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Part 2
Next: [link]
Previous/First: [link]

Varekai: [link]
Team Slow Melody: [link]
Collaboration

-------------------------------------------------------

For a moment, the three of them huddled together, shivering, before Paulie turned his head, and focused his eyes on the hippo pokemon beside him. Persia’s eyes were wide and full of fear, and Paulie felt for her, because she couldn’t escape from her fear, not this time. He gave her a sad, tired smile, in hopes that it would comfort her just a little, and give her the strength to do what he was about to ask of her.

“Persia, please... Will you go and look for Pen?” There was no hiding the desperation in his voice, and, if anything, it resonated with the shellos and the hippopotas that pressed into his sides. He watched as her eyes brightened and she nodded. He managed to hold his head up long enough to see her brown figure disappear into the blizzard, before he dropped it back down to settle on the snow.

“You’re really looking off-colour there, Paulie! Tough day, huh?” Meranda moved closer to the stantler’s head, so that he could see her properly. She moved around a little further, so that her body was shielding his face from the brunt of the wind and ice-splinters. A small smile appeared on her lips, despite the situation they were in, and her eyes were warm and kind as she looked at him. Between them was the colour-changing stone that Penumbra had dropped when she’d been swept away. Carefully, Meranda picked it up and put it in the dirty sack she had been carrying ever since Paulie had returned from the desert. “I’ll k-keep it safe for her.”

“Thank you, Meranda. And yes. A v-very tough day.” Paulie’s voice quivered as he tried to speak clearly and stop his body from trembling so much. Luckily, his coat had thickened up because of the strange weather Tao was having, and he was gradually becoming accustomed to the cold. “The desert... I couldn’t live there. It’s too hot and dry f-for someone like me, who grew up in forests, p-played in streams, and travelled through valleys and over m-mountains. I won’t be going back there ever again, and Pen wouldn’t ask me to, anyway.” Eventually, his shivering began to subside, though he still remained as weak and tired as ever.

“A pond seems like a much n-nicer place to live, don’t you think? Or a nice shallow cove. Salty water and a pretty white beach! What more could anyone want?” Meranda was pleased to hear a laugh enticed from his lips, even if it was only a whisper, compared to his normal hearty laughter. “Oh, p-poor Paulie. You look like you need a b-berry to brighten you up. You’re like a sad, wilted flower that n-needs watering.” Meranda wasn’t so lucky as Paulie, no thick winter coat for her. But, she seemed to be unaware of the cold for the most part (she was far more concerned about everybody else), and had pushed her head into her sack, rummaging around for something. “Oh, I go’ shumfing for oo!” She emerged and slowly drew four berries out of her bag, picking them up by biting onto their short stalks, or their leaves. “Look! Two oran berries, and two sitrus berries! There you go, you can have one of each!” And she carefully put two of the berries back in her sack, and nudged the other two towards Paulie. “Eat up, Paulie!”

“Thanks, Meranda. I will. But first... You should get on my back. It will still be cold up there, but at least you won’t be sitting in snow, right?” Paulie smiled as Meranda nodded and moved away. He winced and made a face, only just managing to stop himself from shuddering, as he felt the shellos crawl up onto his back (leaving a trail of slime behind her). And, once she was up, and Paulie shook the unsettling sensation off, he reached for the sitrus berry first, making another face at the flavour, before munching on the oran berry. Almost immediately, he felt stronger, and he could feel his energy coming back to him. After waiting several minutes to allow the berries to do their work, Paulie lifted himself to his feet. Turning to look over his shoulder, at his friend. “Let’s go and see if we can find the others, yeah? Persia went this way, right?”

And so the rejuvenated stantler picked up the sack in his mouth, and pressed onwards through the storm, the shellos on his back. And on the shellos’s back, now that it wasn’t have covered by the sack, was a strange blue flame that didn’t burn her, that didn’t flicker and die in the wind and the snow. No, it shone brightly, steadily, like a beacon.

------

“Come on Persia, you can do this! You can do this for Pen...” The hippopotas shivered in the wind, and at times found herself shying away from the deeper snow drifts. Her eyes, half-closed against the blizzard, were searching desperately for the small figure of her friend.Every time she spotted a grey smudge through the falling snow, she would pick up her pace and hurry over, only to have her heart sink whenever it was only a rock, a stone nearly frozen over. The temperature was dropping quickly, and it was important to find the small bird soon...

