Fuck.
Double fuck.
My eyes were drooping. Hurricane was fine, ignoring the gushing wound above his eye. Instead he'd stopped once he was sure we were safe, and turned back to me with concern. Or maybe he was looking at Tristan.
The pain kind of dulled my observational skills.
The area on my side where a razor leaf had skimmed against the skin felt like it was on fire. Like somebody had slashed through my skin with a knife coated in buffalo sauce. Spicy things were basically acid right?
I wonder if they had buffalo wings here. I really could go for some wings. My eyes began to droop again as I gave into the smell of Buffalo Wild Wings.
I slapped myself.
FUCK. PRIORITIES. This pain was making me delirious. I think the emotional blender I'd been the last couple hours through aura really wasn't helping either.
The razor leaf embedded in my back sent another jolt of void energy through my system. The black lightning made my body spasm, every single one of my muscles locking up.
I had unstrapped from Hurricane's back, so the spasm made me fall to the ground, face first into the grass.
My back pulsed with pain. While the cut on my side burned like hot fire, the wound in my back felt cold. Shit. That wasn't good right? Did that mean I was losing too much blood?
I gritted my teeth and pushed myself to my feet with trembling arms. My arms were shaking badly as I wrestled with the pack tied to Hurricane's side.
Potions. Potions. Please.
I tore everything in the pouch apart, my hands shaking with pain. I shoved aside three yellow and black balls. Finally I saw a little purple bottle and grabbed it greedily.
I didn't even bother looking at the warning labels before immediately spraying it onto my side. I sighed in relief as I no longer felt like I was on fire. However, all I could feel was the cold from the razor leaf still embedded in my back. I gripped the potion bottle, ready to try and yank the razor leaf out.
It was in the middle left of my back. It would be hard to reach, but I could do it. I steeled myself, grabbing onto the dark green leaf with one hand, readying the potion with the other. But just then the razor leaf pulsed again, wracking my body with more dark energy. I immediately collapsed onto the ground, spasming. After a couple seconds of writhing around in pain, the pulse stopped.
I opened my eyes. Tears of pain were leaking down my face. I readied myself again, until I saw that potion had leaked out all over the ground during that attack. The grass that it had spilled on had begun growing, sprouting up two more inches within seconds.
GoDDAMN IT!
The void energy made my muscles lock, making my fingers grip the trigger and use the rest of the potion.
FUCK.
That was a huge waste.
I ran back to the pack with haste. I don't know why, or how it was physically possible, but these razor leaf pulses were getting more frequent. Either that, or my perception of time was slowing. Both options sounded awful. How the hell did this thing still have more void energy to unleash into my system?
I needed this razor leaf out of my back, and I needed to do it now.
I gripped onto the second potion bottle. There were three emergency potions. I was already using the second one. This was bad. This was really bad.
I gritted my teeth, and grabbed the razor leaf again. I readied the potion in my other hand. Trying to gather all my strength, I yanked as hard as I could. Immediately I felt my skin scream in protest as the curved blade struggled to come out. The razor leaf was small. The size of a playing card, but was embedded in my back up to my ribs. It was a terrible spot to try and get leverage, and I struggled to muster strength while my body screamed in pain. I hadn't eaten in hours. I'd barely slept.
Tears began to well up in my eyes again, but I ignored them. I tried to steel myself and got ready to try and tear out the razor leaf again when I felt a claw brush against my foot.
I saw blood red eyes look up into mine. Zuko was covered in wounds. The leech seed in his leg was covered in a green pus. His shoulder had crusted shut. Yet he looked at me with confidence, and gripped onto the razor leaf himself.
You magnificent fucking lizard. How could I possibly have forgotten about you? What the hell was going on with my head? I really couldn't think straight right now.
Zuko gripped the razor leaf, carefully examining how it had entered my back. With one fluid motion, he ripped it out, pulling in a way that would make it exit the same way it entered, avoiding tearing more of my back muscle.
It felt like a cold steel rod was being pulled out of my back, and I nearly passed out on the spot. But catching myself from falling, I gripped the potion bottle and sprayed into the wound.
It sizzled, and immediately a soothing feeling of relief came over me.
