Transcending the Abyss

Chapter One: The Sealed World

World Abyss was a cruel paradise.
A world where every care was met and every case of struggle was resolved with compassion.
A world that could change and shift to conform to its denizen's needs at their will.
A world that provided shelter and warmth to those who required it, treatment to those unfortunate enough to need it.
A world that sealed itself off from the surface.
A world that denied its inmates a view of the true sun.
A world that oppressed the souls within it far worse than any tyrant in their wildest dreams.
A world running out of resources and energy required to maintain it.
A world that feared its inmates as much as they feared it.
A world that refused to let them go.
But that was a fact that we, its inmates, refused to accept.
To escape from this hell, we will do anything. Hope is the last thing to die in a being.
And hope is all we have left.

Excerpt from The Abyssal Codex

Something had changed.

This was not right. Not in the slightest. Things did not change here.

Long had the prison's doors remained tightly shut. The population had remained about the same. The human-Pokémon ratio had remained roughly about one to ten. The predestined seasons came and went as they had for generations.

But now, after all this time, a new arrival? Unscheduled at that.

That in and of itself was suspicious. Even more so was the fact that, in spite of this arrival, was the fact that he had not opened the gates to let another inside.

This vexed him, and when he was vexed, someone took the heat for it... He closed his eyes, and focused on the marshlands wing. They were about to have a monsoon.

Barely focusing on the disastrous change in climate his whim had caused, he began to ponder this development. He was never lied to in this room, and it could not be a mistake.

So, who had the power to open the gate without his knowledge? And furthermore, who exactly was this new arrival? Who was this intruder who had brought the disastrous notion of change to his realm?

Finn yawned, stretching his arms as he attempted to drive the feelings of sleep away from his eyes. As soon as he found the energy to move his body out of the poorly constructed hammock made of vines that comprised his bed, his feet hit the dirt floor with a thud. Blinking in the artificial light that shined through the gap between the logs of the shelter, he slowly shuffled to the entrance and shoved the tattered piece of cloth that served as a door aside.

He was greeted by a blast of dense, hot, wet air mixed in with the smells of pungent plants, rotting leaves, and the remains of the small fire they lit the night before. If he hadn't smelled that same mixture for the past year of his life, he would have probably thrown up the little remains of his dinner. But he'd had the ultimate misfortune to have been born in the rainforest wing; a fact he cursed every day at noon when the torrential rains came crashing down from the vast set of water pipes and hydraulics system in the vast ceiling above.

The microscopic water droplets in the air made a chill run through his body when they came into contact with the fire patches on his head and tail. Finn took a deep breath and caused his body to tense up, concentrating on the twin patches of pyro-synthetic nerves. The two areas of skin glowed dull red and swiftly erupted into flames, instantly driving away the uncomfortable humidity. As soon as his body was warm enough, the flames on his tail and head subsided.

Now, let's see... I lost the bet last night, so now I have to shore up the camp and go collect firewood, he repeated in his head, going over the checklist of chores that had been part of the wager among him and the other six Pokemon of this section of the criminal camp.

He shook his head in annoyance as he walked towards the smoldering remains of the fire to begin the first of his forced chores. He looked through the tools and cooking-ware strewn around on the ground until he found a decently-sized wooden pail. He wouldn't need it to put out the fire's embers, but if he wanted breakfast, someone had to go get the water needed for the stew he knew they were undoubtedly going to have, as they did for every meal.

He stepped over the ring of small, jagged rocks that outlined the firepit and stamped his foot down on the coals. The heat of the embers which would have easily burned anyone else in the camp, was not felt by him even as he twisted the coals and charcoal into dust.

Why the night watch let the coals smolder and continue to release tell-tale smoke into the air was beyond Finn. He had suggested the idea of a more efficient night watch countless times to Creon, but the stubborn captain of the Ventus Raiders refused to hear the word of a rookie.

Once the coals were put out completely, Finn climbed over the fire ring and tried in vain to shake the grey ash off his feet and lower body. Not that it matters much; the rain will clean it off in an hour or so anyways, he thought glumly as he knew the bright artificial light of the rainforest's skies wouldn't last.

Giving up on trying to clean himself, Finn set off for the opposite side of the camp where the only well was located. As he passed by the ramshackle dwellings made of decaying tree bark and vines, he wondered when Creon was planning on leaving the clearing. The Ventus rarely stayed in one place for very long, and the five days they'd already spent here was pushing that tradition.

There was nothing left here: the fruit trees weren't in season yet, the berry bushes had all been picked clean, and the only village close to them had been thoroughly looted -"liberated of possessions" as Creon called it. There was nothing left for them in this section of the perpetual rain forest that covered the entire wing.

He shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't his place to decide what should happen, though he did like having slightly larger rations than he was normally allotted by the stringent Togetic cook after a good day's raid. Looking around, he saw no one aside from the remnants of the night watch awake, but that would change soon enough. His gaze traveled to the giant, rusted metal plate used as an alarm to signal the arrival of morning and also enemy attacks. Everything in the Abyss was required to be useful for more than one thing. If it wasn't, it didn't survive for long.

The camp itself was less-than-impressive. As much as Creon tried to convince himself that he and his cronies were running a tight ship, Finn knew he had to have been blind not to see the disarray of the Ventus encampment. Precious metal and stone tools were left out overnight, bags stuffed with miscellaneous materials were nearly as common to step over as fallen leaves, and sacks of dried berries were left strewn haphazardly around the "tents".

Finn reached the well with no encounters with the Pokemon he was supposed to call comrades, and he was perfectly fine with staying apart from them. He would have left them long ago, but he was certain he would be slaughtered the minute he left the relatively safe confines of the Ventus. That, and Silas would almost certainly forget to come to dinner if it weren't for him. The prophet was impossible to drag away from his studies of the Abyss.

