Chapter 11 – The Forest Again

Alex stared at the door as it slammed, speechless. Kimiko's reaction caught him completely off guard, though after a few seconds he realized he really should have expected it. She's still falling apart, he thought. Really losing control.

"Okay," he called to her, unsure of what else to do. "We'll just go to Neutron for now." As he expected, he got no answer. He got up and knocked on the bathroom door, gently calling her name. Still, she refused to acknowledge him. His hand hesitated on the door handle briefly as he considered just going in.

He really had no idea how to handle this situation – in recent weeks, ever since the incident in the forest, Kimiko's attitude had changed from everything he had gotten used to in the last several years. Part of him wondered if she were simply overreacting, but seeing as how he hadn't had quite as awful an experience as she did, he decided he had no right to judge. Still, though, that left him with the current predicament, and it did nothing to help him decide how to handle it as he still had no idea whether she really wanted to be alone or actually wanted him to come to her.

However, there was one detail that sprang to mind – in the last argument, he had decided to let her cool down and instead she pulled him back into the room. So he opened the door.

Kimiko stood with her back to him, still in her towel. Alex could see her reflection in the mirror and caught her glancing up at the door as he entered. Her eyes were red and watery, though she hasn't appeared to let any tears fall yet. She quickly pulled up her towel and dabbed at her eyes before turning to face him.

"I'm sorry," they both said. Kimiko held out her hand in a gesture for Alex to continue.

"No, you go," he urged her. "I've said enough."

"I don't want to slow you down," Kimiko said as she stared at her feet.

"We've been over this already," Alex answered. "Several times, in fact. You know I'm not doing this without you. We can go there last if we have to. Whenever you're ready."

"I don't think I'll ever be ready!" Kimiko barked, her voice raising, finally looking him in the eye. "I loved the ghosts back at work. All the things they can do, it's really amazing. I almost wanted one. But they never tried to kill me…"

"They were tame," Alex argued. "You can't expect wild pokémon to be the same."

"I know."

"And they were still young, besides. They may be ghosts, but they're still pokémon. I mean, you can still hatch a ghost from an egg, right? You've seen them young. And, well… don't forget, you do have a ghost of your own now. And from what I've seen, even if he is really… unique, he still really loves you."

Kimiko said nothing, her gaze drifting to Fantomé's pokéball on the sink to her right. They stood there in awkward silence for a moment, Alex watching Kimiko and Kimiko watching the pokéball. Alex reached out his arms to her, and she looked up at the movement, watching him curiously for another moment as though she were confused before walking into his embrace.

Kimiko calmed down after that, and the pair left Ferrum shortly after lunch, agreeing to stick to the circuit and continue to Neutron. The sky was mostly overcast and the air was warm and humid. Alex was regretting leaving the city so late because once it started to rain, the trainers had nowhere to run for cover other than the thickly shaded Whispering Forest, whose border ran along this route as well. He was sure Kimiko was more aware of this fact than he was, evident in her fast pace; he felt himself breathing heavier than usual as he attempted to keep up with her.

The couple had let Thorn and Radar out for some air as they walked. Both pokémon seemed a little bit on edge, probably anticipating the coming storm. At least, that's what Alex hoped, rather than letting himself believe that his pokémon could sense how upset he had been since they left the city – or just their close proximity to the forest.

The wild pokémon in the area were rather riled up as well, though, which eased Alex's mind a little. The trainers took turns knocking out some of the more unruly ones as they walked along the otherwise empty dirt road alongside the forest, occasionally sending out Koyomi or Fantomé for some experience, though the latter seemed to prefer remaining close to the group for a change. Kimiko tried sending Ariel out against a stray sandshrew that nearly tripped her, but she remained as stubborn as ever, shell sealed tight. Fantomé took it upon himself to scare the living daylights out of the sandshrew instead.

Similarly, Alex tried sending Diamond against a venonat, but a timely supersonic caused Diamond to start flinging shadow balls at anything that moved. He recalled the confused ghost and instead hurled an empty pokéball at the fleeing bug-type, but it dove behind a tree and out of sight.

The sky grew ever darker as the afternoon gave way to evening, thunder now occasionally rumbling overhead, and the pair decided to eat light so they could continue traveling, hoping to find some other shelter from the impending downpour. As the route stretched on, however, the only escape on the flat route seemed to be the forest to the west. Again, Kimiko's pace had quickened, and Alex began to think of how to convince her to spend another night in there if it came to that, which seemed inevitable. Judging by her expression though, he guessed she was seriously considering whether their blankets would keep her dry enough overnight and had come to the realization that she was going to be very uncomfortable for the next day and a half.

