Story Notes:
INCOMPLETE!!!! If people like it I will try to finish and edit this story.Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 1
Transforming Circle
By Danny Hoa
Twilight was walking down a dirt road clutching his blue back pack that stored extra pairs of clothes, a knife, some food, and all the other necessities that you needed when you traveled as a Pokémon trainer. The wind breezed across his short dark blonde hair nipping at his ears in a chill; it was the middle of fall and in the area of Treline it was always extra nippy during this time of year. So with a shiver running up his spine he quickly zipped up the front of his black leather jacket, huffing into the cold dry wind, walking up an incline of the dirt road. He took a moment to access his surroundings noticing that he was now trapped against the wall of a large cliff that was connected to the mountains of Treline called The Crystal Vaps, lined by tall Red Oak trees.
Wondering if he was any closer to his destination, the legendary lake that was located in the center of the mountain range, he turned back to his fellow trainer who has stopped a few yards ago staring intensely into the map of the region.
"Are we there yet?!" Twilight yelled back to his traveling companion down the browned earth colored track that was edged by a thin thrive of bushes, flowers and grass before the towering red oaks.
"Umm... almost!" yelled back an Asian boy with short black hair who ran towards him with the sound of jeans swiping against itself, the sound deafened into the forest next to them.
"Didn't you say the same thing hours ago?" Twilight inquired, starting to question the abilities of the navigator in the back of his mind, his faith in the boy slowly drifting into never never land with each new expression his friend had as he stared desperately into the map.
"Yes... but this time it is the truth." Chesh said glaring at Twilight over the map. "There is a town that is bordered mostly by the side of the mountain about a mile from here. We can stay there for tonight and after that we will be able to go straight to the lake."
With a growl Twilight drug his exhausted legs another mile to the town with his friend. The town was quaint and quiet, everything seeming to be made with stone and logs of wood giving it a very cozy feel with the light from the inside of the housings beaconing through the recently dust sky. Quickly hurrying through the paved streets the two trainers trended into an inn to escape the nipping cold night wind, feeling the warmth of the crackling fire place in the room to their left instantly wash over their rosy cheeks. After shivering from the sudden temperature change and wiping his shoes on the large mat near the door that was just closed harshly by wind Cheshire turned left to the counter to face an awkward smiling girl.
"Hello! I'm guessing your trainers who are looking for a night stay?" she asked in an unusually peppy attitude.
"Err... yes we are..." he replied looking over to Twilight, giving a look to say that the girl's personality was a bit off.
"Looking forward to travel to the legendary lake Seccreal?" she asked in her chipper tone. The two noticed how annoying it was to converse with her, the blonde hair on top of her head and generic floral pattern one piece dress only served to add to that.
"How did you know?" Twilight responded but only doing so to be polite. He let his eyes wonder around the establishment as she spoke staring at the bright wooden floors and plastered walls covered with a solid color of dull green wall paper that accented the toned down décor of the inn. Right at the front of the door was a deep red rugged stair case that led up into the rooms, but only the door of room ten was able to be seen from this angle the rest sheltered by the green papered walls. The lobby was fairly large, one could say, holding the stairs and reception area with enough room to sport a nice coffee table set with couches off the corner. The inn was nice it did hold a decent dining room to the right with a countered kitchen in the back. Over all it was quiet nice Twilight thought giving a face of approval to his companion before zoning back into the receptionist's chatter.
"Well most come here for that very reason. Something about the lake being a spawning point to magical vaporeon that listen and understand their trainer very well. In fact this is the point of the year were the town is most busy with tourists and of course with trainers like yourselves. But obviously you both know all of this since you both are here. "
Cheshire nodded in agreement, ready to get a room and get out of the conversation with the girl, looking around the inn was busy as she had said. Many traveling around the rooms of the inn and the halls, some sitting at the couches with their hot tea or coffee resting on the stone coffee table in their beautifully hand painted porcelain containers. Even the dining room was filled with trainers and tourists in different shapes and sizes talking to each other, their voices filling the air like a thick fog.
"Can we get a room with two twin beds Miss?" Twilight asked as if he was in tune with chesh's mind, who was getting very fidgety about waiting with the weird girl for so long who, as the time went on, kept trying to pry into their lives.
"Sure thing!" she piped in with her eerie stone faced smile. "You guys are lucky we are almost full too. Only three rooms left." She added before turning around to fetch the room keys only before instructing them to writing down their names and to put down the first half of their payment.