Finn attached the pail to a small metal hook, turned green after years of use. He grabbed the fraying rope attached to a rudimentary pulley system and gently gave it some slack, allowing the bucket to drop lower into the well. Since it was more uncommon to have a day without rain than with, the water level in the well constantly stayed high above the water table, making it incredibly easy to fill.

Once he felt the bucket fill up, Finn tugged on the rope to pull it back up. The course surface burned his paws and threatened to open up the blisters he received the day before. He was barely able to let go of the rope and sprint forward fast enough to catch the bucket by the handle before it fell back into to depths of the well.

Hugging the container of water to his chest, Finn waddled his way to the kitchen area of the Ventus' camp. As he struggled to keep a hold of the item, he vowed never to make any type of wager with the Pokemon in the D-crew ever again.

"How was I supposed to know that those small, red berries they told everyone to eat were that hot?" he grumbled as he approached the cooking area. Thankfully, Kaligo seemed to still be asleep, so he took the opportunity to simply leave the bucket next to the large iron pot used for stew.

"Alright, so that was the water, and now I've got to go gather some firewood. Oh, great..." he groaned. Gathering usable firewood in the rainforest was one of the worst jobs a Pokemon could be assigned. It often involved digging through layers of dead and decaying plants and leaves on the floor to find pieces dry enough to use for fires. The Ventus had coal, but the supply of the precious black stone that produced both ample light and heat was in constant short supply, and Creon had been wise enough to lock the remaining supply away.

Shaking his head, Finn jogged to the edge of the clearing. He knew if he went fast, he might be able to make it back before the scheduled noon downpour was set to begin. At the sentry post he caught the eye of the half-asleep Gabite guard who waved him onwards before he started to snore.

Finn continued to run through the dew-ridden undergrowth of the forest past the barren berry bushes and low fruit trees picked of their not-yet-ripened produce. If he was lucky, he'd find a dead tree or a branch that was easy to snap off. If the gods of the surface found favor with him, he would have all the wood he needed and could be on his way back within the hour.

Slowing his pace down, Finn kept his eyes peeled for the rare spot of dead brown in the vibrant green forest. Despite his best effort though, he couldn't see anything past the unrelenting wall of accelerated life that surrounded him. Slightly dismayed, he jogged further into the woods, his paws coming into contact with the springy ground with an uncomfortable squishing sound.

And then, he saw it. Pointed to the great vaulted ceiling of the wing was a single tower of dull, dusty brown that signalled that the tree was long dead and waiting to be harvested for fuel. Finn nearly felt his heart leap, the prospect of not having to dig through the countless layers of leaves and bugs to find sticks was enough to make him laugh giddily as he approached the base of the trunk.

Unfortunately, there were no branches that had already fallen to the ground, but Finn hadn't expected this job to be easy in the first place. The tree itself was a blessing enough. Looking up, he saw a few decently sized branches several feet above his reach, and beyond that, the top of the tree was covered by the leaf-covered limbs of its neighbors.

Seeing no other readily-available option, Finn squatted down and leaped as high as his short legs could get him. He dug his claws into the soft, dead, tree bark and used all four of his paws to slowly climb up the side. Finn had the branch in sight; it was fairly large and rounded, and from the ground he was pretty sure he could get enough leverage to break the thing free without falling. And, if this succeeded, the camp wouldn't need firewood for at least two days.

He reached for a branch underneath his target that seemed sturdy enough to support him and pulled himself onto it. Though it probably wasn't the best idea, Finn looked down. He was probably fifteen or so feet up in the air, and quite suddenly he felt a whole lot smaller and the branch a lot less sturdy. His breaths became shorter and quicker as the nerve patches on his head and tail flashed with fire.

No, I can't panic now. I've been through worse than this. Just keep it together, Finn, he told himself, taking a deep breath to calm himself. The flames on his body gradually subsiding as he once again focused on the prize above him. The branch was partly concealed by leaves from the nearby trees, but they wouldn't be an issue is he held the limb at the right spot.

Finn shuffled along the support branch until he found an area of the limb above that bent down towards him slightly, giving him a natural place to grip. Once again ignoring the several reasonable doubts he had about this, he placed both of his paws on the hold and shifted his weight so that when he pulled, there was more power behind it.

He took a deep breath and yanked down on the branch. He felt it bend and crack slightly, but as soon as he eased up on his grip, it returned to its normal position. Undeterred, he tried yet again. This time, several fine cracks audibly made their appearance near the base of the limb. Third time's the charm, right? he thought as he planted his feet on the branch and pulled down with all his strength.

He expected the branch to come down, he knew it would happen when he saw the results of his other two attempts and he had prepared himself accordingly. He positioned himself that the branch would fall to the side of him and down to the ground where he would collect it. He had expected all of this. What he wasn't expecting was the green and white body of a Servine to come crashing into him from the thicket of leaves above him, and knock him off balance.

Finn screamed much louder and higher pitched than he would ever admit to doing as he, the branch, and the unconscious Pokemon all fell the terrifying distance down to the ground. Time seemed to slow as he was able to see every splinter of wood that broke as it spun mid-air and each leaf that accompanied them down from the canopy.

Grab something! Anything! Do something! his mind shouted as it tried to think of anything to save its host. Finn whispered a prayer to the gods of the surface that they would accept him into their afterlife as time accelerated back into its normal pace and he slammed into the springy, soggy ground of the rainforest.

"I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I died. I'm dead," he muttered frantically as he expected the immediate darkness and the fabled light at the end of the tunnel to take him away. Instead, he felt an incredibly painful rush of agony rush through his entire right side as the very layers of dead leaves he despised bent inwards and rebounded his body.

When he dared to open his eyes, Finn was greeted by a loud ringing in his ears and an intense pain in his right shoulder that told him it was probably dislocated. He tried to get to his feet, but suddenly his vision swayed dizzily, making him fall to the side onto his damaged shoulder, the impact popping it back into place.

