Whispers of the Forest

The canopy of Elmshade Forest filtered the sunlight into shifting gold and green, dappling the mossy ground in waves of warm color. The air was rich with the scent of leaves and old bark, tinged with the faint musk of wild Pokémon.

Ray took a slow breath and let it settle in his chest.

"So quiet…" he muttered.

"Right?" Kira said with a grin. "It's kinda awesome."

They moved through the underbrush at a careful pace. Pidgey flew just above them, wings outstretched to catch every subtle wind current. Machop walked beside Kira, one hand lightly dragging across nearby ferns as if feeling the rhythm of the forest.

Ray occasionally tapped the temporary field monitor clipped to his jacket. It pinged softly each time he logged a new observation: trail patterns, claw marks, discarded berries.

Then—a rustle up ahead.

Kira halted mid-step. "Did you hear that?"

Ray nodded. His eyes flicked to Pidgey, who had frozen mid-flight and was tilting its head toward a cluster of bushes.

Out stepped a Sentret, its tail curled high like a flag. It froze when it saw them, one paw half-raised.

Sentret – Aptitude: Core Yellow | Combat Level: 12

Healthy. Cautious. But not aggressive.

Ray extended a hand slowly—not to catch it, just to let it sense their presence.

"Easy, little guy. Just passing through."

The Sentret stared for a moment longer, then gave a chirp and darted off between the trees.

"Okay," Kira whispered. "That was cool."

"Yellow aptitude," Ray murmured. "Not bad for a forest edge."

They moved on, spirits lifted.

Every few minutes, they encountered signs of activity:

Burrows, expertly dug and masked under rotting leaves—probably home to wild Nidoran.

Scratch marks on a fallen log, likely from a Zigzagoon sharpening its claws.

Berry trees with signs of feeding: peeled Pecha rinds, Oran pits buried in moss.

Then, they found their first real sign of something unusual.

Kira spotted it first.

"Ray," she said, pointing up.

Perched in the high branches of a tree, partially hidden by the shadows, was a Hoothoot—not just resting, but watching them with eerie stillness.

Ray activated Statsight.

Hoothoot – Aptitude: Deep Yellow | Combat Level: 18Condition: Alert. Defensive posture. Possibly guarding territory.

"That's close to the high end of Yellow," Ray whispered.

Kira kept her voice low. "Should we back off?"

"No," Ray said, after a moment's thought. "It's not aggressive. Just… protecting something."

Sure enough, they circled around the tree and discovered a small nest built in the hollow of the roots. No eggs, but the careful construction indicated this was its territory.

They logged it in the field monitor, marking the site for future study.

As the hour passed, the deeper they went, the more the forest revealed.

A stream trickled through a ravine, its banks lined with stones marked by the webbing of a wild Spinarak. Ray observed tiny movements in the brush and identified at least three species by sound alone.

"Wurmple, Lotad… and that chirp, I think it's a Budew," he noted.

Kira nodded, impressed. "You're like a walking Pokédex."

Ray chuckled. "Just paying attention."

Truthfully, he could see much more than he let on—but even Statsight had limits in unfamiliar territory. It didn't tell him emotions, intent, or danger levels. Those, he had to learn through instinct.

Near the two-hour mark, they rested on a flat rock overlooking a shallow clearing.

Kira laid back with a sigh. "I could do this every day."

"Same," Ray said. "No bells. No buildings. Just the world as it is."

"Do you think the other groups are doing okay?"

Ray shrugged. "Most are probably just logging trees and following Pidgey flocks."

"Cael's probably already mapped the entire southern quadrant."

Ray smiled. "Probably."

Just then, a shadow passed overhead.

Both of them looked up.

A Taillow, fast and sharp-winged, dove through the canopy. Pidgey lifted off immediately to give chase—more out of instinct than aggression.

They watched as the two birds spiraled together in an elegant aerial dance before parting and vanishing into the trees.

Ray's Statsight had pinged.

Taillow – Aptitude: Core Green | Combat Level: 16"Strong flight control. Slightly wounded on right wing."

He filed the mental note away and smiled to himself.

There was so much to learn here. So much to see.

And they still had two hours left.