Chapter Text
Drayden had been rather surprised when he’d received the invitation.
“The Summer Rose festival,” he muses, “in the White Forest. What do you think, Cleaver? Is it worth it?”
Cleaver grunts, ducking his head to peer curiously at the slip of paper. Drayden holds it up so the paper doesn’t get impaled by his tusks. He loves the Haxorus, but the amount of ripped clothing he owns is testament to how clumsy Cleaver can be.
“Yes, then?” Drayden asks. “It does sound interesting… and it isn’t prime season yet so perhaps we may spare a few days.”
Lix flits over, accompanied by Eris and Cirrus. Cleaver eyes Lix warily; he didn’t seem to have forgotten when the Flygon (then a Vibrava) had gotten him tangled in Drayden’s mother’s old knit sweater.
“Hello, Cirrus. Eris, be careful with that.”
Eris’ middle head blinks at him innocently. Drayden knows better than to fall for it now.
“Eris.”
The middle head huffs but thankfully she stops trying to gnaw at the lighting fixtures. Cirrus hums reassuringly, patting Eris’ left head gently.
“Where are Lego and Cerlin?”
Lix points towards Lego, standing with his arms held out beneath Cerlin, who was determinedly climbing up the jungle gym they used to help train flyers. She slips from the bars, tumbling down into Lego’s outstretched arms. Cirrus, Cleaver, and Eris immediately head towards Lego, making worried and concerned sounds.
“They’ve been at it for days,” Drayden sighs, shaking his head fondly. “You would think Lego hatched her himself.”
Lix tilts his head suggestively.
“I do not want to think about that, Lix.”
Another head tilt.
“Yes, I know that theoretically Lego could be Cerlin’s father but I doubt it. She was a rescue, remember, Lix?”
Lego seems to have successfully assured Cleaver, Cirrus, and Eris that Cerlin was alright. The odd group heads back towards Drayden.
“I think I will go,” Drayden says, folding the paper delicately and putting it in his pocket. Cerlin jumps out of Lego’s arms and marches up to Drayden, headbutting him firmly. He scoops her up. “Perhaps it will be interesting.”
White Forest is a beautiful place, full of lush trees and bubbling brooks. Drayden lets Cerlin out to enjoy the landscape and sighs when she immediately starts trying to climb a tree.
“I heard the Summer Rose festival only happens once every three years, when the roses bloom on the summer solstice,” someone in their little group says. Drayden’s more occupied trying to convince Cerlin to leave the poor tree alone.
(He loves the little Shelgon, he really does. But she’s stubborn as Cleaver’s tusks are sharp.)
“How come there isn’t a Winter Rose festival, then?”
“You think roses bloom during winter?”
“Actually, certain species of rose do bloom during winter. The Lenten Rose is one such kind. It can grow up to twenty inches ta - ”
“Never mind.”
“White Village is just up ahead,” their tour guide says, interrupting the riveting conversation. Drayden shifts his grasp on Cerlin’s… torso, he supposes, and keeps moving.
The path soon becomes smooth and neatly paved. Flowers grow at the edges. Some seem wild, some seem more deliberately placed. Cerlin struggles in his arms and he sets her down, keeping a careful eye on her as she determinedly scrambles to keep up with him.
White Village is a neat little town. There’s a large garden in the center, split evenly into multiple sections. Budew and Azurill scurry about in the plants, seemingly taking care of them. Drayden can spot the familiar red roof of a Pokemon Center in the distance.
“Welcome, welcome!”
The speaker is a short, slightly round man wearing a yellow vest and red pants. “I am the mayor of White Village,” he continues. “We are so pleased to host you for our quad-annual Summer Rose festival!”
Guess the person was wrong.
“Bri, please escort our guests to their lodgings,” the mayor says. “In honour of our festival, we ask that you please not capture any Pokemon around us or disturb the foliage.”
‘Bri’ is a tall, slim lady wearing a white shirt and dark blue pants. “Follow me, please,” she says. “Be careful of the decorations - they’re rather fragile.”
Drayden quickly picks Cerlin up, murmuring a quiet apology when she makes a noise of complaint. She’s got a hard head and no sense of caution whatsoever; her and fragile things make a very bad combination.
His lodging is a small wooden room with one bed, a dresser, and a worn-looking desk. Two windows let light pour in. There’s no curtains, Drayden notes. He sets Cerlin down, warns her sternly not to knock anything over, and starts putting his stuff away.
“Rosie! Rosie, come back here you silly!”
