The Secret of the Guardians
The woods were blacker than night and only seemed to get darker as the Pokémon travelled onwards. Ralts was thankful for her extra senses and Surskit was glad for the ability to see some wavelengths of ultraviolet and infrared. They had untied Wurmple so that he could lead. Of course the first thing he tried to do was flee but he was way too slow and Ralts reminded him of his position by returning him to the Pokéball. They trekked a long way, climbing over roots, logs and boulders, passing many sleeping Cascoons and Silcoons. Most of the Pokémon were asleep but overhead they occasionally heard the slight rustles of Sevipers slithering through the branches.
"Goodness, we've come such a long way," Ralts piped up after a few hours of silence. Surskit looked up from the tree he was marking with his honey. "Are you sure you're leading us in the right direction and not just in random circles?"
Wurmple paused and blinked as he ran that through his head a couple of times. "Damn! Why didn't I think of that before? Damn! We're really close! Maybe if I pretend its farther I can lead them astray all night and then their trainer will probably never get better."
"Wait… I can sense something…" Ralts looked around the forest, reaching between the trees with her powers. She pointed to a part of the forest with some moonlight streaming through it. "There's some Pokémon over there."
"How can you tell?" Wurmple retorted.
"Because I'm psychic," Ralts deadpanned, walking in that direction.
"There are Pokémon everywhere in the forest and none of them piqued your interest before," Surskit said. "What's special about these Pokémon?"
"I don't know… they just feel powerful."
Wurmple panicked. "Oh no! She's going in the right direction!"
"Hey, never mind those Pokémon! Keep following me and I'll take you to the sanctuary. I want to be released from that Pokéball real soon."
"There's no harm in being curious. Besides, they might be able to help Hilary."
"Don't go there!" Wurmple spit a jet of String Shot at Ralts. She'd already sensed his hostility and tried to avoid with Double Team. The string whipped through her doubles and wrapped her up. She shrieked and tried to rip the sticky string off, even as more and more was piled on. A Water Pulse from Surskit ended the assault by blowing Wurmple into a tree.
"What's over there that you don't want us to see?" Surskit asked.
Wurmple's head was spinning but he shook himself sober and replied shiftily: "N-nothing! I-it's just the wrong way!"
"You're spiteful towards us," Ralts said, ripping as much of the string off as she could. "This is definitely the right direction."
She took off in that direction, stumbling over roots and branches. Surskit went after her quickly, his long legs making good work of the uneven ground. Wurmple panicked and wriggled after them, trying to keep up.
They found themselves in a clearing where the canopy hadn't reached over to shut out the light. Some short grasses had managed to grow in it, surrounding the large, hollow stump of an old tree that had fallen. Despite being lighter than the forest, it was still shadowy and dark. Lumps bulged in the branches and off tree trunks, varying in shade. There seemed to be nothing else at first glance but then they heard a quite rustle. Something shifted inside the hollow stump. A large, dark blob rose out of the stump like an ominous cloud. Ralts and Surskit gazed at it in wide-eyed awe while Wurmple squeaked in fright.
"Ooh, hello!" the blob said. It sounded quite friendly.
"I'm so sorry!" Wurmple cried, bashing his head into the ground. "Forgive me! I didn't mean to lead them here, I swear! They're bullies! They're in cahoots with humans! They're coming to wreak havoc on our peaceful existence and snatch us from our blissful lives!"
"Oh, pish-posh!" Ralts retorted. "We'll do nothing of the sort."
"Who is this?" Surskit inquired.
"Our friends now call us The Guardians," a silkier, more sinister voice replied. There was more shifting inside the log and a large head attached to something serpentine reared out of the hollow. "For we guard the forest and have so for some time, you see. You are new here."
"We're just passing through," said Surskit, "but we're in trouble. Hilary has fallen to poison and the other trainers in our group have been unable to heal her. Are you the Pokémon that will cure her ailment?"
