Chapter 10

  People yearn to be trainers their whole lives. Those people know what they want. They've chased a goal since they were little. Those people know who they are.

  But me? I don't know who the hell I am. I've been chasing some mysterious song for a week. I guess you could call that a goal, but it's not a very feasible one.

  My eyes flutter open as she speaks those words, and wouldn't you know it, I'm somewhere entirely different again. She didn't even bother warning me this time! Not that it would have mattered, but still. So now, not only am I going to have to explain myself to Stella, I'm also going to have to explain myself to Christopher. That is, assuming I run into him again. I never got the chance to tell him how I got lost in the first place. Hopefully he doesn't die a horrific death in here. Arceus, that's a horrible thought.

  At least I'm still in the Dappled—

  "Bell?"

  Stella?

  "Stella?"

  So, was meeting Christopher just some random side quest that I was supposed to go on? Why did she put me back with Stella?

  This part of the forest is actually much thicker and much scarier, so I can't really tell where she's coming from. I jump a little when she and Scorbunny appear directly behind me.

  "Explain yourself." She cringes at my girly little scream. I'm a little surprised she's not more angry at me.

  "I thought you'd be angrier." I say.

  She inches closer, as does her Scorbunny for some reason. "Do you want me to be?"

  I back up, "No, thank you."

  "Then explain why you left in the middle of the night with no warning."

  With something that sounds as bad as that, I'm even more surprised that she's giving me the benefit of the doubt. Let's just chalk it up to good karma.

  "Okay, but it's going to sound ridiculous." I say.

  "That's like, your whole thing." Huh, I guess it is.

  Do I tell her about dream girl? No, probably not. Also, I should really ask her for a name; 'Dream girl' sounds a little off-putting.

  "Well, it's pretty simple actually. I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was somewhere completely different." I say, she looks at me with a bewildered look on her face. "What? It's not like this is out of the realm of possibility for me."

  Her crazy look fades. "I suppose."

  There! There's the accent slip! I want to make fun of it so badly. You don't understand how hard I'm restraining myself.

  I can tell she noticed it. Somehow, she thinks I didn't. How sweet, I'll let her keep thinking that.

  "So you believe me?" I ask.

  "Well, I already thought something stupid like that happened. It's not like you would wander off without having a way to find the next outpost."

  "Uhuh, so what was with the crazy look?"

  She looks away. "It's just... jarring."

  "Yeah, try being me."

  "I'll pass." She says, "Now let's go. I'm sick of this place."

  She starts walking. "You figure out the map?"

  I release Rocky, who seems confused about how we ended up here. I whisper to him that I'll explain it later. Although, if he's smart, he can probably just figure it out on his own. I also release Agent to let him know what happened, but then I recall him like a second later because he's a huge crybaby.

  "I always had it figured out." She corrects me, "By the way, I took your tent. Take it; I'm tired of lugging it around. And your backpack. You're lucky this thing is light or I would've left it."

  Honestly, I had forgotten about my backpack. Which seems like a pretty big oversight since I have pretty much all of my possessions in there. She takes off her backpack and undoes the straps holding my tent down. I don't remember how to attach it to mine, so she begrudgingly does it for me. How nice of her, by the way, to take it with her. I guess she did pay for it. Probably figured she could find some use for it if I didn't show up again. And honestly, who's to say I would have? Maybe one day I'll wake up and I'll be halfway across the world. How am I supposed to sleep now?

  Her Rookidee flies down every once in a while to tell her what the path is looking like, which makes me think she doesn't actually have the map figured out, but I don't say anything.

  If you're hoping for something interesting to happen, I'm sorry to tell you that the rest of the hike to the Watchtower Ruins is duller than ironing while watching paint dry, all while you wait for your friend named John to come pick you up so you can carpool to your banking job. To the best of my knowledge, all of these things are extremely dull. Unless you like watching paint dry. I could see someone liking ironing. The most unbelievable part of that scenario is John. His last name is probably Smith or Williams or something. Probably Smith, though.

  Anyway, that was all a very long-winded way of saying that I am now out of that awful forest.

  Being able to literally see the light at the end of the tunnel for like an hour before we actually got out was agonizing, but at least it's done and over with now. I'm never going back in there again.

