Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

“God fucking damn it, Joey!”

I sprinted after the kid, boots slipping on patches of mud, dead leaf matter crunching under my feet like ice cracking. Ace yipped excitedly from my shoulder, because of course he was having fun, while Arashi moaned her disapproval at being forced to exert herself so hard right after breakfast.

This close to its heart, the forest was truly ancient, the massive moss-draped trees predating human civilization in Kanto by centuries. Branches covered in dense, dark leaves stretched hundreds of feet above, blocking out any view of the sky and casting everything below into twilight.

“Kid!” I called, leaping over a snaking root wider than my hips. “Come back!”

Arashi snorted at my side, her short blue legs working double time to keep up with my longer strides.

“I know,” I said to her. “But I can’t just let him get himself killed.”

Though I couldn’t spare her a glance, I knew she was rolling her eyes. Being rid of the kid was all I’d wanted since he’d first attached himself to me, but I wasn’t a monster. Viridian Forest was dangerous, as we’d already experienced firsthand with the Spinarak nest. I couldn’t just leave him alone out here. I’d never forgive myself.

“Don’t worry,” I told the Mareep. “If he makes us miss our deadline, I’ll kill him myself.”

Branches slapped my face as we skidded to a stop on the edge of a large clearing. Joey stood nearby, pointing at the Oddish. The creepy little thing was just waiting, its leaves twitching, mouth hanging open in that weird silent moan.

“See? It wants us to follow!” Joey said. “This is destiny!”

“No, this is how horror movies start,” I snapped, grabbing the back of his shirt before he could run away again. “We have no idea where it’s taking us. It could be leading us back to its nest to eat us.”

The Oddish shuffled a few paces forward, then stopped again, looked back.

“Oddarah,” it groaned.

“Oddish don’t eat people,” he retorted.

Catching me by surprise with his strength, he yanked himself free of my grip and darted beyond the trees—where he suddenly vanished into thin air. I blinked. One second he was sprinting forward, then he was simply gone, leaving an empty grassy clearing surrounded by trees.

What the fuck?

Squatting, I picked up a small stone and, holding my breath, tossed it into the clearing… where it landed harmlessly on the grass, completely visible.

I looked down at Arashi beside me. She looked back and lifted her head in what I interpreted as a shrug.

“Fuuuuuuck!” I groaned.

Taking a breath, I took a step forward. Then another. Then a third. The air rippled around me as if it were the surface of a pond and, materializing out of nothing, running the perimeter of the clearing, appeared a tall wooden palisade. A gate, roughly the size of barn doors, was set into the wall a short distance away.

“Joey,” I called out, spotting him by the gate. “Step away from the big scary gate and get over here.”

Joey glanced over at me but he didn’t respond, instead taking a single step back as the gates swung inwards and an older-looking woman in a khaki safari outfit walked out, a Leafeon at her side. She looked from Joey to myself then behind us into the forest before back to me.

“Who the fuck are you and what are you doing here?” she demanded, clearly addressing me.

“Hi there,” I said, holding my hands up in that universal sign for I don’t want any trouble, lady. “We’re nobody, just a couple of lost travellers. We’ll be right on our way.”

“I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her head. “No one just walks through the barrier like that. You’re coming with me.”

She was probably somewhere in her late forties, if I had to guess, with streaks of grey showing in her dark brown hair. Her outfit—a buttoned-up shirt covered in pockets, tucked into shorts and paired with practical but ugly boots—made her look like a zookeeper.

“Seriously, we just stumbled onto your little, uh, fort here completely by accident,” I told her, slowly backing up towards the forest.

Shit! Did we run across some illegal grow operation or something? That was a thing people hid out in the middle of a forest, right?

“Restrain them,” the woman ordered, pointing at me specifically.

Growling, Leafeon ran forward, an aura of green Grass-type energy suffusing its eyes. All around us, thick tendrils of grass sprang up from the ground and wound themselves around our feet, trapping us before we could react.

Was that Grass Knot?

I felt the hairs on my arm stand up as the air began to crackle. Beside me, Arashi bristled, sparks flickering through the coils of her dark fleece like a storm brewing.

“Tell your Pokémon to stand down!” the woman ordered.

Leafeon growled and took a step forward.

