Chapter 16

The rest of the morning after rescuing the Parasect pack was hard for everyone, especially Greta and Eusine. Redwald and Eevee waited for the two the whole night along with Madison. When Eusine found them and explained everything, Redwald blamed himself for not going after them to look for. Eusine made it clear that even if Redwald did that, he would not be able to help in any case. Parasect and Beedrill packs were simply ruling the night. When Madison heard the whole story, she wished the best for herself and left the group, but she wanted Redwald and Eusine to let Greta know that she would meet her some other time to complete the battle. It was easy for Eusine to find the way back, it was only tiring for him for going a long distance after a night without sleeping.

Things were not any better for Greta either. She spent her whole morning preparing antidote for an army of Parasect. Most of them were poisoned and they were running out of time. The only time Greta stopped preparing countless antidotes was when Redwald and Eusine showed up. Greta hugged Redwald as tight as she could.

“We were supposed to be protecting each other.” Redwald said when Greta wrapped her arms around Redwald. “We will never get separated no matter what.” He said. “Deal?”

“You got it...” Greta said softly. Because of the tiredness, she could barely speak. Redwald offered Greta to teach how to prepare antidotes, and let her sleep while he prepares it all. But Greta did not want to risk it. Any difference could make the process even longer, or may lead to an unwanted resolution.

“It is almost done, anyway.” She had to say, although there were still hours to be done. But when she prepared the needed antidote and gave it all the Pokémon, including Redwald’s Eevee, she finally got her chance to sleep. She and Eusine left the group and had a long rest behind the trees, where nothing could make any noise except for a waterfall, which would make Greta very peaceful while thinking nothing at all...

When some disorder occurred with Parasect Pack and they caused a rumble, Greta softly opened her eyes. As far as she could feel the heat in the air, the time had to be some time around afternoon. She stretched as she lifted her back. With open arms, she breathed in. She slept so well that she finally felt the peace in her mind, as well as body and bones.

When she checked around herself, she did not see Eusine. Eusine was just sleeping alongside her before coming there. She checked her bag, found the Poké Balls and made sure that everything was fine, until she realized that she woke up because of a rumble.

She walked to the pack where everyone gathered together, and running around. She did not understand what was happening at first, but it was obvious that there was something unwanted going on. She finally found Redwald, Eevee and Eusine walking towards her. She stopped the two.

“What is going on here?” Greta asked. She was worried about them, despite not knowing who was the victim.

“A Parasect is missing.” Redwald said. “We believe some Beedrill or one of the poachers kidnapped it last night.”

“How are we supposed to find it, then?” Greta responded. After the long and nice rest, she would not want to find herself in another stressful situation, but there she was.

“There is a way.” Eusine said. “But I need my Haunter for this. The last time I checked, he was still too exhausted. I want him to rest some more, then we can probably figure out what exactly happened.”

Greta had no idea how Haunter could help out with the situation, but she knew he was an odd Pokémon to begin with, after all. Instead of asking more to get confused more, she preferred to wait and see. In the meantime, Redwald and Eusine tried to calm the rest of the pack down, but they were truly worried about their friend, as it seemed. One of the Parasect even attacked Eevee with Slash because he was talking too much.

After a couple of hours, Eusine asked all the pack to gather. Once each one of them came there, and Eusine made them all stop talking with the help of Redwald and Greta, he introduced Haunter to them.

“Haunter, my ace Pokémon, resides in this Poké Ball.” He said, while he held the Poké Ball high. “You are probably not familiar with his species. Because both of you are able to survive in different habitats. But he is the one to help us with this situation. He can tell us what happened to Parasect. Even more, he can show us.”

Everyone’s attention was on Eusine. Even Redwald and Greta were almost as excited as Parasect. They had no idea how Haunter could show it, but they were willing to witness this experience.

“Let me introduce you my Pokémon.” Eusine said, as he threw the Poké Ball. “Haunter, come out!”

The gas Pokémon appeared floating in the air as he came out. All the Pokémon, Redwald and Greta had their eyes on him very carefully. Greta felt Haunter was a creepy Pokémon in some way, but knowing the fact that she had so many things she had no idea about that Pokémon made her feel even weirder towards him.

“Haunter has the ability to bend the time and space.” Eusine said. “Now, he will bend the time to back there, and show us what happened. He cannot take us back or forth in time, but he can see the history.” “Haunter...” Then he said. “...You were there when the Parasect was kidnapped. Please, go back there and enlighten the truth. Please, share what you see with us as well.”

