The Journey of 1000 Miles- Ch.2 Jirachi's Recovery~

"I'm coming, yeah." Natsume says. He gets near where the vines were cut, behind Mei. He lowered himself so he could get through a bit easier. He could feel when he had gotten some rips in his clothing. He didn't get to much, but it felt like something was trying to hold him back sometimes. He no longer saw any point in hiding his thumb, which still bled, but not nearly as much as before. His pace, he could feel, was a bit slower than usual. It felt like he was being pulled back by something. He didn't have much to say, since he concentrated on getting through the tough vines.

Absolom quickly halted, Mei still carefully climbing over and around the vines to catch up. Her legs and arms were well cut up by now, but she kept pushing forward, carefully trying to avoid the thorns catching her face as they tugged at her hair and clothes. It wasn't long before she heard a loud ripping sound, followed by a crash of items to the ground! Her bag had caught a protruding thorn, and a large tear caused the contents to fall out.

"Dang..." Mei grumbled as she halted, reaching down to pick up one of the Pokeballs. She halted, seeing a shadow flicker across, casting an eerie feeling. Something was out there with them, and it sent chills down her spine. She slowly turned her head to Absolom, who now had a very concentrated stance, as though listening carefully. Quickly, she glanced back to Tsume, and many more shadows swirling around. "Tsume!" she called, worried since he was still a ways behind her. She figured her items could be picked up later, but the safety of her new friend was more important. She started tearing back through the harsh weeds as the shadows closed in...

Natsume was alert to her. She looked rather worried to him. "What happened? Was something up there?" He asked Mei. He saw that she had dropped all her things. "Oh, do you need help with that?" He suddenly felt as if he was scared of something. He didn't know what it was, but he felt his body unable to move. "Is there something here...?" He then started to ask, managing to stay calm. He felt the presence of something, yet he couldn't find what it was. He looked around from where he was. All he saw was a whole lot of plant life and Mei.

When Mei had walked toward him, he felt like he should get to her faster. He tried to speed up his pace, but tripped over a root, falling straight on his face. He got back to his feet right away, and continued toward her, getting all the dirt out of his own hair and off his face. "What's happened?" He asked, once he was nearer to her.

Mei continued toward Tsume, but the vines seemed to almost reach out and grab her, holding her back. She forced forward more, tearing the vines that were catching in her skin and causing cuts all over her body. Yet every time she broke free, it seemed more vines would catch at her, holding her back. The darkness was swirling, and Absolom just seemed to stay back, staring at them. Was it in fear, or absolute certainty that things would work out? His cold eyes were certainly hard to read, but that wasn't on Mei's mind as she saw the darkness charge inward. She closed her eyes, screaming out as she felt her flesh being torn from her cut by cut. A bright light enveloped her, glowing brightly before a wave was released, shooting the darkness back far away, and tearing a huge clearing in the thorny vines, leaving them on a patch of soft grass. It seemed whatever power it had been had disintegrated the thorns and crab grass in their immediate residence, but left everything else in tact. The light quickly disappeared, Mei staggering a bit as her feet reached the ground once more before collapsing onto the newly formed flower bed. Absolom stayed in the difference, in the same spot and position he'd been in for several minutes now. Watching, and waiting patiently.

Natsume felt helpless when she was being hurt by the thorns around her while she was screaming. What could he have done? Burning them was no choice. He was surprised to see what had happened. Mei had just been... glowing? Bunches of the thorns had become no more, as well as the crab grass. Now a bunch of flowers laid on the ground there? What type of magic is this?

Natsume felt his own heart sink when Mei collapsed. "Mei!!" He shouted, running over to her. She had many of cuts all over her body. He kneeled at her side. "Are you alright, Mei?" He asked, not sure if she could hear. "Please be alright..."

It was soft, the rising and falling of her chest cavity. Yet, it signaled she was still alive. Mei was alright, and the cuts all over her seemed to cease bleeding. In fact, it seemed they were already starting to heal over. The pale white flowers which she laid on were softly glowing, with a pleasant fragrance to any person or Pokemon. Her eyes slowly cracked open, vision blurry at first as she began to come to. His voice sounded distant, resonating in the back of her head as a muffled plea.

