Seeing that it was getting late, everyone put away their playful thoughts and, after packing up the bananas, prepared to return to the camp.
However, as the sky grew darker, night fell within a few steps.
Everyone had flashlights prepared beforehand.
"It's getting dark too fast, isn't it?" Chichi asked, a bit confused.
"Summer just passed, but it shouldn't be getting dark this early, right?"
"Maybe we went deeper than we thought," Peng Xiaochang analyzed.
"We spent a lot of time chasing that Aipom earlier."
"But..." Although Chichi was still a bit puzzled, the sky was already dark, so he didn't question it further, only thinking that he and the others had chased too deep and forgotten the passage of time.
Everyone kept walking, and after an unknown amount of time, they were still in the same forest.
"Why do I feel like we're just walking in circles?" Deng Fei, looking tired, said, "Is this forest really that big? How have we been walking for so long and still haven't found the exit?"
Wang Yijia and Peng Xiaochang, who were leading the way, couldn't help but exchange glances and simultaneously said, "Aren't you leading the way?"
After speaking, both of them showed an awkward smile: "I thought you were leading the way..."
Deng Fei couldn't help but cover his face and sigh, "No way! Then what was all that time we spent walking for?"
Before Deng Fei could finish his lament, Wang Yijia and Peng Xiaochang's expressions changed simultaneously.
"Perhaps it means we're lost," Wang Yijia said in a deep voice.
"Lost?" Chichi frowned; this was not good news.
Although this forest wasn't large, it would still take a lot of time and physical effort to get out, and if they went in the wrong direction, they might even end up on the other side of the island.
"Where's Lucario? Doesn't he remember the way back either?" Chichi asked.
Seeing Lucario shake its head, Peng Xiaochang could only give a wry smile and explain, "Lucario also forgot the way back; even the scent and the marks we made have all disappeared."
Everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.
"Camera crew, can you still contact the shore?" Deng Fei asked.
The four cameramen checked their communication and recording equipment, then shook their heads and said, "Can't connect, no signal at all."
"This is bad now," Deng Fei said, his face sinking as he looked at the pitch-black forest.
Meanwhile, Mu Li had already landed, bringing with him a large net full of seafood.
Unlike Deng Fei's side, Mu Li's side was bright with sunshine, probably only three or four in the afternoon.
Wang Xiang looked at Mu Li helplessly and said, "How did you manage to gather so much?"
Mu Li sneered, "Are you kidding? I usually only use less than 1% of my strength; do you think I'm playing around?"
Little did he know, Mu Li couldn't find those marine creatures hidden under the sand at the bottom of the sea at all, and Blastoise had only caught them by luck.
In desperation, Mu Li secretly hired laborers with Energy Cubes.
With the help of a few Tentacruel and Starmie, he barely managed to gather a net full of conches, lobsters, crabs, and so on.
Coupled with a few sea fish Blastoise had stunned, the harvest wasn't bad.
"How about it, Director Wang? Want to exchange two crabs with us to eat?" Mu Li said smugly.
Wang Xiang was deep in thought when he heard a message through his earpiece: "Director, it's not good, they're gone."
Wang Xiang's expression changed, and he pressed, "Explain clearly."
The staff member replied, "They had a signal all along, but half an hour ago, the signal suddenly disappeared, and now we can't find them.
We're sending people to search for their traces from the air."
"What's wrong?" Mu Li asked curiously.
"Something happened on Deng Fei's side," Wang Xiang's expression became somewhat heavy.
"Something happened? What could have happened? Can anything go wrong on this broken island?" Mu Li was a bit confused.
"They're missing," Wang Xiang didn't know what to say.
Mu Li's face was full of confusion, his features almost twisted into a knot.
At this moment, Deng Fei and the others had been waiting in place for several minutes.
The longer they waited, the more anxious the expressions on everyone's faces became.
"We can't keep waiting like this; when it gets even darker, who knows what dangers might be in the forest," Fan Yizhi said.
"We have Pokémon with us now, so we don't have to worry about safety for the time being.
We can try to find our direction."
With that, Fan Yizhi summoned Blaziken: "Blaziken, please go to a high place and look for the way to the camp."
"Lucario, you go too," Peng Xiaochang also gave the command.
Blaziken and Lucario nodded, and just as they were about to act, something happened to the two Pokémon; their bodies suddenly went limp, and they fell directly to the ground.
Everyone's expressions changed drastically; Fan Yizhi and Peng Xiaochang both rushed forward, shouting, "Blaziken (Lucario), what's wrong with you?"
But the next second, Electivire, who had been leading the way, suddenly fainted, and Deng Fei immediately rushed to Electivire's side.
However, no matter how the three called out, the three Pokémon seemed to have fallen into a coma, showing no reaction at all, and after a few seconds, the three Pokémon directly turned into a red light and returned to their Poké Balls.
Everyone's expressions changed, and just as they were about to summon their Pokémon, the Poké Balls seemed to have lost their function; no matter how everyone tried to summon them, the Poké Balls remained unresponsive.
Lucario, who had originally been outside, also fainted for some unknown reason, just like Electivire, and entered its Poké Ball.
Everyone felt a chill in their hearts: "What's going on? Could it be some kind of ghost? Or some Ghost-type Pokémon playing a trick on us?"
Fan Yizhi said in a deep voice, "It shouldn't be a Ghost-type Pokémon; at least, I've never heard of any Ghost-type Pokémon that can seal Poké Balls."
"Perhaps there's something special about this area for Pokémon; otherwise, they wouldn't have suddenly fainted," Wang Yijia analyzed.
"The other Pokémon can't come out, most likely because they fainted inside their Poké Balls."
"That's right," Peng Xiaochang echoed, "Once a Pokémon loses consciousness, it also can't come out of its Poké Ball."
"Without the protection of Pokémon, what do we do now?" Wang Qin looked a bit nervous.
"Don't panic yet," Chichi said calmly, "Once the production team realizes we've been missing for too long, they'll come looking for us."
"But we don't even know where we are, so it won't be easy for them to find us, will it?" Deng Fei analyzed.
"No, with A Li here, as soon as he realizes something's wrong, finding us will be a matter of minutes," Chichi said.
"But before that, we need to ensure our own safety."
As soon as he finished speaking, a cameraman suddenly let out a startled cry, almost dropping the camera he was holding.