CLEOPATRA IS THE ONLY

When Stormy had gotten word of a troubling illness ailing a couple of unlucky individuals in Lilycove city, she had immediately sprang at the opportunity to help. Granted, she wasn't anything of a herbologist, as she knew virtually nothing about plants or healing. She was really the 'rub some dirt in it and get over it' type of self-medicator.

But, leaving Lilycove to fend for itself with this strange illness wasn't in Stormy's list of things to do. So, when she had gotten a call that a fellow league member was working this case, and she was an experienced 'aspiring' herbologist, the young woman jumped at the opportunity. All she had to do was find the house in particular in the bustling city.

The trotting noise of diamond hooves striking the ground were quite loud as Stormy and her Rapidash paced the streets. Every once in a while the young woman would look up from her device, as if looking for a particular street or avenue. When she eventually found it, it was only because Cait was standing outside of the house looking maybe a little impatient.

Stormy very quickly spurred Rapidash into moving, and before she even fully reached Cait she was sliding off the back of her mount and apologizing.

"Hey, sorry. I'm not too good at navigating big cities like this. Anyways, what's going on? Do we have an idea of where to start looking for these ingredients?"

She peeked behind Cait to try and get a glance at what the house looked like and what exactly might be going on.

"Who's sick?"

deltra of gangnam style

CLEOPATRA IS THE ONLY

Stormy looks crestfallen at the news that the Ampharos' baby is sick. Despite not knowing prior to this moment that there even was a lighthouse Pokemon, let alone a baby of one, she's still saddened.

When Cait retrieves a list, the woman leans over her shoulder to take a peek. It seems to be scribbled notes of ingredients and footnotes. Nothing that she had any knowledge of. Her frustration was already beginning to trickle down her neck in the form of anxiety. How was she supposed to help if she didn't know a damn thing about this?

"Are you good at plants? That's a relief. I thought I was going to be out here in the dark."

It feels like a punch in the gut to admit she's useless to Cait, but she figures it's better she knows than to assume that Stormy can tell the difference between a Budew and.. whatever else other Pokemon there might be.

Her mood is broken by Cait's sheepish smile and her awkward introduction.

"I'm Stormy Silph. I just sort of started getting into the ranger business, but I'm not well versed in Hoenn's flora and fauna, unfortunately. It's nice to meet you, too."

Stormy follows Cait's gaze as she looks at her Rapidash. She can't help but beam with pride. Rapidash, feeling eyes on him, perks his ears in interest. He raises his head from grazing, making a short squeal of curiosity. He approaches the pair slowly, lazily, occasionally blowing hot air to stir the grass beneath him as he keeps his head low.

When he finally approaches the green-haired lady, he seems quite interested. She smells like greenery, and has been so kind as to compliment him.

"Thank you, and yes, he's quite the handsome boy. Actually, he seems to have taken a liking to you."

deltra of gangnam style

CLEOPATRA IS THE ONLY

Stormy continued to smile a little bit as Cait's eyes washed over Rapidash. He seemed to be soaking in the new attention, adoring it. He didn't mind at all though that the new woman didn't reach out to touch him, he wasn't really the touchy-feely type.

"Rapidash are very sensitive to emotion, but they can pick out a good person out of the bad."

Her comment was trying to be uplifting or a compliment, to reassure her that her nervousness around him was normal or at the very least, nothing to be ashamed of.

Rapidash lowered his head back to the ground, snuffling through the grasses and losing his interest from earlier. Stormy's palm brushed against his hind end, a comforting gesture.

"Yes, or at least I'm training to be one. It's a little hard when I'm not doing too well with the field work, plants-wise."

She laughed nervously, to which Rapidash flattened his ears in response.

"Severe conditions, huh? I suppose that's probably right. We tend to dive right into the danger of it all for the good of the people, Pokemon, and environment."

Her thoughts jumped to her Castform, usually the bearer of severe weather conditions. It may not have been the example Cait was suggesting.. but it was the only one that came to mind.

