Over the next hour, two more Ninjask tried their luck with Dawn, only to quickly get knocked out. While I gave Prince Charming orders to help, his greatest achievement was to keep Ivie and myself warm and comfortable. He managed to set one of the Ninjask on fire with his Embers, but given that it got knocked out only moments later, that didn’t really count as a contribution.

“There they come.” Ivie stopped the story she had been telling me, one of the tales of her own journey, focusing on a quiet noise in the night. No longer the buzzing sound of the NInjask but a high-pitched, chirping sound. While the sound was less intense, compared to the buzzing, it appeared to be more spread out, coming from far more sources. Before I could try to make out more, a bright Flash, coming from behind us, lit up the night for a moment. Across the field, there were countless small forms, roughly twenty centimetres high but half a metre in length, crawling towards us, the source of the noise. The flash repeated, again and again, coming ever quicker, creating a horrifying shadow-theatre, allowing me to see the approaching Nincada for a moment, before darkness swallowed them back up.

“Dawn, scatter some spikes, let them know they’re not welcome.” Ivie called, once the crawling shapes were some forty metres away. Similar to her earlier moves, Dawn’s bouquets shed some deep purple light, before large thorns with that glow got tossed out, covering an arch of ground before her.

“Move back, towards town. Draw a mental line, some ten metres behind me. Any Nincada that cross that line, you and your Charmeleon have to deal with.” Ivie ordered, and I retreated, walking backwards so I wouldn’t get blinded by the constant, flashing light coming from town. It was bright enough, even when looking down, my night-vision would be utterly wasted.. Once I was in position, I gave Charm next to me a brief squeeze, and began watching.

Ivie was working incredibly economically, letting Dawn simply scatter spikes in a massive arch and as I was watching, the approaching Nincada crawled over them, only for the spikes to get absorbed into their bodies. The spikes caused their bodies to shed a soft, purple glow. Once the small, green-white bugs were poisoned, Ivie simply let them continue their crawl, their sturdy claws digging into the ground to drag them forward.

Curiously, most Nincada didn’t even try to go for Dawn, instead they simply crawled on. The few that did, were either blasted with the move she had used against the Ninjask earlier, or swept aside with volleys of razor-sharp leaves, similar to Twiggy’s Leafage. No, most bugs simply crawled forward, trying to bypass Ivie and the tyrannical flower that ruled that part of the field. But the scattered poison simply didn’t care for their intentions and most of them were knocked out long before they reached the imaginary line. And yet, some of them did, mostly those that didn’t get poisoned by the spikes.

“Charm, Ember, burn the bug.” I quietly ordered, once the first made it into our territory. Given the bug’s slow, crawling movement, it didn’t even try to dodge, taking the thin stream of gleaming fragments right to the chest. It didn’t start burning, but it certainly noticed Charm, changing it’s path and suddenly speeding up. Not fast enough to rival the earlier Ninjask, not by a long shot, but fast enough to be a threat.

“Again.” I simply ordered and another stream of embers shot out, hitting the bug, just as it started to glow with the neon-green energy I associated with bug-type attacks. Not that it ever got the chance to strike, the fiery attack was enough to send it fainted to the ground.

Looking around, I made sure no other bugs were crossing the line, sending Charm whenever necessary.

It had been some thirty minutes since the first Nincada had reached Dawn’s Toxic Spikes. In that time, Charm and I had dealt with five Nincada, two of whom had been weakened by poison, but Charm had taken a few hits in turn. I had treated him with Potion, but fatigue would soon start to accumulate.

Watching the field, I blinked a few times, trying to decide if I was seeing things or not. My tired mind needed a moment to decide that I wasn’t hallucinating, but that the translucent, golden form that was floating through the dark, almost invisible to the eye, was a Shedinja. Given that it was almost exactly between Farrell and Ivie, either Claire or I would have to move. And given that I wasn’t sure Claire had noticed, it was on Charm and myself.

