"STOOOOOP!" I shout, tugging at the front leg of an elderly Galvantula. He's holding a torch inches away from a small stream of water half the size of his body. He pushes it forward, but I throw all my weight into reigning it back.
"Layla!" he shouts angrily.
"Please stop! I know he'll die without his torch. I want the killing to end!" I reply.
The spider turns his head around. I see myself in all six of his eyes as they peer into my soul. Eventually, he gives up and weakens his leg. I fall onto my back as I put too much weight on it. I sit right back up with a grunt, rubbing my side, feeling faint pain there. The Galvantula drops the torch on dry ground and reaches his now-free leg to help me up.
"I know," he says with a defeated sigh.
I take it, get up, and pat myself down. I turn away from him, too ashamed of myself. Andy turns and walks away, and I follow him soon after. We both pass by a bleeding, barely breathing Seviper webbed to the ground. I hope he'll be ok.
…
It must be morning again; Pokemon leave their clay huts with freshly stricken torches. I watch while tearing off bites of a mushroom, curiously watching them go among their day. A Snorunt scrambles behind a Kirlia while he explains something businessy that I can't make sense of. Two shouting Throhs throw down their torches and start wrestling in the middle of everyone, and far down the street, a bruised and stitched-up Seviper leads a party of 6 or so pokemon. All their torches so close together create an ominous orange glow. He's familiar. He looks in my direction.
My heart sinks. I dash over to Andy, who is still sleeping, and desperately shake him.
"UNCLE! WE HAVE TO GO!" I shout.
Glowing green mushrooms press into Mark on every side. They make it more difficult to walk down this cave, but he needs to find the light blue mushroom. Soon they crowd the tunnel so much that he must crawl over and under them to continue further. As he navigates the impossibly dense mushrooms, their hue changes to a sinister red. They suddenly stop in front of an endless void, forming a wall. His head peaks out a small opening, and looking down, he sees a single light blue glow at the bottom. He's found it! He reaches his human hand out, but it's so far away. He must not leave without it, so he jumps down.
"AAAAA," Mark shouts. His purple arms scramble in front of him, bracing to impact against the cave floor a foot below him. Yet, he doesn't fall.
"There, knew that'd wake you up," a familiar voice says.
Blood starts pumping through his brain and his senses come to. He realizes he's being held up by both shoulders, while his legs lie on some large cushion behind him. He takes a deep breath and cools himself down, but his peace lasts a short time, for the stranger pulls him fully out of bed.
"H-Hey!" he shouts. His legs slide right off and they instinctively catch him. Mark pulls back on the stranger's grip and falls back against the cushion's side. He sees a clawed monster in front of him "W-WHAT'S GOING ON?"
The monster in front of him squats, reaching his eye level. "You're a pokemon, remember?" she says serenely.
Mark pants, and blinks a bit. He looks at his hands - they're purple claws, with dried blood flaking off the end. He takes more breaths until his mind eases, and then memories of yesterday rush back. The cave, the pit, the torches, the pitch black, Layla… And nothing past that. His memories of being a human are still gone.
He looks up to Layla. His stomach churns, remembering the fight they had yesterday.
"Hey, don't give me that look!" Layla says, alarmed. "Remember yesterday? I'm sorry about it!"
Mark looks into her. He sees the regret in her eyes.
"They may find our house and destroy everything, but there was a time I thought that didn't justify killing. I miss those times," Layla gulps. "I think you were right."
Mark starts feeling bad. He tries to say something but Layla interrupts him.
"Annnd it makes sense you wouldn't want to team up with a stranger you just met, even if they're the best, and I shouldn't be so bitchy that you won't help me."
"Hey, I'm not in the human world anymore. I never had to think about people getting revenge. I mean, I never stole from people before, so I don't know how angry people get about that… But burning everything down?! Layla, you probably were right. I shouldn't act so high and mighty".
Layla blinks. "No. Murder is bad, idiot," she says annoyed.
Mark is stunned.
"I spent hours swallowing all that pride only for you to go Oh YoU sHoUlD hAvE dAmNeD tHeM tO eTeRnAl DaRkNeSs! Come on Mark, have integrity!" she says, then her serious composure shatters at the absurdity of what they've been saying, and she starts laughing.
