The cold wind whipped the hood off Kyle's head as he struggled to walk through the thick snow. He really wanted to just turn back right now, go home, get into a warm bed with his laptop and a cup of steaming hot apple tea. But looking at the back of the man in front of him trudging along with no complaints, he didnt utter a word of protest and just followed.
Kyle had known Faust for time enough to tell something was wrong. He couldn't really understand how but Faust had definitely changed. Not the kind of change where you suddenly get a haircut and people around you find it difficult to get used to. No this was a more subtle yet profound change. Kyle could see a sort of curiosity in Faust's eyes, a sort that could only be found in children as they tried to make sense of the world around them.
It wouldn't have been strange if it was only that. In little less than a week since he first mentioned it, he became a researcher. No...he was invited to be a researcher. Faust just went from a nobody to playing directly in the big leagues. Not that Kyle had a problem with Faust's success. If anything he was just glad the guy stayed the same, money and power did strange things to people. Kyle was just thankful his only friend had remained the same through the whole thing.
"Up ahead. As long as we enter the Grove, the snow on the ground will be thinner and it'll be easier to walk", Faust's voice rang out as Kyle was in his thoughts.
"Huh...oh yeah I see it. Hey, I understand all the sentimental value and need to keep with the theme. But seriously…in which fucking way does that look like a grove?", Kyle replied looking at the thick mass of trees ahead.
"It probably was a grove in the beginning."
"Yeah, that was what, a hundred years ago?", muttered Kyle as he finally found a tree and leaned on it to catch his breath.
"No idea, definitely older than that. The available records don't really go all that back in history. The oldest ones start when the Grand Grove had already been abandoned by humans. But seriously, the rate of growth of this forest is astounding. I mean from a Grove to a full-fledged forest of this scale in a few hundred years is fast", said Faust setting down his bag and taking a sip of water.
Faust and Kyle had set off late in the morning but with their walking pace, it had taken them over six hours just to get to the grove. The snow had drastically lowered their speed, in the summer the trail leading to the Grand Grove could be completed in less than three hours.
"I think we can start looking around now. There's no point going deeper into the forest only to come back to the edge to set up the camp. Besides, there isn't much daylight left now, sunsets in a couple of hours", said Faust calling out Eevee.
Kyle agreed and they started exploring while making sure they kept the clearing in their view. While this forest was said to be infested with Applin, who knew if there were any Flapple, Appletun or any other dangerous species of Pokemon around.
As time passed the surroundings darker and they decided to call it a day and set up camp. Faust had never done this before but the former Faust's memories came in handy. The school provided basic wilderness survival training for all the first years.
"Oh, by the way, I haven't seen your third Pokemon. So how about a grand reveal now?", said Kyle as they were sitting around a compression tech heater. The CT heater was a must-have for all trainers. It run on special batteries and served the same function as a fire minus the smoke, excessive light and the need to constantly feed it wood. Pokemon were not like normal animals, fire didnt scare away Pokemon in fact quite often it had the opposite effect. So it was not recommended to light fires in wild areas, rifts and forests.
Faust simply tossed a Pokeball and Dreepy appeared in a stream of red light. Kyle looked at the Dreepy for a minute before looking back at Faust, "Hey didnt you say it was an amazing dragon type?"
Faust just chuckled and said, "It is a dragon-type. It's got a unique typing, dragon and ghost. Give it time, once it evolves it'll look more like a dragon."
"Damn bro, a ghost type. Are you sure it's safe though? I've heard ghost types can torture you in your sleep."
"I was told that when I got Dreepy but don't worry, he is quite laid back."
Faust and Kyle talked about random things for some time before finally turning in for the night. Faust had scattered hard and brittle twigs around the campsite which would warn them if anyone got close enough to step on them. He also let Eevee out, her Anticipation ability was handy for situations like this. Finally, making sure that there were no wild Pokemon around, Faust drifted off to dreamland.
