Story Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
IV
* * * * *
Teleportation was an odd experience for Leith and he hoped never to have to experience it again even though he would need to in order to return home. Teleportation relieved him of his senses for a moment and when they returned to him, he felt as though he no longer knew how to stand up on his own two legs. That feeling only worsened the severely disorientating effects of suddenly vanishing from one place and reappearing in an entirely different environment.
"Don't worry, I threw up the first time I teleported; you get used to it after awhile or psychic types do at least." Manasi spoke within Leith's mind.
Leith had not been aware he had thrown up, he figured he must have done it sometime while his body was trying to remember how to operate. He also remembered he was still holding paws with the abra and almost pulled away from him. "Don't let go and if you must talk, use your thoughts," Manasi instructed.
"Why? We're already here; wherever 'here' is," Leith argued through a mental link Manasi had long since established.
"I know you don't want to touch me after what I did to you, but you will benefit from my touch until we are back home safe."
"What do you mean?" Leith asked.
"Look around you," Manasi suggested.
Leith did look and noticed that they were inside what humans called a 'public park'. It was mostly flat, half of it covered in grass and the other half in concrete walkways. Some of the grassy portions were occupied by trees. There were also a lot of benches, each occupied by a human male and a human female. Leith and Manasi stood seemingly vulnerable on one of the walkways and near enough to a street lamp that any human who looked their way should have seen them.
"Why did you bring me here? They're going to try catching us!" Leith only managed to think his statement rather than speak it.
"Humans are known for their tendency to ignore that which is right in front of their faces. As a master of the psychic arts, I have merely exploited this mental flaw of theirs, making them unable to see us. As long as we remain quiet and do not touch any of them, they will remain oblivious to our presence," Manasi explained. "In order for it to work for you, you have to keep touching me."
"Are you sure? There seems to be a lot of them here," Leith thought.
"Today is a human holiday they like to call 'Valentine's Day'. it is the human celebration of love. Some, like many of these people," Manasi waved his free paw around to emphasize his point, "Take the meaning farther than others and use it as an opportunity to mate with one another."
The two of them walked unnoticed to through the quiet neighborhood where Manasi suspected Destyn had been taken. "Hey, I don't want to sound stupid or anything, but if someone's keeping you from finding him, couldn't you at least find her by going wherever her interference or whatever you call it is at its strongest?" Leith asked.
Manasi stopped for a moment and turned to look at Leith. "Good thinking, young one, I cannot believe that didn't occur to me."
Containing his pride for the sake of finding his friend, Leith asked, "So, are we going to teleport again?"
"No, whoever she is, she won't let me...wait a minute," Manasi paused.
"What is it?" Leith anxiously asked.
"Good news, young one, I can take you directly to your friend's location," Manasi revealed to Leith's delight.
"Really?" Leith nearly forgot to keep his voice silent.
"No more questions; I must warn you of something important quickly because Destyn is in terrible danger," Leith nearly asked another question, but Manasi waved one of his free digits to stop him. "His mind has been broken and it is not within my power to fix it. Only a true friend has any hope of recovering who he was and it must be done before the end of the final hour of this day. Otherwise, the effects of what has been done to him will become permanent."
"Let's go then!" Leith tried frantically shouting, but Manasi had already teleported them both out of the human park.
They reappeared in front of a burning house where a fire engine, an ambulance and two police cars had already arrived on the scene. Firefighters were busily trying to extinguish the fire with hoses and powerful water type poke'mon assistants who were mostly blastoises. The front door to the house was open where enormous flames violently licked at the open air.
"Please tell me that Destyn is not in there," Leith continued directing his thoughts toward Manasi.
"I am afraid he is and we can no longer hide ourselves. Other poke'mon are present and this illusion does not work on them," Manasi said aloud while releasing Leith's paw.
Humans and domesticated poke'mon alike were far too busy doing their job to contain and extinguish the blaze to notice either the abra or the buizel that had appeared in the middle of the street. Innocent bystanders who had left their homes to witness the exciting event were too mesmerized by the scene to tear their eyes away from it for anything other than to make an observation to the person next to them
"Do we have to go in there?" Leith asked aloud.
"No. Now that I am no longer receiving any interference, I can see somewhat more clearly into the future; the very near future that is," Manasi answered. "I still cannot see the outcome of this day or what comes after it for some reason."
"Someone's going to rescue him for us?" Leith asked.
"More or less," Manasi vaguely answered. "Just watch and follow my instructions if you wish to save him," He ordered just as Leith opened his mouth to ask another question.
Seconds later, two arcanines rushed out of the burning home. Each of them was carrying a single poke'mon delicately in their mouths. Both of the poke'mon in their possession appeared unconscious. Leith walked toward them to identify them, hoping that Destyn was among the rescued. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that one was a vulpix and the other was a flareon. They were stuck together in a comical way that caused some humans to laugh or smirk and others to grimace in disgust.
"The rescue arcanines have returned!" A tall and strongly built firefighter announced, a male by the sound of the human's voice. "Oh, shit! Look at what they brought back! One of 'em's got their dick in the other. I guess we know what caused the fire." He observed.
The two arcanines dropped their passengers onto the sidewalk and awaited further orders. The firefighter who had spoken rushed over to check them for any severe damage. "These two are hot, literally! We can't get them to a center until they've cooled down," He reported to one of his companions.
"No time, we need to get them to a center ASAP. Look at the way they're breathing," A short and slender female firefighter said as she walked over to him. Neither the vulpix nor the flareon could take a full gasp of air without having their bodies racked by a series of coughs. "My bet's on heavy smoke inhalation."
The female firefighter looked at the two rescue arcanines. "Go back in and bring back any poke'balls you can find because we'll need theirs. If we can contain them, their body heat won't be an issue for us and their conditions won't worsen." She managed to accompany her instructions with a follow-up explanation.
"Where is he? Where's Destyn?" Leith demanded.
"The flareon is Destyn," Manasi answered.
"He evolved?!" Leith shrieked with surprise.
"Obviously," The abra replied.
"Shouldn't we go rescue him?" Leith asked.
"Not yet," Manasi said. "I must eliminate his poke'ball or he will never be free again," He explained.
Another minute passed. Fortunately, Manasi and Leith remained unnoticed by both humans and poke'mon alike. On an unrelated note, the collective effort of the fire hoses and the relentless water type attacks began making an impact on the fire.
The arcanines returned with a round object in each of their mouths. "There they are, just as I expected," Manasi said. "Follow me."
The abra ran in between the parked emergency vehicles with Leith chasing after him. There were gasps of surprise when the gathered audience of neighbors noticed the two small poke'mon race past them. None of them made an attempt to capture either of them, however. Poke'mon walking around in the city was common and it turned out that they already had owners more than nine times out of ten. It was just as Manasi said; humans tend to ignore that which is right in front of them.
Manasi stopped inches away from the flareon that remained tied with his manipulative mate. Leith continued forward and could not stop himself from collapsing next to Destyn and try embracing him lovingly. "No! Don't!" Manasi shouted, but he was too late.