"Uhh… Yeah, I'll keep my integrity, and, uh, tell you to not murder? …Don't murder, Layla."
"Thanks"
"Anyways, who were they anyway? Were they really that bad?"
Layla gets onto the ground and sits cross-legged in front of him. "Absolutely. Those two are usually hired to steal. And by 'steal', I mean visit pokemon's homes, beat them up, maybe kill, and take their stuff to their clients. My mission was to give back some stuff that was stolen from a client," Layla says.
Mark nods, and starts scratching the back of his neck. Oh dear…
"Hey, uh, do you need more time to get adjusted to your body? I can get work for you, but you'll have to decide soon. It's why I woke you up."
"Give me some time to think," he says. He would like to see his reflection. Could water or a mirror close by enough? If not, should he really give up work just for that? Ah, I should keep this simple, he remembers his dream. The long hallway of mushrooms, the pit, reaching out for the glowing light blue mushroom…
"... Hey Layla, can I do 'missions'? Do any of them involve exploring Mystery Dungeons?" he asks.
Layla blinks, confused. "Wait, you want to join my team?" she says, hopeful.
Mark puts his hands out in front of him and shakes them. "No! No, Not that. I'm still not sure how I feel about that. I just want to learn more about the underground, that's all. The Mystery Dungeon we went through was interesting."
Layla puts an arm over her front, and strokes her chin. "Hmmm... Yeah, I'm so great that joining me really is an overwhelming choice for you, isn't it?" She says with a smug smile.
"What?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you don't have to say," she says with a wink. Mark wonders what the heck she's talking about. "And I didn't take you for the adventuring type. But yeah, I can show you the mission board and everybody you'll need to know. But you won't get the chance to do that work I mentioned, not until tomorrow"
Mark affirmatively nods. He knows he wants to do this. Layla beams, and stands fast to extend a claw to Mark.
"Let's go! Grab your bag!" she says.
Mark smiles back, and looks for the bag he forgot about. It is to the side of the cushion. He grabs its strap with one claw and reaches for her claw with his other, but she grabs his forearm instead of his palm. Oh crap! He thinks. He forgot about this!
"Waaaah!" Mark says, as Layla drags him with intense enthusiasm.
As Layla drags Mark back through the twisted alleyways between the scrap huts, Mark looks at everything his torch shines a light on. The scrap on the huts are bent; some had numbers painted onto the plates and English logos. A few huts have orange glows emanant from within; less than when he traveled to Layla's house for the first time.
Between the huts, Mark can see pokemon illuminated by their own torches. He's dragged too fast to catch many details, but he notices at least a scar or missing fur patches on every one of them. Whenever the two pass by a pokemon in the same street, they're close enough that he can spot soft smiles on them. And he notices there were more pokemon roaming the streets than last time as well. Do they really have a way of counting time? He wonders.
Eventually, they squeeze through the gap between a tight pair of huts, into the central plaza they passed during the… Night? Many pokemon are gathered here; some sit on stumps planted around the fire pit, others flow between the booths lining this plaza. Torches planted into the ground keep the various vendors, and their wares, lit. The stall with the Kecleon head is still there too, and distracts Mark until Layla brings him right to the billboard in front of the fireplace.
Mark looks at the board. Many sheets of some material resembling paper are pinned to it, and the writing on them seem to be formed by pokemon footprints arranged in numerous ways. A yanma is already hovering by the board, seething at what's posted. She tears a mission off and flies away.
Layla taps the board with the back of her claw. "Ok. So, here's the mission board. Scrap Town is a unique town in that it's full of 'outlaws', meaning we or an ancestor got kicked out of another town. So people here tend to be thieves, mercenaries, dissidents, all sorts of stuff. So not only can you request missions you can't ask anywhere else, but most people are just good at adventure work, meaning we get many requests per day. Missions you can find are like… Find this item I lost in a dungeon, escort me through a dungeon, escort me to a different town, beat up this guy for me, protect me, steal this from this guy, uh… Assassination requests do show up too, they're popular with some because they're simple… And you also get requests for menial work, like carrying stuff around, which are actually really good missions but they're probably not what you're looking for"
Mark nods to every word while he looks at the posted missions pinned into the not-wood. He can't read any of the text. Layla turns to lean an elbow into the board, watching Mark decide on one.
