5 Stump in the Night

After finding a nice large tree to rest for the night. Tesla nestles into my hair, she'll be far more sensitive to any mishaps. Hugging my jacket shut and thankful the season is warm I fall asleep.

Warm sunlight wakes me up, seems I picked the east side of the tree. A cold morning breeze sends a shiver through my bones. Particularly my feet...my shoeless feet. I'm sure I had them last night.

I poke the fuzzy creature on my head, "Tesla, where are my shoes?"

She hops down onto a tree root and stretches her legs like a small dog would. With a chirp the Joltik skitters around my feet and then glances about before shaking its head and chirping more. Her head hangs low and she dejectedly lays down.

Great, "It's alright girl, I doubt they just up and walked away. We'll put the Zubat to work finding them."

Pulling out the green friend ball, I first place it in front of my phone to let the data sync up.

A robotic male voice calls out as a picture of a zubat comes up, "Zubat, navigates using ultrasonic sound waves via echolocation, sleeps upside down, only active at night as sunlight has shown to be harmful to their skin."

A small button on the screen asks if I'd like data for my specific zubat located in linked pokeball.

"Right before that, does this thing have voice options?"

Ten odd minutes later after browsing sound samples from countless regions I've never heard of I find a female voice from the Galar region. It has a sort of British or Australian vibe to it.

Returning to the Zubat screen I press the button, first a 3d model of my Zubat appears followed by the new sexy voice.

"Scan indicates this specimen to be male, would you like to register a name?"

"Shak."

"Your Zubat will be registered to the league with the nickname Shak, please confirm."

I press the lighted button and the voice continues, "Name has been registered, moving on to specimen details."

"Shak ranks third in global records for largest Zubat caught, first in Hoenn records. Congratulations, a reward has been sent to your trainer account storage from the Hoenn League! You may collect it from any official pokemon center."

Awesome!

She goes on, "This specimen appears to be near evolution range based on local averages. Current condition includes mild bruises and disorientation, recommending rest for the day and use of a Mart brand Potion once sunset begins."

So much for letting him out now. I start to put the phone away but pause and pull up the local map.

We're currently a few miles north of the Petalburg Woods still, "Well let's look around a bit and then if we don't find them then screw it. I don't want to hang around out here in the woods with five foot psycho bats."

A solid hour of searching turns up nothing but bushes, shrubs, ferns, trees, stumps and more of the same. The map makes it look like I probably won't reach Petalburg until late tonight.

"Whelp, bare foot it is then. Maybe I'll find a trainer and get him to bet his shoes...assuming they're not ten years old."

I grab my bag and start walking south.

Along the way I make sure to let Tesla get plenty of practice fighting any Taillow in the trees, the occasional zigzagoon, and even a couple Shroomish. Once my bag is noticeably lighter from burning through half the dozen potions I brought and I step on a sharp stick for the who knows how manyth time, I decide to stop looking for trouble and head directly south.

As the sun starts to set I finally let out a dazed Zubat and spray it's injuries. He seems genuinely appreciative, as if he completely forgot I'm the one who did this to him.

"The science behind this stuff really feels like magic, whatever, cause video games, that's why. Anyway, Zubat, your name is now Shak, you've been especially chosen for this assignment. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be the best Zubat, like no Zubat ever was. To defeat all other pokemon is your test, to bite them is your cause."

The rather large bat with dark blue fur seems to tilt it's head in confusion before nodding its head and happily flapping up onto my shoulder. Seems he doesn't think of it as an impossible mission.

"Alright, your first assignment is to use practice wing attack on any bugs we pass."

It gives a gentle screech and takes off, circles a tree once and dives towards a nearby bush. An average Wurmple gets battered by the Zubat's glowing wings right into the tree trunk.

Shak swoops round again, this time using its claws to slam the bug against the tree, holding it there while he chomps down on the defenceless critter. Once finished he drops the motionless Wurmple and begins sending out small chirps, searching for new prey.

Looking at the bug pokemon, "Um, pretty sure it is dead, Tesla...stay close okay."

As she chitters in agreement I hear a faint laughter like that of a small boy, the sound came from the trees behind me.

Whipping around, "Alright, kid with the super creepy chuckles, come on out before I sick my Zubat on you!"

No response...All I see is more forest undergrowth and trees, "Maybe I'm just hearing things."

Again a soft laughter can be heard, it echoes making it hard to tell the distance.

"Shak investigate that noise!"

My Zubat whips about through the trees while the last bit of sunlight fades with the creeping evening. What feels like an hour crammed into a second passes before he returns shaking his head to say he couldn't find anything.

"Yup, definitely had enough woods, let's not stay here a minute longer."

