This was not good. This was really not good.

Hideo didn’t know where Andy had transported him to. With the grass beneath him and the sounds of so many Pokemon echoing around him, he could only assume he was somewhere in the wild. But where exactly, he didn’t know.

His first instinct was to try his phone to call for some help - and as any horror story goes, there was no cell service. No way for him to contact his brother - who was likely still at the festival - and no way for him to get directions. And no way for them to find him.

He could hear countless Pokemon around him. No doubt they were surprised about his sudden arrival. He only had two Pokemon with him - the very small, very pink Ribombee currently sitting on his head, and the Hatterene he still had in her Pokeball, still asleep from all that powder John Sullivan ’s Pokemon dusted her with. He did have the means to cure it, but he was fairly certain her first reaction would be a very violent one, so best not to do that until he was certain he needed her.

And besides, none of the Pokemon he heard were actually doing anything to him yet. He did hear one circling around him, but it didn’t seem like it was doing anything but dance and make some weird jingling noise.

All in all, Hideo was a bit jittery. He was completely lost in a place he didn’t know.

So he sat there, hoping Andy would show up and at least try to give him an idea what was going on.

At least it sounded like there was someone else nearby. A person.

“H-hello?” he said, staying in place, “Did...did Andy send you here too?”  He hoped he was right - that it was actually a person.

Andy Blackadder Celia Auclair

She sounded just as confused as he was, though a lot calmer.

"Y-yeah. I'm one of Andy's friends. We were hanging out together until... everything happened back there." Hideo still didn't fully understand what went down there. Too much happened at once for him to fully perceive.

"He was saying some weird stuff about people trying to stalk him or something? Some conspiracy out to get him? I dunno; he wasn't making a lot of sense back there." Did Hideo doing well at that shooting game really set him off that badly? Andy was a bit aggressive, but he didn't seem like the paranoid sort.

But one thing he did remember was a woman coming by and sounding like she hadn't seen Andy in years. Hideo couldn't get her voice down immediately, but she did sound a bit like the woman here right now.

Wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Were you that lady that was looking for him? I heard someone saying his name a lot, and they sounded really happy to see him."

But only just after asking, he heard that jingling noise again - this time approaching him. Must have been the same Pokemon circling around him before. It stopped at a point in front of him, just making that jingling sound over and over in the same spot.

Needless to say, Hideo had no idea what it wanted, just staring in that direction with closed eyes.

Fortunately, his Ribombee was a bit more savvy to the Banette’s intentions - and much less cautious than he probably should be. His little wings beat fast, lifting off the boy’s head and onto his hand. He gently guided the boy’s hand towards the bouncing ghost, letting him feel its soft, plushie-like body.

It did seem to calm Hideo somewhat - he seemed a little less jittery. And Pinky did make sure to keep an eye on their interaction.

Andy Blackadder Celia Auclair

The Pokemon Hideo touched seemed happy, brushing against his hand, even wrapping what he assumed were its hands around his arm. He was starting to understand what exactly it wanted from him, but it helped that his Ribombee guided his other arm to the plushie-like Pokemon until Hideo was effectively hugging it.

It felt nice to hold. Definitely helped calm him down a bit more.

The woman confirmed she was calling out Andy’s name before...and something else that caught Hideo off guard, immediately stealing his full attention.

“You’re...his mom?” Hideo couldn’t hide his bewilderment, his head cocked to the side - though he wasn’t facing towards her. He distinctly remembered Andy saying his mom had run away, leaving him behind. Yet this woman seemed to be looking for him, and she’d sounded so happy to be reunited at the festival.

It didn’t add up. Someone was lying to him. Either Andy wasn’t being honest about what happened with his parents, or this woman wasn’t who she said she was.

...

He had to find out what was going on. But on the off-chance Andy really had been telling the truth about some conspiracy going after him, Hideo would be careful.

“He...told me he hadn’t seen his mom in a while,” Hideo said, “He didn’t know if he’d ever see her again...so why are you-”

Before he could finish his question, Hideo heard a sound a good distance away. He reflexively held the plushie Pokemon closer as he faced towards the noise, unsure what was going on. His Ribombee flew on top of his head, using it as a vantage point to get a good view (and keep his trainer safe).

“H-hello?” Hideo asked, unsure what was going on, “Is someone else there? Is that Andy?” Maybe the woman could tell him what was going on.

Andy Blackadder Celia Auclair

"I went missing" was a real funny term to use. It was a lot different from the “[they] ran off" he'd gotten from Andy a while back. Just as vague too, but that ambiguity was a lot more suspicious coming from the person who supposedly was the one who ran off.

Whether or not this woman was Andy's mom, the way Andy talked to - well, shouted at - her gave Hideo pause. He knew if he even thought to talk like that to his parents - or any authority - he'd get grounded for weeks. Hearing Andy go full-crass with her was surprising, to say the least.

And it did lend credence the idea that this woman wasn't actually Andy's mother.

Hideo had a lot of questions for Andy. And he really wanted answers. But first, he had to help free him. Andy probably wouldn't be too keen on answering him while he was being smothered.

Hideo stood up, facing towards where he heard Andy struggling. "You should let him go, Miss," Hideo said, holding tight to the Banette. Which probably didn't look too intimidating, but he was too focused to think about letting it go.

Pinky was quick to notice Hideo's intent, and sighed as he once again left his comfy spot, flying a small distance ahead of his trainer - though he was still much closer to Hideo than Andy and his "mom".  He looked at the two Pokemon attending the woman. A Butterfree and a Centiskorch; neither seemed like the type he had a good chance against, if he had to take them on himself.

Of course, there was always the "nuclear" option. But it probably wouldn't be easy to get Hideo's Hatterene to focus on fighting those Pokemon. Especially not when Andy was radiating so much aggression that he could pretty much feel it from where he flew.

Andy Blackadder Celia Auclair

There was a tense moment as Pinky waited to see whether or not a fight would break out. The situation looked decidedly in their host's favor, with the woman and her two Pokemon surrounded by a small army of ghosts, but he knew well enough that people weren't always reasonable.

Once he saw there was no fight to be had, he audibly sighed in relief - and returned to Hideo at a fairly significant speed, slowing down only to properly position himself atop his hairy throne.

Hideo let his tension go, though he still held on to the Banette; even if he thought himself too old for stuffed toys, holding this Pokemon felt nice. With that issue solved, he could focus more on the questions he had for Andy.

He noticed Andy mention this was his "domain". Which explained all the Pokemon he could hear around him: knowing Andy, they were all probably ghost-types.

While that did explain the "what" questions he'd been wondering on his arrival, it still didn't answer his more important question.

And now that Andy was free, he could ask it, even if Andy seemed more interested in telling-off this woman.

"Andy?" Hideo said, inching closer to the other boy, "Where did you send us? I can't get any cell service around here. Please tell me you didn't send me too far from the festival."

If he could at least answer the "where", he'd have a decent idea how to get back home. Or back to the festival, where his brother was probably looking for him.

Andy Blackadder Celia Auclair