.15
Oh, you're up now.
Salutations from the other side, dear traveler! Sorry for putting you under. Trust me, you'd have gone crazy if you were awake.
…Hmm? Who am I? Well… I'm a friend. And there's an entire world out there that needs your help. In fact, you're their last hope.
You want what?
I'll have to erase your memories of this conversation, so you won't keep any of it. But we have a little time. Sit down— oh. Wait. You don't have a body yet. Silly me! Just float there, then.
It all started very long, long ago…
~\({O})/~
20.
Salutations From the Other Side
~\({O})/~
School Forest ~ Four Weeks Ago
~Riolu~
Riolu opened his mouth, and his tongue flopped out. Everything felt weird. He could smell the forest around him in much more detail than he was used to, and he was sure his tongue wasn't supposed to be hanging out of his mouth like that. It was only when he heard the rushing of the lake that Riolu thought to open his eyes.
He couldn't see as well, that was for sure. But his smell and hearing more than made up for it. He could hear the lake, and he could smell the lake, and his nose and ears together told him it was less than three feet away. That would take some getting used to. His feet, however…
Riolu cast a look at his hind paws, realizing that he didn't have the faintest idea of how to walk on those. All the while his tongue had been flopped out of his mouth, and it was beginning to drip slobber onto him. Riolu did his best to pull his tongue back into his mouth, but it took a few tries to get it right. And then, Riolu noticed: he was parched.
Luckily, that was what the lake was for.
Riolu crawled over to it on his elbows and knees, and after casting a look around and realizing there wouldn't be any ready-made cups waiting around for him in the middle of a forest – damnit – he gave up and stuck his tongue into the water to drink. He was able to drink his fill that way easily, although the water flowed too fast for Riolu to see his reflection.
Swish.
The thing that jarred him out of his stupor was the sound of something approaching from behind him. Riolu quickly turned over, looking in the direction of the noise. In the distance (although he couldn't tell for sure; the distance was a bit blurry), there stood what looked like a trio of cone-headed creatures with softly-flickering lights on their arms. The flickers made it hard to see. Riolu tilted his head for a minute. Were these natives? Maybe they could help him!
"Hey!" Riolu called out cheerfully, waving at them. "Hullo! Over here! Anyone think they can give me some directions!?"
They didn't answer. Riolu's waving stopped for just a second. He was beginning to get a little unnerved. Maybe they couldn't hear him or something. He'd just wave harder.
"I'm a bit lost!" Riolu called out, unconsciously wagging his tail behind him. "Can you help me?"
The trio of pokemon turned to each other, and Riolu saw for sure the flickering lights on their hands. Red yellow green yellow red and then yellow again…
And then, just like that, they all turned back to face Riolu. Riolu gave them a complimentary wave. Just in case. Maybe…
-All thoughts and hopes of a civil exchange were suddenly dashed from Riolu's mind. The creatures raised their arms, and then a large shadowy ball materialized out of nowhere and flew straight at Riolu—
—Riolu barely dived out of the way as it flew over the bush he was next to and exploded against something on the other side of the lake.
"Hey! Not cool!" Riolu yelled back at them. If the strange pokemon heard him, they didn't acknowledge it. They started to come towards him, and as the bushes pushed apart Riolu saw that they had no legs. They floated.
Riolu quickly glanced down at his own legs. He didn't know how these even worked, much less how to walk on them! But then one of the strange pokemon's lights flickered bright yellow again and blinked him in the face, and Riolu decided that now was as good a time as any to learn. He hopped to his feet – stumbled a bit – then ran off into the woods as fast as he could.
He didn't get far. He tripped on a root, which sent him tumbling down the forest floor until he landed in the middle of a ditch.
After half a minute of lying there, Riolu groaned. His leg hurt. It wasn't broken, but it wasn't in running condition either. But there was no time for this! He was being chased! Maybe – maybe he could-
Riolu looked down at his paws, then at all the mud under him. He didn't know how, but he knew: His hands were made for digging. And he was in a ditch. He could dig his way out.
Above him, the strange pokemon passed over, looking for him in vain. Riolu held his breath until they had disappeared (Or at least he couldn't hear them anymore). Then he sat up. His leg wasn't throbbing as much anymore. It was time to get to work.
Riolu spent the next few hours digging a hidey-hole for himself. At several points, he had to stop whenever he heard the swish of ferns being pushed aside, or the tell-tale beeping that came with the strange pokemon's presence. But Riolu was a diligent worker, and by the time that night fell Riolu had dug himself a large tunnel.
Before long, he felt hungry. He lay in the small, underground passage he had dug that was just big enough for him, clutching his belly in mild pain. He'd been working hard all day, not to mention the nagging feeling that something was off about him that he couldn't quite put his finge- paw on. Above him, he heard distant beeps in the distance. He couldn't just go out and forage for things, because then he would be caught and he didn't have the skill to fight or evade those strange pokemon yet.
Riolu decided to keep digging. He needed food sooner or later, but staying in this tunnel forever and waiting for the relentless pokemon to leave would just mean starving to death in here. Riolu was going to dig outside of their boundaries, and hope they didn't discover the tunnel in the ditch before he did.
And so he dug. For ages, until dirt piles littered the passage behind him and Riolu was sure it was sunrise again (although he couldn't tell because he wasn't above ground). He was almost ready to collapse. He looked back at the tunnel entrance, which he could still vaguely see from far away. He hadn't dug as long a distance as he had thought. Riolu leaned against the cavern wall in despair. He was so tired, and so hungry, and so thirsty… Perhaps he'd just dig up here. This must be outside the strange pokemons' boundaries. And if not, maybe they were sleeping. Or maybe they'd moved on, thinking he was long gone at this point. Either way, this couldn't go on for much longer. Riolu needed out, and he needed out now.
Riolu dug up. It was hard at first, but he soon found that he was able to cling to the walls with his claws and bat the dirt down, and soon the entire ground above fell onto the floor of the cavern below and Riolu saw daylight; beautiful daylight, and he rejoiced, climbing out of the hole.
Swish.
In the distance. Riolu's head snapped back towards that. Did those pokemon never quit? He didn't think beyond that – he ran. The pokemon emerged from the treeline behind him, almost like they had known he was there, and as he glanced back towards them Riolu tripped.
He hit the ground hard. Riolu groaned, feeling all the aches and pains of his body come back to hit him full-force with that one collision against the ground. The strange pokemon didn't wait for him to recover. One of them raised its arms in his direction, and before Riolu had a chance to react a large shadowy ball flew out of nowhere and collided with him.