Haunter closed his eyes and became half transparent. Eusine wanted to say that Haunter was meditating to see the back, but he did not want to distract him. All the other Pokémon, Redwald and Greta almost knew that as well, as no one made any noise at the time. Everyone watched Haunter with full attention on him.

Eventually, Haunter opened his hands and had the control in everyone’s minds. Redwald, Greta, Eusine and all the Pokémon had a vision in their minds. Their eyes were open, but all they could see was the vision that Haunter transported through his mind to others’.

Everyone had the vision of the battle. Parasect was lying on the ground. Haunter was next to one of them. He was hurt and tired over Exeggutor’s move. Gabor was talking about something, but Haunter could not focus on his words as he was in pain. Parasect pack was in charge to dominate the Parasect pack, while the poachers were hunting the spores on Parasect’s mushrooms.

Suddenly, a Beedrill from the pack covered a fainted Parasect all around with his arms. But Parasect was too heavy for him to carry. He flew away and returned with other two Beedrill. The three Beedrill carried the Parasect in the air, as they disappeared behind the trees into the darkness of the end of night.

Haunter ran the vision forward. Redwald or the others had no idea how much further it was, but the battle was still going on, and the three Beedrill came back to keep on with the battle, as if nothing happened.

When Haunter’s vision was done, he opened his eyes, became zero transparent, and disconnected with the time bending, as everyone’s vision also disappeared.

“So, this is the job of Beedrill pack.” Greta said.

“They probably kidnapped Parasect to steal his spores all year long.” Redwald said. “What a poor attempt of them!” He completed his words. “They can’t make Parasect produce the spores all year long, unless they provide a proper living space for him.”

“They might just take him away to trump.” Eusine said. “But whatever the reason is, we cannot let them have the Parasect. We need a plan to rescue the poor Pokémon.”

“We need a good plan.” Greta said. “Beedrill can play as harsh as Parasect did with us. We have to be prepared to anything. We have no luxury to lose.”

She had a point.

For the next couple of hours, Redwald, Greta and Eusine spent their time figuring out a good plan to face the Beedrill Pack once again. They needed a solid plan to stop the pack from attacking them. Haunter’s Hypnosis could be a good tactic but Eusine did not want to rely on solely Haunter’s move, as the move’s accuracy was not reliable. All the Pokémon had to have an eye contact with Haunter in order to make it work, and it would be easy in a one on one battle. But the whole pack could not necessarily make an eye contact with him, especially in such a scenario.

Suddenly, flashes lighted in Eusine’s head. “How could I not think of it before?!” He said. Redwald and Greta were distracted by him, and they began to watch his moves. Eusine took the Ultra Ball out of his pocket and called Haunter out of it. Eusine and Haunter had a small talk, but neither Redwald nor Greta could hear any word. Eventually, Eusine and Haunter came forth and announced the news. “Call all the Parasect here. We have a plan.”

Eusine and Haunter were sitting on a wood, in front of everyone. The whole Parasect pack, Redwald and Greta were standing in front of him. Redwald, Greta and the leader of the pack were standing in the middle, while the rest of the Parasect pack created a shape of crescent. When Eusine made sure that everyone was there, and ready to hear the plan, he began to explain it.

“Haunter and I thought of a plan to rescue your friend from Beedrill pack. As you may agree, it will be very risky and dangerous for all of us. But we can’t leave a member behind. So, first of all, we have to have an exact location of your friend. If we attack Beedrill pack straight away, we may lose time by searching for it. But if we know where to go, we may even not have to deal with the whole pack, but only a part of it.” Eusine said.

“In order to do that, my Haunter will help us out. He will go to the location of which the Beedrill pack lives in. Haunter is able to slip through block walls, which he will be able to move freely until he finds your friend. When he finds it, he will come straight back at us to show us where it is.”

Redwald was surprised that no one thought of Haunter’s that ability, which would be totally useful in this case. In the meantime, Greta called Nidoran out of her Poké Ball. “I want you to go along with Haunter.” She said. “Please, protect him for all the cost.”

“Greta.” Eusine said. “I don’t want to spoil any hype for you, but I am sure Haunter can handle anything Nidoran can as well. I’ve been training him for years.”

“It is always better to have extra two eyes, Eusine.” Greta said shortly, without making any eye contact. She got closer to her Pokémon. “Please, do your best Nidoran.” She said. Nidoran nodded her head, and the two disappeared in the woods.

