Bears in the Woods

"So you're saying..."

After hearing Akari out, Mingyou looked up at Raikiri again. He wanted to speak, but he still couldn't believe a living person had simply died.

"Um..."

Was she dead...?

Ogerpon was sensitive to the word "death."

"Yoo..."

Wyrdeer shook its head. It had lost its memory too, but instinct told it this person wasn't dead. Her soul had vanished, and Wyrdeer's Mental Power could just barely sense that.

"Her soul vanished? Isn't that still death?"

Mingyou asked without thinking. Akari rubbed her forehead and shook her head. "Wyrdeer means she's still alive. Someone took her soul, leaving her in a deathlike state."

"Uh... I was just thinking that too. But souls are pretty mysterious. If anything could be involved, it'd have to be..."

"Ghost-type Pokémon!"

They gave the answer in unison.

Mingyou nodded. Latias had been frightened of this forest earlier, making him suspect that one or even several powerful Ghost-type Pokémon lived here. Now he was almost certain.

"So they made this fog too? To make it easier to catch prey?"

As he considered it, he glanced overhead and asked, "Couldn't we find a flying Pokémon and fly out?"

"Yoo..."

Wyrdeer shook its head.

"What does that mean?"

"It says it doesn't matter which way you go. Even if you fly up or dig down, you probably won't get out. As long as the fog stays, leaving is impossible."

"No way..."

Mingyou shook his head at Akari's explanation. He clearly didn't believe anything so absurd. This wasn't a horror novel. How could they be trapped in some ghostly maze?

But Ogerpon nodded...

"Huh?"

"Um..."

Ogerpon explained that the fog really did work that way. Once, when it had come alone to look for its Mask while the forest was foggy, it had been trapped all night.