ToT Chapter 2-3: Natural Cure

The next day was another autumn like day as it was starting to become much milder then before. Nox sleep was surprisingly calm last night, not knowing that the presence of Yang was the cause of that as he slowly woke up from his slumber to rub his eyes with his paws. A soft grumble escapes him since he's not a morning Pokemon like others are before realising what happened last night. *Oh right! I met Yang yesterday and for some reason did we sticked together.* The male shiny Eevee looked directly to the direction the shiny Mienfoo was sleeping only to see her still slumbering in the same position she slept into, her body showing that she was breathing in and out very softly. *Oh... she's asleep... should I let her sleep or should I wake her up?*

He wasn't sure if he should wake her or not, yet he knows that she'll wake up once he wasn't around her anymore... before realising that her teammate Sonya, the Eevee that he sparred with yesterday morning, will appear in Mosswood today. "Nah... I don't wanna risk that." Nox quickly grabbed a piece of paper before trying to write down with his mouth that he went ahead to take care of the sick Pokemon. After writing that did he placed it in good view for Yang should she wake up sooner or later, before heading out to where the hospital was, not knowing that said female Eevee was there already. Cris took care of a patient when Nox arrived at the hospital, but she felt his presence before speaking up to him with "Please give me a moment before I can take care of your symptoms."

"Err... actually am I here to help out, Miss Cris." was the grey furred Eevee answering with guilt towards her, which made the Glaceons ears twitch a moment before she actually looked over towards him. She instantly noticed his grey fur and the rather guilty look on his face "Oh, you must be Nox, Alice talked about you during a medicine lession I gave her. Didn't you wanted to appear here yesterday?" Her question was where he felt very guilty as he first responed with "Y-yeah... I uhh..." before he took a deep breath when he remembered what Alice told him yesterday. "Err... I-I was too lost in thoughs yesterday that I managed to walk to Rivercross Acres... once I was there did I realised my mistake and uhh... since I was there did I decided to help Alice finding the missing items."

He instantly reminded that he still had an item from yesterday with him "Speaking of a missing item, I still need to give an Altaria plush to a child later on." The Glaceon nods rather calmly to hear that "It's okay Nox, we'd a lot of helpers here yesterday but I still appreciate that you were honest about that." A releaved sigh escaped Nox before asking the Doctor for the sympthomps of the sickness. She explained him what they found out so far but looked rather troubled during the explaining "I see... at least isn't it spreading via contact or things would have gone pretty bad then." Cris nodded to that before a small, two-fanged smile appeared on her face "Yeah... I'm glad that you did appeared today, since there are still a lot of Pokemon sick from it and keeps my and Miss Fellin's paws full."

"Miss Fellin?" was Nox asking the Glaceon a bit curious as she noticed that he never had met her before "She's the shiny Emboar and my mentor that taught me medicine after all. Spreaking of Miss Fellin, she's already working on a cure for the sickness, so please don't disturb her, okay?" The male shiny Eevee got a soft smile to hear that they're working on a cure already "Roger that, and I'm glad to hear that she's working on a cure. So my task is to calm down the sympthomps of the sick patients, right?" The respond of the Doctor was clear to that "Yes, but please don't push yourself when you take care of them. Last thing I want is to take care of you too." "I won't Miss Cris." was Nox responding to that as she nods her head to that "Good, take some of the medicines with you but be careful with it."

"I will!" was the grey furred Eevee responding as he walked over to where the tail of the Glaceon pointed to. He picked up some of the medicine with him, then he headed out to take care of the patients. Most of the Pokemon that were sick from the strange disease were travelers, some others them were inhabitants of Mosswood and unfortunatly were both young and old affected by said disease. Every single person had different stages of the same disease, some were fully affected by it and did cough up green flakes from their lungs, some others were in a milder stage were they only had their chest beeing tight, others on the other hand only had troubles breathing. Nox was distrubuting the right amount of medicine for the right people until he met a young male Togepi that aslo was suffering from the epidemic.

Seeing the young child with a purple-greenish face like that made him think *Poor little child... suffering the same things like the adults...* A loud cough fit came from the little male as the grey furred Eevee decided to do something his mother did when he was sick while approaching him. "Hey there." was Nox speaking up which caught the attention of the Togepi after it finished the cough fit "M-mister Eevee... are you here to... check on me?" Nox nods softly to that "Yes I am, and I even have something with me that might belong to you." the little male tilted his head weakly to hear that.  His young black eyes widened in surprise as they saw the Altaria plush again that the male shiny Eevee took out of his black leather pouch, as an instant smile of happyness formed onto his face.