Riolu's body was pain, then stiff, and then everything went black.
~\({O})/~
It was a while before Riolu could wake up again. He was still parched, but everything felt hotter. Much hotter. He opened his eyes, and saw the blood-red sky above him.
That wasn't right.
Riolu sat up, looking around. All around him was a forest of dead trees. No leaves were anywhere to be seen, and the bark was pitch black. It rotted off the trees and curled up on the ground.
Riolu slowly got to his feet. This wasn't right. And he needed something to eat. And drink.
Something caught the corner of Riolu's eye. Something blue amongst all the crimson. Riolu turned to see a blue flame dancing deeper in the forest. It flickered weakly, almost half-gone. Riolu could even see through it.
It danced around in the air gracefully, then zipped off in a different direction as if bidding Riolu to follow. Riolu stopped for a minute. Was this really the best option? The last pokemon he had tried to trust had brought him… here. But where was 'here'? Riolu looked around at the dead trees and the red sky. He needed any help he could get. He'd just have to be on the lookout for a trap. And so Riolu reluctantly decided to follow it. There wasn't another good choice, in hindsight.
As Riolu walked he noticed that the flame was beginning to get stronger. He couldn't deny that he was scared right now, and maybe that was making him see things, but it looked like the flame was slightly more solid. Less see-through. Maybe even the flame was a hallucination.
Riolu's stomach growled. He clutched it in hunger as he went. Boy, he hoped he could find something to eat soon.
The flame entered a large clearing in the middle of the dead woods, and then it stopped. Riolu followed it into the clearing, but no further. The flame was completely stationary, dancing and flickering brightly in place. It looked a lot more energetic than when Riolu had first seen it. A wave of fear came over Riolu suddenly. Had he just walked into some kind of trap?
Riolu wanted to run away, but then a thought occurred to him: what if that was what they wanted? (And he didn't want to get lost either.)
Slowly, Riolu peeked his head out into the clearing, both ways. He didn't see anything but the trunks of more dead trees. And that flame, which had not moved an inch. Slowly, Riolu sighed in defeat. If this was a trap, he'd just have to spring it. He was too hungry to come up with a better solution right now.
Riolu took a single step out into the clearing, then quickly pulled his foot back. Nothing happened. Arrows didn't fly from the trees, and no monster emerged from the forest to devour him. Riolu mustered up all his courage, and then put his foot out again. And this time, it stayed there.
Riolu took another step. Then another. And another. Soon he was all the way out of the tree-line, and nothing had changed. Riolu let out a quiet sigh of relief. Then he quickly scampered up to the flame like the ground behind him was lava.
It stood still in the air, same as it had since he'd seen it. Riolu tentatively reached out a paw to touch it, but his paw went through completely. Riolu pulled it out then looked down at it, noticing how it was completely unharmed.
"BOO!"
"Aaauggh!" Riolu fell backwards onto the ground, edging away towards the treeline in fear. Slowly, he watched as the blue flame materialized completely, a candle forming at its base. A candle with a face.
"Oh, tasty, tasty beautiful fear!" the candle cried out in joy, seemingly devouring something that Riolu couldn't see. "For a moment…" the candle gasped between bites. "…I thought I was going to disappear…"
"Fear?" Another voice piped up from a distance.
"Fear?"
"Where is it?"
"We can eat?"
"We can eat!"
"We're saved!"
Several more voices whistled through the bare treetops, and Riolu could only watch as more of the blue flames arrived to feast upon an invisible luncheon. And Riolu was terrified. He curled up in a ball on the ground, waiting for it all to be over, for this all to be just a dream-
"You can get up now. We've had our fill."
Riolu slowly peeked out from the ball he was currently curled up in. The candle that had led him here – he could tell because the flame on top was larger than the others – floated over him, a friendly expression upon its face.
"Yeah!" another candle piped up from amongst the horde of candles that were now watching him (Riolu became a little uncomfortable in just that moment). "You saved us!"
"I… what?" Riolu asked. His voice was raspy from lack of water, and it felt weird just talking. Never mind the fact that he was talking to floating ghost candles.
His stomach suddenly flared up, and Riolu clutched it in pain. The candles all exchanged looks.
"Well, he fed us," said one. "'s only fair."
~\({O})/~
"So what are you guys all about?" Riolu asked, happily gnawing on a few carrot-like roots that the candle-things had picked for him. They barely had any taste and they smelled awful, but Riolu was just happy to eat something at this point.
"What do you mean?" one of the candles asked, lazily floating in the air.
"Like," Riolu said before biting off a large piece of the root. "What are you?"
All the candles exchanged weird looks at that line.
"Well…" one candle started. "We're Litwick. The former and forever occupants of the Ancient Barrow!"
"Well, until recently," said another.
"What's that mean?" Riolu asked.
"It's an unfortunate misconception," said the litwick who had led him here. "The public thinks we're soul eaters, and that we have to kill somemon every time we want to eat. Really, we just feed on negative auras. But all the superstition got troublesome to deal with, so we locked ourselves away in the Ancient Barrow and posed as ghosts. A little 'boo' here, dishes re-arranged there, and we ate well. We were eating well. And then…" the litwick shuddered, too scared to go on.
"And then we were attacked," another, braver litwick continued in his place. "All this icky black goo came down the wall! None of us saw what it was. We were just hit by a strange attack, and the next thing we knew we were all here."
"There's nothing to eat here," a smaller litwick piped up. "We almost disappeared from starvation!"
"But then you showed up," said a fourth, more mature litwick. "A lot of us owe you our lives."
Riolu set down what was left of his roots.
"So there's really nothing for you guys to eat here?" he asked.
One of the litwick shook their heads. "No living creatures," they said. "Nothing to scare. Nothing to feed off of."
Riolu stared at the ground. "And if I leave you…" he began. "…You'll just starve again?"
There was silence, but everymon knew the answer to that question.
"…How about we make a deal?" asked one of the litwick. "You just woke up here, right? You must think this place is pretty strange. We'll protect you! We'll teach you how to survive here! And all you have to do is feed us!"
"Yeah!" the smaller litwick piped up. "The only pokemon you still have to meet is Solosis! And she'll be back soon!"
"Who's Solosis?" Riolu asked.
"Our leader," the first litwick said. "You'll meet her tonight, after she gets back from There."
"Where?"
The litwick pointed directly behind Riolu. "There."
Riolu looked behind himself, to where Litwick was pointing. And then he saw it: A large mountain, wreathed in flame. He quickly stood up and looked up at it. And then he didn't want to look at it. Riolu shut his eyes and turned away, but the image of the demonic mountain was burned into his brain now. Slowly, he opened them, making sure to look in the other direction.
