< The Path We Create >
Two more days have already passed, with Sprigatito still pretty much the same little villainess that she is. Somehow, her trap has suddenly become much more annoying. Felicia thought she had gotten close to the point where the little Sprigatito wouldn't set one up, but she was clearly wrong —and very much so.
But still, Felicia did give all of the Vitamin Sprigatito needed, so she was very satisfied. Felicia also spends less time in the forest, instead using that time to say goodbye to the two bickering rival bird Pokémon, but also packs more gifts than she initially thought.
But today was a bit different, though. The quota for the Vitamins is already at an acceptable level by Nurse Joy's standard; the rest should let the Pokémon hunt or create their own. Having too much of something is bad, so now it was the period where they let the vitamin finally settle and let Sprigatito adjust to the new substance in its body and supply its own.
So Felicia does not need to force-feed the little Pokémon anymore. Which makes her quite happy not to face those nasty traps of hers, but also a little sad. She couldn't really describe the feeling quite well.
But that's beside the point. Today, Felicia came armed with a Bucket of berries, fully packed with some of the little villain's favorite, mostly sweet-and-sour kinds. Felicia even took out her savings to buy a little package of Liechi berry, which cost a lot. Just one pack, which only has 4 berries, cost her 400 Pokedollar…
100 per berry… It hurt to see her wallet getting emptied by the day, even with all her savings, the money she spent on gifts and berries was pretty much higher than what she earned as a photographer for the ranger…
"So…this is what mom means…money comes and goes fast, huh…Well… I will just consider it my little present then." Letting out a sigh, Felicia made her journey toward the forest, but instead of the bird Pokémon waiting for her, Felicia found…nothing.
No Pokémon were waiting for her; in fact, she couldn't even see Pokémon that normally roam around the edge of the forest. It was…eerily quiet. The only thing she could hear was the escaping wind and the rustling leaves.
Something… feels wrong. The forest was never this quiet, to the point that there was not even a sound of Pokémon.
Felicia… hesitated. Something was wrong with the forest; she could see it, no…she could even say that she sensed it. Something was very wrong, to the point that she could even feel her skin crawl up.
Now then…something normal people would do is to just ignore whatever is going on in the forest and turn back, maybe someone reasonable would even go and inform a ranger, consider it a good deed of the day or something.
But here, the situation is a bit different: there is a strong ranger with an Alpha Pokémon by his side, doing his duty in the forest, even if he seems lazy most of the time…
Mr.Marcelo, despite how lazy he looks, is a powerful trainer, someone Felicia would say was probably a former league circuit runner-up. For someone like him, handling one Alpha Pokémon wouldn't be a problem; maybe he could even handle 2 at once.
But for the forest to be this quiet, it certainly is not an Alpha Pokémon at work, because if someone disrupted their territory, they would just continue destroying the area around them and take that area as their expanded territory.
So…the question is…what makes the forest so quiet? Felicia didn't know, and she… was curious. Very much so, it is in human nature to be curious about anything and everything. That's how humans come to be.
So then, to answer the question, someone needs to move, and that someone is going to be her.
With a firm face, slapping with both hands, she tightened up her backpack, and her emergency repellent spray, though it is not the priciest, it is not the cheapest brand either, it works on even some aggressive middle evolution she met in the past.
Though she did get an earful from Mr.Marcelo and her mother after getting a call from him, that's beside the point; now she will fully focus herself on the forest itself.
< The Path We Create >
"..." The forest…was quiet, not in a serene way like that but creepy. The tree leaves rustling make her hair stand up with each sound, and the wind brushing past her only makes her step grow heavier with each and every step.
The path that normally would only take her ten minutes to reach now takes her half an hour, but she finally reaches it, the ranger outpost…or what is left of it.
"It was fully destroyed…" The tower that was created out of a strong grass-type Pokémon would have lasted even against some of the worst disasters that do not involve Pokémon's doing. To see it reduced to nothing but rubble was quite shocking.
What's more, there is no trace of any attack, nothing at all, not a claw mark, not a burnt patch of grass, or anything of that sort; the only conclusion she could probably come up with was a very strong Psychic, Fairy, or Ghost-type Pokémon.