  The Watchtower Ruins are exactly what you would expect: a bunch of old, dilapidated stone structures. I can make out the Watchtower that the region is named after way in the distance. It's much bigger than anything else around here, even the ranger towers, maybe even Motostoke's walls. Stella tells me there's a bunch of ghost types around here, which probably means having Agent out is a no-go. I almost want to ask her about this place's history, but she's already left me to go get food before I can even say anything, leaving me only with the instruction to meet back here in an hour to leave.

  There aren't that many trainers. That either means that we're somehow still ahead of everyone or we are horribly behind. Take your bets; I'd say the answer is obvious, but who knows? If Christopher got lost in there, who knows how many other trainers did. Speaking of Christopher, I wonder if he's made out. Probably not; it's only been a few hours since morning, and he doesn't have the advantage of sleep-teleportation. I kind of want to wait for him, but I know Stella will never go for it. Arceus forbid we take a break.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  But, I guess I do have an hour to kill; I might as well do something. This outpost isn't as big as the last one, but the Pokémon Center still has a cafeteria. And honestly, I am so sick of eating Oran berries. If I never eat another one again, it'll be too soon. They are yet again serving breakfast burritos hours after breakfast time. I guess I'll take it; they're not half bad. I got something for Rocky and Agent too, but I can tell Rocky doesn't like... whatever it is that they gave me. Honestly, I don't blame him; it looks like slop. Agent gobbles it up though; I guess he isn't a picky eater. I give him some of my burrito and tell him to suck it up if he's still hungry.

  "Go eat some dirt if you're so picky."

  Again, it was meant to be a joke, but he takes it very seriously. Unfortunately, the Watchtower ruins are mostly grass, and we all know how he feels about grass.

  Anyway, there's not much of anything to do here when you're just waiting, so I get around to doing something I've been wanting to do since Wedgehurst.

  "Alright, so..." I have to wait for my Pokedex to shut up so I can actually read the thing. "It says you can go invisible, but I haven't actually seen you do that, so—"

  He makes a smug little face and vanishes into thin air by spurting himself with some water.

  "Holy shit," I chuckle, "That's awesome." He reappears next to Rocky, actually frightening him a bit. He snickers at the crab as he awkwardly waddles away with an annoyed expression.

  Then I try to test his aim a little bit by throwing some rocks in the air at varying speeds and heights to see if he can hit them. And if he can, how accurately. I only try this a few times before one of his shots breaks through the rock and hits me square in the stomach with enough force to leave a bruise. But that aside, it's a productive enough session; his aim is pretty good. He's a little slow, hitting some of the rocks just as they were about to hit the ground, but he didn't miss at all, so I'd still call it a win.

  I go to meet up with Stella, still a little sad that there hasn't been any sign of Christopher. That guy was pretty cool.

  ---

  Up close, the Watchtower Ruins are very similar to the altar I saw when I first woke up in the slumbering weald. Maybe they're the same age? They have a lot of the same characteristics. They're old stone structures; they're falling apart; they both have wildlife growing through them; and they both creep the hell out of me. Some of them have ancient symbols reminiscent of what you might find on the inside of an ancient tomb with all sorts of terrible curses inside. Stella points them out and attempts to explain their significance. And, it's not for lack of trying, but I genuinely do not understand. And I gave up trying to ask questions two towers ago because she seems to hate it when I do that. I'm sorry I'm such a good listener; I guess you can be too good at things.

  I also thought this place would be scarier than it actually is. It's really just a history site masquerading as a route trainers can take. I guess it's not really pretending since that is technically what it is, but it feels more like walking through a museum. Some of the towers even have little plinths with tablets explaining their history and significance. It's a nice change of pace after the hell that was the Dappled Grove. I honestly couldn't tell you if the Rolling Fields were worse; they were both the most agonizing parts of my life, so far. Let's be honest, the worst has yet to come.

  I am a little tired, but there aren't any giant looming hills for us to climb this time, so it's manageable. I even think we'll be able to make it out of this place in a timely fashion since there's no getting lost here. Falling asleep here is a definite no-go from me. It might not be scary right now, but come nighttime? I don't even want to know what kind of hijinks these ghosts get up to, and I certainly don't want to be part of them.

  "What is he doing?" Stella asks.

  "Who?"

  "Your Sobble, he's—"

  "He's always freaking out."

  Yes, I decided to have the little guy out of his ball. After discovering what this place is really like, I didn't think it would be such a big deal. It turns out he sees those towers and thinks, Giant scary monster, or something like that, I assume, because he is absolutely terrified of them. He begs me to let him inside of his ball every time we pass by one, but I figure it would do him some good to face his fears. Though, I am only doing this because he seems to have learned to control his tears and isn't bawling his eyes out at absolutely everything. Rocky and Scorbunny cheer him on while he very vocally expresses his displeasure at being here.

