Sundown... That's all it would be, right? Kumori looked down at his watch, with his aquamarine eyes, and saw that it read "7:15." 'Yeah' the teen thought with fake happiness.

"Just need to get home on time. That's all..." Treading lightly, the wary form of Kumori turned to an eerie looking forest, overshadowing even the sun. The darkness seemed to ripple around the contours of each tree, each seeming like they would swallow anyone who would stray too close. Kumori doubted it was far off. 'Lostlorn Forest... It's said it's famous for people to disappear, some never to return. I'm not sure about the risk factor, but I'll take it.' With his final thought dismissed, Kumori rotated and pressed on in the new direction: Within the depths of the infamous Lostlorn Forest...

Each step crunched loudly from the fallen leaves of Autumn, and spare leaves swirled in the light breeze. 'So far, so good, I guess...' Kumori thought, mumbling something about getting a new thrill interest. As far as a disgruntled Kumori could see, there were only more trees. 'Damn it... I can't see any more!'

As his brown clothes rippled in the wind, Kumori thought he could see a faint, sleek figure waver, then vanish when the wind calmed for a moment. And mere moments later, Kumori heard a most unsettling voice: "Moongus... Moongus! Amoon... Gus!"

Swallowing hard, Kumori held his breath. 'Were those the man eaters just now? Now I know why some never return...' The teen's skin began to crawl, goosebumps gathering on his arms. Sweat began to bead on Kumori's forehead, and he glanced back, to see the dreadful eyes of Amoongus staring at its prey… him!

"Shit!" Kumori sprinted in the direction away from the man eating toadstool, barely dodging tree trunks and limbs, and tripping over the twisting roots. The terrifying prospect of being sucked dry followed Kumori, as each tree fazed by. The forest seemed like it wouldn't end, and Kumori began to run faster, now. Between his raspy breaths, Kumori could hear the faint cries of the Amoongus drifting away and more leaves crunching. Despite this, Kumori didn't even pause, as he shot through between two more trees.

Just as the teen's heart pumped blood faster than it ever had before, a gnarled root caught onto Kumori's right foot, tripping him. Kumori let out an overly audible shout as his legs were swept from under him, and he crashed into a nearby bush. Kumori felt a deep jolt of pain up both of his legs, and felt something trickling down the left one.

'Blood? Oh no, I'm bleeding! Shit! I'm gonna die…' Kumori thought with remorse, but something inside told him he would be fine.

'Perhaps someone or another good Pokémon would find me here'

'Or Amoongus will!'

'No! I know that Amoongus isn't the only Pokémon here! It shouldn't even be common!'

'But you know that you're bleeding!'

'Do Amoongus have noses?'

'Scolipede could kill you…'

'Why am I talking to myself?!'

Just then, a man-like voice whispered to him: "Hello, there, human. I need to have you follow me!"

'Human? What does he mean by that? Is he a Pokémon? Good thing he isn't an Amoongus!' "Okay, then... Just get me away from any of those Amoongus, please," Kumori whispered back, attempting to climb out of the brush. His ascent came to a halt when his right ankle exploded with pain. "Ah! That stings!"

"Here, human, let me help..." The talking Pokémon wrapped his furry arms around Kumori's waist, hoisted the teenager up, and positioned his arms to cradle Kumori like a baby.

"Thank you... I'm glad someone found me, or I'd probably be dead," Kumori humbly admitted.

"That is quite alright. It is my job to bring humans to my village when curfew occurs. All scouts have this job, and it is our sworn duty to find all potential threats and search them for any object or a fellow Pokémon that could be used to capture one of us... as many human trainers do, I'm afraid," the mystery Pokémon replied, seeming to have a placid tone of voice while explaining.

"Why didn't you search me then?"

"I needn't to. You did not have any objects other than your clothes and the tiny sound box," the Pokémon replied, his smile unnoticed by Kumori, who didn't exactly have night vision. The Pok'emon liked those "music boxes."