Once they had the keys in their hand the two both started to walk towards their rooms, scared that they might have been trapped into another long awkward one sided conversation with the girl. So Twilight and Cheshire just power walked up the stairs gripping tightly on their backpack straps with the girl yelling, "If you need anything do not hesitate to ask and my name is Mara by the way," with her unusual blonde haired smile.
"I hope we don't meet anymore people like that, there is just something funny about that girl..." the Asian boy started as he finally unlocked the door to their room.
"Yeah, but I could handle that if I could get some of that tea and coffee everyone was lugging around, which I will probably have right after I take nice shower to wash all this crap off my body. That damn dirt road was a bit dusty."
"Tch... you and your fetish with teas and coffee... And I call dibs on that shower." Cheshire said rushing with his back pack clutched in his arms, slamming the door as he got in, his footsteps thumping on the rug covered hard wood floor.
"You are going to get us a complaint you greedy bastard! Who do you think is paying for most of the fee tonight?!" Twilight growled, frustratingly brushing through his dark blonde hair with his fingers before plopping down on the bed covered by a homely blue knitted quilt.
The room was just like the rest of the inn, very cozy; everything was like it was dressed in an old styled western home. There were two wooden dressers, one for each bed and about five lamps in total in the room, two on the night stands next to the beds that laid parallel to each other, and a large comfy looking chair in the corner that was also placed with the TV and 1960's phone. It was just the basics, obviously not luxury, but it was practical for ones who needed to stay only to be out all day.
Lying on the bed trying to wait for his friend who graciously stole his shower, Twilight quickly found himself bored and yearning for some tea or coffee. So he then propped himself up and headed towards the dining room. On his way, he once again passed the formally dressed security guard who had a mighty strong stare as he passed by. It was almost like he was observing every movement of the fair skinned boy before he was out of sight. Something was definitely weird about this place, to the receptionist and now an old man, but he brushed it off and just raced down the stairs trying to stay far away from the Mara girl as he reached his destination.
The dining room had high top tables and a counter table along one of the walls, with the windows curtained with the same cozy décor as the rest of the housing. It was packed, almost every one of the seats were taking, but it wasn't going to be a problem for him since he was just thinking he'd take his cup of hot relaxer back up stairs.
"Can I get a cup of Bengal spice?" Twilight ordered at the kitchen wall with his hands in his leather jacket.
"Sure thing." The plump lady wearing a bun answered behind the opening in the wall. When twilight could get a glance of her face, it almost as if she had a slight evil smirk that sent a light irking chill down his spine which was suddenly cut off by a soft voice.
"Bengal spice huh? What made you get that flavor?" the voice asked in a sweet tone.
"Cause it reminds me of a nice sn-ah... a nice snack. It reminds me of a nice snack I used to have back at home." He said stuttering as he glanced over to his right to meet the glowing green eyes of a wavy brown haired girl that made him blush.
"I'm a trainer too" the girl said with a cute goofy grin pointing to her pokéballs attached to her belt. "I'm here to catch myself a good beautiful vaporeon. You?"
"Same."
"You were attracted by the rumors weren't cha?... I was too." She continued to smile innocently before her face dropped in seriousness. "But what most people haven't heard about this place is that people go missing all the time around here and never are found again. I heard its usually around this time of year too, they go to the lake in search of the perfect vaproeon and then WAM! Gone... I'm Alice by the way." The girl in her black knee length jacket extended her hand for a shake revealing a silk dress underneath.
She was cute Twilight thought and the passion in the way she spoke about things made her even more so, but you could tell she was a strong girl by her figure. So he shook her hand with a liking smile, quick to notice the circular mark on her right forearm.
Alice caught him looking at her arm and knew exactly what lured his attention. "That's my birth mark, pretty weird too, never seen one to perfectly round." The girl informed with a warm distant stare as she looked at it before snapping back to reality. "Nice to meet yah Twilight, but if you don't mind I'll be heading to bed, just suddenly got a bit tired."
"Pleasure was all mine." Twilight smiled back as he watched her place her empty cup of tea on the counter before head towards the stairs.
"Maybe we can go to the lake together tomorrow." she waved before running up the stairs.
Noticing that his order was resting next to him, he quickly gulped it down before it became too cold, making his heart rush with each rush of flavor. Before long he also became oddly tired realizing that most of the chatter had died down with the absence of people.
