Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Eternal Home

by electric-turbulence (hauntedshoes)

Summary:

[“This town was founded for one reason, and one reason only, for us to ascend.”]

 

At the edge of an abyss, the culture of the newly founded ‘Blissfall’ cares only for escape, to ascend the seemingly endless mystery dungeon that stands between them and the rest of the world. Sending out countless ‘reclamation’ teams to find knowledge of the old world and risk themselves for the escape of every citizen. Blessed, or perhaps cursed, humans from a myriad of worlds have been pulled into this place, appearing as anything from measly Eevee to the legends themselves. Their unique souls make them unquestioningly powerful assets in the hunt for the truth.

Recently turned Xurkitree, Eva is drafted into being yet another to search for the answer. Alongside one of the false gods, she must dig for the connection between the humans forced here and the town’s inescapable darkness.

Chapter 1: Prologue

The ashes fell more readily that day. The drifting smoke parading, like blossoms, across the dungeon’s entrance (a reminder of an old spring). The blackened mist left it more difficult to truly see, and yet, it was more beautiful here than it ever had been.

The Registeel parsed the darkened pathway, the flaring purples and blues of the plants by her feet sparkled as they searched to be recognised. Her eyes, the dots, flashing red, did not belong, like a sun struggling to rise. Her heavy body trudged, her arms made laboured and grating movements within the swirling ash. It looked as if a tiny whirlwind was passing through her.

Behind her, she carried a large rucksack, large even for a Registeel. Brown and tapered, it had seen better days, countless rescue missions, and deaths.

She would meet him where the sky started and hand over the final supplies for the final mission. 

The Registeel would sigh, if she could. Not having felt the relief of a long drawn out breath of air in so many years. Instead, her face lit up in sorrowful patterns, a technique of showing emotion even she still struggled to grasp. 

If she had been close to tears, then every light within her would glow radiant in deep contrast to the midnight shades of the city. A subtle light warming up dismal surroundings would be one of the few signs she had been pushed to the point of tears. It’s not as if her body of hulking metal had the hormones or synapses to make her physically feel anything truly real. 

Tearful, she likely wasn’t. The initial assessment had her acknowledge the danger her friends, dearest comrades, were about to encounter but it was not something that should have made her tearful. Perhaps she should have been angry? 

A full rational assessment of the situation would have had the Registeel prevent team Infinite Nova by any means necessary. 

But she didn’t belong here, the human inside her, all the flesh and muscles that used to be still bit and clawed at them with weakened nails and fragile canines. What made them not reject the idea of hope. A part of hope that still lingered in the sorrow, the inevitability. 

The lake, glowing deep aqua, bubbling too putrid for even the hardiest of Water types, signified the limits of Blissfall. The beginning of the first staircase, the dungeon. A pristine black set of stairs that looked as if it had been carved from marble but in reality was made of no material. A void, the cool lights of the vegetation had no effect on its colours. Nor did any winding vines of overgrowth attempt to rest on its steps. 

In the early days of Blissfall, nobody had any idea if the stairs led anywhere at all. Some mused upon ideas such as a trick placed by a ghost type or some kind of portal or even a wormhole. The category of ‘Mystery Dungeon’ did not exist yet. All anybody, and the Registeel knew, was that everyone was stuck there. 

The two parts of the Registeel’s own self was much like the existence of the dungeon. A rational fear and a deadly hope. A hope that refused to leave and then penetrated everything. If the dungeon could be ascended, escape could be possible. 

A dungeon had to have an end, yet not even the most powerful among them had ascended even sixty floors—arriving in the worst of states; bruised, bloody, beaten, others even turned up as corpses. Yet, this never stopped them. They sent anybody, the evolved and unevolved, dragons and bugs. There had to be someone. Someone perfect, perfect to ascend that Mystery Dungeon. 

The Registeel had held such promise. Part of infinitely long prophecies that she could not resonate with. Created by some ancient entity she had not seen but once. Not a human who was distorted and twisted to fit inside a metal case and forced to relearn her entire inner world. 

The Registeel’s lights flickered in acknowledgement as they looked upon the ethereal face of her Regice human friend. The shadowy ash passed through Theo’s face, the hints of darkness giving his inner blue hue presence. Beside him stood his fellow allies of Team Infinite Nova, Skyscraper and Scarscale. 

The group stood firmly at attention as calmly as they could in their uncertain fates. Like statues, befitting their typings, the hardest of dragons, most solid of steel, a sculpture of ice attempting translucence in the murk. Scarscale, a name the Haxorus had kept from his rouge days. He must have been moments away from succumbing to the forests had he not been convinced to turn away. Skyscraper, the  Archaludon had received this name from Theo as he recalled the grand towering buildings sparkling into the pale blue sky from his human life. It was clear how much the Steel type wished to see those fixtures someday despite the impossibility. 

Theo, the Regice’s pattern, lit up in soft acknowledgement of his Registeel counterpart’s arrival. Not being made of solid metal, Theo was afforded more in the way of emotional reaction, even if unorthodox by human standards. Small beads of water, a gentle form of his icy body melting betrayed a nervousness within him. 

Nevertheless, Scarscale and Skyscraper were extremely noble to take this risk for them. For both herself and Theo. Even as team Infinite Nova. Even if this day was one day going to arrive anyway. So noble to do this all for them . It was all about them, the Regis and their search for a way to escape. 

As entirely untrue as the legend of someone creating her as a perfect illustration made of magma, something about this fated creator screamed as if it would be the name of her saviour. 

Registeel, Regice, they were incomplete, there was a third. Then a fourth. Then all would be circular, all would be fixed and they would all go home. 