"Unfortunately, we are not Pokémon with such an ability," the jolly blob said.
"But we know one that may."
"Wait!" Wurmple exclaimed. "Are you serious?! Are you really going to help these putzes? They're with trainers! If they bring trainers here they'll poach us all and then they'll go and tell their friends. No Pokémon in the forest will be safe anymore. You should be teaching these guys a lesson! Tell them! Tell them about how humans have been through this forest countless times to ruin it! Their trainers have pulled the wool over their eyes and they don't know the truth anymore!"
"You're wrong!" Ralts screamed back. "Hilary is a nice human and she has taken care of us well thus far."
"Yeah, she's acting nice now but she's just priming you to be strong so that she can make better use of you for her evil plans in the future."
"Th-that's not true."
"Guardians! Teach them! Make them stay in the forest so that they understand."
The Guardians looked at each other. They were in shadows so it was impossible to see their expressions but when they turned back to the trio the silky-voiced one hissed: "Perhaps you are the one who doesn't understand."
Wurmple was taken aback by the statement.
"For decades we have seen humans come in and out of this forest. It is true that some do intend harm and our duty is to protect our kind from them."
"But most of them are a different kind," the blob added. "You shun them so vehemently that you just haven't given yourself the opportunity to see them. The ones who call themselves trainers are different from poachers."
"When a trainer catches a Pokémon it is not out of greed, the way a poacher does. It is out of friendship; the trainer's desire is to make a bond with the Pokémon they catch. Through that bond a Pokémon grows stronger than it ever thought that it could. That is the reason why to this day, despite all that may have happened in the past, Pokémon and humans continue to inhabit the same world. We strengthen each other by being together and trusting each other."
"That's not true!"
"It is. Our years of experiences and memories have taught us the strength of real bonds between humans and Pokémon. Your experiences in this wood have limited your world so much. You should go with this trainer they speak of. Travel beyond these trees and experience the true extent of the world. Then you will understand. As for your two," it said, looking to Ralts and Surskit, "bring your trainer here with a leaf stone by tomorrow."
The shadowy Pokémon slipped away between the trees, leaving the clearing empty. Ralts and Surskit smiled at each other. It seems that they had succeeded – or were at least about to succeed – in their goal. Wurmple grumbled.
"Whatever. Since we had a deal, you have to release me now."
"Ohohoho!" Surskit sang, sniggering at his expense. "I don't think so! Didn't you hear what they said? Travel with trainers. Guardians' orders."
"Besides, you were planning to doublecross us in the end," Ralts smirked. "What goes around comes around."
Wurmple huffed. "Yeah, well… well… do you even know where to find a leaf stone?! Huh? Do you? How are you going to fix your trainer if you don't get a leaf stone in time?"
Hilary's other two Pokémon looked at each other unsurely. They had no idea where in the forest they could acquire a leaf stone. Eventually Ralts smiled a small smile. "It'll be okay. We'll ask the other trainers for help. They are the sort to look after each other."
With their goal in sight, the three little Pokémon rushed back through the woods, following the scent of Surskit's honey marking some of the trees they passed.
When Tyson awoke it was so early in the morning that the sun was barely even up. The forest was still as dark as ever and looking up into the gloomy canopy made him feel drowsy. He rolled over to slip back into sleep but was suddenly met by the sight of Hilary's Surskit. It quickly occurred to him that they'd forgotten about him but he seemed to be doing fine. Tyson was about to close his eyes until Surskit poked him in the nose with a sharp leg.
"Ouch!" Tyson exclaimed, sitting up suddenly and holding his nose. "What gives?"
He glared at Surskit before looking around their camp. The others were still asleep. Beside him, Hilary hadn't moved an inch. He touched her gingerly on the arm and sighed with relief at the feel of a still warm body. Ray suddenly sat up with both hands on his forehead. The camp was being disturbed again, this time by Ralts throwing rocks at everyone aside from Hilary who wasn't already awake. "Wait…" Tyson thought, gawking at Ralts in bewilderment, "how did Ralts…?"