Listening to his weary body he trended back to the room passing by the strange staring man again before close the door to his room behind him, finding that his companion had already fallen asleep cutely resting on his towel. Smiling Twilight took the liberty in tucking him in before drifting into dream land himself only taking a moment to enjoy how soft the bed was for an inn.
In their sleep there were strange faces darkened by hoods. The figure were whispering and pouring a gooey substance on to their bodies which somehow had become naked and in the mist of it all there was a strange glowing teal light before they were both jerked out of their slumber to the morning rays of dawn.
"Woah... that was a wild dream..." twilight spoke in a harsh morning voice, his body just calming down after being jolted awake.
"You too?" Cheshire chimed in only after checking if he was naked. He sighed in relief and sat up looking at his friend. "What was your dream?"
"I was naked and abducted by some crazy hooded people?" He informed wearily.
"HOLY CRAP! Me too! I don't think we have ever had the same dream before. Do you think it could be this place?"
"Maybe."
"The people are weird enough..."
"Well let me get in the shower real quick so we can get out of this damn place." Twilight hopped in the shower and turned the nozzle to scolding hot, ever since he could remember he had always liked his showers super hot. Once he was done he dried off and changed into his extra pair of clothes he had in his backpack before stepping out of the steamy bathroom.
"You could have hard boiled yourself and I would have never known." Cheshire commented with a smirk.
They made sure they had everything before they left the room, which wasn't that hard since trainers didn't usually carry very much. Once down stair they were glad to find that Mara was not manning the reception desk, instead it was an old portly woman who was overly kind, but every now and then she would shoot a crazy stare at her occupants.
As the two finished paying waiting for their change twilight looked around the cozy inn staffed with strange people. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Alice's jacket lain on the couch, making him curiously aggravated as to how she could have forgotten her jacket if she was a trainer.
"OH CRAP!" Chesh jumped. I forgot my necklace on the sink! Can I have one of the keys back so I can get it?"
The lady shot a crazy stare at the boy before complying to his need and handed him a key, which he grabbed before dashing up the stairs.
With his friend one to fetch his item Twilight could not help but fester more curiosity about the normal girl he had met last night. Even though he hated conversing with the staff in this inn his better mind wanted to know what happened. "Has Miss Alice checked out?"
"Why yes she has dear." The woman smiled.
"Well she forgot her jacket and if I do remember she was practically wearing nothing. How could you let her go out in the cold like that?"
"I wasn't working then dear. She was one of the first to checkout; she must have been trying to beat everyone else to those vaporeons you all come here for every year. I'm sure she will be back for it, till then we will keep it for her."
Twilight did not trust a single word she said. There was something up about this place and the people working at this inn had something to do with it.
Before long Cheshire was running back down the stairs with his necklace dancing in the air around his neck.
"Got it! Phew. Don't want to lose this thing. It's a magic stone that I bought from a pawn shop and it has done nothing but given me good luck." He said smiling at twilight only to see his friend's serious expression.
"But it is magic not just some good luck charm. I just... don't know what it does or how to work it yet... "
"That's a very pretty thing dear." The woman commented only after shooting a crazy look.
"Th-thanks... Well anyways here is the key. We need to go before the vaporeon are all caught." He said ushering his friend out the door whispering, "Lets get out of this creepy place."
The two trainers dared not to look back from fear of being trapped in the perpetual awkwardness so the quickly trended up the street of the town, which was now bustling with active people going in and out of shops and making light chatter as they crossed the street. Everything seemed normal except the people of the town who handed bags of goods or watched the tourists and trainers with strange faces.
"Chesh, I think something happened to a girl I met last night." Twilight informed.
"Wow you work fast."
"Hey I'm serious. I think the people in the inn did something to her, they don't give off the right feeling."
"Well I agree with you about the creepy folk but we can't just jump out of nowhere and accuse people of strange and unusual kidnappings without evidence. Plus, maybe she just went to one of these stores and go lost."
"But that it she was going to capture the perfect vaporeons like we were."
"And speaking of capturing we need some lureballs, netballs, and diveballs."
Twilight knew better than to press such a subject that he wasn't even sure on, even if the people did give him the creeps. So he just bit his tongue kept faith in maybe something didn't happen to her.
Once in the pokéstore Cheshire just dashed right to the pokéballs isle, the shiny new balls catching his eyes. There were several others in the store all in different isle looking at different products and trinkets that decorated the shelves.
"I'll get two of each..." Cheshire said as he pondered the difference of the pokéballs he had in each hand rating the pros and cons to each pokéballs. He quickly became distracted as he came across leashes.