The instant Leith touched the flareon, he screamed out in agony and quickly pulled his paws away, which had been badly burned from Destyn's extreme body heat. "I warned you," Manasi scolded, but Leith simply pressed his hurting paws into the ground and kneeled ext to his lover.
Leith began crying over his friend's condition. It did not matter to him that Destyn had mated with another. He could not have cared less about the fact that Destyn had evolved. He just wanted him to be awake and as fit and healthy as he had been twenty-four hours ago. He wanted Destyn to open his eyes and tell him everything was going to be alright and that they should meet by the river for well over the thousandth time. "Please wake up," He begged, "I love you!"
The firefighters seemed unconcerned about the presence of the buizel and abra. Neither did the two arcanines who only recently spat the poke'balls they had found onto the ground. Before they landed, a violet glow encompassed both of them. They stopped falling inches above the sidewalk and zoomed toward the abra before anyone could do anything about it. "What are you doing? Bad abra! Drop them!" The female firfighter shouted.
Manasi ignored her and soon had the poke'balls within his claws. With a little concentration, he teleported them both without teleporting himself. He sent them as deeply within the planet's mantle as he could. He figured that even if the unimaginable heat deep within the planet could not destroy them, which was highly unlikely, at least they would be somewhere where humans could neither find nor reach them. Since he didn't know which of the two poke'balls was Destyn's, he disposed of them both even if it meant also freeing the vulpix.
"You two!" The female firefighter shouted to the arcanines. "Take the vulpix and flareon to the center as quickly as you can!" She ordered as soon as the naughty abra pretty much fucked up her first plan.
Manasi had foreseen this happening just before he vanished the poke'balls. While the human relayed orders to the massive fire types, he grabbed onto Leith and Destyn. He received a severe burn from touching the heated flareon, but he maintained his grip despite the injury he received from it. He then teleported himself and his three passengers back to the forest.
* * * * *
"Where are we? I don't recognize this place," Leith enquired after vomiting from his third teleportation experience. "I thought we were going back to the forest."
Manasi had taken them into a cave where none of its entrance and exit mouths were visible. The air was cool, moist and stank of mildew. There was a definite lack of light, but luminous crystals embedded along its walls enabled its occupants to see. For poke'mon, whose vision is better than human eyesight in most cases, the crystals made everything in the cave quite visible. The cave included the usual things, stalactites and stalagmites, chasms and an intricate system of naturally formed tunnels.
Manasi was busily waving his burned paw around and suppressing the urge to scream and curse like a madman. When the pain became only just tolerable for him, he finally managed to speak. "I can assure you that we are inside the forest. I brought us here because Destyn and the vulpix that he is stuck with need to be healed.
"This cave is a sacred place; not even cave dwelling poke'mon know of its existence because its entrance is well hidden and guarded. Few of us are entrusted with its secrets because if this place became a regular domain for poke'mon, it would attract humans. If that ever happened, we would risk losing our most valuable resident.
"She is the one who will heal Destyn and the vulpix because she knows who I am. I have made it my duty to bring poke'mon to her for healing whenever they are close to death. It is also my job to guard the memory of this place by keeping it for myself. In order to do that, I have to erase the memories of its visitors," Manasi explained.
"Are you going to erase my memories of this place?" Leith sounded worried.
"I will after we leave," Manasi truthfully answered.
"Then why explain all this to me then if I won't remember it?" Leith asked.
"To pass the time and to try taking your mind off your present problems. There is nothing you can do for Destyn right now. Just be patient, you have an important and truly difficult task ahead of you," Leith said.
"Fixing his mind you mean," Leith said and received a wordless nod from the abra. "How can I do that if you already admitted you can't?" He was on the verge of giving into despair.
"Your love for Destyn is the only thing that has a chance of repairing the damage she did," He pointed to the unconscious vulpix while speaking.
"I don't know what I can do," Leith admitted.
"You will when the time comes or you will lose Destyn," Manasi bluntly said. "Right now, however, the health of his body is our concern. We will worry about his mind after his body has been healed."
"This place is huge! Does this healer of yours even know that we're here?" Leith asked. He didn't care if he lost some of his memories anymore because he was willing to sacrifice anything, including his own life, to save Destyn.
"Yes, I do," The sound of an aged female's voice echoed throughout the cave, but its source sounded unmistakably close. Leith looked around for a moment until his eyes rested upon pale pink blissey that seemed to radiate a light of her own. She stood only a few feet away.
"Allow me to introduce myself before Manasi decides to give anything else away," She said, causing Manasi to blush. Leith would have laughed if he had not felt so terrible. "I am Ashera. It's a pleasure to meet you," She kindly introduced herself.
With the pleasantries out of the way, Ashera walked toward the two fire types that were still unconscious, giving off too much heat and situated where Manasi had left them. She was intent on doing her job quickly. She seemed well aware of the severity of Destyn and Candie's conditions. She gazed down at her patients and held a paw above each of their chests. Leith then realized that her body had been and was actually glowing because the colorless light she radiated intensified until he was no longer able to look at her directly.
"What's going on?" Leith asked. "Is she healing them? Trying to figure out what's wrong with them? What?"
His questions would have continued if Manasi had not interrupted him. "Be quiet and let Ashera focus."
The light lasted for several long seconds, but Leith could bring himself to do nothing other than observe after being ordered into silence. Destyn's life was at stake and the buizel needed to be there for him.
The light eventually dimmed back down to a bearable glow and the lighting of the cave returned to the way it had been upon Manasi's arrival. Additionally, Destyn and Candie had finally become separated from each other, but they were both still asleep and lay inches away from each other on the uneven cave floor. Candie's vulva was visibly leaking an exorbitant amount of flareon semen.
"I have removed the poison from their bodies. They will live," Ashera slowly announced.
"Wait," Manasi told the buizel. "Ashera," He began, but she held up a paw and stopped him from continuing.
"I know about the vulpix. Her mind is powerful indeed, but it is also sick. I will feed her one of my eggs to cure her." Ashera said.
"Get away from my mate," Candie suddenly hissed as if summoned awake by the mere mention of her presence.
The vulpix had only recently regained consciousness, but her obsession over Destyn motivated her into moving quickly. She rose to her paws and began building up fire within her mouth, aiming whatever attack she planned on releasing at Ashera. "Where the hell am I? Wait, it doesn't matter. Now that I'm safe, I'll be taking my mate home with me," Her words were not spoken, but they filled the heads of the other conscious poke'mon within the cave.
"Leave Destyn alone!" Leith cried out angrily, unable to restrain himself any longer.
"Leith! No!" Manasi shouted, but the buizel had already charged toward the vulpix.
Leith had learned enough to know that the vulpix was the one who had broken Leith's mind, the one who made him evolve, the one who mated with him and the one who nearly had him killed. He hated her for everything he knew she must have done. He didn't care how sick in the head she was. He intended to make her pay for everything!
