Bewildering Forest was the forest equivalent of Mew's home, as the name suggested. It was definitely more wild than Nightwood Forest, but compared to the jungle, it was still a forest.

    "The Spring is at the heart of the forest, right?" I asked. We were walking, or in Celebi's case, flying, side-by-side, since none of us could sense where to go. Even though my excuse for coming here was a possible Time Gear, I knew it was a lie. I wanted Treecko to be stronger, and what's more, a slight of hand for us against Dusknoir. No Pokémon have evolved for a long time, so he would never expect Treecko to be a Grovyle next time we met.

     We wandered for hours, and we eventually made camp. Unlike in the jungle, we didn't have the luck of meeting a kind Pokémon, or any at all. I volunteered for first watch, then Treecko, then Celebi.

     I kept my eyes to the sky, since sight wouldn't do much for me. The trees were packed very closely, and at most I could see maybe ten feet out from the clearing.

     The black, dead sky made me feel hopeless and sad, since whenever I had done that before, the inky blue was always pierced by the crystals of stars. My thoughts kept wandering back to the topic of nonexistance, and when I should tell Treecko and Celebi. Mew seemed to understand it immediately.

     Once I shook myself from my depressing thoughts, I glanced at my watch. My time as guard was over half an hour ago, and I hadn't even noticed. I snuck over to Treecko, nudged him with my hand, and handed him my watch. He took it with blurry eyes and stood up, stretching. Then I fell asleep over near Celebi for the rest of the night.

     In the morning, we set out early, as we usually did. Treecko climbed up a tree to see if he could spot Luminous Spring, and tell us where we were in an aproximation. With the first one being a failure, and he said to not expect anything less, he was just able to show us where we were on the map.

     As it turned out, we were still far from our destination. We traded training for travel time, and made very slow progress. By the end of the day, however, we got very deep into the forest. With an hour before we would sleep, we trained. I tried climbing trees, but without some help, I decided it wouldn't be worthwhile to do so. I didn't have the upper body strength.

     "Treecko, do you think you'll evolve?" I asked, curious. We were in the middle of a training session. At the question, Treecko spun his tail with vicious strength, which I blocked with my arm. The shock of impact was very jarring, and I felt the hard spike of pain shoot through my bones that followed. I made an exclamation, then said, "That almost made my arm numb!"

     Treecko gave me an apologetic grimance. "I don't know," he answered. "I hope so, but... no one can be sure. I'll be preparing for disappointment, on the large chance I won't be able to." He wouldn't say anything else on the matter, no matter how much I asked.

     In the morning, we got on the move again. I started getting paranoid about Sableye watching us, and whenever I saw the purple of an Ekans or Gengar, I thought it was a Sableye. I decided being hunted was worse than I had imagined here. The hunters were much more dangerous than the Teams combined.

As it turned out, my paranoia—which I hadn't even voiced, determined to push it aside and focus on reality, not my overactive imagined fear—was not unfounded. Yet, our assailants were not Sableye. They were serpent Pokémon. Serperior, Arbok, Seviper, Dragonair. Many groups, and it seemed they were even able to round up some of the Ekans I had seen.

The serpents were being paid to capture or eliminate us, their goal I was unsure. We had to fight like our lives depended on it, though, because if it wasn't our lives they would try taking, it surely would be our freedom.

We planned to stall. I would be the staller, since I would draw attention anyway. Treecko and Celebi were going to observe the enemy, and since two of the four different serpentine Pokémon were of poison-type advantage, they would need it. I remembered the pecha-oran berry mixture I had in my bag, and hoped it would be enough if I needed it. Or, rather, if they needed it.

I started before an attack could begin. "What do you want?" Typical prey question, answered by the just as typical, haughty predator answer: payment. Or, in this case, berries. Berries and Pokécoin.

The answer came from a large Arbok, who held himself higher than all his companions, and slithered forward. He had scars on his cobra hood, and he had a rather poisonous glare to his eyes, no pun intended. He looked perfect for ferreting out a few fugitives for Dusknior. Plus, since they were all snake in body, they could easily lock our gaze if we linger one too many heartbeats and be frozen, easy prey, easier than we already were. All except the Dragonair. I unfocused my eyes and glared into the Arbok's eyes, even as he tried to freeze me in his predatory stare.

"Pokémon aren't supposed to be able to evolve without the elusive Luminous Spring," I started. "How come all of you are fully evolved?" Time was what we needed. Time was what I will buy.

The hiss of his voice wound its way into my head, around my brain, in and out my ears. It sent an involuntary shiver up my spine again, as it had the first time. "That'sss for usss to know," he said. I expected him to continue with the famous and for you to find out or and you to never know. Instead, the hiss came deceptively close to my ears. "And for you to sssurrender yourssselvesss. Or we can get half your bounty when we bring your bodiesss back for Dusssknior. Pick your poissson." The serpentine Pokémon all slithered forward in unison, the Ekans eager to help and be our binding ropes, I guessed, and ready with poisoned fangs and hypnotic stares, I was certain.

