Pokémon: Knight of Order

by Darkevony

Chapter 8: Blue Fate

“That smells... wonderful...” Hilda’s voice trailed off with Teah oinking in fervorous agreement.

The sound of several empty bellies all echoed their similar sentiment. The smell of food being cooked had now become so overwhelmingly intoxicating, even those who had already eaten by munching on a couple of snacks found that they really wanted to know what this human ‘curry’ was about. Emile sighed after nearly all of them had made it painfully obvious they were looking forward to trying it. Even the usually reserved Rarity had trouble not shooting glances at the pot.

“Come on guys, you’re hyping my food way too much. I’ve been making it for ages so I couldn’t tell you if it’s any good. I never compared it to anything so I don’t know if it’ll suit your tastes. Um, you know, I also had to improvise a lot of ingredients to make it work.” He sighed and ladled a spoon into a small bowl to taste for seasoning. In trying it, he felt a little relieved. They would at least get a good taste of his hometown thanks to this nearly perfect batch. The only thing it was missing was a bit of soy sauce that would undoubtedly take forever to make since fermentation could last upwards of years.

“Don’t let him fool you, girls! Emile is renowned for his sweets and his curry. You can all practically smell it too, can’t you? This an authentic curry in all its forms.” Hilda had said in a grandstanding way, trying to impress to the girls with what she could already tell from the scent.

“No really! It’s nothing to write home about. I had to do a lot of improvising with what he had on hand. Er, hoof? If it does taste good, it’s likely thanks to Applejack and Spike for helping gather the fresh foodstuff. Speaking of which, now that it’s ready, I think it’s only fair that the first plates go to the ones that helped out the most.” Emile gestured over to the three Pokemon who’d helped with the fire rescue, and then over to the two whose names had been mentioned as well as Hilda.

Emile prepared the six plates, all filled with a mound of fluffy white rice still steaming from coming straight out of the pot. The empty half of those plates were basted in the thick sauce of homemade curry with softened chunks of carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, and chickpeas decorating the savory yellowed stew made from a vegetable broth and a careful mix of spices honed from years of improvising the recipe on the daily. To almost picture perfection, it truly was the ideal curry. The rice was salted just enough that its natural sweetness was elevated by the savory tones, which complemented the meaty-like taste of the thickened sauce.

“This really is amazing! You gotta show me the recipe sometime!” Spike said after digging a spoonful of the curry into his mouth.

“It feels like I’ve always known this taste. Reminds me of home. Like I’m back at the farm and digging into something ol’ Granny Smith cooked up. And I don’t say that lightly, sugarcube. She’s a master chef at her age. This is truly wonderful.” Applejack followed up. She’d placed a hoof on her chest and had begun to reminisce.

The others looked on with envy at the sight of their first bite, sheer bliss in their expressions while they ate heartedly. Thankfully for the rest of the girls and the Pokemon present, Applejack had also provided some very large pots that allowed Emile to cook everything almost at once so they didn’t have to wait long for the food to make its way to them. They all spoke of a similar taste. The kind of taste born from a long-standing tradition where you could feel the careful adjustments that it had undergone. Even generationally, as this recipe felt older than Emile himself. Like Applejack had said, it really was the nostalgic taste of home.

“My mother would be smiling from ear to ear at your words. She’s the one that drilled the recipe into me.” Emile had said in an attempt to deflect the compliments thrown his way. “It’d been years since I last saw her in person before coming to this world, but that talk we had earlier made me remember her so clearly. Guess I couldn’t help but insert that into my work in some way today. I don’t usually put that much cumin, ginger, and salt into my food, but that’s the way she had always done it. It still tastes pretty great, no? It’s hard to go wrong with curry.” He brought a spoonful of his own curry to Eve’s mouth to the little fox’s delight, being the very last one to eat only after making sure everyone had, had their fill.

Twilight and the rest of the girls had taken silent note of this. While this tiny thing might seem like nothing on the surface and completely harmless, it was an indication of Emile’s troubling personality. Thanks to their talk with the Professor and Princess Celestia, they were all hyperaware of just how self-sacrificing Emile could be, even in these tiny mannerisms. Twilight would’ve chastised him for it there and then but she didn’t want to seem ungrateful, especially after the wonderful meal he’d created for them all almost single-handedly.