His next round of screaming startled several flocks of tropical birds and Pidove alike from their roosts in the towering trees. Tears welled up in his eyes as Finn lay on the ground, trying not to make his situation any worse. He didn't know how long he stayed on his stomach on the plants, but when his shoulder finally stopped throbbing and his vision stopped swaying like a tree in a hurricane he mustered the strength to attempt to stand.

Finn swayed in the air as he tried to get himself upright and stay there. Once he was steady on his feet, he surveyed his surroundings. He was still at the base of the dead tree, the branch was largely intact and hadn't splintered too badly in the fall, and the unconscious Servine started to stir from its spot on the grass.

"I-It's still alive?" Finn asked himself incredulously even as a feminine groan from the Pokemon reached his ears. Ignoring his own pain, Finn rushed towards the Servine. He had acquired some knowledge of herbal cures and remedies from the foragers of the Ventus, but he didn't know what to do for a possible injury.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no. Umm, what was it that the healers said? Check for broken bones? Or was it pulse? Come on, Finn, remember!" Finn stammered as he kneeled over the Servine.

Her eyes popped open as she started to rise, but she seemed to be struck by a wave of pain.

"...Gah!... My side... What?"

She didn't seem to be aware of her surroundings. Given her frequent twitching and heavy breathing, however, she was very aware of a pain along her side. Her movements and cries were discomforting to Finn, and he found himself shouting at her to calm her.

"Just hold still a moment!"

Her movements slowed down to a stop. She seemed to be dimly aware of his words at least...

"Now, I'm going to see if you've broken anything. Hold still..." he said as he began to move his forepaws along her side, noting where she seemed to be the most injured. Funny, he didn't actually find any breaks. It was almost as if she had survived with only a few bruises. A few seconds later, she tried to sit up again. She teetered unsteadily for a moment, and finally sat still.

"...I think I hit my head..." she said, holding her head in her hands.

Finn nodded. "Let me have a look."

He moved his face over her head. He examined her, but didn't see any kind of mark.

"I don't think-" he began before she cut him off.

"Look, something's obviously up with my brain, so I had to have smacked it."

Her abrupt change in attitude was certainly jarring, and Finn did a double-take. He regained his composure, and glared at her.

"Rudeness doesn't help you in the slightest," he said crossing his arms before immediately undoing them when his shoulder suddenly flashed with pain.

"Look, there's absolutely no way I'm talking to a gigantic Quilava," the Servine stated, motioning towards Finn with her hands, "I guarantee you- there's been some kind of trauma to my brain case."

Gigantic Quilava? What does she think is going on here? Finn wondered, feeling as confused as she must have felt then.

"...Are you okay?" he asked her tentatively.

"Do I need to reiterate myself?" she immediately snapped, glaring at him.

Was she raving? Finn tried to think of a response, but arrived at none. He abruptly changed tactics. A more simpler question was in order.

"...What's your name?"

She began to speak, and then closed her mouth. "I'm... Now, hang on. I know this..." she said, suddenly unsure of the answer.

Finn was about to try and ask another question when she spoke over him. "Don't tell me, I... Huh. I'll be damned. I don't know."

She sat down on the ground, concentration written across her face. "Who forgets their own name? ...Okay, Quilava-guy? Any advice?"

Finn had absolutely no idea on how to respond to the clearly confused Servine. He'd never met someone with amnesia before, though he had met the rabid Pokemon of the South Jungle Plateau and he desperately hoped she wasn't anything like them.

"I'll be honest here, I really don't know what to do. Injuries on a whole aren't my forte, and I know even less about head trauma. Hmmm... What to do?" Finn pondered as he paced around the female Servine. "Well, I could take you to the Ventus. They have some healers, and Silas might be able to help you out. He knows about this sort of thing," he suggested to her.

"Well, alright. Any other humans around there? Do you know?" she asked him after hearing his suggestion.

Finn was unprepared for her latest question. Humans? Why would anyone want to know about them? he thought as he tried to formulate a valid response.

"Why do you want to know about them? The last of their villages the Ventus raided was … Well, it was horrible. No sane Pokemon would go near them," he told her, trying to block out the memories of what the older Ventus members had told him about that certain village. Images of grisly corpses of Tauros butchered and set to cook over fires was only the first of the horrors they told him about.

"Horrible... Well, thank you very much. I guess you guys are more than a bit frightened of us, though... I just think they'd have a better idea of how to treat one of their own than a Pokémon would," she told him with a small laugh.

"Well, of course we are afraid of them- what…?" he trailed off, as his brain finally picked up on a phrase. Us? One of their own? What is she talking about? Rightfully puzzled, Finn stopped pacing and stared at her.

"What kind of Pokemon are you?"

"Pokémon..? Oh, wait, I think I get it now. Wherever we are now, humans are like boogeymen, right? You've never actually seen one?" she said with another small laugh, though this one more forced than before.

This threw Finn off even more. He sat down on the ground across from her and held his head in his paws. He only came here for firewood, not some inane discussion about humans. He took a deep breath and looked back at her.

"... I've seen one. Granted, it was dead, but I won't forget it anytime soon..." The vivid memory of the desiccated corpse hanging from a noose swinging in the breeze. It's mouth and eyes frozen open in a single, silent, strangled scream. He shook the memory away. "I'm wondering why a Servine like you would want to know where the humans were," he asked.

"Servine? You think I'm a-" She broke off chuckling. "I think you need your eyes checked, buster," she said with a titter.

Finn tilted his head to the side. She certainly looked like a Servine in every way, shape, and form: green and white scales, a small gold crest about her neck, leaf-like hands, nothing about her was different than any Servine he had seen before. Finn groaned; this was almost too much. His head still hurt and she wasn't making it any better.

