Chapter 5
How to Cross a Bridge
It was already noon when Espurr noticed the red rooftops. “Ah, I think we’re close… yup, that’s Manchelton alright!”.
Ursa followed her gaze. True, there were a few houses ahead, on top of a steep slope, right before the mountains. Squinting, she noticed the smoke coming from a few chimneys, and the bustling streets filled with Pokémon of all shapes and sizes.
Damn, that almost felt… nostalgic, in a way. It reminded her of… home.
“Uh, are you alright?”.
Espurr’s voice yanked her from her thoughts. “Bwuh? Of course I’m alright”.
The psychic feline stopped and crossed her arms. “Theeen why did you stop?”.
Ursa blinked a couple of times. There was indeed more distance between her and Espurr. And she was also sitting down, her paws wrapped around her leathery harness.
“…alright, maybe I’m not exactly… jumping at the idea of going to Manchelton”, she confessed. “I mean… it’s been a few years since I’ve last been into a town, so, you know, I’m just… a bit nervous, I guess?”.
Espurr tilted her head. “What? Wait, didn’t you say you were from an island? The closest one is Rocria, which is like… what? More than
one-thousand miles from here?!”.
“Hey, hey, hey!”, Ursa shouted, almost defensively. “I never told you I came from an island!”.
“You literally said you had reached the mainland”, Espurr pointed out. “Like, yesterday. You literally said it yesterday, and that’s not even the point of this conversation! How in Arceus’ name did you manage to live without going into settlements?!”.
“Uh, by feeding on wild berries and ferals?”, she replied. “I usually bathe near rivers”. And literally half a second after saying that, she immediately regretted opening her big freaking mouth.
Gods, she had just painted herself as a complete savage, hadn’t she? And now, Espurr was gonna ditch her, and she was going to be all alone again, and she would have to-.
“Why?”.
“…what?”.
“Why would you do that?”, Espurr asked. “Why would you live away from civilization?”.
“…it’s personal”, she said through her teeth. “Like,
really personal”.
“Oh”. The psychic cat crossed her arms. “Uhm… wanna talk about it, or…?”.
“N-No, no”. Shaking her head, the Stufful resumed walking. “You know what, nevermind, let’s… let’s just go”.
Espurr wanted to say something. Ursa seemed quite sad - but since she didn’t know what to say exactly, she simply opted to follow the Stufful, hoping that maybe they could talk more later.
The first thing Ursa noticed about Manchelton were its paved, polished streets - a far step away from Sackengen’s, where she would constantly get her paws dirty. Every. Single. Day.
The second thing was the roaring river that separated her from the town, churning wildly and with great speed.
The third thing was the wooden bridge that arched over its waters. It looked pretty structurally sound, with its iron reinforcements and stone arks. Of course, there was no way she was going to get even remotely close to the river, much less go directly above it, but she had to admire the architectural craft, it sure gave the bridge a rather sturdy aura, and what the heck was she even thinking about now?
“Uhm… are you
sure you’re alright?”.
Ursa turned around. Espurr was right behind her, her eyebrows contorted into an expression she wasn’t familiar with.
“I mean”, the psychic cat continued, “you look a bit… I don’t know, nervous?”.
“What?”. Ursa raised an eyebrow; what was Espurr even saying now? “That’s absurd, I’m not nervous!”.
“You’re trembling”.
The Stufful looked down again. She was, indeed, trembling.
“…alright, so
maybe I’m a tad anxious”, she admitted. “So what? What are you gonna do about it? You’re not one of those head doctors, are you?”.
“…I’m not saying you should see a therapist”, Espurr replied. “I’m just saying that… I dunno, it sort of feels like there’s a lot of stuff you’re bottling up-”.
“Look, I don’t know what to tell you”, she said almost defensively. “I’m not bottling up anything. I’m fine! I don’t need your help”.