The night had now reached its peak after they’d finished their meals and packed up the cooking supplies. They were slowly becoming more and more anxious as their dining experience had come to an end. The food had kept their minds away from their inevitable duty, one that would not come easy to any of them save for Emile who’d been used to this line of work.

“Like we mentioned before, our main fighters are Eve, Osha, Winona, Gummy, and Axew. The rest of our Pokemon friends are either weak-match-ups against Litwick, or can’t so much as scratch them so we’ll be splitting our group accordingly to cover the perimeter.” Emile looked to Twilight and Hilda for their guidance. “How do you feel we should divvy up everyone?”

“Considering your communication devices, it’ll probably be smarter if we have you two lead the two groups.” Twilight motioned a hoof over at the two humans. “That way if there’s any real trouble, we can send instant word for each other.” Hilda looked a little downtrodden by this idea, but she did her best not to show it with the only ones noticing this being Teah and Eve, both of their eyes falling on her serious expression.

“The local range of our phones is only a few kilometers. The flora in the forest seems to be dense too, so there’s still a likely hood of our communication being cut off. I’ve had to do a number of rescues as a Pokemon Ranger at times, so let me speak from experience that we should all prepare for the worst-case scenario.” Emile looked up to the two Pegasus who were hovering in the air already. “That’s where we’ll need you guys. You’re acting as more than just scouts for this. Remember to circle back around after any amount of searching and make sure the two parties are okay and not in danger. If they are, again, do not engage and seek the other party out.” Rainbow Dash saluted him with a hoof in her approval of his command, with Fluttershy mimicking her much more meekly.

“Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, you’ll be part of Hilda’s group. Spike and I will follow Emile.” Twilight had been the one to organize everyone.

“Eh? Really?” Emile had said involuntarily in his surprise, feeling like he had some nagging coming his way from this. Sure enough...

“Yes, really. It’s either this or I will never let you live it down if you get hurt outside of my watch again.”

“So you’ll let me go free if I do get hurt under your supervision?” Emile’s unhealthy dark wit and pension for these types of remarks really weren’t winning him any favors with the cross, purple unicorn. Or any of the girls save for Hilda who looked conflicted in wanting to laugh or be mad, and Spike who had laughed at that moment only to get a glare of his own shot his way. Well, at least Emile was feeling a little relieved he wasn’t entirely alone in a group of girls. A wonder how Spike had faired alone with them until now. Emile coughed awkwardly and composed himself again. “Alright, so that settles it. Stay vigilant and stay frosty, so to speak.” He slugged his backpack over his shoulders again and Eve jumped up to his outstretched arm to propel itself with another jump and onto his head, where it gently landed and slid down into the hood of his jacket.

It seemed as though Emile had learned a bit since coming to this world after all. Before they all went their separate ways, he could see Hilda’s rigidity in her movements. In everyone else’s too, but especially hers. The anxiety in the air and the trauma of her fear were no doubt getting to her. He inched closer to her while the two groups walked together to the edge of the forest where they would officially split up and put a hand on her shoulder, giving her the kind of look that was asking if she would be okay with this after all or not.

“Mm, yeah, I’ll be fine. On my way to being champion, I’ve had to face ghost types before. I just don’t do particularly well with Litwicks is all. My Pokemon were always the ones to take the helm whenever we faced any. But it’s not like I have to fight any of them, right? Besides, I have Teah with me. She’ll protect me.” Hilda had said in her reply to his worried stare, prompting the little piglet in her arms she’d been hugging for emotional support to squeal a huff of determination, undeterred by the spooky ghosts. Emile shook one of her tiny hooves as if to make a silent pact with her to keep that promise.

Emile took out a small cloth bag from his backpack tied with a beautiful ornate string and presented it to Hilda. “You should have this. Even if you don’t find a use for it, consider it a lucky charm. It’s kept me from feeling the weight of fear so many times in the past, and I don’t think I need it anymore.”