"You are a Servine, just look down. You'll see just who needs their eyes checked," he snapped at her. She quieted down after a minute, and followed his advice.

"See, nothing unus-" she broke off, and her red eyes swelled to the size of dinner plates. She didn't say a word for a good thirty seconds. At that point, however, she sank down onto the ground, before shouting at the sky.

"Alright, universe, what the hell?"

Again, Finn was unsure at how to respond. Nothing he had seen or met before compared to this. After waiting for her curses to the rapidly darkening ceiling of the Abyss to finish, he gained the courage to talk again.

"Miss, what's going on? What do you think you are?" he asked, trying to be as polite as possible as he saw that her reality was just shaken pretty badly.

She seemed to ignore him at first, muttering to herself. "Okay, family. Drawing a blank. Okay, friends? Hm... Either I had none, or that info's gone, too... Place of residence? Let's see... A shopping center, a game corner, a gym, but oh, no name..."

She turned to face Finn. "I'm... I'm supposed to be a human. I don't know why I'm a Pokémon now, nor do I know why there are half a million blanks in my memory … What do I do now?"

Finn began to think. She was crazy. Either that, or she was having some kind of identity crisis. Either way, though, she needed help. Leaving her out here was the worst possible thing for her.

Before he could offer to help her though, she leaned close to him. "Tell me, where did you find me?"

"Up that tree, but I don't think-" Finn said, pointing up at the tree in question.

"Spiffy! Be back in a moment!" she shouted as she began bounding up the side of the tree trunk. She got about ten feet before her feet slipped on the vertical bark and came crashing back down. She landed hard on her tail, nearly crushing the leafy appendage against the ground.

"Gah! Er... Any clue how I use the vines that Grass-types are supposed to have?"

Finn shrugged. "I'm not a Grass-type. Anyway, I seriously doubt-"

She didn't wait for him to finish, already making another attempt. When she barely made it five feet up, Finn decided that he'd had enough. As she fell, he quickly placed his forepaw on top of her, preventing her from trying again. She slumped down to the ground.

"It's very rude to run off when someone's trying to give you advice. I doubt very highly that you'll find any answers in that tree, and it's a dangerous drop if you manage to fall again. Now, I know of a few Pokemon who could help you, but they're not going to be able to do much about a fractured skull, so why don't you just calm down, and let me take you to them?" The Servine was silent for a moment. He went over to her and offered her his left paw.

"...Sure. You're the boss," she told him as she accepted his paw and pulled herself up.

"My name's Finn, by the way," he told her, aware that he had yet to tell her his name.

Suddenly, the ceiling exploded with the sound of thunder that made both Pokemon jump a foot in the air. Finn looked up, the misty ceiling was pumping out thick, black artificial clouds that signaled the coming of a major storm. He cursed staying and talking with this girl; he had stayed out too long. He needed to make it back to the camp before the rains hit and the eyes of the Abyss opened up.

"Alright, we need to get back to the Ventus. But first," he said as he walked over to the fallen branch that started all the trouble, "We need to take this back with us otherwise Kilago will skin me alive." Finn squatted down and hoisted one end of the log into the air. He looked back at her; she was still sitting numbly on the ground.

"Come on! Let's go, we don't have time."

"Er, right!" She hopped to her feet, and nodded. "I don't know my way around whereever we are, so why don't you fill me in on our present location as we leave?"

Finn pushed aside the strangeness of the fact that she had no idea where she was, and decided to indulge her. "We're in the Rainforest Wing of World Abyss; otherwise known as hell. Now that you know, can you please grab the other end of this branch? We've got to double time it back to camp before the storm hits," the Quilava ordered, directing her to the opposite end of the branch with an urgent wave of his paw.

She hoisted it up onto her shoulders, muttering to herself about how little that actually managed to explain. After a moment, she nodded to Finn. "Right, then. You know where we're going. Lead on."

As soon as he started jogging with the log, Finn's body suddenly registered the fact that he fell twenty feet out of a tree. Sparks of pain flashed through his torso whenever he moved his injured shoulder and the bruises he received from the fall shooting waves of soreness across his entire body. His steps began to falter and stumble over the overgrown roots of the forest as the pain made him light-headed and dizzy. The Servine suddenly tossed the branch onto the ground.

"Hey! What's wrong?" she asked as she finally noticed Finn's reaction to his pain.

Finn barely registered her question as he failed to hold the branch up by himself and was forced to let go. Interia had different plans for him though, his body kept moving forward until he slammed shoulder-first into a nearby towering tree. Finn saw stars as he rebounded off the tree and clutched his shoulder in absolute agony.

"Alright, sit down. Breathe as slowly as you can. Now, this is going to sound like the most stupid of questions, but where do you hurt the most right now?" The Servine sighed, leaning down next to him.

Despite the intense spasms of fire shooting through his shoulder-which he was fairly sure was dislocated again- Finn found it almost ironic that the Pokemon he found and was supposed to be helping was now asking him what was wrong.

"E-everything," he muttered, gritting his teeth tightly. He tried to get to his feet, but her leafy hand on his uninjured shoulder kept him on the ground.

"In that case, better that you not move. I'm not even sure what happened to put you in this state, but let me say this- if it happened before I woke up, you've got one hell of an adrenaline rush, you know that?" the Servine observed as she continued to hold him down. Finn wouldn't stay put, the Abyssal storms waited for no Pokemon and had little mercy for those foolish enough to get stuck in their rage.

"You don't understand," he said with a grimace as his injured shoulder was moved. "The storms. They'll cause me more pain than anything."

She tilted her head to the side. "Huh? Oh, wait, right, Fire-type. Hmmm... Do you see any large leaves of any sort, or anything that could be used as a makeshift umbell... er... mobile cover for you?"