The next couple of hours did not pass easily for anyone. The Parasect pack was sure worried about their friend, especially one little Paras. The little Paras occasionally walked forth and back to calm his nerves. Greta tried to give him food to calm him down, but it did not help much. Eusine was nervous about his Pokémon. Greta could see how nervous he was, but she did not ask any specific question about why. She only assumed that it was the first time in a long while he let Haunter go away from her.

When Greta was staring at Eusine, he turned around and saw Greta staring at him. Greta suddenly turned her back and reclined on the tree, but Eusine was walking towards her. Greta tried everything to ignore any conversation related to that, because she had no idea what to say if Eusine asked the reason she was staring at her. But instead, Eusine came with a useful tip on her training.

“You know, Greta, unlike many Pokémon, Metapod has almost unique technic to evolve. She doesn’t need to train hard or be exposed to any evolutionary stone. Instead, she needs to process the required time.” He said. “So, I am suggesting that you should keep Metapod out of her Poké Ball until she evolves. It helps Metapod improve faster inside, and also creates a magnificent bond between you two. Sometimes, the personality of Pokémon may change upon evolution. It really depends on the Pokémon’s individual personality, rather than species. So better be careful about that.”

Greta was shocked, and she had troubles absorbing so many information at once. But after a moment of thinking, she got it all right. “Thank you, Eusine.” She shortly said.

Eusine turned her back to walk away, but Greta stopped him. “Hey!” She said. Eusine stopped walking and looked at Greta once again. She was smiling softly, and blushed. As much as it was hard for her to admit even herself that she only stopped Eusine because she wanted him to be around her, she still needed to make an excuse for calling his name.

“What is it, Greta?” Eusine asked as Greta did not say anything. Greta thought of coming up with something, but she could not think of anything to say.

“I just wanted to... ask you something.”

She was only buying some time.

“Sure.”

It took too short. Greta had never been bad at improvising. But this time, it was different. She really felt hot in seconds, but she felt like it was minutes already. She only wished that someone came and talked to them. But Redwald was behind the bushes, training his Pokémon to value the time. As Pidgey floated in the sky, and Poliwag used Double Slap on a tree by using his tail, Eusine walked closer to Greta and put his hand on Greta’s forehead.

“What are you doing?” Greta asked.

“You don’t look well.” Eusine said. “You are blushing, you are staring at some point where I am not, and you are not talking properly. You should be sick.”

“I am fine.” Greta said. She did not even know why she responded with it, instead of agreeing that she was sick, and that was the reason she was acting weird.

“If my Pokémon, not particularly Metapod, but general, evolve early, does it necessarily make them better Pokémon in respect of power?” Greta asked. She was surprised that she could ask something a trainer would ask, but she was not going to prepare her Pokémon for battles.

“Hmm...” Eusine took a moment to answer that. “That’s a wise question, I must say, Greta. But the evolution partly depends on Pokémon’s personality.” He said. Greta expected many information that she already knew, but she did not expect that kind of tricky answer.

“What do you mean?” She asked, as she was indeed interested to the subject, as Eusine claimed something that she never read in the books, probably.

“If Pokémon evolve by training, instead of processing time or being exposed to an evolutionary stone, or many other discovered or undiscovered ways, this means that the Pokémon believes that they are good enough to trigger the evolution. That is a good thing, as a Pokémon feels confident to evolve. Not many naïve Pokémon are capable of triggering evolution. But it is also important that how much is enough satisfaction for a Pokémon? If Pokémon have high expectations, train hard, and evolve soon, they are quite useful in a battle. But if Pokémon don’t have expectations, train hard and evolve even sooner, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are superior to their unevolved forms.”

“In other words...” Greta responded, “...Pokémon don’t have specific amount of training to evolve, it all depends on them.”

“Indirectly, yes.” Eusine said.

Their conversation was interrupted as Haunter and Nidoran returned from their discovery. Everyone gathered around the two, even Redwald and his Pokémon. Eusine was the first one to talk.

“Please show us where Parasect is being kept, Haunter.” He said. Haunter did his ritual moves over again, as he closed his eyes and focused on showing the vision to everyone.

