Chapter 2

Pine Coast City was coming into view, the train cutting through the rolling hills lush with impenetrable, dark forests giving the city its name. It was a city that tried to remember that it was supposed to be a part of the world rather than removing parts of the world to make room for it. Shaded and filled with pines, only what was needed for room was cut away. It was a city on the small side, making it ideal for bicyclists and trainers alike. When she got off the train, she checked her atlas and rode off for the nearest Pokémon Center. It was an easy ride and she was grateful for the thick gloves she wore as the sharp, chill of winter and the blanket of snow tried to cut through her layers. Eevee was hiding in her jacket, despite her dense fur, she was a Pokémon more familiar with southern climates. Precious, on the other hand despite the thinner fur of the persian, was reveling in running alongside his trainer as they made their way to the Pokémon Center. Having been cooped up on board the train for the last week, Precious was happy to stretch his legs. It was easier on her eevee and Otter felt a little guilty for that but the happiness on the persian's face quickly dispelled any of it. When she arrived at the center, Otter approached with Precious trailing behind her, guarding her back. Eevee poked her head out and jumped down to play with the Persian.

"Hi there, how may I help you today?" The nurse asked Otter.

"My name is Otter from Matpa Town, I was wondering if my license had come in." Otter responded hopefully. This was it, the moment of truth; if it had come in then she was still within the narrow window of opportunity to tame a Lapras.

"I'll need photo identification but yes, I believe your license has come in." The nurse took the identification and went into the back. She returned quickly with an envelope marked with Otter's name. "This is it, is there anything else I can assist you with today?"

"No, thank you, have a nice day." Otter grinned as she stuck the envelope in her pocket.

"We hope to see you again," The nurse called out as Otter exited and unlocked her bike from the rack.

She already knew how to get to the coast, Otter had been planning it for days now. Apologizing to her Precious and eevee, she returned them to their pokeballs, promising them a romp on the beach. She took off, there would be people watching but not many trying to tame a lapras. Lapras were highly empathic animals and would only allow themselves to go to a trainer they felt would care for them. When she got to the beach, she ran for the nearest changing room and slipped quickly into a wet suit to try and stave off as much of the chilly waters as possible. Once changed Otter ran down the beach where she could see a crowd gathering on the pier to watch from a safe distance.

Police had cordoned off the beach preventing anyone from getting close to the newborn hatchlings that were slowly making their way down the beach to the water, encouraged by the songs of the lapras in the pod. She flashed her new license at the police who let her through, knowing as she did, that the hatchlings were not allowed to be caught. She set her pack down, released Precious and eevee, and then asked them kindly to guard her pack. Precious took a serious approach to this, sitting next to it with stoic determination and a glare threatening violence. She gave them both a treat from the pack before she dashed off for the water.

The lapras pod looked at Otter for a brief moment before continuing their song. The cold of the water cut through the wetsuit and she knew this would have to be quick. Otter swam strongly to a trio of lapras floating apart from the pod. She closed the distance between them but stopped, giving them the option of making the final approach. The mate pair scrutinized this trainer, staring directly into her eyes; the younger lapras not noticing her parents had gone quiet. The first to approach was the larger male, his shell was littered with pockmarks and deep gauges most likely from fights with wild gyarados or tentacruel. He swam a gentle circle around her before returning to his mate. The female approached, her shell less marred than her mate's and she swam even slower yet around Otter, pausing long enough to put her snout directly in front of Otter's face.

Every childhood dream squealed in her head but she held quiet not wanting to spook the lapras. With a soft keen, the female brought the male and the young female lapras over to them. The male dove under the water before surfacing right beneath Otter leaving her on his back. She was grateful for it and gave the neck of the lapras a light pat. She wasn't certain how much longer she could have kept treading water if she had to tame the younger lapras too. The female nudged her daughter towards the human and hesitantly, the young lapras approached.