“…ah. I see”. The psychic cat averted her gaze, bringing a paw to the back of her head. “Sorry. You said you didn’t want to talk about it, and yet here I am, completely going against your desires”.
The Stufful blinked twice in confusion. “N-No, I’m sorry for shouting. I
massively overreacted there, heheh… heh…”. Oh gods WHY WAS SHE
CHUCKLING-. “S-Sorry, I’m just…”.
Changetopicchangetopicchangetopic-. “A-Anyway! We should probably, uh, go! Yeah!”. She stared at the bridge and, most importantly, at the water flowing under it. “Piece o’ cake, hahah…”.
Yeah, this was going to be easy! She just had to take that first step on the bridge! The rest would come naturally, right? Like, come on; how hard could it
possibly be to cross a simple bridge?
Fifteen. Minutes. Yeah, she had counted them! Fifteen WHOLE MINUTES, not one more, not one less! For FIFTEEN MINUTES had the Stufful been staring at the goddamn bridge like she’d seen some sort of otherworldly apparition, and Espurr was about to lose her MIND! You know what? Screw it! She’d had enough!
She stopped pacing back and forth like she had been doing for the past quarter of an hour, her head quickly turning towards Ursa. “What’s the hold up?!”.
“I DUNNO!”, the Stufful almost shouted. “I AM TRYING!”.
“WELL THEN TRY HARDER!”. Her patience was about to expire. “COME ON!
IT’S NOT THAT HARD!”.
“
I FREAKING KNOW!”, Ursa replied.
…alright, screw this. Without so much as a word of warning, the Espurr immediately got behind the Stufful and started pushing her.
“Wha- wait- what are you-”.
“I’m hauling your butt to the other end of the river!”.
“YOU’RE WHAT-”.
“COME ON!”.
“WAIT NO NO NO I-”.
It took her some effort (Ursa was
way heavier than she’d thought), but after a minute or two she
finally managed to push her on the brink of the bridge.
Only to literally collapse face-first on the ground.
That was the day Espurr learned that her Espurr body wasn’t made to handle too much physical effort.
Ah crap, my limbs feel like boiled Wimpod innards.
“Uhm… are
you alright?”, she heard Ursa ask.
“Yes, I feel
stupendous, thank you for asking”.
“…you feel stupid?”.
…damn, her voice was
dripping with innocence. She slowly rolled over. “No. I was being sarcastic”. A moment of silence. “…sorry for shouting earlier”.
“Ah, it’s… it’s alright, I probably needed that extra push-”.
“N-No, really, I am sorry-”, Espurr tried to say, but she was almost immediately interrupted by the Flailing Pokémon.
“Listen”. She sat down. “
You wouldn’t have had to shout at me if
I hadn’t stood in front of the bridge like an idiot. But!”. She tapped her foot on the wooden planks - which made them creak rather loudly, something she hoped Espurr wouldn’t notice - and crossed her arms. “Despite me being a complete dumbass, you waited for me to cross the bridge when you could’ve gone into town yourself, and… I just wanna say, I really appreciate that. This feels like it could be the start of a great friendship!”.
Oh gods why the CHEESY FRIENDSHIP LINE-. “Uhm… i-if you want to, that is…?”.
Espurr slowly raised her left eyebrow. “I, uh… alright? I mean… sure, I guess we can… be friends?”.
Those six words were all it took for Ursa’s brain to go from its usual solid state to a mushy, gooey soup of tender friendliness. For about three seconds. Then it was back to normal.
…oh my gods, you are actually roping her in the scrambled mess that is your life, what is your problem? You really think she’s gonna be happy, hanging out with YOU of all ‘mons? How much time do you think it will take her to realize just how miserable you’re making her feel? She’s gonna dump you. She’s gonna dump you, and you will have lost the only nice thing you’ll have ever had in your pathetic, sad excuse of a life. And you will have nomon but yourself to blame. Are you REALLY going to put the two of you through this?
