Again, I'm just playing with this. I don't own pokemon. I wish I did. I have feelings about the fossil pokemon in Sword and Shield. ((grumbles))

Chapter 6: A Walk in the Woods

"Ralentissez!" Shauna whined as Serena dragged her and Trevor back across the plaza. Just because she was Shauna's best and oldest friend didn't mean she got to push her around like this!

Or pull. Whatever.

Ever since they'd escaped Team Flare, Serena had been on the warpath. She'd dragged them all around the plaza in Aquacorde, buying all sorts of potions and pokeballs, huffing the whole time…

This wasn't how their pokémon journey was supposed to start at all!

Thank goodness they'd finally found Gryffin again.

When Shauna had heard Madame Gabena was coming back, she'd been so excited. She remembered the cheerful lady who'd dared to become a Champion racer against all the odds, and still had time to stop by and listen to her babble about everything Shauna had been doing and then tell silly stories of her own child, Gryffin. About how smart they were, how careful and considerate. How had Shauna never realized was Gryffin was a girl until she showed up on the doorstep?

And it wasn't just Shauna either. Poor Serena, she'd been so hopeful, after Xavier had moved away without a word and that whole mess with her parents and Alain… It really wasn't fair. It wasn't Gryffin's fault. Shauna knew that. But it wasn't Serena's either.

But things had gotten better between them pretty quick. Gryffin seemed a little standoff-ish but she'd really saved their butts back at the Aquacorde Inn. Shauna really hoped the poor matrone and her sweet little spritzee were alright after last night. From what she'd heard from some of the other trainers that escaped Aquacorde Inn, Team Flare had done a lot of damage. The reception had been burnt, several rooms were torn up, and a lot of people had their pokémon stolen.

Shauna clenched her hand around Chestnut's pokeball as she listened to Serena brush off Gryffin's question about her parents. Luckily Gryffin didn't seem too bothered by it, because it was a really touchy subject for Serena, and Shauna was relieved that everyone was getting along. Who knows how much more she could take after last night?

Still, it was over, and everyone was together. Shauna grinned and dragged Tierno and Trevor into the woods after the other girls. It could only get better from here.

XYXYXY

Once again, my eyes were twitching as game windows filled my vision. It was worse than usual, because not only did they take up most of my field of vision but I couldn't open them right now even if I wanted to. I tried to pay attention to the real world as the condensed boxes dangled in front of me.

[Map Alert!]

Field Dungeon!

You have entered the Santalune Forest, a special …

[Quest Alert!]

Safety in Santalune!

Congratulations! Due to achieving a special …

"Alright everyone!" Serena declared, with a deep frown and arms akimbo like she was trying to imitate a drill sergeant. "Our first official night as trainers ended in what I'm sure we can all agree was a disaster." She clapped her hands hard three times. "So we're gonna need to start following some safety guidelines not to get caught like that again!"

The other three listened with rapt dread to the blonde's ramblings, but I was too distracted by the flashing HUD and alert pop-ups. I couldn't reach up to close them without someone noticing. My fingers itched, and there was a ringing buzz growing louder and louder…

"Gryffin!"

I flailed in shock, eyes blinking to focus suddenly on Serena who was pouting in front of me.

"Were you listening at all?" She demanded.

"Ah…" I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Sorry Serena. I'll try to pay more attention." Not that I would succeed with all these blue boxes dangling in front of my face. Luckily, Tierno came to my rescue.

"Give her a break, 'Rena," came the unexpected chastisement. "Gryffin-chan's probably still tired from last night. We all are."

Serena's stern expression crumbled at Tierno's words, settling into something halfway between embarrassment and affront. Either way she was pouting, and it made Tierno and Trevor both blush. I wish I had the energy to tease them, but Tierno was right in a sense: I was still exhausted and edging toward cranky. I rolled my neck to hide the gimlet glare I gave my HUD and the pop-ups beneath it. I had the conflicting desires to read through them all right now and wad them all up like paper and throw them at a tree at the same time. Not that I could do either, but still.

So I trailed behind the group as we picked our way through the forest. I was again struck by how completely artificial the place felt, like it had been manicured. I mentioned my observations out loud.