The pair had barely exchanged conversation since leaving Ferrum, and sure enough, when Kimiko finally spoke, she confirmed everything he was thinking.

"We'd better set up the new tent while there's still enough light to see."

"You cannot seriously think we're going to be camping in the middle of a storm."

"It's not like there's anywhere else we can go," Kimiko argued, glaring at her boyfriend. "Trainers do it all the time."

"In light rain maybe, not in anticipated thunderstorms. We need actual cover."

"What, are you worried lightning is going to strike the tent or something?" she said forcefully.

"Kimiko," Alex began, lowering his voice and speaking gently. "I know you know it, we have to-"

"No," she interrupted.

"Babe-"

"Don't 'babe' me, I said no."

"We won't go in far, just enough to stay dry," Alex urged.

"I'm not going," Kimiko insisted, her wary eyes darting to the dark forest.

"I'll stay up, then," Alex said, crossing his arms. "All night. I'll have Thorn and Diamond out on guard too."

"You can't ask them to do that," Kimiko countered.

"Then I'll do it myself. It's either that, or you wear soaking wet, muddy clothes for the next two days."

Kimiko opened her mouth, about to argue, but she hesitated as she considered that information once again, and Alex knew then that he had won – verbally confirming her thoughts was enough to convince her. But just to reassure her, he continued to speak as she turned back to the forest again.

"Look, everything will be fine. We'll stay right at the edge, and I'll be up watching over you all night. We can get an early start in the morning too if you prefer."

"And what about you?" she snapped. "What if something happens to you?"

"Nothing is going to happen to me," Alex answered, though he shivered at the thought.

"You can't promise that."

"You know what? You're right, I can't." Kimiko turned back to face him as he finally snapped back at her. "But it's either take the chance or stay out and get soaked and not get any sleep for two days."

Kimiko's expression suddenly softened and she looked down at her feet, her hands grabbing at each other behind her back. Alex recognized her 'guilty' face. "You need to sleep too," she choked out, halfheartedly.

"I'll sleep when we get to Neutron."

"No. If we're going to do this, then you're going to sleep tomorrow, during the day." Alex raised an eyebrow, but she looked him in the eye and continued. "I'll agree to your proposal, but tomorrow when the rain lets up, we're setting up the tent far, far away from the forest, and you're going to sleep proper. If you get up in time to travel more, we'll go; if not then we'll just stay where we are for another night."

"You know that's only going to make it take longer to reach the town."

"I don't care. I'm trying to compromise here. Take it or leave it."

Alex sighed, but managed to crack a small smile. "Alright. It's a deal."

As planned, the pair set up camp inside the forest, just shy of the edge. Kimiko was more than eager to test out the comforts of the tent they had bought while in Ferrum, hoping its added weight during travel would be offset by providing a better cushion against the dirty, uneven ground than their blankets alone had been. Alex had Thorn stay inside with her, while he and Diamond sat down on the outside with a flashlight and an e-book open on his pokédex. Although certainly tired, he was wide awake and alert simply due to the discomfort of knowing exactly where he was and hoped his novel would keep him awake, keep his mind busy, and pass the time.

Reading, however, did little to ease his mind, and the occasional flash of lightning and rumble of thunder were no help either. After a couple hours the downpour had gotten worse, the lightning more frequent, and even still the water and lightning barely penetrated the treetops. Occasionally he would feel a drop of water on his face or see one land on his pokédex, but otherwise the canopy of leaves above was just as thick as the entrance to the forest had been the last time they'd been in the area.

As Alex finished his current chapter, he glanced up to stare down the path leading into the forest and sighed. Fate, it seemed, really wanted him in this forest, he decided. A sudden cry from a mandibuzz up above startled him and he shined his light upwards, shuddering at the timing. The vulture glared back at him, eyes squinted in the flashlight beam.

Alex glanced over at Diamond, anticipating an attack. Throughout the last couple of hours, Alex had peeked at his ghost every other sentence while reading to keep an eye on him, not only just to make sure the sableye didn't run off, but because the ghost had been very fidgety, as if even he didn't want to be there. Now, however, the sableye appeared to be sleeping, curled up in a ball only a few feet away (though it was hard to tell how bright his eyes were in the artificial light). And while Alex was happy that his pokémon had behaved himself and calmed down, he wasn't particularly keen on becoming mandibuzz's dinner, either.