Otter put out a hand letting the Pokémon approach, it brought its snout right under Otters hand, the cool wet flesh under her fingers intermingled with the soft warm breath leaving the nostrils. She reached a hand out and scratched under the lapras' chin. The male bucked, knocking Otter into the water. The younger lapras sank and caught her new human, the parents satisfied at the bonding, went to greet the hatchlings.

Otter was sitting comfortably on her lapras as they lazily swam in circles getting comfortable with each other. Swiftly moving shadows beneath them caused a brief disturbance before heading straight for the pod and hatchlings. With stentorian bellows, six gyarados emerged from the sea, rearing up to strike. Otter cried out in alarm, fear on her face for the hatchlings and the pod. A beam of light raced across the beach and struck the lead gyarados full in the face following by a storm of swift motes, the sand underneath the hyper beam turned to glass. Precious took a step towards the water, menace in every step of his approach with eevee right behind him. The lead gyarados sunk beneath the waves, the others though were undeterred.

Whispering an encouraging word to her lapras, Otter watched as an ice beam from her lapras hit another gyarados, forcing it to retreat. The rest of the pod joined in and drove the gyarados off keeping the hatchlings safe to see another day. The pod and the hatchlings took off further north, following the coast until they were gone from sight. Otter and her lapras turned to shore, exhausted from the stress of the ordeal.

Precious and her eevee crowded at the water's edge. Otter's eevee had taken a perch on the head of the Persian to avoid the steady advance and retreat of the ocean and they waited patiently. Precious had grabbed a luxury ball from Otter's pack and was waiting for her. With a beam of light, lapras was retracted and a heap of praise was given to all three of them for their hard work. The crowd on the pier gave a loud cheer for the young trainer before they dispersed. Otter ducked into the restroom to change, leaving persian and eevee outside the door.

When she reemerged she saw a lone figure still on the pier watching her. The police had moved on and while Otter thought it would probably be safest to ignore the man staring at her, she didn't like mysterious people just watching her. With Precious and eevee at her side she was not scared of anything. She began running though when she got on the pier and closer to the man.

"Fox!" She called out in exuberant greeting.

"Hello Otter," He swept her up in a hug before letting go, "Well done out there, good work with the lapras pod too. Did you get this handsome fellow from a pokéshelter?"

Fox knelt down to greet Precious face to face who gave a menacing growl and sat alongside Otter's leg. Fox chuckled softly and stood back up. Eevee greeted him happily, having known Fox nearly as long as Otter.

"This is Precious, the shelter said they were going to put him down at the end of the week. While at first I might have preferred starting with a freshly caught meowth, who couldn't look at this face and say I want it. The shelter said he was 'too aggressive to be adopted', at least with me there has been no troubles. He's an angel." Otter smiled as the persian rubbed his head against her hip.

"You always could handle the orneriest of Pokémon. Where are you staying tonight?" Fox asked out of curiosity.

"I hadn't decided yet, I know there are hotels around but I haven't looked into any of them." Otter shrugged.

"Don't bother with them, they're all occupied with the lapras migration and hatching tourists. There's a trainer lodge a few miles from here up in the woods. Its facilities can accommodate any Pokémon and trainer. Care to join us?" Fox offered.

"Of course, do they have a pool I can let my lapras out into?"

"Big enough for my gyarados and your lapras."

"Congrats on that match by the way."

"Thanks, if I'd been more careful my gyarados wouldn't have gotten burnt. We should have known that hypno knew poison gas." Fox ran a hand through his hair exasperatedly, "Do you need a hand drying that wet suit? I don't see a growlithe around so you must not have caught your fire type yet."

Otter stalled at the thought of him using such a formidable Pokémon for something so mundane, "I don't want to tax your Ninetales."

"We don't mind; I can introduce you to part of my team now." Fox released his ninetales before Otter could argue further, "My dear, would you be so kind as to run a few wisps over the suit?"

His ninetales responded quickly and soon the wetsuit was dry and packed away. Fox made the introductions but Otter's Persian remained reticent. Ninetales was well groomed, her fur in immaculate condition. Fox had been feeding her well and it showed. Ninetales was a happy Pokémon with little reason to disobey her trainer.

