SIDE STORY - Glimwood

Ready to get inside the Pyroar's den?"

Jonah turned to Karina and rolled his eyes. In front of him lay Glimwood Tangle, the only way to access Ballonlea. There were many old stories about horrors that had gone on inside the forest in olden times, but these days, it was as safe as it could be. They'd stayed at the edge of the forest for days as they took multiple, day-long classes at the outpost asking them to never veer off the outlined path and how to deal with different fairies and wild Pokemon that inhabited the forest, and now, they were finally ready. There were hundreds of trainers in the outpost waiting to do the same thing.

"I just hope you don't livestream the entirety of it," Jonah sighed.

"Are you kidding? I'd totally stream it if I could, but Ballonlea's stupid and doesn't want to put wifi in their stupid forest. Like, get on with modernity already! This is why no one wants to live there."

"I have to admit, it does suck. I wanted to finish watching Raihan's tips and tricks," Jonah said. "Let's go, then."

"Your fault for not downloading what you want to watch."

"Would it kill you to have an ounce of compassion, Kari?"

Jonah released his Corvisquire, who anchored himself on his shoulder while Karina released her Yamper, and they gave their pass to the Rangers and entered the forest right away.

"Woah," he gasped.

A sense of wonder overtook Jonah as he stepped inside the Glimwood Tangle. The forest path beneath his feet felt soft and slightly springy. It was covered in thick, glowing moss that released a pleasant, earthy fragrance with each step. The air was cool and crisp. Pure. Every time he took a breath, his nose tingled, but in a good way.

Even if the canopy was so thick no sunlight made it through, glimmering, bioluminescent plants and mushrooms were everywhere, illuminating their path with a soft, soothing light. The distant, otherwordly cries of multiple Pokemon made Jonah feel a twinge of nervousness, but he was assured the path was safe. Jonah stared up again and realized the trees were all curving in a different direction, some tying into knots.

"Hi guys, KariTheBest here, and welcome to another vlog! As you can see, we're walking through the Glimwood Tangle right now—"

"Kari. Just… take a breath and live in the moment, please," Jonah begged. Corvisquire squawked in his ear, agreeing loudly.

Karina answered with a middle finger and pointed her phone toward him. "Jonah's here, and like always he's ruining our fun. Before we start the video, don't forget to subscribe, hit the notification bell and like! Let's get started!" She yelled excitedly before she stopped recording. "Thanks as always, Jonah."

The teenager had to stop himself from mocking how monotone her voice sounded every time the camera was off. She wasn't done quite yet, but she would only record when they came across something interesting.

"I mean, we're literally in a mystical forest right now, and you're recording."

"Yeah! If I don't record, my subscribers won't see!"

Jonah groaned as he passed a group of tiny Morelull and another group of trainers that were taking pictures of them repeatedly. They'd probably post it on their socials later. Jonah blinked, and for a second he swore that he saw the moss under his feet shift. There was constant movement at the edge of his vision, but the Rangers in the classes had told them this was a normal occurrence. Jonah swallowed and decided to keep his head down. They'd reach Ballonlea soon enough, and then he'd be freed from this nonsense. There were some strange occurrences in the city, but at least he could stay in a Center there until it was time for him to battle.

Two hours passed without much happening aside from the occasional encounter with a fairy type. Jonah had to stop Karina from trying to catch one multiple times. People in Galar weren't allowed to handle fairies before they had four badges, and they only had one. There was too much danger involved, and it would just be taken away by the Rangers. Speaking of Rangers, they had encountered those too. They patrolled every inch of the path, making sure no one veered off course. It was then, however, that Karina spoke up and graced him with the worst idea she could have had.

"Nothing is happening," she whined. "This vlog is going to be hella boring. Do you— do you think we should sneak out?"

Jonah froze. "What do you mean?"

"Veer off the beaten path. Adventure!" She whispered with a grin.

"You just want views, Kari."

"Well, that too," she said. "But don't you want to do more that listen to the rules? This is why other countries treat us like a laughing stock. Trainers keep having to stick the safe spots. How are we supposed to grow if we're never in any danger? Plus, I'm sure it won't be that bad. There's no way wild Pokemon wouldn't invade the route and attack us if they were that dangerous."

"No, Kari. I mean, I agree to an extent, but we have one badge and two Pokemon each. This is stupid. And since you want to upload it, you're just going to get punished anyway."

