Yeah, another quick chapter post. I promise it'll gradually become slower. 
The Roots of a Friendship
1 year ago
The tale of how Jeff got that distinguished twig was a memorable one, especially since the twig was not the only thing he discovered that day. He was out in the forested grasslands outside of Littleroot Town, exploring. He had decided to take a walk to see if he could spot any cool or interesting pokemon.
Jeff was some distance away from the town. He slid his backpack off of his arm and threw it carelessly on the grass. He leaned back against a tree, which stood beside a small, tranquil lakeside, when a Zigzagoon came up to him, curiously. The pokemon was a brown and beige furred large rodent. Its fur appeared to be spiky, although it was really quite soft.
Zigzagoon sniffed around, inspecting his apple. Jeff put a hand up to motion that he was friendly. Ever since Jeff was young he had never felt any particular fear or hostility towards pokemon. Growing up with a family that had a Chikorita, he felt that pokemon were no threat to him. He liked mostly all pokemon as long as they were at least indifferent towards him. He decided to crouch down in front of it and fed the creature some of his apple that he didn’t finish. Zigzagoon began to happily munch on it, but then it looked up as a large shadow was cast over it as well as Jeff’s back. It dropped the piece of apple that was in its mouth and started to panic, running around in zigzags and then out of sight.
“What’s wrong?” Jeff asked, confused.
As Jeff noticed the creature run and the moving shadow behind him, a large chill went down his back. He could hear a swipe as if a sword was being swung in the air. His instincts got the better of him. Jeff speedily stood up and turned around and saw a giant scythe ready to fall towards him. Attached to the scythe were a long green arm and the enraged face of a giant bug pokemon.
The glowering face struck fear into the very soul of Jeff. Chills crept up his spine like a hundred Beedrills were giving him acupuncture with their needles. His green eyes widened and they met with the pokemon’s hazel eyes. He felt adrenaline course through his veins and rush to his head and limbs.
Jeff remembered Professor Birch talking about a pokemon like this in one of his lectures. He recalled him saying something about a blinding fury towards the color red. Of course, Jeff decided to where a red t-shirt for his hike that day, but instead of beating himself up about it, he decided to take action.
As the scythe began to be brought down, Jeff nimbly jumped to his right and he instinctively punched the creature in the face with his right arm. Jeff used his training from when he occasionally sparred with Tyrogue.
“Scyyythe!” It stumbled back a step and then lunged, even angrier, towards Jeff. “THER!!”
The terrifying mantis brought its claw down on Jeff. The blade slashed from Jeff’s left shoulder, cutting diagonally down the bicep, the gash ending above his elbow.
“GRAAAAAAGGHHH” Jeff yelled in blinding pain. He could feel the metal slice through his skin, taking pieces with the blade, and exit. He felt as if someone had poured oil in the cut before throwing a match into the gash. Jeff turned and fell to one knee, saliva spitting from his clenched teeth through the labored growls. His face whitened from the blood loss yet he felt beads of sweat form on his brow. Although his legs were trembling, Jeff took advantage of his adrenaline; he clutched his slashed bicep, turned, and ran behind him.
Jeff hobbled away from the pokemon, who was recovering from the powerful slash. Jeff ran with all of his strength into the forest, hearing the terrorizing cries of the bug pokemon echoing all around him. His speed was fueled by his blistering pain, it acted as the nine-tails whip of a slave driver coercing Jeff onward, for fear of a fate worse than being beaten. He ran over verdant ferns and hopped over roots, clutching his bleeding arm as he went.
Jeff dove behind this huge, lush, towering tree, which had many thick branches attached to it. Jeff was bleeding profusely from his arm. He pressed his back up against the tree and looked over his shoulder to his right. Jeff could hear a rustling above him; he darted his head up and saw leaves move and then nothing. He was positive that Scyther was moving above him, but for all he knew it was just the wind. The giant bug was nowhere to be found. But then Jeff looked to his left and saw the sneering face of the giant green bug right in front of him.
The pokemon grunted in his face and Jeff’s heart sank. The only thing between him and the scythe was a small twig, attached to the tree beside him about at Jeff’s scalp level.
“SYYYTHHHE,” the creature wailed as its scythe began to fall towards Jeff.
“This is it, I’m dead,” Jeff thought as he leaned there, helplessly.
He kept his eyes only on the twig in front of him, trying to face his fate with as much courage as possible. He could see the twinkle of the scythe and it got through about halfway into the twig and then stopped.
Jeff looked towards the creature. Its eyes were wide, jaw open. Jeff looked down, puzzled, and saw a small green lizard, with a sturdy red chest, who had its large, dark green tail embedded into the bug’s abdomen. “Treecko Tree” it said calmly with a high tenor voice. The bug pokemon doubled over while the new pokemon crawled up the massive trunk of the tree that Jeff was leaned against. The tree was staggeringly large; the trunk and canopy were colossal, but the tree itself wasn’t as lush and appeared to be in bad condition.
The Scyther straightened itself, growled, and began to bat its wings, which created a chilling, humming sound. The snarling assailant flew after the lizard up the trunk. The green tree-climber was very quick and adept at scaling the bark. Before the Scyther knew it, its foe had disappeared in the immense canopy.
The bug pokemon continued to fly vertically towards the tree top. Before it could brace itself it saw a big, green tail appear from seemingly nowhere and descend towards its face. The lizard’s mighty tail battered the Scyther backwards. The unexpected ambush caused Scyther’s aerial equilibrium to be compromised. It fell backwards and fell head first towards the ground. The Scyther tried to right itself in the air but it was too late; it hit the ground with a blunt smack. The heroic pokemon jumped from the tree and landed beside it, crossing his arms without a care. Scyther snarled and got to its feet.