"See any you like?" she asks.
Mark looks at one mission written with the talons of a flying pokemon. Beside it is a mission written in dots. And one near the bottom has human-like handprints. "I can't read any of it…"
"What?" Layla says. "You're speaking just fine!"
Mark looks at Layla, confused.
"Oh yeah, I guess nobody taught you how to read, huh?" Layla asks.
"I-" Mark tries to answer
"WAIT! But you can read human script! So is that not a different form of speaking?" Layla interrupts.
Mark takes a moment to figure out what she was probably saying. "Yeah, uh, that 'human script' is English. Well, writ-"
"THAT'S CALLED ENGLISH?! WOAH!" she shouts. Mark looks around anxiously. A few pokemon are looking at the shouting Sneasel. An Aipom with a burn mark stands out to him in particular, as it's leaning in like it's listening on purpose. Layla grabs his shoulders and shakes him.
"L-Layla!" he exclaims.
"Why is English like that? Why is it so exotic and mysterious? Does it look different if you have a different hand? Do you use it for rituals? Why is human script on so many ruins! Have you never really seen a footprint before?"
Humans only have one kind of hand… "Layla, it's just like the writing here, there's nothing special about it. English is what we're speaking, and 'human script' is just written English" Mark tries to explain. He takes a deep breath.
Her response is smug. "Nothing special? Yeah right, I bet your amnesia just made you forget the special powers human script probably have. It's on so many ruins so it must do something. Heck, that 'excavator' stuff you read sounded like an incantation! English! English…" she zones out to just feel the word on her tongue over and over.
"...Layla! Can you help me read this?"
"What?" she says. She notices the board beside her. "Oh, yeah! Uh, all the good missions are taken by each morning so these aren't going to be great. That's what that Yanma was probably pissed about".
Morning? Mark thinks. He looks straight up; the ceiling is still the same, floating-embers vista as yesterday. They must have clocks he thinks, yet he hasn't seen any so far, and Layla doesn't have one that he's aware of. Layla tapping a pinned sheet of not-paper brings his focus back to the board.
"Here! This one! It only pays for 220 poke, yet that's the highest reward here at the moment, and it still has something like adventuring involved. 'I had to leave my partner behind in the Lower Tunnels, but I don't have time to go back for him! Please deliver some Oran Mushrooms.' The Lower Tunnels is around where I found you so it'll be a little familiar, and Andy can get you a map!" she says enthusiastically.
Layla looks back to see Mark's reaction. He smiles, and nods, thankfully he's starting with something simple.
"Alright, now how to prepare for missions. The bag you took should have enough supplies for this mission, but when you need more you will go… There, to Leon's Wares," she says pointing over to the stall with a giant Kecleon head on top of it. As they walk towards the store, Mark looks up to the uncanny amount of detail the not-wooden sculpture has, made more unsettling with all the fire of the plaza illuminating it from below. The light green paint is fade, and the yellow highlights of his visage are perfectly sharp and symmetrical. Its one eye stares down at him, the other hidden behind an eyepatch.
"HEY!" Layla shouts. Mark was caught staring for too long; Layla's ahead of him. He runs up to the counter and looks into it. In the back are various spores and funny-coloured mushrooms. In front, a Kecleon is sitting cross-legged on a stool, sharpening its claws with a grey rock. It turns its head briefly to look at Mark, exposing its own eye-patch that matches the figure above them.
"You need anything? We're low on Oran Mushrooms due to the fighting above". He asks with an uninterested, grizzly voice. His lips nearly form a snarl.
"Um… I'm new! New to the whole, uh, adventuring thing"? Mark says.
"Mercenary work!" Layla proudly corrects.
"Mercenary work! …Mercenary work?" Mark says. Oh.
Leon's sole eye stares at Mark until he feels a chill. Then he grunts, and focuses back on his claws.
Layla leans in to whisper. "Charming, isn't he? He used to be a thief. His whole store used to be stolen goods. Rumours now are that he just gets other people to steal for him".