Galar had many rules to keep trainers safe, but they were strict. If you ever got caught breaking one of them, the punishment could range from a fine to being disqualified from the Circuit altogether. Jonah grabbed her by the wrist a bit harder than he would have liked and shook her.

"This isn't a game, Kari. This forest, it creeps me out," he muttered.

"Is Jojo scared?" She mocked. "It'll just be for an hour. If you don't want to come, you don't have to. Just stick around and wait for me here."

"I'm going to tell a Ranger—"

"Good news, we just passed a pair seven minutes ago. That means we probably won't for another half-hour or so," she said. "So knock yourself out."

"You were planning this?! You could be disqualified—"

Karina slipped away from him and walked backward through the tree-line with her phone in hand while a few other trainers just stared and murmured to each other. Her Yamper loyally followed, and Jonah's hands began to tremble. If she wanted to throw herself into danger so much, then fine. He would walk back, tell the Rangers and wait for her while they went and looked to drag her back kicking and screaming. Jonah leaned back against a tree and yelped when he nearly sunk into it, like it was a soft pillow. He waited there for thirty seconds, and each moment, doubt crept into his mind like a virus.

Every second he stayed here, it meant that she could get lost.

"Fuck you, Kari," he hissed. Jonah turned toward a group of girls. "You guys. Can you go and warn the Rangers? Tell them that Karina Read veered off the path, and that Jonah Sharp is following her. Please."

"Yeah. Yeah, of course," one of them said. "But should you even—"

Jonah ran off into the trees, releasing his Deerling, which followed closely behind as he got the grass type up to speed. He yelled out for Karina's name over and over, and the deeper he went the more dense the forest got. He pushed glowing foliage away from his face, jumped over some fallen branches and nearly tripped a hundred times, but the good news was that he hadn't gotten attacked yet. In fact, he hadn't come across any wild Pokemon. Ten minutes passed without any development, but Jonah didn't give up hope. The Rangers were on their way.

"Kari!" He yelled.

"...I almost can't see anything in these woods, it's really dense. Yamper can barely navigate it all. Right?"

Jonah heard the small canine let out a high-pitched bark, and he nearly cried when he saw his best friend again. He nearly tackled her into a hug, and she dropped her phone on the ground.

"Jonah? What are you— I thought you were waiting for me!"

"Shut up and follow me, you idiot," he cried. "I'm dragging you back whether you like it or not."

"Already?" She groaned as she hugged him back. "Well, I guess it's not that interesting anyway. The Rangers probably just don't want us to get lost."

"Well I went in a straight path, so let's just get back to the route," he said. He attempted to drag Karin, but he met more resistance than he thought. When he turned back, her eyes were wide.

"You said… a straight line?"

"Yes. I just ran forward and yelled your name a bunch of times," Jonah shrugged. "Corvi?"

The Corvisquire squawked in agreement, and Deerling also nodded.

"Jonah, I— I went in a bunch of different directions so the Rangers would take longer to find me. Are you sure?"

"We probably just got lucky. Come on," Jonah said.

The girl nodded and they began to walk back toward the path. Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Then thirty. There was still no sign of anyone, and they hadn't met a single wild Pokemon. The duo traveled the entire day and all they could find was more forest. They decided to set up camp when they got tired. The only way they had of figuring out it was night time were their phones, but it wasn't like they were useful for anything else. There was no reception, no internet for them to contact the outside world.

"I'm sorry, Jonah," Kari said. She hadn't cried. Neither of them had since finding each other. But it was easy to see the guilt was eating her inside. "This is— I was stupid."

"It was," he nodded. "You're a moron. But we'll be alright. There's probably a huge manhunt going on for us right now. Like when that kid got lost in the Slumbering Weld? And they found him after a week?"

She nodded. "Yeah…"

"I mean, I hope we don't have to wait a week, but we'll be fine," Jonah said. "The last time someone died in the Circuit was two years ago. The odds of it happening are astronomically low. Now let's eat something and rest up. I think the best tactic is to stay still. The forest is leading us somewhere, so if we don't move, they'll have higher odds of finding us."

Jonah fought himself to get the words out of his mouth.

He was trying to convince himself as much as her.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

—

When they woke up, they were no longer in the same spot.

