Ash had to take a few minutes to register what he was seeing. His tent was still pitched, up completely and perfectly fine, with no obvious alterations to it whatsoever. It hadn't been moved, and hadn't even been touched. It had been completely untouched. But everyone else, their tents, and themselves, even their Pokèmon, were just gone, completely disappeared. Even his jacket, which he had forgotten to take inside his tent had gone too. The place was deserted, aside from a young Kantoean trainer who was severely worried.

"What the hell?" Ash asked, sweat dripping down his cheek. "Pikachu?!" He yelled out into the woods, hoping for a response. When he didn't get one, he tried again. Louder this time. "Pikachu! Serena!" Still no response. "Clemont! Bonnie! Anyone?!"

Ash looked around, nervous. No way. He couldn't be alone in here. That wasn't possible. This wasn't physically possible! How could they have gone without waking him up? He was a deep sleeper, but he'd at least hear all that noise! "Where the hell is everybody?!"

Ash forced himself to calm down. There were still outlines of the tents, so they hadn't been gone for long. "Is this a joke or something?" He shouted at the shrubs, half expecting, half hoping someone would jump from them and scare him, and then they could just move on from the whole event. "If this is some prank to scare me, it's worked, well done, you can come out now!"

Nothing.

"I know!" Ash said, feeling an optimistic margin of hope. He quickly started reaching for his belt, containing his Pokèballs, grabbing for Fletchinder's. "...You've gotta be kidding me..." Ash said, a grim realisation hit him as his eyes widened. They were gone too.

Ash was sufficiently creeped out right now. He was on his own, with only his tent and supplies. His friends, and Pokèmon, had disappeared into thin air, and were nowhere to be found. On top of that, images from the previous nights experience forced themselves back into the front of his head. He shuddered.

"Okay... This isn't good, this isn't good..." Ash repeated to himself. "Think, think... Right, that's right, Clemont gave us all a map and compass just in case this happened." He remembered. Quickly rushing back to his tent, and grabbing his bag, he held his breath. He honestly expected everything inside to be gone. If everything was gone, he was as good as lost.

Unzipping the bag slowly, he let out a huge sigh of relief when his map was there, along with his compass, and rations in case he got hungry. Ash had never been happier to see a map, compass, and food in his entire life.

"Lets see..." Ash said, unfolding the map on the floor, and placing the compass in the top left corner. "Okay, we started here, at the entrance yesterday..." Ash said to himself, pointing at the entrance with his finger. "We walked maybe... I don't know, roughly 5 miles in?" He quizzically looked at the scale, trying to figure it out. "So, if I head back to the entrance, I should be there in a few hours."

He smiled to himself. This whole escapade could be over very soon. But, thinking to himself, would it be? He had no idea where his friends were, or if they even planned to go back to the entrance. For all Ash knew, they had gone deeper into the forest. That felt unlikely, but Ash couldn't shake the feeling something ominous was going on. He didn't outline the possibility of them going deeper Into the forest. In fact...

Ash looked around closer. What he found disturbed him.

It would have been missable to anyone. An easy mistake to make, a very easy mistake.

The placement of the trees, the shrubbery around him, the placement of his tent, and the lack of any burning by the campfire whatsoever. Ash remembered seeing a large log in the woods,made per to where he saw the flowing red eyes, no longer there anymore.

Ash gulped. "Is it possible?... I've moved somehow?..."

Ash shook his head. "No, that... That can't be possible. The outlines of the tents are here, and my tent hasn't even been adjusted slightly... Is this an illusion?... Or..." He gulped, realising he was no longer on the path. "Something weird is going on in this forest... And everyone is still out there... Pikachu... Serena..." He fought the conflicting emotions in himself. One half told him to get out of this forest right now, find some authorities, locals, or someone better qualified to help him find his friends, and get himself to safety in the process. He was no good to them if he got himself injured - or worse - out here on his own. But the other half of himself told him he had to look for them, that he could just leave them out here like this, that he had to look. He couldn't forgive himself for not looking. And he owed them to look. It wasn't like he could actually figure out which was as the way out at this point anyway.

Ash made his hand into a fist, and rested his forehead against it. "Great... No matter what I do, I'm pretty much screwed, aren't I?" He signed. "I have no idea where I am, how to get out of here, what's going on, where the others are gone, if they did it intentionally or what!" He packed up his map and compass. Upon holding the compass, he saw the little arrow inside it going haywire. It was spinning in a circle, as if it was broken, or there was some magnetic interference. "Oh give my an Arceus damned break..."

