“Poppy.”
Lavender’s voice was frigid, reminding Poppy of the times her mother had scolded her. Even before she opened her eyes, she knew from the bright red beneath her eyelids that the sun was already shining at full strength.
“Ugh…” Poppy croaked as she raised her leaden head. She tried to talk but wound up coughing.
Lavender rolled her eyes and shoved her bag in front of Poppy, positioned so that the nipple of the water pouch inside was accessible.
Poppy drank enthusiastically, even though the cold water stung her throat. She sputtered out an apology as soon as she was done. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep like that…”
“Poppy, you’re an adult, and this is the third time this has happened. You shouldn’t just be nodding off in the middle of the wilderness. It’s not healthy. I was worried, you know. You could have been eaten. And I spent at least an hour just looking for- for heaven’s sake, Poppy, look at me!” Her hackles raised slightly along with her voice.
Poppy obeyed, though she was sure her discomfort was evident. One wouldn’t think a normal-type’s eyes could look so steely.
Lavender cleared her throat and looked away for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was a little softer. “Sorry… But look, I’m not letting you do this again. I’m coming with you if you go out here in the evening again. Even though I shouldn’t really have to.” She shook her head and grimaced. “It’s like I can trust you with anything but yourself…”
Poppy stood up stiffly, trying not to make it too obvious that her leg had gone numb. “I’ll make it up to you. I just felt bad going another day without checking up on those guys.”
“Well, you should have just sent them something, or… I don’t know. This is clearly not the answer. It’s irresponsible.” She sighed, signifying the end of her admonishments. “Anyway, there’s an easy job on the board today no one else seems interested in. We can take that. You can worry about apologizing later.”
“Understood,” Poppy muttered. “I’ll need to get some supplies first though. I think we used our last cheri berry on that chespin.”
“Don’t bother,” Lavender said dryly. “I already took care of it while I was waiting for you.”
“Oh…”
Lavender started toward the guild, Poppy following sheepishly behind at a distance.
At least the weather was nice.
The sun was still a good few paws above the horizon by the time Poppy and Lavender had filled out the paperwork officiating the completion of their most recent job. The entrance to the guild was bustling with activity, so the two of them walked a ways down and perched themselves on an out-of-the-way rock. That Poppy always saw new faces along this path never failed to impress her; there were the common species today, like golem and axew, but also a few that were more exotic. A goodra glanced remorsefully over his shoulder as a pair of luxio tried to avoid his footprints; Poppy couldn’t help but smirk at that. Didn’t these city folks know a little slime wouldn’t kill them?
“So, Poppy,” said Lavender casually. “When was the last time you took a bath?”
Poppy grimaced, suddenly aware of the matted clumps of fur on her chest, and recalled that it was possible to be too lax about hygiene. “Too long, I suppose. Guess I know the first thing I’m doing this afternoon.”
Lavender smiled wryly. “Good, then. Any other plans?”
“No. I’ll just head straight home.”
“Sounds good.” Lavender rubbed her head against Poppy’s briefly. “I’ll be waiting for you. You’d better come back this time, alright?”
“Heh heh… I will. I promise.”
Poppy headed off, grateful that Lavender hadn’t given her a harder time.
Poppy was laid down in the patch of sunlight that shone through the apartment window, looking over the request letter before her one last time.
“What do you think?” asked Lavender as she looked up from her book.
“Exploring a new island sounds fun, but the escort part might not be. Depends on how good the team that got there first is.”
“I doubt they’ll be too bad. They outrank us, you know.”
“All that really means is that the guildmaster likes them more.”
Lavender laughed. “You’re so cynical sometimes, Poppy. Just because you don’t get along with him… Just stock up on restorative stuff if you’re really worried about it.”
“Mm hm.” Poppy looked at the letter again. “Still, that’s decent pay. We could afford to take some time off if we completed this one, maybe work on sorting out that chesto berry situation. And I need to start saving for another parcel of land, too.”
“Oh, is there already another one you’ve got your eye on?”