Regirock had never arrived to Blissfall. Yet in inside this hollow shell and this column of ice the two of them both felt that Regirock had to be out there somewhere. If they were dead then they would bring back the body. If they had ascended then Regice would remain and the Registeel would finally gather up the little strength she had to reach where Regigigas must be. 

The Registeel saw the described god, towering over all, alabaster skin the colour of the continents, standing atop a majestic temple where all the light in this world accumulated. A vision fixation in her mind’s eye that Theo had shared. Even as her body held so few ways to show emotion, the Elysian place made them tremble. 

“You’ve done well enough just to come here,” the Regice’s voice echoed, a body made purely of ice held no mouth. 

“It’s not enough, so it barely matters,” the Registeel hesitated before returning her own echoed voice.

She grabbed the dusty brown bag from their shoulder, ruffling it between her clunky metal fingers. As much strength as they held, they weren’t exactly suited for dexterous tasks. Looking toward the ground, she even considered throwing it and crushing the insides. 

Pokémon had risked their lives for the contents of this satchel and Theo to fix everything that went wrong. Yet, she couldn’t say goodbye to Theo; the next time they spoke, it would either be in the place of sunshine majesty or the afterlife. 

“It’s your right to stay behind. If we meet both our ends, this town becomes bereft of its legends.” 

“And if you do reach them, if you see the reality of what we have seen in our minds, then I will sense it, yes?”

“If Skyscraper and Scarscale are still alive, the dungeon will allow them to descend peacefully. If I am alone, then I will try my hardest. Even if I am so far. Even if I may be sleeping.” 

The two human Regis acted and spoke as if they had known memories of one another for aeons. As if it was not the Registeel speaking at all, as if many of her words were not her own.

“This ascent has been what my life has been leading up to,” said Skyscraper. “I am lucky to be doing so with a legend by my side.” 

Maybe the Registeel had passively accepted her own death. She had no real plans for ascending themselves. No team members to call upon, no assembly of items to aid with their survival. 

“Theo, are you truly ready for this?” The glowing inside of the Registeel’s face depleted almost to nothing. “There will be no way back.”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be; there is no point in drawing this out any further,” There was a human warmth to his icy voice. A smile that could not be seen. 

It was without Registeel’s knowledge that the bag had been swiped from her. Some unwatching sentinel she was. The lights on the Regice’s face shining golden. Like a precious jewel. 

“We have the plans, and we have the means. I will see you when our true homes return to us.”

Theo’s body faded out, no longer encapsulated by the plant life nor the dulled reds of the Registeel’s face. 

She was alone, the falling ash started to slow, leaving them in blackness still, unmoving. A place asking for rest.

Chapter 2: EntranceWays

Nerves fraying. Their ends twist. Curl. Every joint, burning, sharp. The sensation of a pulse races until it is screaming and then vanishes. Bubbles of stomach acid, the vile churning as it all rises disappears like it never existed; as the bitterness that filled her throat and lungs. Nails pressing and hardening, piercing something soft beneath them. Crackling and ruffling like foil paper, as natural as breathing. Even the pain in her head, a familiar presence in her old form, had grown absent, replaced with the feeling of being on fire. The steady rhythm of spiked pain. A life running through her, stirring her to wakefulness.

 

The last thing she saw had been a blur of muted rainbows. She had been caught in some kind of trance, lost in her memories, or daydreaming so hard that nothing around her mattered. A voice had called out to her. One that sounded much like her own but far more serious. It had discussed with her, memories, her nature. Even the things she hadn’t wanted to remember and the parts of herself she secretly hated a bit. Yet, all of it had flowed out of her so naturally. There had been no hesitation, no need to hide and no need to be ashamed. 

 

Had that been herself? Had it really been her doing all that? 

 

Awareness hit her like thunder. A re-entry shock into reality. A blissful state of rainbows gave way to a deep forest of browns and grimy golds. Small trees and their even littler branches swayed in a cooling wind. Some of the frail leaves flew past her, colours duller than any autumn she had witnessed before, a place gripped by the nighttime even though there was no sight of the dark skies above. The ground below her trickled; something slimy, muddy and sticky wriggled, making getting up a struggle. 

 

Something in her muscles still ached, or well, more than ached, everywhere more than ached. Her insides unpleasantly hummed as if someone had threaded needles throughout her skin. Moving sent shockwaves along her limbs. A jolt, like something snapping or twisting. But there wasn’t the sound of anything breaking. If she really focused, there was perhaps the sound, a sort of soft banging, plastic rubbing against plastic, but that didn’t make sense. Otherwise, the noises of the forest overpowered whatever pain she was going through. 

 

The forest’s noise, the calls of birds and growls from distant creatures, stood in stark contrast to the half-sized trees. Echoing and bouncing. The whole thing felt like a stage set. Had she been moved somewhere? Thoughts rapidly leapt in her mind: Did someone kidnap me? Take me somewhere when I was sleeping? Am I sleeping? Is this what sleep paralysis is? A coma? 

 

Louder than the birds came a sound of buzzing. Not like one which might be expected in a forest from a bee or other unpleasant insects, but a kind of mechanical buzzing. Something closer to a computer or an electrical pylon. If this was indeed a stage, then the lights, cameras, and all kinds of equipment must have been hiding somewhere. A dream of being on stage? That had to have some sort of meaning, right? Feeling like a fake? Imposter Syndrome? 

 

She felt the urge to exhale yet there was no feeling of breath, nor of the rise and decline of the diaphragm. The increasing buzzing meant she could not hear her heartbeat but, nor could she feel it. Even if this was just an anxiety dream or her eternal coma torment, she had to get out of here. 

