Here, Have a Cookie a Pokemon Fanfiction

The gate to Petalburg Woods felt a lot more ominous up close and personal. The path noticeably darkened, and I can hear the faint chittering of bug types. Everyone had their full team out, ready to take on anything this place could throw at us.

“You go in first.” May said before gently nudging me forward. She quickly huddled up behind me.

“May, the forest isn’t some big scary monster that’s going to eat us whole. We're going to be fine.” I walked with purpose and smiled back at her. “Don’t worry so much, okay?”

‘I’m... having trouble focusing.’ Emilie commented. ‘It’s like I'm hearing the same voice hundreds of times in different places. I hate hive minds,’ Emilie said. I frowned.

‘It is a rather unpleasant feeling, isn’t it?’ Gawain agreed.

‘Can you just focus your sense on us? May said you guys would have trouble picking bugs out of a crowd in here. Leave the recon to Apollo and Sa-’

‘Three Wurmple, on your left,’ Apollo barked out, cutting me off.

I subtly kept an eye on them as we walked by and sighed once we got past them.

‘And... clear,’ Apollo said, looking back the way we came before scanning the tree line again.

“Honestly, Apollo, I don’t know if we’re going to run into hostile bug types until we get further in,” I said aloud, and both Wally and May perked up and looked nervously at the trees. “It’s just some Wurmple, guys. Calm down. I’ll say something if Apollo finds something that’s actually terrifying.”

May huddled closer towards me and held my arm as she looked around. I chuckled a bit.

“May, of the three of us, you have the least to worry about in this forest. Suzaku can probably deal with anything this place throws at us, why are you so freaked?” I asked.

“I don’t like bugs, alright. They freak me out,” May said.

I felt a bit of heat brushing my pant leg and looked down to see Suzaku nuzzling herself up against May’s pant leg, not all that different from what Samie usually did.

“I honestly just feel a bit exposed cause of my team,” Wally said. Fair. I honestly don’t think Wally would have had a fun time if we didn’t agree to travel with him.

‘Aye, I agree that Wurmple ain’t anything to worry about and we’re still on the beaten path, but I ain’t takin’ any chances, lass. We thought the road trip from Petalburg to here would be a light afternoon jog and look how that turned out. Better to be safe than sorry. Be mindful of the Cascoon on the left here. They’re not a problem, but there might be a guardian close by.’ Apollo said.

I looked up and met the gaze of dozens of cocoons as we slowly walked through the clearing. Was this what they meant when they said the trees have eyes? I picked up the pace a bit, all but dragging May forward, and Wally stepped in line to keep up.

‘Uhh... is the path supposed to cut off like that?’ Suzaku asked.

I tore my gaze away from the Cascoon and looked ahead.

“May, please tell me I’m not hallucinating, and that the road doesn’t end in about fifteen feet.” Wally’s voice wavered a bit as he pointed towards the dead end. May groaned.

“Unfortunately, it is.” May pulled up the map on Sergei. “It’s almost impossible to maintain a functional path through the forest. There are markers, and between Sergei and Apollo, we should be able to do a decent job of navigating the woods,” May said.

I felt her relax a bit once she started spouting her trivia. I turned towards Apollo.

“You up for doing some quick recon?” I asked. May shook her head.

“I don’t think we need to do that yet. Sergei has us covered for the moment.” May nervously pointed through the bushes and pulled me close again. “That way.”

“You could just take point. It’d probably be easier,” I said cheekily. May shook her head so fast I thought it would fall off.

“Counter point, you take Sergei, and I'll point Suzaku at any angry bugs.” May said, holding up the fire bird.

Suzaku shot an angry glare back at her trainer as I grabbed Sergei.

“Deal,” I said.

As I looked at the screen, Apollo took off from my shoulder and Emilie raised a hand. A Poison Sting stopped in midair a few inches away from my face.

‘Incoming, there’s a few Spinarak above us that aren’t too happy we’re cutting through. Three of them are in the tree to your left,’ Apollo said.

“Got it. Think you can deal with it on your own, or do you need help?” I asked.

Apollo looked offended.

‘Help? Dealing with lunch? What am I, a baby? Thanks for the concern, Cap, but this won’t take that long,’ Apollo said before taking off.

I felt a bit queasy at the idea of Apollo eating the insects as he flew up into the tree. A few chitters sounded out from above before going silent. Apollo flew back down looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

‘Please don’t tell me you actually ate those things?’ Emilie sounded disgusted, and Apollo started laughing.

‘Nah, I’m still full from breakfast. They can sleep off their egos in peace.’ Apollo said before landing on my shoulder, and we pressed on through the bushes toward the next path.

A single green pinecone descended from the tree in front of us, and I felt May tense.

“What?” I asked.

May said nothing, and Wally was very quietly shuffling back from the little guy.

“Pine,” he said menacingly.