There seemed to be a pause in the conversation, maybe even an awkward silence. Cait broke the silence by suggesting the pair get started on their ingredient hunt, and Stormy shakes her head to clear her head.

"Yeah, we should probably get back here before the sun goes down. I doubt that the Mareep babe with last long without our help."

Although, at the mention of grass-type Pokemon, Stormy's face flashed with mild panic or unease.

"Ahh.. not really. I tend to train fire-type Pokemon, and they aren't usually too friendly to plant-life."

deltra of gangnam style

CLEOPATRA IS THE ONLY

Stormy smiled shyly, nodding a little bit in agreement. The two seemed to be polar opposites in this regard, Cait a grass-type specialist and Stormy a fire-type.

"Yeah, that makes sense."

There was a moment of awkward pause from Stormy in which she thought about what she wanted to say. Part of her wanted to ask Cait for advice in the herbology field, but the other part of her was too proud to ask for help. She chewed the inside of her lip thoughtfully as Cait continued to explain their plan of action.

"That sounds fine. Actually.. do you mind showing me a couple of tips? I.. I could probably benefit from knowing the difference between a couple of plants and stuff, if that makes sense."

She coughed nervously, clearing her throat. Her hand reached up to pat Rapidash on his hind again, trying to avoid eye contact.

Stormy looked up in surprise though when Cait suggested riding. She then glanced briefly at Rapidash's back, as if expecting the two of them to ride on him at the same time. Just as she opened her mouth to agree, her partner rummaged for another pokeball.

In a couple of seconds, a Gogoat stood. He was probably about half the height of Rapidash or so, and a bit stockier and heavier-looking, but sturdy. Stormy tilted her head, nodding in appreciation.

"I've never seen one of those before, he's kinda cute."

She smiled as the Gogoat eagerly agreed to help his trainer with this task, and she ran her hands up the side of her own mount in appreciation as she leaned into him.

Stormy watched in slight awe as Cait mounted the grassy goat. She herself reached up to lift herself onto Rapidash's back, to which he lifted his head and snorted. He began to pace in anticipation, shifting his weight as if prepared to take off.

After a couple seconds of soft words and encouragement, the stallion seemed to calm down a bit, turning to look at Cait and Gogoat expectantly.

"Ready whenever you are, we'll try not to race you."

deltra of gangnam style

CLEOPATRA IS THE ONLY

Stormy breathed a sigh of relief at Cait's response. Part of her had been worried she may turn her down, though heaven knows for what reason.

Rapidash once again began to fret beneath her body, shaking his head from side to side as he waits impatiently for the Gogoat to set the pace. He matches speed with the grass-type easily, though doesn't seem all that thrilled to be held back.

The travel was met with silence, but it gave Stormy enough time to actually appreciate the surroundings. The sloping hills and trees and bush, and then the path leading into the densest, darkest part of the trees opened up and seemed to swallow her whole.

She remembered her first time travelling through Hoenn. She had rushed through Oldale forest and towards the Rusturf tunnel, tearing through the country blind, in a rage, in a panic. A month or so ago, she had been a lot more reckless and stupid, incapable of appreciating the here and now, only focusing on all of the loses and pain she had endured.

Before long, the pair came to a halt. The time had flown by, and soon enough Cait was sliding off the side of her Gogoat, taking off her sandals, letting her hair down. Stormy couldn't help but stare in awe, pink emotion staining her cheeks just the slightest bit.

She herself also slipped off of her stallion, giving him a reassuring and thankful pat. He shook out his mane, the flames bright and intense, but not burning her skin at all.

"Not a lot, to be fair. I'm from the Kanto region. I stayed away from Viridian forest. I lived in Saffron city for most of my life, so I was used to the city, and to the open fields. It's where I met him."

She gestures to Rapidash, who has since lost interest in her and has joined Gogoat in grazing and resting.

Cait seems to have become enthralled in her own little world at this point. Stormy watches quietly as the woman runs her fingers through her vibrant green hair, she watches her sink her feet into the lush grass beneath her. She really does seem to be at home out here among the trees.

