As the night thickened and the stars started shining brightly, Kotami stood by his hut's door unmoving, heart pounding and fists clenched.
After bidding goodnight to Uncle Shibu and Mato, Kotami returned to his little hut, still haunted by the mess left behind by Kano, the gang leader, one he helped uncle Shibu and Mato clean up.
Now, in the deep of the night, he was trying to master his courage to leave.
He had already packed enough boiled rice to last him a week. He was planning to leave loneleaf village and head towards viridian city by crossing the viridian forest and then go to the slums where he would be forgotten and not searched for.
He had heard about the slums of viridian city from a passing merchant who let it slip whilst buying the monthly rice rations.
Supposedly, there was a path into the viridian forest which would lead to viridian city. Just outside viridian city an impoverished, much like their village, part of viridian city thrived in the dark and was home to many gangs and criminals.
*phoooo*
Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Kotami finally made up his mind. He grabbed the wooden club laying next to the door, the one belonging to one of the gang minions,
that he had sneakily brought in after dark from outside unle shibu's house and pushed open the door of his hut as he made his way outside on the tip of his feet, trying not to wake anybody up.
Here it goes. Kotami thought.
He traversed the whole village as the silence accompanied him throughout his escape and slowly made his way into the rice fields. He bent down, a small frown settling on his face.
I need to do this. Kotami thought as he grabbed a handful of dirt and started smearing it on his clothes and his face. Otherwise I won't be able to avoid the wild Pokémon in the forest.
He continued until he was basically walking dirt, covered from head to toe, no smell emanating from him.
He scrunched his nose as he spit a bit of dirt which had gotten into his mouth and then finally sighed. He started slowly and silently making his way towards the forest.
Once at the edge of the village he turned around one last time to check wether anybody had discovered or followed him. Seeing nobody, a little tension and nervousness left his expression.
He approached the first tree. The faint moonlight made the smooth leaves of the evergreen canopy shimmer and it would have left him mesmerised as always were it not for the fact he was as tense as a coiled spring, his determination coming through as his fear did too.
Kotami stretched his hand towards the nearest tree branch and tore off a bunch of leaves, which he then crushed into a pulp and applied to his camouflage, masking his odour and visibility even further.
Heart in his throat, and a deep pit in his stomach, he entered the forest which looked like and idyllic sight, one which looked to be waiting for him with its maw hiding in the darkness.