“Guys, it’s a pinecone. What-”

“Shush!” May whispered into my ear as she pulled me away from the Pokémon. I reached down and pulled out my pokedex, hoping it would tell me why my friends were freaking out so bad. Emilie’s voice echoed in my head before I could press the button.

'Pineco like to... explode, when startled,’ Emilie explained. Oh.

“Easy now,” Wally said slowly as he carefully moved around the Pineco. I followed.

“We don’t want any trouble,” I said, before stepping on a branch.

It broke. The Pineco glowed white.

“EVERYBODY DOWN!” I shouted as I dragged May behind a bush and crouched down.

Wally dove behind a tree as a massive explosion racked the clearing, sending leaves, twigs, and branches out in a violent hail of pain and suffering.

“Why do I have a feeling that’s going to happen more?” Wally asked.

“Easy, because nothing can go right on this trip,” May commented.

“It’d be boring if things went smoothly,” I said. A smile pulled at my lips as I looked up at the trees again.

This was going to be fun.

“Alright, so according to Sergei, we should be coming up on a creek... here.” I looked up and smiled at the still pool of water. “Score one for the ghost at the helm. We haven’t gotten lost yet. This looks like a great spot for a break,” I said.

May walked away from my side and leaned against a tree close to the lake. She slid down to the ground.

“Oh, thank you, my feet are killing me.” May complained before pulling out a bag of... my cookies. Dammit.

“Would you stop raiding my backpack while I'm sleeping! At least share!” I yelled.

May looked up like she was pondering it then shrugged and offered some to Wally.

“With me, you idiot!” I yelled.

I felt a weight disappear from my shoulder and watched as Emilie landed on May’s shoulder. May jumped briefly before relaxing as she saw who her new passenger was and handed Emilie a cookie. Euphoria passed through the mental connection.

“Hmm. These are delicious,” Wally moaned.

“If you want some come get some. I’m not getting up.” She held one in her palm for Suzaku to peck at. “Besides, you have like fifty of these little bags in that pack of yours. I’m honestly wondering what kind of voodoo magic you used to get everything to fit,” May said, waving the bag around towards my backpack.

I stomped over and pulled a few cookies out of the bag.

“You didn’t take any of the labeled bags, did you?” I asked. May waved me off.

“Nah, I wasn’t sure how well something made for Emilie would taste. Your customized Pokémon food is safe from my hungry fingers,” May replied.

“Eve gave them to me, actually.” I countered with a smile. “So, that means you’re just stealing my cookies, then. See if I protect you from the big bad bugs.” May looked up at me with a pout. Dammit. “Don’t worry, I will...”

“Good,” May said.

‘Twelve o’clock, Cap.’ Apollo said. I looked up toward the pond and saw a single Pokémon stare back.

“Skit!”

Of course, we can’t get a single moment of peace in this forest.

“Let me guess, you would also like to steal my cookies,” I said.

“Skit.”

“Will you leave us alone if I give you a few?” I asked.

“Skit, sur skit.” The Surskit nodded.

“Well, alright then.” I grabbed out three cookies and tossed them out to the water strider. “Enjoy,” I said with a grin.

The Surskit cautiously hopped out of the water and took a cautious nibble of the cookie before ravenously chowing down on my treats. “Skit...”

‘She says thank you,’ Emilie said. Hmm... honestly, she seemed kind of chill.

“Wanna hang out for a bit Surskit? Maybe trade a few stories?” I probed. The bug type looked up at me before talking.

“Surskit.”

‘She’s curious how you can talk to her. I can’t really reach her mind, it’s as screwy as the rest of the bugs in here, but I can translate if you want,’ Emilie said.

‘How did one word say all of that?’ I asked. Emilie shrugged.

‘Not my problem your language is horribly inefficient,’ Emilie replied. Rude.

“Emilie can translate for me, and Sergei can translate for everyone else.” I turned to look at my rather confused friends. “You guys mind hanging out with Surskit?”

Wally shook his head as he chewed through another cookie. May looked a bit worried but slowly nodded her ascent.

“Have a seat, I'm sure you’ve got all kinds of stories about the forest,” May reluctantly said.

‘Alright, you guys seem nice, though I don’t know that I have any interesting stories. The forest is kind of boring, honestly.’ Surskit said as she walked closer to us. May tensed for a second before relaxing as I sat a few more cookies out for the water strider. Wally and May both pulled out their phones.

“Doesn’t feel boring.” Wally said.

“I think terrifying would be a better word for it.” May tacked on.

“You’re both babies, honestly.” I shrunk back from their glare and sighed.

‘Meh, a lot of the bugs here can be a bit territorial, but mostly they just like to have some fun with the new trainers. I have seen a lot more humans come into the jungle recently, though. That’s been kind of exciting.’ Surskit looked down. ‘People hadn’t been coming as often, and it’s gotten kind of quiet.’

