Chapter 8

I forgot to brush my teeth this morning, but that's fine; you'll remind me, right?

...

Oh, I forgot, you're in my head. I guess I'll have to remind myself, which, if you think about it, is pretty much the same thing.

Anyway, let's talk about how my morning went. First off, I slept like a baby. The inn's beds aren't exactly the epitome of comfort, but what do you expect from a free room in the wild area? Then, after my morning routine of forgetting to brush my teeth and other activities that I guess you can call 'basic hygiene,' I left the room key at the front desk and got me some chow. Was that cool? Do people say chow? Turns out, food is also free at these inns. It's not very good food, and I know I'm not one to talk about not being picky about food, but I'll take what I can get. Rocky and Agent aren't picky either; well, actually, Rocky is picky; he just doesn't show it. I can tell whenever he hates a food; he spits some strange acidic liquid on it to dissolve it before eating. I'm not sure if that's dangerous in any way, but I haven't brought it up because if it gets him to eat what I give him, then I'm not complaining.

Without dream girl harassing me in my sleep, I actually woke up pretty early today. Early enough that the dark morning sky was still out and Stella was still asleep. It was a peaceful morning, the kind that really makes you appreciate the silence. It was just me and Agent; I didn't have Rocky out for obvious reasons. Of course, it didn't remain a peaceful morning. As soon as the clock struck eight, the sun rose, and hundreds of trainers flooded into the outpost.

So that was my almost-perfect morning. Let me tell you, this place is definitely not equipped to accommodate this many trainers. It makes me wonder, does the gym challenge get this many trainers every year? I'll have to ask Stella about it later. As nice as this morning was, I don't want to spend another minute here. However, finding Stella is going to be easier said than done. Unfortunately, I was so tired from the hike yesterday that I fell asleep the instant my body made contact with the bed. As such, I never got the chance to learn what room she was staying in. I mean, this place isn't very big; all I have to do is wait at the entrance to the Dappled Grove until she shows up. It's very obviously marked by a large arch labeled 'Dappled Grove.'.

So I wait, and since my ideas are always good, she shows up after about 30 minutes. Keep in mind, all these times are very roughly estimated since I don't have a phone, and I also can't read clocks. Once I have a phone or a watch or something, you best believe I'll be mentioning the time left and right.

"You're awake." She says.

"Did you think I was asleep?" I stop leaning against the arch.

"Yes, I couldn't find you in the cafeteria." She pushes past me.

I follow, "Oh? You looked for me?"

"Don't flatter yourself." She says, "I had every intention of leaving without you."

"Meanie." I really need to work on expanding my vocabulary. Although, maybe not in Galar.

"Wait." I say before we can go any further. She turns to me.

"Yes?"

"Do I, uh, was I supposed to bring a tent or a sleeping bag or... something?" She looks at me dumbfounded, "Because I didn't."

She starts walking back towards the outpost, "I should have expected as much."

"Where are we going?"

"Well, you're not going to get very far sleeping on the forest floor." She says.

Where on earth am I going to get a tent? Is there a building I missed? In case you're wondering, the answer is yes. There's a small supplies store tucked away in a small corner of the outpost. "I don't have any money."

"Then I guess you're going to owe me."

Aw, isn't that nice?

At least, I thought it was. Turns out, tents are expensive. Not to mention the sleeping bag; that one costs substantially less, though. So now, not only am I broke, but I also owe Stella 1,000 Poké with interest. You can call me stupid for not knowing what interest is; I probably am. I don't bother to ask; it probably just means that I should be actively working towards paying her back. She isn't very happy about it, though, especially since the line is really long and delays our departure by about half an hour.

Anyway, now that that's dealt with, let's get walking. The Dappled Grove is like a forest that's trying its best to be scary but fails in just about every way. The only Pokémon around are Caterpie, Weedle, and the occasional Skwovet. The Slumbering Weald is way more daunting than this. For one, the trees aren't nearly thick enough to block out all of the sunlight. It's more like an awkward canopy of thin branches that allows most of the light to pass through and form ugly splotches on the ground. If the weather were as awful as it was yesterday, it might actually be a little intimidating. Fortunately, it's not. At first, the forest is one big path. Over time, though, it becomes just that, a forest with no clear path forward. Even with the sun illuminating the grove, the thought of getting lost in here is still a little scary. I ask Stella if there are any dangerous Pokémon we have to worry about. She responds with this:

"Here? No, not really. The Pokémon here are used to people. They'll leave us alone if we leave them alone." She goes on to explain that the only really 'dangerous' Pokémon in the wild area are in the middle and east sections, which we are bypassing entirely. Is it wrong to be a little disappointed at that news? Maybe I'll go there one day when Agent and Rocky are stronger.