While shopping Twilight didn't care much to anything as long as he got what he was looking for, so with that finished his attention soon turned to the person who worked here. He was checking if the person who were working there was as strange as the people of the in. Seemingly the girl who was working the checkout counter was normal, her actions were normal as she rung out several customers. But other than her the young man who was mopping up the floors of the store was like the people of the inn, strange. He had short red slicked back hair and his expression was glum, not the softer happier look of a person who was his age.
"Okay I'm done... hopefully the people here aren't as weird as the people at the inn." Chesh piped as he sat the collars back down, saving them for another day when he actually had the Pokémon. "They down have any ghost type Pokémon collars for my Froslass, doubt she'd want to wear one but still."
Cheshire's froslass was the one Pokémon he had; it had been given to him by his mom when he had left to pursue his passion to be a trainer, much like his companion who had a luxray his family had given him.
"The only person who is strange here is that janitor guy over there." Twilight said as he directed a glace to where the guy was, who was working down the floors in his dark green apron wearing the same stoic glum expression.
"Well he can go that way and we can go this way," Cheshire said as he tumbled the pokéballs into a basket he found on the linoleum floor before picking it up and walking to the checkout counter.
"Hello, how are you today?" a familiar soft voice sounded as they reached the cash register.
"Alice?" Twilight exclaimed in shock seeing the girl with her brown hair in a ponytail, wondering as to why she was here.
"Why hello Twilight, a bit shocked to see I can see."
"I thought you were a Pokémon trainer going to the lake?"
"I am a Pokémon trainer silly, but I was called on to shift here."
"So you work here in this town... Do you not think that the people are a little usual?"
"A bit but they are nice to me. I'm only working here so I could spend some time with the vaporeons everyone talks about, they are my favorite. It's only temporary though I'll be leaving in a couple of weeks to finish my journey."
In the back of his mind Twilight was even more sure that the town's people had done something to this pretty girl, maybe brainwashed her, but he kept quiet and smiled, letting Cheshire check out. Although he did agree to vaporeons being her favorite Pokémon, he could not shut out the eerie images of the people doing anything to her.
"Maybe she had a hidden agenda like the rest of them, if so it was best to keep away," he thought.
"Thanks come again. I wish I could have gone with you all." Alice waved frantically as the two walked out of the store to continue towards the lake.
"Hmmm... she was pretty," cheshire remarked snickering as he glanced over to twilight out of the corner of his eye. "But I told you not to worry! So I was right."
Twilight just glared over, hating when his friend gloats.
"Yeah, whatever, but it just makes me even more suspicious of this town..."
"Well the sooner we catch a perfect vaporeon the sooner we can leave. So on ward!" Chesh declared, marching slightly fast infront of Twilight, who's mind was still on the scecret he believed the town was keeping hidden.
Strangly the road traveling to the lake was very quiet once they had gotten out of the town. The trail was back to cutting through a forest with trees on both sides and the mountains of Treline behind that. It should have been pretty lively since it was the time of year it's more prodominate to be capturing the perfect vaporeons and with the number of people that were in town they should have passed several every hundred yards or so. Though it was strange the two trainers just thought that the other people might have already beaten them to the lake.
As they got farther the road be came narrower and the forest thicker till you could not see the mountains behind it, which ment they had broken through the mountain pass. The trail now meandered and split off in to different directions forcing Cheshire to pull out his map. Luckly, he had marked their way with a permanent marker before falling asleep last night, so he took charge and directed them with his finger pressing down on the noisy krinkled paper. Bird, plant, insect, and forest pokemon littered the area. Since their mission was on one thing only, they tried to avoid any confrontation with any of the pokemon that inhabited the landscape, but sadly they had bumped into a mother Ursering who was feeding her baby teddyursa. The battle was not a huge problem since froslass and Twilight's luxray were at significantly high level, but they did obtain some injuries. Froslass had taken the least damage in subduing the mother-cub duo, being a ghost type pokemon she was immuned to normal attacks, which was most of the enraged mother's skills. The ghost pokemon just giggled cutely, the way Froslasses do, at Twilight's Luxray, who had became the target the Ursering had set after quickly finding out that froslass would have been the more difficult opponent. But thanks to a superpotion Chesh had stored at the bottom of his pack, the electric kitty was good for any thing else that lied ahead.