"Owie," Flora groaned, rubbing a sore ankle. "Why are you doing this?"
Ralts waved her arms about excitedly. Flora gasped in awe. "A Ralts! They're so rare. Never seen one in the woods before."
"Isn't that Hilary's Ralts?" Ray yawned. "How did she get out of her Pokéball in the middle of the night?"
Ralts gestured that it didn't matter and tried to communicate as best she could with the humans. She lifted Wurmple up in front of them and shook him a bit for emphasis. The trainers just stared at her confusedly.
"What is she doing?" Tyson asked. "Dancing?"
Ralts smacked herself in the face. Wurmple glared at the humans like they had just fulfilled every depressingly low expectation he had of them.
"She's probably just really worried about Hilary," Ray guessed. "But we have a long way to go today, so let's return them to their Pokéballs. We need to start travelling as soon as possible."
Ralts shook her head and waved her arms but Ray was already looking for Hilary's balls. Surskit scuttled out and started to clear a little area of leaves and twigs. He sketched something into the dirt. All three of Hilary's Pokémon pointed at it.
"Wait," Flora interjected. "There's more to it."
"What is that a picture of?" Ray asked.
"A leaf stone."
"A leaf stone?" Tyson echoed. Flora nodded. "Is that going to cure Hilary?"
"No, it's an evolution stone. Some Pokémon only evolve in the presence of special rocks or stones. Still a bit of a mystery as to why. But it's not a magic cure for poisoning."
"Then why are they so excited about it?"
"Let's find it," Kai said.
"For what?!"
Kai gave him an annoyed look. "They snuck out of their Pokéballs in the dead of night to figure out that they wanted us to go and find this thing," he retorted as if that was enough explanation.
"I think what Kai means is that he thinks they have a plan," Ray translated, "and it involves this leaf stone."
Flora sighed miserably. "But looking for a little stone with a leaf on it would be such an enormous task. Searching for an item like that in these woods could take days."
"Hm, an item, you say? Then perhaps…" Tyson murmured, digging around inside his backpack. He turned around and suddenly thrust his dowsing machine into the air triumphantly. "I can find it with this!"
Flora gaped at the machine in awe. "Can you really?"
"Yeah! When Ash gave it to me he said I could set it to search for a particular item if I wanted to. Just give me a moment to figure out how to set it to leaf stone and we'll be right to go."
Ralts and Surskit cheered while Wurmple just grumbled under his breath. Things were already looking up and they might just save Hilary's life yet.
They travelled in a similar arrangement as the day before but this time Flora took Ray's bag while Tyson steamed ahead with his dowsing machine. He was raring to make use of his machine, even after hours went by and they still hadn't found anything. The rest of the group was beginning to don a hopeless outlook and the impression that even with the help of the dowsing machine this was akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.
"I'm starting to feel like this is all fruitless," Ray sighed.
"Don't be such a downer! I'm sure we'll—" Tyson said but he was cut off by the dowsing machine beeping to life and pointing off to the right. "It's got something!"
The whole group perked up. "Leaf stone?" Flora breathed.
"It has to be."
Tyson charged into the woods with his machine guiding him. The display changed its beeping tone and the arrows pointing the direction crossed. Tyson's eyes went wide and bright, thinking he'd definitely found it now but when he looked down there was no sign of a leaf stone. There was instead just a green and yellow fungus.
"What the hell? Is this thing broken?" Tyson fumed, glaring at his dowsing machine.
The fungus suddenly shuddered a bit. It turned around and Tyson reeled at the sight of a grumpy-looking face on what he thought was an inanimate object. The fungus huffed and puffed a plume of yellow spores out of its head. Flora cried out for him to get out of the way but Tyson was enveloped in the cloud of spores. All of a sudden his muscles felt stiff and tingly and his joints started to ache. He collapsed on the ground feeling pins and needles all over his body. The fungus began to puff itself up even more, ready to unleash more spores.