The vulture let out another cry and took off back into the treetops after being blinded a second time by Alex's flashlight. Alex relaxed against the tent, only then realizing how tense his body had been. He slowly zipped down the front to peek inside, checking on his girlfriend and his starter, both of who appeared to be sleeping peacefully enough. Content, he zipped the tent back up and resumed reading. He found it even more difficult now, though. When Diamond was awake, even though he was restless, he was at least another pair of eyes keeping watch. Now Diamond was unmoving, and the calm unnerved him more than anything else so far.

After checking the time for the what fent like the hundredth time, Alex resumed his book. It was almost half past two now. Kimiko wanted to leave the forest quickly, which was no surprise, and had set her alarm to wake her at seven – still over four hours to go. Alex was bored; reading only entertained him for so long, and sitting hunched over was not comfortable. Putting his pokédex down, he shifted positions.

Then he abruptly stopped, straining to hear a faint noise in the distance. The rain had stopped not long ago, though the thunder and lightning still persisted. He heard nothing but the occasional rustle of bushes though, and finished repositioning himself before returning to his story. Less than thirty seconds later, he heard it again – he looked up as though looking in the direction of the sound would allow him to hear it better. It almost sounded like the cry of a pokémon at first, but no, it was going on a little too long, he thought – closer to words. Then, suddenly, a loud, clear shout of "Why won't you listen to me?!" echoed from the darkness. Yes, definitely voices.

The sound aroused Diamond from his rest, quite violently. The ghost jumped up without warning, claws and fangs ready. He examined his surroundings, head darting around like a bird as he often did, not even relaxing as he caught his trainer's eye. The voice cried again, this time no words, just a sharp, quick, feminine scream. Diamond jerked his head in that direction and took off running.

"Hey, wait, no!" Alex called, scrambling to his feet and sprinting forward. He then skidded to a stop and turned back to the tent. "Oh, great…" he groaned. Making a decision with only one quick glance back towards where Diamond vanished, Alex sprinted back to the tent and unzipped it. Kimiko was already stirring, while Thorn remained sleeping. "Hey," Alex whispered, recalling his starter.

"Whassat?" Kimiko mumbled in response.

"Someone was shouting and Diamond ran off. I need to go find him. Maybe find who was shouting, they may need help." That woke her up.

"Huh? Who was it?"

"I don't know, it was a girl's voice. But I need to get moving before Diamond gets any further away. The rain's stopped, go back to sleep and wait for me here. The sun won't be up for another like four hours."

Kimiko was already standing up and putting on a nightshirt. "And let you run around in the dark alone in a haunted forest? I don't fucking think so. Let's go."

Yeah. She's pissed. "…Are you sure?"

Kimiko pulled her shirt down and straightened it before fixing him with a sour glare. "No, I'm not. You know I didn't want to come in here, you know I don't want to be here. I know you don't, either. But I'd rather… I'd rather be in here with you than in here alone and not knowing if you're okay.

"But I will say this… I fucking told you so."

"What's that?" Kimiko asked as they ran. They long since abandoned the path, heading deep into the forest in the direction Diamond had gone, over dirt, bushes, logs and roots. There had been no further voices or screams that they could hear, though neither was sure if they would have preferred that or the silence. Up ahead of them laid some sort of creature, glowing a faint pink, growing larger as they approached.

"I think it's a pokémon," Alex replied.

"Another ghost?"

"No, I don't think so."

They slowed as they got close, wary of the unknown object. The pink object looked up at them, its glow fading. Instead of pink, it's body was white, with red and blue shapes scattered about. One of the creature's small wings appeared burnt.

"It's a togetic," Alex said, reading his pokédex. On cue, the small pokémon flipped one of its tiny arms in the direction the pair had been running and made a squeak.

"It looks like hell," Kimiko said, bending down to pick up the pokémon. It squirmed in her arms weakly, reaching out ahead of them.

"Togi?" it squeaked.

"It also looks like it wants to go that way," Alex commented. "Wonder if the voice I heard earlier was it's trainer."

"Tiiiiic!" the pokémon cried again, tears welling up in its eyes.

The screams began again, along with more voices, causing the trainers to change direction in an attempt to follow them. Alex released Thorn and woke her, carrying her as he ran while Kimiko carried the injured togetic, and Fantomé floating along gleefully, ignorant of the situation. Several flashes of light began appearing, and the voices were growing louder. The sounds of a battle could be heard in the distance. Togetic started crying and squirming again.

Alex was more apprehensive than ever, memories of the previous forest battle once again fresh in his mind, knowing Kimiko was more than likely reminded of the same things. A stray shadow ball shot passed them as they approached. They could see the fight now; two humans with only a few pokémon out, several of them familiar, fighting with what appeared to be three trees with claws.

