Chapter 42: Lost*
"Let go! Release me at once!" Crystal shouted, trying to escape the arms of multiple Gourgeist of all sizes circling her and enchanting a song to her, which she read that if these Pokémon were to ever sing and someone were to hear... they'll be cursed.
"Cut it out! I already have a lot on my plate right now! You're not going to be the ones to give me a curse today!" They stopped singing and looked at her confused "Don't think I don't know who you guys are... Your former selves were witches, and you hated the kingdom so much that you dared to put a curse upon your princess" the journal told her that much "I already plan on taking that curse back... and I'm keeping my illness with me! So don't bother even trying!" She moved their arms off her and picked up the flute that was attached to her in the trap and made a run for it. Froslass gasped after appearing out of nowhere and hurried to her side while the Gourgeist began chasing after her.
"The kingdom is gone! There is no longer a princess or king! They're memories when I'm done with them!" Crystal stopped running and put the flute close to her lips, staring at them stop in place "and now... so will you" closing her eyes, she swayed side to side as she played through the melody of the song she will always play with the image of Wyatt holding her hand when they were kids. The melody swayed smoothly and slowly. It felt like a light had started to lift from the darkness of the forest.
As soon as the peaceful song ended, she stopped swaying and gasped when she still saw the Gourgeist floating there, looking around confused "W-Why..?" They turned her direction confused and quickly floated away as if they never encountered her and wanted to avoid company at all cause "Those Pokémon had the souls of those witches, right..? I-I mean... it made sense. That story in your journal said that there lived a family in a dark home who were known for casting dark spells and such. They were the ones that cursed you in the first place" she told Froslass. Froslass looked at its own hands but didn't bother to explain itself. It smiled anyways and took her hand to hurry again towards the path they almost lost.
The forest felt lighter and less threatening. Her eyes started moving through all the directions of the trees and flowers to make sure nothing pops up at them. Just then, something peaked at her through the bushes.
"Oh!" a small Pokémon that reached Cleffa's height slowly walked from the branches. Crystal paused and threw out Cleffa's Pokéball so it can walk up to the shy looking Pokémon. It hid in the bushes again, not wanting to be seen, but made it clear it wanted to stare at Crystal. She squatted down to offer her finger "hey there, you can come out. I don't bite" The small Pokémon peaked out the bush again and looked at Cleffa greeting it, scaring it off again.
"Cle!" Cleffa frowned
"Come here, Cleffa" Cleffa nodded and jumped over to her shoulder so she can keep calling to the Pokémon without scaring it "It's okay, we won't hurt you. Come out..." it's blue-green head came out the bushes once more and teleported out, surprising her a little "oh, I thought that's what you were. You're a Ralts" Ralts played with its hands shyly. A blood stain was on its leg
"You're hurt..." Froslass looked around and hurried to pick a berry to offer it to the little psychic type. Ralts looks up a little, staring at Crystal and Froslass over and over before teleporting away. Crystal stood up, sighing.
"We can't make a Pokémon come to us... We have to keep moving. West is waiting" Froslass placed the berry down and begun leading them out the forest again. Ralts picked up the berry and slowly started eating it while following the three throughout the forest they won't be able to leave for awhile.
Soon after, a growling sound could be heard. Cleffa panicked and hid under Crystal's hair while Froslass sweat dropped, knowing Crystal was hungry and blushing from embarrassment.
"How long has it been since I've eaten...? Wyatt would shove food down my throat whenever I tell him I'm hungry. He believes that if I ever get hungry, that means my nutrition is falling... For a doctor, he's pretty stupid. It's called being a human" she huffed "How much longer till we get to Nixa Town anyways-" she froze when realizing she could see the haunted house she was dragged into right there a few yards away "W-Wait a minute... We passed this a long time ago!" Froslass was just as confused as she was. They were walking for hours in a straight line, and it was already getting dark.
"It'll be dangerous to walk around these parts like this... What can be so scary about that house now that I put the spirits to rest?" Froslass pouted with a nod of determination and followed after her, only to see itself closer to the house than she was. Crystal stood in place, staring at how dark and creepy the house looked.
"C-Can we set a fire?" Froslass sweat dropped and dragged her scary self into the house filled with the same Gourgeist again, only this time they didn't really care if she was around, yet was curious and hid in corners to stare at her gazing around nervously while Froslass was looking around, thinking to itself "Do you recognize being in here? Froslass, I mean... Diane?" Froslass glanced at her before continuing to look around. Crystal peaked at the Gourgeist staring at her and immediately scared them without doing anything. So much for Ghost Pokémon.