"Yeah, I'm one of the unlucky few born into this wing. Anyways, this part of the forest doesn't have any plants like that. Silas says those are all in the southern areas," Finn huffed, his exhaled breath slowly turning into a visible mist as it met the rapidly cooling air that preceded the storm.
It's only ten minutes until the rain now. The temperature always drops before the rain, Finn calculated, figuring in his past experiences with the weather in this wing.

"We have about ten minutes before it pours. I think we can make it back to camp before then if we hurry," Finn said even as he mentally braced himself for a world of jarring agony on the way back. His shoulder was still misaligned and the dark bruises all along his back and sides were getting worse with every step.

The Servine slowly removed her hand from his shoulder and held it out for Finn to grab onto. Using his uninjured arm, he grasped her leafy appendage and quickly pulled himself up to his feet. The pain was unbelievable; Finn tried to mask the grimace on his face, but failed miserably.
He tried walking, but the ground conspired against him and caused him to stumble over a giant, gnarled root. The Servine reached out and grabbed him just before he fell, and steadied him.

"Here, just hold onto me. You'll end up killing yourself otherwise," she ordered, a little bit of concern mixing into her voice. Finn readily accepted her offer, eager to rest even a little bit of his body. He leaned in and draped his left arm over her shoulder. Once again. he thought of the irony of him being the one needing help when he originally found her.

"Thanks. Now, let's move," Finn urged as the Servine began guiding him across the spongy ground. The clouds were turning from darkened grey to pitch black and thunder roared through the cloak of darkness, as if it was eager to unleash the torrential rains onto the wing below.
The two continued to walk through the forest in silence. Finn knew why he wasn't talking, but he figured that this girl would at least have some questions if her claims were true.

"What's on your mind?" he managed to ask shortly before a plant stalk whipped around in the wind and hit his bruised side, eliciting a pained hiss to escape from his bared teeth.

"Hmmm... Well, a rather lot. I've got no name and no past, and yet I've got an entire future in front of me. It's an odd feeling to say the least... Like I should feel good, and yet I'm really bothered by the first two," she told him, with a twist of her free hand to signify her confusion.

That got Finn thinking. "Why not simply name yourself?" he said after a few second.

Her face lit up. Apparently, she'd not thought of doing that. It is a rather small thing to think about, considering her situation, Finn observed. The Servine had her eyes trained on the ground as she concentrated. "Okay, there's a start. Hmmm... What about Kelly?"

Kelly? What kind of a name is that? Finn wondered. "I don't think that sounds like your name," he told her as they continued to plod along through the undergrowth of the rainforest.

"You're right. Kim? No, that's not it either... Samantha?" she suggested before settling on the last name.

"Does it sound right to you?" he asked. Finn saw her mouth the name over and over as if debating the pros and cons of it.

"Yeah, I think it does. Alright, I'm Samantha. Sam for short. As for the bit about the past, well, not a lot either of us can do about that. I'll worry about it if I ever have to," she said with a nod, affirming her new name.

"We could always ask Silas. He's always pouring over his books and making weird medicines and tools. I'm sure he's got something for memory loss. Though, I'm not sure how he'll react when he finds out you're- used to be a human," Finn suggested, images of the prophet's perpetually cluttered tent and countless interesting odds and ends spilling out of every inch of it fondly flashed through his mind.

"Alright, then. Still, something about those clouds tell me that if we want to get there before it starts raining, we're really going to have to hoof it. You up for trying to move a bit faster?" Finn grimaced, but managed to hide it from the newly named Servine.

"Sure. I think I can manage. For now. My shoulder is killing me, but I'll survive. Silas will patch me up somehow," he said with a sigh, resigning himself for a good deal of pain these next few meters. "Right, then! Let's go!" he yelled with forced bravado. Sam nodded, and began a quick sort of hopping skip after Finn.

"So, while we move, why don't you try and explain this place to me again? Explain it to me like you would an idiot," she said, every word separated by small gasps.

An odd way of putting it, Finn thought as he tried to focus his attention into an answer instead of the nagging pain he felt.

"This is World Abyss. I know that it might be difficult to believe, but this is only part of an entire world down here, or at least that's what Silas tells me the ancient texts say. It's hard to explain. There's countless other wings and paths, according to Silas, and there's many, many more Pokemon down here. We're all trapped," Finn said all in one breath. His concentration was working for now, but he knew that the camp couldn't be much further away.

"What are you all down here for? I mean, something like this could function as some interstellar vessel, but you specified 'down here,' meaning we're underground. What happened to the surface?" Sam asked, looking even more puzzled than before.

Finn would have shrugged his shoulders if his injury allowed, passing over the foreign terms she used. "That's the thing. No one knows. Not even Silas. He has some theories that have been passed down, but no one's certain. The surface could be perfect world for all we know and they just wanted to keep us away from it," he told her with a heavy sigh. Sam curiosity wasn't sated.

"...Okay, then. Why are you trapped? Does it have something to do with the underground thing? Or is something actively keeping you down here?" she asked, firing off the questions as they appeared in her mind.

So many questions! And I doubt anyone in the entire Abyss knows the answers. Finn thought. "I don't think anyone knows why. It's a theory that the Abyss is underground, but it could be miles above the surface in the sky for all I can tell..." And so it went on for the next few minutes, Sam asking questions not even the most renowned philosophers and prophets of the Abyss could give a definitive answer to.

Despite their best efforts to ford the tree-filled terrain, the sky would not wait. The massive waterworks in the high, vaulted ceiling creaked and shuddered as giant gears turned and valves snapped into position. Huge volumes of water surged into the network of pipes that directed and pressurized it until was ready to thunder down through the clouds onto the ground below.

Finn's entire body nearly seized up when the downpour hit the sensitive patches of fire-creating nerves along his back like a sack of jagged boulders. His steps slowed to a walk as the chilled rain slowly froze his body.

