I haven't touched this account in forever. What better way to start off than with a poorly written, fetish-fuel Pokémon fanfic? I'm very truly sorry to anyone who ever believed in me but I can no longer keep my subhuman furry tendencies to myself.
The large, dark mouth of the cave loomed in front of you. The words of the townspeople echoed in your ears: "It's not often people go there, but when they do, they never return." You couldn't help but shudder a little bit. You were about to venture into this cave, and you hoped against hope you'd be the exception to the "never return" part of that statement.
You'd heard the descriptions of this cave. Everyone in town had. Dark, winding, unnavigable paths; some of the deadliest, most vicious wild Pokémon known to man; enough water on the floor to give a man trench foot; pockets of air so cold they could freeze your blood; a horrendous beast that lay in wait at the end of the tunnels—around every corner it seemed there was a new fable about this place and they all culminated into a singular large message: "You even think about traversing that cave and nobody will think about searching for your body." Since no one had ever found anything good to say about the abyss, you'd felt it in good mind to heed these rumors and warnings.
Only problem was, your friends didn't. And that was why you were here now.
"A dare," you chuckled nervously to yourself in a weak attempt at alleviating your tension. "I'm here on a big ol' dare." It was true; this little deathwish was commissioned by your stupid friends—well, assuming you survived this, they most likely wouldn't be your friends anymore. Your reputation amongst the townsfolk as a thrill-seeking daredevil had finally taken a wrong turn.
"Do it," they'd said. "You won't. Ain't got the guts."
You took a deep breath. Maybe they were right. Maybe you didn't have the guts. Maybe you were a sensible human being. Maybe you wanted to preserve your own life and not risk losing it over keeping your claim to fame as the village BAMF.
Or maybe you were as idiotic, brash, and hotheaded as the term "thrill-seeker" would imply.
You stepped closer. Definitely the second option.
Reaching into your pocket, you pulled out a modest flashlight and switched it on. The focused beam of the light penetrated much more deeply into the yawning maw of the cavern than the late morning sun did, giving you a better glimpse into what lay in store for the foolish person about to spelunk a death pit. From where you stood at the cave entrance, everything seemed fairly calm and orderly: for as far as you could see—which, given, wasn't very far—the only path in the cave was quite calm and straight. Almost unnaturally so, you realized with a shiver. Not as scary as the potential inescapable maze deeper within but unnerving nonetheless.
So far, so good. You took a few more steps into the cave, shining your light around at the walls as you did so. Thankfully, the scenery within the chasm had a much less eerily manmade appearance than the path. The details of every pebble were entirely random: Some walls were rough, others were smooth. A couple sections of the wall glittered and shone with a dazzling radiance while others were as dull as a Slowpoke with brain damage. Stalactites and stalagmites jutted from the floor and ceilings as they so chose. You had to admit to yourself, it was quite beautiful. You'd never been a tree hugger, but you could always appreciate the world's natural wonders.
About sixty feet in, your footsteps changed from those of the soft thud of walking on smooth stone to the pitter-patter splashing on top of a thin sheet of water. Not enough water to cause trench foot, thankfully, but the cave could always get more flooded the deeper you went. At least the beauty of the cavern walls were distracting enough to calm you a bit.
The sound of a pebble clattering to the floor behind you made your blood run cold. Wheeling around, you brandished the flashlight in the direction you thought you heard it come from and saw absolutely nothing. There was no otherwordly being, no ghost, no Chandelure come to take your soul. The pebble must've been dislodged from the vibrations your footsteps made.
Heaving a very tense sigh, you turned back around and ruefully continued your venture. You knew you should've brought Charizard. Too bad the poor guy had to rest and recover from your friend's Blastoise watering down his tail flame one too many tames in battle. So you were stuck here, all alone, surrounded by dread and darkness. Well, all alone in the sense that nobody was on your side. As far as you knew, this hole was filled to the brim with deadly wild Pokémon—Either way, you would feel a lot better if Charizard wasn't a walking bag of frailty right now. So you pressed onwards with little confidence, trying to ignore the hopefully-imaginary feeling of being watched.
You decided to distract yourself by concentrating on keeping your bearings as you walked. It was a good decision to prepare for this by packing a rucksack half-full of heavy-duty glowsticks. Each one emitted enough light to give a flare self-esteem issues and lasted roughly six hours—a time you prayed would be much longer than your stay here. These bright little rods would be your trail of breadcrumbs, you thought to yourself as you cracked one open and shook it about, dropping it onto the wet stone floor. It was almost brighter than your flashlight.