"I guess this is the only safe spot around... We can't go traveling at this hour" Crystal leaned on the wall, hugging her arms and stared at the ceiling "I want West to be okay. I feel so useless right now. If I was never in that condition back in my cell, I could have still been with him" she sighed "No, I shouldn't say that. If the Ice Orb were ever to be in their hands, they'd get an easier access to Glēgotan" she held her chin "The legendary wouldn't come so easily... I think I heard something about a festival being held in Nixa town in honor of the legendary Pokémon, but what do I know..?" She read on the festival in the magazine before but didn't know if it had anything to do with the summoning.
She slid down the wall to sit down and hug her knees "They want to take away everything... Everyone's freedom. They're selfish and don't understand that it doesn't have to be like this. They can be happy without being on top. Sometimes, what you have now is just enough. If they're unhappy with it, they have the power to change it because we have freedom. We can be whatever we want to be, instead of being a gym leader."
"What did... you want to be..?" The princess's voice spoke, making Crystal smile
"I never gave it any thought... but it would be anything else than having to stay in that castle for the rest of my life. Now it's too late. It's okay because I'm actually happy now" she rested her chin on her knees "Everyone is together again, and there's no more hate, and until I make West better, I won't leave happy" a small head peeked from behind a dresser "Huh?"
The small head flinched and teleported to a different area that was easier to spot it, though didn't know Crystal was staring right at it and its bloody leg "I can still see you, dear" it cried out and teleported away, but ended up on her legs "oh!" It rolled down to her stomach, crying out in pain and looked up at her surprised face.
"Hey..." she gently carried its body in her arms "It's okay. I told you I won't hurt you... okay?" It looked down, hiding its mouth with its hands "How about we fix up that bloody leg yours?" She stood up and begun walking around the house, followed by the Gourgeist who continued to be their curious selves. Froslass floated over to shoo them away, but nothing happened.
Dewgong was sent out to assist with the cleaning and cooling while Glaceon came out to sit around it so it can be comfortable on the floor. The little Ralts seemed shy to a point where it needed to cover its face, blushing hard.
"I cleaned the blood off, but the wound isn't all that serious. The blood is old, so I'm sure you've been healing" Froslass floated over to notice a chunk of a Berry on the side of Ralts lips "So you ate the berry after all. That's good! That means you'll get better in no time, but even if it's still a small wound, it might be infected. I wish I had the medicine to help you, but for now, we're stuck in this creepy house" she peaked at the Gourgeist over her shoulder "I don't like being here at all..." Glaceon giggled and got up to rub against her knee "Glaceon..." for so many long weeks without knowing what could have happened to Crystal, it was understandable on why Glaceon was so worried and wanted to cuddle with her all the time
Ralts stared at Glaceon's affections and watched Crystal getting close with the Pokémon she sent out "This place is ancient... over 3,000? It's in really good shape, except for all the dust" she sighed and dug in her bag to take out the journal. Ralts teleported on her lap to take a look at the journal itself
"Are you interested? This is a journal that's been written by a princess a very long time ago. It tells of her story, her journey, her origin, her curse, her family, and her love, but some of the pages are unreadable" she ran her hand across the cover
"She's been through a lot. We're practically the same person" she giggled "except... that she wasn't born with an illness but was given a curse at a young age. The princess and her warrior made the same wish to take away each other's misfortune, but it ended up being switched instead. It was all so the other could be happy, but they ended up dying together anyway" she sighed
"I know West, and he would do something like that. I'm not going to let him" she petted Ralts staring at her "I'm going to make sure everyone is happy once I leave this world" letting out a loud yawn, Crystal rested on Dewgong's side and sighed "We're leaving early to catch up with time. I don't know where they took West, but I'm going to find them..." she closed her eyes, slowly drifting to sleep, "and I'll kill them" she could tell her Pokémon flinched. She giggled "You think I'm kidding... If they put a hand on him, they'll be sorry" after her little joke that actually scared the ghost type living there, she drifted into a deep sleep.
Only getting a few hours of sleep, Crystal returned her sleeping Pokémon and walked out with a sleepy Froslass and Ralts who laid on her shoulder with Cleffa on the other.
"Let's see if we can make it out of here this time" she groaned, looking at the morning darkness around "it's so lonely now..." she sighed and begun walking forward to where Froslass was positive was straight towards Nixa Town.
Walking straight felt like it continued forever... With time passing, Crystal froze when she found the haunted house by the corner again "W-Why!?" She shouted. Ralts frowned and teleported away while she threw a fit "I'm never going to save West at this rate!" Froslass pointed over at Ralts picking white flowers growing from the roots of the trees "Isn't that the flowers that Olivia was talking about?" Ralts showed it to her "Didn't she warn me about these? Perhaps they're the cause of this..." thinking of a way to find out about the flowers effects, she dialed Emilia on her communicator, knowing she was the plant expert.