"I see you still don't have a bike and while I don't mind walking, it's going to take a while if we go by foot isn't it?" Otter asked looking around to make certain she hadn't missed anything.

"My pack and gear are all up at the lodge, I only have my Pokémon with me but, I have a plan." Fox retracted ninetales as he spoke and pulled out another pokeball. "Since there don't appear to be any reporters around still, we can fly out there. Go get your bike."

When she returned Fox pulled out a pokeball which released an impressive specimen of a dragonite and she nuzzled against Fox's neck. Otter looked on in awe, this was amazing. Fox had been busy in the time he had been away from Matpa Town. She returned her Pokémon to their pokeballs as Fox climbed carefully on the dragonite's back. With a speedy swoop the dragonite took off, banked around and grabbed Otter pack and all. It was only a few moments of sheer gut wrenching terror but that was more than enough for Otter.

"Next time, you get hugged, I ride on dragonite's back." Otter stated woozily as they walked up the front steps of the lodge. Fox chuckled and took her up to the check in counter.

Check in asked a handful of questions regarding her team and she wound up with a room on the first floor near the pool. The elevator ride was filled with a companionable silence as it dinged the floors. The elevator took them deeper than Otter was anticipating and when it opened it was into a simulated beach paradise. There were Pokémon lounging in the massive stadium sized zero entry pool. Fox ran up to the water, released his gyarados and dragonite into the water and then led her down a hallway. Her room was across from his and he ducked into his room as she went in to hers.

Fox changed into swim trunks as Otter settled in to her room and ran back for the pool with his towel in hand. He let out his venusaur under the sun lamp by the other grass types dozing in recumbent laziness. Fox gave the gigantic grass type a scratch under the chin before he set loose his sandshrew and ninetales. They both showed their affections before running off to the rock feature play area where they could be seen waging mock battles with the other Pokémon.

Setting his towel and pokeballs with his venusaur, Fox ran straight for the pool and dove in, his gyarados and dragonite swimming over to greet him. Otter came out from her room with her persian and eevee in tow and she released her lapras into the pool. Precious and eevee wandered off to explore the rock features to join in the play battles being waged between Pokémon. She set her towel by the venusaur she hazarded a guess was Fox's. When she dove in, her lapras swam up to greet her, and they floated together in the comfortable water.

Fox spoke to his gyarados and the three of them drifted slowly over to Otter and her Lapras. He was leaning on the crest of the gyarados with a lazy smirk on his face that back in their days with Rabbit back in Matpa Town meant he was up to something.

"Don't you smirk at me like that, Rabbit and I are still annoyed you haven't messaged us at all during your year ahead of us." Otter glowered with mock menace.

"Please note the gyarados and dragonite with us, time is not something I have had enough to spare especially with the others too." Fox gestured around him.

"It's okay, I know you're busy training and tackling gyms but Rabbit and I had an idea."

"Go on."

"You haven't taken out the Poison Gym in Borealis City, Rabbit and I know that because the reporters said nothing about it. On July eighth, all three of us should meet up there and take on the gym together. That's a little under six months from now, you could make it one of your last gyms." Otter explained, Fox's face was an unreadable mask leaving her apprehensive about his answer.

"I can live with that plan; which way was Rabbit going last you saw of her?" Fox grinned.

"She went to the Dark Forest, then it's off to Briar Point to talk to some Professor about dimensional energies. Remember, she was trying to figure out a way to explain "ghost" type Pokémon. She's more interested in being a Professor of Pokémon Studies than she is a professional trainer."

"What about you?"

"I…don't know yet. I figured maybe I would get out into the world, see as much of it as I could before I return to Matpa and take up the family business. I could branch out with Arcanine, start something new but I really hadn't thought too far ahead." Otter confessed.