To make some small talk, I ask Stella how her day was. It's honestly not that interesting of a story, but I'll tell it to you anyway. The first thing she did was pick up her Rookidee from the Pokémon Center, since he was being treated for his injuries after she dropped him off last night. After that, she looked for me at the Inn and then decided to leave since she couldn't find me. See, not that interesting of a story. Now, do you want to hear an actually interesting story? Of course you do!

Galarian history isn't something I thought I would care about, but it's actually a little crazy how insane it is considering how much of a nothing burger it is now. Is that too mean? It might be, whatever; who cares? Back to history. The subject comes up when I ask her about the strange stone structures protruding out of the ground that I keep seeing. They sort of look like the wishing star that I woke up with, and it turns out, there is a correlation between the two. You learn new things every day, like just now, I'm learning that Stella is something of a history buff.

She explains to me about the single biggest event in Galarian history. The Darkest Day; badass name, right? She says that no one really knows how long it was; I think it's pretty self-explanatory. It's literally in the name. Anyway, this one event is singlehandedly responsible for all of the Dynamax Energy in Galar. According to Stella, the story goes something like this: Long ago, before toast sandwiches had a name, there lived two unnamed kings of Galar. This is where I ask my first question: Were they gay? Why were there two kings? She ignores my question and continues. This was a time of peace, until a meteorite struck Galar. Inside was a beast named after the event that it caused, The Darkest Day. That's kind of lame, don't you think? A monster of this caliber deserves a cool name, I bet I could come up with one. Anyway, The Darkest Day (the Pokémon, not the event) released thousands of particles of Dynamax Energy into the environment. And while it might be eco-friendly and all that, it definitely wasn't Pokémon-friendly. Not at the time at least.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

These particles were unwillingly absorbed by wild Pokémon, making them go berserk. As you can guess, this didn't bode well for any nearby cities. Especially before the time of Ditto medicine, shout out to those guys, by the way. So, for some unspecified reason, this caused the Galar sky to turn black; no sun could get through, hence the name. Honestly, that doesn't sound too far off from your average Galarian day, at least from what I've seen. Eventually, the two kings were able to rally their power, and they, along with some horses that must've been introduced when I wasn't paying attention, managed to defeat the Darkest Day, and the wishing stars scattered around Galar are supposedly parts of the Darkest Day's body. And to answer my original question, she says that those stone structures contain Dynamax Energy in caverns deep below them. No, I did not need to hear that entire story just for that answer, and you didn't either, but hey, it was fun right?

Okay, exposition dump over, I've got a forest to not be scared of.

"How long is this going to take?"

She rolls her eyes and looks at me, "Why are you so impatient?"

"Because, unlike you, I get tired. So, answer please." I say.

"Two days, assuming I haven't already gotten us lost." She examines the map of the Grove; she says they were giving them out for free at the Pokémon Center last night.

"I thought you could read those." Arceus, I'm already getting tired.

"I can; it's just been a while." She doesn't take her eyes off the map.

We haven't seen another trainer in quite a while. That either means that we are extremely lost or extremely fast, fat in my case. Take your votes; which one is it?

Both. It's both. We got extremely lost, extremely fast. And no, I'm not fat; that was a joke. You knew that right?

Anyway, I have to recall Agent as soon as he learns of this devastating news. The only thing worse than being lost in a forest is being lost in a forest and also crying uncontrollably. Well, there is one more thing that's worse. It's Stella refusing to admit that she got us lost.

"I know where we are." She insists.

"Mhmh." I cross my arms.

She looks at me, face red, "I do."

"And I believe you." We're only going to get more lost if I infuriate her, intentionally or not. So I stay quiet and let her focus.

Look at me being sensible. I've come such a long way. Not literally; we've only been walking for like an hour. But mentally, I'm at least 1% smarter than I was a week ago. Although the me from two weeks ago might have been a genius for all I know. Let's not get preoccupied with my past; there are more pressing matters for once. Stella recalls Scorbunny. The little guy is full of energy, which would normally be great, but his energetic self isn't exactly conducive to what she's trying to do. And what she's trying to do is, in my opinion, pretty damn important. In some strange stroke of brilliance, Rocky takes the hint and decides to shut up. When has he ever done that? Never.

Anyway, the day carries on like some sort of strange comedy. I keep asking Stella if she knows where she's going, to which she always responds with one of three different grunts. And these past three hours, I've learned to decipher what each one means. For example. 'Mh' means 'I'm not annoyed right now, but if you keep asking, I'm going to kill you.'. 'Guh' means 'You're getting on my nerves.'. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, all of them mean 'shut up.'.

Eventually, she just gives up and has her Rookidee scout the skies to get us back on track. I'm not sure what's more alarming, the fact that she didn't do that earlier or the fact that I didn't even think about that. She doesn't have that excuse; I know that big brain of hers knew that was a choice the entire time. I suppose she was trying to prove something to... me? To herself? No, definitely not to me. To herself then, I guess that makes sense. Right?