"W-what is that?" he stammered.
"We call it the Bad Place," said one of the litwick. "Solosis has another name for it."
"Another name for what?"
The voice reverberated through Riolu's head. It came from everywhere and nowhere at once, but Riolu only had to glance where all the other litwick were glancing to find out who was speaking.
It looked like nothing he had ever seen before; a small ball with eyes encased in a larger coating of thick green slime. And it floated.
The large green ball of slime looked around, its eyes settling on Riolu.
"You're new," she 'said'. Despite the distance Riolu heard it as if she was standing right in front of him.
"Uh… hi." Riolu didn't have the energy to wave in greeting.
Solosis sighed in exhaustion (or as close as it could get to that, Riolu assumed), then floated over.
"Did you find anything?" one of the litwick asked.
"Not yet," Solosis broadcasted. "I haven't been able to get close."
Noticing the falling look upon the litwick's face, Solosis quickly floated over.
"Cheer up! We'll figure it out soon enough. Maybe I'll bring some of you with me next time; see if we can make it up that cliff easier."
There were various murmurs of disappointment and interest from the litwick, but they soon dissipated. Nothing had changed, after all. Solosis herself soon fluttered over to Riolu, then lowered herself to his height.
"So what brings you here?" she asked. "Wait—don't tell me. You got zapped here too."
Unsure of what to say, Riolu nodded silently.
~\({O})/~
"We haven't got much, but… we're the only living things for miles out. Trust me. I've searched."
Solosis floated next to Riolu on one end of the clearing, where he sat against the trunk of a dead tree. Out in the middle of the clearing, the litwick amassed in a large flurry of floating candles and blue flames, flying around and socializing with each other at speeds Riolu couldn't even possibly imagine.
"I've been feeding them as much as I can, but I'm only one pokemon when it comes down to it," Solosis said. "And litwick can't eat their own negative auras, or we'd never have to worry about this. They were all starving to death until you showed up."
Riolu connected the dots quickly.
"And…" he said. "You want me to help out?"
Solosis sent him a pleading look he wouldn't have thought was possible with those beady black eyes.
"Would you?" she asked.
Riolu was silent for a minute. That should have had an easy answer. He didn't have anywhere else to go. And… they'd fed him. He'd probably die on his own. But at the same time… did he want to be stuck here for the rest of his life? He looked up at the blood-red sky.
"…Is the sky always like that?" he asked. "It doesn't feel right."
"It's been like that ever since we've been here. And wouldn't you believe it, this is the daytime."
"Really? What's it like at night?" Riolu asked.
"Black," Solosis answered. "Even this place can't take that away."
Riolu snickered through his nose. It sounded more like a snort.
"So, what do you think?" Solosis asked, giving him that pleading look once more. "Will you stay with us? Just until we find a way out of here?"
Riolu shrugged. "I guess."
"Great!" Solosis suddenly sounded much more energetic.
"Oh, and one more thing you should know," she quickly said before Riolu could open his mouth in response. "You might hear things in the distance at night. Howls, screeches, pokemon crying out for help… whatever you do, don't leave the clearing. Got it?"
Riolu slowly nodded, looking a lot more fearful. "Yeah."
"Good, then!" Solosis broadcasted into his head cheerfully, leading him through the clearing. "I'll show you where you'll sleep."
~\({O})/~
Riolu slept in a pile of dirt near the far side of the clearing that had been bunched up to look like a bed. He felt his stomach grumble a little, but clutched it in silence. The roots had filled him for a bit, but now he was hungry again. He gritted his teeth and bore it in silence. It could wait until morning.
And yet, as the hours ran on, Riolu found himself still wide awake. He had no right to be this wide awake – he should have been exhausted from everything that he just happened in the past day – but it felt like his body didn't want to loosen up. He was still tense, like something was going to spring on him any moment and he had to be ready.
Maybe it was this place that was making him feel like that. Everything was deathly silent. At least, back in the other place, he could hear things chirping as he dug. Here… nothing. It was dead. Everything here was dead.
"Heeeeeeeelp!"
Riolu immediately sat up in his bed of dirt, staring directly at where the voice had come from. It sounded like… he couldn't really tell what it sounded like, but it had come from very deep in the woods.
You might hear things in the distance at night.
Riolu stared at the trees intently, trying to see anything that might be in the distance. He could only see the absolute darkness that crept out from the treeline.
Whatever you do, don't leave the clearing. Got it?
That was suddenly a much harder set of instructions to follow. Riolu was scared out of his wits, sure. But if there was somemon that needed help out there…
Riolu slowly rose from his position, taking care not to upset the ghostly forms of the sleeping litwick all around him. Slowly, he tiptoed towards the treeline, trying to get a better idea of what might be out there. His ears pricked up, able to hear the cracking of sticks as something prowled in the distance far off. Another living creature?
He sniffed the air, remembering his heightened sense of smell. He smelled… eww, that was rancid. A disgusting scent wafted in through the trees, regaling Riolu with its foulness. He wrinkled up his nose and stepped back. It smelled like somemon had died long ago and was rotting. Riolu stood in place, not sure what to do with this information. Maybe he should go wake Solosis—
A loud roar echoed through the trees, hitting Riolu's ears with the force of a hammer. It heightened in pitch until it was the screech of a demon, and then Riolu heard whatever had been prowling through the woods suddenly romp off.
Without thinking, he quickly got back to his bed of dirt and laid down upon it, wide awake and scared witless.
He stayed awake the whole night.
~\({O})/~
"Rise and shine."
Slowly coming to. Riolu blinked himself awake, staring up at Solosis. He looked up at her briefly, yawned, then let his head fall back down against the dirt again. He felt tired. What had happened last night?
Slowly, it all came back to him. All the memories of his frightening encounter last night. What was that thin—
"BOO!"
Riolu jolted awake with a yelp, and the litwick feasted.
That was how it went for the next few days. The litwick, experienced and ever-creative in the art of frightening pokemon, found new ways to scare Riolu each day. In return, Riolu got roots to eat from them twice a day and water to drink, and so his belly stayed relatively full. He quickly made friends with a few of them, having nothing else to do all day as they waited for Solosis. The one who had led him here was called 'Tall-Flame', as he soon found out, and the other three litwick in Tall-Flame's gang were Small-Light, Flicker-Stem, and Violet-Fire. Small-Light had haunted a library for a while, and read a lot of things in books when he wasn't busy scaring the librarian. Violet-Fire would scare him the worst but ate very little herself, while Flicker-Stem was very young and had known little else but this place. Tall-Flame was adventurous, but also reckless. The other three constantly had to talk him down from pulling several reckless stunts, and it soon became obvious to Riolu that Tall-Flame had found him by chance.