"No shame in spending time to find yourself. You and Rabbit always were the smart ones. I'm certain that you'll come up with something." Fox reassured hoping she saw what he always had known.

"Maybe you're right Fox, I think we're going to turn in for the night, I've had a long day." Otter paused, "See you over breakfast?"

"See you over breakfast Otter, good night." Fox gave her a glowing smile before she got out of the pool, retracted lapras and called over her other two before padding quietly down the hall.

Most of the other trainers had also retired for the evening and soon, Fox was sitting by himself. Gyarados brought Fox to the pool's edge and as he climbed out, his gyarados slithered out behind him. Dragonite hopped nimbly out of the pool and Fox returned them all to their pokeballs for the evening. He went back to his room and when Otter awoke the next morning, it was to a letter from Fox that had slid under her door. She read the letter twice before nearly crumpling it in anger, hesitating before she smoothed it out and set it carefully in her pack. Otter set food down for eevee and Precious in the room. After which lapras was taken out to the pool where Otter could get some food laid out for her.

She was still angry from the abrupt departure of Fox; he could have at least stayed around long enough for breakfast. Otter took breakfast from the restaurant on the other side of the pool as she mulled over the next leg of her journey. She knew closer to the jungles she could find what she was looking for but here in the north she could find arcanine packs. Tis the season for hatchings and births, she checked the Trainer's Almanac on her phone. There was a large pack registered to the north past an estuary, Otter and Lapras could take the river right into their territory. The tricky part would be convincing the arcanine alphas to part with one of their growlithe pups. Otter would have to spend a few weeks to two months to earn their trust enough to be allowed even close enough to the pups to bond with. Thankfully she had a tent strapped to the bottom of her pack and enough MRE's and non-perishables to last that long or beyond.

Otter checked out of the lodge after purchasing another blanket, strapping it to the top of her pack. She would have to rearrange the pack after she broke the vacuum seal on her sleeping bag but in the north it would be better to be prepared than to go to sleep one night and never wake up. It was the case of more than a few trainer disappearances, the more pampered or privileged, the under prepared or those who thought themselves invincible. The nurses who hoped to see the trainers again, that was their sincerest wish. It was heartbreaking to activate the tracking beacon on the pokeballs, to come across a young adult whose last trip home was in a box or urn. Otter refused to succumb like that, she had miles to go before she slept and promises to keep.

She rode her bike down the trail, the brisk morning air waking her thoroughly. Eevee was bundled in her jacket as the miles vanished quickly and she soon found herself back upon the beach. Lapras was let out and swum happily in circles as Otter checked over her pack one last time before she left Pine Coast City, maybe after she caught her growlithe she could come back this way to take the gym. Though she might be better off starting with a different gym, some of the ones in the south were more amenable to starting trainers. Satisfied that all lay well, Otter called Lapras over and hopped aboard finding a comfortable seat on the shell. Turning north, she put her troubles behind her. She could worry about Fox when she saw him again, when Otter saw him next, he would answer her questions; by force if need be.

Rabbit was having poor luck, the ghastly and haunter were staying aloof, she could feel them watching but none approached further than waiting just at the edge of her fire's light. Rabbit knew though, she would have to patient, something she was not exactly the greatest at being. She would sleep during the day, sketching the activities of the haunter and ghastly as the lures she set out on the cusp of the shadow's reach brought them in. They were more than content to play with her ponyta and squirtle but they remained leery of the human. Along with the sketches, Rabbit took notes regarding the way the moved and how they didn't always go around the trees but through them as if they weren't a part of them. On the windier nights, the ghastly and haunter wouldn't appear.

Rabbit had two theories regarding this; with the energy produced from high winds, it potentially created a strong enough disturbance that disrupted their dimensional hold on this reality or their forms were too gaseous to withstand a direct gust of wind. When she got to Briar Point she would discuss these theories with Professor Shadbush, after she got either a haunter or ghastly. If she could catch a haunter, which would be best, the further in its maturation cycle the better as she could better study its progression into the final stage of its life.

