As her consciousness leaned towards awareness, the flood of the sounds information surged into her. The sound of numerous leaves rubbing against each other. The sound of small birds cheerfully twittering away. Below them were the occasionally buzzing sounds from the insects. The faint murmuring sound of a small river from far away.
She pushed aside the desire to return to the deep sleep which still lingered, before finally opening her eyes.
She repeatedly blinked several times due to the sudden shot of numerous swaying beams of lights. As she rubbed her eyes, which were blurred with tears, with the back of her right hand, she slowly raised her upper body, to see small white and yellow flowers at various places on them, and the largest butterflies she had ever seen, they resembled a vaguely anthropomorphic butterfly with a purple body. Unlike true insects, it only had two body segments and four light blue legs. The upper pair of its legs resembled small, three-fingered hands, while the lower pair resembles long, digit-less feet. With two black antennaes, a light blue snout with two fangs underneath, and large, red compound eyes. Its two pairs of wings were white with black venation.
The carpet of grasses was cut off, from there on, was a stretch of deep forest, lined up with the huge gnarly trees which should have aged for tens of years.
As she focused her sight to the gloomy gap between the tree trunks, the grove of trees seemed to continue until the limit where light could reach. The rugged rippled tree bark and the ground were covered with thick moss, shining green and gold under the sun.
She glanced to the right, then turned around, she was greeted by old tree trunks from all directions. In other words, it seemed she was lying in a small circle of grasses in the opening of the forest. Lastly she looked upwards, and from the gap between the gnarled tree-tops stretching in all directions, it was the blue sky where the scattered clouds were drifting, like she had expected.
She searched every nook and corner of her head, but she couldn't find the memory of how she came to take a nap in this place. Sleepwalking?
Amnesia? As those dangerous words crossed her mind, no way, she quickly denied it. She remembered who she was and this wasn't the first time she had fallen in an unknown location...It happens a lot sadly.
After caressing her face and pulling at her hair several times, she listened to the uninterrupted sound of little birds twittering and leaves rubbing against each other, she recklessly tried to shake off a discomforting feeling which was creeping up from her waist when her eyes landed on a swarm of massive wasps.
She gasped, placed her hand over her chest and backed up, hating the sight of their massive large size and also the fact she hated bugs.
She stepped behind a tree and poked her head studying the swarm, going by slowly. She did notice unlike normal wasps these had four legs instead of six and lacked pigment pits. Their heads were round with slightly pointed mouths, large, red eyes, and black antennae with a sharp bend in the middle. Their forelegs were tipped with long, conical stingers. They seemed to stand on their other two legs, which were long, segmented, and insectoid in shape. And finally they had two pairs of rounded, veined wings, and another stinger on its yellow-and-black striped abdomen.
She took another step backwards, backing into a sign.
She whirled around, her eyes landing on a wooden sign that read. "Welcome to the Viridian Forest: Watch out for Bugs."
Wilfride held her belly as she was attacked by a sudden desire to burst out laughing, after she somehow managed to let it pass, she decided to exclude the third possibility as out of the question as well. As she lost sight of the border between the reality and non-reality, Wilfride felt as if she was starting to lose her sanity as well.
She looked up into sky through the treetops before speaking again.
"If you're listening then reply to me!!"
However, no matter how long she waited, a huge face or a hooded human figure didn't appear. At that point, she started checking the surrounding bushes again before searching through her clothes for something that could be a rule book, but she couldn't find anything.
This has happened before, she reminded herself. I fall through the Veil Openings all the time. Usually every time God wants me to do something on that world but what could he want me to do on a bug planet?
As she listened to the birds' carefree twittering, she recklessly thought about what to do after this point and realized if she heard birds, then that means there were more than bugs.
Wilfride bit her lips as hopelessness struck her again and was surprised that she was at this much of a loss on what to do.
She kicked the hopelessness away as she put her right foot out, it was just in ten steps that she reached the end of the grass covered ground. She passed through the two old trees which rose as if they were natural gateposts, and stepped into the gloomy forest.
The forest floor was covered in a velvet-like thick moss, the space felt suspiciously strange. The leaves of overgrown trees obstructed almost all sunlight, it was just narrow beams of golden light that managed to reach the ground. The large butterflies dancing over the grass were replaced with strange large beetles which looked like dragonflies or moths, they glided soundlessly in the air. Occasionally, a sound of something from somewhere reached her ears. It was a scene She didn't think it could be home.
Wilfride walked for about fifteen minutes while praying that a hostile large monster would not venture out. She felt greatly relieved when the path that had a deluge of sunlight came into view. As the sound of water became clear, she was certain that up ahead would be a river. She naturally quickened her feet while suppressing her dry throat.