Arashi’s tail orb flared bright blue and a crackling bolt of electricity arced through the air to strike Leafeon dead on, causing it to stagger. Though its part-plant body resisted it, the force of the attack still made it hesitate rather than continue towards us.

“It’s a Grass-type,” I said to Arashi in a low voice. “It’s resistant to Electric-type attacks.”

Resistant didn’t mean immune, of course. But Leafeon was also the evolved form of Eevee—that meant a low-level attack like Thunder Shock wouldn’t be enough.

“Focus on the vines,” I said, focusing on a problem we could solve. “Use Bite to get through them.”

“I don’t think so,” the woman said as I pulled my knife from its sheath to help my Pokémon. “Leafeon, Sleep Powder!”

Oh, that bitch.

Leafeon shook itself, releasing a cloud of sparkling spores that floated toward us. Arashi fired off another bolt of lightning, blasting the spores to bits, but Leafeon simply responded by shaking out another, larger cloud.

I tried to hold my breath as my team tried their hardest to get us free, but it made no difference. The spores settled on my skin, in my hair. I couldn’t hold my breath for long and I gasped, inhaling them. I felt my eyes grow heavy, my thoughts sluggish.

The last thing I saw was Joey staring in horror as I slid into blackness.

—

When I came to, my head was pounding worse than the time I’d mixed soju with cough meds and my mouth tasted like I’d been chewing dirt.

Ugh. Sleep spores taste like ass.

Blinking grit from my eyes, I found myself sprawled on a thin fold-out cot inside what looked like a log cabin, a faint floral scent in the air.

“Good, you’re awake,” a voice said.

I turned my head and groaned aloud. The khaki-clad woman sat in a camp chair across from me, arms folded, Leafeon at her feet with a smug smirk on its face.

“Oh good, it’s Ranger Ryder,” I said, referencing a popular children’s cartoon Ace was fond of, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

Her eyebrow twitched, my snark apparently hitting a nerve. Good to know.

“You walked into a protected Sanctuary uninvited. That’s a problem,” she replied, grinding out the words. “Now, who are you and why are you here?”

I tried to push myself into a sitting position only to find my arm handcuffed to the bed.

Shit.

With my free hand, I reached for my belt and my Poké Balls, only to find they were missing. My pack and Pokédex too.

“Sanctuary? That what you call this?” I asked, shaking my cuffed arm so it rattled against the cot’s frame. “Where are my Pokémon? If you’ve hurt them—”

“Your Pokémon proved to be less than willing to cooperate,” she said flatly. “Especially that Mareep. I can only imagine what you’ve done to that poor creature to incite such aggression.”

I grinned savagely at her.

“Give her back to me and we’ll show you exactly how aggressive we can be.”

Her expression didn’t change. If anything, it grew colder.

“People don’t just stumble into this place,” she said. “How did you get past the barrier?”

“Look, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, rubbing my temples. “How about you just return my stuff and let us go, and we’ll all forget this place ever existed.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” she said. “We can’t risk anyone spreading word of this place. If poachers or thieves found out we were here it would put the Pokémon at risk.”

I swallowed. Being trapped here was bad. I'd miss my deadline to return with the Jewel Orchid flower.

I forced a shrug, keeping my voice steady even as my pulse raced.

Play it cool, Chloe. Don’t let the old cow spook you. She's fishing for a reaction.

“Uh-huh, and which of those, exactly, do you think I am?” I asked.

She looked me up and down. Her eyes lingered on my piercings, my tattooed arms, my filthy clothes.

“This is a restricted area, only League-approved trainers are allowed to even know it exists,” she said. “I want your name and your trainer ID now.”

I rubbed my face, debating whether fuck you counted as a name before deciding I was probably already in deep enough trouble. She said only League-approved trainers, right?

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Chloe,” I said finally. “I’m not a registered trainer but I'm a field researcher for Professor Oak.”

She arched an eyebrow, clearly not believing me.

“Give me back my Pokédex,” I said. “I’ll prove it.”

The woman’s lips thinned, but she stood and retrieved my Pokédex from a nearby table where I saw my pack and Poké Balls sitting too. She hesitated for a second, then handed the slim black device over.

“Try anything funny,” she warned. “And King here will make sure you don’t wake up next time.”