"M-my plush...! W-where did you?!" was the little boy saying rather excited as Nox got a small smile from that "I'm glad that I found it then. Here you go." the male shiny Eevee handed over the plush to the Togepi who was very happy by now. After a moment did Nox checked onto the little child, then petted the head of the said little Togepi very softly. "You're making good progress to get well again, little warrior." was Nox speaking with a a soft chuckle, which also escaped the Togepi before it got another cough fit. It took a while until the little male could talk again with a question "When will I be able... to play with the other childrens again... Mister Eevee?" Nox kept a soft smile on his face as he responded to that with "As long as you'll listen to the good Doctor will you be up in no time!"

The grey furred Eevee soon decided to make the little Togepi laugh, which he did by pulling some silly faces that caused the child to laugh from it. Little did Nox knew that someone familair to him was looking towards his direction. Cris looked towards them too as she had a two-fanged smile on her face while she mumbeled "I'm glad to hear the child laugh again. He would be a pretty good father too for a female in his age." Nox was still focused on the child as he flinched when his ears perked up from the sudden rushing footsteps coming into the room. His eyes blinked a moment as he heared a yelp from a familair voice that apolgized shortly after that *Isn't that... Yang?*. Soon was his head turning to that direction to get his thoughs confirmed as the she walked straight towards him.

"Hey Yang, slept well?" was he greeting her as she stopped infront of him slightly out of breath but upset at the same time "I-I'm so sorry! I-I slept in so late! U-Usually I can wake up early no problem. T-Thank you though for leaving a note for me. S-Sorry to make you come alone." His head shook softly after hearing her speaking up "Nah it's okay, you looked like you needed the sleep after the long day that you had." Nox still didn't knew yet that he was beeing watched by someone familair besides the Glaceon while he kept on talking with the shiny Mienfoo "Besides that, I think that if your Team Partner Sonya would see me interact with you would I be in a lot of trouble right now." If only he knew that the female Eevee was indeed present in the room while seeing his interactions right now.

A fond smile formed on Yangs face when he talked about her teammate "W-When I tell her you watched out for me until she got here I'm sure she won't be upset at you. M-More than likely she'd be upset at me for not being here before she is. S-She would of been worried sick." Nox looked a bit confused as his ears catched the tinging sound of a bell while the shiny Mienfoo asked him "D-Did you hear that?" "Umm I think so?" he wasn't sure of it yet, that was until he caught the second tinging of the bell clearly this time. The moment Yang looked around in a panicing matter was he looking around too now, before spotting the tail of the female Eevee leaving the room. "Sonya...?" could he hear Yang asking curioused, before a quick and unsure "E-Excuse me Nox" escaped her as he responded to that with "Yang... it's okay."

He sees the shiny Mienfoo run off to where Sonya headed off to, before a sigh escaped him after both members of Team Pathfinders weren't in the room anymore. Cris whitnessed the scene too before looking over to the grey furred Eevee rather worried right now "I hope they won't get into a fight with each other." Nox only nodded weakly to that as he approached the Glaceon now "Y-yeah... I don't wanna be the reason a friendship breaks..." Yang did told him how much Sonya ment to her, yet he knews that the female Eevee was weary of him, the though of a breaking friendship made him feel very bad. The Medic noticed the change of mood from the male before speaking to him "I think you should take a break too Nox." Cris noticed that Nox was starting to space out from thoughs as she waved her paw infront of his face

*Yang... I hope that she's not angry with you but angry with me instead... I can handle that but you...* The Glaceon was very worried by now as she asked "Nox? Are you okay?" The male shiny Eevee flinched a moment as she placed her paw onto his forehead "H-huh? Oh uhh... y-yeah I'm okay." "Are you sure? Do you want me to check on you?" was she asking him a pretty worried by now. "I-I'm fine Miss Cris, t-thanks for your concern... I just..." was he speaking up before the she responded to him with "You're worrying about the shiny Mienfoo, huh?" Cris hitted the nail on the head with that, which made him flinch again as reaction to that "N-no! I-I mean y-yes! I-I mean..." A soft giggle escapes Cris as she whitnessed his reaction "I'm very glad to see that you worry about her. You're very kindhearted Nox."

