Lost and Found (Halloween 2023 Event)
“I think it’s pretty clear they came through this way but...” Sundae gave the area a careful look around. There weren’t many places to hide in the plains of Royal Fields, other than the exceptionally tall grasses, yet Sundae couldn’t even catch a glimpse of movement. The dark hindered his vision somewhat, but not even Breeze seemed to react to anything. The only sign he could see of someone passing by was the trampled path of grass they’d been following. Breeze, who easily disappeared amongst the tall grass, couldn’t seem to get a clear scent down either.
“Let’s just continue and hope they haven’t gone too far.”
As they made their way through Royal Fields Sundae began to reflect on what exactly brought them here. Originally Sundae only planned on hanging around the camp and keeping an eye on the wild children visiting. Unlike last year he was far more prepared for whatever would happen, and everything seemed to be going fine other than the mysterious “scary” that they kept mentioning. He had no intention of going looking for it. Plenty of other people would, and unless it started causing some real issues he figured it’d be better to comfort the children instead.
Then it caused a real issue. The day started and went fine, but then a commotion began at sunset. The wild children were running around frantically as though playing hide and seek, but with a lot more urgency. Sundae finally got it out of one of them that another wild child, the Galarian Ponyta, went missing. They’d been playing a game (hide and seek as he suspected) but even after searching the entirety of the camp they couldn’t find them. Eventually another wild child came forward saying they thought they saw two shadows running out of camp and towards Royal Fields.
Sundae, of course, couldn’t let them go after their friend so late at night. So to stop them from getting into trouble, he grabbed Breeze and some supplies, and ventured out into the night by himself.
“Pix!”
Sundae stopped walking when he heard Breeze cry out. He stood in an aggressive position with his fur standing on end. In response Sundae crouched down so his eyes just reached above the grass enough to see, but he wouldn’t be easily spotted. Following Breeze’s gaze he eventually saw the swaying grass indicating something moving. With a signal to stay quiet he and Breeze slowly made their way to the grass patch.
As they got closer Sundae could just make out something hiding in the grass. Given the shape and position, though, he quickly guessed it was their missing wild child. He gently pushed Breeze forward indicating he should break the ice first. With a “yip” the little fusion dove straight into the grass briefly startling the wild child, who quickly calmed down realizing it was just a pokemon.
“Everyone’s been looking for you.” Sundae’s voice startled them again, but having already been comforted by the presence of Breeze it was little more than a flinch. They looked at the ground, biting their lip.
“‘Saw something scary.” They mumbled their reply in a barely audible voice.
“I know. It seems to be gone now though.” Sundae stood up to prove his point, seeing absolutely nothing in the tall grass. “And it’s getting really late. It’s best we get back to camp.”
The wild child sniffed and very slowly stood up nervously rubbing a thumb over their wrist. When they, too, saw nothing scary out there they seemed to relax a little more. Sundae took a spare pokeball he’d brought and released Mist from it who stretched and yawned.
“Mist will escort you to camp. Breeze and I are going to search around and make sure that... scary creature isn’t hiding waiting to follow. Okay?”
The wild child gave him an uncertain look, but knowing they’d at least have a pokemon for company they didn’t give a complaint. They stuck closely to Mist’s side eventually disappearing out of view. Breeze looked up at Sundae tilting his head questioningly.
“I doubt this scary pokemon just disappeared... it’s probably hiding somewhere close by.” He explained picking Breeze up in his arms. “I’m just a bit curious about it.”
He’d heard from both Melt and Vivian about their encounters so, to test a theory, he decided to just wander aimlessly through the fields. It didn’t take long at all until he heard the quiet sound of shuffling in the grass... and just like they described before, all he could really make out in the dark was a shifting shadow. He could feel Breeze’s fur begin to bristle again.
“Hm...” Sundae watched the shadow carefully. When it started to take on an actual form he instructed Breeze to immediately use a powder snow. The gust of snow destabilized the shadow and, shocked, it moved and waved drastically unable to take form. Whatever pokemon was causing it must’ve been stunned by the sudden attack instead of the cowering fear it was used to.
“Let's not use any nasty tricks.” Sundae sat Breeze onto the ground who stood ready to unleash another powder snow should it try to take form again. “I can just close my eyes and cover my ears if you want to play with your illusions.”
No movement or sound was made. The pokemon likely didn’t know what to make of the situation; uncertain whether it should keep trying to play tricks, or run away to find someone else to mess with. Before it could make a decision Sundae reached into his pockets and produced some berries which he promptly tossed into the grass near the shadow.
“See? When you’re nice to someone they might repay you with something nice too.” The berries were actually from Vivian, just a couple that she let him borrow, but Breeze didn’t like the particular taste to them.
The mysterious pokemon gave a questioning cry. Because the berries were small and disappeared into the grass, Sundae couldn’t tell if the pokemon was even interested in eating them, but he only hoped the gesture would be nice enough. Breeze, in turn, seemed to relax and wasn’t nearly as hostile as before.
“I doubt you’ll listen or even understand me but... it’d be really helpful if you stopped spooking everyone. It might cause troubles for you too if you aren’t careful.”
No response. Instead, like it had with Melt, the shadow simply dissolved and disappeared into nothing. Perhaps the pokemon had left long before he even started speaking and the shadow dissipated when it got far enough away. He didn’t know, nor did he intend to find out. Instead he simply picked Breeze up in his arms again.
“My... eyes are starting to get heavy.” Sundae admitted. “Let's make sure that wild child got back to camp safely and go to bed.”