The backhoe loader scooped up one of the final boulders, backing away from the remaining boulders with a low rumble and roar to make room for the next backhoe loader to move in, and it dumped the large boulder down the huge hole to the side.

The boulder slammed against the side of the mountain and rumbled before going silent as it fell down a long, deep drop.

Several loud noises from the top of the mountain made me look up momentarily, but I returned my gaze back to the remaining two boulders as the next backhoe loader lifted one and backed up, the first backhoe loader moving in to grab the final boulder.

June stood by my side, staring with worry on her face as the backhoe loader lifted the final boulder and backed up. She whimpered by my side as she stared at the empty ground as the backhoe loaders released the boulders down the hole.

The police had formed a line several feet in front of me, staring at the spot where the boulders had once been before being removed.

I shakily walked over to the line of male and female police officers, getting a better view at what they all were silently looking at.

Nothing.

The gray ground of the mountain sat empty with no signs of anything having been there previously. A thin path curved around the side of the mountain.

The officers all turned to me with matching, solemn glares.

My eyes closed as tears filled in them, and I silently cried to myself, lowering my head, hot tears dripping from between my eyelids. Melissa… I thought to myself. I heard footsteps from in front of me draw closer before stopping.

“Gary,” a male officer spoke.

I wiped at my eyes, sniffling, but I couldn’t manage to bring my head up to look at the man.

“There’s no sign of anyone here,” he spoke firmly. “No blood, no body, no anything. Your sister wasn’t underneath that pile of boulders, luckily.”

The distant, low rumble of the boulders that had been tossed down the hole, crashing to the bottom of the mountain, rose to my ears.

I nodded and sniffled again, closing my eyes even tighter, forcing more tears to the ground.

The crackle of his walkie-talkie made my eyes open, and I looked over at it on his hip. I couldn’t understand what was being said from the other side, but the officer raised the device to his mouth. “Alright. Same here. Nothing. Over and out.” He lowered his walkie-talkie and stared down at me with a serious glare, sighing. “Our officers have searched all throughout the forest, kid. There’s no sign of your sister. They didn’t find anybody at all.”

I swallowed and looked down, the tears falling from my open eyes.

“The woods around here don’t go very far and only empty out onto this mountain,” the officer explained. “There isn’t anywhere she could have run off to since we began searching. She isn’t here.”

I sniffled as I rubbed my hands into my sore eyes.

“We’ll keep an eye out for her and be sure to inform your mother if we find her, but for now, there isn’t much more we can do,” the officer said. “This hasn’t been anything more than clearing the path of some fallen boulders, for now.” He reached up and patted my shoulder. “Come on, boys, ladies!” he called to the other officers, and the collection of law enforcers followed the man into the woods, leaving me alone with June.

Another rumble as the final boulders finally reached the bottom of the mountain echoed out before silence returned.

Where did she go…? I thought weakly, my body trembling hard with fear.

Having run back to the nearest town, where the Golurk had attacked, I found a police officer and begged for help finding my sister, who I had believed was crushed underneath the pile of boulders that had crashed from the top of the mountain. After I admitted that I hadn’t actually seen her crushed by the boulders, several police officers were radioed in to search the surrounding woods for her, while backhoes were called in to work on removing the boulders.

I had been driven to another town’s police department because the one that had been attacked by the Golurk was still not properly functioning due to their lack of electricity. I filed a Missing Persons Report on Melissa, giving my mother’s number to call if they found her. When asked why she hadn’t been reported as missing earlier, I explained that she was a Pokemon Trainer. The short answer I gave spoke many words, and it seemed to be enough of an answer to be understood by the police, and yet, something hit me in that moment.

The answer of being a “Pokemon Trainer” didn’t sit right with me. Something about that answer being acceptable for this kind of a situation frustrated me. So what if she was a Pokemon Trainer? She’s still somebody’s daughter. My sister! What makes it more understandable that she’s missing because of that?