Absolute blackness. That is what Faust saw when he opened his eyes. Faust would have panicked if not for the pale blue screen that suddenly materialised in front of him.
[Overwhelming Psychic stimulus detected.
The Hidden Condition has been met.
The Host's psychic potential has been unlocked.
The Host Attribute Panel has been unlocked.
Identifier can now be used to analyse attributes of humans.]
Just as Faust had finished reading the text on the blue system panel, his vision cleared and the darkness disappeared only to be replaced by the familiar interior of his tent. Although Faust couldn't see it, his eyes glowed with a blue light for a brief moment before becoming normal again. Quickly checking his watch, he saw that it was almost seven am in morning.
He came out of his tent only to find a strange dense fog that had settled over the surroundings. Lifting the flap to Kyle's tent he found it empty but his belt with a single Pokeball attached to it was still there. He picked it up and tied it around his own waist.
Faust then stepped out to call for Eevee and Dreepy but after a few minutes passed neither of the Pokemon responded. He then went on to look for them but found no one. He even called out for Kyle but didn't receive any response.
Faust suddenly had a very bad feeling about the whole situation but as he was about to panic, a cool feeling spread from his head to the rest of his body bringing with it a calming effect.
Faust suddenly recalled the system message he had received and accessed the system. Apart from the rest of the options from when he had first unlocked the system, there was an additional option.
[Host Statistics]
Accessing it, the panel changed and transformed into a character attribute panel from RPG games.
[Name: Faust Williamson
Pokemon: 3
Strength: F-
Vitality: F+
Intelligence: E+
Psychic Potential: E+
Aura: N/A
An average human has stats at F- except Psychic Potential and Aura which may or may not be present in an individual]
The panel was quite short and Faust tried tapping on different attributes but nothing happened until he tapped on Pokemon. The screen changed again to a list of Pokemon he had captured and trained. Faust closed the screen and sat down to think.
The system had said that there was an extreme psychic stimulus that had awoken his own Psychic capabilities. Faust somehow had a feeling that if not for his psychic ability awakening, he would definitely not be able to get out of that dark place. Eevee and Dreepy were not psychic Pokemon so they could have been influenced by the psychic stimulus. Same for Kyle.
'So basically a psychic Pokemon either controlled them or influenced them to leave camp. Damn it. This is seriously the worst situation, I do have Wimpod but if the psychic Pokemon is beyond the Senior Rank…it will not be of any use.'
Faust didn't have any option but to pack up the gear and look for his Pokemon and Kyle. He knew that they were fine because the psychic type had an agenda as it was controlling them. But this fact didn't appease the unease of Faust at all because he didn't know where to start looking. Moreover, the fog was so thick that he was going in literally blind unable to see beyond the length of his hands in front of him.
Faust stuffed everything into his system inventory and took out a knife to mark the trees so as to avoid going round in circles. He then walked deeper into the forest.
Faust didn't encounter anyone or any Pokemon in the first three hours of entering the forest. It was only when he had stopped to rest for a bit that he heard the sound of someone walking towards him. Quickly he got off the path and concealed himself behind a tree. A few minutes later, a herd of Snover and a few Abomasnow passed the point where he had earlier stopped to rest. But Faust saw that there was something off about them. Their eyes didn't have the lustre of a self-thinking being and they moved in a very disciplined manner.
'They are being controlled by the psychic Pokemon as well.'
The heavy and uncomfortable feeling that Faust had intensified. There were almost thirty Pokemon in the herd and being able to control so many Pokemon at once showed that whatever it was, it was definitely strong. Just as Faust was deciding whether or not to follow the herd of Snover, he felt a sticky and cold wetness on his shoulder accompanied by a rough rubbing.
Faust turned around and froze, he felt an icy coldness in his veins as fear suddenly took hold of him. A Cubchoo was rubbing its snot onto his shoulder while a group of Cubchoo and Bearctic watched on. Faust quickly backpedalled away from the group and watched them watch him with vacant expressions. Just as Faust was preparing to call out Wimpod, the group just turned away from him and walked away in the direction of the Snover herd.
