Adventures Beyond!

Chapter 62: Mythical Mystery

---

Mythic Forest, Sinnoh

"Oh, this is bad! This is really really bad!" Akari screamed, quickly running alongside Miles as they weaved themselves around the various natural obstacles created by the forest around them.

Miles, meanwhile, didn't bother replying to his best friend's screams, too focused on keeping his legs moving at a quick pace. His sharp ears allowed him to hear the sound of something being torn from the ground, followed by the sound of something large whooshing through the air as it was thrown. The Rockruff turned his head, realizing that a tree was being launched in their direction by a large Pokémon that was chasing them.

"Kari, look out!" He yelled, quickly tackling his best friend out of the way of the flying tree, sending them tumbling into a nearby bush.

The Zorua was getting ready to ask Miles why he tackled her like that, but immediately snapped her mouth shut when she saw the tree fly past and slam into the ground, kicking up a substantial amount of earth as it slid to a stop.

"Was that a tree!?" The Dark-Type asked loudly, her eyes bulging, "Aw come on, I just wanted some berries!" Akari stuck her head out of the bush they were hiding in, glaring at the Pokémon that was chasing them.

The large Pokémon, who had now seen Akari thanks to her yelling at it, was an enraged Ursaring, whose stomach rumbled as it charged toward them. Miles peered out of the bush to scope the damage done by Akari's yelling, immediately seeing the furious Hibernator Pokémon drawing closer by the minute.

"Did you really have to take her berries?" Miles turned to Akari, feeling sweat build on his forehead.

The Zorua pouted, her eyes darting away with guilt, "I didn't know they were hers, I swear..."

Following a long and hard training session with Mark, Miles and Akari were getting ready to head back to the Pokémon Center when they came across a forest that strangely seemed to glow once the sun went down. Both of them remembered passing by the forest on their way to train with Mark, but didn't notice anything nearly as interesting as the bioluminescent mushrooms of the mysterious forest. They just had to explore it.

Things then took a left turn when Akari, a little hungry after all the exploring they were doing, came across a collection of berries left in a hole made in a tree. Thinking that they were abandoned and left up for grabs, the Zorua happily helped herself to the berries laid out in front of her. That was until a Teddiursa came across them eating the berries and called out for its mother. That resulted in an Ursaring showing up and chasing them through the woods, leaving the two no choice but to run away and escape.

As the Ursaring drew closer, an idea quickly came to Miles' mind. He quickly pushed Akari back down into the bush before hopping out himself, using Stone Edge to try and contain the Ursaring. Despite his young age, he was still aware enough to know that it wouldn't hold for long, so he jumped up and stomped on the Ursaring's head, jumping into a nearby tree.

"Try and catch me!" He exclaimed, hopping from the branch he had landed onto to another branch that wasn't too far away.

The Ursaring's eyes narrowed, "Normally such taunts wouldn't work on me, but... I'm starving! I can't think straight when I'm hungry!" She furiously broke from the Stone Edge and went to chase the Rockruff further into the woods.

"Oww... What was that for—?" Akari, who groaned from being shoved down like she had been, began to ask, but stopped once she realized she was the only one there. The Dark-Type looked around, confused.

"...Miles?"

The Rockruff quickly hopped from branch to branch, the roars of the Ursaring behind him providing him with some extra adrenaline for his escape. While he was glad Akari would have a chance to escape from the forest, he needed to start thinking about what he'd do to escape himself. Maybe he could try hiding again? They almost got away with it the first time if it weren't for—