That night, Play lay in his bed, the window slightly open allowing a cool, steady breeze of cold air to gust into the room. To be blunt, he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this..empty. He'd failed to stop his best friend being taken away, and then, he'd been forced to watch his other best friend cry in front of him as a result of this. He liked to think than in times like these, he'd honestly forgotten that he was only ten years old. Ten years of age on this earth, and he felt like he'd already encountered enough to last him eighty.
"Is this really what being a Pokemon trainer is all about?" He thought over and over, the words swarming around the landscape of his mind like flies.
"Is this even worth it?" Play had even thought about crying once, but alas, the tears did not come. He legitimately felt like there were no tears left to cry in his head. Nothing to say, because it had already happened right in front of him. It had already happened and there was nothing he could do about it. But eventually, after taking deep breaths, the cold air wafting into his face and lungs, Play did manage to slowly fall asleep. But what didn't help, was the strangest dream that he'd ever had in his life. He'd started walking along a grass road, there was laughter and happiness beside him. Looking to his left and right, he saw his two best friends. Jake and Tess. All of a sudden, Tess and Jake ran ahead, both laughing.
"Come on play!" Tess giggled.
"Try and catch us." Jake chuckled. The reality of his dream not sinking in yet, Play grinned before running forward after them. Only, a split second later, the entire landscape changed. Instead of lively and bright, the grass road turned into a dark and creepy wooden road. Up ahead of them, was a giant, black manor, all the lights in the house having been turned off. Up ahead of him, Jake and Tess were no longer running, instead they had turned into ghosts. The bottom halves of their body simply being cloudy whisps. They turned around in shock and horror until they were facing Play.
"Play!" They said uncertainly in unison. "Help us! PLEASE!"
Play jolted awake with a start. What a deranged dream. Looking around, his room was still dark, although it was freezing. The window being left open up until now was beginning to show off it's negatives. He couldn't get the ghostly figures of his two friends out of his head. But something else was troubling him, a long, forgotten memory that for some reason, hadn't bothered him until now. It had been in the back of his mind since it happened. However, it was sort of a dormant memory, just waiting for the terrors of it's contents to be re-released back into his subconscious.
"Fortulose Manor." Play whispered in the dark, his voice shaky and unsteady.
Out of all the places to be that night, one of the places Play wasn't expecting to be was Route 9. Where he and Jake had battled in front of Tess, causing Play to then battle Tess. He'd beaten both of them, but in truth, he felt guilty for beating Jake. After all this time, he'd realised that he was simply trying to impress his crush. Why he hadn't made it look like Jake should win was only a guess. The huge tree in the middle of the forest where Xerneas had supposedly transformed into made itself known in front of him. Play's got goosebumps from looking at it, maybe it was the cold, but now, looking at it gave him a weird feeling. Nostalgia maybe? Anyhow, after making a few turns, Play walked up to a place right out of a nightmare. The connection that normally connected route 9 to route 10. Walking inside, his entire body started to shake.
"No way." He thought. Just like his memory told him, there was no smiling woman there. In fact, there was no one there. Eery. Play looked ahead of him, a pair of glass doors stood right in front of him. He knew deep down that he honestly didn't want to see what was on the other side, but for the sake of his peace of mind. He had to know. He just had to.
"Now or Never." He told himself. With a shaky step, he passed through the glass doors until he passed through the other side into the chilling air. Just up ahead of him..was..was..of course it was. Fortulose Manor stood as terrifyingly as it had before. It's high, brick structure standing out in the almost purpley red air. It's purple roofing standing marvellously as a dying tree was planted to it's right. Play knew that after what had happened last time, he didn't want to go back there, but his feet had already made up their mind. He walked, walked up to the manor, his breath in the very early morning coming out as vapour. Each step he took, the manor slowly grew bigger in his vision, and more imposing. Until, his foot made contact with the soft wood of the front deck. The next step was opening the door. Play's hand shakily reached out until it rested on the door knob.