Faintly, as the trainers got closer to their destination, they could hear the ringing of bells through the air with each sway of the breeze.Chapter End Notes: For Twilight
By Danny Hoa
Twilight was walking down a dirt road clutching his blue back pack that stored extra pairs of clothes, a knife, some food, and all the other necessities that you needed when you traveled as a Pokémon trainer. The wind breezed across his short dark blonde hair nipping at his ears in a chill; it was the middle of fall and in the area of Treline it was always extra nippy during this time of year. So with a shiver running up his spine he quickly zipped up the front of his black leather jacket, huffing into the cold dry wind, walking up an incline of the dirt road. He took a moment to access his surroundings noticing that he was now trapped against the wall of a large cliff that was connected to the mountains of Treline called The Crystal Vaps, lined by tall Red Oak trees.
Wondering if he was any closer to his destination, the legendary lake that was located in the center of the mountain range, he turned back to his fellow trainer who has stopped a few yards ago staring intensely into the map of the region.
"Are we there yet?!" Twilight yelled back to his traveling companion down the browned earth colored track that was edged by a thin thrive of bushes, flowers and grass before the towering red oaks.
"Umm... almost!" yelled back an Asian boy with short black hair who ran towards him with the sound of jeans swiping against itself, the sound deafened into the forest next to them.
"Didn't you say the same thing hours ago?" Twilight inquired, starting to question the abilities of the navigator in the back of his mind, his faith in the boy slowly drifting into never never land with each new expression his friend had as he stared desperately into the map.
"Yes... but this time it is the truth." Chesh said glaring at Twilight over the map. "There is a town that is bordered mostly by the side of the mountain about a mile from here. We can stay there for tonight and after that we will be able to go straight to the lake."
With a growl Twilight drug his exhausted legs another mile to the town with his friend. The town was quaint and quiet, everything seeming to be made with stone and logs of wood giving it a very cozy feel with the light from the inside of the housings beaconing through the recently dust sky. Quickly hurrying through the paved streets the two trainers trended into an inn to escape the nipping cold night wind, feeling the warmth of the crackling fire place in the room to their left instantly wash over their rosy cheeks. After shivering from the sudden temperature change and wiping his shoes on the large mat near the door that was just closed harshly by wind Cheshire turned left to the counter to face an awkward smiling girl.
"Hello! I'm guessing your trainers who are looking for a night stay?" she asked in an unusually peppy attitude.
"Err... yes we are..." he replied looking over to Twilight, giving a look to say that the girl's personality was a bit off.
"Looking forward to travel to the legendary lake Seccreal?" she asked in her chipper tone. The two noticed how annoying it was to converse with her, the blonde hair on top of her head and generic floral pattern one piece dress only served to add to that.
"How did you know?" Twilight responded but only doing so to be polite. He let his eyes wonder around the establishment as she spoke staring at the bright wooden floors and plastered walls covered with a solid color of dull green wall paper that accented the toned down décor of the inn. Right at the front of the door was a deep red rugged stair case that led up into the rooms, but only the door of room ten was able to be seen from this angle the rest sheltered by the green papered walls. The lobby was fairly large, one could say, holding the stairs and reception area with enough room to sport a nice coffee table set with couches off the corner. The inn was nice it did hold a decent dining room to the right with a countered kitchen in the back. Over all it was quiet nice Twilight thought giving a face of approval to his companion before zoning back into the receptionist's chatter.
"Well most come here for that very reason. Something about the lake being a spawning point to magical vaporeon that listen and understand their trainer very well. In fact this is the point of the year were the town is most busy with tourists and of course with trainers like yourselves. But obviously you both know all of this since you both are here. "
Cheshire nodded in agreement, ready to get a room and get out of the conversation with the girl, looking around the inn was busy as she had said. Many traveling around the rooms of the inn and the halls, some sitting at the couches with their hot tea or coffee resting on the stone coffee table in their beautifully hand painted porcelain containers. Even the dining room was filled with trainers and tourists in different shapes and sizes talking to each other, their voices filling the air like a thick fog.
"Can we get a room with two twin beds Miss?" Twilight asked as if he was in tune with chesh's mind, who was getting very fidgety about waiting with the weird girl for so long who, as the time went on, kept trying to pry into their lives.
"Sure thing!" she piped in with her eerie stone faced smile. "You guys are lucky we are almost full too. Only three rooms left." She added before turning around to fetch the room keys only before instructing them to writing down their names and to put down the first half of their payment.
