NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3.1: Santalune Forest
“Oh! crushing blow! It couldn’t survive the second hit and goes down!”
I had sat down upon a warehouse roof to watch the annual Levincia tournament on the gigantic screen that they projected, only to find that the person on the blue side of the field was a dumbass I knew. From afar I watched as the boy I had chewed out the previous month jumped up and clapped with one of his Ambipom’s tails. The red side trainer grumbled something the mics didn't pick up, then sent out a gigantic Machamp, which entered with a guttural yell of excitement.
“The battle reaches its final stage, and the tension is peaking. The crowd is holding its breath in anticipation for their next moves!”
The pokemon on each side eyed each other, then rushed towards each other and matched each other arm for arm, or well, arm for tail in two cases. I stood up, then signaled to a bored Eve that we were leaving. Sending me appreciation, she picked me up and quietly leapt from the dark blue room, landing on Levincian concrete. We dashed through the streets, and when I spotted a pop-up stall where the attendant was intently watching the screen, I made my move.
We come to an abrupt stop, and I have Eve circle around to the other side of the man before jumping at him. Caught completely off guard, the guy screamed and fell over, then dashed away as fast as he could run. Chuckling to myself, I rushed to take whatever was useful before it was too late. We were on an endurance race around the region- We had to go fast to keep away from the rangers, but that took a particular strain on Eve. We needed to find time to rest, get supplies. But if we didn’t do it fast enough-
A shrill whistle echoed out from the other side of the street, but used to it by then, I grabbed my bag of borrowed goods and swung onto Eve’s back. In two bounding leaps, she scaled the buildings, but when we saw the rangers waiting a few roofs down, I knew the chase was on.
“Bam! The blue corner is suffering massive damage! It’s not gonna be able to withstand much more.”
Snorting under her breath at the flamboyant announcer, Eve ducked under a web before she kicked the blonde girl’s fletchling away. The bird slammed into an air conditioning unit behind us as we swiftly dove into an alleyway, slinking into the darkness. Ducking into an open window, I recalled Eve as I shut the glass behind me and hid beneath a desk. The sound of a whistle and a few people running past made my heart skip a beat, so I touched Eve’s ball to my forehead to feel her love. After a minute of no noise, quietly as I could, I slipped out the window and dashed the opposite way of where I had heard the rangers run. As I reached the edge of several buildings, I released Eve and we did our best to slip out of the city without being spotted. As we step out onto the grass of the north edge of Levincia, the announcer behind me caught my attention for one last time.
“IT’S DOWN, FUTURE SIGHT ARRIVED AFTER EVERYONE HAD FORGOTTEN! The results are in! The Red Corner just barely lost. Another amazing victory for Gustaf Easel, and this next fight has become very important for him.”
I rubbed Eve’s neck while I watched the boy leap up and down hand in tail with his pokemon.
“Huh, guess his name is Gustaf." I mutter, my mind wandering. "He seems pretty good in the end, maybe we’ll meet again eventually.”
Eve rolls her eyes, leaping up to the top of a cliff. If we did meet again, I wonder how strong he would be by then?
~
After waking up feeling much better rested then the day before, I walk down to the lobby of the pokemon center and take a seat on a big comfortable leather chair. Pulling a protein bar out of my bag, I split it in half and throw one end to Eve, who catches it midair and devours it in a single bite. She moves closer and lays beside me, resting her head on her front paws as I eat.
“Y’know, Morgan, we could actually go get breakfast instead of eating nothing but a granola bar.” A familiar female voice states, her amusement plain.
I groan and roll my head to look at Sofie, Blaine giggling behind her.
“I regret to inform you that I have a distinct lack of cash,” I quip, tapping my fingers on the chair.
Blaine walks up around Sofie, leaning down to scratch Eve’s head, who begins to exude an aura of joy in return. The girl looks up at me, legitimate confusion on her face as she speaks.
“Couldn’t you ask your parents for money?”
Me and Eve both freeze, and I take a shaky breath. It was just an innocent question, there was no need to get angry.
“No, Blaine," I say through clenched teeth, "No, I can’t.”
Blaine opens her mouth to respond, but before she can, Sofie lunges down and grabs my hand, pulling me to my feet without asking. I gape at her speechless, but she simply starts to walk towards the entrance of the center. I look back to catch Eve scrambling to her feet to follow, for which I send a dab of amusement, while Blaine simply looks at us with wide eyes before rushing forward to catch up to us.
Our tiny convoy ends up at a table at the open air cafe we had been to the previous day, our pokemon now gathered around us. Berry and Cappuccino happily faux battle off to the side while Eve and Chamomile quietly sit beside us as we talk about what we are ordering for food. I try to say I’ll just have a coffee, but then Sofie orders tea and two of their breakfast sets, while Blaine gets a pain au chocolat and a glass of water.
