CRASH. Hop and Victor spun around, twin expressions of shock on their faces.

"Was that the Wooloo?" Victor asked nervously.

"Only one way to find out." Hop answered.

He ran towards the source of the noise, Victor following close behind. The fence separating Postwick from the Slumbering Weald was broken, a Wooloo-shaped hole in it.

"Oh no." Hop muttered, paling.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Victor questioned, a gleam in his eye.

The other boy grinned.

"Yeah! We've gotta go and help that Wooloo!"

They raced into the Slumbering Weald. About halfway in, Victor stopped.

"Wait a sec, Hop."

The purple-haired boy turned round.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Should we really be doing this? I mean, all the stories about this place have to have some truth to them, right? What if... what if we get stuck here? Or a wild Pokémon attacks us? Or.. or..."

"Woah, slow down." Hop interrupted, "Nothing's going to happen. All we've got to do is grab the Wooloo, maybe battle a few Pokémon and get out. No biggie. We'll be fine."

Victor smiled. They carried on walking through the woods, until something stopped them. Thick mist had covered the area. It looked as though something was appearing in the clearing.

"What's that?" Hop whispered, clearly scared.

"I have no idea."

Suddenly, a wild Pokémon appeared. It was different to all the others they'd come across, and looked a lot more powerful. It stared down at the ten-year-olds, looking all the world as though it has expected them to be there. Victor fumbled around in his pocket for a Pokéball, then threw it in the Pokémon's general direction.

"Grookey, I choose you!" He yelled.

"Wooloo, I choose you!" Hop said, releasing his Wooloo from its Pokéball.

"Grookey, use Branch Poke!"

Surprisingly, the move had no effect. The Pokémon just stood there, seemingly unruffled.

"What?"

"Wooloo, use Tackle!"

The same thing happened. Hop and Victor stood there, completely dumbfounded.

"Why aren't our moves having any effect?" Hop asked.

"This is weird." Victor added, running a hand through his short brown hair.

The wild Pokémon threw them a menacing look, then delivered an attack. Victor felt himself collapse, then completely blacked out.

"Vic! Vic!"

Victor awoke, rubbing his eyes. Hop was standing next to him, one hand on his shoulder. The Pokémon Trainer looked around.

"W-What happened?" He asked groggily.

"You took a serious fall. Would have done some serious damage if Hop hadn't caught you." A female voice replied.

Ginny grinned at him. Her long purple hair was tied back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a Doctor's uniform. Leon was next to her, looking as though he'd seem someone die.

"Lee pulled me out of work." The 23-year-old explained, looking down at her clothes.

"Sorry Gin." Hop said.

"Nah, it's fine. You're my brother for Arceus' sake." She said, smiling, " what happened out there?"

"There was some kind of wild Pokémon.." Victor began.

"A Pokémon?" Leon interrupted, " what do you mean?"

"It was like some kind of hologram. None of our moves worked on it." Hop explained.

"That's impossible." Ginny muttered, looking at her twin.

He shrugged.

"Don't look at me."

"Well, whatever it was, it doesn't look like it's coming back any time soon." The purple-haired girl clarified,"Come on, let's get you kids out of here."

"Wait." Victor said suddenly.

"Yeah?" Leon asked, turning around.

"What about the Wooloo?"

"Oh, her? She's fine, Char's got her."

Leon gestured to Charizard, who had the Wooloo nestled up next to him, and grinned.

"Now, let's get out of here before anything else happens."

Victor nodded, and followed the Champion out.