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[Pokémon] A Smell of Petroleum Pervades Throughout

Adin Terim

Absolutely Insane
64
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Jul 17, 2021
See what happens if you give That Thing a lava cookie. Check to see if the Long-Range Scanner Attachment will fit on your pokedex, but you probably shouldn't use it as it said it would drain your battery.
 

Cutlerine

Gone. May or may not return.
1,030
Posts
13
Years
> try that scanner thing and scan the thing.
> See what happens if you give That Thing a lava cookie. Check to see if the Long-Range Scanner Attachment will fit on your pokedex, but you probably shouldn't use it as it said it would drain your battery.


On second thoughts, perhaps bribery would work better than parley. That Thing doesn't seem to have the intellectual capacity to understand the concept of language, but from the way he looks at you you're willing to bet he understands the concept of food.

You release him again and toss him one of your Lava Cookies. Since it's moving, he bites it, and since his mouth is nearly a foot wide, it vanishes pretty fast.

That Thing pauses. He strokes what might, were he human, pass for his chin.

If you didn't know he was about as smart as the cookie he just ate, you'd swear he was considering the flavour.

In the end, he turns his head to one side and vomits noisily. It is the most foul-smelling thing you have ever encountered, and only the certain knowledge that That Thing would eat you while you were out prevents you from passing out at the smell.

You recall him, and make a vow to never, ever do that again.

Moving to the other end of the room, you take the Long-Range Scanner Attachment out of your Bag and look it over thoroughly. It appears to consist of a little radar dish, a blue LED and a USB stick; this leads you to question whether or not it will do anything but spin around and light up if you plug it in, but this is, of course, the same world where you can create localised time aggregations in your back yard if you really want to, so you look around for something to attach it to and settle on your Pokédex.

Installing device driver software... Please wait.


Stupid Pokédex. Enough computer power to scan an animal, extrapolate its habits from its morphology and compose a dictionary entry on it within seconds – but it still takes forever to install anything.

Several minutes of foot-tapping and frustrated sighing later, the Pokédex announces it's done.

Othodox's Pokédex has been upgraded!

The Radar Mode is now available!


Based on what was in Hawkins' note, you're guessing the Radar Mode will drain the power pretty fast if you leave it on, but you'll never know what it does if you don't at least give it a try. And if it runs out of charge... well, there must be some batteries around here somewhere, anyway.

You tap the new 'Scan' icon that's appeared on the Pokédex screen; on the Scanner Attachment, the radar dish starts twirling on its stalk. An image of a Poké Ball fills the screen, and a radial line sweeps around it once. You grimace. Why scientists feel every single GUI in the world has to be Poké-Ball-themed, you will never know.

The Pokédex displays:

Results:
Two (2) Pokémon found!
One (1) Eldritch Form Chikorita found!
One (1) Eldritch Form Cyndaquil found!


You stare at the screen for a full minute before remembering to turn the radar off.

You don't know what you hoped to see, but this definitely isn't it.

> now that we know That Thing's a jerk through and through, focus on your next task; looting the rest of the houses!
> After looting the houses, look for a Pokemon center, maybe you can use their machine to heal it!


In light of your recent discovery – that there are two more terrifying monsters somewhere in New Bark Town – you elect to heal That Thing before you go out looting. You pop his ball into the healing machine and bring up the requisite program on Elm's PC; a few clicks later and the speakers play a tinny jingle, informing you that That Thing is now fully restored to fighting condition.

That Thing has 113 Hit Points!


With his oil-dripping Poké Ball in hand, you walk cautiously over to the door of the lab, ready to throw it and run at the first sign of trouble. You're really not sure That Thing will obey any orders you give him to attack, but hopefully he'll take the trouble to eat the enemy's face before he comes after yours.

New Bark Town is still as quiet as the grave. Even the omnipresent wind has died down to silence; above the town, the clouds hang motionless in the air and the turbines seem to sleep on their metal pylons. The sun shines. The waves lap.