Penumbra opened her eyes with what felt like a great effort. She moaned, and tried to lift herself up, but it was difficult for her to shake off the snow that had half-buried her. Her feathers were heavy, wet with melted snowflakes. She shivered miserably and looked around with wide eyes, hoping to find a familiar face. But she was alone. Yet more snowflakes settled on the pidove, and this time none of them melted, because her warmth was gradually leeching away. “P-P-Paulie! M-Meranda? P-Persia!” She lowered her head, sniffling. "Anyone?” The word was nothing more than a desperate, hopeful whisper.

Persia was still searching though, refusing to give up. She was humming under her breath now, to keep her spirits up, and was still scanning the landscape around her, as best as she could. Turning her head, she listened hard, thinking that she must have heard something. Squinting, her eyes focused in that direction, and she made out a tiny figure cowering under the intensity of the blizzard, like a flower struggling to survive in a desert. She muttered a name under her breath, and lurched forwards, picking up speed as she closed the distance between them, crying out her friends name joyfully, emotion causing it to catch in her throat on the way out. “Penumbra!”

“P-P-Persia!?” The little pidove lifted her head, her eyes brightening considerably as she turned, looking for the face she knew so well. Upon seeing the hippopotas coming towards her through the wind and the snow, she staggered forwards, her whole body numd and stiff from the cold. A noise formed in her throat, and she threw herself forwards to wrap her soggy wings around one of the hippopotas’s forelegs. “Oh Persia, I w-was s-so scared! I don’t l-like it h-here...I want t-to go h-home. I m-miss my P-Papa...” She blinked back tears, and leaned against her friend’s leg.

“Oh, Pen...” Persia understood just how the little pidove felt, because she missed their desert home too. She missed it with all her heart, and she missed her family too. She gently coaxed the frightened, freezing bird to let go of her leg, and lowered her head to look Pen in the eyes. “The desert... It will always be where we belong, Pen. It will always be where we come from. We’ll always have the song of the desert wind at the very front of our minds, and the warmth of the desert sun in our hearts... But, this here... For now, this is our home. But the desert will always be home.” She smiled warmly at the bird, and drew her in close, tucking her between her front legs, shielding her from the snow and wind, and warming her up at the same time.And then, she opened her mouth and sang a beautiful song, the words intending to comfort her homesick, cold, bedraggled friend.

“I hear the wind, across the plain. A sound so strong, that calls my name...” A slow, steady stream of sand began to pour from the hippopotas’s back. “It’s wild like the river. It’s warm like the sun, yes it’s here... This is where I belong.” She glanced down, humming, to find Penumbra gazing up at her with huge, sad eyes. “Under the starry skies, where eagles have flown, this place is paradise. It’s the place I call home.” She smiled, seeing Pen closing her eyes and just listening with everything she had. “And wherever I wander, the one thing I’ve learned... It’s to here I will always, always return.”

“I’m... so lucky...” Penumbra murmured, a moment after Persia stopped singing. “To have a best friend like you, Persia.” She had brightened up considerably, and had a small smile on her face. She was a lot warmer now, too, after being out of the wind, and warmed by Persia. “Thank you for finding me. Thank you for saving me.” She closed her eyes and ruffled up her feathers a little, before looking back up at her friend. “We should be getting back, huh?”

The hippopotas nodded, carefully got to her feet, and turned around, before suddenly becoming still.

“Persia?” The pidove, sensing that something was wrong, peeked out from beneath Persia, settling down for a moment on the small patch of sand. “What’s wrong, Persia?”

“My... My tracks... The wind and the snow has covered them up.” Fear crept in to the beautiful voice of the larger of the two pokemon.

Penumbra’s smile faded, and was replaced with a worried frown.

“I don’t know where we are Pen. I don’t know where to go...”

----------------------------------------------------------

In which Penumbra is rescued, and comforted by Persia, before they realise that they are both lost now.

Art by
Written by
Submissions alternate between the two of us.