“Well… Got a couple ideas. There’s certainly no shortage of wastelands around here. That defunct mill in Laurel Valley wouldn’t be a bad place to target. If everyone in the crew put aside, say, 150 poke a month…” She closed her eyes and rested her head on the floor. “But to be honest, I’d rather not worry about it right now.”
Lavender nodded. “Fair enough. But before you get too comfortable, I don’t want to let you take up all the good reading light.”
“Oh…” Poppy began to stand up, but Lavender stopped her.
“No, that’s fine. You can stay where you are.” Lavender walked over to her. “Just let me…”
Poppy started slightly when she felt something cool touch her flank. She looked over to see Lavender laying her book on top of her, a mischievous smirk on her face.
“There,” said Lavender. “Much better.”
Poppy laughed. “Silly cat.”
Poppy closed her eyes again. Ultimately, she couldn’t complain—the weight of the book was hardly unpleasant, and every once in a while Lavender would pause her reading to give her a quick lick or a nuzzle. Lavender’s scent was a bit different from her namesake—sweeter, a little more forward, like sugary tea—but it was soothing all the same. From outside, Poppy could hear the dusty creaking of carriages, the occasional bit of banter or argument between two pokemon, but it was only when she was with Lavender that these noises ever seemed relaxing.
Compared to the sloop rigs Poppy had grown used to, the gaff cutter’s sails had seemed redundant, its rigging gratuitous. But her opinion softened after a few hours of swift downwind cruising, the boat heeling over from its own power, casting intermittent spray on deck.
None of that spray touched Lavender, whose voice rang clear from atop the boat’s mast:
“…He left his home behind him, sailed for fifty days and nights,”with pictures of Miro in mind, that verdant paradise—"
Poppy sighed. “Lavender, please. You only know five sea shanties. You’ve sung them all. Many times.”
Lavender pouted. “There’s nothing else to do on this boat.”
“Then perhaps I’ll have you try a game of ‘don’t get smacked overboard by Poppy’s vines.’”
Lavender withdrew her head, eyes wide with exaggerated surprise. “You wouldn’t!”
“I won’t—if you stop singing.”
The boat barely rocked when Lavender dropped from the mast with a huff. “How come you don’t get bored, huh?”
“I never heard of boredom before I came to this continent. You city folks just don’t know how to relax.”
“And how, pray tell, does one learn how to relax?”
An idle vine trimmed the mainsheet; the sails, which had begun to flutter, swelled with wind once more. “I don’t know, now that you mention it. Maybe try looking at the sky; that’s what I’ve been doing.”
Lavender craned her neck. “Well, there she is. Good old sky. Yippee…”
Poppy rolled her eyes, chuckling. “The stars will be out soon, too; maybe I can show you some constellations.”
Lavender’s ears perked up, and she oohed as though she had just remembered something. “That’s right, there’s a bunch that originated from that myth I was talking about, and I’ve been meaning to find them. In a clear sky like this, it should be easy.”
“There you go, then. Something to do. In the meantime, would you like to take over the sails?”
“Might as well!”
Poppy retreated to the stern and curled up beside the tiller. She watched Lavender swiftly wind the ropes, turning the winch handle with her tail. “Are you sure this is only your third time sailing?”
Even with a mouthful of rope, Lavender flashed Poppy a smile. “I’m hardly better than you, you know.”
“That’s because I have vines.”
“Perhaps.” She padded toward the stern and eased the backstay with her rear teeth. The sails billowed with a crisp ruffle, and the boat surged forward; Poppy spread her front paws on instinct, but Lavender didn’t seem bothered. “You must pity us mortals, relying on mere teeth and claws.”
Poppy gazed at her weaponless paw. “Claws. I do wonder what those would be like.”
“You’re not missing much; knowing you, you’d probably let them grow out too long.”
“Touche.”
As Lavender settled into the routine of sailing, Poppy daydreamed of what their destination might look like. Gradually, the horizon turned from daffodil to tangerine to murky turquoise.