When she turns, smiling sheepishly in embarrassment, Stormy's eyes widen in surprise. She blushes a little bit as a result, and shakes her head, laughing nervously.

"No! No.. not at all. Not silly at all."

She runs her fingers through her own hair, tugging on knots formed from their gallop here.

Cait begs the question if they're ready to continue on, and Stormy smiles a little bit, nodding.

"Yeah, sure. Let's get started."

She then turns to Rapidash, who seems quite content to be out here. Cait's earlier mention of leaving them behind seemed to have been the right idea, and her Pokemon doesn't seem bothered in the slightest. While the Gogoat lays down for a rest, the Rapidash stands not too far away from him, occasionally swishing his tail.

"Lead the way, Cait."

deltra of gangnam style

CLEOPATRA IS THE ONLY

A cold sweat trickled down Stormy's back at the horror and shock from Cait's voice. The way she repeated Kanto, like it was shameful, or horrifying, or.. or like a bad omen. It made her blood begin to boil.

"Yes, I am."

Her voice became a little harder, the previous softness and politeness beginning to immediately evaporate. She felt her chest tighten due to the influx of negative emotion and stress. She hated being pitied, and that's exactly what she thought Cait was doing.

Cait's apology, although sincere, didn't sweeten Stormy's mood. Instead, it encouraged the young woman to look at the ground, eyebrows furrowing in a mixture anger and grief. She was battling with her emotions, trying to figure out how to respond.

The pit in her stomach seemed to swim all the way to her throat, making it hard for her to speak without swallowing the lump over and over.

When she closed her eyes, the horrors of what happened in Kanto were alive in her memory. The fire, the screaming, the blood, the terror. Silph Co. went down in flames, maybe not physically, but metaphorically. And she ran away from it all like the coward she was always accused of being.

"I'm fine. It's in the past, and there's nothing to feel sorry for. You weren't the reason Kanto was lost."

Once again, her voice was hard, sharp like a knife. She was doing her best to keep her emotions in check, to not blow up and cause Cait to dislike her.

Unfortunately, the green-haired maiden just kept adding fuel to the fire by bringing up Fernando. Just hearing the name made her hands clench into white-knuckled fists. She was squeezing them so tight her hands were shaking, and she struggled to focus on her breathing.

"I'm not anything, Cait. He's a coward and a bastard, that's all he is. We may share the same family name, but I share no blood with that horrible excuse for a human being."

With that being said, the heated woman took off in a random direction, probably the wrong one, in an attempt to get away from the conversation and move things along.

"Can we just move on? I'd rather not talk about this."

deltra of gangnam style

CLEOPATRA IS THE ONLY

Whatever Cait said to Stormy in the next couple of minutes was humbled and drowned out by the thundering pressure in her head. As she slowed her breathing and cooled down her temper, she eventually came back to reality as a less explosive human being.

Now, instead of continuing to pry into Stormy's private life and dredge up the past, Cait was moving onto the actual task at hand.

Stormy listened, if a little less enthusiastically than before, as she explained what Budew were and how they were used in this particular brew. She continued on, explaining that the leaves didn't taste good, and had the potential to cause more harm than good.

"Pollen allergies, huh? Are Mareep sensitive to that sort of thing?"

She glanced back at Alfric as she continued on deeper into the forest. Absently, she herself took the time to look around her, to really try and experience what Cait might be experiencing. She seemed quite at peace out here in the forest, and Stormy honestly envied that.

Her next question caught her a little bit by surprise, but only because she actually had an answer.

"We should sweeten the deal. If you're saying these Budew leaves are bitter or don't taste good, I can't imagine a newborn baby Mareep will be too keen on eating it, especially if it isn't eating much of anything to begin with. What about honey? I know honey helped me swallow cough medicine or the like when I was a kid."

As for where the honey might be.. she was at a loss. Out here, she was completely out of her element. The inability to see the whole terrain was quite scary for her if she was being honest. At least on the plains you could see for miles, and you'd eventually end up somewhere familiar.

deltra of gangnam style