"But of course!" Serena said with the oddest air of confidence. "The Rangers in Kalos work very hard to keep paths for trainers clean and neat. Do they not do that in Kanto?"

"The Rangers in Kanto don't bother with landscaping," I snipped completely uncaring of whether or not it was true. I definitely needed real sleep. Serena probably did too if she was back to making these kinds of sideways comments. "It's not really good for the wildlife for one; and they have better things to do anyway."

"Wait, wait!" Shauna protested, ignoring all the tension in the conversation again. "What do you mean 'Not good for the wildlife'? We're not hurting the pokémon are we?"

She whined with such genuine dismay that I couldn't help but take pity on her tearful expression.

"Not really," I soothed, "But …" I made a wide gesture at the impeccable walking path. "Stuff like this doesn't really help wild animals either. I mean look around. There's no undergrowth. Stuff like bushes and vines provide food and shelter for animals. Without that, you won't find much except maybe some bugs."

Shauna and Serena both shuddered. It was clear none of us really liked insects; I certainly couldn't think of any I wanted on my team. Catching a scatterbug had been a rather spur of the moment decision. I was going to need to do something with the poor thing.

"That makes sense," Trevor pondered, "It certainly explains why most pokémon in Santalune Forest live well away from the road."

Tierno nodded along. "Yeah, and we don't have time to look for them today."

"Because we need to get to the city," Trevor continued. "But … by, um, 'other' things … you mean Team Rocket don't you?"

"Oh, right!" Tierno jogged in place. "You were talking about them earlier! Serena what do you think?"

The blonde turned around looking thoughtful. "You've … definitely proven you know how to handle this kind of stuff. I'm trying to think of all the safety advice I can remember but …" She sighed, all traces of her earlier irritation gone. "You probably know more about it than I do."

I gave her a sad smile. I remember how hard it was to admit that kind of stuff back when I was 14. Well … When I was 14 the first time at least. Serena was still very detached, but last night had gone a long way to smoothing out our rocky start. But trauma bonding rather demanded I take pity on her. "Tell me what you have so far," I broached.

Turns out, I missed the 5 DON'TS based on what Serena's mother had set out when Serena was just a little girl:

1. Don't go anywhere with grownups you don't know.

2. Don't enter buildings you don't know.

3. Don't tell anyone your name.

4. Don't use your phone or holocaster.

5. Don't stay out after dark.

"Although I don't know how well that last one is going to work," Serena admitted. "After last night, I'm concerned that staying at hotels might be more dangerous 'zan staying out at night."

I grinned a little at her accent. It was becoming clear that it only happened when she was extremely stressed, but it was still adorable. It made me forget she was a prissy teenage girl and want to squish her into a hug. I doubted she'd appreciate that though, so I simply addressed the list.

"Well, your mom was pretty smart," I started with praise. Took me forever to learn people took criticism better when you did that. "It's a good list when you're a kid. But we're trainers now, so it's not quite so simple." I ran a hand through my bangs, pushing them out of my face as I walked. "I think 'Don't go anywhere alone with people you don't know is a good idea. And we might not always be together in a whole group, so getting used to having one of our pokémon out is probably a good idea too. It's not uncommon for trainers in Kanto to have a Pokémon or two out at all times." Everyone nodded nervously, and Trevor was actually taking notes.

"Definitely don't go into new places alone, but this is really only for stuff that's out of the way. The more public a place is the less likely criminals will attack in broad daylight." I frowned, remembering all the messes Team Rocket made in the anime. "Unless they're looking to make a statement," I amended. "In which case we do what we did last night: find each other fast and stay in groups. Safety in numbers and all that.

"You should never tell people you just met your full name, but most people don't do that anyway because it's too formal. I'd say let your Pokémon sniff them out first. Loxley's going to end up half psychic, so there'll be no hiding from him. But Serena," I smiled at her, "I'm pretty sure froakie ends up part dark type. And they're a naturally suspicious bunch. Anyone that gets froakie's approval should be okay." At this, Serena smiled thoughtfully at the pokéball on her belt.

