Kenji's third night in the forest was the most uncomfortable so far. Without the sun, the nights were cold. Enough that he shifted and used his leather apron as a blanket to insulate himself for the little good it did. The sled helped protect him from the wind with the vines and leaves blocking it further. Yet the chill still seeped through until he could see the fog clouding his breath.

His first two nights were more long periods of unconsciousness than true sleep. Both the physical and emotional trauma of his experience served to put him into a deep slumber. However, now that he had time to come to terms with his situation, his body was beginning to make its complaints known. His arms and shoulders were sore from pulling the sled, his feet were blistering, and he had a tight headache from dehydration.

Perhaps the worst part was the knowledge that if he had kept even a trickle of cultivation, then the aches would have been nothing to him. He tried to gather the necessary energy to begin cultivating once more but it was as if there was a shroud surrounding his aura. The energy of the world was faint to his senses and he could not spend the hours necessary to fully capture it. Perhaps once he was safer, he would have time to gather himself for another attempt.

For now, Kenji was stuck with nothing but his damaged spirit. With it as condensed and unresponsive as it was he could not even act as though a mystic might. With the skill that they were able to manipulate their spirit, this trek would be nothing to them even if they would suffer the same troubles he did.

When the sun fell, he forest came to life with monstrous and terrifying hunting calls.

Several times, it sounded as there was someone calling out and Kenji awoke with a start. He did not know what startled him awake and he sat up to hear. The call repeated, a light thrum that echoed itself through the trees. Recognizing the noise as one of a beast, he fell back in disappointment. Rolling over, he pulled his leathers closer and shut his eyes.

What felt like moments later Kenji jerked awake. He could feel his heart pumping and his mind was instantly cleared of dregs of sleep. Frozen into stillness, he listened closely and waited to hear what woke him. At his side, the small Pokémon shivered in fear. Kenji put his hand atop Sprout's head, partly to comfort it and partly to keep the beast from making a sound and alerting whatever was near.

All of a sudden, a harsh cry screamed out into the night.

Kenji shuddered as the sound grew long and rasped into silence. If the first call that he heard was wind whistling through the trees then this was a dead woman screaming into a cave. The fury in the voice made him want to claw at the ground in effort to hide himself. Before he could so much as move, the forest erupted in noise.

The wind howled and Kenji lunged forward to grasp his sled. It shook slightly but he refused to look past it. If he could see whatever was out there, then it was entirely likely that it could see him. Some monsters knew when they were being watched and even fewer tolerated it.

Clenching his eyes shut, Kenji instinctively tried to make himself smaller. He instinctively clenched down on his spirit, smothering it and compressing his presence tighter and tighter. The strain was almost soothing in its familiarity. Panting, he could feel the night grow colder as it wrapped around him.

Screams of rasping laughter filled the dark. They were dark and cruel, promising pain for attracting their attention. Kenji shivered at the thought of whatever made it finding him. The haunting cries grew vicious and overlapped each other, until it was nothing but a horrid cacophony.

He could feel Sprout shaking violently at his side but fortunately the Pokémon remained silent. He did not know what would happen if the creatures outside discovered them. Releasing one hand, he rested it on the beast to let it know he was there. The other still held onto the sled lest it fall and expose them.

With another rasping screech, the forest fell silent. It was as if the world itself was holding its breath. In clear silence, Kenji was able to make out another cry before it was quickly cut short. The woods remained silent, unwilling to bear the ire of the attacking beasts.

Shivering, he held onto the sled as the forest slowly came back to life. Beasts called out lowly at first, as if questioning if they were allowed to come out. After several heartbeats longer, others shrieked their displeasure at the torturous hunt as though daring the beasts to attack.

Releasing the wood frame, Kenji fell back against the trunk and held Sprout close. Eventually he felt it safe enough to lay back down, the leather apron covering him. The ambient noise of the woods seemed to blend into a harmony and he soon fell asleep.

He awoke for the final time clutching the necklace his mother left him. Tears threatened to fall once more but he managed to contain himself and set about his morning stretches. They were more important than ever, now that his body was recovering. Not only did they prepare him for the day long trek through the forest but movements were a reassuring lifeline that he could cling to. When he was done, a light sheen on sweat dampened his forehead from his exertions but the cool, morning air helped to whisk it away.

