Ruby knew she had to return to the forest as soon as she had passed it within her own carriage. It was just too interesting to do so. She quickly made the hike, with no real care given to how her legs felt by the end of it. So far, her favorite thing about this virtual world was the sheer scale of it all. Such unique terrains, fascinating legendary beings akin to gods that had shrines, little adorable creatures that could shoot fire! Defy the laws of physics! Break rocks with a single punch! It was all so fascinating, especially to a girl with absolutely zero knowledge of anything pokemon related whatsoever.

All she knew, was precisely what her Pokedex and her map told her.

There she stood at the edge of the Misty Timberland, so her map told her. That is when she suddenly heard the scuffle. Horses whinnying, a loud flop, her eyes widened as she turned around to witness someone who had, apparently intentionally jumped ship from the carriage.

"Oh, hello there," Ruby spoke, awkwardly giving him a rather shy wave. "Are you okay? You did take quite the fall. Are you here to see the forest for yourself? It is quite interesting."

Spooky rumors? She turned to look at the woods once more. Ruby hadn't heard about that. She just saw the mist and thought it was pretty. Mist probably was a good place to hide any number of mysterious beings. If it was in the real world, she would protest, but here? She had only just learned Ghost-Type Pokemon existed, so who could say for sure?

"Huh... No, actually. I just thought it was pretty." At the mention of back home, Ruby immediately attempted to not overthink it all. She'd get nowhere if she attempted to psychologically profile every single one of the other players currently in the game. She'd purposefully ignore the statement, shaking her head.

"To be honest? I just love the look of it. I mean, all that mist? It's bound to be interesting! What kind of fauna and flora exists in there? There's bound to be some kind of shrine somewhere too. It's on the map! You can definitely join me exploring if you want. Just watch where you step, it's bound to be difficult to see a bit in there."

And with that, Ruby casually took her first few steps into the forest, looking over her shoulder to see if he'd join her after all.

Crags and oceanside, huh? As they paused, Ruby couldn't help but glance over at them. There was definitely some kind of trauma there or at the very least an unpleasant association with their environment. She told herself she wasn't going to do this, and yet here she was analyzing it all.

She sighed, shaking her head as she pushed forwards. Branches and leaves crackle beneath her feet with every step. Were they deflecting with comedy as they spoke now? Or was it simply an opportune moment to make the joke? Regardless, she chuckled along. "Well, it surely would be quite the opportune time. Why, I would be quite-"

She didn't even have the time to say that she would be spooked. All of a sudden, a twin pair of ghostly stumps began to float in the distance.

"I, uh-" And then, she heard what was eerily like a children's cry, and Ruby was effectively freaked out. She jumped where she stood, hand instinctively flying to her Pokeball to let her Fennekin out.

"W-what are they?" Ruby was certainly, well, stumped. The two stumps turned around to reveal ghostly faces, and she had enough. "U-uh, Faye, Ember! Scare these guys away!"

Sure enough, the Fennekin danced around Ruby's feet for a few seconds before proudly presenting herself in front of her trainer, blasting a weak burst of fire towards the ghostly stump pokemon.

She couldn't understand how Lucky could have liked these guys. They downright terrified her. Children crying in the forest, turned into haunted stumps? It was like they were trying to give people PTSD! She shuddered where she stood, sparks seemingly flying from the tips of her hair, betraying her current Kindler class.

In truth, even that spooked her. She jumped, catching a brief glance of the sparks.

And yet, she was in total awe as she saw the beautiful fox-like pokemon Lucky had sent out. She had heard that Pokemon evolved into stronger forms, but to actually see an immediate change between the two was inspiring. Almost enough for her to forget all about her fear.

It helped that it downed one of the haunted stumps outright.

"C'mon Faye! Let's not leave them to all the hard work! Ember again!" Fennekin let out a rather cute little roar, dashing forwards as she blasted fire at the stump. Faye was still very new to battling, and Ruby was even newer to the idea of battling alone. She had just learned her Pokemon knew specific moves a few days ago. Especially as the stump attempted to poke her fox with a stick, she really was at a loss for words.

"I- oh boy, this is gonna be every area, huh?"

"Hey, you could say that. I've heard on the Japanese forums that Asper's a real piece of work, I'll tell you that much!" Lucky played it off as a deal that wasn't so big. In an atmosphere as spooky as this one was, Lucky felt that it was the best way to act. Surely there were scary things that had been coded into this place-but you couldn't use that as an excuse to let such fears get a hold of you.

'When you let yourself flinch against the fear, that's when they win!' The memory of his father's words rang through his skull as if to bolster his courage. That's why he kept himself poised to be as confident as he could all this time-for this girl's sake, if nobody else.

He tapped his Pokeball upon the fallen Phantump. "What a little scamp," He muttered affectionately as the ghost entered the ball.

His Delphox leaned beside as if to also get a good look at the caught Pokemon. He will be useful, the crackle of flame upon his wand seemed to imply.