PokeWild

David watched wearily as Pidgey prowled around the little alcove. Once again she had decided to inspect the potential campsite before they could settle in for the night.

The first time she'd refused a campsite had been fine. The second had been amusing. The third a bother. The fourth downright irritating.

The sun was setting now. An old tree on the top of the small mound that formed the alcove cast a long shadow over them. He had no desire to be out searching for somewhere to sleep in the dark. Not for the second day in a row.

Pidgey hopped forward, poking at something on the ground. She scratched aimlessly before sweeping her wings back and taking off. She circled above, keeping well clear of the old tree and it’s gnarled branches.

He sat down. He was tired. His back ached. He didn’t remember travelling being this heavy or painful. How had he done this after Saffron? He’d walked for days with very little sleep or food, and from dawn to dusk.

Has his time in Celadon made him weak? David reached a hand up and undid a rope connecting his backpack straps. The backpack slid off his shoulders and to the ground.

“Ooooaah.”

The groan of pleasure as the weight disappeared was impossible to hold back. His shoulders felt so light.

With a thump Pidgey landed in front of him as he began to roll his neck. She seemed displeased.

David scowled back at her. She wasn’t the one who had to carry all of their supplies. “Well? Does this fit your standards princess?”

Pidgey squawked and flapped a wing forward, buffeting him with wind.

David blinked as the wind dried out his eyes and swept dust at him. After a second he gave up and closed his eyes altogether. Had he deserve that? No. He hadn't said a word yesterday and this was the fifth site today.

He opened his eyes at the same time he opened his mouth, ready to complain. This spot may smell a little boggy, the old tree overhead didn’t provide protection from the rain, and he would need to flatten down the long grass to put the tent up, but still, the other spots he’d found didn't have those issues and she still hadn’t liked them. “Not ag-”

But Pidgey wasn’t there. She’d moved to the base of the alcove. Her back was to him as she roosted.

“Oh,” David said, blinking the last bits of dry and dust out of his eyes. The relief he felt only lasted a few seconds however. “Thank god.”

With a groan, he stood and began stretching. There was a lot of crouching in his future and his legs were sore enough already.

The tent shot up like it was being inflated. David was a fair hand at it by now, even if to his embarrassment it had taken over an hour in the dark last night. Maybe Celadon had made him a bit soft. In the grove he'd only moved the tent every two to three days. Most of his stuff was left in his tent instead of needing to be carried around. There wasn’t a need to walk so much, only to the training field and back, and the walking was on hard pavement and tarmac instead of the soft earth.

He eyed the napping Pokemon at the base of the alcove. Maybe Celadon had made both of them soft. Pidgey had never been this picky about where they slept before. Like him she’d enjoyed the grove, having their own place to stay and patrol. He could tell she’d missed the wide selection of berries every morning and even the training group in her own way.

David sighed and rolled his neck one more time. There was nothing that could be done. It was just something they’d have to get used to. He reached down to his back for his bottle and took a sip. The water sloshed around as he did, the bottle far too empty for comfort. They had not come across a single stream or pool in the last two days. Not even the faintest trickling sound of water. He was starting to get worried.

His stomach chose that moment to rumble. Food. A glance to the side showed he wasn’t alone. Pidgey was now facing sideways so that she could keep an eye on him. At the sound of his stomach she perked up, though she settled back down as she saw him watching.

David smirked. It was time to cook. Some salad for him to save water and the remaining half of lunch’s sachet for Pidgey. They could share the last Pecha berry from Nature’s Scent to finish it off.

A pressure building somewhere else had him reconsider his plans. David rooted through his backpack for the trowel and toilet paper.

Of all the things he missed about Celadon, the bathrooms and showers were at the top of the list.

-.-

David stared into Pidgey’s eyes. Pidgey stared back.

David groaned. Nothing. He should have expected as much. Asking Pidgey for ideas was a long shot, but he was getting desperate. With pursed lips, he placed the stick he’d found in front of her.

“Peck training today, but I want you to focus on chaining multiple Pecks today,” David said. He indicated along the length of the stick. “I’ll time how long it takes you to attack from one end to the next.”