I turn towards the south and start walking quickly, my cheap flashlight lighting the way while Shak circles above. Hopefully he'll discourage any other Zubat from nearing with his size.

Fifteen minutes of walking pass by with the only sound coming from chirping bugs and the occasional bat screech. Then, once more from somewhere behind me, I hear the sound of someone walking along the path.

A quick glance over the shoulder doesn't let me see any light, nothing except dark woods. I quicken my pace and keep walking, ignoring the pain of small branches and twigs poking my feet.

The sound of steps keep up and once more I hear the eerie laughter.

Stopping and shining the light back still reveals nothing but a typical woodland path. Shak flaps past my shoulder and checks the area again but he too finds nothing. The sounds of bugs and other Zubats have become muted in the darkness.

As soon as I turn around and take a step southward the laughter echos and I take off at a run.

Sounds of someone else running and breaking of twigs comes closer and closer behind me. I feel a chill run down my spine, I glance back into the darkness but trip, falling onto my ass, the light hitting against a root and flickering out.

Tesla hops in front of me and takes a defensive stance, ready to fend off any attacker.

I fumble for my phone and turn on the camera light, shining it into the woods.

A quick sweep around still reveals nothing, I repeat the motion but slower, looking for anything peaking out from behind a tree.

The laughter echoes closer than ever and the phone suddenly beeps loudly, I nearly drop it in surprise as the sexy voice calls out.

"Phantump, the stump pokemon, Phantump come from old tree trunks which are possessed by spirits. They like to trick travelers by imitating the voices of children."

With the sudden reveal of its prank, a nearby stump suddenly opens glowing red eyes and rolls sideways onto the ground laughing hysterically, attached to its roots, my shoes.

"Oh, very funny isn't it! Well how do you like this!? Shak, hit it with some wing attacks!"

The large Zubat dives from the darkness with glowing wings, calling an eerie screech the sends shivers to my bones and even makes me feel slightly dizzy.

Hit after hit strikes the small stump as it gets spun and place and further confused until it finally collapses.

"Hmpf, that's right, now I think I'll have you work off making me walk barefoot in the woods all day."

I toss the Dusk Ball Cindy gave me, it gives a single shake before locking in and flashing its button red in confirmation.

Smirking, I hurry to pick up the ball and grab my shoes before something else runs off with them.

As I'm putting the second shoe on I hear the cracking and creaking of large branches. I look back to have my vision entirely filled with the sight of an enormous red eye.

The phone beeps once more, "Trevenant, the elder tree spirit. Able to control trees, it traps those unfortunate trainers who chose to harm its forest. Caution is severely advised as escape is unlikely until morning. This is the first sighting in your location within the last four years."

"Ah, fuck my luck!"

I swear the gaping black mouth on the trunk smirks as a large branch comes crashing down towards me.

A quick roll to evade and I'm running like my pants are on fire. Tesla attempts to tangle the oncoming branches with webs but it has little to no effect. I click her ball to return her safely inside.

"Shak, lead us out of here to the south."

Excited screeching pierces the darkness as he flits in and out of my light to lead my way. The quite night is now a riot of high pitched chirps and the thunderous crashes of branches that attempt to block my way to slam me to the ground.

Wood chips and splinters fly everywhere, many stabbing into my arms and sides as I try to protect my face.

The roots rip from the very ground to catch my feet as I feel the hair on my neck raise. Desperately I dive forward at an angle, barely avoiding a large wooden fist as it impacts the ground in the spot I would have been had I tripped.

The gnarled wood lifts back up as I hear the monstrous pokemon howl in anger and more small branches shoot towards me like spears.

Shak flutters near me as if to encourage me as I stumble to my feet and sprint away. My pace barely keeping ahead of the dozens of methods by which this crazy ass pine tree wishes to do me in. Oddly I feel like laughing.

Running through the darkness feels like my soul is only one wrong step from escaping my instantly dead body should this thing actually catch me.

In the distance I catch sight of the faint glow of a camp fire.

Voices, male and female ring out in the darkness!

"Goon, use Shadow Claw!"

"Delca, use Shadow Ball!"

To my left a white blur, to my right, a purple fluff ball.

Roars of pain sound out from just behind me, ahead, the figures of two people.

I slide in between them like I just scored a homerun and look back to see the giant angry tree taking a beating from a Zangoose and a Delcatty.

This tag team needs no further calls from their trainers as they violently convince the Trevenant to retreat with only a few exchanges of blows.

The woman's voice calls out, "Great work you two, let it go and come back."

Her guy friend whistles, "Been quite a while since I seen one of them, right Mary?"

She stretches her legs, they're both wearing sport outfits that match, they look near my age, "Like I know Berke. Hey mister are you alright?"

Berke laughs, "Ya pal, you really barked up the wrong tree tonight."