Now, standing beside June, a warm breeze making me uncomfortable in even my lightweight jacket, the sun beaming high in the sky, I turned around and stared out at the surrounding mountains forming a circle with the cliff I was standing on, a deep, gaping crater in between. My body was weak. The urge to run and jump from the cliff was tempting. I had just lost my sister. I had her, and I just let her get away. My eyes lowered as my hand lifted towards me, and my gaze focused on my palm where Melissa’s blood had been several hours ago. What was that? I wondered, my eyes glued to my palm. Why was she bleeding? Why did she run away from June’s inquiry? What happened to her?

“Gary,” June whispered behind me.

How could I let her just get away from me that easily? I asked myself.

“Gary,” June whispered louder.

I took a step closer to the ledge of the cliff, and then another, followed by a third step. My eyes surveyed the wide hole, and I took another step, intending on looking over the edge to see the long drop to a bottom I wouldn’t be able to see from this high up.

“Gary!” June cried. “Where are you going?” She ran up to me and grabbed my shoulder, stopping further steps.

It’d be so easy to just jump, I considered. And, why not? Once I leap, even if I regret it, it’ll be all over and there will be no turning back. There’s nothing for me anymore, after all. Nothing makes sense. Nothing matters. I can’t take this. I feel as if… I’ve lost… Everything!

“Gary, who is that guy?” June asked me in a low voice, her hand gripping my shoulder tightly.

I looked up at her as her question interrupted my thoughts, and I turned around towards the woods and stared at a familiar face.

It was the man from earlier who had warned me about the surrounding area being dangerous due to the boulders that had landed. He also mentioned something about a Ninetales. He stared at us from near the woods, eyeing us suspiciously, looking a filthy mess in his stained clothes and homeless man’s beard.

“Why is he staring at us?” June asked fearfully.

I didn’t really care. I had other things on my mind at the moment. My life was over at this point, and whatever was going on in the world around me, wasn’t my concern anymore. I turned back to the gaping hole and took another step forward, my head over the ledge, looking down the endless drop. Just staring down from here made me feel as if my body was swaying. The thought that I might just accidentally drop down into this hole filled me with a mix of fear and excitement. Joy and pain. Satisfaction and depression. Suddenly, my shoulder was grabbed and I was pulled back a couple of feet and turned around roughly, now staring into the squinting eyes of June.

“Gary? What are you doing?” she asked me strongly.

My eyes lifted and stared past her, suddenly widening.

June stared into my eyes and turned around, and a gasp escaped her mouth.

The man was walking towards us quickly, glaring at us, his fists at his sides.

“Who are you?” June cried fearfully.

The man didn’t stop walking until he towered above us both from only a foot away. “My name is Damian,” he told us both. “I warned this guy over here already, but hopefully you’ll hear me out and convince your boyfriend to heed my warning.”

“What warning?” June asked.

“Excuse me!” I said angrily, glaring at Damian.

Damian and June’s eyes turned to me at once.

“I am not her boyfriend!” I said seriously. “And can you leave us alone, please? I’m really not in the mood for whatever it is you’re talking about right now.”

“Not a couple but you wish to be left alone with her,” Damian noted, squinting down at me.

I didn’t like the look on his face. I suddenly found myself holding back the urge to sock him square in his nose, but instead, I only glared back at him. “Will you beat it already?”

“Not until you guys get out of here! It’s not safe around me,” Damian insisted.

“The boulders fell. There isn’t anything else we could possibly be worried about around here,” I said impatiently. This guy was getting on my last nerve.

Damian suddenly whipped his body around and screamed. “STAY AWAY!!! PLEASE!!! I’M SORRY!! I’M SORRY!!”

I turned to see what he was yelling at, but I saw nothing but trees.

“Damian, what’s wrong?” June asked him.

The ground started to rumble.

June and I exchanged surprised glances.

I started to stumble around uncontrollably.

“Gary, come here!” June grabbed my shoulders and pulled me away from the edge of the cliff, and we both stumbled and tripped to the ground.

“What’s with the ground?” I asked, and I looked up at Damian who was trying hard not to fall.

“It’s coming! Not again!” Damian cried, his voice sounding on the verge of tears. “Why? Why? What did I do to deserve this? Why?”

A loud cracking noise made my head turn towards the woods, and my mouth was now wide enough to catch flies in it.