Stepping back to the lean-to, he reluctantly grabbed his socks and sandals. After the long night, he was more than aware of the opened blisters decorating his feet. Sitting down, he forced himself to slide the split toed socks on, ignoring the stiffness of the cotton. Grabbing the sandals, he wove the straw strings up his leg to hold the socks in place.

Kenji grabbed some berries to munch on while he rearranged the plants on the sled. Between the vines and the fruit laden branches, here was enough that he to make sure so that nothing would crushed as he pulled it along. When he was done, he took a final bite of his fruity meal before creating Sprout's nest of dirt and crushed leaves. Once the small turtle was dug in and comfortable, Kenji picked up his leathers with a wrinkled nose.

After the past night using it as bedding, the stench clinging to his gardening protection was far too familiar. Not to mention the dirt clinging to them after laying on the ground. However, he was too weak to forgo their protection. Hesitating only briefly, Kenji donned them with a sigh that was quickly cut off when the stench hit his tongue.

Several days of sweat, dirt, and an unwashed body was enough to set him coughing. He struggled to ignore his sense of smell as he picked up the sled and set off.

The juicy berry helped with his parched throat but did little to ease his pounding head. There were several plants with large leaves that collected the morning dew and Kenji took every chance he could to drink the little water that collected on them. The sunlight glittered on the droplets of water, reminding him of his desperate thirst.

As he walked, the sun burned away the morning fog to leave the forest clear. He wished he had something to catch the low clouds and store the water but even if he had the materials, it be rendered unnecessary once he reached the river. Still, he kept an eye out for something he could hollow out to hold water as he walked.

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Oddly, there were no bamboo shoots that he could find. Patches of the thin stalks could typically be found everywhere as they reached for the sky. Their naturally hollow cores collected water and would be perfect for him. Their absence was another worrying sign of how far from home he was.

With the sled dragging behind, Kenji found that foraging became far more difficult than before. He could no long wander to-and-fro as plants caught his eye nor was he willing to deviate too far from his set path. When he was scouting the land, he was sure to memorize the general direction the river according to the rising sun. As long as he walked toward the dawn, he would reach the mountains but walking slightly north meant arriving at the river sooner.

Trudging through the morning, he could feel the sweat begin to dampen his hair as the sun rose. The pain in his shoulders was now a constant presence that pleaded for him to stop but he refused. Behind him, a set of parallel lines followed as he traced a path between the trees. Occasionally the long branches would catch on a root or stone and jerk him back, threatening to tip him over.

Taking a moment to wipe the sweat from his eyes, Kenji looked up when he heard his companion warble. At first he did not see what Sprout was complaining about but when he looked up, he saw a large red and pale worm inching along the trunk of a tree. With each step of its multiple stubby limbs, a faint pop could be heard.

He watched the bug warily but fortunately it seemed to either be unaware or unconcerned of their presence. Neither end of the beast, bearing the vibrant yellow stingers, was directed at him. Choosing to ignore giant bug as well, he circled widely around the tree and continued on.

However, he only walked for several more minutes before the Pokémon let out another fearful chirp from behind him. Looking around, Kenji was able to quickly locate the slow moving worms, their rigid red bodies making them stand out against the brown and green of the forest. Now that there were more of them, he was able to better hear the strange sound of the feet unsticking from the trees. Alone, the soft pop of their suction feet was odd. With a swarm walking around him, he found the sound to be as off putting as it was menacing

He snaked his way through them, leaving as much room as possible between himself and the overly large bugs. They were moving slow enough that he was able to easily outpace them but it seemed that every time he escaped two more appeared. Soon, no matter which direction he walked he could hear the faint, overlapping pops of the moving Pokémon. The soft sounds reminded him of the burbling of a slow moving stream.

Too late, Kenji realized that he was walking into a Pokémon Nest.

They were a rare occurrence, mainly found when Warrior scouts traveled deep into enemy territory ahead of marching armies. Not many species swarmed in such quantities for long enough to be considered a true Pokémon Nest. Most often it was Bug Pokémon that infested an area for breeding season whereas the more mobile herds moved too often.

Depending on what the moving army found and the commanders decided, the nest would be harvested, linked with, or driven off. Only when a force was attempting to sneak through for a surprise attack were they avoided entirely. War stories talked about a distant kingdom that used such nests to their advantage, either as early warning systems or to hinder an army's movement through their land. Kenji was unsure of how such a method would work, as the nests would hinder the kingdom's Warriors as much as their opponents.