Mark casually glances back to him, only to notice that Leon has frozen and giving Mark a death glare. Mark's heart stops, while Layla begins laughing. She grabs Mark and runs away, fleeing Leon's sight until a Quagsire comes over and takes Leon's attention. They go behind a hut and Layla loses herself with laughter, lurching over.
"Um… Am I dead?" Mark asks.
"YES!" Layla says, with gusto.
Mark is going to die.
"Nono I'm kidding! I'M KIDDING! Haha… Stop! Don't do anything to me!" she puts a hand out to "stop" Mark, even though he's doing nothing. "He's been trying to be a clean business for a while, or at least pretend he's one, and I've always been giving him a hard time over that".
Layla has to hug her torso and force herself to breathe. The sight of her laughing so hard can't help but to push himself to a little chuckle, which helps melt away the tension.
"Okay, okay, okay, okay…-" Layla says and takes a deep breath. She forcibly paces her next words. "You can get adventuring items from Leon's shop. He has the blue Oran Mushrooms which heal, Sleep Spores to take care of enemies too dangerous for you, mushrooms to heal common ailments like poison, flares which are awesome, ropes if you're too bitch to climb… The stuff in your bag really is enough to cover you for now though, you'll just know where to go when you run out, got it?"
Mark nods affirmatively. "And you said something about maps?"
"Yes" Layla says, finger-pointing to him. "Andy's in… Myla's Cafe, which is also where you'll buy food so don't forget where it is. This way!"
It's a short walk. Opposite of the mission board within the plaza, there is a scrap hut larger than all others, although the darkness makes its true size hard to figure out. Outside its doors, a few pokemon sit on the rough ground to talk to each other while tearing off bites off of their mushrooms. One Mightyena enters ahead of them. The two step into the huge opening leading inside.
The floor is built with smooth wood planks. Well, not-wood - Mark feeling it under his feet makes him realize the texture and firmness is off. Beams of the same material hold up the exterior scrap plates, and there's no ceiling. He looks straight up to the same, fake stars above. In the middle, the wood is removed and a grand bonfire sits on stony rock, illuminating the entire cafe. Seats, cushions, and tables are everywhere, in numerous shapes and sizes. Some guests are already here: a bruised Makchoke is staring miserably into a bowl of what Mark assumes is water, a Galvantula sits in the corner, slowly drawing a brush over something, a group of monkey pokemon make noise in the corner, and a Mightyena is ahead being serviced by a Mismagius at a counter. He smells the scent of burned meat.
Layla bumps Mark's side and points to the Mismagius. "She's Myla. Never sleeps, only serves food. She gets it from her connections with the farms above. She'll list prices on the board above and - ooo, they're at 300 poke a mushroom today, yikes. This is why it's important to loot corpses, ok? And even if you can't find corpses to rob, don't worry, you can find poke in mystery dungeons. Also, wild mushrooms do rarely grow this far down, so you can get lucky. Got it?" She explains.
Mark nods. It pains him to know he may not even make enough to buy his first meal today. Layla grabs his shoulders and forces him to look at her.
"And be careful what you say! She hears a lot of stuff going on and people pay her to hear what she's heard. It's on us to keep our mouths shut, ok? But! She's super nice, and a friend of mine. Wave hi!" she says.
Mark looks to the side; the Mismagius was staring at him with a forced smile. He nervously waves - is everyone important going to be so disturbing? The ghost waves back, and then floats backward, phasing through the partition behind her while keeping her expression unbroken. Leon's death glare isn't so uncanny anymore…
"Is this Andy guy also creepy?"
"Nope! He's my uncle! And he's over there". Layla says, pointing to the Galvantula. She even goes as far as to grab his shoulders again, force him to turn, and push him towards Andy.
"UNCLE! Look at him! I found this Sableye! Isn't he amazing? Mark, this is Andy, he travels around the entire underground to make and sell maps. He is the most knowledgeable person in the entire underground, and he will help you because I'm the best. Andy! MEET MARK," she says, shoving Mark towards him. Mark falls onto the floor.
The Galvantula looks away from the not-paper resting on his table. His fur is missing some colour and his eyes are sagging, and a large bag of scrolls rest beside him. He gives a tired sigh.