Candie suddenly faced the enraged buizel and unleashed an impressive fire blast toward him. Manasi acted quickly to save Leith by ripping several loose stalactites from the cave ceiling telekinetically. He directed them toward the attack and only just managed to intercept it. The fire blast wasted its energy destroying the stalactites that had impeded it, but the shockwave from the collision had knocked Leith several feet back. "Stay out of this, Leith. This is my fight. I do this for you, for Destyn and especially for Ashera." Manasi said.
Ashera's face revealed a deeper understanding of what he meant and her eyes expressed shock and horror. "You can't do that! You'll die!" She shouted.
"I know, but even a seer cannot avoid the inevitable forever," Manasi replied. "It's the only way I can defeat her," He added to keep Ashera from trying to talk him out of whatever it was he planned.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I am warning you to stay the hell away from us! HE'S MINE!" Candie screamed.
"Leith, before I face her. You must come over here and look into my eyes," Leith heard Manasi's voice enter his mind.
Leith shakily stood up and slowly approached the abra. He stared at the vulpix, feeling hate, fear and tremendous worry. "Look at me," Manasi verbally repeated the command when Leith came sufficiently close.
Leith managed to tear his hateful gaze from Candie long enough to gaze into the abra's face while wondering why he was doing this. It was not long before he succumbed to a unique hypnosis that immediately left him unconscious. "I hope you succeed," Manasi whispered to the fallen buizel. "I won't be here when you return."
Manasi turned away from Leith and faced Candie for only a moment. He then doubled over and began coughing and gagging as though something was caught in his throat. He was actually trying to induce vomiting to Ashera's horror and Candie's disgust.
He quickened the process through telepathic commands directed at his own body and managed to regurgitate whatever it was he no longer wanted in his stomach. He had used similar commands in the past to prevent his body from processing and excreting the object he was presently forcing back up his system. It wasn't long before he spat out what appeared to be an unremarkable stone covered in his own stomach fluids.
He stared at it with an unmistakably sad expression on his face. "This everstone has served me well," He remarked and sounded as though he was in the middle of a eulogy.
Almost immediately after he spoke, his body generated a light nearly as bright as the one Ashera had given off when she healed Destyn and Candie. He visibly changed shape and increased in size in spite of his body's brilliant luminosity. The evolution he had staved off for years lasted only seconds between initiation and conclusion. The light surrounding his body soon faded away, revealing a kadabra where an abra stood only moments ago.
Candie appeared intimidated by the change and seemed unable to express the usual anger and fear she felt about losing the flareon. She huffed small flames in a pathetic attempt to scare off the psychic type, but Manasi was not going to hesitate when he had only moments left to live. He lifted a claw that somehow possessed a silver spoon even though he had not arrived with one as an abra. His body was outlined in a dull violet light. A similar light instantly surrounded the vulpix afterward.
She tried launching a fire blast at the kadabra, but it bounced harmlessly off an invisible barrier that emitted a violet flash when stuck. To her horror, Candie began floating inches off the cave floor. She breathed more fire at the one responsible, but nothing of hers managed to penetrate Manasi's barrier. "Let me go!" She screamed.
"Very well," Manasi obliged her just as he telekinetically positioned her body over a black and immeasurable chasm. Her horrible screams lasted for many seconds until the impact at the bottom silenced her for good.
"You killed her," Ashera slowly spoke, her tone quivered with shock and disgust.
"I did what was necessary. You could not have healed her and my time is short," He tried justifying his actions, but Ashera, who shook her head, could not have disagreed with him more.
"That was a horrible decision," Ashera argued.
"If it was a mistake, I don't have the time to regret it," Manasi replied.
He suddenly fell onto his back and groaned from visible discomfort. His organs were already starting to fail him. His breathing came in short, raspy and laborious gasps. "What a horrible disease for a poke'mon to have. To be unable to evolve without dying from it," He wheezed.
"You could have avoided evolving," Ashera said while beginning to cry.
"I avoided it for as long as I could. At least I now know why I cannot see the outcome of this day." He communicated telepathically because he could no longer bring himself to address Ashera verbally. "Even if I don't know if what I did saved the love between those two," He said referring to Leith and Destyn, "At least I won't die alone." After receiving those words, Ashera gave into her own grief and cried while he embraced her in his arms during his final moments.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be angry over what you did. It was very brave and selfless of you, I just wish you hadn't done it," Ashera said.
"I know. Goodbye, Ashera." Those were Manasi's final words.
* * * * *
Leith recently came of age, which meant that he was allowed to explore the forest with neither his mother nor father to supervise him. Despite his newfound freedom, he chose to remain close to the river. As a water type, he had an affinity for rivers, lakes, ponds and such that not only enabled him to survive in the water, but also enjoy it.
He had spent the last few hours swimming and fishing and eventually grew tired of both. He was also undeniably cold and decided to step out and dry off in what little sunlight there was at that time of year. His youthfulness and boundless stamina, however, left him unable to sit around motionlessly. As soon as he stepped onto dry land, he began walking along the riverbank and followed the current.
He leisurely strolled alongside the river for a few minutes until something suddenly caught his attention. "HELP!" The cry of a poke'mon in peril reached the ears of many within the forest, but Leith was closest to its source. "HEL...I'M DROWN.." Even though the words were incomplete, the buizel got the message.
He dived back into the river and swam in the direction of the voice. "HELP!" The cry went out again and Leith honed in on its source.
There was an unwritten code within the forest for poke'mon never to kill one another and never to let another die if you have the power to help. If Leith had learned anything from his parents, he had learned to follow that code unquestioningly. Of course, he had no fantasies about fighting let alone killing anyone. This was also the first time in his life he had actually received a chance to save another poke'mon's life.
"HELP M..." The cries became increasingly desperate, which gave Leith ample reason to accelerate and set his ego aside.
He swam a little further and only just realized he was going against the current. In his quick actions to save a poke'mon in need, he had not even noticed when he went into the water. His velocity suffered because of his shortsightedness and he became afraid that he was not going to make it in time to save whoever needed saving. He felt embarrassed about the minor mistake considering he was a water type. "PLEASE!" The voice cried out again; Leith had plenty of time to feel stupid later.
He readjusted his movements to counter against and compensate for the oncoming rush of water and continued forward. He soon came upon what he was searching for, a smaller poke'mon struggling to keep afloat. Leith took no time to examine it for species or gender. Instead, he acted without a second thought for the second time that day. He wrapped his front limbs around the poke'mon's sides and used his hind legs and two tails to propel the two of them to safety.
"Don't worry, I got you," He said while keeping the poke'mon's head above water. He didn't think he could afford another mistake.
He stopped swimming into the current and managed to reach a muddy area next to the river fairly quickly. He dragged the small poke'mon ashore with his rapidly draining strength before stopping to examine it. He could not rest until he knew the poke'mon was safe or at least until he could do nothing else for it. The one he saved was an eevee, he realized. Since it was on its back, Leith was also able to deduce that the eevee was male after noticing his sheath, which was thoroughly soaked along with the rest of his fur.
