Healing Mirage the Zorua! A Temporary Hideout In Pecha Forest!?

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Akuroma looked around carefully for any Exploration Teams that might be passing through the forest. He twisted his head this way and that before waving for Cracker to come closer. The Aipom was carrying a currently unconscious Zorua on his back. The Zorua, Mirage, was badly injured back when the three had explored Monochrome Ruins. Akuroma himself was injured, but not as badly as the fox was.

After a few more tense minutes of trying to find a safe place to go, the Ralts finally saw a rather large and hollowed out tree. Upon further inspection he found it unoccupied and signaled the Aipom to come inside.

18/22 Energy

The world just kept on spinning and spinning the zorua's eyes screwed up and she nearly fell over again, the aipom catching her and keeping her upright. Her head felt light and she felt as if she had not a care in the world, at least the zorua had listened to the aipom speaking.

"Well if I wasn' 'posed to eat it wha' was I 'posed to do? Drink it?" the zorua found herself saying, unable to think clearly as she tried to get up again. She succeeded this time, her paws were still a little bit wobbly as she decided she wanted a drink. She neared the river, ignoring any warning the aipom had given if any at all.

The bitter taste was still in her mouth, and she wanted it to get out. She began to lap up the water again, but to her surprise no water came up with her tongue, a bit frustrated, she continued to attempt to drink the water, but all she was doing was sticking her toungue mindlessly into the water like a fool.

A sudden rush of dizziness returned to the zorua as she reared her head back in anger, her hind paws moved to try to keep her balanced and up right, but failed and resulted in the zorua falling in the shallow end of the river she had used to bathe earlier. The zorua blinked, looking down at the water as if confused as to what had just happened.

After struggling to help Mirage stay planted on her feet, the worried Aipom returned to the pile of plants he’d collected, sorting frantically through them in the hopes that something might jog his memory. One of these had to be an antidote to the Zekura Weed. The only thing he knew was that it wasn’t as common a find as the weed itself. It might not even be a plant, itself. Something smaller, maybe; like a seed or a root.

Cracker was so preoccupied with his task that he didn’t acknowledge the Zorua’s slurred ramblings or the fact that she had just wandered off towards the river’s edge. The answer to this problem had to be somewhere in this pile of plant matter, but search as he might, nothing came to mind and nothing stood out. If he didn’t figure it out soon, the dark-type Pokemon’s condition would continue to deteriorate, and while the effects themselves weren’t fatal, there was nothing to stop her from doing something stu—

The sound of Mirage falling into the river suddenly caught Cracker’s attention. Looking up, he yelped loudly in surprise. “Mirage!” he cried, getting to his feet to rush to her aid.

Unfortunately his attempt at a rescue was waylaid as he tripped over his makeshift back-pack. By the time he got back to his feet and over to the river’s edge, the Zorua’s failed attempts to return to shore had only resulted in her drifting further out. Now she was caught in the river’s current, which was much quicker than he could’ve anticipated. Oh no, no, no, no! This isn’t good, she’s gonna drown and it’s gonna be all my fault! he whined inwardly. Where’s Akuroma with his psychic attacks when you need him!

Even if the Ralts were on his way, he couldn’t wait around for him to arrive. Mirage was already drifting further and further away, and if he knew this forest well enough, a waterfall almost certainly lay directly ahead. Rather than just run headlong after her though, Cracker took just a moment to form a crude arrow pointing downstream out of the plants he’d gathered. Then he was off, making no effort whatsoever to disguise his trail. In fact, he intentionally made pursuit along the river’s edge so there would be a trail to follow. It meant being slower than normal, but he had to hope that Akuroma was awake and searching for them by now.

As Akuroma continued to walk, he seemed to slow down a bit, his horn sensing a rather large and unusual amount of pleasant feelings from someone near the river. He could tell it wasn't Cracker, and from the turn in the trail he was following, it seemed the pleasant feelings were in the same direction Cracker and Mirage seemed to be. Or, at least Mirage, but it couldn't possibly be her Akuroma was sensing. Normally he'd only be able to sense the emotions of dark types when he neared evolution, as the ability was greatly enhanced, and even then, this was Mirage. She had never once seemed to be actually happy on their little journey.

