A/n: I felt I ought to explain a bit about what this is! This is an old, old project that I wanted to get done—it's a side story to my adaptation of The Subspace Emissary (Brawl's adventure mode) that I wrote between 2012-15.
I took a lot of creative liberties in my adaptation, including reducing the cast to about 20 characters out of the however many there were in the original SSE. And I still wanted to use those characters somehow, so I put them in this! Plus some extra characters who didn't make the Brawl cut, minus Dr Mario and Young Link except perhaps in spirit (there are no Sm4sh characters in this one, though).
So this is a side story to the SSE, wherein about a dozen characters get caught up in the more behind-the-scenes machinations of the Subspace Army.
I expect this to be less than ten chapters long, so pretty short.
A/n part 2: Footnotes are denoted by a numeral in square brackets, like this: [#].
Chapter summary: A little Pokemon, haunted by dreams, meets a living nightmare.
Chapter One: Summoning
The rain is cold and hammering. Pichu, type advantage notwithstanding, wants to get out of the wet as soon as possible. He moves as fast as the slippery ground allows, and the downward force of the rain reluctantly permits.
His morning walk to ward off the ghosts of some recent, disturbing dreams had at some point led the tiny mouse Pokémon to an unfamiliar, rocky locale, one he likely would not have acknowledged if not for a sudden crash of thunder in the late afternoon that scared him out of his daydreams. It had set Pichu off on a blind dash for shelter, wherever it happened to be in this rocky valley.
Lightning flashes overhead, followed by a roar of thunder, startling Pichu and confusing his feet. A second later he's face down in a puddle of mud. He squeaks in disgust but the rain is so heavy that the slimy, brown mess is gone in a matter of seconds.
Another clap of thunder scares him back into a run. He slips again, scratching his face on the rocky ground, before he sees a cave.
At last!
As he crosses the threshold, Pichu nearly tumbles in the sudden release of the rain's pressure. He shakes himself dry before trotting over to the side of the cave and sinking to the floor next to a stalagmite. Breathing deeply, he smells moss and, faintly, the scent of other Pokemon deeper within the cave. Strong Pokémon, but Pichu is so diminutive that they would have little to do with him. Perhaps his regretfully small stature is finally beginning to pay off.
Feeling positive, safe and grateful to be out of the cold, he closes his eyes and drifts off to a dreamless sleep.
*.*.*.*.*
He's awoken by a phantom impulse.
The rain has not eased at all, and the sky has darkened to night. With a huff, he wonders how long he'll be staying in this cave.
Lightning flashes outside, and with a flinch, Pichu thinks ruefully, Why am I so frightened of my own element? He catches the scent of the other Pokémon again and decides to explore.
He has venured in only half a dozen steps when an instinctual chill creeps into him. He freezes, fur standing on end, daring not attract any attention. He searches for the source of this feeling with wide eyes. It's a feeling he's rarely felt, and he's connected it to the presence of a powerful and aggressive Pokémon.
He backs up slowly in spite of his instinct to just run, taking great care that his shaky steps are silent and he doesn't trip over his own feet.
Something nudges him in the rump and he squeaks in fright, shutting his eyes tight and accidentally discharging some electricity. A stalactite comes crashing down very close to him, coating him in powder and a fresh wave of terror. It takes a second for Pichu to summon the courage to turn around when nothing else happens.
O-oh… it's just the stalagmite.
His mouth slams shut to catch the squeak of relief that nearly escapes, and he inches behind the stalagmite.
He stares into the depths of the cave, waiting to see if the offending Pokémon will reveal itself. The anxious silence ensues for several minutes before he decides it's safe to breathe again.
"Do you think I'm dangerous?"
The voice comes so clearly, and into his head, that Pichu shrieks and huddles against the stalagmite, ears pinned forward, trembling and fearing the worst.
My head, my head he's in my head!
"That I am. Have you not heard of telepathy?"
This isn't real. I'm still dreaming and not about to be found by a dangerous Pokémon! There's no danger, no danger no dangernodangerno—
"Clear you head. Stop panicking."
