While the leaves in Kanto turned all colors of the rainbow and had started falling down the trees, the temperature hadn't been as low as usual in Autumn. Due to this, there were still people walking around in shorts.
Danny, Richard, Janine and Lester weren't those people, but the optimistic Danny hadn't bought a winter coat in Vermillion City and had forgotten in Celadon City, so he had his fingers crossed that the cold would wait until they had arrived in Fuchsia City.
"So, Janine. Are you ever going to tell us what is it with you and Fuchsia or do we have to find out ourselves?" Danny tried.
Janine looked at her companion.
"There's nothing with me and Fuchsia. It's just where I was born and my parents still live there."
"Parents? So far we've only heard you talk about your dad, so there is also a mom?"
"Of course I have a mother, did anyone ever bother to teach you biology?"
Lester started to laugh. "I think what Danny tried to say was that some parents choose to raise their children alone. For all we know your mother could have left."
"Can we please drop it. My parents and I didn't leave on good terms so I don't like to talk about it."
Then, she suddenly ran off into the forest, leaving the three boys shocked.
"Did I say something wrong?" Lester asked.
Richard shook his head. "Danny and I have wondered about what happened in Fuchsia since we met her, but she hasn't talked about it and has been hesitant to go back. You shouldn't have asked." Richard slapped Danny on his shoulder.
"Auhh, how could I know she ran off?"
Richard didn't have a reaction to that, so instead he gestured his companions to follow Janine into the forest. They quickly put their Pokémon in their Pokéballs and followed Richard.
Together, they made their way through the forest, realizing it was getting more dense the deeper they went into it.
"Janine!" Richard called, but no-one answered.
"Is it at all possible we missed her?" Lester asked. "There's no way she made it in this far."
Danny agreed, but then he saw something moving ahead of them.
"What is that?" He pointed towards the small bushes, but it had stopped moving. Danny decided to investigate, followed by his two friends.
"I swear there was something here." But the bushes turned out to be empty.
"Wait a minute, I thought I saw something purple over there!" Lester ran away from them towards yet another bush, but this one was also empty.
Following the 'something purple', the three trainers wandered further and further into the forest. Every time they thought they had gone far enough and the thing they were chasing was gone it showed up again, until there were no more bushes. Instead there was what seemed like a cave, blocked by a gigantic rock.
"There it is!"
What they had been chasing wasn't Janine or any of her Pokémon. It was an Ekans, which was now sitting prominently before the rock, ready to battle in a more open playfield.
"Out of the way, it's mine!" A familiar voice shouted. Janine ran past the three boys with a Pokéball in hand and Weezing right behind her.
"Weezing, use Take Down!"
Weezing launched itself into the snake Pokémon, who was quick enough to dodge.
"Now, Will-O-Wisp!"
Three small, blue fireballs appeared and were launched at Ekans, who hadn't even noticed Weezing had used another attack.
Janine threw the Pokéball and after a short moment, it confirmed the capture.
"Yes! I got an Ekans"
Janine ran forward to grab the Pokémon, thanking Weezing on her way there.
Meanwhile, the three guys had been spectating, which Janine didn't seem to notice.
"Congrats!" Danny was the first to speak.
Janine turned around and suddenly realized her companions were standing right next to her.
"Ehh, thanks. Did I run you guys over?"
Richard started to laugh. "You made a good attempt."
"I'm sorry." Janine's cheeks turned red. "I just saw this Ekans and I had to capture it. It proofed difficult to track though."
"Yeah we know, we followed it here and it kept disappearing." Danny reacted with a widened smile.
Lester had looked around. "Where is here actually?"
The others hadn't really payed attention to their surroundings yet, but they too quickly realized they were probably lost.
"Great, we're lost again." Richard sighed and sat down against the big rock.
"I take it this has happened before?" Lester asked before joining Richard.
"Yep, usually when Danny is navigating."
Lester had to laugh, but Danny hadn't heard the comment, he tried if he could get around the rock formation, but it was pretty tight for as far as he could see.
"Pidgey, can you fly up and find a path?" Danny ordered as he let the Flying type out.
"You need to find a path? I can help you with that."
The four saw an odd man walk out of the forest. He didn't wear pants but instead a kilt, a strange kind of skirt. He wore a blue t-shirt, which seemed a bit torn down. Past the long, brown beard he didn't look all that old. The oddest thing about the guy might be the fact that he had no shoes.
"If you follow the path I came from you should be on the road in 5 minutes or so."
"Ehh…. Thank you." Richard said. He and Lester stood up and the group started walking the way the odd man had came from, politely nodding their heads while walking by him.
After they entered the tree line Danny quickly jumped off the road and hid behind a tree.