Many of the trees in the woods a short distance away from us were now shaking, bending, stretching. The bottoms of the trunks twisted, curved, and loud moans rose from the woods as the trees seemed to uproot themselves from the ground! The branches curved down, a large, dark hole appearing near the middle of the tree trunks, two smaller holes forming above it. The trees creaked, cracked, groaned, and moaned as they were freed from the ground and seemed to be staring at us all. The two smaller holes above the large hole seemed to shrink and grow back, reminding me of blinking eyes, and they suddenly seemed to narrow with anger! The larger hole beneath them became a thin, horizontal line that then curved into the shape of an upside down ‘U,’ giving the trees an angry look.

“RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!” Damian bellowed, and he took off away from June and I.

With a loud, staggering roar, the larger holes on the trees widening, the trees rocked the ground mercilessly as they all ran after us!

June and I let out terrified shrieks as we stumbled in disbelief to our feet and ran after Damian, alongside the mountain, the path curving quickly as we went uphill.

“What’s going on here?!” June shrieked shrilly.

“Freaking trees!! Trees!!!” I shouted back in a panic.

“That isn’t possible!! This is not possible!!” June screamed.

“Tell the trees that!! Maybe they’ll stop!!” I suggested.

The quaking of the trees rocking the ground underneath us made it very hard to run, especially with the path June and I were on being so thin. My right foot was literally running on the edge of the cliff, June safely on the inside of the path!

Well, you might just get your wish to go over, now, I thought to myself. For some reason, that plan didn’t sound so appealing anymore.

The path split, giving us the options to run forward, or continue the curving path up the mountain.

June and I shot forward, and I spotted Damian, far ahead of us, pounding the pavement with his feet as he ran.

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Seeing him so far ahead made me desire to catch up to him, and I sucked in my breath, forcing my legs to move quicker as the ground continued to rumble, leaving June behind me.

Damian was still a good distance ahead of me, and he tripped a couple of times, catching himself and continuing to run, which slowed him down just a bit, and I began to catch up with him.

“HEY! You guys! Wait!” June begged from far behind me.

She must be out of her mind! I thought to myself. I looked behind me. “June! Come on!” I urged frantically.

The roar from the tree monsters echoed throughout.

“But, those tree creatures are gone!” June insisted, stopping to catch her breath, slouched over.

“The ground is still shaking, June!” I yelled at her urgently.

“But they aren’t here, Gary!” June called out to me.

Damian started to slow down and he turned to me. “She’s right.” He dropped to the ground and gasped for air.

“Huh?” I slowed down my running until I came to a complete stop a couple of feet away from Damian.

The ground stopped shaking abruptly.

“Whoa! What happened?” I asked, shocked, out of breath as I stared at the ground. My body was not used to the sudden end of the quaking and I felt unsteady.

“They’re not even here anymore,” June breathed heavily, weakly stumbling over to us.

“But, the ground was just shaking! Why’d it stop?” I looked past June, trying to see if any of those trees were going to show up again.

“It’s over for now,” Damian said before taking a deep breath. “You two need to get out of here, immediately.”

“What about you?” I asked him.

Damian swallowed, shaking his head. “Don’t-”

A loud noise silenced Damian and grabbed all of our attention.

“Did anyone hear that?” June asked quietly.

Before any of us could answer her, a huge CRAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKK!!!!!! noise rang out, and the next thing I knew, I was falling! We all were screaming at the top of our lungs, our voices echoing as we dropped. I could see the hole above us that we had dropped from, the sun shining from above it as I dropped even further down into the blackness surrounding me, June, and Damian.

“Galvantula, help us! Spider Web!” June yelled.

Wait, what? I thought in a panic.

I heard the Poke Ball open and the cry of “Galvantulaaaa!” before I saw the bright spark below me, the huge electric spider Pokemon sitting amongst the spark.

“Ugh!” I exclaimed as I fell into Galvantula’s net and got stuck, fast.

June and Damian landed in the net as well, shaking it hard, but I was still stuck in the sticky webbing.