No birds sing, and your footsteps sound very, very loud as you step onto the sandy path.

You take a deep breath – I have a demon crocodile with me, nothing can hurt me, nothing's going to eat my face – and walk on, avoiding the path and treading as softly as you can. There's a house right in front of you, but the door is around the other side (it's that blasted top-down perspective again) and you have a horrible, horrible feeling that something is waiting on the other side of it.

But there might be stuff there. Stuff you can use to survive, or bolt onto your Pokédex to upgrade it in innovative ways, or build a cunning tree disguise out of so that future eldritch abominations don't see you. Stuff you need.

So you creep on, past the exit to Route 29, and then slink quietly along down the house's wall until you reach the corner. You peer around, and—

—nothing.

You heave a massive sigh of relief. That's the first bit of luck you've had today, and man did you need it. Edging around the corner, you enter the house and give it a thorough combing-over. It's a pretty eclectic bunch of stuff you come away with, but you feel that most of it could probably either be used as a hold item or to make some kind of Dadaist weapon.

Othodox found one Gaffer Tape! Othodox put the Gaffer Tape in the Adhesives Pocket.

Othodox found one Potion! Othodox put the Potion in the Medicine Pocket.

Othodox found one Toy Giraffe! Othodox put the Toy Giraffe in the Adorable Pocket.

Othodox found one Togepi Egg Shard! Othodox put the Togepi Egg Shard in the Bits o' Egg Pocket.


What is with these bits of Togepi Egg all over the place? Surely they can't be part of some gigantic item collection quest, wherein you gather a certain number of them and then obtain Ridiculously Vast Power of some kind? That would surely be stupid.

Far too stupid.

And the Narrator would never have highlighted the possibility like that if it were true, because let's face it, if there's anyone here who actually wants to see you end up lying in a ditch with your face ripped off, it's him.

Shaking your head, you walk out of the house and straight into a pillar of smoke and fire.

Wait.

Oh crap oh crap oh crap—

You leap backwards through the door, and a waist-high something barrels through after you, its humped back trailing gouts of black smoke and unnatural green flame.

A momentary warmth engulfs your lower regions.

Withered claws, scorched fur; seared skin, blistered lips; a stubby blunt tail and a bone blade of a head, all hunched up beneath a roaring, raging emerald inferno and bearing down on you like a charging bull. The stench of crude oil and burning plastic fills your nose, burning your throat, and you gag as you fling yourself out of the monster's way, coming to rest under the table just as it crashes loudly into the far wall.

Flames fan out from the point of impact like ripples around a stone in water, racing with supernatural speed across the wall. You look on with horror, and estimate that there can only be a few minutes before the whole house goes up – something that, frankly, you'd rather watch from outside. Crawling out from under the table, you're about to sprint for the door when a fearsome gurrk sounds behind you.

Something tells you to get to one side.

Now.

A deft side-step and the beast is past you in a blur of green and black. It collides with the remnants of the door and the wood gives way spectacularly, catapulting flaming debris everywhere in glittering arcs and instantly creating a six-foot wall of flame between you and the exit. You skid to a halt, staring at the blaze and swearing violently, and are about to look around for another way out when something else catches your eye.

There's a shadow on the other side of the fire, and it's getting closer, and—

The monster bursts through the flames and stops short in front of you, crouching low and raising that skinless head in a roar that blows the glass out of the TV. Flecks of boiling saliva pepper your face and clothes, singeing a hundred little holes in the fabric, and a dry reek of petrol floods your sinuses.

For a moment, all you can do is stare. Did this thing plan this? Did it deliberately try and trap you here within the flames so it could finish you at its leisure?

Then the monster lowers its head, the flames on its back leaping still higher, and you put the matter from your mind. Right now, you've got other things to worry about.

Like how the hell you're going to get out of this one alive.
 