 

The watery, bog-like consistency beneath her squelched as if the entire ground was trying to lift itself away with her. Even with the wind and the rain-drenched ground her body was awfully warm, feverish almost. She could not feel her own breath, but she did feel an intense burning strain on her muscles and some new wave of sickness washing over her. 

 

It was under this strain, as she tried to warp her body around the mud and scenery, that she noticed something, some dark swaying object, dark even against the forest flooring.

 

She didn’t see her hands, or have hands, but as she moved, something did move with her. Was something moving behind her, stalking her? Or was that something actually her?

 

If these were her limbs, she’d feel them. Carefully, still watching the ground, she tried to grab ahold of her wrist. What she felt certainly wasn’t skin. It was soft and clammy from the warmth but also hard, smooth, synthetic. Also split. Not cut like skin would be cut, there was no blood, no scabs. The closest comparison she could come up with was cables, a thick bundle of wires for powering electrical equipment. Then again, her hands also felt odd, spindly, as if her fingers had grown extensively along with her nails, but also like there was no palm. 

 

Someone had tried tying her up here after kidnapping her? Ugh, no, this had to be a stupid, stupid nightmare. The wires some representation of emotional confinement? That made sense; surely that made sense?

 

With her weakened fingers, she attempted to pull away one of the wires. If this was a dream, the shock would wake her up. If this was real, her actual skin would be underneath. She’d have a chance to escape, run out of this little stage show. She wanted to take a deep breath again, but all that happened was her temperature continuing to rise. As she pulled, some bright flash of cyan lights jolted in front of her, painting the dim ground a golden brown for but a second. Was this hooked up to something? Oh god oh god. 

 

The wire snapped back into place, and a numbing pain shook along her entire arm. Very much as if she was pinching her own skin hard, very hard. And if these cables were attached, this deeply attached, then trying to remove them could shock her to death. She’d have to start moving, slowly, find some kind of mirror as delicately as possible. And, if someone was looking for her before she got caught. 

 

She would have gathered her strength had she had much of it. Getting up felt no use. A part of her, a large part of her, wanted to curl up in the dark earth and wait for whatever wanted to kill her to arrive. The bright flashing, periodic but absent of rhythm, continued as she moved to standing. Her arms, garishly long like her nails, dangled by her side. She knew she had to move, but she also had no will to. Whatever had got to her had gotten to her whole body, not just her arms. In the lighting flashes, she could see the cables continuing down to her feet.

 

Her feet too ached like nothing she had felt before. Unable to move her toes, unsure if she even had them anymore, her feet dug into the ground with each step. 

 

She had to wake up, she had to, she…

 

She had to try. 

 

A brief glimpse of her hands. Long copper claws. Sharp. Gripped onto the cables. She did not feel her eyes close, but the world was shut out. She pulled as hard as she could, trying to break them apart from her body, the human body that must have been in there somewhere. The buzzing increased to ear-piercing levels. Whatever equivalent of closing her eyes was granted her nothing as her entire vision flooded with dazzling blue. An echoed scream came out even as her mouth refused to open. Falling backwards, she knocked herself on a low tree branch. Her arms fell around the foliage. The blues faded, and she was surrounded by the autumnal shades. Dusty reds and muted golds. 

 

Not an awful place to die. There were places a lot worse. 

 

Everything growing heavy, she was willing to let herself fall into nothing until some whispering stuck her awake. 

 

“Holy Donphan turd shit, who is that?”

 

Her body struggled between the tree branches as she heard the voice out of nowhere. Quiet as it was. Whispered. She did not want to be awake for this. Whatever horrible things they were planning on doing with her, she did not want to be conscious of it. She’d gladly try and knock herself out again if she could, but at least she had a chance to scream. 

 

“WHO IS THAT? WHY ARE YOU HERE?” Her voice boomed in no way it had ever done before. 

 

“Woah. You don’t gotta be like that. Take a pill chill or somethin.”

 

“WHERE ARE YOU. TELL ME. WHERE?”

 

“Like, below you? Maybe try looking down?” 

 

Bending her head down and curving where her spine should have been, two small bug-like creatures lay by her feet. Jittering little things, very strange bugs. How could it be that these things spoke? 

 

She reached out her wiry claw, what should have been her hand. The disjointed wire squished something soft, fluffy. 

 

“A TALKING MOUSE? MINIATURE MOUSE? BUG MOUSE?” 

 

Some kind of robot? Was there a real person out there somewhere controlling this thing? Mice don’t talk.

 

“What in Giratina’s arsehole is a moouse? What a funny word mo-ouse? No. I’m a Minun.” 

 

Its mouth even moved as it spoke, the little white blue-tailed speck. Minun just where had she heard that before?

 

“Can I be like super rude, gimme this question, are you human, were you human? You’re magnificent now but like, were you a human?”

 

The blue glow that blinded her before returned, albeit it was more now like a hue that tinted her vision than covering it. “HUMAN? YES I AM HUMAN. WHAT AN. ODD QUESTION.”

 

Was she not human any more? But how does that happen? Who or what could even do such a thing? There still had to be a better explanation, right? They had to be mistaken. The talking mouse had to be mistaken. 

 

“Oh! Yes, that makes sense! Ha, you’re weird, I can already tell you’re weird. Ha.”

 

A far more overtly bug-like creature beside the Minun. Practically a limbless grub with little mandible pinchers also had a voice he could speak with, “I’m sorry about my adventuring partner. We’ve had humans turn up in these parts a good number of times. I say, humans, ‘ those possessing the human soul ’ might be a better turn of phrase. You’re not a human anymore. If I remember correctly, you’re a Xurkitree.” 