“Gal?” Galvantula said from the wall, staring at her web.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” a surge of electricity shot through my body, and I heard June and Damian scream out in pain as well.

Galvantula cried out along with us, watching us from the wall she clung to.

June let out a grunt, and a familiar cry met my ears. “Rotom, get us out of here!” June ordered as we continued to get electrocuted by Galvantula’s web.

Still screaming, I felt a strong force tug and pull on my body. With a final, hard yank, my body was freed from the web and now hovered in the air. My body went limp, shivering in pain, sparking with electricity.

Moaning, I looked over and saw June and Damian hovering above the sparking web below us, also silent and looking exhausted and weak, their bodies sparking. They were both outlined in a light green color.

I looked down wearily at my body and noticed that it was also outlined in green. What is this? I wondered, and a cry above me made me look up to see Rotom smiling down at us, its eyes glowing green.

“Galvantula! Galvantula!” Galvantula cried from the wall, waving her feelings at me.

“Get away…” I moaned weakly, not wanting that thing to touch me.

“Galvantula! I said Spider Web, not Electroweb!” June scolded her Pokemon.

“Galvantula! Gal! Gal!” Galvantula waved her feelers even more.

Goose bumps ran across my body and I shook in disgust at the spider.

“Well, you have to try harder to make sure you use the right moves, okay?” June told her Pokemon sharply.. “Please be more careful in the future.”

Galvantula looked down sadly.

“You two, please, don’t look down,” Damian warned us warily.

Of course, I turned my head and looked down. My eyes widened, my heart leaping into my throat from what I saw beneath the sparking web.

June screamed, her voice echoing throughout the dark area we were in.

Only about ten feet below the web Galvantula had made sat the bottom of the hole we had fallen into. The floor of the hole was covered in jagged rocks the size of any one of our entire bodies!

Damian sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t have said anything if I expected you to listen.”

“June,” I whimpered, shaking inside of the Psychic hold Rotom had me in. “Please.”

“Rotom, go!” June called up to it quickly.

Rotom nodded eagerly and, keeping its eyes on us, floated up into the air.

The three of us ascended, our eyes all remaining on the huge spikes that nearly ended our lives.

What are the freaking odds of that? I questioned. Huge spikes at the bottom of a cave that just opens up from out of nowhere? Is this a cheap adventure movie or something?

The pointy tips of the rocks below seemed to gleam.

I blinked my eyes and squinted at them as I continued to soar up higher. Get out of here, I thought in amazement as my eyes widened so wide, it hurt. Impossible. I turned to June, who was also gazing at the deadly rocks in disbelief, her mouth open in horror. “June? Do you see what I’m seeing?”

June didn’t answer.

“Don’t tell me you see it, too,” Damian muttered.

The rocks below appeared to be shaking hard, rocking in place, side to side.

PESHEW!

One of the large rocks flew up from the ground with a sharp cry, tearing right through the electric spider web, and soared past Damian, just barely missing him.

Damian screamed and started to struggle in Rotom’s Psychic grasp.

“ROTOM! MOVE IT!!” June bellowed.

Rotom flew faster into the air as the rocks below began to fly up at us, one at a time. One of the rocks flew right through Rotom, but it didn’t seem to notice.

“Uck!” I exclaimed in disgust as Galvantula, her body outlined in green, soared by my side, being carried up by Rotom.

“Rotom!” I begged it, shedding tears as rocks flew all around and in between the five of us. “Save us!”

“It’s me you want!” Damian screamed. “Leave the kids out of this! Just take me!!”

I turned to him in confusion and screamed as a large, pointed rock flew by me, right in front of my face! Had my cap been on forward, the sharp rock would have easily taken it off of my head! The light from above caught my attention and I looked up at the hole that was only a few feet away. “Yes!!” I cheered.

Rotom was already through the hole.

June was brought out of it first, Galvantula, Damian, and I right behind her.

“We made it!” I cried happily as we landed safely.

An onslaught of spiky rocks soared from the hole in the cave where June, me, Rotom, Damian, and Galvantula had just managed to escape from only a second ago. The dangerous rocks flew high, disappearing into the sky.

