Poké Pals

Chapter 5: What Happened to Phantump

The square was a beautiful and lively place. The ground was paced with uneven brown slabs in a perfect circle. Around the circle were shops; cafes, souvenir shops, dojos for training, the like. Outside of each building, there was a simple black pole. The poles by themselves were ugly, but hanging from them were fairy lights that lit up the square in a warm, friendly glow.
Emolga and Phantump drifted lazily towards the edge of the square, where Phantump said the forest was. Every once in a while, Phantump would turn around and laugh happily, making Emolga giddy. She couldn't help wondering if she should consider this a date!
"It's not far now!" Phantump called back.
"If you say so!" Emolga giggled.
And he was right. Maybe the forest was a bit more shady than the square and gave off different vibes, but any place would be happy if he confessed his love to her! Emolga was a little embarrassed that she felt such attraction to a boy that she'd met a few days ago and didn't know very well, but by God she didn't care.
"Emolga?" Phantump turned to face Emolga.
"Y-yeah?" Emolga squeaked.
"Is it ok if we a bit further in? There's something I want to tell you, but I also want it to be private." Phantump blushed.
"That's fine! That's so fine." Emolga smiled dramatically.
OH!
He was actually going to confess his love to her! Was he? Did it matter? She could confess her love instead, and they'd be together forever! It'd be lovely! It'd be perfect! It'd be like a dream!

***

"I'm gonna go home now." Beautifly sighed, putting her papers in her bag.
"Ok, have a nice evening, Beautifly." Groudon nodded.
"Oh- umm, actually there was one thing I wanted to say." Beautifly quickly fluttered away from the door.
"What is it?" Groudon looked up from his own papers.
"It's... Snom has been watching Emolga like a hawk. I'm worried that something might be up." Beautifly breathed.
"I'll look into it tomorrow. Actually, I should be going now anyway, would you like to walk to the square together and get a coffee from Oricorio and Sons?" Groudon asked, putting his papers in his bag.
Beautifly laughed, "Groudon, that was very smooth but I'm currently not looking for a partner!"
"What? Oh! No, we'd be going as friends. Sorry." Groudon flushed. He needed to think about things before he says them, "This is to congratulate ourselves for a successful week of teaching."
"I'd love to, thanks." Beautifly smiled gratefully.
Beautifly held the door open for the legendary Pokémon as they left.

***

"This should be a good spot." Phantump stopped hovering and popped himself down on a bumpy rock.
"So, why'd you want to come out here?" Emolga asked whilst sitting beside him. She knew the answer already, but she wanted to prove it.
"It's, umm-"
Snap.
Emolga turned around and Phantump looked around her. Someone had broken a twig, and it was not them. They were pretty deep in the forest... would they be able to call for help if trouble aroused?
"Did you see if anyone was following us, Emolga?" Phantump snapped. Was he angry at her?
"No! I don't think so." Emolga contradicted, "But how would I know?"
Phantump breathed out frustratedly, "I'm going to check it out. Stay here."
Before Emolga could suggest that they should go together, Phantump whizzed into the trees. Snom did that too, just leaving before they had finished the conversation. Was Emolga not worth talking to? Emolga hoped that she hadn't done anything to hurt them.
From the trees, a sound a lot louder than a twig snapping sounded; a sound like smashing glass. Emolga screamed and got down behind the rock.

***

Beautifly noticed that Groudon was not focusing on his coffee or her. She wasn't one of those people who constantly craved attention, so she didn't care about herself. She was more worried about what was up with Groudon.
She was going to ask, but she restrained herself. She sipped her coffee through her proboscis (her mouth straw) and ignored the nagging feeling that something was wrong. She was probably worrying over nothing, anyway.
Groudon suddenly stood up, "Beautifly, maybe we should pick this up another time? Just go home and stay there until..."
"No way, I'm coming with you!" Beautifly confirmed.
Groudon began to walk backwards. Beautifly followed Groudon, and he didn't object so she went with it. Something was definitely wrong, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

***

Emolga looked up from the rock for just second. The sounds of battle had stopped, maybe it was safe? Surprisingly, coming out of the wooded area was not Phantump but Snom. He was squirming away from the battle area awfully quickly.
"Emolga! We need to get out of here!" Snom commanded.
"What?! But- Phantump!" Emolga cried out.
Snom tried to block Emga, but she saw Phantump lying there. He was unconscious. It felt like the sky was closing in as she tried to intake the little oxygen left around her.
"HE'S THERE! WE NEED TO HELP HIM!" Emolga shrieked.
"It's not safe!" Snom groaned, pushing Emolga away.
Then she figured out why. There was just a little, a miniscule amount, even. But there was indeed ice on Phantump's still, haunting body. Emolfa tried to speak once, and then again. On the third try, she managed to say;
"YOU HURT HIM!"
"EMOLGA! We need to leave!" Snom shouted, his brittle voice not seeming as such anymore.
"Why?!"
"You wouldn't understand!"
"Why are you even here?!" Emolga shrieked.
"I don't trust Phantump!"
"Yeah, so now you're going to leave him to die, purely based on suspicion?!"
Snom grunted, "He's already dead! And it's not-"
Emolga zapped Snom and he was blasted backwards. Tears streamed out of her eyes as she screamed words at him she had never said to anyone before. All of the anger building up inside of her, from trying to be perfect and it being thrown back in her face, she was sick of being perfect.
A hand touched her back. She was ready to straight up annihilate them, but she saw that it was Mr Groudon and chose that she valued her life more than getting revenge. Or did she?
"Emolga! We need to leave." Miss Beautifly appeared and wrapped her up in her wing.
"Beautifly, evacuate the square!" Mr Groudon shouted, picking up Snom, "Take me to him."
Emolga tried to fight out of Miss Beautifly's flutters but she couldn't, "Snom killed him!"
"Emolga, we need to leave!" Miss Beautifly shouted.
Emolga slumped in her teacher's wing. There was no point in trying any more.

***

On Monday, school didn't reopen. Phantump was reported 'missing', and the whole town was out looking for him, as if there was anything to find. It was a huge conspiracy, but Emolga couldn't put the dots together. But what was she going to do about it?
So much for a fresh start. She had definitely set her hopes too high, but what did she really expect?
Emolga sat at the rounded window of her medium-sized room, looking at the deserted streets. Well, almost completely deserted. Torracat hung about his house doing nothing, so not helping. Even if the boy was dead, Emolga still didn't like that some people ignored it.
"Emolga?"
It was her mother. She looked distressed, and Emolga knew why. Her mother didn't fully believe in Emolga's story about Mr Groudon and Snom, but she was inclined to, which led to a bit of a moral crisis on her part. Litten had believed Emolga however. Nobody else had believed her but she had. And there she was now.
"Emolga! I was worried about you, I've not seen you for two days!" Litten cried.
Emolga's mother quietly left.
"You do still believe me, right?"

The next chapter should be available now!