Frontline Mission #9

Jackson put down the electronic he was working with as he heard the pinging of a new message. His gaze grew confused as he looked at it. Somehow it was sent directly to him and had no listed sender. The trainer scratched his head but decided to play the message, figuring no harm could come from it.

He could tell that the voice reading the message was artificial, which wasn’t a surprise to him considering that whoever sent the message clearly didn’t want to reveal their identity. The voice began to speak in a panicked tone, talking about needing a strong trainer to help with “Sylvangloam crying out in pain”. It then stopped rather abruptly leaving Jackson even more confused than he was before.

His partner pokemon, Atlas, seemed to have taken notice as he trotted over to his trainer, his ears perked up curiously. “Strange message, huh?” Jackson said to his pokemon with a sigh. He was really unsure about the message. It seemed to indicate a desperate need for help but the bizarre way it was communicated made him weary. As he looked over to his rather blank to-do list he let out a long sigh.

“You know… it’s gonna bother me if I don’t find out what’s up with this message.” He complained to his noctyena with a groan. Although his pokemon just got excited at the sight of Jackson grabbing his backpack and supplies.

The trainer and his pokemon got off the train at Amberfield town, a rather quiet station that was close to Sylvangloam. They would still need to cross over the mystic pools to actually be in the magical forest but it was certainly a lot closer than their home in Thunderdale.

“Alright, let’s get going.” Jackson took a deep breath as he adjusted his backpack and set off towards the nearest bridge. Atlas followed behind him, his tail swishing back and forth in the air as he walked.

Soon enough the two officially crossed into Sylvangloam. The grass was a blueish-green color and giant multi-colored mushrooms grew all around them. The whole area also gave Jackson a rather weird feeling. He attributed it to the rather strange properties of the forest, considering no one could actually build permanent structures on it.

The trainer also had a heightened sense of alert as the message replayed in his head. Even if he wasn’t sure how credible the source was he didn’t want to underestimate any potential danger. Doing so was undoubtedly a very unwise decision considering the potential pokemon or environmental dangers that could be anywhere. Atlas had picked up on his trainer’s unease and was also alert with his ears perked up and nose wiggling as he sniffed the air. 

Jackson moved forward tentatively, not even entirely sure what he would be looking for. So far the forest didn’t seem any stranger than usual. However, he began to change his mind about that as he got deeper into the forest.

There was something about it that Jackson couldn’t quite put his finger on but it just felt wrong. He paused when the ground began to shake for a few moments and Atlas stood next to him staring at the ground. “Okay now that definitely isn’t normal.” He commented, half to himself and half to his pokemon.

Finding that the anonymous message seemed to be accurate Jackson’s heart rate quickened as he continued on. He still wasn’t really seeing anything unusual but he knew that something had to be wrong. This suspicion was confirmed as he heard a low, rumbling growl behind him.

Atlas reacted first as he turned around and began barking at the source of the noise while his trainer turned around. Jackson found that he was now standing in front of a towering grimmsnarl. The pokemon growled and looked about ready to snap them in half. It seemed to be larger in size than a typical grimmsnarl and had wounds all over its body. Plus there was the fact that it was extremely enraged.

Before Jackson had much time to react the pokemon charged forward straight towards him. The trainer leaped out of the way, just barely dodging the pokemon. He felt a flash of pain as he landed on his bad leg and he let out a startled cry.

Atlas moved in front of his trainer, letting out an enraged series of barks as he prepared to defend Jackson. The grimmsnarl had turned around and was almost ready to launch a second attack. “Atlas, use moonbeam!” He called out.

The noctyena did as instructed as he concentrated on making a glowing, white orb in front of him. The grimmsnarl had started barreling towards them as Atlas sent the orb flying into its chest. The pokemon let out a cry as it was launched backwards and could be heard colliding with several bushes.

Jackson struggled to his feet, still feeling a sharp pain in his leg. Atlas glanced back for a moment to check on him but the pokemon’s attention quickly went back to the grimmsnarl as it stood back up. 

“Hit it again with moonblast!” Jackson said urgently, trying to take advantage of the time it had taken the grimmsnarl to get back up. Atlas followed through with the move and this time when the grimmsnarl was sent flying back it didn’t get back up.

The trainer cautiously began to approach the now unconscious pokemon with Atlas right next to him. His pokemon was still letting out a low growl as they moved closer. Jackson crouched down near the pokemon as he tried to get a better look at it. He could see the bloody, deep wounds on the pokemon that definitely weren’t caused by Atlas.

“What could this even be from…” He mumbled as he took out his phone. The trainer began to take pictures of the pokemon and its wounds, hoping that it would come in handy later. He figured if anything Professor Blackthorn would be interested in the information.