“Sofie, you do know I’m serious about not having the cash to pay for this right?” I mutter, feeling very out of place in this setting.
Sofie winks at me, lifting her wallet, “Don’t worry, momma saw this coming when she saw how thin you are and gave me just enough for both of us for until we get to Santalune, where we can start making our own gains.”
I sigh, leaning back in the chair and running my hand through my hair.
“I.. see," I whisper, my mind thinking about things it shouldn't.
Pushing down the uncomfortable flames in my chest, I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
“So… Santalune Forest. Have you been through it before, you two?” I ask, genuinely curious.
Blaine shakes her head, but Sofie proudly pulls up Chamomile.
“I caught this one in there!" Sofie exclaims, giving her plump plant a lil' squeeze. "Celine dragged me out there because she was looking for someone, and in the process I met Chamomile! She quite literally hopped onto my head and refused to move.”
The Petilil proudly flexes its leaves before jumping onto her trainer’s head. We all giggle, but when the laughter dies down Blaine starts anxiously wringing her hands together on the table.
“So, um, I understand if you’d rather go with Celine since you are friends and all..." Blaine hesitates, though it's clear where this was going, "Bt… I need help getting through the forest and since we just agreed to be rivals last night it’d be really awkward to ask her to guide me, y’know?”
Sofie and I give each other a glance, and I raise my palm to her. My friend clears her throat, then smiles at the nervous girl in front of her.
“Celine can handle herself, so I’m more than willing to go with you," She says, her tone and smile shifting as she continues,"Morgan has grown fairly attached to me, so she’s coming too.”
I feel my heart twitch at those words, and my face heats up at the smug smirk on Sofie’s face, so I end up looking at Blaine to find her practically shining with gratitude.
“Oh, thank Arceus," She sighs, taking a breath of relief. "I know Viridian forest inside and out, but I haven’t actually been to any others so I’ve actually really been stressed about it.”
My embarrassment quickly fades when I see the waiter approach with our bunch of orders with even a few extras included for our Pokemon friends, placing each in front of us before walking off. The breakfast set unsurprisingly is made up of a sliced and freshly baked baguette along with some fresh preserves. My first bite has me hooked, and before I know it my dish is empty. A peek at my friends from behind my coffee cup reveals it’s the same for them, and Eve looks up to me with a huge grin and a whipped cream beard around her mouth.
After finishing our drinks (and wiping my partner’s mouth), we head back to the pokemon center to get supplies, finding that the other two both left the building, alone, while we had been gone. A glance at Blaine says a thousand words. We rush to grab supplies, and I catch both of my friends buying a few pokeballs along with their necessities. Once we (err, well, Sofie again somehow) pay for the supplies, Blaine basically pushes us out of the building, towards the bridge at the edge of town.
The bridge, crafted of the same stone as the rest of the roads in Aquacorde, stretches across a river and seems to be the primary tourist spot of the city. A single, gigantic pillar holds up the center, an observation deck on both sides of it. As we pass over it, I see a range of various bird Pokemon harassing travelers, but the most common seem to be Ducklett and Pidgey. As we pass, we find a Swanna aggressively blocking one of the observation decks, it’s children chowing down on an entire loaf of bread that had been abandoned on a bench.
Not giving it much mind, we continue past them til the end of the bridge, with a sign that aptly states “Route 2” upon it. As we take our first steps on our technically first actual off road route of the region, Eve sends me a wave of excited awe at the sight of the gigantic forest stretching as far as the eyes can see over the horizon. I reach over and pat her head, then follow behind Sofie who had taken the first step into the tall grass.
A few things stick out to me as we move forward- Mainly, that the pokemon here were… really weak. Perhaps my expectations had been slightly ruined by having traveled through a place where I had to be on my toes one hundred percent of the time. I stop my foot before I accidentally step on a Bunnelby, then watch amused as Cappuccino forcibly cleans a huge amount of mud off of a thankful Zigzagoon. The ever present birds of the region continue their hunt around us, though few dare to venture anywhere close to Eve. The farther into the route we go, the more trees begin to bar our path.
“Ah, wait, I need to check something, can we pause for a second?” Pulling out a large ancient looking paper map, Blaine and Berry stare confused at it while Sofie shrugs at me.
I sigh, then walk up to a tree and lean my back onto its trunk. Eve sits down beside me, nudging me before pointing at Sofie with her horn before sending me a… embarrassing emotion. I immediately flush as I lightly push her shoulder, leading to her leaping back with a playful growl. In preparation for her to jump at me, I brace myself by hiding behind the tree I was leaning on, but I notice her look up in the air curiously.
