Arc One: Mystery
Chapter Six: Trapped In Madness
"It'll be easy" I said. "Delivering is not nearly as hard as fighting a well-known criminal."
*sigh* Why did I have to say that?
It feels like we've been in this forest forever. Left, right, left, right, right, straight, right, left- IT DOESN'T END! Lucas told me that it should have only taken a half hour to get out of Green Forest, but the look on his face tells me that he's also worried that we're still in here.
"I don't understand." Lucas angrily says as we make our way down the forest path. "We should have passed by a waterfall a while back. This is going to make my head spin."
And that's not even all of what has happened here. What was once a bright sunny morning quickly turned into a foggy afternoon, making it a little harder to see in front of us. The Pokemon have also gone silent. That or they aren't here. It's like we're the only ones in this forest. The only sounds that we can hear is just our footsteps.
"You don't think that the Pokemon are asleep, do you?" I ask the Rilo.
"That's what you're worried about?! What about the sun? It got swallowed up by all of this fog! It wasn't supposed to be foggy today. Mrs. Castform said not even a single cloud was going to appear."
"I didn't think Pokemon could tell what the weather would be like."
"Well, it took some time, but she has gotten very good at predicting the weather. But even when she was wrong, she was never this wrong." Lucas brought his paws up and pulled on his...black things and screamed a little.
He then tries to calm himself down. "Maybe we should sit down on those rocks over there and have an apple. I'm getting stressed." He says, pointing to a group of rocks laying on the ground.
"Sure." I say. "I was starting to get hungry anyways." We both head over and sit down on the rocks. Lucas puts his bag down, takes two apples from it, and tosses one of them to me.
"So how long have we been walking around for?" I ask Lucas.
"Well." Lucas says while chomping on his apple. "The sun was over Mt. Central when we left so we..." I stare at him dumbly. "Oh right, amnesia. Mt. Central was that big mountain wwaayy over in the west of the Guild. It's the tallest mountain known to Pokemon, and is in the middle of the island, hence the name. As for how long we've been walking, my guess is that the sun is on top of the sky, so... a half-hour maybe?"
"Doesn't that mean we should be out of the forest then?"
"That's the thing. It doesn't make sense. I've gone through this forest a couple of times in my life before, and it never felt like it was this big before." He then took his third bite of his apple. "...Mebee wheel hit ow son."
"Speak with your mouth NOT full please?" I ask Lucas as he chews his apple.
"Far-e." He then swallows. "I said, 'Maybe we'll get out soon'. That or we'll find the waterfall first."
"Did you check the map?" I ask.
"Not recently. I'll check." He says as he drops his apple core on the ground. He then reaches into his bag again and takes a small folded piece of paper. He then unfolds it, revealing a large map that's just as wide as he is.
"Can you grab the compass for me? My hands are full." Lucas asks as he lays the map on the rock. I nod and head over to the bag and grab the compass.
I stopped right in my tracks when I took a closer look at the compass. Everything was normal except the compass's arrow, which was spinning around and around and around and etc. I made a confused look and tapped on the glass.
Lucas then calls, "Are you coming Red?" But I don't answer. All I do is stare straight at the spinning arrow.
"Lucas." I start. "Y-you may want to see this." I toss the tiny compass over to Lucas, who catches it with one hand. He then turns his head toward the compass, and soon gets the same bewildered look that I have. Before long, he also starts knocking and shaking it.
"Why is it spinning? You didn't break it, did you?" He asks.
I put my hands in front of me. "What? No, it was spinning when I took it out of the bag. That's why I wanted you to see it."
He taps the glass one more time and then says, "Weird...well compasses are overrated. We've been going north this entire time, I think. So as long as we remember which way is north, we should be fine."
Well, I guess that makes sense. I place my apple core on the dirt and walk over to Lucas. "So, shall we make our way to Flower Hills." I say in a fancy tone. Lucas laughs after hearing it. "Yes, we SHALL."