"What on earth are you doing?" Janine asked.
"I want to know why he came here." Danny looked past the tree and saw the man walking towards the giant rock and he knocked on it twice.
"What is he doing?" Richard whispered to no-one in particular.
Suddenly, the rock seemed to open up in the middle. The man walked in and the both 'doors' closed off directly, going back to looking like an ordinary rock.
The four teens had been watching with growing anticipation.
Danny was the first to come to his senses as he jumped back onto the road and ran towards the rock.
"Ehh Danny, the road is that way." Richard pointed out, directing his friend the other way.
"Seriously? There's a mystery at our feet right now and you want to go?" Danny asked.
"Yeah well, Fuchsia City is waiting and you know I don't like these kind of caves." Richard responded.
"Come on, you can't tell me the sense of adventure doesn't trigger you!" Danny tried once more, but Richard was unpersuadable.
"Janine, Lester, what do you guys think?"
"I think we should explore it. What could go wrong?" Janine, taking every possibility to postpone Fuchsia City, was all-in.
"Lester?"
Lester doubted, he really wanted to get to Fuchsia to get another badge, on the other side mysteries had always intrigued him.
"You know what? Let's do it!"
"That's three against one Richard, let's go!" Danny said triumphantly.
Richard sighed. "Fine, but we aren't staying long."
Danny walked forward to face the giant rock. He took his time investigating it.
"Today?" Richard said with a sassy tone.
Danny looked back annoyed. Nevertheless he knocked two times. Once again, the rock opened in the middle. As it turned out, it wasn't as big of a rock as they thought it was. It took them one step to get past it. When all four were inside, the rock closed again.
The walls were filled with torches, so the tunnel was quite well-lit. The tunnel was also quite long. Richard had a small panic attack looking at how far it stretched.
Danny led the group further into the mysterious tunnel, but no matter how many steps they took, the end of the tunnel just wasn't visible.
"I say we go back." Richard commented after 15 minutes of walking in a straight line. "Maybe this thing leads nowhere."
Danny had to laugh. "And that weirdo just vanished into thin air. Yeah right."
So they continued on, until eventually there did seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
"You see, I told you there was something interesting here."
Richard wasn't impressed. "If this is going to be a shortcut to Celadon City you will never outlive it."
But it wasn't.
After a good 10 minutes of walking, the trainers could see where the tunnel had led them and it was no disappointment: It was a gigantic hall within what seemed like a mountain, with an opening on the top. The hall was filled with exotic plants and trees and bird Pokémon like Pidgey and Spearow were flying around on top.
The path was also quite different as what they were used to, instead of bricks this was a path made of wood chips, which made the entire place look like a jungle exhibit.
"Who the hell are you?"
The teenagers turned around to face another strange man. This one had no t-shirt on, but did wear the same kind of kilt. He had a grey beard that reached to his belly button and, once again, no shoes.
"Ehh…"
"How did you find out the secret path that led here?" The old man said.
Another man came walking towards them, it was the odd man from before, now without t-shirt.
"That might have been my fault Douglas. I saw them when I entered, I guessed they had continued their journey already," he said.
"We saw him do the trick and we wanted to investigate." Danny came clean.
"Well this is a forbidden area." The old man, Douglas, was quite firm. The younger man was more open and welcoming.
"Well they are here already, why not give them a tour around? We don't get guests too often. Not ever, actually. As long as you promise to keep our existence a secret of course."
The four trainer nodded enthusiastically. Even Richard, who didn't feel claustrophobic in such an open space, wanted to learn more.
"Well follow me then. My name is Alastair by the way."
"I'm Danny, and these are my friends Richard, Janine and Lester."
"Welcome! This is what we like to call the secret village of Enveriss." Alastair led the group down the path that led to a small town, filled with bungalows. Children were running through the streets. All with the recognizable kilt.
"So I have to ask, why the skirts?" Janine asked.
"They are called kilts. They remind us of our heritage. You see, our ancestors travelled from far away to this region but they didn't feel quite at place. The way we like to dress is a bit off in Kanto and our ancestors weren't accepted. One day, while travelling, they stumbled upon this giant cave and decided to make it their home, away from everyone else."
The trainers were all ears as it almost felt like they were walking through a wonderland. Kanto wasn't the coldest region, but these forests were completely different from what the kids had seen before. When they stopped walking they were standing in the middle of a square, with small stands selling fruits and toys for the kids. It was filled to the brink with people, both male and female, wearing the exact same clothing as Alastair did (although the females did wear a top).