"In Three seconds I'm going to waltz on right in." He thought. "3....2........and.......1!" With a sudden burst of movement, Play opened the door. And inside was exactly the same as he'd remembered it. The ripped red carpet stood out on the floor, the same as the tattered walls, wallpaper long gone from where it once was. The candles were even still burning. But Something was bothering him, at the far end of the room on the wall, was something strange. Play took a step forward, surprised that he didn't fall through the floor or a Dusksull jumped out of nowhere to chase him. Now confident, Play took a few more steps forward. Behind him, the door stood open a crack, Play made sure not to close the door. He simply didn't want to risk it. But he continued onwards, this blue thing had peaked his interest. Slowly, Play made his way over until he was standing directly opposite it. It was on a wall just right of the staircase. Turns out it was spray paint. Graffiti of sorts. It was light blue spray paint in that of a circle. About half a meter wide in diameter. There were simply two letters in the middle of the circle. 'LB'.
Surprisingly to Play, nothing else even slightly creepy or paranormal happened during the rest of his time at Fortulose Manor. So much so that he'd decided to cut his trip early and head back on the Anthian Sky-Bus to collect his belongings. In truth however, as Play stood in his room in the Anthian Living district, gathering his belongings, there was still one piece left to his forgotten memory puzzle that still had yet to make sense to him. The Mysterious boy that he'd seen who'd taken Rotom for himself. Like the rest of his first visit to Fortulose Manor, his appearance had been a blur. But Play remembered this; He was on the shorter side, he was wearing a black cloak and a mask, and that was it. And then his mind turned to the LB that he'd seen. Which definitely had not been there the first time, he would've remembered it otherwise. Maybe he'd meet this strange person one day. Only time would tell. Soon enough, Play gathered up all his belongings, pokeballs and all and headed for the Anthian Sky bus. Looking behind himself at the equally lively lights that had been there when he first arrived.
"So much has changed." He whispered. Missing the time when he, Tess and Jake first arrived, content and free. He missed that time, now feeling as though he'd taken it for granted. Eventually, the Sky-Bus arrived and Play was taken to Craganos peak, the journey flying back at Ninjask speed. When he landed, on the rocky mountain, Play noticed a yellow building not too far away from the Sky-Bus. He had either been to excited to visit Anthian to notice it, or it had been built super quick. Either way, Play walked up to the short, white doors before walking inside. Immediately, he was hit with the smell of trains, and this and than. To his right, was a woman wearing a pink shirt sat at a desk. Directly in front of him was a set of stairs.
"Here for the Sky-Bus love?" The woman asked politely.
"Mhm." Play responded, his voice far too quiet. He walked up the set of stairs, and on his right, was the train alright. A tall man in grey hair stood in front of the small white train carriage, it was hooked on a metal line of sorts.
"Can I get to Route 11 from here?" Play asked the man.
"You sure can." The man said, his face twitching slightly. "May I see your train pass first please?" Play dug into his pocket and showed the man his pass.
"All aboard." He announced with a smile. The journey on the Sky-Train was also pretty uneventful, it was quicker than he expected, but every twenty seconds or so, the carriage would jolt slightly, ruining his attempts to relax. But soon enough, the train came to a stop, and for some reason, he could hear a faint roaring sound in his ears, coming from outside the train. Play stood up and stepped off, a similarly tall man standing on the outisde.
"Is this Route 11." Play asked.
"You bet." The man replied with a grin. "Say, you don't look the slightest bit prepared for Aredia's weather. You sure you don't wanna run home kid?"
"No thanks." He said quietly. And moving down the stairs, Play was shocked to see a vicious sandstorm raging out from where he was standing.
"Uhh." He thought.
"Say, you don't look the slightest bit prepared for Aredia's weather." The old man's words made sense now. Play looked to his right to see a young man with jet black hair sitting at a desk.
"Do you have like anything I could use for the weather?" He asked, crossing his fingers behind his back.
"This always happens." The man murmured, before he ducked behind his desk before bringing out a blue quilt.
"Here you go." He said, tossing it to Play.
"Thanks."
Play, having wrapped the quilt around his face to the point where he wouldn't have looked out of place in a street gang. The sand was a whole other story. To begin with, for a ten year old of average build, it was nearly impossible. Thanks to his quilt, the sand didn't get into his ears, nose or mouth, but it stung his eyes like crazy. In fact, the air was so strong that he could honestly lean his entire body forward and moonwalk and not fall over. Everywhere around him was just blowing sand. His entire vision was just yellow sand. His feet vaguely stepped over loose rocks, pieces of rubble and of course, more and more sand. After about twenty minutes of just walking aimlessly, a horrible thought crossed Play's mind.