"Um, thank you for saving me and all, but could you please stop staring at my crotch," The eevee managed to speak without gasping or coughing up water. He must not have been in the water for very long, Leith realized.
"Sorry," Leith replied and took a few steps back where he looked into the eevee's face. "I'm Leith by the way," He introduced himself. "Are you new here?" He curiously asked.
The eevee rolled over onto his front, stood up on all fours and tried shaking himself dry. "No, I'm just out looking for my parents. I haven't been to this part of the forest before," The eevee said. "I don't think I'll find them, though," He sadly admitted. "My parents, I mean. I've been searching for them for days, which means they've probably been captured."
"Oh," Leith merely replied; he wasn't sure why the eevee was telling him his reason for being there. He hadn't asked him for it and he didn't even know the little guy's name!
"I was wondering, you know," The eevee began and stopped in mid-sentence, sounding a little timid.
"What?" Leith asked.
"Since you saved me, which I am very glad you did, I was wondering if you could help me look for them," The eevee requested with his desperation-filled voice.
"Alright, but only if you do something for me," Leith replied.
"What?" The eevee asked, sounding a little afraid of what Leith might want from him.
"Tell me your name," Leith answered.
The eevee blushed, but managed to answer through a series of stutters of embarrassment. "Oh, m-my n-name is D-Destyn."
"Alright, D-Destyn," Leith teased, "Let's go look for your parents."
They ended up searching the forest until the sun began setting. Unfortunately, they found no trace of either Destyn's mother or his father. The eevee's stomach growled at one point and Leith caught for him a fish that Destyn ate upon the buizel's insistence. After a quick evening meal, they continued their search for another hour and eventually returned to the riverside. There, Destyn collapsed from exhaustion and began crying despairingly.
"I'll never find them!" He cried. "They're gone forever and I have no one left to care for me!"
"Come on, Destyn," Leith encouraged and walked over to his side where he tried nuzzling him to stand up. "You can't give up. We'll keep looking. I promise I'll help you."
"Really?" Destyn sobbed.
"Absolutely," Leith assured him. "Besides, you're not alone anymore because I'll be your friend from now on!" He declared with a confident smile.
Destyn managed to stop crying even though tears continued streaming down from his eyes. He even managed to lift his head a little to look directly into Leith's welcoming eyes. "Thank you, I'll never forget this. I promise I'll pay you back some day," He gratefully and rapidly spoke.
"Are you kidding?!" Leith exclaimed. "You don't owe me anything! Just promise to be my friend and we'll look out for each other!"
Destyn stood up and smiled. "It's a deal!" He joyfully shouted.
* * * * *
Leith slowly awoke when his face became unusually wet even inside the damp mildew-filled cave. He felt something soft, moist and pleasantly warm brush against his cheek, causing him to smile and giggle in his semi-consciousness. He opened his eyes and waited for his vision to readjust itself in the near-nonexistent lighting of his surroundings. He felt warm, comfortably so, which was anything but typical inside a cave at night.
He looked toward the source of the heat and the source of whatever it was that was making his face wet, which was one and the same. He found himself gazing into the face of a flareon who had stopped licking him and was now smiling at him. Leith was confused. His memories of recent events were slowly coming together, but the memories of the flareon were the last to return to him.
"About time you woke up," The flareon said happily.
"Who are you?" Leith asked.
"I'll never forget," The flareon simply replied.
"Destyn?" Leith spoke with a certain amount of uncertainty in his tone. "Destyn!" He joyfully exclaimed just as the flareon began nodding his head in reply.
Leith stood up and playfully tackled the larger poke'mon to the ground. Destyn allowed himself to be pinned and embraced his rightful mate for the first time in over a day. Leith reveled in the soothing warmth of the flareon. No longer was he as unbearably hot as he had been when he had first been brought to the cave. They lovingly and excitedly licked and nuzzled one another.
"I can't believe it! I thought the vulpix broke your mind," Leith stated.
"She did," Destyn replied. "I don't remember a lot of what happened between me and her," He started explaining, "But you brought me back, Leith! You made me remember our first time together!"
"My dream!" Leith exclaimed as the reality of what had happened struck him. "Manasi must have connected us somehow! That's why he hypnotized me! So I could save you!"
Leith suddenly stopped and began looking around in an attempt to locate Manasi. His gaze fell upon a blissey in grief. The memory of her name returned to him. "Ashera!" He called out. "Where's Manasi, I want to thank him."
"Then you better come over here. Both of you," She said, sounding troubled.
"Manasi?" Destyn wondered aloud. Since he had not been conscious during any of the times he had been in the psychic type's presence, he knew nothing of Manasi's attempts to save him. "The abra? No one ever sees Manasi," He gasped.
Leith knew something was wrong and slowly removed himself from Destyn to find out what it was that had caused the blissey such obvious discomfort. Destyn stood up and followed, hoping that someone would explain what had happened while he had been out of it. The pair of them stopped next to Ashera and looked in the same direction that she had been facing for the past several minutes.
Destyn gasped in surprise at what he saw while Leith rushed forward, fearing the worst. A kadabra lay perfectly still, not a breath escaped his frozen lips. "He's dead," Ashera barely whispered, confirming Leith's suspicions. "He died to protect us all from that mad vulpix."
"I don't understand," Leith spoke; Destyn was speechless at the sight of the fallen kadabra. "Did the vulpix kill him?"
"No," She answered. "He had a rare disease that poke'mon sometimes have. It is a disease that is passed on from parent to infant, but not from mate to mate for some strange reason. Since he did not want to risk having infants bearing his disease, he avoided finding a mate."
"What disease are you talking about?" Leith asked.
"It has not been given a name yet. It is so rare that humans have not discovered it. However, when a poke'mon with the disease evolves, their body is incapable of adjusting to the changes properly and they soon die. He did all he could to avoid evolving because of this," She explained.
"Evolving was the only way to defeat the vulpix who had caused you both terrible suffering today. She was that powerful," Ashera quickly added.
"You're a healer, why didn't you cure him!" Leith angrily demanded. Even though Manasi had mated with him against his wishes, he owed the psychic type for all that he did to save Destyn.
Ashera audibly sobbed and turned around. She could not bear to look into the buizel's accusing eyes. "Don't you think I've tried?! He's been my protector for a very long time! I owe him my life just as much as your flareon friend now does."
"Leith, we've been through a lot today," Destyn began. "We should honor his memory and be grateful for what he did for us." Leith wordlessly nodded. "Please, don't be angry. We're safe now. Isn't that what matters?" He asked.
"You're right, Destyn." Leith replied before circling Ashera to face her directly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't blame you for this. If Manasi was telling the truth, then there are many who owe you a great deal including us. Thank you," He spoke with a combination of genuine gratitude and remorse.
"You're welcome," She softly replied. "Please join me in paying final respects to Manasi. I'll show you the way out when we're done." Ashera said.
"Alright," Leith and Destyn said in unison.
