Broken Souls

Below

I'm awoken by a swift prod to side, followed by a far less friendly punch to the gut.

"Is he up?" asks Dusty, turning to Lilly, who splays her hoof in what I think is supposed to be some kind of thumbs up.

"Yes," I reply, sucking in a breath and propping myself up against the willow. "Awake and in pain."

"Sorry." Dusty calls as I brush myself off and hoist myself onto my back legs. Out of everyone on the team, it's most likely that Dusty would legitimately push me off a branch 'on accident', so I'm willing to let it slide. Still, a quick glance around lets me know everyone else is watching and they're definitely not snickering on accident.

"Next time, you can just ask nicely." I cross my arms, feeling both embarrassed and a little sore in the back.

"We did. Then we tapped nicely. We wanted to pour some water on your head nicely, but Toxis said that was going to cause a lot more problems than it would solve." Dill says.

"Seriously, though, you sleep like a Snorlax. Were you having intense dreams or something?" Sky asks, patting me with one of her upper wings. "If something's wrong, you can tell us."

"What's wrong? Well, I was just hurled out of bed, but besides that, I'm fine." I say with a sideways leer. Upon thinking about it, I can't seem to remember my dreams at all, which is a good sign at this point. The last thing I need is to start dreaming about what an incompetent leader I am. Speaking of such... "Let me guess, we need to get going, don't we?"
"Now that you mention it." Sky flaps up and lands on my shoulder. Khrys, egg lodged between his stubby appendages, is on Shika's back already. Ferro and Chompers have a large bark tray of berries between them and another is tied to Dill by some vines. "We're ready when you are."
I nod. "If you insist. Let's get going, team!"

Lilly and I take up the front, with Toxis on Lilly's right and Rage on my left. The massive water snake has found his own way to traverse the forest, soaring just a foot above the ground and weaving through the trees like bizarre poles in some athletic contest. There are points where he hardly fits, but he's careful not to complain and the trees, firm as they usually are, crack and bend as he barrels through.

The rest of us, especially those with less fighting capability, take up the rear and middle. Gaia speaks with Shika in a hushed tone while Dill, Ferro, and Chompers contend with the burden of our food supply. Sky occasionally takes flight and circles us from above, dipping down to report, and the others are just keeping pace.

Still, I feel a swell of pride as I watch our little procession make good time through the forest. We look sophisticated. Lilly seems to share the sentiment, because she's smiling and though the morning sunlight is strong, I catch the faintest red glow from her head and tail gems.

To my surprise, Grim is standing unconcealed in the clearing, looking bored. Hux and the other Houndoom are nowhere in sight. The Gengar flashes us all a winning grin, but his minions are far more blunt. One of the Gastly states, "Took the lot of you long enough."

"Rick!" gasps Grim, hand half covering his massive smile in mock appallment. "That's no way to treat our honored customers."

"I apologize for our tardiness, but we're here now and we're ready to get going." I say, dipping my head. "I trust we'll need to make good time if we want to get out of Goldenrod in a matter of days."

"We could have you out by tonight. See, that's just one of our many virtues here at the Grim Road- we're efficient." Grim smirks, "Suppose you're right though. On with the show!" There's a snap and crack not unlike lightning fills the clearing as Grim disappears and reappears just past the edge of the tree line, and with another snap, Gastly appear all around us, just skirting the edge of our party save for a large gap in the line where Rage stands (or floats), looking bored.