NO.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Breathe."
NO.
Pichu feels strong paws grab him and the ground disappear beneath him. His eyes remain shut tight as he flails his legs to escape his captor's grasp.
DON'T EAT ME!
"I shall not. I will just hold you in the air. Think for a moment."
Pichu tenses his body but panics when no electricity comes out.
Curses, curse my electricity! Let me go!
"I shall not. I see you tried to attack me just then."
Oh no...
"But I have no qualms."
What?
Pichu finally opens his eyes to take a peek at the owner of the voice. The Pokémon is unlike any he has ever seen. He's bipedal with feline features, and the unnaturally smooth and geometric shapes that constitute his form catch Pichu off guard.
What are you?
"My name is Mewtwo," the Pokémon says. "Now, I'm going to put you down, but I don't want you running off. I want to talk."
Mewtwo places Pichu on the floor and remains in a crouch, remaining as close as he comfortably can to Pichu's eye level.
Y-you... Pichu stutters.
The Pokémon stares him right in the eyes and he feels that threatening chill race through him. But Mewtwo makes no move.
You say you don't want to h-harm me... y-yet the aura I f-felt—
"I daresay you have never met a Pokemon of my... calibre."
Well, you're confident!
"It's merely a fact." Mewtwo inhales deeply before continuing. "You don't belong here." His voice is firm and his gaze is hard, but he lacks the volume to be truly menacing.
What? Pichu asks. That they are conversing without moving a muscle nearly sends his head spinning.
"Do you know where you are?"
No.
"The Cerulean Caves. I have never seen your kind around here. You must be very far from home."
Pichu whimpers.
"So, how did you find this place?"
Well... I took a long walk and started daydreaming. Then it began to rain and I ended up taking shelter here.
Mewtwo grunts. "Then it seems you cannot make it home. Why did you take that 'long walk'? A leisurely stroll is an uncommon priority for wild Pokémon, after all."
I wanted to forget a dream I had… It was more like a nightmare.
"Was it that disturbing? What do you remember of it?"
Nothing really. It was pretty foggy and dark…
Pichu's mind clouds over for a second. Then a sudden scream inside his mind grates against his skull and he drops to the floor in fright, remaining that way for a long moment after the scream fades.
"You heard it, too?" he hears Mewtwo say.
Y-yeah. Wait, what? Pichu looks up at the feline face, which is staring through him in thought.
"That was a remnant of a dream of my own… Walk with me."
The Pokémon begins walking further into the cave.
What do you mean? Pichu hurries over to trot alongside the taller Mewtwo. That was something from my nightmare, now that I remember!
"I don't yet know what I mean. It's quite peculiar, and not just a side effect of being in the presence of a psychic Pokémon."
Do you wanna talk about it?
"Not particularly."
So they walk in silence. Pichu entertains the futile hope that Mewtwo will eventually be willing to engage in conversation. In the meantime, he takes in his surroundings. The cave has become a tunnel, and a lake lies at its end. He eventually becomes cognizant of other Pokémon close by, but is unnerved when none of them attempt to move, as if they're hiding. For a proud moment, he believes it's his volatile electrical capacity that daunts them, but then he looks to Mewtwo…
He makes a lightning-fast connection and, in his panic, unleashes a surge of electricity. It catches Mewtwo off-guard, and the aftershock sends him flying toward the lake.
But he never hits the water.
A flash of light swallows him up, and he's gone without a trace. Pichu squeaks in horror, expecting Mewtwo to reappear behind him. Then he senses a presence close by. A large Cobra Pokémon has approached him in the confusion, and the gaze it has set on Pichu is too intense to be friendly.
He tries to dart past, but it's too quick, blocking his way and expanding its vividly patterned hood with a hiss. He tries again but the Pokémon matches his speed. It opens its maw, revealing sharp fangs.
Pichu is gripped in icy fear before he turns back and bolts toward the water, desperately hoping his foe cannot swim. He hears the Pokémon slither after him.