This wasn't meant to be permanent. Every day, Solosis would wake Riolu and then leave early, and she would come back an hour before darkness fell, because it wasn't safe to go out at dark. Riolu had questioned her on several occasions, but Solosis was always very coy about the answers she gave.
"What are those noises?" Riolu asked one day, just after Solosis had come back from wherever she went all day. "I hear them every night, just like you said. But if everyone can hear those things, then that means there has to be some other sign of life out there, right?"
Solosis sighed, like she wasn't prepared to answer that question.
"Promise me you'll never go after those voices," she said, just to him. "They aren't what they pretend to be."
"What does that mean?" Riolu pressed, but Solosis refused to communicate with him beyond that.
"So," Riolu asked as he bit into a root. His nose wrinkled as he did. They smelled more and more awful with each day, but they were the only thing he had to eat at this point. "What's up with Solosis? You guys know why she goes to that mountain every day?"
Flicker-Stem floated next to him, staring at the same thing he was: the demonic, flame-wreathed mountain in the distance. It was colored the dark shade of rust that everything in this place was colored, and from a distance it seemed almost peaceful. Almost.
"Solosis calls it Reverse Mountain," Flicker-Stem said. "She said that in the world – the real world, not this place – there's a mountain just like it standing right there. And on top of Reverse Mountain is the way back to the real world."
Riolu chewed his roots silently as he gazed up at it.
"…Then why haven't we left already?" he asked.
"Because there's no way up the mountain," Flicker-Stem said.
That made Riolu glance at Flicker-Stem in shock.
"Then…" he said, with a mouth full of awful-smelling root. "...We're stuck here?"
Flicker-Stem frowned. "We're stuck here anyway," he said. "Every day Solosis goes out to the mountain and looks for a way out of here."
"But she hasn't found one yet," Riolu finished.
"You're getting it," Thin-Stem said.
It was a week before anything notable happened.
~\({O})/~
"You're awake. Good! I've been waiting so very long…
…How long? You were out for quite a while. I was beginning to get worried about you. Although, your mind wouldn't have survived the trip if I hadn't put you under. Transferring consciousness between bodies is a big deal, after all!
Do you remember what we talked about? The questions I asked you? The conclusions we came to together?
Yes… We're here. We've arrived at the Pokemon World. But…
I'm afraid I have to leave you now. However; I trust you'll be just fine on your own.
You will… If you answered my questions with an honest and open heart, you should have nothing to fear.
And now we must part, dear Espurr. My heart goes out to you, in the new world…
~\({O})/~
Litwick Campground
~Riolu~
Riolu lay on his bed of dirt, with his eyes squeezed shut. He still heard the voices, but it had been a week, and he'd learned to ignore them at this point. Or at least sleep while he heard the howling and screeches that reverberated through the woods. He didn't think Solosis knew what they were. Maybe she had spent too many nights listening to those voices as they kept her up at night. A few nights of hearing them and Riolu never wanted to go near them again. He rolled away from the woods in front of him, gazing at the sleeping pile of litwick that cast a soft blue glow over the campsite. He was beginning to feel sleepy, and finally the woods had gone silent around him. Perhaps he could get a good night's worth of sleep this time—
A low rumbling caught Riolu's ears, and then the sharp noise of something blasting up into the sky made them lower in pain. Riolu quickly sat up, looking around in confusion. His eyes settled in on the new direction: It was due south.
Opening his eyes, Riolu was met with the image of a thin pillar of light streaking up into the sky. That was… Riolu quickly checked. That was to the southeast.
~\({O})/~
Somemon very, very far away glanced out from his tent to watch the large pillar of light brightening up the sky to the southwest.
"Interesting…" Wartortle muttered to himself.
~\({O})/~
~Riolu~
Riolu looked one way, then the other. Then back at the stream again. It didn't look that far off, but… Didi it make sense to leave the clearing to go looking for it? Riolu was torn.
It was a few minutes before he properly decided. Quietly, Riolu crept off his bed of dirt, and took a few hesitant steps towards the treeline. It would just be there and back again. No sweat. And if he found something, then it was even better! That made up Riolu's mind. He took a few more confident steps, and then sprinted for the treeline.
He ran through the woods, heading due south. Looking up, he could still see the stream flaring up in the sky. It looked no larger than it had before.
Riolu closed his eyes and let his legs take over for him. He hadn't run properly since… ever, and it felt amazing—
A tree branch sent Riolu stumbling to his feet, and he struggled to pick himself up and continue onward. Okay. He'd keep his eyes open from now on.
Before long, the forest ended. Riolu found himself stumbling to a stop in a second large clearing. He looked around in confusion.
He stood in the middle of what looked like a village, but it was completely leveled – no building stood more than half a foot's worth off the ground. Which was half as tall as he was, but several feet short of a complete building.
The light slowly died down. Riolu looked upwards towards the sky to see that the large flare of light was thinning. It threatened to leave Riolu in complete darkness, but lit up the area just enough for him to see.
In the distance behind him, a stick snapped. Riolu glanced back towards the woods from which he had come anxiously. Was something there?
On instinct, Riolu hid behind one of the building's walls, crouching down to avoid being seen. Something was out there and there was only one thing it could have been.
Slowly, he heard it stomp around. The footsteps were heavy, like the creature they belonged to was bulky. Riolu barely dared to breathe.
He stayed like that for a minute, breathing as silently as he could with his paws clenching the rust-red dust on the ground. He heard the monster stomp around a bit more, almost like it was looking around for something. It sniffed the air audibly. It smelled him.
Riolu decided to take a peek. If he was going to decide on a good course of action, he at least needed to know what he was dealing with first. Ever-so-slowly, he twisted his head around the stone wall he was hiding behind, trying to get a good look at what was in the middle of the village square.
The only reason he could see it was because it was blacker than anything else. It looked without a stable form, and Riolu saw it dripping black fluid onto the ground as it walked. He took a heavy breath, trying to stomach what he was seeing. His teeth began to chatter, and he realized his whole body was trembling.
The monster suddenly snapped its head towards where Riolu was hiding, and Riolu quickly pulled his head back behind the wall. He heard the monster begin to stomp again, and each stomp was getting louder and louder…
…It knew where he was. Riolu had to act. He sprung up from where he was sitting, dashing down the beaten path southwards once more. He heard its horrible screech sound from behind him as he ran.
