“Oh shit!”

  He sprinted.

  Faster than he had ever been in his life. The sound of vicious growls and crackling electricity grew ever closer behind him. He panted, huffing and puffing as the sound of predatory galloping reminded him of just how unprepared he was.

  "Why? What did I do to deserve any of this?!" he cried, his voice congested by panic, his black, grassy hair tossed around in the cold wind as he ran for his life.

  He glanced behind him—

  "AAAAAGGHHH!!"

  His heart nearly exploded when he saw it.

  When he saw them.

  Shrouded in strings of jittering electricity and growling with bloodlust: an enormous Pokémon with a big black mane around its snarling, furry blue face charged toward him from afar, its deathly golden eyes penetrating the darkness with a laser-like stare that made Lucas want to drop dead.

  But it wasn't alone.

  At its side, more volatile electrical amber eyes beamed at him, the sounds of ferocious feline hisses streaking into his ears as an entire lux pride chased him down a hilly slope of grass surrounded by pine trees.

  Furious Luxio bared their terrifying fangs at him, glares draining him of his will to fight. Even the little Shinxes, like fluffy baby-blue fluff balls of static death, growled and streaked across the dark grass like bolts of lightning.

  Reinforcements, it seemed. Though it was unknown why the Shinx that had attacked him was all alone and separated from the rest of the pack, it was clear that its loud cries and hisses had attracted the mob of beasts like magnets. Fitting for a band of electric Pokémon.

  He had steered away from the main route, now struggling not to stumble through tall strands of lecherous grass as he ran and ran and ran. Lucas's lips trembled, quivering hopelessly as he cried internally about his inability to take control of any situation he was thrown into.

  Why was any of this happening?

  He had always taken a backseat in his own life while his environment controlled him. He couldn't control Azure. He couldn't control anything. Powerless—and as if to laugh at his weakness, it was in that moment of especially heightened mental anguish that he lost his balance, stumbling into a tree and slamming his head against the rough bark as the sound of vicious panting and crackling filled his ears.

  He was screwed.

  Lucas was screwed.

  He couldn’t fight a Lux pride. He couldn’t—no way! And yet… it was that same fear that spurred him to make a decision he feared wouldn’t save him but one he had to try nonetheless.

  He was down to his last one.

  With his back against the wall, he dug into his pocket and pulled out another Poké Ball. Not to catch. To fight.

  “Go, Eevee—”

  Suddenly, as if heaven itself was calling him:

  Bells?

  Chiming and chingling rang in his ears loudly—extremely loudly. Emerging from the grass, all around him, their wings vibrating with urgency: a fleet of big red insects flew in the direction of the charging pride, singing loudly like a band in ringing tunes.

  Kricketune and Kricketot, enraged by the chaotic electric outburst, let out wrathful cries, swinging their knife-like appendages at the wild cats like scythes.

  The alpha Luxray roared, enveloped in blinding light, and immediately an all-out war broke out. Flashes of violent yellow hazardously sprayed through the shadowy black forest as roars and chimes of wrath screamed all around the forest of Route 202. Lucas was merely an onlooker, paralyzed by fright and shock at the events unfolding.

  The fleet of Kricketot, led by one giant Kricketune with limbs like literal longswords made of red iron, cleaved and sang a melodious war cry. A tune of battle as they charged the Lux pride, which was shockingly ferocious, baring their electrically charged fangs and claws, with the baby Shinx of the pride covered in a lustrous golden light—a telltale sign of battle.

  But the bugs were dominating. They caught the cats in webs of sticky strings that slowed them down, clinging to them. The alpha Kricketune slashed away at the ferocious Luxray, which roared in agony as blood sprayed from the deep cuts it carved into its fur. The Kricketot, like soldiers in a harmonious army, cried with deafening songs that paralyzed the fierce Luxio in waves of rippling melodies that knocked them right out.

  Asleep.

  Lucas's heart still raced, but relief washed over him. He had never taken any interest in Bug types, always seeing them as disgusting and weak, but this was a shocker! To think that all they had to do was sing xylophone-like tunes and the bloodlusted cats dropped to the floor, completely asleep, was insane. Not only that, but they used their environment too, hiding in the grass before pouncing and catching them in sticky webs to bind them.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  They were in complete control.

  This was madness.

  Too mad to be true.

  Come now, a clan of tuneful bugs defeating a hazardous pride like this? Never.

  A thunderous roar shook the forest, causing Starly and other winged creatures to explode out of the trees in fear of what was next. Lucas's gaze locked onto the alpha Luxray. It was shrouded in a veil of crackling electricity, roaring ferociously as it discharged an enormous wave of yellow energy that sent ropes and sparks of squiggling electricity rumbling up the surrounding trees.

  The grass crackled with static, like a carpet charged with volatile energy, shrouded in a luminescent field of yellow aura.