Adin Terim

Absolutely Insane
64
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Jul 17, 2021
If That Thing won't cooperate then douse the eldritch cyndaquil with your Half a Cup of Cold Coffee, if That Thing will then try and beat the monster till it is in a state where you can catch it.
 
10,173
Posts
17
Years
  • Age 37
  • Seen yesterday
Use That Thing in battle, and then run a distance away to see if escape from these horrors is possible.
 

destinedjagold

You can contact me in PC's discord server...
8,593
Posts
16
Years
  • Age 33
  • Seen Dec 23, 2023
Hold your breath, and get the hell outta there. If the door is blocked by debris or whatever, then there has to be windows, right? I mean, it's a house! What kind of a house has no windows?
 

Cutlerine

Gone. May or may not return.
1,030
Posts
13
Years
> so the eldritch cyndaquil appears.... That Thing, I choose YOU!!
> Try and get That Thing to extinguish the flames. He is a Totodile, after all. If he won't do that, hope he'll battle Eldritch Cyndaquil, rather than eat your face?
> If That Thing won't cooperate then douse the eldritch cyndaquil with your Half a Cup of Cold Coffee, if That Thing will then try and beat the monster till it is in a state where you can catch it.


Abruptly, you remember the Poké Ball in your hand. It may be about forty percent oil by now, but it's still got That Thing in it – and for that reason it's the best thing you can think of to hurl at the beast before you. You assume that the monster is the Eldritch Cyndaquil, which might give That Thing an advantage, but you also remember he doesn't know any Water-type moves. Still, you're really running out of options here, so you throw down the ball and That Thing appears in a burst of sickly light. It looks like the corrosion is starting to spread through the release mechanism.

Both monsters freeze. That Thing glances at the Eldritch Cyndaquil, then at you. Some ponderous thought is making its slow way through his head. You have no idea what it is, but you really, really hope it isn't 'which of these is easier to eat?'

The Cyndaquil snaps out of it first.

It brings its head up like an axe, swinging the bony jag at its tip straight into That Thing's neck; the Totodile roars in pain and rips himself free, staggering back a step and swinging his massive tail wildly. You take the opportunity to retreat a few steps, huddling down under the table and hoping that both monsters will forget about you until one or the other is dead. In an ideal world, this would happen before you passed out from smoke inhalation and burned to death, but right now you're willing to sacrifice a good deal to see one of these abominations finally destroyed.

That Thing has 100 Hit Points!

That Thing goes for the old favourite next, the face chomp; his huge teeth skitter across the exposed bone of the Cyndaquil's head without purchase, and the smaller Pokémon lets loose an unearthly chittering that sounds horribly like laughter. It looks like the attempt to chew its face has brought That Thing's face far too close to the smoking polyps on the Cyndaquil's back—

A sudden burst of flame engulfs the upper half of That Thing's head, and the smell of burning fish mingles with that of petrol and plastic; he screams, a horrible long loud sound that makes your ears bleed and your eyes water, and pulls away hurriedly, molten grey sludge pouring from beneath the folds and flaps of flesh that conceal his eyes.

Jesus Christ.

The Cyndaquil melted his goddamn eyes.

That Thing drops to all fours, trying to put as much distance between himself and the Cyndaquil as he possibly can; he seems as scared as you are, wailing piteously as the other monster stalks towards him. His limbs apparently aren't doing what he wants them to; his legs keep sliding out from underneath him, and his tail waves from side to side, smashing holes in the walls and floor in blind panic.

That Thing has 88 Hit Points!

For the first time, you take the time to look at the Cyndaquil properly, and you realise with a terrible sinking feeling that it isn't Level 5.

It's Level 10, and you find yourself wondering how much experience an Eldritch Chikorita would give you.

You suspect it would be an awful lot.