He picks up his bag and I follow him through the forest. It nice that we're both smiling again, even though that joke was pretty stupid, it still worked. Besides, he's right. We're just a couple of minutes away from getting out of here, then we'll give this Furret his or her apple, use our badges, and become a rescue team...
Oh, if only it was that easy.
"D-don't worry about it. I'm sure we're not that far away." Lucas says, trying to act like he's ok. But everyone knows that when people say things like that, they ARE NOT ok.
I sigh. This was supposed to be easy.
"Why do I get the feeling that we're walking around in circles?" I say.
"Come on, different parts of forests look similar to other parts. I'm sure you just want to get out of this place." Lucas says back to me.
"Don't you want to leave too?"
Lucas stops and turns around, looking a little mad. "We're going to do this mission, Red. Trust me. We both need this."
I then start to feel bad. "No, I didn't it mean like...let's just sit down. I'm getting stressed, and deep down, you're too." We both stare eye to eye with each other for some time, until Lucas sighs.
"Fine, maybe we need to take a breather. We can sit...on...those...-what?!" In front of us lay two rocks that also have two apple cores, one by each rock. It doesn't take a brainiac to figure out that these are the same rocks we rested on about ten minutes ago.
You know, when I said that we were walking around this forest in circles, it was intended as a joke. I DIDN'T THINK IT WAS TRUE!
Lucas begins to have a panic attack, as he starts pointing his arms in the direction we came from. "N-n-n-no!? We were walking straight that whole time. We weren't...it...oh boy..." He then collapses onto the ground shaking. "Y-y-you were right. HOW WERE YOU RIGHT?! HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?!" I go to comfort him. "Hey, hey, hey, calm down. We can use the badges to leave here. Then we can tell everyone at the Guild about what happened." I say, pointing to my badge on my bandana.
"Red, you don't understand. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! No one will believe what we say!"
I sigh. "I know you want to join the Guild, but I don't see any other way we can get out of this." I say as I reach for my badge.
Lucas then starts to sweat. "W-wait, what are you..?"
"I'm sorry Lucas." I then press the button, bracing myself for this teleport. I've never used these before, so here goes nothing.
...
...
Be teleporting any second now.
...
...
Any second now.
...
...
I open my eye to see if I had teleported, but one look and I'm still in the same spot. I then hit the button again, in case if I didn't press hard enough the first time.
...
...
And again. And again. Andagainandagainand...
I look at the badge. It's glowing, Wigglytuff said that it was charged, yet I'm still here. WHY?!
"Wait, if yours isn't working, does that mean mine doesn't work too?" Lucas then presses his badge. Sure enough, he still is laying on the ground. Ok, now I'm worried.
"Wigglytuff said these things worked, right? She wouldn't give us fake badges, unless it's part of the test?"
"She said she would disqualify us if we used them before delivering the apple, so I don't think she would."
I take a moment to scream into the air. I guess there has to be a way out of here after all, because there HAS TO BE!
Lucas then gets back on his feet. "I guess we'll go this way." He says, pointing in the only other direction we never went through/came from. I shrug my shoulders. Not like I have any better ideas.
We make our way through the forest, trying to unsee what we had just witnessed, but it's the only thing that's on our mind.
IT WAS A JOKE, I DIDN'T MEAN IT. I WAS TRYING TO BE FUNNY. HOW DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE SENSE IN THE FIRST PLACE?! But our minds aren't prepared for what we're about to see. As Lucas and I walk, we head into a room. The only way out is the way we came from, and the only thing in this room besides the walls are stairs stretching into the foggy sky.
Just stairs.
Only stairs.
STAIRS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING FOREST!
The only thing we do at first is just stare at them, because...what else?! We're dumbfounded looking at the stairs and you'd be too, don't lie to me. This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
Lucas is the first one to break the silence. "Sooooooooooo...after you?"
I look at him in shock. "You're suggesting we go up those stairs?! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE THEY GO!"
