The screech didn’t last long. But a few seconds after its last echos faded, a new screech rose up, this time from our right. We whirled to face the new source. But between the trees and pillars of rock that dotted the slopes of Mt. Moon, there were plenty of places for our opponent to hide, and we saw nothing. A few seconds later, the second screech cut off to be replaced by a third, originating from a new location. Followed by a fourth, and then a fifth.

None of the reports had mentioned more than a single pokemon…which was still possible, if the pokemon was stealthy and fast enough. But just in case, I called to Porygon in a quiet voice.

“Watch my back, but do not engage unless more than one attacks,” I muttered, and Porygon gave a quiet bzzt in response. There was a reason the one-versus-one format was so common in pokemon battles. Many wild pokemon — most, but not all — respected a ‘fair’ fight, even if they’d never before encountered a human. Give them an opponent to fight, and that’s where they would direct their energy. But the moment a trainer tried to beat them two- or more-versus-one…that’s when their attacks might start to be directed at the trainer behind their pokemon opponents.

I didn’t want whatever we were facing to think I was trying to overwhelm them in an unfair battle. But if they tried any underhanded tricks…Porygon would be ready.

“Where are you? Show—” I coughed, clearing my voice after it cracked. “Show yourself!” The screeches continued, never originating from more than one point at once, but now containing a hint of manic laughter within the screams. My heart pounded in my chest, and I fought against the desire to flee, to sprint back down the trail to town as fast as my legs could carry me.

Just a few minutes earlier, the sky had been bright, yet now it felt as if the world was shrouded in a haze of grey. Evening had been approaching, but it wasn’t late enough to be as dark as it now was. My eyes darted back and forth, staring at the long shadows that hid monsters within them. The fear was all-encompassing. It surrounded me. It was drowning me. It was…

…familiar.

With that sense of familiarity, the worst edge of the fear faded, and I was able to think just a little bit clearer. I’d been in a situation like this before. Almost exactly like this, I realized, as I glanced down to where Hobbes called out his own challenges of ‘kyu!’ into the darkness. In Lavender Tower, on that fateful day I’d gone exploring and met my best friend.

“Ghost pokemon…” I whispered.

And as if summoned by my words, our opponent revealed itself.

A small, purple-blue body faded into existence, floating a dozen yards in front of Hobbes. Only a couple feet tall, it was clothed in a similarly-colored dress with a necklace of red pearls around its neck. Long hair flowed in tresses down its back, blown along with its dress in a non-existent breeze. On its face were two wide red eyes and a mischievous smile, and as it caught my gaze it called out its name.

“Misdreavus!”

I hurriedly averted my gaze, not eager to take a mean look or scary face, but my mind raced. Misdreavus weren’t supposed to be on Mt. Moon — they were on the restricted pokemon list, confined to the caves and slopes of Mt. Silver. I didn’t even think we had any in Lavender Tower. How had this one gotten here?

Fortunately, it appeared to be alone. I took a second to think through my memories of misdreavus’ lore — now that I’d identified its source, the fear was thankfully less all-encompassing. I knew misdreavus fed off of others’ fear, which had something to do with its red necklace, but I couldn’t think of anything else that might help resolve the situation. If this misdreavus had somehow been unable to find its way back to its home on Mt. Silver, maybe it would accept help as a compromise? It couldn’t hurt to try.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I began, and the misdreavus’ eyes narrowed. “But you can’t keep scaring trainers like this. Not on this route. I can try and get you home. But you’ll need to trust me.”

The misdreavus’ smile widened before pink and purple lights burst from its body and coated the rocks, grass, and trees around us like a layer of psychedelic paint. Wonder room, I realized, and I sighed. Plan B it was then.

“Hobbes, you’re up.” Like a dog finally let off its leash, Hobbes dashed forward with shadow sneak. The misdreavus’ eyes widened in surprise before glowing with an inner light, targeting Hobbes’ rapidly approaching farm. But Hobbes had already peeled off, choosing to abandon his move rather than trade hits with the wild pokemon, and I nodded in approval. His disguise could only block a single hit — best not to waste it so early into the battle. And if the earlier screeches were actually the move screech rather than simple noise — which I could only assume to be true from the way my body had been reacting to the sound — Hobbes’ defense was already severely weakened. We couldn’t afford to just mindlessly trade blows.

