Jake quickly discover how hard it is to navigate a swamp in the dark. Sure, the events of the Dark Gym gave him some practice, but trying to move discreetly when every other step ends up in water is pretty hard. Between that and Jake's outline from the fire, Seymour has no issues following his progress.

Still, Jake manages to reach a dry mound, apparently used as a small camping ground. The light comes from a warm fire, where a pan softly sizzle. The delicious smell of roasted chestnuts mixes with the campfire's smoke, comforting the wet and cold teenager as he climbs the mound. It's only when he's fully in the light, that Jake realizes he sees no one around.

Jake was not truly nervous until he noticed that no one was at the camp site. It felt like a trap to him, but he still had a moment to react. He was probably spotted by now, so slinking back into the darkness would be risky. However, Seymour was probably still hidden. He did not want to alert anyone to Seymour's presence, so Jake decided to make sure he was heard. He tossed out the pokeball containing Skipper and announced to the nearby forest,
"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to come into your camp. I'll be on my way if you don't want company, but it is awfully lonely being on the road alone."

The only answer to Jake's call is the distant sound of Politoed and Kricketot. At his feet, Skipper sniff the earth of the mound, apparently confused by something. He slowly walks around the area, leaving small footprints behind him.

Jake turned to where he had left Seymour,
"Oi, Seymour, there is no one here. And there WAS no one here. Something spooky is going on. We are the only one with foot prints."

This was outside of Jake's comfort zone and he hoped Seymour would be able to think of something. Jake's stomach was asking him to snatch some of the roasting chestnuts, but he was still suspicious of a trap... even if it were not a human trap, it might be a trap conceived by a pokemon. If so, Jake would want to net a pokemon that is this savvy.

Seymour furrowed his brow and cautiously approached the campsite himself. "No footprints? Like, someone covered their tracks? Or like this camp site constructed itself?" Neither of those options were very comforting to Seymour. Even so, he lent his keen intuition to the attempt unravel the mystery. Seymour tried his best to pick up on some clues about whoever (or whatever) had put the campsite here.

Looking closer, you see a few trace of an old camp. A rusted tent pole here, an old rope tied to a branch there... but it's old. Too old to match the fire you see here. Speaking of the fire, it's not very big. Just enough to cook, and help you dry off your pants, and with enough spare wood to last the night.

The pan seems kind of old too. Not broken or anything, but dented and a bit twisted. It's what you'd expect someone to discard once they can afford to buy a new one.

Overall, the place seems like a decent camping spot, if you ignore the mystery fire. And the purple flame that you've just noticed moving between two trees...

Jake began to grow a bit more relaxed as time passed without someone or something popping out of the darkness to fight them. Perhaps whatever set this up did not have malicious intent. Jake gingerly approached the fire and tried to get the pan off without burning himself so he could take a taste of the roasting chestnuts. Jake was too busy trying to get the food without burning himself to see the purple flame skirting around the edge of the darkness.
"Hey Seymour, maybe we should just appreciate this gift and chill here for the night."

"I'm not so sure that is a good idea..." he responded. "I can't be certain, but this campsite feels like it is an old abandoned site being repurposed to lure us in. Possibly by that." Seymour pointed out the purple flame to Jakey. He then directed his Pokedex toward it to see if anything would register.

Before Jake can look up, the faint light has already vanished from sight. Beyond the circle of light created by the campfire, you can only see darkness.

The chestnut taste pretty good, though.

Jake took a couple more chestnuts from the pan and munched on them as he approached Seymour,
"Oi, what did you see out there?"

Without missing a beat or waiting for a response, Jake trudged out into the darkness to where Seymour had seen the light, trying to activate the light on his own pokedex to get a better view.

"It was a purple light. Like a flame at the edge of the darkness..." Even as he replied to Jakey, Seymour was feeling increasingly uneasy about the darkness that was surrounding them. After a moment of thought, Seymour released two of his pokemon.

"Locke, I need you to shed some light on our surroundings. And Lotad, this area is swampy, so I need you to keep Locke dry and out of the water and mud." He picked up his Laconney and set him on Lotad's broad leaf. Locke's bright flames were already making him feel safer. "Keep your wits about you. I think there is something nearby." His words were both a warning to his pokemon, and a reminder to Jakey to stay safe. Meanwhile, Seymour searched his memory for any pokemon that might have a purple flame like he had seen and tried looking it up in his pokedex. He was usually pretty good with pokemon knowledge, but he wasn't even certain they were dealing with a pokemon here.

Despite his familiarity, Seymour is drawing a blank on pokémons. Could be the worry of being in a dark swamp, or just how tired he is from the day of biking and walking. Jake is reminded of something though... the glow sticks Cary gave them. He still has a couple of them too. Maybe that's what Seymour saw?

His line of thoughts is interrupted as his foot slips on an underwater root. Jake's ankle gets scratched, but not too badly.

"Whoa! You okay?" Seymour said, rushing forward to help when he heard Jakey's foot splash. "Lotad, bring Locke closer. We need some light."

Jake gave a soft yelp as his foot got scratched in the murky water. He probably did not urgently need medical assistance, but the sudden thought of needing and the light in the dark reminded him that he still had two of the military-grade glowsticks on him from Cary. He checked his pack to see if they were confiscated from him when they were sleeping at the military camp. If he still had one on hand, he would activate it and toss it into the darkness. Then he would bring out Lackey to provide a bit of light like Locke was doing.
"I'm Ok, just surprised! It is way to dark out here."