“What is it?” She took it from him, touched by the gesture even if not fully understanding the weight of the item she’d just been handed.

“It’s Sacred Ashes. A one of a kind use item that’ll save you in an absolute pinch. There should be enough in that pouch for your full party.”

Hilda had just about dropped the pouch in her absolute shock and surprise. “No! I can’t have this! Are you joking, Emile?!” She held it back out to him.

“I insist, keep it. I want you to have it, especially if it’ll help you feel safe.” His choice of words were flustering Hilda all over again and she’d begun trying to push it back onto him forcibly.

“Umm, what’s that supposed to be?” Twilight spoke up watching the interchange between the two.

“A crazy rare and valuable item is what! Twilight, tell him to take it back!” Hilda was now swiping at his jacket’s pocket, Emile swiftly dodging her attempts.

“The answer is no. It’s yours now. You touch it, you keep it.” Emile had even gone so far as to make a dive and a roll on the ground to avoid Hilda’s efforts.

Perhaps this was just the natural way in which both of them would’ve acted before, or maybe there was something deeper to think about with their shift in time, but both Emile and Hilda were acting incredibly childish now as the ponies and Pokemon present just looked back at them unamusedly trying to understand what this was all about. Pinkie having joined in on the little game by trying to catch Emile hadn’t helped one bit. It seems neither of them had noticed this until they were made to stop by Rarity who proceeded to reprimand them for their crude behavior at such an important time.

“Honestly you two. Find a better time for this away from prying eyes. You’re the leaders of our groups and we’re supposed to trust you with that role?” She said, sitting all three of them down in front of her, red up to their ears after they finally realized what they’d displayed.

“But he started it!” Hilda had, had enough and tossed the bag at him with reckless abandon, which Emile proceeded to bat back onto Hilda’s lap in his quick reflexes with an open palm. A testament to how wonderfully stitched and closed shut that bag was, as none of the powder had been shaken out of it.

“ENOUGH! Please, behave yourselves.” Rarity looked first at Emile, then over at Hilda. She was not going to win this one, especially with Rarity at the helm of the scolding. “Learn to appreciate what’s been given to you dear. A lady should be graceful at all times. The bigger the gift, the more grateful you should be.” She said matter-of-factly, making Hilda finally submit to the gift. Rarity turned to Pinkie now who was sitting in the middle of the two and sighed. “Pinkie, I swear to Celestia, you need to comport yourself.”

“Yes, on it!” She said with a laugh, which made Rarity roll her eyes and put a hoof to her face.

“AND EMILE!” She stomped a hoof in his direction, which made him shrink a bit. “Do not press a girl more than she is comfortable with. If you were an adult before this, then behave like one! Honestly, first at the garden and now you’re out here acting like a child. Do you have any sense of how much worry you cause others? Any idea the amount of magic I had to stitch into your clothes so you don’t get badly hurt again? I understand you’ve had good reasons in wanting to protect everyone but more than Twilight, you’re going to have me to contend with if you keep this up.”

He’d been sitting on his knees as he was lectured, and he bowed his head to Rarity in his remorse. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not looking for ‘sorries’ Emile. What do you say?”

“Yes, thank you for the clothing, ma’am!” He exclaimed.

“Good, good. Accept generosity with grace, you two.” She finally concluded her lecture.

“Wait but uh, seriously, what is that Sacred Ashes item? What makes it so valuable?” Twilight was still curious to know.

“They’re ashes from one of the most powerful Pokemon in our world. A Pokemon so elusive, it might as well be a myth. The Legendary Ho-Oh, the Rainbow Pokemon, often attributed to the legends of Phoenixes. Its image is often associated with the sign of rebirth, and it was the one that gave life to the Legendary Beasts of the Johto region. Sacred Ashes are said to be so insanely valuable, they’re priceless. Apparently, they have such extreme recuperating effects that they’re able to bring all your Pokemon in your party out of a faint instantly and at a full fighting potential. They claim you’re guaranteed absolute victory if you have them on you.” Hilda had said, muttering her discontent in her tone.