Haunter was floating around the trees in the vision. Nidoran was not next to him. Haunter went through a hole on the ground, and passed over a pure darkness. That was an underground passage. He ended up in a dark room. The dark room had an entrance on the top, but it was too heavy to move it for a Pokémon. The room was just dark, but somehow everyone was able to feel what Haunter felt when he got there, existence of a Parasect.

“Show us the place, Haunter.” Eusine said. Haunter in the vision left the dark room and showed the area from up above. Eusine was familiar with the place because of the map, but the Beedrill pack built an army well. It was going to be challenging to pass them and eventually reach to Parasect. But they were going to do that in a way.

Haunter disconnected with the vision. Everyone looked at Eusine, even Redwald and Greta. Eusine kept staring at the ground. “Let me think about it.” He shorty said, as he walked behind a tree to be on his own.

“We shouldn’t let Eusine do all the things on his own.” Redwald said. “Since the beginning, he did pretty much everything. He came up with all the plans, and so on. Now he is alone.”

“But he doesn’t want to talk to anyone.” Greta said, while holding her Metapod on her lap. Metapod did not have any expression on her face to state any kind of feeling. “He doesn’t want to be distracted.”

“We don’t have to talk to her.” Redwald said. “We can just come up with a good plan.”

Redwald had a point. But after their conversation about the evolution, Greta knew that Eusine had much more knowledge than any other living in the area.

“I think he is right, Red.” Greta said. “Just let him be, and make a good plan.”

Right at that moment, the Paras that Greta kept spotting as a nervous Pokémon fainted. Greta ran to Pokémon, holding Metapod tight to not harm her cocoon.

“Are you all right, Paras?” Greta asked. But Paras did not even hear what she said. Greta grabbed her bag quickly, and gave water to the Pokémon. Paras automatically moved his claw, but did not wake up.

“Everything must have gotten through him so bad.” Greta said. Redwald was standing next to her.

“Let him rest too, Greta.” Redwald said. “It will be better for him.”

Greta put Metapod gently on the ground, grabbed Paras with the same gentle attention, and put on a branch of a tree. “Sleep well, little Pokémon.” She said softly before she turned her back and grabbed Metapod back.

“No one is fine, Red.” Greta said. “Look all the other Pokémon. They are worried about their friend. I may have come up with the conclusion that Parasect are creepy species, but they are very fond of each other, and they care about their species.”

“This is because they are unique.” Eusine said. Redwald and Greta turned to him in a moment. “You can’t find any other species around here that a plant guides an actual body. That is derogatory for most of the Pokémon, which is why they are not liked by others.

“Did you find any solution, Eusine?” Redwald asked. Eusine remained in silence for a moment, but after, he nodded his head. “Can you gather all the pack around here?” He asked. Redwald and Greta called out to the pack. Some Pokémon fell asleep, some others trained some more. It was dark already, but no one had a chance to realize that. Once Eusine made sure that everyone gathered around him, he stood up, Haunter took his position next to his trainer, and Eusine began his speech.

“There is a way to save your friend, Parasect.” Eusine said. “I thought about it, and this is the only way. We will go out there, declare a war to the Beedrill pack, and win it to take your friend back. We will just go there and fight with all our might.”

The controversial statement caused a conflict in the Parasect pack. Some agreed with Eusine, but some others were strongly against the idea. Some did not believe that they could face the Beedrill pack. Redwald and Greta realized that the pack was about to cause a mess. Greta stepped forward and stood next to Eusine to stop the mess.

“You may not sure if Eusine is right here, and I understand that perfectly.” Greta said. “But, I trust in him with my all heart.” She put her right hand on Eusine’s shoulder, and her left hand was on Eusine’s chest on where his heartbeats could be felt. “Just look at that great guy,” Greta completed her speech, “Ever since he came here, he did nothing for himself but for us, and you. He has no business in this forest. But when he found us being attacked by a Beedrill pack, he used his Pokémon to protect us. When you kidnapped us, he found out the true trouble here, and instead of running off, he wanted to help you. And now, this is your chance to show your gratitude to this big guy here. You have to trust him.”

The Parasect pack stopped the rumble. They clearly thought Greta made some sense. Eusine took the last words. “Think about if you want to come or not. Those, who want to join us in this battle, be ready by the dawn. We will attack them at the same time they attacked us.”