Rosebud, or Rosie as Iris likes to call her, yelps and runs off, Razz Berry gripped tightly in her grubby little hands. Iris giggles and chases after her, easily jumping over a root and grabbing a low-hanging branch to swing over a bush. She loves the forest.
“Gotcha!” she yells, tackling Rosebud into a hug. Rosebud squeaks and struggles to get out of Iris’ grasp, relenting after a few seconds and nuzzling into her. Iris gently takes the berry and rips it in two, handing one half over and taking the other. The berry has a small clump of dirt so she just brushes it off and takes a bite. It’s spicy and slightly dry, but food is food!
“What do you think we should do?” she asks, scooping Rosebud up once they’re done eating. “Someone said the village had a festival or something? Ooh, maybe we could sneak in there and watch? Do you think they dance?”
Rosebud snorts, burrowing into Iris’ chest with a sigh.
“Maybe not,” she says, standing. “It’d still be cool, though!”
Her home is what Iris likes to call a stick shelter. It’s a lot of sticks arranged against a closely-grouped bunch of trees and it keeps her nice and warm during the rain! Well, not really. But at least she wasn’t getting super-soaked! And if she got really cold, a nice person from White Village had given her this thing called a ‘lighter’ which made fire!
It was working a bit funny now, but no matter. She could just ask a local Magby to help her if really needed. The local Magby were always super sweet. They would help warm stuff if she got too cold and sure, she may have been set on fire a few times, but the nearby Lotad always helped put it out.
Iris crawls into her shelter and sets Rosebud down, depositing her bag of nuts into the food corner. She loves the bag. The lady, Brianna, had given it to her after she’d seen Iris collecting nuts using her shirt. It was big! And held so much! And it could double as a pillow if she didn’t want to sleep on leaves! Brianna was very nice.
“Don’t gash the tree too deeply, okay, Rosie?” she says. “The tree may not like it.”
Rosebud nods and keeps swinging at the tree, scouring lines into the bark. Iris gets to sorting the nuts, shoving them into haphazard piles.
“You want the red nuts or the brown ones?”
Rosebud gestures to the red ones. Iris scoops out a handful and holds them out for her to eat, giggling when Rosebud eagerly dives for her hand. “Slow down, Rosie!”
Rosebud snorts at that and slows down a bit, crunching away. A Budew wanders by, curious, and Iris offers it a nut. It shakes its ‘head’ and walks off.
“I think we should try and see the festival,” she says. “Who knows, there might be food! Remember that really tasty thing we got once? It was round and had this funny white thing on it.”
Rosebud sighs forlornly. Iris laughs. She remembers the thing really well. It tasted so good!
“Maybe we can get another,” she says hopefully. “There’ll probably be food, right? Yeah.” She quickly hides the nuts in their holes, covering them with leaves, and crawls out, beckoning for Rosebud. “C’mon, Rosie! Let’s go!”
Rosebud scrambles out after her and together they navigate the familiar route to the village. Iris knows the whole forest by heart.
The festival doesn’t seem to be happening yet. There are a lot of pretty decorations, though. Iris tiptoes into the village, looking around.
“Ey, what are you doin’ here?”
“It’s the weird girl!”
“I’m not weird!” Iris snaps. Rosebud growls, clambering onto Iris’ shoulder and glaring.
“You live in the forest! You’re pretty weird.”
“You also live in the forest! You’re weirder!”
“Everyone, calm down,” someone says. Iris looks up, automatically reaching out to let Rosebud back in her arms. That’s a big person voice and big people can mean either good or bad.
“I have food, if you want it,” the big person sighs. “Please don’t knock anything over.”
Good, then. Iris bows her head, smiling at the prospect of food. “Can I? Have the food, I mean?”
“Here you go,” the big person says, handing over a bag of food. Iris inspects it: nuts, dried berries, what looks kind of like imi-meat, and crackers.
“Thank you!” she beams. “Can I help with anything? Like setting something up? Or fighting off Patrat? I’m super good at fighting off Patrat!”
“You can fight off Rattata, if that’s what you want,” the big person says. “There’s a few over there, trying to scare poor Joey.”
Iris beams and heads off, bag held tightly to her chest. She forgot to bring her actual bag, but it doesn’t matter. There is, indeed, a group of Rattata hissing at a scared-looking child.
“Hey!” she yells. “Run off or Rosie will beat you up!”
Rosebud jumps to the ground and growls, menacing as ever. The Rattata back off a little but one lunges for Iris, hissing. She easily ducks away. “Rosie! Hit it with your dark thing!”
