Episode 19: Forest of illusions
The day after his victory at the Nimbasa Gym against Elesa, Niko, Warren, and Charlotte plotted to continue their journey westward towards Driftveil City. There, Niko planned to take on the gym leader there for his fifth Unova gym badge. At a restaurant the night Niko obtained the Bolt Badge from Elesa, the trio determined—with the help of a map and Charlotte's book on the Unova region—that the journey to Driftveil City might take under a week to arrive at. They had to traverse Route 5 until they got to the Driftveil Bridge, which they would cross to arrive in Driftveil City.
That night Niko went to sleep more content with himself and his Pokémon than he has felt in a long time. In fact, he tried to think about the last time he felt this sort of happy. He couldn't.
The following morning, the trio got up and prepared for their journey to Driftveil City by healing up their Pokémon and going to the market to stock up on supplies. There, Niko got the usual carrot juice for Servine and discovered Rufflet's interest in Lum Berries, particularly with the seeds.
"Man, how much I'd kill to have JJ's poffin baking skills…" Niko muttered to himself, looking around and seeing no one near him except Rufflet. "JJ was a friend that I travelled with." He explained to the Eaglet Pokémon. "Very nice guy, he wants to be a Pokémon Breeder, and part of that is learning how to bake things like poffins. If you ever meet him, I'll be sure to ask him to make you a Lum Berry poffin." Niko said, petting the floating Rufflet on the head. "Anyways, let's go find the others, alright?"
Niko and his Pokémon found Warren and Charlotte peering into the "snacks" aisle, specifically at the cookies. Shaking his head, he quickly approached them, holding his cart full of supplies up in front of them. This caught their attention, and the two smiled nervously. Laughing, Niko walked with them to the cashier—without the cookies—and out of the mart.
They began their trip by walking through the western exit of Nimbasa City, which was an arched, lit-up gate with a sign on the side indicating that they were at the city limits. Niko turned to see cars driving in and out on the paved road beside him, wondering where they were coming from or going. Maybe some of them are going to Driftveil City to challenge the Gym Leader there? He thought to himself.
By midday, the trio sat down for lunch after making some serious headway on their journey. They had left the roads—and any vestige of human civilization—and were now in the middle of a forest. Smeargle helped create a small fire, and while their lunch was getting prepared Niko and his Pokémon went off to train.
"Rufflet, I want you to use peck this time, and as hard as you can! Servine, use a defensive leaf tornado!" Niko commanded. He was trying to get Rufflet to start learning aerial ace—a move he knew how to teach relatively well by this point. The Eaglet Pokémon rose high into the air before diving down, gaining speed as he descended towards Servine. The Grass Snake Pokémon then conjured a strong wall of leaves around herself, which at first repelled Rufflet, who got caught in the leaf tornado and was spun around by the force of the leaves.
Niko watched as Rufflet tried to regain his composure in midair, noticing how he maneuvered his limbs to put himself back in control of his own body. Then, without having to ask, he saw Rufflet dive back down, this time from behind Servine. Niko smirked as he watched Servine spin her body around and use leaf tornado offensively on her teammate, once more engulfing him in a swirling mass of green leaves. Rufflet once more lost control of his body and was flung high into the air and then down into the forest beyond.
"Oh, Rufflet…" Niko said, shaking his head and laughing to himself. "We'll get this right eventually. Good work, Servine."
Servine nodded as Niko walked past her to find Rufflet among the forest, Servine behind him. As he walked through, he quickly noticed the scenery wasn't changing. Looking around, Niko found only Servine as his side. There was no one around.
"Well, that's odd." He said. "We've only been walking for maybe a minute. Let's keep going and see if this keeps up, alright Servine?" The Grass Snake Pokémon nodded and continued in step with her trainer. After several more minutes of walking, they continued to find themselves in the same situation as before—the same trees, all the same size, same everything. "Okay Servine, you notice that?" He asked, pointing around him. "We're not making any progress in this forest!"
Servine got lower to the ground, as if trying to sense anything around her. When she did so, she started dashing off in a "forward" direction. Looking up, Niko followed her.
Meanwhile, back at their camp, Charlotte and Warren were sitting down with Roggenrola waiting on Niko to return. After what seemed like forever, they exchanged concerned looks and then stood up.
"He went in that direction, right?" Warren asked, pointing off to the north.
"I think so. Roggenrola, do you want to help us find Niko?" Charlotte asked the Mantle Pokémon, who nodded eagerly. "Excellent, let's go get him."
"Wait!" They all turned to see a man with a massive backpack slung around his shoulder approaching them. "You—you're not thinking of going in there, are you?"