“Huh? I wonder who else is traveling through the forest right now,” Wally commented as he looked up from the group chat.

I looked over and chuckled a bit at Sergei’s name choice. Mooching Strider seemed apt.

“Probably that prick that tried to pick a fight with me when we got back to Petalburg. He probably left before us. I know we’re not the only newbie trainers leaving Petalburg right now. The conference run did just start after all.” May commented. Surskit nodded along.

‘Yeah, a lot of them looked like new trainers. You should’ve seen how badly spooked this one girl got when a Wurmple fell out of a tree onto her shoulder. Funniest crap I've ever seen. I didn’t know a human’s voice could go that high,’ Surskit said, chuckling at the memory. May blanched a bit and ate another cookie.

I took a second and imagined how May would react to that. I could already feel the tinnitus just imagining it.

‘There was also a man in a suit that came through here with a Shroomish. He looked a bit nervous, but his Shroomish looked more than strong enough to deal with most of the guys around here,’ Surskit said.

“Huh, why would you wear a suit into a forest?” I asked aloud.

‘Maybe he was in a hurry and didn’t have time to change?’ Suzaku said. ‘Is a human wearing a suit into a forest weird? I never really understood the differences between human clothes.’

‘He did look like he was in a hurry, but if you want to talk about weird clothes, let me tell you about this one weirdo. He had a blue and white striped shirt with a black bandana. The whole getup just looked really weird.’ Both May and I froze at Surskit’s description.

“Uh, Surskit, did the bandana have a weird symbol on it?” May asked hesitantly.

‘Huh, yeah, it did. There was a big circle with three lines coming out of the sides.’ Great, that sounded familiar. ‘Did you know that prick? He was really rude. The coven didn’t like him much at all,’ Surskit said.

Coven? Did we have witches in this forest?

“No, but we saw some of his friends on an earlier route.” May said. I sighed. Wally looked between the two of us confused.

“Is this someone we need to be worried about?” Wally asked.

Right, he doesn’t know anything about our little temple adventure.

“That depends, how long ago did this guy come through here?” I asked the Surskit.

‘Oh, about a week ago,’ Surskit replied.

“Nah, we don’t have to worry about him. He’s probably long gone by now. Keep an eye out, though,” I said. Fuck, I just got done dealing with a fucking Mightyena, I don’t want to deal with a trained one.

“We saw a group like that on Route 103. They looked like bad news, so we steered clear of them. There was at least one Mightyena with them,” May explained.

Wally froze once he heard that.

‘Nah, this guy didn’t have a Mightyena,’ Surskit commented. I saw Wally relax a bit. ‘He did have a Poochyena though.’

“Well, that’s good. I don’t want to deal with another Mightyena. The first one scared the crap outta me,” Wally exclaimed as he reached into an empty cookie bag. “Huh? Aww...”

“Well, that’s probably a good indicator that we should get moving. You good to go May?” I asked. May groaned.

“I don’t want to get up, but I want to get out of this forest more, and it’s too early to set up camp. Let’s get this over with.” May got up to her feet and sighed. “Let’s go, Suzaku.”

‘Right,’ Suzaku said.

“It was nice hanging out with you Surskit. Thanks for not attacking us like all the Spinarak and Pineco have so far.” I said, before turning toward May and motioning for Sergei.

‘Wait.’ I turned toward Emilie who pointed me back towards the Surskit. ‘Do you have any more cookies?’ Surskit asked. Greedy little thing.

“Depends,” I said. “What would you be willing to do for more cookies?”

‘I could be... persuaded to help guide you guys through the forest,’ Surskit said. Fucking deal.

“Then I... might have another bag of cookies in my backpack.” I shifted a glare towards May. “Assuming someone else hasn’t stolen them,” I said, glaring at my best friend.

May looked away guiltily before pulling her bag around and pulling out more of my baked goods.

“I need to figure out a way to put a lock on my bag,” I grumbled before tossing some more goodies Surskit’s way.

‘Onwards, my new friends. I’m assuming you want to get to the far side of the forest?’ I nodded. ‘Well don’t worry. I’ll cut your travel time in half,’ Surskit said, grinning from ear to ear as she chewed.

‘Don’t go that way. There’s a Spinarak den through that clearing. I think one of them evolved recently,’ Surskit said.

I about faced and started walking the other way around the clearing to get to where Sergei pointed me. May and Wally followed suit.

“I hate this forest,” May grumbled.

‘A bunch of Silcoon in the tree on your right. Careful not to bother any, Cap,’ Apollo said.

‘You don’t have to worry too much about them. The Beautifly in the area are a bit more hands off with keeping track of their friends once they evolve,’ Surskit said. ‘Dustox are very defensive of the Cascoon though.’

“Good to know. Still not going to touch either,” I said.

‘PINECO.’ Apollo screamed as he dived towards the ground.

