Title: Lights, Camera, Action!
No. of words: 3,000
All were silent; no one moved; they held their breath. Felicity was holding a small microphone, watching carefully as the cameraman counted down from five on his fingers, each representing another fleeting second before Jubilife TV would be on the air. Three…two…one.
“Good afternoon and welcome to Jubilife City TV!” Felicity exclaimed into the microphone, “This is Felicity Heart and today we have with us yet another witness of the now ever-common disappearances inside Eterna Forest, Cheryl Park. Cheryl, will you please tell us what happened to you inside Eterna Forest?”
“Me and my boyfriend were just taking a stroll through the forest and we got to a nice little area and laid down our picnic blanket. Pretty soon we had attracted the attention of a whole swarm of these big, weird bugs and so my boyfriend got up to see if he could find us a better picnicking spot and he didn’t come back.”
By the conclusion of her tale, the girl was practically sobbing. Felicity put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder and looked directly into the camera saying, “So there you have it folks, another example of the mystery that is haunting the minds of everyone in Sinnoh. Once again, I’m Felicity Heart, and remember, when the case is solved, you’ll hear it here first!”
And with that, they were off the air. Felicity’s warm smile vanished instantly and was replaced by an exasperated frown. She trudged grimly into her motor home and lay down on the couch. With the back of her hand, she rubbed some of the thick layers of cherry, red lipstick off of her lips and using a wet washcloth, she dabbed her cheeks, making distinct gaps in her pale makeup.
It had been two weeks since the Jubilife City TV crew had come to the Eterna Forest, eager to be the first to investigate the case. They had been first, but it wasn’t long before their story attracted the attention of nearly every other news casting channel on television. Now, it was anyone’s game. This was Sinnoh’s big story, and if Felicity Heart wanted to remain the region’s hottest on-the-spot reporter, then she would have to act fast.
But she was too tired to think about fast. For the past week, she had been making due with two or three hours of sleep each night. Now, exhausted, she collapsed onto her makeshift bed on the couch and attempted to catch a few Zs. As she grew silent and unmoving, a faint beeping noise became audible and agitating. Grumpily, Felicity pulled her cell-phone from her pocket and looked at the screen which read: 1 new message today from Mr. Jubilife.
Flipping the phone open, she began to listen to the message left by her boss. “Hey Felicity! This is Mr. Jubilife! I was just watching your latest interview and I just felt like I need to remind you of your mission here. The public is no longer satisfied with these pointless, cliché interviews. I need you to dig deeper into this story; because if you are not the first reporter to solve this mystery, just remember that I have a long line of people just waiting to take your place. Bye now!” With an exasperated sigh, the reporter flopped down on the couch again.
“Alright Felicity,” said a voice from behind her, “It’s now or never and it’s your call, what’re we going to do?”
“Jake,” Felicity said, “Sunyshore Live is going to steal our story if we don’t act fast. If Sunday gets the coverage before I do, it’s curtains for Jubilife TV. We have to solve this mystery first. Get two cameramen. The four of us will go tonight.” Jake didn’t look altogether pleased with the aspect of going in a forest into which countless others had gone before whom hadn’t emerged afterward, but he knew better than to argue with Felicity and so he shrugged, and went in search of the two cameramen who would accompany them.
He hadn’t been absent more than a half-a-moment when Felicity’s cell phone started to ring again. She checked her caller ID and she rolled her eyes exasperatedly when the pixel name flashed on the screen, “What do you want, Sunday?” She demanded, into the phone, “If you’re looking for surrender you won’t get one!”
“Oh c’mon Felice,” Sunday, lead reporter for Sunyshore Live replied in her bubbly voice, “How come you always have the presumption that I want the worst for Jubilife? Did you ever consider that we might not have to be enemies?”
“Yes; and if my memory serves, that didn’t work so well,” Feliciy replied coldly, set on edge by the use of that annoying nickname that Sunday had come up with for her, “Now tell me what the heck you’re calling for before I hang up on you!”
“Oh, I just wanted to know if you felt like taking a stroll in the forest with me and my crew later. It is so beautiful out here, but I would understand if you don’t feel like making the trip, it’s a bit scary for little kids like you guys. Bye!”
“Wait! Sunday-“ Felicity snapped. But the Sunyshore reporter had already hung up. Furious at being a step behind her rival, she marched out of her mobile home and stormed over to Jake, who was trying to coax two nervous cameramen. “Guys, we’re going now!” She said, nearly fuming.
“Uh, uh, no way are we going into that occult-infested forest!” One of the cameramen cried, “And b-besides, we can’t leave until at least after the next show in an hour!” Felicity yanked her orange coat tighter around her body, assumed a stance that seemed to say ‘irk me and die’, and said with mock sweetness, “Keep in mind boys, I can make things much scarier for you myself than whatever is in that forest, so if I were you, I would make my choices carefully.”