So focused on getting away, Riolu didn't see much of where he went. It was the ruins of a town, that much he knew – a destroyed house here, the ruins of a bridge there – but he was more focused upon outrunning the thing that had taken chase after him. He could hear it galloping after him as he went. And it was gaining ground. If Riolu didn't do something fast to throw it off, he was going to get caught.
A sudden scent invaded his nostrils, the same one that he'd smelled in varying quantities as far back as he could remember. But this one was incredibly strong. Maybe… Riolu quickly took a hard right, heading southeast into the forest, and then dived behind the trunk of a dead oak. He remained completely quiet. The monster galloped past, not even sparing a look towards the forest as it passed. Riolu waited half a minute to uncup his paw from over his nose. Then, once he was sure it was safe (or about as safe as it was going to be in a place like this), he continued onward.
Riolu walked now. He stepped through the woods carefully, too afraid to do anything that could lead to making noise and setting the monster back on his trail. As he walked, he followed the smell of slow decay, which was only getting stronger as he headed southwest. And soon, he came upon the source of the smell: What looked like a strange amalgamation of a tree and a beating heart. Riolu watched it perplexedly as it slowly thumped, and his eyes followed it downwards to all he roots snaking out from under it.
Most of the roots had been chopped and severed off somewhere, and when Riolu leaned over to investigate he realized the smell was coming from there. He quickly sat up, actively repelled by the stench. These were the same roots he'd been eating since he got here. Was this where they all came from? He looked up at the beating heart once more, noticing how it was beginning to shrivel up at the bottom from lack of nutrients. Riolu tilted his head, perplexed.
As disgusting as the roots looked, they were there, so Riolu – reluctantly – ate. And once he was sure that the monster wouldn't be coming back for him, he slept.
~\({O})/~
~?~
For so long It had gone without any other creatures within its domain. For 10,000 years It had traversed the cursed lands It inhabited all alone. It had been 10,000 years since It and Its brethren had last feasted. And now they would feast again.
Living beings were returning to the Voidlands, a sign of much greater things to come. It salivated at the prospect of even more creatures to devour. It prowled through the woods, tracking the scent of the one It had chased. The scent reached a dead end once the smell of a distortion hub nearby became too strong, so It followed the track leading the other way. It travelled up through the remains of the wrecked village, and over the hill, up towards the direction of the burning mountain. The creature's stench lead a clear path back to where he had come from. It grinned as it grew eyes and saw light, and then it was Riolu.
Solosis was roused by the sound of somemon pattering around the camp. She blinked her eyes open sleepily, her gaze settling on Riolu.
"Ugh.." she groaned, still trying to get her mind into a state awake enough to deal with the matter at hand. "What are you doing? It's not like you to be up this early—"
Riolu suddenly sprouted a large black gooey clawed arm, and Solosis barely had any time to react before it slammed down upon her.
Psychic power glowed from under Its arm, and then It was blown back by Solosis, who floated.
"It's going to take a bit more than that to get rid of me," she broadcasted. "Everymon awake! We've been found out!"
It growled, before a searing pain burning into Its head for a second. All of the litwick were jolted awake by the sudden sharp signal, and once they saw It the situation was clear. All of them quickly began to flee through the woods as fast as they could. The clearing was empty of litwick within seconds.
It snarled through a muzzle that was only barely riolu. Its feast was escaping! Not if It had anything to say about it. But a sudden Psybeam sent It reeling backwards, and It realized perhaps an appetizer was in order instead.
Solosis shone with light, and then suddenly in her place stood a mighty giratina.
"Have at you!" the giratina yelled. Then she charged forward.
~\({O})/~
The Ancient Barrow ~ Present Day
~Espurr~
While Riolu told his story, Espurr took a moment to catch her breath and let her brain catch up with the rest of her body. This was obviously a deeper floor of the dungeon, but none of her friends had caught up with her yet. She briefly wondered if they were all oka—
A gurgling noise came from the wall right above Espurr. Riolu glanced at it in confusion, and Espurr turned around. Not a second too soon. An arm erupted from the wall and grabbed for Espurr's head. Espurr barely scooted back enough for it to miss, then stumbled to her feet.
"Run!" she cried out, pulling Riolu to his feet and fleeing the dungeon. She heard the shadow exit the wall completely as they both sprinted into the main hallway and took a hard left, but it soon went silent. Espurr heard the echoes of a silent pop reverberate through the hallway, the signal of the monster slipping back into the wall.
"Keep clear of the walls," Espurr said once she could no longer hear it. She gravitated towards the center. "It's not gone. It's just waiting for a moment to grab us."
Riolu nodded, still breathing heavily.
They continued down the hall in single file. Espurr made sure she was behind Riolu, just in case. Riolu didn't seem to mind (if only because he didn't have to worry about the monster attacking him from behind as much). After a while, Espurr spoke.
"That thing," she said. "You knew what it was. Mind explaining?"
"Yeah. We had a name for them," Riolu said. "We called them Void Shadows."
~\({O})/~
~Riolu~
Slowly coming to. Riolu yawned himself awake.
After a week of being woken up by somemon scaring him back into existence, it felt weird for Riolu to wake up on his own accord. The blood-red sky greeted him instantly, red once more. Riolu stretched, then slowly rose from his position against the weird heart… tree thing. He wrinkled his nose up at the smell. It seemed much more pungent than it had been yesterday, and the strange beating heart looked just a little more shriveled up.
He ate some more of the roots for breakfast. They were still edible even though they rotted. After finishing the roots, Riolu felt a bit parched. The litwick had always given him some water whenever they had gone out to collect roots, and he'd taken it for granted. But clearly they hadn't gotten the water from here.
He had a choice now. Go back to Solosis' camp, or continue onwards. Riolu looked ahead, where he could still see the remnants of flickering light in the sky. He'd come this far… going back now was a waste. He had to see what had made that light! And more importantly, if it was the key to a way out of here.
And so Riolu made his choice. He turned southeast, checked to make sure the coast was clear, and then hiked off in that direction.
It felt like he travelled for hours, across desert dunes of rust-red sand and the occasional ruins of other buildings and forests. Every so often he would come across more beating heart-trees, their roots snaking through the ground in twisted layers almost twenty feet out. Riolu steered clear of them, mostly.