Rosebud flies past Iris, glowing with dark energy, and slams into the Rattata. It squeals and scurries off.
“Any more of you wanna fight?”
The Rattata scramble off into the undergrowth. Rosebud marches up to Iris and pokes at her insistently. Iris scoops her up.
“Th-thank you, miss!” the kid says, approaching her with wide eyes. “You’s super strong!”
Iris grins. “How else am I gonna fight off those pesky Bellsprout? Be strong, kid. Jus’ cross your arms and glare and they’ll run off! Rattata ain’t much, let me tell you.”
“Okay!”
She’s sorting the food when Rosebud comes back, holding something in her paws.
“What ya got there, Rosie?”
Rosebud holds it out. It’s circular and a warm honey-brown. Iris takes a deep breath; it smells sweet!
“Ooh,” she says, reaching out for it. Rosebud lets her have it and Iris snaps it in half. “Try it, Rosie!”
She doesn’t hesitate before taking a bite. The circular thing is crunchy and sweet, with fruit inside. Rosebud beams, chomping down and eating the entire half in one go.
“Don’t eat too quickly, Rosie,” Iris says. “Brianna said it can make your tummy hurt and that’s not fun.”
Rosebud swallows, blinking up at her and Iris sighs, finishing her half. “Aw, you’re too cute. I can’t be mad at you.”
“What was that?” Drayden asks. Brianna blinks.
“Oh, that was just Rosie.”
“Rosie,” Drayden states. “The Axew is named Rosie.”
“Yep.”
“... Alright.”
Iris grips the branch tightly, clambering higher to reach that tempting clump of Sitrus berries. They didn’t last long, but they were delicious and she could give them to someone in the village in exchange for other food.
She manages to reach it and plucks them off, storing them in her bag. Hopefully she didn’t squish them while climbing down. People didn’t like squashed berries, for some reason.
A flash of grey out of the corner of her eye immediately puts her on alert. No Pokemon in the forest were grey. It had to be a person.
Holding onto the trunk, she looks down. And oh. It’s a big person.
Reaching for Rosebud.
Now, Iris knows several rules. Rule one: don’t hurt any Pokemon or they will hurt you. Rule two: strange red berries should not be eaten.
Rule three: if you have to fight, you fight. No matter what.
Iris normally doesn’t mind big people. They’re a bit scary, but the village ones are kind. She’s learned a lesson, though, through multiple times when Rosebud was nearly stolen. When big people try to touch Rosebud, that usually means they are trying to take her.
And no one takes Rosebud.
“Sorry, berries,” Iris murmurs before leaping down from the tree, barreling straight through the foliage, and slamming into the big person. They might be big, but she’s faced down scary things before and Iris knows where to hit. Rosebud quickly scrambles away from the big person and grabs the bag that Iris throws towards her.
“Get out of here, Rosie!”
Rosebud runs.
It’s a familiar procedure at this point. Iris will give Rosebud the supplies and she’ll run. Rosebud is small and can hide easily. Iris is bigger and stronger and can fight better. And she knows every leaf and tree inside the forest.
This big person won’t win.
“You can’t have her,” Iris snaps. “She’s my Axew! And I care about her, unlike you!”
And then she promptly darts off, skidding underneath a bush and leaping over a stream. Sure enough, footsteps race after her and Iris speeds up. Big people might be strong, but they aren’t nearly as fast and they really hate spiky things.
“Magby!” she calls out. “Help!”
“I don’t want to hurt you!” big person yells out. “Do not run, please.”
That’s what they said, too. Only this time Iris knows enough to not get tricked. “Mareep, Magby!”
A Mareep runs out of the bushes and yelps in alarm.
“Lix, protect me! Don’t hurt the Mareep!”
The Mareep lets out a half squeak when its attack doesn’t work and jumps away, knocking into Iris. She rolls down a hill, grabbing Mareep tightly into her arms to protect the small fluffball, and curls into a ball, steering herself in a random direction. Branches whip by her face. A Togepi squeals in surprise.
“Sorry!” Iris calls as they speed by.
They land at the bottom of the hill, covered in leaves and dirt. Iris stands up, wincing. There’s a scrape on her cheek and several more on her arms and legs.
“Are you okay, Mareep?” she asks. “Thank you for trying to defend me.”
Mareep nods, gently bumping Iris’ nose with its own. Iris giggles at the small shock it produces and sets the Mareep down.
“Goodbye, now!” she says. The big human seemed to have lost track of her. Good. “I have to find my home.”
Mareep nods and heads off, disappearing into the undergrowth. Iris quickly clambers up a tree, looking around to properly orient herself, then starts making her way back.
