"Hey!"

The constant splashes my own footsteps made began to blur together. The dripping, slurping of mud and the constant buzz in the air. It all became a monotone melody.

The terrible smell released by rotting vegetation pierced my nostrils like a pair of rapiers. Stinging into my brain where they bled until all I could think of was the horrible smell of decay.

This is what Hell looks like. I thought to myself. Not a chasm filled with fire, nor an icy abyss. No, Hell is like this, an endless gray swamp where water reaches your thighs and seeps into your boots until every step you take weighs more than the last one. Everywhere I see is a smooth surface of sickly gray water and white fog. The sun barely breaks through and if it had disappeared, I wouldn't even have noticed.

Every single bone inside my body feels cold. My own clothes cling to my body like a parasitic layer of skin. It feels as if I have been here forever.

"Why do you think we are here?" The other voice interrupts my train of thought again.

I look up and see another person. His footsteps echo my own.

"Huh?" I respond, confused at the sight of this stranger.

"Keep your head straight," he orders me. Who is this guy? I can barely see his face through all the layers of cloth. Same for his body, although the clothes he wears are disheveled and only wear him down.

I look down and see I wear something similar.
"Do you know why we are here?" He asks. I can't see his expression but he sounds like he's on the verge of panicking. His voice is shaking, but not from just the cold. It's as if he is straining himself to remain somewhat composed.

He takes another step but the swamp is too deep. He trips in the water. But it's not deep enough so he gets up. Albeit with a face as gray as the water itself and his eyes just as lifeless.

I shake my head and wait until he at least stands on two legs again.

"Where are we?" I croak.

My companion doesn't immediately answer. He shivered but continued to march, clenching his teeth while he started talking. "W-we are here to hunt down the lake guardian. A legendary P-pokémon known as Uxie." He spat out the name Uxie with disgust. "Do you know how long we have been hunting him?"

The question sounded like a desperate plea. He looked at me expectantly. It distressed me that I could not give him any answers.

"It doesn't matter, we have to capture her." He said grimly. He looked at me again, looking for any sign of knowledge on my end. It was as if he hoped I could confirm what he just said.

Sadly I could only give him a blank stare.

Why are we chasing Uxie? What is an Uxie?

I feel a hollow pit inside my stomach. I swallow. "What are you talking about?" I ask. The stranger looks at me with a betrayed look, as if I should have known.

"Uxie is a Mythical Pokémon that lives somewhere in this swamp. The Pokémon that controls Knowledge." He stops for a moment to peer ahead. He spits something fleshy into the water.

It's red.

Around us the swamp still stretches on seemingly forever. The stranger scrunches his nose at the disgusting smell. "Fucking bastard." He murmurs.

"I don't want to be here," I suddenly say. I am surprised at how hoarse I sound. "Why can't we just leave this cold place?"

"We need to keep going," the guy tries to shrug but he is too tired to do that.

"Says who?" I ask defiantly.

He turns around.

"You told me that."

I did what?

"You told me everything about Uxie and this swamp." He paused for a second. A bitter scoff escaped his blue lips. "I don't know why the fuck we are here. You just told me everything I told you and said to do the same for you."

He looks at me with a tired sigh. For a second I feel like there's a spark behind his life. Something that can be turned into a roaring flame under the right condition. But that flame dies. His eyes turn a vacant blue and he turns around again.

Soon his footsteps echo mine as we walk through the swamp. A monotone chorus of splashes, water dripping and soft cries.

He stops in his tracks all of a sudden.

"What?!" I ask.

He turns around and his eyes fall on me.

Something in my heart stings as I see he doesn't recognize me.

"Where am I?" he asks.

A/N The Lake Guardians are quite the terrible creatures. Although this time the story does not contain any carnage, I hope I did managed to instill some sense of dread into my dear reader.

Happy Halloween.

-CaptainMoonShine-