Chapter 61 – "The Unown Mystery"

Part Two – The "Haunted" Forest

We stayed overnight at Bill's house, and the next day day, May and I mounted on our riding Pokemon to head for these allegedly haunted woods, and Simon climbed onto Charizard's back to fly above us. Bill said, "You kids be careful out there!" and Professor Hale laughed, "Let us know if you find anything!" With that, we were off. It took us a few hours before we reached that part of the woods. There was a sign that read "Warning. This woods is haunted by a mysterious, unknown presence. Enter at your own risk". I asked, "Is everyone ready?" May said, "I guess so" and Simon said, "Yeah, I'm all set!" We then entered that part of the woods. It certainly was darker and spooky. You could hear sounds every so often of wild Pokemon, like Zubats, Arboks, Parasects and such. I stayed on Tauros' back with Flamefox, and May stayed on Fierymane's back with Amber, while Firestorm, Redfur, and Inferno walked with us, and Simon still flew above with Charizard. "Hey, its kind of weird from up here" Simon shouted to us. "What do you mean?" I asked. He answered, "There's like a strange kind of haze over the forest." I looked at May, then asked him, "How is it strange?" He said, "I don't know. Something about it. It just doesn't seem like a naturally occurring fog. It just seems a little eerie, that's all." Suddenly, I felt a slight headache. I put my hand on my head and closed my eyes. "Are you okay, Joe?" May asked. I said, "Yeah, I think so. That was sudden." Then I felt a strong presence! "What is that?" I asked. She asked me, "What's… what?" I asked, "Didn't you feel that? A strong presence, as though something is watching us." She said, "If you're trying to scare me, save your breath." I said, "No, I felt something. It was really weird." Kadabra materialized in front of me and I asked him, "Did you feel something just now?" He just vanished again, and I said, "All right, then." May said, "I really hope you don't intend to spend the night in these woods." I said, "I thought you weren't scared." She said, "I'm not – but I'm sure we'd all be more comfortable staying at Bill's house." I said, "Don't worry. We're just going to look for this alleged mansion, see what we can find, and then head back to Bill's." She said, "Okay."

We spent the whole day searching around in the woods, but found nothing. However, the eerie haze remained above the forest, and as creepy as it looked inside the woods, so far we hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. It finally got to be early evening and May said, "It's getting late! We should probably release Pidgeot and Fearow and fly back soon." I said, "Let's just search a little bit longer." Then Simon shouted, "Hey, what is that up ahead?" I asked, "What does it look like?" He said, "It looks like a lot of overgrown vines, now that you ask. Never mind." I said, "Wait a minute! Let's go check it out!" I sped Tauros up, and soon, we found what looked like a hill of overgrown vines. May said, "Simon was right. It's just a very huge patch of vines." Simon flew down and said, "I told you it was nothing." I said, "But to get this big, they'd have to be growing around something." May said, "It's probably just a small hill. This is all wilderness. Everything's overgrown here." I said, "Still, I wonder…" then ordered, "Flamefox, use flamethrower! You too, Firestorm and Inferno!" They obeyed me, their eyes glowing as they launched streams of flames from their mouths, burning through the vines. May said, "You're just wasting their firepower." I said, "I have a hunch." May said, "Oh, what the heck! Fierymane, Amber, Redfur, use your flamethrowers, too!" They also began launching streams of flames at the overgrowth, and then Simon ordered, "You too, Charizard!" All 7 fire Pokemon were working at the huge overgrowth. The burnt up vines kept gradually falling off, and soon, I could see something. "Everyone, stop!" I shouted. The Pokemon discontinued their fire attacks, and I could now see a brick wall! "I don't believe it!" May exclaimed. I released Vaporeon and said, "Spray your water gun at the burnt up branches!" She did so, washing them away, to reveal the front portion of the mansion, which until now had been well-hidden by the tremendous overgrowth of vines. I said, "There's the door!" and walked up. May said, "Wait a minute, Joe! You can't just go in there! Besides, its gonna be dark soon! Let's come back tomorrow." I said, "We've come too far to just stop now. I'll just go inside and take a quick look!" I returned Tauros and Vaporeon to their pokeball, and swung open the door. It was dark inside! Flamefox and Firestorm walked with me, to either side. "Guys, use your flamethrowers so I can see." They started to do so, when I had another headache, which came on even more suddenly than the last one! This time, I had a vision of what appeared to be