The October break would come at the perfect time for everyone. They were drained with the information they had received. A break would do everyone good. The freshmen, plus Jeren and James, were going to some sort of beach in Avantura. They just needed to get away and not think about the university. Nikki had completely cut off all contact with Franz and wanted to get away from him this was one way to do it. Bunny, Ava, and Kat were going to Johto to visit Bunny's cousin. She was a champion there and would know what to do with Franz. Alex had said that he was going home to Unova to decompress. That was a lie, he was going to the dark woods to stop The Righteous. It was a suicide mission, but one Alex had to do. He was the only one brave enough and his Pokémon were ready. Alex had written some notes before he left. He had locked it in his desk just in case. One to Bunny, one to Ava, one to JJ. But the hardest one to write was to Kat. He had cried when he wrote it, but it was necessary in case he didn't come back.
It was going to be a six hour trip via plane to the northern part of Avantura. Alex was prepared, he had packed his headphones and his portable charger" that way he could just drift away listening to his music. After boarding the plane and putting his poke belt in the carry on section, Alex took his seat. He put his headphones on to just melt into his seat and listen to The Smiths. If he was not coming back, he might as well enjoy his favorite band. He closed his eyes and tuned out the world. Alex didn't know how long he had slept, but he was awakened by his neighbor tapping him. Alex ignored it. The tapping got more intense to the point where Alex could not ignore it. He opened his eyes and looked over at who was poking him. His eyes widened as he saw a familiar black haired girl with glasses. Kat Kiner had a large smile on her face as she looked at Alex. "What's up Alex? I thought you were going to Unova? Then why are you on this flight?", she snuggled up to Alex and blinked with that smirk on her face.
Alex turned pale then red no, no she couldn't be on this plane. It was too dangerous for her. "Get off the plane, Kat. Go back with Bunny and Ava. Please I can't have anything happen to you. Please.", of course he knew he was talking to a brick wall. Plus, they had taken off into the air. There was no turning back now. Kat rolled her eyes as she sat up. She raised her eyebrows, "and what you think that you can do this by yourself? Yeah what a great plan, Alex. Go solo on a mission bound to fail, get yourself killed, your Pokémon stolen, and no one be able to do anything for you. You're so smart Alex. I mean what are you thinking? Going here all by yourself. Ava wanted to come, but Bunny got in contact with her cousin so they pulled out. But I had to come along to try and show you how stupid you were being." She looked at the guy she loved and begged him with her eyes, not to do what he was going to do. She knew the reason why he was doing this and he was being stupid. She needed him to say it anyways.
"I have to redeem myself Kat. Everything I did last year and this year. How I hurt Ava. How I put Bunny in the hospital. And especially how I hurt you. I have to show that I am not that same guy Kat. So if I could stop The a righteous or at least slow them down then I can redeem myself. Even if that means I get killed.", Kat hit Alex so hard across the face that the other passengers thought they were witnessing a physical fight. He had her handprint engrained on his face, her hand was red as she huffed. "You selfish bastard! You think you getting killed would help Ava, Bunny, JJ, me? You're a bigger idiot than I thought. How could you do that to us? How could you think that risking your life would be what we wanted? I'm in love with you moron. So imagine what would have happened if I had found out you died? You ever think about that you dick!", she pulled him closer and kissed him. She wasn't used to being the aggressor, but in this case she had to be. She then placed her head on his shoulder and cried.
He tried to comfort her, but she pulled away. She couldn't believe him. She looked at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. One of the passengers in front gave Kat some tissues and a dirty look to Alex. "This is why I decided to come here Alex. I couldn't let you go alone. The others backed out because it was too dangerous. Yet here your dumbass was going to do this. So I had to come. I have to protect you. So here I am, risking my own well being trying to save you from getting hurt.", Alex looked at her. This wasn't what he wanted at all. This was why he had been ultra secret with his methods and plans. He didn't know how Kat knew, but she did. "Kat, I didn't want you to come here. Didn't want you to put yourself in harms way. Didn't want anyone too, but especially you. This is why I want you to go back. Kat when this plane lands get on the other one and go back. Please.", now Alex was emotional. Kat just shook her head in defiance. "You've never been in love with someone Alex. You'll do anything for them. So no I won't be going back until you come too.", Kat stared at him.