"Finn, come on! You said that the camp wasn't too much further. I don't want to be the one carrying your frozen tail into camp, so keep walking!" Sam ordered, getting behind the Quilava and pushing him forward.

Don't you think I'm trying? he wanted to scream, but he couldn't get his chattering teeth to cooperate and make coherent words. Nevertheless, he willed his feet to move forward through the thick, cold mud that now covered the forest floor. It was then that the Ventus camp came into view. Never before in his life had he been so overjoyed to see the jumbled heap of tents, wooden poles, and bags of looted goods before in his life.

"...So, this is the place?" Sam asked. Something about her tone rubbed Finn the wrong way, and he turned to see that the look on her face seemed to indicate that she thought the place was a total dump.

"Either you take it or leave it, because I doubt any other group would take you in, much less help you. I don't know what you're used to wherever you came from but this is what we have," Finn groaned as they hobbled past the now-abandoned sentry post into the heart of the camp.

"...Shutting up now," Sam muttered quietly to herself as the two Pokemon trudged their way through the seemingly-deserted camp, the rain having drove every sensible Pokemon inside where they would have a small reprieve from the weather.

"T-there! There's his tent!" Finn somehow managed to say through his chattering teeth. The tent in question was marginally larger than the identical piles of cloth, vines, and wood that surrounded it, but it had a single, tattered, green banner with a golden key in the middle. A relic from a successful conquest long ago.

Sam nodded, and looked over to the clearly uncomfortable Quilava. "Go on ahead in. I don't have a problem with you running on in." Finn sneezed and almost threw himself off balance. Without further delay, he stumbled forwards and through the curtain that acted as a door.

Sam followed, and was Finn saw she was caught off-guard as she entered. The sheer number of knickknacks scattered throughout the tent was mind-boggling. Most of it looked like junk with no real purpose, but she thought that she saw a book or five in amongst the sea of clutter.

"So... um... what exactly does one do with..." She grabbed at a round, white object. When she turned it over, she jumped a little.

"Erk! A Pachirisu skull..." she squeaked, her voice rising higher than usual at the piece of bone.

"Oh! Please don't touch that! It's quite rare! You have no idea the trouble I had to go through to procure it. I'd rather not say how many mercenaries I had to contact before I found one who had the item. Put it down this instant," a voice, wizened from his many years, called out to her. Sam nearly dropped the artifact, but managed to juggle it in her hands before getting a firm hold on it.

From behind a wall of wooden chests, crates, and colorful cloths, a brown, bipedal creature nearly a foot taller than both Sam emerged. It wielded a segment of what looked to be a large bone as a walking staff and quickly navigated through the piles of strange items until he was face to face with her. Finn followed close behind him, still shivering slightly, though he looked slightly better off with a blanket wrapped around his body.

Sam smiled sheepishly as she gingerly placed the macabre object back on the top of the crate she had found it on.

"But what use is it, out of curiosity?"

The Marowak huffed as he dug about in a different crate, pulling various odd items and putting them on the floor next to Finn. Among the objects was a long rag, a few dried Cheri berries, and a round copper coin.

"The skull still retains some of the electrical nerve endings and is vital to perform some of the cures. Fortunately, one skull lasts an extremely long time. I got that one years ago in the black markets of the mountain villages, and it still holds up," he explained as he slammed the drawer shut and turned his attention to Finn.

"Alright, now, let's see what you've done to yourself this time," Silas gently applied some pressure to the Quilava's injured shoulder. Finn yelped in pain as Silas appeared to write the result down on a scrap of parchment.

"Yep, definitely dislocated. Now how'd you go and do that to yourself?" he asked as he used his club to knock aside several intricate pieces of machinery to make space on the desk. He motioned for his patient to hop up and sit on the wooden piece of furniture. "I assume it has something to do with this curious lady, right?" he guessed while a loosely wrapped the rag around Finn's shoulder. Sam shrugged.

"...Well, not exactly. Apparently, I was in a tree he was climbing, and I fell on him when he removed a branch." Finn simply nodded in agreement to the prophet who continued his task of winding the rag around Finn's shoulder.

"Ah, so the firewood was a bust, I take it? Kaligo will have a few choice words for you when the storm passes, I reckon. Now here, bite down on this. I'm going to slowly pull your shoulder back into place," Silas commented as he handed Finn the copper coin. He turned to Sam. "So, what's your side of the story?" he asked as he prepared to pull on the rag.

"Well, let me ask you this, first- what can you do about amnesia?"

Silas stopped his operation for a moment, rubbing the bottom of his skull helmet as he thought.
"Let me think … There's always the Ganlon Berry, it's mainly for colds, but it's acidic juices might shock your head into remembering. Though they only grow in the mountains where it's drier... I could try a simple brew of herb leaves, that might work," Silas said as he returned his attention to Finn.

"I'd like that, because I can't remember much about myself. Only that I'm human-" she broke off, and paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "-and I'd like to know exactly what bits of my memory are missing."

At the mention of the word "human" Silas's body immediately turned back to face her, inadvertently pulling the rag on Finn's shoulder. The bone snapped back into place with an audible pop and caused Finn to scream into the coin. Flames ignited on his back briefly as he struggled to contain the sudden pain.

"What did you say? Tell me again, please," he asked, his breath short and ragged.

"Human. Homo sapiens sapiens," she told him blandly. Despite his pain, Finn was amazed she had managed to remember that when she couldn't recall her own name.

The Marowak immediately sprung into action. He threw down his bone staff and dashed over to a nearby table with a teetering stack of worn scrolls and books piled over it. He snatched one off the top and flipped through the pages while excitedly muttering under his breath the entire time.

Once he seemed to have found the page he was looking for, he hopped to another chest on the floor and pulled out a small wooden ruler and a small piece of curved glass which he fitted into the small indentation in his skull helmet in front of his right eye.