Half-an-hour later, the group had made their way at last to the outskirts of the forest. It was ten-o-clock and an ominous darkness had set over Eterna. The city lights were dark and every living thing besides themselves seemed to be asleep. All was silent, like right before a live report, and Felicity’s instincts half wanted to suddenly face the camera and say, “Good evening, this is Felicity Heart here at Jubilife City TV!” But she didn’t.
From somewhere above, the hoot of a Noctowl filled the night as it leapt from its perch and fluttered away, off towards a safer nesting spot. “So she could sense it too,” Felicity though grimly. Something was wrong about it all. Why had no one witnessed any of the disappearances? Were the victims abducted by humans? Or were less material forces at work. Thinking of either sent cold chills up her spine.
It wasn’t long before Jake ordered that the procession be halted, as they had met with an obstacle. Felicity came to inspect and found a deep crevice in the earth far wider than any jump could clear. Falling in, it seemed, would definitely result in added difficulties, if not an indefinite halt in the expedition. With this in mind, Felicity looked over the obstacle before her as a problem to be solved and as an opponent to be overcome; tactfully and logically.
She looked around for something with which to cross the chasm and her eyes fell suddenly upon a thick looking vine overhanging the gap. With a little jump, she was able to snag the end of the vine and begin swinging like a pendulum from one piece of land to the other. Timing carefully, she made her jump. The landing had been calculated well, and her feet were soon once again upon the support of solid earth. Unfortunately, the vine snapped upon her release and now Jake and the two with him had no possible way of crossing. They urged Felicity to wait where she was until they could find a way across but Felicity shook her head and said, “I have to go now, you guys can go back to camp, I’ll hopefully be back by morning.”
She had not been walking for long when she came across an open area that was being use as a campsite for her Sunyshorian rivals. Felicity grimaced. Sunday was there after all; and she had come prepared to play this game as long as it took to win the coverage. Stepping closer, she felt the earth suddenly give way beneath her and she was sent plunging into a deep pit. The mouth of the hole had been covered with a blanket of leaves and twigs, and Felicity realized that she had fallen into a trap. Instantly, a familiar, blonde head popped out from above the mouth of the hole, an expression of triumph on her face.
“Ha!” Sunday laughed, “Looks like I gotcha’ again! Now you just be a good girl and stay down there while I tell the public on live television that I found the secret to the Eterna Forest.”
Felicity’s face paled. “What? You solved the mystery?” She cried from her pit-prison.
“Oh, no, but our viewers don’t have to know that. Being second to get the inside story doesn’t really inspire that Sunyshore Live spark!” Sunday replied doing her signature twirl, “You see, according to our news cast, which everyone in Sinnoh will be watching tomorrow morning, aliens are the cause of the disappearances. The beautiful damsel Sunday was also abducted and so she witnessed the crisis first-hand. But being as smart as she is, was able to escape and bring the story to Sinnoh! And you won’t be able to do anything about it! Now, if you’ll excuse me, my hair will need a lot of work before its ready for tomorrow’s show!”
Felicity’s face flushed with rage. She attempted in vain to escape her pit-prison, but whenever she found a foothold, the weak earth collapsed beneath her feet and she was sent sprawling once again on the floor. This pattern continued for what felt to Felicity like hours until finally, in despair, she slumped sorrowfully against the earthen wall of the pit and fell into a deep sleep.
She dreamt of a bright, beckoning light, embedded in some hollow crack. A loud buzzing sound filled the air around her and her eyes were drawn to the light. She stared deep and thoroughly at it and when she tried, she found she was unable to do otherwise. She felt suddenly the world around her begin to fade away; as if she were flying aimlessly through the air, leaving the material and entering the obscure. It was like a nightmare.
The next instant, or maybe it had been an eternity, Felicity didn’t and never would know, she found herself in the same predicament that she had been in when she had fallen to sleep. But something was very different. She was staring at her own body, her own self, from out of a separate pair of eyes. It was like a mirror, only this time, when she tried to raise one of her arms, nothing happened.
She began to panic. What was happening? She sat totally and completely motionless, yet the Felicity she was watching continued to move, attempting desperately to escape the hole. She decided that whatever was happening, escaping would be in her best interest as well and so she took a forceful jump into the air and…she didn’t come down. She was floating, hovering, in midair. A few more feet of levitation and she had cleared the gaping mouth of the crevice and found herself in the midst of the dark camp of Sunyshore Live.
She gazed back into the hole to find herself still trying in vain to get out of the pit. It was seriously disturbing. What was happening? She stretched out her arm, expecting to see a limb of pink flesh. Instead, the horrifying shape of an insectoid appendage moved at her mind’s command. She gasped in terror and began running, or flying, directly toward the campsite of the Sunyshorians.