  Like zombies back from the dead, the Luxio and Shinx, which had been incapacitated, began slowly getting up, eyes wide and jittery, their black strands of fluffy fur spiked up and sharp.

  “Agh!” Lucas jumped up from the grass, his legs stinging from the sharp pain of electricity suddenly climbing up his body from the grass and searing through his pants.

  A murderous howl of unity blared like a war horn of death, and a bolt of lightning burst through the air, striking a guardless, unsuspecting Kricketot down.

  Dead. Instantly.

  The pride charged, fully charged with fur covered uncontrollably in lightning, ripping apart the bugs. Severed wings and limbs, covered in sticky internal fluids, scattered ravenously across the grass. With snarling muzzles and vicious amber eyes, the electrified Pokémon tore through the useless exoskeletons of the once-singing Pokémon as nightmarish screeches rang in Lucas's ears.

  His heart sank, fright clasping his body in a binding hold.

  This was pure control. Pure mastery. This was what it looked like to grab a situation by the neck and completely change the rules, making everything to your advantage. Blood dripped from the mouths of the alpha Luxray as it ripped a slimy chunk of bug flesh from the fallen alpha Kricketune's body, its wings still vibrating hopelessly as it let out a final ghastly tune.

  This fight had gone to the predators.

  “This isn’t real, this can’t be real—holy shit!”

  He was next.

  Lucas was next.

  He would be if he didn't get the hell out of there, so he sprang up, his heart struck by static in his chest, and dashed out of the charged scene of carnage and lightning. Back in the dark grassy forest, he ran for his life, not looking back even once!

  That was a lie. He glanced back once, shocked to see how much the thick veil of yellow lightning engulfed the area of the forest he'd been in, like an unyielding mist swallowing the entire area.

  To think that a single Luxray had electrified the terrain after being sliced by a Kricketune's scythes.

  The wild was truly no place for an amateur. With his sneakers now stained with droplets of brownish red, he crunched the gravel of the original route.

  “He thinks I’m suitable for this? ‘I’m the best guy for the job’? Screw that! Who told you that, Professor Rowan? If this is how it’s always going to be, then I don’t want any part in this!”

  But those were just crazy thoughts fueled by the nightmare he was tossing and turning in. He couldn’t lie to himself. He couldn’t turn back now, after all the Professor had done for him. That’d be crazy—besides, he hadn’t even started the real parts of the mission—and now he wanted to let it go?

  Fortunately, those thoughts were immediately eclipsed by glimmering hope as Lucas's eyes widened in relief and awe. Lights like stars glowed prosperously in the night, delightful and inviting.

  Like a galaxy on the ground it was.

  Jubilife City.

  “No way—” He snapped his head at his Poketch. 18:07 PM. “Holy shit—I made it! I made it, Azure—we made it—the city right there!” Lucas cried cheerfully.

  He could finally slow down, catch his breath as he marched down a slope of gravel, the unholy forest stalking him from behind. The gravel forest road slowly faded into fine asphalt, and the further down he walked along the path, lamp posts lined the road; even the trees became straighter, no longer wild and dispersed, like refined guards.

  He'd escaped the wild with his Pokémon intact. This time. His body still stung from all the slits and cuts that stupid wild Shinx had given him. Not to mention his jacket was torn and there was an open wound on his cheek.

  He'd barely made it out alive, and that was the first ever route he'd been on.

  Still...

  There was hope. If he’d made it out of Route 202 at night, there was hope.

  “Okay, whatever Professor Rowan saw in me was probably still some delusional old man BS… but there’s no time to waste. I've gotta get Azure healed up—and head straight to Dawn!”

  Yes. He was right.

  But he had no idea just how right he was. This marked the end of his first time in the wild for Lucas Grey.

  Perhaps the future wouldn’t come with such serene grace; maybe his luck wouldn’t be so super, and maybe, something critical was about to hit him full swing.

  Or something.

  His legs felt like lagging tails he had to drag across the ground, he’d never run as much nor as hard nor as long. But none of that mattered, he’d finally made it, all before the sun had wholly set, which wasn’t to say the sky wasn’t black, rather, he still had time to spare.

  There was no time to rest. He had to find the Poké Center and get Azure all the way healed up. But…

  It was overwhelming.

  The transition was in no way seamless. In fact, for lack of better phrasing, he felt like was high on garganacle. Like he'd caught a whiff of the loudest ghastly. Not that he knew what any of that was... yet.

  From wrathful sparks of animalistic animosity to floods of LED lighting that sent his head spinning like rapidly, something like staryu. He pulled his phone out and shot her a text.

  “Just got here, where are you?”

  Seconds later, the device buzzed in his hand.

  “Meet by Poké Center. Packing up.”

  Perfect. Quite frankly, he wasn’t sure how the logistics were going to work given his partner’s current “situation”. Pressing a few buttons, he set the GPS on his Poketch towards the nearest Poké Center and entered the new environment.

  One with plenty of new faces.