The song that Persia sings is - This Is Where I Belong by Bryan Adams [link]

Description

Part 2
Next: [link]
Previous/First: [link]

Varekai: [link]
Team Slow Melody: [link]
Collaboration

-------------------------------------------------------

For a moment, the three of them huddled together, shivering, before Paulie turned his head, and focused his eyes on the hippo pokemon beside him. Persia’s eyes were wide and full of fear, and Paulie felt for her, because she couldn’t escape from her fear, not this time. He gave her a sad, tired smile, in hopes that it would comfort her just a little, and give her the strength to do what he was about to ask of her.

“Persia, please... Will you go and look for Pen?” There was no hiding the desperation in his voice, and, if anything, it resonated with the shellos and the hippopotas that pressed into his sides. He watched as her eyes brightened and she nodded. He managed to hold his head up long enough to see her brown figure disappear into the blizzard, before he dropped it back down to settle on the snow.

“You’re really looking off-colour there, Paulie! Tough day, huh?” Meranda moved closer to the stantler’s head, so that he could see her properly. She moved around a little further, so that her body was shielding his face from the brunt of the wind and ice-splinters. A small smile appeared on her lips, despite the situation they were in, and her eyes were warm and kind as she looked at him. Between them was the colour-changing stone that Penumbra had dropped when she’d been swept away. Carefully, Meranda picked it up and put it in the dirty sack she had been carrying ever since Paulie had returned from the desert. “I’ll k-keep it safe for her.”

“Thank you, Meranda. And yes. A v-very tough day.” Paulie’s voice quivered as he tried to speak clearly and stop his body from trembling so much. Luckily, his coat had thickened up because of the strange weather Tao was having, and he was gradually becoming accustomed to the cold. “The desert... I couldn’t live there. It’s too hot and dry f-for someone like me, who grew up in forests, p-played in streams, and travelled through valleys and over m-mountains. I won’t be going back there ever again, and Pen wouldn’t ask me to, anyway.” Eventually, his shivering began to subside, though he still remained as weak and tired as ever.

“A pond seems like a much n-nicer place to live, don’t you think? Or a nice shallow cove. Salty water and a pretty white beach! What more could anyone want?” Meranda was pleased to hear a laugh enticed from his lips, even if it was only a whisper, compared to his normal hearty laughter. “Oh, p-poor Paulie. You look like you need a b-berry to brighten you up. You’re like a sad, wilted flower that n-needs watering.” Meranda wasn’t so lucky as Paulie, no thick winter coat for her. But, she seemed to be unaware of the cold for the most part (she was far more concerned about everybody else), and had pushed her head into her sack, rummaging around for something. “Oh, I go’ shumfing for oo!” She emerged and slowly drew four berries out of her bag, picking them up by biting onto their short stalks, or their leaves. “Look! Two oran berries, and two sitrus berries! There you go, you can have one of each!” And she carefully put two of the berries back in her sack, and nudged the other two towards Paulie. “Eat up, Paulie!”

“Thanks, Meranda. I will. But first... You should get on my back. It will still be cold up there, but at least you won’t be sitting in snow, right?” Paulie smiled as Meranda nodded and moved away. He winced and made a face, only just managing to stop himself from shuddering, as he felt the shellos crawl up onto his back (leaving a trail of slime behind her). And, once she was up, and Paulie shook the unsettling sensation off, he reached for the sitrus berry first, making another face at the flavour, before munching on the oran berry. Almost immediately, he felt stronger, and he could feel his energy coming back to him. After waiting several minutes to allow the berries to do their work, Paulie lifted himself to his feet. Turning to look over his shoulder, at his friend. “Let’s go and see if we can find the others, yeah? Persia went this way, right?”

And so the rejuvenated stantler picked up the sack in his mouth, and pressed onwards through the storm, the shellos on his back. And on the shellos’s back, now that it wasn’t have covered by the sack, was a strange blue flame that didn’t burn her, that didn’t flicker and die in the wind and the snow. No, it shone brightly, steadily, like a beacon.

------

“Come on Persia, you can do this! You can do this for Pen...” The hippopotas shivered in the wind, and at times found herself shying away from the deeper snow drifts. Her eyes, half-closed against the blizzard, were searching desperately for the small figure of her friend.Every time she spotted a grey smudge through the falling snow, she would pick up her pace and hurry over, only to have her heart sink whenever it was only a rock, a stone nearly frozen over. The temperature was dropping quickly, and it was important to find the small bird soon...