“Charm, over there.” I pointed and the Shedinja seemed to realise that it had been noticed, suddenly becoming faster. Trying to gauge the speed and distance, I wanted to order Charm to use his Dragon Breath, the fast-moving stream of primal fire, the best move to strike. But before I gave the command, I remembered a warning Ivie had given me, that the Shedinja were immune to most attacks, with only a few having the ability to harm them. The primal fire of a Dragon Breath was not one of them, only normal fire would do.

“Move in.” I ordered instead, hoping that closing the distance was the right call. Both Pokémon quickly advanced on each other, and as the Shedinja started to glow, I ordered Charm to burn it. The stream of fire, spread out wide to cover the largest possible volume of space, making dodging almost impossible, crossed paths with a ray of ghostly energy. The energy struck Charm and he started to sway, dazed and confused. On the other hand, the Shedinja tried to avoid as much of the attack as possible, just like the Ninjask had tried earlier, but again, the wide-spread attack was enough to get a few on target.

Ivie had told me Shedinja were incredibly fragile, but what happened the moment a single ember struck it made my eyes widen in shock. The translucent, golden form solidified, only to suddenly go up in flames burning away in a brief flash of light, with nothing remaining.

“Charm, come back.” I called, too shocked to process what happened. The Shedinja had simply vanished, not fainted but… died?

When Charm was still staggering around in the field, seemingly unable to move in a straight line, even stumbling and falling to the ground at one point, my worry shifted. After checking that no wild Pokémon were nearby, I quickly ran over, carefully pulling him up. He continued to sway in my arms, as I held him, trying to soothe his confused form with my voice until finally, he settled, heavily leaning against me.

“Well done. But we still got work to do.” I told him, and we retreated back to our position, holding the line.

For the next hour, the fighting continued. When there was a lull in the approaching Nincada, I briefly glanced around, trying to observe the battles of others. I could see, in one of the frequent flashes of light, Myna swooped in on a Nincada, striking it with her wings and sending it flying, just as she returned to the sky.

Further way, I briefly caught a glimpse of Cliff and his partner, too far to make out any details but a jet of water. So many different forms, so many different individuals, Pokémon and Human alike. And all were trying to stop the approaching bugs.

Finally, the fighting ebbed off and Ivie called me over.

“Well done, I think.” She complimented me. “Fighting appears to be done, but we’ll remain at the wall until dawn, just in case.” she told me. As we walked back, I relayed my experience with the Shedinja and she gave me a brief nod and explained.

“I’ve heard about that. Apparently, the actual form of the Pokémon is invisible and insubstantial, it is a ghost that possesses an empty shell. Once the shell burns away, it retreats, seeking for a new one.”

“Can you catch them?” I asked, still somewhat confused.

“Dunno, don’t think so. Maybe if you’ve got a Nincada that evolves in the right circumstances? No idea, really.” she shrugged and we settled in on the wall, waiting for the sunrise.

For most of the night, Ivie and I chatted, sharing stories of our travels. Mostly, it was Ivie who shared as my travels were very limited, but it was an interesting conversation nonetheless.

As the sun rose, the first Pokémon in the field seemed to recover, the Ninjask taking to the sky and quickly moving away.

All but one, at least as far as I could see.

“Oh, no.” Ivie quietly muttered next to me, as the Ninjask started buzzing towards the town. Before it ever got there, a stream of fire engulfed it, sending it tumbling back down. As it lay there, fainted again, Gym-Leader Bree approached with a massive, dark canine, almost as tall as she was at the shoulder. Stopping next to the fainted Ninjask, she quietly gave an order to the Pokémon next to her, and there was a brief stream of pure darkness coming from its mouth, surrounding the Ninjask.

Suddenly, I felt a brutal, gut-wrenching sense of loss and through teary eyes, I could see that the Ninjask was no longer there. Holding onto Ivie, who was crying against my shoulder, I tried to process the event. The death of a Pokémon.