Defenders of Evodusai Part 15A
Forced to be with the girls, Ritch sighed out loud as he watched
his best friend walk away with that demon of a charmander. "Oh come
on," Nyami complained. "It's only been like ten seconds and
you're already acting mopey. If you don't like our company, then
let's just go collect the stuff and be done with it." Liru stepped
in between the two. "Now hold up," she whispered to the
frustrated eevee. "I know how you feel but we've got to sort this
out." Turning towards the chikorita, Liru looked at him with soft
eyes. "Ritch, you're a part of this team now and whatever problems
that you've got becomes the entire team's problem. Just tell us about
your situation so that we can help you." Ritch backed away and
shook his head. "Just leave me and my problems alone. It isn't
affecting anyone else but me, so..."
"What do you mean it's not affecting anybody?" Liru growled.
The gentleness of her eyes sharpened into a fierce glare. "Nyami
and I are on edge because we're worried about you while Winta,
someone who doesn't get mad often, burned hotter than usual today
because of the way you acted. But the pokemon that's most affected is
your own best friend. Whenever he looks at you, there's sadness
lingering upon his face that just stays there like emotional battle
scars. So don't you go and tell me that your problems aren't
affecting anybody because if you do, then you're just a blind and
ignorant fool." Backed into a corner the chikorita was on the verge
of tears. "No... I'm hurting Mishren?" he sniffled. "Emotional damage is just as serious as physical damage," she
said crossing her arms. "If you aren't alright in the head then you
can't perform at your best. Remember when you blamed Winta's actions
for getting your buddy injured? There was no way that Mishren could
have lost to Winta in that fight unless he had some kind of handicap.
We now know what that handicap was and whose fault it was for giving
it to him." Ritch's legs failed him and he slumped to the ground
with a look of disbelief. "All these years and I didn't even notice
yet it only took you a couple of days to see. Where did you learn all
of this from?" The totodile flashed a smile. "Who else but Winta?
Even though she didn't teach me directly, you can still learn a lot
just by watching your heroes. I've learned a bunch from her when I
was still a hatchling... and now I can finally start learning from
her again after all these years." Burying his face into the ground,
Ritch thought about everything that Liru had said. "F-fine," he
mumbled. "I'll take a risk and trust in you two to help me move
forward." Standing up, he stared at Liru with hopeful eyes. "But
we still have a task to accomplish. Let's go and I can tell you as we
walk."
When I first joined Sofeda, I was originally placed in the
special attack squad. There were mixed feelings swirling around my
head when I showed up on the first day. I was happy that I had
finally managed to get in a squad this time around, but the newbie
beating tradition that this division was known for terrified me.
After getting myself mentally prepared for what was to come, I made
my way slowly to the Offensive Superiority building. It was here that
I met Mishren the mareep for the first time and he was chatting it up
with Chief Plena. The confidence in his voice was infectious and my
worries seemed to melt away when I was with him. Plena also seemed
like a nice guy as well and he gave us a grand tour of the place. By
the end of the day, I had completely forgotten about the beating
until a group of pokemon came and carried us away.
We struggled with our captors for awhile until they threw us
into an open area. Standing in the middle was a magmortar who had
surrounded the area behind him with flames. Considered to be one of
the best in the squad, he gave us one look and roared with laughter.
"The both of you look pathetically weak! It won't be fun for me if
I fought you one at a time, so come and attack me with all you've
got!" I hesitated out of caution but Mishren didn't give a second
thought and shot off a thundershock. It connected but the magmortar
roared out in amusement. "I thought I said to attack together! That
felt like a soothing massage to me!" Mishren growled in anger and
got ready to charge in but I held him back since I figured out that
it was a trap. Keeping our heads cool, we kept our distance and
observed our opponent as he kept trying to provoke us with words and
attacks that were easy to avoid. Eventually I discovered his weak
spot and told Mishren about my plan to exploit it. Together we
charged forward, barely managing to evade flamethrowers twice our
size. The air became intense for a grass type like me but I kept on
going. Jumping into the air to avoid another flamethrower became a
mistake as an ember attack made a direct hit against my body. Before
I fainted, I caught a glimpse of the magmortar's smug grin turning
sour as Mishren smote him from behind. Mishren said that he got
knocked out after making that attack and it took all the pokemon
there to stop the magmortar from going on a killing rampage. From
that point on we worked our hardest by competing multiple jobs for
our division and climbed the ranks as partners. Soon we became well
respected by our teammates and the chief decided to make us mentors.
