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The four stood in hesitation in the middle of the forest. The red mark that illustrated the last Laquium sign was still a walking distance away, but…
“D-Dot.” Liko stammered, peeking over her friend’s shoulder to eye the danger they were forced to face: an old bridge with its planks partially eroded and covered in rough material they didn't want to know about. The mere sight of it was very unwelcoming. “Are you…sure this is the right way?”
Dot nervously nodded, eyes briefly glancing at her Smart Rotom’s screen. “Dead sure. Unfortunately.”
Roy grumbled in the background, arms crossed in agitation. If only Kilowattrel was healthy, it could’ve picked them up one by one across the bridge, but it got knocked out cold in a fierce battle against a Pokémon whose territory they stepped into— whose territory Ult stepped into.
Ult puffed out his chest in feigned bravery that contrasted with the visible fear in his eyes. “C-Come on, you guys! It’s not gonna cross itself! I’ll go first!”
Ult stepped to the start of the bridge with wobbling knees. He eyed the distorted wood with a heavy gulp, the Sableye on his shoulder quietly hissing in doubt. Holding onto his backpack’s straps like his life depended on it, Ult took a step forward.
And as soon as the plank creaked and just slightly bent over his weight, he freaked out and grabbed the dirty rails. The entire bridge shook with an ominous symphony under his movement. Ult heard Roy call for him to calm down, but all he could think of right now was that he wanted to go back home.
With the other three mentally preparing in their own way, they followed in Ult’s steps. Roy and his Crocalor stepped in first, followed by Liko and Meowscarada and then Dot and Quaxwell. Ult was prompted to move quickly because he didn’t trust what the old wood would do under their combined weights.
Finally, Ult reached the other end. “I did it!” He cried out in victory as he hopped off the final plank, his nails digging deep into the fabric of his shirt to reach his racing heart. He turned to find Roy coming close behind, Liko at the center, and Dot closer to the end than she was to any of them.
“Roy!” Ult called as he extended his arm to his friend, an act of assistance in case the final plank decided to give up. Its Sableye did the same for the Crocalor, its arms spread forward as it cried in encouragement. Accepting the offers as soon as they were close enough, the second pair made it safely.
While they sighed and gathered their held breaths, Ult turned back to help the third pair. He yelped when he realized that it was Liko and Dot coming in, his cheeks flushing a bright red, but the adrenaline of their survival quickly overpowered the embarrassment.
When she made it, Liko released a high-pitched sigh of relief. “Thank you, Ult!” She shrieked, her knees almost giving up on her.
Now it was only Dot left. Ult’s eyes widened as she was only halfway through. “Come on, Dot!” He called, his arms extended. “You can do it!”
“I-I can’t…” Dot uttered, her hands shaking as she held onto the rails. Her Quaxwell kept its wings close to her, offering gentle encouragement to its trainer. She flashed it a quick smile, then continued proceeding down the bridge, her heart hammering strong enough for it to feel like it would burst out of her chest.
But as she stepped on the wrong spot of a plank, it creaked and then shattered under her foot. In a panic, she lunged forward, but she fell against her knee, the bridge shaking terrifyingly from the impact.
“Dot!” The trio called out.
Dot was curled up into a ball, thinking that this was she was falling to her death, but when the numbness faded, and she processed the wood under her, she slowly opened her eyes. “H-…huh?”
Liko called out her name again, bringing herself back onto the bridge to reach her friend. Her Meowscarada wanted to stop her, but Liko was insistent, her eyes fixed on Dot as she was slowly brought back up to her feet.
“Ow, ow…” Dot clenched her eyes shut, her right knee in particular trembling strangely. Quaxwell quacked out loudly, bringing her attention to the growing red spots on her green sweatpants. “Oh, come on. Now’s not the time for this.”
“I think we should head back.” Ult’s breath hitched.
“But we already progressed.” Roy countered. “And if we don’t follow the Laquium, who knows what will happen to this forest?!”
It took Dot a good while, especially with her needing extra support after her injury. But ultimately, she made it. Liko, now back on the grass, held her friend up when her legs almost failed her.