* * * * *
Teleportation was an odd experience for Leith and he hoped never to have to experience it again even though he would need to in order to return home. Teleportation relieved him of his senses for a moment and when they returned to him, he felt as though he no longer knew how to stand up on his own two legs. That feeling only worsened the severely disorientating effects of suddenly vanishing from one place and reappearing in an entirely different environment.
"Don't worry, I threw up the first time I teleported; you get used to it after awhile or psychic types do at least." Manasi spoke within Leith's mind.
Leith had not been aware he had thrown up, he figured he must have done it sometime while his body was trying to remember how to operate. He also remembered he was still holding paws with the abra and almost pulled away from him. "Don't let go and if you must talk, use your thoughts," Manasi instructed.
"Why? We're already here; wherever 'here' is," Leith argued through a mental link Manasi had long since established.
"I know you don't want to touch me after what I did to you, but you will benefit from my touch until we are back home safe."
"What do you mean?" Leith asked.
"Look around you," Manasi suggested.
Leith did look and noticed that they were inside what humans called a 'public park'. It was mostly flat, half of it covered in grass and the other half in concrete walkways. Some of the grassy portions were occupied by trees. There were also a lot of benches, each occupied by a human male and a human female. Leith and Manasi stood seemingly vulnerable on one of the walkways and near enough to a street lamp that any human who looked their way should have seen them.
"Why did you bring me here? They're going to try catching us!" Leith only managed to think his statement rather than speak it.
"Humans are known for their tendency to ignore that which is right in front of their faces. As a master of the psychic arts, I have merely exploited this mental flaw of theirs, making them unable to see us. As long as we remain quiet and do not touch any of them, they will remain oblivious to our presence," Manasi explained. "In order for it to work for you, you have to keep touching me."
"Are you sure? There seems to be a lot of them here," Leith thought.
"Today is a human holiday they like to call 'Valentine's Day'. it is the human celebration of love. Some, like many of these people," Manasi waved his free paw around to emphasize his point, "Take the meaning farther than others and use it as an opportunity to mate with one another."
The two of them walked unnoticed to through the quiet neighborhood where Manasi suspected Destyn had been taken. "Hey, I don't want to sound stupid or anything, but if someone's keeping you from finding him, couldn't you at least find her by going wherever her interference or whatever you call it is at its strongest?" Leith asked.
Manasi stopped for a moment and turned to look at Leith. "Good thinking, young one, I cannot believe that didn't occur to me."
Containing his pride for the sake of finding his friend, Leith asked, "So, are we going to teleport again?"
"No, whoever she is, she won't let me...wait a minute," Manasi paused.
"What is it?" Leith anxiously asked.
"Good news, young one, I can take you directly to your friend's location," Manasi revealed to Leith's delight.
"Really?" Leith nearly forgot to keep his voice silent.
"No more questions; I must warn you of something important quickly because Destyn is in terrible danger," Leith nearly asked another question, but Manasi waved one of his free digits to stop him. "His mind has been broken and it is not within my power to fix it. Only a true friend has any hope of recovering who he was and it must be done before the end of the final hour of this day. Otherwise, the effects of what has been done to him will become permanent."
"Let's go then!" Leith tried frantically shouting, but Manasi had already teleported them both out of the human park.
They reappeared in front of a burning house where a fire engine, an ambulance and two police cars had already arrived on the scene. Firefighters were busily trying to extinguish the fire with hoses and powerful water type poke'mon assistants who were mostly blastoises. The front door to the house was open where enormous flames violently licked at the open air.
"Please tell me that Destyn is not in there," Leith continued directing his thoughts toward Manasi.
"I am afraid he is and we can no longer hide ourselves. Other poke'mon are present and this illusion does not work on them," Manasi said aloud while releasing Leith's paw.
Humans and domesticated poke'mon alike were far too busy doing their job to contain and extinguish the blaze to notice either the abra or the buizel that had appeared in the middle of the street. Innocent bystanders who had left their homes to witness the exciting event were too mesmerized by the scene to tear their eyes away from it for anything other than to make an observation to the person next to them
"Do we have to go in there?" Leith asked aloud.
"No. Now that I am no longer receiving any interference, I can see somewhat more clearly into the future; the very near future that is," Manasi answered. "I still cannot see the outcome of this day or what comes after it for some reason."
"Someone's going to rescue him for us?" Leith asked.
"More or less," Manasi vaguely answered. "Just watch and follow my instructions if you wish to save him," He ordered just as Leith opened his mouth to ask another question.
Seconds later, two arcanines rushed out of the burning home. Each of them was carrying a single poke'mon delicately in their mouths. Both of the poke'mon in their possession appeared unconscious. Leith walked toward them to identify them, hoping that Destyn was among the rescued. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that one was a vulpix and the other was a flareon. They were stuck together in a comical way that caused some humans to laugh or smirk and others to grimace in disgust.
"The rescue arcanines have returned!" A tall and strongly built firefighter announced, a male by the sound of the human's voice. "Oh, shit! Look at what they brought back! One of 'em's got their dick in the other. I guess we know what caused the fire." He observed.
The two arcanines dropped their passengers onto the sidewalk and awaited further orders. The firefighter who had spoken rushed over to check them for any severe damage. "These two are hot, literally! We can't get them to a center until they've cooled down," He reported to one of his companions.
"No time, we need to get them to a center ASAP. Look at the way they're breathing," A short and slender female firefighter said as she walked over to him. Neither the vulpix nor the flareon could take a full gasp of air without having their bodies racked by a series of coughs. "My bet's on heavy smoke inhalation."
The female firefighter looked at the two rescue arcanines. "Go back in and bring back any poke'balls you can find because we'll need theirs. If we can contain them, their body heat won't be an issue for us and their conditions won't worsen." She managed to accompany her instructions with a follow-up explanation.
"Where is he? Where's Destyn?" Leith demanded.
"The flareon is Destyn," Manasi answered.
"He evolved?!" Leith shrieked with surprise.
"Obviously," The abra replied.
"Shouldn't we go rescue him?" Leith asked.
"Not yet," Manasi said. "I must eliminate his poke'ball or he will never be free again," He explained.
Another minute passed. Fortunately, Manasi and Leith remained unnoticed by both humans and poke'mon alike. On an unrelated note, the collective effort of the fire hoses and the relentless water type attacks began making an impact on the fire.
The arcanines returned with a round object in each of their mouths. "There they are, just as I expected," Manasi said. "Follow me."
The abra ran in between the parked emergency vehicles with Leith chasing after him. There were gasps of surprise when the gathered audience of neighbors noticed the two small poke'mon race past them. None of them made an attempt to capture either of them, however. Poke'mon walking around in the city was common and it turned out that they already had owners more than nine times out of ten. It was just as Manasi said; humans tend to ignore that which is right in front of them.
Manasi stopped inches away from the flareon that remained tied with his manipulative mate. Leith continued forward and could not stop himself from collapsing next to Destyn and try embracing him lovingly. "No! Don't!" Manasi shouted, but he was too late.