Nox's ears leaned onto his head as he got a soft blush from that compliment "T-t-thanks..." *Am I that easy to read lately? I... I really don't like that... what if they'll...hurt me through that* "I uhh... is there an empty room where I can lay down for a moment?" Cris nods his question as she pointed to the direction with her paw "Yeah there is one, it's the last room of the floor to the right." "Thank you Miss Cris." and with that did the grey furred Eevee walked off, but he bumped into the corner of the wall, which made the Glaceon ask him worried "Are you sure you're fine?" "Y-yes I'm fine, really!" responded Nox before he headed into the said room and entered it. Said room that just had a table, three chairs and a bed to lay onto as he closed the door behind him  and instantly headed over to the bed.

"Why... why now... I don't want this to happen right now..." was he mumbeling to himself as he tried to surpress a painful memory, but he couldn't hold it back anymore once he was laying down onto the bed.

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A cloudy summer day in Aurora Kingdom's hidden village Raven Woods, Noxs hometown where he was born into. He was just 11 years old on the day of change when the village got under attack by unknown forces. Non-combantents and childrens were ordered to flee on that day. The flames were burning strongly, the pillars of smoke were clearly visible from miles away and the air was smelling of blood, ashes and burnt wood. Only the fighting sounds, some shouts of different Pokemon, flames and the crumbeling noises of homes were noticable. Nox wasn't as tall as he is now during that day as he walked very carefully out of his hiding spot once the scary noises were completly gone. His young body was trembeling in fear, each paw step was tough for him to make and felt like plumb was inside them as he could see the scenery.

"M-mom.... D-dad... N-nariko? A-are you there?" asked his young voice very shakingly after them with some tears in his young black eyes. Liittle Nox hoped that his parents and his little adoptive sister were still alive as he slowly continued his way towards his home. The young Eevee flinched when a branch was falling onto the ground near him, before taking some deep breaths as he realised what it was before continuing on. *J-just a tree branch... I hope Mom and Dad found Nariko... and they hopefully are at home safe and sound with her...* were his thoughs as he carefully made his way towards his home. He unfortunatly passed by burning houses and different kinds deceased Pokemon, but little did he knew what his young mind was going whitness once he was there, which will scar him forever in his life.
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"Nariko..." was Nox mumbeling very quietly as silent tears started to run down his cheeks. His white paw clutched the wornout blue scarf that he wore on his neck very tightly as he shook his head strongly because of it *I... it's my fault... all that happened because I didn't stopped her... and didn't rushed after her once she ran away... What if I... won't be able to protect someone dear to me again... what if I... fail that task again and see them...* It was at this point were the grey furred Eevee breaked down and hided his face into the pillow to muffle the crying that he couldn't hold back anymore. it took a good while until Nox stopped to cry and was laying on the bed weakly. A weak sigh escaped him after his tears stopped running while he rubbed his eyes with his white paws.

*Of all memories that could appear... why that one... and why now...* after having though that was he frowning from it, his cheeks were wet from the tears he shed while another weak sigh escaped him "I wonder... how things would have been if I..." was he mumbeling very quietly for himself. At this point could he hear a familair female voice speaking up muffled through the door, which shocked him quite badly that it also pulled him out of his thoughs "Nox, it's Sonya and Yang. May we talk to you for a minute?" *W-w-what?! S-s-she wants to talk with me?!* Shortly after that could he hear Yangs voice muffled too "I-It's us Yang and Sonya." The male Eevee frowned for a moment from that as he cleared his throath and started to quickly get in position for that "Umm... give me a moment please!"

The grey furred Eevee quickly tried to hide the traces that he cried before he took a deep breath *Calm down Nox... don't let them find out that you shed tears because of a memory from your past* Once he was calm enough again to deal with whatever they want to talk with him right now did he spoked up to them with  "A-allright... y-you both can enter the room now." His thoughs however were with the shiny Mienfoo right now *I hope Yang's allright... cause I still am weary about Sonya... and I still feel odd around her too.* He looked calmly towards the two as Sony entered the room first, then Yang with "E-Excuse us. W-We don't mean to bother you Nox." His ears twitching a bit to hear that, which made him shake his head softly from it "It's fine Yang, couldn't fall asleep even if I wanted to."

