The fog parted before the bow of the ship as October stood out front, arms wrapped across her body as the cold water particles brought goosebumps to her skin. A small blue elephant curled up around her feet, its trunk resting on October's boot as it lay in a ball between her feet, small huffs of breath escaping its trunk making a small squeaking sound in the still night's air. Ahead of them the vague outline of Pandora was slowly revealing itself to them the further into the fog they sailed. All around them was the still grey fog, the gentle lapping of waves and the starry night sky above; the moon full of light and casting down its brilliance on the moving vessel.
Three days, for three days they had been on the boat sailing towards the mysterious island of Pandora and October was starting to get restless being cooped up on board with the others. She had met the majority of them, even striking up a decent conversation with Alan Destin whom seemed like a decent enough character; even her Phanpy had managed to get along with his Poochyena. Other than that, many of the other recruit's names had faded into the recess of October's mind.
Within minutes however, one of the ships crewman approached October, holding a small, handheld torch, the beam light swaying from side to side with the motion of the ship. She held her hand up to her brow, turning around to gaze at the man as her Phanpy stirred between her feet.
"Ma'am, we will be docking in five minutes, if you could meet on the main deck, we can unload ya'll onto Pandora." October simply nodded, slightly thrown off by the light amidst the cold and darkness.
"Thanks," was her only reply as she retrieved her leather jacket from atop the small Phanpy between her feet; the small elephant now padding around her feet dozily still somewhat asleep. She dropped the bag Laughner had supplied them with prior to boarding the boat; inside October had found basic necessities like water, blankets and a tarpaulin amongst other stuff as well as the ball that had previously held her Phanpy. While dozing, Phanpy had made the inside of the jacket quite warm, so when October put it on, she felt the residue warmth in the leather against her skin, shivering slightly.
As a sign of affection, the Phanpy butted its nose into October's leg, but despite its small size, the Phanpy still managed to butt October enough to hurt, maybe even bring up a bruise. Wearily she gathered with the others on the main deck, shivering in the cool night air as Phanpy continued to play around October's legs, walking round and round so that October almost tripped over the small blue elephant. Hands in pocket, she breathed in the night air, watching it hang in the night air as it left her mouth, waiting for the boat to dock in the rickety wooden dock of Atara Village.
October felt as if the land itself was swaying as she made her way off the boat, glad to be able to stretch her feet on solid ground instead of a tight, swaying wooden deck. Phanpy seemed happy too, rushing to the water's edge to play in the tide. Laughing at the small Pokemon snort water out of its trunk as it ran along the seashore. Even though it was evening, the two had been cooped up on the boat long enough that it was just as good as midday to them. As they wandered aimlessly along the waterfront, stony sand sticking to boots and feet, October took a look around; the fog covered sea to the south while dense, foreboding jungle lay to the north of Atara Village. Along the seaside, residents huddled in their huts, all wrapped around a giant stone temple rising into the night sky.
Let's go have a look, shall we?" October suggested, gesturing towards the monolith that stuck out like a sore thumb in the centre of the town.
"Phanpy-Phan!" The small elephant cried out.
While she could hear the tiredness in her own voice and the same in her Phanpy's, they both had a earning to stretch their legs, and considering it was still rather early evening, they had plenty of time to explore before resting up for the next day. Chaning course, the two darted in between two huts, zipping in and out of the randomly placed huts that dotted the land. It took them a good ten minutes, but soon they stood before the monolith, gazing up to the very brim below the moon where artificial lights shone; paled in comparison to the moonlight above.
Stepping through the black portal into the dim ante-chamber of the temple, October and Phanpy took light steps, barely seeing the sandy floor a meter in front of them. Despite the somewhat lack of light emitted by the torches spaced far apart on the walls and the moonlight shining in the entrance behind them, the place seemed eerily quiet and scary; even more so at night than it would during the day. However eager to explore, they continued to walk through the ante-chamber, arriving into the massive open chamber. Hollowed out like a Halloween Lantern, the chamber had an eerie habit of resounding any noises made as well as making some of its own; sending chills up October's spine. Scared, Phanpy cowered close to October's feet as they made their way cautiously to the spiral staircase in the middle of the room.