The instant Leith touched the flareon, he screamed out in agony and quickly pulled his paws away, which had been badly burned from Destyn's extreme body heat. "I warned you," Manasi scolded, but Leith simply pressed his hurting paws into the ground and kneeled ext to his lover.
Leith began crying over his friend's condition. It did not matter to him that Destyn had mated with another. He could not have cared less about the fact that Destyn had evolved. He just wanted him to be awake and as fit and healthy as he had been twenty-four hours ago. He wanted Destyn to open his eyes and tell him everything was going to be alright and that they should meet by the river for well over the thousandth time. "Please wake up," He begged, "I love you!"
The firefighters seemed unconcerned about the presence of the buizel and abra. Neither did the two arcanines who only recently spat the poke'balls they had found onto the ground. Before they landed, a violet glow encompassed both of them. They stopped falling inches above the sidewalk and zoomed toward the abra before anyone could do anything about it. "What are you doing? Bad abra! Drop them!" The female firfighter shouted.
Manasi ignored her and soon had the poke'balls within his claws. With a little concentration, he teleported them both without teleporting himself. He sent them as deeply within the planet's mantle as he could. He figured that even if the unimaginable heat deep within the planet could not destroy them, which was highly unlikely, at least they would be somewhere where humans could neither find nor reach them. Since he didn't know which of the two poke'balls was Destyn's, he disposed of them both even if it meant also freeing the vulpix.
"You two!" The female firefighter shouted to the arcanines. "Take the vulpix and flareon to the center as quickly as you can!" She ordered as soon as the naughty abra pretty much fucked up her first plan.
Manasi had foreseen this happening just before he vanished the poke'balls. While the human relayed orders to the massive fire types, he grabbed onto Leith and Destyn. He received a severe burn from touching the heated flareon, but he maintained his grip despite the injury he received from it. He then teleported himself and his three passengers back to the forest.
* * * * *
"Where are we? I don't recognize this place," Leith enquired after vomiting from his third teleportation experience. "I thought we were going back to the forest."
Manasi had taken them into a cave where none of its entrance and exit mouths were visible. The air was cool, moist and stank of mildew. There was a definite lack of light, but luminous crystals embedded along its walls enabled its occupants to see. For poke'mon, whose vision is better than human eyesight in most cases, the crystals made everything in the cave quite visible. The cave included the usual things, stalactites and stalagmites, chasms and an intricate system of naturally formed tunnels.
Manasi was busily waving his burned paw around and suppressing the urge to scream and curse like a madman. When the pain became only just tolerable for him, he finally managed to speak. "I can assure you that we are inside the forest. I brought us here because Destyn and the vulpix that he is stuck with need to be healed.
"This cave is a sacred place; not even cave dwelling poke'mon know of its existence because its entrance is well hidden and guarded. Few of us are entrusted with its secrets because if this place became a regular domain for poke'mon, it would attract humans. If that ever happened, we would risk losing our most valuable resident.
"She is the one who will heal Destyn and the vulpix because she knows who I am. I have made it my duty to bring poke'mon to her for healing whenever they are close to death. It is also my job to guard the memory of this place by keeping it for myself. In order to do that, I have to erase the memories of its visitors," Manasi explained.
"Are you going to erase my memories of this place?" Leith sounded worried.
"I will after we leave," Manasi truthfully answered.
"Then why explain all this to me then if I won't remember it?" Leith asked.
"To pass the time and to try taking your mind off your present problems. There is nothing you can do for Destyn right now. Just be patient, you have an important and truly difficult task ahead of you," Leith said.
"Fixing his mind you mean," Leith said and received a wordless nod from the abra. "How can I do that if you already admitted you can't?" He was on the verge of giving into despair.
"Your love for Destyn is the only thing that has a chance of repairing the damage she did," He pointed to the unconscious vulpix while speaking.
"I don't know what I can do," Leith admitted.
"You will when the time comes or you will lose Destyn," Manasi bluntly said. "Right now, however, the health of his body is our concern. We will worry about his mind after his body has been healed."
"This place is huge! Does this healer of yours even know that we're here?" Leith asked. He didn't care if he lost some of his memories anymore because he was willing to sacrifice anything, including his own life, to save Destyn.
"Yes, I do," The sound of an aged female's voice echoed throughout the cave, but its source sounded unmistakably close. Leith looked around for a moment until his eyes rested upon pale pink blissey that seemed to radiate a light of her own. She stood only a few feet away.
"Allow me to introduce myself before Manasi decides to give anything else away," She said, causing Manasi to blush. Leith would have laughed if he had not felt so terrible. "I am Ashera. It's a pleasure to meet you," She kindly introduced herself.
With the pleasantries out of the way, Ashera walked toward the two fire types that were still unconscious, giving off too much heat and situated where Manasi had left them. She was intent on doing her job quickly. She seemed well aware of the severity of Destyn and Candie's conditions. She gazed down at her patients and held a paw above each of their chests. Leith then realized that her body had been and was actually glowing because the colorless light she radiated intensified until he was no longer able to look at her directly.
"What's going on?" Leith asked. "Is she healing them? Trying to figure out what's wrong with them? What?"
His questions would have continued if Manasi had not interrupted him. "Be quiet and let Ashera focus."
The light lasted for several long seconds, but Leith could bring himself to do nothing other than observe after being ordered into silence. Destyn's life was at stake and the buizel needed to be there for him.
The light eventually dimmed back down to a bearable glow and the lighting of the cave returned to the way it had been upon Manasi's arrival. Additionally, Destyn and Candie had finally become separated from each other, but they were both still asleep and lay inches away from each other on the uneven cave floor. Candie's vulva was visibly leaking an exorbitant amount of flareon semen.
"I have removed the poison from their bodies. They will live," Ashera slowly announced.
"Wait," Manasi told the buizel. "Ashera," He began, but she held up a paw and stopped him from continuing.
"I know about the vulpix. Her mind is powerful indeed, but it is also sick. I will feed her one of my eggs to cure her." Ashera said.
"Get away from my mate," Candie suddenly hissed as if summoned awake by the mere mention of her presence.
The vulpix had only recently regained consciousness, but her obsession over Destyn motivated her into moving quickly. She rose to her paws and began building up fire within her mouth, aiming whatever attack she planned on releasing at Ashera. "Where the hell am I? Wait, it doesn't matter. Now that I'm safe, I'll be taking my mate home with me," Her words were not spoken, but they filled the heads of the other conscious poke'mon within the cave.
"Leave Destyn alone!" Leith cried out angrily, unable to restrain himself any longer.
"Leith! No!" Manasi shouted, but the buizel had already charged toward the vulpix.
Leith had learned enough to know that the vulpix was the one who had broken Leith's mind, the one who made him evolve, the one who mated with him and the one who nearly had him killed. He hated her for everything he knew she must have done. He didn't care how sick in the head she was. He intended to make her pay for everything!