His eyes however kept track of Sonya's movments and gestures even if it's hard to notice that. Seeing her frown somehow made his ears lean onto his head for a moment before they perked up again to listen to Yang. She looked nervous again as she spoked up "E-Everthings fine now. S-Sonya isn't mad at all. A-And we talked things over. W-We just came by to umm..." then looked down as a surprising "To thank you." escaped from the mouth of the female Eevee. "Glad to hear that everything is fine betwe-eh?!" was Nox responding before he kinda got shocked and surprised in the same time as Yang to hear Sonya saying these words towards him. *D-did she just.... thanked me? Someone pinch me... this must be a dream, right? Right?!* Yet at the same time did Sonya looked down a bit as she tried to hide her face.

Seeing her gaze down to the ground like that, but catching the sign of embarresment did he looked a bit away in shyness. He scratched his cheek for a moment as he started to get a the soft blush onto them as while his ears twitched again when Sonya told him why she was thanking him "I wanted to thank you for watching out for Yang while I wasn't here. I shouldn't of let her go on her own. The fact you were here and helped her means a lot to me. Thank you." At this point did he remembered what Yang told him yesterday during the ride to Mosswood about her teammate, that she can be kind. "O-oh no i-i-it's not a big deal. I-I just err..." he was lost by now, not knowing what to say because of that while really wanting to jump into the little lake again to sink into the water from this embarresing situation.

"No it is a big deal. To me at least." was the female Eevee responding serious owards him after she somehow sighted, which calmed him down a bit and made him pay more attention towards her. During her pause could he notice how Sonya was staring towards him before she shook her head again to glare down to the ground again. From the edge of his view could Nox see how Yang was looking back and forth between the two Eevees both in confusion and curiosity. *Something is up right now...* were his thoughs as he could hear how the female Eevee cleared her throat before she looked back serously towards him as she spoked up "Anyone who helps my teammate and close friend is important to me. So don't say it wasn't when it is to me. Thank you Nox. I really mean it." which made Yang look happily towards her partner.

"Allright, I understand that you really mean it by now." was Nox response to that, yet he can't help it but feel that they both were somehow sad. A sigh from the female Eevee kinda confirmed it as she spoked up towards her team partner "Can you do me a favor Yang? Go tell Cris that I'll be done for the day. I helped all I could but I should give my bell a rest for now." Yang nodded understandingly before she started to giggle "You were listening to Mentor when she told you about the bell being alive." which caused the female Eevee to be irritated from it. Hearing them interact with each other like that, and mentioning a Mentor peaked Nox interest into both of them very strongly by now. *I wonder what kind of Mentor they had... did Sonya perhaps got combat training from that person? Or her parents...*

"Stop bringing up our Mentor Yang. Just go." was Sonya demanding her, while the shiny Mienfoo kept giggeling with a smile towards both of them as she headed out of the room. What both Eevee's didn't knew is that she was going to eavesdrop their conversation in the hallway. Soon was the female Eevee returning to look towards the male shiny Eevee with seriousy, then suddently became nervous and awkward for a moment "Nox umm...." For some reason was he annexted by that as he looked a bit nervously back towards her. "Y-yeah?" She closed her eyes for a moment to focus, before looking back towards him "I also want to apologize to you." Her words caused him to tilt his head "Apologizing for what?" The was she lowered her head and ears ashamed caused her bell to ring softly, which reassured that Nox was listening to her.

"When we met, all I've done is treated you with suspicion and rejection. I have problems trusting others as, let's just say, I haven't had the best experiences with others my kind. And due to that, I immediately judged you and treated you unfair. I'm sorry. You don't deserve that since I just met you." was she saying apoligetic towards him. "I see... and I can kinda relate to that in a way or another Sonya. You don't have to apologize for a habit that you have from your past, but I'm sure that habit will be gone in the near future." He triedto reassure her somehow, yet he felt awkward doing so as he caught himself doing that towards her *Wait... what am I saying right now...* The female Eevee's head and ears raised up again after hearing his words, but wanted to continue talking about him and her partner.

"You helping Yang made me think you were just doing it to get something from me or her. Yet the fact Yang was able to sleep with you nearby told me that wast true. Yang can't sleep with just anyone and the fact she slept in today shows that she can sense you have no ill intentions and was able to let her guard down with you. And the fact you didn't do anything to her while she slept also says a lot to me." Hearing Sonya talk about Yang also made him realise why she was beeing very honest with him now "Yang is one of the few Mienfoos that I've met during my journey. But her goals are a lot different then the ones I've met and I kinda want to support her with that. Besides that she's rather timid and shy is she gentle and caring... I do appreciate her beeing." and what Nox said were in complete honesty towards Sonya.