The green reptile stared into the pokemon’s eyes, unflinchingly. Scyther raised and swiped its razor arm in a vertical downwards action. The targeted pokemon jumped out of the way to his side. The claw hit the ground but missed its prey. Scyther quickly reared its left arm to its chest before swiping it towards the jumping green and ruby lizard. The wood gecko noticed the blade and quickly bent his head backwards in the air. He narrowly missed a decapitation but he still sustained a minor cut on his green chin. He landed on one knee and paused, taking a moment to wipe the blood from his neck. The now grinning lizard extended a finger and retracted it in a taunting fashion.
His grin became serious when the Scyther drove his claw from the ground and rushed him, on foot. He walked towards his attacker with a calm, collected aura. The Scyther was ready to strike. The wood gecko picked up speed and ducked between the bug's legs. He moved behind it before quickly turning, tail first. The tail struck with great speed and power; it took out the Scyther’s legs, causing it to fall flat on its back. The mystery pokemon then jumped in the air and went into a somersault. He landed with his tail being driven into the Scyther’s face. He moved his tail from the target and saw that the Scyther’s eyes were closed and was definitely knocked out. It then turned around with a satisfied, smug grin and made eye contact with the wounded human.
Jeff stared in a respectful awe at this unlikely hero.
“Why did he save me? He had to know that he was putting his life on the line. Most pokemon would have just went on their way or even helped with the beating! He almost died trying to help. He doesn’t know how much I owe him.”
Jeff’s sight was compromised from the blood lost the entire battle so it wasn’t until the pokemon was still that he got a good glimpse of his savior.
“Treecko… a Treecko?!” He thought, eyes widening in labored joy. He immediately thought of his brother.
He tried to get up to walk over to him, but Jeff was in too much pain. Instead, he walked over to Jeff. Jeff’s face was overwhelmed with the joy of being alive and that of being saved by a Treecko. Jeff managed a shaky smile. With the beam, he outstretched his hand. Treecko grinned and closed his eyes. He turned around and, to Jeff’s surprise and delight, answered the gesture of affection with his tail. This was Treecko’s way of returning the handshake. Jeff’s green-yellow eyes met Treecko’s purely yellow eyes and the two grinned.
“Treecko Tree,” The lizard said as the two shuck hands…err, tails?
Jeff’s light headedness got the better of him. He then fell over on his right side, in pain. Treecko rushed over to his side and saw the open wound. Treecko licked Jeff’s wound, swashed the blood around in his mouth, and then spat it out. Treecko used that method to check if there was poison from Scyther’s attack in Jeff’s bloodstream. At first Jeff was very confused yet, surprisingly, not worried. He then came to understand that Treecko was, in fact caring for him.
“So you’re a Treecko, huh?” Jeff asked him, as he admired the small, green savior. Treecko nodded and spat out the remainder of the blood and indicated that there was no poison present. “Don’t Treecko usually live in packs?” Jeff continued to attempt small talk.
Treecko opened his mouth to respond but then turned away.
“What was that about?” Jeff wondered. Jeff thought about what Treecko was like. He imagined him to be by himself, a loner. “Maybe he watched from the tree while other Treecko’s played tag or hide and seek or whatever Treecko’s played. What if he wanted to play and they wouldn’t let him?”
“Poor guy.”
Jeff both admired and pitied the Treecko for this thought, mainly because he could relate, despite the fact that Jeff now has many friends. Maybe he wanted friends but his Treecko friends rejected him. Maybe he chose to be alone but couldn’t help wanting at least one good friend. The admiration grew along with the sadness. He stared deeply into the Treecko’s eyes.
A rash thought crossed Jeff’s mind, but he quickly discarded what he thought was a crazy idea. Jeff sighed, wishing that his idea would actually work if he asked.
Treecko patted his shoulder and pointed upwards, indicating that he’d be right back. He climbed up the tree and brought back a vine, a few large leaves, a thorn, and slender strips of birch bark. Treecko hastily tied the vine around Jeff’s left shoulder, just above the wound, in an attempt to cut off the blood circulation in his arm, to staunch the bleeding. Treecko then applied the leaves to the wound, using them as bandages. As soon as the bleeding stopped, Treecko stuck the thorn at the end of the long bark rope; he used that to stitch Jeff’s wound closed.
“Why are you helping me?” Jeff asked as he cringed, looking at Treecko, confused.
“Treecko cko treecko!” Treecko grinned and helped him to his feet.
“I owe you one… big time. I promise I’ll pay you back.”
Treecko grinned and nodded, not expecting him to.
Jeff looked at the twig which was half cut off. It was straight with a diagonal branch coming off of the center side of it. He decided to break it off and take it with him, so that he would never forget the day that a Treecko that did not know Jeff, and that Jeff did not know, saved him.
“No, I swear that I’ll find you again and then make us even!"
Treecko stared into Jeff’s eyes and saw that he was being very sincere. The wood gecko grinned and closed his eyes in thought.
“Thank you for saving me. I hope we’ll meet somewhere again.” Jeff thanked him as he stood, wobbly.
The Treecko nodded, waited until he was sure Jeff could walk, and climbed the epically large tree, which Jeff was backed against, roosting up on a large branch.
As he slowly, and somewhat glumly, went back to the town, he looked back at the Treecko sitting on the branch looking off into the sunset. Jeff was surprised to see that the Treecko had also placed an identical twig from the same tree in his own mouth. Jeff’s heart warmed.
“Perhaps we were not so different after all…”
Never in the Wrong Time or Wrong Place (14A) Chapter 5 up.
You don't have to bother reading the ANs if you dont want to.)