Pichu launches himself off the rocky ground.
Then the world dissolves in a blinding white.
*.*.*.*.*
Time slows down as Roy stumbles backwards. He eventually hits the ground with a bone-jarring thud. He's on unsteady feet again before his head stops spinning, searching for the mage that ambushed him in the armoury and caused him to fall in the first place.
Even before he can see clearly, he can tell he's not where he used to be. He raises the Binding Blade in anticipation of an attack, letting it burst into ferocious flame. He's startled when his senses clear and he discovers that he's standing on a walking trail in the middle of an open field, not a soul in sight.
Until there's a flash of light and a weight crashes into him from behind, pinning him to the ground.
Almost immediately, the weight lifts itself off him and Roy stumbles back to his feet, sword pointed at his assailant. The perpetrator is crouched on the ground, not in any advantageous position to attack, but not completely dissuaded from making a move.
They stare at each other for a moment. Roy notices the perpetrator is a man in a tight grey suit. A crooked black object he can only guess is some sort of weapon is strapped to the man's leg.
"You're not gonna tell me what's going on?" the man grunts. Bewildered eyes flicker to the flaming sword before switching back to him.
Roy furrows his eyebrows. "Pardon?"
"You're not the one that brought me here, kid?"
Roy shakes his head and lowers his sword.
The man gets to his feet and pushes his bandanna out of his eyes. "Do you know where we are?"
"No, I just… appeared here."
The man is silent, regarding Roy with an inquiring eye.
"Sir?"
"It's Snake." A shadow of regret passes across the man's face for a split second. "You?"
"My name is Roy. Sir Snake—"
"Just Snake."
"Snake… okay." Roy breathes in the air of the foreign land and stares at the foreign man. Snake's face reminds him of the older generals back home, their eyes wise and battle-hardened, each wrinkle a terrible tale of war.
"Is there something in my teeth?"
"N-no. What are you thinking about?"
"Whatever the hell is going on. It's not every day that you're pulled into a secret government experiment."
Roy is not entirely sure of the man's implication. "Experiment?"
"Yeah, that's what this is, right? Some sort of simulation? How else do I explain being completely unaware of how I got here? And you must be part of the simulation, too—not real." He waves a hand between them and is almost disappointed that Roy is still there.
"I'm afraid that I'm real, sir." Roy's head begins to spin as he says this, and feels like some sort of apology from a third party is warranted for their mutual confusion.
As soon as he finishes the thought, a whisper echoes around them. Snake is the first to move, whipping out his weapon with lightning speed, scanning the area but ensuring he doesn't turn his back to Roy. The sunlight seems to refract a little as they sweep the area.
"Difficult place for an ambush," says Snake, noting the lack of cover. "You heard that, right? A voice."
"Perhaps it was the wind."
"Not one of yours?"
"I think we're alone."
"Good place for a one-on-one, then. No interruptions."
And he's right. Nothing reveals itself and they hear no more voices on the wind. Snake lowers his weapon and sighs, finally conceding to the absurd circumstances of his materialisation in a random field with a teenager straight out of the Middle Ages, or at least dressed convincingly so.
Roy notices the weight of the Binding Blade and decides to sheath it. As it slides in he realises that now is a very bad time to be disappearing into the blue.
"Oh no..." he moans, running a hand through his hair. One of the worst times for a noble to go missing is during the post-war recovery effort, beaten only by going missing during war itself. He thinks back to Pherae and hopes that no one stirs too much havoc over his disappearance.
"What's with that look?"
"It's nothing."
"...Alright. So, you don't know what's going on, either?"
Roy is pleasantly surprised by Snake's refusal to pry into his concerns. "No. Could we perhaps stick together for now? If it isn't a bother." [1]
"That's on you. And if you get any funny ideas, I hope you know what you're dealing with."
"I presume I should be glad that I don't."
Snake almost laughs as they head down the trail.
[1] *Together We Ride plays*
Melee Rejects, YEAH *air guitar*