By now, Sprout's fearful warbles had died off for fear of alerting the surrounding Pokémon to their presence. While the ones around them most likely considered them a threat, it was despairingly easy for a alerting cry to turn into an all-out attack.

Kenji only wished he had heeded the turtle's warning sooner.

Slowing, he debated on whether to retreat or attempt to circle the swarm of beasts. A more dangerous option was to continue straight through and hopefully reach the other side quickly. The first two were time consuming and would leave him weaker as he took longer to reach the river. The latter risked awakening the Nest and earing the beasts' ire. Without a poultice to heal himself, even a simple scratch by one of the Pokémon's stingers could put him down.

Studying the trees with indecision, Kenji spotted a large silken orb and understood that the decision was already made for him. For the worm Pokémon to begin forming cocoons here meant that he was already near the center of the nest.

Going around from this close meant that he would be likelier to come across a worm mid-transformation. It would most likely attack to drive him off, as very few beasts were willing to leave an unknown entity nearby while they were completely defenseless. Until the bugs surrounded themselves with the silk, they were vulnerable to a predator seeking an easy meal.

Conversely, retreating and finding another path around the nest would waste too much time. His throat was parched and his lips dry from the lack of water. His arms and shoulders were aching. Even the thought of turning around to unravel his progress made him want to break down.

The only path left was forward.

Kenji looked over his shoulder and lifted a finger to his lips. He silently urged his companion to stay silent but he doubted the young turtle understood. The infantile beast was trembling in its makeshift planter with its beady eyes flickering about fearfully. Here, the turtle's instincts would serve them well for the beast fell silent before he even understood the danger Kenji put them in.

He turned back around and began to drag the sled behind as quietly as possible. Soon, the pop of worms moving across the trees faded until all that was left was silence. Even the cries of the surrounding forest disappeared.

As he dragged the sled behind him, silk cocoons joined the large worms in decorating the trees. They ranged from as small as his head to a large one that he could likely stand in. The bulbs mainly rested in the crooks of tree branches or high up the trunk. Occasionally, Kenji would find one on the ground, cracked and oozing. Others sported cracks and scratches while some even had chunks missing entirely as if something had bitten through the cocoon.

He could hear Sprout's shaking increase but fortunately the small beast stayed silent in his fear.

With the more numerous cocoons Kenji began pick out small differences between them. There appeared to be two major types of the silken orbs. One appeared soft and glistened slightly as dew still clung to the threads. Several times he saw them rock or move, a few even falling to the ground as he walked by.

The several times he happened, he froze completely. He dared not even breathe for fear of awakening the evolving Pokémon. Only when the cocoons' rocking stilled did he resume moving.

With his attention drawn by the falling silk orbs, he noticed that the fallen and damaged cocoons that differed greatly from the others. Their outer shell was appeared hard to the touch with cracks, scratches, and more marring their surface. He noted that the more exposed the cocoons were, the likelier they were to be damaged.

Studying the different cocoons, Kenji reasoned the transforming creature within must be able to control the silk directly. It allowed them a small amount of movement and the power to harden the skill to defend against attacks or otherwise survive when they would have died.

It was strange to see the completely encased Pokémon compared to how the Sewaddle of his home evolved. The pale yellow bugs chose to wrap themselves in leaves while still leaving their heads visible. As they grew, the Swadloon steadily added more leaves and used it sculpt their changing form.

Kenji slowed as more of the cocoons appeared to be empty. Not only that but the nearby silk orbs were starting to visibly steam. He looked to the trees spotted with cocoons and saw that they were wobbling in agitation.

He gripped the wood of the sled tighter as he heard the turtle behind him whimper in fear. Craning his head, Kenji looked over his shoulder. The young beast was shaking like a tree in a storm and its beady eyes were darting around in terror.

Seeing Sprout's obvious fear, Kenji picked up his pace and avoided the more active cocoons that he could see. No longer was he watching where he placed his feet, the sound of breaking branches and the crunch of leaves filling the forest. It joined the hissing sound as powerful mist was released from the transforming bugs.

Behind him, Sprout was becoming more vocal with his fear as scared warbles joined his heavy panting.

Unfortunately, it seemed he was too late as the silk spheres began to glow with energy. His presence must not have been as unnoticed as he first thought. The cocoons began to crack and tear as whatever was growing within broke free.