"Hello dear, sister!" Emilia's face appeared on the screen "It's been a few days since I've heard from you!"
"What..? A few days?! How long of a few days..?"
"Hm... about 3?" Yeah, something is definitely wrong here. There's no way she's been in the forest for three days!
"Emilia, I need you to help me with something" Crystal pointed the camera towards Ralts, who looked down all shyly "This flower... What do you know about it?" Emilia took a better look before gasping
"Oh my! That's a Floranigt. Put that down! It's bad for you!" Ralts dropped the flower and reappeared on Crystal's shoulder "You're walking through Flora forest? Why? That's very dangerous, Crystal. I thought you were smarter than this!"
"Excuse me for not knowing Kannena as much as you, genius" even if Olivia warned her not to go through it.
"True... Floranigts are flowers that only grow in that forest. Scientists had been studying them for years. Their shine is as bright as snow, but no light is produced. You don't notice them unless you're looking for them. Their pollen gives off hallucinations and can often confuse anyone who goes through those woods. People get lost so easily, and they find themselves going in circles, often found dead" Crystal gulped
"T-that's what I thought..." she looked at every corner to see bright glowing white flowers everywhere. Even with so much light, they didn't light up the path at all. "How do I get rid of them? Should I freeze them so they won't be a distraction and cause me to stay in one place?" Emilia sweat dropped
"That's one way to put it... sure. But-" Crystal nodded and immediately hung up.
"Let's get out of here as soon as possible! Froslass, how about an ice beam?" Froslass looked around nervously "What's wrong?" It ignored it and used ice beam at every flower it saw while everyone started rerunning the straight path. Crystal was getting tired of all the walking, but by the end, they could finally see the light on the other side.
"There's the exit!" She gasped and put Ralts down "Is this where we should part ways? I don't think you want to stick around. You don't want to get involved in this mission... You're so young, and it'll be a shame that we won't get to see each other again" Ralts looked down "I told you my future... So staying with me shouldn't be an option. You've followed me this far..." it shook its head and teleported to hug her leg "So you already made a decision... very well" she carried its small body towards the exit "Looks like we'll be able to treat the wound after all" Ralts smiled with her and looked upon dozens of people scattered around in the town, preparing for what seemed like a festival, putting up lights and booths.
"They're preparing the festival!" Crystal gasped, looking around amazed "I always wanted see a festival. I hear there's always some delicious food serving here. Every year, my family would go as I stay home, and they bring back with so much food for me to stuff my face. That was the life. I didn't like leaving my room at the time, so I never got the chance to go when I could. Now that I'm older and want to explore, I've wanted to know if I'll ever see it with my own eyes. It's being prepared right now!" She put her hands together in awe.
All eyes were on her when they noticed she was walking past the caution tape from the inside of the woods "Oh wow!" She flinched when hearing a sudden voice speak from behind "Did you just come from the Flora forest!? How are you alive?" She slowly turned her head to only see a glimpse of the person from the side of her hood she had on. A girl, a year younger than her, with a muscle shirt, short shorts, and running shoes, stared at her in wonder. It's...
"I guess I just got lucky..." Crystal sweat dropped. The girl smiled and bowed so far down that her unbelievably long braid snapped upward and swung sideways when she stood up.
"You're an inspiration to all for arriving safely and unharmed! Quite honorable! It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss! My name is Mia Otashi! I am a gym leader of this town and hosting the festival this year!" Oh? "You are the first person in under a long time to successfully come out the woods by foot without harm! That's a big deal around here! You're officially the honored guest of our town!"
"W-Wait... Just like that? Because I walked?"
"Better believe it! The only person to make it out alive was the Princess of Kannena three thousand years ago! That's got to mean something!" Crystal thought for a moment "How about I show you around?" Crystal turned completely towards her, hiding half her face to see how far Mia get without realizing who she is.
"Thank you for that... I would like to go to the Pokémon center, please?" Crystal looked down, realizing she needs to take her medicine she hasn't taken in the days she spent in the woods without realizing it.
"No problem!" Mia punched the air above her "I've meant to take a break anyways since these people act like they need to be babysat" She sweat dropped "Come! We have enough time to explore! The festival starts tomorrow, so let me take this fearless adventurer out for another adventure and get her ready for the big celebration!" She told the crowd.
"Fearless? Me?" Crystal pointed at herself confused. Didn't Mia notice how much she was shaking when leaving the woods? "Get me ready?"
"You bet! Come on!" Mia took Crystal's hand, freezing before she could move
"Is something the matter..?"
"W-well... It's nothing, but... Your hands are so cold..."
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