Lavender let out a loud yawn.
“Time to call it a day?” Poppy asked.
“Yeah.”
Poppy dropped the sea anchor and watched it billow in the waves. By the time she had turned around, Lavender had laid out a blanket. “You know, I feel kind of naughty stopping,” the delcatty said as she curled up. “It would be faster to keep going and take shifts.”
“We’ll have to sleep in shifts soon enough, once we reach the island. I can only handle so much disrupted sleep.” She lay down beside Lavender.
“Mm.” Lavender began to scan the sky. “Now, constellations, constellations…”
She knew more than Poppy had realized—Mew’s tail, Hoopa’s ring, Latias’ wing—and each had a story behind it.
“Oh, and I think those are Xerneas’ Antlers.” Lavender pointed her paw. “As the enemy of life’s counterpart, Xerneas is one of the most important characters in mythology. It’s said that its power waxes and wanes in cycles, signified by the brightness of that constellation.”
“Must be long cycles. I’ve never known stars to dim or brighten.”
“Me neither. But thousands of years ago, they say they used to outshine all the other stars. I guess Xerneas has been getting weaker.”
“Interesting. We can only hope no new death gods show up.”
Lavender turned her face away.
“Hm? What is it?”
She gave a short chuckle. “I know this sounds silly—I mean, these are myths, who knows if there’s any truth to them—but sometimes that thought does scare me a little.”
Poppy smiled wryly as she leaned against Lavender—it did, indeed, sound silly. The real threats to life on earth, she knew, were far more immediate and familiar than any god.
Poppy emerged from the sea cave in which she had slept and gazed out at the ocean. The water here was cleaner than on the shore they had departed from; Poppy could see the bottom, the cobalt pockmarks on the ocean floor where the rock and sand had been worn away. Jagged stone jutted out from parts of the shore, and though the waves looked gentle, the sound when they crashed against these ridges was powerful and expansive.
Poppy walked up to Lavender, who was poised on the tip of one of the taller rocks with characteristic feline grace. “Fancy a swim?” she joked.
Lavender cocked her head; she hadn’t heard Poppy’s question over the sound of the surf. Poppy repeated herself a little louder and elicited a chuckle from her companion.
“I’ll admit I’m tempted,” Lavender half-shouted. “Did you sleep well?”
Poppy nodded. “How’d your shift go?”
“Nothing of note—was a little hard to hear over the water, though.” She gestured to the right, toward a rockier part of the shore where most of the noise was coming from.
“Right. Let’s start heading up, then!”
Lavender jumped down from her perch and walked inland with Poppy. There was no clear path up the steep slope ahead of them, but there was plenty of sturdy mountain laurel to grab on to. Poppy used her vines to help her, bounding upward almost as fast as flight. From time to time she reached her vines down to Lavender to help her catch up.
“Whee!” Lavender smiled as Poppy pulled her up. “You know, I bet we could use those vines as a makeshift swing set. You ever try that?”
Poppy chuckled as she sidled between two rocks, a mossy scent filling her nose. “For someone else? Can’t say I have. Used to swing around with them when I was younger, though.”
“Aw, really? Why’d you stop?”
“I don’t know. Guess I just forgot about it.”
“You forgot?” Poppy couldn’t tell if the surprise on her face was exaggerated. “Aw man, Poppy. Sounds like you’ve been missing out.”
“Heh. Maybe.”
The two continued on a while, until eventually the incline leveled out. Then they took a moment to rest, taking in the sunny, open space ahead. It probably would have been a proper grassland but for the rockiness of the terrain; nonetheless, the sparse patches of soil present played host to smaller flowering plants like butterfly weed and aubrieta. Though the ground may have seemed cold and gray from a distance, there was color if one knew to look for it, spots of violet and coral orange like flecks of paint. Oh, and that plant looked interesting. Was it…
“Poppy,” Lavender reprimanded, stamping her paw.