After the speech, the Parasect pack went to sleep. Most of them agreed on going there, and the rest would probably join, as Eusine thought. Greta called her Metapod out of the Poké Ball. The Pokémon was sleeping nicely. Greta tried to not disturb her. But she did not feel like sleeping at all. He watched Redwald training for a while. When Eevee used Tackle on the branch of a tree, Pidgey appeared floating in the air. Poliwag was mastering on water moves. She was not distracted until Eusine walked through bushes. He sat on a rock before Greta walked towards him. Metapod was on her laps.

“I knew only you could say something like this to a group of Parasect.” She said. “No one else had that chance to stay that long if they told the pack to just go there and fight.”

“They didn’t trust me easily, either.” Eusine said. “If you didn’t come to defend me, they would probably have divided in two, and we would even have another conflict in the pack. Thank you.”

“I was honest with what I said.” Greta responded.

A moment of silence remained.

“Were you?” She asked.

“Was I, what?” Eusine responded.

“Were you honest with what you said? Do you really believe the Parasect pack can deal with the Beedrill pack?” She stated clearly.

A moment of silence remained.

“Look, Greta...” Eusine finally responded. “We did not fall for this trouble. We found ourselves in the middle of everything. Now, the Parasect have no one to trust, or ask for help. They count on us. But they don’t know that yet. If we can’t do anything, they won’t let us go easily. They will fight us first, for being unable to help them. No matter how hard we try. So, the only way is to get them a victory, whatever it takes. And mark my words, if we can’t rescue their friend, we better run off at the first chance we get.”

Greta was shocked for what she heard. She knew the Parasect pack would be a trouble, but she had no idea even Eusine was thinking that extreme. That would only prove that they were in a big danger.

She pulled herself together quickly. “I trust you.” She said, and those were the last words of the night. She put her head on Eusine’s shoulder and fell asleep in the silence of the night.

Greta opened her eyes when a Parasect put his claws on her and Eusine’s legs. He was alarming that the time to go had come. Eusine quickly recovered as he opened his eyes and stood up fast. “I will make sure everything is prepared.” He said. “You get prepared too, Greta.”

Greta nodded her head, but Eusine probably did not see it. Greta checked on Metapod, and she was still sleeping like the beauty. She gently put the Pokémon on the ground and looked for Redwald to wake him up. But the Parasect pack did that already, as she found Redwald talking to his Pokémon.

She walked towards them and sat next to Redwald.

“It is not going to be easy, is it?” She said. Redwald turned to her. “It doesn’t matter.” He said. “We will win it anyway.”

Greta wanted to tell Redwald what Eusine told her, but it would be too risky when all the Parasect were walking around and getting ready to declare a war. Instead, she stuck to what he said, and walked away.

She finally found Paras on the branch which she left him. Paras was awoken, but he was getting ready to leave as well. Greta softly put her hand on Paras’ head.

“You can’t come along.”

Paras was surprised. But Greta was determined.

“You are not adult, hurt, and tired.” Greta said. “I want you to be safe, and let the things be done by us. Will you do that?”

Paras was still unpleasant.

“We will go there, deal with the pack, rescue your friend and return in the blink of an eye. I promise you.” Greta said. “But if you come, you will be hurt even more, and I am not sure if I ever will be able to heal you. You are just too young to take that much damage at once.”

Paras stopped getting ready for the battle. He sat on the branch, and covered his front with his giant claws. But he still had the unpleasant expression on his face. Greta, nonetheless, smiled at him, and walked away.

When everyone was finally ready, Eusine checked on the pack, and made sure that no one would be left behind. He was proud to see that the whole pack agreed on joining him. It could bring only the better.

“We are ready!” He shouted out, and all the Parasect pack followed him behind, along with Redwald and Greta.

Haunter led the way. Redwald, Greta, Eusine and the Parasect pack walked for nearly 20 minutes. Greta carefully watched out her Metapod. She was not sure how to keep her safe during the battle, but she would step back if it was necessary for her Pokémon. Redwald occasionally checked his Poké Balls. Most of them were not intentional, he just found his hand around his pockets, looking for his Poké Balls. Eventually, Haunter stopped floating and turned his back to nod his head.

“This is it.” Eusine said silently. “The Parasect pack will go first and attack the Beedrill pack for distraction. Please take them to the southern side, so the northern side will not be crowded. When you take the pack, me and my friends will save your friend and come behind you to rescue.”

All the Parasect agreed with the plan. Redwald, Greta and Eusine stepped back, Haunter opened the way, and the Parasect pack got lost in the darkness right before the dawn. Redwald and the others heard the sounds of buzzing first, and the battle between the two packs. The Beedrill pack was surely caught off guard, and it was all up to the Parasect pack’s deftness. If they manage to take the pack away as Eusine requested, everything could be better.