Before Sam or Finn could even begin to ask what he was doing, he started pacing around the Servine anxiously. He bent down and measured the length of the tip of her tail and the width of the leafs that had replaced her hands. Scribbling down each measurement while both Pokemon watched, one with curiosity, the other with confusion, Silas consulted his book once more, and, once satisfied, slammed it shut.

"I-I don't believe it. To think that it would actually happen... Here, of all places..." he mused to no one in particular as he started going through his possessions and gathering small pieces of everything it seemed.

"The Gift of the Forest, indeed. I never thought it would be this literal... I thought the translation was off, but now... Tiresias was right. He was right... " he continued to rant as he pushed Finn off the desk and rummaged through the contents of it.

"...Excuse me, but what?" Sam asked the older prophet, very much puzzled with the situation. Finn was equally perplexed, and now that the pain of having his shoulder roughly set was subsiding, he could process the situation as well.

"Silas, what's going on? What are you doing?" Finn asked, standing next to Sam who was looking at him for some form of an explanation, but he had none for her.

The old Marowak poked his head up and turned to face them both while stuffing what looked like an entire dried jar of basil leaves into a satchel he produced from another pile of objects.

"Both of you, why are you standing there?! Go on, pack! We have to get going at once!" he yelled at them as he dashed by them to gather a small jar of red powder off of a shelf.

"...Going? Sir, I only just got here, and I'm no less confused than I was five minutes ago. A lot more confused absolutely, but that's not even close to what I was going for..." Sam said, the words trailing off as she saw Silas grab the Pachirisu skull and gently place it in his bag.

"I'd like to second her statement, sir. I'm a little confused as well," Finn concurred as he watched the prophet reluctantly stop his fervid packing and stare at them both.

"Finn, I've taught you some of what I've known over the last two years. Tell me, what is the basis of the Last Prophecy of Tiresias?" he asked while tapping his foot impatiently against the packed dirt floor.

"Sir, I don't see how-" Finn started before the eccentric Pokemon cut him off.

"It means everything, boy! Now tell me!" Silas fumed.

"Umm... It was of the existence of the surface world and the theory of the gate, I think," Finn answered, trying to recall a very specific segment of the ancient prophet's massive collection of sayings and vaticinations during his fabled augury career.

"Correct! Now, there's an old prophecy by Tiresias before he vanished saying how the way out would be revealed by a gift from the forest. 'Neither one nor the other, lost between two worlds.' Those were the exact words. And, that's where you come in, my dear. You have no idea how happy I am to finally meet you," Silas explained with a slight bow towards Sam.

"...Um, thank you? I guess? Right?"

"No, no! Servine, I thank you! This is truly an opportunity of a lifetime- no, a century, a generation. Nothing like it has ever happened in the Abyss to my knowledge. You will be the means by which the Abyss opens up to us, my dear. So, go on and pack up. We haven't the time to dawdle," the Marowak said excitedly. Sam slowly began to look for something to pack in the pile of crates behind her before something in her head clicked.

"Wait, 'the means by which the Abyss will open?' You think I'm some kind of savior or something like that?"

Silas shook his head. "Not a savior, no, more like a trigger. A key, if you will. To open the sealed doors that have remained shut to us for so long. You'll see the way out for us who are blind," Silas explained as he carefully shoved a leather packet of lavender into his bag.

"I see. And ignoring prophecies for a moment, how else can you be sure I'm the one you need?"

Silas paused, a kind of pause when someone realizes their dream might come crashing down around them. After a second, he quickly shook his head.

"Well, your very presence here is evidence enough. No one suddenly arrives in the Abyss, not anymore. Not since the gates sealed themselves eons ago. You appeared in a tree, without memory, and had a life previously as a human from what you've told me. If I had the correct psychic instruments, I could tell if your story is true or not, but I have no reason to suspect you are lying," Silas told her, pointing out the circumstances of her arrival that he had gathered.

Sam took a moment to carefully consider her response. The old man had seemed heartbroken at the prospect of her not being this hero, but she didn't want to lead him along if she wasn't...

"Sir? We're ignoring some very real possibilities with this. First, you say that you have no reason to believe I'd lie. The only thing is that most would probably write off my story as a load of malarkey. I could be doing it for attention, or to try and rip you off. Second is, even if I'm telling the truth, what if it's what I genuinely believe to be the truth, but it turns out to be wrong anyway?" she countered. She watched the prophet close his eyes, and take a deep breath.

"You don't understand, child. Tiresias foretold this long ago; it is by his words we will find our way out. He has never lied in his prophecies, not once. Please, you must help me, Samantha. Help us all," Silas pleaded, tears beginning to build up in his eyes.

"...Wait, how did you know my name? I didn't tell you, and Finn was busy being treated by you, so... " Sam said, backing away a few steps from Silas. The oracle straightened up.

"I am a prophet, my dear. I can see more than others can. Give me a moment to prove it to you... You hail from a city of vile stone far beyond the boundaries of the Abyss. You were not born here like us. That much is certain; not even the blessings of amnesia can wash away all knowledge of the Abyss from one who was born here. You are not of this world, and you are exactly what we need to break free of this prison," he revealed to her after a moment of concentration. He gasped as if exhausted and leaned on the bone club.

"I haven't had a vision like that in a long time. It must be true then, it has to be," he said as Finn walked over to him and supported the Marowak.

Sam paused, not exactly sure how to react. It was a lot to take in, and she was still processing it. She found herself feeling a strange mix of emotions over this- apprehension, skepticism, and some fear, but at the same time curiosity, desire, and even a little bit of smugness about the whole thing.

Is any of this plausible, let alone possible? She began to stare at her hands while she thought, and abruptly had an epiphany. I've already seen a number of impossible things today, from behind impossible eyes, no less. Who's to say that more won't follow? And I haven't had any complaints so far, so I may end up enjoying the ride anyway...

