Team Petal-Purr
Part1b-"Leaving"
Ch. 3
The wind blew down the trail ahead of them as Blossom and Shelby stood by an old signpost and looked down the path. They stand at the precipice of one of the only roads out of town, winding to the north up a low hill.
Beyond it stood the remains of Apple Woods, where the path will veer left and skirt around it, giving the pair one last reminder of the disaster that led them to where they are now. They both took a deep breath, then turned back around at the sound of a quivering voice.
"You sure you don't want to stay one more day?"
Their father, the old Skitty, had his head held high, yet was doing his best to hold back tears. The rest of the small village had already said their goodbyes and given their wellwishes. Now all that remained of the crowd was their mother and father.
Their ears drooped as they approached him and nuzzled his cheeks, feeling the deep rumble of his purring.
"I'll miss that sound so much..."
Shelby mumbles, fighting back her own tears to stay strong for her Dad, like he had for her.
"Next time I hear it, I'll be a Delcatty." She forces a laugh and looks up at him smiling, though her voice breaks as she whimpers. "I'll have to lean down."
"You're so grown up already."
He sighs as she presses her nose against his. "Make sure you still take care of your little sister."
"I'm not little." Blossom laughs, her face still buried in his fur. "We'll both look after us."
"I know you will." The skitty licks her forehead, his scruffy, overgrown whiskers tickling her ears.
"But you'll always be my baby girls, no matter what." He tells them.
The girls turn to their mother, who had been watching them warmly. She knew she would not see her family together like this for a long time. Moon Stones were rare and more expensive than they could afford, it seemed likely that her daughters would not return for several months. But she knew they were determined, there was no persuading them once decided; the Moon Stone would be found and Shelby would evolve.
"Now don't you get into too much trouble. I want you both back in one piece." The Venusaur scoops them both close to her belly when they run to her, embracing them in a hug as they snuggle under her chin.
"We'll be safe. I promise." Blossom put her claws out and held them against her mother, for she is too large to hug properly.
Shelby purred and wiped away a tear from her fuzzy cheek.
"Yeah. I've never got into trouble in my whole life." She joked, causing a chuckle from the Venusaur.
Blossom was the first to break away, stepping back and looking over her shoulder at the trail waiting for them.
"And you're sure you know how to get there? Tell me once more, so I know." The Venusaur gently nudged Shelby towards her sister, then stood back to look over them one last time.
"Take the road west past Oran Forest until we reach the West Crossroad."
Blossom nods as she recites the path they plan to take. The pair had been reciting it on demand for the last few days; it seemed to bring their mother more peace-of-mind each time she heard it. As Shelby slowly trod up to join her, Blossom pushed her in the shoulder, spurring her to finish the rest of the directions.
"And then take the road to Firestone and restock supplies. It should only take us two days, any more and we might be lost."
The small Skitty says, giving her sister a smile as they speak in unison.
"Then head south-west until we reach the Bay and follow the shore to Capim Town."
The Venusaur nodded her head, satisfied that they knew the route front to back. Their father sat closer to her now, beaming with pride.
"Off you go then." She waved her foot at them as if playfully shooing them away. "Before the sun gets too high. Stay in the shade if you get too hot. I love you."
With that, the sisters turn away and take the first steps on the biggest journey they have ever taken. Once they are up the hill a little, they turn back to take one last look at their home.
"WE LOVE YOU!" They shout out together.
"I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" Their father wails back, unable to keep the tears back any longer.
As they turn away and happily run up the path and out of sight, the old Skitty turns and looks up at his enormous wife.
"I'm not ready for this!" He sobbed as she gently lifted him into her arms and planted a kiss on his head.
"I know. But they are. We'll both be right here whenever they need us."
She put him back down and left him to sit and stare at the path while she went inside to fetch him a cup of warm tea.
Ch. 4
The team had made good progress by the time the sun began to sink towards the horizon. Travelling along the path, they could just see the end of the Oran Forest up ahead.
The thick green canopy they had walked beside began to thin out, until all that remained was a few dense shrubs dotted across the encroaching fields. Though they had walked for hours, the two remained in good spirits. Shelby bounced back and forth, swiping at stray leaves as they fell onto the dirt path.
"Blossom I'm so excited!" She declared and she lept onto a crunchy leaf, shredding it with her claws.
"Me too!" Blossom replied, hopping faster to catch up.
Though she wasn't as fast as her sister, her slower pace gave her the chance to take in more of her surroundings. There was a certain serenity in going slow, something Shelby had never learned to truly appreciate.
As she gazed ahead, something caught her eye. In the field just beyond them, caught in a small shrub, was the partial remains of a fallen tree.
"Hey look!" She pointed into the distance as her sister scurried back to stand by her.
"What?" Shelby tilted her head, not sure where she should be looking.
"That old trunk there, stuck in that bush. That could be a good place to spend the night."
"In there? I thought we could just sleep by the trail. We'd have to flatten all that grass if we went in there."
Blossom shook her head. "We can't just sleep out in the open like that. Someone could steal from us while we aren't looking. There is better."
She had made her decision and began to cross into the field, jumping through the long grass to flatten a path.
"Do you really think someone could do that? Just steal from us while we're sleeping?"
Shelby sounded horrified at the thought, clutching protectively at the Sky Blue Bow wrapped around her neck. She leapt along behind her sister until they reached the fallen tree.
It loomed over them by several feet, propped up where it had landed on the shrub and sliding down to the ground.
The inside had long since rotted out, leaving only the bark to cover the empty hollow it had created. The shrub beneath it grew weaker when its access to light had been restricted and the grass beneath it has died, leaving a dusty floor of bare earth.
It was a perfect shelter for the two of them, though it seemed they were not the first to discover it. A shallow dimple had been scratched into the earth to act as a nest and a few dry old berry skins lay scattered around.
There was no smell of another Pokemon nearby and Blossom could tell by the age of the skins that they had been left more than a week ago. She crouched down and shuffled into the dip, turning around to face her sister.
"See?" She smiled brightly. "There's room for both of us, and our stuff."
Shelby frowned back at her, scrunching her nose up, but then tucked her ears back and skittered under the log.
She spun in place twice and then tucked her paws under her and settled close to Blossom, wrapping her tail around both their feet.
"It is cozy." She admits, lifting her large ears to find plently of space above her head. "It's just like when we were little and we shared the same nest."
The two sat together in silence for some time, looking out on the enormous prairie that stretched for miles past the road. In another day or two, they would not be able to see it.
Even on their rare family trips to Grainfield, the furthest they had ever been from home, there had never been a time where the prairie was not there for them. Though neither of them would say it, the fear and uncertainty of leaving it all behind was beginning to creep in. They both thought it better not to linger on such unpleasant things this close to bedtime.
As the sun sets against the western shore ahead of them, the sisters curl into each other and fall into a deep, restful sleep.
