I didn't hear anyone come out to intervene as I walked away from the house. They must've understood that I needed time to myself.

How could anyone live like that? I wondered. No spirit left, just resigned to live an uneventful life in the middle of a forest. Not to mention a forest with a stupid name.

Looking up, I could see Groovy Pecha Forest's namesake berries hanging from the trees around me. They looked fine, but Vine's previous warning rang true in my head, prompting me not to try and eat one.

I've got better things to do, anyway.

I started to walk faster, holding the stone on my necklace to my chest. I had been wearing it since before I trained with Skid, and while it looked cool and felt warm, I still failed to see its real purpose.

It probably doesn't even have one. Unlike me, apparently, with this "saving the world" business.

Soon, I reached a clearing. Within it lay... nothing. Absolutely nothing worth sitting around and passing time with.

There really is nothing to do around here. I'll probably die of boredom before I can even try to save the world.

Still, I walked further into the clearing, pondering what direction to leave it in. Before I could finish my thought, a familiar voice spoke from behind me.

"So your little Zorua friend is gone, eh? Thanks for making this so easy for us."

Oh, no. I whipped my head around behind me to see the same three Gastly that I saw back at my crater, back when I got my necklace. The necklace that they tried to steal.

The middle one floated closer to me. "Yeah, remember us? No way we won't get that necklace now!"

I tried to look brave, as Skid did when he faced them before. "What, do you think I c- can't battle either? Surely you three wouldn't stand a chance against m- me."

The Gastly on the right laughed. "I can hear your teeth chattering from here, you know as much as we do that you can't do much to us."

The middle one floated even closer. "Come on, let's make this easy. Hand it over."

I shrunk back, clutching the stone tightly. I may not know what this thing is for, but it still belongs to me! I won't give up like Skid and the others did. Ember... Ember!

Just like before, a huge wave of heat rose in my throat, but this time I didn't try to stop it. Before the fire burst from my mouth, though, I noticed the stone on my necklace begin to glow.

The Gastly noticed, too, freezing in place to watch it. The stone glowed brighter and brighter until all I could see was a pale shade of orange.

Ugh, my head.

I opened my eyes, despite not remembering closing them, to find myself and the Gastly all laying on the ground. Unlike me, however, the Gastly were all out cold.

Did... did the necklace do that?

I looked down at my chest to find that my necklace was still there, but something was off.

Hm. The stone's faded. I guess it's done doing that for now.

"Hey, Xylus!" I turned around to see Skid, Vine, and Ivy rushing toward me.

Skid got to me first. "Are you okay? After a bit, we all decided to come look for you, but as soon as we all came outside there was this huge flash of light!"

I nodded, feeling woozy. "Well, I think I know what this necklace does now..."

Then I fell asleep.