…crap, she hadn’t thought about this! How in tarnation was she even supposed to
begin telling Espurr about the massive arse-crunching dumpster-fire that was her life?! The crazy dream-vision stuff, the powers, the Sun Bear Children- no, that wasn’t going to be an issue, because she was NOT going to talk about the flippin’ Sun Bear Children!
“You alright?”.
She slowly turned her head upon hearing Espurr’s voice. The psychic cat had apparently heaved herself on her paws, and was waiting for her on the other shore.
“Uhm, I will wait for you”, she added.
…Espurr was nice. She didn’t want to drag her into her terrible life - she didn’t deserve it! But she had a duty towards her! A duty to tell her that she could be so, so much more than a helpless cat! And so, she took a step forward, focusing more on the bridge than the water aggressively flowing under it. It seemed to work well! Y–yeah, she just had to put a paw after the other, and- there!
She felt a really weird sense of accomplishment upon touching the stone-cold pavement. And then a weird rush of heat towards her cheek as Espurr quickly wrapped her arms around her neck.
“Awww, see? You did it!”. She quickly loosened the hug. “It wasn’t that hard, now was it?”.
Ursa didn’t answer. She was too busy trying not to literally collapse on herself, because WHAT WAS THAT WAS THAT A HUG DID ESPURR HUG HERWIJNNIHIEBOFWANIEBDWIEOPWEUDNOW-.
“…I’m starting to think you lied when you told me you were alright”, the psychic cat noted. “You look like your brain’s been run over by a pack of Mudsdale”.
Which was a rather accurate depiction of Ursa’s inner thoughts. For a second, she had felt her small fluffy arms around her neck, and then her soft fur against her chest, and these were totally normal thoughts to have, right?
…right?
“Uh, I have no idea what you mean by that”, she lied. “My brain is, uh, encased in a very sturdy skull, and it’s got this weird ‘no Mudsdale hooves allowed’ policy, so, uh, yeah, I’m fine”.
Espurr squinted. “That’s exactly what someone who’s gotten their brain trampled on by a pack of Mudsdale would say…”.
“Oh come on!”, Ursa protested. “You can’t just hug me and compliment me, and then tell me I look like an idiot!”. She paused. “…by the way, I am being sarcastic - please feel free to call me out on my stupidity anytime”.
“Wuh- nah, I was
kidding!”, the psychic cat explained, right before starting to walk towards the town’s center. “But let’s go, now; I’m not sure how long a bagful of coins (and other things) will last unattended”.
Ursa followed her. This was going great.
Too great. Something in the wind made her fur stand on end - something was going to happen. Something was going to happen, and her friendship with Espurr would be ruined even before starting, and then she would see how much of a goddamn freak she was and then-.
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. This was
not the time to have a public freakout; in fact,
no time was the time to have a public freakout, like her last one in - ah, what was it?
Somethingegen?;
especially since her last one in
Somethingegen.
…she wondered how many months it would take to rebuild those houses - hopefully, not
too many.
It only took them half-an-hour to reach the alleged inn, and Ursa could already tell that it was in
desperate need of cleaning. From the rotten wooden door to the fatiscent canopy covering the entrance, everything seemed like it was still standing only thanks to Arceus’ mercy. She could
barely read the words carved on the half-broken sign hanging from a pole -
‘Ye Olde Lil’ Gasthaus’.
“Damn, it’s not as bad as I remembered it”, Espurr confessed. “In fact, I’d say that it looks even
worse in broad daylight”.
Ursa didn’t say anything, her Mudsdale-crushed brain trying to process what she was seeing. Espurr had offered to pay her back for the meat, right? She must’ve had the money… but then,
why was she sleeping in that… place? Had she…
lied to her?
She took a deep breath. Alright. It didn’t matter if she didn’t have the money. It was stolen meat anyways. And Espurr probably had her good reasons to lie to her, so in the end, really, it didn’t matter at all.
