The Eterna Forest Demon

The sun was setting down upon the Sinnoh region and while most trainers would be settling down for the night there would be one particular exception as a woman in her early twenties was walking through the forest with her partner Pokemon Chansey. The woman's long green hair was braided and hung over her shoulder, she wore a long green dress that matched her hair color with a light green jacket covering her upper body. She held a basket full of empty jars as she was doing her weekly tradition of gathering up honey from a Combee hive, she performed the task at night as there was less interference and Chansey easily soothed any Combee that happened to still be awake. Tonight was different however and as the sky continued to darken she'd hear a fierce howl before a pair of red eyes shined in the shadows ahead of her. The sheer sight instantly made Chansey begin to shiver from fright and the woman herself felt her body begin to tremble.

"W-Whose there?!"

"Zaru!" The creature howled once more as it leaped out resulting in the woman and Chansey letting out a cry of terror as the Pokemon lunged at them!

Zach, Dawn and May had set up camp not far off from their location, Dawn was cooking over the campfire while casting occasional looks towards May as the Hoenn girl chatted with her best friend. May was informing him of the legends her region had or at least the ones she knew of. "So this Groudon Pokemon was said to have created your entire region? That's awesome! I bet he looks as amazing as he sounds too!"

"I wouldn't know, all we have are cave paintings from the ancient days. Nobody's seen Groudon or his counterpart Kyogre since those days, there is also a rumor the two are part of a trio rather than a duo but there is hardly any evidence, a green dragon that supposedly flies high up in the sky!"

"You sure they didn't mistake it for a Flygon?" Zach questioned.

May shook her head. "No way, the creature was said to have a long body like a serpent!"

"Really? Well then that sounds like an awesome Pokemon, I wish I could meet it!"

"Who knows? Maybe you could come back to Hoenn with me once you're done with the League, perhaps you could be 'The Emerald Hero' or something like that and see it for yourself!" May smirked, lightly punching his arm as her cheeks darkened at the idea of him possibly accepting her offer!

"Scor!" Scorbunny cried out as she started waving her arms about to get his attention. "Scor scor!"

Zach looked down at her and chuckled lightly as he scratched Scorbunny behind the ears, her eyes closed as a pleased look spread across her face. "I'll think about it, I'm not sure where I'll go. I could simply enter the Sinnoh League again but that would be boring and I wouldn't get much of a chance to grow, leaving the region and battling new trainers while capturing new team members sounds ideal but it's too early to think about that. Besides something tells me Scorbunny wants me to visit Galar."

"Scor!" Scorbunny nodded enthusiastically in agreement as she wanted to show him off to Sonia and all her friends!

"Well I'll go wherever you go," Dawn spoke up while a smile spread across her cheeks. "Traveling around the Sinnoh region with you as been a blast and I couldn't bear the thought of traveling alone or without you."

"Well of course you'd come!" Zach turned to her with a warm smile. "I couldn't imagine traveling without you by my side!" Dawn blushed heavily at his words and quickly turned her attention back to the food before jumping up as they heard a loud scream.

May quickly latched her arms around Zach as her body began shaking, her teeth chattering as she glanced towards the deeper area of the forest. "G-Ghost!"

"Mimikyu are you still here?" Zach glanced around for his own Ghost type as he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she wandered out of camp and stumbled across a passing trainer.

"Kyu?" Mimikyu let out a hiss as she looked towards her trainer.

"Carr..." Lucario let out a nervous growl.

"You're right Lucario, it did sound like whoever that was needed help. We should go check it out."

"Scor!" Scorbunny leaped onto Zach's shoulder and punched excitedly at the air in front of her as if to say she wanted to go kick danger's butt!

"Y-You're going out there?" May shivered as she glanced up at the now star covered sky. The forest was probably crawling with Ghost types by now!

"Of course, I'm not going to stand by and let somebody potentially get mauled by an Ursaring! That's not what a champion should do, if I wanna be one then I have to act the part too! Let's go Scorbunny!"

"Scor!"

"You two watch the campsite, I'll be back shortly." Zach began to walk out of camp only to feel May latch her arm around his.

"I-I'll go with you, i-it's creepy out there but I feel safer when I'm with you." May gazed at his eyes as a light blush formed across her cheek.

