The first thing she felt was the tree branches in her face, with the typically calming scent of the woods now being an uncomfortable indication of her surroundings.
Oh, come on. What kind of… huh. That's weird. Why can't I remember my name? Or… oh no. Can't remember anything. Oh no, no, no…
She tried to stand up, but found that her legs didn't respond. She attempted to brush the leaves out of her face, but her arms felt oddly short. Instead, she shook the leaves off of her head, making the hood on her cloak fall backwards a bit.
Wait, my cloak? I probably had this before I forgot everything. She took a glance downwards towards the rest of her body, and saw, alongside the black cape to the hood of the cloak, a pale green ghostly body, with a deeper green trio of spikes near the body. So that's why my legs weren't listening; they weren't there. I'm not a human anymore, am I?
That's a memory! she realized, remaining on the ground. Since she didn't have a firm grasp on this new body, she instead looked around. The forest consisted mostly of oak trees, with the occasional pine here and there. She knew it was lucky that her cloak didn't get caught on any branches, therefore giving her an embarrassing situation when someone came across her.
Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of rustling in the bushes.
And screaming. High-pitched, terrible screaming.
"Mizuchi, we've been here since sunrise. The monsters are going to find us!"
The Sobble had been leading Cocoa through the Splinter Woods for the past hour, without finding the Pokemon who had fallen from the sky. "Yeah, but…"
The Chesnaught shook her head. "We have to turn back, Mizuchi. We can't…"
Rustle, rustle…
Both Pokemon jumped a bit, both thinking the same thing.
Oh, no.
"Mizuchi?" Cocoa whispered, her uncertainty showing on her face.
"Don't. Move," the Sobble whispered back.
A glowing pair of red eyes glared in their direction. The owner of this pair seemed to talk, but by conveying emotions into its prey's minds rather than by letting words out of its mouth.
Be as quiet as you like. We see you. There is no escape. You are ours.
More pairs, and sometimes trios or single red eyes, appeared around them, also repeating their telepathic message. No escape… see you… ours…
"Now what?" the Chesnaught asked, her fear becoming pure terror.
"I… don't know," Mizuchi admitted, her own fear coming into her mind in the form of memories.
Her sister, a Drizzile, fighting off these monsters so that she could escape their home.
Being shoved into the bushes, and being told just to run.
"Go, Mizuchi. Don't stop. I'll see you later, kid."
Turning around one last time, just to see the monsters pulling the Drizzile away.
"Snap out of it, Mizuchi!" The face of the Chesnaught drew the Sobble back into reality.
Right. I have to pay attention if I want to survive this.
Unfortunately, Cocoa's sudden shouting drew the monsters out. The first one looked like a Luxray, but with dark crimson fur and a deep indigo face. Its eyes were glowing ruby red, and its claws and fangs were sharp and curled, some of them even broken.
Any last words?
Words… words…
The mental whispers of the creatures were almost distracting, and Cocoa eventually went for the one thing she thought for.
"AAAHH!" she screamed, running at the Luxray-monster. Three Mankey-like creatures, with the same fur, eye colors, claws and teeth, ran in to block her. They grappled the spikes on her right arm, digging into the ground with their feet.
Mizuchi turned around, finding herself face to face with a beastly Jangmo-o. It looked at the Luxray, who nodded at it. The Jangmo-o screeched, a loud, painful tone that made Mizuchi want to tear her ears off.
"Cocoa…?" the Sobble asked, glancing at her caretaker.
"Go home! Don't die!" she replied, ramming the Mankey-monsters into a nearby tree. Mizuchi nodded, ducking under the Jangmo-o's fist as it raised it, hurrying back in the direction of home.
She didn't plan for the Blitzle, who sped in front of her to block her path. She turned around, panting heavily as she dove into the bushes nearby.
However, she heard a scream, and instinctively looked back.
She instantly wished she hadn't, as she saw Cocoa bleeding in several areas, on the ground, being dragged away by the monsters. Tears began to streak down the Sobble's face, and she began to turn invisible from contact with water.
