The Pokéball pulsed a bright, victorious blue.


    Lucas dropped to his knees.


    "YYEEEEEEESSS!!"


    He punched the air over and over again in furious triumph.


    "I... I caught one! I caught a Pokémon! I..." His eyes fell on the body of a battered, unmoving Piplup, which looked like a lump of black and blue under the moonlight.


    "Azure!" Lucas cried in distress, grabbing his bag—thankfully lighter now, after he''d removed most of its contents—and sprinted towards the Pokémon.


    "Azure! We won! Hey!" He shook the Piplup, rolling it over to see its eyes flickering white, rolling back into its head.


    Fainted.


    Lucas felt his heart pounding in his chest. Without a second thought, he grabbed the Pokéball sitting next to the unconscious Pokémon, pulling another from his pocket. A beam of blue light enveloped the blacked-out Piplup, drawing it into the safety of its capsule.


    He needed to get to a Pokémon Center. Fast.


    Shouldering his bag, Lucas dashed through the forest, the grass groaning with rustling complaints as he kicked through it in a frantic hurry.


    His breath, jagged and stressed, escaped in foggy clouds, chilled by the night''s cold.


    Sandgem was far behind him now. The only thing surrounding him was blackness swaying in the wind, leaves like inky clouds rustling in eerie whispers.


    He squeezed the Pokéball in his hand, looking down at it with perilous eyes, its shiny red coating bathed in a silver sheen of moonlight.


    "I''ll get you healed up, Azure! Straight to the Pokémon Center. Jubilife isn''t far—AAGGGGHHH!"If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Lucas stumbled and collapsed onto the ground, his body twitching uncontrollably in a violent fit.


    Visions flooded his head. Wintry air swirled with specks of bitter snow, biting his cheeks and reddening his ears.


    Voices slithered into his mind. A horrifyingly familiar voice this time.


    "This isn''t real... WAKE UP! Please... Please... Azure..." Lucas murmured.


    Suddenly, a horrible shriek of grief echoed through the evening air, accompanied by the sound of desperate sobs and weak moans trembling all around... the... what?


    He couldn''t tell where he was. The ground beneath him was covered in ancient tiles.


    Then he heard it again. That voice. His voice.


    "In a perfect world, such meaningless emotions won''t hinder us anymore..."


    Suddenly, the icy background vanished, replaced by the orange rays of the evening sun washing over a field of grass.


    His heart skipped.


    A white-furred creature with blood-red eyes and a sickle-like horn growing from the side of its head stared at him from a distance, perched on a tree branch.


    Something was horribly wrong. Staring into its eyes, Lucas couldn''t shake the feeling that something was coming.


    Something horrible.


    A disaster was looming. Right around the corner.


    Lucas gasped, coughing from the force of the breath he''d sucked in. A strand of drool clung to the humid grass, some dirt sticking to his face.


    "What the...? Why am I...?" He muttered, holding his head, which throbbed like a pulsing drum of pain.


    What the hell was going on?


    One moment, he was running. The next, his face was planted into the grass like a flower...


    It had happened again. He''d blacked out. This time, he had no idea how long.


    But the worst was yet to come.


    Howling. Harmonious howling rippled through the air, followed by the stuttering crackle of electricity. The sound made his heart drop to its knees.


    Lucas began to shake, his body trembling as though he''d been electrocuted. Frantically, he looked around, scanning the deep darkness between the trees until—


    He stopped.


    A pair of yellow dots beamed at him from the shadows of the trees. A pair of gleaming eyes.


    He wasn''t out of the woods yet.