That Thing blunders straight into the flames and recoils sharply, screaming again; he might be a Water-type, but water can be boiled – and judging by the grey-green steam hissing out of the holes in his head and neck, that's what's happening inside him right now. As he staggers back, moaning and thrashing in agony, the Cyndaquil is suddenly behind him, burying its head in his flank and wrenching hard—

You close your eyes and look aside as the Totodile shrieks. You've seen enough to know that there's no way That Thing can win this. All you can do now is run while the Cyndaquil's distracted.

That Thing has 29 Hit Points!

> Use That Thing in battle, and then run a distance away to see if escape from these horrors is possible.
> Hold your breath, and get the hell outta there. If the door is blocked by debris or whatever, then there has to be windows, right? I mean, it's a house! What kind of a house has no windows?


You turn around and crawl out from under the table, on the other side. A brief glance around the room reveals a couple of windows, one of which that looks like it's in the process of being melted by the unnatural heat of the green fires. The other seems to have shattered with one or other of the screams and roars the two Pokémon behind you have produced, and looks mostly clear.

You run towards it and don't look back.

As soon as you straighten up, smoke engulfs your head, sending questing tendrils to reach down your throat and choke you; you hold your breath and move on.

Something slaps wetly against the floor, and That Thing gives a weak moan, but you don't look back.

You're by the broken window, and glass crunches beneath your feet, slicing through your shoeless right foot; the smoke whirls dizzily and the flames crackle hungrily and something is chewing behind you but you refuse to look back.

And up, and your hands are cut to ribbons by bits of glass and the smoke is pouring past you in nauseating waves and That Thing is still crying out even as the chewing continues but there is no way, no way in hell that you are looking back.

And then it's over. You're standing outside the house, by the main path. Smoke is pouring from the windows, and all you can hear is the devouring hiss and snap of flames as they and their master feast inside.

Othodox is Slightly Wounded!


To the north is Elm's Pokémon lab.

To the south is a Flaming Townhouse.

To the east is another house, and the sea.

To the west is the exit to Route 29.

There is a signpost here.

There is a partially-devoured corpse here.
 
Last edited:
38
Posts
11
Years
Run! Run like to he nearestt PC, withdrawour pokemon, and witcdraw your strongest pokemon! Or else you'll die!
 

TheRkyeet

Member of the GGs
80
Posts
13
Years
Well, you'll need a pokemon centre to withdraw pokemon from, so I suggest first reading the signpost, and then going towards the sea, and the other house. You probably can't swim, but there'll definitely be something interesting in the house. Also, what's with the partially-devoured corpse?
 

Cutlerine

Gone. May or may not return.
1,030
Posts
13
Years
> Run! Run like to he nearestt PC, withdrawour pokemon, and witcdraw your strongest pokemon! Or else you'll die!
> Well, you'll need a pokemon centre to withdraw pokemon from, so I suggest first reading the signpost, and then going towards the sea, and the other house. You probably can't swim, but there'll definitely be something interesting in the house. Also, what's with the partially-devoured corpse?


You really didn't need to be told to run.

You are limping away from that house as fast as you possibly can, leaving half a set of bloody footprints in the grass and wholly focused on getting the hell away from the monster in the house behind you. It is the single most terrifying thing you have ever seen in your entire life, and you were there when the red Gyarados went on the rampage at the Lake of Rage. That Thing is quite big, so it might take it a while to eat it, but taking risks with the Cyndaquil is the very last thing you want to do right now.

If the voices in your head had been paying more attention, they would have noticed that there is a connection to the Box network nearby – in Professor Elm's lab, no less. His work naturally demands that he be able to transfer Pokémon around the nation, since he is engaged in Vital Research (or was, before he and everyone else here disappeared).

As this fact comes back into your head, you pause and grin. Oh yes. Screw running. You can just waltz over to the PC, grab Chompy et al and come on back for some vengeance. It might be able to take down That Thing, but you'd love to see the Eldritch Cyndaquil take on six of Johto's finest at full strength.