"The story doesn't end there though." Alastair continued. "Even though our ancestors lived here they still had contacts outside, which led to more people finding this place and taking it over, once again pushing away our forefathers. It led to a pretty brutal fight which we won. The giant rock you saw is our way to make sure nobody knows about this place. The mountain outside is almost entirely covered with green and not easy to climb. This way our secret has been save for generations."
"And we like to keep it that way." Douglas intervened. "You've seen the place, now it's time you're on your way."
Alastair shook his head. "That's not how we treat guests."
"Well, since we've never had guests there are no guidelines." Douglas countered.
"Well it's about time we do." Alastair raised his tone, attracting the attention of everyone around him.
"There was a reason why I left today, I wanted to see how people are on the outside. As it turns out, they are way more accepting than they used to be. Sure, they looked at my kilt strangely, but no-one made fun of me and a lot of people were genuinely interested in why I dressed the way I did."
"What are you trying to say?" Douglas reacted, growing more angry with the seconds.
"I want us to mingle with other Kantonians. Let them see our culture and learn about ours."
Gasps of shock and despair could be heard all around them, while Danny and his friends couldn't be more uncomfortable. Apparently they ended up in the middle of a crisis.
"I hope you are joking Alastair. We will not go out this mountain, it isn't save." Douglas was furious, but Alastair didn't seem impressed.
"I think you are forgetting I am the chief, not you."
"Ha, than you also know that there will be a vote for these kind of decisions and you can be sure I will rally everyone against you! With a bit of luck we'll have you removed." Douglas stormed of in a white hot rage.
The crowd, while shocked, also left the scene, leaving Alastair with the four young trainers.
"I'm sorry that you ended up in a civil war guys, I'll guide you back to the road." Alastair apologized, but Richard was having none of it.
"We should stay."
All heads turned to him.
"Richard, this is not our fight." Danny whispered.
"Maybe not, but we can show these people that the world on the outside isn't that scary. And that the people aren't as judging as they used to be."
"Are you sure you guys want to do that? It would help my cause a lot." Alastair sounded hopeful.
"If it helps you I guess we can help out." Danny responded. Lester and Janine nodded their heads in agreement.
"Wow, thank you so much! I'll go around and rally people to my cause, meanwhile you guys can explore this place a bit." With that, the chief ran away.
"Well, might as well go and explore." Danny walked pasted the stands and further down the path they were going.
"This should lead to the forest," he said and he continued walking while the others followed him.
The forest was even denser than before they entered the mountain, but the paths made it pretty easy to navigate around.
"Do you think it would be okay if we let our Pokémon out?" Janine wondered out loud.
No-one could think of a reason why they shouldn't, so within a minute a wide arsenal of Pokémon were standing in the middle of the forest, with one new face.
Ekans had no idea where it was and with who it was, so it was a little shocked.
"Hi there Ekans, I'm Janine, your trainer."
Ekans' eyes widened and it wanted to flee immediately, which it would've succeeded in if Lester's Wartortle hadn't stood in the way.
It tried another route but Charmeleon stopped it in its tracks, giving Janine the possibility to pick it up.
"There's no reason to be afraid, you're save with us."
All in all Ekans didn't seem convinced, especially with such a large group of Pokémon surrounding them.
After Janine had put it down and Ekans had ceased its tries to escape, the group continued walking. Not only the trainers were impressed, the Pokémon weren't used to such a tropical forest either. Pidgey and Lester's Pidgeotto flew up high to take a good look at their surroundings, while Weepinbell jumped off into the forest, doing some exploring of his own.
"Don't go too far!" Was the general warning the group gave their Pokémon, knowing quite well most of them wouldn't follow it anyway.
All of a sudden, a loud scream was heard throughout the forest, causing the group to run back. At the edge of the forest, they saw a crowd of people, shivering at the sight of Charmeleon.
"What the hell is that?" "It's terrifying!"
Danny jumped forward. "You don't have to worry, Charmeleon will do you no harm!"
"How can you be so sure?" A young boy dared to ask.
"Because I'm his trainer."
The other Pokémon had all heard the scream and eventually all of them gathered around the edge of the forest, causing multiple people to freak out.
"What is a trainer?" Unlike his neighbors, the young boy didn't seem to be afraid at all. He even stepped forward to check out the big group of Pokémon.
"Trainers capture and train Pokémon. You have seen the Pidgey and Spearow fly above you right? (the kid nodded) Well, trainers capture those Pokémon and together they fight battles."
The crowd started mumbling. "Fighting? With those birds?"
Danny started to laugh. "Yeah. The best benefit is that you really start bonding with them, they become your family. And winning battles together is one of the best feelings in the world."
"Can I touch it?" The boy asked, pointing towards Charmeleon.
"Sure you can, just be careful with his tail." Danny responded with a smile. The young boy stepped forward and petted Charmeleon on his head.