“How long should we wait?” Redwald asked after a while. Eusine was carefully listening to the sounds of the battle. “A bit more.” He said shortly. “We have to make sure that no Beedrill is left behind. If one sees us and calls out to the pack, they will not battle the pack anymore, but us.”

“About that...” Greta said. She was not too determined to say what she intended to, but she had to either way. “I don’t want to risk the progress of my Metapod, if it is okay.” She said softly. “I want to stay here for back up with her. If she takes damage from Beedrill, she may have problems with her health.”

Eusine remained in silence for a moment. “That’s a good thought of you, Greta.” He said after. “Please, stay here and watch out us. If you sense danger, don’t hesitate to scream for us. It is better to alarm everyone than being in danger with no knowledge of it.”

“I won’t.” Greta said. She felt bad for leaving the group alone. So, she turned her back to not look at their faces, sat under a tree, and wrapped her Metapod all around.

“I think we are ready to go.” Eusine said. He looked at his Haunter. “Are you ready?” He asked. Haunter nodded his head. Then, Eusine looked at Redwald. “You may want to call out one of your Pokémon.” He said.

“Eevee is tired already due to poison, and we trained today. It is better to keep him in.” Redwald said. He thought through which Pokémon to call out. “Maybe Pidgey...”

“Pidgey is good.” Eusine responded. “Beedrill have the advantage of being in the air. We need it.”

Redwald grabbed Pidgey’s Poké Ball and called the Pokémon out. Pidgey appeared in the air. “Please bear with us, Pidgey.” Redwald said. Pidgey nodded his head and stood next to Haunter. Now, everyone was ready to go.

“Haunter, take us there. Redwald, Pidgey, follow me behind.” Eusine quickly said. Haunter floated in the front as he followed the way to the underground, and Eusine ran right behind him. Redwald and Pidgey chased him behind. Greta watched their back for a moment, but they disappeared in the pure darkness in seconds.

Haunter turned from the corner and floated farther. Eusine followed him with fast steps. When Redwald and Pidgey were about to turn from the corner, Redwald stepped on a stick and it broke. It made an echo through the trees, and caught the attention of two Beedrill from the pack. When Redwald stepped forward, he felt the great pain on his back as he cried out.

“Ugh!”

Eusine and Haunter stopped at once and turned their back. Beedrill attacked Redwald’s back with Poison Sting. Eusine could not tell if Redwald was poisoned, or just in pain. But he did not lose any seconds.

“Haunter, use Hypnosis!” Eusine said. Haunter followed his ritual moves as his eyes glowed in pink. The two Beedrill were lost in Haunter’s eyes. It took only seconds to fall asleep and fell down.

Eusine extended his hand to Redwald. “Can you get up?” He asked. Redwald forced himself to, and he did. But he was still in a great pain.

“Do you think you are poisoned?” Eusine asked. Redwald thought of it for a moment. He did not feel anything odd in his stomach. “I don’t think so.” He said. Eusine nodded his head. “It won’t take too long the Beedrill to sleep.” He said. “They will either come after us, or call the pack. Either way, we have to be fast.”

Redwald nodded his head.

Haunter kept floating towards the right way, while everyone else chased him behind. It took less than five minutes to finally find the entrance to the underground.

“We can’t fit in.” Redwald said. He meant himself and Eusine. But small Pokémon could easily fit in.

“Call out Poliwag.” Eusine said. “He lives under water as well. He will be able to chase Haunter better.”

Redwald grabbed Poliwag’s Poké Ball and called him out. Poliwag was sleeping in his Poké Ball, so when he came out, he fell asleep on the grasses. Redwald had to wake him up to give him the order. Poliwag recovered quickly, and he disappeared in the underground entrance along with Haunter.

“Let’s find the cover of the pit.” Eusine responded. They chased the underground, and finally found a place where an iron cover was located on the pit.

“That’s it.” Redwald said. He held onto the iron and tried to pull it, but it was too heavy. Even with Eusine’s help, it could barely move.

“Our Pokémon can’t help us, either.” Redwald said. “We have to find another way to do it.”

But suddenly, a Beedrill appeared behind them to attack once more. Redwald realized that in the last second as he jumped to the left. The Poison Sting missed this time.

“Pidgey!” Redwald said, lying on the ground. “Use Gust!”