Feeling a bit safer with a surefire way to navigate back outside, you headed deeper into the cave. You tried to keep your flashlight shining on the chips of mica in the rock faces since they were easily the prettiest part of this place. To you, they were like solid shards of moonlight embedded into the walls, refracting the dingy yellowish light your torch emitted and turning into a pure white sparkle. They were everywhere, too. The dull limestone was outshone figuratively and literally by the granite slabs in the walls filled to bursting with the frozen droplets of light. They gave life to the desolate stone void, making you feel less alone, less watched, and less dreadful. You had made a good few expeditions into dangerous parts of nature as part of your whole "risk taker" routine, but never before had you seen something so simple yet so captivating.
It was almost so beautiful you don't notice the faint blue glow coming from an opening directly ahead. As you swiveled your head back towards wherever it was you were going, you saw what looked to be a more hollowed out area, the entrance of which was flanked by jutting rocks that seemed to be reflecting a weak blue light coming from within the hollow. Your curiosity was quickly peaked. Maybe it was one of those weird glowing fungi you'd heard about from the botanist down the road. You picked up your pace slightly, race-walking over to the water-polished stone room. The path towards the hollow was a bit of an incline, and when you reached the end and peered in, you realized that the incline immediately ended, leaving a somewhat large drop that would be difficult to climb out of.
But that wasn't the most important detail of the opening. The most important detail was the source of the blue glow. Right there, in the center of the room, lay not a growth of bioluminescent mushrooms, but a creature emitting a faint blue light.
You stared in awe. The figure was one you'd never seen before, not once. It looked to be about the size of an adult man, but it was most definitely not human. Through the blue glow it gave off, you could make out that its skin was largely made of pinkish-lavender tones, with some kind of tail that was a much darker violet shade than the rest of its body. It looked scrawny and malnourished but muscular at the same time, with a feline head and a cord on the back of its neck you assumed connected the creature's brain to its spinal column.
"Woah..." you couldn't help but breathe out. That was when the creature turned and glared at you over its shoulder.
Before you even had time to react, you were suddenly yanked into the chamber by an unknown force and thrown harshly onto the ground. You crashed with an unpleasant thud, barely managing not to destroy the back of your skull.
"Wh-what—" you rasped out before the creature had a three-fingered hand around your neck. Not enough to choke you, but enough to hold you in place. You struggled violently, but the thing was strong. It seemed to be aided by something more than brute strength, though. It felt almost like something more was holding you down. Something... non-tangible.
The creature—you assumed it was some kind of Pokémon at this point—fixated its dark, scouring eyes onto yours. Suddenly, a noise echoed throughout your mind. Not just any noise, though. A voice. A deep, disembodied voice that sounded from inside your head.
"What are you doing here?" it asked with an ominous, unsettling timbre.
"What?!" you cried out. "What the hell was that?"
"I said, 'What are you doing here?'" the voice echoed, more forcefully this time.
"Who the hell are you," you barked in distress, "and what are you doing in my head?!"
A brief silence. Then, "The few who know of me call me Mewtwo." The lavender Pokémon issued a deep, throaty growl as the voice gruffly repeated, "Now stop dodging the question. Look me in the eyes and tell me why you are here."
You were starting to freak out. Your best guesses alluded to this "Mewtwo" fellow in your head being the Pokémon holding you down right now. Some sort of psychic ability. Maybe that was the "extra force" you could feel holding you down: psychokinesis. Looking Mewtwo in the eyes like he asked, you were more than intimidated by his angry glare. He did not want you here; that much was very clear. And he evidently had the means of making you regret ever stepping foot in this cave.
"I-I was just here on a dare!" you stammered out. "My friends—they kept bugging me to explore this place a-and I couldn't say no!"
Mewtwo rolled his eyes. "A dare? Really? Why is it that not a single moment transpires where you Trainers are not on such foolish escapades? Are you not aware of the dangers of this cave?"
"W-well, everyone always said that there was a bunch of deadly stuff about this cave," you conceded. "But—But I didn't see anything anyone had warned be about!"
Mewtwo's chest heaved an exasperated sigh, both in the real world and in your head. "I assume they propagated myths of confusing pathways and deadly Pokémon?"
You nodded. Mewtwo shook his head. "That could not be further from the truth. The danger here lies not in outright adversity but the deceptive beauty of this place. You must have passed by the shining walls of this cave. Stones lie embedded within the rock throughout the entirety of the cave and—as you must know judging by your being here—they are quite visually stunning. So beautiful they are, in fact, that Trainer and Pokémon alike will be hypnotized by the splendor. In my extensive time within this cave, I have caught the sounds of creatures of all shapes and sizes stumbling through these corridors, entranced by the dazzling gleam of these rocks, never to return. That, foolish boy, is the real danger of this place. It truly is a marvel you didn't simply brush past where I lay obliviously, like everyone else has done."
