Chapter 1: Nightmares and Pools
Still 10 years ago
In another place a six-year old girl was having a panic attack. It was around 10:30 and all of the lights in her pale green room were on, including her Hello Kitty night light and bedside lamp. She seemed highly convinced that the lights would ward off the monster that tormented her mind. It was working, for the most part that is.
The little girl looked like she was in a blanket cocoon. It wasn't the same kind of comfort that her mother gives her, but for the time being it was makeshift comfort. Nobody was home to hear her nightmare-induced screams: the babysitter was fast asleep on the couch (she is a very heavy sleeper, which the little girl knew quite well); her sister was at a sleepover; and her parents weren't home. She was alone.
No matter where she looked she saw the bloody figure in the corner of her eye, which is one of the last things that a six-year old deserves to endure. She finally decided to just stare at a fixed point on her wall, quivering and sobbing.
The little girl had no Pokemon. Her sister did, but her Houndour was not the most pleasant Pokemon in the world. Her sister called him Hal. Hal never took a liking to anyone besides his trainer. She was too scared to even walk near Hal because of how possessive he was of her sister.
She considered walking downstairs to her babysitter; down the dark, dark stairs. Who in the right mind would go downstairs after having a nightmare? Maybe if the little girl could just… Grab her attention.
"BETH!" screamed the little girl from inside her blanket cocoon. There was no reply. "BETH! I NEED YOU!"
The steps were creaking. The girl tried not to flinch from fright when Beth burst in. "Katherine, what is it? What's wrong?" asked Beth hastily as she sat down next to Katherine. Beth pulled down some of the covers covering her mouth and saw the tears streaming down her face. Beth's expression softened and she wrapped her arms around Katherine.
She sighe. "Another nightmare?"
Katherine didn't want to reply or speak, so she simply nodded and dug her face into Beth's shoulder. She let out a wail. The bloody figure wanted to be near her. He was going to come back.
Beth hushed her and stoked the little girl's auburn hair. "The nightmare is over now."
She shook her head repeatedly with determination. "He's gonna get me! The shadow guy is gonna get me!" she wept, her breathing pattern becoming irregular.
"Not while I'm around, he won't," said Beth with a smile. "Do you want me to get out Sylvia? I'm sure she'll make you feel better."
Sylvia was Beth's Sylveon. Beth would always bring Sylvia over to play with Katherine. In a way Katherine treats Sylvia more like her own Pokemon than Hal.
Katherine pulled away and wiped the tears from her face. She nodded as Beth started to sift through her backpack. Beth grabbed a shiny red and white Pokeball and clicked the button. A red laser-type ray erupted from the core of the Pokeball, releasing the Pokemon. Sylvia stood on Katherine's bed and mewed happily.
The pink and frilly creature jumped onto Katherine's lap and snuggled up to her cheek. She hugged Sylvia tightly which released some of her anxiety. "When can I get a Pokemon like Sylvia?"
Beth chuckled. "It's really up to your parents, but they let Jasmine get Hal… Oh, why not. I guess the time is right."
The little girl had a puzzled look on her face. "The time is right for what?"
Beth didn't answer, but instead shuffled through her cluttered bag and carefully pulled out a cylindrical incubator. Katherine's breath caught as she reached out and touched the incubator's glass, which was pleasantly warm to the touch. Her green eyes lit up as she looked at the tiny brown spotted egg. It was hard to believe that there was life in such a little insignificant thing.
"Sylvia is a mother, but I think that this little egg will be in better hands with you. Be super careful though. He's really delicate."
Katherine squealed with joy. She finally had a real Pokemon! She loved the Pokemon already, even though he was only an egg. Not being born yet was hardly an excuse not to love something.
Beth put the incubator on Katherine's bedside table. "Your parents should be home soon… Do you want some hot chocolate?"
She nodded and jumped from her bed as Beth led her down the dark, dark stairs. Out of the corner of her eye Katherine thought that she saw the man again with a smile on his face. She didn't bother turning her head. Some things are best to be left alone.
Katherine never saw the bloody shadow in her dreams again; for a decade, at least.
Present Day
A morning jog is great to get the blood flowing. Katherine weaved and bobbed through the untouched area of White Forest which was shielded from deforestation. White Forest has always been her original home. It was where she grew up, played, and honestly lived. No one in the right mind would want to leave a place like that, right?