“Argh, it burns…” Dot let herself drop to the grass, holding her injured knee up. She grabbed the rim of her sweatpants and pulled the fabric up, revealing a circle of scratched skin leaking blood. Liko immediately closed her eyes with a grimace.
“I’ve got this!” Ult dropped his backpack to the ground and started to shuffle through its many contents. After some digging and extending his arm all the way to the bottom, he took out the tools he needed: a disinfectant bottle, a cotton pack, and a bandage.
“Thank you, Ult!” Liko’s eyes glistened in relief.
“We’ll make sure to keep the area safe while you treat her, but be quick!” Roy asserted, to which Ult firmly nodded.
Ult scurried over and bent down to Dot’s level. He uncapped the bottle and leaned it to the injury before boldly spraying a generous amount onto it. Dot, immediately, cried out in agony.
“What is wrong with you?!” She shrieked, making Ult lean back. “Shouldn’t you give a heads-up first?!”
“W-Well, it was going to hurt bad, anyway!” Ult countered, but he quickly dismissed the argument to take out some cotton and dab the injury clean. But like that wasn’t enough torture, he sprayed disinfectant again, making Dot cry out another time. “I’m sorry!”
“Sorry my— you—!!”
“Here, here, I’m almost done!” Ult cleaned off the extra liquid with a clean cotton before he went for the bandage. He peeled off the plastic and carefully placed the dressing layer over the wound. “There! All’s well that ends well!” He smiled. Then, very instinctively, he leaned in and planted a gentle kiss over the bandage.
Dot stared, all rage on her face fading in an instant. “Pardon?”
Ult’s eyes shot open, his face flushed the brightest scarlet. “I-I’m sorry—!” He squeaked, wiping off his lips as if they had residue on them. “It’s just that— I’m very used to doing that with Sableye, so I just— it was only a force of habit, nothing else!”
The two turned to Meowscarada when they heard it snicker mischievously. “Meowscarada. That’s rude.” Liko patted her Pokémon’s shoulder. The girl herself had seen the action, but she was more discreet, with her hand covering her smiling lips as she looked in the other direction.
Ult looked at Roy, who was, quite thankfully, busy studying the greenery surrounding them, his eye keen for any gaze among the trees. “We are not talking about this again!” Ult asserted as his eyes darted between Liko and Dot. Liko made a ‘lips zipped shut’ gesture while Dot only quickly nodded, seeming like she had already repressed the memory until Ult brought it back out.
“Are you done yet?” Roy called as he turned to the trio. They all immediately acted like nothing happened, but Roy could still feel like something was off with how awkward their gazes were. “Hm?”
“Yeah, yeah!” Ult hurried back on his feet. “All good, now! Let’s carry on! You think you can walk?” He bent over to be on level with Dot, who leaned her head back to keep the distance between their faces.
“I think I’m gonna need a little hand…” Dot narrowed her eyes. Not even a second later and her Quaxwell stepped into her eyeshot with a supporting quack, its wing extended to give its trainer the support she needed. Dot softly chuckled. “But I’ll be fine.”
“Good! That’s what I like to hear!” Ult was by his backpack, stuffing the items back inside before he threw it over his shoulder. “Come on, Sableye!” He turned on his heel and carried on the path all by himself, his Sableye following shortly before it hopped on his shoulder.
“What’s up with him?” Roy raised an eyebrow, his hands placed on his hips. “Wasn’t he scared for his life just a moment ago?” He looked at Liko, who feigned ignorance as she exaggeratedly shrugged, her bottom lip sticking out. Roy raised an eyebrow at the Meowscarada, who smiled like it knew something he didn’t.
“Hurry up, Slowpokes!” Ult called to the rest of the group. “That Laquium sign isn’t gonna come to you, you know that?” He swayed his arms. “Let’s get this over with before one of us gets a tree falling over ’em!”
”Right!” Liko held back her laughter. She scurried to Ult’s location, followed by a much slower Dot supported by her Pokémon. Roy remained in his place, eying each one of them suspiciously. He only followed behind after his Crocalor went for the group as it called for him, but he only half-dismissed what was going on.