Walking alone in the forest isn't a very ideal thing to do, especially if it's at night and that particular forest is on an island that nobody cares about.

Austin found himself walking against the cold grass from last night's rain, the water droplets tickling against his exposed ankles while he retains his firm grip on his hat.

A part of him even wonders what he was doing but feeling the soft wind blowing against him, soothing him of all his troubles made him forget the question.

Where was he?

After a while of walking, Austin turned and caught a hint of mocha underneath a log.

He stops as he stares at the log, now seeing the mocha paw that's sticking out from underneath it. Dread then hits him with the force of a tidal wave as many thoughts of how this scenario happened. Luckily, the log was being lifted by two hills, so it wasn't crushing it as he previously thought, but that still didn't wash away the dread that was placed over him.

With the hat still in hand, Austin makes his way around the hills, being mindful of his steps. Due to this unstable landscape, he could fall and hurt himself, and he's got a feeling that it won't be there to help him. He was able to make it to the other side with no problems, but a part of him wished he did so it could delay what he was seeing right before him.

Laying there, completely lifeless against the mud on the ground. The paw that he saw is, indeed, sticking out of the log and, thankfully, isn't crushed by it. But what worried him is how lifeless it looks, even with the bumpy landscape, it didn't move once to get into a comfortable position.

Feeling the hat slip from his grasp, Austin made a beeline towards it, ignoring the fact he could fall and hurt himself in this unstable area. Luckily, that didn't happen as he fell at her side. The first thing he did was check her pulse, his hand placed lightly on Raticate's neck, but feeling tense at the same time.

' Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay! '

He kept thinking over and over again, praying for everything so that she can be okay. She couldn't be dead, not like this!

Ba-bump!

Ba-bump!

Feeling the slight bumps against his fingertips made him sigh in relief.

At least she's alive, but then more thoughts enter the mind.

What exactly happened to her?

Where am I?

What was I doing before coming here?

As gently as he could, Austin places his hands on Raticate's body and slowly turns her body over so that her back is facing the ground and he can look at her face. Her face seems completely at ease, despite everything that happened for a few days.

Wait! What has happened these last few days?

Ignoring the thought, Austin did not see a single sign of distress on her face, which made him feel slightly better.

He places his hand in her fur and gently caresses it, enjoying the feeling of her soft and messy fur against his skin.

Shaking his head, he then picks up her warm paw to give her a soft squeeze of-

Wait...

Her paw's cold...

Why were her paws cold?

Her paw is supposed to be warm...

Looking down, Austin could feel his breath hitching in the most ferocious way possible. Instead of the soft, warm, mocha-skinned paw that he had previously suspected to pick up, it was replaced by something he hoped he never saw again.

The hand became a dark-grey color, like something out of a color pallet for Halloween. Sharp, dirty nails are produced from the hand, longer than any nails that she has ever seen. For a moment, he was glad that he didn't touch that part so it couldn't rip through his skin. No longer was the fur soft like he expected it to be, it was now the driest thing he's ever felt. Almost like an old man's skin that has been deprived of all the moisture and warmth it needed. Just seeing and feeling this familiar hand again gave him a whole new sense of dread, bigger than the one he previously had.

Looking down, his dread became even bigger as he saw her infected with that same grey skin. It covers almost all of her body, except for her head.

Austin then puts his other hand on her shoulder, trembling slightly when he still felt that familiar frosty touch beneath his fingertips.

And then her eyes open...

But they weren't brown.

They're red...

Glowing red.

Then she gave him that horrible smirk that send chills down his spine as Raticate's face distorted and turned into his mother's face.

" Why did you; leave !"

His mother's face contorted into Ash's face.

" Give me back my life, you thief !"

Ash's face distorted into his original face he smirked.

" You killed her ."

Austin's face distorted into an abomination of Raticate, Ash and his family's face as their jaw opened towards his frozen body.

The abomination bit down as

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A scream.

Cynthia sat bolt upright as shrieking could be heard.

"A-Ash?"

Cynthia immediately opened the door as she saw a scene that pained her heart.

Austin was gripping the sheets so hard his knuckles had turned white. His black hair stuck to his forehead from the mixture of sweat and tears on his face.

Pikachu was screaming in panic, sparks flying from his cheeks.

"No Pikachu!" Cynthia grabbed the small Pokémon, holding him up before he could shock Ash.

"A-Ash? Ash, what's wrong?" Cynthia knelt by the bed, taking his shoulder and gently shaking it. Austin flinched at just her touch, and it broke Cynthia's heart.

Austin curled up into a tight ball, still sobbing.

Everything was coming back to him.

Cynthia didn't know what to do even though she had lost her parents, she was spared from witnessing their corpses but her friend had a much worse encounter.

The nightmare Ash was having, was grabbing at her heartstrings and twisting them until her chest felt hollow.

She remembered back when she was just a child. She woke up screaming in the night, sheets damp from a nightmare she no longer remembered. Her grandmother had sat by her bed, gently stroking his hair and running her fingers down her ear and neck.

The soft-touch had soothed her, bringing him back to the real world.

Cynthia mimicked this now.

Slowly caressing Ash's hair and mumbling comforting phrases to the boy.

Austin barely reacted at first, but his body slowly began to calm.

His muscles relaxed until he was just quietly sobbing.

"Ash?" Cynthia whispered in the most soothing voice she could. "I am here. You're okay, you're safe"

Austin slowly opened his large, tear-filled, dark brown eyes.

Cynthia smiled, thankful he was awake, taking his hand in her and rubbing her thumb slowly across his hand in a comforting gesture.

"Ash, Do you wanna talk about it?"

Austin hesitated before saying," I am fine. It was just a silly nightmare."

Austin stood up from the bed and left towards the bathroom.

Cynthia didn't try to stop him as she knew very well if she forces herself into his problem then the problem would never be solved.

Rubbing Pikachu's head who was sad for his trainer.

Everyone on the team had been affected by Raticate's death.

Bulbasaur, Scyther, Krabby, Charmander, and Squirtle all were giving it their all into training themselves even going as far as asking Cynthia to have one of her Pokemon ' Buizel ' train them.

Pidgeot refused to come out of her Pokeball even with Fearow taunting her.

Clefairy and Butterfree would just sit outside and gaze at the sky.

He ( Pikachu) meanwhile knew that as the starter Pokémon he had to stay strong. Not only for everyone else's sake but also for his trainer's sake who seemed to have taken Raticate's departure the hardest.

Pikachu glanced at Cynthia who gave him a small him.

" I'm sorry Pikachu but I can't help him until he wants to seek out him."

" Pika! Pika! "

Hugging Pikachu, Cynthia immediately got the idea to ask for help from nurse joy.

If ash wasn't going to ask for him then as his friend she had to do something.