That only left two options: A wild Pokemon who thinks it found easy prey, or an Exploration Team who believe they've found an easy outlaw to take in. Akuroma growled to himself as he began to run. Every now and then, when he was about to trip over his own fur, he'd use his hands to catch himself and push him back up, never stopping. All he could think about was how he was going to beat Mirage senseless in front of whoever was attacking her before beating them senseless himself.

He was quite angry, and not the same kinda anger as when he used the Enraged Confusion. Oh no, this was a deeper anger that could be seen as worse since he wasn't blindly attacking someone out of anger. When he reached the river, he didn't find any Pokemon. Instead, he found what looked like someone falling into the river and herbs, some of which he saw would've killed something as large as a Tyranitar if eaten, positioned in an arrow pointing downstream. Looking over at the direction the arrow was heading, he saw an obvious trail. This looked like the handiwork of Cracker, the Aipom probably didn't even think what would happen if someone other than Akuroma saw the trail.

Akuroma didn't waste any time. He'd be an idiot if he thought running would allow him to catch up to the Aipom and Zorua. So instead he used confusion on the ground below him, splitting it off into a floating platform before anchoring his feet into it and shooting it forward as fast as his mind would allow him.

The zoura was being swept away farther and farther as time moved on. Instead of panicking and swimming to the side, the drugs turned the river of death into a fun water slide. She seemed to be enjoying herself on this sudden ride down the river, and did not seem to feel the rocks scraping her as she narrowly missed being smashed into rocks that jutted out of the river.

She caught a glimpse of Crackers running along side the river, following her. She was a bit confused though, why didn't the aipom join her in her fun? The "medicine" was causing her to think more openly without herself yelling at her own thoughts as all of her worries were washed away like with what was happening to her and the river.

"Hiiii Cragher!" she shouted to the aipom, about to invite him to join her on the ride, but a wash of water had pulled her under water. The zorua at least had enough sense in her to keep her above the surface, and pushed herself back up to enjoy the air and ride once more.

This wasn’t working. Even running as fast as he could, he was barely keeping pace with the current that carried Mirage away, and it was only getting faster as they approached the waterfall. He had to think of something quickly or the intoxicated Zorua was going to take a very unhealthy tumble over the falls. It was clear that following on foot was no longer an option; he had to take to the trees so he could catch up and pass her. The only problem was, once he got ahead of her, he had no idea how to fish her out of the river.

With a quick shake of his head, Cracker refocused on his task; rescuing his friend before she fell to certain doom. Leaping into the air, he bounced off his tail and into the nearest tree overhead. Fortunately the forest crowded quite close to the river’s edge, so he was able to swing from branch to branch and keep a very close eye on the blubbering Zorua as she seemed to be having the time of her life, racing towards a deep drop.

“I’ll save you, Mirage, I promise!” he cried, leaping and swinging as fast as his body would allow. This is all my fault, this is all my fault, this is all my fault. I won’t let anything bad happen to you, Mirage!

The waterfall was fast approaching now. The Aipom could already see the treetops of the forest below just past the sudden end to the river. He could hear the water crashing loudly and violently against the rocks at the bottom, and it only served to increase the Pokemon’s panic. He was only going to get one shot at this, and if he missed there was a very good chance Mirage was going to meet her maker.

Cracker leapt to the ground near the cliff-edge that formed the waterfall. He’d raced as far ahead as he could to give himself as much time as possible to come up with a plan of action. This wasn’t his strong suit, planning. He wasn’t that bright, and developing a complex strategy under pressure to rescue someone was incredibly stressful. He looked around frantically trying to find something he could possibly throw in the river, maybe enough somethings to stem the flow.

