Lost and Found

Chapter Two: Changing for the Better

The Hatenna grunted in satisfaction as she examined the makeshift tent. It had taken her the better part of the day to put it together, but it would be worth the effort to keep from waking up damp every morning.

Shelter complete, she set about to gather her food in preparation for her next meal; while dinner wouldn't be for a couple of hours, she head learned to be prepared rather than having to scramble to find everything at the last minute. Fortunately, it didn't take long to gather enough berries and leaves – as well as a few bugs that seemed to agree with her digestion. Diamond hadn't been around for the past several days, but in the four weeks since her abandonment her friend had helped as much as she could. The Hatenna figured that her former trainer had found out about her visits and stopped them. That was fine, though; while she missed the former Mawile's visits, she was able to study the various humans that would visit the fields around her forest; most of them were tame, so they didn't upset her more than she could handle. From listening to their conversations she had learned many words...and that many of the words that she heard were naughty.

"Eeeee...Eeeee...tuh...tuh"

She had also been practicing what she heard – other than the naughty words, of course. The word that she heard the most often and was her personal favorite was the word 'eat'. It was easy to say and worked her mouth muscles without it being too strenuous. Besides, she was rather fond of the activity that the word described.

"Eat," she declared as she settled down to another meal of berries and leaves with a side of bugs. While she was tired of eating the same things for every meal, she knew that the alternative would have been much worse. "Eat," she repeated gratefully through a mouthful of berries.

The sudden appearance of familiar emotions startled her, and she quickly finished her bite before stepping out of her new home to head for the edge of the forest. "Eat!" she exclaimed at the sight of her friend before catching herself; she didn't want to eat the transformed Mawile, of course.

Something about the way Diamond carried herself, along with the distressed state of her emotions, told the Hatenna that something was very wrong. As she came closer a dark circle could be seen around one eye. "Hello, Hatenna," she greeted tiredly as she knelt in front of the tiny Pokémon. "I...this ma-will be the...the last time I can see you," she said in a halting tone. "Donald found out about my visits and became very angry." She noticed the Pokémon's focus on her injured eye socket and smiled awkwardly. "It'll heal quickly; he ma-was really sorry afterward."

"Eat?" the Hatenna said, hoping to distract the young woman from her embarrassment.

As hoped, Diamond's eyes lit up. "You taught yourself a word?' She dropped the bag to grab up her friend in a hug. "Congratulations! Ma-Well done!"

"Eat!" the tiny Pokémon squeaked happily in her friend's arms. "Eat!"

Diamond reluctantly released her and turned to reclaim her bag. "This is the last, um...delivery I can make," she said. "I'm really sorry; I tried to stuff as much as I could in here, so it should last you a ma-while."

In spite of the offering the Hatenna didn't think that 'eat' would be an appropriate response, so she settled for snuggling her friend's knees to the best of her ability; a hand gently laid on her head accompanied by a sense of contentment told her that she'd succeeded.

"Since you can talk now, I'd like to teach you a ma-word to use ma-when meeting people," Diamond said as she stroked the Hatenna's round body. "It's 'hi'. I'm sure you've heard it before, but I'll help you say it."

The Pokémon wasn't sure that she'd have need of that particular word, but she'd already gone to the trouble of teaching herself 'eat', so... "Hhhh..." she hissed, trying to imitate the first sound in the word.