Her squirtle and ponyta were doing an admirable job keeping the beedrill at bay, something Rabbit was preferable to as most beedrill were aggressive and territorial. One hive could claim wilderness locales twice the size of the Dark Forest as their territory and despite their diurnal activities being opposite to her sleep cycle, she had a few run ins with them over the course of the next few weeks but none as terrifying as the moment she came across a little male nidoran halfway through March, her second month in the Dark forest.

Rabbit was exploring one gusty evening a little further from the trail by her campsite when she stumbled across the little fellow. He was snacking on some berries when she approached it, Rabbit held out a treat for it the scent of the snack drawing his attention. Approaching slowly, it was soon eating from her hand and then sitting happily on her lap. She stood up still holding it as she stroked his long ears careful to avoid the poisonous quills. It was peculiar to see a nidoran in the forest, their habitats generally tended to be closer to the plains and open grasslands.

When she approached her campsite, Rabbit grabbed an empty pokeball from her pack and watched as the nidoran was engulfed in the brilliant red light. Setting the pokeball down upon the ground, Rabbit watched it rock back and forth gently as the nidoran was settling in. She hoped he wouldn't break loose, it was unfortunate when the pokeballs broke and a terrible waste. A crashing in the brush began thundering towards her, causing her to look back in alarm. She grabbed the nidoran's pokeball and set it into the pouch with her squirtle and ponyta. The crashing grew louder as a pair of dreadful, snarling bellows broke the silence of the night. A nidoking and nidoqueen lumbered in their aggressive charge directly for her. Rabbit realized the little nidoran must have been from a migrating pair of adult nidos, a mistake she thought would cause her end.

As the nidoking and nidoqueen got closer, Rabbit felt four pairs of hands grasp her by the wrist; lifting her up and out of harm's way she looked up to see four haunters pulling her up into the night. When she looked down Rabbit saw her camp being trashed, her pack though was nowhere in sight. Looking left she saw another haunter carrying her travel pack, a flurry of ghastly surrounded the nidoking and nidoqueen. Spewing gas from their mouths, the rampaging Pokémon soon collapsed to the ground having fainted from the toxicity of the gas.

"Please don't kill them." Rabbit pleaded with the haunter holding her in the air.

The haunter looked at her, regarding for a moment her words before one disappeared from her and reappeared down amongst the ghastly. For a brief moment, an exchange of some sort was going on between the Pokémon but soon the ghastly withdrew the gas back within themselves and vanished. The haunter slowly lowered her back into the ground and set her pack next to her. Rabbit pulled out her notebook, writing down the events that had transpired even going so far as drawing the progression of the scene over the course of the next few pages. She set the notebook down, approaching the nidoking and nidoqueen. Their pulses were strong, being poison types themselves she doubted the poison would kill them but she had still been worried as the gas from a ghastly was a different toxin than the poison these Pokémon produced.

"Haunter, could you take them somewhere else closer to their actually range?" Rabbit asked hoping they would understand the sentiment of her words.

The evening continued to fill her night with new experiences and memories as from her shadow emerged two imposing gengar, though in proper daylight would appear purple in color, seemed impossibly dark in coloration as if absorbing the light. The air cooled as they manifested, which brought more notes being scratched into the notebook. Slinging the slumbering Pokémon over their formerly ethereal shoulders, the gengar lifted into the sky and sped off. The haunter and ghastly surrounded her, despite having witnessed the gassing of the two large Pokémon she had no fear of them. The five haunter floated around her shoulders and the small horde of ghastly spun in a circle around the campsite keeping guard.

Rabbit pulled out the lure treats from her pack, offering them to the haunter and ghastly in thanks for their efforts. She set another empty pokeball on the ground, not pointing it at any of the Pokémon but making it visible; letting it be known she would care to receive one of them as her companion. When the gengar returned closer to dawn, they took note of the pokeball on the ground.

