"Eterna Forest?"
I glanced around at the unfamiliar towering woods. The name felt strange on my tongue, lacking the sharp, ancient edge of the Hisuian titles I knew. I had memorized the maps of the Survey Corps until they were burned into my mind, but this name—"Eterna"—was a void in my memory.
"Alright, you can go." I gave a stiff, mechanical nod. Sensing my intent, Kishin retracted his tassels. The violet spectral cloth snapped back into the hilt with the crack of a whip.
The Murkrow didn't hesitate. It scrambled into the air, its wings beating with a frantic, desperate flurry that shed a few of its inky feathers. It vanished into the high canopy, with a panicked "krow!", fading into the distance. It was a simple creature of a simple world. It wanted no place near a man who smelled of death.
I stumbled toward the edge of the crater, my boots feeling like heavy weights. Every step was a battle against a gravity that felt ten times heavier than the Distortion World's volatile conditions.
Kishin's pauldron rattled at my left shoulder, the steel plates dulled by a soot that wouldn't wash off—a layer of void-dust that seemed to have bonded with the metal.
I reached up to touch the high Ponyta tail at the back of my head; it was a matted, tangled knot of raven hair, dried ichor, and the copper-smell of a battle that should have ended weeks ago.
My hands pressed onto the vast trunk of the oak closest to me. The rough bark lightly scraping my fingertips—a small, but grounding sensation that reminded me I was no longer a wandering corpse in that dimension.
Its canopy stretched high, thick and greedy, blotting out most of the pale moon. Only a few stray rays of cool light managed to peek through the gaps, illuminating the silver-edges of the Rift-Eye on my chest.
It bore a striking resemblance to the bountiful trees of The Heartwood, yet the atmosphere here was wildly different. In Hisui, forests were wild and untamed, crawling with bloodthirsty Alpha Pokémon that watched you with bated breath, waiting for a single mistake to turn you into a meal. But here, the surrounding fauna seemed almost… peaceful. Too quiet.
The forest was wrong. The air was too thin, lacking the heavy scent of woodsmoke and the raw, musky scent of the Alpha Pokémon that used to stalk these woods. Even the trees looked different, their bark thinner than the iron-wood of the Hisuian flora, as if the world had been rounded at the edges while I was rotting in the abyss.
Perhaps that's just what the Pokémon around here called this forest?
As I stepped away from the oak, the shadows at my feet seemed to stir, reaching out toward the roots like ink in water. I blinked, and the sensation vanished, but the Rift-Eye pulsed—a cold, rhythmic thrumming that synchronized with the distant, haunting hoot of a Hoothoot.
Movement flickered in the corner of my eye, making my hand twitch towards my belt. It wasn't a monster from the Distortion World, however, but something fragile and luminescent in the moonlit night.
A Beautifly drifted past, its wings shimmering with powdery scales that caught the moonlight. It was a mundane sight, yet so alien after weeks of gray void that it felt like a miracle. For a fleeting moment, the weight of the gods and the sound of the tearing sky faded into the background.
It's been a while since I've seen a scene like this one. So long that I had almost forgotten what simple "peace" looked like.
She would have loved this. Akari's face appeared in my mind, a stark reminder of who I was searching for.
But the peace, even for a moment, was a thin veil. Beneath the gentle rustle of leaves, I could hear the faint, mechanical hum, and the sound of various footsteps making their way swiftly towards my position.
"Kishin, possible enemies inbound." I said, my voice low, as I faced the direction of the oncoming noise, holding my left arm out, palm open in a practiced gesture.
With a short call of his name, the katana drew itself from its obsidian sheath with a hiss of tempered steel. Kishin flashed to my side. My grip closed around his golden hilt, as his purple tassels wrapped tight around my entire arm. Destiny Bond took effect as the familiar biting chill bound our spirits together.
I managed a small smile despite the possible danger, finding a small sense of comfort wielding him once more as I lightly touched the tip of Kishin's edge to the forest floor.
"Echo Bond. Pulse." I commanded, as I felt the spectral connection between us snap into place. In my hand, Kishin began to visibly vibrate, charging compressed sound into his katana blade. Then with a sharp flick, he sent an unnoticeable, compressed ultrasonic burst into the earth.
