Aleron stayed quiet, just enjoying the day. A few Pidgeys flew overhead, but she ignored them. She'd rather get a Pidgeotto if she were to get a flying type pokemon. Which she was considering.

It wasn't until they got to Violet City later that night that she realized what had been wrong with the scenery; normally you could see wild pokemon all over the place. Today she'd seen only a couple, and they had seemed nervous.

It seemed a little odd to Margaret, too, but she wasn't sure if it was normal for the region. What she found more unusual was the main road when they got into town. It looked like there had been a bunch of plants there thanhad been suddenly uprooted, and the odd torn up path let straight to a large, strangely swaying tower.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," she said, "but that's not normal, is it?"

"The tower is normal," Aleron said. "It always looks like that. But the plants... No, that's not normal. Normally everything around here is pristine." Frowning, she made her way slowly towards the tower, glancing around. Had something happened here?

Margaret walked with her, looking around. She was about to go into the tower when they were stopped by one of the sages.

"I'm sorry, but entrance to Sprout Tower is prohibited at the moment," he said. "Something terrified the Bellsprout, and they have taken refuge in the tower, so we are not allowing visitors at this time."

"Do you have any idea what happened?" Aleron asked with a frown. She'd been here just a few weeks before and everything had been normal. Now this, coupled with the enraged pokemon they'd heard earlier... That was too big a coincidence.

The sage shook his head.

"Unfortunately, there seems to be no explaination," he replied. "I am sorry, but I cannot let you into the tower. Perhaps another time, once the Bellsprout calm down."

"Yes, of course." Aleron backed off and started walking towards the pokemon center, frowning.

"Am I the only one that thinks this is too much to be coincience?"

"This is way too much to just be coincidence," Margaret agreed as they headed to the pokemon center. "Bellsprout aren't known for being really excitable. I mean, if it was a pack of Pachirisu or something, then I'd say it might be nothing, because Pachirisu are jumpy on a good day, but Bellsprout don't really jump at a lot."

"Exactly," Aleron said, frowning. "Bellesprout are very calm. Which makes this whole mess that much worse, that much more confusing. I mean, what could upset the Bellesprout that much, anyway?"

"I have no idea," Margaret replied, sitting down on a bench outside of the pokemon center. "I mean, and pokemon is understandably nervous around its opposing type, but terror like that? I don't know what exactly could have caused it. But that roar earlier... It makes me wonder what it was, and if it could have gotten here before us, or if whatever scared the Bellsprout is something else entirely."

"I'm not sure." Aleron frowned as she sank down to sit next to Margaret. "Part of me wants to find out, and part of me wants to run and hide."

Margaret frowned a bit.

"I suppose we could poke around," she said after a moment. "I mean, as long as we don't, you know, poke sleeping things with sticks or bother something that doesn't want to be bothered, we should be okay..."

Aleron nodded her agreement. "Yeah. Come on, let's take a quick look around."

Getting up, she starting walking around the city, glancing through the woods around the town.

Margaret walked with her, glancing around at the woods. It seemed oddly quiet, and it unnerved her a little. It was as if the entire area was hiding from something.

"This is weird," she said quietly, unwilling to speak louder. Something made her not want to draw too much attention to herself.

Aleron nodded, frowning a little. "This is very strange," she said quietly. "I don't like it."

She glanced around again, but Vulpix wasn't helping, staying close to her legs.

Margaret's Espeon was staying very close to her, as well. The pokemon's forked tail was practically wrapped around one of her ankles. Margaret glanced off to one side when she thought she saw something dart past in the trees, but by the time she looked, there was nothing there.

Aleron glanced around as well, suddenly nervous. "Maybe we should go back," she said, her voice just above a whisper. "We can always investigate later." The tension in the air unnerved her, and she was hard to upset most of the time. But this... this she didn't know how to deal with.

Margaret hesitated. She wanted to see what else was out there, but at the same time she was getting just as unnerved as Aleron. A shudder crept up her spine, and she nodded.

"Yeah," she said, "let's go back."

Aleron nodded and turned, heading back to the pokemon center quickly. She got out dinner for herself and her two pokemon, nibbling nervously on the food as she watched the nurse pull out cots for them and a few other travelers.

Margaret hurried after her, checking back over her shoulder every so often. She didn't know why, but she still checked, and never really felt reassured that they weren't being watched somehow.

Once they got to the pokemon center, she sat down and pulled her Espeon into her lap. The pokemon was still tense and nervous, and that was never good for a psychic-type. Margaret stroked her soothingly, trying to calm and relax her.

Aleron started rubbing Vulpix's ears, as much for the pokemon's good as for her own. She stroked along the pokemon's back, combing her fur out and calming them both down.

Margaret's Espeon was still trembling a little, even after the petting. Something had really spooked her, and Margaret didn't know what it was. Gently, she gathered the pokemon into her arms.

"It's alright, sweetling," she said softly. "Really, it's okay. Use Calm Mind, you'll feel a bit better." The Espeon nodded and closed her eyes. Almost immediately, Margaret could feel the tension easing, and the trembling stopped.

Aleron managed to calm Vulpix down and slowly calmed down herself. She let out a slow breath, closing her eyes briefly as she sat down on a cot.

"Well, I'd rather not do that again," she said, glancing at Margaret. "That was unsettling."

"I agree," Maragret replied. She kept petting her Espeon, mostly to keep her hands busy. "We didn't even see anything and it scared the hell out of us."

"No kidding. Not to mention the pokemon." Aleron sighed and scratched under Vulpix's chin, thinking. "Well, for something to have scared us and them that badly, it would have be a really big pokemon, right? Or really powerful. And probably really angry, like the one we heard before the National Park."