"Hello! Nice to meet you!" Mark says, smiling from the floor. I can't believe it, he's not terrifying.
He rolls his eyes to Layla. "Layla, what do you need from me?" he asks, while Mark picks himself up.
"He wants to do missions but he doesn't know how to read. I was hoping you'll give him a map, then go outside and read off the missions to him, and give him any additional information he'll need. Mark, you will come back to my house when you're all done, ok? Got it? Ok, I need to get that mission handed in now. BYE!" Layla says suddenly, turning to flee out of the cafe.
Mark reaches a claw out to her. "Wait!" she says, but she's gone. He looks back to the stranger, who is rolling all six of his eyes.
"Hope I'm not being a burden or anything. I, uh, didn't expect any of that," Mark says earnestly. "I just woke up in this world, not long ago. Layla is helping me around but I know-"
"It's fine. I'm used to it. Not like I can blame myself anyways" he says, laughing. "Take a seat. You 'woke up' in this world?"
Mark looks at the stool near him. "Oh. Ok, uh…" he says, and hops on, shifting until he finds what's comfortable with his new body. Andy waits patiently
"Ok. Uh, I lost my memory, but I think I was a human. Layla believes it, I can read English after all - uh, I guess you'd call it human script or something. I woke up near a dead Gallade, Layla rescued me. And I might have been involved in a fight? Between… Uh… 'Merka's people' and 'Lucy's people'?"
Andy peers at Mark. Mark waits for a response, but the elder just closes his eyes and furrows his eyebrows. He lifts a forelimb to rub his temple.
"D-did I say anything wrong?" Mark says, alarmed.
Andy opens his eyes, staring into him with a staunch expression. Then he looks past Mark. Mark turns around to see what he's looking at. The Mismagius is staring at the two, dead grin still stretched across her face. Andy resumes, speaking quietly.
"You answered exactly what I asked, so no, you didn't say anything wrong. I was just careless to assume it was something innocuous, especially with how serious Layla's been about her ambitions. Don't share this freely! There are dangerous people in the underground looking to learn more about the surface. They will kidnap you if they know."
Mark's heart sinks. He looks at everyone else in the cafe: the Machoke from earlier is resting his head on the table, bowl overturned. The Mightyena is going complete ham on his mushroom, tearing it to shreds and slobbering over the table. The monkeys have left and a brown, wilted Carnivire enters the cafe. He gets Myla's attention, although Mark thinks he sees her winking at him before addressing her patron. Mark looks back at Andy.
Andy keeps a hushed tone. "I wouldn't worry, I doubt people are going around asking if any person with your situation exists. That being said, these people who woke up. Do you think they may have been fighting over you because you're…?"
Mark nods, and thinks back to the messy, bloody state the Gallade was in. Did they really fight that violently over him? He looks down to his claw, the blood from yesterday is a dark red. He scratches some of it. If they were fighting over me because I was a human, that means I was already a Sableye before I woke up. …Would I have been both a human and a pokemon, but forgot about being a pokemon entirely?
"Hey!" Andy snaps. "If I'm right and one escaped, they may still know who you are. Just… keep your eyes open, ok?"
Mark nods. He places a hand on his stomach.
"Does Layla know?" Mark asks.
"I doubt she'll reveal your secret to others but I doubt she thought things out enough to realize others may be looking for you in particular. I'll mention it to her. Anyways, you need to get your mind off this. I'm not trying to make you nervous.
"Just let me ask one more question. You really don't remember the surface?"
Mark thinks about this question. "Well, stuff like, the sky, trees, nature, and cities. Pokemon were also there. But I can't remember experiencing any events."
Andy nods his head slowly. "Curious. Layla's been looking for the surface for a while, she'll love to hear anything you have to say. That being said, whether you're going to work with Layla or not, be careful if you seek out the surface. Nobody's ever found an exit, and there are many dangerous people involved. You can only get hurt. I keep warning Layla, but she never listens".
Mark nods. "I don't know what to say… I'm not even sure if I want to find the exit, it doesn't sound like there's a way out."
"Hmm," Andy thinks. "Really curious".
"Yeah. Uh… will you help me start a mission?" Mark asks.