Before anyone needed to tell him too, Ray released his Taillow and ordered him to use Wing Attack. Taillow's shinning wings cut through the yellow spore cloud and flung the yellow and green creature away into a clump of ferns.
"Oh no!" Flora gasped. "That was really rough! You didn't have to do that."
"It would have paralysed all of us if I didn't," Ray replied. "Great job, Taillow!"
Taillow glared at Ray and then looked up. There was a tiny opening in the canopy that it could probably squeeze through. However, Ray had given him food before. Taillow quickly decided that escape could forego free food and made a dash for the gap in the canopy.
"Hey!" Ray shouted, returning Taillow. "Why won't you just stay put?"
"If it really wants to go, maybe you should let it," Flora suggested.
"No way!"
"H-hey… guys…" Tyson stuttered, still twitching on the ground. "Help…"
"Oh no! Right, uh, Cheri berries!" Flora exclaimed. She quickly stuffed the tiny red berries into his mouth – almost too many for him to chew – before paralysis set in too deep.
Kai sighed and turned away from all of the panic in exasperation. He glanced down at the spot where the fungus had been. It must have been sitting there for a while because there was a little patch of dirt free from leaf litter or undergrowth shoots. He raised his eyebrows when he noticed how conspicuously a little brown stone was set in the middle of it. He picked it up. Togepi cooed curiously at it as he turned it over. Embedded in the other side was a shiny, bright green leaf. Tyson was being fawned over by Flora as he stretched some of the stiffness out of his muscles but his dowsing machine was still pinging madly.
"Hey," Kai snapped, getting everyone's attention. He held out the stone. "Is this what we're looking for?"
Flora gasped, beaming ecstatically. "That's it! The leaf stone!"
"Really?" Tyson asked, sitting up and retrieving his dowsing machine to identify it. "It is! We found it!"
He and Flora jumped up to dance about victoriously but his legs still felt like jelly so he just toppled to the ground again. Ralts and Surskit did successfully dance around each other, pointedly ignoring Wurmple's disgruntled expression.
"This is perfect!" Ray said with a hint of awe and relief. "So, where to now?"
Ralts and Surskit squeaked and chattered, motioning for the humans to follow them as they dragged Wurmple unwillingly into the forest.
The clearing looked so different during the day. The space in the canopy above it allowed sunlight to flood the area. The indistinguishable lumps were now clearly creatures wrapped in white or lavender silk with red eyes peering out vigilantly as they passively waited for something. The clearing also prominently featured a large boulder covered in moss that seemed almost magical – it looked so soft and fluffy that one might just want to lie down on it – as well as the old fallen tree and its hollowed, rotting stump. Flowering plants craned to soak up the sunlight in a colourful ring around the clearing. Snoozing quietly against the old, dry stump was a round, purple Pokémon with a white-spotted, red flower on its head. It drooled something putrid-smelling as it snored.
"Could this be…" Flora began, too awed to finish that sentence. A few wild Pokémon peered through the flower ring curiously at the appearance of humans where they'd never seen them before. "Seems this is the place I've been searching for."
She reached under her blouse for a Pokéball and released the Pokémon inside. It was another of those white cocoons. Its eyes swivelled around to take in the area as Tyson and Ray lay Hilary down on the grass.
"So what do we actually do with this?" Tyson asked, holding out the leaf stone.
A daring, brown fox-like creature trotted out of the safety of the undergrowth. It nudged the rotund Pokémon, which was startled awake and looked around blearily. It spotted the leaf stone in Tyson's hands and cried out joyously. It leapt to its feet and waddled over to the trainers, reaching out for the stone.
"Huh? You want this?" Tyson put the stone down in front of the purple Pokémon.
