Chapter 2 – The First Fright
"So… what exactly are we doing here?" Kimiko asked, sounding concerned.
After leaving professor Spruce's lab and taking one last look at Crescent Town in the distance, the couple and their new pokémon finally set out on their way, heading northwest down route 501. It was a warm, breezy spring afternoon, not a cloud in the sky to block the cheerful sunlight. Alex and Kimiko had let their new chikorita and mudkip, nicknamed Thorn and Radar respectively, remain out of their pokéballs to enjoy the fresh air. The small group walked for an hour or two with no interruptions, until Alex had said he had gotten an idea and veered off the path directly westward towards their current location – the outskirts of a very dense-looking forest, standing in front of a wooden sign rooted in the ground. The sign, in large bold letters, read "Whispering Forest". Immediately beneath, in only slightly smaller, red font, read "Warning! Ghost pokémon make their home in these woods. Caution is advised."
"Well," Alex answered with a smirk, "I thought it would be cool, seeing as it's our first night as adventurers, to camp the night in here."
"You can't be serious," Kimiko retorted. Radar, who was previously gripping Kimiko's shoulder and happily chewing on a lock of her blonde hair, tensed, whimpered slightly and dove down into his trainer's arms. She proceeded to cradle the tiny creature protectively. Even Thorn, the embodiment of joy who had been happily sunbathing atop Alex's head, drooped her leaf disapprovingly at the news. "Didn't you hear Luke's warning? Three more trainers have vanished just this month alone, and you want to go walking up to the devil's door."
"Oh, come on, you're not scared, are you?" Alex taunted.
"I… of course not, I would just rather not spend my first night sleeping on dirt…" Kimiko replied, looking away and blushing slightly.
"Well, it's a two day walk till the next city, so either we sleep in the dirt in there or in the dirt back on the main path of route 501."
Kimiko took another look into the dark depths of the forest. The trees were thick enough to block out most of the powerful sunlight, even only a few meters in. "No thanks," she answered. "I choose life."
"Very funny," Alex said. "I thought you liked ghost stories?"
"I do. I-I just…" A quick movement flashed in the corner of her eye. Kimiko turned to look properly into the forest again, but nothing was moving, save the treetops swaying slightly in the wind. Her expression changed to a mix of curiosity, determination, and fear. "Something – some light – just moved in there."
"Wanna go look?" Alex said, smirking again.
A fresh look of determination on her face, Kimiko nodded in response, grabbing his hand and leading him down the dirt road and into the Whispering Forest. She kept her eyes rooted to the spot where she saw the motion until they arrived there, where she stopped.
She continued to stare at the bushes, waiting for something to happen. Curious, Thorn leapt from Alex's head and inched slowly towards the same spot, sniffing carefully. They all continued to stare for a few minutes.
"Well, this is exciting," Alex said suddenly, causing both Kimiko and Thorn to jump. He just laughed.
"That wasn't funny!" Kimiko growled, punching him in the shoulder. Thorn, on the other hand, upon coming to her senses, laughed as well, though her expression was not one of amusement but relief.
"Well, I don't know what you saw, if anything, but it looks like it's long gone. Let's get going."
"Or it's just invisible now… I definitely saw… something." Alex and Thorn began walking into the darkness. Kimiko turned for one last look into the bushes before following, with Radar still shivering in her arm.
The darkness seemed to thicken as they walked onwards with Thorn now leading the group in the light from Alex's flashlight. Kimiko was making a great effort to appear calm now, though over the course of the hour she had developed a tendency to suddenly look over her shoulder at the slightest sound, or sometimes for no reason that Alex could see or hear. He himself had a gut feeling they were being followed as well, but passed it off simply as letting Kimiko's constant over-awareness get to him. On the other hand, he knew of the mischievous nature most ghost pokémon were known to have, and so he kept up his guard as well.
They had not been attacked, though that was a double-edged sword. On one hand, no surprises was a good thing. On the other hand… where were the pokémon? Surely ghosts weren't the only things here. Where were the noctowl or the murkrow? He constantly kept his eyes on Thorn, not so much to make sure she didn't wander too far ahead as for signs of danger. Though she was still very young, pokémon had much better senses than people, and so he hoped she would pick up anything out of the ordinary before he did. Sometime along the way Radar had cried himself to sleep in Kimiko's arms, though Alex wasn't sure his senses were so fine-tuned at his age anyway.
