A few days had passed since they left the town. Now on a path directly to Veridia City after cutting through the forest, Atlas sat in a grassy opening looking through their supplies, seeing how long they could last. He planned to ration it till they made it to the city. Buneary sat by his side, watching as he sorted through their supplies, and Growlithe pranced around as he chased a flower caught in the wind.
Atlas sighed, closing his backpack and looking at the sorry amount of supplies they had. "At this rate, we won't last more than three days out here."
'Are there any short cuts that we could take?' Buneary asked, looking at him curiously.
Pulling out the map, Atlas looked it over, seeing if there was a route for them to get there in time. "There is one, but it's through the forest, one that's densely populated with powerful pokemon," he said, pointing to a route on the map that led them straight through the forest instead of around it.
'Is it worth going through though? Are we able to go a few days without supplies?' Buneary asked, her voice filled with doubt.
Atlas sighed, "Without the supplies, like the water filter or the med kit, we won't be able to stay out here for long. It's our only option at this point." He said, standing up. Buneary jumped on his shoulder as Growlithe stopped playing around and ran up to him.
'If we must, we'll go, but, if it gets to be more dangerous than going around, we leave,' she said, giving her ultimatum for going through the forest. Atlas nodded, agreeing with her conditions, and they started to walk through the field towards the tall, thick trees that held the forest.
A few hours had passed since they entered the forest, a place that was supposed to be teeming with powerful pokemon, but held only an eerie silence. Atlas's mind began to wander, a feeling of unease settling in his stomach. He pulled out his map to make sure he had read it right; it still said the same thing he saw earlier.
As they walked, they came across a fallen tree, not one that seemed to have fallen naturally, but had been ripped from its roots. 'What could have possibly caused this?' Buneary asked, looking at the destruction with a serious expression.
"I don't know," Atlas said, his voice low. "But whatever did this is something we can't deal with." His mind racing as he looked at the sheer force of the attack.
'Atlas, we need to leave,' Buneary said, her voice serious, turning to look at him. 'Remember the promise you made to me?'
'It might be too late for that,' Growlithe said, his voice quivering with fear.
Atlas turned around, his eyes locking on an Ursaluna, its eyes blood red, its immense body charging towards them, a terrifying force of nature. "RUN," Atlas yelled, a primal fear taking over. He dodged just in time, the Ursaluna's claws crashing into the fallen tree trunk, causing it to explode into wood chunks.
Adrenaline rushed through Atlas as he ran, Buneary clutching onto him as Growlithe ran by his side. The Ursaluna was hot on their heels, only being slowed down by the trees and its own clumsiness. But even then, it still started to catch up to them, and Atlas's stamina was starting to run out. His breath got heavier the farther they ran, the roots thicker, the bushes more prevalent.
Before Atlas could even notice, it was behind him, a roar echoing in his ears as it raised its paw. He tried to dodge it but failed as the paw hit him right in the arm, sending him flying. 'Atlas!' both Buneary and Growlithe yelled, their worry bombarding the link. Holding tightly onto Buneary as to make sure she was safe, he crashed into a nearby tree, pain shooting through his body.
Groaning, he tried to get up, but the pain in his body prevented him from standing up. Looking up, he saw the Ursaluna was slowly walking towards them, its eyes locked onto him. Closing his eyes, preparing for the incoming attack, he tried to protect Buneary as best as he could. He could hear her cry as she tried to wiggle out of his grip, saying things like, 'He wasn't allowed to die' and that 'He was an idiot.'
That all stopped when he heard Growlithe yell. Opening his eyes, he saw Growlithe throw an ember with all his energy in it right at the Ursaluna's face. It hit the Ursaluna square in its eyes, causing it to roar out in pain as it lashed around, trying to put out the flames. Using this opportunity, Growlithe ran over to Atlas, helping him get up. With his help, and after the stinging from the pain started to lessen a bit, he got up.
A few minutes later, they sat near the edge of a cliff, having barely gotten away from the Ursaluna. Buneary was out of his arms now, standing in front of him with a stern expression on her face.
'You should have listened to me from the start,' she said, her tone serious, 'look what happened to you.' She finished, her voice growing softer as he felt the guilt through the link.
"You did nothing wrong; this is my own fault for thinking that it would be fine for us to go through here," Atlas said as he inspected his wounds, wincing as he saw the gash from the Ursaluna's claws. The only thing stopping him from bleeding out was part of his shirt that he'd torn off.
'We need to get you somewhere safe first. We don't know what might come out,' Buneary said, prioritizing his safety.