“Right. So you see why I wanted you to have them? They should help you muster your courage for this journey. Not just with the Litwick but from here on out too. They’re yours now, and I was hoping they’d keep you safe.” Emile remarked.

Hilda had turned red again, but she just puffed her cheeks and bit her lip back while she stared angrily down at her knees not trying to incur Rarity’s wrath again. She was now inching closer to the ponies mentality of how annoyingly selfless Emile was turning out to be, and how clueless he was about the things he said.

It had taken a few more strong words here and there, but eventually, the two groups finally splintered into the Everfree to begin their important task of ghost hunting.

Eve was resting on Twilight’s back after that kerfuffle, and the trio behind Emile were now snickering at the sight of him getting lectured earlier. Betrayal so soon by his new male buddy, not even including the one from his long-term one. Emile sighed as he pushed apart the thick flora that blocked their pathways.

They had progressed through quite the length of the forest with not much of anything to impede them, which Twilight was quick to note that it was oddly silent. She’d mentioned that she’d often venture into the forest to visit a Zebra friend of hers and that she’d be able to hear a lot of insects usually, but now not even their chirping could be heard. Just an unnerving silence and a dense fog.

At one point, Spike got spooked by a passing branch he said he’d felt tickling at his back, but with no evidence to back up his claim. Emile saw Twilight trying to laugh at a gnarled-up tree that looked like it had a face on it, only to laugh more nervously as nothing changed in its appearance. He’d asked her what that was for after she’d returned a little out of her wits, and she mentioned it had been Pinkie’s way to get rid of scary aberrations created by the mind, which had worked for them a long time ago in a similar situation but was seemingly no longer working now. Even Emile himself had a couple of roots catch him off-guard and made him tumble as his foot stumbled onto them.

None of it seemed coincidental, and Emile began taking a much more careful look at his surroundings. Sure enough, he could see a few silhouettes bounce from tree to tree in their direction from the corner of his eye. There were some tricksters trying to make them flee. The work of ghost types no doubt.

“Keep calm, Twilight. I think we’ve got some ghost Pokemon messing with us right now.” He whispered under his breath at her after he slowed his pace to walk beside her.

“What do we do?” She’d taken the hint and was doing a great job at remaining calm, unlike Spike who had overheard them and was now trembling a bit.

“I’m gonna lure them out with Osha, and then Eve and Axew will do the battling if they’re looking for a fight afterward. Ready? On my signal.” He counted down with Osha’s Pokeball behind his back, letting the little otter out as soon as he reached zero, commanding him to Slash at the trees in their proximity. Osha had the battle sense necessary to know this was meant as a battle order as soon as he came out his ball, but to the little otter’s chagrin, all that appeared were a couple of spooked ghosties that ran immediately as soon as they were found out. They looked like clouds of black smoke attached to a tree trunk and were quick to blend back into the flora as they ran away. Thankfully, Emile had gotten a scan of them with his Pokedex just as they faded from view.

Phantump, the Stump Pokémon. Phantumps come from rotting tree stumps that have been possessed by spirits. Lonely forests are their preferred habitat. According to legend, medicine to cure any illness can be made by plucking the green leaves on its head, brewing them, and boiling down the liquid. Imitating the voice of a child, Phantumps causes people to get hopelessly lost deep in the forest.

It was a Pokémon Emile had never seen before, but they looked friendly enough, and even their appearance indicated how shy they must be. From their entry in the dex, they were grass and ghost.

"That gave me quite the start! Guess those were Pokémon after all? Never seen anything like them." Twilight mentioned while comforting the baby dragon now that he was clinging to one of her forelegs intensely, finally calming down after seeing how non-threatening those Phantumps had been.

"Seems they were just playing a couple of pranks on us to keep us away. The dex says they're usually the opposite of this since they try to lure in adults with child-like mimicry in order to make friends. Admittedly I've never seen them before but if they're anything like the Pokémon I know, it's likely due to their stress or the command of an alpha Pokémon that's getting them to do its bidding. That's likely the case since none of them stood their ground to fight. I think we might be facing more than just Litwick if that's the case."