Hearing the female Eevee talk about the sleeping problems of the shiny Mienfoo made the male shiny Eevee respond "I do have noticed it yesterday evening, but now it surprised me that she was able to sleep in the same room as me." After mentioning that were Sonyas eyes narrowing softly towards Nox "I'll be honest. I don't completely trust you yet. And I'm sure you don't to me either. But I do have respect for you as both a capable fighter and a decent person. I just wanted to say thank you, and I'm sorry. You don't have to forgive or or trust me. I just needed to say this for myself. Yang wants me to learn to trust others, and in a way, you helping her is helping me to..... try to consider trusting others again." Her last few words were however uncertain, which the grey furred Eevee noticed as he listened to her.

His black eyes narrowed soflty in return as he responded to her "I'm fine that you don't trust me completly yet. And yes, neither do I trust you completly either Sonya. Yet did you gained my respect for beeing a capable fighter and a surprisingly decent person." His body streched a moment on his position before he spoked up again "I do forgive you, even if you don't want that, since I threat the people that I meet the same way they threat me." It looked like his words and forgivness surprised and shocked the female Eevee as much as when she apologized towards him. Her face kinda showed that as she got a sudden soft blush from it which caused him to look a bit shyly away from her. The next words he were going to say were hard for him to say towards her "Besides.. do I consider ourselfs more of acquaintances right now."

Sonya just shook her head from the surprise from before, only to look even more surprised towards him as she mumbled toughfully "Acquaintances..." Nox though was clear about that *Yeah... acquaintances... it's better for both of us for right now, since we still can't trust each other that well yet. Until I figure out why I'm feeling this odd around you that is Sonya.* Her straight look towards his eyes and a nod aknowledged it "Very well. Acquaintances it is." But soon got her face a smirk and determented look that caused him to raise his eyebrow as she warned him "And as acquaintances, I'd like to warn you now that I will want a rematch someday when we have time and return to Tabira. You have one win over me, but I won't be satisfied until I even our score and beat you fair and square!" She wanted a rematch.

He couldn't helped it but chuckle from that statement and soon got a challenging look with smile on his face "Very well, we'll have a rematch once we're back from the missions! But don't think I'll go easy on you Sonya." Her satisfied look when he accepted her challenge told him that she too haves the fighters pride, just like him. Deep down inside him was he, dare to say it, feeling happy for the first time after a long while. And he did noticed it as he suddently frowned because of that as he thought *Wait a minute... I'm feeling... happy? Am I really feeling it right now?!* Before he was able to react to what he was feeling did a humble, yet soft and quiet "Thank you..." escaped him while he wasn't looking towards the female Eevee's face. The loud ring of her bell made him realise what he said towards her.

Sonyas ears were perked up before she looked nervously as her ears moved towards her head, which caused her bell to ring in the same tone again. She soon informed him with a little stutter "I-I'm going to find Yang. We both should rest before heading to Darkhowl Woods. I heard from some traveling over here some kids are missing. That'll be our next task." "Y-yeah, check on Yang and get some good rest with her before we head out to Darkhowl Woods." He cleared his throat just when she did and spoked up after the female Eevee was about to head out of the room "Sonya, I think the kids might have been kidnapped by a possible witch. I'm going after the young shiny Woobat that's wanted alive, but my guts keeps telling me that we might meet an evil witch in that forest too." She glanced towards him when she heared his words.

"So uhhh... stay vigilant and alert while you search for the lost kids, okay?" She nods in thanks before speaking up honestly with resentment or suspicion "Cya around Nox." then closed the door after she had exited the room. Once she was out of his room did he sighted calmly to lean back onto the bed *I just hope that nothing bad happens to them while I search for the wanted shiny Woobat.* Nox wanted some rest after the rough and painful memory, as well as the surprising talk with Sonya that went better then expected. His face turned a bit red when he realised that he was the one who purposed to her that they are acquaintances, which she accepted. The words of the Audino from Rivercros Acres got into his mind as he gave out a mumbled "Goddamnit!" from him before he tried to get some rest for the next tasks.