 

The mouse-thing’s pinprick eyes, small as they were, widened at the bug’s comments, shone like button-jewels. Xurkitree… you’re…”

 

“You certainly look like one anyway. I’ve only seen your kind in books; to say you’re uncommon would be quite an understatement.”

 

Xurkitree? Something circuit, tree? Some sort of recognition also hummed at the back of her mind. It didn’t feel like the first time she’d ever heard the word. 

 

The whole explanation still felt unbelievable. The idea that she was a human who was kidnapped and then tied up with wiring made more sense even if it was absurd. Then again, these wires had felt like real skin. No amount of pain had ‘awoken’ her if she was dreaming. She had never hallucinated before, and no amount of reality had made itself known; nothing about a talking mouse-squirrel nor talking grub coexisted with the ‘reality’ she knew in any which way. 

 

The technology to turn someone’s skin into wires did not exist, nor did the capacity to make bugs and squirrels talk. This was like a new world entirely. 

 

She would have one last attempt at searching for her human body, if it was somewhere. Before she was ready to try and accept the fact that whatever this was, was indeed her. She needed to see the entirety of herself, absent of her own perceptions, her own mind. Xurkitree, whatever that was, she couldn’t be one. Could she? 

 

“MY KIND? KIND? AND HOW ARE YOU SO SURE I’M NOT HUMAN ANY MORE?” 

 

“Geez, you can stop shouting, you know? Is that like a human-Pokémon thing, or like, something else?”

 

“I’M SHOUTING? I’M A POKÉMON?” 

 

Pokémon, she recognised that word from somewhere, too. Where did they even come from? She could have sworn it linked to something fictional, like some TV show or video game she must have encountered before. 

 

“Try not to fret. I do not have the books on hand; they’d be useless to bring in a mystery dungeon. But if you want to get a better look at yourself, a stream does run through here, as it does much of this place. A good look at your reflection typically calms recently transformed humans. Or so I’ve been told.”

 

She groggily fell from the possession of the tree. Unwrapping her tangled arms before crashing to the ground. She had to avoid crushing these tiny creatures-things that somehow held sapience. Her finger trembled with nervous, bright energy. Xurkitree, Xurkitree…

 

Amongst the sounds of distant animals was the slight trickling of a stream to the left of her. Fresh running water. Murky grey rocks scattered alongside a riverbank, reflected in the silvery shades of the water itself. Moss lined the stones, but no life, no small fish or worms found a home in it. Hauntingly plain. 

 

Her tired body peered over the edge…

 

A crystalline light, like an entire captured star, stood in place of her head. From everywhere that should have been a neck to what resembled a kind of foot was bundled wires. The same wires smoothly forming legs, torso, arms. Held together tightly with equally brilliant lights. The metallic claws connected to the wires looked akin to them laid bare. They clasped and unclasped as she moved her hands, a metallic noise ringing out as they rubbed together and produced a small electrical light. The wires of her flesh moved with such fluidity that it was impossible that she had any bones. Even with this level of tiredness, she could move like water if she allowed herself to. Behind her was yet another wire-limb, a tail-like appendage fit with a three-pronged plug with her own shock, it raised, almost reaching over the her stellar head. Her feet held no toes, just coppery claws that also looked like matching electrical plugs. No bones. No heartbeat. No lungs. No way to breathe. No flesh. No muscle. Just bright, bright lights reflecting from all over, dazzlingly across the water. She was in pain all the same. In pain and existing, and real. 

 

“The star-like face, the body of metal and plastic, a rough height of twelve-foot six-inches. Yes, this has to be Xurkitree.” 

 

The once lifeless waters became overwhelmed with the cyan hues emanating from her. 

 

“Xurkitree, Xurkitree… I, I guess you’re right. I am Xurkitree,” she whispered. 

 

The buzzing, some analogue to hyperventilating, screamed. Her light burning against the water. On and off. On. Off. Everything bright. Everything dark. 

 

“HOW ON EARTH DID THIS HAPPEN? HOW AM I STILL ALIVE? HOW AM I…”

 

The sparks start flying wildly from her body. Bouncing off of rocks, scorching the trees. The scent of burning plastic muddied the smell of earthy dampness. She didn’t have a brain, she didn’t know if the glowing light even counted as a head but it still throbbed making the world grow hazier. The feeling of sickness accelerating like a smashing tidal wave. 

 

“I know you must have questions but all will be explained. Once we get back to Blissfall, that is. As for how you’re alive? Well, all that matters is that you are alive, right? Frame it like that.”

 

The blue mouse joined their grub friend, leaning on him like some piece of furniture. “Sooooo, impressive light show over there but what’s your name, you gotta have a name?” 

 

The electricity around her shifted. “It’s Eva. My name is Eva.” 

 

“Very cute. Very human. I like it. My name is Justice! The lighting flash beacon of judgement! And this is—”

 

“Lumino, it is very good to meet you, Eva.”

 

“Together, we’re Team Blinding Light! The totally up-and-coming reclamation team that is absolutely going to be the first ones to ascend, bringing shame to each and every dunderhead who said a full Electric type team wouldn’t work and especially—” 

 

“I’m not sure Eva is exactly concerned with reclamation teams and all that right now.” 

 

The Minun continued anyway. “Anywho, you’re an Electric type too, aren’t ya. Never met a human Electric type before, and you are awesome, very, very awesome.”

 

Eva’s head dipped over to look at this ‘Justice’ and ‘Lumino’. Their expressions difficult to read from a distance. Her own energy warped around, lights shivering, she had no idea what this body could do to those people if she couldn’t control it. 