You positively swagger back into Elm's lab, and stride down the aisle with an air of supreme confidence. This is only slightly dented by the visible blanching of your face as you pass the puddle of vomit, and you reach the PC with your features carefully rearranged into an expression of calm power. (You learned that one from Lance. Honestly. Give a man a handful of dragons and he thinks he's God's gift to the world.)

Dropping comfortably into Elm's seat, you thumb the power button and wait for the computer to boot up. It takes a moment, but soon enough—

Access to Laboratory Boxes restricted.
Username:
Password:


Aw, crap.

You stare at the screen, unable to quite believe the extent of the Narrator's malicious nature. Seriously? He put you through hell, he got your only Pokémon eaten alive, he let you come all this way with such high hopes, and now...?

You slump in the chair, head hung. No Pokémon. It looks like you're on your own.

Well, all right. You took out That Thing on your own, didn't you? And sure, he was weaker than the Cyndaquil, but still. You weren't even expecting any eldritch abominations when he turned up, and you managed.

You may well have a chance, if you play your cards right.

And so far, 'playing your cards right' has meant examining and looting absolutely everything, so doing that seems to be a pretty good idea.

You head back out of the lab and investigate that signpost. It reads, as it always has:

NEW BARK TOWN
PH'NGLUI MGLW'NAFH CTHULHU R'LYEH WGAH'NAGL FHTAGN​

Wait, what?

You blink, and read it again.

NEW BARK TOWN
THE TOWN WHERE WINDS OF A NEW BEGINNING BLOW​

Huh. You must have imagined it.

Next up, you investigate the corpse. It's just about as near to the Flaming Townhouse as you care to go, and it looks like it was mutated, burned and eaten, not necessarily in that order. It also looks like, underneath all that, it was once something more recognisable.

Looks like you found the Eldritch Chikorita. No prizes for guessing who got to it first.

The Cyndaquil must have killed it while you were in the house looting things. You wonder why you didn't hear it, and decide it must have been at the point that you were trying to tip over the refrigerator to see if there was anything behind it. There wasn't, but it did make a good noise.

Actually, now you think about it, that noise was probably what attracted the Cyndaquil's attention. You resolve to loot more stealthily from now on. No less enthusiastically – but definitely a bit more sensibly.

You creep quietly east to the bay, squeezing an uncomfortable amount of blood from your foot as you do so, and investigate to see if there's anything worth taking here. Everything looks pretty much as it normally does: cliffs, trees, sea. There's not much of interest here, but you do decide to pause and pull the shards of glass out of your foot and hands.

Othodox found some Glass Shards! Othodox put the Glass Shards in the Items Pocket.

Othodox is Slightly Wounded and Losing Blood!


Ouch. It feels better, but you aren't exactly in tip-top condition right now. You wish you'd thought to get your shoe back from That Thing before sending him to his death. Although how willing he would have been to relinquish it is a matter of some conjecture.

You consider swimming across the channel to Kanto, then dismiss the idea as stupid. You aren't a strong swimmer, and the waves here are powerful; you have no desire to be smashed into a cliff, knocked out and drowned. It sounds like a more comfortable death than being burned and eaten alive, as has befallen the Eldritch Cyndaquil's last two victims, but at least in New Bark you're only In Direst Peril, while in the sea you would probably be Facing Certain Death.

There remains only one place in town that you haven't checked yet: the house south of your own. Given what happened last time you entered a house, you're a little wary about going in, but you don't seem to have many other options, and leaving any location unlooted is unthinkable. You've never really done much looting before, beyond rummaging through people's trash (and let's face it, that's so much less glamorous that it doesn't even deserve to be called looting) and you're quite enjoying being able to walk into people's houses and steal everything that isn't nailed down.

You enter the house in a state of excited trepidation and take a swift, silent tour of its valuables.

Othodox found one Bulging Wallet! Othodox put the Bulging Wallet in the Financial Pocket.