Penumbra opened her eyes with what felt like a great effort. She moaned, and tried to lift herself up, but it was difficult for her to shake off the snow that had half-buried her. Her feathers were heavy, wet with melted snowflakes. She shivered miserably and looked around with wide eyes, hoping to find a familiar face. But she was alone. Yet more snowflakes settled on the pidove, and this time none of them melted, because her warmth was gradually leeching away. “P-P-Paulie! M-Meranda? P-Persia!” She lowered her head, sniffling. "Anyone?” The word was nothing more than a desperate, hopeful whisper.

Persia was still searching though, refusing to give up. She was humming under her breath now, to keep her spirits up, and was still scanning the landscape around her, as best as she could. Turning her head, she listened hard, thinking that she must have heard something. Squinting, her eyes focused in that direction, and she made out a tiny figure cowering under the intensity of the blizzard, like a flower struggling to survive in a desert. She muttered a name under her breath, and lurched forwards, picking up speed as she closed the distance between them, crying out her friends name joyfully, emotion causing it to catch in her throat on the way out. “Penumbra!”

“P-P-Persia!?” The little pidove lifted her head, her eyes brightening considerably as she turned, looking for the face she knew so well. Upon seeing the hippopotas coming towards her through the wind and the snow, she staggered forwards, her whole body numd and stiff from the cold. A noise formed in her throat, and she threw herself forwards to wrap her soggy wings around one of the hippopotas’s forelegs. “Oh Persia, I w-was s-so scared! I don’t l-like it h-here...I want t-to go h-home. I m-miss my P-Papa...” She blinked back tears, and leaned against her friend’s leg.

“Oh, Pen...” Persia understood just how the little pidove felt, because she missed their desert home too. She missed it with all her heart, and she missed her family too. She gently coaxed the frightened, freezing bird to let go of her leg, and lowered her head to look Pen in the eyes. “The desert... It will always be where we belong, Pen. It will always be where we come from. We’ll always have the song of the desert wind at the very front of our minds, and the warmth of the desert sun in our hearts... But, this here... For now, this is our home. But the desert will always be home.” She smiled warmly at the bird, and drew her in close, tucking her between her front legs, shielding her from the snow and wind, and warming her up at the same time.And then, she opened her mouth and sang a beautiful song, the words intending to comfort her homesick, cold, bedraggled friend.

“I hear the wind, across the plain. A sound so strong, that calls my name...” A slow, steady stream of sand began to pour from the hippopotas’s back. “It’s wild like the river. It’s warm like the sun, yes it’s here... This is where I belong.” She glanced down, humming, to find Penumbra gazing up at her with huge, sad eyes. “Under the starry skies, where eagles have flown, this place is paradise. It’s the place I call home.” She smiled, seeing Pen closing her eyes and just listening with everything she had. “And wherever I wander, the one thing I’ve learned... It’s to here I will always, always return.”

“I’m... so lucky...” Penumbra murmured, a moment after Persia stopped singing. “To have a best friend like you, Persia.” She had brightened up considerably, and had a small smile on her face. She was a lot warmer now, too, after being out of the wind, and warmed by Persia. “Thank you for finding me. Thank you for saving me.” She closed her eyes and ruffled up her feathers a little, before looking back up at her friend. “We should be getting back, huh?”

The hippopotas nodded, carefully got to her feet, and turned around, before suddenly becoming still.

“Persia?” The pidove, sensing that something was wrong, peeked out from beneath Persia, settling down for a moment on the small patch of sand. “What’s wrong, Persia?”

“My... My tracks... The wind and the snow has covered them up.” Fear crept in to the beautiful voice of the larger of the two pokemon.

Penumbra’s smile faded, and was replaced with a worried frown.

“I don’t know where we are Pen. I don’t know where to go...”

----------------------------------------------------------

In which Penumbra is rescued, and comforted by Persia, before they realise that they are both lost now.

Art by
Written by
Submissions alternate between the two of us.

The song that Persia sings is - This Is Where I Belong by Bryan Adams [link]