The timing could not have been worse. Fluttershy swooped in on them after having said this in a frantic panic. She struggled for a bit to say the words she was meaning to speak.

"Rainbow Dash gave me the danger signal! I-I think they've found the Litwick!" The group bolted into a sprint in the direction of Fluttershy’s flight. Considering that Phantumps and Litwicks were polar opposites in typing, Emile just about guessed the kind of issues they had on their hands, and was sincerely hoping they hadn't been too late to save their friends. Thankfully, in breaking through a thick underbrush, they caught sight of the battle holding out fairly well, with Teah and Rarity protecting a shaken-up Hilda who looked as if she was trying her best not to break down right there and then.

Gummy looked as if it had already racked up a count of Pokemon fainted, standing still and waiting for the hesitant Litwick to approach it, while Rockruff was huffing in its exhaustion from evading Will-O'-Wisps. The ground around the two had been burned to black ash, and they were mostly lucky that none of their attacks had set alight any of the overgrown flora. Some of the leaves looked a little singed, but Emile guessed Rainbow Dash had been hastily putting out fires left and right. She looked a little worn out hovering mid-air.

The Litwick had already sensed they were outmatched by the two smaller Pokemon, but now in the presence of Osha and Eve, they'd been spooked outright by their battle prowess and retreated back into the treeline, carrying off their fainted companions.

"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, keep on them. Don't lose sight of them." Emile commanded the two, hastily agreeing and flying off. "Is everyone alright?" He got a silent nod from the ponies, with Hilda still rubbing at her arms and shaking a bit. Emile walked right up in front of her and looked her in the eyes. His concerned stare wanted to bring her to tears again but she sniffled them back and finally nodded that she was ok. Turning back to direct everyone else for the next part of the operation, he felt a small tug on his jacket from behind. "Girls, what's the situation? What happened before we arrived?" He asked in Applejack's and Pinkie Pie's direction.

“It’s like you guessed, sugarcube. We found ‘em Litwick not too long ago, but those phone things weren’t working so we had to signal to Fluttershy that there was trouble brewin’. Even before that, the Everfree forest has been all sorts of weird so it’s been throwing us into a tizzy. Even more so than usual. It almost felt like the trees were playing tricks on us.”

“Same thing happened to us. It was the work of another ghost-type Pokemon from what the dex said.” Twilight spoke up. “A Phantump. They were these small dark wisps with their head in the shape of a tree stump. Did you see anything like that?”

“Now that you mention it, dear, I think I did see something like that on our walk. It was awfully hard to spot since it naturally blended with the forest, but I could’ve sworn I saw some tree stumps moving about. Then Pinkie disappeared for a bit in their direction so I thought maybe I wasn’t crazy after all, but there wasn’t time to mention it with the Litwick in tow.” Rarity had spoken up. “Speaking of, Pinkie, don’t think you’re going to get away without an earful about it once we’re out of here.

“Ooooohhhh, so that’s what they were.” Pinkie laughed snorted. “They were so cute, I wanted to make friends with them but they just ran away immediately.”

Emile who’d been pensive the entire time finally clued into the circumstances. None of those Pokemon looked like they were being affected by anything on the outside, so it likely wasn’t an external factor. Considering the dex’s descriptions, Phantumps seemed relatively at home in the Everfree so they wouldn’t be stressed about their environment. All signs were pointing to the former possibility. An Alpha of some kind.

"The situation is more dire than I thought. Even fire Pokemon wouldn't be so thoughtless as to use their moves inside a forest. We’re likely looking at a territorial dispute between the two factions of Pokemon in the forest, and one or more very powerful Pokemon that are commanding the ones that are here to keep anything out. It’s likely why the Everfree has been so quiet, on account of what Twilight said. What do you think Eve?” Emile asked the little fox, prompting a small cry of serious agreement from his buddy.

“What do you propose we do, Emile?” Applejack asked while returning Winona to her ball for easy transportation half knowing what came next, along with every pony else.