Jonah hadn't known how it had happened, but they were in a completely different location. He shot up and spat out a mouthful of shiny dust that was in his mouth. His entire body felt horribly dry, like someone had sucked all of the moisture from his skin. He licked his lips to moisten them and drank a mouthful of water. Even his eyes felt like they had no moisture until he blinked multiple times. They had to ration, but he'd go crazy if he walked the entire day feeling this dehydrated.

Karina felt the same way, strangely enough, and they both had some weird dust on their clothes and skin. It was almost impossible to get off, so they opted just to let it be for now. Even if they weren't going to travel anymore, Karina had both her Pokemon, Yamper and Eevee out of their Pokeballs while Jonah did the same. They could never take too many precautions. At this point, the fact that they had encountered zero wild Pokemon scared him more than the alternative. It was like this entire forest was dead.

"Jojo," Karina muttered. "Do you think we'll really get out?"

"Obviously," he answered right away. "Don't be so down in the dumps. Why don't we watch something on your phone? You have a bunch of stuff downloaded, right? I know we should probably save power to keep track of how much time's passed, but we have a battery, and even then we'd still have my phone."

The girl nodded. "Yeah. What do you want to watch?"

Jonah patted her shoulder. "Anything you'd like."

"What about Love in Wyndon?" She said.

"Sure."

He scooched up next to her and she let the video play. Love in Wyndon was her comfort show, and there were ten seasons the last time Jonah had checked. It was a dating reality show where trainers lived in a resort with their Pokemon. At the end of each week, two people would be voted on and they'd battle. The loser was eliminated while the winner was immune for the next week. The winner of the entire thing got to go on a date with Raihan.

Needless to say, it was one of Galar's most popular shows, especially when every girl in the region had a celebrity crush on Raihan. They watched the show for hours, and for a few moments, they forgot that they were stranded in the middle of a forest. Jonah even found himself getting into the drama of it all.

This was nice.

—

Five more days had passed. There was no sign of life anywhere.

Every time they went to sleep, they would wake up somewhere else. Somewhere deeper in the forest. Each time, they were so dehydrated their skin wrinkled. They had tried to sleep one at a time, but the other would always fall asleep without fail, and it was the same for both of them. They were compelled to do so by strange lights in the distance. They only had a few more days of food and water, and they knew at the back of their head they would probably die that way. There was no attack from a wild Pokemon, no exciting, blood-pumping event.

It was just the slow, withering march of death.

On the dawn of the seventh day, Jonah and Kari awoke in a clearing.

There were so many lights here, of every single color. Colors Jonah didn't even know existed. He saw them floating, dancing, and laughing with each other like they were alive. Enormous mushrooms swayed back and forth, but there was no wind here. The air was completely still, and it smelled like… it smelled like something.

"What's that smell?" Jonah muttered.

"Burned steak?" Karina whispered. "Should we— should we stay here again, or should we leave?"

Jonah stared up and nearly gasped when he saw something blue. It took him a few seconds to realize it was the sky. He hadn't seen the sky in a whole week. He couldn't help but tear up, and Karina did the same when she noticed. They hadn't cried since getting lost, and it was the first time they let their feelings out. They sobbed for ten minutes in each other's arms. Karina kept apologizing over and over for throwing their lives away. Their Pokemon weren't here. They'd kept them to their Pokeballs in order to save on food, since it slowed their metabolism.

"There you are, children."

Jonah's head snapped toward the voice. Another voice that wasn't Karina's.

An extremely thin, old woman slowly walked forward, using a pastel blue and pink umbrella as a cane. She was so thin in fact it was like she hadn't eaten in weeks, and yet Jonah knew who she was. Opal. Just Opal. Ballonlea's Gym Leader had a last name, but nobody knew of it. Not even her fellow Gym Leaders or the Champion. Opal smiled, exposing perfectly white teeth.

"You should know better than to make an old woman walk through the woods," she continued.

Jonah ran toward her, tripping on the way there until he crawled to Opal's feet. "Thank you. Thank you so much for saving us. We're sorry for breaking the rules, can we— can we just go home, now? I'll do anything."

Opal laughed. A strange, inhuman sound that did not sound like a laugh, but some strange garble.

"Anything, you say? In my heyday, I would have stripped you to the bone after such an offer. Do not offer me anything, children, lest I fall back into my old ways."