"I want to focus on finishing these maps first. It'll take some time. Here…" he says, digging into his bag. He pulls out a scroll with a knotted cloth wrapped around its middle to keep it closed, and he hands it to him. Mark takes it.
"Thank you."
"It's a map of this city and all the tunnels both around it and below. This whole region is called the 'Lower Caves', and the tunnels around the city are called the 'Lower Tunnels'. You might as well study it while I finish this up."
Mark nods. He looks down at his scroll for a bit. Like every other material coming from "trees", its texture is soft and squishier than he expects. He can not let this mystery go unanswered anymore.
"Hey, where do all the paper and wood around here come from? Are they even called 'paper' and 'wood'?" Mark asks.
"Yes, they're called paper and wood. They are made from tree mushrooms," Andy says.
"Oooooooh…" Mark says. He feels underwhelmed by the explanation. "...Is it fine if I read this by the billboard?"
"Yeah. I'll come after you," Andy says. He idly raises a forelimb to wave him off.
Mark slips out of his stool and heads to the entrance. He squeezes the mushroom paper to feel its curious, unusual texture, tuning everything out until he's outside.
There are less people around the plaza; most of the merchants are spending their time counting poke or eating a meal. When Mark arrives at the mission board, the one mission Layla pointed out is already gone. Mark sighs, and walks to the backside, sliding down against it and slumping onto the floor. He unravels his scroll to at least check it out. A compass falls out and clinks the ground, which he quickly stuffs into his bag.
He turns it around a few times to figure out which side is upside right. He hesitantly sets his torch down and holds it in front of him. The map thankfully isn't too different from what he expected; The top left corner has an intricate ink illustration of Scrap Town, and of large mushrooms surrounding it. He notices Layla's home is missing. He compares the huts drawn around the plaza to the ones around himself: they don't match up either, just the larger walkways do. Around the forest of mushrooms are various arrows curling up or down, and small, short labels written in footprint script.
Around the town's illustration are various diagrams of tunnels, drawn top-down. There are many labels, one at each end of the tunnel and some in the middle of some tunnels. He notices some of the labels are the same as some around the town illustration - this must be where they connect. The layout is complicated; Mark counts about 9 separate systems. In the bottom right corner of the map, he sees a tunnel connected to illustrations of crystals. Another spot on the map has numerous stalagmites and stalactites inked in.
Mark tries an exercise. He backtracks where Layla and Mark came from and sees if he can follow that on the map. He gets through the first network of tunnels, but gets lost when he starts analyzing the second set of tunnels down. His memory of all the turns they took is foggy, after all. He worries that having a map may not be enough to stop him from getting lost.
"Hey!" a childish voice says. Mark jumps, yelping "ah!" and he lets go of his map and looks up; an Aipom standing on top of the board is looking down to him. He's the same Aipom he noticed staring at the two when Layla was shouting by the board. Up close, he can see a burn mark stretched across his chest. His tail holds a torch, which waves around in the air with vigour.
"I overheard you and the lady at this billboard earlier. You're looking for a mission? I have a special mission for 500 poke. Are you interested?"
Mark drops his torch, and begins rolling up his map. "500? What is it?"
"Nothing special. I just want someone on lookout while I do something dangerous, in the farms above us. I'll lead you, ok?". He graciously closes his eyes and smiles. His tail waves faster, seemingly excited.
"Let me think…" Mark says.
The young Aipom opens his eyes. "Food is up to 300 poke! You want to eat at least once before tomorrow, right? Come on…". He jumps down, landing in front of him.. "You won't have to do the dangerous thing! I'm Bali! Come on, it's a mission! I was just too lazy to write one up!"
"Is it really safe?" Mark asks
"Yup! It'll be fun!" Bali encourages.
Mark chuckles, kind of nervous at the thought of actually accepting a request from a stranger. He thinks he should at least get Andy's thought on this.
"Alright, but someone's coming to see me at any moment. I'll wait for him so I can say where I'm going"
"FIIIINE" Bali says, rolling his eyes. He gets beside him and sits down.
"But if he takes too long, I'll find someone better and he won't starve and be miserable and sad instead and you'll regret everything~".
Mark looks at him. He's really going to do his first mission? The thought makes him nervous.
He glances back to the cafe; he sees Andy walking out of it.