Rosebud is sitting at the entrance of their shelter, bag clutched in her arms. Iris exhales a sigh of relief when she sees her Axew safe and sound.
“You’re okay!”
Rosebud starts, dropping the bag. Iris giggles and emerges. “I’m here, silly,” she says, grunting when Rosebud throws herself into Iris’ arms. “I was so worried. Big people can be mean sometimes.”
She sets Rosebud back down carefully. “Want a berry? I’m kind of hungry. You probably are too, after running all that way.”
The Sitrus berries aren’t too squished. Iris sets aside the non-squashed ones to trade later and rips apart a partially squished one. “Here you go, Rosie.”
Sitrus berries aren’t her favourite - she really likes the Mago berries because they’re sweet - but they are more filling than other berries. Iris spits out the seed and buries it in the ground next to her shelter. Maybe there’ll be a Sitrus tree soon!
There was a small Bluk tree growing close to her shelter before, but it was set on fire by a baby Magby and destroyed. Iris was just glad her home didn’t get burnt down.
(The scorch marks were still there, though.)
“We should be careful tonight,” she says, stretching. “No fire, I think. We could be seen, y’know?”
Iris grabs the non-squashed berries and puts them into her bag, covers up the shelter with leaves, and then picks Rosebud up. “Long route today, okay?”
The long route isn’t so much a route as it is Iris jumping from tree to tree. She calls it long because she always goes a random direction and it feels a lot longer than walking. Rosebud squirms out of her grasp and swings upwards, plucking an Oran berry and chomping down eagerly.
“Ooh,” Iris says as she descends. “Look at the lanterns, Rosie! Aren’t they pretty? And they look like roses! Like your name!”
Rosebud reaches for one and Iris tugs her back quickly. She remembers the last time Rosebud had knocked over a lantern. It hadn’t been fun. “Let’s go find the store guy! I think he was called Albert?”
Albert, the store guy’s name tag reads. So she was right, after all! Iris holds out the Sitrus berries, beaming. “Hi, mister! I got you some Sitrus berries!”
“Ah, thank you young lady,” Albert says genially. He bends over and pulls out a bag of dried fruit and nuts. “Here you go, Iris. I made sure to put some dried Mago in there.”
“Yes!” Iris cheers, tucking the bag into her bag. “Thank you, mister! Goodbye!”
“You’re welcome and goodbye!”
Iris makes sure to take the long way back again. The sun is starting to set and she pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath of the fresh air.
“Look at the sky, Rosie. Isn’t it pretty?”
Rosebud clambers up onto Iris’ shoulder and nods, staring at the sky with wide eyes. It’s streaked with pink and orange and looks all pretty. She leans her head onto the trunk, watching an odd-looking bird swoop by.
Wait.
“Those don’t live here,” Iris says, frowning and climbing higher. “Ooh, it looks all soft. Where did you come from, big soft bird? Are you lost? Do you want something to eat?”
Big Soft Bird blinks at her with big dark eyes, reaching down.
“Are you asking me to climb on?” Iris asks. “I really gotta get home… should we, Rosie?”
Rosebud reaches up to poke at Big Soft Bird’s wings. Iris does the same. “Woah, that feels so soft! Let’s go, Rosie. Promise you’ll bring me home after?”
Big Soft Dragon nods and hovers delicately next to Iris. She takes a deep breath and jumps, managing to grab Big Soft Bird’s wings and pull herself on.
“What are you?”
“Alltaaariiiiaaaaa,” Big Soft Bird coos.
“Alltaaariiiiaaaaa?” Iris asks, frowning. “Altaria. Huh.”
“Allll,” Altaria trills and suddenly they’re flying.
Iris laughs, gripping tightly onto Altaria’s back. “Woah! Look, Rosie! We’re so high up!”
Rosebud clambers onto Iris’ lap, tucking her head into Iris’ stomach, Iris laughs and holds Rosebud tight. “Isn’t it cool? Look, there’s the village! Back there! And look at that!”
She points to a large rippling body of water. “Isn’t it large? And that!”
A large structure rises out of the darkness, lit by yellow lights. Altaria swoops down on top of it, landing delicately on the bars. Iris climbs off and swings down, hanging on tightly. It feels smooth and rather cool. People are passing by below her, seemingly unaware that she’s there.
“This is so cool,” she breathes. The structure stretches out beneath her. Iris climbs back up, holding onto the bar, and looks around. Large stretches of forest and paths are spread out beneath her. “I’ve never been outside the forest before!”