"And we won't know where to go either if we don't take them. I mean, do you really want to see those two apple cores again? Beside, maybe we'll reach the top of the trees and see where we are."
"Yeah, assuming that it's still in one piece that is."
"We'll be fine. I'll sense if they end."
Well, he won that conversion. I look back at the stairs. They're just sitting there. IT'S SO MENACINGLY! And when you take in the fact that I've taken a tumble down some stairs in the past, it only makes things worse.
However, I don't want to see those cores again, so slowly but surely, I put my left foot on the first stair, then my right foot on the next one, and so on. I'm overjoyed as I make my way up the flight of stairs, careful not to slip or else...oh, no.
Please tell me that there would be something soft to land on top of at the bottom if I fall off. Lucas closes his eyes and follows me up. Hmm, you'd think that would be a terrible idea, but that's a Rilo for you.
As we make our way up, the fog gets so foggy that I can barely see ahead of myself. In fact, the only thing I can see are the two steps that my feet are on. I can't even see Lucas, and he is right behind me! I almost trip over myself when I get to the...top?
I'm off the stairs, but...it looks like I never left the ground? That can't be right. I walk forward and look at my surroundings. It still is foggy, but it doesn't look like the treetops I was expecting to see. It just looks like the same forest we were walking around for the past hour.
"Waaaa-oof!" I turn my head to see that Lucas has his face flat on the ground next to the wall of fog-
...where did the stairs go?
I walk back over to the fog and reach my foot out carefully. Call me insane, but I think the stairs are...gone. I then slowly crawl past Lucas' left shoulder and into the fog, determined to find the stairs.
"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'm just great." Lucas says with his face in the ground. Soon I appeared on his right side with a confused face.
I'll say that again, his RIGHT side. I didn't even turn or anything. I look at Lucas and point back to the fog. "Don't go in there. You aren't going to find the stairs."
"That fog is going to be in my nightmares tonight." Lucas says as I pull him up.
"I guess we better go that way." I say, pointing to the open path. I go to take a step forward when the earth starts to shake. Both Lucas and me are caught off guard and fall onto the ground. What we see is unbelievable: The trees and hills start to sink into the ground with new trees and hills forming in different places. THIS IS CRAZY!? I'M NOT GOING INSANE, AM I?!
I look to Lucas to see if he has the same look on his face that I have, but instead of seeing the Emanation Pokemon, I see a large dirt wall.
Oh no, WE'RE SEPARATED!
"LUCAS!" I scream. "CAN YOU HEAR ME...LUCAS!" I try to get to him, but the only response that I get is from the wind.
"OH COME ON!" I think to myself. This forest is doing everything it can to drive us mad. Can this day get any worse?
I then hear something to the left of me and look to see who it is. I pray that it's Lucas, but it turns out to be a small green worm with a red horn on the top of it's head.
A Caterpie.
I breathe a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it isn't anything THREATENING, otherwise I'd be in trouble. An idea comes into my head. Maybe he knows the way out of this cursed forest. I'M SAVED!
I approach the Worm Pokemon. "Hey little guy. Do you..." I then notice that he has a strange look in his eyes, as if he isn't thinking straight. Sweat starts to form around my head. "Umm, are you ok?"
The Caterpie responds by staring straight into my soul. I've never been so scared of a Caterpie. Then again I don't remember a whole lot, but I doubt that I would have seen anything like this.
The Caterpie then uses String Shot at me. I dodge it. "Hey, wait, what did I do?" I say to the attacking Pokemon.
The Caterpie growls as it fires another String Shot, which is closer, but still misses me. I decide to run and go in the only other way I can: Right. I race over to the path.
And I just said things couldn't get any worse. I need to shut my mouth up tight for the rest of this trip!
I try to look for an exit out of this forest, but instead of that, I come into another room. Just my luck, two Raticates are walking by. Please tell me that they're nice. They immediately look at me with cold eyes. Nope, they want to kill me too.