 

Still, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be complimented on whatever just happened to her. Let alone some kind of type box she now fitted into it, it all felt like a slap in the face. This was temporary; she’d be human again, sure enough, not some pile of wires. The strange compliment had done nothing to temper the electrical warmth flowing through her. 

 

“As I was trying to say, it’s best we get you out of here. Once we climb this section of the mystery dungeon, our town of Blissfall is a small walk away. Everything you’ll need to know about your new life is there.”

 

“You’re going to love Blissfall! Trust me, trust me. We’ve got a nice big power plant and even—oooh, Blissfall festival, you’re going to see Blissfall festival!”

 

Eva certainly wasn’t in any position to start enjoying a festival of any sort. Or enjoying much of anything. She wanted answers or at least a nice warm bed. How was she supposed to sleep like this anyway? 

 

“You want me to climb what?” her voice had already grown quiet, all this warmth, this electricity pulsing through her. Splattering the environment in light was too draining. These strangers were either ridiculously lucky to not get struck by her, or too stupid to notice how much of a danger she was to them. 

 

Lumino clicked his mandibles. “The rest of the dungeon. It’s only a floor or two. You’ll be able to handle it.” 

 

“Don’t into their eyes!” Justice interrupted. “Well, I love looking into their eyes, but don’t, like, look into their eyes; you won’t handle it!” A wide smile appeared on her face. 

 

Whose eyes? What eyes? Her mind recalled the sound of birds and beasts from earlier. Those creatures. She’d have to fight her way out of this place if they attacked; she wanted to throw up. As if all this leaking electricity from everywhere wasn’t enough already.  

 

“We can get going when you want to. No rush. Well, mostly no rush.”

 

Prickling at every imagined muscle, Eva lifted her head back up to the treetop and quietly nodded. She had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. 

 

Just follow them, they seem like they know what to do. It wasn’t like she couldn’t overpower them if they tried to hurt her. Even if she didn’t want that. 

 

However, just taking a small step forward on her clawed feet was too much. The sickness, overwhelming. The world around her becoming a vortex of dark brown. Even with small movements, she could have fainted at any moment, had collapsed here and there. Instead, some other instinct overcame her. 

 

She tapped the ends of her claws, scrapping the inches of mud off their tips before impulsively driving into the woodland floor. Her feet too, planted themselves firmly into the ground. Even the tail moved on its own accord in tune with the rest of her body. Not a thought crossed her mind, everything was automatic, just like blinking. 

 

Pain faded from her. The electricity leaking from her body slowed, replaced with a gentle flicker as her internal temperature started cooling. A strangely pleasant bitter taste filled her as if she could taste the electricity flowing into her from the underground, as if it were food. 

 

She should have been scared, repulsed even, this was no human thing to do. However, the feeling of restoration, perhaps even peace, that she desperately needed pushed out any need to question it. Her body, now, was no stranger to her. She felt unity. 

 

She stood there, unmoving, receiving the volts of the earth. Calm. Unwavering. Much like a tree, a circuit tree, if you might. 

Chapter 3: BattleFields

Notes:

Sorry this took a while! My laptop broke and although I do have something sorted for now it still isn’t fixed, I apologise if this chapter has any formatting errors from that!

“Hey, can we get like, planet to Eva over here? Woot?”

 

A high-pitched whistle and the raising of the winds brought Eva back to reality. The pattering of ripples against the water and the golden honey leaves spun as they fell. It was still not a bright place; an invisible night still reigned, and mist straddled even reaching her height, yet she had to admit there was a certain level of peace to it. 

 

“Eva, I know we said that we can go whenever you’re ready but now, I’m thinking we should go, we should really go.” Lumino’s mandibles were twitching as he spoke.  

 

“HUH? HM?”

 

She hesitated as she withdrew her claws from the dirt. Wobbling as she returned to standing, the coffee-filled flavours of the electricity fading away.

 

“You were, like, totally out of it,” Justice said. 

 

“OUT OF IT? WAIT WHAT HAPPENED EXACTLY? WAS I DAYDREAMING?” 

 

An odd place to daydream, for sure. To her, no time had passed at all. She couldn’t even recall what she had been thinking about. 

 

“I dunno, dude, dudette. You had kinda haven’t done anything for the past twenty minutes.”

 

She had been standing there ingrained into the planet like some damn plant for twenty minutes? As strange as it was, the electricity channelling itself through her new veins was an inhuman joy, a serenity she hadn’t known before. Just a consequence of this body being how it was, Xurkitree, like a dog wagging its tail. Of sorts. There was no harm in it. It was simply inhuman. 

 

“Uh, twenty minutes is a bit too long, unfortunately. I fear something might be on its way.”

 

“SOMETHING?” a spark of light erupted from her.  

 

“These dungeons aren’t the keenest on Pokémon who wait around. Actually, it’s rather fond of throwing out anybody who takes too long. Bit like a living organism, it’s got something of an immune system.”

 

Dungeon. Floors. Eyes. A lot of about eyes. All of it came flooding back. If she was following the two tiny creatures correctly, there was a town they were due to get back to, and they had to ‘climb’ this forest in order to do so. She still wasn’t ready for a fight, but any feeling of pain or sickness had disappeared. The electricity absorption had worked all as a nap, a meal and a painkiller at once. 

 

“In other words, we’ve got to get a move on,” Lumino continued.

 

Justice’s blue cheeks lit up, and as she greedily rubbed her stubby hands together, a small jolt of yellow lightning lit them up. “At last! A return to the battlefield!” 

