"and what is this?" the Ranger pointed to a block of wood that Whitney was halfway through carving. She was supposed to pass it off as a Grimer, thinking that making the general shape of the Pokemon should've been easy but boy was she proven wrong.

Right now, it looked more like a blotch of badly melted candles with two different sized holes at the top, when she saw that the eyes she carved looked like peanuts, she didn't have any confidence to try for a mouth so she moved on to the lower half of the sculpture but she found it too tedious so she stopped halfway through.

Whitney scratched her head and resolutely met the Ranger's eyes, "it's uh... a cool piece of wood I found while I was exploring the forest two days ago," she lied through her teeth, "I've been trying to look for a souvenir since 5 days ago,"

"you should keep it," the Ranger suggested, "it looks odd enough that it's pretty distinguishable from the other things out there in the forest,"

Whitney forced a smile, "it does look pretty odd doesn't it?"

"it does," the Ranger checked something on the log sheet on her hand before walking away from her unfinished statue, striding forwards before stopping in front of a rack of drying clothes, she checked something on her log sheet again, then moved. The Ranger continued like this, going from one spot in her camp to the next.

She went from her Tent, to her "kitchen" - really, just a small place where she prepared her food, it has a flat rock she uses to chop meat and vegetables with, a newly made mortar where she crushes berries on, a strainer for extracting the juices inside of berries if she wants to add them to the stews she's cooking, as well as a few tools placed in a small circle right next to the campfire, - then to her Berry Juice fermentation units, she didn't look all that impressed and Whitney noted that this was most likely isn't the first time she encountered something like this. That, or Berry Juices were a very common thing to do among rangers.

"good job on these by the way," she said to her once she was done writing something on her log sheet, "I've only seen one other kid this year do this," she pointed out, confirming the former of Whitney's theories as for why she didn't look surprised, "he was as capable as you too, with a camp that's pretty similar to yours,"

"cool," she said cooly, "I honestly thought it was pretty unique for me to do this," she added followed by a shrug, "guess not,"

"don't be like that, it's still a good idea to use Berry Juice this way, it helps not only because it can heal your Pokemon, but also because they can use it without the help of their trainer,"

After that exchange, the Ranger moved to the other things in her camp, such as her firepit, her berry "basket," (or small drum,) and then finally, she stopped in front of her again to say, "congratulations, you've done exceptionally well," Whitney bowed, "see you on the assessment test tomorrow,"

She watched as the Ranger walked away from her camp. Whitney felt odd, watching her back shrink into the distance and eventually disappear into the forest. When she was finally alone, she sighed. Just like that, a month quickly passed by. Whitney couldn't help but lie down when she thought that the Ranger was now out of view. Despite the sudden lost in energy, the past month hadn't been all that stressful for her to act like this. She knew that her body just relaxed, releasing the tension that she had been building up from the fear of failing.

Whitney expected this entire expedition to actually be hard, instead, she found it boring to the point where she decided to learn how to cook, cartography, and a bit of arts and craft just to stave off her boredom. Except for cartography and cooking, almost all of the things she did went nowhere.

Meanwhile, in terms of stressful situations, the only thing that she could even consider as remotely close to "bad," was when she had been in that odd part of the forest and that had been weeks ago. Since then, nothing has happened to her and she's sure the Rangers patrolling Ilex Forest today would make sure that everyone here is safe.

Whitney let all of her thoughts drift off as she stared at the sky, it was still bright out and she had a lot of time left to clean up her camp to prepare for her leave tomorrow morning so with that being said, "how about I get an actual souvenir?" she murmured to herself, picking up her "Grimer Sculpture", Whitney's eyes were fixated on the lake as she caressed the wooden surface of the sculpture, she didn't want to look at it because she'll just throw it away before she leaves.

"maybe it can feel comfortable at the bottom of the lake or something," she placed it back on the ground and turned her attention to the forest, "I think it's time I find an actual souvenir.

...

"now, where the hell am I?" Whitney couldn't help but say as she looked around. The start of the souvenir hunt had been nice, with her just walking around the forest, her eyes glued to the ground to see if she could find a cool rock to bring home tomorrow but as time went on, she started to get lost.

When she realized that she might've strayed too far, she decided to retrace her steps but in the end, she just ended up in an even worse state than she was earlier! Pulling out her hand-made map of the general area didn't help either because no matter what direction she went in, all the landmarks that she took note of couldn't be seen!

She was suspicious right now, because, sure, this entire event can be written off as her being a little bit lost but she's explored the place around her camp ten times over by now and is more than confident to say that she simply isn't. lost.