a large eye, then Kadabra, and then I yelled out from the pain. "Joe!" I heard May shout, before the door slammed shut! When I collected myself, I could see that the room was no longer dark – it was slightly illuminated by a strange haze! I heard May at the door, trying to open it, shouting, "Joe, are you okay?" I ran over to the door and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine, but I had another headache. It's weird in here – there's a strange, glowing haze." Simon shouted, "The door won't open! It's jammed on this side. Can you open it from in there?" I replied, "Let me try!" I pulled on the door, but I couldn't open it, either! "Uh-oh! It must be jammed. But I have another idea. You better get away from the door on that side" I released Tauros and said, "Break down that door, buddy!" He slid his right front hoof on the ground three times, and charged at the door! It burst into splinters as Tauros crashed through it! "Good job, buddy!" I said to my mighty buffalo as I petted him. May and Simon stood outside and I said, "See? Everything's fine." Simon looked in and said, "Yep. That's just like the haze I saw above the forest." May asked, "But how can it be forming inside of a house?" I said, "I don't know. I don't see anything in here that looks related to the Unown, though. But there's a lot of rooms to check." May said, "Tomorrow. Let's just go before it gets darker out." I said, "I guess you're right" and I recalled Tauros. Flamefox, Firestorm, and I walked up to the doorway, when suddenly, a giant crystalline structure crashed up from the floor below where the door used to be, which sent us falling backwards to the floor! "Joe!" May shouted, but the crystal effectively blocked the doorway! Then another shot up, and more, completely sealing it off! May and Simon ran as more crystals shot up from the ground outside the mansion, and began to grow, covering up the mansion! "What is that?" May asked. Simon said, "I don't know! Charizard, use your flamethrower on it!" His Charizard shot a stream of flames at the crystalline structures, which melted part of it, only to have it recover itself. May said, "Fierymane, Amber, Redfur, Inferno, concentrate your firepower with Charizard's!" They all did so, burning a hole through, which came through to our side, but before we could go through, it quickly recovered itself, even thicker than before. May then released Clefairy and said, "Try your metronome!" She did so, and caused an explosion against the crystalline barrier, but to no avail! Meanwhile, inside the mansion, everything was turning crystalline – the walls, the floor, and the ceiling. Furniture was also being engulfed by crystals. "What's going on?" I asked in confusion. Back outside, May took out her Pokegear. "I'm not getting a signal" she said. Simon opened his laptop and said, "Me neither. That stuff is blocking telecommunication signals in this area!" She said, "We've got to tell Professor Hale!" Simon said, "You do that. I'll stay here." She asked, "Why should you stay here?" He said, "It might not be safe." She replied, "I can take care of myself! You go tell Professor Hale! I'm not going anywhere while Joe's inside that thing!" He nodded and flew off on Charizard's back. May said, "I hope you're okay, Joe."

"Flamefox, Firestorm, try burning through it again!" I ordered. They tried, but their firepower just wasn't enough to get through. Then I said, "Kadabra, try your psychic attack to break through it!" He refused. "Kadabra?" I asked him. He just vanished again. I said to my fire foxes, "Well, there must be some way out of here. Let's look around." We walked up the stairs, which hadn't been turned into crystal yet. The whole place was illuminated by the crystals and a strange haze. Through all the windows, you could only see pink crystalline formations. "This is all so weird" I said. In a hallway upstairs, there was knight armor lined up along the walls, standing up. "Added creepiness factor" I said to my fire foxes. Then I said, "Come on, guys, let's keep going." We walked past each of the knights, some who held swords, others who held axes, all of whom gave me the creeps, even though I knew it was only empty armor. We reached a room that hadn't been touched by the crystalline formation yet. There were books on a shelf about psychic ability, astral projection, and other such topics. One book caught my eye – it was about power points. I opened it up and found a hand written note inside. It was part of a journal entry and it read, "I fear I have made a great mistake in building my mansion here. I had hoped it would increase my psychic ability further, but in doing so, I have disturbed another presence, strange, powerful psychic beings, who came here because they felt drawn to the same source of this psychic power as I. Now, I fear that this place will be my undoing." Just as I read this, I heard "Vul!" and "Nine!" and I felt one of my pokeballs open. I turned around and Tauros tackled a knight who was standing behind me, holding an axe over my head. I dropped the book and fell backwards to the floor. "Thanks, Tauros!" I gasped in fright. I didn't know how Tauros was able to release himself from his pokeball. But soon, other knights started to enter the room. Tauros tackled a couple, and Kadabra materialized and knocked a few apart, himself. One of them threw a sword towards me, which Flamefox and Firestorm incinerated with their fire power. The armor was all empty inside! "Let's get out of here!" I exclaimed to my Pokemon. We left the room, and ran downstairs. I said to my Pokemon, "According to that journal entry, that psychic who moved here disturbed some kind of psychic beings that were already living here! I wonder if it was the Unown?" I heard a voice say, "Yes." I stopped in my tracks. "Who… said that?" I nervously asked. Kadabra appeared, "I did" he answered me, telepathically. I asked him, "How are you talking?" He replied, "I am speaking to you in your mind. There is something about this place – it is increasing my psychic ability. Yours, as well." I asked, "My psychic ability?" He replied, "Yes. You were unaware of it until now, but the power of this place is opening it up. It is very small and limited, but you do possess it." I asked him, "But why is this place increasing psychic ability?" He answered, "I'm still not sure. I'm a bit disoriented, myself. But there are Unown here. I'm sure of that! I can feel them!" I asked him, "Where?" He replied, "Not up here – down further. But they don't wish to be disturbed." I said, "Tough! I need to get out of here, and right now, finding them is my only hope." We continued down more stairs, until we were in what appeared to be an open meadow! "This can't be real" I said. Kadabra replied, "No. They are reading your mind and creating illusions based on your thoughts. For instance, you feared the knights, and they attacked you. Fortunately, Tauros felt them coming for you and released himself from his pokeball." I said, "So that's how he did it." Kadabra said, "Yes. This place increases psychic ability, even in Pokemon who aren't normally psychic. I'm not entirely sure how, but I feel we'll find out when we find the Unown." I said, "This place must have a basement! If you said they're further down, then that must be the place to look." He said, "Yes. But they will keep trying to stop you from finding them. It will be difficult. And as we get closer to the psychic power source, their powers will get stronger." I replied, "Swell." Then I asked him, "Why didn't you obey me before when I asked you to use psychic?" He answered, "I knew it would do no good. My psychic power is nothing compared to the immense psychic power of this place." Suddenly, a Pokemon materialized in front of us. It was a Rattatta. I said, "Okay" and we walked past it. Then, it actually tackled me, knocking me to the ground! I said, "Firestorm, use flamethrower on it!" He did so, and it ran through the flames and tackled him hard, knocking him down! "Firestorm!" I shouted. Flamefox also attacked it with a flamethrower and he, too, was tackled, hard! I said, "Kadabra, do something!" He said, "I'll try!" He put up a psychic barrier, and it blocked the Rattatta, which tackled itself against it. He said, "Run! I don't know how long it will hold!" We all ran, and reached a doorway on the other side of the meadow, when the Rattatta broke free of the barrier. We quickly ran down the stairs, which began to turn into floating, crystalline steps, but they still led downwards. The Rattatta had vanished. We reached the bottom of the steps, and there was a basement, untouched by the crystalline formation. "This is the basement! But no Unown!" I exclaimed. Kadabra said, "Yes, this is the basement, but I still sense them, down further." I replied, "But this is it! There is no down further." He simply said, "I can't explain it. I can only tell you what I sense. And I sense great danger in here." I said, "Well, maybe there's a hidden room or something. We'll have to look around." While we explored, I asked Kadabra a question I've always wanted to - "So tell me, what is it with you and May?" He said, "Oh, you mean the flowers and everything. Well, May is a beautiful girl, and beautiful girls deserve flowers. Besides, I just loved seeing how worked up you got about it!" I shot him a glance. Then he said to me, "I'm sorry if I ever hurt your feelings. May is a wonderful, sweet girl. You're very fortunate to have her for a friend. I can sense how you feel about her and how she feels about you. The two of you are meant for each other." I smiled at that. Just then, the room began to crystallize. "Uh oh" I said. Kadabra said, "This is not going to be good. We're getting near the source of their power. I might not be able to help you this time."