For a while, that was all there was – a desert of red dust. Riolu was beginning to feel hopeless – maybe he'd run out of luck. He was stranded all the way out in the middle of nowhere, with no cover to take, nothing to drink, and no-mon to keep him company. He was all alone. Riolu was really beginning to regret leaving the litwick camp…
And then he heard noise. Distant noise. The noise of two pokemon talking to each other. Riolu didn't think twice. He sprinted towards the sound, running up a large red dune of sand.
"Hey!" he yelled, waving his arms up in the air as he ran. "I'm over here!"
The pair of pokemon who had been making the noise, a brionne and a seviper, turned to look at him as he ran. But suddenly their expressions hardened, and they began to charge up attacks—
Riolu only had a second to change his joyous look to one of fear before he was hit with the combined power of pure beams of water and grass energy. Unequipped to handle such a pair of attack, they both sent Riolu flying straight back down the dune he had been climbing. The two pokemon were on him in an instant, and the next thing Riolu knew he was coiled tightly in Seviper's grip.
"So what do you think?" Seviper asked Brionne. "Is he for real?"
Brionne looked at Riolu, tied up in Seviper's grip. "I think he would have changed by now if he was one of Them."
Seviper looked at her disappointedly. "And that's what Eddie said the last time we saw him! And when was that?"
"A week ago," Brionne sighed through gritted teeth.
"Point in case." Seviper said. "We need to get 'rid' of him."
Brionne looked horrified.
"But what if he's for real?" she asked in horror.
"We can't take that chance!" Seviper shot back. "Do you not grasp the situation we are in?"
"What are you talking about?" Riolu muttered, regaining his bearings enough to speak again.
"See?" Brionne stated, brashly gesturing to him with her flipper. "He speaks."
"They all speak," Seviper shrugged. "At first."
"Give him a chance to explain himself before killing him!" Brionne hissed. "You yourself said you could tell a Shadow alibi from a real 'mon."
Seviper pouted for a moment. Then she hissed in annoyance.
"Fine," she said, turning to Riolu. "Talk. Fast. Who are you?"
"Hurting," Riolu muttered, still flat on the ground. Seviper squeezed him for a second, causing Riolu to gasp in pain.
"Not. Cool. Talk. Who are you?" Seviper stared him down. Riolu stammered.
Riolu looked into Seviper's slits-for-eyes, and came to the conclusion that the best option was to talk.
"I- I- I'm Riolu," he said. "Just Riolu. I've been here for a week."
"And?" Seviper prompted.
"And what?" Riolu asked.
"Where were you before that?" Seviper hissed.
"I…" Riolu stammered. "I… I don't know. I think I hit my head pretty badly. Everything's new to me."
Seviper sent Brionne a silent 'I told you' glance. Brionne looked down to the ground. Riolu glanced at her pleadingly. She took a deep breath, then looked him in the eye.
"Oh. Well, that sucks." Brionne frowned. Her eyes darkened. "But you see why we have to be suspicious of you, right?"
She began to charge up an attack, and Seviper did the same. Riolu scrambled backwards in fear.
"You don't believe me?" he asked in horror.
"You know what the biggest tell is when somemon's a Shadow?" Seviper asked. "They never remember anything. They copy the body but not the memories. If you're dumb, you never see it coming until it's too late. If you're smart…" she took a fighting stance. "You nip it in the bud before it can happen." And with that, she began to charge up an attack of her own. Riolu looked down at his paws. Could he fight? Should he fight?
"W- Wait!" he called out, just before the two of them could fire. "I can prove I'm who I say I am!"
That made Brionne hesitate for a minute. She eyed him suspiciously. "Then Talk."
"I-" Riolu began, trying to organize his thoughts. "I didn't wake up in this place, I got zapped here! I woke up in a forest in the middle of nowhere, and these weird pokemon with lights on their arms chased me and hit me with this attack. The next thing I know I'm here. I really have been here for a week."
"A week? All on your own?" Brionne scoffed. "Likely story."
"Not alone," Riolu shook his head. "There's a whole clan of litwick back in the woods that looked after me. They were looking for a way out of here, but they eat fear. They needed me to give them fear to eat."
Brionne kept her attack stance, but Riolu could tell she was having second thoughts.
"Why'd you leave?" Seviper asked firmly.
"Last night, I saw this pillar of light appear in the sky. I wanted to go investigate," Riolu said. I thought I would be there and right back, but it was farther away than I thought. And then I came across this place."
"And you don't remember anything."
Riolu shook his head. "Nothing before I woke up in those woods. I'm telling the truth; I swear! If I was one of those monsters that attacked me last night I would have attacked you by now!"
Seviper and Brionne exchanged looks. Then Seviper sighed.
Fine," she said. "But we're taking him to Wartortle."
~\({O})/~
The two of them hoisted Riolu up with flippers and tails, and began to drag him across the dunes of red sand. It wasn't five minutes of walking (or slithering, or… whatever that hopping/sliding thing Brionne was doing was) before the sounds of distant noise began to reach Riolu's ears. They pricked up, and then so did he. That sounded like…
All the way from where Riolu was to the coastline, long, paw-made tents covered the dusty ground, and occupying those tents were hundreds of living, breathing pokemon, wonderful living beings! Noticing that Riolu was fidgeting a lot in excitement, Brionne and Seviper let Riolu down.
"Don't run," Seviper hissed in his ear, and then they continued into the settlement.
All around there were pokemon going about their day, but none of them paid Riolu any mind. They all looked like they had just reached the end of a very long journey. Seviper and Brionne dragged Riolu towards the center, where a somewhat grander tent stood.
"Where are you taking me?" Riolu asked, looking at the tent.
"Quiet," said Seviper. "We need to make sure you're the real deal. Wartortle will see to that."
They approached the tent, where a line of pokemon had already amassed. They took issue as Brionne and Seviper pushed past them.
"Hey!" one of them, a joltik, squeaked out angrily. "What's the deal? No pushing in line!"
"This is important," Seviper hissed back.
"We found an outsider," Brionne quickly added, hoping to avoid a conflict.
The joltik looked mighty annoyed, but settled for growling to itself instead. It cleared the way for Brionne and Seviper to pass.
They dragged Riolu into the tent, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the candle-lit darkness. Inside, a largeish, turtle-like pokemon was studying several charts and stone tablets intently.
"Hmm?" he asked as Brionne and Seviper entered. "Blaze? Is that you?" He looked up, his face immediately falling when he saw the three pokemon staring at him from the doorway. He set the tablet aside. "And do what do I owe the pleasure of the two of you? And… apparently a strangled riolu," he added, glancing at Riolu in confusion.
Brionne nudged Riolu forward.
"Explain yourself."
