"People have fears, pokèmon have fears,for it stalks every living being on this world. Fear is what binds us together and can make us get both closer and drive us further apart. Which way you'll be driven is your own choice so be wise"

Philip Aberworth,writer of the book 'Trust' (December 12th 2514)

Chapter six

In which we get both scared and stalked.

Whoever said that bugs are nice will be hunted down and brought in for questioning or checked for drugs and/or any signs of delusions or hypnosis.

Bugs are horrible creatures capable of String-Shotting me until I die.

Stupid bugs.

Die already.

When Danny Josh and I walked into the forest I got this feeling it would take a while.

It would indeed.

My face was pale, my heart was racing and I kept looking around me to be sure there weren't any bugs around me, my team or well .. anywhere.

Josh and Danny were chatting enthusiastically, Josh was much more at easy now that Danny, Piper mostly, had joined us to get us through Eterna Forest.

I wasn't.

Piper would occasionally incinerate a Wurmple somewhere and Nate wandered of after a while to get his early lunch and Bob was in heaven because of all the bark she could eat while Lola was (as always) being cuddled by Josh and Paul was still locked in his pokèball.

You'd say it would be a nice journey, right ?
Please think again.

Now.

There were .. that kind of people .. everywhere !

They swarmed the place in dozens while waving their stupid nets around and yelling "A (insert bug pokèmon here)" or comparing their Cascoon to someone else's Silcoon.

Josh walked next to me from time to time to say something like "it's gonna be alright Shrimp, Piper here can keep us safe .. it's okay"

It didn't work, I was shaking now because one Wurmple dared to wiggle it's way trough my formidable walls (Josh,Danny,Piper,Bob and Nate) to nearly 5 metres from me, I froze and could only stare as Danny commanded Piper to burn it, she obliged.

I hate being this afraid of bugs and Nate certainly disliked it for he kept giving me glares causing me to shudder, I swear he's using Leer on me.

Bob didn't mind, she .. well she didn't mind.

It was almost noon so Josh managed to get me to eat my lunch, I had to be sure no bugs were around first by sending Nate to search for them.

He didn't return, I didn't worry.

I stuffed my mouth in an an attempt to be done faster so we could once more set out and reach Eterna City faster.

But apparently stuffing your face with canned bread can cause nausea, and vomiting .. and .. well you get the picture right ?

It took me more than an hour to .. rid my body of evil food and our pace was drastically slower than before and we were slow before so .. yeah I hate this. I called my mom once and mentioned me being in Eterna Forest, she hasn't stopped calling yet so I had to turn my phone off, she then started calling Josh who in turn turned his phone off.

I swear this forest is evil, little did I know it could get even worse.

It was around 4 o'clock and it was getting darker because there already was little light getting through the thick leaves covering us but now it was getting even darker if possible, Josh and Danny have bonded well and I am frantically praising Piper every time she burns one of these evil bugs because I dare say that they are stalking me.

Nate has returned about half an hour earlier and looked quite content while walking up to me, for some reason bug pokèmon were avoiding him like the plague, weird.

I didn't eat when time for dinner came because recent studies show that canned food can be quite dangerous when eaten in certain ways so I passed, Piper ate some grass, Bob some bark, Nate some .. bugs .. and Lola and Paul their own canned food.

Some bug catchers joined us for dinner, I scooted as far away while still trying to not look as comfortable as possible, Josh being Josh had something stupid to say "Don't mind him, he is afraid of all of you but tries to mask it, just ignore him .. we do anyway"
I was tempted to leave after this comment but after thinking for a split second I decided against it, it would mean not having Piper to incinerate the bugs for me meaning I'd die and that still isn't an option.

We walked some more but when I walked into a tree and angered a Beautifly which Danny caught because it 'looked so pretty' and I made him swear not to let it out or I'd kill him, we decided to get some sleep and resume our walking tomorrow. I let Nate and Bob out of their balls and said "If you manage to get me to survive this night without bugs crawling all over me I .. I'll let you eat Josh's shoes ?" Nate looked like he saw a Magikarp fly while Bob just sat there being herself in the end I had to promise them to buy them a nice TM once I had enough money, which just wasn't going to happen because face it with my battling-capabilities I'd get that much money in .. 2 or 3 years if I'm still alive then .. so chances are less than 4%.

I didn't sleep, sleeping while the very bane of your existence is within attacking distance of you is just not helping much with my phobia, Nate and Bob although they tried and did their best, fell asleep halfway during the night leaving me without a guard and waking up the sleeping Ponyta gave me a nice burn on my hand, I was on my own now.

It was a few minutes later that I met someone that I would see a lot later, it was a shadow that had something on fire and punched a nearby wurmple into a tree before continuing its way while bashing, hitting and incinerating nearby bugs with the flaming part of its shadow, what it was I didn't know for it was a shadow. I might have dreamed it, I might have not .. who knows.

Then I finally slept.

When I woke up it was light-ish seeing as there still isn't much light coming trough the leaves above us and I felt safe .. mysterious shadow thing saved me from possibly being eaten alive by bugs, I shuddered at the thought and looked around me to spot the thing but all I saw was a grumpy Buneary hopping around and Nate and Bob laying on top of each other while making soft sounds that might have been snores, if I wasn't aware of the fact that I was in a forest full of bugs I might have 'Aww'-ed at them. Danny was in his own sleeping bag and Josh nearly choked Lola, Paul safely tucked away in his ball like usual, and Piper slept as well. Seeing how the others were still sleeping I made my own breakfast, canned bread .. and a bottle of water .. Delicious !