“Hit the deck!” Surskit looked at all of us rather oddly as we all scrambled away from the bagworm Pokémon that had fallen from the tree. She looked over the new arrival and smiled.

‘Are you going to blow up?’ she asked.

‘Not sure yet. Have you been captured?’ Pineco asked.

‘Nope.’

‘Then no.’ Pineco replied, and Surskit blushed a bit.

‘Don’t worry guys, he’s cool.’ Surskit beckoned us out with a smile. I was the only one that actually came out to say hi.

“LEA! Veto! VETO!” May shout whispered. Huh? OH. Right. I had Sergei. May couldn’t follow along with the conversation.

“Surskit says he’s fine.” May and Wally both stayed put. “Look, I’m fine. Surskit’s fine. The Pineco’s fine. We’re good.” Still no response. May was glaring at me. “Fine. Be that way. Hi, I’m Lea. This is Emilie.” Emilie waved from my shoulder. “Nice to meet you.” No response from the Pineco.

“Lea, I won’t ever steal from your backpack again if you get back here right now,” May hissed.

“We both know that’s a lie,” I shouted back.

‘Are they always like this?’ The Pineco asked. I think he was ignoring me.

‘He is,’ Emilie said.

‘Rude,’ I said. Emilie nodded.

‘The trainer in front of you makes really good food. I’d offer you some, but you’re...’ Surskit lifted a leg and gestured at the Pineco.

‘I’ll take your word for it. Have fun. Don’t get caught,’ The Pineco said before disappearing into the tree.

“He seems nice. Bit quiet though.” I voiced aloud.

A sudden pain struck me as I felt something hit the back of my head.

“Idiot! Never do that to me again. I’m taking extra cookies next time for all the heart attacks you just gave me!” May shouted.

“Owie...” I rubbed the back of my head. “Sorry for worrying you, I guess?” I said fearfully.

May nodded, a satisfied look on her face.

“Though if you’re already having heart attacks, you probably shouldn’t-” I felt an ominous presence emanate from my best friend and wisely decided to stop talking. “Shutting up, now,” I said.

“Smart girl.”

The number of aggressive encounters we had after that went down rather drastically after that. I mean, sure, Spinarak still tried to attack us if we got too close to a den, and a lot of the bugs in the area were rather... eager, to try my food, but all in all, considering how it started...

Today was a good day.

I leaned back into my sleeping bag and focused my mind on everything that had happened and started organizing the memories to the appropriate place in my mental bakery. The fact that I didn’t even need Emilie for this anymore made me positively giddy. A good thing too, because she was out. Like, thin line of drool, out.

I was torn on that. On one hand, she’s adorable right now. On the other hand, ew.

I grabbed Sergei and snapped another photo.

“Same place as the May photo, okay Sergei.” Sergei sent me a thumbs up. “Thank you. Now then, go ahead and take me back to that video series you showed me earlier.”

“Pinsir!” Of all the things to find, why was it a Pinsir? Why couldn’t it be Spinarak horde number twenty-seven? May was strangling me with how tightly she was holding on to me right now, and her mouth was right in my ear.

“BURN IT! BURN IT NOW! FLAME CHARGE, PLEASE JUST MAKE IT GO AWAY!” May screamed.

Fuck, that hurt. May never really was the same after we watched It Came from Viridian Forest two Halloween's ago. Or Parasite the Halloween before that... Or Head Crawlers the one before that...

Huh, I’m responsible for my own case of tinnitus right now. Go figure.

Suzaku’s feathers ignited, and she charged toward Pinsir with a higher-than-average amount of speed, probably to shut her trainer up. I never knew it was possible to learn a new move on the fly like that, but honestly, May shouting burn it over and over again when we ran into a very aggressive Spinarak earlier today left a lot of room for innovation on Suzaku’s part.

“STOP GAWKING AND HELP!” May shouted at me as Suzaku charged another Flame Charge and rammed into the dazed Pinsir.

“Nah, May, you’re doing fine! Suzaku’s got this handled.” I said, waving towards the battle with a cheeky grin.

“Yeah, May. We’re just in awe of your exceptional battlefield prowess. We’d just get in the way,” Wally replied from the safety of a fucking tree branch. I don’t know what he was hiding from, May or the bug.

“SCREW THE BOTH OF YOU!” May yelled.

“TOR!” Suzaku shouted as the third Flame Charge made contact.

“Pin...” The Pinsir collapsed in a heap.

“Oh, good, it passed out.” May sighed before turning a glare our way. “Why am I the one dealing with all the wild Pokémon attacks in this area!? Why did I have to deal with this horror show reject!?” May shivered. “What fucked up quirk of evolution made Pinsir anyway. Nothing about this abomination makes sense.”

