The sun had just slipped below the hills and light was just fade from the sky when lights appeared in the Catchers' town. "Look!" Tyler exclaimed, scrambling to his paws.
"I see them," Ryan responded. He got up unhurriedly, eyes flicking back and forth to the different lights that had appeared.
Tyler watched him impatiently. "Let's go!" After a long day of waiting and anticipating, he was almost ready to take off running. Ryan's next words stopped him.
"We need to be careful. Remember, this is where the Catchers live. I know you want to see what's going on in there," he added, throwing a glance at Tyler, "but I want to come back, too."
"Sorry," replied Tyler, his gaze falling to his paws. Ryan was right. "It's just been a long time." Tyler wasn't only thinking about that day.
"It's all right," Ryan said. "Let's put that energy to use, though. We need to circle around the town and find a way in."
"What?" Tyler asked. "Oh – right." The mention of 'energy' had distracted him for a moment, until he realized that Ryan hadn't been referring to the power he had mentioned earlier. "Okay… what do we look for?"
"Shadows. We need to find a way in where no one will see us."
Ryan led Tyler to the right, circling around the town. They kept a safe distance, but it was still closer than Tyler had ever been, and he couldn't help staring, trying to make out everything he could. A few times, Tyler saw dark gaps between the dens, but Ryan pointed out the light behind them, explaining that it wouldn't do any good unless they could safely come out the other side. They reached the road with no success, crossing it cautiously. Tyler noticed a line of lights over the road that continued into the town. How did the Catchers make lights like that?
Behind the town, on the far side of the road, the land stretched off into a line of hills as far as Tyler could make out. Tyler and Ryan continued circling around until Tyler spotted a break in the regular pattern of lights. "Look!" he exclaimed. "There's no light there."
Ryan took a moment to find the spot, but after a short pause, he nodded. "Let's try it."
They waited, Tyler a little impatiently, for the light to go out of the sky, then made their way across the grass to the darkened town. "Remember," said Ryan, "Be careful. Listen. Your hearing's better than mine, so you'll probably hear Catchers before we see them."
Tyler nodded, not speaking. Now that they were actually going in, he was worried. It was one thing to make plans to investigate a Catcher town when they were far away, but now it was right in front of him, and he had no idea what he would find inside. He hoped for some sign of his family, but there were also Catchers, roads, strange lights, and giant, unfamiliar dens. Everything was so big.
"Are you all right?" Tyler turned to see Ryan watching him. "We don't have to go in, you know."
"I know. I'm kind of scared to. But… I want to find my family, too." Tyler closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his courage. "Let's do it."
Ryan nodded. "Follow me, then."
It wasn't the darkest of nights; a crescent moon still left the world bathed in a faint light. Tyler and Ryan approached the first den, darting between the bushes that surrounded it. Warm light streamed out through holes in the walls, casting a glow over the area. Tyler wondered again at where all of this light came from and stopped, narrowing his eyes to peer inside. A Catcher passed by the hole and he flinched back behind a bush.
"Careful!" Ryan hissed at him. He seemed on edge too.
"I am being careful!" Tyler said. I just want to see!" Still, he moved back into the shadow and followed Ryan as they made their furtive way to a space between the den and the one next to it. There was some kind of fencing between them, but it was full of wide gaps and the quilava and qevee easily slipped underneath. Coming out the other side, Tyler took his first step inside a Catcher town. He wasn't sure what to expect, so he stared around at everything. The first thing he noticed was that the grass underpaw was shorter than he had ever seen before. It wouldn't be any good for hiding in, but Tyler decided he liked how it felt. He could make out a path trampled into the grass that led to the den. That was probably where the Catchers went in and out, though there wasn't any opening there that he could see – just a large rectangle on the wall. A road passed in front of the dens, and Tyler could see more on the other side in the waning light. There were more of the Catchers' lights in the air in both directions, but they were a fair distance away still.
Tyler padded forward, aware of Ryan following a short distance behind, gaze darting back and forth. He cocked his ears forward, then back, but couldn't hear anything. Still, he remembered Ryan's warning and stayed alert for any sound that might signal trouble.
Most of the Catchers' dens were surrounded by grass and small plants. There were occasional bushes, and the odd lone tree could be seen near several of the dens, but what Tyler saw the most of were flowers. It seemed that there were some in front of every den, colors muted but still visible in the Catchers' lights. He wondered where they all came from; he never saw that many flowers together, except for the bushes Mother tended, which always seemed to be in bloom.
Before reaching the road, Tyler came across a tall, straight, black pole in the ground that looked a little like a tree with no limbs or leaves. This was stranger than anything else he had come across. He circled around it warily, then came close and tentatively put his right paw on it. Nothing happened. The pole was hard like stone, though it didn't look or feel like any kind of stone Tyler had ever seen. He looked around to see Ryan, who was looking on.
"What do you think it is?"
"I think that stuff is called metal."
"No, but what is it?" Tyler wondered aloud.
"I don't know," Ryan said, sounding a little annoyed. "That's not really why we're here, though, is it?"
Right. Tyler looked around again, wondering where to start looking for his family. He took a long sniff of the dying breeze, but nothing jumped out at him, except that there were lots of Catchers around, which he already knew. He didn't recognize any of their scents from the forest. There were scents of pokémon too, but they were few and many of them were unfamiliar. A sound overhead startled him into crouching defensively, but it was only a straggling pidgeotto overhead, returning to its nest. Where to go? After looking around for a while, he came to a decision. "I don't smell anything here. Let's keep moving. Maybe there will be something different further in."
"You don't smell anything different?" Ryan asked.
"Well… I can smell Catchers, and flowers, and the roads, and a few pokémon. But no other eevee. There are some other smells, but they're really strange. I think they're from some kind of Catcher stuff."