"Alright, Lucario can you stay with Dawn then?" Lucario gave his trainer a salute and gave Scorbunny a light growl as he wished her good luck before walking back towards Dawn.

Scorbunny leaped off Zach's shoulder and lit up the area around them as she held a fireball within her paw. "Scor!" It took a good while to find the source of the scream but they'd soon come across a clearing where they'd see a badly bruised and beaten Chansey on the ground next to an older woman whose clothes were torn as if a Pokemon had scratched at her! Zach quickly looked away before May gave his shoulder a light pat.

"Nothing sensitive is showing." May whispered before shifting her eyes about as she wondered if the culprit was still close. Zach quickly glanced around before rushing to check on Chansey, his eyes looked over her injuries while he pulled a Revive from his pocket. He opened the Pokemon's mouth and slid it in while he sprayed her injuries with a Super Potion. May meanwhile looked over Cheryl's injuries, a bit of blood had been drawn but nothing serious as it had come to a halt. May gave the woman a light poke before she'd begin to stir, slowly sitting up before going wide eyed at the sight of Zach and May.

"I-I've got nothing on me!" She cried out.

"Relax we're not thieves!" Zach held up his hands while May copied him, Scorbunny stood in front of her trainer and nodded enthusiastically before pointing towards Chansey.

"Scor!"

The woman turned her head and smiled lightly at the sight of Chansey's injuries having been tended to. "Well I suppose thieves wouldn't heal a Pokemon they attacked..." She then quickly looked around for her basket and made a dash for it with a frantic look, she quickly pulled out the jars and let out a sigh of relief as there appeared to be no cracks. "Praise Arceus..."

"Don't you know it's dangerous to travel deep in the woods at night? Ursaring roam about and can get quite nasty." Zach assumed it was an Ursaring anyways, whatever it was had claws and most certainly wasn't a Ghost type as there were paw prints!

"I-I know, it wasn't an Ursaring. I've traveled through this forest this time of day nearly my entire life, I know where the Ursaring are and can easily maneuver evade them. This creature... it wasn't an Ursaring, it was more like a demon!"

"A d-demon?!" May shivered before latching her arms around Zach's body once more, Zach held her with an arm as a brief look of fear crossed his face but he quickly pushed it aside to try and ease May's fears.

"There's no such things as demons and I'll prove it!"

"Scor!" Scorbunny punched at the air with a cocky smirk.

"Why do you travel at night anyways if you don't mind me asking?" Zach asked.

"Well I make a living by selling honey in Floaroma Town, once a week I sneak out here at night and collect what the Combee and Vespiquen gather up and take it back to sell to locals or passing trainers. The honey they produce is not only tasty but also quite handy for luring out certain Pokemon so it's sought after by all sorts of trainers, why just yesterday an excitable blonde boy your age bought my entire stock!"

"Yeah that sounds like Barry..." Zach sweated lightly. "So you were on your way when you were attacked?"

Cheryl nodded before continuing to speak. "I-It was so sudden! All of a sudden there was this loud howl that instantly terrified Chansey and usually she's quite tough to frighten! Then a pair of red eyes appeared in the bushes over there," Cheryl pointed towards them. "Then it howled again before it leaped out and attacked us! I didn't get a good view of it as it moved so quickly but I did notice it had black fur..."

"Sounds just like a demon." May shivered as she kept her arms around Zach.

Zach gritted his teeth lightly as it definitely sounded quite scary. Black fur, red eyes and sharp claws... that definitely didn't fit the profile of any Pokemon that he knew of!

"Why don't I go with you? I'd like to meet this 'demon'." He felt May's grip tighten and slowly turned to face her. "I'll take you back to camp, I know you're terrified so I won't ask you to come with me."

"N-No! I-If you're going then so am I! I couldn't forgive myself if you got eaten and Dawn would probably kill me!" May clenched her fists as she gazed determinedly into his eyes.

"You sure? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." Zach looked unsure before May placed her hand around his own.

"L-Like I said, I feel safer with you." She smiled lightly.

"Well okay then, you still feel like getting that honey?" He asked the older woman.

"I don't exactly want to go but what choice do I have? I don't have any honey left in stock." She sighed out before extending her hand. "I'm Cheryl by the way."

"The name's Zach,"

"And I'm May!"