You said nothing. You were a little bit afraid of saying something to piss this Mewtwo off, but for the most part you were simply reflecting on what he'd said. You had to admit, it held some weight. You'd lost track of time wandering these nature-sculpted halls, desiring only to witness more of the breathtaking beauty of these precious minerals. You shuddered inwardly at what Mewtwo was indirectly proposing: you could've been just another casualty, just another soul spirited away by the haunting scenery this place had to offer.
"Of course," the voice echoed in your head again, as the Pokémon closed his eyes. "There is one additional danger to you Trainers specifically within this cave."
You blinked. Dangerous to you but not Pokémon? "What's that?" you inquired.
Mewtwo opened his now-glowing eyes, glowering with a burning hatred that pierced right through your very being. "Me."
All of a sudden, the grip on your throat tightened tenfold. You immediately lost the ability to breathe. You tried to scream, but had no air with which to do so.
"I have held nothing but contempt for your kind ever since I was brought into this world," the voice in your head hissed, much more enraged than before. "You filthy mongrels—you birthed me. You made me the way I am, and yet you try to tell me that it is wrong. That I am wrong. My mere existence goes against your morals, yet if it weren't for you, my mere existence would not be so."
Through the terror, you felt a burning urge to ask him what he meant. Was he saying he was artificially created? But alas, you could not. All you managed to do was take in a gasp that brought no air into your painful lungs.
"They say I was born without a compassionate heart!" Mewtwo seethed, but though his voice was rising, it seemed more faded and distant, as did the Pokémon in front of you. "They scream that I am a monster! But it is they who are the monsters! They who mistreated and misused the life that they gave! I could have been their companion! I could have been what they wanted! But it is their fault and their fault alone that I turned out like this! Theirs!"
You could only dimly acknowledge Mewtwo by this point, even though he was practically screaming now. Screaming almost as violently as your lungs were screaming for oxygen. You weakly clawed at Mewtwo's lanky arm even though you knew it was no real use; his psychic powers would do what his muscles could not. The blood roared in your ears, the only thing that your senses truly caught. Not even the blinding glow that emitted from Mewtwo's enraged eyes could penetrate the blackness taking over your vision. Your mind was starting to fade. Mere moments ago you were alright with terror, but now, you were simply tired. So very, very tired. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a rest, you thought to yourself as you closed your eyes. Your lungs went into spasms, forcing you to gasp when there was nothing to intake. Your head lolled back. Your sight faded.
Then, suddenly, it all returned. One of your spasmic gasps was suddenly able to take in a gulp of air so big your lungs couldn't hold it all, and you began coughing and sputtering as it got lodged in your throat. Your senses came back partially: The blackness retreated, save for dots dancing at the edge of your vision; your ears were able to tune in to the deafening silence of the cave; and some of your strength—and mental clarity—returned. You realized the force binding your neck was much more lax now, and Mewtwo had taken his hand off from around your trachea, though he still held you down with some psychokinetic energy. Air now had full access to your windpipe, and at that moment, you would've inhaled all the air in the world if you could. Unfortunately, your lungs could only hold so much. You lay there, choking and gasping for precious oxygen.
"But, of course, it would be foolish of me to simply end you. I claim this hateful disposition towards the branding of a monster, yet I do not hesitate to throw a life away? No, I will not stand for such a hypocrisy."
"S-so…" you coughed, your voice still weak, "You're going to let me go?"
The mirthless chuckle that punctuated Mewtwo's reply chilled you to the bone. "Of course not. You will not disturb me without consequence."
"Mewtwo," you sputtered, trying in vain to struggle free of your psychokinetic binds. "I-I didn't mean to—"
"That is none of my concern," Mewtwo interrupted. "You trespassed. Unintentional or not, you shall pay."
Suddenly, a new psychic force flowed into your body. Not the same one as the terrible chokehold Mewtwo had you in before. This one felt like it was inside you, altering your body from within. It felt cold, tingly, and calmer than the first one, but equally forceful.
You looked up at Mewtwo as his grip on your throat lessened dramatically. He was… changing. Growing slowly taller and larger. No, he wasn't growing larger, you realized as you looked down the hand no longer clutching your throat. You were growing smaller!
"What the—" you cried out. "How are you… Are you—are you using Minimize on me?" You shook your head, befuddled. "That's impossible! Minimize can only affect the Pokémon using it!"
Another mirthless chuckle sounded in your mind. "I am not bound by your 'moves,' boy. I do not need to know Thunderbolt to cast lightning like a god smiting an infidel. Nor do I need this 'Minimize' to make you as small as you truly should be."