‘I feel like I should stick up for my insect brethren, but honestly, I agree.’ Surskit came out from her hiding spot under the leaves. ‘No living being should have a mouth that looks like that. Now then, let’s push on. I don’t want to run the risk of that thing having friends. I’m pretty sure there’s a fork up here. The left path leads to where you guys want to go, and the right path takes us into the deep wood.’ Surskit shivered. ‘As a heads up, we’re not going into the deep wood.’

“Help!” I heard a scream and quickly turned my head in the direction of the voice. My legs were moving before my brain even processed that I didn’t recognize the voice, and I was running into the foliage.

“Lea! Stop!” I heard May shout.

I ignored her and pushed through to a clearing just in time to see a man in a suit get stabbed in the stomach. He was shoved down into the ground and the attacker, a tall man in a red hoodie, grabbed a suitcase and an unconscious Shroomish.

“Dammit, of course there are brats nearby. Fuck this.” The attacker bolted further into the woods as I rushed to the businessman’s side. I put my hand on the knife wound and pressed down as hard as I could.

“Can you help him at all?” I asked. Emilie looked down at the wound and blanched.

‘I... don’t know. I don’t exactly know what the inside of a human body looks like,’ Emilie said.

“Please... help my partner... I...” He passed out before he could finish. Fuck.

“Lea!” I heard Wally shout behind me. I turned just in time to see my friends rush forwards.

“I need a bit of help. He got stabbed, and I don’t know what to do,” I said, wincing as blood seeped from between my fingers.

Wally looked down at my blood-soaked hands and blanched.

“Uhh...”

“Move!” May shoved Wally out of the way and pulled her backpack off before fishing out a first aid kit. May’s hands were shaking as she pulled out a weird looking bandage. She ripped his shirt open, pulled my hands out of the way, and put the bandage directly on the wound.

It melted into the cut and the wound stopped bleeding.

“That should hold till we get him to a hospital. We need to get him to Rustboro, fast,” May said.

I quickly got up and May grabbed my arm.

“Together. We’re taking him to Rustboro together.” May’s voice was firm, and her eyes dared me to challenge her on this.

“The ass hat that did this to him is still in the forest. He took his Shroomish. We have to rescue him!” I argued, not backing down.

“We HAVE to get this man to a hospital,” May countered. I opened my mouth to argue, but Wally got between us.

“We have to do both,” Wally said. “We can split up.”

“We aren’t-”

“The longer we sit here talking about this, the more likely it is that the mugger gets away. We need to move!” I interrupted May.

“Surskit?” Our guide made herself known and all three of us turned to look at her.

‘Uh... guys? Do you know which way the mugger went.’ she asked, pointing to a... fork in the path?

“What the...?” I pulled my arm out of May’s grasp and ran forward. “That wasn’t there before. It was just a straight path,” I said. Surskit winced.

‘That’s what I was afraid of. That human has angered the forest.’ Surskit turned and looked back at us. ‘He’ll be taken care of. You needn’t concern yourself with him.’

“What do you mean by ‘Taken care of’?” I asked. “How the hell can you piss off a forest!?”

May walked up beside me, Sergei in hand.

‘They came to the woods a few years ago. The coven found our forest and claimed a part of it for themselves. The trees bent themselves to their will, and the forest changed to suit their whims.’ Surskit shivered. ‘The human will not leave the deep wood. Of that, you can be certain.’

“There, mugger taken care of, let’s go,” May said. She grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back towards the businessman.

“What about the Pokémon?” I asked. Surskit looked away.

‘Few who enter the deep wood ever return. They’re usually lost to the shifting branches, never to be seen again,’ Surskit explained. I turned towards May and scowled.

“I’m going,” I said.

“The hell you are! ‘No one’ includes you too, dumb ass. We’re getting out of this cursed forest and getting this man to a hospital, end of discussion!” May said, glaring at me.

“You two can do that if you want. I don’t blame you. I’m going after the Shroomish.” May opened her mouth. “What if it was Suzaku that was taken?” I asked. May promptly closed her mouth. “I keep thinking about what if it was Emilie or Apollo. This is someone’s best friend. Their partner.” I looked towards the man on the ground. “That was the word he used.” May opened her mouth, closed it again, then let loose a single, unintelligible scream.

“Wally,” May said. “Get this man to Rustboro, quick as you can.” She turned to look at me. “I have to go with this IDIOT!” She stressed the word. “To make sure she doesn’t get herself killed!”

“No no no no no no, you are not coming with me,” I said quickly. “Wally can’t go through the woods on his own. Hell, he probably can’t even lift the man.”

“Try and stop me. Gawain can help with transport,” May argued. Gawain nodded.

‘I can think of no nobler a cause. I’ll do my duty,’ Gawain said.

‘And I can guide him out,’ Surskit said. I whipped around to look at her. ‘I want to help. I was already guiding you out of the forest. I can stay with Wally.’