Riolu did. He told Wartortle about waking up, the strange pokemon who had hunted him down, the litwick, Reverse Mountain, the pillar of light, and his amnesia. All through the story Wartortle nodded and hmmm'd in thought, but he stayed interested. His eyes looked like they were piecing things together even as Riolu said them. At the end, when Riolu had finished talking, Wartortle set aside the stone tablet he had had in his lap, and stared directly at Riolu.
"I think the both of you should stay for a little while," he said.
~\({O})/~
"Every so often, the world we live in is struck by a major crisis," Wartortle began. "Natural disasters, the decay of time, an apocalypse of ice and snow. I've lived through it all, and I fear that we are in the midst of another. But for every apocalypse, there is a savior. A single Chosen One who must bear the burden of saving the world for all pokemon who live on it. I was the first of these saviors, sent in to combat a meteor that ran off its natural course. The second worked at the most prestigious exploration guild of its time, and the third helped found the largest city on the planet. And if your story is true, then you may very well be the fourth."
Riolu and Brionne didn't make a sound as Wartortle spoke. He picked up one of the tablets, and set it down in front of them. "These tablets were found on the Air Continent, where I and everymon in this encampment come from. They were written in ancient human; thus, I am the only 'mon present who can decipher them." He pushed it towards Riolu. "Read."
Riolu looked at the tablets, staring at nonsense. He didn't recognize any of the markings, but when he read over the words he somehow knew what they said.
"We have been here forty-two days now," Riolu said, his eyes flicking over the nonsense as he read. "There's no internet. No power. No cell-phone reception. Not another person to be seen. These stone tablets are the only method of preserving information now. At night, they come for us, and we cannot keep driving them off. I fear we will not see the morning at this rate. There's nothing to eat. Nothing to drink. No way out."
Riolu looked at Wartortle, who cleared his throat.
"…It's an improper translation, but close enough." Wartortle took back the tablet, but even Riolu could see that his face lit up with hope. "Your story checks out. You are the chosen one. You are the fourth Human. And…" Wartortle's claws began to shake with excitement.
"There's a lot we have to go over. If the three of you will stay just a little longer…"
~\({O})/~
Wartortle hopped to life like a slowpoke who had just been given all the energy of a young pichu. He sprinted to and from all the old books and tablets that lay around his tent, arranging things like a presentation. The line outside had been called off long ago. Off to the side, Riolu and Brionne were made to sit. Seviper had left long ago.
"So who is Wartortle?" Riolu asked as he leaned against the tent. "He looks important."
"He is important," Brionne said. "He's the leader of the Rescuer's Guild in Pokemon Plaza. Or… he's the last living leader. This is the happiest I've seen him in a while."
"Last living?" Riolu asked. "What happened to the others?"
"What do you think happened?" Brionne lowered her voice, then looked at Wartortle to make sure he hadn't heard. He was still stacking books. "Shadow got 'em."
"Are the Shadows those monsters that come out at night?" Riolu pried.
"Yes," Brionne answered in a hiss. "They… they absorb pokemon. Wartortle has a few theories, but we don't know where they go. And his theories are… far-fetched, for lack of a better word. I think he's too hopeful, honestly."
Riolu nodded silently.
"There's one Shadow in particular you need to watch out for," Brionne continued. "Wartortle calls it Nyarlathotep, from some book he read. It's bigger than all the others. Stronger. We think it commands them." She leaned in close. "That's what killed the rest of Team Go-Getters."
"All ready!" Wartortle gestured from the other side of the tent. "Both of you, over here. I need to show you what I've been planning to get us out of here."
He pushed another tablet towards Riolu. "That last tablet I gave you wasn't the whole story. There is a whole series of these, which I have poured over relentlessly. This is the only one that matters. Read."
"Last week one of ours went on a journey towards the mountain," Riolu read. "Today we saw it erupt in a pillar of light that stayed in the sky for over a day. Tomorrow, we hope to complete the same journey. This will be the last entry I leave here. I wish well to any others who find this stone. May you also escape this evil place."
"Now initially my plan was to give us some time to rest before we continue on towards the mountain. Our journey here was long and relentless. But then that beam of light shooting up into the sky! And then we met you… it must be a sign. We set out tomorrow. Huzzah!" Wartortle jumped into the air in joy, then quickly hurry-scurried towards the entrance of the tent.
"Hey," he said to the furret guarding the tent, his voice hushed and joyful. "Give the order. We leave tomorrow, for a way back to the real world! Spread the good news!"
The furret's dull face brightened up. It nodded, before scampering off in manic excitement. Wartortle turned back to Brionne and Riolu. "Bryony, you are not to let him out of your sight the whole way there!"
Riolu looked at Brionne after Wartortle had gone. She grinned sheepishly; whether it was out of embarrassment or general excitement Riolu couldn't tell.
"And… yeah. Bryony's my name," she said. "Might as well learn it."
~\({O})/~
The Ancient Barrow
~Espurr~
"So you're a human," Espurr said as they hiked. "Just like me."
"Yeah," Riolu breathed. "Been here a month." He took a turn down another corridor, and Espurr followed. Then it clicked. He looked back, staring at her in shock.
"Wait- you're a human too?" he asked in shock. Espurr nodded. Riolu quickened his pace.
"Then you need to stick with me," he said. "The sooner we can leave this place, the better," he said. "We just need to find the stairs."
"I can't." Espurr shook her head.
"Wha-" Riolu turned around. "Why not?"
"I came here with five other pokemon," Espurr said. "They're still up in the dungeon. I'm not leaving without them."
Riolu was still for a minute in indecision. There was a brief silence in between them.
"It's here in the dungeon, you know," Riolu said. "Nyarlathotep. And if you guys got separated, then… your friends are probably dead. Sorry."
No. That wasn't true. Espurr refused to believe that. She shook her head silently. There had to be a way to tell. There just had to be…
Espurr shut her eyes, and reached out with her sixth sense. Somewhere, if she reached far enough, there just had to be some kind of tell, some evidence that they were still alive. Because if they weren't she didn't…
Espurr experienced something completely foreign to her in her three weeks of life – a single tear fell down her cheek. And her eyes were brimming up with more of them. She squinted them shut, forcing the tears out. Breathing heavily, she wiped them from her eyelids. No. She couldn't break down. Not here. Not now. Not when she knew they were still alive. And she knew they were still alive. They had to be. She'd figure out why later, she'd find some reason—
"I'm sorry, but it's true," Riolu stressed from where he was standing. "if we don't get out of here, then none of us will live—"
The walls began to shift again around them, accompanied by a gurgling noise. Espurr's head snapped towards it; she gladly took the opportunity to banish the grief from her head.