That decision was the start of my problems. I'm not gonna mention her name, but our first and only student
was a snover who had been a big fan of ours after we rescued her.
When you get used to the hail that always seems to follows her around
inside the mystery dungeons, you'll see that see had the potential to
become one of the best. However, her big mouth soon drew unwanted
attention in the form of a mass of followers that always seems to
congregate around her at the base. She was like a role model for all
those idiots who wished that they could have been assigned to us and
they would get us trouble on a daily basis. Then one day that snover,
who had been blinded by her inflated ego, became way too
overconfident in her abilities. We were tasked to bring down an
A-ranked outlaw and managed to trap him in an open clearing somehow.
Mishren sensed danger in the area and warned us but she ignored
everything and charged in directly, triggering the monster's nest
that the thug lured us to. Her reckless behavior that day dealt
massive injuries to the team and unfortunately she... passed away.
The trauma of seeing your student's life getting snuffed out
right before your eyes was horrible enough. But when the news broke
out that she had died under our watch, the trouble rose
exponentially. All those followers that she amassed in her short two
months of glory banded together and started a hate campaign to smear
Sofeda's name. When Mishren and I were released after getting healing
treatment for two weeks, we found ourselves at war with an enemy that
can't be confronted with violence. Job offerings began to dry up and
we were constantly being attacked when we tried stepping out to
gather supplies. For some unexplained reason, all the guys would go
and physically harass Mishren while I got bullied by the females.
When I received the transfer over to the healing division, that's
when I realized how stupid the situation had become. We basically had
to endure half a year of misery and hardships just because some cocky
brat who didn't know when to shut up decided to throw her life away
for fame. Things slowly died down when those fanatics learned of my
transfer. I guess they were tired of all the fighting and were
satisfied with the outcome. Mishren continued to climb the ranks
while I sat back at base. Chief Olein did her research and found out
that my dad was a slowking. That meant that I was able to use a move
called heal pulse when I was little, but had forgotten how to use it
now.. At first I was defensive about her approaching me but her
motherly attitude tore down that barrier in an instant. It took
awhile but I was able to relearn that move under her encouragement
and taught how to masterfully control its power. After learning that
she forced me to go learn from the medicine-mon.
As he said this, the trio
found themselves in front of the medicine-mon's home. Ritch gave a
couple knocks before opening the door and motioning for the other two
to follow. The scent of various herbs lingered in the air, which
smelt more refreshing than the city air outside. Walking to an open
window facing the backyard, they saw the toxicroak tending to a well
kept garden. "Hey old man! I'm here to do some business with you!"
Ritch shouted out. Startled, the toxicroak turned and smiled. "Well
I'll be mankey's uncle. Is that you, Ritch? It's been way too long
since I last saw my favorite student. Come here so I can get a good
look at how much you've grown." The chikorita nodded and approached
the toxicroak. "Oh my," the toxicroak whispered as the chikorita
got close. "Do my eyes deceive me or do I see two young lasses
standing by my doorway? Gotten over your fear now, eh?" "It ain't
like that old man," Ritch coughed. "They're my teammates and
we're here to buy some medicine for a difficult mission." He told
the medicine-mon what he needed and motioned for Liru and Nyami to
come over. "Aside from the ingredients, the team leader also wanted
these two to learn a bit about medicinal herbs. Could you help me
teach them?" The toxicroak rubbed his chin.
"Hmmm, it depends on what you need to learn. I can give a few
pointers for free on how to search for and gather them but some of the more
complicated stuff will require enrollment fees." "We'll just take
the pointers for now," Nyami said. "But I might come back to
learn more about," Liru added. After paying for the supplies, they
got to learn about a couple of the common herbs growing throughout
the land. When if was time for them to leave, they thanked the
toxicroak for his time. "No problem, youngsters. Spreading my
knowledge to the next generation pleases my aching bones. Don't
hesitate to come back if you want to learn more, alright?" Waving
goodbye, they began their journey to meet with the others at the
farm. As they walked, Liru noticed
that Ritch seemed happier. "That's what I like to see," she
giggled. Ritched stopped, confused at her words. "Huh? What do you
like to see?" he asked. Liru poked at him. "This. The real you
who's casually strolling side by side with two girls with a smile on
his face." Realizing the situation, he coughed as his face started
to redden. "Oh. Well... I mean..." he struggled to find the right
words. "I guess talking about it really did help," Nyami smiled.
"Come on, let's see if we can beat the other team and get there
first." With that she took off with Liru trailing right behind.
Still thinking about what just happened, Ritch gave a quiet laugh and
chased after his teammates.