Once the stone was at its feet several magical things started to happen all at once. The stone began to sparkle and glow in the Pokémon's presence. As well as that, the sun crept into its highest position in the sky and its light shone into the clearing with slightly more intensity. Feeling its warmth, the silky cocoons began to glow and shimmer, as did the rotund Pokémon. As if it was reacting to this sudden event the little brown Pokémon glowed and shimmered, followed by several members of the Pokémon audience around them. The clearing was filled with this glittering white light and waves of soothing energy, signalling the oncoming metamorphoses.
The light was bright but Kai, Ray and Tyson were unable to look away. It was too beautiful to not be witnessed. However, the serenity was abruptly broken when something tackled Ray in the back and almost sent him sprawling. The trainers turned around in shock and spotted the little green and yellow fungus, possibly exactly the same one from before. It growled at them angrily, startling a couple of the nearby cocoons. They lost their glow and returned to sitting inertly on the branches.
"The hell is that thing's deal?" Tyson growled, turning to Kai. "What is it?"
Kai turned his Pokédex onto it. "Shroomish, the mushroom Pokémon. It prefers damp places. By day it remains still in the forest shade and feeds on damp, composted soil. If it feels threatened, it scatters spores from the top of its head to protect itself."
"Yeah, no shit. We kind of noticed that," Tyson remarked bitterly.
The Shroomish puffed itself up and released a plume of spores. The trainers were just out of range but more of the cocoons were disrupted.
Flora gasped. "We need to stop it! If it keeps rampaging like this it might disrupt Gloom's evolution."
"I take it we don't want that," Tyson said, standing up and releasing Torchic. "Then leave it to me!"
Shroomish charged to tackle Torchic as Tyson commanded him to use Ember. The little fireballs knocked Shroomish away before it could land the hit. It shook off the fire and glared at Torchic. Its gaze travelled to Gloom and the leaf stone working its magic. Battles could wait, getting the leaf stone back was more important. It tried to sidestep the trainers and their Pokémon. They wouldn't have any of it; Surskit blocked its way and Torchic nailed it in the side with Peck. Shroomish struggled to get back on its feet, even though it was hurting all over. It tried hobbling over to the leaf stone.
"Such a determined little Pokémon," Flora said ruefully. "Surely it should have fainted by now."
"If it's not going down then the only thing to do is put it somewhere it can't interrupt," Tyson declared, picking a random empty Pokéball from his bag, not realising immediately that it was the Nest ball he'd picked up the day before. He threw the ball, capturing the wounded Shroomish and locking it up without a hitch. "Yes!"
The light in the clearing intensified briefly as each Pokémon reached its most critical point in evolution. The silks of the cocoons transformed into wings and unfurled beautifully. The Gloom grew a bit taller and its spherical petals uncurled and stretched out widely. When the light faded there was still a glittery residue left behind, spinning through the air like dust motes. The beybladers gaped. Many of the Pokémon looked completely different, so much so that it was hard to believe that they had been something else before. The little, brown fox-like creature was now a green fox-like creature with leaves and plant fibre instead of fur. All of the cocoons – of those that hadn't been disturbed – had transformed into Dustoxes or colourful, giant butterflies. They fluttered around the clearing in a great horde, testing out their new wings and gaining strength in them. It was a glorious sight to behold; Flora gazed adoringly at them while Ray and Tyson smiled in admiration. Kai, on the other hand, looked like he was about to be physically ill.
In the middle of all of these transformations stood the Gloom, no longer a Gloom but now a Vileplume. The leaf stone at its feet was spent – the leaf in its centre had vanished. It giggled, delighted with its new body and was about to happily skip away until it was stopped by Ralts. The little psychic-type called out to it and gestured towards her trainer, still lying pale and motionless on the ground. Vileplume stared at Hilary contemplatively. True, it had only wanted to become a Vileplume because there was something it was eager to be able to do. Now seemed like a good time to see if it really could do it.
Tyson had started to shake Hilary but she was still comatose from the poisoning. If anything she seemed a bit paler than before. "Why hasn't anything worked?" he wailed. "We went to all that trouble to find that leaf stone and come here but it didn't do anything! Were we even supposed to use it on that purple thing?"