"What If I get lost out here." He thought. "And can't find my way anywhere and starve to death." This thought process immediately threw Play into a state of panic, the sand suddenly became claustrophobic, tearing and clawing at his face and mind. He felt like he couldn't see where he was going to an even higher degree. Soon enough, just in front of him, he could make out a structure, a large, brown object in the distance.
"It's at least something." He thought. Play rushed over to the brown structure, and placing his hand on it, discovered that it was a giant Rock of sorts. And even better, there was a path leading upwards. Holding his hands in front of him, Play managed to feel his way up the path and even better, the sand got less intense. He could finally hear himself think again. Atop the rock, was just even more sand. Only, he could actually see more than three feet in front of him. Before he could properly think about that though, he felt someone approaching him from the right.
"Hey, what are you do-." The trainer looked at Play, at first enthusiastic, their Graveller standing at their side, but then he looked scared.
"Sorry." He said, raising his hands and backing up. Play at first thought he had mutated into a sand demon, but then he remembered the quilt around his head, looking like a balaclava.
"As you were." Play muttered, walking ahead, leaving the trainer behind. Luckily now, the sand had calmed down seemingly out of nowhere. He could even see the sun in the sky, the early morning blaze beating down on his back. All of a sudden, the quilt felt unnecessary, he didn't want to frighten any more innocent trainers. Play tore the quilt of his face, instead wrapping it around his waist. But feeling like he needed some directions, looked around for people. Surprisingly, there was a decent amount of people stood around in the sand, all accompanying them. Maybe they'd been there all along, and he hadn't noticed because of the sand.
"Hey!" Play asked a woman bending down to fix something in the sand. "How far away is Aredia City!" The woman looked up, a happy smile on her face.
"Oh, it's only about half a mile from here." She said. "Just keep walking in a straight line, you should find the connection eventually." Play nodded his head and was about to carry on when the woman called after him.
"Would you battle me real quick." She asked, in a pleading tone. "It'll be really quick." Play sighed, his anger boiling slightly.
"No." He thought. "I don't have any time to waste."
"Okay." He said out loud, reaching down for a Pokèball. He threw Empoleon's ball out as it landed in the sand, issuing a slight squawk from it's mouth. Play was at first confused to see where the woman's Pokemon was, but then the thing she had been fixing in the sand became obvious. A Pallosand, the same height as Play rose from the ground, it's body was wider than it was tall.
"Let's start Pallosand." The woman said. "Earth Power!" The sand castle leaned forward, slight cracks appearing in the ground, Empoleon noticed what was happening and quickly moved out of the way, a geyser of energy bursting from the ground, where it had been standing seconds ago.
"Steel wing!" Play called. Empoleon rushed forward, striking Pallosand with a volley of powerful steel wings, each hit cleaving into it's body. But, to no avail, Pallosand shook slightly, and in a moment, the nearby sand combined with it's body, and the cracks were repaired easily.
"You gotta be kidding me." Play thought. Pallosand then reared back and fired a giga drain. The attack hit Empoleon in the chest, and despite not being very effective, drained Empoleon slightly and powered up Pallosand. The ground type then followed up with a shadow ball. Luckily, the emperor penguin was able to raise it's wing just in time, cleaving the ball in half. But now, it was the water type's time to act. When Pallosand attacked next, Empoleon simply stood still, it's body being overtaken in a faint white aura. The ground type attacked, twice the attacks simply being absorbed.
"Now Empoleon!" Play called. Empoleon formed a white ball in it's beak as it readied itself to fire.
"Works every time." He thought. The bide tore up the ground and hit Pallosand dead on. Needless to say, there wasn't as much sand there as there had been before. Play thanked the woman for the battle before walking forwards. Play then continued on his way, trudging ankle deep through the sand. He counted in his head his steps to pass the time, meanwhile wishing that with every passing moment, the connection would appear in the distance, and he could enter Aredia City. Soon enough however, it appeared in the distance and Play broke into a jog, excited. Eventually, he reached the connection and upon entering, breathed a sigh of relief, happy to be free of all the sand. And then, he passed through the other side. And, even he was taken off guard. Aredia City was beautiful, the ground was nice and firm. The buildings that surrounded him even seemed to be carved from sandstone. There were gentle, streams of people walking up and down the road, a man even sat in the corner, singing a folk song. And ahead of him, in the town square, he could just barely make out the round shape of a sleeping Snorlax.
"Wow." Play thought.