Once they had the keys in their hand the two both started to walk towards their rooms, scared that they might have been trapped into another long awkward one sided conversation with the girl. So Twilight and Cheshire just power walked up the stairs gripping tightly on their backpack straps with the girl yelling, "If you need anything do not hesitate to ask and my name is Mara by the way," with her unusual blonde haired smile.
"I hope we don't meet anymore people like that, there is just something funny about that girl..." the Asian boy started as he finally unlocked the door to their room.
"Yeah, but I could handle that if I could get some of that tea and coffee everyone was lugging around, which I will probably have right after I take nice shower to wash all this crap off my body. That damn dirt road was a bit dusty."
"Tch... you and your fetish with teas and coffee... And I call dibs on that shower." Cheshire said rushing with his back pack clutched in his arms, slamming the door as he got in, his footsteps thumping on the rug covered hard wood floor.
"You are going to get us a complaint you greedy bastard! Who do you think is paying for most of the fee tonight?!" Twilight growled, frustratingly brushing through his dark blonde hair with his fingers before plopping down on the bed covered by a homely blue knitted quilt.
The room was just like the rest of the inn, very cozy; everything was like it was dressed in an old styled western home. There were two wooden dressers, one for each bed and about five lamps in total in the room, two on the night stands next to the beds that laid parallel to each other, and a large comfy looking chair in the corner that was also placed with the TV and 1960's phone. It was just the basics, obviously not luxury, but it was practical for ones who needed to stay only to be out all day.
Lying on the bed trying to wait for his friend who graciously stole his shower, Twilight quickly found himself bored and yearning for some tea or coffee. So he then propped himself up and headed towards the dining room. On his way, he once again passed the formally dressed security guard who had a mighty strong stare as he passed by. It was almost like he was observing every movement of the fair skinned boy before he was out of sight. Something was definitely weird about this place, to the receptionist and now an old man, but he brushed it off and just raced down the stairs trying to stay far away from the Mara girl as he reached his destination.
The dining room had high top tables and a counter table along one of the walls, with the windows curtained with the same cozy décor as the rest of the housing. It was packed, almost every one of the seats were taking, but it wasn't going to be a problem for him since he was just thinking he'd take his cup of hot relaxer back up stairs.
"Can I get a cup of Bengal spice?" Twilight ordered at the kitchen wall with his hands in his leather jacket.
"Sure thing." The plump lady wearing a bun answered behind the opening in the wall. When twilight could get a glance of her face, it almost as if she had a slight evil smirk that sent a light irking chill down his spine which was suddenly cut off by a soft voice.
"Bengal spice huh? What made you get that flavor?" the voice asked in a sweet tone.
"Cause it reminds me of a nice sn-ah... a nice snack. It reminds me of a nice snack I used to have back at home." He said stuttering as he glanced over to his right to meet the glowing green eyes of a wavy brown haired girl that made him blush.
"I'm a trainer too" the girl said with a cute goofy grin pointing to her pokéballs attached to her belt. "I'm here to catch myself a good beautiful vaporeon. You?"
"Same."
"You were attracted by the rumors weren't cha?... I was too." She continued to smile innocently before her face dropped in seriousness. "But what most people haven't heard about this place is that people go missing all the time around here and never are found again. I heard its usually around this time of year too, they go to the lake in search of the perfect vaproeon and then WAM! Gone... I'm Alice by the way." The girl in her black knee length jacket extended her hand for a shake revealing a silk dress underneath.
She was cute Twilight thought and the passion in the way she spoke about things made her even more so, but you could tell she was a strong girl by her figure. So he shook her hand with a liking smile, quick to notice the circular mark on her right forearm.
Alice caught him looking at her arm and knew exactly what lured his attention. "That's my birth mark, pretty weird too, never seen one to perfectly round." The girl informed with a warm distant stare as she looked at it before snapping back to reality. "Nice to meet yah Twilight, but if you don't mind I'll be heading to bed, just suddenly got a bit tired."
"Pleasure was all mine." Twilight smiled back as he watched her place her empty cup of tea on the counter before head towards the stairs.
"Maybe we can go to the lake together tomorrow." she waved before running up the stairs.
Noticing that his order was resting next to him, he quickly gulped it down before it became too cold, making his heart rush with each rush of flavor. Before long he also became oddly tired realizing that most of the chatter had died down with the absence of people.
Listening to his weary body he trended back to the room passing by the strange staring man again before close the door to his room behind him, finding that his companion had already fallen asleep cutely resting on his towel. Smiling Twilight took the liberty in tucking him in before drifting into dream land himself only taking a moment to enjoy how soft the bed was for an inn.