Damian sighed and collapsed on his back. “Please, will you kids leave here already? I can’t take this anymore!”

“What is going on here, Damian?” June demanded, getting to her feet and walking over to him. “This isn’t normal! What do you know? Something is going on here!”

“This is my fight, not yours!” Damian shouted, sitting up. “I’m trying to keep you two safe! Why are you being so stupid about this?”

“Safe from what, Damian?” June stomped on the ground once. “I want to know what’s causing all of this! This can’t possibly be real!”

“It’s real enough, okay?” Damian crossed his arms, glaring at June.

June slowly sat down and her face softened. “Yes, Damian. It’s real enough.” She crawled over to Damian and sat closer to him, keeping contact with his eyes. “Why won’t you tell us what it is, though?”

Damian looked off to the side. “Because there’s nothing that can be done to stop it,” he answered slowly, softly. He got to his feet, his eyes remaining on what now had his attention. “It wants to punish me.”

June, Galvantula, Rotom, and I all turned to see what he was staring at.

“A Ninetales!” I exclaimed in shock. “Where did that thing come from?” I pulled my Pokedex from my pocket.

Ninetales. The Fox Pokemon and the evolved form of Vulpix. Each of their nine tails are said to possess a different, mysterious power, including attributing to their extremely long lifespan that is said to extend into one thousand years.

“Is it yours?” I asked him.

Damian nodded. “The way it acts, you’d think it wasn’t, though. It’s really taking the piss right now.”

I stared at Ninetales. “Doesn’t look like it’s urinating if you ask me,” I muttered, shrugging. “But, anyway, what’s going on? Do you two have some kind of issue?”

“All I did was pull one of your damn tails, Ninetales!” Damian screamed. “Why are you being this way over that? I apologized! I didn’t know you’d get this way over that!”

“Oh, no,” June whispered.

I turned to her, confused, and then looked back over to Damian and Ninetales. “You pulled one of its tails?”

“Yes,” Damian said, his voice cracking with fear. “They say that the tails possess special powers, like your Pokedex said, and while I was brushing its fur one day, I rubbed my fingers through its tail, and I gripped it and just gave it a tiny little tug! I didn’t hurt it or anything. I don’t even know why I did it. It was just an affectionate little pull! Ever since then, all of these crazy accidents and freak occurrences keep on happening! It’s been going on since summer last year, and I am lucky to still be alive, but at this rate, this Pokemon is going to kill me!”

“Over a tail pull?” I turned to Ninetales in disbelief. “That doesn’t make any sense! Why would it do that over that?”

“Gary, Ninetales is a very vengeful Pokemon,” June said shakily. “I’ve heard to never cross one. They can lay a one thousand year curse on people. They’re not known for their forgiveness.”

“Damian is… cursed?” I couldn’t believe what was going on.

“The boulders that fell, the trees chasing us, the hole we fell into,” Damian recounted, his voice shaking, breaking. “Even the Spider Web turning into Electroweb. It’s all Ninetales. I’ve been running for my life from all kinds of things like this. I don’t know what to do anymore!” His head fell and he began to cry.

“June,” I said, turning to her. “Isn’t there anything you can do to sort this out?”

June was cowering on the spot, trembling in fear, her eyes wide with terror, locked onto Ninetales.

What is that noise? I acknowledged. It was like the sound of something moving at top speed, accompanied by an almost unnoticeable whistle, and I’d been hearing it for the past minute or so, but I hadn’t registered it in my mind at the time. I looked up into the sky and screamed.

A shrill scream was heard from June.

Damian turned to me and June and started to look up into the sky, but he was too slow. With a gruesome noise, one of the large, pointed rocks that had flown out of the hole we had escaped, returned from the sky and forced itself into Damian’s left shoulder. He screamed out louder than anything I may have ever heard.

I covered my ears and closed my eyes as his cries rang out through the mountains.

Damian begged and screamed painfully from the ground.

I peeked at him through one eye, closing it immediately afterwards after what I had seen.

His blood was splattered on the ground around him, on his body, and all over the spike that was shoved through his shoulder and into the ground, pinning him down.