Pidgey flapped his wings as hard as he could, and it took only seconds to create a gust. The gust caught Beedrill in it, as Pidgey directed it towards a tree. Beedrill hit the tree and fell on the ground, but he was not fainted. He pulled himself in seconds and flew once again.

Greta and Metapod were sitting under a tree. The night was so silent. Greta was also very tired. She forced herself not to fall asleep, but it was too hard.

“I will sleep for a brief while...” She said softly. “...Please, wake me up shortly after, Metapod...”

But the one thing she did not know was that, Metapod was sleeping, too.

When Greta opened her eyes, she realized that she did not wake up out of nowhere. A buzzing sound was bugging her the whole time. She moved her right hand around her head to get rid of the sound. But the sound still remained.

“Go away, whatever you are!” She said. But when her hand accidentally touched Beedrill’s moist skin, she felt disgusted.

She quickly opened her eyes, and found the Pokémon right in front of her eyes. The Beedrill was buzzing around. Greta screamed, although she did not intend to. The scream could only bring more Beedrill around her. She put Metapod on the grasses gently, and grabbed a Poké Ball from her bag. But before she threw it, a Pokémon appeared to defend her, as the Pokémon used Slash on Beedrill.

“Paras...” Greta said silently. The Paras chased her behind, or walked after them. But now, he was there to protect Greta. The Beedrill flew back and used Poison Sting on him. Paras dodged the move, and used another Slash, as his claws glowed bright and he jumped to Beedrill.

“Go for it, Paras!” Greta said. “I know you can do it!”

Paras used Stun Spore on Beedrill afterwards. The Beedrill was paralyzed, and became unable to move fast. He had to fly down closer to the ground. Paras then used Dig on the ground and disappeared underground.

“What is he up to?” Greta thought.

Paras appeared on the ground in seconds, jumped high once again and hit Beedrill. Beedrill stumbled and fell down. He was fainted, and Paras had the victory.

“Paras...” Greta said softly. The fact was obvious, Paras won the battle because of his love for Greta. He made it all the way up there for her.

“Thank you so much.” She said. “I am sorry for ignoring you. You sure have better skills to show than me.”

Paras used his claws to turn his back and walked to Greta with a sincere smile on his face. He did not mind anything Greta did to him, apparently.

Pidgey used Tackle on Beedrill. The Pokémon fell on the ground and fainted for good. Pidgey finally got him.

“Good job, Pidgey.” Redwald praised the Pokémon. Then, they focused on the iron cover. Eusine knew he had to find a way very soon, because Parasect pack was also running out of the time. Haunter slipped through the cover and came to the ground.

“He is down there, isn’t he?” Eusine asked. Haunter nodded his head. Poliwag also responded with a cry from down there. But, what was the solution to move the cover?

“While we look for a solution, can you check on Greta, Haunter?” Eusine asked. Haunter nodded his head once more, and disappeared in the darkness.

“We also have to make sure that the Parasect pack is still fighting.” Redwald said. He turned to his Pidgey, then. “Can you, Pidgey?” He asked. Pidgey nodded his head the same way and flew away in the air.

After roughly seven minutes, Haunter appeared with Greta, Metapod and Paras. Greta was wrapping the two Pokémon around her arms.

“Are you doing all right?” She asked. Redwald showed the cover. “This must be at least 120 kilograms.” He said. “We have to move it to free the Pokémon down there.”

Greta walked to the cover, rapped it, and the sound echoed down there. Then, she stood up and looked at Redwald and Eusine with a swine smile on her face. “I have another solution.”

Greta told Paras to use Dig to make another hole to the underground. Paras dug a wide hole in minutes, and finally reached to the dark room. Parasect and Poliwag were there, all sweaty and almost unconscious. Paras grabbed Poliwag’s tail and pulled him out, while Redwald called Eevee out of his Poké Ball and told him to bring Parasect out. When the two Pokémon came to the ground, Redwald gave the two Potions. “Take them, you will feel better.” He said gently.

When Pidgey returned, he did not look so calm. Redwald figured out that something was off.

“We have to go.” He said. Everyone, along with all the Pokémon, followed Pidgey right behind. It took around ten minutes of running, while some trapped and fell down or had to take a moment to breath, but eventually they made it to the point where Pidgey intended to take them. The whole Parasect pack was battling Beedrill pack with all their might, but the Beedrill pack overcame so far.

