Trio? Quartet??

Belle looked around. She was at the entrance of the Forest of Wonders, and it didn't get its name for nothing. The place looked wonderful and full of life. The only fault was that she didn't know the exit nor how she could get back to Route 1. Belle looked down at Mimi, who looked back up at her. She picked Mimi up and settled her on her head. Belle decided to explore while she was here and began walking in a random direction.

After a while, she found out that wasn't the best move. "Mimi?" Belle looked up towards her Pokemon. Mimi looked back down at her curiously. "Do you know the way out?" Belle laughed nervously. Mimi shook her head and barked. Belle cupped her hands and called out, "Hello?!" hoping that someone would answer.

Ed was walking in the forest a bit lost, Anubis walking walking next to him. "Did you hear that?" Ed walked through a few bushes to see Belle. "Hello there!" Ed said cheerfully. "Were you the one calling for someone?" Anubis finally finished getting through the bushes.

Rave sighed as he came across the same path he had been through just before. Not only did he lose his way to here, but he had lost his way IN the forest. He heard someone cry out a greetings and followed it, his new teammate, Runa, just behind him. He fell into the clearing, tripping over some roots. Runa leaped onto his back and sat on it, looking at the two trainers called Ed and Belle with curiosity.

Almost immediately, she got a response. A few moments later a boy and his Riolu came from some bushes and greeted her happily, then another boy who tripped among some roots and fell near her. She didn't expect to see people this quickly and looked up at Mimi, who looked just as confused as her.

Belle smiled at the first boy with the satchel. "Um, yes. I got a bit lost and.. I need help out." she said, laughing at herself. Then she trotted over to the boy who fell and stuck out a hand. "Are you okay?" she asked, Mimi curiously looking back at him.

"Oh you need help getting out. That might be a problem then... Me and my pokemon have no idea where we are... Heh..." Ed rubbed the back of his head then noticed Rave. "Wait a minute! Your that kid from the lab!" Ed pointed at Rave then suddenly was normal again. "I never got your name..."

"Runa, get off of me..."Rave ordered. The pokemon leaped off and panted happily. Rave got up on his own and dusted his pants of, "Ah, you again." he said to the boy with the bag. Runa watched the riolu with interest and barked a hello, to the lillipup too. Rave introduced himself, "I'm Rave, and i'm ok." he sounded a bit uninterested and uncaring about the others.

Lily White was heading through the forest, hoping to find the shrine. Her Shinx, Kaito, followed behind her, a bit happy today. Lily heard some commotion, and Kaito's large blue ears perked up too. Peeking through the bushes, Lily saw a few other trainers talking to each other. "I guess we're late to the party..." Lily whispered, remaining silent to try and spy on the others. Kaito wanted to look, too. He went over to Lily and then attempted to get in a bush, but that ended up making a lot of noise.

"Gosh dangit Kaito!"

Belle sighed. "It looks like none of us know the way out, then." Belle pushed a strand of brown hair out of her eyes. She smiled as the Poochyena hopped off her owner, she was quite the cute one. Belle was about to introduce herself towards both of them, when she heard rustling then someone yelling. Mimi had barked at both Anubis and Runa, then started growling.

Mimi hopped off her owner's head ( "Ow!!!" ) and onto the ground, getting into a battle stance while continuing to growl. She approached the bush carefully, Belle taking a step forward after her. Mimi began barking at the bush Lily and Kaito were in, then running over to the bush and narrowing her eyes. She dove into the bush before Belle could stop her. Mimi now could see the pair and stopped growling, eyes suddenly curious and tail wagging. She popped her head back out towards Belle and barked, letting her know she caught the spy.

Belle ran towards Mimi and picked her up quickly. "Mimi, no! I'm sure they mean no harm." Belle giggled, booping the Pokemon on the nose. The Puppy Pokemon barked happily and licked Belle quickly before looking back down at Lily and Kaito. Belle glanced down at the now-exposed spies. "Hello there," she said cautiously, "Who are you, and why are you spying on us? Or.. whatever you're doing."