Sure enough, after another few hours of awkward silence and stalker-checking, Thorn stopped walking and tensed up, shifting quickly into a defensive battle stance. Alex stopped as well, holding out his free arm in front of Kimiko, who had once again turned to look behind her and therefore had not seen the chikorita stop.
"Oh – what's the matter?" she whispered upon walking into his arm.
"Chik, chika…" Thorn growled. The three stood in silence, staring ahead of them, waiting. Suddenly, a cry came from above and as Alex aimed the light upwards, a small flying figure dove downwards.
"Riiii!" Thorn cried in distress. Alex aimed the flashlight back in her direction. A small, blue bird had perched on top of the chikorita's leaf and was pecking at it vigorously.
"It's… a taillow," Alex sighed, though at least there was confirmation that something still lived in this forest. "Throw it off, Thorn!"
Thorn, curled up into a ball in a futile attempt to protect herself, stood up and violently whipped her leaf forward. The taillow was hurled a short distance away, but managed to right itself in midair. It chirped angrily at Thorn before diving again.
"If it's a fight it wants," Alex said. "Vine whip, Thorn! Knock it out of the air."
"Ri!" Thorn extended two vines from the rings around her neck, a skill she and Alex had practiced for hours back during his work at the lab, and launched them at the incoming taillow. The tiny bird only barely slipped around the first vine, but was swatted away by the second and thrown harshly into a tree trunk off to the left of the path.
"Again," Alex ordered as the tiny bird bravely took flight again, despite its injuries. Thorn obeyed again, hurling her vines at the bird. This time, however, the taillow took a dive underneath the incoming attack, leaving the vines to whip the tree. In one fluid motion, the taillow spread its wings and pulled up faster than Alex's flashlight could follow, gliding along the dirt and speeding into Thorn with a quick attack. She was thrown off her feet, but managed to stand and growl at the tiny bird, which had once again taken to the sky and was coming around for a second attack.
"Stubborn little bird," Alex noted. "Tackle attack!"
Thorn immediately charged right into the path of the oncoming taillow. With a cry, it picked up speed, going for another quick attack. Thorn lunged forwards as taillow approached and the two collided. Both pokémon hit the ground hard, but both stubbornly struggled to their feet again, refusing to give up.
"Hold up, Thorn," Alex said, whipping his backpack around and pulling out a pokéball. His chikorita looked back in confusion. Alex, meanwhile, tossed the pokéball at the taillow, just clipping a wing as the bird tried to avoid it. The pokéball opened as taillow was dematerialized into a red light, and then sucked inside. The ball then sealed and fell to the ground, where it proceeded to shake as the taillow resisted.
The two trainers watched the ball in the beam of the flashlight intently, while Thorn was simply relieved at the break in the action. However, after a few seconds, the pokéball burst open again and the red light escaped, reforming into the taillow. Thorn scrambled to her feet and prepared to attack again, but the taillow took one look at her and darted off into the darkness with an angry cry.
"Damn," Alex whispered.
"Not bad for a first try," Kimiko smirked, barely suppressing a giggle.
"I'd like to see you do better," Alex challenged, a dry smile on his face. Thorn slowly trotted back towards her trainer, looking completely dejected. Alex knelt down and rubbed her leaf. "You were great. We'll get it next time."
"Chiko!" Thorn beamed with glee.
"It's getting late. Why don't we look for a good spot to camp? I bet you're hungry."
"You know me all too well," Kimiko said.
"I was talking to- oh, nevermind. Lead the way, Thorn."
The group spent another quarter of an hour walking before simply deciding to camp right on the path, having found no suitable shelter along the way. Using a lighter Alex brought with him just for this purpose, a fire was started for light and cooking purposes while Kimiko unpacked the two blankets the trainers had brought along, one in each backpack, and spread them out on the ground away from the trail of the embers given off by the fire, one atop the other to form a makeshift bed. Kimiko then proceeded to wake up Radar and set out food for him and Thorn, while Alex prepared a soup.
Their dinner was interrupted about halfway through by a small shriek, followed by a crash: a baby weedle had fallen from a tree branch somewhere above. Seconds later, a small group of other pokémon followed. Three floating skulls surrounded the weedle, each one's single red eye taking on a purple glow as they prepared to attack.