The moment she rushed out of the dense forest, separated by a three meter wide area of grass, was the surface of water, in which the silver light of the sun bounced off and entered her eyes.
"W-Water-"
With a miserable groan, she unsteadily walked along the final distance, before throwing her body down onto the soft undergrowth riverside.
What a beautiful stream. The river wasn't wide, as she slowly crawled, she could see the stunning transparency of the water current.
Like a drop of blue paint hanging on pure lack of color, Wilfride could clearly see white sands of the riverbed through the extremely clear mountain stream.
RUSTLE
She froze, her eyes narrowed, and everything stood erect.
RUSTLE RUSTLE
Wilfride turned her head and focused on the source of the noise. It was a single bush located on the edge of the clearing. Something was moving around inside the foliage just out of sight, causing the leaves to rustle. Almost instantly, her mind jumped to the worst case scenario. And she pulled off the thick black gloves she had on her hands, stuffing them in her pocket.
Inching closer to the bush, she made each footstep as silent as possible. Wilfride strained her eyes to see into the darkness and kept her hands pointed forward incase anything attacked. The branches rustled again, but whatever animal was inside had yet to jump free.
FLASH... KRAC-CROOO-OOOM!
Wilfride leapt, screamed, and galloped in the exact opposite direction of the bush before she dove behind a tree on the far side of the clearing. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest, and she put a hand over her ribcage in a panicked attempt to make sure that didn't happen.
She began breathing deeply, trying to calm down while she looked up at the sky. "It was just the storm... It was just thunder... it was just thunder... thunder that scared me half to death... but it was just thunder."
As she tried to calm herself, she pulled herself to her feet.
FLASH... KRAC-CROOO-OOOM!
Again, the storm caught her by surprise. It wasn't as bad as the first time. She was able to keep herself standing in the center of the clearing instead of galloping off to hide. She did, however, throw an annoyed glare up at the clouds for startling her twice.
Wilfride crept over to the bush as quietly as possible. As she drew close, she reached out with her hands began to carefully grasp at the branches. If whatever was inside the bush decided to run away, she wanted to at least get a good look at it before it escaped.
Once she was standing beside the bush, she swallowed nervously and braced herself. She shoved the branches away and shut her eyes tight, a small part of her still expecting a large bug to jump out. When that didn't happen, she cracked open her eyes and looked into the interior of the bush.
As if on cue, a blur of orange and yellow fur barreled through the bushes and slammed her to the ground. The assailant knocked the breath out of her and she gasped for air while something heavy pressed on her chest.
Wilfride gave a groan and looked up a reddish-orange furred fox like creature with long ears, dark eyes, and a small black nose staring down at her. Fluffy yellow fur formed a small tuft on its head, as well as its bushy tail and a mane around its chest and neck.
"I am an Ice wielding, anger prone lunatic that worships Jesus," Wilfride growled. "Now get off, before I freeze your cute fluffy face."
Seemed the only word it understood was cute face because the moment it registered, the large fluffy tail started to wag back and forth like a dog.
Wilfride pushed the creature off and pulled herself to her feet before she looked to her left and right. The flow of the river drew a gradual curve from the north to the south. The end of both directions were swallowed by groups of big trees. However, from its cleanliness, coolness, and width, she thought the source of the river should be quite close. If that was the case, the possibility of houses or towns existing downstream should be high.
It'd be easy if I had a boat... She thought as she started to walk downstream -- at that time, The breeze that changed direction slightly carried an odd sound into her ears.
Something hard, either a big tree or something similar was struck, that kind of sound. It wasn't just once. She listened to the regular paced sound that had about a four second interval.
She made a half circle turn toward the upstream of the river, where the dry echoes came from.
While she was moving both feet single-mindedly, she had a chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery once more, then she noticed that her direction had veered off to the left. Apparently, the source of the sound wasn't from the river bank, but seemed to be a place slightly deeper inside the forest on her left.
Then another sound came up behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see the fox was following her.
"Why are you following me?" Wilfride asked in a cold manner.
The fox responded. "Ah,"
Wilfride didn't know how or why but it was like she understood him. "No. I don't need your help. I just need to find a Veil opening."
"Ah,"
She sighed. "It's a dimensional hoopla portal that has plagued my world long before I was born. The beings called Keepers fall through when God needs them to do something and occasionally a stupid human falls through."
During the three minutes of silence, Wilfride walked in the general direction of the sound, then made some minor adjustments when the sounds resumed. She had already separated from the river bank and returned to within the forest. Wilfride proceeded silently as she reunited with the strange butterflies, the blue lizards and the giant mushrooms.
Wilfride glanced over her shoulder to see the fox was still following her.
"You don't have to follow me, you know." Wilfride growled out in a mutter.
