Pokémon: Out of the Woods | A Galar, Unova & Sinnoh Fanfiction

Chapter 20: A Normal Home

With the evidence analysis complete, Reira uploaded the results to the International Police database. The hairs and clippings belonged to eight different people, but only one of them was known to the police: a local man who was in and out of prison for shoplifting and selling drugs. Jahzeel's DNA certainly wasn't there. N, Nathan and Neptune had all been arrested, so their DNA was in the system, but there was no match; so it was unlikely that any of the hairs or clippings were Pluto's or Rigel's.

Allister must be right... it's a Cipher – or Plasma, or both – meeting place.

She looked up the meaning of the name Viljar. It could mean 'protected by the sword,' but it could also mean 'will' and 'desire.'

I'm sure Sam said that Volo means 'I wish.' Could it be...? No. Why would a man from 300 years ago be used to rent a shithole for modern-day evil teams? Then again, Desiderio is a 'desire' name, too... I'll be intrigued to hear what Triton thinks of his home.

The leafy roof of Glimwood Tangle was so thick that daylight only flowed through the entrances cleared by humans. As branches closed behind those who stepped in, that daylight was immediately stifled. Only brightly glowing mushrooms provided illumination. Triton's Grimmsnarl was from the Wild Area, when his family visited with Amber and Trip, but it was native to Glimwood Tangle. It knew to tap the mushrooms to release more light. When Impidimp leapt out, only to turn and run when they saw a huge Grimmsnarl, it grabbed them by the ears and asked if they had ever seen anything unusual. None said they had.

Triton released his Serperior. It slithered under bushes to places he couldn't reach, but found nothing of interest. They smelled curry. Backpackers, Hikers and local walkers battled wild Pokémon and camped like they always did. Triton asked how their journeys were. They all replied that they were having a great time, despite the foreigners being completely lost.

There was nothing at all to suggest something suspicious was afoot... yet Triton inexplicably felt there was. His eyes never stopped scanning his surroundings. Perhaps it was a trick of the mischievous Pokémon who lived there. Many lost travellers hallucinated in Glimwood Tangle. Triton reached Ballonlea without incident. He still found himself glancing back at the forest.

Ballonlea reminded him of The Under in Orre. Some daylight broke through the branches smothering the town, but it was dark enough for the main sources of light to be the vibrant mushrooms, the lights of homes and the illuminated stadium. Every colour of the rainbow glowed against quaint half-timbered houses. Triton asked Bede to meet him at a café near the Pokémon Center, but he said he would probably be too busy.

Apparently, he was. There was no sign of him. Two boys, wearing replicas of his uniform, rushed to the stadium. He was battling. Triton walked on to the high street. A Pokémon descended through a gap for Flying Taxis. Hydreigon and Zoroark returned safely. They relayed what Reira found. Triton was disappointed. He expected Jahzeel's or Pluto's DNA, but they could only identify some local crook. Was it a Cipher-Plasma meeting place? Triton began to wonder if it wasn't after all, but it couldn't be discounted, because Viljar shared the surname Amund with Pluto. From what Heather said, Pluto didn't sound like a villain. He sounded like Heather herself. Yet there was an incredibly Plasma-esque undertone to everything he said, as if he had, at least at some point, been groomed by someone like Ghetsis; someone who could only be Jahzeel.

On an alleyway off the high street, where the recognisable logos of chain stores and their uniform frontages clashed with the quaint surroundings, was the Craving Books store. The bell jingled. A Rotogram influencer stepped out after completing a photoshoot. She chatted away to her photographer. Triton didn't want to raise alarm by going in there himself, so Zoroark listened to the woman's voice for a moment before morphing in to an illusion of her. With P10,000 from Triton, it went inside. The staff seemed pleased when it claimed it was returning without its photographer to look at the books. They certainly didn't suspect it was a Zoroark.