“Only one thing to do, let’s follow the Litwick and try to get to the bottom of this.” He waved over at Fluttershy to begin following her direction to where Rainbow Dash was trailing the Pokemon.

Heading in that direction now, Emile could feel Hilda’s weak tug on his shirt with her following close behind him. He hadn’t minded it one bit. He just felt sorry that there was not much more he could do to alleviate her worries. If he tried anything else like he did with the Sacred Ashes, he’d never hear the end of it. Instead, he opted to stay quiet as they walked and allowed himself to be Hilda’s emotional support that way.

They were all a little more confident now that they were walking together in their bigger group. Something about being surrounded by friends that had a way of putting pep in your step. A feeling he knew well from being around Pokemon so often, but never with people. Or, the equivalent of people in the ponies’ cases. At this point, Emile was finding it easier and easier to blend their realities together, and he no longer made a distinction of their race in his mind. Not unless he’d get caught in an actual difference between them like with the whole jacket thing. Something to be said about his adaptability to strange situations, one supposes.

Before any of them could feel too at ease, now it seemed like the Phantumps had started kicking up their pranks up a notch, with facial expressions on the trees so twisted up, it gave even Pinkie Pie the heebie-jeebies. They couldn’t laugh those away either. Speaking of laughter, there were sounds of child-like laughter and even a few cries coming from the opposite end of where they were headed. Twilight and Emile warned that it was the work of the Phantumps, and they should not stop for it. The Phantumps were now trying desperately to stop their forward momentum, with tree roots aggressively swiping at their feet and hooves. Eventually, they all had to start running to keep ahead of the vines and overgrowth branching out to stop them. They could now see where Rainbow Dash was hovering mid-air, waving at them to stop and be careful but to no one’s consideration as they were all busy trying to outrun the ever-closing path in front of them.

Bursting through a shrub, the group of mares and the two humans made their way into a circular clearing within the Everfree forest where one massive moving tree sat, staring right at them with its one bright red eye. Emile silently pulled up his Pokedex to scan it, only for it to immediately try and attack them with Shadow Claw.

“Eve! Become Umbreon and use protect!” Eve had shielded them all from that attack in just the knick of it by following his command. “Keep it steady buddy, I need a scan of it.”

Trying to keep the dex steady mid-battle was difficult, especially with such a large Pokemon that almost reached the treetops themselves. After a bit, he finally got a full scan.

Trevenant, the Elder Tree Pokémon. A Ghost and Grass-type. Trevenant spread out thin roots from their feet, connecting to the surrounding trees to control them at will. This Pokémon is said to devour anyone daring to ravage the forest. To the creatures dwelling in the forest, it offers great kindness. It's feared as a ghost of the forest. Lumberjacks bring along Fire types, which Trevenant hates when they enter the forest.

Eve cried out as it took another hit onto a second Protect it cast. The sheer strength of the Pokemon before them was so overwhelming that even Eve’s type match-up was having problems holding strong. Emile could sense a very strong energy and aura coming from the Trevenant. The same chaotic one from the wormholes... Emile hastily commanded everyone to not involve their Pokemon in this fight.

Eve proceeded to Dark Pulse it further away from them in the little time afforded to the fox to push it away and continued to Protect as best it could while the Trevenant took hold of entire tree trunks to bring down on top of Umbreon’s forcefield in one mighty Wood Hammer. The Trevenant was generally slow but its incredible size was making it difficult for the fox to keep its footing while it tried all manner of tricks to get Eve’s guard down, like pushing the roots underground to unsettle the soil beneath its paws. Even with Eve’s incredibly unique and wonderful powers, Emile was having a hard time seeing how he could win this with just the little fox alone. He’d likely have to enlist the help of another Pokemon to even the odds but Osha was weak to grass types so he was out of the picture. Trevenant was far too powerful for him to feel good about relying on any one of the ponies and their Pokemon, inexperienced as they were. The only one he could think to ask was... Hilda.

