a moment. She also know that he could understand pokemon. It was an odd gift. Hardly unique; but rare.

"Not in so many words. She's not very talkative." he admitted, shaking his head. "She didn't even want me to help her."

"Ugh, your kind nature is going to get you in so much trouble." Joy said, shaking her head and then bustling off to help the Chansey's tend to the Lucario.

Greg sat down in one of the booths at the side of the pokecentre, and laid his head on his arms, on the table, and closed his eyes.

It seemed only a few seconds later that Joy was shaking him awake, holding a washcloth, and a pasty white cream of some sort. "Now it's your turn, young man." she said sternly.

Wincing, he allowed her to tend to his cheek, turning his head to the side and shying away as she applied the cream to his cheek, rubbing it in. It numbed the pain a little bit, but his cheek still throbbed. A brilliant bruise was forming under the skin, and his head still swam again. He didn't think he had a concussion, but Joy still fussed over him, especially since she hadn't realised he'd been injured initialyl. She made him count her fingers, and tested his retinal reaction with a penlight before relenting.

"Greg...I think you'll need to talk to the Lucario." she said in a much less stern voice than she usually did.

"...You gave her bad news, didn't you?" he asked, giving her a level look.

She wringed her hands a little bit and nodded.

"Not sure if she's going to fly into a rage and destroy the room?" he continued.

She winced slightly, and then; "But...I just cleaned that room!" she protested.

Greg rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll go talk to her." he said, slipping out of the seat and heading towards the back rooms of the pokecentre. The Growlithe dropped down off one of the seats and headed after him, just in case.

He peeked into a few rooms, finding a Caterpie recovering from a burn in one bed, and then, in the fourth room he tried, the Lucario, sitting on the bed, head tilted towards the open window, ears pricked forwards. She had a bloody bandage wrapped around her shoulder, and her face was marred by a healing scar that would soon be covered entirely by the plush blue fur of her body.

Greg eased his way into the room, and then sat down at the very end of the bed. A single one of her ears swivelled towards him, before tilted back towards the window.

"I hear you got some bad news." Greg started.

"I can hear a Beedrill outside." The Lucario said suddenly, pointing with her nose.

"I can go get some repel?" Greg suggested.

"No...I can hear a Beedrill. But I can't see it." she stated, lifting a paw to wave in front of her face, in a gesturing motion at where the lines had been carved into her flesh by something very sharp.

"I'm sure you'll be able to see it soon enough." he said with a nod.

"I'm blind." she replied flatly, shaking her head once. "Stone cold blind. The nice woman said that there's nothing she can do for my eyes. No potion can even begin to heal the damage that was done, as my body has already started healing itself." she stated in a very calm, matter-of-fact way. Greg was all of a sudden afraid for his safety.

"Well...I..." he tried to think of something to say, and then just fell silent.

"I can hear your heartbeat. You're afraid of me." she stated matter-of-factly again.

Greg nodded once, and then realised she couldn't see it. "I am." he replied for her benefit. "My head still hurts where you hit me." he said.

"You would have still been unconscious if I had of landed the blow properly." she stated.

"Not making me any less scared of you." Greg replied immediately.

She snorted once. "I couldn't punch the broad side of a barn now." she said, with a single shake of her head.

"It's a pretty small room. You'd get me eventually." Greg assured, frowning at her. "...Don't Lucario have that uhm..." He tried to remember exactly what it was.

"Aura vision?" she suggested.

"Yeah, that." he nodded once.

"I'm not very good at that." she said bluntly.

"...Because?" Greg cajoled.

"Because I'm not." the Lucario said, her lips pursing unhappily a moment, her demeanor edging back towards angry.

"And you were injured...?" he asked, raising his brows.

"In a way that is none of your business." she said flatly, her tail giving a faint, irritated flick.

"Well, this is cheery." Greg said after a moment.

"Indeed." The Lucario replied.