Alex looked at Kat and how broken she was. He wanted to help her and protect her, just like she wanted to do for him. He didn't want to hurt her. He was doing this so she didn't have to be there. But now she was. As he looked at her, his heart started to hurt. The nineteen year old brushed that off for a second. No he couldn't possibly have fallen for her just now, could he? He shook his head. No this was Kat, the best friend. He couldn't be in love with her, right? "Kat, you're right. I've never been in love before so I don't know what it's like. But I do know that this is really dangerous. Please, Catherine, I don't want you to get hurt. I've been here before, I know the area. You don't. Please, Kat, please go back. And I care about you.", Kat rolled her eyes. She was pissed at him like she had never been before and it wasn't because he had broken her heart. "Yeah, you care for me so much that you wandered over here to try to get and your Pokémon killed for being noble. Great job. How about you stop caring about me for a minute. That would be great.", her tone was bitter. She turned away from Alex to get some sleep. She was done with his bullshit for now.
The rest of the trip on the plane was in silence. Kat just closed her eyes with her back turned to Alex. She was so angry at him. She had been keeping a close eye on him thanks to Gale. So she knew for the past week or so that he had been keenly aware of what he was doing. She had told Ava that she was still going despite Ava backing out. Ava has tried to fight with Kat to convince her that was a stupid to go with Alex. But Kat had a mind made up. She would go with him to protect him as she was a better trainer than he was. She knew she was being stupid, but so was he and he needed someone there with him in case he needed some help. So Kat had begun to train her Pokémon too. To prepare them for the brutality that would be the dark forest. She was ready for whatever was to come. If things got really bad she would drag Alex back to campus kicking and screaming. She didn't care what he would say or do. If things were really bad she would pull him out. This was why she was here just to do that.
The plane landed at sjeverna šuma airport at 12 pm. Alex noticed, after the plane had landed, that there was snow on the ground. This hadn't been the case when Alex had visited last time. He had been prepared for this however. It was October and they were in the north of the country. So of course it would be snowing. Alex looked over at Kat as they started to leave the plane. She still looked mad. "Hey Kat, did you bring anything since it's snowing. If not I can get some extra stuff.", he was trying to reach out to her. She just rolled her eyes and huffed, "I am not an idiot Alex. Of course I brought stuff. Plus, I have Crystal so I don't need your help. I'm only here to make sure that you don't kill yourself." Kat wanted to protect another person she loved. She couldn't protect her mother from cancer, but she could protect Alex from his stupidity. If she lost him there was no telling what she would have done. She was going to protect him at all costs. She loved him unconditionally. That was why she was so mad at him. He should have known better to put her in this position.
They unloaded their gear and headed out. The Dark Forest was on the outskirts of sjeverna šuma. Kat pulled out Crystal's pokeball and tossed it out. The Glaceion hopped around happily. She enjoyed being in the ice. Of course, Kat was not happy as he put on her gear for camping. Alex started to put on his Pokémon camping gear as he stared at Kat. She hadn't spoken to him in three hours. Alex knew that he had fucked up and now was paying for it. He paused before they entered the forest there was something he had to know. "Kat, how did you know that I was going here? I didn't let anyone else know.", she reached into her jacket and held up the letter that Alex had written. It was opened and he ink had run clearly from her tears. Alex turned pale as Crystal sat between them as she could feel the tension. "I had Gale spy on you, Alex. She told me about your training sessions. Then Bunny broke into your room and found these. These letters in case you died. So you knew you could die and still didn't care what it would do to your friends. To me! just don't talk to me for a while.", she crumbled the letter and tossed it at him. She folded her arms in anger and waited for Alex to do something. He didn't know what to say or do. He just turned and started to walk into the forest. He felt horrific.