"Well, I have another idea..." I said, regretting my choice. I would have to trick their memories. That was the only way it could work. I used Attract on the lead Arbok, and before any other snakes or Treecko could comprehend what happened, I hit them all with a wide-range Confuse Ray. Spiraled hearts stayed in the leader's eyes, while everyone else we dizzy with confusion. I glanced at Celebi, making sure that I missed her, and shifted into a Milotic. I felt some bones uncomfortably disolve, others form, and still others bend and gain inhuman flexibility from inhuman ligaments as my anatomical structure rearranged into a Milotic's. I deeply hated to do this, and it disgusted me, but I no longer had a choice. There were just too many to fight.

     I slithered over to the Arbok, Attract still affecting him, and he acted as though drunk. "Hey," I said sweetly. "Follow me." The words made me want to go crawl in a corner and hide. This wasn't me. I had to give time for Celebi to move a confused Treecko away, so I had to get the confused population of snake Pokémon away. I knew there were female Pokémon, too, and they wouldn't see me through rose-tinted eyes—as I noticed some of the male Pokémon were, and who started to slither towards me—but they were following their friends nonetheless. I could have confused them all and change into a bird Pokémon, and we could have escaped, I realized. I saved the chastisement for later, I couldn't lose focus now. I glanced at Celebi, who was trying to slip between numerous snake Pokémon with Treecko. Right now, I need to make sure those two get out of here. I slithered around the lead Arbok, leading him and the others in the opposite direction that Celebi was headed. A few of the Pokémon slipped on their tails, tripping, but I kept moving. I couldn't see Celebi now. Without breaking my stride, I used multiple Harden for a new plan I was getting. Surely Confuse Ray would wear off soon. "Come clossser," I said, barely managing the serpentine hiss. All the snake Pokémon were around me, in my radius. Well, I guess better used late than...never?

I let myself feel regret for my poor choice, but then it was gone. I had to use Self-Destruct. I used Swords Dance a few times, to make sure I could faint at least half of them. I'm going to hate myself later.

No longer able to delay the inevitable, I started biding the destructive power that Voltorb and Electrode were infamous for. Don't faint, I told myself, over and over, Don't faint. I couldn't hold it anymore, and I felt myself explode. The Pokémon closest to me were instantly taken down, while the ones farthest were taking massive damage. What's fast? I hurriedly thought. Liepard. Cats and snakes were enemies, according to old myths and legends. As my bones rearranged again, painfully this time, I hoped it was true. Growls of pain escaped me, and in a haze I noticed some of the snake Pokémon farthest from my blast radius were getting up. My growls turned into snarls, and I shook myself. I was weak, and I knew Celebi couldn't be far. I could track her scent, and get away, if only I had been stronger.

I launched myself at the stirring snakes, my front claws sheathed in the shadow of Shadow Claw. I slashed, and when I was close enough, I used Crunch on them. I had to be careful, though. Any hit I took could leave me fainted and poisoned, and vulnerable to being captured.

When I took care of a few, others began to stir. I can't do this. I ran, following Celebi and Treecko's scent trail. Hopefully I could cover the trail, with my now-Liepard scent. I soon caught up with them, though they were stopped in a clearing. "Why did you stop?" I demanded, a slight feline accent in my voice. "They'll be on us soon!"

Celebi glanced at me, and jumped. I guess she didn't expect me to be a Pokémon when she saw me. "I think we found the Spring, Pearl," she answered.

I was trying to change back when I heard that. The surprise was so great, I actually paused mid-transformation, and groaned at having still-broken bones. With an effort I forced myself to continue.

I was thankful Celebi didn't ask why I had confused Treecko, along with the rest of the enemy Pokémon. She probably already knew, anyway. I finished my transformation and thought a moment. "We need to fix the Spring. But not now, I'm too weak."

Celebi understood. "Use Rest, then. Treecko should be free of your Confuse Ray soon, and I'll..." She broke off. Celebi doesn't want to lie.

"Tell him I hit him on accident. We fled and they lost our trail, and we ran into the Spring. That's partially the truth." The time travel Pokémon nodded, and I used Rest.

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As of this moment of posting (August 13, 2016), I just finished this book. So there will be very frequent updates between now and August 26, 2016, since that was when I finished the other Pokémon book I have, My (Twisted) Pokémon Journey last year. I hope you enjoy, and tell me what you think about the frequent updates (every other day). I might start writing books first and then posting them weekly, so it's not super long. Hope you enjoy the next thirteen days of updates, and I would love feedback!