"As for the phone thing…" I trailed off, thinking. "Not using the holocaster might be a good idea." If I remembered correctly Team Flare was using it to spy already. "Might even delete it and other apps that can access your camera and stuff from your phone. But just calling and texting should be okay. I think the police have a thing where they can track a phone if it's on, but not listen in on calls or read your texts. They need a warrant for that."

"It might not stop hackers though," Trevor mumbled, biting his lip.

"It won't," I agreed. "You might want to take your phones into a reputable shop to make sure there's no malware on it. Especially after you delete apps that have had access to your camera or anything. Makes me kind of glad I haven't added anything to my phone since I got here. As for the last one…" I scuffed my feet against the dirt in irritation. "We're trainers. We're going to have to be out after dark at some point. Just like we're going to have to use Pokécenters and motels. It's not something we can avoid."

"But what if Team Flare knows who we are?" Shauna tremored, shuffling closer with an obvious lack of pep in her step. "What if they follow us?"

I sighed. "I doubt they got our names from the inn last night," I comforted my fellow brunette. "They weren't going after anyone specific as far as I could tell, and we got out of there before they could catch us. I signed up back at the Healing Clinic. If they wanted my name, they'd have to hack into the League database, and if they could do that we'd be screwed anyway." I bumped my shoulder into hers to alleviate the sudden look of panic on her face. I might be guessing, but it was a pretty logical assumption to make. "They don't know who we are Shauna. They might recognize one or two of us if we run into them again, but they don't know our names and I really doubt they care. We'll be okay."

"But we beat them," Serena muttered angrily, "You don't think they'll look for us?"

I grimaced, knowing exactly how well some morons like that could hold a grudge. "We didn't beat them, though," I countered. "We took out a few goons, yeah, but that one lady with the houndoom…" And here Serena and I both winced at the memory. "We didn't beat so much as we ran up the clock. I'm sure she had other pokémon that could have worked in the water. She just ran out of time. We stalled her… we didn't win." My lack of experience points for that little scuffle was proof enough of that, though it was hardly the sort of thing I could present to Serena. She looked as rankled at the assessment as I was.

"Y-you…" she spluttered before collecting herself, "You are a painfully blunt person aren't you?"

"I don't try to be mean about it," I shrugged. "But I try to be honest with myself, especially about myself. I can do sweet and soft if you want me to, but it takes some serious effort. And when something is as serious as Team Flare?" I turned to look Serena right in the eye. "We. Did. Not. Win. We didn't win; we didn't even come close. Letting you think you did will get you killed and I don't want you dead."

My words cut like steel and no one knew what to say after that. I knew it was a harsh speech for teenagers to take in, but seriously. I had just died the day before! And after landing in this mess, almost dying again this morning had only made me more upset. I knew I would have to deal with all of my pent-up emotions soon, but right now I had some professional level repression going on just to be functional. I was, oddly enough, already attached to these kids. If they got hurt doing something stupid, or got killed because they still thought they were invincible… I'd gone through years and years of self-help and support groups and I knew myself well enough to know. If I lost more people I cared about right now I would be a giant fucking wreck.

We continued walking in silence.

XYXYXY

Several hours later, the last few shreds of my self-control were unravelling far, far too quickly.

"Give me the map," I demanded, thrusting my arm toward Serena.

"Non!" She clutched the thin atlas to her chest in the waning light. "We are not lost! I know where we're going!"

"You've been saying that for the last hour," I grit out, "And we're still surrounded by trees. Now give. Me. The map."

"Serena…" Trevor placated softly, "Just let her see."

The blonde pouted dramatically, but reluctantly gave me the crumpled pamphlet. I paused in my walk to unfold the relevant diagram for the area, everyone stopping to peer over my shoulders. Tracing my finger along the paths lines, I swallowed at least a dozen curses.

"Serena," I strained, "How long did you say it would take us to get to Santalune City?"

"About four hours," Serena huffed, "It was not that far on the map."