 

---

 

Stepping forward on clawed feet, one at a time, her body was a lot easier to manoeuvre than anticipated. Freeing almost, with no trouble moving bone or muscle. Her strides bounding as her copper feet rustled grass and mud. Justice and Lumino skirted beside her, making sure that she wasn’t about to crush them. Didn’t they mention her being over twelve feet tall?

 

The world around her was one part meadow and another part labyrinth. Streams that seemed to go on forever, curving in impossible ways. Miniature bogs scattered around at random, crevices in the land. Areas littered with leaves where none had actually fallen from the trees. Even at her height, she struggled to part the prevailing mists. She wanted to be amazed, but she had a haunting feeling that none of this place was to be admired. Even when it showed its beauty, none of it was actually beautiful.

 

With every step, the voices of animals grew louder, squeaks, cawing, sniffing. And at every step, Justice grew tenser, shivering gold and emitting light much like Eva had done. 

 

“Be careful!” Lumino whisper-yelled. “If I’m right, the stairs should be in that direction.” The little grub had basically no arms, so Eva brought her head to the ground to watch his eyes make the smallest of movements. 

 

“Ooh, and if I’m right, some pack of Mabosstiff just left their pile of gummis unintended.” 

 

“And, we have a new friend who might not care about that.”

 

“Like you wouldn’t give anything to see this one caught up in a fight.”

 

The Minun turned to look directly at Eva, the whole of her eclipsed by the starlight of her head. Justice’s smirk displayed two buck teeth, one chipped.

 

“YOU’RE ASKING ME TO FIGHT, NOW? RIGHT NOW?” An inevitable question, yet the electricity inside her prickled. 

 

“Hey, again, not so loud. Also, yes. In every way, yes.”

 

“Risking ourselves for gummis Justice. If you recall, we are under a time limit.”

 

“Oh come on man, bug, we’re no reclamation team if we ain’t reclaiming anything.”

 

Eva lifted her head and inched closer; passing by, she felt the ‘room’ fold inward, the repeating treeline flattening to one dimension for an instant. 

 

“Besides,” Justice drew out every syllable as she continued, “Xurkitree is gonna make this so easy, our combined strength un-arceus-believable.”

 

Looking ahead, Eva spied a set of bulky dog-like creatures. She would have called them ‘large’ had she been human still, but now they were far far smaller compared to her. As a group, they were gravely unkempt, covered in tattered brown and white fur. Their small black eyes peeked through some perpetually squinting expression. It was hard to tell from this distance if they were barking or talking in words, like human words. They honestly seemed kind of cute. Eva was fighting the impulse to run up to them, yelling ‘doggie’ and pet them with the least pointed part of her exposed wire claws. But if this cerulean mouse thing and limbless grub were both people, then these miserable dogs were likely also people and potentially dangerous ones. Still, she didn’t want to hurt them.

 

She ducked back down and gave Justice her best whisper, “You know I’ve never fought before, right? Besides, they’re cute.” 

 

“You’ve been sprouting electricity from every angle; you’ll be totally fine. Anyway, if you do not kill them, they will kill you—easy decision.”

 

“Wait. WAIT. KILL? YOU’RE ALREADY ASKING ME TO KILL?”

 

“Ah, now you’ve gone and done it; stand aside sparkle head; Justice must deliver.”

 

Justice zipped past Eva, leaping into the air and crashing down with a spark. The dog creatures (people) were herding into the clearing. Almost stacking on top of one another in a huddle of growls and fluff. 

 

“Over here!” one of them called, “Brick, Smoke, to the left, Mark, Mud to me, let’s teach them a lesson about encountering Team Black Paw!” 

 

Even one of them towered over Justice. Her ears barely reaching the tips of their downturned mouths. Justice’s cheeks glowed as she set forth a maddening laugh. A bright yellow spark smashed against its face, mushed together, the snout squished against the orb of lightning. Only tenacity on its part kept the dog rooted to the ground; otherwise, its entire pack would have flown over like dominos. 

 

Dashing, Justice returned to her previous position. Back turned, her form started to shimmer, as if it was multiplying itself. She spun around like a dancer in performance. “Ready for another round?”

 

“Intruder. Remove yourself from our property!”

 

“All those that cross brick will get unbuilt!” 

 

Gliding, Justice took the air. Scattering yellow sparkles as she flew. She swarmed the dog, zipping far too quick for Eva’s nonexistent eyes to see. She ended the routine diving for the neck. A sharp punch. A hard snap brought the dog to its knees. Bones crushed. It could no longer move. 

 

“The hammer, it swings!” Justice cheered. 

 

Flicking her ears back as if they were hair, a parade of tiny stars flung from her like she was a magician casting a spell. The stars hit like knives against the doggish Pokémon. Pinning it in place. Gushes of blood escaped from the body in puncture wounds. 

 

Justice pushed the corpse away with her tiny stubby foot. The second dog, Pokémon, trailed through. Heavy pawed. Even Eva sensed its motive of vengeance through its laboured breaths. 

 

“Whose next to face judgement!” The light in her eyes, ferocity. 

 

“Umm, Justice, I think we’ve got a little problem over here.”

 

It was Lumino, who was being swarmed from the other direction. There was no ‘corridor’ on his side created by trees or other pathways. Forced to hurriedly spit out webs along the ground. Shovelling his tiny body backwards in a race against them. 

 

“It is not your right to cross here. This is Team Black Paw’s claimant.”

 

“We will take our vengeance for our fallen!” 

 

“Keep back…” Lumino’s voice wavered as he kicked up the mud beneath him. Scattering into the eyes of the screaming bulldog. 