Nando sat atop a tree stump as he played a lullaby to his Pokemon with his musical harp. The man hummed along with the tune as his Kricketune and Roselia began drifting off to sleep. The man opened his eyes and smiled at the sight of his sleeping Pokemon before stretching out his arms as he uttered out a yawn and prepared to head to sleep himself however a pair of red eyes appeared in the nearby bushes as a light growl could be heard.

"Why hello there did my musical tune appeal to your ears? I'd be happy to play another for you if you wish!" Nando offered the Pokemon a friendly smile which the Pokemon did not return as it leaped out from the bushes with a savage growl!

"Ahhh!"

"Scor!" Scorbunny's ear twitched as she heard the noise, she then quickly pointed towards the source of the noise with her paw as she glanced towards her trainer.

"That was close by! Come on maybe we can catch it before it runs off!" Zach quickly raced off, May raced alongside him as her grip on his hand tightened from nerves.

"That scream sounded familiar..." Cheryl noted before she followed them.

"Nando?!" Zach soon shouted out, recognizing the Coordinator from the Jubilife Contest. The Coordinator laid on the ground with a weakened groan as a fierce looking black furred mandrill Pokemon stood above him and his Pokemon with a growl. "Scorbunny use Flame Charge but try to avoid hitting Nando and his Pokemon!"

Scorbunny gave him a nod as flames quickly surrounded her body, the rabbit Pokemon blasted off across the clearing before throwing her flame coated body against the mandrill Pokemon! He let out a pained groan and turned with a growl before lashing out with a Fury Swipes!

"That wasn't exactly the smartest move... Scorbunny use Flame Charge again!" Scorbunny ignited herself in flames as he scratched at her, the mandrill let out a cry of pain as he quickly released her before finding himself knocked across the field as she charged into him! The mandrill landed in a collapsed heap and Zach quickly reached for a Pokeball. "I'll make sure this forest is safe to travel through again, go Pokeball!" The Pokeball flew through the air and smacked the mandrill in the face before the Pokemon disappeared in a beam of red light! The ball shook back and forth for a few moments before chiming out to announce the capture!

"Now to find out what this Pokemon is," Zach reached for his Rotom Phone as it began vibrating. May looked over his shoulder while Scorbunny leaped onto his other shoulder as they were curious about the Pokemon as well. The Pokedex app let out a chime as the Pokemon's data was registered.

"Zarude the Rouge Monkey Pokemon, within dense forests this Pokemon lives in a pack with others of its kind. It's incredibly aggressive, and the other Pokemon of the forest fear it!"

"That must explain why it was attacking Cheryl and Nando..." May spoke up.

"Nando my love!" Cheryl exclaimed as she quickly rushed to his side, letting out a sigh of relief as the Coordinator slowly began rising to his feet.

"They live in packs?" Zach glanced around but didn't see or hear any other Zarude nearby. He looked down at the Pokeball and frowned as he remembered what Korrina had said about it being hard for aura gifted trainers like the two of them to raise Dark types and flashbacks of Morpeko attacking him and Dawn briefly flashed through his head. He soon shook his head to clear his thoughts as he reached out for the ball and took a deep breath as he hoped Zarude wouldn't attempt to maul him and May once he was let out.

Zarude burst out in a flash of red light, the mandrill began looking around with a dazed expression before flinching as he felt a painful spray touch his arm. He let out a growl as he turned to lock eyes with Zach who'd just sprayed an injury with a Super Potion.

"Za!"

Zach quickly held up his hands. "I was only trying to help! We had no choice but to attack you as you attacked Nando and Cheryl, I-I'm sure you had a good reason for it right? Where's your pack?"

Zarude stared at his arm and shook it as he let out a light pleasant sounding growl before shrugging.

"You don't know? They live in this forest don't they?"

"Za!" Zarude nodded.

"Man I wish Lucario were here..." Zach muttered as talking to him would be so much easier if he had his best friend around to translate. "Can you show me where they live?"

Zarude lowered his gaze as he looked towards the ground with an unsure expression.

"Come on Zarude you can trust us, if you're hesitant on Nando and Cheryl I'm sure they won't mind if we go on alone. I have a feeling Cheryl wants to stick with Nando anyways."

"Yeah, I'll stay here with Nando. Thanks for saving him," Cheryl smiled and gave them a light wave before turning her attention back towards Nando.

Zarude shifted his eyes from Zach before focusing on May as he growled out.