Unfortunately this area of the forest was disturbingly barren. No dead or fallen over trees were present; there weren’t even any big rocks. Worse still, not a single tree branch overhead was low enough or stretched over the river far enough to make a rescue from above possible. All he could see were a few stones barely breaking the surface of the river, slippery and unsafe, and the water splitting around a large boulder right on the edge of the waterfall itself.

And then there was Mirage, picking up speed in the rapidly flowing water. He was out of time before he even realized it. He had to act now. Sparing only a moment for a pathetic squeak of fear, the Aipom leapt up onto his tail and launched himself out over the river, terror plain on his face as he narrowly avoided missing the large stony platform at the waterfall’s abrupt drop. The second he landed, he clung to the boulder for safety. One wrong move and he’d have gone over first.

But he’d made it, and now he had to make sure the Zorua did too. Looking up, he saw she was already there, about the zip past him over the falls. Unfortunately, she was too far from the rock for his short little arms. His only choice was to lunge toward her with his long tail, wrapping its beefy hand around to grab itself and create a tight loop. Before he could pull her safety though, she went over the edge.

For just a moment Cracker thought he’d failed. But then there was a sharp, painful tug on his tail that nearly tore him off the rock he stood on. Yelping in surprise, he grabbed the stone firmly, pressing his body against it in pain as the weight of the Zorua, coupled with the water pounding against her, put incredible strain on his extra limb. He wouldn’t be able to hold her like this much longer. Either he’d be forced to let go, or he’d been pulled from the rock to join her at the bottom. Where are you, Aku?!

Akuroma kept pushing the rock faster and faster with his Confusion attack, the wind screaming past him as his horns picked up on the pain and fear of Cracker and that same strange pleasant feelings. He growled, jumping off the rock and letting it go of his Confusion when he was able to see the edge of the river. The speed was just enough for him to land on large rock. He barely tried to steady himself before he was already using Confusion on the Aipom's tail to lift it and the Zorua attached up onto the rock.

"What did you do!?" he growled at Cracker as he watched the drugged Zorua come up over the rock and onto it's relatively safe surface. He didn't let the Aipom's tail going, making sure it stayed tightly wrapped around the Zorua like a leash.

The zorua felt something wrap around her and keep her from the finale of the water slide. She was a bit disappointed, and spoke as she was lifted from the water, "Aww bu' it wash so mush fun!" (Aw but it was so much fun!)

Her mind had begun to change when she was on the ground, her mind was becoming more scrambled and thoughts in her head became more incoherent as she stopped thinking about her decisions more and more. The vixen sat up, seeing the ralts, and remembering the previous events of the ralts in Monochrome falls.

"Oh, you again? Yur' a real jerk ya' know tha'? You don' know nothin' an' yet ye' spout on an' on abutt' bein' an ou'law ish a choish, an' that my en'ire village ish wronguh, how can an en'ire village be wronguh? If i'm non ou'aw, i'd diyah 'cause no one won' give me no place to git fooduh an' they'ud attack meh an' kill 'eh"
(Oh, you again? You're a real jerk you know that? you don't know anything and yet you spout on and on about being an outlaw is a choice and that my entire village is wrong, just how can an entire village be wrong? If I was not an outlaw, I would die because nobody would give me a way to get food and they would attack me and kill me)

Mirage glared at the ralts, hating him even when she was in this intoxicated state but being more open about why. Her cheeks had puffed out in a pout as she turned away from the ralts to look back at the river, or in her thoughts Water Slide, with her tail wrapped around her in a fox's form of an arm cross. She stared at the rushing water, waiting for the world to stop spinning and her mind to stop feeling clouded. Her mind had gone from having fun to a bit of a tantrum upon seeing the ralts despite him having just saved her life.

As Cracker clung to the rock for his life, he could feel his grip gradually weakening. He couldn’t believe this was happening. Just one little mistake and now he was about to perish over a raging waterfall, dragged down by the one Pokemon he was trying to save. Once again, his own bumbling had not only put himself in danger, but his friends as well. This can’t be happening, it can’t! Why do I always mess everything up?