“Haunter, Hypnosis!” Eusine ordered, as soon as he saw them. Redwald stepped forward. “Poliwag, same! Help him out!”

While the two Pokémon gathered attention on them while using Hypnosis, the others did not fall behind. Redwald told Eevee to use Growl, Pidgey to use Sand Attack. Greta also called Nidoran out of her Poké Ball and ordered her to join Eevee’s Growl with her Growl. In the meantime, Paras jumped off Greta’s arm, used Dig, and disappeared. While everyone focused on them, Haunter and Poliwag managed to put most of the pack in sleep, but they still needed more to be taken down.

Paras occasionally appeared from underground and attacked the Beedrill pack with Slash, while Nidoran counted on Double Kick and Eevee counted on Tackle. The Parasect pack did what they got, Stun Spore, and paralyzed half of the pack. With the appearance of Eusine and the others, the Parasect pack finally overcame them.

As the first weak lights of the early morning sun reflected through high trees of the mountain, the outnumbered Beedrill fled away nearly to the end. The rest was either paralyzed, put in sleep, or weakened.

“We have your friend with us.” Eusine said. “We can get back now.”

The Parasect pack returned to their previous location. It was in the morning now, as the new day began. “You are safe now.” Eusine said. “But it is not a guarantee that you will not be attacked by Beedrill pack again. That is not a permanent solution for your problem.” He was talking to the leader of the pack. The leader agreed with him, as he nodded his head. But then, he showed a mountain with his giant claws compared to the size of his body.

“What is he trying to say?” Redwald asked.

“I think he is saying that they will be living in the cave in the mountain.” Eusine said. Parasect nodded his head. “It is easy to understand, because Parasect mostly live in that area.” He responded. “It will be better for the mushroom.”

“I can’t say it was a pleasure for me to meet you guys.” Greta said. “But I wish you the best. Stay away from danger, and don’t kidnap people for your own good, will you?”

The leader Parasect nodded his head once again. After that, he gave the command to his pack, and all the Parasect turned their back to the mountain. They wanted to get there as soon as possible to make sure that they were safe.

Redwald, Greta and Eusine watched them for a couple of seconds, until Greta interrupted the silence.

“Will you leave us from this point too, Eusine?” She asked. Eusine did not see this question coming, but Greta had a point. It all started when the group was attacked by a pack of Beedrill, and they had to stick together as they were brought in the same danger. Now, as it all was over, he had no reason to stick to them anymore. He only had one answer.

But Redwald interrupted his thoughts.

“Where are you heading to?” He asked.

“North of the Cerulean City.” Eusine said. He did not see this question coming.

“That is the direction where we would be heading after Pewter City. If you like, you can come along with us until there.” Redwald suggested. Greta did not know it back then, but her eyes glowed bright with the offer. Eusine took a moment to think, and replied, “Why not? There won’t be someone to save your ass from any other danger after all, will there?”

Greta tried so hard to secrete her feelings, but she could not help the smile appeared on her face. She even did not know the reason for it.

While they were about to walk away, Greta felt something on his leg. She turned her back to see it, and found the Paras sticking his claw on Greta’s leg.

“Why aren’t you going after your pack, Paras?” She asked. “You shouldn’t fall behind, or you’ll lose the track of Parasect pack.”

Paras was still bugging Greta’s leg with his claw.

“I think he tries to tell you that he wants to come along with you on your journey, Greta.” Eusine said. Greta almost fell into emptiness for a moment.

“Is it true?” She asked.

Paras took back his claw, and looked at the ground. He was shy for it.

“I am honoured what you’re wishing for, Paras. Gaining your trust and being worthy for your journey, it all means a lot to me. And of course, I can’t say no to this in any way.” She said. They both smiled at each other. Greta grabbed a Poké Ball out of her pocket, and threw it to Paras. The Poké Ball had captured the Pokémon inside. It had shaken once... and twice...

Paras was caught.

Humans

 * Redwald Walker
 * Greta Parker
 * Eusine Hunter
 * Gabor (vision)
 * Poachers (vision)

Pokémon

 * Gabor's Exeggutor (vision)
 * Parasect (pack)
 * Beedrill (pack)
 * Gabor's Exeggutor (vision)
 * Parasect (pack)
 * Beedrill (pack)
 * Gabor's Exeggutor (vision)
 * Parasect (pack)
 * Beedrill (pack)
 * Beedrill (pack)