Cheshma Town, Roria
Upon arriving at Cheshma Town, Donald immediately went to the Loomian Trainer Station. He placed all five Capture Discs on the Loomian Resting Machine to allow them to fully recover. As he was about to leave, he paused.
I'm almost out of Capture Discs, and I might encounter a Loomian in the Gale Forest that I'd want on my team.
Each Capture Disc was 200 LoomiCoins. Donald bought five more Capture Discs before leaving.
Eaglit tugged at Donald's pants leg and whined.
"What's wrong?" Donald asked.
Weevolt squealed and was also in a bothered mood.
Donald's stomach growled. We were training for a while, so they're definitely hungry. "Let's stop by a restaurant before we go to the Gale Forest."
Even after earning enough money from the Union to afford three meals a day, Donald sometimes forgot to eat. He would sometimes be so engrossed in his work that he would ignore his hunger until the gnawing at his stomach became very noticeable. After meeting Kingsley, the latter would make sure Donald ate at least twice a day, although he preferred Donald to eat three times a day.
Donald bought some Loomian Food for his team, and he settled with a ham and cheese sandwich for himself.
"I promise, I'm not making any of this up! The Loomians, I saw them with my own eyes. They were possessed by an evil spirit."
Donald, not having anything else to do, turned to the direction of the commotion. An old man was speaking with two police officers.
"They attacked me with incredible strength. The aura it gave off was dark and chilling. Something has definitely disturbed the souls of this forest."
The only forest nearby is the Gale Forest. Donald thought, Doug said the tablet piece is in the Gale Forest and this old man's claiming that something's off with the Loomians' behavior. It's not a coincidence.
"What you're saying is absurd." The male police officer said, "There are no evil wild Loomians in these woods."
"He's right," the female police officer added, "these woods have always been watched over by a Guardian Spirit."
"I've lived in the Gale Forest for many years, and I'm telling you, I have never seen anything like this. I believe Duskit, the Guardian Spirit of these woods, may be a key element in the local Loomians' change of behavior."
Duskit? Donald typed the Loomian's name into his LoomiWatch's Loomipedia.
#253 - Duskit (Guardian Spirit Loomian)
Spirit/Mind-Type
The people of Cheshma Town tell legends of Duskit protecting the surrounding area from disaster throughout history.
"Nonsense, the Guardian Spirit is a protector of the woods," the male officer said.
"Sir, your claims simply do not make any sense."
"Fine then, don't listen to me." The old man was frustrated with the cops. "I know something has disturbed our sacred forest, and I will get to the bottom of this myself if I have to."
The two police officers left.
Once his team finished eating, Donald walked over to the old man. "I'd like to know more about these strange things occurring in the Gale Forest."
"Starting a few days ago, the Loomians started acting strangely," the old man explained, "and it was only a couple hours ago that they started becoming even more violent and disturbing. Duskit has protected these woods for centuries, and in all the times I've visited it, it's always been gentle. Its behavior was completely different when I visited it this morning. Since you look like a Loomian Trainer, would you mind investigating this matter a little more for me? I would go myself, but I'm defenseless and cannot withstand another attack. Maybe having two eyewitnesses will convince the law to take this more seriously."
So the cops are useless even in this universe.
"Where can I find Duskit?" Donald asked.
"Duskit usually resides in a grove deep in the woods under a flowering tree." The old man told him, "It's the place where, a month ago, a young boy was found in a very bad state."
Donald didn't mention to the old man that he was the boy that had been found there. "I'll go ahead and investigate, then."
Donald, with his Loomians by his side, entered the Gale Forest.
~Donald Na: A Hero's Journey~
Gale Forest, Roria
There was a bit more variety to the Loomians living in the Gale Forest compared to Route 1. The Gale Forest had Cathorn, Grubby, Propae, Coonucopia, Pyder, Antsee, and Twittle.
They all began attacking Donald on sight. Donald sent out all of his Loomians to fight at once to clear a path. Fortunately for Donald, the training in Route 1 paid off, and his Loomians defeated the wild Loomians swiftly and with ease.
This must be what the old man meant when he said the Loomians were becoming much more violent lately.
Unfortunately for Donald, Weevolt ended up falling asleep during a battle against an Antsee due to Antsee's Mystery Toxins. Donald called Weevolt back, and he sent out Twittle to finish the battle.
Donald attempted to wake Weevolt up by shaking him, but Weevolt remained asleep.
Donald was now down to four Loomians able to fight.