"We stayed still too long," she said. "Run!"
And arm shot out of the goo, and both Espurr and Riolu sprang into action.
~\({O})/~
~Riolu~
Wartortle's Colony
Riolu awoke to the distant sound of pokemon screaming outside. He rose alongside Bryony, staring out the tent flaps. The tent itself was filled with crates meant to hold all Wartortle's books, but Wartortle himself was not there. The sky was still dark, and the only lights were coming from outside whenever somemon passed with a torch. Riolu and Bryony exchanged looks.
Emerging from the tent, they saw that the entire camp had devolved into chaos. Pokemon scurried everywhere from to and fro in a panic, and soon both Riolu and Bryony saw the reason: A dust storm was on the way. It howled and raged in the distance, colored the same rust-red as the ground below it, and it was going to swallow their camp in just—
Riolu's sight was suddenly engulfed by rust red. Dust flew everywhere, and it was all Riolu could do to keep it out of his eyes. Many of the pokemon around him were doing the same, and even Bryony was squinting.
A loud screech reverberated through the storm in the distance. Riolu's heart skipped a beat,. He recognized that screech. It was..
"VOID SHADOW!" One of the pokemon in the group, a zangoose, screamed, and then everything became chaos once more.
"It's Nyarlathotep!" another cried out.
"It's come for us!" another yelled.
"That's enough!" Even the howling and raging of the dust storm wasn't enough to curb the voice of Wartortle, who stepped through to the front of the storm. "They're still far out. We have time to prepare. Everymon prepare yourselves!"
"What's happening?" Riolu asked.
"Shadows," said Bryony. "They're attacking."
They were quickly interrupted by a bunch of pokemon that pushed through them, tromping off to the front lines.
"You two!" that was Wartortle. Riolu's head looked back towards Wartortle, who was ushering them both back to his tent. "With me."
They both followed.
~\({O})/~
The tent offered reprieve from the storm, if only a little. Wartortle stood in the tent, looking at them both.
"I want you both to stay here," he said. "We can't risk a void shadow getting either of you. And that's what's going to happen if you're on the front lines."
"What's happening?" Riolu asked. "No-mon is explaining this to me!"
"It's an attack," Bryony explained. "If we don't ward them off, then they'll ravage the camp to the ground. But they've never had a storm before…"
"If this was a co-incidence I'll be darned," Wartortle said. "They even brought the storm with them. Lower our visibility. We'll be lucky to escape with half the camp if we don't flee effectively."
"Wartortle." The furret from before poked its head in through the tent. "They're getting close."
"Acknowledged." Wartortle nodded off the furret, which scurried off. "It's about time I got going," he said to Riolu and Bryony. "New plan. The two of you: head north. We'll catch up. Don't dawdle."
Riolu and Bryony nodded.
"Good luck," Wartortle said. "I'll see you on the other side." And then he ducked through the tent, and he was gone.
Riolu uttered a single word: "Go."
A sudden explosion of noise from outside caught both their attention. It was the sound of several pokemon's screams, and it was too close for comfort. Riolu hesitated.
"We'll worry about that as it comes," Bryony hissed. "Move now."
Riolu nodded in agreement, and they both continued towards the tent flaps.
Riolu peeked out, looking both ways. "I don't see anythi—"
Down the left path, he heard an explosion of noise. The battle was that way.
"This way, he said, pointing to the right. Bryony nodded, and they quickly slipped out the tent.
The storm had gotten stronger; it was almost impossible to see anything in it. Riolu could barely see the outlines of the other half-packed tents through all the rust-red dust, and he had to squint to keep it out of his eyes.
They ran, away from the battle and all the screaming. Riolu heard the shrieks behind him as he ran, and he tried to blot it out with his paws. But his nose and mouth needed the attention more. He covered his nose with them instead.
Something enormous suddenly crashed into the tent up ahead of them—
Riolu and Bryony stopped in their tracks. The monster reared its head, and Riolu saw that it looked like a blaziken but something was seriously off—
"This way!" Bryony shouted, and so Riolu did. They went left, hoping the shadow didn't notice them.
The camp was completely ruined by now. Everything was in shambles, and the few pokemon that could be seen were either running around in terror or helplessly looking for others in vain. Riolu and Bryony didn't know which direction to run in anymore. Where was the front line- no, where had it been? And where was Wartortle?
"Which way do we go?" Riolu yelled out to Bryony over the howling of the wind.
Bryony looked around. "There has to be somewhere!" she yelled back to him. "I- I don't' know! I don't-" she continued to stammer to herself, looking for a way out. There was a loud thud behind them. The thud of a loud footstep. Riolu spun around to see that the void shadow from before was stomping towards them. It had dropped its fake guise, letting its ugly true form show for the world.
"Look…" Riolu stammered out. Bryony turned around to see the void shadow.
She fled as fast as possible, and Riolu followed. But the shadow was faster than they were , and all of the sudden it was right in front of them looking down—
A water beam suddenly struck it out of nowhere. Riolu and Bryony turned around to see Wartortle standing a fair distance behind them, limping towards them.
"Oy! Nyarlathotep! Are you looking for me?!" Wartortle called out, staring the void shadow down. Nyarlathotep grunted loudly. Then it warped over to Wartortle and grabbed him by the neck.
"No! Stop!" shouted. Nyarlathotep's attention snapped back to Bryony, but then wartortle bit down upon its hand. His eyes focused on them both: Run. Nyarlathotep screeched in pain. Then it squeezed its claws, and then there was a sickening snap and Wartortle went limp.
~\({O})/~
Pokemon Plaza ~ Air Continent
In the deserted main square of Pokemon Plaza, hundreds of stone statues began to quiver in place. Then they all exploded into shards of stone.
~\({O})/~
Ravaged Colony
Nyarlathotep's body seemed to expand. The mangled remains of Wartortle was sucked into it, and then Nyarlathotep itself turned back to look at Riolu and Bryony.
But they were already gone.
They both ran, though the wreckage of broken and burning tents. Through the relentless dust storm. Through the silence, the everlasting, ever-burning silence, until there was nothing but dust and the howling of the wind. All the void shadows were gone. Riolu and Bryony collapsed in the sand hovel on the other side of the hill.
Silence remained, because there was nothing to say. They fell asleep exactly where they sat, riding the terrible storm out.
Only Nyarlathotep's horrific screeches kept them company.
~\({O})/~
Music of the week! :D
Gehenna – Thomas Newman
On 6/7/2020 this chapter received major edits for consistency.