I jabbed my finger at scale on the bottom of the page. "Learning to read a map can be difficult," I offered in what I hoped was a gentle tone. These were teenagers. Inexperienced, urbanized teenagers who'd clearly never had to fend for themselves in their lives, but teenagers. "You need to make sure you're getting your distances right," I explained. "Because this page is on a different scale from the last one. I think you missed that, look." I measured the scale against my thumb. "That's 10 kilometers." I placed my thumb on the map several places in a row. "And that's Santalune Forest," I emphasized, before tapping my thumb several more spaces up. "That's Santalune City. I think you mis-measured …"

"And to the wrong place!" Serena groaned, seeing her mistake. "I was in such a hurry to get away from Aquacorde…"

I only hummed, completely understanding the sentiment no matter how tired I was. But the others mumbled worriedly to each other.

"So… what are we gonna do?" Tierno asked.

"I thought we wanted to avoid being out after dark!" Shauna sniffled, prompting me to put my arm around her.

"It'll be okay," I comforted the girl. "It might be March, but the weather's warm enough and it doesn't look like rain. It probably won't be the most comfortable night…" I trailed off, looking at the lack of usable undergrowth around the path. "But it will be okay."

"Maybe…" Trevor whispered almost silently before visibly gathering his courage. "Maybe we should head off the path a little? I mean!" He nearly caved under Shauna, Serena, and Tierno's startled outcry. "I mean maybe we can find a safer place?" He peered at me, looking for approval. "With more stuff for shelter?"

I sighed, nodding. "It's a good idea," I agreed, my mind racing to pull ancient camping knowledge from dusty confines. "The woods only look manicured near the road. If we go further in we'll have better luck finding firewood at least, maybe even enough for a lean-to…" I gave the darkening sky a thoughtful frown. "We'll need to move quick though, or we won't have enough light to see."

Trevor blushed, and I resolutely ignored the box of green numbers that flashed over his head. The other three were quick to huddle close and we carefully picked our way into the hills around the path. It was only about thirty meters into the tree line before we hit regular undergrowth. My new friends grumbled, but were quick to follow my example of picking up fallen branches for firewood. Tierno, especially, when he found a rather hefty dead limb over two meters long, and he dragged it along despite its size. Luckily Serena spotted a good camping spot quickly.

"Oooohh, nice!" Shauna squealed, bouncing into the small glade with renewed cheer. Looking around, I had to agree.

It was a fairly clear hollow, with just enough trees on the west side to hide it from the road but still allow us easy sight lines back to the path. Short grasses and moss covered a shallow dip between the low rises of earth. More trees and denser low brambles cut off easy access further into the woods. Serena and Shauna, especially, eyed the thorny vines with such wary expressions I couldn't help but chuckle at their expense.

"And next time, you'll wear pants won't you?" I teased them, getting deliberately overly dramatic huffs and giggling protests in response as I directed them in making a quick camp. Shauna had Chestnut join Loxley in digging a large hole for a fire while Serena had her froakie soak the surrounding earth to prevent any sparks from spreading. Tierno also released his pokémon, and I blinked owlishly at the red carapace that emerged from the light.

"Co-corrrr!"

"Is that a corphish?" I blurted like an idiot.

"Oh, you know it?" Tierno grinned at me. "Neat, isn't he?"

I raised an eyebrow at his corphish. The crustacean skittered around to look at me and I flinched on instinct. Lobsters were bizarre looking to begin with, but corphish took it to a whole new level. The shell was the tomato red that only came on cooked lobsters back home and it had an almost metallic luster; combined with pearly white eyes the creature looked like someone's dinner had come to back from the dead. I shuddered. Even its voice had a dark gurgle to it that sounded too deep for the corphish's small size.

"It's certainly different," I allowed, pausing with trepidation before I admitted, "I don't want to face it in a fight for sure. You realize that you'll have a double type advantage over me, you and Serena both."

"We will?" His eye widened as his head tilted back. Even Serena jerked her head up.

"Water and dark," I confirmed. "I don't remember what corphish evolve into, but I do know it gains the dark element … just like froakie."

"Wow!" Shauna gushed, skipping over, "You sure know a bunch, Gryffin! Did your mom tell you a lot about Kalos before you moved?"

I frowned a little, suddenly reminded that Shauna's parents somehow knew my mother. I wasn't exactly emotionally invested in the woman as if she were actually my parent but …

"Not really," I told my friends. "I studied on my own but I didn't have too much interest in it back in Kanto. My dad didn't think a pokémon journey was really safe. I know my mom's always wanted me to, but with Team Rocket running around…" I trailed off, remembering the previous night. "Dad's really not going to be happy to hear about Team Flare," I concluded.