Candie suddenly faced the enraged buizel and unleashed an impressive fire blast toward him. Manasi acted quickly to save Leith by ripping several loose stalactites from the cave ceiling telekinetically. He directed them toward the attack and only just managed to intercept it. The fire blast wasted its energy destroying the stalactites that had impeded it, but the shockwave from the collision had knocked Leith several feet back. "Stay out of this, Leith. This is my fight. I do this for you, for Destyn and especially for Ashera." Manasi said.
Ashera's face revealed a deeper understanding of what he meant and her eyes expressed shock and horror. "You can't do that! You'll die!" She shouted.
"I know, but even a seer cannot avoid the inevitable forever," Manasi replied. "It's the only way I can defeat her," He added to keep Ashera from trying to talk him out of whatever it was he planned.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I am warning you to stay the hell away from us! HE'S MINE!" Candie screamed.
"Leith, before I face her. You must come over here and look into my eyes," Leith heard Manasi's voice enter his mind.
Leith shakily stood up and slowly approached the abra. He stared at the vulpix, feeling hate, fear and tremendous worry. "Look at me," Manasi verbally repeated the command when Leith came sufficiently close.
Leith managed to tear his hateful gaze from Candie long enough to gaze into the abra's face while wondering why he was doing this. It was not long before he succumbed to a unique hypnosis that immediately left him unconscious. "I hope you succeed," Manasi whispered to the fallen buizel. "I won't be here when you return."
Manasi turned away from Leith and faced Candie for only a moment. He then doubled over and began coughing and gagging as though something was caught in his throat. He was actually trying to induce vomiting to Ashera's horror and Candie's disgust.
He quickened the process through telepathic commands directed at his own body and managed to regurgitate whatever it was he no longer wanted in his stomach. He had used similar commands in the past to prevent his body from processing and excreting the object he was presently forcing back up his system. It wasn't long before he spat out what appeared to be an unremarkable stone covered in his own stomach fluids.
He stared at it with an unmistakably sad expression on his face. "This everstone has served me well," He remarked and sounded as though he was in the middle of a eulogy.
Almost immediately after he spoke, his body generated a light nearly as bright as the one Ashera had given off when she healed Destyn and Candie. He visibly changed shape and increased in size in spite of his body's brilliant luminosity. The evolution he had staved off for years lasted only seconds between initiation and conclusion. The light surrounding his body soon faded away, revealing a kadabra where an abra stood only moments ago.
Candie appeared intimidated by the change and seemed unable to express the usual anger and fear she felt about losing the flareon. She huffed small flames in a pathetic attempt to scare off the psychic type, but Manasi was not going to hesitate when he had only moments left to live. He lifted a claw that somehow possessed a silver spoon even though he had not arrived with one as an abra. His body was outlined in a dull violet light. A similar light instantly surrounded the vulpix afterward.
She tried launching a fire blast at the kadabra, but it bounced harmlessly off an invisible barrier that emitted a violet flash when stuck. To her horror, Candie began floating inches off the cave floor. She breathed more fire at the one responsible, but nothing of hers managed to penetrate Manasi's barrier. "Let me go!" She screamed.
"Very well," Manasi obliged her just as he telekinetically positioned her body over a black and immeasurable chasm. Her horrible screams lasted for many seconds until the impact at the bottom silenced her for good.
"You killed her," Ashera slowly spoke, her tone quivered with shock and disgust.
"I did what was necessary. You could not have healed her and my time is short," He tried justifying his actions, but Ashera, who shook her head, could not have disagreed with him more.
"That was a horrible decision," Ashera argued.
"If it was a mistake, I don't have the time to regret it," Manasi replied.
He suddenly fell onto his back and groaned from visible discomfort. His organs were already starting to fail him. His breathing came in short, raspy and laborious gasps. "What a horrible disease for a poke'mon to have. To be unable to evolve without dying from it," He wheezed.
"You could have avoided evolving," Ashera said while beginning to cry.
"I avoided it for as long as I could. At least I now know why I cannot see the outcome of this day." He communicated telepathically because he could no longer bring himself to address Ashera verbally. "Even if I don't know if what I did saved the love between those two," He said referring to Leith and Destyn, "At least I won't die alone." After receiving those words, Ashera gave into her own grief and cried while he embraced her in his arms during his final moments.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be angry over what you did. It was very brave and selfless of you, I just wish you hadn't done it," Ashera said.
"I know. Goodbye, Ashera." Those were Manasi's final words.
* * * * *
Leith recently came of age, which meant that he was allowed to explore the forest with neither his mother nor father to supervise him. Despite his newfound freedom, he chose to remain close to the river. As a water type, he had an affinity for rivers, lakes, ponds and such that not only enabled him to survive in the water, but also enjoy it.
He had spent the last few hours swimming and fishing and eventually grew tired of both. He was also undeniably cold and decided to step out and dry off in what little sunlight there was at that time of year. His youthfulness and boundless stamina, however, left him unable to sit around motionlessly. As soon as he stepped onto dry land, he began walking along the riverbank and followed the current.
He leisurely strolled alongside the river for a few minutes until something suddenly caught his attention. "HELP!" The cry of a poke'mon in peril reached the ears of many within the forest, but Leith was closest to its source. "HEL...I'M DROWN.." Even though the words were incomplete, the buizel got the message.
He dived back into the river and swam in the direction of the voice. "HELP!" The cry went out again and Leith honed in on its source.
There was an unwritten code within the forest for poke'mon never to kill one another and never to let another die if you have the power to help. If Leith had learned anything from his parents, he had learned to follow that code unquestioningly. Of course, he had no fantasies about fighting let alone killing anyone. This was also the first time in his life he had actually received a chance to save another poke'mon's life.
"HELP M..." The cries became increasingly desperate, which gave Leith ample reason to accelerate and set his ego aside.
He swam a little further and only just realized he was going against the current. In his quick actions to save a poke'mon in need, he had not even noticed when he went into the water. His velocity suffered because of his shortsightedness and he became afraid that he was not going to make it in time to save whoever needed saving. He felt embarrassed about the minor mistake considering he was a water type. "PLEASE!" The voice cried out again; Leith had plenty of time to feel stupid later.
He readjusted his movements to counter against and compensate for the oncoming rush of water and continued forward. He soon came upon what he was searching for, a smaller poke'mon struggling to keep afloat. Leith took no time to examine it for species or gender. Instead, he acted without a second thought for the second time that day. He wrapped his front limbs around the poke'mon's sides and used his hind legs and two tails to propel the two of them to safety.
"Don't worry, I got you," He said while keeping the poke'mon's head above water. He didn't think he could afford another mistake.
He stopped swimming into the current and managed to reach a muddy area next to the river fairly quickly. He dragged the small poke'mon ashore with his rapidly draining strength before stopping to examine it. He could not rest until he knew the poke'mon was safe or at least until he could do nothing else for it. The one he saved was an eevee, he realized. Since it was on its back, Leith was also able to deduce that the eevee was male after noticing his sheath, which was thoroughly soaked along with the rest of his fur.