‘And I can protect them, if need be, captain,’ Apollo said. I had almost forgotten he was out and about he had been so quiet. ‘I’ll keep them safe.’

“But...” I said, before sagging down and sighing. “Guess I’m outvoted, huh.”

May nodded.

“Where you go, I go. That’s how it’s been since the start of this journey, and it’s going to stay that way.” May said. She looked over towards Wally, who was working with Gawain to get the businessman up and over his shoulder. His body was glowing blue.

“Here’s hoping my body cooperates. We’re running to Rustboro, quick as we can, let’s move.” Wally said before he started running. Surskit took the lead and darted ahead of them.

“Stay safe!” I shouted after them, before turning to look at the path in front of us.

“Let’s go.”

May turned and ran into the heart of the forest, leading for the first time since we entered. I kept alert and shifted my eyes to keep a closer look at the trees as we moved, and a pink haze started to radiate out from them.

‘This part of the forest... It’s weird,’ Emilie commented as we pushed further in. ‘The incessant chittering, it’s quieter here. Muted.’

Huh, did that mean fewer bugs?

‘More than likely. I don’t know how to describe it, but...’ I stopped listening to Emilie as I saw them.

Two Pokémon descended from the tree line that I didn’t recognize. They looked like puffballs floating in the air.

“Cottonee, the fairy-grass Pokémon.” May had beaten me to pulling out her dex, and she started reading off the entry. “A strong wind can blow it halfway across the planet.”

“You didn’t know what they were?” I asked, flabbergasted. May knew everything about everything. How did she not know what these were?

“They aren’t native to Hoenn. I’m a bit worried by the fairy typing, but they seem harmless enough.” A memory from yesterday popped into my head.

Careful when handling wild Fae, they can’t lie, but they’re con artists through and through.

‘Oh,’ said one.

‘A sister,’ said the other.

‘How nice,’ said both. They floated back into the trees without any further fanfare.

‘I think I understand what coven means, now.’ Emilie breathed out as a set of three mushrooms hopped by us without even acknowledging our presence.

“Morelull, the Fairy Grass Pokémon.” May brought her Pokedex up and read the entry, unknowingly interrupting Emilie’s thoughts.

‘This place, it feels like a home away from home,’ Emilie finished.

“Cutiefly, the Bug Fairy Pokémon.” May read off as a fly buzzed past us deeper into the woods. “Another Fairy type.”

‘Sister. They keep saying it,’ Emilie said. ‘It’s all I can hear. Like they’re calling to me.’ Emilie paused. ‘That, and interloper. There’s someone here that they’re not happy about.’

I watched as another Morelull walked by.

‘Well, I don’t think they’re angry at us yet. If they are, they’re being really passive aggressive about it,’ I said. Emilie nodded and urged us further in.

“Emilie thinks they like us because of her, but we probably need to move. There’s someone here they don’t like. Any guesses on who that might be?” I asked.

May nodded once, before ducking under a low hanging branch.

“The mugger,” May said.

“Ding ding ding, I’ll buy you a prize once we get to Rustboro. Let’s help them deal with it before they label us as interlopers, whatever that means,” I said.

We ran through the weird foggy hallway of trees. More fae started to appear in my peripherals, and May read off each one as we went through the forest. Whimsicott, Shiinotic, Ribombee...

All of them evolved forms of what we had already seen.

We could not fight these things. We wouldn’t have a chance.

Emilie stared forward nervously, gripping my shoulder tightly as we moved further in. It felt like the forest was shifting around us. Vines cleared themselves from our path. Trees shifted in place. The pink fog got denser, to the point where it was getting harder to see, till finally, the ground I stood on all but became invisible. Eyes trailed around us as we walked, watching.

May stopped.

I almost ran into her. I moved to ask what was wrong, but stopped as I followed her line of sight.

“Beautiful...” I muttered.

Breathtakingly so even. A massive tree took center stage, towering over everything else in the forest. I struggled to think of how I didn’t see this thing from further back. Vines fell between the branches and glowed with an ethereal light. Small glowing orbs illuminated the clearing in a vibrant mix of colors, from red, to green, to white, to blue, all casting a faint echo of light into the pink haze below.

The whole area radiated with the energy of the Fae. All but a single, terrified man, holding an unconscious Shroomish to his chest with a knife drawn.

“S-Stay back. Don’t come any closer,” he said, pacing underneath the massive tree.

We hadn’t moved since entering the clearing, but a few of the fae that had run with us backed away.

“Fuck this whole damn mess. Why the hell did I think I could do this,” The mugger muttered frantically to himself as he paced back and forth under the tree, doing his best to keep an eye on every new Fae that wandered into the clearing. “I SAID STAY, THE FUCK, BACK! You don’t want this Shroomish to bite it, I don’t know why but you care, or I wouldn’t be alive right now, so don’t even try anything. BACK THOSE VINES UP!” He screamed as he brought the knife closer to Shroomish’s chest.