And what's more, she's memorized all the things that were needed to be seen in not only the general area around her campsite, but also a bit further out than that.

By now, she's confident that she can navigate Ilex Forest with relative ease but that confidence is starting to waver...

She took a deep breath, "okay, okay, don't panic,-" she was panicking, "- and just think things through,"

Calming herself, she looked around and saw a few odd bits and pieces here and there that she couldn't recognize. Such as, for example, large trees that shouldn't be found on the outskirts. She did see a stray un-evolved Pokemon or two so that means that she's still somewhere safe and if she just plays it right, she might be able to find a Ranger that's willing to help her get back to camp. "yep! that's right, a ranger..." she deliberately ignored the way her voice is shaking.

Why was she feeling scared anyways?!

Shaking her head, she felt a headache starting to build up and that made her start to regret that she even decided to do this. It jolted her to awareness sure, but it wouldn't last if the pain in her head is to go by.

but that's not even the worse of it; she could feel the pressure of Ilex Forest again and that can only mean bad things. It's not supposed to be here until the start of the circuit!

She started running away before she realized it.

Stolen story; please report.

When she stopped, Whitney had to stabilize herself by supporting herself on a nearby tree-trunk. Her breath was ragged and she was sure that her hair was starting to look frizzy, it would probably make her look manic from an outside perspective but her clothes, her clothes were fine and for some reason, she just couldn't put a finger on why she was starting to feel less suspicious!

Shaking off her thoughts, she started moving again, and before she knew it, she started running.

Faster and faster.

Quicker.

The surroundings turned into a blur, she couldn't make out anything from how fast she was moving. The trees were a mixture of green and black and purple, the cries of Pokemon around her became nothing more than an irritating buzz and her headache is starting to get worse!

THUD

It all came to a sudden stop as Whitney's body collided with something. She couldn't tell what, but it felt hard and painful. She rubbed her head, frowning and when she opened her eyes, she was staring at a brown tree trunk that was roughly her size. The way it shivered made it look like it wasn't only her that got hurt from that exchange.

"serves you right," she said under her breath, trying her best to not slap her face for being stupid enough to curse at a tree.

She hissed when she realized that speaking only made her headache worse.

"tch," she stood up, suspicious that she's now feeling a bit calmer, "where am I?" she asked, a less painful throb in her head, "seriously, I was about to leave!" she stomped her foot and frowned when she heard a second, much louder stomp that didn't just cause leaves to crunch-

it made the ground shook.

Whitney's eyes snapped open in alarm, she looked around, wary about the Pokemon that made that sound. Veering her head to the right gave her an answer that she never even wanted.

She took a step back, "okay, easy there..." she said to the Heracross in front of her, the fact that it had a heart on the tip of its horn meant that she must be female, good to know, females aren't as competitive as males, "I am not here to disturb anything okay girl?" she tried to placate,

She took another step back, and the Heracross followed by taking a step forward. She did it again, the Heracross followed.

"you know what?" she felt anger bubbling up inside of her, "screw this," she took out her Meowth's Pokeball and released him, "SCREECH!" she shrieked in both the surprise of the Heracross as well as her own Meowth, it was almost as if she used a Pokemon move herself.

Between the two who had been suddenly dazed, it was her Meowth who moved first, releasing a high pitch shriek of his own that made Whitney wince and take a further step back.

Was she that close to getting hit by a stray attack just now?

Her Meowth held his ground as she ran away and when she turned to look at the battle, it looks like he had been doing well enough, dodging the Heracross' Night Slash by rolling before once again leaping away just as a Horn Attack was about to hit him. Their dance continued for a little while as Whitney gathered her wits. She noticed doing so was starting to get hard.

There was something wrong with her current state of mind and that made her realize two things; one, she's currently in severe danger, and two, she should finish this battle and leave this part of the forest quickly.

She doesn't know why but she's starting to feel stupid.

"Fury Swipes!" was the first thing she said when she saw that both her headache and the Heracross had given her an opening.

Her Pokemon's claws elongated and he only took a small step forward before starting to strike, hitting his defending opponent four times before leaping away just as the Heracross used Horn Attack. It struck and her Pokemon couldn't get away. Whitney hissed, then frowned. Okay, she was getting angry again, that was bad. Her... therapist said so?

What?

"Fury Swipes!" Meowth only struck three times this time before the Heracross hit him with two fists that gleamed in an ominous red. The Brick Break struck her Meowth, making him fail his jump mid-air. He caught himself and landed well enough.