I decided to wake my travelling partners when more Wurmple came crawling near our little camp, they didn't take it well. Danny cursed at me (The shy thing can curse Hallelujah!) and Josh kicked me again while Nate just bit me (I was wearing gloves so I didn't get poisoned) and Bob .. she continued sleeping.

They ate breakfast, canned bread and ... guess what ? a bottle of water.

Yay.

We walked, and we walked, and we walked some more until Josh said he walked past the same tree for the fifth time now, he was right because apparantly we were walking in nice circles, squares or other mathematical forms that I have no idea of but we were apparently walking in, Danny apologized about a million times seeing as he was our guide and bug-killer and I just glared at a tree.

Josh then walked up to a bug-catcher and asked "So .. you got a map of this place ?" at which the boy nodded and gave us a piece of paper with crudely drawn trees on them and notes of where to find special Wurmple or Cascoon that will soon evolve.

We soon started walking again and this time we were careful in watching where we were going and Josh asked some more random passerby's "Are we almost out of this forest?" they all replied with an annoyed "No" before walking away muttering about "Annoying trainers and their haste .. chasing away the bugs .. might .. string shot .. sleep .. Muahahahaaa" I told you bug catchers were evil, don't tell me I didn't because I did.

Nate and Bob were once more forming a part of my guard and were getting some serious training while at it meaning me shouting "Get those things!" and them chasing after some Wurmple, yeah I'm a great trainer. I also got Josh to give me Paul, he liked me for some reason, and have him shock any bug coming close, it's like a game called 'shoot the Pidgey' and I rock at that so 'Shock the Wurmple´ was easy and fun but if they came close I ran, a few pokèmon were still following me and I quickly recognized one of them as the grumpy Buneary from this morning .. it was happily hopping a few metres behind us with what looked like its friends following it in turn. Great now we had stalkers.

Danny then turned to me "Why are you even afraid of those Wurmple ?" he asked me in a small voice (Remember this guy can curse like a sailor when woken up)

"They are bugs"

"Okay .. but why ?"

"They are bugs"

"... ?"

"Bugs !"

He nodded unsure before asking Josh who answered "Child trauma" and then Danny looked at me with a 'poor unfortunate soul' look while nodding to Josh, I hate those looks because I'm usually the one giving them to others (Josh mostly) then we heared a startled cry coming from our right and we turned to it only to see Lola being chased by big Dustox who was firing small gusts of wind at poor Lola.

"Lola !" Josh shouted before picking her up and screaming "Do something !" I shuffled backwards until my back touched the bark of a tree and Danny looked at Piper "Ember !" he yelled.

Piper ran towards the Dustox while opening her mouth when the Dustox's eyes started glowing an eerie purple colour and then Piper fell, she tried to stand up but the Dustox tackled her before she could rendering her unable to battle.

"Jacob .. do something !" Josh yelled.

"D.. do it yourself !" I replied while trying to get as much distance between me and the Dustox in as little time as possible only to see a shadow flash between the trees.

I'm doomed.

Disclaimer: *Looks around* nah still don't own pokèmon .. do own a few fish and birds and will own a puppy in a month !

First of all sorry for the delay because my computer died and is alive once more now !
Slightly short chapter because I wanted it uploaded as quick as possible to start the next one and it was made in my free time which isn't that much so ...
Anyway yesterday was my birthday ! yay I'm now officially 14 years old ! wheeheeee yay .. got a lot of money (No intention of spending it) and I've been spoiled by my parents and family.
My birthday is quite 'special' because the 30th of April is 'Koninginnedag' literally translated 'Queens day' and it's a national holiday where we all have fun, play games and eat orange-coloured pastries and/or cake etc end Koninginnedag has been on this day ever since our current queen 'Beatrix' has decided to let it stay on this day because it is her mothers birthday (Usually the Koninginnedag date changes with the birthday of our current queen/king) and it's a lot of fun to experience and having your birthday on that same day is just awesome !
I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter ... *Goes of to cry and never comes back* but I'll manage *Runs of to cry some more* no seriously I'm fine, it's just that I didn't get any feedback/comments that's bugging me so this chapter has nothing special or anything (I did mention Mr. Aberworth's book again the guy is great) and Jacob is in the place with bugs *Evil laughter*
Clearing things up:
1. Why does Jacob react the way he does with bugs ? I have no phobia myself except big spiders and I mixed running away/freezing/thinking of yourself first and got Jacob's phobia.
2. Why is Danny still there ? He is there to protect Jacob, if I hadn't made him they would NOT have gone trough the forest at all and have been stuck in Floarome/gone home.
3. Jacob truly does fail as a trainer doesn't he ? He truly does, he's my first OC and I want to have my fun torturing the poor guy with weak/annoying/strangely named pokèmon for as long as possible.
4. Did you find the plot ? Yes I did, I have a clear idea on what to do with the story now (No saving the world .. sorry) and you'll just have to wait to find out.
Anyway seeing as there were so many reviews I'll change the reward .. reviewers now get their very own *Insert tension increasing music* Igglybuff's Breakfast Show on Ice dvd-set ! *Crowd claps and goes wild* Jay !
I'm free from school so updates should be quicker now.
Edited same day: I wrote Jay instead of Yay and yes jay is the same as yay but that's how I and the majority of my class write yay or we write jee or .. you get it.