"What pokémon can you smell here?" Ryan pressed.
Tyler inhaled again, sorting through the different scents. "Well, there's pidgey, a little… and a lot of rattata. Mostly those two. I think I can smell some grass Pokémon, but I don't think they're here anymore. All of the other ones are really weak. Probably outside town. And us."
"You're sure it's just us, and there aren't any other other quilava, and eevee, around?"
Now it was Tyler's turn to be annoyed. "I'm sure. I can tell the difference, you know."
Ryan sighed. "I'm sorry. I was just hoping… Never mind. Let's just keep moving."
They crossed the road and slipped between two more dens. Coming out the other side, they emerged into a rocky area. More dens waited at the other side. Tyler sighed. This wasn't getting them anywhere; all they had found were dark dens. The Catchers – and anything they might learn from seeing them – were inside. "I think we need to see what's in their dens."
"I don't like it," Ryan responded, "but I think you're right. I don't see anything useful out here."
Moving on, they passed between two more dens, both completely dark. Tyler tried climbing up to one of the holes, but it was blocked by some kind of hard stuff. It was clear, like water, but in the darkness it was impossible to make anything out inside the den, so they kept going. On the other side, they found more of the lights dotted around a large open area with trees here and there. The space was dominated by a large, brightly lit red den and another den that was even wider, but lower and flatter. A few of the holes on this one were lit, but others were dark. This was different from the other dens they had seen, which seemed to be either all lit or all dark. "What do you think?" Tyler asked.
"I don't like the look of that red den," Ryan said. "It's too bright. If we go there we'll be seen for sure. Let's try the other one."
After debating for a while, they decided to go straight across the open space, slinking between the shadows of the trees instead of going around and having to pass in front of every single den. There was a light directly in front of them, up in the air – no, at the top of another of the strange poles – and they passed it at a run, diving behind the first tree. They crouched there in silence for almost half a minute, waiting for some sound or sign that they had been noticed. Tyler's heart was racing. Everything stayed quiet, though, so they moved on cautiously from tree to tree, slinking through the shadows and darting across lit gaps. The constant listening, expecting Catchers to burst out and attack, was wearing on Tyler's nerves. They made it across safely, but he found himself shivering a bit when he tried to catch his breath. They were right up against the wide den, crouched in the sparse cover of the flowers with a darkened hole right above them. Hopefully that meant there were no Catchers on the other side.
Tyler broke the silence with a whisper. "I can smell something different over here. Another pokémon."
Ryan looked over. "What kind?"
"I'm not sure. It smells a little like you."
Ryan's ears pricked up. "A typhlosion?"
"I don't know. I've never seen a typhlosion before. Maybe?" Tyler hoped Ryan wouldn't be annoyed again.
To his relief, Ryan nodded. "All right. We've definitely got to see what's in this den."
After a minute, it became clear that nothing was coming, so they started picking their way furtively around the den. When they reached the corner, Tyler was somewhat relieved to see the forest in the distance. They had passed all the way through the town! Moving on, they saw a hole with light shining through it. Tyler went to climb up and peer in, but Ryan held him back.
"Sorry, not this time," he said. "I'll be harder to see looking in, since my head is darker. And your ears stick up pretty far."
Tyler folded his ears back as far as they would go, but after a moment he had to admit Ryan had a point. "Okay."
Ryan padded up to the hole and reared up, looking inside and blinking. "What's in there?" Tyler whispered excitedly.
"Wow, that's bright. Give me a moment. Okay. There's a bunch of stuff in here. Catcher stuff. I don't really know what any of it is. But there are lots of little lights. Wait… I think there's a Catcher in there too. I can't quite see from here…" He craned his head, shuffling to the side. "There is. It's a…" Ryan suddenly stiffened. "It's him."
"Him who?" Tyler asked. He wondered if he was supposed to know.
"The old Catcher. The one who took Leo." Ryan was visibly agitated now; sparks were flying from his head and tail, threatening to flare up into a signal that the Catchers wouldn't miss.
"Calm down!" Tyler whispered worriedly at him. "You're sparking, he'll see!"
Ryan looked surprised for a moment, then dropped back onto all fours. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and the sparks subsided. "Sorry. I just… wasn't expecting that." He took another breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was ragged. "I thought… I'd gotten over missing Leo… but seeing him again brought it all back."
Tyler was listening at first, but then another sound caught his attention, a muffled, rhythmic thump. It took him a moment to identify it, but when he did, he gasped. "Quick! He's coming! He must have seen you!"
Ryan caught his breath, cutting off in midsentence, but remained crouched where he was, as if unsure where to go. Tyler just knew they had to get out of sight. He turned instinctively toward the forest. "Come on!" he shouted in panic, already breaking into a run.
Ryan suddenly seemed to wake up and took off too, quickly catching up with Tyler. "Around the corner," he hissed. "Quietly!" Tyler did as he said, and they both crouched in the shadow cast by the den. Tyler peeked back around the corner, taking care to fold his ears back. There was a sliding sound, and then the old Catcher's head poked out of the hole. Tyler froze, not daring to do anything that might alert the Catcher to where they were. The Catcher looked out across the space between the dens, then turned his gaze to the ground where they had been standing moments before. What if he saw their tracks?
The Catcher kept looking around, his gaze sliding across grass and flowers. At one point, he looked right were Tyler was. After a tense moment, the Catcher looked away. After staring around at the area again, the Catcher gave a satisfied grunt and withdrew his head. There was another sliding sound, a few more footsteps, far fainter from this distance, then silence. Tyler finally relaxed from his stiff position. "That was close!" he whispered.
Ryan nodded, then turned away from the old Catcher's den, back to the forest. "Come on. I think we've seen enough."