A soft groan escaped her throat as her hand rose next to her face, pushing against the ground to lift herself up. She shifted, bringing her knees beneath her to sit up. It was obvious she was still a bit dizzy, and rested back on her heels as she rubbed her forehead. "Ye..yeah. What happened?" she asked, half muttering.

Seeing that Mei was alright, Natsume took a breath of relief. He wasn't quite ready for a dear friend of his to die yet, and most likely never will be. It seemed all the injuries she had received were rather minor somehow... but that was what he thought had hurt her so badly.

The sound of Mei's voice made Natsume happy. "Uh... well... it's rather hard to explain... you... started glowing... and... you made the weeds somehow become replaced with flowers..." He said, which sounded like he still had difficulty trying to figure out what happened himself. "How're you feeling, now?"

"You're not making any sense..." Mei said, slowly standing up, and rubbing her eye. Yet, it was true. There was now a clearing around them, and in place of thorny vines and crab grass there was soft green grass and beautiful white flowers. "But how..." she whispered, her head finally clearing of the fog she'd been left in. Absolom approached the two now, finally falling from his stance. "Absolom..." Mei said, glancing down to her friend. Did he know? she wondered, remembering him just standing there as the dark walls closed in around them. Did he know this would happen?

Mei shook her head of the thoughts for now. "So, are you okay?" she asked, turning to Tsume. She remembered he was a bit cut up before. She then glanced back the way they had been headed. It seemed there was a new path, almost as if someone had sent a Hyper Beam straight through the greenery there. "What the..."

"Er... I'm fine... just a few cuts, that's it." Natsume said, though some did hurt more than he let Mei know. He looked out into the direction Mei seemed to be looking in. An interesting looking path. He got to his feet once again. Natsume offered a hand for assistance standing up. "I guess we're going to see there too? At this rate, we won't be getting back to Jirachi soon." He laughed.

Mei nodded slowly, with an affirmative "Hmm..." included. She was worried for the Jirachi, but knew there was nothing hey could do for it back at the Pokemon Center. Back there they would just be sitting around like a couple of dopes, doing nothing but hoping. Nurse Joy was more than capable of taking the best care of it. The way Mei saw, at least this way they were accomplishing something.

She turned back to Tsume after a moment. "Don't worry, once we see what's on the other side, and maybe find a way to clear the river blockage, we'll head right back," she said, back to her usual optimistic sounding voice. "Promise," she said with a smile, before turning back to the path and heading forward.

"Ok, I'm ready." Natsume says, following Mei on their way through the newly opened path. "Just make sure you don't get hurt, alright?" He added, having a good expression on his face. He looked at Absolom for a few seconds. 'Absol can sense danger, right...? So did it already know Mei was going to be fine...?' he thought, still following her.

((I don`t really have much to say, sorry if I wasn't descriptive enough.))

{Make something happen, it's your turn :V}

Mei continued down the torn path. It was dark within the weeds, but at least they weren't getting cut up like before. "Don't worry about me, Tsume. I'm fine, and always have been," Mei said, carefully stepping over some vines which were already starting to grow back into place. "This must be how they so easily blocked off the river. Look, their metabolic rate is amazing!" Mei stated, almost intrigued by the plants now. She continued walking for several minutes, and it seemed there was no end to this hole in the thorny forest. What is this stuff? she wondered, never having seen anything grow so quickly before.

Mei sighed, halting for a moment and glancing back the way they came. Even the light from that end seemed to be swallowed up, only enough light trickling from above to see. "How far does this thing go, anyway?" she asked, again looking down the tunnel. She shrugged, placing her hands on th back of her head, fingers laced as she continued to walk on. "Come on Tsume, wouldn't want to get caught in here when the sun sets," she said, laughing a bit i the end. A while later, the end of the tunnel could be seen, Mei's expression showing her excitement plainly. "Come on Tsume!" she called, running forward toward the exit.