Pidgey continued to look at him.

“Like this.” David held his hand in front of his face, and tapped down at the stick, working from left to right as quickly as he could.

Pidgey let out a hesitant chirp.

“Ready.. Go!”

Pidgey got to work. David started counting.

He’d need to come up with something new to try soon. Pidgey was starting to stagnate. Not from a lack of trying, but as she suffered diminishing returns on their exercises. She had a fair grasp of most of the Moves now so just using them as normal wasn’t helping her control or power anymore. In the last four to five days, she hadn’t made any speed improvements with Tackle, Peck or Gust. She had sped up a little with Leers, and her aim and power with Gust was steadily improving but slowly.

Slowly wasn’t enough. Celadon gym had been difficult. They'd won, but it'd been close. Tamia and her Tangela were challenging for Pidgey and he. David had no false expectations. Fuchsia was going to be a more difficult gym, both by its reputation and the level he would be challenging at.

So Pidgey needed to improve, and right now her bottleneck was him and his failure to come up with ideas.

“Time!” David shouted as Pidgey struck the last blow. “Six Pecks in 35 Mississippi's. Great job. Rest for a bit before we start again.”

An average of almost six seconds per Peck, 6 spp. Her first two Pecks were faster, around 3 or 4 spp, but she’d dropped off fast. He felt an odd sense of relief. They could work on this while he came up with more ideas.

-.-

David yawned as he rolled up the last bit of his tent.

The mornings were still his solace. Pidgey hadn’t quite shaken off her habitual sleep-ins, though she was waking up earlier these days. He had maybe an hour of walking solo as the sun breached the horizon behind him.

One last scan of the small alcove to make sure he had everything and then he was off.

He lifted his arms up around chest height and started to walk. At this time the long grass drew wet lines along his clothes as it swished to avoid his progress. It also left a scent in its wake, one David had mixed feelings about. It wasn’t the smell he would associate with dew, that faint hint of a lawn mown. Instead it was a more heady, wheaty scent that lingered on his clothes until well in the evening.

The long wet grass had been an annoyance yesterday, but today with dwindling water supplies, David was wondering if it could be useful.

He slowed, and crouched down, extending the damp streaks up to this neck. His first attempt at breaking a particularly dewy stalk loose failed spectacularly. He couldn’t snap it cleanly without shaking all the water off. For his next attempt he tried pulling it from the ground. He could pull the stalk loose, but while he could pry it out slowly, moving at any reasonable speed suffered the same issue as his first attempt.

A little frustrated now, David pulled his backpack around and pulled out his knife. A quick slice across the stem was successful enough he felt stupid for not trying earlier.

The actual dew on the grass was nothing, a fraction of a sip, but it did help wet his mouth. As the stalk twirled around in the air he bit down to keep it steady. To his surprise the grain-like thing at the head of the stalk was chewy and had an odd taste? He continued chewing. The grain released a little more water. Watermelon. The slightly sweet water tasted a little like watermelon. A few seconds later the flavour stopped.

David bent down and cut another stalk free. As he began to chew, he stared at the line of green rising in the distance underneath the brown mountains. Hopefully a river or two would streak through the forest, but for now this wasn’t all that bad.

-.-

“Pidgey!”

“We made it huh?” David responded, staring at the line of trees before them. Aside from one encounter with a Meowth, it’d been a fairly uneventful day - which he’d needed after three days of hiking.

Maybe it would be a good idea to camp early? The sun was starting to descend towards the mountain ahead and he had plans for tomorrow. At the top of his backpack was a polished metal ball and he had high hopes for finding the Pokemon to go with it in these woods. It would be his first catch, but it couldn't be too hard right? Point and click the button.

Movement to the left caught his eye and he turned, hand going to the knife in his pocket.

Pidgey let out a shrill and swept her wings back.

David focused on the wild Pokemon.

At the edge of the grass a small creature was desperately squirming as it tried to make an escape. The light patterns on its carapace, perfect for blending into the leaves above, were of little help in the open space between the long grass and trees.

A Caterpie. Perfect.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.