"Well, yes." Warren said matter-of-factly. "Our friend hasn't come back for a while."
"Oh...if that's the case, then my condolences." He said, looking down at the ground and then back at the two trainers. "He might not come back."
"Why is that?" Charlotte asked, thoroughly confused and concerned now. "What's in that forest?"
"I powerful Pokémon. That—up there—is the Lostlorn Forest. It's the home to a dangerous creature. We don't know where it is, or what it is, or even where it is. I've only heard that a woman lives there in a trailer. I've met her once—very nice woman. She believes that living by herself quietly is more important than traveling around the world like you or me. But your friend is in danger, if not already…well…"
"We'll find him." Warren said decisively. "He can't be that lost, he hasn't been gone that long." The backpacker shrugged.
"Fine. I'll accompany you, then. Name's Tim. And you both are…?"
"Warren. And this is Charlotte. We're looking for our friend Niko." Warren said in reply. Tim then nodded and led the two into the Lostlorn Forest. They didn't realize they were entering it until several minutes in when, like with Niko, they noticed their surroundings weren't changing. "So…are we going in the right direction?" He asked Tim, who turned around and shrugged.
"I have no idea." Tim said, looking around at the oak trees surrounding them. "I've heard that there are no ordinary changes in scenery, but eventually that goes away…I think."
"So basically…" Charlotte began. "You have no idea what you're doing?"
"Not at all. But I figured I should try and help you all out." Tim responded. He then looked down at Roggenrola. "Wait a minute! Your Roggenrola can sense the vibrations in the ground. It can basically sense how far away a sound is!"
"Really?" Warren asked, crouching down. "Hey, Roggenrola, did you get that? Can you try and use the vibrations to figure out which direction Niko might be in?"
Roggenrola nodded, crouching a little closer to the ground and turning his head around a little, using his yellow ear in his head to help figure out the direction. Eventually, he jumped a little and turned in the direction just in front of Tim. He then broke into a run, dashing in the direction at a pace neither Warren nor Charlotte had ever seen before. A little shocked by this, the three humans also broke into a run behind him. Just as they did, the trees around them disappeared, as if a curtain was being pulled up from all directions.
Niko found Servine still crouched low to the ground as the two entered a clearing. There, Rufflet was laying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Fearful for the eaglet's health, Niko dashed over to his Pokémon, picking Rufflet up.
"You alright buddy?" He asked as he looked down at Rufflet. The Eaglet Pokémon nodded, slowly opening his eyes. "Alright, good. Sorry that the battle got a little heated earlier. Right, Servine?" The Grass Snake Pokémon nodded apologetically, walking over and patting Rufflet on the head carefully. "Let's get out of here, alright?" He then stood up, and as he did he noticed a woman standing there. She was skinny with brown hair tied up in a ponytail in the back. She wore blue jeans and a sky blue and white striped shirt. She was emotionless. "Hello?"
She didn't respond.
"Err…hi, I'm Niko. These are my Pokémon, Servine and Rufflet. I just found Rufflet unconscious, and I was wondering if you have anything that he could drink to, y'know, bring back some of his energy?"
She still didn't respond, instead glaring at Niko with a still-emotionless expression.
"Can you talk? What's your name?" Niko asked calmly. This is really weird…what's up with this woman? "Oookay then, I'm going to head out then. Nice meeting you…"
As he turned his back on the woman, he took a step and heard a low growling sound coming from behind him. Slowly turning back, he saw that the growl was coming from the woman. She then slowly parted her lips, revealing long, white fangs underneath.
"What the…?"
The trees around them suddenly disappeared, leaving an even wider clearing than before, and the woman transformed into a tall, black and dark gray foxlike Pokémon. It was bipedal with a pointed snout and ears with red insides; some red rimming around its eyes and mouth; a black ruff on its upper body, pointed at the shoulders from where its arms extended; its arms were thin, but its legs were slightly bulkier; its eyes were light blue with red rimming around them; lastly, it wore a large, red, voluminous mane with black tips that seemed to resemble a ponytail. It crouched low before leaping through the air and nearly fifty feet to cross the distance between it and Niko.
"Servine, leaf tornado!" Niko shouted. The Grass Snake Pokémon nodded, somersaulting through the air to meet the strange Pokémon. She then used the leaf tornado, but it hardly seemed to affect the Pokémon, who slashed her into the ground, causing a dust cloud to erupt. By this time Niko was already creating more distance between him. However, none of this seemed to matter when the foxlike Pokémon jumped and landed in his path towards the edge of the now larger clearing.
