Chapter 3

A Treat in a Dead Town

Sylveon, Oshawott, and I came to a beat up sign that had axe chops and a fresh liquid that looked like blood on it. It said:

Now Entering Eastern Province

Enter at your own risk

"Well, this is unnerving," said Sylveon.

"The grass looks dead over in the distance," I remarked.

Oshawott was frozen in fear. I guess he'd never seen something so ominous-looking.

"Oshawott?" I called to him. He didn't respond. He remained looking to the distance. I readjusted the bag that carried all of the necessities in it.

"OSHAWOTT!" yelled Sylveon. Oshawott shook out of his trance-like state and looked at both of us.

"S-sorry…" he stammered. "Let's go…"

We all nodded to each other and began walking through the Eastern Province. Right as we crossed the border, the clouds were already turning a blood-red color. The grass was dry and brown. The soil beneath it was hard and rocky. Each step felt like a million tiny teeth stabbing at my feet.

Sylveon stopped walking and began to think. I turned around and said, "What's wrong? We need to keep moving."

"But how do we know where to go?" she said. She made a good point. But then I remembered. I put the bag on the dead grass and took out the book about the legends.

"What are you doing?!" she asked me as if I were crazy. I ignored her as I kept flipping through the book. I found the page on the Tower of Demonic Pokémon and sure enough there was a map in it.

"How did you know that would be in there?!" demanded Sylveon.

"One of these magical maps was in here when I went to the Northern Province," I replied. "It shows you exactly where to go and the path to get to your destination. If we divert from the path, the map with modify the path to get us to where we need to go. I was surprised when I first saw it."

"That's so cool!" yelled Oshawott.

"Now, let's move," I said. The path led through the dry field and then through a decrepit down. From there, the path just went straight to the tower.

We began to follow the trail. We only got about 20 feet ahead when a wide-eyed Larvitar running straight for us. He was filthy, bruised, bloody, and covered in scars and scabs. Oshawott was getting ready to run away, Sylveon was frozen in fear, and I was getting ready to battle. When he got close, he didn't attack. He was panting, and wide-eyed. His eyes were bloodshot.

"You gotta get out of here!" he warned.

"What?" I asked.

"This place is dangerous!" he yelled. "You're going to get killed! Leave now if you want to live!"

"Calm down," said Sylveon. "Just tell us what happened."

"No!" yelled the Larvitar. "Either take my advice or leave it! I've warned you!" He ran off.

We were silent. I shook my head. "We have to keep going. We have no choice."

"Well I do," said Sylveon. "I'm sorry, Froakie, I can't go on."

"You need too," I told to her. "It's a part of the legend."

"I don't care about the stupid legend!" she screamed. "If it means risking my life then I'm—"

"You're going to have to take risks in your life!" Oshawott yelled at her. "Us three were chosen! We can't just back down on something as exciting as this! We need to do it not just for ourselves, but for everyone on this island! You shouldn't be so self-centered. You shouldn't care about your feelings right now, and neither should Froakie and I! All that matters is that we're doing this for the good of others. Pokémon want to evolve and mate. But they can't do that because evolution and time are practically frozen!" He gave a final, menacing stare at Sylveon. "Now what do you have to say about that?"

Sylveon looked as if she were about to cry. But she held back her tears. "I'll go then, I guess…" she said with a choked voice.

I elbowed Oshawott. "Do you think you were a little harsh on her? Girls have feelings too, ya know!"

"I know," he said halfheartedly. "Let's keep moving."

We walked for a bit longer and decided to stop and eat.

"Alright," I said as I set the bag down and opened it up. I tossed a Cheri Berry to Sylveon, an Aspear Berry to Oshawott, and got myself a Pecha Berry. "Now eat up. I don't want anyone complaining later." We all ate our berries and Sylveon drank some water. We tossed the scraps we had and continued journeying.

"Are we almost there yet?" asked Oshawott impatiently. "I'm getting tired!"

I looked at the map. "We're almost at the town."

"I hope it isn't creepy…" said Sylveon.

"Trust me, it's going to be quite creepy and danger—" My voice cracked.

"Did your voice just… crack?" asked Sylveon.

"Yea…" I said. "This could mean that time hasn't stopped because my voice never cracked before, but it's just a wild guess. But I digress. We're almost there."

We made it to the small town, and it was disturbing. All of the buildings were either somewhat burnt down or rotting away. Some looked as if they were literally torn apart. We heard gunshots and bloodcurdling screams. There was only one building that was nearly half decent, and it was small. We all entered it to see if anyone was in it. It seemed to be a smoothie shop, because of the menu displaying all kinds of berry smoothies. It was quite dull, probably because of something that happened beforehand.

"Hello?" I called. "Anyone in here?"

"We'd like to know where we are!" said Sylveon.

"W-who's there?" called the voice probably of a teen. Male at that.

"Don't worry," said Oshawott, "we're not mentally insane!"

"You sure?" said the voice. "Most Pokémon who say that usually are."

I tried to think of something to say. "We're here to solve a legend," I blurted randomly.

"That's a first," said the voice. A Pokémon began to emerge from a door towards the back of the building. It was a Sylveon. Of course, it was a he, because he has a more masculine voice and he also was bigger than my friend Sylveon.

The Sylveon we just met examined us for a bit. "You don't seem insane like the others…"

"Others?" asked Oshawott.

"Yea, there are a whole lot of insane Pokémon on this province; it's like a warzone out there," he said. "By the way, what province are you three from?"

"Central," I said.

"Well, what brings you here?" he said.

"We're here to fix the island!" said Oshawott.

"Fix the island?" said Sylveon's male counterpart. "What do you mean?"

I took a quick glance at Sylveon. She looked mesmerized by her male counterpart, and looked like she was hiding it. "Let me explain why we're here," I told him. "Basically, time and evolution are frozen because of some weird legend thing, and we three were chosen to restore evolution and time. Apparently, once the chosen three reach a certain age, time and evolution stops, and they have to go to all the provinces to solve a legend to solve one big puzzle in the end, blah, blah, blah, you get the picture."

"I see…" he said. "I'm going to assume you three are the chosen three."

"Yep!" said Oshawott.

Sylveon was still staring at him. The male Sylveon seemed to glance at her in interest. "Before you go," he said, "do you three want some smoothies? The machines for making them are still functional and clean unlike the actual place here."

We all agreed and went to the back with him. We told him what kind of smoothies we wanted and he began to blend them up. I ordered a vanilla smoothie with Oran and Pecha berries mixed in, Oshawott ordered a chocolate one with Cheri, Lum, Pecha, Oran, and Nanab berries mixed in, and Sylveon got a vanilla with Cheri berries mixed with it and a Cheri berry on top. Once they were all blended, he served us and we enjoyed.

"This is the best smoothie I've ever had!" I said.

"This is my first time even having a smoothie!" said Oshawott. "It's great!"

"I bet no one could make a better smoothie than you!" said Sylveon to her male counterpart.

"Why thanks!" he said. "It's nice to hear that all three of you are enjoying them."

Once we finished up our smoothies, we began to head out.

"Come back soon!" he said. "And best of luck to your journey!"

We left and began to head out towards the tower. Once we got about ten feet away from the smoothie shop, Sylveon began to speak. "I really like that guy. Like love him."

"I could tell," I said. "You were staring at him half the time. You even complimented him while you were eating your smoothie."

"Yea, well, maybe when we get this time and evolution thing all sorted out, we can date!" she said.

That made me think about the Froakie from the Northern Province. She seems to love me, but even if she did, I don't share that same affection she has for me. I shook the thought out of my head and kept going with the other two.