Eventually, the Aipom couldn’t hold on any longer. He could feel his paws slipping along the rock, but he was too distracted by the pain to realize Akuroma was rocketing towards them like a Pokemon possessed. The Ralts arrived and made his landing and before Cracker knew it, the weight dangling from his tail suddenly vanished. He lurched forward as Mirage was levitated into the air and placed on the rock beside him.

“M-Mirage, are you—” he started to say, breathlessly, when the furious psychic Pokemon shouted at him. Cracker couldn’t help but visibly cringe, but before he could issue a flustered response, the Zorua tore into Akuroma instead, babbling drunken arguments and expressing the full extent of her uninhibited displeasure towards the one who’d just saved not only the Aipom’s life, but hers as well.

Cracker hung his head miserably, feeling like he was responsible for every terrible thing that had befallen the group so far. When Mirage finally finished her short diatribe, the Aipom looked up at Ralts, tears forming in his eyes.

“It was an accident,” he whined. “I was… I was trying to help Mirage get better but… but it all went wrong, I’m sorry! It’s all my fault…”

Akuroma looked over at Mirage for a second as she gave out her drunken speech. Akuroma understood most of it, with a few words here and there he had to figure out himself, "An entire village can be wrong if every Pokemon in that village believes the same thing. Now hush, unless you want to start spouting out stuff I can use to blackmail you later," he said, turning his attention back to the Aipom in front of him.

"Now then. Tell me what you ga-" the Ralts cut himself off when he saw Cracker was beginning to cry and blame himself. He sighed, placing his hand on his head as he turned it down before looking back up.

"Look, helping out someone is good so long as you know it won't endanger them. This is why I said we should go out looking for something to heal her. Not you alone. If you were intent on going out alone, you should have at least woken me up to make sure the herbs wouldn't kill her. Because half of them could've killed her just be her touching them with her tongue. Now...what did you give her?" he asked. He had gone from furious to calm in a matter of seconds. Perhaps it was the pleasant feelings of the Zorua? Even though he could keep most emotions from affecting him, ones as strong as those coming off the drunk -well more of high- Zorua were difficult to ignore.

"Welsh shen if a enretire vi'age be wring, then how doh I know you not wrongeh.." (Well then if a entire village can be wrong, then how do I know you're not wrong?) Mirage began to slump onto the ground as the effects began to delve her deeper and deeper into a numb and spinning world. The numb feeling was slowly beginning to be replaced by a pounding headache, making the pleasant feelings turn to misery. She laid her head on the ground and covered her muzzle and eyes with her paws, trying to block out the harsh sunlight that stung her eyes.
"Turm off teh sun, ish too brigh'" (Turn off the sun, it's too bright) she moaned, her ears pinning against her skull as her earrings gave a brain rattling clink. Every sound was beginning to be amplified in her hears, causing the migraine to grow worse than the spinning and turning world. The zorua wondered for a brief second if she was going to be sick...

As Akuroma responded to the Zorua’s drunken tirade, Cracker sat down on the stone, quickly wiping the tears from his eyes. He knew that getting upset was only an annoyance and a distraction to the Ralts, so he had to try and regain his composure. It was difficult though; much of his emotional turmoil stemmed from the fact he had just nearly plummeted to his death over a waterfall while trying to save a Pokemon who was only in such a helpless condition because of him.

Feeling guilt and remorse was never really a big issue in his life. The rare times it occurred was when he was with those he saw as friends, and in the short time he’d known Akuroma and Mirage, he’d gotten quite attached to them for reasons even he didn’t really comprehend. Was he more open to friendship than usual or just desperate? Whatever the case, he was taking this whole thing much harder than usual.

Shaking his head, Cracker looked up as the Ralts began speaking to him. A frown was still firmly planted on the Aipom’s face, but as he listened it grew bigger and started twitching in frustration. Jumping to his feet, he stomped the stone beneath him unhappily.

