POV: Cynthia / LOCATION: Sinnoh League
While knee-deep in a discussion regarding the ridiculous lengths my favorite professional ice-cream taster goes to preserve her palate, hearing Lucian's voice fills me with as much enthusiasm as making a phone call to the medical billing department.
"There you are. Where have you been?" he says.
"Don't you have better things to do?" I say.
Lucian ignores that. "Let's go speak with Cyrus."
Flint, who is lazily skimming through a Lopunny-focused magazine, says, "Didn't you already obtain his confession?"
"And you taught him a lesson he won't forget?" Volkner adds while making questionable faces at the contents of said magazine.
A glare from Lucian sends my audience scurrying to the other end of the hall. I silent curse my choice of friends.
"You went to confront Cyrus without me?" he exclaims.
"I went with Looker," I say with mirrored disbelief. "We got what we needed. There's no reason to go back."
"Your help was unnecessary," I could have said.
Before Lucian launches into his usual tirade about me leaving him in the dark, our dear detective bursts through the doors. He almost kneels over. Once Looker calms down enough to hold a glass of water without dropping it, he says:
"It's the end of the world!"
Lucian insists on coming along, to no one's surprise. Intrigued by Looker's flustered behavior, Volkner joins our party, which automatically adds Flint to our ranks. The journey becomes much more bearable.
Our destination is Treeshroud Forest. Just another stretch of leaves and logs on the rubbed-out edges of the Wonder Map. Unless you're a Bug-Type fanatic, the trip out here is a waste of time.
Today, this sleepy place is alive with activity.
Yellow tape marks the entrance to the forest. Uniform-clad Interpol agents and Sinnoh police greet us with solemn faces and hushed voices.
"So whose birthday is it?" Volkner says.
"This is a crime scene," Flint scolds.
"Hurry before the press comes," Looker says.
Lucian falls into step beside me. The lush jacket of leafs reflects off his eyeglasses, yet his gaze is suffused among the fuzzy shadows of the canopy.
"This place is familiar," he murmurs.
Our book-loving nosy business colleague visiting some woods in the middle of nowhere comes off as a surprise to no one. I acknowledge his astute observation with an all-purpose "hmm."
"I'm serious," he insists. "This has happened before…"
As soon as we leave the boundary of civilization, a cold chill seeps up through the soles of my feet and disperses out to my fingers, making them become slippery with unease.
The air is heavy. And it's not from the total lack of wind.
As we proceed down the unmarked path, the silence, enveloping the fields and trees seem to listen attentively to the labored breathing of all those present.
Lucian happens to glance at his wristwatch.
"I'll fix it for you," Volkner says in response to his puzzled frown.
"It's not broken. It just stopped again… As it did in Mystifying Forest!" Lucian exclaims. "That's it! The same phenomenon happened here as well!"
"And what phenomenon is that?" I don't try to hide the irritation in my voice.
Suddenly, a horde of Pokemon jump out of the undergrowth. They charge us without warning. Acting swiftly, Lucian summons his Bronzong and wards the attackers away with a powerful Gyro Ball.
"Wild Pokemon aren't usually this aggressive!" Flint says.
Indeed, the Pokemon here seemed unusually hostile… as if they're afraid of something. But there is nothing that can pose as a threat in this silent forest.
Looker, who is strides ahead, comes running back to us.
"Hurry! Look! Look!" he says.
The bumbling detective brings us to a stream of water. Despite it being on a downhill slope, the water is as still and flat as an old mirror. Instead of flowing along with gravity, it had stopped altogether.
Curiosity piqued, I bend down and dip my fingertips into the unmoving stream. All the words I have learned in my life fail to describe this touch. It feels as if I have brushed against something undiscoverable along the linage of human evolution… something that goes against everything known to the natural balance of the world.
It just feels wrong.
"Time has stopped!" Looker cries.
"Time did not stop," Volkner huffs. "It's impossible."
"Then what do you call this? The wind has stopped! The clouds are motionless! Even the dewdrops are suspended in the air!"
Looker takes off again. We find him in the heart of the forest, home to a clearing facing the open sky. One the bed of green and red ivy is a gear-shaped object, pulsating a gentle green glow.
All the breath leaves my lungs.
"We saw the same thing in Mystifying Forest," Lucian says. "Could someone have brought it here?"
Impossible. The only culprit would be Cyrus, but he's currently locked up in prison. No one, other than Lucian, Charon, or me know about the secret of Mystifying Forest. Despicable as he is, Charon doesn't strike me as the type to entertain himself with silly myths.
"What do we do?" Looker cries.
"We need to calm down," I say firmly. "Something happened to both Mystifying and Treeshroud Forest. Once we find the linkage, we're one step closer to acquiring the truth."
And something tells me we won't find our answers without the aid of an old enemy.