[I was thinking it over and over. XD Do keep in mind that if something happens, it may cause some delay at some spots.]

Natsume was still a bit behind, but he made sure to catch up better this time. "So what do you suppose may be ahead?" He asked Mei. He looked ahead through the opening and wanted to look around, being the curious type and all.

There was suddenly what sounded like a pokémon's high-pitched scream. It could be heard throughout the whole area, yet it could not be certain where or what exactly had made the sound. The plants rustled a bit from a sudden gust of wind.

Mei froze, glancing around. Even Absolom seemed unsure, but dashed forward to get out of the thorny forest. "I don't know, but I'm going with Absolom!" Mei said loudly, before running after her trusted friend. She wasn't sure what sort of Pokemon would make such a noise, let alone what caused that heavy gust of wind. However, she did know that Abslom was more reliable than any of her senses right now.

"Did it sound angry, or in pain to you?!" Mei shouted back to Tsume, a bit of worry in her voice. Either way, it couldn't be good. Something was up, and though she was prone to danger her curiosity and drive for adventure needed to be satiated.

Natsume was confused. He still kept up with Mei best he could. Absolom was a being to be trusted in his opinion as well. "I'm unsure whether it is in pain or what happened, but we'll find out if we get there ourselves, no doubt." He says.

There was a lot of light that really illuminated every inch of shadow. It seemed pretty odd, the way it traveled in waves along nearly every source of plant life. "What's that supposed to mean?" Natsume thinks out loud, not sure if this was good or bad. He only followed Mei, though, not wanting to leave her alone, especially in a place like this.

Colorful lights like an aurora surrounded them in bursts, confusing Mei. She didn't understand what it was, or what it meant. All she knew was that whatever this thing was must be outside of this forest. That meant her journey continued out there, this forest held no more value to her. She ran through the rainbow lights, Absolom before her reflecting each color from his white fur. It was quite a spectacle, and if she hadn't been so focused she might have stopped and enjoyed it.

She burst from the final bit of thorny forest, out into the outer world once more. It had been dangerous in there, for more than just physical danger. She had felt herself slipping, confusion leading her down a dark path. Yet as she stepped out from the covering, she closed her eyes and smiled to the sky, feeling it all melt away as if it had been nothing more than a bad dream.

Natsume was rather confused from what Mei chose to do. Nevertheless, he followed her best he could. He followed her through the lights, making his whole body turn a variety of different colors as well as his clothes, which disappeared when the lights were off him. He had exited with Mei from there.

Eventually all lighting dimmed down. He took a moment for his eyes to adjust to from all the lighting that was shifting so much. "Alright, so now what?" Natsume asks, taking a breath or two.

Mei halted now that she was out of the darkness, lowering her head and opening her eyes once more. She blinked a few times, letting her eyes adjust. "Now we find whatever made that sound," she said very seriously. Absolom again was standing off in the distance watching over Mei. Mei glanced around as the aurora seemed to have halted.

"What was that light?" she wondered aloud as she scanned the area. "And...what made that noise?" she whispered. She was sure it had been so close, sure that it would have been here when they emerged. Yet...where was it?

The pokémon's scream came again. It sounded closer than before. Natsume headed to where the sound was coming from. He stopped before what looked like the bottom of another mountain. "Haven't we done enough climbing...?" He said out loud. Something was odd about the mountain though. He walked up to where it met the ground. A sudden chill ran down him as cold air was coming from some draft in the mountain. "Wow... how could it be so cold here...?" Natsume asks. He noticed what looked like the bottom of the mountain was actually a large boulder that covered up a hole in the mountain side. He walked up to the side and touched what looked like frost along the wall beside the large blocking boulder. "What's up with this?" He instantly pulled his hand back from it, the chill being rather much for his hand to take.

He knew something was inside there now. Natsume looked for Mei. "I don't know what to do to get in, but I'm predicting that's where we are trying to go... it feels like it's rather cold in there, so if you got warmer clothing like a winter coat, it'd probably be reccomended to wear." He says to her. He didn't have anything himself, but he thought to himself that he would be alright.