Both of them use Hyper Beam against me. Ok, dodging one move is already hard enough, but TWO HYPER BEAMS!? Not in a million years!
I duck and prepare for the hit. Thankfully one of them misses, but the other? Hits me right in the chest. I'm sended straight toward the wall and crash painfully into it.
I go to get up to run away when I feel something grab my leg. I look and see the same Caterpie from the other room using String Shot on my leg. Soon my right leg is completely submerged in his sticky silk. I turn to the Raticates and see that they are preparing to release another wave of Hyper Beam.
"I'm toast" I say to myself, getting ready for the painful Hyper Beams to make contact with me. I close my eyes. Hopefully Lucas will find me after I faint. I then hear the sound of wind blazing through the air.
I open my eyes to see the first Raticate getting knocked over to the side right away. The second one, however, fires at me and I return to closing my eyes. "GAHHHHHH!" Lucas! I open my eyes to see the Rilo in front of me. He looks a little hurt but he still charges straight into the Raticate and uses Metal Claw to toss him over the hard dirt wall. The Caterpie, upon seeing this, runs away in panic.
I can't help but feel happy that I'm still awake. It's good to see Lucas again. "You found me."
He turns to me wearing a big smirk on his face. "Well, all I had to do was keep my ears up, and when you panicked, it made my job a lot easier."
I then start to laugh "I'm just happy to see a friendly face-wait, hear? You ok?"
He then rubs his head. "Ya, I'm fine, that Hyper Beam wasn't that bad. You know you could have used Ember, or do that...thing with the flames." Lucas says as he chuckles.
"I was under pressure, give me a break." I yell back.
He then grabs the silky string and rips it off using Metal Claw. "Let's just find those stairs and get out of here-GAHHHH!" He then drops to the ground, with his paws on his head. I run over to him.
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" He says. "It's just that the aura here is messed up. Just trying to sense it a little bit almost drove me insane. This place has to be cursed."
I couldn't agree more as I help him off the ground.
"You really think there are more stairs?" I ask.
"I sure do hope so, otherwise we're stuck here." He responds.
We rush through the forest. Lucas does his best to try and pick the paths that don't have any Pokemon in them. Soon we finally make our way to another flight of stairs.
I don't think why there are stairs here in the first place and rush up them as fast as I can. I slow down as the fog thickens. The last thing I want to find out is how hard my fall would be if I do fall off.
After what felt like an eternity, I made it to the top and saw a wonderful thing: The sun, and not one single cloud. I look around and see that the forest also ends here, with a wall of fog covering the entrance.
"WE'RE OUT OF THAT ARCEUS-FORSAKEN FOREST!" I drop onto the ground and start kissing it. I'm so happy to get out of that forest that I don't care what anyone would think about what I'm doing. It's so good to see something else that isn't the forest.
"What are you doing?" I hear Lucas behind me. I then get back on my feet instantly.
"I..uh...fell." I say back to him.
"Yeah, nice try. But don't worry about it. I probably would've done the same thing if you weren't around." We both laugh at the joke. It's good to be out of that forest.
Lucas, with his bag on his shoulder, says, "Well, let's get moving. It should be a lot easier now that we can see clearly. Let me grab the map and I'll see where we are."
I agree with him as we make our way down the dirt road. With both of us having that Perfect Apple and a spring in our steps, there is nothing in the world that can stop us now.
...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?
Sure enough, I see something being tossed into the air. It's an orb of some sort. I take a closer look at it as it-
*BANG*
Right when the orb makes contact with the ground, a white blinding light shoots outof it, blinding my eyes completely.
"GAH! Lucas, what the heck was that?" I yell.
I don't get an answer from him. I panic. I could be in-
"Told you next time would be different." I hear as I feel something very hard hit my head. As I fall to the ground, I hear someone laughing.
That...was a...cheap...shot...
I then blacked out.