Hilda was still holding onto him, not being able to do much but witness the spectacle happening before her. Emile guessed that the Trevenant had attacked them due to Teah’s presence considering that the Pokedex spoke of its hatred for fire Pokemon. Hilda had been carrying the little piglet around the entire time on her head. In looking at her, Emile turned to face whatever it was Hilda had fixated on, and just to the side of the Trevenant lay a large group of fainted, hurt Litwick. He could see the conflicted nature of her stare. More than just trauma, she was a trainer too, and like any trainer worth their salt, it must not have felt good to be witness to that. He felt a little guilty, but Emile felt like he could use this to his advantage at that moment.

“Hilda!” He took hold of her shoulders and snapped her into reality. “Listen, I need you to help me here with Teah. The Trevenant is far too powerful. Eve can’t do this alone, and those Litwick as well as our friends are in danger.”

It was all a bit much for the poor girl. She was being forced out of her fears to face an incredibly hard challenge in front of her, all in order to save the very creatures of her trauma and her friends. She only stared blankly at Emile as the battle ensued.

“Emile! Watch out!” Twilight cast a spell that acted in a similar manner to Protect, feeling a large chunk of forest debris from broken tree logs whizz above his head with the rest falling harmlessly to his wayside. Both Emile and Hilda had been shaken to the floor by that little stunt. He sighed with relief and gave her a thumbs up.

“Good looking out, Twilight! Keep safe for now, we got this!” The purple unicorn nodded at him. Emile turned to face Hilda again. “You talked about your friend Bianca overcoming her troubles and seeing how strong she is. But what about you? Aren’t you made of sterner stuff? Aren’t you a former Pokemon Champion? What is your truth, and what is your ideal? This is your chance to step into tomorrow.” He got back up onto his feet and held out a hand for her. “And I need you to take that step with me. Please.”

The ground cracked beneath them from a massive Wood Hammer missing Eve and hitting the floor when the little fox dodged backward, sending shockwaves that sent everyone reeling for their footing. Before Emile could fall back to the ground again and totally ruin his, unknown to him, rather embarrassing gesture, Hilda had finally come to her senses and had taken his hand to support the both of them. Teah oinked her happiness from atop her head and jumped to the floor to go join Eve in the battle.

“You’re not very convincing, you know that?” Hilda laughed, looking a lot better now.

“I’m not a people person.” He shrugged. “You ready?” She silently nodded to him while she looked on at the battlefield. “Alright, no time for plans, let’s do this. Eve! Use Confuse Ray!” At his command, Eve sent out an array of lights that floated into the Trevenant's view, staggering it as they blinded its eyesight, swinging at nothing only to hit itself in its confusion. “Follow up with a Helping Hand!” Umbreon took a step back from the fight to begin pooling its energies toward the little Piglet.

“Teah, now’s our chance! Flame Charge!” Teah’s nostrils flared with an ember-filled smoke as she exhaled stronger and fiercer than before. Running over to the Trevenant, she ignited the smoke all at once with one powerful snort and enveloped herself in flames, tossing the full weight of her body and that fire with a force that was vastly augmented by Umbreon’s Helping Hand, sending the Trevenant sprawling backward even more.

The two trainers and their Pokemon did not let up, and before it could retaliate, Emile had commanded Eve to use Taunt to direct its attacks over to the fox while it used Protect again, with Teah being free to Ember it from a safe distance.

Despite the battle going so well now, a horrible chill crawled down the length of Emile’s spine. He could feel the malice within the energies of the Trevenant begin to rise, as though the chaotic energies that resembled the wormholes were beginning to spike to their fullest extent. And only now he was sure that this was not a natural occurrence at all, no matter which way he spun it in his head. Something, was behind these events, and that something was watching their battles carefully and would not let them have an easy win. Even now, he could feel a pair of eyes outside of the ones there staring intently at him. From the Phantumps? From whatever that something was? He could not know.

