A few minutes later, I heard an awful screeching noise come from further down the path. My first instinct was to avoid the sound, remembering the crab, but it was followed by an anguished and clearly human shout. I decided to cautiously proceed, and see if I could help them.
Once I rounded the next corner, the situation became both clear and alarming. On one side of the path, a tall and fairly large man stood, wiping at an injury on his scalp. In front of him paced a strange creature, about half his size; pink and quadripedal, with a long tail that moved slowly back and forth. On the other side of the path, three oversized bats fluttered about. Each was attempting to dive at the man, only to be repelled by the man's pet as it sprayed water at them from its mouth. Several more bats littered the ground, soaked through and unmoving.
One bat, rather than diving in, screeched as I'd heard from before. Even from some distance away, the sound was awful. I was far enough away that it only left a ringing in my ears. The man and his pink thing, though, both staggered, the latter tripping and falling to the ground. The next bat dove, biting into the fallen creature's skin, then retreated as it stood again.
A blast of water struck the third bat as it arced in slightly after the second, and it fell from the sky, landing among its already-fallen companions. The remaining two bats swooped-the pink thing, still moving dizzily, missed its next shot, water passing directly between them. The bats latched onto it, sinking in their fangs.
A ray of red light shot from the ball the man held, and a moment later, the pink creature vanished, leaving the bats fluttering atop nothing. After a moment of confusion, I decided it didn't matter what exactly happened there; the man was now alone. The bats recovered quickly from the sudden change, swooping toward the man. Running forward, I waited for an opportunity-there, a bat fluttered off of him, regrouping for another strike-and swung my stick at full force.
It wasn't a full on blow, just clipping the wing, but it was enough. It soared backward, ramming into the ground, and didn't get up again. The last of them fluttered off the man, and darted into the shadows of the treeline-maybe realizing it was outnumbered, or just having slightly more survival instinct than the rest of them. I turned to face the man, who grinned widely at me in spite of the blood running down his face.
"Why thank ya, stranger," the man said. "Rest of my team's recuperatin, thought my little Slowpoke'd do. There's a lesson right there, don't underestimate the wilds, no sir."
Seeing the look on my face, and possibly realizing how little of that I understood, he continued, "Name's Tom. So, who might you be then? And what brings you into Ilex Forest in the night?"
"I'm Leonard," I said, "and I didn't..." It occurred to me that saying I woke up here inexplicably would draw more attention than I wanted to my situation. "Well, I didn't really intend to be out here."
He didn't look like he believed that, but nodded anyway. "Well, Leonard, I do owe ya. I'd probably be a fair bit more banged up than I am, fighting off two Zubat on my lonesome. Your Pokemon are worn down, I take it? No reason to charge in otherwise."
I didn't know what he meant, but I nodded anyway.
"Well then," he continued, "come along to Azalea Town with me, and we'll get that taken care of. Get you some treatment for that arm of yours, while you're there, and it'll give me some time to think on how I can repay you."