Confused, but happy to just be out of danger, Jonah nodded as Karina offered the Gym Leader her sincerest apologies. Jonah didn't know how a person as old as her had navigated the difficult terrain of the Glimwood for seven days, but he knew not to question her skills. While they looked and smelled horrible, she was intact. No tears or rips in her clothes and shoes, and no smudges in her makeup.

"Before we go, I must speak to an old friend," Opal spoke as she walked toward the center of the clearing. "You watch. Children these days are too soft. You do not know the dangers that lurk beneath our squeaky clean, dear old Galar. This will be a good lesson."

Opal stopped, and placed both of her hands on her umbrella's handle as she stuck it into the soft ground. She tapped it twice and spoke.

"Cimmerian."

Jonah swallowed as the ground under their feet shook and something emerged from below.

Shiinotic weren't like Jonah saw in the illustrations.

This one was larger, far larger. It dwarfed Opal and reached the top of the canopy, masking the bit of sky that Jonah had been so glad to see. Its mushroom glowed with a sinister light that overtook and swallowed everything else. The colors changed, and Jonah could only see in shades of… pale yellow and purple. Horrible growths that bubbled and expunged a pungent, steak-like smell sat atop the cap, and both Jonah and Karina covered their noses. He had to stop himself from hurling. It was as if someone had left raw meat out in the sun for days.

Shiinotic's fingers were long and thin, and they also glowed with that same purple, yellowish color. Its arms were thinner than Opal's and pale white.

And the eyes.

Arceus, the eyes.

There was nothing there. An absence. A stare that was so shallow and yet so deep at the same time. They were just dark. Obsidian orbs that seemed to absorb all light but the ones Shiinotic allowed to stay. Karina averted her eyes right away, but Jonah tried to stare. To find something in those eyes. A pattern, hidden pupils, life.

There was nothing.

Its smile was the same. As if someone had taken away all color from that section of its face. Shiinotic tilted his head and approached Opal, who didn't seem shaken one bit. The fairy type touched her body with its fingers and let out a high-pitched squeal that resonated until it became a horrible, deep sound that sounded like static to Jonah's mind.

"Do not try to rearrange the deal, Cimmerian," Opal said. "When a child veers off the course, you send them back."

Shiinotic hissed, and Jonah covered his ears at the sound.

"This is your fief," Opal agreed. "But we feed you plenty already, don't we?"

The fairy type's thin fingers traced Opal's face and it nodded. It spoke for a few seconds, and the Gym Leader hummed.

"I see. Well, we'll be on our way, then," Opal said. "If you're bored, talk to me before tormenting children. Thank you for your time, Cimmerian."

Jonah watched in awe as Shiinotic sunk back into the ground and color returned to the world. It was more powerful than anything he could ever imagine, and yet Opal had talked it down without a Pokemon by her side. She walked back toward them and tapped their backs with her umbrella.

"Follow."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, but then Karina spoke up.

"Um. Ms. Opal, thank you again. W—what was that Shiinotic?" She asked with a trembling voice. "Why is it just allowed to be there? Isn't that dangerous?"

Opal didn't answer for some seconds. "Do you want to know? Knowledge does not come cheap, girl."

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"Do you want to know, yes or no? It is a simple question, is it not?"

"Yes… yes I do," she answered.

"That was Cimmerian," Opal said. "He created these woods thousands of years ago. You know the old stories about the Glimwood Tangle, don't you? That you would enter and get lost forever until you starved."

"I thought that was just scary stories people told children," Jonah said.

Opal scoffed. "Stories are born from the truth. It is a shame to see what all of this deprogramming had done to the youth. Now everything is just a story. Just! Hah! My life has been long and arduous, but I still cannot get used to that."

"But why do you not just… kill it? Does that mean Ballonlea is the same?" Karina asked.

Something wrapped around Karina's feet and dragged her underground as she screamed. Opal clicked her tongue and tapped her umbrella against the floor in a rhythmic fashion until she was finally released, her body full of dust and dry. Jonah helped her up, but she was trembling like a leaf.

"Watch yourself, girl," Opal warned. "This is no game. We do not kill Cimmerian because this place belongs to him. Ballonlea's first inhabitants were refugees hiding from war and subjugation, and they formed this pact for protection. It cost them an arm and a leg, but they were safe. Our ancestors grew in power until they reopened themselves to the outside world two hundred years ago now, but even then, only the inhabitants could navigate the forest without dying. When trainers started to filter in and out fifty years ago when I opened Ballonlea's Gym, I crafted another pact to keep them safe."