"What do you need me to do? Well, not in the long term, but as far as packing goes?" Sam asked with a tone that told the prophet she had accepted the role of savoir.

Silas's eyes gleamed from behind his mask -not owing to the fact that he still had the glass fitted into one of the sockets. He quickly ran up to her and gave her a squeeze, wrapping his arms around her. He was almost in hysterics.

"Thank you! Thank you, for agreeing! This Pokemon may live to see the surface yet!" He swiftly let go of Sam, who was getting weirded out even more by his actions. The Marowak shook his head. "Anyways, umm... Yes, packing. Samantha, if you would be so kind as to head to the back of the tent and collect the two leather bags hanging on a hook? We'll need those immediately. Finn, you go and see if you can swipe some food from Kaligo, preferably without him seeing you. Get dry things; we can't afford to let anything spoil," Silas ordered while he pulled several browned pieces of aged parchment out of the inner cover of a book. Finn groaned and silently headed towards the front of the tent wondering how he would manage the task.

Sam nodded, and began looking around for the hook in question. After about two minutes of looking around, rummaging, and outright moving large objects from one end of the tent to the other did she actually come across the bags in question. Slinging the pair of them over her shoulder, she maneuvered past the pile of Silas's junk she had left out on the floor back to the front of the tent.

"Got them, right here."

Silas didn't seem to hear her at first, as he poured over various documents that could have had the answer to all the world's problems but Sam couldn't understand a bit of the strange symbols studded around the map. Silas was muttering something about finding the vein that leads to the heart when she decided to try and get his attention once again.

"Hey! Old dude- er, Silas!"

This got the Marowak's attention. "Miss, I've been called a great many things in my many years alive, but I'd rather not be called 'old dude' in any way shape or form. Understand?" Without waiting for a response, he continued. "Ah, I see you found the bags! Wonderful! I had honestly lost track of the things when the Ventus moved camp last week. Anyways, I'd like you to help me get these maps and tools folded up and put into them. Try to distribute the weight evenly and leave space open for food when Finn gets back." He directed her attention to a great array of faded documents and small metal instruments. He opened one of the bags and started placing the tools in the inner pouches and instructed her to do the same.

Sam began to carefully place the maps inside of the bag. She was about a quarter-way into the stack before a noise at the front of the tent very nearly startled her into knocking the rest of the stack onto the floor.

Finn marched out from behind the piles of objects followed closely by a large black-furred wolf. The Quilava rubbed the back of his neck in pain, and to Sam, it seemed like someone had forcefully grabbed him right where the patch of nerves sat. The black wolf turned to face both her and Silas while shoving Finn beside them with his paw. The beast's piercing crimson eyes seemed to resonate the anger he felt.

"So … Exactly how were you planning on escaping without telling me about it? Silas, I thought I could trust you. And you, boy, you'll be receiving much worse punishment than collecting firewood. Mark my words. And you, Servine, who are you, exactly, and why have you caused my prophet to abandon us?" he said to each one in turn with a low growl building up in his throat.

Sam shrugged, and rose to her feet. "I'm Sam. I woke up after falling out of a tree earlier. The only thing I can remember is that I'm human. Apparently, that's a pretty big deal around here."

Silas's face went pale underneath his mask as he tried to get Sam to be quiet, but the damage was already done. "No, no! Creon, you must understand!" Silas said, panicking.

The Mightyena smiled. "Well, now things are beginning to make sense. I've known you ever since you advised my father, and you've talked non-stop about escape, so I know exactly what you're planning," the leader of the Ventus said. He took a breath as if preparing what he was going to say.

"And so, I and a few of my friends are coming with you. We refuse to be left to rot at the bottom of the Abyss. We're going to escape, with or without you, Silas," Creon told them. It wasn't a request; it was the final word.

Finn's head hurt, he hadn't the time to process everything that had happened in the last thirty minutes. He had a vague idea of what Silas was planning, but not much more, though he knew Creon would kill them without a second thought if he needed to.

"Creon! What are you talking about? We're not leaving," Finn lied, hoping against hope that the gang leader bought the false statement.

"And I suppose these bags are packed up to reduce clutter?" Creon asked, his eyes flashing.

Sam smiled nervously. "Er, yeah. You see, Silas almost got buried by a pile of his stuff, so he decided to put it all together, and you're not believing a word of this, are you?"

"I might have had the slightest possibility of taking your word for it had you not broken off at the end to confirm your lie." The Mightyena was staring daggers at Sam. The altercation might have escalated from there if Silas hadn't swung his club in between the gang leader and his new-found heroine.

"Listen to me, all of you! Creon, your sense of seeing lies is as acute as ever. Yes, we are leaving. And I do mean we, as in myself, Finn, and the girl, Sam. Now, I've served you and the Ventus for many years, but it's time I take my business elsewhere," he said as he steered himself in front of Creon, shielding Sam.

"You are planning on escaping, old man. I know you are; there is no business in this plan. I told you before, I am coming with you," Creon stated as he looked down on the prophet. The two silently stood there, glaring at each other before Silas finally broke the stalemate.

"You may come. But mark my words, you and your friends will be one of the first to fall," Silas said darkly, turning his back on the wolf. Creon simply nodded as he made his way to the exit.
He turned around before he left.

"Like you, I've waited my entire life for a chance to get out of here. I don't plan on wasting it. I will get out, even if I have to use your corpses as a stairway."

Sam eyed him as he left.

"Nice guy. Anyway, I'm curious, Silas- was that a threat, or a bit of prophecy?"

Silas sighed, still holding his club defensibly as if he expected another intrusion. He looked toward her and Finn. "If we're lucky, a bit of both... I assume our 'leader' wants to leave at night, so we only have this day to ready ourselves. We'll set out for the North Wall as soon as the sun sets."

End Chapter One