"Poliwag, water gun! Swadloon, string shot!" Warren commanded.
"Smeargle, ember!" Charlotte shouted. Just as they all attacked, Roggenrola slammed his head into the Pokémon, to which the fox grabbed the Mantle Pokémon and attempted to throw him, but was buffeted by the three elemental attacks. "Niko, you alright?" Charlotte asked, running around the battle to meet her friend.
"Yeah, I'm alright, Rufflet's a little hurt, and so is Servine, so you guys are just in time. Who's this?" He asked, pointing to Tim. Charlotte explained the encounter with the backpacker before turning to the Pokémon.
"Is this what you were talking about?" She asked.
"Yes, I forget the name though." Tim said, scratching his chin nervously. Just then, Charlotte pulled out her pokédex:
"Zoroark, the Illusion Fox Pokémon. Dark type. Stories say those who tried to catch Zoroark were trapped in an illusion and punished."
"So that woman was actually a Pokémon…" Niko reasoned to himself.
"What woman?" Tim asked curiously. Niko then explained his encounter with the strangely silent woman. "Odd…she talked for me…but it kind of makes sense. She did seem a little odd. It also explains the illusions in the Lostlorn Forest."
Meanwhile, Zoroark was fighting the four Pokémon plus Servine, who had recently reentered the fray with vine whip, combining the attack with Swadloon's string shot to contain the Illusion Fox Pokémon. Then, Roggenrola, Smeargle, and Poliwag all launched attacks from different directions, quickly subduing Zoroark. Servine and Swadloon let go of the Illusion Fox, carefully watching as it dropped to its knees. It was panting heavily.
"What do we do with it?" Niko asked.
"We could just leave it be…" Charlotte suggested, motioning for Smeargle to come closer to her.
"No." Warren said. "It clearly tried to attack us. Why would we just let it go?"
"It might have felt provoked!" Charlotte shouted back. "Maybe Niko accidentally walked into its territory with a harmed Pokémon, and it saw the chance to attack? Or maybe it felt threatened by Niko and Servine?"
"Why would it feel threatened? It's clearly strong!" Warren argued back. They continued this argument for another minute until they noticed Tim walking over to Zoroark, leaning over and trying to pat the Zoroark. "Woah! Tim, what're you doing!?"
"Zoroark is hurt, I've got something that can heal it." He said, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a spray bottle. Zoroark winced a little at the sight, even growling at Tim. "There there, you'll be fine. None of us meant any harm. Niko here was just looking for his hurt Pokémon. He didn't even know you existed." Tim said calmly. He then sprayed some liquid on Zoroark's shoulder, presumably where the Illusion Fox Pokémon took a hit from one of the Pokémon. "Feel better?" Zoroark nodded. "Alright, we're going to get going then. Please try to not get into trouble, alright?"
Once more, Zoroark nodded, and Tim stood back on his feet. "So…we're just going to leave a dangerous Pokémon like that around?" Warren asked in complete shock. Tim nodded with a smile. "Why?"
"This is Zoroark's home. I didn't realize it until now. And even though it can be dangerous, it's also a wild and rare Pokémon, and shouldn't be tampered with. But it does need to behave itself from now on, and not scare humans." He turned to Zoroark. "Creating an illusion of a human is weird, Zoroark. Don't do it."
Zoroark nodded, feeling ashamed of itself. Tim pat its head and then motioned for the group to go back the way they had come, back to their campsite.
Half an hour later the trio—and Tim—made it back to their abandoned campsite. Just as they settled back down, Tim turned to leave, saying farewell to the group.
"Thanks for the help, Tim!" Niko shouted to the backpacker, who turned and smiled, waving his hand in farewell. "What a nice guy…decides to jump into a dangerous situation to help you two—complete strangers to him."
"Yeah, almost seems too convenient…" Charlotte said quietly, and only when Tim was out of earshot.
"What do you mean? He did nothing wrong to us…" Warren replied. "Our Pokémon aren't incredibly strong. If he wanted to attack us or leave us to fend for ourselves, he would have." Charlotte simply shrugged in response, not willing to push the envelope on this. "Either way, we need to get going if we're going to make it to Driftveil City." Warren said, beginning to pack up their things. Niko and Charlotte nodded as well, packing up their things with the help of their Pokémon.
Unbeknownst to them, off in the distance the backpacker watched them from behind a tree before turning around with his back now to the tree and pulled out a phone. "Yeah…the Zoroark works. I sent some kids into the forest. Wasn't hard, but they made quick work of the Subject. Yeah…yeah I'll run more tests. Thanks."
Tim put the phone away and smirked.