Journal Entry: The Miasma

I was told that the fog would be exceedingly dangerous, there have been reports rolling in just how bad that it is. You can get sick if you breathe in too much of the miasma, there are consequences as well, it's said that those who inhale too much of the fog go insane. But it hasn’t been released just how insane ones goes, what would… the full effect of it be? Could they spread the infection from themselves to another? Could they cause a region wide pandemic? Things like this always caused me great curiosity, I wanted to figure out the truth, I wanted to know just how mad it could drive someone. But even though I knew of the dangers of the Fog, and I would not risk my life for the sake of research on this topic, a dead research isn’t a good one, not to mention that my poor mom’s heart and Grimm.

I couldn’t and would not do that to either of them, they’re too precious to me to risk my life just for the sake of knowledge. One day the truth will come out and we will learn more of what we need to. That said, however, there was something I wanted to check which did involve me traveling outside of Grovehart for the time being. I wanted to try and get a glimpse of a mysterious pokemon that’s been rumored to be running around on the outskirts, maybe I could get the evidence to prove that this pokemon existed! Safety first however, I procured masks for me and Grimm both in case if he’s out during the trip, I wouldn’t want him to get into any danger or harm at my curiosities’ expense.

As we approached the outskirts of the city, a guard posted there for the day ran us through the safety precautions and the curfew of when we should return, so we don’t get exposed to the fog. I nodded my head, I planned to only be out there looking for an hour or two at the most. But time must have slipped away from me, Grimm and I donned our masks the whole time we were out there even before the miasma started to roll in, just for safe measure. 

I had thought I caught glimpses of this rumored pokemon and I would follow it, all around the outskirts, at times I could swear that this was all in my head. That my imagination was running wild and making me believe that I’ve seen things in the fog. I knew it wasn’t the effects of the fog however, because my throat wasn’t tightening and my breathing was normal. Grimm was acting fine as well, though concerned for my mental state as we ventured and I started to become more desperate to find this pokemon. 

It wasn’t until an alarm went off did I realize how long we had been out there looking, hours upon hours, and it was starting to get nightfall, the miasma would be too much for our simple masks to take and we had to get back into the city. For Grimm’s safety, I had tried to return him to the pokeball, but he refused. I didn’t entirely understand why he chose not to retreat into safety, but I had no time to waste on wondering why, I could figure that out later.

Maybe it was how fast my heart was pounding and the intake of my lungs that was causing a burning sensation in my throat. I was going full force toward the city, hoping that the guard posted may have been distracted just enough that I could slip in without much of a trouble. However as I slid myself into the city, rolling a bit on the ground - no this was not planned I actually tripped on a rock unlike Grimm who was at my heels. 

When my body stopped rolling and I had groaned a bit about the pain, I raised my silver-gray eyes up to the annoyed, disappointed face of the guard. Drat, I had been caught. They did a check on me to see how badly I may have inhaled or been exposed to the fog, same with Grimm. Luckily we didn’t get any exposure - which confirms that my tightening breathing was from the adrenaline and anxiety of being stuck in the miasma. It did not confirm whether that pokemon was out there or not. 

Either way the lesson learned was to always keep an eye on your time, and if you do stay out there too late, book it the hell home as fast as you could!
I would be more careful the next time that I ever decide to venture out into the outskirts where the miasma is!

Word Count: 797