"Hmm..." Mei said, walking over to where Tsume was. Absol came from such extreme climates often, so she wasn't worried about him. However, she did pull out her jacket from her bag, which had somehow been mended again. She didn't know how, but somehow her contents were restored as well. "That's odd..." she muttered, thinking back to the tear, and losing her items in the forest. Had she imagined it? No...it was far too real to be a figment of her imagination.

She slipped on the jacket, and looked at the crack in the wall. A large person certainly couldn't slip through, but perhaps they could where they were on the smaller side. "Should we go in then? Whatever that thing was...it must be in there, right?" Mei asked, turning to Tsume to lead this time. However, it seemed Absolom was already squeezing his way into the small frozen path.

Natsume had already learned to trust Absolom's judgement. "I think we should..." He said, waiting for Absolom to finish and he tried to enter through the same point. It wasn't very easy, but he was able to manage to do so, plopping on the ground. He got up, but only fell straight down again, the whole floor around him being nothing but sheer ice. The whole cave where he entered is freezing cold. He could see his own breath being carried away from his mouth, and the air he breathed in was completely cool and tickled at his throat. He had no winter wear, so naturally, he was cold all over. His fire ability had activated itself in his palms, allowing a little heat for him, but it still hurt his hands.

Mei nodded, following close behind Tsume. It certainly was chilly, her breath instantly crystallizing before her in a small cloud every exhale. She pulled her jacket tighter to her body, and glanced over to Tsume. Mei had grown up walking on ice every winter, so she knew how to hold her balance and not fall down. However it was obvious her friend did not. She walked over to him slowly and carefully to not fall, and offered her hand to him. "I'm sorry I don't have another jacket," she said, reaching down to help him up. Absolom was already a bit ahead of them, but stopped and looked back to wait patiently. He was making sure to stay in their line of sight at all times.

A light chiming sound could be heard, and so Mei glanced up toward the ceiling. Some icy stalactites hung, looking ominous. "We should be careful not t make too much noise..." Mei whispered, looking back down to Tsume.

Natsume looked at Mei's hand for a few seconds. "Sorry... I don't think you'd want me to with these hands..." He said, showing his hands, it was now wet from melting ice beneath it. "That'll more likely cause more harm to your own hands." He adds, trying to reason against causing her hands to freeze. He got to his own feet and tried to keep balance this time. Even clinging to the wall didn't help much, he could feel himself slowly slipping. He tried to take a step further, trying to see if he would retain balance. The cry of the pokémon came once again, echoing off every wall in the whole cave. It made the ice itself vibrate for a few seconds. It made keeping balance even more complicated for Natsume.

"I think we're getting close..." Natsume says, keeping his own voice to a dull whisper. He tried his best to get used to the ice terrain. Each step was at least a bit better then the last. He felt like he had been stuck in the freezer for a whole day, when the fact remains that they had only been there for merely a few minutes.

Mei saw Tsume's fiery hands, and a slight frown crossed her face. If he melted to much of the ice, it would only become more slick, and possibly crack under the weight. Either way, at least he seemed to be up and on his feet again. She slowly followed close to him to help should he start to fall again. The reverberations caused her to glance back up to the stalactites. They quivered from the sound, and Mei caught her breath.

"We should keep moving..." she whispered lowly, worried about the hanging death trap. She wanted to find whatever Pokemon was crying out, and out from under the sharp icicles. As they made their way across the icy floor, Absolom took a few steps further into the cave, leading the way for them step by step.

Natsume kept his pace going best he could. He followed Absolom, since he was able to make correct judgement. The cave had a sudden widening spot. The ground ahead lead into a bottomless pit. Natsume stopped before getting too close to it. Then there were vibrations in the ground, too much to keep footing. He lost his balance and fell onto his bottom, cringing from the sudden excitement occuring on his body. He slid straight into the whole, grabbing the side didn't even come close to help, as he wasn't able to hold onto the wall.