"So… don't tell him?" Serena suggested, and flinched when I shot her a hard look. "I mean, he's not in Kalos anyway, right? What can he do?"

"He's a cop," I reminded her harshly, "He can tell me how to look out for them, or find safe officers here in Kalos to go to if any of us get in trouble. Not all police officers are nice guys," I told them, thinking back to the accusing attitude of the blond ranger before he'd been interrupted by the Lieutenant. "Some want to catch 'bad guys' more than they want to protect people. They can be a lot of trouble."

"The police?" Trevor objected, "Surely not!"

I frowned, thinking of all the altercations and scandals with police back on Earth. "People are people," I insisted. "Some good and some bad. And bad people can do a lot of damage when they hide behind a veil of law and order. My father's a good man." That much had been obvious even from one short phone call. I had to wonder if the original Gryffin's memories were somewhere in my mind, because there was no mistaking that a warm feeling of trust and happiness lingered at the memory of his voice. I looked up from my reminiscing to see confusion and disbelief on all four faces.

"But look, not everyone in a position of power uses it for good, okay?" I implored. "Just be careful."

They mumbled a bit before Trevor finally sighed. "I guess, it's like rule 1?" he theorized, "Don't go with people you don't know? But I didn't think that would apply to the police…"

I smiled at him sadly. Being the most intelligent of the group, Trevor would be the one to understand complex situations sooner than the others. It took time for human brains to mature beyond black and white thinking.

"Just trust your instincts." I patted him gently on the shoulder. "And your pokémon's. You can usually tell someone's a little off if you just pay attention."

"Ooooh, like Stranger Danger and being careful around men!" Shauna added. Serena and I both grimaced with her while the boys just blinked at the three of us, clearly confused. Even in a new life on a new planet, the joys of being female clearly remained.

Small talk was deliberately light after that. We heaved the largest branch up to lay horizontal between two trees and pulled the longer sticks up against it to for extra cover from the road. I had Loxley start a fire for us and shared the sandwiches I'd stashed from lunch. Serena had some trail bars as well, but I suggested we save them for breakfast, as they would keep and the sandwiches wouldn't. It was honestly a little embarrassing how ill prepared any of us were for camping, with no tents or sleeping bags. But the embankment was soft enough to sleep in a lounging position, and with the campfire warming us I watched fondly as my new friends all nodded off one by one.

Skritching a yawning Loxley on the ears, I finally pulled up my Game windows to the sound of soft snoring.

[Map Alert!]

Field Dungeon!

You have entered the Santalune Forest, a special area designated as a field dungeon!

This is the first dungeon you have encountered. Would you like to access the [Dungeon Basics]?

[Y/N]

"Yes, please," I mumbled with a sharp tap on the screen.

Dungeons are special geographical areas where you can encounter enemies and acquire items via treasure chests and [?]. There are three types of dungeons.

Field dungeons are the most common type of dungeon and are characterized by open natural areas such as forests, fields, and mountains. Enemies include, but are not limited to, wild pokémon, pokémon trainers, and trained pokémon.

All field dungeons have a minimum level requirement that must be met before it can be accessed. Both the Gamer and at least one [Team] pokémon must meet the level requirements for the dungeon. A dungeon can have multiple sub-sections that each have their own level requirements. Sub-sections only become available after completing the first section of the dungeon.

All field dungeons have a [Boss]. The [Boss] will appear after certain requirements are met; these requirements vary with each dungeon. The two most common ways to draw out a [Boss] is to defeat a certain number of enemies or reach a special area within the dungeon. Defeating the [Boss] is often, but not always, a requirement for accessing the next section of the dungeon.

Urban dungeons are characterized by the presence of human infrastructure such as large buildings and streets. Enemies include, but are not limited to, humans, pokémon trainers, trained pokémon. In addition to level requirements, access to different sections of urban dungeons can change depending on the weather, time, and date. There is no [Boss] in an urban dungeon but levels of opponents can vary drastically and special opponents can appear at random.