'I saw a small clearing over that way that we could set up for the night; it's nowhere near the Ursaluna,' Growlithe said, pointing his snout in a direction.
Atlas nodded, slowly getting up, groaning as the pain from hitting the tree and the gash intensified.
They walked for the next 15 minutes before reaching the clearing that Growlithe had seen. Atlas settled down in the grass as Buneary grabbed some wood, and Growlithe lit a fire. Atlas pulled out the remainder of the food they had, heating it up with the flame and giving some to Buneary and Growlithe.
As they were eating, the sound of the bushes rustling reached their ears, with Buneary and Growlithe putting themselves between the sound and Atlas. Growlithe growled, and Buneary charged energy, ready to attack whatever came out.
They waited as the sound intensified, getting closer, before something came out of the bushes. It was a Machop, and what followed behind it was a person, a boy around Atlas's age with a Starly on his shoulder.
"Sorry for interrupting, but we saw your fire and wanted to see if you could help us," the mysterious person said, his voice hoarse.
Atlas looked at him skeptically, contemplating what he should do. He wasn't in a condition to fight, and neither were Buneary nor Growlithe, no matter how ready they were to battle.
"I know I can't ask something without giving something in return," he said, before pointing at Atlas's injured arm. "I can give you some medical supplies for that wound if I could get some food." He said with a sheepish smile.
'Atlas, we need those supplies. We don't know what will happen to that wound by the time we make it to the city; if we make it to the city,' Buneary said, Atlas still felt the worry through the link, sighing he looked back up at the other person.
"Alright, but this is only because we need the supplies, and don't try anything or we will attack you," Atlas said, warning him as Growlithe and Buneary backed off.
After that, Atlas received the medical supplies from him, allowing Atlas to properly clean up his wounds and disinfect them. He gave some of the food to the mysterious person before starting to take care of Buneary and Growlithe.
"So, where are you heading to?" he asked, "Oh, also my name is Finn." He said with a smile on his face.
Waiting a bit before responding, "My name is Atlas, I'm heading to Veridia City to find something." His tone was bland, his distrust for other people still apparent.
"Really!? I'm also going there!" Finn said, standing up with excitement. Atlas's worry began to fade, replaced by a soft laugh. It was a real, unrestrained laugh that he hadn't felt in years.
"Yeah, what are you going there for?" Atlas said, starting to warm up to Finn, no longer feeling isolated.
"I'm going to become the strongest trainer, and to do that, I need to take the Trials, and the first one I'm going to is in Veridia City," he said, grinning as his pokemon, Machop, and Starly, joined in cheering for him.
They talked for a few more hours, and Atlas realized that this was the first person he had seen that didn't care about the fact that Buneary was a shiny pokemon and treated them like normal people instead of abominations, something that Atlas wasn't used to.
The next morning, Atlas woke up, his hand feeling sore after being squished into an awkward position all night. He gently moved his pokemon to the side to allow them some more time to get some rest. Slowly getting out of the sleeping bag as the pain and bruises of yesterday's attack made itself known again, he moved to a nearby stream to clean himself and treat his wounds again grabbing some edible berries on the way back.
They had a shared breakfast of berries and nuts, and Finn, in a moment of honesty, revealed his backstory. Both of his parents had died in a disease outbreak that struck Aegis Peak, a city that rested on a mountain causing the disease to spread before help could arrive, and Finn had been forced to fend for himself. He had bonded with Machop, a pokemon that was the child of his parents pokemon, and the two had been inseparable ever since. Atlas, in turn, told him about his parents, and how their death had left him alone.
They found they had a lot in common, both of them driven by the past and a desire to be strong. The road to Veridia City was long and dangerous, but Atlas felt safer around Finn, deciding to trust him after having heard his story and seeing how similar they were. Making a decision, Atlas asked Finn if he wanted to join them on their journey to Veridia City, knowing it would be safer for them if they went together. Finn accepted with a smile, and they packed up the rest of their stuff, heading to a nearby village to get some more supplies.
As they walked away, a figure appeared from the shadows of the trees, watching them. The figure was cloaked, and its face was hidden, but its eyes were locked onto Atlas. Buneary, a feeling of unease running through her, looked back just as the figure disappeared into the shadows, leaving without a trace. She shook her head, seeing nothing there, and refocused on Atlas, but the feeling lingered, a cold dread that she couldn't explain.
They continued on their way to the village, oblivious to the fact that someone was watching them, and that their journey was being watched, and that they were not alone.