Looking at the majestic Arcanine beside him, Heath smiled and reached out to ruffle its fur. This was Sister Feng's ace Pokémon, immensely powerful and incredibly fast.
"Arcanine, help me dry off." Sister Feng gave her Pokémon the command as naturally as could be. Arcanine breathed out thin wisps of flame, which circled Officer Jenny Feng's body. Her sweat-soaked clothes dried instantly.
Heath's mouth twisted. Sister Feng was still the same as ever. Judging by Arcanine's reaction, though, this probably wasn't its first time doing this.
Heath sighed, then sat down to have dinner with Sister Feng.
"Sister Feng, do you know what Pokémon have been showing up in Viridian Forest lately? Or any interesting rumors about it?" Heath swallowed his mouthful of rice, then looked at her and asked.
"Hm? Viridian Forest? I really can't get used to what you young people call it these days. We always used the old name back then." Officer Jenny Feng looked at Heath in mild confusion, then grew nostalgic.
Heath's mouth twitched. The forest's old name had indeed suited the region better, but the League had later renamed it Viridian Forest.
"Viridian Forest... As I recall, it's mostly Bug-type and bird Pokémon there. Supposedly, some people have even spotted Pikachu inside." Officer Jenny Feng set down her chopsticks. She generally didn't eat while talking.
"But I did get a few calls reporting strange things in Viridian Forest. Another version of themselves suddenly appearing in thick fog, white figures floating overhead, things like that." Officer Jenny Feng tried hard to recall the details, while Heath looked thoughtful.
It seemed a new Pokémon really had entered Viridian Forest. Still, those strange incidents sounded more like something out of a horror movie. Heath was a little curious about what exactly had happened there.
"Don't tell me you want to go to Viridian Forest. It might be a safe place, but you and Farfetch'd have only just learned to trust each other, haven't you?" Officer Jenny Feng eyed Heath warily, and he hurriedly put on an innocent smile.
He did intend to visit Viridian Forest, but if Sister Feng came along, he probably wouldn't get to go.
"What kind of Poké Ball is that on your waist?" Officer Jenny Feng noticed the Poké Ball at Heath's waist and asked curiously.
"This... I found it while going through an old box of mine. It won't open." Heath touched the Poké Ball at his waist. Sister Feng was referring to the GS Ball he had received from his cheat ability that day.
"It won't open?" Officer Jenny Feng grew even more curious. She took the Poké Ball Heath handed her and pressed its button several times, but it really wouldn't open.
Officer Jenny Feng took a device from her pocket and pressed it against the GS Ball. Heath recognized it. It could force Poké Balls open and was generally used to rescue Pokémon from Pokémon Hunters.
But even with that device, the GS Ball showed no response, as lifeless as a lump of metal.
"How strange. I've never seen a Poké Ball like this. Could it be an experimental model from Silph Co.?" Officer Jenny Feng looked at the Poké Ball in her hand in confusion. She couldn't even tell whether there was a Pokémon inside.
"Silph?" Heath paused. He knew about Silph Co., the foremost corporate giant in Kanto. They had the ability to manufacture Master Balls, Poké Balls with extraordinarily powerful capture capabilities.
"Yes. Silph Co. only recently came to our Jenny Family to recommend their newest Poké Balls. We need to keep records of the Poké Balls they make, after all." Officer Jenny Feng ladled some soup into her bowl of rice.
Heath felt rather helpless. He didn't approve of Sister Feng eating rice soaked in soup, but she kept letting his advice go in one ear and out the other. There was nothing he could do.
After taking back his GS Ball, Heath chatted with Sister Feng about everything that had happened that day and finished dinner. Then he headed out for a walk and some exercise.
That was also something Sister Feng had insisted on. Before Heath settled on his goal in life, she had always made him exercise. Heath understood her intentions, too: she wanted him to join the Public Security Bureau with her. Unfortunately, he had gone off to become a cook instead.
Still, Heath had kept the habit of setting aside time to exercise every day. This time, however, he wasn't planning to visit his usual spot. He wanted to take a look inside Viridian Forest.
Viridian Forest lay north of Viridian City. It was a naturally formed maze, but fortunately, the Indigo League had later built a path through it, bringing more travelers into the forest.
There weren't many people in Viridian Forest at night. Once Heath stepped inside, he felt a damp chill. The forest was dark at night, and even under the moonlight, it looked rather eerie and frightening.
Shrouded in darkness, the trees ahead looked like demons baring their fangs and brandishing their claws. Heath wasn't particularly bothered, though. He held his flashlight and looked around curiously.
Torches were forbidden in Viridian Forest, but Fire-type moves weren't. Trainers who used moves like Ember had to make sure they put out any flames promptly, or they could easily start a forest fire.
"There really are a lot of Pokémon here." Heath couldn't help marveling as he looked at the Pokémon in Viridian Forest.
Most of the Pokémon along the way were Caterpie and Weedle. Heath had no intention of approaching places where Weedle gathered, though. Beedrill were highly aggressive Pokémon that lived in swarms.
"Farfetch'd! Farfetch'd!" Farfetch'd flew beside Heath, calling out excitedly.
Hearing Farfetch'd, the Caterpie wriggled their plump bodies and desperately scrambled into the grass and up the trees, trying to hide. Bird Pokémon were the natural predators of Bug-type Pokémon.
"There don't seem to be any unusual Pokémon around here." Heath felt a little puzzled. His cheat ability wouldn't be wrong, and Officer Jenny Feng had also said that people really had encountered strange things.
Just as Heath was wondering whether to turn back, he suddenly noticed fog rising in Viridian Forest.
Fog itself wasn't unusual. Viridian Forest did get foggy from time to time, after all. But this fog wasn't normal. It seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and thick fog soon blanketed the entire forest. Heath could no longer see even the nearby trees.
"Farfetch'd!" Heath looked around warily. Something wasn't right.
"Fetch'd!" Gripping its leek, Farfetch'd stood cautiously beside Heath and surveyed their surroundings.
Then Heath saw a little girl dressed in white walk out of the thick fog, clutching a battered teddy bear and looking at him with a strange expression in her eyes.
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