[Pokémon] Unown Lands

"We'll get right into it." Opal started her mission briefing. Trainers, rangers, and even the police stood before her at the entrance of a gloomy forest. It's quiet echoes lured in the curious. Little did the people there know just how noisy forest full of pokemon could be, especially mid day. Here it was near silence.

"Unown sightings have us concerned about the safety of both humans and pokemon in the nearby areas." Opal gestured with her hand to the general direction of the anomaly.

"Please do not engage Unown clusters. They are known to induce long lasting hallucinations when threatened. You all have communications set up so call in when you find something."

Holding her Navi close, Opal was the first to walk into the forest. Followed by the group behind her, she scanned the area as she walked at a slow pace.

Sun ray filtered through leaves and branches illuminated an otherwise shady path. Opal herself wore bright colors to contrast on her dark skin. Easy to spot, unlike the Unown.

The Navi in her hand beeped as it picked up traces of the pokemon in question. Acting a guide for the group, it would lead them ahead or at least it should have.

Opals eyes flicked toward the movement in the shadows. Beeping assured the presence of an Unown. But instead of engaging blindly she waiting. Breathing more heavily than she intended, the girl adjusted her large glasses. The particular spot she stood in as well as the position of the sun was creating an annoying glare.

The Navi beeped but the pattern slowed.

"It left. Better report." Holding up the device to her mouth as if to take a bite, she spoke softly yet the button that was normally associated with radio static wasn't working.

Quick inspection revealed the device to be out of battery. Dead.

"Wait what?" She looked desperately, hoping someone in the search team was close.

"Maybe it was a good idea to have done this in a pair after all."

Then the Navi beeped again, alive. In an instant she tried the radio again.

"Opal, electric anomaly with Navis. Over."

Anxiety traced her heels into her bones and spine. The lurching of shadows as well as the beep of her Navi intensified the building fear.

Trees and bushes grew taller in seconds, towering overhead. Branches twisted and leaves created glaring like ghastly eyes.

She hadn't felt this afraid since she was a kid. Now twenty six she'd learned how to be brave. Why had she lost it, why was this forest so scary, why did she feel so alone.

"Ah!" Screaming and holding herself while shaking, Opal knew something was deeply wrong. Yet her mind couldn't make sense of it.

Her Navi fell out of hand, startling her and sending her crawling then running when a howl pierced the air.

Opal ran blindly with her eyes full of tears. No idea where she was going, she would up chasing a light not too far from her.

"Help!" She screamed. Once her voice had left her body she realized why everything was so weirdly frightening. She was younger at most no more than five or six.

This wouldn't stop her, instead she took hold of that youthful energy which had been exhausted. With its return she found the strength to keep going.

Behind her there was a pressure like fire on her back. Darkness was there too, a hand reaching for her neck and ankles and wrists. This was just like the encounter she'd had as a child. Ghost pokemon had hurt her and now they were here again.

"Help!" She yelled again. This time she'd looked away from the goal and into the shade of trees. It seemed like night was here already.

No one was calling back. She cried and closed her eyes at the wrong second. Tripping and fumbling, Opal was launched head first and feet up. Landing on her back and having her breath squished out she panicked. Flailing her legs and arms up to swat away ghosts, the now little girl let loose her surging cries.

Then after a minute with no sensations of hands grabbing at her, she stopped. It felt cold. She shivered while peeking out from one eye. Instead of the pure dark as expected, the light was there glowing overhead.

Swirling and swaying like a dancing line of letters on stage, Unown floated as a cluster. They had a quiet vibration and as a group it resonated like a choir. It's pitch and notes picked up with its reaction to the little human beneath its glowing core.

Light and sunshine showed through its center. Opal could stop herself from reaching up to grab at it to get out of this dark forest.

Wamrth replaced the chilling cold. She still felt small and young but the fear was gone.

Around her old stonework and glyphs encircled her. An open field of tall green grass felt so calming and tranquil. The sky was blurry with colors like paint and pokemon dancing between tufts of purple and red.

"Where am I?" She asked, talking to herself. Beginning to walk away from old pillars and worn runes, Opal aimed her eyes for a pretty looking tree with a comforting shine from mushrooms planted by its roots.

"Hello?"

No reply from the tree nor the mushrooms. That was until the chirping notes of a pokemon bounced around.

An Unown A watched her as she watched it. It spun like a starmie then Opal without thinking spun I'm place.

A chirpped again then the mushrooms, pokemon, wiggled up from the ground to spin as well.

"Oh you're all those glowing mushroom fairies. Hi. Uh... do you know where we are?" Such an innocent question was treated with an unexpected fearful retreat. The pokemon started digging down and hunkering down.

Unown A chirped with warning and nudged the girl as if to push but not with enough force to do more than tap.

"Hey what's wrong? Where are you going, A?" Opal followed it.

Behind her the shadow of a hand drifted just above the dirt. It ignored the pokemon instead it inched itself over the shoe prints of the human.

"A? Hey A where did you go??" The girl wasn't walking too fast but when she noticed the hand finally ready to tap on her, she screeched while darting towards whatever trees and rocks she could to make a distance.

"I want to go home!"