AKoE: Chapter 1 - Friendship
#2 of Another Kind of Empathy
Sorry I took so long, but... a lot of stuff has happened. Some good, some bad, but needless to say I haven't been giving this the needed attention. I've decided to cut the chapter down by a bit so I can get it out and not have to worry about it anymore. Essentially I'm moving the end of chapter 1 to the beginning of chapter 2, which means three things: I won't have to struggle with another transition in chapter 1, I will have to worry less about content in chapter 2, and you, the readers, get to see chapter 1 earlier. Win-win-win. So yeah, chapter is shorter than planned as a result, and the following chapter might be longer than planned. Either way, I don't want to take the easy way out again, so expect further chapters to be longer. So without further ado...
Another Kind of Empathy
Chapter 1 - Friendship
"Hey! Wake up!"
Rhy stirred, the voice breaking through her dreams and slowly bringing her into consciousness. Her six tails twitched and spread themselves out as she stretched, uncurling her body from her favorite sleeping position.
"Rhyyyyy? Are you awaaaake?" the voice whispered quite loudly, causing the vulpix's ears to flatten against her head
"I am now," she replied sluggishly, yawning as she opened her eyes. Kya was standing over her head, smiling mischievously.
"Good!" the eevee nearly shouted, once again causing Rhy to cringe. "I was getting bored of waiting. I thought you'd never wake up!"
"So why didn't you go back to sleep?" Rhy asked, unable to keep herself from smiling.
The eevee gave her friend a mock pout. "You're no fun," she declared, turning around and walking toward the mouth of the cave that they called home. "Maybe I'll just go out and play by myself!"
Rhy slowly stood, taking the time to stretch every limb as she did so. "Well I'm up now," she told the overexcited eevee after she had made doubly sure that she was in fact fully awake. "So I might as well come with you!"
"Well hurry up!" Kya shouted back as Rhy made her way to where she was waiting,much too slowly for the impatient eevee.
"Why'd you wake me up so early anyway?" Rhy questioned her friend as she joined her at the entrance to the cave.
"You don't remember?" the eevee asked her, unsure whether to believe the question or not. "We were gonna go check out that weird rock Neeko told us about yesterday!"
Rhy's eyes widened suddenly as she recalled the strange rock they had discovered. "Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, suddenly just as excited as the one sitting next to her."What are we waiting for? Let's go check it out!"
"Hold it right there!" a stern voice called to them, causing both to immediately freeze. The two of them glanced at each other, the same guilty look in each of their eyes. Behind them, the flareon sat and watched them. Rhy knew that look. That look meant that Eri was trying to decide just how much trouble they were in.
"Where do you two think you're going this early?" she questioned, her gaze fixed on the two of them, unwavering.
The both of them stared at the flareon nervously, unwilling to reveal their secret. Eri was unrelenting though, determined to know what her pups were up to. "I can sit here and wait for you to answer me all day," she told them plainly.
Kya was the one to give in first, her eyes shifting to her own paws as she answered. "We... we were just gonna go play. Honest mama!"
Eri watched them silently, trying to decide whether to believe them or not. With a warm smile, she leaned down to nuzzle them affectionately. "What will I do with you?" she said, sighing. She then stood, turning around while still watching the two mischievous girls. "Come on. You can go play after you've eaten something."
With a simultaneous groan, the two followed Eri, defeated. There was little the two of them could do. Despite their hurry and their excitement, in every circumstance, a mother always wins.
* * * * *
After finally escaping Eri's clutches, Rhy and Kya sprinted out of the cave and into the forest. The two of them were running as fast as they could stand to keep up for more than a moment. Without even a word to each other, they knew the game was on. The game was a simple one, and one they often played. It was a race with no set goals. Put simply, the one who could run the fastest, farthest, and for the longest time was the winner.
It wasn't long before both of them began to show signs of fatigue. Kya began to breathe more heavily trying to keep the heavy pace, while Rhy began to slow, letting herself fall slightly behind. It was too much work to win outright. No, this required a much more sneaky tactic. She continued to slow, remaining just barely behind, and she waited, keeping a close eye on her friend.