The forest itself seemed to shift around him. The pink mist shifted to a more purple color, and the branches seemed to move on their own.

‘Don’t talk and shush May.’ Emilie said.

I tapped May once on the shoulder. She tore her eyes away from the scene and looked at me as I raised my finger to my mouth in a shushing fashion.

‘The coven wants us to translate. Say what I say, word for word, in the most dead inside voice you can think of,’ Emilie said.

I nodded.

“You tally up a rather harsh debt to the forest, interloper.” I said in my best monotone. “What do you hope to accomplish here?”

“Fuck you. I don’t know what kind of weird fucked up trainers of the corn bull shit this is, but you are going to clear a path for me. NOW!” he screamed.

‘Don’t move,’ Emilie said. ‘His thoughts are erratic. I don't want him lashing out at you if you get too close. The idiot thinks you and May are fairies too. I don’t think I've ever heard of humans having a type.’

‘Psychics, aura users, martial arts masters-’ I rambled.

‘Alright, so maybe his half insane ramblings have merit. Whatever, repeat this,’ Emilie said.

“We will not. You have invaded our home and threatened the life of a brother. Your debt can still be paid, it is not too late. Surrender yourself to the judgment of my kind, and we may yet grant you mercy.” I took note of the word may. “Should harm fall upon our brother, you will not leave this clearing alive,” I translated.

May walked closer to me and grabbed my hand as she looked around the glade at all the fairy types. She was shaking slightly.

The thief frantically shifted his gaze around the glade. More Fae had filed into the clearing, and now he was completely surrounded. I think at this point he finally figured out he wasn’t leaving this clearing, regardless of what he did. He fell to his knees.

“Fuck this and fuck you.” He raised the knife into the air and-

Stopped.

A faint purple glow held his arms in place for a brief second.

That one second was all it took for a thousand vines to wrap themselves around the thief and restrain him to the tree. A single, muffled shout was cut off as the vines fully encased him and gagged him. The Shroomish landed a few feet away, and it looked like it was finally starting to stir.

“Shrooo...” I heard it groan. “Shro.” It pulled itself to its feet and took in the area, before jumping away from the tree. “Shroomish!”

A Shiinotic came up and patted the Shroomish on its shoulder, in what I assumed was supposed to be a reassuring manner, before turning to us.

‘Much like the interloper has incurred a debt from us, we have incurred a debt from you. Though his fate was always a foregone conclusion, you came to the aid of a brother and your actions may have stayed the hand of tragedy. What would you seek from us to balance the scales,’ The Shiinotic said.

‘Don’t respond yet. We need to word this carefully.’ Emilie doesn’t say anything for a while. ‘Repeat what I say, word for word. I don’t want to give him any room to twist our words,’ Emilie said, never breaking eye contact from the Shiinotic in front of us.

“We’ve entered your grove to take back what was stolen. The thief attacked this Shroomish’s trainer and stole some important documents from him. We simply wish to return what was stolen and reunite Shroomish with his dear friend,” I said.

The Shiinotic tilted its head and stared intently at Emilie. She closed her eyes and focused.

“Allow us a safe passage out with both of those in hand and the scale will be even,” I repeated.

‘Is that truly what you desire? Surely you can think of something else?’ The Shiinotic asked.

“That is the only thing that will balance the scales, nothing more or less is necessary,” I responded.

The Shiinotic started to laugh.

‘Truly, you are a worthy sister, young Ralts. For you have guided your trainer well. Fine then,’ he said, his voice echoing in my mind.

The Shiinotic retracted a vine from the writhing mass, revealing a small disc, and a Poke Ball. The briefcase was nowhere to be seen.

‘These items lack the interloper's essence. I can only assume he acquired them recently. These trinkets and a safe passage home for a fellow fungus.’ The Shiinotic shifted his vines toward us, and May hesitantly grabbed the offering.

“Thank you.” May said, smiling nervously toward the mushroom man.

‘You are most welcome.’ The Shiinotic nudged the Shroomish our way before turning and giving his full attention to the captured thief. ‘Now then, what to do with you?’

‘I don’t want to know. Please stop translating,’ I hastily begged Emilie.

‘Trust me, you really don’t.’ Emilie said, looking a bit greener than she usually did.

‘If you hurl, point the other way,’ I said.

‘You throw up on someone one time, and they never let you hear the end of it.’

May pulled me out of my conversation with a tap on the shoulder. Both May and Suzaku kept shifting their gaze around, trying their best to keep as many of the fairy types in view as possible.

“Grab Shroomish and let’s get out of here,” May said frantically.

I nodded, and very slowly crouched down.

‘Do- Do you know if Martin is okay?’ Shroomish asked. Gonna guess that’s the suit’s name.

“He was pretty banged up when we found him. We had a third person traveling with us, and he went on ahead with Martin to Rustboro. They can help him more in the city, which is where we’re going. I’ll carry you so we can move faster,” I explained.

