1.Ash's Story (Part 2: Johto)

Chapter 22: Forest Medicine

The fog deepens after the Swap Meet clearing disappears behind us. Every branch seems to hold its breath, and every root under the path looks like it moved when no one was watching.

Lillie walks close beside me with Togepi tucked safely in her arms. Pikachu stays on my shoulder with his ears turned toward the fog.

Once the path narrows, I release Chikorita. She takes her place near my other side with a stubborn little frown.

She isn't leaning into Lillie yet, but she is no longer glaring whenever Lillie checks on me.

"That is progress," Lillie whispers, noticing where my eyes went.

Chikorita flicks her leaf without looking back. "I'm only keeping an eye on both of you. Don't make it a big deal."

I leave Chikorita alone instead of pointing out the change.

Ethan keeps looking at the HM case he received from the charcoal burner. After a few steps, he releases Exbo, whose flames flicker gently whenever the fog grows too cold.

Kris watches the mossy ground with careful interest, slowing every few steps to examine mushrooms growing along the base of fallen logs. East moves near the front, tracking the safest route between wet roots and soft patches of soil.

Reisa hums quietly while Croconaw keeps pace beside her. She opens another Poké Ball and lets Marill join him, and Marill bounces along with much more cheer than the forest seems to allow.

"We should rest soon," East says. "The path keeps curving, and the fog is making distance hard to judge."

"That clearing looks dry enough," Kris suggests, pointing to a space under two leaning trees. "The mushrooms near the edge are damp, but the center should be safe."

We settle down for lunch, grateful for any place where the ground isn't trying to swallow our shoes.

The longer we sit there, the stranger the forest feels. It isn't frightening like Rock Tunnel, and it isn't busy like Viridian Forest.

Kris notices the way I keep looking upward. "You feel it too, don't you?"

"I do," I admit. "Every time I hear something in the trees, it stops before I can find it."

"That sounds like a very Ash way to explain a habitat," Ethan says, though he does not sound like he is mocking me.

Kris taps her pencil against her notebook. "I understand what he means. There are plants, fungi, and Pokémon everywhere here, but most of them stay hidden until something disturbs them."

Reisa looks at the mushrooms along the roots and hums a lower note. "Like music, but much slower."

East checks the path behind us again. "That is why I keep checking our route. The fog makes every turn look familiar."

Chikorita plants herself between me and a low root, then taps it with her vine before I can trip. Her annoyed huff fails to hide the concern in her eyes.

"Watch your feet. You always stop looking at the ground when you're thinking."

Lillie hears her warning and glances at me with a smile she tries to hide.

Lillie and I go to refill our water bottles at a stream we can hear before we can see. Pikachu comes with us, and Chikorita follows while pretending she only wants to make sure the path isn't dangerous.

Before Lillie kneels beside the water, she passes Togepi to me. Togepi settles against my arm while Pikachu watches the stream from my shoulder.

The stream is narrow but clear, running between mossy stones beneath a curtain of low branches. While Lillie fills the bottles, she pauses and looks toward a small patch of grass where tiny leaves tremble in the fog.