It wasn't long before she saw her chance. In her excitement, the eevee turned to see how far she was ahead. In this brief moment, her pace faltered, giving Rhy the edge she was waiting for. The cunning little fox used this as an opportunity to put on a burst of speed, leaving an astonished eevee several strides behind.
Rhy pressed her advantage, continuing to run as fast as she could get her legs to move. This proved too much for the already exhausted eevee, who was now struggling to keep up.
"Hey!" shouted Kya, almost out of breath. "Slow... slow down Rhy! I... I give up! You're faster! I can't keep up!"
As Rhy looked back at the eevee, she could already tell she was slowing down. Grinning, the eager vulpix couldn't resist having a little fun with her. She slowed her pace for only a moment, just long enough for Kya to take a calmer pace herself as she noticed she was closing the distance. As soon as the eevee slowed, Rhy bolted ahead, leaving a confused Kya even further behind.
The next words from behind her were annoyed ones. "No... no fair!" huffed an exhausted Kya, stumbling over her own words. "That was... a mean trick!"
"Oh come on!" Rhy yelled back. "I know you can do better than that! Just catch me!"
Her mind set on taking the fun a little further, Rhy took a sharp turn and jumped straight over a fallen tree, taking the chase into rougher terrain. She was focused on making it as hard as she could for Kya to follow; she jumped branches, dove under bushes, and pushed through more leaves than she could keep track of, all at a speed that would make a doduo think about slowing down!
Behind her, the sounds of pursuit grew quieter. Finally satisfied, Rhy decided she had enough of this game. She pushed her way through the next branches, getting ready to sit and catch her breath. Hah! I'm still the fastest! she thought smugly. Kya's got nothing on me! She laid herself down on the forest floor, breathing heavily from the exertion. Turning onto her side, she glanced among the trees above her while she waited.
What she saw made her blood run cold.
Hanging among the branches were at least a dozen ridged, oblong yellow shapes, round at the top and narrowing to a taper at the bottom. It wasn't specifically these shapes that Rhy was worried about; kakuna are hardly a threat. But this many in one place could only mean that she'd stumbled into a nest.
She barely had time to process this when she came to another, more urgent realization. Behind her, the sounds of Kya's pursuit were suddenly seeming to be quite loud. She was almost caught up to her. She doesn't know about the nest! she panicked, getting ready to turn back and get as far away from this place as she possibly could. But in the next moment, everything changed drastically.
" RHY!" Kya yelled, infuriated. "Why... why did you make me run... so fast... so far? Why didn't you STOP?"
And that was all it took. All around her, the forest began to buzz as the kakuna she could see as well as some she couldn't see began to call out for help against this approaching intruder. It was only a moment before Rhy could hear a much different kind of buzzing in the air: the sound of insect wings.
The frightened vulpix did the only thing she could even think of doing: she turned around and ran. Tearing right through the branches, Rhy catapulted herself from the jaws of danger...
...and right into the waiting presence of an angry nest guardian beedrill.
Her instant surprise and terror almost cost her as the insect attempted to skewer her with its blade-like barbs. Only her instinct to duck down saved her from terrible injury. Instead of striking her through the body, one of the barbs pierced one her her six tails, causing her to yelp in pain and alarm.
"Rhy?" the concerned voice of Kya came through the brush, not far away. "Are you okay? Where are you? Rhy?"
The vulpix bolted toward the sound of the eevee's voice as soon as she heard it. "Kyaaaaa!" she shouted, her intense fear showing in her voice. "Help me! Kya, please, HELP!"
Agitated, the beedrill once again speeded toward the fleeing vulpix, barbs poised to strike the intruder. Hearing the buzzing behind her coming closer, Rhy jumped for the nearest bush, crashing through it just as she felt the rush of airbehind her as the beedrill only barely missed her again.