I took my Pokédex with my free hand, unlocked it and opened my ID app, then passed it back to her. She took the device and peered at the screen with pursed lips.

“I need to confirm this,” she said. “I will be right back.”

“Take your time, I’m not going anywhere,” I said, jangling my cuffs once more.

Taking my Pokédex and Poké Balls with her, she stalked out of the cabin, leaving me alone with her Leafeon.

Leafeon was definitely one of the stranger Pokemon I’d encountered so far. Standing about three feet tall, it was covered in yellowish tan fur that darkened to the same brown as Ace at the paws and had a bunch of small green sprouts growing all over its legs, chest, and back. Another, longer leaf sprouted from the middle of its head like a leafy horn, while the tips of its ears and tail resembled tattered leaves.

“Sooo, your name’s King?” I asked the half-animal, half-plant Pokémon.

It was from Leafeon that the faint floral scent I’d noticed before emanated and I vaguely remembered its Pokedex entry in the games mentioning its ability to purify the air around it like a plant.

King watched me, blinking its deep brown eyes slowly but otherwise not reacting.

“It’s funny, actually,” I said. “I know an Espeon named Queenie.”

King tilted its head at me, its leafy ears swaying with the motion.

“My Eevee, his name is Ace, he's her son,” I went on, though I wasn’t sure what I hoped to achieve. “Or kit? I’m not sure of the exact term. Her baby.”

That got a reaction, as King’s eyes grew wide and it stood from where it had been resting on the floor, though I couldn’t tell what it was reacting to. Maybe it just knew the world Eevee? It had been one, after all.

“How about you come over here and-” I started.

My attempts to sweet talk my guard were rudely interrupted by its trainer’s return. Flinging the door open, she stalked across the room, leaned down beside my cot and uncuffed me before taking a few steps back.

“Who the hell are you?” she demanded, her arms across her chest. “Sanctuaries are Ranger operations, the League has no right to send anyone to evaluate us.”

“Lady, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, rubbing my wrist as I climbed to my feet. “I told you already, I’m just a field researcher for Oak.”

“A field researcher?” she scoffed. “Then explain to me why as soon as I mentioned your name I was transferred to Grand-Champion Lance himself, who then proceeded to tell me to let you do whatever the hell you like?”

Lance said that? I guess he supports my attempts to find a way home more than he let on. Or maybe it was part of the Otherworlder Protocol?

“Can’t, it’s classified,” I said, fighting to keep the smirk off my face.

She scowled at me for a moment then pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily.

“Fine. I know better than to poke my nose into League business,” she said.

“So I'm free to go?” I asked. “The kid too?”

“You're free to move about the grounds,” she clarified. “But you can't leave until we work out how you got through the barrier.”

It wasn't the outcome I'd hoped for, but it was still better than being handcuffed to a bed. Maybe I could grab the kid and sneak out when they let their guard down.

“Alright, but it's like I already told you, I've got no idea how we got through your barrier,” I said. “We didn't even know there was a barrier.”

“Knowing about it would defeat the point,” she said flatly. “It should have made you believe this clearing wasn't even here.”

“Maybe it had something to do with that weird Oddish?” I suggested.

I didn't really care what the reason was but I thought I might be able to get her to relax around me if she thought I was co-operating.

“What Oddish?” she asked, eyeing me skeptically.

“The one the kid was chasing,” I said. “Actually, now that I think about it, I didn't see it outside the wall.”

“Wild Pokemon aren't affected by the barrier, that's why we have the wall,” she said, her tone thoughtful.

I shook my head.

“It wasn't wild,” I said. “The kid tried to catch it and it failed, like it was already registered to a Ball.”

“Enough,” she said, sounding short. “I need more information, you're coming with me.”

“Hold up, I don't even know your name.”

“What are you going on about? You called me by name when you woke up.”

I blinked at her.

“Excuse me?” I said, my grin growing like the Cheshire Cat. “Did you just say your name is Ranger Ryder? Like from the cartoon?”

She sighed again.

“Please don’t make me regret leaving you alive.”

Dropping my pack by my feet, she handed me my Pokedex and Poke Balls. Leaving my pack where it was for now, I stuffed my Pokedex into my pocket and released my Pokemon.