“Alright, let’s end this! Eve, use Foul-Play!” Emile commanded Eve to use a move that used the opponent's own Attack against them, and considering how powerful this Trevenant was, it would surely have been the finishing move. But Emile could not have expected what came next. Trevenant all too cleanly and quickly slipped into the ground and into the shadows beneath it, causing Eve to miss its attack. At a speed that he would not have expected from the Trevenant, the shadow it slipped into traveled across the ground and over to Hilda and Teah almost instantly, appearing behind them only to slash at them with ghostly power, sending them both to the ground. They hadn’t been physically hurt, but their lifeforce and energy had been drained from that ghost-type attack. It then reeled back with one large Wood Hammer at the ready. If it connected, it could only mean the worst for the two girls.

Again Emile found himself rushing recklessly toward them to protect them from that attack. He was sure he’d get quite the harsh scolding from Twilight and friends, but he didn’t care at all. It’s one thing to say you won’t try to play the hero in a lull of peace, but in the heat of the moment, Emile didn’t think it’d be as cut and dry as that. Sometimes you can’t stop your body from moving. Even one slip-up could mean sacrificing someone all over again... And Emile would not allow that, even at the cost of his life.

As if time itself was playing in slow motion, with his body outstretched in front of the two ready to take the blow, he saw the beginnings of Twilight’s spell forming in front of him. The speed at which it was forming and the downward momentum of that Wood Hammer meant that she would be too late to protect him to any real effect, but that was okay, no more sacrifices, he thought.

Then... he caught sight of the blue figure he’d seen a number of times before since coming to this world, just outside of his direct peripheral vision atop a tree. The blue figure that was likely responsible for giving him the sense that someone was watching them intently. It had distinct red eyes, a step, and a form all like ones he’d seen once before. Sure enough. It was the figure that had attached strings to his heart.

It had already locked on to the ghost-typing of the Trevenant with Foresight and had sent a small, familiar Aura Sphere crashing onto its side and causing the Wood Hammer to narrowly miss them by a hair’s breadth, deviating due to the sphere's explosion. A saving grace much like he’d had with Oshawott’s evolved form.

Like Blue Fate.

Author's Note:

The power portrait of the Trevenant was made by Ishmam on DeviantArt, and the Phantump one is directly from the game’s art/Bulbapedia.

This chapter felt a little disjointed in my head. Maybe I’m just out of it. Oh well, at least I got my Halloween chapter out before the actual date.

Here’s some extra Halloween theme pictures for you to enjoy.

Source

Source

Comments

[bonberjean]

Eve! Use Screech

Watch your typing, normal type moves doesn't affect ghost types, even if it is a status move... also, screech is an area move, it affects all pokemon in the field (except the one who used)

[Darkevony]

11407111
Thanks for the heads up. Seems I learned something today. Mostly since Screech is so rare on Pokemon. Was always under the impression even normal status-types worked on Ghosts. Considering the Show's logic. Shows how little I used Stat-down moves in the games... Trying to keep to double-battle game logic will be a lot, but I'll keep it in mind for the future. For now, the narrative won't get hurt if I swap it to something else. Confuse-ray probably.

[bonberjean]

11407133
You could make your pokemon or another use Odor Sleught, it makes a pokemon lose type immunity, (it becomes resistant instead), although this is a normal type status move, this move ignores type immunity. (Tepig is able to learn this move naturally)

[Darkevony]

11407135
I did think to use it with Teah to add more action sequences and prolong the battle by having it use tackle or perhaps role-out at some point, but it seemed better to keep moving along with the story. There's also that unnamed third party that used Foresight, but realistically, those moves sound like they'd only affect the individual 'mon and not an ally even if that's technically not the case. Raises a lot of questions for ghost type Pokemon composition too that I'm not able to answer.

Speaking of, totally meant to write flame charge instead of flame crash for Teah.

[bonberjean]

11407138
When in doubt, consult Bulbapedia

[shirotora]

FYI 'fauna' are animals. 'Flora' are plants. So, when this bit hapens;

"Emile sighed as he pushed apart the thick fauna that blocked their pathways,"

I can't help but imagine a pile of squirrels just plopped in the path.

[Darkevony]

11416881
I knew something was bugging me. Nice catch! Haha. Considering how much I play No Man's Sky, I should've known better.

And that's a funny idea. Tempted to keep it that way.