Othodox found some Lava Cookies! Othodox put the Lava Cookies in the Medicine Pocket.

Othodox found one Rare Bone! Othodox put the Rare Bone in the Items Pocket.

Othodox found one Packet of Sticking Plasters! Othodox put the Packet of Sticking Plasters in the Medicine Pocket.


Where did all these extra pockets on your Bag come from, again? The damn thing looks like a bunch of balloons with all of them attached like that.
 

Adin Terim

Absolutely Insane
64
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Jul 17, 2021
You should probably look at your still bleeding foot, try washing it out with some of the potion. Try ripping the Toy Giraffe apart so you can bandage your wound and then use the Graffer Tape to tape it to your foot. Hopefully that will act as a shoe replacement.
 

Cutlerine

Gone. May or may not return.
1,030
Posts
13
Years
> Eat a lava cookie and use the plasters. You don't want to lose too much blood. Look in the wallet too. Money is good.
> You should probably look at your still bleeding foot, try washing it out with some of the potion. Try ripping the Toy Giraffe apart so you can bandage your wound and then use the Graffer Tape to tape it to your foot. Hopefully that will act as a shoe replacement.


So far this morning you have woken to an empty world, taken a footful of broken glass, and fought with unmentionable horrors – twice. It is most definitely time for breakfast.

You eat a Lava Cookie and ponder, in an absent sort of way, why That Thing threw up when he ate it. I mean, it's delicious. Presumably he can only digest meat. Or could only digest meat, since right now you're fairly sure he can no longer digest anything at all.

That done, you wash out your wounds with the Potion – which burns like tequila and seems to peel off three layers of dead skin, leaving your hands and foot cleaner than they have ever been in your life – and stick plasters haphazardly over your wounds until they're more or less covered.

Othodox is Slightly Wounded and Mostly Not Bleeding!

Man, you are such an excellent surgeon.

Next, you turn your attention to your lack of a right shoe. Time to put some of those items you looted to good use.

You wrap a short length of your Gaffer Tape around the larger end of a particularly dangerous-looking Glass Shard, then cut open the Toy Giraffe and insert your foot into it. You then tape it up again and stand up hesitantly.

Amazingly, it seems to work.

Othodox crafted one Dangerous Makeshift Knife! Othodox put the Dangerous Makeshift Knife in the Weapons Pocket.

Othodox crafted one Novelty Giraffe Shoe! Othodox put the Novelty Giraffe Shoe on his foot.


You take an experimental step. Your right foot is now slightly higher up than your left, but it's a hell of a lot better than it was five minutes ago.

You feel like Thomas Edison.
 

destinedjagold

You can contact me in PC's discord server...
8,593
Posts
16
Years
  • Age 33
  • Seen Dec 23, 2023
Well, you've wasted enough time there already, so head to Cherrygrove City, but grab something to defend yourself...just in case.
 

Khawill

<3
1,567
Posts
11
Years
Realize that the cyndaquil is now stronger because he beat both other Pokemon, realize that he is probably still hungry (and you are the only food), and finally feel guilty for making That Thing throw up his last meal, before becoming a meal.
 

Cutlerine

Gone. May or may not return.
1,030
Posts
13
Years
> Realize that the cyndaquil is now stronger because he beat both other Pokemon, realize that he is probably still hungry (and you are the only food), and finally feel guilty for making That Thing throw up his last meal, before becoming a meal.

This had actually occurred to you before. The Cyndaquil is obviously smarter than the others, as evidenced by its ability to formulate complex plans and laugh evilly at the pain of its opponent, and it also seems to be a pit of ravening hunger, since it still had room for an eight-foot crocodile after eating most of a herbaceous dinosaur. In addition, the Chikorita must have given it enough experience to rise to Level 10, which means that That Thing will have given it even more experience, and it must now be close to (if not actually at) evolution point.

