Cherreads

Chapter 7 - Chapter 7 – The First Hidden Node

The deeper I walked into Viridian Forest, the more the world felt… wrong.

Not in a dangerous way not yet. But the colors were slightly off. The sounds too precise. Every rustling leaf was just a little too perfectly timed. Charmander noticed too, its flame-tail twitching with growing unease.

Location Entered: [Hidden Node Detected]Stability Level: 41%Caution: Code Corruption High

Initiating Spatial Shift…

The air shimmered.

For a split second, the forest warped trees shifted like pixels rearranging, the dirt path beneath my feet flattened into a smooth, gridlike texture.

Then I was standing at the edge of a glitched clearing.

A huge circular space lay ahead, ringed by floating geometric particles. Trees here were flickering half forest, half blocks. Blue and purple code-strings dripped through the air like data waterfalls. It felt like I had walked into a debug menu hidden inside the world itself.

Hidden Node: "The First Echo"

Objective: Purge the corruption, stabilize the anomaly.Bonus: Capture corrupted lifeform (if present).

Something stirred at the center.

A wild Pokémon but not like any I'd seen before.

Its body was flickering between blocky and smooth, Cobblemon-style and normal. It roared, digital static distorting the sound.

[Corrupted Ralts Appeared – Lv. 10]

Type: Psychic/Fairy (Corrupted)Status: Aggressive – Code Unstable

Warning: Unstable Pokémon may disobey logic and type advantages!

Charmander stepped forward, eyes focused. The flame on its tail flared.

"Let's do this."

Battle Start – You vs. Corrupted Ralts

I opened the system interface, activating my Debug Scan.

Corruption Level: 63%

Weaknesses: Fire, Clean Data PulsesUnstable Trait: May teleport or glitch out of turns

"Charmander, use Ember! Keep moving!"

Charmander darted to the side and launched a fireball but the Ralts flickered, and the attack passed right through it.

"Glitched teleport…"

Then, the Ralts struck not with Confusion, but with something new.

Glitch PulseCharmander takes 8 HP damage. Interface distortion detected.

My UI shimmered, flickered, then healed itself.

"Okay. We're fighting code with code."

Admin Tool: Code Stabilizer – Charge: 1/1Use to temporarily stabilize corrupted Pokémon.Chance to weaken or open for capture.

I activated it.

A wave of light pulsed outward. The area normalized for a heartbeat the trees stopped flickering. The Ralts stuttered in place, its form stabilizing into a fully Cobblemon-style Ralts, visible only to me.

Status: Vulnerable (20s)

"Pokéball, go!"

The capsule flew and snapped shut. It glitched once then clicked.

Capture Successful: Ralts [Corrupted]Special Trait: GlitchbornThis Pokémon is attuned to code anomalies. It may detect or interact with hidden system elements.

Hidden Node Stabilized. World Integrity Restored: +4%

Reward: Data Shard x3, Custom Pokédex Upgrade, Access to next Node unlocked.

Charmander chirped happily, stepping to my side. I knelt, picking up the Pokéball.

Ralts… it had seen something. I knew it. I could feel it through the bond forming already. Not all Pokémon were corrupted some, like this one, were born from the anomaly.

This wasn't just a glitch.

Something someone was rewriting the Pokémon world from the inside.

And I was the only one who could see it.

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