I glance up to find two Pidgeotto fighting each other over something which I can’t see. The bigger of the two has it clutched in its talons, but the smaller bird doesn’t seem to be willing to give it up. In the end, the latter ends up being victorious in the fight, but it seems it’s a pyrrhic victory as it drops what they were battling over in the first place. I look away in disinterest , but as a gust of wind blows, something goes splat on my shoulder, and Eve sends me a wave of disbelief. Suddenly very aware of what they were fighting over, I slowly turn my head to see a brown Caterpie, roughed up and hurt, stuck to my hoodie.
As I freeze up and scream internally, Eve swiftly hops over to the other two humans, dragging them over to me. Unable to move or form words, I struggle to stop from crying at the feeling of the bug on my shoulder, and I find myself pleading to the girls with my eyes. After taking in the situation, Sofie and Blaine look at each other, then back at me, then they both giggle.
Blaine pulls a pokeball out of her back, takes a step towards me, then tosses the ball at the Caterpillar. It clicks immediately, falling onto the ground with a ding. My legs collapse beneath me, and I hastily throw the ball to my friend. Sofie walks up to me and squats down, putting her hand on my head.
“So, I guess you’re bad with bugs," She leans in and whispers the next words in my ear,"Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to keep them off of you.”
I reach up with both of my hands, grabbing hers, then after a moment of letting it sit there I push it off. My heart beating loud, I attempt to stand, then turn bright red when my legs refuse to move. Eve snickers and picks me up, tossing me onto her back. I push my face into her fur, doing my best to ignore the knowing smirk on Sofie’s face.
“Um, am I good to take the Caterpie out of the ball?" Blaine audibly rolls the pokeball around in her hands. "I want to heal it.”
Sofie and Eve turn to Blaine, but I stay with my face covered. I hear Sofie pull something out of her bag, then after the distinctive pop of a pokeball opening, I hear her spray a potion, then whistle.
“It’s not everyday you see a shiny Pokemon." Sofie say with a bit of an impressed tone. "You have something valuable here, Blaine.”
Blaine dramatically gasps and takes a step backwards.
“No! No way! I will not sell a pokemon in a million years! She’s going to join Berry as one of my partners.”
The girl pauses, then begins to walk towards me.
“I think I’ll call her… Tart. I can’t wait to meet her once she wakes up!”
A second and another pop later, Blaine starts poking me in my side.
“Um, Morgan… You do know that Viola is a bug type master right? If you’re this bad with bugs, how are you going to… Fight her?”
Finding a bit of strength, I forcibly push myself off Eve’s neck and look down at her.
“Um… It's not usually this bad," I mutter, the reality of the situation sinking in a bit, "This was an exceptionally strange situation, I should probably be fine… Maybe…”
Eve sends me a mix of amusement and concern, and I groan as I lean my head back.
“Ughh, worst case scenario, I trust Eve to handle it," I state, then grin when I look down at the girl beside me, "She’s probably strong enough to get me to the second badge alone.”
Blaine blinks twice, tilting her head.
“Really? That’s pretty impressive!”
Putting her hand on her chin, the girl hums as Sofie approaches us.
“Were you a student of uh… what was its name again… Ah! Uva academy before you came to Kalos? I heard they teach younger Paldean kids on how to raise pokemon well.”
I bite my lip, moaning in frustration as I once again press my face into Eve's fur. It wasn’t her fault at all, but Blaine was really pushing all my buttons today. Eve sends me a bit of annoyance as well, but I find a bit of determination and spread it between us. Pulling my head out of the gutter, I look down at the now slightly concerned girl.
“Nooooope," I exclaim, but as my next words slip out, I find my voice wavering the longer it goes on, "I was, however, for about six months, give or take a few weeks, a student ranger before I, uh, got kicked out and everything fell apart.”
Blaine nods, and Sofie visibly stops for a moment before continuing towards us.
“Makes sense, sorry that happened," says Blaine, followed by her blurting," Do you uh, get to keep the styler?”
I snort as I crack up, but as I cackle I lose my balance and fall off of Eve’s back. My partner panics and I scream, but thankfully Sofie rushes forward, catching me before I hit the ground. I quietly squeak as I look up at her with wide eyes, and she gets a wide grin on her face as she leans her face down a bit.
“Clumsy," She whispers, her crimson eyes staring into mine, "Have I ever told you that you’re really small?”
For a moment I sit there in Sofie’s arms, staring at her with a blank head as I failed to comprehend the situation. It takes Eve snorting for me to come back to reality, and I look away with burning cheeks. I softly tap her arm, and she carefully lets me down to stand on my own two feet. Thankfully my legs are working correctly again, so I say nothing as I quickly take our first steps into Santalune Forest proper.
It’s interesting to say the least. After I do take those few steps, the environment seems to totally shift, a unique presence to everything around us. The indistinct cries of many different Pokemon fill the air, and as we continue beneath the dark canopy, me and Eve simultaneously send each other our discomfort. I see movement out of the corner of my eye, a small figure flashing from one tree to another, but when I turn to look at it nothing seems to be there. I hug my arms, leaning against my partner as we walk.