Ash was stumped. "Well, looks like I don't have a choice anymore..." He said, looking at the forest. Somewhere in there, was either his friends, or a way out of this place. Either way, he had to look for it. "This really was a bad idea... Sorry Serena, I should have listened to you on this one." He muttered to himself, before walking off into the forest.


Staring up at the tall, peering trees, Serena slowly made her way through the forest, quickly glancing around at every turn. Whenever something made a loud, sudden, or spooky noise, Serena gripped tighter onto the blue jacket that she had found. It was Ash's jacket. She was using it as a shock blanket, and it doubled up as keeping her warm, and made her feel a bit more secure. Like Ash was there. But when she found it, it honestly terrified her. If the jacket was here, then where on Earth was Ash?

Come to think of it, where was anyone?

Serena had woken up in a clearing. On her own, and only the things in her tent were still present. The outlines of everyone else's tent was still there, but she was on her own, without a working compass, any of her Pokemon, or anything that cold her her at all. She was on her own. Well, that wasn't actually true.

"Pikachu? Can you see anything from up there?" She asked, looking up into the trees.

Pikachu was atop the tree branches, where it could see further around. How Pikachu had ended up with Serena, neither of them had any idea. It might have just been luck, but either way, the two were technically together, so they thanked Arceus for that. Pikachu shook his head from the branch. He didn't see any sign of anyone else. "Pika pika... Pika pi..."

Serena signed, nodding in her disappointed understanding. She reached into her pockets, pulling out several spherical shaped objects. "How is Ash?... And how is he coping without his Pokèmon?..." She had found them in his jacket. "Be okay Ash..." She said quietly, holding onto the jacket tighter around her.

The two walked along until they reached a clearing. Upon reaching the clearing, Serena leant against a tree and sat under it, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. Pikachu took the opportunity to rest too.

Serena managed to smile slightly at Pikachu, smiling at the cute little electric mouse Pokèmon. The first smile she had managed since this mess began. Then again, Pikachu did remind her of Ash. Besides the fact they were practically joined at the shoulder, Pikachu acted a lot like Ash did too. Reaching into her bag, she produced a few bits of Pokèmon food. "Here Pikachu. Have something to eat."

Pikachu happily took the few bits of Pokèmon food Serena could ration for him and ate them, nibbling on them to make them last longer.

Serena looked back Into the forests dense trees, wondering what they could do next. She didn't know what to do. She had considered using Ash's Fletchinder, sending it to look for the rest of the group, but for some reason, it's Pokèball refused to release it. She didn't know if it had something to do with it being Ashs Pokèball, or if it was something else entirely. She was struggling to keep her composure though. Her hylophobia was not helping her rapidly depleting composure.

"Okay... What do we do now?..." Serena asked herself, with an edge on her voice. Her plan had been to get out of the forest and find people to help her find her friends, but the more she walked, the deeper she seemed to end up in the forest. Using that logic, she had then tried going in completely the opposite direction, but that hasn't worked either. When she had found Ash's jacket with his PokèBalls inside it, she had felt some hope. Fletchinder would have been perfect, but for some reason, it didn't work.

"I wish Ash was here..." Serena said to herself, without really. thinking. "He'd have a plan, or something..." She sighed, and then, out of the of her eyes, she saw Pikachu had stopped eating, it's ears flopped down in front of it face, covering its eyes. Serena had forgotten for a moment that Pikachu must be just as worried about its trainer as she was. "Oh, Pikachu! I'm sorry, I didn't think..." She said, slowly trailing off, before stopping altogether, in a combination of apology, guilt and awkwardness

"Pika pi..." Pikachu muttered to itself. Serena had sort of recognised a pattern when it came to some of the things Pikachu was talking about, how certain objects of discussion had the same words from Pikachu. For example, She was almost certain 'Pika Pi' meant Ash.

"... I forgot you must be just as worried as I am about Ash. I've just been focusing on not breaking down in this forest..." Serena admitted. "I'm sorry, I didn't think before I spoke..."

Pikachu didn't really move much. It gave a gesture with its paw, indicating it forgave Serena, but it's attitude didn't improve much. Serena tried to cheer Pikachu up. "Hey now, don't worry, you know how Ash is! There hasn't been a single mess he hasn't gotten out of by not giving up, remember?" Serena said, trying to sound upbeat. Though she did admit to herself she was also trying to make herself believe that too. Eventually, she stopped trying, because she seemed to be making Pikachu feel worse.