With Locke's light, Seymour can examine Jake's wound. It's not too bad, but it's bleeding a lot. Thankfully, your medical pouch has what you need to prevent infection, and staunch the wound.

While Seymour does that, Jake does his best to see under the waterline, to avoid a repeat incident. Unfortunately, a light on the surface just causes a lot of reflections, leaving what's under a mystery. All he can see are a few roots poking through the water...

Wait, did that white root move?

As he holds out Lackey to get a bit more light, Jake spots another moving white root... and another, and another...

A small head breaks the surface of the water, and Jake realize his blood has drawn a swarm of hungry pokémons...

Jake did his best to scramble out of the water cursing,
"Nuts, nuts, nuts!"

As he was trying to get to dry land, he sent a pokemon into the water to body anything that came close to sucking his blood. Skipper would do just fine, after all, it was a water type, so hopefully it would be able to resist the enemy's blows,
"Skipper! Keep them away from me as I get back to dry land! Tackle any that get too close to me!"

Jake didn't recall Lackey though, he needed it and Locke's light to watch his step as worked to get back to the camp fire. As he moved, he swore he would catch one of those sneaky fish!

Jake throws out his starter, only to see it land in a pool of mud the fish is churning about. As Skipper tries to figure out what's happening, a wave of mud washes over him... not that he cares, as he dives under the water to wash it off.

As these two square off, Lotad and Locke do their best to hold the others back. Alas, they're not too suited to fight such opponent. That's when you notice purple flames raining down on the fishes, burning them. That creates the opening Skipper needed, and he sends his opponent flying. Not missing a beat, Jake tosses a ball at it in mid-air, capturing the pale pokémon.

Once you've returned to the safety of the mound, you see another pokémon chasing off the remaining fishes, as it gather a dark energy from them.


As soon as the fishes have disappeared, the lamp (now with a stronger glow) slowly fades from sight.

Seymour was impressed by the wet and muddy battle Skipper had won, but he didn't feel they were really in a position to celebrate. Not with that floating lamp still out there somewhere.

"Okay, that was definitely a pokemon," Seymour said, referring to the strange floating lamp. "You saw it this time too, right?" He made sure Locke and Lotad were safe from any more of the fish, then began searching through his Pokedex for the lamp pokemon now that he had a better glimpse of it.

Unsurprisingly, there aren't that many lamp pokémons listed.

"Lampent, the lamp pokémon. This Pokémon appears just before someone passes away, so it's feared as an emissary of death. The spirits it absorbs fuel its baleful fire. It hangs around hospitals waiting for people to pass on."

Jake takes a moment to pose with the pokeball holding his new companion, but then retreats to the mound with the fire,
"Oh yeah, I definitely saw it this time. Looks like it is helping us out!"

It was not until the pokedex revealed that it appears right before someone passes away that Jake had second thoughts and face paled,
"Maybe it is just trying to keep us fresh so it helped us fight off the fish! I don't know... this is creepy. I just want to go back to a city, but it is too dark!"

To feel a bit more safe, Jake released all of his pokemon -- except the newly caught one -- and had them circle about him to make him feel more secure. He then scoured the forest line to see if the ghastly apparition reappeared to snatch his soul! If it does not reappear, Jake would try to keep the fire going and eat a bit of food while staying alert for the spooky pokemon's return.

Maybe it made a mistake, or maybe it feed well enough on the fishes you fought. Either way, you don't see the ghost again, and soon find yourselves drifting to sleep.



You wake up the next morning, the fire still just barely burning. Around you, the rising sun gives a golden hue to the mist.

Seymour had to admit, he was a bit disappointed that neither of them had gotten the chance to face off against the Lampent, but he also had to admit he was happy that everyone had woken up without their souls burned away. It made him wonder what had happened to the original owner of this tiny camp...

With a shudder, Seymour poked at the little flame with a stick as he roused himself awake.
"Well Falkner, we survived the night. How do you want to start the day today? Is your foot feeling better?" He looked around at the misty swamp surrounding them. It was beautiful, but eerie. He wondered if there were other ghost pokemon floating around out there.

Jake stretched as he rose, shaking off a nightmare from the night before. He smiled a bit as he looked around; while he didn't want to be in a swamp, it looked a lot better in morning than at night.
"My foot is feeling alright, thanks for patching it up."

It only took a moment of surveying the swamp for Jake to make a decision,
"I want to get the heck out of here! No more ghosts! I want a nice bed in a not haunted palace!"

You quickly gather your things, and return to the road, leaving the mysterious camp behind.

You're soon greeted by the smell of the ocean, as the road swings close to the southern coast. After last night, you can't help but slow your pace a bit to enjoy the weather.

As you start thinking about dinner, you notice a couple of buildings by the shore. There also seems to be buoys in the ocean, and a small fishing boat by shore.

Jake couldn't help but smile when he saw civilization again! Well, it was a sorry excuse for civilization, but it was better than being stuck camping in a creepy swamp again. His pace picks up as he heads towards the buildings by the shore, and he calls out happily to Seymour,
"We might not need to camp out again! Hopefully we can get a good meal and a safe place to rest without any ghosts!"