Katherine slowed down her pace with raspy breathing. It turned out that a morning jog is not a great way to get the blood flowing. Why would she even go jogging? Who does that at 5 AM? She asked herself many of these questions as she arrived back at the edge of the city right as the roads and homes began to take shape in the distance. Her memory seemed to have been getting feebler lately.
As she was fumbling with her inhaler she remembered why she chose to run through the woodlands at 5 AM: the most beautiful sunrise in Unova happens right in her hometown. The orange rays peeked over the horizon, engulfing the sky in a warm essence of light. The sun scared away the eerie remaining shadows of the night.
Every once in a while Katherine would go out and watch the sunrise and how it glints off of the tree foliage. Everything about a sunrise was beautiful, and White Forest was the hub of all sunrise enthusiasts.
She stood there leaning against the tree for a good five minutes. She had no other plans for today, although, i
t may just be the asthma medication, but there was a feeling in her stomach that today would be a long day.
A voice made her jump. "Kat."
Kat turned around while clutching her hummingbird heart. A girl a couple inches taller than her with messy bleached hair stood in the shade of a nearby tree, trying to dodge the blinding light. She had thick glasses which took over her delicate face shape. The girl looked very out of place with her black clothing and large backpack.
"Jesus, Jazzy, you almost killed me," muttered Kat. Jasmine was Katherine's older sister, but there was no way to tell at this point; they look nothing like each other. The only clue was their similar name styles, which they ironically both shortened because this way they're easier to say.
Jazzy didn't look that amused.
"Okay fine, Little Miss Crabby-Pants, what? Also, why are you out at 5 AM? You usually wake up five hours from now."
"See Kat, that's the point. Eighteen years of my life has been wasted here in the boondocks. I'm going to go on a journey!" said Jazzy quickly. She might have kept this inside for quite some time by the looks of her demeanor.
Kat's brow crinkled. "This is kind of sudden though; and weird. You've never talked about this to me before now. What's the big change? I thought you hated exercise, let alone walking around the entire region."
She bit her lip while avoiding her sister's green eyes. "Well I was going to go on my journey when I turned thirteen like everybody else, but then the accident happened…" Her gaze became cloudy. The two sisters never really talked about their parents' deaths openly. They both just acknowledged that they were dead and moved on. When they did die Katherine was ten years old and Jasmine was thirteen, which left them to take care of each other.
"Five years is enough time to wait… But if you're going today then who's gonna stay with me? I'll have nobody besides Leafeon."
Jazzy sighed. "You have Adrian as a last resort I guess."
Adrian Jefferson was Kat's best friend and Jazzy's mortal enemy. Apparently there was a 'history' with them, but Kat learned not to butt in. There are bigger things in life to worry about than teen drama that isn't any of her business. Either way Adrian has been with Kat through everything.
Kat distractedly ran her fingers through her short auburn hair. "W-Well, do you have enough potions, enough Poke dollars, enough Pokeballs, enough food for both you and Hal?"
She started to count on her fingers. "Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Kat, I've been planning for this journey for the past five years. You could always come with me if you'd want to."
The problem was that she didn't really want to. Traveling was never of her interests, oddly enough.
"I don't plan on going on any journeys anytime soon."
"Your loss, then," said Jazzy as she shook her head and walked past her towards the main part of the city.
"Jazzy, wait! Are you actually leaving now?"
She turned around and nodded. "Uhm, yeah. I am."
Kat opened her mouth but no noise came out: she was literally speechless. With no warning whatsoever, her only sister and guardian was waltzing off on a journey all her own. Jazzy has always been like that; stubborn as nails and so indecisive that she changes her mind every day.
She turned and faced the forest. There was no way that anybody could process all this new information this fast. Her train of thought was suddenly derailed when a shadow appeared in the corner of her eye. Her body froze. Do not look, Katherine. Do not look, her mind protested.
An audible gasp came from Jazzy. She would ask what was wrong if her body wasn't frozen in sudden ice cold fear. The shadow was still in the corner of her eye.
"Kat, I need you to run. Run as fast as you can towards home," she whispered hastily. "There's something behind you."
It can't be the same thing as in my dreams, right? That's impossible, right?
Her head slowly turned and her blood transformed into liquid ice flowing through her veins. This time it wasn't just a mere shadow like she originally thought: a man was staring through her soul with those famous light blue eyes which invaded her childhood dreams.
It was strange how surreal this moment was. The terror that tormented her mind was standing in physical form right in front of her. Jazzy had no idea who this man was or why he was so interested in Kat, but seeing how Kat's face twisted into complete horror, it was kind of an instinct.