"We can't keep worrying about Ash." She said, quietly. "We need to focus on getting ourselves out of here first." Though it hurt her to say it, it was true. They couldn't help Ash in the middle of this forest.

Pikachu nodded sadly. Then, it's ears perked up suddenly. Before Serena could even register what was going on, Pikachu leapt into the air, and fired off a Thunderbolt attack directly into some bushes. A large explosion erupted from the bushes, but Pikachu didn't seem any easier.

In shock, Serena jumped up, and Ashs jacket hung at her legs. One sleeve was still on her shoulders, keeping it from falling down to the ground completely. "Pikachu, what is -" before Serena could finish, Pikachu fired Thunderbolts behind it, and then to the left, behind a tree, and right past Serena. Either Pikachu was had just developed sever anxiety, or something, or someone, was near them.

Suddenly, a pair of eyes, light blue, but intimidating, seemingly piercing their bodies and into their hearts, appeared from a dark shrubbery. As soon as they appeared, they disappeared. They then relocated to another shrubbery within seconds of disappearing. They did this all around them, staring at them with malice, until at one point, a blue beam shot right at Pikachu.

"Pikachu, look out!" Serena acted without even thinking, dashing, picking up Pikachu, whose back was turned to it, and picking him up, dashing to get them both out of the way of the beam. Serena was just a little behind, or she would have gotten out completely unscathed. Her lower leg, and part of Ash's jacket were caught in the beam.

Serena let out a cry of pain, but quickly forced herself to push it aside. Biting her lip, she dashed right out of the clearing, through the shrubbery, and into the forest. Her leg hurt, but she didn't even care at this point. They couldn't stay there.

"The hell with Hylophobia." She said to Pikachu, who was still in shock at Serena's actions to save a Pokemon that didn't belong to her, especially to the point she got herself so injured and in visible pain, especially considering her usual actions. She usually had some instincts that directed towards self preservation. And at her actual injury she was forcing herself through.

"The hell with Hylophobia!" She said again, affirming it into herself. Sweat now running down her cheek, she swung behind a tree, changing her direction sharply. "No matter what's in this freaky forest, it's safer than in this place! I'd rather be scared than battered by... Whatever that thing is!"

She kept moving, fighting through her injury. "Hold on tight, okay, Pikachu? Are you alright?" She asked, glancing at the mouse Pokemon, still in a combination of shock and a newfound admiration for his saviour. Pikachu nodded.

Serena found herself braving the forest, purely on adrenaline alone. It was unlike her, especially considering her usual attitude to things, but that didn't matter now. They had to get out of this place.

She saw another blast of blue light, aimed right at her.


Again, I'm so sorry that this is out late. It's my sleeping pattern, that's what it is. I normally write At 00:00 till about 02:30 when I was at high school, but now, I have no sleeping pattern, I usually sleep once every two nights, so now I write in breaks during games before I pass out. Like, right now, I'm writing while waiting for ARK: Survival Evolved to update. (Awesome game, by the way, cannot recommend it enough. Favourite game of all year, no question. If you happen to play it, message me if you wanna join the Tribe I run.)

I hope you're all enjoying the fanfic. People keep giving me suggestions, and their theories, and I honestly love it. I just hope the payoff will be good enough for you all. I know I can't please everyone, but I hope you'll all like it, and that it won't disappoint you.

So, I'm currently taking requests for other universe one shots. I can do a few, YuGiOh, Transformers, Fairy Tail, Sword Art Online, ect. As for pairings, it really depends if I like the pairing or not. For example, I can write fanfics about Fairy Tail for Natsu X Lisanna, or Natsu X Lucy (I don't mind either.) Obviously I can't do that with Transformers, for example. It's kinda impossible, but I can make a story up for you all. I might do that anyway. Guilty pleasures. So, lemme know what universe you want, and I'll see, and if you want a pairing, I'll have a look, see if I like. If I don't like your pairing, I might apply the IDEA to a different couple, so you could take solace in that I suppose. I'd like a bit of writing variety on here. So lemme know! Don't be shy, ask away!

So, as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, remember to favourite it, or leave a review, or just message me. I might not reply, but I always read them, every single one. I get so nervous and excited seeing a review in my inbox, it makes me happy and anxious to see if you all like it or not. It's honestly my favourite part of all of this. Follow the story if you're interested in seeing what happens next, and if you don't have an account, what the hell are you doing, go make an account, you'll miss the updates. One shot requests are still open, as always.

I hope to see you all in the chapter I do indeed, decide to make next. See ya!