"Ah," The fox responded.
"I have no idea what you're saying." Wilfride replied. "But I am sure you have an owner or friend waiting for you somewhere...that's not with me."
"Ah,"
The dreary forest stretched on endlessly. Each length of trees looked exactly the same no matter how far they traveled. Spindly branches silhouetted against the dark sky reached up around them like a cage of bony claws as if to suggest that they would never escape.
"...Go again, Pichu, ..."
An unaware low voice shouted at the exact same time as a buzzing sound ended, it was then Wilfride noticed that the gap in the grove of the trees up ahead became brighter. So that's the forest exit? Or it could possibly be a village.
"Ah," The fox sounded behind her.
Wilfride sighed and looked back to it.
She quickened her feet toward the light.
Wilfride clambered over the tree roots which were raised up like stairs and when her face came out of the shadow of the old tree trunk, in front of her eyes was a small, ground-dwelling rodent Pokémon with pale yellow fur. Its ear-tips, collar, and tail that was black and angular.
The creatures pink cheeks buzzed with electricity.
"Hit it with another-,"
Her line of sight, which suddenly returned to looking straight ahead, met the face of someone whose pupils were watching her from behind the tree trunk. She swallowed her breath. Being startled, she retreated half a step before falling to the ground.
Fortunately, it seemed the first person she met in this world didn't show hostility nor caution, just tilting her head in wonder.
A short girl with purple eyes and blonde curled hair that reached below her chin stared down at me.
"Did you just start your Pokemon Trainer journey to?"
Wilfride blinked at her foreign words. "Poke...mon...Trainer?"
"Isn't that why you're here?" She asked. "Or are you just a bug catcher?"
Wilfride hesitated for a moment.
"Umm... No I can't stand bugs...I'm a bit lost..."
As she spoke, she pointed at a direction behind her, probably to the south, and the girl looked at Wilfride in surprise. After placing the round object in her right hand on her belt, she then pointed in the same direction as her.
"That's..... Pallet Town? Are you from Pallet Town?"
"This place has a town of just pallets?" Wilfride asked then caught herself. "N-No... it's not like that."
Her face became stiff at the sudden dilemma, but she managed to answer, "That, erm... I also don't know where I came from... I found myself collapsed in the middle of the forest when I woke up..."
"With your Pokemon?"
"My Poke...mon?"
The girl pointed next to Wilfride where the fox was sitting next to her, wagging his tail.
"You're Flareon."
"That is not mine; he just started stalking me like stalkers do,"
The mouse from earlier walked up to the girl and stood at her side. "This is Pichu, I had him a few days now, a gift from my boss," She said with pride. "I just started my Pokemon Journey and I am headed to Viridian City."
Wilfride shook her head. "I didn't understand anything you just said..."
"Are you from Johto?"
Wilfride shook her head once more. "I still don't understand anything you just said."
Her eyes went wide. "Wow, you really must be from far away? Well, if you want, you can travel with me to Viridian City."
"Anything sounds better than staying in this bug invested Hell hole," Wilfride muttered, eyeing a large caterpillar that was making its way up a tree next to her.
Wilfride swallowed hard and took a step away from it.
Why do the bugs have to be so huge here?
Then, a smile brighter than earlier appeared on the girl's face as extended her right hand, as she continued, "I'm Domino. Nice to meet you,"
Pichu gave a nod when they heard an irritating low buzzing noise, frowning they looked around and paled. Above them all the sky was dark and moving, it was a wave of those wasps from earlier.
"Beedrills." Domino said, then grinned.
Wilfride blinked, then couldn't help but smile when she realized why it was called that. "Oh. I get it. Their bees with drills...It's like a bad joke."
The Beedrill started rushing towards them.
"Pichu. Use Static," Domino said.
"Huh?" Was all Wilfride could utter when the mouse took off towards the bugs and blasting a small amount of electricity, hitting only one of the Beedrill creatures.
Outnumbered and an inexperienced fighter it seemed, Pichu had no choice but to try to make a run for it.
He ran as fast as he could with the Beedrill slowly catching up to him.
One lunged at him from the side. Pichu just managed to jump high enough to avoid the low tackle, causing the Beedrill to slam into a tree, which seemed to anger the others.
Pichu kept running, zigzagging through the bushes and trees, trying to lose the hive and every time he thought he lost them, one would appear and nearly catch him. He managed to avoid them but for how much longer.
Then, from out of nowhere, a blue beam shot out, slamming into the Beedrill closet to Pichu, freezing it solid. Pichu watched it fall from the air, crashing into the ground like a statue.
Domino and Pichu whirled back at Wilfride with stunned expressions.
Her glove was off her hand and small crystals were embedded throughout her knuckles.
"What? Don't you have Keepers here?"