"How can you be real?" said Kat under her choppy breath. The figure tilted his head as Jazzy grabbed her hand in a vice-like grip and dragged her deep into the woods, away from the shadowy man.
Kat's cheeks were wet with tears. They both mutually and silently decided to not look back and check if the nightmare was following. They only had hope and the sheer power of running.
Her asthmatic lungs were complaining like hell, but nothing could be worse than being captured by her own nightmare. Talk about pathetic, especially in real life. On her turf. In her hometown.
The grove of birch trees was thickening, the treetops shrouding the sky. Jazzy honestly had no idea where she was going, which made Kat feel uneasy. All she knew was that she needed to get far away from where they were.
Kat dug her heels into the wet earth. If anybody was to navigate a dark forest, it would be her. She honestly really loved nature, unlike her sister.
Jazzy turned around with a pissed look on her face. "Ya' know, when something dark and scary crosses your path, you're supposed to run for your life. There's no time for your stupid breathing breaks!"
"Well, do you actually see him behind me?"
"…No, but—"
"Then there's no problem. Let me lead, by the way. If we ever find ourselves in a video game world then I'll be sure to let you navigate that, but nature is my forte. I'd bet you don't even know what kind of trees these are," said Kat as she gestured all around them.
Jazzy rolled her brown eyes. "They're… White."
"Birch trees. They're birch trees," corrected Kat as she walked past her sister with a smirk. "You're going on a rural journey through Unova soon; educate yourself."
And so they continued to walk with Kat at the front and Jazzy following glumly from behind. Nothing was stirring except for random snatches of babble from the Pokemon who lived in the canopy.
They walked for a couple minutes; it may have been ten. It may have been thirty. Nature causes people to lose track of things in the best of ways.
Suddenly, a clearing opened up before them. Sun was streaming down through the canopy in golden rays which flecked off of the leaf-strewn ground.
Jazzy looked around in awe. "What is this place?"
In the middle of the clearing there was a pool of cerulean water. It was larger and deeper than a puddle but smaller than a bed. Something about the pool seemed inviting, like a fireplace on a blizzard day.
"It might just be a Hidden Grotto… They're like these pockets in the depths of the woodlands where there's only calm. I've only been in one before now," explained Kat as she kneeled down next to the pool. The water barely moved, just sparkled. At a distance it might look like stained glass.
"Do you think we're safe by now?"
The trees swayed without the help of any wind. Pidove chittered in the treetops overlooking the Grotto. She nodded. This place felt like it was stuck in a personal bubble of calm. Absolutely nothing could happen.
"Good." Jazzy sighed and set her heavy pack down next to the pool, releasing a weight from her shoulders. "What's with this puddle thing?"
Kat didn't reply because she honestly didn't know either. The closer she got to the water the more she urged to jump into it, like her body ached to be in the pool. "Do you feel that?" she asked with hesitation. Jazzy probably thought she was a nut job.
"What?" she saw Kat glancing at the water. "It's just water, sis."
Kat shook her head determinedly.
"What, you don't believe me?" she taunted, grazing her foot over the pool which sent ripples through the surface. Kat flinched as Jazzy laughed. "It's just water."
She didn't understand: it wasn't just water. There was something weird about this water, but she couldn't put her finger on it no matter how hard she racked her brain.
Jazzy sat down on the grass and lowered herself slowly into the pool.
"Stop! What are you doing?"
"I'm showing you that you're just an obsessive freak," said Jazzy with a smile as she submerged herself in the pool.
Kat didn't know where the feeling was coming from, but she was suddenly very concerned. "Get out, Jazzy! Get out! This isn't funny!" She rolled up her sleeve and dipped the entire length of her arm into the pool in an attempt to pull her sister out. Her hand caught on nothing.
It felt like she stuck her arm in a vat of cement. Kat pulled and pulled with all her might to get it out, but it was no use without dislocating her shoulder. Her breathing was becoming irregular again. The world started to compact with her at the center. Claustrophobia was setting in.
She tapped the water with her free hand, which turned out to be permeable. A voice rang in her head. The only way to leave is to enter. Kat couldn't take it anymore, with the dead arm and the voices and the entire clearing shrinking at the cause of her own subconscious.
A splash was heard as Kat dipped her entire body in the mysterious water. The splash was followed by a crack louder than lightning. Her lungs felt like they were being flooded with water, except for the fact that they weren't. There wasn't any water. There wasn't even a clearing anymore. She was drowning in nothingness.