“Let’s see if I can get my bag back”. And with that said, the little psychic entered.
Ah, yes - with much joy did she recall the two - or three? - days she had spent trying to forget the awful smell of rotten wood that was now vehemently crawling into her nostrils.
Apart from the stench, there weren’t many ‘mon inside; a Bibarel gulping down what could’ve been their sixth glass of beer; a Haxorus with a scar on their left eye half-asleep on the table; a Zangoose hugging a Seviper; and, last but not least, a Floatzel standing behind and polishing a wooden counter -
that was the ‘mon Espurr was looking for, and the one she immediately walked up to.
“Hey, uh, excuse me?”, she said, standing on her clawtips - the counter was incredibly tall for her. “Ma’am?”.
The innkeeper stopped what she was doing. “What?”.
“Uh, hi”, she started, sheepishly. “Uhm, my name’s Espurr, and I, uh… do you remember me? I’m sure you get lots of customers, but, uhm, I had to leave my room for a while, due to… unforeseen circumstances. And, uh, then I found out I hadn’t taken my bag with me, so, uhm… do you still have it?”.
The Floatzel blinked a couple of times, before resuming her scrubbing. “Espuhr, you say?”. She tilted her head, never interrupting eye-contact. “Mmmmh… ah, yes, yes, of couhse!”. And at that point, she looked somewhere behind Espurr’s back, brought both her hands to her mouth and
hollered: “BAZZA! COME HEEUH FAW A SECAWND!”.
Espurr turned around just in time to see a small door creak open, letting out a lot of steam and noise. And in walked a- oh, she did not know this one. They looked like a Mankey? Or a Monferno? But like, more blue? And with a large tuft of blue fur on their head?
“…hey”, he said, right before turning to the Floatzel. “What’s the mattah?”.
“Take this young lady to the Lawst Items Room, see if she finds hah bag”, the Floatzel explained, pointing to Espurr.
“Alright”, he nodded, before gesturing for the psychic cat to follow him. “This way, this way…”.
Alright, alright- as SOON as she gets out, you go ‘hey, Espurr, we need to talk’, and tell her EVERYTHING. Ursa nodded to herself while waiting for Esp- for
her friend outside the inn.
…crap, I have no idea how to be friends with somemon… friends do stuff like… hanging out with each other, right? A-And sharing stuff, and… what else? They… they… train together? Maybe? And…. She closed her eyes, trying to remember what the kids back home used to do.
They play games with each other? L-Like, with a ball… yes, b-being friends means going out and kicking a ball around, right?
Yeah! And she also remembered that time she tried to wrestle said ball out of a Pancham’s hand and ended up breaking both his arms.
…maybe she wouldn’t ask Espurr to play with a ball. Like, just in case she accidentally kicked it in her face with enough force to smash her skull.
…well, shit, I guess I really am a freak of nature! She let out a long sigh. Gods, why did her brain have to pull out the Pancham?!
I am never going to forget that, am I? The image of the Playful Pokémon screaming while rolling on the ground with arms bending at unhealthy angles flashed in her mind.
…apparently no.
“Ursa”.
Upon hearing her name, the Stufful turned around. Espurr’s head was poking from the tavern’s ajar door.
“You coming in?”. The psychic cat showed her a leather bag. “I got my bag back. I’ve got us a room for tonight, so, uhm… you know…”.
Ursa didn’t reply immediately. Instead, she simply stared at the door for a few seconds. “…are you sure?”, she then asked. “I mean… how many ‘mons are inside…?”.
Espurr raised an eyebrow. “I dunno, I think… seven, or something? Is that a problem?”.
“Uuuuuuuh-”.
Don’ttellherdon’ttellherdon’ttellhershe’llthinkyou’remessedintheheaddon’ttellher-. “N-N reason, just, uh… you know what, nevermind!”.
And with that said, with her brain almost going nuts and under Espurr’s perplexed gaze, she strolled in the tavern.