In their sleep there were strange faces darkened by hoods. The figure were whispering and pouring a gooey substance on to their bodies which somehow had become naked and in the mist of it all there was a strange glowing teal light before they were both jerked out of their slumber to the morning rays of dawn.
"Woah... that was a wild dream..." twilight spoke in a harsh morning voice, his body just calming down after being jolted awake.
"You too?" Cheshire chimed in only after checking if he was naked. He sighed in relief and sat up looking at his friend. "What was your dream?"
"I was naked and abducted by some crazy hooded people?" He informed wearily.
"HOLY CRAP! Me too! I don't think we have ever had the same dream before. Do you think it could be this place?"
"Maybe."
"The people are weird enough..."
"Well let me get in the shower real quick so we can get out of this damn place." Twilight hopped in the shower and turned the nozzle to scolding hot, ever since he could remember he had always liked his showers super hot. Once he was done he dried off and changed into his extra pair of clothes he had in his backpack before stepping out of the steamy bathroom.
"You could have hard boiled yourself and I would have never known." Cheshire commented with a smirk.
They made sure they had everything before they left the room, which wasn't that hard since trainers didn't usually carry very much. Once down stair they were glad to find that Mara was not manning the reception desk, instead it was an old portly woman who was overly kind, but every now and then she would shoot a crazy stare at her occupants.
As the two finished paying waiting for their change twilight looked around the cozy inn staffed with strange people. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Alice's jacket lain on the couch, making him curiously aggravated as to how she could have forgotten her jacket if she was a trainer.
"OH CRAP!" Chesh jumped. I forgot my necklace on the sink! Can I have one of the keys back so I can get it?"
The lady shot a crazy stare at the boy before complying to his need and handed him a key, which he grabbed before dashing up the stairs.
With his friend one to fetch his item Twilight could not help but fester more curiosity about the normal girl he had met last night. Even though he hated conversing with the staff in this inn his better mind wanted to know what happened. "Has Miss Alice checked out?"
"Why yes she has dear." The woman smiled.
"Well she forgot her jacket and if I do remember she was practically wearing nothing. How could you let her go out in the cold like that?"
"I wasn't working then dear. She was one of the first to checkout; she must have been trying to beat everyone else to those vaporeons you all come here for every year. I'm sure she will be back for it, till then we will keep it for her."
Twilight did not trust a single word she said. There was something up about this place and the people working at this inn had something to do with it.
Before long Cheshire was running back down the stairs with his necklace dancing in the air around his neck.
"Got it! Phew. Don't want to lose this thing. It's a magic stone that I bought from a pawn shop and it has done nothing but given me good luck." He said smiling at twilight only to see his friend's serious expression.
"But it is magic not just some good luck charm. I just... don't know what it does or how to work it yet... "
"That's a very pretty thing dear." The woman commented only after shooting a crazy look.
"Th-thanks... Well anyways here is the key. We need to go before the vaporeon are all caught." He said ushering his friend out the door whispering, "Lets get out of this creepy place."
The two trainers dared not to look back from fear of being trapped in the perpetual awkwardness so the quickly trended up the street of the town, which was now bustling with active people going in and out of shops and making light chatter as they crossed the street. Everything seemed normal except the people of the town who handed bags of goods or watched the tourists and trainers with strange faces.
"Chesh, I think something happened to a girl I met last night." Twilight informed.
"Wow you work fast."
"Hey I'm serious. I think the people in the inn did something to her, they don't give off the right feeling."
"Well I agree with you about the creepy folk but we can't just jump out of nowhere and accuse people of strange and unusual kidnappings without evidence. Plus, maybe she just went to one of these stores and go lost."
"But that it she was going to capture the perfect vaporeons like we were."
"And speaking of capturing we need some lureballs, netballs, and diveballs."
Twilight knew better than to press such a subject that he wasn't even sure on, even if the people did give him the creeps. So he just bit his tongue kept faith in maybe something didn't happen to her.
Once in the pokéstore Cheshire just dashed right to the pokéballs isle, the shiny new balls catching his eyes. There were several others in the store all in different isle looking at different products and trinkets that decorated the shelves.
"I'll get two of each..." Cheshire said as he pondered the difference of the pokéballs he had in each hand rating the pros and cons to each pokéballs. He quickly became distracted as he came across leashes.