Poppy stopped mid-step with her nose almost flush with the ground, suddenly aware that she had veered off-track in her eagerness to smell the flowers. “Er, sorry Lavender. But you ought to take a look at this plant, at least. I think you’ll like it.”
Lavender raised her eyebrow and walked over. “Is that so?” She beheld the plant to which Poppy had gestured. Its small, rounded flowers formed clumps at the tips of its protruding stalks, like little purple cattails. “What is it?”
Poppy rolled her eyes. “Come on now. Surely you know this one.” She tried to hide her smile as she watched Lavender scrunch up her face in contemplation. “Maybe try smelling it.”
Lavender did so tentatively. “Hm… I don’t know that I’ve seen this back home. I know I’ve smelled it somewhere, I just can’t quite remember.”
“It starts with an ‘L’.”
“Oh, an ‘L’? I don’t know if that really helps. Hm…” She scrutinized her companion’s face as though she might find a hint there. “Poppy, you aren’t messing with me, a—” She froze. “Oh,” she said flatly. “It’s lavender, isn’t it.”
Poppy laughed loud enough to flush the nearby bluebirds.
“Alright,” Lavender mumbled as her ears drooped. “I admit that may have been a little stupid.”
Poppy patted her on the back. “You’ll get the hang of it one of these days, dear.”
“Ugh.” Lavender looked to the heavens, as though to plead for their mercy. “O-Oh, but by the way…”
“That braviary, right?”
“Yeah. I don’t like the way it’s circling. I was beginning to think you hadn’t noticed.”
Poppy followed Lavender’s gaze and watched the creature. Even from far below its size was impressive; Poppy imagined all 90-or-so pounds of it streaking toward her at full speed and felt a chill run down her spine. “I don’t like to say it, but we should be ready for an attack soon. With this terrain, I don’t think it’s really practical to try and avoid its territory. We’re just as likely to run into another one trying to do that, anyway.”
“I hate to say that I agree. We should start designating points of reference.”
Poppy nodded. “Good idea.” She gestured to a boulder nearby. “That’ll be twelve o’clock.”
“Got it.”
The two proceeded onward, the braviary hanging over them like a stormcloud. Poppy harvested useful plants occasionally, but she resisted the urge to bury her nose in the ground. She had to keep up with Lavender’s brisk pace anyway; the delcatty was certainly the faster of the two on flat ground.
“That shrub’ll be twelve now… Ugh.” Lavender looked up for the umpteenth time after maybe ten minutes of traveling. “If he’s going to attack us, I wish he would just get it over with alre—”
Her complaint was interrupted by the braviary’s shrill, hawk-like screech. Poppy and Lavender both winced, ears ringing.
“I think it heard you,” Poppy grumbled. “That’s probably our last warning.”
Lavender sighed. “Swell. I see it gearing up. I’ll use swift when it dives and then get out of the way.”
“Okay. Shrub is still twelve, yes?”
“Yes.”
Poppy assumed a fighting stance and narrowed her eyes as the braviary dove. As it closed in, it became clear that it was targeting Lavender first. That was fine by Poppy; she hated fighting flying types, and it gave her time to prepare her attack.
Lavender waited a split second, then opened her mouth to unleash a torrent of golden stars. But the braviary anticipated the swift and rolled out of the way in the blink of an eye. It changed its trajectory to target Poppy instead.
Poppy unleashed her energy ball as soon as she saw where the braviary dodged. She noted, with some degree of satisfaction, that she had timed the attack well; the sphere collided with its target before it could redirect its momentum, and burst into tiny green fragments like shredded leaves.
Poppy’s satisfaction was quickly extinguished, however, when she realized that her opponent was barreling toward her as stubbornly as before. The braviary’s talons glinted in the sunlight like obsidian as it extended them toward Poppy, and she did the only thing she could think to: duck.
The talons sliced through Poppy’s skin like a razor, and stinging pain followed a moment later. Nonetheless, she knew she had got off easy. A slower reaction, and she might have been carried off.