I looked at June, who was on her knees, her back turned towards the gruesome scene, covering her face, weeping loudly.

Galvantula walked over to her Trainer and touched her with one of her many legs, Rotom staring at the screaming Damian with a stunned look on its face.

Ninetales, I thought. It got Damian. It caught him. Now what? I turned around, opening one eye again, but closing it and flinching at the sight of Damian. Ninetales, I told myself, and I forced my eyes open, looking into Ninetales’ red eyes.

It sat there, glaring at Damian, ignoring me entirely.

Damian let out a pained cry and grabbed the spike shoved through his shoulder with both hands. “Do it!” he shouted up to the sky in a pained groan through gritted teeth. “Do it!!! Kill me already!! You’ve got me!! Just spare the kids! They have nothing to do with this…” His voice was turning into a weakened groan, and his hands slid off of the spike. “I’m sorry, Ninetales. I’m sorry.” He coughed repeatedly, and then laid still on the ground, not moving.

Ninetales continued to stare at Damian, not moving in the slightest.

June had stopped crying, but I didn’t turn around to see what she was doing now. My eyes were focused on what Ninetales would do next.

Ninetales eyes flashed brightly and glowed yellow, its body surrounded by a swirling, gold aura, its tails waving individually behind it.

I gasped and crawled backwards, fear holding my heart in a vise-grip.

June gasped.

Damian’s body was outlined in a black and red flare of shimmering color, and his body glowed white. His body shrunk, morphed, and molded into a shapeless form. It then moved to the side, freeing itself from the spike, and then flashed a brighter white before returning back to the noticeably less flashy white. The two shades of white traded places repeatedly, blinking back and forth several times before the black and red flare around his body faded away, and the white glows vanished.

June cried out and began to choke in shock.

“Galvan?” Galvantula spoke raspily.

Rotom let out a series of severe stutters.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I couldn’t believe my own eyes.

In place of Damian, there now stood a Dunsparce!

The Pokemon, Dunsparce, was where Damian had been!

Dunsparce looked around, turning from Ninetales, who was no longer surrounded by its golden aura, its eyes their normal red color, its tails no longer moving, and looked to me, June, Galvantula, and Rotom, and then back to Ninetales.

Ninetales and Dunsparce both stared at each other without saying a word.

Ninetales then got to its paws and arched its back, hissing at Dunsparce.

Dunsparce’s tiny wings flapped, and it ascended into the air, flying back down the path Damian, June, and I had run from when escaping from the monster trees.

I turned back to Ninetales.

In an instant, Ninetales ran past us, making us leap out of the way with a frightened shout, and it easily leaped up the side of the mountain wall, climbing it quickly, leaping from rock to rock, scaling the wall, and disappeared at one of the landings above.

A warm breeze blew around me, my body shivering as if it were below zero weather outside. I swallowed the saliva building in my mouth, but it didn’t seem to truly go down my tightened throat, and it hurt when I tried to forced it down again. What just happened here? I wondered, looking up the side of the mountain that Ninetales had just managed to climb with ease.

“I’m sorry about that, Galvantula,” June said softly, shakily. “I didn’t know. You did Spider Web just fine. That Electroweb wasn’t your fault. Now, please, come back.”

I didn’t look at her, but I heard her return Galvantula and Rotom back to their Poke Balls. June’s footsteps approached me, but I still didn’t look away from the mountain wall that Ninetales had climbed so quickly.

June breathed shakily, but didn’t say anything.

My tongue ran over my lips as my eyes lowered and looked at the path ahead of us. I managed to swallow and cleared my throat. “June.”

“Y-y-yes?” she stammered in a whisper.

“Remind me to never catch a Ninetales,” I said in a low voice.

There was a long silence between us, and in that time, I shoved my hands in my jacket pockets, trying to get my body to stop shaking.

I was just about ready to never hear the name Ninetales again, or ever address this situation again for as long as I lived.

“Gary?” June said.

I turned to her and stared into her eyes.

She was gazing back at me, visibly shaking, and she looked away from me, opting to stare at the ground instead. “Remind me to never touch a Vulpix.”