"Hey, look who it is!" Kimiko pointed to one of the girls, her red cape illuminated by one of the other pokémon's blue energy attacks. The girl in question turned at the voice.

"Either stay back and run or give us a hand," the champion shouted. "Seviper, another flamethrower!"

"Tiiic!" Togetic cried from Kimiko's arms as the pair ran towards the battle. The other girl in the area turned towards them now, her short aqua blue hair falling in front of her eyes. She brushed it aside and called out to her pokémon.

"Grace! Oh, you're alive!" Kimiko released the pokémon and it fluttered over to the other woman. "Oh, I was so worried about you!" The girl dropped the thick purple belt she was holding and hugged her pokémon tightly, the pokémon's tears soaking her torn pink shirt.

Kirsten's commands drowned out the reunited couple's cries. "Venomoth, hit them with a psychic blast!" She then turned to the trainers. "I can't protect all of you, you know!"

"Right… Thorn, try razor leaf!" The chikorita tossed some leaves at the tree-like pokémon, while Kirsten's Venomoth lifted one of them with his psychic energy and tossed it into the other two.

"So what's going on?" Alex asked in between commands. "What are these?"

"Trevenant," Kirsten replied. "They're part grass-type, do you have anything else?"

"No, my sableye ran off somewhere in here." Kirsten froze, jerking her head around to look at him. She made no comment though, simply looked disturbed. Then, with a shake of her head, she turned back to her two pokémon.

"We need to get past these things," she added then. Alex realized then that the trevenant had not moved on their own from that spot once since they arrived, they simply stood in place, launching attacks from a distance and lashing out at anyone who got close.

"Then let's do it. You heard her, Thorn. I don't think you can really damage them, so you're going to stay back and play support, okay? Get a reflect up and keep it up." Alex considered trying poison powder, since all of Kirsten's fighters were poison-type, but decided it wasn't worth the risk – he had no idea what the trevenant were capable of.

"Seviper, Venomoth, let's end this."

Without warning, Fantomé appeared in front of the group and launched his own attack at the trevenant. Kimiko called out to him as she released Radar. "Fantomé, I didn't order an attack yet! …But keep doing that. Radar, can you hit them with some water?"

"Come on, Kari," Kirsten called. "We need you too! You can do it!"

"Oh…okay," the blue-haired girl whined, recalling her togetic and standing up, collecting her discarded belt. "Symphony, um… maybe try extrasensory?"

At her call, a chimecho floated out of the treetops and shot a blast of blue psychic energy at the trevenant. Two of them dodged to the side and avoided it. One of them jumped straight into the path of a combined psychic and flamethrower blast by Kirsten's venomoth and seviper, and was tossed harshly backwards. The other was struck by Radar's water gun, but the ghost-type barely flinched. The tree in turn launched a will-o-wisp at the little mudkip.

The flame was put out by Fantomé, who swooped in with a cackle and blew it away before launching another night shade at the same trevenant. Kari's chimecho, Symphony, blasted it with another extrasensory as well, this time causing the ghost to recoil. Thorn kept the middle trevenant busy on her own by tossing more leaves at it while dancing around it's shadow balls, until another flamethrower from Seviper put the injured trevenant down for good and was able to turn his attention on helping Thorn.

As the two remaining trevenant began to take combo after combo, they seemed to realize they had been beaten. They both began to form yellow balls of light in their claws rather than try to attack, only dodging one way or the other.

"That's confuse ray, everyone close your eyes!" Kirsten shouted.

"Symphony, use safeguard!" Kari yelled over Kirsten, the panic in her voice terribly evident.

Her chimecho was faster in setting up a faint lime green aura around everyone in the area than the ghosts were at launching their rays, the safeguard keeping the small party's minds clear. They were still blinded momentarily, however, and that was all the time that the trevenant needed to grab their fallen comrade and vanish in a purple aura.

"Stay alert," Kirsten commanded. "I don't know if that's feint attack or phantom force, but they could show up anywhere either way."

"Thorn, refresh that reflect barrier," Alex ordered. The chikorita's pale yellow bubble formed around the entire party just as Symphony's safeguard had.

The group waited tensely for several minutes. No sounds came from the darkness save the rumble of thunder from above and the occasional cry from a stray forest pokémon – but nothing that would signal an attack.

"Don't let your guard down," Kirsten said as she surveyed the area. "They might still be back. But I think it's over, for now. Is everyone okay?"

