Heart Of Ghost {Pokemon Action Adventure}

Chapter 2 - Sand Tomb

"Who are you, and what did you do to that poor Watchog?!" pleaded Saffron. "I don't even see any Pokemon." She pulled out a Pokeball and got ready to throw it out. "Arcani--"

"Stop!" shouted Floyd. "Look around you. Look at the ground!"

She held her pose and looked around. The ground looked normal at first glance, but upon further inspection, it was obvious that certain spots were slightly discolored. It looked like they were standing in a minefield. She looked once again at the man. They could see the ground around them without a problem, but right at the edge of the trees was a bush, obscuring the ground behind it. The man was standing in the region of uncertainty.

"Don't you see? His attacks are on the ground! A Pokemon like Arcanine would only get hurt" Floyd gritted his teeth. He unhooked his backpack and threw it on one of the spots.

"Oh, so you must be the Semishade, eh?" said the strange man. "The master will be most pleased that I found and eliminated a roadblock in his way. I, Clayton, will stand higher than any archeologist before me!" He laughed maniacally.

"Yeah, I'm the Semishade" he responded, "but I haven't been eliminated yet!"

For a second it looked to Saffron like a purple haze hung around Floyd's body. She could've sworn it looked like a Haunter. She looked to the man called Clayton and noticed a similar apparition flickering in and out of her version, except the one around him looked like the Alolan Pokemon Sandygast. This, she thought, why does this feel so familiar?

"It wasn't my fault that I was born with bad lungs," shouted Floyd. "But this is certainly not my last breath!"

"Come at me already!" demanded the man.

"Swellow! Get him where he's weak: the air!" He released the red-bellied bird into the air, and it automatically flew forward like a dart.

"Futile! It's not that easy to escape my Sand Tomb!"

Saffron's eyes followed the bird's path and saw something strange. No! Those leaves look strange! They look like they're made out of plastic!

Swellow's wing nicked a leaf on one of the amber colored fall trees, and all of the leaves on the branch immediately turned into iron barbs, falling down onto the hapless bird.

"Come back, Swellow!" Floyd said, sending a red beam out of his Pokeball and into the Pokemon, retrieving it. "Looks like we can't involve our Pokemon in this one: it's far too dangerous." He looked to Saffron. "Get away, now! I'll hold him off!"

"Hold me off?" he cackled. "I will defeat you with both hands behind my back!" Clayton tauntingly did as he said and stood firm.

"Saffron, go!"

What's going on? she asked herself. What do I do? Do I listen and retreat, leaving Floyd all alone in this bizarre fight? She couldn't see any other option. He seemed to know what he was doing, at least a little, but there was nothing she could do here. In hope that she could find help down the mountain, she started cautiously jogging down the mountain.

"Don't think you'll escape, little lady," Clayton cackled, pushing his monocle up his face.

Suddenly, a slight glimmer of light caught Saffron's eye. A strand of spiderweb silk was right in front of her face, and she could tell something was wrong. It was too late to stop, but her eyes were able to follow the strand to its source. The other end was attached to the tree that Swellow had just hit, and a weird looking hexagonal spider web drifted lightly in the wind, being detached from its anchors in the leaves. Swellow's mishap had allowed this spider web to be set up in her path.