While shopping Twilight didn't care much to anything as long as he got what he was looking for, so with that finished his attention soon turned to the person who worked here. He was checking if the person who were working there was as strange as the people of the in. Seemingly the girl who was working the checkout counter was normal, her actions were normal as she rung out several customers. But other than her the young man who was mopping up the floors of the store was like the people of the inn, strange. He had short red slicked back hair and his expression was glum, not the softer happier look of a person who was his age.
"Okay I'm done... hopefully the people here aren't as weird as the people at the inn." Chesh piped as he sat the collars back down, saving them for another day when he actually had the Pokémon. "They down have any ghost type Pokémon collars for my Froslass, doubt she'd want to wear one but still."
Cheshire's froslass was the one Pokémon he had; it had been given to him by his mom when he had left to pursue his passion to be a trainer, much like his companion who had a luxray his family had given him.
"The only person who is strange here is that janitor guy over there." Twilight said as he directed a glace to where the guy was, who was working down the floors in his dark green apron wearing the same stoic glum expression.
"Well he can go that way and we can go this way," Cheshire said as he tumbled the pokéballs into a basket he found on the linoleum floor before picking it up and walking to the checkout counter.
"Hello, how are you today?" a familiar soft voice sounded as they reached the cash register.
"Alice?" Twilight exclaimed in shock seeing the girl with her brown hair in a ponytail, wondering as to why she was here.
"Why hello Twilight, a bit shocked to see I can see."
"I thought you were a Pokémon trainer going to the lake?"
"I am a Pokémon trainer silly, but I was called on to shift here."
"So you work here in this town... Do you not think that the people are a little usual?"
"A bit but they are nice to me. I'm only working here so I could spend some time with the vaporeons everyone talks about, they are my favorite. It's only temporary though I'll be leaving in a couple of weeks to finish my journey."
In the back of his mind Twilight was even more sure that the town's people had done something to this pretty girl, maybe brainwashed her, but he kept quiet and smiled, letting Cheshire check out. Although he did agree to vaporeons being her favorite Pokémon, he could not shut out the eerie images of the people doing anything to her.
"Maybe she had a hidden agenda like the rest of them, if so it was best to keep away," he thought.
"Thanks come again. I wish I could have gone with you all." Alice waved frantically as the two walked out of the store to continue towards the lake.
"Hmmm... she was pretty," cheshire remarked snickering as he glanced over to twilight out of the corner of his eye. "But I told you not to worry! So I was right."
Twilight just glared over, hating when his friend gloats.
"Yeah, whatever, but it just makes me even more suspicious of this town..."
"Well the sooner we catch a perfect vaporeon the sooner we can leave. So on ward!" Chesh declared, marching slightly fast infront of Twilight, who's mind was still on the scecret he believed the town was keeping hidden.
Strangly the road traveling to the lake was very quiet once they had gotten out of the town. The trail was back to cutting through a forest with trees on both sides and the mountains of Treline behind that. It should have been pretty lively since it was the time of year it's more prodominate to be capturing the perfect vaporeons and with the number of people that were in town they should have passed several every hundred yards or so. Though it was strange the two trainers just thought that the other people might have already beaten them to the lake.
As they got farther the road be came narrower and the forest thicker till you could not see the mountains behind it, which ment they had broken through the mountain pass. The trail now meandered and split off in to different directions forcing Cheshire to pull out his map. Luckly, he had marked their way with a permanent marker before falling asleep last night, so he took charge and directed them with his finger pressing down on the noisy krinkled paper. Bird, plant, insect, and forest pokemon littered the area. Since their mission was on one thing only, they tried to avoid any confrontation with any of the pokemon that inhabited the landscape, but sadly they had bumped into a mother Ursering who was feeding her baby teddyursa. The battle was not a huge problem since froslass and Twilight's luxray were at significantly high level, but they did obtain some injuries. Froslass had taken the least damage in subduing the mother-cub duo, being a ghost type pokemon she was immuned to normal attacks, which was most of the enraged mother's skills. The ghost pokemon just giggled cutely, the way Froslasses do, at Twilight's Luxray, who had became the target the Ursering had set after quickly finding out that froslass would have been the more difficult opponent. But thanks to a superpotion Chesh had stored at the bottom of his pack, the electric kitty was good for any thing else that lied ahead.
Faintly, as the trainers got closer to their destination, they could hear the ringing of bells through the air with each sway of the breeze.Chapter End Notes: For Twilight