  "Shouldn't you recall him?"

  "Nah, he'll be fine."

  I bend down to tie my shoe because I care about my safety. The stupid keychain on my backpack jingles as I bend down—oh damn, I forgot I have Velcro shoes. I guess that makes this easier. I stand back up, and suddenly I feel... electric.

  "Did you feel that?" I ask.

  She takes her eyes off of the sky, probably looking around for her Rookidee. "Hm?"

  "Did you feel that?"

  "Feel what?"

  "Like, a breeze. I dunno, it was weird. Made my hair stand up." I say.

  She shakes her head and goes back to staring at the sun. Not actually, that's dangerous.

  I ask Rocky if he felt it too; he also shakes his head. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; most things go over his head. And that's not just because he's small. I also try asking Agent, but he's too preoccupied being scared shitless by stone to care about anything I have to say.

  Arceus, I hate Galar. What on earth was that? Why did I only feel it? What makes me so special?

  ---

  Hours of walking and even running like maniacs, and we are still not there. But we're close; we're so fucking close. But I would be lying to you if I told you I could keep going on without sleep. I need to rest, even if it's just for an hour. I can't keep going on like this.

  "Stella."

  "Shut up."

  "Stella."

  "Let me be."

  "Stella!"

  "What?" She whips her head around so violently I worry for her neck.

  "We need to sleep," I say.

  "No, we don't."

  "Yes, we do."

  She sighs, not an annoyed sigh, more of an 'I knew this was coming, but I didn't want to admit it' kind of sigh, "But we're only like an hour away from the outpost."

  "That's an hour we don't have. We've been walking for like ten hours. My feet hurt, my back hurts, and I want to sleep." Her Scorbunny disagrees; he's just as energetic as he was when we started.

  She thinks it over for a moment. "Fine, but if we get harassed by ghosts, I'm blaming you."

  "That's fine."

  This time, I set my tent up at the speed of light itself, maybe faster. I fall asleep the instant I enter it. But, of course, I can never have a good night's sleep without something happening.

  "You chose quite the spot to sleep today."

  We're not on the dance floor today. Instead, we're sitting in a booth against a wall. I recognize this seat; it's the one with the fancy guy and his Hoothoot. He's gone now; it's just us. She has her hair completely down and is wearing glasses that I'm pretty sure are fake. We both have a cup of coffee in front of us. Actually, I think mine is hot chocolate.

  "Why the change?" I sip on the drink. Somehow it's too hot. I thought this was a dream. Why is it too hot?

  "You never want to dance. And, you kind of suck at it." She takes a sip of her drink; hers is definitely coffee. I can smell it.

  "Hm, you're right about that." There's a pianist on stage playing something familiar; I've definitely heard this song before. "So, you didn't start with your catchphrase this time."

  "It wasn't going anywhere, but I'm still expecting an answer."

  "I still don't have one."

  She crosses her legs. "That's fine; we'll get there."

  What the hell does she mean by that? Does she think she's going to force an answer out of me? Too bad for her; I genuinely don't know.

  "Don't like your drink?"

  "It's too hot." I say.

  She laughs, "We're in your mind, just make it not hot."

  "Does that work?"

  "Try it."

  Okay. Drink, don't be hot. I take a sip.

  "Oh."

  "See what you can when you put your mind to it?"

  "Funny." I put down the drink. "Why are you so friendly today?"

  "Well, I only exist here. I would like to spend at least some of my time enjoying myself." She takes another sip. "But you're right; we should get down to business."

  "And what business would that be?" I ask.

  "You," she replies, "telling me who you are."

  The dream doesn't end like I thought it would. "Then I'm afraid we haven't got much business to discuss, because I have no idea."

  "Sure you do," she leans in closer. "You literally had it spelled out for you."

  Bell Benson, that must be what she's talking about. My 'name.' But that can't be true, can it?

  "But that's not my name. That's not who I am."

  She frowns. "Is that what you think? How do you know that?"

  I guess I don't, not for sure anyway.

  "I don't, but it just doesn't feel right, y'know?"

  "I know." She pulls something out of her pockets.

  "Is that a remote?"

  She ignores my question and points the remote at me: "I also know we have a long way to go."

  I try to speak, but I'm silenced by something. She presses the 'off' button.

  I open my eyes.