 

“Do I gotta?” Justice scoffed—distraction costing her dearly. 

 

Fast as she was, her pursuit was stopped as the trailing Pokémon dove in for a bite against her neck. Snarling as it threw her to the floor. The noise reverberated with the trees and made Justice twitch in pain as she lay on the floor. 

 

“A deserved punishment for your attempts at escape!” Its claw glistened against the midnight forest and Justice’s dulling sparks. 

 

If Eva had a heart, it would have been pounding against her chest. Instead, the electricity inside her buzzed so loud she could not hear herself think. 

 

Lumino muttered what sounded like a curse word out of earshot, his ambling non-legs trying their best to flee. Was his plan to dress the ground in chains of webs, but that couldn’t—

 

Crushed beneath the claws, a gaping wound struck across her chest; Justice could still smile. A wide beam befitting of her, Eva could hear her whisper, “You’ve totally got this.” 

 

The current inside of her wobbled, little sparks channelling to the tips of her fingers. You’ve totally got this. The build-up was excruciating, the electricity in her body squirming as it begged to be released. Her echoing voice, practically a roar and her entire body acted a missile shooting itself towards whatever, whoever had taken Justice under its strength. 

 

All the voltage inside her spilled out in one swoop, a huge push that left her briefly dizzy. The messy dog-like thing had been simultaneously pushed over and charred to a crisp. 

 

Most of its body now resembled a dark brown squishy mass, its yellow eyes now dead, no pupil, just colour. There was no blood, its face perhaps the only sign it had once been a living thing. 

 

Eva drifted towards the body as lightly as her body could. If Justice and Lumino were indeed people, if she was, too, a person, then these dog-like entities, uh, Pokémon, were also most certainly people. 

 

She had even heard them talking earlier, sure; it had been empty threats, but that was proof they were still people, right? Oh, good lord, had I just killed someone? If it really had been a person, then it could have been spoken to, reasoned with? She wanted to avoid looking at the corpse any longer than necessary. She turned from it, imagining the gooey bones and fried brain matter in her glowing head was enough. She didn’t need to look any closer.  

 

Justice frolicked through the fallen leaves and scatterings of bodily debris. The slash-mark wound in her chest had stopped bleeding but still looked dire. She paid it no attention, in fact, she started to laugh. 

 

“You totally killed it, holy Magikarp! Not like there was anything less I’d expect, but damn damn damn.”

 

“KILLED IT? Yeah, I did kill someone, I…” 

 

“Psk. Are all humans this wimpy? It was life or death, my dudette.” 

 

The Minun’s jumping skills did not cease to impress. Without even feeling it, Justice had leapt atop Eva’s head and along her back. “Hey! Lumino! I’m about to show some Mabo-shits whose boss.” 

 

Suddenly, it was not Justice who was beside Eva but Lumino. Justice had entirely switched places with him in a flash. The pack on the other side of the room entirely hers to face.

 

“Hey Eva, last one is yours! Enjoy it.” 

 

Through the mist, a twinkle as Justice shot forth more stars coating the incoming enemy. One of them gave her the most intimidating glare as the stars struck them. As they fell, like dreadful meteors, Eva could have sworn Justice’s eyes flared red like a demon. 

 

“Thought you’d try that!” Justice responded by falsely multiplying her form. “Dodge this,” she spat as lightning engulfed her. 

 

Eva shivered as Justice delivered a remarkably similar attack to the one she had just done. Shooting forth with an electrical tackle. The damage that Eva had done in a second of bloodshed had been vastly stronger than even multiple assaults from Justice. The lightning shot merely knocking the dog over with only gashes of wounds, not leaving them a muddy pile of melted flesh. 

 

When Eva looked back, Lumino was busy shooting webs at the Pokémon, this time instead of onto the ground. It didn’t appear to be doing much in the way of damage, but tangling their legs instead, they grunted and howled as their paws attempted to break the thin threads. 

 

“Whenever you’re ready for it, Eva, give them a good zapping,” Lumino said, his voice wavering. 

 

“Vengeance against those who have challenged team Black Paw! We will not withstand this.”

 

“None shall ascend this day! The reclaimers shall not take more from us.” 

 

Eva was unmoving. Lumino squinted at her before returning his attention to the battle. 

 

“It’s now or never!” Justice’s paws were swiping against the other Pokémon at breakneck speed. 

 

Reflexively, Eva’s limbs tinged with electricity, and a beam of it shot forth from one of her fingers, hitting the dog Pokémon right where its heart should have been. 

 

Lumino dodged, tumbling halfway across the room as his blocky body allowed.

 

It was hard to tell if the Pokémon, dog, person that Eva had shot had merely fallen over or was also dead. Lumino chittered like some sigh of relief. Why had she been forced to do this, he had been right there? She couldn’t help but peer over, her giant body making what she was doing obvious. 

 

“No, no, that was a clean shot; you don’t need to do anything further, Eva,” Lumino exclaimed. 

 

The area around the centre of its body had become all blackened and charred. The dark brown of its fur flared and scorched around its chest, skin now burnt as the same shade. The paws were still in perfect shape, overturned and non-moving. Soft if you pressed them. If Eva moved her claws over the dark spot where her electricity had sparked off and hid it, then she could pretend it was sleeping, sort of. 

 

Justice was behind her, one of her ears dangling in the mouth of the remaining dog Pokémon. She looked up at Eva’s towering figure as if the circumstances paid her no mind. 

 

“Good Arceus, you really gave us a show!” Justice called. 