"Why were you spying on us is right. So why were you?" Ed noticed how Lily and her shinx were sort of in a bit of a situation with the three of the others wondering why they were there. "So anyways... I'm gonna guess you aren't here to try and hurt us as you'd be at a high disadvantage. So in a more friendly matter, my names Ed.

Runa had retreated behind Rave as the scene occurred. She wasn't as strong as Rufflet, so she didn't think Rave would want her to battle. Rave had stepped over her though and now she was in front in case a battle was about to happen. She stared at her master in disbelief, but turned to see that the other pokemon had already went after the whatever it was in the bushes. Runa sighed in relief and growled menacingly at the person in the bushes from afar, pretending to be doing something useful.

Rave spotted the trainer and the shinx, "You can come out of the bushes now, we all obviously know you're there." he was cautious about the trainer, he was cautious about the entire group. Except for Ed, he wasn't really concerned about the boy that had slipped on a pokeball since he didn't seem to dangerous. Rave didn't know what to say since the others had already said what was on his mind. "Awfully odd that all of us were brought together in one place." he spoke after a silence as the other trainers spoke.

Lily sighed, they we're exposed. She sighed. "Spying? Yeah sure," she admitted, crossing her arms, "But does it seriously even count if it was only for less than a minute?" Lily looked over at everyone's Pokemon, but mainly the Lillipup who had gone crazy the moment Lily arrived. "But anyway, I'm Lily."

Kaito just smiled to himself, trotting over to the other Pokemon. He looked at all the little four-legged Pokemon like they we his family. "Shiiinx~! (Hello~!)" he said, greeting the others.

"Yes, duh." Belle rolled her eyes rudely The girl was tempted to say yes, but decided against it and pretended not to hear Lily. Mimi smiled apologetically as she decided they weren't evil, then gave a lick to Lily on her nose.

"Lilli! Lillipup, pup. ( Hello! Sorry for thinking you're evil. )" Mimi barked happily towards Kaito, running back towards Belle. Belle, however, wasn't so certain of Lily. "I'm Belle, the one and only. It's nice to meet all of you." Belle pretended that Lily was never spying on them in the first place. It just so happened that she was in a bush, crouched down and with a Pokemon, trying not to be seen.

Of course it was a coincidence.

Belle frowned at what Rave said. "You're right.." She trailed off, wanting to say something but wasn't sure of what.

"So, I get the feeling you're as lost as us?" Ed said looking at Lily. "Mostly because the average person would get out of the forest when they start thinking they're lost. However, I guess none of us are average." Ed looked around. "Nothing but trees and more trees. Strange thing is my GPS isn't working. A GPS these days almost always works. I get the feeling something here doesn't want us to leave... It's can't be a coincidence we all find each other, don't remember where to go and all our Compasses and GPS are broken."

Runa sniffed about and couldn't find a trail, she whined and pawed Rave's Jeans, "Runa can't find our own trail either...there's something going on." He stated. "It's just like Fedora-Boy said." Rave paused and continued, "I want to get out as fast as I can, I don't know if what's keeping us here is friendly or not. Nothing good could possibly come of this..." he allowed Runa to leap onto his shoulder and partially sit on his head again. Runa flattened his hair and barked, trying to get her means of transport to get moving.

Lily looked around at the others. "Uh... Then what do we do now?" she said, though Lily was sure that was what everyone was thinking. "If you guys' equipment isn't working, that probably means something is out to get us." Lily's fingers started fidgeting, a sign that she was a bit nervous. After that 'spying' incident, Lily was sure any idea she had would be rejected.

Belle looked at the others, then the forest around them. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna find the thing that's holding us back." she knew that might not be the smartest decision, having only one level five Pokemon, but she decided to risk it.

"If anyone wants has a better plan, speak up before I go try to find out." Belle said, rather determined. On the inside, she took note of how she felt like she was being.. watched, and it made her rather afraid. Belle kept her mouth shut about that. Then as the wind blew gently into the forest, a small whisper could be heard, just barely. Enough to make you think it was simply the wind.

"don't.. go."