Jonah handed Karina the last of his water and she hungrily gulped it down.

"Cimmerian drains on people's energy to live and grow in power. He was feeding on you every night and letting you recover until you were ready to be drained again," Opal explained. A shiver ran down Jonah's spine. "He was twisting the deal we made to the limit. He said he would have let you go after you ran out of food and water in a half-dead state," The old woman stopped herself to chuckle. "He was just having a bit of fun."

Jonah spoke up, "So every time we woke up dry and with dust, we were—"

"You'd been kept underground. Hypnotized to stay asleep," she nodded.

Jonah bit his lip, and he finally began to see wild Pokemon again. Opal was quite spry on her feet— more than he had expected.

"The Pokemon intrigue you, yes?" Opal said.

"There weren't any when we were trapped…" Karina muttered.

"They know to keep away from Cimmerian's feed."

"We aren't feed—"

Jonah grunted when Opal slapped his back with her umbrella.

"You are. Here, we made it."

The teenager blinked when he broke through the tree-line and saw Ballonlea in front of him. Buildings woven perfectly with trees and large mushrooms, lights dancing far above them and the huge stadium at the edges of the city. Yet somehow, even with all of this construction, this place was one with nature, and it showed. Nothing looked out of place. Not even the stadium.

"What? A—already?" Jonah stuttered. "It hasn't even been ten minutes!"

"I know my way around," Opal said. "Now, for your payment. You are disqualified from the Circuit this year effective immediately—"

Both Jonah and Karina hung their head low.

"—your parents have already been notified and have called upon both of you to return home to Hammerlocke. As for the payment for the information I gave you… I will ask you to never veer off the routes again. Any routes. If I hear about it, I will make sure to destroy both of your careers before they've even begun and you will never find a job in any Pokemon-related fields."

Jonah nodded. "Thank you for saving us."

Opal hummed as she left them, and they released their Pokemon to celebrate their survival and give them the good news.

The walk back to Hammerlocke would be terrifying, especially since they'd have to go through the Glimwood Tangle again.

—

Opal hummed a tune as she made her way back to her Gym. The Rangers had looked for nearly a week until she decided to step in herself and free them. Of course, she could have done so right away, but what was a life-threatening adventure without a lesson being learned? Now, they knew of the dangers that lurked in the Glimwood, and they would never throw themselves in such a situation again.

Opal entered her office, which sat on the top floor of her Gym Stadium with a view on the entire field. She dialed for Leon's number and waited for their new Champion to pick up. Arceus, he was annoyingly upbeat, but she couldn't deny he was a powerful one.

"Hey, you old bat! How's it going? Heard you saved some children today, good job!"

"Enough with the pleasantries. Cimmerian is growing bored. He misses the life he had before trainers came into the picture and infested his forest."

Leon stopped speaking and she heard him sigh. "What, then?"

"Leave him to me, Leon," Opal said. "But when I die, someone will have to pick up the slack, and none of my trainees are as good as I am."

"We could… restrain him when you do," Leon said.

"If you mean kill, say it, boy," Opal snapped. "And no. There is too much history at play. It would be a waste."

"History is not as valuable as lives."

"I disagree, but you know that already," Opal said. "But killing him would not be as simple as you think regardless. It would take months. Years, even. Cimmerian is very good at hiding, and he will take the entire city down with him. There is a reason the ground below the forest is full of century-old, preserved corpses, Leon."

Leon exhaled. "How much time do we have, then?"

"I can buy you maybe twenty years after my death," Opal mused. "But I want to train you, Leon. I don't care how busy you are. You make time for Raihan, and all he does is use his position to get women. Absolute scum."

"I'll make time," Leon said. "Sorry."

Opal hung up and left it at that. Cimmerian was harsh but fair, and he was refreshingly forward. For all Galar appeared squeaky clean from the outside, it was different when looking from within. Opal knew of the covered-up scandals, the corruption, the waste. She was a relic of an older era where death had been far more common, and yet she missed it.

And now, she had to contend with a Champion that was in the pocket of a select few companies and Chairman Rose.

Opal pursed her lips. "I've got a decade left in me. I can keep the damage to a minimum, but after?"

Well, after would be uncharted territory.