 

There was naught but aggression left on the dog’s face. Even if at one point this pack could have been reasoned with, there was no sign of humanity left on its face, nor desire to connect. As the Minun hesitated, the teeth clenched. With a jolt of the head, the dog grabbed and threw Justice upwards. 

 

Eva jumped forward, attempting to claw the flying Justice into her wired arms. She saw Justice’s ear hanging, a bloody cut that was close to falling. 

 

Before Eva’s arms could reach, Justice rolled. Controlling her descent, her foot spun, hitting Eva square in the face. Using the massive star as a kind of launch pad, Justice dove. Flashing, her electrified body struck itself right on top of the dog’s skull. Crackling rang out from the strike. The breaking of the skull, the electric descent. Justice flipped back, landing on her feet, her face turned away from Eva.

 

The wind still blowing, the mists still unfurling thick between the ground and the treetops. The sweet scent of death finally hit Eva as a short silence passed between them all. 

 

“You know, um, there’s still something coming. We should certainly keep going,” Lumino gestured towards the ‘stairs’ the best his nubby yellow legs could muster.

 

“Right on it!” Justice glided away from Eva, who was expected simply to follow.

 

As tall as she was, she couldn’t help but look down at her feet, at what was left below her. Deep brown viscera, mud, blood and melted flesh; all the same, as caught in Eva’s overwhelming force of storms. She’d never dreamed she’d have to kill someone, but she hadn’t dreamed about turning into a living electrical outlet either. The bloody brown marks covered her feet and wires along her legs, arms. Smoke and sweetness mingled, overwhelming the memory of the earthy-coffee flavours that she had previously claimed from the ground. 

 

At least we’re all alive. As if her own death had even felt like a possible outcome.

 

These ‘stairs’ soon revealed themselves. A dimly lit wooden staircase that stood out like a sore thumb against the setting that otherwise appeared untouched by human hands. There was even a handrail constructed from rope, the kind that would leave subtle burns on your skin if you actually held onto it. The dusty brown leaves scattered around the bottom step, making it look almost inviting, yet as each step continued, so did the colours fade. 

 

“Sooo, we’ve got one, two, three, gummis.” Justice was busy shuffling through some itty-bitty glowing, sweets? The handful of them had been left on the ground from around where the pack of dogs had originally been resting. The bounty that Justice had decided to kill for. 

 

“You really attacked for these…” 

 

“Gummis!” Eva was cut off. “Royal, clear, white, frick-frack, these are useless.” Justice’s injured ear twitched as she threw them onto the ground. 

 

“I did warn her. But, at least Fortuna could be pleased with the white, and the festival needs all it can get after all,” Lumino responded with a nervous laugh.

 

Justice turned to face Eva, greatly taking her aback. Her ear flopped over with a deep scar running along it, matched with a similar deep-set scar across her chest. Thankfully, there was no bleeding, or the bleeding had ceased. Staring at her, Eva reached for her own chest, or where it would have been had she not been a pile of wires with a consciousness. 

 

“BUT YOU’RE INJURED! REALLY INJURED!”

 

“It’s nothin’ I won’t recover from.” 

 

Chugging along with his segmented body, Lumino crowded the abandoned sweets. He manifested a bag from somewhere that Eva hadn’t previously seen and stuffed the gummi objects inside. The bag was incredibly mundane looking, a kind of giant satchel bag in a dull beige colour that was familiar even in Eva’s human life. It held one remarkable feature, a glimmering symbol of a winged emblem with vague engravings of lighting bolts printed upon it. Lumino withdrew the bag and started to scurry back to the stairs before Eva could get a better look at it. 

 

“YOU MADE ME, KILL, FOR THINGS YOU DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT? YOU NEARLY DIED FOR-”

 

“As I said, I’m fine, F-I-N-E, fine. As for killing, well, they aren’t all dead, kinda.”

 

“THEY’RE NOT?”

 

“Some of them? Definitely dead; remember what I said about the eyes? Yeah, yet you still looked into them, didn’t ya? This is what happens when you lose your mind around here. As for the others, they mighta’ lived around her at one distant distant point in time and got absorbed, or they might be the dungeon making you cray-cray making you see things that aren’t real. Juries are kinda out on that.”

 

“SO I DID KILL PEOPLE. I KILLED PEOPLE. KILLED THEM SO YOU COULD FIND SWEETS. SWEETS. ONES YOU DON’T EVEN WANT.”

 

Eva felt all the heat from before returning, the time she’d gone through the sheer panic of waking up, waking up becoming this. But, no, she was in control this time. This was her rage, and it would be all her own. 

 

Her personal well of electricity sprung atop her and bounced onto Justice, surrounding her. It was just a little zap. Nothing compared to the onslaught she wrecked earlier, but it should have triggered… something. 

 

Nothing? Justice smirked back at her, her buck teeth poking through. “Well, it’s like I said, Eva, it’s gonna be them, or it’s gonna be you. No need to get a twist over it. Well, if your body wasn’t just, like that y’know?”

 

The flow of electricity ceased and Eva was only left feeling cold and dazed. 

 

In the distance there was a loud shaking boom, a crashing chill gust of wind followed. Pulling Justice towards the trees and causing Lumino to tumble over like a rolling suitcase. Eva reflexively gripped onto the underside of the dirt as she felt herself falling. 

 

“As much as your squabble isn’t important, I think we need to continue this upstairs.” 

 

Eva imagined her eyes narrowing at the Minun. Her star-head blinking slowly, a glow of cyan followed by a dulling nearer to grey. Valuing her own life enough to follow ahead up the darkened staircase into another unknown. 

 

Well, all that matters is that you are alive, right? Frame it like that.