Without a command, Thorn had leapt forward and shouted at the duskull trio. The ghost pokémon ignored her. Angry, Thorn whipped her vines at the ground threateningly, but again, the ghosts barely spared her a glance before turning back to their target and launching their attacks at the weedle. The yellow caterpillar was thrown to the side of the path from the force of the triple night shade, where it whimpered, but remained still.
As the three duskull moved in for the kill, Alex watched Thorn launch herself protectively in front of the weedle, and once again, she readied her vines. The middle duskull shouted at Thorn, who simply shook her head and growled in reply. All three duskull rushed forwards.
Alex didn't like Thorn's chances three-on-one – especially when he couldn't gauge the strength of her foes – but he sure as hell wasn't going to let her take them on alone. "Leech seed!" he called. With a whip of her leaf, Thorn launched a glowing green seed towards the incoming ghosts. It struck the middle one, where it rooted itself in the duskull's body before releasing energy vines and ensnaring the ghost completely. The trio stopped their advance, and Alex took the opportunity to strike again.
"Now vine whip!" he called. Thorn obeyed, lashing out at all three duskull at once. One of the seed-free ghosts gripped at the seeded one, hissed something at the chikorita, and lead the other two back up into the treetops, away from the stinging vines. "Huh. That was… easy."
Kimiko, watching from the comfort of the campfire, stood up and sprinted to the baby weedle, who still lay in its landing spot. She carefully picked it up and carried it back to their makeshift bed, and set it down on the soft sheets.
This seemed to be all the weedle needed, for as soon as it touched the soft material, its eyes opened and it forced itself upright. It then bravely inched up to Thorn's food can. Thorn walked up behind it and happily offered to share with the weedle, who after tasting the food, proceeded to eat its share.
"We should treat its injuries," Alex said, walking back to the blankets. "There's a potion in my bag."
"I'll get it," Kimiko offered, pulling Alex's blue backpack towards her and retrieving the purple spray bottle within. She offered her hand to the weedle, saying softly, "Want me to clean that up for you?"
The weedle looked questioningly at Thorn, who smiled and nudged weedle forward with an encouraging "Chik!" The weedle nodded in response and inched up Kimiko's arm.
"This might sting a little, but only for a minute. Are you ready?" Again, the weedle looked towards Thorn for confirmation – it probably couldn't understand what she was saying, but Thorn trusted the human enough. Kimiko covered the weedle's eyes, careful to avoid its stinger, and sprayed the yellow bug's forehead.
Immediately, the weedle let out a cry of protest and leapt away from the potion. That was all it took; within seconds, buzzing could be heard overhead.
"We should probably go now…" Alex said, knowing it was already too late. Thorn patted the weedle hastily in an attempt to calm it down, but the crying continued. It didn't take long for at least a dozen beedrill to swarm around the fire, angry and buzzing.
Both trainers stood up; Thorn ran to Alex's side and took on her defensive battle pose, while Radar squealed in fright and hid behind Kimiko's boot, leaving the weedle whimpering alone in the center of the blankets.
One of the beedrill hovered closer. This particular beedrill was different from the rest of the swarm, having bright, deep blue eyes as opposed to the furious red ones of the other members of the swarm. In addition, Alex noted that in the light of the fire, this beedrill's body appeared to be a shade of lime green, rather than the normal yellow-orange. "Interesting colors," Alex said under his breath. The beedrill jabbed a stinger out towards him, which Thorn was quick to deflect with her vines, though Alex thought he noticed something off.
"Thorn, wait," Alex ordered. His pokémon looked up at her trainer curiously, though she refused to lower her vines. "I don't think it was attacking, it was way too slow. I think it was just meant as a warning." The beedrill slowly nodded, and then proceeded to make noises akin to communication, though neither human could understand a word it was saying. But this one seems to understand us… Alex thought to himself. They're remarkably calm for beedrill. I wonder if this one's had a trainer before.
"I think… I think they're acting so unusual because we have their baby," Kimiko said softly. Turning to the beedrill, she spoke again, apparently having come to the same conclusion as her boyfriend: "We didn't hurt it… he had a… a wound, on his head. But we didn't cause it! We tried to make it better – to heal it."
