I walked behind Absol as it prodded suspicious looking holes or tall grass with its claws to see if there were any Pokemon.

"Hmm you find something," I said stepping over to where Absol was standing.

I looked down to see footprints.

They seemed to be recent.

"Must just be some trainers footprints, Matthias did mention that this area was frequently visited" I said.

Absol seemed to agree and went ahead.

I began to follow until I noticed a strange red and white item on the ground. Picking it up I noticed it was a earring that was shaped like a pokeball. Not knowing what to do with it I just placed in my shirts pocket for the time being.

As absol continued its search we finally got a shake as a Wurmple jumped out of the grass.

"Absol get rea-" I said as Absol became vigilant but this just scared the Wurmple away.

"Well so much for that, lets just continue" I said.

After a while I and Absol headed back to Matthias who had set up a campfire.

"Took you long enough," he said.

"Yeah I was just trying to battle some Wurmple, but they would just immediately run away," I said sitting down on a log.

"Well bugs like them are pretty cowardly, you'll need to have them cornered before trying to have them battle" he said as he began eating.

"I guess your right, but I was hoping for something rarer than a Wurmple, oh well we'll just have to see what we get tomorrow I guess," I said.

"Of course! Be sure to get to bed early I'll be leaving you behind if you're late," he said heading back to his tent.

"Yeah, sure," I said standing up and heading to my own.

I let Absol remain out of it's pokeball since it probably would notice if any wild pokemon crept up near the tent.

After getting into a desirable position I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I would normally get a good sleep but today I was having issues. Probably due to the change of location, and the lack of a comfortable bed.

I opened the tent and decided to look out at the night sky to pass the time until I was ready to fall asleep.

But a sudden noise caught my attention, A cry of a familiar pokemon.

As I turned around to where I had heard the noise I saw a silhouette of a large shelled creature that seemed to swim along a tiny current.

I immediately ran off in its direction. Matthias could leave me behind tomorrow but there's no way I wasn't going to catch would definitely give me a leg up in the upcoming gym battle.

As I ran further towards it I suddenly found myself lost. The air around me was cold with some sort of fog blocking my vision. I put my hand in my pocket in an attempt to release Absol but I then remembered that I left it at the tent.

As the fog cleared I noticed I was surrounded by a number of Wurmple.

They seemed to be moving in orderly pairs attempting to cut off any retreat I had. I tried to run out from a gap I saw but backed off when the Wurmple began using poison sting. I dodged the purple needles they shot and was pushed back to my initial spot in the center surrounded by them.

'I need to hope Absol notices I'm gone and tries to search for me, otherwise, I'm doomed'

What had gotten all these pokemon so riled up anyway? In my experience Wurmple were cowards who mostly ran away why are they grouping up like this now.

"Wurm.." I heard a weak cry of a Wurmple as if it were just knocked out.

I turned around to see about 5 Wurmple laying down on the ground fainted with their eyes all swirly.

"Are you here Absol?" I shouted.

"Shroom" A tiny green sentient mushroom came over to me.

"A Shroomish? Did you defeat all those Wurmple" I asked pointing to the fainted pokemon.

"Shroom" It made a gesture akin to a nod.

'I'm pretty sure it's trying to help me'

"Ok shroomish attack" I said.

Shroomish began it's assault as it started full body tackling the Wurmple.

As the battle began I took out my Pokenav and activated the new feature I had on it that allowed me to see a pokemons moves, nothing else.

I also called Matthias.

".z...z..t..t.z.t.." The call kept getting disconnected.

'Probably a range problem'

Looking back the Shroomish managed to take a good chunk of the opposing Wurmple out but it was beginning to get overwhelmed. It used leech seed to try to gain some health and backed up to me.

'Seems like this is going to be a long figh-'

"Absol" The cry of an Absol interrupted my thoughts.

Absol quick attacked all the remaining Wurmple as it came to my side.

"You came just in the nick of time Absol it would have been a tough battle without you" I said.

Absol stood still then turned its gaze towards the Shroomish that had been beside me. The Shroomish looked up at me and then Absol. It's eyes turned sharp with a gaze that could pierce almost anyone.

"Shroom" It said in a confident tone.

"I don't really understand what you're trying to say.." I said trying to make sense of what it wanted.

"Absol""Shroom" Absol and Shroomish seemed to converse as I waited around.

But this incident was surely strange. I checked my Pokenav's map. Judging by our location it would be easier for us to just continue the journey to Petalburg since it would take longer to go back to Rustbro.

'I can inform Matthias about the peculiarities of the forest tomorrow'

During the time I was thinking Absol and Shroomish seemed to have finished their discussion.

"Lets head back", I say to Absol.

Absol begins walking with the Shroomish following after. Well guess they were discussing about Shroomish tagging along. I wouldn't mind having another ally to help me trek through this dangerous landscape at the least.

Following Absol's directions the three of us finally make it to the camp. The first thing I notice was Matthias who was sleeping snugly while prism was keeping watch.

I found it unnecessary to wake him up so I just went back to my tent and laid down immediately falling asleep. The irregular happenings could wait until tomorrow couldn't they?