Belle froze, determination fading just as the wind died down. "Did.. you hear that?" The girl said, voice nervous. Mimi barked, confused.

"Hear what?" Ed didn't seem to hear anything, nor did Anubis. "Maybe being lost if making you a bit crazy, or I might be going crazy and not hearing whatever you heard I'm not sure, did you two hear anything?" He said looking towards lily and Rave.

"I heard something." Rave said, he looked about in search of the source of the noise. It has felt like the voice has whispered into his ear, he looked to the others. He felt a strong chill out of nowhere and picked up Runa, growing a bit nervous. He didn't show it though, showing nervousness was a sign of weakness. He kept his ears open, in case the voice spoke again. He heard the voice and spoke what it said aloud:

"Come to me...please..."

Lily heard... Something. She couldn't make it out at all, but she heard a small voice. "I heard something though I can't quite make it out." she said, looking aroubd. "I say we find it and get outta here!" she said, her ears open. Rave seemed to hear it, too, but much better than she did. It seemed as if something was calling for them...

Belle looked around. The forest was still teeming with life, and it looked very pretty. ".. Where do we actually look?" she said, picking Mimi up. Mimi barked, as if to reply "I don't know". Belle looked at the group curiously. She started to become eager to leave, but at the same time Belle wanted to find out whatever was calling them.

"please don't go.. i'm nice, i promise."

Belle shivered a bit. It sounded a bit creepy, yet it said it was nice. She decided to humor the Pokemon / Human / thingy and reply. "Well.. um. Where are you?" the girl took a step forward, clutching Mimi a bit tighter. At first, there was no reply. It seemed as if they were thinking. For a moment, the wind simply blew and it took a few minutes. Belle began to think the thing had given up and she could go.

"let's play. come and find me.."

"Okay now I heard something... 'Come and find me...'" As long as it's not Come Follow me. Ed looked around. "Well if it says to come and find it... We might as well... There's four of us anyways, unless it has a trap set." Ed started walking through some of the bushes. "Let's go then... Unless anyone objects?"

"Curiosity killed the cat, i guess i'm a cat then." Rave had also figure out the direction of the noise. He moved towards the voice ahead of the group, uncaring if the other came or not. He pushed away some bushes and soon came to a extremely dense part of the forest.

"Come to me...I'm here..." The voice begged.

Rave felt a chill as a breeze came from the denser part of the forest, "Looks like it would be even easier to get lost in this part." he spoke to himself.

Lily shivered at the voice. It was creepy. And playing games with creepy voices didn't feel right in Lily's mind. She glanced at Kaito, who had his large blue ears perked up. "Well, if you guys really want to find that voice, be my guest. I'll look, but if in the end we become soulless husks, don't say I didn't warn ya'!" Lily said, following a bit behind Rave.

[ sudden plot twist: the voice is slendy ]

Belle suddenly felt a breeze drift past her, and all at once she got these.. emotions. "Do you.. feel that?" she said, following the others and looking a bit nervous, yet.. happy at the same time. "i feel happy. do you?" the voice spoke, sounding a tone brighter. Belle studied the voice as she followed the group. She found herself nodding.

"i am sad you can not find me.. i am mad we are not friends. i am jealous of all of you for having Pokemon. i am different emotions. i am different.. do you feel it? can you play along with me?"

Belle didn't know what to say. Was this Mesprit, the Emotion Pokemon? No.. Mesprit was at Sinnoh. She was lost in thought. Mimi began to bark, struggling to get down. Belle set her down curiously. Mimi began to yip about. She ran into the deeper and more dense part of the forest. "you want to play too? the more, the better.."" the voice said, giggling and seemingly leading Mimi deeper. Belle suddenly snapped out of it. "Mimi!!" she called, gasping. Without much thought, Belle followed her Pokemon into the forest, forgetting about the other three trainers.

"Belle where are you going?!" Ed said moving out of the way... "This voice... It's getting weirder... It has to be a psychic type pokemon though. I think it might have brain washed Belle's pokemon..." Ed said. Anubis seemed a bit off. Like something was biting at his mind.