"Um, thank you for saving me and all, but could you please stop staring at my crotch," The eevee managed to speak without gasping or coughing up water. He must not have been in the water for very long, Leith realized.
"Sorry," Leith replied and took a few steps back where he looked into the eevee's face. "I'm Leith by the way," He introduced himself. "Are you new here?" He curiously asked.
The eevee rolled over onto his front, stood up on all fours and tried shaking himself dry. "No, I'm just out looking for my parents. I haven't been to this part of the forest before," The eevee said. "I don't think I'll find them, though," He sadly admitted. "My parents, I mean. I've been searching for them for days, which means they've probably been captured."
"Oh," Leith merely replied; he wasn't sure why the eevee was telling him his reason for being there. He hadn't asked him for it and he didn't even know the little guy's name!
"I was wondering, you know," The eevee began and stopped in mid-sentence, sounding a little timid.
"What?" Leith asked.
"Since you saved me, which I am very glad you did, I was wondering if you could help me look for them," The eevee requested with his desperation-filled voice.
"Alright, but only if you do something for me," Leith replied.
"What?" The eevee asked, sounding a little afraid of what Leith might want from him.
"Tell me your name," Leith answered.
The eevee blushed, but managed to answer through a series of stutters of embarrassment. "Oh, m-my n-name is D-Destyn."
"Alright, D-Destyn," Leith teased, "Let's go look for your parents."
They ended up searching the forest until the sun began setting. Unfortunately, they found no trace of either Destyn's mother or his father. The eevee's stomach growled at one point and Leith caught for him a fish that Destyn ate upon the buizel's insistence. After a quick evening meal, they continued their search for another hour and eventually returned to the riverside. There, Destyn collapsed from exhaustion and began crying despairingly.
"I'll never find them!" He cried. "They're gone forever and I have no one left to care for me!"
"Come on, Destyn," Leith encouraged and walked over to his side where he tried nuzzling him to stand up. "You can't give up. We'll keep looking. I promise I'll help you."
"Really?" Destyn sobbed.
"Absolutely," Leith assured him. "Besides, you're not alone anymore because I'll be your friend from now on!" He declared with a confident smile.
Destyn managed to stop crying even though tears continued streaming down from his eyes. He even managed to lift his head a little to look directly into Leith's welcoming eyes. "Thank you, I'll never forget this. I promise I'll pay you back some day," He gratefully and rapidly spoke.
"Are you kidding?!" Leith exclaimed. "You don't owe me anything! Just promise to be my friend and we'll look out for each other!"
Destyn stood up and smiled. "It's a deal!" He joyfully shouted.
* * * * *
Leith slowly awoke when his face became unusually wet even inside the damp mildew-filled cave. He felt something soft, moist and pleasantly warm brush against his cheek, causing him to smile and giggle in his semi-consciousness. He opened his eyes and waited for his vision to readjust itself in the near-nonexistent lighting of his surroundings. He felt warm, comfortably so, which was anything but typical inside a cave at night.
He looked toward the source of the heat and the source of whatever it was that was making his face wet, which was one and the same. He found himself gazing into the face of a flareon who had stopped licking him and was now smiling at him. Leith was confused. His memories of recent events were slowly coming together, but the memories of the flareon were the last to return to him.
"About time you woke up," The flareon said happily.
"Who are you?" Leith asked.
"I'll never forget," The flareon simply replied.
"Destyn?" Leith spoke with a certain amount of uncertainty in his tone. "Destyn!" He joyfully exclaimed just as the flareon began nodding his head in reply.
Leith stood up and playfully tackled the larger poke'mon to the ground. Destyn allowed himself to be pinned and embraced his rightful mate for the first time in over a day. Leith reveled in the soothing warmth of the flareon. No longer was he as unbearably hot as he had been when he had first been brought to the cave. They lovingly and excitedly licked and nuzzled one another.
"I can't believe it! I thought the vulpix broke your mind," Leith stated.
"She did," Destyn replied. "I don't remember a lot of what happened between me and her," He started explaining, "But you brought me back, Leith! You made me remember our first time together!"
"My dream!" Leith exclaimed as the reality of what had happened struck him. "Manasi must have connected us somehow! That's why he hypnotized me! So I could save you!"
Leith suddenly stopped and began looking around in an attempt to locate Manasi. His gaze fell upon a blissey in grief. The memory of her name returned to him. "Ashera!" He called out. "Where's Manasi, I want to thank him."
"Then you better come over here. Both of you," She said, sounding troubled.
"Manasi?" Destyn wondered aloud. Since he had not been conscious during any of the times he had been in the psychic type's presence, he knew nothing of Manasi's attempts to save him. "The abra? No one ever sees Manasi," He gasped.
Leith knew something was wrong and slowly removed himself from Destyn to find out what it was that had caused the blissey such obvious discomfort. Destyn stood up and followed, hoping that someone would explain what had happened while he had been out of it. The pair of them stopped next to Ashera and looked in the same direction that she had been facing for the past several minutes.
Destyn gasped in surprise at what he saw while Leith rushed forward, fearing the worst. A kadabra lay perfectly still, not a breath escaped his frozen lips. "He's dead," Ashera barely whispered, confirming Leith's suspicions. "He died to protect us all from that mad vulpix."
"I don't understand," Leith spoke; Destyn was speechless at the sight of the fallen kadabra. "Did the vulpix kill him?"
"No," She answered. "He had a rare disease that poke'mon sometimes have. It is a disease that is passed on from parent to infant, but not from mate to mate for some strange reason. Since he did not want to risk having infants bearing his disease, he avoided finding a mate."
"What disease are you talking about?" Leith asked.
"It has not been given a name yet. It is so rare that humans have not discovered it. However, when a poke'mon with the disease evolves, their body is incapable of adjusting to the changes properly and they soon die. He did all he could to avoid evolving because of this," She explained.
"Evolving was the only way to defeat the vulpix who had caused you both terrible suffering today. She was that powerful," Ashera quickly added.
"You're a healer, why didn't you cure him!" Leith angrily demanded. Even though Manasi had mated with him against his wishes, he owed the psychic type for all that he did to save Destyn.
Ashera audibly sobbed and turned around. She could not bear to look into the buizel's accusing eyes. "Don't you think I've tried?! He's been my protector for a very long time! I owe him my life just as much as your flareon friend now does."
"Leith, we've been through a lot today," Destyn began. "We should honor his memory and be grateful for what he did for us." Leith wordlessly nodded. "Please, don't be angry. We're safe now. Isn't that what matters?" He asked.
"You're right, Destyn." Leith replied before circling Ashera to face her directly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't blame you for this. If Manasi was telling the truth, then there are many who owe you a great deal including us. Thank you," He spoke with a combination of genuine gratitude and remorse.
"You're welcome," She softly replied. "Please join me in paying final respects to Manasi. I'll show you the way out when we're done." Ashera said.
"Alright," Leith and Destyn said in unison.
* * * * *