As she crashed through the other side of the bush however, she was hit by a sharp, stinging pain in her left side, followed rapidly by another similar pain in her rear left leg. Ignoring the pain, she once again took flight. Each step now caused another bolt of pain to emanate from her leg, and each breath now brought pain with it. Behind her, the incessant buzzing of the beedrill's wings continued, a constant reminder that no matter the pain, if she stopped, she was a goner.
But she was powerless to prevent the beedrill's next attack.
As it looked like she was finally getting some distance from her attacker, the beedrill was just suddenly there. It appeared right beside her, as if from nowhere, and slammed itself into her, sending her sprawling across the forest floor.
"Rhy!" she heard Kya shout from beside her. "Rhy, are you okay? Say something!"
She's here to help! Rhy thought, relief washing over her. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to get to her feet, but the act was taking much more effort than she was used to. Her entire body was sore, and the exertion was causing more pain. Still, she needed to get up! Kya can't take it alone! she mentally shouted, attempting to give her body a reason to cooperate, even as her rear left leg gave out, causing her to collapse back to the ground.
Before she could make another attempt, a shadow enveloped her as a small body stood over her. "S.. stay away!" Rhy heard Kya shout at the beedrill. "I won't let you touch her!"
Despite her bravado, Rhy knew Kya was no match for the beedrill. She felt powerless. She couldn't even get herself out of trouble. And worse, she couldn't help but realize, Kya's gonna get hurt because of me...
She felt numb. She could no longer feel the pain, to her own relief and fear. I must be dying, she realized. "I'm so sorry Kya..." she whispered, sadness in her voice. "I'm sorry for everything!" As tears began to stream down her face, she opened her eyes, now ready to accept her fate.
But instead she was greeted by a white, sparking light, directly in front of her eyes, settling into her fur before dimming, leaving her with a tingling sensation all over her body. What... was that? she questioned, even as her thoughts turned to a more pressing matter. Wait! I can feel that? So I'm not...
She left her thought unfinished as she got back to her feet, the sudden recovery eliciting a gasp from Kya as she moved to give her friend some room. "Rhy! You're okay! I was so worried!"
But there wasn't any time to acknowledge Kya's relieved statement. Rhy knocked her friend to the ground just in time for the beedrill's attack to miss the eevee. She quickly turned to face their persistant attacker. This is all my fault! I have to keep her safe!
She could feel a heat building inside her chest as she faced their assailant. Her breathing grew heavier as the air in her lungs began to heat up. A pressure was building in her chest, growing stronger with each heaving breath, as if her body was trying to force her to get rid of this immense heat! The air in front of her eyes became wavy as she exhaled, the air being released now so hot that it drastically changed the temperature around it.
"I'm here for you!" she barely noticed Kya shout as the eevee stood to her side. The air began to shimmer around the two as they waited for their chance
When the beedrill prepared to attack again, she acted. The shimmering air turned to a soft glow as she spat a small shower of flames from her maw directly at the oncoming bug, causing it to let out a screech of pain as it faltered. Before it could recover, Rhy gave it another round, this time causing it to back away. It gave them a long stare, obviously debating this new development, before finally retreating, as if deciding they weren't worth the trouble.
It took them a long time before they could even move, the events of the past few moments not quite registering in their tired and fearful minds. The silence around them was only penetrated by the sound of their breathing, frantic and heavy. After what seemed like forever, Kya spoke.
"We... did it..." she whispered, hardly believing it herself. She turned to her friend, a look of excitement on her face. "We did it Rhy! We really did it!"
Rhy herself was not so excited. She wasn't quite sure what she was feeling at the moment, but it definitely wasn't excitement. She was relieved, yes, but that relief was masked by other things, namely worry, incredulity, and guilt.
"Rhy...?" the little eevee asked, hesitating a bit, confused by her friend's lack of reaction. "We should get going..."
Without a word, the vulpix let herself relax a bit, taking a few tenative steps before stopping. "Hey Kya..."
"What is it Rhy?" she returned, a little worried at her friend's strange behavior.
She took a deep breath, watching her friend, debating, before finally speaking. "I think... maybe you should go first this time."