That was a rhetorical question, so don't answer. Do I really have to explain to you what a rhetorical question is? No, I don't; your smart enough to know that. Now, if you are really smart, you'll notice that I used the wrong form of your just a few sentences ago. On that subject, please chalk up any other grammatical errors to me testing you; I'm not very smart.

Now, that was bizarre, right? Me talking to you like that, it was weird, right? You're probably wondering, 'How does he know about me?'. Or maybe you're wondering, 'What on earth am I reading?' Do you want to know the answer? Too bad! I'm not going to give it to you. And now, my friends, you know what it feels like to be me: confused and broke and hungry. Those last two either hit hard or are completely incorrect. In which case, good for you. And—

Arceus, I need to stop thinking; this is what hours of silence does to a man; it makes him go crazy. No more weird analogies, I promise, and I don't break my promises. At least, I haven't yet. You know what? I blame this all on Stella. For my own good, I need to start associating with people other than her. Although her voice is kind of like an oasis of normality from everyone else's horrible accents. Plus, she might be a little rough around the edges, but she's still helping me. And though I don't really show it, it's a greatly appreciated gesture.

Man, I almost forgot that I'm in a forest! By the time we reach the main 'path' again, we're no longer ahead. Which, honestly, I don't mind at all. The chatter of other trainers is comforting.

With all of our meandering around, I wrongly assumed that we were at least halfway through the grove. If this were a game show, I would be hearing a loud red buzzer right about now. We're not even a quarter of the way there. Now, I don't want to blame Stella, but it's totally her fault. At the same time, I get it. Carrying the burden of navigating for both of us can't be easy, so she gets a pass. Hopefully we can make more headway tomorrow. We find a clearing not far from the main path and set up camp. It takes me a lot longer to figure out how to set up the tent than I'd like to admit; why don't they just come pre-assembled?

Now, that wasn't a rhetorical question, but if you answered, then you are stupid because it was obviously a trick question. Come on people! Obviously tents aren't going to come pre-assembled.

Anyway, I've become something of an insomniac. How am I supposed to get a good night's sleep when there's a possibility of getting jumped by a hungry Pokémon? Or even worse, my own dreams.

---

"Who are you?"

You know the drill. Same café, same jazz, same lights, same girl. Everything is only different enough for me to notice. The Lampent seems to have been replaced by a Chimecho who plays a catchy little jingle every time someone enters or leaves. There's no Kricketune this time, only a piano-playing Mr. Mime accompanied on vocals by a Chatot. It's just as odd-sounding as the violin, but somehow I think I prefer it.

And of course, my best dream friend, girl with black hair. She's wearing a top hat tonight; it looks ridiculous.

"What's with the hat?" I ask.

She hesitantly replies, "You don't like it?"

She's actually talking to me? This is new. What do I say? Honesty is the policy, I suppose.

"No, not really." A few of the cafe's patrons shuffle by us, talking gibberish as always.

She adjusts the hat. "Yeah, I thought so."

Arceus, does she have to be so cryptic? She clearly knows something.

She speaks again before I can say anything else, "Care for a dance?" She extends her arms.

"I don't know how." I say. It's true; is that weird? Do most people know how to dance?

I thought she would push or encourage me to do so anyway. Instead, she puts her arms down and says, "Shame."

Well, fuck, I should have taken her up on that. It's too late now.

She frowns, "What are you thinking?"

She interrupts my train of thought like a freight train hitting a poor Tauros, "Huh?"

"You know," she paces around me like a Mightyena circling around its prey, "We don't have to keep doing this."

Oh, then by all means, please tell me how mysterious dream woman.

"Keep doing what?" I silently shun myself for asking such a stupid question. What do you think, moron? She doesn't think the question is so stupid, however.

"This same song and dance every night. You go to sleep, I appear, I ask you the same question, you don't answer, and then you wake up. It's already getting old." Yeah, tell me about it.

"So, how do we stop?" I ask.

She smiles, "You just have to tell me one thing."

No, not again, "No, don't you dare say it—"

"Where are you?"

Wait, what?

"What did you say—"

I wake up on the hard forest floor. My head is pressed against a stone, and my entire back is covered in dirt now. For a moment I thought, wow, how did Stella disassemble my tent without me noticing? But she's not that nice or mean, depending on how you think about it. No, I'm not in the clearing anymore. I'm somewhere completely different, albeit still in the Dappled Grove. As if my insomnia couldn't get worse, now I'm teleporting in my sleep. Or, I guess the more obvious answer would be that I sleepwalked here. Is that how messed up my brain is now? That the first thought I have is that I teleported. Thankfully I still have Rocky's and Agent's Pokéballs on me. But since I'm not a maniac and don't sleep with my backpack on, that shit is gone.

No food for me! How fun...