Closing my eyes, the informational feedback washed over me. I sensed as the sound wave traveled through the dirt and stone, passing over various lifeforms in the twilight forest like a ripple on the water surface. Out of the countless Pokémon, I picked up the unmistakable sound of human activity, their heavy, uneven footsteps echoing information back to me through Kishin's hilt.
Three? No, four entities rapidly approaching. Three humans and one Pokémon around 300 feet away and closing in.
I focused my attention on the Pokémon leading the humans to my location.
Sounds like a small mammal, based on the weight of its steps and the speed of its stride. I analyzed, my mind shifting to Security Corps protocol. I tried to figure out their purpose. Were they treasure hunters attracted by the lightning of my arrival? Or something worse?
"Enemy contact in 30 seconds. Kishin, Swords Dance. Charge up Shadow Sneak." I released Kishin from my grip, watching as the sword performed a ceremonial, slashing dance in the air, his edge sharpening until they looked like it could sever the moonlight itself. He emitted a deadly oppressive aura, making the wildlife nearby go quiet.
"Target Pokémon Wielders first. Eliminate them if necessary."
"Aegis…" The Pokémon hissed in a ghostly confirmation, his steel-forged body slowly melding into the darkness of the night, dissolving into the lengthening shadows of the forest floor.
I turned back towards the noise, kneeling low behind the thick brush to minimize my silhouette, my breathing turned shallow as I began to softly count down the seconds until contact.
5…
4…
3…
2…
1.
The brush exploded outward in a swirl of fallen leaves. I watched as a Pikachu burst through the trees, a young black-haired boy donning a strange red cap following close behind it, his face flushed from the run, excitement in his eyes.
A child?! Where are his parents? Why is he out in the wilds with only a Pikachu?
I barely processed the scene in front of me before the shadows at the boy's feet erupted. Kishin flashed out from the darkness like a bolt of black lightning, intending to spear the boy through his neck.
"WHA—!!!" The boy flinched, noticing Kishin's advancement toward him, but neither he nor his Pikachu wouldn't be fast enough to dodge Kishin's Shadow Sneak from that distance. The tip of Kishin's edge reached the boy's neck, about to sever the head clean from its body when—
"Kishin!" The sword's tip froze an inch away from the boy's throat. I revealed myself, pushing out of the dense foliage, my chest already wrapped in thick layers of cloth bandages that struggled to contain the violet glow. "Return. It's just a kid."
The pure malice radiating from Kishin's purple eye faded instantly as the sword blinked, taking in the sight of the startled, trembling child he had almost decapitated.
"Shin." He said with a metallic rasp as he sheathed himself. He slid back into the void-black scabbard, the obsidian sheath consuming his blade with a hollow click.
The child let out a shaky exhale of relief, stumbling back to sit down, while his Pikachu gave us a wrathful, protective glare. Its red cheek sacs sparked with jagged arcs of electricity, its ears pinned back.
Kishin calmly floated back to my side, as if he hadn't tried to kill a child.
Then, two more figures burst through the forest underbrush.
"Ash—"
"What happened?!"
They wheezed out their questions, doubled over as they tried to catch their breath. They paused, their concern turning to stunned silence as they finally realized a fourth person was standing in the clearing.
The blue-haired girl and the older, tan teen stared at me, their eyes traveling from my archaic, blood-stained clothes to the floating weapon at my side.
After a long, agonizing moment of awkward silence, where the only sound was the thrumming of the Rift-Eye in my chest, the girl spoke.
...
"Who are you?"
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Move: Echoing Bond
Description: The user connects its soul with an ally, sharing its senses as it emits a sonic pulse to scout the field. This protects the user's side from all attacks and exposes the targets, lowering their Evasiveness.
Type: Ghost
Category: Status
PP: 10 (max. 16)
Power: —
Accuracy: 100%
Effect: Echoing Bond is a combination of Metal Sound and Destiny Bond, protecting the user's side from attacks and lowering the opposing target's Evasion by 1 stage. If the opposing side moves first, this move fails.