With the young boy's actions, the ice was broken. More people walked forward to investigate. One quite muscular guy compared himself with Machoke while the younger girls went crazy about Eevee and Lester's Vulpix. The team's Pokémon seemed to love the attention, although Ekans still felt like being in a weird place.
After a short while, the crowd left again, getting ready for the voting. Danny and his friends returned their Pokémon and made their way back to the square, where Alastair was waiting for them.
"Good to see you, the vote will begin in halve an hour in the arena. We can go now so we can discuss tactics."
Time passed quickly and the arena, a big, open building with tribunes and an open field in the middle, was filling up. In the middle of the arena, a stage was built. Douglas was the first to speak.
"Fellow inhabitants of Enveriss, today we heard the most obscure thing ever. This man (pointing towards Alastair, who was standing next to the stage) wants us to go outside! Has he lost his mind? The world out there is dangerous and the people will judge us."
Alastair walked up the stage and spoke up. "You've never been outside this mountain, you don't really know if it is all that dangerous. I have and I can tell you it's not. Sure, the cities are bigger than our town is and there are way more people, but that doesn't make it bad. In fact, I have four witnesses that can testify that. Danny, could you go first?"
The trainer nodded and stood up from his seat.
"The outside world is a lot like this place is. Most people are friendly and always in for a talk. There are towns out there that are a lot like your town, with only a few houses and a tight community."
"You say 'most people', so there are bad people out there too?" Douglas countered sharp-tongued.
"Well, I guess there are. I mean, of course there are! But they are in the minority and they are always defeated." Danny was a bit thrown off by that counter attack from Douglas.
"You hear that? There are evil people out there! This kid came from the outside so we should trust his judgement!"
The crowd started mumbling, which caused Richard to stand up.
"As if there aren't bad people in here. I think the man that wants to deny you all the change of discovering a whole new world is the biggest bad guy I've ever seen."
Good one, Alastair thought with a smile.
"Young man, I'll have you know I'm looking out for the best interest of my people." Douglas wasn't prepared to take insults from a kid so many years his minor.
"So am I, only I really want the best for our people. You are just afraid of the outside world so you think everyone else should be." Alastair knew he had Douglas in a corner and the crowd seemed to be on his hand.
"I'm afraid, yes. Afraid that our culture will vanish when we go out there. We have had our way for hundreds of years, if we lose it we will call upon us the wrath of our ancestors. And I have been out there once, years ago. I came face to face with a monster you can not imagine. It had wings and breathed fire, even it's tail was on fire."
Hearing that made the entire arena fill with startled noises, suddenly Douglas was winning, but he hadn't seen part of his community play with the foreign Pokémon earlier, something Danny had seen.
"Everyone, that monster Douglas described is called a Charizard. I myself train a Charmeleon, which will evolve into a Charizard. Earlier today, a group of your people saw him and other Pokémon we travel with and they discovered these Pokémon aren't creepy or dangerous at all, as long as you treat them with respect."
The people that had been present at the edge of the forest earlier agreed and the young boy jumped up.
"I was there! He is right, they aren't scary at all! They are really kind and I got to pet the Charmeleon!"
Douglas' mouth fell open. "Finlay….?"
"It seems that even your own grandchild is a fan of the foreign Pokémon." Alastair laughed. With that statement, Douglas seemed to have lost the argument.
The vote started and a wide majority chose to have the choice to explore the outside world, only the elder stood with Douglas. All with all it was a resounding victory for the Enveriss chief.
In the aftermath of the vote, the decision was Alastair's to make.
"Hereby the rule that the outworld is forbidden will be eliminated. The world is free for everyone to explore, but never alone! The entrance to our home will remain. Because the elder prefer to remain living in secret there will be no mention of this place outside. That's the new law, thank you for your attention."
A loud applause followed, even Douglas put his hands together. In the end Alastair proofed to be a chief for all his people.
"I couldn't have done it without you guys." Alastair said to the four trainers at the entrance, a short time after the voting. "I can count that our secret is save with you?"
All four solemnly nodded.
"Great. Once again my thanks. If you guys are ever around don't forget to visit."
"We won't," Danny said as he shook hands with the chief. "Tell Finlay to get a Charmander."
"Will do!" Alastair responded, not really sure what a 'Charmander' was.
It took the group about 10 minutes to get back to the road, leaving the secret village of Enveriss behind them.
"So, do you guys think they will be accepted?" Janine asked.
"I don't know, the world has changed." Lester reacted, to which Richard agreed.
"I'm sorry, can anyone tell me where we'd just been?" Danny said with a widened smile, but he was sure he would never forget this mystery, while the group continued towards Fuchsia City.