The potion wouldn't work as well on me as it would a Pokemon, but it would kickstart the healing process and help seal wounds. That was huge.
I turned to Zuko. "Your turn buddy."
Zuko stuck out his tongue, but plopped onto the ground. I removed the leech seed, flinching as the seed was connected to roots that had embedded deep into his thigh. I had to tear them out, actually using a lot of force, nearly falling backwards once I finally got them free.
Zuko hissed in pain, but clenched his jaw and didn't move. I sprayed the wound, watching the blood vessels and tendons miraculously stitch together in front of my eyes.
Potions were incredible things.
I nodded towards his shoulder. That was his other big wound. After a couple seconds I'd treated the wound, and Zuko curled up next to Hurricane to rest. He'd certainly earned it.
I treated the wound above Hurricane's eye, using up the rest of the potion.
I only had one left to use. I couldn't afford to make any mistakes out here. I grabbed a towel from Tristan's pack and tried to clear the blood from my back. I then moved on to try and get it out of Arcanine's fur.
I got Tristan down from Hurricane's back, setting him on the ground. He was frighteningly light now. For his musculature.
Losing your legs will do that.
I looked down to the unconscious form next to me. This was not ideal. On his belt was another being, stricken down and poisoned. Gallade had been in a catatonic state when I returned him. And Tristan looked even worse.
I grabbed medicinal tape from the pack to wrap Tristan's leg stumps. They were cauterized, and they didn't look infected, but I'd have to try and keep it that way.
I looked at Hurricane in helplessness. He merely looked down at Tristan with a worried expression and softly licked his face, making his hair stand up on one end.
I had no idea how long we'd be stranded out here. And there was a high chance these wouldn't be our only injuries. One more potion. If any of us had a mortal injury, it could save our lives. But as soon as I used up the last potion, that was it. No more help.
I looked around to see an endless expanse of trees. They were huge. Each oak tree had to be over 40 feet across, and reached so high up that I couldn't see how high they reached.
The darkness of the canopy made it so I could only see up to the branches a hundred feet up.
It was probably day time by now. I think it would have been even darker if it wasn't. Especially since we'd been running for a while. You never knew how far to run when the thing that chases you can travel through fucking shadows. Which looking around, there was an endless supply of in this thick fucking forest.
No wonder those bastards evolved to be a void variant. It made them nigh invincible and unbeatable predators in this godforsaken forest.
I shivered.
My night vision was fantastic. Admittedly not as good as it was a couple hours ago when I had some kind of bullshit ghost connection or whatever. But I still couldn't see more than 30 feet around me. Straining my eyes only let me see dark shapes that were probably branches above me.
I reached to my sides, but stopped myself. No. I wouldn't let myself try to access that ability every single time I heard something.
I still had no idea how it worked. If there was a limit to its use, I didn't want to use it up whenever I didn't need to use it. If I was forced to fight something in peak of the night, and my eyes failed me from having overused that ability, I would be very very dead. And given that I was in an unknown area of forest, with minimal backup, I couldn't afford to experiment to find out if and where that limit was until I'd gotten a base setup, at the very least. And that didn't even get into whether I would be able to use it again in the first place. For all I knew it was a one time thing, fueled by the vistages of ghostly fury from Oblivion over the pain of Tristan.
I just had to hope that if there was an emergency, I would be able to access that flow state again.
Just thinking about it had me absentmindedly reaching for the swords. Fuck.
I mentally slapped myself.
Self control.
I'd need it now. More than ever.
Out here, I couldn't afford to make mistakes. Especially since it wasn't just my life on the line.
I looked to the comatose husk of my friend laying against Arcanine's side. Hopefully the warmth of the powerful fire type would help slow the spread of poison.
Fuck.
I looked around, hearing the hoots of an owl above. A Noctowl maybe?
Damn.
I really should have researched more about the specific Pokémon in this world.
Given my prior knowledge, I could recognize just about every single Pokémon on sight. They were similar enough to their sprites that it was pretty easy to identify them.
But now, I can't rely on sight. And knowing something's weaknesses won't let me actually come up with specific counters to each pokemon. It'll help, sure, but only so much. So the hoots, the snarls, the chirps and buzzes each pokemon would make: I wouldn't recognize them. I wouldn't know how each dangerous pack marks their territory.