Ascending the stairs, October found herself in similar chambers to the one she had been in; hollow and covered in a layer of sand hiding shards of pottery and stone from the Geological gold mining that had taken place. It seemed like nothing existed in here except the whistling wind and the swirling sand.
Jumping out of her skin, October scolded the small Phanpy for licking her leg; giving her a massive fright in the process, however Phanpy looked up at her hurt; as if he hadn't done it at all. "Geez dude, don't do that again!"
They ascended a couple more floors until again October felt Phanpy lick her leg, but as she gazed down to scold the small, blue elephant, she realised this time the lick had been on her left leg; Phanpy huddling to her right. She was startled when Phanpy let out a cry as white eyes began appearing in the darkness, followed by the rustling sound of wings. In moments, the two were swarmed by a colony of Zubats while the intermittent Ghastly stared menacingly at them from the darkness; licking any exposed skin.
October let out a high pitched scream as she tried to blindly fend off her attackers, while Phanpy Growled and tried to Tackle as many Zubat's that got near; falling through any Ghastly it tried to attack. "Let's get out of here!" She screamed over the flapping of wings and bolted for the spiral staircase; a thin beam of light shining from the top signalling only a couple of floors to go.
Heart racing and through staggered breaths, she did her best to climb up the stairs, but with the attacks of the Zubats persisting, it seemed like she would never make it to the top. Clothes torn to shreds and superficial gashes in exposed skin, she managed to make it out into the open, the moonlight showering her with hope as it lit the tiny path to a small hut surround by light. A man stood by the entrance and she waved at him, stumbling towards him; hurt and bleeding.
She was halfway there when she realised she could no longer feel the heat from her Phanpy pressed up against her leg. Turning around, she could just see the top of the cloud of Zubats, hovering around the top of the staircase; only a couple of steps down. Dropping her bag to the dusty ground, she instinctually grabbed the bottle of water from the side of the bad and half stumbled half ran back to the staircase. Unscrewing the water bottle, she emptied the contents, dowsing the colony of Zubats in liquid. Many drew back allowing October to see the scratched blue body of her Phanpy huddled in a defensive ball.
Shooing the rest of the Zubats away with croaky yells of anger, she managed to scare her way into the fray, and moving to push the exhausted Phanpy from behind. October felt her back being attacked by the Zubats, but continued to egg the Phanpy on, until the colony fluttered away into the night and the two stumbled towards the lit hut. October bent down to pick up the bag when from behind, she felt something collide with her body; sending her flying forward.
She rolled over on the ground to find Phanpy growling at a Zubat that fluttered in mid-air. "Tackle!" October croaked through cracked and bleeding lips, wincing every time Phanpy missed, plowing into the ground and whenever the Zubat successfully made a hit.
The fight carried on for some time, Phanpy putting up a good fight, getting one or two hits in before a roll of missed attacks, but as the fight went on, Phanpy who was already in a weakened state, began to become slower, missing even more and getting hit easier as the Zubat seemed not to tire out at all.
October cried out as a Supersonic attack from the Zubat left Phanpy in a daze; crashing into the ground or missing by a large margin. She crawled to her bag, trying to find something that could help, but she had not been given anything that would cure confusion. She watched helplessly as Phanpy managed to score a rather debilitating hit on the Zubat, making it falter slighty, but he still remained confused.
As a last ditch effort, October closed her hand around an item in her bag, pulling it out and tossing it towards the Zubat that tormented her Phanpy. In her luck, she had grabbed onto a PokeBall, the red and white sphere spinning through the air, hitting the Zubat on the back and absorbing it into its inner recesses. Now it was a waiting game, to see if the Zubat held fast and broke out of the ball, or was contained within it. October closed her eyes, crossing her fingers in a vain hope that a strike of luck would save them from any further conflict.