Flora put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "The leaf stone by itself was never going to help Hilary. Look."
She pointed to the Vileplume being led towards them by Ralts. It stood over Hilary and looked down at her thoughtfully. It smiled. It took a big breath and puffed up, shaking its petals a bit. Tyson, Kai and Ray's eyes all widened, thinking it was about to release those paralysing spores just like Shroomish but instead a plume of leaves and tiny, immature petals burst from its head, accompanied by a sweet scent that had a hint of bitterness like a remedial ointment. Breathing in this gas made everyone feel like they'd been overcome by a sudden wave of good health. Their sinuses cleared up completely and their lungs felt fresh. The achy stiffness that was still lingering in Tyson's joints suddenly released with multiple pops and he thought he'd never felt so limber.
They all looked down to Hilary expectantly. Already they could see the colour returning to her cheeks. She shifted and brought her arms up to stretch as if she'd merely been napping the entire time. Her eyes opened and she barely managed to sit up before Tyson suddenly tackled her with a hug.
"Hilary! You're okay!"
"How are you feeling?" Ray asked.
Hilary pushed Tyson away and looked around confusedly. "I feel fine. How did we get here? The last thing I remember was feeling sick next to those webs… oh…" She stared at the flock of fluttery Pokémon above her. Some of them were already retreating back into the forest but many were still testing the limits of their brand new bodies. "Look at that! It's beautiful."
"Stunning," Kai retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm. He turned to Flora. "Now that you've seen this place, take us to Rustboro City already. We still have things to do."
"That's right," Ray said, suddenly recalling. "We have to meet up with the others if possible."
"Yes, of course. But first…" Flora replied, looking up to the flying Pokémon. One of the butterflies fluttered down towards the trainers. Flora held out her hands and it perched on them. "Oh, look at you! Fully evolved now. Guess I should call you Beautifly from now on."
Beautifly chirped happily. With the magic gone the Pokémon in the clearing dispersed. Vileplume walked off into the woods and the green fox slunk into the undergrowth. Hilary couldn't keep two excited Pokémon from climbing all over her. Whatever had happened they seemed so glad to see her. She spied her Wurmple and reached over to pick him up, smiling brightly.
"I'm glad to see you again," she said. "We only met briefly before but I bet we can be friends."
Wurmple glowered at her and was about to swing his tail into her arm again but he caught the threatening blue glow around Ralt's body. He refrained from doing any such thing and allowed her to hug him. Meanwhile, Tyson returned Torchic and picked up the Nest ball, gazing at it excitedly.
"Congratulations," he heard Ray say and turned to the Chinese boy. Ray grinned. "You finally caught another Pokémon."
Tyson blinked. Then he realised how happy he must have looked and tried to shrug it off and look nonchalant. "Yeah, well, who cares, right? It's not like we have time to make friends with it or anything since we've got to get back to our world."
"You sound a little sad," Flora noted.
"I am not!"
"You'll totally be sad to leave your Pokémon," Hilary said cheekily, returning all of her Pokémon.
"Says you," Tyson retorted. "I'm seriously itching to just get back to beyblading. So come on, onwards to Rustboro City!"
"What's beyblading?" Flora asked, cocking her head to the side. Her Beautifly copied her movement.
"We can tell you about it on the way," Ray replied, getting a shine in his eye. As much as he was having fun, he couldn't deny that he was eager to return to the sport he really loved. "We really should go. The others have probably already informed the police by now and we shouldn't trouble them more than necessary."
They took one last look at the secret clearing before heading back into the forest. Flora took the lead again and this time she was sure of the way. With any luck they could make it out of the woods without a hitch and travel on to Rustboro City without incident.
A/N: Yay! I managed to update! I don't know when I'll be able to do it again but in the meantime I'm glad I was able to make it this week.