There is also a dark-type to consider, but with how clean everything looks. Almost like an accident, there are really only those three that could fit.
Fairly and Psychic with their ridiculous power, or Ghost-type that barely and rarely leaves a mark…
"There are no connections…" Her phone had no connection. She remembered every inch of this forest by heart at this point, so she had no need for a map, and even if something truly happened, there is also an emergency line that would connect through Psychic-links.
The only clue that she found is the little footprint, one that is now familiar to her by this point.
"Why is the little villain here…" There is a faint scent of Sprigatito's usual smell, though it is very faint to the point that she needs to get close to the paw print to even smell it.
This doesn't look like a work of the local Pokémon at all. In fact, Felicia could even say that none of the local Pokémon are this strong, mostly because the stronger ones are deep inside the forest or even into the mine. What's more, the presence of such Pokémon would surely send everything into panic, and rangers would just storm here in just an hour.
But the fact that the forest was eerily quiet, there was really nothing going on, the Pokémon seemed to evacuate, not outside the forest but deeper, which, while very weird, is still understandable, because the Alpha inside the forest would be able to protect them.
They probably feel more secure inside with the Alpha rather than with the human right now…
"I guess… the only solution is to go deeper." Felicia stared into the forest, as the path ahead was void of even the rustling leaf, as if the wind itself had stopped moving. The peculiar scent of Sprigatito is still very much lingering in her nose.
For some reason, she feels especially energetic today, as if all her senses are getting better, even without getting on the ground, she could still smell the smell left by Sprigatito's little paw.
With the guidance of Sprigatito's scent and the unfamiliar scent mix, Felicia moved deeper and deeper. Before long, she realised that she was already more than halfway through her usual route, the fact that she travels this far and doesn't feel tired at all was quite…concerning.
After all, Felicia could recognize that even for a child, she was on the stronger side, but to make way halfway through her usual route without stopping for a brief rest in between, trekking the forest with an uneven path, coupled with obstructing roots and the hanging vines, she would be tired too.
But the fact that even making it here without being tired was something that had never happened before.
What more…she felt as if her step was becoming quieter, even for Felicia, who would often sneak around to capture the moment of various Pokémon; her step was far too quiet…
"Something…not right…?" Her breath just emitted a cold visible cloud…something that shouldn't be possible since they are not even in winter, but summer.
Suddenly, intense cold draped over her back and her head. Felicia's leg moved without her even being able to think. She jumped forward, making her fall headfirst into the dirt.
Not even daring to dwell on the dirt, Felicia's mind began working in full, as she immediately burst into sprint, she grab the pen on her shirt pocket and jam it directly into the Repel spray can, the material used to make it was hard, but she able to tore up a big chuck and the spray immediately start releasing it pink fume all around.
She immediately dropped it to use as a makeshift smoke. When she got a bit of distance, she looked back, only to see an eerily tall figure standing inside the smoke, unmoving, the silhouette that looked like a grown woman, but Felicia knew for sure that whatever that was, it was staring directly into her.
"I'm going to need a therapist for this." She said casually as she continued her full sprint even deeper in the forest, now that her exit had been cut off, she could only take the roundabout path, and suddenly, a smile broke out on her face. "The shortest path was the detour…huh, where did that come from again?" Having lived in this world for over eight years, most of her past life memories were slowly fading, even though she could still remember details from her young years. But somehow, even though she could still recall a lot of details from her past life clearly, some are truly like a mist, known but not known.
Whenever she tried to recall those memories, a splitting headache would occur to her, but she clearly remembered that these never happened to her in her younger years.
But…whatever, she didn't need her old world wisdom or anything, because it didn't relate to her current life. If her memory starts to fade, then let it fade away. This…was the first time in years since that meeting with Kelly that Felicia's mind felt so clear.
As beads of sweat drop down from her face, heavily panting as she runs and dodges each root and vine, she even jumps over a fallen tree without stopping, her mind and body seem as if they were working as one. A smile breaks across her face as she clutches the silver charm toward her heart.
This is the first time she has ever felt this exhilarated, in the face of danger, instead of fear that she should feel, nothing but happiness burst through as she jumped over another tree stump. It feels as if she were truly reborn.