Special dungeons are available only during special events or after specific requirements have been met. Special dungeons can take place in either field or urban settings. The enemies present depend on the settings of the special dungeon. Enemies within a special dungeon are stronger than normal for the specific area it resides. Special dungeons are usually LOCKED and special requirements must be met to exit the dungeon. This usually includes, but is not limited to, defeating a special [Boss].

I flipped through a few more windows in the section. One showed an obnoxiously vague map of the forest, with a little red dot just off the path halfway through to indicate my current location. It didn't have a scale like Serena's map book, but based what I'd seen there we still another 30 to 40 kilometers from the edge of the forest and about half that again on Route 3 before we would get to Santalune City. How the blonde had misread the map so badly was mind-boggling. The side-eyed glance I gave her snoozing form was too tired to be properly vicious but I was supremely annoyed to be spending a second night with little to no rest. I'd have to warn my new friends first thing in the morning: being tired made me mean.

Stretching my neck, I muddled through the next few windows. The first was a list of area features, which was empty except for Route 3, and the last was for local pokémon, which was also blank since I obviously hadn't encountered anything walking with my friends. I dismissed the windows and moved to the next section of pop-ups.

Congratulations! Due to achieving a special goal, a special skill has been created!

You've entered your first Dungeon! You've reached level 5! You can now use the skill [Instant Dungeon Creation]! You can now use the skill [Instant Dungeon Escape]!

Would you like the [Instant Dungeon] tutorial?

[Y/N]

"Yeeeeeeeessssssss," I hissed with a manic grin. My wriggling fingers grasped the air as I did a little victory scoot in place. Not even Loxley's grumpy snuffles could stop me from pouring over the information for the skill I wanted so much. A lot of it was pretty basic, or a repeat of the previous dungeon tutorials. My [ID Create] skill was obviously at level 1, meaning I could only summon an empty dungeon. I had no idea how many uses it would take to level up, but when I did I would be able to summon different field and urban dungeons. There was no information about what enemies I might encounter in those dungeons but the tutorial did point out that time within created dungeons was ten times faster than outside, so an hour there would be six minutes in the real world.

I took a minute to snort at the absurdity. I was literally living in a Pokémon game, yet it had the nerve to conceptualize itself as the 'real world'? Maybe it was, but I certainly didn't feel it.

I moved through a few more warnings, most notably the one that said all active [Party] members would automatically enter the dungeon with me. Since a party had formed automatically when we entered Santalune that meant I couldn't practice my new skill without revealing my gamer abilities. Yes, my new friends were all asleep at the moment, but I wasn't willing to risk them waking up in the middle of the created dungeon. Maybe one day I'd be comfortable enough with my new role as a Gamer to talk about it to others … but today was not that day. Practicing with my new ability to violate quantum physics would have to wait.

Yawning so wide my jaw cracked, I finally tapped on the last window before I fell asleep sitting up.

[Quest Alert!]

Safety in Santalune!: You have entered Santalune Forest, but something dark stirs deep within! Traverse the forest and arrive with your party safely in Santalune City! Don't get caught!

Completion: 400 EXP, +100 to [REL] with party, +€1000

Failure: 10 EXP, return to [Aquacorde], possible death of 1 or more party members

Accept? [Y/N]

"Oh, shit," I whimpered into the night, and all my exhaustion melted away in the rush of pure panic.

I'm sorry this was late! Adulting stinks and this time of year is always really busy for me. But I do enjoy being employed so ... ((shrugs)).

MrMaurauder98: thank you 3 Editing continues as I also try to write more chapters.

WispInABottle: Don't worry, he'll show up again ^_~

Barcas: thank you for your offer, but I kind of like keeping it to myself for right now. Feel free to point out any mistakes I make though, I'd appreciate it.

Shine3675: Thank you. I couldn't find any good ones either, and I really wanted to read one ... so I guess I'm writing it instead.

Hellboybu: I can't get into a lot of male characters either. I think a lot of it comes down to the lack of personal details and emotional depth in most male characters. ((shrug)) But I am a woman and this is a shameless self-insert :)

Thank you all for reading! Hopefully the next update won't take so long because I've been trying to edit as I go...