Faust didn't move until the group had disappeared completely. He could feel his heart pounding away rapidly in his chest as it gradually slowed down and became normal. After a few minutes, Faust picked himself off the ground and walked in the direction he had seen the two groups of Pokemon go.
Faust soon caught up with the two groups of Pokemon. Unlike before, the groups had merged. Snovers walked alongside the Cubchoos without paying any attention to the different species. As Faust stalked the group carefully, he soon came to a clearing that was illuminated by a familiar purplish-pink light. Faust saw a sight that truly amazed him. In the clearing, a large number of Pokemon were gathered. At first glance, it looked like a gathering of who's who of ice-type Pokemon.
There were Snorunt, Glailie, Froslass, Snover, Cubchoo, Bearctic, Abomasnow, Walrein, Spheal, Bergmite, Avalugg, Crygonal, Snom, Frosmoth and many others. But soon Faust noticed many Applin, Flapple, Appletun as well. There were even Tauros, Rhyhorn, Sandshrew and other types as well.
Faust found a climbable tree and climbed to the top. Once at the top, he saw another amazing sight, the purplish-pink light was indeed a rift and the Pokemon were entering the rift one after the other. Faust took out his phone and began taking photos of the phenomenon. Such a large scale gathering of Pokemon so close to a town was definitely not good news. Even though they were entering a rift and not moving towards Applegrove town, what if they suddenly changed their mind. Or rather what if the Pokemon who was capable of controlling hundreds of Pokemon changed its mind.
Faust had been watching the Pokemon for almost an hour when he caught sight of familiar brown fur. Quickly zooming in on the area, he saw an Eevee riding on top of an Avalugg. Faust felt a sense of relief which soon turned into helplessness. He reached out his hand in the direction of Eevee. If only he could pull Eevee to himself.
As he was thinking so, Faust suddenly felt a tug on his mind and Eevee who was standing atop the Avalugg flew for a few metres in Faust's direction and crashed into the snow-covered ground. Faust looked at the Eevee lying in the snow who got up and started walking towards the rift as if nothing had happened.
'Of course! I've awakened as a psychic. Okay, let's try it again.'
Faust located the Eevee among the crowd of Pokemon and tried to use the ability again. But it didn't work, he tried a few times and finally stopped.
'Is the energy exhausted? No that shouldn't be the case, if it were so then id be experiencing symptoms of mental overexertion.'
Unable to use the psychic energy to pull Eevee to himself, Faust climbed back down the tree and decided to get Eevee back physically. But looking at the crowd of Pokemon in front of him he abandoned the idea. While the Pokemon ignored him like he didn't exist, they could still trample him if he simply rushed in blindly. Feeling the helplessness, Faust didn't know what to do.
He could try and use Wimpod to get to Eevee but he didn't want to risk the chance that whatever it was that was influencing these Pokemon could get to Wimpod. Faust sighed and climbed back up the tree.
Time slowly passed and the number of Pokemon in the clearing had reduced drastically. Of course, Eevee was not among the leftover Pokemon, she had already been very close to the rift and Faust had watched her go into the rift. Watching the last few groups of Pokemon disappear into the rift, Faust waited for another half an hour before finally deciding to climb down.
Just as he had landed on the snow-covered ground at the base of the tree, a soul-shaking cry rang out through the forest. Accompanying the cry, Faust saw a huge shadow shoot past the sky above him. Feeling a heavy discomfort in his head, Faust fell to the ground clutching his head unaware of what was happening around him. All he wanted at the moment was to stop the painful discomfort in his head.
Slowly the pain subsided and Faust lifted himself up leaning against the tree. Looking beyond the trees at the familiar yet unfamiliar majestic figure of the bird Pokemon, he suddenly realised who it was that was causing such a large scale disruption.
Although he wasn't happy seeing this Pokemon here, it was only after he used the identifier on it that he felt true despair and helplessness.