Seviper and Venomoth screeched their acknowledgements, still on alert and showing no signs of injury. From somewhere in the darkness, a drapion reported his status. Symphony floated down into Kari's arms; the girl herself looked terrified, but she nodded anyway. Thorn and Radar didn't appear damaged, though they did look tired. Fantomé was his usual bubbly self. Alex and Kimiko both muttered their well-being also.

Satisfied, Kirsten began walking towards the spot the trevenant were blocking. "Good. Let's get moving."

"What's going on?"

"I'll explain on the way. We need to move."

"It's dyed," Kari said, blushing, after Alex commented on her hair. After the fighting calmed down and he had time to examine her, he took note of her vibrant neon blue hair, a small patch of it tied in a very short spiky bun on the side of her head. She wore a larger black undershirt underneath her pink top. She replaced her thick purple belt over the top of her lavender skirt, and it hung lopsided along her waist, more a fashion accessory to hold her pokéballs than a necessity.

"Guys, please, we need to keep our voices down," Kirsten urged, looking behind her as she walked. Her venomoth fluttered ahead of her, glowing with aid of his flash technique. Thorn, Fantomé, and Symphony all remained out as well, serving as guards. Alex didn't know where Kirsten's Drapion was, but he was likely in the shadows nearby, possibly with the rest of the champion's team.

"So, uh, that was quick thinking back there Kari, with that safeguard," Kirsten whispered. "See, you know what you're doing."

"Then how did I let this happen?" Kari cried. Symphony wrapped his tail around her forehead and let out a quick vibration that Kari smiled at.

"What exactly happened, anyway?" Alex asked. "What are you two doing in here? At this time of night?"

"What better time to investigate ghosts than the middle of the night?" Kirsten replied. "As champion, this is my responsibility. That's why I'm here. Just because I got a bloody nose last time doesn't mean I'm going to cower away like a scared lillipup. Who do you think I am, Diantha?"

"I'm looking for my girlfriend, Ana…" Kari followed. "We were camping… and all of a sudden she just got up and started walking. She wouldn't speak, wouldn't answer me, and wouldn't even acknowledge me or her own pokémon… we followed her in here, begging her to speak... tried pulling her but she's so much stronger than me… Then those trevenant showed up and attacked us… Grace and Thrasher – I mean, Ana's tauros – got separated from us, and I never thought I would see her again…"

"We haven't seen any tauros," Alex said.

"The ghosts have gotten very bold," Kirsten added. "It's almost as though those trevenant purposely split Kari and Ana from each other. And more, the fact that they let Ana continue on while stopping Kari seems to suggest… something, some higher intent at work here. I'm convinced of it, this isn't random chance. What I don't get is why."

"Kirsten here heard me and saved me from the trevenant once… then they reappeared and blocked us down this path when you showed up. Thank you, by the way…"

"We didn't really do much," Alex answered. "Our pokémon aren't quite at the level yours appear to be."

"They're well on their way," Kirsten beamed. "They might not have done much damage in that fight, but it was clear enough that they've certainly been working hard."

Their chat was interrupted by the sound of buzzing approaching from above. Kimiko, silent until then and being the only one to react, and alerted the party. Alex and Thorn tensed, but Kari and Kirsten simply stopped walking and looked upwards calmly, as if they were expecting this turn of events.

"What have you found?" Kirsten asked as three beedrill flew into view, confirming Kimiko's guess. The lead bug-type was a slightly different color from the other two, and it's eyes were blue. It buzzed something at Kirsten, waving a stinger behind her and then gesturing into the forest to their right.

"Beedrill may have found your friend's tauros," the champion said. "Also, he says hello again to you two," she added a bit quizzically.

"Wait, that's got to be the same shiny beedrill from the last time…" Kimiko observed. "You know it?"

"Of course I do, he's mine," Kirsten replied. "Well, he used to be. It's a long story… he's technically wild now, but… let's just say he still owes me some favors." The beedrill in question buzzed angrily, and began flying off into the forest with the two others.

"Kimiko, did you recall Fantomé?" Alex asked suddenly, looking around as the group began to set off again.

Kimiko's eyes widened. "No… why?" she asked, already guessing the answer.

"Don't call him," Alex suggested. Kimiko frowned at him.

"Stay near the treetops, Beedrill," Kirsten ordered. "Venomoth and the rest can cover us down here. Try to stay hidden, and keep alert. This party's only just begun."

A/N: Last update: May 18, 2014. This update: June 21, 2015.

Oh, finally! This is where I start recording actual dates for both the previous chapter as well as the one just posted. This one here shows that this story was five years old when this chapter was posted, making it two chapters in two years.