The Shroomish looked up at me with a blank expression.

“Assuming you’re okay with that?” I asked. No response for a bit.

‘Fine,’ The Shroomish grumbled. I grabbed him and followed May at an almost sprinting pace out of the clearing.

“May, hold up. I can’t run that fast and I'm carrying twice as many Pokémon as you,” I complained.

May groaned before slowing down to a light jog.

“Sorry, I just really want to get out of this forest. This whole... situation freaked me out, okay? I’m kind of jealous of your little handicap right now. Would’ve made this whole thing a lot less terrifying.” May said, getting quieter as she went.

“Thanks for backing me up,” I said, doing my best to smile at her.

May winced.

“Yeah... didn’t really do that great of a job. I didn’t do anything other than gawk at all the fairies. You and Emilie didn’t need me at all,” May said, a frown etched on her face as she ran through the shifting glade.

“May, we didn’t exactly do much either. Emilie held the ass hats arms in place for a second and I grabbed the Shroomish and ran,” I countered. “The only reason we’re alive right now is that Emilie knows how to talk to high level sociopathic fairy Pokémon. Something we’re probably going to talk about later.”

I focused on Emilie who looked away.

‘I don’t wanna,’ Emilie said petulantly. I sighed.

“Anyway, you braved the unknown to save a Pokémon you had never met, faced insurmountable odds, and stuck it out, for no other reason than you wanted to help me do the right thing. That’s-”

“Stupid,” May interrupted.

“-One of the most amazing things I've ever heard, and I am incredibly lucky to have someone as awesome as you as my best friend.” I ignored her outburst and powered through, and I smiled as I saw her cheeks turn a vibrant shade of red.

“We got exceedingly lucky-”

“Oh, without question,” I interrupted her. “When we get to Rustboro I'm putting everyone through the ringer. I never want to be in a situation like that again. But we did it, we’re all okay, and that” I shifted Shroomish so I could hold him with one arm and pulled May into a sideways hug. “Makes us big damn heroes.”

Emilie tensed at my declaration.

‘Now when you say ringer-’ Emilie started.

“Ya know what. Fine, we’re big damn heroes,” May cut her off. I smiled.

“Damn straight,” I agreed.

“The sun... I had forgotten how it felt.” I basked in the warmth for a few moments before May whacked me on the back of the head.

“Stop being such a drama queen. We were in there for two days, and the branches didn’t block out all the sunlight,” May said.

“See the abuse I have to put up with,” I whispered, pulling the Shroomish closer.

The Shroomish nodded. Good. Someone else I can commiserate with.

‘She’s right though, you are a drama queen,’ Emilie said.

“I get more compassion from a stranger's Pokémon than I do my own,” I cried.

“Stop messing around. It’s still a half-day walk to Rustboro from here, and I really want to make sure Wally got into town alright,” May said.

“Fine, they’re probably good though. We didn’t run into them in the forest, so that means they got out,” I argued.

“I’ll still feel better once we’ve checked in with Rustboro General. Double time, let’s go troops. I want us there before sundown,” May ordered, clapping her hands together twice.

May walked ahead of me as I lamented the fact that I couldn’t really snap to a salute in response.

Easy jokes lost due to an over encumbrance of Pokémon passengers. The tragedy of it all.

‘Stop being a weirdo and move,’ Emilie ordered.

‘Yes, master. I obey you, master. All for you, master,’ I thought sarcastically.

‘Drop the sarcasm and the fake limp, Igor, and we’ll be talking. I-’ Emilie stopped mid thought and I turned to look further down the road.

A small girl was standing in the road, dressed in the same red hoodie the thief was wearing. She was holding a small Whismur. She didn’t really look like much, outside of her striking red eyes. May kept walking, doing her absolute best to ignore the girl. I decided to follow suit.

She ignored us as we walked by.

Don’t really know what I was expecting. For all intents and purposes, we’re normal trainers getting out of Petalburg Woods.

Nothing suspicious here.

Please don’t realize we’re the reason your partner is probably dead.

Once we walked over a small bridge and the girl was out of view, I watched May slowly breathe out of her mouth.

“Oh, I'm so glad she didn’t attack us. I don’t want to deal with anything else right now. Just let us get to Rustboro in peace,” May said.

I froze as I realized a very important fact about the road to Rustboro.

“Hey, May?” I asked shakily. “This is the primary path to Rustboro, right? Mostly a straight shot, not a lot of ways to go?”

“Huh, yeah. Why?” May said. Fuck.

“Doesn’t that mean that chick was there when Wally got out of the forest with the guy in the suit?” I asked, my voice strained.

All the color drained from May’s face as she came to the same realization I did.

“Triple time?” I asked.

“Triple time.” May nodded. We sprinted as fast as we could to Rustboro.