About five tents had been set up and it was easy to find the one that belonged to Sunday. The bright pink color stood out from the other deep blue tents and so Felicity knew right where to go. Where there was Sunday, there was a mirror. She needed an answer. Flying directly into the open flap of the tent door, she hovered over the shoulder of the Sunyshorian reporter, whom was fidgeting exasperatedly with her hair before a large mirror that she had hung crudely on the wall. Behind the woman’s head, the shed-shell body of a Shedninja hovered. Felicity moved sharply to the right. The Shedninja did the same.
Then an article from a Hoenn magazine she had read flooded her memory. Shedninja will steal the soul of any who look into the crack on its back. Terror swept over the former reporter. It couldn’t be. This was the cause of all of the disappearances inside Eterna Forest! Shedninja were stealing souls, and taking the victim’s bodies!
Suddenly, there came a knock at the tent door. With a sigh of relief, Sunday got up and unzipped the flap, allowing a burly man to enter the tent. “Is it finally time to go?” Sunday demanded, “I swear this tent was meant for common folk, not a fashion queen like me!”
The man rolled his eyes and replied, “Yes, it’s time to go. It’s a long way to Sunyshore and we have to do the show first thing in the morning! The mobile is waiting out front.”
“Mobile?” Sunday replied inquiringly, “I thought we were taking the jet!”
“How many times do I have to tell you?” The man exclaimed, “We are not taking the dang jet!”
With that, the man left Sunday’s tent and grumbling, the reporter set about packing her enormous suitcases for the trip. Felicity’s heart raced. Sunyshore Live was going to address the entire Region of Sinnoh from Sunyshore the next morning. It would be the perfect time to do what she was trained to do and give everyone the real story! She didn’t have time to consider the problem of how to report while she was in a Shedninja’s body, because Sunday was just zipping up her last suitcase and Felicity barely had enough time to fly inside before it was sealed.
She felt suddenly the case in which she hid being lifted into the mobile and deposited unceremoniously onto the floor. “Thank god that Sunday is paranoid enough about her outfits that she punched holes in this case,” Felicity thought. Sunday had packed plenty of snacks in her suitcase and Felicity ate as much as she could, no longer having to worry about keeping her stomach size in check. It was almost luxurious.
The next time she opened her eyes, Felicity realized that it was morning, and that the mobile had stopped in Sunyshore City. She hoped fervently that the show had not already taken place. Just then, Sunday’s hands began to unzip the case and Felicity heard her mumbling something about needing her makeup for the show. Perfect; it hadn’t happened yet, now was the time to act. Felicity flew out of the opening in the zipper, sending Sunday tumbling over backwards in surprise.
The Jubilife reporter was quick in her new body and instantly bolted out of the mobile door. About ten cameramen were preparing their cameras at the large set of Sunyshore Live, each eager to get the best recording of Sunday’s performance. The Sunyshorian reporter was just coming onto the stage and Felicity watched as the wall clock with the ‘Time until on air’ sign counted down from sixty fleeting seconds before everyone in Sinnoh heard Sunday’s lie.
Felicity saw her chance and made a wild dive towards her. The cameramen were able to count the remaining seconds on their fingers now. With every falling finger, Felicity closed the distance between her and her target. Three; Two; One; and Sunyshore Live was on the air.
“Hello and welcome to Sunyshore Live!” Sunday exclaimed, doing her signature twirl, “I’m your favorite on-the-spot reporter Sunday coming to you live from Sunyshore City! Today, Sunyshore Live-.”
But Sunday was cut off. Felicity threw herself in front of the girl’s face and the blinking red light inside the crack inside Felicity’s back caught the reporter’s eye. Instantly, Felicity felt herself once again the world around her begin to fade away, flying aimlessly through the air, leaving the shed-shell body and entering Sunday’s petite one. Within a moment, she was seeing through her rival’s eyes and staring into the numerous cameras lined up and the wide-eyed expressions of the cameramen.
“Is a fake!” She finished for Sunday. She heard a chorus of gasps arise from the crewmen. “It’s me! I’m Felicity Heart from Jubilife TV!” She exclaimed, “I know what really happened inside Eterna Forest!”
From there, Felicity did what she knew best how to do; she told Sinnoh the true story. Later, she brought the police with her to the forest where they found the Felicity possessed by the Shedninja and, with some difficulty, managed to return Sunday and Felicity to their respective bodies. Afterwards, a police squadron set off on an expedition to do the same with the leftover victims. It wasn’t long until all had been returned to normal and the Shedninjas were transferred into a private facility where they wouldn’t steal anymore souls.
As for Sunday, after Felicity had revealed the story about Sunyshore Live trying to deceive Sinnoh, the show went off the air, and was replaced by a new show called Jigglypuff’s Sing-Along where Sunday dressed up as a giant Jigglypuff and dance and sing to childish songs. Felicity ended up being promoted by Jubilife TV and just recently reported on the opening to a portal to another dimension atop Mt. Coronet. Of course, that’s another story.