“I didn’t give her anything!” he cried, his brow furrowing. “She ate the Zekura Weed on her own! But you’re not supposed to because it has inebriating effects, and I couldn’t warn her because I couldn’t remember and—and none of this would’ve happened if you’d just woken up! She was gone when I came back, and you-you just slept like a stupid lump! And another thi—”

Before the long-tailed Pokemon could continue his rant, Mirage piped in with her drunken slurs, babbling on about what the Ralts had to say in regard to her. Cracker quieted down to listen, growing increasingly worried as the Zorua seemed to drift further and further into a confused daze. Too much longer and she would sink into a coma, which would make administering the antidote much more difficult.

The Aipom rushed to her side, shaking her gently. “C’mon Mirage, stay awake!” He then turned to Akuroma. “I need to give her the antidote, but I don’t know what it is… I think it’s some sort of seed, but that’s all I remember. Can you give us a lift to shore?”

Akuroma was about to cut the Aipom off when Mirage began to speak again. As her pleasure and numbness began to turn into misery, he almost instinctively backed away from her, nearly slipping into the water.

"Gah, no, her pain's distracting me to much," he said, rubbing his front horn a bit before reaching into his bag and taking out a swift seed. He held it out to Cracker, a grimace growing on his face.

"I don't know much about botany, but I believe Swift seeds are the antidote for Zekura weeds if I remember correctly," he said, his voice becoming strained as the Zorua's growing discomfort poured into his horns.

"Hurry up before I get a headache from her and can't move us," he said, trying to block out Mirage's feelings.

The headache only grew worse as the ralts spoke, "shuh huh..." (Shut up) she growled to the ralts. Her happy mood being replaced with an intense misery and anger being added to that misery. She could barely make out what the two were saying, and she definitely couldn't see them since she had placed her paws over her eyes to block out the strange light in the sky.
The zorua could do nothing, but try to endure the pain. She felt unconsciousness creeping in on her, and wished for it to take over right then and end this pain she was being put through. She lifted a paw to try and get a look around, but the sun only assaulted her eyes and her paw returned to its spot swiftly to block out any more of the sledgehammer like blows to her head.

The mental discomfort of the Ralts, thanks to the miserable emotions being projected by Mirage, was apparently becoming an issue as her state gradually degraded. Hearing Akuroma complain only made the Aipom tilt his head in confusion, though. The psychic Pokemon had already made it clear that the emotions of his two companions directly affected him via that red horn on his head, but the monkey still couldn't imagine how that worked; especially considering he seemed fine just a moment ago. But now, he was almost ready to take a plunge into the river just to be rid of whatever he was feeling.

The intoxicating effects of the weed must've been getting so bad now that they were causing pain rather than pleasure. Judging by the Zorua's attempt to block out the outside world with her paws, and her growing sensitivity to light, this was indeed the case. And it wasn't good news at all. The symptoms were escalating quickly and much faster than he thought normal, but for all he knew the plant affected dark-types differently. If he didn't do something soon, Mirage would find herself feeling far worse.

Cracker turned back to the unhappy Ralts just in time to see him offer a small item. Taking it slowly, the Aipom turned it over in his paw as Akuroma spoke. The seed looked harmless enough. Even if he was wrong about it being an antidote, it couldn't hurt. Unfortunately, the seed didn't jog his memory of the subject of cures for Zekura Weed, but that didn't really mean anything. During the lesson there had been at least half a dozen methods of combating the effects, some more potent than others. And at least one of them had been a seed.

"I guess it's worth a try," Cracker replied, crouching down next to the Zorua. "Mirage, I need you to eat this. It might make you feel better, okay?" As he spoke, he tried to encourage her to comply by prying one of her paws off her face so he could finagle the little seed close to her mouth.

Akuroma groaned, "Just shove it down her throat, with the level of misery she's feeling I'm surprised she's not already unconscious," he said. Akuroma shook his head, as if the simple gesture would shake off the Zorua's emotions. Of course it did nothing but increase his own headache. If today was already this bad after escaping Monochrome Ruins, who knows how bad the night will be if they couldn't get back to their little tree hideout.