There is also nothing edible left in town except for you.

If you could feel more terrified, you would.

There's the guilt, too. You've never sent anything or anyone to their death before, and even though That Thing was an unmentionable horror from beyond the realms of normal reality, you do feel a little bad for turning him into psycho hedgehog food.

For about ten seconds, anyway. I mean, it was probably for the best. He was uncontrollable, bad-tempered and made no secret of his eventual plans to tear your face off and eat your innards. You honestly don't miss him a bit, except as a useful shield to place between yourself and oncoming monsters.

> Well, you've wasted enough time there already, so head to Cherrygrove City, but grab something to defend yourself...just in case.

You've spent several hours here and your life is rapidly going from bad to worse; there's a terrifying monster after you, everyone has disappeared, you have no Pokémon and your grip on reality seems to be loosening by the second.

It is most definitely time to leave town.

You creep cautiously past the Flaming Townhouse, and, feeling nervous, pull your Dangerous Makeshift Knife out of your Bag as you do so. You'll probably get killed before you manage to even scratch the Cyndaquil, but it makes you feel a little less defenceless.

You reach the path that leads out onto Route 29 and, with one last, lingering look at your hometown, leave.

After all, there isn't much time for sentimentality when home is full of monsters.

> run (or limp) to Cherrygrove, and try and recall your pokemon.

Route 29 looks as it always does: verdant pastures; broad, sloping hills; tiny, unexpected cliffs; and gently-waving fields of tall grass.

Ah. The tall grass.

You stare at it for a while. If New Bark Town was so dangerous, and the tall grass is where monsters are meant to live... what the hell might be lurking in there?

For a moment, all you can do is think of hordes of Eldritch Rattatta swarming over your still-screaming body – and then you glance back, and see the green flames leap to the next house with a gleeful crackle. Whatever is in the grass, it can't possibly be as bad as what's back there, waiting in the burning shell of New Bark.

And anyway, soon it will finish eating That Thing, and search for more food.

Which means that it will be leaving town for Route 29.

You don't want to be here when that happens, so you steel yourself, grip your Dangerous Makeshift Knife so hard you almost cut yourself, and plough on through the tall grass.

Whether it's because you still smell of blood, petrol and burning plastic or simply because you're wielding a knife, nothing immediately attacks you, and as you head south down the winding trail that will eventually take you to Cherrygrove and the amenities of a Pokémon Centre it becomes apparent that there is very little life around. The birds are as silent here as they were in New Bark Town, and there's no rustling to indicate the passage of Sentret or fieldmice. Perhaps the weaker Pokémon and the animals have disappeared like all the humans apparently have – or perhaps they've fled, afraid of whatever horrendous evil has fallen over the region.

You're not actually sure which explanation is less terrifying, so you elect to ignore both and hope for the best.

> Look for berries on route 29

You know there's a Berry Tree near the Cherrygrove exit of the Route. Or is it an Apricorn Tree? You can never quite remember. Either way, it's lootable, so you make a mental note to stop by and pick some fruit when you pass by.

You reach the end of the first grassy patch and turn right; now you breathe easier, knowing that on this plain of short grass, you'll be able to see anything coming at you. Just ahead of you is where Tuscany used to stand, by that tree over there. She gave out Pink Bows, you remember, until they stopped making them and she resorted to TwistedSpoons instead. What did she do on the other days of the week, anyway? Perhaps she had a job.

You feel melancholy, and somewhat philosophical. There is so much about the people here that you did not know, and never will now.

North again, up the hill, and now there's a choice between more long grass and a skinny tree. Since core gameplay mechanics appear to have become somewhat skewed of late, you attempt to squeeze past the tree and are surprised at your success.

Take that, HM01.

To the north is the gatehouse leading to Route 46.

To the south is the way back to New Bark Town.

To the west is the path to Cherrygrove City.

To the east is a fearsome and unearthly howl of hunger.
 
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