You reflexively attempted to stand up, but even though you were now too small for Mewtwo to hold you down physically, his psychic restraints were as powerful as ever. The purplish cat held you down as you continued to grow smaller and smaller until, suddenly, you stopped shrinking. Though, to be fair, if you'd become any smaller, you'd probably just shrink out of existence.
Mewtwo's psychic force yanked you upwards to be at eye level with him, about a foot from his face. You felt yourself flinching away from his cold, unblinking stare as he looked you up and down and scoffed. "Yes, seems about right," he commented.
Needless to say, you were outraged. "What the hell did you just do to me?!" you cried, flailing and kicking in a laughable attempt at breaking free.
"This size," Mewtwo replied almost matter-of-factly, "is simply… poetry. A metaphor."
"A metaphor?" This Pokémon was clearly deranged. "For what?!"
"Because your new size is a picture-perfect representation of what I think of your kind as a whole." Outwardly, the cat smiled. You couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but he seemed to be taking a cold pleasure from it all.
You continued thrashing about, even though it was apparent that it was doing absolutely nothing to aid you, only using up your breath and wasting your energy. "Let… let me go!" you demanded.
"Oh, have some damned patience," Mewtwo huffed.
"Have patience? For what? For you to squish me to death, you bastard?"
"I did consider the prospect," the Pokémon chuckled. "But no."
"Well, what then? What are you waiting for? What am I waiting for?"
"Would you like to know why I have minimized you so?"
You glared. "Why?" you growled, trying to sound aggressive even though the already-intimidating Mewtwo was now so much bigger than you that he could swallow you whole, effectively draining you of any courage you had.
Mewtwo answered, "I am merely proposing a challenge."
"A challenge?" That wasn't at all what you were expecting. "Wh-what kind of challenge?"
"Well, the rules are simple. I will drag an unconscious you into the thickest area of the surrounding forest and abandon you. You will wake up with no recollection of this experience. And if you survive for a certain period of time—let us say…" Mewtwo tilted his head and tapped his chin in a silently singsong imitation of thought. "... Twenty-four hours. Yes, one full day seems fitting. If you can manage to preserve your life for twenty-four hours, this diminishing effect upon your body will wear off, and you will have the opportunity to return to your family. You will be deemed worthy in my eyes of living as you so wish."
"Twenty-four hours?!" you exclaimed. "How the hell am I supposed to survive in the woods for twenty-four hours when I'm two inches tall?!"
"That, you will have to figure out on your lonesome," Mewtwo replied bluntly. "Though, rest assured—call it a hunch, or perhaps extrasensory perception—but I have this feeling you shall find this trial not so hellish as one would expect. In fact, I predict you will feel it to be rather pleasant as a whole—I do sincerely hope this is not the case, but if it is, woe is me. At the very least, I tried."
"Pl-pleasant?" This Pokémon's words were sounding more and more unfeasible as he went on. "How will I enjoy having my life on the line for a day?"
He shrugged. "To borrow an expression from your kind—hell if I know. But do take my word with high regard; I have a tendency to only ever be mistaken when I believe I have made a mistake."
You snorted. "Oh, of course! I'm totally going to trust the psychic death-cat that wants my head on a pike!"
Externally, Mewtwo growled. Internally, he said tersely, "Enough of this." You saw his feet levitate off the ground. Still holding you in front of him, he began moving you backwards in tandem with his own motion out of the room and presumably towards the distant entrance of the cave.
"You have twenty-four hours," Mewtwo continued. "Good hunting—or should I say, good luck not being hunted."
"You are a screwed up creature, Mewtwo," you spat.
"I take it from context that by 'screwed up' you mean 'evil'. That may be true. But in my eyes, I am only returning the favor that your kind have done to me."
"So why do I have to suffer for what others have done?" you asked despairingly. "You didn't have to go through all this! You could've just told me to turn around and leave and I would've! You honestly think I'd mess with the big scary Pokémon with glowing eyes and psychic powers sitting in the middle of a cave that everyone says is a death trap?"
"Yes," Mewtwo replied. "Yes I do."
"Well, there's something you'd be wrong about!"
He growled again. "Enough. This conversation is over. Remember it while you still can."
"Why did you even tell me all this if I'm gonna forget it anyway?"
"You just explained it. You shall not remember a thing." Suddenly, Mewtwo brought you up close to his face and leered at you with a bone-chilling grin. "And that means that I can do whatever I like to you. And right now, I'd like for you to stop talking."
You were about to protest again, but suddenly a new psychic force slammed into your head, and everything went black.