Immediately, the pair leapt into action, ready to resume the fight with King.

“It’s okay,” I told them. “We’re all friends now.”

Arashi glared at Ryder and King as I explained what they’d missed but I managed to convince her not to start any trouble for the time being. Ace, on the other hand, seemed quite happy to make new friends, cheerfully chatting away with Leafeon in their indecipherable language.

Everything straightened out with my team, Ryder led us outside.

The “cabin” I'd been held prisoner in turned out to be one of several wooden structures of various sizes scattered across the interior of the palisade. By one of the nearby buildings I spotted Joey talking animatedly to a man dressed similarly to Ryder, his Mankey holding his hand like a child waiting for their parent to finish chatting.

“Fuck me,” I said, looking up at the sun hanging low in the sky. “How long was I asleep?”

“Most of the day,” Ryder said. “You actually woke up sooner than I’d expected.”

An entire day lost! Gah! I don’t have time for this crap!

Beyond the wall I could still hear the forest, but inside, the atmosphere was different. Quieter. Like I’d stepped into a funeral parlour.

And then I realized why.

Pokémon, dozens of them, wandered about the area in slow, halting motions, eyes unfocused, their bodies bearing scars, or burns, or missing limbs.

A Butterfree sat motionless nearby on a tree stump, one wing torn neatly in half, the other trembling weakly as if it remembered how to fly but had long since given up.

A Machoke leaned against a post, its ribs starkly visible beneath its skin, refusing the food a human caretaker tried to coax it into eating.

By a greenhouse, a Growlithe whined incessantly at nothing, its eyes clouded over.

“This is…” I swallowed, words catching in my throat. “This is some heavy shit.”

“Welcome to Viridian Rehabilitation Sanctuary,” she said. “Pokémon who lose their trainers, or who’ve been abused, or who can’t fend for themselves anymore are sent here. We teach them to survive in the wild again.”

“Well at least it’s not a grow-op,” I said.

“Chloe!” Joey called, the kid spotting us walking across the clearing towards him. “Isn’t this place amazing!”

Amazing wasn’t the word I’d have used. Horrifying, maybe. Sobering, definitely. The games had rarely dealt with this kind of stuff, of the Pokémon left behind when trainers quit, or died, or decided their team wasn’t good enough.

We passed a low pen where three Oddish huddled together. One’s leaves were shriveled brown, like it hadn’t seen sunlight in years. Another’s bulb was cracked down the middle, bitter smelling sap oozing like blood. A caretaker gently misted the trio with water from a bottle.

“Sometimes trainers abandon them when they realize Pokémon aren’t convenient toys,” Ryder said, disgust evident in her voice. “Other times they’re abandoned because they are too injured to fight anymore.”

“And you, what? Fix them?” I asked.

Ryder shook her head.

“Healing their injuries is only part of the process,” she said. “Not all wounds are physical.”

Arashi pressed closer to my leg, ears twitching with obvious discomfort. Ace whined and I lifted him up on my shoulder. I reached up to scratch his chin, more for my comfort than his.

We walked past another enclosure where a pair of Pidgeotto perched. One preened obsessively, tugging at its feathers until down littered the dirt beneath it. The other sat motionless, head drooped, wings tucked so tight it looked carved from stone.

“You really think this is awesome?” I said to Joey.

His face was pale, but he nodded emphatically.

“No, it’s good. It means people care, right? They’re saving them.”

Maybe. Or maybe it just meant people broke things so badly they needed places like this to clean up the mess.

We crossed a narrow yard where rows of trays held wriggling, fat pink grubs. Yet another caretaker scooped a handful into a dish and slid it into a pen of Zubat, the greedy little bloodsuckers descending in a squeaking frenzy.

“Oh, hell no,” I muttered, dragging Joey past. “That’s nightmare fuel.”

Ryder raised an eyebrow at me.

“Pokémon eat, same as you. Meat, plants, insects, minerals. Depends on the species. What did you expect?”

“PokéChow,” I said. “Or Poke Puffs, maybe. You know, something processed.”

Her glare could’ve stripped paint.

“We are teaching these Pokemon to be less reliant on humans,” she reminded me.