"Wow, you have great vision..." Kumori muttered, staring off into space, and unknowingly into his savior's eyes. The Pokémon picked up on this, and knew that it was a coincidence. However, he began to look into Kumori's eyes with a certain joy. Though the telepathic Pokémon saw many humans, he had never gazed into a pair of eyes with such strange feelings. What was the feeling that made itself known in his heart? Love? What grabbed him? Was it the deep, aquamarine pair of eyes? As light from a nearing campfire started to shine through the bark, the Pokémon's eyes averted from Kumori's.

"Oh, so you are a Zoroark! I see now!" Kumori piped up again, looking toward the firelight now. The teen was blissfully unaware of the barely visible blush from the Zoroark, much to the scout's relief. As the twosome passed the last tree, Kumori gasped quietly. The village of Zoroark actually was a village, and almost seemed to house mutant humans instead of Pokémon. An average sized fir pit had surrounding stones in a square shape to prevent forest fires, while a group of Zoroark sat around it on Pikachu pattern, cushioned chairs. On their right, a cluster of Zorua ran in a circle, playing a game, as a mother Zoroark tended to the little scamps. Two Zoroark in the back left were chatting in their poke' tongue, and were chuckling lightly. 70 or so more Zoroark and Zorua were just going about their business, and Kumori was sure there were more around the place, even if he couldn't see them here.

"We need to get you to the medical bay at once to heal your injuries. I will inform the doctor for some needed care," Zoroark informed Kumori with an assuring tone, blushing as he rushed in the door to the medical bay's single room. Kumori noticed the blush, and was quick to put the clues together. Blushing himself, Kumori instinctively placed a hand over his own face, attempting to hide it.

The human teen knew what that blush meant, as he had seen it before with girls in the trainer's school with boys there. And Kumori knew what Zoroark was feeling: Zoroark was a Pokémon in love! Kumori's blush grew deeper. Kumori wasn't exactly sure how he felt. He couldn't just lead Zoroark on, but he couldn't put the Pokémon down so quickly, either. Zoroark gently laid Kumori on the doctor's table, which looked just like one used in a human doctor's office. The teen was guessing it was. Kumori also saw that the Zoroark village had actual lighting. Kumori laid his red head down on the pillow, and returned his thoughts to the feelings at work as he stared up at the ceiling.

Though Kumori wasn't a slouch when it came to Pokémon knowledge, and knew gender didn't matter with many kinds of Pokémon and their mates, and the teen did notice the Zoroark's very caring tone... And then it came back to the blush. What did Zoroark see in Kumori? The human couldn't see anything: Kumori was a scrawny, bony person, he had near zero strength, and couldn't cook. Despite that last part, which was learnable, Kumori could hardly call himself a good candidate for a mate, and he wasn't exactly a "looker..."

'Wait a second...' Kumori wondered. ' "Looker..." That's it! Was he looking in my eyes? What did he... could he see there?' Kumori's thoughts slowed to a trickle when Kumori's friend Zoroark and the doctor Zoroark came in.

"All right, then… be still, boy. I am going to examine your legs," the doctor told Kumori, the scout Zoroark placing a paw on the teen's right shoulder, and holding the corresponding hand in the other paw. The doctor looked carefully at the teenager's swollen ankle, and saw his bleeding cut on the other leg. "Ah, I see… this is easy to fix. I just need to get to the medicinal herbs…" The doctor's paws moved quickly but gently, grabbing some herbs and oran berries, and placing them next to the placid Kumori. The doctor placed his oran-soaked paws on the cut, healing the wound quickly. Though it stung, Kumori remained placid looking at his new friend, and didn't even twitch. When the doctor moved to the twisted right ankle, he was very gentle, and placed some energy powder on the swollen ankle.

"Now eat this energy root…" the doctor ordered calmly. Kumori took the root and ate it with some distaste, but felt a lot less pain in his ankle. He also felt the ankle reset itself.

"Are you okay, now?" Zoroark asked his new friend, Kumori, blood rushing to his face.

"Yes… thank you both," Kumori replied, blushing back.