Cocoa… she thought, stopping to cry. First Naga, now Cocoa. I get everyone into trouble with those monsters…
She was shocked out of her train of thought by the sound of another voice. Not telepathic this time, but an actual voice. Feminine, slightly deeper than an alto.
"What was that?" the voice said, fear evident in it.
"Shhh," the Sobble whispered. "I'll come find you. Try not to do anything that would draw attention."
Mizuchi carefully stepped towards where the voice came from, avoiding fallen branches and leaves. That's odd. Why would the branches have fallen? There wasn't any crazy wind…
Oh, right. The Pokemon who fell from the sky. Is this them?
In her thoughts, she almost missed the Dreepy lying on the ground. Her black cloak had begun to fall off, and near her neck, seemingly attached to the cloak, was a symbol of a blood red ruby within a silver disk, which had three engravings of lines that looked like they attached the gem to the outer edge of the disk. Her ears, unlike most Dreepy, flopped downwards like dog ears.
"Hey. Don't worry, I'm on my way out of here. Can you get up?" Mizuchi asked, still whispering out of fear that the monsters might hear her.
The Dreepy answered, "No… I'm not- uh, I mean- this isn't my body. I'm a human, not a ghost."
"This isn't the time for jokes! We have to get… oh, you're serious." The Sobble shook her head in disbelief. "But how? Humans only exist in fairy tales, right?"
"I'm sorry, what?!" the Dreepy replied, shocked into shouting. Mizuchi had to shush her, the monstrous creatures still a fresh memory. The Dreepy corrected herself, "How? That makes no sense. Humans only being fairy tales? Being just stories? Do you even have cities?"
Mizuchi took a moment to think about the barrage of questions. "Yeah… we have cities. Look, we can talk later. Right now, we have to get out of here!"
"But I can't move, remember? I can't just float!" the Dreepy hissed.
"Well… what's your name, by the way?"
"Did I forget to mention that I can't remember anything? And what's your name?"
The Sobble chuckled at her forgetfulness. "Sorry, I'm Mizuchi. And before you say anything, it's a Moltrian name. Your amnesia causes problems, though. How about Shade? It's an old name for a ghost."
Shade nodded. "Yeah. That'll work for now. Now, about floating…"
"I've never actually met a Dreepy before, but I think they just… focus their mind on it. I don't really know, but give it a try."
The Dreepy squinted, making a big show of simply thinking about hovering a foot off the ground. She began to do so, feeling her body rise above the forest floor.
"There you go. Now let's get out of here!"
Shade followed Mizuchi through the woods, having no choice but to trust her new friend. Mizuchi, on the other hand, was worried that Shade would trust her too much and fall to those monsters, just like everyone else.
They quietly stepped through the woods, seeing that the beasts that the Sobble had encountered before seemed to have left. She nodded back in the Dreepy's direction, signaling that the path was clear.
Every step, Mizuchi worried that the monsters would find them. Shade, too, was concerned, getting the odd feeling that the trees were staring at her, almost as if they knew that she didn't belong here.
"I think we're almost out of here," the Sobble whispered, glancing around at the surroundings. She gasped, startling Shade and making the Dreepy yelp. "Sorry," Mizuchi apologized. "Look, I see the town gates!"
That's more of a door than a gate, Shade thought, staring at the massive wooden entryway, a very different color than the rest of the stone wall.
Mizuchi looked up at the top of the wall, shouting, "Sheath! I'm back!"
A Skarmory flew down from above, nodding at the Sobble before giving Shade a very intense look. "You are new. Mizuchi, who is this?"
"That's Shade. I met her out in the woods. She's a friend."
"And… where is Cocoa?" Sheath questioned. Mizuchi gave no response, instead opting to ask for the gates to be opened. The Skarmory nodded, flying to the other side of the wall and opening the wooden door.
Mizuchi smiled at Shade. "Welcome to Spotlight Town."