Zach defensively held out his arm in front of May as more flashbacks of Morpeko briefly flashed in his head. "N-No, May's one of my closest friends! You can trust her!"

Zarude narrowed his eyes as he cast the two of them an unsure look before eventually growling out as he gave a wave of his arm, leading the two deeper into the forest. The pair would walk for what felt like hours before eventually coming across a large clearing that was apparently home to Zarude's pack as evident by the sharp claw marks on nearby trees along with tufts of black fur spread out across the forest floor. There was a rather noticeable spot where there appeared to have been a tussle of some sort, Zach and May walked closer to investigate and saw an imprint of a Zarude's face in the hardened mud beneath them along with what was distinctly two sets of canine pawprints, one appeared to be bipedal while the other was four legged.

Zach looked towards May with a questioning look. "You think it was Team Rocket?" He recalled that they owned a Mightyena and Granbull.

"Perhaps, it could be poachers but this definitely fits their profile. What do they want with Zarude's pack though?"

"We can answer that!" Cassidy's voice shouted out as a large mechanical Zarude arm reached out and snatched Zach's Zarude right up, the mandrill let out a growl as he began viciously clawing at the large mechanical hand but to no avail as he just wasn't making a dent! "Zarude is a rare Pokemon species that constantly moves forests to avoid detection by us humans, they may not be as powerful as most mythical Pokemon but they're still just as valuable!"

"And we'd like to thank you for finding the last one!" Butch laughed. "Now that we've got the full set the Team Rocket Sinnoh branch will be an unstoppable force!"

"Meowth!" The Alolan Meowth chimed in as he stood between the two atop a large mechanical Zarude head!

"Cassidy!" Zach growled out.

"And Billy!" May shouted.

"Gah!" Butch face faulted before quickly standing up as he began shaking his fist at the two. "How many times do I have to tell you brats that my name's Butch?!"

"I don't care what your name is, you're not getting away with Zarude or his pack!"

"Scor!" Scorbunny clenched her fist as she cried out in agreement with her trainer.

"Heh this will be fun," Butch smirked as he noticed Lucario wasn't present. "Your jackal isn't around to protect you this time."

"Butch no, we should make a retreat!" Cassidy growled out.

"Would you relax? He doesn't have his Lucario on him, we can take him this time!"

Meowth unsheathed his claws as he raced down the arm of the mechanical Zarude and raced right for Scorbunny as his body began to spark shortly before he zapped her with a powerful blast of electricity!

"Scor!" Scorbunny cried out.

May cast a glare up at Butch. "You forgot that I'm here?"

"Oh no, I'm so scared of the twerp's girlfriend!" Butch mocked as Cassidy and Meowth snickered.

"Please we know you're not a threat, your Piplup and Buneary are nothing special!" Cassidy mocked. Due to the darkness cast upon the two they'd mistaken her for Dawn!

"Dawn's not his girlfriend!" May's eye began to twitch. "And I'm not her, Blaziken use Blaze Kick!"

Blaziken burst from his ball and quickly leaped up before delivering a fiery kick to the robot's chest! The robot's chest burst wide open and exposed it's circuitry as Butch and Cassidy let out an alarmed gasp.

"Electro Ball!" Scorbunny clasped her paws together as an electrical sphere began to form between them. The rabbit then dropped the electrical ball of energy and delivered a swift kick as she sent the ball flying directly into the robot's circuitry! The electricity quickly engulfed the entire mech, Butch and Cassidy let out a loud shriek as they were hit with the shock shortly before an explosion was set off, blasting the two of them off into the sky as Meowth looked up with a horrified expression as he was left alone.

A cage fell off the remains of the Zarude mech's back and broke apart upon hitting the ground, freeing the trapped Zarude that were held within! Zach's Zarude let out a happy cry as he pried himself loose of the broken Zarude arm before rushing to join his pack while May turned to Zach with a rather warm smile.

"We made a pretty good team there, don't you think?" May asked, tilting her head as a blush formed across her cheeks.