Fuck.
I thought I'd have more time.
This was just supposed to be a small excursion so I could get a better grip on what the fuck this world was. If anything, I was hoping it would be a wakeup call.
So that my stupid brain with its efficiency blindfolds would actually see the need to research all the specific pokemon. Because as things stood before, I already had enough knowledge that doing extra research felt like a waste of time.
And simply spending all my time training and learning random tidbits of history seemed far more valuable and fun at the time.
Which, I mean, I still stand by. Without having trained like hell, there is no way I would survive even a day out here.
Even then though, I would easily be dead within my first night. However, I now know more about this world. And I know how to survive. Or at least the steps to begin to learn how to.
Okay. I slowed my breathing and closed my eyes.
Remember your training. These last couple days have actually had so many small tidbits of information. Every single one is necessary for you to survive. Panicking means death. Hesitation means death. Slip ups mean death.
You need to be perfect. No mistakes. Or at least, make sure your error margin allows you to survive. Don't be afraid to take risks. But don't make unnecessary ones. It isn't just your life on the line here.
I sighed.
Fuck.
Okay, first things first, what do I have? Before I can make a plan of what to do, I need to account for every single thing I need to account for.
Assets. Okay. Well I've got Azula and Zuko of course. Granted, given how bright their attacks are, using them in the forest seems like it will just attract more attention than I want. Which is zero, by the way. So stealth missions.
Fuck.
Azula has a goddamn tail flame. That shit is essentially a beacon to wild pokemon. HEY! FREE SNACK OVER HERE!
And Zuko has self control issues. I thought he had improved. And I still do trust him around the public. He wouldn't attack some random trainer's pokemon. And he definitely wouldn't attack a random person. I trust him that much now. But him attacking Kommo-o proved something. I don't know if that was sheer draconic competition, and for some reason he had the knee jerk instinctual reaction to attack, or if wild pokemon in general might just emit some kind of pheromone he reacts wildly to. Or more accurately, domesticated pokemon don't emit something due to a reaction with pokeballs in general, or maybe just by having somewhat regular bathing or something. I could see holes in both of those theories, but theory building only did so much to help with the actual problem. Either way, I'd have to be careful using him to help me hunt for food, just in case he created a ruckus by knocking the damn thing into a tree at mach 2, attracting every goddamn predator within a 5 mile radius. I'd have to try to ease him into it, and try to identify the problem carefully. He'd seemed fine earlier, but that very well could have been aura bullshit.
I sighed again.
Arcanine was a boon. A huge boon. Ranger trained pokemon. Incredibly powerful. Insanely fast. But very limited mobility in the forest. He could likely take on any wild pokemon here, but might cause a massive forest fire in the process. I wouldn't worry though. Arcanine was Tristan's pokemon. That meant Arcanine would be really smart. So it'd know not to use fire attacks, especially in a dark forest expanse like this. It'd likely stick to something like extreme speed or thunder fang to quickly and quietly incapacitate prey.
But there was one big problem.
There was no way in hell that Arcanine was going to leave Tristan's side. Those things were actually advertised for their loyalty. And I don't think any amount of convincing would change that.
Some young kid that Tristan likes, who isn't half bad with a sword, is still not enough security to leave your partner. Your trainer. Your best friend through life and death. Just to try and bring back food.
Damn it.
I looked down to the swords at my hips. Zuko was asleep. For all I knew, he would be passed out for the next day and a half. While potions did make pokemon heal really fast, it was just because their metabolism was already insane. So speeding up the process likely made him burn through all of his food stores. That's why it was taboo for a trainer to immediately fight again after their pokemon was healed. They were usually exhausted and needed lots of food. At least for injuries like Zuko had to heal just earlier. That meant there was only one option. I would have to be the one to get the food. We were sorely lacking it. Zuko was out of commission for the next day at least. Arcanine was in a somewhat similar boat, but more so just wouldn't leave Tristan's side. Damn. Maybe I could try to find some covering for Azula's tail flame? I don't know what would be fireproof while also not hurting her. Either way, I wouldn't be able to use her help now.
Okay.
Fuck.
We would need food. Within the day. But there were still things I needed to think through first.
