Stump in the Night

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If I had left in the morning I could make it to Petalburg before nightfall. As it stands I can only continue east while looking for a sheltered spot to lay down. All the while my little quadruped spider is chittering happily about the battle with Golbat. I assume so at least, she's skittering about the branches and roots like she's pretending to dodge attacks while string shotting low branches.

"You did great Girl. Feeling confident about challenging our first gym?"

My Joltik takes a low stance and crackles with sparks while releasing a deeper trill of clicks as if growling.

"Haha," I scratch her head, "alright, let's get a bit more practice tomorrow so it's a sure thing!"

After another twenty minutes we finally find a nice tree thicket to rest in for the night. I've got a pretty simple backpack of camping gear, in other words a car blanket and campfire cooking utensils. Thankfully it's a warm spring night and two of these crazy science granola bars seem enough to tide me over.

Tesla spreads out a simple network of alarm webs before she nestles into my hair. Really it's wild to think about how quickly I've adjusted to letting a big red spider just hang out on me... with only four legs. This world is weird, I love it.

"G'night Tess."

She softly hums out a , "Jolt."

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Warm sunlight wakes me up, peaking in shafts through the branches to hit me in the face. A morning breeze sends a shiver through my bones. Particularly my feet...my shoeless feet, in nothing but damp socks.

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 new 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.

"Zubat," narrates a robotic male voice as a picture of a zubat comes up, "these nocturnal pokemon navigate using ultrasonic sound waves called echolocation. Sunlight has shown to be harmful to their skin and their underdeveloped eyes. Preferring to live in large communities, they swarm slower pokemon to feed."

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

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

Something about the AI reader style tone just bothers the hell out of me. Ten odd minutes of 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, spunky female voice.

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

"Shak."

Hopefully Mr. O'Neal doesn't mind me naming a bat after him.

"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."

"Congratulations, Shak ranks third in global records for largest Zubat caught, first in Hoenn records." Oh shit! "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, "Based on local averages, this specimen appears to be near evolution range. 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 still a few miles north of Petalburg, "Well let's look around a bit and then if we don't find my shoes then screw it. I'd rather not hang around out for another night in the woods with five foot, psycho bats."

We spend the morning searching but turn up nothing but bushes, shrubs, ferns, trees, stumps and more of the same. At the same time we didn't miss out on time to practice aiming String Shot on the move and charging Electro Web with more certainty. Our training partners being any Taillow in the trees, the occasional zigzagoon, and even a couple Shroomish.

After eating my last granola bar, "Maybe I'll find a trainer and get him to bet his shoes...assuming they're not ten years old."

As the sun starts to set I finally let out a big groggy Zubat and attempt to spray his injuries. He almost seems 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 its head in confusion before actually snarling at me. He looks just like a cranky dog, so I boop his snoot accordingly.

"Zuuuu!" and now he's baring fangs.

"Down boy!" Carefully, yet quickly, I snap my hand up to pinch one of his big ears. I know they're sensitive and it only takes a slight squeeze before he's on the ground.

My Joltik seems like she wants to help but I just shake my head towards her, "Gotta work this out with just the two of us."

"Zuzuuzuzu!" His thrashing wing claw almost catches my forearm so I switch one hand to hold back the wing. I can really feel the strength in his shoulder's nearly breaking him free.

He barks out one more resentful, "Bat!" before holding still.

"Well, would you like to try listening now?"

The ears fold back, he sighs slowly, "Zuu."

Letting him go, with a flutter he hops up to land on my shoulder. There's a slight grumble but he seems to be listening.

"Alright, your first assignment is to practice wing attack on any bugs we pass. You know that one right?"

Nodding, his ears twitch before he gives a gentle screech and takes off. The bat 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 his claws to slam the bug against the tree, holding it there while he chomps down on the defenseless 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, the strange echo making it hard to tell the distance.

"Shak, investigate that noise!"

Zubat whips about through the trees while the last bit of sunlight fades into the canopy 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, I hear the sound of someone walking along the path from somewhere behind me.

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 Zubat have become muted in the darkness.

As soon as I turn around and take a step southward the laughter echoes 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 peeking 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 accented voice calls out. "Phantump, the stump pokemon. Phantump come from small 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 that sends shivers to my bones and even makes me feel slightly dizzy.

A solid hit on the small stump spins it in place. Shak banks around sharply before latching onto Phantump's little branch horns and picking it up. He then flaps a quick thrust up before dropping to the ground to slam the ghost pokemon into the dirt.

My dex app pings, "Take Down."

It registered the move used? That's a nice feature.

As for the Phantump, all I hear is a rather poorly acted, crying sob.

"Right, that seems a bit much," on second thought, "but you did make me walk barefoot in the woods all day."

Still, I just can't stay mad at the natural trickster. I toss the Dusk Ball Cindy gave me. There is just a single shake before the ball locks and the button glows solid 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. Extreme Caution is advised. 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 sight to lead my way. The quiet night is now a riot of high pitched chirps and the thunderous crashes of branches that attempt to block my way or 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.

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. A blade of air clears the shrapnel before it reaches me.

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 campfire.

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 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.

Shak lands next to me taking deep breaths of exhaustion.

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?"

"Ya," Closing my eyes and releasing a small chuckle, "I just barked up the wrong tree."

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