"Y-Yeah we did!" Zach offered her a smile before turning his attention to Meowth as the feline stared off and appeared to be distracted. He silently reached for a ball and threw it towards Meowth only for the feline to quickly turn around and slice it in half without warning. Meowth let out an annoyed hiss before racing off in the directions that his teammates had gone off to. "Oh well, worth a shot!" Zach shrugged before his attention focused on Zarude, a smile crossed his face once more as he noticed the mandrill was happy and no longer looked feral or suspicious. Zach looked down at the Pokeball that contained Zarude before dropping it and crushing it beneath his shoe.

Zarude felt a blue beam of light surround his body resulting in him looking at his paws before turning back in the direction of his trainer as he watched him and May walk off. Zarude tilted his head for a moment before turning back to his pack.

"That was very noble of you, releasing Zarude like you did." May spoke as the two walked back to camp.

"Well he cared a great deal for his pack, he was worried about them and seemed quite pleased to have them safely returned. I couldn't bear to take him away from that, it'd have been selfish and only make his kind have an excuse to continue having a distrust of humans." Zach spoke before offering her a light smile. "Besides I can relate to him, if something happened to you, Dawn or Barry I'd probably go crazy as well and wouldn't rest until I found you!"

May couldn't help but blush at his words. "So would I, why do you think I wanted you to go to Hoenn silly?" She rolled her eyes lightly. Zach turned to look at her as they paused at the edge of camp, Dawn had fallen asleep waiting up for them as she was slumped over the log they were using for a chair. The girl began to stir lightly as she heard Zach's voice.

"Because you wanted to continue hanging around me and Dawn?" He asked.

"Well yes but that's not the entire reason." May rubbed her arm and looked as if she were about to say something before she noticed Dawn stirring awake.

"Zach?" Dawn called out sleepily before locking her eyes onto him. She quickly stood up and rushed over before throwing her arms around him! "Finally! I-I was so worried, you were gone for hours! I-I thought that you might have..."

"It's okay Dawn," Zach placed his arms around Dawn, holding her close to him while she couldn't help but blush heavily from the interaction. "I dealt with the problem and we're all perfectly safe! I'll explain it to you tomorrow, we should really get some rest especially you as you look exhausted!"

Dawn smiled and could only nod lightly as she let go of his arm only to immediately begin to collapse before he reached out and grabbed her waist, pulling her up as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder for support. "Here, I'll help you to the tent." He offered, Dawn smiled and leaned her head lightly against his own as he walked her to her tent.

May watched the pair with a light smile. She didn't deny the two made a rather cute couple but she also knew her feelings for him were real too. She watched as Zach crawled out of Dawn's tent before sealing it behind him, he then looked back towards May before tilting his head lightly.

"You were going to say something before?"

May rubbed her arm nervously as she bit her lip. "I-I'll tell you some other time, it's not important right now."

Zach raised his eyebrow as he gave her a concerned look before heading on into his tent, Scorbunny quickly following after him. Lucario looked at May and shook his head lightly.

"Lucario you know Zach, is there any chance that he's polyamorous?"

Lucario shrugged before turning around and joining his trainer and Scorbunny while May was left hopefully staring after him.

"We're finally out!" Zach stretched out before punching at the air. "Eterna City here we come!"

May turned to face Zach and Dawn before offering a light bow as a blush crossed her face. "Thanks again for letting me travel with you guys, I-I'm not sure I could have traveled through that place alone."

"It's not a problem, we're friends after all!" Dawn smiled while Zach nodded in agreement.

"And you can go on ahead if you want, I'm gonna try and catch a Water type again!" Zach pointed at a nearby river before glancing towards Dawn. "You don't mind waiting here a bit do you?"

Dawn shook her head as she offered him a cute smile. "Not at all, have at it!" She then giggled as Zach and Lucario quickly rushed towards the river while Scorbunny plopped down next to her as she didn't want to get wet. If it came to a battle she wouldn't mind much as it made her trainer happy seeing her kick butt but she wasn't going to purposefully get wet for no reason!

May watched him rush off and released a warm smile before turning her back to them as she walked on ahead. Another pair of eyes was also watching Zach as Zarude watched from the shadows of the forest, a smile present on the mandrill's face as he let out a growl and wished him good luck on his journey.

Alright so the Hisui forms? They will appear in this story once Legends is out but for now, those Pokemon are 'extinct'. Given they're named after the old version of Sinnoh I assume they died out like fossil Pokemon due to changes in the climate. I'm so excited for that game and the remakes!

Anyways let me know what you all think and if there's anything you'd like to suggest or see! :)