POV: Cynthia / LOCATION: Mystifying Forest
This is Professor Rowan we're talking about. The grumpy, no-nonsense grandpa who never misses an opportunity to let everyone know that x has not happened in his sixty long years here on earth.
So you know shit's about to go down when Professor fucking Rowan presents you with a scenario straight out of science fiction.
As soon as that call ended, Volkner shot out of the League like an exploding rocket. Something exciting had come up at last. Flint scrambled after his best friend like the babysitter that he was, and I followed because I couldn't believe the words that came out of Rowan's mouth.
Time froze? As in hours and minutes? That expression was accurate for certain snapshots of a single, vivid moment. Like a flashbulb memory. To extend that phrase to something much grander than oneself was… mad.
Presently, we soar after Lucian, who leads on his younger brother's Xatu. It was unanimously decided that he would head this mission since he was the oldest, in addition to him being the only one who has his shit together.
"We're almost there," says Lucian. "Just beyond this prairie, Mystifying Forest—"
And Xatu drops out of the sky. I bark at Togekiss to dive, and I manage to swipe Lucian's collar just in the nick of time. Not even one second more and he'd be eating dirt with his poor Pokemon.
That impromptu setback forces us to temporarily suspend the journey. Lucian keeps insisting that he's fine. Just a little shaken up.
Xatu, on the other hand, has taken a bad tumble.
"What was that?" Flint gasps.
"I'm not sure," Lucian mutters, pressing a gentle hand against Xatu's forehead. Its eyes are wide and bloodshot, dilated pupils darting to and fro as if it had seen something very terrible.
"Xatu is sensitive to the energies unseen by the human eye," says Lucian, recalling the injured bird. "In ancient times, people sought its powers to glimpse the future."
"What did it see?" I say.
"Again, I'm not entirely sure. I've never seen Xatu act this way before…"
"Xatu's not the only one acting odd," Volkner grunts, gesturing to his fidgeting Electivire. "Electron won't let go of my jacket."
"Fire Duck too," adds Flint. "What's wrong, boy? You trying to tell me something?"
As they comfort their agitated Pokemon, I turn to Togekiss, who shudders from an unseen chill. This mystery would be much easier if Pokemon could talk.
I then glance at the sky. Clouds. Leaves drifting along a playful breeze. The perfect weather for birds to suddenly fall to the earth.
"Professor Rowan might be in trouble," I say. "Let's hurry."
No markers are there to signify the entrance to Mystifying Forest except for the thick expanse of trees in the horizon. As with Treeshroud Forest, this place had been kept out of civilization's sights. It's actually quite the picturesque scenery that I can see Mystifying Forest on the face of postcards.
"Urk…"
That groan comes from Lucian, whose complexion has turned a sickly white. He's grabbing at his temples like he's fighting off a major migraine.
"You okay, dude?" exclaims Flint, immediately rushing over. The League knows that Lucian expresses heightened sensitivity to the indivisible powers of this world.
"It's so suffocating," Lucian chokes out. "There's… an evil presence out there."
"And the Pokemon are not what they seem," Volkner scoffs. Ever the pragmatic. If magic is even brought up once in conversation, Volkner's already out the door. "Cynthia, you stay with psychic boy. Ronald and I will find the old man."
"I don't think we should split up," says Flint.
"Well, I know that there's nothing supernatural going on. Xatu was simply exhausted. There have been documented instances of birds falling from the sky."
Lucian shushes everyone. "Listen!"
We listen to the quiet still in the air. Mystifying Forest is indeed the physical embodiment of tranquility.
"I don't hear anything," says Flint.
"Exactly! Normally you would hear the cries of Pokemon."
Volkner crosses his arms. "Most forest creatures flee at the sight of humans."
The best friends are right. I don't get why Lucian is so freaked out over nothing. Literally. Nothing's out of the ordinary. So what if we don't see Pokemon? So what if the breeze has stopped blowing? So what if I kick a pebble into the stream and the surface doesn't break—
"Check this out," I whisper, tossing a leaf into said stream. The leaf hits the surface… and that's it. The water below doesn't even ripple.
"Motion is suspended before our very eyes," Lucian mumbles. "How do you explain that, Volkner?"
"How do you explain temporal flow?" he shoots back. Ouch, his pride must've taken a stabbing. "I don't have time for quacks. Where's the old man?"
"Have you looked behind you?"
We spin around to see a frowning Professor Rowan, his snowy moustache upturned like his sugar-crusted lips.
"You're okay!" I exclaim.
"Of course I am! Quickly tell me, have you seen what I've seen?"
"No," huffs Volkner.
"The atmosphere is tense," Lucian mutters, suppressing a slight shudder. "The sun is shining, yet I feel a chill burrowing into my core."
"Our Pokemon got spooked by something," Flint says.
Rowan nods solemnly. "So have mine. You've also noticed how eerily still this forest is, yes? I've done fieldwork here in the past, and this is the first time I've ever seen it so empty."
Why does that sound so familiar?
Rowan shows us his wristwatch. The hands of the clock have stopped above IV.
Volkner snickers. "Is that what led you to claim that time stopped? Honestly, Professor, I could fix your wristwatch—"
"Have you checked yours yet?"
Frowning, Volkner does just that. His watch is frozen too. "It was working just fine on our way here," he mutters. "But it's solar-powered… Ah, a wheel must've gotten dislodged…"
We watch him disassemble and reassemble his device. The gears crank again, but the hands move backwards. Cursing, Volkner produces his pocket compass, his eyes narrowing when the needle keeps spinning out of control.
"An abnormally large magnetic fore is messing with me," he hisses, rolling his sleeves. "How dare it humiliate me like this…"
"Volks!" yells Flint. "Where are you going?"
Rowan turns to me. "I happened upon something quite curious in the center of the forest. You might want to see this, Cynthia."
Our ragtag group trails after an annoyed Volkner as he stomps down a dark, tree-shrouded path. We stop in a clearing draped in stale sunlight.
Residing within the bed of flowers and vines is a weakly pulsating gear.
"That's the source of the anomaly!" Volkner declares triumphantly. "You're going back to my workshop for dissection—"
"PUT THAT BACK!" I scream.
Everyone freezes. They gawk at me as if I've lost my damn mind… which isn't far off from the truth. I can't place it, but when I saw Volkner about to take off with that gear, my heart almost burst from inexplicable terror. A dreadful premonition of what was to come.
"We saw its twin in Treeshroud Forest," Rowan mutters.
Flint gives us a weird look. "T-There's two of them? But what is this? Why is it here? Why am I the only one asking questions?!"
"I sense an enormous energy radiating from that relic," mumbles Lucian. "One unlike anything on this earth."
So many questions, so few answers. Little did I know that this gear would play the host to countless consequences, both good and bad. An adventure unlike anything I have ever encountered.
And it will all start with you, Cyrus. The only person who has the answers to a seemingly impossible riddle.