What are the big things I need to survive in the wild? Food. Water. Shelter.
Okay, well Tristan's pack on Arcanine has enough water to last a couple days, so I can table that for later. There were about 7 calorie bars, but that wasn't sustainable by any means.
Food is something I will have to hunt. By myself. In the wild. Fuck. Whatever. That will be future me's problem. Even if it's only like a half hour into the future.
Shelter. That was a big one.
I looked around, but there were nothing but giant thick oak trees. There would be no caves to hide in. Admittedly, that wouldn't be a stellar option either, given that there tend to be wild pokemon in caves. However, given that Arcanine is super powerful, that probably wouldn't have been a problem.
Again I took a second to appreciate the fact that I had a very powerful pokemon as an ally out here in the dark scary unknown.
Although, admittedly, Arcanine was kind of the reason we were stranded out here in the first place.
I flinched as I saw mental images of dark green razor leaves shrouded in black smoke whipping through the air towards me.
Goddamn it. With two shitty options, I guess we chose the less shitty one. Death really isn't preferable to anything in my mind.
Damn it. I can't keep getting side tracked. Stress really is making my brain fumble around randomly. I can't afford to do that right now.
Priorities.
Find shelter.
Find Rangers.
Find people.
Find Kommo-o and company.
Survive.
That last one was the big one. The others were simply potential ways to make the last priority not my job anymore.
But with Gallade out, for who knows how long, teleporting and psychic communication would not be an option.
Tristan was out too, and I just had to hope that he would push through it.
So likely no help from the Rangers anytime soon. I could hope that Norton would be able to psychically pinpoint me from afar, but that was banking on the hope that he survived the Saurs. And hoping for one of Kommo-o's pack was also a shot in the dark. I'd only met a few, and I'm pretty sure none of them liked me. The only chance I would have of getting help from any of them is if Azula somehow stumbled into Kommo-o himself, which was nigh impossible.
I had heard of outcroppings of people living out in the Sky Jungle and mountains, so maybe there would be people out in the Endless Forest too?
Again, likely just something I would keep an eye out for. Definitely not a big priority right now.
Shelter.
Okay. So a small inlet in a tree would be ideal. Somewhere where we wouldn't be exposed at night. Otherwise it would have to be made.
But there was the problem. I couldn't really cut out branches to start making shelter, since the closest branches were so high in the air. And hacking away at trees would just make noise.
And this was the wild.
There would be predators roaming during the day. And there would be predators roaming during the night.
There were no good options.
Fuck.
I checked my pokedex, but I had no signal. I have never felt stupider. I really didn't even have the foresight to download the data for the pokemon I would see in the forest. Granted, trusting in the competency of the Rangers isn't necessarily a mistake. Especially given that this didn't really happen out of their incompetence. It just happened because the wild is fucking terrifying. And stupidly dangerous.
Either way, I'm on my own.
All I have to rely on are what I remember from my weird foggy chaotic memory, and the shit I've learned in the last couple days.
I stood up.
We were under the outcropping of a tree, where a bush nearby provided enough cover that you wouldn't be able to see anything at a mere glance. I took a second glance around.
I experimentally walked in a semi circle, and still couldn't see Hurricane behind the shrubbery. Okay. Damn. This spot actually wasn't half bad. I mentally facepalmed as I realized that was probably the only reason that Hurricane had deemed this location worthy of stopping at. I'd have to try to keep that in mind. These mons were smart. Ranger trained mons were even more so. They were capable of complex decision making, and they were actually good at it.
I pulled the swords from my hips and whipped them around experimentally.
Arcanine looked up from where it was laying down. Its bright eyes were filled with worry. I couldn't blame it.
"Alright, Hurricane. This seems a spot as good as any to lay low for a bit. It's not ideal, but I don't know if we'll find anything better. I imagine you came to the same conclusion. I know you won't leave Tristant's side, so this is on me. At least for now. Once I've got you to trust my competence, I'm making your lazy ass do some hunting too. But either way. Sit tight. Keep him safe."
I sighed, looking around to memorize exactly what this area looks like. I couldn't afford to get lost.
I whirled Oblivion in my grip. The swords danced through the air with a metallic thrum.
"I'll be back with food."