Alex was going to retrace his steps from what he remembered from last year. He knew that Kat was pissed at him, but he knew that they had to trace these steps as he had gotten so close last year. So they trudged alone deeper into the forest. Of course there was a tension in the air between the two. Crystal caught up to Alex and nudged him. Crystal obviously wanted to help the two best friends make up with one another. Alex knew that was the right thing to do for their relationship. Alex stopped right before a huge group of rocks surrounded by trees and a small pond. Kat stopped too. They had been traveling for an hour at least. Alex looked at her, "Kat, I am so sorry. Yes, I came here knowing that I probably wouldn't get a chance to come back. But you have to understand. I wanted to protect you. Because if those bastards did anything to you, I would kill them. So I came here to stop them. To keep you safe because I...", Alex noticed that Kat was staring at something in the stones. Alex turned around and gasped at what he saw.
Stuck in between the stones was a shiny stone. It was not an ordinary rock, but looked like a mega stone. Alex knew that having a mega stone was something that Kat had always wanted. She had told him this many times so her eyes were wide with eagerness. Alex would not fight her for this mega stone. This was the girl he cared about's dream. She wanted to go for the mega stone then that was fine with Alex. Kat deserved to have some happiness. Alex had put her through so much pain. He wanted to see her have some joy and success afterall he hadn't helped her at all. So Alex just watched as Kat walked over to the stones and reached in. She pulled out the mega stone, it was dark blue with a hint of red in the middle. Kat didn't know what kind of stone this was until it finally hit her. Her eyes widened at the realization of what kind of mega stone this was that she held in her hands. "Alex!, its a Swellowiette. This means that Gale can mega evolve!", she ran over to Alex and leapt into his arms, she was so excited.
Alex looked around at where they were located there was no better spot for them to make camp. Plus Kat was too obsessed with the mega stone she had discovered to worry about traveling now. There was only one problem: they weren't alone. Crystal started to growl as footsteps started to approach them. Of course Alex was quick to reach towards his belt to select a Pokémon to fight whatever was coming. Same probably could have done the job. Kat stood up fully prepared to have Crystal defend them both, worst came to worse she could use Gale to test out her mega stone. The footsteps got closer and closer as Kat and Alex prepared for the worst case scenario. What emerged from the group of trees was a Pokémon that Alex and Nikki had never seen before. The Pokémon looked like a combination of Leafeon and glaceon. The Pokémon had a snow colored body, but had light green on its chest. It's head was forest green with ice colored eyes. The creatures tail was extremely bushy with blue and green throughout it. "glasolemos", the Pokémon whimpered as it collapsed in front of Kat and Alex.
The Pokémon was battered and bruised. It was whimpering amd whimpering. Alex ran over to it and shook his head, the mon clearly had gotten on the worst end of whatever it had messed with. "Kat, go in my bag. I have Pokémon medicine. Hurry!", Kat ran over to Alex's bag and pulled out what appeared to be a thick blue spray bottle. She handed it to Alex who sprayed the injured Pokémon with the medicine. "Glas!", the Pokémon cried out in pain at the medicine being applied to its injuries. It tried to get up, but Crystal wandered over to the Pokémon. "Glaceon Glace Glaceon.", Crystal said to the creature. The Pokémon seemed to relax after that as it whimpered as Alex started to continue to spray it with medicine. Kat looked concerned with the state of the Pokémon, "Alex, do you think this was another Pokémon or human. Do you think that this could be them?" He just gave a little nod. This could be The righteous abusing mons who got in their way. Whatever the case whatever did this was a threat.
Kat pulled out her Pokédex to see what this Pokémon was: "Glasolemos. Category: Pseudo Legendary. Type: Ice and Grass . The blizzard Pokémon. A native of Avantura, Glasolemos makes its home in sjeverna šuma. Known as a protector of the forest, Glasolemos will challenge those that harm the forest or creatures in it. When injured, the Pokémon will release a blizzard to get away. This one is female." Kat looked at the Pokémon, this was a pseudo legendary Pokémon. Extremely strong and could take out most Pokémon. This just confirmed that The Righteous were here and they weren't playing fair. The joy of finding the mega stone aside, Kat was worried. "Kat, go get some sleep. I'll stay with the Pokémon. I'll keep applying the medicine. You need rest. It's going to be a long trek in the morning. So you need to get some sleep.", Kat titled her head at Alex. She knew this was going to be difficult, but Alex was being really kind to her. "Fine, but you keep Crystal here since she is an ice type and is better for this environment.", Alex nodded.