“Hey, who’s sitting on the bridge?”
“Someone’s sitting on the bridge!”
“Are they going to jump?”
Iris starts and Rosebud snarls lowly, bristling. Altaria quickly nudges Iris back onto its back and they swoop back towards White Forest, skimming lightly under the branches.
“You’re so cool,” Iris says, jumping off when they land in front of her home. No one seemed to have come here, thankfully. “Thanks, Altaria! Do you want anything to eat? Nuts?”
Altaria gladly accepts a few nuts, crunching them in its beak, and bumps Iris’ shoulder gently. Iris scratches Altaria’s soft head, smiling. “Come back soon!”
“Xew. Axew!!”
“Rosie?” Iris asks, stretching awake. She feels a bit cold but oh well. “Is that Altaria? Altaria! Hi!!”
Altaria lands and gathers Iris into its cloudy wings, brushing leaves out of her hair. Iris laughs. “Your wings are so soft! They look like - ”
The big person in grey.
How had he found her?! She’d been careful! No one had been following her!
“I just want to talk,” the big person says, as if sensing her thoughts.
“You just want Rosie!” Iris snaps, gathering Rosebud into her arms quickly. Her chest tightens. She’d probably lose her home for this. And the food she had collected, too. And Rosebud, if she was really unlucky. And other Pokemon could get hurt.
How could she have let this happen?
“Please, I don’t mean any harm,” the big person says. “If I try to grab your Axew, you can jump on Altaria there and leave. But will you let me talk to you?”
Altaria?
Right, Altaria. Iris frowns. There weren’t any Altaria around these parts…
Wait.
“Is Altaria your Pokemon?” Iris demands. “You have Pokeballs. How can I be sure you’ll let me leave?”
“Good observation,” big person says and Iris scowls. “You can outrun me, though.”
That was a good point…
Rosebud gestures to Altaria and Iris remembers - Altaria could fly.
“You can fly.”
“Yes,” big person says. “But I’m sure you’d be able to get away, correct? You’re far more familiar with the forest than I am.”
Would she? Would she really? There was no way she would come out on top in this situation. Absolutely none.
“Let me say my piece, please,” big person says. “I promise I won’t do anything.”
Altaria coos soothingly and as much as Iris wants to be unhappy at Altaria she can’t when they’re looking at her so pleadingly.
“Fine,” she snaps. “But if you do anything I’m gonna kick your butt.”
“I know,” big person says. “Your Axew seems very happy.”
“What’re you saying?” Iris asks, frowning. She hugs Rosebud closer to her chest and Rosebud cuddles in happily. “So?”
“Axew are very hard to befriend,” the big person says, sitting down. “Many baby dragons are. Bagon, for example. Dratini. I see people struggling for years to do what you have already. What did you do to befriend your Axew?”
“I gave her fruit,” Iris says. Rosebud lets out a small sigh into her chest, cuddling closer. She was probably cold that night, poor thing. Iris gently nudges Altaria so they’re sitting on the forest floor and sets Rosebud into Altaria’s wings, settliing next to Rosebud. “She was hungry and I helped her. That’s it.”
“You are a natural,” big person says, watching as Rosebud melts into Altaria’s wings. Iris narrows her eyes and shifts so she’s sitting in front of Rosebud. “Would you ever want to be a Pokemon trainer?”
“A what?”
“Pokemon trainer,” big person says. “I recall seeing your Axew battle some Rattata. You have talent. Would you like to do that for a living?”
“What do you mean?” Iris asks, squinting a little. “Like, I’d fight Pokemon a lot?”
“You’d fight other people,” big person says, clasping his hands. “You’ve noticed that others have Pokemon.”
“Duh.”
“Some like to battle with theirs,” big person explains. “Would you?”
“Would I get food?”
“Yes.”
“And Rosebud won’t die?”
“No one will let your Axew die.”
“And Rosebud won’t get captured?”
“It’s not allowed. You would be able to fight them off if you trained.”
Fight them off. Iris can fight but she isn’t tough enough to take on big people and their big Pokemon, she knows.
“That sounds… good. So I would be able to fight you?”
“With enough training, yes.”
Looking back, Iris thinks, that’s the moment her life changed.
“What’s your offer?”
“Come train under me,” big person says. “You’ve got the skill and you care a lot about your Pokemon. There will be food and water, and you won’t have to live under sticks. And you won’t have to run from people who want to take your Pokemon.”
No, this was the moment, she thinks. The moment younger her, cuddling Rosebud, had squared her tiny shoulders and said, “Okay.”