“This place is… wrong," I murmur, clutching at Eve's fur. "I don’t like it.”
Sofie nods as Blaine simply stays quiet, peering around with squinted eyes.
“It’s a bit uncomfortable at first, but you get used to it," Sofie says, tapping her fingers on her arm,"Well, you sorta do. I don’t think you’re ever gonna get used to it, Clumsy.”
I flush with indignation as I shoot her a glare.
“I-Is that my nickname now or something!?” I sputter, the heat in my face making it really hard to focus on the creepy forest.
Sofie smirks, happily trotting up to the other side of Eve and mirroring my walk.
“Until I get bored of it." Sticking out her tongue, she ducks her head as I retort,“Ugh! You! I think I understand Celine a bit better now!”
Sofie snorts, and while I may huff and moan, I’m still hiding the small smile on my face. Scratching Eve’s stomach, I send her a boatload of love, which she returns with a bit of added mirth to show how humorous she finds my predicament. I click my tongue, then nearly trip over a loose root, sending both of my bullies into a fit of laughter.
Realizing I had sorta not been paying attention to Blaine, I turn my head back to find her standing still about twenty feet back, staring in shock at a tree with her Fennekin looking at her in confusion. I grunt to the two beside me, point behind us, and we take a u-turn. As we approach, she runs her hand over a knot in the tree, her mouth moving as if she was speaking. When I place my hand on her shoulder, she literally jumps a foot in the air.
“AH! O-Oh, sorry about that. I just…" Blaine stutters before saying, "This shouldn’t be possible,” Under her breath.
I tilt my head and look at Sofie, who just shrugs.
“F-follow me. I-I-I need to see if this is real.” Looking around, Blaine hugs her arms anxiously.
Stepping hesitantly in a direction I definitely don’t think is the north we’re supposed to be going, Blaine blazes a trail through the dark forest. I definitely notice our pace increasing as we follow her, and I gasp when after I take a step, my stomach flips as the distinct feeling of someone watching me overtakes my senses. The echoing cries that had been ever present until this point are deafened, and Eve begins to send me a bit of distress at the situation.
“B-Blaine, where are we going?” I worriedly ask, every new step sending chills down my spine.
When our friend doesn’t respond, Sofie steps forward and grabs her shoulder, pulling her back.
“I get that this is weird, but we’d like an answer," Sofie orders as she glances around, "This place is… worse than the rest of Santalune Forest, and that’s saying something.”
Blaine, visibly distressed, nods and takes a seat on a big root we find nearby.
“This place is exactly the same as Viridian Forest.” She immediately blurts, a bombshell I definitely wasn't expecting.
I blink twice, then frown when the implications sink in.
“Are you sure?" I ask, my face scrunching a bit. "That seems… hard to prove.”
Blaine vigorously nods as she leaps to her feet, her face scrunched with a mix of rage at my question and excitement.
“Absolutely! I’m totally, one hundred percent sure! I spent my childhood in that place, I memorized the trees! The Pokemon might be different and there are places where humans obviously made a change, but… but…” Stepping away, Blaine mutters something under her breath that I don't catch.
Sofie and I glance at each other, and for a time I’m not sure what to do. Then, Eve’s distress returns, a beat stronger than before, and my course of action becomes clear.
“I’m sorry Blaine, but I don’t think Eve and I can go any deeper," I utter with a bit of sorrow in my heart at what I have to ask, "If what you’re saying is true, can you lead us to the exit?”
Blaine sighs, but gives a thumbs up with a small smile. She says nothing as we follow her through the forest, our Pokemon nervously clinging the entire time. When we reach a small pond, Blaine stops and stares at it with awe, but does keep moving forward without us having to get her attention. When the pokemon noises once again begin to enter our ears, I think everyone but Blaine released a breath that they had been unknowingly holding.
“Just head forward from here, and you’ll reach the end in about ten minutes.” She declares, seemingly perfectly certain in her statement.
Sofie, a bit shaken, pulls up her phone and checks the time, pointing it to us with concern when she sees what it says.
“It’s only been an hour, Blaine." Sofie whispers, looking at our friend with a lot of fear in her eyes. "The path you took us through a trail that saved upwards of five hours of travel. Are you… sure you want to go back in?”
Without hesitation, Blaine flashes us a blinding smile.
“Of course, if a little time dilation stopped me, I wouldn’t be Blaine Weald!” She proudly exclaims, posing with her hands on her hips.
I blink thrice, my eyes moving to Sofie before slowly moving back to Blaine.
“How do you… know it’s time dilation?” I ask, not really wanting to know the answer.
When Blaine shrugs and picks up Berry, she gives us a bow before ducking beneath a branch. Curious, I peek back to see where she had gone.
Of course, I see nothing.