Kat set up her tent as she looked back at Alex. This was the man that she was in love with. The one that would do anything for his friends or Pokémon. She watched as he would often rub the Pokémon with the medicine to help it heal. He hadn't shown this side to himself in so long. Kat went to bed feeling much better about Alex than she had before she saw him with the Glasolemos. Alex sat with the Pokémon all night. Every once in a while he would find himself drifting off to sleep, but would wake himself up. Alex had told Crystal to rest and brought out Morrissey. The dark and ice type would be comfortable in this environment. That way Morrissey could keep watch on Alex and the injured pokemon. "Sorry this happened to you, but we will get through this. I'll help you heal.", Alex whispered to the injured Pokémon. It's ice cold eyes looked at Alex with trust. It understood that this human was not like the others. This was a nice human. The injuries were not too severe, but still the Pokémon had taken a beating. Alex was going to help her get better.
Kat woke up and opened up the tent. She saw that Alex had not slept. Instead he was still watching over the Glasolemos, who was apparently sleeping. Morrissey, Alex's Avantura Sawsbuck, was nuzzled up to Crystal. "Alex, you didn't sleep, did you?", her voice was very concerned. He was still being a dumbass. His yawn told the story, he just shrugged. He had not slept, but that was not his concern. His concern was with the Glasolemos whose eyes shot open. "Glas!", she said as the pseudo legendary Pokémon nestled up on Alex's feet. Kat could see that the Pokémon looked much better than she did before. Kat was impressed, "you should become a Nurse Joy, Alex. You have the healing talent. Much more talent as a healer than a battler." She laughed as Alex flipped her off. It felt good to joke around with her again. "Fuck off Kat. Did you lose your mega stone yet?", Kat pat her pocket and stuck her tongue out, she still had it with her. Alex looked at his phone, it read 7am. "Well it's time to go.", Kat nodded.
Alex got up and dusted himself off. He and Kat along with their Pokémon started to walk away. The Glasolemos blinked, she was sad that the human that had saved her was walking away. She didn't like this at all. "Glas!", the ice and grass type started to run in the snow to catch up. Her paws digging into the snow which made her run faster than Alex and Kat could walk. She ran in front of the two trainers. Alex was surprised to see the Pokémon, he had expected her to return to the forest. To go back to her home, but she apparently wanted to catch up to the two trainers. "Glasolemos, Glas!", a gentle gust of icy wind brushed Alex in the face. There was a smile on the Pokémon's face as she looked at Alex. Kat nudged Alex, "I think she wants to come with us, Alex. She could be really helpful and she's strong. She's a pseudo legendary after all. I think she trusts you." The creature nodded emphatically. Kat was right. "Well alright then, come on.", Alex motioned as the Pokémon followed along happily.
Alex and Kat were not the only ones who had been in the dark forest. The Righteous had set up camp in the forest. Melody Monet had been instructed to bring some grunts to look for the clues leading to Ptica. Melody had watched in horror as these grunts had attacked and hanged up on a rather strong Pokémon the day before. These grunts had no honor, no dignity. They had laughed as the poor creature had run off to probably die in the forest, yet the grunts sat around their fire laughing. It made Melody sick. These people were the scum of the earth. She had longed to betray them. She just needed to find the perfect moment to do it. The fact that they were now all drunk having spent the night celebrating like idiots was the perfect time to do it. She waited until the last of the ten idiot grunts fell asleep. Melody pulled out her sole pokeball, "Twilight, use bad dreams." The darkrai inched closer time the sleeping grunts.
The screams from the nightmares from the grunts did not really affect Melody. She had wanted to do this for years. Melody Monet was officially breaking away from The Righteous. She had them. They had used her, abused her since she was a child. Now she was finally sticking up for herself. She knew that she would have a warrant on her head now, but she didn't care. They could bring an whole army after her, she was ready. All she cared about now was finding her brother Dexter. She broke her mask over her knee and recalled Twilight. She took off into the forest.
Ooc: I wanted to get start of October break chapter up before I went away for three days. I will break this arc into Kat-Alex, James-Jer-freshman, and Bunny-Ava. Each arc will be five chapters each so we'll be here a while. But it's key to the story.