Her Meowth popped his bottle of Berry Juice and started drinking. He growled.

"Fury Swipes!" and there he went again, sending out four more attacks before falling to a swift retaliation from the Heracross using Aerial Ace.

Meowth was recalled and Pidgey went in, "Finish it with Wing Attack! Now!" she begged the flying type as she clutched her head.

Unlike what she wanted though, her Pidgey didn't move away from her.

He kept looking back to his trainer as visible gusts of wind started to manifest around them, his eyes moved to the Heracross to aim, and in turn, the Pokemon was looking at him. With an attack that's twice as effective, both of them knew how this would end up and yet, the Heracross ran forward to close the distance between her and Whitney, the Bug Type's hands grew red and they curled up into knuckles halfway through her sprint, and as she bent her legs in preparation for a leap-

Pidgey's Wing Attack took her down.

"o-oh thank Ho-oh," Whitney breathed in a sigh of relief as her legs buckled from her weight, "help me up!" she held out her hand, her Pokemon took it, "I don't know what I would've done if she survived that and attacked me,"

"Prii!" she rubbed her Pokemon's head,

"I know you'd take it for me but that's wholly unnecessary you know?" she gave her Pidgey a weak smile as she stood up, the strength in her legs coming back.

"oh, I do think it would be certainly necessary," a voice that sounded like it was spoken by a masculine woman said.

A flash of right red light,

Heracross disappeared.

Then the smoke in her head cleared.

And out came a man wearing an expensive white suit that, "if I may suggest, how about you ask your Pidgey to take this attack?" Whitney's eyebrows furrowed, wondering what kind of attack he was talking about when her Pidgey suddenly flew in front of her before falling down with a loud squawk.

She gazed downwards and saw a thin needle poking out from his belly. Poison Sting?

But he didn't call it out?.. what kind of trainer- her eyes widened in realization, "you're from Rocket..." her foot moved backward, this was unlike the Heracross encounter earlier, the guy in front of her was worse. Way, way worse.

"Indeed," he confirmed, his poise still oddly regal, he stretched out his hands to the side and bowed, his arm bending forwards, "now, how about another one?"

Purple gleamed in the corner of her eye followed by a dash of White. Her Pidgey had once again taken the hit for her, this time over-exerting itself with Quick Attack to make sure she's safe.

Her legs threatened to fall under her, and when she stepped backward, she felt her knees buckle under her weight.

Leaves crunched beneath her and the Rocket member smiled, he took a step forward, saying that she would die if she doesn't stay put. Not that any of those words would stop her from crawling away of course- slowly at first, then faster and faster until she had a good distance from the man.

Her Pidgey had started flying again at some point, his bottle of Berry Juice now broken and empty. Seeing him, the Rocket member sighed, "Exeggutor, if you would kindly?"

A harsh Psychic Attack made her Pidgey fall to the ground.

She crawled forward, "NO! JUST STOP!" Whitney yelled, "y-you don't have to do that, I'll stay put!"

She ignored the crack in her voice as she grabbed a rock and threw it at the Rocket member, who's Pokemon kept attacking her Pidgey. It was hit by another Poison Sting before it hit him. "thank you, Nidorino," he said softly, completely unfazed by the accuracy of his Pokemon, he started walking forward, then stopped to stare at the sudden burst of white light "ah, of course,"

The way he calmly assessed the evolution of her Pidgey made Whitney angry but her emotion was quickly drowned. She was happy that he finally evolved but- she can't complain. She'd rather not.

"you know, I can stop this right?" he said to her, "if you keep crawling away, I just might," he started walking forward again, "so how about you stay put and we're gonna leave this forest without my Exeggutor using Hypnosis on you," she didn't tell him that she already said that. It felt like if she did, then her Pidgey might just die.

He was getting closer and closer, but Whitney didn't move, "good, after you're with us, you're gonna have to be exchanged for a person of interest, then you'll be home with your family after that, okay?" the way he said all of that calmly was starting to unnerve her but Whitney didn't care, she didn't move.

"you can even keep your Pokemon,"

She wanted to ask who that person of interest was and why is it her of all people but couldn't say anything because before she knew it, a harsh drop of crimson entered her vision followed by the sound of a painful yell and then her Pidgeotto was in front of her, it's beak dyed red. He was covering what he did with his massive bulk but Whitney could see an arm that had been cut off in the corner.

She puked.

Then- the events became blurry as she cried, a sense of drowsiness washed over her, and then her Pidgeotto fell, and then she heard a loud ursine roar before the forest around her erupted in flames.