It felt like an eternity. More and more wild Loomian kept on popping out from the trees, grass, and bushes, and they all attacked Donald and his team. All of the fighting was beginning to wear them down.
"Let's rest for now," Donald told his team, "since it looks like they aren't attacking us at the moment. It looks like the closer we get to the tablet piece, the more aggressive these Loomians get."
Donald fed them some Loomian food to help them regain their strength, and used the Small Meds to heal them.
Once they had finished resting, Twittle chirped loudly to draw their attention. He flew around the group, and then he tugged at Donald's sleeve.
Twittle is from the Gale Forest, so he must know where the grove is.
Donald followed Twittle to a large tree with pink petals. This is the only tree in the forest with pink blossoms. Cora said I was found in the Gale Forest, and I briefly recall seeing pink as I lost consciousness. What a coincidence that I am back here.
Donald located the chunk of the stone tablet, and he noticed that it was emitting a dark and unnerving aura. There was also a wall of dark goop blocking off a path behind the tree, and the goop seemed to also be emitting the same type of aura.
Before Donald could call Doug, his fast reflexes made him jump out of the way in time to dodge an attack. That's the Duskit the old man was talking about.
The Duskit was enshrouded with the same dark aura as the tablet and the goop. It roared with anger at Donald.
Eaglit jumped in front of Donald and shrieked at Duskit.
My LoomiWatch says that it's only Level 8. If it's a Guardian Loomian, shouldn't it be much stronger?
The Duskit attempted to use Startle—a Spirit-type Melee Move—but Eaglit brushed the attack off; Eaglit was immune to Spirit-type moves.
"Eaglit, use Shine," Donald ordered, "and follow quickly with Pounce."
Eaglit released a flash of bright light that blinded Duskit. While Duskit's vision was obscured, Eaglit charged and struck Duskit. He landed a critical hit, and the two attacks were enough to knock Duskit out.
Donald noticed something strange with Cathorn's Capture Disc. He checked his LoomiWatch, and it showed that Cathorn was now Level 8.
Cathorn escaped his Capture Disc, and he was engulfed in a glowing light. Cathorn evolved into Propae.
After Cathorn's evolution, Duskit regained consciousness. Donald was prepared for another fight, but he noticed that Duskit no longer seemed aggressive. Duskit actually seemed confused. It saw the tablet chunk and hissed at it, and then Duskit flew away.
Donald took the chance to call Doug. "I found the tablet piece."
"Excellent work, I knew you could do it! Now, what on earth is that dark goop just beyond the tree?"
"It has the same energy that the tablet is emitting." Donald informed, "And also, the Loomians in the forest, even Duskit, were affected by the dark energy from the tablet."
"I'm going to need that stone as soon as possible to being examining it. I need to know more about that energy that surrounds it. Go ahead and use the LoomiWatch's Digital Transport feature."
Donald aimed his LoomiWatch at the tablet piece. A circle of energy scanned the tablet chunk before sending it away in what appeared to be digital data.
"I received the tablet. From what I can tell so far, it has a strong reaction to light."
"It wasn't affected by Eaglit's Shine attack," Donald said.
"The light from Loomians and the light from devices are different types of light. Silvent City has a Battle Theatre, and if you defeat Battle Star Naya, she'll install an exclusive application on your LoomiWatch. The app Naya installs shines a very bright light from your LoomiWatch, so it might be bright enough to attack that veil of darkness."
"Where's the next tablet piece?" Donald asked.
"I'll give you a call when I find out. For now, you should complete Silvent City's Battle Theatre to gain the Stunning Flash feature."
As Donald ended the call, the old man from before ran up to him.
"I saw you battling Duskit just now. It seems a battle with it was all it needed to be freed from the corruption. I've heard reports of other people encountering corrupt Loomians all around Roria. Capture Discs don't seem to work on corrupting Loomians, but I've heard that defeating them in battle will sometimes make them drop a mysterious shard item that contains a powerful essence. If properly applied to your Loomian, they could potentially give a powerful stat boost."
Since he was easily able to get to this grove, I'm guessing the rest of the wild Loomians in this forest are no longer aggressive either.
Eaglit jumped into Donald's arms, and he snuggled close to him. He closed his eyes to rest.
We've fought a lot. Even though I'm the one doing the strategizing, my Loomians were the ones doing the physical work. It's been a long day, so we should get some rest.
~Donald Na: A Hero's Journey~
Author's Note: I tweaked some parts of the game's storyline to make the story flow better in this fic.