"You've all been a wonderful boon in this time here in the forest, I've enjoyed learning about each and every one of you," Rabbit started as the horde of ghost type Pokémon gathered around her behind the gengar as she showed them the notes and drawings she had done, "Would one of you like to come with me?"

She gestured to the pokeball as she finished speaking and waited for their answer. Ghost types were known to be clever but also mischievous. With their reputation it was best to show them all due respect. The gengar turned their backs to Rabbit and however they communicated, communicate they did. After a long drawn out moment, the haunter that had thought to grab her travel pack came forward and approached the pokeball. Touching the button in the center, he was relegated into light and then the pokeball closed. It never shook even once which warmed Rabbit's heart knowing just how much trust she had earned from this ghostly group.

She felt guilty about her previous capture but promised softly that the nidoran would grow up happy and healthy. Her tent, thankfully had been closed during the deterring of the nidoking and nidoqueen and had not received any of the gas but there was still a lingering odor that she let air out before climbing inside to sleep for the day. One by one the horde of ghost types vanished slowly as the rays of daylight brought an end to Rabbit's night. The gengar were the last to vanish taking one last long look at Rabbit. She let her ponyta and squirtle loose, her ponyta's horn had started budding as she was reaching maturation while her squirtle was also going through a maturation process of his own.

His ears were emerging while his tail was splitting into a second one and based on the Trainer's Almanac the tail and ears would be finished with their process after two months from the first sign of the skin taking on a spongy sort of appearance though that was a guess as every squirtle matured a little differently than others depending on the season. That being said, it was always around the two-month mark. Squirtle's shell was darkening rapidly though which meant that the wartortle phase would begin most likely sooner than later. They stood guard to keep the beedrill at bay while she rested, she let her nidoran and haunter out as well but the haunter drifted lazily to the floor of the tent. Folding its ephemeral hands underneath it, the haunter closed its eyes and drifted back to sleep. Nidoran when released, shivered and mewled softly. Carefully Rabbit took it in her arms and they fell asleep together. When evening broke, haunter and nidoran were nowhere to be seen but the tent flap was open.

Her four Pokémon poked their heads in. Laying out their evening meal, Rabbit went about preparing one for herself. Taking a walk in the light of the setting sun, she had taken her cleaning supplies with her and they approached the river. Haunter bobbed along ahead of her grinning happily, they came upon the river in short order. An arcanine pack was on the other side taking a drink making her think of Otter, somewhere out in the world. Rabbit was looking forward to getting back into civilization to check her messages.

She wondered if Otter had found the rest of her team yet as she pulled out the grooming brush for ponyta. Meticulously as she had done for years, Rabbit brushed the soft cream white fur of her friend. Once ponyta was satisfied with the grooming, she turned to look over her squirtle, his shell was scratched in more than a few places from where the beedrill stingers had scraped across or broken on the shell.

Squirtle, as Rabbit traced over the marks as she cleaned his shell, seemed quite smug about his battle scars; something that made Rabbit giggle. Haunter did not require any grooming, acting instead as a set of extra hands for Rabbit. Nidoran was then carefully bathed, and the young Pokémon was still deciding whether he liked to be; put up a playful fuss, Rabbit was indeed grateful for her Haunter's presence. After they returned to the campsite, she packed up the tent and the other equipment.

It would take another half a month to get out of the Dark Forest. The gengar and their horde appeared to wish her good bye. Carefully loading the saddle bags and harnessing her azure maned ponyta, squirtle and nidoran were withdrawn but haunter refused to return to his pokeball which Rabbit understood. With parting glances, she and ponyta took off with haunter trailing quickly behind her.

Rabbit was taking the mountain route to Briar Point and there was a gym there for trainers that were just starting out. Her Pokémon had engaged in some mock battles between each other to help hone their skills but soon they would test their skills together. She needed to get her nidoran ready as well, once sunrise came they would bunk down for the day. At sunset she could get up, feed her Pokémon and then work with haunter and nidoran both. Following the course of the moon, ponyta was a fiery beacon in the night.