"I'm Greg." he said, extending his hand towards her for a handshake, and then tugging it back, mentally facepalming at his stupidity. There was no way she could see him extending his hand.

"...I'm..." she trailed off a moment, as though wondering if she should tell him her name. "...I'm Cindyr." she said after a moment.

"Well, Cindyr." he said, "Just because Nurse Joy can't fix your eyes, doesn't mean that someone else can't." he said with a single nod.

"And how am I to find them?" she asked flatly, opening her eyes and 'staring' at him, or, at least, at a point a few inches to the left of his face. Her iris's were disjointed, mis-aligned from the perfect circle, a jarring note in an otherwise pleasing face. "I can't just go ask the first thing I hear for direction, and without being able to see, I'll be easy prey for any wayward trainer who thinks 'oo, Lucario! Mine!'." she spat.

Greg frowned a little bit, his expression glum as he watched her for a moment, shaking his head slightly. "...You have a point." he said. "Perhaps Nurse Joy can arrange for someone to escort you to Goldenrod? It's a pretty big city, you know. Couriers go back and forth between here and there every week or so."

"It won't work." The Lucario stated flatly.

The conversation was given a slight reprieve, as a chansey came bobbing in with a tray of food held high above its head, placing it on the bed and then leaving with the same abruptness it had arrived.

Cindyr tilted her head to the side slightly, and Greg saw her nostrils flare as she inhaled the scent of the food. Her tail gave a reflexive jerk across the bed, before she turned her attention back to the window, ears tilting towards it, her breathing evening out, jaw setting.

"It's not poisoned or anything, you know." Greg said, nudging the tray with the back of his hand, sliding it towards her.

"It's not that." she said with a haughty huff, lifting her nose a little bit and refusing to acknowledge the food, even though the scent of it was wafting towards her, and her stomach gave a faint, audible rumble.

"Human food not good enough for you?" he asked, raising a brow slightly.

"...Nooo." she whined, her ears splaying backwards and her paws gripping fistfuls of the blankets, squeezing them in both unhappiness and embaressment.

"...You're afraid of eating, aren't you?" he asked, keeping his tone perfectly level, neither accusing, nor pitying. It was an odd question, surely...but the way she held her head, and the way she staunchly refused the scent of the food even though she wasn hungry...Something in his gut told him that she wanted to eat, but was afraid of making a mess, or making a fool of herself trying to eat without her eyes to guide her.

The Lucario's ears pinned back flat against her head, and her chin fell a little bit, her paws balling in her lap. "...Yes." she muttered.

"Here, let me help." Greg said.

"I don't need your help!" she hissed, turning towards him slightly, her paws balling into fists.

"Yes, you do." he replied rather bluntly, picking up the tray and putting it in his lap, sidling across to sit next to her, picking up the fork.

"I do not." she growled in reply, turning her head and setting her jaw again.

"Either that, or starve." he stated flatly, grabbing her right wrist with his hand and then guiding it over to the tray in his lap. "Now, pick up the fork. I'm not going to feed you." he said, his tone rather coarse and harsh...there was no pity in it. Something told him that if he denied her her pride, then she would lash out at him.

She huffed at his tone, glowering...but her resistence to the idea faded when she realised that she wasn't going to be treated like a baby. He placed her paw firmly over the fork, and waited for her to curl her digits around it before turning it slightly to the side to align the tines properly, and then pulling it over to place over the top of the fruit on the tray, pressing it downwards until it speared an apple slice. He released her paw completely after that, watching her with a tilted head.

The Lucario paused a moment, and then pulled the apple piece up to her muzzle, snuffling at it a moment, and then opening her mouth wide, tongue curling slightly to trace the shape of the apple piece, to accurately gauge the size of it, before she popped the entire thing into her mouth and devoured it hungrily. After chewing, and swallowing, she hesitantly extended her paw, holding it roughly over where she remembered the tray had been.