We passed a prep hut where a woman in an apron hacked apart some unidentifiable carcass. The smell was sharp and coppery. A pair of Oddish rooted eagerly at a pan filled with chopped greens and bloodied meat, staining their little mouths red.

I gagged.

“See,” I said to Joey, pointing it out. “I told you that Oddish was going to eat you.”

King flicked its leafy tail, unimpressed by my commentary.

“They need protein,” Ryder said. “Grass-types are rarely pure herbivores. They often feed on worms, small insects or even corpses.”

“Holy shit,” Joey whispered again. He looked like a tourist at Disneyland, except instead of churros and mascots it was malnutrition and trauma.

Inside another pen, a Rattata scurried in endless circles, eyes wild, fur rubbed raw along its flanks. A caretaker crouched by the fence, murmuring softly, but the Rattata didn’t pause.

“They don’t all recover,” Ryder said. “Sometimes the wild takes them back. Sometimes…”

“Sometimes you have to put them down,” I finished for her. I might be a city girl but I’d seen enough Animal Planet in my time.

She didn’t answer, which was answer enough.

Ace’s claws dug into my shoulder. He didn’t like this place. Neither did I.

We came to a squat building with glass windows fogged from inside. Ryder slid the door open and the smell of too much disinfectant rolled over us. Inside, two lab-coat wearing men hunched over microscopes. One glanced up, adjusting his glasses.

“Ranger Ryder,” he greeted Ryder. “Who are our guests?”

“They claim they stumbled through the barrier,” Ryder said. “I need you to check them over.”

The man walked over and peered at me like I was a bug on his slide.

“Interesting. Do you feel… different? Any symptoms? Fatigue, disorientation?” he asked

I scowled and took a step back. I hated people getting up in my personal space

“Aside from getting jumped by Ranger Ryder and her walking house plant?” I retorted.

“I felt a little tingly before,” Joey piped up. “But I’m fine now.”

“Hmm, interesting,” the man said. Picking up a boxy metal device from a nearby table he ran it over me like a metal detector wand. It beeped. “Are you wearing any jewellery?”

I frowned but reached into the top of my shirt and pulled out the cheap Poke Ball charm necklace Xavier/George had given me. He ran the device over the charm and it beeped again.

“There’s your answer,” he said, putting the device back. “This charm is imprinted with a powerful psychic echo. It must have let them slip through.”

“Well that’s worrying,” Ryder said. “This place is supposed to be secure.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” the researcher said, shrugging. “Just show the charm to Wyrdeer and it’ll stop any future uses.”

“Thanks,” Ryder said, nodding thoughtfully. “How is your research going?”

The man glanced over at me and Joey.

“She’s one of Oaks’,” Ryder said. “Probably knows more secrets than both of us combined.”

“Oh my, that is interesting,” he said, looking at me in a new light. “Oh, excuse me, yes. Research is going well. We think we’ll have an improved IE Machine to test next week.”

“You’re studying Infinite Energy?” I asked. “For healing?”

“Type energy, to be precise,” he said, adjusting his glasses with a nod. “And how it interacts with living tissue. We hope to revolutionize healing for Pokémon and humans

“Sounds interesting,” I admitted. Infinite Energy was barely explored in the games, mostly reduced to PP for attacks and as fuel for the Ultimate Weapon in X and Y.

“Much more interesting than my last job,” the man said, smiling. “Much more peaceful too. If I never hear Professor Seymour talking about other worlds again, it will still be too soon.”

That got my attention.

“Wait. Run that back.”

The man blinked.

“Sorry?” he asked.

“You said other worlds,” I said. “You were researching other worlds?”

“Oh, heavens no,” he said, laughing. “I was part of a team stationed out at Mt. Moon, studying type-energy and how it responds to objects and Pokemon from space. Our lab head was the one always going on about other worlds.”

“Mt. Moon? Like, near Pewter City?” I demanded. “This lab head still there?”

The man chuckled nervously, unsure how to respond to my sudden aggression.

“I think so? It’s not like we’ve kept in touch,” he said.

I noticed Ryder studying me with her sharp eyes. Maybe she’d caught the desperation in my tone. Maybe she was just making sure I didn’t hurt her pet scientist.

“Let’s go introduce you to Wyrdeer,” she said.