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Thankfully, this was a wild pokemon. It obviously wasn’t stupid, based on how it had been targetting only younger trainers on the mountain paths with its fear attacks. But it was unlikely to use the same strategies I might expect from a competent trainer. We just had to wait for the opportunity...

“Now!” I called as the misdreavus began to growl, and Hobbes dashed forward in another shadow sneak. He was too fast for the misdreavus to switch to another move before making contact, and a purple claw raked across the misdreavus’ chest.

It was weaker than it otherwise might have been. Waiting until after misdreavus had committed to growl meant Hobbes’ attack was already lowered by the time he made contact, and wonder room meant the misdreavus’ normal focus toward the ‘special’ stats was instead skewed towards physical defense. But it was still a super-effective move, and Hobbes was no slouch. The battle was already all but decided, and from the look on misdreavus’ face, it knew it.

But rather than try to flee, or surrender, or continue to battle using one of its previously tried moves, it did something I did not expect.

It began to sing.

It was a strange, arcane song, one with words I felt I could almost understand, words that whispered on the very edge of my hearing. Strange symbols appeared in the air around misdreavus as it continued to sing, glowing faintly in the evening light.

Hobbes’ didn’t have to be told what to do. He sped forward in another shadow sneak, attacking while the misdreavus was focused on its move. It took the second shadow sneak to the chest, wincing in pain but not aborting its song. And then, before Hobbes could attack with a third shadow sneak, it finished.

The glowing symbols linked into two chains, one wrapping around misdreavus and the other shooting through the air towards Hobbes. He tried to dodge, but the chains followed, and a second later they wrapped around his disguised form. And it was only as the glowing symbols at one end of the chain slowly began to fade that I recognized the move for what it was.

Perish song.

I clenched my fists at my sides. I should have expected the move — it was introduced in gen two, practically made for misdreavus. But in the games it had always been a ‘high-level’ move, not something I’d expect to find on a random pokemon on Mt. Moon.

It was a mistake.

“Hobbes, return,” I called, my friend and partner disappearing in a flash of red light as I secured his seldom-used pokeball to my belt. I didn’t know how a move like perish song would function in this world. Pokemon were normally incredibly resilient, but in the games perish song bypassed defenses entirely, causing all pokemon who heard it to faint in three turns. But how long would ‘three turns’ be in the real world? And would it just end with him fainting?

I didn’t want to take the risk, not with a move that had the word ‘perish’ in its name, and not when we were so far from a pokemon center. So I sent out Sableye instead, the gremlin pokemon appearing in a flash of red light where Hobbes had been standing moments earlier.

“Dreavus!” The misdreavus called in anger upon realizing its original opponent had been replaced.

“Say, sableye!” Sableye responded in challenge. And a second later the battle was back on as the misdreavus’ eyes once again started to glow. In a mirror to Hobbes’ actions a few seconds earlier, Sableye started to move forward with a shadow sneak of his own, only to pause when I called him back.

“Don’t bother, Sableye, just endure. Status moves only, try to detect any incoming attacks.” With perish song already counting down the seconds until the battle’s end, there was no need for Sableye to risk himself.

Sableye looked back at me. For a second I thought he would disobey, choosing what he thought was best over his trainer’s orders. But with what seemed like a combination of a sigh and a sneer, along with another cry of his name, he obeyed.

Detect wasn’t as good for dodging moves like confusion as it was for dodging those moves that had a more defined target, and Sableye was still far from mastering the difficult move. But training it in a battle against something other than Porygon would hopefully speed up the learning process. And on the positive side, using only detect and leer meant there was little chance of Sableye accidentally hurting himself in his confusion after the misdreavus used confuse ray.

The battle didn’t take long after that. Sableye took a couple of hits from his increasingly desperate opponent, but the misdreavus wasn’t strong enough to knock Sableye out before the arcane symbols wrapped around its body faded out.

When there was only one symbol left, the misdreavus turned to flee, recognizing its imminent doom. I didn’t give Sableye any commands to stop it — from the rate the symbols were fading, it only had a few seconds left. And it was fast, but not fast enough to truly escape in that short amount of time.

It dashed for the trees, barely disappearing behind a trunk before it let out a single, final cry of “vus!”

And then the mountain was silent.

The last remnants of wonder room faded away. The sun was once again shining, slightly dimmer than before the misdreavus arrived but no longer shrouded in a mysterious haze.

And when we hiked to where the misdreavus had fallen, unconscious but still alive, the stones around its neck were a pale pink rather than the vibrant red of a few minutes prior.

The fear was gone.