Once more, Greg guided her paw across, and then down to spear another piece of apple, which she hungrily consumed, moving her paw back over the tray again; This time however, Greg only guided her hand with a little push, just a nudge here and there to get it into the right position for her to pick up the pieces of food for herself, patiently helping her.

Cindyr made short work of the fruit, with Greg's help, and then he moved onto the soup, placing the bowl in her cupped paws for her to sip from. He always made sure to wait until she suggested that she needed help before moving to actually help her. She was a proud creature. He had seen the same kind of thing in the older people in the village; people who had been beset by sudden illness or injury, and forced to rely on others. They needed the help, but they were too proud to admit it. And for most of them, pride was the only thing they had left.

Once the food was done, he settled the tray aside on the dressed, and gave the smallest of chuckles for her benefit. "See? Not so hard, was it?" he asked.

"Not...in a human building...with help." she said with a strained sigh, her shoulders slumping heavily as she shook her head. "I'm never going to make it anywhere...my mission is over." she said, apparently looking down at the paws in her lap.

"Don't be like that. Look at it like this;" he started.

"I don't need a pep talk." she replied flatly, cutting him off.

Greg lifted a finger to shush her, placing it on her lips.

The Lucario looked momentarily as if she were contemplating biting it off.

"Instead of focusing on what you lost...focus on what you still have." he said with a single, affirmative nod.

"...Absolutely nothing." she said.

"You still have your health...?" he offered.

"Until I leave town and starve to death, yes." she countered.

"There are other things you have." he said calmly, watching her expression.

"Like what?" she asked, turning her head towards him. "My ascerbit wit? Hardly a skill I'd like to call upon in battle." she said flatly.

Greg opening his mouth to reply, and then just sighed, closing it again and shaking his head. "Look, Cindyr. I was hoping you'd realise this yourself; but you have the ability to see Aura's. Even if you can't do it now. That's a very strong potential for renewing your sight right there; and then there's the chance that you can get your sight back through medical means, from one of the clinics in the big cities." he explained soothingly.

"I have no way to get there...No one to turn to. You fail to recognize that nearly all humans don't understand pokemon." she countered.

Pausing a moment, her waited for just the right length of time before saying; "Well, why don't I just say what you've been hoping to hear since you found out you were blind;"

Cindyr's ears perked up at him fully, giving him her full attention, turning her head towards him again.

"I'll take you with me to Goldenrod. I'll take you in to get your eyes seen about." he said. It wasn't an offer, more a foregone conclusion.

"What? N-no." she said quickly, wringing her paws in her lap again. "I don't want that!" she claimed.

Greg gave her a long look. Her mouth said no, but her expression had guilt all over it. "You're not a very good liar, Cindyr." he said with a faint chuckle. "Look, we can't leave today, there's not enough light left to get to Goldenrod before sunset." he said calmly.

"I never said I accepted!" she cried out, placing her paws over the base of her ears in an expression of agnst.

"And?" Greg asked, rising to his feet, stretching slightly. "I'm going to go get dinner, and I'll be back to get you later on. I have a spare bed at home you can sleep in. Tomorrow, I'll take you to Goldenrod." he said calmly.

"You're not listening to a word I'm saying, are you?" she hissed.

He paused at that, made a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat, and then declared; "Nope!" cheerily.

The Lucario let out a long, helpless huff, rubbing at her forehead with a paw. "I can't wait." she said sarcastically.

"Don't worry, it's a short trip to Goldenrod, and then you can be free of my winning personality." he chimed happily, turning about and walking out of the door.

"...Greg?" she called after him.

He paused a moment in the doorway, leaning back to peer in at her, raising his brows. "Yes?"

The Lucario opened her mouth, and then closed it again, before opening it once more, "I...Just...I...Never mind." she said, shaking her head.

"Rightio." Greg said, and then ambled off without another word.

The Lucario sighed faintly, head head tilting forwards, ears splaying backwards a little bit, murmuring down at her paws; "..I just wanted...to say thank you." she said, even though she knew he was long out of earshot.