Poppy whipped around to look for her attacker but saw only a clear blue sky. She turned immediately toward Lavender.
“Where’d it go?”
“Four o’clock,” Lavender said as she trotted toward Poppy. “Dipped below the ridge.”
That fast? “Let’s head toward nine, then. Give us some room when it comes back up.”
“Got it.”
The two proceeded, keeping a look out behind them.
“You alright?” Lavender asked as they wove between rocks.
“Just a scratch. It won’t impair me.”
“Good. Now look alive.” She gestured forward and slightly to the left.
The braviary peeked its head above the ridge for a moment before properly rising above it. Seeing that its prey was too far for an ambush, it began instead to flap its wings and regain its lost altitude.
“We should attack it before it can dive again!” Lavender charged toward the braviary, and Poppy followed close behind.
The braviary dodged Lavender’s next swift easily, but it was forced to slow its ascent. Poppy lashed out with a vine while it was distracted and grabbed its ankle.
The braviary cried out; Poppy flinched. Her face contorted as she strained against it, but she may as well have been pulling at a tree. Her front legs lifted off the ground, so she quickly lassoed a second vine around a nearby boulder to stabilize herself.
Poppy cried out for Lavender, but the delcatty already knew what to do. While the braviary contorted its body to try and peck and scratch at its restraints, Lavender closed her eyes and focused. Yellow sparks flashed around her mane as she prepared her next attack.
Though the attack itself—a jagged yellow bolt—only lasted for the blink of an eye, its effects were immediately apparent. The braviary made a guttural sound as its wings twitched and then froze up. It fell to the ground with a low thud, and Poppy wasted no time in subsequently wrapping up its wings and feet. She tied off the vines once she was done, and then detached them from her body.
“There,” she exhaled, suddenly aware of her heartbeat pounding in her chest. “Happy holidays, I guess.”
Lavender raised her eyebrow. “I still don’t know if that joke quite lands.”
“It’ll be funnier when I learn how to make bowties.” She shrugged, then winced at the pain in her shoulder. “Anyway, I’d suggest we move him somewhere safer while the vines degrade, but for two things. First… for a bird, he’s heavy as all get-out. Second…” She watched the pokemon as it twitched and flopped around, trying fruitlessly to regain its footing. It struck her just how big it was, dwarfing her size even with folded wings. “That thunder wave is going to wear off in a minute, and frankly I don’t even want to be around it when that happens. So long as its beak isn’t bound, I doubt anything’s going to try and eat it.”
“Fair points both. Let’s move on, then.”
They proceeded, but Poppy was slower than usual. Lavender looked at her back. “That cut looks a little deep, Poppy. You want to put something on it?”
“Yeah, not a bad idea. It’s not worth using the oran, though.” She nosed through her bag and produced a plant with small white flowers and lacy leaves. “Here’s some yarrow I picked earlier—you can make a poultice out of that. It’ll help with the bleeding.”
They stopped for a moment while Lavender did as suggested. Her teeth were not made for chewing leaves, but she managed well enough.
“Smells like licorice,” Lavender said as she applied the treatment.
“It is actually edible—if you’re omnivorous, anyway. Either way, I prefer to keep it for… Well, stuff like this.” Poppy sighed. “Anyway, if the pokemon here are really this tough, I can see why team Chlorosteel called for backup.”
“I know, right?!” Lavender exclaimed, as though she had been waiting this whole time to say it. “I know everyone’s gonna say ‘type advantage’ or whatever, but it’s one thing for a pokemon to take an attack like that and stay conscious, and another thing entirely for it to just… plow right through it.”
Poppy chuckled. “I’m glad you think so too. Caught me completely off-guard. Took your thunder wave pretty well, too.”
“True. Let’s hope it’s just an anomaly.” Lavender stepped away from Poppy. “Anyway, you were right about that herb. Seems to have stopped the bleeding. Just take care when you’re climbing so that wound doesn’t reopen.”
Poppy nodded. “Will do. Thanks.”