The beedrill spun towards her angrily. Thorn began speaking then, and the shiny beedrill's attention shifted once more, listening intently. During the brief conversation, the baby weedle inched up next to Thorn. It was no longer crying, instead rubbing itself affectionately against the chikorita.
The shiny beedrill landed in front of the two pokémon and extended a stinger carefully. The weedle smiled at Thorn, and then crawled onto the offered stinger. Once aboard, the beedrill took flight again, buzzed something at the group, and then cautiously lead the swarm back into the treetops from where they came.
Alex sighed in relief as Thorn retracted her vines, while Kimiko punched him in the shoulder again before turning back to the blankets and kneeling down, her mudkip crawling into her lap and curling up. "Still think it was a good idea coming in here?"
"Oh, come on," he said defensively. "It was an accident, how was I supposed to know-"
"Let's just… go to sleep," she interrupted softly, sighing.
Alex frowned and knelt down to address his pokémon. "Thanks, Thorn. That's the second time you've protected us tonight. You were really brave," he said, petting her leaf.
"Chikori!" the pokémon squeaked happily, nuzzling against her trainer's leg.
The trainers set up a small bed of leaves next to their blanket for Thorn and Radar. The mudkip had already fallen back to sleep in Kimiko's lap, so she carefully lifted him and transferred him to the new spot. Thorn lay down beside him, and after settling into a comfortable position, blanketed Radar protectively with her leaf. Meanwhile, Alex and Kimiko settled in under their own blanket. A few minutes of awkward silence passed before the latter spoke.
"I'm sorry," Kimiko whispered, gripping Alex's hand lightly. "I didn't mean to snap at-"
"Shh," Alex interrupted, squeezing her hand in response and throwing his other arm over her. In the firelight he could almost swear he saw her blush as she smiled back at him. He leaned in and kissed her forehead before the pair drifted slowly to sleep.
A loud screech echoed through the trees. Alex was awakened instantly, though he couldn't see anything – the fire had gone out while they slept. By the movement next to him, though, he could tell that Kimiko and their pokémon were all wide-awake as well.
"Wh-what is that?" Kimiko asked from the darkness.
"I think it must have been a pokémon, though it sounded really-"
"Not the noise," Kimiko interrupted. "That… right there."
"I don't see anything… hold on, let me get the flashlight." Alex blindly reached around for his backpack. His hand bumped into a log from the earlier fire – had they really slept that close to it? – and something else, softer, as he retreated. Kimiko screamed.
"What? What is it?"
"Something's right behind me, something just touched my leg!"
"Oh… sorry, that was me. I can't find… oh, wait, here it is," Alex said, finally finding his backpack. Feeling around, he reached into the side pocked and retrieved his flashlight and turned it on.
"Here," he said, handing it to Kimiko. "Where was it?"
"Over there," she replied, aiming the light straight down the path. However, the only thing there was Thorn, facing away, in a defensive battle stance. She had better night vision than Alex had given her credit for.
"Well, it's gone now," Alex said simply. He started taking slow, deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Kimiko continued aiming the light forward, though she too was breathing heavily and slowly. Meanwhile, Radar had crawled into her lap at some point and was curled up there, shivering violently.
"So… let's just try to get back to sleep, shall we?" Alex asked. "Thorn?"
Just as his chikorita turned around, another earsplitting screech boomed from the darkness, causing everyone to jump and cover their ears. And then, just as suddenly as it started, the sound stopped. Alex turned around and quickly relit the fire with his lighter.
Kimiko gasped and dropped the flashlight, its beam now lost in the blankets. With the re-igniting of the fire, the ring of bloodthirsty ghost pokémon surrounding them was now illuminated. Thorn growled rather feebly as a large dusclops and three duskull materialized from thin air in the gap in the ring directly in front of her, making the circle complete. At least a dozen ghosts now surrounded them, with more hovering overhead.
"They don't look happy," Kimiko said, her voice shaking almost as much as her body.
"They're probably angry that we attacked those duskull earlier…" Alex guessed.
As if in reply, yet another screech bellowed through the forest, coming from above – a lone banette and its shuppet child.
The dusclops let out a short, booming echo before stepping aside to reveal another pokémon behind it, a sableye, who stepped slowly into the ring. The dusclops stepped back into position as sableye passed. Thorn, though visibly terrified, stood her ground as the sableye slowly inched closer, a malicious, toothy grin wide on its face.